The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1869-09-14
ENGAGEMENTS.
From the Saturday Review.


A certain Grabbed old pass tutor at Oxford,
who had grown hoary in the Improbable ser.
vice of getting fourth-form Etonians and Har.
royians through their different public examlna-
tions used TO say, in illustration of one of
Aldrichs dark mysteries, that the word en-
gagemeut is always, when used by lady, q
| word OF the second intention. When, he would
say. o man talks of making, breaking, forget
ting or keeping an engagement, no one can
tell what sort Of an engagement is meant, be.
cause men use the word in its first or general
| intention Of any obligation by contract. But
when lady speaks Of IAN engagement" she
employs the word in technical or secondary
| sense, and you may be quite certain that she
means an agreement to marry. When Amanda
tells Lucetta that she 10 engaged" you have
no more doubt Of the precise Specification of
the word than you have when you see il stuck
| up by porter on wooden label over rail-
way carriage. You are as sure that in one case
there has been an offer to marry, as that IN the
other there has been proposal to brlbe.
Whether the old tutor was correct or not IN his
| logic, whether he rightly or wrongly inter-
preted Aldrich's definition of q predicable, his
| illustration was no doubt well adapted to catch
and fix the wandering attention Of his hearers;
| and it will serve to explain what we mean when
we say that the word placed at the head OF this
paper is to he taken In the second intention,
or ladies' sense.
different kinds of engagements. For example,
there is the classification by what lawyers cali
"the consideration" Some engagements are
made for loves sake, others for The sake of
something less divine. Among this latter
class are the engagements arranged or in
vented for the purpose OF staying of creditors,
or OF getting another five bundled pounds
worth OF jewellery from a. fashionable FIRM
Sometimes, but this is high art, these two
Specie5 engagements are made to dovetall
into one another-as in the case OF the founder
of nobls house, who got admission as apart
ner into great firm by limiting that he was
going to marry rich heiress, and smultane-
ously secured the consent of the young lady's
father by holding out the prospect Of the part
nership-thus using his engagement to further
his speculation, and his speculation to secure
his engagement. But the Two commonest
methods of classifying engagemspts are, first,
by the degree to which they are sanctioned;
and secondly, by their duration. Thus en-
gagemeDts, when classified according to
their sanction, are divided into two principal
sorts-the authorized or regular, which have
received the approval OF parents, guardians
and other legitimate auth )rities; and the uu-
thorizsd, or irregular, which have no such sanc
ton. So, again, these irregular engagements
naturally subdivide themselves into the for
bldden, which, having been announced to the
proper authorities, and discountenanced by
them, are nevertheless cherished in the ina
einative souls Of poetical Edwins and Angeli-
mas as things which have real and substan-
tive existence, though the world ignores them
-andthe clandestine, which are not brought
10 light at all. An engagement Of the clan
destine type hardly ever lasts long in that
phase. AS the life Of q young girl is much
more domestic than that Of young man, the
burden Of concealment presses much more
heavily upon her than upon her lover. On this
accouDt, snd also because of the greater tender
ness Of GaGla Ga9RvstaiA' efptsemsht 1s, ,rnrtr
Ter lasting o few weeks it is0hnGdnced by the
INTO the regular or forbidden phase. Most
fortunately for the authority OF parents, there
are few girls who would not rather run
the risk Of sacrificing lover than keep
such secret six weeks with absolute integrity.
ANY one who has noticed the amazing rapidity
with which the news Of an engagement spreads
among the host OF female friends, relations
and acquaintance, will feel how keen pleas
ure must be taken by them in circulating such
we're deprivation it would be to them not to be
permitted TO annoupceit. Parents sometimes,
from reasons OF mortified pride or mental indie
cision, desire that the news OF an engagement,
though sanctioned, should be confined to So
few persons as possible. But this ls always
found to be an untenable position. The eager
ness OF each last recipient Of the secret to
communicate it to specially privileged friend
soon puts an end to the parents fond hope OF
q limited liability to copgratulation, and con-
viiEes them that an engagement, like libel,
canuot be published for private circulation
only. II is, In fact, one OF those confidential
communications which are sometimes called
shouting Secrets"
The classification Of engage1n ants according
to thiivir duration gives US several interesting
types. Some engagements are OF q short but
rapturous kind; others are OF protracted and
Platonic character. Some are contracted for
ixed term Of years, as the engagement Of
MINOR to marry when he attains his majority,
or Of widow to wed after two years lncons1-
liability. Others arc termineble after an inde-
finite period, as where Fellow OF College
engages to marry as soon as he gets living,
or where you:3 lady promises to make her
lover happy when he can show that he is able
'sto maintain her in the style to which she has
always been accustomed, and to supply her
with the comforts and refnements which she
has right from her position 10 society to e1-
pect." Other engagements may be considered
as terminable at pleasure, sueh a.1 as nose pro
and the notorious firts of garrison-town
which, IL is pretty we'll understood, are
ouly designed to last until the regiment is
moved to fresh quarters. or till Providence
provides the fair coquette with a more hand
some or more substantial lover. These, With
many others WHICH, IL 10 uuuSSSoooAJ "
merate are various species OF engagements
differentiated according TO the nature OF their
duration. But the division OF engagements
with which society is most fsmlllar, and the
one which will occur to all parental minds as
the most important, is the slmple division OF
them into long and short. The genuine old
fashioned long engagement, OF that lifelong
tvpe with which our grandmothers and great
aunts were familiar, has happily almost ceased
to exist. Any woman belonging to the pro
fessional ranks OF the middle-cass, who is more
than fifty wears old, will be able to recall sevc-
raj instances OF m,n. generally Fellows Of
Colleges, who, when young, contracted engage
ments which they were unable to fulfill until
thew had reached that time OF life at which it
IS not very usual, or very seemly, either to
marry or 10 be given in marriage. Such in
stances of lifelong engagements were by no
means rare fifty years ago. The College Fellow
of twenty-five having engaged himself to
Young girl of twenty, and having no sure cx-
pectations of patronage OUTSIDE OF his college,
could not then. as now, cut himself adritt fl ON
his academical ties, and start forth to make his
fortune independently by tuition, journal
ism or the public service. Such extra
academical means OF making use OF an
academical education we're then CON-
paratively unknown or unpromisng. The
avenues whereby a gentleman of liberal edu-
cation could enter the salaried sphere OF ex-
istence were then comparatively few, and still
almost confined to the "thlee liberal profess
sions.' The really weli-paid schoomaster-
ships were then very few; there was no Haley
bury, no Radley, no Bradfeld; there were no
profcssorships at Kings College, London; and
no lnspectorships of schools: The young