another--the temptation to accept marriage as a means of livelihood and an escape from poverty. And if men would escape the degradation of being accepted by a woman in such a spirit, they should be anxious to do all in their power to make women free, to remove all obstructions raised by prejudice; and when a woman can do anything worth doing, “to give her of the fruit of her hands and to let her own works praise her in the gates.” PROSPECTS OF MARRIAGE FOR WOMEN. _April, 1892._ A century has passed since Mary Wollstonecraft published her “Vindication of the Rights of Women,” and Maria Edgeworth, with greater tact and knowledge of the world, pleaded for the higher education of women in her “Letters to Literary Ladies.” Whatever views we may hold as to the change, there can be no doubt that the modes of thought and of life of women in all classes have altered considerably, for good or for evil, in the last hundred years. It is, however, possible to exaggerate the change, and to be mistaken both as to its causes and its resulting tendencies; and now that there are signs of a new departure, it may be as well to take stock and consider how we stand at present. First and foremost the question presents itself, How do women stand now with regard to that all-absorbing occupation obtained through marriage? Their position in industry is so vitally affected by their attitude towards marriage, and by the attitude of those around them, they are so constantly called upon to balance an industrial gain with social loss, that before all things it is necessary to see on what the expectation of marriage is grounded and the effect produced by it on efficiency and wages. After marriage we should estimate not so much the effect of marriage on industrial position, but rather the effect of industry on domestic life.