MARRIAGE IN FEANCE.

Thames Star, Issue 2519, 1 February 1877, Page 2

MARRIAGE IN FEANCE.

A correspondent of the Melbourne Daily Telegraph writes :—lt is maintained that,the reason why there are so many separations in France—query, are there more than in other countries, where legal facilities exist for effecting them?—-is owing to the fact that the young couples have no means of estimating each other's temperaments till after matrimony. Per* haps this is true, but deferring courtship till after the wedding doe; not the less compel the husband and wife, from at once understanding the necessity of practically taking each other for better for worse. In France, a bachelor has no opportunity for a tete-a-tete, with the lady he intends to propose for. She is never absent from her mother's eye an instant, whether in ball-room, promenade, or at church. A gentleman admires a young lady; he makes inquiries; very frequently throngh an " agency," to find some respected and sedate lady acquaintance or relative of the family, to whom he explains his wishes a_nd position. If these be approved, he is introduced to the young lady and her family. The notaries on both sides are set to work, so as to conclude the business in the course of three or four weeks. When accepted, the young man asks permission of her parents to embrace his intended bride, which is granted, and till he receives her at the altar, they are, it may be said, never left alone together: The gentleman is expected to visit daily. If his suit be declined, it is effected in the quietest manner, and every effort is then made to marry the young lady at once. After the marriage ceremony, the bride and bridegroom call . upon the aged relatives, who were not able to be present, and then they, set off for Switzerland or Italy. It is now becoming the custom to hold the banquet on the day of the celebration of the civil . ceremony, the religious portion takes place the next day, and is the occasion for the mustering and presentation of the friends of. both houses. The person who negotiates the marriage expects a present, more or less costly, according to the match, and is the first to be called upon when the married folks return from their tour. French brides, as a rule, have fortunes, but these , are well tied up, and not more than one- ; third of it is paid down on the wedding I day; the remainder becomes due on the death of the child's parents, for in France parents never ruin or reduce themselves to start the children in life. The aim is to ever have the paternal home attractive, the better to bind the children to it, although removed elsewhere.