[Footnote 440: Publication on training day seems to have been customary elsewhere in New England, doubtless that day being one of the "public times" referred to in the Massachusetts laws.] [Footnote 441: This practice may be illustrated by the following anecdote concerning the marriage of Ruth Wilkinson and William Hopkins at Providence, related by MR. C. C. BEAMAN in _Hist. Coll. Essex Inst._, II, 116: "The lovers could not muster courage enough to speak to the 'awful Justice,' for Mr. Wilkinson (Ruth's father) held that office so dignified in former days. In the house or office it was the custom to post up 'Intentions of Marriage.' The timid lovers, who had often looked with an envious or emulous eye upon such important steps preliminary to a 'consumation devoutly to be wished,' wrote a notice of their 'intentions,' and placing it unobserved upon the table of the 'Justice,' watched to see how it would be regarded. 'Squire Wilkinson, as they saw by a peep through the door, took up the paper, read it, and deliberately posted it up in the proper location. There were some blushes on the cheeks of Ruth that day, probably, but the desired approbation thus ingeniously obtained soon led on to marriage."] [Footnote 442: ARNOLD, _Hist. of R. I._, I, 260; _R. I. Col. Rec._, I, 330.] [Footnote 443: RIDER'S _Laws and Acts_ (1705), 12.] [Footnote 444: _R. I. Col. Rec._, III, 362; also in RIDER'S _Laws and Acts_ (1705), 44.] [Footnote 445: _R. I. Col. Rec._, III, 436; _cf._ _ibid._, IV, 395, 396; RIDER, _op. cit._, 50.] [Footnote 446: ARNOLD, _Hist. of R. I._, II, 3; _R. I. Col. Rec._, III, 436, 437. By this act fourteen days' notice is required of those living in the jurisdiction.] [Footnote 447: Compare RIDER'S _Charter and Laws_ (1719), 12, 13, 47, 48; _Acts and Laws_ (1745), 30, 31, 176, 177 (1733), 100 (registration act of 1727); and RIDER'S _Supp. Pages to the Digest of 1730_, 258, 259 (act of 1733).] [Footnote 448: The prescribed notice is in the following form: "Know all Men by these Presents, that A. B. of ---- and C. D. of ---- have declared unto me their Intention of Marriage: I do therefore hereby make public the said Intention. If any Person knows any just Cause or Impediment why these Two Persons shall not be joined together in Marriage, they may declare the same as the Law directs. Given under my Hand and Seal at ---- this ---- Day of ---- _Anno Domini_ ----."--_Acts and Laws_ (Newport 1767,), 172, 173.] [Footnote 449: The marriage certificate is in the following form: "I Hereby certify, That A. B. of ---- Son of ---- and C. D. of ---- Daughter of ---- were lawfully joined together in Marriage on the ---- Day of ---- Anno Domini ---- by me the Subscriber."] [Footnote 450: _Acts and Laws_ (Newport, 1767), 172-75.]