We gather from a periodical called _The Athenian_, that this custom was practised in Yorkshire at the beginning of this century: "May, 1808. At Otley, in Yorkshire, Mr. George Rastrick, of Hawkesworth, aged 73, to Mrs. Nulton, of Burley Woodhead, aged 60. In compliance with the vulgar notion that a wife being married in a state of nudity exonerated her husband from legal obligations to discharge any demands on her purse, the bride disrobed herself at the altar, and stood shivering in her chemise while the marriage ceremony was performed." In Lincolnshire, at so late a period as between 1838 and 1844, a woman was wed enveloped in a sheet. A slightly different method of marriage is mentioned in Malcolm's "Anecdotes of London." It is stated that "a brewer's servant, in February, 1723, to prevent his liability to the payment of the debts of a Mrs. Brittain, whom he intended to marry, the lady made her appearance at the door of St. Clement Danes habited in her shift; hence her inamorato conveyed the modest fair to a neighbouring apothecary's, where she was completely equipped with clothing purchased by him; and in these, Mrs. Brittain changed her name in church." In the foregoing, it will have been observed that the marriages have been conducted _en chemise_ for the protection of the pocket of the bridegroom. "The Annual Register," of 1766, contains an account of a wedding of this class, for the protection of the woman. We read: "A few days ago, a handsome, well-dressed young woman came to a church in Whitehaven, to be married to a man, who was attending there with the clergyman. When she had advanced a little into the church, a nymph, her bridesmaid, began to undress her, and, by degrees, stript her to her shift; thus she was led, blooming and unadorned, to the altar, where the marriage ceremony was performed. It seems this droll wedding was occasioned by an embarrassment in the affairs of the intended husband, upon which account the girl was advised to do this, that he might be entitled to no other marriage portion than her smock." Marrying under the Gallows. Some of the old ballads of merry England contain allusions to a law or usage of primitive times, to the effect that if a man or woman would consent to marry, under the gallows, a person condemned to death, the criminal would escape hanging. A few criminals, however, preferred the hangman's knot to the marriage tie, if we may believe the rude rhymes of our ancestors. In one of Pinkerton's works may be read an old poem in which we are told of a criminal refusing marriage at the foot of the gallows. Here are a few lines from the ballad: "There was a victim in a cart, One day for to be hanged, And his reprieve was granted, And the cart made a stand. 'Come, marry a wife and save your life,' The judge aloud did cry; 'Oh, why should I corrupt my life' The victim did reply.