MARRIAGE. was then called nymphagogos. The bride (who carried a vessel containing barley, and called phrygetron) was preceded by torch-bearers, music and song, also by females who carried symbols of domestic life, as a sieve, a spindle, &c. When the couple arrived at home, fruits were poured over them, as a symbol of plenty; the axle of the vehicle in which they had riddeu was burnt, to indicate that the bride could not return, after which the meal followed, in apartinents adorned for the occasion, for which friends and relations assembled, dressed in festival dresses. In Athens, a boy appeared during the meal, crowned with thorns and acorns, holding a basket, which contained bread, and calling out, "I left the bad and found the better" (čovyov kakov, cúpov aμɛivov)—an allusion to the life of the primitive inhabitants of Attica, without bread and matrimony. Dances and songs diverted the guests. After the dance, followed the procession into the bride chamber, where the bed was generally covered with a purple cloth, and strewed with flowers. Another bed was also placed in the same room, for the bridegroom, in case evil omens should prevent the consummation of the marriage. Here the bride washed her feet (in Athens, in water from the fountain Callirrhoë), served by the luthrophoros (a boy, always the nearest relative). In Athens, the pair also ate a quince, probably in allusion to Proserpine. The bride was now placed in the bed by her nearest relatives, particularly by the mother of the bride, who wound the fillets of her own hair round the torch, and, whilst the bridegroom unloosed the zone of the bride, which was consecrated to Minerva or Diana, boys and girls danced before the door, stamping and singing songs (epithalamia, choruses, praises of the young couple, good wishes, &c.-See Theocrytus, 18th idyl.) A thyroros (door-keeper) prevented the women from entering to assist the bride. The next morning, the same boys and girls sung epithalamia egertica (awakening songs). The festival lasted for several days, each having its proper name. Very different from all this was the custom of the Lacedæmonians. They retained the ancient form of carrying off the bride by force. After the bridegroom had carried off the girl, a female paranymph cut the hair of the bride, put on her a male dress, seated her in a dark room, upon a carpet; the bridegroom then came clandestinely, unbound the zone, placed the bride upon the bed, and, soon after, stole away to the common sleeping room of the youths, and 299 repeated these visits several times before the marriage was made known. After this, the solemn conducting home of the bride, accompanied by sacrifices, took place. The Romans had, in a legal sense, three different ways of concluding a marriage-coemtio, confarreatio, and usus-of which the confarreatio was the most solemn and most conclusive. At the betrothment (sponsalia), the day of marriage was settled, great care being taken not to fix upon one of the atri dies (unlucky days), viz. the month of May, the calends, nones and ides, and the days following them, the feast of the Salians, the parentalia, &c. On the other hand, a peculiar predilection was entertained for the second half of June. The day before the wedding, the bride sacrificed the virginlike toga prætexta to the Fortuna virginalis; her bulla aurea, her strophia and toys to the Lar familiaris, or to Venus, after she had first sacrificed to Juno jugo, the goddess of marriages, and after her hair had been divided with a lance (calibaris) into six locks (in allusion to the rape of the Sabines), and arranged according the fashion of matrons. On the day of the wedding, the bride was ornamented. She covered her hair with the vitta recta, put on a wreath of flowers, the tunic of matrons, and encircled her waist with a woollen zone, tied in a Hercules knot (so called), at which moment she implored the Juno cinxia. A red or fire-colored veil now covered her face (allusion to bashfulness); shoes of a like color were put on. After the auspices were taken, and sacrifices had been offered to the gods of matrimony, particularly to Juno, the bile being thrown away, the couple seated themselves upon the fleece of the victim, in allusion to the original dress of men, and to the domestic duties of the wife. In the evening, the bride was led home by the bridegroom. The bride rested in the arms of her mother, or one of the next relatives, and the bridegroom carried her off, in allusion to the rape of the Sabines. The bride was led by boys; others preceded her, bearing torches. The bride (or female slaves) carried distaffs, wool, &c. The music of the lyre and the flute accompanied the procession, during which the bridegroom threw walnuts among the people. The bride was lifted, or stepped gently over the threshold of her parents' house, and of that where she entered, this part of the dwelling being sacred to Vesta, the protectress of virgins. These thresh olds were ornamented with flowers. &c. She was followed, or, according to some preceded by the boy Camillus.