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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches of the Fair Sex, in All Parts of
+the World, by Anonymous
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Sketches of the Fair Sex, in All Parts of the World
+
+Author: Anonymous
+
+Release Date: July 24, 2008 [EBook #26117]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES OF THE FAIR SEX ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Bryan Ness, David Wilson and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+book was produced from scanned images of public domain
+material from the Google Print project.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: DEATH OF CLEOPATRA. Page 201.]
+
+
+
+
+SKETCHES OF
+THE FAIR SEX,
+
+IN ALL PARTS OF THE WORLD.
+
+TO WHICH ARE ADDED
+RULES FOR DETERMINING
+THE PRECISE FIGURE, THE DEGREE OF BEAUTY,
+THE HABITS, AND THE AGE
+OF WOMEN,
+
+NOTWITHSTANDING THE AIDS AND DISGUISE
+OF DRESS.
+
+
+BOSTON:
+THEODORE ABBOT,
+388 WASHINGTON ST.
+
+1841.
+
+
+
+
+Entered according to act of congress, in the year 1841, by
+
+  THEODORE ABBOT,
+
+in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
+
+
+
+
+In the following Pages,
+
+
+It is our design to present a pleasing and interesting miscellany, which
+will serve to beguile the leisure hour, and will at the same time couple
+instruction with amusement. We have used but little method in the
+arrangement: Choosing rather to furnish the reader with a rich profusion
+of narratives and anecdotes, all tending to illustrate the
+
+  FEMALE CHARACTER,
+
+to display its delicacy, its sweetness, its gentle or sometimes heroic
+virtues, its amiable weaknesses, and strange defects--than to attempt an
+accurate analysis of the hardest subject man ever attempted to master,
+viz--WOMAN.
+
+It will be seen that we do not set down Woman as a cipher in the account
+of human beings. We accord to her her full share of importance in the
+world, and we have not attempted to relieve her from a sense of her
+responsibility as an accountable being. Above all, we have not failed to
+impress upon her the obligations she is under to CHRISTIANITY, whose
+benign influences have raised her to be the companion and bosom-friend
+of man, instead of his mere handmaid and dependant. It is religion that
+must form such a character as the following, which though applied by
+Pope to one of the most accomplished women of his time, is that of a
+CHRISTIAN WIFE in every age and station,--
+
+  "Oh! blest with temper whose unclouded ray
+  Can make tomorrow cheerful as to-day:
+  She who can love a sister's charms, or hear
+  Sighs for a daughter with unwounded ear;
+  She who ne'er answers till a husband cools,
+  Or, if she rules him, never shows she rules;
+  Charms by accepting--by submitting sways,
+  Yet has her humor most, when she obeys."
+
+By causing the character of woman to be more thoroughly discussed and
+better understood;--by making it more frequently the theme of rational
+meditation to the young and ardent, who, from the force of defective
+education, are apt to regard all "the sex," beyond a very limited
+circle, as mere accessaries to animal enjoyment,--whose peace they may
+wound without compunction, and whose happiness they may peril without
+reflection,--we feel that we shall do both sexes a good service, and one
+for which as they advance in life, and in their turn become husbands,
+wives and parents, they will thank our little book, as having helped
+them to know themselves and each other.
+
+
+
+
+TABLE OF CONTENTS.
+
+
+  African Women,                                         43
+  Adultery, punishment of                               155
+  Bathing at Rome,                                       31
+  Betrothing and Marriage,                              104
+  Chinese Women,                                         40
+  Chinese Bridegroom,                                    41
+  Cęsar, Anecdote of                                    157
+  Celibacy of the Clergy,                               160
+  Cleopatra, Death of,                                  199
+  Courts of Love,                                       172
+  Courtship, ancient Swedish                            176
+  Courtship, Grecian                                    165
+  Courtship, Eastern                                    168
+  Condition of Women in the 8th Century,                 52
+  Egyptian Women, Ancient                                13
+  Egyptian Women, Modern                                 15
+  Euthira, desperate act of                             162
+  Eastern Women,                                         37
+  English Women,                                         62
+  First Woman,                                            9
+  Female Friendship,                                    109
+  Female Delicacy,                                       30
+  French Women,                                          53
+  French Girls,                                          55
+  Female Simplicity,                                     71
+  Female Inferiority, idea of                            67
+  Females during the age of Chivalry,                    48
+  First Kiss of Love,                                   198
+  Grecian Women,                                         19
+  German Women,                                          99
+  Grecian Courtezans,                                    20
+  Greeks, religious festivals of                        180
+  Grecian Ladies, luxurious dress of                    164
+  Girls sold at Auction,                                153
+  Husbands, on the choice of                            114
+  Italian Women,                                         57
+  Influence of female society,                           83
+  Immodesty at Babylon,                                 173
+  Indecency at Adrianople,                              175
+  Lucretia and Virginia,                                182
+  Ladies of Lapland and Greenland,                      177
+  Matrimony, an essay on                                203
+  Matrimony among the French                             55
+  Matrimony in three different lights,                  103
+  Magnanimity of Women,                                  77
+  Monastic Life,                                         89
+  Marriage Brokers at Genoa,                             60
+  Marrying, power of                                    159
+  Noah's three sons,                                     43
+  Nuptial Ceremonies,                                    66
+  On looking at the picture of a beautiful female,      183
+  Persian Women,                                         17
+  Philtres and charms, power of                         167
+  Roman Women,                                           24
+  Roman Oppian Law,                                      29
+  Russian Women,                                         65
+  Spanish Women,                                         60
+  St. Valentine's Day,                                  171
+  Sentimental Attachment,                                92
+  Sale of a wife,                                       154
+  Saxons and Danes, long hair of                        170
+  Venus de Medici,                                      194
+  Women, Art of determining the figure, beauty, habits,
+    and the age of                                      185
+  Women in the Patriarchal ages,                         10
+  Woman in Savage Life,                                  32
+  Woman in times of Chivalry,                            45
+  Women in Asia and Africa,                              79
+
+
+
+
+  "Sketches indeed, from that most passionate page,
+  A woman's heart, of feelings, thoughts, that make
+  The atmosphere in which her spirit moves;
+  But like all other earthly elements,
+  O'ercast with clouds; now dark, now touched with light,
+  With rainbows, sunshine, showers, moonlight, stars,
+  Chasing each other's change. I fain would trace
+  Its brightness and its blackness."
+
+
+
+
+SKETCHES OF "THE SEX."
+
+THE FIRST WOMAN, AND HER ANTEDILUVIAN
+DESCENDANTS.
+
+
+The great Creator, having formed man of the dust of the earth, "made a
+deep sleep to fall upon him, and took one of his ribs, and closed up the
+flesh instead thereof. And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from
+man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man." Hence the fair sex,
+in the opinion of some authors, being formed of matter doubly refined,
+derive their superior beauty and excellence.
+
+Not long after the creation, the first woman was tempted by the serpent
+to eat of the fruit of a certain tree, in the midst of the garden of
+Eden, with regard to which God had said, "Ye shall not eat of it,
+neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die."
+
+This deception, and the fatal consequences arising from it, furnish the
+most interesting story in the whole history of the sex.
+
+On the offerings being brought, and that of Abel accepted, Cain's
+jealousy and resentment rose to such a pitch, that, as soon as they came
+down from the mount where they had been sacrificing, he fell upon his
+brother and slew him.
+
+For this cruel and barbarous action, Cain and his posterity, being
+banished from the rest of the human race, indulged themselves in every
+species of wickedness. On this account, it is supposed, they were called
+the _Sons and Daughters of Men_. The posterity of Seth, on the other
+hand, became eminent for virtue, and a regard to the divine precepts. By
+their regular and amiable conduct, they acquired the appellation of
+_Sons and Daughters of God_.
+
+After the deluge there is a chasm in the history of women, until the
+time of the patriarch Abraham. They then begin to be introduced into the
+sacred story. Several of their actions are recorded. The laws, customs,
+and usages, by which they were governed, are frequently exhibited.
+
+
+WOMAN IN THE PATRIARCHAL AGES.
+
+The condition of women among the ancient patriarchs, appears to have
+been but extremely indifferent. When Abraham entertained the angels,
+sent to denounce the destruction of Sodom, he seems to have treated his
+wife as a menial servant: "Make ready quickly," said he to her, "three
+measures of fine meal, knead it, and make cakes on the hearth."
+
+In many parts of the east, water is only to be met with deep in the
+earth, and to draw it from the wells is, consequently, fatiguing and
+laborious. This, however, was the task of the daughters of Jethro the
+Midianite; to whom so little regard was paid, either on account of their
+sex, or the rank of their father, as high priest of the country, that
+the neighboring shepherds not only insulted them, but forcibly took from
+them the water they had drawn.
+
+This was the task of Rebecca, who not only drew water for Abraham's
+servant, but for his camels also, while the servant stood an idle
+spectator of the toil. Is it not natural to imagine, that, as he was on
+an embassy to court the damsel for Isaac, his master's son, he would
+have exerted his utmost efforts to please, and become acceptable?
+
+When he had concluded his bargain, and was carrying her home, we meet
+with a circumstance worthy of remark. When she first approached Isaac,
+who had walked out into the fields to meet her, she did it in the most
+submissive manner, as if she had been approaching a lord and master,
+rather than a fond and passionate lover. From this circumstance, as well
+as from several others, related in the sacred history, it would seem
+that women, instead of endeavoring, as in modern times, to persuade the
+world that they confer an immense favor on a lover, by deigning to
+accept of him, did not scruple to confess, that the obligation was
+conferred on themselves.
+
+This was the case with Ruth, who had laid herself down at the feet of
+Boaz; and being asked by him who she was, answered, "I am Ruth, thine
+handmaid; spread, therefore, thy skirt over thine handmaid, for thou art
+a near kinsman."
+
+When Jacob went to visit his uncle Laban, he met Rachel, Laban's
+daughter, in the fields, attending on the flocks of her father.
+
+In a much later period, Tamar, one of the daughters of king David, was
+sent by her father to perform the servile office of making cakes for her
+brother Amnon.
+
+The simplicity of the times in which these things happened, no doubt,
+very much invalidates the strength of the conclusions that naturally
+arise from them. But, notwithstanding, it still appears that women were
+not then treated with the delicacy which they have experienced among
+people more polished and refined.
+
+Polygamy also prevailed; which is so contrary to the inclination of the
+sex, and so deeply wounds the delicacy of their feelings, that it is
+impossible for any woman voluntarily to agree to it, even where it is
+authorized by custom and by law. Wherever, therefore, polygamy takes
+place, we may assure ourselves that women have but little authority, and
+have scarcely arrived at any consequence in society.
+
+
+WOMEN OF ANCIENT EGYPT.
+
+Wherever the human race live solitary, and unconnected with each other,
+they are savage and barbarous. Wherever they associate together, that
+association produces softer manners and a more engaging deportment.
+
+The Egyptians, from the nature of their country, annually overflowed by
+the Nile, had no wild beasts to hunt, nor could they procure any thing
+by fishing. On these accounts, they were under a necessity of applying
+themselves to agriculture, a kind of life which naturally brings mankind
+together, for mutual convenience and assistance.
+
+They were, likewise, every year, during the inundation of the river,
+obliged to assemble together, and take shelter, either on the rising
+grounds, or in the houses, which were raised upon piles, above the reach
+of the waters. Here, almost every employment being suspended, and the
+men and women long confined together, a thousand inducements, not to be
+found in a solitary state, would naturally prompt them to render
+themselves agreeable to each other. Hence their manners would begin,
+more early, to assume a softer polish, and more elegant refinement, than
+those of the other nations who surrounded them.
+
+The practice of confining women, instituted by jealousy, and maintained
+by unlawful power, was not adopted by the ancient Egyptians. This
+appears from the story of Pharaoh's daughter, who was going with her
+train of maids to bathe in the river, when she found Moses hid among the
+reeds. It is still more evident, from that of the wife of Potiphar, who,
+if she had been confined, could not have found the opportunities she
+did, to solicit Joseph to her adulterous embrace.
+
+The queens of Egypt had the greatest attention paid to them. They were
+more readily obeyed than the kings. It is also related, that the
+husbands were in their marriage-contracts, obliged to promise obedience
+to their wives; an obedience, which, in our modern times, we are often
+obliged to perform, though our wives entered into the promise.
+
+The behavior of Solomon to Pharaoh's daughter is a convincing proof that
+more honor and respect was paid to the Egyptian women, than to those of
+any other people. Solomon had many other wives besides this princess,
+and was married to several of them before her, which, according to the
+Jewish law, ought to have entitled them to a preference. But,
+notwithstanding this, we hear of no particular palace having been built
+for any of the others, nor of the worship of any of their gods having
+been introduced into Jerusalem. But a magnificent palace was erected for
+Pharaoh's daughter; and she was permitted, though expressly contrary to
+the laws of Israel, to worship the gods of her own country.
+
+
+MODERN EGYPTIAN WOMEN.
+
+The women of modern Egypt are far from being on so respectable a
+footing as they were in ancient times, or as the European women are at
+present.
+
+In Europe, women act parts of great consequence, and often reign
+sovereigns on the world's vast theatre. They influence manners and
+morals, and decide on the most important events. The fate of nations is
+frequently in their hands.
+
+How different is their situation in Egypt! There they are bound down by
+the fetters of slavery, condemned to servitude, and have no influence in
+public affairs. Their empire is confined within the walls of the Harem.
+There are their graces and charms entombed. The circle of their life
+extends not beyond their own family and domestic duties.
+
+Their first care is to educate their children; and a numerous posterity
+is their most fervent wish. Mothers always suckle their children. This
+is expressly commanded by Mahomet:--"Let the mother suckle her child
+full two years, if the child does not quit the breast; but she shall be
+permitted to wean it, with the consent of her husband."
+
+The harem is the cradle and school of infancy. The new born feeble being
+is not there swaddled and filletted up in a swathe, the source of a
+thousand diseases. Laid naked on a mat, exposed in a vast chamber to the
+pure air, he breathes freely, and with his delicate limbs sprawls at
+pleasure.
+
+The daughter's education is the same. Whalebone and husks, which martyr
+European girls, they know not. They are only covered with a shift until
+six years old: and the dress they afterwards wear confines none of their
+limbs, but suffers the body to take its true form; and nothing is more
+uncommon than ricketty children, and crooked people. In Egypt, man rises
+in all his majesty, and woman displays every charm of person.
+
+The Egyptian women, once or twice a week, are permitted to go to the
+bath, and visit female relations and friends. They receive each other's
+visits very affectionately. When a lady enters the harem, the mistress
+rises, takes her hand, presses it to her bosom, kisses, and makes her
+sit down by her side; a slave hastens to take her black mantle; she is
+entreated to be at ease, quits her veil, and discovers a floating robe
+tied round her waist with a sash, which perfectly displays her shape.
+She then receives compliments according to their manner: "Why, my
+mother, or my sister, have you been so long absent? We sighed to see
+you! Your presence is an honor to our house! It is the happiness of our
+lives!"
+
+Slaves present coffee, sherbet, and confectionary. They laugh, talk and
+play. A large dish is placed on the sofa, on which are oranges,
+pomegranates, bananas, and excellent melons. Water, and rose-water
+mixed, are brought in an ewer, and with them a silver bason to wash the
+hands; and loud glee and merry conversation season the meal. The chamber
+is perfumed by wood of aloes, in a brazier; and, the repast ended, the
+slaves dance to the sound of cymbals, with whom the mistresses often
+mingle. At parting they several times repeat, "God keep you in health!
+Heaven grant you a numerous offspring! Heaven preserve your children;
+the delight and glory of your family!"
+
+When a visitor is in the harem, the husband must not enter. It is the
+asylum of hospitality, and cannot be violated without fatal
+consequences; a cherished right, which the Egyptian women carefully
+maintain, being interested in its preservation. A lover, disguised like
+a woman, may be introduced into the harem, and it is necessary he should
+remain undiscovered; death would otherwise be his reward. In that
+country, where the passions are excited by the climate, and the
+difficulty of gratifying them is great, love often produces tragical
+events.
+
+
+PERSIAN WOMEN.
+
+Several historians, in mentioning the ancient Persians, have dwelt with
+peculiar severity on the manner in which they treated their women.
+Jealous, almost to distraction, they confined the whole sex with the
+strictest attention, and could not bear that the eye of a stranger
+should behold the beauty whom they adored.
+
+When Mahomet, the great legislator of the modern Persians, was just
+expiring, the last advice that he gave to his faithful adherents, was,
+"Be watchful of your religion, and your wives." Hence they pretend to
+derive not only the power of confining, but also of persuading them,
+that they hazard their salvation, if they look upon any other man
+besides their husbands. The Christian religion informs us, that in the
+other world they neither marry, nor are given in marriage. The religion
+of Mahomet teaches us a different doctrine, which the Persians
+believing, carry the jealousy of Asia to the fields of Elysium, and the
+groves of Paradise; where, according to them, the blessed inhabitants
+have their eyes placed on the crown of their heads, lest they should see
+the wives of their neighbors.
+
+To offer the least violence to a Persian woman, was to incur certain
+death from her husband or guardian. Even their kings, though the most
+absolute in the universe, could not alter the manners or customs of the
+country, which related to the fair sex.
+
+Widely different from this is the present state of Persia. By a law of
+that country, their monarch is now authorized to go, whenever he
+pleases, into the harem of any of his subjects; and the subject, on
+whose prerogative he thus encroaches, so far from exerting his usual
+jealousy, thinks himself highly honored by such a visit.
+
+A laughable story, on this subject, is told of Shah Abbas, who having
+got drunk at the house of one of his favorites, and intending to go into
+the apartment of his wives, was stopped by the door-keeper, who bluntly
+told him, "Not a man, sir, besides my master, shall put a mustachio
+here, so long as I am porter." "What," said the king, "dost thou not
+know me?" "Yes," answered the fellow, "I know that you are king of the
+men, but not of the women."
+
+
+GRECIAN WOMEN.
+
+Woman, in ancient Greece, seems to have been regarded merely in the
+light of an instrument for raising up members of the state. And surely
+it may be said of them that they nobly fulfilled this duty. The
+catalogue of heroes and sages which shine in Grecian history bright and
+numerous as stars in the firmament, are so many testimonials to the
+faithfulness of Grecian women in this respect.
+
+The sexes were but little society for each other. Even husbands were, in
+Sparta, limited as to the time and duration of the visits made to their
+wives.
+
+That women in ancient Greece did not enjoy that delicate consideration
+which other refined nations accord to their sex, may be inferred from
+the inferiority of the apartments allotted to them. The famous Helen is
+said to have had her chamber in the attic; and Penelope, the queen of
+Ulysses, descended from hers by a ladder.
+
+
+GRECIAN COURTEZANS.
+
+The rank which the courtezans enjoyed, even in the brightest ages of
+Greece, and particularly at Athens, is one of the greatest singularities
+in the manners of any people. By what circumstances could that order of
+women, who debase at once their own sex and ours--in a country where the
+women were possessed of modesty, and the men of sentiment, arrive at
+distinction, and sometimes even at the highest degree of reputation and
+consequence? Several reasons may be assigned for that phenomenon in
+society.
+
+In Greece, the courtezans were in some measure connected with the
+religion of the country. The Goddess of Beauty had her altars; and she
+was supposed to protect prostitution, which was to her a species of
+worship. The people invoked Venus in times of danger; and, after a
+battle, they thought they had done honor to Miltiades and Themistocles,
+because the Laises and the Glyceras of the age had chaunted hymns to
+their Goddess.
+
+The courtezans were likewise connected with religion, by means of the
+arts. Their persons afforded models for statues, which were afterwards
+adored in the temples. Phryne served as a model to Praxiteles, for his
+Venus of Cnidus. During the feasts of Neptune, near Eleusis, Apelles
+having seen the same courtezan on the sea-shore, without any other veil
+than her loose and flowing hair, was so much struck with her appearance,
+that he borrowed from it the idea of his Venus rising from the waves.
+
+They were, therefore connected with statuary and painting, as they
+furnished the practisers of those arts with the means of embellishing
+their works.
+
+The greater part of them were skilled in music; and, as that art was
+attended with higher effects in Greece than it ever was in any other
+country, it must have possessed, in their hands, an irresistible charm.
+
+Every one knows how enthusiastic the Greeks were of beauty. They adored
+it in the temples. They admired it in the principal works of art. They
+studied it in the exercises and the games. They thought to perfect it by
+their marriages. They offered rewards to it at the public festivals. But
+virtuous beauty was seldom to be seen. The modest women were confined to
+their own apartments, and were visited only by their husbands and
+nearest relations. The courtezans offered themselves every where to
+view; and their beauty as might be expected, obtained universal homage.
+
+Greece was governed by eloquent men; and the celebrated courtezans,
+having an influence over those orators must have had an influence on
+public affairs. There was not one, not even the thundering, the
+inflexible Demosthenes, so terrible to tyrants, but was subjected to
+their sway. Of that great master of eloquence it has been said, "What he
+had been a whole year in erecting, a woman overturned in a day." That
+influence augmented their consequence; and their talent of pleasing
+increased with the occasions of exerting it.
+
+The laws and the public institutions, indeed, by authorizing the
+privacy of women, set a high value on the sanctity of the marriage vow.
+But in Athens, imagination, sentiment, luxury, the taste in arts and
+pleasures, was opposite to the laws. The courtezans, therefore may be
+said to have come in support of the manners.
+
+There was no check upon public licentiousness; but private infidelity,
+which concerned the peace of families, was punished as a crime. By a
+strange and perhaps unequalled singularity the men were corrupted, yet
+the domestic manners were pure. It seems as if the courtezans had not
+been considered to belong to their sex; and, by a convention to which
+the laws and the manners bended, while other women were estimated merely
+by their virtues, they were estimated only by their accomplishments.
+
+These reasons will in some measure, account for the honors, which the
+votaries of Venus so often received in Greece. Otherwise we should have
+been at a loss to conceive, why six or seven writers had exerted their
+talents to celebrate the courtezans of Athens--why three great painters
+had uniformly devoted their pencils to represent them on canvass--and
+why so many poets had strove to immortalize them in verses. We should
+hardly have believed that so many illustrious men had courted their
+society--that Aspasia had been consulted in deliberations of peace and
+war--that Phryne had a statue of gold placed between the statues of two
+kings at Delphos--that, after death, magnificent tombs had been erected
+to their memory.
+
+"The traveller," says a Greek writer, "who, approaching to Athens, sees
+on the side of the way a monument which attracts his notice at a
+distance, will imagine that it is the tomb of Miltiades or Pericles, or
+of some other great man, who has done honor to his country by his
+services. He advances, he reads, and he learns that it is a courtezan of
+Athens who is interred with so much pomp."
+
+Theopompus, in a letter to Alexander the Great, speaks also of the same
+monument in words to the following effect--"Thus, after her death, is a
+prostitute honored; while not one of those brave warriors who fell in
+Asia, fighting for you, and for the safety of Greece, has so much as a
+stone erected to his memory, or an inscription to preserve his ashes
+from insult."
+
+Such was the homage which that enthusiastic people, voluptuous and
+passionate, paid to beauty. More guided by sentiment than reason, and
+having laws rather than principles, they banished their great men,
+honored their courtezans, murdered Socrates, permitted themselves to be
+governed by Aspasia, preserved inviolate the marriage bed, and placed
+Phryne in the temple of Apollo!
+
+
+ROMAN WOMEN.
+
+Among the Romans, a grave and austere people, who, during five hundred
+years, were unacquainted with the elegancies and the pleasures of life,
+and who, in the middle of furrows and fields of battle, were employed in
+tillage or in war, the manners of the women were a long time as solemn
+and severe as those of the men, and without the smallest mixture of
+corruption, or of weakness.
+
+The time when the Roman women began to appear in public, marks a
+particular era in history.
+
+The Roman women, for many ages, were respected over the whole world.
+Their victorious husbands re-visited them with transport, at their
+return from battle. They laid at their feet the spoils of the enemy, and
+endeared themselves in their eyes by the wounds which they had received
+for them and for the state. Those warriors often came from imposing
+commands upon kings, and in their own houses accounted it an honor to
+obey. In vain the too rigid laws made them the arbiters of life and
+death. More powerful than the laws, the women ruled their judges. In
+vain the legislature, foreseeing the wants which exist only among a
+corrupt people, permitted divorce. The indulgence of the polity was
+proscribed by the manners.
+
+Such was the influence of beauty at Rome before the licentious
+intercourse of the sexes had corrupted both.
+
+The Roman matrons do not seem to have possessed that military courage
+which Plutarch has praised in certain Greek and barbarian women; they
+partook more of the nature of their sex; or, at least, they departed
+less from its character. Their first quality was decency. Every one
+knows the story of Cato the censor, _who stabbed a Roman Senator for
+kissing his own wife in the presence of his daughter_.
+
+To these austere manners, the Roman women joined an enthusiastic love of
+their country, which discovered itself upon many great occasions. On the
+death of Brutus, they all clothed themselves in mourning. In the time of
+Coriolanus they saved the city. That incensed warrior who had insulted
+the senate and priests, and who was superior even to the pride of
+pardoning, could not resist the tears and entreaties of the women.
+_They_ melted his obdurate heart. The senate decreed them public thanks,
+ordered the men to give place to them upon all occasions, caused an
+altar to be erected for them on the spot where the mother had softened
+her son, and the wife her husband; and the sex were permitted to add
+another ornament to their head-dress.
