Ecclesfield, April 29. 1850.
[This superstition is as old as Ovid's time, who tells us in
his _Fasti_,
"Nec viduæ tædis eadem, nec virginis apta
Tempora. Quæ nupsit non diuturna fuit.
Hac quoque de causa (si te proverbia tangunt),
Mense malas Maio nubere vulgus ait."
The last line, as our readers may remember, (see _ante_, No.
7. p. 97.), was fixed on the gates of Holyrood on the morning
(16th of May) after the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots and
Bothwell.]
* * * * *
_Throwing Old Shoes at a Wedding_.--At a wedding lately, the
bridesmaids, after accompanying the bride to the hall-door, threw into
the carriage, on the departure of the newly-married couple, a number
of old shoes which they had concealed somewhere. On inquiry, I find
this custom is not uncommon; I should be glad to be favoured with any
particulars respecting its origin and meaning, and the antiquity of
it.