The Book Of Curiosities Part 53

Her friends, who are likewise on horseback, give a positive refusal; upon which a mock scuffle ensues. The bride, mounted behind her nearest kinsman, is carried off, and is pursued by the bridegroom and his friends, with loud shouts. It is not uncommon on such an occasion to see two or three hundred st.u.r.dy Cambro-Britons riding at full speed, crossing and jostling, to the no small amus.e.m.e.nt of the spectators. When they have fatigued themselves and their horses, the bridegroom is suffered to overtake his bride. He leads her away in triumph, and the scene is concluded with feasting and festivity. The same marriage ceremony was usual in Muscovy, Lithuania, and Livonia, as reported by Olaus Magnus.

MARRIAGE CUSTOM OF THE j.a.pANESE.--A very singular custom at the marriages of the j.a.panese, is, that the teeth of the bride are made black by some corrosive liquid. The teeth remain black ever after, and serve to shew that a woman is married, or a widow. Another circ.u.mstance is, at the birth of every child, to plant a tree in a garden or court-yard, which attains its full growth in as many years as a man requires to be mature for the duties of marriage. When he marries, the tree is cut down, and the wood is made into chests and boxes, to contain the clothes and other things which are made for the new-married couple.

The j.a.panese may marry as often as they please: marriages with sisters are prohibited, but they can marry any other relative.

BACON FLITCH CUSTOM AT DUNMOW, ESs.e.x.--Many persons who are so often jocular about a certain "Flitch of Bacon," with those who are supposed to be in a much happier state than themselves, are not always familiar with the origin of this inst.i.tution, and with the whimsical rhyming oath to be taken with the flitch. Old Fuller has preserved it, in his very scarce work of the Worthies; and it will probably amuse those who have more wit than reading on this occasion.

The celebrated flitch of bacon of Dunmow, in Ess.e.x, which can only be claimed, without perjury, by a select few in the married state, was a jocular inst.i.tution by the monks of a monastery, in the priory of Dunmow, in Ess.e.x. Fuller observes, that these mortified men would be mirthful at times, as hereby may appear.--

"Any person from any part of England, coming hither, and humbly kneeling on two stones at the church door (which are yet to be seen,) before the priory or convent, might demand a gammon or flitch of bacon, upon the solemn taking of the prescribed oath."

The following is a copy of the register of the form and ceremony observed on a claim made more than a century ago, to this flitch of bacon, by William Parsley, of Much-Easton, and Jane, his wife.

Dunmow, Nuper.--"At a court baron of the Priorat' right worshipful Sir Thomas May, knight, there holden upon Friday the seventh of June, in the thirteenth year of the reign of our sovereign Lord William III. by the grace of G.o.d, &c. and in the year of our Lord, 1701, before Thomas Wheeler, gent steward of the said manor. It is thus enrolled:--

{"ELIZABETH BEAUMONT, spinster,} {HENRIETTA BEAUMONT, spinster, } Homage. {ANNABELLA BEAUMONT, spinster, } Jurat.

{JANE BEAUMONT, spinster, } {MARY WHELER, spinster, }

"Be it remembered, that at this court, in full and open court, it is found, and presented by the homage aforesaid, that William Parsley, of Much-Easton, in the county of Ess.e.x, butcher, and Jane his wife, have been married for the s.p.a.ce of three years the last past, and upward; and it is likewise found, presented, and adjudged, by the homage aforesaid, that the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, by means of their quiet, peaceable, tender, and loving cohabitation, for the s.p.a.ce of time aforesaid, (as appears by the said homage,) are fit and qualified persons to be admitted by the court to receive the ancient and accustomed oath, whereby to ent.i.tle themselves to have the bacon of Dunmow delivered unto them, according to the custom of the manor.

