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 UNIVERSI 
 
 ALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO
 
 Wcr-
 
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 1\lUlt- 1)1 -fit 
 
 OF 
 
 ALL XATIONS. 
 
 incled and arranged fry 
 
 \Vll.LI.V\\ TKCXi, F.R.II.S 
 
 .ji- of " The Last i 
 s ol' their own" 
 
 LON DO N, 
 
 illiam Tegg & C,PajicrasLane,Cheapside
 
 THE 
 
 KNOT TIED. 
 
 MARRIAGE CEREMONIES 
 
 OF 
 
 ALL NATIONS. 
 
 COLLECTED AND ARRANGED 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM TEGG, F. R. H. S., 
 
 Editor of "Meetings and Greetings" " The Last Act,' 
 "Hone's Three Trials," &>c. 
 
 LONDON : 
 WILLIAM TEGG & CO., 
 
 PANCRAS LANE, CHEAPSIDE. 
 l8 77 .
 
 & Co., Printers, Glasgow and London.
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE very favourable reception accorded both by 
 the press and the public to my last work, entitled 
 " THE LAST ACT," * has induced me to issue a 
 companion volume on a more genial and cheerful 
 subject, namely, that of MARRIAGE, including a 
 succinct account of the wedding ceremonies, customs 
 and forms of the principal countries of the world, 
 interspersed with notices of eccentric and local 
 nuptial proceedings, irregular marriages, the anti- 
 quity and signification of the wedding-ring, wedding 
 poesies, and other matters pertaining to the Holy 
 State, which I trust will be received and read with 
 equal if not greater interest. 
 
 We read in the Book of Common Prayer, a wise 
 and salutary injunction, the proper observance of 
 which forms the mainspring of matrimonial felicity, 
 
 * The Last Act: being the Funeral Rites of Nations and 
 Individuals. Collected and Arranged by William Tegg. izmo. 
 Pp. 404.
 
 4 PREFACE. 
 
 and contributes the greatest happiness to individuals,, 
 and to the prosperity of nations and communities : 
 " Those whom God hath joined together let no man 
 put asunder." 
 
 Marriage may with propriety be called the chief 
 concern of human life. When we reflect that from 
 it arises the nearest and most endearing relationships 
 which go to form the comfort and happiness of 
 existence in this world husband and wife, parents 
 and children, brothers and sisters, and many others 
 the importance of the institution, in all its bearings 
 on the welfare of society, will at once be recognised. 
 In a word, marriage may be designated the hinge 
 of all kindred, or the strongest link in the chain 
 that binds mankind together. 
 
 Our blessed Saviour gave an additional value to 
 the holy state of matrimony by reducing it to the 
 constant and indissoluble union of two persons 
 only (Matt. xix. 5); and likewise reflecting that the 
 inseparable connection was a mark of eternal union 
 with His Church. 
 
 " Quaint old Thomas Fuller " says, in his " Holy 
 and Profane State": It is the policy of the Lon- 
 doners, when they send a ship into the Levant or 
 Mediterranean sea, to make every mariner therein 
 a merchant, each seaman adventuring something of 
 his own, which will make him more wary to avoid, 
 and more valiant to undergo dangers. Thus, mar-
 
 PREFACE. 5 
 
 ried men, especially if having posterity, are the 
 deeper sharers in the state wherein they live which 
 engageth their affections to the greatest loyalty. 
 And though bachelors be the strongest stakes, yet 
 married men are the best binders in the hedge of 
 the commonwealth. 
 
 Milton's Episode upon Marriage, for its grave 
 and majestic beauty, is so exquisite and inimitable, 
 that no apology will be required for its insertion 
 here : 
 
 " Hail, wedded love, mysterious law, true source 
 Of human offspring, sole propriety 
 In Paradise of all things common else ! 
 By thee adult'rious lust was driven from men 
 Among the bestial herds to range ; by thee, 
 Founded in reason, loyal, just, and pure, 
 Relations dear, and all the charities 
 Of father, son, and brother, first were known. 
 Far be it that I should write thee sin or blame, 
 Or think thee unbefitting holiest place ; 
 Perpetual fountain of domestic sweets, 
 Whose bed is undefiled and chaste pronounced, 
 Present, or past, as saints and patriarchs used. 
 Here Love his golden shafts employs, here lights 
 His constant lamp, and waves his purple wings, 
 Reigns here and revels " 
 
 A bachelor was saying, " Next to no wife, a 
 good wife is best." " Nay," said a gentlewoman, 
 "next to a good wife, no wife is the best!" and I
 
 O PREFACE. 
 
 wish to all married persons the outward happiness, 
 which, in 1605, befel a couple in the city of Delph, 
 in Holland, living most lovingly together seventy-five 
 years in wedlock, till the man, being one hundred 
 and three, the woman, ninety-nine years of age, 
 died within three hours of each other, and were 
 buried in the same grave. 
 
 In concluding, I must acknowledge my indebted- 
 ness to William Andrews, Esq., F.R.H.S., of Hull, 
 for many kind suggestions in passing the book 
 through the press, and also for several able articles 
 in this volume. 
 
 WILLIAM TEGG, F.R.H.S. 
 
 1877.
 
 PART I.
 
 THE KNOT TIED. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 OF THE FORM OF SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY 
 ACCORDING TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.* 
 
 Introduction. 
 
 THAT this holy state was instituted by God, is 
 evident from the two first chapters in the Bible: 
 whence it came to pass, that amongst all the 
 descendants from our first parents, the numerous 
 inhabitants of the different nations in the world, 
 there has been some religious way of entering into 
 this state, in consequence and testimony of this divine 
 institution. Among Christians especially, from the 
 very first ages of the Church, those that have been 
 married have been always joined together in a 
 solemn manner by an ecclesiastical person. And 
 
 * The following account of the ceremony of marriage according 
 to the constitution of the Church of England, has been condensed 
 from Wheatly's Rational Illustration of the Book of Common 
 Prayer of the Church of England. Published by Tegg & Co.
 
 10 SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY ACCORDING 
 
 by several canons of the Church, it is declared to be 
 no less than prostituting one's daughter, to give her 
 in marriage without the blessing of the priests. In 
 so much that some commentators interpret those 
 words of Saint Paul, of marrying in the Lord* of 
 marrying according to the form and order prescribed 
 by the apostles. But those words are more naturally 
 to be understood of marrying one of the same faith; 
 as by the dead that die in the Lord,\ are undoubtedly 
 to be understood, those that die in the faith of 
 Christ. However, it is certain, that both in the Greek 
 and Latin Churches, offices were drawn up in the 
 most early times for the religious celebration of this 
 holy ordinance; but being afterwards mixed with 
 superstitious rites, the reformers thought fit to lay 
 them aside, and to draw up a form more decent 
 and grave, and more agreeable to the usage of the 
 primitive Church. 
 
 Of the Rubrics concerning the Banns. 
 
 Before any can be lawfully married together, 
 the Banns are directed to be published in the church, 
 i. e. public proclamation (for so the word signifies) 
 must be made to the congregation, concerning the 
 design of the parties that intend to come together. 
 This care of the Church to prevent clandestine 
 
 * i Cor. vii. 39. fRev. xiv 13.
 
 TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. II 
 
 marriage is as old as Christianity itself. For 
 Tertullian tells us, that in his time all marriages 
 were accounted clandestine, that were not published 
 beforehand in the church, and were in danger of 
 being judged adultery and fornication. And by 
 several ancient constitutions of the Church, it was 
 ordered, that none should be married before notice 
 should be given of it in the public congregation 
 on three several Sundays or holy-days. And so it 
 was also ordered by the rubric prefixed to the form of 
 Solemnization of Matrimony in the Book of Common 
 Prayer, viz., that the banns of all that are to be married 
 together be published in the church three several 
 Sundays or holy-days, in time of divine service; unto 
 which was added at the last review, immediately before 
 the sentences for the offertory ; but it was ordered 
 by Act of Parliament, that all banns of matrimony 
 shall be published upon three Sundays preceding the 
 solemnization of marriage, immediately after the second 
 Lesson. 
 
 The design of the Church in publishing these 
 banns, is to be satisfied whether there be any just 
 cause or impediment why the parties, so asked, 
 should not be joined together in matrimony. What 
 are allowed for lawful impediments, I shall have 
 occasion to show in the next paragraph. The curate 
 is not to stop his proceeding, because any peevish or 
 pragmatical person, without just reason or authority,
 
 pretends to forbid him; as is the case sometimes, 
 when the churchwardens, or other officers of the 
 parish, presume to forbid the publication of the banns, 
 because the parties are poor, and so like to create a 
 charge to the parish; or because the man is not 
 perhaps an inhabitant, according to the laws made 
 for the settlement of the poor. But poverty is no 
 more an impediment of marriage than wealth; and 
 the kingdom can as little subsist without the poor, 
 as it can without the rich. And as to the pretence 
 of the man's not being an inhabitant of the parish, 
 it is certain, that by the canon law a traveller is a 
 parishioner of every church he comes to. The 
 minister where he is, is to visit him if sick, to perform 
 the offices to him while living, and to bury him when 
 dead : and no other clergyman can regularly perform 
 any divine office to such a person, so long as he 
 continues within the said parish. In short, he is a 
 parishioner in all respects, except that he is not liable 
 to be kept by the parish, if he falls into poverty. 
 Nor does the bidding of banns alter his condition in 
 that respect : for in that, it is not considered where 
 the person has a legal settlement, but where he dwells 
 or lives at present. And the spiritual courts acted by 
 this rule (if by any) when they granted a license to 
 a man to be married, that had not been four and 
 twenty hours within their jurisdiction; and write him 
 in the license, seaman of that port or parish where
 
 TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 1 5 
 
 he landed last, or where perhaps he lodged the night 
 before. 
 
 If the persons that are to be married dwell in 
 diverse parishes, the banns must be asked in both 
 parishes, and the curate of the one parish is not to 
 solemnize matrimony betwixt them, without a certificate 
 of the banns being thrice asked from the curate of the 
 other parish. This seems to suppose what both the 
 ancient and modern canons enjoin, viz., that marriage 
 shall always be solemnized in the church or chapel 
 where one of the parties dwelleth. And by our own 
 canons, whatever minister marries them any where 
 else, incurs the same penalty as for a clandestine 
 marriage. Nor is even a license allowed to dispense 
 with him for doing it. And the Act for preventing 
 clandestine marriages expressly requires, that, in all 
 cases where banns have been published, the marriage 
 be solemnized in one of the churches where such 
 publication had been made, and in no other place 
 whatsoever ; and that no license shall be granted to 
 solemnize any marriage in any other church than 
 that which belongeth to the parish, within which one 
 of the parties to be married hath dwelt for four weeks 
 immediately preceding. Formerly it was a custom, 
 that marriage should be performed in no other 
 church but that to which the woman belonged as a 
 parishioner: and the ecclesiastical law allowed a fee 
 due to the curate of that church, whether she was
 
 14 SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY ACCORDING 
 
 married there or not; which was generally reserved 
 for him in the words of the license : but those words 
 have been omitted in licenses granted since the 
 Act 26 George II. took place, which gives no pre- 
 ference to the woman's parish. 
 
 Of the Rubric before the Preface. 
 
 For better security against clandestine marriages, 
 the Church orders that all marriages be celebrated 
 in the day-time: for those that mean honourably 
 need not fly the light By the sixty-second canon 
 they are ordered to be performed in time of divine 
 service; but that practice is now almost, by universal 
 consent, laid aside and discontinued: and the rubric 
 only mentions the day and time appointed, which the 
 aforesaid canon expressly requires to be between the 
 hours of eight and twelve in the forenoon: and, though 
 even a license be granted, these hours are not dis- 
 pensed with; for it is supposed that persons will be 
 serious in the morning. And, indeed, formerly it was 
 required that the bridegroom and bride should be 
 fasting when they made their matrimonial vow; by 
 which means they were secured from being made 
 incapable by drink, of acting decently and discreetly 
 in so weighty an affair. 
 
 At the day and time appointed, the persons to 
 be married are directed to come into the body of the 
 church. The custom formerly was for the couple,
 
 TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 15 
 
 who were to 'enter upon this holy state, to be placed 
 at the church-door, where the priest was used to join 
 their hands, and perform the greater part of the 
 matrimonial office. It was here the husband endowed 
 his wife with the portion or dowry before contracted 
 for, which was therefore called Dos ad ostium ecclesice, 
 The dowry at the church-door. But at the Reformation 
 the rubric was altered, and the whole office ordered 
 to be performed within the church, where the congre- 
 gation might afford more witnesses of the fact. 
 
 And since God Himself doth join those that are 
 lawfully married, certainly the house of God is the 
 fittest place wherein to make this religious covenant. 
 And, therefore, by the ancient canons of this Church, 
 the celebration of matrimony in taverns, or other 
 unhallowed places, is expressly forbidden : and the 
 office is commanded to be performed in the church, 
 not only to prevent all clandestine marriages, but 
 also that the sacredness of the place may strike the 
 greater reverence into the minds of the married 
 couple, while they remember they make this holy 
 vow in the place of God's peculiar presence. 
 
 The persons to be married (saith the rubric) 
 are to come into the church with their friends and 
 neighbours, i. e. their relations and acquaintance, who 
 ought to attend on this solemnity, to testify their 
 consent to it, and to join with the minister in prayers 
 for a blessing on it Though it may not be improb-
 
 1 6 SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY ACCORDING 
 
 able, but that by the friends here mentioned may 
 be understood such as the ancients used to call 
 paranymphs, or bridemen: some traces of which 
 custom we find to be as old as the days of Samson, 
 whose wife is said to have been delivered to his 
 companion, who, in the Septuagint version, is called 
 T$u/j,(payuyb$ } or brideman. And that bridemen were 
 in use among the Jews in our Saviour's time, is clear 
 from St. John iii. 29. From the Jews the custom 
 was received by the Christians, who used it at first 
 rather as a civil custom, and something that added 
 to the solemnity of the occasion, than as a religious 
 rite; though it was afterwards countenanced so far 
 as to be made a necessary part of the sacred 
 solemnity. 
 
 The remaining part of this rubric (which was 
 added to the foregoing part at the Restoration) is 
 concerning the position of the parties, whom it orders 
 to stand, the man on the right hand, and the woman 
 on the left, i. e. the man on the right hand of the 
 woman, and the woman on the left hand of the man. 
 The reason that is there given for it is a very weak 
 one, viz., because the rib out of which the woman 
 was formed was taken out of the left side of Adam. 
 The true reason is, because the right hand is the 
 most honourable place; which is therefore both by 
 the Latin and Greek, and all Christian Churches, 
 assigned to the man, as being head of the wife. The
 
 TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 17 
 
 Jews are the only persons that have acted otherwise ; 
 they place the woman on the right hand of her 
 husband, in allusion to that expression in Psalm xlv. 
 9, At thy right hand did stand the queen in a vesture 
 of gold, d-r. 
 
 Of the Preface and Charge, and the several 
 Impediments to Matrimony. 
 
 To prevent the vain and loose mirth which is too 
 frequent at these solemnities, the office is begun with 
 a grave preface, which represents the action about to 
 be done to be of so divine an original, of so high a 
 nature, and of such infinite concernment to all man- 
 kind, that they are not only vain and imprudent, but 
 even void of shame, who will not lay aside their 
 levity, and be composed upon so serious and solemn 
 an occasion. And to prevent any misfortune which 
 the two parties might rashly or perhaps inconsider- 
 ately run into by means of their marriage, the 
 minister charges the congregation, If they know any 
 just cause why they may not be lawfully joined together, 
 that they do now declare it, before this holy bond be 
 tied, since afterwards their discovering of it will tend 
 perhaps more to the prejudice than to the relief of 
 the parties. 
 
 But though others are first called upon to discover 
 the impediments (if any such be known) as being 
 most likely to reveal them; yet the parties them-
 
 1 8 SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY ACCORDING 
 
 selves are charged, in the next place, as being most 
 concerned, to declare them. Since, should there 
 afterwards appear any just impediment to their mar- 
 riage, they must either necessarily live together in a 
 perpetual sin, or be separated for ever by an eternal 
 divorce. 
 
 The impediments which they are solemnly charged 
 to reveal, are those which are specified in the hundred 
 and second canon of our Church, viz. : i. a pre- 
 ceding marriage or contract, or any controversy or 
 suit depending upon the same; 2. consanguinity or 
 affinity ; and, 3. want of the consent of their parents or 
 guardians. 
 
 If any of the impediments mentioned are alleged, 
 and the person that declares it will be bound and 
 sufficient sureties with him to the parties, or else put in 
 a caution (to the full value of such charges as the 
 persons to be married do thereby sustain) to prove his 
 allegation; then the solemnization must be deferred 
 until such time as the truth be tried. But if no impedi- 
 ment be alleged, the curate is to proceed in manner 
 and form as the next paragraph will declare. 
 
 Of the Espousals. 
 
 The solemnization of matrimony being a formal 
 compact, it is requisite, in the first place, that the 
 mutual consent of the parties be asked, which is so 
 essentially necessary, that the marriage is not good
 
 TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 19 
 
 without it. And, therefore, we find that Rebekah's 
 friends asked her consent before they sent her away 
 to Isaac.* And in the firmest kind of marriage 
 among the Romans, which they called coemption, the 
 parties themselves mutually asked this of each other. 
 This, therefore, being so momentous a custom, is for 
 that reason taken into the Christian offices : only 
 among Christians the question is proposed by the 
 priest, that so the declaration may be the more 
 solemn, as being made in the immediate presence of 
 God, and to his deputed minister. 
 
 The man, therefore, is asked, Whether he will have 
 this woman to his wedded wife ; and the woman, 
 Whether she will have this man to her wedded husband, 
 to live together after God's ordinance in the holy state 
 of matrimony. And that they may the better know 
 what are the conditions of this state, the minister 
 enumerates the duties which each of them by this 
 covenant will be bound to perform : 
 
 1. The man, for instance, is obliged, in the first 
 place, to love his wife, which is the principal duty 
 required by St. Paul,f and is here mentioned first, 
 because if the man have this affection, he will per- 
 form with delight all the other duties; it being no 
 burden to do good offices to those whom we heartily 
 and sincerely love. 
 
 2. He must comfort her, which is the same that 
 
 * Gen. xxiv. 58. f Ephes. v. 25.
 
 20 SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY ACCORDING 
 
 St. Paul expresses by cherishing* and implies that the 
 husband must support his wife under all the infirmities 
 and sorrows to which the sex are liable. 
 
 3. He is to honour her, which is also directly com- 
 manded by St. Peter :f for though the wife, as he 
 says, be the weaker vessel, yet she must not be 
 despised for those unavoidable weaknesses which God 
 has been pleased to annex to her constitution, but 
 rather respected for her usefulness to the man's com- 
 fortable being. 
 
 4. He must keep her in sickness and health, which, 
 in St. Paul's phrase, is to nourish, \ or to afford her 
 all necessaries in every condition. 
 
 Lastly. He must consent to be faithful to her, and 
 forsaking all other, keep himself only to her so long as 
 they both shall live. 
 
 There is no difference in the duties, nor, conse- 
 quently, in the terms of the covenant between a man 
 and his wife, except that the woman is obliged to 
 obey and serve her husband. 
 
 The whole matter being thus proposed to each 
 party, they should each of them seriously weigh and 
 consider it. And if they like this state of life, and 
 the duties annexed to it ; if they neither of them have 
 any objection against the person of the other, but are 
 persuaded they can each of them love the other, and 
 
 * Ephes. v. 19. t i Peter iii. 7. 
 
 % Ephes. v. 29. Mai. ii. 15, 16; i Cor. vii. 10.
 
 TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 21 
 
 that for ever, in all conditions of life; let each of them 
 answer as the Church directs them, / will; which 
 are the proper words that oblige in compacts, but 
 which can never lay a more solemn obligation than 
 when they are pronounced upon this occasion. For 
 if we start back after speaking them here, we shall 
 have as many witnesses of the falsehood as there are 
 persons present at the solemnity, viz., God and His 
 angels, the minister and the congregation : and, 
 therefore, in regard to so venerable an assembly, let 
 them here be pronounced with all deliberate gravity, 
 and for ever made good with all possible sincerity. 
 
 This solemn declaration of the parties' consent 
 seems to be the remains of the old form of espousals, 
 which was different and distinct from the office of 
 marriage, and which was often performed some 
 weeks, or months, or perhaps years before; and, as 
 Florentinus defines them, were no more than the 
 promise of future marriage; which, however, they 
 thought was not proper to be left to be made in 
 private, as a mere civil contract ; and, therefore, they 
 ordered that it should be solemnly made in the pre- 
 sence of a minister, who should use prayers and 
 blessings suitable to the occasion. 
 
 It is probable that in the West, as well as in the 
 East, the custom of celebrating the espousals and 
 nuptials at the same time did long prevail, and at 
 last both offices came to be united in one; so that
 
 22 SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY ACCORDING 
 
 this declaration is the remains of the ancient office 
 of the espousals, and the following stipulation the 
 marriage properly so called. 
 
 Of the Solemnization of the Marriage. 
 
 The two parties having now declared their consent 
 to take each other for husband and wife, and having 
 solemnly engaged that they will each of them observe 
 the duties which God has annexed to that state, 
 they proceed, in the next place, to the immediate 
 celebration of the marriage itself, which is introduced 
 with a very ancient and significant ceremony; I 
 mean, the father's or friend's giving the woman in 
 marriage. The antiquity of which rite is evident 
 from the phrase so often used in Scripture, of giving 
 a daughter to wife :* and the universality of it appears 
 from its being used both by Heathens and Christians 
 in all ages. The foundation of the practice seems to 
 be a care of the female sex, who are always supposed 
 to be under the tuition of a father or guardian, whose 
 consent is necessary to make their acts valid. And, 
 therefore, before the minister proceeds to the mar- 
 riage, he asks, Who gives the woman to be married to 
 the man? Which shows too, by the way, that the 
 woman does not seek a husband, but is given to one 
 by her parents or friends, whose commands in this 
 
 * Gen. xxix. 19; xxxiv. 16; Josh. xv. 16; i Sam. xvii. 25; 
 xviii. 17; Psal. Ixxviii. 63; Luke xvii. 27; i Cor. vii. 38.
 
 TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 23 
 
 affair she seems rather to follow than her own 
 inclinations. For which cause, among the nuptial 
 rites of the old Romans, the bride was to be taken 
 by a kind of violence from her mother's knees ; and 
 when she came to her husband's house, she was not 
 to go in willingly, but was to be carried in by force ; 
 which, like this ceremony of ours, very well suited 
 with the modesty of her sex. 
 
 But besides this, there is a further meaning 
 intended by the Church : for it is to be observed, 
 that the woman is to be given not to the man but to 
 the minister; for the rubric orders, that the minister 
 shall receive her at her father's or friend 's hands; 
 which signifies, to be sure, that the father resigns her 
 up to God, and that it is God who, by His priest, now 
 gives her in marriage, and who provides a wife for 
 the man, as He did at first for Adam.* 
 
 Accordingly the minister, who has now the disposal 
 of her, delivers her into the possession of the man, 
 as he afterwards does the man into the possession 
 of the woman, by causing each of them to take 
 the other by the right hand. The joining of hands 
 naturally signifies contracting a friendship, and mak- 
 ing a covenant : | and the right hand especially was 
 esteemed as- the witness of our faith; and, therefore, 
 the joining of these being used in all covenants, no 
 wonder it should be observed in the solemn one of 
 
 * Gen. ii. 23. \ 2 Kings x. 15 ; Prov. xi. 21.
 
 24 SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY ACCORDING 
 
 marriage. Accordingly we find it has been used, 
 upon this occasion, by Heathens, Jews, and Christians 
 in all ages. 
 
 The minister, therefore, having thus joined their 
 right hands, causes them, in the next place, to give 
 their troth, by a mutual stipulation: First, Each 
 party name themselves, and specifying the other, 
 as the individual person whom they have chosen, 
 declare the end for which they take, viz,, to be wedded 
 husband and wife. Secondly, The manner of taking 
 is expressed in the words, to have and to hold. Thirdly, 
 The time of entering upon, and the time of enjoying, 
 the possession conveyed, is next expressly declared. 
 It is to begin immediately from the nuptial day, and 
 to continue during their mutual lives, from this day 
 forward till death -us do part. And lest any incon- 
 veniences appearing afterwards should be alleged for 
 the breaking this sacred contract, here is added a 
 protestation, that the obligation shall continue in full 
 force, notwithstanding any future unexpected changes. 
 They are to have and to hold for better for worse, 
 in respect of their mind and manners ; for richer for 
 poorer, in respect of their estate; and whether in 
 sickness or in health, in respect of their body. 
 
 In all these conditions the engagement is the same, 
 viz., the man is to love and to cherish his wife, and the 
 woman to love, cherish, and to obey her husband; i. e. 
 each of them must have the same regard for the
 
 TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 25 
 
 other, and pay those duties which I have already 
 showed to be necessary and indispensable, whatsoever 
 accidental varieties may happen. 
 
 But besides the invisible pledge of our fidelity, the 
 man is also obliged to deliver a visible pledge : which 
 the rubric directs shall be a ring; which, by the first 
 Common Prayer Book of king Edward VI. was to be 
 accompanied with other tokens of spousage, as gold or 
 silver. This lets us into the meaning and design of 
 the ring, and intimates it to be the remains of an 
 ancient custom, whereby it was usual for the man to 
 purchase the woman, laying down for the price of 
 her a certain sum of money,* or else performing 
 certain articles or conditions, which the father of the 
 damsel would accept of as an equivalent.! Among 
 the Romans this was called coemption or purchasing, 
 and was accounted the firmest kind of marriage 
 which they had; and from them was delivered down 
 amongst the Western Christians, by whom the custom 
 is still preserved in the ring; which is given as a 
 pledge, or in part payment of the dowry that the 
 woman is to be entitled to by the marriage ; and by 
 the acceptance of which the woman, at the same 
 time, declares herself content, and in return espouses 
 or makes over herself to the man. Accordingly, in 
 
 * Gen. xxxiv. 12; Exod. xxii. 17; Deut. xxii. 29. 
 f Gen. xxix. 18, 27, 30; i Sam. xvii. 25, and chap, xviii 
 i?> 25.
 
 26 SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY ACCORDING 
 
 the old Manual of Salisbury, before the minister 
 ^proceeds to the marriage, he is directed to ask the 
 woman's dowry, viz., the tokens of spousage: and by 
 these tokens of spousage are to be understood rings, or 
 money, or some other things to be given to the woman 
 by the man; which said giving is called subarration, 
 (i.e. wedding or covenanting), especially when it is 
 done by the giving of a ring. 
 
 Before the ring may be given to the woman, the 
 man must lay it upon the book, with the accustomed 
 duty to the priest and clerk. And the priest taking 
 the ring shall deliver it unto the man, intimating, 
 to be sure, that it is our duty to offer up all we have 
 to God as the true proprietor, before we use them 
 ourselves; and to receive them as from His hand, to 
 be employed towards His glory. 
 
 When the man espouses his wife with it, he is to 
 put it on the fourth finger of her left hand. The 
 reason of this, the rubric of the Salisbury Manual 
 says, is because from thence there proceeds a 
 particular vein to the heart. This, indeed, is now 
 contradicted by experience: but several eminent 
 authors, as well Gentiles as Christians, as well 
 physicians as divines, were formerly of this opinion; 
 and, therefore, they thought this finger the properest 
 to bear this pledge of love, that from thence it might 
 be conveyed, as it were, to the heart. However, the 
 moral may safely be retained, viz., that the husband
 
 TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 2f 
 
 hereby expresses the dearest love to his spouse, which 
 ought to reach her heart, and engage her affections 
 to him again. If we should add the other reason of 
 placing the ring upon this finger, viz., its being the 
 least active finger of the hand least used, upon which, 
 therefore, the ring may be always in view, and yet 
 least subject to be worn out; this also may teach 
 us, that the two parties should carefully cherish each 
 other's love, that so it may endure and last for ever. 
 
 The man holding the ring, therefore, upon this finger, 
 being taught by the priest, and speaking to his wife, 
 he assures her, that this is a visible pledge that he 
 now takes her to his wedded wife: With this ring 
 I thee wed, or make a covenant with thee (for so the 
 word signifies), that all the rights and privileges of a 
 lawful wife do from this instant belong to thee. 
 
 The man, therefore, having wedded her with the 
 ring, in the next words proceeds to assign over the 
 rights accruing to her thereby. The first of these is 
 honour, and, therefore, he immediately adds, With my 
 body I thee worship; i. e. with my body I thee honour. 
 The design of it is to express that the woman, by 
 virtue of this marriage, has a share in all the titles 
 and honours which are due or belong to the person 
 of her husband. 
 
 But to proceed : the second right accruing to the 
 wife by virtue of her marriage, is maintenance; and, 
 therefore, the husband adds in the next place, With
 
 28 SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY ACCORDING 
 
 all my worldly goods I thee endcnv. The design of 
 the words is not so much to invest the woman with a 
 right to all her husband's goods, as to declare that by 
 marriage she has acquired such right. For, from the 
 very instant of their making the mutual stipulation, 
 the woman has a right to sue for a maintenance 
 during the life of her husband, should he be so 
 minded to deny it; and, after his decease, is entitled 
 to a third, or perhaps a larger share (according 
 to the laws of the place where she lives) in all 
 her husband's goods and chattels, and may further 
 demand what the law calls her quarcntine, which is 
 lodging and maintenance in his best mansion-house 
 for forty days after his death. 
 
 To conclude : The last part of these words, In the 
 name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
 Ghost, Amen, are a solemn confirmation of the 
 engagement here made, being an invocation of the 
 sacred Trinity as witness to this compact, who will 
 therefore undoubtedly revenge the perjury on those 
 who break it. 
 
 And now the covenant being finished, it is very 
 requisite we should desire a blessing on it; for even 
 the heathens looked upon their marriage-covenant as 
 inauspicious, if it were not accompanied with a sacri- 
 fice. And, therefore, Christians sure can do no less 
 than call upon the divine Majesty upon the like 
 occasion. For this reason, tlie man leaving the ring
 
 TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 29 
 
 upon the fourth finger of the woman's left hand, and 
 both of them kneeling down, the minister begs for them 
 the blessing of God, that they may always perform 
 and keep the covenant which they have now been 
 making. 
 
 And as it was an ancient custom among the 
 Romans, and other heathens, for masters to ratify 
 the marriages of their servants; so, since we profess 
 to be the servants of God, it is necessary that He 
 should confirm our contract. To which end the 
 priest, who is His representative, joining the right 
 hands of the married persons together, declares, 
 in the words of our blessed Lord,* that they are 
 joined by God, and that therefore no human power 
 can separate them : those whom God hath joined to- 
 gether, let no man put asunder. 
 
 And now the holy covenant being firmly made, it 
 ought to be duly published and proclaimed : and, 
 therefore, the minister, in the next place, speaking 
 unto the people, and recapitulating all that has been 
 done between them, makes proclamation that the 
 marriage is legal and valid, and pronounces that they 
 be man and wife together, in the name, and by the 
 authority, of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 With a blessing from whom, this part of the office 
 is in the next place concluded. For the covenant 
 * Matt. xix. 6.
 
 30 SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY ACCORDING 
 
 being made by the authority of God, the institution 
 being His, the method His, and He being the author, 
 witness, and ratifier of this contract; what could be 
 added more properly at the conclusion than a solemn 
 benediction from that holy, blessed, and undivided 
 Trinity, who is so many ways engaged to bless it ? 
 
 Of the Introits or Psalms. 
 
 The marriage-covenant being now completed, the 
 minister and clerks (of whom I have taken occasion 
 to speak before) are to go to the Lord's table. For by 
 all the Common Prayer Books till the last review, 
 the new married persons were obliged to receive the 
 holy communion the same day of their marriage. 
 The present rubric indeed does not insist upon this; 
 but it still declares it is convenient they should do so; 
 and, therefore, that they may not omit it for want of 
 being reminded, they are ordered to accompany the 
 minister and the clerks to the Lord's table. 
 
 And whilst they are going, either the minister or 
 clerks are to say or sing a proper psalm. 
 
 Of the Supplications and Prayers to be used at the 
 Lord's Table. 
 
 The minister being got into the choir, and the man 
 and the woman kneeling before the Lord's table, the 
 priest, before he proceeds to the office for the com- 
 munion, offers up some further prayers and supplica-
 
 TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 31 
 
 tions for a blessing upon the parties. These are 
 introduced with the ancient form, Lord have mercy 
 upon us, &c. To which is immediately subjoined the 
 Lord's Prayer, which sanctifies and makes way for all 
 the rest. And being thus prepared, he proceeds to 
 some supplications chosen out of the Psalms,* and 
 put into the form of versicles and responses, that all 
 the company may show their love and affection to 
 their friends, by publicly joining in these short peti- 
 tions /or them. 
 
 After these follow three prayers to be used by the 
 minister alone; the first being a prayer for spiritual 
 blessings; the second for the temporal blessing of 
 children, which is the chief end of marriage, and 
 which is the blessing that God pronounced at first to 
 Adam and Eve,f and which all mankind hath ever 
 since wished to new married persons, J and which is, 
 therefore, always to be asked at the solemnization 
 of a marriage, except the advanced age of the 
 persons makes our prayers unlikely to prevail, in 
 which case the rubric has, therefore, ordered it to 
 be omitted. The last prayer is made for the accom- 
 plishing of those duties which are aptly signified and 
 implied by marriage. 
 
 Last of all there is added a blessing, the words 
 of which have an evident respect to the prayer 
 
 * Ps. Ixxxvi. z ; xx. 2 j Ixi. 1-3. 
 fGen. i. 28. JGen. xxiv. 60; Ruth ii. n, 12.
 
 32 SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY ACCORDING 
 
 immediately foregoing; which was offered up upon 
 such excellent grounds, and with so very great a 
 probability of success, that the priest may boldly 
 venture to pronounce and ensure it to the parties, 
 if they are but duly prepared to receive it. 
 
 Of the Exhortation. 
 
 In all the old Common Prayer Books the rubric 
 before this exhortation was worded thus : 
 
 ^[ Then {shall begin the communion. And\ after the 
 Gospel shall be said a sermon, wherein ordinarily (so 
 oft as there is any marriage) the office of a man and 
 ivife shall be declared, according to Holy Scripture; or, 
 if there be no sermon, the minister shall read this that 
 followeth. 
 
 If the married persons are disposed to communi- 
 cate, the office for the communion must still begin 
 immediately after the forementioned blessing. And 
 after the Gospel and Nicene Creed, if there be no 
 sermon declaring the duties of man and wife, the 
 exhortation here appointed is to be read instead of it. 
 
 For the married persons having mutually engaged 
 to live together according to Gods holy ordinance, i. e. 
 according to those laws which He has ordained in 
 His Word ; it is very necessary they should hear and 
 know what those laws are which they have engaged 
 to perform. It was God's own command, that the 
 kings of Israel should have a copy of the law delivered
 
 TO THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. 3,3 
 
 to them at their coronation; and there is the same 
 reason to give this abstract to those that have taken 
 upon themselves the state of matrimony. For which 
 reason, instead of the epistle and Gospel used in the 
 office's of the Greek and Roman Churches, here is a 
 full collection of the duties of both parties, drawn 
 from the epistles of two great apostles, St. Peter and 
 St. Paul, in imitation of the practice of the primitive 
 Church, which, always after the celebration of a 
 marriage, exhorted the parties to keep their matri- 
 monial vow inviolate. 
 
 Of the last Rubric. 
 
 At the end of the whole office is added a rubric, 
 declaring, that it is convenient that the new married 
 persons should receive the holy communion at the time 
 of their marriage, or at the first opportunity after their 
 marriage. In all the former Common Prayer Books 
 this rubric was more positive, fixing and appointing 
 the day of marriage for the time of communicating. 
 The new married persons, the same day of their mar- 
 riage, must receive the holy communion. And it was 
 upon this account, as I have already observed, that 
 the latter part of the office was ordered to be per- 
 formed at the Lord's table, and 4 that the communion 
 should be begun immediately after the blessing.
 
 34 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 MARRIAGES BEFORE THE REGISTRAR. 
 
 By the Act which came into operation in 1837, 
 parties were allowed to be married by civil contract 
 in the presence of a superintendent registrar of mar- 
 riages, either at his office, or at some duly registered 
 Roman Catholic or Dissenting place of worship, the 
 religious ceremony being, of course, permitted to be 
 added in the latter cases, but not forming any neces- 
 sary part of the legal contract. The registrars also 
 issue the licenses for the marriages of the Society of 
 Friends and Jews, but their presence is not required 
 when the rite is performed. The following copy of a 
 form issued from one of the superintendent registrars' 
 offices gives full information on the subject : 
 
 Marriages may be solemnized either by or without 
 license, as follmvs : 
 
 1. At the Register Office of the district in which 
 either of the parties, or both, are residing. 
 
 2. At any registered Roman Catholic or Dissenting 
 place of worship within the district (with the consent 
 of the minister thereof). 
 
 3. At any such registered building within two miles 
 of the limits of the district, being the usual place of 
 worship of either party (with the consent of the 
 minister thereof).
 
 BEFORE THE REGISTRAR. 
 
 35 
 
 4. At the nearest registered building wherein mar- 
 riage may be solemnized according to the rite, form, 
 or ceremony which the parties desire to adopt (with 
 the consent of the minister thereof), when there is no 
 such place within the district. 
 
 
 Previous 
 
 Notice 
 
 Fees 
 
 
 Residence 
 
 of 
 
 with 
 
 
 required. 
 
 Marriage. 
 
 Certificate. 
 
 By 
 
 Fifteen days 
 
 
 
 License. 
 
 by either 
 
 One clear day. 
 
 z ijs, id. 
 
 
 party. 
 
 
 
 Without 
 License. 
 
 Seven days by 
 both parties: 
 If in different 
 districts, 
 notice to be 
 
 Twenty-one 
 clear days. 
 (Available for 
 three calendar 
 months from 
 
 gs. yd. 
 
 28. 
 
 additional. 
 
 
 given in each 
 district. 
 
 date of notice.) 
 
 
 Notice kept 
 
 by the 
 Sup. Registrar 
 
 but not 
 published. 
 
 Notice 
 
 is publicly 
 
 exhibited at 
 
 Register Office 
 
 for 21 days. 
 
 PROTESTANT DISSENTERS IN ENGLAND. 
 
 It has already been mentioned,* that a large 
 
 number of the dissenters prefer to be married at 
 
 their parish churches according to the ritual of the 
 
 Church of England. Before a marriage can be 
 
 * Vide Marriage in the Church of England.
 
 36 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 solemnized in a chapel, it must be duly licensed, and 
 the preliminary steps, either of procuring a license, 
 or of having the names of the contracting parties 
 exhibited at the registrar's office, having been taken, 
 the registrar attends at the chapel selected by the 
 parties, and the civil marriage before him is first 
 gone through. After this, the religious ceremony 
 (frequently closely resembling the service in the 
 Church) is performed, ending with an extempore 
 address on the duties of husbands and wives. The 
 singing of appropriate hymns, and the playing of 
 wedding marches, are by no means uncommon at the 
 present day. 
 
 THE ANCIENT BRITONS. 
 
 The father had absolute authority over his daugh- 
 ters, and they were obliged to marry whoever he 
 selected for therr husbands. Courtship was of short 
 duration, and the marriage was celebrated at a 
 cromlech in the open air, and sacrifices were offered. 
 Polygamy was at one time greatly practised, but as 
 they became more civilised it was considered undig- 
 nified to have more than one wife. 
 
 QUAKERS, OR FRIENDS. 
 
 Marriage is contracted among the members of the 
 Society of Friends with as little ceremony as all their
 
 QUAKERS, OR FRIENDS. 37 
 
 other duties are performed. Their youth are duly 
 instructed in whatever concerns that honourable state; 
 they are admonished that it is of the highest import- 
 ance, that it requires a serious and strict examination, 
 and is not to be entered into without a nice choice, 
 much reflection, and the approbation and consent of 
 their parents. When after all this they persist in the 
 resolution of marrying, they must give notice of their 
 design to the ecclesiastical council, who make the 
 usual inquiries, Whether they be qualified to marry, 
 and have the consent of their parents? &c. Infor- 
 mations are likewise taken from those who are 
 present, to know if no opposition be made to the 
 marriage intended, and on the next Sunday following 
 they publish a form of bann. These preliminaries 
 over, the contract becomes valid among the Quakers 
 in this form. The bride and bridegroom come to the 
 assembly accompanied by their friends and relatives 
 whom they think fit to invite. There, in presence of 
 the said friends and relatives, they are desired to 
 declare whether they love one another, whether they 
 be mutually willing to have each other, and are 
 resolved to help and assist each other. To these, 
 and such other questions suitable to the occasion, the 
 Quakers give, with all sincerity, the usual answers; 
 which, with their mutual consent, are registered in a 
 book kept for that purpose. The contracting parties 
 set their names to it, as also the friends and relations,
 
 38 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 as witnesses; which being done, the new-married 
 couple are dismissed. 
 
 THE CHURCH OF ROME, OR ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 
 
 Independently of the age requisite for marriage, 
 the liberty of contracting so solemn an engagement, 
 and the publication of the banns, the ritual of the 
 Roman Catholic Church require further, that the 
 persons to be joined together in matrimony shall be 
 sufficiently instructed in the Christian doctrine; that 
 they should know the nature of the sacrament of 
 marriage, its ends and obligations; and that they 
 should first confess themselves, and receive the sacra- 
 ment, before they join themselves together for ever. 
 
 When the priest in his proper vestments goes to 
 the altar, he is preceded by one or two clerks in their 
 surplices, carrying the vessel of holy water, the 
 sprinkler, the ritual, and a little basin, in which to 
 put the ring when it is to be blessed. After he has 
 said the usual prayer for the couple, he advances 
 towards them on the last step of the altar; the man 
 standing at the woman's right hand. The relations 
 and witnesses stand behind them'. Then the priest 
 asks the couple their names and surnames ; which is 
 only a formality, their names being already known to 
 him, by the publication of the banns, and by a certi- 
 ficate confirming the same, which the couple are
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 39 
 
 obliged to produce at the time. He afterwards 
 addresses himself to the man and woman separately, 
 calling them both by their proper names, and asks 
 the man whether he will have such a one for his 
 wife? and the woman whether she will have such a 
 one for her husband? Reciprocal consent is abso- 
 lutely requisite in this case, and without it the 
 marriage would be null. After mutual consent has 
 beer given, by expressly answering " Yes," the priest, 
 who before was covered, uncovers himself, takes the 
 couple by the hand, and making them join hands, 
 says, " Ego jimgo vos in matrimonium" &c., that is, 
 " I join you together in marriage, in the name of the 
 Father" &c. At the same time he makes the sign of 
 the :ross upon them, and sprinkles them with holy 
 water. This being done, he blesses the wedding-ring, 
 and sprinkles it also with holy water, in the form of 
 a cross ; after which he gives it to the man, who puts 
 it on the wedding-finger of the woman's left hand. 
 This ring is the pledge of the conjugal chastity and 
 fidelty which the wife owes the husband. To all this 
 the Driest adds some prayers ; after which follows an 
 exhortation to the married couple and to the assem- 
 bly, and afterwards mass. 
 
 Ihe married couple are blessed in the following 
 mainer, when the woman is a virgin, and has always 
 hac the reputation of chastity : The priest, after the 
 offcrtory, goes to the foot of the altar, and the
 
 4O MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 married couple make what oblation they think pro- 
 per ; the husband first, and the wife afterwards. The 
 priest likewise repeats some prayers; and the cere- 
 mony ends with an exhortation to the married couple. 
 The subject of this exhortation is on the duties of 
 the conjugal life, the end and design of marriage, 
 reciprocal love, &c. ; after which he sprinkles tliem 
 with holy water. Young people are not to inhabit 
 under the same roof, or be in company together, 
 except in the presence of their parents or rela:ions, 
 till such time as they have received the blesshg of 
 the Church. 
 
 It was formerly the custom for the priest to bless 
 the marriage-bed. 
 
 WALES. 
 
 The Welsh in olden times had some very cirious 
 customs in connection with the marriage se'vice. 
 Bidding letters were generally used, giving intimation 
 of the intended marriage, and its date, on which day 
 they purposed making a bidding at some inn, seltcted 
 for the occasion, and asking for the pleasure ol the 
 company, and support of the parties to whom they 
 were sent, and that whatever gifts they would lile to 
 bestow upon them, would be gratefully acknowledged 
 and repaid with thanks, when a similar occasion 
 should call for them.
 
 WALES. 41 
 
 This custom is now confined to small farmers and 
 the humbler classes. 
 
 The day before the marriage, the woman's goods, 
 usually an oak chest, feather bed and bed clothes, &c., 
 were taken to the house of her future husband, and 
 on the evening of the same day he received presents 
 from his friends, the bride also receiving gifts from 
 her friends. This was an old British custom, called 
 "Purse and Girdle." 
 
 The weddings in Cardiganshire generally took 
 place on Saturday. The friends in large numbers 
 went to the church in procession, headed by a harper 
 or fiddler. Sometimes a kind of sham contest took 
 place, ten or more of the bridegroom's friends going 
 on horseback to the bride's house and demanding the 
 bride to be given up to them, which, after a war of 
 words, was acceded to. 
 
 Owen, in his Welsh Dictionary, says, "The poor 
 people in Wales have a marriage of contribution, to 
 which every guest brings a present of some sort of 
 provision or money to begin the world." 
 
 It was also usual for the bridal party to race back 
 from the church to the house or inn where the wedd- 
 ing feast was to be held. Lord Kames in 1807 
 mentions another curious custom. The bridegroom 
 on the morning of the wedding day, accompanied by 
 his friends on horseback, goes to her father's house 
 and demands the bride. Her friends, likewise on
 
 42 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 horseback, give a positive refusal, and a mock scuffle 
 ensues. The bride, mounted behind her nearest 
 kinsman, is carried off, and pursued by the bride- 
 groom and his friends with loud shouts. When they 
 have fatigued themselves and their horses, the 
 bridegroom is suffered to overtake his bride, whom 
 he leads away in triumph ; and the scene is concluded 
 with feasting and festivity. 
 
 By an old Welsh law a husband might administer 
 three blows with a stick on any part of the person 
 (except the head) of his wife if she had misbehaved 
 herself, and another law directed that the stick should 
 not be longer than the husband's arm, nor thicker 
 than his middle finger. 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 Before the preliminaries of a regular marriage in 
 Scotland, both parties ought, strictly speaking, to 
 reside in that country, at least, six weeks in the same 
 or different parishes; but this condition is usually 
 dispensed with, if one of the parties resides for the 
 prescribed period, and the other party is out of the 
 kingdom. The banns are then put up in the parish 
 or parishes where the parties reside, if both are 
 resident in Scotland, if not, in the parish of the 
 party resident, and they must be put up in the parish 
 church, and accompanied by a certificate of residence
 
 SCOTLAND. 43 
 
 from two householders or an elder of the parish. 
 According to the proper legal usage, the banns are 
 then published on three successive Sundays, so that 
 when the law is exactly obeyed, a probationary period 
 of nine weeks, six of residence, and three for the 
 currency of the banns, precedes a regular marriage; 
 but, in the case of the wealthier classes, this condition 
 is evaded generally, and, in consideration of a money 
 payment, the publication of banns may be all made 
 on one Sunday. The fees, however, for this privilege, 
 are in many parishes exorbitantly high, the result 
 being that the limitation of nine weeks extends to the 
 mass of regular marriages. After these formalities,, 
 regular marriages may be celebrated by the clergy of 
 all communions, now on an equal level in this respect. 
 There is no restriction as to time or place; and the 
 ceremony may be, and often is, performed at night, 
 and in a private house, such as the residence of 
 the parents of the bride. This practice is common 
 among the Presbyterians, but not among the Episco- 
 palians and Roman Catholics. 
 
 A system of registration is also provided for these 
 marriages, which is said to work well in practice, 
 though the duty of registering them is thrown upon 
 the contracting parties themselves, and not on the 
 minister who performs the ceremony. 
 
 Irregular marriages (which form but a small 
 portion at the present time of the whole) may now,
 
 44 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS, 
 
 as 700 years ago, be contracted, by mere words of 
 present consent, at any hour, at any place, without 
 any antecedent notice, in the absence of an officiating 
 person, without formalities, and without a witness. 
 "The leading principle," said Lord Deas, in a judg- 
 ment delivered by him a few years ago, "is that 
 consent makes marriage. No ceremony, civil or 
 religious, no notice before or publication after, no 
 consummation, no cohabitation, no writing, no wit- 
 nesses even, are essential to the constitution of the 
 most important contract which two private persons 
 can enter into, whether affecting their domestic 
 arrangements or the pecuniary interests of themselves 
 and their families. Matrimonial consent can be 
 verbally and effectually interchanged when no third 
 person is present; and, if it can be proved, even at 
 the distance of years, by subsequent written acknow- 
 ledgments, or oath of reference, the parties will be 
 held to have been married." It must also be borne 
 in mind that, as the lex loci, governs this contract, all 
 persons, though not of Scottish domicile, who marry 
 in Scotland are bound by its law, and may enter 
 there into irregular marriages a rule, however, 
 partly modified by the statute against Gretna Green 
 marriages. The Gretna Green marriages will be 
 described in a succeeding part of this work.
 
 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 45 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
 Until the eighteenth century, the Marriage Law 
 of Ireland was nearly identical with that of England, 
 and followed by nearly the same consequences ; that 
 is, marriages were for the most part regular, but 
 irregular marriages and pre-contracts were tolerated, 
 and not unfrequent. It was not till 1818 that pre-con- 
 tracts were deprived of their efficacy; and it was not 
 necessary until 1844 that even marriages celebrated 
 by the established clergy should be protected by 
 forms analogous to those prescribed by the English 
 law as settled in 1823 and 1835. But the distinctive 
 peculiarity of the Irish Marriage Law has long been 
 its sectarian character, that it regulates the conditions 
 of the contract according to religious distinctions. 
 For, while the clergy of the Establishment were 
 permitted to marry persons without any reference to 
 their religious faith, the Roman Catholic clergy were 
 restricted to persons of their own creed; and it was 
 enacted by a well-known statute that " every marriage 
 between a Papist, and any person who hath been or 
 hath professed him or herself to be a Protestant, at 
 any time within 12 calendar months before the 
 celebration of such marriage, or between two Pro- 
 testants, by a Popish priest, shall be null and void 
 without any judgment, process, or sentence' of law." 
 Roman Catholic priests had, ho\vever, full liberty to
 
 46- MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 marry persons of their own faith as they pleased, 
 in any irregular or clandestine way, the discipline 
 of their Church, however, rendering this practice 
 sufficiently uncommon. At the same time the 
 ministers of Protestant Nonconformist congregations 
 were permitted only to marry persons professing 
 Protestant Nonconformity. 
 
 In consequence of a marriage solemnized by a 
 Presbyterian clergyman between a person of his own 
 creed and an Episcopal Protestant having been 
 declared null in 1844, the Irish Marriage Law was 
 again reformed. The leading principle of the new 
 code was to transfer to Ireland, in case of marriages 
 in the Established Church, the rules in force in 
 England, with some modifications, to give Irish 
 Protestant Nonconformist ministers power to celebrate 
 marriage as in England, through the intervention of 
 civil registrars, and with formalities very analogous 
 a peculiar exception being, however, made as to one 
 class of Nonconformist ministers to imitate the 
 English Law in the cases of marriage without any 
 religious ceremony, and of the marriages of Jews 
 and Quakers, to create a system of general registra- 
 tion for all marriages, but to leave untouched the 
 principles relating to marriages solemnized by the 
 Roman Catholic clergy. Since the disestablishment 
 of the Irish Church, power has been given by Act of 
 Parliament to its Archbishops and Bishops, and to
 
 IRELAND, 47 
 
 the heads of the different Protestant bodies in Ireland 
 to grant special licenses. 
 
 The following account of an Irish country wedding 
 is taken from the well-known and excellent work of 
 Mr, and Mrs. S. C. Hall: 
 
 When the match is made, it becomes necessary 
 for the bridegroom to obtain a certificate from his 
 parish priest that he is to contract marriage cum 
 quavis similiter solutd (it is always written in Latin) 
 with any woman equally free from canonical bonds 
 or impediments ; to this a fee is always attached, we 
 believe five shillings. He must also procure from the 
 bishop or vicar-general, a license to marry, to which 
 also a fee is attached of seven shillings and sixpence. 
 This being done, he repairs with his bride to the 
 house of her parish priest, accompanied by his and 
 her friends, as many as they can muster; and, before 
 he is married, pays down to the priest the marriage 
 fee according to his circumstances. The friends of 
 both parties are also called upon to pay down 
 something, and, between their reluctance to meet 
 the demand and the priest's refusal to marry them 
 till he is satisfied, a scene, sometimes humorous and 
 sometimes discreditable, often arises. If the bride's 
 father or brother be a " strong " farmer, who can 
 afford to furnish a good dinner, the marriage takes 
 place at the bride's house, the bridegroom bringing 
 with him as many of his friends as choose to
 
 48 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 accompany him. The same process as to money 
 takes place here, and it is not uncommon for the 
 collection to amount to twenty or thirty pounds. 
 The time most in favour for celebrating weddings 
 is just before Lent. 
 
 The guests are always numerous, and consist of 
 all ranks, from the lord and the lady of the manor, 
 through the intermediate grades of gentlemen, 
 "squireens," farmers, down to the common labourer 
 wives, of course, included. Perfect equality prevails 
 on this occasion, and, yet, the natural courtesy of the 
 Irish character prevents any disturbance of social 
 order every one keeps his place, while, at the same 
 time, the utmost freedom reigns. The dinner is 
 usually at the expense of the bride's family; and, as 
 nothing is spared in procuring the materials, and the 
 neighbouring gentry allow their cooks, &c., to assist, 
 and lend dinner services, &c., it is always "got up" 
 in the best style. The priest sits at the head of the 
 table; near him the bride and bridegroom, the 
 coadjutors of the clergyman, and the more respect- 
 able guests; the other guests occupy the remainder 
 of the table, which extends the whole length of the 
 barn in which the dinner generally takes place. 
 
 Immediately on the cloth being removed, the priest 
 marries the young couple, and then the bridecake is 
 brought in and placed before the priest, who, putting 
 on his stole, blesses it, and cuts it up into small slices
 
 IRELAND. 49 
 
 which are handed round on a large dish among the 
 guests, generally by one of the coadjutors. Each 
 guest takes a slice of the cake, and lays down in place 
 of it a donation for the priest, consisting of pounds, 
 crowns, or shillings, according to the ability of the 
 donor. After that, wine and punch go round, as at 
 any ordinary dinner party. In the course of an hour 
 or so, part of the range of tables is removed, and the 
 musicians (consisting usually of a piper and a fiddler) 
 who, during the dinner, had been playing some of 
 the more slow and plaintive of the national airs, now 
 strike up, and the dance immediately commences. 
 
 ISLE OF MAN MARRIAGES. 
 
 The bridemen and bridesmaids lead the young 
 couple, as in England, only the former carry osier 
 wands, as a mark of superiority. A band of musi- 
 cians frequently heads the procession, and when the 
 parties arrive at the church, they walk three times 
 round it before they enter. Notice of the wedding 
 breakfast is given to all the friends and relatives of 
 both sides. Not one of them must fail to come, 
 unless detained by sickness, and bringing with them 
 a contribution towards the feast; the nearest of kin 
 commonly contributing the most valuable or useful 
 presents. Sometimes a dozen capons may be seen 
 in one platter, six or eight fat geese in another ; and
 
 $0 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 sheep and hogs roasted whole, and oxen divided into 
 quarters. 
 
 It is considered lucky to carry salt in the pocket, 
 and this is always done by the bride and bridegroom 
 at the wedding. Train relates that "on the bride- 
 groom leaving his house it was customary to throw 
 an old shoe after him, and, in like manner, an old 
 shoe after the bride on leaving her home to proceed 
 to church, in order to insure good luck to each 
 respectively; and if, by stratagem, either of the 
 bride's shoes could be taken off by any spectator 
 on her way from church, it had to be ransomed by 
 >the bridegroom." 
 
 GUERNSEY MARRIAGES. 
 
 When a young man offers himself to a young 
 woman and is accepted, the parents of the parties 
 give what is termed a "flouncing," that is, they 
 .invite their friends to a feast. The intended bride is 
 led round the room by her future father-in-law, and 
 introduced to his friends, and afterwards the young 
 man is paraded, in like manner, by his future father- 
 in-law ; there is then an exchange of rings and some 
 articles of plate, according to the rank of the parties. 
 After this it is considered a great crime for the 
 damsel to be seen walking with any other male 
 person, and the youth must scarce glance at any
 
 GUERNSEY MARRIAGES. 51 
 
 female. In this way they court for years. After this 
 ceremony, if the man alters his mind, the woman can 
 claim half his property; and if the fickle fair one 
 should repent, the unfortunate swain can demand the 
 half of hers. 
 
 HEBREW MARRIAGES. 
 
 There were several things connected with the 
 nuptials of the Hebrews so essentially different from 
 any thing among Europeans that a short notice of 
 them is indispensable. 
 
 The first thing which merits attention was the 
 method of contracting this sacred obligation their 
 espousals. It sometimes happened that several years 
 elapsed between the espousals and the marriage of 
 the contracting parties, during which period the 
 bride remained at home with her parents, and was 
 under the obligation of fidelity to her spouse as if the 
 nuptials had been solemnised (see Matt. i. 18). In 
 general, however, only two or three months elapsed 
 between the time of the espousals and that of the 
 marriage. 
 
 It is seen from several passages of Scripture, that 
 the custom of purchasing the brides prevailed among 
 the descendants of Abraham. Thus, Shechem says to 
 Jacob, whose daughter, Dinah, he wished to espouse, 
 " Ask me never so much dowry and gifts," &a See
 
 52 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS.. 
 
 also i Sam. xviii. 25. The custom still exists in 
 many parts of the East; and, hence, a numerous 
 family of daughters is a source of great wealth. 
 Where the bridegroom is not possessed of sufficient 
 property to obtain the object of his desire by pur- 
 chase, he obtains her by servitude. " They build 
 houses, work in their rice plantations, and do all the 
 services that may be necessary, and this often lasts 
 three or four years, before they can be married." 
 This will illustrate Gen. xxix. 27. 
 
 This sacred and important obligation was con- 
 tracted at a very early age among the Jews, in 
 compliance with Eastern customs; and hence the 
 bride calls her husband, " The guide of my youth " 
 (Prov. ii. 17 ; see also v. 18). At the age of eighteen 
 the males could marry, and the females when they 
 we're twelve and a day, till which time they were 
 called little maids. Celibacy and sterility were con- 
 sidered great afflictions (Judges xi. 37 ; i Sam. i. n, 
 &c.), and large families as peculiar marks of the 
 providential blessing of God (Prov. xvii. 6). 
 
 Concerning their marriages, Dr. Brown has col- 
 lected the following particulars from the Jewish 
 writers : 
 
 On the day of the marriage, the bride was as 
 elegantly attired as her circumstances would permit; 
 and was led by the women into the dressing-chamber 
 without her veil, and with dishevelled hair, marriage
 
 HEBREW MARRIAGES. 53' 
 
 songs being sung before her as she went. There she 
 was placed on a beautiful seat, where they disposed 
 her hair in ringlets (hence compared to the long 
 curled hair of a flock of goats on Mount Gilead in 
 Cant. iv. i), and ornamented it with ribands and 
 trinkets. They then decked her in her wedding 
 attire, and veiled her, like Rebecca, amidst the songs 
 and rejoicings of her attendants. Thus was she 
 "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" 
 (Isa. Ixi. 10 ; Rev. xxi. 2). A virgin was married on 
 the fourth day of the week, and a widow was married 
 on the fifth day of the week. A woman who was 
 either divorced or a widow, neither married nor was 
 espoused till after ninety days ; and if two heathens, 
 who had been married, became proselytes to Juda- 
 ism, they lived separate for the same length of time, 
 that it might be seen which of their children were 
 heathens and which were Jews. When the hour of 
 marriage arrived, four persons walked before the 
 bridegroom, carrying a canopy supported by four 
 poles, that if the bride intended to walk home to the 
 bridegroom's house after the ceremony, she might 
 walk under it in company with her husband ; and in 
 the interim it either stood before the door, or was 
 taken into the court, around which the house was 
 built, if the marriage ceremony was to be performed 
 there ; all the bride's party exclaiming, " Blessed be 
 he who cometh," welcoming thus the bridegroom and
 
 54 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 his friends. During the ceremony, if the father gave 
 away his daughter, he took her by the hand, as 
 Ra'guel did Sarah when she was married to Tobit, 
 presented her to the bridegroom and said, " Behold, 
 take her after the law of Moses, and lead her away;" 
 blessing them, taking paper, writing an instrument of 
 covenants, and sealing it (Tobit vii. 13, 14). But, if 
 the father did not act as the celebrator, the bride 
 stood on the right hand of the bridegroom in allusion 
 to Psalm xlv. 9, and the rabbi or hezen of the 
 synagogue, who acted as celebrator, took the 
 extremity of the thelit, which was about the bride- 
 groom's neck, and covered the head of the bride 
 with it, as Boaz did Ruth (iii. 9); after which, he 
 consecrated a cup of wine, the bystanders joining in 
 the ceremony, and the cup being thus blessed, it was 
 given to the two contracting parties. The bride- 
 groom afterwards taking the ring (a modern custom, 
 instead of the sum of money anciently given as the 
 dowry) and putting it on the finger of the bride, said, 
 " Lo, thou art married to me with this ring, according 
 to the form of Moses and of Israel." Two witnesses 
 were then called to hear the marriage contract read ; 
 and, after they returned, another cup of wine was 
 consecrated and divided among the guests. 
 
 Matters were next so ordered as to prepare for 
 setting out to the house of the bridegroom, when, if 
 there was a canopy, the bride and bridegroom walked
 
 HEBREW MARRIAGES. 55 
 
 under it; hence, says the spouse, "His banner over 
 me was love" (Cant. ii. 4); but, if none, the bride 
 and companions were veiled, she, however, far deeper 
 than they. Sometimes, also, they used a palanquin, 
 and were carried in state from one house to the 
 other; and it seems to have been this that David 
 alludes to in Ps. xlv. 13, " The king's daughter is all 
 glorious within (the palanquin) ; her clothing is of 
 wrought gold." And to this Solomon refers, when- 
 he says, of the chariot of the bridegroom, that its 
 wood was of cedar, its pillars of silver, its bottom of 
 gold, its covering of purple, and the midst thereof 
 paved with love, or poetical amorous inscriptions or 
 devices, for the daughters of Jerusalem (Cant. iii. 
 9, 10). The marriage processions were commonly 
 in the night, by torchlight; and Lightfoot says they 
 carried before them ten wooden staves, having each 
 of them at top a vessel like a dish, in which was a 
 piece of cloth or wick dipped in oil, to give light 
 to the company. So that the parable of the ten 
 virgins was evidently a delineation of national man- 
 ners, since they required, in that case, not only to 
 have oil in their lamps, but to have vessels containing 
 a quantity of oil in order to replenish these lamps 
 from time to time. Indeed, we have several allusions 
 to the same custom in various passages of Scripture. 
 Thus, the spouse, when speaking of the bridegroom, 
 says, " My beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest
 
 56 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 among ten thousand;" or, as the original expresses 
 it, " lighted with ten thousand ;" thereby meaning 
 that he dazzled beholders as much as a bridegroom 
 attended with ten thousand lamps (Cant. v. 10). 
 And the bridegroom says of the spouse, that she is 
 " terrible as an army with banners ;" or, literally, 
 that she is dazzling as women shone upon with the 
 nuptial lamps, when their rich attire reflected a 
 dazzling lustre. As they went to the bridegroom's 
 house, every person who met them gave place to the 
 procession; a cup of wine was carried before them; 
 and they were accompanied with music and dancing 
 (Ps. xlv. 15). Hence, in one of the parables of our 
 Lord, the children at their sport, when imitating a 
 marriage procession, said, " We have piped unto you, 
 and ye have not danced" (Luke vii. 32). The 
 praises of the bridegroom were also sung, in strains 
 like those in Ruth ii. n, 12, whilst the praises of the 
 bride were celebrated in a similar manner. Money 
 was scattered among the crowd, to remind them, if 
 need required, that they had been present at the 
 wedding ; and barley also was sown before the newly 
 married couple, as denoting their wishes for a numer- 
 ous progeny. 
 
