Part 5 (1/2)
After depositing their offerings, and partaking of a little refreshment, twelve of the bridegroom's friends, headed by Ianto Gwyn the harper, mounted their ponies and called at Catty's house, to demand the bride; and Watt the mole-catcher and _Gwahoddwr_, who added to these functions the father to Catty, expecting their arrival, at length heard without appearing, the following lines, delivered by the merry harper, from the back of his pony.
Open windows, open doors, And with flowers strew the floors, Heap the hearth with blazing wood, Load the spit with festal food The _crochen_ {58} on its hook be placed, And tap a barrel of the best!
For this is Catty's wedding day!
Now bring the fair one out, I pray.
On which Watt, with the door still closed, made this reply without appearing.
Who are ye all! ye noisy train!
Be ye thieves, or honest men, Tell us now what brings you here, Or this intrusion costs you dear!
Ianto Gwyn then rejoins,
Honest men are we, who seek A dainty maid both fair and meek, Very good and very pretty, And known to all by name of Catty; We come to claim her for a bride; Come, father! let the pair be tied To him who loves her ever well:-
Watt still within, answers;
So ye say, but time will tell; My daughter's very well at home, So ye may pack and homeward roam.
Ianto Gwyn exclaims, in resolute tones,
Your home no more she's doom'd to share, Like every marriageable fair, Her father's roof she quits for one Where she is mistress: woo'd and won, It now remains to see her wedded, And homeward brought and safely bedded; Unless you give her up, we swear The roof from off your house to tear, Burst in the doors, and batter walls To rescue her whom wedlock calls.
Another of the bridegroom's party then calls aloud, in a voice of authority,
Ho! peace in the king's name, here peace!
Let vaunts and taunting language cease; While we, the bridesmen, come to sue The favour to all bridesmen due, The daughter from the father's hand, And entertainment kindly bland.
Now the great Watt, the famous entrapper of moles, with airs mighty and grand, well befitting the dignity of the occasion-and however absurd our English brethren may term the custom, it is considered of serious importance with us-throws open the door of Catty's dwelling, sallies forth to give the querists a warm welcome, and as a preliminary helps them to dismount. After taking a little more refreshment, consisting of newly-baked oaten cakes, with b.u.t.ter and cheese, washed down with copious draughts of ale, they all remounted, and were joined by those of the bridegroom's party; the whole rustic cavalcade making their way towards the church. A motley a.s.semblage, in truth it was, but withal picturesque, and agreeable to contemplate, for every face was happy; save when now and then a cautious damsel, mounted behind her father or brother, would exhibit a touch of the dismals in the length of her features, on discovering that the _cwrw_ had any other effect but that of rendering her protector steady in his seat on the saddle. Almost every sort of animal, large or small, lame or blind, good or bad, seemed to have been pressed into the service, and reduced to the levelling system, and without regard to either size or quality, doomed to carry double.
And thus they went on at a walking pace, while the loud chat of many seemed drowned in the loud laughter and shouting of others, till now and then rebuked by some of the elders; who however, to little purpose, vociferated the words decency-propriety-sober purposes-&c. &c., the tendency of which seemed but little understood. Jack, the happy bridegroom elect, bestrode a wretched apology for a horse, whose antiquated legs trembled like an aspen leaf; as for its bones, they were painfully apparent, and the very curs seemed, as they looked upon this time worn piece of cattle, to antic.i.p.ate their feast. Elevated behind her temporary father on a fleet horse of the squire's, poor Catty was doomed to present purgatory to contrast her enjoyment of future happiness, for, unprovided with a pillion, she sat on the crupper, holding fast by Watt's coat. The quiet pace which commenced this little journey was soon changed into rough horsemans.h.i.+p, for the mad-cap mole-catcher turning his steed into the Cardigan road, gave him the spur, and commenced an outrageous gallop; the wedding party followed him with all the might of their little beasts, and like valiant villagers in chase of a highwayman, strove their utmost to rescue the bride. Ianto Gwyn, the rural bard and harper, ever ready with an extempore, produced on this occasion:-
Oh yes! lost, strayed, or run away This moment from the king's highway, A tall and sightly strapping woman, A circ.u.mstance which is a rum 'un; 'Tis said a murderer of vermin On her abduction did determine; Whoe'er will bear to gaol th' offender, The lost one to her owner render, Shall be as handsomely rewarded, As can be readily afforded.
