could never have been obtruded upon the public, under circumstances so agonizing to their feelings, and so injurious to their dignity.

If, however, from this lamented and partial calamity, general benefit should arise and the public mind should be enlightened to the right understanding of the nature of the marriage contract, and the limits of the obligation which it imposes, and that public mind so enlightened, should express its will in the high court of Parliament, abrogating every irrational, impolitic, and anti-Christian canon and statute, the domestic misfortunes of the royal family will have a mitigation and relief which will reconcile the illustrious sufferers to the evils which they endure; because they will enjoy the generous consolation of knowing that these evils can never again be inflicted, either upon the prince or the people.

Alas! how many thousands, as well as their majesties, are the victims of a barbarism as foreign from the spirit and improvement of the age, as it is repugnant to the mild and equitable requirements of the Christian law-giver. In how many miserable families, are the greatest and best ends of marriage altogether frustrated! Yet, can the injured obtain no redress; and their wretchedness is aggravated by the bitter reflection, that it can terminate only with life.

The present work of Milton is re-published, because it is the only book on this great and momentous subject, which is at the same time full and

compendious; which argues the whole question with fairness and impartiality, appealing to every principle of reason, and every dictate of scripture ; which is learned, and yet popular; which cites the best authorities, and refutes the strongest objections; and which will amply re-pay every reader that sits down to its perusal, if not by making him a convert to its doctrines, yet by enriching his mind with various knowledge, and delighting his imagination with the charms of wit and eloquence.

It was originally addressed to the Parliament of England; and though it failed in the principal object which its author purposed, yet it was read and approved by philosophers and statesmen. Nor was it wholly without effect; there were not a few who embraced the Doctrine, and obeyed the Discipline of Divorce.*

* Dr. Symmons, perhaps the most impartial biographer of Milton, says "On the subject of Divorce, he makes out a strong case, and fights with arguments which cannot be easily repelled. The whole context of the Holy Scriptures, the laws of the first Christian Emperors, the opinions of some of the most eminent reformers, and a projected statute of Edward the Sixth, are adduced by him for the purpose of demonstrating that by the laws of God, and by the inferences of the most virtuous and enlightened men, the power of divorce ought not to be rigidly restricted to those causes, which render the nuptial state unfruitful, or which taint it with a spurious offspring. Regarding mutual support as the principal object of this union, he contends that whatever defrauds it of these ends, essentially vitiates the contract, and must necessarily justify its dissolution.

It was violently attacked by the Presbyterian Clergy; nor can such a writer as Milton, ever prove acceptable to the bigots of any sect.

Whether our senators and the people at large are prepared to meet this great subject, and fearlessly to act upon the dictates of truth and charity; or whether, devoted to established custom and ancient institutions, they resolve not to change an iota of things as they are; yet will the present work, if read with attention, abate certain popular prejudices, and assuage certain irritable feelings which have betrayed a large portion of our people into the expression of something like injustice towards one suffering party, and induced them to give all their sympathy and regret, with an inconsiderate zeal, to the woes and misfortunes of the other.

Without venturing to anticipate the topics which form the basis of the following tracts, and without

Though his arguments failed, and indeed, they could not reasonably hope to produce general conviction, their effect was far from inconsiderable; and a party distinguished by the name of Miltouists, attested the power of his pen, and gave consequence to his pleading for divorce. The legislature however, coinciding evidently with a large majority of the nation, seem to have considered the evil resulting from the indissolubleness of marriage, as not to be weighed against the greater good; and their wisdom permitted the abilities of Milton to be exerted in vain against that condition of the contract, which provided the most effectually for the interest of the offspring, and which offered the best means of intimately blending the fortunes, the tempers, and the manners of the parents."

offering any very decided opinion as to the practicability of the discipline which the author stre nuously recommends, it may be fairly presumed, that the general unhappiness of married life proceeds from some grand and fundamental error in the laws and canons which respect divorce; and that this law is perhaps founded on some vital mistake with regard to the institution of marriage itself. Matrimony certainly partakes more of the nature of a civil contract, than of that of a religious obligation; and is a totally different thing from what either Popish or Protestant Churches in general represent it to be. It is not a necessary and permitted evil, as Popery insinuates; nor is it an intolerable burthen, and a cleaving curse for life, as some Protestant Churches have decreed. Jeremy Taylor has beautifully observed, that "the first blessing God gave to man, was society; and that society was a marriage; and that marriage was confederate by God himself, and hallowed by a blessing. It contains in it all sweetness, and all society and felicity, and all prudence, and all wisdom. For there is nothing can please a man without love. And if a man be And if a man be weary of the wise discourses of the apostles, and of the innocency of an even and a private fortune, or hates peace or a fruitful year, he hath reaped thorns and thistles from the choicest flowers of Paradise; for nothing can sweeten felicity itself but love. But when a man dwells in love, then the breasts of his wife are pleasant as the droppings

of the hill of Hermon, her eyes are fair as the light of heaven, she is a fountain sealed, and he can quench his thirst, and ease his cares, and lay his sorrow down upon her lap, and can retire home, as to his sanctuary and his garden of sweetness and chaste refreshments. But he that loves not his wife and children, feeds a lioness at home, and broods a nest of sorrows, and blessing itself cannot make him happy. So that all the commandments of God enjoin ing a man to love his wife are nothing but so many necessities and capacities of joy; she that is loved is safe, and he that loves is joyful." But when in the married state there is discovered by the parties a total want of congeniality, an absolute incapacity to promote each other's felicity, even the command of Heaven cannot avail to constrain love; and laws and obligations which make a contract eternal, in which it is impossible for the individuals who have made it to fulfil any of its conditions, can be nothing less than the most odious and oppressive tyranny. A tyranny, which the wise and good governor of the universe could never exercise. Heaven has ordained that they 'who marry should be a help meet to each other, and Milton, in his immortal Poem, introduces our first parent, thus addressing his Creator.

"Hast thou not made me here thy substitute,

"And these inferior far beneath me set?

"Can sort, what harmony or true delight?

"Which must be mutual in proportion due