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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12885 ***
+
+BUNDLING;
+Its Origin, Progress and Decline In America.
+
+BY HENRY REED STILES, M.D.,
+AUTHOR OF HISTORY OF BROOKLYN, HISTORY OF WINDSOR, CT., ETC.
+
+
+     "I find by all historians, whether ancient or modern, whom I
+     consulted in searching for this work, the fact well recorded, and
+     established beyond all controversy, that the Yankee nation are a
+     set of talking, guessing, swapping and _bundling_ sons of women."
+
+
+     _Grant Thorburn's Notes on Virginia_.
+
+
+ALBANY:
+KNICKERBOCKER PUBLISHING COMPANY.
+1871.
+
+Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871,
+BY HENRY R. STILES,
+In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
+
+
+
+     TO MY ESTEEMED FRIEND,
+     DEACON JABEZ H. HAYDEN,
+     OF WINDSOR LOCKS, CONNECTICUT,
+
+     Whose jealous love of his native state, led him, in defense of her
+     good fame, to make some strictures upon a statement relative to
+     _bundling_, in my _History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor,
+     Conn._, which strictures (made and taken in the kindest spirit of
+     personal friendship) set me upon the further investigation of this
+     interesting subject.
+
+     This Essay,
+
+     The result of that investigation, and the justification
+           (as I claim) of my original statement, is
+                 MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
+                       BY THE AUTHOR
+
+
+
+
+PREFATORY.
+
+
+In the _History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Conn._, published in
+1859, speaking of the influence of the old French wars upon the
+religious, moral and social life of New England, I used this language:
+
+"Then came war, and young New England brought from the long Canadian
+campaigns, stores of loose camp vices and recklessness, which soon
+flooded the land with immorality and infidelity. The church was
+neglected, drunkenness fearfully increased, and social life was sadly
+corrupted. _Bundling_--that ridiculous and pernicious custom which
+prevailed among the young to a degree which we can scarcely
+credit--sapped the fountain of morality and tarnished the escutcheons of
+thousands of families."
+
+Hereupon there came a buzzing around my ears. Divers good sons of
+Connecticut winced under the soft impeachment of having a bundling
+ancestry, and intimated that my sketch of society in the olden times was
+somewhat overdrawn. In 1861, an esteemed antiquarian friend in
+Connecticut wrote me as follows: "Some of your friends feel that, in
+your _History of Windsor_, you showed too much inclination to malign, or
+at least ridicule, Connecticut institutions, though I think none of them
+accuse you of malice in the matter, and they fear that this subject of
+bundling cannot be ventilated without endangering the fair fame of old
+Connecticut."
+
+Upon that hint I speak. Although born in the city of New York, I am the
+son of Connecticut parents, and proud to trace my descent through six
+generations of honest, hard-working, God-fearing Connecticut yeomanry.
+By the mere accident of birth I cannot feel myself absolved from that
+allegiance to the Wooden Nutmeg State, which is imposed upon me by the
+ties of ancestry, of relationship, of youthful associations, and last,
+not least, by the deep interest which I have taken in the history of one
+of its eldest-born towns. I am, indeed, at this day, to all intents and
+purposes, as wholly and truly a Connecticut man as if born within her
+borders; and as proud of her past, as hopeful of her future, and as
+jealous of her reputation as any one could desire. I trust, therefore,
+that I may be allowed to disclaim any "inclination to malign, or at
+least ridicule Connecticut institutions," a task which, in my case,
+would savor of ingratitude, and which I should consider unworthy of my
+humble pen.
+
+I cannot but think, also, that those who have found, or think that they
+have found, an inimical design in any pleasantries in which I may have
+indulged while describing the customs and manners of by-gone days--have
+betrayed a _thin-skinnedness_, and an ignorance of the true glory of
+Connecticut history, when they imagine that her fair fame can be
+seriously tarnished by the fly-specks of certain customs--at no time
+without their vigorous opponents--and long since rendered obsolete by
+the march of improvement.
+
+The fun of the thing, however, is, that the sentence which has thus
+called forth the animadversions of the critics, will be found, with its
+context, on closer examination, to have applied to the _New England
+Colonies_, and not to Connecticut alone! In their haste to vindicate the
+land of steady habits, they seem to have assumed more than their share
+of the reproach involved in my simple historical statement.
+
+As for myself, I am no believer in the theory that the objectionable
+portions of history should be kept in the background, and that only the
+bright side should be turned towards the world. If, as one has happily
+said, "history is experience teaching by example," we most surely need
+to have both sides fairly presented to us before we can properly extract
+therefrom the lesson of good or of evil which is therein taught. It is
+unnecessary to pursue the argument further. Suffice it to say, that
+perfection is as little to be expected in the history of a state or a
+community, as in the life of an individual. As to our ancestors, we must
+take them as history shows them to us--"men of like passions with
+ourselves," and "in all respects tempted as we are," yet neither worse,
+nor, again, very much purer or better than ourselves.
+
+In this spirit I have undertaken to trace, in the following pages, the
+origin, progress and decline of the custom of bundling in America,
+together with such facts as clearly prove that it was not confined to
+this continent, but prevalent in various countries of the world.
+
+"HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE."
+
+H. R. S.
+
+
+
+
+BUNDLING.
+
+
+     BUNDLING. "A man and a woman lying on the same bed with their
+     clothes on; an expedient practiced in America on a scarcity of
+     beds, where, on such occasions, husbands and parents frequently
+     permitted travellers to _bundle_ with their wives and
+     daughters."--_Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue_.
+
+     BUNDLE, _v.i._ "To sleep on the same bed without undressing;
+     applied to the custom of a man and woman, especially lovers, thus
+     sleeping."--_Webster, 1864_.
+
+     BUNDLE, _v.n._ "To sleep together with the clothes
+     on."--_Worcester, 1864_.
+
+
+Bundling, as may be seen from the above quoted definitions, was
+practiced in two forms: first, between _strangers_, as a simple domestic
+make-shift arrangement, often arising from the necessities of a new
+country, and by no means peculiar to America; and, secondly, between
+_lovers_, who shared the same couch, with the mutual understanding that
+innocent endearments should not be exceeded. It was, however, in either
+case, a custom of convenience.
+
+We may notice, in this connection, that it is very common, even at the
+present day, in New England, to speak of one as having "bundled in with
+his clothes on," if he goes to bed without undressing; as, for instance,
+if he came home drunk, or feeling slightly ill, lay down in the daytime,
+or in a cold night found the blankets too scanty.
+
+The point which first claims our attention in the discussion of this
+custom, is its probable _origin_, and its _antiquity_ in
+
+
+THE BRITISH ISLES.
+
+
+For, though British travelers have uniformly endeavored to fix the odium
+of this custom upon us their transatlantic cousins, as being peculiarly
+"An American institution," it is, nevertheless, an indisputable fact
+that bundling has for centuries flourished within their own kingdom. For
+what else, in fact, was that universal custom of promiscuous sleeping
+together which prevailed among the ancient Britons at the time of the
+Roman conquest, and which led Cæsar to consider them as polyandrous
+polygamists, and other ancient writers to give them an unenviable
+character for morality?[1] Bundling, of course! in its rudest aboriginal
+form.
+
+As to its moral aspects, being more charitably inclined towards our
+British friends than they oftentimes are to us, we are willing to accept
+Logan's defense of their ancestors. "The custom," he says, "which
+continued until lately in some parts, and yet exists among a few of the
+rudest, who sleep altogether on straw or rushes, according to the
+general ancient practice, there is reason to believe, led to the
+aspersion cast on the British and Irish tribes. How natural it must have
+been for a casual observer to suppose, from seeing men and women
+reposing in the same place, that the marriage rites were not in force.
+To judge of the ancient inhabitants by the rudest of the present
+Highlanders and Irish, who often sleep in the same apartment, and are
+sometimes exposed to each other in a state of semi-nudity, we should not
+come to a conclusion unfavorable to their morality,[2] for this mode of
+life is not productive of that conjugal infidelity which St. Jerome and
+others insinuate as prevalent among the old Scots. * * * Nations that
+are even in a savage state are sometimes found more sensitive on that
+point of honor than nations more advanced in civilization; and all,
+perhaps, that can be admitted is, that certain formalities may have been
+practiced by the Britons, from which the _bundling_ of the Welsh, and
+the _hand-fasting_ in some parts of Scotland, are derived. The
+conversation which took place between the Empress Julia and the wife of
+a Caledonian chief, as related by Xiphilin, certainly evinces a
+grossness and indelicacy in the amours of the British ladies, if true;
+but it appears to be a reply where wit and reproof were more aimed at
+than truth. The case of the Empress Cartismandua shows the nice feeling
+of the Britons as to the propriety of female conduct. The respect of the
+Germans for their females, and the severity with which they visited a
+deviation from virtue, have been described; and the further testimony of
+Tacitus may be adduced, who says that but very few of the greatest
+dignity chose to have more than one wife, and when they did it was
+merely for the honor of alliance. It may be here stated that the Gaëls
+have no word to express cuckold, and that prostitutes were, by Scots'
+law, like that of the ancient Germans, thrown into deep wells; and a
+woman was not permitted to complain of an assault if she allowed more
+than one night to elapse before the accusation."--_Logan's Scottish
+Gaël_, 5th Am. edition, p. 472.[5]
+
+Indeed, whatever may have been the real state of morality among the
+ancient Scotch and Irish--and it is quite probable that it has been
+unfairly depicted by casual and prejudiced observers--the ancient custom
+of bundling, which has been handed down from earliest times, has not
+greatly contaminated their descendants of the present day. For, whatever
+their national vices, the Scotch and Irish of our day maintain a
+character for chastity superior to that of many of their more fortunate
+and more civilized neighbors. Bundling, as now practiced in these
+kingdoms, is merely a matter arising from the ignorance, or the poverty
+of the inhabitants; and, while not salutary in its moral or physical
+influence, is, at all events, less abused than we might reasonably
+expect.
+
+In regard to
+
+
+WALES.
+
+
+We learn from Woodward's admirable history of that kingdom, the
+following facts concerning the domestic habits of its people in the
+twelfth century:
+
+"At night a bed of rushes was laid down along one side of the room,
+covered with a coarse kind of cloth, made in the country, called
+_brychan_; and all the household lay down on this bed in common, without
+changing their dresses. The fire was kept burning through the night, and
+the sleepers maintained their warmth by lying closely; and when, by the
+hardness of their couch, one side was wearied, they would get up and sit
+by the fire awhile, and then lie down again on the other side. It is to
+this custom of promiscuous sleeping, that some of the worst habits of
+the Welsh at the present day may be ascribed; and from the same custom
+which their forefathers, the ancient Britons, practiced, arose Cæsar's
+supposition that they were polyandrous polygamists."
+
+These habits, which were a matter of necessity with the ancient Welsh,
+have become converted, by the lapse of time, among their descendants of
+the present day, into an amatory custom precisely similar to that
+practiced formerly in New England.[6]
+
+A tourist through Wales, in the year 1797,[7] thus speaks of the Welsh
+_bundling_: "And here, amongst the usages and customs, I must not omit
+to inform you that what you have, perhaps, often heard, without
+believing, respecting the _mode of courtship_ amongst the Welsh
+peasants, is true. The lower order of people do actually carry on their
+love affairs in bed, and what would extremely astonish more polished
+lovers, they are carried on honorably, it being, at least, as usual for
+the Pastoras of the mountains to go from the bed of courtship to the bed
+of marriage as unpolluted and maidenly as the Chloes of fashion; and yet
+you are not to conclude that this proceeds from their being less
+susceptible of the _belle-passion_ than their betters; or that the cold
+air which they breathe has 'froze the genial current of their souls.' By
+no means; if they cannot boast the voluptuous languor of an Italian sky,
+they glow with the bracing spirit of a more invigorating atmosphere. I
+really took some pains to investigate this curious custom, and after
+being assured, by many, of its veracity, had an opportunity of attesting
+its existence with my own eyes. The servant maid of the family I visited
+in Caernarvonshire, happened to be the object of a young peasant, who
+walked eleven long miles every Sunday morning to favor his suit, and
+regularly returned the same night through all weathers, to be ready for
+Monday's employment in the fields, being simply a day laborer. He
+usually arrived in time for morning service, which he constantly
+attended, after which he escorted his Dulcinea home to the house of her
+master, by whose permission they as constantly passed the succeeding
+hour in bed, according to the custom of the country. These tender
+sabbatical preliminaries continued without interruption near two years,
+when the treaty of alliance was solemnized, and, so far from any breach
+of articles happening in the meantime, it is most likely that it was
+considered by both parties as a matter of course, without exciting any
+other idea. On speaking to my friend on the subject, he observed that,
+though it certainly appeared a dangerous mode of making love, he had
+seen so few _living_ abuses of it, during six and thirty years'
+residence in that country, where it nevertheless had always, more or
+less, prevailed, he must conclude it was as innocent as any other. One
+proof of its being _thought_ so by the parties, is the perfect ease and
+freedom with which it is done; no awkwardness or confusion appearing on
+either side; the most well-behaved and decent young woman going into it
+without a blush, and they are by no means deficient in modesty. What is
+pure in idea is always so in conduct, since bad actions are the common
+consequence of bad thoughts; and though the better sort of people treat
+this ceremony as a barbarism, it is very much to be doubted whether more
+_faux pas_ have been committed by the Cambrian boors in this _free
+access_ to the bed chambers of their mistresses, than by more
+fashionable Strephons and their nymphs in groves and shady bowers. The
+power of habit is perhaps stronger than the power of passion, or even of
+the charms which inspire it; and it is sufficient, almost, to say a
+thing is the _custom of a country_, to clear it from any reproach that
+would attach to an innovation. Were it the practice of a few only, and
+to be gratified by stealth, there would, from the strange construction
+of human nature, be more cause of suspicion; but being ancient, general,
+and carried on without difficulty, it is probably as little dangerous as
+a _tête a tête_ in a drawing-room, or in any other full dress place
+where young people meet to say soft things to each other."
+
+In an antiquarian tour by the Rev. W. Bingley, in 1804,[8] we also find
+the following description of this custom: "The peasantry of part of
+Caernarvonshire, Anglesea, and Merionethshire, adopt a mode of
+_courtship_ which, till within the last few years, was scarcely even
+heard of in England. It is the same that is common in many parts of
+America, and termed by the inhabitants of that country, _bundling_. The
+lover steals, under the shadow of the night, to the bed of the fair one,
+into which (retaining an essential part of his dress) he is admitted
+without any shyness or reserve. Saturday or Sunday nights are the
+principal times when this courtship takes place, and on these nights the
+men sometimes walk from a distance of ten miles or more to visit their
+favorite damsels. This strange custom seems to have originated in the
+scarcity of fuel, and in the unpleasantness of sitting together in the
+colder part of the year without a fire. Much has been said of the
+innocence with which these meetings are conducted, but it is a very
+common thing for the consequence of the interview to make its appearance
+in the world within two or three months after the marriage ceremony has
+taken place. The subject excites no particular attention among the
+neighbors, provided the marriage be made good before the living witness
+is brought to light. Since this custom is entirely confined to the
+laboring classes of the community, it is not so pregnant with danger as,
+on a first supposition, it might seem. Both parties are so poor that
+they are necessarily constrained to render their issue legitimate, in
+order to secure their reputation, and with a mode of obtaining a
+livelihood."
+
+Another traveller[9] also mentions "a singular custom that is said to
+prevail in Wales, relating to their mode of courtship, which is declared
+to be carried on in bed; and, what is more extraordinary, it is averred
+that the moving tale of love is agitated in that situation without
+endangering a breach in the preliminaries." Referring to Mr. Pratt's
+account of the custom, before quoted, he proceeds to remark: "Our
+companion, like every one else that we spoke with in Wales on the
+subject, at once denied the existence of this custom: that maids in many
+instances admitted male bed-fellows, he did not doubt; but that the
+procedure was sanctioned by _tolerated custom_ he considered a gross
+misrepresentation. Yet in Anglesea and some parts of North Wales, where
+the original simplicity of manners and high sense of chastity of the
+natives is retained, he admitted _something of the kind_ might appear.
+In those thinly inhabited districts a peasant often has several miles to
+walk after the hours of labor, to visit his mistress; those who have
+reciprocally entertained the _belle passion_ will easily imagine that
+before the lovers grow tired of each other's company the night will be
+far enough advanced; nor is it surprising that a tender-hearted damsel
+should be disinclined to turn her lover out over bogs and mountains
+until the dawn of day. The fact is, that under such circumstances she
+admits a _consors lecti_, but not in _nudatum corpus_. In a lonely Welsh
+hut this bedding has not the alarm of ceremony; from sitting, or perhaps
+lying, on the hearth, they have only to shift their quarters to a heap
+of straw or fern covered with two or three blankets in a neighboring
+corner. The practice only takes place with _this view of
+accommodation_."
+
+Still another glimpse of this favorite Welsh custom is presented by a
+tourist in 1807.[10] He says:
+
+"One evening, at an inn where we halted, we heard a considerable bustle
+in the kitchen, and, upon enquiry, I was let into a secret worth
+knowing. The landlord had been scolding one of his maids, a very pretty,
+plump little girl, for not having done her work; and the reason which
+she alleged for her idleness was, that her master having locked the
+street door at night, had prevented her lover enjoying the rights and
+delights of _bundling_, an amatory indulgence which, considering that it
+is sanctioned by custom, may be regarded as somewhat singular, although
+it is not exclusively of Welsh growth. The process is very simple; the
+gay Lothario, when all is silent, steals to the chamber of his mistress,
+who receives him in bed, but with the modest precaution of wearing her
+under petticoat, which is always fastened at the bottom--not
+unfrequently, I am told, by a sliding knot. It may astonish a London
+gallant to be told that this extraordinary experiment often ends in
+downright wedlock--the knot which cannot slide. A gentleman of
+respectability also assured me that he was obliged to indulge his female
+servants in these nocturnal interviews, and that too at all hours of the
+night, otherwise his whole family would be thrown into disorder by their
+neglect; the carpet would not be dusted, nor would the kettle boil. I
+think this custom should share the fate of the northern Welsh goats.
+* * * * Habit has so reconciled the mind to the comforts of _bundling_,
+that a young lady who entered the coach soon after we left Shrewsbury,
+about eighteen years of age, with a serene and modest countenance,
+displayed considerable historical knowledge of the custom, without one
+touch of bashfulness."[11]
+
+Thus much for Wales, where the custom seems to have been entirely
+confined to the lower classes of society, and where we have reason to
+think it still prevails to some extent to this day.[12]
+
+The same author whom we last quoted also speaks of a "courtship similar
+to _bundling_, carried on in the islands of Vlie and Wieringen,
+
+
+IN HOLLAND,
+
+
+Under the name of _queesting_.[15] At night the lover has access to his
+mistress after she is in bed; and, upon an application to be admitted
+upon the bed, which of course is granted, he raises the quilt, or rug,
+and in this state _queests_, or enjoys a harmless chit-chat with her,
+and then retires. This custom meets with the perfect sanction of the
+most circumspect parents, and the freedom is seldom abused. The author
+traces its origin to the parsimony of the people, whose economy
+considers fire and candles as superfluous luxuries in the long winter
+evenings."
+
+The Hon. Henry C. Murphy of Brooklyn, N. Y., late United States minister
+at the Hague, has furnished us with the following note in relation to
+this Nederduitsche custom: "As to its being a Dutch custom, it was so to
+a limited extent in Holland in former times, and may yet be, though I
+did not hear of it when I was there. Sewell gives the word _queesten_,
+or _kweesten_, in his dictionary, printed over a century ago. The word
+is defined in the dictionary of Wieland, the principal lexicographer in
+that country, as follows: '_Kweesten_. Upon the islands of Texel and
+Vlieland[16] they use this word for a singular custom of wooing, by
+which the doors and windows are left open, and the lover, lying or
+sitting outside the covering, woos the girl who is underneath.' Sewell
+confines the custom to certain islands or lands near the sea."
+
+
+LOVE AND COURTSHIP IN THE 14TH CENTURY.
+
+
+In feudal times, in the last part of the fourteenth century, it became
+the practice for the vassals, or feudatories, to send their sons to be
+educated in the family of the suzerain, while the daughters were
+similarly placed with the lady of the castle. These formed a very
+important part of the household, and were of gentle blood, claiming the
+honorary title of _chambriéres_ or chamber-maidens. The demoiselles of
+this period were very susceptible to the passion of love, which was the
+ruling spirit of the inmates of the castle. Feudal society was, in
+comparison to the previous times, polished and even brilliant, but it
+was not, under the surface, pure. Many good maxims were taught, but they
+were not all practiced. "There was an extreme intimacy between the two
+sexes, who commonly visited each other in their chambers or bedrooms.
+Thus in the poem of Guatier d'Aupias, the hero is represented as
+visiting in her chamber the demoiselle of whom he is enamored. Numerous
+similar examples might be quoted. At times, one of the parties is
+described as being actually in bed, as is the case in the romance of
+_Blonde of Oxford_, where Blonde visits Jehan in his chamber when he is
+in bed, and stays all night with him, in perfect innocence as we are
+told in the romance. We must remember that it was the custom in those
+times for both sexes to go to bed perfectly naked."[17]
+
+
+IN SWITZERLAND,
+
+
+According to an English observer,[18] analogous modes of courtship still
+exist. In speaking of the canton _Unterwald_ he says: "In the story of
+the destruction of the castles, we read that the surprise was effected
+by a young girl admitting her lover to her room by a ladder, and an
+English guide-book remarks, that this is still the fashion of receiving
+lovers in Switzerland. Reference is had to the manner of wooing, which
+in some cantons is called _lichtgetren_, in others _dorfen_ and
+_stubetegetren_, and answers to the old-fashioned _going-a-courting_ in
+England. The customs connected with it vary in different cantons, but
+exist in some form in all except two or three.
+
+In the canon _Lucerne_, the _kiltgang_ is the universal mode of wooing;
+the lover visiting his betrothed in the evening, to be pelted on the way
+by all mischievous urchins; or if he is seated quietly with her by the
+winter fire, they are sure to be serenaded by all manner of _cat voices_
+under the window, which are continued till he issues forth, perhaps at
+dawn in the morning; and however long may be a courtship, these
+_cater-waulings_ are the invariable attendants, and not the most
+lamentable consequences of these nightly visits, recognized, however, as
+entirely respectable and conventional in every canton."
+
+And again in the canton _Vaud_, he says, "the _kiltgang_, or nightly
+wooings, are the universal custom with the universal consequences, but
+in general the wife is treated with marked respect, is made keeper of
+the treasury, and consulted as the oracle of the family."
+
+Among the amatory customs of various
+
+
+SAVAGE NATIONS
+
+
+and tribes, there are certain which somewhat resemble _bundling_, except
+in the greater degree of freedom allowed--a freedom which, in the eyes
+of civilized nations, is absolute immorality. Of this description is the
+manner of wooing described by La Hontan as prevalent among the Indians
+of North America.[19]
+
+Yet, in many of these instances, if we were to carefully examine the
+social system and customs of our savage friends, and were willing to
+judge them rather by the results of our own observation, than by our
+preconceived opinions, we should probably find that the absolute
+_practical morality_ of these _untutored natives_, was quite equal, if
+not superior, to that of the educated and civilized whites.[20]
+
+Among these _customs de amour_, however, to which we have alluded as
+existing among different savage tribes, there are none which bear so
+perfect a resemblance to _bundling_, as that described by Masson in his
+_Journeys in Central Asia, Belochistan, Afghanistan,_ etc. (III, 287.)
+He says:
+
+"Many of the Afghan tribes have a custom of wooing similar to what in
+Wales is known as _bundling-up_, and which they term _namzat bezé_. The
+lover presents himself at the house of his betrothed with a suitable
+gift, and in return is allowed to pass the night with her, on the
+understanding that innocent endearments are not to be exceeded."
+
+Spencer St. John tells us, in speaking of the piratical and ferocious
+Sea Dayaks of Borneo, that "besides the ordinary attention which a young
+man is able to pay to the girl he desires to make his wife--as helping
+her in her farm work, and in carrying home her load of vegetables or
+wood, as well as in making her little presents, as a ring or some brass
+chain-work with which the women adorn their waists, or even a
+petticoat--there is a very peculiar testimony of regard which is worthy
+of note. About nine or ten at night, when the family is supposed to be
+fast asleep within the musquito curtains in the private apartments, the
+young man quietly slips back the bolt by which the door is fastened on
+the inside, and enters the room on tiptoe. On hearing who it is, she
+rises at once, and they sit conversing together and making arrangements
+for the future, in the dark, over a plentiful supply of _sirih-leaf_ and
+_batle-nut_, which it is the gentleman's duty to provide, for his suit
+is in a fair way to prosper; but if, on the other hand, she rises and
+says, 'be good enough to blow up the fire,' or 'light the lamp' (a
+bamboo filled with resin), then his hopes are at an end, as that is the
+usual form of dismissal. Of course, if this kind of nocturnal visit is
+frequently repeated, the parents do not fail to discover it, although it
+is a point of honor among them to take no notice of their visitor; and,
+if they approve of him, matters then take their course, but if not, they
+use their influence with their daughter to ensure the utterance of the
+fatal 'please blow up the fire.'"
+
+And now, having discussed the custom of bundling as it formerly existed
+in Great Britain, and having proved its identity with the _queesting_ of
+Holland, and the _namzat bezé_ of Central Asia, we propose to follow our
+investigations to the continent of America, and to trace, if we can, its
+origin and progress in the
+
+
+UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
+
+
+in doing which, it is quite likely that, we follow the identical line of
+travel and colonization--viz: from Old to New England, and from
+Netherlands (the father-land) to New Netherlands--by which the custom of
+bundling was really transplanted to these western shores. For, although
+the grave and (sometimes) veracious historian of New York, Diedrich
+Knickerbocker, hath endeavored to fasten upon the Connecticut settlers
+the odium of having introduced the custom into New Netherland,[21] to
+the great offense of all properly disposed people; yet we may reasonably
+doubt whether the young mynheers and frauliens of New Amsterdam, in that
+day, were any more innocent of this lover's pastime, than their
+vivacious Connecticut neighbors. Indeed, can it be for one moment
+supposed that the good Hollanders--a most unchanging and conservative
+race--should have been so far false to the traditions of their fathers,
+and the honor of the fatherland, as to leave behind them, when they
+crossed the seas, the good old custom of _queesting_, with its
+time-honored associations and delights? Or can it be imagined that those
+astute lawgivers and political economists, the early governors and
+burgomasters, were so blind to the necessities and interests of a new
+and sparsely populated country, as to forbid bundling within their
+borders? Indeed, it would be but a sorry compliment to the wisdom of
+that sagacious and far-sighted body of merchants comprised in the High
+and Mighty West India Company, to believe that they were unwilling to
+introduce under their benign auspices, a custom so intimately connected
+with their own national social habits, and so promising to the
+prospective interests and enlargement of their _new plantations_, as
+this. And, truly, Diedrich himself, doth, in another part of his book,
+inadvertently betray the fact that bundling was by no means a purely
+Yankee trick, for he speaks of the redoubtable Anthony Van
+Corlaer--purest of Dutchmen--as "passing through Hartford, and Pyquag,
+and Middletown, and all the other border towns, twanging his trumpet
+like a very devil, so that the sweet valleys and banks of the
+Connecticut resounded with the warlike melody, and stopping occasionally
+to eat pumpkin pies, dance at country frolics, and _bundle_ with the
+beauteous lasses of those parts, whom he rejoiced exceedingly with his
+soul-stirring instrument." Which passage, while it proves that the
+practice of bundling prevailed in Connecticut, proves equally well that
+Anthony the trumpeter was by no means inexperienced in its delights, nor
+unwilling to enjoy its comforts, whether under the name of _bundling_ or
+_queesting_.
+
+Indeed, we do most truly believe that the cunning Knickerbocker, in his
+desire to vindicate, as he thought, the character of his race against
+the accusation of immorality, hath by his denial not only committed a
+grievous sin against "the truth of history," but hath greatly added
+thereto, by attempting to foist off the opprobrium of the same on to the
+shoulders of the Connecticut folks. But history will not remain forever
+falsified, and the day has at length arrived when every historical tub
+must "stand on its own bottom," and the world will henceforth know that
+the New Netherlanders did not take bundling by inoculation from the
+Yankees, but that they brought it with them to the New World, as an
+ancestral heirloom.
+
+This point being thus satisfactorily settled, to the honor of the
+Dutchman, and the extreme satisfaction of all future historians, we next
+proceed to investigate the bundling prevalent in
+
+
+THE NEW ENGLAND STATES,
+
+
+Where, as we have already shown, it was, as with the Dutchmen, an
+_inherited_ custom. Its comparatively innocent and harmless character
+has, however, been fearfully distorted and maligned by irresponsible
+satirists, and prejudiced historians. Take, for example, the following
+passage from Knickerbocker's _History of New York_,[22] wherein he
+pretends to describe "the curious device among these sturdy barbarians
+[the Connecticut colonists], to keep up a harmony of interests, and
+promote population. * * * * They multiplied to a degree which would be
+incredible to any man unacquainted with the marvellous fecundity of this
+growing country. This amazing increase may, indeed, be partly ascribed
+to a singular custom prevalent among them, commonly known by the name of
+_bundling_--a superstitious rite observed by the young people of both
+sexes, with which they usually terminated their festivities, and which
+was kept up with religious strictness by the more bigoted and vulgar
+part of the community. This ceremony was likewise, in those primitive
+times, considered as an indispensable preliminary to matrimony; their
+courtships commencing where ours usually finish, by which means they
+acquired, that intimate acquaintance with each other's good qualities
+before marriage, which has been pronounced by philosophers the sure
+basis of a happy union. Thus early did this cunning and ingenious people
+display a shrewdness at making a bargain, which has ever since
+distinguished them, and a strict adherence to the good old vulgar maxim
+about 'buying a pig in a poke.'
+
+"To this sagacious custom, therefore, do I chiefly attribute the
+unparalleled increase of the Yanokie or Yankee tribe; for it is a
+certain fact, well authenticated by court records and parish registers,
+that wherever the practice of bundling prevailed, there was an amazing
+number of sturdy brats annually born unto the state, without the license
+of the law, or the benefit of clergy. Neither did the irregularity of
+their birth operate in the least to their disparagement. On the
+contrary, they grew up a long-sided, raw-boned, hardy race of whoreson
+whalers, wood cutters, fishermen, and peddlers; and strapping corn-fed
+wenches, who by their united efforts tended marvellously towards
+populating those notable tracts of country called Nantucket, Piscataway,
+and Cape Cod."
+
+Hear, also, that learned, but audacious and unscrupulous divine, the
+Rev. Samuel Peters, who thus discourseth at length upon the custom of
+bundling in Connecticut, and other parts of New England. After admitting
+that "the women of Connecticut are strictly virtuous, and to be compared
+to the prude rather than the European polite lady," he says:
+
+"Notwithstanding the modesty of the females is such that it would be
+accounted the greatest rudeness for a gentleman to speak before a lady
+of a garter, knee, or leg, yet it is thought but a piece of civility to
+ask her to _bundle_; a custom as old as the first settlement in 1634. It
+is certainly innocent, virtuous and prudent, or the puritans would not
+have permitted it to prevail among their offspring, for whom in general
+they would suffer crucifixion. Children brought up with the chastest
+ideas, with so much religion as to believe that the omniscient God sees
+them in the dark, and that angels guard them when absent from their
+parents, will not, nay, cannot, act a wicked thing. People who are
+influenced more by lust, than a serious faith in God, who is too pure to
+behold iniquity with approbation, ought never to _bundle_. If any man,
+thus a stranger to the love of virtue, of God, and the Christian
+religion, should _bundle_ with a young lady in New England, and behave
+himself unseemly towards her, he must first melt her into passion, and
+expel heaven, death, and hell, from her mind, or he will undergo the
+chastisement of negroes turned mad--if he escape with life, it will be
+owing to the parents flying from their bed to protect him. The Indians,
+who had this method of courtship when the English arrived among them in
+1634, are the most chaste set of people in the world. Concubinage and
+fornication are vices none of them are addicted to, except such as
+forsake the laws of Hobbamockow and turn Christians. The savages have
+taken many female prisoners, carried them back three hundred miles into
+their country, and kept them several years, and yet not a single
+instance of their violating the laws of chastity has ever been known.
+This cannot be said of the French, or of the English, whenever Indian or
+other women have fallen into their hands. I am no advocate for
+temptation; yet must say, that _bundling_ has prevailed 160 years in New
+England, and, I verily believe, with ten times more chastity than the
+sitting on a sofa. I had daughters, and speak from near forty years'
+experience. _Bundling_ takes place only in cold seasons of the year--the
+sofa in summer is more dangerous than the bed in winter. About the year
+1756, Boston, Salem, Newport, and New York, resolving to be more polite
+than their ancestors, forbade their daughters _bundling_ on the bed with
+any young man whatever, and introduced a sofa to render courtship more
+palatable and Turkish, whatever it was owing to, whether to the sofa, or
+any uncommon excess of the _feu d'esprit_, there went abroad a report
+that this _raffinage_ produced more _natural consequences_ then all the
+_bundling_ among the boors with their _rurales pedantes_, through every
+village in New England besides.
+
+"In 1776, a clergyman from one of the polite towns, went into the
+country, and preached against the unchristian custom of young men and
+maidens lying together on a bed. He was no sooner out of the church,
+then attacked by a shoal of good old women, with, 'Sir, do you think we
+and our daughters are naughty, because we allow _bundling_?' 'You lead
+yourselves into temptation by it.' They all replied at once, 'Sir, have
+you been told thus, or has experience taught it you?' The Levite began
+to lift up his eyes, and to consider of his situation, and bowing, said,
+'I have been told so.' The ladies, _una voce_, bawled out, 'Your
+informants, sir, we conclude, are those city ladies who prefer a sofa to
+a bed: we advise you to alter your sermon, by substituting the word
+_sofa_ for _bundling_, and on your return home preach it to them, for
+experience has told us that city folks send more children into the
+country without fathers or mothers to own them, than are born among us;
+therefore, you see, a sofa is more dangerous than a bed.' The poor
+priest, seemingly convinced of his blunder, exclaimed, '_Nec vitia
+nostra, neo remedia pati possumus_,' hoping thereby to get rid of his
+guests; but an old matron pulled off her spectacles, and, looking the
+priest in the face like a Roman heroine, said, '_Noli putare me hæc
+auribus tuis dare_.' Others cried out to the priest to explain his
+Latin. 'The English,' said he, 'is this: Wo is me that I sojourn in
+Meseck, and dwell in the tents of Kedar!' One pertly retorted, '_Gladii
+decussati sunt gemina presbyteri clavis_.' The priest confessed his
+error, begged pardon, and promised never more to preach against
+bundling, or to think amiss of the custom; the ladies generously forgave
+him, and went away.
+
+"It may seem very strange to find this custom of bundling in bed
+attended with so much innocence in New England, while in Europe it is
+thought not safe or scarcely decent to permit a young man and maid to be
+together in private anywhere. But in this quarter of the old world the
+viciousness of the one, and the simplicity of the other, are the result
+merely of education and habit. It seems to be a part of heroism, among
+the polished nations of it, to sacrifice the virtuous fair one, whenever
+an opportunity offers, and thence it is concluded that the same
+principles actuate those of the new world. It is egregiously absurd to
+judge all of all countries by one. In Spain, Portugal and Italy,
+jealousy reigns; in France, England, and Holland, suspicion; in the West
+and East Indies, lust; in New England, superstition. These four blind
+deities govern Jews, Turks, Christians, infidels, and heathen.
+Superstition is the most amiable. She sees no vice with approbation but
+persecution, and self-preservation is the cause of her seeing that. My
+insular readers will, I hope, believe me, when I tell them that I have
+seen, in the West Indies, naked boys and girls, some fifteen or sixteen
+years of age, waiting at table and at tea, even when twenty or thirty
+virtuous English ladies were in the room; who were under no more
+embarrassment at such an awful sight in the eyes of English people that
+have not traveled abroad, than they would have been at the sight of so
+many servants in livery. Shall we censure the ladies of the West Indies
+as vicious above all their sex, on account of this local custom? By no
+means; for long experience has taught the world that the West Indian
+white ladies are virtuous prudes. Where superstition reigns, fanaticism
+will be minister of state; and the people, under the taxation of zeal,
+will shun what is commonly called vice, with ten times more care than
+the polite and civilized Christians, who know what is right and what is
+wrong from reason and revelation. Happy would it be for the world, if
+reason and revelation were suffered to control the mind and passions of
+the great and wise men of the earth, as superstition does that of the
+simple and less polished! When America shall erect societies for the
+promotion of chastity in Europe, in return for the establishment of
+European arts in the American capitals, then Europe will discover that
+there is more Christian philosophy in American bundling than can be
+found in the customs of nations more polite.
+
+"I should not have said so much about bundling, had not a learned
+divine[23] of the English church published his travels through some
+parts of America, wherein this remarkable custom is represented in an
+unfavorable light, and as prevailing among the _lower class_ of people.
+The truth is, the custom prevails among all classes, to the great honor
+of the country, its religion, and ladies. The virtuous may be tempted;
+but the tempter is despised. Why it should be thought incredible for a
+young man and young woman innocently and virtuously to lie down together
+in a bed with a great part of their clothes on, I cannot conceive. Human
+passions may be alike in every region; but religion, diversified as it
+is, operates differently in different countries. Upon the whole, had I
+daughters now, I would venture to let them _bundle_ on the bed, or even
+on the sofa, after a proper education, sooner than adopt the Spanish
+mode of forcing young people to prattle only before the lady's mother
+the chitchat of artless lovers. Could the four quarters of the world
+produce a more chaste, exemplary and beautiful company of wives and
+daughters than are in Connecticut, I should not have remaining one
+favorable sentiment for the province. But the soil, the rivers, the
+ponds, the ten thousand landscapes, together with the virtuous and
+lovely women which now adorn the ancient kingdoms of Connecticote,
+Sassacus, and Quinnipiog, would tempt me into the highest wonder and
+admiration of them, could they once be freed ofthe skunk, the
+moping-owl, rattlesnake and fanatic Christian."
+
+Or, to take another example of the abuse heaped by our English cousins
+upon this so-called "American custom of bundling." We extract the
+following from an article entitled _British Abuse of American Manners_,
+published in 1815.[24] It seems that it had long been a custom in the
+Westminster school, in the city of London, for the senior students, who
+were about to leave that seminary for the university, at the age of
+sixteen to eighteen, to have an annual dramatic performance, which was
+generally a play of Terence.[25] To this, as annually performed, there
+was usually a Latin prologue, and also an epilogue composed for the
+occasion and this epilogue turned, for the most part, on the manners of
+the day that would bear the gentle correction of good humored satire, in
+elegant Latinity. In the epilogue presented at one of these exhibitions,
+about 1815, in connection with the performance of Terence's _Phormio_,
+the following balderdash (with much else, as applied to American life
+and manners) was introduced and spoken by these ingenuous and virtuous
+British youth, before a large and enlightened audience:
+
+  "Nec morum dicere promtum est,
+  Sit ratio simplex, sitne venusta magis.
+  Æthiopissa palam mensæ formulatur herili
+  In puris naturalibus, ut loquimur.
+  Vir braccis se bellus amat nudare décentér,
+  Strenuus ut choreas ex-que-peditus agat.
+  Quid quod ibi; quod congere ipsis conque moveri
+  Dicitur, incolumi nempe pudicitiâ,
+  Sponte suâ, sine fraude, torum sese audet in unum.
+  Condere cum casto casta puelle viro?
+  Quid noctes coenaque Deûm? quid amœna piorum.
+  Concilia?"
+
+Which being translated is as follows:
+
+"Nor is it easy to say whether the tenor of their manners is more to be
+admired for simplicity or elegance; a negro wench, as we are told, will
+wait on her master at table in native nudity; and a beau will strip
+himself to the waist, that he may dance unincumbered, and with more
+agility. There, too, we hear of the practice of _bundling_ without any
+infraction of female modesty; and the chaste maiden, without any
+deception, but with right good will, ventures to share the bed with her
+chaste swain! Oh, what nights and banquets, worthy of the gods! What
+delightful customs among these pious people?"
+
+But this spirit of misrepresentation and ridicule, so glaringly apparent
+in the foregoing extracts, and which has so universally characterized
+all those British travelers and authors who have attempted to describe
+our social habits and manners, is fitly rebuked, even as long ago as
+1815, by an anonymous writer, whose trenchant pen reminds our British
+cousins of the old adage concerning "those who live in glass houses,"
+etc.
+
+"From the time of Jack Cade," says he, "to Lord George Gordon, and down
+to the present day, neither your _grave_ or _gay_ authorities on the
+subject of _bundling_ and _tarrying_ are worthy of criticism. There is a
+littleness in noticing, in the _London Quarterly Review_, a work which
+heretofore has been distinguished for its taste, chasteness and
+celebrity, the observation of travelers who, if men of truth, could only
+mean to mention customs (if they were customs) of the most vulgar and
+ignorant, which at any rate are now as little known as are the operation
+of the blue laws of Connecticut, or part of the penal code enacted to
+keep in slavery and subjection the sister kingdom.[26]
+
+"Englishmen, examine your own cottages, particularly in the north, and
+on the borders, and extend your view to the western extremity of your
+island. Pray, what term will you give to that promiscuous bundling of
+the father, mother, children, sons and daughters-in-law, cousins, and
+inmates who call to _tarry_, and not unfrequently stretch themselves in
+one common bed of straw on the hovel's floor?[27]
+
+"Nay, even, in some parts of your empire, the hogs and the cows join the
+group, and form a most audible respiration from their noses, getting
+vent through the hole in the roof intended for a chimney, or spreading
+throughout the clay built edifice with odorific sweetness, though
+perhaps not so fragrant and refreshing as was the precious oil poured on
+the venerable head of Aaron, which Sternhold and Hopkins tell us filled
+the room with pleasure. In the early settlement of this country there
+might have been houses in the route of the inquisitive and insidious
+European travelers, unprovided with a spare bed on which he might
+stretch his limbs; but, now, should Mr. Canning[28] himself visit us, he
+need not fear being _bundled_--he need not travel far in any part of the
+United States without enjoying the luxury of a soft couch and clean
+sheets, where he can ruminate on the injustice he attempts on our
+national character."
+
+Badinage, ridicule and misrepresentation aside, however, there can be no
+reasonable doubt that _bundling_ did prevail to a very great extent in
+the New England colonies from a very early date. It is equally evident
+that it was originally confined almost entirely to the lower classes of
+the community, or to those whose limited means compelled them to
+economize strictly in their expenditure of firewood and candlelight.
+Many, perhaps the majority, of the dwellings of the early settlers,
+consisted of but one room, in which the whole family lived and slept.
+Yet their innocent and generous hospitality forbade that the stranger,
+or the friend whom night overtook on their threshold, should be turned
+shelterless and couchless away, so long as they could offer him even
+half of a bed. As an example of this we may cite the case of Lieut.
+Anbury, a British officer, who served in America during the
+Revolutionary War, and whose letters preserve many sprightly and
+interesting pictures of the manners and customs of that period. In a
+letter dated at Cambridge, New England, November 20, 1777, he thus
+speaks:
+
+"The night before we came to this town [Williamstown, Mass.], being
+quartered at a small log hut, I was convinced in how innocent a view the
+Americans look upon that indelicate custom they call _bundling_. Though
+they have remarkable good feather beds, and are extremely neat and
+clean, still I preferred my hard mattress, as being accustomed to it;
+this evening, however, owing to the badness of the roads, and the
+weakness of my mare, my servant had not arrived with my baggage at the
+time for retiring to rest. There being only two beds in the house, I
+inquired which I was to sleep in, when the old woman replied, 'Mr.
+Ensign,' here I should observe to you, that the New England people are
+very inquisitive as to the rank you have in the army; 'Mr. Ensign,' says
+she, 'our Jonathan and I will sleep in this, and our Jemima and you
+shall sleep in that.' I was much astonished at such a proposal, and
+offered to sit up all night, when Jonathan immediately replied, 'Oh, la!
+Mr. Ensign, you wont be the first man our Jemima has bundled with, will
+it Jemima?' when little Jemima, who, by the bye, was a very pretty,
+black-eyed girl, of about sixteen or seventeen, archly replied, 'No,
+father, not by many, but it will be with the first Britainer' (the name
+they give to Englishmen). In this dilemma what could I do? The smiling
+invitation of pretty Jemima--the eye, the lip, the--Lord ha' mercy,
+where am I going to? But wherever I may be going now, I did not go to
+bundle with her--in the same room with her father and mother, my kind
+_host_ and _hostess_ too! I thought of that--I thought of more
+besides--to struggle with the passions of nature; to clasp Jemima in my
+arms--to--do what? you'll ask--why, to do--nothing! for if amid all
+these temptations, the lovely Jemima had melted into kindness, she had
+been an outcast from the world--treated with contempt, abused by
+violence, and left perhaps to perish! No, Jemima; I could have endured
+all this to have been blest with you, but it was too vast a sacrifice,
+when you was to be the victim! Suppose how great the test of virtue must
+be, or how cold the American constitution, when this unaccountable
+custom is in hospitable repute, and perpetual practice."[29]
+
+Again, in a subsequent letter, the Lieutenant, after describing a New
+England sleighing frolic, says: "In England this would be esteemed
+extremely imprudent, and attended with dangerous consequences; but,
+after what I have related respecting _bundling_, I need not say, in how
+innocent a view this is looked upon. Apropos, as to that custom, along
+the sea coast, by a continual intercourse among Europeans, it is in some
+measure abolished; but they still retain one something similar, which is
+termed _tarrying_. When a young man is enamored of a woman, and wishes
+to marry her, he proposes the affair to her parents (without whose
+consent no marriage, in this colony, can take place); if they have no
+objections, he is allowed to tarry with her one night, in order to make
+his court. At the usual time the old couple retire to bed, leaving the
+young ones to settle matters as they can, who having sat up as long as
+they think proper, get into bed together also, but without putting off
+their under garments; to prevent scandal. If the parties agree, it is
+all very well, the banns are published, and they married without delay;
+if not, they part, and possibly never see each other again, unless,
+which is an accident that seldom happens, the forsaken fair proves
+pregnant, in which case the man, unless he absconds, is obliged to marry
+her, on pain of excommunication."[30]
+
+The word _tarry_, in the sense of _to stop_ or _to stay_, was more used
+by our ancestors than by the present generation; yet we think that
+Lieut. Anbury was mistaken in his idea that the _tarrying_ was but for a
+single night. It is true that marriages were early, and probably the
+courtships were short, but we all know enough of New England _sparking_
+to know that a single night was cutting it rather short; and yet it is
+easy to see how Anbury should get his erroneous idea. True, if the lover
+was so unlucky as to get his final dismissal the first night, there was
+an end of the matter, and well might they fail to meet again; but, in
+that case, it is not likely that the favors of which he could boast
+would be such as to seriously affect the reputation of the girl with
+whom he tarried. The fact that in the custom of _tarrying_, the parties
+also _bundled_, does not authorize the synonymous use of the two words,
+which have nothing in common. For, doubtless many young men _tarried_
+with their sweethearts, who did not _bundle_ with them.
+
+Again, when, on a sabbath night, the faithful swain arrived, having,
+perhaps, walked ten or more weary miles, to enjoy the company of his
+favorite lass, in the few brief hours which would elapse before the
+morning light should call him again to his homeward walk and his week of
+toil, was it not the dictate of humanity as well as of economy, which
+prompted the _old folks_ to allow the approved and accepted suitor of
+their daughter to pursue his wooing under the downy coverlid of a good
+feather bed (oftentimes, too, in the very same room in which they
+themselves slept), rather than to have them _sit up_ and _burn out
+uselessly_ firewood and _candles_, to say nothing of the risk of
+catching their _death a' cold_? Indeed, was not the sanction of bundling
+in such cases a tacit admission, on the part of the parents, of their
+perfect confidence in the young folks, which necessarily acted upon the
+latter as, at once, a strong restraint from wrong, and a strong
+incentive to right doing? The influence of early religious training, the
+powerful control which the church had obtained upon the social and
+domestic life of the people, and the superstitious aspect which, in
+those days, the gospel was made to wear, must also be taken into the
+account. And, moreover, is it not probable that the universality of the
+custom, which certainly cleared it from anything like odium or reproach,
+would naturally tend to preclude, in a degree, any improper ideas in the
+minds of those who practiced it? Such, then, we consider the _status_ of
+the custom in the earlier history of the colonies, and among the _first
+generation_ of settlers.
+
+"But," if the reader will allow us to quote from a previous work, "the
+emigration from a civilized to a new country,[31] is necessarily a step
+backward into barbarism. The _second generation_ did not fill the place
+of the fathers. Reared amid the trials and dangers of a new settlement,
+they were in a great measure deprived of the advantages, both social and
+educational, which their parents had enjoyed. Nearly all of the former
+could write, which cannot be said of their children. Neither did the
+latter possess that depth of religious feeling, or earnest practical
+piety which distinguished the first comers. Religion was to them less a
+matter of the heart than of social privilege, and in the _half way
+covenant_ controversy we behold the gradual _letting down of bars_
+between a pure church and a grasping world.
+
+"The _third_ generation followed in the footsteps of their predecessors.
+Then came war; and young New England brought from the long Canadian
+campaigns, stores of loose camp vices, and recklessness, which soon
+flooded the land with immorality and infidelity. The church was
+neglected, drunkenness fearfully increased, and social life was sadly
+corrupted."[32]
+
+It is not, therefore, a matter of surprise that bundling should, in the
+increased laxity of public morals, become more frequently abused. Its
+pernicious effects became constantly more apparent, and more decidedly
+challenged the attention of the comparatively few godly men who
+endeavored to stem and to control the rapidly widening current of
+immorality which threatened to overwhelm the land.[33] The powerful
+intellect of Jonathan Edwards thundered its anathemas upon it; pious
+divines prayed against it in their closets, and wrestled with it in
+their pulpits; while many attempted by a revision of their church
+polity, by greater carefulness in the admission of members; by rules
+more stringently framed and enforced, to preserve, as best they might,
+the purity of the churches committed to their charge, and to make them,
+if it were possible, beacon lights amid the surrounding darkness of the
+times.[34] The task, however, was well nigh hopeless. The French wars
+were succeeded by that of the American Revolution, and not before the
+close of that struggle, may the custom of bundling be said to have
+received its deathblow, and even then it _died hard_.
+
+Its final disuse was brought about by a variety of causes, among which
+may be named the improved condition of the people after the Revolution,
+enabling many to live in larger and better warmed houses, and in the
+very few places where the ministers dared to touch the subject in the
+pulpit, as in Dedham, already referred to, a decided effect was
+produced, but it was confined to the neighborhood, having very little
+effect on the general custom. Probably no single thing tended so much to
+break up the practice as the publication of a song, or ballad, in an
+almanac, about 1785.
+
+This ballad described in a free and easy style the various plans adopted
+by those who bundled, and rather more than hinted at the results in
+certain cases. Being published in an almanac, it had a much larger
+circulation than could have been obtained for it in any other way (tract
+societies not being then in vogue), and the descriptions were so _pat_,
+that each one who saw them was disposed to apply them in a joking way to
+any other who was known to practice bundling; and the result was, such a
+general storm of banter and ridicule that no girl had the courage to
+stand against it, and continue to admit her lovers to her bed.
+
+We have found many persons who distinctly remember the publication of
+this song, and the effect which it had on the public mind, but all our
+efforts to find the almanac containing it, have proved of no avail.
+
+We have, however, been favored with the use of a broadside copy of a
+ballad, preserved among the treasures of the American Antiquarian
+Society, at Worcester, Massachusetts, which several of our ancient
+friends have recognized as identical with that in the almanac, one of
+them proving it by repeating from memory several lines from the Almanac
+version, which were precisely like that of the broadside, a copy of
+which we give herewith.
+
+
+A NEW BUNDLING SONG;
+
+_Or a reproof to those Young Country Women, who follow that reproachful
+Practice, and to their Mothers for upholding them therein_.
+
+Since bundling very much abounds,
+In many parts in country towns,
+No doubt but some will spurn my song,
+And say I'd better hold my tongue;
+But none I'm sure will take offence,
+Or deem my song impertinence,
+But only those who guilty be,
+And plainly here their pictures see.
+Some maidens say, if through the nation,
+Bundling should quite go out of fashion,
+Courtship would lose its sweets; and they
+Could have no fun till wedding day.
+It shant be so, they rage and storm,
+And country girls in clusters swarm,
+And fly and buz, like angry bees,
+And vow they'll bundle when they please.
+Some mothers too, will plead their cause,
+And give their daughters great applause,
+And tell them, 'tis no sin nor shame,
+For we, your mothers, did the same;
+We hope the custom ne'er will alter,
+But wish its enemies a halter.
+Dissatisfaction great appear'd,
+In several places where they've heard
+Their preacher's bold, aloud disclaim
+That bundling is a burning shame;
+This too was cause of direful rout
+And talk'd and told of, all about,
+That ministers should disapprove
+Sparks courting in a bed of love,
+So justified the custom more,
+Than e'er was heard or known before.
+The pulpit then it seems must yield,
+And female valor take the field,
+In places where their custom long
+Increasing strength has grown so strong;
+When mothers herein bear a sway,
+And daughters joyfully obey.
+And young men highly pleased too,
+Good Lord! what can't the devil do.
+Can this vile practice ne'er be broke?
+Is there no way to give a stroke,
+To wound it or to strike it dead.
+And girls with sparks not go to bed
+'Twill strike them more than preacher's tongue,
+To let the world know what they've done
+And let it be in common fame,
+Held up to view a noted shame.
+Young miss if this your practice be,
+I'll teach you now yourself to see:
+You plead you're honest, modest too,
+But such a plea will never do;
+For how can modesty consist,
+With shameful practice such as this?
+I'll give your answer to the life:
+"You don't undress, like man wife,"
+That is your plea, I'll freely own,
+But whose your bondsmen when alone,
+That further rules you will not break,
+And marriage liberties partake?
+Some really do, as I suppose,
+Upon design keep on some clothes,
+And yet in truth I'm not afraid
+For to describe a bundling maid;
+She'll sometimes say when she lies down,
+She can't be cumber'd with a gown,
+And that the weather is so warm,
+To take it off can be no harm:
+The girl it seems had been at strift;
+For widest bosom to her shift,
+She gownless, when the bed they're in,
+The spark, nought feels but naked skin.
+But she is modest, also chaste,
+While only bare from neck to waist,
+And he of boasted freedom sings,
+Of all above her apron strings.
+And where such freedoms great are shar'd
+And further freedoms feebly bar'd,
+I leave for others to relate,
+How long she'll keep her virgin state.
+Another pretty lass we'll scan,
+That loves to bundle with a man,
+For many different ways they take,
+Through modest rules they all will break.
+Some clothes I'll keep on, she will say,
+For that has always been my way,
+Nor would I be quite naked found,
+With spark in bed, for thousand pound.
+But petticoats, I've always said,
+Were never made to wear in bed,
+I'll take them off, keep on my gown,
+And then I dare defy the town,
+To charge me with immodesty,
+While I so ever cautious be.
+The spark was pleased with his maid,
+Of apprehension quick he said,
+Her witty scheme was keen he swore,
+Lying in gown open before.
+Another maid when in the dark,
+Going to bed with her dear spark,
+She'll tell him that 'tis rather shocking,
+To bundle in with shoes and stockings.
+Nor scrupling but she's quite discreet,
+Lying with naked legs and feet,
+With petticoat so thin and short,
+That she is scarce the better for't;
+But you will say that I'm unfair,
+That some who bundle take more care,
+For some we may with truth suppose,
+Bundle in bed with all their clothes.
+But bundler's clothes are no defence,
+Unly[35] horses push the fence;
+A certain fact I'll now relate,
+That's true indeed without debate.
+A bundling couple went to bed.
+With all their clothes from foot to head,
+That the defence might seem complete,
+Each one was wrapped in a sheet.
+But O! this bundling's such a witch
+The man of her did catch the itch,
+And so provoked was the wretch,
+That she of him a bastard catch'd.
+Ye bundle misses don't you blush,
+You hang your heads and bid me hush.
+If you wont tell me how you feel,
+I'll ask your sparks, they best can tell.
+But it is custom you will say,
+And custom always bears the sway,
+If I wont take my sparks to bed,
+A laughing stock I shall be made;
+A vulgar custom 'tis, I own,
+Admir'd by many a slut and clown,
+But 'tis a method of proceeding,
+As much abhorr'd by those of breeding.
+You're welcome to the lines I've penn'd,
+For they were written by a friend,
+Who'll think himself quite well rewarded,
+If this vile practice is discarded.
+
+
+The party in favor of bundling were able, too, to _keep a poet_, as is
+shown by the following ballad, which we transcribe from a printed copy
+preserved by the American Antiquarian Society.
+
+
+A NEW SONG IN FAVOUR OF COURTING.
+
+Adam at first was form'd of dust,
+As scripture doth record;
+And did receive a wife call'd Eve,
+From his Creator Lord.
+
+From Adam's side a crooked bride,
+The Lord was pleas'd to form;
+Ordain'd that they in bed might lay
+to keep each other warm.
+
+To court indeed they had no need,
+She was his wife at first,
+And she was made to be his aid,
+Whose origin was dust.
+
+This new made pair full happy were,
+And happy might remain'd,
+If his help mate had never ate,
+The fruit that was restrain'd.
+
+Tho' Adam's wife destroy'd his life,
+In manner that was awful;
+Yet marriage now we all allow
+To be both just and lawful.
+
+But women must be courted first,
+Because it is the fashion,
+And so at times commit great crimes,
+Caus'd by a lustful passion.
+
+And now a days there are two ways,
+Which of the two is right,
+To lie between sheets sweet and clean,
+Or sit up all the night;
+
+But some suppose bundling in clothes
+Do heaven sorely vex;
+Then let me know which way to go,
+To court the female sex.
+
+Whether they must be hugg'd or kiss'd
+When sitting by the fire
+Or whether they in bed may lay,
+Which doth the Lord require?
+
+But some pretend to recommend
+The sitting up all night;
+Courting in chairs as doth appear
+To them to be most right.
+
+Nature's request is, grant me rest,
+Our bodies seek repose;
+Night is the time, and 'tis no crime
+To bundle in your clothes,
+
+Since in a bed a man and maid,
+May bundle and be chaste,
+It does no good to burn out wood,
+It is a needless waste.
+
+Let coats and gowns be laid aside,
+And breeches take their flight,
+An honest man and woman can
+Lay quiet all the night.
+
+In Genesis no knowledge is
+Of this thing to be got,
+Whether young men did bundle then,
+Or whether they did not.
+
+The sacred book says wives they took,
+It don't say how they courted,
+Whether that they in bed did lay,
+Or by the fire sported.
+
+But some do hold in times of old,
+That those about to wed,
+Spent not the night, nor yet the light
+By fire, or in the bed.
+
+They only meant to say they sent
+A man to chuse a bride,
+Isaac did so, but let me know
+Of any one beside.
+
+Man don't pretend to trust a friend,
+To choose him sheep and cows,
+Much less a wife which all his life
+He doth expect to house.
+
+Since it doth stand each man in hand,
+To happify his life,
+I would advise each to be wise,
+And chuse a prudent wife.
+
+Since bundling is not the thing,
+That judgments will procure,
+Go on young men and bundle then,
+But keep your bodies pure.
+
+(Printed and sold by Nathaniel Coverly, Jun. Boston.)
+
+
+The foregoing version is evidently not complete, several verses having
+been left out on account of their containing _more truth than poetry_,
+but these may be supplied from a manuscript copy, evidently made from
+memory, with considerable variations from the printed copy, which by no
+means improve it, though the schoolmaster did his best, and probably
+saved for us a very complete version of the ballad as it passed from
+mouth to mouth before the printed copy was made.
+
+It was transcribed from a volume of manuscript ballads in the
+handwriting of Israel Perkins, of Connecticut, written in 1786, when he
+was eighteen years old, and teaching school.
+
+
+THE WHORE ON THE SNOW CRUST.
+
+1.  Adam at first was formed of dust,
+    As we find on record;
+    And did receive a wife cal'd Eve,
+    By a creative word.
+
+2.  From Adam's side a crooked bride,
+    We find complete in form;
+    Ordained that they in bed might lay
+    And keep each other warm.
+
+3.  To court indeed they had no need,
+    She was his wife at first,
+    And she was made to be his aid,
+    Whose origin was dust.
+
+4.  This new made pair full happy were,
+    And happy might remained,
+    If his help meet had never eat
+    The fruit that was restrained.
+
+5.  Tho' Adam's wife destroyed his life
+    In manner that is awfull;
+    Yet marriage now we all allow
+    [To] Be both just and lawfull.
+
+6.  And now a days there is two ways,
+    Which of the two is write
+    To lie between sheets sweet and clean
+    Or sit up all the night.
+
+7.  But some suppose bundling in clothes
+    The good and wise doth vex;
+    Then let me know which way to go
+    To court the fairer sex.
+
+8.  Whether they must be hug'd and buss'd
+    When setting up all night;
+    Or whether [they] in bed may lay,
+    Which doth reason invite?
+
+9.  Nature's request is, give me rest,
+    Our bodies seek repose;
+    Night is the time, and 'tis no crime
+    To bundle in our cloaths.
+
+10. Since in a bed, a man and maid
+    May bundle and be chaste:
+    It doth no good to burn up wood
+    It is a needless waste.
+
+11. Let coat and shift be turned adrift,
+    And breeches take their flight,
+    An honest man and virgin can
+    Lie quiet all the night.
+
+12. But if there be dishonesty
+    Implanted in the mind,
+    Breeches nor smocks, nor scarce padlocks
+    The rage of lust can bind.
+
+13. Cate, Nance and Sue proved just and true,
+    Tho' bundling did practise;
+    But Ruth beguil'd and proved with child,
+    Who bundling did despise.
+
+14. Whores will be whores, and on the floor
+    Where many has been laid,
+    To set and smoke and ashes poke,
+    Wont keep awake a maid.
+
+15. Bastards are not at all times got
+    In feather beds we know;
+    The strumpet's oath convinces both
+    Oft times it is not so.
+
+16. One whorish dame, I fear to name
+    Lest I should give offence,
+    But in this town she was took down
+    Not more than eight months sence.
+
+17. She was the first, that on snow crust,
+    I ever knew to gender
+    I'll hint no more about this whore
+    For fear I should offend her.
+
+18. 'Twas on the snow when Sol was low,
+    And was in Capricorn,
+    A child was got, and it will not
+    Be long ere it is born.
+
+19. Now unto those that do oppose
+    The bundling traid, I say
+    Perhaps there's more got on the floor,
+    Than any other way.
+
+20. In ancient books no knowledge is
+    Of these things to be got;
+    Whether young men did bundle then,
+    Or whether they did not.