* Relations and friends accompanied the procession, where jokes and merriment abounded. Arrived at her new house, she hung woollen bands, as signs of chastity, at the door-posts, and rubbed the posts with the fat of hogs and wolves, to guard against enchantment. Her first step in the house was made on a fleece (symbol of domestic industry). The keys were handed over to her, and both she and the bridegroom touched fire and water, as signs of chastity and purity. With the water the feet were washed. In the times of the republic, the bride carried three pieces of the coin called as. One she held in her hand, and gave to the bridegroom, as if purchasing him; another, lying in her shoe, she put on the hearth of the new house; the third, which she had in a pocket, she put on a cross-way. After some more ceremonies, followed the wedding meal, accompanied by epithalamia. The bride was then conducted by matrons, only once married (pronuba), into the nuptial chamber (thalamus), and laid on the bed (genialis lectus). Virgins now sung epithalamia, in praise of the couple, and, in order not to excite Nemesis by such praises, boys used to sing indecorous songs. After the husband had given another feast (repotia), the wife entered on her new duties.-Of the marriage rites of the ancient Celtic and German tribes, as ittle is known as of the ancient Asiatic tribes; and, in the little which is recorded, the ancient authors contradict each other. They are almost unanimous, however, in stating that the ceremony of buying the wife was customary with them; but it is doubtful whether polygamy existed among them or not. Cæsar says it prevailed among the Britons; others say the same of the inhabitants of Spain. The Germans and Gauls seem to have had, generally, but one wife; yet exceptions are known (for instance, Ariovistus). According to the historian Adam, of Bremen, polygamy was common with the ancient Saxons and people of Ditmarsh. Among the ancient Germans, the marriage of a free person with a slave was punished. If a slave had seduced a free girl, he was beheaded, and she burnt. They married late: marriage was prohibited before the 30th year. The suitor paid a price to the father of the girl, from which, afterwards, the morning gift, so called, originated. If a girl was betrothed, she was watched by * His office was to carry the bride's ornaments, and the amulets for the future offspring, in a small box the friends of the wooer; if the latter delayed the marriage longer than two years, the engagement was dissolved. After marriage, the wife was inseparable from the husband: she followed him to the chase, in war, &c., and often betrayed herself when the husband had fallen. Divorce was very rare; violation of matrimony was punished by death. The Mohammedans consider matrimony as a mere civil contract. They practise polygamy. The Mohammedans may have four regularly married wives; they may, besides, purchase concubines (generally Circassian and other slaves); they have, also, hired wives, whose obligation to live with a man lasts only for a certain time. Generally, the Mohammedans have but one wife; the wealthier sort have two; the very rich, still more. With the Turks, the marriage is concluded upon between the parents, and at the most, the contract is only confirmed before the cadi. Generally, the bridegroom has to buy the bride; most commonly, they do not see each other before marriage. The bride is conducted on horseback, closely veiled, to the bridegroom. Entertainments follow, and, in the evening, the bride is led, by a eunuch (or, with the poorer classes, by a maid servant), into the bride chamber. It is a real misfortune for a Turk to be obliged to marry a daughter of the sultan. He prescribes the present to be made to his daughter; the husband is obliged to follow her will in all things. He must give so many presents, that he is frequently ruined. In Arabia, if a young man is pleased with the appearance of a girl in the street, where the women appear always veiled, he endeavors to get a sight of her face, by procuring admission into a house where she frequently comes, and remaining concealed there by the aid of some kind relatives. If he is pleased, he makes a bargain with the fater; the contract is signed before the sheik. After several ceremonies, baths, entertainments, &c., the Arab awaits his bride in his tent. Matrons conduct her there, where the bride bows, and receives a gold piece pressed on her forehead. She is then carried by him into the interior of the tent. The bride and other women dance around it