Old Church Lore Part 9

The sum of 25,000 was collected by briefs and private charities towards the heavy loss sustained by the inhabitants. Charles II. gave 1000 tons of timber out of Whittlewood forest, and remitted the duty of chimney-money in the town for seven years. We gather from Hume, that "the king's debts had become so intolerable, that the commons were constrained to vote him an extraordinary supply of 1,200,000, to be levied by eighteen months' a.s.sessment, and, finding upon inquiry that the several branches of the revenue fell much short of the sums they expected, they at last, after much delay, voted a new imposition of 2s. on each hearth, and this tax they settled on the king during his life."

Macaulay speaks of this tax as being "peculiarly odious, for it could only be levied by means of domiciliary visits.... The poorer householders were frequently unable to pay their hearth-money to the day. When this happened, their furniture was distrained without mercy, for the tax was farmed, and a farmer of taxes, is, of all creditors, proverbially, the most rapacious." He quotes from some doggerel ballads of the period, and the following is one of the verses reproduced:

"The good old dames, whenever they the chimney-man espied, Unto their nooks they haste away, their pots and pipkins hide; There is not one old dame in ten, and search the nation through, But, if you talk of chimney-men, will spare a curse or two."

A reference to chimney-money occurs in an epitaph in Folkestone churchyard. Here is a copy:

"In Memory of REBECCA ROGERS, who died August 22nd, 1688.

Aged 44 years.

A house she hath; it's made of such good fas.h.i.+on, The tenant ne'er shall pay for reparation, Nor will her landlord ever raise her rent, Or turn her out of doors for non-payment.

From chimney-money too this cell is free-- To such a house, who would not tenant be?"

The inhabitants of Northampton, to show their grat.i.tude to the king for his consideration, displayed oak branches over their house doors. The members of the corporation, accompanied by the children of the charity schools, attend service at All Saints' Church. A statue of the king, in front of the church, is usually enveloped in oak boughs on May 29th.

Marrying in a White Sheet.

It was not an uncommon circ.u.mstance in the last, and even in the early years of the present century, for marriages to be performed _en chemise_, or in a white sheet. It was an old belief, that a man marrying a woman in debt, if he received her at the hands of the minister clothed only in her s.h.i.+ft, was not liable to pay the accounts she had contracted before their union. We think it will not be without interest to give a few authenticated instances of this cla.s.s of marriages.

The earliest example we have found, is recorded in the parish register of Chiltern, All Saints', Wilts. It is stated: "John Bridmore and Anne Selwood were married October 17th, 1714. The aforesaid Anne Selwood was married in her smock, without any clothes or headgier on."

On June 25th, 1738, George Walker, a linen weaver, and Mary Gee, of the "George and Dragon," Gorton Green, were made man and wife, at the ancient chapel close by. The bride was only attired in her s.h.i.+ft.

Particulars of another local case are given in the columns of _Harrop's Manchester Mercury_, for March 12th, 1771, as follows: "On Thursday last, was married, at Ashton-under-Lyne, Nathaniel Eller to the widow Hibbert, both upwards of fifty years of age; the widow had only her s.h.i.+ft on, with her hair tied behind with horse hair, as a means to free them both from any obligation of paying her former husband's debts."

We have heard of a case where the vicar declined to marry a couple on account of the woman presenting herself in her under garment. Another clergyman, after carefully reading the rubric, and not finding anything about the bride's dress, married a pair, although the woman wore only her chemise.

