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[Bibliographical Note X.—The beginning of the Puritan conception of marriage as a civil contract is best seen in Whitgift's "Defence of the Answer," Works (Parker Society, Cambridge, 1851-53), comprising Cartwright's Reply to the Answer, as well as extracts from the Answer itself, and from the original Admonition of 1572 which gave rise to the whole controversy. The views of the Independents, when fully developed, find their fullest expression in the writings of Milton on marriage and divorce, constituting, besides scattered allusions, Vol. III of his Prose Works (Bohn ed., London, 1888); the Likeliest Means to remove Hirelings out of the Church, and the version of Bucer's De regno Christi, entitled The Judgment of Martin Bucer, being of special interest in this connection. For the early period some useful material is afforded by Prothero's Statutes and Constitutional Documents (Oxford, 1894); Brereton's Travels in Holland, 1634-35: "Chetham Society Publications," Vol. I; Hallam's Constitutional History (New York, 1880); and Ranke's England in the Seventeenth Century (Oxford, 1875).

The act of 1653 is contained in Scobell's Collection of Acts and Ordinances, 1640-1656 (London, 1658); and in the contemporary newspaper entitled Several Proceedings of Parliament, No. 6; but, like all the acts of the revolutionary period, it is omitted in every edition of the Statutes at Large. Original material for a study of the administration of this law may be found in the parish registers covering the interregnum edited by Bulwer, Parish Registers of St. Martin-cum-Gregory in the City of York, Part IV (York, 1895); Cowper, The Booke of Register of the Parish of St. Peter in Canterbury (Canterbury, 1888); Parish Registers of Ellough, Suffolk (privately printed, 1886); Hoveden, The Register Booke ... of the Cathedral and Metropoliticall Church ... of Canterburie (Harleian Society, London, 1878); Margerison, The Registers of the Parish Church of Calverley, in the West Riding of ... York (Bradford, 1880-87); Moore, Registers of Broad Chalke, County Wilts (London, 1880); Phillimore, Gloustershire Parish Registers (London, 1896); Radcliffe, The Parish Registers of St. Chad, Saddlworth in County of York (Uppermill, 1887); Sanders, The Parish Registers of Eastham, Cheshire (London, 1891); idem, The Parish Registers of Bebington, County Chester (Liverpool, 1897); Stavert, The Parish Registers of Burnsall-in-Craven (Skipton, 1893); and Turner, The Non-Conformist Register (Brighouse, 1881). There is an interesting table in Graunt's Natural and Political Observations (Oxford, 1665); and examples of marriage certificates and other records under the act of 1653 may be found in The Register Booke of Inglebye iuxta Grenhow (Canterbury, 1889); Burn's Parish Registers; Friedberg's Eheschliessung; Notes and Queries (London, 1850 ff.); and the Gentleman's Magazine (London, 1731 ff.). The two periodicals just mentioned, like the Monthly Review (London, 1749 ff.), contain a great deal of matter—curious antiquities as well as serious discussion—relative to Fleet marriages, the Hardwicke act, and other phases of the subject. Inderwick's Interregnum (London, 1891) has an instructive discussion of some questions connected with the marriage act; and like Jenk's Constitutional Experiments (Cambridge, 1890) it is valuable for appreciating the legislation of the Commonwealth. Lathbury's History of the Book of Common Prayer (Oxford and London, 1859) describes the operation of the act; and some cases noted in Jeaffreson's Middlesex County Records (London, n. d.) prove the need of the safeguard against abduction or fraud afforded by the act; and there are a number of useful documents in the Reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission. Illustrations of the ridicule called out by banns in the market-place and the justices' celebration may be found in Butler's Hudibras (Boston, 1864), and Flecknoe's Diarium (London, 1656).

On the Fleet and Mayfair celebrations Burn's now very scarce Fleet Marriages (2d ed., London, 1834) is the chief authority. It is supplemented by his Parish Registers; and these books as well as the original sources have been used for Friedberg's excellent account in the Eheschliessung, which on this topic and the whole ground covered by the present chapter is a trustworthy guide. A famous contemporary book is Brady's Some Considerations upon Clandestine Marriages (2d ed., London, 1750). There is an article by Ewald, "Fleet Marriages," in his Paper and Parchment (London, 1890); and Waters's excellent Parish Registers (new ed., London, 1883) is more reliable than the similar work of Burn. Fleet marriages are also discussed, with interesting extracts from the contemporary newspapers, by Tegg, The Knot Tied (London, 1877); Ashton, The Fleet (London, 1889); and Jeaffreson, Brides and Bridals (London, 1872), whose book, like Brand's Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain (London, 1873-77), contains a mass of information relating to every phase of marriage customs. On these marriages and on the Hardwicke act see also Horace Walpole's Letters (London, 1880); and Lecky, History of England in the 18th Century (New York, 1879).

Many illustrations of matrimonial usage and folklore may be found in Howlett, "Marriage Customs," in Andrews's Curious Church Customs (London, 1895); Edgar, "Marriage in Olden Times," in his Old Church Life in Scotland (London, 1886); Vaux, "Marriage Customs," in his Church Folklore (London, 1894); Ashton, Social Life in the Reign of Queen Anne (London, 1882); and Hutchinson, Chronicles of Gretna Green (London, 1844). In England as well as in Germany the question of polygamy was much debated. A version of Ochino was brought out by Garfeild, A Dialogue of Polygamy (London, 1657). This was followed by the anonymous Concubinage and Polygamy Disproved (London, 1698); Turner, Discourse on Fornication with an Appendix on Concubinage (London, 1698); Delany, Reflections upon Polygamy (London, 1737), opposing the practice; Hamilton, A Treatise on Polygamy proving it to be the Will of God (Dublin, 1786); especially the notorious work of Madan, Thelyphthora; or a Treatise on Female Ruin (2d ed., London, 1781); answered by Towers, Polygamy Unscriptural; or two Dialogues between Philalethes and Monogamus (London, 1780); by Hill, The Blessings of Polygamy (London, 1781); and more elaborately by Cookson, Thoughts on Polygamy (Winchester, 1782). See also Dwight, The Hebrew Wife (Glasgow, 1837); and Colenzo, A Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury (Cambridge, 1862).

