13 FEBRUARY 1864, Page 3

The need of improving our marriage laws has received another

illustration. A Miss Quinton, pupil in a boarding-school at Ennis- killen, has 1,0001., and is a ward in Chancery. An attorney's clerk named Peterson fell in love either with the lady or her money, and arranged with a priest to marry them. The young lady was baptized and then married by a priest, at whom she was forbidden to look, and then, to make sure of the money, "Peterson's friends saw them safely put to bed." The Master of the Rolls ordered Peterson to be arrested, but the lady refuses to go back to her friends, and there is practically nothing to be done in the matter. The truth is, that where liberty of choice is allowed, boys and girls must be permitted occasionally to make foolish matches. All the fuss made on such occasions may be useful as a deterrent to other couples, but once wedded there is nothing for relatives to do but console themselves with predicting the regular number of misfor- tunes !