Having considerably distanced his pursuers, he stopped at length, at Catty's request, who complained sadly of being sorely b.u.mped upon the buckle of the crupper. Dexterously turning to the bye-road toward the church, he was soon perceived and followed by the party, and altogether they soon arrived at their journey's end, and alighting, they entered the sacred fane with due decorum. Evans the curate, to enhance his own services and increase his importance, took care to damp their hilarity by keeping them waiting full three quarters of an hour, before he made his appearance; and when he came, his looks and demeanour partook more of the rigid priest of Saturn, than the heart-joining, bliss-dispensing Hymen.
His cherished plans, which were to result in a discovery of dishonour to poor Catty, were terribly overthrown by this decent Welsh marriage, and the curate was in a corresponding temper. His nature was not such as would rejoice at virtue triumphant, more especially as he had calculated upon vice occupying the same position.
He very sternly rebuked their smiles and happy looks, and actually threatened not to perform the marriage ceremony, until, alarmed at the menace, they all became perfectly joyless, and most orthodoxically gloomy. The indissoluble knot was soon tied; and no longer dependent on the good offices of the magisterial churchman, their spirit of joyousness burst forth; while in the churchyard the mellow harp of Ianto Gwyn was playing the sprightly air of _Morwynion Glan Meirionydd_, or the Fair Maids of Merioneths.h.i.+re; while many of the party joined in the words which belong to that beautiful and animating tune. Suddenly changing the air, the eccentric harper struck up ”Megan has lost her garter,” which was succeeded by ”Mentra Gwen,” and a string of such national melodies, equally gay and appropriate.
After the marriage ceremony, they returned in much the same order, or rather disorder; with the difference that the bride sat behind her husband, instead of her father; the harper playing the whole time, and many sweet voices joining in the words of the airs.
Coming to Catty's house, the company found that Juggy had been useful and hospitable. There was a first-rate dinner provided, in ample proportions, of which all could and did partake freely; every one had to pay for his own ale, but the females, by courtesy, were ”treated” at the expense of males. In the course of the evening, jigs, reels, and country dances, were successfully gone through with much spirit. Catty danced with much agility; Jack, pressed on all sides, and at length compelled to make one in a country dance, showed every indication of this being his virgin attempt at ”the poetry of motion;” and alternately stumping and blowing, while copious streams ran down his rugged forehead, as they every instant corrected his erratic course, and literally pushed him down the dance, he vowed that this his first, should also be his last exhibition on the ”light fantastic toe.”
Young Twm, who had been playing at sweethearts, with little Gwenny Cadwgan on his knee, to the great mirth of his seniors, soon brought her out to try her foot at the dance with him. The poor little wench blushed scarlet deep, made her first essay with one equally young and inexperienced with herself; and the juvenile pair were very good-naturedly instructed in the figure of the dance, and they contributed not a little to the general harmony. Juggy, the sister of Catty, absolutely refused to sport her figure among the dancers, and treated Watt the mole-catcher with a hard favour in the face for attempting to drag her in perforce. At length, fatigued with the dancing, and alarmed for the state of their inebriated friends and companions, many, especially the females, turned their serious thoughts towards home.
It was now drawing towards the hour of retiring for the night, when the usual trick was played of concealing the bride from the bridegroom. Poor Jack, whom nature had not favoured with a great share of facetiousness, and who never mixed with such a company before, began to be seriously alarmed. Great was the mirth of the company, while, with a strange expression of countenance, he sought her up and down in every corner of the house. At length he discovered a part of her red petticoat sticking out from under the bottom of the straw arm-chair, and soon drew her out from the place of concealment.
The parting hour had now arrived; then came the general shaking of hands, and serious expressions of good wishes among the sober; while the tipsy folks vented their wit in jocular allusions to their conjugal felicity: some offering themselves for G.o.dfathers and G.o.dmothers to their future offspring, while others far gone in drink, laid bets on the probability that the first child would be either a boy or a girl. At this time considerable surprise was excited by the conduct of an individual who had been remarkably unsocial the whole evening, no person having heard him speak a word; and when asked a question, or in answer to a health being drank, he merely nodded in a hurried manner, and immediately drew hard at his pipe, and puffed forth volumes of smoke, as if to envelop himself in a cloud of invisibility.