In Barrey's Ram Alley, or Merry Tricks (1636), we read: "Enter Adriana, and another strawing hearbes."

"Adr. Come straw apace. Lord! shall I never live,

To walke to Church on flowers? O 'tis fine,

To see a Bride trip it to Church so lightly,

As if her new Choppines would scorne to bruze
A silly flower?"

Oxford Drollery (1671) contains a poem entitled A Supposition, in which herb-strewing is thus alluded to

"Suppose the way with fragrant Herbs were strowing,

All things were ready, we to Church were going."

In Hymen, or an accurate Description of the Ceremonies used in Marriage in every Nation of the World (1760), it is recorded as worthy of remark that "something like the antient custom of strewing the threshold of a new married Couple with Flowers and Greens, is, at this day, practised in Holland. Among the Festoons and Foliage, the Laurel was always most conspicuous: this denoted no doubt, that the Wedding Day is a Day of Triumph."

The practice of strewing herbs and flowers on nuptial occasions, as observed in olden time, is still kept up in Kent and many other parts of England.

With regard to nosegays, called in the North of England "posies," Stephens in his essays (1615) has a remarkable passage in his character of A plaine Country Bridegroom. "He shews," says he, "neere affinity betwixt Marriage and Hanging; and to that purpose he provides a great Nosegay, and shakes hands with every one he meets, as if he were now preparing for a condemned Man's Voyage." Nosegays also occur in the poem of the Collier's Wedding

"Now all prepared and ready stand

With Fans and Posies in their hand."

In Hacket's wedding sermon entitled A Marriage Present (1607) the author introduces, among flowers used on the occasion, primroses, maidens-blushes, and violets.

Herrick plays thus upon the names of flowers selected for this purpose

"Strip her of Spring-time, tender-whimp'ring-Maids.
Now Autumne's come, when all those flow'rie aids

Of her delayes must end. Dispose

That Lady-Smock, that Pansie, and that Rose

Neatly apart;

But for Prick-Madam and for Gentle-Heart,

And soft Maiden's-blush, the Bride

Makes holy these; all others lay aside :

Then strip her, or unto her,

Let him come, who dares undo her."

In Vox Graculi (1622) "Lady Ver, or the Spring," is called "The

Nose-gay giver to Weddings."

ROSEMARY AND BAYS AT WEDDINGS.

Thus

Rosemary, which was anciently thought to strengthen the memory was not only carried at funerals, but also worn at weddings. Herrick has the following lines on

"The Rosemarie Branch.

"Grow for two ends, it matters not at all,
Be't for my Bridall or my Buriall.”

In Rowley's Faire Quarrel (1617), we read—

"Phis. Your Maister is to be married to-day
"Trim. Else all this ROSEMARY is lost;"

and in Ram Alley (1611)—

"Know, varlet, I will be wed this morning;
Thou shalt not be there, nor once be grac'd
With a peece of Rosemary."

In Hacket's Marriage Present, just quoted, the use of rosemary is explained: "The last of the Flowers is the Rosemary (Rosmarinus, the Rosemary is for married Men) the which by name, nature, and continued use, Man challengeth as properly belonging to himselfe. It overtoppeth all the Flowers in the Garden, boasting Man's rule. It helpeth the Braine, strengtheneth the Memorie, and is very medicinable for the head. Another property of the Rosemary is, it affects the Hart. Let this Ros Marinus, this Flower of Men, Ensigne of your Wisdome, Love, and Loyaltie, be carried not only in your Hands, but in your Heads and Harts."

Both rosemary and bays appear to have been gilded on these occasions. Hacket has: "Smell sweet, O ye flowers in your native sweetness: be not gilded with the idle arte of man ;" and Herrick

"This done, we'l draw lots, who shall buy
And guild the Baies and Rosemary."

Again, in Lines to Rosemary and Baies

From a passage in Stephens' Character of a plaine Country Bride, it would seem that the bride also gave, or wore, or carried, gilt Rases of Ginger:"-" Guilt Rases of Ginger, Rosemary, and Ribbands, be her best magnificence. She will therefore bestow a livery, though she receives back wages."

