not a sail fluttered in the breeze, not a voice was heard, not the least stir or bustle about the deck, and the moon looked down in loveliness on that tranquil scene. At noon, every soul gathered to the temple which had been erected for religious worship, and in less than fifteen minutes the marriage ceremony was performed by our worthy minister, who made a few remarks, and closed with prayer. The scene was truly as sublime as romantic. The fair bride came out, dressed in a robe of pure white satin, leaning on the arm of her lover, bound to the altar, and heard her marriage vow pronounced where, only an hour or two before, she had uttered her vows to God. Many a tear of joy stole down the cheeks of those who looked on, and not a care cast the shadow of its wing across that scene of triumph, love, and bliss. The novelty of this affair had thrown us all into an excitement, and nothing was talked of but weddings, wedding-parties, marriages at sea, love, honeymoon, &c. &c., and I was at times half tempted to make a similar proposition myself to the queen-like Miss C, if for nothing else but the purpose of having the joke pass round."

E

WEDDING-RINGS, AND THE RING-FINGER.

6

"The wedding-ring is worn on the fourth finger of the left hand, because it was anciently believed that a small artery ran from this finger to the heart. Wheatley, on the authority of old missals, calls it a vein. It is,' he says, because from thence there proceeds a particular vein to the heart. This, indeed,' he adds, 'is now contradicted by experience: but several eminent authors, as well Gentiles as Christians, as well physicians as divines, were formerly of this opinion, and therefore they thought this finger the properest to bear this pledge of love, that from thence it might be conveyed, as it were, to the heart."

"Levinus Lemnius, speaking of the ringfinger, says, that a small branch of the artery, and not of the nerves, as Gellius thought, is stretched forth from the heart unto this finger, the motion whereof you may perceive evidently in all that affects the heart in women, by the touch of your fore-finger. I used to raise such as are fallen in a swoon by pinching

this joint, and by rubbing the ring of gold with a little saffron; for, by this, a restoring force that is in it passeth to the heart, and refresheth the fountain of life, unto which this finger is joined. Wherefore antiquity thought fit to compass it about with gold.'

"According also to the same author, this finger was called 'Medicus;' for, on account of the virtue it was presumed to derive from the heart, the old physicians would mingle their medicaments and potions with this finger, because no venom can stick upon the very outmost part of it, but it will offend a man, and communicate itself to his heart.'

"To a question, Why is it that the person to be married is enjoined to put a ring upon the fourth finger of his spouse's left hand?' it is answered: There is nothing more in this than that the custom was handed down to the present age from the practice of our ancestors, who found the left hand more convenient for such ornaments than the right, because it is less employed. For the same reason they chose the fourth finger, which is not only less used than either of the rest, but is more capable of preserving a ring from bruises, having this one

peculiar quality, that it cannot be extended but in company with some other finger, while the rest may be singly stretched to their full length and straightness.'

"Some married women are so superstitiously rigid in their notions concerning their weddingring, that neither when they wash their hands, nor at any other time, will they take it off their finger; extending, it should seem, the expression of 'till death us do part,' even to this golden circlet, the token and pledge of matrimony.

"There is an old proverb on wedding-rings, which has, no doubt, been many a time quoted for the purpose of encouraging and hastening the consent of a diffident or timorous mistress :

'As your wedding-ring wears,
Your cares will wear away.'

"Formerly rings were given away at weddings. Anthony Wood relates of Edward Kelly, a 'famous philosopher,' in Queen Elizabeth's days, that Kelly, who was openly profuse beyond the modest limits of a sober philosopher, did give away in gold-wire rings (or rings twisted with three gold wires), at the