our

   son;

   From obligation, the damsel having shown herself weak;

   From passion, in order to become more surely cured of it;

   On account of a quarrel, in order to put an end to a lawsuit;

   From gratitude, by which he gives more than he has received;

   From goodness, which is the fate of doctrinaires;

   From the condition of a will when a dead uncle attaches his legacy to some girl, marriage with whom is the condition of succession;

   From custom, in imitation of his ancestors;

   From old age, in order to make an end of life;

   From

    yatidi

   , that is the hour of going to bed and signifies amongst the Turks all bodily needs;

   From religious zeal, like the Duke of Saint-Aignan, who did not wish to commit sin?[*]

   But these incidents of marriage have furnished matter for thirty thousand comedies and a hundred thousand romances.

   Physiology, for the third and last time I ask you—What is your meaning?

   So far everything is commonplace as the pavement of the street, familiar as a crossway. Marriage is better known than the Barabbas of the Passion. All the ancient ideas which it calls to light permeate literature since the world is the world, and there is not a single opinion which might serve to the advantage of the world, nor a ridiculous project which could not find an author to write it up, a printer to print it, a bookseller to sell it and a reader to read it.

   Allow me to say to you like Rabelais, who is in every 

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