must have been arrested by its homely splendours. Annexed is a cut representing the bride.

NORWEGIAN BRIDE.

In pagan days, when Rolf married King Erik's daughter, the king and queen sat throned in state, whilst courtiers passed in front, offering gifts of oxen, cows, swine, sheep, sucking-pigs, geese, and even cats. A shield, sword, and axe were among the bride's wedding outfit, that she might, if necessary, defend herself from her husband's blows.

In the vast steppes of south-eastern Russia, on the shores of the Caspian and Black Sea, marriage ceremonies recall the patriarchal customs of the earliest stages of society. The evening before the day when the affianced bride is given to her husband, she pays visits to her master and the inhabitants of the village, in the simple dress of a peasant, consisting of a red cloth jacket, descending as low as the knees, a very short white petticoat, fastened at the waist with a red woollen scarf, above which is an embroidered chemise. The legs, which are always bare above the ankle, are sometimes protected by red or yellow morocco boots. The girls of the village who accompany her are, on the contrary, attired in their best, recalling the old paintings of Byzantine art, where the Virgin is adorned with a coronal. They know how to arrange with great art the leaves and scarlet berries of various kinds of trees in their hair, the tresses of which are plaited as a crown, or hang down on the shoulders. A necklace of pearls or coral is wound at least a dozen times round the neck, on which they hang religious medals, with enamel paintings imitating mosaic. At each

AND CUSTOMS.

house the betrothed throws herself on her knees before the head of it, and kisses his feet as she begs his pardon; the fair penitent is immediately raised and kissed, receiving some small present, whilst she in return gives a small roll of bread, of a symbolic form. On her return home all her beautiful hair is cut off, as henceforth she must wear the platoke, or turban, a woollen or linen shawl which is rolled round the head, and is the only distinction between the married and unmarried. It is invariably presented by the husband, as the Indian shawl among ourselves; which, however, we have withdrawn from its original destination, which ought only to be a head-dress. The despoiled bride expresses her regrets with touching grace, in one of their simple songs: 'Oh, my curls, my fair golden hair! Not for one only, not for two years only, have I arranged you-every Saturday you were bathed, every Sunday you were ornamented, and to-day, in a single hour, I must lose you!' The old woman whose duty it is to roll the turban round the brow, wishing her happiness, says, I cover your head with the platoke, my sister, and I wish you health and happiness. Be pure as water, and fruitful as the earth.' When the marriage is over, the husband takes his wife to the inhabitants of the village, and shows them the change of dress effected the night before.

Among the various tribes of Asia none are so rich or well-dressed as the Armenians; to them belongs chiefly the merchandise of precious stones, which they export to Constantinople. The Armenian girl whose marriage is to be described had delicate flowers of celestial blue painted all over her breast and neck, her eyebrows were dyed black, and the tips of her fingers and nails of a bright orange. She wore on each hand valuable rings set with precious stones, and round her neck a string of very fine turquoises; her shirt was of the finest spun silk, her jacket and trousers of cashmere of a bright colour. The priest and his deacon arrived; the latter bringing a bag containing the sacerdotal garments, in which the priest arrayed himself, placing a mitre ornamented with precious stones on his head, and a collar of metal,-on which the twelve apostles were represented in bas-relief,round his neck. He began by blessing a sort of temporary altar in the middle of the room; the mother of the bride took her by the hand, and leading her forward, she bowed at the feet of her future husband, to show that she acknowledged him as lord and master. The priest, placing their hands in each other, pronounced a prayer, and then drew their heads together until they touched three times, while with his right hand he made a motion as if blessing them; a second time their hands were joined, and the bridegroom was asked, 'Will you be her husband? I will,' he answered, raising at the same time the veil of the bride, in token that she was now his, and letting it fall again. The priest then took two wreaths of flowers, ornamented with a quantity of hanging gold threads, from the hands of the deacon, put them on the heads of the married couple, changed them three times from one head to the other, repeating each time, 'I unite you, and bind you one to another

WHIT-SUNDAY WOMAN-SHOW IN RUSSIA.

