our notions of friendship and courtship; we would insist that the latter should be based upon true affection; we would that woman should be true to the powers she possesses, true to herself; we would abolish damages for breach of promise of marriage; and we would render penal every deliberate violation of an engagement for which no justification could be pleaded and proved. With a higher ideal of the mission of woman, and with a reprobation of early engagements, there would be fewer breaches of promise of marriage and many, many more happy unions. With Graham, we would say of woman

""Tis thine to curb the passions' madd'ning sway, And wipe the mourner's bitter tear away: "Tis thine to soothe, when hope itself has fled, And cheer with angel's smile the sufferer's bed: To give to earth its charm, to life its zest, One only task-to bless, and to be blest."

Or with Shakespeare—

"The man who bears an honourable mind,
Will scorn to treat a woman lawlessly."

"When man, less faithful than the brute,
Deserts his love and goes astray,
'Gainst him she brings a legal suit,
To drive her maiden grief away.
To soothe her pain and lowliness,
She'll not lie down and die;
But claims for breach of promises

A thousand pounds, or nigh."

-:0:

"Ah! faithless one, how oft you swore
You loved me, daily more and more;
How often did you then declare
That I was 'fairest of the fair';

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You call'd me yours-you loved me then,

But, oh! the faithlessness of men.

"The rose you braided in my hair,

You said could not with me compare;
But now its hues are fading fast,
And, like the mem'ry of the past,
Tell of vows that were but spoken-
Utter'd only to be broken.

Why did'st thou thus inflict a smart,
To wound, to pain my once light heart?
Why those tender thoughts awaken ?
And why leave me thus forsaken ?
Why deal my heart so keen a blow ?
I could not-would not-serve thee so!

“And does it, then, a joy impart

To wound, to bruise, a maiden's heart? To leave it cheerless, hopeless, aching, Weary, fainting, almost breakingWithout one solitary ray

Of hope, to cheer life's chequer'd way?

"Ah! could'st thou feel what I have felt, 'Twould make thy heart with pity melt; "Twould rob thee of thy nightly rest, And pain thy false and faithless breast; 'Twould make thy bosom heave and sigh, And scalding tears bedim thine eye."

CHAPTER X.

The Causes of Divorcements.

"Let Reason teach what Passion fain would hide,
That Hymen's bands by prudence should be tied,
Venus in vain the wedded pair would crown,
If angry fortune on their union frown;
Soon will the flatt'ring dream of bliss be o'er,
And cloy'd imagination cheat no more.
Then waking to the sense of lasting pain,
With mutual tears the nuptial couch they stain;
And that fond love, which should afford relief,
Does but increase the anguish of their grief:
While both could easier their own sorrows bear,
Than the sad knowledge of each other's care.

"Yet may you rather feel that virtuous pain,
Than sell your violated charms for gain;
Than wed the wretch, whom you despise or hate,
For the vain glare of useless wealth or state.

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'E'en in the happiest choice, where fav'ring Heav'n Has equal love and easy fortune giv’n,

Think not, the husband gain'd, that all is done:

The prize of happiness must still be won:
And oft, the careless find it to their cost,
The lover in the husband may be lost.
The Graces might alone his heart allure;
They and the Virtues meeting must secure."
Lord Lytleton.

WRITER in a recent issue of The Freeman, calls attention to the fact that Terisina Peregrina, in her chapter on the Salt Lake City, remarks somewhat strongly on the loose habits of society as regards marriage in the United States. The tendency is certainly not towards singleness of affection, but towards plurality. Hardly does a man or woman take the trouble to go through the necessary formula to rid himself of his wife or herself of her husband ere they get another. The right to change is so fully admitted, that any little inaccuracy in the method of getting rid of one before the other is taken is overlooked with mild charity. A confirmation of this, and much more, occurs in an article in the American periodical, the Century Magazine, from the pen of a Mr. Gladden. The censurable laxity among some Americans in this matter, and in some places more than others, is well calculated to produce feelings of revulsion, and calls for severe animadversion. We are

actually told that so lightly is the marriage bond held in some States of the Union, that the ratio of divorces to marriage is sometimes as one to eight-and-a-half. Chicago is complimented that only the proportion of one in twelve is found there, while Connecticut is said to have maintained its reputation for steady habits-the steadiest habit of that commonwealth being the