art be not betrayed into false
hopes, and resolve that she will never abandon her judgment, in so
momentous a transaction. Such an one looks at the world as it is, a
chequered scene; a place in which "one thing is set over against
another;" a mart in which a just price must be paid for every article we
obtain. This aspect of life may be less pleasing than its opposite. It
may render what is termed "Courtship" something else beside a golden
age; yet, in the end, who can doubt, it will prove a rich source of
substantial happiness?

If it be desirable that a young woman see her lover in his genuine
character, so is it that she disclose to him every feature of her own.
Why should she wish to keep any thing concealed? What is the purpose of
that period, which passes between the engagement of two individuals, and
the consummation of their marriage? If it have any rational meaning, it
must be to afford an opportunity for a thorough mutual acquaintance. The
parties do not,--ostensibly, at least, this is the case,--they do not,
pass hours and months in the society of one another, except the better
to understand, and hence the more truly to sympathize with, each other.

Not, surely, does the suitor enter the presence of his friend, to exalt
himself into an unnatural position. He is not striving to pass with her
for some creature of romance, some hero, or god. No, the ostensible
purpose of their interviews is, that he may exhibit himself to her more
and more truly as he is, in heart, principle, character, and life. So is
it designed, by these acts and conversations, that the lady should
present her true phases before him. To suppose that she arrays her
person, or frames her speech, with a view to concealing her real
feelings, and thoughts, and dispositions, from him, is a mockery of the
most sacred relation on earth.

One would imagine that nothing would give an individual such pain, in
this situation, as the fear that her too partial admirer might conceive
of her as a divinity, instead of a mere woman, inheriting the common
frailties of our nature. Her chief solicitude would be, we should think,
to guard against his forming too high expectations of her future
character. Rather would she that he undervalue her merits, and so leave
her room to rise in his estimation, than so heighten her charms, as to
render the fruition of his hopes impossible.

Is this the usual tenor of feeling in the hearts of the betrothed? It
would argue