A custom has long prevailed at St Petersburg which can only be regarded as a relic of a rude state of society; for it is nothing more or less than a show of marriageable women or girls, with a view of obtaining husbands. The women certainly have a choice in the matter, and in this respect they are not brought to market in the same sense as fat cattle or sheep; but still it is only under the influence of a very coarse estimate of the sex that the custom can prevail. The manner of managing the show in past years was as follows. On Whit Sunday afternoon the Summer Garden, a place of popular resort in St Petersburg, was thronged with bachelors and maidens, looking out for wives and husbands respectively. The girls put on their best adornments; and these were sometimes more costly than would seem to be suitable for persons in humble life, were it not that this kind of pride is much cherished among the peasantry in many countries. Bunches of silver tea-spoons, a large silver ladle, or some other household luxury, were in many instances held in the hand, to denote that the maiden could bring something valuable to her husband. The young men, on their part, did not fail to look their best. The maidens were accompanied by their parents, or by some elder member of their family, in order that everything might be conducted in a decorous manner. The bachelors, strolling and sauntering to and fro, would notice the maidens as they passed, and the maidens would blushingly try to look their best. Supposing a young man were favourably impressed with what he saw, he did not immediately address the object of his admiration, but had a little quiet talk with one of the seniors, most probably a woman. He told her his name, residence, and occupation; he gave a brief inventory of his worldly goods, naming the number of roubles (if any) which he had been able to save. On his side he asked questions, one of which was sure to relate to the amount of dowry promised for the maiden. The woman with whom this conversation was held was often no relative to the maiden, but a sort of marriage broker or saleswoman, who conducted these delicate negotiations, either in friendliness or for a fee. If the references on either side were unsatisfactory, the colloquy ended without any bargain being struck; and, even if favourable, nothing was immediately decided. Many admirers for the same girl might probably come forward in this way. In the evening a family conclave was held concerning the chances of each maiden, at which the offer of each bachelor was calmly considered, chiefly in relation to the question of roubles. The test was very little other than that the highest bidder shall be the purchaser.' A note was sent to the young man whose offer was deemed most eligible; and it was very rarely that the girl made any objection to the spouse thus selected for her.

AND CUSTOMS.

The St Petersburg correspondent of one of the London newspapers, who was at the Woman Show on Whit Sunday, 1861, stated that the custom has been gradually declining for many years; that there were very few candidates for matrimony on that occasion; and that the total abandonment of the usage was likely soon to occur, under the influence of opinion more congenial to the tastes of Europeans generally.

CREELING THE BRIDEGROOM.

A curious custom in connexion with marriage prevailed at one time in Scotland, and, from the manner in which it was carried out, was called 'Creeling the Bridegroom.' The mode of procedure in the village of Galashiels was as follows. Early in the day after the marriage, those interested in the proceeding assembled at the house of the newly-wedded couple, bringing with them a 'creel,' or basket, which they filled with stones. The young husband, on being brought to the door, had the creel firmly fixed upon his back, and with it in this position had to run the round of the town, or at least the chief portion of it, followed by a number of men to see that he did not drop his burden; the only condition on which he was allowed to do so being that his wife should come after him, and kiss him. As relief depended altogether upon the wife, it would sometimes happen that the husband did not need to run more than a few yards; but when she was more than ordinarily bashful, or wished to have a little sport at the expense of her lord and master-which it may be supposed would not unfrequently be the case he had to carry his load a considerable distance. This custom was very strictly enforced; for the person who was last creeled had charge of the ceremony, and he was naturally anxious that no one should escape. The practice, as far as Galashiels was concerned, came to an end about sixty years ago, in the person of one Robert Young, who, on the ostensible plea of a sore back,' lay a-bed all the day after his marriage, and obstinately refused to get up and be creeled; he had been twice married before, and no doubt felt that he had had enough of creeling.

MARRIAGE LAWS AND CUSTOMS IN THE EAST OF ENGLAND.

