A Cumberland bidding wedding

Bell’s Weekly Messenger of 28 May 1797 reprinted from the Cumberland Packet a bridegroom’s advertisement for his own wedding. Matthew Dawson of Bothwell announced that he would be married at Holm church on the Thursday before Whitsuntide and come home to dine. He listed the neighbours giving a turkey, a fat lamb, a hen and a fat calf to be roasted, and six named young women each giving a pound of butter for the basting. He added that he had not yet chosen a bride, and that any young woman who wished to change her condition should come first, for it would be first come first served.