FLEET MARRIAGES IN ENGLAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XIV, Issue 50, 27 February 1879, Page 4

FLEET MARRIAGES IN ENGLAND.

" A multitude of clergymen," Mr Leoky writes, " usually prisoners for debt, and almost always men of notoriously infamous lives, ro d. it their business ta celebrate clandestine marriages in or near tbe Fleet. They performed tbe ceremony without license or question, sometimes even without knowing the nun.s of tbe persons ihey united, and in the most disrepaWble placee. Almost every tavern or brandy sbop in tbe neighbourhood," we are told, " bad a Fieut parson in its pay. Notico. were placed in the windows, and agents weie out in .very direction to solicit tbe passers by." One clerj/ym.n who officiated in a ch«p*l in May Fair, is said to have married bn itn average six rt.at.sand couples a year ; and, acoording to his own admission, he niarriel many thousands, most of whom were s. rangers to each other the week before, and many had been acquainted only a day or half a day. " Young and inexperieuced heirs," to quote Mr Lecky's significant- words, "fasb from college or even from shhool, tha. continually entrapped. A passing frolic, the excitement of drink, an almost momentary passion, the deception or intimidation of a few unp.iocipl.d confederates, were often suflicient to drive or inveigle them into sudden marriages which blasted all the prospect of their lives. In come cases when men slept off a drunken fit, tbey heard to their astonishment, that during ils continuance tbey bad gone through the ceremony." Finally, "it was proved before Parliament," says Mr Lecky, " that on one occasion there has been 2954 Fieet ramiages in four months, and it appeared from the memorandum books of Fleet parsons that one of them made £57 in marriage fees in a single montb; that another hud married 173 couples in a siogle day." Such were the abuses possible under the marriage law at the begining of tbe century, the history of which Mr Lecky has undertaken to write. They no longer exist; and it is impossible to over-estimate the moral or .the the political importance of the extinction. — Unitarian Review.

The growing prevalence of Sunday amusements and various other methods of desecrating the Sabbath, which have become notorious in Cincinnati for months past, has '.finally aroused pabiic opinion. A meeting of sixty prominent citizens was held and a '■working committee of twenty was appointed, ■who will endeavour to enforce existing laws, and, if additional legislation is needed, direct tbeir efforts towards securing it. The plan •of working will be in its essential features similar to that pursued in New York. With a view to prevent Cabinet secrets from oozing out, the use of black and red blotting paper has been introduced into the department. Ordiuary letters are blotted with black paper, and important minutes are made with red ink, the red paper then beiug employed.

Could not be resisted.— She is a daughter of tbe gods, divinely tall, and most divinely plump. Stupid, too. She is singing tbe popular piece entitled "• I wish I were a bird." "If you were," thinks a guest to himself, " you'd be served up with applesauce and sage dressing.*'

the plague a. Astrachan is assuming serious proportions. Fugitives bave carried the contagion to three adjacent villages. Quarantine has been proclaimed throughout the district. There have been 400 deaths from the disease up to January 4th.

Plebian bankrupts may take heart of grace. An English aristocrat, Lord Courtesy, was lately in the Bankruptcy Court, not for the first time. The noble debtor offered a shilling in the pound. His liabilities were £34,000, and assets £400. but some friends ithade up tbe balance to enable him to pay the .shilling in tbe £. The pr.irU.na_ strait-laced wife of a minister •in Hartford, 1 Con., being dissatisfied with the familiarity of herpretty maid-servant with the landlord of the house occupied by the bairson and bis family, and finding reraonstance and warnings equally in vain, ordered her one morning to pack up ber boxes and go. The girl did as she was bidden, but iv the afternoon re-appeared, and, confronting her late mistress, remarked calmly, " I guess, ma'am, I'll trouble yoii to pack up your thiugs and be of.. I'm missus now." Such was indeed the ca.e. Tbat morning the " hired girl" had married the landlord of the house, one bf the conditions having been tbat he should at once gire the minister " notice to quit."