There is a saying of Hesiod's (Works and Days, 1. 700), to the effect that it is better to marry a woman from the neighbourhood, than one from a distance. With this may be compared the Scotch proverb, 'It is better to marry over the midden, than over the moor,' i.e. to take for your wife one who lives close by-the other side of the muckheap than to fetch of the existence of any proverb to this effect in East Anglia; but the usual practice of the working classes is in strict accordance with it. Whole parishes have intermarried to such an extent that almost everybody is related to, or connected with everybody else. One curious result of this is that no one is counted as a

one from the other side of the moor. I am not aware

relation' beyond first cousins, for if 'relationship' went further than that it might almost as well include the whole parish.

A very strong inducement to marry a near neighbour, lies, no doubt, in the great advantage of having obtained in case of sickness; I have frequently heard a mother, aunt, or sister at hand whose help can be complaints of the inconvenience of having nobody belonging to them,' made by sick people, whose near relations live at a distance, and who in consequence are obliged to call in paid help when ill.

MARRIAGE SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS.

'Marry in Lent,

And you'll live to repent,'

is a common saying in East Anglia; and so also is 'To change the name, and not the letter,

Is a change for the worst, and not for the better;' i.e., it is unlucky for a woman to marry a man whose surname begins with the same letter as her own.

A curious custom with regard to marriages still exists at any rate, I knew of its being observed a few years ago; it is that if a younger sister marries before the elder one, the elder must dance in the hog's trough. In the case to which I refer, a brother went through the ceremony also, and the dancers performed their part so well, that they danced both the ends off the trough, and the trough itself into two pieces. In the West of England it is a fixed rule that the lady should dance in green stockings; but I am not aware of any peculiar stockings being required on the

occasion in East Anglia.

The attendance at the weddings of agricultural labourers is naturally small; but it is very remarkable that neither father nor mother of bride or bridegroom come with them to church. I can hardly recollect more than one instance of any of the parents being present at the ceremony, and then what brought the bridegroom's father was the circumstance of the ring being left behind. The omission had not been discovered by the wedding party, and the father came striding up the church, very red and hot, in time to shove a tiny screw of paper into the bridegroom's hand before the clergyman held out his book for the ring to be laid upon it.

The usual attendants at a labourer's wedding are only three-the official father, the bridesmaid, and the groomsman; the two latter being, if possible, an engaged couple, who purpose to be the next pair to come up to the altar on a similar errand upon their

own account.

The parties very frequently object to sign their names, and try to get off from doing so, even when they can write very fairly, preferring to set their mark to the entry in the register: and, unless the clergyman is awake to this disinclination, and presses the point, many good writers will appear in the books as marksmen, a circumstance which much impairs the value of the comparative number of names and marks in the marriage registers as a test of the state of education among the poor.

The bridegroom sometimes considers it his duty to profess that he considers the job a very dear one-not particularly complimentary to the bride,-and once a man took the trouble to pay my fee entirely in threepenny and fourpenny pieces; which was, I suppose, a very good joke; not so much so, however, as when a friend of mine had his fee paid in coppers. Suffolk.

JUNE 1.

C. W. J.

St Justin, the philosopher, 167. St Pamphilius, priest and martyr, 309. St Caprias, abbot, 430. St Wistan, Prince of Mercia, martyr, 849. St Peter of Pisa, founder

of the Hermits of St Jerome, 1435.

Born-Robert Cecil, Earl of Salisbury, minister to Elizabeth and James I., 1560; Nicolas Poussin, painter, 1594, Andely, in Normandy; Secretary John Thurloe, 1616, Abbots Roding, Essex; Sir John Dugdale, antiquary, 1628, Shustoke; John Tweddell (Eastern travels), 1769, Threepwood, near Hexham.

Died.-Henry Dandolo, doge of Venice, 1205, bur. in St Sophia, Constantinople; Jerome of Prague, religious

JAMES GILLRAY.

reformer, burnt at Constance, 1416; Christopher Marlowe, dramatist, 1593; James Gillray, caricaturist, 1815, London; Sir David Wilkie, artist, died at sea off Gibral tar 1841; Pope Gregory XVI. 1846.

JAMES GILLRAY.

