But before (he) the couple did fasten He look'd all around on the men, My fee's half a crown, says the parson,-- I freely will give it, says Ben: Then Hymen he presently follow'd And the happy knot being ty'd The guests they whooped and hollow'd, All joys to the bridegroom and bride. Like Malt horses home they all pranced, The bride she look'd not like the same, And thus thro' the City they danced; But, when to the Borough they came, The bride to look buxom endeavour'd, The bridegroom as brisk as an eel; With the marrow bones and cleavers, The butchers they rang them a peal. And, as they were homewards advancing, A-dancing, and singing of songs, The rough music met them all prancing, With frying pans, shovels, and tongs: Tin Canisters, salt boxes plenty, With trotter bones beat by the boys, And they being hollow and empty, They made a most racketting noise. Bowls, gridirons, platters, and ladles, And pokers, tin kettles did bruise, The noise, none to bear it was able, The warming pans beat with old shoes: Such a rattling racketting uproar, Had you but have heard it, no doubt, All hell was broke loose you'd have swore, And the devils were running about. The Mob they all hollow'd and shouted, In the streets as they passed along, The people to see how they scouted, Together in clusters did throng; They made all the noise they was able, And thus they were ushered in, But e'er they all sat down to table, They each had a glass of old gin. Dinner being decently ended, The table was cleared with speed, And they to be merry intended, So strait did to dancing proceed; But Harry the night man so jolly, With madness he almost cry'd, And all the night sat melancholy, For he had a mind for the bride." There are four more verses, but they are not worth transcribing--besides, there is a very good prose account of the doings at the Fleet, which, certainly, bears the impress of truth. It is in No. 270 of the _Grub Street Journal_, Feb. 27, 1735:-- "Sir, There is a very great evil in this town, and of dangerous consequence to our sex, that has never been suppressed, to the great prejudice, and ruin, of many hundreds of young people, every year; which I beg some of your learned heads to consider of, and consult of proper ways and means to prevent for the future: I mean the ruinous marriages that are practised in the liberty of the _Fleet_, and thereabouts, by a sett of drunken, swearing parsons, with their Myrmidons that wear black coats, and pretend to be clerks, and registers to the Fleet. These ministers of wickedness ply about Ludgate Hill, pulling and forcing people to some pedling alehouse, or brandy shop, to be married, even on a sunday, stopping them as they go to church, and almost tearing their cloaths off their backs. To confirm the truth of these facts, I will give you a case or two, which lately happened:--