Accordingly, we find, when Edward I. married Marguerite of France, in 1299, he endowed her at the door of Canterbury Cathedral, in order that the gift could be witnessed by all the persons who had assembled to see the marriage ceremony.[71] Selden says that the use of marriage rings, grew out of the old custom of giving the bride a dowry, the ring being given as a symbol of the husband’s good will, in lieu of the dowry money, of previous days.[72] However this may be, the custom of giving wedding rings to the bride dates from an early period. We find that Isaac propitiated the favor of Rebekah by presenting her with a massive ear-ring and two bracelets.[73] The betrothal ring was used in ancient Rome, and the Christian church no doubt adopted the wedding ring, from the pagan custom of the Italians, as a convenient sign of marriage.[74] In the ninth century the ring was used by the Romans for betrothal purposes and not as an insignia of marriage;[75] it was used by the Anglo-Saxons, on the betrothal of their infant children, the ring being placed on the right hand, until the marriage, when it was transferred to the left,[76] and thus grew the custom, until finally, it became a part of the English law, that a wedding ring should be used at all church marriages.[77] This custom is still retained by the Catholics, among whom the ring is consecrated by the priest, sprinkled with holy water, in the form of a cross and then returned to the bridegroom.[78] The superstitions of olden times, which attached to the marriage ceremony, as celebrated in the early days of “little knowledge,” as some writers refer to the antique periods of the human race, are also responsible for the present custom of throwing rice, old shoes, stockings, bouquets, and such like practices, at marriages. The custom of throwing rice was no doubt borrowed from the ancient Persians, as rice was no inconsiderable portion of the marriage ceremony in Persia.[79] Rice was considered an emblem of fruitfulness and the contracting parties, after their betrothal, met at midnight, on a bed, in the presence of two sponsors. The sponsor for the man, touched the woman’s forehead and asked her if she would have the man; the same ceremony was gone through with by the sponsor for the woman and the hands of the contracting parties were then joined and rice was scattered over them and prayers for their fruitfulness were offered.[80] Rice also constitutes an important part in the marriages of the Hindus, the Brahmins, Javanese, the inhabitants of Elba and is quite generally used, in other European countries.[81] The custom of throwing a shoe after the bridal couple, so generally followed, in England, Scotland and the United States, as a token of good luck, is directly traceable to the old Jewish law, making the shoe a sign of renunciation of dominion or authority, as well as a symbol of exchange.