 Having reached the house of the bridegroom, they 
 sat down to the marriage supper, each clothed with 
 a wedding garment (Matt. xxii. n), and etiquette 
 required that the bride and bridegroom should remain
 
 HEBREW MARRIAGES. 57 
 
 silent, whilst the honours of the table were done by 
 the architrictinus, or governor of the feast (Eccles. 
 xxxi. 1,2; John ii. 8, 9). Besides the architrictinus 
 there were two other official persons called para- 
 nymphi, or friends of the bridegroom and bride 
 (John iii. 29), whose office it was to be assisting to 
 them as man and maid, especially at their entry into 
 the nuptial chamber. After the feast was ended 
 mirth and dancing prevailed (Jer. xxxiii. n), which 
 made the prophet mention the want of them as a 
 mark of desolation (chap. vii. 34; xvi. 9; xxv. 10, u), 
 but whether the bride and bridegroom's parties 
 remained together or were in separate apartments, 
 is not said; the last is most comformable with the 
 manners of the East. When the bridegroom retired 
 he spread his skirt over his bride, to testify the claim 
 which the law had given him, and sought for those 
 signs which the Mosaic code requires in such cases 
 (Deut. xxii. 13-17). In the case of young persons 
 the marriage feast lasted seven days (Gen. xxix. 27; 
 Judges xiv. 12, 17), and the bride retained the 
 appellation for thirty days after the ceremony; but, 
 in the case of a widow or a widower, the feast lasted 
 only three days. It was the custom for the father 
 to give his daughter when leaving his house, a female 
 slave, as a companion, as Laban did to each of his 
 daughters; hence Solomon accounts those extremely 
 poor who had none (Prov. xii. 9, 1 1).
 
 58 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 A MODERN JEWISH WEDDING. 
 
 Jewish ladies, as other ladies, look upon marriage 
 as the ultimatum of all their hopes, and Jewish young 
 men, it is said, respect these hopes to the best of their 
 ability. Early marriages are of very frequent occur- 
 rence amongst foreign Israelites, but owing to the 
 industry and general activity of the whole race, what 
 cynics might look upon as premature unions, seldom 
 result in unhappiness or pauperism. Match-making 
 is largely resorted to, and I am acquainted with an 
 elderly individual who contrives to live very com- 
 fortably on the fees given him either by delighted 
 papas and mammas, or by sublimely happy young 
 ladies and gentlemen. After the engagement has 
 been announced to friends and relatives, a series of 
 evening parties ensue, when a large amount of card- 
 playing is indulged in. A young man who cannot 
 play loo or speculation had best turn his thoughts 
 into any channel other than matrimony, for he will 
 find that these games are almost inseparable from 
 love and courtship. I do not intend to censure the 
 joyous people for endeavouring to gild the gold of 
 love by a little harmless gambling, I merely mention 
 the fact as a peculiarity attending matrimonial 
 alliances. 
 
 Let me avoid the dark little nooks and corners 
 where the lovers pour out each other's hearts, and
 
 A MODERN JEWISH WEDDING. 59 
 
 proceed at once to the auspicious Sabbath preceding 
 the happy day (generally Wednesday), when the 
 blissful couple undergo a somewhat trying operation, 
 technically termed "sitting for joy." The young 
 man, accompanied by his male relatives, visits the 
 synagogue, he is called to the " Reading of the Law," 
 and makes some monetary offerings in honour of the 
 auspicious event. From thence he repairs to the 
 home of his bride, and commences "to sit for joy." 
 During the whole of the day, by no means incon- 
 siderable numbers of persons wait upon him, drink 
 the health of the couple, the parents, &c., and shake 
 hands ! Here lies the evil. As one who has 
 undergone the operation, I must protest against the 
 hand-shaking : the wonder is that the arm of the 
 bridegroom is not dragged from its socket. However, 
 the shaking gives pleasure to some people, for it's an 
 ill wind that blows nobody good. Wednesday arrives, 
 and the bride is of course shocked at the rapidity of 
 time's flight. If the contracting parties are of the 
 poorer classes the marriage takes place in the syna- 
 gogue ; if of the upper or middle classes the union is 
 cemented at home, or in a hall or hotel, in which 
 case the fees are somewhat higher. The marriage, 
 in London, generally takes place in the Great 
 Synagogue, Duke Street, Aldgate. A canopy of 
 coloured silk is erected in front of the ark in the 
 eastern portion of the synagogue, and under this the
 
 60 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 bride and bridegroom stand side by side, on either 
 side of them are their parents or guardians, and in 
 front is the chief rabbi standing between the two 
 ministers of the synagogue. The picture is one of 
 extreme interest, not unmixed with beauty. Here, 
 in an age of religious assimilation when tradition 
 is either neglected or rejected, when all that is simple 
 and touching in religion has to bow before the 
 grandeur of modern ideas here, I say, we have a 
 marriage solemnized, differing in its character but 
 little, if at all, from the manner in which it was 
 solemnized in the days when the Temple reared its 
 proud head in Jerusalem. The ring is examined by 
 the chief rabbi, who asks the happy man whether it 
 is his own, and on replying in the affirmative, the 
 ceremony proceeds. Certain blessings are pronounced, 
 the couple taste the wine which is handed to them. 
 As a rule, the wine is not nice. The chief rabbi, in 
 a very impressive manner, which generally has the 
 effect of drawing tears from the female part of the 
 audience, offers up a fervent prayer, in which he 
 trusts that the union will be blessed, that the pair will 
 continue to love each other, that they will maintain 
 the principles of their faith, &c. He generally com- 
 mences by saying that it is not good that man should 
 live alone, a truism which is very generally respected 
 by the Jewish people. I almost forgot to mention 
 that, previous to the rabbi's address, the groom places
 
 A MODERN JEWISH WEDDING. 6 1 
 
 the ring upon the forefinger of the bride (she removes 
 it subsequently to the "regulation" finger), and he 
 (the groom) says in Hebrew, " Behold, thou art 
 sanctified unto me, according to the law of Moses 
 and of Israel." It is strange that I should have 
 omitted to mention this before, but the information 
 will no doubt be welcomed, even out of its proper 
 place. After the address, one of the synagogue 
 officials deposits upon the ground, at the foot of the 
 bridegroom, a small board, upon which is placed an 
 ordinary wine-glass, and on the groom stamping upon 
 it and dashing it to pieces, those assembled cry out, 
 " Mazzletouv ! mazzletouv ! " (Good luck ! good luck !) 
 The rabbi shakes hands with the pair, and wishes 
 them much joy, and the ceremony is over. Various 
 reasons are assigned for the breaking of the glass, 
 into which it is not necessary for me to enter, the 
 most popular one being, that in the midst of the 
 rejoicing it is necessary to remind the people that the 
 Jewish nation is as scattered as the pieces of the 
 shattered wine-glass. The rabbi then reads very 
 rapidly a lengthy document which the bridegroom 
 has already signed, which serves the double purpose 
 of a marriage certificate and a marriage contract. 
 Very few bridegrooms are acquainted with the nature 
 of this document but that does not matter. In it 
 he declares to cherish his wife as the wives of Israel 
 ought to be cherished, and to allow her a certain
 
 62 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 settlement which he never does allow. The company 
 then proceed to breakfast. Adolphus Rosenberg. 
 
 THE ANCIENT GREEKS. 
 
 In the heroic age, a father disposed of his daugh- 
 ter's hand with absolute authority. At the marriage, 
 presents were interchanged by both parties according 
 to their means; and if a wife was obliged, without 
 her fault, to return to her father's house, she was 
 entitled to carry back her portion with her. In this 
 age of heroic enterprise, wealth and even noble 
 birth did not recommend a suitor more powerfully 
 than strength, courage, and skill in manly sports and 
 martial exercises. In many parts of Greece, the 
 nuptial ceremony was a symbolic representation of a 
 forcible abduction of the bride; probably an allusion 
 to the fact that, in the earliest times, the suitor had 
 to win his bride by some deed of skill or courage. 
 This was specially the case among the Spartans, 
 where the bride was always supposed to be carried 
 off from the parental roof by force or stratagem. In 
 Sparta, after marriage, the women appeared much 
 less in public than before; but although they were 
 not allowed to enjoy much of the society of their 
 husbands, they were treated with a respect, and 
 exercised an influence, which, to the rest of Greece, 
 seemed extravagant and pernicious. In the latter
 
 THE ANCIENT GREEKS. 63 
 
 period of Spartan history, they alone, among the 
 Greek women, show a dignity of character which 
 renders them worthy rivals of the noblest of the 
 Roman matrons. 
 
 Marriage was very much encouraged in most of 
 the Grecian States, and in Sparta celibacy was 
 considered as infamous. Men, however, were not 
 permitted by Lycurgus to marry till they had attained 
 their full strength. The Athenians were not allowed 
 to marry persons of other countries. Amongst them 
 a formal betrothal was an indispensable part of the 
 marriage ceremony. The Greeks had several forms 
 of betrothing, as, " I give you this my daughter to 
 make you father of children lawfully begotten." The 
 dowry was sometimes mentioned, as we find in 
 Xenophon, where Cyaxares betroths his daughter to 
 Cyrus, saying, " I give you, Cyrus, this woman, who 
 is my daughter, with all Media for her dowry." The 
 ceremony in promising fidelity was kissing each 
 other, or giving their right hands, which was the 
 usual form of ratifying agreements. 
 
 The betrothal was followed by sacrifices to the 
 gods who presided over marriage. 
 
 Winter was considered the most auspicious season 
 for marriage; and the Athenians preferred the time 
 of the new moon, while some of the Greeks consi- 
 dered the period of full moon as the most favourable. 
 
 The bride and bridegroom, on the wedding day,
 
 64 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 bathed themselves in water fetched from some par- 
 ticular fountain. They then proceeded to the temple, 
 followed by their friends singing the praises of the 
 bridal pair as they went along. Each was presented 
 at the temple with an ivy branch, the symbol of the 
 indissoluble bond of matrimony. Sacrifices were 
 then made at the altar, the entrails of the victims 
 being examined in order to discover a favourable 
 augury. 
 
 In the evening the bride was conducted to the 
 house of the bridegroom. She rode in a chariot, 
 drawn by oxen or mules, with a couch seat. The 
 bridegroom and one of his relations or friends sat on 
 either side of her. Homer thus describes this scene 
 as it was depicted on the shield of Achilles : 
 
 " Here sacred pomp and genial feast delight, 
 And solemn dance and hymeneal rite ; 
 Along the streets the new made brides are led, 
 With torches flaming, to the nuptial bed. 
 The youthful dancers in a circle bound 
 To the soft flute and cithern's silver sound, 
 Through the fair streets the matrons in a row 
 Stand in their porches, and enjoy the show." 
 
 In the primitive ages women were married without 
 portions from their relations, being purchased by 
 their husbands, whose presents to the women's rela- 
 tions were called her dowry. Aristotle makes this 
 one argument to prove that the ancient Greeks were
 
 THE ANCIENT GREEKS. 65 
 
 an uncivilised people, because they used to buy their 
 wives. No sooner did they begin to lay aside their 
 barbarous manners than this practice ceased, and 
 wives began to bring portions to their husbands. In 
 the case of orphan virgins, the next of kin were 
 obliged to marry them, or settle portions upon them 
 according to their rank in life. When they had no 
 relations who could provide for them, it was common 
 for the state to take care of them. 
 
 The Athenian virgins were presented to Diana 
 before it was lawful for them to marry. Another 
 custom was for them to present baskets full of little 
 curiosities to Diana, to gain leave to depart out of 
 her train (virgins being looked upon as under the 
 goddess' peculiar care) and change their state of 
 life. 
 
 The Lacedasmonians had a very ancient statue of 
 Venus Juno, to which all mothers sacrificed when 
 their daughters were married. 
 
 THE MODERN GREEKS. 
 
 The particular ceremonies and preliminaries of 
 the marriage rites of the Greeks are as singular 
 and remarkable as those of other countries, and 
 we shall, in the first place, describe those which 
 may, with propriety, be termed religious. In the 
 office of matrimony there is a prayer for the bride,
 
 66 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 who is to be muffled up either in a veil or a hood. 
 Those who are inclined to be joined together in the 
 bands of wedlock, make their applications to the 
 priest, as soon as mass is over for the solemnization 
 of their nuptials. The bridegroom stands on the 
 right hand, and the bride on the left. Two rings, 
 one of gold the other of silver, are deposited near 
 to each other on the right side of the communion 
 table, the latter pointing to the right hand, and the 
 former to the left. The priest who performs the 
 ceremony, makes several crosses upon the bride and 
 bridegroom; puts lighted wax-tapers in their hands, 
 thurifies, or incenses them, in the form of a cross, 
 and accompanies them to the temple. The choir 
 and the deacon pray alternately that the bridegroom 
 and the bride may prosper in all their undertakings, 
 and be blessed with a numerous and hopeful issue. 
 When these prayers are over, the priest gives the 
 gold ring to the bridegroom, and the silver one to 
 his spouse, saying three times successively, / join 
 (or I tie) M. and N. these servants of the Almighty 
 here present, in the name of the Father, &c. Having 
 pronounced this form of words, he makes the sign 
 of the cross with the rings over their heads, before 
 he puts them on the proper finger of the right hand. 
 Then the paranymph, or brideman, exchanges these 
 two rings, and the priest reads a long prayer, in which 
 the virtue and dignity of the nuptial ring are typically
 
 THE MODERN GREEKS. 67 
 
 compared to the ring of Joseph, and those of Daniel 
 and Thamar. 
 
 While the bride and bridegroom are crowned, the 
 same priest accompanies the ceremony with several 
 benedictions, and other emphatical prayers, which 
 being completed, the bridegroom and his spouse 
 enter the church with their wax-tapers lighted in their 
 hands ; the priest marches in procession before them, 
 with his incense-pot, singing, as he proceeds, the 
 1 2 8th Psalm, which consists of a promise to the 
 faithful yews of a prosperous and fruitful marriage. 
 At the close of every verse the congregation repeat 
 the Doxology or the Gloria Patri. The deacon, as 
 soon as the psalms are over, resumes the prayers, 
 and the choir makes the usual responses. 
 
 These prayers being concluded, the priest places 
 the crown on the bridegroom's head, saying, This 
 man, the servant of the Lord, is crowned, in order to be 
 married to this woman, &c. After which, he crowns 
 the bride, and repeats the same form, which is fol- 
 lowed by a triple benediction, the proper lessons, 
 and prayers. The priest, in the next place, presents 
 the bridegroom and the bride with a goblet, or large 
 glass, full of wine, ready blest for that purpose; 
 after which, he takes off their crowns. Another 
 prayer, accompanied with a proper benediction, and 
 several compliments paid to the newly-married couple, 
 conclude the solemnity.
 
 68 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 The observance of the following particular customs 
 is looked upon amongst the Greeks as an indispens- 
 able obligation, and, in short, a fundamental article 
 of their religion. If a priest, after the decease of his 
 first wife, marries again, he forfeits his title to the 
 priesthood, and is looked upon as a layman. If a 
 layman marries a fourth wife, he is excluded from 
 all communion with the Church. When a man has 
 buried his third wife, there is no medium for him; 
 he must either continue a lay-widower, or enter him- 
 self a member of some convent. The general reason 
 assigned for this severe prohibition, is, that fourth 
 marriages are absolute polygamy. The Greeks do 
 not entertain the same idea of three subsequent mar- 
 riages, because, by a most refined subterfuge and 
 evasion, which is scarcely intelligible, they insist 
 that polygamy consists of two copulatives, and that 
 three marriages consists but of one plurality and a 
 unity. A much better reason for it is, however, 
 assigned by Ricaut, which is, that this custom of 
 the modern Greeks is grounded on the rigour of the 
 ancient Church, which checked and censured all those 
 who indulged themselves in any sensual enjoyments. 
 
 MARRIAGE AMONG THE GREEKS AT ATHENS. 
 
 The young virgins never stir out of their houses 
 before their wedding-day, and their gallants make
 
 AMONG THE GREEKS AT ATHENS. 69 
 
 love by proxy, or a third person, who has free 
 access to them, and is generally some relation or 
 particular acquaintance, in whose fidelity and friend- 
 ship they can properly confide. The lover does not, 
 therefore, so much as see his intended bride till the 
 day appointed for the solemnization of their nuptials. 
 On that day, the bride is handed about in public for 
 a long time, moving in a very slow and solemn pace. 
 The procession between the church and the bride- 
 groom's house occupies at least two hours, and is 
 preceded by a select band of hautboys, tabors, and 
 other musical instruments. During this ceremony 
 and the procession, the young virgins carry a large 
 crown on their heads, composed of filagree-work, 
 decked with costly pearls, which is so cumbrous and 
 troublesome, that they are obliged to walk as upright 
 as an arrow. 
 
 MARRIAGE AMONG THE ROMANS. 
 
 % 
 
 A legal marriage among the Romans was made 
 in three different ways, called Usus, Confarreatio, 
 and Coemptio. 
 
 Usus, usage or prescription, was when a woman, 
 with the consent of her parents or guardians, lived 
 with a man for a whole year without being absent 
 three nights, and thus became his lawful wife or 
 property by prescription. If absent for three nights,
 
 70 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 she was said to have interrupted the prescription, and 
 thus prevented the marriage. 
 
 Confarreatio was when a man and woman were 
 joined in marriage by the Pontifex Maximus, or 
 Flamen Dialis, in presence of at least ten witnesses, 
 by a set form of words, and by tasting a cake made 
 of salt, water, and flour, called Far, which was offered 
 with a sheep in sacrifice to the gods. 
 
 This was the most solemn form of marriage, and 
 could only be dissolved by another kind of sacrifice., 
 called Diffarreatio. By it a woman was said to come 
 into the possession or power of her husband by the 
 sacred laws. She thus became partner of all his sub- 
 stance and sacred rites; those of the Penates as well as 
 those of the Lares. If he died intestate, and without 
 children, she inherited his whole fortune as a daughter. 
 If he left children, she had an equal share with them. 
 If she committed any fault the husband judged of it 
 in company with her relations, and punished her at 
 pleasure. The punishment of women publicly con- 
 demned was sometimes also left to their relations. 
 
 The children of this kind of marriage were called 
 Matrimi et Patrimi, and often employed for particular 
 purposes in sacred solemnities. Certain priests were 
 chosen only from among them, as the Flamen of 
 Jupiter, and the Vestal Virgins. According to Festus, 
 those were so called whose parents were both alive. 
 Jf only the father was alive, Patrimi; if only the
 
 THE ROMANS. 71 
 
 mother, Matrimi. Hence Minerva is called Patrimi 
 virgo, because she had no mother; and a man who 
 had children while his own father was alive, Pater 
 patrimis. 
 
 This ceremony of marriage in later times fell much 
 into disuse. Hence Cicero mentions only two kinds 
 of marriage, Usus and Coemptio. 
 
 Coemptio was a kind of mutual purchase, when a 
 man and woman were married, by delivering to one 
 another a small piece of money, and repeating certain 
 words. The man asked the woman, if she was 
 willing to be the mistress of his family. She answered 
 that she was. In the same manner, the woman asked 
 the man, and he made a similar answer. 
 
 The effects of this rite were the same as of the 
 former. The woman was to the husband in the 
 place of a daughter, and he to her as a father. She 
 assumed his name together with her own. She 
 resigned to him all her goods, and acknowledged 
 him as her lord and master. The goods which a 
 woman brought to her husband, besides her portion, 
 were called Parapherna. In the first days of the 
 republic, dowries were very small. Sometimes the 
 wife reserved to herself a part of the dowry, and a 
 slave, who was not subject to the power of her 
 husband. Some think that Coemptio was used as 
 an accessary rite to Confarreatio, and retained when 
 the primary rite was dropped.
 
 72 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 Some say that a yoke used anciently to be put on 
 a man and woman about to be married, whence they 
 were called conjuges ; but others think this expression 
 merely metaphorical. 
 
 A matrimonial union betwixt slaves was called 
 Contubernium; the slaves themselves Contubernales. 
 
 Married women were called Matronag. There 
 could be no just or legal marriage, for better for 
 worse, unless between Roman citizens, without a 
 particular permission for that purpose obtained first 
 from the people or senate, and afterwards from the 
 Emperors. Anciently, a Roman citizen was not 
 allowed even to marry a freed-woman. Antony is 
 reproached by Cicero for having married Fulvia, 
 the daughter of a freed-man, as he afterwards was 
 detested at Rome for marrying Cleopatra, a foreigner, 
 before he divorced Octavia; but this was not esteemed 
 a legal marriage. 
 
 By the Lex Papia Poppsea a greater freedom was 
 allowed. Only senators and their sons and grandsons 
 were forbidden to marry a freed-woman, an actress, 
 or the daughter of an actor. But it was not till 
 Caracalla had granted the right of citizenship to the 
 inhabitants of the whole empire, that Romans were 
 permitted freely to intermarry with foreigners. 
 
 The Romans sometimes prohibited intermarriages 
 between neighbouring districts of the same country; 
 and what is still more surprising, the states of Italy
 
 THE ROMANS. 73 
 
 were not allowed to speak the Latin language in 
 public, nor their criers to use it in auctions without 
 permission. 
 
 The children of a Roman citizen, whether man or 
 woman, and a foreigner, were accounted spurious, 
 and their condition little better than that of slaves. 
 They were called Hybridae, the general name of 
 animals of a mixed breed, or produced by animals 
 of a different species, mongrels; as a mule, from a 
 horse and an ass a dog, from a hound and a 
 cur : hence applied to those sprung from parents of 
 different nations, and to words compounded from 
 different languages. The children of a lawful mar- 
 riage were called Legitimi ; all others Illegitimi. Of 
 the latter there were four kinds : Naturales, Spurii, 
 Adulterini et Incestuosi. There were certain degrees 
 of consanguinity, within which marriage was pro- 
 hibited, as between a brother and sister, an uncle 
 and niece, &c. Such connection was called Incestus ; 
 or with a Vestal Virgin. These degrees were more 
 or less extended, or contracted at different times. 
 
 Polygamy, or a plurality of wives, was forbidden 
 among the Romans. 
 
 No young man or woman was allowed to marry 
 without the consent of their parents or guardians. 
 
 There was a meeting of friends, usually at the 
 house of the woman's father or nearest relation, to 
 settle the articles of the marriage contract, which
 
 74 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 was written on tables, and sealed. This contract 
 was called Sponsalia, espousals; the man who was 
 betrothed or affianced, Sponsus, and the woman, 
 Sponsa. The contract was made in the form 
 of a stipulation. Then, likewise, the dowry was 
 promised to be paid down on the marriage day, or 
 afterwards, usually at three separate payments. On 
 this occasion there was commonly a feast; and the 
 man gave the woman a ring, by way of pledge, 
 which she put on her left hand, on the finger next 
 the least, because it was believed a nerve reached 
 from thence to the heart. 
 
 Then, also, a day was fixed for the marriage. 
 Certain days were reckoned unfortunate, as the 
 Kalends, Nones, and Ides, and the days which 
 followed them, particularly the whole month of May, 
 and those days which were called Atri, marked in 
 the calendar with black; also certain festivals, as 
 that of the Salii, Parentalia, &c. But widows might 
 marry on those days. The most fortunate time was 
 the middle of the month of June. 
 
 If, after the espousals, either of the parties wished 
 to retract, it was called Repudium. 
 
 On the wedding-day the bride was dressed in a 
 long white robe, bordered with a purple fringe, or 
 embroidered ribbons, thought to be the same with 
 tunica recta, bound with a girdle made of wool tied 
 in a knot, which the husband untied. Her face was
 
 THE ROMANS. 75 
 
 covered with a red or flame-coloured veil, to denote 
 her modesty. Her hair was divided into six locks 
 with the point of a spear, and crowned with flowers. 
 Her shoes were of the same colour with her veil. 
 
 No marriage was celebrated without consulting the 
 auspices, and offering sacrifices to the gods, especially 
 to Juno, the goddess of marriage. Anciently a hog 
 was sacrificed. The gall of the victim was always 
 taken out, and thrown away, to signify the removal 
 of all bitterness from marriage. The marriage cere- 
 mony was performed at the house of the bride's father 
 or nearest relation. In the evening the bride was 
 conducted to her husband's house. She was taken 
 apparently by force from the arms of her mother 
 or nearest relation, in memory of the violence used 
 to the Sabine women. Three boys, whose parents 
 were alive, attended her; two of them supporting her 
 by the arm, and the third bearing a flambeau of pine 
 or thorn before. There were five other torches 
 carried before her. Maid-servants followed with a 
 distaff, a spindle and wool,- intimating that she was to 
 labour at spinning as the Roman matrons did of old. 
 
 Upon her return home, the keys of the house were 
 delivered to her, to denote her being entrusted with 
 the management of the family. A sheep's skin was 
 spread below her, intimating that she was to work at 
 the spinning of wool. Both she and her husband, 
 touched fire and water, because all things were
 
 76 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 supposed to be produced from these two elements : 
 with the water they bathed their feet. The husband 
 on this occasion gave a feast to his relations and 
 friends, and to those of the bride and her attendants. 
 Musicians attended, who sang the nuptial song. 
 
 MARRIAGE AMONG THE BABYLONIANS. 
 
 No details of their marriage ceremonies have been 
 preserved; but illegal connections were not only tole- 
 rated, but even enjoined as an article of religion. 
 The following is an account of a Babylonian matri- 
 monial auction : 
 
 The Babylonians had a law, which was also 
 followed by the Heneti, an Illyrian people, and by 
 Herodotus thought to be one of their best, which 
 ordained, that when girls were of a marriageable 
 age, they were to repair at a certain time to a place 
 where the young men likewise assembled. They 
 were then sold by the public crier, who first disposed 
 of the most beautiful one. When he had sold her, 
 he put up others to sale, according to their degrees 
 of beauty. The rich Babylonians were emulous to 
 carry off the finest women, who were sold to the 
 highest bidders. But as the young men who were 
 poor, could not aspire to have fine women, they were 
 content to take the ugliest, with the money which 
 was given with them; for when the crier had sold
 
 THE BABYLONIANS. 77 
 
 the handsomest, he ordered the ugliest of all the 
 women to be brought, and inquired if any one was 
 willing to take her with a small sum of money, she 
 becoming the wife of him who was most easily 
 satisfied. Thus the finest women were sold, and 
 from the money which they brought, small fortunes 
 were given to the ugliest, and to those who had any 
 bodily deformity. A father could not marry his 
 daughter as he pleased ; nor was he who bought her 
 allowed to take her home without giving security 
 that he would marry her. But after the sale, if the 
 parties were not agreeable to each other, the law 
 enjoined that the purchase money should be restored. 
 The inhabitants of any of their towns were permitted 
 to buy wives at these auctions. 
 
 Layard, in "Nineveh and Babylon," describes a 
 marriage near Nimroud : 
 
 The parties entered into the contract in the pre- 
 sence of witnesses, amidst dancing and rejoicing. 
 The next day, the bride, covered from head to foot 
 with a thick veil, was led to the bridegroom's house, 
 surrounded by her friends decked out in the gayest 
 attire, and accompanied by musicians. She was 
 kept behind the corner of a darkened room for three 
 days, during which the guests feasted; afterwards 
 the bridegroom was allowed to approach her. The 
 courtyard of the house was filled with dancers and 
 players on the fife and drum during the day and
 
 78 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 great part of the night. The bridegroom, on the 
 third day, was led from house to house by his friends, 
 receiving at each a trifling present. He was then 
 placed within a circle of dancers, and the guests and 
 bystanders stuck small coins on his forehead. As 
 the money fell, it was caught in an open kerchief 
 held under his chin. After this ceremony, a party of 
 young men rushing into the crowd, carried off the 
 most wealthy guests, and locked them up in a dark 
 room until they paid a ransom to be released. All 
 the money collected was added to the dowry. The 
 remainder of the day was spent in feasting, raki 
 drinking and dancing. 
 
 MARRIAGE AMONG THE MODERN EGYPTIANS.* 
 
 Many of the females marry at the age of twelve or 
 thirteen; few remain unmarried after sixteen. 
 
 Marriages in Cairo are generally conducted, in 
 the case of a virgin, in the following manner; but 
 in that of a widow, or divorced woman, with little 
 ceremony. Most commonly, the mother or some, 
 other near female relation of the youth or man who 
 is desirous of obtaining a wife, describes to him the 
 personal and other qualifications of the young women 
 with whom she is acquainted, and directs his choice : 
 or he employs a " khat'beh ;" a woman whose regular 
 * Condensed from Lane's " Modern Egyptians."
 
 THE MODERN EGYPTIANS. 79 
 
 business it is to assist men in such cases. This woman 
 gives her report confidentially, describing one girl as 
 being like a gazelle, pretty, elegant and young; and 
 another as pretty, but not rich, and so forth. 
 
 The parents may betroth their daughter to whom 
 they please, and marry her to him without her con- 
 sent, if s-he be not arrived at the age of puberty : but 
 after she has attained that age she may choose a 
 husband for herself, and appoint any man to arrange 
 and effect her marriage. Very. often, a father objects 
 to giving a daughter in marriage to a man who is not 
 of the same profession or trade as himself; and to 
 marry a younger daughter before an elder. The 
 bridegroom can scarcely ever obtain even a surrep- 
 titious glance at the features of his bride, until he 
 finds her in his absolute possession, unless she belong 
 to the lower classes of society; in which case it is 
 easy enough for him to see her face. 
 
 When a female is about to marry, she should 
 have a "wekeel" (or deputy) to settle the compact, 
 and conclude the contract for her with her proposed 
 husband. 
 
 After a youth or man has made choice of a female 
 to demand in marriage, he repairs with two or three 
 of his friends to her wekeel. Having obtained his 
 consent to the union, if the intended bride be under 
 age, he asks what is the amount of the required 
 "mahr" (or dowry), the gift of which is indispensable.
 
 8o MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 The usual amount, if the parties be in possession 
 of a moderately good income, is about a thousand 
 rujals or (22 IDS.) The wealthy calculate the dowry 
 in purses of five hundred piasters (about ^5) each, 
 and fix its amount at ten purses or more. 
 
 This affair being settled, and confirmed by all 
 persons present reciting the opening chapter of the 
 Koran (the Ftit'hah), an early day is appointed for 
 paying the money, and performing the ceremony of 
 the marriage contract. On the day appointed for 
 this ceremony the bridegroom, again accompanied 
 by two or three of his friends, goes to the house 
 of the bride, usually about noon, taking with him 
 that portion of the dowry which he has promised 
 to pay on this occasion. He and his companions 
 are received by the bride's wekeel, and two or more 
 friends of the latter are usually present. It is neces- 
 sary that there be two witnesses (and those most 
 generally Moslems) to the marriage contract, unless 
 in a situation where witnesses cannot be procured. 
 All present recite the Fat'hah; and the bridegroom 
 then pays the money. After this the marriage con- 
 tract is performed. The bridegroom and the bride's 
 wekeel sit upon the ground, face to face, with one 
 knee upon the ground, and grasp each other's right 
 hand, raising the thumbs, and pressing them against 
 each other. A "fikee" (or schoolmaster) is generally 
 employed to instruct them what they are to say.
 
 THE MODERN EGYPTIANS. 8 1 
 
 Having placed a handkerchief over their joined hands, 
 he usually prefaces the words of the contract with a 
 "khutbeh," consisting of a few words of exhortation 
 and prayer, with questions from the Koran and 
 Traditions, on the excellency and advantages of mar- 
 riage. He then desires the bride's wekeel to say, 
 " I betroth (or marry) to them, my daughter (or the 
 female who has appointed me her wekeel), such a one 
 (naming the bride), the virgin for a dowry of such an 
 amount." The bride's wekeel having said this, the 
 bridegroom, prompted in the same manner by the 
 fikee, says, "I accept from thee her betrothal (or 
 marriage) to myself, and take her under my care, 
 and bind myself to afford her my protection ; and ye 
 who are present bear witness of this." The wekeel 
 addresses the bridegroom in the same manner a 
 second and third time; and each time the latter 
 replies as before. They then generally add, "And 
 blessing be on the apostles, and praise be to God, 
 the Lord of all creatures, amen;" after which, all 
 present again repeat the Fat'hah. The contract 
 concluded, the bridegroom sometimes (but seldom, 
 unless he be a person of the lower orders) kisses 
 the hands of his friends and others there present; 
 and they are presented with sherbet, and generally 
 remain to dinner. Each of them receives an 
 embroidered handkerchief, provided by the family 
 of the bride; excepting the fikee, who receives a
 
 S2 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 similar handkerchief, with a small gold coin tied up 
 in it, from the bridegroom. 
 
 In general, the bridegroom waits for his bride 
 about eight or ten days after the conclusion of the 
 contract. Meanwhile, he sends to her, two or three 
 or more times, some fruit, sweetmeats, &c.; and, 
 perhaps, makes her a present of a shawl, or some 
 other article of value. The bride's family are at 
 the same time occupied in preparing for her a stock 
 of household furniture and dress. The portion of the 
 <iowry which has been paid by the bridegroom, and 
 generally a much larger sum, is expended in purchas- 
 ing the articles of furniture, dress and ornaments for 
 the bride. 
 
 The bridegroom should receive his bride on the 
 eve of Friday, or that of Monday, but the former is 
 generally esteemed the more fortunate period. Dur- 
 ing two or more preceding nights, the street or 
 quarter in which the bridegroom lives is illuminated 
 with chandeliers and lanterns, or with lanterns and 
 small lamps, suspended from cords drawn across 
 from the bridegroom's and other houses on each 
 side to the houses opposite; and several small silk 
 flags, each of two colours, generally red and green, 
 are attached to these or other cords. An entertain- 
 ment is also given on each of these nights at the 
 .bridegroom's house. 
 
 On the preceding Wednesday (or Saturday if the
 
 THE MODERN EGYPTIANS. 83 
 
 wedding is to conclude on the eve of Monday), at 
 noon, the bride goes in state to the bath. The 
 procession is headed by a party of musicians with a 
 hautboy or two, and drums of different kinds. Some- 
 times, at the head of the bride's party, are two 
 men who carry the utensils and linen used in the 
 bath, upon two round trays, each of which is covered 
 with an embroidered or plain silk kerchief; also a 
 sakka, who gives water to any of the people if 
 asked ; and two other persons, one of whom bears a 
 bottle of plain or gilt silver, or of china, containing 
 rose or orange flower water, which he occasionally 
 sprinkles on the people, and the other a perfum- 
 ing vessel of silver. In general, the first persons 
 among the bride's party are several of her married 
 female relations and friends, walking in pairs, and 
 next a number of young virgins. Then follows the 
 bride, walking under a canopy of silk of some gay 
 colour as pink, rose-colour, or yellow; or of two 
 colours, composing wide stripes, often rose-colour and 
 yellow. It is carried by four men, by means of a 
 pole at each corner, and is open only in front. Upon 
 her head is placed a small pasteboard cap or crown. 
 The shawl is placed over this, and conceals from the 
 view of the public the richer articles of her dress, her 
 face, jewels, &c., excepting one or two "kussahs" 
 (an ornament from seven to eight inches in length, 
 composed of diamonds, emeralds, &c., set in gold),
 
 84 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 attached to that part of the shawl which covers her 
 forehead. The procession moves very slowly, and is 
 closed by a second party of musicians, similar to the 
 first, or by two or three drummers. Having passed 
 some hours in the bath, they return in the same 
 order in which they came, to the house of the bride's 
 family, where she and her companions sup together. 
 After the company have been thus entertained, a 
 large quantity of henna having been prepared, mixed 
 into a paste, the bride takes a lump of it in her hand, 
 and receives contributions from her guests^-each of 
 them sticks a coin (usually of gold) in the henna 
 which she holds upon her hand; and when the lump 
 is closely stuck with these coins,- she scraps it off her 
 hand upon the edge of a basin of water. Having 
 collected in this manner from all her guests, some 
 more henna is applied to her hands and feet, which 
 are then bound with pieces of linen. In this state 
 they remain until the' next morning, when they are 
 found to be sufficiently dyed with its deep orange-red 
 colour. Her guests make use of the remainder of 
 the dye for their .own hands. 
 
 On the following day the bride goes in piocession 
 to the house of the bridegroom, in the same order as 
 that to the bath. The bride and her party having 
 arrived at the bridegroom's house, sit down to a 
 repast. Her friends, shortly after, take their depar- 
 ture, leaving with her only her mother and sister, or
 
 THE MODERN EGYPTIANS. 85 
 
 other near female relations, and one or two other 
 women. 
 
 The bridegroom sits below. Before sunset he goes 
 to the bath, and there changes his clothes ; and, after 
 having supped with a party of his friends, waits till a 
 little before the time of the night-prayer, or until the 
 third or fourth hour of the night, when he repairs to 
 some neighbouring mosque and there says his prayers. 
 If young, he is generally honoured with a zeffeh on 
 this occasion : he goes to the mosque preceded by 
 musicians with drums and one or more hautboys, and 
 accompanied by a number of friends, and by several 
 men bearing " mesh'als." The mesh'al is a staff with 
 a cylindrical frame of iron at the top, filled with 
 flaming wood. The prayers are commonly repeated 
 merely as a matter of ceremony. The procession 
 returns from the mosque with more order and display, 
 and very slowly, headed by musicians and bearers of 
 mesh'als. 
 
 Soon after his return from the mosque, the bride- 
 groom leaves his friends in a lower apartment, 
 enjoying their pipes and coffee. If the bridegroom 
 be young, it is considered proper that he, as well as 
 the bride, should exhibit some degree of bashfulness ; 
 one of his friends, therefore, carries him a part of the 
 way up to the harem. On entering the bride's apart- 
 ment, he gives a present to the bellanch, and she 
 retires. The bride has a shawl thrown over her
 
 86 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 head; and the bridegroom must give her a present 
 of money, which is called " the price of the uncover- 
 ing of the face," before he attempts to remove this, 
 which she does not allow him to do without some 
 apparent reluctance, in order to show her maiden 
 modesty. On removing the covering, he says, " In 
 the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful;" 
 and then greets her with this compliment " The 
 night be blessed," or " is blessed ;" to which she 
 replies, " God bless thee." The bridegroom now sees 
 the face of his bride for the first time, and generally 
 finds her nearly what he has been led to expect. 
 Often a curious ceremony is then performed. The 
 bridegroom takes off every article of the bride's cloth- 
 ing excepting her chemise ; seats her upon a mattress 
 or bed, the head of which is turned towards the 
 direction of Mecca, placing her so that her back is 
 also turned in that direction ; and draws forward, and 
 spreads upon the bed, the lower part of the front 
 of her chemise. Having done this, he stands at the 
 distance of rather less than a yard before her, and 
 performs the prayers of two rek'ahs, laying his head 
 and hands, in prostration, upon the part of her shirt 
 that is extended before her lap. He remains with 
 her but a few minutes longer. Having satisfied his 
 curiosity respecting her personal charms, he calls to 
 the women (who generally collect at the door, where 
 they wait in anxious suspense) to raise their cries of
 
 THE MODERN EGYPTIANS. 87 
 
 joy ; and the shrill sounds acquaint the persons below 
 and in the neighbourhood that he has acknowledged 
 himself satisfied with his bride. He soon after 
 descends to rejoin his friends, and remains with thent 
 an hour or more before he returns to his wife. It 
 very seldom happens that the husband, if disap- 
 pointed in his bride, immediately disgraces and 
 divorces her ; in general, he retains her, in this case, 
 a week or more. 
 
 The general mode of zeffeh among the inhabitants 
 of the villages is different from those above described. 
 The bride, usually covered with a shawl, is seated on 
 a camel, and so conveyed to the bridegroom's dwell- 
 ing. Sometimes four or five women or girls sit with 
 her on the same camel, one on either side of her, and 
 two or three others behind, the seat being made very 
 wide, and usually covered with carpets or other 
 drapery. She is followed by a group of women 
 singing. On the evening of the wedding, and often 
 during several previous evenings, the male and female 
 friends of the two parties meet at the bridegroom's 
 house, and pass several hours of the night in the 
 open air, amusing themselves with songs and a 
 rude kind of dance, accompanied by tambourines or 
 rough drums. Both sexes sing, but only the women 
 dance. I now revert to the customs of the people of 
 Cairo. 
 
 On the morning after the marriage, dancing men-
 
 88 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 or girls perform before the bridegroom's house. On 
 the same morning, also, if the bridegroom is a young 
 man, the person who carried him upstairs generally 
 takes him and several friends to an entertainment in 
 the country, where they spend the whole day. This 
 ceremony is called " the flight." If the bridegroom 
 is a person of the lower orders, he is conducted back 
 in procession, preceded by three or four musicians 
 with drums and hautboys; his friends and other 
 attendants carrying each a nosegay, as in the zeffeh 
 of the preceding night ; and, if after sunset, they are 
 accompanied by men bearing mesh'als, lamps, &c., 
 and the friends of the bridegroom carry lighted wax 
 candles with the nosegays. 
 
 MAHOMETANS. 
 
 The ceremony of marriage is in high esteem 
 amongst the Mahometans; yet it is not celebrated 
 in the presence of the priests, nor is it considered 
 an act of religion, as with the Jews and Christians, 
 and formerly with the Romans and Grecians. The 
 Cadi, or civil judge, gives it a sanction; "as to an 
 act. purely relating to society, which is not valid 
 without his presence. The husband acknowledges 
 that he has obliged himself to marry such a woman, 
 to give her such a dowry, and to dispose of her at 
 pleasure in case of divorce." The woman is not
 
 MAHOMETANS. 89 
 
 present at this acknowledgment, but the father, or 
 some of the relations, assist at it; which being done, 
 the husband takes possession of his wife, who is 
 brought to him veiled under a canopy, accompanied 
 by friends, relations, and slaves with music. 
 
 A number of travellers affirm that the Turks 
 have a kind of half-marriage, called Cabin; which 
 consists in taking a wife for a time limited. This 
 agreement is made before the judge, who, in the 
 presence of the contracting parties, writes it down, 
 and the stipulated sum of money is paid to the 
 woman when the time is elapsed. 
 
 The Mahometans are allowed to make use of 
 their female slaves; and here we must take notice, 
 first, that Mussulmans may marry women of any 
 religion the tenets of which are written ; and secondly, 
 that all the children, whether by wives or slaves, 
 equally inherit their father's property, if by will or 
 otherwise the father has declared them free; in 
 default of which, the children of a slave still remain 
 slaves to the eldest son of the family. 
 
 We must not omit the curious particulars related 
 by Ricault, when the princesses of the Ottoman 
 empire are married to some great and powerful man; 
 this pretended honour is the effect of the jealousy 
 which the emperors of Turkey conceive of their 
 power, and is generally the forerunner of their ruin. 
 "When the Grand Seignior is apprehensive of the
 
 90 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 great power of a bashaw, he makes him marry one 
 of his sisters, or relations, under pretence of conferring 
 upon him a greater honour; but instead of being 
 greater, he becomes the most abject slave to the 
 pride and tyranny of a woman, who treats him like 
 a footman. Yet he dares not refuse, nor seem to 
 undervalue this token of his master's favour; he must 
 resolve to devote himself wholly to her, and renounce 
 all his other wives or slaves, who might lay claim to 
 any part of his love; if he has already an amiable 
 wife, and children by her, who engages his most 
 tender affection, he is obliged to turn her out of his 
 house, and also every other person who might be 
 displeasing to this Sultana, although unknown to 
 him. If, before the wedding, she sends to ask him 
 for money, jewels, or rich furs, he must send them 
 to her with an expression of pleasure and thanks; 
 this is called Aghirlic. He is, moreover, obliged to 
 settle upon her what dowry the match-makers are 
 pleased to arrange. This dowry or cabin being 
 stipulated before a judge, he is led by a black eunuch 
 to the Sultana's chamber to give her thanks. When 
 he enters the room, she draws her dagger, and 
 haughtily demands, who made him so bold as to 
 approach her ? He answers with a profound respect, 
 and shows to her the Emmery Padschah, or the 
 Grand Seignior's order for the wedding. She then 
 rises, receives him with mildness, and allows him
 
 MAHOMETANS. 9! 
 
 to entertain her with more familiarity; then a eunuch 
 takes his slippers, and places them at the door, as a 
 token of his meeting with a kind reception. A few 
 minutes after, the bashaw makes a low bow down to 
 the ground, and drawing back, makes a speech, to 
 testify how happy he thinks himself for the honour 
 she intends to confer upon him. This being over, 
 he stands silent, in a humble posture, with his hands 
 across his breast, till she orders him to bring her some 
 water. He obeys readily, and kneeling, presents to 
 her a water-cup prepared for that ceremony; she 
 raises a red veil embroidered with gold and silver 
 flowers, which covered her face, and drinks; her 
 women immediately bring in a low table, on which 
 are set two roasted pigeons, and some candied sugar 
 on a plate, or a plate of sweetmeats. The gallant 
 desires her to eat, which she refuses till he has made 
 her some rich present. This calms her anger, over- 
 comes her modesty; she sits down to the table, 
 graciously receives from his hand the leg of a pigeon, 
 and having eaten some, puts into his mouth a piece 
 of sugar, then rises, and goes back to her place ; all 
 the company withdraw, and leave the newly-married 
 couple alone for the space of an hour, that he may 
 freely converse with her. Then his friends come with 
 instruments of music playing; they invite him to come 
 to the ante-chamber, where he spends the night with 
 them in drinking and diversion; the Sultana does the
 
 92 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 same in her room with her ladies. At last, the 
 princess being tired, goes at break of day to lie down 
 in a bed exquisitely rich, well perfumed, and every 
 way fit for the ceremony. A eunuch gives notice to 
 her husband by a sign, and introduces him without 
 noise into the bed-chamber. He puts off his upper 
 garments, kneels for some time at the feet of the bed, 
 then growing bolder, raises softly the covering, softly 
 touches and kisses the feet of the princess, and gets 
 into bed also. In the morning, his friends come 
 again to conduct him to the bath, and his spouse 
 presents him with all the linen requisite in that place. 
 After this, they live more familiarly within doors; 
 but, in public, she is more reserved, and shows her 
 superiority. She wears a changiar or dagger by her 
 side, and requires of him so many presents, that 
 sooner or later she empties his coffers." 
 
 THE COPTS. 
 
 The nuptial ceremonies of the Copts do not essen- 
 tially differ from those practised by the Greeks. After 
 midnight service, or, as the Romans would express 
 it, after matins, the bridegroom, in the first place, 
 and then the bride, were conducted from their own 
 apartments to church, accompanied by a long train 
 of attendants with wax tapers and other lights. Dur- 
 ing the procession several hymns were sung in the
 
 THE COf>TS. 9 
 
 Coptic language, and the performers beat time, or 
 accompanied the vocal with instrumental music, by 
 striking little wooden hammers upon small ebony 
 rulers. The bridegroom was conducted into the 
 inner choir of the church, and the bride to the place 
 appointed for the women. Then the priests and the 
 people began several prayers, interspersed with hymns, 
 within the choir. This ceremony was very long. At 
 the conclusion, the priest who solemnised the nuptials 
 went up to the bridegroom, and read three or four 
 prayers, making the sign of the cross both at the 
 beginning and at the conclusion of each prayer. 
 After that, he made him sit down upon the ground, 
 with his face towards the HEIKEL. The priest who 
 stood behind him held a silver cross over his head r 
 and in that posture continued praying. 
 
 Whilst this ceremony was performing in the inner 
 choir, the sacristan had placed a form or bench at the 
 door of the outer choir, for the bride to sit on with 
 one of her relations. The priest having finished in 
 the inner choir what the Copts call the Prayer of 
 the Conjugal Knot, the other priest, who solemnized 
 the nuptials, dressed the bridegroom in an alb, tied 
 it with a surcingle about his waist, and threw a 
 white napkin over his head. The bridegroom thus 
 equipped was conducted to his spouse. The priest 
 then made him sit down by her side, and laid the 
 napkin, which before covered the bridegroom's head.
 
 94 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 over them both. After this, he anointed each of 
 them on the forehead and above the wrist. To 
 conclude the ceremony, he read over to them, after 
 their hands were joined, an exhortation, which princi- 
 pally turned on the duties incumbent on all those 
 who enter into the holy state of matrimony. Then 
 followed sundry prayers, and after them the mass, at 
 which the bridegroom and the bride receive the 
 blessed sacrament. 
 
 Miss Whately, daughter of the late Archbishop of 
 Dublin, thus describes a Coptic wedding at which she 
 was present : 
 
 The bride was one of my sister's old pupils, the 
 daughter of the matron who has charge of the 
 boarders. The wedding was held at the bridegroom's 
 house, as is usual here. The "queen of the day" 
 was seated on the floor of a small room, surrounded 
 by friends and neighbours, her head covered with a 
 red shawl, silent and immovable; and, as etiquette 
 demands, took no notice of the visitors. Two or 
 three companions were busy adorning her ; her dress 
 was a gay flowered brocaded silk, the neck and the 
 whole front of the corsage covered v/ith gold coins 
 and necklaces of gold spangles, &c. One woman 
 was settling these gold ornaments, while another was 
 fastening a splendid set of diamonds on a band of 
 white cloth for security. The ornaments of the 
 wedding dress are generally either borrowed or hired.
 
 THE COPTS. 95 
 
 When all was ready, a thick white scarf-handkerchief 
 with a broad fringe of gold embroidery on it, was 
 bound over her head, one end hanging down square 
 over her face and entirely concealing it. Over this 
 the diamonds were carefully adjusted, making a very 
 rich and brilliant appearance, and over all a large 
 white muslin veil was flung, and adjusted over her 
 arms. Thus blindfolded and bounded, she sat like an 
 idol statue to be looked at, while sherbet was handed 
 round and compliments exchanged. We then passed 
 into a larger room where the ceremony was to be 
 performed. The Coptic patriarch, who knew the 
 bridegroom, had come to preside himself. He and 
 two or three attendant priests, in large black turbans, 
 were at one end of the room, a table with lighted 
 candles in the middle; on the other side a row of 
 chorister boys in white robes and brocaded scarfs, 
 and the men who were friends or relatives, assembled 
 round. The women were all in an inner room, but 
 we were allowed to remain where the priests were 
 conducting the service. The bridegroom, a dark- 
 faced Abyssinian, sat opposite the patriarch, with a 
 brocaded mantle tied over his shoulders. The service 
 was very long ; the greater part consisted of prayers 
 or psalms chanted in the Coptic language by the 
 choristers, and quite unintelligible to any one present, 
 unless it were the patriarch himself. But I was glad 
 to observe that there was a good deal of scripture
 
 96 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 read, and that all of it was in Arabic, and, conse- 
 quently, could be followed by the audience. After 
 nearly an hour of reading and chanting, the bride 
 was led in by her uncle and an attendant woman, 
 who was wrapped in the red shawl. She was placed 
 on the divan beside the bridegroom, and then a 
 priest first threw an embroidered veil or mantle over 
 the shoulders of the two, so as to shelter both 
 together, and then placed two pasteboard gilt crowns 
 on their heads. Then he held a book over them, 
 and read an exhortation in Arabic; after which he 
 laid a hand on the head of each, and gently knocked 
 them together, which operation could not be per- 
 formed without a general smile. Then two rings 
 were produced, the hands joined under the bride's 
 veil, and the rings put on by the priest. All this 
 time the pair sat quite passive not a word spoken 
 by either; and after some more prayers read in 
 Arabic and some Coptic chanting, the whole was 
 concluded, and the bride, still in her blindfold con- 
 dition, was marched off by her attendants to the 
 women's room to receive the visits of her female 
 acquaintance, while her husband went up to salute 
 the patriarch, kissing a small cross he held in his 
 hand, and in return having his bridal mantle 
 unfastened by the great man. We were glad to 
 observe that during the whole ceremony of the 
 marriage, no allusion was made to the Virgin or
 
 THE COPTS. 
 
 saints, nor was any picture or image presented foe 
 worship. 
 
 THE ARMENIANS. 
 
 Among the Armenians, children generally leave the 
 choice of the person whom they are to marry, as well 
 as the settlement of the marriage articles, to their 
 parents or nearest relations. Their marriages are the 
 result of the mother's choice, who very seldom advises 
 with any persons upon the subject except her husband; 
 and even that deference is paid with no small reluc- 
 tance. After the terms of accommodation are settled 
 and adjusted, the mother of the young man pays a 
 visit to the young lady, accompanied by a priest and 
 two venerable matrons, and presents her with a ring, 
 as the first tacit promise of her intended husband. 
 He generally makes his appearance at the same time, 
 with all the seriousness he is able to assume, or perhaps 
 with all the perplexity of one who has not the liberty 
 to make his own choice. Tournefort assures us, that 
 this serious deportment is carried to such a pitch, that 
 at the first interview even a smile would be looked 
 upon as indecent, and even the young virgin at that 
 time conceals either her charms or defects under an 
 impenetrable veil. The priest who attends on this. 
 occasion is always treated with a glass of good liquor^ 
 The Armenians never publish the banns of matrimony,
 
 98 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 as is customary with other Christian churches. The 
 evening before the wedding, the bridegroom and the 
 bride send each other some presents. On the wedding- 
 day, there is a procession on horseback, and the 
 bridegroom rides in the front, from his mistress's 
 house, having on his head a gold or silver network, 
 or a flesh-coloured gauze veil, according to his quality. 
 This network hangs down to his waist. In his right 
 hand he holds one end of a girdle, whilst the bride, 
 who follows him on horseback, covered with a white 
 veil, which reaches down to her horse's legs, has hold 
 of the other. Two attendants walk on each side of 
 her horse, and hold the reins. The bride is sometimes 
 conducted to church between two matrons, and the 
 bridegroom walks on foot accompanied by a friend, 
 who carries his sabre. 
 
 The relations and friends (generally young men 
 and maids) either on horseback or on foot, accompany 
 them to church with great order and decorum in the 
 procession, having wax tapers in their hands, and a 
 band of music marching before them. They alight 
 at the church door, and the bride and bridegroom 
 walk straight up to the steps of the sanctuary, still 
 holding the ends of the girdle in their hands. They 
 there stand side by side, and the priest having put the 
 Bible upon their heads, pronounces the sacramental 
 form; he then performs the ceremony of the ring, 
 and says mass. The nuptial benediction is expressed
 
 THE ARMENIANS. 99 
 
 In the following terms : Bless, O Lord! this marriage 
 with Thy everlasting benediction; grant that this man 
 and this woman may live in the constant practice of 
 faith, hope, and charity; endow them with sobriety ; 
 inspire them with holy thoughts, &=c. 
 
 A FRENCH MARRIAGE IN THE PROVINCES. 
 
 In " Golden Hours," for April, 1876, there is given 
 an interesting sketch of a French marriage in the 
 provinces, from which the following particulars are 
 extracted : 
 
 The party first proceeded to the mayor's office to 
 celebrate the civil marriage, which is always per- 
 formed as quietly as possible, the whole " pomp and 
 circumstance" being reserved for the following day, 
 when the religious ceremony takes place in church. 
 After passing through a long corridor, containing a 
 vast number of glass doors, above which were written 
 several different announcements, such as, " Funerals 
 (turn the handle);" " Register Office of Deaths (knock 
 loudly);" "Births (ring the bell);" "Marriages (please 
 turn to the right) ;" they followed the latter direction, 
 and were conducted to an apartment, where after 
 waiting a few minutes, two persons entered carrying 
 each a large register. One of the officials asked the 
 respective names, ages and residences of the " con- 
 tracting parties," as he termed them. Then, having
 
 100 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 finished the document upon which he was engaged, 
 he read it aloud. It was a long preamble, in which 
 was set forth, with many legal terms, that the said 
 " contracting parties, with the full consent of parents, 
 agreed to take each other for life, to dwell together 
 as man and wife, that death only could release them 
 from the aforesaid promise," &c. The French law 
 does not recognise divorce, although, under certain 
 circumstances, it permits " separation dcs bicns" &c. ; 
 but in no case can either party re-marry during the 
 other's lifetime. Having concluded the exordium, the 
 official requested them to sign their names. This 
 done, they then passed into the " Salic dcs Manages" 
 into which, soon afterwards, entered the mayor, who 
 recited to them several passages from the " Code 
 Napoleon" bearing on the French marriage laws, 
 laying down implicit obedience on the part of the 
 wife, and her being bound to follow her husband to 
 any place to which it may please him to conduct her. 
 Then followed a long list of duties incumbent on 
 married people as citizens, parents, &c., &c., after 
 which Monsieur le Maire, bowing politely to the 
 bridegroom, asked, " Monsieur Eugene, you swear 
 to take for your wife Mademoiselle Berthe?" The 
 bridegroom having bowed, and answered in the 
 affirmative, the mayor, turning to the bride, said, 
 " Mademoiselle Berthe, you swear to take for your 
 husband Monsieur Eugene?" The bride, with a
 
 A FRENCH MARRIAGE IN THE PROVINCES. 1OI 
 
 gentle inclination of the head, answered, " Yes." 
 This concluded the legal part of the marriage. 
 
 Previously to the performance of the marriage 
 service in the church, the parties are required to 
 produce their tickets of recent confession. 
 
 The bridegroom does not, as in England, precede 
 the bride to church, and there wait her arrival, but 
 the entire bridal cortege goes from the bride's parents' 
 residence. 
 
 At the church, two red velvet chairs, richly gilt, 
 were placed to accommodate the bride and bride- 
 groom, who seated themselves thereon. The clergy 
 then entered in solemn procession, preceded by the 
 magnificent suisse (beadle), the enfans de chotur 
 swinging incense. The bishop and attendant priests 
 having taken up their respective positions, the bride 
 and bridegroom advance towards the altar, and 
 prostrated themselves before the bishop. With the 
 exception of the holy water, and the silk canopy held 
 over the heads of the young couple, the service 
 seemed to resemble that of the Church of England. 
 Then followed an exhortation from the bishop, the 
 ceremony concluding with his blessing, when all the 
 party proceeded to the vestry to offer their congratu- 
 lations to the bride and bridegroom.
 
 IO2 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 ITALY. 
 
 V 
 
 In most of the Italian States it was formerly the 
 custom for the marriage contract to be made before 
 a priest. This did not always take place in church. 
 The banns were afterwards published, and the mar- 
 riage solemnised according to the ritual of the Roman 
 Catholic Church. The weddings of the nobility were 
 frequently performed without any pomp, before sun- 
 rise, but the lower orders celebrated theirs, with 
 much parade, at noon. Mass was celebrated after 
 marriage. In many parts of Sicily, the parties did 
 not take the sacrament until the death of one of 
 them. The reason for this seems to have been, that 
 as the marriage followed by the mass is considered 
 as a sacrament, until they had partaken of it, they 
 were not spiritually bound by the marriage tie. 
 
 GENOA. 
 
 In Genoa formerly there were marriage brokers, 
 who had pocket books filled with the names of the 
 marriageable girls of the different classes, with notes 
 of their figures, personal attractions, fortunes, &c. 
 These brokers went about endeavouring to arrange 
 connections ; and when they succeeded, they got a 
 small commission of so much per cent, upon the
 
 GENOA. 103 
 
 portion. Marriage at Genoa was quite a matter of 
 calculation, generally settled by the parents or rela- 
 tions, who also drew up the contract before the 
 parties had seen one another; and it was only when 
 everything else was arranged, and a few days pre- 
 vious to the marriage ceremony, that the future 
 husband was introduced to his intended partner for 
 life. Should he find fault with her manners or 
 appearance, he might break off the match on con- 
 dition of defraying the brokerage and any other 
 expenses incurred. 
 
 RUSSIA. 
 
 Regularly as the first days of summer return, all 
 the young women who have not got husbands are 
 paraded here by their parents, each in her best dress 
 and best looks. Bachelors, young and old, enter the 
 alleys with cautious step and anxious eye; glide 
 through the files of beauty ranged thick on each 
 side; see some one whom they like better than 
 others; stand awhile go away come back and 
 take another look ; then, if the honoured fair one still 
 pleases, the " intender " ends by making proposals. 
 To whom ? " To the young lady, to be sure," guesses 
 some impatient youth ; but he guesses wrong. Such 
 indelicacy is never heard of in Russia. A man to 
 make love for himself would be contrary to nature
 
 104 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 that is, to Russian nature, which is quite a different 
 thing from human nature everywhere else. "It is 
 to the parents, then, that he addresses himself?" 
 No such thing ! The guesser is still wide of the 
 mark. They manage these things very differently in 
 Russia. A gentleman who intends taking a wife 
 employs some old hag from a class of women who 
 live by match-making. He tells her what funds he 
 has, what he is employed in, what he expects from his 
 friends ; and naming the fair one whom his eyes have 
 chosen, begs that she will explain all these matters, 
 not to her, but to her family. This go-between, this 
 most unclassical proxenele, whose wages are as regu- 
 larly fixed as the per centages of a broker, enters on 
 faer mission in due form. Explanations are given on 
 both sides friends are consulted negociations of 
 the most formal nature are carried on. Diplomacy 
 is nothing to it. From unforeseen objections about 
 prospects or dowry, the explanations of the high 
 contracting parties often become as tedious as Belgian 
 protocols. Months, in fact, may be spent on these 
 preliminaries; but all this time the poor damsel has 
 had no voice in the matter. She has not seen her 
 intended ; they have never met so long as to whisper 
 a stolen vow to each other. There will be time 
 enough for the unimportant process of becoming 
 acquainted when their fate has been irrevocably 
 fixed. What have such silly considerations as like or
 
 RUSSIA. 105 
 
 dislike to do with marriage ? In choosing a wife, it 
 is a beast of burden, a domestic drudge, that the 
 Russian wants, not a rational companion an equal. 
 Were he to consult his affections in selecting his 
 spouse, could he have the pleasure of beating her 
 whenever he feels inclined ? Married women in the 
 middle ranks appear to have a most listless existence. 
 Without education, and, by the jealous usages of the 
 country, almost prohibited from taking exercise, their 
 chief occupation seems to consist in leaning over the 
 window all day long, with their elbows resting on 
 cushions, and sometimes a poodle dog on each side. 
 
