The following are from the York Manual:

N. Wilt thou haue this woman to thy wyfe: and loue her and kepe her in syknes and in helthe, and in all other degrese be to her as a husbande sholde be to his wyfe, and all other forsake f her and holde thee only to her, to thy lyues ende? Be spondeat vir hoc modo: I wyll.

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modern legislation equal strictness has been observed. In point | Salisbury Ordinale in the British Museum [Harl. MS. 873] of fact, forced marriages have not unfrequently taken place, and they are as alien to the spirit in which Holy Matrimony is regarded by the Church as the worst clandestine marriages are. At the last moment, therefore, before the irrevocable step is taken, and the indissoluble bond tied, each of the two persons to be married is required to declare before God and the Church that the marriage takes place with their own free will and consent. This declaration is also worded in such a manner as to constitute a promise in respect to the duties of the married state; and although no solemn adjuration is annexed to this promise, as in the Invocation of the Blessed Trinity afterwards, yet the simple "I will," given under such circumstances, must be taken to have the force of a vow as well as that of an assent and consent to the terms of the marriage covenant as set forth by the Church.

The above English forms of the consent are given from a

N. Wylt thou have this man to thy husbande, and to be buxum to him, serue him and kepe him in sykenes and in helthe And in all other degrese be vnto hym as a wyfe should be to hir husbande, and all other to forsake for hym: and holde thee only to hym to thy lyues ende? Respondeat mulier hoc modo: wyll.

§ The Betrothal.

That espousal which used, in very ancient times, to take place some weeks or months before the marriage, and which constituted

a formal religious recognition of what is now called an "engagement," is represented in our present Office by the previous words of consent, which were called a contract "de futuro." Even when they were thus used, a contract "per verba de præsenti" was also made; but the two contracts have long been habitually placed together by the Church as is now the case1; and the Betrothal more properly consists of this part of the ceremony in which the hands are joined, and each gives their troth or promise of fidelity (which is the marriage vow) to the other.

The present words of betrothal are substantially identical with those which have been used in England from ancient times. Three variations are here printed; which, with that given above, will fully illustrate the language in which they were spoken from about the thirteenth to the sixteenth century.

Salisbury Use. IN. take the N.

York Use.
Here I tak the N.

to my wedded wyff
to holde and to have
att bed and att borde
for fairer for laither,
for better for wars,
in sikness and in
heile till dethe us
depart and thereto
plyght I the my

to my weddyd wyf to have and to holde frothys day wafor beter, for worse, for rycher, for porer: in ykenesse and in helthe, tyl deth us departe yf holy hyrch wol it or eyne and ther to trough. Iplycht the my routh.

Hereford Use.
I, N., underfynge
the, N., for my wed-
ded wyf, for betere
for worse, for richer
for porer, yn sekenes
and in helthe tyl
deth us departe, as
holy church hath or-
deyned, and therto
y plith the my
trowthe.

Yet there is evidence of separate espousals having been made as late as e time of Charles I. For in the Parish Register of Boughton Monchelsea, Kent, is the following entry :-" Michaelis. 1630. Sponsalia inter Gulielm. Maddox et Elizabeth Grimestone in debit' juris formā transacta, die Januarii." Two years and three-quarters afterwards comes the entry the marriage :-" Michaelis. 1633. Nuptiæ inter Gulielmu Maddox Elizabetha Grimestone, ultimo Octobris." [Burns' Hist. of Fleet Marges, p. 2.] The ancient oath of espousals was administered in this form: "You swear by God and His holy saints herein, and by all the saints in aradise, that you will take this woman, whose name is N., to wife, within ny days, if Holy Church will permit." The hands of the man and woman ing then joined together by the priest, he also said, "And thus ye affiance ourselves," to which they made an affirmative reply, an exhortation conJuding the ceremony.

"Depart" is sound English for "part asunder," which was altered to do part" in 1661, at the pressing request of the Puritans, who knew as ttle of the history of their national language as they did of that of their ational Church.

The words, and the accompanying ceremony, which are thus handed down to us from the ancient Church of England, have a very striking Christian significance. In the ceremony of betrothal it will be observed that woman is recognized throughout as still subject to the law of dependence under which she was originally placed by the Creator. As soon as the mutual consent of both the man and the woman has been solemnly given in the face of God and the Church, the minister of the Office is directed to ask, "Who giveth this woman to be married to this man ?" Then she is given up from one state of dependence to another, through the intermediate agency of the Church; "the minister receiving the woman at her father's or friend's hands" (to signify that her father's authority over her is returned into the hands of God, Who gave it), and delivering her into the hands of the man in token that he receives her from God, Who alone can give a husband authority over his wife. The quaint but venerable and touching words with which the two "give their troth to each other" express again and in a still more comprehensive form the obligations of the married state which were previously declared in the words of mutual consent. Each promises an undivided allegiance to the other, until the death of one or the other shall part them asunder; God joining them together, and His Providential dispensation alone having power to separate

am him the lathere" [Lazamon's Brut, i. 37.] The word "fouler" is used in some Salisbury Manuals: and each, of course, expresses the idea of "less fair," or "less pleasing."

