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As if celestial Wine was thought
Essential to the sacred Knot,

And that each Bridegroom and his Eride
Believ'd they were not firmly ty'd
'Till Bacchus, with his bleeding tun,
Had finish'd what the Priest begun."

This custom too has its traces in Gentilism. It is of high antiquity, says Malone, for it subsisted among our Gothic ancestors: "Ingressus domum convivalem Sponsus cum pronubo suo, sumpto poculo, quod maritale, vocant, ac paucis a Pronubo de mutato vitæ genere prefatis, in signum constantiæ, virtutis, defensionis et tutelæ, propinat Sponsæ et simul 'Morgennaticam (Dotalitium ob virginitatem) promittit, quod ipsa grato animo recolens, pari ratione et modo, paulo post mutato in uxorium habitum operculo Capitis, ingressa, poculum ut nostrates vocant, uxorium leviter delibans, amorem, fidem, diligentiam, et subjectionem promittit." Stiernhook de Jure Sueorum et Gothorum vetusto, 4to. 1672, p. 163.

(4) As in Shakspeare's Taming of the Shrew, where Gremio calls for Wine, gives a health, and having quaffed off the Muscadel, throws the Sops in the Sexton's face.

The

In the beginning of Armin's History of the Two Maids of Moreclacke, 1609, the Servingman, who is perfuming the door, says: Muscadine stays for the bride at Church." Again, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady, Act i. sc. 1:

"If my Wedding Smock were on, Were the Gloves bought and given, the Licence come,

Were the Rosemary Branches dipt, and all
The Hippocras and Cakes eat and drunk off."

In the articles ordained by King Henry the Seventh for the Regulation of his Household, "Article for the Marriage of a Princess," we read: "Then Pottes of Ypocrice to bee ready, and to be put into the cupps with Soppe, and to be borne to the Estates; and to take a soppe and a drinke," &c.

In Dekker's Satiro-Mastix, 1602, we read: "And when we are at Church bring the Wine and Cakes."

At the magnificent marriage of Queen Mary and Philip in Winchester Cathedral, 1554, this was practised: "The trumpetts sounded, and they both returned, hand in hand, to their traverses in the Quire, and there remayned until Mase was done: at which tyme Wyne and Sopes were hallowed, and delivered to them booth." Leland, Collectan. edit. 1770, vol. iv. Append. p. 400.

Dr. Farmer has adduced a line in an old canzonet on a wedding, set to music by Morley, 1606: "Sops in Wine, Spice Cakes are a dealing." See Reed's edit. of Shaksp. vol. ix. pp. 114, 115.

(*) See "Wedding Sermons," 12mo. Lond. 1732, vol. i. p. 29. A wedding sermon was anciently preached at almost every marriage of persons of any consequence.

In the account of the parish of Driffield, in Gloucestershire (Fosbrooke's Hist. vol. ii. p. 476), we read: "One John Humphries, M.A. in Feb. 1742, published a Sermon preached at a Wedding here. The Marriage Psalm, on the first Sunday of the couple's appearance at Church, still continues."

In the library at the British Museum, is "A Sermon preached at Trafford, in Lancashire, at the Marriage of a daughter of the right worshipfull Sir Edmund Trafford, knight, the 6th of September, Anno 1586, by William Massie," 12mo. Oxford, 1586.

()" Certe et in Græcorum ritibus, Compotatio est in Ecclesia nuptialis, quæ Confarreationis vicem videtur præstare." Seldeni Uxor Hebraica, Opera, tom. iii. p. 668.

That it still exists in Russia may be seen in the "Dissertations sur les Antiquités de Russie," par Matthieu Guthrie, 8vo. St. Petersb. 1795, p. 128.

In a curious account of Irish marriage customs about 1682, in Sir Henry Piers's "Description of Westmeath," in Vallancey's Collection, vol. i. p. 122, it is stated, that "in their Marriages, especially in those countries where cattle abound, the parents and friends on each side meet on the side of a hill, or, if the weather be cold, in some place of shelter about mid-way between both dwellings. If agreement ensue, they drink the Agreement

Bottle, as they call it, which is a bottle of good Usquebaugh (i. e. Whisky, the Irish aqua vitæ, and not what is now understood by Usquebaugh), and this goes merrily round. For payment of the portion, which generally is a determinate number of cows, little care is taken. Only the father, or next of kin to the Bride, sends to his neighbours and friends, sub mutuæ vicissitudinis obtentu, and every one gives his cow or heifer, which is all one in the case, and thus the portion is quickly paid; nevertheless, caution is taken from the Bridegroom, on the day of delivery, for restitution of the cattle, in case the Bride die childless within a certain day limited by agreement, and in this case every man's own beast is restored. Thus care is taken that no man shall grow rich by often Marriages. On the day of bringing home, the Bridegroom and his friends ride out, and meet the Bride and her friends at the place of treaty. Being come near each other, the custom was of old to cast short darts at the company that attended the

Bride, but at such a distance that seldom any hurt ensued; yet it is not out of the memory of man that the Lord Hoath on such an occasion lost an eye: this custom of casting darts is now obsolete."

