Many wedding customs, as the bridesmaids and best men, the wedding-ring, the nuptial kiss in the church, the bouquet borne in the hand of the bride, &c., the scattering of flowers in her path, the throwing of an old shoe after her for luck, the giving gloves, &c., are of ancient origin, and are the relics of Anglo-Saxon or Danish usages. FOOTNOTES: [190] Hampson's _Medii Ævi Kalend._ i. 289. [191] See Rev. W. Thornber's _History of Blackpool_. [192] Baines's _History of Lancashire_. DYING, DEATH-BED, AND FUNERAL CUSTOMS. DYING HARDLY. Persons are said to "die hardly," as the phrase is, meaning to be unable to expire, when there are pigeons' feathers in the bed. Some will not allow dying persons to lie on a feather-bed, because they hold that it very much increases their pain and suffering, and actually retards their departure. On the other hand, there is a superstitious feeling that it is a great misfortune, nay, even a _judgment_, not to die in a bed. BURYING IN WOOLLEN. By a statute of 30 Car. II., stat. I, cap. 3 (1678), entitled "An act for the lessening the importation of linen from beyond the seas, and the encouragement of the woollen and paper manufactures of the kingdom," it is enacted that the curate of every parish shall keep a register, to be provided at the charge of the parish, wherein to enter all burials and affidavits of persons being buried in woollen; the affidavit to be taken by any justice of the peace, mayor, or such like chief officer, in the parish where the body was interred; and if there be no officer, then by any curate within the city where the corpse was buried (except him in whose parish the corpse was buried), who must administer the oath and set his hand gratis. No affidavit to be necessary for a person dying of the plague. It imposes a fine of £5 for every infringement; one half to go to the informer, and the other half to the poor of the parish. This act was repealed by the 54 Geo. III. cap. 108 (1814). In the parish of Prestwich, the first entry in the book provided for such purposes was in August, 1678; and there is no entry later than 1681, which appears also to be the limit of the act's observance in the adjacent parish of Radcliffe; where the entries immediately follow the record of the burial itself in the registers, and not in a separate book as at Prestwich. Under the year 1679, is the following entry in the parish register of Radcliffe:-- "An orphan of Ralph Mather's, of Radcliffe, was buried the 9th day of April, and certified to be wound up in woollen only, under the hand of Mr. William Hulme." In the churchwardens' accounts of Prestwich, for the year 1681, is the following item of receipt:-- "Received a fine of James Crompton, for burying his son, and not bringing in an affidavit, according to the act for burying in woollen, £2 10_s._"[193] FUNERAL DOLE AND ARVAL CAKE.