The nuptial kiss was a solemn ceremony which was duly directed both by the Sarum and York Uses. At the "Sanctus," in the bridal mass, both the bride and the bridegroom knelt near the altar; if neither of them had been married before, a pall, or as it used to be called, the "care-cloth," was held over them at its four corners by as many clerics. After the "Pater Noster," and just before the "Pax," the priest turning himself towards the married couple gave them the nuptial blessing. The care-cloth was then removed, and the bridegroom arose from his knees and received the kiss of peace from the priest; he then turned to his bride and kissed her upon the cheek. In the York Use the care-cloth was held by only two clerics. Although the solemn ceremonial of the nuptial kiss has long since ceased to be a regular portion of the marriage service, still, in many rural districts, it is customary for the bridegroom to kiss the bride while they are before the altar, and in sight of the congregation assembled. At Halse, a village in Somersetshire, it is still a recognised custom amongst the labouring classes for the bridegroom, after he has placed the ring on the bride's finger, to take her in his arms and kiss her fervently, and it is a somewhat remarkable feature that instead of this causing any amusement amongst the spectators, it is treated as a solemnity, and would certainly appear to be a distinct survival of the nuptial kiss. A similar custom still prevails at Bishops Lydeard, in Somersetshire. There is a rule in Hindoo law which forbids a younger sister to be married before the elder; nor is a younger brother allowed to be married before the elder. There would seem to be a curious resemblance between these rules and the rules of the Old Testament days, when Laban refused to let his younger daughter marry before Leah. We get another instance of a restraint on marriage, in 1367, when the memorable Parliament of Kilkenny was held, which passed the Statute of Kilkenny. By this statue it was declared high treason for any person of English origin to marry into an Irish family. Poor maidens who might otherwise lose their chance of matrimony for want of a dowry were sometimes provided for by funeral doles. "I will," says Richard Trowler, A.D. 1477, "that X_l._ be disposed of at my burying among poor people, and that X_l._ be given to the marriage of poor maidens not having father or mother." Johanne Beauchamp, Lady of Bergavenny, devised "to the marriage of poer maydens dwellyng withyn my lordship, C_l_, and to the makying and emending of febull brugges and foul weyes, C_l_." There certainly seems to be a curious analogy between this custom and the laws of ancient Greece, by which the State provided a dowry for those maidens who, through poverty or plainness, would otherwise have remained unmarried.