MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.8
Reading edition
MANNERS & CUSTOMS OF ALL NATIONS.8
SCOTCH MARRIAGES.
Our English love-smitten lads and lasses are pretty generally aware of the facility with which the most awful and holy of all engagements may be contracted in North Britain. They sometimes make the experiment in their own persons; and, "by the simplicity of Venus' doves," old boys and old girls have been known to follow, as fast as post-chaises, horses, and lads could carry them, close upon the heels of their juniors, (bound on the same errand,) to the blissful land o' cakes and matrimony. An English gentleman, known to the writer, was making a few purchases in a shop, wherein stood three or four other customers. A man and woman entered, and the former, addressing the master of the shop and his aforesaid customers, used, as he took the woman's right hand, words to this effect:—"Witness, ye that are here present, that I (N. or M.) take this woman (N. or M.) for my wedded wife." In like manner the sposa desired all present to witness that she took the man for her wedded husband, with her own full acquiescence in, and approbation of, his determination. The English gentleman who had witnessed, in silent amazement, this (to him) novel engagement, was informed, after the departure of the happy couple, that the marriage was to all intents and purposes valid by Scotch law, having been solemnized as effectually as if by religious rites, in the presence of respectable housekeepers, who, as such, were efficient witnesses, and all that were requisite of ceremonial to make the marriage good!
I give this anecdote as related to me by the gentleman who saw the incident mentioned; should there be any discrepancies in his relation, I shall feel obliged by a correct account of the manner of contracting marriages in Scotland, from any of your correspondents capable of giving such.
CAPUCHIN INTERMENT.
A gentleman, who had resided many years abroad, and particularly amongst the Italian Catholics, once described to me the manner in which the Capuchins inter the brethren of their order. These defunct freres are embalmed, arrayed in their peculiar habits, as when living; and in the vaults of their monastic churches or chapels, ranged upright in niches formed for this purpose. On certain days, particularly on the Feast of All Souls, the doors of these cemeteries are opened to the public, who, as a religious duty, flock in to view these singular and affecting relics of mortality. The bodies undergo but little alteration in appearance for centuries; but Mr. M. being tempted to touch the very long nose of one old fellow, who looked "a leathern Pharoah, grinning in the dark," it disappeared in a shower of dust beneath his fingers.
A PARTY AT PALERMO.
"Palermo," said a lady whom I saw immediately after her return from a tour in Sicily, "is indeed a beautiful city; but I thought some things strange in the manners of the inhabitants. Mr. H. and myself were invited to a music-party, at the house of a person in the best society, whereat appeared most of the ladies in coloured and high morning dresses. Two tallow candles and a small lamp stood on the piano-forte in the music-room, and from this room we descended by three or four steps into another, containing a bed, over which was a shelf; upon the shelf was placed one bottle of wine and a few glasses; and this being intended expressly for the ladies, they were expected to go and help themselves when they pleased; but a fresh bottle of wine was brought when the first was exhausted."
FRENCH COUNTRY LIFE.
"The dinner-hour in the country," said a relation of the writer, who spends a great deal of time in France, "is generally two o'clock, even when company are invited to partake of the dinner; in which case, the whole party has quitted the house by six or seven in the evening,—a custom which ill accords with English ideas of sociability. Three table-cloths are usually laid upon the table, the first and second of which are, or may be, removed during the repast; but the third is never drawn off, except to be changed for a clean one. In England, we pride ourselves upon the fine mahogany of which our dinner-tables are made; we endeavour to obtain, in the first instance, an excellent piece of wood, and to improve it by assiduous rubbing and polishing. In France, it matters not of what material the table is framed; a cloth is always upon it; and I have seen the hospitable board of many families of rank literally formed of deal."
A DIFFERENCE.
"In this part of the world," says a private letter from India, (Hyderabad,) "we do not talk of striking gongs for dinner, but ghuzzies,—ghong meaning a horse or mare."
BOARDING.
In Ireland, when a man marries, who cannot afford to treat his friends to whiskey upon the occasion, they take the door of his house off the hinges, lay him upon it, and carry him thus upon their shoulders all day. In the evening he is allowed to return to his deserted bride. This custom is called "boarding," and is so frequent, as I myself can attest from personal observation, as to attract but little attention from the commonalty, and nothing like a mob.
M.L.B.