5

for labor.
OF THE DRUIDS. 225
Bui I shou'd never have done, if I proceeded
with, the particular usages of the north
and west ilanders.
Several of them retain'd from
the remotest times of the Druids, are explaiu'd in
this and the preceding letters. Yet one custom
(very singular) I cannot help relating here, tho'
long since grown obsolete;
or rather that it has
been in disuse, ever since their conversion to
Christianity. When a man had a mind to have a
wife *, as soon as he gain'd the consent of the maid
he lik'd, he took her to his bed and board for a
whole year; and if, upon thus coming thoroly acquainted
with the conditions both of her mind and
body, he kept her any longer, she then became
his wife all her days: but if he dislik'd her t»
such a degree on any account, as to be perswaded
she shou'd not make him easy during life, he return'd
her (with her portion, if she had any) at the
twelve month's end to her parents or guardians;
legitimating the children, and maintaining them
at his own charge, in case there were such. Nor
was this
tage to
repudiation any dishonor o* disadvanr
the young womar»in the eyes of another
man, who thought she wou'd make hifll a better
wife, or that be might to herie ahbetter husband.
It was a custom, I must own, like to prevent a
world of unhappy matches; but, according to our
modern ideas, 'tis not onely unlawful, piit als©
barbarous.
* Page 114.