July 1831. The parsons of the old Fleet, and of May fair, were noted for their celebration of private marriages; and it appears that the village of Hampstead was not less remarkable for conveniences of that kind to couples who wished to increase their happiness by a little air and exercise. About the beginning of the last century there stood, near the Wells, a place called Sion chapel, which seems to have been the property of the keeper of the adjoining tavern, by the following advertisement from a newspaper of 1716: it will be seen what temptations were held out to such parties as should keep their wedding dinner in his gardens. "8th September 1716.-SION CHAPEL AT HAMPSTEAD, being a private and pleasure place, many persons of the best fashion have lately been married there. Now, as a minister is obliged constantly to attend, this is to give notice, that all persons bringing a licence, and who shall In 1794 the minister of Eskdalemuir, in the county of Dumfries, mentions an annual fair held time out of mind at the meeting of the Black and White Esks, now entirely laid aside. At that fair it was the custom for unmarried persons of both sexes to choose a companion, according to their liking, with whom they were to live till that time next year. This was called "hand-fasting," or hand in fist. If they were pleased with each other at that time, then they continued together for life: if not, they separated, and were free to make another choice as at the first. The fruit 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. In the Isle of Portland, near Weymouth, where the inhabitants seldom or land, young women betroth themselves never intermarry with any on the mainto lovers of the same place, and allow them the privileges of husbands, with the certainty of being made wives the moment that the consequences of their intimacy become apparent. [This usage I ascertained, upon the spot, to prevail in 1817, and was assured, by respectable married females of the place, that only one instance of the engagement not being fulfilled by a young man had occurred within their memory, and in that case the offender was driven by the inhabitants with ignominy from the island. W. H.] Breaking a Piece of Money. It was anciently customary to break a piece of gold or silver in token of a verbal contract of marriage and promises of love; one half whereof was kept by the woman, while the other part remained with the man. The Dialogue between Kitty and Filbert in the "What d'ye call it," by Gay, illustrates the usage :Yet, Justices, permit us, ere we part, To break this Ninepence as you've broke our heart." Filbert (breaking the ninepence)-As this divides, thus are we torn in twain. Kitty (joining the pieces)-And, as this meets, thus may we meet again. In "The Country Wake," a comedy by Dogget, 4to., London, 1696, Act v. sc. i., Hob, who fancies he is dying, before he makes his last will and testimony, as he calls it, when his mother desires him to try to speak to Mary, "for she is thy wife, and no other," answers, "I know I'm sure to her-and I do own it before I ask't her the question last you all; Lammas, and at Allhallow's-tide we broke a piece of money; and if I had lived till last Sunday we had been ask'd in the church." Mr. Douce's MS. Notes say: "Analogous to the interchangement of rings seems the custom of breaking a piece of money. An example of this occurs in Bateman's Tragedy,' a wellA lawknown penny history, chap. v.' book, Swinburne on Spousals," p. 10, says: "Some spousals are contracted by signs, as the giving and receiving a ring, others by words." It appears to have been formerly a custom, also, for those who were betrothed to wear some flower as an external and conspicuous mark of their mutual engagement. Spenser, in his "Shepherd's Calendar," says, "Bring coronations and sops in wine Sops in wine were a species of flowers among the smaller kind of single gilliflowers or pinks.* CREELING. In 1792 the minister of Galston, in Ayrshire, mentions 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, Brand. and, having let the landlady 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 busband'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.* 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 name which is not derived, as may be naturally supposed, from the words "true" and "love," but formed from the Danish verb "trulofa," fidem 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 a man, &c. had engaged herself to "bride favors," Hence, evidently, the Brand. 