[84] Boston Trans. Aug. 13, 1910; Wood’s “Wedding Day in All Ages,” vol. I., p. 16; Hutchinson’s “Marriage Customs in Many Lands.” [85] _Ante idem._ Wood quotes Michelet, in his “Life of Luther,” to show that the great Reformer used the shoe at a marriage ceremony. Wood’s “Wedding Day in All Ages,” vol. I., p. 16. [86] Wood’s “Wedding Day in All Ages,” vol. II., p. 218. [87] _Ante idem._, p. 216. [88] _Ante. idem._, pp. 215, 221. Referring to the custom of stocking-throwing, Rowe, in his “Happy Village,” in 1796 says: “The wedding-cake now through the ring was led, The stocking thrown across the nuptial bed.” And in the “Collier’s Wedding,” we read: “The stocking’s thrown, the company gone, And Tom and Jenny both alone.” [89] See Article on “Ancient Marriage Customs,” in Uncle Remus’ Home Magazine, June, 1912. [90] “Matrimonial Curiosities,” Chambers Journal, vol. 48, pt. 2, p. 813. [91] _Ante idem._ [92] _Ante idem._ [93] “Courtship and Marriage Customs,” p. 79. [94] Earle’s “Customs in Old New England,” p. 79. [95] History, Wells and Kennebunkport. [96] “Along New England Roads,” p. 25. [97] “Customs in Old New England,” p. 78. [98] Earle’s “Customs in Old New England,” p. 79. [99] Chambers Journal, vol. 48, pt. 2, July-Dec., 1871, p. 812. Discussing the subject of “gallows-matches,” Wood, in his “Wedding Day in All Ages,” says: “Formerly was current a vulgar notion that if a woman married a condemned man under the gallows, she would thereby save him from execution. Certainly this exemption had a quasi-legal existence in France in the fifteenth century, as there are instances of it in the annals of that country.” (Vol. 2, p. 25.) [100] Chambers Journal, vol. 48, pt. 2, 812. [101] _Ante idem._ [102] _Ante idem._ [103] _Ante idem._ [104] Roxburghe Ballads. CHAPTER II. WITCHCRAFT AND SORCERY. _Witch_, is taken from the Hebrew word, rendered _venefica_, meaning a poisoner and divineress; one who dabbles in spells and fortune-telling.[1] In course of time, the term was used to indicate those who held communion with evil spirits and derived a super-human power from them, whereby they could not only foretell the coming of future events, but bring about evil results upon the life, bodies, or possessions of individuals. This unnatural power was supposed to be acquired by a compact with the devil himself, by which the wizard or witch bargained his or her soul to the devil as a consideration for the power of enchantment.[2] From the earliest times, men and women have tried to hold communion with superior beings and to pierce the secrets of the future. In the oldest code of laws in the known world, promulgated by Hammurabi, King of Babylon, 2285 years before Christ, the first two sections of the code are levelled at the crime of witchcraft, and we find that it is there written, that: