Note 1352 — Chapter X · RISE OF CIVIL MARRIAGE
Reading edition
The following is a copy of the "hand-bill" of Peter Symson taken from Burn's Fleet Marriages, 54:
G. R. At the true Chapel at the old red Hand and Mitre, three doors from Fleet Lane and next Door to the White Swan; Marriages are performed by authority by the Reverend Mr. Symson educated at the University of Cambridge, and late Chaplain to the Earl of Rothes. N.B. Without Imposition
Symson, as he says, was not a prisoner. Like "many of his fellows," he was witness in a bigamy trial in 1751. He was asked: "Why did you marry them without license?"
"Symson—Because somebody would have done it, if I had not.... Never had a benefice in my life. I have had little petty curacies about £20 or £30 per year. I don't do it for lucre or gain.
"Court—You might have exposed your person had you gone on the highway, but you'd do less prejudice to your country a good deal. You are a nuisance to the public; and the gentlemen of the jury, it is to be hoped, will give but little credit to you."—Burn, op. cit., 55; Ashton, op. cit., 357, 358. On Symson (or Symsen) see also Jeaffreson, op. cit., II, 152.