And kiss'd her lips with such a clamorous smack,
That, at the parting, all the church did echo."[225:A]
In the account of the procession just quoted, we find that a bride-cup was carried before the bride; out of this all the persons present, together with the new-married couple, were expected to drink in the church. This custom was prevalent, in Shakspeare's time, among every description of people, from the regal head to the thorough-paced rustic; accordingly we are informed, on the testimony of an assisting witness, that the same ceremony took place at the marriage of the Elector Palatine to King James's daughter, on the 14th day of February, 1612-13: there was "in conclusion," he relates, "a joy pronounced by the king and queen, and seconded with congratulation of the lords there present, which crowned with draughts of Ippocras out of a great golden bowle, as an health to the prosperity of the marriage, (began by the prince Palatine and answered by the princess.) After which were served up by six or seven barons so many bowles filled with wafers, so much of that work was consummate."[225:B]
This bride-cup or bowl was, therefore, frequently termed the knitting
or contracting cup: thus in Ben Jonson's Magnetick Lady, Compass says to Practise, after enquiring for a licence,
———————— "Mind
The Parson's pint t'engage him—
A knitting-cup there must be;"[226:A]
and Middleton, in one of his Comedies, gives us the following line:—
"Even when my lip touch'd the contracting cup."[226:B]