+
+The Roman women saved the city a second time, when besieged by Brennus.
+They gave up all their gold as its ransom. For that instance of their
+generosity, the senate granted them the honor of having funeral orations
+pronounced in the rostrum, in common with patriots and heroes.
+
+After the battle of Cannę, when Rome had no other treasures but the
+virtues of her citizens, the women sacrificed both their jewels and
+their gold. A new decree rewarded their zeal.
+
+Valerius Maximus who lived in the reign of Tiberius, informs us that, in
+the second triumvirate, the three assassins who governed Rome thirsting
+after gold, no less than blood, and having already practised every
+species of robbery, and worn out every method of plunder; resolved _to
+tax the women_. They imposed a heavy contribution upon each of them. The
+women sought an orator to defend their cause, but found none. Nobody
+would reason against those who had the power of life and death. The
+daughter of the celebrated Hortensius alone appeared. She revived the
+memory of her father's abilities, and supported with intrepidity her own
+cause and that of her sex. The ruffians blushed and revoked their
+orders.
+
+Hortensia was conducted home in triumph, and had the honor of having
+given, in one day, an example of courage to men, a pattern of eloquence
+to women, and a lesson of humanity to tyrants.
+
+During upwards of six hundred years, the _virtues_ had been found
+sufficient to please. They now found it necessary to call in the
+_accomplishments_. They were desirous to join admiration to esteem,
+'till they learned to exceed esteem itself. For in all countries, in
+proportion as the love of virtue diminishes, we find the love of talents
+to increase.
+
+A thousand causes concurred to produce this revolution of manners among
+the Romans. The vast inequality of ranks, the enormous fortunes of
+individuals, the ridicule, affixed by the imperial court to moral ideas,
+all contributed to hasten the period of corruption.
+
+There were still, however, some great and virtuous characters among the
+Roman women. Portia, the daughter of Cato, and wife of Brutus, showed
+herself worthy to be associated with the first of human kind, and
+trusted with the fate of empires. After the battle of Phillippi, she
+would neither survive liberty nor Brutus, but died with the bold
+intrepidity of Cato.
+
+The example of Portia was followed by that of Arria, who seeing her
+husband hesitating and afraid to die, in order to encourage him, pierced
+her own breast, and delivered to him the dagger with a smile.
+
+Paulinia too, the wife of Seneca, caused her veins to be opened at the
+same time with her husband's, but being forced to live, during the few
+years which she survived him, "she bore in her countenance," says
+Tacitus, "the honorable testimony of her love, a _paleness_, which
+proved that part of her blood had sympathetically issued with the blood
+of her spouse."
+
+To take notice of all the celebrated women of the empire, would much
+exceed the bounds of the present undertaking. But the empress Julia the
+wife of Septimius Severus, possessed a species of merit so very
+different from any of those already mentioned, as to claim particular
+attention.
+
+This lady was born in Syria, and a daughter of a priest of the sun. It
+was predicted that she would rise to sovereign dignity; and her
+character justified the prophecy.
+
+Julia, while on the throne, loved, or pretended passionately to love,
+letters. Either from taste, from a desire to instruct herself, from a
+love of renown, or possibly from all these together, she spent her life
+with philosophers. Her rank of empress would not, perhaps, have been
+sufficient to subdue those bold spirits; but she joined to that the more
+powerful influences of wit and beauty. These three kinds of empire
+rendered less necessary to her that which consists only in art; and
+which, attentive to their tastes and their weaknesses, govern great
+minds by little means.
+
+It is said she was a philosopher. Her philosophy, however, did not
+extend so far as to give chastity to her manners. Her husband, who did
+not love her, valued her understanding so much, that he consulted her
+upon all occasions. She governed in the same manner under his son.
+
+Julia was, in short, an empress and a politician, occupied at the same
+time about literature, and affairs of state, while she mingled her
+pleasures freely with both. She had courtiers for her lovers, scholars
+for her friends, and philosophers for her counsellors. In the midst of a
+society, where she reigned and was instructed. Julia arrived at the
+highest celebrity; but as among all her excellencies, we find not those
+of her sex, the virtues of a woman, our admiration is lost in blame. In
+her life time she obtained more praise than respect; and posterity,
+while it has done justice to her talents and her accomplishments, has
+agreed to deny her esteem.
+
+
+LAWS AND CUSTOMS RESPECTING THE ROMAN WOMEN.
+
+The Roman women, as well as the Grecian, were under perpetual
+guardianship; and were not at any age, nor in any condition, ever
+trusted with the management of their own fortunes.
+
+Every father had power of life and death over his own daughters: but
+this power was not restricted to daughters only; it extended also to
+sons.
+
+The Oppian law prohibited women from having more than half an ounce of
+gold employed in ornamenting their persons, from wearing clothes of
+divers colors, and from riding in chariots, either in the city, or a
+thousand paces round it.
+
+They were strictly forbid to use wine, or even to have in their
+possession the key of any place where it was kept. For either of these
+faults they were liable to be divorced by their husbands. So careful
+were the Romans in restraining their women from wine, that they are
+supposed to have first introduced the custom of saluting their female
+relations and acquaintances, on entering the house of a friend or
+neighbor, that they might discover by their breath, whether they had
+tasted any of that liquor.
+
+This strictness, however, began in time to be relaxed; until at last,
+luxury becoming too strong for every law, the women indulged themselves
+in equal liberties with the men.
+
+But such was not the case in the earlier ages of Rome. Romulus even
+permitted husbands to kill their wives, if they found them drinking
+wine.
+
+Fabius Pictor relates, that the parents of a Roman lady, having detected
+her picking the lock of a chest which contained some wine, shut her up
+and starved her to death.
+
+Women were liable to be divorced by their husbands almost at pleasure,
+provided the portion was returned which they had brought along with
+them. They were also liable to be divorced for barrenness, which, if it
+could be construed into a fault, was at least the fault of nature, and
+might sometimes be that of the husband.
+
+A few sumptuary laws, a subordination to the men, and a total want of
+authority, do not so much affect the sex, as to be coldly and
+indelicately treated by their husbands.
+
+Such a treatment is touching them in the tenderest part. Such, however
+we have reason to believe, they often met with from the Romans, who had
+not learned, as in modern times to blend the rigidity of the patriot,
+and roughness of the warrior, with that soft and indulging behavior, so
+conspicuous in our modern patriots and heroes.
+
+Husbands among the Romans not only themselves behaved roughly to their
+wives, but even sometimes permitted their servants and slaves to do the
+same. The principal eunuch of Justinian the Second, threatened to
+chastise the Empress, his master's wife, in the manner that children are
+chastised at school, if she did not obey his orders.
+
+With regard to the private diversions of the Roman ladies, history is
+silent. Their public ones, were such as were common to both sexes; as
+bathing, theatrical representations, horse-races, shows of wild beasts,
+which fought against one another, and sometimes against men, whom the
+emperors, in the plenitude of their despotic power, ordered to engage
+them.
+
+The Romans, of both sexes, spent a great deal of time at the baths;
+which at first, perhaps, were interwoven with their religion, but at
+last were only considered as refinements in luxury. They were places of
+public resort, where people met with their acquaintances and friends,
+where public libraries were kept for such as chose to read, and where
+poets recited their works to such as had patience to hear.
+
+In the earlier periods of Rome, separate baths were appropriated to each
+sex. Luxury, by degrees getting the better of decency, the men and women
+at last bathed promiscuously together. Though this indecent manner of
+bathing was prohibited by the emperor Adrian; yet, in a short time,
+inclination overcame the prohibition; and, in spite of every effort,
+promiscuous bathing continued until the time of Constantine, who, by the
+coercive force of the legislative authority, and the rewards and
+terrors of the Christian religion, put a final stop to it.
+
+
+WOMAN IN SAVAGE LIFE.
+
+Man, in a state of barbarity, equally cruel and indolent, active by
+necessity, but naturally inclined to repose, is acquainted with little
+more than the physical effects of love; and having none of those moral
+ideas which only can soften the empire of force, he is led to consider
+it as his supreme law, subjecting to his despotism those whom reason had
+made his equals, but whose imbecility betrayed them to his strength.
+
+Cast in the lap of naked nature, and exposed to every hardship, the
+forms of women, in savage life, are but little engaging. With nothing
+that deserves the name of culture, their latent qualities, if they have
+any, are like the diamond, while enclosed in the rough flint, incapable
+of shewing any lustre. Thus destitute of every thing by which they can
+excite love, or acquire esteem; destitute of beauty to charm, or art to
+soothe, the tyrant man; they are by him destined to perform every mean
+and servile office. In this the American and other savage women differ
+widely from those of Asia, who, if they are destitute of the
+qualifications necessary for gaining esteem, have beauty, ornaments, and
+the art of exciting love.
+
+In civilized countries a woman acquires some power by being the mother
+of a numerous family, who obey her maternal authority, and defends her
+honor and her life. But, even as a mother, a female savage has not much
+advantage. Her children, daily accustomed to see their father treat her
+nearly as a slave, soon begin to imitate his example, and either pay
+little regard to her authority or shake it off altogether.
+
+Of this the Hottentot boys afford a remarkable proof. They are brought
+up by the women, till they are about fourteen years of age. Then, with
+several ceremonies they are initiated into the society of men. After
+this initiation is over it is reckoned manly for a boy to take the
+earliest opportunity of returning to the hut of his mother, and beating
+her in the most barbarous manner, to show that he is now out of her
+jurisdiction. Should the mother complain to the men, they would only
+applaud the boy for showing so laudable a contempt for the society and
+authority of women.
+
+In the Brazils, the females are obliged to follow their husbands to war,
+to supply the place of beasts of burden, and to carry on their backs
+their children, provisions, hammocks, and every thing wanted in the
+field.
+
+In the Isthmus of Darien, they are sent along with warriors and
+travellers, as we do baggage horses. Even their Queen appeared before
+some English gentlemen, carrying her sucking child, wrapt in a red
+blanket.
+
+The women among the Indians of America are what the Helots were among
+the Spartans, a vanquished people obliged to toil for their conquerors.
+Hence on the banks of the Oroonoko we have heard of mothers slaying
+their daughters out of compassion, and smothering them in the hour of
+their birth. They consider this barbarous pity as a virtue.
+
+Father Joseph Gumilla, reproving one of them for this inhuman crime,
+received the following answer:--"I wish to God, Father, I wish to God,
+that my mother had, by my death, prevented the manifold distresses I
+have endured, and have yet to endure as long as I live. Had she kindly
+stilled me in my birth, I should not have felt the pain of death, nor
+the numberless other pains to which life has subjected me. Consider,
+Father, our deplorable condition. Our husbands go to hunt with their
+bows and arrows, and trouble themselves no farther: we are dragged along
+with one infant at our breast, and another in a basket. They return in
+the evening without any burden; we return with the burden of our
+children. Though tired with long walking, we are not allowed to sleep,
+but must labor the whole night, in grinding maize to make _chica_ for
+them. They get drunk, and in their drunkenness beat us, draw us by the
+hair of the head, and tread us under foot. A young wife is brought upon
+us and permitted to abuse us and our children. What kindness can we show
+to our female children, equal to that of relieving them from such
+servitude, more bitter a thousand times than death? I repeat again,
+would to God my mother had put me under ground, the moment I was born."
+
+"The men," says Commodore Byron, in his account of the inhabitants of
+South America, "exercise a most despotic authority over their wives whom
+they consider in the same view they do any other part of their property,
+and dispose of them accordingly. Even their common treatment of them is
+cruel. For, though the toil and hazard of procuring food lies entirely
+on the women, yet they are not suffered to touch any part of it, until
+the husband is satisfied; and then he assign them their portion, which
+is generally very scanty, and such as he has not a stomach for himself."
+
+The Greenlanders, who live mostly upon seals, think it sufficient to
+catch and bring them on shore; and would rather submit to starve than
+assist their women in skinning, dressing, or dragging home the cumbrous
+animals to their huts.
+
+In some parts of America, when the men kill any game in the woods, they
+lay it at the root of a tree, fix a mark there, and travelling until
+they arrive at their habitation, send their women to fetch it, a task
+which their own laziness and pride equally forbid.
+
+Among many of the tribes of wandering Arabs, the women are not only
+obliged to do every domestic and every rural work, but also to feed, to
+dress, and saddle the horses, for the use of their husbands.
+
+The Moorish women, besides doing all the same kinds of drudgery, are
+also obliged to cultivate the fields, while their husbands stand idle
+spectators of the toil, or sleep inglorious beneath a neighboring shade.
+
+In Madura the husband generally speaks to his wife in the most imperious
+tone; while she with fear and trembling approaches him, waits upon him
+while at meals, and pronounces not his name, but with the addition of
+every dignifying title she can devise. In return for all this submission
+he frequently beats and abuses her in the most barbarous manner. Being
+asked the reason of such a behavior, one of them answered, "As our wives
+are so much our inferiors why should we allow them to eat and drink with
+us? Why should they not serve us with whatever we call for, and
+afterwards sit down and eat up what we leave? If they commit faults, why
+should they not suffer correction? It is their business only to bring up
+our children, pound our rice, make our oil, and do every other kind of
+drudgery, purposes to which only their low and inferior natures are
+adapted."
+
+The Circassian custom of breeding young girls, on purpose to be sold in
+the public market to the highest bidder, is generally known. Perhaps,
+however, upon minute examination, we shall find that women are, in some
+degree, bought and sold in every country, whether savage or civilized.
+
+
+EASTERN WOMEN.
+
+The women of the East, have in general, always exhibited the same
+appearance. Their manners, customs, and fashions, unalterable like their
+rocks, have stood the test of many revolving ages. Though the kingdoms
+of their country have often changed masters, though they have submitted
+to the arms of almost every invader, yet the laws by which their sex are
+governed and enslaved, have never been revised nor amended.
+
+Had the manners and customs of the Asiatic women been subject to the
+same changes as they are in Europe, we might have expected the same
+changes in the sentiments and writings of their men. But, as this is not
+the case, we have reason to presume that the sentiments entertained by
+Solomon, by the apocryphal writers, and by the ancient Bramins, are the
+sentiments of this day.
+
+Though the confinement of women be an unlawful exertion of superior
+power, yet it affords a proof that the inhabitants of the East are
+advanced some degrees farther in civilization than mere savages, who
+have hardly any love and consequently as little jealousy.
+
+This confinement is not very rigid in the empire of the Mogul. It is,
+perhaps, less so in China, and in Japan hardly exists.
+
+Though women are confined in the Turkish empire, they experience every
+other indulgence. They are allowed, at stated times, to go to the public
+baths; their apartments are richly, if not elegantly furnished; they
+have a train of female slaves to serve and amuse them; and their persons
+are adorned with every costly ornament which their fathers or husbands
+can afford.
+
+Notwithstanding the strictness of confinement in Persia, their women are
+treated with several indulgences. They are allowed a variety of precious
+liquors, costly perfumes, and beautiful slaves: their apartments are
+furnished with the most elegant hangings and carpets; their persons
+ornamented with the finest silks, and even loaded with the sparkling
+jewels of the East. But all these trappings, however elegant, or however
+gilded, are only like the golden chains sometimes made use of to bind a
+royal prisoner.
+
+Solomon had a great number of queens and concubines; but a petty Hindoo
+chief has been known to have two thousand women confined within the
+walls of his harem, and appropriated entirely to his pleasure. Nothing
+less than unlimited power in the husband is able to restrain women so
+confined, from the utmost disorder and confusion. They may repine in
+secret, but they must clothe their features with cheerfulness when their
+lord appears. Contumacy draws down on them immediate punishment: they
+are degraded, chastised, divorced, shut up in dark dungeons, and
+sometimes put to death.
+
+Their persons, however, are so sacred, that they must not in the least
+be violated, nor even be looked at, by any one but their husbands. This
+female privilege has given an opportunity of executing many
+conspiracies. Warriors, in such vehicles as are usually employed to
+carry women, have been often conveyed, without examination, into the
+apartments of the great; from whence, instead of issuing forth in the
+smiles of beauty, they have rushed out in the terror of arms, and laid
+the tyrants at their feet.
+
+No stranger is ever allowed to see the women of Hindostan, nor can even
+brothers visit their sisters in private. To be conscious of the
+existence of a man's wives seems a crime; and he looks surly and
+offended if their health is inquired after. In every country, honor
+consists in something upon which the possessor sets the highest value.
+This, with the Hindoo, is the chastity of his wives; a point without
+which he must not live.
+
+In the midst of slaughter and devastation, throughout all the East, the
+harem is a sanctuary. Ruffians, covered with the blood of a husband,
+shrink back with veneration from the secret apartment of his wives.
+
+At Constantinople, when the sultan sends an order to strangle a
+state-criminal, and seize on his effects, the officers who execute it
+enter not into the harem, nor touch any thing belonging to the women.
+
+Every Turkish seraglio and harem, has a garden adjoining to it, and in
+the middle of this garden a large room, more or less decorated according
+to the wealth of the proprietor. Here the ladies spend most of their
+time, with their attendant nymphs around them employed at their music,
+embroidery, or loom.
+
+It has long been a custom among the grandees of Asia, to entertain
+story-tellers of both sexes, who like the _bards_ of ancient Europe,
+divert them with tales, and little histories, mostly on the subject of
+bravery and love. These often amuse the women, and beguile the cheerless
+hours of the harem, by calling up images to their minds which their eyes
+are forever debarred from seeing.
+
+All their other amusements, as well as this, are indolently voluptuous.
+They spend a great part of their time in lolling on skien sofas; while a
+train of female slaves, scarcely less voluptuous, attend to sing to
+them, to fan them, and to rub their bodies; an exercise which the
+Easterns enjoy, with a sort of placid ecstasy, as it promotes the
+circulation of their languid blood.
+
+They bathe themselves in rose water and other baths, prepared with the
+precious odors of the East. They perfume themselves with costly
+essences, and adorn their persons, that they may please the _tyrant_
+with whom they are obliged to live.
+
+
+CHINESE WOMAN.
+
+Of all the other Asiatics, the Chinese have, perhaps the best title to
+modesty. Even the men wrap themselves closely up in their garments, and
+reckon it indecent to discover any more of their arms and legs than is
+necessary.--The women, still more closely wrapt up, never discover a
+naked hand even to their nearest relations, if they can possibly avoid
+it. Every part of their dress, every part of their behavior is
+calculated to preserve decency, and inspire respect. And, what adds
+lustre to of their charms, is that uncommon modesty which appears in
+every look and in every action.
+
+Charmed, no doubt, with so engaging a deportment, the men behave to them
+in a reciprocal manner. And, that their virtue may not be contaminated
+by the neighborhood of vice, the legislature takes care that no
+prostitutes shall lodge within the walls of any of the great cities of
+China.
+
+Some, however, suspect whether this appearance of modesty be any thing
+else than the custom of the country; and allege that, notwithstanding
+so much decency and decorum, they have their peculiar modes of
+intriguing, and embrace every possible opportunity of putting them in
+practice; and that, in these intrigues, they frequently scruple not to
+stab the paramour they had invited to their arms, as the surest method
+of preventing detection and loss of character.
+
+A bridegroom knows nothing of the character or person of his intended
+wife, except what he gathers from the report of some female relative, or
+confidant, who undertakes to arrange the marriage, and determine the sum
+that shall be paid for the bride. Very severe laws are made to prevent
+deception and fraud in these transactions. On the day appointed for the
+wedding the damsel is placed in a close palanquin the key of which is
+sent to the bridegroom, by the hands of some trusty domestic. Her
+relations and friends accompanied by squalling music, escort her to his
+house; at the gate of which he stands in full dress, ready to receive
+her. He eagerly opens the palanquin and examines his bargain. If he is
+pleased, she enters his dwelling, and the marriage is celebrated with
+feasting and rejoicing; the men and women being all the time in separate
+apartments. If the bridegroom is dissatisfied, he shuts the palanquin,
+and sends the woman back to her relations; but when this happens, he
+must pay another sum of money equal to the price he first gave for her.
+A woman who unites beauty with accomplishments brings from four to seven
+hundred louis d'ors; some sell for less than one hundred. The apartments
+of the women are separated from those of the men by a wall at which a
+guard is stationed. The wife is never allowed to eat with her husband;
+she cannot quit her apartments without permission; and he does not enter
+hers without first asking leave. Brothers are entirely separated from
+their sisters at the age of nine or ten years.
+
+
+AFRICAN WOMEN.
+
+The Africans were formerly renowned for their industry in cultivating
+the ground, for their trade, navigation, caravans and useful arts.--At
+present they are remarkable for their idleness, ignorance, superstition,
+treachery, and, above all, for their lawless methods of robbing and
+murdering all the other inhabitants of the globe.
+
+Though they still retain some sense of their infamous character, yet
+they do not choose to reform. Their priests, therefore, endeavor to
+justify them, by the following story: "Noah," say they, "was no sooner
+dead, than his three sons, the first of whom was _white_, the second
+_tawny_, and the third _black_, having agreed upon dividing among them
+his goods and possessions, spent the greatest part of the day in sorting
+them; so that they were obliged to adjourn the division till the next
+morning. Having supped and smoked a friendly pipe together, they all
+went to rest, each in his own tent. After a few hours sleep, the white
+brother got up, seized on the gold, silver, precious stones, and other
+things of the greatest value, loaded the best horses with them, and rode
+away to that country where his white posterity have been settled ever
+since. The tawny, awaking soon after, and with the same criminal
+intention, was surprised when he came to the store house to find that
+his brother had been beforehand with him. Upon which he hastily secured
+the rest of the horses and camels, and loading them with the best
+carpets, clothes, and other remaining goods, directed his route to
+another part of the world, leaving behind him, only a few of the
+coarsest goods, and some provisions of little value.
+
+When the third, or black brother, came next morning in the simplicity of
+his heart to make the proposed division, and could neither find his
+brethren, nor any of the valuable commodities, he easily judged they had
+tricked him, and were by that time fled beyond any possibility of
+discovery.
+
+In this most afflicted situation, he took his _pipe_, and begun to
+consider the most effectual means of retrieving his loss, and being
+revenged on his perfidious brothers.
+
+After revolving a variety of schemes in his mind, he at last fixed upon
+watching every opportunity of making reprisals on them, and laying hold
+of and carrying away their property, as often as it should fall in his
+way, in revenge for that patrimony of which they had so unjustly
+deprived him.
+
+Having come to this resolution, he not only continued in the practice of
+it all his life, but on his death laid the strongest injunctions on his
+descendants to do so, to the end of the world."
+
+Some tribes of the Africans, however, when they have engaged themselves
+in the protection of a stranger, are remarkable for fidelity. Many of
+them are conspicuous for their temperance, hospitality, and several
+other virtues.
+
+Their women, upon the whole, are far from being indelicate or unchaste.
+On the banks of the Niger, they are tolerably industrious, have a
+considerable share of vivacity, and at the same time a female reserve,
+which would do no discredit to a politer country. They are modest,
+affable, and faithful; an air of innocence appears in their looks and in
+their language, which gives a beauty to their whole deportment.
+
+When, from the Niger, we approach toward the East, the African women
+degenerate in stature, complexion, sensibility, and chastity. Even their
+language, like their features, and the soil they inhabit, is harsh and
+disagreeable. Their pleasures resemble more the transports of fury, than
+the gentle emotions communicated by agreeable sensations.
+
+
+GREAT ENTERPRISES OF WOMEN IN THE TIMES OF CHIVALRY.
+
+The times and the manners of chivalry, by bringing great enterprises,
+bold adventures, and extravagant heroism into fashion, inspired the
+women with the same taste.
+
+The two sexes always imitate each other. Their manners and their minds
+are refined or corrupted, invigorated or dissolved together.
+
+The women, in consequence of the prevailing passion, were now seen in
+the middle of camps and of armies. They quitted the soft and tender
+inclinations, and the delicate offices of their own sex, for the
+courage, and the toilsome occupations of ours.
+
+During the crusades, animated by the double enthusiasm of religion and
+of valor, they often performed the most romantic exploits. They
+obtained indulgences on the field of battle, and died with arms in their
+hands, by the side of their lovers, or of their husbands.
+
+In Europe, the women attacked and defended fortifications. Princesses
+commanded their armies, and obtained victories.
+
+Such was the celebrated Joan de Mountfort, disputing for her duchy of
+Bretagne, and engaging the enemy herself.
+
+Such was the still more celebrated Margaret of Anjou, queen of England
+and wife of Henry VI. She was active and intrepid, a general and a
+soldier. Her genius for a long time supported her feeble husband, taught
+him to conquer, replaced him upon the throne, twice relieved him from
+prison, and though oppressed by fortune and by rebels, she did not
+yield, till she had decided in person twelve battles.
+
+The warlike spirit among the women, consistent with ages of barbarism,
+when every thing is impetuous because nothing is fixed, and when all
+excess is the excess of force, continued in Europe upwards of four
+hundred years, showing itself from time to time, and always in the
+middle of convulsions, or on the eve of great revolutions.
+
+But there were eras and countries, in which that spirit appeared with
+particular lustre. Such were the displays it made in the fifteenth and
+sixteenth centuries in Hungary, and in the Islands of the Archipelago
+and the Mediterranean, when they were invaded by the Turks.
