Those who are married ought to study hard that they may play harmoniously the great duet of life. They must not fancy life to be a solo, where the one has all the duties, and the other all the privileges. They must avoid all discords, all remarks that are out of time as well as out of tune. Then will their life be full of the sweet music of domestic joy. Marriage, in the solemn words of Shakspeare, is "aworld-without-end bargain." Once entered upon, there is no room for fickleness. The tide of affectionate feeling should never be encouraged to ebb. The more civilised and religious men are, the more durable are their marriages, while among barbarians separations are frequent and capricious. The Sea-Dyaks marry at an early age, and separate frequently before they find a partner to please them under the plea of bad dreams or birds.* The indications of nature are very instructive, and should be studied by those who seek to find out the higher laws in the world. Thus the fidelity of birds in their natural condition is very great, and the punishments of infidelity very striking. Bishop Stanley says: "We suspect that constancy and fidelity exist to a greater degree among birds than we are aware of; whatever testimony can be collected on the subject certainly tends to prove it." And he thinks that the mysterious meetings of birds, where often one is left for dead, are trials of the unfaithful. Those who are fickle wish for change and would fain separate; but such inconstancy would Brooke's "Sarawak," p. 69. "History of Birds," ch. xv. not even then be satisfied, but would soon be disappointed and longing for change again. If they had the power, and, like Napoleon, could cast off Josephine for a royal princess, like him also they would probably feel that the exchange was a disappointment and a delusion. Marriage will always be degraded while woman is degraded. It was to the shame of the Roman law that, a woman was defined as a thing, and might be claimed like other movables, by the use and possession of an entire year. The husband might chastise her, might kill her if she was intoxicated. The world is growing better, and one of the proofs of it is the greater honour and reverence shown to woman. This also is for the advantage of man. They who degrade holy things, thereby degrade themselves. They who degrade marriage into a yoke, degrade themselves into a team. Neither husband nor wife is responsible for the relatives on either side, and it was a part of barbarous legislation, whether in ancient or modern times, to involve a man's relations in his punishment. In the time of Charles I., it was thought a sufficient reason for disqualifying any one from holding an office, that his wife or relations. were Romanists, though he himself was a Protestant. But though we are not responsible for our relations, nor they for us, it forms an important element in married * And yet compare 2 Kings viii. 18, where it is explained why Jehoram walked in the way of Ahab; for the daughter of Ahab was his wife. It was certainly an unhappy selection; and, if there is any responsibility on account of relations, it lies in the first choice. life to treat them well. Secret antipathies towards them are eating ulcers; and, if neglected, they poison any blood relationship. It was so when Henry VII. married the daughter of the hated house of York. His dislikes and suspicions, permitted to grow, bred disgust towards his queen, and poisoned all his domestic enjoyments. Yet she herself was virtuous, amiable, and complaisant in a high degree.* The married state is the most natural and the most happy. It gives far greater scope and development to the social and religious life than celibacy can ever do. Nunneries have not been without great scandal, Roman Catholics themselves being witnesses. Nor is this to be wondered at, for every such institution is in defiance of the indications of nature, and in opposition to the directions of God. It would be unworthy to speak here at length of those who seek the enjoyment of love without its domestic obligations and duties. Their own disappointments, and disgusts, and punishments, are ever proclaiming to them that unlawful loves are like star-fish, that break up in the captor's hands; or, if they last, they are a permanent shame and sorrow; and, so far from being natural, are the most unnatural things in the world. How contrary to nature that a daughter should not know her mother, and that a mother might not make herself known to her daughter; and yet this was the case with the Duchess of Sforza, the illegitimate child of a domestic by Lord Tamworth. The mother was once permitted to walk * Hume's "History of England," ch. xxiv. round the room in which her daughter was sitting, but with the proviso that she should not address her, or in any way discover herself.* Could anything be more unnatural than such a sight? Nature has made men and women actually and potentially different. Her sphere is home, and there she shines. A woman who assumes man's duties is masculine, and not likely to make the best wife; or to retain her husband's love, or to mould the character of children with a sweet and humanizing influence. The beloved wife is not known abroad as a manager, a speaker, or a legislator. She is satisfied with being known and prized at home. The famous words of Pericles were not true merely of Greece or of his own times, but they are true of all nations, and will be evermore :-"Great is the glory of the woman, who is least talked of among the men, either for good or evil.” ‡ * Burke's "Anecdotes of the Aristocracy,” i. 71. + Their natures are widely different, and therefore their work is different. Plato, Rep., v. 4: Πλεῖστον κεχωρισμένην φύσιν. † Μεγάλη ἡ δόξα καὶ ἧς ἂν ἐπ ̓ ἐλάχιστον ἀρετῆς πέρι ἢ ψόγου ἐν τοῖς ἄρσεσι κλέος γ.-Thucyd., ii. 45. CHAPTER III. HUSBANDS. THE word husband has been supposed to be derived from the Anglo-Saxon, and to mean a house-band. This etymology is at least very instructive; for generally it is in the power of a husband to bind and consolidate, or to dissolve and destroy his household. One of the best safeguards of a husband is a fondness for home; and though a man may be too fond of home to be a good citizen, yet there is not much danger in encouraging this simple taste, for few men are like Nicolaus, accused of too much attention to their wives.* There is no truer word than that of Scripture: "He that loveth his wife loveth himself." He that cherishes his wife with reverent love, with thoughtful tenderness, and with sweet surprises of affection, is doing, whether consciously or unconsciously, that which will benefit himself unspeakably, will make his presence welcome and longed for,t will procure loving interest for himself, and secure an unwearied vigilance in his behalf. *Mosheim, "Eccles. Hist.," i. 2, 5. + Lady Duff Gordon, in her "Letters from Egypt," says that the |