(Vol. ii., p. 282.)
JARLTZBRG, in noticing this custom, says that the Jews seem to have had a
similar one, which perhaps they borrowed from the neighbouring nations; at
least the connexion formed by the prophet Hosea (chap. iii., v. 2.) bears
strong resemblance to _Handfasting_. The 3rd verse in Hosea, as well as the
2nd, should I think be referred to. They are both as follows:
"So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer
of barley, and an half homer of barley: and I said unto her, Thou shalt
abide for me many days; thou shalt not play the harlot, and thou shalt
not be for another man; so will I also be for thee."
Now by consulting our most learned commentators upon the meaning which they
put upon these two verses in connexion with each other, I cannot think that
the analogy of JARLTZBERG will be found correct. In allusion to verse 2,
"so I bought her," &c., Bishop Horsley says:
"This was not a payment in the shape of a dowry; for the woman was his
property, if he thought fit to claim her, _by virtue of the marriage
already had_; but it was a present supply of her necessary wants, by
which he acknowledged her as his wife, and engaged to furnish her with
alimony, not ample indeed, but suitable to the recluse life which he
prescribed to her."
And in allusion, in verse 3., to the words "Thou shall abide for me many
days," Dr. Pocock thus explains the context:
"That is, thou shalt stay sequestered, and as in a state of widowhood,
till the time come that I shall be fully reconciled to thee, and shall
see fit again to receive thee to the privileges of a wife."
Both commentators are here evidently alluding to what occurs after a
marriage has actually taken place. Handfasting takes place before a
marriage is consummated.
A chapter upon marriage contracts and ceremonies would form an important
and amusing piece of history. I have not Picart's _Religious Ceremonies_ at
hand, but if I mistake not he refers to many. In Marco Polo's _Travels_, I
find the following singular, and to a Christian mind disgusting, custom. It
is related in section l9.:--
"These twenty days journey ended, having passed over the province of
Thibet, we met with cities and many villages, in which, through the
blindness of idolatry, a wicked custom is used; for no man there
marrieth a wife that is a virgin; whereupon, when travellers and
strangers, coming from other places, pass through this country and
pitch their pavilions, the women of that place having marriageable
daughters, bring them unto strangers, desiring them to take them and
enjoy their company as long as they remain there. Thus the handsomest
are chosen, and the rest return home sorrowful, and when they depart,
they are not suffered to carry any away with them, but faithfully
restore them to their parents. The maiden also requireth some toy or
small present of him who hath deflowered her, which she may show as an
argument and proof of her condition; and she that hath been loved and
abused of most men, and shall have many such favours and toys to show
to her wooers, is accounted more noble, and may on that account be
advantageously married; and when she would appear most honourably
dressed, she hangs all her lovers' favours about her neck, and the more
acceptable she was to many, so much the more honour she receives from
her countrymen. But when they are once married, they are no more
suffered to converse with strange men, and men of this country are very
cautious never to offend one another in this matter."