This is a conjectural emendation. The word is "for" in two copies. 6 "Bonour and buxum" are the representatives of "Bonnaire," gentle (as in débonair), and "Boughsome," obedient. Some Manuals added "in all lawful places." In the Golden Litany printed by Maskell [Mon. Rit. ii. 245] one of the petitions is, "By Thy infinite buxomnes: have mercy on In the Promptorium Parvulorum the two equivalents Humilitas and * "Laither :" this is the old comparative degree of "loath," as in "Ihc Obedientia are given under the word Buxumnesse.

"Troth," or "Trouth," is commonly identified with "truth;" but this an error, the meaning of the word being "fidelity," or "allegiance." To give troth" is equivalent to "fidem dare."

us."

God upon her sex, that although in sorrow she bring forth children,' yet with love and choice she should obey. The man's authority is love, and the woman's love is obedience 1."

§ The Marriage.

them. On both sides a promise is given of love and support | family, the right of his privilege, and the injunction imposed by under all the circumstances of life, prosperous or adverse. The duties of support, shelter, and comfort, which ordinarily devolve upon the husband chiefly may, under some circumstances (though they rarely arise), fall chiefly upon the wife; and if by sickness and infirmity he is unable to fulfil them towards her, he has a claim upon her, by these words, that she shall perform them towards him. Under any circumstances each promises to be a stay to the other, according to their respective positions and capacities, on their way through life. In the marriage vow of the woman the modern phrase "to obey" is substituted for the obsolete one "to be buxom," which had the same meaning. It implies that although the woman's dependence on and obedience to her father has been given up by him into God's hands, it is only that it may be given over to her husband. Since it pleased our Blessed Lord to make woman the instrument of His Incarnation, her condition has been far more honourable than it was before; but part of that honour is that "the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church." Natural instinct, good sense, mutual love, and, above all, religious feeling, will always enable the wife to discern how far she is bound to obey, and the husband how far it is his duty to rule; and regulated by these the yoke of obedience will never be one which the woman need regret to wear or wish to cast aside. Jeremy Taylor has well pointed out that nothing is said in the husband's part of the marriage vow about "rule," for this is included in the word "love." "The dominion of a man over his wife is no other than as the soul rules the body; for which it takes a mighty care, and uses it with a delicate tenderness, and cares for it in all contingencies, and watches to keep it from all evils, and studies to make for it fair provisions, and very often is led by its inclinations and desires, and does never contradict its appetites but when they are evil, and then also not without some trouble and sorrow; and its government comes only to this-it furnishes the body with light and understanding, and the body furnishes the soul with hands and feet; the soul governs because the body cannot else be happy." So also he writes in respect to the obedience of the wife: "When God commands us to love Him, He means we should obey Him: 'this is love, that ye keep My commandments;' and 'if ye love Me, keep My commandments.' Now, as Christ is to the Church, so is the man to the wife, and therefore obedience is the best instance of her love, for it proclaims her submission, her humility, her opinion of his wisdom, his pre-eminence in the

With this ring I thee wed] The use of the wedding ring was probably adopted by the early Church from the marriage customs which were familiar to Christians in their previous life as Jews and Heathens 2: for the ring, or something equivalent to it, appears to have been given by the man to the woman at the marriage or at espousals, even from those distant patriarchal day when Abraham's steward betrothed Rebekah on behalf of Isaac, by putting "the earrings upon her face and the bracelets upon her hands." Much pleasing symbolism has been connected with the wedding ring, especially that its form having neither beginning nor end, it is an emblem of eternity, constancy, and integrity. This meaning is brought out in the ancient form of consecrating a Bishop, when the ring was delivered to him with the words, "Receive the ring, the seal of faith, to the end that being adorned with inviolable constancy, thou mayest keep undefiled the spouse of God, which is His holy Church." The same form of blessing the ring was used in this case, as was used in the Marriage Service, and which is printed above. Probably it has always been taken as a symbol of mutual truth and intimate union, linking together the married couple, in the words of the ancient exhortation, "That they be from this tyme forthe, but one body and two souls in the fayth and lawe of God and holy Chyrche." It is the only relic of the ancient tokens of spousage,-gold, silver, and a ring being formerly given at this part of the service and as the gold and silver were given as symbols of dowry, so probably one idea, at least, connected with the ring, was that of the relation of dependence which the woman was henceforth to be in towards her husband. In the Prayer Book of 1549 the gold or silver were still directed to be given, (and in Bishop Cosin's revised Prayer Book, he proposed a restora tion of the custom, inserting, "and other tokens of spousage as gold, silver, or bracelets," after the word 'ring,') but in 1552 "the accustomed duty to the Priest and Clerk" was substituted and ultimately retained in the revision of 1661. It is possibie

1 Bishop Taylor's Sermon on the Marriage Ring.

2 Tertullian speaks of the Roman matron's "one finger, on which t husband had placed the pledge of the nuptial ring." Tertull. Apol. vi, D Idol. xvi.

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