The morning call., 1890-06-29
OLD-TIME MARRIAGES.
When 1t Was the Custom to Pur.
chase a Bride at Auction.

AFHSI MONG the innumerable advantage:
A derived to society from the advance
lSAs of civilization, none stand more
prominent than those arising from the i'm
proved view which is taken of the mutua
duties and requirements of the marriage
state. 1t is only recently, however, com
paratively speaking, that women have been
considered in their true aud proper charac-
ter of partners and have ceased to be re-
garied in the degrading light of persona
property. In ancient times the Gu stom ap.
pears almost universally to have prevailed
of purchasing the bride at her fathers oil
friends hands, without allowing her in
cIinati0ns to have the least weight in the
disposal of her person; and indeed in some
countries, Turkey and Persia for instance,
this custom remains in force to the present
day.
1t is impossible to ascertain. with any
precision, the period at which the custom
actually commenced of purchasing the
wife; it is undoubtedly of very ancient
date, since it is mentioned in the very
earliest records of the world, being fire.
quently alluded to by Moses in the Penta-
touch. That IL was the practice for some
centuries before the time of the Jewish leg
lsator is evidenced by the voluntary seryi-
tude of Jacob to the father of his wives,
Leah and Rachel, and by the suit Of the
Prince of Shaem for Dinah, the sister of
the twelve patriarchs, VINO says: ASK me
never so much dowry and gift, and L will
give according as We shall say unto me, but
give me the damsel to wife" 1t appears
also. from other passages in the Bible, that
there was Jewish law which fixed GER
tain sum as the price to be paid to the par
ents by the purchaser of their daughter.
The historian HeIodotus, VINO fiourished
about 400 years before the Christian era,
mentions this custom as having formerly
obtained among the inhabitants of Babylon
and its dependent villages. His descrip-
ton of the proceedings on such occasions is
curious and somewhat entertaining.
Once year all the young manageable
women were collected together in certain
spot and surrounded by the bachelors of
all classes whose in linations prompted
them to become candidates for the marriage
state An auctioneer then put them up sew
ally for sale, beginning with those of the
handsomest and most agreeable person !;
for these there was always great competi-
ton between the most wealthy of the bid
derS, and thus considerable sum of money
was collected. When all those of the as
sembled maidens who had any pretense to
beauty were disposed OF, the mode of
sale was reversed, and d0wry given
with those whose want of personal
attraction rendered their disposal matter
of greater difficulty, the sum always vary
ing in proportion to the plainness of the
damsel. Thus, all the young women were
certain of meeting with partner; for even
if there existed any absolute deforElity the
irresistible charms of weighty dover soon
obtained for her husband from among
those who, either from avarice or want of
taste, were willing to overlook the fieeting
advantage of possessing handsome wife
for the sake of the more substantial bene-
fits which were to be gained by espousing
an ugly one. Such was once the custom
among the Persians, and some of our fair
readers will perhaps be inclined to enter
tain but very poor opinion OF the old his
torian's Judgment and galantry when they
are told that 1t was considered by him as
the most admirable and excellent institu-
ton which he had met with in the history
of any nation.
That the custom of purchasing the bride
was adopted by our Saxon ancestors is
demonstrabe from some of their laws still
preserved. In one of these we find it en-
acted ''that he who would take wife shall
give 800 pence to her parents"
1t is also ascertained, by reference to the
Salic law, TO have existed among the
French; and though in some instances it is
by no means clear whether simple earnest
money or actual purchase be Intended, yet,
in all the ancient rituals which contain the
marriage ceremony in use on the continent
some allusion is made to the custom of CIV
ing money. At one time coins called 'be-
trOthing tokens" were struck of in France
expressly for this purpose.
In England the ancient marriage cere-
mony certainly recognized the practice of
offering some coin, for in an ancient
manuscript of the Salisbury Missal the man
is enjoined to say, Myth this rynge y thee
wedde and tbys gold and selvr thee geye,
and with my bodi y thee worshippe, and
wyth al my wordith catel y thee honoure."
In the printed copies it is with thys Tyng
/ thee wedde. and tbys gold and silver l
thee geve, and with al my worldly catel l
thee endowe"; previously to which the
rubric says, LET the man put upon the
book some silver or gold and a ring" The
service-books Of York and Hereford have
the same expression, aud 1t continued till
the time Of Edward VI, but was abolished
in his second Common Prayer-book."
Leobard, the celebrated saint of Tours, in
the sixth century, being persuaded in his
youth to marry. gave his betrothed ring,
a kiss and pair of shoes. This ceremony
has been explained. very much to the dis
arrangement of the ladies, as referring TO
the absolute servitude of the party. who, in
this instance, was symbolically tied meek
and heels"