mutual—and hence, too, they can and should view each other in no other light than as companions! A certain writer has graphically said, that "Eve was taken out of Adam's side not out of his head, to domineer over him; not out of his feet, to be trodden upon by him—but out of his side, to be equal to him; under his arm, to be protected by him, and near his heart, to be beloved by him!" The Creator has himself declared woman to be "a help-meet" for man-i. e., a helper like unto himself. The phrase, "ba-meet," bears this construction in the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, and evidently signifies an assistant, a companion. The husband, therefore, is bound by the voice of God, as well as by the promptings of generosity and honor, to estimate his wife as an equal-as one who is as high in the scale of being as himself, and who is destined to become one of those myriad stars which shall make up in heaven the bright constellation of earth's redeemed children. The poet has beautifully expressed the relative connexion and mutual dependance of husbands and wives, in the following lines:

"Man is the lofty, rugged pine,

Which frowns on many a wave-beat shore :

Woman's the soft and tender vine,

Whose curling tendrils round it twine,

And deck its rough bark sweetly o'er."*

*This stanza 13 penned from a recollection of some fifteen year standing, an I it possi iy may vary from the original in some unimportent

Although the disparity conveyed in this stanza, between man and woman, may be too striking, in regard to strength and dependance, yet none can deny the general appropriateness of the sentimen? It inculcates.

CHAPTER II.

RIGHTS OF THE HUSBAND.

"What palm belongs to man's imperial front,
And woman powerful with becoming smiles,
Chief of terrestrial natures; need we now
Strive to inculcate ?"

THE subject to which I now invite the atten tion of the reader, is one surrounded by many difficulties. That there are certain distinct and reserved rights, pertaining to both parties in the marriage covenant, there cannot be a doubt. But to mark correctly the boundaries of those rightsto designate the exact line where the husband's authority commences and where it ceases-to point out the precise circumstances in which the wife shall have her will carried into effect, and where it must be restrained-requires a wisdom and experience, to which I can justly lay but little claim. And the difficulties of the subject are by no means lessened by the (may I be pardoned for saying) somewhat ultra views of the rights of woman, which have been promulgated within a few years past, by certain eminent female writers. I would gladly avoid the topic entirely, could I do so with propriety. But lying, as it does,

directly in the course which I have marked out for these essays, I cannot pass it by unnoticed, without a manifest and improper shrinking from the responsibility which rests upon one who presents his opinions to the public, relative to the duties and obligations of husbands and wives.--Nevertheless, I approach it with hesitancy, and crave the reader to receive my suggestions with candor, and give them that weight, and that weight only, to which their merits may be entitled.

Every family may be viewed in the light of a miniature republic, in which a government is established and rule is exercised, not for the benefit of the ruler or rulers, but for the benefit of each individual comprised within its bounds. In every government, in every case where authority is exer cised-there must be some individual, some single personage, who shall possess the power of making final decision upon controverted points-whose word in certain extreme cases shall be ultimatewho shall exercise a kind of "ultima ratia regum.' In monarchical governments this power is vested in a King-in Republics it is intrusted to a President-in States or Provinces to a Governor-in savage tribes to the Chief or head man. This principle is eminently exhibited in the government of the Universe. Although it was the opinion of many ancient philosophers, that the world was created and ruled conjointly by a Good and an Evil Being, yet, throughout all civilized na * The last reasoning of kings.

tions, it is now believed as one of the most important and exalted truths the mind can entertain, that there is but One Living and True God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and the lawful Sovereign of all worlds-but One "God of Love," who is the righteous Judge of all creatures, and to whom must be submitted the final decision of the immense interests of every created being!

"Man's author, End, Restorer, Law, and Judge.”

-Thee, O Father, this extent

Of matter; thee, sluggish earth and tract

Of seas, the heavens and heavenly splendors feel
Pervading, quickening, moving. From the depth
Of thy great essence, forth didst thou conduct
Eternal form; and there, where chaos reigned,
Gav'st her dominion to erect her seat,

And sanctify the mansion."

In all communities, I repeat, there is, and must be, a Head, an individual Will, with power to decide ultimately on every important question. The necessity for this must be seen in the consideration, that were this power vested in a plurality of persons, there would be constant liability to disagreement in judgment and opinion, by which questions involving the most important interests might remain for ever undecided, and all their benefits locked in eternal embryo. "A house divided against itself,' or rather in itself, cannot stand;' and it is divided against itself, if there be a divided authority."

The question now arises-in whom should this