Gretna Green
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Gretna Green. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a village in Dumfriesshire, Scotland; near the head of the Solway Firth; 10 miles N. N. W. of Carlisle. After the abolition of Fleet marriages by Lord Hardwicke's Act (1754), English persons wishing to marry clandestinely had to get out of England, to which alone that act had reference. Thus the practice arose of crossing the border into Scotland, where Gretna Green, or Springfield, as the first village, had by 1771 become, a goal for runaway lovers. At the toll house nearly 200 couples were sometimes united in a year. One of the earliest Scottish runon record is Richard away matches Lovell Edgeworth's (1763); among his successors were Lords Brougham, Dundonald, Eldon, and Erskine, besides numerous scions of the noble families of Villiers, Fane, Beauclerc, etc. In 1856 all irregular marriages were rendered invalid unless one of the parties had been residing ing in Scotland for three weeks previously; this proviso observed, a Gretna Green marriage is still possible. GRÉVY, FRANÇOIS PAUL JULES (grā-vē), a French statesman; born in Mont-sous-Vaudry, in the Jura, France, Aug. 15, 1813. He He attended school and college near his native place. When not yet 20 he began to study law in Paris, and, becoming interested in politics, took part in the revolution of 1830, which drove Charles X. from the French throne. table bequests. He died in London, Eng- Possessing fine oratorical talents, he applied them to the defense of such radical republicans as were brought to trial for their share in this political outbreak. In this way he gained a reputation as an able republican orator, and when, in 1848, Louis Philippe was dethroned, and a republican government set up, Grévy became prominent. He was deputy to the Constituent Assembly in 1848, where he took a prominent part in the organization of the government. Being opposed to Louis Napoleon he was obliged to keep out of public affairs from 1852 to 1869, devoting these years to his profession. In 1869 the Jura again sent him to the national legislature. Napoleon's downfall revived republican activity. Grévy was chosen president of the National Assembly which met in 1871. In 1873, when the young republic seemed to be headed toward another monarchy, he advocated democracy as the only hope of France. In 1876, 1877, and 1879 he again represented the Jura in the French Parliament, and in the latter year he was chosen president of the republic by an enormous majority. In 1886 he was re-elected, but on account of a scandal in which his son-in-law was implicated was forced to resign Dec. 2, 1887. He died in Mont-sous-Vaudry, Sept. 9, 1891.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a Scottish village on Solway Forth, eight miles from Carlisle. According to old Scottish law, a couple might be regularly married by declaring themselves man and wife in the presence of witnesses. If, for instance, a couple presented themselves before a hotelkeeper as man and wife, they were recognized as such by the laws of Scotland as firmly as though the banns had been proclaimed and they had been united by a priest in cassock and bands. The ease with which such a marriage might be arranged made Gretna, the first town on the Scottish side of the border, a favorite resort for runaway couples from England. Many a thrilling ride is related. Unless pursuing friends were able to overtake the flying pair before they reached Gretna Green, it was too late to interfere. These marriages came to an end through the enactment of a statute that marriages contracted in this irregular way should be null and void, unless at least one of the parties had resided in Scotland not less than twenty-one days. James Barrie has written an entertaining sketch entitled Gretna Green Revisited.