_Gr. Eric._ By the ancient custom of this country, the next morning after the wedding-night the husband bestows upon his wife a gift of money according to his estate, to show how he is pleased with the cohabitation, and to make some provision, in case of his death before her, for the wife, and children which he shall have by her; and this we call a _morgen-gaven_--a morning's gift. _Wh._ The same word _morgen-gaven_ is in the old terms of our English laws, and expounded to signify a second dowry, and hath much affinity with this of yours and in that of your twelve witnesses who testified the contract of marriage and the _morgen-gaven_; to which our trials by twelve men, whom we call juries because they are sworn, are somewhat like, and they are so many witnesses as well as judges of the fact. _Gr. Eric._ I believe your customs and ours had the same original. _Wh._ I find much resemblance between them and yours. What do you call the twelve that laid their hands on the spear? _Gr. Eric._ We call them the twelve witnesses (_les douze temoins_). _Wh._ What do you call the spear or pike which the gentleman held? _Gr. Eric._ We call it _weppun_. _Wh._ We have the same word, weapon, for all manner of arms and warlike instruments. What do you call the laying of their hands upon the spear? _Gr. Eric._ We call it _tack_,--_weppun-tack_, to touch the spear. _Wh._ We have also the word _tack_, for touching; and we have, in the northern parts of England, a particular precinct or territory which we call a Wapentake, and a territorial court of justice there which we call a Wapentake Court; and a very learned gentleman from whom I received letters in my last packet, Selden, derives the name of Wapentake from _weapon_ and _tack_; and saith they used to come to that court with their weapons, and to touch one another's weapons, from whence came the appellation of Wapentake. _Gr. Eric._ Tacitus observes that at the public assemblies and councils of the Germans, they used to meet with their weapons, and when anything was said that pleased them they would touch one another's spears or weapons, and thereby make a noise, to testify their consent and approbation. _Wh._ Your ceremony of laying down the spear at the feet of the bride puts me in mind of another passage in Tacitus, 'De Moribus Germanorum;' that when a man was married, he used to bring his arms and lay them at the feet of his bride, to signify that he would not take them up nor go forth to war, being newly married, without the leave of his wife, to whom he had now given the command of himself and of his arms. _Gr. Eric._ Our customs and those of the ancient Germans have much resemblance; but I never heard so good observations upon the ceremonies of a wedding as your Excellence hath made. _Wh._ I am delighted with these antiquities; but your Excellence shows your opinion to be that of a brother.