"Whereupon, at this court, in full and open court, came the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, in their proper persons, and humbly prayed, they might be admitted to take the oath aforesaid; whereupon the said steward, with the jury, suitors, and other officers of the court, proceeded, with the usual solemnity, to the ancient and accustomed place for the administration of the oath and receiving the gammon aforesaid, (that is to say) the two great stones lying near the church door, within the said manor; where the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, kneeling down on the said two stones, and the said steward did administer unto them the above-mentioned oath in these words, or to this effect following, viz.

You do swear by custom of confession.

That you ne'er made nuptial transgression; Nor since you were married man and wife, By household brawls, or contentious strife, Or otherwise, in bed or at board, Offended each other in deed or in word; Or in a twelve months' time and a day, Repented not in thought any way; Or since the church clerk said Amen, Wish'd yourselves unmarried again; But continue true, and in desire As when you join'd hands in holy quire.

"And immediately thereupon, the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, claiming the same gammon of bacon, the court p.r.o.nounced the sentence for the same, in these words, or to the effect following:

Since to these conditions, without any fear, Of your own accord you do freely swear, A whole gammon of bacon you do receive, And bear it away with love and good leave, For this is the custom of Dunmow well known;-- Though the pleasure be ours, the bacon's your own.

"And accordingly a gammon of bacon was delivered unto the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, with the usual solemnity.

"Examined per Thomas Wheeler, steward. The same day a gammon was delivered to Mr. Reynolds, steward to Sir Charles Barington, of Hatfield, Broad Oak."

THE ORIGIN OF RINGS IN GENERAL.--The origin of rings, their matter and uses, together with the supposed virtue of the precious stones set in them, afford a subject well deserving the notice of the curious. According to the accounts of the heathen mythology, Prometheus, who in the first times had discovered a great number of secrets, having been delivered from the chains by which he was fastened to Mount Caucasus for stealing fire from heaven; in memory or acknowledgment of the favour he received from Jupiter, made himself, of one of those chains, a ring, in whose collet he represented the figure of part of the rock where he had been detained, or rather, as Pliny says, set in it a bit of the same rock, and put it on his finger. This was the first ring, and the first stone. But we otherwise learn that the use of rings is very ancient, and that the Egyptians were the first inventors of them; which seems confirmed by the history of Joseph, who, as we read in Genesis, chap. xli. for having interpreted Pharaoh's dream, received not only his liberty, but was rewarded with this prince's ring, and the superintendency of Egypt. Josephus, in the third book of the Jewish Antiquities, says, the Israelites had the use of them after pa.s.sing the Red Sea, because Moses, on his return from Mount Sinai, found that they had forged the golden calf from their wives' rings. The same Moses (which was upwards of four hundred years before the wars of Troy) permitted the priests to have established the use of gold rings, enriched with precious stones. The high-priest wore upon his ephod, which was a kind of camaieu, rings, that served him as clasps; a large emerald was set, and engraved with mysterious names. The ring he wore on his finger was of estimable value and celestial virtue. Had not Aaron, the high priest of the Hebrews, a ring on his finger, whereof the diamond, by its virtue, operated prodigious things? for it changed its vivid l.u.s.tre into a dark colour, when the Hebrews were to be punished by death for their sins: when they were to fall by the sword, it appeared of a blood colour; if they were innocent, it sparkled as usual. It is observable, that the ancient Hebrews used rings in the time even of the war of Troy.

Queen Jezebel, to destroy Nabath, as it is related in the first book of Kings, made use of the ring of Ahab, king of the Israelites, her husband, to seal the counterfeit letters that ordered the death of that unfortunate man. Did not Judah, as mentioned in the thirty-eighth chapter of Genesis, deceive his daughter-in-law Tamar, (who had disguised herself,) by giving her his ring and bracelets as a pledge of the faith he had promised her?

