'Ah me! for aught that ever I could read, Could ever hear of tale or history, The course of true love never did run smooth.'" "But have you not a few lines, Mr. Smythe, on marriage, although you have not as yet entered into that happy state?" said Mr. Bond. "O dear yes! I have pieces without number. For instance, here is one from Middleton,-- 'What a delicious breath marriage sends forth-- The violet's bed not sweeter! Honest wedlock Is like a banqueting-house built in a garden, On which the spring flowers take delight To cast their modest odours.' "Here are some more," he remarked, "from Cotton,-- 'Though fools spurn Hymen's gentle powers, We who improve his golden hours, By sweet experience know That marriage rightly understood Gives to the tender and the good A Paradise below.'" Still going on, he said, "Here are some charming lines, Mr. Bond, from Moore,-- 'There's a bliss beyond all that the minstrel has told, When two that are linked in one heavenly tie, With heart never changing and brow never cold, Love on through all ills, and love on till they die. One hour of a passion so sacred is worth Whole ages of heartless and wandering bliss; And oh! if there be an Elysium on earth, It is this--it is this.'" At the close of these lines something occurred to stop Mr. Smythe going any further. Poetic quotations in conversation are all very well, when given aptly and wisely; but coming, as they often do, as the fruits of affectation and pedantry, they are repulsive. One wishes in these circumstances that the talker had a few thoughts of his own in prose besides those of the poets which he so lavishly pours into one's jaded ears. XXX. _"YES" AND "NO."_ "Let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil."--JESUS CHRIST. Although in length "yes" and "no" are among the smallest and shortest words of the English language, yet they often involve an importance far beyond "the most centipedal polysyllables that crawl over the pages of Johnson's dictionary." Did persons stop to reflect upon the full import of these monosyllables, so easily uttered, they would undoubtedly use them with less frequency and more caution. I shall make no apology for quoting on this subject from a letter out of the "Correspondence of R. E. H. Greyson, Esq.," written by him to Miss Mary Greyson. "You remember the last pleasant evening in my last visit to Shirley, when I accompanied you to the party at Mrs. Austin's. Something occurred there which I had no opportunity of _improving_ for your benefit. So as you invite reproof--an invitation which who that is mortal and senior can refuse?--I will enlarge a little.