The development of contemporary sentiment and opinion may be traced in The Lawes Resolutions of Womens Rights (London, 1632); Courtin, A Treatise of Jealousie (London, 1684); Salmon, A Critical Essay Concerning Marriage (London, 1724); De Foe, Religious Courtship (London, 1729); Astell's sensible and liberal Reflections upon Marriage (4th ed., London, 1730); the critical and vigorous Hardships of the English Laws in Relation to Wives (London, 1735); Dove, Dissertations on Marriage, Celibacy, etc. (1769); Giles, A Treatise on Marriage (London, 1771); the anonymous Considerations on the Causes of the present Stagnation of Matrimony (London, 1772), alleging the unreasonable authority of parents; The Laws respecting Women, as they regard their Natural Rights (London, 1777); Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Men (London, 1790); her more celebrated A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (London, 1792); Jay, Essay on Marriage, or the duty of Christians to marry Religiously (2d ed., Bath, 1807); Observations on the Marriage Laws (London, 1815); Thompson, Marriage: Two Sermons (London, 1837); and Wardell-Yerburgh (ed.), Marriage Addresses and Marriage Hymns (London and New York, 1900). For the socialistic marriage doctrines of Robert Owen and others see Bibliographical Note XVIII.

For the debates on the act of 1753 see Cobbett, Parliamentary History, XV; the lively comments of Horace Walpole in his Letters; and the same writer's account of the proceedings in his Memoirs of the Reign of George the Second (2d ed., London, 1847). The act is harshly criticised by Madan; and among the writings which it called forth are Considerations on the Bill for preventing Clandestine Marriages (London, 1753); Fry, Considerations on the Act to prevent Clandestine Marriages (London, 1754); Merrick, Marriage a Divine Institution (London, 1754), approving the conservative views of Stebbing, An Enquiry into the Force and Operation of the Annulling Clauses (London, 1754); idem, A Dissertation on the Power of States to deny Civil Protection to the Marriage of Minors (London, 1755); both papers being criticised by Sayer, A Vindication of the Power of Society to Annull the Marriage of Minors (London, 1755). The acts of 1753 and 1836 are noticed also by Mahon, History of England (New York, 1849); Knight, History of England (New York, 1880); Lecky, Democracy and Liberty (New York, 1896); and Spencer Walpole, History of England (London, 1890).

On the existing law as developed since 1753, especially the acts of 1836, the Parliamentary History and the Parliamentary Debates are of course necessary; and for this topic, as well as for the entire chapter, the Statutes at Large are in constant requisition. There are contemporary notices of the acts of 1823 and 1836 in the Annual Register, LXV and LXXVIII; while the sources have been carefully examined by Oppenheim in his valuable monograph, "Ueber die Einführung der Civil-Ehe in England," in ZKR., I (Berlin, 1861). The temper and arguments with which the efforts to secure justice were opposed are disclosed in A Letter to the ... Earl of Liverpool (London, 1827) by a "Presbyter of the Church of England;" Le Geyt, Observations on the Bill now before Parliament (London, 1827); and Griffin-Stonestreet, Nuptiæ Sacræ: Objections to the Amended Unitarian Marriage Bill (London, 1828). See further Phillimore, Substance of the Speech ... on moving ... to amend the Marriage Act (2d ed., London, 1822); and Lawton's edition of The Marriage Act, 4 Geo. IV., c. 76 (London, 1823); Beard, Notes on Lord John Russell's Marriage Bill (London, 1834); and in particular the "Report of the Royal Commission on the Laws of Marriage," in British Documents, 1867-68, XXXII (London, 1868). Of service also are Cooke, A Report of the Case of Horner against Liddiard, Consistorial Court of London, 1799 (London, 1800); Poynter, Doctrine and Practice of the Ecclesiastical Courts in Doctors Commons (London, 1822); Robertson, The Law of Legitimation by Subsequent Marriage (London, 1829); Moodie, Principles, Changes, and Improvements in the Law of Marriage (London, 1849); Wilks, Present Law of Banns a Railroad to Marriage (London, 1864), with which may be compared Ewen, Proclamation of Banns in Scotland (Edinburgh, 1877).

The best short technical treatises on the English marriage laws as a whole are Hammick's The Marriage Law (London, 1887); Geary's Marriage and Family Relations (London, 1892); Ernst's Treatise on Marriage and Divorce (London, 1879); and the concise discussions in Brett's excellent Commentaries on the Laws of England (London, 1891). Of some service also is Tegg's popular book, The Knot Tied, already mentioned; and the compact manual of Moore, How to Be Married (London, 1890), is convenient for ready reference. Useful likewise in this study are the works of Blackstone, Toulmin Smith, Bishop, Evans, Fischel, Burn (Ecclesiastical Laws), Bohn (Political Cyclopædia), all of which have been mentioned in preceding Notes; as well as Campbell, Chancellors (4th ed., London, 1856-57); Howell, State Trials (London, 1809-28); Molesworth, History of England (London, 1877); May, Constitutional History (New York, 1880); Taswell-Langmead, Constitutional History (London, 1880); Green, English People (New York, 1880); and the valuable article on "Marriage" by Robertson in the Encyclopædia Britannica, XV.]