Take care that there exists a strict congeniality between you in the following points: in religion, and in political ideas, for without a similarity in these all thoughts of happiness is but a dream; for they are vital and essential points, and are constantly recurring as matters of observation or discourse. Let the congeniality which I am recommending extend to another point, and be equally observable in the love of home: this is an unequivocal virtue on which (unlike religion or politics) no two opinions, so long as the mind is not perverted, can be held: and it is one of the most essential in the compound of requisites which go to form the basis of happiness in the marriage state. She should show a decided attachment to home and its duties, and be distinguished for the domestic affections. If she is fond of gadding abroad, alone, or in mixed company; if she is dying for visiting, and fond to excess of the rattle and perturbation which precede and follow any departure from home, she is not a suitable wife for thee, and is not, or ought not to be, in this, congenial to thyself. Home is, of all others, the place on which thou must ultimately depend for comfort. Consistently with this feeling, thy wife must be capable of discharging the duties of a mistress, and doubtless will be so, if drawn from a family such as I depicted in the commencement of this letter. She must superintend the concerns of thy household, pervade all, and assist in many; she must understand the nature of the business which she commits to her servants to execute, and, when thou art absent, be able to manage the house with fidelity, skill, and despatch.

I caution thee against fixing thy choice on a reader of novels or romances, or the like. Such an one will spend the summer's day in lolling on the couch, decyphering a worthless book, uneasy in posture, impaired in health, and disinclined to exercise and the kisses of the refreshing breeze; such an one, instead of preserving thy substance, will waste it. Not that the books I speak of are, in this our age, all worthless and to be reprobated; a great proportion are not so; but it is a capital mischief resulting from them that, although they may do no harm, yet they engross the time which might be spent over books, or, generally, in occupations infinitely more beneficial and improving.

In speaking of the portion thou mayst expect with thy wife I shall perhaps express sentiments foreign from the general run of the times I recommend thee to prefer a competency to a great fortune, as the latter might induce some women to presume on the obligation under which they would conceive thou layest to them; but the latter will insure thy wife's dependence upon thee, and make her look up to thee and rely upon thee more, as she sees thee more disinterested, and more devoted to exertions on her behalf. Besides, a competency only will give a greater impulse to thy industry. Thou seest that I do not inculcate a total neglect of money; in the present state of things it is highly desirable, on account of many comforts which it is impossible to procure without

it. And doubtless I think thou wouldst not do thy duty to thyself, or the family into which thou mayst expect to marry where thou wert not to receive a shilling on thy marriage,-this I say subject to the contingency of thy meeting a really virtuous wife; for if thou art quite sure that such a prize is within thy grasp, I say, as I said before, that she is invaluable, and that she ought to be seized at the risk or neglect of every other earthly consideration. Whatever be her circumstances take care, if it lies in thy power, that her ideas on matters connected with money be properly liberal. Let it be thy chief aim to steer clear of that narrowness of conduct and sentiment which is too frequently to be found in women. Whence it arises, I know not, but I think that they are more inclined to the feeling than the men, who labour for the gold. In this, of course, as in the practice of all other virtues, thou must set her the example; and thou wilt have no reason to complain of her, if thou hast shown thyself deficient in the same points.

As for thy wife's person (of which I have not been impatient to speak, as I would not have thee make it a primary object) I would rather she should be distinguished by mediocrity only in beauty; and this not only for the reason for which I dissuaded excess of money, but because it is desirable, that she should not have attractions for men so powerful, that those who see her rivet their gaze upon her; gazes which will hurt her if she have much diffidence, and if she have not, will tend to corrupt her mind, and make her as culpable as the men themselves are. The style of features in many women, which the world calls uninteresting, would deserve the name of good looks, if accompanied by worth and purity; therefore when I see a woman not much distinguished by personal attractions, I exclaim, she is beautiful enough, if she is good.