+
+21. Sence ancient book says wife they took,
+    It dont say how they courted;
+    Whether young men did bundle then,
+    Or by the fire sported.
+
+    [But some do hold in times of old,
+    That those about to wed,
+    Spent not the night, nor yet the light,
+    By fire, or in the bed.]
+
+22. They only meant to say they sent
+    A man to choose a bride;
+    Isaac was so, but let me know,
+    If any one beside.
+
+23. Men don't pretend to trust a friend
+    To choose him sheep or cows;
+    Much more a wife whom all his life
+    He does expect to house.
+
+24. Sence it doth stand each one in hand
+    To happyfy his life;
+    I would advise each to be wise,
+    And choose a prudent wife.
+
+25. Sence bundling is not a thing
+    That judgment will procure;
+    Go on young men and bundle then,
+    But keep your bodies pure.
+
+
+Since this work went to press we have been favored, by one of our
+antiquarian friends in Massachusetts, with a copy of another poetical
+blast against the practice of bundling. It was written in the latter
+part of the last, or the first decade of the present century, by a
+learned and distinguished clergyman settled in Bristol county,
+Massachusetts, who was a graduate of Harvard University, and a doctor of
+divinity. The original manuscript from which our copy is made, is very
+carefully written out, with corrections apparently of a later date, and
+now undoubtedly appears for the first time in printed form.
+
+
+A POEM AGAINST BUNDLING._Dedicated to ye Youth of both Sexes_.
+
+1.  Hail giddy youth, inclined to mirth,
+    To guilty amours prone,
+    Come blush with me, to think and see
+    How shameless you are grown.
+
+2.  'Tis not amiss to court and kiss,
+    Nor friendship do we blame,
+    But bundling in, women with men,
+    Upon the bed of shame;
+
+3.  And there to lay till break of day,
+    And think it is no sin,
+    Because a smock and petticoat
+    Have chance to lie between.
+
+4.  Such rank disgrace and scandal base,
+    All modest youth will shun,
+    For 'twill infest, like plague or pest,
+    And you will be undone.
+
+5.  Let boars and swine lie down and twine,
+    And grunt, and sleep, and snore,
+    But modest girls should not wear tails
+    Nor bristles any more.
+
+6.  Let rams the sheep mount up and leap,
+    Without restraint or blame,
+    But will young men act just like them;
+    Oh, 'tis a burning shame!
+
+7.  It is not strange that horses range
+    Unfettered to the last,
+    But youthful lusts in fetters must
+    Be chained to virtue fast.
+
+8.  Dogs and bitches wear no breeches,
+    Clothing for man was made,
+    Yet men and women strip to their linen,
+    And tumble into bed.
+
+9.  Yes, brutal youth, it is the truth,
+    Your modesty is gone,
+    And could you blush, you'd think as much,
+    And curse what you have done.
+
+10. To have done so some years ago,
+    Was counted more disgrace
+    Than 'tis of late to propagate
+    A spurious bastard race.
+
+11. Quit human kind and herd with swine,
+    Confess yourself an whore;
+    Go fill the stye, there live and die,
+    Or never bundle more.
+
+12. Shall gentlemen with ladies join
+    To practice like the brutes,
+    Then let them keep with cattle and sheep,
+    And fodder on their fruits.
+
+13. This cursed course is one great source
+    Of matches undesigned,
+    Quarrels and strife twixt man and wife,
+    And bastards of their kind.
+
+14. But in excuse of this abuse
+    It oftentimes is said,
+    Father and mother did no other
+    Than strip and go to bed.
+
+15. But grant some did as you have said,
+    Yet do they not repent,
+    And wish that you may never do
+    What they so much lament?
+
+16. A stupid ass can't be more base
+    Than are those guilty youth
+    Who fill with smart a parent's heart,
+    And turn it into mirth.
+
+17. Others do plead hard for the bed,
+    Their health and weariness,
+    So drunkards will drink down their swill,
+    And call it no excess.
+
+18. Under pretense of self defense,
+    Others will scold and say,
+    An honest maid is chaste abed
+    As any other way.
+
+19. But where's the man that fire can
+    Into his bosom take,
+    Or go through coals on his foot soles
+    And not a blister make?
+
+20. Temptation's way has led astray
+    The likeliest of you all,
+    And yet you'r found on slippery ground,
+    And think you cannot fall.
+
+21. A female meek, with blushing cheek,
+    Seized in some lover's arms,
+    Has oft grown weak with Cupid's heat
+    And lost her virgin charms.
+
+22. But last of all, up speaks romp Moll
+    And pleads to be excused,
+    For how can she e'er married be,
+    If bundling be refused?
+
+23. What strange mistake young women,
+    To hope for sparks this way!
+    Your fond bold acts can't lay a tax
+    That men will ever pay.
+
+24. So cheap and free some women be,
+    That men are cloyed with sweet,
+    As horse or cow starve at the mow
+    With fodder under feet.
+
+25. 'Tis therefore vain yourselves to screen,
+    The practice is accurst,
+    It is condemned by God and man,
+    The pious and the just.
+
+26. Should you go on, the day will come,
+    When Christ your Judge will say,
+    In _bundles_ bind each of this kind,
+    And cast them all away.
+
+27. Down deep in hell there let them dwell,
+    And bundle on that bed;
+    There burn and roll without control,
+    'Till all their lusts are fed.
+
+
+The evidence presented in the preceding pages, establishes, as we think,
+the following facts:
+
+1st. That the custom, so far as it pertained to the American States, had
+its origin as a matter of convenience and necessity.
+
+2d. That in all stages of its history it was chiefly confined to the
+humbler classes of society.
+
+3d. That its prevalence may be said to have closed with the eighteenth
+century.
+
+It is our opinion that it came nearest to being a universal custom from
+1750 to 1780, and that it was, at all times, regarded by the better
+classes as a serious evil, and was no more countenanced by them then the
+frequenting of grog shops is by the better class of the present day.
+
+This opinion is corroborated by the remarks of several old persons whom
+we have consulted as to their recollections of the custom. Among these,
+Mr. B., of East Haddam, Ct., now in his 95th year, says that he well
+remembers it; that it could not be called general, though frequent. It
+was not practiced among the more intelligent, educated classes, nor
+among those who lived in large, well warmed houses. He says it was not
+the fashion to bundle with any chap who might call on a girl, but that
+it was a special favor, granted only to a favorite lover, who might
+consider it a proof of the high regard which the damsel had for him; in
+short, it was _only accepted lovers_ who were thus admitted to the bed
+of the fair one, and, as he expresses it, only after long continued
+urging in most cases.[36] He thinks the fashion ceased about 1790 to
+1800, and in consequence of education and refinement; and that _no more
+mischief was done then than there is now-a-days_.
+
+In the same strain, also, spoke the genial Colonel H., a native of
+Berlin, Ct., born in 1775. He was perfectly conversant with the custom,
+had known the old ladies, in some cases, to go up stairs before
+retiring, to see that the bundling couple were comfortable, _tuck 'em
+up_, and put on more bedclothes! And stoutly asseverated his belief
+"that there wasn't any more mischief done in those days than there is
+now."
+
+Indeed, all the old people with whom we have conversed on the matter,
+although in some cases a little unwilling to own that they had ever
+practiced it themselves, were unanimous in their belief that the abuse
+of chastity under the bundling regime was no more frequent than it is
+now. One old gentleman of whom we have heard, in reply to the half
+reproachful, half joking question of his grandson, whether he wasn't
+ashamed, replied: "Why, no! What is the use of sitting up all night and
+burning out fire and lights, when you could just as well get under kiver
+and keep warm; and, when you get tired, take a nap and wake up fresh,
+and go at it again? Why, d--n it, there wasn't half as many bastards
+then as there are now!"[37]
+
+Even within the present century we have found traces of the continuance
+of the practice of bundling, though the instances are perhaps few, and
+in some measure exceptional. Until a very late day the custom (as a
+matter of convenience) was prevalent among the Dutch settlers of
+Pennsylvania, and it is not improbable that traces may still continue to
+exist in some of the more remote counties of that state. An old
+schoolmaster who flourished in Glastenbury, Ct., some twenty years ago,
+when relating his experiences in teaching in southern Pennsylvania, and
+speaking of _boarding around_, informed us that when for any reason he
+did not choose to go to his boarding place for the time being, he was
+accustomed to stop at a tavern kept by an honest old Dutchman. On one
+occasion, having asked the landlord if he could stay over night, he was
+told that he could; and after chatting with his host through the
+evening, was shown to bed. The landlord set down the candle and had gone
+out of the room, when our friend noticed the only bed in the room was
+already occupied, and calling to the host, notified him of the fact;
+when he cried back: "Oh! dat ish only mine taughter; she won't hurt
+nopoty," and coolly went his way. And our friend affirmed that he found
+the daughter not only harmless, but also quite competent to take care of
+herself.
+
+In New England, we believe that Cape Cod has the dubious honor of
+holding out the longest against the advance of civilization, bundling,
+as we have it on good authority, having been practiced there as late as
+1827.[38] In Greenwich, New Jersey, it was in vogue in 1816. In the
+state of New York this custom came under judicial cognizance in the year
+1804, when the supreme court held, that although bundling was admitted
+to be the custom in some parts of the state, it being proven that the
+parents of the girl, for whose seduction the suit was brought,
+countenanced her practicing it, they had no right to complain, or ask
+satisfaction for the consequences, which, the court say, "_naturally
+followed it_!"[39]
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX I.
+
+
+BUNDLING.
+
+[From _The Yankee_ of August 13, 1828, published at Portland, Maine, and
+edited by John Neal.]
+
+
+By Rochefoucault, in accounting for the populousness of Massachusetts,
+the New Englanders are charged with bundling.
+
+By Chastelleux, whose book I am not able to refer to now, the charge is
+repeated, and by half a score of other honest, good natured people, who
+have made books about the New World.
+
+But, if you enquire into the business, you are pretty sure to be told,
+inquire where you may, that bundling is not known _there_, but somewhere
+further back in the woods, or further _down east_. Nay, while in every
+part of the United States the multitude speak of bundling as the habit
+of their neighbors, either east, west, north, or south, where the
+witches of the country were _located_ about a century ago by the
+grandfathers of this generation, I, myself, though I have taken trouble
+enough to learn the truth, have never yet been able to meet with a case
+of bundling--of bundling proper, I should say--in the United States, nor
+with but one trustworthy individual who had ever met with so much as one
+case, and he had met with _but_ one, for which he would give his word.
+These things are trifles; but when they are told in books that are read
+and trusted to throughout Europe; such books, too, as that of the
+Marquis de Chastelleux, or that of De Rouchefoucault, it becomes a
+matter of serious inquiry. The truth must be told, whatever it is, for
+the truth cannot be so bad, whatever it may be, as the untruth which is
+now repeated of us.
+
+The travels of Chastelleux are translated by an Englishman who had been
+a long while in this country. The book was undoubtedly written with
+great care, by a very honest, able man, who had very good opportunities
+of knowing the truth; and is now set off by another very honest, able
+man, who was, if anything, rather partial to America--enough to make one
+wary of trusting the report of any traveler who does not say in so many
+words, after establishing a character for himself--I saw this; I heard
+this; I take nobody's word for what I now say, etc., etc. It would be
+easy to enumerate a multitude of other stories which are now believed
+in, about the people of the United States, not only by the people of
+Europe, and of Great Britain particularly, but by the people of the
+United States themselves. But a dry catalogue of such things would be of
+little use.
+
+[Here he refers to the charge reported of New Englanders, that that they
+_eat pork and molasses--pork and molasses_ TOGETHER, which is here
+denied as a ridiculous story. H. R. S.]
+
+They bundle in Wales; bundling there is a serious matter. A lady--a
+Welsh woman whose word is truth itself--assured me not long ago, that in
+her country they do not think a bit the worse, of a girl for
+anticipating her duties, in other words, for being a mother before she
+has been a wife; they have discovered, perhaps, that cause and effect
+may be convertible terms; that in such a serious matter, none but a fool
+would buy a pig in the poke, and that, after all, maternity may lead to
+marriage there, as marriage leads to maternity here. And why not? for
+after the establishment of the lying-in hospitals of Russia, the
+unmarried who bore _children to the state_ were proud of the duty, and
+were looked upon, we are told, with great favor by the public. She
+added, also, that she was once at a party made up of sixteen or eighteen
+females, and females of good characters, all but one or two of whom were
+mothers, or had been so, before they were married. By Chastelleux and
+his English translator it would appear to have been very much the same
+in America about the years 1780-1-2. It is not so now. To have had a
+child before marriage would now be fatal to a woman here, whatever might
+be her condition or beauty; fatal in every shape. No man would have
+courage to marry her; no woman of character would associate with her.
+Ask the first individual you meet, above the age of twelve or thirteen
+here, and you may have the name and history of every poor girl in the
+neighborhood who has been so unlucky as to have a child of her own
+without leave, perhaps, within a period of six or eight years in a
+populous neighborhood of twenty or thirty miles about. A widow with half
+a score of children, forty years ago, if we may believe Dr. Franklin,
+was an object for the fortune hunters of America. It is not so now. The
+demand for widows, and for every sort of ready made family is beginning
+to be over.
+
+That which is called bundling here, though bad enough, is not a
+twentieth part so bad. Here it is only a mode of courtship. The parties
+instead of sitting up together, go to bed together; but go to bed with
+their clothes on. This would appear to be a perilous fashion; but I have
+been assured by the individual above, that he had proof to the contrary;
+for in the particular case alluded to, the only case I ever heard of on
+good authority, although he was invited by the parents of a pretty girl
+who stood near him, to bundle with her, and although he _did_ bundle
+with her, he had every reason to believe, that if he had been very free,
+or more free than he might have been at a country frolick after they had
+invited him to escort her, to sit up with her, to dance with her, he
+would have been treated as a traitor by all parties. He had a fair
+opportunity of knowing the truth, and he spoke of the matter as if he
+would prefer the etiquette of sitting up to the etiquette of going to
+bed with a girl who had been so brought up. He complained of her as a
+prude. The following communication appears, however, to be one that may
+be depended on:[40]
+
+    "MR. NEAL--If you wish to know the truth about bundling, I think
+    your correspondent V. could tell you all about it--it seems by his
+    confession that he has practiced it on a large scale. I never heard
+    of the thing till about three years ago; an acquaintance of mine had
+    gone to spend the summer with an aunt, who lived somewhere near
+    Sandy river.[41] The following is a copy of one of her letters while
+    there:
+
+    "'I should have written sooner, so don't think me unkind, for I have
+    been waiting for something to write about. You requested me to give
+    you a faithful description of the country, the manners and customs
+    of the inhabitants, etc. I have not been here quite three months,
+    but I have been everywhere, seen everything, and got acquainted with
+    everybody. I shall certainly inform you of everything I have seen or
+    heard that is worth relating.
+
+    "'You remember how you told me, before I left home, that I was so
+    well looking that if I went so far back in the country I should be
+    very much admired and flattered, and have as many lovers as I could
+    wish for. I find it all true. The people here are remarkably kind
+    and attentive to me; they seem to think that I must be something
+    more than common because I have always lived so near Portland.
+
+    "'But I must tell you that since I have been here I have had a beau.
+    You must know that the young men, _in particular_, are very
+    attentive to me. Well, among these is _one_ who is considered the
+    finest young man in the place, and well he may be--he owns a good
+    farm, which has a large barn upon it, and a neat two story house,
+    all finished. These are the fruits of his own industry; besides he
+    is remarkably good looking, is very large but well-proportioned, and
+    has a good share of what I call real manly beauty. Soon after my
+    arrival here I was introduced to this man--no, not _introduced_
+    neither, for they never think of such a thing here. They all know me
+    of course, because I am a _stranger_. Some days, three, four, or
+    half a dozen, call to see me, whom I never before saw or heard of;
+    they come and speak to me as if I were an old acquaintance, and I
+    converse with them as freely as if I had always known them from
+    childhood. In this kind of a way I got acquainted with my beau, that
+    _was_; he was very attentive to me from our first meeting. If we
+    happened to be going anywhere in company he was sure to offer me his
+    arm--no, I am wrong again, he never offered me his arm in his life.
+    If you go to walk with a young man here, instead of offering you his
+    arm as the young men do up our way, he either takes your hand in
+    his, or passes one arm around your waist; and this he does with such
+    a provoking, careless honesty, that you cannot for your life be
+    offended with him. Well, I had walked with my Jonathan several times
+    in this kind of style. I confess there was something in him I could
+    not but like--he does not lack for wit, and has a good share of
+    common sense; his language is never studied--he always seems to
+    speak from the heart. So when he asked what sort of a companion he
+    would make, I very candidly answered, that I thought he would make a
+    very agreeable one. "I think just so of you," said he, "and it shall
+    not be my fault," he continued, "if we are not companions for life."
+    "We shall surely make a bargain," said he, after sitting silent a
+    few moments, "so we'll _bundle_ to-night." "_Bundle_ what?" I asked.
+    "_We_ will bundle together," said he; "you surely know what I mean."
+    I know that our farmers bundle _wheat_, _cornstalks_ and _hay_; do
+    you mean that you want me to help you bundle any of these?" inquired
+    I. "I mean that I want you to stay with me to-night! It is the
+    custom in this place, when a man stays with a girl, if it is warm
+    weather, for them to throw themselves on the bed, outside the bed
+    clothes; if the weather is cold, they crawl under the clothes, then
+    if they have anything to _say_, they say it--when they get tired of
+    talking they go to sleep; this is what we call bundling--now what do
+    you call it in your part of the world?" "We have no such works,"
+    answered I; "not amongst respectable people, nor do I think that any
+    people would, that either thought themselves respectable, or wished
+    to be thought so."
+
+    "'Don't be too severe upon us, Miss ----, I have always observed
+    that those who _make believe_ so much modesty, have in reality but
+    little. I always act as I feel, and speak as I think. I wish you to
+    do the same, but have none of your make-believes with me--you
+    smile--you begin to think you have been a little too scrupulous--you
+    have no objection to bundling _now_, have you?" "Indeed I have." "I
+    am not to be trifled with; so, if you refuse, I have done with you
+    forever." "Then be done as quick as you please, for I'll not bundle
+    with you nor with any other man." "Then farewell, proud girl," said
+    he. "Farewell, honest man," said I, and off he went sure enough.
+
+    "'I have since made inquiries about _bundling_, and find that it is
+    _really_ the custom here, and that they think no more harm of it,
+    than we do our way of a young couple sitting up together. I have
+    known an instance, since I have been here, of a girl's taking her
+    sweetheart to a neighbor's house and asking for a bed or two to
+    lodge in, or rather to _bundle_ in. They had company at her
+    father's, so that their beds were occupied; she thought no harm of
+    it. She and her family are respectable.
+
+    "'Grandmother says bundling was a very common thing in our part of
+    the country, in old times; that most of the first settlers lived in
+    log houses, which seldom had more than one room with a fire place;
+    in this room the old people slept, so if one of their girls had a
+    sweetheart in the winter she must either sit with him in the room
+    where her father and mother slept, or take him into her sleeping
+    room. She would choose the latter for the sake of being alone with
+    him; but sometimes when the cold was very severe, rather than freeze
+    to death, they would crawl under the bed-clothes; and this, after a
+    while, became a habit, a custom, or a fashion. The man that I am
+    going to send this by, is just ready to start, so I cannot stop to
+    write more now. In my next I'll give you a more particular account
+    of the people here. Adieu.'
+
+    "_Mr. Editor_, you may be sure that what is related in the foregoing
+    letter is the truth. I know that there is considerable _other_
+    information in it, mixed up with _that_ about which you wished to be
+    informed, but I could not very well separate it."
+
+So after all that has been said of the practice of bundling in our
+country, by foreign writers, travelers, and reviewers--after all the
+reproach that has been heaped upon us, now that we are able to get at
+the plain truth, it appears to be, though certainly a bad practice, not
+half so bad as the junketing and sitting up courtships that are known
+elsewhere. Nay, more. Though in the present state of society it is a
+practice that should be utterly discountenanced everywhere, still it
+would seem to have grown up out of the peculiar circumstances of our
+first settlers; to be confined _now_ to remote and small districts (for
+I have heard of only three instances, after all my inquiry); and to be
+rapidly going out of practice. Yet more; there can be no bad intentions,
+there can be no evil consequences, where respectable and modest women
+are not ashamed to acknowledge that they bundle. I am anxious to know
+the truth for the purpose of correcting both the _misrepresentations_
+that are abroad, and the _practices_ that prevail here. Bundling,
+however, is known in other countries, where they have less excuse, and
+in Wales where they do _not_ bundle, as I have said before, it is no
+reproach for a woman to have had a child before marriage. It was so in
+Russia after Catharine established her lying-in hospitals.
+
+In the next number of _The Yankee_ (August 20th) there is the following
+editorial paragraph:
+
+
+    BUNDLING.
+
+    There is a great outcry just now about the paper on bundling which
+    was in the last _Yankee_. Now this very outcry proves the want of
+    the very paper alluded to. The article is about bundling; and people
+    who imagine bundling to be what it is not, a highly improper and
+    unchaste familiarity, are offended with it; but the very purpose of
+    that paper is to show that bundling is not what it is believed to
+    be, that it is neither so common nor so bad, not a fiftieth part so
+    bad as people have imagined.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX II.
+
+
+That the customs of courtship in many parts of the United Kingdom at the
+present day, are precisely what they were in some parts of New England,
+New Jersey and Pennsylvania, fifty years ago, is evident from the
+revelations of the _Royal Commission on the Marriage Laws_, in the year
+1868. Dr. Strahan, a physician and surgeon, who for nearly forty years
+has practiced in the Scottish county of Stirling, testifies before the
+commission, that his attention was first drawn to the subject in
+consequence of observing the very great extent of immorality among the
+working classes, not only as evidenced by the large number of
+illegitimate children, but also by the still larger number of marriages
+after the woman was with child; and the number of children born within
+eight months of wedlock. He found, to his astonishment, that among the
+working classes (i.e., the agricultural laborers), nine out of ten
+women, when married, either had had illegitimate children, or were
+pregnant at the time of marriage. "I have," he says, "a large midwifery
+practice, and I very rarely attend a woman with her first child, where
+the child is not born within a few months of wedlock, or else she has
+had an illegitimate child before." He believes it is very common for
+women to allow themselves to be seduced in the hope of being married.
+They go on until they are _enceinte_, and then, if the young man is at
+all a decent fellow, the friends interfere and the marriage is hurried
+on. The sketch which Dr. Strahan supplies of Scotch courtships, explains
+all this part of his observation. Young men and women meet together at
+night, and the ordinary time is the middle of the night, when every one
+else is in bed. "It is universal," says Dr. Strahan to the commission,
+"among the working classes, to have this manner of courtship of which I
+speak; there is no other courtship, in any other form; the fathers and
+mothers will not allow their daughters to meet a young man in the
+day-time; the young man never visits the family, but the parents quite
+allow this; they have done it themselves before, and there is no
+objection to it. The young man comes, makes a noise at the window; the
+young woman goes out, they go to some outhouse; or perhaps the young man
+is admitted to the young woman's bedroom after all are in bed, and there
+is an hour or two of what is called courtship, but which would more
+properly be called flirtation, because it is not necessary that there
+should be any engagement to marry in these cases."
+
+Lord Lyveden inquired: "Do these meetings take place at particular
+periods, such as harvest time, or is it over the whole of the year?"
+
+_Answer_: "The whole of the year; very commonly the young man visits the
+young woman once a week."
+
+Lord Chelmsford said: "In England that would be called _keeping
+company_. It is a very extraordinary way of keeping company when the
+parents allow their daughter to go out with the young man at midnight,
+or the young man to come into her bedroom."
+
+_Answer_: "Yes; the parents know no other way of doing it. I have
+reasoned with the parents often when attending a case of illegitimate
+birth, pointing out to the parents how it is they have been led on, but
+they cannot imagine any other way of doing it; their daughters must have
+husbands, and there is no other way of courting."
+
+Mr. Justice O'Hagan asking--"Does it prevail generally in Scotland?" was
+answered--"Universally among the agricultural laborers."
+
+In reply to an inquiry by Mr. Dunlop, whether these young men lived
+under any kind of supervision and knowledge of their masters, or whether
+they could go out and in as they pleased, Dr. Strahan stated that
+"plowmen, for instance, very often live in _bothies_, or in the farm
+house; they get out after all are in bed, out of the window; or, if they
+live in a bothie, without any trouble. They go to the neighboring
+farm-house, they knock at the window, the girl comes to the window, and,
+if she know the young man--or, after a little parley, if she does not
+know him--she either comes out and goes with him to an outhouse, or he
+comes into her bedroom. You must remember that they have no other means
+of intercourse."
+
+"That is the point you press so much?"
+
+"Yes; a young woman cannot see either a sweetheart or an acquaintance in
+any other way. I believe if it was not for fear of being out at night,
+the girls would visit one another in the same way; they have no other
+means of visiting; the customs of the country are such that a young man
+could not be seen going in day-light to visit his sweetheart."
+
+Mr. Justice O'Hagan: "If the father knew that the young man was coming
+into the house, and knew that he was with his daughter, would he not
+interfere?"
+
+"He would lie comfortably in his bed, knowing that his daughter was in
+an out-house or barn with a young man, for perhaps two hours; shutting
+his eyes to it in the same way that a person in the higher ranks would
+shut his eyes to his daughter going out for a walk with a young man."
+
+Dr. Strahan said also: "When you come to the middle class a young man
+would not marry a girl that had had a child to another man; and very
+probably he would not marry a girl that had had a child to himself; but
+in the lower classes it is not so; it is almost universal to marry a
+woman that has had a child, or that is with child to himself; but it is
+very frequent to marry a woman that has had a child to another man; the
+only objection is the burden of the child; the burden of the child might
+be an obstacle, but the disgrace would be none."
+
+"Is it supposed," asked a commissioner, "that the woman, by marrying
+this other man, wipes off her disgrace with the former?"
+
+"Yes; but it is so common that the disgrace is not so much as to prevent
+the young man marrying her."
+
+The attorney-general: "It is hardly within our inquiry, but still it is
+interesting to know; can you tell me whether, in these cases, where the
+woman marries a man who is not the father of her child, any confusion,
+as to the parent of the previously born child, arises? Are they apt in
+law, to pass as the children of the subsequent husband?"
+
+"No, I do not think so."
+
+"The distinction is always kept up?"
+
+"The distinction is always kept up; very often the illegitimate child
+goes by his own father's name, even among the other children; and I do
+not think there is apt to be any confusion of that kind."
+
+Still, it seems that, in severely Calvinistic Scotia, the church does
+not wholly wink at this state of things. The sinning couple, after
+marriage, have to go through a certain whitewashing at church before
+they are admitted to what are called church privileges. They have to go
+before a kirk session, consisting of the minister and perhaps half a
+dozen elders, when they are _admonished_. If the parties are married,
+they appear but once; if not married, generally three times. They tender
+themselves for rebuke without invitation, as without it the child cannot
+be baptized, or admission given to the sacrament. They apply to the
+minister in private, and confess their fault, and he causes them to be
+summoned before the church session.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+African tribes, courtship among, 42
+America, English misrepresentation of, 62.
+America, bundling in, 44
+  inherits bundling from Holland, 45.
+  bundling not peculiar to, 13.
+  bundling universal in 1750, 106.
+
+Ballads against bundling, 81, 100.
+  in favor of bundling, 88, 93.
+Brychan, a cloth, 23.
+Bundling, antiquity of, 14.
+Bundling, abuse of, in New England, 75.
+  ballads on, 81, 88, 93, 100.
+  ceased with eighteenth century, 106,
+  confined to the lower classes, 107.
+Bundling, described by Lt. Anbury in 1777, 66.
+  definition of, 13.
+  decision of N. Y. Supreme Court on, 111.
+  effect of, 75.
+  in America, 44.
+  in British isles, 14, 22.
+  in Cape Cod, 110.
+  in Holland, 35.
+Bundling in Maine about 1828, 117.
+  in New England States, 48.
+  in Wales, 23, 115.
+  introduced in America from Holland, 45.
+  mentioned by Rev. Sam'l Peters, 51.
+  mentioned by Washington Irving, 49.
+  mentioned by Dr. A. Burnaby, 1759, 58.
+  mentioned by Sir Walter Scott, 20.
+  not peculiar to America, 13.
+Bundling originating in poverty in Scotland and Ireland, 23.
+  origin of, 14.
+  originally confined to the lower classes in America, 65.
+  practiced in Pennsylvania till late years, 109.
+  preached against, 54.
+  recollections of by old persons, 106.
+Bundling regarded as a serious evil, 106.
+  sanctioned by parents, 69.
+  sermon against, 77.
+  two forms of, 13.
+  universal now in lower classes of Scotland, 130.
+  universal in America in 1750, 106.
+  -up, in Wales, 42.
+
+Cape Cod, bundling practiced there in 1827, 110.
+Central Asia, courtship in, 42.
+Confession in public necessary for baptism of children, 76.
+Courtship, customs of, in Great Britain, 127.
+Courtship among Welsh peasantry, 29.
+  in Central Asia, 42.
+  in the 14th century, 37.
+  among N. A. Indians, 40.
+  in Switzerland, 38.
+Cuckold, no word in Gaelic for, 21.
+Customs of courtship, different in the cantons of Switzerland, 39.
+
+Dayaks of Borneo, courtship of, 42.
+Dorfen, in Switzerland, 39.
+
+Empress Cartismandua, 21.
+  Julia, 20.
+Epilogue on bundling at Westminster school, 1815, 61.
+
+Free-bench, 22.
+French war, demoralizing influence of, 74.
+
+
+Germans, respect of, for women, 21.
+Gordon, Sir Robert, 19.
+  Sir Adam, 19.
+Great Britain, bundling common at the present day in, 126.
+Great Britain, immorality of lower classes in, 127.
+Gwent, a district in Wales, 34.
+Gwentian Code of Wales, 34.
+
+Hand-fasting, a Scotch custom, 17, 19.
+  common among all classes, 20.
+Highland law of marriage, 16.
+Highlanders, curious custom of the, 17.
+Holland, bundling in, 35, 36.
+
+Illegitimacy not considered a disgrace in Scotland, 131.
+
+Kiltgang in canton of Lucerne. 39.
+Kweesten, a Dutch custom, 36.
+
+La Hontan, Indian custom described by, 41.
+Lichtgetren, in Switzerland, 39.
+Love and courtship in the 14th century, 37.
+
+Maine, bundling in, 1828, 118.
+Marriage laws of Great Britain, royal commission on, 127.
+Marriage, Welsh laws relating to, 24.
+
+Namzat bezé, an African custom, 42.
+Natural children legitimatized in Scotland, 18.
+New bundling song, a, 81.
+New England, bundling in, 48.
+New song in favor of courting, a, 88.
+New York Supreme Court on bundling, 111.
+N. Am. Indians, chastity of, 41-52.
+  courtship among, 41.
+
+Pennsylvania, bundling in, 109.
+Poem against bundling, a, 100.
+Polygamy among ancient nations, 15.
+  in Great Britain, 15.
+Prostitutes, punishment of in Scotland and Germany, 21.
+Public confession of unlawful cohabitation made in New England, 75.
+  records of, 75.
+
+Quest, definition of and origin, 35.
+Queesting, 35.
+
+Royal commission on marriage laws of Great Britain, 127.
+
+Savage nations, amatory customs of, 40.
+Scotland, courtship of, 128.
+  conjugal infidelity in, 17.
+  admonition by church of, 133.
+Scotch and Irish moral character, 22.
+Scott, Walter, mention of bundling by, 20.
+Stubetegetren in Switzerland, 39.
+Sutherland, son of a hand-fast marriage claims earldom of, 19.
+Switzerland, courtship in, 38.
+
+Tarrying, common in England, 64.
+  in New England, 70.
+Texel, bundling in the island of, 36.
+
+United States, bundling in the, 44.
+
+Vlie and Wieringen, bundling practiced in islands of, 35.
+
+Wales, bundling in, 23.
+  described by Bingley, 28;
+  by Barbor, 30;
+  by Carr, 32;
+  by Pratt, 25.
+  chastity in, 115.
+Welsh laws relating to marriage, 24.
+Whore on the snow crust, the, 93.
+Wieringen, see Vlie.
+Wynet-werth, a Welsh term, 35.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES.
+
+
+[1] _Cæsar_ says, that several brothers, or a father and his sons, would
+have but one wife among them. _Solinus_, indeed, says that the women in
+Thule were common, the king having a free choice; and _Dio_ says the
+Caledonians had wives in common; yet these assertions may well be
+disputed. _Strabo_ describes the Irish as extremely gross in this
+matter; _O'Conner_ says polygamy was permitted; and _Derrick_ tells us
+they exchanged wives once or twice a year; while _Campion_ says they
+only married for a year and a day, sending their wives home again for
+any slight offense.--_Logan's Scottish Gael_, 5th Am. ed., p. 472.
+
+[2] _A History of the Highlands, and of the Highland Clans_, etc. (Jas.
+Browne, LL.D., Advocate, 4 vols. London, 1853), IV, 398.
+
+"The law of marriage observed in the Highlands has frequently been as
+little understood as that of succession, and similar misconceptions have
+prevailed regarding it. This was, perhaps, to be expected. In a country
+where a bastard son was often found in undisturbed possession of the
+chiefship or property of a clan, and where such bastard generally
+received the support of the clansmen against the claims of the feudal
+heir, it was natural to suppose that very loose notions of succession
+were entertained by the people; that legitimacy conferred no exclusive
+rights; and that the title founded on birth alone might be set aside in
+favor of one having no other claim than that of election. But this,
+although a plausible, would nevertheless be an erroneous supposition.
+The person here considered as a bastard, and described as such, was by
+no means viewed in the same light by the Highlanders, because, according
+to their law of marriage, which was originally very different from the
+feudal system in this matter, his claim to legitimacy was as undoubted
+as that of the feudal heir afterward became. It is well known that the
+notions of the Highlanders were peculiarly strict in regard to matters
+of hereditary succession, and that no people on earth was less likely to
+sanction any flagrant deviation from what they believed to be the right
+and true line of descent. All their peculiar habits, feelings and
+prejudices were in direct opposition to a practice which, had it been
+really acted upon, must have introduced endless disorder and confusion,
+and hence the natural explanation of this apparent anomaly seems to be,
+what Mr. Skene has stated, namely, that a person who was feudally a
+bastard might in their view be considered as legitimate, and therefore
+entitled to be supported in accordance with their strict ideas of
+hereditary right, and their habitual tenacity of whatever belonged to
+their ancient usages. Nor is this mere conjecture or hypothesis. A
+singular custom regarding marriage, retained till a late period amongst
+the Highlanders, and clearly indicating that their law of marriage
+originally differed in some essential points from that established under
+the feudal system, seems to afford a simple and natural explanation of
+the difficulty by which genealogists have been so much puzzled.
+
+"This custom was termed _hand-fasting_, and consisted in a species of
+contract between two chiefs, by which it was agreed that the heir of one
+should live with the daughter of the other as her husband for twelve
+months and a day. If, in that time, the lady became a mother, or proved
+to be with child the marriage became good in law, even although no
+priest had performed the marriage ceremony in due form; but should there
+not have occurred any appearance of issue, the contract was considered
+at an end, and each party was at liberty to marry or hand-fast with any
+other. It is manifest that the practice of so peculiar a species of
+marriage must have been in terms of original law among the Highlanders,
+otherwise it would be difficult to conceive how such a custom could have
+originated, and it is in fact one which seems naturally to have arisen
+from the form of their society, which rendered it a matter of such vital
+importance to secure the lineal succession of their chiefs. It is
+perhaps not improbable that it was this peculiar custom which gave rise
+to the report handed down by the Roman and other historians, that the
+ancient inhabitants of Great Britain had their wives in common, or that
+it was the foundation of that law of Scotland by which natural children
+became legitimatized by subsequent marriage.[3] And as this custom
+remained in the Highlands until a very late period, the sanction of
+ancient custom was sufficient to induce them to persist in regarding the
+offspring of such marriages as legitimate."[4]
+
+It appears, indeed, that as late as the sixteenth century, the issue of
+a hand-fast marriage claimed the earldom of Sutherland. The claimant,
+according to Sir Robert Gordon, described himself as one lawfully
+descended from his father, John, the third earl, because, as he alleged,
+"his mother was _hand-fasted_ and fianced to his father;" and his claim
+was bought off (which shows that it was not considered as altogether
+incapable of being maintained) by Sir Adam Gordon, who had married the
+heiress of Earl John. Such, then, was the nature of the peculiar and
+temporary connection which gave rise to the apparent anomalies which we
+have been considering. It was a custom which had for its object, not to
+interrupt but to preserve the lineal succession of the chiefs, and to
+obviate the very evil of which it is conceived to afford a glaring
+example. But after the introduction of the feudal law, which, in this
+respect, was directly opposed to the ancient Highland law, the lineal
+and legitimate heir, according to Highland principles, came to be
+regarded as a bastard by the government, which accordingly considered
+him as thereby incapacitated for succeeding to the honors and property
+of his race; and hence originated many of those disputes concerning
+succession and chiefship, which embroiled families with one another, as
+well as with the government, and were productive of incredible disorder,
+mischief and bloodshed. No allowance was made for the ancient usages of
+the people, which were probably but ill understood; and the rights of
+rival claimants were decided according to the principles of a foreign
+system of law, which was long resisted, and never admitted except from
+necessity. It is to be observed, however, that the Highlanders
+themselves drew a broad distinction between bastard sons and the issue
+of the hand-fast unions above described. The former were rigorously
+excluded from every sort of succession, but the latter were considered
+as legitimate as the offspring of the most regularly solemnized
+marriage.
+
+This practice obtained not only among chiefs, but common people.
+
+Walter Scott, in the XXV chapter of the _Monastery_, in a note, says:
+"This custom of hand-fasting actually prevailed in the upland days. It
+arose partly from the want of priests. While the convents subsisted,
+monks were detached on regular circuits through the wilder districts, to
+marry those who had lived in this species of connexion. A practice of
+the same kind existed in the Isle of Portland."
+
+[3] This is a mistake in point of law. The principle of legitimation by
+subsequent marriage, was first explicitly announced in an imperial
+constitution of Constantine, and being wisely recognized by the church,
+it was adopted by the canonists, through whom it passed into our law.
+The attempt to introduce it into England failed, in consequence of the
+attachment of the people to their ancient Saxon constitutions; and
+hence, although it was recognized in the statutes of Merton, it was
+subsequently discarded, and never afterwards found admission into the
+municipal system of the neighboring kingdom. There can be no doubt
+whatever that the principle is one which reason, morality and religion
+must equally approve.
+
+[4] Skene's _Highlanders of Scotland_, vol. I, chap. vii, 166, 167.
+
+[5] In _Scottish Ballads and Songs_, by James Maidment, Edinburgh,
+MDCCCLIX, under the title of _Luckidad's Garland_, p. 134, is a
+remarkable picture of the old and new times in Scotland, eighty or
+ninety years ago, three of the twenty-four verses of which the ballad is
+composed, being descriptive of something akin to _bundling_. In a London
+edition of _Hudibras_, also, published in 1811, is a note to line 913,
+of Part I, Canto I. As both of these extracts, however, are somewhat too
+_broad_ for our pages, we content ourselves with simply referring
+thereto. In the same category, also, is the definition, in _Bailey's Old
+English Dictionary_, of the term _free bench_, as prevailing in the
+manors of East and West Embourn, Chaddleworth in the county of Berks,
+Tor in Devonshire, and other places of the west.
+
+[6] _History of Wales_ (by B. B. Woodward, B.A., London, 1853), p. 320;
+who adds, also, p. 186, the following:
+
+"The laws which treat of the violation of the marriage bond and those
+which relate to chastity generally, recognize a degree of laxity
+respecting female honor, and, yet more remarkably, an absence of
+feminine delicacy, such as could scarcely be paralleled amongst the most
+uncivilized people now. They are of such a nature, that though most
+characteristic, they must be passed by with this general mention. The
+distinction between the Celtic and Teutonic races is perhaps in no case
+more plainly marked than in this: The Anglo-Saxon laws on this subject
+(always excepting those of the _ecclesiastical_ authorities) are modesty
+itself, notwithstanding their plain speaking, compared with those of the
+Welsh legislators."
+
+[7] _Gleanings through Wales, Holland, and Westphalia_, etc. (3d
+edition, by Mr. Pratt, London, 1797), I, pp. 105-107.
+
+[8] _North Wales, including its Scenery, Antiquities, Customs_, etc. (by
+Rev. W. W. Bingley, A.M., 2 vols., 8vo, London, 1804), II, p. 282.
+
+[9] _A Tour throughout North Wales and Monmouthshire_, etc., etc. (by
+J. T. Barbor, F.S.A., London, 1803), pp. 103-9.
+
+[10] _The Stranger in Ireland_, by John Carr.
+
+[11] "On his way to Ireland he passed through Wales, and gives us a
+slight sketch of the character of that people and country. _It must
+afford no small gratification to a New England man to learn that the
+practice of_ BUNDLING _is not peculiar to us, but that this pleasing
+though dangerous art was probably imported from abroad_."--A review of
+_The Stranger in Ireland_, in _Connecticut Courant_ for November 19th,
+1806.
+
+[12] In this connection we may give the following extract from _Ancient
+Laws and Institutes of Wales_, etc., etc., printed by command of his
+late Majesty King William IV, under the direction of the commissioners
+on the Public Records of the Kingdom. MDCCCXLI. Folio. From page
+369.--The Gwentian[13] Code.
+
+"A woman of full age who goes with a man clandestinely, and taken by him
+to bush, or brake, or house, and after connection deserted; upon
+complaint made by her to her kindred, and to the courts, is to receive,
+for her chastity, a bull of three winters, having its tail well shaven
+and greased and then thrust through the door-clate; and then let the
+woman go into the house, the bull being outside, and let her plant her
+foot on the threshold, and let her take his tail in her hand, and let a
+man come on each side of the bull; and if she can hold the bull, let her
+take it for her _wynet-werth_[14] and her chastity; and, if not, let her
+take what grease may adhere to her hands."
+
+[13] _Gwent_, the appellation of the district in Wales inhabited by the
+Silures, comprised the diocese of Landav.
+
+[14] This word means _face shame_ or _face worth_.
+
+[15] A good honest word, which although not exactly English, is at least
+first cousin to our _quest_, and _quiz_, etc.
+
+Worcester gives the following: "†Quēse, _v. a._, to search after.
+_Milton_." [obsolete ē long, s like z.] Quĕst, _v. n._, to join search.
+_B. Jonson_. †Quĕster, _n._, a seeker. _Rowe_.
+
+Is it not allowable to derive from one of these words Quēsing, or
+Quĕsting, pronounced Qweesting, and from the other Quĕsting [è short]?
+So that he who went _queesting_ was simply _searching after_ a wife,
+understood.
+
+[16] These are two very small islands at the opening of the Zuider zee.
+
+[17] From _The Student and Intellectual Observer_, London, November
+number, 1868, p. 310, in article by Thomas Wright, F.S.A. Chapter
+vii--_Womankind in all Ages of Western Europe_, etc.
+
+[18] _Cottages of the Alps_ (London, 1860), pages 77, 91, 132.
+
+[19] _New Voyage to North America, giving a full Account of the Customs,
+Commerce, Religion and Strange Opinions of the Savages of that Country_,
+etc., etc. Written by Baron Lahontan, Lord Lieutenant of the French
+Colony at _Placentia_, in Newfoundland, now in England. London, 1703.
+
+In describing the amatory customs of the Indians of this country, the
+author says (Vol. II, p. 37):
+
+"You must know further, that Two Hours after Sunset the Old
+Supperannuated Persons, or Slaves (who never lie in their Masters' Huts)
+take care to cover up the Fire before they go. 'Tis then that the Young
+Savage comes well wrapt up to his Mistress's Hut, and lights a sort of a
+Match at the Fire; after which he opens the Door of his Mistress's
+Apartment and makes up to her bed: If she blows out the light, he lies
+down by her; but if she pulls her Covering over her Face, he retires;
+that being a Sign that she will not receive him."
+
+[20] Verily, Peters's sarcasm savors as much of truth as humor when,
+speaking of bundling, he says: "The Indians who had this method of
+courtship among them in 1634, are the most chaste set of people in the
+world. Concubinage and fornication are vices none of them are addicted
+to, except such as forsake the laws of Hobbamockon and turn Christians.
+The savages have taken many female prisoners, carried them back three
+hundred miles into their country, and kept them several years, and yet
+not a single instance of their violating the laws of chastity has ever
+been known. This cannot be said of the French, or of the English,
+whenever Indian or other women have fallen into their hands."
+
+[21] "Great jealousy did they likewise stir up by their intermeddling
+and successes among the divine sex; for being a race of brisk, likely,
+pleasant tongued varlets, they soon seduced the light affections of the
+simple lasses from their ponderous Dutch gallants. Among other hideous
+customs, they attempted to introduce among them that of _bundling_,
+which the Dutch lasses of the Nederlandts, with that eager passion for
+novelty and foreign fashions natural to their sex, seemed very well
+inclined to follow, but that their mothers, being more experienced in
+the world, and better acquainted with men and things, strenuously
+discountenanced all such outlandish innovations."
+
+[22] By Washington Irving, p. 211. 4th Am. edition.
+
+[23] Dr. Andrew Burnaby. _Travels through the Middle Settlements in
+North America, in the years 1759 and '60_. London, 1775.
+
+[24] _The Portfolio_ (Philadelphia, May 1816), p. 397.
+
+[25] _Terences Plays_ were preferred to those of Plautus, for this
+purpose, inasmuch as the latter were more obscure, and abounded in
+obsoletisms, and therefore Terence was preferred in England as the
+text-book for schools.
+
+[26] Ireland.
+
+[27] _The Reviewers Reviewed, or British Falsehoods detected by American
+Truths_ (New York, published by R. McDermot and D. D. Arden, No. 1, City
+Hotel, Broadway, 1815, 12mo, 72), pp. 34, 35.
+
+[28] The Right Honorable Sir George Canning, the editor of the _London
+Quarterly Review_.
+
+[29] _Travels through the Interior Parts of America; in a Series of
+Letters_ (by an officer; a new edition, London, 1781, 8vo), vol. II, pp.
+37-40.
+
+[30] _Anbury's Travels_, pp. 87, 88.
+
+[31] _History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Conn.,_ p. 495.
+
+[32] The Rev. Alonzo B. Chapin, in his _History of Ancient Glastenbury,
+Conn._ (p. 80), says that the church records, during the pastorate of
+the Rev. John Eels [1759-1791], "compel us to believe that the influence
+of the French war had been as unfavorable to morals as destructive to
+life; and that the absurd practice of _bundling_ prevalent in those
+days, was not infrequently attended with the consequences that might
+have been expected, and that both together, aided by a previous growing
+laxity of morals, and accelerated by many concurrent causes, had rolled
+a tide of immorality over the land, which not even the bulwark of the
+church had been able to withstand. The church records of the first
+society, from 1760 to 1790, raise presumptions of the strongest kind,
+that then, as since, _incontinence_ and _intemperance_ were among the
+sins of the people. What the condition of things in Eastbury [an
+ecclesiastical society in the east part of Glastenbury] was, we have no
+means of knowing, _as that portion of the church records which treats of
+this point, was long ago_ carefully _removed_. [N.B. Italics are our
+own.] There is no reason, however, to suppose that this state of thing's
+was peculiar to Glastenbury, for there is too much evidence that it
+prevailed throughout the country."
+
+Mr. Chapin's deductions from the revelations of the Glastenbury records,
+will be fully justified by the experience and observation of every
+antiquarian who has had occasion to _dig deep_ among the civil and
+ecclesiastical records of almost any one of the older towns of New
+England. We have before us, while writing, a copy, made some years
+since, by ourselves, of the records of the first church of Woodstock,
+Conn., covering the period from 1727 to 1777, in which are a large
+number of entries, mostly the names of parties who made _confessions_ of
+this sort before that church. These cases occur most frequently between
+the years 1737 and 1770. Our own observation among the records of the
+old churches in Windsor and East Windsor, is, in effect, the same, and
+we have occasionally happened upon the original manuscript confessions
+of individuals read to the church before they were formally admitted to
+its communion.
+
+[33] _History of Dedham, Mass_, (by Erastus Worthington, 1827), page
+108. Under ministry of Rev. Jason Haven, ordained February 6, 1756.
+
+"Revolutionary times having produced a disposition to investigate all
+the former principles and opinions of men, in politics and church
+government, Mr. Haven caused the mode of admission into the church to be
+altered. This was done in 1793. The new method required the candidate to
+be propounded to the congregation by the minister. If no objections
+within fourteen days were made, he was then of course admitted. At the
+same time the church covenant and creed was altered, and made very
+general in its expressions. This creed had so few articles, that all
+persons professing and calling themselves Christians, would assent to it
+without any objections. The church had ever in this place required of
+its members guilty of unlawful cohabitation before marriage, a public
+confession of that crime before the whole congregation. The offending
+female stood in the broad aisle beside the partner of her guilt. If they
+had been married, the declaration of the man was silently assented to by
+the woman. This had always been a delicate and difficult subject for
+church discipline. The public confession, if it operated as a
+corrective, likewise produced merriment with the profane. I have seen no
+instance of a public confession for this fault, until the ministry of
+Mr. Dexter [1724-1755], and then they were extremely rare. In 1781 the
+church gave the confessing parties the privilege of making a private
+confession to the church, in the room of a public confession. In Mr.
+Havens ministry, the number of cases of unlawful cohabitation increased
+to an alarming degree. For twenty-five years before 1781, twenty-five
+cases had been publicly acknowledged before the congregation, and
+fourteen cases within the last ten years. This brought out the minister
+to preach on the subject from the pulpit. Mr. Haven, in a long and
+memorable discourse, sought out the cause of the growing sin, and
+suggested the proper remedy. He attributed the frequent recurrence of
+the fault to the custom then prevalent, of females admitting young men
+to their beds, who sought their company with intentions of marriage. And
+he exhorted all to abandon that custom, and no longer expose themselves
+to temptations which so many were found unable to resist.
+
+"The immediate effect of this discourse on the congregation has been
+described to me, and was such as we must naturally suppose it would be.
+A grave man, the beloved and revered pastor of the congregation, comes
+out suddenly on his audience, and discusses a subject on which mirth and
+merriment only had been heard, and denounces a favorite custom. The
+females blushed and hung down their heads. The men, too, hung down their
+heads, and now and then looked out from under their fallen eyebrows, to
+observe how others supported the attack. If the outward appearance of
+the assembly was somewhat composed, there was a violent internal
+agitation in many minds. And now, when forty-five years have expired,
+the persons who were present at the delivery of that sermon, express its
+effects by saying: 'How queerly I felt!' 'What a time it was!' 'This was
+close preaching indeed!' The custom was abandoned. The sexes learned to
+cultivate the proper degree of delicacy in their intercourse, and
+instances of unlawful cohabitation in this town since that time have
+been extremely rare."
+
+[34] _Butler's History of Groton_ (Pepperell & Shirley), page 174. At a
+church meeting, Feb. 29, 1739-40, the subject of compelling persons to
+confess themselves guilty of an offense, of which they said, "if not
+absolutely, yet next to impossible to convict them," was acted upon, and
+some relaxation made in the rule before adopted; but a part of the
+record is so worn as to be illegible.
+
+Page 177. June 1, 1761. "The church also at this meeting, voted in
+relation to the confession necessary to be made by parents, to entitle
+their children to the rite of baptism, who might be supposed to have
+committed the offence of which, in Mr. Trowbridge's time, they supposed
+that, 'if not absolutely, yet next to impossible to convict them,' not
+materially varying from a _seven-months_ rule heretofore adopted. These
+regulations were signed by the moderator, and assented to by the pastor
+elect."
+
+Page 181. "During Mr. Dana's ministry [1761-1775] 124 persons (38 males,
+86 females) were admitted to the church in full communion; 200 (77
+males, 123 females) owned the baptismal covenant. Of the first class, 14
+confessed having committed the offence aforementioned, and of the last
+class, 66, a proportion not indicative of good customs and morals."
+
+[35] A typographical mistake for _unruly_.
+
+[36] But this was as late as 1785 to 1790, when the custom was very near
+its end.
+
+[37] Another, when in his 96th year, in speaking of his knowledge of the
+custom, after answering all inquiries, voluntarily mentioned his own
+personal experience. "In my younger days," said he, and his voice
+trembled, more from emotion then age, "I was on the bed with as many as
+five or six young women, but I thank God, that in all my long life I
+have never had carnal knowledge of any but my lawfully wedded wives."
+
+[38] A physician who kept school _on the Cape_ many years ago, says
+(June, 1869): "It is forty years since I was engaged on the Cape in
+teaching school, and a friend of mine then related to me some of his
+experience in a long career of courtship which included _bundling_. The
+family left the happy couple alone. After sitting up till nine or ten
+o'clock, the lady secures the fire, takes a light and retires, saying,
+you know the way up stairs, turn to the right, etc. At a proper time he
+follows, finding her nicely snuggled under the bed clothes, having
+previously put on a very appropriate and secure night dress, made
+neither like a bloomer or mantilla, but something like a common dress,
+excepting the lower part, which is furnished with legs, like drawers,
+properly attached. The dress is drawn at the neck and waist with strings
+tied with a very strong knot, and over this is put the ordinary
+apparel."
+
+[39] _Caines' Cases_, II, 219; Seger _vs_. Slingerland.
+
+[40] In reply to a query addressed to Mr. Neal, who is still living at
+Portland, Maine, as to whether this letter was a _bona fide_
+communication, that gentleman says: "It was an actual communication from
+a correspondent. Who that correspondent was, I never knew, but I never
+entertained a doubt, and, in fact, find such internal evidence of good
+faith, that I should never question the facts set forth."
+
+[41] Sandy River is near Farmington, Franklin county, Maine.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bundling; Its Origin, Progress and
+Decline in America, by Henry Reed Stiles
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12885 ***
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+<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12885 ***</div>
+
+<h1><a name="Page_3"></a>BUNDLING;</h1>
+<h2>Its Origin, Progress and Decline
+In America.</h2>
+
+<h2>BY HENRY REED STILES, M.D.,</h2>
+<h4>AUTHOR OF HISTORY OF BROOKLYN, HISTORY OF WINDSOR, CT., ETC.</h4>
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;I find by all historians, whether ancient or modern,
+whom I consulted in searching for this work, the fact
+well recorded, and established beyond all controversy,
+that the Yankee nation are a set of talking, guessing,
+swapping and <i>bundling</i> sons of women.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><i>Grant Thorburn's Notes on Virginia</i>.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+
+<center>ALBANY:<br />
+KNICKERBOCKER PUBLISHING COMPANY.<br />
+1871.</center>
+
+<br />
+
+<center><a name="Page_4"></a>Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871,<br />
+BY HENRY R. STILES,<br />
+In the office of the Librarian of Congress,
+at Washington.</center>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4><a name="Page_5"></a>TO MY ESTEEMED FRIEND,<br />
+DEACON JABEZ H. HAYDEN,<br />
+OF WINDSOR LOCKS, CONNECTICUT,</h4>
+
+<br />
+
+<center>Whose jealous love of his native state, led him, in defense<br />
+of her good fame, to make some strictures<br />
+upon a statement relative to <i>bundling</i>, in my<br />
+<i>History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor,<br />
+Conn.</i>, which strictures (made and<br />
+taken in the kindest spirit of personal<br />
+friendship) set me upon<br />
+the further investigation<br />
+of this interesting<br />
+subject.</center>
+
+<h3><b>This Essay,</b></h3>
+
+<center>The result of that investigation, and the justification (as
+I claim) of my original statement,</center>
+
+<center>is</center>
+<center>MOST RESPECTFULLY</center>
+<center>DEDICATED</center>
+<center>BY THE</center>
+<center>AUTHOR</center>
+
+<br />
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<br />
+<a name="PREFATORY"></a><h2><a name="Page_6"></a>PREFATORY.</h2>
+
+<p>In the <i>History and Genealogies of Ancient
+Windsor, Conn.</i>, published in 1859, speaking
+of the influence of the old French wars upon
+the religious, moral and social life of New
+England, I used this language:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then came war, and young New England
+brought from the long Canadian campaigns,
+stores of loose camp vices and recklessness,
+which soon flooded the land with immorality
+and infidelity. The church was neglected,
+drunkenness fearfully increased, and social
+life was sadly corrupted. <i>Bundling</i>&mdash;that
+ridiculous and pernicious custom which pre<a name="Page_7"></a>vailed
+among the young to a degree which
+we can scarcely credit&mdash;sapped the fountain
+of morality and tarnished the escutcheons of
+thousands of families.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hereupon there came a buzzing around
+my ears. Divers good sons of Connecticut
+winced under the soft impeachment of having
+a bundling ancestry, and intimated that
+my sketch of society in the olden times was
+somewhat overdrawn. In 1861, an esteemed
+antiquarian friend in Connecticut wrote me
+as follows: &quot;Some of your friends feel that,
+in your <i>History of Windsor</i>, you showed too
+much inclination to malign, or at least
+ridicule, Connecticut institutions, though I
+think none of them accuse you of malice
+in the matter, and they fear that this subject
+of bundling cannot be ventilated with<a name="Page_8"></a>out
+endangering the fair fame of old Connecticut.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Upon that hint I speak. Although born
+in the city of New York, I am the son of
+Connecticut parents, and proud to trace my
+descent through six generations of honest,
+hard-working, God-fearing Connecticut yeomanry.
+By the mere accident of birth I
+cannot feel myself absolved from that allegiance
+to the Wooden Nutmeg State, which is
+imposed upon me by the ties of ancestry, of
+relationship, of youthful associations, and
+last, not least, by the deep interest which I
+have taken in the history of one of its eldest-born
+towns. I am, indeed, at this day, to
+all intents and purposes, as wholly and truly
+a Connecticut man as if born within her borders;
+and as proud of her past, as hopeful of
+<a name="Page_9"></a>her future, and as jealous of her reputation
+as any one could desire. I trust, therefore,
+that I may be allowed to disclaim any &quot;inclination
+to malign, or at least ridicule Connecticut
+institutions,&quot; a task which, in my
+case, would savor of ingratitude, and which
+I should consider unworthy of my humble
+pen.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot but think, also, that those who
+have found, or think that they have found,
+an inimical design in any pleasantries in
+which I may have indulged while describing
+the customs and manners of by-gone days&mdash;have
+betrayed a <i>thin-skinnedness</i>, and an
+ignorance of the true glory of Connecticut
+history, when they imagine that her fair
+fame can be seriously tarnished by the fly-specks
+of certain customs&mdash;at no time without
+<a name="Page_10"></a>their vigorous opponents&mdash;and long since
+rendered obsolete by the march of improvement.</p>
+
+<p>The fun of the thing, however, is, that the
+sentence which has thus called forth the animadversions
+of the critics, will be found, with
+its context, on closer examination, to have
+applied to the <i>New England Colonies</i>, and
+not to Connecticut alone! In their haste to
+vindicate the land of steady habits, they seem
+to have assumed more than their share of
+the reproach involved in my simple historical
+statement.</p>
+
+<p>As for myself, I am no believer in the
+theory that the objectionable portions of history
+should be kept in the background, and
+that only the bright side should be turned
+towards the world.  If, as one has happily
+<a name="Page_11"></a>said, &quot;history is experience teaching by example,&quot;
+we most surely need to have both
+sides fairly presented to us before we can
+properly extract therefrom the lesson of good
+or of evil which is therein taught. It is unnecessary
+to pursue the argument further.
+Suffice it to say, that perfection is as little
+to be expected in the history of a state or a
+community, as in the life of an individual.
+As to our ancestors, we must take them as
+history shows them to us&mdash;&quot;men of like
+passions with ourselves,&quot; and &quot;in all respects
+tempted as we are,&quot; yet neither worse, nor,
+again, very much purer or better than ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>In this spirit I have undertaken to trace,
+in the following pages, the origin, progress
+and decline of the custom of bundling in
+<a name="Page_12"></a>America, together with such facts as clearly
+prove that it was not confined to this continent,
+but prevalent in various countries of
+the world.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>H.&nbsp;R.&nbsp;S.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<br />
+<a name="BUNDLING"></a><h2>BUNDLING.</h2>
+<a name="Page_13"></a>
+<div class="blkquot"><p>BUNDLING. &quot;A man and a woman lying on the same bed
+with their clothes on; an expedient practiced in
+America on a scarcity of beds, where, on such occasions,
+husbands and parents frequently permitted travellers
+to <i>bundle</i> with their wives and daughters.&quot;&mdash;<i>Grose,
+Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue</i>.</p>
+
+<p>BUNDLE, <i>v.i.</i> &quot;To sleep on the same bed without undressing;
+applied to the custom of a man and woman,
+especially lovers, thus sleeping.&quot;&mdash;<i>Webster, 1864</i>.</p>
+
+<p>BUNDLE, <i>v.n.</i> &quot;To sleep together with the clothes on.&quot;&mdash;<i>Worcester, 1864</i>.</p></div>
+
+<p>Bundling, as may be seen from the above
+quoted definitions, was practiced in two forms:
+first, between <i>strangers</i>, as a simple domestic
+make-shift arrangement, often arising from the
+necessities of a new country, and by no means
+peculiar to America; and, secondly, between
+<i>lovers</i>, who shared the same couch, with the
+mutual understanding that innocent endearments
+<a name="Page_14"></a>should not be exceeded. It was, however, in
+either case, a custom of convenience.</p>
+
+<p>We may notice, in this connection, that it is
+very common, even at the present day, in New
+England, to speak of one as having &quot;bundled in
+with his clothes on,&quot; if he goes to bed without
+undressing; as, for instance, if he came home
+drunk, or feeling slightly ill, lay down in the
+daytime, or in a cold night found the blankets
+too scanty.</p>
+
+<p>The point which first claims our attention in
+the discussion of this custom, is its probable
+<i>origin</i>, and its <i>antiquity</i> in</p>
+<br />
+
+<h4>THE BRITISH ISLES.</h4>
+
+<br />
+
+<p>For, though British travelers have uniformly endeavored
+to fix the odium of this custom upon
+us their transatlantic cousins, as being peculiarly
+&quot;An American institution,&quot; it is, nevertheless,
+an indisputable fact that bundling has for centuries
+flourished within their own kingdom.
