"A short sweet prayer shall be said,
And now the posset shall be made
With cream of lilies not of kine
And maiden blush for spiced wine."
The fashion of brides wearing spotless white is a comparatively modern one. From accounts of bridal gowns in bygone times, we find rich brocades, golden tissues, and coloured silks were employed for this purpose; and at the present day white is considered only appropriate to the virgin, and is absolutely dispensed with by those women who have been married before.
Of modern marriage customs in England there is no occasion to speak, for what woman is there among us who has not made an exhaustive and complete study of this vital matter? It may, however, comfort those who are beginning to wonder if marriage and giving in marriage is going out of fashion, to know that during the first quarter of 1894, 95,366 persons were joined together in the British Islands, an increase of 18 per cent. over the first three months of the previous year, 1893 and 9 per cent. over the mean rate for the same quarter for the preceding ten years. Figures are incontrovertible facts, so our ears need no longer be assailed by the bitter cry of
Chapter VI.
MOURNING.
"The air is full of farewells to the dying
And mourning for the dead."—Longfellow.
