A man falls in love just as he falls down stairs. It is an accident,-perhaps, and very probably, a misfortune; something which he neither intended, nor foresaw, nor apprehended. But when he runs in love, it is as when he runs in debt-it is done knowingly and intentionally; and very often rashly, and foolishly, even if not ridiculously, miserably, and ruinously. Marriages that are made up at watering-places are mostly of this running sort; and there may be reason to think that they are even less likely to lead to-I will not say happiness, but to-a very humble degree of contentment, than those which are a plain business of bargain and sale; for into these latter a certain degree of prudence enters on both sides. But there is a distinction to be made here: the man who is married for mere worldly motives, without a spark of affection on the woman's part, may nevertheless get, in every worldly sense of the word, a good wife; and while English people continue to be what, thank Heaven! they are, he is likely to do so but when a woman is married for the sake of her fortune, the case is altered, and the chances are five hundred to one that she marries a villain, or at best a scoundrel.

Southey.

ENTHRALLED BY SURPRISE.
Soon as I saw those beauteous eyes,
You play'd a roguish part,
You first enthrall'd me by surprise,
Then robb'd me of my heart.
Since thus you now may boast of two,
Disputing is in vain ;
Render to me your own in lieu,
Or give me mine again.
If not, then you're by all confest
The masterpiece of nature;

I'll paint you to the world at best
A double-hearted creature.

Anon.

OFT TAKES SUDDEN HOLD.

Tranio. I pray, Sir, tell me--is it possible That love should of a sudden take such hold? Luc. O Tranio, till I found it to be true I never thought it possible, or likely; But see! while idly I stood looking on I found the effect of love in idleness: And now in plainness do confess to thee,That art to me as secret and as dear As Anna to the queen of Carthage wasTranio, I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio, If I achieve not this young modest girl : Counsel me, Tranio, for I know thou canst; Assist me, Tranio, for I know thou wilt.

Tra. Master, it is no time to chide you

now;

Affection is not rated from the heart :
If love have touch'd you, nought remains

but so,

Redime te captum quam queas minimo.

Shakespeare.

MAN'S CHIEF WISDOM IS LOVE.

Love is the happy privilege of the mind-
Love is the reason of all living things.
A trinity there seems of principles,
Which represent and rule created life-
The love of self, our fellows, and our God.
In all throughout one common feeling reigns:
Each doth maintain, and is maintain❜d by
the other:

All are compatible-all needful; one
To life, to virtue one,-and one to bliss:
Which thus together make the power, the end,
And the perfection of created Being.
From these three principles doth every deed,
Desire, and will, and reasoning, good or bad,

come;

To these they all determine-sum and scheme: The three are one in centre and in round; Wrapping the world of life as do the skies Our world. Hail! air of love, by which we live!

How sweet, how fragrant! Spirit, though

unseen

Void of gross sign-is scarce a simple essence,
Immortal, immaterial, though it be.
One only simple essence liveth—God,--
Creator, uncreate. The brutes beneath,
The angels high above us, with ourselves,
Are but compounded things of mind and
form.

In all things animate is therefore cored
An elemental sameness of existence;
For God, being Love, in love created all,

As He contains the whole and penetrates.
Seraphs love God, and angels love the good :
We love each other; and these lower lives,
Which walk the earth in thousand diverse
shapes,

According to their reason, love us too :
The most intelligent affect us most.
Nay, man's chief wisdom's love-the love
of God.

The new religion-final, perfect, pure-
Was that of Christ and love. His great
command-

His all-sufficient precept-was't not love? Truly to love ourselves we must love God,To love God we must all His creatures love,

To love His creatures, both ourselves and Him.

Thus love is all that's wise, fair, good, and happy!

Bailey.

ARCADIAN LOVE.

;

The birds chaunt melody on every bush
The snake lies roll'd in the cheerful sun;
The green leaves quiver with the cooling wind,
And make a chequer'd shadow on the ground:
Under their sweet shade, Aaron, let us sit;
And whilst the babbling echo mocks the
hounds,

Replying shrilly to the well-tuned horns,
As if a double hunt were heard at once-
Let us sit down, and mark their yelling noise:
And after conflict-such as was supposed
The wand'ring prince and Dido once enjoy'd,
When with a happy storm they were surprised
And curtain'd with a counsel-keeping cave-
We may, each wreathed in the other's arms,
Our pastimes done, possess a golden slumber!
Whiles hounds, and horns, and sweet melo-

dious birds,

A SPIRITUAL COUPLING OF TWO SOULS.
It is a flame and ardour of the mind,
Dead in the proper corpse, quick in another's:
Transfers the lover into the loved,

That he or she that loves, engraves or stamps
The idea of what they love first in themselves;
Or, like to glasses, so their minds take in
The forms of their beloved, and them reflect.
It is the likeness of affections ;

Is both the parent and the nurse of love.
Love is spiritual coupling of two souls,
So much more excellent as it least relates
Unto the body; circular, eternal;

Not feign'd or made, but born: and then so precious,

As nought can value it but itself; so free,
As nothing can command it but itself;
And in itself so round and liberal,
As, where it favours, it bestows itself.