+
+Every thing conspired to animate the women of those countries with an
+exalted courage; the prevailing spirit of the foregoing ages; the terror
+which the name of the Turks inspired; the still more dreadful
+apprehensions of an unknown enemy; the difference of _dress_, which has
+a stronger _effect_ than is commonly supposed on the imagination of a
+people; the difference of religion, which produced a kind of sacred
+horror; the striking difference of manners; and above all, the
+confinement of the female sex, which presented to the women of Europe
+nothing but the frightful ideas of servitude and a master; the groans of
+honor, the tears of beauty in the embrace of barbarism, and the double
+tyranny of love and pride!
+
+The contemplation of these objects, accordingly, roused in the hearts of
+the women a resolute courage to defend themselves; nay, sometimes even a
+courage of enthusiasm, which hurled itself against the enemy.--That
+courage, too, was augmented, by the promises of a religion, which
+offered eternal happiness in exchange for the sufferings of a moment.
+
+It is not therefore surprising, that when three beautiful women of the
+isle of Cyprus were led prisoners to Selim, to be secluded in the
+seraglio, one of them, preferring death to such a condition, conceived
+the project of setting fire to the magazine; and after having
+communicated her design to the rest, put it in execution.
+
+The year following, a city of Cyprus being besieged by the Turks, the
+women ran in crowds, mingling themselves with the soldiers, and,
+fighting gallantly in the breach, were the means of saving their
+country.
+
+Under Mahomet II. a girl of the isle of Lemnos, armed with the sword and
+shield of her father, who had fallen in battle, opposed the Turks, when
+they had forced a gate, and chased them to the shore.
+
+In the two celebrated sieges of Rhodes and Malta, the women, seconding
+the zeal of the knights, discovered upon all occasions the greatest
+intrepidity; not only that impetuous and temporary impulse which
+despises death, but that cool and deliberate fortitude which can support
+the continued hardships, the toils, and the miseries of war.
+
+
+OTHER PARTICULARS RESPECTING FEMALES DURING THE AGE OF CHIVALRY.
+
+When a man had said any thing that reflected dishonor on a woman, or
+accused her of a crime, she was not obliged to fight him to prove her
+innocence: the combat would have been unequal. But she might choose a
+champion to fight in her cause, or expose himself to the horrid trial,
+in order to clear her reputation. Such champions were generally selected
+from her lovers or friends. But if she fixed upon any other, so high was
+the spirit of martial glory, and so eager the thirst of defending the
+weak and helpless sex, that we meet with no instance of a champion ever
+having refused to fight for, or undergo whatever custom required, in
+defence of the lady who had honored him with the appointment.
+
+To the motives already mentioned, we may add another. He who had
+refused, must inevitably have been branded with the name of coward: and,
+so despicable was the condition of a coward, in those times of general
+heroism, that death itself appeared the more preferable choice. Nay,
+such was the rage of fighting for women, that it became customary for
+those who could not be honored with the decision of their real quarrels,
+to create fictitious ones concerning them, in order to create also a
+necessity of fighting.
+
+Nor was fighting for the ladies confined to single combatants. Crowds of
+gallants entered the lists against each other. Even kings called out
+their subjects, to shew their love for their mistresses, by cutting the
+throats of their neighbors, who had not in the least offended.
+
+In the fourteenth century, when the Countess of Blois and the widow of
+Mountford were at war against each other, a conference was agreed to, on
+pretence of settling a peace, but in reality to appoint a combat.
+Instead of negotiating, they soon challenged each other; and Beaumanoir,
+who was at the head of the Britons, publicly declared that they fought
+for no other motive, than to see, by the victory, who had the fairest
+mistress.
+
+In the fifteenth century, we find an anecdote of this kind still more
+extraordinary. John, duke de Bourbonnois, published a declaration, that
+he would go over to England, with sixteen knights, and there fight it
+out, in order to avoid idleness, and merit the good graces of his
+mistress.
+
+James IV. of Scotland, having, in all tournaments, professed himself
+knight to queen Anne of France, she summoned him to prove himself her
+true and valorous champion, by taking the field in her defence, against
+his brother-in-law, Henry VIII. of England. He obeyed the romantic
+mandate; and the two nations bled to feed the vanity of a woman.
+
+Warriors, when ready to engage, invoked the aid of their mistresses, as
+poets do that of the Muses. If they fought valiantly, it reflected honor
+on the Dulcineas they adored; but if they turned their backs on their
+enemies, the poor ladies were dishonored forever.
+
+Love, was at that time, the most prevailing motive to fighting. The
+famous Gaston de Foix, who commanded the French troops at the battle of
+Ravenna, took advantage of this foible of his army. He rode from rank to
+rank, calling his officers by name, and even some of his private men,
+recommending to them their country, their honor, and, above all, to shew
+what they could do for their mistresses.
+
+The women of those ages, the reader may imagine, were certainly more
+completely happy than in any other period of the world. This, however,
+was not in reality the case.
+
+Custom, which governs all things with the most absolute sway, had,
+through a long succession of years, given her sanction to such combats
+as were undertaken, either to defend the innocence, or display the
+beauty of women. Custom, therefore, either obliged a man to fight for a
+woman who desired him, or marked the refusal with infamy and disgrace.
+But custom did not oblige him, in every other part of his conduct, to
+behave to this woman, or to the sex in general, with that respect and
+politeness which have happily distinguished the character of more modern
+times.
+
+The same man who would have encountered giants, or gigantic
+difficulties, "when a lady was in the case," had but little idea of
+adding to her happiness, by supplying her with the comforts and
+elegancies of life. And, had she asked him to stoop, and ease her of a
+part of that domestic slavery which, almost in every country, falls to
+the lot of women, he would have thought himself quite affronted.
+
+But besides, men had nothing else, in those ages, than that kind of
+romantic gallantry to recommend them. Ignorant of letters, arts, and
+sciences, and every thing that refines human nature, they were, in every
+thing where gallantry was not concerned, rough and unpolished in their
+manners and behavior. Their time was spent in drinking, war, gallantry,
+and idleness. In their hours of relaxation, they were but little in
+company with their women; and when they were, the indelicacies of the
+carousal, or the cruelties of the field, were almost the only subjects
+they had to talk of.
+
+From the subversion of the Roman empire, to the fourteenth or fifteenth
+century, women spent most of their time alone. They were almost entire
+strangers to the joys of social life. They seldom went abroad, but to be
+spectators of such public diversions and amusements as the fashion of
+the times countenanced. Francis I. was the first monarch who introduced
+them on public days to court.
+
+Before his time, nothing was to be seen at any of the courts of Europe,
+but long bearded politicians, plotting the destruction of the rights and
+liberties of mankind; and warriors clad in complete armor, ready to put
+their plots in execution.
+
+In the eighth century, so slavish was the condition of women on the one
+hand, and so much was beauty coveted on the other, that, for about two
+hundred years, the kings of Austria were obliged to pay a tribute to the
+Moors, of one hundred beautiful virgins per annum.
+
+In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, elegance had scarcely any
+existence, and even cleanliness was hardly considered as laudable. The
+use of linen was not known; and the most delicate of the fair sex wore
+woollen shifts.
+
+In the time of Henry VIII. the peers of the realm carried their wives
+behind them on horseback when they went to London; and, in the same
+manner, took them back to their country seats, with hoods of waxed linen
+over their heads, and wrapped in mantles of cloth, to secure them from
+the cold.
+
+There was one misfortune of a singular nature, to which women were
+liable in those days: they were in perpetual danger of being accused of
+witchcraft, and suffering all the cruelties and indignities of a mob,
+instigated by superstition and directed by enthusiasm; or of being
+condemned by laws, which were at once a disgrace to humanity and to
+sense. Even the bloom of youth and beauty could not secure them from
+torture and from death. But when age and wrinkles attacked a woman, if
+any thing uncommon happened in her neighborhood, she was almost sure of
+atoning with her life for a crime it was impossible for her to commit.
+
+
+FRENCH WOMEN.
+
+Though the ladies of France are not very handsome, they are sensible and
+witty. To many of them, without the least flattery, may be applied the
+distich which Sappho ascribes to herself:
+
+"_If partial nature has denied me beauty, the charms of my mind amply
+make up for the deficiency._"
+
+No women upon earth can excel, and few rival them, in their almost
+native arts of pleasing all who approach them. Add to this, an education
+beyond that of most European ladies, a consummate skill in those
+accomplishments that suit the fair sex, and the most graceful manner of
+displaying that knowledge to the utmost advantage.
+
+Such is the description that may safely be given of the French ladies in
+general. But the spirit, or rather the _evil genius_ of gallantry, too
+often perverts all these lovely qualities, and renders them subservient
+to very iniquitous ends.
+
+In every country, women have always a little to do, and a great deal to
+say. In France, they dictate almost every thing that is said, and direct
+every thing that is done. They are the most restless beings in the
+world. To fold her hands in idleness, and impose silence on her tongue,
+would be to a French woman worse than death. The sole joy of her life is
+to be engaged in the prosecution of some scheme, relating either to
+fashion, ambition, or love.
+
+Among the rich and opulent, they are entirely the votaries of pleasure,
+which they pursue through all its labyrinths, at the expense of fortune,
+reputation, and health. Giddy and extravagant to the last degree, they
+leave to their husbands economy and care, which would only spoil their
+complexions, and furrow their brows.
+
+When we descend to tradesmen and mechanics, the case is reversed: the
+wife manages every thing in the house and shop, while the husband
+lounges in the back-shop an idle spectator, or struts about with his
+sword and bag-wig.
+
+Matrimony among the French, seems to be a bargain entered into by a male
+and female, to bear the same name, live in the same house, and pursue
+their separate pleasures without restraint or control. And, so
+religiously is this part of the bargain kept, that both parties shape
+their course exactly as convenience and inclination dictate.
+
+The French girls are kept under very strict superintendence. They are
+not allowed to go to parties, or places of public amusement, without
+being accompanied by some married female relation; and they see their
+lovers only in the presence of a third person. Marriages are entirely
+negotiated by parents; and sometimes the wedding day is the second time
+that a bride and bridegroom see each other. Nothing is more common than
+to visit a lady, and attend her parties, without knowing her husband by
+sight; or to visit a gentleman without ever being introduced to his
+wife. If a married couple were to be seen frequently in each other's
+company, they would be deemed extremely ungenteel. After ladies are
+married, they have unbounded freedom. It is a common practice to receive
+morning calls from gentlemen, before they have risen from bed; and they
+talk with as little reserve to such visiters, as they would in the
+presence of any woman of refinement.
+
+In no country does real politeness shew itself more than in France,
+where the company of the women is accessible to every man who can
+recommend himself by his dress, and by his address. To affectation and
+prudery the French women are equally strangers. Easy and unaffected in
+their manners, their politeness has so much the appearance of nature,
+that one would almost believe no part of it to be the effect of art. An
+air of sprightliness and gaiety sits perpetually on their countenances,
+and their whole deportment seems to indicate that their only business is
+to "strew the path of life with flowers." Persuasion hangs on their
+lips; and, though their volubility of tongue is indefatigable, so soft
+is their accent, so lively their expression, so various their attitudes,
+that they fix the attention for hours together on a tale of nothing.
+
+The Jewish doctors have a fable concerning the etymology of the word
+Eve, which one would almost be tempted to say is realized in the French
+women. "Eve," say they, "comes from a word, which signifies to talk; and
+she was so called, because, soon after the creation, there fell from
+heaven twelve baskets full of chit chat, and she picked up _nine_ of
+them, while her husband was gathering the other _three_."
+
+French ladies, especially those not young, use a great deal of rouge. A
+traveller who saw many of them in their opera boxes, says, "I could
+compare them to nothing but a large bed of pionies."
+
+After the French revolution, it became the fashion to have everything in
+ancient classic style. Loose flowing drapery, naked arms, sandaled feet,
+and tresses twisted, were the order of the day.
+
+The state of gross immorality that prevailed at this time ought not to
+be described, if language had the power. The profligacy of Rome in its
+worst days was comparatively thrown into the shade. Religion and
+marriage became a mockery, and every form of impure and vindictive
+passion walked abroad, with the consciousness that public opinion did
+not require them to assume even a slight disguise. The fish-women of
+Paris will long retain an unenviable celebrity for the brutal excess of
+their rage. The goddess of Reason was worshipped by men, under the form
+of a living woman entirely devoid of clothing; and in the public streets
+ladies might be seen who scarcely paid more attention to decorum.
+
+
+ITALIAN WOMEN.
+
+Dr Goldsmith thus characterises the Italians in general:
+
+    "Could nature's bounty satisfy the breast,
+  The sons of Italy were surely blest.
+  Whatever fruits in different climes are found,
+  That proudly rise, or humbly court the ground;
+  Whatever blooms in torrid tracts appear,
+  Whose bright succession decks the varied year:
+  Whatever sweets salute the northern sky,
+  With vernal leaves that blossom but to die:
+  These here disporting, own the kindred soil,
+  Nor ask luxuriance from their planter's toil;
+  While sea-born gales their gelid wings expand,
+  To winnow fragrance round the smiling land.
+
+    "But small the bliss that sense alone bestows,
+  And sensual bliss is all the nation knows.
+  In florid beauty groves and fields appear,
+  Man seems the only growth that dwindles here.
+  Contrasted faults thro' all his manners rein;
+  Though poor, luxurious; though submissive, vain;
+  Though grave, yet trifling; zealous, yet untrue;
+  And e'en in penance planning sins anew.
+  All evils here contaminate the mind,
+  That opulence departed leaves behind:
+  For wealth was theirs, not far remov'd the date,
+  When commerce proudly flourish'd thro' the state;
+  At her command the palace learn'd to rise,
+  Again the long fall'n column sought the skies;
+  The canvass glow'd, beyond e'en nature warm;
+  The pregnant quarry teem'd with human form.
+  Till, more unsteady then the southern gale,
+  Commerce on other shores display'd her sail;
+  While naught remain'd of all that riches gave,
+  But towns unmann'd, and lords without a slave;
+  And late the nation found, with fruitless skill,
+  Its former strength was but plethoric ill.
+
+    "Yet still the loss of wealth is here supplied
+  By arts, the splendid wrecks of former pride;
+  From them the feeble heart and long fall'n mind
+  An easy compensation seem to find.
+  Here may be seen in bloodless pomp array'd,
+  The pasteboard triumph, and the cavalcade;
+  Processions form'd from piety and love,
+  A mistress or a saint in every grove."
+
+Almost every traveller who has visited Italy, agrees in describing it as
+the most abandoned of all the countries of Europe. At Venice, at Naples,
+and indeed in almost every port of Italy, women are taught from their
+infancy the various arts of alluring to their arms the young and unwary,
+and of obtaining from them, while heated by love or wine, every thing
+that flattery and false smiles can obtain, in these unguarded moments.
+
+The Italians, like their neighbors of Spain and Portugal, live under the
+paralyzing influence of a religion that retains its superstitious forms,
+while little of life-giving faith remains. Like them they have lively
+passions, are extremely susceptible, and in the general conduct of life
+more governed by the impetuosity of impulse than rectitude of principle.
+The ladies have less gravity than the Spanish, and less frivolity than
+the French, and in their style of dress incline towards the freedom of
+the latter. Some of the richest and most commodious convents of Europe
+are in Italy. The daughters of wealthy families are generally bestowed
+in marriage as soon as they leave these places of education. These
+matters are entirely arranged by parents and guardians, and youth and
+age are not unfrequently joined together, for the sake of uniting
+certain acres of land. But the affections, thus repressed, seek their
+natural level by indirect courses. It is a rare thing for an Italian
+lady to be without her _cavaliere servente_, or lover, who spends much
+of his time at her house, attends her to all public places, and appears
+to live upon her smiles. The old maxim of the Provenēal troubadours,
+that matrimony ought to be no hindrance to such _liaisons_, seems to be
+generally and practically believed in Italy.
+
+In Genoa, there are marriage-brokers, who have pocketbooks filled with
+the names of marriageable girls of different classes, with an account of
+their fortunes, personal attractions, &c. When they succeed in
+arranging connections, they have two or three per cent. commission on
+the portion. The marriage-contract is often drawn up before the parties
+have seen each other. If a man dislikes the appearances or manners of
+his future partner, he may break off the match, on condition of paying
+the brokerage and other expenses.
+
+
+SPANISH WOMEN.
+
+As the Spanish ladies are under a greater seclusion from general
+society, than the sex is in other European countries, their desires of
+an adequate degree of liberty are consequently more strong and urgent. A
+free and open communication being denied them, they make it their
+business to secure themselves a secret and hidden one. Hence it is that
+Spain is the country of intrigue.
+
+The Spanish women are little or nothing indebted to education. But
+nature has liberally supplied them with a fund of wit and sprightliness,
+which is certainly no small inducement to those, who have only transient
+glimpses of their charms, to wish very earnestly for a removal of those
+impediments, that obstruct their more frequent presence. This not being
+attainable in a lawful way of customary intercourse, the natural
+propensity of men to overcome difficulties of this kind, incites them to
+leave no expedient untried to gain admittance to what perhaps was at
+first only the object of their admiration, but which, by their being
+refused an innocent gratification of that passion, becomes at last the
+subject of a more serious one. Thus in Spain, as in all countries where
+the sex is kept much out of sight, the thoughts of men are continually
+employed in devising methods to break into their concealments.
+
+There is in the Spaniards a native dignity; which, though the source of
+many inconveniences, has nevertheless this salutary effect, that it sets
+them above almost every species of meanness and infidelity. This quality
+is not peculiar to the men; it diffuses itself, in a great measure,
+among the women also. Its effects are visible both in their constancy in
+love and friendship, in which respects they are the very reverse of the
+French women. Their affections are not to be gained by a bit of
+sparkling lace, or a tawdry set of liveries. Their deportment is rather
+grave and reserved; and, on the whole, they have much more of the prude
+than the coquette in their composition. Being more confined at home, and
+less engaged in business and pleasure, they take more care of their
+children than the French, and have a becoming tenderness in their
+disposition to all animals, except a _heretic_ and a _rival_.
+
+Something more than a century ago, the Marquis D'Astrogas having
+prevailed on a young woman of great beauty to become his mistress, the
+Marchioness hearing of it, went to her lodging with some assassins,
+killed her, tore out her heart, carried it home, made a _ragout_ of it,
+and presented the dish to the Marquis. "It it exceedingly good," said
+he. "No wonder," answered she, "since it was made of the _heart_ of that
+creature you so much doated on." And, to confirm what she had said, she
+immediately drew out her head all bloody from beneath her hoop, and
+rolled it on the floor, her eyes sparkling all the time with a mixture
+of pleasure and infernal fury.
+
+A lady to whom a gentleman pays his addresses, is sole mistress of his
+time and money; and, should he refuse her any request, whether
+reasonable or capricious, it would reflect eternal dishonor upon him
+among the men, and make him the detestation of all the women.
+
+But, in no situation does their character appear so whimsical, or their
+power so conspicuous, as when they are pregnant. In this case, whatever
+they long for, whatever they ask, or whatever they have an inclination
+to do, they must be indulged in.
+
+
+ENGLISH WOMEN.
+
+The women of England are eminent for many good qualities both of the
+head and of the heart. There we meet with that inexpressible softness
+and delicacy of manners, which, cultivated by education, appears as much
+superior to what it does without it, as the polished diamond appears
+superior to that which is rough from the mine. In some parts of the
+world, women have attained to so little knowledge and so little
+consequence, that we consider their virtues as merely of the negative
+kind. In England they consist not only in abstinence from evil, but in
+doing good.
+
+There we see the sex every day exerting themselves in acts of
+benevolence and charity, in relieving the distresses of the body, and
+binding up the wounds of the mind; in reconciling the differences of
+friends, and preventing the strife of enemies; and, to sum up all, in
+that care and attention to their offspring, which is so necessary and
+essential a part of their duty.
+
+A woman may succeed to the throne of England with the same power and
+privileges as a king; and the business of the state is transacted in her
+name, while her husband is only a subject. The king's wife is considered
+as a subject; but is exempted from the law which forbids any married
+woman to possess property in her own right during the lifetime of her
+husband; she may sue any person at law without joining her husband in
+the suit; may buy and sell lands without his interference; and she may
+dispose of her property by will, as if she were a single woman. She
+cannot be fined by any court of law; but is liable to be tried and
+punished for crimes by peers of the realm. The queen dowager enjoys
+nearly the same privileges that she did before she became a widow; and
+if she marries a subject still continues to retain her rank and title;
+but such marriages cannot take place without permission from the
+reigning sovereign. A woman who is noble in her own right, retains her
+title when she marries a man of inferior rank; but if ennobled by her
+husband, she loses the title by marrying a commoner. A peeress can only
+be tried by a jury of peers.
+
+In old times, a woman who was convicted of being a common mischief-maker
+and scold, was sentenced to the punishment of the ducking-stool; which
+consisted of a sort of chair fastened to a pole, in which she was seated
+and repeatedly let down into the water, amid the shouts of the rabble.
+At Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a woman convicted of the same offence was led
+about the streets by the hangman, with an instrument of iron bars fitted
+on her head, like a helmet. A piece of sharp iron entered the mouth, and
+severely pricked the tongue whenever the culprit attempted to move it.
+
+A great deal of vice prevails in England, among the very fashionable,
+and the very low classes. Misconduct and divorces are not unfrequent
+among the former, because their mode of life corrupts their principles,
+and they deem themselves above the jurisdiction of popular opinion; the
+latter feel as if they were beneath the influence of public censure, and
+find it very difficult to be virtuous, on account of extreme poverty,
+and the consequent obstructions in the way of marriage. But the general
+character of English women is modest, reserved, sincere, and dignified.
+They have strong passions and affections, which often develope
+themselves in the most beautiful forms of domestic life. They are in
+general remarkable for a healthy appearance, and an exquisite bloom of
+complexion. Perhaps the world does not present a lovelier or more
+graceful picture than the English home of a virtuous family.
+
+
+RUSSIAN WOMEN.
+
+It is only a few years since the Russians emerged from a state of
+barbarity.
+
+A late empress of Russia, as a punishment for some female frailties,
+ordered a most beautiful young lady of family to be publicly chastised,
+in a manner which was hardly less indelicate than severe.
+
+It is said that the Russian ladies were formerly as submissive to their
+husbands in their families, as the latter are to their superiors in the
+field; and that they thought themselves ill treated, if they were not
+often reminded of their duty by the discipline of a _whip_, manufactured
+by themselves, which they presented to their husbands on the day of
+their marriage. The latest travellers, however, assert, that they find
+no remaining traces of this custom at present.
+
+Russian fathers, of all classes, generally arrange marriages for their
+children, without consulting their inclinations. Among the peasantry, if
+the girl has the name of being a good housewife, her parents will not
+fail to have applications for her, whatever may be her age or personal
+endowments. As soon as a young man is old enough to be married, his
+parents seek a wife for him, and all is settled before the young couple
+know any thing of the matter.
+
+Their nuptial ceremonies are peculiar to themselves; and formerly
+consisted of many whimsical rites, some of which are now disused. On her
+wedding day, the bride is crowned with a garland of wormwood; and, after
+the priest has tied the nuptial knot, his clerk or sexton throws a
+handful of hops upon the head of the bride, wishing that she might prove
+as fruitful as that plant. She is then led home, with abundance of
+coarse ceremonies, which are now wearing off even among the lowest
+ranks; and the barbarous treatment of wives by their husbands is either
+guarded against by the laws of the country, or by particular
+stipulations in the marriage contract.
+
+In the conversation and actions of the Russian ladies, there is hardly
+any thing of that softness and delicacy which distinguishes the sex in
+other parts of Europe. Even their exercises and diversions have more of
+the masculine than the feminine. The present empress, with the ladies of
+her court, sometimes divert themselves by shooting at a mark.
+Drunkenness, the vice of almost every cold climate, they are so little
+ashamed of, that not many years ago, when a lady got drunk at the house
+of a friend, it was customary for her to return next day, and thank him
+for the pleasure he had done her.
+
+Females, however, in Russia, possess several advantages. They share the
+rank and splendor of the families from which they are sprung, and are
+even allowed the supreme authority. This a few years ago, was enjoyed by
+an empress, whose head did honor to her nation and to her sex; although,
+on some occasions, the virtues of her heart have been much suspected.
+The sex, in general, are protected from insult, by many salutary laws;
+and, except among the peasants, are exempted from every kind of toil and
+slavery. Upon the whole, they seem to be approaching fast to the
+enjoyment of that consequence, to which they have already arrived in
+several parts of Europe.
+
+
+THE IDEA OF FEMALE INFERIORITY.
+
+It is an opinion pretty well established, that in strength of mind, as
+well as of body, men are greatly superior to women.
+
+Men are endowed with boldness and courage, women are not. The reason is
+plain, these are beauties in our character; in theirs they would be
+blemishes. Our genius often leads to the great and the arduous; theirs
+to the soft and the pleasing; we bend our thoughts to make life
+convenient; they turn theirs to make it easy and agreeable. If the
+endowments allotted to us by nature could not be easily acquired by
+women, it would be as difficult for us to acquire those peculiarly
+allotted to them. Are we superior to them in what belongs to the male
+character? They are no less so to us, in what belongs to the female
+character.
+
+Would it not appear rather ludicrous to say, that a man was endowed only
+with inferior abilities, because he was not expert in the nursing of
+children, and practising the various effeminacies which we reckon lovely
+in a woman? Would it be reasonable to condemn him on these accounts?
+Just as reasonable, as it is to reckon women inferior to men, because
+their talents are in general not adapted to tread the horrid path of
+war, nor trace the mazes and intricacies of science.
