nd. I told
him that, if he wished to save the father and the daughter, he must
accelerate his intended marriage with the latter, even in the midst of
the unfortunate circumstances in which she was placed, and under the
unfavourable auspices of an event of joy being shadowed with a cloud
of sorrow. This would give him a claim on the daughter; and if the old
man would not permit his son-in-law to remain in the house, and assist
him as formerly with the labours of his land, he could threaten to
take her from him altogether--a threat that would not, in all
likelihood, fail to make him consent to his becoming an inmate in the
house. The young man was pleased with an advice that quadrated with
his wishes, and left me, to consult with some other friends on the
propriety of instantly following it.

I heard the banns proclaimed next Sunday in the parish church, and was
somewhat surprised at the rapidity with which my advice had been
adopted, and the plan put into execution. The intelligence was
promptly communicated to me by the bridegroom himself, who informed me
also that the fact of the proclamation of the banns had been
communicated to his uncle, who had expressed himself strongly against
the match. He had, in fact, taken up a strong prejudice against his
nephew, in consequence of the latter's interference with his purpose
of self-immolation. He had never allowed the young man to come near
him since the day on which he had taken the razor out of his hands by
force; and the intelligence that he was to marry his daughter, and
deprive him of her society, roused him to fury. He denounced the
union, and said that it added another drop of bitterness to the cup of
his misery, which was already overflowing. I told the young man that
the anger into which his uncle had been thrown would, in all
likelihood, do him more good than harm: it might stimulate a mind,
dead or dormant, from the effects of brooding over imaginary evils,
which produced ten times more self-murders than the real misfortunes
of life. He told me the marriage would not, on account of his uncle's
anger, be put off; that it was fixed for the 15th of the month, and
would be celebrated in private. I informed him that I required to go
to a distant part of the country, and could not, for some time, see
his uncle, and that he must endeavour, by all means, to support and
comfort the unhappy bride in her watchful care over her unfortunate
father, who, according to his accoun