all night. In Barbary, the marriage contract is concluded with the father or some relation, or, in default of them, with the cadi, a price paid for the bride, and a sum assigned for her support in case of divorce. The evening before the marriage, the bridegroom proceeds, on horseback, accompanied by many friends, MARRIAGE. to the house of the bride. The bride is then carried on a mule, covered with a sort of box (or, among the wealthier classes, on a camel, bearing a sort of tent), to the house of the bridegroom. The bridegroom and his friends accompany her, the latter expressing their joy by the discharge of fire-arms. The bride is then conducted to the bridegroom, in a dark apartment, and it is not till after the completion of the marriage that he obtains a sight of her face. He cannot go out of the house for eight days; she, not for two months. Formerly the bridegroom, at the end of the eight days, played the king, and decided a number of petty disputes; but since the middle of the eighteenth century, when the emperor of Morocco had eight of such kings tied to the tails of mules and dragged to death, this custom has ceased. The wedding ceremonies, among the Mohammedans in Hindostan, are similar, ouly the procession is accompanied by music and song. With the Persians, the bridal purchase-money is agreed upon by the bridegroom and the father of the bride; this is either left to the father, or given to the bride in case of divorce. The contract is signed before a cadi, in a solitary place, so that enchanters may not deprive the bridegroom of his vigor. As it is considered, with all the Mohammedans, a matter of the greatest importance to find the signs of maidenhood in the bride, and as the whole relation between the two sexes is such as not to enable the bridegroom to take the bride's virtue upon trust, it is often made a point of the marriage contract, that the marriage shall be null if satisfaction is not received on this point. So much attention is paid to this subject, that, in case an accidental injury, as by a fall from a camel, &c., might bring it in question, fathers not unfrequently have an attested record made of the cause of the accident. The Circassians, who sell their daughters to the Turks, use mechanical means to prevent the loss of their virginity, from the age of puberty. With the heathen Hindoos, any one who marries out of his caste, loses its privileges, and be comes little better than a Paria. (q. v.) The Hindoos marry their children very early, often in the seventh year. When the marriage is agreed on, gifts are sent, with song and music, to the bride. Similar ones are returned to the bridegroom. On the day before the marriage, the bridegroom, adorned with a crown and flowers, proceeds through the city, accompanied by music, and attended by the young men 301 of his own occupation, in palanquins, car riages, and on horseback. The bride does the same, on the day of the wedding, at tended by her young female acquaintance. In the evening, the wedding takes place. A fire is lighted between the couple, a silk cord wound round them, and a kerchief, folded up, is placed between them, after which the Bramin pronounces a certain formula, the purport of which is, that the husband ought to give sufficient support to the wife, and that she ought to be faithful: the blessing follows. The Buddha religion prescribes other ceremonies and rules. In Pegu, the women are bought, and generally only for a certain time. In Siam, the husband may have, besides the legitimate wife, others, whose children, however, are not legal, and are sold as slaves. In China, the wife is bought; poor people ask wives from the foundling houses. The young couple do not see each other before the contracts are exchanged. The bride is then conveyed, with music, torches, &c., to the husband. She is carried in a chair, securely enclosed, the key to which is given, on her arrival, to the bridegroom. Here he sees her for the first time. Formerly, the wife was sent back immediately, but at present this is generally prevented by the contract; the relations also contrive to get a pretty accurate description of the bride beforehand. The bride is then led into the house, where she bows low before the family idol. Entertainments then follow, each sex being separate. After marriage, the wife sees only the husband, and, on particular occasions, the father or some other relative, unless express provision is made for more liberty in the contract. In Japan, the bridegroom awaits the bride in the temple of Fo, where the bonze blesses them, during which ceremony the couple bear a torch or lamp. The festival ther lasts for seven or eight days. The Parsees, or worshippers of fire, consider matrimony a holy state, conducive to eternal felicity, and betroth children very young. Matri mony between cousins is most esteemed. Betrothment is, with them, a ceremony entirely binding. At the wedding, the priest asks the parties whether each will have the other; if they say yes, he joins their hands and strews rice over them. Weddings aniong them are celebrated with much public festivity. Among the Indians of North America, the weddings are very simple.