+
+The idea of the inferiority of female nature has drawn after it several
+others the most absurd, unreasonable, and humiliating to the sex. Such
+is the pride of man, that in some countries he has considered
+immortality as a distinction too glorious for women. Thus degrading the
+fair partners of his nature, he places them on a level with the beasts
+that perish.
+
+As the Asiatics have, time immemorial, considered women as little better
+than slaves, this opinion probably originated among them. The
+Mahometans, both in Asia and Europe, are said, by a great variety of
+writers, to entertain this opinion.
+
+Lady Montague, in her letters, has opposed this general assertion of the
+writers concerning the Mahometans; and says that they do not absolutely
+deny the existence of female souls, but only hold them to be of a
+nature inferior to those of men; and that they enter not into the same,
+but into an inferior paradise, prepared for them on purpose. Lady
+Montague, and the writers whom she has contradicted, may perhaps be both
+right. The former might be the opinion which the Turks brought with them
+from Asia; and the latter, as a refinement upon it they may have adopted
+by their intercourse with the Europeans.
+
+This opinion, however, has had but few votaries in Europe: though some
+have even here maintained it, and assigned various reasons for so doing.
+Among these, the following laughable reason is not the least
+particular--"In the Revelations of St. John the divine," said one, whose
+wife was a descendant of the famous Xantippe,[1] "you will find this
+passage: _And there was silence in heaven for about the space of half an
+hour_. Now, I appeal to any one, whether that could possibly have
+happened, had there been any women there? And, since there are none
+there, charity forbids us to imagine that they are all in a worse place;
+therefore it follows that they have no immortal part: and happy is it
+for them, as they are thereby exempted from being accountable for all
+the noise and disturbance they have raised in this world."
+
+In a very ancient treatise, called the Wisdom of all Times, ascribed to
+Hushang, one of the earliest kings of Persia, are the following
+remarkable words: "The passions of men may, by long acquaintance, be
+thoroughly known; but the passions of women are inscrutable; therefore
+they ought to be separated from men, lest the mutability of their
+tempers should infect others."
+
+Ideas of a similar nature seem to have been at this time, generally
+diffused over the East. For we find Solomon, almost every where in his
+writings, exclaiming against women; and, in the Apocrypha, the author of
+Ecclesiasticus is still more illiberal in his reflections.
+
+Both these authors, it is true, join in the most enraptured manner to
+praise a virtuous woman; but take care at the same time to let us know,
+that she is so great a rarity as to be very seldom met with.
+
+Nor have the Asiatics alone been addicted to this illiberality of
+thinking concerning the sex. Satirists of all ages and countries, while
+they flattered them to their faces, have from their closets scattered
+their spleen and ill-nature against them. Of this the Greek and Roman
+poets afford a variety of instances; but they must nevertheless yield
+the palm to some of our moderns. In the following lines, Pope has
+outdone every one of them:
+
+  "Men some to pleasure, some to business take;
+  But every woman is at heart--a rake."
+
+Swift and Dr Young have hardly been behind this celebrated splenetic in
+illiberality. They perhaps were not favorites of the fair, and in
+revenge vented all their envy and spleen against them. But a more modern
+and accomplished writer who by his rank in life, by his natural and
+acquired _graces_, was undoubtedly a favorite, has repaid their kindness
+by taking every opportunity of exhibiting them in the most contemptible
+light. "Almost every man," says he, "may be gained some way, almost
+every woman any way, can any thing exhibit a stronger caution to the
+sex?" It is fraught with information; and it is to be hoped they will
+use it accordingly.
+
+    [1] Xantippe, was the wife of Socrates, and the most famous scold
+        of antiquity.
+
+
+FEMALE SIMPLICITY.
+
+Would we conceive properly of that simplicity which is the sweetest
+expression of a well-informed and well-meaning mind, which every where
+diffuses tenderness and delicacy, sweetens the relations of life, and
+gives a zest to the minutest duties of humanity, let us contemplate
+every perceptible operation of nature, the twilight of the evening, the
+pearly dew-drops of the early morning, and all that various growth which
+indicates the genial return of spring. The same principle from which all
+that is soft and pleasing, amiable or exquisite, to the eye or to the
+ear, in the exterior frame of nature, produces that taste for true
+simplicity, which is one of the most useful, as well as the most elegant
+lessons, that _ladies_ can learn.
+
+Infancy, is perhaps, the finest and most perfect illustration of
+simplicity. It is a state of genuine nature throughout. The feelings of
+children are under no kind of restraint, but pure as the fire, free as
+the winds, honest and open as the face of heaven. Their joys incessantly
+flow in the thickest succession, and their griefs only seem fleeting and
+evanescent. To the calls of nature they are only attentive. They know no
+voice but hers. Their obedience to all her commands is prompt and
+implicit. They never anticipate her bounties, nor relinquish her
+pleasures. This situation renders them independent of artifice.
+Influenced only by nature, their manners, like the principle that
+produces them, are always the same.
+
+Genuine simplicity is that peculiar quality of the mind, by which some
+happy characters are enabled to avoid the most distant approaches to any
+thing like affectation, inconstancy, or design, in their intercourse
+with the world. It is much more easily understood, however than defined;
+and consists not in a specific tone of the voice, movement of the body,
+or mode imposed by custom, but is the natural and permanent effect of
+real modesty and good sense on the whole behavior.
+
+This has been considered in all ages, as one of the first and most
+captivating ornaments of the sex. The savage, the plebeian, the man of
+the world, and the courtier, are agreed in stamping it with a preference
+to every other female excellence.
+
+Nature only is lovely, and nothing unnatural can ever be amiable. The
+genuine expressions of truth and nature are happily calculated to
+impress the heart with pleasure. No woman, whatever her other qualities
+may be, was ever eminently agreeable, but in proportion as
+distinguished by these. The world is good-natured enough to give a lady
+credit for all the merit she can possess or acquire, without
+affectation. But the least shade or coloring of this odious foible
+brings certain and indelible obloquy on the most elegant
+accomplishments. The blackest suspicion inevitably rests on every thing
+assumed. She who is only an ape of others, or prefers formality in all
+its gigantic and preposterous shapes, to that plain, unembarassed
+conduct which nature unavoidably produces, will assuredly provoke an
+abundance of ridicule, but never can be an object either of love or
+esteem.
+
+The various artifices of the sex discover themselves at a very early
+period. A passion for expense and show is one of the first they exhibit.
+This gives them a taste for refinement, which divests their young hearts
+of almost every other feeling, renders their tempers desultory and
+capricious, regulates their dress only by the most fantastic models of
+finery and fashion, and makes their company rather tiresome and awkward,
+than pleasing or elegant.
+
+No one perhaps can form a more ludicrous contrast to every thing just
+and graceful in nature, than the woman whose sole object in life is to
+pass for a _fine lady_. The attentions she every where and uniformly
+pays, expects, and even exacts, are tedious and fatiguing. Her various
+movements and attitudes are all adjusted and exhibited by rule. By a
+happy fluency of the most eloquent language, she has the art of
+imparting a momentary dignity and grace to the merest trifles. Studious
+only to mimic such peculiarities as are most admired in others, she
+affects a loquacity peculiarly flippant and teazing because scandal,
+routs, finery, fans, china, lovers, lap-dogs, or squirrels, are her
+constant themes. Her amusements, like those of a magpie, are only
+hopping over the same spots, prying into the same corners, and devouring
+the same species of prey. The simple and beautiful delineations of
+nature, in her countenance, gestures and whole deportment, are
+habitually arranged, distorted, or concealed, by the affected adoption
+of whatever grimace or deformity is latest or most in vogue.
+
+She accustoms her face to a simper, which every separate feature in it
+belies. She spoils, perhaps, a blooming complexion with a profusion of
+artificial coloring, she distorts the most exquisite shape by loads or
+volumes of useless drapery. She has her head, her arms, her feet, and
+her gait, equally touched by art and affectation, into what is called
+the _taste_, the _ton_, or the _fashion_.
+
+She little considers to what a torrent of ridicule and sarcasm this mode
+of conduct exposes her; or how exceedingly cold and hollow that ceremony
+must be, which is not the language of a warm heart. She does not reflect
+how insipid those smiles are, which indicate no internal pleasantry; nor
+how awkward those graces, which spring not from habits of good-nature
+and benevolence. Thus, pertness succeeds to delicacy, assurance to
+modesty, and all the vagaries of a listless to the sensibilities of an
+ingenuous mind.
+
+With her, punctilio is politeness; dissipation, life; and levity,
+spirit. The miserable and contemptible drudge of every tawdry innovation
+in dress or ceremony, she incessantly mistakes extravagance for taste,
+and finery for elegance.
+
+Her favorite examples are not those persons of acknowledged sincerity,
+who speak as they feel, and act as they think; but such only as are
+formed to dazzle her fancy, amuse her senses, or humor her whims. Her
+only study is how to glitter or shine, how to captivate and gratify the
+gaze of the multitude, or how to swell her own pomp and importance. To
+this interesting object all her assiduities and time are religiously
+devoted.
+
+How often is debility of mind, and even badness of heart concealed under
+a splendid exterior! The fairest of the species, and of the sex, often
+want sincerity; and without sincerity every other qualification is
+rather a blemish, than a virtue, or excellence. Sincerity operates on
+the moral, somewhat like the sun on the natural world; and produces
+nearly the same effects on the dispositions of the human heart, which he
+does on inanimate objects. Wherever sincerity prevails and is felt, all
+the smiling and benevolent virtues flourish most, disclose their
+sweetest lustre, and diffuse their richest fragrance.
+
+Heaven has not a finer or more perfect emblem on earth than a woman of
+genuine simplicity. She affects no graces which are not inspired by
+sincerity. Her opinions result not from passion and fancy, but from
+reason and experience. Candor and humility give expansion to her heart.
+She struggles for no kind of chimerical credit, disclaims the appearance
+of every affectation, and is in all things just what she seems, and
+others would be thought. Nature, not art, is the great standard of her
+manners; and her exterior wears no varnish, or embellishment, which is
+not the genuine signature of an open, undesigning, and benevolent mind.
+It is not in her power, because not in her nature, to hide, with a
+fawning air, and a mellow voice, her aversion or contempt, where her
+delicacy is hurt, here temper ruffled, or her feelings insulted.
+
+In short, whatever appears most amiable, lovely, or interesting in
+nature, art, manners, or life, originates in simplicity. What is
+correctness in taste, purity in morals, truth in science, grace in
+beauty, but simplicity? It is the garb of innocence. It adorned the
+first ages, and still adorns the infant state of humanity. Without
+simplicity, woman is a vixen, a coquette, a hypocrite; society a
+masquerade, and pleasure a phantom.
+
+The following story, I believe, is pretty generally known. A lady, whose
+husband had long been afflicted with an acute but lingering disease,
+suddenly feigned such an uncommon _tenderness_ for him, as to resolve on
+dying in his stead. She had even the address to persuade him not to
+outlive this extraordinary instance of her conjugal fidelity and
+attachment. It was instantaneously agreed they should mutually swallow
+such a quantity of arsenic, as would speedily effect their dreadful
+purpose. She composed the fatal draught before his face and even set him
+the desperate example of drinking first. By this device, which had all
+the appearance of the greatest affection and candor, the dregs only were
+reserved for him, and soon put a period to his life.
+
+It then appeared that the dose was so tempered, as, from the weight of
+the principal ingredient, to be deadly only at the bottom, which she had
+artfully appropriated for his share. Even after all this finesse, she
+seized, we are told, his inheritance, and insulted his memory by a
+second marriage.
+
+
+THE MILD MAGNANIMITY OF WOMEN.
+
+A late eminent anatomist, in a professional discourse on the female
+frame, is said to have declared, that it almost appeared an act of
+cruelty in nature to produce such a being as woman. This remark may,
+indeed, be the natural exclamation of refined sensibility, in
+contemplating the various maladies to which a creature of such delicate
+organs is inevitably exposed; but, if we take a more enlarged survey of
+human existence, we shall be far from discovering any just reason to
+arraign the benevolence of its provident and gracious Author. If the
+delicacy of woman must render her familiar with pain and sickness, let
+us remember that her charms, her pleasures, and her happiness, arise
+also from the same attractive quality. She is a being, to use the
+forcible and elegant expression of a poet,
+
+  "Fine by defect, and admirably weak."
+
+There is, perhaps, no charm by which she more effectually secures the
+tender admiration and the lasting love, of the more hardy sex, than her
+superior endurance, her mild and _graceful_ submission to the common
+evils of life.
+
+Nor is this the sole advantage she derives from her gentle fortitude. It
+is the prerogative of this lovely virtue, to lighten the pressure of all
+those incorrigible evils which it cheerfully endures. The frame of man
+may be compared to the sturdy _oak_, which is often shattered by
+resisting the tempest. Woman is the pliant _osier_, which, in bending to
+the storm, eludes its violence.
+
+The accurate observers of human nature will readily allow, that patience
+is most eminently the characteristic of woman. To what a sublime and
+astonishing height this virtue has been carried by beings of the most
+delicate texture, we have striking examples in the many female martyrs
+who were exposed, in the first ages of christianity, to the most
+barbarous and lingering torture.
+
+Nor was it only from christian zeal that woman derived the power of
+defying the utmost rigors of persecution with invincible fortitude.
+Saint Ambrose, in his elaborate and pious treatise on this subject,
+records the resolution of a fair disciple of Pythagoras, who, being
+severely urged by a tyrant to reveal the secrets of her sex, to convince
+him that no torments should reduce her to so unworthy a breach of her
+vow, bit her own _tongue_ asunder, and darted it in the face of her
+oppressor.
+
+In consequence of those happy changes which have taken place in the
+world, from the progress of purified religion, the inexpressible spirit
+of the tender sex is no longer exposed to such inhuman trials. But if
+the earth is happily delivered from the demons of torture and
+superstition; if beauty and innocence are no more in danger of being
+dragged to perish at the stake--perhaps there are situations, in female
+life, that require as much patience and magnanimity, as were formerly
+exerted in the fiery torments of the virgin martyr. It is more difficult
+to support an accumulation of _minute_ infelicities, than any single
+calamity of the most terrific magnitude.
+
+
+FEMALE DELICACY.
+
+Where the human race has little other culture than what it receives from
+nature, the two sexes live together, unconscious of almost any restraint
+on their words or on their actions. The Greeks, in the heroic ages, as
+appears from the whole history of their conduct, were totally
+unacquainted with delicacy. The Romans in the infancy of their empire,
+were the same. Tacitus informs us that the ancient Germans had not
+separate beds for the two sexes, but that they lay promiscuously on
+reeds or on heath, spread along the walls of their houses. This custom
+still prevails in Lapland, among the peasants of Norway, Poland, and
+Russia; and it is not altogether obliterated in some parts of the
+highlands of Scotland and Wales.
+
+In Otaheite, to appear naked or in clothes, are circumstances equally
+indifferent to both sexes; nor does any word in their language, nor any
+action to which they are prompted by nature, seem more indelicate or
+reprehensible than another. Such are the effects of a total want of
+culture.
+
+Effects not very dissimilar, are, in France and Italy, produced from a
+redundance of it. Though those are the polite countries in Europe, women
+there set themselves above shame, and despise delicacy. It is laughed
+out of existence, as a silly and unfashionable weakness.
+
+But in China, one of the politest countries in Asia, and perhaps not
+even, in this respect, behind France, or Italy, the case is quite
+otherwise. No human being can be more delicate than a Chinese woman in
+her dress, in her behavior, and in her conversation; and should she ever
+happen to be exposed in any unbecoming manner, she feels with the
+greatest poignancy the awkwardness of her situation, and if possible,
+covers her face, that she may not be known.
+
+In the midst of so many discordant appearances, the mind is perplexed,
+and can hardly fix upon any cause to which female delicacy is to be
+ascribed. If we attend, however, to the whole animal creation, if we
+consider it attentively wherever it falls under our observation, it will
+discover to us, that in the female there is a greater degree of delicacy
+or coy reserve than in the male. Is not this a proof, that, through the
+wide extent of creation, the seeds of delicacy are more liberally
+bestowed upon females than upon males?
+
+In the remotest periods of which we have any historical account, we find
+that the women had a delicacy to which the other sex were strangers.
+Rebecca veiled herself when she first approached Isaac, her future
+husband. Many of the fables of antiquity mark, with the most
+distinguishing characters, the force of female delicacy. Of this kind is
+the fable of Actęon and Diana. Actęon, a famous hunter, being in the
+woods with his hounds, beating for game, accidentally spied Diana and
+her nymphs bathing in a river. Prompted by curiosity, he stole silently
+into a neighboring thicket, that he might have a nearer view of them.
+The goddess discovering him, was so affronted at his audacity, and so
+much ashamed to have been seen naked, that in revenge she immediately
+transformed him into a stag, set his own hounds upon him, and encouraged
+them to overtake and devour him. Besides this, and other fables, and
+historical anecdotes of antiquity, their poets seldom exhibit a female
+character without adorning it with the graces of modesty and delicacy.
+Hence we may infer, that these qualities have not been only essential to
+virtuous women in civilized countries, but were also constantly praised
+and esteemed by men of sensibility; and that delicacy is an innate
+principle in the female mind.
+
+There are so many evils attending the loss of virtue in women, and so
+greatly are the minds of that sex depraved when they have deviated from
+the path of rectitude, that a general contamination of their morals may
+be considered as one of the greatest misfortunes that can befal a state,
+as in time it destroys almost every public virtue of the men. Hence all
+wise legislators have strictly enforced upon the sex a particular purity
+of manners; and not satisfied that they should abstain from vice only,
+have required them even to shun every appearance of it.
+
+Such, in some periods, were the laws of the Romans; and such were the
+effects of these laws, that if ever female delicacy shone forth in a
+conspicuous manner, it was perhaps among those people, after they had
+worn off much of the barbarity of their first ages, and before they
+became contaminated, by the wealth and manners of the nations which they
+plundered and subjected. Then it was that we find many of their women
+surpassing in modesty almost every thing related by fable; and then it
+was that their ideas of delicacy were so highly refined, that they could
+not even bear the secret consciousness of an involuntary crime, and far
+less of having tacitly consented to it.
+
+
+INFLUENCE OF FEMALE SOCIETY.
+
+The company of ladies has a very powerful influence on the sentiments
+and conduct of men. Women, the fruitful source of half our joys, and
+perhaps of _more_ than half our sorrows, give an elegance to our manner,
+and a relish to our pleasures. They soothe our afflictions, and soften
+our cares. Too much of their company will render us effeminate, and
+infallibly stamp upon us many signatures of the female nature. A rough
+and unpolished behavior, as well as slovenliness of person, will
+certainly be the consequence of an almost constant exclusion from it. By
+spending a reasonable portion of our time in the company of women, and
+another in the company of our own sex, we shall imbibe a proper share of
+the softness of the female, and at the same time retain the firmness and
+constancy of the male.
+
+As little social intercourse subsisted between the two sexes, in the
+more early ages of antiquity, we find the men less courteous, and the
+women less engaging. Vivacity and cheerfulness seem hardly to have
+existed. Even the Babylonians, who appear to have allowed their women
+more liberty than any of the ancients, seem not to have lived with them
+in a friendly and familiar manner. But, as their intercourse with them
+was considerably greater than that of the neighboring nations, they
+acquired thereby a polish and refinement unknown to any of the people
+who surrounded them. The manners of both sexes were softer, and better
+calculated to please.
+
+They likewise paid more attention to cleanliness and dress.
+
+After the Greeks became famous for their knowledge of the arts and
+sciences, their rudeness and barbarity were only softened a _few
+degrees_. It is not therefore arts, sciences, and _learning_, but the
+company of the other sex, that forms the manner and renders the man
+_agreeable_.
+
+The Romans were, for some time, a community without any thing to soften
+the ferocity of male nature. The Sabine virgins, whom they had stolen,
+appear to have infused into them the first ideas of politeness. But it
+was many ages before this politeness banished the roughness of the
+warrior, and assumed the refinement of the gentleman.
+
+During the times of chivalry, female influence was at the zenith of its
+glory and perfection. It was the source of valor, it gave birth to
+politeness, it awakened pity, it called forth benevolence, it restricted
+the hand of oppression, and meliorated the human heart. "I cannot
+approach my mistress," said one, "till I have done some glorious deed to
+deserve her notice. Actions should be the messengers of the heart; they
+are the homage due to beauty, and they only should discover love."
+
+Marsan, instructing a young knight how to behave so as to gain the favor
+of the fair, has these remarkable words:--"When your arm is raised, if
+your lance fail, draw your sword directly; and let heaven and hell
+resound with the clash. Lifeless is the soul which beauty cannot
+animate, and weak is the arm which cannot fight valiantly to defend it."
+
+The Russians, Poles, and even the Dutch, pay less attention to their
+females than any of their neighbors, and are, by consequence, less
+distinguished for the graces of their persons, and the feelings of their
+hearts.
+
+The lightness of their food, and the salubrity of their air, have been
+assigned as reasons for the vivacity and cheerfulness of the French, and
+their fortitude, in supporting their spirits through all the adverse
+circumstances of this world. But the constant mixture of the young and
+old, of the two sexes, is no doubt one of the _principal_ reasons why
+the cares and ills of life sit lighter on the shoulders of that
+fantastic people, than on those of any other country in the world.
+
+The French reckon an excursion dull, and a party of pleasure without
+relish, unless a mixture of both sexes join to compose in. The French
+women do not even withdraw from the table after meals; nor do the men
+discover that impatience to have them dismissed, which they so often do
+in England.
+
+It is alleged by those who have no relish for the conversation of the
+fair sex, that their presence curbs the freedom of speech, and
+restrains the jollity of mirth. But, if the conversation and the mirth
+are decent, if the company are capable of relishing any thing but wine,
+the very reverse is the case. Ladies, in general, are not only more
+cheerful than gentlemen, but more eager to promote mirth and good humor.
+
+So powerful, indeed, are the company and conversation of the fair, in
+diffusing happiness and hilarity, that even the cloud which hangs on the
+_thoughtful brow_ of an Englishman, begins in the present age to
+brighten, by his devoting to the ladies a larger share of time than was
+formerly done by his ancestors.
+
+Though the influence of the sexes be reciprocal, yet that of the ladies
+is certainly the greatest. How often may one see a company of men, who
+were disposed to be riotous, checked at once into decency by the
+accidental entrance of an amiable woman; while her good sense and
+obliging deportment charms them into at least a temporary conviction,
+that there is nothing so delightful as female conversation, in its
+best form! Were such conviction frequently repeated, what might we not
+expect from it at last?
+
+"Were virtue," said an ancient philosopher, "to appear amongst men in a
+visible shape, what vehement desires would she enkindle!" Virtue,
+exhibited without affectation, by a lovely young person, of improved
+understanding and gentle manners, may be said to appear with the most
+alluring aspect, surrounded by the _Graces_.
+
+It would be an easy matter to point out instances of the most evident
+reformation, wrought on particular men, by their having happily
+conceived a passion for virtuous women.
+
+To form the manners of men, various causes contribute; but nothing,
+perhaps, so much as the turn of the women with whom they converse. Those
+who are most conversant with women of virtue and understanding, will be
+always found the most amiable characters, other circumstances being
+supposed alike. Such society, beyond every thing else, rubs off the
+_corners_ that gives many of our sex an ungracious roughness. It
+produces a polish more perfect, and more pleasing than that which is
+received from a general commerce with the world. This last is often
+specious, but commonly superficial. The other is the result of gentler
+feelings, and more humanity. The heart itself is moulded. Habits of
+undissembled courtesy are formed. A certain flowing urbanity is
+acquired. Violent passions, rash oaths, coarse jests, indelicate
+language of every kind, are precluded and disrelished.
+
+Female society gives men a taste for cleanliness and elegance of person.
+Our ancestors, who kept but little company with their women, were not
+only slovenly in their dress, but had their countenances disfigured with
+long beards. By female influence, however, beards were, in process of
+time, mutilated down to mustaches. As the gentlemen found that the
+ladies had no great relish for mustaches, which were the relics of a
+beard, they cut and curled them into various fashions, to render them
+more agreeable. At last, however, finding such labor vain, they gave
+them up altogether. But as those of the three learned professions were
+supposed to be endowed with, or at least to stand in need of, more
+wisdom than other people, and as the longest beard had always been
+deemed to sprout from the wisest chin, to supply this mark of
+distinction, which they had lost, they contrived to smother their heads
+in enormous quantities of frizzled hair, that they might bear greater
+resemblance to an owl, the bird sacred to wisdom and Minerva.
+
+To female society it has been objected by the learned and studious, that
+it enervates the mind, and gives it such a turn for trifling, levity,
+and dissipation, as renders it altogether unfit for that application
+which is necessary in order to become eminent in any of the sciences. In
+proof of this they allege, that the greatest philosophers seldom or
+never were men who enjoyed, or were fit for, the company or conversation
+of women. Sir Isaac Newton hardly ever conversed with any of the sex.
+Bacon, Boyle, Des Cartes, and many others, conspicuous for their
+learning and application, were but indifferent companions to the fair.
+
+It is certain, indeed, that the youth who devotes his whole time and
+attention to female conversation, and the little offices of gallantry,
+never distinguishes himself in the literary world. But notwithstanding
+this, without the fatigue and application of severe study, he often
+obtains, by female interest, that which is denied to the merited
+improvements acquired by the labor of many years.
+
+
+MONASTIC LIFE.