 THE RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 
 
 In the evening of their wedding day, the bride- 
 groom, accompanied by a numerous train of his 
 nearest relations and acquaintance, proceeds to wait 
 on his intended wife; the priest who is to solemnize 
 their nuptials riding on horseback before them. 
 After the congratulations, and other compliments, 
 customary on such joyful occasions, in all countries, 
 the company sit down to table. "But notwithstanding 
 there are three elegant dishes instantly served up," 
 says Olearius, " no one takes the freedom to taste of 
 them." At the upper end of the table is a vacant 
 seat intended for the bridegroom. Whilst he is in 
 earnest discourse with the bride's relations, some
 
 106 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 young gentleman takes possession of his chair, and 
 does not resign it without some valuable consideration. 
 As soon as the bridegroom has thus redeemed his 
 seat, the bride is introduced into the room, dressed as 
 gaily as possible, but covered with a veil. A curtain 
 of crimson taffeta, supported by two young gentlemen, 
 now parts the lovers, and prevents them from stealing 
 any amorous glances from each other's eyes. In the 
 next place, the bride's Suacha, or agent, wreathes her 
 hair, and after she has turned up her tresses, puts a 
 crown upon her head, which is either of gold or silver 
 gilt, and lined with silk, and of greater or less value, 
 in proportion to the quality or circumstances of the 
 person for whom it is intended. The other Suacha is 
 employed in setting the bridegroom off to the best 
 advantage. During this interval, some women that 
 are present sing a number of little merry catches to 
 divert them, whilst the bridemaids strew hops upon 
 the heads of the company. Two youths after this 
 bring in a large cheese, and several rolls or little 
 loaves, in a hand-basket, with curious sable tassels 
 to it. Two of the bride's attendants bring in another 
 cheese, and the same quantity of bread, upon her 
 account. All these provisions, after the priest has 
 blessed them, are carried to the church. At last 
 there is a large silver basin set upon the table, full 
 of small remnants of satin and taffeta, with several 
 small square pieces of silver, hops, barley and oats,
 
 THE RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 107 
 
 all mingled together. The Suacha, after she has put 
 the bride's veil over her face again, takes several 
 handfuls of this mixture out of the basin, and strews it 
 over the heads of the company. The next ceremony 
 is the exchange of their respective rings, which is 
 performed by the parents of the new-married couple. 
 The Suacha now conducts the bride to church, and 
 the bridegroom follows with the priest. 
 
 One part of the pavement of the church, where 
 the ceremony is performed, is..covered with crimson 
 taffeta, and another piece of the same silk is spread 
 over it, where the bride and bridegroom are appointed 
 to stand. The priest, before he enters upon his office, 
 demands their oblations, which consist of fish, pastry, 
 &c. Then he gives them his benediction, and holds 
 over their heads the pictures of those saints who were 
 made choice of to be their patrons. After which, 
 taking the right hand of the bridegroom and the left 
 of the bride within his own hands, he asks them three 
 times, " whether they sincerely consent to and approve 
 their marriage, and whether they will love each other 
 for the future as is their bounden duty so to do?" 
 When they have answered Yes, all the company in 
 general take hands and join in a solemn dance, 
 whilst the priest sings the i28th Psalm (according 
 to the Hebrew computation), in which almost all 
 the blessings that attend the married state are 
 enumerated. The priest, as soon as the psalm is
 
 Io8 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 finished, puts a garland of rue upon their heads ; but 
 if the man be a widower, or the woman a widow, 
 then he lays it upon their shoulders. The blessing 
 attendant on this ceremony begins with these words, 
 Increase and multiply; and concludes with that other 
 solemn direction, Whom God hath joined, let no man 
 put asunder. As soon as this form of words is pro- 
 nounced, all the company light their wax tapers, and 
 one of them presents the priest with a glass of wine, 
 which he drinks, and the newly-married couple pledge 
 him. This is done three times, and then the bride 
 and bridegroom dash their glasses down upon the 
 floor, and tread the pieces under their feet, denouncing 
 severe maledictions on all those who shall hereafter 
 endeavour to set them at variance. At the same 
 time, several women strew linseed and hempseed 
 upon their heads. 
 
 After this ceremony is over, the usual congratula- 
 tions are repeated, with such other demonstrations 
 of gaiety and rejoicing as generally accompany the 
 nuptial rites in other countries. We must not omit 
 one circumstance, however, which is merry and 
 innocent enough : the women before-mentioned take 
 fast hold of the bride's gown, in order to compel her, 
 as it were, to forsake her husband ; but the bride 
 usually maintains so strong a hold of him, that all 
 their endeavours prove ineffectual. 
 
 Their nuptial ceremonies thus far concluded, the
 
 THE RUSSIAN GREEK CHURCH. 1 09 
 
 bride goes home in a car or sledge, attended by 
 six men bearing flambeaux, and the bridegroom 
 on horseback. The company come after them. As 
 soon as they are all within doors, the bridegroom 
 sits down at the table with his friends; but the 
 women conduct the bride to her bed-chamber, and 
 put her to bed. Afterwards some young men wait 
 on the bridegroom with their wax tapers in their 
 hands, and conduct him to his lady's apartment. 
 As soon as they are within the chamber, they 
 deposit their lights upon the barrels that surround 
 the nuptial bed. The bride, wrapped up in her 
 night-dress, now jumps out of bed, approaches 
 her husband with much respect, and makes him a 
 very submissive and respectful obeisance. This is 
 the first moment that the husband has any oppor- 
 tunity of seeing his wife unveiled. They then sit 
 down to table, and sup together. Among other 
 dishes, there is a roast fowl set before them, which 
 the husband tears to pieces, throwing that part 
 which he holds in his hands, whether it be the leg 
 or the wing, over his shoulder, and eating the 
 remainder. 
 
 A HUNGARIAN WEDDING. 
 
 A recent writer in " Evening Hours " gives the fol- 
 lowing interesting account of a Hungarian wedding,
 
 110 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 which we are enabled by the kind permission of the 
 publishers to reproduce : 
 
 At about half-past seven in the evening, having 
 gone to bed, I was suddenly alarmed by a deputa- 
 tion of peasants, headed by one who held a great 
 speech, and a bottle, from which he first drank my 
 health, and then handed to me. All this I at last 
 made out to be an invitation to a wedding that had 
 taken place that afternoon, and the feasting of which 
 was then going on. I got up immediately and 
 followed them, at last arriving at a peasant's house, 
 where I heard music and saw lights. Here I was 
 ushered in, while a fanfare of music was performed in 
 my honour by the Ciganys. There were five rooms. 
 The principal one, about twenty-four feet square, was 
 surrounded by tables, outside which sat the fair sex, 
 the men next the wall to support their gravity. There 
 were about sixty people seated there, besides those in 
 the centre space, who were each singing his own par- 
 ticular song and dancing an accompaniment. I was 
 pushed and hoisted into the seat of honour, which 
 was in the very furthest corner of the wall, for the 
 principal guest, I suppose, must have a wall on each 
 side, if his thirst be in proportion to his rank. The 
 old gentlemen were all on this side, on my right and 
 left, sedate and solemn, but most courteous, all attired 
 in vests, tight breeks, and boots, with linen sleeves of 
 immense magnitude. I had to shake hands with at
 
 A HUNGARIAN WEDDING. Ill 
 
 least a dozen before the bride and bridegroom made 
 their appearance, which was just before the soup was 
 brought in. The bride is the daughter of the village 
 biro or mayor, a very good-looking girl of about 
 seventeen, with dark hair and fine eyes, and a dower 
 of 20,000 florins * convention mttnze, her father 
 having I don't know how many acres of land. The 
 bridegroom, in whose house we were, is a well-built, 
 compact, and very handsome fellow, has a fortune of 
 17,000 florins c. m., and the greatest dandy I ever 
 saw. He alone kept his hat on, which was decorated 
 with ribbons and one large black ostrich feather; a 
 bare neck, with a large white collar, and a black 
 handkerchief, bordered with gold fringe; immense 
 shirt sleeves of the finest cambric, with a lace border 
 {no coat, of course), and a blue vest and breeks. 
 
 The bride wore a large circle of white roses in 
 her hair, short sleeves, a handsome bodice, twenty 
 petticoats, I believe, and red boots. The same 
 feasting was going on at both houses (bride's and 
 bridegroom's) : namely, two oxen, forty geese, and 
 sixty eimers f of wine in all. Not a soul could speak 
 German, so that I was not quite au fait to the 
 speeches which were held, to all appearance grave 
 and jolly; for the next principal to me, who called 
 me Collega, made a magnificent speech to the bride 
 
 * 2,000. 
 
 f Eimer, a cask containing from sixty to eighty quarts.
 
 112 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 and bridegroom, which terminated in a general 
 shaking of hands. Then the supper began, which 
 lasted without intermission for two hours. 
 
 Four young men, preceded by the usher, served 
 at table. The latter, who officiates at almost every 
 wedding, is a young man of oratorial talent, who, 
 at each course, calls attention and holds a speech, 
 very witty, no doubt, to judge by the roars of laughter 
 it excited, and answered by my reverend Collega 
 in a shorter speech. Otherwise, the company were 
 perfectly quiet, with that calm dignity, and noble 
 courteous behaviour, peculiar to the Hungarian 
 peasant. In fact, they behaved like so many Prince 
 Windischgriitz's (the marshal), and never addressed 
 each other but with affability and gentleness. The 
 young people were silent, for nowhere is such respect 
 paid to the elders as here. 
 
 We had at least ten courses, all excellent; and 
 how the old gentlemen did rejoice in the solids and 
 fluids, while first-rate toasts were given, for the peasant 
 is born an orator, and the language peculiarly adapted 
 to oratory, as well as the natural dignity and grace 
 of their declamations. One particularly long one was 
 addressed to me, or rather about me, for I heard 
 Kapilany ur, and Stuart Karoly, and Anglia Kiraly, 
 and nagy familia, ending by a general bow and 
 fanfare. They get up while speaking, holding the 
 glass in one hand and agitating with the other.
 
 A HUNGARIAN WEDDING. 113 
 
 Some lasted full ten minutes, and not once did I hear 
 a break down or a stammer. Of course I made an 
 equally splendid speech in return, and as there was 
 no one present who could understand a word, and a 
 break-down would have been looked upon as great 
 weakness, I mixed up Gaelic, English, French, and 
 every language I knew, together, ending with "An 
 la chi s-nach fhaix,"* and sat down amidst repeated 
 eljens ! ! The tables were then removed, excepting 
 one in the corner for the old gentlemen, and the 
 music struck up. The bride was led up to me, and 
 only the principals and the old gentlemen danced the 
 first dance. In the most solemn and sedate manner 
 arms were akimbo'd, and nothing could exceed the 
 astonishing burlesque of the commencement, which 
 lasted about ten minutes. Every species of gymnastic 
 dislocation was performed, with the gravest counte- 
 nance and in the proudest and slowest manner 
 possible, heel and toe, and knee and toe, and toe 
 and heel, and walking after your partner, and slowly 
 steering round, and when the qukk step began the 
 old gentlemen actually flew round, clapping their 
 spurs and their boots with their hands, till I was 
 perfectly ashamed of my performance. Paget says 
 that the esardas is a succession of gymnastical dis- 
 tortions, performed at first in a state of the utmost 
 gravity and suddenly diverging into an excited state 
 
 * A Highland toast. 
 H
 
 114 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 of frantic madness. But all dancing is a species of 
 insanity: minuette is gloomy madness, quadrille 
 insipid foolery, kor* dance-imbecility, polka nonsense; 
 -and I have now come to the conclusion that there is 
 no dance, except perhaps a reel, more energetic and 
 ^exciting than esardas. I cried with mortification and 
 shame when first I saw it, and believed it was a 
 mystification ; but now I am quite the man for it, 
 and, in the open air particularly, no dance is more 
 appropriate, or, when well danced, more graceful. 
 The oldest man in the room was at the taking of 
 Mantua in '97, but I scarcely ever saw a young man 
 dance better, though a bulky, fat man, and he kept it 
 up till the morning. At three o'clock I went to the 
 bride's house, where the haute voice were assembled, 
 for instance, the two priests and some of the Edel- 
 inen. I did not remain long, however, but returned 
 to my old gentlemen, and kept it up till seven o'clock. 
 The fete, however, lasted three days. Although 
 an immense deal of wine was discussed by the old 
 gentlemen, none of the young men drank much, and 
 none were intoxicated. 
 
 CHINA. 
 
 In China a woman on marriage assumes her hus- 
 fcand's surname. Marriage between all persons of 
 * A Hungarian dance.
 
 CHINA. 115 
 
 the same surname being unlawful, this rule must, of 
 course, include all descendants of the male branch for 
 ever, and as, in so vast a population, there are only 
 about a hundred surnames altogether throughout the 
 empire, the embarrassments that might arise from so 
 strict a law must be considerable. There is likewise 
 a prohibition of wedlock between some of the nearest 
 relations by affinity ; and any marriage of an officer 
 of government with an actress is void, the parties 
 being, besides, liable to be punished with sixty blows. 
 
 There are seven grounds of divorce unfruitful- 
 ness, adultery, disobedience to the husband's parents, 
 talkativeness, thieving, ill temper, and incurable infir- 
 mities. Any of these, however, may be set aside by 
 three circumstances the wife having mourned for 
 her husband's parents; the family having acquired 
 wealth since the marriage; and the wife being with- 
 out parents to receive her back. It is, in all cases, 
 disreputable, and in some (as those of a particular 
 rank) illegal, for a widow to marry again. 
 
 From the Buddhists, who say that " those con- 
 nected in a previous existence become united in this," 
 the Chinese have borrowed the notion that " marriage 
 goes by destiny." A certain deity, styled Yuelaou, 
 "the old man of the moon," unites with a silken 
 cord, as they relate, all predestined couples, after 
 which nothing can prevent their ultimate union. 
 Early marriages are promoted by every motive that
 
 Il6 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 can influence humanity. The most essential circum- 
 stance in a respectable family alliance is, that there 
 should be equality of rank and station on either side; 
 or that " the gates should correspond," as the Chinese 
 express it. The marriage is preceded by a negotia- 
 tion, conducted by agents selected by the parents. 
 The aid of judicial astrology is then called in, and the 
 horoscopes of the two parties compared, under the 
 title of " eight characters," which express the year, 
 month, day and hour of the nativities of the intended 
 couple. This being settled, presents are sent by the 
 bridegroom in ratification of the union ; but the bride, 
 in ordinary cases, brings neither presents nor dower 
 to her husband. The choice of a lucky day is con- 
 sidered so important, that if the calendar should be 
 unfavourable in its auguries the ceremony is post- 
 poned for months. 
 
 The most appropriate and felicitous time for mar- 
 riage is considered to be in spring, and the first 
 moon of the Chinese year. February is preferred 
 when the peach-tree blossoms. Some time previous 
 to the day fixed, the bridegroom is invested ceremoni- 
 ously with a dress cap or bonnet, and takes an 
 additional name. The bride, at the same time, whose 
 hair had until this hung down in long tresses, has it 
 turned up in the manner of married women, and 
 fastened with bodkins. When the wedding day 
 arrives, the friends of the bridegroom send him
 
 CHINA. 117 
 
 presents in the morning, with their congratulations. 
 Among the presents are live geese, which, by a 
 course of reasoning more suggestive than intelligible, 
 are supposed to be emblematical of the contract 
 of the married state ; and some of these birds are 
 always carried in the procession. The bride's rela- 
 tions likewise send her gifts, consisting chiefly of 
 female finery; and her young sisters and female 
 friends come and weep with her until it is time 
 to leave the house of her parents. At length, when 
 the evening arrives, and the stars just begin to be 
 visible, the bridegroom comes with an ornamented 
 sedan, a cavalcade of lanterns, flags, music, &c., 
 to fetch home his spouse. On their reaching his 
 residence, the bride is carried into the house in the 
 arms of the matrons who act as her friends, and 
 lifted over a pan of charcoal at the door; the 
 meaning of which ceremony is not clear, but may 
 have reference to the commencement of her house- 
 hold duties. She soon after issues from the bridal 
 chamber, with her attendants, into the great hall, 
 bearing the prepared areca, or betel-nut, and invites 
 the guests there assembled to partake of it. Having 
 gone through some ceremonies in company with the 
 bridegroom, she is led back to her chamber, where 
 she is unveiled by her future husband. A table is 
 then spread, and the cup of alliance is drunk together 
 by the young couple. Some fortunate matron, the
 
 115 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 mother of many children, then enters and pronounces 
 a benediction, as well as going through the form of 
 laying the nuptial bed. Meanwhile, the friends in 
 the hall make merry, and when the bridegroom joins 
 them they either ply him with wine or not, according 
 to the character and grade of the company. When 
 the hour of retirement arrives, they escort him to the 
 door of the chamber in a body, and then disperse. 
 
 On the following day, the new couple come forth 
 to the great hall, where they adore the household 
 gods, and pay their respects to their parents and 
 nearest relations. They then return to their chamber, 
 where they receive the visits of their young friends; 
 and the whole of the first month is devoted, in like 
 measure, to leisure and amusement. On the third 
 day after the wedding, the bride proceeds in an 
 ornamented sedan to visit her parents ; and at length, 
 when the month is expired, the bride's friends send 
 her a particular head dress; an entertainment is 
 partaken of by the relations of both parties, and the 
 marriage ceremonies thereby concluded. On some 
 occasions the bride is espoused at the house of her 
 own parents, with some little difference in the forms.. 
 
 The foregoing general remarks on Marriage in 
 China, are from the writings of Davis, the celebrated 
 Chinese traveller. What follows is compiled from 
 various sources of authenticity.
 
 CHINA. 
 
 Among the opulent classes in China, courtship and 
 marriage are conducted in the following summary 
 manner : 
 
 The young people are not suffered to see each 
 other, nor treat upon the subject of their nuptials. 
 The parents settle everything themselves; and 
 though in other countries it is the custom for womea 
 to bring portions to their husbands, here the husband 
 pays a sum of money to the bride, which is generally 
 laid out in clothes, and other articles for her. Then* 
 follow certain ceremonies, the chief of which consists- 
 in the relations, on both sides, sending to demand 
 the name of the intended bride or bridegroom, and 
 making them presents. The parents of the bride,, 
 who fix the time of the nuptials, frequently consult 
 the calendar for a propitious day; and, in the mean- 
 time, the man sends his bride some jewels or trinkets, 
 or what he can afford. 
 
 On the day appointed for the celebration of the 
 wedding, the bride is put into a sedan chair, which 
 is magnificently adorned with festoons of artificial 
 flowers ; and her baggage of clothes, ornaments and 
 trinkets, are carried after her in chests by her servants,, 
 or persons hired for the purpose, with lighted flam- 
 beaux, though it be noon-day. The bride is preceded 
 by musicians, and followed by her friends and relations.. 
 The nearest relative carries in his hand the key of the 
 sedan, the windows of which are grated up and the
 
 120 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 doors locked, and gives it to the bridegroom, who 
 waits at the door to receive his bride, as soon as she 
 arrives at his house. As this is the first interview 
 between the bride and bridegroom, it is easy to 
 conceive with what eager curiosity he opens the door 
 of the sedan. It sometimes happens that he is 
 dissatisfied with the lady chosen for him; when he 
 immediately shuts the door again, and sends her 
 back to her friends, choosing rather to lose his money 
 than to be united to a person he does not like. This, 
 however, occurs very rarely. 
 
 As soon as the bride steps out of the chair, the 
 bridegroom presents his hand to her and leads her 
 into a hall, where a table is set for them in particular. 
 The rest of the company sit at other tables, the men 
 in one part of the hall, and the women in another; 
 but before the bride and bridegroom sit down, they 
 make four reverences to Tien, a spirit which they 
 suppose resides in heaven. When seated at table, 
 they pour wine on the ground before they begin to 
 eat, and set apart some of the provisions for their 
 idols. The moment each of them tastes the viands 
 on the table, the bridegroom rises up and invites the 
 bride to drink ; upon which she rises also and returns 
 the compliment. After this, two cups of wine are 
 brought, of which they drink part, and pour the 
 remainder into another cup, of which they drink 
 alternately. This latter part of the ceremony ratifies
 
 CHINA. 121 
 
 the nuptials. The bride then goes among the 
 ladies, and spends the rest of the day with them; 
 the bridegroom treating his friends in a separate 
 apartment. 
 
 The solemnization of the marriage is always 
 preceded by three days mourning, during which 
 time all the relations abstain from every sort of 
 amusement. The reason assigned for this practice 
 is, the Chinese look upon the marriages of their 
 children as a presage of their own deaths. 
 
 The day after marriage the newly-married couple 
 repair to the chief temple nearest to them, where 
 they offer up sacrifices to one of their gods, and 
 have their names enrolled among those of their 
 ancestors. Then the priest bestows upon them the 
 solemn benedictions, and declares that nothing but 
 death can part them. 
 
 When one of the princesses of the royal blood is 
 to be married, twelve young men of high rank are 
 brought into an apartment in the palace, where they 
 can be seen by her, although she cannot be seen by 
 them. They are ordered to walk round the apart- 
 ment while she surveys them, when she makes choice 
 of two, who are presented to the emperor, who 
 nominates the one that he thinks proper. 
 
 In China it would be as preposterous to appear in 
 white at a wedding, as it would in Europe to be 
 in black.
 
 122 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 No Chinese, except the emperor, can have more 
 than one wife. He may have as many concubines 
 as he pleases ; but they must be obedient to the wife, 
 and treat her as mistress. The emperor has three 
 wives, and the number of his concubines are estimated 
 at three hundred. 
 
 If a wife elope from her husband, she is sentenced 
 to be whipped ; and he may dispose of her as a slave. 
 Should she marry another while her first husband 
 is living, he is at liberty to have her strangled. If a 
 man leave his wife and family, after three years the 
 wife may apply to the mandarin, and, upon stating 
 her situation, he can authorise her to take another 
 husband. She, however, would be severely punished 
 were she to marry without this permission. 
 
 In certain cases, in China, a man may turn off his 
 wife as, for instance, being childless, having a bad 
 temper, theft, or any contagious disorder. Divorces 
 are very rare. 
 
 The Chinese have the power of selling their daugh- 
 ters to wife to whom they please; and if the father 
 of the girl gives a dowry with her, she is looked 
 upon as the superior female in her husband's house. 
 
 Among the Chinese, a son dare not refuse the wife 
 his father has chosen for him, any more than the 
 daughter can refuse the husband her father has 
 selected for her, even though they are perfect 
 strangers to each other.
 
 CHINA. 123 
 
 The purchase and sale of wives in China are 
 much more common among the lower sorts of people 
 than among those of an elevated rank : for the latter 
 always take care to have one lawful wife, and to 
 treat her in a manner becoming the rank to which 
 she was brought up. 
 
 THE JAPANESE. 
 
 In Japan the bridegroom and the bride go out of 
 town by two different ways, with respective retinues, 
 and meet by appointment at the foot of a certain hill. 
 In the escort of the former, independently of his 
 friends and relations, are many carriages loaded with 
 provisions. Having arrived at the hill, to the summit 
 of which they ascend by a flight of stairs made on 
 purpose, they there enter a tent, and seat themselves, 
 one on the one side, and the other on the other, like 
 plenipotentiaries assembled at the congress of peace. 
 The parents of both parties place themselves behind 
 the bride, and a band of musicians range themselves 
 behind the bridegroom, but all without the precincts 
 of the tent. Both their retinues stay below at the 
 foot of the hill. The bridegroom and the bride, each 
 with flambeaux, then present themselves under the 
 tent, before the god of marriage, who is placed upon 
 an altar there, having the head of a dog, which is 
 supposed to be an emblem of the fidelity requisite
 
 124 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 in a state of wedlock. The string in his hands is 
 another symbol of the force and obligation of its 
 bands. Near the god, and between the two parties, 
 stands a priest, whose office is to perform the mar- 
 riage ceremony. There are several lighted lamps at 
 a small distance from the tent, at one of which the 
 bride lights the flambeau which she holds in her 
 hand, pronouncing at the same time a form of words, 
 which are dictated to her by the priest ; after this the 
 bridegroom lights his taper or flambeau by that of 
 his intended bride. This part of the ceremony is 
 accompanied with loud exclamations of joy, and the 
 congratulations of all the friends and relations then 
 present of the newly-married couple. At the same 
 time the priest dismisses them with his benediction, 
 and their retinue make a large bonfire at the foot of 
 the hill, in which are thrown all the toys and play- 
 things with which the young bride amused herself in 
 her infancy and childhood. Others produce a distaff 
 and flax before her, to intimate, that henceforward 
 she must apply herself to the prudent management 
 of her family affairs. The ceremony concludes with 
 the sacrifice of two oxen to the god of marriage. 
 After this the newly-married couple return with their 
 retinues, and the bride is conducted to her husband's 
 house, where she finds every room in the most exact 
 order, and embellished in the gayest manner. The 
 pavement and the threshold are strewed with flowers
 
 THE JAPANESE. 1 25 
 
 and greens, whilst flags and streamers on the house- 
 tops seem to promise nothing but one continued 
 series of delight, which may continue unfeigned, in 
 all probability, the time of the nuptials, which are 
 celebrated eight days successively. 
 
 MEXICO. 
 
 Any marriage between persons related in the first 
 degree of consanguinity or alliance, was strictly 
 forbidden, not only by the laws of Mexico, but also 
 by the laws of Michuacan, unless it was between 
 cousins. The parents were the persons who settled 
 all marriages, and none were ever solemnised without 
 their consent. When a son arrived at an age capable 
 of bearing the charges of that state, which in men 
 was from the age of twenty to twenty-two years, and 
 in women from sixteen to eighteen, a suitable and 
 proper wife was singled out for him; but before the 
 union was arranged, the diviners were consulted, 
 who, after having considered the birth-day of the 
 youth, and of the young girl intended for his bride, 
 decided on the happiness or unhappiness of the 
 match. If, from the combination of signs attending, 
 their births, they pronounced the alliance unpropitious^ 
 that young maid was abandoned, and another sought. 
 If, on the contrary, they predicted happiness to the 
 couple, the young girl was demanded of her parents 
 by certain women among them called Cibuatlanque,
 
 126 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 or solicitors, who were the most elderly and respectable 
 amongst the kindred of the youth. These women 
 went the first time at midnight to the house of the 
 damsel, carrying a present to her parents, and 
 demanded her of them in the most respectful style. 
 The first demand was, according to the custom of 
 that nation, invariably rejected, however advantageous 
 and eligible the marriage might appear to the parents, 
 who gave some plausible reasons for their refusal. 
 After a few days were past, those women returned 
 to repeat their demand, using prayers and arguments 
 also, in order to obtain their request, giving an 
 account of the rank and fortune of the youth, and 
 of what he would make the dowry of his wife, and 
 also gaining information of that which she could 
 bring to the match on her part. The parents replied 
 to this second request, that it was necessary to consult 
 their relations and connections, and to find out the 
 inclinations of their daughter, before they could come 
 to any resolution. These female solicitors returned 
 no more; as the parents themselves conveyed by 
 means of other women of their kindred a decisive 
 answer to the party. 
 
 A favourable answer being at last obtained, and 
 a day appointed for the nuptials, the parents, after 
 exhorting their daughter to fidelity and obedience to 
 her husband, and to such conduct in life as would do 
 honour to her family, conducted her with a numerous
 
 MEXICO. 127 
 
 company and music to the house of her father-in-law; 
 if noble, she was carried in a litter. The bridegroom, 
 and the father and mother-in-law, received her at the 
 gate of the house, with four torches borne by four 
 women. At meeting, the bride and bridegroom 
 reciprocally offered incense to each other; then the 
 bridegroom, taking the bride by the hand, led her into 
 the hall, or chamber which was prepared for the 
 nuptials. They both sat down upon a new and 
 curiously wrought mat, which was spread in the 
 middle of the chamber, and close to the fire which 
 was kept lighted. Then a priest tied a point of the 
 buepilli, or gown of the bride, with the tilmatli, or 
 mantle of the bridegroom, and in this ceremony the 
 matrimonial contract chiefly consisted. The wife 
 now made some turns round the fire, and then 
 returning to her mat, she, along with her husband, 
 offered some copal to their gods, and exchanged 
 presents with each other. The repast followed next. 
 The married pair eat upon the mat, giving mouthfuls 
 to each other alternately, and to the guests in their 
 places. When those who had been invited were 
 become exhilarated with wine, they went out to 
 dance, while the married pair remained in the 
 chamber, from which, during four days, they never 
 stirred, or to go to the oratory at midnight to burn 
 incense to their idols, and to make oblations of food. 
 They passed these four days in prayer and fasting,
 
 128 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 dressed in new habits, and adorned with certain 
 ensigns of the gods of their devotion. After that 
 time they bathed themselves and put on new dresses, 
 and those who had been invited, adorned their heads 
 with white, and their hands and feet with red feathers. 
 The ceremony was concluded by making presents of 
 dresses to the guests, which were proportioned to the 
 circumstances of the married pair; and on that same 
 day they carried to the temple the mats, sheets, 
 canes, and the food which had been presented to 
 the idols. 
 
 The forms which we have described in the mar- 
 riages of the Mexicans were not so universal through 
 the empire, but that some provinces observed other 
 peculiarities. In Ichcatlaw, whoever was desirous 
 of marrying presented himself to the priests, by whom 
 he was conducted to the temple, where they cut off a 
 part of his hair before the idol which was worshipped 
 there, and then pointing him out to the people, they 
 began to exclaim, saying, this man wishes to take a 
 wife. Then they made him descend, and take the 
 first free woman he met, as the one whom heaven 
 destined to him. Any woman who did not like to 
 have him for a husband, avoided coming near to the 
 temple at that time, that she might not subject herself 
 to the necessity of marrying him : this marriage was 
 only singular, therefore, in the mode of seeking for 
 a wife.
 
 MEXICO. 1 29 
 
 Among the Miztecas, besides the ceremony of 
 tying the married pair together by the end of their 
 garments, they cut off a part of their hair, and the 
 husband carried his wife for a little time upon his 
 back. 
 
 Polygamy was permitted in the Mexican Empire. 
 The Kings and lords had numerous wives, but it is 
 probable that they observed all the ceremonies with 
 their principal wives only, and that with the rest the 
 essential rite of tying their garments together was 
 sufficient. The Spanish theologists and canonists 
 who went to Mexico immediately after the conquest, 
 being unacquainted with the customs of those people, 
 raised doubts about their marriages ; but when they 
 had learnt the language, and properly examined that 
 and other points of importance, they acknowledged 
 such marriages to be just and lawful. Pope Paul III. 
 and the provincial council of Mexico, ordered, in 
 conformity to the sacred canons, and the usage of the 
 Church, that all those who were willing to embrace 
 Christianity should keep no other wife but the one 
 whom they had first married. 
 
 THE PERUVIANS. 
 
 The King caused to assemble annually, or every 
 two years, at a certain time, all the marriageable 
 young men and maidens of his family that were in
 
 130 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 Cusco. The stated age was 18 or 20 for the maidens, 
 and 24 for the men ; for they were never allowed to 
 marry younger, because, said they, it was fitting the 
 parties should be of an age requisite for the well 
 governing their families, and affirmed that it was 
 mere folly to dispose of them sooner in marriage. 
 
 When the marriage was agreed upon, the Inca set 
 himself in the midst of them, they all standing one by 
 the other : he then called them by their names, after 
 which, taking them by the hand, he made them 
 promise a mutual faith, which being done, he gave 
 them into the hands of their parents. Then the 
 new-married couple went to the house of the bride- 
 groom's father, and the wedding was solemnised for 
 three or four days or more, according as the nearest 
 relations judged proper. The young women who 
 were married in this manner were afterwards called 
 the lawful wives, or the wives given by the hand of 
 the Inca; a title which was bestowed purely to do 
 them the greater honour. When the Inca had thus 
 married his relations, the next day the ministers 
 appointed for that purpose married the rest of the 
 young men, sons to the inhabitants of Cusco in 
 the same order, according to the division of the 
 several districts, called Higher and Lower Cusco. 
 
 The relations furnished the house, every one 
 bringing something, and this they performed very 
 punctually among themselves, and never made any
 
 THE PERUVIANS. 13! 
 
 sacrifices or other ceremonies at the weddings. The 
 governors and curacas were obliged to marry the 
 young men and maidens of their provinces in the 
 same manner. 
 
 The corporations of every city had to provide 
 houses for their newly-married citizens, and their 
 nearest relatives furnished them. The inhabitants 
 of one province or city were not allowed to marry 
 with those of another. 
 
 The heir to the crown used to marry his own sister 
 in imitation of the sun and the first Inca. In default 
 of a sister he married that woman of the blood-royal 
 who was nearest related to him. This wife was called 
 Coya, that is, queen or empress. 
 
 It was the custom of the bridegroom to go to the 
 house of his bride, and put on her the otoia, a kind 
 of shoe. If the bride were a virgin, the shoe was 
 made of wool ; but if a widow, it was made of a kind 
 of reed. 
 
 NEW ZEALAND. 
 
 The primitive custom of obtaining a wife by capture 
 still survives among the aborigines of New Zealand, 
 and the system practised by them is similar to that of 
 the Australians, as detailed in the following article.
 
 132 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 THE AUSTRALIAN' ABORIGINES. 
 
 Courtship is unknown amongst them. When a 
 young warrior is desirous of procuring a wife, he 
 generally obtains one by giving in exchange his 
 sister, or some other female relative; but if there 
 should happen to be no eligible damsel disengaged 
 in his own tribe, then he hovers round the encamp- 
 ment of some other blacks until he gets an oppor- 
 tunity of seizing one of theirs. His mode of paying 
 his addresses is simple and efficacious. With a blow 
 of his war-club he stuns the object of his affections, 
 and drags her insensible body away to some retired 
 spot, whence, as soon as she recovers her senses, he 
 brings her home in triumph. Sometimes two join in an 
 expedition for the same purpose, and then, for several 
 days, they watch the movements of their intended 
 victims, using the utmost skill in concealing their 
 presence. When they have obtained the knowledge 
 they require, they wait for a dark windy night ; then, 
 quite naked, and carrying only their long jag-spears, 
 they crawl stealthily through the bush until they 
 reach the immediate vicinity of the camp fires, in 
 front of which the girls they are in search of are 
 sleeping. Slowly and silently they creep close enough 
 to distinguish the figure of one of these cubras ; then 
 one of the intruders stretches out his spear, and
 
 THE AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 133 
 
 inserts its barbed point amongst her thick flowing 
 locks; turning the spear slowly round, some of her 
 hair speedily becomes entangled with it : then, with 
 a sudden jerk, she is aroused from her slumber, and, 
 as her eyes open, she feels the sharp point of another 
 weapon pressed against her throat. She neither 
 faints nor screams ; she knows well that the slightest 
 attempt at escape or alarm will cause her instant 
 death, so, like a sensible woman, she makes a virtue 
 of necessity, and rising silently, she follows her captors. 
 They lead her away to a considerable distance, tie 
 her to a tree, and return to ensnare their other victim 
 in like manner. Then, when they have accomplished 
 their design, they hurry off to their own camp, where 
 they are received with universal applause, and highly 
 honoured for their gallant exploit. Occasionally an 
 alarm is given, but even then the wife-stealers easily 
 escape amidst the confusion, to renew their attempt 
 at some future period. When a distinguished warrior 
 carries off a bride from a strange tribe, he will 
 frequently volunteer to undergo the trial of spears; 
 in order to prevent the necessity of his people going 
 to war in his defence ; then both the tribes meet, and 
 ten of their smartest and strongest young men are 
 picked out by the aggrieved party. They are each 
 provided with three reed spears, and a wommera, or 
 throwing-stick ; and the offender, armed only with his 
 heiliman (a bark shield 18 inches long by 6 wide), is
 
 134 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 led out in front, and placed at the distance of forty 
 yards. Then, at a given signal, the thirty spears are 
 launched at him in rapid succession ; these he receives 
 and parries with his shield, and so skilful are the 
 blacks in the use of their own weapons, that very 
 seldom is any wound inflicted. Having successfully 
 passed through this ordeal, the warrior is considered 
 to have fairly earned his cubra, and to have atoned 
 for his offence in carrying her off; so the ceremony 
 generally concludes by the two tribes feasting together 
 in perfect harmony. 
 
 HOLLAND. 
 
 The banns are sometimes published by a magis- 
 trate, who afterwards performs the ceremony. In- 
 stead of cake, two bottles of spiced and sugared 
 wine, decorated with ribbons, are sent to friends. A 
 century ago it was the practice to strew the threshold 
 of a new-married couple with flowers and evergreens. 
 It was also common at the weddings of the upper 
 classes to distribute medals bearing some quaint 
 device. 
 
 SWEDEN. 
 
 In ancient times, the Swedish marriage customs 
 were of a very barbarous character. No Scandina- 
 vian warrior would condescend to court a woman by
 
 SWEDEN. 135 
 
 gallantry and submission; but he generally waited 
 till she was on her way to be married to another, and 
 then, collecting his followers, fell upon the wedding 
 party, and often succeeded in carrying away the 
 bride. The marriages being celebrated at night was 
 highly favourable to these exploits. In the ancient 
 church of Husaby, in Gothland, is still preserved a 
 pile of lances, into which were fitted torches, and 
 which were carried before the bridegroom to give 
 light and protection. The strongest of the bride- 
 groom's friends (called his " best men") were selected 
 to carry them. 
 
 WALLACHIA AND MOLDAVIA. 
 
 The women were often stolen by force from the 
 houses of their relations, and carried to their captors' 
 homes, where they lived with them as wives for some 
 time. They then married them, but were sent adrift 
 for the smallest offence. 
 
 BOSNIA. 
 
 In this country, young girls, who were Maho- 
 metans, were permitted to walk about with their 
 faces uncovered; and, if a man felt inclined to 
 marry one of them, as he passed by he threw an 
 embroidered handkerchief, or some article of his
 
 136 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 dress, upon her head or neck. She then retired to 
 her home, considered herself betrothed, and did not 
 appear in public. 
 
 THE LAPLANDERS. 
 
 The Laplanders rarely intermarry with neighbour- 
 ing nations. Their matrimonial negotiations are 
 conducted with extraordinary formality and decorum. 
 When a young man has selected his object, he 
 communicates his wishes to his own family, who 
 repair in a body to the dwelling of the young 
 woman's parents, carrying a slight present, such as 
 a ring or ornamented girdle, to the fair one, and a 
 quantity of brandy to entertain the friends. When 
 arrived at the hut, the suitor is left without, till he 
 shall be invited to enter; and as soon as the rest of 
 the party have entered, their spokesman fills out a 
 bumper of brandy, which he offers to the girl's father, 
 and the acceptance of this indicates his approbation 
 of the match to be proposed. After the liquor has 
 gone round the company, leave is obtained for the 
 young man to present himself, while his advocate in 
 a set speech opens the treaty. The lover, upon 
 being introduced, takes his seat near the door, at 
 some distance from the rest ; and it is only when the 
 parents of the girl have signified their full consent, 
 that he offers her the present which he has brought,
 
 THE LAPLANDERS. 137 
 
 and promises wedding clothes to her father and 
 mother. Sometimes a sum of money is given, both 
 to the bride and to her parents; and not unfrequently 
 considerable bargaining is employed to raise the 
 amount. All that the bride receives on this occasion 
 becomes her own private property : and, among the 
 better class, a wife, counting all expenses, commonly 
 costs the husband above a hundred copper dollars. 
 Should the parents depart from their promised con- 
 sent, it is an established law that they must repay all 
 expenses and presents, even to the brandy which has 
 been drunk at the first visit. After the parties have 
 been in this manner betrothed, the young man is 
 allowed to visit the bride, whose favour he generally 
 endeavours to conciliate by presenting tobacco, 
 brandy, or whatever he thinks will be most accept- 
 able. On the marriage day the bride appears in her 
 best dress, but her head, commonly closely covered, 
 is, on this occasion, only adorned with a bandeau or 
 fillet, while her hair flows loose upon her shoulders. 
 The banns are usually proclaimed only once. The 
 marriage ceremony, which is very short, is sometimes 
 performed before, and sometimes after the entertain- 
 ment. The wedding feast is celebrated in a frugal 
 and sober manner, without music, dancing, or any 
 other festivity. Such of the guests as are able make 
 a present to the bride of money, rein-deer, or other 
 useful articles, to begin the stock, or furnish the
 
 138 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 dwelling of the young couple. In some parts of 
 Lapland it is the custom that the friends and 
 relations of the parties meet together a few days 
 after the marriage, and partake of a homely enter- 
 tainment, consisting usually of a mess of broth, a 
 little roast mutton, and metheglin. The bridegroom 
 usually remains with the parents of the bride for the 
 space of one year; and, at his departure, receives 
 what portion they are able to give with their 
 daughter, to establish the young people in the 
 world. It is usual, at the birth of a child, to assign 
 a female rein-deer, with all her future offspring, as 
 a provision for the boy or girl, who is thus, when 
 grown up, not unfrequently the owner of a consider- 
 able herd. 
 
 In Lapland it is a capital offence to marry a maid 
 without the consent of her parents. When a young 
 man has formed an attachment to a female, the 
 fashion is to appoint their friends to meet to behold 
 the two young parties run a race together. The maid 
 is allowed in starting the advantage of a third part of 
 the distance, so that it is impossible, except willing of 
 herself, that she should be overtaken. If the maid 
 over-run her suitor, the matter is ended; he must 
 never have her, it being penal for the man to renew 
 an offer of marriage. But if the virgin has an 
 affection for him, though at first she runs hard to 
 try the truth of his love, she will pretend some
 
 THE LAPLANDERS. 139. 
 
 casualty, and make a voluntary halt before she 
 arrives at the mark or end of the race. Thus none 
 are compelled to marry against their own wills : and 
 this is the cause that, in this poor country, the 
 married people are richer in their own contentment 
 than in other lands, where so many forced matches 
 make feigned love, and cause real unhappiness. 
 
 THE BRAHMINS. 
 
 Brahmins who have sons, endeavour to marry them 
 early ; the rich are more expeditious in this matter 
 than the poor, but those of the three first castes never 
 marry them till such time as they have received the 
 Dsandhem. 
 
 When a Brahmin goes to demand a young woman 
 in marriage for his son, he pays the highest regard to 
 presages. If he meets a sinister sign in his way, he 
 must postpone the affair till some other day ; if he has 
 a bad sign a second time, he again puts it off; but if 
 the same happens a third time, he then lays aside all 
 thoughts of the match, from a firm persuasion that it 
 would be unhappy. To hear a serpent named the 
 first day on which a Brahmin is going upon such an 
 affair is a bad sign, but seeing one is enough to 
 make him abandon the idea altogether. The Veinsjas 
 have a particular custom among them, and that is, 
 the melting down a half-pagod, or half-ducat of gold ;,
 
 140 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 if the gold, after it is thus melted down, appears 
 with a shining hue, it is then a propitious sign; 
 but should it turn out dull, they change their reso- 
 lution; the Brahmins, however, laugh at this kind of 
 divination. 
 
 The man whose daughter is sought for in mar- 
 riage, desires to see the youth who is to be his future 
 son-in-law, when he makes the necessary inquiries 
 into his circumstances. If he finds matters to his 
 satisfaction, he then allows him to visit her in the 
 presence of her parents ; and if the young couple be 
 then pleased with each other, and the parents give 
 their consent, they are immediately married. The 
 consent of the Sondras must be purchased, and they 
 oblige the lover, before they allow him to marry 
 their daughter, to give them a certain sum of money 
 over and above the bargain, or, in other words, a 
 "luck-penny;" and this they call a gift, for they 
 would be ashamed to have it thought that they 
 sold their daughters. 
 
 When the parties are agreed, they make choice of 
 a fortunate day; for these people have a calendar, 
 in which the lucky and unlucky days are set down. 
 Then the relations on both sides meet, and perform a 
 ceremony which answers to our betrothings. The 
 bride's father presents betel to the bridegroom's rela- 
 tions, and declares to the company that he has given 
 his daughter to N , a member of the family of the
 
 THE BRAHMINS. 14! 
 
 persons present. This being done the bridegroom's 
 relations give betel to those of the bride, when they 
 make the same declaration, and take the company 
 for witnesses : and when this is performed, the couple 
 are married, provided it be at a proper time; for 
 they are not allowed to marry in all seasons of the 
 year. There are certain months appointed for that 
 purpose, and these are February, May, June, Octo- 
 ber, and the beginning of November; as also certain 
 stated days and hours in those months, all which 
 they observe very carefully. 
 
 When the time for consummating the marriage is 
 come, they light the fire Homam with the wood of 
 ravisitou. The Brahmin blesses the former, which 
 being done, the bridegroom takes three handfuls of 
 rice, and throws it on the bride's head, who does the 
 same to him. Afterwards the bride's father clothes 
 her in a dress according to his condition, and washes 
 the bridegroom's feet, the bride's mother observing to 
 pour out the water. This being done, the father puts 
 his daughter's hand in his own, puts water into it, 
 some pieces of money, and giving it to the bridegroom, 
 says, at the same time, " I have no longer anything 
 to do with you, and I give you up to the power of 
 another." The tali, which is a ribbon with a golden 
 head hanging to it, is held ready, and being shown to 
 the company, some prayers and blessings are pro- 
 nounced, after which the bridegroom takes it, and
 
 142 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 hangs it about the bride's neck. It is by this knot 
 that he particularly secures the possession of her ; for 
 before he had tied the tali on, the remainder of the 
 ceremonies might have been made to no purpose, for 
 it has sometimes happened, that when the bridegroom 
 was going to fix it on, the bride's father has discovered 
 that he is not satisfied with the bridegroom's gift, when 
 an additional offering has carried off the bride with 
 her father's consent. But when once the tali is put 
 on, the marriage is indissoluble; and whenever the 
 husband dies, the tali is burnt along with him, to show 
 that the marriage bands are broken, Besides these 
 particular ceremonies, the people have notice of the 
 wedding by a pandal, which is raised some days 
 previous to it before the bride's door. The whole 
 concludes with an entertainment, which the bride's 
 father gives to the common friends; and during this 
 festivity, which continues five days, alms are given 
 to the poor, and the fire Horn am is kept in. The 
 seventh day the new-married couple set out for the 
 bridegroom's house, whither they frequently go by 
 torch light. The bride and the bridegroom are carried 
 in a sedan, pass through the chief streets of the city, 
 and are accompanied by their friends, who are either 
 on horseback or mounted on elephants. In case 
 the bride be not of an age fit for consummating the 
 marriage, her relations do not leave her above three 
 or four days in her husband's house, after which she
 
 THE BRAHMINS. 143 
 
 is brought back to that of her father ; but if she be 
 arrived at puberty, she stays with her husband. 
 
 THE BURMESE. 
 
 The marriage is arranged by the parents, but does 
 not take place till the age of puberty. The contract 
 is a civil one. The bridegroom sends some garments 
 to his bride on the wedding morning ; a feast is given 
 by her parents, and the formal contract is then com- 
 pleted. The couple partake of the same dish, and 
 exchange and taste with each other tea leaves, steeped 
 in oil, which is the Burmese form of sealing contracts. 
 
 The marriage-knot is easily undone. If the husband 
 and wife are tired of each other's society, they dissolve 
 partnership in the following summary manner. They 
 respectively light two candles, and shutting up their 
 hut, sit down and wait quietly until they are burned 
 out. The one whose candle burns out first gets up 
 at once and leaves the house (and for ever), taking 
 nothing but the clothes he or she may have had on at 
 the time ; all else becomes the property of the person 
 who remains. 
 
 THE MONGOLS AND CALMUCS 
 
 Give themselves very little trouble with respect to 
 the degrees of consanguinity in their matrimonial
 
 144 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 engagements. They make no scruple of cohabiting 
 even with their mothers. The issue of such inces- 
 tuous matches are looked on as legitimate, and have 
 a right of inheritance as well as any others; but if 
 they should be the children of a khan, or some 
 other person of distinction, he who is born in 
 honourable wedlock obtains the preference. They 
 take particular care to find out young wives; for 
 after they are forty years of age, they look upon 
 them only as governants of their families, or even 
 simply as their domestics. 
 
 The other Tartars are as regardless of the degrees 
 of consanguinity as those we have already described. 
 Some of the most conscientious, indeed, will never 
 marry either their mothers-in-law or their sisters ; but 
 the Czeremissian Tartars make no scruple with regard 
 to the latter. 
 
 There is nothing very remarkable in the courtship 
 and amorous adventures of these people. Amongst 
 the Ostiacs, the lover sends one of his friends to his 
 mistress's father, in order to agree about the price, 
 and when the bargain is actually made, the intended 
 father-in-law covenants to surrender and yield up his 
 daughter at the expiration of a certain term therein 
 limited : and during the whole courtship he must 
 not, on any account whatsoever, presume to pay his 
 mistress a visit. If he pay his respects to her father 
 or mother, he goes backward into their house; not
 
 THE MONGOLS AND CALMUCS. 145 
 
 presuming to look them in the face ; and, as a farther 
 testimony of his esteem and submission, turns his 
 head on one side whenever he speaks to them. At 
 the expiration of the term of his courtship, the father, 
 according to his contract, surrenders his daughter to 
 his son-in-law, and, at the same time, recommends 
 them to a happy union, as the fundamental article of 
 wedlock. 
 
 The Ostiac, as a trial of his wife's honour, cuts a 
 handful of hair off a bear's skin, and presents it to her. 
 If she be virtuous, she accepts of the offer without the 
 least reluctance ; but if she be conscious of her own 
 inconstancy, she ingenuously refuses to touch it; 
 whereupon her husband immediately puts her away. 
 She has, however, the liberty to marry whom she 
 pleases after such separation. This ingenuous, con- 
 fession of their wives is owing to their dread of being 
 torn to pieces by the paws of the very bear, the hairs 
 of whose hide are made use of as an expedient to 
 prove their chastity or falsehood. This bear, accord- 
 ing to their notion, revives at the expiration of three 
 years, in order to devour the bride who is perjured 
 and inconsistent. 
 
 AENEZES, A BEDOUIN TRIBE. 
 
 The marriage day being appointed (usually five or 
 six days after the betrothing), the bridegroom comes
 
 146 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 with a lamb in his arms to the tent of the girl's 
 father, and there cuts the lamb's throat before 
 witnesses. As soon as the blood falls upon the 
 ground the marriage ceremony is regarded as com- 
 plete. The men and girls amuse themselves with 
 feasting and singing. Soon after sunset the bride- 
 groom retires to a tent pitched for him at a distance 
 from the camp ; there he shuts himself up and awaits 
 the arrival of his bride. The bashful girl, mean- 
 while, runs from the tent of one friend to another till 
 she is caught at last, and conducted in triumph by a 
 few women to the bridegroom's tent ; he receives her 
 at the entrance, and forces her into it; the women 
 who had accompanied her then depart. 
 
 BEDOUINS OF MOUNT SINAI. 
 
 The young maid comes home in the evening with 
 the cattle. At a short distance from the camp she 
 is met by the future spouse and a couple of his young 
 friends, and carried off by force to her father's tent. 
 If she entertains any suspicion of their designs, she 
 defends herself with stones, and often inflicts wounds 
 on the young men, even though she does not dislike 
 the lover; for, according to custom, the "more she 
 struggles, bites, kicks, cries and shrieks, the more 
 she is applauded ever after by her own companions." 
 She is then taken to her father's tent, where a man's
 
 BEDOUINS OF MOUNT SINAI. 147 
 
 cloak is thrown over her, and the name of her future 
 husband is formally announced. After this she is 
 dressed in suitable apparel, and mounted on a camel, 
 " although still continuing to struggle in a most 
 unruly manner, and held by the bridegroom's friends 
 on both sides." She is led in this way to, and three 
 times round, and, finally, into the bridegroom's tent, 
 still resisting. Several sheep are killed, and the 
 guests eat the meat and also bread, which is a most 
 important part of the feast. Presents are made to 
 the bride. 
 
 AN ARAB WEDDING BALL. 
 
 A curtain, drawn across the door of the tent, 
 concealed the bride, who, closely veiled, sat within 
 surrounded by women. On the outside, between 
 four and five hundred people were collected, and a 
 clear space was kept in the middle for the dancers by 
 two men with drawn swords, who vigorously applied, 
 right and left, the fiat of the blade to all who pressed 
 too forward. On one side of the ring squatted the 
 band, consisting of two men, with instruments like 
 flageolets, and a drummer who occasionally accom- 
 panied the music with his voice. In the centre was 
 a middle-aged woman, dressed in the usual dark blue 
 cotton garments, but decked with all her ornaments 
 ear-rings, bracelets, and a necklace, to which
 
 148 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 sundry charms and amulets, teeth of wild beasts, 
 verses of the Koran sewn up in little bags, and 
 various other odds and ends, considered as pro- 
 tections from the evil eye, were suspended; a large 
 circular brooch of silver or white metal (the same 
 in form as those used by the Scotch Highlanders) 
 confined the loose folds across her bosom; and a 
 small looking-glass, set in metal, dangled conveni- 
 ently at the end of a string of sufficient length to 
 allow of her admiring her charms in detail. Her 
 face was uncovered, and her features were harsh and 
 disagreeable, except the eyes, which were large and 
 expressive, with that peculiar lustrous appearance 
 given by the use of mineral paint. Her feet were 
 hardly visible from the length of her dress ; and her 
 finger-nails, together with the palms of her hands, 
 were stained with henna. As soon as we had taken 
 our stand in the front row, the music, which had 
 ceased for a few minutes, struck up, and the lady in 
 the midst commenced her performances; inclining 
 her head languishingly from side to side, she beat 
 time with her feet, raising each foot alternately from 
 the ground with a jerking action, as if she had been 
 standing on a hot floor, at the same twisting about 
 her body with a slow movement of the hands and 
 arms. Several others succeeded her, and danced 
 in the same style, with an equal want of grace. A 
 powerful inducement to exert themselves was not
 
 AN ARAB WEDDING BALL. 149 
 
 wanting, for one of them, more than once, received 
 some tolerably severe blows, both from a stick and 
 the flat of the sword; what the reason was I do 
 not know, but suppose that either she was lazy or 
 danced badly. While the dancing was going on the 
 spectators were not idle. Armed with guns, pistols, 
 and blunderbusses with enormous bell mouths, an 
 irregular fire was kept up. Advancing a step or two 
 into the circle, so as to show off before the whole 
 party, an Arab would present his weapon at a friend 
 opposite, throwing himself into a graceful attitude, 
 then suddenly dropping the muzzle at the instant of 
 pulling the trigger, the charge struck the ground 
 close to the feet of the person aimed at. After each 
 report the woman set up a long-continued shrill cry 
 of lu-lu, lu-lu, and the musicians redoubled their 
 efforts. The advance of one man is usually the 
 signal for others to come forward at the same time, 
 all anxious to surpass their friends and neighbours in 
 dexterity and grace. Ten or a dozen men being 
 crowded into a small space, sometimes not more 
 than six paces wide, brandishing their arms, and, 
 excited by the mimic combat, firing often at random, 
 it is not to be wondered at if accidents happen 
 occasionally to the actors or bystanders.
 
 150 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 A WEDDING AMONG THE MOORS. 
 
 Mungo Park, in his Travels into the Interior of 
 Africa, thus describes a wedding among the Moors : 
 
 In the evening the tabala, or large drum, was 
 beat to announce a wedding. A great number of 
 people of both sexes assembled. A woman was 
 beating the drum, and the other women joining at 
 times in chorus, by setting up a shrill scream. Mr. 
 Park soon retired, and having been asleep in his 
 hut, was awakened by an old woman, who said she 
 had brought him a present from the bride. She had 
 a wooden bowl in her hand; and before Mr. Park 
 was recovered from his surprise, discharged the 
 contents full in his face. He supposed it at first 
 to be a mischievous frolic, and was inclined to be 
 cross ; but was informed it was a nuptial benediction 
 from the bride's own person, and which, on such 
 occasions, is always received by the young unmarried 
 Moors as a mark of distinguished favour. Such 
 being the case, Mr. Park wiped his face, and sent his 
 acknowledgments to the lady. The wedding drum 
 continued to beat and the women to sing all night. 
 About nine in the morning the bride was brought in 
 state from her mother's tent, attended by a number 
 of women, who carried her tent (a present from her 
 husband), some bearing up the poles, others holding
 
 A WEDDING AMONG THE MOORS. 151 
 
 by the strings, and marched singing until they came 
 to the place appointed for her residence, where they 
 pitched the tent. The husband followed with a 
 number of men, leading four bullocks, which they 
 tied to the tent-strings; and having killed another, 
 and distributed the beef among the people, the 
 ceremony closed. 
 
 THE MOORS. 
 
 The Tunisians, especially females, as well Jewish 
 as Mohammedan, marry very young. It is not 
 uncommon for boys of thirteen or fourteen to be 
 married to girls of eleven or twelve, and sometimes 
 even under that age. They are joined together on the 
 good faith of their parents or relations ; for they are 
 never permitted to see each other before the nuptial 
 night. There are, however, certain persons sent 
 from the man, who examine the lady, and give him 
 a faithful report of her physical recommendations. 
 They are generally old women, relations of the 
 parties. If the man finds himself disappointed, he 
 has a right to send her away without giving her the 
 portion that was promised her, or, rather, the price 
 that was to be paid for her, as the wife is bought by 
 the husband. 
 
 After the documents have been legally signed by 
 the Kadi, it becomes the man's business to take home
 
 152 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 his bride. There is generally a great exhibition of 
 the articles which she brings to her husband, both 
 of furniture and dress. These effects are placed upon 
 horses or mules, and paraded through the streets. 
 The bride next proceeds to the bath, accompanied 
 by slaves, and her nearest relations, with great pomp. 
 The procession proceeds very slowly a band of their 
 sweet national musicians, and many women and 
 boys, with their loud cries of "lu-lu-lu-lu," follow them. 
 This is always done at night. The bride is then 
 paraded, with great ceremonies, to the bridegroom's 
 house, and brought into a separate part of the house, 
 where she entertains her female friends, while he does 
 the same to his male ones, till the time comes for the 
 company to break up, and for introducing the new 
 couple to each other. Feasts are continued for many 
 days after the marriage. Among the poorest they 
 last seven days, but they are generally no losers by 
 the entertainment, as it is customary for those invited 
 to bring suitable presents, which sometimes amount 
 to a great deal. 
 
 THE AFFGHANS. 
 
 The Affghans purchase their wives. The price 
 varies according to the circumstances of the bride- 
 groom. The effect of the practice is, that women, 
 though generally well treated, are in some measure
 
 THE AFFGHANS. 153 
 
 considered as property. A husband can divorce his 
 wife without assigning any reason, but the wife 
 cannot divorce her husband ; she may sue for a 
 divorce on good grounds before the Gauzy, but even 
 this is little practised. If the husband dies before 
 his wife, his relatives receive the price that is paid for 
 her, in case of a second marriage; but among the 
 Affghans, as among the Jews, it is thought incumbent 
 on the brother of the deceased to marry his widow, 
 and it is a mortal affront to the brother for any other 
 person to marry her without his consent. The widow, 
 however, is not compelled to take a husband against 
 her will, and if she have children, it is thought most 
 becoming to remain single. 
 
 The common age for marriage throughout the 
 Affghan country is 20 for the man, and 15 or 16 for 
 the woman. Men unable to pay the price of a wife 
 are often unmarried till 40, and women are sometimes 
 single till 25. On the other hand, the rich sometimes 
 marry before the age of puberty; people in towns 
 also marry early, and the Eastern Affghans marry 
 boys of 15 to girls of 12, and even earlier when they 
 can afford the expense. The Western Affghans 
 seldom marry till the man has attained his full 
 strength, and till his beard is grown ; and the Ghiljes 
 have still later marriages. In all parts of the country, 
 the age at which every individual marries, is regulated 
 by his ability to purchase a wife, and to maintain a
 
 154 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 family. In general, men marry among their own 
 tribe, but the Affghans often take Tanjik, and even 
 Persian wives. These matches are not at all dis- 
 creditable, but it is reckoned a mark of inferiority 
 to give a daughter in marriage, and, consequently, 
 the men of rank, and the whole of the Dooraunees, 
 refuse their daughters to men of any other nation. 
 
 In towns, men have no opportunity of seeing the 
 women, and matches are generally made from con- 
 siderations of expediency. When a man has thought 
 of a particular girl, he sends a female relative, or 
 neighbour, to see her, and report on her; if he is 
 pleased, the same lady "interviews" the girl's mother, 
 and discovers whether her family are disposed to con- 
 sent to the match ; and if the result be favourable, she 
 makes an offer in plain terms, and settles a day for 
 a public proposal. On the appointed day, the father 
 of the suitor goes, with a part of his male relations, 
 to the girl's father : while a similar deputation of 
 women waits on her mother, and makes the offer in 
 form. The suitor sends a ring, a shawl, or some 
 such present to his mistress, and his father begs the 
 girl's father to accept his son for his servant; the 
 girl's father answers, Mobaurik baushttd, " May it be 
 auspicious." Upon this, sweetmeats are brought in, of 
 which both parties partake, after solemnly repeating 
 the Fauteheh, or opening verse of the Koran, and 
 praying fof a blessing on the couple : the girl's father
 
 THE AFFGHANS. 155 
 
 makes some trifling present to the lover, and from 
 this time the parties are considered as affianced. A 
 considerable time elapses before the marriage is 
 celebrated. It is employed by the relations of the 
 bride in preparing her dowry, which generally consists 
 in articles of household furniture, carpets, plates, 
 brazen and iron vessels, and personal ornaments. 
 The bridegroom, in the meantime, is collecting the 
 price of his wife, which always greatly exceeds her 
 dower, and in preparing a house, and whatever else 
 is necessary for setting up a family. When the bride- 
 groom is poor, these preparations sometimes occupy 
 a year or two ; but when he is rich, the period is not 
 above two or three months. 
 
 THE PERSIANS. 
 
 The marriage contract is drawn up by the Gauzy, 
 and formally agreed to by the woman as well as by 
 the man (the consent of relations being of no avail). 
 The articles stipulate for a provision for the wife, in 
 case of a divorce, or of her husband's death ; and are 
 signed by both parties, as well as by the Cauzy and 
 competent witnesses. Soon after this, the bride and 
 bridegroom dye their hands and feet with portions 
 of henna (a certain plant used for this species of 
 ornament by women and young men in most Asiatic 
 countries). On the next night, the bride* goes in pro-
 
 156 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 cession to the house of her future husband, attended 
 by a band of music and singers, by the relations of 
 both, and by parties of the neighbours, wheeling in 
 circles on horseback, firing their match-locks, and 
 flourishing their swords. When the bride reaches 
 the house, she is presented to her husband, and the 
 whole concludes with a wedding supper. 
 
 A marriage is conducted in the same manner in 
 the country; but, as the women there go unveiled, 
 and there is less restraint in the intercourse between 
 the sexes, the match generally originates in the 
 attachment of the parties, and all the previous nego- 
 tiations are saved. It is even in the power of an 
 enterprising lover to obtain his mistress without the 
 consent of her parents, by seizing an opportunity of 
 cutting off a lock of her hair, snatching away her 
 veil, or throwing a sheet over her, and proclaiming 
 her his affianced wife. These proceedings, which are 
 supposed to be done with the girl's connivance, would 
 prevent any other suitor proposing to her, and would 
 incline the parents to bestow her on the declared 
 lover; but, as they would not exempt him from the 
 necessity of paying some price, and, as they might 
 be taken up as an affront by the relations, they are 
 not often resorted to; and, when the consent of 
 the parents cannot be obtained, the most common 
 expedient is to elope with the girl. This is considered 
 as an outrage to a family, equal to murdering one of
 
 THE PERSIANS. 157 
 
 its members, and is pursued with the same rancour, 
 but the possession of the girl is secured. The fugitives 
 take refuge in the lands of some other tribe, and are 
 sure of the protection which the Affghan customs 
 afford to every guest, and, still more, to every 
 suppliant. 
 
 Among the Eusofzyes, no man sees his wife till 
 the marriage ceremonies are completed \ and with all 
 the Burdooraunees there is great reserve between 
 the time when the parties are betrothed and the 
 marriage. Some of them live with their future father- 
 in-law, and earn their bride by their services, as 
 Jacob did Rachel, without ever seeing the object of 
 their wishes. But all the rest of the Affghans, the 
 Eimauks, the Hazaurehs, the inhabitants of Persian 
 Khorassaun, and even the Tanjiks, and many of the 
 Hindoos in those countries, have a far different 
 practice, and permit a secret intercourse between the 
 bride and bridegroom, which is called " naumznd 
 bauzce," or the sports of the betrothed. With them, 
 as soon as the parties are affianced, the lover steals 
 by night to the house of his mistress. The mother, 
 or some other of the female relatives, favours his 
 design; but it is supposed to be entirely concealed 
 from the men, who would affect to consider it as a 
 great affront. He is admitted by the mother, and 
 conducted to his mistress's apartment, where the 
 lovers are left alone till the approach of morning.
 