Though Homer is silent in regard to rings both in his Iliad and Odyssey, they were, notwithstanding, used in the time of the Greeks and Trojans; and it is from them that several other nations received them. The Lacedemonians, as related by Alexander ab Alexandro, pursuant to the orders of their king Lycurgus, had only iron rings, despising those of gold; probably because their king was willing thereby to retrench luxury, and discourage the use of effeminate ornaments among his subjects, as inconsistent with the manly plainness of Spartan virtue.

The ring was reputed, by some nations, a symbol of liberality, esteem, and friendship, particularly among the Persians, none being permitted to wear any, except given to him from the king himself. This is what may also be remarked in the person of Apollonius Thyaneus, who, as a token of singular esteem and great liberality, received one from the great Jarchas, prince of the gymnosophists, who were the ancient priests of the Indies, and dwelt in forests, as our bards and Druids, where they applied themselves to the study of wisdom, and to the speculation of the heavens and stars.

This philosopher, by the means of that ring, learned every day the greatest secrets in nature.

Though the ring found by Gyges, shepherd to the king of Lydia, has more of fable than truth in it, it will not, however, be amiss to relate what is said concerning Herodotus, Caelius after Plato, and Cicero, in the third book of his Offices. This Gyges, after a great flood, pa.s.sed into a very deep cavity in the earth, where having found, in the belly of a brasen horse, with a large aperture in it, a human body of enormous size, he pulled from off one of the fingers, a ring of surprising virtue; for the stone on the collet rendered him who wore it invisible, when the collet was turned towards the palm of the hand; so that the party could see, without being seen, all manner of persons and things. Gyges, having made trial of its efficacy, bethought himself that it would be a means for ascending the throne of Lydia, and for gaining the queen by it. He succeeded in his designs, having killed Candaules, her husband. The dead body this ring belonged to was that of an ancient Brahmin, who in his time was chief of all. The rings of the ancients often served for seals.

Alexander the Great, after the defeat and death of Darius, used his ring for sealing the letters he sent into Asia, and his own for those he sent to Europe. It was customary in Rome for the bridegroom to send the bride, before marriage, a ring of iron, without either stone or collet, to denote how lasting their union ought to be, and the frugality they were to observe together; but luxury herein soon gained ground, and there was a necessity of moderating it. Caius Marius did not wear one of gold till his third consulship: and Tiberius, as Suetonius says, made some regulation in the authority of wearing rings; for besides the liberty of birth, he required a considerable revenue, both on the father and grandfather's side.

In the preceding dissertation we have antic.i.p.ated the MATRIMONIAL RING, therefore our further observations need be but few.

Swinburne says, the iron ring was adorned with an adamant; the metal hard and durable, signifying the duration and prosperity of the contract.

"Howbeit," he says, "it skilleth not at this day what metal the ring be of. The form of it being found, and without end, doth import that their love should circulate and flow continually. The finger on which this ring is to be worn, is the fourth finger on the left hand, next unto the little finger, because there was supposed a vein of blood to pa.s.s from thence into the heart."

We shall conclude this chapter with an account of an ancient custom, called HAND-FASTING.

This custom formerly took place at an annual fair, in the parish of Eskdale-muir, in Dumfriesshire, thus described by the Rev. W. Brown, in his Statistical Account of that parish: "At that fair it was the custom for the unmarried persons of both s.e.xes, to choose companions with whom they were to live till that time next year. If they were pleased with each other at that time, then they continued together for life; if not, they separated, and were free to make another choice, as at first. The fruit of their connection, if there were any, was always attached to the disaffected person. A priest, whom they named Book-i'-bosom, (because he carried in his bosom a Bible, or a register of the marriages,) came from time to time to confirm the marriages." Mr. Brown traces this custom from the Romans.--See _Sir J. Sinclair's Statistical Account_, vol. xii. p.

615.

CHAP. LXI.

