There were two very famous toasts in Queen Anne's time; one in particular was Lady Sunderland, a daughter of the Duke of Marlborough, who was known by the sobriquet of 'The Little Whig.' She was the toast of her party, and her nickname was so well known that it is said the first stone of Sir John Vanbrugh's theatre in the Haymarket had 'Little Whig' cut upon it. The other was Mademoiselle Spanheim, the daughter of Baron Spanheim, Ambassador Extraordinary from the Court of Prussia. She was very lovely; indeed, her good looks were proverbial, as the current expression, 'as beautiful as Madam Spanheim,' shows. She was married early in the year 1710 to the Marquis de Montandre. Her father died here in November of the same year, aged 81; and the Queen presented the Marchioness de Montandre with a thousand guineas, which was the usual present then given to an ambassador on taking his leave. CHAPTER III. MARRIAGE. Eloping with heiresses -- Marriage between children -- Tax on bachelors -- Valentines -- Marriage settlements -- Pin money -- Posies -- Drummers -- Private marriages -- Irregular marriages -- Fleet parsons -- Marriage Act -- Facility of marriage -- Liability of husbands -- Public marriages -- Marriage customs -- Bride's garters --Throwing the stocking -- The posset -- Honeymoon. We will suppose our toast to escape the perils to which her position exposed her, and not forcibly carried off by some bold knight, as had been known in this reign[31]--'Same evening Sir Alexander Cumming, Knight of the Shire for Aberdeen, carried off from the Ring in Hyde Park madam Dennis and married her; she is said to be worth about £16,000.' Probably his position stood him in good stead, for it fared differently with one Haagen Swendsen,[32] who was, in 1702, convicted and executed for stealing Mrs. Rawlins, an heiress. Nowadays, he would have been unhesitatingly acquitted, even if he had ever been prosecuted, as there was no real case against him, and Mrs. Rawlins married him of her own free will. [Footnote 31: _Luttrell's Diary_, Sept. 12, 1710.] [Footnote 32: British Museum, 515, l. 2, 196.] That people could be married young enough is rendered sufficiently evident by the very painful case of Sir George Downing and Mary Forester, which excited much interest in the last year of Anne's reign. It is very lucidly put as a case for counsel's opinion.[33] [Footnote 33: _The Counsellor's Plea for the Divorce of Sir G. D. and Mrs. F._, 1715.] 'THE CASE. '1. G. D. without the Knowledge and Consent of his Father (then alive, but accounted not of sound Judgment) was at the Age of Fifteen, by the Procurement and Persuasion of those in whose Keeping he was, Marry'd, according to the Church form, to M. F. of the Age of Thirteen.