he is empowered to marry parties applying to him for that
purpose, after three written notices have been put up in the most
public places in the township, with the names and residences of the
parties for at least a fortnight previous to the marriage. I witnessed
several of these marriages during my stay in Darlington, some of which
were highly amusing.

One morning a near neighbour presented himself and a very pretty young
woman, as candidates for matrimony. He was an American by birth, and a
shrewd, clever, sensible person. After the ceremony, the bridegroom
invited me to partake of the wedding-dinner, and I went.

The dinner was very good, though not served exactly in the English
fashion. We, however, managed to enjoy ourselves very much. After tea,
dancing commenced, to the music of two fiddles, when country-dances,
reels, and French fours were all performed with much spirit. The music
was very good, the dancing but indifferent. I could not help thinking

"How ill the motion with the music suits,
So Orpheus fiddled, and so danced the brutes."

During the pauses between the dances; some lady or gentleman would
favour the company with a song. Then plays--as they are called--were
introduced; such as hunt the slipper, cross questions and crooked
answers, ladies' toilette, and several others of the same kind, in
which forfeits had to be redeemed by the parties making mistakes in the
game--a procedure of course productive of much noise, kissing, and
laughter. Refreshments were handed round in great profusion, and the
entertainment wound up with a dance, which, I believe, is of purely
American origin. A chair is placed in the middle of the room, on which
a young lady is seated; the company then join hands, and dance round
her, singing these elegant lines:--

"There was a young woman sat down to sleep,
Sat down to sleep, sat down to sleep;
There was a young woman sat down to sleep,
Heigh-ho!--heigh-ho!--heigh-ho!

"There was a young man to keep her awake,
To keep her awake, to keep her awake;
There was a young man to keep her awake,
Heigh-ho!--heigh-ho!--heigh ho!

"John R----- his name shall be,
His name shall be, his name shall be;
John R----- his name shall be,
Heigh-ho!--heigh-ho!--heigh-ho!

The gentleman named walks up to the lady, salutes her, raises her from
the chair, and seats himself in her stead, the rest dancing round, and
singing as before, only substituting the gentleman, and naming th