will to Venice; Sunday comes apace.
We will have rings, and things, and fine array;
And, kiss me, Kate, we will be married o' Sunday."

Although Katharina is only his spouse, and Baptista not yet his
father-in-law, Petruchio, in accordance with fashion, calls her "wife"
and him "father." The spouses of old times used to term one another
"husband" and "wife," for, as they argued, they were as good as husband
and wife.

Formerly there was a kind of betrothal or marriage contract prevalent
among the low orders called "hand-fasting," or "hand-festing," said to
have been much in use among the Danes, and which is mentioned by Ray in
his "Glossary of Northumbrian Words." It simply means hand-fastening or
binding. In "Cymbeline" (i. 5) the phrase is used in its secondary sense
by the Queen, who, speaking of Pisanio, declares that he is

"A sly and constant knave,
Not to be shak'd; the agent for his master,
And the remembrancer of her, to hold
The hand-fast to her lord."

In the "Christian State of Matrimony," 1543, we find the following
illustration of this custom: "Yet in this thing almost must I warn every
reasonable and honest person to beware that in the contracting of
marriage they dissemble not, nor set forth any lie. Every man, likewise,
must esteem the person to whom he is 'handfasted' none otherwise than
for his own spouse; though as yet it be not done in the church, nor in
the street. After the handfasting and making of the contract, the
church-going and wedding should not be deferred too long." The author
then goes on to rebuke a custom "that at the handfasting there is made a
great feast and superfluous banquet." Sir John Sinclair, in the
"Statistical account of Scotland" (1794, vol. xii. p. 615), tells us
that at a fair annually held at Eskdalemuir, Dumfriesshire, "it was the
custom for the unmarried persons of both sexes to choose a companion
according to their liking, with whom they were to live till that time
next year. This was called 'handfasting,' or hand-in-fist. If they were
pleased with each other at that time then they continued together for
life; if not, they separated, and were free to make another choice as at
the first."

Shakespeare has given us numerous illustrations of the marriage customs
of our forefathers, many of which are interesting as relics of the past,
owing to their having long ago fallen into disuse. The fashion of
introducing a bowl of wine in