5 4 
45. 
136 
her forrow to its fecret fource, where it 
Jay ccncealed among the warm wifes and 
natural defires of a young heart, formed 
for enjoying and communicating pertect 
happinels. 
‘She went to the church, and was facri- 
ficed at the altar, in giaiicrce to the ad- 
vice of friends (which has more weight 
with girls here ‘chan in England) ; but, 
when rae at the altar, fhe Bild no 
longer govern her affliction, orreftrain her 
tears. I have teen different. executions, 
and have, in different ‘countries, witnefled 
very barbarous military punifnments, but 
never did I fee anything more affe€ting 
than this human facrifice ofa forced mar- 
riage. 
The old fournifjeur was fo ftupid as to 
appear quite infenfible of the great aver- 
fion of his young bride, and to confider 
her tears and agony as the mere common 
effeGts of youthtul bafhfulnefs and maiden 
modefty. In France, the unmarried girls 
have ufually not fo much liberty as in 
England, while the married women take 
more; this makes young girls more irhpa- 
tient to be married ; and, when marriagés 
are made without much previous’ acquain- 
tance, and without mutual affection, in’ a 
country where gallantry is fomewhat the 
fafhion, hufbands mutt be prepared for the 
confequences, This, I believe, is a prin- 
cipal caufe which gives the French wo- 
men thereputation of being rather loofe in 
refpet to the point of female honour. I 
am convinced, that when they are united 
toa man from choice and their own in- 
clination, they are as affeétionate = 
agreeable companions as any in the Weis 2d; 
as confiant, and as much attached, 
ready to fhare his fortunes, and to ike 
any facrifices or exertions for his intereft. 
‘There are many perfons here, who are not 
content with a republican marriage, but 
get themfelves alfo sy ately married by a 
prieft, according to the forms of the Cat 
tholic religion. This not only’ fatisfies 
eyery con(cientious feruple, but makes the 
marriage binding in cafe of a counter. revo- 
lution, which 1s a cafe, as they con! ider, 
by no means impefible. 
The people here are, at prefent, very 
much divided berweenDecadeand Sunday: 
government will not aliow the fhops to be 
shut on Sundays, as they confider that a 
dire€t oppoiition to the republican calen- 
dar, which will-not admit ofthe Chriftian 
era, The people, on the other band, will 
not fhut their fhops on Decades, or vo 
juntarily acquiefce in the new calendar, 
The confequence of this oppofition is, 
Letter from France.—Punning Epitaph. 
[ March 1, 
that the Bourdeaux fhopkeeper keeps no 
holiday, or day of reft, and drudges the 
whole year round. 
T have feen the celebrated Barrere, who 
appears very publicly here, and is much 
re{pected on account of his private cha- 
racter, notwithftanding the places | he 
held in the Committee of Public Safety. 
He is a fmart well-looking little man ; 
his air and manners eafy and genteel, his 
complexion, hair, and eyes dark, and his 
countenance expreflive “of fenfibility and 
imagination. The government muft haye 
connived at his-efcape from prifon, or he 
would not venture to appear fo publicly. 
Drouet, the celebrated ‘poft-maiter of Va- 
rennes, who ftopped the Royal ] Family, and 
afterwards was taken priloner, and lay 
many years in the Auftrian dungeons, 
was fuffered to eicape at the fame’ time. 
When he was taken by the Aultrians, his 
frierids, the Jacobins, had the government 
of France; + when he was releafed, ‘he 
found his friends proferibed by the re- 
aStion which took place after the death of 
Robefpierre, and, as an Auftrian dungeon 
was no {chool of philofophy or politics, 
it’ was but reafonable to expect that he 
would come out of it with the fame poli- 
tical principles with whic hi he entered it. 
— 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magasine. 
SIR, 
HERE never perhaps was ‘a Name 
“which has afforded greater room for 
punning, than one which is immortalized 
by the celebrity of its owner—I mean 
Ser Thomas More ; and, it one may judge 
from the unpublifhed life of this great 
wes among’ Mr.’ Baker’s manuf{cripts, 
(which is full of original anecdote), the 
tacility which his name gave to this idle 
amufement, feems, in fome degree, to 
have extended to himéelf.: The fafhion of 
the age, and’a {portive playtulnefs arifing 
from the unrufiled tranquillity of a good 
confcience, appears in him to have {oft- 
ened the {ter nels f the inflexible magi; 
ftrate. 
- The frei vena be the name we not, 
however; permitted the praétice to be con+ 
fined to the illuttrious Chancellor. Saun< 
tering, the other day, through Stepney 
Church-yard, I accidentally met with the 
following epitaph which,I do not t recollect 
_to have iecn in ieee : 
Epitaph on William More. 
Here lies More, and no more than he: 
More and nomerz! how can that be 2? 
Perhaps 
. 
