that must be
I' the virtue of your daughter: one being dead,
I shall have more than you can dream of yet;
Enough then for your wonder. But, come on,
Contract us 'fore these witnesses.

_Shepherd._ Come, your hand;
And, daughter, yours."

[708] On entering into any contract, or plighting of troth, the
clapping of the hands together set the seal, as in the
"Winter's Tale" (i. 2), where Leontes says:

"Ere I could make thee open thy white hand,
And clap thyself my love; then didst thou utter
_I am yours forever_."

So, too, in "The Tempest" (iii. 1):

"_Miranda._ My husband, then?

_Ferdinand._ Ay, with a heart as willing
As bondage e'er of freedom: here's my hand.

_Miranda._ And mine, with my heart in't."

And in the old play of "Ram Alley," by Barry (1611), we read,
"Come, clap hands, a match." The custom is not yet disused in
common life.

To the argument of Polixenes, that the father of Florizel ought to know
of his proceeding, the young man answers:

"Come, come, he must not.
Mark our contract."

And then the father, discovering himself, exclaims:

"Mark your divorce, young sir."

Here, then, as Mr. Knight remarks,[709] in the publicity of a village
festival, the hand of the loved one is solemnly taken by her lover, who
breathes his love before the ancient stranger who is accidentally
present. The stranger is called to be a witness to the protestation, and
so is the neighbor who has come with him. The maiden is called upon by
her father to speak, and then the old man adds:

"Take hands, a bargain!"

[709] "The Stratford Shakespeare," 1854, vol. i p. 70.

The friends are to bear witness to it:

"I give my daughter to him, and will make
Her portion equal his."

The impatient lover then again exclaims:

"Contract us 'fore these witnesses."

The shepherd takes the hands of the youth and the maiden. Again the
lover exclaims:

"Mark our contract."

The ceremony is left incomplete, for the princely father discovers
himself with:

"Mark your divorce, young sir."

It appears, therefore, that espousals before witnesses were considered
as constituting a valid marriage, if followed up within a limited time
by the marriage of the Church. However much the Reformed Church might
have endeavored to abrogate this practice,