The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-02
is MARRIAGE A LOTTERY
Edmund Yates Analyses the Subject
d-BloodedlY.
Edmund Yates, in the London World

Edmund Yates, in the London World.
After all, when all is said and done, re
Election on matters matrimonial, however
original and reconcile, brings us back to
the conclusion expressed in the ancient
saw that marriage in every rank of life,
from the top to the bottom of the social
scale, is lottery AS far as what is
called coniugal felicity is concerned, the
blanks infinitely Outnumber the prizes
and the chances of drawing one of the
second rather than one of the first is
probably about the same whether the OPP
GRAFTON is performed by the persons i'm
mediately interested or by others on
their behalf.
If we remember rightly, it was DR..
Johnson who said that, if marriages were
made ex-officio by the lord chancellor
they would, in all likelihood, turn out
just as well and happily as they do under
the existing arrangements of society. 1t
may be presumed, indeed, that if the
lord chancellor had sufficient time at his
disposal to permit him to give the atten-
ton to each particular case, and the par
ties primarily concerned could be repre-
sented by counsel, his selection of spOuses
would be infinitely more rational and
better calculated to promote their comfort
and well-being than their own choice or
the choice of their friends and relations,
d. 1
curb the impetuOsity Of youth and correct
the absurdity of age with impartial sever
ity. Under his benign sway mesallianCes
would cease, and young fools and old
fools alike would be prevented from rush
ing into the certain misery which every
body except themselves can so distinctly
see is in reserve for them.
1t is true, no doubt, that in the exercise
of his novel jurisdiction the lord chancol
purely sentimental considerations than
the more romantically disposed among us
would esteem desirable Suitable condi-
tions of age, station and fortune would
naturally take precedenceo of them, and in
spite of all that poets and romancers may
pretend to the contrary, it is on these
rather than on those that matrimonial
success or failure for the most part and in
the long run depends. In marriage as in
everything else, all rules have their ex-
captions, and it is the exceptions, not the
rules, which attract the most notice. But,
as a rule, to which the exceptions are few
and far between, what are par excellence
called love matches are the least FORUM
ate and encouraging in their consequences,
OF course, when a marriage de CONVEYANCE
occurs in defiance of mutual dislike on
one side or the other, anything approach
ing happiness or comfort is out of the
question.
But between alteration and aversion
there are infinite degrees of sentiment,
among them are to be discovered the APP
propriate foundation for permanent, as
distinguished from temporary, union
between two fallible, although reasona-
BILE, beings. No wiser counsel was ever
given, perhaps, than that which was ad-
dressed by Lord Dalling, who, in his way,
was philosopher as well as a man of the
world, to Princess Lichtenstein, "the Ma
RE Fox of Holland House." as Hayward
describes her, zone of those rarely gifted
women who from early girlhood bind
young and old together in the same cleo
trio chain of sympathy" In marriage,
says Lord Dalling, Glove In its passionate
meaning is not rnnlirn1 y