ations. Calm, and
rational ones. We should disclose our true and entire Character.
The great error of the Betrothed. Disclosure of Faults. Esteem and
Respect to be secured. Sacredness of our Plighted word. Implied
engagement. Dismissing a Suitor. A noble example of constancy. Sad
fate of Mrs. Hemans. Preparation for marriage. Duration of
engagement. Testimony from Pere Lachaise. Short engagements
usually most desirable.

After mature deliberation, and in accordance with the sacred impulse of
love, you are now, let us conceive, pledged to one, who anticipates a
future consummation with you, of the dearest relation which man can
form. What views ought you to take of your present situation? and how
should you deport yourself in your intercourse with this near friend?

There are two aspects, under which the future may, from this point, be
regarded. It may be to you a region of dreams, and extravagant
Anticipations. The mind may easily be allowed so to dwell on its scenes,
that imagination shall take the place of reality. Circumstances often
warrant but moderate expectations; yet amid the most arid waste you
see, like the deceived traveller in the deserts of Zahara, the
enchanting _mirage_, a beautiful lake of deep, refreshing, inexhaustible
waters.

A moment's reflection might teach such an one the delusiveness of these
prospects. Let it be that your lover has every good quality you ascribe
to him, that he is quite perfection; you must know, from the experience
of other anticipated enjoyments, that the possession of an object tends
naturally to moderate our feelings in regard to it. The heart, which
beat feverish pulsations beneath the summer of expectation, becomes
calm, when autumn's tranquil days have arrived. There is a wide chasm
between the illusions of sleep and all we can call

"The sober certainty of waking bliss."

There is a joy, it is true, in the marriage bond greater even than we
once anticipated. But it comes from an unlooked-for source. It is not
that very thing we imagined; in that we are often disappointed. It
consists in the shining forth of new and before undiscovered traits. But
when were extravagant anticipations ever yet realized, and that too in
the precise objects, on which they had fastened?

Another view a lady who is engaged may take of coming life, is, that of
the calm and Rational description. She may strive to see her lover in
the true light; she may pray that her he