 158 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 Polygamy is known to be allowed by the Moham- 
 medan law ; but the bulk of the people cannot afford 
 to avail themselves of the permission. The rich, 
 indeed, exceed the legal number of four wives, and 
 keep crowds of female slaves besides; but the poor 
 content themselves with one wife; and two wives, 
 with as many concubines, is reckoned a liberal 
 establishment for the middle classes. 
 
 A most extraordinary custom is said to prevail 
 among the Vizerees (one of the mountain tribes), 
 which gives the women the choice of their husbands. 
 If a woman is pleased with a man, she sends the 
 drummer of the camp to pin a handkerchief on his 
 cap, with a pin which she has used to fasten her hair. 
 The drummer watches his opportunity, and does this 
 in public, naming the woman, and the man is imme- 
 diately obliged to marry her, if he can pay her price 
 to her father. 
 
 THE TONQUINESE. 
 
 In marriages, they must have the consent of their 
 parents, if they are alive, but if they are dead, then 
 they must apply to the nearest relations, and the 
 marriage engagements must be signed, and confirmed 
 before the judge or governor of the place. They 
 may marry as many wives as they please, but if they 
 cannot support them from being a burthen to the
 
 THE TONQUINESE. 159 
 
 community, then they are liable to pay a fine. On 
 the evening of the wedding-day, the relations of the 
 bride conduct her home to the house of the bride- 
 groom, where the first thing she does is to go into the 
 kitchen and kiss the hearth, after which she prostrates 
 herself on the ground, to acknowledge her humility 
 and obedience to her husband. The entertainments 
 at their marriages generally last nine days, unless the 
 parties are extremely poor, and then three days are 
 considered as sufficient The law permits a man to 
 put away his wife, but this privilege is not granted to 
 the woman, and if a woman procures a divorce, it is 
 attended with many difficulties. When a woman is 
 found guilty of adultery, she is turned out into an 
 inclosure among elephants, where she generally 
 starves, but for the same crime, the man can com- 
 pound by paying a fine. The ceremony of a divorce in 
 Tonquin, has something in it very novel to Europeans. 
 When a man is inclined to put away his wife, he takes 
 the sticks which they used at their meals, instead of 
 forks, and breaking them in twain, each party takes 
 one half, and wraps it carefully up in a piece of silk 
 stuff; after which the man is obliged to return his wife 
 all the money he received with her, and give security 
 that he will take care of all the children born during 
 their cohabitation.
 
 l6o MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 THE SAMOA (OR NAVIGATORS') ISLANDS. 
 
 The Rev. John Williams, the eminent missionary 
 to the South Sea Islands, thus describes the marriage 
 of a chief, named Malieloa, to a new wife, whom he 
 had purchased with some axes and other things given 
 to him by the missionaries. 
 
 " A group of women, seated under the shade of a 
 noble tree which stood at a short distance from the 
 house, chanted, in a pleasing and lively air, the heroic 
 deeds of the old chieftain and his ancestors; and 
 opposite to them, beneath the spreading branches of 
 a bread-fruit tree, sat the newly-purchased bride, a 
 tall and beautiful young woman, about eighteen years 
 of age. Her dress was a fine mat, fastened round 
 the waist, reaching nearly to her ankles; while a 
 wreath of leaves and flowers, ingeniously and taste- 
 fully entwined, decorated her brow. The upper part of 
 her person was anointed with sweet-scented cocoa-nut 
 oil, and tinged partially with a rouge prepared from 
 the hermeric root, and round her neck were two rows 
 of large blue beads. Her whole deportment was 
 pleasingly modest. While listening to the chanter, 
 and looking upon the novel scene before us, our 
 attention was attracted by another company of 
 women, who were following each other in single 
 file, and chanting as they came the praises of their
 
 THE SAMOA (OR NAVIGATORS') ISLANDS. l6l 
 
 chief. Sitting down with the company who had 
 preceded them, they united in one general chorus, 
 which appeared to be a recital of the valorous deeds 
 of Malictoa and his progenitors. This ended, a dance 
 in honour of the marriage was commenced, which 
 was considered one of their grandest exhibitions, 
 and held in high estimation by the people. The 
 performers were four young women, all daughters 
 of chiefs of the highest rank, who took their stations 
 at right angles on the fine mats with which the 
 dancing-house was spread for the occasion, and then 
 interchanged positions, with slow and graceful move- 
 ments, both of their hands and feet, while the bride 
 recited some of the mighty doings of her forefathers. 
 To the motions of the dancers, and to the recital of 
 the bride, three or four elderly women were beating 
 time upon the mat with short sticks, and occasionally 
 joining in chorus with the recitative. We saw nothing 
 in the performance worthy of admiration, except the 
 absence of everything indelicate a rare omission in 
 heathen amusements. We were informed that most 
 of the wives of the principal chiefs were purchased ; 
 and that, if a sufficient price is paid to the relatives, 
 the young woman seldom refuses to go, though the 
 purchaser be ever so old and unlovely."
 
 162 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 
 
 In their marriage ceremonies the Philippine Is- 
 landers have very little remarkable, only that they 
 admit of a plurality of wives, one being superior to 
 all the others. 
 
 THE MOLUCCA ISLANDS. 
 
 As soon as the parties are agreed, which must 
 always be by the consent of the parents, the bride- 
 groom's father makes the nuptial presents, and the 
 father of the bride invites them to an elegant 
 entertainment, at which there is music and dancing, 
 according to the custom of the country, and then the 
 young couple retire. If the woman should not choose 
 to live with her husband after marriage, then she is 
 obliged to return him all the presents she received 
 from his father, after which she pours water on his 
 feet, and she, as well as the man, are at liberty to 
 marry whom they please. 
 
 THE NEGROES. 
 
 Among the inland negroes of Africa, wrote Lord 
 Kames, when the preliminaries of the marriage are 
 adjusted, the bridegroom with a number of his com-
 
 THE NEGROES. 163 
 
 panions set out at night, and surround the house 
 of the bride, as if intending to carry her off by 
 force; she and her female attendants pretending to 
 make all possible resistance, cry aloud for help, but 
 no person appears. 
 
 On the West Coast of Africa, wives are purchased, 
 sometimes at the price of twenty dollars. The parties 
 are united by public proclamation. The wife is the 
 mere slave of the husband, and can only obtain a 
 divorce by giving him whatever he may demand as a 
 compensation, and if she wishes to retain any of her 
 children she must also pay him a price for them. 
 
 Dr. Livingstone says that the men of Angola nearly 
 always purchase their wives. When a young woman 
 is going to be married, she is placed in a hut alone, 
 and anointed with various unguents. Incantations 
 are also employed to secure her happiness and fruit- 
 fulness. After a few days, she is removed to another 
 hut, and dressed in the richest clothes and ornaments 
 her relatives can procure. She is then shown to the 
 public, who salute her respectfully, the presents she 
 has received being set out around her. She is then 
 taken to her husband's home, where she has a hut for 
 herself. Dancing and feasting are kept up for several 
 days afterwards. Polygamy is general; and, in cases 
 of separation, the husband receives the price he paid 
 for his wife from her relations. 
 
 " At Karague," says Capt. Speke in his Journal of
 
 164 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 Discovery of the Sources of the Nile, " at night I was 
 struck by surprise to see a long, noisy procession pass 
 by where I sat, led by some men who carried on their 
 shoulders a woman covered up in a blackened skin. 
 On inquiry, however, I heard she was being taken to 
 the hut of her espoused, where, 'bundling' fashion, 
 she would be put to bed; but it is only with virgins 
 they take so much trouble." 
 
 Speke also says that there are no such thing as 
 marriages in Uganda. " If any Eukungu, possessed 
 of a pretty daughter, committed an offence, he might 
 give her to the king as a peace-offering ; if any neigh- 
 bouring king had a pretty daughter, and the king of 
 Uganda wanted her, she might be demanded as a 
 fitting tribute." 
 
 Amongst the Dahomians, says Dr. M'Leod, mar- 
 riages are settled by the bridegroom paying a certain 
 sum for the woman, which is calculated at the rate of 
 one or more slaves, or moveable property in shells, 
 cloth or other articles to the amount of the specified 
 number of slaves. Polygamy is allowed to any extent. 
 
 AT NICARIA, NEAR SAMOS, 
 
 The inhabitants, who are all swimmers, will not 
 marry their daughters to any but such young men 
 who can dive eight fathoms deep at least. They are 
 expected to produce a certificate of their diving ability,
 
 AT NICARIA, NEAR SAMOS. 165 
 
 and when a father, or some substantial islander, is 
 determined to dispose of his daughter in marriage, 
 he appoints a day when the best swimmer is to bear 
 away the prize. As soon as the candidates are all 
 stripped naked, the young lady makes her personal 
 appearance, and in they jump. He who continues 
 longest under water is the fortunate bridegroom. 
 
 BORNEO. 
 
 A young man cannot solicit the hand of a girl till 
 he has cut off the head of an enemy. When the 
 lover has fulfilled this first condition, he makes some 
 presents to his mistress. On the wedding-day, each 
 of the parties gives an entertainment at their respec- 
 tive homes, after which the bridegroom is conducted 
 to the house of the bride. At the door, one of his 
 friends sprinkles him with the blood of a cock, and 
 the bride with that of a hen. From this time they 
 remain together, and another entertainment is held. 
 
 THE PATAGONIANS. 
 
 Without the chiefs consent, no marriage was 
 permitted. In his judgment, no Indian who was not 
 an accomplished rogue, particularly in the horse- 
 stealing line, an expert hunter, able to provide plenty 
 of meat and grease, was fit to have a wife. It
 
 1 66 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 appeared that the possession of two horses one for 
 himself and one for his intended was regarded as 
 the proper outfit in a matrimonial adventure. Due 
 sanction having been given by the supreme authority, 
 the bridegroom takes home his bride, for better or 
 worse, without any of the festivity which graces 
 similar occasions elsewhere. 
 
 THE CANARY ISLANDS. 
 
 It was formerly the practice for girls who were 
 going to be married, to be fed upon milk and other 
 nourishing things; a lean wife being considered less 
 capable of becoming a mother as a fat one. 
 
 TIERRA DEL FUEGO. 
 
 As soon as a youth is able to maintain a wife by 
 his exertions in fishing or bird-catching, he obtains 
 the consent of her relations, and does some piece of 
 work, such as helping to make a canoe, or prepare 
 seal skins, &c., for her parents. Having built or 
 stolen a canoe for himself, he watches for an oppor- 
 tunity, and carries off his bride. If she is unwilling, 
 she hides herself in the woods until her admirer is 
 heartily tired of looking for her, and gives up the 
 pursuit ; but this seldom happens.
 
 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 167 
 
 DALMATIA. 
 
 Amongst the Morlachis, in the last century, the 
 bride went to the church veiled, surrounded by her 
 friends on horseback, with peacocks' feathers in their 
 caps. The performance of the ceremony was accom- 
 panied with the discharge of fire-arms, and the shouts 
 of the company. The male friends had each a special 
 name and office in the ceremonial. After the nuptial 
 benediction, some ran to the house of the bride- 
 groom's father to announce the good news, the first 
 who arrived being presented with an embroidered 
 towel. The head of the house came out to meet the 
 bride, to whom a child was handed to caress before 
 she alighted. Then she knelt down and kissed the 
 threshold. Her mother-in-law, or some near female 
 relative of the bridegroom presented her with a sieve 
 filled with various kinds of grain, nuts and small fruit, 
 which the bride scattered behind her back over the 
 company. A feast was then given, the men and 
 women sitting apart from each other. The bride- 
 groom, not being allowed to loose or cut anything 
 (the day being sacred to union), had his food cut 
 up for him. Singing, dancing and various games 
 followed. The nuptial feast lasted several days, 
 and every morning the bride carried water to the 
 guests to wash their hands in, each of them throwing
 
 l68 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 a small piece of money into the vessel which con- 
 tained it. 
 
 In some parts of this country, it was customary for 
 the chief official guest to strike off, with his naked 
 sword, the crown of flowers from the bride's head, 
 before she retired for the night. 
 
 THE SIAMESE. 
 
 In Siam, all the maidens are kept closely confined, 
 without ever being permitted to come into the com- 
 pany of young men, till their wedding-day. In all their 
 treaties of marriage, the relation of the man makes 
 the proposals to those of the woman, and for the most 
 part, some discreet old matrons direct the young ones 
 in their conduct. Three days before their marriage, 
 the relations of both parties meet the bridegroom, and 
 in his presence, they fix what fortune he is to have 
 with his spouse. The marriage being thus agreed 
 upon, and the day fixed, they have a feast at the 
 house of the bride's father, in a hall erected for that 
 purpose, but at the expense of the bridegroom. After 
 this, the young couple are conducted into a dark 
 apartment adjoining to the house, where they remain 
 some days, being visited only by their relations. The 
 men are allowed to have concubines, but never more 
 than one wife at a time. Divorces are permitted in 
 Siam when the parties cannot live happy together,
 
 THE SIAMESE. 169 
 
 but the wife's fortune must be returned, and the 
 children are divided between them, if the number 
 be even, but if there is an odd one, it is given to 
 the mother. 
 
 GUINEA. 
 
 As soon as their young men are able to get their 
 livelihood, their parents begin to think of settling them 
 in the world, and finding out such wives as may be 
 most suitable to their inclinations. If both parties 
 approve each other, the maiden is demanded in 
 form, and the parents meet together, attended by 
 a priest, who presents them with several Fetiches, 
 and makes the most solemn protestations before 
 all the company then present of love and constancy 
 to her intended husband; after which they recipro- 
 cally join hands. The bridegroom, however, binds 
 himself by no farther obligations, and the whole 
 ceremony consists in nothing more than is here 
 mentioned. Although polygamy is in vogue amongst 
 them, the wife thus married is looked upon as the 
 only person who has a legal right and title to her 
 husband, and moreover, the husband cannot take a 
 second wife without the free consent of the first.
 
 170 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 THE ALBANIANS. 
 
 The unmarried Albanian girls bear their marriage 
 portions upon their heads their skull-caps, made of 
 scarlet cloth, are surrounded with rows of Turkish 
 paras, piastres, and other coins, like scales ; sometimes 
 straps, ornamented in a similar manner, fasten the cap 
 under the chin, and their long plaits of hair hanging 
 down the back, are seen glittering with this nuptial 
 treasure ; so that they have the appearance of Ama- 
 zonian warriors prepared for combat. Amongst the 
 more opulent classes, alternate rows of Venetian 
 sequins and other gold coins are interwoven amidst 
 the silver. It is incredible what a degree of fatigue 
 the poor peasant girl will undergo to add a single 
 para to this store, or what privations she will endure 
 rather than diminish it by that mite. All her hopes 
 of settlement in life depend upon the completion 
 of the dowry; no beauty, no attachment, however 
 fervent, will hasten the bridal day ; imperious custom 
 has so ordered it, that Plutus must precede, or Hymen 
 will not follow. In the midst of these treasures are 
 often seen coins of ancient Greece, given to them by 
 friends and relatives on their birth-days and other 
 festivals, or picked up by themselves after rain 
 amongst the ruins. A traveller has no better chance 
 of increasing his collection than by application to the 
 head-quarters of these Albanian damsels : the sum.
 
 THE ALBANIANS. 17 1 
 
 generally offered is so superior to the intrinsic value 
 of the medal, that they seldom hesitate in making the 
 exchange, though sometimes no entreaties, no bribes, 
 will induce them ; the reason of this obstinacy is, that 
 they regard the legend impressed upon the coin as 
 an amulet or charm, like the celebrated Ephesian 
 letters of antiquity, powerful in driving away evil 
 spirits, and averting the influence of diseases. 
 
 THE SMOO INDIANS. 
 
 There is no marriage custom among the Smoo 
 Indians a tribe which inhabit Central America 
 nor indeed anything approaching to it A man takes 
 a fancy to a girl, and goes to her father and proposes. 
 If his suit is agreeable, the girl is never consulted, but 
 is sent off with her limited wardrobe to the palm- 
 thatched cabin of her future husband. She does not 
 often resist, but even if she did it would not make 
 much difference, for her opposition is only looked 
 upon as one of the devices of the evil one, to be cast 
 out by a few words and a great many blows of a 
 pimento stick. The price is paid for the wife, but 
 the widow is looked upon by the relatives of her 
 husband as part of his property, and accordingly 
 she is not allowed to marry again until she has paid 
 over to them a sort of ransom fee, or as they call it, 
 piarka-mana, or widow-money. Dr, Robert Brown.
 
 172 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 THE ABYSSINIANS. 
 
 The bridegroom and the bride attended at the 
 church-door, where a kind of nuptial bed, or couch, 
 was erected for that purpose. The abuna, or patri- 
 arch, seated them both upon it, and then went in 
 procession round them with the cross and censer. 
 After that he laid his hands upon their heads, and 
 said, As ye this day become one flesh, ye must be both 
 of one heart and one will. After a short harangue, 
 suitable to the words mentioned, he proceeded to the 
 celebration of the mass, at which the newly-married 
 couple attended, and, after it was over, he pronounced 
 the nuptial benediction. 
 
 Gaia has furnished us with some other ceremonies 
 observed by them in their nuptials, amongst which 
 the following are the most remarkable : " The cele- 
 brant, after he has cut a lock of hair from the heads 
 of the bridegroom and the bride, and dipped them 
 into wine mingled with honey, exchanges the locks, 
 and places that which belonged to the former on the 
 head of the latter, and so vice versa, in the very same 
 place from whence they were taken, sprinkling them 
 at the same time with holy water. After this cere- 
 mony is over, the newly-married couple, attended by 
 their friends, go home, and never stir abroad for a 
 month. When the bride goes out, she wears a black
 
 THE ABYSSINIANS. 173 
 
 veil over her face, which she never turns up till after 
 the expiration of six months, except she proves with 
 child." We have before taken particular notice of 
 the nuptial crowns amongst the ceremonies of the 
 Greeks; and among the Abyssinians, these crowns 
 are put upon the heads of the newly-married couple, 
 and they wear them for the first eight days; after 
 which, the priest who puts them on takes them off 
 again, with much formality, and pronounces several 
 prayers. 
 
 THE THIBETIANS. 
 
 In Thibet the marriage ceremonies are neither 
 tedious nor intricate. Their courtships are carried on 
 with little art, and quickly brought to a conclusion. 
 The man makes a proposal to the parents of a 
 damsel, who, if they approve the match, repair to his 
 house, where the male and female friends of both 
 parties meet and carouse for three days, having 
 music, dancing, &c., at the expiration of which time 
 the marriage is complete. The priests in Thibet 
 have no share in the contract, as they studiously shun 
 the company of women. Mutual consent is the only 
 bond^ of union; but the husband and wife cannot 
 separate themselves, unless, indeed, the same senti- 
 ment which joined them induce a separation ; and in 
 those cases they are not at liberty to form a new
 
 174 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 alliance. Incontinency is punished by stripes in the 
 women, and by a pecuniary fine in the man. 
 
 THE CONGOESE. 
 
 In the empire of Congo, and among the greater 
 part of those nations which inhabit the southern coast 
 of Africa, the women of a family are seldom per- 
 mitted to eat along with the men. The husband sits 
 alone at table, and his wife commonly stands at his 
 back, to guard him from the flies, to serve him with 
 his victuals, or to furnish him with his pipe and his 
 tobacco. After he has finished his meal, she is 
 allowed to eat what remains, but without sitting 
 down, which, it seems, would be inconsistent with the 
 inferiority and submission that is thought suitable to 
 her sex. When a Hottentot and his wife have come 
 into the service of an European, and are entertained 
 under the same roof, the master is under the necessity 
 of assigning to each of them a distinct portion of 
 victuals, which, out of regard to the general usage 
 of their country, they always eat at a distance from 
 each other. 
 
 In the account which has been given by Commo- 
 dore Byron, of the Indians of South America, we are 
 told that " the men exercise a most despotic authority 
 over their wives, whom they consider in the same 
 view as they do any other part of their property, and
 
 THE CONGOESE. 175 
 
 dispose of them accordingly; even their common 
 treatment of them is cruel; for the toil and hazard 
 of procuring food lies entirely upon the women, yet 
 they are not suffered to touch any part of it till the 
 husband is satisfied, and then he assigns them their 
 portion, which is generally very scanty, and such as 
 he has not a stomach for himself." The same author 
 informs us that he has observed a like arbitrary 
 behaviour among many other nations of savages, 
 with whom he has since been acquainted. 
 
 THE GEORGIANS. 
 
 The nuptial ceremonies of the Georgians are, in 
 fact, nothing more than a mere contract, by way of 
 bargain and sale. The parents bring their daughters 
 to market, and agree with the purchasers for a par- 
 ticular sum, which is greater or smaller, according to 
 the value of the living commodities. A female who 
 has never been married commands a much higher 
 price than a widow, and a virgin in her bloom more 
 than an old maid. As soon as the purchase-money 
 is raised and ready, the father of the bridegroom 
 gives an entertainment, at which the son attends with 
 his cash in hand, and deposits it on the table before 
 he offers to sit down : at the same time, the relations 
 of the bride provide an equivalent, which is generally 
 as near the value of his money as possible, consisting
 
 176 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS. 
 
 of all manner of necessary household goods, cattle, 
 clothes, slaves, &c. This custom appears to be very 
 ancient; and after the entertainment is over, the bride 
 repairs to the bridegroom's house, attended by her 
 relations, friends, and acquaintance. The procession 
 is enlivened by a concert of instrumental music ; the 
 contractors going before, to inform the family that 
 the newly-married couple will soon arrive at home. 
 These messengers, on their first arrival, are presented 
 with bread, wine, and meat ; without offering to enter 
 the house, however, they take the flagon of wine, and 
 pour it lavishly round about it. This libation is conse- 
 crated by their hearty wishes for the health, prosperity, 
 and peace of the newly-married couple. After this 
 they return to the bride, and conduct her home to her 
 husband's apartment, in which the other relations and 
 friends are all assembled. In the middle of the room 
 a carpet is spread upon the floor ; and a pitcher of 
 wine, with a kettle full of paste, called Gom, with 
 which they make their bread, are set upon it. Soon 
 after her entrance, the bride kicks down the pitcher, 
 and scatters the paste with both her hands all over 
 the room. We are at a loss to determine the mystical 
 design of this practice, unless it be emblematical 
 of the plenty and fruitfulness of the marriage state. 
 The ceremony is attended with the usual pastimes 
 and demonstrations of joy customary on such public 
 occasions.
 
 THE GEORGIANS. 177 
 
 The essential part of the nuptial mystery, however, 
 is not solemnized here, but in a private apartment, for 
 fear the sorcerers should cast a spell upon the newly- 
 married couple. The bridegroom and his bride stand 
 with their godfather before a priest, who reads over 
 the marriage words by the light of a wax-taper ; and 
 two garlands of flowers, either natural or artificial, 
 are set close to each other on an adjoining table, with 
 tufts of various colours ; a " tavaiole," or veil ; a glass 
 of wine, a piece of bread, and a needle and thread. 
 The godfather now throws a veil over the bridegroom's 
 head, and, whilst the priest is reading the ceremony, 
 sews the garments of the bride and bridegroom 
 together. This godfather likewise puts crowns upon 
 their heads, changing them three or four times, 
 successively, according to the tenor of the prayers 
 repeated on the occasion. After this, he takes the 
 glass and the pieces of bread into his hands, and 
 gives the bridegroom one bit, and the bride another : 
 this he repeats three times, and eats what is left him- 
 self. He now gives them the glass three times a-piece, 
 and then drinks the remainder, which concludes the 
 ceremony.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ROYAL MARRIAGES. 
 TABLE OF KINGS AND QUEENS. 
 
 THE ROYAL MARRIAGE ACT. 
 
 (12 GEORGE III., c. n.) 
 
 AN ACT for the better regulating the future Mar- 
 riages of the Royal Family. 
 
 Most gracious Sovereign, Whereas your Majesty, 
 from your paternal affection to your own family, and 
 from your royal concern for the future welfare of 
 your people, and the honour and dignity of your 
 crown, was graciously pleased to recommend to your 
 parliament to take into their serious consideration 
 whether it might not be wise and expedient to supply 
 the defect of the laws now in being, and, by some 
 new provision, more effectually to guard the descen- 
 dants of his late Majesty King George II. (other 
 than the issue of princesses who have married, or may 
 hereafter marry, into foreign families) from marrying 
 without the approbation of your Majesty, your heirs 
 or successors, first had and obtained ; we have taken 
 this weighty matter into our serious consideration,
 
 THE ROYAL MARRIAGE ACT. 179 
 
 and being sensible that marriages in the Royal 
 Family are of the highest importance to the State, 
 and that therefore the kings of this realm have ever 
 been entrusted with the care and approbation thereof; 
 and being thoroughly convinced of the wisdom and 
 expediency of what your Majesty has thought fit to 
 recommend upon this occasion, we, your Majesty's 
 most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Lords Spiritual and 
 Temporal, and Commons, in the present Parliament 
 assembled, do humbly beseech your Majesty that it 
 may be enacted, and be it enacted by the King's 
 most excellent Majesty, by and with the advice of the 
 Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this 
 present Parliament assembled, and by the authority 
 of the same, that no descendant of the body of his 
 late Majesty King George II., male or female (other 
 than the issue of princesses who have married, or 
 may hereafter marry, into foreign families), shall be 
 capable of contracting matrimony without the pre- 
 vious consent of his Majesty, his heirs or successors, 
 signified under the Great Seal, and declared in 
 Council (which consent, to preserve the memory 
 thereof, is hereby directed to be set out in the license 
 and register of marriage, and to be entered in the 
 books of the Privy Council) ; and that every marriage 
 or matrimonial contract of any such descendant, with- 
 .out such consent first had and obtained, shall be 
 null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever. 
 II. Provided always, and be it enacted by the autho-
 
 l8o ROYAL MARRIAGES. 
 
 rity aforesaid, that in case any such descendant of his 
 late Majesty King George II., being above the age 
 of 25 years, shall persist in his or her resolution to 
 contract a marriage disapproved of, or dissented from, 
 by the King, his heirs or successors; that then such 
 descendant, upon giving notice to the King's Privy 
 Council, which notice is hereby directed to be entered 
 in the books thereof, may, at any time from the 
 expiration of twelve calendar months after such notice 
 given to the Privy Council, as aforesaid, contract 
 such marriage; and his or her marriage with the 
 person before proposed and rejected may be duly 
 solemnized without the previous consent of his 
 Majesty, his heirs or successors; and such marriage 
 shall be good as if this Act had never been made, 
 unless both Houses of Parliament shall, before the 
 expiration of the said twelve months, expressly 
 declare their disapprobation of such intended mar- 
 riage. III. And be it further enacted, by the autho- 
 rity aforesaid, that every person who shall knowingly 
 and wilfully presume to solemnize, or to assist or to 
 be present at the celebration of any marriage with 
 any such descendant, at his or her making any 
 matrimonial contract, without such consent, as afore- 
 said, first had and obtained, except in the cases 
 above mentioned, shall, being duly convicted thereof, 
 incur and suffer the pains and penalties ordained and 
 provided by the Statute of Provisions and Praemunire,. 
 made in the i6th year of the reign of Richard II.
 
 TABLE OF KINGS AND QUEENS. 
 
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 AVISA, granddaughter of Ro- 
 bert, Earl of Gloucester. 
 ISABELLA, daughter of Aymer 
 Tailleffer, Count of Angou - 
 leme. 
 
 LEA NOR, daughterof Raymond, 
 Count of Provence. 
 
 ELEANORA, daughter of Fer- 
 dinand III., of Castile. 
 MARGARET, sister of Philip 
 III., of France. 
 
 ABELLA, surnamed /<z Belle, or 
 The Handsome, daughter of 
 Philip IV. , of France. 
 
 HILIPPA, daughter of William, 
 Earl of Hainault and Holland. 
 
 ANNE, of Bohemia, daughter 
 of the Emperor Charles IV. 
 ISABELLA, daughterof Charles 
 VI. , of France. 
 
 
 
 
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 TABLE OF KINGS AND QUEENS. 
 
 183 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 To whom Married. 
 
 MARY DE BOHUN, daughte 
 of Humphrey, Duke o 
 Hereford. 
 JOANNA, daughter of Charle 
 the Bad, King of Navarre. 
 
 ATHERINE, daughterof Charle 
 VI., of France. 
 
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 ADY ELIZABETH GREY (wido\ 
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 NNE NEVILLE, daughter of thi 
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 of Edward, Prince of Wales 
 son of Henry VI. 
 
 LIZABETH, daughter of Edwan 
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 184 
 
 ROYAL MARRIAGES. 
 
 
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 KATHARINE, of 
 widow of his br 
 thur. 
 
 ANNE BOLEYN 
 
 JANE SEYMOUR 
 
 PRINCESS ANNE, o: 
 
 KATHARI NE HOWA: 
 ter of Admiral Hi 
 niece of the Duk 
 
 folk. 
 KATHARINE PARR, 
 Lord Latimer. 
 
 HILIP, son of Charle 
 peror of Germany 
 of Spain. 
 
 NN, daughter of Frei 
 of Denmark. 
 
 
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 TABLE OF KINGS AND QUEENS. 
 
 185 
 
 
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 ENRIETTA MARIA, daught 
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 he INFANTA CATHARINE, 
 Portugal. 
 
 ANNE, daughter of Hyd 
 Earl of Clarendon. 
 MARY BEATRICE D'EsTE, si 
 ter of the Duke of Moden 
 
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 EORGE, Prince of Denmar 
 second son of Frederick III. 
 
 is Cousin, PRINCESS SOPH 
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 George William, Duke 
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 CHAPTER III. 
 MARRIAGE WITH A DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER. 
 
 THE advisability of legalizing marriage with a 
 deceased wife's sister has been so greatly contested 
 on both sides, that some notice of the subject could 
 scarcely be omitted in a work of this character. The 
 consideration of the question carries our thoughts 
 back to the time of Jacob, who served for seven 
 years to earn as wife Rachel, Laban's younger 
 daughter, and which seven years, as the sacred 
 historian has so beautifully expressed it, "seemed 
 unto him but a few days for the love he had to 
 her." How he was deceived by his father-in-law, 
 who palmed off upon him his elder daughter Leah 
 instead, and who justified himself on the ground 
 that it was not the custom of his people to give the 
 younger before the elder; and then, upon the promise 
 of serving another seven years, Jacob secured his 
 well-beloved Rachel also as wife, is well known to 
 every reader of Scripture. Such marriages were by
 
 1 88 MARRIAGE WITH A DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER. 
 
 no means uncommon in ancient times, and it is 
 probable that Jacob's example was followed by many 
 of his descendants : that, as the Jews increased 
 in numbers, jealousies and other bad consequences 
 probably resulted, which led to their being prohibited 
 by Moses (Lev. xviii. 18). This verse does not 
 (according to Jewish authorities) forbid marriage 
 with a deceased wife's sister, but only prohibited a 
 man from taking in marriage the sister of his wife 
 in her lifetime to vex her. This construction has, 
 indeed, been admitted to be the correct one by some 
 of the most learned men, who have, nevertheless, 
 opposed these marriages on moral or sentimental 
 grounds.* Bishop Thirl wall, in a speech delivered 
 by him in the House of Lords, in 1851 (in opposing 
 the Bill for legalizing these marriages), said, " He 
 would only say that it did appear to him, that such 
 marriages as the Bill was intended to legalize were 
 not prohibited, but tacitly, by implication, permitted 
 by the words of Scripture in the i8th verse." In 
 
 * Dr. Adam Clarke, in his "Commentary," remarks on this 
 verse " Thou shalt not marry two sisters at the same time, 
 as Jacob did Rachel and Leah ; but there is nothing in this law 
 that rendered it illegal to marry a sister-in-law when her sister 
 was dead ; therefore the text says, Thou shalt not take her in 
 HER LIFE time, to vex her;" alluding, probably, to the case of 
 the jealousies and vexations which subsisted between Leah and 
 Rachel, and by which the family peace was so often disturbed. 
 Some think that the text may be so understood as also to forbid 
 polygamy.
 
 MARRIAGE WITH A DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER. 189 
 
 discussing this question, it must always be borne in 
 mind that polygamy among the Jews was not for- 
 bidden by their laws. 
 
 There is no evidence that these marriages were 
 forbidden in the Christian Church before the 4th 
 century, when a canon against them was promul- 
 gated, evidently based (as it is argued) on the pre- 
 sumption of their being forbidden by the Levitical 
 law. 
 
 Their prohibition in the Church of England seems 
 to have had its rise, said the late Dr. Eadie, " in 
 the ferocious sensuality of Henry VIIL, and the 
 dissolution of his marriage with his first wife, who 
 had been previously wedded to his brother. It was 
 not, as Shakspeare so pithily says, that his marriage 
 with his brother's widow had ' crept too near his 
 conscience,' but because ' his conscience had crept too 
 near another lady,' that he affected to regard his 
 union with Katharine as incestuous, and sought its 
 dissolution." 
 
 Previous to the passing of the Act 5 and 6 William 
 IV., c. 54, these marriages were not (to use a legal 
 term) void, but voidable, that is, they could only be 
 set aside by a decision in an Ecclesiastical Court. 
 But a certain noble Duke and other eminent per- 
 sons having contracted these marriages, and fearing 
 that they might afterwards be declared void, and 
 their children in consequence reckoned as illegiti-
 
 I QO MARRIAGE WITH A DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER. 
 
 mate, Lord Lyndhurst brought in a Bill to legitimize 
 marriages within the prohibited degrees of affinity, 
 provided such persons were not within the degrees 
 of consanguinity. The Bill was amended through the 
 intervention of the then Bishop of London (Bishop 
 Blomfield) and other Bishops, so as to legitimize all 
 these marriages in the past, but declaring them in the 
 future to be ipso facto -void. The Statute has not 
 proved effectual in stopping these unions, though it 
 may very possibly have lessened their number. Every 
 device was tried by parties to get these marriages 
 legally solemnized, such as residing for a time in 
 countries where they were legal, and by other means. 
 In the case, however, of Brook z>. Brook, in the Court 
 of Chancery, in 1857, it was decided that all such 
 marriages were illegal in this country, wherever 
 celebrated, judgment having been delivered to that 
 effect by Vice-Chancellor Stuart (after an elaborate 
 opinion had been pronounced by Sir C. Cresswell, 
 who sat as assessor), and thus dissipated all forlorn 
 hopes. These unions, notwithstanding, are still entered 
 into, as every one with even a moderate acquaintance 
 with society must be well aware. Since Lord Lynd- 
 hurst's Act came into operation, great efforts have 
 been persistently made to get it amended. An 
 Association called "The Marriage Law Reform 
 Association," was formed for the purpose of soliciting 
 public support, and to further the progress of Bills
 
 MARRIAGE WITH A DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER. IQI 
 
 in Parliament, having for their object to legalize 
 these marriages. Much useful information has been 
 collected and published by the Association. Petitions 
 to both Houses have been presented in favour of . 
 the measure, signed (between 1849 and 1875) by 
 1,762,610 persons, the signatures on the other side, 
 for the same period, only amounting to 180,613. 
 Though frequently passed by the House of Commons, 
 the Bills have hitherto been always defeated in the 
 House of Lords, where a phalanx of eminent lawyers 
 stood opposed to them : Lords Hatherley, Selborne, 
 O'Hagan, Coleridge, and other eminent legal authori- 
 ties. The promoters dwell strongly on the fact that in 
 every Protestant country in Europe, except England, 
 these marriages are legal, and in Roman Catholic 
 countries also, by dispensation. That they have been 
 judicially declared to be valid in Canada, and that 
 Acts have been passed in South Australia, Victoria, 
 Tasmania, New South Wales and Queensland, to 
 legalize them. The Act passed by the South 
 Australian legislature was refused the royal assent 
 for six years by the government at home, but the 
 Parliament of March, 1871, consented to its being 
 granted. It is (notwithstanding the Acts having 
 been sanctioned by the Queen) more than doubtful 
 that these marriages would be held to be valid by 
 the tribunals of this country, in cases where property 
 might come to the children of such marriages.
 
 192 MARRIAGE WITH A DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER. 
 
 The upholders of the present law dwell strongly on 
 the jealousy and ill-feeling likely to be caused between 
 a wife and her unmarried sisters if the restriction were 
 done away with, and Lord Hatherley has alluded to 
 a lady who has had nine sisters, and was jealous of 
 them all ! Probably she was equally jealous of the 
 whole of her sex. Archbishop Whately, on this 
 subject, says, "In the case of sisters, if it is worth 
 observing, that a man is, in most cases, acquainted 
 with the whole family, and singles out of all the 
 sisters the one he prefers. So that this is precisely 
 the case in which jealousy is the least likely to occur." 
 He also points out that, previous to the Act of 1835, 
 when these " marriages might and did not seldom 
 take place, and yet no such evil results as men are 
 now dreaming of, ensued." It may also be observed 
 that the unmarried sisters would generally prefer 
 bachelors to waiting for the chance of stepping into 
 their married sister's place on her decease ; and that 
 most of them are of the same opinion, as two of 
 their number, who, on being asked to sign a 
 petition in favour of these marriages, replied, that 
 they wanted a husband apiece, and not one between 
 them I 
 
 Seeing then that these unions are approved by 
 Protestant dissenters in this country, as well as by a 
 large number of members of the Established Church, 
 many of whose clergy of the highest rank have
 
 MARRIAGE WITH A DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER. 195 
 
 written and spoken in their favour; that they are 
 now valid in most of our colonies, as well as in 
 many foreign countries ; that in spite of the law and 
 its consequences, good Christian men still refuse to 
 submit to it, and that frequently they are but carrying 
 out the last wish of a beloved wife in so doing; all 
 these considerations tend to show that probably before 
 long these restrictions will be removed by legislative 
 enactment. 
 
 N
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 IRREGULAR MARRIAGES. 
 
 FLEET MARRIAGES. 
 
 IT was not until the Council of Trent,* that the inter- 
 vention of a priest, or other ecclesiastical functionary, 
 was deemed in Europe indispensable to a marriage. 
 It was then ascertained that the existence of the 
 marriage contract as a mere civil engagement, unhal- 
 lowed by any spiritual sanction, tended much to the 
 formation of clandestine connections, and their con- 
 comitant evils. The celebrated Decree passed in 
 that Council interdicted any marriage otherwise than 
 in the presence of a priest, and at least two witnesses. 
 But in England, previous to 1754, the Common Law 
 continued to regulate the Law of Marriage, the 
 authority of the Council of Trent not having been 
 acknowledged in this country; and whilst, in virtue 
 of domestic institutions, a form was enjoined for the 
 more solemn celebration of matrimony, and persons 
 
 * The last General Council of Trent held its first session in 
 December, 1545, and its last in December, 1563.
 
 FLEET MARRIAGES. 195 
 
 departing from these regulations were liable to eccle- 
 siastical censure, until other and more private modes 
 of contracting a marriage were tolerated and acknow- 
 ledged by law. 
 
 Hence a contract per verba de prtzsenti, that is to 
 say, between persons entering into a present engage- 
 ment to become man and wife, or a promise per 
 verba de future, which was an agreement to become 
 husband and wife at some future time, if the promise 
 were followed by consummation, constituted marriage 
 without the intervention of a priest ; for the contract 
 per verba de prasenti was held to be a marriage 
 complete in substance, but deficient in ceremony. 
 Although the promise per verba defuturo of itself was 
 incomplete in both points, yet the cohabitation of the 
 parties after exchanging the mutual promise, implied 
 such a present consent at the time of the sexual 
 intercourse, as to perfect the marriage in substance, 
 and give it equal validity with the contract de pra- 
 sentt, that is to say, the validity of an irregular 
 marriage, which could not be annulled by the Eccle- 
 siastical Court, though it might be censured for its 
 informality, nor could the vinculum be affected by a 
 subsequent regular marriage. 
 
 Certain privileges have been allowed to those who 
 solemnized their marriage according to the form 
 prescribed by the Ecclesiastical Law, which were 
 denied to those who refused to comply : yet the mar-
 
 196 IRREGULAR MARRIAGES. 
 
 riage, although celebrated in a different manner, was 
 indissoluble, it being considered of Divine institution, 
 to which only a full and free consent of the parties 
 was necessary. Before the time of Pope Innocent 
 the Third (1198), there was no solemnization of 
 marriage in the church, but the man came to the 
 house where the woman resided, and led her home to 
 his own house, which was all the ceremony then 
 used : hence the expression, " uxorem ducere et capere 
 in virum" * 
 
 Banns were first directed to be published by 
 Canon Hubert Walter (1200); and the Constitution 
 of William la Zouch (1347), notices the perfor- 
 mance of clandestine marriages, and that "some 
 contriving unlawful marriages, and affecting the 
 dark, lest their deeds should be reproved, procure 
 every day, in a shameful manner, marriages to 
 be celebrated without publication of banns duly and 
 lawfully made, by means of chaplains that have 
 no regard to the fear of God and the prohibition 
 of the laws." 
 
 These informal marriages appear to have been 
 continued in London, notwithstanding the punish- 
 ment denounced (and sometimes inflicted) by the 
 Ecclesiastical Law. Within a few years previously to 
 1686, many thousands of clandestine marriages were 
 performed; many of them in certain churches and 
 * Petersdorff's Lectures.
 
 FLEET MARRIAGES. IQ7 
 
 chapels exempted from the visitation of the Ordinary, 
 the ministers of which churches did usually marry 
 without license or banns : these were called " lawless 
 churches;" for by such practices those laws which had 
 been made to prevent clandestine marriages were 
 rendered ineffectual. 
 
 From the Bishop of London's Registry, it appears 
 that the Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes, on 
 the 1 7th of Feb., -1686, suspended for three years 
 Adam Elliott, Rector of St. James', Duke's Place, for 
 having married or suffered persons to be married at 
 his church without banns or license. 
 
 The suspension was relaxed on the 28th of May, 
 1687, upon his petition to the Commissioners; and 
 in the marriage register of Duke's Place is the follow- 
 ing entry in the year 1687 : 
 
 "There were no marriages from the tenth of March till 
 y e 29 day of May." 
 
 After which, it appears, the rector resumed his prac- 
 tice, and married at the rate of sixteen couple per 
 day. 
 
 The earliest marriage register in the parish chest 
 commences ist Nov., 1664, but some of the first 
 leaves in the book are missing, it having been for 
 some years without any cover to protect it. It 
 continues to 1691, occupying upwards of 1,000 pages. 
 On some days there are between 30 and 40 mar-
 
 198 IRREGULAR MARRIAGES. 
 
 riages, and in this book alone are nearly 40,000 
 entries ! ! * The next book (also a large folio, but 
 thinner than the first) commences in 1692 and 
 ends July 28, 1700; and the marriages during this 
 period continue very numerous. The third book 
 commences with 25th March, 1700, and ends March, 
 1754, during which period the number of marriages 
 decreased. 
 
 The first register of marriages at Trinity Minories 
 is of parchment, commencing Jan., 1579, and ending 
 June 3, 1644, and is by no means singular on account 
 of the number of marriages. No. 2 begins June 9, 
 1644, and ends Feb., 1648; the marriages now begin 
 to increase, and in the month of July, 1645, are 30 
 entries. No. 3 commences Feb., 1657, ending July 
 25, 1659 (the book from 1648 to 1657 is missing). 
 No. 4 commences Feb. 2, 1660, ending April 9, 1663 
 (from this date to 1676 is missing). No. 5 com- 
 mences March 26, 1676, ending June 21, 1683, and 
 contains about 6,000 entries. No. 6 commences June 
 
 * Tom Brown in his works frequently notices the marriages 
 at Duke's Place, which, about 1586, was as noted a place for 
 matrimony as the Fleet became twenty or thirty years after- 
 wards. 
 
 " So he converts his sheep and other moveables into a purse 
 of money, buys a parcel of dates, and puts to sea ; that is to 
 say, furnishes him a house, provides a fine suit of cloathes, 
 goes to Duke's Place, and marries." 
 
 "Thursday 24. Six couple pair'd at Duke's Place, near 
 ten [o'clock], repent next morning. "
 
 FLEET MARRIAGES. 199 
 
 24, 1683; it continues to Jan. 27, 1686, when it refers 
 to another book, and begins again with Nov., 1692, 
 and ends March 17, 1754. In this book are about 
 9,000 entries. The register which comes in between 
 the first and second part of the last volume com- 
 mences Jan. 26, 1686,* and ends Nov., 1692; it 
 is roughly written, and contains about 5 or 6,000 
 entries. 
 
 The first mention met with of a marriage at the 
 Fleet, is in a letter from Alderman Lowe to Lady 
 Hickes, in September, 1613: 
 
 " Now I am to enform you that an ancyentt acquayntance 
 of y and myne is yesterday maryed in the Fleette, one Mr. 
 Gorge Lestor, and hath maryed M ris Babbington Mr. Thomas 
 Fanshawe mother in lawe. Itt is sayed she is a woman of 
 good wealthe, so as nowe the man wylle be able to lyve and 
 mayntayn hymself in prison, for hether unto he hath byne in 
 poor estate. I praye God he be nott encoryged by his marige 
 to do as Becher doth, I mene to treble his frynds in Lawe, but 
 I hope he wyll have a better conscience and more honestye 
 than the other men hathe." 
 
 The date of the earliest Fleet register now pre- 
 served in the Bishop of London's Registry, is 1674, 
 
 * The suspension of the Rector of Duke's Place took place 
 about the time of the commencement of this register, which 
 may account for the discontinuance of the regular register ; so 
 that in case of a visit from the Commissioners, the register 
 would perhaps have been shewn as a proof that no marriages 
 had been performed, while in fact 5 or 6,000 had been married, 
 and entered in another book.
 
 200 IRREGULAR MARRIAGES. 
 
 and there is no reason to believe that the marriages 
 there recorded were clandestine. Upon referring to 
 the dates of the Fleet registers, it will be found that 
 (with one exception) they commence about the period 
 of the Order of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners ; and 
 it may fairly be conjectured that when the practice 
 of clandestine marriages at Duke's Place and Trinity 
 Minories was checked by this order and the suspen- 
 sion of Mr. Elliott, it was taken up by certain real 
 and pretended clergymen in and about the prisons; 
 not, however, on account of any real privilege or 
 exemption attaching to these prisons, for the mar- 
 riages were not even confined to the Rules of the 
 Fleet, but were performed sometimes at the villages 
 adjacent, but because these Fleet parsons were gener- 
 ally prisoners enjoying the Rules of the Fleet, and 
 had neither liberty, money, nor credit to lose by any 
 proceedings the Bishop might institute against them. 
 Some of the Acts passed for preventing these mar- 
 riages convey particulars of the system adopted to 
 evade prior enactments upon the subject. Thus, the 
 7th and 8th Wm. III., cap. 35, recites the 6th and 
 7th Wm. III., cap. 7, sec. 52, and that it was passed 
 for the better levying the duty of $s. on licenses and 
 certificates, but was found ineffectual, because the 
 penalty of ^100 was not extended to every offence 
 of the same parson, and because the parsons employed 
 poor and indigent ministers, without benefices or
 
 FLEET MARRIAGES. 2OI 
 
 settled habitations, and because many ministers being 
 in prison for debt and otherwise, married persons for 
 lucre and gain. 
 
 Of the iniquitous practices at the Fleet ample 
 confirmation is derived from the evidence of one of 
 the Fleet parsons themselves; and among some 
 private memoranda made by Walter Wyatt, in 1736, 
 are the following, showing that if there was not 
 " some spark of grace left," there were at least, now 
 and then, some compunctions of conscience : 
 
 " Give to every man his due, and learn y e way of Truth. 
 
 ' ' This advice cannot be taken by those that are concerned 
 in y e Fleet marriages ; not so much as y e Priest can do y e thing 
 y* is just and right there, unless he designs to starve. For by 
 lying, bullying, and swearing, to extort money from the silly 
 and unwary people, you advance your business and gets y e pelf, 
 which always wastes like snow in sun shiney day. " 
 
 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The 
 marrying in the Fleet is the beginning of eternal woe." 
 
 " If a dark or plyer tells a lye, you must vouch it to be as 
 true as y e Gospel ; and if disputed, you must affirm with an 
 oath to y e truth of a downright falsehood. Virtus laudatur 
 etalget."* 
 
 * ' ' On Saturday last a Fleet parson was convicted before 
 Sir Ric. Brocas of forty-three oaths (on the information of a 
 plyer for weddings there), for which a warrant was granted to 
 levy 4/. 6s. on the goods of the said parson ; but, upon appli- 
 cation to his Worship, he was pleased to remit is. per oath ; 
 upon which the plyer swore he would swear no more against 
 any man upon the like occasion, finding he could get nothing 
 by it" Grub Street Journal, zoth July, 1732.
 
 202 IRREGULAR MARRIAGES. 
 
 "May God forgive me what is past, and give me grace to 
 forsake such a wicked place, where truth and virtue can't take 
 place unless you are resolved to starve." 
 
 Many of the early Fleet weddings were really 
 performed at the chapel of the Fleet;* but as the 
 practice extended, it was found more convenient to 
 have other places within the Rules of the Fleet 
 (added to which, the warden was compelled by the 
 Act of loth Anne, cap. 18, sec. 192, not to suffer 
 them), and thereupon many of the Fleet parsons and 
 tavern-keepers in the neighbourhood fitted up a room 
 in their respective lodgings or houses as a chapel. 
 The parsons took the fees, allowing a portion to the 
 plyers, &c. ; and the tavern-keepers, besides sharing 
 in the fees, derived a profit from the sale of liquors 
 which the wedding party drank. In some instances 
 the tavern-keepers kept a parson on their establish- 
 ment at a weekly salary of twenty shillings; while 
 others, upon a wedding party arriving, sent for any 
 clergyman they might please to employ, and divided 
 the fee with him. Most of the taverns near the 
 
 * "One Mrs. Ann Leigh, an heiress of 200 per annum 
 and ;6,ooo ready cash, having been decoyed away from her 
 friends in Buckinghamshire, and married at the Fleet chapel 
 against her consent ; we hear the Lord Chief Justice Pratt hath 
 issued out his warrant for apprehending the authors of this 
 contrivance, who have used the young lady so barbarously, 
 that she now lyes speechless." Original Weekly Journal, Sept. 
 26,
 
 FLEET MARRIAGES. 203 
 
 Fleet kept their own registers, in which (as well as in 
 their own books) the parsons entered the weddings. 
 
 In 1702, the Bishop of London held a visitation at 
 the Fleet, as appears by a paper in the Registry of 
 the Consistory Court, to the following effect : 
 
 4* Junii 1702 Cor' Reverend : &c. Dno E'po 
 London in Carcere vulgo vocat' y e Fleet in 
 Civitate London, p r sente Ed' Alexander 
 
 Neg m Visitac'onis in Carcere vulgo) 
 vocat' y e Fleet London > 
 
 Comp' Mag 1 Jeronimus Alley Cl'ecus. 
 
 D E'pus monuit eum ad exhibend' D no Cancellario ejus 
 L'ras Ordinum citra 24 diem Junii instan' & his Lords? ordered 
 him not to marry or perform any divine Office in y e Chappell 
 in y e meet or in any place within y e Dioces untill he has exhi- 
 bited y e same. 
 
 M r Alley soon afterwards fled from y e s d Prison & never 
 exhibited his orders. 
 
 Very little benefit was derived from this visitation 
 except the flight of Mr. Alley, who, however, left 
 many behind in the Fleet to supply his place. 
 
 In 1712 another Act was passed, apparently for 
 the purpose of punishing parsons who, being already 
 prisoners, were in the habit of performing marriages, 
 without fear of affecting their liberty any further. 
 After reciting the loss of duties by clandestine mar- 
 riages, it enacts that such offenders should be removed 
 to the county gaol. Notwithstanding this additional
 
 204 IRREGULAR MARRIAGES. 
 
 penalty, and the conviction, in 1716, of one John 
 Mottram, for solemnizing two clandestine marriages,* 
 the law failed to prevent a continuance of the practice, 
 and in 1718 a Bill for preventing clandestine mar- 
 riages was brought into the House of Commons, but 
 dropped after the second reading. In a hand-bill 
 printed for distribution about 1720, the reasons for 
 the failure of the several Acts in preventing these 
 marriages are described to be 
 
 1. For that the penalty on the gaoler (which had ever since 
 deterred the Warden of the Fleet from suffering any marriages 
 there) was not extended to the owners of taverns, alehouses, 
 &c. 
 
 2. That the penalty on the clerk was too small and was not 
 extended to every person present at the marriage. 
 
 * In 1717, "John Mottram, Clerk, was tryed for solemnizing 
 clandestine and unlawful marriages in the Fleet Prison, and of 
 keeping fraudulent Registers, whereby it appear'd that he had 
 dated several marriages several years before he enter'd into 
 orders, and that he kept no less than nine several Registers at 
 different houses, which contained many scandalous frauds. It 
 also appeared from evidence, that these sham marriages were 
 solemnized in a room in the Fleet they call the Lord Mayor's 
 Chappel, which was furnished with chairs, cushions, and proper 
 conveniencies, and that a coal-heaver was generally set to ply 
 at the door to recommend all couples that had a mind to be 
 marry'd, to the Prisoner, who would do it cheaper than any 
 body. It farther appear'd, that one of the Registers only 
 contained above 2,200 entrys which had been made within the 
 last year." Weekly Journal, Feb. 13. 
 
 He was tried at Guildhall before Lord Chief Justice Parker, 
 found guilty and fined ^200.
 
 FLEET MARRIAGES. 205 
 
 3. That the loth Anne might be eluded by the offenders 
 removing themselves back to the Fleet by habeas corpus. 
 
 4. That every indigent clergyman that forfeits ;ioo, depend- 
 ing on the delay of a writ of error, carries on his offences with 
 impunity for a year and a half, in which time his gain amounts 
 to five times the sum of ;ioo, and then he runs away. 
 
 In 1735, another Bill for preventing clandestine 
 marriages was introduced, which passed through a 
 committee, and with several amendments, was agreed 
 to by the House; when, upon the question being put, 
 that the Bill with the amendments be engrossed, it 
 passed in the negative. 
 
 No other parliamentary measure was effected, and 
 the practice continued to increase at the Fleet,* which 
 
 * "From an inspection into the several registers for mar- 
 riages kept at the several alehouses, brandy shops, &c. , within 
 the Rules of the Fleet Prison, we find no less than 32 couple 
 joined together from Monday to Thursday last without licenses, 
 contrary to an express Act of Parliament against Clandestine 
 Marriages, that lays a severe fine of ,200 on the minister so 
 offending, and 100 each on the persons so marry'd, in contra- 
 diction to the said Statute. Several of the above-mentioned 
 brandy men and victuallers keep clergymen in their houses at 
 2os. per week each, hit or miss, but it's reported that one there 
 will stoop to no such low conditions, but makes at least ^500 
 per annum by Divinity-jobs after that manner. 'Tis pleasant 
 to see certain fellows plying by Fleet Bridge to take poor 
 sailors, &c., into the noose of matrimony, every day throughout 
 the week, and their clocks at their offices for that purpose still 
 standing at the canonical hour, though perhaps the time of day 
 be six or seven in the afternoon." Weekly yoitrnal, June 29,
 
 206 IRREGULAR MARRIAGES. 
 
 was resorted to by persons of all ranks and conditions 
 in life, who desired to be married with secrecy and 
 despatch. Neither the penalties of any of the before- 
 mentioned Acts, nor even excommunication,* had any 
 effect in preventing these marriages, which it was well 
 known were valid and indissoluble, although irregular. 
 
 In a number of the Grub Street ffiurnaltoi 1735, 
 is a letter on the practices at the Fleet, which faithfully 
 describes the treachery and low habits of the Fleet 
 parsons; and the daily prints of that period constantly 
 contained paragraphs describing the disgraceful prac- 
 tices prevalent there. A walk past the Fleet Prison 
 at that period, would appear to resemble a walk 
 through a rag fair at the present day. 
 
 The marriage at the Fleet of the Hon. Henry Fox 
 with Georgiana Caroline, eldest daughter of Charles, 
 second Duke of Richmond, was, in 1 744, a subject of 
 general conversation; but it was not until 1753 that 
 the law of marriage was taken up with effect, when 
 Lord Hardwicke brought in a Bill, enacting that any 
 person solemnizing matrimony in any other than a 
 church or public chapel without banns or license, 
 should, on conviction, be adjudged guilty of felony, 
 
 * By the Ecclesiastical Law, all persons present at a clan- 
 destine marriage were considered as thenceforth excommunicate. 
 It was frequently necessary to prove these marriages at Doc- 
 tors' Commons, but the evidence of any witness present at the 
 ceremony was rejected until he or she had been absolved and 
 had taken the usual oath of absolution.
 
 FLEET MARRIAGES. 207 
 
 and be transported for fourteen years, and that all 
 such marriages should be void. 
 
 Such an impediment to matrimony, which theretofore 
 had been validly contracted without even the presence 
 of a clergyman such "an innovation (to use the words 
 of Blackstone) upon our ancient Laws and Constitution" 
 could not be expected to pass into a law without a 
 violent opposition. Mr. Fox's popularity was arrived 
 at such a height from his strenuous opposition to the 
 Bill, that for several days his chariot was dragged 
 along the streets by the populace. Hand-bills in 
 favour of, and against it, were distributed ; the former 
 urging that clandestine marriages had been the ruin 
 of many families, that the religious establishment of 
 marriage was entirely subverted, and the legal evi- 
 dence thereof rendered precarious; while the others 
 contended that the Bill would discourage marriage, 
 that it was brought in for the protection of the 
 fortunes of the noble and rich against alliances with 
 persons in more humble circumstances, and adverted 
 amongst other things to the Council of Trent as 
 having first annulled clandestine marriages,* and 
 made the presence of a priest necessary to every 
 
 * This, by-the-bye, was not so. ' ' Dubitandum non est 
 clandestina matrimonia libero contrahentium consensu facta 
 rata et vera esse matrimonia. * * * Perinde jure damnandi 
 sunt, sicut et eos Sancta Synodus anathemate damnat, qui ea 
 vera et rata esse negant. " Con. Trid. De Matrimonio, Cap. I.
 
 2C>8 IRREGULAR MARRIAGES. 
 
 marriage, and that it was after "that excellent pre- 
 cedent" that the Bill in question was drawn. 
 
 Notwithstanding the zealous opposition to the Bill, 
 it eventually passed into a law, and was to take effect 
 from the 25th of March, 1754. 
 
 The interval between the passing of the Bill and 
 the time at which it was to come into operation, was 
 busily employed in marrying, both at the Fleet and 
 May Fair. At the Fleet there appears by one register 
 book alone to have been, on the 25th of March (the 
 day previous to the Act coming into operation) 217 
 marriages; which were the last of the Fleet Weddings.* 
 
 KING'S BENCH PRISON. 
 
 The same causes which induced people to marry 
 clandestinely at the Fleet prison, no doubt operated 
 with those who married at the King's Bench prison,f 
 
 * At the Savoy, however, clandestine marriages were con- 
 tinued till 1756, but eventually ceased upon the conviction and 
 transportation of the minister, Mr. Wilkinson, and his curate, 
 Mr. Grierson. 
 
 A method of evading the enactments of the Marriage Act 
 was soon discovered, for in 1 760 there were ' ' at Southampton, 
 vessels always ready to carry on the trade of smuggling wed- 
 dings, which for the price of five guineas transport contraband 
 goods into the land of matrimony," (Guernsey). Gent. Mag., 
 1760. 
 
 f By the Act 5 Victoria, c. 22, the Queen's Bench, Fleet 
 and Marshalsea, were consolidated as the Queen's Prison for
 
 KING'S BENCH PRISON. 209 
 
 although from the latter prison being situated in the 
 suburbs of London, but comparatively few marriages 
 were performed there. In the neighbourhood of the 
 King's Bench was a part of the Borough called "The 
 Mint,"* a place of refuge for thieves and malefactors 
 of the worst description; which, with White Friars, J 
 the Savoy, and other places about London, claimed 
 certain privileges, and held out the advantages of a 
 sanctuary to all debtors, thieves, and malefactors. 
 At this place marriages were performed, and amongst 
 the Fleet Registers are three Registers of King's 
 Bench and Mint marriages. 
 
 The first is a small quarto (containing also some 
 Fleet marriages), and at page 48 these marriages 
 
 debtors, prisoners committed for libel, assaults, court-martial, 
 &c. , under the control of the Home Secretary of State. 
 
 * It became early an asylum for debtors, coiners and vaga- 
 bonds; and of the "traitors, felons, fugitives, outlaws, con- 
 demned persons, convicts, felons, defamed, those put in exigent 
 of outlawry, and such as refuse the law of the land," who, in 
 the time of Edward VI. , herded in St. George's parish. The 
 Mint at length became such a pest, that Statutes 8 and 9 
 William III., and 9 and u George I., ordered the abolition of 
 its privileges. 
 
 t Its name of White Friars is derived from the church and 
 convent of the Carmelites or White Friars, founded in this 
 place, in the year 1241, by Sir Richard Grey, ancestor of the 
 Lords Grey of Codnor. Under the name of Alsatia, it is well 
 known to all readers of romance, from the admirable descrip- 
 tion of it and its inhabitants given by Sir Walter Scott in the 
 "Fortunes of Nigel" 
 
 O
 
 210 IRREGULAR MARRIAGES. 
 
 commence, headed "Mint Marriages, Anno 1718." 
 It ends at page 242, with Jan. u, 1726. The second 
 Register commences May 20, 1725, and ends Oct. 9, 
 1726. There are about 360 marriages in this book. 
 The third King's Bench Register contains marriages 
 at the Fleet also. At page 3 it is intituled " Marriages 
 in Southwark," commencing with Nov. 20, 1736. At 
 page 6 begin " Fleet Marriages." 
 
 There is another register which is considered to 
 be a King's Bench or Mint Register, as the parties 
 married are chiefly from Kent and Surrey. It is 
 intituled, 
 
 "A Register of Christenings and Marriages, commencing 
 March 13, 1732-3, by the Rev. Mich. Barrett." 
 
 It ends Aug. 14, 1751, and has about 500 marriages. 
 
 THE SAVOY. 
 
 Although the Savoy was one of those places with 
 pretended privileges, there does not appear to have 
 been any clandestine marriages there until after the 
 passing of the Marriage Act; the number of mar- 
 riages for a few years before and after that period 
 being as follows : 
 
 63 
 13 
 17 
 
 1752 
 
 . 15 
 
 1756 
 
 1753 
 
 . . 19 
 
 1757 
 
 1754 
 
 . . 342 
 
 1758 
 
 1755 
 
 . . 1190 

 
 THE SAVOY. 211 
 
 On the passing of the Marriage Act, the Rev. John 
 Wilkinson* began to exercise his supposed rights as 
 minister of the Savoy, considering himself authorised 
 to grant licenses as a privilege annexed to the Savoy, 
 as being extra parochial, and because Dr. Killegrew 
 and other of his predecessors had granted them. The 
 Savoy, therefore, soon became known as a place for 
 easy matrimony, and his marriages brought him "a 
 profusion of cash, and instead of thinking of a rainy 
 day, all was rat tat tat at the street door, and a 
 variety of company. Easter-day was crowded from 
 8 till 12. So many pairs were for the indissoluble 
 knot being tied, that he might have made a fortune 
 had he been blessed with patience and prudence, and 
 been contented with publishing the banns of marriage 
 only. Many persons came out of curiosity to hear 
 such a long list of spinsters announced." f 
 
 Wilkinson had hints from Government of the con- 
 sequence likely to ensue from these practices; at 
 length proceedings were taken against him, and he 
 
 * The Register describes him as "His Majesty's Chaplain 
 of the Savoy, Chaplain to his late Royal Highness Frederick 
 Prince of Wales, Rector of Eastvvell, Kent, and Curate of 
 Wye;" in 1732 he is described as Rector of Coyley, in the 
 County of Glamorgan, and Stipendiary Curate of Wye. He 
 was educated at St. Bees, in Cumberland, and finished his 
 studies at Oxford. He came to the Savoy in 1725, and was 
 married there on the 26th April, 1731, to Grace, daughter 
 of Alderman Tait, of Carlisle. 
 
 t Wilkinson's Memoirs.
 