Let her, however, if possible, be such as will do thee credit in company, and in the eyes of other people. Certain it is that a man must marry to please more than himself if he wish to live in the enjoyment of tranquillity. Let me be rightly understood; she must have becoming and sterling features, a portly figure and manner, and a superior air and carriage in general.

Let her mental qualifications be all that virtuous ladies usually possess. Let her be mistress of every accomplishment which does not carry mischief with it. In acquirements which are calculated to strengthen and mature the judgment take care that she be not wanting; for if her judgment be strikingly beneath thine own, there will be danger of its sometimes exciting thy contempt; and all occasion of contempt should be as carefully avoided as of hatred, for qualities of an hateful aspect are not more surely calculated to interrupt connubial happiness.

Of the more volatile parts, which are generally comprehended under the name of wit, it is different; for these should be always in mediocrity, and not at the height of acuteness. Too sparkling, and too lively, she will attract observation and attentions, which may in

terfere with your mutual happiness; and if her wit be too visibly superior to thine own, she will be apt to exercise her talent at thy expense, and to thy uneasiness. For it is to be lamented how rarely acuteness of talent exists with judgment commensurate with it, and how rarely it is marked by forbearance and good-nature in its possessors.

I would rather that thy wife were marked by modesty, if at the expense of her wit, for modesty is an indispensable qualification, and a jewel which never tires the eye. There is a principle of modesty implanted in our being by the same hand which implanted our passions, and marked more strongly in the female sex than in the male, which it requires the grossest violation of nature, and the utmost blackness of depravity in us, to subdue or expel. Think not thyself the happier if thy wife has shown thee a preference, in regard of which modesty was overlooked; for if it be overlooked towards thyself, there is always great danger that it will be forgotten towards others. The character which seems the most natural for women to be dressed in, in the relation which they bear to their husband, is that of lovely dependence. I mean that the woman of thy choice should have the kindness and delicacy of a female, that she should raise her eyes to thee, and place upon thee her whole reliance for protection and kindness. This should be accompanied with a cheerful frankness, the parent of confidence, and that unrestrained communication of thought and feeling which identifies the souls of man and wife as one. I will not omit to mention that thy nature, John, being pensive and thoughtful, it will best suit thee to meet with a cheerful and lively temper in thy wife. I affirm not that every one should look for a temper opposite to his own in these engagements; but I maintain that too thoughtful a frame of mind is liable to beget unhappiness, when unrelieved by cheerfulness and vivacity. She should be mistress of prepossessing manners and a gentle address, calculated not to strike but to please; and should be well tutored in the performance of those inferior civilities and attentions, which are scarcely less amiable than a habit of general benevolence. The qualities which I have prescribed imply an absence of all testiness and irritable feeling, which, under the best disposition, may embitter every kind of social life; of all coldness, which is the grave of love, and, radically, incompatible with the conjugal character; and of the unfortunate failing of feminine loquacity, an exemption from which will be meritorious in proportion as the instances of it are uncommon. Testiness in a wife is calculated to irritate a man, coldness to alienate him, and loquacity to madden him.

Last, but not least in importance, let me advise thee first carefully to assure thyself of the state of thy beloved's affections as towards thyself, and to ascertain beyond the reach of doubt that she is well disposed towards thee. For it is observable that the greatest goodness may exist, and that both parties may be equally amiable and estimable, and still be wanting in this bias of their hearts

towards each other. Young people are often deceived by warm feelings. There are flights and eccentric motions which imitate love, as there are meteors and shooting lights which represent stars; but they are equally fallacious, equally the phantoms of heat, and equally fugitive.

I have written fully to thee, and know not that I have any thing to add, but should I find any thing more to mention I will put it in the form of a postscript. That I wish thee every good that falls within the sphere of humanity thou canst not doubt; and wishing that thou mayst well succeed in thy present search, and that God may direct thee to a wife amiable and virtuous, and possessing all the qualities I have above described, I subscribe myself, esteemed kinsman John, thy friend, JACOB WEAVERS.

