Strengthened by interchangement of your rings;
And all the ceremony of this compact
Seal'd in my function, by my testimony."[221:C]
These four observances, therefore; 1st, the joining of hands; 2dly, the mutually given kiss; 3dly, the interchangement of rings; and 4thly, the testimony of witnesses: appear to have been essential parts of the public ceremony of betrothing or espousals, which usually preceded
the marriage rite by the term of forty days. The oath indeed, administered on this occasion, was to the following effect:—"You swear by God and his holy saints herein and by all the saints of Paradise, that you will take this woman whose name is N. to wife within forty days, if holy church will permit." The priest then joining their hands, said—"And thus you affiance yourselves;" to which the parties answered,—"Yes, sir."[222:A] So frequently has Shakspeare referred to this custom of troth-plighting, that, either privately or publickly, we must conclude it to have been of common usage in his days: thus, in Measure for Measure, Mariana says to Angelo,
"This is the hand, which with a vow'd contract,
Was fast belock'd in thine:"[222:B]
and then addressing the duke, she exclaims,
"As there is sense in truth, and truth in virtue,
I am affianc'd this man's wife."[222:C]