 212 IRREGULAR MARRIAGES. 
 
 was accustomed to make his escape over the leads at 
 the Savoy, through the kitchen of the prison (which 
 was then there), to a private door into the chapel, to 
 evade those who were set to watch him. 
 
 One Sunday morning an alarm was given, that the 
 officers were in the church; a general panic ensued 
 in his family; he sent word that he was taken 
 suddenly ill, and could not read prayers, and made 
 his way down the garden to a gate that opened on 
 the Thames, reached Somerset Stairs, where he took 
 a boat and got into Kent. Having arrived there, 
 he engaged Mr. Grierson to perform the marriages 
 as his curate; but the licenses he granted himself, 
 thinking that Mr. Grierson could not suffer for what 
 he, in his authority as minister of the Savoy, was 
 to be responsible for. 
 
 Very shortly after this, Mr. Vernon, of Drury Lane 
 Theatre, was married by Grierson, to Miss Portier. 
 Garrick insisted on seeing the certificate, which 
 Vernon obtained from Grierson, and gave to Garrick, 
 who handed it over to Mr. Carrington, the king's 
 messenger. Grierson was thereupon taken up and 
 tried for having married the parties; was convicted, 
 and transported for fourteen years.* In his defence 
 
 * "It is said he had married 1,400 couple in the same 
 manner and place, whose marriages by this verdict are null and 
 void, and the issue of them illegitimate." (Gent. 's Mag.) In the 
 announcement of his conviction he- is called " a nonjuring
 
 THE SAVOY. 213 
 
 he said he was not aware of the illegality of the 
 marriage, as his own son had been married at the 
 Savoy. 
 
 After the committal of Grierson, Wilkinson engaged 
 the Rev. Mr. Brooks as his curate, and continued to 
 derive great profits from his marriages. Considering 
 himself certain of an acquittal, he determined to 
 surrender himself and take his trial, which he accord- 
 ingly did on the nth July, 1756: he was tried on 
 the 1 6th; convicted, and sentenced to fourteen years' 
 transportation. The vessel which was to take him to 
 America sailed early in March, 1757; but, by stress 
 of weather, was driven to Plymouth, where he died 
 from an attack of the gout. He left an only child, 
 Tate Wilkinson, the celebrated comedian. 
 
 MAY FAIR. 
 
 May Fair stands next to the Fleet in notoriety, 
 and perhaps pre-eminently, so far as regards the 
 number of fashionable clandestine marriages. 
 
 The chapel was built about 1730, in consequence 
 
 clergyman," and in the Daily Advertiser of Dec. 24, 1755, is 
 an advertisement of his, dated from Newgate, where he defends 
 his conduct and principles, and concludes with an appeal to 
 the public for their beneficence towards the support of his wife, 
 children, and grandchild. He had been tried, in 1 748, ' ' for 
 marrying Jonathan Brooks to Miss Mary Redding, spinster, 
 an an empty house, against her will. "
 
 214 IRREGULAR MARRIAGES. 
 
 of the increase of new squares and streets in that 
 neighbourhood, and the person chosen to officiate 
 there was the renowned and Rev. Alexander Keith, 
 who began to marry ad libitum, and to advertise in 
 the papers the advantages of a wedding at May Fair, 
 where Lord Orford describes him to have constructed 
 a "very bishopric of revenue." These practices gave 
 offence to Dr. Trebeck, then rector of St. George's, 
 Hanover Square, who commenced a suit at Doctors' 
 Commons against Keith, to which he appeared 
 personally, and defended himself at considerable 
 length;* not, however, with success, for, on the 
 27th October, 1742, he was excommunicated,! and, 
 on the 24th of January following, a significavit was 
 decreed for his apprehension. 
 
 In April, 1 743, he was committed to the Fleet ; $ 
 but the weddings nevertheless continued at May 
 
 * In his allegations he stated that he had been ordained 
 priest by the Bishop of Norwich, by Letters Dimissory from 
 the Bishop of London, about the I3th of June, 1731. That he 
 was appointed one of the preachers by an Instrument under 
 the hands and seals of the major part of the proprietors of the 
 chapel. That at the time of his nomination he was Reader at 
 the Rolls' Chapel. 
 
 t Keith hereupon retaliated, and had the audacity to 
 excommunicate at his chapel Bishop Gibson, Dr. Andrews, 
 Judge of the Court, and Dr. Trebeck. 
 
 t The Daily Post says, "to Newgate, for contempt of the 
 Holy and Mother Church." 
 
 Horace Walpole in a letter to Mr. afterwards Sir Horace 
 Mann, dated Arlington Street, Feb. 27, 1752, says, " The
 
 MAY FAIR. 215 
 
 Fair, where he fitted up a house as a chapel, as will 
 appear by the following advertisement: 
 
 "To prevent mistakes, the little new chapel in May Fair, 
 near Hyde Park corner, is in the corner house opposite to the 
 City side of the great chapel, and within ten yards of it, and 
 the minister and clerk live in the same corner house, where 
 the little chapel is, and the license on a crown stamp, minister's 
 and clerk's fees, together with the certificate, amount to one 
 guinea as heretofore, at any hour till four in the afternoon. 
 And that it may be the better known, there is a porch at the 
 door like that of a country church. " Daily Post, July 20, 1744. 
 
 Various reports were circulated after his imprison- 
 ment; one was that he had a little chapel in the 
 Fleet, where in one year he married thousands, while 
 the rector of St. Anns, a large and populous parish, 
 married but fifty within the same period ; and in the 
 case of Morris v. Miller (Easter Term, 1767), it was 
 stated that Keith, who had married the parties, was 
 transported, and the clerk dead. No marriages of 
 Keith's have been met with in the Fleet, nor has it 
 
 event which has made most noise since my last is the extem- 
 pore wedding of the youngest of the two Gunnings," and then 
 describes an assembly at Lord Chesterfield's, where the Duke 
 of Hamilton made love to Miss Gunning, and then proceeds, 
 "However, two nights afterwards being left alone with her 
 whilst her mother and sister were at Bedford House, he found 
 himself so impatient that he sent for a parson. The Doctor 
 refused to perform the ceremony without license and ring. The 
 Duke swore he would send for the Archbishop ; at last they 
 were married with a ring of the bed-curtain, at half an hour 
 past twelve at night, at May Fair chapel. "
 
 2l6 IRREGULAR MARRIAGES. 
 
 been found that he was ever transported, but he died 
 in the Fleet Prison on the i3th December, 1758. 
 
 The passing of the Marriage Act put a stop to the 
 marriages at May Fair; but the day before the Act 
 came into operation (Lady Day, 1754), sixty-one 
 couples were married there. 
 
 GRETNA GREEN MARRIAGES. 
 
 Gretna Green, famous in the annals of matrimony, 
 in Dumfries-shire, near the mouth of the river Esk, 
 is situated about ten miles from Carlisle, and nine 
 from Annan. 
 
 This little village was the first convenient halting 
 place for runaway couples from England, and for- 
 merly supplied an easy mode of evading the English 
 law of marriage, which required the consent of 
 parents or guardians, publication of banns, and the 
 presence of a priest, all of which involved considerable 
 publicity, and an inconvenient delay, but which were 
 easily and legally dispensed with by impatient couples 
 passing the English border into Scottish ground. The 
 rule being that a marriage was valid if contracted 
 according to the law of the place where the parties 
 enter into the contract, it was easy for English couples 
 to avail themselves of the mode of contracting mar- 
 riage allowed by the law of Scotland, which required 
 nothing but a mutual declaration of marriage to be
 
 GRETNA. GREEN MARRIAGES. 217 
 
 exchanged before witnesses a ceremony which could 
 be performed instantly and it was immaterial whether 
 the parties were minors or not. The declaration of 
 marriage being exchanged, the parties could return 
 into England at once, and their marriage was held 
 ever after to be valid. 
 
 Pennant, in his Tour in Scotland, thus describes the 
 accommodating locality : " At a short distance from 
 the bridge is the little village of Gretna, the resort of 
 all amorous couples whose union the prudence of 
 parents or guardians prohibits. Here the young pair 
 may be instantly united by a fisherman, a joiner, or a 
 blacksmith, who may marry for a fee varying in value 
 from two guineas to a glass of whisky. But the 
 price is generally adjusted by the information of the 
 postilions from Carlisle, who are in the pay of one or 
 other of the above worthies ; but even the drivers, in 
 case of necessity, have been known to undertake the 
 sacerdotal office. This place is distinguished from 
 afar by a small plantation of firs, the Cyprian grove 
 of the neighbourhood, a sort of landmark for fugitive 
 lovers. As I had a great desire to see the high 
 priest, by stratagem I succeeded. He appeared in 
 the form of a fisherman, a stout fellow in a blue coat, 
 rolling round his solemn chops a quid of tobacco of 
 no common size. One of our party was supposed to 
 come to explore the coast. He questioned him about 
 the price, which, after eyeing us attentively, he left to
 
 2l8 IRREGULAR MARRIAGES. 
 
 our honour. The Church of Scotland does all that it 
 can to prevent these clandestine marriages, but in 
 vain, for these infamous couplers despise the fulmina- 
 tions of the kirk, and excommunication is the only 
 penalty it can inflict." 
 
 The first person that twined the bands of Hymen 
 at Gretna Green is supposed to have been a man 
 named Scott, who resided at the Rigg, a few miles 
 from the village, about the year 1750. He was con- 
 sidered a shrewd, crafty fellow, and little more is 
 known of him. His successor was an old soldier, 
 named George Gordon, who invariably appeared at the 
 altar dressed in a full military uniform of antiquated 
 appearance. He wore a huge cocked hat, red coat, 
 jack boots, and generally had a ponderous sword 
 dangling by his side. When time had levelled the 
 old soldier, there arose many claimants for the office 
 of high priest. The chief share of the plunder, 
 however, fell to the lot of Joseph Paisley, or Pas- 
 ley, fisherman, smuggler, tobacconist, and reputed 
 "blacksmith," the latter being allusive to Vulcan's 
 employment as the celestial priest of matrimony. On 
 more than one occasion he received the handsome fee 
 of a hundred guineas. The Earl of Westmoreland, 
 Lord Deerhurst, and one or two others, paid fully 
 that sum, and many of the inferior fees were so large 
 that the "priest," had he been prudent, might have 
 lived merrily and yet died rich, instead of poor as he
 
 GRETNA GREEN MARRIAGES. 219 
 
 did. After his decease he was succeeded by his son- 
 in-law, Robert Elliott, who afterwards published a 
 curious little book, entitled The Gretna Green Memoirs, 
 in which he records the fact that, between the years 
 1811 and 1839 he united no less than 7,744 persons, 
 which, as he wrote to The Times in consequence of 
 his statement being called in question, "I can show 
 registers for from my commencement, and which 
 either you or any respectable individual may inspect 
 here, and which I can substantiate on oath." 
 
 Elliott had for a rival another old soldier, named 
 David Laing. Latterly, however, the competition in- 
 creased, and the different so-called "parsons" resorted 
 to different means to acquire the best share of the 
 runaways. Ultimately the postboys were taken into 
 partnership, as they had the power of driving to any 
 house they pleased. Each practitioner had his own 
 stated rendezvous ; and so strong did this description 
 of opposition run, that at last the postboys obtained 
 one entire half of the fees. The business got rapidly 
 worse, until the passing of the Act 19 and 20 Victoria, 
 cap. 96, which assimilated the laws of the two coun- 
 tries, virtually put a stop to it altogether. 
 
 The death of a "priest" was recorded so recently 
 as 1872, when the obituary notice of Simon Lang 
 appeared in the Glasgow Herald; and a man named 
 Thomas Blythe was a witness in the Court of Probate 
 at Westminster in 1853, who stated that he lived at
 
 22O IRREGULAR MARRIAGES. 
 
 Springfield, Gretna Green, in Scotland, that lie was in 
 the agricultural line, but used to do a small stroke of 
 business in the "joining" line as well. 
 
 The ceremony, as performed by Elliott, was very 
 simple, as the following transcription from his Memoirs 
 will show. He says : " As the marriage ceremony 
 performed by me and my predecessor may be interest- 
 ing to many of my readers, I give it verbatim : 
 
 " The parties are first asked their names and places 
 of abode; they are then asked to stand up, and 
 enquired of if they are both single persons; if the 
 answer be in the affirmative, the ceremony proceeds. 
 
 " Each is next asked, ' Did you come here of your 
 own free will and accord ! ' Upon receiving an 
 affirmative answer, the priest commences filling in 
 the printed form of the certificate. The man is then 
 asked, 'Do you take this woman to be your lawful 
 wedded wife, forsaking all others, and keep to her as 
 long as you both shall live?' He answers, 'I will.' 
 The woman is asked the same question, when being 
 answered the same, the woman then produces a ring, 
 which she gives to the man, who hands it to the 
 priest; the priest then returns it to the man, and 
 orders him to put it on the fourth finger of the 
 woman's left hand, repeating these words, ' With this 
 ring I thee wed, with my body I thee worship, with 
 all my goods I thee endow, in the name of the 
 Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen.'
 
 GRETNA GREEN MARRIAGES. 221 
 
 " They then take hold of each other's right hands, 
 and the woman says, 'What God joins together let 
 no man put asunder.' Then the priest says, 'For- 
 asmuch as this man and this woman have come 
 together by giving and receiving a ring, I therefore 
 declare them to be man and wife before God and 
 these witnesses, in the name of the Father, Son, and 
 Holy Ghost. Amen.'" 
 
 The marriage at Gretna Green of the Earl of 
 Westmoreland with Miss Child, the heiress of the 
 great banker, was long remembered for one circum- 
 stance. The fugitive pair being closely pursued, and 
 nearly overtaken within a few miles of the " border," 
 the Earl, to gain a start of ten minutes, drew a pistol 
 and shot the leading horse of Mr. Child's carriage, 
 while one of his servants cut the straps behind. The 
 elder daughter of this runaway marriage, Lady Sophia 
 Fane, inherited the great fortune of her grandfather, 
 including Child's Bank at Temple Bar, and married 
 Lord Jersey. 
 
 The following memorable marriages at Gretna 
 Green are all more or less circumstantially detailed in 
 Elliott's Memoirs : 
 
 1812. Rev. Mr. Freemantle, English clergyman. 
 
 C. Ewen Law, son of Lord Ellenborough, and 
 Miss Nightingale. 
 
 1815. A "droll gaberlunzie" (i.e. beggar) having 
 neither legs or arms, to a well-looking and youthful
 
 222 IRREGULAR MARRIAGES. 
 
 damsel, " both appearing anxious for the ceremony," 
 to the disgust even of the "parson" himself. 
 
 1816. Lord Chief Justice Erskine, who was so well 
 pleased with the services of Elliott that he gave him 
 a fee of twenty pounds. Within a year, however, at 
 the instigation of relatives, he tried to get a divorce 
 by the Scottish law, but could not, the marriage being 
 declared legal and valid by the Court of Session. 
 
 1826. E. Gibbon Wakefield with Miss Turner. 
 This marriage created a great public sensation, and 
 was afterwards annulled by special Act of Parliament, 
 and Wakefield tried and convicted for abduction. 
 
 " HAND-FASTING " IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 Hand-fasting, or hand-fisting, was a form of mar- 
 riage for a limited period, which prevailed in some 
 parts of Scotland up to the early part of the last 
 century. It was most common in Eskdale, at the 
 confluence of the Black and White Esks. One of 
 the contributors to Sir John Sinclair's Statistical 
 Account of Scotland, writing in 1794, says: At an 
 annual fair, held time out of mind, but now entirely 
 laid aside, it was the custom for the unmarried 
 persons of both sexes to choose a companion accord- 
 ing to their liking, with whom they are to live till 
 that time next year. This was called hand-fasting, 
 or hand in fist. If they were pleased with each other
 
 "HAND-FASTING" IN SCOTLAND. 223 
 
 at that time, they then continued together for life ; if 
 not, they separated, and were free to make another 
 choice as at the first. The fruits of the connexion, if 
 there were any, was always attached to the disaffected 
 person. 
 
 In later times, when this part of the country 
 belonged to the Abbacy of Melrose, a priest, to 
 whom they gave the name of "Book i' Bosom" 
 either because he carried in his bosom a bible, or 
 perhaps a register of the marriages came from time 
 to time to confirm the marriages. Eskdale is only 
 a short distance from the Roman encampment of 
 Castle-o'er. May not the fair have been first insti- 
 tuted when the Romans resided there ? and may not 
 the "hand-fasting" have taken its rise from their 
 manner of celebrating marriage, ex usu, by which, 
 if a woman, with the consent of her parents or 
 guardians, lived for a year with a man, without 
 being absent three nights, she became his wife? 
 Perhaps, when Christianity was introduced, this form 
 of marriage may have been looked upon as imperfect 
 without confirmation by a priest, and therefore one 
 may have been sent from time to time for this 
 purpose. 
 
 Instances of Hand-fasting as far north as the 
 Hebrides have been narrated by travellers in that 
 then remote part of Scotland.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 
 
 ALTHOUGH this old custom is not, strictly speaking, 
 a marriage ceremony, still, as it is a reward for the 
 honourable performance of the duties and true objects 
 of married life, we have no doubt that the following 
 historical and descriptive account of it will be welcome 
 to the readers of the present work. 
 
 It is from the pen of our friend, Mr. William 
 Andrews, F.R.H.S., author of an interesting "History 
 of the Dunmow Flitch of Bacon Custom." 
 
 The custom of presenting a flitch of bacon to any 
 married couple who can swear that neither of them 
 in a twelvemonth and a day from their marriage 
 has ever repented of his or her union, was established 
 at the Priory of Dunmow, Essex, in 1104, by the 
 Lady Juga, sister of Ralph Baynard, who held the 
 manor at the time of the Domes-day Survey. The 
 monastic buildings are now entirely razed to the 
 ground. A little of the Priory Church remains, 
 which forms the east end of the choir and the north
 
 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 225 
 
 aisle of the Parish Church of Little Dunmow. Here,, 
 among other monuments, is that of Lady Juga, the 
 foundress, and also a sculptured figure in alabaster 
 of the " fair Matilda," daughter of the second Walter 
 Fitzwalter, renowned in story as the wife of Robin 
 Hood. 
 
 Sir William Dugdale (who was born in 1605, and 
 died in 1686), in his " Monasticon," tells the story 
 of the "fair Matilda," and, in allusion to the origin 
 of the Flitch of Bacon, states " Robert Fitzwalter, 
 who lived long beloved by King Henry, the son of 
 King John (as also of all the realm), betook himself 
 in his latter days to prayer and deeds of charity, 
 and great and bountiful alms to the poor, kept great 
 hospitality, and re-edified the decayed Priory of 
 Dunmow, which Juga, a most devout and religious 
 woman, had builded; in which Priory arose a custom, 
 began and instituted either by him or some of his 
 ancestors, which is verified by the common saying 
 or proverb, 'That he which repents him not of his 
 marriage, either sleeping or waking, in a year and 
 a day, may lawfully go to Dunmow and fetch a 
 gammon of bacon.' It is certain that such a custom 
 there was, and that the bacon was delivered with 
 such solemnity and triumph as they of the Priory 
 and town could make continuing till the dissolution 
 of that house. The party or pilgrim took the oath 
 before the prior of the convent, and the oath was
 
 226 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 
 
 administered with long process and much solemn 
 singing and chanting." 
 
 The "Vision of Piers Plowman," written about 
 1362, contains a reference to the Dunmow flitch. 
 In the following lines (which are slightly modernised 
 to render them intelligible) the satirist adverts to the 
 hasty and ill-assorted marriages that followed the 
 great pestilence, the " black death : " 
 
 Many a couple since the Pestilence 
 
 Have plighted them together; 
 
 The fruit that they bring forth 
 
 Is foul words, 
 
 In jealousy without happiness, 
 
 And quarrelling in bed; 
 
 They have no children but strife, 
 
 And slapping between them: 
 
 And though they go to Dunmow 
 
 (Unless the devil help!) 
 
 To follow after the Flitch, 
 
 They never obtain it; 
 
 And unless they both are perjured, 
 
 They lose the Bacon. 
 
 In the " Prologue of the Wife of Bath's Tale," by 
 Chaucer, the merry wife relates how she treated her 
 husbands, and shows they had little chance of obtain- 
 ing the prize of matrimonial felicity. She observes 
 
 The bacoun was nought fet for [t]hem, I trowe, 
 That som men feeche in Essex at Dunmowe. 
 
 About the year 1445 appeared a sort of paraphrase
 
 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 227 
 
 in verse of the Ten Commandments, and of which 
 some extracts appear in " Reliquse Antiquse." The 
 author, commenting on the Seventh Commandment, 
 bewails the corruption of the period, that he could 
 
 find no man now that will inquire 
 
 The perfect ways unto Dunmow, 
 For they repent them within a year, 
 And marry within a week, I trow. 
 
 Allusions to the custom have been found by Mr. 
 Thomas Wright, M.A., F.S.A., in MSS. of the latter 
 part of the sixteenth century, at Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge. Writing in 1659, Ho well says 
 
 Do not fetch your wife from Dunmow, 
 
 For so you may bring home two sides of a sow. 
 
 According to Morant, the historian of Essex, " the 
 prior and canons were obliged to deliver the bacon 
 to them that took the oath, by virtue (as many 
 believe) of a founder or benefactors' deed or will, by 
 which they held lands, rather than by their own 
 singular frolic and wantonness, or more probably it 
 was imposed by the Crown, either in Saxon or Nor- 
 man times, and was a burthen upon the estate." It 
 is stated that after the pilgrims, as the claimants were 
 termed, had taken the oath, they were taken through 
 the town in a chair, on men's shoulders, with all the 
 friars, brethren, and townsfolk, young and old, male
 
 228 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 
 
 and female, after them, with shouts and acclamations, 
 and the bacon was borne before them on poles. 
 
 From the Chartulary of the Priory, which is depo- 
 sited in the British Museum, it appears that only 
 three couples obtained the bacon previous to the 
 suppression of the religious houses. These were 
 respectively on the 2yth April, 1445, m ^ ie y ear 
 1467, and on the 8th of September, 1510. The 
 following are taken from the original entries now in 
 the British Museum : 
 
 MEMORANDUM. That one Richard Wright, of Badbourage, 
 near the city of Norwich, in the county of Norfolk, yeoman, 
 came and required the bacon of Dunmow on the 27th day of 
 April, in the 23rd year of the reign of King Henry VI., and 
 according to the form of the Charter, was sworn before John 
 Cannon, prior of this place and the convent, and many other 
 neighbours, and there was delivered to him, the said Richard, 
 one flitch of bacon. 
 
 MEMORANDUM. That one Stephen Samuel, of Little 
 Easton, in the county of Essex, husbandman, came to the 
 Priory of Dunmow, on one Ladyday in Lent, in the seventh 
 year of King Edward IV., and required a gammon of bacon, 
 and was sworn before Roger Bulcott, then prior of the convent 
 of this place, as also before a multitude of other neighbours, 
 and there was delivered to him a gammon of bacon. 
 
 MEMORANDUM. That in the year of our Lord 1510, Thomas 
 Le Fuller, of Coggeshall, in the county of Essex, came to the 
 Priory of Dunmow, and on the 8th September, being Sunday, 
 in the second year of King Henry VIII. , he was, according to 
 the form of the Charter, sworn before John Tils, the prior of
 
 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 229 
 
 the house and convent, as also before a multitude of neigh- 
 bours, and there was delivered to him, the said Thomas, a 
 gammon of bacon. 
 
 From the foregoing it will be seen two obtained 
 gammons and the other a flitch of bacon. The 
 custom was kept up after the suppression of the 
 priory. The ceremony was performed by the steward 
 of the barony of Dunmow (late the priory), and a 
 jury of maidens and bachelors, at court barons, held 
 for that manor. We gather from Morant the parti- 
 culars of the next presentation. It is stated that a 
 court baron for the manor of Dunmow Priory, before 
 Sir Thomas May, Knight, being lord, on the 7th 
 June, 1701, in the thirteenth year of King William 
 III., Thomas Wheeler, gent, being steward, the 
 homage being five fair ladies, spinsters, namely, 
 Elizabeth Beamont, Henrietta Beamont, Annabella 
 Beamont, Jane Beamont, and Mary Wheeler, who, 
 being sworn, found and presented that John Rey- 
 nolds, steward of Sir Charles Barrington, of Hatfield 
 Broad Oak, Essex, and Ann his wife; and William 
 Parsley, of Much Easton, Essex, butcher, and Jane 
 his wife, by reason of their quiet, peaceable, tender, 
 and loving cohabitation for the space of three years 
 then last past and upwards, were fit and qualified 
 persons to be admitted by the court to receive the 
 ancient and accustomed oath, whereby to entitle 
 themselves to have the bacon of Dunmow delivered
 
 230 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 
 
 unto them according to the custom of the manor. 
 Accordingly, on their taking the oath, kneeling on 
 two great stones near the church door, the bacon was 
 delivered to each couple. 
 
 The next claim was granted in the year of grace 
 1751, and the official account is as follows : 
 
 SPECIAL COURT BARON of Mary 
 Hallett, Widow, Lady of the said Manor, 
 
 ) there held for the said Manor, on Thursday, 
 Dunmow < .-,_, c T i ^ 
 
 the twentieth day 01 June, in the five and 
 late the Priory 
 
 twentieth year 01 the reign of our Sovereign 
 in Essex 
 
 [_Lord George the Second, by the grace of God, 
 
 of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the 
 Faith, and in the year of our Lord, One Thousand Seven Hun- 
 dred and Fifty One, before George Comyns, Esquire, Steward 
 of the said Manor. 
 
 HOMAGE. 
 
 Wm. Townend, Gent. 
 Mary Cater, Spinster. 
 John Strut, the yor. , Gent. 
 Marth. Wickford, Spinster. 
 Jas. Raymond, the yr. Gent. 
 Elizabeth Smith, Spinster. 
 
 Daniel Heckford, Gent. 
 Catherine Brett, Spinster. 
 Robert Mapletoft, Gent. 
 Eliza Haslefoot, Spinster. 
 Richard Birch, Gent. 
 _ Sarah Mapletoft, Spinster. 
 
 Be it remembered, that at this Court, it is found and presented 
 by the homage aforesaid, that Thomas Shakeshaft, of Weathers- 
 field, in the county of Essex, weaver, and Ann, his wife, have 
 been married for the space of seven years last past and 
 upwards. And it is likewise found, presented, and adjudged 
 by the homage aforesaid, that the said Thomas Shakeshaft, 
 and Ann, his wife, by means of their quiet, peaceable, tender,, 
 and loving cohabitation, for the space of time aforesaid, as-
 
 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 231 
 
 appears to the said homage, are fit and qualified persons to be 
 admitted by the Court to receive the ancient and accustomed 
 Oath, whereby to enable themselves to have the Bacon of 
 Dunmow delivered unto them, according to the custom of this 
 manor. Whereupon at this Court, in full and open Court, 
 came the said Thomas Shakeshaft, and Ann, his wife, in their 
 proper persons, and humbly prayed they might be admitted to 
 take the oath aforesaid. Whereupon the said steward, with 
 the jury, suitors, and other officers of the Court, proceeded with 
 the usual solemnity to the ancient and accustomed place for 
 the administration of the oath, and receiving the bacon afore- 
 said (that is to say), to the two great stones lying near the 
 church door, within the said manor, where the said steward did 
 administer unto them the accustomed oath, in the words, or to 
 the effect following (that is to say) : 
 
 You shall swear by custom of confession, 
 That you ne'er made nuptial transgression ; 
 Nor since you were married man and wife, 
 By household brawls or contentious strife, 
 Or otherwise at bed or at board, 
 Offended each other in deed or word ; 
 Or in a twelvemonth and a day, 
 Repented not in thought any way ; 
 Or since the parish clerk said "Amen," 
 Wished yourselves unmarried again, 
 But continued true, and in desire, 
 As when you joined hands in holy quire, 
 
 And immediately thereupon the said Thomas Shakeshaft, and 
 Ann, his wife, claiming the said bacon, the Court pronounced 
 the sentence for the same in these words, or to the effect follow- 
 ing, to wit : 
 
 Since to these conditions without any fear, 
 Of your own accord you do freely swear ;
 
 232 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 
 
 A whole gammon of bacon you shall receive, 
 And bear it away with love and good leave ; 
 For this is the custom of Dunmow well known, 
 Tho' the pleasure be ours, the bacon's your own. 
 And accordingly a gammon of bacon was delivered to the said 
 Thomas Shakeshaft, and Ann, his wife, with the usual solem- 
 nity. 
 
 An account of the presentation will be found in the 
 Gentleman's Magazine and the old London Magazine 
 for the year 1751, from which it appears that the 
 -successful candidates realised a large sum of money 
 by selling slices of the bacon to those who witnessed 
 the ceremony. It is estimated that some five thousand 
 persons were present. In a large Hogarthian print, 
 from a painting by David Ogborne, there is a repre- 
 sentation of the procession on this occasion. In the 
 picture we see the couple carried in a single chair on 
 men's shoulders, the curate of the parish walking 
 before them in his bands and gown, and a crowd of 
 people shouting and huzzaing. At the same time 
 another engraving was published, which shows the 
 couple kneeling on two stones taking the oath in the 
 presence of the jury of maidens and bachelors. 
 
 The antique chair in which the "pilgrims" were 
 carried on the occasion is still kept in the chancel of 
 Little Dunmow Church. Its dimensions are such as 
 to bring the loving pair who may occupy it in close 
 juxtaposition. 
 
 An application for the prize was made in 1851
 
 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 233 
 
 (after the lapse of just a century) by Mr. and Mrs. 
 Hurrell, owners and occupiers of a farm at Felsted, 
 Essex. As the custom had been so long dormant, 
 the Lord of the Manor of Dunmow Priory did not 
 entertain the application. When the public heard of 
 the refusal on the part of the Lord of the Manor to 
 reward the happy couple for their matrimonial felicity, 
 the inhabitants of Dunmow and district resolved to 
 entertain the claim, and a committee being formed, 
 they invited Mr. and Mrs. Hurrell, on the i6th July, 
 1851, to a public fete at Easton Park, where the loving 
 pair, after the oath had been administered to them by 
 Mr. Pavey, received a gammon of bacon amidst the 
 tremendous cheering of the gathering. 
 
 Shortly after the publication of Mr. W. Harrison 
 Ainsworth's novel, " The Flitch of Bacon," several of 
 the inhabitants of Dunmow met, and having formed 
 a committee, agreed that the ancient custom ought 
 to be revived, and a resolution to that effect was 
 passed. Particulars of the meeting having been com- 
 municated to Mr. Ainsworth, he replied as follows : 
 
 I am happy to find I have been in some measure instru- 
 mental in reviving the good Custom of Dunmow. It will give 
 me pleasure to co-operate with the committee, and I beg to say 
 I will gladly present a Flitch of Bacon to any couple who may 
 claim it next summer, and who can justify their title to the 
 prize. I shall also be happy to contribute five guineas towards 
 the expenses of the entertainment on the occasion, which I feel 
 certain will be carried out.
 
 234 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 
 
 After the receipt of this letter the committee again 
 met, and it was agreed that the surplus of the receipts 
 arising from the intended presentation of the Flitch 
 should be given towards embellishing the Dunmow 
 Town Hall, and furnishing that building with an 
 illuminated clock. The following notice appeared in 
 the local newspapers : 
 
 Notice is hereby given, that all claimants for the Flitch of 
 Bacon to be presented at Dunmow, in July, 1855, by Wm ; 
 Harrison Ainsworth, Esq., must forward their applications 
 before the 24th June next, and attend personally at the Town 
 Hall, Dunmow, to prove their title to the prize in open court. 
 Such claimants and their witnesses will be examined before a 
 jury of maidens and bachelors, and will be required to take the 
 oath according to old Custom. The successful candidates will 
 be afterwards carried in procession to a fete to be held near the 
 town. The Committee have to urge on claimants, that the 
 prize must not be estimated by its cost, but by the distinction 
 it offers to those who may be fortunate enough to obtain it 
 Enviable are the wedded pair on whom the prize is conferred, 
 since the acquisition establishes a claim of honour and respect. 
 To say that a couple "deserve the Flitch" is a high compli- 
 ment ; to say that " they have actually won it," is to proclaim 
 them amongst the best and happiest of mankind. By order of 
 
 the Committee. 
 
 CHARLES PAVEY. 
 
 After the appearance of this announcement, num- 
 erous claims were made, and two couples were 
 selected, namely, Mr. James Barlow and Hannah, 
 his wife, of Chipping Ongar, where Mr. Barlow
 
 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 235 
 
 carried on business as a builder, and the Chevalier and 
 Madame de Chatelain. We are enabled to furnish 
 our readers with a copy of the letter addressed to 
 Mr. Ainsworth by Madame Clara de Chatelain : 
 
 Might I trouble you to inform me in what manner the 
 candidates for the flitch of bacon, you propose offering to any 
 couple on condition to take the necessary oath, are to put 
 themselves sur les rangs for obtaining this honour, presuming 
 that in these days of mutual alliance no objection will arise 
 on the score of one of the pair being a foreigner, especially 
 as he is naturalised. 
 
 You must know that as far back as 1845, we applied for 
 the flitch at Little Dunmow, when the lord of the manor 
 informed us the custom had fallen into desuetude, and con- 
 sidered it would tend to no good to revive it ! Subsequently, 
 we wrote three years ago to the rector, to inquire whether 
 there was any truth in a newspaper account of a flitch pur- 
 porting to have been given at Little Dunmow, but he himself 
 had only seen it in print, not in reality. At the same time, 
 he very considerately hinted that I did not know all the 
 disagreeables we should have to go through on such an 
 occasion instancing kneeling on sharp stones, &c., to say 
 nothing of considerable fees, rather a formidable prospect 
 for poor authors. Would you, therefore, be at the trouble, 
 while informing me how to apply for the flitch, to state 
 whether all the old ceremonies are to be preserved, or are 
 they to be modernised to suit the more fastidious taste of 
 the I gth century? At the same time, I must say we are 
 not a couple to take alarm at trifles, and having steered 
 clear of the shoals and quicksands of quarrel nearly twelve 
 years of menage (which people seem to think so difficult an 
 achievement), it would not be a little that would prevent
 
 236 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 
 
 our becoming candidates for the coming glory of the flitch. 
 With the chevalier's best compliments, I remain, Sir, your 
 
 obedient servant, 
 
 CLARA DE CIIATELAIN. 
 
 London, 3rd January, 1855. 
 
 The county journals contained a full notice of what 
 took place on the igth July, 1855, when the presen- 
 tation took place. The Town Hall was fitted up 
 with jury-box, president's chair, and table for counsel, 
 and by two o'clock the hall was filled, the ladies 
 forming the greater part of the audience. After a 
 jury of six ladies and six gentlemen had been 
 obtained, the claimants were introduced and received 
 with hearty cheers of welcome. The chair was taken 
 by Mr. Ainsworth, who commenced the proceedings 
 by reading an historical account of the custom and 
 its revival. Mr. Bell, as counsel, then opened the 
 case on the part of the claimants, and he was 
 followed by Mr. Costello on the part of the court. 
 Mr. Barlow (who appeared to be between forty and 
 fifty) was then subjected to examination, and stated 
 that he began life as a plough boy, and afterwards 
 went four years as postilion to a lady. He then 
 went on to detail, in reply to questions in a style 
 of legal burlesque, that he had never had any dispute 
 with his wife never spoke a word to annoy or wound 
 her feelings. Mary Ann Clarke testified to their 
 connubial felicity, as did Mr. William Nicholas, 
 governor of Ongar Union, who considered they were
 
 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 237 
 
 fully entitled to the flitch. The question was then put 
 to the jury, who unanimously found them entitled to 
 the bacon a verdict which was hailed with plaudits. 
 In a similar manner the formalities were gone 
 through with respect to the Chevalier and Madame 
 de Chatelain, who were also declared entitled. 
 
 The president, jurors, &c., left the court, and, 
 amidst the multitude without, the procession was 
 formed in the following order: 
 
 Marshal. 
 
 Stud of horses, mounted by yeomen in appropriate dresses, 
 carrying banners with the names of all the claimants 
 since the I3th century inscribed on them, and the arms 
 of persons associated with the custom. 
 
 Ladies with garlands. 
 
 Banners borne by rustics borne uniformly. 
 
 Maidens and bachelors of the jury in a carriage. 
 
 The Cleik of the Court, the Crier of Court, the Counsel 
 
 in a carriage. 
 
 Other officers of the Court. 
 
 Gentlemen with wands, walking. 
 
 Flitch of Bacon borne by four yeomen. 
 
 Band. 
 
 Officers of the Court and gentlemen with wands. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Barlow carried on a chair on men's shoulders. 
 
 Gentlemen with wands. 
 
 Banners borne by rustics. 
 
 Two minstrels playing pipe and tabor. 
 
 Flitch of Bacon. 
 
 Band. 
 Le Chevalier and Madame de Chatelain carried on a chair 
 
 on men's shoulders. 
 Mr. Wm. Harrison Ainsworth in a carriage.
 
 238 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 
 
 The procession took its course through the principal 
 street of the town, halting at the market cross, where 
 the proclamation was made by sound of trumpet and 
 drum, that the flitches had been adjudged to the 
 respective claimants, and would be publicly delivered 
 to them in the field. The party then proceeded to a 
 neighbouring field, where a large pavilion had been 
 erected. A stage was placed inside the tent for the 
 officers, counsel, and claimants. After a solemn 
 declaration had been made by each claimant, who 
 knelt down on stones prepared for them, Mr. Ains- 
 worth delivered to each couple a flitch of bacon. In 
 mock official form the following record was made : 
 
 Town Hall, Dunmow. 
 
 The special court there, held on Thursday, the igth day 
 of July, in the igth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lady 
 Victoria, by Grace of God of Great Britain and Ireland, 
 Queen, Defender of the Faith, and in the year of our Lord 
 one thousand eight hundred and fifty-rive, before William 
 Harrison Ainsworth, Esquire. 
 
 Jury. 
 
 Maidens. Bachelors. 
 
 Be it remembered that at this court it is found and pre- 
 sented that Jean Baptiste Francois Ernest de Chatelain, of 
 Grafton Place, Euston Square, London, author, and Clara, 
 his wife, have been married for the space of twelve years 
 last past and upwards. And it is likewise found, presented, 
 and adjudged by the court that the said Jean Bap. Fr. Ernest 
 <ie Chatelain, and Clara, his wife, by means of their quiet,
 
 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 239 
 
 peaceable, tender, and loving cohabitation for the space of 
 time aforesaid, are fit and qualified persons to be admitted by 
 the court to have the bacon of Dunmow delivered to them 
 according to custom. Whereupon at this court, in full and 
 open court, came the said J. B. F. Ernest de Chatelain, and 
 Clara, his wife, in their own proper persons, and humbly prayed 
 they might be admitted to make their solemn declaration ; and 
 the said W. H. Ainsworth, with the jury, witnesses, and officers 
 of the court, having heard the evidence adduced and counsel on 
 both sides, adjudged the said J. B. F. Ernest de Chatelain and 
 Clara, his wife, entitled to claim the said Flitch of Bacon, and 
 with the claimants, proceeded with the usual solemnity to the 
 place for administration of the declaration, and receiving the 
 bacon aforesaid, that is to say, to two great stones in Windmill 
 Field, Dunmow, aforesaid, where the said J. B. F. Ernest de 
 Chatelain and Clara, his wife, kneeling down on these said two 
 stones, Charles Pavey, clerk of the court, did administer unto 
 them the accustomed solemn declaration [in nearly the same 
 words as before given]. 
 
 And immediately thereupon the said J. B. F. Ernest de 
 Chatelain, and Clara, his wife, claiming the said bacon, the 
 court pronounced the sentence for the same in these words, or 
 to the effect following (to wit) : 
 
 Since to these conditions without any fear, 
 Of your own accord you do freely declare, 
 A whole flitch of bacon you shall receive 
 And bear it hence with love and good leave ; 
 For this is our custom at Dunmow well known, 
 Though the pleasure be ours, the bacon's your own. 
 
 In pursuance whereof a flitch of bacon was publicly delivered 
 by the said W. H. Ainsworth, Esq. , to the said J. B. F. Ernest 
 de Chatelain, and Clara, his wife, in Windmill Field, Dunmow,
 
 240 THE DUNMOW FLITCH OF BACON. 
 
 aforesaid, with usual solemnity, on the day and year before 
 
 mentioned. 
 
 (Signed) 
 
 JEAN BAPTISTE F. ERNEST DE CHATELAIN, "> 
 
 CLARA DE CHATELAIN,* | Claimants. 
 
 W. HARRISON AINSWORTH, Donor. 
 CHARLES PAVEY, Clerk of the Court. 
 
 A similar record was made as to the two other 
 claimants, Mr. and Mrs. Barlow. The flitch has since 
 been claimed and presented in 1857, 1869, 1874 and 
 July 17, 1876. If any of our readers feel entitled to 
 the flitch, the Clerk of the Court, J. W. Savill, Esq., 
 of Dunmow, will be happy to attend to their applica- 
 tions. In concluding, we remind our friends that : 
 
 A year and a day is the period named 
 
 When, according to custom, the flitch may be claimed : 
 
 Provided the parties can swear and prove, 
 
 They have lived the whole time in true conjugal love. 
 
 * Madame de Chatelain died June 30, 1876, deeply regretted 
 by her husband and many friends. She was a most gifted and 
 estimable lady, and her numerous writings bear testimony to 
 the purity of her mind.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MATRIMONIAL ECCENTRICITIES. 
 
 FOND OF WEDLOCK. 
 
 IT is usually considered a noteworthy circumstance 
 for a man or woman to have been married three 
 times, but of old this number would have been little 
 thought of. St. Jerome mentions a widow that mar- 
 ried her twenty-second husband, who in his turn had 
 been married to twenty wives surely an experienced 
 couple ! A woman named Elizabeth Masi, who died 
 at Florence in 1768, had been married to seven 
 husbands, all of whom she outlived. She married 
 the last of the seven at the age 70. When on her 
 deathbed she recalled the good and bad points in 
 each of her husbands, and having impartially weighed 
 them in the balance, she singled out her fifth spouse 
 as the favourite, and desired that her remains might be 
 interred near his. The death of a soldier is recorded 
 in 1784, who had had five wives; and his widow, 
 aged 90, wept over the grave of her fourth husband. 
 The writer who mentioned these facts naively added, 
 Q
 
 242 MATRIMONIAL ECCENTRICITIES. 
 
 " The said soldier was much attached to the married 
 state!" There is an account of a gentleman who 
 had been married to four wives, and who lived to 
 be 115 years old. When he died he left twenty-three 
 " children" alive and well, some of the said children 
 being from three to fourscore. A gentleman died at 
 Bordeaux in 1772, who had been married sixteen 
 times. Robert Chambers. 
 
 A MARRIAGE OF CONVICTS. 
 
 A strange wedding took place at the Mairie of the 
 1 2th Arrondissement, situated on the Place de 1'Eglise, 
 at Bercy. Maillard, the leader of a gang of thieves, 
 supposed to have committed several murders, who 
 had become the very terror of the interior boulevards, 
 was married to Eugenie Piat, a woman of ill-fame, 
 who lured to her den the victims robbed by her male 
 accomplice, while Vrignault, Maillard's lieutenant, 
 offered at the same time his hand and heart to 
 Hortense Couturier, worthy, as regards crime and 
 debauchery, of her convict husband. Maillard, who 
 is only twenty-five, was, according to his statement, 
 a carrier by trade, but his antecedents, as adduced by 
 the police, prove that since he left the reformatory, 
 where he had been sent until he was thirteen, his has 
 been one long career of undetected crime. As he 
 appeared on the day of his trial, his face showed that
 
 A MARRIAGE OF CONVICTS. 243 
 
 he was not devoid of energy or intelligence. He 
 seemed quite at ease when seated in the dock at 
 the Court of Assize, and when not talking with his 
 affianced, Eugenie Piat, who sat behind him, for 
 whom, as he said, he was ready to "embrace the 
 widow," the cant term for being guillotined, he was 
 looking round the court, nodding to some sinister- 
 looking acquaintance who might have been found 
 among the audience. Maillard happened to say one 
 day, when being tried for the offence which he has 
 been arrested for, that if the doors of the court were 
 closed and the criminal antecedents of each individual 
 examined into, some of the most adroit thieves in 
 Paris would be taken, a remark which caused some 
 uneasiness among the audience, and many of the 
 seats to be deserted. On the first trial the two women 
 were not implicated, but when Maillard found that 
 he had got twenty years he turned informer, so 
 that he and his lieutenant, Vrignault, might find 
 the two women in the penal settlement where they 
 were to be sent. In exchange for a promise from 
 the authorities that a double marriage would be 
 permitted, Maillard enabled the police to lay hands 
 on half-a-dozen members of his gang, and to get the 
 two women convicted, the latter not demurring; so 
 strong was their affection for their degraded para- 
 mours that they wished for nothing better than to be 
 married to them, and follow them to some convict
 
 244 MATRIMONIAL ECCENTRICITIES. 
 
 settlement, such as Cayenne, where every advantage 
 is offered to married convicts, so as to induce them 
 to colonise. Eugenie Piat, dressed in the clothes 
 worn by the prisoners at Saint Lazare, is under 
 twenty, her features are pretty and regular, vice has 
 stamped none of its indelible traces on her youthful 
 face, which became loathsome as she confessed, 
 smiling, and with revolting cynicism, the part she had 
 taken in the different robberies laid to the charge 
 of her lover. Vrignault is a common-looking ruffian, 
 a regular gaol-bird, a professional thief, whose sinister 
 expression of countenance is increased by a scar 
 extending from his mouth to his eye, said to have 
 been caused by a stab received from some friend in 
 a drunken quarrel. Hortense Courturier is a vulgar- 
 looking creature, coarse and bloated, whose face bears 
 out the statement that for the last fifteen years she 
 has pursued a career of debauchery. Everything 
 was arranged by the police for the double marriage. 
 Four cabs left the prison at Mazas on Sunday morn- 
 ing for the Mairie. Each cab contained one of the 
 convicts, well guarded by the police, and the handcuffs 
 were removed, since the French law prescribes that 
 the civil marriage shall take place in perfect liberty. 
 Arrangements were made so as to frustrate any 
 attempt to escape on the part of the convicts, or 
 to rescue them on the part of their friends. The 
 eight policemen were the witnesses of these strange
 
 A MARRIAGE OF CONVICTS. 245 
 
 marriages, and the nuptial benediction was given 
 after the civil ceremonies in the chapel at Mazas, 
 all the doors of which were left open until the affair 
 was over, and the four prisoners parted to meet again 
 at Cayenne, or some other penal settlement, where 
 the next generation may perhaps be better than their 
 fathers and mothers. 
 
 MARRIAGE BY PROXY. 
 
 In marriage by proxy, it was formerly the custom 
 for the proxy to introduce his right leg up to the 
 knee into the bed of the princess whom he married. 
 Louis de Baviare, who married the Princess Maria 
 de Bourgogne, daughter of Charles, Duke of Bour- 
 gogne, in the name of Archduke Maximilian of 
 Austria, performed this ceremony. The object of 
 the ceremony was to render the marriage more 
 certain, it being supposed that the princess, who 
 had submitted to this kind of approach on the part 
 of man, could not depart from her engagement and 
 take another husband. 
 
 It is said that the Emperor Maximilian was 
 married by proxy to Anne de Bretagne, who, never- 
 theless, afterwards married Charles VIII. of France, 
 her marriage with Maximilian never having been 
 consummated. But from a scruple of conscience or 
 some other cause, historians relate, that it was
 
 246 MATRIMONIAL ECCENTRICITIES. 
 
 necessary to have recourse to the arguments of many 
 theologians, and to examples drawn from holy writ, 
 before the lady could be brought to listen to the 
 proposition of her marriage with Charles VIII. 
 
 If the early historians may be believed, the first 
 marriage by proxy was that of Clovis of France 
 with Clotilde; Aurele having married Clotilde at 
 the court of Bourgogne, in the name of Clovis, his 
 master, by giving her a ring and other pledges of 
 a legitimate marriage. The ancient practice of 
 placing the proxy's leg in the bed of the bride has 
 been long since discontinued. 
 
 It existed, however, in Poland, in the time of 
 Hierera, who, in speaking of the marriage of Cardinal 
 Radzivil with the Archduchess Ann of Austria, says, 
 that the proxy of King Sigismund III. slept com- 
 pletely armed at the side of the new Queen, in 
 conformity with the ceremony, que les reges de Polonia 
 ental caso accastumbran. 
 
 A king's proxy is usually a prince of the royal 
 blood ; if he be not, he is not allowed to take the 
 hand of the princess, but to place his by the side 
 of hers. 
 
 BURIAL OF A FEMALE DRAGOON. 
 
 The following is from the London Magazine for 
 July, 1739:
 
 BURIAL OF A FEMALE DRAGOON. 247 
 
 "At Chelsea, Mrs. Christiana Davis, who for several years 
 served as a Dragoon undiscover'd in the Royal Irish Innis- 
 killing Regiment ; but receiving a wound in K. Williams Wars 
 at Aghrim, in Ireland, she was then discover'd ; tho' her Com- 
 rade had not the least suspicion of her being a Woman : She- 
 behaved with great Valour, was afterwards in Flanders, and 
 was very useful in a Battle or a Siege to supply the Soldiers,. 
 &c., with Water and other Necessaries, even to the Mouth of 
 a Cannon. She, for her courageous Behaviour, obtain'd his 
 late Majesty's Letter for an allowance out of Chelsea College 
 of is. per day, which she receiv'd till her Death. And her 
 Corpse, according to her desire, was interr'd amongst the old 
 Pensioners in Chelsea Burying-Ground, and three grand Vollies 
 fired over her Grave. " 
 
 Faulkner, in his History of Chelsea, quotes the 
 above statement, and adds that she was well respected 
 by many persons of distinction and general officers, 
 that her third husband was a pensioner in the Royal 
 Hospital, and that she resided the latter part of her 
 life at Chelsea, being principally supported by the 
 charity of some persons of quality. 
 
 PETER THE GREAT'S MATRIMONIAL JOKES. 
 
 In 1710, Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia,, 
 celebrated a marriage of dwarfs at St. Petersburg,, 
 which was attended with great parade. On a cer- 
 tain day, which he had ordered to be proclaimed 
 several months before, he invited the whole body of 
 his courtiers, and all the foreign ambassadors, to be
 
 248 MATRIMONIAL ECCENTRICITIES. 
 
 present at the marriage of a pigmy man and woman. 
 The preparations for this wedding were not only very 
 grand, but executed in a style of barbarous ridicule. 
 He ordered that all the dwarf men and women, 
 within two hundred miles, should repair to the capital ; 
 and also insisted that they should be present at the 
 ceremony. For this purpose, he supplied them with 
 proper vehicles, but so contrived it, that one horse 
 was seen carrying a dozen of them into the city at 
 once ; while the mob followed, shouting and laughing 
 from behind. Some of the dwarfs were unwilling to 
 obey an order which they knew was calculated to 
 turn them into ridicule, and did not come; but he 
 soon obliged them to obey; and, as a punishment, 
 enjoined that they should wait on the rest at dinner. 
 The whole company of dwarfs amounted to about 
 seventy, including the bride and bridegroom, who 
 were richly adorned in the extremity of the fashion. 
 For this little company in miniature, everything suit- 
 able was provided; a low table, small plates, little 
 glasses, and, in short, everything was so fitted as if 
 all things had been dwindled to their own standard. 
 It was his great pleasure to see their gravity and 
 pride, the contention of the women for places, and 
 the men for superiority. This point he attempted to 
 adjust, by ordering that the most diminutive should 
 take the lead ; but this led to disputes, for none would 
 then consent to sit foremost. All this, however, being
 
 PETER THE GREAT'S MATRIMONIAL JOKES. 249 
 
 at last settled, dancing followed the dinner, and the 
 ball was opened with a minuet by the bridegroom, 
 whose height was exactly three feet two inches. In 
 the end, matters were so contrived, that this little 
 company, who met together in gloomy disgust, and 
 with an unwillingness to be pleased, at last entered 
 into the diversion, and became extremely sprightly 
 and entertaining. 
 
 The same emperor also took an opportunity of 
 general rejoicing, to render the office of the patriarch, 
 which he had long determined to abolish, and which 
 had for some years been in a state of abeyance, 
 ridiculous; and this he did from having repeatedly 
 received hints from the bishops and others of the 
 wish of the people to have a patriarch, which he 
 knew was not the case. But if so, he thought the 
 best way of staying the popular wishes was to make 
 the situation contemptible. The truth is, Peter knew 
 what sort of diversions were best suited to a people 
 just emerging from a state of barbarism. For this 
 purpose he appointed Sotof, his jester, or more pro- 
 perly, his court fool, to perform what Voltaire calls 
 the farce of the conclave. This " motley," who was 
 in his eighty-fourth year, was created mock-patriarch ; 
 the bride for he was to be married was a buxom 
 widow of thirty; the guests were invited by four 
 stutterers, who could barely utter a word; four fat, 
 bulky and unwieldy fellows were selected for running
 
 250 MATRIMONIAL ECCENTRICITIES. 
 
 footmen, so gouty as to be led by others ; the brides- 
 men and waiters were all lame ; these were meant as 
 so many cardinals; and every member of this sacred 
 college, according to Voltaire, was first made drunk 
 with brandy. The happy couple were dragged to 
 church by four bears harnessed to a sledge; and in 
 this way, with music playing, drums beating, bears 
 roaring, and the populace hurrahing, the well-matched 
 couple were brought to the altar, where they were 
 joined in holy wedlock by a priest a hundred 
 years old, deaf and blind, who was prompted in the 
 ceremony. Voltaire observes, that Moscow and St. 
 Petersburg witnessed three times the renewal of this 
 ludicrous ceremony, which appeared to have no sort 
 of meaning, while in reality it confirmed the people 
 in their aversion to a Church that pretended to a 
 supreme power, and the head of which had anathe- 
 matised so many potentates. " Thus the Czar," says 
 he, " by way of jest, revenged the cause of twenty 
 emperors of Germany, ten kings of France, and a 
 multitude of sovereigns." 
 
 WOMEN MARRYING WOMEN. 
 
 On the 5th July, 1777, a woman was tried at the 
 criminal court in London, for having disguised her- 
 self as a man, and actually marrying, in succession, 
 three women, whom she therefore, legally speaking,
 
 WOMEN MARRYING WOMEN. 251 
 
 " defrauded of their money and clothes." The fair, 
 or rather unfair, deceiver was required by the justices 
 to give the daughters of the citizens an opportunity of 
 making themselves acquainted with her features by 
 standing for several hours in the pillory in Cheap- 
 side; after which ordeal she was sent to prison for 
 six months. 
 
 In 1773, a woman went courting a woman dressed 
 as a man, and was favourably received. The lady 
 to whom these not very delicate attentions were paid 
 was much older than the lover, but she was possessed 
 of a hundred pounds, and that was the attraction of 
 her adventurous friend. But the intended treachery 
 was discovered ; and, as the original chronicler of the 
 story says, " the old lady proved too knowing." 
 
 A more extraordinary case than either of these 
 was that of two women who lived together by mutual 
 consent as man and wife for six and thirty years. 
 They kept a public house in Poplar, and the " wife," 
 when on her deathbed, for the first time, told her 
 relatives the fact concerning her marriage. The 
 writer who records the circumstances, states that they 
 " had both been crossed in love when young, and 
 had chosen this method to avoid further importuni- 
 ties." It seems, however, that the truth was suspected, 
 for the " husband " subsequently charged a man with 
 extorting money from her under the threat of dis- 
 covering the secret; and for this offence he was
 
 252 MATRIMONIAL ECCENTRICITIES. 
 
 sentenced to stand three times in the pillory, and to 
 undergo four years imprisonment. 
 
 A SINGULAR WEDDING. 
 
 The Sheldon Register contains a curious record of 
 a marriage, as follows : 
 
 " 6th January, 1753. 
 
 " The man about 14 years of age. 
 
 " Marrd. Cornelius White and Ellen Dale, 
 
 ' ' the woman 70. of Sheldon. " 
 
 In the Derby Mercury, of January, 1753, parti- 
 culars of the wedding are furnished, as follows : 
 "Ashford (in the Peak), Jan. 8, 1753. 
 
 "SlR, If you please to give this a place in your paper, 
 you will very much oblige your constant reader and humble 
 servant, &c. 
 
 " Last Saturday, at the Chapel of Sheldon, in the High 
 Peak of Derbyshire, were solemnized the Nuptials of a Widow 
 Gentlewoman, of that Place, of about Eighty Years of Age, to 
 a young Lad (by Consent of his Parents) of about Fourteen. 
 As she was render'd incapable of walking, by a Complication 
 of Disorders, she was carried in her Chair from her house to 
 the Chapel, about a hundred Yards distant, attended by a numer- 
 ous Concourse of People, where the Ceremony was performed 
 with becoming Seriousness and Devotion ; after which she was 
 re-conducted in the same Manner, the Musick playing, by her 
 Orders, the Duke of Rutland's Hornpipe before her, to which 
 (as she was disabled from Dancing) she beat Time with her
 
 A SINGULAR WEDDING. 255 
 
 Hands on her Petticoats till she got Home, and then called for 
 her Crutches, commanded her Husband to dance, and shuffled 
 herself as well as she could. The day being spent with the 
 ringing of the Bell, and other Demonstrations of Joy, and the 
 Populace (mostly Miners) being soundly drench'd with Showers 
 of excellent Liquor, &c., that were plentifully pour'd upon 
 them, the new-marry'd Couple, to consummate their Marriage, 
 were at length put to Bed, to the Side of which that well 
 polish'd and ciyiliz'd Company were admitted; the Stocking 
 was thrown, the Posset drank, and the whole concluded with 
 all the Decorum, Decency, and Order imaginable. " 
 
 From the same journal we learn the bride did not 
 live many days after her marriage, for the following 
 paragraph is dated for the same month, January, 
 1753: 
 
 "We are informed that, last Sunday, dy'd at Sheldon, 
 near Bakewell, the old Gentlewoman who was marry'd the 6th 
 instant to a young Lad about Fourteen, as mention'd in a. 
 former Paper. Her Corpse was brought to Bakewell Church, 
 on Tuesday last, where she was handsomely interred, and a 
 Funeral Sermon preach'd on the Occasion to a numerous and 
 crowded Audience, by the Rev. Gentleman who had lately 
 perform'd the Nuptial Ceremony." William Andrews. 
 
 LONG SEPARATIONS. 
 
 The rule in matrimonial life, where no quarrel has 
 taken place, between husband and wife, is for them 
 to continue to live together. Yet, in this respect, 
 there have been a few remarkable exceptions, notably
 
 254 MATRIMONIAL ECCENTRICITIES. 
 
 so in the cases of Shakspeare and Romney the 
 painter. The poet, on going to push his fortune in 
 London, left his Anne Hathaway who was eight 
 years his senior at Stratford-upon-Avon, where she 
 remained during the sixteen or seventeen years which 
 he spent as a player and play-writer in the metropolis. 
 It appears also, that, by-and-bye returning to Strat- 
 ford as a man of gentlemanly means, he resumed 
 living with Mrs. Shakspeare, as if no sort of aliena- 
 tion had ever taken place between them. The case 
 of George Romney was even more curious. He, as 
 is well known, was of humble origin, and his peasant 
 parents resided in Lancashire. In 1762, after being 
 wedded for eight years to a virtuous young woman, 
 he quitted his home in the north to push his way 
 as an artist in London, leaving his wife behind him. 
 There was no quarrel, he supplied her with ample 
 means of support for herself and her two children out 
 of the large income he realised by his profession 
 but it was not till the long period of thirty-seven years 
 had passed, namely, in 1799, when he was sixty-five 
 years of age, and broken in health, that the truant 
 husband returned home to resume living with his 
 wife. It is creditable to the lady, that she was as 
 good to her husband as if he had never left her ; and 
 Romney, for the remaining three or four years of his 
 life, was as happy in her society as ill-health would 
 permit. It is a mystery which none of the great
 
 LONG SEPARATIONS. 255 
 
 painter's biographers, though one of them was his 
 own son, have been able to clear up. 
 
 MARRIAGE OF A BLUE COAT BOY AND BLUE COAT GIRL. 
 
 Two wealthy citizens are lately dead, and left their 
 estates one to a blue coat boy and the other to 
 a blue coat girl, in Christ's Hospital, the extra- 
 ordinariness of which has led some of the magistrates 
 to carry it on to a match, which is ended in a 
 public wedding ; he in his habit of blue satin, led by 
 two of the girls, and she in blue, with an apron 
 green, and petticoat yellow, all of sarsnet, led by two 
 of the boys of the house, through Cheapside to Guild- 
 hall Chapel, where they were married by the Dean 
 of St. Paul's. She was given by my Lord Mayor. 
 The wedding dinner, it seems, was kept in the Hos- 
 pital Hall. Pefyfs Diary, Sept. 20, 1695.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 LOCAL MANNERS AND CUSTOMS RELATING 
 TO MARRIAGE. 
 
 SCOTTISH LOCAL CUSTOMS. 
 
 MUCH that is curious, interesting and instructive, 
 has been written on the manners, customs and 
 superstitions of Scotland, by the Rev. Charles Rogers, 
 LL.D., the efficient Secretary of the Royal Historical 
 Society. In his able work, entitled " Scotland, Social 
 and Domestic," issued in July, 1869, to the members 
 of the Grampian Club, we have interesting notices 
 of Scottish marriage rites, and, by the kindness of 
 the author, we are enabled to present them to our 
 readers. We are told: 
 
 Among the peasantry, betrothals were conducted 
 in a singular fashion. The fond swain, who had 
 resolved to make proposals, sent for the object of his 
 affection to the village alehouse, previously informing 
 the landlady of his intentions. The damsel, who 
 knew the purpose of the message, busked herself in 
 her best attire, and waited on her admirer. She
 
 SCOTTISH LOCAL CUSTOMS. 257 
 
 was entertained with a glass of ale; then the swain 
 proceeded with his tale of love. A dialogue like the 
 following ensued : " I'm gaun to speir whether ye 
 will tak' me, Jenny?" "Deed, Jock, I thocht ye micht 
 hae speir't that lang syne." "They said ye wad 
 refuse me, lassie." " Then they're leears, Jock." " An' 
 so ye'll no refuse me, lassie?" "I've tell't ye that 
 twice ower already, Jock." Then came the formal 
 act of betrothal. The parties licked the thumbs of 
 their right hands, which they pressed together, and 
 vowed fidelity. The ceremony possessed the solemnity 
 of an oath, the violator of such an engagement being 
 considered guilty of perjury. In allusion to this prac- 
 tice, a favourite Scottish song commences, 
 
 "There's my thumb, I'll ne'er beguile thec." 
 
 The pressure of moistened thumbs, as the solemn 
 ratification of an engagement, was used in other 
 contracts. The practice, as confirmatory of an agree- 
 ment, existed both among the Celts and Goths. The 
 records of the Scottish courts contain examples of 
 sales being confirmed by the judges, on the production 
 of evidence that the parties had licked and pressed 
 their thumbs on the occasion of the bargain. The 
 Highlander and the Lowland schoolboy still, in many 
 parts of Scotland, lick thumbs in bargain-making. 
 