The following is from the "Gent. Mag." for March, 1767, vol. xxxvii. p. 140: "The antient custom of seizing wives by force, and carrying them off, is still practised in Ireland. A remarkable instance of which happened lately in the county of Kilkenny, where a farmer's son, being refused a neighbour's daughter of only twelve years of age, took an opportunity of running away with her; but being pursued and recovered by the girl's parents, she was brought back and married by her father to a lad of fourteen. But her former lover, determining to maintain his priority, procured a party of armed men, and besieged the house of his rival; and in the contest the father-in-law was shot dead, and several of the besiegers were mortally wounded, and forced to retire without their prize."

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"But some reply, what foole would daunce, If that, when daunce is doone, He may not have at ladyes' lips

That which in daunce he woon?"

This custom is still prevalent among the country people in many, perhaps all, parts of the kingdom. When the fiddler thinks his young couple have had music enough, he makes his instrument squeak out two notes, which all understand to "Kiss her!" (RITSON.)

say,

In "The Tempest" this line occurs: "Curtsied when you have and kissed." To which the following is a note: "As was antiently done at the beginning of some dances." So in "King Henry VIII." that prince says:

"I were unmannerly to take you out
And not to kiss you."

See Reed's edit. of Shakspeare, vol.
iv. p. 43.

(4) In the provincial poem of "The Collier's Wedding," the bride is introduced as being waylaid, after the ceremony, at the Church Stile for this purpose.

The

The subsequent curious particulars relating to the Nuptial Kiss in the Church, &c. are from "Randolph's Letters," cited by Andrews in his "Continuation of Henry's History of Great Britain," 4to. Lond. 1796, p. 148, note. He is speaking of the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots to Lord Darnley: "She had on her back the great mourning gown of black, with the great wide mourning hood, &c. rings, which were three, the middle a rich diamond, were put on her finger. They kneel together, and many prayers were said over them; she tarrieth out the mass, and he taketh a Kiss, and leaveth her there, and went to her chamber, whither, within a space, she followeth, and being required (according to the solemnity) to cast off her cares, and leave aside these sorrowful garments, and give herself to a more pleasant life, after some pretty refusal

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"Kitra, ou baiser d'amour des Grecs.

Après que la bénédiction nuptiale a déclaré les jeunes époux mari & femme, ce caractère leur donne le droit de suivre une coutume aussi singulière qu'ancienne, qui consiste à se donner le kitra (a) des Grecs, ou le fameux baiser d'antiquité, si emblématique de l'amour & de l'attachement, dout Théocrite parle dans la cinquième Idylle, où it représente une jeune nymphe qui se plaint amèrement de son amant Alcippes; parce que l'ingrat, à qui elle a bien voulu donner un baiser, a dédaigné de jouir de cette faveur selon la manière usitée, c'est-à-dire, en la prenant par les oreilles. Tibulle, dans sa cinquième élégie, liv. II., & Ciceron dans sa vingt-septième épitre familiere, citent pareillement ce témoignage curieux de l'amour, que nous trouvons encore en usage parmi les paysans Russes, lorsqu'une fois engagés par le lien du mariage ils se donnent le premier baiser conjugal."

(*) Κυτρα.

CARE CLOTH.

AMONG the Anglo-Saxons the nuptial benediction was performed under a veil, or square piece of cloth, held at each corner by a tall man over the bridegroom and bride, to conceal her virgin blushes; but if the bride was a widow, the veil was esteemed useless. (a)

According to the use of the church of Sarum, when there was a marriage before mass, the parties kneeled together and had a fine linen cloth (called the Care Cloth) laid over their heads during the time of mass, till they received the benediction, and theu were dismissed. (1)

I have a curious Wedding-Sermon, by William Wheatly, preacher of Banbury in Oxfordshire, 4to. Lond. 1624, entitled "A Care-Cloth, or a Treatise of the Cumbers and Troubles of Marriage." I know not the etymology of the word "Care," used here in composition with "Cloth." Wheatly has given it the ordinary meaning of the word, but I think erroneously. Like many other etymologists, he has adapted it to his own purpose. (2)

NOTES TO CARE CLOTH.

