In one part of the Canton of Ticino a very quaint marriage ceremony prevails. The bridegroom dresses in his “Sunday best,” and, accompanied by as many relatives and friends as he can muster for the fête, goes to claim his bride. Finding the door locked, he demands admittance; the inmates ask him his business, and in reply he solicits the hand of the maiden of his choice. If his answer be deemed satisfactory, he is successively introduced to a number of matrons and old maids, some, perhaps, deformed and badly goitered. Then he is presented to some big dolls, all of whom he scornfully rejects amid general merriment. The bewildered bridegroom, with his impetuosity and temper sorely tried, is then informed that his lady love is absent, and he is invited in to see for himself. He rushes in, searches from room to room until he finds her ready to go forth in the bridal-dress to the church. These obstacles thrown across the path of accepted suitors, in order to test their fidelity or to restrain their ardor, are of very ancient origin. Who has not read of the self-imposed task of Penelope or of Atlanta, in classic fable; or the story of Brunhilde, in the Norse mythology, when Gunther’s courage and skill were tested not in vain? In other remote places the peasants still observe the old German idea of regulating matrimonial affairs by the Sundays of the month, each Sunday having a distinct part and significance assigned to it and designated in turn,--Review Sunday, Decision Sunday, Contract Sunday, Possession Sunday. On the first the girls appear in dress-parade for the benefit of the young men with hymeneal hearts. Then they separate, each one to ponder for a week over the image which caught his or her fancy. On the following Sunday the enamored swains are permitted to bow to the objects of their choice; if the bow is returned with a pleasant smile, he feels encouraged; if his salute is returned coldly, he is correspondingly discouraged. The third Sunday he is interviewed by the parents of the young lady, and, if character and conditions are satisfactorily established, the marriage is arranged to be celebrated on Possession Sunday. In Uri a citizen was not allowed to marry a stranger without paying to the village a fine of 300 francs. In many places the local spirit is strong as to social relations, and the youth in one Commune who would court a girl of another district meets a rude reception from her fellow-villagers. During the fourteenth century the attendants at a wedding were limited to a very few guests. In Zurich the most distinguished personage dared not invite more than twenty mothers of families to the wedding feast, nor have more than two hautboys, two violins, and two singers. The bridegroom paid for the wedding dinner, the cost of which was fixed so much _per capita_ for every invited male, married female, and maiden; the allowance for the first was double that of the second, and four times that of the third.