 At the close of the eighteenth century another 
 method of betrothal was adopted. When the damsel
 
 258 LOCAL MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 had accepted her lover's offer, the pair proceeded to 
 the nearest stream, and there washing their hands in 
 the current, vowed constancy with their hands clasped 
 across the brook. A ceremony of this description 
 took place between Burns and his " Highland Mary." 
 When the parties had mutually betrothed themselves, 
 they proceeded diligently to revive their acquaintance 
 with the Shorter Catechism, for every clergyman 
 insisted that candidates for matrimony, should be 
 able to repeat the Proofs, the Ten Commandments 
 and the Lord's Prayer. A marriage was stopped 
 by the Kirk-Session of Glasgow in 1642, until the 
 bridegroom should inform himself of these religious 
 fundamentals. Latterly the Church has permitted 
 persons to enter into the nuptial bonds, without any 
 inquiry as to their Scriptural knowledge. 
 
 Between the first Sunday of the proclamation of 
 banns and the day of marriage, forty days were 
 allowed to elapse. The reason of the delay has not 
 been explained. On the evening before the wedding, 
 the bride was attended by her maidens who proceeded 
 to wash her feet. Much diversion was a concomitant 
 of the ceremonial ; it ended with festivities. 
 
 A wedding was the most important of rural cele- 
 brations. When a country bridal was arranged, the 
 neighbours hastened to send contributions. At a 
 remote period, a penny Scots, equal to a modern 
 shilling, was levied from those who intended to be
 
 SCOTTISH LOCAL CUSTOMS. 259 
 
 present at the festival; hence the name Penny Wed- 
 dings. During the last century, these entertainments 
 were prepared in pic-nic fashion. Lairds contributed 
 joints of beef and mutton; cheese, eggs and milk, 
 came from the farm dairies, and the minister and 
 schoolmaster supplied the cooking utensils. The 
 relations of the bride provided only one dish, which 
 was designated the "bride's, pie." Every guest was 
 privileged to receive a portion of it. 
 
 In the Highlands, marriages were solemnized in 
 the churches. In Lowland districts the nuptials were 
 generally performed at the residence of the bride's 
 parents. There was a custom in certain localities 
 where the bride went bareheaded to the nuptial 
 ceremony, and so continued all that day, but was 
 covered ever after. Nearly all avoid contracting 
 marriage in May. The Lowlander was disinclined 
 to marry on Friday: in Ross-shire that day was 
 .deemed the most hopeful for the occasion. In High- 
 land districts a marriage was held only to promise 
 good fortune, when, prior to the ceremony, all knots 
 in the apparel of both parties had been loosened. 
 At present, no couple in Orkney would consent to 
 marry unless in the increase of the moon. 
 
 When the marriage ceremony was performed, the 
 bride received the congratulations of her relatives. 
 She was expected to proceed round the apartment 
 attended by her maidens, and kiss every male in the
 
 260 LOCAL MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 company. A dish was then handed round, into 
 which every one placed a sum of money, to help the 
 young couple to commence housekeeping. At the 
 marriage of persons of the upper class, favours were 
 sewn upon the bride's dress. When the ceremony 
 was concluded, all the members of the company ran 
 towards her, each endeavouring to seize a favour. 
 When the confusion had ceased, the bridegroom's 
 man proceeded to pull off the bride's garter, which 
 she modestly dropped. This was cut into small 
 portions, which were presented to each member of 
 the company. 
 
 After luncheon the bride and bridegroom prepared 
 to depart on their trip. They passed through a 
 double file of their friends and the household 
 domestics, each of whom carried a slipper. When 
 the couple had entered their carriage, a shower of 
 slippers was thrown, in token of " good luck." 
 
 It was the duty of the bridegroom's man to attend 
 to the public intimation of the nuptials. We present 
 some specimens of matrimonial announcements, from 
 the Glasgow Journal, one of the most fashionable 
 of Scottish intelligencers a century ago : 
 
 March 24, 1744. On Monday last, James Dennistoun, 
 
 junior, of Colgreine, Esq., was married to Miss Jenny Baird, 
 a beautiful young lady. 
 
 May 4, 1747. On Monday last, Dr. Robert Hamilton, 
 
 Professor of Anatomy and Botany in the University of Glasgow,
 
 SCOTTISH LOCAL CUSTOMS. 261 
 
 was married to Miss Molly Baird, a beautiful young lady \vith 
 a handsome fortune. 
 
 August 3, 1747. On Monday last, Mr. James John- 
 stone, merchant in this place, was married to Miss Peggy 
 Newall, an agreeable young lady with ,4,000. 
 
 At rural weddings the newly-married pair remained 
 to enjoy the festivities provided for them by their 
 friends. A hundred persons frequently assembled on 
 these occasions, and the rejoicings were protracted 
 during a succession of days. 
 
 During the seventeenth century Penny Weddings 
 degenerated into scenes of social disorder. In 1645 
 they were condemned by the General Assembly, and 
 in 1647 the Presbyteries of Haddington and Dunbar 
 insisted on their suppression, as "the seminaries of 
 all profanation." By these courts it was ordained 
 that not more than twenty persons should assemble 
 at weddings, and that piping and dancing should 
 cease. Kirk-sessions subjected pipers and fiddlers 
 to their severest censures for discoursing music at 
 bridals. Persons who were convicted of " promiscuous 
 dancing" were mulcted in considerable penalties, and 
 placed on the stool of repentance. Ecclesiastical 
 tribunals subsequently discovered that the irregu- 
 larities at the penny wedding did not arise from the 
 arts of the musician or of the dancing master, but 
 were owing to the quantity of liquor which was 
 consumed. They passed regulations to check the
 
 262 LOCAL MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 extent of the potations. It was provided that the 
 festivities should not be prolonged beyond a single 
 day. The presence of strangers from neighbouring 
 parishes was prohibited, except when a considerable 
 payment was made to the kirk-session for the privi- 
 lege of receiving them. When marriage feasts were 
 furnished by publicans, kirk-sessions ruled that the 
 lawin should not exceed a certain amount. A 
 " lawin " of six shillings of Scottish money was 
 commonly allowed. 
 
 When the bride was led into her future house, she 
 paused on the threshold, and a cake of shortbread 
 was broken on her head. The fragments were 
 gathered up and distributed among the young people 
 as dreaming bread. In some districts of the High- 
 lands the newly-married couple were sent to sleep 
 in a barn or out-house, while the neighbours made 
 merry in their dwelling. The pastime of winning 
 the broose was common at marriages in the southern 
 counties. After the marriage, the men of the bride's 
 party rode or ran to the bride's former dwelling, 
 and the first who entered it was held to have 
 won the broose. It was a nominal honour, for a 
 basin of soup constituted the prize. In allusion to 
 this practice an anecdote may be related of the Rev. 
 William Porteous, the eccentric minister of Kilbucho, 
 who, at the close of his marriage service, and almost 
 as a part of it, used to exclaim, "Noo, lads, tak*
 
 SCOTTISH LOCAL CUSTOMS. 263 
 
 the gait, and let's see wha amang you will win the 
 broose!" 
 
 In Border villages and certain towns of Ayrshire, 
 those who had been present at the bridal assembled 
 n<ixt morning to creel the bridegroom. The process 
 consisted in placing upon his back a creel, or wicker 
 basket, and then laying a long pole with a broom 
 affixed over his left shoulder. Thus equipped, he was 
 forced to run a race, while the bride was expected to 
 follow, to disengage him of his burden. The alacrity 
 with vhich she proceeded in her chase was supposed 
 to indicate her satisfaction with the marriage. In 
 Argyllshire the bride and bridegroom made daily 
 processions, preceded by a piper. They visited those 
 families who had contributed to their bridal festivities. 
 These processions closed on the eve of the kirking 
 day, after which the couple settled down to the 
 ordinary concerns of housekeeping. 
 
 In Haddingtonshire, a burlesque serenade, termed 
 Kirrywery, was enacted at the doors and windows of 
 persons who, for a second time, had entered into 
 matrimonial bonds. The serenade was conducted 
 by youths, who made a sort of mock music with 
 kettles, pots and other culinary utensils, accompany- 
 ing the din with boisterous shouting. 
 
 Pay weddings are still common in the upper ward 
 of Lanarkshire, chiefly among the mining population. 
 Every marriage is celebrated on Friday, and is fol-
 
 264 LOCAL MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 lowed by a tavern dinner, to which the neighbours 
 contribute. The festivities are continued the whole 
 of Saturday, which is styled the backing up day, 
 
 In the burgh of Rutherglen, Lanarkshire, till within 
 the last twenty years, persons were married without 
 proclamation of banns, by a peculiar arrangement on 
 the part of the authorities. A friend of the parties 
 was sent to the procurator-fiscal, to lodge information 
 that they had been married without legal banns. 
 The fiscal summoned the delinquents before the 
 sheriff, who, on their admitting the charge, imposed 
 a fine of five shillings. The fiscal took the penalty, 
 and handed to the parties a printed form, duly filled 
 up, which, by discharging the fine, certified the 
 marriage. Rutherglen, or " Ruglen? marriages have 
 passed into a proverb. 
 
 CHOOSING OF BRIDES IN RUSSIA. 
 
 The most brilliant day in the year for the summer 
 garden at St. Petersburg is Whitmonday, when the 
 celebrated festival of the choosing of brides takes 
 place. According to the ancient customs, of Russia, 
 the sons and daughters of the traders assemble on 
 that day : these to see, and those to be seen. The 
 young damsels, arrayed in all their finery, are mar- 
 shalled in due order along the flower beds, and their 
 mothers are carefully stationed behind them. Every
 
 CHOOSING OF BRIDES IN RUSSIA. 265 
 
 glittering ornament has been collected for the occa- 
 sion, and not only their own wardrobes, but those of 
 their grandmothers too, have been laid under contri- 
 bution to collect decorations for the hair, the ears, 
 the arms, the neck, the hands, the feet, the girdle, 
 or, in short, for any part of the person to which, by 
 hook or by crook, anything in the shape of adorn- 
 ment can be fastened. Many of them are so laden 
 with gold and jewellery that scarcely any part of their 
 natural beauty remains uncovered. It is even said 
 that, on one of these occasions, a Russian mother, 
 not knowing what she should add to her daughter's 
 toilet, contrived to make her a necklace of six dozen 
 of gilt tea-spoons, a girdle of an equal number of 
 table-spoons, and then fastened a couple of punch 
 ladles behind in the form of a cross. 
 
 The young men, meanwhile, with their flowing 
 caftans and curved beards, are paraded by their 
 fathers up and down, before the rows of young, 
 mute, blushing beauties, who, in spite of their bashful 
 looks, are evidently ambitious to please, and seem 
 little disposed to resent the admiration of the swains. 
 The parents endeavour here and there to engage 
 their interesting charges in conversation with each 
 other; and, in the course of these little colloquies, 
 certain looks and emotions will betray an unsuspected 
 inclination, or perhaps give birth to sentiments preg- 
 nant with future moment.
 
 2 66 LOCAL MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 Eight days after this first bride-show, the interviews 
 take place at the houses of the parents, when, by 
 means of family negotiations, a marriage is all but 
 concluded, and the young couple part fully betrothed 
 to each other. Similar customs prevail among all the 
 nations of the Sclavonian races; but it is a singular 
 fact that a usage of the kind should have maintained 
 its ground so long in a place like St. Petersburg, 
 where a numerous part of the public has ever been 
 disposed to make the bride-show an object of ridicule. 
 Of late years, indeed, the fashion has been gradually 
 dying away, and the description given above applies 
 rather to former than to the present times. Never- 
 theless, the lads and lasses of what may be called 
 the bourgeoisie of St. Petersburg, still muster in the 
 summer garden in great force on Whitmonday, 
 when the foundation is laid for many a matrimonial 
 negotiation; though the business is conducted with 
 less form and stiffness than was wont to be the 
 case some ten years ago. 
 
 DOWRIES IN COCOA AND COFFEE TREES. 
 
 It was formerly, and still is, the custom in Bahia 
 and Pernambuco, in making devises, settling dowries, 
 &c., to fix the amounts in cocoa-trees, whose current 
 value was as well understood as coin itself. A 
 southern native married the daughter of a wealthy
 
 DOWRIES IN COCOA AND COFFEE TREES. 267 
 
 Bahian, who promised him 20,000 dollars for a mar- 
 riage portion. The young husband reminded him of 
 this. " True," said he ; " go into the plantation, and 
 take the amount in cocoa-trees." 
 
 " Cocoa-trees ! Why, sir, I don't want cocoas, but 
 what you promised dollars." 
 
 " Very well ; every tree is worth half a dollar ; go 
 and select forty thousand : they are the dollars I deal 
 in, and they are worth more than all the dirty silver 
 ones you ever saw, or will see." 
 
 THE TURKISH WIFE'S BATH-MONEY. 
 
 So important is bathing deemed among the Turks r 
 that it forms an item in every marriage contract. 
 The husband engages to allow his wife bath-money, 
 as we do pin-money; and if it be withheld, she has 
 only to go before the cadi, and turn her slipper 
 upside down. If the complaint be not then redressed, 
 it is a ground of divorce. 
 
 RACING FOR WIVES. 
 
 The Elk nation, in America, raised vast mounds. 
 Five of them were appropriated to matrimonial cere- 
 monies. The prophets, perceiving that compulsory 
 matrimonial unions engendered strife, instituted a 
 ceremony by which females might have power to-
 
 268 LOCAL MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 escape unwilling thraldom, without infringing on the 
 right of the parent to bestow the child. The cere- 
 monial consisted in running the ring or circular trail 
 around the matrimonial mounds, that were slightly 
 elevated, and made level and smooth. During the 
 annual feasts, the resident prophet occupied the sum- 
 mit of the prophet's matrimonial altar, dedicated to 
 the nation of which they were members. On the 
 appearance of a male at the base of the altar, the 
 prophet ascended it, and the suitor took a position 
 east of the altar and at its centre, the female taking 
 hers on the west. All being now ready, the prophet 
 commands the man to pursue his bride. They both 
 start at full speed ; and if she is overtaken before she 
 makes three circuits of the altar, she is his bride; 
 otherwise, he may not receive her in marriage. 
 
 CROWNING THE BRIDE IN NORWAY. 
 
 " Mildrid's cousin, Inga, who was now herself a 
 wife, had come to dress the bride. The dressing 
 was done in the store room ; and there they dragged 
 forwards the old chest wherein lay all the family 
 bridal trinkets, crown belt, neck-lace, brooch and 
 rings. The grandmother had the key of the chest, 
 and she herself came to open it : Beret followed to 
 help. Mildrid had already put on her bridal dress 
 and her own trinkets, when all these finer ornaments,
 
 CROWNING THE BRIDE IN NORWAY. 269 
 
 which the grandmother and Beret had been polishing 
 up the whole previous week, were at last brought to 
 light, glittering and massive. Piece after piece was 
 tried on. Beret held the looking-glass for the bride; 
 and the old woman told how many members of her 
 family had worn those same silver trinkets on the 
 day of their honour." Bjornsoris Bridal March. 
 
 MARRIAGE PORTIONS. 
 
 It was one of the laws of Lycurgus, that no 
 portions should be given with young women in 
 marriage. When this great law-giver was called 
 upon to justify this enactment, he observed, "That 
 in the choice of a wife, merit only should be con- 
 sidered ; and that the law was made to prevent young 
 women being chosen for their riches, or neglected 
 for their poverty." 
 
 LUCKY AND UNLUCKY DAYS. 
 
 In the parish of Logierait, Perthshire, and in the 
 neighbourhood, a variety of superstitious practices 
 still prevail about lucky and unlucky days. That 
 day of the week on which the fourteenth of May 
 happens to fall, for instance, is deemed unlucky 
 through all the remainder of the year; none marry 
 or begin any serious business upon it.
 
 270 LOCAL MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 None choose to marry in January or May, or to 
 have their banns proclaimed in the end of one quarter 
 of the year and marry in the beginning of the next 
 
 A LIBURNIAN CUSTOM. 
 
 The following curious custom prevailed at the 
 weddings of the Liburnians : 
 
 Before the dinner was over, the bride and guests 
 rose from the table, and she threw a cake, made of 
 coarse dough, called kolarh, over the roof of the 
 bridegroom's house. The happiness of the marriage 
 was supposed to be reckoned by the height she 
 threw the cake, and, as it was very hard, and the 
 houses low, the bride was almost always successful 
 in ensuring a lucky omen. She was attended by two 
 men, who presented her with shoes and stockings, 
 which she did not wear till her dance was over. By 
 way of return, she presented them with two or three 
 old handkerchiefs. 
 
 CREELING IN AYRSHIRE. 
 
 In 1792 the minister of Galston, in Ayrshire, men- 
 tions a singular custom there : When a young man 
 wishes to pay his addresses to his sweetheart, instead 
 of going to her father's and professing his passion, 
 he goes to a public house, and, having let the land-
 
 CREELING IN AYRSHIRE. 271 
 
 lady into the secret of his attachment, the object of 
 his wishes is immediately sent for, who seldom refuses 
 to come. She is entertained with ale and whisky, 
 or brandy; and the marriage is concluded on. The 
 second day after the marriage a "creeling," as it is 
 called, takes place. The young wedded pair, with 
 their friends, assemble in a convenient spot. A 
 small creel, or basket, is prepared for the occasion, 
 into which they put some stones : the young men 
 carry it alternately, and allow themselves to be 
 caught by the maidens, who have a kiss when they 
 succeed. After a great deal of innocent mirth and 
 pleasantry, the creel falls at length to the young 
 husband's share, who is obliged to carry it generally 
 for a long time, none of the young women having 
 compassion upon him. At last, his fair mate kindly 
 relieves him from his burden ; and her complaisance, 
 in this particular, is considered as a proof of her 
 satisfaction with the choice she has made. The 
 creel goes round again ; more merriment succeeds ; 
 and all the company dine together, and talk over 
 the feats of the field. Hone. 
 
 DOWERIES IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 The Highlanders give dowers according to their 
 means cattle, provisions, farm-stocking, &c. ; and 
 where the parents are unable to provide sufficiently,
 
 272 LOCAL MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 it is customary in Scotland for a newly-married 
 couple to " thig," or collect grain, &c., from their 
 neighbours, by which means they procure as much 
 as will serve for the first year, and often more. The 
 portion of a bride is called a tocher. The wedding 
 feasts are scenes of great mirth and hospitality. It 
 is often the case that they are "siller bridals," other- 
 wise, those in which the parties are paid for the 
 entertainment, which is sometimes resorted to as a 
 means of raising a few pounds to begin the world 
 with ; but the feasts are generally free, and consist of 
 an abundance of everything. 
 
 MARRIAGE CUSTOMS IN SCOTLAND, PRIOR TO 1750. 
 
 The bride's favours were all sewn on her gown, 
 from top to bottom, and round the neck and sleeves. 
 The moment the ceremony was performed, the whole 
 company ran to her and pulled off her favours ; in an 
 instant she was stripped of all of them. The next 
 ceremony was the garter, which the bridegroom's 
 man attempted to pull from her leg, but she dropt 
 it through her petticoat on the floor. This was a 
 white and silver ribbon, which was cut in small 
 morsels and distributed among the guests, every one 
 receiving a piece. The bride's mother then came in 
 with a basket of favours belonging to the bridegroom; 
 those of the bride's were the same, with the liveries of
 
 MARRIAGES IN SCOTLAND, PRIOR TO 1750. 273 
 
 their families her's pink and white, his blue and gold 
 colour. All the company dined and supped together, 
 and had a ball in the evening. 
 
 OLD HIGHLAND WEDDING CUSTOMS. 
 
 When a young couple are married, for the first 
 night the company keep possession of the dwelling- 
 house or cottage, and send the bride and bridegroom 
 to a barn or out-house, giving them straw, heath, or 
 fern for a bed, with blankets for their covering, and 
 then they make merry, and dance to the piper all the 
 night long. 
 
 Soon after the wedding-day, the new-married woman 
 sets herself about spinning her winding-sheet, and a 
 husband that would sell or pawn it is esteemed among 
 all men one of the most profligate. 
 
 At a young Highlander's first setting up for himself, 
 if he be of any consideration, he goes about among 
 his near friends and relations, and from one he 
 begs a cow, from another a sheep; a third gives 
 him seed to sow his land, and so on, till he has pro- 
 cured for himself a tolerable stock for a beginner. 
 This they call thigging.
 
 PART II.
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 MARRIAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS IN THE 
 NORTH OF ENGLAND. 
 
 IN the following notes will be found a few particulars 
 of Marriage Superstitions and Customs, chiefly relat- 
 ing to the North of England, a part of the country 
 where ancient rites and old superstitions still linger, 
 but ere long will, doubtless, disappear. It will not be 
 without interest to give an account of Divination, as 
 the matter is so closely connected with matrimony. 
 First, then, let us submit a notice of 
 
 ST. AGNES' FAST. 
 
 The eve of St. Agnes is a noted time for the fair 
 sex to work spells, with the object of peeping into the 
 future. The girl who would invoke St. Agnes pre- 
 pares by a fast, which must begin at midnight, on 
 the 2oth of January, and continue till the same hour 
 on the 2 ist. During this time she must take nothing
 
 278 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 but pure spring water. At midnight, on the 2ist, 
 she must go to bed and sleep by herself, neither 
 speaking nor looking to the right or left, nor behind 
 her. She must lie on her left side, and repeat three 
 times this triplet : 
 
 " Saint Agnes be a friend to me, 
 In the gift I ask of thee, 
 Let me in this night my husband see. " 
 
 The foregoing we noted in Derbyshire. We find in 
 Chambers's " Book of Days " a notice, as follows : 
 " If a maiden was wishful to obtain a knowledge of 
 her future husband, she would take a row of pins, 
 and, plucking them out one after another, stick them 
 in her sleeve, singing a whilst a paternoster, and 
 thus insure that her dreams that night would present 
 the person in question. On passing into a different 
 house from her ordinary residence, and taking her 
 right leg stocking, she might knit the left garter 
 round it, repeating-. 
 
 ' I knit this, this knot I knit, 
 To know the thing I know not yet, 
 That I may see 
 
 The man that shall my husband be. 
 Not in his best or worst array, 
 But what he weareth every day; 
 That I to-morrow may him ken 
 From amongst all other men.' 
 
 Lying down on her back that night, with her hands 
 under her head, the anxious maiden was led to
 
 ST. AGNES' FAST. 279 
 
 expect her future spouse would appear in a dream, 
 and salute her with a kiss." 
 
 Mr. William Henderson, in his " Notes on the 
 Folk Lore of Northern Counties of England and 
 the Borders," published in 1866, says: "St. Agnes' 
 Fast is thus practised throughout Durham and York- 
 shire. Two young girls, each desirous to dream 
 about their future husbands, must abstain through 
 the whole of St. Agnes' Eve from eating, drinking, 
 or speaking, and must avoid even touching their 
 lips with their ringers. At night they are to make 
 together ' dumb cake,' so called from the rigid silence 
 which attends its manufacture. Its ingredients (flour, 
 salt, water, &c.) must be supplied in equal propor- 
 tions by their friends, who must also take equal 
 shares in the baking and turning of the cake, and 
 in drawing it out of the oven. The mystic viand 
 must then be divided into two equal portions, and 
 each girl taking her share is to carry it upstairs, 
 walking backwards all the time; and, finally, eat it 
 and jump into bed. A damsel who duly fulfils all 
 these conditions, and has also kept her thoughts all 
 day fixed on her ideal of a husband, may confidently 
 expect to see her future partner in her dreams." 
 
 In Northumberland, Mr. Henderson tells us the 
 formula is somewhat different. There a number of 
 girls, after a day's silence and fasting, will boil eggs, 
 one apiece, extract the yolk, fill the cavity with salt,
 
 280 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 and eat the egg, shell and all, and then walk back- 
 wards, uttering this invocation to the saint : 
 
 "Sweet St. Agnes! work thy fast, 
 If ever it be to marry man, 
 Or man to marry me, 
 I hope him this night to see." 
 
 Or as follows : 
 
 "Fair St. Agnes! play thy part 
 And send to me my own sweetheart, 
 Not in his best or worst array, 
 But in the clothes of every day, 
 That to-morrow I may him ken 
 From among all men." 
 
 A raw herring, swallowed, bones and all, is said to 
 be equally efficacious, and, doubtless, is very pro- 
 ductive of dreams and visions. Northumbrian swains 
 sometimes adopt this plan to get a glance of their 
 future wives. 
 
 ST. MARK'S EVE. 
 
 The customs and superstitions of St. Mark's Eve 
 are numerous. The chief are as follows : 
 
 Watching the Smock. 
 
 In Poor Robin's Almanack for 1770, the following 
 lines occur : 
 
 On St. Mark's Eve, at twelve o'clock, 
 The fair maid will watch her smock, 
 To find her husband in the dark, 
 By praying unto good St. Mark.
 
 ST. MARK'S EVE. * 281 
 
 We suppose the custom was to hang up the chemise 
 at the fire before going to bed, the rest of the family 
 having gone to rest, the anxious maiden would plant 
 herself and wait till the resemblance of him who was 
 to be her husband should come in and turn the 
 garment. 
 
 Divination by Nuts. 
 
 This observance was carried out by a row of nuts 
 being placed amongst the hot embers on the hearth, 
 one from each maiden, and the name of the loved 
 one being mentioned, it was believed if it was in any 
 case to be successful, the nut would jump away; if 
 otherwise, it would go on composedly burning till all 
 was consumed : 
 
 If you love me, pop and fly ; 
 
 If not, lie there silently. 
 
 Riddling the Ashes. 
 
 In a "Glossary of Yorkshire Words and Phrases, 
 collected in Whitby and neighbourhood," and pub- 
 lished in 1855, the usage of ash riddling is referred to 
 as follows : On St. Mark's Eve the ashes are riddled 
 'or sifted on the hearth. Should any of the family 
 be destined to die within the year, a shoe will be 
 imprinted on the ashes. Many a mischievous wight, 
 says Grose, has made some of the superstitious inmates 
 miserable, by slily coming down stairs in the dark and 
 impressing the ashes with a shoe of one of the party.
 
 282 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 Watching in the Church Porch. 
 
 Mr. W. R. Elliott, of Alfreton, says, " Some couple 
 of generations ago it was devoutly believed by a 
 portion of the then inhabitants of Alfreton, that 
 whoever had the hardihood to watch the old church 
 porch during St. Mark's Eve would be gifted with the 
 power of prophecy for the ensuing twelve months, as 
 to who would be married and who would be buried of 
 the parishioners in the period, as the legend stated 
 that all passed the church porch in review during 
 the nocturnal watching of the mortal who dared to 
 test the ordeal. One, Joseph Dawes, who died an 
 old man, about 48 years ago, was stated to be a 
 watcher of the old church during the eve of St. Mark; 
 so much dread of the old man was felt by timorous 
 mothers, that some feared to meet him, for fear of 
 the dreaded fiat that a dearly loved child or husband 
 would be numbered with the dead before another 
 festival of St. Mark. It is quite true that a super- 
 stitious dread of the harmless old man was felt by 
 some weak-minded persons. Both the watcher and 
 his contemporaries have passed away, and there are 
 not many here now, save a solitary dyspeptic or two, 
 that place any faith in the prophetic festival of St. 
 Mark." We may add the parish church at Alfreton 
 is dedicated to St. Mark. William Andrews.
 
 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 283 
 MIDSUMMER OR ST. JOHN'S EVE LOVE-SPELLS. 
 
 Sowing Hempseed. 
 
 'Tis Midsummer eve, the much-dreaded, desired ; 
 
 'Tis the mystical eve of the Baptist St. John ; 
 The eyes that watched o'er us to rest have retired, 
 
 And midnight draws near we are now left alone. 
 
 Such grace hath the hour, 'twill the future make known ; 
 But test we the proof; to the garden let's steal; 
 Try the spell of the hempseed, our fates 'twill reveal. 
 
 Cross we but the threshold, and gain'd is the bower, 
 The watch-dog the steps of his mistress will know ; 
 
 So holy the season, all charms now have power, 
 The moon shining brightly above and below ; 
 All in turn to some undisclosed influence bow. 
 
 With the magical fernseed, Oh ! were we supplied, 
 
 That no one might see us invisibly glide. 
 
 Though now they no blessing-fires raise on each hill, 
 Through which to gain passage, or boldly leap o'er ; 
 
 Though no garlands are woven, in sign of good will, 
 Of the orpine or birch overshading each door, 
 Keeping foul things afar, as in bright days of yore ; 
 
 Yet, we'll sow the charmed hempseed, love's secret make 
 known, 
 
 'Tis the time, 'tis the time, 'tis the eve of St. John. 
 
 Caution ! ope the door gently, and forth let us go ; 
 
 All is silent ; fear nothing ; the garden is gained. 
 Now sow we the hempseed, now use we the hoe ; 
 
 Draw the mould softly o'er it, and all is attained ; 
 
 Pause not, and the wish of our hearts shall be gained.
 
 284 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 Yes, "hempseed I sow;" yes, "hempseed I hoe;" 
 Oh ! thou who'st to wed me come after and mow. 
 
 Ah ! a step. Some one follows. Oh ! dare I look back? 
 
 Should the omen be adverse, how would my heart writhe. 
 Love, brace up my sinews. Who treads on my track? 
 
 'Tis he, 'tis the loved one ; he comes with the scythe. 
 
 He mows what I've sown ; bound my heart and he blythe. 
 On Midsummer eve the glad omen is won; 
 Then hail to thy mystical vigil, St. John. 
 
 W. T. MONCRIEFF. 
 
 HEMPSEED SOWING AT ASHBOURNE. 
 
 Divinations or love-spells were formerly much prac- 
 tised by young maidens who hoped to gain some 
 knowledge as to their future husbands. One of the 
 most common of these was sowing the hempseed, 
 which was thus carried out at Ashbourne. 
 
 When a young maiden wished to learn who was 
 to be her future spouse she went to the churchyard, 
 and, as the clock struck the witching hour of twelve, 
 commenced running round the church continually 
 repeating the following lines: 
 
 I sow hempseed, hempseed I sow ; 
 
 He that loves me best 
 Come after me and mow. 
 
 After going round the church twelve times without 
 stopping, her lover was said to appear and follow her.
 
 HEMPSEED SOWING AT ASHBOURNE. 285 
 
 This ordeal she had to pass through alone, without 
 any companions, and we may well believe that if she 
 was of a nervous temperament, and with the excite- 
 ment of the long-continued race, her fancy would 
 conjure up a resemblance to some one whose love 
 she hoped to gain. 
 
 BURNING NUTS ON THE EVE OF ALL HALLOW. 
 
 We are indebted to our friend Mr. Joseph Barlow 
 Robinson, of Derby, for the following notes of the 
 practices of this season : 
 
 Halloween, the vigil of All Saints' Day, was for- 
 merly kept by our ancestors with much festivity, and 
 many spells and conjurations were practised by the 
 young of both sexes to gain a knowledge of their 
 future partner. "The nut burning charm was per- 
 formed after this fashion. A pair of nuts had the 
 name of a woman and man given to them, and were 
 then placed in the fire. If they burned quietly 
 together, then it promised a happy marriage, or a 
 hopeful love ; but if the female nut burned off with a 
 bang, or the male nut exploded with a crack, or if 
 they flew apart in any way, then it was useless for 
 that couple to think any more of each other, for their 
 courtship would be nothing but a series of bouncings, 
 bangs and cracks, which would be more likely to end 
 in perpetual misery than in a happy wedding day.
 
 286 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 But if the nuts should blaze together, and lie burning 
 side by side, motionless as love birds on the perch, 
 then the happy couple might make themselves easy 
 as to their settling in life." 
 
 The poet Gay thus refers to the custom : 
 
 Two hazel nuts I threw into the flame, 
 And to each nut I gave a sweetheart's name ; 
 This with the loudest bounce me sore amazed, 
 That in a flame of brightest colour blazed. 
 As blazed the nut, so may thy passion grow, 
 For 'twas thy nut that did so brightly glow. 
 
 Another charm was to go alone to a looking glass, 
 candle in hand, and eat an apple, or comb the hair 
 before it, and after a while they would see the face 
 of him or her they were to wed in the glass peeping 
 over their shoulder. 
 
 A third spell was to dip the left shirt sleeve in a 
 running stream, situated where three manors meet; 
 and after this to go to bed in view of the fire, hav- 
 ing previously hung the wet shirt before it. They 
 steadily gazed upon it until midnight, at which hour 
 the phantom figure of their intended spouse would 
 come and turn the other side of the sleeve to the fire 
 as if to dry it. 
 
 Other charms of similar character were carried out 
 on this night, which was famous as an anniversary 
 of the good fairies who were at hand to check the 
 machinations and baleful malevolence of the witches,
 
 BURNING NUTS ON EVE OF ALL HALLOW. 287 
 
 warlocks, and hobgoblins who were then supposed 
 to hold sway 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS DIVINATIONS. 
 
 We have noted the following examples in Yorkshire : 
 Get the first egg laid by a pullet and boil it, utter- 
 ing not a word during the boiling, and looking straight 
 into the fire all the time, and sitting on something 
 that has never been sat upon before, as, for instance, 
 a flat-iron, candlestick, astride a poker, or any other 
 article the fertile brain of the maiden may suggest. 
 When the egg is boiled and eaten she will go direct 
 to bed without speaking or making the least noise, 
 and go to sleep. She will then dream of the man 
 who will be her future husband. If a girl has more 
 than one admirer, and is wishful to decide which is to 
 be the favoured one, she will call the Bible and a key 
 to her aid in deciding her choice. The Bible being 
 opened at the passage in Ruth, " Whither thou goest 
 will I go," &c., the wards of the key are placed upon 
 the verses, she ties the book firmly with a piece of 
 cord, and having mentioned the name of an admirer, 
 very solemnly repeats the passage, at the same time 
 holding the Bible suspended by joining the ends of 
 her little fingers under the handle of the key. If the 
 key retain its position during the repetition of the 
 words, the person mentioned is considered to be
 
 288 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 rejected, and another name is tried, till the book 
 turns round and falls through the fingers, which is a 
 sure sign the person just named will marry her. 
 
 There is another plan for obtaining the name of a 
 future husband. The maiden must get a peas-cod 
 with nine peas in it, hang it upon the house door, and 
 whosoever comes first in at the door, she may rest 
 assured her sweetheart will have the same name. 
 
 About Wakefield and in other parts of Yorkshire, 
 the marriageable maidens get on the top of a gate 
 and look through a silk handkerchief at the first new 
 moon of the new year, and repeat the following 
 rhyme : 
 
 ' ' All hail to thee, new moon, 
 
 All hail to thee ! 
 I pray thee, new moon, 
 
 Reveal to me this night 
 Who shall my future husband be. " 
 
 The girl expects to have presented to her in her 
 dreams during the night her future husband. The 
 number of moons seen through the handkerchief 
 represents the number of years that must pass before 
 she becomes a wife. 
 
 The Lead Melting. 
 
 If a damsel is wishful to know the calling of her 
 future husband, she will, on New Year's Eve, melt 
 some lead and pour it into a glass of water, and
 
 MISCELLANEOUS DIVINATIONS. 289 
 
 observe the forms the drops assume. When they 
 resemble scissors, she concludes he will be a tailor; 
 if the form is that of a hammer, he will be a smith or 
 carpenter; and so forth. 
 
 At Hull, it is considered to be unlucky to go in 
 at one door and out of another when a person gets 
 married. It is also said whoever goes to sleep first 
 on the wedding night, will be the first to die. 
 
 When a newly-married pair first enter their house, 
 a person brings a hen and makes it cackle, in order 
 to produce good luck. 
 
 To rub shoulders with the bride or bridegroom, we 
 learn, is deemed an augury of speedy marriage ; and, 
 again, she who receives from the bride a piece of 
 cheese, cut by her before leaving the table, will be 
 the next bride among the company. 
 
 In some parts of the north of England, it is the 
 practice, as the newly-married wife enters her new 
 home in returning from church, for one of the oldest 
 inhabitants of the neighbourhood, who has been 
 stationed on the threshold, to throw a plateful of 
 shortbread over her head, so that it falls outside. A 
 scramble ensues, as it is deemed lucky to obtain a 
 piece of the bread, and dreams of lovers attend its 
 being placed under the pillow. There is in the East 
 Riding of Yorkshire a variation of this custom, for on 
 the arrival of the bride at her father's door, a plateful 
 of cake is thrown from an upper window upon the
 
 290 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 crowd below. If the plate reaches the ground with- 
 out breaking, it is said to be unlucky, but if it is 
 broken into a number of pieces it is looked upon as a 
 hopeful sign. 
 
 In remote parts of the large county of York, it is 
 the custom to pour a kettleful of boiling water over 
 the doorstep, just after the bride has left her old 
 home; and, they say, before it dries up another 
 marriage is sure to be agreed on. 
 
 We learn at the village of Danby, twelve miles 
 distant from Whitby, there existed until lately, and, 
 perhaps, may still remain, a curious marriage custom. 
 As soon as the sacred ceremony is finished, the 
 bridegroom places on the book held by the officiating 
 minister, a certain sum of money, from which the 
 latter subtracts the fee due to himself, and hands 
 over the remainder to the bride, as a little sum 
 towards defraying her first household expenses. 
 
 In the last century, we are told, " it was a custom, 
 for those who could afford it, to have what was 
 termed a ' riding wedding' that was, for those who 
 went to the marriage, to ride on horseback some- 
 times two or three persons on one horse, the bride 
 riding on a pillion behind the bridegroom to and from 
 church. The return home was often a helter skelter 
 gallop, as quick as the horses could go, in order 
 to be back first. Sometimes a silver cup was the 
 prize awarded to the first at home. It was also the
 
 MISCELLANEOUS DIVINATIONS. 2QI 
 
 practice to seek up a number of old shoes to throw 
 at or after the parties as they rode along." There is 
 no doubt but that this custom originated in the belief 
 which existed in former times, "that throwing an 
 old shoe after a person was considered lucky." 
 William Andrews. 
 
 In a Glossary of the Craven Dialect, by the late 
 Rev. W. Carr, of Bolton Abbey, there is furnished 
 some interesting notices of Yorkshire wedding customs. 
 Under the head of Bride-ale we are told, immediately 
 after the performance of the marriage ceremony a 
 ribbon is proposed as the prize of contention, either 
 for a foot or a horse race, to the future residence of 
 the bride. Should, however, any of the doughty 
 disputants omit to shake hands with the bride, he 
 forfeits all claim to the prize, though he be first in 
 the race. For the laws of the Olympic Games were 
 never more strictly adhered to than in the bridal race 
 of the Craven peasants. Even the fair were not 
 excluded in the horse race from this glorious contest. 
 Whoever had the good fortune to arrive first at the 
 bride's house, requested to be shown to the cham- 
 ber of the new-married pair. After turning down 
 the bed-clothes he returns, carrying in his hand a 
 tankard of warm ale, previously prepared, to meet 
 the bride, to whom he triumphantly offers his humble 
 beverage. He may go some distance before he meets 
 her, as nothing is deemed more unlucky than for the
 
 292 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 bride and bridegroom to gallop. The bride then 
 presents to him the ribbon as the honourable reward 
 of his victory. Thus adorned, he accompanies the 
 bridal party to their residence. I remember a race 
 of this kind being run from Hampsthwaite Church to 
 the bride's residence in Haverah Park, about forty- 
 three years ago, but cannot remember anything 
 particular about it. Again, under "Bride-cake" is 
 the following : " The bridal party, after leaving the 
 church, repair to a neighbouring inn, where a thin 
 currant-cake, marked in squares, though not entirely 
 cut through, is ready against the bride's arrival. 
 Over her head is spread a clean linen napkin, the 
 bridegroom standing behind the bride, breaks the 
 cake over her head, which is thrown over and 
 scrambled for by the attendants. The following 
 ceremony took place at Kettlewell, about four years 
 ago. The bridal party, on their way from church, 
 scattered halfpence for the boys to scramble for. 
 On arriving at their residence, before the bride 
 entered, the bridegroom spread over her head a white 
 cloth, and then took a plate, on which was some 
 small pieces of bride-cake, and threw the plate .and 
 all over her head ; it is considered unlucky if the 
 plate does not break. 'Nominy/ complimentary 
 verses addressed to a bride immediately after mar- 
 riage, by the first boy. of the school, who expects a 
 present in return. Should she refuse the accustomed
 
 MISCELLANEOUS DIVINATIONS. 293 
 
 gift, instances have been known when the young 
 petitioners have forcibly taken off the left shoe of the 
 bride. 'Pie-bridal/ the bride's pie, was so essential 
 a dish on the dining table, after the celebration of 
 the marriage, that there was no prospect of happiness 
 without it. This was always made round, with a 
 very strong crust, ornamented with various devices. 
 In the middle of it, the grand essential was a fat 
 laying hen, full of eggs, probably intended as an 
 emblem of fecundity. It was also garnished with 
 minced and sweet meats. It would have been 
 deemed an act of neglect or rudeness if any of the 
 party omitted to partake of it. It was the etiquette 
 for the bridegroom always to wait, on this occasion, 
 on his bride. 'Throwing the Stockin' was another 
 curious ceremony performed in Craven the evening 
 after marriage. When it was announced to the young 
 guests invited to the wedding that the happy pair 
 were retired, they instantly repaired to the bed-room, 
 where the bride and bridegroom sat up in bed, in full 
 dress, exclusive of their shoes and stockings. One 
 of the bridesmaids repeated an epithalamium. After- 
 wards she took the bridegroom's stocking, and 
 standing at the bottom of the bed, with her back 
 towards it, threw the stocking with the left hand 
 over the right shoulder, aiming at the face of the 
 bridegroom. This was done first by all the females 
 in rotation, and afterwards the young men took the
 
 294 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 bride's stocking, and in the same manner threw it at 
 her face. As the best marksman was to be married 
 first, it is easy to conceive with what eagerness and 
 anxiety this important ceremony was performed by 
 each party, as they doubtless supposed that the hap- 
 piness of their future lives depended on the issue. 
 
 Bride-wain was the name given to a waggon laden 
 with furniture presented to the bride when she left 
 her father's house. The horses were decorated with 
 ribbons. The custom is now obsolete. 
 
 One of Mr. W. Henderson's correspondents fur- 
 nishes a notice of a curious local custom lingering at 
 the village of Whitburn, near Sunderland. He speaks 
 of his own wedding, which occurred in 1865. He 
 says, " After the vestry scene, the bridal party having 
 formed in procession for leaving the church, we were 
 stopped in the porch by a row of five or six women, 
 ranged to our left hand, each holding a large mug 
 with a cloth over it. These were in turn presented 
 to me, and handed by me to my wife, who, after 
 taking a sip, returned to me. It was then passed 
 to the next couple, and so on in the same form to 
 all the party. The composition in these mugs was, 
 mostly, I am sorry to say, simply horrible; one or 
 two were very fair, one very good. They are sent to 
 the church by all classes, and are considered a great 
 compliment. I have never heard of this custom else- 
 where. Here it has existed within the memory of
 
 MISCELLANEOUS DIVINATIONS. 295 
 
 the oldest inhabitant ; and an aged fisherwoman, who 
 has been married some sixty-five years, tells me that 
 at her wedding there were seventy hot pots." 
 
 A great many of the superstitions noted in the 
 preceding pages still, or did until recent years, prevail 
 in the rural districts of Scotland. Those interested 
 in this department of our subject will find much 
 curious information in Burns' poem " Hallowe'en," 
 and in Dr. Robert Chambers's " Popular Rhymes of 
 Scotland." 
 
 WEDDING DAY SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 Before the Reformation, only thirty-two weeks in 
 the year were granted to pious people in which they 
 could contract marriage, in spiritual comfort, unless 
 they had purchased a special dispensation of an 
 ecclesiastical rule. The Church forbade marriages to 
 be celebrated between the first Sunday of Advent and 
 Hilary day, between Septuagesima and Low Sunday, 
 and between Rogation Sunday and Trinity Sunday. 
 
 At the commencement of the Register of St. Mary's 
 Parish, Beverley, Yorkshire, occur the following curi- 
 ous lines by the Rev. Nicholas Osgodby, who was at 
 the time vicar of the parish : 
 
 " Rules for Marriage, the Time, &>c. 
 " When Advent comes do thou refraine 
 Till Hillary sett ye free againe ;
 
 296 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 Next Septuagessima saith thee nay, 
 But when Low Sunday comes thou may; 
 Yet at Rogation thou must tarrie 
 Till Trinitie shall bid thee mary. 
 
 "Nov. 25, 1641." 
 
 The same injunctions are in another rhyme, as 
 follows : 
 
 "Advent marriage doth deny, 
 But Hilary gives thee liberty ; 
 Septuagesima says thee nay, 
 Eight days from Easter says you may ; 
 Rogation bids thee to contain, 
 But Trinity sets thee free again." 
 
 In the old Almanac Galen, 1642, it is stated: 
 
 ' ' Times prohibiting Marriage this year. 
 " From the 27 of November till January 13, 
 From Februarie 6 untill April 18, 
 From May 16 untill June 6." 
 
 Andrew Waterman, in his Almanac for 1655, fur- 
 nishes the following as the days when it is " good to 
 marry or contract a wife, for then women will be 
 fond and loving," viz. : 
 
 January 2, 4, II, 19 and 21. 
 February I, 3, 10, 19 and 21. 
 March 3, 5, 12, 20 and 23. 
 April 2, 4, 12, 20 and 22. 
 May 2, 4, 12, 20 and 23. 
 June I, 3, ii, 19 and 21.
 
 WEDDING DAY SUPERSTITIONS. 297 
 
 July i, 3, 12, 19, 21 and 31. 
 August 2, II, 18, 20 and 30. 
 September i, 9, 16 and 28. 
 October I, 8, 15, 17, 27 and 29. 
 November 5, n, 13, 22 and 25. 
 December I, 8, 10, 19, 23 and 29. 
 
 It will be observed we have given the preceding 
 notes from publications after the Reformation, and 
 we must state that " a considerable proportion of our 
 forefathers continued to respect them till the close of 
 the seventeenth century, and even later." We are 
 told by the well known antiquary, Mr. Llewellyn 
 Jewitt, F.S.A., that in some districts of Derbyshire a 
 kind of superstitious feeling regarding lucky and 
 unlucky days and seasons for marriages still lingers, 
 but few people regard them; they marry and are 
 given in marriage on every day in the year. A 
 proverb current in the Peak says: 
 
 ' ' Wed between sickle and scythe, 
 Nought they do ever thrive ;" 
 
 but, as a fact, more marriages take place between 
 the time of the sickle and the scythe, than between 
 the scythe and the sickle. 
 It is commonly said 
 
 " If you marry in Lent 
 You will live to repent. " 
 
 Mr. William Henderson tells us " But I fear that, 
 in point of fact, the month of May is more avoided
 
 298 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 in Scotland than the season of Lent. The prejudice 
 against marrying in May, which Lockhart calls a 
 classical as well as a Scottish one, was represented in 
 his own marriage, Sir Walter Scott hurrying away 
 from London that his daughter Sophia's wedding 
 might take place before that inauspicious month 
 commenced." As to the day, in an old rhyme we 
 
 are told - 
 
 " Monday for wealth, 
 Tuesday for health, 
 Wednesday the best day of all ; 
 Thursday for losses, 
 Friday for crosses, 
 And Saturday no luck at alL" 
 
 Next, as to the weather, a wet day is deemed 
 unlucky, while a fine one is auspicious. It is the 
 popular belief in all Christendom that 
 
 ' ' Blest is the bride that the sun shines on. " 
 
 It is a common saying in many parts of the 
 country 
 
 " To change the name and not the letter, 
 Is a change for the worst, and not for the better." 
 
 That is to say, it is deemed unlucky for a woman to 
 marry a man whose surname begins with the same 
 letter as her own. 
 We are told 
 
 " A whistling woman and crowing hen 
 Are neither good for God nor men. "
 
 WEDDING DAY SUPERSTITIONS. 299 
 
 The crowing of a hen is taken as a sign of evil, or a 
 token of death in the family ; no house, we are told, 
 can thrive if the hens are addicted to this mischief, 
 and a horror of a whistling woman is proverbial 
 throughout the world. 
 
 AN ODD WAY OF PAYING DEBTS. 
 
 Marriages en chemise, or in a white sheet, have 
 from time to time been celebrated. The Annual 
 Register for 1766 has the following: "A few days 
 ago a handsome, well-dressed young woman came to 
 a church in Whitehaven to be married to a man, who 
 was attending there with the clergyman. When she 
 had advanced a little into the church, a nymph, her 
 bride-maid, began to undress her, and by degrees 
 stript her to her shift; thus she was led blooming 
 and unadorned to the altar, where the marriage cere- 
 mony was performed. It seems this droll wedding 
 was occasioned by an embarrassment in the affairs of 
 the intended husband, upon which account the girl 
 was advised to do this, that he might be entitled to- 
 no other marriage portion than her smock." Mr. 
 Jeaffreson gives this elucidation of the custom : " It 
 being a legal doctrine, laid down in Bacon's ' Abridg- 
 ment,' that a husband was answerable for his wife's 
 debts, 'because he acquired an absolute interest in 
 her personal estate,' it was inferred by the populace
 
 300 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 that if he acquired no property with her, he could not 
 be compelled to satisfy the claims of her creditors." 
 "When a man," says Brand, "designs to marry a 
 woman who is in debt, if he take her from the hands 
 of the priest clothed only in her shift, it is supposed 
 that he will not be liable to her engagements." 
 Malcolm's " Anecdotes of London " are cited in 
 illustration : An extraordinary method was adopted 
 by a brewer's servant in February, 1723, to pre- 
 vent his liability for the payment of the debts 
 of a Mrs. Brittain, whom he intended to marry. 
 The lady made her appearance at the door of St. 
 Clement Danes habited in her shift; hence her 
 inamorato conveyed the modest fair to a neighbour- 
 ing apothecary's, where she was completely equipped 
 with clothing purchased by him; and in these Mrs. 
 Brittain changed her name at the church." Again, 
 the Chester Courant of June 24, 1800, is quoted: 
 " At Ashton Church, in Lancashire, a short time 
 ago, a woman was persuaded that if she went to 
 church naked, her intended husband would not be 
 burthened with her debts, and she actually went 
 as a bride like Mother Eve, but to the honour of 
 the clergyman, he refused the damsel the honours 
 of wedlock." Other instances are cited as follows : 
 "In Lincolnshire, between 1838 and 1844, a woman 
 was married enveloped in a sheet. And not many 
 years back a similar marriage took place; the
 
 AN ODD WAY OF PAYING DEBTS. 30! 
 
 clergyman, finding nothing in the rubric about 
 the woman's dress, thought he could not refuse to 
 marry her in her chemise only." George Walker, 
 linen weaver, and Mary Gee, of the George and 
 Dragon, Gorton Green, widow, were married at the 
 ancient chapel close by, on June 25, 1738. She 
 was in her "shift" sleeves during the ceremony, 
 believing that would make him free from her debts. 
 Nathan Alder married Widow Hibbert with only 
 a smock, for the same reason, at the old church 
 in the adjoining parish of Ashton-under-Lyne, on 
 March 7, 1771. 
 
 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MOLES. 
 
 Respecting moles some curious superstitions linger, 
 and much has been written on the subject. It is 
 stated in a work published in 1653, that "When a 
 mole appeareth on the upper side of the right temple, 
 above the eye, to a woman it signifies good and 
 happy fortune by marriage, and an industrious car- 
 riage." This was believed in Nottinghamshire in the 
 early part of this century, for a poor girl was often 
 heard to repeat the following lines : 
 
 I have a mole above my right eye, 
 
 And shall be a lady before I die. 
 
 As things may happen, as things may fall, 
 
 Who knows but that I may be Lady of Bunny Hall.
 
 302 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 We are told the poor girl's hopes were realized, she 
 ultimately becoming " Lady of Bunny Hall." 
 
 THE MARRIAGE DEITIES. 
 
 The marriage state was not without its peculiar 
 defenders in the way of Inferior Deities. Five deities 
 were esteemed so necessary, that no marriages were 
 solemnized without asking their favours; these were 
 Jupiter-Perfectus, or the Adult, Juno, Venus, Sua- 
 dela,* and Diana. Jugatinus tied the nuptial knot; 
 Domiducus ushered the bride home; Domitius took 
 care to keep her there, and prevent her gadding 
 abroad; Maturna preserved the conjugal union entire; 
 Virginensisj loosed the bridal zone or girdle; Viriplaca 
 was a propitious goddess, ready to reconcile the 
 married couple in case of any accidental difference. 
 Matuta was the patroness of matrons, no maid being 
 suffered to enter her temple. The married was 
 always held to be the only honourable state for 
 woman, during the times of pagan antiquity. The 
 goddess Vacuna,J is mentioned by Horace (Lib. i. 
 Epist. X. 49.) as having her temple at Rome; the 
 
 * The goddess of eloquence, or persuasion, who had always 
 a great hand in the success of courtship. 
 
 t She was also called Cinxia Juno. 
 
 J She was an old Sabine deity. Some make her the same 
 with Ceres ; but Varro imagines her to be the goddess of 
 victory.
 
 THE MARRIAGE DEITIES. 303 
 
 rustics celebrated her festival in December, after the 
 harvest was got in (Ovid. Fast. Lib. XI). 
 
 TRUE-LOVERS-KNOTS. 
 
 Among the ancient northern nations a knot seems 
 to have been the symbol of indissoluble love, faith, 
 and friendship. Hence the ancient runic inscriptions: 
 Hickes's, are in the form of a knot; and hence, 
 among the northern English and Scots, who still 
 retain, in a great measure, the language and manners 
 of the ancient Danes, that curious kind of knot, which 
 is a mutual present between the lover and his mistress, 
 and which, being considered as the emblem of plighted 
 fidelity, is therefore called "a true-love knot:" a term 
 which is not derived, as may be naturally supposed, 
 from the words " true" and " love," but formed from 
 the Danish verb "trulofa,"^&/# do, I plight my troth, 
 or faith. Thus, in the Islandic Gospels, the following 
 passage in the first chapter of St. Matthew confirms, 
 beyond a doubt, the sense here given "til einrar 
 Meyar er trulofad var einum Manne," &c. ; i.e. to a 
 virgin espoused; that is, who was promised, or had 
 engaged herself to a man, &c. Hence, evidently, the 
 "bride favours," or the "top-knots," at marriages, 
 which have been considered as emblems of the ties 
 of duty and affection between the bride and her 
 spouse, have been derived. Hone.
 
 304 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 ROSEMARY. 
 
 In a popular account of the manners of an 
 old country squire, he is represented as stirring 
 his cool-tankard with a sprig of rosemary. It 
 was usual at weddings to dip this grateful plant 
 in the cup, and drink to the health of the new- 
 married couple. Thus, a character in the old 
 play of "The City Madam," says 
 
 Before we divide 
 
 Our army, let us dip our rosemaries 
 In one rich bowl of sack, to this brave girl, 
 And to the gentleman. 
 
 Rosemary was borne in the hand at marriages. 
 Its virtues are enhanced in a curious wedding sermon.* 
 "The rosemary is for married men, the which, by 
 name, nature, and continued use, man challengeth as 
 properly belonging to himself. It overtoppeth all the 
 flowers in the garden, boasting man's rule : it helpeth 
 the brain, strengthened the memory, and is very 
 medicinal for the head. Another property is, it affects 
 the heart. Let this ros marimts, this flower of man, 
 ensign of your wisdom, love, and loyalty, be carried, 
 not only in your hands, but in your heads and 
 hearts." 
 
 * A Marriage Present by Roger Hackett, D.D., 1607, 4to., 
 cited by Brand.
 
 ROSEMARY. 305 
 
 At a wedding of three sisters together, in 1560, we 
 read of " fine flowers and rosemary strewed for them, 
 coming home; and so, to the father's house, where 
 was a great dinner prepared for his said three bride- 
 daughters, with their bridegrooms and company." 
 Old plays frequently mention the use of rosemary on 
 these occasions. In a scene immediately before a 
 wedding, we have 
 
 Lew. Pray take a piece of rosemary. 
 Mir. I'll wear it, 
 
 But, for the lady's sake, and none of yours. 
 
 In another we find "the parties enter with rose- 
 mary, as from a wedding." Again, a character 
 speaking of an intended bridegroom's first arrival, 
 says, "look, an the wenches ha' not found un out, 
 and do present un with a van of rosemary, and bays 
 enough to vill a bow-pot, or trim the head of my 
 best vore-horse." 
 
 It was an old country custom to deck the bridal- 
 bed with sprigs of rosemary. It is a jocular saying, 
 among country people, that, where the rosemary-bush 
 flourishes in the cottage garden, "the grey mare is 
 the better horse;" that is, the wife manages the 
 husbn nd. 
 
 Shakspeare intimates the old popular applications 
 of this herb. It was esteemed as strengthening to 
 the memory ; and to that end Ophelia presents it to
 
 306 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 Laertes. "There 's rosemary, that 's for remem- 
 brance; pray you, love, remember." In allusion to 
 its bridal use, Juliet's nurse asks Romeo, " Doth not 
 rosemary and Romeo both begin with a letter?" 
 And she intimates Juliet's fondness for him, by 
 saying, "she hath the prettiest sensations of it, of 
 you and rosemary, that it would do you good to 
 hear it." 
 
 It was usual at weddings to dip the rosemary in 
 scented waters. Respecting a bridal, it is asked in 
 an old play, " Were the rosemary branches dipped ?" 
 Some of Herrick's verses show that rosemary at wed- 
 dings was sometimes gilt. 
 
 The two-fold use of this fragrant herb is declared 
 in the " Hesperides " by an apostrophe : 
 
 To the Rosemary Branch. 
 
 Grow for two ends, it matters not at all, 
 Be 't for my bridal or my burial. 
 
 Hone. 
 
 BRIDAL COLOURS. 
 
 Iii a curious old book, called " The Fifteen 
 Comforts of Marriage," a conference concerning 
 bridal colours, in dressing up the bridal bed by the 
 bridemaids, is introduced not, say they, with yellow 
 ribbands, these are the emblems of jealousy not 
 with fueille morf, that signifies fading love but with 
 true-blue, that signifies constancy, and green denotes
 
 BRIDAL COLOURS. 307 
 
 youth put them both together, and there's youthful 
 constancy. One proposed blew and black, that 
 signifies constancy till death ; but that was objected 
 to, as those colours will never match. Violet was 
 proposed as signifying religion ; this was objected to 
 as being too grave : and at last they concluded to 
 mingle a gold tissue with grass-green, which latter 
 signifies youthful jollity. For the bride's favours, 
 top-knots, and garters, the bride proposed blew, gold- 
 colour, popingay-green, and Union-colour objected to, 
 gold-colour, signifying avarice ; popingay-green, wanton- 
 ness. The younger bride-maid proposed mixtures 
 flame-colour, flesh-colour, willow, and milk-white. The 
 second and third were objected to, as flesh-colour 
 signifies lasciviousness, and willow forsaken. It was 
 settled that red signifies justice, and sea-green incon- 
 stancy. The milliner, at last, fixed the colours as 
 follows : for the favours, blue, red, peach-colour, and 
 orange-tawny ; for the young ladies' top-knots, flame- 
 colour, straw-colour signifying plenty, peach-colour, 
 grass-green, and milk-white; and for the garters, a 
 perfect yellow, signifying honour and joy. 
 
 MIDSUMMER EVE. 
 
 Midsummer is the time with girls for discovering 
 who shall be their husbands; why so, is more than 
 any other, I cannot tell, unless, indeed, the sign
 
 308 SUPERSTITIONS CONCERNING MARRIAGE. 
 
 Gemini, which the sun then leaves, is symbolical of 
 the wedding union; but, however that may be, a 
 maiden will walk through the garden at midsummer, 
 with a rake on her left shoulder, and throw hemp- 
 seed over her right, saying, at the same time, 
 
 " Hemp-seed I set, hemp-seed I sow, 
 The man that is my true-love come after me and mow." 
 
 It is said by many who have never tried it, and 
 some who have, without effect, that the future hus- 
 band of the hemp-sowing girl will appear behind her 
 with a scythe, and look as substantial as a brass 
 image of Saturn on an old timepiece. Or if, at 
 going to bed, she put her shoes at right angles with 
 each other, in the shape of a T, and say 
 
 " Hoping this night my true-love to see, 
 I place my shoes in the form of a T," 
 
 they say she will be sure to see her husband in a 
 dream, and perhaps in reality, by her bed-side. Be- 
 sides this, there is another method of divination. A 
 girl, on going to bed, is to write the alphabet on 
 small pieces of paper, and put them into a basin of 
 water with the letters downward ; and it is said that 
 in the morning she will find the first letter of her 
 husband's name turned up, and the others as they 
 were left. Hone.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE WEDDING RING. 
 
 THE history and ancient lore connected with the 
 wedding ring is so curious and pleasing, that we think 
 it cannot fail to interest our readers. In the dimness 
 of the past we must commence our investigations, and 
 through the varied changes of many centuries bring 
 down the subject to the present time. 
 
 According to heathen mythologists, the first to 
 design the ring was Prometheus, "and the workman 
 who made it, Tubal Cain, of whom there is mention 
 made in the fourth chapter of Genesis, that he wrought 
 cunningly in every craft of brass and iron ; and Tubal 
 Cain, by the counsel of our first parent, Adam, gave 
 it unto his son to this end, that therewith he should 
 espouse a wife, as Abraham delivered unto his 
 servant bracelets and ear-rings of gold, which he gave 
 to Rebecca, when he chose her to be Isaac's wife, as 
 we may read in the same book of Genesis." But the 
 first ring was not of gold, but of iron, adorned with 
 an adamant, the metal hard and durable, signifying 
 the continuance and perpetuity of the contract ; the
 
 310 THE WEDDING RING. 
 
 vertuous adamant, drawing the iron unto it, signifying 
 the perfect unity and indissoluble conjunction of their 
 minds, in true and perfect love. However, to deal 
 with facts and not mythology, it appears, from 
 good authority, that the Egyptians were the first 
 to introduce rings, and at an early period. We 
 have the foregoing statement confirmed in the per- 
 son of Joseph, who, as stated in the ninth chapter 
 of Genesis, having interpreted Pharaoh's dream, 
 received not only his liberty, but was awarded his 
 prince's ring, a collar of gold, and the superintendency 
 of Egypt. 
 
 From the third book of Jewish Antiquities, by 
 Josephus, we learn, the Israelites had the use of 
 rings after passing the Red Sea, because Moses, on 
 his return from Mount Sinai, found that they had 
 forged the gold calf from their wives' rings, enriched 
 with precious stones. Moses, again, upwards of 
 400 years before the wars of Troy, permitted to the 
 priests he had established the use of gold rings, 
 enriched with precious stones. The high priest wore 
 upon his ephod a kind of camail and rich rings, 
 that served as clasps; a large emerald was set 
 and engraved with mysterious names. The ring he 
 wore on his finger was of inestimable value and 
 celestial virtue. Had not Aaron, the high priest of 
 the Hebrews, a ring on his finger, whereof the dia- 
 mond, by its virtues, operated prodigious things?
 
 THE WEDDING RING. 311 
 
 For it changed its vivid lustre into a dark colour, 
 when the Hebrews were to be punished by death 
 for their sins. When they were to fall by the sword 
 it appeared of a blood colour; if they were innocent 
 it sparkled as usual. 
 
 Passing on towards profane history, we find that 
 Homer is silent in regard to rings, both in his Iliad 
 and Odyssey. They were, notwithstanding, used 
 in the time of the Greeks and Trojans; and from 
 them they were received by several other nations. 
 The Lacedaemonians, as related by Alexander, ab. 
 Alexandra, pursuant to the orders of their king, 
 Lycurgus, had only iron rings, despising those of 
 gold ; either their king was thereby willing to retrench 
 luxury, or to prohibit the use of them. 
 
