The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-11-14 00:00:00

tleman, the cultivation of the scholar, and the un-
obtruded candour of the man. The pictures he
produces are full of truth, yet that truth is reflected
in a chastened and kindly-tinted mirror, while they
are obviously selected by an eye which delights
and has been taught to look upon the sunny side
of nature.

Blackwood's Magazine. Edinburgh : Blackwoods.
We had only space last week for a brief notice of
contents of the November number, and we now
eem our promise by subjoining some interesting
The letter to Eusebius on " Civilisation
nsus," contains an entertaining commen-
the Census Report, No. 11. There are
our readers who will agree with the fol-
marks on

extracts.
—the C(

THE MARRIAGE LAW

mprovement in the morals of the people
T 1751. Lord Hardwicke's bill, in 1753,
e first evident reforms in the law of mar-
ians do not express the same sentiments
ition of this bill—some viewing it as a

;cure to the aristocracy fortunes by marriages,
,ving a greater respectability to marriage itself.
ie time considered by its opponents as likely to
'elation of the country. The writer in the
_ . Experience soon showed, that
g marriage, and the growth of popula-
Ad the contrary effect, by depriving the
,ony ';sgracefr' '

affect the poi
Census Renor
instead

he Act

or Qlaa Atli associations—by making
verbal promise, but a life contract to be
ded, to be entered into with deliberation by persons
nioyment of their faculties, and to be kept invio-
- -Ath." And here it is fair to remark, that
vrobably no small share of the disrespect in which mar-
4ages were held, and the consequent dissoluteness, may
'scribed to the Puritans, who, before Charles's arrival,
'3, had passed a bill for solemnising marriages by
The removal of any part of the sanctity
tendency to bring it into. disrepute;

Lees of peace

)f marriage has a t,

,nat it should be held even, as some would say,
ivi,_ t)erstition, than merely as a civil contract, which,
like most other civil contracts, may be broken ad libitum,
by those who are willing to incur the penalties. Modern
legislation has, however, in this respect, brought the cere-
mony of marriage down still lower than the Puritans, by
reducing even the official dignity of performance, and
authorising marriages at the Public Register-office. Where
there is little distinct religious feeling or principle, there
is a superstition akin to it. And there are few who do
not receive or remember, with a sense of awe, the solemn
words, " Whom God hath joined together, let no man put
asunder ;" and the evil suggestion, in the contrary case,
is ready enough—Whom man joins, man may put asunder;
and if man only, it little matters what man ! Parties may
assume that privilege to themselves. It is hard to see
how the Church of England can, at any after time, by
their official acts, recognise such marriages. What is to
be said of the monition or warning, that "so many as are
coupled together otherwise than God's Word doth allow,
are not joined together by God, neither is their matri-
.neans, and communicates I molly lawful" ?

k Waters. B
London

A crud,

The writer, proceeding with this part of the sub-
ject, pays the following justly-deserved eulogy to

the private virtues of

GEORGE 111. AND QUEEN CHARLOTTE,

You will not be surprised to learn that to George
his Queen, and the example of his Court, is ascribed by
this writer, in the census, the change for the better in the
morals and manners of the people. Family sanctities
were established. The house influence of the virtuous
mother was felt throughout the land. That purity was
restored which had been nearly lost in the moral degrada-
tion of women of previous licentious times. It is with a
grateful pleasure, as one born during that moral reign,
and thankful for that love of a mother which was its law
and rule, and my individual happiness, that I make the
following extract :—"Of the political course of George 111.
and Queen Charlotte, opinions necessarily still differ ; but
the truth of the testimony to the Queen's private virtues
will be universally admitted. Pure, and above all reproach
in her own domestic life, she knew how to enforce at her
Court the virtues, or at the very least, the semblance of
the virtues which she practised. The Queen devoted
much time to to the education of her family. The simple,
pure life of the royal family soon became known in every
cottage in England and Scotland, and afforded a striking
contrast to the scandals of *preceding reigns. Decorum
reigned in the Court of George 111., but it was not the re-