+<a name="Page_15"></a>For what else, in fact, was that universal custom
+of promiscuous sleeping together which prevailed
+among the ancient Britons at the time of the
+Roman conquest, and which led C&aelig;sar to consider
+them as polyandrous polygamists, and other
+ancient writers to give them an unenviable character
+for morality?<a name="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1">[1]</a> Bundling, of course! in
+its rudest aboriginal form.</p>
+
+<p>As to its moral aspects, being more charitably
+inclined towards our British friends than they
+oftentimes are to us, we are willing to accept
+Logan's defense of their ancestors. &quot;The custom,&quot;
+he says, &quot;which continued until lately in
+some parts, and yet exists among a few of the
+<a name="Page_16"></a>rudest, who sleep altogether on straw or rushes,
+according to the general ancient practice, there
+is reason to believe, led to the aspersion cast on
+the British and Irish tribes. How natural it
+must have been for a casual observer to suppose,
+from seeing men and women reposing in the
+same place, that the marriage rites were not in
+force. To judge of the ancient inhabitants by
+the rudest of the present Highlanders and Irish,
+who often sleep in the same apartment, and are
+sometimes exposed to each other in a state of
+semi-nudity, we should not come to a conclusion
+unfavorable to their morality,<a name="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2">[2]</a> for this mode of
+<a name="Page_17"></a>life is not productive of that conjugal infidelity
+which St. Jerome and others insinuate as preva<a name="Page_18"></a>lent
+among the old Scots. *&nbsp;*&nbsp;* Nations
+that are even in a savage state are sometimes
+<a name="Page_19"></a>found more sensitive on that point of honor than
+nations more advanced in civilization; and all,
+<a name="Page_20"></a>perhaps, that can be admitted is, that certain
+formalities may have been practiced by the
+Britons, from which the <i>bundling</i> of the Welsh,
+and the <i>hand-fasting</i> in some parts of Scotland,
+are derived. The conversation which took place
+between the Empress Julia and the wife of a
+Caledonian chief, as related by Xiphilin, cer<a name="Page_21"></a>tainly
+evinces a grossness and indelicacy in the
+amours of the British ladies, if true; but it appears
+to be a reply where wit and reproof were
+more aimed at than truth. The case of the Empress
+Cartismandua shows the nice feeling of the
+Britons as to the propriety of female conduct.
+The respect of the Germans for their females,
+and the severity with which they visited a deviation
+from virtue, have been described; and the
+further testimony of Tacitus may be adduced,
+who says that but very few of the greatest dignity
+chose to have more than one wife, and when
+they did it was merely for the honor of alliance.
+It may be here stated that the Ga&euml;ls have no
+word to express cuckold, and that prostitutes
+were, by Scots' law, like that of the ancient
+Germans, thrown into deep wells; and a woman
+was not permitted to complain of an assault if
+she allowed more than one night to elapse before
+the accusation.&quot;&mdash;<i>Logan's Scottish Ga&euml;l</i>, 5th Am.
+edition, p. 472.<a name="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_22"></a>Indeed, whatever may have been the real state
+of morality among the ancient Scotch and Irish&mdash;and
+it is quite probable that it has been unfairly
+depicted by casual and prejudiced observers&mdash;the
+ancient custom of bundling, which has been
+handed down from earliest times, has not greatly
+contaminated their descendants of the present
+day. For, whatever their national vices, the
+Scotch and Irish of our day maintain a character
+for chastity superior to that of many of their
+more fortunate and more civilized neighbors.
+Bundling, as now practiced in these kingdoms, is
+<a name="Page_23"></a>merely a matter arising from the ignorance, or
+the poverty of the inhabitants; and, while not
+salutary in its moral or physical influence, is, at
+all events, less abused than we might reasonably
+expect.</p>
+
+<p>In regard to</p>
+<br />
+
+<h4>WALES.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>We learn from Woodward's admirable history
+of that kingdom, the following facts concerning
+the domestic habits of its people in the twelfth
+century:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;At night a bed of rushes was laid down along
+one side of the room, covered with a coarse kind
+of cloth, made in the country, called <i>brychan;</i>
+and all the household lay down on this bed in
+common, without changing their dresses. The
+fire was kept burning through the night, and the
+sleepers maintained their warmth by lying
+closely; and when, by the hardness of their
+couch, one side was wearied, they would get up and
+<a name="Page_24"></a>sit by the fire awhile, and then lie down again on
+the other side. It is to this custom of promiscuous
+sleeping, that some of the worst habits of the
+Welsh at the present day may be ascribed; and
+from the same custom which their forefathers,
+the ancient Britons, practiced, arose C&aelig;sar's
+supposition that they were polyandrous polygamists.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>These habits, which were a matter of necessity
+with the ancient Welsh, have become converted,
+by the lapse of time, among their descendants
+of the present day, into an amatory
+custom precisely similar to that practiced formerly
+in New England.<a name="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_25"></a>A tourist through Wales, in the year 1797,<a name="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7">[7]</a>
+thus speaks of the Welsh <i>bundling</i>: &quot;And here,
+amongst the usages and customs, I must not
+omit to inform you that what you have, perhaps,
+often heard, without believing, respecting the
+<i>mode of courtship</i> amongst the Welsh peasants, is
+true. The lower order of people do actually
+carry on their love affairs in bed, and what would
+extremely astonish more polished lovers, they
+are carried on honorably, it being, at least, as
+usual for the Pastoras of the mountains to go
+from the bed of courtship to the bed of marriage
+as unpolluted and maidenly as the Chloes of
+fashion; and yet you are not to conclude that
+this proceeds from their being less susceptible of
+the <i>belle-passion</i> than their betters; or that the
+cold air which they breathe has 'froze the genial
+current of their souls.' By no means; if they
+<a name="Page_26"></a>cannot boast the voluptuous languor of an Italian
+sky, they glow with the bracing spirit of a more
+invigorating atmosphere. I really took some
+pains to investigate this curious custom, and
+after being assured, by many, of its veracity, had
+an opportunity of attesting its existence with my
+own eyes. The servant maid of the family I
+visited in Caernarvonshire, happened to be the
+object of a young peasant, who walked eleven
+long miles every Sunday morning to favor his
+suit, and regularly returned the same night
+through all weathers, to be ready for Monday's
+employment in the fields, being simply a day
+laborer. He usually arrived in time for morning
+service, which he constantly attended, after
+which he escorted his Dulcinea home to the
+house of her master, by whose permission they
+as constantly passed the succeeding hour in bed,
+according to the custom of the country. These
+tender sabbatical preliminaries continued without
+interruption near two years, when the treaty
+of alliance was solemnized, and, so far from any
+<a name="Page_27"></a>breach of articles happening in the meantime, it
+is most likely that it was considered by both
+parties as a matter of course, without exciting
+any other idea. On speaking to my friend on
+the subject, he observed that, though it certainly
+appeared a dangerous mode of making love, he
+had seen so few <i>living</i> abuses of it, during six
+and thirty years' residence in that country, where
+it nevertheless had always, more or less, prevailed,
+he must conclude it was as innocent as any
+other. One proof of its being <i>thought</i> so by the
+parties, is the perfect ease and freedom with
+which it is done; no awkwardness or confusion
+appearing on either side; the most well-behaved
+and decent young woman going into it without a
+blush, and they are by no means deficient in modesty.
+What is pure in idea is always so in conduct,
+since bad actions are the common consequence
+of bad thoughts; and though the better
+sort of people treat this ceremony as a barbarism,
+it is very much to be doubted whether more <i>faux
+pas</i> have been committed by the Cambrian boors
+<a name="Page_28"></a>in this <i>free access</i> to the bed chambers of their
+mistresses, than by more fashionable Strephons
+and their nymphs in groves and shady bowers.
+The power of habit is perhaps stronger than the
+power of passion, or even of the charms which
+inspire it; and it is sufficient, almost, to say a
+thing is the <i>custom of a country</i>, to clear it from
+any reproach that would attach to an innovation.
+Were it the practice of a few only, and to be
+gratified by stealth, there would, from the strange
+construction of human nature, be more cause of
+suspicion; but being ancient, general, and carried
+on without difficulty, it is probably as little dangerous
+as a <i>t&ecirc;te a t&ecirc;te</i> in a drawing-room, or in
+any other full dress place where young people
+meet to say soft things to each other.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In an antiquarian tour by the Rev. W. Bingley,
+in 1804,<a name="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8">[8]</a> we also find the following description
+of this custom: &quot;The peasantry of part of
+<a name="Page_29"></a>Caernarvonshire, Anglesea, and Merionethshire,
+adopt a mode of <i>courtship</i> which, till within the
+last few years, was scarcely even heard of in
+England. It is the same that is common in
+many parts of America, and termed by the inhabitants
+of that country, <i>bundling</i>. The lover
+steals, under the shadow of the night, to the bed
+of the fair one, into which (retaining an essential
+part of his dress) he is admitted without any
+shyness or reserve. Saturday or Sunday nights
+are the principal times when this courtship takes
+place, and on these nights the men sometimes
+walk from a distance of ten miles or more to
+visit their favorite damsels. This strange custom
+seems to have originated in the scarcity of fuel,
+and in the unpleasantness of sitting together in
+the colder part of the year without a fire. Much
+has been said of the innocence with which these
+meetings are conducted, but it is a very common
+thing for the consequence of the interview to
+make its appearance in the world within two or
+three months after the marriage ceremony has
+<a name="Page_30"></a>taken place. The subject excites no particular
+attention among the neighbors, provided the
+marriage be made good before the living witness
+is brought to light. Since this custom is entirely
+confined to the laboring classes of the community,
+it is not so pregnant with danger as, on a
+first supposition, it might seem. Both parties
+are so poor that they are necessarily constrained
+to render their issue legitimate, in order to secure
+their reputation, and with a mode of obtaining
+a livelihood.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Another traveller<a name="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9">[9]</a> also mentions &quot;a singular
+custom that is said to prevail in Wales, relating
+to their mode of courtship, which is declared to
+be carried on in bed; and, what is more extraordinary,
+it is averred that the moving tale of
+love is agitated in that situation without endangering
+a breach in the preliminaries.&quot; Referring
+to Mr. Pratt's account of the custom,
+before quoted, he proceeds to remark:  &quot;Our
+<a name="Page_31"></a>companion, like every one else that we spoke
+with in Wales on the subject, at once denied the
+existence of this custom: that maids in many
+instances admitted male bed-fellows, he did not
+doubt; but that the procedure was sanctioned
+by <i>tolerated custom</i> he considered a gross misrepresentation.
+Yet in Anglesea and some parts
+of North Wales, where the original simplicity of
+manners and high sense of chastity of the natives
+is retained, he admitted <i>something of the kind</i>
+might appear. In those thinly inhabited districts
+a peasant often has several miles to walk after
+the hours of labor, to visit his mistress; those
+who have reciprocally entertained the <i>belle passion</i>
+will easily imagine that before the lovers
+grow tired of each other's company the night will
+be far enough advanced; nor is it surprising that
+a tender-hearted damsel should be disinclined to
+turn her lover out over bogs and mountains until
+the dawn of day. The fact is, that under
+such circumstances she admits a <i>consors lecti</i>,
+but not in <i>nudatum corpus</i>. In a lonely Welsh
+<a name="Page_32"></a>hut this bedding has not the alarm of ceremony;
+from sitting, or perhaps lying, on the hearth, they
+have only to shift their quarters to a heap of
+straw or fern covered with two or three blankets
+in a neighboring corner. The practice only
+takes place with <i>this view of accommodation</i>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Still another glimpse of this favorite Welsh
+custom is presented by a tourist in 1807.<a name="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10">[10]</a> He
+says:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;One evening, at an inn where we halted, we
+heard a considerable bustle in the kitchen, and,
+upon enquiry, I was let into a secret worth knowing.
+The landlord had been scolding one of his
+maids, a very pretty, plump little girl, for not
+having done her work; and the reason which
+she alleged for her idleness was, that her master
+having locked the street door at night, had prevented
+her lover enjoying the rights and delights
+of <i>bundling</i>, an amatory indulgence which, considering
+that it is sanctioned by custom, may be
+<a name="Page_33"></a>regarded as somewhat singular, although it is not
+exclusively of Welsh growth. The process is
+very simple; the gay Lothario, when all is silent,
+steals to the chamber of his mistress, who receives
+him in bed, but with the modest precaution
+of wearing her under petticoat, which is
+always fastened at the bottom&mdash;not unfrequently,
+I am told, by a sliding knot. It may astonish a
+London gallant to be told that this extraordinary
+experiment often ends in downright wedlock&mdash;the
+knot which cannot slide. A gentleman of
+respectability also assured me that he was obliged
+to indulge his female servants in these nocturnal
+interviews, and that too at all hours of the night,
+otherwise his whole family would be thrown into
+disorder by their neglect; the carpet would not
+be dusted, nor would the kettle boil. I think
+this custom should share the fate of the northern
+Welsh goats. *&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;* Habit has so reconciled
+the mind to the comforts of <i>bundling</i>, that
+a young lady who entered the coach soon after
+we left Shrewsbury, about eighteen years of age,
+<a name="Page_34"></a>with a serene and modest countenance, displayed
+considerable historical knowledge of the custom,
+without one touch of bashfulness.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>Thus much for Wales, where the custom seems
+to have been entirely confined to the lower
+classes of society, and where we have reason to
+think it still prevails to some extent to this day.<a name="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_35"></a>The same author whom we last quoted also
+speaks of a &quot;courtship similar to <i>bundling</i>, carried
+on in the islands of Vlie and Wieringen,</p>
+<br />
+
+<h4>IN HOLLAND,</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Under the name of <i>queesting</i>.<a name="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15">[15]</a> At night the
+lover has access to his mistress after she is in
+bed; and, upon an application to be admitted
+upon the bed, which of course is granted, he
+raises the quilt, or rug, and in this state <i>queests</i>,
+or enjoys a harmless chit-chat with her, and then
+<a name="Page_36"></a>retires. This custom meets with the perfect
+sanction of the most circumspect parents, and
+the freedom is seldom abused. The author
+traces its origin to the parsimony of the people,
+whose economy considers fire and candles as superfluous
+luxuries in the long winter evenings.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Hon. Henry C. Murphy of Brooklyn,
+N.&nbsp;Y., late United States minister at the Hague,
+has furnished us with the following note in relation
+to this Nederduitsche custom: &quot;As to
+its being a Dutch custom, it was so to a limited
+extent in Holland in former times, and may yet
+be, though I did not hear of it when I was there.
+Sewell gives the word <i>queesten</i>, or <i>kweesten</i>, in
+his dictionary, printed over a century ago. The
+word is defined in the dictionary of Wieland, the
+principal lexicographer in that country, as follows:
+'<i>Kweesten</i>. Upon the islands of Texel
+and Vlieland<a name="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16">[16]</a> they use this word for a singular
+custom of wooing, by which the doors and
+<a name="Page_37"></a>windows are left open, and the lover, lying or
+sitting outside the covering, woos the girl who is
+underneath.' Sewell confines the custom to certain
+islands or lands near the sea.&quot;</p>
+<br />
+
+<h4>LOVE AND COURTSHIP IN THE 14TH CENTURY.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>In feudal times, in the last part of the fourteenth
+century, it became the practice for the
+vassals, or feudatories, to send their sons to be
+educated in the family of the suzerain, while the
+daughters were similarly placed with the lady of
+the castle. These formed a very important part
+of the household, and were of gentle blood,
+claiming the honorary title of <i>chambri&eacute;res</i> or
+chamber-maidens. The demoiselles of this period
+were very susceptible to the passion of love,
+which was the ruling spirit of the inmates of the
+castle. Feudal society was, in comparison to
+the previous times, polished and even brilliant,
+but it was not, under the surface, pure. Many
+good maxims were taught, but they were not all
+practiced.  &quot;There was an extreme intimacy
+<a name="Page_38"></a>between the two sexes, who commonly visited
+each other in their chambers or bedrooms.
+Thus in the poem of Guatier d'Aupias, the hero
+is represented as visiting in her chamber the
+demoiselle of whom he is enamored. Numerous
+similar examples might be quoted. At times,
+one of the parties is described as being actually
+in bed, as is the case in the romance of <i>Blonde of
+Oxford</i>, where Blonde visits Jehan in his chamber
+when he is in bed, and stays all night with
+him, in perfect innocence as we are told in the
+romance. We must remember that it was the
+custom in those times for both sexes to go to bed
+perfectly naked.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17">[17]</a></p>
+<br />
+
+<h4>IN SWITZERLAND,</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>According to an English observer,<a name="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18">[18]</a> analogous
+modes of courtship still exist. In speaking of
+<a name="Page_39"></a>the canton <i>Unterwald</i> he says: &quot;In the story of
+the destruction of the castles, we read that the
+surprise was effected by a young girl admitting
+her lover to her room by a ladder, and an English
+guide-book remarks, that this is still the fashion
+of receiving lovers in Switzerland. Reference
+is had to the manner of wooing, which in some
+cantons is called <i>lichtgetren</i>, in others <i>dorfen</i> and
+<i>stubetegetren</i>, and answers to the old-fashioned
+<i>going-a-courting</i> in England. The customs connected
+with it vary in different cantons, but exist
+in some form in all except two or three.</p>
+
+<p>In the canon <i>Lucerne</i>, the <i>kiltgang</i> is the universal
+mode of wooing; the lover visiting his
+betrothed in the evening, to be pelted on the way
+by all mischievous urchins; or if he is seated
+quietly with her by the winter fire, they are sure
+to be serenaded by all manner of <i>cat voices</i> under
+the window, which are continued till he issues
+forth, perhaps at dawn in the morning; and however
+long may be a courtship, these <i>cater-waulings</i>
+are the invariable attendants, and not the
+<a name="Page_40"></a>most lamentable consequences of these nightly
+visits, recognized, however, as entirely respectable
+and conventional in every canton.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And again in the canton <i>Vaud</i>, he says, &quot;the
+<i>kiltgang</i>, or nightly wooings, are the universal
+custom with the universal consequences, but in
+general the wife is treated with marked respect,
+is made keeper of the treasury, and consulted as
+the oracle of the family.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Among the amatory customs of various</p>
+<br />
+
+<h4>SAVAGE NATIONS</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>and tribes, there are certain which somewhat
+resemble <i>bundling</i>, except in the greater degree
+of freedom allowed&mdash;a freedom which, in the
+eyes of civilized nations, is absolute immorality.
+Of this description is the manner of wooing
+described by La Hontan as prevalent among the
+Indians of North America.<a name="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_41"></a>Yet, in many of these instances, if we were
+to carefully examine the social system and customs
+of our savage friends, and were willing to
+judge them rather by the results of our own observation,
+than by our preconceived opinions, we
+should probably find that the absolute <i>practical
+morality</i> of these <i>untutored natives</i>, was quite
+equal, if not superior, to that of the educated
+and civilized whites.<a name="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_42"></a>Among these <i>customs de amour</i>, however, to
+which we have alluded as existing among different
+savage tribes, there are none which bear so perfect
+a resemblance to <i>bundling</i>, as that described
+by Masson in his <i>Journeys in Central Asia, Belochistan,
+Afghanistan,</i> etc. (III, 287.) He says:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Many of the Afghan tribes have a custom of
+wooing similar to what in Wales is known as <i>bundling-up</i>,
+and which they term <i>namzat bez&eacute;</i>. The
+lover presents himself at the house of his betrothed
+with a suitable gift, and in return is allowed
+to pass the night with her, on the understanding
+that innocent endearments are not to be
+exceeded.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Spencer St. John tells us, in speaking of the
+piratical and ferocious Sea Dayaks of Borneo,
+that &quot;besides the ordinary attention which a
+<a name="Page_43"></a>young man is able to pay to the girl he desires to
+make his wife&mdash;as helping her in her farm work,
+and in carrying home her load of vegetables or
+wood, as well as in making her little presents, as
+a ring or some brass chain-work with which the
+women adorn their waists, or even a petticoat&mdash;there
+is a very peculiar testimony of regard
+which is worthy of note. About nine or ten at
+night, when the family is supposed to be fast
+asleep within the musquito curtains in the private
+apartments, the young man quietly slips
+back the bolt by which the door is fastened on
+the inside, and enters the room on tiptoe. On
+hearing who it is, she rises at once, and they sit
+conversing together and making arrangements for
+the future, in the dark, over a plentiful supply of
+<i>sirih-leaf</i> and <i>batle-nut</i>, which it is the gentleman's
+duty to provide, for his suit is in a fair way
+to prosper; but if, on the other hand, she rises
+and says, 'be good enough to blow up the fire,'
+or 'light the lamp' (a bamboo filled with resin),
+then his hopes are at an end, as that is the usual
+<a name="Page_44"></a>form of dismissal. Of course, if this kind of
+nocturnal visit is frequently repeated, the parents
+do not fail to discover it, although it is a point of
+honor among them to take no notice of their
+visitor; and, if they approve of him, matters
+then take their course, but if not, they use their
+influence with their daughter to ensure the utterance
+of the fatal 'please blow up the fire.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And now, having discussed the custom of
+bundling as it formerly existed in Great Britain,
+and having proved its identity with the <i>queesting</i>
+of Holland, and the <i>namzat bez&eacute;</i> of Central Asia,
+we propose to follow our investigations to the
+continent of America, and to trace, if we can,
+its origin and progress in the</p>
+<br />
+
+<h4>UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>in doing which, it is quite likely that, we follow
+the identical line of travel and colonization&mdash;viz:
+from Old to New England, and from Netherlands
+(the father-land) to New Nether<a name="Page_45"></a>lands&mdash;by
+which the custom of bundling was
+really transplanted to these western shores. For,
+although the grave and (sometimes) veracious
+historian of New York, Diedrich Knickerbocker,
+hath endeavored to fasten upon the Connecticut
+settlers the odium of having introduced the
+custom into New Netherland,<a name="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21">[21]</a> to the great
+offense of all properly disposed people; yet we
+may reasonably doubt whether the young mynheers
+and frauliens of New Amsterdam, in that
+day, were any more innocent of this lover's pastime,
+than their vivacious Connecticut neighbors.
+Indeed, can it be for one moment sup<a name="Page_46"></a>posed
+that the good Hollanders&mdash;a most unchanging
+and conservative race&mdash;should have
+been so far false to the traditions of their
+fathers, and the honor of the fatherland, as to
+leave behind them, when they crossed the seas,
+the good old custom of <i>queesting</i>, with its time-honored
+associations and delights? Or can it be
+imagined that those astute lawgivers and political
+economists, the early governors and burgomasters,
+were so blind to the necessities and
+interests of a new and sparsely populated country,
+as to forbid bundling within their borders?
+Indeed, it would be but a sorry compliment to
+the wisdom of that sagacious and far-sighted
+body of merchants comprised in the High and
+Mighty West India Company, to believe that
+they were unwilling to introduce under their
+benign auspices, a custom so intimately connected
+with their own national social habits, and so
+promising to the prospective interests and enlargement
+of their <i>new plantations</i>, as this. And, truly,
+Diedrich himself, doth, in another part of his
+<a name="Page_47"></a>book, inadvertently betray the fact that bundling
+was by no means a purely Yankee trick, for he
+speaks of the redoubtable Anthony Van Corlaer&mdash;purest
+of Dutchmen&mdash;as &quot;passing through
+Hartford, and Pyquag, and Middletown, and all
+the other border towns, twanging his trumpet like
+a very devil, so that the sweet valleys and banks
+of the Connecticut resounded with the warlike
+melody, and stopping occasionally to eat pumpkin
+pies, dance at country frolics, and <i>bundle</i> with the
+beauteous lasses of those parts, whom he rejoiced
+exceedingly with his soul-stirring instrument.&quot;
+Which passage, while it proves that the practice
+of bundling prevailed in Connecticut, proves
+equally well that Anthony the trumpeter was by
+no means inexperienced in its delights, nor unwilling
+to enjoy its comforts, whether under the
+name of <i>bundling</i> or <i>queesting</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, we do most truly believe that the cunning
+Knickerbocker, in his desire to vindicate, as
+he thought, the character of his race against the
+accusation of immorality, hath by his denial not
+<a name="Page_48"></a>only committed a grievous sin against &quot;the truth
+of history,&quot; but hath greatly added thereto, by
+attempting to foist off the opprobrium of the
+same on to the shoulders of the Connecticut
+folks. But history will not remain forever falsified,
+and the day has at length arrived when
+every historical tub must &quot;stand on its own bottom,&quot;
+and the world will henceforth know that
+the New Netherlanders did not take bundling by
+inoculation from the Yankees, but that they
+brought it with them to the New World, as an
+ancestral heirloom.</p>
+
+<p>This point being thus satisfactorily settled, to
+the honor of the Dutchman, and the extreme satisfaction
+of all future historians, we next proceed
+to investigate the bundling prevalent in</p>
+<br />
+
+<h4>THE NEW ENGLAND STATES,</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Where, as we have already shown, it was, as
+with the Dutchmen, an <i>inherited</i> custom. Its
+comparatively innocent and harmless character
+has, however, been fearfully distorted and ma<a name="Page_49"></a>ligned
+by irresponsible satirists, and prejudiced
+historians. Take, for example, the following
+passage from Knickerbocker's <i>History of New
+York</i>,<a name="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22">[22]</a> wherein he pretends to describe &quot;the
+curious device among these sturdy barbarians
+[the Connecticut colonists], to keep up a harmony
+of interests, and promote population.
+*&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;* They multiplied to a degree which
+would be incredible to any man unacquainted
+with the marvellous fecundity of this growing
+country. This amazing increase may, indeed,
+be partly ascribed to a singular custom prevalent
+among them, commonly known by the name of
+<i>bundling</i>&mdash;a superstitious rite observed by the
+young people of both sexes, with which they
+usually terminated their festivities, and which
+was kept up with religious strictness by the more
+bigoted and vulgar part of the community. This
+ceremony was likewise, in those primitive times,
+considered as an indispensable preliminary to
+<a name="Page_50"></a>matrimony; their courtships commencing where
+ours usually finish, by which means they acquired,
+that intimate acquaintance with each
+other's good qualities before marriage, which has
+been pronounced by philosophers the sure basis of
+a happy union. Thus early did this cunning and
+ingenious people display a shrewdness at making
+a bargain, which has ever since distinguished
+them, and a strict adherence to the good old
+vulgar maxim about 'buying a pig in a poke.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;To this sagacious custom, therefore, do I
+chiefly attribute the unparalleled increase of the
+Yanokie or Yankee tribe; for it is a certain fact,
+well authenticated by court records and parish
+registers, that wherever the practice of bundling
+prevailed, there was an amazing number of sturdy
+brats annually born unto the state, without
+the license of the law, or the benefit of clergy.
+Neither did the irregularity of their birth operate
+in the least to their disparagement. On
+the contrary, they grew up a long-sided, raw-boned,
+hardy race of whoreson whalers, wood
+<a name="Page_51"></a>cutters, fishermen, and peddlers; and strapping
+corn-fed wenches, who by their united efforts
+tended marvellously towards populating those
+notable tracts of country called Nantucket,
+Piscataway, and Cape Cod.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hear, also, that learned, but audacious and
+unscrupulous divine, the Rev. Samuel Peters,
+who thus discourseth at length upon the custom
+of bundling in Connecticut, and other parts of
+New England. After admitting that &quot;the women
+of Connecticut are strictly virtuous, and to be
+compared to the prude rather than the European
+polite lady,&quot; he says:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Notwithstanding the modesty of the females
+is such that it would be accounted the greatest
+rudeness for a gentleman to speak before a lady
+of a garter, knee, or leg, yet it is thought but a
+piece of civility to ask her to <i>bundle;</i> a custom
+as old as the first settlement in 1634. It is certainly
+innocent, virtuous and prudent, or the
+puritans would not have permitted it to prevail
+among their offspring, for whom in general they
+<a name="Page_52"></a>would suffer crucifixion. Children brought up
+with the chastest ideas, with so much religion as
+to believe that the omniscient God sees them in
+the dark, and that angels guard them when absent
+from their parents, will not, nay, cannot, act
+a wicked thing. People who are influenced more
+by lust, than a serious faith in God, who is too
+pure to behold iniquity with approbation, ought
+never to <i>bundle</i>. If any man, thus a stranger to
+the love of virtue, of God, and the Christian
+religion, should <i>bundle</i> with a young lady in New
+England, and behave himself unseemly towards
+her, he must first melt her into passion, and expel
+heaven, death, and hell, from her mind, or
+he will undergo the chastisement of negroes
+turned mad&mdash;if he escape with life, it will be
+owing to the parents flying from their bed to
+protect him. The Indians, who had this method
+of courtship when the English arrived among
+them in 1634, are the most chaste set of people
+in the world. Concubinage and fornication are
+vices none of them are addicted to, except such
+<a name="Page_53"></a>as forsake the laws of Hobbamockow and turn
+Christians. The savages have taken many female
+prisoners, carried them back three hundred
+miles into their country, and kept them several
+years, and yet not a single instance of their violating
+the laws of chastity has ever been known.
+This cannot be said of the French, or of the
+English, whenever Indian or other women have
+fallen into their hands. I am no advocate for
+temptation; yet must say, that <i>bundling</i> has prevailed
+160 years in New England, and, I verily
+believe, with ten times more chastity than the
+sitting on a sofa. I had daughters, and speak
+from near forty years' experience. <i>Bundling</i>
+takes place only in cold seasons of the year&mdash;the
+sofa in summer is more dangerous than
+the bed in winter. About the year 1756, Boston,
+Salem, Newport, and New York, resolving
+to be more polite than their ancestors, forbade
+their daughters <i>bundling</i> on the bed with any
+young man whatever, and introduced a sofa to
+render courtship more palatable and Turkish,
+<a name="Page_54"></a>whatever it was owing to, whether to the sofa,
+or any uncommon excess of the <i>feu d'esprit</i>, there
+went abroad a report that this <i>raffinage</i> produced
+more <i>natural consequences</i> then all the <i>bundling</i> among
+the boors with their <i>rurales pedantes</i>,
+through every village in New England besides.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;In 1776, a clergyman from one of the polite
+towns, went into the country, and preached
+against the unchristian custom of young men and
+maidens lying together on a bed. He was no
+sooner out of the church, then attacked by a
+shoal of good old women, with, 'Sir, do you
+think we and our daughters are naughty, because
+we allow <i>bundling?</i>' 'You lead yourselves into
+temptation by it.' They all replied at once, 'Sir,
+have you been told thus, or has experience
+taught it you?' The Levite began to lift up his
+eyes, and to consider of his situation, and bowing,
+said, 'I have been told so.' The ladies, <i>una
+voce</i>, bawled out, 'Your informants, sir, we conclude,
+are those city ladies who prefer a sofa to a
+bed: we advise you to alter your sermon, by
+<a name="Page_55"></a>substituting the word <i>sofa</i> for <i>bundling</i>, and on
+your return home preach it to them, for experience
+has told us that city folks send more
+children into the country without fathers or
+mothers to own them, than are born among us;
+therefore, you see, a sofa is more dangerous than
+a bed.' The poor priest, seemingly convinced
+of his blunder, exclaimed, '<i>Nec vitia nostra, neo
+remedia pati possumus</i>,' hoping thereby to get rid
+of his guests; but an old matron pulled off her
+spectacles, and, looking the priest in the face like
+a Roman heroine, said, '<i>Noli putare me h&aelig;c auribus
+tuis dare</i>.' Others cried out to the priest to
+explain his Latin. 'The English,' said he, 'is
+this: Wo is me that I sojourn in Meseck, and
+dwell in the tents of Kedar!' One pertly retorted,
+'<i>Gladii decussati sunt gemina presbyteri
+clavis</i>.' The priest confessed his error, begged
+pardon, and promised never more to preach
+against bundling, or to think amiss of the custom;
+the ladies generously forgave him, and
+went away.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_56"></a>It may seem very strange to find this
+custom of bundling in bed attended with so much innocence in New
+England, while in Europe it is thought not safe or scarcely decent to
+permit a young man and maid to be together in private anywhere. But in
+this quarter of the old world the viciousness of the one, and the
+simplicity of the other, are the result merely of education and habit.
+It seems to be a part of heroism, among the polished nations of it, to
+sacrifice the virtuous fair one, whenever an opportunity offers, and
+thence it is concluded that the same principles actuate those of the new
+world. It is egregiously absurd to judge all of all countries by one. In
+Spain, Portugal and Italy, jealousy reigns; in France, England, and
+Holland, suspicion; in the West and East Indies, lust; in New England,
+superstition. These four blind deities govern Jews, Turks, Christians,
+infidels, and heathen. Superstition is the most amiable. She sees no
+vice with approbation but persecution, and self-preservation is the
+cause of her seeing that. My <a name="Page_57"></a>insular readers will,
+I hope, believe me, when I tell them that I have seen, in the West
+Indies, naked boys and girls, some fifteen or sixteen years of age,
+waiting at table and at tea, even when twenty or thirty virtuous English
+ladies were in the room; who were under no more embarrassment at such an
+awful sight in the eyes of English people that have not traveled abroad,
+than they would have been at the sight of so many servants in livery.
+Shall we censure the ladies of the West Indies as vicious above all
+their sex, on account of this local custom? By no means; for long
+experience has taught the world that the West Indian white ladies are
+virtuous prudes. Where superstition reigns, fanaticism will be minister
+of state; and the people, under the taxation of zeal, will shun what is
+commonly called vice, with ten times more care than the polite and
+civilized Christians, who know what is right and what is wrong from
+reason and revelation. Happy would it be for the world, if reason and
+revelation were suffered <a name="Page_58"></a>to control the mind and
+passions of the great and wise men of the earth, as superstition does
+that of the simple and less polished! When America shall erect societies
+for the promotion of chastity in Europe, in return for the establishment
+of European arts in the American capitals, then Europe will discover
+that there is more Christian philosophy in American bundling than can be
+found in the customs of nations more polite.</p>
+
+<p>"I should not have said so
+much about bundling, had not a learned divine<a name="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23">[23]</a> of the English church
+published his travels through some parts of America, wherein this
+remarkable custom is represented in an unfavorable light, and as
+prevailing among the <i>lower class</i> of people. The truth is, the custom
+prevails among all classes, to the great honor of the country, its
+religion, and ladies. The virtuous may be tempted; but the tempter is
+despised. Why it should be thought <a name="Page_59"></a>incredible for a young man and young
+woman innocently and virtuously to lie down together in a bed with a
+great part of their clothes on, I cannot conceive. Human passions may be
+alike in every region; but religion, diversified as it is, operates
+differently in different countries. Upon the whole, had I daughters now,
+I would venture to let them <i>bundle</i> on the bed, or even on the sofa,
+after a proper education, sooner than adopt the Spanish mode of forcing
+young people to prattle only before the lady's mother the chitchat of
+artless lovers. Could the four quarters of the world produce a more
+chaste, exemplary and beautiful company of wives and daughters than are
+in Connecticut, I should not have remaining one favorable sentiment for
+the province. But the soil, the rivers, the ponds, the ten thousand
+landscapes, together with the virtuous and lovely women which now adorn
+the ancient kingdoms of Connecticote, Sassacus, and Quinnipiog, would
+tempt me into the highest wonder and admiration of them, could they once
+be freed of<a name="Page_60"></a>the skunk, the moping-owl, rattlesnake
+and fanatic Christian.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Or, to take another example of the abuse
+heaped by our English cousins upon this so-called
+&quot;American custom of bundling.&quot; We extract
+the following from an article entitled <i>British
+Abuse of American Manners</i>, published in 1815.<a name="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24">[24]</a>
+It seems that it had long been a custom in the
+Westminster school, in the city of London, for
+the senior students, who were about to leave that
+seminary for the university, at the age of sixteen
+to eighteen, to have an annual dramatic performance,
+which was generally a play of Terence.<a name="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25">[25]</a>
+To this, as annually performed, there was usually
+a Latin prologue, and also an epilogue composed
+for the occasion and this epilogue turned, for
+the most part, on the manners of the day that
+<a name="Page_61"></a>would bear the gentle correction of good humored
+satire, in elegant Latinity. In the epilogue presented
+at one of these exhibitions, about 1815,
+in connection with the performance of Terence's
+<i>Phormio</i>, the following balderdash (with much
+else, as applied to American life and manners)
+was introduced and spoken by these ingenuous
+and virtuous British youth, before a large and
+enlightened audience:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i6">&quot;Nec morum dicere promtum est,<br /></span>
+<span>Sit ratio simplex, sitne venusta magis.<br /></span>
+<span>&AElig;thiopissa palam mens&aelig; formulatur herili<br /></span>
+<span>In puris naturalibus, ut loquimur.<br /></span>
+<span>Vir braccis se bellus amat nudare d&eacute;cent&eacute;r,<br /></span>
+<span>Strenuus ut choreas ex-que-peditus agat.<br /></span>
+<span>Quid quod ibi; quod congere ipsis conque moveri<br /></span>
+<span>Dicitur, incolumi nempe pudiciti&acirc;,<br /></span>
+<span>Sponte su&acirc;, sine fraude, torum sese audet in unum.<br /></span>
+<span>Condere cum casto casta puelle viro?<br /></span>
+<span>Quid noctes coenaque De&ucirc;m? quid am&oelig;na piorum.<br /></span>
+<span>Concilia?&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><a name="Page_62"></a>Which being translated is as follows:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nor is it easy to say whether the tenor of
+their manners is more to be admired for simplicity
+or elegance; a negro wench, as we are
+told, will wait on her master at table in native
+nudity; and a beau will strip himself to the
+waist, that he may dance unincumbered, and
+with more agility. There, too, we hear of the
+practice of <i>bundling</i> without any infraction of
+female modesty; and the chaste maiden, without
+any deception, but with right good will, ventures
+to share the bed with her chaste swain! Oh,
+what nights and banquets, worthy of the gods!
+What delightful customs among these pious
+people?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But this spirit of misrepresentation and ridicule,
+so glaringly apparent in the foregoing extracts,
+and which has so universally characterized
+all those British travelers and authors who have
+attempted to describe our social habits and manners,
+is fitly rebuked, even as long ago as 1815,
+by an anonymous writer, whose trenchant pen
+<a name="Page_63"></a>reminds our British cousins of the old adage concerning
+&quot;those who live in glass houses,&quot; etc.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;From the time of Jack Cade,&quot; says he, &quot;to
+Lord George Gordon, and down to the present
+day, neither your <i>grave</i> or <i>gay</i> authorities on the
+subject of <i>bundling</i> and <i>tarrying</i> are worthy of
+criticism. There is a littleness in noticing, in the
+<i>London Quarterly Review</i>, a work which heretofore
+has been distinguished for its taste, chasteness
+and celebrity, the observation of travelers
+who, if men of truth, could only mean to mention
+customs (if they were customs) of the most
+vulgar and ignorant, which at any rate are now
+as little known as are the operation of the blue
+laws of Connecticut, or part of the penal code
+enacted to keep in slavery and subjection the
+sister kingdom.<a name="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Englishmen, examine your own cottages, particularly
+in the north, and on the borders, and
+extend your view to the western extremity of
+<a name="Page_64"></a>your island. Pray, what term will you give to
+that promiscuous bundling of the father, mother,
+children, sons and daughters-in-law, cousins, and
+inmates who call to <i>tarry</i>, and not unfrequently
+stretch themselves in one common bed of straw
+on the hovel's floor?<a name="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27">[27]</a></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, even, in some parts of your empire,
+the hogs and the cows join the group, and form
+a most audible respiration from their noses, getting
+vent through the hole in the roof intended
+for a chimney, or spreading throughout the clay
+built edifice with odorific sweetness, though perhaps
+not so fragrant and refreshing as was the
+precious oil poured on the venerable head of
+Aaron, which Sternhold and Hopkins tell us
+filled the room with pleasure. In the early settlement
+of this country there might have been
+houses in the route of the inquisitive and insidi<a name="Page_65"></a>ous
+European travelers, unprovided with a spare
+bed on which he might stretch his limbs; but,
+now, should Mr. Canning<a name="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28">[28]</a> himself visit us, he
+need not fear being <i>bundled</i>&mdash;he need not travel
+far in any part of the United States without enjoying
+the luxury of a soft couch and clean
+sheets, where he can ruminate on the injustice
+he attempts on our national character.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Badinage, ridicule and misrepresentation aside,
+however, there can be no reasonable doubt that
+<i>bundling</i> did prevail to a very great extent in
+the New England colonies from a very early
+date. It is equally evident that it was originally
+confined almost entirely to the lower classes of
+the community, or to those whose limited means
+compelled them to economize strictly in their
+expenditure of firewood and candlelight. Many,
+perhaps the majority, of the dwellings of the
+early settlers, consisted of but one room, in
+which the whole family lived and slept. Yet
+<a name="Page_66"></a>their innocent and generous hospitality forbade
+that the stranger, or the friend whom night overtook
+on their threshold, should be turned shelterless
+and couchless away, so long as they could
+offer him even half of a bed. As an example of
+this we may cite the case of Lieut. Anbury, a
+British officer, who served in America during
+the Revolutionary War, and whose letters preserve
+many sprightly and interesting pictures of
+the manners and customs of that period. In a
+letter dated at Cambridge, New England, November
+20, 1777, he thus speaks:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The night before we came to this town
+[Williamstown, Mass.], being quartered at a
+small log hut, I was convinced in how innocent
+a view the Americans look upon that indelicate
+custom they call <i>bundling</i>. Though they have
+remarkable good feather beds, and are extremely
+neat and clean, still I preferred my hard mattress,
+as being accustomed to it; this evening, however,
+owing to the badness of the roads, and the
+weakness of my mare, my servant had not
+<a name="Page_67"></a>arrived with my baggage at the time for retiring
+to rest. There being only two beds in the house,
+I inquired which I was to sleep in, when the
+old woman replied, 'Mr. Ensign,' here I should
+observe to you, that the New England people
+are very inquisitive as to the rank you have
+in the army; 'Mr. Ensign,' says she, 'our Jonathan
+and I will sleep in this, and our Jemima
+and you shall sleep in that.' I was much astonished
+at such a proposal, and offered to sit up
+all night, when Jonathan immediately replied,
+'Oh, la! Mr. Ensign, you wont be the first man
+our Jemima has bundled with, will it Jemima?'
+when little Jemima, who, by the bye, was a very
+pretty, black-eyed girl, of about sixteen or seventeen,
+archly replied, 'No, father, not by many,
+but it will be with the first Britainer' (the name
+they give to Englishmen). In this dilemma what
+could I do? The smiling invitation of pretty
+Jemima&mdash;the eye, the lip, the&mdash;Lord ha' mercy,
+where am I going to? But wherever I may
+be going now, I did not go to bundle with
+<a name="Page_68"></a>her&mdash;in the same room with her father and
+mother, my kind <i>host</i> and <i>hostess</i> too! I thought
+of that&mdash;I thought of more besides&mdash;to struggle
+with the passions of nature; to clasp Jemima
+in my arms&mdash;to&mdash;do what? you'll ask&mdash;why,
+to do&mdash;nothing! for if amid all these temptations,
+the lovely Jemima had melted into kindness,
+she had been an outcast from the world&mdash;treated
+with contempt, abused by violence, and
+left perhaps to perish! No, Jemima; I could have
+endured all this to have been blest with you,
+but it was too vast a sacrifice, when you was to
+be the victim! Suppose how great the test of
+virtue must be, or how cold the American constitution,
+when this unaccountable custom is in
+hospitable repute, and perpetual practice.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29">[29]</a></p>
+
+<p>Again, in a subsequent letter, the Lieutenant,
+after describing a New England sleighing frolic,
+says: &quot;In England this would be esteemed
+<a name="Page_69"></a>extremely imprudent, and attended with dangerous
+consequences; but, after what I have related
+respecting <i>bundling</i>, I need not say, in how
+innocent a view this is looked upon. Apropos,
+as to that custom, along the sea coast, by a continual
+intercourse among Europeans, it is in some
+measure abolished; but they still retain one
+something similar, which is termed <i>tarrying</i>.
+When a young man is enamored of a woman,
+and wishes to marry her, he proposes the affair
+to her parents (without whose consent no marriage,
+in this colony, can take place); if they
+have no objections, he is allowed to tarry with
+her one night, in order to make his court. At
+the usual time the old couple retire to bed, leaving
+the young ones to settle matters as they can,
+who having sat up as long as they think proper,
+get into bed together also, but without putting
+off their under garments; to prevent scandal. If
+the parties agree, it is all very well, the banns
+are published, and they married without delay;
+if not, they part, and possibly never see each
+<a name="Page_70"></a>other again, unless, which is an accident that
+seldom happens, the forsaken fair proves pregnant,
+in which case the man, unless he absconds,
+is obliged to marry her, on pain of excommunication.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p>The word <i>tarry</i>, in the sense of <i>to stop</i> or <i>to
+stay</i>, was more used by our ancestors than by the
+present generation; yet we think that Lieut.
+Anbury was mistaken in his idea that the <i>tarrying</i>
+was but for a single night. It is true that
+marriages were early, and probably the courtships
+were short, but we all know enough of
+New England <i>sparking</i> to know that a single
+night was cutting it rather short; and yet it is
+easy to see how Anbury should get his erroneous
+idea. True, if the lover was so unlucky as to
+get his final dismissal the first night, there was
+an end of the matter, and well might they fail to
+meet again; but, in that case, it is not likely that
+the favors of which he could boast would be
+<a name="Page_71"></a>such as to seriously affect the reputation of the
+girl with whom he tarried. The fact that in the
+custom of <i>tarrying</i>, the parties also <i>bundled</i>, does
+not authorize the synonymous use of the two
+words, which have nothing in common. For,
+doubtless many young men <i>tarried</i> with their
+sweethearts, who did not <i>bundle</i> with them.</p>
+
+<p>Again, when, on a sabbath night, the faithful
+swain arrived, having, perhaps, walked ten
+or more weary miles, to enjoy the company of
+his favorite lass, in the few brief hours which
+would elapse before the morning light should call
+him again to his homeward walk and his week of
+toil, was it not the dictate of humanity as well
+as of economy, which prompted the <i>old folks</i> to
+allow the approved and accepted suitor of their
+daughter to pursue his wooing under the downy
+coverlid of a good feather bed (oftentimes, too,
+in the very same room in which they themselves
+slept), rather than to have them <i>sit up</i> and <i>burn
+out uselessly</i> firewood and <i>candles</i>, to say nothing
+of the risk of catching their <i>death a' cold?</i> In<a name="Page_72"></a>deed,
+was not the sanction of bundling in such
+cases a tacit admission, on the part of the parents,
+of their perfect confidence in the young
+folks, which necessarily acted upon the latter as,
+at once, a strong restraint from wrong, and a
+strong incentive to right doing? The influence
+of early religious training, the powerful control
+which the church had obtained upon the social
+and domestic life of the people, and the superstitious
+aspect which, in those days, the gospel was
+made to wear, must also be taken into the
+account. And, moreover, is it not probable
+that the universality of the custom, which certainly
+cleared it from anything like odium or
+reproach, would naturally tend to preclude, in a
+degree, any improper ideas in the minds of those
+who practiced it? Such, then, we consider the
+<i>status</i> of the custom in the earlier history of the
+colonies, and among the <i>first generation</i> of settlers.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But,&quot; if the reader will allow us to quote
+from a previous work, &quot;the emigration from a
+<a name="Page_73"></a>civilized to a new country,<a name="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31">[31]</a> is necessarily a step
+backward into barbarism. The <i>second generation</i>
+did not fill the place of the fathers. Reared
+amid the trials and dangers of a new settlement,
+they were in a great measure deprived of the
+advantages, both social and educational, which
+their parents had enjoyed. Nearly all of the
+former could write, which cannot be said of
+their children. Neither did the latter possess
+that depth of religious feeling, or earnest practical
+piety which distinguished the first comers.
+Religion was to them less a matter of the heart
+than of social privilege, and in the <i>half way
+covenant</i> controversy we behold the gradual <i>letting
+down of bars</i> between a pure church and a
+grasping world.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The <i>third</i> generation followed in the footsteps
+of their predecessors. Then came war;
+and young New England brought from the long
+Canadian campaigns, stores of loose camp vices,
+<a name="Page_74"></a>and recklessness, which soon flooded the land
+with immorality and infidelity. The church was
+neglected, drunkenness fearfully increased, and
+social life was sadly corrupted.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32">[32]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_75"></a>It is not, therefore, a matter of surprise that
+bundling should, in the increased laxity of public
+morals, become more frequently abused. Its
+pernicious effects became constantly more apparent,
+and more decidedly challenged the attention
+of the comparatively few godly men who
+endeavored to stem and to control the rapidly
+widening current of immorality which threatened
+to overwhelm the land.<a name="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33">[33]</a> The powerful intel<a name="Page_76"></a>lect
+of Jonathan Edwards thundered its anathemas
+upon it; pious divines prayed against it in
+<a name="Page_77"></a>their closets, and wrestled with it in their pulpits;
+while many attempted by a revision of
+their church polity, by greater carefulness in the
+admission of members; by rules more stringently
+framed and enforced, to preserve, as best they
+might, the purity of the churches committed to
+their charge, and to make them, if it were possi<a name="Page_78"></a>ble,
+beacon lights amid the surrounding darkness
+of the times.<a name="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34">[34]</a> The task, however, was well nigh
+hopeless. The French wars were succeeded by
+that of the American Revolution, and not before
+the close of that struggle, may the custom
+of bundling be said to have received its deathblow,
+and even then it <i>died hard</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_79"></a>Its final disuse was brought about by a variety
+of causes, among which may be named the improved
+condition of the people after the Revolution,
+enabling many to live in larger and better
+warmed houses, and in the very few places
+where the ministers dared to touch the subject in
+the pulpit, as in Dedham, already referred to, a
+decided effect was produced, but it was confined
+to the neighborhood, having very little effect on
+the general custom. Probably no single thing
+tended so much to break up the practice as the
+publication of a song, or ballad, in an almanac,
+about 1785.</p>
+
+<p>This ballad described in a free and easy style
+the various plans adopted by those who bundled,
+and rather more than hinted at the results in certain
+cases. Being published in an almanac, it
+had a much larger circulation than could have
+been obtained for it in any other way (tract societies
+not being then in vogue), and the descriptions
+were so <i>pat</i>, that each one who saw them
+was disposed to apply them in a joking way to
+<a name="Page_80"></a>any other who was known to practice bundling;
+and the result was, such a general storm of
+banter and ridicule that no girl had the courage
+to stand against it, and continue to admit her
+lovers to her bed.</p>
+
+<p>We have found many persons who distinctly
+remember the publication of this song, and the
+effect which it had on the public mind, but all
+our efforts to find the almanac containing it, have
+proved of no avail.</p>
+
+<p>We have, however, been favored with the use
+of a broadside copy of a ballad, preserved among
+the treasures of the American Antiquarian Society,
+at Worcester, Massachusetts, which several
+of our ancient friends have recognized as
+identical with that in the almanac, one of them
+proving it by repeating from memory several lines
+from the Almanac version, which were precisely
+like that of the broadside, a copy of which we
+give herewith.</p>
+<br />
+<a name="Page_81"></a><center>A NEW BUNDLING SONG;</center>
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p><i>Or a reproof to those Young Country Women, who
+  follow that reproachful Practice, and to their Mothers
+  for upholding them therein</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Since bundling very much abounds,<br /></span>
+<span>In many parts in country towns,<br /></span>
+<span>No doubt but some will spurn my song,<br /></span>
+<span>And say I'd better hold my tongue;<br /></span>
+<span>But none I'm sure will take offence,<br /></span>
+<span>Or deem my song impertinence,<br /></span>
+<span>But only those who guilty be,<br /></span>
+<span>And plainly here their pictures see.<br /></span>
+<span>Some maidens say, if through the nation,<br /></span>
+<span>Bundling should quite go out of fashion,<br /></span>
+<span>Courtship would lose its sweets; and they<br /></span>
+<span>Could have no fun till wedding day.<br /></span>
+<span>It shant be so, they rage and storm,<br /></span>
+<span>And country girls in clusters swarm,<br /></span>
+<span>And fly and buz, like angry bees,<br /></span>
+<span>And vow they'll bundle when they please.<br /></span>
+<span>Some mothers too, will plead their cause,<br /></span>
+<span>And give their daughters great applause,<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_82"></a>And tell them, 'tis no sin nor shame,<br /></span>
+<span>For we, your mothers, did the same;<br /></span>
+<span>We hope the custom ne'er will alter,<br /></span>
+<span>But wish its enemies a halter.<br /></span>
+<span>Dissatisfaction great appear'd,<br /></span>
+<span>In several places where they've heard<br /></span>
+<span>Their preacher's bold, aloud disclaim<br /></span>
+<span>That bundling is a burning shame;<br /></span>
+<span>This too was cause of direful rout<br /></span>
+<span>And talk'd and told of, all about,<br /></span>
+<span>That ministers should disapprove<br /></span>
+<span>Sparks courting in a bed of love,<br /></span>
+<span>So justified the custom more,<br /></span>
+<span>Than e'er was heard or known before.<br /></span>
+<span>The pulpit then it seems must yield,<br /></span>
+<span>And female valor take the field,<br /></span>
+<span>In places where their custom long<br /></span>
+<span>Increasing strength has grown so strong;<br /></span>
+<span>When mothers herein bear a sway,<br /></span>
+<span>And daughters joyfully obey.<br /></span>
+<span>And young men highly pleased too,<br /></span>
+<span>Good Lord! what can't the devil do.<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_83"></a>Can this vile practice ne'er be broke?<br /></span>
+<span>Is there no way to give a stroke,<br /></span>
+<span>To wound it or to strike it dead.<br /></span>
+<span>And girls with sparks not go to bed<br /></span>
+<span>'Twill strike them more than preacher's tongue,<br /></span>
+<span>To let the world know what they've done<br /></span>
+<span>And let it be in common fame,<br /></span>
+<span>Held up to view a noted shame.<br /></span>
+<span>Young miss if this your practice be,<br /></span>
+<span>I'll teach you now yourself to see:<br /></span>
+<span>You plead you're honest, modest too,<br /></span>
+<span>But such a plea will never do;<br /></span>
+<span>For how can modesty consist,<br /></span>
+<span>With shameful practice such as this?<br /></span>
+<span>I'll give your answer to the life:<br /></span>
+<span>&quot;You don't undress, like man wife,&quot;<br /></span>
+<span>That is your plea, I'll freely own,<br /></span>
+<span>But whose your bondsmen when alone,<br /></span>
+<span>That further rules you will not break,<br /></span>
+<span>And marriage liberties partake?<br /></span>
+<span>Some really do, as I suppose,<br /></span>
+<span>Upon design keep on some clothes,<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_84"></a>And yet in truth I'm not afraid<br /></span>
+<span>For to describe a bundling maid;<br /></span>
+<span>She'll sometimes say when she lies down,<br /></span>
+<span>She can't be cumber'd with a gown,<br /></span>
+<span>And that the weather is so warm,<br /></span>
+<span>To take it off can be no harm:<br /></span>
+<span>The girl it seems had been at strift;<br /></span>
+<span>For widest bosom to her shift,<br /></span>
+<span>She gownless, when the bed they're in,<br /></span>
+<span>The spark, nought feels but naked skin.<br /></span>
+<span>But she is modest, also chaste,<br /></span>
+<span>While only bare from neck to waist,<br /></span>
+<span>And he of boasted freedom sings,<br /></span>
+<span>Of all above her apron strings.<br /></span>
+<span>And where such freedoms great are shar'd<br /></span>
+<span>And further freedoms feebly bar'd,<br /></span>
+<span>I leave for others to relate,<br /></span>
+<span>How long she'll keep her virgin state.<br /></span>
+<span>Another pretty lass we'll scan,<br /></span>
+<span>That loves to bundle with a man,<br /></span>
+<span>For many different ways they take,<br /></span>
+<span>Through modest rules they all will break.<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_85"></a>Some clothes I'll keep on, she will say,<br /></span>
+<span>For that has always been my way,<br /></span>
+<span>Nor would I be quite naked found,<br /></span>
+<span>With spark in bed, for thousand pound.<br /></span>
+<span>But petticoats, I've always said,<br /></span>
+<span>Were never made to wear in bed,<br /></span>
+<span>I'll take them off, keep on my gown,<br /></span>
+<span>And then I dare defy the town,<br /></span>
+<span>To charge me with immodesty,<br /></span>
+<span>While I so ever cautious be.<br /></span>
+<span>The spark was pleased with his maid,<br /></span>
+<span>Of apprehension quick he said,<br /></span>
+<span>Her witty scheme was keen he swore,<br /></span>
+<span>Lying in gown open before.<br /></span>
+<span>Another maid when in the dark,<br /></span>
+<span>Going to bed with her dear spark,<br /></span>
+<span>She'll tell him that 'tis rather shocking,<br /></span>
+<span>To bundle in with shoes and stockings.<br /></span>
+<span>Nor scrupling but she's quite discreet,<br /></span>
+<span>Lying with naked legs and feet,<br /></span>
+<span>With petticoat so thin and short,<br /></span>
+<span>That she is scarce the better for't;<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_86"></a>But you will say that I'm unfair,<br /></span>
+<span>That some who bundle take more care,<br /></span>
+<span>For some we may with truth suppose,<br /></span>
+<span>Bundle in bed with all their clothes.<br /></span>
+<span>But bundler's clothes are no defence,<br /></span>
+<span>Unly<a name="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35">[35]</a> horses push the fence;<br /></span>
+<span>A certain fact I'll now relate,<br /></span>
+<span>That's true indeed without debate.<br /></span>
+<span>A bundling couple went to bed.<br /></span>
+<span>With all their clothes from foot to head,<br /></span>
+<span>That the defence might seem complete,<br /></span>
+<span>Each one was wrapped in a sheet.<br /></span>
+<span>But O! this bundling's such a witch<br /></span>
+<span>The man of her did catch the itch,<br /></span>
+<span>And so provoked was the wretch,<br /></span>
+<span>That she of him a bastard catch'd.<br /></span>
+<span>Ye bundle misses don't you blush,<br /></span>
+<span>You hang your heads and bid me hush.<br /></span>
+<span>If you wont tell me how you feel,<br /></span>
+<span>I'll ask your sparks, they best can tell.<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_87"></a>But it is custom you will say,<br /></span>
+<span>And custom always bears the sway,<br /></span>
+<span>If I wont take my sparks to bed,<br /></span>
+<span>A laughing stock I shall be made;<br /></span>
+<span>A vulgar custom 'tis, I own,<br /></span>
+<span>Admir'd by many a slut and clown,<br /></span>
+<span>But 'tis a method of proceeding,<br /></span>
+<span>As much abhorr'd by those of breeding.<br /></span>
+<span>You're welcome to the lines I've penn'd,<br /></span>
+<span>For they were written by a friend,<br /></span>
+<span>Who'll think himself quite well rewarded,<br /></span>
+<span>If this vile practice is discarded.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The party in favor of bundling were able, too,
+to <i>keep a poet</i>, as is shown by the following ballad,
+which we transcribe from a printed copy preserved
+by the American Antiquarian Society.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_88"></a><center>A NEW SONG
+IN FAVOUR OF COURTING.</center>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Adam at first was form'd of dust,<br /></span>
+<span>As scripture doth record;<br /></span>
+<span>And did receive a wife call'd Eve,<br /></span>
+<span>From his Creator Lord.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>From Adam's side a crooked bride,<br /></span>
+<span>The Lord was pleas'd to form;<br /></span>
+<span>Ordain'd that they in bed might lay<br /></span>
+<span>to keep each other warm.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>To court indeed they had no need,<br /></span>
+<span>She was his wife at first,<br /></span>
+<span>And she was made to be his aid,<br /></span>
+<span>Whose origin was dust.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>This new made pair full happy were,<br /></span>
+<span>And happy might remain'd,<br /></span>
+<span>If his help mate had never ate,<br /></span>
+<span>The fruit that was restrain'd.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span><a name="Page_89"></a>Tho' Adam's wife destroy'd his life,<br /></span>
+<span>In manner that was awful;<br /></span>
+<span>Yet marriage now we all allow<br /></span>
+<span>To be both just and lawful.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>But women must be courted first,<br /></span>
+<span>Because it is the fashion,<br /></span>
+<span>And so at times commit great crimes,<br /></span>
+<span>Caus'd by a lustful passion.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>And now a days there are two ways,<br /></span>
+<span>Which of the two is right,<br /></span>
+<span>To lie between sheets sweet and clean,<br /></span>
+<span>Or sit up all the night;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>But some suppose bundling in clothes<br /></span>
+<span>Do heaven sorely vex;<br /></span>
+<span>Then let me know which way to go,<br /></span>
+<span>To court the female sex.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Whether they must be hugg'd or kiss'd<br /></span>
+<span>When sitting by the fire<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_90"></a>Or whether they in bed may lay,<br /></span>
+<span>Which doth the Lord require?<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>But some pretend to recommend<br /></span>
+<span>The sitting up all night;<br /></span>
+<span>Courting in chairs as doth appear<br /></span>
+<span>To them to be most right.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Nature's request is, grant me rest,<br /></span>
+<span>Our bodies seek repose;<br /></span>
+<span>Night is the time, and 'tis no crime<br /></span>
+<span>To bundle in your clothes,<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Since in a bed a man and maid,<br /></span>
+<span>May bundle and be chaste,<br /></span>
+<span>It does no good to burn out wood,<br /></span>
+<span>It is a needless waste.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Let coats and gowns be laid aside,<br /></span>
+<span>And breeches take their flight,<br /></span>
+<span>An honest man and woman can<br /></span>
+<span>Lay quiet all the night.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span><a name="Page_91"></a>In Genesis no knowledge is<br /></span>
+<span>Of this thing to be got,<br /></span>
+<span>Whether young men did bundle then,<br /></span>
+<span>Or whether they did not.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>The sacred book says wives they took,<br /></span>
+<span>It don't say how they courted,<br /></span>
+<span>Whether that they in bed did lay,<br /></span>
+<span>Or by the fire sported.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>But some do hold in times of old,<br /></span>
+<span>That those about to wed,<br /></span>
+<span>Spent not the night, nor yet the light<br /></span>
+<span>By fire, or in the bed.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>They only meant to say they sent<br /></span>
+<span>A man to chuse a bride,<br /></span>
+<span>Isaac did so, but let me know<br /></span>
+<span>Of any one beside.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Man don't pretend to trust a friend,<br /></span>
+<span>To choose him sheep and cows,<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_92"></a>Much less a wife which all his life<br /></span>
+<span>He doth expect to house.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Since it doth stand each man in hand,<br /></span>
+<span>To happify his life,<br /></span>
+<span>I would advise each to be wise,<br /></span>
+<span>And chuse a prudent wife.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Since bundling is not the thing,<br /></span>
+<span>That judgments will procure,<br /></span>
+<span>Go on young men and bundle then,<br /></span>
+<span>But keep your bodies pure.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>(Printed and sold by Nathaniel Coverly, Jun. Boston.)</p>
+<br />
+
+<p>The foregoing version is evidently not complete,
+several verses having been left out on
+account of their containing <i>more truth than
+poetry</i>, but these may be supplied from a manuscript
+copy, evidently made from memory, with
+considerable variations from the printed copy,
+which by no means improve it, though the schoolmaster
+did his best, and probably saved for us a
+<a name="Page_93"></a>very complete version of the ballad as it passed
+from mouth to mouth before the printed copy
+was made.</p>
+
+<p>It was transcribed from a volume of manuscript
+ballads in the handwriting of Israel Perkins,
+of Connecticut, written in 1786, when he
+was eighteen years old, and teaching school.</p>
+<br />
+
+<center>THE WHORE ON THE SNOW CRUST.</center>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>1.  Adam at first was formed of dust,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">As we find on record;<br /></span>
+<span>And did receive a wife cal'd Eve,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">By a creative word.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>2.  From Adam's side a crooked bride,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">We find complete in form;<br /></span>
+<span>Ordained that they in bed might lay<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And keep each other warm.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>3.  To court indeed they had no need,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">She was his wife at first,<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_94"></a>And she was made to be his aid,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Whose origin was dust.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>4.  This new made pair full happy were,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And happy might remained,<br /></span>
+<span>If his help meet had never eat<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The fruit that was restrained.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>5.  Tho' Adam's wife destroyed his life<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In manner that is awfull;<br /></span>
+<span>Yet marriage now we all allow<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">[To] Be both just and lawfull.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>6.  And now a days there is two ways,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Which of the two is write<br /></span>
+<span>To lie between sheets sweet and clean<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or sit up all the night.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>7.  But some suppose bundling in clothes<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The good and wise doth vex;<br /></span>
+<span>Then let me know which way to go<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To court the fairer sex.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span><a name="Page_95"></a>8.  Whether they must be hug'd and buss'd<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">When setting up all night;<br /></span>
+<span>Or whether [they] in bed may lay,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Which doth reason invite?<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>9.  Nature's request is, give me rest,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Our bodies seek repose;<br /></span>
+<span>Night is the time, and 'tis no crime<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To bundle in our cloaths.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>10. Since in a bed, a man and maid<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">May bundle and be chaste:<br /></span>
+<span>It doth no good to burn up wood<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">It is a needless waste.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>11. Let coat and shift be turned adrift,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And breeches take their flight,<br /></span>
+<span>An honest man and virgin can<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Lie quiet all the night.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>12. But if there be dishonesty<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Implanted in the mind,<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_96"></a>Breeches nor smocks, nor scarce padlocks<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The rage of lust can bind.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>13. Cate, Nance and Sue proved just and true,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Tho' bundling did practise;<br /></span>
+<span>But Ruth beguil'd and proved with child,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Who bundling did despise.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>14. Whores will be whores, and on the floor<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where many has been laid,<br /></span>
+<span>To set and smoke and ashes poke,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Wont keep awake a maid.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>15. Bastards are not at all times got<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In feather beds we know;<br /></span>
+<span>The strumpet's oath convinces both<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Oft times it is not so.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>16. One whorish dame, I fear to name<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Lest I should give offence,<br /></span>
+<span>But in this town she was took down<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Not more than eight months sence.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span><a name="Page_97"></a>17. She was the first, that on snow crust,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I ever knew to gender<br /></span>
+<span>I'll hint no more about this whore<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For fear I should offend her.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>18. 'Twas on the snow when Sol was low,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And was in Capricorn,<br /></span>
+<span>A child was got, and it will not<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Be long ere it is born.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>19. Now unto those that do oppose<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The bundling traid, I say<br /></span>
+<span>Perhaps there's more got on the floor,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Than any other way.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>20. In ancient books no knowledge is<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of these things to be got;<br /></span>
+<span>Whether young men did bundle then,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or whether they did not.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>21. Sence ancient book says wife they took,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">It dont say how they courted;<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_98"></a>Whether young men did bundle then,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or by the fire sported.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>[But some do hold in times of old,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That those about to wed,<br /></span>
+<span>Spent not the night, nor yet the light,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">By fire, or in the bed.]<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>22. They only meant to say they sent<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A man to choose a bride;<br /></span>
+<span>Isaac was so, but let me know,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">If any one beside.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>23. Men don't pretend to trust a friend<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To choose him sheep or cows;<br /></span>
+<span>Much more a wife whom all his life<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">He does expect to house.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>24. Sence it doth stand each one in hand<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To happyfy his life;<br /></span>
+<span>I would advise each to be wise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And choose a prudent wife.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span><a name="Page_99"></a>25. Sence bundling is not a thing<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That judgment will procure;<br /></span>
+<span>Go on young men and bundle then,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">But keep your bodies pure.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Since this work went to press we have been
+favored, by one of our antiquarian friends in
+Massachusetts, with a copy of another poetical
+blast against the practice of bundling. It was
+written in the latter part of the last, or the first
+decade of the present century, by a learned and
+distinguished clergyman settled in Bristol county,
+Massachusetts, who was a graduate of Harvard
+University, and a doctor of divinity. The original
+manuscript from which our copy is made, is
+very carefully written out, with corrections apparently
+of a later date, and now undoubtedly
+appears for the first time in printed form.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_100"></a><center>A POEM AGAINST BUNDLING.</center>
+
+<center><i>Dedicated to y<sup>e</sup> Youth of both Sexes</i>.</center>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>1.   Hail giddy youth, inclined to mirth,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">To guilty amours prone,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Come blush with me, to think and see<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">How shameless you are grown.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>2.   'Tis not amiss to court and kiss,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Nor friendship do we blame,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">But bundling in, women with men,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Upon the bed of shame;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>3.   And there to lay till break of day,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">And think it is no sin,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Because a smock and petticoat<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Have chance to lie between.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>4.   Such rank disgrace and scandal base,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">All modest youth will shun,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">For 'twill infest, like plague or pest,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">And you will be undone.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span><a name="Page_101"></a>5.  Let boars and swine lie down and twine,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And grunt, and sleep, and snore,<br /></span>
+<span>But modest girls should not wear tails<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Nor bristles any more.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>6.  Let rams the sheep mount up and leap,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Without restraint or blame,<br /></span>
+<span>But will young men act just like them;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Oh, 'tis a burning shame!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>7.  It is not strange that horses range<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Unfettered to the last,<br /></span>
+<span>But youthful lusts in fetters must<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Be chained to virtue fast.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>8.  Dogs and bitches wear no breeches,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Clothing for man was made,<br /></span>
+<span>Yet men and women strip to their linen,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And tumble into bed.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>9.  Yes, brutal youth, it is the truth,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Your modesty is gone,<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_102"></a>And could you blush, you'd think as much,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And curse what you have done.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>10. To have done so some years ago,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Was counted more disgrace<br /></span>
+<span>Than 'tis of late to propagate<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A spurious bastard race.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>11. Quit human kind and herd with swine,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Confess yourself an whore;<br /></span>
+<span>Go fill the stye, there live and die,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or never bundle more.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>12. Shall gentlemen with ladies join<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To practice like the brutes,<br /></span>
+<span>Then let them keep with cattle and sheep,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And fodder on their fruits.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>13. This cursed course is one great source<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of matches undesigned,<br /></span>
+<span>Quarrels and strife twixt man and wife,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And bastards of their kind.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span><a name="Page_103"></a>14. But in excuse of this abuse<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">It oftentimes is said,<br /></span>
+<span>Father and mother did no other<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Than strip and go to bed.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>15. But grant some did as you have said,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Yet do they not repent,<br /></span>
+<span>And wish that you may never do<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">What they so much lament?<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>16. A stupid ass can't be more base<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Than are those guilty youth<br /></span>
+<span>Who fill with smart a parent's heart,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And turn it into mirth.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>17. Others do plead hard for the bed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Their health and weariness,<br /></span>
+<span>So drunkards will drink down their swill,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And call it no excess.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>18. Under pretense of self defense,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Others will scold and say,<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_104"></a>An honest maid is chaste abed<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">As any other way.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>19. But where's the man that fire can<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Into his bosom take,<br /></span>
+<span>Or go through coals on his foot soles<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And not a blister make?<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>20. Temptation's way has led astray<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The likeliest of you all,<br /></span>
+<span>And yet you'r found on slippery ground,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And think you cannot fall.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>21. A female meek, with blushing cheek,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Seized in some lover's arms,<br /></span>
+<span>Has oft grown weak with Cupid's heat<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And lost her virgin charms.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>22. But last of all, up speaks romp Moll<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And pleads to be excused,<br /></span>
+<span>For how can she e'er married be,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">If bundling be refused?<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span><a name="Page_105"></a>23. What strange mistake young women,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To hope for sparks this way!<br /></span>
+<span>Your fond bold acts can't lay a tax<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That men will ever pay.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>24. So cheap and free some women be,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That men are cloyed with sweet,<br /></span>
+<span>As horse or cow starve at the mow<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">With fodder under feet.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>25. 'Tis therefore vain yourselves to screen,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The practice is accurst,<br /></span>
+<span>It is condemned by God and man,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The pious and the just.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>26. Should you go on, the day will come,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">When Christ your Judge will say,<br /></span>
+<span>In <i>bundles</i> bind each of this kind,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And cast them all away.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>27. Down deep in hell there let them dwell,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And bundle on that bed;<br /></span>
+<span>There burn and roll without control,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">'Till all their lusts are fed.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><a name="Page_106"></a>The evidence presented in the preceding pages,
+establishes, as we think, the following facts:</p>
+
+<p>1st. That the custom, so far as it pertained to
+the American States, had its origin as a matter
+of convenience and necessity.</p>
+
+<p>2d. That in all stages of its history it was
+chiefly confined to the humbler classes of society.</p>
+
+<p>3d. That its prevalence may be said to have
+closed with the eighteenth century.</p>
+
+<p>It is our opinion that it came nearest to being
+a universal custom from 1750 to 1780, and that
+it was, at all times, regarded by the better classes
+as a serious evil, and was no more countenanced
+by them then the frequenting of grog
+shops is by the better class of the present day.</p>
+
+<p>This opinion is corroborated by the remarks
+of several old persons whom we have consulted
+as to their recollections of the custom. Among
+these, Mr. B., of East Haddam, Ct., now in his
+95th year, says that he well remembers it; that
+it could not be called general, though frequent.
