"Hers the mild lustre of the blooming morn And his the radiance of the rising day-- Long may they live and mutually possess A steady love and genuine happiness!" When Edmund Randolph married Betsey Nicholas, the poet found himself unable to express his emotions in less than two stanzas: "Exalted theme, too high for common lays! Could my weak muse with beauty be inspired, In numbers smooth I'd chant my Betsy's praise, And tell how much her Randolph is admired. "To light the hymeneal torch, since they're resolved, Kind Heaven, I trust, will make them truly blest; And when the Gordian knot shall be dissolved, Translate them to eternal peace and rest." It is safe to say that this figure, comparing matrimony with a Gordian knot, was original with the poet. Had the bridegroom been as fiery and "sparkish" as Colonel Park, he might have called out the writer, but he seems to have taken it in good part. The prospectus of the Maryland _Gazette_ for 1745 announces that its price will be twelve shillings a year, or fourteen shillings sealed and delivered. It promises the freshest advices, foreign and domestic, but adds, with much simplicity and candor: "In a dearth of news, which in this remote part of the world may sometimes reasonably be expected, we shall study to supply the deficit by presenting our readers with the best material we can possibly collect, having always due regard to the promotion of virtue and learning, the suppression of vice and immorality, and the instruction as well as entertainment of our readers." What more could the most exacting subscriber demand? Advertisements, then, as now, served the double purpose of filling space, and supporting the paper. They were charged for, at the rate of five shillings for the first week, and one shilling for each week following, provided they were of moderate length--a vague provision, one would say. These old advertisements are of great value to the student of the life of the past. They give a better picture of the condition of society, than a ream of "notes." Here we read of the shipping of a crew on a packet bound for England. Half-way down the column a lost hog is advertised, and here, Edward Morris, breeches-maker, announces a sale of buckskin breeches, and gloves with high tops, and assures his customers that "they may depend on kind usage at reasonable rates." Surely the resources of modern advertising have never devised anything more alluring than this promise of "kind usage at reasonable rates." Since the art of reading was unknown to a considerable proportion of the community, it was natural that pictorial devices should be largely used. Not only were the shops along the highways distinguished by such signs as "the Blue Glove," and "the Golden Keys," with appropriate illustrations; but in the advertising columns of the papers, the print was re-enforced by pictures of ships and horses, and runaway slaves.