MATRIMONY.
True Love is but a humble, low-born thing,
And hath its food served up in earthen ware;
It is a thing to walk with, hand in hand.
Through the every-dayness of this work-day world,
* * * * *
A simple, fireside thing, whose quiet smile
Can warm earth's poorest hovel to a home.
Love. J.R. LOWELL.
He is the half part of a blessed man,
Left to be finished by such as she;
And she a fair divided excellence,
Whose fulness of perfection lies in him;
King John, Act ii. Sc. 1. SHAKESPEARE.
As unto the bow the cord is,
So unto the man is woman;
Though she bends him she obeys him;
Though she draws him, yet she follows,
Useless each without the other!
Hiawatha, Pt. X. H.W. LONGFELLOW.
Man is but half without woman; and
As do idolaters their heavenly gods,
We deify the things that we adore.
Festus. P.J. BAILEY.
Let still the woman take
An elder than herself: so wears she to him,
So sways she level in her husband's heart,
For, boy, however we do praise ourselves,
Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm,
More longing, wavering, sooner lost and won,
Than women's are.
* * * * *
Then let thy love be younger than thyself,
Or thy affection cannot hold the bent.
Twelfth Night, Act ii. Sc. 4. SHAKESPEARE.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
Even such a woman oweth to her husband.
Taming of the Shrew, Act v. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE.
And truant husband should return, and say.
"My dear, I was the first who came away."
Don Juan, Canto I. LORD BYRON.
With thee conversing I forget all time;
All seasons and their change, all please alike.
* * * * *
But neither breath of morn when she ascends
With charm of earliest birds, nor rising sun
On this delightful land, nor herb, fruit, flower,
Glistering with dew, nor fragrance after showers,
Nor grateful evening mild, nor silent night
With this her solemn bird, nor walk by moon,
Or glittering starlight, without thee is sweet.
Paradise Lost, Bk. IV. MILTON.
So loving to my mother.
That he might not beteem the winds of heaven
Visit her face too roughly.
Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE.
Dear as the vital warmth that feeds my life;
Dear as these eyes, that weep in fondness o'er thee.
Venice Preserved, Act v. Sc. 1. T. OTWAY.
Maidens like moths are ever caught by glare.
And Mammon wins his way where seraphs might despair.
English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. LORD BYRON.
So, with decorum all things carry'd;
Miss frowned, and blushed, and then was—married.
The Double Transformation. O. GOLDSMITH.
For talk six times with the same single lady,
And you may get the wedding dresses ready.
Don Juan, Canto XII. LORD BYRON.
Why don't the men propose, mamma,
Why don't the men propose?
Why don't the man propose? T.H. BAYLY.
There swims no goose so gray, but soon or late
She finds some honest gander for her mate.
Chaucer's Wife of Bath: Prologue. A. POPE.
Under this window in stormy weather
I marry this man and woman together;
Let none but Him who rules the thunder
Put this man and woman asunder.
Marriage Service from his Chamber Window. J. SWIFT.
This house is to be let for life or years;
Her rent is sorrow, and her income tears;
Cupid, 't has long stood void; her bills make known.
She must be dearly let, or let alone.
Emblems, Bk. II. 10 F. QUARLES.
Look ere thou leap, see ere thou go.
Of Wiving and Thriving. T. TUSSER.
Thus grief still treads upon the heels of pleasure;
Married in haste, we may repent at leisure.
The Old Bachelor, Act v. Sc. 1. W. CONGREVE.
Men are April when they woo, December when they wed.
As You Like It, Act iv. Sc. 1. SHAKESPEARE.
And oft the careless find it to their cost,
The lover in the husband may be lost.
Advice to a Lady. LORD LYTTELTON.
Wedlock, indeed, hath oft compared been
To public feasts, where meet a public rout,
Where they that are without would fain go in,
And they that are within would fain go out.
Contention betwixt a Wife, etc. SIR J. DAVIES.
O fie upon this single life! forego it.
Duchess of Malfy. J. WEBSTER.
1. That man must lead a happy life 2. Who is directed by a wife; 3. Who's free from matrimonial chains 4. Is sure to suffer for his pains.
5. Adam could find no solid peace
6. Till he beheld a woman's face;
7. When Eve was given for a mate,
8. Adam was in a happy state.
Epigram on Matrimony:
Read alternate lines,—1, 3; 2, 4; 5, 7; 6, 8.
The kindest and the happiest pair
Will find occasion to forbear;
And something every day they live
To pity and perhaps forgive.
Mutual Forbearance. W. COWPER.
But happy they, the happiest of their kind!
Whom gentler stars unite, and in one fate
Their hearts, their fortunes, and their beings blend.
Seasons: Spring. J. THOMSON.
And when with envy Time, transported,
Shall think to rob us of our joys,
You'll in your girls again be courted,
And I'll go wooing in my boys.
Winifreda. T. PERCY.
Cling closer, closer, life to life,
Cling closer, heart to heart;
The time will come, my own wed Wife,
When you and I must part!
Let nothing break our band but Death,
For in the world above
'Tis the breaker Death that soldereth
Our ring of Wedded Love.
On a Wedding Day. G. MASSEY.