+It was not practiced among the more intelligent,
+<a name="Page_107"></a>educated classes, nor among those who lived in
+large, well warmed houses. He says it was not
+the fashion to bundle with any chap who might
+call on a girl, but that it was a special favor,
+granted only to a favorite lover, who might consider
+it a proof of the high regard which the
+damsel had for him; in short, it was <i>only accepted
+lovers</i> who were thus admitted to the bed of the
+fair one, and, as he expresses it, only after long
+continued urging in most cases.<a name="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36">[36]</a> He thinks
+the fashion ceased about 1790 to 1800, and in
+consequence of education and refinement; and
+that <i>no more mischief was done then than there
+is now-a-days</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In the same strain, also, spoke the genial
+Colonel H., a native of Berlin, Ct., born in
+1775. He was perfectly conversant with the
+custom, had known the old ladies, in some cases,
+to go up stairs before retiring, to see that the
+bundling couple were comfortable, <i>tuck 'em up</i>,
+<a name="Page_108"></a>and put on more bedclothes! And stoutly
+asseverated his belief &quot;that there wasn't any
+more mischief done in those days than there is
+now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, all the old people with whom we have
+conversed on the matter, although in some cases
+a little unwilling to own that they had ever practiced
+it themselves, were unanimous in their belief
+that the abuse of chastity under the bundling
+regime was no more frequent than it is now.
+One old gentleman of whom we have heard, in
+reply to the half reproachful, half joking question
+of his grandson, whether he wasn't ashamed,
+replied: &quot;Why, no! What is the use of sitting
+up all night and burning out fire and lights,
+when you could just as well get under kiver and
+keep warm; and, when you get tired, take a nap
+and wake up fresh, and go at it again? Why,
+d&mdash;n it, there wasn't half as many bastards then
+as there are now!&quot;<a name="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37">[37]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_109"></a>Even within the present century we have found
+traces of the continuance of the practice of
+bundling, though the instances are perhaps few,
+and in some measure exceptional. Until a very
+late day the custom (as a matter of convenience)
+was prevalent among the Dutch settlers of
+Pennsylvania, and it is not improbable that
+traces may still continue to exist in some of
+the more remote counties of that state. An old
+schoolmaster who flourished in Glastenbury, Ct.,
+some twenty years ago, when relating his experiences
+in teaching in southern Pennsylvania, and
+speaking of <i>boarding around</i>, informed us that
+when for any reason he did not choose to go to
+his boarding place for the time being, he was
+accustomed to stop at a tavern kept by an honest
+old Dutchman. On one occasion, having asked
+<a name="Page_110"></a>the landlord if he could stay over night, he was
+told that he could; and after chatting with his
+host through the evening, was shown to bed.
+The landlord set down the candle and had gone
+out of the room, when our friend noticed the
+only bed in the room was already occupied, and
+calling to the host, notified him of the fact;
+when he cried back: &quot;Oh! dat ish only mine
+taughter; she won't hurt nopoty,&quot; and coolly
+went his way. And our friend affirmed that he
+found the daughter not only harmless, but also
+quite competent to take care of herself.</p>
+
+<p>In New England, we believe that Cape Cod
+has the dubious honor of holding out the longest
+against the advance of civilization, bundling, as
+we have it on good authority, having been practiced
+there as late as 1827.<a name="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38">[38]</a>  In Greenwich,
+<a name="Page_111"></a>New Jersey, it was in vogue in 1816. In the
+state of New York this custom came under
+judicial cognizance in the year 1804, when the
+supreme court held, that although bundling was
+admitted to be the custom in some parts of the
+state, it being proven that the parents of the
+girl, for whose seduction the suit was brought,
+countenanced her practicing it, they had no
+right to complain, or ask satisfaction for the consequences,
+which, the court say, &quot;<i>naturally followed it!</i>&quot;<a name="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39">[39]</a></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<a name="APPENDIX_I"></a><h2><a name="Page_113"></a>APPENDIX I.</h2>
+
+<p>BUNDLING.</p>
+<br />
+
+<p>[From <i>The Yankee</i> of August 13, 1828, published at
+Portland, Maine, and edited by John Neal.]</p>
+
+<p>By Rochefoucault, in accounting for the populousness
+of Massachusetts, the New Englanders
+are charged with bundling.</p>
+
+<p>By Chastelleux, whose book I am not able to
+refer to now, the charge is repeated, and by half
+a score of other honest, good natured people,
+who have made books about the New World.</p>
+
+<p>But, if you enquire into the business, you are
+pretty sure to be told, inquire where you may,
+that bundling is not known <i>there</i>, but somewhere
+further back in the woods, or further <i>down east</i>.
+Nay, while in every part of the United States
+the multitude speak of bundling as the habit of
+their neighbors, either east, west, north, or south,
+where the witches of the country were <i>located</i>
+about a century ago by the grandfathers of this
+<a name="Page_114"></a>generation, I, myself, though I have taken
+trouble enough to learn the truth, have never yet
+been able to meet with a case of bundling&mdash;of
+bundling proper, I should say&mdash;in the United
+States, nor with but one trustworthy individual
+who had ever met with so much as one case, and
+he had met with <i>but</i> one, for which he would
+give his word. These things are trifles; but
+when they are told in books that are read and
+trusted to throughout Europe; such books, too,
+as that of the Marquis de Chastelleux, or that of
+De Rouchefoucault, it becomes a matter of serious
+inquiry. The truth must be told, whatever it is,
+for the truth cannot be so bad, whatever it may
+be, as the untruth which is now repeated of us.</p>
+
+<p>The travels of Chastelleux are translated by
+an Englishman who had been a long while in
+this country. The book was undoubtedly written
+with great care, by a very honest, able man,
+who had very good opportunities of knowing the
+truth; and is now set off by another very honest,
+able man, who was, if anything, rather partial to
+America&mdash;enough to make one wary of trusting
+the report of any traveler who does not say in so
+many words, after establishing a character for
+himself&mdash;I saw this; I heard this; I take nobody's
+word for what I now say, etc., etc. It
+<a name="Page_115"></a>would be easy to enumerate a multitude of other
+stories which are now believed in, about the people
+of the United States, not only by the people
+of Europe, and of Great Britain particularly, but
+by the people of the United States themselves.
+But a dry catalogue of such things would be of
+little use.</p>
+
+<p>[Here he refers to the charge reported of New
+Englanders, that that they <i>eat pork and molasses&mdash;pork and
+molasses</i> TOGETHER, which is here denied
+as a ridiculous story. H.&nbsp;R.&nbsp;S.]</p>
+
+<p>They bundle in Wales; bundling there is a
+serious matter. A lady&mdash;a Welsh woman whose
+word is truth itself&mdash;assured me not long ago,
+that in her country they do not think a bit the
+worse, of a girl for anticipating her duties, in
+other words, for being a mother before she has
+been a wife; they have discovered, perhaps, that
+cause and effect may be convertible terms; that
+in such a serious matter, none but a fool would
+buy a pig in the poke, and that, after all, maternity
+may lead to marriage there, as marriage leads
+to maternity here. And why not? for after the
+establishment of the lying-in hospitals of Russia,
+the unmarried who bore <i>children to the state</i> were
+proud of the duty, and were looked upon, we are
+told, with great favor by the public. She added,
+<a name="Page_116"></a>also, that she was once at a party made up of
+sixteen or eighteen females, and females of good
+characters, all but one or two of whom were
+mothers, or had been so, before they were married.
+By Chastelleux and his English translator
+it would appear to have been very much the
+same in America about the years 1780-1-2. It
+is not so now. To have had a child before
+marriage would now be fatal to a woman here,
+whatever might be her condition or beauty; fatal
+in every shape. No man would have courage to
+marry her; no woman of character would associate
+with her. Ask the first individual you
+meet, above the age of twelve or thirteen here,
+and you may have the name and history of every
+poor girl in the neighborhood who has been so
+unlucky as to have a child of her own without
+leave, perhaps, within a period of six or eight
+years in a populous neighborhood of twenty or
+thirty miles about. A widow with half a score
+of children, forty years ago, if we may believe
+Dr. Franklin, was an object for the fortune
+hunters of America. It is not so now. The
+demand for widows, and for every sort of ready
+made family is beginning to be over.</p>
+
+<p>That which is called bundling here, though bad
+enough, is not a twentieth part so bad. Here
+<a name="Page_117"></a>it is only a mode of courtship. The parties instead
+of sitting up together, go to bed together;
+but go to bed with their clothes on. This would
+appear to be a perilous fashion; but I have been
+assured by the individual above, that he had
+proof to the contrary; for in the particular case
+alluded to, the only case I ever heard of on
+good authority, although he was invited by the
+parents of a pretty girl who stood near him, to
+bundle with her, and although he <i>did</i> bundle
+with her, he had every reason to believe, that if
+he had been very free, or more free than he
+might have been at a country frolick after they
+had invited him to escort her, to sit up with her,
+to dance with her, he would have been treated
+as a traitor by all parties. He had a fair opportunity
+of knowing the truth, and he spoke of
+the matter as if he would prefer the etiquette of
+sitting up to the etiquette of going to bed with a
+girl who had been so brought up. He complained
+of her as a prude. The following communication
+appears, however, to be one that may
+be depended on:<a name="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40">[40]</a></p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_118"></a>MR. NEAL&mdash;If you wish to know the truth
+about bundling, I think your correspondent
+V. could tell you all about it&mdash;it seems by his
+confession that he has practiced it on a large
+scale. I never heard of the thing till about three
+years ago; an acquaintance of mine had gone to
+spend the summer with an aunt, who lived somewhere
+near Sandy river.<a name="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41">[41]</a> The following is a
+copy of one of her letters while there:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'I should have written sooner, so don't think
+me unkind, for I have been waiting for something
+to write about. You requested me to give
+you a faithful description of the country, the
+manners and customs of the inhabitants, etc. I
+have not been here quite three months, but I
+have been everywhere, seen everything, and got
+acquainted with everybody. I shall certainly inform
+you of everything I have seen or heard that
+is worth relating.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'You remember how you told me, before I
+left home, that I was so well looking that if I
+<a name="Page_119"></a>went so far back in the country I should be very
+much admired and flattered, and have as many
+lovers as I could wish for. I find it all true.
+The people here are remarkably kind and attentive
+to me; they seem to think that I must be
+something more than common because I have
+always lived so near Portland.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'But I must tell you that since I have been
+here I have had a beau. You must know that
+the young men, <i>in particular</i>, are very attentive
+to me. Well, among these is <i>one</i> who is considered
+the finest young man in the place, and
+well he may be&mdash;he owns a good farm, which
+has a large barn upon it, and a neat two story
+house, all finished. These are the fruits of his
+own industry; besides he is remarkably good
+looking, is very large but well-proportioned, and
+has a good share of what I call real manly beauty.
+Soon after my arrival here I was introduced to
+this man&mdash;no, not <i>introduced</i> neither, for they
+never think of such a thing here. They all
+know me of course, because I am a <i>stranger</i>.
+Some days, three, four, or half a dozen, call to
+see me, whom I never before saw or heard of;
+they come and speak to me as if I were an old
+acquaintance, and I converse with them as freely
+as if I had always known them from childhood.
+<a name="Page_120"></a>In this kind of a way I got acquainted with my
+beau, that <i>was;</i> he was very attentive to me from
+our first meeting. If we happened to be going
+anywhere in company he was sure to offer me
+his arm&mdash;no, I am wrong again, he never
+offered me his arm in his life. If you go to
+walk with a young man here, instead of offering
+you his arm as the young men do up our way, he
+either takes your hand in his, or passes one arm
+around your waist; and this he does with such a
+provoking, careless honesty, that you cannot for
+your life be offended with him. Well, I had
+walked with my Jonathan several times in this
+kind of style. I confess there was something in
+him I could not but like&mdash;he does not lack for
+wit, and has a good share of common sense; his
+language is never studied&mdash;he always seems to
+speak from the heart. So when he asked what
+sort of a companion he would make, I very candidly
+answered, that I thought he would make
+a very agreeable one. &quot;I think just so of you,&quot;
+said he, &quot;and it shall not be my fault,&quot; he continued,
+&quot;if we are not companions for life.&quot;
+&quot;We shall surely make a bargain,&quot; said he, after
+sitting silent a few moments, &quot;so we'll <i>bundle</i>
+to-night.&quot; &quot;<i>Bundle</i> what?&quot; I asked. &quot;<i>We</i> will
+bundle together,&quot; said he; &quot;you surely know
+<a name="Page_121"></a>what I mean.&quot; I know that our farmers bundle
+<i>wheat</i>, <i>cornstalks</i> and <i>hay;</i> do you mean that you
+want me to help you bundle any of these?&quot;
+inquired I. &quot;I mean that I want you to stay
+with me to-night! It is the custom in this place,
+when a man stays with a girl, if it is warm
+weather, for them to throw themselves on the
+bed, outside the bed clothes; if the weather is
+cold, they crawl under the clothes, then if they
+have anything to <i>say</i>, they say it&mdash;when they
+get tired of talking they go to sleep; this is what
+we call bundling&mdash;now what do you call it in
+your part of the world?&quot; &quot;We have no such
+works,&quot; answered I; &quot;not amongst respectable
+people, nor do I think that any people would,
+that either thought themselves respectable, or
+wished to be thought so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Don't be too severe upon us, Miss &mdash;&mdash;, I
+have always observed that those who <i>make believe</i>
+so much modesty, have in reality but little.
+I always act as I feel, and speak as I think. I
+wish you to do the same, but have none of your
+make-believes with me&mdash;you smile&mdash;you begin
+to think you have been a little too scrupulous&mdash;you
+have no objection to bundling <i>now</i>, have
+you?&quot; &quot;Indeed I have.&quot; &quot;I am not to be
+trifled with; so, if you refuse, I have done with
+<a name="Page_122"></a>you forever.&quot; &quot;Then be done as quick as you
+please, for I'll not bundle with you nor with any
+other man.&quot; &quot;Then farewell, proud girl,&quot; said
+he. &quot;Farewell, honest man,&quot; said I, and off he
+went sure enough.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'I have since made inquiries about <i>bundling</i>,
+and find that it is <i>really</i> the custom here, and
+that they think no more harm of it, than we do
+our way of a young couple sitting up together.
+I have known an instance, since I have been
+here, of a girl's taking her sweetheart to a neighbor's
+house and asking for a bed or two to lodge
+in, or rather to <i>bundle</i> in. They had company
+at her father's, so that their beds were occupied;
+she thought no harm of it. She and her family
+are respectable.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Grandmother says bundling was a very common
+thing in our part of the country, in old
+times; that most of the first settlers lived in log
+houses, which seldom had more than one room
+with a fire place; in this room the old people
+slept, so if one of their girls had a sweetheart in
+the winter she must either sit with him in the
+room where her father and mother slept, or take
+him into her sleeping room. She would choose
+the latter for the sake of being alone with him;
+but sometimes when the cold was very severe,
+<a name="Page_123"></a>rather than freeze to death, they would crawl
+under the bed-clothes; and this, after a while,
+became a habit, a custom, or a fashion. The man
+that I am going to send this by, is just ready to
+start, so I cannot stop to write more now. In my
+next I'll give you a more particular account of
+the people here. Adieu.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>Mr. Editor</i>, you may be sure that what is
+related in the foregoing letter is the truth. I
+know that there is considerable <i>other</i> information
+in it, mixed up with <i>that</i> about which you wished
+to be informed, but I could not very well separate
+it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So after all that has been said of the practice
+of bundling in our country, by foreign writers,
+travelers, and reviewers&mdash;after all the reproach
+that has been heaped upon us, now that we are
+able to get at the plain truth, it appears to be,
+though certainly a bad practice, not half so bad
+as the junketing and sitting up courtships that are
+known elsewhere. Nay, more. Though in the
+present state of society it is a practice that should
+be utterly discountenanced everywhere, still it
+would seem to have grown up out of the peculiar
+circumstances of our first settlers; to be confined
+<i>now</i> to remote and small districts (for I have
+<a name="Page_124"></a>heard of only three instances, after all my inquiry);
+and to be rapidly going out of practice.
+Yet more; there can be no bad intentions, there
+can be no evil consequences, where respectable
+and modest women are not ashamed to acknowledge
+that they bundle. I am anxious to know
+the truth for the purpose of correcting both the
+<i>misrepresentations</i> that are abroad, and the <i>practices</i>
+that prevail here. Bundling, however, is
+known in other countries, where they have less
+excuse, and in Wales where they do <i>not</i> bundle,
+as I have said before, it is no reproach for a
+woman to have had a child before marriage. It
+was so in Russia after Catharine established her
+lying-in hospitals.</p>
+
+<p>In the next number of <i>The Yankee</i> (August
+20th) there is the following editorial paragraph:</p>
+<br />
+
+<p>BUNDLING.</p>
+
+<p>There is a great outcry just now about the
+paper on bundling which was in the last <i>Yankee</i>.
+Now this very outcry proves the want of the
+very paper alluded to. The article is about
+bundling; and people who imagine bundling to
+be what it is not, a highly improper and unchaste
+<a name="Page_125"></a>familiarity, are offended with it; but the very
+purpose of that paper is to show that bundling is
+not what it is believed to be, that it is neither so
+common nor so bad, not a fiftieth part so bad as
+people have imagined.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><a name="Page_126"></a>
+<a name="APPENDIX_II"></a><h2>APPENDIX II.</h2>
+<a name="Page_127"></a><br />
+
+<p>That the customs of courtship in many parts
+of the United Kingdom at the present day, are
+precisely what they were in some parts of New
+England, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, fifty
+years ago, is evident from the revelations of the
+<i>Royal Commission on the Marriage Laws</i>, in the
+year 1868. Dr. Strahan, a physician and surgeon,
+who for nearly forty years has practiced in
+the Scottish county of Stirling, testifies before the
+commission, that his attention was first drawn to
+the subject in consequence of observing the very
+great extent of immorality among the working
+classes, not only as evidenced by the large number
+of illegitimate children, but also by the still
+larger number of marriages after the woman was
+with child; and the number of children born
+within eight months of wedlock. He found, to
+his astonishment, that among the working classes
+<a name="Page_128"></a>(i.e., the agricultural laborers), nine out of ten
+women, when married, either had had illegitimate
+children, or were pregnant at the time of marriage.
+&quot;I have,&quot; he says, &quot;a large midwifery
+practice, and I very rarely attend a woman with
+her first child, where the child is not born within
+a few months of wedlock, or else she has had an
+illegitimate child before.&quot; He believes it is very
+common for women to allow themselves to be
+seduced in the hope of being married. They go
+on until they are <i>enceinte</i>, and then, if the young
+man is at all a decent fellow, the friends interfere
+and the marriage is hurried on. The sketch
+which Dr. Strahan supplies of Scotch courtships,
+explains all this part of his observation. Young
+men and women meet together at night, and the
+ordinary time is the middle of the night, when
+every one else is in bed. &quot;It is universal,&quot; says
+Dr. Strahan to the commission, &quot;among the
+working classes, to have this manner of courtship
+of which I speak; there is no other courtship,
+in any other form; the fathers and mothers
+will not allow their daughters to meet a young
+man in the day-time; the young man never visits
+the family, but the parents quite allow this; they
+have done it themselves before, and there is no
+objection to it. The young man comes, makes
+<a name="Page_129"></a>a noise at the window; the young woman goes
+out, they go to some outhouse; or perhaps the
+young man is admitted to the young woman's
+bedroom after all are in bed, and there is an hour
+or two of what is called courtship, but which
+would more properly be called flirtation, because
+it is not necessary that there should be any engagement
+to marry in these cases.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Lord Lyveden inquired: &quot;Do these meetings
+take place at particular periods, such as harvest
+time, or is it over the whole of the year?&quot;</p>
+
+<p><i>Answer</i>: &quot;The whole of the year; very commonly
+the young man visits the young woman
+once a week.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Lord Chelmsford said: &quot;In England that
+would be called <i>keeping company</i>. It is a very
+extraordinary way of keeping company when the
+parents allow their daughter to go out with the
+young man at midnight, or the young man to
+come into her bedroom.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><i>Answer</i>: &quot;Yes; the parents know no other
+way of doing it. I have reasoned with the parents
+often when attending a case of illegitimate
+birth, pointing out to the parents how it is they
+have been led on, but they cannot imagine any
+other way of doing it; their daughters must have
+husbands, and there is no other way of courting.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_130"></a>Mr. Justice O'Hagan asking&mdash;&quot;Does it prevail
+generally in Scotland?&quot; was answered&mdash;&quot;Universally
+among the agricultural laborers.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In reply to an inquiry by Mr. Dunlop, whether
+these young men lived under any kind of supervision
+and knowledge of their masters, or whether
+they could go out and in as they pleased, Dr.
+Strahan stated that &quot;plowmen, for instance, very
+often live in <i>bothies</i>, or in the farm house; they
+get out after all are in bed, out of the window;
+or, if they live in a bothie, without any trouble.
+They go to the neighboring farm-house, they
+knock at the window, the girl comes to the
+window, and, if she know the young man&mdash;or,
+after a little parley, if she does not know him&mdash;she
+either comes out and goes with him to an outhouse,
+or he comes into her bedroom. You
+must remember that they have no other means of
+intercourse.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is the point you press so much?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes; a young woman cannot see either a
+sweetheart or an acquaintance in any other way.
+I believe if it was not for fear of being out at
+night, the girls would visit one another in the
+same way; they have no other means of visiting;
+the customs of the country are such that a
+<a name="Page_131"></a>young man could not be seen going in day-light
+to visit his sweetheart.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Justice O'Hagan: &quot;If the father knew
+that the young man was coming into the house,
+and knew that he was with his daughter, would
+he not interfere?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He would lie comfortably in his bed, knowing
+that his daughter was in an out-house or barn
+with a young man, for perhaps two hours; shutting
+his eyes to it in the same way that a person
+in the higher ranks would shut his eyes to his
+daughter going out for a walk with a young man.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Strahan said also: &quot;When you come to
+the middle class a young man would not marry a
+girl that had had a child to another man; and
+very probably he would not marry a girl that had
+had a child to himself; but in the lower classes
+it is not so; it is almost universal to marry a
+woman that has had a child, or that is with child
+to himself; but it is very frequent to marry a
+woman that has had a child to another man; the
+only objection is the burden of the child; the
+burden of the child might be an obstacle, but the
+disgrace would be none.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is it supposed,&quot; asked a commissioner, &quot;that
+the woman, by marrying this other man, wipes
+off her disgrace with the former?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_132"></a>Yes; but it is so common that the disgrace
+is not so much as to prevent the young man marrying
+her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The attorney-general: &quot;It is hardly within our
+inquiry, but still it is interesting to know; can
+you tell me whether, in these cases, where the
+woman marries a man who is not the father
+of her child, any confusion, as to the parent of
+the previously born child, arises? Are they apt
+in law, to pass as the children of the subsequent
+husband?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, I do not think so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The distinction is always kept up?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The distinction is always kept up; very
+often the illegitimate child goes by his own
+father's name, even among the other children;
+and I do not think there is apt to be any confusion
+of that kind.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Still, it seems that, in severely Calvinistic
+Scotia, the church does not wholly wink at this
+state of things. The sinning couple, after marriage,
+have to go through a certain whitewashing
+at church before they are admitted to what are
+called church privileges. They have to go before
+a kirk session, consisting of the minister and
+perhaps half a dozen elders, when they are <i>admonished</i>.
+If the parties are married, they ap<a name="Page_133"></a>pear
+but once; if not married, generally three
+times. They tender themselves for rebuke without
+invitation, as without it the child cannot be
+baptized, or admission given to the sacrament.
+They apply to the minister in private, and confess
+their fault, and he causes them to be summoned
+before the church session.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<a name="INDEX"></a><h2><a name="Page_135"></a>INDEX.</h2>
+
+African tribes, courtship among, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br />
+America, English misrepresentation of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.<br />
+America, bundling in, <a href="#Page_44">44</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inherits bundling from Holland, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bundling not peculiar to, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bundling universal in 1750, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Ballads against bundling, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in favor of bundling, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</span><br />
+Brychan, a cloth, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.<br />
+Bundling, antiquity of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.<br />
+Bundling, abuse of, in New England, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ballads on, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ceased with eighteenth century, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confined to the lower classes, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</span><br />
+Bundling, described by Lt. Anbury in 1777, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">definition of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decision of N. Y. Supreme Court on, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in America, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in British isles, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Cape Cod, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Holland, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</span><br />
+Bundling in Maine about 1828, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in New England States, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Wales, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">introduced in America from Holland, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned by Rev. Sam'l Peters, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned by Washington Irving, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned by Dr. A. Burnaby, 1759, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned by Sir Walter Scott, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not peculiar to America, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</span><br />
+<a name="Page_136"></a>Bundling originating in poverty in Scotland and Ireland, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">origin of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">originally confined to the lower classes in America, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">practiced in Pennsylvania till late years, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preached against, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recollections of by old persons, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</span><br />
+Bundling regarded as a serious evil, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctioned by parents, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sermon against, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">two forms of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">universal now in lower classes of Scotland, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">universal in America in 1750, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">-up, in Wales, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Cape Cod, bundling practiced there in 1827, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.<br />
+Central Asia, courtship in, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br />
+Confession in public necessary for baptism of children, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.<br />
+Courtship, customs of, in Great Britain, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br />
+Courtship among Welsh peasantry, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Central Asia, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the 14th century, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among N. A. Indians, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Switzerland, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</span><br />
+Cuckold, no word in Gaelic for, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br />
+Customs of courtship, different in the cantons of Switzerland, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dayaks of Borneo, courtship of, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br />
+Dorfen, in Switzerland, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Empress Cartismandua, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Julia, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</span><br />
+Epilogue on bundling at Westminster school, 1815, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Free-bench, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.<br />
+French war, demoralizing influence of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Germans, respect of, for women, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br />
+Gordon, Sir Robert, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sir Adam, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</span><br />
+Great Britain, bundling common at the present day in, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.<br />
+<a name="Page_137"></a>Great Britain, immorality of lower classes in, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br />
+Gwent, a district in Wales, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.<br />
+Gwentian Code of Wales, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hand-fasting, a Scotch custom, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">common among all classes, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</span><br />
+Highland law of marriage, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.<br />
+Highlanders, curious custom of the, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.<br />
+Holland, bundling in, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Illegitimacy not considered a disgrace in Scotland, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Kiltgang in canton of Lucerne. <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br />
+Kweesten, a Dutch custom, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.<br />
+<br />
+La Hontan, Indian custom described by, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.<br />
+Lichtgetren, in Switzerland, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br />
+Love and courtship in the 14th century, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Maine, bundling in, 1828, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.<br />
+Marriage laws of Great Britain, royal commission on, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br />
+Marriage, Welsh laws relating to, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Namzat bez&eacute;, an African custom, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br />
+Natural children legitimatized in Scotland, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.<br />
+New bundling song, a, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.<br />
+New England, bundling in, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.<br />
+New song in favor of courting, a, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.<br />
+New York Supreme Court on bundling, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.<br />
+N. Am. Indians, chastity of, <a href="#Page_41">41-52</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">courtship among, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Pennsylvania, bundling in, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.<br />
+Poem against bundling, a, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.<br />
+Polygamy among ancient nations, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Great Britain, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</span><br />
+Prostitutes, punishment of in Scotland and Germany, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br />
+<a name="Page_138"></a>Public confession of unlawful cohabitation made in New England, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">records of, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Quest, definition of and origin, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br />
+Queesting, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Royal commission on marriage laws of Great Britain, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Savage nations, amatory customs of, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.<br />
+Scotland, courtship of, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conjugal infidelity in, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">admonition by church of, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</span><br />
+Scotch and Irish moral character, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.<br />
+Scott, Walter, mention of bundling by, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.<br />
+Stubetegetren in Switzerland, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br />
+Sutherland, son of a hand-fast marriage claims earldom of, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.<br />
+Switzerland, courtship in, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tarrying, common in England, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in New England, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</span><br />
+Texel, bundling in the island of, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.<br />
+<br />
+United States, bundling in the, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Vlie and Wieringen, bundling practiced in islands of, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wales, bundling in, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">described by Bingley, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Barbor, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>; </span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Carr, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Pratt, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chastity in, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</span><br />
+Welsh laws relating to marriage, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.<br />
+Whore on the snow crust, the, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.<br />
+Wieringen, see Vlie.<br />
+Wynet-werth, a Welsh term, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br />
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<a name="FOOTNOTES"></a><h2>FOOTNOTES.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1">[1]</a> <i>C&aelig;sar</i> says, that several brothers, or a father and his
+sons, would have but one wife among them. <i>Solinus</i>,
+indeed, says that the women in Thule were common, the
+king having a free choice; and <i>Dio</i> says the Caledonians
+had wives in common; yet these assertions may well be
+disputed. <i>Strabo</i> describes the Irish as extremely gross
+in this matter; <i>O'Conner</i> says polygamy was permitted;
+and <i>Derrick</i> tells us they exchanged wives once or twice
+a year; while <i>Campion</i> says they only married for a year
+and a day, sending their wives home again for any slight
+offense.&mdash;<i>Logan's Scottish Gael</i>, 5th Am. ed., p. 472.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2">[2]</a> <i>A History of the Highlands, and of the Highland
+Clans</i>, etc. (Jas. Browne, LL.D., Advocate, 4 vols. London,
+1853), IV, 398.
+</p><p>
+&quot;The law of marriage observed in the Highlands has
+frequently been as little understood as that of succession,
+and similar misconceptions have prevailed regarding
+it. This was, perhaps, to be expected. In a country
+where a bastard son was often found in undisturbed
+possession of the chiefship or property of a clan, and
+where such bastard generally received the support of the
+clansmen against the claims of the feudal heir, it was
+natural to suppose that very loose notions of succession
+were entertained by the people; that legitimacy conferred
+no exclusive rights; and that the title founded on
+birth alone might be set aside in favor of one having
+no other claim than that of election. But this, although
+a plausible, would nevertheless be an erroneous supposition.
+The person here considered as a bastard, and
+described as such, was by no means viewed in the
+same light by the Highlanders, because, according to
+their law of marriage, which was originally very different
+from the feudal system in this matter, his claim to
+legitimacy was as undoubted as that of the feudal heir
+afterward became. It is well known that the notions of
+the Highlanders were peculiarly strict in regard to matters
+of hereditary succession, and that no people on
+earth was less likely to sanction any flagrant deviation
+from what they believed to be the right and true line of
+descent. All their peculiar habits, feelings and prejudices
+were in direct opposition to a practice which, had
+it been really acted upon, must have introduced endless
+disorder and confusion, and hence the natural explanation
+of this apparent anomaly seems to be, what Mr.
+Skene has stated, namely, that a person who was feudally
+a bastard might in their view be considered as legitimate,
+and therefore entitled to be supported in accordance
+with their strict ideas of hereditary right, and
+their habitual tenacity of whatever belonged to their
+ancient usages. Nor is this mere conjecture or hypothesis.
+A singular custom regarding marriage, retained till
+a late period amongst the Highlanders, and clearly indicating
+that their law of marriage originally differed in
+some essential points from that established under the
+feudal system, seems to afford a simple and natural
+explanation of the difficulty by which genealogists have
+been so much puzzled.
+</p><p>
+&quot;This custom was termed <i>hand-fasting</i>, and consisted
+in a species of contract between two chiefs, by which
+it was agreed that the heir of one should live with the
+daughter of the other as her husband for twelve months
+and a day. If, in that time, the lady became a mother,
+or proved to be with child the marriage became good in
+law, even although no priest had performed the marriage
+ceremony in due form; but should there not have occurred
+any appearance of issue, the contract was considered
+at an end, and each party was at liberty to
+marry or hand-fast with any other. It is manifest that
+the practice of so peculiar a species of marriage must
+have been in terms of original law among the Highlanders,
+otherwise it would be difficult to conceive how such
+a custom could have originated, and it is in fact one
+which seems naturally to have arisen from the form of
+their society, which rendered it a matter of such vital
+importance to secure the lineal succession of their
+chiefs. It is perhaps not improbable that it was this
+peculiar custom which gave rise to the report handed
+down by the Roman and other historians, that the
+ancient inhabitants of Great Britain had their wives in
+common, or that it was the foundation of that law of
+Scotland by which natural children became legitimatized
+by subsequent marriage.<a name="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3">[3]</a> And as this custom remained
+in the Highlands until a very late period, the sanction
+of ancient custom was sufficient to induce them to persist
+in regarding the offspring of such marriages as
+legitimate.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4">[4]</a>
+</p><p>
+It appears, indeed, that as late as the sixteenth century,
+the issue of a hand-fast marriage claimed the earldom
+of Sutherland. The claimant, according to Sir
+Robert Gordon, described himself as one lawfully descended
+from his father, John, the third earl, because,
+as he alleged, &quot;his mother was <i>hand-fasted</i> and fianced
+to his father;&quot; and his claim was bought off (which
+shows that it was not considered as altogether incapable
+of being maintained) by Sir Adam Gordon, who had
+married the heiress of Earl John. Such, then, was the
+nature of the peculiar and temporary connection which
+gave rise to the apparent anomalies which we have been
+considering. It was a custom which had for its object,
+not to interrupt but to preserve the lineal succession of
+the chiefs, and to obviate the very evil of which it is
+conceived to afford a glaring example. But after the introduction
+of the feudal law, which, in this respect, was
+directly opposed to the ancient Highland law, the lineal
+and legitimate heir, according to Highland principles,
+came to be regarded as a bastard by the government,
+which accordingly considered him as thereby incapacitated
+for succeeding to the honors and property of his race;
+and hence originated many of those disputes concerning
+succession and chiefship, which embroiled families with
+one another, as well as with the government, and were
+productive of incredible disorder, mischief and bloodshed.
+No allowance was made for the ancient usages
+of the people, which were probably but ill understood;
+and the rights of rival claimants were decided according
+to the principles of a foreign system of law, which was
+long resisted, and never admitted except from necessity.
+It is to be observed, however, that the Highlanders
+themselves drew a broad distinction between bastard
+sons and the issue of the hand-fast unions above described.
+The former were rigorously excluded from
+every sort of succession, but the latter were considered
+as legitimate as the offspring of the most regularly
+solemnized marriage.
+</p><p>
+This practice obtained not only among chiefs, but
+common people.
+</p><p>
+Walter Scott, in the XXV chapter of the <i>Monastery</i>, in
+a note, says: &quot;This custom of hand-fasting actually
+prevailed in the upland days. It arose partly from the
+want of priests. While the convents subsisted, monks
+were detached on regular circuits through the wilder
+districts, to marry those who had lived in this species
+of connexion. A practice of the same kind existed in
+the Isle of Portland.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3">[3]</a> This is a mistake in point of law. The principle of
+legitimation by subsequent marriage, was first explicitly
+announced in an imperial constitution of Constantine,
+and being wisely recognized by the church, it was
+adopted by the canonists, through whom it passed into
+our law. The attempt to introduce it into England
+failed, in consequence of the attachment of the people
+to their ancient Saxon constitutions; and hence, although
+it was recognized in the statutes of Merton, it was subsequently
+discarded, and never afterwards found admission into the municipal
+system of the neighboring kingdom.
+There can be no doubt whatever that the principle
+is one which reason, morality and religion must
+equally approve.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4">[4]</a> Skene's <i>Highlanders of Scotland</i>, vol. I, chap. vii,
+166, 167.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5">[5]</a> In <i>Scottish Ballads and Songs</i>, by James Maidment,
+Edinburgh, MDCCCLIX, under the title of <i>Luckidad's
+Garland</i>, p. 134, is a remarkable picture of the old and
+new times in Scotland, eighty or ninety years ago, three
+of the twenty-four verses of which the ballad is composed,
+being descriptive of something akin to <i>bundling</i>.
+In a London edition of <i>Hudibras</i>, also, published in 1811,
+is a note to line 913, of Part I, Canto I. As both of
+these extracts, however, are somewhat too <i>broad</i> for
+our pages, we content ourselves with simply referring
+thereto. In the same category, also, is the definition, in
+<i>Bailey's Old English Dictionary</i>, of the term <i>free bench</i>,
+as prevailing in the manors of East and West Embourn,
+Chaddleworth in the county of Berks, Tor in Devonshire,
+and other places of the west.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6">[6]</a> <i>History of Wales</i> (by B.&nbsp;B. Woodward, B.A., London,
+1853), p. 320; who adds, also, p. 186, the following:
+</p><p>
+&quot;The laws which treat of the violation of the marriage
+bond and those which relate to chastity generally,
+recognize a degree of laxity respecting female honor,
+and, yet more remarkably, an absence of feminine delicacy,
+such as could scarcely be paralleled amongst the
+most uncivilized people now. They are of such a nature,
+that though most characteristic, they must be
+passed by with this general mention. The distinction
+between the Celtic and Teutonic races is perhaps in no
+case more plainly marked than in this: The Anglo-Saxon
+laws on this subject (always excepting those of
+the <i>ecclesiastical</i> authorities) are modesty itself, notwithstanding
+their plain speaking, compared with those
+of the Welsh legislators.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7">[7]</a> <i>Gleanings through Wales, Holland, and Westphalia</i>,
+etc. (3d edition, by Mr. Pratt, London, 1797), I, pp. 105-107.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8">[8]</a> <i>North Wales, including its Scenery, Antiquities,
+Customs</i>, etc. (by Rev. W.&nbsp;W. Bingley, A.M., 2 vols.,
+8vo, London, 1804), II, p. 282.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9">[9]</a> <i>A Tour throughout North Wales and Monmouthshire</i>,
+etc., etc. (by J.&nbsp;T. Barbor, F.S.A., London, 1803),
+pp. 103-9.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10">[10]</a> <i>The Stranger in Ireland</i>, by John Carr.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11">[11]</a> &quot;On his way to Ireland he passed through Wales,
+and gives us a slight sketch of the character of that
+people and country. <i>It must afford no small gratification
+to a New England man to learn that the practice of</i>
+BUNDLING <i>is not peculiar to us, but that this pleasing
+though dangerous art was probably imported from
+abroad</i>.&quot;&mdash;A review of <i>The Stranger in Ireland</i>, in
+<i>Connecticut Courant</i> for November 19th, 1806.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12">[12]</a> In this connection we may give the following extract
+from <i>Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales</i>, etc.,
+etc., printed by command of his late Majesty King
+William IV, under the direction of the commissioners
+on the Public Records of the Kingdom. MDCCCXLI.
+Folio. From page 369.&mdash;The Gwentian<a name="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13">[13]</a> Code.
+</p><p>
+&quot;A woman of full age who goes with a man clandestinely,
+and taken by him to bush, or brake, or house,
+and after connection deserted; upon complaint made by
+her to her kindred, and to the courts, is to receive, for
+her chastity, a bull of three winters, having its tail well
+shaven and greased and then thrust through the door-clate;
+and then let the woman go into the house, the
+bull being outside, and let her plant her foot on the
+threshold, and let her take his tail in her hand, and let
+a man come on each side of the bull; and if she can
+hold the bull, let her take it for her <i>wynet-werth</i><a name="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14">[14]</a> and
+her chastity; and, if not, let her take what grease may
+adhere to her hands.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13">[13]</a> <i>Gwent</i>, the appellation of the district in Wales inhabited
+by the Silures, comprised the diocese of Landav.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14">[14]</a> This word means <i>face shame</i> or <i>face worth</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15">[15]</a> A good honest word, which although not exactly
+English, is at least first cousin to our <i>quest</i>, and <i>quiz</i>,
+etc.
+</p><p>
+Worcester gives the following: &quot;&#8224;Qu&#275;se, <i>v.&nbsp;a.</i>, to
+search after. <i>Milton</i>.&quot; [obsolete &#275; long, s like z.] Qu&#277;st,
+<i>v.&nbsp;n.</i>, to join search. <i>B. Jonson</i>. &#8224;Qu&#277;ster, <i>n.</i>, a
+seeker. <i>Rowe</i>.
+</p><p>
+Is it not allowable to derive from one of these words
+Qu&#275;sing, or Qu&#277;sting, pronounced Qweesting, and from
+the other Qu&#277;sting [&egrave; short]? So that he who went
+<i>queesting</i> was simply <i>searching after</i> a wife, understood.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16">[16]</a> These are two very small islands at the opening of
+the Zuider zee.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17">[17]</a> From <i>The Student and Intellectual Observer</i>, London,
+November number, 1868, p. 310, in article by
+Thomas Wright, F.S.A. Chapter vii&mdash;<i>Womankind in all
+Ages of Western Europe</i>, etc.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18">[18]</a> <i>Cottages of the Alps</i> (London, 1860), pages 77, 91,
+132.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19">[19]</a> <i>New Voyage to North America, giving a full Account
+of the Customs, Commerce, Religion and Strange
+Opinions of the Savages of that Country</i>, etc., etc.
+Written by Baron Lahontan, Lord Lieutenant of the
+French Colony at <i>Placentia</i>, in Newfoundland, now in
+England. London, 1703.
+</p><p>
+In describing the amatory customs of the Indians of
+this country, the author says (Vol. II, p. 37):
+</p><p>
+&quot;You must know further, that Two Hours after Sunset
+the Old Supperannuated Persons, or Slaves (who
+never lie in their Masters' Huts) take care to cover up
+the Fire before they go. 'Tis then that the Young
+Savage comes well wrapt up to his Mistress's Hut, and
+lights a sort of a Match at the Fire; after which he
+opens the Door of his Mistress's Apartment and makes
+up to her bed: If she blows out the light, he lies down
+by her; but if she pulls her Covering over her Face,
+he retires; that being a Sign that she will not receive
+him.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20">[20]</a> Verily, Peters's sarcasm savors as much of truth as
+humor when, speaking of bundling, he says: &quot;The Indians
+who had this method of courtship among them in
+1634, are the most chaste set of people in the world.
+Concubinage and fornication are vices none of them are
+addicted to, except such as forsake the laws of Hobbamockon
+and turn Christians. The savages have taken
+many female prisoners, carried them back three hundred
+miles into their country, and kept them several years,
+and yet not a single instance of their violating the
+laws of chastity has ever been known. This cannot be
+said of the French, or of the English, whenever Indian
+or other women have fallen into their hands.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21">[21]</a> &quot;Great jealousy did they likewise stir up by their
+intermeddling and successes among the divine sex; for
+being a race of brisk, likely, pleasant tongued varlets,
+they soon seduced the light affections of the simple
+lasses from their ponderous Dutch gallants. Among
+other hideous customs, they attempted to introduce
+among them that of <i>bundling</i>, which the Dutch lasses
+of the Nederlandts, with that eager passion for novelty
+and foreign fashions natural to their sex, seemed very
+well inclined to follow, but that their mothers, being
+more experienced in the world, and better acquainted
+with men and things, strenuously discountenanced all
+such outlandish innovations.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22">[22]</a> By Washington Irving, p. 211. 4th Am. edition.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23">[23]</a> Dr. Andrew Burnaby. <i>Travels through the Middle Settlements in North America, in the years 1759 and '60</i>. London, 1775.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24">[24]</a> <i>The Portfolio</i> (Philadelphia, May 1816), p. 397.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25">[25]</a> <i>Terences Plays</i> were preferred to those of Plautus,
+for this purpose, inasmuch as the latter were more
+obscure, and abounded in obsoletisms, and therefore
+Terence was preferred in England as the text-book for
+schools.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26">[26]</a> Ireland.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27">[27]</a> <i>The Reviewers Reviewed, or British Falsehoods
+detected by American Truths</i> (New York, published by
+R. McDermot and D.&nbsp;D. Arden, No. 1, City Hotel,
+Broadway, 1815, 12mo, 72), pp. 34, 35.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28">[28]</a> The Right Honorable Sir George Canning, the editor
+of the <i>London Quarterly Review</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29">[29]</a> <i>Travels through the Interior Parts of America; in
+a Series of Letters</i> (by an officer; a new edition, London,
+1781, 8vo), vol. II, pp. 37-40.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30">[30]</a> <i>Anbury's Travels</i>, pp. 87, 88. </p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31">[31]</a> <i>History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Conn.,</i> p. 495.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32">[32]</a> The Rev. Alonzo B. Chapin, in his <i>History of
+Ancient Glastenbury, Conn.</i> (p. 80), says that the church
+records, during the pastorate of the Rev. John Eels
+[1759-1791], &quot;compel us to believe that the influence of
+the French war had been as unfavorable to morals as
+destructive to life; and that the absurd practice of
+<i>bundling</i> prevalent in those days, was not infrequently
+attended with the consequences that might have been
+expected, and that both together, aided by a previous
+growing laxity of morals, and accelerated by many concurrent
+causes, had rolled a tide of immorality over
+the land, which not even the bulwark of the church had
+been able to withstand. The church records of the first
+society, from 1760 to 1790, raise presumptions of the
+strongest kind, that then, as since, <i>incontinence</i> and
+<i>intemperance</i> were among the sins of the people. What
+the condition of things in Eastbury [an ecclesiastical
+society in the east part of Glastenbury] was, we have
+no means of knowing, <i>as that portion of the church
+records which treats of this point, was long ago</i> carefully
+<i>removed</i>. [N.B. Italics are our own.] There is
+no reason, however, to suppose that this state of thing's
+was peculiar to Glastenbury, for there is too much evidence
+that it prevailed throughout the country.&quot;
+</p><p>
+Mr. Chapin's deductions from the revelations of the
+Glastenbury records, will be fully justified by the experience
+and observation of every antiquarian who has had
+occasion to <i>dig deep</i> among the civil and ecclesiastical
+records of almost any one of the older towns of New
+England. We have before us, while writing, a copy,
+made some years since, by ourselves, of the records of
+the first church of Woodstock, Conn., covering the
+period from 1727 to 1777, in which are a large number
+of entries, mostly the names of parties who made <i>confessions</i>
+of this sort before that church. These cases
+occur most frequently between the years 1737 and 1770.
+Our own observation among the records of the old
+churches in Windsor and East Windsor, is, in effect,
+the same, and we have occasionally happened upon the
+original manuscript confessions of individuals read to
+the church before they were formally admitted to its
+communion.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33">[33]</a> <i>History of Dedham, Mass</i>, (by Erastus Worthington,
+1827), page 108. Under ministry of Rev. Jason
+Haven, ordained February 6, 1756.
+</p><p>
+&quot;Revolutionary times having produced a disposition
+to investigate all the former principles and opinions of
+men, in politics and church government, Mr. Haven
+caused the mode of admission into the church to be
+altered. This was done in 1793. The new method
+required the candidate to be propounded to the congregation
+by the minister. If no objections within fourteen
+days were made, he was then of course admitted.
+At the same time the church covenant and creed was
+altered, and made very general in its expressions. This
+creed had so few articles, that all persons professing and
+calling themselves Christians, would assent to it without
+any objections. The church had ever in this place
+required of its members guilty of unlawful cohabitation
+before marriage, a public confession of that crime before
+the whole congregation. The offending female
+stood in the broad aisle beside the partner of her
+guilt. If they had been married, the declaration of the
+man was silently assented to by the woman. This had
+always been a delicate and difficult subject for church
+discipline. The public confession, if it operated as a
+corrective, likewise produced merriment with the profane.
+I have seen no instance of a public confession
+for this fault, until the ministry of Mr. Dexter [1724-1755],
+and then they were extremely rare. In 1781 the
+church gave the confessing parties the privilege of
+making a private confession to the church, in the room
+of a public confession. In Mr. Havens ministry, the
+number of cases of unlawful cohabitation increased to
+an alarming degree. For twenty-five years before 1781,
+twenty-five cases had been publicly acknowledged before
+the congregation, and fourteen cases within the last
+ten years. This brought out the minister to preach on
+the subject from the pulpit. Mr. Haven, in a long
+and memorable discourse, sought out the cause of the
+growing sin, and suggested the proper remedy. He
+attributed the frequent recurrence of the fault to the
+custom then prevalent, of females admitting young men
+to their beds, who sought their company with intentions
+of marriage. And he exhorted all to abandon that
+custom, and no longer expose themselves to temptations
+which so many were found unable to resist.
+</p><p>
+&quot;The immediate effect of this discourse on the congregation
+has been described to me, and was such as
+we must naturally suppose it would be. A grave man,
+the beloved and revered pastor of the congregation,
+comes out suddenly on his audience, and discusses a
+subject on which mirth and merriment only had been
+heard, and denounces a favorite custom. The females
+blushed and hung down their heads. The men, too,
+hung down their heads, and now and then looked out
+from under their fallen eyebrows, to observe how others
+supported the attack. If the outward appearance of the
+assembly was somewhat composed, there was a violent
+internal agitation in many minds. And now, when
+forty-five years have expired, the persons who were
+present at the delivery of that sermon, express its
+effects by saying: 'How queerly I felt!' 'What a
+time it was!' 'This was close preaching indeed!' The
+custom was abandoned. The sexes learned to cultivate
+the proper degree of delicacy in their intercourse, and
+instances of unlawful cohabitation in this town since
+that time have been extremely rare.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34">[34]</a> <i>Butler's History of Groton</i> (Pepperell &amp; Shirley),
+page 174. At a church meeting, Feb. 29, 1739-40, the
+subject of compelling persons to confess themselves
+guilty of an offense, of which they said, &quot;if not absolutely,
+yet next to impossible to convict them,&quot; was
+acted upon, and some relaxation made in the rule before
+adopted; but a part of the record is so worn as to be
+illegible.
+</p><p>
+Page 177. June 1, 1761. &quot;The church also at this
+meeting, voted in relation to the confession necessary
+to be made by parents, to entitle their children to the
+rite of baptism, who might be supposed to have committed
+the offence of which, in Mr. Trowbridge's time,
+they supposed that, 'if not absolutely, yet next to impossible
+to convict them,' not materially varying from a
+<i>seven-months</i> rule heretofore adopted. These regulations
+were signed by the moderator, and assented to by
+the pastor elect.&quot;
+</p><p>
+Page 181. &quot;During Mr. Dana's ministry [1761-1775]
+124 persons (38 males, 86 females) were admitted to
+the church in full communion; 200 (77 males, 123 females)
+owned the baptismal covenant. Of the first
+class, 14 confessed having committed the offence aforementioned,
+and of the last class, 66, a proportion not
+indicative of good customs and morals.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35">[35]</a> A typographical mistake for <i>unruly</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36">[36]</a> But this was as late as 1785 to 1790, when the custom
+was very near its end.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37">[37]</a> Another, when in his 96th year, in speaking of his
+knowledge of the custom, after answering all inquiries,
+voluntarily mentioned his own personal experience.
+&quot;In my younger days,&quot; said he, and his voice trembled,
+more from emotion then age, &quot;I was on the bed with as
+many as five or six young women, but I thank God,
+that in all my long life I have never had carnal knowledge
+of any but my lawfully wedded wives.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38">[38]</a> A physician who kept school <i>on the Cape</i> many years
+ago, says (June, 1869): &quot;It is forty years since I was
+engaged on the Cape in teaching school, and a friend of
+mine then related to me some of his experience in a
+long career of courtship which included <i>bundling</i>. The
+family left the happy couple alone. After sitting up
+till nine or ten o'clock, the lady secures the fire, takes
+a light and retires, saying, you know the way up
+stairs, turn to the right, etc. At a proper time he follows,
+finding her nicely snuggled under the bed clothes,
+having previously put on a very appropriate and secure
+night dress, made neither like a bloomer or mantilla,
+but something like a common dress, excepting the lower
+part, which is furnished with legs, like drawers, properly
+attached. The dress is drawn at the neck and
+waist with strings tied with a very strong knot, and
+over this is put the ordinary apparel.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39">[39]</a> <i>Caines' Cases</i>, II, 219; Seger <i>vs</i>. Slingerland.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40">[40]</a> In reply to a query addressed to Mr. Neal, who
+is still living at Portland, Maine, as to whether this
+letter was a <i>bona fide</i> communication, that gentleman
+says: &quot;It was an actual communication from a correspondent.
+Who that correspondent was, I never knew,
+but I never entertained a doubt, and, in fact, find such
+internal evidence of good faith, that I should never
+question the facts set forth.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41">[41]</a> Sandy River is near Farmington, Franklin county,
+Maine.</p></div>
+
+<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12885 ***</div>
+</body>
+</html>
+
+
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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bundling; Its Origin, Progress and Decline
+in America, by Henry Reed Stiles
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Bundling; Its Origin, Progress and Decline in America
+
+Author: Henry Reed Stiles
+
+Release Date: July 12, 2004 [EBook #12885]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BUNDLING ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Steven desJardins and Distributed Proofreaders.
+
+
+
+
+BUNDLING;
+Its Origin, Progress and Decline In America.
+
+BY HENRY REED STILES, M.D.,
+AUTHOR OF HISTORY OF BROOKLYN, HISTORY OF WINDSOR, CT., ETC.
+
+
+     "I find by all historians, whether ancient or modern, whom I
+     consulted in searching for this work, the fact well recorded, and
+     established beyond all controversy, that the Yankee nation are a
+     set of talking, guessing, swapping and _bundling_ sons of women."
+
+
+     _Grant Thorburn's Notes on Virginia_.
+
+
+ALBANY:
+KNICKERBOCKER PUBLISHING COMPANY.
+1871.
