"if any gaoler, or keeper of any prison, shall be privy to, or knowingly permit any marriage to be solemnized in his said prison, before publication of banns, or licence obtained, as aforesaid, he shall, for every such offence, forfeit the sum of one hundred pounds," &c.
Of course, this did not stop the practice, although it prevented Marriages in the Fleet Chapel. Yet there were the _Rules_, and real and pretended clergymen for many years plied their illicit vocation with impunity.
But there seems to have been some compunctions of conscience even among this graceless lot, for one of them, Walter Wyatt, has left behind him, in a pocket-book dated 1736, the following moral reflections.
"Give to every man his due, and learn y^e way of Truth. This advice cannot be taken by those that are concerned in y^e Fleet Marriages; not so much as y^e Priest can do y^e thing y^t is just and right there, unless he designs to starve. For by lying, bullying, and swearing, to extort money from the silly and unwary people, you advance your business and gets y^e pelf, which always wastes like snow in sun shiney day."
"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The Marrying in the Fleet is the beginning of eternal woe."
"If a clark or plyer[154] tells a lye, you must vouch it to be as true as y^e Gospel; and if disputed, you must affirm with an oath to y^e truth of a downright damnable falsehood--Virtus laudatur et alget."
That this custom of swearing prevailed at Fleet Marriages is borne out by contemporary evidence. The _Grub Street Journal_ July 20, 1732, says: "On Saturday last, a Fleet Parson was convicted before Sir Ric. Brocas of forty three-oaths (on the information of a plyer for weddings there) for which a warrant was granted to levy £4 6s. on the goods of the said parson; but, upon application to his Worship, he was pleased to remit 1s. per oath; upon which the plyer swore he would swear no more against any man upon the like occasion, finding he got nothing by it."
And an anonymous Newspaper cutting dated 1734, says, "On Monday last, a tall Clergyman, who plies about the Fleet Gate for Weddings, was convicted before Sir Richard Brocas of swearing 42 Oaths, and ordered to pay £4 2s."