he earliest notice of
which occurs in the old ballad of the wedding of Arthur O'Bradley,
printed in the Appendix to "Robin Hood," 1795, where we read--

"Then got they his points and his garters,
And cut them in pieces like martyrs;
And then they all did play
For the honour of Arthur O'Bradley."

Sir Winston Churchill also observes ("Divi Britannici," p. 340) that
James I. was no more troubled at his querulous countrymen robbing
him than a bridegroom at the losing of his points and garters. Lady
Fanshawe, in her "Memoirs," says, that at the nuptials of Charles
II. and the Infanta, "the Bishop of London declared them married in
the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and then they
caused the ribbons her Majesty wore to be cut in little pieces; and
as far as they would go, every one had some." The practice still
survives in the form of wedding favours.

A similar custom is still of every day's occurrence at Dieppe. Upon
the morrow after their marriage, the bride and bridegroom
perambulate the streets, followed by a numerous cortege, the guests
at the wedding festival, two and two; each individual wearing two
bits of narrow ribbon, about two inches in length, of different
colours, which are pinned crossways upon the breast. These morsels
of ribbons originally formed the garters of the bride and
bridegroom, which had been divided amidst boisterous mirth among the
assembled company, the moment the happy pair had been formally
installed in the bridal bed.--Ex. inf. Mr. William.Hughes,
Belvedere, Jersey.--B.]

with a great deal of fooling among them that I and my wife did not like.
Mr. Lucy and several other gentlemen coming in after dinner, swearing
and singing as if they were mad, only he singing very handsomely. There
came in afterwards Mr. Southerne, clerk to Mr. Blackburne, and with
him Lambert, lieutenant of my Lord's ship, and brought with them the
declaration that came out to-day from the Parliament, wherein they
declare for law and gospel, and for tythes; but I do not find people apt
to believe them. After this taking leave I went to my father's, and
my wife staying there, he and I went to speak with Mr. Crumlum (in the
meantime, while it was five o'clock, he being in the school, we went
to my cozen Tom Pepys'