+
+Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871,
+BY HENRY R. STILES,
+In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
+
+
+
+     TO MY ESTEEMED FRIEND,
+     DEACON JABEZ H. HAYDEN,
+     OF WINDSOR LOCKS, CONNECTICUT,
+
+     Whose jealous love of his native state, led him, in defense of her
+     good fame, to make some strictures upon a statement relative to
+     _bundling_, in my _History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor,
+     Conn._, which strictures (made and taken in the kindest spirit of
+     personal friendship) set me upon the further investigation of this
+     interesting subject.
+
+     This Essay,
+
+     The result of that investigation, and the justification
+           (as I claim) of my original statement, is
+                 MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED
+                       BY THE AUTHOR
+
+
+
+
+PREFATORY.
+
+
+In the _History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Conn._, published in
+1859, speaking of the influence of the old French wars upon the
+religious, moral and social life of New England, I used this language:
+
+"Then came war, and young New England brought from the long Canadian
+campaigns, stores of loose camp vices and recklessness, which soon
+flooded the land with immorality and infidelity. The church was
+neglected, drunkenness fearfully increased, and social life was sadly
+corrupted. _Bundling_--that ridiculous and pernicious custom which
+prevailed among the young to a degree which we can scarcely
+credit--sapped the fountain of morality and tarnished the escutcheons of
+thousands of families."
+
+Hereupon there came a buzzing around my ears. Divers good sons of
+Connecticut winced under the soft impeachment of having a bundling
+ancestry, and intimated that my sketch of society in the olden times was
+somewhat overdrawn. In 1861, an esteemed antiquarian friend in
+Connecticut wrote me as follows: "Some of your friends feel that, in
+your _History of Windsor_, you showed too much inclination to malign, or
+at least ridicule, Connecticut institutions, though I think none of them
+accuse you of malice in the matter, and they fear that this subject of
+bundling cannot be ventilated without endangering the fair fame of old
+Connecticut."
+
+Upon that hint I speak. Although born in the city of New York, I am the
+son of Connecticut parents, and proud to trace my descent through six
+generations of honest, hard-working, God-fearing Connecticut yeomanry.
+By the mere accident of birth I cannot feel myself absolved from that
+allegiance to the Wooden Nutmeg State, which is imposed upon me by the
+ties of ancestry, of relationship, of youthful associations, and last,
+not least, by the deep interest which I have taken in the history of one
+of its eldest-born towns. I am, indeed, at this day, to all intents and
+purposes, as wholly and truly a Connecticut man as if born within her
+borders; and as proud of her past, as hopeful of her future, and as
+jealous of her reputation as any one could desire. I trust, therefore,
+that I may be allowed to disclaim any "inclination to malign, or at
+least ridicule Connecticut institutions," a task which, in my case,
+would savor of ingratitude, and which I should consider unworthy of my
+humble pen.
+
+I cannot but think, also, that those who have found, or think that they
+have found, an inimical design in any pleasantries in which I may have
+indulged while describing the customs and manners of by-gone days--have
+betrayed a _thin-skinnedness_, and an ignorance of the true glory of
+Connecticut history, when they imagine that her fair fame can be
+seriously tarnished by the fly-specks of certain customs--at no time
+without their vigorous opponents--and long since rendered obsolete by
+the march of improvement.
+
+The fun of the thing, however, is, that the sentence which has thus
+called forth the animadversions of the critics, will be found, with its
+context, on closer examination, to have applied to the _New England
+Colonies_, and not to Connecticut alone! In their haste to vindicate the
+land of steady habits, they seem to have assumed more than their share
+of the reproach involved in my simple historical statement.
+
+As for myself, I am no believer in the theory that the objectionable
+portions of history should be kept in the background, and that only the
+bright side should be turned towards the world. If, as one has happily
+said, "history is experience teaching by example," we most surely need
+to have both sides fairly presented to us before we can properly extract
+therefrom the lesson of good or of evil which is therein taught. It is
+unnecessary to pursue the argument further. Suffice it to say, that
+perfection is as little to be expected in the history of a state or a
+community, as in the life of an individual. As to our ancestors, we must
+take them as history shows them to us--"men of like passions with
+ourselves," and "in all respects tempted as we are," yet neither worse,
+nor, again, very much purer or better than ourselves.
+
+In this spirit I have undertaken to trace, in the following pages, the
+origin, progress and decline of the custom of bundling in America,
+together with such facts as clearly prove that it was not confined to
+this continent, but prevalent in various countries of the world.
+
+"HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE."
+
+H. R. S.
+
+
+
+
+BUNDLING.
+
+
+     BUNDLING. "A man and a woman lying on the same bed with their
+     clothes on; an expedient practiced in America on a scarcity of
+     beds, where, on such occasions, husbands and parents frequently
+     permitted travellers to _bundle_ with their wives and
+     daughters."--_Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue_.
+
+     BUNDLE, _v.i._ "To sleep on the same bed without undressing;
+     applied to the custom of a man and woman, especially lovers, thus
+     sleeping."--_Webster, 1864_.
+
+     BUNDLE, _v.n._ "To sleep together with the clothes
+     on."--_Worcester, 1864_.
+
+
+Bundling, as may be seen from the above quoted definitions, was
+practiced in two forms: first, between _strangers_, as a simple domestic
+make-shift arrangement, often arising from the necessities of a new
+country, and by no means peculiar to America; and, secondly, between
+_lovers_, who shared the same couch, with the mutual understanding that
+innocent endearments should not be exceeded. It was, however, in either
+case, a custom of convenience.
+
+We may notice, in this connection, that it is very common, even at the
+present day, in New England, to speak of one as having "bundled in with
+his clothes on," if he goes to bed without undressing; as, for instance,
+if he came home drunk, or feeling slightly ill, lay down in the daytime,
+or in a cold night found the blankets too scanty.
+
+The point which first claims our attention in the discussion of this
+custom, is its probable _origin_, and its _antiquity_ in
+
+
+THE BRITISH ISLES.
+
+
+For, though British travelers have uniformly endeavored to fix the odium
+of this custom upon us their transatlantic cousins, as being peculiarly
+"An American institution," it is, nevertheless, an indisputable fact
+that bundling has for centuries flourished within their own kingdom. For
+what else, in fact, was that universal custom of promiscuous sleeping
+together which prevailed among the ancient Britons at the time of the
+Roman conquest, and which led Cæsar to consider them as polyandrous
+polygamists, and other ancient writers to give them an unenviable
+character for morality?[1] Bundling, of course! in its rudest aboriginal
+form.
+
+As to its moral aspects, being more charitably inclined towards our
+British friends than they oftentimes are to us, we are willing to accept
+Logan's defense of their ancestors. "The custom," he says, "which
+continued until lately in some parts, and yet exists among a few of the
+rudest, who sleep altogether on straw or rushes, according to the
+general ancient practice, there is reason to believe, led to the
+aspersion cast on the British and Irish tribes. How natural it must have
+been for a casual observer to suppose, from seeing men and women
+reposing in the same place, that the marriage rites were not in force.
+To judge of the ancient inhabitants by the rudest of the present
+Highlanders and Irish, who often sleep in the same apartment, and are
+sometimes exposed to each other in a state of semi-nudity, we should not
+come to a conclusion unfavorable to their morality,[2] for this mode of
+life is not productive of that conjugal infidelity which St. Jerome and
+others insinuate as prevalent among the old Scots. * * * Nations that
+are even in a savage state are sometimes found more sensitive on that
+point of honor than nations more advanced in civilization; and all,
+perhaps, that can be admitted is, that certain formalities may have been
+practiced by the Britons, from which the _bundling_ of the Welsh, and
+the _hand-fasting_ in some parts of Scotland, are derived. The
+conversation which took place between the Empress Julia and the wife of
+a Caledonian chief, as related by Xiphilin, certainly evinces a
+grossness and indelicacy in the amours of the British ladies, if true;
+but it appears to be a reply where wit and reproof were more aimed at
+than truth. The case of the Empress Cartismandua shows the nice feeling
+of the Britons as to the propriety of female conduct. The respect of the
+Germans for their females, and the severity with which they visited a
+deviation from virtue, have been described; and the further testimony of
+Tacitus may be adduced, who says that but very few of the greatest
+dignity chose to have more than one wife, and when they did it was
+merely for the honor of alliance. It may be here stated that the Gaëls
+have no word to express cuckold, and that prostitutes were, by Scots'
+law, like that of the ancient Germans, thrown into deep wells; and a
+woman was not permitted to complain of an assault if she allowed more
+than one night to elapse before the accusation."--_Logan's Scottish
+Gaël_, 5th Am. edition, p. 472.[5]
+
+Indeed, whatever may have been the real state of morality among the
+ancient Scotch and Irish--and it is quite probable that it has been
+unfairly depicted by casual and prejudiced observers--the ancient custom
+of bundling, which has been handed down from earliest times, has not
+greatly contaminated their descendants of the present day. For, whatever
+their national vices, the Scotch and Irish of our day maintain a
+character for chastity superior to that of many of their more fortunate
+and more civilized neighbors. Bundling, as now practiced in these
+kingdoms, is merely a matter arising from the ignorance, or the poverty
+of the inhabitants; and, while not salutary in its moral or physical
+influence, is, at all events, less abused than we might reasonably
+expect.
+
+In regard to
+
+
+WALES.
+
+
+We learn from Woodward's admirable history of that kingdom, the
+following facts concerning the domestic habits of its people in the
+twelfth century:
+
+"At night a bed of rushes was laid down along one side of the room,
+covered with a coarse kind of cloth, made in the country, called
+_brychan_; and all the household lay down on this bed in common, without
+changing their dresses. The fire was kept burning through the night, and
+the sleepers maintained their warmth by lying closely; and when, by the
+hardness of their couch, one side was wearied, they would get up and sit
+by the fire awhile, and then lie down again on the other side. It is to
+this custom of promiscuous sleeping, that some of the worst habits of
+the Welsh at the present day may be ascribed; and from the same custom
+which their forefathers, the ancient Britons, practiced, arose Cæsar's
+supposition that they were polyandrous polygamists."
+
+These habits, which were a matter of necessity with the ancient Welsh,
+have become converted, by the lapse of time, among their descendants of
+the present day, into an amatory custom precisely similar to that
+practiced formerly in New England.[6]
+
+A tourist through Wales, in the year 1797,[7] thus speaks of the Welsh
+_bundling_: "And here, amongst the usages and customs, I must not omit
+to inform you that what you have, perhaps, often heard, without
+believing, respecting the _mode of courtship_ amongst the Welsh
+peasants, is true. The lower order of people do actually carry on their
+love affairs in bed, and what would extremely astonish more polished
+lovers, they are carried on honorably, it being, at least, as usual for
+the Pastoras of the mountains to go from the bed of courtship to the bed
+of marriage as unpolluted and maidenly as the Chloes of fashion; and yet
+you are not to conclude that this proceeds from their being less
+susceptible of the _belle-passion_ than their betters; or that the cold
+air which they breathe has 'froze the genial current of their souls.' By
+no means; if they cannot boast the voluptuous languor of an Italian sky,
+they glow with the bracing spirit of a more invigorating atmosphere. I
+really took some pains to investigate this curious custom, and after
+being assured, by many, of its veracity, had an opportunity of attesting
+its existence with my own eyes. The servant maid of the family I visited
+in Caernarvonshire, happened to be the object of a young peasant, who
+walked eleven long miles every Sunday morning to favor his suit, and
+regularly returned the same night through all weathers, to be ready for
+Monday's employment in the fields, being simply a day laborer. He
+usually arrived in time for morning service, which he constantly
+attended, after which he escorted his Dulcinea home to the house of her
+master, by whose permission they as constantly passed the succeeding
+hour in bed, according to the custom of the country. These tender
+sabbatical preliminaries continued without interruption near two years,
+when the treaty of alliance was solemnized, and, so far from any breach
+of articles happening in the meantime, it is most likely that it was
+considered by both parties as a matter of course, without exciting any
+other idea. On speaking to my friend on the subject, he observed that,
+though it certainly appeared a dangerous mode of making love, he had
+seen so few _living_ abuses of it, during six and thirty years'
+residence in that country, where it nevertheless had always, more or
+less, prevailed, he must conclude it was as innocent as any other. One
+proof of its being _thought_ so by the parties, is the perfect ease and
+freedom with which it is done; no awkwardness or confusion appearing on
+either side; the most well-behaved and decent young woman going into it
+without a blush, and they are by no means deficient in modesty. What is
+pure in idea is always so in conduct, since bad actions are the common
+consequence of bad thoughts; and though the better sort of people treat
+this ceremony as a barbarism, it is very much to be doubted whether more
+_faux pas_ have been committed by the Cambrian boors in this _free
+access_ to the bed chambers of their mistresses, than by more
+fashionable Strephons and their nymphs in groves and shady bowers. The
+power of habit is perhaps stronger than the power of passion, or even of
+the charms which inspire it; and it is sufficient, almost, to say a
+thing is the _custom of a country_, to clear it from any reproach that
+would attach to an innovation. Were it the practice of a few only, and
+to be gratified by stealth, there would, from the strange construction
+of human nature, be more cause of suspicion; but being ancient, general,
+and carried on without difficulty, it is probably as little dangerous as
+a _tête a tête_ in a drawing-room, or in any other full dress place
+where young people meet to say soft things to each other."
+
+In an antiquarian tour by the Rev. W. Bingley, in 1804,[8] we also find
+the following description of this custom: "The peasantry of part of
+Caernarvonshire, Anglesea, and Merionethshire, adopt a mode of
+_courtship_ which, till within the last few years, was scarcely even
+heard of in England. It is the same that is common in many parts of
+America, and termed by the inhabitants of that country, _bundling_. The
+lover steals, under the shadow of the night, to the bed of the fair one,
+into which (retaining an essential part of his dress) he is admitted
+without any shyness or reserve. Saturday or Sunday nights are the
+principal times when this courtship takes place, and on these nights the
+men sometimes walk from a distance of ten miles or more to visit their
+favorite damsels. This strange custom seems to have originated in the
+scarcity of fuel, and in the unpleasantness of sitting together in the
+colder part of the year without a fire. Much has been said of the
+innocence with which these meetings are conducted, but it is a very
+common thing for the consequence of the interview to make its appearance
+in the world within two or three months after the marriage ceremony has
+taken place. The subject excites no particular attention among the
+neighbors, provided the marriage be made good before the living witness
+is brought to light. Since this custom is entirely confined to the
+laboring classes of the community, it is not so pregnant with danger as,
+on a first supposition, it might seem. Both parties are so poor that
+they are necessarily constrained to render their issue legitimate, in
+order to secure their reputation, and with a mode of obtaining a
+livelihood."
+
+Another traveller[9] also mentions "a singular custom that is said to
+prevail in Wales, relating to their mode of courtship, which is declared
+to be carried on in bed; and, what is more extraordinary, it is averred
+that the moving tale of love is agitated in that situation without
+endangering a breach in the preliminaries." Referring to Mr. Pratt's
+account of the custom, before quoted, he proceeds to remark: "Our
+companion, like every one else that we spoke with in Wales on the
+subject, at once denied the existence of this custom: that maids in many
+instances admitted male bed-fellows, he did not doubt; but that the
+procedure was sanctioned by _tolerated custom_ he considered a gross
+misrepresentation. Yet in Anglesea and some parts of North Wales, where
+the original simplicity of manners and high sense of chastity of the
+natives is retained, he admitted _something of the kind_ might appear.
+In those thinly inhabited districts a peasant often has several miles to
+walk after the hours of labor, to visit his mistress; those who have
+reciprocally entertained the _belle passion_ will easily imagine that
+before the lovers grow tired of each other's company the night will be
+far enough advanced; nor is it surprising that a tender-hearted damsel
+should be disinclined to turn her lover out over bogs and mountains
+until the dawn of day. The fact is, that under such circumstances she
+admits a _consors lecti_, but not in _nudatum corpus_. In a lonely Welsh
+hut this bedding has not the alarm of ceremony; from sitting, or perhaps
+lying, on the hearth, they have only to shift their quarters to a heap
+of straw or fern covered with two or three blankets in a neighboring
+corner. The practice only takes place with _this view of
+accommodation_."
+
+Still another glimpse of this favorite Welsh custom is presented by a
+tourist in 1807.[10] He says:
+
+"One evening, at an inn where we halted, we heard a considerable bustle
+in the kitchen, and, upon enquiry, I was let into a secret worth
+knowing. The landlord had been scolding one of his maids, a very pretty,
+plump little girl, for not having done her work; and the reason which
+she alleged for her idleness was, that her master having locked the
+street door at night, had prevented her lover enjoying the rights and
+delights of _bundling_, an amatory indulgence which, considering that it
+is sanctioned by custom, may be regarded as somewhat singular, although
+it is not exclusively of Welsh growth. The process is very simple; the
+gay Lothario, when all is silent, steals to the chamber of his mistress,
+who receives him in bed, but with the modest precaution of wearing her
+under petticoat, which is always fastened at the bottom--not
+unfrequently, I am told, by a sliding knot. It may astonish a London
+gallant to be told that this extraordinary experiment often ends in
+downright wedlock--the knot which cannot slide. A gentleman of
+respectability also assured me that he was obliged to indulge his female
+servants in these nocturnal interviews, and that too at all hours of the
+night, otherwise his whole family would be thrown into disorder by their
+neglect; the carpet would not be dusted, nor would the kettle boil. I
+think this custom should share the fate of the northern Welsh goats.
+* * * * Habit has so reconciled the mind to the comforts of _bundling_,
+that a young lady who entered the coach soon after we left Shrewsbury,
+about eighteen years of age, with a serene and modest countenance,
+displayed considerable historical knowledge of the custom, without one
+touch of bashfulness."[11]
+
+Thus much for Wales, where the custom seems to have been entirely
+confined to the lower classes of society, and where we have reason to
+think it still prevails to some extent to this day.[12]
+
+The same author whom we last quoted also speaks of a "courtship similar
+to _bundling_, carried on in the islands of Vlie and Wieringen,
+
+
+IN HOLLAND,
+
+
+Under the name of _queesting_.[15] At night the lover has access to his
+mistress after she is in bed; and, upon an application to be admitted
+upon the bed, which of course is granted, he raises the quilt, or rug,
+and in this state _queests_, or enjoys a harmless chit-chat with her,
+and then retires. This custom meets with the perfect sanction of the
+most circumspect parents, and the freedom is seldom abused. The author
+traces its origin to the parsimony of the people, whose economy
+considers fire and candles as superfluous luxuries in the long winter
+evenings."
+
+The Hon. Henry C. Murphy of Brooklyn, N. Y., late United States minister
+at the Hague, has furnished us with the following note in relation to
+this Nederduitsche custom: "As to its being a Dutch custom, it was so to
+a limited extent in Holland in former times, and may yet be, though I
+did not hear of it when I was there. Sewell gives the word _queesten_,
+or _kweesten_, in his dictionary, printed over a century ago. The word
+is defined in the dictionary of Wieland, the principal lexicographer in
+that country, as follows: '_Kweesten_. Upon the islands of Texel and
+Vlieland[16] they use this word for a singular custom of wooing, by
+which the doors and windows are left open, and the lover, lying or
+sitting outside the covering, woos the girl who is underneath.' Sewell
+confines the custom to certain islands or lands near the sea."
+
+
+LOVE AND COURTSHIP IN THE 14TH CENTURY.
+
+
+In feudal times, in the last part of the fourteenth century, it became
+the practice for the vassals, or feudatories, to send their sons to be
+educated in the family of the suzerain, while the daughters were
+similarly placed with the lady of the castle. These formed a very
+important part of the household, and were of gentle blood, claiming the
+honorary title of _chambriéres_ or chamber-maidens. The demoiselles of
+this period were very susceptible to the passion of love, which was the
+ruling spirit of the inmates of the castle. Feudal society was, in
+comparison to the previous times, polished and even brilliant, but it
+was not, under the surface, pure. Many good maxims were taught, but they
+were not all practiced. "There was an extreme intimacy between the two
+sexes, who commonly visited each other in their chambers or bedrooms.
+Thus in the poem of Guatier d'Aupias, the hero is represented as
+visiting in her chamber the demoiselle of whom he is enamored. Numerous
+similar examples might be quoted. At times, one of the parties is
+described as being actually in bed, as is the case in the romance of
+_Blonde of Oxford_, where Blonde visits Jehan in his chamber when he is
+in bed, and stays all night with him, in perfect innocence as we are
+told in the romance. We must remember that it was the custom in those
+times for both sexes to go to bed perfectly naked."[17]
+
+
+IN SWITZERLAND,
+
+
+According to an English observer,[18] analogous modes of courtship still
+exist. In speaking of the canton _Unterwald_ he says: "In the story of
+the destruction of the castles, we read that the surprise was effected
+by a young girl admitting her lover to her room by a ladder, and an
+English guide-book remarks, that this is still the fashion of receiving
+lovers in Switzerland. Reference is had to the manner of wooing, which
+in some cantons is called _lichtgetren_, in others _dorfen_ and
+_stubetegetren_, and answers to the old-fashioned _going-a-courting_ in
+England. The customs connected with it vary in different cantons, but
+exist in some form in all except two or three.
+
+In the canon _Lucerne_, the _kiltgang_ is the universal mode of wooing;
+the lover visiting his betrothed in the evening, to be pelted on the way
+by all mischievous urchins; or if he is seated quietly with her by the
+winter fire, they are sure to be serenaded by all manner of _cat voices_
+under the window, which are continued till he issues forth, perhaps at
+dawn in the morning; and however long may be a courtship, these
+_cater-waulings_ are the invariable attendants, and not the most
+lamentable consequences of these nightly visits, recognized, however, as
+entirely respectable and conventional in every canton."
+
+And again in the canton _Vaud_, he says, "the _kiltgang_, or nightly
+wooings, are the universal custom with the universal consequences, but
+in general the wife is treated with marked respect, is made keeper of
+the treasury, and consulted as the oracle of the family."
+
+Among the amatory customs of various
+
+
+SAVAGE NATIONS
+
+
+and tribes, there are certain which somewhat resemble _bundling_, except
+in the greater degree of freedom allowed--a freedom which, in the eyes
+of civilized nations, is absolute immorality. Of this description is the
+manner of wooing described by La Hontan as prevalent among the Indians
+of North America.[19]
+
+Yet, in many of these instances, if we were to carefully examine the
+social system and customs of our savage friends, and were willing to
+judge them rather by the results of our own observation, than by our
+preconceived opinions, we should probably find that the absolute
+_practical morality_ of these _untutored natives_, was quite equal, if
+not superior, to that of the educated and civilized whites.[20]
+
+Among these _customs de amour_, however, to which we have alluded as
+existing among different savage tribes, there are none which bear so
+perfect a resemblance to _bundling_, as that described by Masson in his
+_Journeys in Central Asia, Belochistan, Afghanistan,_ etc. (III, 287.)
+He says:
+
+"Many of the Afghan tribes have a custom of wooing similar to what in
+Wales is known as _bundling-up_, and which they term _namzat bezé_. The
+lover presents himself at the house of his betrothed with a suitable
+gift, and in return is allowed to pass the night with her, on the
+understanding that innocent endearments are not to be exceeded."
+
+Spencer St. John tells us, in speaking of the piratical and ferocious
+Sea Dayaks of Borneo, that "besides the ordinary attention which a young
+man is able to pay to the girl he desires to make his wife--as helping
+her in her farm work, and in carrying home her load of vegetables or
+wood, as well as in making her little presents, as a ring or some brass
+chain-work with which the women adorn their waists, or even a
+petticoat--there is a very peculiar testimony of regard which is worthy
+of note. About nine or ten at night, when the family is supposed to be
+fast asleep within the musquito curtains in the private apartments, the
+young man quietly slips back the bolt by which the door is fastened on
+the inside, and enters the room on tiptoe. On hearing who it is, she
+rises at once, and they sit conversing together and making arrangements
+for the future, in the dark, over a plentiful supply of _sirih-leaf_ and
+_batle-nut_, which it is the gentleman's duty to provide, for his suit
+is in a fair way to prosper; but if, on the other hand, she rises and
+says, 'be good enough to blow up the fire,' or 'light the lamp' (a
+bamboo filled with resin), then his hopes are at an end, as that is the
+usual form of dismissal. Of course, if this kind of nocturnal visit is
+frequently repeated, the parents do not fail to discover it, although it
+is a point of honor among them to take no notice of their visitor; and,
+if they approve of him, matters then take their course, but if not, they
+use their influence with their daughter to ensure the utterance of the
+fatal 'please blow up the fire.'"
+
+And now, having discussed the custom of bundling as it formerly existed
+in Great Britain, and having proved its identity with the _queesting_ of
+Holland, and the _namzat bezé_ of Central Asia, we propose to follow our
+investigations to the continent of America, and to trace, if we can, its
+origin and progress in the
+
+
+UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
+
+
+in doing which, it is quite likely that, we follow the identical line of
+travel and colonization--viz: from Old to New England, and from
+Netherlands (the father-land) to New Netherlands--by which the custom of
+bundling was really transplanted to these western shores. For, although
+the grave and (sometimes) veracious historian of New York, Diedrich
+Knickerbocker, hath endeavored to fasten upon the Connecticut settlers
+the odium of having introduced the custom into New Netherland,[21] to
+the great offense of all properly disposed people; yet we may reasonably
+doubt whether the young mynheers and frauliens of New Amsterdam, in that
+day, were any more innocent of this lover's pastime, than their
+vivacious Connecticut neighbors. Indeed, can it be for one moment
+supposed that the good Hollanders--a most unchanging and conservative
+race--should have been so far false to the traditions of their fathers,
+and the honor of the fatherland, as to leave behind them, when they
+crossed the seas, the good old custom of _queesting_, with its
+time-honored associations and delights? Or can it be imagined that those
+astute lawgivers and political economists, the early governors and
+burgomasters, were so blind to the necessities and interests of a new
+and sparsely populated country, as to forbid bundling within their
+borders? Indeed, it would be but a sorry compliment to the wisdom of
+that sagacious and far-sighted body of merchants comprised in the High
+and Mighty West India Company, to believe that they were unwilling to
+introduce under their benign auspices, a custom so intimately connected
+with their own national social habits, and so promising to the
+prospective interests and enlargement of their _new plantations_, as
+this. And, truly, Diedrich himself, doth, in another part of his book,
+inadvertently betray the fact that bundling was by no means a purely
+Yankee trick, for he speaks of the redoubtable Anthony Van
+Corlaer--purest of Dutchmen--as "passing through Hartford, and Pyquag,
+and Middletown, and all the other border towns, twanging his trumpet
+like a very devil, so that the sweet valleys and banks of the
+Connecticut resounded with the warlike melody, and stopping occasionally
+to eat pumpkin pies, dance at country frolics, and _bundle_ with the
+beauteous lasses of those parts, whom he rejoiced exceedingly with his
+soul-stirring instrument." Which passage, while it proves that the
+practice of bundling prevailed in Connecticut, proves equally well that
+Anthony the trumpeter was by no means inexperienced in its delights, nor
+unwilling to enjoy its comforts, whether under the name of _bundling_ or
+_queesting_.
+
+Indeed, we do most truly believe that the cunning Knickerbocker, in his
+desire to vindicate, as he thought, the character of his race against
+the accusation of immorality, hath by his denial not only committed a
+grievous sin against "the truth of history," but hath greatly added
+thereto, by attempting to foist off the opprobrium of the same on to the
+shoulders of the Connecticut folks. But history will not remain forever
+falsified, and the day has at length arrived when every historical tub
+must "stand on its own bottom," and the world will henceforth know that
+the New Netherlanders did not take bundling by inoculation from the
+Yankees, but that they brought it with them to the New World, as an
+ancestral heirloom.
+
+This point being thus satisfactorily settled, to the honor of the
+Dutchman, and the extreme satisfaction of all future historians, we next
+proceed to investigate the bundling prevalent in
+
+
+THE NEW ENGLAND STATES,
+
+
+Where, as we have already shown, it was, as with the Dutchmen, an
+_inherited_ custom. Its comparatively innocent and harmless character
+has, however, been fearfully distorted and maligned by irresponsible
+satirists, and prejudiced historians. Take, for example, the following
+passage from Knickerbocker's _History of New York_,[22] wherein he
+pretends to describe "the curious device among these sturdy barbarians
+[the Connecticut colonists], to keep up a harmony of interests, and
+promote population. * * * * They multiplied to a degree which would be
+incredible to any man unacquainted with the marvellous fecundity of this
+growing country. This amazing increase may, indeed, be partly ascribed
+to a singular custom prevalent among them, commonly known by the name of
+_bundling_--a superstitious rite observed by the young people of both
+sexes, with which they usually terminated their festivities, and which
+was kept up with religious strictness by the more bigoted and vulgar
+part of the community. This ceremony was likewise, in those primitive
+times, considered as an indispensable preliminary to matrimony; their
+courtships commencing where ours usually finish, by which means they
+acquired, that intimate acquaintance with each other's good qualities
+before marriage, which has been pronounced by philosophers the sure
+basis of a happy union. Thus early did this cunning and ingenious people
+display a shrewdness at making a bargain, which has ever since
+distinguished them, and a strict adherence to the good old vulgar maxim
+about 'buying a pig in a poke.'
+
+"To this sagacious custom, therefore, do I chiefly attribute the
+unparalleled increase of the Yanokie or Yankee tribe; for it is a
+certain fact, well authenticated by court records and parish registers,
+that wherever the practice of bundling prevailed, there was an amazing
+number of sturdy brats annually born unto the state, without the license
+of the law, or the benefit of clergy. Neither did the irregularity of
+their birth operate in the least to their disparagement. On the
+contrary, they grew up a long-sided, raw-boned, hardy race of whoreson
+whalers, wood cutters, fishermen, and peddlers; and strapping corn-fed
+wenches, who by their united efforts tended marvellously towards
+populating those notable tracts of country called Nantucket, Piscataway,
+and Cape Cod."
+
+Hear, also, that learned, but audacious and unscrupulous divine, the
+Rev. Samuel Peters, who thus discourseth at length upon the custom of
+bundling in Connecticut, and other parts of New England. After admitting
+that "the women of Connecticut are strictly virtuous, and to be compared
+to the prude rather than the European polite lady," he says:
+
+"Notwithstanding the modesty of the females is such that it would be
+accounted the greatest rudeness for a gentleman to speak before a lady
+of a garter, knee, or leg, yet it is thought but a piece of civility to
+ask her to _bundle_; a custom as old as the first settlement in 1634. It
+is certainly innocent, virtuous and prudent, or the puritans would not
+have permitted it to prevail among their offspring, for whom in general
+they would suffer crucifixion. Children brought up with the chastest
+ideas, with so much religion as to believe that the omniscient God sees
+them in the dark, and that angels guard them when absent from their
+parents, will not, nay, cannot, act a wicked thing. People who are
+influenced more by lust, than a serious faith in God, who is too pure to
+behold iniquity with approbation, ought never to _bundle_. If any man,
+thus a stranger to the love of virtue, of God, and the Christian
+religion, should _bundle_ with a young lady in New England, and behave
+himself unseemly towards her, he must first melt her into passion, and
+expel heaven, death, and hell, from her mind, or he will undergo the
+chastisement of negroes turned mad--if he escape with life, it will be
+owing to the parents flying from their bed to protect him. The Indians,
+who had this method of courtship when the English arrived among them in
+1634, are the most chaste set of people in the world. Concubinage and
+fornication are vices none of them are addicted to, except such as
+forsake the laws of Hobbamockow and turn Christians. The savages have
+taken many female prisoners, carried them back three hundred miles into
+their country, and kept them several years, and yet not a single
+instance of their violating the laws of chastity has ever been known.
+This cannot be said of the French, or of the English, whenever Indian or
+other women have fallen into their hands. I am no advocate for
+temptation; yet must say, that _bundling_ has prevailed 160 years in New
+England, and, I verily believe, with ten times more chastity than the
+sitting on a sofa. I had daughters, and speak from near forty years'
+experience. _Bundling_ takes place only in cold seasons of the year--the
+sofa in summer is more dangerous than the bed in winter. About the year
+1756, Boston, Salem, Newport, and New York, resolving to be more polite
+than their ancestors, forbade their daughters _bundling_ on the bed with
+any young man whatever, and introduced a sofa to render courtship more
+palatable and Turkish, whatever it was owing to, whether to the sofa, or
+any uncommon excess of the _feu d'esprit_, there went abroad a report
+that this _raffinage_ produced more _natural consequences_ then all the
+_bundling_ among the boors with their _rurales pedantes_, through every
+village in New England besides.
+
+"In 1776, a clergyman from one of the polite towns, went into the
+country, and preached against the unchristian custom of young men and
+maidens lying together on a bed. He was no sooner out of the church,
+then attacked by a shoal of good old women, with, 'Sir, do you think we
+and our daughters are naughty, because we allow _bundling_?' 'You lead
+yourselves into temptation by it.' They all replied at once, 'Sir, have
+you been told thus, or has experience taught it you?' The Levite began
+to lift up his eyes, and to consider of his situation, and bowing, said,
+'I have been told so.' The ladies, _una voce_, bawled out, 'Your
+informants, sir, we conclude, are those city ladies who prefer a sofa to
+a bed: we advise you to alter your sermon, by substituting the word
+_sofa_ for _bundling_, and on your return home preach it to them, for
+experience has told us that city folks send more children into the
+country without fathers or mothers to own them, than are born among us;
+therefore, you see, a sofa is more dangerous than a bed.' The poor
+priest, seemingly convinced of his blunder, exclaimed, '_Nec vitia
+nostra, neo remedia pati possumus_,' hoping thereby to get rid of his
+guests; but an old matron pulled off her spectacles, and, looking the
+priest in the face like a Roman heroine, said, '_Noli putare me hæc
+auribus tuis dare_.' Others cried out to the priest to explain his
+Latin. 'The English,' said he, 'is this: Wo is me that I sojourn in
+Meseck, and dwell in the tents of Kedar!' One pertly retorted, '_Gladii
+decussati sunt gemina presbyteri clavis_.' The priest confessed his
+error, begged pardon, and promised never more to preach against
+bundling, or to think amiss of the custom; the ladies generously forgave
+him, and went away.
+
+"It may seem very strange to find this custom of bundling in bed
+attended with so much innocence in New England, while in Europe it is
+thought not safe or scarcely decent to permit a young man and maid to be
+together in private anywhere. But in this quarter of the old world the
+viciousness of the one, and the simplicity of the other, are the result
+merely of education and habit. It seems to be a part of heroism, among
+the polished nations of it, to sacrifice the virtuous fair one, whenever
+an opportunity offers, and thence it is concluded that the same
+principles actuate those of the new world. It is egregiously absurd to
+judge all of all countries by one. In Spain, Portugal and Italy,
+jealousy reigns; in France, England, and Holland, suspicion; in the West
+and East Indies, lust; in New England, superstition. These four blind
+deities govern Jews, Turks, Christians, infidels, and heathen.
+Superstition is the most amiable. She sees no vice with approbation but
+persecution, and self-preservation is the cause of her seeing that. My
+insular readers will, I hope, believe me, when I tell them that I have
+seen, in the West Indies, naked boys and girls, some fifteen or sixteen
+years of age, waiting at table and at tea, even when twenty or thirty
+virtuous English ladies were in the room; who were under no more
+embarrassment at such an awful sight in the eyes of English people that
+have not traveled abroad, than they would have been at the sight of so
+many servants in livery. Shall we censure the ladies of the West Indies
+as vicious above all their sex, on account of this local custom? By no
+means; for long experience has taught the world that the West Indian
+white ladies are virtuous prudes. Where superstition reigns, fanaticism
+will be minister of state; and the people, under the taxation of zeal,
+will shun what is commonly called vice, with ten times more care than
+the polite and civilized Christians, who know what is right and what is
+wrong from reason and revelation. Happy would it be for the world, if
+reason and revelation were suffered to control the mind and passions of
+the great and wise men of the earth, as superstition does that of the
+simple and less polished! When America shall erect societies for the
+promotion of chastity in Europe, in return for the establishment of
+European arts in the American capitals, then Europe will discover that
+there is more Christian philosophy in American bundling than can be
+found in the customs of nations more polite.
+
+"I should not have said so much about bundling, had not a learned
+divine[23] of the English church published his travels through some
+parts of America, wherein this remarkable custom is represented in an
+unfavorable light, and as prevailing among the _lower class_ of people.
+The truth is, the custom prevails among all classes, to the great honor
+of the country, its religion, and ladies. The virtuous may be tempted;
+but the tempter is despised. Why it should be thought incredible for a
+young man and young woman innocently and virtuously to lie down together
+in a bed with a great part of their clothes on, I cannot conceive. Human
+passions may be alike in every region; but religion, diversified as it
+is, operates differently in different countries. Upon the whole, had I
+daughters now, I would venture to let them _bundle_ on the bed, or even
+on the sofa, after a proper education, sooner than adopt the Spanish
+mode of forcing young people to prattle only before the lady's mother
+the chitchat of artless lovers. Could the four quarters of the world
+produce a more chaste, exemplary and beautiful company of wives and
+daughters than are in Connecticut, I should not have remaining one
+favorable sentiment for the province. But the soil, the rivers, the
+ponds, the ten thousand landscapes, together with the virtuous and
+lovely women which now adorn the ancient kingdoms of Connecticote,
+Sassacus, and Quinnipiog, would tempt me into the highest wonder and
+admiration of them, could they once be freed ofthe skunk, the
+moping-owl, rattlesnake and fanatic Christian."
+
+Or, to take another example of the abuse heaped by our English cousins
+upon this so-called "American custom of bundling." We extract the
+following from an article entitled _British Abuse of American Manners_,
+published in 1815.[24] It seems that it had long been a custom in the
+Westminster school, in the city of London, for the senior students, who
+were about to leave that seminary for the university, at the age of
+sixteen to eighteen, to have an annual dramatic performance, which was
+generally a play of Terence.[25] To this, as annually performed, there
+was usually a Latin prologue, and also an epilogue composed for the
+occasion and this epilogue turned, for the most part, on the manners of
+the day that would bear the gentle correction of good humored satire, in
+elegant Latinity. In the epilogue presented at one of these exhibitions,
+about 1815, in connection with the performance of Terence's _Phormio_,
+the following balderdash (with much else, as applied to American life
+and manners) was introduced and spoken by these ingenuous and virtuous
+British youth, before a large and enlightened audience:
+
+  "Nec morum dicere promtum est,
+  Sit ratio simplex, sitne venusta magis.
+  Æthiopissa palam mensæ formulatur herili
+  In puris naturalibus, ut loquimur.
+  Vir braccis se bellus amat nudare décentér,
+  Strenuus ut choreas ex-que-peditus agat.
+  Quid quod ibi; quod congere ipsis conque moveri
+  Dicitur, incolumi nempe pudicitiâ,
+  Sponte suâ, sine fraude, torum sese audet in unum.
+  Condere cum casto casta puelle viro?
+  Quid noctes coenaque Deûm? quid amœna piorum.
+  Concilia?"
+
+Which being translated is as follows:
+
+"Nor is it easy to say whether the tenor of their manners is more to be
+admired for simplicity or elegance; a negro wench, as we are told, will
+wait on her master at table in native nudity; and a beau will strip
+himself to the waist, that he may dance unincumbered, and with more
+agility. There, too, we hear of the practice of _bundling_ without any
+infraction of female modesty; and the chaste maiden, without any
+deception, but with right good will, ventures to share the bed with her
+chaste swain! Oh, what nights and banquets, worthy of the gods! What
+delightful customs among these pious people?"
+
+But this spirit of misrepresentation and ridicule, so glaringly apparent
+in the foregoing extracts, and which has so universally characterized
+all those British travelers and authors who have attempted to describe
+our social habits and manners, is fitly rebuked, even as long ago as
+1815, by an anonymous writer, whose trenchant pen reminds our British
+cousins of the old adage concerning "those who live in glass houses,"
+etc.
+
+"From the time of Jack Cade," says he, "to Lord George Gordon, and down
+to the present day, neither your _grave_ or _gay_ authorities on the
+subject of _bundling_ and _tarrying_ are worthy of criticism. There is a
+littleness in noticing, in the _London Quarterly Review_, a work which
+heretofore has been distinguished for its taste, chasteness and
+celebrity, the observation of travelers who, if men of truth, could only
+mean to mention customs (if they were customs) of the most vulgar and
+ignorant, which at any rate are now as little known as are the operation
+of the blue laws of Connecticut, or part of the penal code enacted to
+keep in slavery and subjection the sister kingdom.[26]
+
+"Englishmen, examine your own cottages, particularly in the north, and
+on the borders, and extend your view to the western extremity of your
+island. Pray, what term will you give to that promiscuous bundling of
+the father, mother, children, sons and daughters-in-law, cousins, and
+inmates who call to _tarry_, and not unfrequently stretch themselves in
+one common bed of straw on the hovel's floor?[27]
+
+"Nay, even, in some parts of your empire, the hogs and the cows join the
+group, and form a most audible respiration from their noses, getting
+vent through the hole in the roof intended for a chimney, or spreading
+throughout the clay built edifice with odorific sweetness, though
+perhaps not so fragrant and refreshing as was the precious oil poured on
+the venerable head of Aaron, which Sternhold and Hopkins tell us filled
+the room with pleasure. In the early settlement of this country there
+might have been houses in the route of the inquisitive and insidious
+European travelers, unprovided with a spare bed on which he might
+stretch his limbs; but, now, should Mr. Canning[28] himself visit us, he
+need not fear being _bundled_--he need not travel far in any part of the
+United States without enjoying the luxury of a soft couch and clean
+sheets, where he can ruminate on the injustice he attempts on our
+national character."
+
+Badinage, ridicule and misrepresentation aside, however, there can be no
+reasonable doubt that _bundling_ did prevail to a very great extent in
+the New England colonies from a very early date. It is equally evident
+that it was originally confined almost entirely to the lower classes of
+the community, or to those whose limited means compelled them to
+economize strictly in their expenditure of firewood and candlelight.
+Many, perhaps the majority, of the dwellings of the early settlers,
+consisted of but one room, in which the whole family lived and slept.
+Yet their innocent and generous hospitality forbade that the stranger,
+or the friend whom night overtook on their threshold, should be turned
+shelterless and couchless away, so long as they could offer him even
+half of a bed. As an example of this we may cite the case of Lieut.
+Anbury, a British officer, who served in America during the
+Revolutionary War, and whose letters preserve many sprightly and
+interesting pictures of the manners and customs of that period. In a
+letter dated at Cambridge, New England, November 20, 1777, he thus
+speaks:
+
+"The night before we came to this town [Williamstown, Mass.], being
+quartered at a small log hut, I was convinced in how innocent a view the
+Americans look upon that indelicate custom they call _bundling_. Though
+they have remarkable good feather beds, and are extremely neat and
+clean, still I preferred my hard mattress, as being accustomed to it;
+this evening, however, owing to the badness of the roads, and the
+weakness of my mare, my servant had not arrived with my baggage at the
+time for retiring to rest. There being only two beds in the house, I
+inquired which I was to sleep in, when the old woman replied, 'Mr.
+Ensign,' here I should observe to you, that the New England people are
+very inquisitive as to the rank you have in the army; 'Mr. Ensign,' says
+she, 'our Jonathan and I will sleep in this, and our Jemima and you
+shall sleep in that.' I was much astonished at such a proposal, and
+offered to sit up all night, when Jonathan immediately replied, 'Oh, la!
+Mr. Ensign, you wont be the first man our Jemima has bundled with, will
+it Jemima?' when little Jemima, who, by the bye, was a very pretty,
+black-eyed girl, of about sixteen or seventeen, archly replied, 'No,
+father, not by many, but it will be with the first Britainer' (the name
+they give to Englishmen). In this dilemma what could I do? The smiling
+invitation of pretty Jemima--the eye, the lip, the--Lord ha' mercy,
+where am I going to? But wherever I may be going now, I did not go to
+bundle with her--in the same room with her father and mother, my kind
+_host_ and _hostess_ too! I thought of that--I thought of more
+besides--to struggle with the passions of nature; to clasp Jemima in my
+arms--to--do what? you'll ask--why, to do--nothing! for if amid all
+these temptations, the lovely Jemima had melted into kindness, she had
+been an outcast from the world--treated with contempt, abused by
+violence, and left perhaps to perish! No, Jemima; I could have endured
+all this to have been blest with you, but it was too vast a sacrifice,
+when you was to be the victim! Suppose how great the test of virtue must
+be, or how cold the American constitution, when this unaccountable
+custom is in hospitable repute, and perpetual practice."[29]
+
+Again, in a subsequent letter, the Lieutenant, after describing a New
+England sleighing frolic, says: "In England this would be esteemed
+extremely imprudent, and attended with dangerous consequences; but,
+after what I have related respecting _bundling_, I need not say, in how
+innocent a view this is looked upon. Apropos, as to that custom, along
+the sea coast, by a continual intercourse among Europeans, it is in some
+measure abolished; but they still retain one something similar, which is
+termed _tarrying_. When a young man is enamored of a woman, and wishes
+to marry her, he proposes the affair to her parents (without whose
+consent no marriage, in this colony, can take place); if they have no
+objections, he is allowed to tarry with her one night, in order to make
+his court. At the usual time the old couple retire to bed, leaving the
+young ones to settle matters as they can, who having sat up as long as
+they think proper, get into bed together also, but without putting off
+their under garments; to prevent scandal. If the parties agree, it is
+all very well, the banns are published, and they married without delay;
+if not, they part, and possibly never see each other again, unless,
+which is an accident that seldom happens, the forsaken fair proves
+pregnant, in which case the man, unless he absconds, is obliged to marry
+her, on pain of excommunication."[30]
+
+The word _tarry_, in the sense of _to stop_ or _to stay_, was more used
+by our ancestors than by the present generation; yet we think that
+Lieut. Anbury was mistaken in his idea that the _tarrying_ was but for a
+single night. It is true that marriages were early, and probably the
+courtships were short, but we all know enough of New England _sparking_
+to know that a single night was cutting it rather short; and yet it is
+easy to see how Anbury should get his erroneous idea. True, if the lover
+was so unlucky as to get his final dismissal the first night, there was
+an end of the matter, and well might they fail to meet again; but, in
+that case, it is not likely that the favors of which he could boast
+would be such as to seriously affect the reputation of the girl with
+whom he tarried. The fact that in the custom of _tarrying_, the parties
+also _bundled_, does not authorize the synonymous use of the two words,
+which have nothing in common. For, doubtless many young men _tarried_
+with their sweethearts, who did not _bundle_ with them.
+
+Again, when, on a sabbath night, the faithful swain arrived, having,
+perhaps, walked ten or more weary miles, to enjoy the company of his
+favorite lass, in the few brief hours which would elapse before the
+morning light should call him again to his homeward walk and his week of
+toil, was it not the dictate of humanity as well as of economy, which
+prompted the _old folks_ to allow the approved and accepted suitor of
+their daughter to pursue his wooing under the downy coverlid of a good
+feather bed (oftentimes, too, in the very same room in which they
+themselves slept), rather than to have them _sit up_ and _burn out
+uselessly_ firewood and _candles_, to say nothing of the risk of
+catching their _death a' cold_? Indeed, was not the sanction of bundling
+in such cases a tacit admission, on the part of the parents, of their
+perfect confidence in the young folks, which necessarily acted upon the
+latter as, at once, a strong restraint from wrong, and a strong
+incentive to right doing? The influence of early religious training, the
+powerful control which the church had obtained upon the social and
+domestic life of the people, and the superstitious aspect which, in
+those days, the gospel was made to wear, must also be taken into the
+account. And, moreover, is it not probable that the universality of the
+custom, which certainly cleared it from anything like odium or reproach,
+would naturally tend to preclude, in a degree, any improper ideas in the
+minds of those who practiced it? Such, then, we consider the _status_ of
+the custom in the earlier history of the colonies, and among the _first
+generation_ of settlers.
+
+"But," if the reader will allow us to quote from a previous work, "the
+emigration from a civilized to a new country,[31] is necessarily a step
+backward into barbarism. The _second generation_ did not fill the place
+of the fathers. Reared amid the trials and dangers of a new settlement,
+they were in a great measure deprived of the advantages, both social and
+educational, which their parents had enjoyed. Nearly all of the former
+could write, which cannot be said of their children. Neither did the
+latter possess that depth of religious feeling, or earnest practical
+piety which distinguished the first comers. Religion was to them less a
+matter of the heart than of social privilege, and in the _half way
+covenant_ controversy we behold the gradual _letting down of bars_
+between a pure church and a grasping world.
+
+"The _third_ generation followed in the footsteps of their predecessors.
+Then came war; and young New England brought from the long Canadian
+campaigns, stores of loose camp vices, and recklessness, which soon
+flooded the land with immorality and infidelity. The church was
+neglected, drunkenness fearfully increased, and social life was sadly
+corrupted."[32]
+
+It is not, therefore, a matter of surprise that bundling should, in the
+increased laxity of public morals, become more frequently abused. Its
+pernicious effects became constantly more apparent, and more decidedly
+challenged the attention of the comparatively few godly men who
+endeavored to stem and to control the rapidly widening current of
+immorality which threatened to overwhelm the land.[33] The powerful
+intellect of Jonathan Edwards thundered its anathemas upon it; pious
+divines prayed against it in their closets, and wrestled with it in
+their pulpits; while many attempted by a revision of their church
+polity, by greater carefulness in the admission of members; by rules
+more stringently framed and enforced, to preserve, as best they might,
+the purity of the churches committed to their charge, and to make them,
+if it were possible, beacon lights amid the surrounding darkness of the
+times.[34] The task, however, was well nigh hopeless. The French wars
+were succeeded by that of the American Revolution, and not before the
+close of that struggle, may the custom of bundling be said to have
+received its deathblow, and even then it _died hard_.
+
+Its final disuse was brought about by a variety of causes, among which
+may be named the improved condition of the people after the Revolution,
+enabling many to live in larger and better warmed houses, and in the
+very few places where the ministers dared to touch the subject in the
+pulpit, as in Dedham, already referred to, a decided effect was
+produced, but it was confined to the neighborhood, having very little
+effect on the general custom. Probably no single thing tended so much to
+break up the practice as the publication of a song, or ballad, in an
+almanac, about 1785.
+
+This ballad described in a free and easy style the various plans adopted
+by those who bundled, and rather more than hinted at the results in
+certain cases. Being published in an almanac, it had a much larger
+circulation than could have been obtained for it in any other way (tract
+societies not being then in vogue), and the descriptions were so _pat_,
+that each one who saw them was disposed to apply them in a joking way to
+any other who was known to practice bundling; and the result was, such a
+general storm of banter and ridicule that no girl had the courage to
+stand against it, and continue to admit her lovers to her bed.
+
+We have found many persons who distinctly remember the publication of
+this song, and the effect which it had on the public mind, but all our
+efforts to find the almanac containing it, have proved of no avail.
+
+We have, however, been favored with the use of a broadside copy of a
+ballad, preserved among the treasures of the American Antiquarian
+Society, at Worcester, Massachusetts, which several of our ancient
+friends have recognized as identical with that in the almanac, one of
+them proving it by repeating from memory several lines from the Almanac
+version, which were precisely like that of the broadside, a copy of
+which we give herewith.
+
+
+A NEW BUNDLING SONG;
+
+_Or a reproof to those Young Country Women, who follow that reproachful
+Practice, and to their Mothers for upholding them therein_.
+
+Since bundling very much abounds,
+In many parts in country towns,
+No doubt but some will spurn my song,
+And say I'd better hold my tongue;
+But none I'm sure will take offence,
+Or deem my song impertinence,
+But only those who guilty be,
+And plainly here their pictures see.
+Some maidens say, if through the nation,
+Bundling should quite go out of fashion,
+Courtship would lose its sweets; and they
+Could have no fun till wedding day.
+It shant be so, they rage and storm,
+And country girls in clusters swarm,
+And fly and buz, like angry bees,
+And vow they'll bundle when they please.
+Some mothers too, will plead their cause,
+And give their daughters great applause,
+And tell them, 'tis no sin nor shame,
+For we, your mothers, did the same;
+We hope the custom ne'er will alter,
+But wish its enemies a halter.
+Dissatisfaction great appear'd,
+In several places where they've heard
+Their preacher's bold, aloud disclaim
+That bundling is a burning shame;
+This too was cause of direful rout
+And talk'd and told of, all about,
+That ministers should disapprove
+Sparks courting in a bed of love,
+So justified the custom more,
+Than e'er was heard or known before.
+The pulpit then it seems must yield,
+And female valor take the field,
+In places where their custom long
+Increasing strength has grown so strong;
+When mothers herein bear a sway,
+And daughters joyfully obey.
+And young men highly pleased too,
+Good Lord! what can't the devil do.
+Can this vile practice ne'er be broke?
+Is there no way to give a stroke,
+To wound it or to strike it dead.
+And girls with sparks not go to bed
+'Twill strike them more than preacher's tongue,
+To let the world know what they've done
+And let it be in common fame,
+Held up to view a noted shame.
+Young miss if this your practice be,
+I'll teach you now yourself to see:
+You plead you're honest, modest too,
+But such a plea will never do;
+For how can modesty consist,
+With shameful practice such as this?
+I'll give your answer to the life:
+"You don't undress, like man wife,"
+That is your plea, I'll freely own,
+But whose your bondsmen when alone,
+That further rules you will not break,
+And marriage liberties partake?
+Some really do, as I suppose,
+Upon design keep on some clothes,
+And yet in truth I'm not afraid
+For to describe a bundling maid;
+She'll sometimes say when she lies down,
+She can't be cumber'd with a gown,
+And that the weather is so warm,
+To take it off can be no harm:
+The girl it seems had been at strift;
+For widest bosom to her shift,
+She gownless, when the bed they're in,
+The spark, nought feels but naked skin.
+But she is modest, also chaste,
+While only bare from neck to waist,
+And he of boasted freedom sings,
+Of all above her apron strings.
+And where such freedoms great are shar'd
+And further freedoms feebly bar'd,
+I leave for others to relate,
+How long she'll keep her virgin state.
+Another pretty lass we'll scan,
+That loves to bundle with a man,
+For many different ways they take,
+Through modest rules they all will break.
+Some clothes I'll keep on, she will say,
+For that has always been my way,
+Nor would I be quite naked found,
+With spark in bed, for thousand pound.
+But petticoats, I've always said,
+Were never made to wear in bed,
+I'll take them off, keep on my gown,
+And then I dare defy the town,
+To charge me with immodesty,
+While I so ever cautious be.
+The spark was pleased with his maid,
+Of apprehension quick he said,
+Her witty scheme was keen he swore,
+Lying in gown open before.
+Another maid when in the dark,
+Going to bed with her dear spark,
+She'll tell him that 'tis rather shocking,
+To bundle in with shoes and stockings.
+Nor scrupling but she's quite discreet,
+Lying with naked legs and feet,
+With petticoat so thin and short,
+That she is scarce the better for't;
+But you will say that I'm unfair,
+That some who bundle take more care,
+For some we may with truth suppose,
+Bundle in bed with all their clothes.
+But bundler's clothes are no defence,
+Unly[35] horses push the fence;
+A certain fact I'll now relate,
+That's true indeed without debate.
+A bundling couple went to bed.
+With all their clothes from foot to head,
+That the defence might seem complete,
+Each one was wrapped in a sheet.
+But O! this bundling's such a witch
+The man of her did catch the itch,
+And so provoked was the wretch,
+That she of him a bastard catch'd.
+Ye bundle misses don't you blush,
+You hang your heads and bid me hush.
+If you wont tell me how you feel,
+I'll ask your sparks, they best can tell.
+But it is custom you will say,
+And custom always bears the sway,
+If I wont take my sparks to bed,
+A laughing stock I shall be made;
+A vulgar custom 'tis, I own,
+Admir'd by many a slut and clown,
+But 'tis a method of proceeding,
+As much abhorr'd by those of breeding.
+You're welcome to the lines I've penn'd,
+For they were written by a friend,
+Who'll think himself quite well rewarded,
+If this vile practice is discarded.
+
+
+The party in favor of bundling were able, too, to _keep a poet_, as is
+shown by the following ballad, which we transcribe from a printed copy
+preserved by the American Antiquarian Society.
+
+
+A NEW SONG IN FAVOUR OF COURTING.
+
+Adam at first was form'd of dust,
+As scripture doth record;
+And did receive a wife call'd Eve,
+From his Creator Lord.
+
+From Adam's side a crooked bride,
+The Lord was pleas'd to form;
+Ordain'd that they in bed might lay
+to keep each other warm.
+
+To court indeed they had no need,
+She was his wife at first,
+And she was made to be his aid,
+Whose origin was dust.
+
+This new made pair full happy were,
+And happy might remain'd,
+If his help mate had never ate,
+The fruit that was restrain'd.
+
+Tho' Adam's wife destroy'd his life,
+In manner that was awful;
+Yet marriage now we all allow
+To be both just and lawful.
+
+But women must be courted first,
+Because it is the fashion,
+And so at times commit great crimes,
+Caus'd by a lustful passion.
+
+And now a days there are two ways,
+Which of the two is right,
+To lie between sheets sweet and clean,
+Or sit up all the night;
+
+But some suppose bundling in clothes
+Do heaven sorely vex;
+Then let me know which way to go,
+To court the female sex.
+
+Whether they must be hugg'd or kiss'd
+When sitting by the fire
+Or whether they in bed may lay,
+Which doth the Lord require?
+
+But some pretend to recommend
+The sitting up all night;
+Courting in chairs as doth appear
+To them to be most right.
+
+Nature's request is, grant me rest,
+Our bodies seek repose;
+Night is the time, and 'tis no crime
+To bundle in your clothes,
+
+Since in a bed a man and maid,
+May bundle and be chaste,
+It does no good to burn out wood,
+It is a needless waste.
+
+Let coats and gowns be laid aside,
+And breeches take their flight,
+An honest man and woman can
+Lay quiet all the night.
+
+In Genesis no knowledge is
+Of this thing to be got,
+Whether young men did bundle then,
+Or whether they did not.
+
+The sacred book says wives they took,
+It don't say how they courted,
+Whether that they in bed did lay,
+Or by the fire sported.
+
+But some do hold in times of old,
+That those about to wed,
+Spent not the night, nor yet the light
+By fire, or in the bed.
+
+They only meant to say they sent
+A man to chuse a bride,
+Isaac did so, but let me know
+Of any one beside.
+
+Man don't pretend to trust a friend,
+To choose him sheep and cows,
+Much less a wife which all his life
+He doth expect to house.
+
+Since it doth stand each man in hand,
+To happify his life,
+I would advise each to be wise,
+And chuse a prudent wife.
+
+Since bundling is not the thing,
+That judgments will procure,
+Go on young men and bundle then,
+But keep your bodies pure.
+
+(Printed and sold by Nathaniel Coverly, Jun. Boston.)
+
+
+The foregoing version is evidently not complete, several verses having
+been left out on account of their containing _more truth than poetry_,
+but these may be supplied from a manuscript copy, evidently made from
+memory, with considerable variations from the printed copy, which by no
+means improve it, though the schoolmaster did his best, and probably
+saved for us a very complete version of the ballad as it passed from
+mouth to mouth before the printed copy was made.
+
+It was transcribed from a volume of manuscript ballads in the
+handwriting of Israel Perkins, of Connecticut, written in 1786, when he
+was eighteen years old, and teaching school.
+
+
+THE WHORE ON THE SNOW CRUST.
+
+1.  Adam at first was formed of dust,
+    As we find on record;
+    And did receive a wife cal'd Eve,
+    By a creative word.
+
+2.  From Adam's side a crooked bride,
+    We find complete in form;
+    Ordained that they in bed might lay
+    And keep each other warm.
+
+3.  To court indeed they had no need,
+    She was his wife at first,
+    And she was made to be his aid,
+    Whose origin was dust.
+
+4.  This new made pair full happy were,
+    And happy might remained,
+    If his help meet had never eat
+    The fruit that was restrained.
+
+5.  Tho' Adam's wife destroyed his life
+    In manner that is awfull;
+    Yet marriage now we all allow
+    [To] Be both just and lawfull.
+
+6.  And now a days there is two ways,
+    Which of the two is write
+    To lie between sheets sweet and clean
+    Or sit up all the night.
+
+7.  But some suppose bundling in clothes
+    The good and wise doth vex;
+    Then let me know which way to go
+    To court the fairer sex.
+
+8.  Whether they must be hug'd and buss'd
+    When setting up all night;
+    Or whether [they] in bed may lay,
+    Which doth reason invite?
+
+9.  Nature's request is, give me rest,
+    Our bodies seek repose;
+    Night is the time, and 'tis no crime
+    To bundle in our cloaths.
+
+10. Since in a bed, a man and maid
+    May bundle and be chaste:
+    It doth no good to burn up wood
+    It is a needless waste.
+
+11. Let coat and shift be turned adrift,
+    And breeches take their flight,
+    An honest man and virgin can
+    Lie quiet all the night.
+
+12. But if there be dishonesty
+    Implanted in the mind,
+    Breeches nor smocks, nor scarce padlocks
+    The rage of lust can bind.
+
+13. Cate, Nance and Sue proved just and true,
+    Tho' bundling did practise;
+    But Ruth beguil'd and proved with child,
+    Who bundling did despise.
+
+14. Whores will be whores, and on the floor
+    Where many has been laid,
+    To set and smoke and ashes poke,
+    Wont keep awake a maid.
+
+15. Bastards are not at all times got
+    In feather beds we know;
+    The strumpet's oath convinces both
+    Oft times it is not so.
+
+16. One whorish dame, I fear to name
+    Lest I should give offence,
+    But in this town she was took down
+    Not more than eight months sence.
+
+17. She was the first, that on snow crust,
+    I ever knew to gender
+    I'll hint no more about this whore
+    For fear I should offend her.
+
+18. 'Twas on the snow when Sol was low,
+    And was in Capricorn,
+    A child was got, and it will not
+    Be long ere it is born.
+
+19. Now unto those that do oppose
+    The bundling traid, I say
+    Perhaps there's more got on the floor,
+    Than any other way.
+
+20. In ancient books no knowledge is
+    Of these things to be got;
+    Whether young men did bundle then,
+    Or whether they did not.
+
+21. Sence ancient book says wife they took,
+    It dont say how they courted;
+    Whether young men did bundle then,
+    Or by the fire sported.
+
+    [But some do hold in times of old,
+    That those about to wed,
+    Spent not the night, nor yet the light,
+    By fire, or in the bed.]
+
+22. They only meant to say they sent
+    A man to choose a bride;
+    Isaac was so, but let me know,
+    If any one beside.
+
+23. Men don't pretend to trust a friend
+    To choose him sheep or cows;
+    Much more a wife whom all his life
+    He does expect to house.
+
+24. Sence it doth stand each one in hand
+    To happyfy his life;
+    I would advise each to be wise,
+    And choose a prudent wife.
