The
marriage guests, on the present occasion, were regaled with a banquet
of unbounded profusion, the relics of which, after the domestics had
feasted in their turn, were distributed among the shouting crowd, with
as many barrels of ale as made the hilarity without correspond to that
within the castle. The gentlemen, according to the fashion of the times,
indulged, for the most part, in deep draughts of the richest wines,
while the ladies, prepared for the ball which always closed a bridal
entertainment, impatiently expected their arrival in the state gallery.
At length the social party broke up at a late hour, and the gentlemen
crowded into the saloon, where, enlivened by wine and the joyful
occasion, they laid aside their swords and handed their impatient
partners to the floor. The music already rung from the gallery, along
the fretted roof of the ancient state apartment. According to strict
etiquette, the bride ought to have opened the ball; but Lady Ashton,
making an apology on account of her daughter's health, offered her own
hand to Bucklaw as substitute for her daughter's.
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