The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-04-06 00:00:00

Yaritties.

A French horse-dealer was asked if the animal which
he offered for sale was timid? "Not at all," said he;
"he often passes many nights together by himself in the
stable."
Laziness travels so slowly that poverty soon overtakes
her.
The trials of life are the testa which ascertain how
much gold there is in us.
A smooth sea never made a skilful mariner. Neither
do uninterrupted prosperity and success qualify man for
usefulness or happiness. The storms of adversity, like
the storms of the ocean, rouse the faculties and excite
the invention, prudence, skill, and fortitude of the

voyager.
The word "honeymoon" is traceable to a Teutonic
origin. Among the Teutones was • favourite drink
called metheglin. It was made of mead, or honey,
and was much like the mead of European coun-
tries. The same beverage was also in use among the
Saxons, but flavoured with mulberries. These honeyed
drinks were used more especially at marriage festivals,
and were kept up among the nobility one lunar month;
the festive board being well supplied with metheglin.
" Honah Moon," signified the moon or moonath of the
marriage festival. Marie the Goth, celebrated by
Southey, died on his wedding-night, from a too free in-
dulgence in the honeyed drink.
JUDGING.—The heart, is no oritio—like a child it is
willing to be pleased without knowing the reason. Oh,
this age of far-sighted, hard thought that would seal up
the well of feeling: this age of knowledge and of learned
doubting; this age of analysis, when readers of books
map out and weigh up the author's meaning, and them-
selves set up a standard to which he must bring his
nature! Not such a reader is he who is awake to the
tender voice of nature—like the tired traveller he comes
to the stream and is refreshed, while he cares not to in-
vestigate its course. Not so the skilful geographer, who
with mathematical skill marks out the sources, the
windings, and the end. And to which of these does the
stream give most pleasure? So with the heart of affec-
tion—it comes to the good and loving in books and is
pleased, while the merciless eye of the critic sees in
them no pleasure, for his design is toy before men the
result of his skill in discerning. May our hearts be kept
loving and gracious to all forms of beauty and goodness.
Talc SHY BACHELOR'S MANUAL.—My suggestion in-
volves nothing less than the writing of one gigantic book
by all the ladies of Great Britain put together. What
I propose is • Hand Book of Courtship, written by all
British Wives, and edited, with notes, by all British
Daughters. The magnitude of my own idea absolutely
takes away my breath—and yet, the execution of it is so
unimaginably easy, that the Hand Book might be readY
for publication in six months' time. I propose that
every married lady in the country shall write down the
exact words (for surely her affectionate heart must re-
member them I) which her husband used when he made
his offer to her; and that she shall then add to the
in-
teresting report of the offer illustrative particulars of
the circumstances under which it was tnade, and of the
accompanying actions (if any) by which the 'peeler em-
phasised the all-important words as they fell from his
pa. I would have the returns, thus prepared, collected
as the income-tax papers are, with the most extreme
care and the most honourable secrecy. They should be
afterwards shuffled together in baskets, and distributed
one by one, just as they happened to turn up, among
the unmarried ladies of the country, with the following
brief formula of two questions attached :—First, would
the form of offer presented herewith have proved to be
• satisfactory one in your ease? And, if not, will you
say in what particulars you think it may be improved?
Second, would the accompanying actions by which the
offer was pressed on the kind attention of the individual
addressed have specially inclined you to favour it with •
suitable reply? And, if not, what improvement& in the
tray of addition or suppression would you be disposed,
in the strictest confidence, to suggest? When the ne-
cessary answers to these questions had been given, I
would have the
papers again collected, on the same
income-tax principle, and would immediately set the
printers at work. The Married Ladies' returns should
form the text, and the Unmarried Ladies' returns should
be added in the form of notes. No names or addresses
should appear anywhere. The book should be bound in
virgin white, with orange flower decorations on the
back. It should be printed in rose-coloured ink, and it
should be homed to the world from • publishing-house
established for the purpose in Doctor's-commons. What
an inestimable Bachelor's Manual this would he !
Dickens's Household Words.

The following Letter appeared in" The Tiinee," on
Friday laat :
WINES FROM THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.