In a very curious old black-letter account of the reception of Queen Elizabeth in the City of London, January 14th, 1558, Signat. D. 3. occurs the passage: "How many Nosegayes did her Grace receyve at poore women's hands? How oftentimes stayed she her chariot when she saw any simple body offer to speake to her Grace? A braunch of Rosemary given to her Grace, with a supplication, by

a poor woman about Fleet Bridge, was seene in her chariot till her Grace came to Westminster."

At "a wedding of three sisters together" in 1560, recorded in Strype's edition of Stow's Survey, we read: "Fine flowers and Rosemary [were] strewed for them coming home: and so to the Father's House, where was a great Dinner prepared for his said three BrideDaughters, with their Bridegrooms and Company." On 20th July 1562, a daughter of Mr Nicolls (who seems to have been the Bridge Master) was married to one Mr Coke at St Olave's. "At the celebration whereof were present, my Lord Mayor, and all the Aldermen, with many Ladies, &c. and Mr Becon, an eminent Divine, preached a Wedding Sermon. Then all the Company went home to the Bridge House to Dinner: where was as good cheer as ever was known, with all manner of Musick and Dancing all the remainder of the day and at night a goodly Supper; and then followed a Masque till midnight. The next day the Wedding was kept at the Bridge House, with great cheer and after Supper came in Masquers. One was in cloth of gold. The next Masque consisted of Friars, and the third of Nuns. And after, they danced by times: and lastly, the Friars and the Nuns danced together."

:

In A perfect Journal of that memorable Parliament begun at Westminster, Nov. 3d, 1640, it is recorded under the date of November 28, that in the afternoon "Master Prin and Master Burton came into London, being met and accompanied with many thousands of Horse and Foot, and rode with Rosemary and Bayes in their Hands and Hats; which is generally esteemed the greatest affront that ever was given to the Courts of Justice in England."

The rosemary used at weddings was previously dipped, it should seem, in scented water.

In Dekker's Wonderfull Yeare (1603) it is written of a bride, who died of the plague on her wedding day: "Here is a strange alteration, for the Rosemary that was washt in sweet water to set out the Bridall, is now wet in Teares to furnish her Buriall;" and in Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady, it is asked

"Were the Rosemary Branches dipped?"

Stephens, in his Character of A plaine Country Bridegroome, says: "He is the finest fellow in the parish, and hee that misinterprets my definition deserves no Rosemary nor Rosewater." He adds: "He must savour of gallantry a little: though he perfume the table with Rose-cake: or appropriate Bone-lace and Coventry-blew ;" and is passing witty in describing the following trait of our bridegroom's clownish civility: "He hath Heraldry enough to place every man by

his armes."

Coles, who in his Art of Simpling repeats the observation that rosemary "strengthens the senses and memory," in his Adam in Eden writes: "The Garden Rosemary is called Rosemarinum Coronarium, the rather because women have been accustomed to make crowns and garlands thereof;" and in Parkinson's Garden of Flowers (1629) we read: "The Bay-leaves are necessary both for civil uses and for physic, yea, both for the sick and for the sound, both for the

living and for the dead. It serveth to adorne the House of God as well as Man-to crowne or encircle, as with a garland, the heads of the living, and to sticke and decke forth the bodies of the dead: so that, from the cradle to the grave, we have still use of it, we have still need of it." Again: "Rosemary is almost of as great use as Bayes -as well for civill as physical purposes: for civil uses, as all doe know, at Weddings, Funerals, &c. to bestow among friends."

In A strange Metamorphosis of Man, transformed into a Wildernesse, deciphered in Characters (1634), it is observed of the bay tree that "hee is fit for halls and stately roomes, where if there be a Wedding kept, or such like feast, he will be sure to take a place more eminent then the rest. He is a notable smell-feast, and is so good a fellow in them, that almost it is no feast without him. He is a great companion with the Rosemary, who is as good a gossip in all feasts as he a trencher-man."

In the Elder Brother (1637), in a scene immediately before a wedding, we read

"Lew. Pray take a peece of Rosemary. Mir. I'll wear it

But for the Lady's sake, and none of yours ;"

and in the first scene of Fletcher's Woman's Pride the stage direction is, "The Parties enter with Rosemary as from a Wedding;" and so in the Pilgrim—

“Alph. Well, well, since wedding will come after wooing,
Give me some Rosemary, and letts be going."

