MOON AND LOVE.
Tan silver orb of night has ever smiled with tutelary beneficence on lovers; and so likewise, at the Guildhall on Monday—Lunee dies—a pair of lovers found in Moon, the Alderman of the day, an appropriate refuge. The police report is quite a charming little myth. A young man, fortified by his father's consent, had appropriated a bride without the consent of her parents, and the two eloped together. A friend of the bride's family met them; and, finding his art of persuasion too weak to send the lady back to her home, he gave her into custody. Happily for the pair, Moon was the justice before whom they were placed : with the sagacious simplicity of a Solomon, he settled the whole difficulty in a trice,—advising the officious family friend to reverse the or- der of his meddling, by obtaining the sanction of the lady's pa- rents, and recommending the couple to get duly married without delay. The friend accepted his new mission, with an alacrity of conversion known only to the stage. Tan silver orb of night has ever smiled with tutelary beneficence on lovers; and so likewise, at the Guildhall on Monday—Lunee dies—a pair of lovers found in Moon, the Alderman of the day, an appropriate refuge. The police report is quite a charming little myth. A young man, fortified by his father's consent, had appropriated a bride without the consent of her parents, and the two eloped together. A friend of the bride's family met them; and, finding his art of persuasion too weak to send the lady back to her home, he gave her into custody. Happily for the pair, Moon was the justice before whom they were placed : with the sagacious simplicity of a Solomon, he settled the whole difficulty in a trice,—advising the officious family friend to reverse the or- der of his meddling, by obtaining the sanction of the lady's pa- rents, and recommending the couple to get duly married without delay. The friend accepted his new mission, with an alacrity of conversion known only to the stage. There is something engaging in the manner with which the mild Moon beams forth in apologies for the obstacles that had roughened the path of the fugitives. '"There appeared," he said, "to be true love—or he should hope so—in the present case; but as the course of true love is said never to run smooth, they must put up with the inconvenience attending the common lot of lovers." We presume that the lovers begged the apologist uot to mention it ; though, by the way, now that the lover's tutelary planet is high in office, we do not see why practical measures should not be taken for improving that notoriously ill-paved road "the course of true love."
The conduct of Moon on the recent occasion revives some con- fusion in mythology : it should be remembered that Luna must not be confounded with Diana, who was decidedly a Malthusian goddess ; and the distinction is again corroborated by the conduct of Luna at Guildhall. It is interesting to note that the present avatar confirms the mythology of Shakspere, who represents Moon under a virile aspect. Another coincidence is that the Shaksperian Moon bears a lantern to his own merits. And he shone, as our Moon does, with equal benignity on all, from the reconqueror of Europe to the unknown lovers in their trouble. But our Moon has the better influence ; for he brings about a happy wedding for the modern Pyramus and Thisbe, with con- sent of friends. One is inclined to presume that few judicial acts have saved more pain or caused more happiness than this lunar interposition.
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