300. IV. AFTER A DECLARATION OF CONSENT, PLEDGES ARE TO BE GIVEN. By
pledges we mean presents, which, after consent, are confirmations,
testifications, first favors, and gladnesses. Those presents are
_confirmations_, because they are certificates of consent on each side;
wherefore, when two parties consent to anything, it is customary to say,
"Give me a token;" and of two, who have entered into a marriage
engagement, and have secured it by presents, that they are
pledged, thus confirmed. They are _testifications_, because those
pledges are continual visible witnesses of mutual love; hence also they
are memorials thereof; especially if they be rings, perfume-bottles or
boxes, and ribbons, which are worn in sight. In such things there is a
sort of representative image of the minds (_animorum_) of the bridegroom
and the bride. Those pledges are _first favors_, because conjugial love
engages for itself everlasting favor; whereof those gifts are the first
fruits. That they are the _gladnesses_ of love, is well known, for the
mind is exhilarated at the sight of them; and because love is in them,
those favors are dearer and more precious than any other gifts, it being
as if their hearts were in them.
Pages:
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556
557
558
559
560
561
562
563
564
565