(1) Blount in verbo. In the Hereford Missal it is directed that at a sparticular prayer the married couple shall prostrate themselves, while four clerks hold the pall, i. e. the Care Cloth, over them. See the " Appendix to Hearne's Glastonbury," p. 309 et seq. The Rubric in the Sarum Manual is somewhat different: "Prosternat se Sponsus et Sponsa in Oratione ad gradum Altaris, extenso super eos Pallio, quod teneant quatuor Clerici per quatuor cornua in Superpelliciis." The York Manual also differs here: "Missa dein celebratur, illis genuflectentibus sub Pallio super eos extento, quod teneant duo Clerici in Superpelliceis."

(2) Selden's fifteenth chapter in his "Uxor Hebraica" (Opera, tom. iii. p. 633), treats "de Velaminibus item quibus obtecti Sponsi."

Something like this Care Cloth is used by the modern Jews, from whom it has probably been derived into the Christian church: "There is a square vestment called Taleth, with pendants about it, put over the head of the bridegroom and the bride together." See "Leo Modena's History of the Rites, Customes, and Manner of Life of the present Jews throughout the World, translated by Chilmead," 8vo. Lond. 1650, p. 176.

(a) Strutt's Manners and Customs, vol. i. p. 76.

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He adds, that when the priest has taken the glass of wine into his hand he says as follows:

"Blessed art thou, O Lord our God! King of the Universe, the Creator of the fruit of the Vine. Blessed art thou, O Lord our God! King of the Universe, who hath sanctified us with his commandments, and hath forbid us fornication, and hath prohibited unto us the betrothed, but hath allowed unto us those that are married unto us by the means of the CANOPY and the Wedding-ring: Blessed art thou, O Lord! the sanctifier of his people Israel, by the means of the CANOPY and Wedlock."

In the Appendix to "Hearne's Hist. and Antiq. of Glastonbury," p. 309, is preserved "Formula antiqua nuptias in iis partibus Angliæ (occidentalibus nimirum) quæ Ecclesiæ Herefordensis in ritibus Ecclesiasticis ordine sunt usi, celebrandi." The Care Cloth seems to be described in the following passage: "Hæc Oratio S. propiciare Domine,' semper dicatur super Nubentes sub pallio prosternentes.”

In Sir John Sinclair's "Statistical Account of Scotland," vol. v. 8vo. Edinb. 1793, p. 83, the minister of Logierait in Perthshire, speaking of the superstitious opinions and practices of the parish, says: "Immediately before the celebration of the marriage-ceremony every knot about the bride and bridegroom (garters, shoe-strings, strings of petticoats, &c.) is carefully loosened. After leaving the church

the whole company walk round it, keeping the church-walls always upon the right hand. The bridegroom, however, first retires one way with some young men to tie the knots that were loosened about him; while the young married woman, in the same manner, retires somewhere else to adjust the disorder of her dress."

BRIDE-ALE,

CALLED ALSO BRIDE-BUSH, BRIDE-STAKE, BIDDING, AND BRIDE-WAIN.

BRIDE-ALE, Bride-bush, and Bride-stake are nearly synonymous terms, (1) and all derived from the circumstance of the bride's selling ale on the wedding-day, for which she received, by way of contribution, whatever handsome price the friends assembled on the occasion chose to pay her for it.

A bush at the end of a stake or pole was the ancient badge of a country alehouse. (a) Around this bride-stake the guests were wont to dance as about a May-pole.

The Bride-ale appears to have been called in some places a Bidding, from the circum

stance of the bride and bridegroom's bidding or inviting the guests. (2)

In Cumberland it had the appellation of a Bride-wain, a term which will be best explained by the following extract from the Glossary to Douglas's Virgil, v. Thig: (3) "There was a custom in the Highlands and North of Scotland, where new-married persons, who had no great stock, or others low in their fortune, brought carts and horses with them to the houses of their relations and friends, and received from them corn, meal, wool, or whatever else they could get.”

NOTES TO BRIDE-ALE.

(1) "The expense of a Bride-ale was probably defrayed by the relations and friends of a happy pair, who were not in circumstances to bear the charges of a wedding-dinner."' Archæol., vol. xii. p, 12.

In the "Christen State of Matrimony," 8vo. Lond. 1543, fol. 48 b, we read: "When they come home from the church then beginneth excesse of eatyng and dryncking,—and as much is waisted in one daye as were suffi

(a) Dekker's "Wonderfull Yeare," 4to. 1603, Signat. F.

cient for the two newe-maried folkes halfe a year to lyve upon." (b)

cr

The following is from the Antiquarian Repertory," vol. iii. p. 24, communicated by Mr. Astle from the court-rolls of Hales-Owen Borough, in the county of Salop (in the hands

(b) I know not the meaning of the following lines in Christopher Brooke's "Epithalamium," Signat. R. ii. in England's "Helicon :"

"The board being spread, furnished with various plenties;

The bride's fair object in the middle plac'd." Opposite, in the margin, is " Dinner."

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