niece t ybsoile adit o106 On, the Ms Adamizing Systents , 
names (ifsmamed }id «row forgetyzand 
therefore, far myopresent | purpose; will 
‘suppese te dave ybeen Boaz aud:Ruth, 
attended, at; ehurch::to: hear the mar- 
riage ceremony read ‘to| them by: a War- 
aviekshire yelergyman; swho' proceeded 
therewithy ands itomust) be» presumed 
withall, clerical grayity, ’till the produc- 
tion: ofthe hoop of gold, a paltry ring,” 
at which the) Warwickshire lad. and lass, 
“withisweet butsileat intercourse, looked 
and. smiled, a,look:and smile to brutes 
denied??—-Far was it,-at that fatal mo- 
ment from, their thoughts, 
“Phatwhiles Jove holds us out the bow! of 
ip SJoys 19 
pag ria reach.our Jips, ’tis dash’d with 
ei Salk x9 
By some, left-handed god,” 
«(Dale of woe.!) ‘« The parson skrew’d 
his.face.into,,a-gloomy smile,” cast off 
‘his.holy garb, withheld the pious bene- 
diction.and,amen, and.so, unwedded, left 
the.melancholy pair... Charity. would 
hope, that, Boaz,and Ruth contemplated 
a,union agreeably, with the divinejinjunc- 
ion ;,.and.,.which;.would have. been ef- 
but, for, clerical-interposition—an 
ipterposition, which,no Oxonian — or 
‘Cantab ever read.of, in the sacred page. 
‘Boaz and Ruth might have married like 
their namesakes of, old, but, in the pre- 
sent constitution .of society, some civil 
ceremony is.indispensably necessary, and 
might, therefore, be. observed, without 
subjecting parties to the violation of con- 
science, or whimsies of a clerical casuist. 
_And now, Mr. Editor, whilst I have pen 
in hand, and an. inkling for scribbling, 
low, me, toistate what. in the marriage 
“ceremony,,of. the Church of England 
seems to, border, closely upon idolatry, 
viz., the declaration of the husband: to 
XA “‘ with my body I thee wor- 
ip:”?,, Had I. met with such language 
he em of Tom Paine, I should 
. 
have been appalled, and have inferred 
thatthe infidel was at his gibes. But 
there is a faculty in some persons, 
«9 plese Who! ean with ease, 
Twist wordsand meanings as they please—” 
and I. have been told by some of this 
tribe, that “ worship,’ in a canonical 
sense, may either import adoration of the 
Supreme Burne, or civility and respect 
toa, Wire. Sf the tern has so equivo- 
calla meaning, applicable, in a different 
sense to the Almighty, and to a frail 
creaturé) ought it not, to: be expunged 
from the marriage ritual; to, ease the 
consciences .of those who way, not i gall 
instances: baye .quite epinenen Sand 
sulitikty enough to understand a canoni- 
3o15 
cal doubleentendré 20Tn additiow to this 
worship .of) the! lady; she! must have a 
dowry;ad libitum, ov by wholesale 3 that 
Is‘to' say, for'so the saying is}/she’shall 
be “endowed with! “all his!‘ worldly 
goods”) notwithstanding that ‘the law- 
yer, a few«hours before churching time, 
may have taken pretty good care to're- 
serve the most part of such goods for 
the said husband’s use: Don’t you thiuk,. 
Mr. Editor, that this is, with a witness, 
“« Playing the changes upon cases 
As plain as noses upon faces?” 
Tue Hermit. 
South Petherton, 27th. Nov, 1824. 
(We wish our merry hermit'(whom per- 
haps it might not be’ quite improper to re- 
mind that it is possible to be more merry 
than wise) had subjoined, atileast imja-note, 
the particulars of the incident to ,whieh, he 
refers: for, either in the; text, OR .at..the 
foot of the page, we are disposed, to, think 
that the facts, in every history, (whatever 
flourishes the histbrian may ‘choose to in- 
‘dulge in) should be made intelligible. ‘We 
have’ some_rémembrance “of having’ latély 
met, in the daily papers, with more imstancés 
than one of what appeared to us*a species 
of diseased » conscientiousness; | or; as) Dr. 
Johnson would , have» said,--serrpudosity, 
about this same marriage ritual, both.on, the 
part of the couples and the clergymen ;,and 
of rather alarming inconyeniencies,, in a 
moral point of view, that have resulted from 
them. If these had been simply and plainly 
quoted, it might have given a more obvious 
inference to the merry mockery of our cor- 
respondent. Jn the hope, however,’ that 
the incidents, alluded to, maybe sufficiently 
in the memory of our readers to make that 
inference apparent, we give place tO. a part 
of the hermit’s pleasantries.—Eb. }, 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
Sir: yon 
CCORDING .to.your invitatiowin 
p. 413 of- your Magazine for, this 
month, J. cheerfully, forward) you. my 
mite of .-contribution, on) the, new 
road-making, or M‘Adamizing) system. 
J.M.1L.’s echoing animadversion,, on 
the statement. of Mr, M‘Adam’s: finding 
the plan answer, well, in the country, 
“ That ux sinds\it answer well, there.can 
be no doubt,” I,must say, understand- 
ing, as, every body must, the feeling 
which could dictate this repetition, that 
I, am, persuaded, whatever the, little 
spirit.of jealousy or envy may prompt 
to the detraction of such) a man,! poste- 
rity, (human and) animal, if; the) latter 
could,) will unite: to erect a monwnent 
to hiny far more worthy of) attraction 
than the Achilles of Hyde-park, with all 
Suey the 