The following is taken from _Aris's Birmingham Gazette_ for 1797:

"There is an opinion generally prevalent in Staffords.h.i.+re that if a woman should marry a man in distressed circ.u.mstances, none of his creditors can touch her property if she should be in _puris naturalibus_ while the ceremony is performed. In consequence of this prejudice, a woman of some property lately came with her intended husband into the vestry of the great church of Birmingham, and the moment she understood the priest was ready at the altar, she threw off a large cloak, and in the exact state of Eve in Paradise, walked deliberately to the spot, and remained in that state till the ceremony was ended. This circ.u.mstance has naturally excited much noise in the neighbourhood, and various opinions prevail respecting the conduct of the clergyman. Some vehemently condemn him as having given sanction to an act of indecency; and others think, as nothing is said relative to dress in the nuptial ceremony, that he had no power to refuse the rite. Our readers may be a.s.sured of this extraordinary event, however improbable it may appear in these times of virtue and decorum."

We gather from a periodical called _The Athenian_, that this custom was practised in Yorks.h.i.+re at the beginning of this century: "May, 1808. At Otley, in Yorks.h.i.+re, Mr. George Rastrick, of Hawkesworth, aged 73, to Mrs. Nulton, of Burley Woodhead, aged 60. In compliance with the vulgar notion that a wife being married in a state of nudity exonerated her husband from legal obligations to discharge any demands on her purse, the bride disrobed herself at the altar, and stood s.h.i.+vering in her chemise while the marriage ceremony was performed."

In Lincolns.h.i.+re, at so late a period as between 1838 and 1844, a woman was wed enveloped in a sheet.

A slightly different method of marriage is mentioned in Malcolm's "Anecdotes of London." It is stated that "a brewer's servant, in February, 1723, to prevent his liability to 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 s.h.i.+ft; hence her inamorato conveyed the modest fair to a neighbouring apothecary's, where she was completely equipped with clothing purchased by him; and in these, Mrs.

Brittain changed her name in church."

In the foregoing, it will have been observed that the marriages have been conducted _en chemise_ for the protection of the pocket of the bridegroom.

"The Annual Register," of 1766, contains an account of a wedding of this cla.s.s, for the protection of the woman. We read: "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 bridesmaid, began to undress her, and, by degrees, stript her to her s.h.i.+ft; thus she was led, blooming and unadorned, to the altar, where the marriage ceremony was performed. It seems this droll wedding was occasioned by an embarra.s.sment in the affairs of the intended husband, upon which account the girl was advised to do this, that he might be ent.i.tled to no other marriage portion than her smock."

Marrying under the Gallows.

Some of the old ballads of merry England contain allusions to a law or usage of primitive times, to the effect that if a man or woman would consent to marry, under the gallows, a person condemned to death, the criminal would escape hanging. A few criminals, however, preferred the hangman's knot to the marriage tie, if we may believe the rude rhymes of our ancestors. In one of Pinkerton's works may be read an old poem in which we are told of a criminal refusing marriage at the foot of the gallows. Here are a few lines from the ballad:

"There was a victim in a cart, One day for to be hanged, And his reprieve was granted, And the cart made a stand.

'Come, marry a wife and save your life,'

The judge aloud did cry; 'Oh, why should I corrupt my life'

The victim did reply.

'For here's a crowd of every sort, And why should I prevent their sport!

The bargain's bad in every part, The wife's the worst--drive on the cart?'"

A poem, published in 1542, ent.i.tled the "Schole House," contains an allusion:

"To hang or wed, both hath one home, And whether it be, I am well sure Hangynge is better of the twayne-- Sooner done, and shorter payne."

We read in an old ballad the story of a merchant of Chichester, who was saved execution by a loving maiden.

In the old Manx "Temporal Customary Laws," A.D. 1577, occurs the following: "If any man take a woman by constraint, or force her against her will, if she be a wife he must suffer the law of her. If she be a maid or single woman, the deemster shall give her a rope, sword, and a ring, and she shall have her choice to hang him with the rope, cut off his head with the sword, or marry him with the ring!"

