, repeatedly calls him
"husband;" and, being rejected, she summons the priest to declare (v.
1):

"what thou dost know
Hath newly pass'd between this youth and me."

The priest answers:

"A contract of eternal bond of love,
Confirm'd by mutual joinder of your hands,
Attested by the holy close of lips,
Strengthen'd by interchangement of your rings;
And all the ceremony of this compact
Seal'd in my function, by my testimony:
Since when, my watch hath told me, toward my grave
I have travell'd but two hours."

Again, in the "Winter's Tale" (iv. 4), which contains many a perfect
picture of real rustic life, it appears that, occasionally, the
troth-plight was exchanged without the presence of a priest; but that
witnesses were essential to the ceremony:

"_Florizel._ ... O, hear me breathe my life
Before this ancient sir, who, it should seem,
Hath sometime lov'd: I take thy hand, this hand,
As soft as dove's down and as white as it,
Or Ethiopian's tooth, or the fann'd snow, that's bolted
By the northern blasts twice o'er.

_Polixenes._ What follows this?--
How prettily the young swain seems to wash
The hand, was fair before!--I have put you out:--
But, to your protestation; let me hear
What you profess.

_Florizel._ Do, and be witness to't.

_Polixenes._ And this my neighbour too?

_Florizel._ And he, and more
Than he, and men; the earth, the heavens, and all;
That, were I crown'd the most imperial monarch,
Thereof most worthy; were I the fairest youth
That ever made eye swerve; had force and knowledge
More than was ever man's, I would not prize them
Without her love; for her employ them all;
Commend them, and condemn them, to her service,
Or to their own perdition.

_Polixenes._ Fairly offer'd.

_Camillo._ This shows a sound affection.

_Shepherd._ But, my daughter,
Say you the like to him?

_Perdita._ I cannot speak
So well, nothing so well; no, nor mean better:
By the pattern of mine own thoughts I cut out
The purity of his.

_Shepherd._ Take hands, a bargain!
And, friends unknown, you shall bear witness to't:
I give my daughter to him, and will make
Her portion equal his.[708]

_Florizel._ O,