The lake round Enniskillen has been frozen orer. At some points it is very deep, and at the .place where an accident occurred on December 2 1st particularly so. Here a number of persons were standing witbin a few yards of the shore, amusing themselves on Sunday afternoon, when the ice suddenly gave way and all sank under the water. Ladders and ropes were put out, and many were saved, but four young girls were drowned. They were dragged for with poles, and some recovered immediately, and all within a few hours. The accident occurred within fifty yards of their homes, and the shrieks of the women and children on hearing the news were heart-rending. One man fainted on hearing of the lose of his two daughters.

The Daily Telegrauh says :— lf the history of al! countries, and of aH times, contains one admonition more impressive than another, it is this : " Let the people beware of the man who style themselves ' the people's friends;'" for such voluble impostors are always their worst enemies. -They flatter in order to fleece. They beguile in order to betray. They resemble the two German mistresses of George the Second, who, when mobbed ia the streets of London, put their heads outside the carriage window, and exclaimed, " Mein goot heebies, didn't we come over hear for ariryour goots ?" "Yes, d n you" was the witty and apposite rejoinder, " and for all our chattels, too !" And this pretty accurately expressed the main object of tbat sort of spurious "patriotism" which Dr. Johnson defines to be " the last refuge of scoundrels." Its maxim is " The greatest happiness of the greatest number, the greatest number being Number One." The schemer, the advenlurer, the idle spouter, and the neer do weel, take to politics just as Mr Micawber went into the coal trade— as a last resource; and if they cannot make money out of it by fair mfcans they will by foul.

" See here, mister," said a Jersey lad of seven summers, who was driven up a tree by a dog, «« if you don't take thai dog away, I'll eat up all your apples ! " A Paris paper tells a story of a barber's apprentice iv Hungary who cut his throat because a girl would not marry him. He was taken to the hospital at Ratisbun and cured. It subsequently proved tbat the operation his larynx had undergone had given him a flne tenor voice, which he improved by practice, and he has lately been engaged at the Opera House in Vienna. During the last war, 549,000 Russian sol diers poured down through Roumania into Turkey. Of these 68,000 were scut back by rail wounded, and 62,150 ill, 31,000 sick, Weut home to Odessa by sea; 29,000 are still in hospital; 31,000 laid their bones in Roumania, and 99,000 perished in Bulgaria. " Taking the ugliness out of a woman is an expensive business," said Mr Reynolds, of Eston County, Mich , as he paid 58doIs. for whipping Mrs R.

•Ez n eineral thing," said John Quincy, last evenine*, " J*m down on puns, but apun toy. word, I've all allurs considered a blacksmith a hoss, sure." — Yen kers Gazette: Kien-Lorig and his Doctor.— Sir G. Staunton used to relate a curious anecdote of KienLong, Emperor of China (1735-1800). He was inquiring of Sir George of the manner in which physicians were paid in England. When, after some difficulty his majesty was made to comprehend the system, he exclaimed t " Is any man well in England that can afford to be ill . Now, t will inform you ■how I manage my physicians, t have four, to whop, the care of my health is committed; a certain weekly salary is allowed them, but the moment I am ill, lhat salary stops till I am well again. I need not inform you that my illness is u.uaUy ohort." The rapid progress and advancement o_ civilization, this age of rapid action and profound study, the wear and tear of the bodily powers, the constant strain ou the nervous system, catl aloud for timely help j the overworked body and brain seek and require the timely stfd of the kindly antidote of the many ailments engendered by tiitrwork. Take tbose marvellous mixtures, known as "Go_>r_An's Great Ixdian" Cores," and your sicknesses disappear. The weak man becomes the GIANT of strength. See testimonials at the Chemists'.

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Advice to Mothess .'—Are you broken in yrur re«t by a sick child suffering with the pain of cutting t.eth f Go at once to a Chemist, nnd get abottle of Mrs Winslow's Boothing Syrup. It will relieve the poor -■offerer mmediately. It ia perfectly harmJe.s and pien-unt to taste. It produces natural qui. t sleep, by relieving ihe child from (.ain, cat the little cherub awakes "as bright as a button. It soothes the child, ie soft-ins the gums, allaya all pair, relieves wind, regulars the bowels, and ii! the beet kcown remedy for dysen cry and dlarrloei, wheih r arifinc frtm teethicg or other caus. .. " otd everywhere at Is. Ijd. per bottle Mai.u.ttttory 493, Oxford-street, London.

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