It the proposed Bill to abolish irregular marriages at Gretna Green is eventually adopted by: the British Parliament the end will be put to a somewhat romantic, if questionable practice permitting marriages to which there may be valid opposition from relatives of one or both of the contracting parties. As the nearest village to. the Anglo-Scottish border Gretna Green was, and is notorious as the resort for eloping couples who had failed to gain the consent of their parents or guardians. Up until 1754, when Lord Hardwicke's act abolishing clandestine marriages was put into force, the ceremony had commonly been performed in the Fleet prison in London, but after that date couples were obliged to go to a country where all it was necessary for them to do was to declare their desire to be married before witnesses. That country was Scotland. It was not the blacksmith alone who could officiate at such marriages, for the toll-keeper, ferryman, or in fact any person might serve. Thus the toll-house, the smithy, the inn, and, after 1826, Gretna Hall were the scenes of many such weddings, the fees varying from half a guinea io a sum "as large as impudence could extort Or extravagance bestow." In some years as many as 200 marriages were performed in the toll-house alone, so that it is evident that. business at times could be very brisk. That was practically stopped, when in 1856 a law was passed requiring that one of the parties should qualify by residing in Scotland for at least three weeks before the ceremony. This has not prevented some enthusiasts from securing such qualifications, though it is suspected that on occasions marriages have been celebrated without such residential qualification having been secured. The passage of the proposed law should put an end to these irregularities, and for that reason will doubtless be welcomed.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.