+
+The venerable _Bede_ has given us a very striking picture of Monastic
+enormities, in his epistle to Egbert. From this we learn that many young
+men who had no title to the monastic profession, got possession of
+monasteries; where, instead of engaging in the defence of their country,
+as their age and rank required, they indulged themselves in the most
+dissolute indolence.
+
+We learn from Dugdale, that in the reign of Henry the Second, the nuns
+of Amsbury abbey in Wiltshire were expelled from that religious house on
+account of their incontinence. And to exhibit in the most lively colors
+the total corruption of monastic chastity, bishop Burnet informs us in
+his "History of the Reformation," that when the nunneries were visited
+by the command of Henry the VIII. "whole houses almost, were found whose
+vows had been made in vain."
+
+When we consider to what oppressive indolence, to what a variety of
+wretchedness and guilt, the young and fair inhabitants of the cloister
+were frequently betrayed, we ought to admire those benevolent authors
+who, when the tide of religious prejudice ran very strong in favor of
+monastic virginity, had spirit enough to oppose the torrent, and to
+caution the devout and tender sex against so dangerous a profession. It
+is in this point of view that the character of Erasmus appears with the
+most amiable lustre; and his name ought to be eternally dear to the
+female world in particular. Though his studies and constitution led him
+almost to idolize those eloquent fathers of the church who have
+magnified this kind of life, his good sense and his accurate survey of
+the human race, enabled him to judge of the misery in which female youth
+was continually involved by a precipitate choice of the veil. He knew
+the successful arts by which the subtle and rapacious monks inveigled
+young women of opulent families into the cloister; and he exerted his
+lively and delicate wit in opposition to so pernicious an evil.
+
+In those nations of Europe where nunneries still exist, how many lovely
+victims are continually sacrificed to the avarice or absurd ambition of
+inhuman parents! The misery of these victims has been painted with great
+force by some benevolent writers of France.
+
+In most of those pathetic histories that are founded on the abuse of
+convents, the misery originates from the parent, and falls upon the
+child. The reverse has sometime happened; and there are examples of
+unhappy parents, who have been rendered miserable by the religious
+perversity of a daughter. In the fourteenth volume of that very amusing
+work, _Les Causes Celebres_, a work which is said to have been the
+favorite reading of Voltaire, there is a striking history of a girl
+under age, who was tempted by pious artifice to settle herself in a
+convent, in express opposition to parental authority. Her parents, who
+had in vain tried the most tender persuasion, endeavored at last to
+redeem their lost child, by a legal process against the nunnery in which
+she was imprisoned. The pleadings on this remarkable trial may, perhaps,
+be justly reckoned amongst the finest pieces of eloquence that the
+lawyers of France have produced. Monsieur Gillet, the advocate for the
+parents, represented, in the boldest and most affecting language, the
+extreme baseness of this religious seduction. His eloquence appeared to
+have fixed the sentiments of the judges; but the cause of superstition
+was pleaded by an advocate of equal power, and it finally prevailed. The
+unfortunate parents of Maria Vernal (for this was the name of the
+unfortunate girl) were condemned to resign her forever, and to make a
+considerable payment to those artful devotees who had piously robbed
+them of their child.
+
+When we reflect on the various evils that have arisen in convents, we
+have the strongest reason to rejoice and glory in that reformation by
+which the nunneries of England were abolished. Yet it would not be
+candid or just to consider all these as the mere harbors of
+licentiousness; since we are told that, at the time of their
+suppression, some of our religious houses were very honorably
+distinguished by the purity of their inhabitants. "The visitors," says
+Bishop Burnet, "interceded earnestly for one nunnery in Oxfordshire,
+where there was great strictness of life, and to which most of the young
+gentlewomen of the country were sent to be bred; so that the gentry of
+the country desired the king would spare the house: yet all was
+ineffectual."
+
+
+DEGREES OF SENTIMENTAL ATTACHMENT AT DIFFERENT PERIODS.
+
+In the earlier ages, sentiment in love does not appear to have been much
+attended to. When Abraham sent his servant to court a bride for his son
+Isaac, we do not so much as hear that Isaac was consulted on the matter:
+nor is there even a suspicion, that he might refuse or dislike the wife
+which his father had selected for him.
+
+From the manner in which Rebecca was solicited, we learn, that women
+were not then courted in person by the lover, but by a proxy, whom he,
+or his parents, deputed in his stead. We likewise see, that this proxy
+did not, as in modern times, endeavor to gain the affection of the lady
+he was sent to, by enlarging on the personal properties, and mental
+qualifications of the lover; but by the richness and magnificence of the
+presents he made to her and her relations.
+
+Presents have been, from the earliest ages, and are to this day, the
+mode of transacting all kinds of business in the east. When a favor is
+to be asked of a superior, one cannot hope to obtain it without a
+present. Courtship, therefore, having been anciently transacted in this
+manner, it is plain, that it was only considered in the same light as
+any other negotiable business, and not as a matter of sentiment, and of
+the heart.
+
+In the courtship, however, or rather purchase of a wife by Jacob, we
+meet with something like sentiment; for when he found that he was not
+possessed of money or goods, equal to the price which was set upon her,
+he not only condescended to purchase her by servitude, but even seemed
+much disappointed when the tender-eyed Leah was faithlessly imposed upon
+him instead of the beautiful Rachel.
+
+The ancient Gauls, Germans, and neighboring nations of the North, had so
+much veneration for the sex in general, that in courtship they behaved
+with a spirit of gallantry, and showed a degree of sentiment, to which
+_those_ who called them barbarians, never arrived. Not contented with
+getting possession of the person of his mistress, a northern lover could
+not be satisfied without the sincere affection of her heart; nor was his
+mistress ever to be gained but by such methods as plainly indicated to
+her the tenderest attachment from the most deserving man.
+
+The women of Scandinavia were not to be courted but by the most
+assiduous attendance, seconded by such warlike achievements as the
+custom of the country had rendered necessary to make a man deserving of
+his mistress. On these accounts, we frequently find a lover accosting
+the object of his passion by a minute and circumstantial detail of his
+exploits, and all his accomplishments. "We fought with swords," says
+King Regner, in a beautiful ode composed by himself, in memory of the
+deeds of his former days, "that day wherein I saw ten thousand of my
+foes rolling in the dust, near a promontory of England. A dew of blood
+distilled from our swords. The arrows which flew in search of the
+helmets, bellowed through the air. The pleasure of that day was truly
+exquisite.
+
+"We fought with swords. A young man should march early to the conflict
+of arms. Man should attack man, or bravely resist him. In this hath
+always consisted the nobility of the warrior. He who aspires to the love
+of his mistress, ought to be dauntless in the clash of swords."
+
+The descendants of the northern nations, long after they had plundered
+and repeopled the greatest part of Europe, retained nearly the same
+ideas of love, and practised the same methods in declaring it, that they
+had imbibed from their ancestors. "Love," says William of Montagnogout,
+"engages to the most amiable conduct. Love inspires the greatest
+actions. Love has no will but that of the object beloved, nor seeks any
+thing but what will augment her glory. You cannot love, nor ought to be
+beloved, if you ask any thing that virtue condemns. Never did I form a
+wish that could wound the heart of my beloved, nor delight in a pleasure
+that was inconsistent with her delicacy."
+
+The method of addressing females, among some of the tribes of American
+Indians, is the most simple that can possibly be devised. When the
+lover goes to visit his mistress, he only begs leave, by signs, to enter
+her hut. After obtaining this, he goes in, and sits down by her in the
+most respectful silence. If she suffers him to remain there without
+interruption, her doing so is consenting to his suit. If, however, the
+lover has any thing given him to eat and drink, it is a refusal; though
+the woman is obliged to sit by him until he has finished his repast. He
+then retires in silence.
+
+In Canada, courtship is not carried on with that coy reserve, and
+seeming secrecy, which politeness has introduced among the inhabitants of
+civilized nations. When a man and a woman meet, though they never saw
+each other before, if he is captivated by her charms, he declares his
+passion in the plainest manner; and she, with the same simplicity,
+answers, Yes, or No, without further deliberation. "That female
+reserve," says an ingenious writer, [Dr Alexander,] "that seeming
+reluctance to enter into the married state, observable in polite
+countries, is the work of art, and not of nature. The history of every
+uncultivated people amply proves it. It tells us, that their women not
+only speak with freedom the sentiments of their hearts, but even blush
+not to have these sentiments made as public as possible."
+
+In Formosa, however, they differ so much from the simplicity of the
+Canadians, that it would be reckoned the greatest indecency in the man
+to declare, or in the woman to hear, a declaration of the passion of
+love. The lover is, therefore, obliged to depute his mother, sister, or
+some female relation; and from any of these the soft tale may be heard
+without the least offence to delicacy.
+
+In Spain, the women had formerly no voice in disposing of themselves in
+matrimony. But as the empire of common sense began to extend itself,
+they began to claim a privilege, at least of being consulted in the
+choice of the partners of their lives. Many fathers and guardians, hurt
+by this female innovation, and puffed up with Spanish pride, still
+insisted on forcing their daughters to marry according to their
+pleasure, by means of duennas, locks, hunger, and even sometimes of
+poison and daggers. But as nature will revolt against every species of
+oppression and injustice, the ladies have for some time begun to assert
+their own rights. The authority of fathers and guardians begins to
+decline, and lovers find themselves obliged to apply to the affections
+of the fair, as well as to the pride and avarice of their relations.
+
+The nightly musical serenades of mistresses by their lovers are still in
+use. The gallant composes some love sonnets, as expressive as he can,
+not only of the situation of his heart, but of every particular
+circumstance between him and the lady, not forgetting to lard them with
+the most extravagant encomiums on her beauty and merit. These he sings
+in the night below her window accompanied with his lute, or sometimes
+with a whole band of music. The more piercingly cold the air, the more
+the lady's heart is supposed to be thawed with the patient sufferance
+of her lover, who, from night to night, frequently continues his
+exercises for many hours, heaving the deepest sighs, and casting the
+most piteous looks towards the window; at which if his goddess at last
+deigns to appear, and drops him a curtsey, he is superlatively paid for
+all his watching; but if she blesses him with a smile, he is ready to
+run distracted.
+
+In Italy the manner of addressing the ladies, so far as it relates to
+serenading, nearly resembles that of Spain. The Italian, however, goes a
+step farther than the Spaniard. He endeavors to blockade the house where
+his fair one lives, so as to prevent the entrance of any rival. If he
+marries the lady who cost him all this trouble and attendance, he shuts
+her up for life: If not, she becomes the object of his eternal hatred,
+and he too frequently endeavors to revenge by poison the success of his
+happier rival.
+
+In one circumstance relating to courtship, the Italians are said to be
+particular. They protract the time as long as possible, well knowing
+that even with all the little ills attending it, a period thus employed
+is one of the sweetest of human life.
+
+A French lover, with the word sentiment perpetually in his mouth, seems
+by every action to have excluded it from his heart. He places his whole
+confidence in his exterior air and appearance. He dresses for his
+mistress, dances for her, flutters constantly about her, helps her to
+lay on her rouge, and to place her patches. He attends her round the
+whole circle of amusements, chatters to her constantly, whistles and
+sings, and plays the fool with her. Whatever be his station, every thing
+gaudy and glittering within the sphere of it is called in to his
+assistance, particularly splendid carriages and tawdry liveries; but if,
+by the help of all these, he cannot make an impression on the fair one's
+heart, it costs him nothing but a few shrugs of his shoulders, two or
+three silly exclamations, and as many stanzas of some satirical song
+against her; and, as it is impossible for a Frenchman to live without an
+amour, he immediately betakes himself to another.
+
+There is hardly any such thing among people of fashion as courtship.
+Matters are generally so ordered by parents and guardians, that to a
+bride and bridegroom, the day of marriage is often the second time of
+their meeting. In many countries, to be married in this manner would be
+reckoned the greatest of misfortunes. In France it is little regarded.
+In the fashionable world, few people are greater strangers to, or more
+indifferent about each other, than husband and wife; and any appearance
+of fondness between them, or their being seen frequently together, would
+infallibly make them forfeit the reputation of the _ton_, and be laughed
+at by all polite company. On this account, nothing is more common than
+to be acquainted with a lady without knowing her husband, or visiting
+the husband without ever seeing his wife.
+
+
+GERMAN WOMEN.
+
+Of all the German females, the ladies of Saxony are the most amiable.
+Their persons are so superiorly charming and preferable in whatever can
+recommend them to be notice of mankind, that the German youth often
+visit Saxony in quest of _companions_ for life. Exclusive of their
+beauty and comeliness of appearance, they are brought up in a knowledge
+of all those arts, both useful and ornamental, which are so brilliant an
+addition to their native attractions. But what chiefly enhances their
+value, and gives it reality and duration, is a _sweetness_ of temper and
+festivity of disposition, that never fail to endear them on a very
+slight acquaintance. To crown all, they are generally patterns of
+conjugal tenderness and fidelity.
+
+As they are commonly careful to improve their minds by reading and
+instructive conversation, they have no small share of facetiousness and
+ingenuity. From their innate liveliness, they are extremely addicted to
+all the gay kind of amusements. They excel in the allurements of dress
+and decoration, and are in general skilful in music.
+
+The character, however, of the women in most other parts of Germany,
+particularly of the Austrian, is very different from this.
+Notwithstanding the advantages of size and make, their looks and
+features, though not unsightly, betray a vacancy of that life and
+spirit, without which beauty is uninteresting, and, like a mere picture,
+becomes utterly void of that indication of sensibility, which alone can
+awaken a delicacy of feeling.
+
+As their education is conducted by the rules of the grossest
+superstition, and they are taught little else than set forms of
+devotion, they arrive to the years of maturity uninstructed in the use
+of reason, and usually continue profoundly ignorant the remainder of
+their days, which are spent, or rather loitered away, in apathy and
+indolence.
+
+The principal happiness of the Austrian ladies of fashion consists in
+ruminating on the dignity of their birth and families, the antiquity of
+their race, the rank they hold, the respect attached to it, and the
+prerogatives they enjoy over the inferior classes, whom they treat with
+the utmost superciliousness, and hold in the most unreasonable contempt.
+In the mean time, their domestic affairs are condemned to the most
+unaccountable neglect. They dwell at home, careless of what passes
+there; and suffer disorder and confusion to prevail, without feeling the
+least uneasiness. Great frequenters of churches, their piety consists in
+the strictest conformity to all the externals of religion. They profess
+the most boundless belief in all the silly legends with which their
+treatises of devotion are filled; and these are the only books they ever
+read. The coldness of their constitution occasions a species of
+regulated gallantry, which is rather the effect of an opinion that it
+is an appendage of high life, than the result of their natural
+inclination.
+
+It must, at the same time be allowed, that the Austrian women are
+endowed with a great fund of sincerity and candor; and, though too much
+on the reserve, and prone to keep at an unnecessary distance, are yet
+capable of the truest attachment, and always warm and zealous in the
+cause of those whom they have admitted to their friendship.
+
+Though the Germans are rather a dull and phlegmatic people, and not
+greatly enslaved by the warmer passions, yet at the court of Vienna they
+are much given to intrigue: and an amour is so far from being
+scandalous, that a woman gains credit by the rank of her gallant, and is
+reckoned silly and unfashionable if she scrupulously adheres to the
+virtue of chastity. But such customs are more the customs of courts,
+than of places less exposed to temptation, and consequently less
+dissolute; and we are well assured that in Germany there are many women
+who do honor to humanity, not by chastity only, but also by a variety of
+other virtues.
+
+The ladies at the principal courts, differ not much in their dress from
+the French and English. They are not, however, so excessively fond of
+paint as the former. At some courts, they appear in rich furs: and all
+of them are loaded with jewels, if they can obtain them. The female part
+of the burgher's families, in many of the German towns, dress in a very
+different manner, and some of them inconceivably fantastic, as may be
+seen in many prints published in books of travels. But, in this respect,
+they are gradually reforming, and many of them make quite a different
+appearance in their dress from what they did thirty or forty years ago.
+
+The inhabitants of Vienna lived luxuriously, a great part of their time
+being spent in feasting and carousing. In winter, when the different
+branches of the Danube are frozen over, and the ground covered with
+snow, the ladies take their recreation in sledges of different shapes,
+such as griffins, tigers, swans, scallop-shells, etc. Here the lady
+sits, dressed in velvet lined with rich furs, and adorned with laces and
+jewels, having on her head a velvet cap. The sledge is drawn by one
+horse, stag or other creature, set off with plumes of feathers, ribbons
+and bells. As this diversion is taken chiefly in the night time,
+servants ride before the sledge with torches; and a gentleman, standing
+on the sledge behind, guides the horse.
+
+
+A VIEW OF MATRIMONY IN THREE DIFFERENT LIGHTS.
+
+The marriage life is always an insipid, a vexatious, or a happy
+condition, the first is, when two people of no taste meet together, upon
+such a settlement as has been thought reasonable by parents and
+conveyancers, from an exact valuation of the land and cash of both
+parties. In this case the young lady's person is no more regarded than
+the house and improvements in purchase of an estate; but she goes with
+her fortune, rather than her fortune with her. These make up the crowd
+or vulgar of the rich, and fill up the lumber of the human race, without
+beneficence towards those below them, or respect towards those above
+them; and lead a despicable, independent, and useless life, without
+sense of the laws of kindness, good-nature, mutual offices, and the
+elegant satisfactions which flow from reason and virtue.
+
+The vexatious life arises from a conjunction of two people of quick
+taste and resentment, put together for reasons well known to their
+friends, in which especial care is taken to avoid (what they think the
+chief of evils) poverty; and ensure them riches with every evil besides.
+These good people live in a constant restraint before company, and when
+alone, revile each other's person and conduct. In company they are in
+purgatory; when by themselves, in hell.
+
+The happy marriage is, where two persons meet, and voluntarily make
+choice of each other without principally regarding or neglecting the
+circumstances of fortune or beauty. These may still love in spite of
+adversity or sickness. The former we may in some measure defend
+ourselves from; the other is the common lot of humanity. Love has
+nothing to do with riches or state. Solitude, with the person beloved,
+has a pleasure, even in a woman's mind, beyond show or pomp.
+
+
+BETROTHING AND MARRIAGE.
+
+At a very early period, families who lived in a friendly manner, fell
+upon a method of securing their children to each other by what is called
+in the sacred writings Betrothing. This was agreeing on a price to be
+paid for the bride, the time when it should be paid, and when she should
+be delivered into the hands of her husband.
+
+There were, according to the Talmudists, three ways of betrothing. The
+first by a written contract. The second, by a verbal agreement,
+accompanied with a piece of money. And the third, by the parties coming
+together, and living as husband and wife; which might as properly be
+called marriage as betrothing.
+
+The written contract was in the following manner--"On such a day, month,
+year, A the son of B, has said to D the daughter of E, be thou my spouse
+according to the law of Moses and of the Israelites; and I give thee as
+a dowry the sum of two hundred suzims, as it is ordered by our law. And
+the said D hath promised to be his spouse upon the conditions aforesaid,
+which the said A doth promise to perform on the day of marriage. And to
+this the said A doth hereby bind himself and all that he hath, to the
+very cloak upon his back; engages himself to love, honor, feed, clothe,
+and protect her, and to perform all that is generally implied in
+contracts of marriage in favor of the Israelitish wives."
+
+The verbal agreement was made in the presence of a sufficient number of
+witnesses, by the man saying to the women, "Take this money as a pledge
+that at such a time I will take thee to be my wife." A woman who was
+thus betrothed or bargained for, was almost in every respect by the law
+considered as already married.
+
+Before the legislation of Moses, "marriages among the Jews," say the
+Rabbies, "were agreed on by the parents and relations of both sides.
+When this was done, the bridegroom was introduced to his bride. Presents
+were mutually exchanged, the contract signed before witnesses, and the
+bride, having remained sometime with her relations, was sent away to the
+habitation of her husband, in the night, with singing, dancing, and the
+sound of musical instruments."
+
+By the institution of Moses, the Rabbies tell us the contract of
+marriage was read in the presence of, and signed by, at least ten
+witnesses, who were free, and of age. The bride, who had taken care to
+bathe herself the night before, appeared in all her splendor, but
+veiled, in imitation of Rebecca, who veiled herself when she came in
+sight of Isaac. She was then given to the bridegroom by her parents, in
+words to this purpose: "Take her according to the law of Moses." And he
+received her, by saying, "I take her according to that law." Some
+blessings were then pronounced on the young couple, both by the parents
+and the rest of the company.
+
+The blessings or prayers generally run in this style: "Blessed art thou,
+O Lord of heaven, and earth, who has created man in thine own likeness,
+and hast appointed woman to be his partner and companion! Blessed art
+thou, who fillest Zion with joy for the multitude of her children!
+Blessed art thou who sendest gladness to the bridegroom and his bride;
+who hast ordained for them, love, joy, tenderness, peace and mutual
+affection. Be pleased to bless not only this couple, but Judah and
+Jerusalem, with songs of joy, and praise for the joy that thou givest
+them, by the multitudes of their sons and of their daughters."
+
+After the virgins had sung a marriage song, the company partook of a
+repast, the most magnificent the parties could afford; after which they
+began a dance, the men round the bridegroom, the women round the bride.
+They pretended that this dance was of divine institution and an
+essential part of the ceremony. The bride was then carried to the
+nuptial bed, and the bridegroom left with her. The company again
+returned to their feasting and rejoicing; and the Rabbies inform us,
+that this feasting, when the bride, was a widow, lasted only three days,
+but seven if she was a virgin.
+
+At the birth of a son, the father planted a cedar; and at that of a
+daughter, he planted a pine. Of these trees the nuptial bed was
+constructed, when the parties, at whose birth they were planted, entered
+into the married state.
+
+The Assyrians had a court, or tribunal whose only business was to
+dispose of young women in marriage, and see the laws of that union
+properly executed. What these laws were, or how the execution of them
+was enforced, are circumstances that have not been handed down to us.
+But the erecting a court solely for the purpose of taking cognizance of
+them, suggests an idea that they were many and various.
+
+Among the Greeks, the multiplicity of male and female deities who were
+concerned in the affairs of love, made the invocations and sacrifices on
+a matrimonial occasion a very tedious affair. Fortunate omens gave great
+joy, and the most fortunate of all others was a pair of turtles seen in
+the air, as those birds were reckoned the truest emblems of conjugal
+love and fidelity. If, however, one of them was seen alone it infallibly
+denoted separation, and all the ills attending an unhappy marriage.
+
+On the wedding day, the bride and bridegroom were richly dressed, and
+adorned with garlands of herbs and flowers. The bride was conducted in
+the evening to the house of her husband in a chariot, seated between her
+husband and one of his relations. When she alighted from the chariot the
+axle-tree of it was burnt to show that there was no method for her to
+return back. As soon as the young couple entered the house, figs and
+other fruits were thrown upon their heads to denote plenty; and a
+sumptuous entertainment was ready for them to partake of, to which all
+the relations on both sides were invited.
+
+The bride was lighted to bed by a number of torches, according to her
+quality; and the company returned in the morning to salute the new
+married couple, and to sing _epithalamia_ at the door of their
+bed-chamber.
+
+Epithalamia were marriage songs, anciently sung in praise of the bride
+or bridegroom, wishing them happiness, prosperity and a numerous issue.
+
+Among the Romans there were three different kinds of marriage. The
+ceremony of the first consisted in the young couple eating a cake
+together made only of wheat, salt and water. The second kind was
+celebrated by the parties solemnly pledging their faith to each other,
+by giving and receiving a piece of money. This was the most common way
+of marrying among the Romans. It continued in use, even after they
+became Christians. When writings were introduced to testify that a man
+and a woman had become husband and wife, and also, that the husband had
+settled a dower upon his bride, these writings were called _Tabulę
+Dotales_ (dowry tables;) and hence, perhaps the words in our marriage
+ceremony, "I thee endow."
+
+The third kind of marriage was, when a man and woman, having cohabited
+for some time and had children, found it expedient to continue together.
+In this case, if they made up the matter between themselves, it became
+a valid marriage, and the children were considered as legitimate.
+
+Something similar to this is the present custom in Scotland. There, if a
+man live with, and have children by a woman, though he do not marry her
+till he be upon his death-bed, all the children are thereby legitimated
+and become entitled to the honors and estates of their father. The case
+is the same in Holland and some parts of Germany; with this difference
+only, that all the children to be legitimated must appear with the
+father and mother in church at the ceremony of their marriage.
+
+
+FEMALE FRIENDSHIP.
+
+It has long been a question, Which of the two sexes is most capable of
+friendship? Montague, who is so much celebrated for his knowledge of
+human nature, has given it positively against the women; and his opinion
+has been generally embraced.
+
+Friendship perhaps, in women, is more rare than among men; but, at the
+same time, it must be allowed that where it is found, it is more tender.
+
+Men, in general, have more of the parade than the graces of friendship.
+They often wound while they serve; and their warmest sentiments are not
+very enlightened, with respect to those minute sentiments which are of
+so much value. But women have a refined sensibility, which makes them
+see every thing; nothing escapes them. They divine the silent
+friendship; they encourage the bashful or timid friendship; they offer
+the sweetest consolations to friendship in distress. Furnished with
+finer instruments, they treat more delicately a wounded heart. They
+compose it, and prevent it from feeling its agonies. They know, above
+all, how to give value to a thousand things, which have no value in
+themselves.
+
+We ought therefore, perhaps, to desire the friendship of a man upon
+great occasions; but, for general happiness, we must prefer the
+friendship of a woman.