-See Tales of the North-West (Boston, 1830); also, the article Indians.-Among Christians, mar riages, of late, are celebrated with muct less ceremony than formerly. In England, anong the wealthier classes, it is customary for the couple to go, in a morning dress, to church, and, immediately after the marriage, to set out on a journey. With the Catholics, matrimony is a sacrament, and dissolvable by the pope only. With Protestants, this is not the case. In the U. States, matrimony in the eye of the law is a mere civil act; justices of the peace may perform the ceremony; yet such instances are rare. Marriages concluded by clergymen simply are valid also, and, in so far, the law differs from that in the former French republic and empire, where the contract, in the presence of the civil officer, could not be omitted. MARROW. (See Bone, and Medulla.) MARS, mademoiselle Hyppolite-Boutet, the most eminent of the French actresses, was born in 1778, and is the daughter of Monvel, an actor of great celebrity. In giving her instructions, her father had the judgment and good taste not to make her a mere creature of art. On the contrary, he taught her that much ought to be left to the inspiration of natural feelings, and that art ought only to second, and not supersede, nature. She first came out in 1793, on the Montansier theatre, and at length was received at the Théâtre François. Her original cast of parts consisted of those which the French denominate ingénues-parts in which youthful innocence and simplicity are represented. These she performed for many years with extraordinary applause. At length she resolved to shine in a diametrically opposite kind of acting; that of the higher class of coquettes. In accomplishing this, she had to encounter a violent opposition from mademoiselle Leverd, who was already in possession of the department; for, in France, each actor has an exclusive right to a certain species of character. Mademoiselle Mars, however, succeeded in breaking through this rule; and, in the coquette, she charmed fully as much as she had before done in the child of nature. In comedy, she is what mademoiselle George is in tragedy. She charms foreigners no less than she does her own countrymen. Mr. Alison, the son of the author of the Essay on Taste, speaks of her as being "probably as perfect an actress in comedy as ever appeared on any stage. She has (he says) united every advantage of countenance, and voice, and figure, which it is possible to conceive." Mademoiselle Mars has been very beautiful. At Lyons, she was crowned publicly, in the theatre, with a garland of flowers, and a fête was celebrated in honor of her, by the public bodies and authorities of the town. MARS, MAVORS (with the Greeks Ares); the god of war. According to the oldest poets, he was the son of Jupiter and Juno; according to later ones, of Juno alone, and the fiercest of all the gods. Ares or Mars is, originally, a Pelasgian deity, whose worship was first celebrated in Thrace, and afterwards transferred to Greece. In the earliest times he was the symbol of divine power, and with the Greeks, the symbol of war, so far as regards strength, bravery and fierceness, or, in other words, was the god of battles. Minerva, on the contrary, as the goddess of war, was the symbol of courage joined with wisdom and military art. In later times, he is always represented in the human form, and is the protector of innocence. The Romans early adopted his worship from the Greeks. According to tradition, Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, were the fruit of his intercourse with Rhea Sylvia. Several temples in Rome and the Campus Martius (q. v.) were dedicated to him. His service was celebrated by particular flamines devoted to him, and by the college of the Salii (q. v.), whose duty it was to preserve his shield (ancile), said to have fallen from heaven. The month of March was sacred to him, and his festivals were celebrated on the 1st of March and 12th of October. He was likewise the god of spring. Among the Romans, soldiers and gladiators, and fire, were sacred to him; also horses, birds of prey, vultures, cocks, woodpeckers and wolves; the suovetaurilia (q. v.) were also in honor of him. In peace, they called him Quirinus; in war, Gradivus (the striding). They considered Bellona as his wife and sister. Greeks, on the other hand, assigned him no wife, although he had children by Venus and several other mistresses. His