CURIOSITIES RESPECTING THE CUSTOMS OF MANKIND.--(_Continued._)

_Funeral Ceremonies of the Ancient Ethiopians--Funeral Ceremonies of the Chinese--Ancient Funeral Ceremonies of the Dajakkese--Ancient Modes of Mourning--Feasts among the Ancients of various Nations--Feast of Lanterns._

FUNERAL CEREMONIES OF THE ANCIENT ETHIOPIANS.--The Ethiopians had very particular ceremonies in their funerals. According to Ctesias, after having salted the bodies, they put them into a hollow statue of gold, which resembled the deceased, and are placed in a niche, on a pillar set up for that purpose. The remains of the richest Ethiopians were thus honoured: the bodies of those of the next cla.s.s were contained in silver statues; the poor were enshrined in statues of earthenware. Herodotus informs us, that the nearest relations of the dead kept the body a year in their houses, and offered sacrifice and first-fruits during that time to their deceased friend; and at the end of the year, they fixed the corpse in a place set apart for the purpose near their town. The inhabitants of the country above Meroe had various methods of paying respect to their deceased friends. Some threw their bodies into the river, thinking that the most honourable sepulchre. Others kept them in their houses in niches, thinking that their children would be stimulated to virtuous deeds by the sight of their ancestors; and that grown people, by the same objects, would retain their parents in their memories. Others put their dead bodies into coffins of earthenware, and buried them near their temples. To swear with their hand laid upon a corpse, was their most sacred and inviolable oath.

FUNERAL CEREMONIES OR THE CHINESE.--The funeral ceremonies are considered by the Chinese as the most important of any. A few moments after a person has expired, he is dressed out in his richest attire, and adorned with every badge of his dignity; after which he is placed in the coffin. The preparation of a coffin, in which his body may be inclosed after death, is one of the chief objects of attention to a Chinese during his life, and great expense is often thrown away upon it; insomuch that the poor will give all they are worth, and the rich expend one thousand crowns; nay, a son will sell himself for a slave, to purchase a coffin for his father.

Sometimes the coffin, when purchased with all this labour and expense, will remain twenty years useless in the family; but it is considered as the most valuable piece of furniture in his possession. The manner of interment is as follows:--First, they sprinkle some lime in the bottom of the coffin; then they lay the body in it, taking care to place the head on a pillow, and to add a great deal of cotton, that it may remain steady.

The body remains thus exposed seven days; but the time may be reduced to three, if any weighty reason makes it necessary; and, during this interval, all the relations and friends, who are purposely invited, come and pay their respects to the deceased, the nearest relations remaining in the house. The coffin is exposed in the hall of ceremony, which is then hung with white, but some pieces of black or violet-coloured silk are here and there interspersed, as well as some other ornaments of mourning.

Before the coffin is placed a table, on which stands the image of the deceased, or a carved ornament inscribed with his name; and these are always accompanied with flowers, perfumes, and lighted wax candles. In the mean time, those who enter the hall salute the deceased, as if still in life. They prostrate themselves before the table, and knock their foreheads several times against the earth; after which they place on the table some perfumes and wax candles. Their salutations are returned by the eldest son, accompanied by his brothers. The latter come forth from behind a curtain, which hangs on one side of the coffin, creeping along the ground until they reach the spot where those stand whom they are going to salute; after which, they return without rising up. The women are also concealed behind the same curtain, from whence they every now and then send forth dismal cries.

