As to the mode in which marriages are performed, it appears that nine out of ten take place according to the rites of the established church. The marriages by banns are about six times as numerous as those by license. Upon these weddings, by aid of Doctors Commons, there is, it seems, a vast sum of money spent; but who are the lucky men receiving it, does not appear very clearly, and the services they render for the cash is still more doubtful. There are about eighteen thousand licenses granted by Doctors Commons and by country surrogates every year. The usual cost of the license at Doctors Commons is 2_l._ 12_s._ 6_d._ There is 10_s._ 6_d._ additional for minors; and in the country, surrogates, it is said, obtain higher fees. At only 2_l._ 12_s._ 6_d._, the tax on eighteen thousand licenses is 47,250_l._ a year. The stamps on each license are 12_s._ 6_d._ Deducting this sum, the licenses to marry yield at least 36,000_l._ a year. The expense of granting licenses in a manner the most useful and convenient to the public would not be considerable; and it is not easy to see why the surplus revenue derivable from the tax, should not go into the public treasury, when a portion of the expenses of the registration of births, deaths, and marriages, is paid out of the Consolidated Fund. The aggregate amount of charges for the General Register Office, at which all the returns of the country are examined, indexed, and analysed, and the Act is administered, was 13,794_l._ in 1846; and the six hundred and twenty-one superintendent registrars received 9097_l._ for examining certified copies. After discharging the expenses of the civil registration, defrayed by the Consolidated Fund, and the cost of the decennial census, a large surplus would be left, out of 47,250_l._ for licenses, to go to the public revenue of the country. And this would not interfere in the slightest degree with the marriage fees; which would continue to be paid to the officiating clergy. In the places of worship registered by Dissenters, there were not quite ten thousand marriages in one year; nearly four thousand in the same year took place in the Superintendant Registrar’s offices; one hundred and eighty-four according to the rites of the Jews; and seventy-four marriages between Quakers. The only fortuneteller who can henceforth be believed, is the one who answers the question, “When will the wedding take place?” by saying, “When trade flourishes, and when bread is cheap.” CHIPS. FROM MR. THOMAS BOVINGTON. Long Hornets, June, 1850. SIR,