+
+25. Sence bundling is not a thing
+    That judgment will procure;
+    Go on young men and bundle then,
+    But keep your bodies pure.
+
+
+Since this work went to press we have been favored, by one of our
+antiquarian friends in Massachusetts, with a copy of another poetical
+blast against the practice of bundling. It was written in the latter
+part of the last, or the first decade of the present century, by a
+learned and distinguished clergyman settled in Bristol county,
+Massachusetts, who was a graduate of Harvard University, and a doctor of
+divinity. The original manuscript from which our copy is made, is very
+carefully written out, with corrections apparently of a later date, and
+now undoubtedly appears for the first time in printed form.
+
+
+A POEM AGAINST BUNDLING._Dedicated to ye Youth of both Sexes_.
+
+1.  Hail giddy youth, inclined to mirth,
+    To guilty amours prone,
+    Come blush with me, to think and see
+    How shameless you are grown.
+
+2.  'Tis not amiss to court and kiss,
+    Nor friendship do we blame,
+    But bundling in, women with men,
+    Upon the bed of shame;
+
+3.  And there to lay till break of day,
+    And think it is no sin,
+    Because a smock and petticoat
+    Have chance to lie between.
+
+4.  Such rank disgrace and scandal base,
+    All modest youth will shun,
+    For 'twill infest, like plague or pest,
+    And you will be undone.
+
+5.  Let boars and swine lie down and twine,
+    And grunt, and sleep, and snore,
+    But modest girls should not wear tails
+    Nor bristles any more.
+
+6.  Let rams the sheep mount up and leap,
+    Without restraint or blame,
+    But will young men act just like them;
+    Oh, 'tis a burning shame!
+
+7.  It is not strange that horses range
+    Unfettered to the last,
+    But youthful lusts in fetters must
+    Be chained to virtue fast.
+
+8.  Dogs and bitches wear no breeches,
+    Clothing for man was made,
+    Yet men and women strip to their linen,
+    And tumble into bed.
+
+9.  Yes, brutal youth, it is the truth,
+    Your modesty is gone,
+    And could you blush, you'd think as much,
+    And curse what you have done.
+
+10. To have done so some years ago,
+    Was counted more disgrace
+    Than 'tis of late to propagate
+    A spurious bastard race.
+
+11. Quit human kind and herd with swine,
+    Confess yourself an whore;
+    Go fill the stye, there live and die,
+    Or never bundle more.
+
+12. Shall gentlemen with ladies join
+    To practice like the brutes,
+    Then let them keep with cattle and sheep,
+    And fodder on their fruits.
+
+13. This cursed course is one great source
+    Of matches undesigned,
+    Quarrels and strife twixt man and wife,
+    And bastards of their kind.
+
+14. But in excuse of this abuse
+    It oftentimes is said,
+    Father and mother did no other
+    Than strip and go to bed.
+
+15. But grant some did as you have said,
+    Yet do they not repent,
+    And wish that you may never do
+    What they so much lament?
+
+16. A stupid ass can't be more base
+    Than are those guilty youth
+    Who fill with smart a parent's heart,
+    And turn it into mirth.
+
+17. Others do plead hard for the bed,
+    Their health and weariness,
+    So drunkards will drink down their swill,
+    And call it no excess.
+
+18. Under pretense of self defense,
+    Others will scold and say,
+    An honest maid is chaste abed
+    As any other way.
+
+19. But where's the man that fire can
+    Into his bosom take,
+    Or go through coals on his foot soles
+    And not a blister make?
+
+20. Temptation's way has led astray
+    The likeliest of you all,
+    And yet you'r found on slippery ground,
+    And think you cannot fall.
+
+21. A female meek, with blushing cheek,
+    Seized in some lover's arms,
+    Has oft grown weak with Cupid's heat
+    And lost her virgin charms.
+
+22. But last of all, up speaks romp Moll
+    And pleads to be excused,
+    For how can she e'er married be,
+    If bundling be refused?
+
+23. What strange mistake young women,
+    To hope for sparks this way!
+    Your fond bold acts can't lay a tax
+    That men will ever pay.
+
+24. So cheap and free some women be,
+    That men are cloyed with sweet,
+    As horse or cow starve at the mow
+    With fodder under feet.
+
+25. 'Tis therefore vain yourselves to screen,
+    The practice is accurst,
+    It is condemned by God and man,
+    The pious and the just.
+
+26. Should you go on, the day will come,
+    When Christ your Judge will say,
+    In _bundles_ bind each of this kind,
+    And cast them all away.
+
+27. Down deep in hell there let them dwell,
+    And bundle on that bed;
+    There burn and roll without control,
+    'Till all their lusts are fed.
+
+
+The evidence presented in the preceding pages, establishes, as we think,
+the following facts:
+
+1st. That the custom, so far as it pertained to the American States, had
+its origin as a matter of convenience and necessity.
+
+2d. That in all stages of its history it was chiefly confined to the
+humbler classes of society.
+
+3d. That its prevalence may be said to have closed with the eighteenth
+century.
+
+It is our opinion that it came nearest to being a universal custom from
+1750 to 1780, and that it was, at all times, regarded by the better
+classes as a serious evil, and was no more countenanced by them then the
+frequenting of grog shops is by the better class of the present day.
+
+This opinion is corroborated by the remarks of several old persons whom
+we have consulted as to their recollections of the custom. Among these,
+Mr. B., of East Haddam, Ct., now in his 95th year, says that he well
+remembers it; that it could not be called general, though frequent. It
+was not practiced among the more intelligent, educated classes, nor
+among those who lived in large, well warmed houses. He says it was not
+the fashion to bundle with any chap who might call on a girl, but that
+it was a special favor, granted only to a favorite lover, who might
+consider it a proof of the high regard which the damsel had for him; in
+short, it was _only accepted lovers_ who were thus admitted to the bed
+of the fair one, and, as he expresses it, only after long continued
+urging in most cases.[36] He thinks the fashion ceased about 1790 to
+1800, and in consequence of education and refinement; and that _no more
+mischief was done then than there is now-a-days_.
+
+In the same strain, also, spoke the genial Colonel H., a native of
+Berlin, Ct., born in 1775. He was perfectly conversant with the custom,
+had known the old ladies, in some cases, to go up stairs before
+retiring, to see that the bundling couple were comfortable, _tuck 'em
+up_, and put on more bedclothes! And stoutly asseverated his belief
+"that there wasn't any more mischief done in those days than there is
+now."
+
+Indeed, all the old people with whom we have conversed on the matter,
+although in some cases a little unwilling to own that they had ever
+practiced it themselves, were unanimous in their belief that the abuse
+of chastity under the bundling regime was no more frequent than it is
+now. One old gentleman of whom we have heard, in reply to the half
+reproachful, half joking question of his grandson, whether he wasn't
+ashamed, replied: "Why, no! What is the use of sitting up all night and
+burning out fire and lights, when you could just as well get under kiver
+and keep warm; and, when you get tired, take a nap and wake up fresh,
+and go at it again? Why, d--n it, there wasn't half as many bastards
+then as there are now!"[37]
+
+Even within the present century we have found traces of the continuance
+of the practice of bundling, though the instances are perhaps few, and
+in some measure exceptional. Until a very late day the custom (as a
+matter of convenience) was prevalent among the Dutch settlers of
+Pennsylvania, and it is not improbable that traces may still continue to
+exist in some of the more remote counties of that state. An old
+schoolmaster who flourished in Glastenbury, Ct., some twenty years ago,
+when relating his experiences in teaching in southern Pennsylvania, and
+speaking of _boarding around_, informed us that when for any reason he
+did not choose to go to his boarding place for the time being, he was
+accustomed to stop at a tavern kept by an honest old Dutchman. On one
+occasion, having asked the landlord if he could stay over night, he was
+told that he could; and after chatting with his host through the
+evening, was shown to bed. The landlord set down the candle and had gone
+out of the room, when our friend noticed the only bed in the room was
+already occupied, and calling to the host, notified him of the fact;
+when he cried back: "Oh! dat ish only mine taughter; she won't hurt
+nopoty," and coolly went his way. And our friend affirmed that he found
+the daughter not only harmless, but also quite competent to take care of
+herself.
+
+In New England, we believe that Cape Cod has the dubious honor of
+holding out the longest against the advance of civilization, bundling,
+as we have it on good authority, having been practiced there as late as
+1827.[38] In Greenwich, New Jersey, it was in vogue in 1816. In the
+state of New York this custom came under judicial cognizance in the year
+1804, when the supreme court held, that although bundling was admitted
+to be the custom in some parts of the state, it being proven that the
+parents of the girl, for whose seduction the suit was brought,
+countenanced her practicing it, they had no right to complain, or ask
+satisfaction for the consequences, which, the court say, "_naturally
+followed it_!"[39]
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX I.
+
+
+BUNDLING.
+
+[From _The Yankee_ of August 13, 1828, published at Portland, Maine, and
+edited by John Neal.]
+
+
+By Rochefoucault, in accounting for the populousness of Massachusetts,
+the New Englanders are charged with bundling.
+
+By Chastelleux, whose book I am not able to refer to now, the charge is
+repeated, and by half a score of other honest, good natured people, who
+have made books about the New World.
+
+But, if you enquire into the business, you are pretty sure to be told,
+inquire where you may, that bundling is not known _there_, but somewhere
+further back in the woods, or further _down east_. Nay, while in every
+part of the United States the multitude speak of bundling as the habit
+of their neighbors, either east, west, north, or south, where the
+witches of the country were _located_ about a century ago by the
+grandfathers of this generation, I, myself, though I have taken trouble
+enough to learn the truth, have never yet been able to meet with a case
+of bundling--of bundling proper, I should say--in the United States, nor
+with but one trustworthy individual who had ever met with so much as one
+case, and he had met with _but_ one, for which he would give his word.
+These things are trifles; but when they are told in books that are read
+and trusted to throughout Europe; such books, too, as that of the
+Marquis de Chastelleux, or that of De Rouchefoucault, it becomes a
+matter of serious inquiry. The truth must be told, whatever it is, for
+the truth cannot be so bad, whatever it may be, as the untruth which is
+now repeated of us.
+
+The travels of Chastelleux are translated by an Englishman who had been
+a long while in this country. The book was undoubtedly written with
+great care, by a very honest, able man, who had very good opportunities
+of knowing the truth; and is now set off by another very honest, able
+man, who was, if anything, rather partial to America--enough to make one
+wary of trusting the report of any traveler who does not say in so many
+words, after establishing a character for himself--I saw this; I heard
+this; I take nobody's word for what I now say, etc., etc. It would be
+easy to enumerate a multitude of other stories which are now believed
+in, about the people of the United States, not only by the people of
+Europe, and of Great Britain particularly, but by the people of the
+United States themselves. But a dry catalogue of such things would be of
+little use.
+
+[Here he refers to the charge reported of New Englanders, that that they
+_eat pork and molasses--pork and molasses_ TOGETHER, which is here
+denied as a ridiculous story. H. R. S.]
+
+They bundle in Wales; bundling there is a serious matter. A lady--a
+Welsh woman whose word is truth itself--assured me not long ago, that in
+her country they do not think a bit the worse, of a girl for
+anticipating her duties, in other words, for being a mother before she
+has been a wife; they have discovered, perhaps, that cause and effect
+may be convertible terms; that in such a serious matter, none but a fool
+would buy a pig in the poke, and that, after all, maternity may lead to
+marriage there, as marriage leads to maternity here. And why not? for
+after the establishment of the lying-in hospitals of Russia, the
+unmarried who bore _children to the state_ were proud of the duty, and
+were looked upon, we are told, with great favor by the public. She
+added, also, that she was once at a party made up of sixteen or eighteen
+females, and females of good characters, all but one or two of whom were
+mothers, or had been so, before they were married. By Chastelleux and
+his English translator it would appear to have been very much the same
+in America about the years 1780-1-2. It is not so now. To have had a
+child before marriage would now be fatal to a woman here, whatever might
+be her condition or beauty; fatal in every shape. No man would have
+courage to marry her; no woman of character would associate with her.
+Ask the first individual you meet, above the age of twelve or thirteen
+here, and you may have the name and history of every poor girl in the
+neighborhood who has been so unlucky as to have a child of her own
+without leave, perhaps, within a period of six or eight years in a
+populous neighborhood of twenty or thirty miles about. A widow with half
+a score of children, forty years ago, if we may believe Dr. Franklin,
+was an object for the fortune hunters of America. It is not so now. The
+demand for widows, and for every sort of ready made family is beginning
+to be over.
+
+That which is called bundling here, though bad enough, is not a
+twentieth part so bad. Here it is only a mode of courtship. The parties
+instead of sitting up together, go to bed together; but go to bed with
+their clothes on. This would appear to be a perilous fashion; but I have
+been assured by the individual above, that he had proof to the contrary;
+for in the particular case alluded to, the only case I ever heard of on
+good authority, although he was invited by the parents of a pretty girl
+who stood near him, to bundle with her, and although he _did_ bundle
+with her, he had every reason to believe, that if he had been very free,
+or more free than he might have been at a country frolick after they had
+invited him to escort her, to sit up with her, to dance with her, he
+would have been treated as a traitor by all parties. He had a fair
+opportunity of knowing the truth, and he spoke of the matter as if he
+would prefer the etiquette of sitting up to the etiquette of going to
+bed with a girl who had been so brought up. He complained of her as a
+prude. The following communication appears, however, to be one that may
+be depended on:[40]
+
+    "MR. NEAL--If you wish to know the truth about bundling, I think
+    your correspondent V. could tell you all about it--it seems by his
+    confession that he has practiced it on a large scale. I never heard
+    of the thing till about three years ago; an acquaintance of mine had
+    gone to spend the summer with an aunt, who lived somewhere near
+    Sandy river.[41] The following is a copy of one of her letters while
+    there:
+
+    "'I should have written sooner, so don't think me unkind, for I have
+    been waiting for something to write about. You requested me to give
+    you a faithful description of the country, the manners and customs
+    of the inhabitants, etc. I have not been here quite three months,
+    but I have been everywhere, seen everything, and got acquainted with
+    everybody. I shall certainly inform you of everything I have seen or
+    heard that is worth relating.
+
+    "'You remember how you told me, before I left home, that I was so
+    well looking that if I went so far back in the country I should be
+    very much admired and flattered, and have as many lovers as I could
+    wish for. I find it all true. The people here are remarkably kind
+    and attentive to me; they seem to think that I must be something
+    more than common because I have always lived so near Portland.
+
+    "'But I must tell you that since I have been here I have had a beau.
+    You must know that the young men, _in particular_, are very
+    attentive to me. Well, among these is _one_ who is considered the
+    finest young man in the place, and well he may be--he owns a good
+    farm, which has a large barn upon it, and a neat two story house,
+    all finished. These are the fruits of his own industry; besides he
+    is remarkably good looking, is very large but well-proportioned, and
+    has a good share of what I call real manly beauty. Soon after my
+    arrival here I was introduced to this man--no, not _introduced_
+    neither, for they never think of such a thing here. They all know me
+    of course, because I am a _stranger_. Some days, three, four, or
+    half a dozen, call to see me, whom I never before saw or heard of;
+    they come and speak to me as if I were an old acquaintance, and I
+    converse with them as freely as if I had always known them from
+    childhood. In this kind of a way I got acquainted with my beau, that
+    _was_; he was very attentive to me from our first meeting. If we
+    happened to be going anywhere in company he was sure to offer me his
+    arm--no, I am wrong again, he never offered me his arm in his life.
+    If you go to walk with a young man here, instead of offering you his
+    arm as the young men do up our way, he either takes your hand in
+    his, or passes one arm around your waist; and this he does with such
+    a provoking, careless honesty, that you cannot for your life be
+    offended with him. Well, I had walked with my Jonathan several times
+    in this kind of style. I confess there was something in him I could
+    not but like--he does not lack for wit, and has a good share of
+    common sense; his language is never studied--he always seems to
+    speak from the heart. So when he asked what sort of a companion he
+    would make, I very candidly answered, that I thought he would make a
+    very agreeable one. "I think just so of you," said he, "and it shall
+    not be my fault," he continued, "if we are not companions for life."
+    "We shall surely make a bargain," said he, after sitting silent a
+    few moments, "so we'll _bundle_ to-night." "_Bundle_ what?" I asked.
+    "_We_ will bundle together," said he; "you surely know what I mean."
+    I know that our farmers bundle _wheat_, _cornstalks_ and _hay_; do
+    you mean that you want me to help you bundle any of these?" inquired
+    I. "I mean that I want you to stay with me to-night! It is the
+    custom in this place, when a man stays with a girl, if it is warm
+    weather, for them to throw themselves on the bed, outside the bed
+    clothes; if the weather is cold, they crawl under the clothes, then
+    if they have anything to _say_, they say it--when they get tired of
+    talking they go to sleep; this is what we call bundling--now what do
+    you call it in your part of the world?" "We have no such works,"
+    answered I; "not amongst respectable people, nor do I think that any
+    people would, that either thought themselves respectable, or wished
+    to be thought so."
+
+    "'Don't be too severe upon us, Miss ----, I have always observed
+    that those who _make believe_ so much modesty, have in reality but
+    little. I always act as I feel, and speak as I think. I wish you to
+    do the same, but have none of your make-believes with me--you
+    smile--you begin to think you have been a little too scrupulous--you
+    have no objection to bundling _now_, have you?" "Indeed I have." "I
+    am not to be trifled with; so, if you refuse, I have done with you
+    forever." "Then be done as quick as you please, for I'll not bundle
+    with you nor with any other man." "Then farewell, proud girl," said
+    he. "Farewell, honest man," said I, and off he went sure enough.
+
+    "'I have since made inquiries about _bundling_, and find that it is
+    _really_ the custom here, and that they think no more harm of it,
+    than we do our way of a young couple sitting up together. I have
+    known an instance, since I have been here, of a girl's taking her
+    sweetheart to a neighbor's house and asking for a bed or two to
+    lodge in, or rather to _bundle_ in. They had company at her
+    father's, so that their beds were occupied; she thought no harm of
+    it. She and her family are respectable.
+
+    "'Grandmother says bundling was a very common thing in our part of
+    the country, in old times; that most of the first settlers lived in
+    log houses, which seldom had more than one room with a fire place;
+    in this room the old people slept, so if one of their girls had a
+    sweetheart in the winter she must either sit with him in the room
+    where her father and mother slept, or take him into her sleeping
+    room. She would choose the latter for the sake of being alone with
+    him; but sometimes when the cold was very severe, rather than freeze
+    to death, they would crawl under the bed-clothes; and this, after a
+    while, became a habit, a custom, or a fashion. The man that I am
+    going to send this by, is just ready to start, so I cannot stop to
+    write more now. In my next I'll give you a more particular account
+    of the people here. Adieu.'
+
+    "_Mr. Editor_, you may be sure that what is related in the foregoing
+    letter is the truth. I know that there is considerable _other_
+    information in it, mixed up with _that_ about which you wished to be
+    informed, but I could not very well separate it."
+
+So after all that has been said of the practice of bundling in our
+country, by foreign writers, travelers, and reviewers--after all the
+reproach that has been heaped upon us, now that we are able to get at
+the plain truth, it appears to be, though certainly a bad practice, not
+half so bad as the junketing and sitting up courtships that are known
+elsewhere. Nay, more. Though in the present state of society it is a
+practice that should be utterly discountenanced everywhere, still it
+would seem to have grown up out of the peculiar circumstances of our
+first settlers; to be confined _now_ to remote and small districts (for
+I have heard of only three instances, after all my inquiry); and to be
+rapidly going out of practice. Yet more; there can be no bad intentions,
+there can be no evil consequences, where respectable and modest women
+are not ashamed to acknowledge that they bundle. I am anxious to know
+the truth for the purpose of correcting both the _misrepresentations_
+that are abroad, and the _practices_ that prevail here. Bundling,
+however, is known in other countries, where they have less excuse, and
+in Wales where they do _not_ bundle, as I have said before, it is no
+reproach for a woman to have had a child before marriage. It was so in
+Russia after Catharine established her lying-in hospitals.
+
+In the next number of _The Yankee_ (August 20th) there is the following
+editorial paragraph:
+
+
+    BUNDLING.
+
+    There is a great outcry just now about the paper on bundling which
+    was in the last _Yankee_. Now this very outcry proves the want of
+    the very paper alluded to. The article is about bundling; and people
+    who imagine bundling to be what it is not, a highly improper and
+    unchaste familiarity, are offended with it; but the very purpose of
+    that paper is to show that bundling is not what it is believed to
+    be, that it is neither so common nor so bad, not a fiftieth part so
+    bad as people have imagined.
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX II.
+
+
+That the customs of courtship in many parts of the United Kingdom at the
+present day, are precisely what they were in some parts of New England,
+New Jersey and Pennsylvania, fifty years ago, is evident from the
+revelations of the _Royal Commission on the Marriage Laws_, in the year
+1868. Dr. Strahan, a physician and surgeon, who for nearly forty years
+has practiced in the Scottish county of Stirling, testifies before the
+commission, that his attention was first drawn to the subject in
+consequence of observing the very great extent of immorality among the
+working classes, not only as evidenced by the large number of
+illegitimate children, but also by the still larger number of marriages
+after the woman was with child; and the number of children born within
+eight months of wedlock. He found, to his astonishment, that among the
+working classes (i.e., the agricultural laborers), nine out of ten
+women, when married, either had had illegitimate children, or were
+pregnant at the time of marriage. "I have," he says, "a large midwifery
+practice, and I very rarely attend a woman with her first child, where
+the child is not born within a few months of wedlock, or else she has
+had an illegitimate child before." He believes it is very common for
+women to allow themselves to be seduced in the hope of being married.
+They go on until they are _enceinte_, and then, if the young man is at
+all a decent fellow, the friends interfere and the marriage is hurried
+on. The sketch which Dr. Strahan supplies of Scotch courtships, explains
+all this part of his observation. Young men and women meet together at
+night, and the ordinary time is the middle of the night, when every one
+else is in bed. "It is universal," says Dr. Strahan to the commission,
+"among the working classes, to have this manner of courtship of which I
+speak; there is no other courtship, in any other form; the fathers and
+mothers will not allow their daughters to meet a young man in the
+day-time; the young man never visits the family, but the parents quite
+allow this; they have done it themselves before, and there is no
+objection to it. The young man comes, makes a noise at the window; the
+young woman goes out, they go to some outhouse; or perhaps the young man
+is admitted to the young woman's bedroom after all are in bed, and there
+is an hour or two of what is called courtship, but which would more
+properly be called flirtation, because it is not necessary that there
+should be any engagement to marry in these cases."
+
+Lord Lyveden inquired: "Do these meetings take place at particular
+periods, such as harvest time, or is it over the whole of the year?"
+
+_Answer_: "The whole of the year; very commonly the young man visits the
+young woman once a week."
+
+Lord Chelmsford said: "In England that would be called _keeping
+company_. It is a very extraordinary way of keeping company when the
+parents allow their daughter to go out with the young man at midnight,
+or the young man to come into her bedroom."
+
+_Answer_: "Yes; the parents know no other way of doing it. I have
+reasoned with the parents often when attending a case of illegitimate
+birth, pointing out to the parents how it is they have been led on, but
+they cannot imagine any other way of doing it; their daughters must have
+husbands, and there is no other way of courting."
+
+Mr. Justice O'Hagan asking--"Does it prevail generally in Scotland?" was
+answered--"Universally among the agricultural laborers."
+
+In reply to an inquiry by Mr. Dunlop, whether these young men lived
+under any kind of supervision and knowledge of their masters, or whether
+they could go out and in as they pleased, Dr. Strahan stated that
+"plowmen, for instance, very often live in _bothies_, or in the farm
+house; they get out after all are in bed, out of the window; or, if they
+live in a bothie, without any trouble. They go to the neighboring
+farm-house, they knock at the window, the girl comes to the window, and,
+if she know the young man--or, after a little parley, if she does not
+know him--she either comes out and goes with him to an outhouse, or he
+comes into her bedroom. You must remember that they have no other means
+of intercourse."
+
+"That is the point you press so much?"
+
+"Yes; a young woman cannot see either a sweetheart or an acquaintance in
+any other way. I believe if it was not for fear of being out at night,
+the girls would visit one another in the same way; they have no other
+means of visiting; the customs of the country are such that a young man
+could not be seen going in day-light to visit his sweetheart."
+
+Mr. Justice O'Hagan: "If the father knew that the young man was coming
+into the house, and knew that he was with his daughter, would he not
+interfere?"
+
+"He would lie comfortably in his bed, knowing that his daughter was in
+an out-house or barn with a young man, for perhaps two hours; shutting
+his eyes to it in the same way that a person in the higher ranks would
+shut his eyes to his daughter going out for a walk with a young man."
+
+Dr. Strahan said also: "When you come to the middle class a young man
+would not marry a girl that had had a child to another man; and very
+probably he would not marry a girl that had had a child to himself; but
+in the lower classes it is not so; it is almost universal to marry a
+woman that has had a child, or that is with child to himself; but it is
+very frequent to marry a woman that has had a child to another man; the
+only objection is the burden of the child; the burden of the child might
+be an obstacle, but the disgrace would be none."
+
+"Is it supposed," asked a commissioner, "that the woman, by marrying
+this other man, wipes off her disgrace with the former?"
+
+"Yes; but it is so common that the disgrace is not so much as to prevent
+the young man marrying her."
+
+The attorney-general: "It is hardly within our inquiry, but still it is
+interesting to know; can you tell me whether, in these cases, where the
+woman marries a man who is not the father of her child, any confusion,
+as to the parent of the previously born child, arises? Are they apt in
+law, to pass as the children of the subsequent husband?"
+
+"No, I do not think so."
+
+"The distinction is always kept up?"
+
+"The distinction is always kept up; very often the illegitimate child
+goes by his own father's name, even among the other children; and I do
+not think there is apt to be any confusion of that kind."
+
+Still, it seems that, in severely Calvinistic Scotia, the church does
+not wholly wink at this state of things. The sinning couple, after
+marriage, have to go through a certain whitewashing at church before
+they are admitted to what are called church privileges. They have to go
+before a kirk session, consisting of the minister and perhaps half a
+dozen elders, when they are _admonished_. If the parties are married,
+they appear but once; if not married, generally three times. They tender
+themselves for rebuke without invitation, as without it the child cannot
+be baptized, or admission given to the sacrament. They apply to the
+minister in private, and confess their fault, and he causes them to be
+summoned before the church session.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+African tribes, courtship among, 42
+America, English misrepresentation of, 62.
+America, bundling in, 44
+  inherits bundling from Holland, 45.
+  bundling not peculiar to, 13.
+  bundling universal in 1750, 106.
+
+Ballads against bundling, 81, 100.
+  in favor of bundling, 88, 93.
+Brychan, a cloth, 23.
+Bundling, antiquity of, 14.
+Bundling, abuse of, in New England, 75.
+  ballads on, 81, 88, 93, 100.
+  ceased with eighteenth century, 106,
+  confined to the lower classes, 107.
+Bundling, described by Lt. Anbury in 1777, 66.
+  definition of, 13.
+  decision of N. Y. Supreme Court on, 111.
+  effect of, 75.
+  in America, 44.
+  in British isles, 14, 22.
+  in Cape Cod, 110.
+  in Holland, 35.
+Bundling in Maine about 1828, 117.
+  in New England States, 48.
+  in Wales, 23, 115.
+  introduced in America from Holland, 45.
+  mentioned by Rev. Sam'l Peters, 51.
+  mentioned by Washington Irving, 49.
+  mentioned by Dr. A. Burnaby, 1759, 58.
+  mentioned by Sir Walter Scott, 20.
+  not peculiar to America, 13.
+Bundling originating in poverty in Scotland and Ireland, 23.
+  origin of, 14.
+  originally confined to the lower classes in America, 65.
+  practiced in Pennsylvania till late years, 109.
+  preached against, 54.
+  recollections of by old persons, 106.
+Bundling regarded as a serious evil, 106.
+  sanctioned by parents, 69.
+  sermon against, 77.
+  two forms of, 13.
+  universal now in lower classes of Scotland, 130.
+  universal in America in 1750, 106.
+  -up, in Wales, 42.
+
+Cape Cod, bundling practiced there in 1827, 110.
+Central Asia, courtship in, 42.
+Confession in public necessary for baptism of children, 76.
+Courtship, customs of, in Great Britain, 127.
+Courtship among Welsh peasantry, 29.
+  in Central Asia, 42.
+  in the 14th century, 37.
+  among N. A. Indians, 40.
+  in Switzerland, 38.
+Cuckold, no word in Gaelic for, 21.
+Customs of courtship, different in the cantons of Switzerland, 39.
+
+Dayaks of Borneo, courtship of, 42.
+Dorfen, in Switzerland, 39.
+
+Empress Cartismandua, 21.
+  Julia, 20.
+Epilogue on bundling at Westminster school, 1815, 61.
+
+Free-bench, 22.
+French war, demoralizing influence of, 74.
+
+
+Germans, respect of, for women, 21.
+Gordon, Sir Robert, 19.
+  Sir Adam, 19.
+Great Britain, bundling common at the present day in, 126.
+Great Britain, immorality of lower classes in, 127.
+Gwent, a district in Wales, 34.
+Gwentian Code of Wales, 34.
+
+Hand-fasting, a Scotch custom, 17, 19.
+  common among all classes, 20.
+Highland law of marriage, 16.
+Highlanders, curious custom of the, 17.
+Holland, bundling in, 35, 36.
+
+Illegitimacy not considered a disgrace in Scotland, 131.
+
+Kiltgang in canton of Lucerne. 39.
+Kweesten, a Dutch custom, 36.
+
+La Hontan, Indian custom described by, 41.
+Lichtgetren, in Switzerland, 39.
+Love and courtship in the 14th century, 37.
+
+Maine, bundling in, 1828, 118.
+Marriage laws of Great Britain, royal commission on, 127.
+Marriage, Welsh laws relating to, 24.
+
+Namzat bezé, an African custom, 42.
+Natural children legitimatized in Scotland, 18.
+New bundling song, a, 81.
+New England, bundling in, 48.
+New song in favor of courting, a, 88.
+New York Supreme Court on bundling, 111.
+N. Am. Indians, chastity of, 41-52.
+  courtship among, 41.
+
+Pennsylvania, bundling in, 109.
+Poem against bundling, a, 100.
+Polygamy among ancient nations, 15.
+  in Great Britain, 15.
+Prostitutes, punishment of in Scotland and Germany, 21.
+Public confession of unlawful cohabitation made in New England, 75.
+  records of, 75.
+
+Quest, definition of and origin, 35.
+Queesting, 35.
+
+Royal commission on marriage laws of Great Britain, 127.
+
+Savage nations, amatory customs of, 40.
+Scotland, courtship of, 128.
+  conjugal infidelity in, 17.
+  admonition by church of, 133.
+Scotch and Irish moral character, 22.
+Scott, Walter, mention of bundling by, 20.
+Stubetegetren in Switzerland, 39.
+Sutherland, son of a hand-fast marriage claims earldom of, 19.
+Switzerland, courtship in, 38.
+
+Tarrying, common in England, 64.
+  in New England, 70.
+Texel, bundling in the island of, 36.
+
+United States, bundling in the, 44.
+
+Vlie and Wieringen, bundling practiced in islands of, 35.
+
+Wales, bundling in, 23.
+  described by Bingley, 28;
+  by Barbor, 30;
+  by Carr, 32;
+  by Pratt, 25.
+  chastity in, 115.
+Welsh laws relating to marriage, 24.
+Whore on the snow crust, the, 93.
+Wieringen, see Vlie.
+Wynet-werth, a Welsh term, 35.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES.
+
+
+[1] _Cæsar_ says, that several brothers, or a father and his sons, would
+have but one wife among them. _Solinus_, indeed, says that the women in
+Thule were common, the king having a free choice; and _Dio_ says the
+Caledonians had wives in common; yet these assertions may well be
+disputed. _Strabo_ describes the Irish as extremely gross in this
+matter; _O'Conner_ says polygamy was permitted; and _Derrick_ tells us
+they exchanged wives once or twice a year; while _Campion_ says they
+only married for a year and a day, sending their wives home again for
+any slight offense.--_Logan's Scottish Gael_, 5th Am. ed., p. 472.
+
+[2] _A History of the Highlands, and of the Highland Clans_, etc. (Jas.
+Browne, LL.D., Advocate, 4 vols. London, 1853), IV, 398.
+
+"The law of marriage observed in the Highlands has frequently been as
+little understood as that of succession, and similar misconceptions have
+prevailed regarding it. This was, perhaps, to be expected. In a country
+where a bastard son was often found in undisturbed possession of the
+chiefship or property of a clan, and where such bastard generally
+received the support of the clansmen against the claims of the feudal
+heir, it was natural to suppose that very loose notions of succession
+were entertained by the people; that legitimacy conferred no exclusive
+rights; and that the title founded on birth alone might be set aside in
+favor of one having no other claim than that of election. But this,
+although a plausible, would nevertheless be an erroneous supposition.
+The person here considered as a bastard, and described as such, was by
+no means viewed in the same light by the Highlanders, because, according
+to their law of marriage, which was originally very different from the
+feudal system in this matter, his claim to legitimacy was as undoubted
+as that of the feudal heir afterward became. It is well known that the
+notions of the Highlanders were peculiarly strict in regard to matters
+of hereditary succession, and that no people on earth was less likely to
+sanction any flagrant deviation from what they believed to be the right
+and true line of descent. All their peculiar habits, feelings and
+prejudices were in direct opposition to a practice which, had it been
+really acted upon, must have introduced endless disorder and confusion,
+and hence the natural explanation of this apparent anomaly seems to be,
+what Mr. Skene has stated, namely, that a person who was feudally a
+bastard might in their view be considered as legitimate, and therefore
+entitled to be supported in accordance with their strict ideas of
+hereditary right, and their habitual tenacity of whatever belonged to
+their ancient usages. Nor is this mere conjecture or hypothesis. A
+singular custom regarding marriage, retained till a late period amongst
+the Highlanders, and clearly indicating that their law of marriage
+originally differed in some essential points from that established under
+the feudal system, seems to afford a simple and natural explanation of
+the difficulty by which genealogists have been so much puzzled.
+
+"This custom was termed _hand-fasting_, and consisted in a species of
+contract between two chiefs, by which it was agreed that the heir of one
+should live with the daughter of the other as her husband for twelve
+months and a day. If, in that time, the lady became a mother, or proved
+to be with child the marriage became good in law, even although no
+priest had performed the marriage ceremony in due form; but should there
+not have occurred any appearance of issue, the contract was considered
+at an end, and each party was at liberty to marry or hand-fast with any
+other. It is manifest that the practice of so peculiar a species of
+marriage must have been in terms of original law among the Highlanders,
+otherwise it would be difficult to conceive how such a custom could have
+originated, and it is in fact one which seems naturally to have arisen
+from the form of their society, which rendered it a matter of such vital
+importance to secure the lineal succession of their chiefs. It is
+perhaps not improbable that it was this peculiar custom which gave rise
+to the report handed down by the Roman and other historians, that the
+ancient inhabitants of Great Britain had their wives in common, or that
+it was the foundation of that law of Scotland by which natural children
+became legitimatized by subsequent marriage.[3] And as this custom
+remained in the Highlands until a very late period, the sanction of
+ancient custom was sufficient to induce them to persist in regarding the
+offspring of such marriages as legitimate."[4]
+
+It appears, indeed, that as late as the sixteenth century, the issue of
+a hand-fast marriage claimed the earldom of Sutherland. The claimant,
+according to Sir Robert Gordon, described himself as one lawfully
+descended from his father, John, the third earl, because, as he alleged,
+"his mother was _hand-fasted_ and fianced to his father;" and his claim
+was bought off (which shows that it was not considered as altogether
+incapable of being maintained) by Sir Adam Gordon, who had married the
+heiress of Earl John. Such, then, was the nature of the peculiar and
+temporary connection which gave rise to the apparent anomalies which we
+have been considering. It was a custom which had for its object, not to
+interrupt but to preserve the lineal succession of the chiefs, and to
+obviate the very evil of which it is conceived to afford a glaring
+example. But after the introduction of the feudal law, which, in this
+respect, was directly opposed to the ancient Highland law, the lineal
+and legitimate heir, according to Highland principles, came to be
+regarded as a bastard by the government, which accordingly considered
+him as thereby incapacitated for succeeding to the honors and property
+of his race; and hence originated many of those disputes concerning
+succession and chiefship, which embroiled families with one another, as
+well as with the government, and were productive of incredible disorder,
+mischief and bloodshed. No allowance was made for the ancient usages of
+the people, which were probably but ill understood; and the rights of
+rival claimants were decided according to the principles of a foreign
+system of law, which was long resisted, and never admitted except from
+necessity. It is to be observed, however, that the Highlanders
+themselves drew a broad distinction between bastard sons and the issue
+of the hand-fast unions above described. The former were rigorously
+excluded from every sort of succession, but the latter were considered
+as legitimate as the offspring of the most regularly solemnized
+marriage.
+
+This practice obtained not only among chiefs, but common people.
+
+Walter Scott, in the XXV chapter of the _Monastery_, in a note, says:
+"This custom of hand-fasting actually prevailed in the upland days. It
+arose partly from the want of priests. While the convents subsisted,
+monks were detached on regular circuits through the wilder districts, to
+marry those who had lived in this species of connexion. A practice of
+the same kind existed in the Isle of Portland."
+
+[3] This is a mistake in point of law. The principle of legitimation by
+subsequent marriage, was first explicitly announced in an imperial
+constitution of Constantine, and being wisely recognized by the church,
+it was adopted by the canonists, through whom it passed into our law.
+The attempt to introduce it into England failed, in consequence of the
+attachment of the people to their ancient Saxon constitutions; and
+hence, although it was recognized in the statutes of Merton, it was
+subsequently discarded, and never afterwards found admission into the
+municipal system of the neighboring kingdom. There can be no doubt
+whatever that the principle is one which reason, morality and religion
+must equally approve.
+
+[4] Skene's _Highlanders of Scotland_, vol. I, chap. vii, 166, 167.
+
+[5] In _Scottish Ballads and Songs_, by James Maidment, Edinburgh,
+MDCCCLIX, under the title of _Luckidad's Garland_, p. 134, is a
+remarkable picture of the old and new times in Scotland, eighty or
+ninety years ago, three of the twenty-four verses of which the ballad is
+composed, being descriptive of something akin to _bundling_. In a London
+edition of _Hudibras_, also, published in 1811, is a note to line 913,
+of Part I, Canto I. As both of these extracts, however, are somewhat too
+_broad_ for our pages, we content ourselves with simply referring
+thereto. In the same category, also, is the definition, in _Bailey's Old
+English Dictionary_, of the term _free bench_, as prevailing in the
+manors of East and West Embourn, Chaddleworth in the county of Berks,
+Tor in Devonshire, and other places of the west.
+
+[6] _History of Wales_ (by B. B. Woodward, B.A., London, 1853), p. 320;
+who adds, also, p. 186, the following:
+
+"The laws which treat of the violation of the marriage bond and those
+which relate to chastity generally, recognize a degree of laxity
+respecting female honor, and, yet more remarkably, an absence of
+feminine delicacy, such as could scarcely be paralleled amongst the most
+uncivilized people now. They are of such a nature, that though most
+characteristic, they must be passed by with this general mention. The
+distinction between the Celtic and Teutonic races is perhaps in no case
+more plainly marked than in this: The Anglo-Saxon laws on this subject
+(always excepting those of the _ecclesiastical_ authorities) are modesty
+itself, notwithstanding their plain speaking, compared with those of the
+Welsh legislators."
+
+[7] _Gleanings through Wales, Holland, and Westphalia_, etc. (3d
+edition, by Mr. Pratt, London, 1797), I, pp. 105-107.
+
+[8] _North Wales, including its Scenery, Antiquities, Customs_, etc. (by
+Rev. W. W. Bingley, A.M., 2 vols., 8vo, London, 1804), II, p. 282.
+
+[9] _A Tour throughout North Wales and Monmouthshire_, etc., etc. (by
+J. T. Barbor, F.S.A., London, 1803), pp. 103-9.
+
+[10] _The Stranger in Ireland_, by John Carr.
+
+[11] "On his way to Ireland he passed through Wales, and gives us a
+slight sketch of the character of that people and country. _It must
+afford no small gratification to a New England man to learn that the
+practice of_ BUNDLING _is not peculiar to us, but that this pleasing
+though dangerous art was probably imported from abroad_."--A review of
+_The Stranger in Ireland_, in _Connecticut Courant_ for November 19th,
+1806.
+
+[12] In this connection we may give the following extract from _Ancient
+Laws and Institutes of Wales_, etc., etc., printed by command of his
+late Majesty King William IV, under the direction of the commissioners
+on the Public Records of the Kingdom. MDCCCXLI. Folio. From page
+369.--The Gwentian[13] Code.
+
+"A woman of full age who goes with a man clandestinely, and taken by him
+to bush, or brake, or house, and after connection deserted; upon
+complaint made by her to her kindred, and to the courts, is to receive,
+for her chastity, a bull of three winters, having its tail well shaven
+and greased and then thrust through the door-clate; and then let the
+woman go into the house, the bull being outside, and let her plant her
+foot on the threshold, and let her take his tail in her hand, and let a
+man come on each side of the bull; and if she can hold the bull, let her
+take it for her _wynet-werth_[14] and her chastity; and, if not, let her
+take what grease may adhere to her hands."
+
+[13] _Gwent_, the appellation of the district in Wales inhabited by the
+Silures, comprised the diocese of Landav.
+
+[14] This word means _face shame_ or _face worth_.
+
+[15] A good honest word, which although not exactly English, is at least
+first cousin to our _quest_, and _quiz_, etc.
+
+Worcester gives the following: "†Quēse, _v. a._, to search after.
+_Milton_." [obsolete ē long, s like z.] Quĕst, _v. n._, to join search.
+_B. Jonson_. †Quĕster, _n._, a seeker. _Rowe_.
+
+Is it not allowable to derive from one of these words Quēsing, or
+Quĕsting, pronounced Qweesting, and from the other Quĕsting [è short]?
+So that he who went _queesting_ was simply _searching after_ a wife,
+understood.
+
+[16] These are two very small islands at the opening of the Zuider zee.
+
+[17] From _The Student and Intellectual Observer_, London, November
+number, 1868, p. 310, in article by Thomas Wright, F.S.A. Chapter
+vii--_Womankind in all Ages of Western Europe_, etc.
+
+[18] _Cottages of the Alps_ (London, 1860), pages 77, 91, 132.
+
+[19] _New Voyage to North America, giving a full Account of the Customs,
+Commerce, Religion and Strange Opinions of the Savages of that Country_,
+etc., etc. Written by Baron Lahontan, Lord Lieutenant of the French
+Colony at _Placentia_, in Newfoundland, now in England. London, 1703.
+
+In describing the amatory customs of the Indians of this country, the
+author says (Vol. II, p. 37):
+
+"You must know further, that Two Hours after Sunset the Old
+Supperannuated Persons, or Slaves (who never lie in their Masters' Huts)
+take care to cover up the Fire before they go. 'Tis then that the Young
+Savage comes well wrapt up to his Mistress's Hut, and lights a sort of a
+Match at the Fire; after which he opens the Door of his Mistress's
+Apartment and makes up to her bed: If she blows out the light, he lies
+down by her; but if she pulls her Covering over her Face, he retires;
+that being a Sign that she will not receive him."
+
+[20] Verily, Peters's sarcasm savors as much of truth as humor when,
+speaking of bundling, he says: "The Indians who had this method of
+courtship among them in 1634, are the most chaste set of people in the
+world. Concubinage and fornication are vices none of them are addicted
+to, except such as forsake the laws of Hobbamockon and turn Christians.
+The savages have taken many female prisoners, carried them back three
+hundred miles into their country, and kept them several years, and yet
+not a single instance of their violating the laws of chastity has ever
+been known. This cannot be said of the French, or of the English,
+whenever Indian or other women have fallen into their hands."
+
+[21] "Great jealousy did they likewise stir up by their intermeddling
+and successes among the divine sex; for being a race of brisk, likely,
+pleasant tongued varlets, they soon seduced the light affections of the
+simple lasses from their ponderous Dutch gallants. Among other hideous
+customs, they attempted to introduce among them that of _bundling_,
+which the Dutch lasses of the Nederlandts, with that eager passion for
+novelty and foreign fashions natural to their sex, seemed very well
+inclined to follow, but that their mothers, being more experienced in
+the world, and better acquainted with men and things, strenuously
+discountenanced all such outlandish innovations."
+
+[22] By Washington Irving, p. 211. 4th Am. edition.
+
+[23] Dr. Andrew Burnaby. _Travels through the Middle Settlements in
+North America, in the years 1759 and '60_. London, 1775.
+
+[24] _The Portfolio_ (Philadelphia, May 1816), p. 397.
+
+[25] _Terences Plays_ were preferred to those of Plautus, for this
+purpose, inasmuch as the latter were more obscure, and abounded in
+obsoletisms, and therefore Terence was preferred in England as the
+text-book for schools.
+
+[26] Ireland.
+
+[27] _The Reviewers Reviewed, or British Falsehoods detected by American
+Truths_ (New York, published by R. McDermot and D. D. Arden, No. 1, City
+Hotel, Broadway, 1815, 12mo, 72), pp. 34, 35.
+
+[28] The Right Honorable Sir George Canning, the editor of the _London
+Quarterly Review_.
+
+[29] _Travels through the Interior Parts of America; in a Series of
+Letters_ (by an officer; a new edition, London, 1781, 8vo), vol. II, pp.
+37-40.
+
+[30] _Anbury's Travels_, pp. 87, 88.
+
+[31] _History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Conn.,_ p. 495.
+
+[32] The Rev. Alonzo B. Chapin, in his _History of Ancient Glastenbury,
+Conn._ (p. 80), says that the church records, during the pastorate of
+the Rev. John Eels [1759-1791], "compel us to believe that the influence
+of the French war had been as unfavorable to morals as destructive to
+life; and that the absurd practice of _bundling_ prevalent in those
+days, was not infrequently attended with the consequences that might
+have been expected, and that both together, aided by a previous growing
+laxity of morals, and accelerated by many concurrent causes, had rolled
+a tide of immorality over the land, which not even the bulwark of the
+church had been able to withstand. The church records of the first
+society, from 1760 to 1790, raise presumptions of the strongest kind,
+that then, as since, _incontinence_ and _intemperance_ were among the
+sins of the people. What the condition of things in Eastbury [an
+ecclesiastical society in the east part of Glastenbury] was, we have no
+means of knowing, _as that portion of the church records which treats of
+this point, was long ago_ carefully _removed_. [N.B. Italics are our
+own.] There is no reason, however, to suppose that this state of thing's
+was peculiar to Glastenbury, for there is too much evidence that it
+prevailed throughout the country."
+
+Mr. Chapin's deductions from the revelations of the Glastenbury records,
+will be fully justified by the experience and observation of every
+antiquarian who has had occasion to _dig deep_ among the civil and
+ecclesiastical records of almost any one of the older towns of New
+England. We have before us, while writing, a copy, made some years
+since, by ourselves, of the records of the first church of Woodstock,
+Conn., covering the period from 1727 to 1777, in which are a large
+number of entries, mostly the names of parties who made _confessions_ of
+this sort before that church. These cases occur most frequently between
+the years 1737 and 1770. Our own observation among the records of the
+old churches in Windsor and East Windsor, is, in effect, the same, and
+we have occasionally happened upon the original manuscript confessions
+of individuals read to the church before they were formally admitted to
+its communion.
+
+[33] _History of Dedham, Mass_, (by Erastus Worthington, 1827), page
+108. Under ministry of Rev. Jason Haven, ordained February 6, 1756.
+
+"Revolutionary times having produced a disposition to investigate all
+the former principles and opinions of men, in politics and church
+government, Mr. Haven caused the mode of admission into the church to be
+altered. This was done in 1793. The new method required the candidate to
+be propounded to the congregation by the minister. If no objections
+within fourteen days were made, he was then of course admitted. At the
+same time the church covenant and creed was altered, and made very
+general in its expressions. This creed had so few articles, that all
+persons professing and calling themselves Christians, would assent to it
+without any objections. The church had ever in this place required of
+its members guilty of unlawful cohabitation before marriage, a public
+confession of that crime before the whole congregation. The offending
+female stood in the broad aisle beside the partner of her guilt. If they
+had been married, the declaration of the man was silently assented to by
+the woman. This had always been a delicate and difficult subject for
+church discipline. The public confession, if it operated as a
+corrective, likewise produced merriment with the profane. I have seen no
+instance of a public confession for this fault, until the ministry of
+Mr. Dexter [1724-1755], and then they were extremely rare. In 1781 the
+church gave the confessing parties the privilege of making a private
+confession to the church, in the room of a public confession. In Mr.
+Havens ministry, the number of cases of unlawful cohabitation increased
+to an alarming degree. For twenty-five years before 1781, twenty-five
+cases had been publicly acknowledged before the congregation, and
+fourteen cases within the last ten years. This brought out the minister
+to preach on the subject from the pulpit. Mr. Haven, in a long and
+memorable discourse, sought out the cause of the growing sin, and
+suggested the proper remedy. He attributed the frequent recurrence of
+the fault to the custom then prevalent, of females admitting young men
+to their beds, who sought their company with intentions of marriage. And
+he exhorted all to abandon that custom, and no longer expose themselves
+to temptations which so many were found unable to resist.
+
+"The immediate effect of this discourse on the congregation has been
+described to me, and was such as we must naturally suppose it would be.
+A grave man, the beloved and revered pastor of the congregation, comes
+out suddenly on his audience, and discusses a subject on which mirth and
+merriment only had been heard, and denounces a favorite custom. The
+females blushed and hung down their heads. The men, too, hung down their
+heads, and now and then looked out from under their fallen eyebrows, to
+observe how others supported the attack. If the outward appearance of
+the assembly was somewhat composed, there was a violent internal
+agitation in many minds. And now, when forty-five years have expired,
+the persons who were present at the delivery of that sermon, express its
+effects by saying: 'How queerly I felt!' 'What a time it was!' 'This was
+close preaching indeed!' The custom was abandoned. The sexes learned to
+cultivate the proper degree of delicacy in their intercourse, and
+instances of unlawful cohabitation in this town since that time have
+been extremely rare."
+
+[34] _Butler's History of Groton_ (Pepperell & Shirley), page 174. At a
+church meeting, Feb. 29, 1739-40, the subject of compelling persons to
+confess themselves guilty of an offense, of which they said, "if not
+absolutely, yet next to impossible to convict them," was acted upon, and
+some relaxation made in the rule before adopted; but a part of the
+record is so worn as to be illegible.
+
+Page 177. June 1, 1761. "The church also at this meeting, voted in
+relation to the confession necessary to be made by parents, to entitle
+their children to the rite of baptism, who might be supposed to have
+committed the offence of which, in Mr. Trowbridge's time, they supposed
+that, 'if not absolutely, yet next to impossible to convict them,' not
+materially varying from a _seven-months_ rule heretofore adopted. These
+regulations were signed by the moderator, and assented to by the pastor
+elect."
+
+Page 181. "During Mr. Dana's ministry [1761-1775] 124 persons (38 males,
+86 females) were admitted to the church in full communion; 200 (77
+males, 123 females) owned the baptismal covenant. Of the first class, 14
+confessed having committed the offence aforementioned, and of the last
+class, 66, a proportion not indicative of good customs and morals."
+
+[35] A typographical mistake for _unruly_.
+
+[36] But this was as late as 1785 to 1790, when the custom was very near
+its end.
+
+[37] Another, when in his 96th year, in speaking of his knowledge of the
+custom, after answering all inquiries, voluntarily mentioned his own
+personal experience. "In my younger days," said he, and his voice
+trembled, more from emotion then age, "I was on the bed with as many as
+five or six young women, but I thank God, that in all my long life I
+have never had carnal knowledge of any but my lawfully wedded wives."
+
+[38] A physician who kept school _on the Cape_ many years ago, says
+(June, 1869): "It is forty years since I was engaged on the Cape in
+teaching school, and a friend of mine then related to me some of his
+experience in a long career of courtship which included _bundling_. The
+family left the happy couple alone. After sitting up till nine or ten
+o'clock, the lady secures the fire, takes a light and retires, saying,
+you know the way up stairs, turn to the right, etc. At a proper time he
+follows, finding her nicely snuggled under the bed clothes, having
+previously put on a very appropriate and secure night dress, made
+neither like a bloomer or mantilla, but something like a common dress,
+excepting the lower part, which is furnished with legs, like drawers,
+properly attached. The dress is drawn at the neck and waist with strings
+tied with a very strong knot, and over this is put the ordinary
+apparel."
+
+[39] _Caines' Cases_, II, 219; Seger _vs_. Slingerland.
+
+[40] In reply to a query addressed to Mr. Neal, who is still living at
+Portland, Maine, as to whether this letter was a _bona fide_
+communication, that gentleman says: "It was an actual communication from
+a correspondent. Who that correspondent was, I never knew, but I never
+entertained a doubt, and, in fact, find such internal evidence of good
+faith, that I should never question the facts set forth."
+
+[41] Sandy River is near Farmington, Franklin county, Maine.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Bundling; Its Origin, Progress and
+Decline in America, by Henry Reed Stiles
+
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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Bundling; Its Origin, Progress and Decline
+in America, by Henry Reed Stiles
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
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+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
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+
+
+Title: Bundling; Its Origin, Progress and Decline in America
+
+Author: Henry Reed Stiles
+
+Release Date: July 12, 2004 [EBook #12885]
+
+Language: English
+
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+
+
+<h1><a name="Page_3"></a>BUNDLING;</h1>
+<h2>Its Origin, Progress and Decline
+In America.</h2>
+
+<h2>BY HENRY REED STILES, M.D.,</h2>
+<h4>AUTHOR OF HISTORY OF BROOKLYN, HISTORY OF WINDSOR, CT., ETC.</h4>
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p>&quot;I find by all historians, whether ancient or modern,
+whom I consulted in searching for this work, the fact
+well recorded, and established beyond all controversy,
+that the Yankee nation are a set of talking, guessing,
+swapping and <i>bundling</i> sons of women.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><i>Grant Thorburn's Notes on Virginia</i>.</p></div>
+
+<br />
+
+<center>ALBANY:<br />
+KNICKERBOCKER PUBLISHING COMPANY.<br />
+1871.</center>
+
+<br />
+
+<center><a name="Page_4"></a>Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1871,<br />
+BY HENRY R. STILES,<br />
+In the office of the Librarian of Congress,
+at Washington.</center>
+
+<br />
+
+<h4><a name="Page_5"></a>TO MY ESTEEMED FRIEND,<br />
+DEACON JABEZ H. HAYDEN,<br />
+OF WINDSOR LOCKS, CONNECTICUT,</h4>
+
+<br />
+
+<center>Whose jealous love of his native state, led him, in defense<br />
+of her good fame, to make some strictures<br />
+upon a statement relative to <i>bundling</i>, in my<br />
+<i>History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor,<br />
+Conn.</i>, which strictures (made and<br />
+taken in the kindest spirit of personal<br />
+friendship) set me upon<br />
+the further investigation<br />
+of this interesting<br />
+subject.</center>
+
+<h3><b>This Essay,</b></h3>
+
+<center>The result of that investigation, and the justification (as
+I claim) of my original statement,</center>
+
+<center>is</center>
+<center>MOST RESPECTFULLY</center>
+<center>DEDICATED</center>
+<center>BY THE</center>
+<center>AUTHOR</center>
+
+<br />
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<br />
+<a name="PREFATORY"></a><h2><a name="Page_6"></a>PREFATORY.</h2>
+
+<p>In the <i>History and Genealogies of Ancient
+Windsor, Conn.</i>, published in 1859, speaking
+of the influence of the old French wars upon
+the religious, moral and social life of New
+England, I used this language:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Then came war, and young New England
+brought from the long Canadian campaigns,
+stores of loose camp vices and recklessness,
+which soon flooded the land with immorality
+and infidelity. The church was neglected,
+drunkenness fearfully increased, and social
+life was sadly corrupted. <i>Bundling</i>&mdash;that
+ridiculous and pernicious custom which pre<a name="Page_7"></a>vailed
+among the young to a degree which
+we can scarcely credit&mdash;sapped the fountain
+of morality and tarnished the escutcheons of
+thousands of families.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hereupon there came a buzzing around
+my ears. Divers good sons of Connecticut
+winced under the soft impeachment of having
+a bundling ancestry, and intimated that
+my sketch of society in the olden times was
+somewhat overdrawn. In 1861, an esteemed
+antiquarian friend in Connecticut wrote me
+as follows: &quot;Some of your friends feel that,
+in your <i>History of Windsor</i>, you showed too
+much inclination to malign, or at least
+ridicule, Connecticut institutions, though I
+think none of them accuse you of malice
+in the matter, and they fear that this subject
+of bundling cannot be ventilated with<a name="Page_8"></a>out
+endangering the fair fame of old Connecticut.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Upon that hint I speak. Although born
+in the city of New York, I am the son of
+Connecticut parents, and proud to trace my
+descent through six generations of honest,
+hard-working, God-fearing Connecticut yeomanry.
+By the mere accident of birth I
+cannot feel myself absolved from that allegiance
+to the Wooden Nutmeg State, which is
+imposed upon me by the ties of ancestry, of
+relationship, of youthful associations, and
+last, not least, by the deep interest which I
+have taken in the history of one of its eldest-born
+towns. I am, indeed, at this day, to
+all intents and purposes, as wholly and truly
+a Connecticut man as if born within her borders;
+and as proud of her past, as hopeful of
+<a name="Page_9"></a>her future, and as jealous of her reputation
+as any one could desire. I trust, therefore,
+that I may be allowed to disclaim any &quot;inclination
+to malign, or at least ridicule Connecticut
+institutions,&quot; a task which, in my
+case, would savor of ingratitude, and which
+I should consider unworthy of my humble
+pen.</p>
+
+<p>I cannot but think, also, that those who
+have found, or think that they have found,
+an inimical design in any pleasantries in
+which I may have indulged while describing
+the customs and manners of by-gone days&mdash;have
+betrayed a <i>thin-skinnedness</i>, and an
+ignorance of the true glory of Connecticut
+history, when they imagine that her fair
+fame can be seriously tarnished by the fly-specks
+of certain customs&mdash;at no time without
+<a name="Page_10"></a>their vigorous opponents&mdash;and long since
+rendered obsolete by the march of improvement.</p>
+
+<p>The fun of the thing, however, is, that the
+sentence which has thus called forth the animadversions
+of the critics, will be found, with
+its context, on closer examination, to have
+applied to the <i>New England Colonies</i>, and
+not to Connecticut alone! In their haste to
+vindicate the land of steady habits, they seem
+to have assumed more than their share of
+the reproach involved in my simple historical
+statement.</p>
+
+<p>As for myself, I am no believer in the
+theory that the objectionable portions of history
+should be kept in the background, and
+that only the bright side should be turned
+towards the world.  If, as one has happily
+<a name="Page_11"></a>said, &quot;history is experience teaching by example,&quot;
+we most surely need to have both
+sides fairly presented to us before we can
+properly extract therefrom the lesson of good
+or of evil which is therein taught. It is unnecessary
+to pursue the argument further.
+Suffice it to say, that perfection is as little
+to be expected in the history of a state or a
+community, as in the life of an individual.
+As to our ancestors, we must take them as
+history shows them to us&mdash;&quot;men of like
+passions with ourselves,&quot; and &quot;in all respects
+tempted as we are,&quot; yet neither worse, nor,
+again, very much purer or better than ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>In this spirit I have undertaken to trace,
+in the following pages, the origin, progress
+and decline of the custom of bundling in
+<a name="Page_12"></a>America, together with such facts as clearly
+prove that it was not confined to this continent,
+but prevalent in various countries of
+the world.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>H.&nbsp;R.&nbsp;S.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<br />
+<a name="BUNDLING"></a><h2>BUNDLING.</h2>
+<a name="Page_13"></a>
+<div class="blkquot"><p>BUNDLING. &quot;A man and a woman lying on the same bed
+with their clothes on; an expedient practiced in
+America on a scarcity of beds, where, on such occasions,
+husbands and parents frequently permitted travellers
+to <i>bundle</i> with their wives and daughters.&quot;&mdash;<i>Grose,
+Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue</i>.</p>
+
+<p>BUNDLE, <i>v.i.</i> &quot;To sleep on the same bed without undressing;
+applied to the custom of a man and woman,
+especially lovers, thus sleeping.&quot;&mdash;<i>Webster, 1864</i>.</p>
+
+<p>BUNDLE, <i>v.n.</i> &quot;To sleep together with the clothes on.&quot;&mdash;<i>Worcester, 1864</i>.</p></div>
+
+<p>Bundling, as may be seen from the above
+quoted definitions, was practiced in two forms:
+first, between <i>strangers</i>, as a simple domestic
+make-shift arrangement, often arising from the
+necessities of a new country, and by no means
+peculiar to America; and, secondly, between
+<i>lovers</i>, who shared the same couch, with the
+mutual understanding that innocent endearments
+<a name="Page_14"></a>should not be exceeded. It was, however, in
+either case, a custom of convenience.</p>
+
+<p>We may notice, in this connection, that it is
+very common, even at the present day, in New
+England, to speak of one as having &quot;bundled in
+with his clothes on,&quot; if he goes to bed without
+undressing; as, for instance, if he came home
+drunk, or feeling slightly ill, lay down in the
+daytime, or in a cold night found the blankets
+too scanty.</p>
+
+<p>The point which first claims our attention in
+the discussion of this custom, is its probable
+<i>origin</i>, and its <i>antiquity</i> in</p>
+<br />
+
+<h4>THE BRITISH ISLES.</h4>
+
+<br />
+
+<p>For, though British travelers have uniformly endeavored
+to fix the odium of this custom upon
+us their transatlantic cousins, as being peculiarly
+&quot;An American institution,&quot; it is, nevertheless,
+an indisputable fact that bundling has for centuries
+flourished within their own kingdom.
