136 THE PSYCHICAL KINSHIP 



but which were functional a few centuries ago. 

 The supreme office itself is one of these. The 

 King represents the petered-out tail-end of a privi- 

 lege which in the time of the early Stuarts was 

 almost unlimited. Similar vestiges exist in the 

 United States, where the national spirit during 

 the last century and a half has so completely 

 wiped out colonialism. Such are the Town 

 Meetings of Boston and of New Haven. The 

 earliest form of human marriage was marriage by 

 capture. The man stole the woman and carried her 

 away by force. This form of marriage was in the 

 course of evolution succeeded by marriage through 

 purchase. A man anxious to become a husband 

 could do so by paying to the father a stipulated 

 amount of cash or cattle for his daughter. This 

 second form of marriage finally evolved into mar- 

 riage arranged by direct and peaceful negotiation 

 between the prospective husband and wife. This 

 is the form most commonly employed at the 

 present time among the more advanced societies 

 of men. But in the ceremonies which surround 

 the nuptial event among civilised peoples survive 

 vestiges of many of the facts associated with 

 aboriginal marriages. A marriage in high life is 

 a sort of epitome of the evolution of the institu- 

 tion. The coyness and hesitancy of the woman 

 in accepting the offers of her proposed spouse are 

 the lineal descendants of the original reluctance 

 of her savage sisters. The wedding-ring is the 

 old token accepted by the woman when she 

 gave her pledge of bondage. The coming of the 



