wife, his bride, and her relations. The clerk
inscribes in a register kept for the purpose the
names, ages, and birthplaces of the contracting
parties. The president interrogates the bridegroom,
his wife, and his bride, who remain
standing before him. He says to the wife, "Do
you consent to give this woman to your husband
as a lawful wife, in time and all eternity? If
you consent thereto, testify the same by placing
her right hand in your husband's hand."

The right hands of the bride and bridegroom
being thus joined, the wife takes the husband's
left arm. Then the president says, addressing
the man, "Brother So-and-so, do you take Sister
So-and-so by the right hand to receive her as
yours, to be your lawful wife, and you to be her
lawful husband, in time and in all eternity,
promising on your part to fulfil all the laws, rites,
and ordinances relating to holy matrimony, in
the New and Eternal Covenant?"

The bridegroom answers, "Yes." The same
words are addressed to the bride, who likewise
answers, "Yes;" after which the president gives
them his blessing: "And I say unto you,
increase and multiply; people the whole earth.
Amen."

How many wives has the prophet, Brigham
Young? Some have said twenty, others thirty,
forty, sixty, and even eighty. The truth is,
he has only fifteen; but it is right to remark,
that several of these wives, the companions of
his youth, and always treated, with all
imaginable deference and respect, are now merely
his friends. These fifteen ladies dwell together
in Lion's Mansion, where each has her private
room. They take their meals in common, at
which Brigham presides. He offers up the
different prayers of the day, and gives instruction to
his children. The first wife, namely, she who
was first married, directs the household
occupations of this large family.

Several other patriarchs, such as Kimball,
Orson Pratt, and other eminent heads of the
Church, likewise live under the same roof
together with all their wives. The children
play together like brothers and sisters, and all
bear their father's name. But the majority of
the polygamous brethren cause their wives to live
in separate houses, at slight distances from one
another. Each lady then educates and governs
exclusively her own proper children. The
census made at the end of 1858, during the last
American campaign against the Mormons, gave
the following results:

Husbands with seven or more wives      .   .   .      387
Husbands with five wives       .   .   .   .   .   .   .      730
Husbands with four wives  .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .     1100
Husbands with more than one, and less than
   four wives    .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .   .     1400
Total of polygamous husbands in Utah      .   .     3617

"Peace and harmony," says Brother Bertrand,
"generally reign in our polygamous households.
We might call sundry witnesses to attest the
fact. On the borders of Great Salt Lake there
are ladies capable of shining in the first saloons
of Europe." Brother Bertrand' s wife not having
consented to follow him to Utah, Brigham advised
him to form fresh connexions and found a new
family there. He believed that under the
impression of that unlooked-for incident, the
lady would hasten to join her husband. The
husband thought otherwise; and in the hope
of eventually converting her, as well as his two
sons, to the new religion, he abstained, and
accepted the office of Mormon missionary to
France. His belief in the approaching destruction
of the American States assures him, as one
consequence, of the return of the Mormons to
their promised land of Missouri, and of their
repossession of the splendid domains of which
they were despoiled. The grand central temple,
that marvel of architectural marvels which is to
eclipse every building in the world, will then be
constructed according to Joseph's revealed plan.
Meanwhile Utah forms the land of refuge for
Americans. That vast territory, so marvellously
colonised by the Mormons, is already become
for them the fulcrum which Archimedes required
for himself, and is to move the world.

What is to be said of such a book as this,
treating of such a people as the disciples of Mr,
Joseph Smith? Simply that here is a new
instructive leaf in the long long volume of credulity
and imposture, appropriately illustrated by Mr.
Joseph Smith's "golden plates." Imagine the
faithful on the banks of the Great Salt Lake
imagining Mr. Joseph Smith appointed by the
eternal Heavens to decipher the plates, with the
Divine assistance (attested by Mr. Joseph's
mother) of "two triangular diamonds enclosed
in glass and set in silver, so as to resemble a
pair of ancient spectacles!"

On the 25th of March will be published the commencement
of a New Serial Work of Fiction, entitled
VERY HARD CASH.
By CHARLES READE, D.C.L,
Author of "IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND"
To be continued from week to week, until completed in
about eight months.

Now ready, bound in cloth boards, price 5s. 6d.,
THE EIGHTH VOLUME,
Containing from No. 177 to 200, both inclusive; and, in
addition, SOMEBODY'S LUGGAGE, being the
Extra Double Number for Christmas.

MR. CHARLES DICKENS'S READINGS.
HANOVER SQUARE ROOMS. On Wednesday Evening,
March 11, MR. CHARLES DICKENS will read his
NICHOLAS NICKLEBY AT MR. SQUEERS'S
SCHOOL,
AND
BOOTS AT THE HOLLY TREE INN
And on Friday Evening, March 13, his
LITTLE DOMBEY, AND THE TRIAL FROM
PICKWICK.
Stalls, 5s. Centre Seats, 2s. Back Seats, 1s.
Tickets to be had at Messrs. CHAPMAN and HALL'S, Publishers,
193 Piccadilly; at AUSTIN'S Ticket Office, St. James's Hall; and at
PAYNE'S Ticket Office, Hanover Square Rooms.
Doors Open at Seven. Commence at Eight o'clock.

The Right of Translating Articles from ALL THE YEAR ROUND is reserved by the Authors.