intrigue with the former was betrayed to Vulcan by Sol. Vulcan immediately made a fine iron net, which he threw over the two lovers, whom he found in bed together: he then called together all the gods, and exposed his captives to the scorn of Olympus. He was the father of Harmonia, by Venus; Deimos (Terror) and Phobos (Fear) were his sons. Simonides also calls Cupid the son of Mars and Venus. Phobos is his constant companion in war; Phobos and Deimos harness the steeds to his chariot, and guide him to the fight. Enyo, the destroyer of cities (Bel lona), and Eris, always hover around him The MARS--MARSEILLAISE HYMN. in battle. The fables relate many of his exploits. He is mentioned in the account of the war of the giants only by the later poets. According to Claudian, he was the first who attacked the giants: he slew Pelorus and Mimas. But he was compelled to flee, with the other gods, before Typhous, and, to escape his fury, changed himself into a fish. In the fight with Otus and Ephialtes, the sons of Aloëus, he was taken and confined in a brazen prison, where he languished 13 months. But the mother of the Aloides discovered the place of his confinement to Mercury, by whom he was delivered. He twice engaged in combat with Hercules, for the protection of his sons. In one of the combats, the god was wounded; in the other, Jupiter separated the combatants by hurling his thunderbolts between them. Mars having slain Halirrhotius, the son of Neptune and the nymph Euryte, for of fering violence to his daughter Alcippe, Neptune accused him before the twelve gods, who judged the cause on a hill near Athens (Areopagus, Mars' hill), and acquitted him. As Mars was the first who was tried in this place, it derived its name from that circumstance. In the Trojan war, he assisted the Trojans against the Greeks. Diomedes wounded him, and he bellowed like 10,000 men united. He fought also against Minerva, and hurled his spear against her regis: she smote him to the ground with a rock. Mars is represented as a young warrior in full armor, of a strong frame, broad forehead, sunken eyes, thick and short hair. His attributes are a helmet, a spear, a sword and a shield.-Mars is also the name of a planet. (See Planets.) In chemistry, Mars was formerly put for iron; in both cases, it is marked by this sign: ♂. MARS' HILL. (See Areopagus.) MARSDEN, William, born in 1754, at Verval, in Ireland, was sent out, early in life, as a writer, to the island of Sumatra, where he rose to be chief, and gained much information respecting the language, manners and antiquities of the Oriental archipelago, a part of which he has communicated in articles sent by him to the royal and antiquarian societies. The chief of these are, On a Phenomenon observed in the Island of Sumatra ; Remarks on the Sumatran Language; Observations on the Language of the People commonly called Gipsies; On the Hejira of the Mohammedans; On the Chronology of the Hindoos; and On the Traces of the Hindoo Language and Literature, extant among the Malays. His separate 303 publications are, the History of Sumatra (1802); a Dictionary of the Malayan, Language (1812); and a Grammar of the Malayan Language; to which is prefixed an interesting Discourse on the History, Religion and Antiquities of the Oriental Islands. MARSEILLAISE HYMN, the celebrated song of the patriots and warriors of the French revolution, was composed by M. Joseph Rouget de l' Isle, while an officer in the engineer corps at Strasburg, early in the French revolution, with a view of supplanting the vulgar songs then In vogue, relative to the struggle then going on. He composed the song and the music in one night. It was at first called L'Offrande à la Liberté, but subsequently received its present name, because it was first publicly sung by the Marseilles confederates in 1792. It became the national song of the French patriots and warriors, and was famous through Europe and America. The tune is peculiarly exciting. It was suppressed, of course, under the empire and the Bourbons; but the revolution of 1830 called it up anew, and it has since become again the national song of the French patriots. The king of the French has bestowed on its composer, who was about 70 years old at the time of the last revolution, having been born in 1760, a pension of 1500 francs from his private purse. M. Rouget de l'Isle had been wounded at Quiberon, and persecuted by the terrorists, from whom he had escaped by flying to Germany. The celebrity of the Marseillaise hymn, the important influence which it has exerted, and the new interest which it has lately acquired, induce us to give it at length. Allons, enfans de la patrie: Ils viennent jusques dans vos bras CHEŒUR. Aux armes, citoyens; formons nos bataillons; Que veut cette horde d'esclaves, Aux armes, &c. |