Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

One, by Lord Lansdowne, will amply serve as an illustration

Love is enjoyn'd to make his favourite toast,

And HARE'S the goddess that delights him most.

There were two very famous toasts in Queen Anne's time; one in particular was Lady Sunderland, a daughter of the Duke of Marlborough, who was known by the sobriquet of The Little Whig.' She was the toast of her party, and her nickname was so well known that it is said the first stone of Sir John Vanbrugh's theatre in the Haymarket had 'Little Whig' cut upon it. The other was Mademoiselle Spanheim, the daughter of Baron Spanheim, Ambassador Extraordinary from the Court of Prussia. She was very lovely; indeed, her good looks were proverbial, as the current expression, as beautiful as Madam Spanheim,' shows. She was married early in the year 1710 to the Marquis de Montandre. Her father died here in November of the same year, aged 81; and the Queen presented the Marchioness de Montandre with a thousand guineas, which was the usual present then given to an ambassador on taking his leave.

CHAPTER III.

MARRIAGE.

Eloping with heiresses-Marriage between children-Tax on bachelors-Valentines-Marriage settlements-Pin money-Posies-Drummers -Private marriages-Irregular marriages-Fleet parsons-Marriage Act-Facility of marriage-Liability of husbands-Public marriages -Marriage customs - Bride's garters-Throwing the stocking-The posset-Honeymoon.

WE will suppose our toast to escape the perils to which her position exposed her, and was not forcibly carried off by some bold knight, as had been known in this reign'—' Same evening Sir Alexander Cumming, Knight of the Shire for Aberdeen, carried off from the Ring in Hyde Park madam Dennis and married her; she is said to be worth about £16,000. Probably his position stood him in good stead, for it fared differently with one Haagen Swendsen, who was, in 1702, convicted and executed for stealing Mrs. Rawlins, an heiress. Nowadays, he would have been unhesitatingly acquitted, even if he had ever been prosecuted, as there was no real case against him, and Mrs. Rawlins married him of her own free will.

That people could be married young enough is rendered sufficiently evident by the very painful case of Sir George Downing and Mary Forester, which excited much interest in the last year of Anne's reign. It is very lucidly put as a case for counsel's opinion.3

'THE CASE.

1. G. D. without the Knowledge and Consent of his Father (then alive, but accounted not of sound Judgment) was at the Age of Fifteen, by the Procurement and Persuasion 2 British Museum, 515, 1. 2, 196.

Luttrell's Diary, Sept. 12, 1710.

The Counsellor's Plea for the Divorce of Sir G. D. and Mrs. F., 1715.

of those in whose Keeping he was, Marry'd, according to the Church form, to M. F. of the Age of Thirteen.

2. This young Couple was put to Bed, in the Day time, according to Custom, and continu'd there a little while, but in the Presence of the Company, who all testify they touched not one the other; and after that, they came together no more; -the young Gentleman going immediately Abroad, the young Woman continuing with her Parents.

3. G. D., after Three or Four Years Travel, return'd home to England, and being sollicited to live with his lawful Wife, refus'd it, and frequently and publickly declar'd he never would compleat the Marriage.

'4. Fourteen Years have pass'd since this Marriage Ceremony was perform'd, each Party having (as is natural to think) contracted an incurable Aversion to each the other, is very desirous to be set at liberty; and accordingly Application is made to the Legislative power to dissolve this Marriage, and to give each Party leave, if they think fit, to Marry elsewhere.

'The Reasons against such Dissolution are:

'First. That each Party was Consenting to the Marriage, and was Old enough to give such Consent, according to the known Laws of the Kingdom; the Male being Fifteen Years Old, the Female Thirteen; whereas the Years of Consent are, by Law, Fourteen and Twelve. 'Secondly. They were actually Marry'd according to the Form prescrib'd by the Church of England; the Minister pronouncing those solemn Words us'd by our Saviour, Those whom God has joyn'd let no Man put asunder. They are therefore Man and Wife both by the Laws of God and of the Land; and, since nothing but Adultery can dissolve a Marriage, and no Adultery is pretended here, the Marriage continues indissoluble.'

And, in the course of some very able pleading, the author says, 'My Lords, the Years of Consent are not fix'd to Fourteen or Twelve either by Nature, Reason, or any Law of God; but purely and meerly by the positive Laws of the Land, which

may change them to Morrow; and if they were chang'd to Day, no Man in England would, I dare affirm it, be dissatisfy'd; it seems so senseless and unreasonable to give our Children the Power of disposing of their Persons for ever, at an Age when we will not let them dispose of Five Shillings without Direction and Advice.'

However, no pleading could prevail against the actual law, and this singularly married couple remained, legally, man and wife.

In 1690 there was a pamphlet issued by 'A Person of Quality,' advocating a tax on bachelors, and on April 22, 1695, William III. gave his assent to an Act intituled 'An Act for granting his Majesty certain Rates and Duties upon Marriages, Births, and Burials, and upon Batchelors and Widowers for the term of five years, for carrying on the War with Vigour.'

[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

O 2

For and upon the Birth of every person and Child,
except the children of those who receive Alms
For and upon the birth of the eldest son of a Duke 30
of a Marquess and so forth.

[ocr errors]
[merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][ocr errors]

12 10

10 о

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

A Duke being Bachelor or Widower, yearly
A Marquess

By the Act 8 & 9 Will. III., For making good the Deficiencies of Several Funds therein mentioned,' these taxes. were kept on, and were to be paid until Aug. 1, 1706, so that they were in force during four years of Anne's reign.

In a most amusing tract' this Act is alluded to as a law discouraging marriage, and proposes to make bachelors of 24 and widowers of 50 pay 20s. per annum, and estimates that a revenue of 21 millions sterling would accrue.

There was every freedom of intercourse allowed between the young of both sexes: they visited, and we have seen that they mixed in the dancing academies. There was also the custom of valentines, now become obsolete and unmeaning. Misson describes it well, as indeed he did everything he saw in England. On the Eve of the 14th of Feb., St. Valentine's Day, a Time when all living Nature inclines to couple, the Young Folks in England, and Scotland too, by a very ancient Custom, celebrate a little Festival that tends to the same End. An equal Number of Maids and Batchelors get together, each writes their true or some feign'd Name upon separate Billets, which they Roll up, and draw by way of Lots, the Maids taking the Men's Billets, and the Men the Maids; so that each of the Young Men lights upon a Girl that he calls his Valentine, and each of the Girls upon a young Man which she calls hers: By this means each has two Valentines; but the Man sticks faster to the Valentine that is fallen to him, than to the Valentine to whom he is fallen. Fortune having thus divided the Company into so many Couples, the Valentines give Balls and Treats to their Mistresses, wear their Billets several Days upon their Bosoms or Sleeves, and this little Sport often ends in Love. There is another kind of Valentine; which is the first young Man or Woman that Chance throws in your Way in the Street, or elsewhere, on that Day.'

The whole of the literature of the day speaks of the ten

The Levellers.

« ZurückWeiter »