Is it of mettall pure? so you shall prove

My love, which ne'er disloyall thought did staine.

Hath it no end? so endlesse is my love,

Unlesse you it destroy with your disdaine. Doth it the purer waxe the more 'tis tri'de? So doth my love; yet herein they dissent, That whereas gold the more 'tis purifide, By waxing lesse, doth shew some part is spent,

My love doth waxe more pure by your more trying,

And yet encreaseth in the purifying."

A still more beautiful allusion to the emblematical properties of the Wedding Ring occurs in a "Collection of Poems," 8vo. Dubl. 1801, p. 118:

"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 only amulet to keep from harm;
To guard at once and consecrate the shrine,
Take this dear pledge—it makes and keeps
thee mine." (9)

A remarkable superstition still prevails among the lowest of our vulgar, that a man may lawfully sell his wife to another, provided he deliver her over with a halter about her neck. It is painful to observe that instances of this occur frequently in our

newspapers.

Every one knows that in England, during' the time of the Commonwealth, Justices of Peace were empowered to marry people. A jeu d'esprit on this subject may be found in Richard Flecknoe's Diarium, &c. 8vo. Lond. 1656, p. 83, "On the Justice of Peace's making marriages, and the crying them in the market."

(1) "Annulus Sponsa dono mittebatur a viro qui pronubus dictus. Alex. ab Alexandro, lib. ii. c. 5. Et, mediante Annulo contrahitur Matrimonium Papanorum." Moresini Papatus, p. 12.

It is farther observable, that the joining together of the right hands in the Marriage Ceremony is from the same authority: "Dextra data, acceptaque invicem, Persæ et Assyrii fœdus Matrimonii ineunt. Alex. ab Alexandro, lib. ii. cap. 5. Papatus retinet." Ibid. p. 50.

(2) Quintus Curtius tells us, Lib. i. de Gest. Alexandri M., "Et Rex medio Cupiditatis ardore jussit afferri patrio more PANEM

(hoc erat apud Macedones sanctissimum coeuntium pignus) quem divisum gladio uterque libabat."

The ceremony used at the solemnization of a Marriage was called Confarreation, in token of a most firm conjunction between the Man and the Wife, with a Cake of Wheat or Barley. This, Blount tells us, is still retained in part with us, by that which is called the Bride-Cake used at Weddings.

Dr. Moffet, in his "Health's Improvement," p. 218, informs us that "the English, when the Bride comes from Church, are wont to cast Wheat upon her head; and when the Bride and Bridegroom return home, one pre

sents them with a Pot of Butter, as presaging plenty, and abundance of all good things."

This ceremony of Confarreation has not been omitted by the learned Moresin: "SUMANALIA, panis erat ad formam Rotæ factus : hoc utuntur Papani in Nuptiis, &c." Papatus, p. 165. Nor has it been overlooked by Her. rick in his Hesperides. At p. 128, speaking to the Bride, he says:

"While some repeat Your praise, and bless you, sprinkling you with Wheat."

See, also, " Langley's Translation of Polydore Vergil," fol. 9 b.

See note (3) in next page.

It was also a Hebrew custom. See Selden's "Uxor Hebraica," lib. ii. cap. xv. Opera, tom. iii. p. 633. In the same volume, p. 668, is a passage much to our purpose: Quanquam sacra quæ fuere in Confarreatione paganica, utpote Christianismo plane adversantia, sub ejusdem initia, etiam apud Paganos evanuêre-nihilominus farris ipsius Usus aliquis solennis in libis conficiendis, diffringendis, communicandis, locis saltem in nonnullis semper obtinuit. Certè frequentissimus apud Anglos est et antiquitus fuit liborum admodum grandium in nuptiis usus, quæ BRIDE-CAKES, id est, liba sponsalitia seu nuptialia appellitant. Ea quæ tum a Sponsis ipsis confecta tum ab propinquis amicisque solenniter muneri nuptiali data.'

The connection between the Bride-Cake and Wedding is strongly marked in the following custom, still retained in Yorkshire, where the former is cut into little square pieces, thrown over the Bridegroom's and Bride's Head, and then put through the Ring. The Cake is sometimes broken over the Bride's Head, and then thrown away among the Crowd to be scrambled for. This is noted by the Author of the "Convivial Antiquities," in his Description of the Rites of Marriages in his country and time: "Peracta re divina Sponsa ad Sponsi domum deducitur, indeque Panis projicitur, qui a pueris certatim rapitur." fol. 68.

In the North, Slices of the Bride-Cake are put through the Wedding Ring: they are afterwards laid under pillows, at night, to cause young persons to dream of their Lovers.

Mr. Douce's MS. Notes say, this custom is not peculiar to the North of England, it seems to prevail generally. The pieces of the Cake must be drawn nine times through the Wedding Ring.