+
+With regard to female intimacies, it may be taken for granted that there
+is no young woman who has not, or wishes not to have, a companion of her
+own sex, to whom she may unbosom herself on every occasion. That there
+are women capable of friendship with women, few impartial observers will
+deny. There have been many evident proofs of it, and those carried as
+far as seemed compatible with the imperfections of our common nature. It
+is, however, questioned by some; while others believe that it happens
+exceedingly seldom. Between married and unmarried women, it no doubt
+happens very often; whether it does so between those that are single, is
+not so certain. Young men appear more frequently susceptible of a
+generous and steady friendship for each other, than females as yet
+unconnected; especially, if the latter have, or are supposed to have,
+pretensions to beauty, not adjusted by the public.
+
+In the frame and condition of females, however, compared with those of
+the other sex, there are some circumstances which may help towards an
+apology for this unfavorable feature in their character.
+
+The state of matrimony is necessary to the support, order, and comfort
+of society. But it is a state that subjects the women to a great variety
+of solicitude and pain. Nothing could carry them through it with any
+tolerable satisfaction or spirit, but very strong and almost
+unconquerable attachments. To produce these, is it not fit they should
+be peculiarly sensible to the attention and regards of the men? Upon the
+same ground, does it not seem agreeable to the purposes of Providence,
+that the securing of this attention, and these regards, should be a
+principal aim? But can such an aim be pursued without frequent
+competition? And will not that too readily occasion jealousy, envy, and
+all the unamiable effects of mutual _rivalship_? Without the restraints
+of superior worth and sentiment, it certainly will. But can these be
+ordinarily expected from the prevailing turn of female education; or
+from the little pains that women, as well as other human beings,
+commonly take to _control_ themselves, and to act nobly? In this _last_
+respect, the sexes appear pretty much on the same footing.
+
+This reasoning is not meant to justify the indulgence of those little
+and sometimes base passions towards one another, with which females
+have been so generally charged. It is only intended to represent such
+passions in the first approach; and, while not entertained, as less
+criminal than the men are apt to state them; and to prove that, in their
+attachments to each other, the latter have not always that merit above
+the women, which they are apt to claim. In the mean time, let it be the
+business of the ladies, by emulating the gentlemen, where they appear
+good-natured and disinterested, to disprove their imputation, and to
+show a temper open to _friendship_ as well as to _love_.
+
+To talk much of the latter is natural for both; to talk much of the
+former, is considered by the men as one way of doing themselves honor.
+Friendship, they well know, is that dignified form, which, in
+speculation at least every heart must respect.
+
+But in friendship, as in religion, which on many accounts it resembles,
+speculation is often substituted in the place of practice. People fancy
+themselves possessed of the thing, and hope that others will fancy so
+too, because they are fond of the name, and have learned to talk about
+it with plausibility. Such talk indeed imposes, till experience give it
+the lie.
+
+To say the truth, there seems in either sex but little of what a fond
+imagination, unacquainted with the falsehood of the world, and
+warmed by affections which its selfishness has not yet chilled, would
+reckon friendship. In theory, the standard is raised too high; we ought
+not, however, to wish it much lower. The honest sensibilities of
+ingenuous nature should not be checked by the over-cautious maxims of
+political prudence. No advantage, obtained by such frigidity, can
+compensate for the want of those warm effusions of the heart into the
+bosom of a friend, which are doubtless among the most exquisite
+pleasures. At the same time, however, it must be owned, that they often
+by the inevitable lot of humanity, make way for the bitterest pains
+which the breast can experience. Happy beyond the common condition of
+her sex, is she who has found a friend indeed; open hearted, yet
+discreet; generously fervent, yet steady; thoroughly virtuous, but not
+severe; wise, as well as cheerful! Can such a friend be loved too much,
+or cherished too tenderly? If to excellence and happiness there be any
+one way more compendious than another, next to friendship with the
+Supreme Being, it is this.
+
+But when a mixture of minds so beautiful and so sweet takes place, it is
+generally, or rather always the result of early prepossession, casual
+intercourse, or in short, a combination of such causes as are not to be
+brought together by management or design. This noble plant may be
+cultivated; but it must grow spontaneously.
+
+
+ON THE CHOICE OF A HUSBAND.
+
+        Assist me, ye Nine,
+        While the youth I define,
+  With whom I in wedlock would class;
+        And ye blooming fair,
+        Lend a listening ear,
+  To approve of the man as you pass.
+
+        Not the changeable fry
+        Who love, nor know why,
+  But follow bedup'd by their passions:
+        Such votaries as these
+        Are like waves of the seas,
+  And steer'd by their own inclinations.
+
+        The hectoring blade
+        How unfit for the maid,
+  Where meekness and modesty reigns!
+        Such a blundering bully
+        I'll speak against truly,
+  Whatever I get for my pains.
+
+        Not the dogmatic elf,
+        Whose great all is himself,
+  Whose alone _ipse dixit_ is law:
+        What a figure he'll make,
+        How like Momus he'll speak
+  With sneering burlesque, a pshaw! pshaw!
+
+        Not the covetous wretch
+        Whose heart's at full stretch
+  To gain an inordinate treasure;
+        Him leave with the rest,
+        And such mortals detest,
+  Who sacrifice life without measure.
+
+        The fluttering fop,
+        How empty his top!
+  Nay, but some call him coxcomb, I trow;
+        But 'tis losing your time,
+        He's not worth half a rhyme,
+  Let the fag ends of prose bind his brow.
+
+        The guttling sot,
+        What a conduit his throat!
+  How beastly and vicious his life!
+        Where drunkards prevail,
+        Whole families feel,
+  Much more an affectionate wife.
+
+        One character yet;
+        I with sorrow repeat,
+  And O! that the number were less;
+        'Tis the blasphemous crew:
+        What a pattern they'll shew
+  To their hapless and innocent race!
+
+        Let wisdom then shine
+        In the youth that is mine,
+  Whilst virtue his footsteps impress;
+        Such I'd choose for my mate,
+        Whether sooner or late:
+  Tell me, Ladies, what think you of this?
+
+"The chief point to be regarded," says Lady Pennington in her Advice to
+her Daughters, "in the choice of a companion for life, is a really
+virtuous principle--an unaffected goodness of heart. Without this, you
+will be continually shocked by indecency, and pained by impiety. So
+numerous have been the unhappy victims to the ridiculous opinion, _a
+reformed libertine makes the best husband_--that, did not experience
+daily evince the contrary, one would believe it impossible for a girl
+who has a tolerable degree of common understanding, to be made the dupe
+of so erroneous a position, which has not the least shadow of reason for
+its foundation, and which a small share of observation will prove to be
+false in fact. A man who has been conversant with the worst sort of
+women, is very apt to contract a bad opinion of, and a contempt for, the
+sex in general. Incapable of esteeming any, he is suspicious of all;
+jealous without cause, angry without provocation, his own disturbed
+imagination is a continued source of ill-humor. To this is frequently
+joined a bad habit of body, the natural consequence of an irregular
+life, which gives an additional sourness to the temper. What rational
+prospect of happiness can there be with such a companion? And, that this
+is the general character of those who are called _reformed rakes_,
+observation will certify. But, admit there may be some exceptions, it is
+a hazard upon which no considerate woman would venture the peace of her
+whole life. The vanity of those girls who believe themselves capable of
+working miracles of this kind, and who give up their persons to men of
+libertine principles, upon the wild expectation of reclaiming them,
+justly deserves the disappointment which it will generally meet with;
+for, believe me, a wife is, of all persons, the least likely to succeed
+in such an attempt. Be it your care to find that virtue in a lover which
+you must never hope to form in a husband. Good sense, and good nature,
+are almost equally requisite. If the former is wanting, it will be next
+to an impossibility for you to esteem the person, of whose behavior you
+may have cause to be ashamed. Mutual esteem is as essential to happiness
+in the married state, as mutual affection. Without the latter, every day
+will bring with it some fresh cause of vexation, until repeated quarrels
+produce a coldness, which will settle into an irreconcilable aversion,
+and you will become, not only each other's torment, but the object of
+contempt to your family, and to your acquaintance.
+
+"This quality of good nature is, of all others, the most difficult to be
+ascertained, on account of the general mistake of blending it with
+good-humor, as if they were in themselves the same; whereas, in fact, no
+two principles of action are more essentially different. But this may
+require some explanation. By good nature, I mean that true benevolence,
+which partakes in the felicity of every individual within the reach of
+its ability, which relieves the distressed, comforts the afflicted,
+diffuses blessings, and communicates happiness, far as its sphere of
+action can extend; and which, in the private scenes of life, will shine
+conspicuous in the dutiful son, in the affectionate husband, the
+indulgent father, the faithful friend, and in the compassionate master
+both to man and beast. Good humor, on the other hand, is nothing more
+than a cheerful, pleasing deportment, arising either from a natural
+gaiety of mind, or from an affection of popularity, joined to an
+affability of behavior, the result of good breeding, and from a ready
+compliance with the taste of every company. This kind of mere good humor
+is, by far, the most striking quality. It is frequently mistaken for and
+complimented with the superior name of _real good nature_. A man, by
+this specious appearance, has often acquired that appellation who, in
+all the actions of private life, has been a morose, cruel, revengeful,
+sullen, haughty tyrant. Let them put on the cap, whose temples fit the
+galling wreath!
+
+"A man of a truly benevolent disposition, and formed to promote the
+happiness of all around him, may sometimes, perhaps, from an ill habit
+of body, an accidental vexation, or from a commendable openness of
+heart, above the meanness of disguise, be guilty of little sallies of
+peevishness, or of ill humor, which, carrying the appearance of ill
+nature, may be unjustly thought to proceed from it, by persons who are
+unacquainted with his true character, and who, take ill humor and ill
+nature to be synonymous terms, though in reality they bear not the least
+analogy to each other. In order to the forming a right judgment, it is
+absolutely necessary to observe this distinction, which will effectually
+secure you from the dangerous error of taking the shadow for the
+substance, an irretrievable mistake, pregnant with innumerable
+consequent evils!
+
+"From what has been said, it plainly appears, that the criterion of this
+amiable virtue is not to be taken for the general opinion; mere good
+humor being, to all intents and purposes, sufficient in this particular,
+to establish the public voice in favor of a man utterly devoid of every
+humane and benevolent affection of heart. It is only from the less
+conspicuous scenes of life, the more retired sphere of action, from the
+artless tenor of domestic conduct, that the real character can, with any
+certainty be drawn. These, undisguised, proclaim the man. But, as they
+shun the glare of light, nor court the noise of popular applause, they
+pass unnoticed, and are seldom known till after an intimate
+acquaintance. The best method, therefore, to avoid the deception in this
+case, is to lay no stress on outward appearances, which are too often
+fallacious, but to take the rule of judging from the simple unpolished
+sentiments of those whose dependent connections give them undeniable
+certainty; who not only see, but who hourly feel, the good or bad effect
+of that disposition, to which they are subjected. By this, I mean, that
+if a man is equally respected, esteemed, and beloved by his dependants
+and domestics, you may justly conclude, he has that true good nature,
+that real benevolence, which delights in communicating felicity, and
+enjoys the satisfaction it diffuses. But if by these he is despised and
+hated, served merely from a principle of fear, devoid of affection,
+which is ever easily discoverable, whatever may be his public character,
+however favorable the general opinion, be assured, that his disposition
+is such as can never be productive of domestic happiness. I have been
+the more particular on this head, as it is one of the most essential
+qualifications to be regarded, and of all others the most liable to be
+mistaken.
+
+"Never be prevailed with, my dear, to give your hand to a person
+defective in these material points. Secure of virtue, of good nature,
+and understanding, in a husband, you may be secure of happiness. Without
+the two former it is unattainable. Without the latter in a tolerable
+degree, it must be very imperfect.
+
+"Remember, however, that infallibility is not the property of man, or
+you may entail disappointment on yourself, by expecting what is never to
+be found. The best men are sometimes inconsistent with themselves. They
+are liable to be hurried, by sudden starts of passion, into expressions
+and actions, which their _cooler_ reason will condemn. They may have
+some oddities of behavior, and some peculiarities of temper. They may be
+subject to accidental ill humor, or to whimsical complaints. Blemishes
+of this kind often shade the brightest character; but they are never
+destructive of mutual felicity, unless when they are made so by an
+improper resentment, or by an ill-judged opposition. When cooled, and in
+his usual temper, the man of understanding, if he has been wrong, will
+suggest to himself all that could be urged against him. The man of good
+nature will, unupbraided, own his error. Immediate contradiction is,
+therefore, wholly unserviceable, and highly imprudent; an after
+repetition is equally unnecessary and injudicious. Any peculiarities in
+the temper or behavior ought to be properly represented in the tenderest
+and in the most friendly manner. If the representation of them is made
+discreetly, it will generally be well taken. But if they are so habitual
+as not easily to be altered, strike not too often upon the unharmonious
+string. Rather let them pass unobserved. Such a cheerful compliance will
+better cement your union; and they may be made easy to yourself, by
+reflecting on the superior good qualities by which these trifling faults
+are so greatly overbalanced.
+
+"You must remember, my dear, these rules are laid down on the
+supposition of your being united to a person who possesses the three
+qualifications for happiness before mentioned. In this case no farther
+direction is necessary, but that you strictly perform the duty of a
+wife, namely, to love, to honor, and obey. The two first articles are a
+tribute so indispensably due to _merit_, that they must be paid by
+_inclination_--and they naturally lead to the performance of the last,
+which will not only be easy, but a pleasing task, since nothing can ever
+be enjoined by such a person that is in itself improper, and a few
+things will, that can, with any reason, be disagreeable to you.
+
+"The being united to a man of irreligious principles, makes it
+impossible to discharge a great part of the proper duty of a wife. To
+name but one instance, obedience will be rendered impracticable, by
+frequent injunctions inconsistent with, and contrary to, the higher
+obligations of morality. This is not a supposition, but is a certainty
+founded upon facts, which I have too often seen and can attest. Where
+this happens, the reasons for non-compliance ought to be offered in a
+plain, strong, good natured manner. There is at least the chance of
+success from being heard. But should those reasons be rejected, or the
+hearing them refused, and silence on the subject enjoined, which is most
+probable, few people caring to hear what they know to be right, when
+they are determined not to be convinced by it--obey the injunction, and
+urge not the argument farther. Keep, however, steady to your principles,
+and suffer neither persuasion nor threats to prevail on you to act
+contrary to them. All commands repugnant to the laws of christianity,
+it is your indispensable duty to disobey. All requests that are
+inconsistent with prudence, or incompatible with the rank and character
+which you ought to maintain in life, it is your interest to refuse. A
+compliance with the former would be criminal, a consent to the latter
+highly indiscreet; and it might thereby subject you to general censure.
+For a man, capable of requiring, from his wife, what he knows to be in
+itself wrong, is equally capable of throwing the whole blame of such
+misconduct on her, and of afterwards upbraiding her for a behavior, to
+which he will, upon the same principle, disown that he has been
+accessary. Many similar instances have come within the compass of my own
+observation. In things of less material nature, that are neither
+criminal in themselves, nor pernicious in their consequences, always
+acquiesce, if insisted on, however disagreeable they may be to your own
+temper and inclination. Such a compliance will evidently prove that your
+refusal, in the other cases, proceeds not from a spirit of
+contradiction, but merely from a just regard to that superior duty which
+can never be infringed with impunity.
+
+"As the want of understanding is by no art to be concealed, by no
+address to be disguised, it might be supposed impossible for a woman of
+sense to unite herself to a person whose defect, in this instance, must
+render that sort of rational society, which constitutes the chief
+happiness of such an union, impossible. Yet here, how often has the
+weakness of female judgment been conspicuous! The advantages of great
+superiority in rank or fortune have frequently proved so irresistible a
+temptation, as, in opinion, to outweigh, not only the folly, but even
+the vices of its possessor--a grand mistake, ever tacitly acknowledged
+by a subsequent repentance, when the expected pleasures of affluence,
+equipage, and all the glittering pageantry, have been experimentally
+found insufficient to make amends for the want of that constant
+satisfaction which results from the social joy of conversing with a
+reasonable friend!
+
+"But however weak this motive must be acknowledged, it is more excusable
+than another, which, I fear, has sometimes had an equal influence on the
+mind--I mean so great a love of sway, as to induce her to give the
+preference to a person of weak intellectuals, in hopes of holding,
+uncontrolled, the reins of government. The expectation is, in fact, ill
+grounded. Obstinacy and pride are generally the companions of folly. The
+silliest people are often the most tenacious of their opinions, and,
+consequently, the hardest of all others to be managed. But admit the
+contrary, the principle is in itself bad. It tends to invert the order
+of nature, and to counteract the design of Providence.
+
+"A woman can never be seen in a more ridiculous light than when she
+appears to govern her husband. If, unfortunately, the superiority of
+understanding is on her side, the apparent consciousness of that
+superiority betrays a weakness, that renders her contemptible in the
+sight of every considerate person, and it may, very probably, fix in his
+mind a dislike never to be eradicated. In such a case, if it should ever
+be your own, remember that some degree of dissimulation is commendable,
+so far as to let your husband's defects appear unobserved. When he
+judges wrong, never flatly contradict, but lead him insensibly into
+another opinion, in so discreet a manner, that it may seem entirely his
+own, and let the whole credit of every prudent determination rest on
+him, without indulging the foolish vanity of claiming any merit to
+yourself. Thus a person of but an indifferent capacity, may be so
+assisted, as, in many instances, to shine with borrowed lustre, scarce
+distinguishable from the native, and by degrees he may be brought into a
+kind of mechanical method of acting properly, in all the common
+occurrences of life. Odd as this position may seem, it is founded in
+fact. I have seen the method successfully practised by more than one
+person, where a weak mind, on the governed side, has been so prudently
+set off as to appear the sole director; like the statue of the Delphic
+god, which was thought to give forth its own oracles, whilst the humble
+priest, who lent his voice, was by the shrine concealed, nor sought a
+higher glory than a supposed obedience to the power he would be thought
+to serve."
+
+
+A LETTER TO A NEW MARRIED MAN.
+
+I received the news of your marriage with infinite delight, and hope
+that the sincerity with which I wish you happiness, may excuse the
+liberty I take in giving you a few rules, whereby more certainly to
+obtain it. I see you smile at my wrong-headed kindness, and, reflecting
+on the charms of your bride, cry out in a rapture, that you are happy
+enough without any rules. I know you are. But after one of the forty
+years, which I hope you will pass pleasingly together, is over, this
+letter may come in turn, and rules for felicity may not be found
+unnecessary, however some of them may appear impracticable.
+
+Could that kind of love be kept alive through the marriage state, which
+makes the charm of a single one, the sovereign good would no longer be
+sought for; in the union of two faithful lovers it would be found: but
+reason shows that this is impossible, and experience informs us that it
+never was so; we must preserve it as long, and supply it as happily as
+we can.
+
+When your present violence of passion subsides, however, and a more cool
+and tranquil affection takes its place, be not hasty to censure yourself
+as indifferent, or to lament yourself as unhappy; you have lost that
+only which it was impossible to retain, and it were graceless amid the
+pleasures of a prosperous summer to regret the blossoms of a transient
+spring. Neither unwarily condemn your bride's insipidity till you have
+recollected that no object however sublime, no sounds however charming,
+can continue to transport us with delight when they no longer strike us
+with novelty. The skill to renovate the powers of pleasing is said
+indeed to be possessed by some women in an eminent degree; but the
+artifices of maturity are seldom seen to adorn the innocence of youth:
+you have made your choice, and ought to approve it.
+
+Satiety follows quickly upon the heels of possession; and to be happy,
+we must always have something in view. The person of your lady is
+already all your own, and will not grow more pleasing in your eyes I
+doubt, though the rest of your sex will think her handsome for these
+dozen of years. Turn therefore all your attention to her mind, which
+will daily grow brighter by polishing. Study some easy science together,
+and acquire a similarity of tastes while you enjoy a community of
+pleasures. You will by this means have many images in common, and be
+freed from the necessity of separating to find amusement. Nothing is so
+dangerous to wedded love as the possibility of either being happy out of
+the company of the other: endeavor therefore, to cement the present
+intimacy on every side; let your wife never be kept ignorant of your
+income, your expenses, your friendships, or aversions; let her know your
+very faults, but make them amiable by your virtues; consider all
+concealment as a breach of fidelity; let her never have any thing to
+find out in your character; and remember, that from the moment one of
+the partners turns spy upon the other, they have commenced a state of
+hostility.
+
+Seek not for happiness in singularity; and dread a refinement of wisdom
+as a deviation into folly. Listen not to those sages who advise you
+always to scorn the counsel of a woman, and if you comply with her
+requests pronounce you to be wife-ridden.
+
+I said that the person of your lady would not grow more pleasing to you;
+but pray let her never suspect that it grows less so: that a woman will
+pardon an affront to her understanding much sooner than one to her
+person, is well known; nor will any of us contradict the assertion. All
+our attainments, all our arts, are employed to gain and keep the heart
+of man: and what mortification can exceed the disappointment, if the end
+be not obtained? There is no reproof however pointed, no punishment
+however severe, that a woman of spirit will not prefer to neglect; and
+if she can endure it without complaint, it only proves that she means to
+make herself amends by the attention of others for the slights of her
+husband. For this, and for every reason, it behoves a married man not to
+let his politeness fail, though his ardor may abate, but to retain at
+least that general civility towards his own lady which he is so willing
+to pay to every other, and not show a wife of eighteen or twenty years
+old, that every man in company can treat her with more complaisance than
+he, who so often vowed to her eternal fondness.
+
+It is not my opinion that a young woman should be indulged in every wild
+wish of her gay heart or giddy head; but contradiction may be softened
+by domestic kindness, and quiet pleasures substituted in the place of
+noisy ones. Public amusements are not indeed so expensive as is
+sometimes imagined, but they tend to alienate the minds of married
+people from each other. A well chosen society of friends and
+acquaintance, more eminent for virtue and good sense than for gaiety and
+splendor, where the conversation of the day may afford comment for the
+evening, seems the most rational pleasure this great town can afford.
+
+That your own superiority should always be seen, but never felt, seems
+an excellent general rule. A wife should outshine her husband in
+nothing, not even in her dress. The bane of married happiness among the
+city men in general has been, that finding themselves unfit for polite
+life, they transferred their vanity to their ladies, dressed them up
+gaily, and sent them out a gallanting, while the good man was to regale
+with port wine or rum punch, perhaps among mean companions, after the
+compting house was shut. This practice produced the ridicule thrown on
+them in all our comedies and novels since commerce began to prosper. But
+now that I am so near the subject, a word or two on jealousy may not be
+amiss; for though not a failing of the present age's growth, yet the
+seeds of it are too certainly sown in every warm bosom, for us to
+neglect it as a fault of no consequence. If you are ever tempted to be
+jealous, watch your wife narrowly--but never tease her; tell her your
+jealousy but conceal your suspicion; let her, in short, be satisfied
+that it is only your odd temper, and even troublesome attachment, that
+makes you follow her; but let her not dream that you ever doubted
+seriously of her virtue even for a moment. If she is disposed towards
+jealousy of you, let me beseech you to be always explicit with her and
+never mysterious: be above delighting in her pain, of all things--nor do
+your business nor pay your visits with an air of concealment, when all
+you are doing might as well be proclaimed perhaps in the parish vestry.
+But I hope better than this of your tenderness and of your virtue, and
+will release you from a lecture you have so little need of, unless your
+extreme youth and my uncommon regard will excuse it. And now farewell;
+make my kindest compliments to your wife, and be happy in proportion as
+happiness is wished you by, Dear Sir, &c.
+
+
+GARRICK'S ADVICE TO MARRIED LADIES.
+
+  Ye fair married dames who so often deplore
+  That a lover once blest is a lover no more;
+  Attend to my counsel, nor blush to be taught
+  That prudence must cherish what beauty has caught.
+
+  The bloom on your cheek, and the glance of your eye,
+  Your roses and lilies may make the men sigh;
+  But roses, and lilies, and sighs pass away,
+  And passion will die as your beauties decay.
+
+  Use the man that you wed like your fav'rite guitar,
+  Though music in both, they are both apt to jar;
+  How tuneful and soft from a delicate touch,
+  Not handled too roughly, nor play'd on too much!
+
+  The sparrow and linnet will feed from your hand,
+  Grow tame by your kindness, and come at command:
+  Exert with your husband the same happy skill,
+  For hearts, like your birds, may be tamed to your will.
+
+  Be gay and good-humour'd, complying and kind,
+  Turn the chief of your care from your face to your mind;
+  'Tis thus that a wife may her conquests improve,
+  And Hymen shall rivet the fetters of love.
+
+
+ORIGIN OF NUNNERIES.
+
+Soon after the introduction of Christianity, St. Mark is said to have
+founded a society called Therapeutes, who dwelt by the lake Moeris in
+Egypt, and devoted themselves to solitude and religious offices. About
+the year 305 of the christian computation, St. Anthony being persecuted
+by Dioclesian, retired into the desert near the lake Moeris; numbers of
+people soon followed his example, joined themselves to the Therapeutes;
+St. Anthony being placed at their head, and improving upon their rules,
+first formed them into regular monasteries, and enjoined them to live
+in mortification and chastity. About the same time, or soon after,
+St. Synclitica, resolving not to be behind St. Anthony in her zeal for
+chastity, is generally believed to have collected together a number of
+enthusiastic females, and to have founded the first nunnery for their
+reception. Some imagine the scheme of celibacy was concerted between
+St. Anthony and St. Synclitica, as St. Anthony, on his first retiring
+into solitude, is said to have put his sister into a nunnery, which must
+have been that of St. Synclitica; but however this be, from their
+institution, monks and nuns increased so fast, that in the city of
+Orixa, about seventeen years after the death of St. Anthony, there were
+twenty thousand virgins devoted to celibacy.