 We may here state that the rings of the ancients 
 were commonly used for seals. Alexander the Great, 
 after the death and defeat of Darius, used his ring for 
 sealing the letters he sent into Asia, and his own 
 for those he sent to Europe. 
 
 In Rome, it was customary for the bridegroom to 
 send to the bride, before marriage, an iron ring, 
 without stone or collet, to denote how lasting their 
 union ought to be, and the frugality they were to 
 observe together; but luxury shortly afterwards 
 gained ground, and a necessity arose for moderating 
 it. Caius Marius did not wear a ring of gold till his 
 third consulship; and Tiberius, as Suetonius says,
 
 312 THE WEDDING RING. 
 
 made some regulations in the authority of wearing 
 rings; for, besides the liberty of birth, he required 
 a considerable revenue, both on the father and 
 grandfather's side. 
 
 We are told, "when children were betrothed by 
 the Anglo-Saxons, the bridegroom gave a pledge or 
 wed, part of which consisted of a ring, which was 
 placed on the maiden's right hand, where it remained 
 until the actual marriage, when it was transferred to 
 the left hand." 
 
 Rings made of rushes were at one time used in 
 England, and in other parts of Europe, for the pur- 
 pose of deluding girls into mock marriages. In the 
 year of grace, 1217, the Bishop of Salisbury thus 
 referred to the practice: 
 
 " Let no man put a ring of rush, or of any other 
 material, upon the hands of young girls, by way of 
 mock celebration, for the purpose of seducing them, 
 that while believing he is only perpetrating a jest, he 
 may not in reality find himself bound irrevocably to 
 the connubial yoke." Shakspeare, in "All's Well 
 that Ends Well," refers to rush rings. Greene and 
 Spencer also refer to them; and Fletcher, in his 
 "Two Noble Kinsmen," says 
 
 " Rings she made 
 
 Of rushes that grew by, and to 'em spoke 
 The prettiest posies : Thus our true loves ty'd ; 
 This you may loose, not me ? and many a one."
 
 THE WEDDING RING. 313 
 
 From a song by Sir William Davenant, we take 
 this passage 
 
 " I'll crown thee with a garland of straw then, 
 And I'll marry thee with a rush ring." 
 
 An old song, called the "Winchester Wedding," 
 states 
 
 " Pert Strephon was kind to Betty, 
 
 And blithe as a bird in the spring ; 
 And Tommy was so to Katy, 
 
 And wedded her with a rush ring." 
 
 In France, we have many traces of the use of rush 
 rings. 
 
 Wedding rings have been made of various mate- 
 rials : we may mention gold, silver, iron, steel, copper, 
 brass, leather and sedge. There are numerous cases 
 on record of people being married with iron rings, 
 after the manner of the Romans in the time of Pliny. 
 Even within comparatively recent time the ring of 
 the church key has been used in more than one 
 rural English church. More curious still, it is stated 
 by the eminent author, Mr. John Cordy Jeaffreson, 
 that "a leather ring, made on the spur of the 
 moment out of a piece of kid, cut from the bride's 
 glove, whilst her friends vainly sought her from 
 garret to basement in the house from which she 
 had eloped, was used some years since as an instru- 
 ment of matrimony, and the pledge of enduring 
 love, at a wedding solemnised clandestinely in the
 
 314 . THE WEDDING RING. 
 
 chief church of our provincial towns." In the Fleet 
 marriages, curtain rings were used, and the clergyman 
 who officiated at the irregular wedding of the Duke 
 of Hamilton with one of the lovely Gunnings, used 
 a similar ring. How different is the opinion enter- 
 tained of the metal to be used in making wedding 
 rings, in the south-western parts of Ireland. There, 
 it is believed unless the wedding ring be golden the 
 marriage lacks validity. If the people are too poor 
 to purchase the circlets made of the precious metal, 
 hoops of gold are hired. It seems that not long 
 ago a tradesman in Munster made a considerable 
 addition to his income by letting out rings of gold 
 to persons about to marry, and who after the cere- 
 mony returned them. In Yorkshire, it was deemed 
 very lucky to be married with a borrowed ring, and 
 numerous cases have come under our notice where 
 borrowed rings have been used. 
 
 The Quakers object to the use of a ring in their 
 marriages on account of its heathenish origin, but 
 many ladies of the Society of Friends wear a wedding 
 ring after the ceremony. We find it stated in a 
 recent Metropolitan publication : " In the account 
 of the marriage which was celebrated a few days 
 ago at the Friends' Meeting House in St. Martin's 
 Lane, between Mr. Theodore Harris and the daughter 
 of Lord Charles Russell, we read 'A ring was on 
 this occasion put on after the actual ceremony was
 
 THE WEDDING RING. 315 
 
 finished, in deference to ancient custom, which the 
 rules of the Society have not been strong enough to 
 break through.' It will have at once occurred to 
 most of our readers that the rules of the Society 
 must have been strong indeed, if, on this particular 
 occasion, they had been able to overrule the time- 
 honoured custom which directs that a ring shall be 
 placed upon the bride's finger, as a symbol and an 
 evidence of the rite that has been completed. Miss 
 Russell was not at the time of her marriage, and 
 we have no reason to suppose that she has since 
 become, or has any intention of becoming, a member 
 of the Society of Friends; and for Mr. Harris, her 
 husband, to have refused her the privilege of wearing 
 a wedding ring, merely because he happened to be 
 a Friend, would, indeed, have been the height of 
 fanaticism. But it would seem that Mrs. Harris is 
 not the only lady who has been married at a Friends' 
 Meeting House, who has insisted upon the wedding 
 ring. Even brides who have belonged to the Society 
 have, in defiance of the rules of the sect, asserted 
 their right to the ring. The most demure of Quaker- 
 esses have, on this point, been firmly heterodox. In so 
 doing, they have, we think, shown their good sense." 
 
 Another writer says "A great many cases must 
 suggest themselves to every one of our readers, in 
 which the want of a wedding ring might prove a 
 cause of exceeding annoyance to the lady who was
 
 31 6 THE WEDDING RING. 
 
 so unfortunately circumstanced. But the wedding 
 ring is not merely of great use and comfort to the 
 wearer. It is of inestimable service also to the people 
 with whom a married lady comes in contact. The 
 so-called 'ceremony of introduction' is now-a-days 
 such a very slip-shod ceremony, that it often happens 
 to a man to take down to dinner, or to lead out to 
 dance, a lady whose name he has not caught. The 
 word ' Mrs.,' as usually pronounced by persons on 
 this side of the Tweed, is very apt to be mistaken for 
 'Miss,' if uttered in a crowded room in which con- 
 versation is going on. There is thus very often no 
 telling whether one's partner is married or not, until 
 the fourth finger of her left hand can be caught sight 
 of, and if upon it no wedding ring appears, there is 
 no saying what unpleasant consequences may follow. 
 In former times the 'Friends" objection to wedding 
 rings if it were ever carried out, as we should be 
 disposed to agree with the reporter, whom we have 
 already quoted, it never has been might not have 
 occasioned so much inconvenience as it would now. 
 It was the universal habit of Quakers to dress after 
 a peculiar fashion. Then, no one could ever doubt 
 whether a lady with whom he happened to be in 
 conversation was a member of the Society of Friends 
 or not. But now-a-days more is the pity, perhaps 
 Quakeresses have discarded the demure and quaintly- 
 cut garments in which, if Nature had been kind to
 
 THE WEDDING RING. 317 
 
 them, they were wont to look so extremely attractive. 
 At present there is little or nothing by which to tell 
 a young Quakeress from any other young woman. 
 She ties her skirts back just as if she had been 
 baptised. She wears as much of somebody else's 
 hair as if she were a member of the Church as by 
 law established. Her heels are as high as the 
 doctrines of the most Ritualistic clergyman. Her 
 garments are sometimes as bright coloured as those 
 of the most assiduous devotee of fashion. Hence it 
 follows that, whatever may have been the case with 
 the Quakeress of times past, the Quakeress of the 
 present day cannot, if married, get along comfortably 
 without a wedding ring on her finger." 
 
 The members of the Society of Friends are not 
 alone in rejecting the use of the ring in marrying, for 
 it is not used in the Protestant Church in Switzerland, 
 nor by the Mormons. During the Commonwealth 
 the Puritans tried to abolish the use of the wedding 
 ring, on account of its pagan invention. The fact is 
 referred to by Butler, in his Hudibras, as follows : 
 
 Others were for abolishing 
 
 That tool of matrimony, a ring 
 
 With which the unsanctify'd bridegroom 
 
 Is marry'd only to a thumb 
 
 (As wise as ringing of a pig, 
 
 That's used to break up ground and dig), 
 
 The bride to nothing but her will 
 
 That nulls the after-marriage still.
 
 31 8 THE WEDDING RING. 
 
 In " Finger Ring Lore," we find a curious account of 
 a small wedding ring : " Perhaps one of the smallest 
 wedding rings on record is that which is mentioned 
 in the fian^ailles of the Princess Mary, daughter 
 of Henry VIII., to the Dauphin of France, son 
 of King Francis I. The fiance was represented 
 on that occasion by Admiral Bonnivet, the French 
 Ambassador. The Dauphin was born February 28, 
 1518, and the event of his birth was made a matter 
 of State policy, for a more intimate alliance with 
 France. On October 5, of the same year, the bridal 
 ceremonies took place at Greenwich with great pomp. 
 King Henry took his station in front of the throne; 
 on one side stood Marie of France and Queen 
 Katherine; in front of her mother was the Princess 
 Marie, just two years old, dressed in cloth of gold, 
 with a cap of black velvet on her head, blazing with 
 jewels. On the other side stood the two legates, 
 Wolsey and Campeggio. After a speech by Dr. 
 Tunstal, the Princess was taken in arms \ the consent 
 of the King and Queen was demanded, and Wolsey 
 approached with a diminutive ring of gold, fitted to 
 the young lady's finger, in which was a valuable 
 diamond. Admiral Bonnivet, as proxy for the baby 
 bridegroom, passed it over the second joint. The 
 bride was blessed, and mass performed by Wolsey, 
 the King and the whole Court attending it." 
 
 The great lexicographer, Dr. Samuel Johnson,
 
 THE WEDDING RING. 319 
 
 appears to have had considerable veneration for a 
 wedding ring. Under date of March 28, 1753, he 
 wrote thus : " I kept this day as the anniversary 
 of my Lett/s death, with prayers and tears in the 
 morning. In the evening I prayed for her condi- 
 tionally, if it was lawful." Her wedding ring was 
 preserved by him, as long as he lived, with an 
 affectionate care, in a little round wooden box, and 
 in the inside of which was a slip of paper inscribed : 
 
 "Ehen! Eliz. Johnson, nuptajul. 9, 1736; mortua, 
 ehen! Mart. 17, 1752." 
 
 In a London newspaper it was stated, Mr. John 
 Lomax, bookseller, of Lichfield, who died lately at 
 the age of eighty-nine, possessed, among many other 
 Johnsonian relics, this wedding ring of Mrs. Johnson. 
 We think we cannot bring our notes to a close in 
 a better manner, than by giving the following notice 
 of the wedding ring by Dean Cowler. He says: 
 "The matter of which this ring is made is gold, 
 signifying how noble and durable our affection is; 
 the form is round, to imply that our respects or 
 regards shall never have an end; the place of it is 
 on the fourth finger of the left hand, where the 
 ancients thought there was a vein that came directly 
 from the heart, and where it may be always in view; 
 and, being a finger least used, where it may be least 
 subject to be worn out; but the main end is to be
 
 32O THE WEDDING RING. 
 
 a visible and lasting token of the covenant which 
 must never be broken." 
 
 THE GIMMAL RING. 
 
 The gemmal, gimmal, or geminal ring was for 
 many generations a most popular love-ring in this 
 country. A capital account of it is given by Hone 
 in his " Every Day Book." By that able writer we 
 are told the gimmal ring is comparatively of modern 
 date. It would seem that we are indebted for the 
 design to the ingenious fancies of our Gallic neigh- 
 bours, whose skill in diversifying the symbols of the 
 tender passion has continued unrivalled, and in the 
 language of whose country the mottoes employed on 
 almost all the amorous trifles are still to be found. 
 It must be allowed, that the double hoop, each 
 apparently free, yet inseparable, both formed for 
 uniting, and complete only in their union, affords a 
 not unapt representation of the married state. 
 
 Among the numerous "love-tokens" which lovers 
 have presented to their mistresses, in all ages, the 
 ring bears a conspicuous part; nor is any more 
 likely than the gimmal to "steal the impression of 
 a mistress's fantasy," as none so clearly expresses its 
 errand. 
 
 From a simple love-token, the gimmal was at 
 length converted into the more serious "sponsalium
 
 THE GIMMAL RING. 321 
 
 annulus," or ring of affiance. The lover putting his 
 finger through one of the hoops, and his mistress one 
 of hers through the other, were thus, symbolically, 
 yoked together; a yoke which neither could be said 
 wholly to wear, one half being allotted to the other. 
 In this use of the gimmal may be seen typified, "a 
 community of interests, mutual forbearance, and a 
 participation of authority." 
 
 The French term for it \sfoi, or alliance; which 
 latter word, in the " Dictionnaire de Trevoux," is 
 defined, "bague ou jonc que faccorde donne a son 
 accordee, ou il y a un fil d'or, et un fil d 1 argent" 
 This definition not only shows the occasion of its 
 use, but supposes the two hoops to be composed, 
 one of gold, the other of silver; a distinction evidently 
 meant to characterise the bridegroom and bride. 
 Thus Columella calls those vines which produce two 
 different sorts of grapes, "gemella? vites." 
 
 Our English glossaries afford but little information 
 on the subject. Minshew refers the reader from 
 gimmal to gemow; the former he derives from " gemel- 
 lus," the latter from the French "jumeau;" and he 
 explains the gcmow ring to signify " double or twinnes, 
 because they be rings with two or more links." 
 Neither of the words is in Junius. Skinner and 
 Ainsworth deduce gimmal from the same Latin 
 origin, and suppose it to be used only of some- 
 thing consisting of correspondent parts, or double.
 
 322 THE GIMMAL RING. 
 
 Dr. Johnson gives it a more extensive signification; 
 he explains gimmal to mean, "some little quaint 
 devices, or pieces of machinery," and refers to Han- 
 mer : but he inclines to think the name gradually 
 corrupted from geometry or geometrical, because, says 
 he, " any thing done by occult means is vulgarly said 
 to be done by geometry." 
 
 The word is not in Chaucer, nor in Spenser ; yet 
 both Blount in his " Glossography," and Philips in 
 his "World of Words," have geminals: which they 
 interpret twins. 
 
 Shakspeare has gimmal in two or three places; 
 though none of the commentators seem thoroughly 
 to understand the term. 
 
 Gimmal occurs in " King Henry the Fifth," act iv., 
 scene 2, where the French lords are proudly scoffing at 
 the condition of the English army. Grandpree says 
 
 " Their horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks, 
 With torch-staves in their hand; and thek poor jades 
 Lob down their heads, dropping the hides and hips : 
 The gum down-roping from their pale -dead eyes ; 
 And in their pale dull mouths the gimmal bit 
 Lies foul with chewed grass, still and motionless." 
 
 We may understand the gimmal bit, therefore, 
 to mean either a double bit, in the ordinary sense 
 of the word (duplex), or, which is more appropriate, 
 a bit composed of links, playing one within another 
 (gemellus).
 
 THE GIMMAL RING. 323 
 
 In the " First Part of King Henry the Sixth," after 
 the French had been beaten back with great loss, 
 Charles and his lords are concerting together the 
 farther measures to be pursued, and the king says 
 
 " Let's leave this town, for they are hare-brain'd slaves, 
 And hunger will enforce them to be more eager : 
 Of old I know them ; rather with their teeth 
 The walls they'll tear down, than forsake the siege. " 
 
 To which Reignier subjoins 
 
 " I think, by some odd gimmals or device, 
 Their arms are set, like clocks, still to strike on, 
 Else ne'er could they hold out so, as they do ; 
 By my consent we'll e'en let them alone. " 
 
 Some of the commentators have the following 
 note upon this passage : " A gimmal is a piece of 
 jointed work, where one piece moves within another; 
 whence it is taken at large for an engine. It is 
 now vulgarly called 'gimcrack.'" Archdeacon Nares 
 instances a stage direction in " Lingua," an old play 
 " Enter Anamnestes (a page to Memory) in a 
 grave sattin sute, purple buskins, &c., a gimmal ring 
 with one link hanging." He adds, that gimmal rings, 
 though originally double, were by a farther refine- 
 ment made triple, or even more complicated; yet 
 the name remained unchanged. Herrick, in his 
 " Hesperides," has the following verses:
 
 324 THE GIMMAL RING. 
 
 The Jinimal Ring, or Tme-love-knot. 
 
 Thou sent'st to me a true-love-knot ; but I 
 Return'd a ring of jimmals, to imply 
 Thy love had one knot, mine a triple-tye. 
 
 According to Randle Holme, who, under the term 
 " annulet," figures the gimmal ring,* Morgan, in his 
 " Sphere of Gentry," speaks of " three triple gimbal 
 rings borne by the name of Hawberke :" which Mr. 
 Nares says was " evidently because the hawberk was 
 formed of rings linked into each other." A further 
 illustration of the gimmal ring may be gathered from 
 the following passage: "It is related in Davis 's .Rites 
 of the Cathedral of Durham that over our lady of 
 Bolton's altar there was a marvellous, lively, and 
 beautiful image of the picture of our lady, called the 
 lady of Bolton, which picture was made to open with 
 gimmes (or linked fastenings) from the breast down- 
 ward; and within the said image was wrought and 
 pictured the image of our Saviour, marvellously finely 
 
 gilt."f 
 
 I find that the brass rings within which the sea- 
 man's compass swings, are by the seamen called 
 gimbals. This is the only instance I can discover of 
 the term being still used. The gimmal ring appears 
 in common language to have been called a.j0tnt-nng. 
 
 * Academy of Armory, b. iii., c. 2, p. 20. 
 f Hone on Ancient Mysteries,
 
 THE GIMMAL RING. 325 
 
 There is a passage relating to it in Dryden's " Don 
 Sebastian." 
 
 " A curious artist wrought 'cm, 
 
 With joynts so close as not to be perceiv'd ; 
 
 Yet are they both each other's counterpart. 
 
 (Her part had Juan inscrib'd, and his had Zayda, 
 
 You know those names were theirs) : and, in the midst, 
 
 A heart divided in two halves was plac'd. 
 
 Now if the rivets of those rings, inclos'd, 
 
 Fit not each other, I have forg'd this lye : 
 
 But if they join, you must for ever part." 
 
 According to other passages in this play one of 
 these rings was worn by Sebastian's father : the other 
 by Almeyda's mother, as pledges of love. Sebastian 
 pulls off his, which had been put on his finger by his 
 dying father: Almeyda does the same with hers, 
 which had been given her by her mother at parting : 
 and Alvarez unscrews both the rings, and fits one 
 half to the other. 
 
 THE RING FINGER. 
 
 From the works of William Hone we cull some 
 interesting notes respecting the ring finger. We are 
 told that the wedding ring is worn on the fourth finger 
 of the left hand, because it was anciently believed 
 that a small artery ran from this finger to the heart. 
 Wheatley, on the authority of old missals, calls it a 
 vein. "It is," he says, "because from thence there
 
 326 THE RING FINGER. 
 
 proceeds a particular vein to the heart. This, 
 indeed," he adds, " is now contradicted by experience : 
 but several eminent authors, as well gentiles as Chris- 
 tians, as well physicians as divines, were formerly 
 of this opinion, and, therefore, they thought this 
 finger the properest to bear this pledge of love, that 
 from thence it might be conveyed as it were to the 
 heart." 
 
 Levinus Lemnius, speaking of the ring finger, 
 says, that "a small branch of the artery, and not of 
 the nerves, as Gellius thought, is stretched forth from 
 the heart unto this finger, the motion whereof you 
 may perceive evidently in all that affects the heart 
 in women, by the touch of your fore-finger. I used 
 to raise such as are fallen in a swoon by pinching 
 this joint, and by rubbing the ring of gold with a 
 little saffron; for, by this, a restoring force that is 
 in it passeth to the heart, and refresheth the fountain 
 of life, unto which this finger is joined. Wherefore 
 antiquity thought fit to compass it about with gold." 
 According, also, to the same author, this finger was 
 called " Medicus ; " for, on account of the virtue it 
 was presumed to derive from the heart, "the old 
 physicians would mingle their medicaments and 
 potions with this finger, because no venom can stick 
 upon the very outmost part of it, but it will offend 
 a man, and communicate itself to his heart."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 POESIES AND RING INSCRIPTIONS. 
 
 " Emblem of happiness, not bought nor sold, 
 Accept this modest Ring of virgin gold ! 
 Connubial love disdains a fragile toy, 
 Which rust can tarnish, or a touch destroy. 
 Its gentle pressure serves to keep the mind 
 To all correct to one discreetly kind. 
 Of simple elegance, th' unconscious charm ; 
 The holy amulet, to keep from harm ; 
 To guard at once, and consecrate the shrine, 
 Take this dear pledge it makes and keeps thee mine. " 
 
 Herrick. 
 
 WITHIN the hoop of the ring, it was customary, 
 from the middle of the sixteenth to the close of the 
 eighteenth century, to inscribe a motto or "poesy," 
 consisting of a very simple sentiment. In this chap- 
 ter we shall submit various examples of inscriptions 
 copied from ancient rings and other sources. This 
 is a matter to which frequent reference has been made 
 by the old poets. In the " Merchant of Venice," 
 by Shakspeare (act v., scene i), when Portia asks
 
 328 POESIES AND RING INSCRIPTIONS. 
 
 Gratiano the reason of his quarrel with Nerissa, he 
 replies 
 
 About a hoop of gold, a paltry ring, 
 That she did give me ; whose posy was, 
 For all the world, like cutler's poetry 
 Upon a knife Love me, and leave me not. 
 
 Hamlet asks, at the conclusion of the triple lines 
 of rhyme uttered by the players at the commence- 
 ment of their tragedy (act iii., scene 2) 
 
 " Is this a prologue, or the posy of a ring?" 
 
 In "As You Like It" (act iii., scene 2), Jaques 
 remarks 
 
 "You are full of petty answers; have you not been 
 acquainted with goldsmiths' wives, and conn'd them out of 
 rings?" 
 
 We find in Ben Johnson's comedy, " The Magnetic 
 Lady," the parson, compelled to form a hasty wed- 
 ding, asking 
 
 " Have you a wedding ring?" 
 
 To which he receives a reply 
 
 "Ay, and a posie : 
 Annulus hie nobis, quod sic utergue, daKt." 
 
 He exclaims 
 
 " Good ! 
 
 This ring will give you what you both desire ; 
 
 I'll make the whole house chant it, and the parish. "
 
 POESIES AND RING INSCRIPTIONS. 329 
 
 Herrick, in his " Hesperides," sings 
 
 ' ' What posies for our wedding-rings, 
 What gloves we'll give and ribbonings !" 
 
 And in his " Church Miserie " 
 
 " Indeed, at first, man was a treasure; 
 A box of jewels, shop of rarities, 
 A ring whose posie was my ' pleasure. ' " 
 
 From the same work we again quote, "The Posie" 
 
 " Leese than the least 
 Of all Thy mercies is my posie still : 
 This on my ring, 
 This, by my picture, in my book I write. " 
 
 The following lines from Herrick, if not so long, 
 would be one of the best of posies : 
 
 "And as this round 
 
 Is nowhere found 
 To flow, or else to sever, 
 
 So let our love 
 
 As endless prove, 
 And pure as gold for ever." 
 
 In Davison's "Poetical Rhapsody," 1611, occurs 
 the following sonnet on the wedding ring : 
 
 Upon sending his Mistress a Gold Ring -with this Poesie 
 
 " PURE and ENDLESS." 
 If you would know the love which I you bear, 
 Compare it to the ring which your fair hand 
 Shall make more precious, when you shall it wear: 
 So my Love's nature you shall understand.
 
 330 POESIES AND RING INSCRIPTIONS. 
 
 Is it of metal pure ? so you shall prove 
 
 My Love, which ne'er disloyal thought did stain. 
 Hath it no end ? so endless is my Love, 
 
 Unless you it destroy with your disdain. 
 Doth it the purer grow the more 'tis tried ? 
 
 So doth my love ; yet herein they dissent, 
 That whereas gold the more 'tis purified 
 
 By growing less, doth show some part is spent ; 
 My love doth grow more pure by your more trying, 
 
 And yet increaseth in the purifying. 
 
 Respecting the usage of having posies on rings, 
 in Puttenham's "Art of English Poesie," published 
 1589, it is stated: "There be also another like 
 epigrams that were sent usually for New Year's gifts, 
 or to be printed or put upon banketting dishes of 
 sugar-plate, or of March paines, etc.; they were 
 called Nenia or Apophoreta, and never contained 
 above one verse, or two at the most, but the shorter 
 the better. We call them poesies, and do paint 
 them now-a-dayes upon the back sides of our fruit- 
 trenchers of wood, or use them as devises in ringes 
 and armes." 
 
 Anne of Cleves received from Henry VIII. with 
 a posy 
 
 " God send me well to kepe." 
 
 It was a most unpropitious alliance, for he of the 
 "field of cloth and gold" expressed his dislike to 
 her soon after the marriage. 
 
 In 1624, appeared a collection of posies, under the
 
 POESIES AND RING INSCRIPTIONS. 331 
 
 title of " Love's Garland, or Posies for Rings, Hand- 
 kerchiefs, and Gloves, and such pretty Tokens as 
 Lovers send their Loves." 
 
 The following examples we take from " The Card 
 of Courtship, or the Language of Love, fitted to the 
 Humours of all degrees, senes, and conditions," pub- 
 lished in 1653 : 
 
 Thou art my star be not irregular. 
 
 Without thy love I backward move. 
 
 Thine eyes so bright are my chief delight. 
 
 This intimates true lovers' states. 
 
 My life is done when thou art gone. 
 
 This hath no end my sweetest friend. 
 
 Our loves be so no ending know. 
 
 We select a few specimens of posies from "The 
 Mysteries of Love and Eloquence, or the Arts of 
 Wooing and Complimenting; as they are managed in 
 the Spring Garden, Hyde Park, the New Exchange, 
 and other eminent places." London : 1658 : 
 
 Thou wert not handsome, wise, but rich ; 
 'Twas that which did my eyes bewitch. 
 
 Whom God hath joined let no man put asunder. 
 
 Divinely knit by God are we, 
 
 Late two, now one, the pledge you see. 
 
 We strangely met, and so do many, 
 But now as true as ever any.
 
 332 POESIES AND RING INSCRIPTIONS. 
 
 As we begun so let's continue. 
 
 My beloved is mine and I am her's. 
 
 True blue will never fade. 
 
 Against thou goest I will provide another. 
 
 In loving thee, I love myself. 
 
 A heart content cannot repent. 
 
 I do not repent that I gave my consent. 
 
 No gift can show the love I owe. 
 
 What the eye saw the heart hath chosen. 
 
 More faithful than fortunate. 
 
 Love him who gave thee this ring of gold, 
 'Tis he must kiss thee when thou'rt old. 
 
 This circle, though but small about, 
 The devil, jealousie, shall keep out. 
 
 If I think my wife is fair, 
 What need other people care ? 
 
 This ring is a token I gave to thee, 
 That thou no tokens do change for me. 
 
 My dearest Betty is good and pretty. 
 
 I did then commit no folly 
 When I married my sweet Molly. 
 
 'Tis fit men should not be alone, 
 Which made Tom to marry Jone. 
 
 Su is bonny, blythe, and brown, 
 This ring hath made her now my own. 
 
 Like Phillis there is none, 
 She truly loves her Choridon.
 
 POESIES AND RING INSCRIPTIONS. 333 
 
 We have noted Double Posies, as follows : 
 
 Constancy and heaven are round, 
 And in this the emblem's found. 
 
 As God hath knit our hearts in one, 
 Let nothing part but death alone. 
 
 God our love continue ever, 
 
 That we in heaven may live together. 
 
 Weare me out, love shall not waste, 
 Love beyond lyvie still is placed. 
 
 Weare this text, and when you looke 
 Uppon your finger, sweare by th' booke. 
 
 Let me never take a wife 
 
 That will not love her as his life. 
 
 If in thy love thou constant bee, 
 My heart shall never part from thce. 
 
 There is no other, and I am he, 
 That loves no other, and thou art she. 
 
 Eye doth find, heart doth chose, 
 Faith doth bind, death doth lose. 
 
 As God hath made my chyce in thee, 
 So move thy heart to comfort mec. 
 
 God yt hath kept thy heart for mee, 
 Grant that our Love may faithful bee. 
 
 The eye did find, ye heart did cliu. < .-, 
 The hand doth bind, till death doth loose.
 
 334 POESIES AND RING INSCRIPTIONS. 
 
 First feare ye Lord then rest content, 
 So shall wee live and not repent. 
 
 Divinely knit by grace are wee, 
 
 Late two, now one, ye pledge here see. 
 
 Breake not thy vow to please the eye, 
 But keepe thy love, so live and dye. 
 
 We next furnish a list of Ring Mottoes, from 
 wedding rings previous to the eighteenth century : 
 
 Love thy chast wife beyond thy life. 1601. 
 
 I love the rod and thee and God. 1646. 
 
 Pray to love; love to pray. 1649. 
 
 More weare more were. 1652. 
 
 Late two, now one : the pledge here see. 1657. B. 6 A. 
 
 In thee my choice I doe rejoice. 1677. y. jf. D. 
 
 In loving wife spend all thy life. 1699. 
 
 Endless as this shall be our bliss. 1719. Thos. Bliss. 
 
 Be truly wise lest death surprise. 
 
 In thee my choice I doe rejoice. 
 
 God for me appointed thee. 
 
 Virtue passeth riches. 
 
 Let me in thee most happy bee. 
 
 Live in love and fear the Lord. 
 
 No force in love can move in affixed love. 
 
 God hath sent my heart's content. 
 
 Godly love will not remove.
 
 POESIES AND RING INSCRIPTIONS. 335 
 
 United hartes death only partes. 
 
 You and I will lovers die. 
 
 I have obtained what God ordained. 
 
 We joyn our love in Christ above. 
 
 God gives increase to love and peace. 
 
 Let reason rule affection. 
 
 God did decree our unitie. 
 
 Heart content cannot repent. 
 
 Live, love, and be happie. 
 
 Noe heart more true than mine to you. 
 
 Thy consent is my content. 
 
 In thee I find content of mind. 
 
 Of all the rest I love thee best 
 
 A blessing we do hope to see. 
 
 In love devine we love to joine. 
 
 Hearts united live contented. 
 
 In love and joy I will live and die. 
 
 In thy breast my heart shall rest 
 
 The love is true that I. O. U. 
 
 My love is fixed I will not range. 
 
 I like my choice too well to change. 
 
 This is the thing I wish to win. 
 
 My promise past shall ever last 
 
 I joy to find a constant mind. 
 
 Well projected if accepted. 
 
 God's blessing be on thee and me.
 
 33<5 POESIES AND RING INSCRIPTIONS. 
 
 Love him in heart whose joy thou art. 
 As Christ decreed so we agreed. 
 A loving wife prolongeth life. 
 
 The reader will have found some of the posies 
 and inscriptions very appropriate and tender; others 
 quaint and whimsical. Not the least curious amongst 
 the latter is that, well-known, of Dr. John Thomas, 
 Bishop of Lincoln, in 1753, who had been married 
 three times. On his fourth espousals he had the 
 following motto inscribed on her wedding ring: 
 
 If I survive 
 
 I will make thee five. 
 
 It is stated in Burke's " Anecdotes of the Aristo- 
 cracy," that Lady Cathcart, in marrying her fourth 
 husband, Hugh Macguire, had inscribed on her 
 wedding ring 
 
 If I survive 
 
 I will have five. 
 
 Bishop Cokes displayed better taste, for the ring 
 he presented to his wife on their marriage-day bore 
 representations of a hand, a heart, a mitre, and a 
 death's-head, with the motto 
 
 These three I give to thee, 
 Till the fourth set me free. 
 
 We bring our notes to a close with the following 
 poem, containing allusion to the emblematical pro- 
 perties of the wedding ring :
 
 POESIES AND RING INSCRIPTIONS. 337 
 
 To S D , WITH A RING. 
 
 Emblem of happiness, not bought, nor sold, 
 
 Accept this modest ring of virgin gold, 
 
 Love in the small, but perfect, circle trace, 
 
 And duty, in its soft, though strict embrace. 
 
 Plain, precious, pure, as best becomes the wife ; 
 
 Yet firm to bear the frequent rubs of life. 
 
 Connubial love disdains a fragile toy, 
 
 Which rust can tarnish, or a touch destroy ; 
 
 Nor much admires what courts the gen'ral gaze, 
 
 The dazzling diamond's meretricious blaze, 
 
 That hides, with glare, the anguish of a heart 
 
 By nature hard, tho' polish'd bright by art. 
 
 More to thy taste the ornament that shows 
 
 Domestic bliss, and, without glaring, glows. 
 
 Whose gentle pressure serves to keep the mind 
 
 To all correct, to one discreetly kind. 
 
 Of simple elegance th' unconscious charm, 
 
 The holy amulet to keep from harm ; 
 
 To guard at once and consecrate the shrine, 
 
 Take this dear pledge It makes and keeps thee mine. 
 
 The above lines are culled from a collection of poems 
 printed at Dublin in 1801; to Mr. William Hone, we 
 must give credit to making them known.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ARISTOCRATIC AND HISTORICAL 
 MARRIAGES. 
 
 MUCH that is interesting in matrimonial manners 
 and customs may be gleaned from the wedding 
 incidents of the upper classes in bygone days. A 
 recent writer in a popular journal has brought 
 together a number of notable transactions of this 
 nature, in which the peculiarities of individuals, and 
 the freaks of fashion, are stated in a manner at once 
 captivating and racy, and to which we have made 
 some additions, Amongst the brides of the last 
 generation the following may be named : 
 
 " Those goddesses, the Gunnings'," whose beauty 
 was so peerless, and whose reign was so brilliant. 
 They were untitled and undowered Irish girls. They 
 were the daughters of Mr. Gunning, of Castlecoote, 
 and of a daughter of Viscount Mayo. The marriage 
 of the parents is thus recorded in Pue's Occurrences: 
 "October 23rd, 1731, John Gunning, Esq., of the 
 Middle Temple, London, was married to the Hon.
 
 ARISTOCRATIC AND HISTORICAL MARRIAGES. 339 
 
 Miss Biddy Burke, daughter of Lord Mayo, a young 
 lady of uncommon accomplishments, and to-morrow 
 they set out for London." The marriages of the 
 two " goddesses " are given in JExshcm/s Magazine, 
 
 The eldest girl, Maria, Countess of Coventry, was 
 born in 1733; the other daughter, Elizabeth, Duchess 
 of Hamilton, and afterwards Duchess of Argyll, was 
 born in 1734. They were brought to London and to 
 Court in 1751, at the ages of nineteen and eighteen, 
 and were married within three weeks of each other, 
 the younger going first to the altar. We have a 
 great deal of gossip about the lovely pair in Wai- 
 pole's and Selwyn's memoirs, and other belles kttres 
 of the time. In 1751, Walpole wrote: "The two 
 Miss Gunnings are twenty times more the subject of 
 conversation than the ministers. They are two Irish 
 girls of no fortune, who are declared the handsomest 
 women alive. They can't walk in the park, or go to 
 Vauxhall, but such crowds follow them that they are 
 generally driven away. They make more noise than 
 any of their predecessors since the days of Helen," 
 &c., &c. They went one day to see Hampton Court, 
 and while they were there another company of 
 visitors, inquiring for the " Beauty Room," was shown 
 into the apartment in which the Gunnings happened 
 to be by the housekeeper, saying, " This way, ladies ; 
 here are the beauties." Another time, when the
 
 34 ARISTOCRATIC AND HISTORICAL MARRIAGES. 
 
 Duchess of Hamilton was passing through a town- 
 in Yorkshire, seven hundred people sat up all night, 
 in and about the inn, to see her get into her coach 
 next morning. On another occasion, at a Drawing- 
 room, the Court nobles clambered on chairs and 
 tables to get a look at her. There were always 
 mobs to see them get into their chairs, and people 
 used to take their places early in the day at the 
 theatres when it was known they were going. Lady 
 Coventry died at twenty-seven years of age killed, 
 it was said, by the poison of the paint which she laid 
 on her face in quantities as to check perspiration. 
 Walpole and Selwyn seemed to have preferred the 
 beauty of Lady Coventry to that of her sister. It 
 was she who heedlessly said to George the Second, 
 in his old age, that "she was quite satisfied with 
 the sights she had seen, and that the only thing left 
 for her to see now was a coronation*!" The account 
 of Elizabeth's marriage is peculiar. The Duke of 
 Hamilton was making such violent love that he lost 
 a thousand pounds one evening, in a short time, at 
 faro, at Lord Chesterfield's, without going to his 
 table or looking at his cards. Two nights after, 
 being alone with her in her mother's house ; he was 
 so impatient to be married that he sent for a parson. 
 The parson came, but refused to marry, as there was 
 neither license nor ring. The Duke swore he would 
 send for the Archbishop of Canterbury, and at last
 
 ARISTOCRATIC AND HISTORICAL MARRIAGES. 34! 
 
 they were married with a bed curtain ring, at half- 
 past twelve at night, in Mayfair Chapel. Walpole 
 adds, that the Scotch were angry and the women 
 mad at so much beauty having its effect. In three 
 weeks after the sister was married. The sister Eliza- 
 beth, Duchess of Hamilton, became a widow in 
 1758, and in the following year became a duchess 
 again, the Duchess of Argyll. She was also created 
 Baroness Hamilton in her own right. She was thus 
 the wife of two dukes and the mother of four, two of 
 her sons by each marriage having succeeded to their 
 respective dukedoms. She died in 1790. 
 
 Not less remarkable and romantic than those of 
 the Gunnings were the matrimonial alliances of the 
 four Miss Burrells. Their father was a Commissioner 
 of Excise, and the four girls married, respectively, 
 an Earl of Beverly, a Duke of Northumberland, a 
 Duke of Hamilton, and, secondly, a Marquis of 
 Exeter, and a private gentleman of large fortune 
 in Cambridge. Of the four girls, the last named, 
 who made the poorest match, was the handsomest, 
 or rather the only handsome one. Their matri- 
 monial successes, unaided either by birth, wealth, 
 influence, or beauty, form a chapter without a parallel 
 in English social history. Their brother was equally 
 successful in matrimony; he married an heiress and 
 a. peeress, and became a peer himself. 
 
 The two great beauties of George II.'s Court were
 
 342 ARISTOCRATIC AND HISTORICAL MARRIAGES. 
 
 Miss Belldenden and Mary Lepel. They were maids 
 of honour to Queen Caroline, were courted by all the 
 men of fashion, and celebrated by most of the wits 
 of the time. Walpole says that Miss Belldenden was 
 charming in face and figure, and the most perfect 
 creature he ever knew. She hated and resisted 
 George II., married for love Colonel Campbell, and 
 became Duchess of Argyll. Her son, Lord F. Camp- 
 bell, in 1785, married the Countess of Fermoy, widow 
 of the Earl, who had tried to murder her, and was 
 hanged for shooting his steward. The Countess was 
 a great beauty, and in her extreme old age she was 
 burned to death. 
 
 No less lovely was her contemporary, Mary, wife 
 of Lord Hervey, and mother of two Earls of Bristol, 
 one of them being the detestable Bishop of Derry. 
 One of her daughters was married to Phipps, Earl 
 of Mulgrave, and grandson of Catherine Sedley and 
 James II. Her memoirs, as well as those of her 
 husband, are entertaining, and, like the Countess of 
 Fermoy, she was burned in her goth year. She was 
 the daughter of a brigadier-general. Voltaire, Pope, 
 and Gay have celebrated her beauty. 
 
 One of her sons was the first husband of the 
 bigamous Miss Chudleigh, who, during her lifetime, 
 married the Duke of Kingston. Her's is an alto- 
 gether extraordinary story. She was a great beauty, 
 and she was married to Lord Bristol, then a lieutenant
 
 ARISTOCRATIC AND HISTORICAL MARRIAGES. 343 
 
 in the navy, in a country church privately. They 
 parted in anger the morning after the wedding; 
 she returning as Miss Chudleigh to Court, and he 
 going off in his ship to sea. The marriage was not 
 acknowleged, and when, on his return from sea, they 
 met once, and she had a child in consequence, the 
 event was concealed with every secrecy, and the 
 child soon died. To rid herself from her husband's 
 annoyances, and to be able to marry the Duke of 
 Kingston, who had long been in love with her, she 
 managed to destroy the entry of her marriage in the 
 parish register, and, the husband consenting to the 
 scheme for a large bribe, she became the duchess. 
 On the Duke's death she was prosecuted for bigamy 
 (1776) and perjury in Westminster Hall, before her 
 peers, and found guilty. The Attorney-General 
 wanted to have her burned in the hand, but she 
 claimed her peer's privilege, and was let off on 
 paying the usual fees. There were produced against 
 her on the trial the mutilated register, a living witness 
 of the first marriage, the widow of the clergyman 
 who married her, the doctor who attended her in 
 her confinement, &c., &c. Lord Bristol, her first 
 husband, afterwards repeated the suit in the Ecclesi- 
 astical Court, with a view of obtaining a divorce. 
 Walpole has a curious account of a breakfast and 
 ball at her house while she was still Miss Chudleigh, 
 and of the furniture, and how she got it. The Duke
 
 344 ARISTOCRATIC AND HISTORICAL MARRIAGES. 
 
 of Kingston was the lord of the festival. Miss 
 Chudleigh used to be called "The Virgin." Mrs. 
 Delany gives a lively account of the trial, which 
 "she did not attend herself, though having a ticket 
 for the Queen's box, as she was a little clouded by 
 old father time," being then seventy-six years old. 
 Her young people went at seven in the morning; 
 she waited dinner for them till half-past four, and no 
 longer; they came at seven, "starved after twelve 
 hours' fasting, ate their little dinner voraciously 
 (mutton chops, lamb pie, lobster and apple puffs), 
 then they drank their coffee and came to her little 
 drawing-room." The show of the trial was awful 
 and splendid ; the duchess walked in very decently, 
 dressed in black silk. Greatly to the general satis- 
 faction, the shameless duchess is degraded into as 
 shameless an actress. Surely there never was so 
 thorough an actress. Garrick says, "She had so 
 much out-acted him it is time for him to leave the 
 stage. One should search the jails amongst the 
 perjured, notorious offenders for a parallel to such 
 an infamous character. She has, however, escaped 
 the searing of her hand, by claiming her peerage 
 exemption from corporal punishment. It is astonish- 
 ing how she was able to speak for three-quarters 
 of an hour, which she did yesterday." 
 
 A celebrated beauty, whose beauty proved a 
 damnosa hereditas, was Miss Ray, who about the
 
 ARISTOCRATIC AND HISTORICAL MARRIAGES. 345 
 
 same period was shot dead by a young clergyman 
 as she was stepping into her carriage on leaving 
 Covent Garden Theatre. She was of humble birth, 
 and was originally bound to a dressmaker. While 
 still quite young, Lord Sandwich, the First Lord of 
 the Admiralty, persuaded her to become his mistress, 
 and in this relation she had lived with him seventeen 
 years, and borne him nine children. Besides her 
 striking beauty of person, she possessed all the graces 
 of culture and accomplishments, her noble lover, 
 who was most tenderly attached to her, having had 
 her educated in every branch of polite feminine 
 literature and art. Her murderer also, the Rev. 
 James Hackman, was hopelessly in love with her, 
 and shot her, and, as he thought, himself, in despair. 
 Hackman was arrested by Sir John Fielding, the 
 police magistrate, and Boswell was present at his 
 execution.* About this time Walpole says "that 
 the Kingdom of Beauty was in as great disorder as 
 the Kingdom of Ireland." 
 
 In 1770 the three Miss Montgomerys were cele- 
 brated Irish beauties, the leaders in the amateur 
 theatricals of the day, along with Grattan's sisters, 
 and other fashionables. They were the daughters 
 of Sir William Montgomery, Ireland and Scotland. 
 The three were one of Sir Joshua Reynold's most 
 
 * April 19, 1779.
 
 346 ARISTOCRATIC AND HISTORICAL MARRIAGES. 
 
 famous groups, and the picture was called "The 
 Graces." 
 
 Like their contemporary beauties above named the 
 three Montgomery girls made good matches the 
 eldest marrying Lord Mountjoy, the second the 
 Right Hon. J. Beresford, and the third Marquis 
 Townshend, Lord Lieutenant. The three were short- 
 lived. R. B. Sheridan's mother was intimate with 
 their mother, Lady Montgomery, in Dublin. Lord 
 Mountjoy, who was killed at the battle of New Ross, 
 in 1798, on Miss Montgomery's death, chose for his 
 second wife (1783) Miss Wallis, a Dublin milliner, 
 of most surpassing beauty. 
 
 Mr. Beresford, son of the Earl of Tyrone, a man 
 of great wealth, fashion, and position, married first 
 a French belle, Mdlle. Le Gondoz, in 1760, of an 
 old Roman Catholic French family. She became a 
 Protestant to marry her lover, and was converted 
 by Dr. Cobbe, Archbishop of Dublin. She died in 
 1774, when Mr. Beresford married the beautiful 
 Barbara Montgomery, who died in 1795. 
 
 In 1773 her equally beautiful sister, "young Lady 
 Townshend," was presented at Court, when, as Mrs. 
 Delany says, "various were the opinions of her 
 beauty. The men say she is handsome, the ladies 
 that she is pretty." 
 
 There were many other very celebrated beauties 
 also about that time, beauty as well as other things
 
 ARISTOCRATIC AND HISTORICAL MARRIAGES. 347 
 
 seeming to follow the law of periodicity and coin- 
 cidence, and choosing to manifest itself at intervals 
 and by bursts. 
 
 Then there were the four charming and headstrong 
 Lennox girls, daughters of the Duke and Duchess of 
 Richmond. The eldest, Lady Caroline, married Fox, 
 first Lord Holland, and was mother of Charles J. 
 Fox; she had shaven off her eyebrows to disgust 
 another lover, and during the seclusion consequent 
 on the shaving, she eloped with Fox. It is not 
 surprising that a few years after Fox opposed the 
 Clandestine Marriages Bill, which would have annul- 
 led his own marriage. The second Lennox girl, 
 Lady Emily, married the Duke of Leinster, bore him 
 nineteen children, and after his death, married Mr. 
 Ogilvy, the tutor, and bore him two more. She was 
 mother of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. The third girl, 
 Lady Louisa, married Thomas Conolly, of Celbridge. 
 The fourth, Lady Sarah, refused George III., and 
 married for her second husband the father of the 
 great Napiers. The same Lady Sarah played " Jane 
 Shore," in the private theatricals at Holland House, 
 in company with Charles James Fox. She was 
 bridesmaid at her lover's, George III., wedding, 
 where a Jacobite peer mistook her for the Queen, 
 and George Selwyn said that the "old fellow was 
 always fond of 'The Pretenders.'" The Napiers 
 lived at Celbridge, near the Conollys, and not far
 
 348 ARISTOCRATIC AND HISTORICAL MARRIAGES. 
 
 from Carton ; so that the three sisters were all here 
 together, and reigning and shining in the same 
 firmament at the same time. 
 
 About the same favoured period (1750) flourished 
 "The Three Fitzroy Beauties," daughters of the 
 Duke of Grafton Ladies Euston, Conway, and 
 Petersham. Lady Dorothy Euston was unfortunate 
 in a brutal husband, who broke her heart in a 
 couple of years. The youngest sister Lady Caroline 
 Petersham, was by some judges preferred for beauty 
 to Lady Coventry (Miss Gunning); and Walpole 
 tells us how she went a few miles out of London to 
 play cards the night of the Lisbon earthquake panic, 
 and came back in the morning expecting to find her 
 husband and house in ashes and ruins. 
 
 Another great beauty was Lady Craven, daughter 
 of the Earl of Berkley, who married Lord Craven, 
 about 1770, lived with him thirteen years, bore him 
 seven children, and then left him, travelled, wrote 
 her memoirs, and died at Naples about fifty years 
 ago. 
 
 There was "Lady Di Beauclerc," daughter of a 
 Duke of Marlborough, and married to Lord Boling- 
 broke, whom she divorced to marry Dr. Johnson's 
 friend, Topham Beauclerc. 
 
 There was Anne Luttrell, Mrs. Horton, daughter 
 of Lord Carhampton, married to H.R.H. the Duke 
 of Cumberland in 1771.
 
 ARISTOCRATIC AND HISTORICAL MARRIAGES. 349 
 
 Lady Susan Strangways, daughter of Lord Ilchester, 
 niece of Lord Holland, and one of the Holland 
 House private theatricals party just named, showed 
 her love for the stage by marrying O'Brien, the 
 actor. 
 
 Not long after, Lady Henrietta Wentworth, daugh- 
 ter of the Marquis of Rockingham, married her own 
 footman, and came to live in Ireland with him, after 
 having sold her grand dresses, and bought calico 
 ones to suit her new estate. 
 
 Edward, i2th Earl of Derby, married Miss Farren, 
 the actress, 1797 (grandmother, we believe, to the 
 present earl), his first wife having been a daughter 
 of the Duke of Hamilton. 
 
 In 1785 the Duke of Bolton married Lavinia 
 Fenton, who (as well as Peg Woffington) captivated 
 the world by her Polly in the "Beggar's Opera." 
 It is said that, after the Duke's death, his widow, 
 after leading a virtuous married life, " relapsed into 
 Pollydom " with an Irish surgeon at Tunbridge. 
 Poor Peg herself was born here in 1719, and was 
 taken up by Madame Violante. She afterwards 
 played for Sheridan in Smock Alley Theatre. She 
 was the rival of Mrs. Bracegirdle, and of "Kitty" 
 Clive, and said of the latter that she was "a hook 
 without the bait." Peg, in her lifetime, played many 
 parts, and had amongst her admirers lords, provosts 
 of college, and actors. One of her lovers was jealous
 
 350 ARISTOCRATIC AND HISTORICAL MARRIAGES. 
 
 of Garrick, and she calmed him by declaring that 
 "she hadn't seen Garrick since morning, and wasn't 
 that an age?" Peg turned Protestant in 1756 to 
 obtain a legacy. Her sister married the Hon. and 
 Rev. Mr. Cholmondeley, and Peg complained of it 
 to the earl, the bridegroom's uncle, " as she had now 
 two beggars to support in place of one." 
 
 Our space is run out, or we might go on to tell of 
 our other beauty queens, the three Linley-Sheridans 
 (the Dufferins, Nortons and Seymours), the Brandleys 
 and Miss MacLane, of Edinburgh, mentioned in the 
 last Quarterly, who used to have to stand up in the 
 box in the theatre for the audience to get a good 
 look at her. Such were some of our English and 
 Irish beauties, and such were their fortunes in the 
 last century. Bright were, their diadems and bound- 
 less their sway, but, unfortunately, they had not the 
 gift of immortality. It was a gifted, and, we doubt 
 not, a many-courted and much-admired Irish girl who, 
 in the midst of good matches, spoke the sentiments 
 of some of the sex in the following lines : 
 
 I envy not wealth to the miser, 
 
 Nor would I be plagued with his store ; 
 
 To eat all and wear all is wiser 
 
 Enough must be better than more. 
 
 So nothing shall tempt me from Harry, 
 
 His heart is as true as the sun ; 
 
 Eve with Adam was ordered to marry 
 
 The world, it should end as begun.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 "GOLDEN" WEDDINGS. 
 
 A " GOLDEN WEDDING" is the celebration of the 
 completion of fifty years of married life, the jubilee 
 of half a century's happiness, in which the happy 
 participators renew the vows which they pledged 
 when in the vigour of youth and hope, with a plea- 
 sure and solemnity, deepened and strengthened by 
 the experience of two generations, amid the con- 
 gratulations of their descendants and friends. 
 
 The Golden Wedding was originally of German 
 origin; but the happy signification of the cere- 
 mony, and the naturally rare opportunity of observing 
 it, has gradually led to its frequent adoption in 
 other countries, and, of late years, several times in 
 England. 
 
 The printed information on the subject is very 
 meagre, and we are indebted to the kindness of Mr. 
 S. C. Hall, the veteran litterateur and founder of 
 the "Art Journal," and his accomplished wife, for 
 permission to make use of a paper printed in com-
 
 352 "GOLDEN" WEDDINGS. 
 
 memoration of their own Golden Wedding, which 
 took place in London, in September, 1874, in the 
 presence of a large assemblage of friends. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hall were married on the 2oth of 
 September, 1824, and when as time approached for 
 celebrating the event, the idea occurred to an intimate 
 friend, Miss Kortright, that it would be a good 
 opportunity for their friends to present to them some 
 testimonial of affection and esteem, and for the public 
 to testify its appreciation of their long and meritori- 
 ous labours. A committee was formed, and the 
 result of their exertions was that the sum of ^1,5 70 
 was collected from about six hundred subscribers. 
 The committee purchased an annuity in the joint 
 names of Mr. and Mrs. Hall, and handed the balance 
 to them on the day of the celebration. As a material 
 record of the interesting event, the various letters 
 that had been received from all over the world were 
 preserved in a handsomely bound book, the intro- 
 duction to which was as follows : 
 
 " This record of a wide and affectionate recognition of their 
 numerous claims to public gratitude and private esteem, toge- 
 ther with the sum of ,1,570 the subscriptions of six hundred 
 persons is presented by the committee and subscribers to Mr. 
 and Mrs. S. C. Hall, in commemoration of their " Golden 
 Wedding," an auspicious event which was regarded by a 
 large circle of admirers who have derived pleasure and profit 
 from their works, as a fitting occasion on which to present to 
 them some suitable testimonial of personal regard and con-
 
 "GOLDEN" WEDDINGS. 353 
 
 sideration for their long and valuable services to Literature 
 and Art. 
 
 "At the same time it was desired that it might serve to 
 convey to them a sincere, if inadequate, proof that the purity 
 of tone and goodness of purpose which, during a long and 
 well-spent life, have ever characterised their works, have won 
 for them, not only in these islands, but wherever our language 
 is spoken, a large share of public approval and respect, and 
 have been gratefully appreciated by their many loving friends." 
 
 The following card of invitation was issued to the 
 ladies and gentlemen who had the pleasure to be 
 present on the gratifying occasion: 
 
 Avenue Villa, 30 Holland St., Kensington* 
 MR. AND MRS. S. C. HALL 
 
 Greet their Friends 
 on the 2Oth September, 1874, 
 
 The Anniversary 
 of their 5oth Wedding Day 
 their GOLDEN WEDDING. 
 S. C. HALL. 
 ANNA MARIA HALL. 
 
 The Earl of Shaftesbury, who presided at the 
 meeting, said : You are assembled, ladies and gentle- 
 men, on an interesting occasion, for interesting it is, 
 very much so, to all of you, the personal friends or 
 public appreciators of Mr. and Mrs. Hall, to do 
 honour to them, and to do honour to yourselves, by 
 recording your sense of the services they have ren- 
 dered to literature and to art, and to various good
 
 354 "GOLDEN" WEDDINGS. 
 
 and useful institutions for which they have been 
 workers, and which they have largely aided to sustain. 
 With you, I have shared in common the high respect 
 and esteem with which you regard our august friends, 
 who so happily illustrate the conduct, the comforts, 
 and the dignities of domestic life. I was, when 
 young, taught by the Latin Grammar that the mascu- 
 line gender was more worthy than the feminine ; but 
 by way of making up partly for that, it was added, 
 the feminine is more worthy than the neuter. My 
 opinion is that the masculine gender is not more 
 worthy than the feminine; I entirely concur with 
 those who argue that what has been achieved and 
 is now doing by women is one of the marvels of 
 our age; and I do not hesitate to say that this is a 
 generation of great women, who are employed by 
 God, in His Almighty wisdom and mercy, to effect 
 great changes and great blessings on the surface of 
 the habitable globe. For Mr. Hall we need not 
 enumerate his many good and useful works; they 
 are known to all the world: but we have specially 
 to thank him for the bold and manly position he 
 has taken in that department of literature in which 
 he stands unequalled, and to which he brought his 
 sagacity to bear in the discovering of fraud and the 
 detection of deceit in all works of Art : pictures more 
 especially. His valuable work the ART JOURNAL 
 is well known to you. Mr. Hall, fifty years ago,
 
 "GOLDEN WEDDINGS. 355 
 
 obeyed the great precept that "it is not good for 
 man to be alone;" he sought and found one of whom 
 we know he is, and may well be, proud ; a helpmeet 
 who has helped him largely during the whole of his 
 career; who brought to him a mine of good and 
 refined taste, of healthy and invigorating influence, 
 and who has herself given to the world a long series 
 of publications, not only to amuse but to instruct, 
 and greatly to elevate the human mind. Her works 
 are known and valued wherever our language is 
 read. In my time I have witnessed three Jubilees : 
 the first was that of the reign of George III., the 
 second was that of the Bible Society. This is the 
 third : I think I can see in it the completion of the 
 other two : the completion of loyalty, a completion 
 secured by piety and religion ; honouring the wedded 
 life; giving an example of that which is an undeni- 
 able truth that domestic life, especially in the early 
 wedded, and by the all-merciful Providence of God, 
 is the refuge and stronghold of morality, the honour, 
 dignity, and mainstay of Nations. To sum up all 
 in one very serious and solemn sentence, Mr. 
 and Mrs. S. C. Hall, you have been lovely and 
 pleasing in your lives. If it shall please God, in 
 His mercy, His wisdom, and His providence, that 
 you shall be divided in your deaths, we pray and 
 we believe, that you will be again united in a 
 blessed Eternity.
 
 356 "GOLDEN" WEDDINGS. 
 
 Mr. Hall then rose, Mrs. Hall rose with him, and, 
 each holding the other's hand, Mr. Hall said: My 
 lord, ladies and gentlemen, all of you our friends, 
 we rejoice to receive your greeting here to-day. 
 My lord, if any one circumstance, could more than 
 another, make us happy and grateful, it is that 
 your lordship presides over a meeting to do us 
 honour; your whole life has been passed in doing 
 good; in your presence I may not say what I know; 
 but I may say, I am bound to say, that your lord- 
 ship in according this grace to us and to our friends, 
 has laid us, and them, under a weighty obligation. 
 My address shall not be long, although the occasion 
 is one that offers strong temptation to deliver a 
 lengthened speech. A story is told of the Prophet 
 Mahomet that when his young and beautiful wife, 
 Ayesha, said to him 
 
 " Surely you love me better than you loved the 
 aged Khadijah?" 
 
 He replied "No, by Allah! for she believed in 
 me Avhen nobody else did ! " 
 
 So I say of her who stands by my side; I say 
 more; she has faith in me after fifty years; and 
 this may be, and shall be, my boast; she who 
 knows me best, loves me best, whatever is good 
 in me, whatever is bad in me, no one but God 
 can know so well. It chanced that the 2oth of Sep- 
 tember last, the fiftieth anniversary of our wedding,
 
 "GOLDEN WEDDINGS. 357 
 
 was a Sabbath day; it was Sacrament Sunday, and 
 in our parish church at Kensington, kneeling beside 
 her at the altar, I whispered to her the words, 
 "With this ring I thee wed," and I placed a plain 
 gold ring on the third finger of her left hand; 
 she wears it now and will wear it all her life, with 
 that other ring which I gave her half a century ago ; 
 and I led from the altar a better woman and a better 
 wife than I had taken from it on that day fifty years : 
 ay, and a handsomer woman too, for there is a 
 beauty of age as there is a beauty of youth, and that 
 which in 1824 was promise was in 1874 fulfilment. 
 During all these years, we have, no doubt, passed 
 through many struggles, encountering many diffi- 
 culties, but overcoming them all by "mutual love 
 and mutual trust," at once our spear and shield in 
 our contests with the world. I would not laud her 
 overmuch; the praise she values most is that which 
 she receives when nobody is by; but this I must say, 
 that though Literature has been her profession, as 
 it is mine, and though she has to show as its produce 
 more than two hundred printed books, I know there 
 is no one of the womanly duties she has neglected 
 the very humblest of them has been at all times her 
 study and her care: she is, in truth, a thorough 
 woman in all womanly avocations, pleasures, and 
 pursuits; but she has been none the less my com- 
 panion, my friend, my counsellor, my guide,
 
 358 "GOLDEN" WEDDINGS. 
 
 I must say it here as I have said it elsewhere, 
 and in verse,* my comforter in all trouble, my 
 helper in all difficulties, by whom I was ever prompted 
 
 * The lines alluded to above were printed separately and 
 circulated among the ladies and gentlemen present. They 
 were titled 
 
 AFTER FIFTY YEARS! 
 
 her 20, 1074. 
 
 Yes ! fifty years of troubles come and gone 
 
 I count since first I gave thee hand and heart ! 
 
 But none have come from thee, dear Wife not one ! 
 
 In griefs that sadden'd me thou hadst no part 
 Save when, accepting more than woman's share 
 Of pain and toil, despondency and care, 
 
 My comforter thou wert, my hope, my trust ; 
 
 Ever suggesting holy thoughts and deeds ; 
 
 Guiding my steps on earth, through blinding dust, 
 
 Into the Heaven-lit path that Heaven-ward leads. 
 
 So has it been, from manhood unto age, 
 
 In every shifting scene of Life's sad stage, 
 
 Since fifty years ago a humble name 
 
 I gave to thee which thou hast given to fame 
 
 Rejoicing in the wife and friend to find 
 
 The woman's lesser duties all combined 
 
 With holiest efforts of creative mind. 
 
 And if the world has found some good in me, 
 
 The prompting and the teaching came from thee ! 
 
 God so guide both that so it ever be ! 
 
 So may the full fount of affection flow ; 
 
 Each loving each as fifty years ago ! 
 
 We are going down the rugged hill of life, 
 
 Into the tranquil valley at its base ; 
 
 But, hand in hand, and heart in heart, dear Wife : 
 With less of outer care and inner strife, 
 I look into thy mind and in thy face, 
 And only see the Angel coming nearer, 
 To make thee still more beautiful and dearer, 
 When from the thrall and soil of earth made free, 
 Thy prayer is heard for me, and mine for thee ! 
 
 S. C. HALL.
 
 "GOLDEN" WEDDINGS. 359 
 
 to think rightly and to act rightly; by whose wise 
 counsel, when I followed it, I was ever led to right 
 from wrong. Enough of this : you will not, I hope, 
 think it too much. She is by my side, thank God ! 
 her work not yet entirely done ; if she may not write 
 as continually as she did, she can as continuously 
 labour, helping many of our best institutions, incul- 
 cating religion, virtue, loyalty, truth; and she may 
 perhaps do even more good by the exercise of "old 
 experience" than she has done by her pen. 
 
 It is time that I bring this address to a close. I 
 speak not only to those who are present, but to those 
 who are absent ; kept away, I know, many of them, 
 by the unhappy state of the weather. Dear friends, 
 we thank you fervently and earnestly for the honour 
 you this day accord to us. I will not be so mock- 
 modest as to say we have done nothing to deserve 
 it. We have done our best to deserve it That you 
 think we deserve it we have indubitable proof. It is 
 before us on that table, and is manifested by your 
 presence here this day. It has been the guiding 
 principle of my life (and surely if it has been mine 
 it has been hers), that there is no happiness which 
 does not make others happy : we cannot possess it 
 unless we share it. I have been a critic for more 
 than fifty-three years, and an editor all that time; 
 and my rule has been to write of others as many 
 kindly things as was possible, and as few unkindly
 
 360 "GOLDEN" WEDDINGS. 
 
 things as was possible. I have reviewed the works 
 of probably 30,000 persons artists and authors. I 
 never penned a line of censure without feeling 
 pain; or a line of praise without feeling pleasure. 
 Well, I have my reward to-day, and so has she 
 who stands by my side; a reward for herself, and 
 well I know it a double reward in the honour 
 you accord to me! 
 
