ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 621, 16 July 1851, Page 3

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

The Admiralty have wisely determined not to incur the expense of the voyage of the Acheron, surveying steam vessel, Captain Stokes, from New Zealand to England, or that of sending out another steamer to relieve her. Her condition in hull and machinery having been carefully ascertained, their Lordships have ordered her to be paid off at Sydney, and her officers and men, desirous of a passage to England, to be sent borne in the Havannah and Fly. The necessary stores for repairs and re-equipment will be sent out by the men-of-war. She will refitted on the station, and re-commissioned as a tender to the Calliope, and as many of the crew, we presume, as feel disposed, will be re-entered in her for further service.— United Service Gazette, A Chancery Victim. —It must not, however, be supposed that Chancery never releases its victims. We must be just to the laws of “ Equity.” There is actually a man now in London whom they have positively let out of prison! They had, however, prolonged his agonies during seventeen years. He was committed for contempt in not paying certain costs, as he had been ordered. He appealed from the order, but until his appeal was heard, he had to remain in durance vile. The Court of Chancery, like all dignified bodies, is never in a hurry, and therefore, from having no great influence, and a very small stock of money, to forward his interest, the poor man could only get bis cause finally heard and decided on in December, 1849—seventeen years from the date of his imprisonment. And, after all, the Court decided that the original order was wrong, so that he had been committed for seventeen years by mistake.”—Dickens’s Household Words.

A Registration-office Marriage.— “ Putting up the banns,” and bolyday clothes, and white gloves, and veils, and church aisles, and ringing bells, have been so long associated with the national idea of a wedding, that it is not unusual, after the brief forms cf a matrimonial engagement at the office of the registrar have been gone through, and the parties are as legally man and wife as acts of Parliament can make them, for the lady to raise an objection to the proceedings. “ Is it all over ?” asks a surprised and trembling voice. “Yes,” says the registrar, bowing and smiling, “ that is all. You are man and wife.” “Oh!” is the semi-spasmodic response, “ it seems like no wedding at all !” Then turning to the bridegroom, the lady may be beard appealing to the happy swain, and declaring “ she would rather go to church as well.” And often and often the ceremony is gone through according tu old fashions after the newer and shorter one has been completed. A wedding at the superintendent registrar’soffice is certaiply a very rapid and unimposing affair. The gentleman, say Mr. John Jones, gives notice to the registrar of the district in which they have lived during the period of seven days, that he has arranged a match between himself end Miss Mary Smith. A printed form is filled up with their names, rank. age. and place of residence. This is entered in a volume called the “ Marriage Notice Book.” The first step of the operation is performed at the small charge of one shilling. The volume containing the solemn announcement remains in the registrar’s-office, “ open at all reasonable times, without fee, to all persons desirous of inspecting the same.” The notice so entered is read before the three weekly meetings of poor-law guardians. Unless the wedding has been “ forbidden by any person authorised to forbid the same,” and a sharp papa or mamma would be needed to find out what had been going forward if Miss Smith desired to keep the little affair secret, at the expiration of the three weeks the happy couple, between the hours of eight and twelve in the morning, may meet, accidentally, of course, just by the office of Mr. ThompsQß,

the registrar, and walking in, accidentally, of course, may, in the presence of two persons accidentally present, the registrar's clerk and a passing stranger, for instance, join in the following brief and innocent dialogue : —** I do solemnly declare that I know not of any lawful impediment why I, John Jones, may not be joined in matrimony to Mary Smith.” One minute is enough for saying this. Whereupon the lady responds, “ I do solemnly declare that I know not of any lawful impediment why I Mary Smith, may not be joined in matrimony to John Jones.” Another minute has thus been passed. Emboldened by the lady’s declaration, the gentleman next says, “ I call upon these persons here present to witness that I, John Jones, do take thee, Mary Smith, to be my lawful wedded wife.” A third minute has passed, and the lady’s turn has come again, “I call upon these persons tu witness that I, Marv Smith, do take thee, John Jones, to be my lawful wedded husband.” Just four minutes have been consumed, the fee is five shillings, and a shilling for a certificate, and the affair is complete. No ring, no kneeling, no fuss. They are bound man and wife at a small charge of seven shillings altogether, with a degree of certainty which nothing but an act of Parliament, price one thousand pounds, can undo.— Household Words. The Sense of Being Married.—Our old friend, Lord Campbell, says that, in Scotland, a man can scarcely tell whether he is married or not. How different is the case in this happier part of the kingdom! Here, every moment of a husband’s domestic life is a sensible assurance of the fact, that he is blest with a wife. When he comes down in the morning—if he can possibly have forgotten that fact—he finds his newspaper aired for him, his egg and toast ready, his tea made, and his kettle simmering on the fire. All these preparations for his comfort have been made by her. And there she sits, ready either to divert him with pleasant observations, or if he is inclined to read, to busy herself with the arrangements of the table, and not only to remain silent herself, but also to keep the children, if there are any, from disturbing him too. Should he have committed a slight imprudence overnight, and have a headache in consequence, she condoles with him, and administers bis soda-water. When he rises to go out, bis boot-books are at hand; so are his boots, probably warmed : when he returns, the best dinner the house can afford awaits him. If he expresses a wish, be finds that it has been anticipated, if he makes a remark, it is assented to. The stocking he puts on has been darned or marked by her : every change of linen reminds him that she sewed on the buttons. Yes; well does the Englishman know that he is married, by feeling, at every turn, the sweet pressure of the conjugal tie.— Punch.