long for our behoof, we seldom
or ever remain at home when all the rest of the party trudge off to some
"bushy bourne or mossy dell." On these occasions how infinitely superior
the female is to the male part of the species! The ladies, in a quarter
of an hour after the proposal of the ploy, appear all in readiness to
start, each with her walking-shoes and parasol, with a smart reticule
dangling from her wrist. The gentlemen, on the other hand, get off with
their great, heavy Wellingtons, which, after walking half a mile, pinch
them at the toe, and make the pleasure excursion confine them to the
house for weeks. Then some fool, the first gate or stile we come to, is
sure to show off his vaulting, and upsets himself in the ditch on the
opposite side, instead of going quietly over and helping the damosels
across. And then, if he does attempt the polite, how awkwardly the
monster makes the attempt! We come to a narrow ditch with a plank across
it--He goes only half way, and standing in the middle of the plank,
stretches out his hand and pulls the unsuspecting maiden so forcibly,
that before he has time to get out of the way, the impetus his own tug
has produced, precipitates them both among the hemlock and nettles,
which, you may lay it down as a general rule, are to be found at the
thoroughfares in every field.

We hold that every man behaves with awkwardness when he is in love, and
the want of the one is a presumption of the absence of the other. When
people are fairly engaged, there is perhaps less of this directly _to
the object_, but there is still as much of it in her presence; but it is
wonderful how soon the most nervous become easy when marriage has
concluded all their hopes. Delicate girl! just budding into womanly
loveliness, whose heart, for the last ten minutes, has been trembling
behind the snowy wall of thy fair and beautiful bosom, hast thou never
remarked and laughed at a tall and much-be-whiskered young man for the
_mauvaise honte_ with which he hands to thee thy cup of half-watered
souchong? Laugh not at him again, for he will assuredly be thy husband.

Love, when successful is well enough, and perhaps it has treasures of
its own to compensate for its inconveniences; but a more miserable
situation than that of an unhappy individual before the altar, it is not
in the heart of man to conceive. First of all, you are marched with a
solitary male companion up the long aisle, which on this occasion
appears abs