FROM BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE,

CALCUTTA-THE EXCHANGE.

TILL of late years, Calcutta did not possess a public place of meeting for transacting business; and as this must appear an essential requisite to European mercantile men, it may be as well to explain by what means it was so long dispensed with.

In the first place, formerly, and perhaps still, all sales were made through the medium of native brokers, or Banyans, at a nominal agency of three per cent., but in many cases their per centage was only bounded by the power of laying on, for as to their conscience, it is quite ductile, and may be stretched to any length. Every house in Calcutta was furnished with one of those faithful servants, who often were in reality the masters of the concern; and so little did their principles know of what is esteemed indispensable in this country, that when I was in Bengal, though one man might be a tolerable judge of indigo, and another of cotton, yet I was told on authority, that I have no reason to question, that there were not in all Calcutta six Europeans who understood the qualities of the staple commodities of the country; and, to my certain knowledge, there are many eminent merchants, who could not tell the difference between the very best and very worst of the goods by which they were making their fortunes. All this information, therefore, as well as the current prices of the Bazar, had to be taken on the word of the Banyans, in so much, that a gentleman who is, and I believe justly, considered as the most acute mercantile man in Calcutta, once sold a parcel of saltpetre at the price some had been sold the week before, without consulting his sable oracle, and found, to his mortification, that he had got about thirty per cent. less than he might have done It is but justice, however, to these gentlemen, to state, that those sent out for the purpose of purchasing cotton for houses in Liverpool, Glasgow, and Manchester, were not much more au fait at their business

than the Orientals. In my presence, several of them were shown a sample of the best Sea Island cotton, which they declared to be pretty good Bengal cutchoura, the former being about four times. the value of the latter.

When a direct communication was to be made between two mercantile men, it was done by a note, or, as it is there called, a chit, and bargains of the greatest importance were made by that means in perfect security, for their legality was never disputed; this, perhaps, did not arise from any greater honesty in the good people of Calcutta, but necessity and expediency established a code of honour among all degrees, which, for the good of the whole, must be kept inviolable.

For a long time, all kinds of property, even landed and heritable, were transferred without the slightest inconvenience, but the arrival of a conveyancer in the settlement put an end to this golden age of irregular proceedings. Since that happy event, though the chit sales have never been questioned, yet such is the security which law affords to property in this fortunate land, that from the time that the meaning of four lines has been put beyond question, by being extended by legal precision to forty pages, litigation of rights and titles to landed property has become a principal source of annual income to the attorneys and barristers; and people who might formerly have been bound by a sense of honour which was not to be broken, now only seek for a legal loop-hole to escape through, and "leaving the fear of God on the left hand, and, hiding their honour in their avarice, scruple not to hedge, and lurch, and shuffle," as their counsel, learned in the law-service of the realm, may be pleased to direct. We have only to be thankful that the law has not as yet spread her protecting wings over commercial bargains, else the Supreme Court would be under the necessity of being reinforced.

To remedy the evils of the Banyan system, to establish a pricecurrent from well authenticated documents, to procure a properly qualified European as a broker, to establish a sample-room for sales of goods, and to form a place of meeting for transacting business, the Exchange was established. This took place about the middle of the year 1818; and a set of public spirited merchants made a point of attending at first to set the thing fairly a-going; but finding it an agreeable lounge, it was soon after frequented on its own account, and whether or not it will produce all the good effects proposed by its projectors, there is no doubt that it will keep its ground as a place of public resort.

The hall selected for this purpose had formerly been a sale-room, or large shop, where English goods were sold on commission. It consisted of the whole ground-floor of a house partially divided by a double range of square pillars, from which spring arches to support the pillars of the chambers above. In the upper end of the room, smaller apartments were partitioned off, by a curtain of masonry, for the display of samples, meetings of committees, and