"It is still usual for the young men present to salute the Bride immediately after the performing of the marriage service.
"Four, with their horses, were waiting without; they saluted the Bride at the church gate, and immediately mounting, contended who should first carry home the good news, and WIN what they call the KAIL;" i. e. a smoking prize of spice-broth, which stood ready prepared to reward the victor in this singular kind of race.
"Dinner succeeded; to that dancing and supper; after which a posset was made, of which the Bride and Bridegroom were always to taste first.—The men departed the room till the Bride was undressed by her maids, and put to bed; the Bridegroom in his turn was undressed by his men, and the ceremony concluded with the well-known rite of throwing the stocking."—Bourne's Antiquitates Vulg. apud Brand, p. 371, 372, 373. edit. 1810.
[230:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xv. p. 197.
[230:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xv. p. 203.
[230:C] Ben Jonson's Works, fol. edit. 1640. vol. ii. p. 6.
[230:D] Holinshed's Chronicles, vol. iii. p. 787. edit. 1808.
[231:A] Capell's Notes and Various Readings on Shakspeare, vol. i.; and Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xv. p. 198.—L'Estrange, a nephew to Sir Roger L'Estrange, appears to have been the compiler of these anecdotes. Of the truth of the story, however, as far as it relates to Shakspeare and Jonson, there is reason to entertain much doubt.
[231:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xii. p. 343. Act ii. sc. 3.
[232:A] Vide Douce's Illustrations, vol. i. p. 488.; and Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xii. p. 345.