Among the Jews, marriage was held in the greatest esteem and favour, and it is said that the early Christians would never allow any one to sustain the office of a magistrate except those who were married. Laws were made by the Pagans to promote the institution of marriage. A festival was instituted by the Lacedæmonians, at which those men, who were unmarried, were reviled and scourged by the women, and deemed unworthy to serve the republic. Among the Romans, those who had been several times married were distinguished, and received great honour from their fellow countrymen, crowns and wreaths, were placed on their heads, and in their public rejoicings they appeared with palms in their hands, signifying that they had been instrumental in adding to the glory of the empire. It is related by St. Jerome, that they covered a man with bays, and ordered him to accompany his wife’s corpse in funeral pomp, with a crown on his head, and a palm branch in his hand, it being considered highly necessary that he should be thus honoured and carried in triumph, seeing that he had been married _twenty times_, and his wife _twenty-two_. The marriage ceremony being solemnized in accordance with the rites of the early Christian Church, the veil (a Pagan custom of former times) was preserved, and from this observance of veiling the word nuptials is derived. The use of the ring was also a matter of importance in the ceremony; the solemn kiss was imparted, and the practice of joining hands was observed. Usually, at the conclusion of the ceremony, the bride was crowned—occasionally both the bride and the bridegroom—with wreaths of myrtle.—The lace veil and the wreath of orange blossoms, which is now such a necessary adornment in bridal attire, may be traced to the practice pursued by bridal parties in former times. The wedding ring is an emblem of many significant qualifications. Gold being the noblest and purest, as well as the most enduring—it is made of that metal.—Its circular form denotes that form to be the most perfect of all figures, and the hieroglyphic of eternity. Its being entirely free from ornament denotes the perfect simplicity and plainness of wedded life. The ring is put on the left hand because of its being nearest the heart; and on the fourth finger on account of some supposed connection between that finger, more than the others, with the seat of life. The ring is the acknowledged pledge of the bestowal of authority, as in former times the giving of it was regarded as the delegation of all the husband’s authority, and conferred upon the person receiving it, entire supremacy over every thing in the husband’s possession.