party two and two are about to proceed to the church door, the pathway to which is strewed with flowers. At length, they altar, and take their places. reach the hymeneal Here, before all pre sent, the youthful pair stand-and soon "The holy vow, And ring of gold, no fond illusions now, Mirth of his mirth and sorrow of his sorrow." At present the weddings amongst the middle and higher classes of society in England are distinguished by that refinement and elegance which show a more polished state of society than in former years. At such weddings there is a greater profusion of bridal favours and flowers, more rational rejoicings, and less of that gluttony and drunkenness which disgraced our marriage festivals a century or two ago. To give an idea how marriages were celebrated in the north one hundred years since, the following account, from an old newspaper, is extracted : "Married in June, 1760, Mr. William Donkin, a considerable farmer of Great Tosson, near Rothbury, in the county of Northumberland, to Miss Eleanor Shotten, an agreeable young gentlewoman of that place. The entertainment on this occasion was very grand, there being no less than one hundred and twenty quarters of lamb, forty-four quarters of veal, twenty quarters of mutton, and a great quantity of beef, twelve hams, with a suitable number of chickens, &c. which was concluded with eight ankers of brandy made into punch, twelve dozen of cider, a great many gallons of wine, and ninety bushels of malt made into beer. The company consisted of five hundred and fifty ladies and gentlemen, who concluded with the music of twenty-five fiddlers and pipers, and the whole was conducted with the utmost order and unanimity.' Though the food provided at this wedding was so enormous in extent; yet the amount of eatables provided at the marriage feasts of nations in the savage regions of the globe is on a still more stupendous scale. It is related by Missionary Williams, in his recent work on "Figi and the Figians," that it is easier to specify the good cheer at their wedding feasts by yards and hundred weights than by dishes. Speaking of the celebration of the marriage of a Chief of that country, he says, "There was provided for the entertainment of the friends assembled, a wall of fish five feet high and twenty yards in length, besides turtle, and pigs, and venison in proportion. One dish, at the same feast, was ten feet long, four wide, and three deep, spread over with green leaves, on which were placed roast pigs and turtles. Whatever is prepared by the friends of the man are given to those of the woman, and vice versa." In a small village near Berlin, according to the German papers, a marriage recently took place, where the feast in celebration of the event, lasted two days, and during these forty-eight hours, the bride and bridegroom changed attire five times. There were one hundred and twenty persons present at the wedding, and as they brought German appetites with them, sixty chickens, two hundred and twenty pounds of carp, three hundred and thirty pounds of cake, twelve large joints of roast veal, and three hundred bottles of wine, disappeared in the course of the forty-eight hours. At the dancing, each man who had the honour of being the partner of the bride, was obliged to pay a fixed sum of money to the musicians, and the bachelors who had this honour were obliged to pay three times as much as the husbands paid. The bride was not allowed to refuse an invitation to dance, therefore the vigour of her legs may be imagined, as she actually danced on this occasion twenty pounds into the pockets of the musicians ! The celebrated writer, Jeremy Taylor, when speaking of marriage, says, "If you are for pleasure, marry; if you prize rosy health, marry. A good wife is heaven's last best gift to man-his angel of mercy, his minister of graces innumerable, his gem of many virtues, his casket of jewels; her voice, his sweetest music-her smiles, his brightest day-her kiss, the guardian of innocence-her arms, the pale of his safety, the balm of his health, the balsam of his life-her industry, his surest wealth-her economy, his safest steward--her lips, his faithful councillor-her bosom, the softest pillow of his cares-and her prayers, the ablest advocates of heaven's blessings on his head !" What a warm eulogium is this in favour of the fair sex!" "If you are for pleasure, marry," says the heavenly-minded Jeremy Taylor. "If you prize rosy health, marry," says this pious divine. "A good wife," he continues, " is heaven's last best gift!" Mark, learn, and inwardly digest this, ye miserable old bachelors, and no longer lift up your voices and rail against matrimony. Surely, you cannot set up your opinions on this subject in opposition to those of the great Jeremy Taylor, a man universally respected for his learning and piety, and who fully understood all the affections of the human heart. Marriage, so eloquently commended by the above learned divine, has never been a check to men of energy in accomplishing the most praiseworthy objects. It has more assisted than retarded them in carrying out their objects. Most of the great men who have enriched our literature with the productions of their genius, who have created new powers in the scientific world, and who, in one age or another, have wielded the destinies of nations, were all married before they were thirty, nuptial cares being to them no hindrance towards their attaining pre-eminent greatness. Lords Eldon, Erskine, Abinger, and a host of other lawyers equally eminent, rose to the highest positions in their profession after they were married. Many of the greatest dignitaries of the church, with the present bishops of Oxford, Lincoln, Exeter, and Canterbury, have risen to high preferment although early married. In the world's history, who achieved more to immortalize their |