ace.
The repeated shouts of "Ashton and Bucklaw for ever!" the discharge of
pistols, guns, and musketoons, to give what was called the bridal shot,
evinced the interest the people took in the occasion of the cavalcade,
as they accompanied it upon their return to the castle. If there was
here and there an elder peasant or his wife who sneered at the pomp
of the upstart family, and remembered the days of the long-descended
Ravenswoods, even they, attracted by the plentiful cheer which the
castle that day afforded to rich and poor, held their way thither,
and acknowledged, notwithstanding their prejudices, the influence of
l'Amphitrion ou l'on dine.

Thus accompanied with the attendance both of rich and poor, Lucy
returned to her father's house. Bucklaw used his privilege of riding
next to the bride, but, new to such a situation, rather endeavoured to
attract attention by the display of his person and horsemanship, than
by any attempt to address her in private. They reached the castle in
safety, amid a thousand joyous acclamations.

It is well known that the weddings of ancient days were celebrated
with a festive publicity rejected by the delicacy of modern times. The
marriage guests, on the present occasion, were regaled with a banquet
of unbounded profusion, the relics of which, after the domestics had
feasted in their turn, were distributed among the shouting crowd, with
as many barrels of ale as made the hilarity without correspond to that
within the castle. The gentlemen, according to the fashion of the times,
indulged, for the most part, in deep draughts of the richest wines,
while the ladies, prepared for the ball which always closed a bridal
entertainment, impatiently expected their arrival in the state gallery.
At length the social party broke up at a late hour, and the gentlemen
crowded into the saloon, where, enlivened by wine and the joyful
occasion, they laid aside their swords and handed their impatient
partners to the floor. The music already rung from the gallery, along
the fretted roof of the ancient state apartment. According to strict
etiquette, the bride ought to have opened the ball; but Lady Ashton,
making an apology on account of her daughter's health, offered her own
hand to Bucklaw as substitute for her daughter's. But as Lady Ashton
raised her head gracefully, expecting the strain at which she was to
begin the dance, she was so much struck by an unexpected alteration
in the ornaments of the apar