 My lord, we thank you; we thank our assembled 
 friends; we thank the one hundred and forty-one 
 noblemen and gentlemen who form the committee 
 you represent, who have laboured to accomplish this 
 result. For that we may well be, as surely we are, 
 proud as well as grateful. It is a grand and gracious 
 tribute to hard workers in the wide and broad field 
 of Letters ; at once an encouragement and a reward. 
 That it is very far from a mere compliment the book 
 on which I lay my hand in pride and thankfulness 
 will show. It contains letters from all parts of the 
 world from dear or appreciative friends. We look 
 round this closely-packed room, and in so many 
 beloved faces, that our hearts may well beat with 
 joy. But memory will even better record this day 
 by these letters in this book. Among them is one 
 from Salt Lake City, signed by several men, each 
 of whom has probably several wives, and transmitted 
 to him who thanks God he has, for more than fifty 
 years, had but one. There was yesterday added
 
 "GOLDEN" WEDDINGS. 361 
 
 to the series a letter I highly prize. It is from a 
 household servant, who asks permission to enclose 
 five shillings as a mark of gratitude for enjoyment 
 and instruction received from the writings of Mrs. 
 Hall all her life-long. You will instinctively feel 
 how much we value that letter. 
 
 And so, friends, in so far as the ceremonial of this 
 day is concerned, I bid you farewell ! The time 
 cannot be far off, when all the work of earth will be 
 a Retrospect! Even now, although I do not yet 
 scent the "mould above the rose," 
 
 "The gathering clouds around I view, 
 And days are dark and friends are few. " 
 
 At least, they are becoming fewer day by day. 
 
 This day will ever be a proud and happy memory 
 to us. We thank God and you for it. Your lordship 
 has well said our union is not ended here. It has 
 endured long; in the natural course of events it 
 cannot here endure much longer. But well we know 
 it can never end : that it will last for ever and ever ! 
 
 The interesting ceremony of celebrating Mr. and 
 Mrs. Hall's " Golden Wedding " was brought to 
 a close with a conversazione, and a concert of high- 
 class music, and the company separated uttering the 
 best wishes for the continued happiness and long life 
 of the venerable couple, who had on that occasion 
 enjoyed such a comparatively exceptional pleasure.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 A QUESTIONABLE PROBATION. 
 
 GUM ILL A relates, in the " History of the River 
 Orinoco," that there is one nation which marries 
 old men to girls, and old women to youths, that 
 age may correct the petulance of youth. For, they 
 say, that to join young persons equal in youth and 
 imprudence in wedlock together, is to join one fool 
 to another. The marriage of young men with old 
 women is, however, only a kind of apprenticeship, 
 for after they have served for some months, they are 
 permitted to marry women of their own age. 
 
 THROWING THE KOLARH. 
 
 Among the Liburnians, a singular custom prevails 
 at their weddings. Before the dinner is over, the 
 bride and all the guests rise from the table; she has 
 then to throw over the roof of the bridegroom's house 
 a cake, called " kolarh," made of coarse dough. The
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 363 
 
 higher she throws it, the happier, according to their 
 idea, the union will make a good housewife; and 
 as the houses are very low, and the cake as hard as 
 a stone, the bride seldom fails in ensuring the lucky 
 omen. Two men attend the bride, and are expected 
 to present her with new shoes and stockings : she 
 does not put them on till after her dance, and gives 
 two or three old handkerchiefs in return. 
 
 WEDDINGS DURING THE COMMONWEALTH. 
 
 In the Little Parliament of 1653, of Oliver Crom- 
 well, it was declared that marriage was to be a civil 
 contract ; the use of the Book of Common Prayer was 
 forbidden, and, under severe penalties, the clergy 
 were not permitted performing any of the Church 
 offices connected with matrimony. Registrars were 
 appointed for the registration of marriages; to him 
 were furnished, in all cases, the names of the parties 
 intending to be united, and it was his duty to pro- 
 claim them either in church, after the morning service, 
 on three successive Sundays, or in the market place 
 on three successive market days, according to the 
 desire of the parties. They had also to profess, in 
 the presence of a justice of peace, their mutual wish 
 to be married. We learn, in some places, it was 
 placed in the hands of the bellman to proclaim the 
 marriages in the market places. The old parish
 
 364 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 registers give examples of the operation of the new 
 marriage law. In the registers of Boston, Lincoln- 
 shire, it is shown, in the years 1656, 1657 and 1658 
 respectively, the number of marriages proclaimed in 
 the market place were 102, 104 and 108, and of those 
 announced in the church, 48, 31, and 52. At Win- 
 teringham, in the same county, the following entry 
 appears in the oldest parish register : 
 
 " The purpose of marriage betwixt Thomas Wressell, of this 
 parish, and Margaret Davison, of Burton-super-Stather, was 
 first time published in our markett upon Saturday, April 1 9th, 
 the 26th, and the 3rd of May, 1656. They were married. 
 
 "MATTHEW GEREE, Register." 
 
 In the Worksop, Nottinghamshire, register, in the 
 year 1656, it is recorded that the marriage of a 
 couple was " according to the Act, published at 
 Worksop Market Crosse." 
 
 The Act continued in operation until 1658, when 
 persons were allowed to adopt the accustomed rites 
 of religion, if they preferred them. 
 
 The singular mode of solemnizing marriages that 
 took place during Cromwell's usurpation, was pretty 
 strictly observed for the space of four years; during 
 which time sixty-six couple were joined together 
 before the civil magistrate at Knaresbrough. The 
 gentlemen who were applied to in this case, for the 
 most part, appear to be Thomas Stockdale, of Bilton 
 Park, Esq. ; Sir Thomas Mouleverer, Bart., of Aller-
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 365 
 
 ton Park ; or the Mayor of Ripon. The banns were 
 published on three separate days before marriage, 
 sometimes at the market cross, and sometimes in 
 the church. The following is a copy of one of the 
 certificates : 
 
 "30 Mar. 1651. Marmaduke Inman and Prudence Low- 
 cock, both of the parish of Knaresbrough, were this day married 
 together at Ripon, having first been published three several 
 market days in the market place at Knaresbrough, according 
 to the Act of Parliament, and no exceptions made. 
 " In the presence of 
 
 " THOMAS DAVIE, 
 "ANTHONY SIMPSON." 
 
 MARRIAGE VERSUS POVERTY. 
 
 " Many laymen," says Burton, in his " Anatomy of 
 Melancholy," " repine still at priests' marriages, and 
 not at clergymen only, but all of the meaner sort and 
 condition ; they would have none marry but such as 
 are rich and able to maintain wives, because the 
 parish belike shall be pestered with orphans, and 
 the world full of beggars ; but these are hard-hearted, 
 unnatural monsters of men shallow politicians." 
 
 SAINT GONCALO. 
 I 
 
 St. Gongalo is a popular friend of Portuguese and 
 Brazilian elderly single ladies. Young ones invite
 
 366 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 him too, but in a petulant spirit. Their staple 
 address is: 
 
 " San Gon9alo of Amarante, 
 Match-maker for old women ! 
 Why don't you marry young ones ! 
 What harm have they done you?" 
 
 JESPER SVEDBERG'S SECOND COURTSHIP. 
 
 Jesper Svedberg, Bishop of Skara, in Sweden, was 
 the father of the celebrated Emmanuel Swedenborg. 
 He thus relates the story of his second courtship. 
 The lady was the daughter of a clergyman, and 
 had been twice a widow before Svedberg became 
 acquainted with her, having been married first to a 
 merchant, and then to a judge. 
 
 " On St. Andrew's Day, 1697, I celebrated, in a 
 blessed hour, my wedding with my second most 
 beloved wife, Mrs. Sara Borgia. I was not acquainted 
 with her: I had never seen her, and did not know 
 that she existed. I was unexpectedly informed of 
 her piety, meekness, and liberality to the poor ; that 
 she was well off, good looking, a thrifty housewife, 
 and without children; in a word, she seemed a 
 woman that would suit me well. I wrote to her, 
 laying bare my thoughts, and she acceded to my 
 request. Two days before the wedding I went to 
 Stockholm, whither she also, by agreement, repaired.
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 367 
 
 I was put into a room where she was sitting alone, 
 but I did not know, and never imagined it was she, 
 for no one had told me. I sat down beside her. 
 We conversed for a long time about sundry matters, 
 I talking to her as a perfect stranger. At length she 
 said, ' What do you think of our bargain, Mr. Pro- 
 fessor ? ' I replied, ' To what bargain do you refer ?' 
 ' That which you have written about,' she said. 
 * What have I written to you about ? I do not know 
 what you mean!' 'Are we not,' she said, 'to be 
 man and wife to-morrow?' 'Are you that person 1* 
 I exclaimed, and then we jumped up and confirmed 
 our friendship by shaking hands, and with a loving 
 embrace." 
 
 EQUAL TO THE OCCASION. 
 
 A couple were going to be married, and had pro- 
 ceeded as far as the church door : the gentleman then 
 stopped his intended bride, and thus unexpectedly 
 addressed her : 
 
 " My dear Eliza, during our courtship I have told 
 you most of my mind, but I have not told you the 
 whole : when we are married, I shall insist upon three 
 things." 
 
 " What are they ? " asked the lady. 
 
 " The three things are these," said the bridegroom : 
 " I shall sleep alone, I shall eat alone, and find fault
 
 368 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 when there is no occasion : can you submit to these 
 conditions ?" 
 
 " O yes, sir, very easily," was the reply, " for if you 
 sleep alone, I shall not; if you eat alone, I shall eat 
 first: and as to your finding fault without occasion, 
 that I think may be prevented, for I will take care 
 you shall never want occasion." 
 
 The conditions being thus adjusted, they proceeded 
 to the altar, and the ceremony was performed. 
 
 A HUMBLE PETITION. 
 
 The following petition, signed by sixteen maids of 
 Charleston, South Carolina, was presented to the 
 Governor of the province in March, 1783, "the day 
 of the feast :" 
 
 To His EXCELLENCY GOVERNOR JOHNSON. 
 
 The humble petition of all the Maids whose names are 
 underwritten: Whereas, We the humble petitioners are at 
 present in a very melancholy disposition of mind, considering 
 how all the bachelors are blindly captivated by widows, and 
 our youthful charms thereby neglected : the consequence of 
 this our request is, that your Excellency will for the future 
 order that no widow shall presume to marry any young man 
 till the maids are provided for ; or else to pay each of them a 
 fine for satisfaction, for invading our liberties ; and likewise a 
 fine to be laid on all such bachelors as shall be married to 
 widows. The great disadvantage it is to us maids is, that the 
 widows, by their forward carriages, do snap up the young
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 369 
 
 men ; and have the vanity to think their merits beyond ours, 
 which is a great imposition upon us who ought to have the 
 preference. 
 
 This is humbly recommended to your Excellency's consider- 
 ation, and hope you will prevent any further insults. 
 
 And we poor Maids as in duty bound will ever pray. 
 
 P.S. I, being the eldest maid, and therefore most con- 
 cerned, do think it proper to be the messenger to your 
 Excellency, in behalf of my fellow-subscribers. 
 
 MARRIAGE BY WEIGHT. 
 
 About 1770, there was living in London, a trades- 
 man, who had disposed of eleven daughters in 
 marriage, with each of whom he gave their weight 
 in halfpence as a fortune. The young ladies must 
 have been bulky, for the lightest of them weighed 
 fifty pounds two shillings and eightpence. 
 
 A JUBILEE WEDDING. 
 
 In the year 1733, when Christian IV., King of Den- 
 mark, and his consort, Sophia Magdalena, visited their 
 Norwegian dominions, they took up their residence in 
 the house of Colonel Colbiornson, in Frederickshald. 
 The colonel, for the diversion of his illustrious guests, 
 exhibited before them what is called a Jubilee Wed- 
 ding. There were four couples married, all rustic 
 people, invited from the adjacent country, and out 
 
 2 A
 
 370 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 of these, there was none under a hundred years old ; 
 so that all their ages put together, made upwards 
 of eight hundred years ! Their names were Ole 
 Torveson Sologsteen, who lived eight years after- 
 wards, and his wife Kelje, ten years; Jern Oer, who 
 lived six years after, and his wife Ingen, who lived 
 
 seven years ; Ole Besoleen and his wife N ; and 
 
 Hans Folasken, who lived ten years after, and brought 
 with him Joram Gallen, who was not his wife, but 
 being a hundred years old, he borrowed her for this 
 ceremony ; she also lived ten years afterwards. 
 
 These eight married people made themselves 
 extremely merry at this public wedding; and the 
 women, according to the custom of the country on 
 bridal occasions, danced with green wreaths upon 
 their heads. At their departure, each couple received 
 from their majesties a handsome present to carry 
 home. 
 
 LOVE LOCKS. 
 
 In the reign of James I., it became a fashion 
 among the beaux to wear a long lock of hair, pen- 
 dant from the left temple ; and the ladies gave to it 
 the name of the love lock. The zealot Prynne thought 
 this so prominent a folly of the times, in the succeed- 
 ing reign, that he wrote no less than a quarto volume 
 against the unloveliness of love locks. The fashion 
 expired with Charles I.
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 371 
 
 OFFERINGS AT MARRIAGES. 
 
 Nov. 15, 1660. " To Sir W. Battens to dinner, he 
 having a couple of servants married to-day ; and so 
 there was a great number of merchants, and others 
 of good quality, on purpose after dinner to make an 
 offering, which, when dinner was done, we did, and I 
 did give ten shillings and no more, though I believe 
 most of the rest did give more, and did believe that 
 I did so too." Pepyfs Diary. 
 
 LOVE-FEASTS OF THE METHODISTS. 
 
 Love-feasts were held quarterly. No persons were 
 admitted who could not produce a ticket to show that 
 they were members, or a note of admittance from 
 the superintendent. However, any serious person, 
 who had never been present at one of these meetings, 
 could be supplied with a note for once, but not 
 oftener, unless he became a member. The meeting 
 began with singing and prayer. Afterwards small 
 pieces of bread, or plain cake, and some water, were 
 distributed; and all present eat and drink together, 
 in token of their Christian love to each other. Then, 
 if any persons had any thing particular to say con- 
 cerning their Christian experience, or the manner in 
 which they were first brought to the knowledge of the
 
 372 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 truth, they were permitted to speak; when a few of 
 them had spoken, a collection was made for the poor, 
 and the meeting concluded with singing and prayer. 
 This institution had no relation to the Lord's Supper. 
 The elements of the Lord's Supper were bread and 
 wine; but at the love-feasts, bread and water only 
 were used. The Methodists considered the former 
 as a positive institution, which they were bound to 
 observe as Christians ; the latter as merely prudential. 
 They had also numerous prayer-meetings, at which 
 it frequently happened that some one gave an exhor- 
 tation to the people. 
 
 A "STRIKING" WARNING. 
 
 The widow of Sir Walter Long, of Draycot, in 
 Wiltshire, made her husband a solemn promise, when 
 he was on his death-bed, that she would not marry 
 after his decease, but he had not long been interred 
 when Sir Stephen Fox gained her affections, and she 
 married him. The nuptial ceremony was performed 
 at South Wraxall, where the picture of Sir Walter 
 happened to hang over the parlour door. As Sir 
 Stephen was leading his bride by the hand into the 
 parlour, after returning from church, the picture of 
 Sir Walter Long, the late husband of the bride, 
 which hung over the parlour door, fell on her shoulder, 
 and, being painted on wood, broke in the fall. This
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 373 
 
 accident was considered by the bride as a provi- 
 dential warning, reminding her of her promise, and 
 embittered the remainder of her days. 
 
 EXTRAORDINARY COINCIDENCES. 
 
 William Douglas, of Lanark, in Scotland, married 
 a wife who was born on the same day and hour as 
 himself; and they were baptized in the same church. 
 At the age of nineteen they were married, with the 
 consent of their relations, in the church where they 
 were baptized. During the course of a long life, 
 they experienced no infirmity, and died at the age of 
 a hundred years, on the same day, reposing together 
 on the old marriage bed. They were interred in the 
 same grave, beneath the baptismal font where they 
 had presented themselves together in the preceding 
 century. 
 
 Mrs. Jay and Mrs. Gilbert, of Uxbridge, were twin 
 sisters. They were born within half an hour of each 
 other, were both married on one day, were both left 
 widows, died much about the same time, in 1776, and 
 were both buried in one grave. 
 
 REARING A WIFE. 
 
 The eccentric Mr. Day, author of " The History of 
 Sandford and Merton," had been early rejected by
 
 374 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 a young lady to whom he paid his addresses, and 
 considering her as a fair sample of her sex, despaired 
 of finding among them a wife such as he would choose ; 
 one that should have a taste for literature and science, 
 for moral and patriotic philosophy, fond of retirement 
 from " the infectious taint of human society ;" simple 
 as a mountain girl, in her dress, her diet, and her 
 manners; and fearless and intrepid as the Spartan 
 wives and Roman heroines. Observation soon taught 
 him that there was no such creature ready made, and 
 that he must, therefore, attempt to mould some infant 
 into the being his fancy had formed. 
 
 Accompanied by a Mr. Bicknell, a barrister, rather 
 older than himself, he went to Shrewsbury, to explore 
 the Foundling Hospital, and from the children there 
 Mr. Day, in the presence of Mr. Bicknell, selected two 
 girls of twelve years of age, both beautiful, one fair, 
 with flaxen locks and light eyes, whom he called 
 Lucretia; the other, a clear auburn brunette, with 
 darker eyes, more glowing bloom, and chestnut tresses, 
 he called Sabrina. These girls were obtained upon 
 written conditions, for the performance of which Mr. 
 Bicknell was guarantee. They were to the following 
 effect: That Mr. Day should, within the twelve 
 months after taking them, resign one into the pro- 
 tection of some respectable tradeswoman, giving one 
 hundred pounds to bind her apprentice, maintaining 
 her, if she behaved well, till she married or began
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 375 
 
 business for herself. Upon either of these events, he 
 promised to advance four hundred more. He avowed 
 his intention of educating the girl he should retain, 
 with a view to make her his future wife, solemnly 
 engaged never to injure her innocence, and if he 
 should renounce his plan, to maintain her decently 
 in some creditable family till she married, when 
 he promised five hundred pounds as her portion. 
 It would probably be quite unnecessary to make 
 any appeal to the feelings of parents, or to offer 
 any rema'rks upon the conduct of the governors of 
 this Hospital respecting this strange bargain, for 
 the particulars of which we are indebted to Miss 
 Seward. 
 
 The narrative goes on to inform us that Mr. Day 
 went instantly into France with these two girls, not 
 taking an English servant, that they might receive no 
 ideas except those which he himself might choose to 
 impart, and which he soon found were not very 
 acceptable. His pupils teased and perplexed him, 
 they quarrelled, they sickened of the smallpox, they 
 chained him to their bedside by crying if they were 
 left alone with any person who could not speak 
 English. Hence he was constrained to sit up many 
 nights, and to perform for them the lowest offices of 
 assistance. They lost no beauty, however, by their 
 disease, and came back with Mr. Day in eight 
 months, when Sabrina was become the favourite.
 
 3?6 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 He placed Lucretia with a chamber milliner, and 
 she afterwards became the wife of a linen draper in 
 London. With Sabrina he actually proceeded during 
 some years in the execution of his favourite project, 
 but none of his experiments had the success he 
 wished. Her spirits could not be armed against the 
 dread of pain and the appearance of danger, a 
 species of courage which, with him, was a sine qud 
 non in the character of a wife. When he dropped 
 melted sealing-wax upon her arms she did not endure 
 it heroically, nor when he fired pistols at her petti- 
 coats, which she believed to be charged with ball, 
 could she help starting aside or suppress her screams. 
 When he tried her fidelity in secret keeping by telling 
 her of well-invented dangers to himself, in which 
 greater danger would result from its being discovered 
 that he was aware of them, he once or twice detected 
 her having imparted them to the servants and to her 
 play-fellows. He persisted, however, in these foolish 
 experiments, and sustained their continual disappoint- 
 ment during a whole year's residence in the vicinity of 
 Lichfield. The difficulty seemed to be in giving her 
 motive to self-exertion, self-denial, and heroism. It was 
 against his plan to draw it from its usual sources, 
 pecuniary reward, luxury, ambition, or vanity. His 
 watchful cares had precluded all knowledge of the 
 value of money, the reputation of beauty, and its 
 concomitant desire of ornamented dress. The only
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 377 
 
 inducement, therefore, which this girl could have to 
 combat and subdue the natural preference in youth of 
 ease to pain, and of vacant thought to the labour of 
 thinking, was the desire of pleasing her protector, 
 though she knew not how or why he became such, and 
 in that desire fear had greatly the ascendant of affec- 
 tion. At length, however, he renounced all hopes of 
 moulding Sabrina into the being which his disordered 
 imagination had formed, and ceasing now to behold 
 her as a wife, placed her at Sutton Coldfield, where 
 during three years she gained the esteem of her 
 instructress, grew feminine, elegant and amiable ; and 
 an ornament to the society in which she moved. 
 
 Mr. Day afterwards paid his addresses to two 
 sisters in succession, both of whom rejected him. He 
 at length succeeded in obtaining for a wife, a Miss 
 Milnes of Yorkshire, to whom, after a singular court- 
 ship, he was united, in 1778. The best part of his 
 conduct in this affair was, his settling her whole 
 fortune, which was as large as his own, upon herself, 
 totally out of his present or future control. What 
 follows is of a less amiable complexion. They retired 
 soon after their marriage, first to Sapleford Abbots, 
 in Essex, and afterwards to Anningsley, near Chertsey 
 in Surrey. Here they had no carriage, no appointed 
 servant about Mrs. Day's own person, no luxury of 
 any sort. Music, in which she was a distinguished 
 proficient, was deemed trivial. She banished her
 
 378 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 musical instruments and books. Frequent experiments 
 upon her temper and her attachments, were made by 
 him, whom she lived but to obey and love. Over 
 these, we are told, she often wept, but never repined; 
 and no wife, bound in the strictest fetters, as to her 
 incapacity of claiming a separate maintenance, ever 
 made more absolute sacrifices, to the most imperious 
 husband, than did this lady, whose independence had 
 been secured. She is even said to have died broken- 
 hearted for his loss, two years after his death. 
 
 A MAGNANIMOUS ACT. 
 
 Dr. Donne having clandestinely married the 
 daughter of Sir George Moore, when without any 
 appointment in the Church, or visible means of 
 maintaining a family, was treated for some time 
 with great severity by the old gentleman. At length, 
 through the intercession of some mutual friends, Sir 
 George gave the doctor a bond, to pay him, as a 
 portion for his daughter, .^800 upon a specified day, 
 or 20 quarterly, until the sum was liquidated. 
 The latter mode of payment was that preferred by 
 Sir George ; but it had not continued long, when the 
 doctor was promoted to the Deanery of St. Paul's. 
 The next time his father-in-law waited on him with 
 'a quarter's salary instalment, the doctor thus hand- 
 somely addressed him: "I know, Sir George, that
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 379 
 
 your present condition is such as not to abound, and, 
 I hope, mine is such as not to need it. I will, there- 
 fore, receive no more from you on that contract." 
 
 PERPLEXING MARRIAGES. 
 
 At Gvvennap, in Cornwall, in March, 1823, Miss 
 Sophia Bawden was married to Mr. R. Bawden, both 
 of St. Day. By this marriage, the father became 
 brother-in-law to his son; the mother, mother-in- 
 law to her sister; the mother-in-law of the son, his 
 sister-in-law; the sister of the mother-in-law, her 
 daughter-in-law ; the sister of the daughter-in-law, her 
 mother-in-law; the son of the father, brother-in-law 
 to his mother-in-law, and uncle to his brothers and 
 sisters ; the wife of the son, sister-in-law to her father- 
 in-law, and aunt-in-law to her husband; and the 
 offspring of the son and his wife would be grand- 
 children to their uncle and aunt, and cousins to their 
 father. 
 
 In an account of Kent, it is related that one 
 Hawood had two daughters by his first wife, of which 
 the eldest was married to John Cashick the son, 
 and the youngest to John Cashick the father. This 
 Cashick the father had a daughter by his first wife, 
 whom old Hawood married, and by her had a 
 son : with the exception of the former wife of old 
 Cashick, all these persons were living at Faversham
 
 380 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 in February, 1650, and his second wife could say 
 as follows : 
 
 My father is my son, and I'm mother's mother; 
 My sister is my daughter, I'm grandmother to my brother. 
 
 Hone. 
 
 A DOUBLE MARRIAGE. 
 
 We often hear of people neglecting to be married, 
 but seldom of one woman being given twice in 
 marriage to the same man. Such a circumstance, 
 however, occurred in Yorkshire. We are told, on 
 ist October, 1827, Samuel Lumb, sen., of Sowerby, 
 83 years of age, was married, at Halifax, to Mrs. 
 Rachel Heap, to whom he had been previously mar- 
 ried about 25 years before. Her first husband had 
 entered into the army, and was, at the time of her 
 first marriage with Mr. Lumb, supposed to be dead. 
 In a few years, however, he returned, and demanded 
 his wife, whom he found living with Mr. Lumb, and 
 by whom she had three children. But, after some 
 negociation, Heap agreed to sell her, and Mr. Lumb 
 bought her, and she was actually delivered to him in 
 a halter, at Halifax Cross. At her last marriage she 
 was given away at the altar by Mr. Lumb's grandson. 
 Her first husband died the April before.
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 381 
 
 NO BRIDESMAIDS. 
 
 " The quiet village of Tongham was en fete on 
 Thursday, the 7th inst, in consequence of the mar- 
 riage, at St. Paul's Church, of Miss Agnes Mangles, 
 youngest daughter of the late Captain Mangles, 
 formerly chairman of the South Western Railway 
 Company, with Mr. Arthur Wakefield Chapman, of 
 Wimbledon. The ceremony took place shortly after 
 eleven o'clock, and the service was semi-choral, the 
 hymns and responses being given with effect by the 
 village choir, in which the bride for many years past 
 has taken the most lively interest. 
 
 "The bride was dressed in a rich cream-coloured 
 costume, with fringe trimmings, and bonnet to corres- 
 pond, trimmed with feathers. A somewhat peculiar 
 circumstance in connection with the event was that 
 there were no bridesmaids; the bride being given 
 away by her mother Mrs. Mangles, of Littleworth." 
 Court Circular, September i8th, 1876. 
 
 POPULAR AS EVER. 
 
 People who advocate the abrogation of all laws 
 relating to marriage argue, in support of their position, 
 that the great majority of matrimonial alliances result 
 unhappily. Statistical information upon this question
 
 382 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 hardly warrants such a statement. In France, where 
 public sentiment is quite liberal so far as the relations 
 of the sexes are concerned, there were in the year 
 1876, 280,000 marriages and only 7,000 separations, 
 about one-half of which were legal. In America, the 
 separations as compared with marriages are said to 
 be much greater in proportion, but even at its worst 
 matrimony is as popular as ever. 
 
 A CONSTANT HUSBAND. 
 
 Philip, surnamed the Good, the founder of that 
 greatness to which the House of Burgundy latterly 
 attained, was, at an early age, married to the 
 Princess Michelea, sister to Charles the Dauphin. 
 The father of Philip was afterwards slain through 
 the villany and perfidiousness of Charles ; and on the 
 news being brought to Philip, full of grief and anger, 
 he rushed into the chamber of his wife. " Alas ! " 
 said he, "my Michelea, thy brother has murdered 
 my father." The princess, who loved her husband 
 most tenderly, broke out into the most affecting cries 
 and lamentations; and fearful lest this accident 
 should lose her the affections of her spouse, refused 
 all comfort. Philip, the good Philip, however, assured 
 her she should not be the less dear to him on that 
 account; that the deed was her brother's, and none 
 of hers. "Take courage, my life," said he, "and
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 383 
 
 seek comfort in a husband that will be faithful and 
 constant to thee for ever." Michelea was revived 
 by these tender assurances; nor during the three 
 years longer she lived, had she occasion to suspect 
 the smallest diminution of Philip's affection and 
 respect. 
 
 A SWEDISH AUTHOR ON MARRIAGE. 
 
 Many a marriage, says Frederika Bremer, begins 
 like the rosy morning, and then falls away like a 
 snow-wreath. And why? Because the married pair 
 neglect to be as well pleasing to each other as before. 
 Endeavour always to please one another; but, at the 
 same time, keep God in your thoughts. 
 
 Lavish not all your love on to-day ; for remember 
 that marriage has its to-morrow likewise, and its day 
 after to-morrow, too. Spare, as one may say, fuel 
 for the winter. 
 
 Deceive not one another in small things or in 
 great. One little, single lie has, before now, disturbed 
 a whole married life. 
 
 Fold not the hands together, and sit idle. " Lazi- 
 ness is the devil's cushion." Do not run much from 
 home. " One's own hearth is gold's worth." 
 
 The married woman is her husband's domestic 
 faith ; in her hands he must be able to confide house 
 and family, be able to intrust to her the key of his
 
 384 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 heart, as well as the key of his eating-room. His 
 honour and his home are under her keeping; his 
 well-being is in her hand. Think of this, O wife ! 
 
 Young men, be faithful husbands and good fathers 
 of families. Act so that your wives shall esteem and 
 love you. Read the word of God industriously ; that 
 will conduct you through storm and calm, and bring 
 you safely to the haven at last. 
 
 CAUGHT IN HIS OWN TRAP. 
 
 Mr. Jeremy White, one of Oliver Cromwell's 
 domestic chaplains, was so ambitious as to make 
 his addresses to Cromwell's youngest daughter, the 
 Lady Frances. The young lady did not discourage 
 him ; but in so religious a court this gallantry could 
 not be carried on without being discovered. The 
 Protector was told of it, and was much concerned 
 thereat; he ordered the person who told him, to keep 
 a strict look-out, promising, if he could give him any 
 positive proofs, he should be well rewarded. The 
 spy followed his business so closely, that in a little 
 time he dogged Jerry White (as he was generally 
 called) to the lady's chamber, and ran immediately 
 to the Protector, to acquaint him that they were 
 together. Oliver, in a rage, repaired to the chamber; 
 and going in hastily, found Jerry on his knees, either 
 kissing the lady's hand, or having kissed it Crom-
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 385 
 
 well, in a fury, asked what was the meaning of that 
 posture before his daughter Frances? White, with 
 great presence of mind, said, "May it please your 
 highness, I have a long time courted that young 
 gentlewoman, my lady's woman, and cannot prevail ; 
 I was therefore praying her ladyship to intercede for 
 me." The Protector, turning to the young woman, 
 exclaimed, "What is the meaning of this, hussy? why 
 do you refuse Mr. White the honour he would do 
 you ? he is my friend, and I expect you would treat 
 him as such." My lady's woman, with a very low 
 curtsey, replied, " If Mr. White intends me that 
 honour, I shall not be against him." " Say'st thou 
 so, my lass?" cried Cromwell. " Call Goodwin; this 
 business shall be done before I go out of the room." 
 Mr. White had gone too far to retract his brother 
 parson came ; and Jerry and the lady's woman were 
 married in the presence of the Protector, who gave 
 her ^500; which, with the money she had saved, 
 made her husband easy in his circumstances, except 
 that he never loved his wife, nor she him, although 
 they lived together nearly fifty years. 
 
 "MARRIAGES ARE MADE IN HEAVEN." 
 
 The origin of this beautiful proverb is thus 
 explained : 
 
 Normal marriages being so innocent of all pre- 
 2 B
 
 386 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 meditation by man, can only be ascribed to the will 
 of "the angel" espoused, or to fate, in either case 
 (for ce qui femme veut, Dieu k veut), to the will of 
 Heaven. After marriage, another sense may appear 
 in the saying, viz., that expressed in the words of 
 St. Francis de Salis : " Marriage is a state of continual 
 mortification;" and hence a sacrament for human 
 salvation. Again, in suggesting the meaning of this 
 phrase, we are led to the well-known myth of Plato, 
 according to which, in a true marriage, the two 
 counter-parts have met by destiny and form a perfect 
 z'/r. The account in Genesis (chap, ii.) is not to a 
 dissimilar effect. In this view, marriages are those 
 whom God has joined only (Mark x. 9). In a literal 
 sense, the phrase in question clearly expresses an 
 impossibility; since in heaven are no marriages 
 (Matt. xxii. 30) according to the usual interpretation ; 
 though some may take refuge in the evasion of 
 Swedenborg who says that in the next world, the 
 married couple will become one angel. 
 
 Had not this saying an astrological foundation? 
 Sir Kenelm Digby says of his own marriage : 
 
 In the first place, it giveth me occasion to 
 acknowledge and admire the high and transcendent 
 operations of the celestial bodies, which containing 
 and moving about the universe, send their influence 
 every way and to all things; and who, although 
 they take not away the liberty of free agents, yet
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 387 
 
 do so strongly, though at the first secretly and 
 insensibly, work upon their spiritual part by means 
 of the corporeal, that they get the mastery before 
 they be perceived ; and then it is too late to make 
 any resistance. For from what other cause could 
 proceed this strong knot of affection, which, being 
 tied in tender years, before any mutual obligations 
 could help to confirm it, could not then be torn 
 asunder by long absence, the austerity of parents, 
 other pretenders, false rumours, and other the great- 
 est difficulties and oppositions that could come to 
 blast the budding blossoms of an infant love, that 
 hath since brought forth so fair flowers and so mature 
 fruit? Certainly, the stars were at the least the first 
 movers, &c. Private Memoirs of Sir K. Digby, 1811. 
 
 THE INDIAN MARRIAGE MARKET. 
 
 In the marriage market, an Indian civilian used 
 to be reckoned as worth ^300 a year, dead or alive. 
 The nominal value of Bombay civilians now bids fair 
 to rise yet higher, although the real value will remain 
 much as it was, in view of the growing cheapness 
 of money. Owing to the flourishing state of their 
 Widows' Fund, it has been proposed that ^400 
 instead of ^"300 per annum should be the pension 
 granted to all ladies who come on the fund as widows 
 after the ist of July, 1876. This, says an Indian
 
 388 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 journal, will be equal to a marriage settlement, in 
 the ordinary manner, of ;i 2,000 in Consols, a sum 
 which not one man in twenty belonging to the upper, 
 middle and professional classes is able to settle on 
 his wife when he marries. A counter proposition, 
 which is even more liberal than the original one, 
 is also going round for signature, to the effect that 
 all the widows now on the fund should also get 
 the increased pension, and to this amendment there is 
 said to be little or no opposition. As widows on the 
 Bombay Civil Fund forfeit half their pension if they 
 marry again, it follows that each one of these ladies 
 who takes unto herself a second husband will have 
 200 a year to help in keeping up her new home. 
 That sum is equal to a settlement of ^6,000 or so in 
 Consols, and it is not every lady, whether widow or 
 maid, who can command so useful a dowry. Thus 
 the new regulation will not only raise the value of 
 Bombay civil servants as husbands, but also of the 
 widows they leave behind them. 
 
 AN OLD ENGLISH WEDDING. 
 
 An English wedding, in the time of good Queen 
 Bess, was a joyous public festival ; among the higher 
 ranks, the bridegroom presented the company with 
 scarves, gloves and garters of the favourite colours 
 of the wedding pair; and the ceremony wound up
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 389 
 
 with banquetings, masques, pageants, and epithala- 
 miums. A gay procession formed a part of the 
 humbler marriages; the bride was led to church 
 between two boys wearing bride-laces and rosemary 
 tied about their silken sleeves, and before her was 
 carried a silver cup filled with wine, in which was a 
 large branch of gilded rosemary, hung about with 
 silk ribbons of all colours. Next came the musicians, 
 and then the bridesmaids, some bearing great bride- 
 cakes, others garlands of gilded wheat; thus they 
 marched to church amidst the shouts and benedictions 
 of the spectators. 
 
 WEDDING NOTICES OF THE OLDEN TIME. 
 
 Cn July 3rd, 1764, the Leeds Intelligencer contained 
 the following announcement : 
 
 " On Thursday last was married Mr. John Wormald, of 
 this town, merchant, to Miss Rebecca Thompson, daughter 
 
 of the late Thompson, Esq., of Staincliffe Hall, near 
 
 Batley, an agreeable young lady with a fortune of upwards 
 of ;4,ooo." 
 
 On the 4th of September following, it is recorded 
 as follows: 
 
 "Yesterday morning was married the Rev. Mr. Wilson, 
 Vicar of Otley, to Miss Nancy Furness, of the same place, 
 a most agreeable young lady, endowed with all the qualifi- 
 cations necessary to make the marriage state happy."
 
 390 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 BIDDING TO A WEDDING. 
 
 28th May, 1797. Bell's Weekly Messenger of this 
 date contained the following advertisement : 
 
 "MATTHEW DAWSON, in Bothwell, Cumberland, intends 
 to be married at Holm Church, on the Thursday before 
 Whitsuntide next, whenever that may happen, and to return 
 to Bothwell to dine. 
 
 "Mr. Reid gives a turkey to be roasted; Ed. Clementson 
 gives a fat lamb to be roasted ; Wm. Elliot gives a hen to 
 be roasted ; Jos. Gibson gives a fat calf to be roasted. 
 
 "And, in order that all this roast meat may be well basted, 
 do you see Mary Pearson, Betty Hodgson, Mary Bushley, 
 Molly Fisher, Sarah Briscoe, and Betty Porthouse, give, each 
 of them, a pound of butter. The advertiser will provide every 
 thing else for so festive an occasion. 
 
 "And he hereby gives notice, 
 
 "To ALL YOUNG WOMEN desirous of changing their con- 
 dition, that he is at present disengaged ; and advises them to 
 consider, that altho' there be luck in leisure, yet, in this case, 
 delays are dangerous ; for, with him, he is determined it shall 
 be first come first served. 
 
 ' ' So come along lasses who wished to be married, 
 MATT. DAWSON is vex'd that so long he has tarried." 
 
 The preceding invitation is an extract from the 
 Cumberland Packet. Hone. 
 
 MARRIAGES IN THE REIGN OF JAMES I. 
 
 Mr. Green, in his "Catalogue of State Papers," 
 furnishes the following extract from a letter written
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 391 
 
 by Sir Dudley Charleton, in 1604, describing the 
 marriage of Philip Herbert, Earl of Montgomery, to 
 Susan Vere: "She brided and bridled so hand- 
 somely, and, indeed, became herself so well, that 
 the King said, if he were not married, he would 
 not give her, but keep her for himself. There was 
 none of our accustomed forms omitted, of bridescakes, 
 sops in wine, giving of gloves, laces, and prints ; and 
 at night there was sewing into the sheets, casting of 
 the bride's left hose, and twenty other petty sorceries. 
 They were married in the chapel, feasted in the great 
 chamber, where the King gave them in the morning, 
 before they were up, a reveille matin in his shirt and 
 his nightgown." 
 
 WHIT-SUNDAY WOMAN-SHOW IN RUSSIA. 
 
 A custom has long prevailed at St. Petersburg 
 which can only be regarded as a relic of a rude state 
 of society ; for it is nothing more or less than a show 
 of marriageable women or girls, with a view of obtain- 
 ing husbands. The women certainly have a choice 
 in the matter, and in this respect they are not brought 
 to market in the same sense as fat cattle or sheep; 
 but still it is only under the influence of a very coarse 
 estimate of the sex that the custom can prevail. The 
 manner of managing the show in past years was as 
 follows: On Whit-Sunday afternoon the Summer
 
 392 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 Garden, a place of popular resort in St. Petersburg, 
 was thronged with bachelors and maidens, looking 
 out for wives and husbands respectively. The girls 
 put on their best adornments ; and these were some- 
 times more costly than would seem to be suitable for 
 persons in humble life, were it not that this kind 
 of pride is much cherished among the peasantry in 
 many countries. Bunches of silver tea-spoons, a large 
 silver ladle, or some other household luxury, were in 
 many instances held in the hand, to denote that the 
 maiden could bring something valuable to her hus- 
 band. The young men, on their part, did not fail to 
 look their best. The maidens were accompanied by 
 their parents, or by some elder member of their 
 family, in order that everything might be conducted 
 in a decorous manner. The bachelors, strolling and 
 sauntering to and fro, would notice the maidens as 
 they passed, and the maidens would blushingly try 
 to look their best. Supposing a young man were 
 favourably impressed with what he saw, he did not 
 immediately address the object of his admiration, but 
 had a little quiet talk with one of the seniors, most 
 probably a woman. He told her his name, residence, 
 and occupation; he gave a brief inventory of his 
 worldly goods, naming the amount of money which 
 he had been able to save. On his side he asked 
 questions, one of which was sure to relate to the 
 amount of dowry promised with the maiden. The
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 393 
 
 woman with whom this conversation was held was 
 often no relative to the maiden, but a sort of marriage- 
 broker or saleswoman, who conducted these delicate 
 negotiations, either in friendliness or for a fee. If the 
 references on either side were unsatisfactory, the col- 
 loquy ended without any bargain being struck ; and, 
 even if favourable, nothing was immediately decided. 
 Many admirers for the same girl might probably 
 come forward in this way. In the evening a family 
 conclave was held concerning the chances of each 
 maiden, at which the offer of each bachelor was 
 calmly considered, chiefly in relation to the question 
 of roubles. The test was very little other than that 
 " the highest bidder shall be the purchaser." A note 
 was sent to the young man whose offer was deemed 
 most eligible; and it was very rarely that the girl 
 made any objection to the spouse thus selected for 
 her. 
 
 MARRIAGE ARRANGEMENTS IN OLD TIMES. 
 
 Such of our ancestors as possessed rank and wealth 
 had a very arbitrary mode of arranging the alliances 
 of their children. So late as the reign of James I., 
 the disposal of a young orphan heiress lay with the 
 monarch on the throne, by whom it was generally 
 deputed to some favourite possessed of sons to whom 
 the marriage might be important. The union of the
 
 394 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 ward to a son of that person, or some other person 
 chosen by him, was then inevitable. No one, hardly 
 even the young persons themselves, appear even to 
 have entertained a doubt that this arrangement was 
 all in the natural and legitimate course of things. 
 The subordination of the young in all respects to 
 their seniors was, indeed, one of the most remark- 
 able peculiarities of social life two or three centuries 
 ago. 
 
 There is preserved the agreement entered into on 
 the 4th April, 1528, between Sir William Sturton, son 
 and heir apparent of Edward Lord Sturton, on the 
 one part, and Walter Hungerford, squire of the body 
 to the king, on the other, for the disposal of Charles, 
 the eldest son of the former, in marriage to one of 
 the three daughters of the latter, Elinor, Mary, or 
 Anne, whichever Sir William might choose. It was 
 at the same time agreed that Andrew, the second son 
 of Sir William Sturton, should marry another of the 
 young ladies. The terms under which the covenant 
 was made give a striking idea of the absolute rigour 
 with which it would be carried out. Hungerford was 
 to have the custody of the body of Charles Sturton, or 
 in the case of his death, of Andrew Sturton, in order 
 to make sure of at least one marriage being effected. 
 On the other hand, the father of the three girls under- 
 took to pay Sir William eight hundred pounds, two 
 hundred "within twelve days of the deliverance of
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 395 
 
 the said Charles," and the remainder at other speci- 
 fied times. 
 
 The covenant included an arrangement for the 
 return of the money in case the young gentleman 
 should refuse the marriage, or if by the previous 
 decease of Sir William the wardship of his sons 
 should fall to the crown. 
 
 A WIFE AND WIDOW IN FIVE MINUTES. 
 
 We obtain the following particulars from a work 
 published at Nottingham, in 1876, under the title of 
 " Nottinghamshire Facts and Fictions." The writer 
 says " It is seldom that we hear of any person 
 entering the bonds of matrimony when they are at 
 death's door, but a case of this character occurred at 
 the church of Southwell, on the 2nd of April, 1807. 
 Robert Barlow Cook, a young man twenty-seven 
 years of age, had for some years paid his addresses 
 to a female of the name of Sarah Sandaver. Their 
 union having been protracted in consequence on the 
 declining state of his health, he, this morning, having 
 arrived at the last stage of consumption, determined 
 upon attempting a marriage. Being with great diffi- 
 culty raised from his bed, after much trouble, clothed, 
 he proceeded, supported by the arm of his intended 
 brother-in-law, to the church. His rallied spirits 
 supported him tolerably well throughout the cere-
 
 396 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 mony. The priest closed the book; but before he 
 could make the usual entry in the church register 
 book, Cook sank on the floor and instantly expired. 
 
 MARRIAGE FORTUNES. 
 
 Under the i5th March, 1735, the Gentleman's 
 Magazine records 
 
 "John Parry, Esq., of Carmarthenshire, [married] to a 
 daughter of Walter Lloyd, Esq. , member for that county ; a 
 fortune of ^8,000. " 
 
 It seems to us indecorous thus to trumpet forth a 
 little domestic particular, of no importance to any but 
 the persons concerned; but it was a regular custom 
 in the reign of George II., and even considerably 
 later. There is scarcely a single number of the 
 magazine quoted which does not include several such 
 announcements, sometimes accompanied by other curi- 
 ous particulars. For example, in 1731, we have 
 
 " Married, the Rev. Mr. Roger Waina, of York, about 
 twenty-six years of age, to a Lincolnshire lady, upwards of 
 eighty, with whom he is to have 8,000 in money, ^300 per 
 annum, and a coach-and-four during life only." 
 
 What would now be matter of gossip in the locality 
 of the marriage was then deemed proper information 
 for the whole community. Thus, in March, 1735, the 
 Gentleman's Magazine gives this annonce 
 
 "The Earl of Antrim, of Ireland, to Miss Betty Penne- 
 feather, a celebrated beauty and toast of that kingdom."
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 397 
 
 It is to be feared that Miss Betty Pennefeather was 
 without fortune; otherwise it would have been sure 
 to be stated, or at least alluded to. 
 
 Towards the end of the century, such announce- 
 ments were given with less glaring precision. Thus,, 
 in the Gazette of January 5, 1789, we find 
 
 "Sunday se'nnight, at St. Aulkman's Church, Shrewsbury, 
 A. Holbeche, Esq., of Slowley Hill, near Coleshill, in this 
 county, to Mrs. Ashby, of Shrewsbury, a very agreeable lady, 
 with a good fortune." 
 
 On the 2nd of January, 1792 
 
 "Yesterday, at St. Martin's Church, William Lucas, Esq., 
 of Holy well, in Northamptonshire, to Miss Legge, only 
 daughter of the late Mr. Francis Legge, builder, of this town ; 
 an agreeable young lady, with a handsome fortune," 
 
 And on the 2gth of October, 1798 
 
 "A few days ago, at St. Martin's Church, in this town, 
 Mr. William Barnsley, of the Soho, to Miss Sarah Jorden, of 
 Birmingham Heath ; an agreeable young lady, with a genteel 
 fortune. " 
 
 In other cases, where possibly the bride was penni- 
 less, her personal qualifications alone were mentioned; 
 as this, in April, 1783 
 
 "[Married], on Saturday last, Mr. George Donisthorpe, to 
 the agreeable Mrs. Mary Bowker, both of this town." 
 
 One of the latest notices of the kind occurs in 
 Arifs Birmingham Gazette, of July 14, 1800, being
 
 398 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 that of the Right Hon. Mr. Canning, Under Secre- 
 tary of State, to Miss Scott, sister to the Marchioness 
 of Titchfield, "with ; 100,000 fortune" 
 
 ROYAL DANCE OF TORCHES. 
 
 Berlin, December 3, 1821. Of all the entertain- 
 ments which took place in this capital, on the 
 occasion of the marriage of the Prince Royal with the 
 Princess of Bavaria, none appeared so extraordinary 
 to foreigners, as the dance of torches, (Fakeltanz.) 
 It was executed after the grand marriage feast, in 
 the following manner : " The Royal family, followed 
 by all the personages who had partook of the feast at 
 separate tables, proceeded to the white saloon. The 
 dance was immediately opened by Baron de Maltzahn, 
 the privy councillor, and marshal of the court, bearing 
 his baton of order. After him followed two and two, 
 according to seniority of rank, the privy councillors 
 and the ministers of state, bearing wax torches. The 
 august bride and bridegroom preceded the above 
 dancers, and walked round the saloon. The Princess 
 Royal stopped before the King, and making him a pro- 
 found reverence, invited him to dance. After having 
 danced one turn with his majesty, she danced with 
 all the princes. The Prince Royal, in like manner, 
 danced with all the princesses. After the ball, the 
 Royal family passed into the apartment of Frederic I.,
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 399 
 
 where the grand mistress, Countess of Norde, distri- 
 buted the garter of the bride." Hone. 
 
 AN INSOLUBLE PROBLEM. 
 
 The following paragraph appeared in an Indian 
 paper, in 1877 : 
 
 " The young Thakore of Bhownugger is in trouble, 
 What is he to do with his four wives ? The Thakore 
 is one of the chief rajahs of Kattiawar, in Western 
 India. Three years ago he married four wives simul- 
 taneously. At the time of marriage the respective 
 ages of the brides were twelve, fifteen, sixteen, and 
 twenty-two years. The prince, whose broad terri- 
 tory slopes down to the blue waters of the Gulf of 
 Cambay, is said to be meditating a change of 
 religion. He is now twenty years old he was only 
 seventeen when " married and done for " four times 
 over, in one day, three years ago. Now he wishes to 
 become a Christian, but the missionaries tell him 
 Christians must only have one spouse. He is sorely 
 perplexed, and so, in all probability, are the mis- 
 sionaries, who tell him that the Christian religion 
 strictly enjoins monogamy. They also tell him that, 
 as a Christian, he can retain only one of the four 
 wives at present lawfully his. Finally, they inform 
 him that the proper wife to be retained is the one 
 who has a prior claim on his Highness. All this is
 
 400 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 very well, but scarcely meets the case. " Which one 
 of my wives has a prior claim on me?" in effect asks 
 the bewildered Thakore, " I married them on the 
 same day." The fact is that the dilemma seems 
 to be almost insurmountable. At the time of the 
 Kattiawar Prince's marriage, a correspondent sent to 
 a contemporary from Bhownuggur an account of the 
 curious wedding, and it appears plain from this, as 
 well as from the testimony of others, that the fourfold 
 regal marriage was, to all intents and purposes, 
 celebrated as if it were a single one. The prepara- 
 tory ceremonies of the four marriages intermingled 
 together inextricably, and precedence during the final 
 rites was only accorded to the wives according to 
 the rank of their parents and the extent of the 
 dowry. The oldest bride the one aged twenty-two 
 on her marriage day was the poorest. The one 
 aged sixteen was the richest. But from the first the 
 Thakore is well known to have fallen in love with 
 his bride of fifteen. Shall he keep her and discard 
 the rest? The whole question is rather a complicated 
 one. The conversion of the Rajah means, in the 
 eyes of the Hindus of Kattiawar, the infamy of three 
 women. Naturally there is great commotion in the 
 Thakore's palace, and all kinds of intrigues are said 
 to be on foot in Bhownuggur."
 
 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 40* 
 
 "MARROWBONES AND CLEAVERS." 
 
 Hogarth, in his delineation of the Marriage of the 
 Industrious Apprentice to his master's daughter, takes 
 occasion to introduce a set of butchers coming for- 
 ward with marrowbones and cleavers, and roughly 
 pushing aside those who doubtless considered them- 
 selves as the legitimate musicians. We are thus 
 favoured with a memorial of what might be called 
 one of the old institutions of the London vulgar- 
 one just about to expire, and which has, in reality, 
 become obsolete in the greater part of the metropolis. 
 The custom in question was one essentially connected 
 with marriage. The performers were the butchers' 
 men "the bonny boys that wear the sleeves of 
 blue." A set of these lads, having duly accomplished 
 themselves for the purpose, made a point of attending 
 in front of a house containing a marriage party, 
 with their cleavers, and each provided with a marrow- 
 bone, wherewith to perform a sort of rude serenade, 
 of course with the expectation of a fee in requital of 
 their music. Sometimes the group would consist of 
 four, the cleaver of each ground to the production 
 of a certain note; but a full band one entitled to 
 the highest grade of reward would be not less than 
 eight, producing a complete octave ; and, where there 
 was a fair skill, this series of notes would have all 
 
 2 C
 
 402 ANECDOTES AND MISCELLANEOUS. 
 
 the fine effect of a peal of bells. When this serenade 
 happened in the evening, the men would be dressed 
 neatly in clean blue aprons, each with a portentous 
 wedding favour of white paper in his breast or hat 
 It was wonderful with what quickness and certainty, 
 ( under the enticing presentiment of beer, the sere- 
 naders got wind of a coming marriage, and with 
 what tenacity of purpose they would go on with their 
 performance until the expected crown or half-crown 
 was forthcoming. The men of Clare Market were 
 reputed to be the best performers, and their guerdon 
 was always on the highest scale accordingly. A 
 merry rough affair it was ; troublesome somewhat to 
 the police, and not always relished by the party for 
 whose honour it was designed ; and sometimes, when 
 a musical band came upon the ground at the same 
 time, or a set of boys would please to interfere with 
 pebbles rattling in tin canisters, thus throwing a sort 
 of burlesque on the performance, a few blows would 
 be interchanged. Yet the Marrowbone-and-Cleaver 
 epithalamium seldom failed to diffuse a good humour 
 throughout the neighbourhood ; and one cannot but 
 regret that it is rapidly passing among the things 
 that were.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE * 
 
 Abyssinians, . .172 
 
 Affghans, 152 
 
 After Fifty Years, . . 358 
 
 Albanians, . . . . . . . . .170 
 
 Ancient Britons, ........36 
 
 Greeks, 62 
 
 Anecdotes and Miscellaneous, ..... 362 
 
 Arab Wedding Ball, 147 
 
 Arenezes, a Bedouin Tribe, 145 
 
 Aristocratic and Historical Marriages 338 
 
 Armenians, .........97 
 
 Athens, Marriage among the Greeks at . . . .68 
 
 Australian Aborigines, 132 
 
 Ayrshire, Creeling in .270 
 
 Babylonians, Marriage among the 76 
 
 Banns, Rubrics concerning the ..... IO 
 
 Bedouins of Mount Sinai, .146 
 
 Bidding to a Wedding, 390 
 
 Blue-Coat Boy and Girl, Marriage of a . . . . 255 
 
 Borneo, 165 
 
 Bosnia, . 135 
 
 Brahmins, ......... 139 
 
 Bridal Colours, . 306 
 
 Britons, Ancient 36 
 
 Burial of a Female Dragoon, 246
 
 404 INDEX. 
 
 PACK 
 
 Buimese, 143 
 
 Burning Nuts on the Eve of All Hallow, .... 285 
 
 Calmucs and Mongols, 143 
 
 Canary Islands, 1 66 
 
 Caught in his own Trap, 384 
 
 Charge, Of the Preface and 17 
 
 China, 114 
 
 Choosing of Brides in Russia, 264 
 
 Congoese, 174 
 
 Constant Husband, 382 
 
 Convicts, Marriage of 242 
 
 Copts, .92 
 
 Creeling in Ayrshire, 270 
 
 Crowning the Bride in Norway, ..... 268 
 
 Dalmatia, 167 
 
 Deceased Wife's Sister, Marriage with a . . . . 187 
 
 Divination by Nuts, 281 
 
 Divinations, Miscellaneous 287 
 
 Double Marriage, . . . ...-. - 380 
 
 Dowries in Cocoa and Coffee Trees, .... 266 
 
 Scotland, 271 
 
 Dunmow Flitch of Bacon, 224 
 
 Egyptians, Marriage among the Modern .... 78 
 
 England, Church of, form of Solemnization of Marriage, 9 
 
 Protestant Dissenters in . . . . 35 
 
 English Wedding, An old 388 
 
 Equal to the Occasion, 367 
 
 Espousals, Of the 18 
 
 Exhortation, Of the 32 
 
 Extraordinary Coincidences, 373
 
 INDEX. 405 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Fleet Marriages, 194 
 
 Fond of Wedlock 241 
 
 French Marriage in the Provinces, 99 
 
 Friends, or Quakers, 36 
 
 Genoa 102 
 
 Georgians, 175 
 
 Gimmal Ring, ......... 320 
 
 "Golden" Weddings, 351 
 
 Greeks, Ancient 62 
 
 at Athens, Marriage among the . . . .68 
 
 Modern 65 
 
 Gretna Green Marriages, 216 
 
 Guernsey Marriages, 50 
 
 Guinea, 169 
 
 " Hand-Fasting" in Scotland, 222 
 
 Hebrew Marriages, 51 
 
 Hempseed Sowing at Ashbourne, 284 
 
 Highland, Old, Wedding Customs, 273 
 
 Historical and Aristocratic Marriages, .... 328 
 
 Holland, 134 
 
 Humble Petition, 368 
 
 Hungarian Wedding, 109 
 
 Impediments to Matrimony, 17 
 
 Indian Marriage Market, 387 
 
 Insoluble Problem 399 
 
 Introits and Psalms, Of the 30 
 
 Ireland, 45 
 
 Irregular Marriages, 194 
 
 Isle of Man Marriages, 49 
 
 Italy, 102
 
 406 INDEX. 
 
 BAGS 
 
 Japanese, .... 123 
 
 Jewish, Modern, Wedding, . . ' . . . .58 
 
 Jubilee Wedding, ........ 369 
 
 Kings and Queens, Table of 1 78 
 
 King's Bench Prison, ........ 208 
 
 Kolarh, Throwing the 362 
 
 Laplanders, 136 
 
 Lead Melting, 288 
 
 Liburnian Custom, 270 
 
 Local Manners and Customs relating to Marriage, . , 256 
 
 Long Separations, 253 
 
 Love-Feasts of the Methodists, 371 
 
 Love Locks, 370 
 
 Lucky and Unlucky Days, 269, 
 
 Magnanimous Act, 378 
 
 Mahometans, 88 
 
 Manners and Customs, Local, relating to Marriage, . 256 
 
 Marriage among the Babylonians, 76 
 
 Greeks at Athens, .... 68 
 
 Modern Egyptians, .... 78 
 
 Romans, 69 
 
 Arrangements in Old Times, . . . . 393 
 
 by Proxy, ........ 245 
 
 Weight, 369 
 
 Customs in Scotland, prior to 1750, . . . 272 
 
 Deities, , 302 
 
 , Form of Solemnization of, in Church of England, 9 
 
 Fortunes, 396 
 
 of a Blue-Coat Boy and Girl, .... 255 
 
 Convicts, 242
 
 INDEX. 407 
 
 PXGB 
 
 Marriage Portions, 269 
 
 , Solemnization of the 22 
 
 Superstitions and Customs in the North of 
 
 England, 277 
 
 versus Poverty, 365 
 
 with a Deceased Wife's Sister, .... 187 
 
 " Marriages are made in Heaven,". .... 385 
 
 Marriages before the Registrar, 34 
 
 in the time of James I. , 390 
 
 , Irregular, 194 
 
 " Marrowbones and Cleavers," 401 
 
 Matrimonial Eccentricities, 241 
 
 Jokes, Peter the Great's .... 247 
 
 Matrimony, Impediments to 17 
 
 May Fair, 213 
 
 Methodists, Love-Feasts of the 371 
 
 Mexico, 125 
 
 Midsummer Eve, 307 
 
 or St John's Eve Love-Spells, . . .283 
 
 Miscellaneous Divinations, 287 
 
 Modern Greeks, . -65 
 
 Jewish Wedding, 58 
 
 Moldavia and Wallachia, 135 
 
 Moles, Significance of 301 
 
 Molucca Islands, . . . . . . . .162 
 
 Mongols and Calmucs, ....... 143 
 
 Moors, .......... 151 
 
 Wedding among the . . . . . .150 
 
 Navigators' or Samoa Islands, 160 
 
 Negroes, 162 
 
 New Zealand, 131 
 
 Nicaria, At, near Samos, ....... 164
 
 408 INDEX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Norway, Crowning the Bride in . ... . . 268 
 
 No Bridesmaids, 381 
 
 Odd Way of Paying Debts, 299 
 
 Offerings at Marriages, . . . . . . .371 
 
 Patagonians, 165 
 
 Perplexing Marriages, . . . . . . .379 
 
 Persians, 155 
 
 Peruvians, 129 
 
 Peter the Great's Matrimonial Jokes, .... 247 
 
 Philippine Islands, . l6z 
 
 Poesies and Ring Inscriptions, ...... 327 
 
 Popular as ever, 381 
 
 Prayers and Supplications, Of the ..... 30 
 
 Preface and Charge, Of the 17 
 
 , Rubric before the 14 
 
 Protestant Dissenters in England, ..... 35 
 
 Proxy, Marriage by 245 
 
 Psalms or Introits, Of the ...... 30 
 
 Quakers, or Friends, 36 
 
 Questionable Probation, A ...... 362 
 
 Racing for Wives, 267 
 
 Rearing a Wife, 373 
 
 Registrar, Marriages before the . . . . 34 
 Riddling the Ashes, . . . . . . . .281 
 
 Ring Finger, 325 
 
 Inscriptions and Poesies, 327 
 
 Roman Catholic Church, 38 
 
 Romans, Marriage among the ...... 69 
 
 Rome, Church of 38
 
 INDEX. 409 
 
 FACE 
 
 Rosemary, 304 
 
 Royal Dance of Torches, 398 
 
 Marriage Act, 178 
 
 Marriages, .178 
 
 Rubric before the Preface, 14 
 
 , Of the Last 33 
 
 Rubrics Concerning the Banns, 10 
 
 Russia, .......... 103 
 
 Choosing of Brides in 264 
 
 Whit-Sunday Woman-Show in . . . 391 
 
 Russian Greek Church, ....... 105 
 
 St. Agnes' Feast, 277 
 
 Saint Gon9alo, 365 
 
 St. John's Eve, or Midsummer Love Spells, . . . 283 
 
 St. Mark's Eve, 280 
 
 Samoa, or Navigators' Islands, . . . . . 160 
 
 Savoy, The 210 
 
 Scotland, ......42 
 
 Dowries in ....... 271 
 
 " Hand-Fasting " in 222 
 
 Marriage Customs in, prior to 1750,. . . 272 
 
 Scottish Local Customs, 256 
 
 Siamese, . 168 
 
 Significance of Moles, 301 
 
 Singular Wedding, 252 
 
 Smoo Indians, ... 171 
 
 Solemnization of the Marriage, 22 
 
 "Striking" Warning, 372 
 
 Superstitions concerning Marriage, 277 
 
 Supplications and Prayers, Of the . . . . .30 
 
 Svedborg's Second Courtship, ...... 366 
 
 Sweden, 134
 
 INDEX. 
 
 PACK 
 
 Swedish Author on Marriage, ...... 383 
 
 Table of Kings and Queens, . . , . . . 1 78 
 Thibetians, . . . . , . . , -173 
 Throwing the Kolarh, . '. . . . . 362 
 
 Tierra del Fuego, . .166 
 
 Tonquinese, . . . . . . . . .158 
 
 Torches, Royal Dance of 398 
 
 True-Lovers-Knots, ........ 303 
 
 Turkish Wife's Bath-Money, . . . . . . 267 
 
 Wales, 40 
 
 Wallachia and Moldavia, 135 
 
 Watching in the Church Porch, 282 
 
 the Smock, ....... 280 
 
 Wedding among the Moors, . . . . . .150 
 
 Ball, An Arab 147 
 
 Day Superstitions and Customs, . . . 295 
 
 - Ring, . .309 
 
 Notices of the Olden Time, .... 389 
 
 Weddings during the Commonwealth, .... 363 
 
 Whit-Sunday Woman-Show in Russia, .... 391 
 
 Wife and Widow in Five Minutes, ..... 395 
 
 Women Marrying Women, ...... 250 
 
 ., Printers, Glasgow and London.
 
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