The funeral procession at last commences. A troop of men march in a file, carrying different figures made of pasteboard, and representing slaves, lions, tigers, horses, &c. Others follow, marching in two files; some of whom carry standards, some flags, or censers filled with perfumes; while melancholy and plaintive airs are played by others, on musical instruments. These musicians immediately precede the coffin, which is covered with a canopy, in form of a dome, of violet-coloured silk: its four corners are ornamented with tufts of white silk, neatly embroidered, and covered at the top with net-work. The coffin is placed on the bottom of this machine, and is carried by sixty-four men. The eldest son, clothed in a frock of canva.s.s, having his body bent, and leaning on a staff, follows near the coffin; and behind him his brothers and nephews, but none of them clothed in canva.s.s. Then come the relations and friends, all clad in mourning, and followed by a great number of chairs, covered with white stuff, containing the wives and female slaves of the deceased. These make great show of sorrow, by doleful, yet methodical cries. When they arrive at the burying-place, the coffin is deposited in a tomb appropriated for it, not far from which there are tables arranged in different halls, on which the a.s.sistants are entertained with great splendour. The entertainment is sometimes followed by fresh marks of homage to the corpse; but these are often changed into thanks to the eldest son, who, however, answers only by signs. But if the deceased was a grandee of the empire, a certain number of his relations do not leave the tomb for a month or two; but reside in apartments provided for them, and every day renew their marks of grief, with the children of the deceased. The magnificence of these funeral ceremonies is proportioned to the wealth or dignity of the deceased. That of one of the brothers of the emperor, was attended by sixteen thousand people, each of whom had a particular office a.s.signed him relating to the ceremony. Mourning continues in China for three years; during all which time they must abstain from flesh and wine, nor can they a.s.sist at any entertainment, or attend any public a.s.sembly.

At first they are not even permitted to go abroad; and when they do so, they are carried in a chair, covered with a white cloth. Sometimes the filial piety of the Chinese is carried to such a length, that they preserve the bodies of their fathers in their houses for three or four years, and impose upon themselves a great number of other duties, using no other seat during the day, but a stool covered with a white serge, and no other bed but a plain mat made of reeds, which is placed near the coffin.

FUNERAL AND MARRIAGE CEREMONIES OF THE DAJAKKESE INHABITANTS OF BORNEO.--The corpse is placed in a coffin, and remains in the house till the son, the father, or the nearest of blood, can procure or purchase a slave, who is beheaded at the time that the corpse is burnt, in order that he may become the slave of the deceased in the next world. The ashes of the deceased are then placed in an earthen urn, on which various figures are exhibited; and the head of the slave is dried, and prepared in a peculiar manner with camphor and drugs, and deposited near it. It is said that this practice often induces them to purchase a slave guilty of some capital crime, at five-fold his value, in order that they may be able to put him to death on such occasions.

_Marriage Ceremonies._--n.o.body can be permitted to marry till he can present a human head of some other tribe to his proposed bride, in which case she is not permitted to refuse him. It is not, however, necessary that this should be obtained entirely by his own personal prowess. When a person is determined to go a head-hunting, as it is often a very dangerous service, he consults with his friends and acquaintances, who frequently accompany him, or send their slaves along with him. The head-hunter then proceeds with his party in the most cautious manner to the vicinity of the villages of another tribe, and lies in ambush till they surprise some heedless unsuspecting wretch, who is instantly decapitated. Sometimes, too, they surprise a solitary fisherman in a river, or on the sh.o.r.e, who undergoes the same fate. When the hunter returns, the whole village is filled with joy, and old and young, men and women, hurry out to meet him, and conduct him with the sound of brasen cymbals, dancing in long lines to the house of the female he admires, whose family likewise come out to greet him with dances, provide him a seat, and give him meat and drink. He still holds the b.l.o.o.d.y head in his hand, and puts part of the food into its mouth, after which, the females of the family receive the head from him, which they hang up to the ceiling over the door.

If a man's wife die, he is not permitted to make proposals of marriage to another, till he has provided another head of a different tribe, as if to revenge the death of his deceased wife. The heads procured in this manner, they preserve with great care, and sometimes consult in divination. The religious opinions connected with this practice, are by no means correctly understood. Some a.s.sert, that they believe that every person whom a man kills in this world, becomes his slave in the next. The Idaan, it is said, think that the entrance into paradise is over a long tree, which serves for a bridge, over which it is impossible to pa.s.s without the a.s.sistance of a slave slain in this world.

