MARRIAGE.

EVERY wedding, says the proverb,
Makes another soon or late;
Never yet was any marriage
Entered in the book of fate,

But the names were also written
Of the patient pair that wait.

Parsons.

A wife is a gift bestowed upon a man to reconcile him to the loss of Paradise.

Goethe.

The moment a woman marries, some terrible revolution happens in her system; all her good qualities vanish, presto, like eggs out of a conjurer's box. 'Tis true that they appear on the other side of the box, but for the husband they are gone for ever.

Bulwer

A young man married is a man that's marred.

Take the daughter of a good mother.

Shakspeare.

Fuller.

81

Few natures can preserve through years the poetry of the first passionate illusion. That can alone render wedlock the seal that confirms affection, and not the mocking ceremonial that consecrates its grave.

Bulwer.

If you wish to marry suitably, marry your equal.

Ovid.

A bad wife is shackles to a man's feet, a palsy to his hands, a burden on his shoulders, smoke to his eyes, vinegar to his teeth, a thorn to his side, a dagger to his heart.

Osborn.

Before you marry, be sure of a house wherein to tarry. A married man has many cares, but a bachelor no pleasures.

Johnson.

A bachelor deprives himself of a great pleasure for fear of some trifling annoyance, rivaling the wiseacre who secured himself against corns by amputating his leg.

While to his arms the blushing bride he took,
To seeming sadness she composed her look;
As if by force subjected to his will,
Though pleased, dissembling, and a woman still.

Dryden.

This entireness of love, which can only be found
When woman, like something that's holy, watched over
And fenced from her childhood with purity round,
Comes, body and soul, fresh as Spring, to her lover.

Moore.

He that hath a wife and children hath given hostages to fortune, for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief.

Bacon.

May thorns be planted in the marriage bed,
And love grow soured and blacken into hate!

Then a hand shall pass before thee,
Pointing to his drunken sleep,
To thy widowed marriage-pillows,
To the tears that thou shalt weep.

To all married men be this caution,

Bulwer.

Tennyson.

Which they should duly tender as their life:
Neither to doat too much, nor doubt a wife.

O Heaven! were man

Massinger.

But constant, he were perfect; that one error
Fills him with faults.

So much in common, how different in type! She, all golden hues and softness; he, all dark shades and energy. Her step so light and childlike-his, so manly and steady. Such a contrast, and yet such a harmonystrength and weakness blended together! Every characteristic feature of the one setting forth to advantage and giving zest to that of the other; the fiery black diamond casting lustre over the Oriental pearl; the Oriental pearl in return lending softness to the black diamond.

Ruffini's "Dr Antonio."

The fruit that must fall without shaking
Is rather too mellow for me.

Marry! no, faith; husbands are like lots in
The lottery; you may draw forty blanks
Before you find one that has any prize
In him. A husband generally is a
Careless, domineering thing that grows like
Coral, which, as long as it is under water,
Is soft and tender, but as soon

As it has got its branch above the waves,
Is presently hard, stiff, not to be bowed.

What do you think of marriage?

I take it as those that deny purgatory.
It locally contains or heaven or hell;
There's no third place in it.

Marston.

Webster.

The woman that has not touched the heart of a man before he leads her to the altar, has scarcely a chance to charm it when possession and security turn their powerful arms against her.

When I said I would die a bachelor, I did not think I should live till I were married.

Shakspeare.

Marriage is a feast where the grace is sometimes better than the dinner.

Colton.

He that would have fine guests, let him have a fine wife.

Ben Jonson.

He that marries a wife and he that goes to wai must necessarily submit to everything that may happen.

Italian Proverb.

First conquer thyself, and then thou wilt easily govern thy wife.

-Hasty marriages seldom prove well.

Fuller.

Shakspeare.

-Marry your sons when you will, your daughters when you can.

Never wedding, ever wooing,

Still a lovelorn heart pursuing,

Read you not the wrong you're doing

In my cheek's pale hue?

All my life with sorrow strewing,

Wed or cease to woo.

A light wife doth make a heavy husband.

Moore

Shakspeare.

The instances that second marriage move
A base respects of thrift, but none of love.

Shakspeare.