Aubrey, in "The Remains of Gentilisme and Judaisme," MS. Lansd. Brit. Mus. 8vo. Cat. No. 226, fol. 109 b, says: "When I was a little Boy (before the Civil Wars), I have seen, according to the custome then, the Bride and Bridegroome kisse over the Bride-Cakes at the Table. It was about the latter end of Dinner: and the Cakes were layd one upon another, like the picture of the Shew-Bread in the old Bibles. The Bridegroom waited at Dinner."

(3) The following extract is from an old grant, cited in Du Cange's "Glossary," v. CONFARREATIO: "Miciacum concedimus et quicquid est Fisci nostri intra Fluminum alveos et per sanctam Confarreationem et Annulum inexceptionaliter tradimus."

(4) The following thought on the Marriage Ring, from Herrick's "Hesperides," p. 72, is well expressed:

"And as this round

Is no where found

To flaw, or else to sever:

So let our love

As endlesse prove;

And pure as Gold for ever."

The allusion both to the form and metal of which it is composed is elegant. Were it not too long, it would be the best Posie for a Wedding Ring that ever was devised.

Vallancey, in his Collectanea de Rebus Hibernicis, No. xiii. p. 98, says that "there is a passage in Ruth, chap. iv., v. 7, which gives room to think the Ring was used by the Jews as a Covenant." He adds, that the Vulgate have translated Narthick (which ought to be a Ring) a Shoe. "In Irish Nuirt is an Amulet worn on the Finger or Arm, a Ring." Sphæra Solis est Narthick, says Buxtorf in his Chaldee Lexicon.

Leo Modena, in his "History of the Rites, Customes, and Manner of Life of the present Jews throughout the World," translated by Edm. Chilmead, 8vo. Lond. 1650, p. 176, speaking of their contracts and manner of marrying, says that before the writing of the

Bride's Dowry is produced and read, "the Bridegroom putteth a Ring upon her finger, in the presence of two witnesses, which commonly used to be the Rabbines, saying withal unto her, Behold, thou art my espoused Wife, according to the custome of Moses and of Israel.""

In Swinburne's Treatise of Spousals, p. 207, we read: "The first inventor of the Ring, as is reported (he cites Alberic de Rosa in suo Dictionar. v. Annulus), was one Prometheus. The workman which made it was Tubal-Cain: and Tubal-Cain, by the counsel of our first parent Adam (as my author telleth me), gave it unto his Son to this end, that therewith he should espouse a Wife, like as Abraham delivered unto his servants bracelets and earrings of gold. The form of the Ring being circular, that is round and without end, importeth thus much, that their mutual love and hearty affection should roundly flow from the one to the other as in a Circle, and that continually and for ever.”

(5) In the Hereford, York, and Salisbury Missals the Ring is directed to be put first upon the thumb, afterwards upon the second, then on the third, and lastly on the fourth finger, where it is to remain, "quia in illo digito est quædam vena procedens usque ad Cor."

It is very observable that none of the above Missals mention the Hand, whether right or left, upon which the Ring is to be put. This has been noticed by Selden in his Uxor Hebraica: "Digito quarto, sed non liquet dexteræ an sinistræ manus."

The Hereford Missal inquires "Quæro quæ est ratio ista, quare Anulus ponatur in quarto digito cum pollice computato, quam in secundo vel tercio? Isidorus dicit quod quædam vena extendit se a digito illo usque ad Cor, et dat intelligere unitatem et perfectionem Amoris."

It appears from Aulus Gellius, lib. x. cap. 10, that the ancient Greeks and most of the Romans wore the Ring "in eo digito qui est in manu sinistra minimo proximus." He adds, on the authority of Appian, that a small nerve runs from this finger to the heart; and that therefore it was honoured with the office of bearing the Ring, on account of its connection with that master mover of the vital functions.

VOL. II.

Macrobius (Saturnal. lib. vii. cap. 13) assigns the same reason; but also quotes the opinion of Ateius Capito, that the right hand was exempt from this office, because it was much more used than the left hand, and therefore the precious stones of the Rings were liable to be broken; and that the finger of the left hand was selected which was the least used.

Gent. Mag. for Sept. 1795, vol. lxv. p. 727. For the Ring's having been used by the Romans at their marriages, consult Juvenal, Sat. vi. v. 27.

(6) Wheatly on the Common Prayer, 8vo. Lond. 1741, p. 437. Levinus Lemnius tells us, speaking of the Ring-finger, that "a small branch of the arterie, and not of the nerves, as Gellius thought, is stretched forth from the heart unto this finger, the motion whereof you shall perceive evidently in women with child and wearied in travel, and all affects of the heart, by the touch of your fore finger. I use to raise such as are fallen in a swoond by pinching this joynt, 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 joyn'd: wherefore it deserved that honour above the rest, and Antiquity thought fit to compasse it about with Gold. Also the worth of this finger that it receives from the heart procured thus much, that the old physicians, from whence also it hath the name of Medicus, would mingle their medicaments and potions with this finger, for no venom can stick upon the very outmost part of it, but it will offend a man, and communicate itself to his heart." English Trans. fol. Lond. 1658, p. 109.

