The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-05-22 00:00:00

A ROMANTIC CASE.

In 1789 an English gentleman, named Anderson,
travelling in France for his pleasure, made at Nancy,
the acquaintance of a young girl, Mdlle. Catherine
Burthe. He fell passionately in love with her, and
promised to marry her as soon as he should come into
possession of his fortune ; she, on her part, pledged
herself never to have any other husban,l. In 1793
Mr. Anderson, being compromised for his royalist
opinions, fled to Germany, being aided in getting away
by the young woman. In 1836 he caused an advertise-
ment to be inserted in the Journal de Nancy, requesting
her, if alive, or her heirs, if she was dead, to present
themselves at the office of a certain notary named to
receive a communication affecting their interests.
Catherine Burthe, after Anderson's flight, had been
obliged to come to Paris, and there she married M.
Titon de la Neuville, who, after a time, left her a widow
with three children. One of her friends told her of the
advertisement. This led to a correspondence between
her and Mr. Anderson, and the latter, in consequence,
came to Paris. The two agreed to live under the same
roof, and they had a grand establishment at Paris, and
a country house at Nogent-sur-Marne. After Mr.
Anderson's death, which took place some time ago, the
wills were found, one executed at London, in 1843,
leaving the bulk of his fortune to a nephew, and the
other made some time after in France, bequeathink the
larger part of the fortune to Mdme. de la Neuville, and
appointing a Frenchman his executor. The nephew
took legal proceedings before the French courts to have
the second will set aside, but failed. As, however, the
greater part of his uncle's possessions consist of real
property in England, he has brought an action before the
Probate Court to obtain the execution of the first will

CHOICE CLIPPINGS FROM OUR SCRAP

BOOK.

THE HAPPIEST DAY QF M WE.

The ancients certainly made a great mistake in not
choosing Niobe for the goddess of marriage. Hymen
is by far too jolly : he is all smiles; while Niobe i
just a; she ought to be,—all tears. There never yet
was a marriage that was not a perfect St.
Swithin atlair. No one, unless lie has a soul o
gutta percha, thoroughly waterproof, should think o
going to a wedding with less than two pocket handker-
chiefs, and even then, a sponge is better adapted to the
"joyful occasion." Men take wives as they do pills,
with plenty of water,—excepting, indeed, when the
" little thin Fs" are well gilt. If a kind of matrimonial
barometer were kept in each family, and its daily indi-
cations as to the state of the weather accurately regis-
tered, we have no doubt that, on an average being
taken, the following results would be virrli-cd at .
4efofe marriage , . Fair.
During marriage . . . Wet.
After marriage . . . Stormy.
Meteorologically speaking, it would be highly interest-
ing could we arrive at a knowledge of the exact amount
of " doo" prevailing during courtship. No one can
feel more truly wretched lima on the happiest day cf
bis life, .4. vfegtr,g s fyfii pore inelai4.ol): than
flineral. The bride "weeps for everything and nothing.
A`t first she's heart:brOken because she's going to leave
pa and ma; then, because she hopes Charles will always
ove her ; and, when no other excuse is left, she bursts
into tears because she's afraid he will not bring the
ring with him. Mama, too, is determined to cry for
the least thing. der dce.r girl is going away, and she
is sure something dreadful is going to happen : and,
goodness gracious ! she's forgotten to lock the dining-
rooni door, with all the wine and plate on the table,
and three strange green-grocers in the house. A
chllrch, the water is laid en at eye-service • indeed, the
whole party tool; so `retched no one would imagine
there was a ‘f happy pair" among them. When papa
gives away his darling child, he does it with as many
sobs as if he were handing her over to the fiercest
polygamist since Henry the Eighth—instead of bestow-
ing her upon one who loves his "lamb," regardless of
the "mint" sauce that accompanies her. The bride-
groom snivels, either because crying's catching, or
because he thinks he ought, for decency's sake, to
apPeir deeply mOveci ; half-doz,en "bridesmaids
ate sure to be all weeping because everybody else weeps.
When the party return home, however, the thoughts of
the breakfast cheer them up a little ; and the brides-
maids in particular feel quite resigned to their fate.
As if they had grown hungry by crying—or the tears
had whetted their appetites—they drown their cares for
a while in the white soup tureen. The champagne gces
off, and goes round. 7‘-.` .*
7 Then the father gets
up, and, after a short and pathetic euloginrn upon the
virtues of that "sweet girl," whom he ,‘ loves as his
own flesh and blood," thumps the table, and tens the
company that " any one who would not treat her pro-
perly would be a sco:fncirel." Upon this, every one
present turns round to look and frown at the wretched
villain of a bridegroom, and then they all fall to weep-
ing again. But so thoroughly has the feeling set in
against the new son-in-law, that it is only by a speech
of the deepest pathos that he can persuade the company
that he 114 not the least thought of murdering, or,
indeeds, eTen assaulting his wife. At last, the mother
bride, and bridesmaids retire to say—, Good bye,' end
haye a good cry altogether up stairs, Then the blessing
and the weeping begin again with renewed vigiour. As
at Vauxhall, they seem to keep the grandest shower till
the last. The bridesmaids cry till their noses are quite
red, and their hair is as straight as if they had been
bathing. And when the time comes for the happy pair
to leave, in order to catch the train for Dover, then the
mother, father, sisters, brothers, bride, bridegroom,
baidesmaids, and every soul iu the house, all cry—even
down to the old cook, " who knowed her ever since she
was a baby in long clothes,"—as if the young couple
were about to be " transported for life," in the literal
rather than in the figurative sense of the term.