It's a good horse that never stumbles Let neither expect perfection. Even the sun has spots on his face. To pity, and perhaps forgive.-Cowper. There are three companions with whom a man should always keep on good terms His stomach His conscience And his wife! which is matched by another useful gastronomic maxim. If you would live long Avoid controversy, Lobster salad, And quarrelsome people. What I that loved and you that liked, No, no, no, no, my heart is fast, Or in wooing or in marriage, Bear this maxim still in mind Seldom Wedlock has miscarriage Where both sides are somewhat blind. Polygamy has been promised its word of notice, but it neither has, nor can expect to have anything civil said of it. Two cats and one mouse, It is singular that we should find the following as a Turkish proverb. Put not two feet in one shoe. which has also suggested itself to the English mind. Two feet in one shoe Will never do. The poet Cowper is believed to be responsible for the following. If John marries Mary, and Mary alone, 'Tis a very fair match between Mary and John. But if John weds a score, oh the claws, and the scratches! It will not be a match, but a bundle of matches! Once more, even for the Crossed in love there is solace. There are as good fish in the sea as ever came out. If one winna, another will.-Scotch. As good water goes by the Mill, as drives it. What boots the ruddy apple If she be not fair for me What care I how fair she be! while, as the usual result, Many a heart is caught on the rebound. Second marriages do not meet with much favour. On this subject the Chinese appear to have very advanced opinions. A virtuous woman takes not a second husband. the more moderate view is that into which England has settled down, The first wife is matrimony, The second company, The third heresy. but what a charming contrast is there in the following, He first deceased, she for a little tried To live without him,-liked it not, and died. Quorn Churchyard. Hear also a Horsham husband on this subject. Thy virtues and my love no words can tell, Scripture sayings might be quoted, and doubtless are most familiar, declaring the sacredness, blessedness, and deep mystery of symbolage in the marriage relationship; but it may suffice now to close with that exquisite sentiment, concerning sudden widowhood, to which Mr. Deutsch has introduced us in his able article on the Talmud. He who sees his wife die before him, has, as it were, been present at the destruction of the sanctuary itself: around him the world grows dark! Talmud. THE FAMILY. Under this heading also we have a sufficiency of sayings. Parents and Children, Youth and Age, all that begins, completes, and declares the Home, belong to this, and should guard its sanctity. An Englishman's house is his castle. Home, sweet Home! Home is home, be it ever so homely. Casa mia, casa mia, Tu mi sembri un badia! My house, my house, though thou be small, My own house, though small, Every dog is a lion at home.-Ital. Setting up house is no small undertaking. Building, and marrying of children are great wasters. Fools build houses, and wise men live in them is another proverb on this subject; it is partly true, for while Happy is the man that has a hobby, if it be a fondness for bricks and mortar, he will assuredly discover that Hobby horses are more costly than Arabs. The place for a house has thus been rhymingly indicated. Near a church and near a mill Far from a lord, and under a hill. When the house is built, the Italians advise, Let an enemy have your house the first year, In the third go and live there. A saying which shows an amount of calm, cynical selfishness, not often avowed, nor very readily equalled. Family secrets should be carefully guarded. It's an ill bird that fouls its own nest. He was scarce of news who told that his father was hanged. And then there is that other, of which Napoleon was so fond, Il faut laver son linge sale en famille. Dirty linen is best washed at home. In this respect we are much at the mercy of our servants, and owe them a debt of gratitude, which I am not sure is always recognised. How very much mischief, that they might make, never is made, and how many admirable instances of fidelity are on record! The family is hardly complete without the old family servants'; such are sometimes almost more part of it than ourselves. 'I drove you to your marrying, and I'll drive you to your burying!' was the answer of one such, when My Lady would have dismissed him—and another recorded by Dean Ramsay remonstrates, when told, John, we really must part!' 'An, pray, whar is your Honour going ?' Home life is mostly happy life, and perhaps some of the brightest instances are to be found in this country, preeminently in the Court and married life of Queen Victoria: but it is rather too much, as some have done, to assume that home virtues are only |