"On Wednesday, May Day Green, Barnsley, was the scene of an extraordinary encounter. A woman beat her husband on the face till the blood flew about; he, in turn, sent the bellman round to proclaim the sale of his wife by auction; but, when he appeared with a halter to sell her, the Amazon rushed upon him again with her fists, and put him to total rout." As a last example,[24] I will give another, which occurred in London, and which is thus reported in the _Times_ of August 2, 1836-- [Footnote 24: The reader can find others in the _Times_ of March 18, 1833; February 1, and November 2, 1836; and February 9, 1837.] "SALE OF A WIFE. "Yesterday morning, between ten and eleven o'clock, one of those disgraceful scenes, the sale of a wife, took place at the New Islington Cattle Market. It appears that at about nine o'clock a man about forty-two years of age, of shabby genteel exterior, led a well-looking young woman, about thirty years of age, with a halter round her waist, to Smithfield Market; and, having tied her up, was about to offer her to the highest bidder; but, several persons interfering, it was agreed to go forthwith to Islington Market to accomplish their object; and, in order to expedite the matter, they jumped into a hackney coach, and were driven off at full speed, to the spot where the marriage knot was to be dissolved. They were followed from Smithfield by a young man of plausible appearance, who on seeing the wife tied up at Islington Market for sale, bid 5_s._ for her, but he was outbid by several persons, but, subsequently, became purchaser of the lot for 26_s._, and conveyed her home in a coach to his lodgings. The other man walked home, whistling merrily, declaring he had got rid of a troublesome, noisy woman, and that it was the happiest day of his life. Surely the police ought to have interfered to prevent such a disgusting outrage upon Society." Well! the lower classes of the time were simply animal brutes, with very little of Arnold's "sweetness and light" in their composition. Uneducated, ignorant, very seldom moving from one spot, badly housed, and nobody's care, it would have been a wonder had it been otherwise. The middle-class were steady-going, stay-at-home people, with not too much brains, and even of them making but little use--and they were only emerging from the barbarism which required the solution of any disagreement among men to be settled by physical force, either by fists or the duel. It is astonishing to see how these contests fell off in this reign, as public opinion declared itself against the practice of duelling.