+
+Such at this time was the rage of celibacy; a rage which, however
+unnatural, will cease to excite our wonder, when we consider, that it
+was accounted by both sexes the sure and only infallible road to heaven
+and eternal happiness; and as such, it behoved the church vigorously to
+maintain and countenance it, which she did by beginning about this time
+to deny the liberty of marriage to her sons. In the first council of
+Nice, held soon after the introduction of christianity, the celibacy of
+the clergy was strenuously argued for, and some think that even in an
+earlier period it had been the subject of debate; however this be, it
+was not agreed to in the council of Nice, though at the end of the
+fourth century it is said that Syricus, bishop of Rome, enacted the
+first decree against the marriage of monks; a decree which was not
+universally received: for several centuries after, we find that it was
+not uncommon for clergymen to have wives; even the popes were allowed
+this liberty, as it is said in some of the old statutes of the church,
+that it was lawful for the pope to marry a virgin for the sake of
+having children. So exceedingly difficult is it to combat against
+nature, that little regard seems to have been paid to this decree of
+Syricus; for we are informed, that several centuries after, it was no
+uncommon thing for the clergy to have wives, and perhaps even a
+plurality of them; as we find it among the ordonnances of pope
+Sylvester, that every priest should be the husband of one wife only; and
+Pius the Second affirmed, that though many strong reasons might be
+adduced in support of the celibacy of the clergy, there were still
+stronger reasons against it.
+
+
+DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT CONVENT AT AJUDA IN RIO JANERIO.
+
+At the end of the chapel is a large quadrangle, entered by a massive
+gateway, surrounded by three stories of grated windows. Here female
+negro pedlars come with their goods, and expose them in the court-yard
+below. The nuns, from their grated windows above, see what they like,
+and, letting down a cord, the article is fastened to it; it is then
+drawn up and examined, and, if approved of, the price is let down. Some
+that I saw in the act of buying and selling in this way, were very
+merry, joking and laughing with the blacks below, and did not seem at
+all indisposed to do the same with my companion. In three of the lower
+windows, on a level with the court-yard, are revolving cupboards, like
+half-barrels, and at the back of each is a plate of tin, perforated like
+the top of a nutmeg-grater. The nuns of this convent are celebrated for
+making sweet confectionary, which people purchase. There is a bell which
+the purchaser applies to, and a nun peeps through the perforated tin;
+she then lays the dish on a shelf of the revolving cupboard, and turns
+it inside out; the dish is taken, the price laid in its place, and it is
+turned in. While we stood there, the invisible lady-warder asked for a
+pinch of snuff; the box was laid down in the same way, and turned in and
+out.
+
+
+CEREMONY OF THE INITIATION OF A NUN.
+
+The disposition to take the veil, even among young girls, is not
+uncommon in Brazil. The opposition of friends can prevent it, until they
+are twenty five years old; but after that time they are considered
+competent to decide for themselves. A writer describes the initiation of
+a young lady, whose wealthy parents were extremely reluctant to have her
+take the vow. She held a lighted torch in her hand, in imitation of the
+prudent virgins; and when the priest chanted, "Your spouse approaches;
+come forth and meet him," she approached the altar singing, "I follow
+with my whole heart;" and, accompanied by two nuns already professed,
+she knelt before the bishop. She seemed very lovely, with an unusually
+sweet, gentle, and pensive countenance. She did not look particularly or
+deeply affected; but when she sung her responses, there was something
+exceedingly mournful in the soft, tremulous, and timid tones of her
+voice. The bishop now exhorted her to make a public profession of her
+vows before the congregation, and said, "Will you persevere in your
+purpose of holy chastity?" She blushed deeply, and, with a downcast
+look, lowly, but firmly answered, "I will." He again said, more
+distinctly, "Do you promise to preserve it?" and she replied more
+emphatically, "I do promise." The bishop then said, "Thanks be to God;"
+and she bent forward and reverently kissed his hand, while he asked her,
+"Will you be blest and consecrated?" She replied, "Oh! I wish it."
+
+The habiliments, in which she was hereafter to be clothed, were
+sanctified by the aspersion of holy water: then followed several prayers
+to God, that "As he had blessed the garments of Aaron, with ointment
+which flowed from his head to his beard, so he would now bless the
+garments of his servant, with the copious dew of his benediction." When
+the garment was thus blessed, the girl retired with it; and having laid
+aside the dress in which she had appeared, she returned, arrayed in her
+new attire, except her veil. A gold ring was next provided, and
+consecrated with a prayer, that she who wore it "might be fortified with
+celestial virtue, to preserve a pure faith, and incorrupt fidelity to
+her spouse, Jesus Christ." He last took the veil, and her female
+attendants having uncovered her head, he threw it over her, so that it
+fell on her shoulders and bosom, and said, "Receive this sacred veil,
+under the shadow of which you may learn to despise the world, and submit
+yourself truly, and with all humility of heart, to your Spouse;" to
+which she sung a response, in a very sweet, soft, and touching voice:
+"He has placed this veil before my face that I should see no lover but
+himself."
+
+The bishop now kindly took her hand, and held it while the following
+hymn was chanted by the choir with great harmony: "Beloved Spouse,
+come--the winter is passed--the turtle sings, and the blooming vines are
+redolent of summer."
+
+A crown, a necklace, and other female ornaments, were now taken by the
+bishop and separately blessed; and the girl bending forward, he placed
+them on her head and neck, praying that she might be thought worthy "to
+be enrolled into the society of the hundred and forty-four thousand
+virgins, who preserved their chastity and did not mix with the society
+of impure women."
+
+Last of all, he placed the ring on the middle finger of her right hand,
+and solemnly said, "So I marry you to Jesus Christ, who will henceforth
+be your protector. Receive this ring, the pledge of your faith, that you
+may be called the spouse of God." She fell on her knees, and sung, "I am
+married to him whom angels serve, whose beauty the sun and moon admire;"
+then rising, and showing with exultation her right hand, she said,
+emphatically, as if to impress it on the attention of the congregation,
+"My Lord has wedded me with this ring, and decorated me with a crown as
+his spouse. I here renounce and despise all earthly ornaments for his
+sake, whom alone I see, whom alone I love, in whom alone I trust, and to
+whom alone I give all my affections. My heart hath uttered a good word:
+I speak of the deed I have done for my King." The bishop then pronounced
+a general benediction, and retired up to the altar; while the nun
+professed was borne off between her friends, with lighted tapers, and
+garlands waving.
+
+
+
+WEDDED LOVE IS INFINITELY PREFERABLE TO VARIETY.
+
+  Hail, wedded love, mysterious law, true source
+  Of human offspring, sole propriety,
+  In Paradise of all things common else!
+
+    By thee adult'rous lust was driven from men,
+  Among the bestial herds to range; by thee,
+  Founded in reason, loyal, just and pure,
+  Relations dear, and all the charities
+  Of father, son, and brother, first were known.
+
+    Thou art the fountain of domestic sweets,
+  Whose bed is undefiled and chaste pronounced.
+  Here Love his golden shafts employs, here lights
+  His constant lamp, and waves his purple wings,
+  Reigns here and revels; not in the bought smile
+  Of harlots, loveless, joyless, unendear'd,
+  Casual fruition; nor in court amours,
+  Mix'd dance, or wanton mask, or midnight ball,
+  Or serenade, which the starved lover sings
+  To his proud fair, best quitted with disdain.
+
+
+ITALIAN DEBAUCHERY.
+
+If chastity is none of the most shining virtues of the French, it is
+still less so of the Italians. Almost all the travellers who have
+visited Italy, agree in describing it as the most abandoned of all the
+countries of Europe. At Venice, at Naples, and indeed in almost every
+part of Italy, women are taught from their infancy, the various arts of
+alluring to their arms, the young and unwary, and of obtaining from
+them, while heated by love or wine, every thing that flattery and false
+smiles can obtain in those unguarded moments: and so little infamous is
+the trade of prostitution, and so venal the women, that hardly any rank
+or condition set them above being bribed to it, nay, they are frequently
+assisted by their male friends and acquaintances to drive a good
+bargain; nor does their career of debauchery finish with their unmarried
+state; the vows of fidelity which they make at the altar, are like the
+vows and oaths made upon too many other occasions, only considered as
+nugatory forms, which law has obliged them to take, but custom absolved
+them from performing. They even claim and enjoy greater liberties after
+marriage than before; every married woman has a cicisbey, or gallant,
+who attends her to all public places, hands her in and out of her
+carriage, picks up her gloves or fan, and a thousand other little
+offices of the same natures; but this is only his public employment, as
+a reward for which, he is entitled to have the lady as often as he
+pleases at a place of retirement sacred to themselves, where no person
+not even the most intrusive husband must enter, to be witness of what
+passes between them. This has been considered by people of other
+nations, as a custom not altogether consistent with chastity and purity
+of manners; the Italians themselves however, endeavor to justify it in
+their conversations with strangers, and Baretti has of late years
+published a formal vindication of it to the world. In this vindication
+he has not only deduced the original of it from pure Platonic love, but
+would willingly persuade us that it is still continued upon the same
+mental principles; a doctrine which the world will hardly be credulous
+enough to swallow, even though he should offer more convincing arguments
+to support it than he has already done.
+
+
+NAKED FAKIERS
+
+So different over all the world are the sects of saints as well as of
+sinners, that besides the Bramins, a set of innocent and religious
+priests, who have rendered their women virtuous by treating them with
+kindness and humanity, there are another sect of religio-philosophical
+drones, called Fakiers, who contribute as much as they can to debauch
+the sex, under a pretence of superior sanctity. These hypocritical
+saints, like some of the ridiculous sects which formerly existed in
+Europe, wear no clothes; considering them only as proper appendages to
+sinners, who are ashamed, because they are sensible of guilt; while
+they, being free from every stain of pollution, have no shame to cover.
+In this original state of nature, these idle and pretended devotees,
+assemble together sometimes in armies of ten or twelve thousand, and
+under a pretence of going in pilgrimage to certain temples, like locusts
+devour every thing on their way; the men flying before them, and
+carrying all that they can out of the reach of their depredations; while
+the women, not in the least afraid of a naked army of lusty saints,
+throw themselves in their way, or remain quietly at home to receive
+them.
+
+It has long been an opinion, well established all over India, that there
+is not in nature so powerful a remedy for removing the sterility of
+women, as the prayers of these sturdy naked saints. On this account,
+barren women constantly apply to them for assistance; which when the
+good natured Fakier has an indication to grant, he leaves his slipper,
+or his staff at the door of the lady's apartment with whom he is
+praying; a symbol so sacred, that it effectually prevents any one from
+violating the secrecy of their devotion; but should he forget this
+signal, and at the same time be distant from the protection of his
+brethren, a sound drubbing is frequently the reward of his pious
+endeavors. But though they venture sometimes in Hindostan, to treat a
+Fakier in this unholy manner, in other parts of Asia and Africa, such is
+the veneration in which these lusty saints are held, that they not only
+have access when they please, to perform private devotions with barren
+women, but are accounted so holy, that they may at any time, in public
+or private, confer a personal favor upon a woman, without bringing upon
+her either shame or guilt; and no woman dare refuse to gratify their
+passion. Nor indeed, has any one an inclination of this kind; because
+she, upon whom this personal favor has been conferred, is considered by
+herself, and by all the people, as having been sanctified and made more
+holy by the action.
+
+So much concerning the conduct of the Fakiers in debauching women, seems
+certain. But it is by travellers further related, that wherever they
+find a woman who is exceedingly handsome, they carry her off privately
+to one of their temples; but in such a manner, as to make her and the
+people believe, that she is carried away by the god who is there
+worshipped; who being violently in love with her, took that method to
+procure her for his wife. This done, they perform a nuptial ceremony,
+and make her further believe that she is married to the god; when, in
+reality, she is only married to one of the Fakiers who personates him.
+Women who are treated in this manner are revered by the people as the
+wives of the gods, and by that stratagem secured solely to the Fakiers,
+who have cunning enough to impose themselves as gods upon some of these
+women, through the whole of their lives. In countries where reason is
+stronger than superstition, we almost think this impossible: where the
+contrary is the case, there is nothing too hard to be credited.
+Something like this was done by the priests of ancient Greece and Rome;
+and a few centuries ago, tricks of the same nature were practiced by the
+monks, and other libertines, upon some of the visionary and enthusiastic
+women of Europe. Hence we need not think it strange, if the Fakiers
+generally succeed in attempts of this nature; when we consider that they
+only have to deceive a people brought up in the most consummate
+ignorance; and that nothing can be more flattering to female vanity,
+than for a woman to suppose herself such a peculiar favorite of the
+divinity she worships, as to be chosen, from all her companions, to the
+honor of being admitted to his embraces; a favor, which her
+self-admiration will dispose her more readily to believe than examine.
+
+
+MAHOMETAN PLURALITY OF WIVES.
+
+But it is not the religion of the Hindoos only, that is unfavorable to
+chastity; that of Mahomet which now prevails over a great part of India,
+is unfavorable to it likewise. Mahometanism every where indulges men
+with a plurality of wives while it ties down the women to the strictest
+conjugal fidelity; hence, while the men riot in unlimited variety, the
+women are in great numbers confined to share among them the scanty
+favors of one man only. This unnatural and impolitic conduct induces
+them to seek by art and intrigue, what they are denied by the laws of
+their prophet. As polygamy prevails over all Asia, this art and intrigue
+follow as the consequence of it; some have imagined, that it is the
+result of climate, but it rather appears to be the result of the
+injustice which women suffer by polygamy; for it seems to reign, as much
+in Constantinople, and in every other place where polygamy is in
+fashion, as it does on the banks of the Ganges, or the Indus. The famous
+Montesquieu, whose system was, that the passions are entirely regulated
+by the climate, brings as a proof of this system, a story from the
+collection of voyages for the establishment of an East India Company, in
+which it is said, that at Patan, "the wanton desires of the women are so
+outrageous, that the men are obliged to make use of a certain apparel to
+shelter them from their designs." Were this story really true, it would
+be but a partial proof of the effect of climate, for why should the
+burning suns of Patan only influence the passions of the fair? Why
+should they there transport that sex beyond decency, which in all other
+climates is the most decent? And leave in so cool and defensive a state,
+that sex, which in all other climates is apt to be the most offensive
+and indecent? To whatever length the spirit of intrigue may be carried
+in Asia and Africa, however the passions of the women may prompt them to
+excite desire, and to throw themselves in the way of gratification, we
+have the strongest reasons to reprobate all these stories, which would
+make us believe, that they are so lost to decency as to attack the other
+sex: such a system would be overturning nature, and inverting the
+established laws by which she governs the world.
+
+
+WOMEN OF OTAHEITE.
+
+In Otaheite, an island in the Southern Ocean, we are presented with
+women of a singular character. As far as we can recollect, we think it
+is a pretty general rule, that whatever the sex are accustomed to be
+constantly clothed, they are ashamed to appear naked: those of Otaheite
+seem however to be an exception to this rule; to show themselves in
+public, with or without clothing, appears to be to them a matter of
+equal indifference, and the exposition of any part of their bodies, is
+not attended with the least backwardness or reluctance; circumstances
+from which we may reasonably infer, that among them, clothes were not
+originally invented to cover shame, but either as ornaments, or as a
+defence against the cold. But a still more striking singularity in the
+character of these women, and which distinguishes them not only from the
+females of all other nations, but likewise from those of almost all
+other animals, is, their performing in public those rites, which in
+every other part of the globe, and among almost all animals, are
+performed in privacy and retirement: whether this is the effect of
+innocence, or of a dissoluteness of manners to which no other people
+have yet arrived, remains still to be discovered; that they are
+dissolute, even beyond any thing we have hitherto recorded, is but too
+certain. As polygamy is not allowed among them, to satisfy the lust of
+variety, they have a society called Arreoy, in which every woman is
+common to every man; and when any of these women happens to have a
+child, it is smothered in the moment of its birth, that it may not
+interrupt the pleasures of its infamous mother; but in this juncture,
+should nature relent at so horrid a deed, even then the mother is not
+allowed to save her child, unless she can find a man who will patronise
+it as a father; in which case, the man is considered as having
+appropriated the woman to himself, and she is accordingly extruded from
+this hopeful society. These few anecdotes sufficiently characterise the
+women of this island.
+
+
+CRIM. CON. OF CLAUDIUS AND POMPEIA.
+
+Our own times furnish us with an instance of a ceremony from which all
+women are carefully excluded;[2] but the Roman ladies, in performing the
+rites sacred to the good goddess, were even more afraid of the men than
+our masons are of women; for we are told by some authors, that so
+cautious were they of concealment, that even the statutes and pictures
+of men and other male animals were hood-winked with a thick veil. The
+house of the consul, though commonly so large that they might have been
+perfectly secured against all intrusion in some remote apartment of it,
+was obliged to be evacuated by all male animals, and even the consul
+himself was not suffered to remain in it. Before they began their
+ceremonies, every corner and lurking place in the house was carefully
+searched, and no caution omitted to prevent all possibility of being
+discovered by impertinent curiosity, or disturbed by presumptive
+intrusion. But these cautions were not all the guard that was placed
+around them; The laws of the Romans made it death for any man to be
+present at the solemnity.
+
+Such being the precautions, and such the penalties for insuring the
+secrecy of this ceremony, it was only once attempted to be violated,
+though it existed from the foundation of the Roman empire till the
+introduction of Christianity; and this attempt was made, not so much
+perhaps with a view to be present at the ceremony, as to fulfil an
+assignation with a mistress. Pompeia, the wife of Cęsar, having been
+suspected of a criminal correspondence with Claudius, and so closely
+watched that she could find no opportunity of gratifying her passion, at
+last, by the means of a female slave, settled an assignation with him at
+the celebration of the rites of the good goddess. Claudius was directed
+to come in the habit of a singing girl, a character he could easily
+personate, being young and of a fair complexion. As soon as the slave
+saw him enter, she ran to inform her mistress. The mistress eager to
+meet her lover, immediately left the company and threw herself into his
+arms, but could not be prevailed upon by him to return so soon as he
+thought necessary for their mutual safety; upon which he left her, and
+began to take a walk through the rooms, always avoiding the light as
+much as possible. While he was thus walking by himself, a maid servant
+accosted him, and desired him to sing; he took no notice of her, but she
+followed and urging him so closely, that he was at last obliged to
+speak. His voice betrayed his sex; the maid servant shrieked, and
+running into the room where the rites were performing, told that a man
+was in the house. The women in the utmost consternation, threw a veil
+ever the mysteries, ordered the doors to be secured, and with lights in
+their hands, ran about the house searching for the sacrilegious
+intruder. They found him in the apartment of the slave who had admitted
+him, drove him out with ignominy, and, though it was in the middle of
+the night immediately dispersed, to give an account to their husbands of
+what had happened. Claudius was soon after accused of having profaned
+the holy rites; but the populace declaring in his favor, the judges,
+fearing an insurrection, were obliged to acquit him.
+
+    [2] Masonry
+
+
+A WORD TO A VERY NICE CLASS OF LADIES.
+
+There is amongst us a female character, not uncommon, which we
+denominate the outrageously virtuous. Women of this stamp never fail to
+seize all opportunities of exclaiming, in the bitterest manner, against
+every one upon whom even the slightest suspicion of indiscretion or
+unchastity has fallen; taking care, as they go along, to magnify every
+mole-hill into a mountain, and every thoughtless freedom into the
+blackest of crimes. But besides the illiberality of thus treating such
+as may frequently be innocent, you may credit us, dear countrywomen,
+when we aver, that such a behavior, instead of making you appear more
+virtuous, only draws down upon you, by those who know the world,
+suspicions not much to your advantage. Your sex are in general suspected
+by ours, of being too much addicted to scandal and defamation; a
+suspicion, which has not arisen of late years, as we find in the ancient
+laws of England a punishment, known by the name of ducking-stool,
+annexed to scolding and defamation in the women, though no such
+punishment nor crime is taken notice of in the men. This crime, however,
+we persuade ourselves, you are less guilty of, than is commonly
+believed: but there is another of a nature not more excusable, from
+which we cannot so much exculpate you; which is, that harsh and
+forbidding appearance you put on, and that ill treatment, which you no
+doubt think necessary, for the illustration of your own virtue, you
+should bestow on every one of your sex who has deviated from the path of
+rectitude. A behaviour of this nature, besides being so opposite to that
+meek and gentle spirit which should distinguish female nature, is in
+every respect contrary to the charitable and forgiving temper of the
+Christian religion, and infallibly shuts the door of repentance against
+an unfortunate sister, willing, perhaps, to abandon the vices into which
+heedless inadvertency had plunged her, and from which none of you can
+promise yourselves an absolute security.
+
+We wish not, fair countrywomen, like the declaimer and satirist, to
+paint you all vice and imperfection, nor, like the venal panegyrist, to
+exhibit you all virtue. As impartial historians, we confess that you
+have, in the present age, many virtues and good qualities, which were
+either nearly or altogether unknown to your ancestors; but do you not
+exceed them in some follies and vices also? Is not the levity,
+dissipation, and extravagance of the women of this century arrived to a
+pitch unknown and unheard of in former times? Is not the course which
+you steer in life, almost entirely directed by vanity and fashion? And
+are there not too many of you who, throwing aside reason and good
+conduct, and despising the counsel of your friends and relations, seem
+determined to follow the mode of the world, however it may be mixed with
+vice? Do not the generality of you dress, and appear above your station,
+and are not many of you ashamed to be seen performing the duties of it?
+To sum up all, do not too, too many of you act as if you thought the
+care of a family, and the other domestic virtues, beneath your
+attention, and that the sole end for which you were sent into the world,
+was to please and divert yourselves, at the expense of those poor
+wretches the men, whom you consider as obliged to support you in every
+kind of idleness and extravagance? While such is your conduct, and while
+the contagion is every day increasing, you are not to be surprised if
+the men, still fond of you as playthings in the hours of mirth and
+revelry, ever shun serious connection with you; and while they wish to
+be possessed of your charms, are so much afraid of your manners and
+conduct, that they prefer the cheerless state of a bachelor, to the
+numberless evils arising from being tied to a modern wife.
+
+
+CUSTOM IN THE MOGUL EMPIRE.
+
+In a variety of parts of the Mogul empire, when the women are carried
+abroad, they are put into a kind of machine like a chariot, and placed
+on the backs of camels, or in covered sedan chairs, and surrounded by a
+guard of eunuchs and armed men, in such a manner, that a stranger would
+rather suppose the cavalcade to be carrying some desperate villain to
+execution, than employed to prevent the intrigues or escape of a
+defenceless woman. At home, the sex are covered with gauze veils, which
+they dare not take off in the presence of any man, except their husband,
+or some near relation. Over the greatest part of Asia, and some parts of
+Africa, women are guarded by eunuchs, made incapable of violating their
+chastity. In Spain, where the natives are the descendants of the
+Africans, and whose jealousy is not less strong than that of their
+ancestors, they, for many centuries, made use of padlocks to secure the
+chastity of their women; but finding these ineffectual, they frequently
+had recourse to old women, called Gouvernantes. It had been discovered,
+that men deprived of their virility, did not guard female virtue so
+strictly, as to be incapable of being bribed to allow another a taste of
+those pleasures they themselves were incapable of enjoying. The
+Spaniards, sensible of this, imagined, that vindictive old women were
+more likely to be incorruptible; as envy would stimulate them to prevent
+the young from enjoying those pleasures, which they themselves had no
+longer any chance for; but all powerful gold soon overcame even this
+obstacle; and the Spaniards, at present, seem to give up all restrictive
+methods, and to trust the virtue of their women to good principles,
+instead of rigor and hard usage.
+
+
+CUSTOM OF THE MUSCOVITES.
+
+If the laws forbidding the marriage of near relations with each other,
+originated from the political view of preserving the human race from
+degeneracy, they are the only laws we meet with on that subject, and
+exert almost the only care we find taken of so important a matter. The
+Asiatic is careful to improve the breed of his elephants, the Arabian of
+his horses, and the Laplander of his reindeer. The Englishman, eager to
+have swift horses, staunch dogs, and victorious cocks, grudges no care
+and spares no expense, to have the males and females matched properly;
+but since the days of Solon, where is the legislator, or since the days
+of the ancient Greeks, where are the private persons who take any care
+to improve, or even to keep from degeneracy the breed of their own
+species? The Englishman who solicitously attends the training of his
+colts and puppies, would be ashamed to be caught in the nursery; and
+while no motive could prevail upon him to breed horses or hounds from an
+improper or contaminated kind, he will calmly, or rather
+inconsiderately, match himself with the most decrepid or diseased of the
+human species; thoughtless of the weaknesses and evils he is going to
+entail on posterity, and considering nothing but the acquisition of
+fortune he is by her alliance to convey to an offspring, by diseases
+rendered unable to use it. The Muscovites were formerly the only people,
+besides the Greeks, who paid a proper attention to this subject. After
+the preliminaries of a marriage were settled between the parents of a
+young couple, the bride was stripped naked, and carefully examined by a
+jury of matrons, when if they found any bodily defect they endeavored to
+cure it; but if it would admit of no remedy, the match was broke off,
+and she was considered not only as a very improper subject to breed
+from, but improper also for maintaining the affections of a husband,
+after he had discovered the imposition she had put upon him.
