be as happy, and often more so, if
they were all made by the Lord Chancellor, upon a due consideration of
the characters and circumstances, without the parties having any choice
in the matter."

_Boswell's Johnson, p. 283._
--_Samuel Johnson._

1289

Choose not alone a proper mate,
But proper time to marry.

--_Cowper._

1290

When a man and woman are married their romance ceases and their history
commences.

1291

Wedlock, indeed, hath oft compared been
To public feasts, where meet a public rout,
Where they that are without, would fain go in,
And they that are within, would fain go out.

--_Sir J. Davis._

1292

Marriage somewhat resembles a pair of shears, so joined that they cannot
be separated, often moving in opposite directions, yet always punishing
anyone who comes between them.

--_S. Smith._

1293

_Marry in your own Rank._ Wise was the man, ay, wise indeed, who first
weighed well this maxim, and with his tongue published it abroad, that
to marry in one's own class is best by far, and that a peasant should
woo the hand neither of any that have waxed wanton by riches, nor of
such as pride themselves in high-traced lineage.

--_Aeschylus._

1294

THE NEWLY WEDDED.

Now the rite is duly done,
Now the word is spoken,
And the spell has made us one
Which may ne'er be broken;
Rest we, dearest, in our home,
Roam we o'er the heather;
We shall rest, and we shall roam,
Shall we not--together?

From this hour the summer rose
Sweeter breathes to charm us;
From this hour the winter snows
Lighter fall to harm us;
Fair or foul--on land or sea--
Come the wind or weather,
Best or worst, whate'er they be,
We shall (D.V.) always share--together!

--_Winthrop Mackworth Praed._

1295

Whom first we love, you know one seldom weds.

--_Owen Meredith._

1296

A pious elder once said to his son in view of marriage,--"My boy, piety
is essential for the life to come, but good temper is the great
requisite for happiness in this world."

1297