the curtained and locked "coupe" in
the train, were, we presume, looked upon as sure to set the hogs
snorting over any such touch as "the isthmus of your waist." Some
portions of "The Victories of Love" seem to have been worked into
"Amelia." The piece entitled "Alexander and Lycon" does not strike us as
being good enough for its company. But certainly we know of no such
"lover's garland" as this, and do not well see how there can be such
another. This must not be taken to imply that Mr. Patmore will seem to
every thoughtful reader consistent in his presentation of the ethics of
his topic. For example, Dean Churchill's Sermon will not hang together
with Mrs. Graham's beautiful letter to Frederick upon the difficulties
of married life.

If there is any real defect in this nosegay, it is, perhaps, that we do
not see a little more of Lady Clitheroe, with her ever-delightful
humour. But perhaps Mr. Garnett--or Mr. Patmore, looking over his
shoulder--remembered Mr. Shandy's advice to my Uncle Toby, to eschew
mirth while paying his addresses to Widow Wadman. We, however, are under
no restraint in this respect, and recommend everybody who takes up Mr.
Patmore to make the most of Lady Clitheroe, and not to pass
thoughtlessly over her most playful sayings; for they are usually quite
as wise and good as the serious passage which we now extract from her
letter to a newly-married couple:--

"Age has romance almost as sweet,
And much more generous than this
Of your's and John's. With all the bliss
Of the evenings when you coo'd with him,
And upset home for your sole whim,
You might have envied, were you wise,
The tears within your mother's eyes
Which, I dare say you did not see.
But let that pass! Yours yet will be
I hope, as happy, kind, and true
As lives which now seem void to you.
Have you not seen shop-painters paste
Their gold in sheets, then rub to waste
Full half, and, lo, you read the name?
Well, Time, my dear, does much the same
With this unmeaning glare of love."

These are the last words of the book, and, having read them, the worst
enemy of lovers' garlands will not accuse Mr. Patmore of "putting stuff
and nonsense into people's heads" about love and marriage.

Two more slight but perhaps not uninteresting remarks. It may be from
our ignorance, but we have never been able perfectly to enjoy the
lines--

"It was as if a harp _with wires_,
Was traversed by the breath I drew