For the anointing of the doorposts Brand
quotes Langley's translation of Polydore Vergil: "The bryde
anoynted
the
poostes of the doores with swynes' grease, because she thought by that
meanes to dryve awaye all misfortune, whereof she had her name in Latin
'Uxor ab unguendo'".
Robert Herrick
Amor._ 144: Cedit
amor rebus: res age, tutus eris. Nott. But Ovid could also write: Qui
nolet fieri desidiosus amet (1 _Am._ ix. 46).
149. _Sir Thomas Southwell_, of Hangleton, Sussex, knighted 1615, died
before December 16, 1642.
_Those tapers five._ Mentioned by Plutarch, _Qu. Rom._ 2. For their
significance see Ben Jonson's _Masque of Hymen_.
_O'er the threshold force her in._ The custom of lifting the bride over
the threshold, probably to avert an ill-omened stumble, has prevailed
among the most diverse races.
For the anointing of the doorposts Brand
quotes Langley's translation of Polydore Vergil: "The bryde
anoynted
the
poostes of the doores with swynes' grease, because she thought by that
meanes to dryve awaye all misfortune, whereof she had her name in Latin
'Uxor ab unguendo'".
_To gather nuts._ A Roman marriage custom mentioned in Catullus, _Carm._
lxi. 124-127, the _In Nuptias Juliae et Manlii_, which Herrick keeps in
mind all through this ode.
_With all lucky birds to side._ Bona cum bona nubit alite virgo. Cat.
_Carm._ lxi. 18.
_But when ye both can say Come._ The wish in this case appears to have
been fulfilled, as Lady Southwell administered to her husband's estate,
Dec. 16, 1642, and her own estate was administered on the thirtieth of
the following January.
