Do you see them in court?
Why, no I cannot say.
What did you do?
Why I joined them, and then got the lady’s address, where she come from,
and the party’s I believe.
What did they do then?
Why, the gentleman wrote down the names, and the lady gave way to it.
In fact, you married them after the usual way?
Yes, yes, I married them after the Scotch form, that is, by my putting
on the ring on the lady’s finger, and that way.
Were they both agreeable?
O yes, I joined their hands as man and wife.
Was that the whole of the ceremony--was it the end of it?
I wished them well, shook hands with them, and, as I said, they then
both embraced each other very agreeably.
What else did you do?
I think I told the lady that I generally had a present from ’em, as it
may be, of such a thing as money to buy a pair of gloves, and she gave
me, with her own hand, a twenty-shilling Bank of England note to buy
them.
Where did she get the note?
How do I know.
What did the gentleman say to you?
Oh, you ask what did he treat me with.
No, I do not; what did he say to you?
He did nothing to me; but I did to him what I have done to many before,
that is, you must know, to join them together; join hands, and so on. I
bargained many in that way, and she was perfectly agreeable, and made no
objections.
Did you give them a certificate?
Oh! yes, I gave it to the lady.
[Here a piece of paper was identified by this witness, and read in
evidence, purporting to certify that Edward Gibbon Wakefield and Ellen
Turner had been duly married according to the form required by the
Scottish law. This paper, except the names and dates, was a printed
register, at the top of which was a rudely executed woodcut,
apparently of the royal arms.]
Did the gentleman and lady converse freely with you?
O, yes; he asked me what sort of wine they had in Linton’s house, and I
said they had three kinds, with the best of _Shumpine_ (Champagne.) He
asked me which I would take, and I said _Shumpine_, and so and so; while
they went into another room to dine, I finished the wine, and then off I
came. I returned, and saw them still in the very best of comfortable
spirits.
Mr. SCARLETT.--We have done with you, Laing.
Mr. BROUGHAM.--But _my_ turn is to come with you, my gentleman. What did
you get for this job besides the _Shumpine_? Did you get money as well
as _Shumpine_?
Yes, sure I did, and so and so.
Well, how much?
Thirty or forty pounds or thereabouts, as may be.
Or fifty pounds, as it may be, Mr. Blacksmith?
May be, for I cannot say to a few pounds. I am dull of hearing.
Was this marriage ceremony, which you have been describing, exactly what
the law and church of Scotland require on such occasions, as your
certificate (as you call it) asserts?
O yes, it is in the old common form.
What! Do you mean in the old common form of the church of Scotland,
fellow?
There is no prayer-book required to be produced, I tell you.
Will you answer me when I ask you, what do you mean by the old ordinary
form of the church of Scotland, when this transaction has nothing
whatever to do with that church? Were you never a clergyman of that
country?
Never.
How long are you practising this delightful art?
Upwards of forty-eight years I am doing these marriages.
How old are you?