eagerly forward to the time when she might wear a _volute_, as
this style of hairdressing was called.

The very practical Anglo-Saxon marriage bargains do not partake much
of the flavor of romance. We find other evidences of the mercenary
motives that pervaded the marriage customs of the time. The idea of
marriage as the purchase of a wife, who in that relation became
the property of her husband, is further indicated by the fact that
unfaithfulness might be condoned by a money payment, the _were_. An
old law says: "If a freeman cohabit with the wife of a freeman, he
must pay the _were_, and obtain another woman with his own money and
lead her to the other." Indeed, the chastity of women was regulated by
a set price, according to their station. If the woman in the case
were of the rank of an earl's wife, the culprit paid a fine of sixty
shillings, and paid to the husband five shillings; if the woman were
unfree or below age, he suffered imprisonment or mutilation. These
citations from the laws of the time are not made to show regulations
of morals, but to illustrate the fact that in the case of free women
offences could be satisfied by a money payment, just as the husband
in the first instance acquired his rights over his wife by such a
payment.

Having considered with some detail the general regard in which women
were held and the customs of marriage, it is now in place to say
something about the methods of dissolving the matrimonial tie. It must
be borne in mind that the period we are describing was one of rapid
development. After the introduction of Christianity the uncouth
barbarians rapidly became civilized, and new laws were constantly
being made to define the rights of individuals in all relations. Thus,
as marriage customs and incidents underwent modification, so did the
circumstances of divorce. At first the husband could, at will, return
his wife to her parents; his power of repudiation was practically
unlimited. But such a condition could not long be brooked, as the
practice was a serious affront to the lady's family. We read in the
romance of Brut that Gwendoline and her friends not only levied war
on King Locrine for repudiating her under the bewitchments of the
beautiful Estrild, but put both the king and his new bride to death.
When Coenwalch grievously insulted Penda, the king of the Mercians, by
putting aside his wife, Penda's sister, that monarch at once declared
war on the West Saxon king. Such grav