[Illustration: A LOVE GARTER, DATED 1749.
The spaces were for the initials of the wearer of the garter and her
betrothed. These garters were raced for on wedding days, the winner of the
race being allowed to take the bride's garter.
]
Immediately after the wedding-ring had been put on, the youths of the
company would race from the church porch to the bride's house, and the
first who arrived claimed the right of removing the garter from her left
leg, the bride raising her skirts to allow him to do so. He would
afterwards tie it round his own sweetheart's leg as a love charm against
unfaithfulness. The bridegroom never took part in the race, but anyone
else could enter, runners often coming from distant villages to take part.
At the time of the outcry against the custom it is interesting to find
one, William Denis of Pickering, writing to a friend and stating that
"this racing for the bride's garter and the taking of the same from the
leg of the bride, is one of the properest public functions we have so far
as modesty is concerned."
Elaborately worked garters were worn "by any lass who would be happy in
her love." The one illustrated here is drawn from a sketch given by
Calvert. It bears the date 1749 and the two spaces were for the initials
of the lovers.
A Pickering man named Tom Reid who was living in 1800 but was an old man
then, was in his day a noted runner and won many races. He must have owned
several of these garters which are now so difficult to find.
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