Numerous
similar examples might be quoted. At times, one of the parties is
described as being actually in bed, as is the case in the romance of
_Blonde of Oxford_, where Blonde visits Jehan in his chamber when he is
in bed, and stays all night with him, in perfect innocence as we are
told in the romance. We must remember that it was the custom in those
times for both sexes to go to bed perfectly naked."[17]
IN SWITZERLAND,
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 answers to the old-fashioned _going-a-courting_ in
England. The customs connected with it vary in different cantons, but
exist in some form in all except two or three.
In the canon _Lucerne_, the _kiltgang_ is the universal mode of wooing;
the lover visiting his betrothed in the evening, to be pelted on the way
by all mischievous urchins; or if he is seated quietly with her by the
winter fire, they are sure to be serenaded by all manner of _cat voices_
under the window, which are continued till he issues forth, perhaps at
dawn in the morning; and however long may be a courtship, these
_cater-waulings_ are the invariable attendants, and not the most
lamentable consequences of these nightly visits, recognized, however, as
entirely respectable and conventional in every canton.
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