+<a name="Page_15"></a>For what else, in fact, was that universal custom
+of promiscuous sleeping together which prevailed
+among the ancient Britons at the time of the
+Roman conquest, and which led C&aelig;sar to consider
+them as polyandrous polygamists, and other
+ancient writers to give them an unenviable character
+for morality?<a name="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1">[1]</a> Bundling, of course! in
+its rudest aboriginal form.</p>
+
+<p>As to its moral aspects, being more charitably
+inclined towards our British friends than they
+oftentimes are to us, we are willing to accept
+Logan's defense of their ancestors. &quot;The custom,&quot;
+he says, &quot;which continued until lately in
+some parts, and yet exists among a few of the
+<a name="Page_16"></a>rudest, who sleep altogether on straw or rushes,
+according to the general ancient practice, there
+is reason to believe, led to the aspersion cast on
+the British and Irish tribes. How natural it
+must have been for a casual observer to suppose,
+from seeing men and women reposing in the
+same place, that the marriage rites were not in
+force. To judge of the ancient inhabitants by
+the rudest of the present Highlanders and Irish,
+who often sleep in the same apartment, and are
+sometimes exposed to each other in a state of
+semi-nudity, we should not come to a conclusion
+unfavorable to their morality,<a name="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2">[2]</a> for this mode of
+<a name="Page_17"></a>life is not productive of that conjugal infidelity
+which St. Jerome and others insinuate as preva<a name="Page_18"></a>lent
+among the old Scots. *&nbsp;*&nbsp;* Nations
+that are even in a savage state are sometimes
+<a name="Page_19"></a>found more sensitive on that point of honor than
+nations more advanced in civilization; and all,
+<a name="Page_20"></a>perhaps, that can be admitted is, that certain
+formalities may have been practiced by the
+Britons, from which the <i>bundling</i> of the Welsh,
+and the <i>hand-fasting</i> in some parts of Scotland,
+are derived. The conversation which took place
+between the Empress Julia and the wife of a
+Caledonian chief, as related by Xiphilin, cer<a name="Page_21"></a>tainly
+evinces a grossness and indelicacy in the
+amours of the British ladies, if true; but it appears
+to be a reply where wit and reproof were
+more aimed at than truth. The case of the Empress
+Cartismandua shows the nice feeling of the
+Britons as to the propriety of female conduct.
+The respect of the Germans for their females,
+and the severity with which they visited a deviation
+from virtue, have been described; and the
+further testimony of Tacitus may be adduced,
+who says that but very few of the greatest dignity
+chose to have more than one wife, and when
+they did it was merely for the honor of alliance.
+It may be here stated that the Ga&euml;ls have no
+word to express cuckold, and that prostitutes
+were, by Scots' law, like that of the ancient
+Germans, thrown into deep wells; and a woman
+was not permitted to complain of an assault if
+she allowed more than one night to elapse before
+the accusation.&quot;&mdash;<i>Logan's Scottish Ga&euml;l</i>, 5th Am.
+edition, p. 472.<a name="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5">[5]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_22"></a>Indeed, whatever may have been the real state
+of morality among the ancient Scotch and Irish&mdash;and
+it is quite probable that it has been unfairly
+depicted by casual and prejudiced observers&mdash;the
+ancient custom of bundling, which has been
+handed down from earliest times, has not greatly
+contaminated their descendants of the present
+day. For, whatever their national vices, the
+Scotch and Irish of our day maintain a character
+for chastity superior to that of many of their
+more fortunate and more civilized neighbors.
+Bundling, as now practiced in these kingdoms, is
+<a name="Page_23"></a>merely a matter arising from the ignorance, or
+the poverty of the inhabitants; and, while not
+salutary in its moral or physical influence, is, at
+all events, less abused than we might reasonably
+expect.</p>
+
+<p>In regard to</p>
+<br />
+
+<h4>WALES.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>We learn from Woodward's admirable history
+of that kingdom, the following facts concerning
+the domestic habits of its people in the twelfth
+century:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;At night a bed of rushes was laid down along
+one side of the room, covered with a coarse kind
+of cloth, made in the country, called <i>brychan;</i>
+and all the household lay down on this bed in
+common, without changing their dresses. The
+fire was kept burning through the night, and the
+sleepers maintained their warmth by lying
+closely; and when, by the hardness of their
+couch, one side was wearied, they would get up and
+<a name="Page_24"></a>sit by the fire awhile, and then lie down again on
+the other side. It is to this custom of promiscuous
+sleeping, that some of the worst habits of the
+Welsh at the present day may be ascribed; and
+from the same custom which their forefathers,
+the ancient Britons, practiced, arose C&aelig;sar's
+supposition that they were polyandrous polygamists.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>These habits, which were a matter of necessity
+with the ancient Welsh, have become converted,
+by the lapse of time, among their descendants
+of the present day, into an amatory
+custom precisely similar to that practiced formerly
+in New England.<a name="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6">[6]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_25"></a>A tourist through Wales, in the year 1797,<a name="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7">[7]</a>
+thus speaks of the Welsh <i>bundling</i>: &quot;And here,
+amongst the usages and customs, I must not
+omit to inform you that what you have, perhaps,
+often heard, without believing, respecting the
+<i>mode of courtship</i> amongst the Welsh peasants, is
+true. The lower order of people do actually
+carry on their love affairs in bed, and what would
+extremely astonish more polished lovers, they
+are carried on honorably, it being, at least, as
+usual for the Pastoras of the mountains to go
+from the bed of courtship to the bed of marriage
+as unpolluted and maidenly as the Chloes of
+fashion; and yet you are not to conclude that
+this proceeds from their being less susceptible of
+the <i>belle-passion</i> than their betters; or that the
+cold air which they breathe has 'froze the genial
+current of their souls.' By no means; if they
+<a name="Page_26"></a>cannot boast the voluptuous languor of an Italian
+sky, they glow with the bracing spirit of a more
+invigorating atmosphere. I really took some
+pains to investigate this curious custom, and
+after being assured, by many, of its veracity, had
+an opportunity of attesting its existence with my
+own eyes. The servant maid of the family I
+visited in Caernarvonshire, happened to be the
+object of a young peasant, who walked eleven
+long miles every Sunday morning to favor his
+suit, and regularly returned the same night
+through all weathers, to be ready for Monday's
+employment in the fields, being simply a day
+laborer. He usually arrived in time for morning
+service, which he constantly attended, after
+which he escorted his Dulcinea home to the
+house of her master, by whose permission they
+as constantly passed the succeeding hour in bed,
+according to the custom of the country. These
+tender sabbatical preliminaries continued without
+interruption near two years, when the treaty
+of alliance was solemnized, and, so far from any
+<a name="Page_27"></a>breach of articles happening in the meantime, it
+is most likely that it was considered by both
+parties as a matter of course, without exciting
+any other idea. On speaking to my friend on
+the subject, he observed that, though it certainly
+appeared a dangerous mode of making love, he
+had seen so few <i>living</i> abuses of it, during six
+and thirty years' residence in that country, where
+it nevertheless had always, more or less, prevailed,
+he must conclude it was as innocent as any
+other. One proof of its being <i>thought</i> so by the
+parties, is the perfect ease and freedom with
+which it is done; no awkwardness or confusion
+appearing on either side; the most well-behaved
+and decent young woman going into it without a
+blush, and they are by no means deficient in modesty.
+What is pure in idea is always so in conduct,
+since bad actions are the common consequence
+of bad thoughts; and though the better
+sort of people treat this ceremony as a barbarism,
+it is very much to be doubted whether more <i>faux
+pas</i> have been committed by the Cambrian boors
+<a name="Page_28"></a>in this <i>free access</i> to the bed chambers of their
+mistresses, than by more fashionable Strephons
+and their nymphs in groves and shady bowers.
+The power of habit is perhaps stronger than the
+power of passion, or even of the charms which
+inspire it; and it is sufficient, almost, to say a
+thing is the <i>custom of a country</i>, to clear it from
+any reproach that would attach to an innovation.
+Were it the practice of a few only, and to be
+gratified by stealth, there would, from the strange
+construction of human nature, be more cause of
+suspicion; but being ancient, general, and carried
+on without difficulty, it is probably as little dangerous
+as a <i>t&ecirc;te a t&ecirc;te</i> in a drawing-room, or in
+any other full dress place where young people
+meet to say soft things to each other.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In an antiquarian tour by the Rev. W. Bingley,
+in 1804,<a name="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8">[8]</a> we also find the following description
+of this custom: &quot;The peasantry of part of
+<a name="Page_29"></a>Caernarvonshire, Anglesea, and Merionethshire,
+adopt a mode of <i>courtship</i> which, till within the
+last few years, was scarcely even heard of in
+England. It is the same that is common in
+many parts of America, and termed by the inhabitants
+of that country, <i>bundling</i>. The lover
+steals, under the shadow of the night, to the bed
+of the fair one, into which (retaining an essential
+part of his dress) he is admitted without any
+shyness or reserve. Saturday or Sunday nights
+are the principal times when this courtship takes
+place, and on these nights the men sometimes
+walk from a distance of ten miles or more to
+visit their favorite damsels. This strange custom
+seems to have originated in the scarcity of fuel,
+and in the unpleasantness of sitting together in
+the colder part of the year without a fire. Much
+has been said of the innocence with which these
+meetings are conducted, but it is a very common
+thing for the consequence of the interview to
+make its appearance in the world within two or
+three months after the marriage ceremony has
+<a name="Page_30"></a>taken place. The subject excites no particular
+attention among the neighbors, provided the
+marriage be made good before the living witness
+is brought to light. Since this custom is entirely
+confined to the laboring classes of the community,
+it is not so pregnant with danger as, on a
+first supposition, it might seem. Both parties
+are so poor that they are necessarily constrained
+to render their issue legitimate, in order to secure
+their reputation, and with a mode of obtaining
+a livelihood.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Another traveller<a name="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9">[9]</a> also mentions &quot;a singular
+custom that is said to prevail in Wales, relating
+to their mode of courtship, which is declared to
+be carried on in bed; and, what is more extraordinary,
+it is averred that the moving tale of
+love is agitated in that situation without endangering
+a breach in the preliminaries.&quot; Referring
+to Mr. Pratt's account of the custom,
+before quoted, he proceeds to remark:  &quot;Our
+<a name="Page_31"></a>companion, like every one else that we spoke
+with in Wales on the subject, at once denied the
+existence of this custom: that maids in many
+instances admitted male bed-fellows, he did not
+doubt; but that the procedure was sanctioned
+by <i>tolerated custom</i> he considered a gross misrepresentation.
+Yet in Anglesea and some parts
+of North Wales, where the original simplicity of
+manners and high sense of chastity of the natives
+is retained, he admitted <i>something of the kind</i>
+might appear. In those thinly inhabited districts
+a peasant often has several miles to walk after
+the hours of labor, to visit his mistress; those
+who have reciprocally entertained the <i>belle passion</i>
+will easily imagine that before the lovers
+grow tired of each other's company the night will
+be far enough advanced; nor is it surprising that
+a tender-hearted damsel should be disinclined to
+turn her lover out over bogs and mountains until
+the dawn of day. The fact is, that under
+such circumstances she admits a <i>consors lecti</i>,
+but not in <i>nudatum corpus</i>. In a lonely Welsh
+<a name="Page_32"></a>hut this bedding has not the alarm of ceremony;
+from sitting, or perhaps lying, on the hearth, they
+have only to shift their quarters to a heap of
+straw or fern covered with two or three blankets
+in a neighboring corner. The practice only
+takes place with <i>this view of accommodation</i>.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Still another glimpse of this favorite Welsh
+custom is presented by a tourist in 1807.<a name="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10">[10]</a> He
+says:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;One evening, at an inn where we halted, we
+heard a considerable bustle in the kitchen, and,
+upon enquiry, I was let into a secret worth knowing.
+The landlord had been scolding one of his
+maids, a very pretty, plump little girl, for not
+having done her work; and the reason which
+she alleged for her idleness was, that her master
+having locked the street door at night, had prevented
+her lover enjoying the rights and delights
+of <i>bundling</i>, an amatory indulgence which, considering
+that it is sanctioned by custom, may be
+<a name="Page_33"></a>regarded as somewhat singular, although it is not
+exclusively of Welsh growth. The process is
+very simple; the gay Lothario, when all is silent,
+steals to the chamber of his mistress, who receives
+him in bed, but with the modest precaution
+of wearing her under petticoat, which is
+always fastened at the bottom&mdash;not unfrequently,
+I am told, by a sliding knot. It may astonish a
+London gallant to be told that this extraordinary
+experiment often ends in downright wedlock&mdash;the
+knot which cannot slide. A gentleman of
+respectability also assured me that he was obliged
+to indulge his female servants in these nocturnal
+interviews, and that too at all hours of the night,
+otherwise his whole family would be thrown into
+disorder by their neglect; the carpet would not
+be dusted, nor would the kettle boil. I think
+this custom should share the fate of the northern
+Welsh goats. *&nbsp;&nbsp;* &nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;* Habit has so reconciled
+the mind to the comforts of <i>bundling</i>, that
+a young lady who entered the coach soon after
+we left Shrewsbury, about eighteen years of age,
+<a name="Page_34"></a>with a serene and modest countenance, displayed
+considerable historical knowledge of the custom,
+without one touch of bashfulness.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11">[11]</a></p>
+
+<p>Thus much for Wales, where the custom seems
+to have been entirely confined to the lower
+classes of society, and where we have reason to
+think it still prevails to some extent to this day.<a name="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12">[12]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_35"></a>The same author whom we last quoted also
+speaks of a &quot;courtship similar to <i>bundling</i>, carried
+on in the islands of Vlie and Wieringen,</p>
+<br />
+
+<h4>IN HOLLAND,</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Under the name of <i>queesting</i>.<a name="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15">[15]</a> At night the
+lover has access to his mistress after she is in
+bed; and, upon an application to be admitted
+upon the bed, which of course is granted, he
+raises the quilt, or rug, and in this state <i>queests</i>,
+or enjoys a harmless chit-chat with her, and then
+<a name="Page_36"></a>retires. This custom meets with the perfect
+sanction of the most circumspect parents, and
+the freedom is seldom abused. The author
+traces its origin to the parsimony of the people,
+whose economy considers fire and candles as superfluous
+luxuries in the long winter evenings.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The Hon. Henry C. Murphy of Brooklyn,
+N.&nbsp;Y., late United States minister at the Hague,
+has furnished us with the following note in relation
+to this Nederduitsche custom: &quot;As to
+its being a Dutch custom, it was so to a limited
+extent in Holland in former times, and may yet
+be, though I did not hear of it when I was there.
+Sewell gives the word <i>queesten</i>, or <i>kweesten</i>, in
+his dictionary, printed over a century ago. The
+word is defined in the dictionary of Wieland, the
+principal lexicographer in that country, as follows:
+'<i>Kweesten</i>. Upon the islands of Texel
+and Vlieland<a name="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16">[16]</a> they use this word for a singular
+custom of wooing, by which the doors and
+<a name="Page_37"></a>windows are left open, and the lover, lying or
+sitting outside the covering, woos the girl who is
+underneath.' Sewell confines the custom to certain
+islands or lands near the sea.&quot;</p>
+<br />
+
+<h4>LOVE AND COURTSHIP IN THE 14TH CENTURY.</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>In feudal times, in the last part of the fourteenth
+century, it became the practice for the
+vassals, or feudatories, to send their sons to be
+educated in the family of the suzerain, while the
+daughters were similarly placed with the lady of
+the castle. These formed a very important part
+of the household, and were of gentle blood,
+claiming the honorary title of <i>chambri&eacute;res</i> or
+chamber-maidens. The demoiselles of this period
+were very susceptible to the passion of love,
+which was the ruling spirit of the inmates of the
+castle. Feudal society was, in comparison to
+the previous times, polished and even brilliant,
+but it was not, under the surface, pure. Many
+good maxims were taught, but they were not all
+practiced.  &quot;There was an extreme intimacy
+<a name="Page_38"></a>between the two sexes, who commonly visited
+each other in their chambers or bedrooms.
+Thus in the poem of Guatier d'Aupias, the hero
+is represented as visiting in her chamber the
+demoiselle of whom he is enamored. Numerous
+similar examples might be quoted. At times,
+one of the parties is described as being actually
+in bed, as is the case in the romance of <i>Blonde of
+Oxford</i>, where Blonde visits Jehan in his chamber
+when he is in bed, and stays all night with
+him, in perfect innocence as we are told in the
+romance. We must remember that it was the
+custom in those times for both sexes to go to bed
+perfectly naked.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17">[17]</a></p>
+<br />
+
+<h4>IN SWITZERLAND,</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>According to an English observer,<a name="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18">[18]</a> analogous
+modes of courtship still exist. In speaking of
+<a name="Page_39"></a>the canton <i>Unterwald</i> he says: &quot;In the story of
+the destruction of the castles, we read that the
+surprise was effected by a young girl admitting
+her lover to her room by a ladder, and an English
+guide-book remarks, that this is still the fashion
+of receiving lovers in Switzerland. Reference
+is had to the manner of wooing, which in some
+cantons is called <i>lichtgetren</i>, in others <i>dorfen</i> and
+<i>stubetegetren</i>, and answers to the old-fashioned
+<i>going-a-courting</i> in England. The customs connected
+with it vary in different cantons, but exist
+in some form in all except two or three.</p>
+
+<p>In the canon <i>Lucerne</i>, the <i>kiltgang</i> is the universal
+mode of wooing; the lover visiting his
+betrothed in the evening, to be pelted on the way
+by all mischievous urchins; or if he is seated
+quietly with her by the winter fire, they are sure
+to be serenaded by all manner of <i>cat voices</i> under
+the window, which are continued till he issues
+forth, perhaps at dawn in the morning; and however
+long may be a courtship, these <i>cater-waulings</i>
+are the invariable attendants, and not the
+<a name="Page_40"></a>most lamentable consequences of these nightly
+visits, recognized, however, as entirely respectable
+and conventional in every canton.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And again in the canton <i>Vaud</i>, he says, &quot;the
+<i>kiltgang</i>, or nightly wooings, are the universal
+custom with the universal consequences, but in
+general the wife is treated with marked respect,
+is made keeper of the treasury, and consulted as
+the oracle of the family.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Among the amatory customs of various</p>
+<br />
+
+<h4>SAVAGE NATIONS</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>and tribes, there are certain which somewhat
+resemble <i>bundling</i>, except in the greater degree
+of freedom allowed&mdash;a freedom which, in the
+eyes of civilized nations, is absolute immorality.
+Of this description is the manner of wooing
+described by La Hontan as prevalent among the
+Indians of North America.<a name="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19">[19]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_41"></a>Yet, in many of these instances, if we were
+to carefully examine the social system and customs
+of our savage friends, and were willing to
+judge them rather by the results of our own observation,
+than by our preconceived opinions, we
+should probably find that the absolute <i>practical
+morality</i> of these <i>untutored natives</i>, was quite
+equal, if not superior, to that of the educated
+and civilized whites.<a name="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20">[20]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_42"></a>Among these <i>customs de amour</i>, however, to
+which we have alluded as existing among different
+savage tribes, there are none which bear so perfect
+a resemblance to <i>bundling</i>, as that described
+by Masson in his <i>Journeys in Central Asia, Belochistan,
+Afghanistan,</i> etc. (III, 287.) He says:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Many of the Afghan tribes have a custom of
+wooing similar to what in Wales is known as <i>bundling-up</i>,
+and which they term <i>namzat bez&eacute;</i>. The
+lover presents himself at the house of his betrothed
+with a suitable gift, and in return is allowed
+to pass the night with her, on the understanding
+that innocent endearments are not to be
+exceeded.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Spencer St. John tells us, in speaking of the
+piratical and ferocious Sea Dayaks of Borneo,
+that &quot;besides the ordinary attention which a
+<a name="Page_43"></a>young man is able to pay to the girl he desires to
+make his wife&mdash;as helping her in her farm work,
+and in carrying home her load of vegetables or
+wood, as well as in making her little presents, as
+a ring or some brass chain-work with which the
+women adorn their waists, or even a petticoat&mdash;there
+is a very peculiar testimony of regard
+which is worthy of note. About nine or ten at
+night, when the family is supposed to be fast
+asleep within the musquito curtains in the private
+apartments, the young man quietly slips
+back the bolt by which the door is fastened on
+the inside, and enters the room on tiptoe. On
+hearing who it is, she rises at once, and they sit
+conversing together and making arrangements for
+the future, in the dark, over a plentiful supply of
+<i>sirih-leaf</i> and <i>batle-nut</i>, which it is the gentleman's
+duty to provide, for his suit is in a fair way
+to prosper; but if, on the other hand, she rises
+and says, 'be good enough to blow up the fire,'
+or 'light the lamp' (a bamboo filled with resin),
+then his hopes are at an end, as that is the usual
+<a name="Page_44"></a>form of dismissal. Of course, if this kind of
+nocturnal visit is frequently repeated, the parents
+do not fail to discover it, although it is a point of
+honor among them to take no notice of their
+visitor; and, if they approve of him, matters
+then take their course, but if not, they use their
+influence with their daughter to ensure the utterance
+of the fatal 'please blow up the fire.'&quot;</p>
+
+<p>And now, having discussed the custom of
+bundling as it formerly existed in Great Britain,
+and having proved its identity with the <i>queesting</i>
+of Holland, and the <i>namzat bez&eacute;</i> of Central Asia,
+we propose to follow our investigations to the
+continent of America, and to trace, if we can,
+its origin and progress in the</p>
+<br />
+
+<h4>UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>in doing which, it is quite likely that, we follow
+the identical line of travel and colonization&mdash;viz:
+from Old to New England, and from Netherlands
+(the father-land) to New Nether<a name="Page_45"></a>lands&mdash;by
+which the custom of bundling was
+really transplanted to these western shores. For,
+although the grave and (sometimes) veracious
+historian of New York, Diedrich Knickerbocker,
+hath endeavored to fasten upon the Connecticut
+settlers the odium of having introduced the
+custom into New Netherland,<a name="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21">[21]</a> to the great
+offense of all properly disposed people; yet we
+may reasonably doubt whether the young mynheers
+and frauliens of New Amsterdam, in that
+day, were any more innocent of this lover's pastime,
+than their vivacious Connecticut neighbors.
+Indeed, can it be for one moment sup<a name="Page_46"></a>posed
+that the good Hollanders&mdash;a most unchanging
+and conservative race&mdash;should have
+been so far false to the traditions of their
+fathers, and the honor of the fatherland, as to
+leave behind them, when they crossed the seas,
+the good old custom of <i>queesting</i>, with its time-honored
+associations and delights? Or can it be
+imagined that those astute lawgivers and political
+economists, the early governors and burgomasters,
+were so blind to the necessities and
+interests of a new and sparsely populated country,
+as to forbid bundling within their borders?
+Indeed, it would be but a sorry compliment to
+the wisdom of that sagacious and far-sighted
+body of merchants comprised in the High and
+Mighty West India Company, to believe that
+they were unwilling to introduce under their
+benign auspices, a custom so intimately connected
+with their own national social habits, and so
+promising to the prospective interests and enlargement
+of their <i>new plantations</i>, as this. And, truly,
+Diedrich himself, doth, in another part of his
+<a name="Page_47"></a>book, inadvertently betray the fact that bundling
+was by no means a purely Yankee trick, for he
+speaks of the redoubtable Anthony Van Corlaer&mdash;purest
+of Dutchmen&mdash;as &quot;passing through
+Hartford, and Pyquag, and Middletown, and all
+the other border towns, twanging his trumpet like
+a very devil, so that the sweet valleys and banks
+of the Connecticut resounded with the warlike
+melody, and stopping occasionally to eat pumpkin
+pies, dance at country frolics, and <i>bundle</i> with the
+beauteous lasses of those parts, whom he rejoiced
+exceedingly with his soul-stirring instrument.&quot;
+Which passage, while it proves that the practice
+of bundling prevailed in Connecticut, proves
+equally well that Anthony the trumpeter was by
+no means inexperienced in its delights, nor unwilling
+to enjoy its comforts, whether under the
+name of <i>bundling</i> or <i>queesting</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, we do most truly believe that the cunning
+Knickerbocker, in his desire to vindicate, as
+he thought, the character of his race against the
+accusation of immorality, hath by his denial not
+<a name="Page_48"></a>only committed a grievous sin against &quot;the truth
+of history,&quot; but hath greatly added thereto, by
+attempting to foist off the opprobrium of the
+same on to the shoulders of the Connecticut
+folks. But history will not remain forever falsified,
+and the day has at length arrived when
+every historical tub must &quot;stand on its own bottom,&quot;
+and the world will henceforth know that
+the New Netherlanders did not take bundling by
+inoculation from the Yankees, but that they
+brought it with them to the New World, as an
+ancestral heirloom.</p>
+
+<p>This point being thus satisfactorily settled, to
+the honor of the Dutchman, and the extreme satisfaction
+of all future historians, we next proceed
+to investigate the bundling prevalent in</p>
+<br />
+
+<h4>THE NEW ENGLAND STATES,</h4>
+<br />
+
+<p>Where, as we have already shown, it was, as
+with the Dutchmen, an <i>inherited</i> custom. Its
+comparatively innocent and harmless character
+has, however, been fearfully distorted and ma<a name="Page_49"></a>ligned
+by irresponsible satirists, and prejudiced
+historians. Take, for example, the following
+passage from Knickerbocker's <i>History of New
+York</i>,<a name="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22">[22]</a> wherein he pretends to describe &quot;the
+curious device among these sturdy barbarians
+[the Connecticut colonists], to keep up a harmony
+of interests, and promote population.
+*&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;*&nbsp;&nbsp;* They multiplied to a degree which
+would be incredible to any man unacquainted
+with the marvellous fecundity of this growing
+country. This amazing increase may, indeed,
+be partly ascribed to a singular custom prevalent
+among them, commonly known by the name of
+<i>bundling</i>&mdash;a superstitious rite observed by the
+young people of both sexes, with which they
+usually terminated their festivities, and which
+was kept up with religious strictness by the more
+bigoted and vulgar part of the community. This
+ceremony was likewise, in those primitive times,
+considered as an indispensable preliminary to
+<a name="Page_50"></a>matrimony; their courtships commencing where
+ours usually finish, by which means they acquired,
+that intimate acquaintance with each
+other's good qualities before marriage, which has
+been pronounced by philosophers the sure basis of
+a happy union. Thus early did this cunning and
+ingenious people display a shrewdness at making
+a bargain, which has ever since distinguished
+them, and a strict adherence to the good old
+vulgar maxim about 'buying a pig in a poke.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;To this sagacious custom, therefore, do I
+chiefly attribute the unparalleled increase of the
+Yanokie or Yankee tribe; for it is a certain fact,
+well authenticated by court records and parish
+registers, that wherever the practice of bundling
+prevailed, there was an amazing number of sturdy
+brats annually born unto the state, without
+the license of the law, or the benefit of clergy.
+Neither did the irregularity of their birth operate
+in the least to their disparagement. On
+the contrary, they grew up a long-sided, raw-boned,
+hardy race of whoreson whalers, wood
+<a name="Page_51"></a>cutters, fishermen, and peddlers; and strapping
+corn-fed wenches, who by their united efforts
+tended marvellously towards populating those
+notable tracts of country called Nantucket,
+Piscataway, and Cape Cod.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Hear, also, that learned, but audacious and
+unscrupulous divine, the Rev. Samuel Peters,
+who thus discourseth at length upon the custom
+of bundling in Connecticut, and other parts of
+New England. After admitting that &quot;the women
+of Connecticut are strictly virtuous, and to be
+compared to the prude rather than the European
+polite lady,&quot; he says:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Notwithstanding the modesty of the females
+is such that it would be accounted the greatest
+rudeness for a gentleman to speak before a lady
+of a garter, knee, or leg, yet it is thought but a
+piece of civility to ask her to <i>bundle;</i> a custom
+as old as the first settlement in 1634. It is certainly
+innocent, virtuous and prudent, or the
+puritans would not have permitted it to prevail
+among their offspring, for whom in general they
+<a name="Page_52"></a>would suffer crucifixion. Children brought up
+with the chastest ideas, with so much religion as
+to believe that the omniscient God sees them in
+the dark, and that angels guard them when absent
+from their parents, will not, nay, cannot, act
+a wicked thing. People who are influenced more
+by lust, than a serious faith in God, who is too
+pure to behold iniquity with approbation, ought
+never to <i>bundle</i>. If any man, thus a stranger to
+the love of virtue, of God, and the Christian
+religion, should <i>bundle</i> with a young lady in New
+England, and behave himself unseemly towards
+her, he must first melt her into passion, and expel
+heaven, death, and hell, from her mind, or
+he will undergo the chastisement of negroes
+turned mad&mdash;if he escape with life, it will be
+owing to the parents flying from their bed to
+protect him. The Indians, who had this method
+of courtship when the English arrived among
+them in 1634, are the most chaste set of people
+in the world. Concubinage and fornication are
+vices none of them are addicted to, except such
+<a name="Page_53"></a>as forsake the laws of Hobbamockow and turn
+Christians. The savages have taken many female
+prisoners, carried them back three hundred
+miles into their country, and kept them several
+years, and yet not a single instance of their violating
+the laws of chastity has ever been known.
+This cannot be said of the French, or of the
+English, whenever Indian or other women have
+fallen into their hands. I am no advocate for
+temptation; yet must say, that <i>bundling</i> has prevailed
+160 years in New England, and, I verily
+believe, with ten times more chastity than the
+sitting on a sofa. I had daughters, and speak
+from near forty years' experience. <i>Bundling</i>
+takes place only in cold seasons of the year&mdash;the
+sofa in summer is more dangerous than
+the bed in winter. About the year 1756, Boston,
+Salem, Newport, and New York, resolving
+to be more polite than their ancestors, forbade
+their daughters <i>bundling</i> on the bed with any
+young man whatever, and introduced a sofa to
+render courtship more palatable and Turkish,
+<a name="Page_54"></a>whatever it was owing to, whether to the sofa,
+or any uncommon excess of the <i>feu d'esprit</i>, there
+went abroad a report that this <i>raffinage</i> produced
+more <i>natural consequences</i> then all the <i>bundling</i> among
+the boors with their <i>rurales pedantes</i>,
+through every village in New England besides.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;In 1776, a clergyman from one of the polite
+towns, went into the country, and preached
+against the unchristian custom of young men and
+maidens lying together on a bed. He was no
+sooner out of the church, then attacked by a
+shoal of good old women, with, 'Sir, do you
+think we and our daughters are naughty, because
+we allow <i>bundling?</i>' 'You lead yourselves into
+temptation by it.' They all replied at once, 'Sir,
+have you been told thus, or has experience
+taught it you?' The Levite began to lift up his
+eyes, and to consider of his situation, and bowing,
+said, 'I have been told so.' The ladies, <i>una
+voce</i>, bawled out, 'Your informants, sir, we conclude,
+are those city ladies who prefer a sofa to a
+bed: we advise you to alter your sermon, by
+<a name="Page_55"></a>substituting the word <i>sofa</i> for <i>bundling</i>, and on
+your return home preach it to them, for experience
+has told us that city folks send more
+children into the country without fathers or
+mothers to own them, than are born among us;
+therefore, you see, a sofa is more dangerous than
+a bed.' The poor priest, seemingly convinced
+of his blunder, exclaimed, '<i>Nec vitia nostra, neo
+remedia pati possumus</i>,' hoping thereby to get rid
+of his guests; but an old matron pulled off her
+spectacles, and, looking the priest in the face like
+a Roman heroine, said, '<i>Noli putare me h&aelig;c auribus
+tuis dare</i>.' Others cried out to the priest to
+explain his Latin. 'The English,' said he, 'is
+this: Wo is me that I sojourn in Meseck, and
+dwell in the tents of Kedar!' One pertly retorted,
+'<i>Gladii decussati sunt gemina presbyteri
+clavis</i>.' The priest confessed his error, begged
+pardon, and promised never more to preach
+against bundling, or to think amiss of the custom;
+the ladies generously forgave him, and
+went away.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_56"></a>It may seem very strange to find this
+custom of bundling in bed attended with so much innocence in New
+England, while in Europe it is thought not safe or scarcely decent to
+permit a young man and maid to be together in private anywhere. But in
+this quarter of the old world the viciousness of the one, and the
+simplicity of the other, are the result merely of education and habit.
+It seems to be a part of heroism, among the polished nations of it, to
+sacrifice the virtuous fair one, whenever an opportunity offers, and
+thence it is concluded that the same principles actuate those of the new
+world. It is egregiously absurd to judge all of all countries by one. In
+Spain, Portugal and Italy, jealousy reigns; in France, England, and
+Holland, suspicion; in the West and East Indies, lust; in New England,
+superstition. These four blind deities govern Jews, Turks, Christians,
+infidels, and heathen. Superstition is the most amiable. She sees no
+vice with approbation but persecution, and self-preservation is the
+cause of her seeing that. My <a name="Page_57"></a>insular readers will,
+I hope, believe me, when I tell them that I have seen, in the West
+Indies, naked boys and girls, some fifteen or sixteen years of age,
+waiting at table and at tea, even when twenty or thirty virtuous English
+ladies were in the room; who were under no more embarrassment at such an
+awful sight in the eyes of English people that have not traveled abroad,
+than they would have been at the sight of so many servants in livery.
+Shall we censure the ladies of the West Indies as vicious above all
+their sex, on account of this local custom? By no means; for long
+experience has taught the world that the West Indian white ladies are
+virtuous prudes. Where superstition reigns, fanaticism will be minister
+of state; and the people, under the taxation of zeal, will shun what is
+commonly called vice, with ten times more care than the polite and
+civilized Christians, who know what is right and what is wrong from
+reason and revelation. Happy would it be for the world, if reason and
+revelation were suffered <a name="Page_58"></a>to control the mind and
+passions of the great and wise men of the earth, as superstition does
+that of the simple and less polished! When America shall erect societies
+for the promotion of chastity in Europe, in return for the establishment
+of European arts in the American capitals, then Europe will discover
+that there is more Christian philosophy in American bundling than can be
+found in the customs of nations more polite.</p>
+
+<p>"I should not have said so
+much about bundling, had not a learned divine<a name="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23">[23]</a> of the English church
+published his travels through some parts of America, wherein this
+remarkable custom is represented in an unfavorable light, and as
+prevailing among the <i>lower class</i> of people. The truth is, the custom
+prevails among all classes, to the great honor of the country, its
+religion, and ladies. The virtuous may be tempted; but the tempter is
+despised. Why it should be thought <a name="Page_59"></a>incredible for a young man and young
+woman innocently and virtuously to lie down together in a bed with a
+great part of their clothes on, I cannot conceive. Human passions may be
+alike in every region; but religion, diversified as it is, operates
+differently in different countries. Upon the whole, had I daughters now,
+I would venture to let them <i>bundle</i> on the bed, or even on the sofa,
+after a proper education, sooner than adopt the Spanish mode of forcing
+young people to prattle only before the lady's mother the chitchat of
+artless lovers. Could the four quarters of the world produce a more
+chaste, exemplary and beautiful company of wives and daughters than are
+in Connecticut, I should not have remaining one favorable sentiment for
+the province. But the soil, the rivers, the ponds, the ten thousand
+landscapes, together with the virtuous and lovely women which now adorn
+the ancient kingdoms of Connecticote, Sassacus, and Quinnipiog, would
+tempt me into the highest wonder and admiration of them, could they once
+be freed of<a name="Page_60"></a>the skunk, the moping-owl, rattlesnake
+and fanatic Christian.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Or, to take another example of the abuse
+heaped by our English cousins upon this so-called
+&quot;American custom of bundling.&quot; We extract
+the following from an article entitled <i>British
+Abuse of American Manners</i>, published in 1815.<a name="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24">[24]</a>
+It seems that it had long been a custom in the
+Westminster school, in the city of London, for
+the senior students, who were about to leave that
+seminary for the university, at the age of sixteen
+to eighteen, to have an annual dramatic performance,
+which was generally a play of Terence.<a name="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25">[25]</a>
+To this, as annually performed, there was usually
+a Latin prologue, and also an epilogue composed
+for the occasion and this epilogue turned, for
+the most part, on the manners of the day that
+<a name="Page_61"></a>would bear the gentle correction of good humored
+satire, in elegant Latinity. In the epilogue presented
+at one of these exhibitions, about 1815,
+in connection with the performance of Terence's
+<i>Phormio</i>, the following balderdash (with much
+else, as applied to American life and manners)
+was introduced and spoken by these ingenuous
+and virtuous British youth, before a large and
+enlightened audience:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i6">&quot;Nec morum dicere promtum est,<br /></span>
+<span>Sit ratio simplex, sitne venusta magis.<br /></span>
+<span>&AElig;thiopissa palam mens&aelig; formulatur herili<br /></span>
+<span>In puris naturalibus, ut loquimur.<br /></span>
+<span>Vir braccis se bellus amat nudare d&eacute;cent&eacute;r,<br /></span>
+<span>Strenuus ut choreas ex-que-peditus agat.<br /></span>
+<span>Quid quod ibi; quod congere ipsis conque moveri<br /></span>
+<span>Dicitur, incolumi nempe pudiciti&acirc;,<br /></span>
+<span>Sponte su&acirc;, sine fraude, torum sese audet in unum.<br /></span>
+<span>Condere cum casto casta puelle viro?<br /></span>
+<span>Quid noctes coenaque De&ucirc;m? quid am&oelig;na piorum.<br /></span>
+<span>Concilia?&quot;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><a name="Page_62"></a>Which being translated is as follows:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nor is it easy to say whether the tenor of
+their manners is more to be admired for simplicity
+or elegance; a negro wench, as we are
+told, will wait on her master at table in native
+nudity; and a beau will strip himself to the
+waist, that he may dance unincumbered, and
+with more agility. There, too, we hear of the
+practice of <i>bundling</i> without any infraction of
+female modesty; and the chaste maiden, without
+any deception, but with right good will, ventures
+to share the bed with her chaste swain! Oh,
+what nights and banquets, worthy of the gods!
+What delightful customs among these pious
+people?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>But this spirit of misrepresentation and ridicule,
+so glaringly apparent in the foregoing extracts,
+and which has so universally characterized
+all those British travelers and authors who have
+attempted to describe our social habits and manners,
+is fitly rebuked, even as long ago as 1815,
+by an anonymous writer, whose trenchant pen
+<a name="Page_63"></a>reminds our British cousins of the old adage concerning
+&quot;those who live in glass houses,&quot; etc.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;From the time of Jack Cade,&quot; says he, &quot;to
+Lord George Gordon, and down to the present
+day, neither your <i>grave</i> or <i>gay</i> authorities on the
+subject of <i>bundling</i> and <i>tarrying</i> are worthy of
+criticism. There is a littleness in noticing, in the
+<i>London Quarterly Review</i>, a work which heretofore
+has been distinguished for its taste, chasteness
+and celebrity, the observation of travelers
+who, if men of truth, could only mean to mention
+customs (if they were customs) of the most
+vulgar and ignorant, which at any rate are now
+as little known as are the operation of the blue
+laws of Connecticut, or part of the penal code
+enacted to keep in slavery and subjection the
+sister kingdom.<a name="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26">[26]</a></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Englishmen, examine your own cottages, particularly
+in the north, and on the borders, and
+extend your view to the western extremity of
+<a name="Page_64"></a>your island. Pray, what term will you give to
+that promiscuous bundling of the father, mother,
+children, sons and daughters-in-law, cousins, and
+inmates who call to <i>tarry</i>, and not unfrequently
+stretch themselves in one common bed of straw
+on the hovel's floor?<a name="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27">[27]</a></p>
+
+<p>&quot;Nay, even, in some parts of your empire,
+the hogs and the cows join the group, and form
+a most audible respiration from their noses, getting
+vent through the hole in the roof intended
+for a chimney, or spreading throughout the clay
+built edifice with odorific sweetness, though perhaps
+not so fragrant and refreshing as was the
+precious oil poured on the venerable head of
+Aaron, which Sternhold and Hopkins tell us
+filled the room with pleasure. In the early settlement
+of this country there might have been
+houses in the route of the inquisitive and insidi<a name="Page_65"></a>ous
+European travelers, unprovided with a spare
+bed on which he might stretch his limbs; but,
+now, should Mr. Canning<a name="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28">[28]</a> himself visit us, he
+need not fear being <i>bundled</i>&mdash;he need not travel
+far in any part of the United States without enjoying
+the luxury of a soft couch and clean
+sheets, where he can ruminate on the injustice
+he attempts on our national character.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Badinage, ridicule and misrepresentation aside,
+however, there can be no reasonable doubt that
+<i>bundling</i> did prevail to a very great extent in
+the New England colonies from a very early
+date. It is equally evident that it was originally
+confined almost entirely to the lower classes of
+the community, or to those whose limited means
+compelled them to economize strictly in their
+expenditure of firewood and candlelight. Many,
+perhaps the majority, of the dwellings of the
+early settlers, consisted of but one room, in
+which the whole family lived and slept. Yet
+<a name="Page_66"></a>their innocent and generous hospitality forbade
+that the stranger, or the friend whom night overtook
+on their threshold, should be turned shelterless
+and couchless away, so long as they could
+offer him even half of a bed. As an example of
+this we may cite the case of Lieut. Anbury, a
+British officer, who served in America during
+the Revolutionary War, and whose letters preserve
+many sprightly and interesting pictures of
+the manners and customs of that period. In a
+letter dated at Cambridge, New England, November
+20, 1777, he thus speaks:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The night before we came to this town
+[Williamstown, Mass.], being quartered at a
+small log hut, I was convinced in how innocent
+a view the Americans look upon that indelicate
+custom they call <i>bundling</i>. Though they have
+remarkable good feather beds, and are extremely
+neat and clean, still I preferred my hard mattress,
+as being accustomed to it; this evening, however,
+owing to the badness of the roads, and the
+weakness of my mare, my servant had not
+<a name="Page_67"></a>arrived with my baggage at the time for retiring
+to rest. There being only two beds in the house,
+I inquired which I was to sleep in, when the
+old woman replied, 'Mr. Ensign,' here I should
+observe to you, that the New England people
+are very inquisitive as to the rank you have
+in the army; 'Mr. Ensign,' says she, 'our Jonathan
+and I will sleep in this, and our Jemima
+and you shall sleep in that.' I was much astonished
+at such a proposal, and offered to sit up
+all night, when Jonathan immediately replied,
+'Oh, la! Mr. Ensign, you wont be the first man
+our Jemima has bundled with, will it Jemima?'
+when little Jemima, who, by the bye, was a very
+pretty, black-eyed girl, of about sixteen or seventeen,
+archly replied, 'No, father, not by many,
+but it will be with the first Britainer' (the name
+they give to Englishmen). In this dilemma what
+could I do? The smiling invitation of pretty
+Jemima&mdash;the eye, the lip, the&mdash;Lord ha' mercy,
+where am I going to? But wherever I may
+be going now, I did not go to bundle with
+<a name="Page_68"></a>her&mdash;in the same room with her father and
+mother, my kind <i>host</i> and <i>hostess</i> too! I thought
+of that&mdash;I thought of more besides&mdash;to struggle
+with the passions of nature; to clasp Jemima
+in my arms&mdash;to&mdash;do what? you'll ask&mdash;why,
+to do&mdash;nothing! for if amid all these temptations,
+the lovely Jemima had melted into kindness,
+she had been an outcast from the world&mdash;treated
+with contempt, abused by violence, and
+left perhaps to perish! No, Jemima; I could have
+endured all this to have been blest with you,
+but it was too vast a sacrifice, when you was to
+be the victim! Suppose how great the test of
+virtue must be, or how cold the American constitution,
+when this unaccountable custom is in
+hospitable repute, and perpetual practice.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29">[29]</a></p>
+
+<p>Again, in a subsequent letter, the Lieutenant,
+after describing a New England sleighing frolic,
+says: &quot;In England this would be esteemed
+<a name="Page_69"></a>extremely imprudent, and attended with dangerous
+consequences; but, after what I have related
+respecting <i>bundling</i>, I need not say, in how
+innocent a view this is looked upon. Apropos,
+as to that custom, along the sea coast, by a continual
+intercourse among Europeans, it is in some
+measure abolished; but they still retain one
+something similar, which is termed <i>tarrying</i>.
+When a young man is enamored of a woman,
+and wishes to marry her, he proposes the affair
+to her parents (without whose consent no marriage,
+in this colony, can take place); if they
+have no objections, he is allowed to tarry with
+her one night, in order to make his court. At
+the usual time the old couple retire to bed, leaving
+the young ones to settle matters as they can,
+who having sat up as long as they think proper,
+get into bed together also, but without putting
+off their under garments; to prevent scandal. If
+the parties agree, it is all very well, the banns
+are published, and they married without delay;
+if not, they part, and possibly never see each
+<a name="Page_70"></a>other again, unless, which is an accident that
+seldom happens, the forsaken fair proves pregnant,
+in which case the man, unless he absconds,
+is obliged to marry her, on pain of excommunication.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30">[30]</a></p>
+
+<p>The word <i>tarry</i>, in the sense of <i>to stop</i> or <i>to
+stay</i>, was more used by our ancestors than by the
+present generation; yet we think that Lieut.
+Anbury was mistaken in his idea that the <i>tarrying</i>
+was but for a single night. It is true that
+marriages were early, and probably the courtships
+were short, but we all know enough of
+New England <i>sparking</i> to know that a single
+night was cutting it rather short; and yet it is
+easy to see how Anbury should get his erroneous
+idea. True, if the lover was so unlucky as to
+get his final dismissal the first night, there was
+an end of the matter, and well might they fail to
+meet again; but, in that case, it is not likely that
+the favors of which he could boast would be
+<a name="Page_71"></a>such as to seriously affect the reputation of the
+girl with whom he tarried. The fact that in the
+custom of <i>tarrying</i>, the parties also <i>bundled</i>, does
+not authorize the synonymous use of the two
+words, which have nothing in common. For,
+doubtless many young men <i>tarried</i> with their
+sweethearts, who did not <i>bundle</i> with them.</p>
+
+<p>Again, when, on a sabbath night, the faithful
+swain arrived, having, perhaps, walked ten
+or more weary miles, to enjoy the company of
+his favorite lass, in the few brief hours which
+would elapse before the morning light should call
+him again to his homeward walk and his week of
+toil, was it not the dictate of humanity as well
+as of economy, which prompted the <i>old folks</i> to
+allow the approved and accepted suitor of their
+daughter to pursue his wooing under the downy
+coverlid of a good feather bed (oftentimes, too,
+in the very same room in which they themselves
+slept), rather than to have them <i>sit up</i> and <i>burn
+out uselessly</i> firewood and <i>candles</i>, to say nothing
+of the risk of catching their <i>death a' cold?</i> In<a name="Page_72"></a>deed,
+was not the sanction of bundling in such
+cases a tacit admission, on the part of the parents,
+of their perfect confidence in the young
+folks, which necessarily acted upon the latter as,
+at once, a strong restraint from wrong, and a
+strong incentive to right doing? The influence
+of early religious training, the powerful control
+which the church had obtained upon the social
+and domestic life of the people, and the superstitious
+aspect which, in those days, the gospel was
+made to wear, must also be taken into the
+account. And, moreover, is it not probable
+that the universality of the custom, which certainly
+cleared it from anything like odium or
+reproach, would naturally tend to preclude, in a
+degree, any improper ideas in the minds of those
+who practiced it? Such, then, we consider the
+<i>status</i> of the custom in the earlier history of the
+colonies, and among the <i>first generation</i> of settlers.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;But,&quot; if the reader will allow us to quote
+from a previous work, &quot;the emigration from a
+<a name="Page_73"></a>civilized to a new country,<a name="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31">[31]</a> is necessarily a step
+backward into barbarism. The <i>second generation</i>
+did not fill the place of the fathers. Reared
+amid the trials and dangers of a new settlement,
+they were in a great measure deprived of the
+advantages, both social and educational, which
+their parents had enjoyed. Nearly all of the
+former could write, which cannot be said of
+their children. Neither did the latter possess
+that depth of religious feeling, or earnest practical
+piety which distinguished the first comers.
+Religion was to them less a matter of the heart
+than of social privilege, and in the <i>half way
+covenant</i> controversy we behold the gradual <i>letting
+down of bars</i> between a pure church and a
+grasping world.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The <i>third</i> generation followed in the footsteps
+of their predecessors. Then came war;
+and young New England brought from the long
+Canadian campaigns, stores of loose camp vices,
+<a name="Page_74"></a>and recklessness, which soon flooded the land
+with immorality and infidelity. The church was
+neglected, drunkenness fearfully increased, and
+social life was sadly corrupted.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32">[32]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_75"></a>It is not, therefore, a matter of surprise that
+bundling should, in the increased laxity of public
+morals, become more frequently abused. Its
+pernicious effects became constantly more apparent,
+and more decidedly challenged the attention
+of the comparatively few godly men who
+endeavored to stem and to control the rapidly
+widening current of immorality which threatened
+to overwhelm the land.<a name="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33">[33]</a> The powerful intel<a name="Page_76"></a>lect
+of Jonathan Edwards thundered its anathemas
+upon it; pious divines prayed against it in
+<a name="Page_77"></a>their closets, and wrestled with it in their pulpits;
+while many attempted by a revision of
+their church polity, by greater carefulness in the
+admission of members; by rules more stringently
+framed and enforced, to preserve, as best they
+might, the purity of the churches committed to
+their charge, and to make them, if it were possi<a name="Page_78"></a>ble,
+beacon lights amid the surrounding darkness
+of the times.<a name="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34">[34]</a> The task, however, was well nigh
+hopeless. The French wars were succeeded by
+that of the American Revolution, and not before
+the close of that struggle, may the custom
+of bundling be said to have received its deathblow,
+and even then it <i>died hard</i>.</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_79"></a>Its final disuse was brought about by a variety
+of causes, among which may be named the improved
+condition of the people after the Revolution,
+enabling many to live in larger and better
+warmed houses, and in the very few places
+where the ministers dared to touch the subject in
+the pulpit, as in Dedham, already referred to, a
+decided effect was produced, but it was confined
+to the neighborhood, having very little effect on
+the general custom. Probably no single thing
+tended so much to break up the practice as the
+publication of a song, or ballad, in an almanac,
+about 1785.</p>
+
+<p>This ballad described in a free and easy style
+the various plans adopted by those who bundled,
+and rather more than hinted at the results in certain
+cases. Being published in an almanac, it
+had a much larger circulation than could have
+been obtained for it in any other way (tract societies
+not being then in vogue), and the descriptions
+were so <i>pat</i>, that each one who saw them
+was disposed to apply them in a joking way to
+<a name="Page_80"></a>any other who was known to practice bundling;
+and the result was, such a general storm of
+banter and ridicule that no girl had the courage
+to stand against it, and continue to admit her
+lovers to her bed.</p>
+
+<p>We have found many persons who distinctly
+remember the publication of this song, and the
+effect which it had on the public mind, but all
+our efforts to find the almanac containing it, have
+proved of no avail.</p>
+
+<p>We have, however, been favored with the use
+of a broadside copy of a ballad, preserved among
+the treasures of the American Antiquarian Society,
+at Worcester, Massachusetts, which several
+of our ancient friends have recognized as
+identical with that in the almanac, one of them
+proving it by repeating from memory several lines
+from the Almanac version, which were precisely
+like that of the broadside, a copy of which we
+give herewith.</p>
+<br />
+<a name="Page_81"></a><center>A NEW BUNDLING SONG;</center>
+
+<div class="blkquot"><p><i>Or a reproof to those Young Country Women, who
+  follow that reproachful Practice, and to their Mothers
+  for upholding them therein</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Since bundling very much abounds,<br /></span>
+<span>In many parts in country towns,<br /></span>
+<span>No doubt but some will spurn my song,<br /></span>
+<span>And say I'd better hold my tongue;<br /></span>
+<span>But none I'm sure will take offence,<br /></span>
+<span>Or deem my song impertinence,<br /></span>
+<span>But only those who guilty be,<br /></span>
+<span>And plainly here their pictures see.<br /></span>
+<span>Some maidens say, if through the nation,<br /></span>
+<span>Bundling should quite go out of fashion,<br /></span>
+<span>Courtship would lose its sweets; and they<br /></span>
+<span>Could have no fun till wedding day.<br /></span>
+<span>It shant be so, they rage and storm,<br /></span>
+<span>And country girls in clusters swarm,<br /></span>
+<span>And fly and buz, like angry bees,<br /></span>
+<span>And vow they'll bundle when they please.<br /></span>
+<span>Some mothers too, will plead their cause,<br /></span>
+<span>And give their daughters great applause,<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_82"></a>And tell them, 'tis no sin nor shame,<br /></span>
+<span>For we, your mothers, did the same;<br /></span>
+<span>We hope the custom ne'er will alter,<br /></span>
+<span>But wish its enemies a halter.<br /></span>
+<span>Dissatisfaction great appear'd,<br /></span>
+<span>In several places where they've heard<br /></span>
+<span>Their preacher's bold, aloud disclaim<br /></span>
+<span>That bundling is a burning shame;<br /></span>
+<span>This too was cause of direful rout<br /></span>
+<span>And talk'd and told of, all about,<br /></span>
+<span>That ministers should disapprove<br /></span>
+<span>Sparks courting in a bed of love,<br /></span>
+<span>So justified the custom more,<br /></span>
+<span>Than e'er was heard or known before.<br /></span>
+<span>The pulpit then it seems must yield,<br /></span>
+<span>And female valor take the field,<br /></span>
+<span>In places where their custom long<br /></span>
+<span>Increasing strength has grown so strong;<br /></span>
+<span>When mothers herein bear a sway,<br /></span>
+<span>And daughters joyfully obey.<br /></span>
+<span>And young men highly pleased too,<br /></span>
+<span>Good Lord! what can't the devil do.<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_83"></a>Can this vile practice ne'er be broke?<br /></span>
+<span>Is there no way to give a stroke,<br /></span>
+<span>To wound it or to strike it dead.<br /></span>
+<span>And girls with sparks not go to bed<br /></span>
+<span>'Twill strike them more than preacher's tongue,<br /></span>
+<span>To let the world know what they've done<br /></span>
+<span>And let it be in common fame,<br /></span>
+<span>Held up to view a noted shame.<br /></span>
+<span>Young miss if this your practice be,<br /></span>
+<span>I'll teach you now yourself to see:<br /></span>
+<span>You plead you're honest, modest too,<br /></span>
+<span>But such a plea will never do;<br /></span>
+<span>For how can modesty consist,<br /></span>
+<span>With shameful practice such as this?<br /></span>
+<span>I'll give your answer to the life:<br /></span>
+<span>&quot;You don't undress, like man wife,&quot;<br /></span>
+<span>That is your plea, I'll freely own,<br /></span>
+<span>But whose your bondsmen when alone,<br /></span>
+<span>That further rules you will not break,<br /></span>
+<span>And marriage liberties partake?<br /></span>
+<span>Some really do, as I suppose,<br /></span>
+<span>Upon design keep on some clothes,<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_84"></a>And yet in truth I'm not afraid<br /></span>
+<span>For to describe a bundling maid;<br /></span>
+<span>She'll sometimes say when she lies down,<br /></span>
+<span>She can't be cumber'd with a gown,<br /></span>
+<span>And that the weather is so warm,<br /></span>
+<span>To take it off can be no harm:<br /></span>
+<span>The girl it seems had been at strift;<br /></span>
+<span>For widest bosom to her shift,<br /></span>
+<span>She gownless, when the bed they're in,<br /></span>
+<span>The spark, nought feels but naked skin.<br /></span>
+<span>But she is modest, also chaste,<br /></span>
+<span>While only bare from neck to waist,<br /></span>
+<span>And he of boasted freedom sings,<br /></span>
+<span>Of all above her apron strings.<br /></span>
+<span>And where such freedoms great are shar'd<br /></span>
+<span>And further freedoms feebly bar'd,<br /></span>
+<span>I leave for others to relate,<br /></span>
+<span>How long she'll keep her virgin state.<br /></span>
+<span>Another pretty lass we'll scan,<br /></span>
+<span>That loves to bundle with a man,<br /></span>
+<span>For many different ways they take,<br /></span>
+<span>Through modest rules they all will break.<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_85"></a>Some clothes I'll keep on, she will say,<br /></span>
+<span>For that has always been my way,<br /></span>
+<span>Nor would I be quite naked found,<br /></span>
+<span>With spark in bed, for thousand pound.<br /></span>
+<span>But petticoats, I've always said,<br /></span>
+<span>Were never made to wear in bed,<br /></span>
+<span>I'll take them off, keep on my gown,<br /></span>
+<span>And then I dare defy the town,<br /></span>
+<span>To charge me with immodesty,<br /></span>
+<span>While I so ever cautious be.<br /></span>
+<span>The spark was pleased with his maid,<br /></span>
+<span>Of apprehension quick he said,<br /></span>
+<span>Her witty scheme was keen he swore,<br /></span>
+<span>Lying in gown open before.<br /></span>
+<span>Another maid when in the dark,<br /></span>
+<span>Going to bed with her dear spark,<br /></span>
+<span>She'll tell him that 'tis rather shocking,<br /></span>
+<span>To bundle in with shoes and stockings.<br /></span>
+<span>Nor scrupling but she's quite discreet,<br /></span>
+<span>Lying with naked legs and feet,<br /></span>
+<span>With petticoat so thin and short,<br /></span>
+<span>That she is scarce the better for't;<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_86"></a>But you will say that I'm unfair,<br /></span>
+<span>That some who bundle take more care,<br /></span>
+<span>For some we may with truth suppose,<br /></span>
+<span>Bundle in bed with all their clothes.<br /></span>
+<span>But bundler's clothes are no defence,<br /></span>
+<span>Unly<a name="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35">[35]</a> horses push the fence;<br /></span>
+<span>A certain fact I'll now relate,<br /></span>
+<span>That's true indeed without debate.<br /></span>
+<span>A bundling couple went to bed.<br /></span>
+<span>With all their clothes from foot to head,<br /></span>
+<span>That the defence might seem complete,<br /></span>
+<span>Each one was wrapped in a sheet.<br /></span>
+<span>But O! this bundling's such a witch<br /></span>
+<span>The man of her did catch the itch,<br /></span>
+<span>And so provoked was the wretch,<br /></span>
+<span>That she of him a bastard catch'd.<br /></span>
+<span>Ye bundle misses don't you blush,<br /></span>
+<span>You hang your heads and bid me hush.<br /></span>
+<span>If you wont tell me how you feel,<br /></span>
+<span>I'll ask your sparks, they best can tell.<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_87"></a>But it is custom you will say,<br /></span>
+<span>And custom always bears the sway,<br /></span>
+<span>If I wont take my sparks to bed,<br /></span>
+<span>A laughing stock I shall be made;<br /></span>
+<span>A vulgar custom 'tis, I own,<br /></span>
+<span>Admir'd by many a slut and clown,<br /></span>
+<span>But 'tis a method of proceeding,<br /></span>
+<span>As much abhorr'd by those of breeding.<br /></span>
+<span>You're welcome to the lines I've penn'd,<br /></span>
+<span>For they were written by a friend,<br /></span>
+<span>Who'll think himself quite well rewarded,<br /></span>
+<span>If this vile practice is discarded.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The party in favor of bundling were able, too,
+to <i>keep a poet</i>, as is shown by the following ballad,
+which we transcribe from a printed copy preserved
+by the American Antiquarian Society.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_88"></a><center>A NEW SONG
+IN FAVOUR OF COURTING.</center>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>Adam at first was form'd of dust,<br /></span>
+<span>As scripture doth record;<br /></span>
+<span>And did receive a wife call'd Eve,<br /></span>
+<span>From his Creator Lord.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>From Adam's side a crooked bride,<br /></span>
+<span>The Lord was pleas'd to form;<br /></span>
+<span>Ordain'd that they in bed might lay<br /></span>
+<span>to keep each other warm.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>To court indeed they had no need,<br /></span>
+<span>She was his wife at first,<br /></span>
+<span>And she was made to be his aid,<br /></span>
+<span>Whose origin was dust.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>This new made pair full happy were,<br /></span>
+<span>And happy might remain'd,<br /></span>
+<span>If his help mate had never ate,<br /></span>
+<span>The fruit that was restrain'd.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span><a name="Page_89"></a>Tho' Adam's wife destroy'd his life,<br /></span>
+<span>In manner that was awful;<br /></span>
+<span>Yet marriage now we all allow<br /></span>
+<span>To be both just and lawful.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>But women must be courted first,<br /></span>
+<span>Because it is the fashion,<br /></span>
+<span>And so at times commit great crimes,<br /></span>
+<span>Caus'd by a lustful passion.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>And now a days there are two ways,<br /></span>
+<span>Which of the two is right,<br /></span>
+<span>To lie between sheets sweet and clean,<br /></span>
+<span>Or sit up all the night;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>But some suppose bundling in clothes<br /></span>
+<span>Do heaven sorely vex;<br /></span>
+<span>Then let me know which way to go,<br /></span>
+<span>To court the female sex.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Whether they must be hugg'd or kiss'd<br /></span>
+<span>When sitting by the fire<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_90"></a>Or whether they in bed may lay,<br /></span>
+<span>Which doth the Lord require?<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>But some pretend to recommend<br /></span>
+<span>The sitting up all night;<br /></span>
+<span>Courting in chairs as doth appear<br /></span>
+<span>To them to be most right.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Nature's request is, grant me rest,<br /></span>
+<span>Our bodies seek repose;<br /></span>
+<span>Night is the time, and 'tis no crime<br /></span>
+<span>To bundle in your clothes,<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Since in a bed a man and maid,<br /></span>
+<span>May bundle and be chaste,<br /></span>
+<span>It does no good to burn out wood,<br /></span>
+<span>It is a needless waste.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Let coats and gowns be laid aside,<br /></span>
+<span>And breeches take their flight,<br /></span>
+<span>An honest man and woman can<br /></span>
+<span>Lay quiet all the night.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span><a name="Page_91"></a>In Genesis no knowledge is<br /></span>
+<span>Of this thing to be got,<br /></span>
+<span>Whether young men did bundle then,<br /></span>
+<span>Or whether they did not.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>The sacred book says wives they took,<br /></span>
+<span>It don't say how they courted,<br /></span>
+<span>Whether that they in bed did lay,<br /></span>
+<span>Or by the fire sported.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>But some do hold in times of old,<br /></span>
+<span>That those about to wed,<br /></span>
+<span>Spent not the night, nor yet the light<br /></span>
+<span>By fire, or in the bed.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>They only meant to say they sent<br /></span>
+<span>A man to chuse a bride,<br /></span>
+<span>Isaac did so, but let me know<br /></span>
+<span>Of any one beside.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Man don't pretend to trust a friend,<br /></span>
+<span>To choose him sheep and cows,<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_92"></a>Much less a wife which all his life<br /></span>
+<span>He doth expect to house.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Since it doth stand each man in hand,<br /></span>
+<span>To happify his life,<br /></span>
+<span>I would advise each to be wise,<br /></span>
+<span>And chuse a prudent wife.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>Since bundling is not the thing,<br /></span>
+<span>That judgments will procure,<br /></span>
+<span>Go on young men and bundle then,<br /></span>
+<span>But keep your bodies pure.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>(Printed and sold by Nathaniel Coverly, Jun. Boston.)</p>
+<br />
+
+<p>The foregoing version is evidently not complete,
+several verses having been left out on
+account of their containing <i>more truth than
+poetry</i>, but these may be supplied from a manuscript
+copy, evidently made from memory, with
+considerable variations from the printed copy,
+which by no means improve it, though the schoolmaster
+did his best, and probably saved for us a
+<a name="Page_93"></a>very complete version of the ballad as it passed
+from mouth to mouth before the printed copy
+was made.</p>
+
+<p>It was transcribed from a volume of manuscript
+ballads in the handwriting of Israel Perkins,
+of Connecticut, written in 1786, when he
+was eighteen years old, and teaching school.</p>
+<br />
+
+<center>THE WHORE ON THE SNOW CRUST.</center>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>1.  Adam at first was formed of dust,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">As we find on record;<br /></span>
+<span>And did receive a wife cal'd Eve,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">By a creative word.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>2.  From Adam's side a crooked bride,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">We find complete in form;<br /></span>
+<span>Ordained that they in bed might lay<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And keep each other warm.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>3.  To court indeed they had no need,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">She was his wife at first,<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_94"></a>And she was made to be his aid,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Whose origin was dust.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>4.  This new made pair full happy were,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And happy might remained,<br /></span>
+<span>If his help meet had never eat<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The fruit that was restrained.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>5.  Tho' Adam's wife destroyed his life<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In manner that is awfull;<br /></span>
+<span>Yet marriage now we all allow<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">[To] Be both just and lawfull.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>6.  And now a days there is two ways,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Which of the two is write<br /></span>
+<span>To lie between sheets sweet and clean<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or sit up all the night.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>7.  But some suppose bundling in clothes<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The good and wise doth vex;<br /></span>
+<span>Then let me know which way to go<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To court the fairer sex.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span><a name="Page_95"></a>8.  Whether they must be hug'd and buss'd<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">When setting up all night;<br /></span>
+<span>Or whether [they] in bed may lay,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Which doth reason invite?<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>9.  Nature's request is, give me rest,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Our bodies seek repose;<br /></span>
+<span>Night is the time, and 'tis no crime<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To bundle in our cloaths.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>10. Since in a bed, a man and maid<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">May bundle and be chaste:<br /></span>
+<span>It doth no good to burn up wood<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">It is a needless waste.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>11. Let coat and shift be turned adrift,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And breeches take their flight,<br /></span>
+<span>An honest man and virgin can<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Lie quiet all the night.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>12. But if there be dishonesty<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Implanted in the mind,<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_96"></a>Breeches nor smocks, nor scarce padlocks<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The rage of lust can bind.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>13. Cate, Nance and Sue proved just and true,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Tho' bundling did practise;<br /></span>
+<span>But Ruth beguil'd and proved with child,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Who bundling did despise.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>14. Whores will be whores, and on the floor<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Where many has been laid,<br /></span>
+<span>To set and smoke and ashes poke,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Wont keep awake a maid.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>15. Bastards are not at all times got<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">In feather beds we know;<br /></span>
+<span>The strumpet's oath convinces both<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Oft times it is not so.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>16. One whorish dame, I fear to name<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Lest I should give offence,<br /></span>
+<span>But in this town she was took down<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Not more than eight months sence.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span><a name="Page_97"></a>17. She was the first, that on snow crust,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">I ever knew to gender<br /></span>
+<span>I'll hint no more about this whore<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">For fear I should offend her.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>18. 'Twas on the snow when Sol was low,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And was in Capricorn,<br /></span>
+<span>A child was got, and it will not<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Be long ere it is born.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>19. Now unto those that do oppose<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The bundling traid, I say<br /></span>
+<span>Perhaps there's more got on the floor,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Than any other way.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>20. In ancient books no knowledge is<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of these things to be got;<br /></span>
+<span>Whether young men did bundle then,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or whether they did not.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>21. Sence ancient book says wife they took,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">It dont say how they courted;<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_98"></a>Whether young men did bundle then,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or by the fire sported.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>[But some do hold in times of old,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That those about to wed,<br /></span>
+<span>Spent not the night, nor yet the light,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">By fire, or in the bed.]<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>22. They only meant to say they sent<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A man to choose a bride;<br /></span>
+<span>Isaac was so, but let me know,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">If any one beside.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>23. Men don't pretend to trust a friend<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To choose him sheep or cows;<br /></span>
+<span>Much more a wife whom all his life<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">He does expect to house.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>24. Sence it doth stand each one in hand<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To happyfy his life;<br /></span>
+<span>I would advise each to be wise,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And choose a prudent wife.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span><a name="Page_99"></a>25. Sence bundling is not a thing<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That judgment will procure;<br /></span>
+<span>Go on young men and bundle then,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">But keep your bodies pure.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+
+<p>Since this work went to press we have been
+favored, by one of our antiquarian friends in
+Massachusetts, with a copy of another poetical
+blast against the practice of bundling. It was
+written in the latter part of the last, or the first
+decade of the present century, by a learned and
+distinguished clergyman settled in Bristol county,
+Massachusetts, who was a graduate of Harvard
+University, and a doctor of divinity. The original
+manuscript from which our copy is made, is
+very carefully written out, with corrections apparently
+of a later date, and now undoubtedly
+appears for the first time in printed form.</p>
+
+<br />
+
+<a name="Page_100"></a><center>A POEM AGAINST BUNDLING.</center>
+
+<center><i>Dedicated to y<sup>e</sup> Youth of both Sexes</i>.</center>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span>1.   Hail giddy youth, inclined to mirth,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">To guilty amours prone,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Come blush with me, to think and see<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">How shameless you are grown.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>2.   'Tis not amiss to court and kiss,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Nor friendship do we blame,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">But bundling in, women with men,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Upon the bed of shame;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>3.   And there to lay till break of day,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">And think it is no sin,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">Because a smock and petticoat<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">Have chance to lie between.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>4.   Such rank disgrace and scandal base,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">All modest youth will shun,<br /></span>
+<span class="i1">For 'twill infest, like plague or pest,<br /></span>
+<span class="i3">And you will be undone.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span><a name="Page_101"></a>5.  Let boars and swine lie down and twine,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And grunt, and sleep, and snore,<br /></span>
+<span>But modest girls should not wear tails<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Nor bristles any more.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>6.  Let rams the sheep mount up and leap,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Without restraint or blame,<br /></span>
+<span>But will young men act just like them;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Oh, 'tis a burning shame!<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>7.  It is not strange that horses range<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Unfettered to the last,<br /></span>
+<span>But youthful lusts in fetters must<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Be chained to virtue fast.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>8.  Dogs and bitches wear no breeches,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Clothing for man was made,<br /></span>
+<span>Yet men and women strip to their linen,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And tumble into bed.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>9.  Yes, brutal youth, it is the truth,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Your modesty is gone,<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_102"></a>And could you blush, you'd think as much,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And curse what you have done.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>10. To have done so some years ago,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Was counted more disgrace<br /></span>
+<span>Than 'tis of late to propagate<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">A spurious bastard race.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>11. Quit human kind and herd with swine,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Confess yourself an whore;<br /></span>
+<span>Go fill the stye, there live and die,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Or never bundle more.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>12. Shall gentlemen with ladies join<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To practice like the brutes,<br /></span>
+<span>Then let them keep with cattle and sheep,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And fodder on their fruits.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>13. This cursed course is one great source<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Of matches undesigned,<br /></span>
+<span>Quarrels and strife twixt man and wife,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And bastards of their kind.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span><a name="Page_103"></a>14. But in excuse of this abuse<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">It oftentimes is said,<br /></span>
+<span>Father and mother did no other<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Than strip and go to bed.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>15. But grant some did as you have said,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Yet do they not repent,<br /></span>
+<span>And wish that you may never do<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">What they so much lament?<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>16. A stupid ass can't be more base<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Than are those guilty youth<br /></span>
+<span>Who fill with smart a parent's heart,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And turn it into mirth.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>17. Others do plead hard for the bed,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Their health and weariness,<br /></span>
+<span>So drunkards will drink down their swill,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And call it no excess.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>18. Under pretense of self defense,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Others will scold and say,<br /></span>
+<span><a name="Page_104"></a>An honest maid is chaste abed<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">As any other way.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>19. But where's the man that fire can<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Into his bosom take,<br /></span>
+<span>Or go through coals on his foot soles<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And not a blister make?<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>20. Temptation's way has led astray<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The likeliest of you all,<br /></span>
+<span>And yet you'r found on slippery ground,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And think you cannot fall.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>21. A female meek, with blushing cheek,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">Seized in some lover's arms,<br /></span>
+<span>Has oft grown weak with Cupid's heat<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And lost her virgin charms.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>22. But last of all, up speaks romp Moll<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And pleads to be excused,<br /></span>
+<span>For how can she e'er married be,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">If bundling be refused?<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span><a name="Page_105"></a>23. What strange mistake young women,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">To hope for sparks this way!<br /></span>
+<span>Your fond bold acts can't lay a tax<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That men will ever pay.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>24. So cheap and free some women be,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">That men are cloyed with sweet,<br /></span>
+<span>As horse or cow starve at the mow<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">With fodder under feet.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>25. 'Tis therefore vain yourselves to screen,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The practice is accurst,<br /></span>
+<span>It is condemned by God and man,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The pious and the just.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>26. Should you go on, the day will come,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">When Christ your Judge will say,<br /></span>
+<span>In <i>bundles</i> bind each of this kind,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And cast them all away.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span>27. Down deep in hell there let them dwell,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And bundle on that bed;<br /></span>
+<span>There burn and roll without control,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">'Till all their lusts are fed.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p><a name="Page_106"></a>The evidence presented in the preceding pages,
+establishes, as we think, the following facts:</p>
+
+<p>1st. That the custom, so far as it pertained to
+the American States, had its origin as a matter
+of convenience and necessity.</p>
+
+<p>2d. That in all stages of its history it was
+chiefly confined to the humbler classes of society.</p>
+
+<p>3d. That its prevalence may be said to have
+closed with the eighteenth century.</p>
+
+<p>It is our opinion that it came nearest to being
+a universal custom from 1750 to 1780, and that
+it was, at all times, regarded by the better classes
+as a serious evil, and was no more countenanced
+by them then the frequenting of grog
+shops is by the better class of the present day.</p>
+
+<p>This opinion is corroborated by the remarks
+of several old persons whom we have consulted
+as to their recollections of the custom. Among
+these, Mr. B., of East Haddam, Ct., now in his
+95th year, says that he well remembers it; that
+it could not be called general, though frequent.
