ore," he remarked, "from Cotton,--

'Though fools spurn Hymen's gentle powers,
We who improve his golden hours,
By sweet experience know
That marriage rightly understood
Gives to the tender and the good
A Paradise below.'"

Still going on, he said, "Here are some charming lines, Mr. Bond, from
Moore,--

'There's a bliss beyond all that the minstrel has told,
When two that are linked in one heavenly tie,
With heart never changing and brow never cold,
Love on through all ills, and love on till they die.
One hour of a passion so sacred is worth
Whole ages of heartless and wandering bliss;
And oh! if there be an Elysium on earth,
It is this--it is this.'"

At the close of these lines something occurred to stop Mr. Smythe going
any further.

Poetic quotations in conversation are all very well, when given aptly
and wisely; but coming, as they often do, as the fruits of affectation
and pedantry, they are repulsive. One wishes in these circumstances that
the talker had a few thoughts of his own in prose besides those of the
poets which he so lavishly pours into one's jaded ears.

XXX.

_"YES" AND "NO."_

"Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is
more than these cometh of evil."--JESUS CHRIST.

Although in length "yes" and "no" are among the smallest and shortest
words of the English language, yet they often involve an importance far
beyond "the most centipedal polysyllables that crawl over the pages of
Johnson's dictionary." Did persons stop to reflect upon the full import
of these monosyllables, so easily uttered, they would undoubtedly use
them with less frequency and more caution.

I shall make no apology for quoting on this subject from a letter out of
the "Correspondence of R. E. H. Greyson, Esq.," written by him to Miss
Mary Greyson.

"You remember the last pleasant evening in my last visit to Shirley,
when I accompanied you to the party at Mrs. Austin's. Something occurred
there which I had no opportunity of _improving_ for your benefit. So as
you invite reproof--an invitation which who that is mortal and senior
can refuse?--I will enlarge a little.

"The good lady, our hostess, expressed, if you recollect, a fear that
the light of the unshaded camphine was too bright, in the position in
which you sat, for your eyes. Though I saw you blinking with positive
pain, yet, out of a foolish timidity, you protested, 'No; oh