pect permanent happiness
in wedlock.

Marriage is called a lottery, and it is thought, like all other,
lotteries, there are more blanks than prizes; yet is it not made more
precarious than it ought to be, by our neglect of that degree of
precaution which we would be ridiculed for omitting in conducting our
every-day concerns? Is not the standard of matrimonial felicity placed too
low? Ought we not to look more to the possession of principles than to the
possession of wealth? Or is it at all justifiable in a Christian to commit
a child, a daughter, to the keeping of a man who wants the very essential
they acknowledge most necessary to constitute a perfect character? Most
men revolt at infidelity in a woman, and most men, however licentious
themselves, look for, at least, the exterior of religion in their wives.
The education of their children is a serious responsibility; and although
seldom conducted on such rules as will stand the test of reason, it is not
to be entirely shaken off: they choose their early impressions should be
correct, their infant conduct at least blameless. And are not-one half
mankind of the male sex? Are precepts in religion, in morals, only for
females? Are we to reverse the theory of the Mahommedans, and though we
do not believe it, act as if _men_ had no souls. Is not the example of the
father as important to the son as that of the mother to the daughter? In
short, is there any security against the commission of enormities, but an
humble and devout dependence on the assistance of that Almighty Power,
which alone is able to hold us up against temptation?

Uniformity of taste is no doubt necessary to what we call love, but is not
taste acquired? Would our daughters admire a handsome deist, if properly
impressed with a horror of his doctrines, sooner than they now would
admire a handsome Mahommedan? We would refuse our children to a pious
dissenter, to give them to impious members of the establishment: we make
the substance less than the shadow.

Our principal characters are possessed of these diversified views of the
evils to be averted. Mrs. Wilson considers Christianity an indispensable
requisite in the husband to be _permitted_ to her charge, and watches
against the _possibility_ of any other than a Christian's gaining the
affections of Emily. Lady Chatterton considers the want of an
establishment as the unpardonable sin, and directs her energies to prevent
this evil; while John Moseley looks