thoroughly enduring and conservative. In Allan Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd, which all should read, one of the girls suggests that the lover of the other will, when married, forget his wife when she is old, and that some young "giglet of the green," with cherry cheeks and bright eyes, will make him think his old wife Meg

"And her kenned kisses hardly worth a feg."

"Dear

But Meg stands up bravely for the man she loves. Jenny," she says, "to be free, there's some men constanter in love than we;" nor is the wonder great, because kind naturę has given them a solidity of mind we (Meg and her sex) do not possess; and as for growing old, why—

"We'll graw auld tegither, and ne'er find

The loss of love, when love graws on the mind;"

and our children will be a firmer tie to us than any red cheek or bright eye can break. And the woman argues well. Let the choice be a good one, and the love be true, and the marriage will be a happy one.

Man, as having the first choice, should therefore first recollect that woman has a soul, and that she is to be his helpmeet. He will not look for beauty, or form, or face only; for this is a condition, says a gentleman, "equally to be found in Lady Fanny and the mare she rides." He will look for character, subordination, and meekness, only to be exhibited in the family circle; a good daughter is generally a good wife. He will demand health, comeliness and suitability of form, mental fitness and strength, piety and reverence -these last are very essential. Let no man marry a sharp,

sneering woman.

Bitter sayings do not generally exhibit a good heart; and in a lover, as well as in a wife, man wants a tender, kind heart, to overlook failings, to comfort and console under defeat, to bear with querulousness of ill health. An ounce of good nature is worth at least a pound of what is called "wit." The loved one should be of undoubted courage -that is, mental courage; should be a true woman, fond of neatness, prettiness, cleanliness, and decent attire: the feeling is natural to her, and should be cultivated, not checked; a slattern is to be avoided. She should also be high-principled, firm, and not wavering from point to point, nor flitting from pleasure to pleasure; for a wife is not only to bear children to a man, but to be his friend and companion, his help-meet and adviser. And wives, unless they are silly, empty-headed, unthinking dolls, give the very best advice to husbands; they will, too, aid their husbands in an upward flight towards that which is good and noble. It is astonishing what benefit men receive from good women whom they truly love. The rough, rude boor becomes often really refined, kind, and gentle. In the same way, too, the character of the wife is acted upon. Marriage is the first and truest Mutual Improvement Society, instituted by Heaven itself, when duly undertaken, not for the purpose of merely gratifying the lust of the eye, or the lust of the purse, or the lower and even more degraded purpose of the man or woman being "kept " by the husband or wife—that is, maintained in idleness and three meals a day.

One can have little to say of piano-playing, hair-dressing, flaunting, flirting, entrancing, petty, pretty, and rich, or fashionable wives. The only way to look at this matter

seriously is to tear away the vain and silly lendings and wrappings that the world and society give to men and women. And, considering that woman certainly has that amount of choice which attaches to the liberty to reject, as the husband chooses the wife, the woman should choose the man. He should especially be earnest, industrious, healthy, and thoughtful. Let no woman marry a man whom she cannot respect and admire. It is better even to fear than to despise. The ladies, in marriage, are to this extent better off than the gentlemen. The men are generally more of men than the women are of women. The "matrimonial market," says a writer, using an odious phrase, “is varied; and so it comes to pass that we have one race of women who are utterly bewildered when the first baby comes home, who break down under family cares, whose dwellingsunless they are so fortunate as to secure as a servant a worthier woman than themselves—become scenes of discomfort and sadness." What a satire ! but how true! Just imagine how far from God's purpose woman must have degenerated when she is upset by her first baby, and knows not how to control a home! Then there is another race of women who are simply cooks, not companions; housekeepers, but not friends. Now really it may be a hard case, but we selfish men do demand a combination of all three.

Lovers, having chosen wisely, will honour each other. A reverend Correspondent prays me to beware of preaching up love, because he declares it is for the most part animalism, and degrades the woman. To which I reply that, if a man has a wife fulfilling the conditions before mentioned, there will be mutual honour, and no possible degradation in the union.

And as for love, the inspired writers, it will be found, have written even more earnestly about its vital necessity than any, and that the wisest of men thus addresses man (and woman too in him)-" Rejoice with the wife of thy youth. Let her be as the loving hind and pleasant roe; let her breasts [i.e., embraces and affection] satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love."

What the glory and the end of true marriage are—of love which, as Mercutio nobly says, “must be requited,” that is, returned, and which can surely breed only noble lives and noble deeds-we should inquire of the Bible, where true marriage is honoured by the sacred symbol of the Spouse and the Lord; and the glory of His coming, in His fiery eagerness to save the world He has deigned to love, is symbolised by the procession of the bridegroom. Can marriage be more honoured?

THE QUEEN OF THE HOME.

HERE is doubtless a comical side to the many complaints which every one of us hears, that there are "no marrying men about now;" bat there is also a very serious, sad, and dreadful side too. What does it mean? Are our young men monks and cœnobites? do they hold to a perpetual vow of continence and chastity? If they take no wives before the scenes, where are the wives behind the scenes? And yet people say with a smirk, “Oh, young men don't marry now!"

At a seaport town which has a harbour and a few vessels, and a decent sprinkling of real sailors in the streets, but yet is chiefly a fashionable appendage to London, living on its London visitors, the influx of which takes place steadily for about six months out of the twelve, at such a town I was told that "none of the young men thought of marrying; most of them went up to London." And indeed, when the parson was consulted, it was conceded by him, with a half sigh, that marriages of the higher middle classes were really getting rare. The beautiful rite of the English Church is of course often