Beatrice.

think all such subjects utter trash , fit only for sublimated geese and ganders ; but what a sorry world this would be , after all , without love . Remember , love is one thing , matrimony another ; and " fore George , sir , " as Captain Lacey liked to say , " a very different thing , " " very , yes , my dear , very . " It is not always the people who fall in love , or even who love each other , who get marriedor " marry themselves" as an Irishmen put it . rTolove is like a

, , , game at blind-man ' s-buff , or " Spillekins ; " we do not always get the right man or the right woman . Years ago , at a famous church , some twelve couples came to be married , and after the ceremony was over , the intelligent curate said in a silvery voice , " Sort yourselves , good people . " "If you please , sir , " said one unfortunate and timid young man , " you have married me to the wrong woman . " " Very sorry indeedmy good man" replied the affable

, , curate , " but it is too late now , it can't be remedied ; and after all , " he added , p hilosophically , " it does not much matter , I should think . " I do not vouch for the truth of this story . It is a legend , a pious one , and believed in by many who know and love the old church where the scene is p laced . Marriage , in my opinion , is thus ever marked and marred by the strange

contradictions of life . The most unlikely and the most unsuitable people get joined to each other for any or no imaginable reason , and I need not add how striking are often the contrasts of content and uneasiness , joy and sorrow , harmony and discord in the married life , so much so as to make many old bachelors , like " old Tom Quince , " immortalized by Praed , * pride themselves and boast of their single freedomtranquilityand blessedness . How often ¦

, , does it happen that people who ought to have married each other do not , and either get married to another , and lament their hard lot , or else go on mopinoaud wretched to the end of their career . One recipe for matrimony I beg to offer , for happy matrimony—never " throw a chance away , " and when your " dear deceiver , " your own adored Jezabel , is in the " take me while I ' m in the humour " style , take her , my boy , aud be happy with her .

Some people are proverbial for never knowing their own minds or making them up , and more happy unions are hindered for want of a little goodl y decision than some folks are aware of . I do not know anything happier than a well assorted marriage . I know nothing more miserable on this earth of ours than a couple not meant for each other , a couple with nothing- in common but the chance coupling of an infelicitous union , which has bound in adamantine chains those who hardlknow their own mindsknow less of one another

y , , and who positively on both sides preferred someone else . How often does it happen that you throw away a chance , and then you meet him or her once so much admired , cherished , valued , but now severed by matrimony for someone else from you for ever here , and you say to yourself , " I have made a mistake , a great , a great mistake ! " Oh , regret too late ! Oh , sorrow unavailing !

I have travelled so far on this little journey of "love " that I leave but little space , I fear , for anything else , whether sentiment or any other emotion ; and as I do not want to get " mixed up , " I think it well to conclude this chapter with , I fear , the trite remark , that marriage is a " lottery " with " one prize , " but " very many blanks . " I trust that my readers will appreciate dul y the little " homil y " I have read to them

on a " much worn subject , " and if they do not agree with all I profess or propound , if they like neither my views , nor my illustrations , nor my moral , well , I shall not quarrel with them for disagreeing with me , but shall be quite willing to own that they are in the right in their views of this recondite and delicate subject , and that I am utterly and decidedly wrong . ( To be continued . )