button to main menu  Gents Mag 1789 p.423

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Gentleman's Magazine 1789 p.423

  bridewain
  Cumberland

Bridewain

May 19.
Mr. URBAN,
AS a companion to the form of invitation to a Welch bidding, p.99, I have herewith sent you the form of invitation to a Cumberland bridewain, advertsied in the Cumberland Packet of April 1. It is usual on these occasions to make the new-married couple (generally about a fortnight after the ceremony) a present of money, or some houshold utensil or piece of furniture, or sometimes, even to this day, a small portion of some kind of grain. This formerly, when the circulation of coin was not so common in that country, was the most usual offering.
J.H.

'BRIDEWAIN.


'There let Hymen oft appear,
In saffron robe, and taper clear,
And pomp, and feast, and revelry;
With mask and antick pageantry;
Such sights as youthful poets dream,
On summer's eves by haunted stream.
'George Hayton, who married Ann, the daughter of Joseph and Dinah Collin of Crosby-mill, purposes having a bridewain at his house at Crosby, near Maryport, on Thursday, the 7th day of May next (1789), where he will be happy to see his friends and well-wishers; for whose amusement there will be a variety of races, wrestling matches, &c. &c. &c. The prizes will be a saddle; two bridles; a pair of gand-d'amour gloves, which whoever wins is sure to be married within the twelvemonth; a belt (ceinture de Venus) possessing qualities not to be described; and many other articles, sports, and pastimes, too numerous to mention, but which can never prove tedious in the exhibition.

'From Fashion's laws and customs free,
We follow sweet variety;
By turns we laugh, and dance, and sing,
Time for ever on the wing;
And nymphs and swains, on Cumbria's plain,
Present the Golden Age again.'
gazetteer links
-- "Crosby Mill" -- Rose Gill Mill

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