Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1833-05-21
ALEXANDRIA GAZETTE.

From the Asw Fork Courier and Enquirer.
BREACHES OF PROMISES OF MAR
RAGE.
Every spring Of the year. when the grass be.
gins to look green, the buds to swell, the flowers
to bloom, the brooks to murmur, and the birds to
sing, we almost invariably observe a most for.
midabIe array Of suits. not in the court OF Gu.
pid, but in courts Of law, in which for the most
part some grey beard Philander Of sixty is brought
up for inveigling what Looney Mactwolter calls
the !. alabaster heart" Of some disconsoIate
damsel Of sixteen; or rice versa. where som
green youth Of twenty one deceives, deserts and
destroys the happiness Of o m unsuspecting
maiden Of forty five. Cupid seems every now
and then to turn catchpole, and instead Of a
blooming, playful, smiling. rosy checked boy.
wooing with sweet poetry, and sweeter kiss
es, comes in the likeness of a deputy sheriff, with
a warrant in his hand, and John Doe and Richard
Roe at his heels.
These trials furnish glorious occasions for the
Ciceros and Denos,henes Of the quarter sessions,
to harrow up the souls. nay the very gizzards Of
sympathetic %juries, and softhearted spectators,
BY awful, soul subduing picture of base receptions
p~ractised on female innocence; of gentle wishes
mint in the bud by the trusts Of Disappointment;
of towering hopes cast headiong to the earth; OF
present ~asonies, aud SORROWS without end. All
this is very fine, and the %juries, being wrought up
on by such lofty displays of eloquence, generally
make the false Philander pay the piper pretty
handsomely.
But when we come to consider the subject cool.
". reasonably and dispassiOnateIy, what kind of
feelings must a young woman have, who comes
into a public court Of justice. to ask pecuniary sa:
,isfaction? what sort of wounds are these that
are to be healed by damages? or what kind Of
sensibility is that which finds q bank note in
stead of '.Parmace,y" the best remedy for its
s. inward bruises?" There ma, b., aud certain.
ly are cases, 10 which the deceiyer deserves to
be made to pay the most exemplary damages; but
these are precisely those in which none are ever
demanded.
The gentle being pines in solitude and silence.
and casts away her roses on the altar OF a bro.
ken heart; she asks not for damages, for millions
cannot assuage the agony Of, her disappointment.
She would die rather than make pubic her
wrongs, and death is her only solace. But the
brazen Young girl. who consents TO proclaim her
disappointment or her shame to the world, ny
seeking pecuniary damages, in our opinion, ex-
hibits u~nanswerable testimony that she IS unwor-
thy of what she demands. She offers the best
Justification to the man who has forsaken her,
and broke bis promises; for she proves to the
world that she is equally devoid OF that pride
and delicacy without which a woman Is even
more gross than man.
By the law Of England, a written promise. or
an acknowledgment Of an engagement to marry,
is necessary to entitle a party to damages Tor a
breach. Such a security as this is, we think, es-
~sentiaIly necessary, to shield both sexes from the
consequences of perjury and exaggerated conclu.
-. 49, ,srct,r mt tuarrantIHu than
drau by juries under the influence OF great ex-
element. Yet we have seen. with no little sur
prise, in many, indeed nearly all the trials Of
this kind, not only a written promise, but a
promise Of any kind is dispensed with. A
course Of visits to a house; accompanying the la
DIV a few times to church; occasionally walking
out with her; and such common attentions, arc
made the groundwork Of damages of the most
extravagapt kind. The construction put upon
such triAes remind US of Swift's receipt Tor court
ships
'STwo or three balls and two or three treats,
" rwo or three dears and two or three sweets,
Two or three tickets for two or three times,
Two or three letters writ sli in rhymes" &C.
Really, we think these examples of heavy
damages for .keeping company. according to
the country phrase, with young damsels in the ru-
raj shades & country villages, are rather alarming.
We would advise young fellows to keep at an
awful distance from these gentle inamoratas who
have made a catchpole Of little Don Cupid; who
send their summons not to tea parties or rural
sports, but courts Of justice; and whose valen.
tines are warrants, bail bonds, and notes OF hand,
promising to pay for broken hearts and all that
sort of thing. We exhort them in all sincerity
not to touch the tip of damsel's finger; to re-
frain from exchanging a single speaking glance
Of the eye. and to eschew a kiss as they would
the breath Of the serpent. We adjure them to
bear in mind the price they may be made to pay
for such unchristian indulgences, most especial.
Iy in New England. where the damseIsa are 50 in
fammable that they take fire at a sleeps eye, and
die broken hearted Of an accidental squeeze OF
the hand, unless their wounded seosibility is
healed by the sovereign panacea Of excm-
play damages"
Most especially we address our warnings to
rich old bachelors and widowers, with oomiorta-
BILE establishments; for they are the fayor'te
= a MIN If tho