Ten Thousand Wonderful Things: Comprising whatever is marvellous and rare, curious, eccentric and extraordinary in all ages and nations
History
Ten Thousand Wonderful Things: Comprising whatever is marvellous and rare, curious, eccentric and extraordinary in all ages and nations
Curiosities and wonders; Encyclopedias and dictionaries; Folklore
"An Oxfordshire lass was lately courted by a young man of that country,
who was not willing to marry her unless her friends could advance
50_l._ for her portion; which they being incapable of doing, the lass
came to London to try her fortune, where she met with a good chapman
in the Strand, who made a purchase of her hair (which was delicately
long and light), and gave her _sixty pounds_ for it, being 20 ounces
at 3_l. an ounce_; with which money she joyfully returned into the
country, and bought her a husband."
GLOVES.--ORIGIN OF "PIN MONEY."
Gloves were very common as New Year's gifts. For many hundreds of years
after their introduction into England in the 10th century, they were
worn only by the most opulent classes of society, and hence constituted
a valuable present. They are often named in old records. Exchange of
gloves was at one period a mode of investiture into possession of
property, as amongst the ancient Jews was that of a shoe or sandal; and
"glove-money" is to this day presented by High Sheriffs to the officers
of their courts, upon occasion of a maiden assize, or one in which
no cause is tried. Pins, which at the commencement of the sixteenth
century displaced the wooden skewers previously in use, became a
present of similar consequence; and at their first introduction were
considered of so much importance in female dress, that "pin-money" grew
into the denomination of dower, which, by the caution of parents, or
justice of a consort, was settled upon a lady at her marriage.
HABITS AND HABITATIONS OF THE DYAKS OF BORNEO.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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