+It was not practiced among the more intelligent,
+<a name="Page_107"></a>educated classes, nor among those who lived in
+large, well warmed houses. He says it was not
+the fashion to bundle with any chap who might
+call on a girl, but that it was a special favor,
+granted only to a favorite lover, who might consider
+it a proof of the high regard which the
+damsel had for him; in short, it was <i>only accepted
+lovers</i> who were thus admitted to the bed of the
+fair one, and, as he expresses it, only after long
+continued urging in most cases.<a name="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36">[36]</a> He thinks
+the fashion ceased about 1790 to 1800, and in
+consequence of education and refinement; and
+that <i>no more mischief was done then than there
+is now-a-days</i>.</p>
+
+<p>In the same strain, also, spoke the genial
+Colonel H., a native of Berlin, Ct., born in
+1775. He was perfectly conversant with the
+custom, had known the old ladies, in some cases,
+to go up stairs before retiring, to see that the
+bundling couple were comfortable, <i>tuck 'em up</i>,
+<a name="Page_108"></a>and put on more bedclothes! And stoutly
+asseverated his belief &quot;that there wasn't any
+more mischief done in those days than there is
+now.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Indeed, all the old people with whom we have
+conversed on the matter, although in some cases
+a little unwilling to own that they had ever practiced
+it themselves, were unanimous in their belief
+that the abuse of chastity under the bundling
+regime was no more frequent than it is now.
+One old gentleman of whom we have heard, in
+reply to the half reproachful, half joking question
+of his grandson, whether he wasn't ashamed,
+replied: &quot;Why, no! What is the use of sitting
+up all night and burning out fire and lights,
+when you could just as well get under kiver and
+keep warm; and, when you get tired, take a nap
+and wake up fresh, and go at it again? Why,
+d&mdash;n it, there wasn't half as many bastards then
+as there are now!&quot;<a name="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37">[37]</a></p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_109"></a>Even within the present century we have found
+traces of the continuance of the practice of
+bundling, though the instances are perhaps few,
+and in some measure exceptional. Until a very
+late day the custom (as a matter of convenience)
+was prevalent among the Dutch settlers of
+Pennsylvania, and it is not improbable that
+traces may still continue to exist in some of
+the more remote counties of that state. An old
+schoolmaster who flourished in Glastenbury, Ct.,
+some twenty years ago, when relating his experiences
+in teaching in southern Pennsylvania, and
+speaking of <i>boarding around</i>, informed us that
+when for any reason he did not choose to go to
+his boarding place for the time being, he was
+accustomed to stop at a tavern kept by an honest
+old Dutchman. On one occasion, having asked
+<a name="Page_110"></a>the landlord if he could stay over night, he was
+told that he could; and after chatting with his
+host through the evening, was shown to bed.
+The landlord set down the candle and had gone
+out of the room, when our friend noticed the
+only bed in the room was already occupied, and
+calling to the host, notified him of the fact;
+when he cried back: &quot;Oh! dat ish only mine
+taughter; she won't hurt nopoty,&quot; and coolly
+went his way. And our friend affirmed that he
+found the daughter not only harmless, but also
+quite competent to take care of herself.</p>
+
+<p>In New England, we believe that Cape Cod
+has the dubious honor of holding out the longest
+against the advance of civilization, bundling, as
+we have it on good authority, having been practiced
+there as late as 1827.<a name="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38">[38]</a>  In Greenwich,
+<a name="Page_111"></a>New Jersey, it was in vogue in 1816. In the
+state of New York this custom came under
+judicial cognizance in the year 1804, when the
+supreme court held, that although bundling was
+admitted to be the custom in some parts of the
+state, it being proven that the parents of the
+girl, for whose seduction the suit was brought,
+countenanced her practicing it, they had no
+right to complain, or ask satisfaction for the consequences,
+which, the court say, &quot;<i>naturally followed it!</i>&quot;<a name="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39">[39]</a></p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<a name="APPENDIX_I"></a><h2><a name="Page_113"></a>APPENDIX I.</h2>
+
+<p>BUNDLING.</p>
+<br />
+
+<p>[From <i>The Yankee</i> of August 13, 1828, published at
+Portland, Maine, and edited by John Neal.]</p>
+
+<p>By Rochefoucault, in accounting for the populousness
+of Massachusetts, the New Englanders
+are charged with bundling.</p>
+
+<p>By Chastelleux, whose book I am not able to
+refer to now, the charge is repeated, and by half
+a score of other honest, good natured people,
+who have made books about the New World.</p>
+
+<p>But, if you enquire into the business, you are
+pretty sure to be told, inquire where you may,
+that bundling is not known <i>there</i>, but somewhere
+further back in the woods, or further <i>down east</i>.
+Nay, while in every part of the United States
+the multitude speak of bundling as the habit of
+their neighbors, either east, west, north, or south,
+where the witches of the country were <i>located</i>
+about a century ago by the grandfathers of this
+<a name="Page_114"></a>generation, I, myself, though I have taken
+trouble enough to learn the truth, have never yet
+been able to meet with a case of bundling&mdash;of
+bundling proper, I should say&mdash;in the United
+States, nor with but one trustworthy individual
+who had ever met with so much as one case, and
+he had met with <i>but</i> one, for which he would
+give his word. These things are trifles; but
+when they are told in books that are read and
+trusted to throughout Europe; such books, too,
+as that of the Marquis de Chastelleux, or that of
+De Rouchefoucault, it becomes a matter of serious
+inquiry. The truth must be told, whatever it is,
+for the truth cannot be so bad, whatever it may
+be, as the untruth which is now repeated of us.</p>
+
+<p>The travels of Chastelleux are translated by
+an Englishman who had been a long while in
+this country. The book was undoubtedly written
+with great care, by a very honest, able man,
+who had very good opportunities of knowing the
+truth; and is now set off by another very honest,
+able man, who was, if anything, rather partial to
+America&mdash;enough to make one wary of trusting
+the report of any traveler who does not say in so
+many words, after establishing a character for
+himself&mdash;I saw this; I heard this; I take nobody's
+word for what I now say, etc., etc. It
+<a name="Page_115"></a>would be easy to enumerate a multitude of other
+stories which are now believed in, about the people
+of the United States, not only by the people
+of Europe, and of Great Britain particularly, but
+by the people of the United States themselves.
+But a dry catalogue of such things would be of
+little use.</p>
+
+<p>[Here he refers to the charge reported of New
+Englanders, that that they <i>eat pork and molasses&mdash;pork and
+molasses</i> TOGETHER, which is here denied
+as a ridiculous story. H.&nbsp;R.&nbsp;S.]</p>
+
+<p>They bundle in Wales; bundling there is a
+serious matter. A lady&mdash;a Welsh woman whose
+word is truth itself&mdash;assured me not long ago,
+that in her country they do not think a bit the
+worse, of a girl for anticipating her duties, in
+other words, for being a mother before she has
+been a wife; they have discovered, perhaps, that
+cause and effect may be convertible terms; that
+in such a serious matter, none but a fool would
+buy a pig in the poke, and that, after all, maternity
+may lead to marriage there, as marriage leads
+to maternity here. And why not? for after the
+establishment of the lying-in hospitals of Russia,
+the unmarried who bore <i>children to the state</i> were
+proud of the duty, and were looked upon, we are
+told, with great favor by the public. She added,
+<a name="Page_116"></a>also, that she was once at a party made up of
+sixteen or eighteen females, and females of good
+characters, all but one or two of whom were
+mothers, or had been so, before they were married.
+By Chastelleux and his English translator
+it would appear to have been very much the
+same in America about the years 1780-1-2. It
+is not so now. To have had a child before
+marriage would now be fatal to a woman here,
+whatever might be her condition or beauty; fatal
+in every shape. No man would have courage to
+marry her; no woman of character would associate
+with her. Ask the first individual you
+meet, above the age of twelve or thirteen here,
+and you may have the name and history of every
+poor girl in the neighborhood who has been so
+unlucky as to have a child of her own without
+leave, perhaps, within a period of six or eight
+years in a populous neighborhood of twenty or
+thirty miles about. A widow with half a score
+of children, forty years ago, if we may believe
+Dr. Franklin, was an object for the fortune
+hunters of America. It is not so now. The
+demand for widows, and for every sort of ready
+made family is beginning to be over.</p>
+
+<p>That which is called bundling here, though bad
+enough, is not a twentieth part so bad. Here
+<a name="Page_117"></a>it is only a mode of courtship. The parties instead
+of sitting up together, go to bed together;
+but go to bed with their clothes on. This would
+appear to be a perilous fashion; but I have been
+assured by the individual above, that he had
+proof to the contrary; for in the particular case
+alluded to, the only case I ever heard of on
+good authority, although he was invited by the
+parents of a pretty girl who stood near him, to
+bundle with her, and although he <i>did</i> bundle
+with her, he had every reason to believe, that if
+he had been very free, or more free than he
+might have been at a country frolick after they
+had invited him to escort her, to sit up with her,
+to dance with her, he would have been treated
+as a traitor by all parties. He had a fair opportunity
+of knowing the truth, and he spoke of
+the matter as if he would prefer the etiquette of
+sitting up to the etiquette of going to bed with a
+girl who had been so brought up. He complained
+of her as a prude. The following communication
+appears, however, to be one that may
+be depended on:<a name="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40">[40]</a></p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_118"></a>MR. NEAL&mdash;If you wish to know the truth
+about bundling, I think your correspondent
+V. could tell you all about it&mdash;it seems by his
+confession that he has practiced it on a large
+scale. I never heard of the thing till about three
+years ago; an acquaintance of mine had gone to
+spend the summer with an aunt, who lived somewhere
+near Sandy river.<a name="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41">[41]</a> The following is a
+copy of one of her letters while there:</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'I should have written sooner, so don't think
+me unkind, for I have been waiting for something
+to write about. You requested me to give
+you a faithful description of the country, the
+manners and customs of the inhabitants, etc. I
+have not been here quite three months, but I
+have been everywhere, seen everything, and got
+acquainted with everybody. I shall certainly inform
+you of everything I have seen or heard that
+is worth relating.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'You remember how you told me, before I
+left home, that I was so well looking that if I
+<a name="Page_119"></a>went so far back in the country I should be very
+much admired and flattered, and have as many
+lovers as I could wish for. I find it all true.
+The people here are remarkably kind and attentive
+to me; they seem to think that I must be
+something more than common because I have
+always lived so near Portland.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'But I must tell you that since I have been
+here I have had a beau. You must know that
+the young men, <i>in particular</i>, are very attentive
+to me. Well, among these is <i>one</i> who is considered
+the finest young man in the place, and
+well he may be&mdash;he owns a good farm, which
+has a large barn upon it, and a neat two story
+house, all finished. These are the fruits of his
+own industry; besides he is remarkably good
+looking, is very large but well-proportioned, and
+has a good share of what I call real manly beauty.
+Soon after my arrival here I was introduced to
+this man&mdash;no, not <i>introduced</i> neither, for they
+never think of such a thing here. They all
+know me of course, because I am a <i>stranger</i>.
+Some days, three, four, or half a dozen, call to
+see me, whom I never before saw or heard of;
+they come and speak to me as if I were an old
+acquaintance, and I converse with them as freely
+as if I had always known them from childhood.
+<a name="Page_120"></a>In this kind of a way I got acquainted with my
+beau, that <i>was;</i> he was very attentive to me from
+our first meeting. If we happened to be going
+anywhere in company he was sure to offer me
+his arm&mdash;no, I am wrong again, he never
+offered me his arm in his life. If you go to
+walk with a young man here, instead of offering
+you his arm as the young men do up our way, he
+either takes your hand in his, or passes one arm
+around your waist; and this he does with such a
+provoking, careless honesty, that you cannot for
+your life be offended with him. Well, I had
+walked with my Jonathan several times in this
+kind of style. I confess there was something in
+him I could not but like&mdash;he does not lack for
+wit, and has a good share of common sense; his
+language is never studied&mdash;he always seems to
+speak from the heart. So when he asked what
+sort of a companion he would make, I very candidly
+answered, that I thought he would make
+a very agreeable one. &quot;I think just so of you,&quot;
+said he, &quot;and it shall not be my fault,&quot; he continued,
+&quot;if we are not companions for life.&quot;
+&quot;We shall surely make a bargain,&quot; said he, after
+sitting silent a few moments, &quot;so we'll <i>bundle</i>
+to-night.&quot; &quot;<i>Bundle</i> what?&quot; I asked. &quot;<i>We</i> will
+bundle together,&quot; said he; &quot;you surely know
+<a name="Page_121"></a>what I mean.&quot; I know that our farmers bundle
+<i>wheat</i>, <i>cornstalks</i> and <i>hay;</i> do you mean that you
+want me to help you bundle any of these?&quot;
+inquired I. &quot;I mean that I want you to stay
+with me to-night! It is the custom in this place,
+when a man stays with a girl, if it is warm
+weather, for them to throw themselves on the
+bed, outside the bed clothes; if the weather is
+cold, they crawl under the clothes, then if they
+have anything to <i>say</i>, they say it&mdash;when they
+get tired of talking they go to sleep; this is what
+we call bundling&mdash;now what do you call it in
+your part of the world?&quot; &quot;We have no such
+works,&quot; answered I; &quot;not amongst respectable
+people, nor do I think that any people would,
+that either thought themselves respectable, or
+wished to be thought so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Don't be too severe upon us, Miss &mdash;&mdash;, I
+have always observed that those who <i>make believe</i>
+so much modesty, have in reality but little.
+I always act as I feel, and speak as I think. I
+wish you to do the same, but have none of your
+make-believes with me&mdash;you smile&mdash;you begin
+to think you have been a little too scrupulous&mdash;you
+have no objection to bundling <i>now</i>, have
+you?&quot; &quot;Indeed I have.&quot; &quot;I am not to be
+trifled with; so, if you refuse, I have done with
+<a name="Page_122"></a>you forever.&quot; &quot;Then be done as quick as you
+please, for I'll not bundle with you nor with any
+other man.&quot; &quot;Then farewell, proud girl,&quot; said
+he. &quot;Farewell, honest man,&quot; said I, and off he
+went sure enough.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'I have since made inquiries about <i>bundling</i>,
+and find that it is <i>really</i> the custom here, and
+that they think no more harm of it, than we do
+our way of a young couple sitting up together.
+I have known an instance, since I have been
+here, of a girl's taking her sweetheart to a neighbor's
+house and asking for a bed or two to lodge
+in, or rather to <i>bundle</i> in. They had company
+at her father's, so that their beds were occupied;
+she thought no harm of it. She and her family
+are respectable.</p>
+
+<p>&quot;'Grandmother says bundling was a very common
+thing in our part of the country, in old
+times; that most of the first settlers lived in log
+houses, which seldom had more than one room
+with a fire place; in this room the old people
+slept, so if one of their girls had a sweetheart in
+the winter she must either sit with him in the
+room where her father and mother slept, or take
+him into her sleeping room. She would choose
+the latter for the sake of being alone with him;
+but sometimes when the cold was very severe,
+<a name="Page_123"></a>rather than freeze to death, they would crawl
+under the bed-clothes; and this, after a while,
+became a habit, a custom, or a fashion. The man
+that I am going to send this by, is just ready to
+start, so I cannot stop to write more now. In my
+next I'll give you a more particular account of
+the people here. Adieu.'</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<i>Mr. Editor</i>, you may be sure that what is
+related in the foregoing letter is the truth. I
+know that there is considerable <i>other</i> information
+in it, mixed up with <i>that</i> about which you wished
+to be informed, but I could not very well separate
+it.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>So after all that has been said of the practice
+of bundling in our country, by foreign writers,
+travelers, and reviewers&mdash;after all the reproach
+that has been heaped upon us, now that we are
+able to get at the plain truth, it appears to be,
+though certainly a bad practice, not half so bad
+as the junketing and sitting up courtships that are
+known elsewhere. Nay, more. Though in the
+present state of society it is a practice that should
+be utterly discountenanced everywhere, still it
+would seem to have grown up out of the peculiar
+circumstances of our first settlers; to be confined
+<i>now</i> to remote and small districts (for I have
+<a name="Page_124"></a>heard of only three instances, after all my inquiry);
+and to be rapidly going out of practice.
+Yet more; there can be no bad intentions, there
+can be no evil consequences, where respectable
+and modest women are not ashamed to acknowledge
+that they bundle. I am anxious to know
+the truth for the purpose of correcting both the
+<i>misrepresentations</i> that are abroad, and the <i>practices</i>
+that prevail here. Bundling, however, is
+known in other countries, where they have less
+excuse, and in Wales where they do <i>not</i> bundle,
+as I have said before, it is no reproach for a
+woman to have had a child before marriage. It
+was so in Russia after Catharine established her
+lying-in hospitals.</p>
+
+<p>In the next number of <i>The Yankee</i> (August
+20th) there is the following editorial paragraph:</p>
+<br />
+
+<p>BUNDLING.</p>
+
+<p>There is a great outcry just now about the
+paper on bundling which was in the last <i>Yankee</i>.
+Now this very outcry proves the want of the
+very paper alluded to. The article is about
+bundling; and people who imagine bundling to
+be what it is not, a highly improper and unchaste
+<a name="Page_125"></a>familiarity, are offended with it; but the very
+purpose of that paper is to show that bundling is
+not what it is believed to be, that it is neither so
+common nor so bad, not a fiftieth part so bad as
+people have imagined.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><a name="Page_126"></a>
+<a name="APPENDIX_II"></a><h2>APPENDIX II.</h2>
+<a name="Page_127"></a><br />
+
+<p>That the customs of courtship in many parts
+of the United Kingdom at the present day, are
+precisely what they were in some parts of New
+England, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, fifty
+years ago, is evident from the revelations of the
+<i>Royal Commission on the Marriage Laws</i>, in the
+year 1868. Dr. Strahan, a physician and surgeon,
+who for nearly forty years has practiced in
+the Scottish county of Stirling, testifies before the
+commission, that his attention was first drawn to
+the subject in consequence of observing the very
+great extent of immorality among the working
+classes, not only as evidenced by the large number
+of illegitimate children, but also by the still
+larger number of marriages after the woman was
+with child; and the number of children born
+within eight months of wedlock. He found, to
+his astonishment, that among the working classes
+<a name="Page_128"></a>(i.e., the agricultural laborers), nine out of ten
+women, when married, either had had illegitimate
+children, or were pregnant at the time of marriage.
+&quot;I have,&quot; he says, &quot;a large midwifery
+practice, and I very rarely attend a woman with
+her first child, where the child is not born within
+a few months of wedlock, or else she has had an
+illegitimate child before.&quot; He believes it is very
+common for women to allow themselves to be
+seduced in the hope of being married. They go
+on until they are <i>enceinte</i>, and then, if the young
+man is at all a decent fellow, the friends interfere
+and the marriage is hurried on. The sketch
+which Dr. Strahan supplies of Scotch courtships,
+explains all this part of his observation. Young
+men and women meet together at night, and the
+ordinary time is the middle of the night, when
+every one else is in bed. &quot;It is universal,&quot; says
+Dr. Strahan to the commission, &quot;among the
+working classes, to have this manner of courtship
+of which I speak; there is no other courtship,
+in any other form; the fathers and mothers
+will not allow their daughters to meet a young
+man in the day-time; the young man never visits
+the family, but the parents quite allow this; they
+have done it themselves before, and there is no
+objection to it. The young man comes, makes
+<a name="Page_129"></a>a noise at the window; the young woman goes
+out, they go to some outhouse; or perhaps the
+young man is admitted to the young woman's
+bedroom after all are in bed, and there is an hour
+or two of what is called courtship, but which
+would more properly be called flirtation, because
+it is not necessary that there should be any engagement
+to marry in these cases.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Lord Lyveden inquired: &quot;Do these meetings
+take place at particular periods, such as harvest
+time, or is it over the whole of the year?&quot;</p>
+
+<p><i>Answer</i>: &quot;The whole of the year; very commonly
+the young man visits the young woman
+once a week.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Lord Chelmsford said: &quot;In England that
+would be called <i>keeping company</i>. It is a very
+extraordinary way of keeping company when the
+parents allow their daughter to go out with the
+young man at midnight, or the young man to
+come into her bedroom.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><i>Answer</i>: &quot;Yes; the parents know no other
+way of doing it. I have reasoned with the parents
+often when attending a case of illegitimate
+birth, pointing out to the parents how it is they
+have been led on, but they cannot imagine any
+other way of doing it; their daughters must have
+husbands, and there is no other way of courting.&quot;</p>
+
+<p><a name="Page_130"></a>Mr. Justice O'Hagan asking&mdash;&quot;Does it prevail
+generally in Scotland?&quot; was answered&mdash;&quot;Universally
+among the agricultural laborers.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>In reply to an inquiry by Mr. Dunlop, whether
+these young men lived under any kind of supervision
+and knowledge of their masters, or whether
+they could go out and in as they pleased, Dr.
+Strahan stated that &quot;plowmen, for instance, very
+often live in <i>bothies</i>, or in the farm house; they
+get out after all are in bed, out of the window;
+or, if they live in a bothie, without any trouble.
+They go to the neighboring farm-house, they
+knock at the window, the girl comes to the
+window, and, if she know the young man&mdash;or,
+after a little parley, if she does not know him&mdash;she
+either comes out and goes with him to an outhouse,
+or he comes into her bedroom. You
+must remember that they have no other means of
+intercourse.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;That is the point you press so much?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Yes; a young woman cannot see either a
+sweetheart or an acquaintance in any other way.
+I believe if it was not for fear of being out at
+night, the girls would visit one another in the
+same way; they have no other means of visiting;
+the customs of the country are such that a
+<a name="Page_131"></a>young man could not be seen going in day-light
+to visit his sweetheart.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Mr. Justice O'Hagan: &quot;If the father knew
+that the young man was coming into the house,
+and knew that he was with his daughter, would
+he not interfere?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;He would lie comfortably in his bed, knowing
+that his daughter was in an out-house or barn
+with a young man, for perhaps two hours; shutting
+his eyes to it in the same way that a person
+in the higher ranks would shut his eyes to his
+daughter going out for a walk with a young man.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Dr. Strahan said also: &quot;When you come to
+the middle class a young man would not marry a
+girl that had had a child to another man; and
+very probably he would not marry a girl that had
+had a child to himself; but in the lower classes
+it is not so; it is almost universal to marry a
+woman that has had a child, or that is with child
+to himself; but it is very frequent to marry a
+woman that has had a child to another man; the
+only objection is the burden of the child; the
+burden of the child might be an obstacle, but the
+disgrace would be none.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;Is it supposed,&quot; asked a commissioner, &quot;that
+the woman, by marrying this other man, wipes
+off her disgrace with the former?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;<a name="Page_132"></a>Yes; but it is so common that the disgrace
+is not so much as to prevent the young man marrying
+her.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>The attorney-general: &quot;It is hardly within our
+inquiry, but still it is interesting to know; can
+you tell me whether, in these cases, where the
+woman marries a man who is not the father
+of her child, any confusion, as to the parent of
+the previously born child, arises? Are they apt
+in law, to pass as the children of the subsequent
+husband?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;No, I do not think so.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The distinction is always kept up?&quot;</p>
+
+<p>&quot;The distinction is always kept up; very
+often the illegitimate child goes by his own
+father's name, even among the other children;
+and I do not think there is apt to be any confusion
+of that kind.&quot;</p>
+
+<p>Still, it seems that, in severely Calvinistic
+Scotia, the church does not wholly wink at this
+state of things. The sinning couple, after marriage,
+have to go through a certain whitewashing
+at church before they are admitted to what are
+called church privileges. They have to go before
+a kirk session, consisting of the minister and
+perhaps half a dozen elders, when they are <i>admonished</i>.
+If the parties are married, they ap<a name="Page_133"></a>pear
+but once; if not married, generally three
+times. They tender themselves for rebuke without
+invitation, as without it the child cannot be
+baptized, or admission given to the sacrament.
+They apply to the minister in private, and confess
+their fault, and he causes them to be summoned
+before the church session.</p>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<a name="INDEX"></a><h2><a name="Page_135"></a>INDEX.</h2>
+
+African tribes, courtship among, <a href="#Page_42">42</a><br />
+America, English misrepresentation of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.<br />
+America, bundling in, <a href="#Page_44">44</a><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">inherits bundling from Holland, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bundling not peculiar to, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">bundling universal in 1750, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Ballads against bundling, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in favor of bundling, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.</span><br />
+Brychan, a cloth, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.<br />
+Bundling, antiquity of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.<br />
+Bundling, abuse of, in New England, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ballads on, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ceased with eighteenth century, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>,</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confined to the lower classes, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</span><br />
+Bundling, described by Lt. Anbury in 1777, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">definition of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">decision of N. Y. Supreme Court on, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in America, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in British isles, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Cape Cod, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Holland, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.</span><br />
+Bundling in Maine about 1828, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in New England States, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Wales, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">introduced in America from Holland, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned by Rev. Sam'l Peters, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned by Washington Irving, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned by Dr. A. Burnaby, 1759, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mentioned by Sir Walter Scott, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not peculiar to America, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</span><br />
+<a name="Page_136"></a>Bundling originating in poverty in Scotland and Ireland, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">origin of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">originally confined to the lower classes in America, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">practiced in Pennsylvania till late years, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">preached against, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">recollections of by old persons, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</span><br />
+Bundling regarded as a serious evil, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sanctioned by parents, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sermon against, <a href="#Page_77">77</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">two forms of, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">universal now in lower classes of Scotland, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">universal in America in 1750, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">-up, in Wales, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Cape Cod, bundling practiced there in 1827, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.<br />
+Central Asia, courtship in, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br />
+Confession in public necessary for baptism of children, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>.<br />
+Courtship, customs of, in Great Britain, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br />
+Courtship among Welsh peasantry, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Central Asia, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the 14th century, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among N. A. Indians, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Switzerland, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</span><br />
+Cuckold, no word in Gaelic for, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br />
+Customs of courtship, different in the cantons of Switzerland, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Dayaks of Borneo, courtship of, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br />
+Dorfen, in Switzerland, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Empress Cartismandua, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Julia, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</span><br />
+Epilogue on bundling at Westminster school, 1815, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Free-bench, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.<br />
+French war, demoralizing influence of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.<br />
+<br />
+<br />
+Germans, respect of, for women, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br />
+Gordon, Sir Robert, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sir Adam, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</span><br />
+Great Britain, bundling common at the present day in, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>.<br />
+<a name="Page_137"></a>Great Britain, immorality of lower classes in, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br />
+Gwent, a district in Wales, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.<br />
+Gwentian Code of Wales, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Hand-fasting, a Scotch custom, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">common among all classes, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.</span><br />
+Highland law of marriage, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.<br />
+Highlanders, curious custom of the, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.<br />
+Holland, bundling in, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Illegitimacy not considered a disgrace in Scotland, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Kiltgang in canton of Lucerne. <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br />
+Kweesten, a Dutch custom, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.<br />
+<br />
+La Hontan, Indian custom described by, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.<br />
+Lichtgetren, in Switzerland, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br />
+Love and courtship in the 14th century, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Maine, bundling in, 1828, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.<br />
+Marriage laws of Great Britain, royal commission on, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br />
+Marriage, Welsh laws relating to, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Namzat bez&eacute;, an African custom, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>.<br />
+Natural children legitimatized in Scotland, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.<br />
+New bundling song, a, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>.<br />
+New England, bundling in, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.<br />
+New song in favor of courting, a, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>.<br />
+New York Supreme Court on bundling, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>.<br />
+N. Am. Indians, chastity of, <a href="#Page_41">41-52</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">courtship among, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Pennsylvania, bundling in, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.<br />
+Poem against bundling, a, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.<br />
+Polygamy among ancient nations, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in Great Britain, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</span><br />
+Prostitutes, punishment of in Scotland and Germany, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.<br />
+<a name="Page_138"></a>Public confession of unlawful cohabitation made in New England, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">records of, <a href="#Page_75">75</a>.</span><br />
+<br />
+Quest, definition of and origin, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br />
+Queesting, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Royal commission on marriage laws of Great Britain, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Savage nations, amatory customs of, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.<br />
+Scotland, courtship of, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">conjugal infidelity in, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">admonition by church of, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</span><br />
+Scotch and Irish moral character, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.<br />
+Scott, Walter, mention of bundling by, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>.<br />
+Stubetegetren in Switzerland, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.<br />
+Sutherland, son of a hand-fast marriage claims earldom of, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.<br />
+Switzerland, courtship in, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Tarrying, common in England, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in New England, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</span><br />
+Texel, bundling in the island of, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.<br />
+<br />
+United States, bundling in the, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Vlie and Wieringen, bundling practiced in islands of, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br />
+<br />
+Wales, bundling in, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>.<br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">described by Bingley, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Barbor, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>; </span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Carr, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>;</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">by Pratt, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</span><br />
+<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chastity in, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</span><br />
+Welsh laws relating to marriage, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.<br />
+Whore on the snow crust, the, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>.<br />
+Wieringen, see Vlie.<br />
+Wynet-werth, a Welsh term, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>.<br />
+
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<a name="FOOTNOTES"></a><h2>FOOTNOTES.</h2>
+
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1">[1]</a> <i>C&aelig;sar</i> says, that several brothers, or a father and his
+sons, would have but one wife among them. <i>Solinus</i>,
+indeed, says that the women in Thule were common, the
+king having a free choice; and <i>Dio</i> says the Caledonians
+had wives in common; yet these assertions may well be
+disputed. <i>Strabo</i> describes the Irish as extremely gross
+in this matter; <i>O'Conner</i> says polygamy was permitted;
+and <i>Derrick</i> tells us they exchanged wives once or twice
+a year; while <i>Campion</i> says they only married for a year
+and a day, sending their wives home again for any slight
+offense.&mdash;<i>Logan's Scottish Gael</i>, 5th Am. ed., p. 472.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2">[2]</a> <i>A History of the Highlands, and of the Highland
+Clans</i>, etc. (Jas. Browne, LL.D., Advocate, 4 vols. London,
+1853), IV, 398.
+</p><p>
+&quot;The law of marriage observed in the Highlands has
+frequently been as little understood as that of succession,
+and similar misconceptions have prevailed regarding
+it. This was, perhaps, to be expected. In a country
+where a bastard son was often found in undisturbed
+possession of the chiefship or property of a clan, and
+where such bastard generally received the support of the
+clansmen against the claims of the feudal heir, it was
+natural to suppose that very loose notions of succession
+were entertained by the people; that legitimacy conferred
+no exclusive rights; and that the title founded on
+birth alone might be set aside in favor of one having
+no other claim than that of election. But this, although
+a plausible, would nevertheless be an erroneous supposition.
+The person here considered as a bastard, and
+described as such, was by no means viewed in the
+same light by the Highlanders, because, according to
+their law of marriage, which was originally very different
+from the feudal system in this matter, his claim to
+legitimacy was as undoubted as that of the feudal heir
+afterward became. It is well known that the notions of
+the Highlanders were peculiarly strict in regard to matters
+of hereditary succession, and that no people on
+earth was less likely to sanction any flagrant deviation
+from what they believed to be the right and true line of
+descent. All their peculiar habits, feelings and prejudices
+were in direct opposition to a practice which, had
+it been really acted upon, must have introduced endless
+disorder and confusion, and hence the natural explanation
+of this apparent anomaly seems to be, what Mr.
+Skene has stated, namely, that a person who was feudally
+a bastard might in their view be considered as legitimate,
+and therefore entitled to be supported in accordance
+with their strict ideas of hereditary right, and
+their habitual tenacity of whatever belonged to their
+ancient usages. Nor is this mere conjecture or hypothesis.
+A singular custom regarding marriage, retained till
+a late period amongst the Highlanders, and clearly indicating
+that their law of marriage originally differed in
+some essential points from that established under the
+feudal system, seems to afford a simple and natural
+explanation of the difficulty by which genealogists have
+been so much puzzled.
+</p><p>
+&quot;This custom was termed <i>hand-fasting</i>, and consisted
+in a species of contract between two chiefs, by which
+it was agreed that the heir of one should live with the
+daughter of the other as her husband for twelve months
+and a day. If, in that time, the lady became a mother,
+or proved to be with child the marriage became good in
+law, even although no priest had performed the marriage
+ceremony in due form; but should there not have occurred
+any appearance of issue, the contract was considered
+at an end, and each party was at liberty to
+marry or hand-fast with any other. It is manifest that
+the practice of so peculiar a species of marriage must
+have been in terms of original law among the Highlanders,
+otherwise it would be difficult to conceive how such
+a custom could have originated, and it is in fact one
+which seems naturally to have arisen from the form of
+their society, which rendered it a matter of such vital
+importance to secure the lineal succession of their
+chiefs. It is perhaps not improbable that it was this
+peculiar custom which gave rise to the report handed
+down by the Roman and other historians, that the
+ancient inhabitants of Great Britain had their wives in
+common, or that it was the foundation of that law of
+Scotland by which natural children became legitimatized
+by subsequent marriage.<a name="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3">[3]</a> And as this custom remained
+in the Highlands until a very late period, the sanction
+of ancient custom was sufficient to induce them to persist
+in regarding the offspring of such marriages as
+legitimate.&quot;<a name="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4">[4]</a>
+</p><p>
+It appears, indeed, that as late as the sixteenth century,
+the issue of a hand-fast marriage claimed the earldom
+of Sutherland. The claimant, according to Sir
+Robert Gordon, described himself as one lawfully descended
+from his father, John, the third earl, because,
+as he alleged, &quot;his mother was <i>hand-fasted</i> and fianced
+to his father;&quot; and his claim was bought off (which
+shows that it was not considered as altogether incapable
+of being maintained) by Sir Adam Gordon, who had
+married the heiress of Earl John. Such, then, was the
+nature of the peculiar and temporary connection which
+gave rise to the apparent anomalies which we have been
+considering. It was a custom which had for its object,
+not to interrupt but to preserve the lineal succession of
+the chiefs, and to obviate the very evil of which it is
+conceived to afford a glaring example. But after the introduction
+of the feudal law, which, in this respect, was
+directly opposed to the ancient Highland law, the lineal
+and legitimate heir, according to Highland principles,
+came to be regarded as a bastard by the government,
+which accordingly considered him as thereby incapacitated
+for succeeding to the honors and property of his race;
+and hence originated many of those disputes concerning
+succession and chiefship, which embroiled families with
+one another, as well as with the government, and were
+productive of incredible disorder, mischief and bloodshed.
+No allowance was made for the ancient usages
+of the people, which were probably but ill understood;
+and the rights of rival claimants were decided according
+to the principles of a foreign system of law, which was
+long resisted, and never admitted except from necessity.
+It is to be observed, however, that the Highlanders
+themselves drew a broad distinction between bastard
+sons and the issue of the hand-fast unions above described.
+The former were rigorously excluded from
+every sort of succession, but the latter were considered
+as legitimate as the offspring of the most regularly
+solemnized marriage.
+</p><p>
+This practice obtained not only among chiefs, but
+common people.
+</p><p>
+Walter Scott, in the XXV chapter of the <i>Monastery</i>, in
+a note, says: &quot;This custom of hand-fasting actually
+prevailed in the upland days. It arose partly from the
+want of priests. While the convents subsisted, monks
+were detached on regular circuits through the wilder
+districts, to marry those who had lived in this species
+of connexion. A practice of the same kind existed in
+the Isle of Portland.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3">[3]</a> This is a mistake in point of law. The principle of
+legitimation by subsequent marriage, was first explicitly
+announced in an imperial constitution of Constantine,
+and being wisely recognized by the church, it was
+adopted by the canonists, through whom it passed into
+our law. The attempt to introduce it into England
+failed, in consequence of the attachment of the people
+to their ancient Saxon constitutions; and hence, although
+it was recognized in the statutes of Merton, it was subsequently
+discarded, and never afterwards found admission into the municipal
+system of the neighboring kingdom.
+There can be no doubt whatever that the principle
+is one which reason, morality and religion must
+equally approve.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4">[4]</a> Skene's <i>Highlanders of Scotland</i>, vol. I, chap. vii,
+166, 167.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5">[5]</a> In <i>Scottish Ballads and Songs</i>, by James Maidment,
+Edinburgh, MDCCCLIX, under the title of <i>Luckidad's
+Garland</i>, p. 134, is a remarkable picture of the old and
+new times in Scotland, eighty or ninety years ago, three
+of the twenty-four verses of which the ballad is composed,
+being descriptive of something akin to <i>bundling</i>.
+In a London edition of <i>Hudibras</i>, also, published in 1811,
+is a note to line 913, of Part I, Canto I. As both of
+these extracts, however, are somewhat too <i>broad</i> for
+our pages, we content ourselves with simply referring
+thereto. In the same category, also, is the definition, in
+<i>Bailey's Old English Dictionary</i>, of the term <i>free bench</i>,
+as prevailing in the manors of East and West Embourn,
+Chaddleworth in the county of Berks, Tor in Devonshire,
+and other places of the west.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6">[6]</a> <i>History of Wales</i> (by B.&nbsp;B. Woodward, B.A., London,
+1853), p. 320; who adds, also, p. 186, the following:
+</p><p>
+&quot;The laws which treat of the violation of the marriage
+bond and those which relate to chastity generally,
+recognize a degree of laxity respecting female honor,
+and, yet more remarkably, an absence of feminine delicacy,
+such as could scarcely be paralleled amongst the
+most uncivilized people now. They are of such a nature,
+that though most characteristic, they must be
+passed by with this general mention. The distinction
+between the Celtic and Teutonic races is perhaps in no
+case more plainly marked than in this: The Anglo-Saxon
+laws on this subject (always excepting those of
+the <i>ecclesiastical</i> authorities) are modesty itself, notwithstanding
+their plain speaking, compared with those
+of the Welsh legislators.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7">[7]</a> <i>Gleanings through Wales, Holland, and Westphalia</i>,
+etc. (3d edition, by Mr. Pratt, London, 1797), I, pp. 105-107.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8">[8]</a> <i>North Wales, including its Scenery, Antiquities,
+Customs</i>, etc. (by Rev. W.&nbsp;W. Bingley, A.M., 2 vols.,
+8vo, London, 1804), II, p. 282.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9">[9]</a> <i>A Tour throughout North Wales and Monmouthshire</i>,
+etc., etc. (by J.&nbsp;T. Barbor, F.S.A., London, 1803),
+pp. 103-9.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10">[10]</a> <i>The Stranger in Ireland</i>, by John Carr.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11">[11]</a> &quot;On his way to Ireland he passed through Wales,
+and gives us a slight sketch of the character of that
+people and country. <i>It must afford no small gratification
+to a New England man to learn that the practice of</i>
+BUNDLING <i>is not peculiar to us, but that this pleasing
+though dangerous art was probably imported from
+abroad</i>.&quot;&mdash;A review of <i>The Stranger in Ireland</i>, in
+<i>Connecticut Courant</i> for November 19th, 1806.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12">[12]</a> In this connection we may give the following extract
+from <i>Ancient Laws and Institutes of Wales</i>, etc.,
+etc., printed by command of his late Majesty King
+William IV, under the direction of the commissioners
+on the Public Records of the Kingdom. MDCCCXLI.
+Folio. From page 369.&mdash;The Gwentian<a name="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13">[13]</a> Code.
+</p><p>
+&quot;A woman of full age who goes with a man clandestinely,
+and taken by him to bush, or brake, or house,
+and after connection deserted; upon complaint made by
+her to her kindred, and to the courts, is to receive, for
+her chastity, a bull of three winters, having its tail well
+shaven and greased and then thrust through the door-clate;
+and then let the woman go into the house, the
+bull being outside, and let her plant her foot on the
+threshold, and let her take his tail in her hand, and let
+a man come on each side of the bull; and if she can
+hold the bull, let her take it for her <i>wynet-werth</i><a name="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14">[14]</a> and
+her chastity; and, if not, let her take what grease may
+adhere to her hands.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13">[13]</a> <i>Gwent</i>, the appellation of the district in Wales inhabited
+by the Silures, comprised the diocese of Landav.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14">[14]</a> This word means <i>face shame</i> or <i>face worth</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15">[15]</a> A good honest word, which although not exactly
+English, is at least first cousin to our <i>quest</i>, and <i>quiz</i>,
+etc.
+</p><p>
+Worcester gives the following: &quot;&#8224;Qu&#275;se, <i>v.&nbsp;a.</i>, to
+search after. <i>Milton</i>.&quot; [obsolete &#275; long, s like z.] Qu&#277;st,
+<i>v.&nbsp;n.</i>, to join search. <i>B. Jonson</i>. &#8224;Qu&#277;ster, <i>n.</i>, a
+seeker. <i>Rowe</i>.
+</p><p>
+Is it not allowable to derive from one of these words
+Qu&#275;sing, or Qu&#277;sting, pronounced Qweesting, and from
+the other Qu&#277;sting [&egrave; short]? So that he who went
+<i>queesting</i> was simply <i>searching after</i> a wife, understood.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16">[16]</a> These are two very small islands at the opening of
+the Zuider zee.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17">[17]</a> From <i>The Student and Intellectual Observer</i>, London,
+November number, 1868, p. 310, in article by
+Thomas Wright, F.S.A. Chapter vii&mdash;<i>Womankind in all
+Ages of Western Europe</i>, etc.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18">[18]</a> <i>Cottages of the Alps</i> (London, 1860), pages 77, 91,
+132.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19">[19]</a> <i>New Voyage to North America, giving a full Account
+of the Customs, Commerce, Religion and Strange
+Opinions of the Savages of that Country</i>, etc., etc.
+Written by Baron Lahontan, Lord Lieutenant of the
+French Colony at <i>Placentia</i>, in Newfoundland, now in
+England. London, 1703.
+</p><p>
+In describing the amatory customs of the Indians of
+this country, the author says (Vol. II, p. 37):
+</p><p>
+&quot;You must know further, that Two Hours after Sunset
+the Old Supperannuated Persons, or Slaves (who
+never lie in their Masters' Huts) take care to cover up
+the Fire before they go. 'Tis then that the Young
+Savage comes well wrapt up to his Mistress's Hut, and
+lights a sort of a Match at the Fire; after which he
+opens the Door of his Mistress's Apartment and makes
+up to her bed: If she blows out the light, he lies down
+by her; but if she pulls her Covering over her Face,
+he retires; that being a Sign that she will not receive
+him.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20">[20]</a> Verily, Peters's sarcasm savors as much of truth as
+humor when, speaking of bundling, he says: &quot;The Indians
+who had this method of courtship among them in
+1634, are the most chaste set of people in the world.
+Concubinage and fornication are vices none of them are
+addicted to, except such as forsake the laws of Hobbamockon
+and turn Christians. The savages have taken
+many female prisoners, carried them back three hundred
+miles into their country, and kept them several years,
+and yet not a single instance of their violating the
+laws of chastity has ever been known. This cannot be
+said of the French, or of the English, whenever Indian
+or other women have fallen into their hands.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21">[21]</a> &quot;Great jealousy did they likewise stir up by their
+intermeddling and successes among the divine sex; for
+being a race of brisk, likely, pleasant tongued varlets,
+they soon seduced the light affections of the simple
+lasses from their ponderous Dutch gallants. Among
+other hideous customs, they attempted to introduce
+among them that of <i>bundling</i>, which the Dutch lasses
+of the Nederlandts, with that eager passion for novelty
+and foreign fashions natural to their sex, seemed very
+well inclined to follow, but that their mothers, being
+more experienced in the world, and better acquainted
+with men and things, strenuously discountenanced all
+such outlandish innovations.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22">[22]</a> By Washington Irving, p. 211. 4th Am. edition.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23">[23]</a> Dr. Andrew Burnaby. <i>Travels through the Middle Settlements in North America, in the years 1759 and '60</i>. London, 1775.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24">[24]</a> <i>The Portfolio</i> (Philadelphia, May 1816), p. 397.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25">[25]</a> <i>Terences Plays</i> were preferred to those of Plautus,
+for this purpose, inasmuch as the latter were more
+obscure, and abounded in obsoletisms, and therefore
+Terence was preferred in England as the text-book for
+schools.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26">[26]</a> Ireland.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27">[27]</a> <i>The Reviewers Reviewed, or British Falsehoods
+detected by American Truths</i> (New York, published by
+R. McDermot and D.&nbsp;D. Arden, No. 1, City Hotel,
+Broadway, 1815, 12mo, 72), pp. 34, 35.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28">[28]</a> The Right Honorable Sir George Canning, the editor
+of the <i>London Quarterly Review</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29">[29]</a> <i>Travels through the Interior Parts of America; in
+a Series of Letters</i> (by an officer; a new edition, London,
+1781, 8vo), vol. II, pp. 37-40.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30">[30]</a> <i>Anbury's Travels</i>, pp. 87, 88. </p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31">[31]</a> <i>History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Conn.,</i> p. 495.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32">[32]</a> The Rev. Alonzo B. Chapin, in his <i>History of
+Ancient Glastenbury, Conn.</i> (p. 80), says that the church
+records, during the pastorate of the Rev. John Eels
+[1759-1791], &quot;compel us to believe that the influence of
+the French war had been as unfavorable to morals as
+destructive to life; and that the absurd practice of
+<i>bundling</i> prevalent in those days, was not infrequently
+attended with the consequences that might have been
+expected, and that both together, aided by a previous
+growing laxity of morals, and accelerated by many concurrent
+causes, had rolled a tide of immorality over
+the land, which not even the bulwark of the church had
+been able to withstand. The church records of the first
+society, from 1760 to 1790, raise presumptions of the
+strongest kind, that then, as since, <i>incontinence</i> and
+<i>intemperance</i> were among the sins of the people. What
+the condition of things in Eastbury [an ecclesiastical
+society in the east part of Glastenbury] was, we have
+no means of knowing, <i>as that portion of the church
+records which treats of this point, was long ago</i> carefully
+<i>removed</i>. [N.B. Italics are our own.] There is
+no reason, however, to suppose that this state of thing's
+was peculiar to Glastenbury, for there is too much evidence
+that it prevailed throughout the country.&quot;
+</p><p>
+Mr. Chapin's deductions from the revelations of the
+Glastenbury records, will be fully justified by the experience
+and observation of every antiquarian who has had
+occasion to <i>dig deep</i> among the civil and ecclesiastical
+records of almost any one of the older towns of New
+England. We have before us, while writing, a copy,
+made some years since, by ourselves, of the records of
+the first church of Woodstock, Conn., covering the
+period from 1727 to 1777, in which are a large number
+of entries, mostly the names of parties who made <i>confessions</i>
+of this sort before that church. These cases
+occur most frequently between the years 1737 and 1770.
+Our own observation among the records of the old
+churches in Windsor and East Windsor, is, in effect,
+the same, and we have occasionally happened upon the
+original manuscript confessions of individuals read to
+the church before they were formally admitted to its
+communion.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33">[33]</a> <i>History of Dedham, Mass</i>, (by Erastus Worthington,
+1827), page 108. Under ministry of Rev. Jason
+Haven, ordained February 6, 1756.
+</p><p>
+&quot;Revolutionary times having produced a disposition
+to investigate all the former principles and opinions of
+men, in politics and church government, Mr. Haven
+caused the mode of admission into the church to be
+altered. This was done in 1793. The new method
+required the candidate to be propounded to the congregation
+by the minister. If no objections within fourteen
+days were made, he was then of course admitted.
+At the same time the church covenant and creed was
+altered, and made very general in its expressions. This
+creed had so few articles, that all persons professing and
+calling themselves Christians, would assent to it without
+any objections. The church had ever in this place
+required of its members guilty of unlawful cohabitation
+before marriage, a public confession of that crime before
+the whole congregation. The offending female
+stood in the broad aisle beside the partner of her
+guilt. If they had been married, the declaration of the
+man was silently assented to by the woman. This had
+always been a delicate and difficult subject for church
+discipline. The public confession, if it operated as a
+corrective, likewise produced merriment with the profane.
+I have seen no instance of a public confession
+for this fault, until the ministry of Mr. Dexter [1724-1755],
+and then they were extremely rare. In 1781 the
+church gave the confessing parties the privilege of
+making a private confession to the church, in the room
+of a public confession. In Mr. Havens ministry, the
+number of cases of unlawful cohabitation increased to
+an alarming degree. For twenty-five years before 1781,
+twenty-five cases had been publicly acknowledged before
+the congregation, and fourteen cases within the last
+ten years. This brought out the minister to preach on
+the subject from the pulpit. Mr. Haven, in a long
+and memorable discourse, sought out the cause of the
+growing sin, and suggested the proper remedy. He
+attributed the frequent recurrence of the fault to the
+custom then prevalent, of females admitting young men
+to their beds, who sought their company with intentions
+of marriage. And he exhorted all to abandon that
+custom, and no longer expose themselves to temptations
+which so many were found unable to resist.
+</p><p>
+&quot;The immediate effect of this discourse on the congregation
+has been described to me, and was such as
+we must naturally suppose it would be. A grave man,
+the beloved and revered pastor of the congregation,
+comes out suddenly on his audience, and discusses a
+subject on which mirth and merriment only had been
+heard, and denounces a favorite custom. The females
+blushed and hung down their heads. The men, too,
+hung down their heads, and now and then looked out
+from under their fallen eyebrows, to observe how others
+supported the attack. If the outward appearance of the
+assembly was somewhat composed, there was a violent
+internal agitation in many minds. And now, when
+forty-five years have expired, the persons who were
+present at the delivery of that sermon, express its
+effects by saying: 'How queerly I felt!' 'What a
+time it was!' 'This was close preaching indeed!' The
+custom was abandoned. The sexes learned to cultivate
+the proper degree of delicacy in their intercourse, and
+instances of unlawful cohabitation in this town since
+that time have been extremely rare.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34">[34]</a> <i>Butler's History of Groton</i> (Pepperell &amp; Shirley),
+page 174. At a church meeting, Feb. 29, 1739-40, the
+subject of compelling persons to confess themselves
+guilty of an offense, of which they said, &quot;if not absolutely,
+yet next to impossible to convict them,&quot; was
+acted upon, and some relaxation made in the rule before
+adopted; but a part of the record is so worn as to be
+illegible.
+</p><p>
+Page 177. June 1, 1761. &quot;The church also at this
+meeting, voted in relation to the confession necessary
+to be made by parents, to entitle their children to the
+rite of baptism, who might be supposed to have committed
+the offence of which, in Mr. Trowbridge's time,
+they supposed that, 'if not absolutely, yet next to impossible
+to convict them,' not materially varying from a
+<i>seven-months</i> rule heretofore adopted. These regulations
+were signed by the moderator, and assented to by
+the pastor elect.&quot;
+</p><p>
+Page 181. &quot;During Mr. Dana's ministry [1761-1775]
+124 persons (38 males, 86 females) were admitted to
+the church in full communion; 200 (77 males, 123 females)
+owned the baptismal covenant. Of the first
+class, 14 confessed having committed the offence aforementioned,
+and of the last class, 66, a proportion not
+indicative of good customs and morals.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35">[35]</a> A typographical mistake for <i>unruly</i>.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36">[36]</a> But this was as late as 1785 to 1790, when the custom
+was very near its end.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37">[37]</a> Another, when in his 96th year, in speaking of his
+knowledge of the custom, after answering all inquiries,
+voluntarily mentioned his own personal experience.
+&quot;In my younger days,&quot; said he, and his voice trembled,
+more from emotion then age, &quot;I was on the bed with as
+many as five or six young women, but I thank God,
+that in all my long life I have never had carnal knowledge
+of any but my lawfully wedded wives.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38">[38]</a> A physician who kept school <i>on the Cape</i> many years
+ago, says (June, 1869): &quot;It is forty years since I was
+engaged on the Cape in teaching school, and a friend of
+mine then related to me some of his experience in a
+long career of courtship which included <i>bundling</i>. The
+family left the happy couple alone. After sitting up
+till nine or ten o'clock, the lady secures the fire, takes
+a light and retires, saying, you know the way up
+stairs, turn to the right, etc. At a proper time he follows,
+finding her nicely snuggled under the bed clothes,
+having previously put on a very appropriate and secure
+night dress, made neither like a bloomer or mantilla,
+but something like a common dress, excepting the lower
+part, which is furnished with legs, like drawers, properly
+attached. The dress is drawn at the neck and
+waist with strings tied with a very strong knot, and
+over this is put the ordinary apparel.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39">[39]</a> <i>Caines' Cases</i>, II, 219; Seger <i>vs</i>. Slingerland.</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40">[40]</a> In reply to a query addressed to Mr. Neal, who
+is still living at Portland, Maine, as to whether this
+letter was a <i>bona fide</i> communication, that gentleman
+says: &quot;It was an actual communication from a correspondent.
+Who that correspondent was, I never knew,
+but I never entertained a doubt, and, in fact, find such
+internal evidence of good faith, that I should never
+question the facts set forth.&quot;</p></div>
+
+<div class="note"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41">[41]</a> Sandy River is near Farmington, Franklin county,
+Maine.</p></div>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
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+Decline in America, by Henry Reed Stiles
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