954 "Transactions.— Miscellaneous. 
friends) in the discomfort of foreign hotels, or the still less endurable deso- 
lation of English inns, as if to strain to the utmost the strength of their newly 
made bonds." Inthis month of homeless misery we have the barbarism of 
the past surviving in a symbol almost as disagreeable as the reality. 
5. The marriage customs we have spoken of are mainly survivals of the 
capture system, which in the progress of civilization passed into the 
purchase system. We do not doubt that now-a-days some marry on princi- 
ple and from pure love and affection; but the purchase system largely 
characterizes the present grade of civilization. Of this system there are 
two kinds, the one antique and homely, and the other modern and refined. 
The antique and homely way was to pay hard money to parents or 
guardians for the lady. This is still the custom in many parts of the world, 
and it was the custom both in France and in England at no very distant 
date. Our modern method of purchase is much more refined. Let a man 
who is marriageable have plenty of money, and almost any one of a score 
of girls round about is ready to accept his hand. In cases of this sort the 
man purchases the girl—the girl literally selling herself for money. If men 
still purchase wives, it is equally common for women to purchase husbands. 
Let a girl.inherit a fortune, and however overlooked she may have been 
hitherto she now becomes the belle of the place. Marriageable men in 
hundreds are thinking about her; letters full of her praises burden the 
local letter-carrier, and crowds of prudent youths take a fancy to the kind 
of gospel preached in the church she attends. 
** Be a lassie e'er sae black, 
Gin she ha'e the name o' siller ; 
Set her up on Tintock tap, 
The wind will blaw a man till her." 
In such cases the girl purchases the husband—he literally selling him- 
self for her money. 
II. Sunvivans iN Opinions AND Laws. 
1. Icome now to consider the second and more important class of sur- 
vivals, consisting of ideas and opinions and laws, which, originating in the 
rudest states of society, have lasted on into our times. The primitive 
slavery to which women were subject is not quite extinct. No doubt their 
legal and social position in civilized countries now-a-days is an improve- 
ment upon what it was in the old times. Not a few married women, 
exceptionally fortunate in their husbands, feel they could not be freer or 
better situated than they are at present. Such, however, should be re- 
minded that they are what they are, not by law but by grace— 
by the grace of their lords, by the favour of their legal masters. The 
old slavery, modified and mitigated in some respects, still continues, 
but disguised under the name of the subordination of the one sex 