To a Querist in the British Apollo, fol. London, 1708, vol. i. No. 18, "Why is it that the person to be married is enjoyned to put a Ring upon the fourth finger of his spouse's left hand?" It is answered, "There is nothing more in this, than that the custom was handed down to the present age from the practice of our ancestors, who found the left hand more convenient for such ornaments than the right, in that it 's ever less employed; for the same reason they chose the fourth finger, which is not only less used than either of the rest, but is more capable of preserving

a Ring from bruises, having this one quality peculiar to itself, that it cannot be extended but in company with some other finger, whereas the rest may be singly stretched to their full length and straightness.

"Some of the ancients were of opinion in this matter, that the Ring was so worn because to that finger, and to that only, comes an artery from the heart; but the politer knowledge of our modern anatomists having clearly demonstrated the absurdity of that notion, we are rather inclined to believe the continuance of the custom owing to the reason above mentioned."

See also the British Apollo, vol. i. No. 3, Supernumerary for June.

(7) In a scarce Tract in my collection, entitled "A Briefe Discourse of a Disease called the Suffocation of the Mother; written upon occasion which hath beene of late taken thereby, to suspect possession of an evill Spirit, or some such like supernatural power, &c. by Edward Jorden, Doctor in Physicke," 4to. Lond. 1603, (dedicated to the College of Physicians of London,) the learned author, in a list of "superstitious remedies which have crept into our profession," mentions a whimsical superstition relating to the Wedding Ring which need not be repeated.

(8) This may have originated in the popish HALLOWING of this Ring, of which the following form occurs in "The Doctrine of the Masse Booke, from Wyttonberge, by Nicholas Dorcastor," 8vo. 1554, Signat. C. 6. b:

qui ont forfaict a leur honneur, la chose estant averée, si l'on ny peult remedier autrement pour sauver l'honneur des Maisons, l'on a accoustumée d'amener en ladicte Eglise l'homme & la femme qui ont forfaict en leur honneur, et là estans conduicts par deux Sergents (au cas qu'ils n'y veulent venir de leur bonne volontè) il sont espousez ensemble par le Curè dudict lieu avec un Anneau de Paille: leur enjoignant de vivre en paix & amitié, & ainsi couvrir l'honneur des Parens et Amis ausquels ils appartiennent, & sauver leurs Ames du danger où ils s'estoient mis par leur peché & offense."

One of the Constitutions of Richard Bishop of Salisbury, in 1217, cited by Du Cange, in his Glossary, v. Annulus, says: "Nec quisquam Annulum de Junco vel quacunque vili materia vel pretiosa, jocando manibus innectat

BRIDE

muliercularum, ut liberius cum eis fornicetur: ne dum jocari se putat, honoribus matrimonialibus se astringat."

Mr. Douce refers Shakspeare's expression, "Tib's Rush for Tom's forefinger," which has so long puzzled the Commentators, to this custom.

"L'Official marie dans l'Eglise de St. Marine ceux qui ont forfait a leur honneur, ou ils sont epouses ensemble par le curè du lieu avec un Anneau de Paille." Sausal, Antiq. de Paris, tom. i. p. 429. “Pour faire observer, sans doute," adds the Editor of "Le Voyageur a Paris," tom. iii. p. 156, Mari, combien etoit fragile la vertu de celle qu'il choisissait."

66

au

Compare also the "Traité des Superstitions, par M. Thiers," tom. iii. p. 462, where Bishop Poore's Constitution is also quoted.

A KNOT, among the ancient Northern Nations, seems to have been the symbol of love, faith, and friendship, pointing out the indissoluble tie of affection and duty. Thus the ancient Runic Inscriptions, as we gather from "Hickes's Thesaurus," (1) are in the form of a Knot. 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, a mutual present between the lover and his mistress, which, being considered as the emblem of plighted fidelity, is therefore called a Truelove Knot: a name which is not derived, as one would naturally suppose it to be, from the words "True" and "Love," but formed from the Danish verb "Trulofa," fidem do, I plight my troth, or faith. Thus we read, in the Islandic Gospels, the following passage in the first chapter of St. Matthew's, which 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. (*)

Bride Favours appear to have been worn by the peasantry of France, on similar occasions, on the arm. In England these Knots of Ribbons were distributed in great abundance formerly, even at the marriages of persons of the first distinction. They were worn at the hat (the gentleman's, I suppose), and consisted of ribbons of various colours. (3) If I mistake not, white ribbons are the only ones used at present.

To this variety of colours in the Bride Favours used formerly, the following passage, wherein Lady Haughty addresses Morose, in Jonson's play of "The Silent Woman," evidently alludes:

"Let us know your Bride's colours and yours at least."

The Bride Favours have not been omitted in the Northern provincial Poem of "The Collier's Wedding:"