"I find by all historians, whether ancient or modern, whom I consulted in searching for this work, the fact well recorded, and established beyond all controversy, that the Yankee nation are a set of talking, guessing, swapping and bundling sons of women." Grant Thorburn's Notes on Virginia ....

In the History and Genealogies of Ancient Windsor, Conn. , published in 1859, speaking of the influence of the old French wars upon the religious, moral and social life of New England, I used this language: "Then came war, and young New England brought from the long Canadian campaigns, stores of loose camp vices and recklessness, which soon flooded the land with immorality and infidelity. The church was neglected, drunkenness fearfully increased, and social life was sadly corrupted. Bundling —th

For, though British travelers have uniformly endeavored to fix the odium of this custom upon us their transatlantic cousins, as being peculiarly "An American institution," it is, nevertheless, an indisputable fact that bundling has for centuries flourished within their own kingdom. For what else, in fact, was that universal custom of promiscuous sleeping together which prevailed among the ancient Britons at the time of the Roman conquest, and which led Cæsar to consider them as polyandrous polyg

We learn from Woodward's admirable history of that kingdom, the following facts concerning the domestic habits of its people in the twelfth century: "At night a bed of rushes was laid down along one side of the room, covered with a coarse kind of cloth, made in the country, called brychan; and all the household lay down on this bed in common, without changing their dresses. The fire was kept burning through the night, and the sleepers maintained their warmth by lying closely; and when, by the ha

Under the name of queesting . [15] At night the lover has access to his mistress after she is in bed; and, upon an application to be admitted upon the bed, which of course is granted, he raises the quilt, or rug, and in this state queests , or enjoys a harmless chit-chat with her, and then retires. This custom meets with the perfect sanction of the most circumspect parents, and the freedom is seldom abused. The author traces its origin to the parsimony of the people, whose economy considers fire

In feudal times, in the last part of the fourteenth century, it became the practice for the vassals, or feudatories, to send their sons to be educated in the family of the suzerain, while the daughters were similarly placed with the lady of the castle. These formed a very important part of the household, and were of gentle blood, claiming the honorary title of chambriéres or chamber-maidens. The demoiselles of this period were very susceptible to the passion of love, which was the ruling spirit

According to an English observer, [18] analogous modes of courtship still exist. In speaking of the canton Unterwald he says: "In the story of the destruction of the castles, we read that the surprise was effected by a young girl admitting her lover to her room by a ladder, and an English guide-book remarks, that this is still the fashion of receiving lovers in Switzerland. Reference is had to the manner of wooing, which in some cantons is called lichtgetren , in others dorfen and stubetegetren

and tribes, there are certain which somewhat resemble bundling , except in the greater degree of freedom allowed—a freedom which, in the eyes of civilized nations, is absolute immorality. Of this description is the manner of wooing described by La Hontan as prevalent among the Indians of North America. [19] Yet, in many of these instances, if we were to carefully examine the social system and customs of our savage friends, and were willing to judge them rather by the results of our own observati

in doing which, it is quite likely that, we follow the identical line of travel and colonization—viz: from Old to New England, and from Netherlands (the father-land) to New Nether lands—by which the custom of bundling was really transplanted to these western shores. For, although the grave and (sometimes) veracious historian of New York, Diedrich Knickerbocker, hath endeavored to fasten upon the Connecticut settlers the odium of having introduced the custom into New Netherland, [21] to the great

Where, as we have already shown, it was, as with the Dutchmen, an inherited custom. Its comparatively innocent and harmless character has, however, been fearfully distorted and ma ligned by irresponsible satirists, and prejudiced historians. Take, for example, the following passage from Knickerbocker's History of New York , [22] wherein he pretends to describe "the curious device among these sturdy barbarians [the Connecticut colonists], to keep up a harmony of interests, and promote population.

BUNDLING. [From The Yankee of August 13, 1828, published at Portland, Maine, and edited by John Neal.] By Rochefoucault, in accounting for the populousness of Massachusetts, the New Englanders are charged with bundling. By Chastelleux, whose book I am not able to refer to now, the charge is repeated, and by half a score of other honest, good natured people, who have made books about the New World. But, if you enquire into the business, you are pretty sure to be told, inquire where you may, that

That the customs of courtship in many parts of the United Kingdom at the present day, are precisely what they were in some parts of New England, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, fifty years ago, is evident from the revelations of the Royal Commission on the Marriage Laws , in the year 1868. Dr. Strahan, a physician and surgeon, who for nearly forty years has practiced in the Scottish county of Stirling, testifies before the commission, that his attention was first drawn to the subject in consequence