We gather from Ben Jonson's play entitled the Tale of a Tub, that it was customary for the maidens (ie., the bridemaids), on the bridegroom's first appearance in the morning, to present him with a bunch of rosemary bound with ribbons.

Turf, speaking of the 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-pott, or trim the head of my best vore horse: we shall all ha' Bride-laces, or Points, I zee."

Similarly, in the Marrow of Complements (1655), a rustic lover tells his mistress that at their wedding, "Wee'l have Rosemary and Bayes to vill a bow-pot, and with the zame Ile trim that vorehead of my best vore-horse;" and in the Knight of the Burning Pestle we read: “I will have no great store of company at the Wedding, a couple of neighbours and their wives, and we will have a capon in stewed broth, with marrow, and a good piece of beef stuck with Rosemary."

So late as the year 1698, the old country use appears to have been kept up, of decking the bridal bed with sprigs of rosemary. It is not, however, mentioned as being general.

GARLANDS AT WEDDINGS.

Nuptial garlands are of the most remote antiquity. They appear to have been used alike by the Jews and by the heathens.

Among the Romans (writes Vaughan in the Golden Grove, 1608),

"when the Marriage Day was come, the Bride was bound to have a Chaplet of Flowers or Hearbes upon her Head, and to weare a Girdle of Sheeps Wool about her Middle, fastned with a True-Loves Knot, the which her Husband must loose. Here hence rose the Proverb: He hath undone her Virgin's Girdle: that is, of a Mayde he hath made her a Woman."

Among the Anglo-Saxons, after the benediction in the church, both bride and bridegroom were crowned with crowns of flowers, kept in the church for that purpose; while in the eastern church the chaplets used on these occasions appear to have been blessed.

The nuptial garlands were sometimes made of myrtle.

In England, in the time of Henry VIII. the bride wore a garland of corn ears; sometimes one of flowers.

In dressing out Grisild for her marriage, in the clerk of Oxenford's Tale in Chaucer, the chaplet is not forgotten: "A Coroune on hire hed they han ydressed ;" and in the Dialogue of Dives and Pauper (1493) "The sixte Precepte" has the following curious passage: "Thre Ornamentys longe pryncypaly to a Wyfe. A Rynge on hir fynger, a Broch on hir brest, and a Garlond on hir hede. The Ringe betokenethe true Love, as I have seyd, the Broch betokennethe Clennesse in Herte and Chastitye that she oweth to have, the GARLANDE bytokeneth Gladnesse and the Dignitye of the Sacrament of Wedlok."

The Accounts of the Churchwardens of St. Margaret's, Westminster, for the year 1540, embrace the item: "Paid to Alice Lewis, a Goldsmiths Wife of London, for a Serclett to marry Maydens in, the 26th Day of September £3. 10s. ;" and so also in Nath. Field's Amends for Ladies, with the Merry Prankes of Moll Cut-purse (1639), when the marriages are agreed upon, there is a stage direction to set garlands upon the heads of the maid and widow that are to be married.

Dallaway, in his Constantinople (1797), represents marriage as being called by the Greek Church the Matrimonial Coronation, "from the Crowns or Garlands with which the Parties are decorated, and which they solemnly dissolve on the eighth Day following."

Gosson, in the Ephemerides of Phialo (1579), gives this interpretation of the usage: "In som Countries the Bride is crowned by the Matrons with a GARLAND OF PRICKLES, and so delivered unto her Husband that hee might know he hath tied himself to a thorny plesure."

GLOVES AT WEDDINGS.

The giving of gloves at marriages is a custom of remote antiquity, as I have already noted under the head of bridegroom-men.

A letter to Mr Winwood from Sir Dudley Carleton, dated London, January 1604, describing the celebration of the marriage between Sir Philip Herbert and the Lady Susan, records that "no ceremony was omitted of Bride-Cakes, Points, Garters, and Gloves."

In Ben Jonson's Silent Woman, Lady Haughty observes to Morose : "We see no Ensigns of a Wedding here, no Character of a Bridale; where be our Skarves and our Gloves?"

The bride's gloves are noticed in Stephens' Character of A Plaine