The practice of stealing heads causes frequent wars among the different tribes of the Idaan. Many persons never can obtain a head, in which case they are generally despised by the warriors and the women. To such a height is it carried, however, that a person who had obtained eleven heads, has been seen by Mr. Burn; and he pointed out his son, a young lad, who had procured three.

ANCIENT MODES OF MOURNING.--Amongst the ancient Jews, on the death of their relations or intimate friends, mourning was expressed by weeping, tearing their clothes, smiting their b.r.e.a.s.t.s, or lacerating them with their nails, pulling or cutting off their hair and beards, walking softly, i. e. barefoot, lying upon the ground, fasting, or eating upon the ground.

They kept themselves close shut up in their houses, covered their faces, and abstained from all work, even reading the law, and saying their usual prayers. They neither dressed themselves, nor made their beds, nor cut their nails, nor went into the bath, nor saluted any body. The time of mourning was generally seven days, less or more, according to circ.u.mstances, but thirty days were thought sufficient upon the severest occasions. The different periods of the time of mourning required different degrees of grief, and different tokens of it.

The Greeks, on the death of their friends, shewed their sorrow by secluding themselves from all gaiety, entertainments, games, public solemnities, wine, and music. They sat in gloomy and solitary places, stripped themselves of all external ornaments, put on a coa.r.s.e black stuff by way of mourning, tore their hair, shaved their heads, rolled themselves in the dust and mire, sprinkled ashes on their heads, smote their b.r.e.a.s.t.s with their palms, tore their faces, and frequently cried out with a lamentable voice and drawling tone. At the funerals of soldiers, their fellow soldiers, as a testimony of their affliction, held their shields, their spears, and the rest of their armour, inverted.

The tokens of private grief among the Romans, were the same as those among the Greeks. Black or dark brown were the colours of the mourning habits worn by the men; they were also common to the women. The mourning of the emperors at first was black. In the time of Augustus, the women wore white veils, and the rest of their dress was black. From the time of Domitian, they wore nothing but white habits, without any ornaments of gold, jewels, or pearls. The men let their hair and beards grow, and wore no wreaths of flowers on their heads, while the days of mourning continued. The longest time of mourning was ten months: this was Numa's establishment, and took in his whole year. For a widow to marry during this time, was infamous.

Mourning was not used for children who died under three years of age. From this age to ten, they mourned as many months as the child was years old. A remarkable victory, or other happy event, occasioned the shortening of the time of mourning. The birth of a child, or the attainment of any remarkable honour in the family, certain feasts in honour of the G.o.ds, or the consecration of a temple, had the same effect. After the defeat at Cannae, the commonwealth decreed that mourning should not be worn for more than thirty days, that the loss might be forgot as soon as possible. When public magistrates died, or persons of great note, also when any remarkable calamity happened, all public meetings were intermitted, the schools of exercise, baths, shops, temples, and all places of concourse, were shut up, and the whole city put on a face of sorrow; the senators laid aside the _laticlave_, and the consuls sat in a lower seat than ordinary. This was the custom of Athens also, and was observed upon the death of Socrates, when the fickle Athenians became sensible of the calamity their state had suffered in the loss of that great and virtuous man.

The modes of mourning differ in various countries, as well as the colours used for that end. In Europe, the ordinary colour for mourning is black; in China, it is white; in Turkey, blue or violet; in Egypt, yellow; in Ethiopia, brown. White obtained formerly in Castile, on the death of their princes. Herrera observes, that the last time it was used was in 1498, at the death of prince John. Each people a.s.sign their reasons for the particular colour of their mourning: white is supposed to denote purity; yellow, that death is the end of human hopes, in regard that leaves when they fall, and flowers when they fade, become yellow; brown denotes the earth, whither the dead return; black, the privation of light; blue expresses the happiness which it is hoped the deceased does enjoy; and purple or violet, sorrow on the one side, and hope on the other, as being a mixture of black and blue.