Marriage is destinie, made in heaven.
Cling closer, closer, life to life,
Cling closer, heart to heart;
The time will come, my own wed Wife,
When you and I must part!
Let Dothing break our band but Death,
For in the world above
'Tis the breaker Death that soldereth
Our ring of Wedded Love.
And, to all married men, be this a caution,
Which they should duly tender as their life,
Neither to doat too much, nor doubt a wife.
The sum of all that makes a just man happy
Consists in the well choosing of his wife:
And there, well to discharge it, does require
Equality of years, of birth, of fortune;
For beauty being poor, and not cried up
By birth or wealth, can truly mix with neither.
And wealth, when there's such difference in years,
And fair descent, must make the yoke uneasy.
What therefore God hath joined together let not man put asunder.
Hail, wedded love, mysterious law; true source Of human offspring.
To the nuptial bower
I led her, blushing like the morn; all Heaven,
And happy constellations on that hour
Shed their selectest influence; the earth
Gave sign of gratulation, and each hill;
Joyous the birds; fresh gales and gentle airs
Whisper'd it to the woods, and from their wings
Flung rose, flung odours from the spicy shrub.
Therefore God's universal law
Gave to the man despotic power
Over his female in due awe,
Not from that right to part an hour,
Smile she or lour.
Par un prompt desespoir souvent on se marie.
Qu'on s'en repent apres tout le temps de sa vie.
Men often many in hasty recklessness and
repent afterward all their lives.
Moliere—Les Femmes Savantes. V. 5.
| seealso = (See also Conqreve)
| topic = Matrimony
| page = 498
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>Women when they marry buy a cat in the bag.
Montaigne—Essays. Bk. III. Ch. V.
II en advient ce qui se veoid aux cages; les
oyseaux qui en sotat dehors, desesperent d'y entrer; et d'un pareil soing en sortir, ceulx qui sont
au dedans.
It happens as one sees in cages: the birds
which are outside despair of ever getting in,
and those within are equally desirous of getting
out.
Montaigne—Essays. Bk. III. Ch. V.
| seealso = (See also Davtes)
| topic = Matrimony
| page = 498
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>There's a bliss beyond all that the minstrel has told,
When two, that are link'd in one heavenly tie.
With heart never changing, and brow never cold,
Love on thro' all ills, and love on till they die.
Drink, my jolly lads, drink with discerning,
Wedlock's a lane where there is no turning;
Never was owl more blind than a lover,
Drink and be merry, lads, half seas over.
D. M. Mulock—Magnus and Mama. Sc. 3.
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| topic = Matrimony
| page = 498
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = Hac quoque de causa, si te proverbia tangunt,
Mense malos Maio nubere vulgus ait.
For this reason, if you believe proverbs, let me tell you the common one: "It is unlucky to marry in May."
Ovid—Fasti. V. 489.
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| topic = Matrimony
| page = 498
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{{Hoyt quote
| num = 15
| text = Si qua voles apte nubere, nube pari.
If thou wouldst many wisely, marry thine equal.
Ovid—Heroides. DC 32.
Some dish more sharply spiced than this
Milk-soup men call domestic bliss.
Coventry Patmore—Olympus.
The garlands fade, the vows are worn away;
So dies her love, and so my hopes decay.
Grave authors say, and witty poets sing,
That honest wedlock is a glorious thing.
There swims no goose so gray, but soon or late
She finds some honest gander for her mate.
| author = Pope
| work = Wife of Bath. Her Prologue. From Chaucer. L. 98.
| seealso = (See also Holmes)
| topic = Matrimony
| page = 498
}}
{{Hoyt quote
| num =
| text = <poem>Before I trust my Fate to thee,
Or place my hand in thine,
Before I let thy Future give
Color and form to mine,
Before I peril all for thee,
Question th}* soul to-night for me.
Adelaide Ann Procter—A Woman's Question.
A prudent wife is from the Lord.
Proverbs. XIX. 14
Advice to persons about to marry—Don't.
"Punch's Almanack." (1845) Attributed to Henry Mayhew.
Le manage est comme une forteresse assiegee; ceux qui sont dehors veulent y entrer et ceux qui sont dedans en sortir.
Marriage is like a beleaguered fortress; those who are without want to get in, and those within want to get out. Quitard—Etudes sur fes Proverbes Francais. P. 102.
