When This Curious Courtship Ends, By Terms
Being Agreed Upon, The Destined Bridegroom Pays Down A Sum Of Money To
The Bride, A License Is Taken Out From The Cadi, And The Parties Are
Married.
I send you a description of a marriage-ceremony, at which I
was present the other day.
The bridegroom (who is one of the officers of the household) came out
of his house, attended by a vast number of his friends, and mounted
one of the best horses belonging to the Emperor, most curiously and
richly caparisoned. He carried his sword unsheathed, and was preceded
by a splendid standard, and a band of music; he was followed by a kind
of palanquin, supported on the shoulders of four stout black slaves, a
detachment of cavalry firing off their pieces every minute, and a
procession of relatives and friends, the whole moving with great mirth
and jollity,
Before they reached the house of the bride, the cavalcade halted, and
the bridegroom dismounted, assisted by his negro slaves, and knocked
loudly at the door three times. The lady was brought out in a covered
chair, attended by four women, completely muffled up. The whole party
of the bridegroom turned their backs, and she was smuggled into the
palanquin: they then returned in the same style to the house of her
lord, where, before she was allowed to enter, he placed himself at the
entrance, and extending his right arm across the door-way, she passed
under, as an indication of her voluntary and unconditional submission
to his will and pleasure.
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