In the churchyard of St James, Piccadilly, there is a flat stone, bearing the following inscription::

IN MEMORY

OF MR JAMES GILLRAY,

CARICATURIST,

WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE

1ST JUNE, 1815,

AGED 58 YEARS.

Gillray was the son of a native of Lanarkshire, a soldier in the British army, who lost an arm at the fatal field of Fontenoy.

Like Hogarth, Gillray commenced his career as a mere letter engraver; but, tiring of this monotonous occupation, he ran away, and joined a company of wandering comedians. After experiencing the well-known hardships of a stroller's life, he returned to London, and became a student of the Royal Academy and an particularly landscapes, are executed, it is as a engraver. Admirably as many of his engravings, caricaturist that he is best known. In this peculiar art he never had even a rival, so much have his works surpassed those of all other practitioners. The happy tact with which he seized upon the points in manners and politics most open to ridicule, was equalled only by the exquisite skill and spirit with which he satirically portrayed them. By continual practice he became so facile, that he used to etch his ideas at once upon the copper, without making a preliminary drawing, his only guides being sketches of the characters he intended to introduce made upon small pieces of card, which he always carried in his pocket, ready to catch a face or form that might be serviceable.

The history of George III. may be said to have been inscribed by the graver of Gillray, and sure never monarch had such an historian.

The unroyal familiarity of manner; awkward, shuffling gait, undignified carriage, and fatuous countenance; the habit of entering into conversation with persons of low rank; the volubility with which he poured out his pointless questions, without waiting for any other answer than his own hay ? hay? hay ? his love of money, his homely savings; have all been trebly emphasized by the great caricaturist of his reign; and not less ably because the pencil of the public satirist was pointed by private pique. Gillray had accompanied Loutherbourg into France, to assist him in making sketches for his grand picture of the siege of Valenciennes. On their return, the king, who made pretensions to be a patron of art, desired to look over their sketches, and expressed great admiration of Loutherbourg's, which were plain landscape drawings, sufficiently finished to be intelligible. But when he saw Gillray's rude, though spirited sketches of

Gillray is a Highland name, meaning Ruddy Lad; but it is found in the south of Scotland. The writer remembers a family of the name in a county adjacent to Lanarkshire.

JAMES GILLRAY.

French soldiers, he threw them aside with contempt, saying, 'I don't understand caricatures,' an action and observation that the caricaturist never forgot or forgave.

Gillray's character affords a sad example of the reckless imprudence that too frequently accompanies talent and genius. For many years he resided in the house of his publisher, Mrs Humphrey, by whom he was most liberally supplied with every indulgence; during this time he produced nearly all his most celebrated works, which were bought up with unparalleled eagerness, and circulated not only over all England, but most parts of Europe. Though under a positive engagement not to work for any other publisher, yet so great was his insatiable desire for strong liquors, that he often etched plates for unscrupulous persons, cleverly disguising his style and handling. The last of his works is dated 1811. In that year he sank into a state in which imbecility was only enlivened by delirium, and which continued till his death.

The accompanying illustration, not a bad specimen of Gillray's style, is taken from a popular caricature on the peace concluded between Great Britain and France in 1802, entitled The First Kiss these Ten Years; or, the

THE FIRST KISS THESE TEN YEARS.

6

Meeting of Britannia and Citizen François. Britannia appears as a portly lady in full dress, her shield and spear leaning neglected against the wall. The Frenchman expresses his delight at the meeting in warm terms, saying, Madame, permittez me to pay my profound esteem to your engaging person; and to seal on your divine lips my everlasting attachment.' The lady, who is blushing deeply, replies- Monsieur, you are truly a well-bred gentleman! And though you make me blush, yet you kiss so delicately that I

THE GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE.'