It is stated in a work published in 1680, ent.i.tled "Warning to Servants, or, the case of Margaret Clark, lately executed for firing her master's house in Southwark." "Since the poor maid was executed, there has been a false and malicious story published concerning her in the _True Domestick Intelligence_ of Tuesday, March 30th. There was omitted in the confession of Mary Clark (so he falsely calls her), who was executed for firing the house of M. de la Noy, dyer in Southwark, viz., that, at her execution, there was a fellow who designed to marry her under the gallows (according to the antient laudable custome), but she, being in hopes of a reprieve, seemed unwilling; but, when the rope was about her neck, she cryed she was willing, and then the fellow's friends dissuaded him from marrying her; so she lost her husband and life together." To the foregoing is added, "We know of no such custome allowed by law, that any man's offering, at a place of execution, to marry a woman condemned shall save her."

Here is a curious paragraph bearing on this theme, drawn from _Parker's London News_, for April 7th, 1725: "Nine young women dressed in white, each with a white wand in her hand, presented a pet.i.tion to his Majesty (George I.) on behalf of a young man condemned at Kingston a.s.sizes of burglary, one of them offered to marry him under the gallows in case of a reprieve."

In a work ent.i.tled "The interesting narrative of the life of Oulandah Equians, or Gustavus Va.s.sa, written by himself," and published in 1789, is the following pa.s.sage: "While we lay here (New York, 1784) a circ.u.mstance happened which I thought extremely singular. One day, a malefactor was to be executed on the gallows, but with the condition that if any woman, having nothing on but her s.h.i.+ft, married a man under the gallows, his life would be saved. This extraordinary privilege was claimed; and a woman presented herself, and the marriage ceremony was performed."

Kissing the Bride.

The parents of a bride in humble circ.u.mstances rarely attend the marriage ceremony at the church. The father's place is usually filled by one of the bridegroom's friends. He, in some parts of the North of England, claims the privilege of first kissing the newly-made wife, in right of his temporary paternity. Some of the old-fas.h.i.+oned clergy regarded the prerogative as theirs, and were by no means slow in exercising it. As soon as the ceremony was completed they never failed to quickly kiss the bride.

Even a shy and retiring vicar would not neglect the pleasant duty. The Rev. Thomas Ebdon, vicar of Merrington, who was deemed the most bashful of men, always kissed the women he married.

It is related of a priest, who was a stranger to the manners and customs of the Yorks.h.i.+re folk, that, after marrying a couple, he was surprised to see the party still standing as if something more was expected. He at last asked why they were waiting. "Please, sir," said the bridegroom, "ye've no kissed Molly."

Mr. William Henderson, in his "Folk-Lore of the Northern Counties," a work drawn upon for these statements, says that he can "testify that, within the last ten years, a fair lady, from the county of Durham, who was married in the south of England, so undoubtedly reckoned upon the clerical salute that, after waiting in vain, she boldly took the initiative, and bestowed a kiss on the much-amazed south-country vicar." Mr. Henderson's work was published in 1879.

According to the "Folk-Lore of the West of Scotland," by James Napier, published in 1879, the kissing custom was practised in that country. "As soon as the ceremony was concluded," says Mr. Napier, "there was a rush on the part of young men to get the first kiss of the newly-made wife. This was frequently taken by the clergyman himself, a survival of an old custom said to have been practised in the middle ages." In an old song, the bridegroom thus addresses the minister:

"It's no very decent for you to be kissing, It does not look well wi' the black coat ava', 'Twould hae set you far better tae gi'en us your blessing, Than thus by such tricks to be breaking the law.

Dear Watty, quo' Robin, it's just an auld custom, And the thing that is common should ne'er be ill taen, For where ye are wrong, if ye hadna a wished him, You should have been first. It's yoursel it's to blame."

This custom appears to have been very general in past times, and Mr.

Henderson suggests that "it may possibly be a dim memorial of the _osculum pacis_, or the presentation of the Pax to the newly-married pair."

It was formerly customary in Ireland for the priest to conclude the marriage ceremony by saying, "kiss your wife." Instructions more easily given than performed, for other members of the party did their utmost to give the first salute.