of Eclinhurgh, Session 1883 - 84 . 
631 
“ This day was chosen by the early Church, perhaps partly in 
opposition to Paganism, as a day for carnal mortification. It was 
the day of the crucifixion of Christ; and hence the festive Friday 
of the Saxons, and the day especially under the star which 
astrologers held was most fortunate, fell into the category of 
‘unlucky days.’ Seamen will not sail, women will not wed, on 
a Friday so willingly as on other days of the week. The Sun, 
Moon, and Saturn have gained by this silly superstition. Half the 
weddings are celebrated on Sunday and Monday ; Saturday has 
more than its average number, and in the southern as well as the 
northern counties the Saturday marriages are the most numerous. 
It has been suggested that the pocket of the workman who has no 
account at the bank for savings, and lives on weekly wages, is 
often empty on Friday, which lays his mind open to gloomy omens, 
and indisposes him, while on Saturday he is exhilarated by the 
money which he throws into circulation on the three following days. 
Economy of time is an alleged motive for Sunday weddings.”—- 
Report of the Registrar-General of England, 1866. 
“ In England and Wales as a whole, and also in the individual 
counties without exception, there are fewer marriages in the first 
quarter than in any other. The maximum quarter, both in the 
entire country and, with three exceptions, in each county, is the 
fourth ; while between the second and third there is but little 
difference, the second, however, having in the long run the pre- 
ference. The three counties which are exceptions to the otherwise 
universal rule of the maximum falling in the Christmas quarter are 
Herefordshire, Shropshire, and, in a notable degree, Lincolnshire, 
in each of which, on an average of seven years (1875-81), the 
maximum fell in the second and not in the fourth quarter. Dis- 
regarding such exceptions, for which local explanations are probably 
to be found, the predominance of the fourth quarter is, as a rule, 
much more marked in purely agricultural counties than elsewhere ; 
presumably because in agricultural districts the fourth quarter is a 
period of comparative leisure, whereas in industrial or, speaking 
generally, in urban districts there is much less distinction between 
one season of the year and another as regards occupation. 
“ In this country the marriages are only abstracted by quarters ; 
but, in order to afford means of comparison with those foreign 