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. In Davison's "Poetical Rhapsody, 1611," are the following verses:- The True Love's Knot. in his Travels in England, printed in 1696, says, "Formerly, in France, they gave Livrees de Nôces, which was a knot of ribands, to be worn by the guests upon their arms; but that is practised now only among peasants. In England it is done still amongst the greatest noblemen. These ribands they call 'favors,' Love is the linke, the knot, the band of unity, and give them not only to those that are And all that love do love with their beloved ill doth grow, For goodnes caused the love, which great respect did owe, Respect true love did show; Gay, in his Pastoral called "the Spell," describes the rustic manner of knitting the true-love-knot: As Lubberkin once slept beneath a tree, I twitched his dangling garter from his knee; He wist not when the hempen string I drew, Now mine I quickly doff of Inkle blue; Together fast I tye the garters twaine, And, while I knit the knot, repeat this strainThree times a true-love's knot I tye secure : Firm be the knot, firm may his love endure. In England these knots of ribands were formerly distributed in great abundance as bride favors, even at the marriages of persons of the first distinction. They were worn at the hat, and consisted of ribands of various colors. M. Misson, at the wedding, but to five hundred people besides. T'other day, when the eldest son of M. de Overkerque married the duke of Ormond's sister, they dispensed a whole inundation of those little favors: nothing else was here to be met with, from the hat of the king down to that of the meanest servant." Ozell, in a note to his translation of Misson, says: "The favor was a pretty large knot, of several colors, gold, silver, carnation, and white. This is worn upon the hat for some weeks." The only color for wedding-favors at this time [1831] is white. The bride favors have not been omitted in "The Collier's Wedding," a northern provincial poem:— The blithsome bucksome country maids, The same poem, speaking of the youth attending the bridegroom, says, Like streamers in the painted sky, Bridal Colors. In a curious old book "The fifteen Comforts of Marriage," a conference is introduced concerning bridal colors in dressing up the bridal-bed by the bridemaids." Not, say they, with yellow ribbands, these are the emblems of jealousy -not with Fueille mort,' that signifies fading love-but with true blue, that signifies constancy, and green denotes youth-put them both together, and there's youthful constancy. One proposed blue and black, that signifies constancy till death; but that was objected to as those colors 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 favors, top-knots, and garters, the bride proposed blue, gold color, lemoncolor, &c. Gold-color was objected to as signifying avarice. The younger bride maid proposed to mix willow and milk white: the willow was excluded because it signified forsaken.* A virtuous, discreet, and loving Wife. Let no man value at a little price A virtuous woman's counsaile; her wing'd spirit Is feathered words; oftentimes with heavenly And (like her beauty) ravishing, and pure. She gives him double forces, to endure If he lament, she melts herself in teares : And is, in alterations passing strange, Hats from men's heads; and bows the strongest knees, Yet cannot bend in rule the weakest hearts; Musick delights but one sense; nor choice love; but, when a man dwells in love, then the breasts of his wife are pleasant as the droppings upon the hill of Hermon, her eyes are fair as the light of heaven; she is a fountain sealed, and he can quench his thirst, and ease his cares, and lay his sorrows down upon her lap, and can retire home to his sanctuary and refectory, and his gardens of sweetness and chaste refreshments. No man can tell, but he that loves his children, how many delicious accents make a man's heart dance in the pretty conversation of those dear pledges; their childishness, their stammering, their little angers, their innocence, their imperfections, their necessities, are so many little emanations of joy and comfort to him that delights in their persons and society.-Jeremy Taylor. CHILDREN. Oh! to my sense, there is in childhood's kiss, And in its trust, that, in a world like this, Each that surrounds it is its genuine friend! Their little pranks, the which with emphasis Speaks of the heavens ! "Tis to condescend, From converse with a child, with aught on earth to blend. In a child's voice-is there not melody? In a child's eye-is there not rapture seen? And rapture not of passion's revelry? Calm, though impassion'd! durable, though keen! It is all fresh, like the young spring's first green! Children seem spirits from above descended, To whom still cleaves heaven's atmosphere serene; Their very wildnesses with truth are blended: Fresh from their skiey mould, they cannot be amended. Warm and uncalculating, they're more wise More sense than extasy of theirs denotesMore of the stuff have they of paradise And more the music of the warbling throats Of choirs whose anthem round th' Eternal floats Than all that bards e'er feign; or tuneful skill will. C. Lloyd, 1821. There is nothing can please a man without love and if a man be weary of the wise discourses of the Apostles, and of the innocency of an even and a private fortune, or hates peace, or a fruitful year, he hath reaped thorns and thistles from the choicest flowers of paradise; for September 8.-Day breaks nothing can sweeten felicity itself, but * Brand. Sun rises sets Twilight ends Late crocus, and naked crocus blow. ARCH ERECTED IN GRACECHURCH STREET, In a handsome three and sixpenny tract, entitled "London Pageants," Mr. John Gough Nichols has compiled "Accounts of fifty-five Royal Processions and VOL. I.-34. Entertainments in the City of London." It is printed in octavo, and embellished with a folding quarto plate (from which the preceding engraving is copied), after 2 M |