No sooner met but they looked; no sooner looked but they loved; no sooner
loved but they sighed; no sooner sighed but they asked one another the
reason; no sooner knew the reason but they sought the remedy; and in
these degrees have they made a pair of stairs to marriage.

7. STATIONERS' HALI. COURT, LUDGATE HILL.

1873.

LONDON:

R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS,

BREAD STREET HILL.

PREFACE.

We have stray'd

Wild as the mountain bee, and cull'd a sweet
From every flower that beautified our way.
WORDSWORTH.

I OFFER this Volume, not so much to the general reading public who have so kindly appreciated those various works of reference which I have compiled, as to those who, with mutual affection, are about to be, or have just been, united in the Divine bonds of Matrimonial fellowship.

This BRIDAL BOUQUET I wish to be redolent with the fragrance which sweetly wafted over that Eden where Marriage, pure and holy, with the Creator's special benediction, had its origin and highest enjoyment. Every Bridal garland brings its reminiscence of the primeval Paradise, and of the bliss of the first human pair, mated by Him who meant their perfect happiness. In our present condition, however, it must be remembered to use the words of JEREMY TAYLOR-"that they that enter into the state of marriage cast a die of the greatest contingency, and yet of the greatest interest in the world, next to the last throw for eternity;" and that, "life or death, felicity or a lasting sorrow, are in the power of marriage."