We should need to bring back the horrors of the first French Revolution to enable us to understand the wild delight with which Lord Howe's victory, in 1794, was regarded in England. A king, a queen, and a princess guillotined in France, a reign of terror prevailing in that country, and a war threatening half the monarchs in Europe, had impressed the English with an intense desire to thwart the republicans. Our army was badly organized and badly generalled in those days; but the navy was in all its glory. In April 1794, Lord Howe, as Admiral-in-chief of the Channel fleet, went out to look after the French fleet at Brest, and a great French convoy known to be expected from America and the West Indies. He had with him twenty-six sail of the line, and five frigates. For some weeks the fleet was in the Atlantic, baffled by foggy weather in the attempt to discover the enemy; but towards the close of May the two fleets sighted each other, and a great naval battle became imminent. The French admirals had often before avoided when possible a close contest with the English; but on this occasion Admiral Villaret Joyeuse, knowing that a convoy of enormous value was at stake, determined to meet his formidable opponent. The two fleets were about equal in the number of ships; but the French had the advantage in number of guns, weight of metal, and number of men. On the 1st of June, Howe achieved a great victory over Villaret Joyeuse, the details of which are given in all the histories of the period.

The English valued this victory quite as much for the moral effect it wrought in Europe generally, as for the immediate material injury it inflicted on the French. They had long been anxious concerning Lord Howe's movements; and when they learned that he had really captured or destroyed a large part of the French fleet, the joy was great. In those days it took a considerable time to bring any news from the Bay of Biscay to London; insomuch that it was not till the 10th that the admiral's despatches reached the Government. On the evening of that day the Earl of Chatham made known the news at the opera; and the audience, roused with excitement, called loudly for God save the king' and 'Rule Britannia,' which was sung by Morichelli, Morelli, and Rovedicco, opera stars of that period. Signora Banti, a greater star than the rest, being seen in one of the boxes, was compelled to go down to the stage, and join her voice to the rest in a second performance of these songs. The Duke of Clarence went and told the news to the manager of Covent Garden

6

Of course there was much ringing of bells and firing of guns to celebrate the victory; and, in accordance with English custom, there was some breaking of windows during the illumination saturnalia in the evenings. The conduct of Earl Stanhope on this occasion was marked by some of the eccentricity which belonged to his character. He was among those statesmen (and they were not a few) who deprecated any interference with the internal affairs of France; and who, though not approving of regicide and the reign of terror, still saw something to admire in the new-born but misused liberty of that country. The earl, in spite of his own rank, had concurred with the French in regarding an Aristocrat' as necessarily an enemy to the well-being of the people. On the 13th, he inserted the following singular advertisement in the newspapers :Whereas a mixed band of ruffians attacked my house in Mansfield Street, in the dead of the night between the 11th and 12th of June instant, and set it on fire at different times: and whereas a gentleman's carriage passed several times to and fro in front of my house, and the aristocrat, or other person, who was in the said carriage, gave money to the people in the street to encourage them: this is to request the friends of liberty and good order to send me any authentic information they can procure respecting the name and place of abode of the said aristocrat, or other person, who was in the carriage above-mentioned, in order that he may be made amenable to the law.' The words 'aristocrat' and 'liberty' were then more terrible than they are now.

St Patrick's Purgatory.

Three legendary stories excited the minds of the people in the middle ages-that of the Wandering Jew, that of Prester John, and that of St Patrick's Purgatory. The two former were insignificant in comparison with the last. It was about the middle of the twelfth century that a Benedictine monk, named Henry of Saltrey, established the wondrous and widespread reputation of an insignificant islet in a dreary lake, among the barren morasses and mountains of Donegal, by giving to the world the Legend of the Knight. This legend, extravagant in our eyes, but in perfect accordance with the ideas of that age, was a sort of composition out of various previous notions, including one which held that the land of departed souls lay in the west.

It represented its hero, Sir Owen, as an Irishman, who with courage and fidelity had served in the wars of King Stephen of England. Returning to Ireland to see his parents, he was seized with sudden remorse for his many sins; for he had lived a life of bloodshed and rapine, and had not scrupled to plunder churches, maltreat nuns, and apply the most sacred things to his own profane use and benefit. In this penitent mood he determined to visit St Patrick's Purgatory, with the view of washing away the guilt of so many misdemeanours.

Respecting the origin of the Purgatory, the legend states that when St Patrick was endeavouring to convert the Irish by telling them of the torments of the infernal regions, the people cried, 'We cannot believe such things,