+
+
+SALE OF CHILDREN TO PURCHASE WIVES.
+
+In Timor, an island in the Indian Ocean, it is said, that parents sell
+their children in order to purchase more wives. In Circassia, women are
+reared and improved in beauty and every alluring art, only for the
+purpose of being sold. The prince of the Circassians demanded of the
+prince of Mingrelia an hundred slaves loaded with tapestry, an hundred
+cows, as many oxen, and the same number of horses, as the price of his
+sister. In New-Zealand, we meet with a custom which may be called
+purchasing a wife for a night, and which is proof that those must also
+be purchased who are intended for a longer duration; and what to us is a
+little supprising, this temporary wife, insisted upon being treated with
+as much deference and respect, as if she had been married for life; but
+in general, this is not the case in other countries, for the wife who is
+purchased, is always trained up in the principles of slavery; and, being
+inured to every indignity and mortification from her parents, she
+expects no better treatment from her husband.
+
+There is little difference in the condition of her who is put to sale by
+her sordid parents, and her who is disposed of in the same manner by the
+magistrates, as a part of the state's property. Besides those we have
+already mentioned in this work, the Thracians put the fairest of their
+virgins up to public sale, and the magistrates of Crete had the sole
+power of choosing partners in marriage for their young men; and, in the
+execution of this power, the affection and interest of the parties was
+totally overlooked, and the good of the state the only object of
+attention; in pursuing which, they always allotted the strongest and
+best made of the sex to one another, that they might raise up a
+generation of warriors, or of women fit to be the mothers of warriors.
+
+
+POLYGAMY AND CONCUBINAGE.
+
+Polygamy and concubinage having in process of time become fashionable
+vices, the number of women kept by the great became at last more an
+article of grandeur and state, than a mode of satisfying the animal
+appetite: Solomon had threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and
+virgins without number. Maimon tells us, that among the Jews a man might
+have as many wives as he pleased, even to the number of a hundred, and
+that it was not in their power to prevent him, provided he could
+maintain, and pay them all the conjugal debt once a week; but in this
+duty he was not to run in arrear to any of them above a month, though
+with regard to concubines he might do as he pleased.
+
+It would be an endless task to enumerate all the nations which practised
+polygamy; we shall, therefore, only mention a few, where the practice
+seemed to vary something from the common method. The ancient Sabęans are
+not only said to have had a plurality, but even a community of wives; a
+thing strongly inconsistent with that spirit of jealousy which prevails
+among men in most countries where polygamy is allowed. The ancient
+Germans were so strict monogamists,[3] that they reckoned it a species
+of polygamy for a woman to marry a second husband even after the death
+of the first. "A woman (say they) has but one life, and but one body,
+therefore should have but one husband;" and besides, they added, "that
+she who knows she is never to have a second husband, will the more value
+and endeavor to promote the happiness and preserve the life of the
+first." Among the Heruli this idea was carried farther, a woman was
+obliged to strangle herself at the death of her husband, lest she
+should, afterwards marry another; so detestable was polygamy in the
+North, while in the East it is one of these rights which they most of
+all others esteem, and maintain with such inflexible firmness, that it
+will probably be one of the last of those that it will wrest out of
+their hands.
+
+The Egyptians, it is probable, did not allow of polygamy, and as the
+Greeks borrowed their institutions from them, it was also forbid by the
+laws of Cecrops, though concubinage seems either to have been allowed or
+overlooked; for in the Odyssey of Homer we find Ulysses declaring
+himself to be the son of a concubine, which he would probably not have
+done, had any degree of infamy been annexed to it. In some cases,
+however, polygamy was allowed in Greece, from a mistaken notion that it
+would increase population. The Athenians, once thinking the number of
+their citizens diminished, decreed that it should be lawful for a man to
+have children by another woman as well as by his wife; besides this,
+particular instances occur of some who have transgressed the law of
+monogamy. Euripides is said to have had two wives, who, by their
+constant disagreement, gave him a dislike to the whole sex; a
+supposition which receives some weight from these lines of his in
+Andromache:
+
+            ne'er will I commend
+  More beds, more wives than one, nor children curs'd
+  With double mothers, banes and plagues of life.
+
+Socrates too had two wives, but the poor culprit
+had as much reason to repent of his temerity
+as Euripides.
+
+    [3] Monogamy is having only one wife.
+
+
+EUNUCHS.
+
+As the appetite towards the other sex is one of the strongest and most
+ungovernable in our nature; as it intrudes itself more than any other
+into our thoughts, and frequently diverts them from every other purpose
+or employment; it may, at first, on this account, have been reckoned
+criminal when it interfered with worship and devotion; and emasculation
+was made use of in order to get rid of it, which may, perhaps, have been
+the origin of Eunuchs. But however this be, it is certain, that there
+were men of various religions who made themselves incapable of
+procreation on a religious account, as we are told that the priests of
+Cybele constantly castrated themselves; and by our Saviour, that there
+are eunuchs who make themselves such for the kingdom of heaven's sake.
+
+
+GIRLS SOLD AT AUCTION.
+
+The ancient Assyrians seem more thoroughly to have settled and digested
+the affairs of marriage, than any of their cotemporaries. Once in every
+year they assembled together all the girls that were marriageable, when
+the public crier put them up to sale, one after another. For her whose
+figure was agreeable, and whose beauty was attracting, the rich strove
+against each other, who should give the highest price; which price was
+put into a public stock, and distributed in portions to those whom
+nobody would accept without a reward. After the most beautiful were
+disposed of, these were also put up by the crier, and a certain sum of
+money offered with each, proportioned to what it was thought she stood
+in need of to bribe a husband to accept her. When a man offered to
+accept of any of them, on the terms upon which she was exposed to sale,
+the crier proclaimed that such a man had proposed to take such a woman,
+with such a sum of money along with her, provided none could be found
+who would take her with less; and in this manner the sale went on, till
+she was at last allotted to him who offered to take her with the
+smallest portion.--When this public sale was over, the purchasers of
+those that were beautiful were not allowed to take them away, till they
+had paid down the price agreed on, and given sufficient security that
+they would marry them; nor, on the other hand, would those who were to
+have a premium for accepting of such as were less beautiful, take a
+delivery of them, till their portions were previously paid.
+
+
+SALE OF A WIFE.
+
+In England, the sale of a wife sometimes occurs, even at the present
+day, of which the following is an example, from the Lancaster Herald.
+
+"_Sale of a wife at Carlisle_--The inhabitants of this city lately
+witnessed the sale of a wife by her husband, Joseph Thompson, who
+resides in a small village about three miles distant, and rents a farm
+of about forty-two or forty-four acres. She was a spruce, lively, buxom
+damsel, apparently not exceeding twenty-two years of age, and appeared
+to feel a pleasure at the exchange she was about to make. They had no
+children during their union, and that, with some family disputes, caused
+them by mutual agreement to come to the resolution of finally parting.
+Accordingly, the bellman was sent round to give public notice of the
+sale, which was to take place at twelve o'clock; and this announcement
+attracted the notice of thousands. She appeared above the crowd,
+standing on a large oak chair, surrounded by many of her friends, with a
+rope or halter, made of straw, round her neck, being dressed in rather a
+fashionable country style, and appearing to some advantage. The husband,
+who was also standing in an elevated position near her, proceeded to put
+her up for sale, and spoke nearly as follows:--'Gentlemen, I have to
+offer to your notice my wife, Mary Anne Thompson, otherwise Williamson,
+whom I mean to sell to the highest and fairest bidder. It is her wish as
+well as mine to part for ever. I took her for my comfort, and the good
+of my house, but she has become my tormentor and a domestic curse, &c.
+&c. Now I have shown you her faults and failings, I will explain her
+qualifications and goodness. She can read fashionable novels and milk
+cows; she can laugh and weep with the same ease that you can take a
+glass of ale; she can make butter, and scold the maid; she can sing
+Moore's melodies, and plait her frills and caps; she cannot make rum,
+gin, or whiskey, but she is a good judge of their quality from long
+experience in tasting them, I therefore offer her, with all her
+perfections and imperfections, for the sum of fifty shillings.'--After
+an hour or two, she was purchased by Henry Mears, a pensioner, for the
+sum of twenty shillings and a Newfoundland dog. The happy pair
+immediately left town together, amidst the shouts and huzzas of the
+multitude, in which they were joined by Thompson, who, with the greatest
+good-humor imaginable, proceeded to put the halter, which his wife had
+taken off, round the neck of his Newfoundland dog, and then proceeded
+to the first public house, where he spent the remainder of the day."
+
+
+PUNISHMENT OF ADULTERY.
+
+As fidelity to the marriage-bed, especially on the part of woman, has
+always been considered as one of the most essential duties of matrimony,
+wise legislators, in order to secure that benefit have annexed
+punishment to the act of adultery; these punishments, however, have
+generally some reference to the manner in which wives were acquired, and
+to the value stamped upon woman by civilization and politeness of
+manners. It is ordained by the Mosaic code, that both the men and the
+women taken in adultery shall be stoned to death; whence it would seem,
+that no more latitude was given to the male than to the female. But this
+is not the case; such an unlimited power of concubinage was given to the
+men, that we may suppose him highly licentious indeed, who could not be
+satisfied therewith, without committing adultery. The Egyptians, among
+whom women were greatly esteemed, had a singular method of punishing
+adulterers of both sexes; they cut off the privy parts of the man, that
+he might never be able to debauch another woman; and the nose of the
+woman, that she might never be the object of temptation to another man.
+
+Punishments nearly of the same nature, and perhaps nearly about the same
+time, were instituted in the East Indies against adulterers; but while
+those of the Egyptians originated from a love of virtue and of their
+woman, those of the Hindoos probably arose from jealousy and revenge.
+It is ordained by the Shaster, that if a man commit adultery with a
+woman of a superior cast, he shall be put to death; if by force he
+commit adultery with a woman of an equal or inferior cast, the
+magistrate shall confiscate all his possessions, cut off his genitals,
+and cause him to be carried round the city, mounted on a ass. If by
+fraud he commit adultery with a woman of an equal or inferior cast, the
+magistrate shall take his possessions, brand him in the forehead, and
+banish him the kingdom. Such are the laws of the Shaster, so far as they
+regard all the superior casts, except the Bramins; but if any of the
+most inferior casts commit adultery with a woman of the casts greatly
+superior, he is not only to be dismembered, but tied to a hot iron
+plate, and burnt to death; whereas the highest casts may commit adultery
+with the very lowest, for the most trifling fine; and a Bramin, or
+priest, can only suffer by having the hair of his head cut off; and,
+like the clergy of Europe, while under the dominion of the Pope, he
+cannot be put to death for any crime whatever. But the laws, of which he
+is always the interpreter, are not so favorable to his wife; they
+inflict a severe disgrace upon her, if she commit adultery with any of
+the higher casts; but if with the lowest, the magistrate shall cut off
+her hair, anoint her body with Ghee, and cause her to be carried through
+the whole city, naked, and riding upon an ass; and shall cast her out on
+the north side of the city, or cause her to be eaten by dogs. If a woman
+of any of the other casts goes to a man, and entices him to have
+criminal correspondence with her, the magistrate shall cut off her ears,
+lips and nose, mount her upon an ass, and drown her, or throw her to the
+dogs. To the commission of adultery with a dancing girl, or prostitute,
+no punishment nor fine is annexed.
+
+
+ANECDOTE OF CĘSAR.
+
+When Cęsar had subdued all his competitors, and most of the foreign
+nations which made war against him, he found that so many Romans had
+been destroyed in the quarrels in which he had often engaged them, that,
+to repair the loss, he promised rewards to fathers of families, and
+forbade all Romans who were above twenty, and under forty years of age,
+to go out of their native country. Augustus, his successor, to check the
+debauchery of the Roman youth, laid heavy taxes upon such as continued
+unmarried after a certain age, and encouraged with great rewards, the
+procreation of lawful children. Some years afterwards, the Roman knights
+having pressingly petitioned him that he would relax the severity of
+that law, he ordered their whole body to assemble before him, and the
+married and unmarried to arrange themselves in two separate parties,
+when, observing the unmarried to be much the greater company, he first
+addressed those who had complied with his law, telling them, that they
+alone had served the purposes of nature and society; that the human race
+was created male and female to prevent the extinction of the species;
+and that marriage was contrived as the most proper method of renewing
+the children of that species. He added, that they alone deserved the
+name of men and fathers, and that he would prefer them to such offices,
+as they might transmit to their posterity. Then turning to the
+bachelors, he told them, that he knew not by what name to call them; not
+by that of men, for they had done nothing that was manly; nor by that of
+citizens, since the city might perish for them; nor by that of Romans,
+for they seemed determined to let the race and name become extinct; but
+by whatever name he called them, their crime, he said, equalled all
+other crimes put together, for they were guilty of murder, in not
+suffering those to be born who should proceed from them; of impiety, in
+abolishing the names and honors of their fathers and ancestors; of
+sacrilege, in destroying their species, and human nature, which owed its
+original to the gods, and was consecrated to them; that by leading a
+single life they overturned, as far as in them lay, the temples and
+altars of the gods; dissolved the government, by disobeying its laws;
+betrayed their country, by making it barren. Having ended his speech, he
+doubled the rewards and privileges of such as had children, and laid a
+heavy fine on all unmarried persons, by reviving the Poppęan law.
+
+Though by this law all the males above a certain age were obliged to
+marry under a severe penalty, Augustus allowed them the space of a full
+year to comply with its demands; but such was the backwardness to
+matrimony, and perversity of the Roman knights, and others, that every
+possible method was taken to evade the penalty inflicted upon them, and
+some of them even married children in the cradle for that purpose; thus
+fulfilling the letter, they avoided the spirit of the law, and though
+actually married, had no restraint upon their licentiousness, nor any
+incumbrance by the expense of a family.
+
+
+POWER OF MARRYING.
+
+Among nations which had shaken off the authority of the church of Rome,
+the priests still retained almost an exclusive power of joining men and
+women together in marriage. This appears rather, however, to have been
+by the tacit consent of the civil power, than from any defect in its
+right and authority; for in the time of Oliver Cromwell, marriages were
+solemnized frequently by the justices of the peace; and the clergy
+neither attempted to invalidate them, nor make the children proceeding
+from them illegitimate; and when the province of New England was first
+settled, one of the earliest laws of the colony was, that the power of
+marrying should belong to the magistrates. How different was the case
+with the first French settlers in Canada! For many years a priest had
+not been seen in the country, and a magistrate could not marry: the
+consequence was natural; men and woman joined themselves together as
+husband and wife, trusting to the vows and promises of each other.
+Father Charlevoix, a Jesuit, at last travelled into those wild regions,
+found many of the simple, innocent inhabitants living in that manner;
+with all of whom he found much fault, enjoined them to do penance, and
+afterwards married them. After the Restoration, the power of marrying
+again reverted to the clergy. The magistrate, however, had not entirely
+resigned his right to that power; but it was by a late act of parliament
+entirely surrendered to them, and a penalty annexed to the solemnization
+of it by any other person whatever.
+
+
+CELIBACY OF THE CLERGY.
+
+At a synod held at Winchester under St. Dunstan, the monks averred, that
+so highly criminal was it for a priest to marry, that even a wooden
+cross had audibly declared against the horrid practice. Others place the
+first attempt of this kind, to the account of Aelfrick, archbishop of
+Canterbury, about the beginning of the eleventh century; however this
+may be, we have among the canons a decree of the archbishops of
+Canterbury, and York, ordaining, That all ministers of God, especially
+priests, should observe chastity, and not take wives: and in the year
+1076, there was a council assembled at Winchester, under Lanfranc, which
+decreed, that no canon should have a wife; that such priests as lived in
+castles and villages should not be obliged to put their wives away, but
+that such as had none should not be allowed to marry; and that bishops
+should not ordain priests or deacons, unless they previously declared
+that they were not married. In the year 1102, archbishop Anselm held a
+council at Westminster, where it was decreed, that no archdeacon,
+priest, deacon, or canon, should either marry a wife, or retain her if
+he had one. Anselm, to give this decree greater weight, desired of the
+king, that the principal men of the kingdom might be present at the
+council, and that the decree might be enforced by the joint consent both
+of the clergy and laity; the king consented, and to these canons the
+whole realm gave a general sanction. The clergy of the province of York,
+however, remonstrated against them, and refused to put away their wives;
+the unmarried refused also to oblige themselves to continue in that
+state; nor were the clergy of Canterbury much more tractable.
+
+In the celibacy of the clergy, we may discover also the origin of
+nunneries; the intrigues they could procure, while at confession, were
+only short, occasional, and with women whom they could not entirely
+appropriate to themselves; to remedy which, they probably fabricated the
+scheme of having religious houses, where young women should be shut up
+from the world, and where no man but a priest, on pain of death, should
+enter. That in these dark retreats, secluded from censure, and from the
+knowledge of the world, they might riot in licentiousness. They were
+sensible, that women, surrounded with the gay and the amiable, might
+frequently spurn at the offers of a cloistered priest, but that while
+confined entirely to their own sex, they would take pleasure in a visit
+from one of the other, however slovenly and unpolished. In the world at
+large, should the crimes of the women be detected, the priests have no
+interest in mitigating their punishment; but here the whole community of
+them are interested in the secret of every intrigue, and should Lucinda
+unluckily proclaim it, she can seldom do it without the walls of the
+convent, and if she does, the priests lay the crime on some luckless
+laic, that the holy culprit may come off with impunity.
+
+
+DESPERATE ACT OF EUTHIRA.
+
+In ancient and modern history, we are frequently presented with accounts
+of women, who, preferring death to slavery or prostitution, sacrificed
+their lives with the most undaunted courage to avoid them. Apollodorus
+tells us, that Hercules having taken the city of Troy, prior to the
+famous siege of it celebrated by Homer, carried away captive the
+daughters of Laomedon then king. One of these, named Euthira, being left
+with several other Trojan captives on board the Grecian fleet, while the
+sailors went on shore to take in fresh provisions, had the resolution to
+propose, and the power to persuade her companions, to set the ships on
+fire, and to perish themselves amid the devouring flames. The women of
+Phoenicia met together before an engagement which was to decide the fate
+of their city, and having agreed to bury themselves in the flames, if
+their husbands and relations were defeated, in the enthusiasm of their
+courage and resolution, they crowned her with flowers who first made the
+proposal. Many instances occur in the history of the Romans of the Gauls
+and Germans, and of other nations in subsequent periods; where women
+being driven to despair by their enemies, have bravely defended their
+walls, or waded through fields of blood to assist their countrymen, and
+free themselves from slavery or from ravishment. Such heroic efforts are
+beauties, even in the character of the softer sex, when they proceed
+from necessity: when from choice, they are blemishes of the most
+unnatural kind, indicating a heart of cruelty, lodged in a form which
+has the appearance of gentleness and peace.
+
+It has been alleged by some of the writers on human nature, that to the
+fair sex the loss of beauty is more alarming and insupportable than the
+loss of life; but even this loss, however opposite to the feelings of
+their nature, they have voluntarily consented to sustain, that they
+might not be the objects of temptation to the lawless ravisher. The nuns
+of a convent in France, fearing they should be violated by a ruffian
+army, which had taken by storm the town in which their convent was
+situated, at the recommendation of their abbess, mutually agreed to cut
+off all their noses, that they might save their chastity by becoming
+objects of disgust instead of desire. Were we to descend to particulars,
+we could give innumerable instances of women, who from Semiramis down to
+the present time, have distinguished themselves by their courage. Such
+was Penthesilea, who, if we may credit ancient story, led her army of
+viragoes to the assistance of Priam, king of Troy; Thomyris, who
+encountered Cyrus, king of Persia; and Thalestris, famous for her
+fighting, as well as for her amours with Alexander the Great. Such was
+the brave but ill-fated Boadicea, queen of the Britons, who led on that
+people to revenge the wrongs done to herself and her country by the
+Romans. And in later periods, such were the Maid of Orleans, and
+Margaret of Anjou; which last, according to several historians,
+commanded at no less than twelve pitched battles. But we do not choose
+to multiply instances of this nature, as we have already said enough to
+shew, that the sex are not destitute of courage when that virtue becomes
+necessary; and were they possessed of it, when unnecessary, it would
+divest them of one of the principal qualities for which we love, and for
+which we value them. No woman was ever held up as a pattern to her sex,
+because she was intrepid and brave; no woman ever conciliated the
+affections of the men, by rivalling them in what they reckon the
+peculiar excellencies of their own character.
+
+
+LUXURIOUS DRESS OF THE GRECIAN LADIES.
+
+As the Greeks emerged from the barbarity of the heroic ages, among other
+articles of culture, they began to bestow more attention on the
+convenience and elegance of dress. At Athens, the ladies commonly employ
+the whole morning in dressing themselves in a decent and becoming
+manner; their toilet consisted in paints and washes, of such a nature as
+to cleanse and beautify the skin, and they took great care to clean
+their teeth, an article too much neglected: some also blackened their
+eyebrows, and, if necessary, supplied the deficiency of the vermillion
+on their lips, by a paint said to have been exceedingly beautiful. At
+this time the women in the Greek islands make much use of a paint which
+they call Sulama, which imparts a beautiful redness to the cheeks, and
+gives the skin a remarkable gloss. Possibly this may be the same with
+that made use of in the times we are considering; but however this be,
+some of the Greek ladies at present gild their faces all over on the day
+of their marriage, and consider this coating as an irresistible charm;
+and in the island of Scios, their dress does not a little resemble that
+of ancient Sparta, for they go with their bosoms uncovered, and with
+gowns which only reach to the calf of their leg, in order to show their
+fine garters, which are commonly red ribbons curiously embroidered. But
+to return to ancient Greece; the ladies spent likewise a part of their
+time in composing head-dresses, and though we have reason to suppose
+that they were not then so preposterously fantastic as those presently
+composed by a Parisian milliner, yet they were probably objects of no
+small industry and attention, especially as we find that they then dyed
+their hair, perfumed it with the most costly essences, and by the means
+of hot irons disposed of it in curls, as fancy or fashion directed.
+Their clothes were made of stuffs so extremely light and fine as to show
+their shapes without offending against the rules of decency. At Sparta,
+the case was widely different; we shall not describe the dress of the
+women; it is sufficient to say that it has been loudly complained of by
+almost every ancient author who has treated on the subject.
+
+
+GRECIAN COURTSHIP.
+
+In the earlier periods of the history of the Greeks, their love, if we
+may call it so, was only the animal appetite, impetuous and unrestrained
+either by cultivation of manners, or precepts of morality; and almost
+every opportunity which fell in their way, prompted them to satisfy that
+appetite by force, and to revenge the obstruction of it by murder. When
+they became a more civilized people, they shone much more illustriously
+in arts and in arms, than in delicacy of sentiment and elegance of
+manners: hence we shall find, that their method of making love was more
+directed to compel the fair sex to a compliance with their wishes by
+charms and philtres, than to win them by the nameless assiduities and
+good offices of a lover.
+
+As the two sexes in Greece had but little communication with each other,
+and a lover was seldom favored with an opportunity of telling his
+passion to his mistress, he used to discover it by inscribing her name
+on the walls of his house, on the bark of the trees of a public walk, or
+leaves of his books; it was customary for him also to deck the door of
+the house where his fair one lived, with garlands and flowers, to make
+libations of wine before it, and to sprinkle the entrance with the same
+liquor, in the manner that was practised at the temple of Cupid.
+Garlands were of great use among the Greeks in love affairs; when a man
+untied his garland, it was a declaration of his having been subdued by
+that passion; and when a woman composed a garland, it was a tacit
+confession of the same thing: and though we are not informed of it, we
+may presume that both sexes had methods of discovering by these
+garlands, not only that they were in love, but the object also upon whom
+it was directed.
+
+Such were the common methods of discovering the passion of love; the
+methods of prosecuting it were still more extraordinary, and less
+reconcilable to civilization and to good principles; when a love affair
+did not prosper in the hands of a Grecian, he did not endeavor to become
+more engaging in his manners and person, he did not lavish his fortune
+in presents, or become more obliging and assiduous in his addresses, but
+immediately had recourse to incantations and philtres; in composing and
+dispensing of which, the women of Thessaly were reckoned the most
+famous, and drove a traffic in them of no considerable advantage. These
+potions were given by the women to the men, as well as by the men to the
+women, and were generally so violent in their operations as for some
+time to deprive the person who took them, of sense, and not uncommonly
+of life: their composition was a variety of herbs of the most strong and
+virulent nature, which we shall not mention; but herbs were not the only
+things they relied on for their purpose; they called in the productions
+of the animal and mineral kingdoms to their assistance; when these
+failed, they roasted an image of wax before the fire, representing the
+object of their love, and as this became warm, they flattered themselves
+that the person represented by it would be proportionally warmed with
+love. When a lover could obtain any thing belonging to his mistress, he
+imagined it of singular advantage, and deposited in the earth beneath
+the threshold of her door. Besides these, they had a variety of other
+methods equally ridiculous and unavailing, and of which it would be
+trifling to give a minute detail; we shall, therefore, just take notice
+as we go along, that such of either sex as believed themselves forced
+into love by the power of philtres and charms, commonly had recourse to
+the same methods to disengage themselves, and break the power of these
+enchantments, which they supposed operated involuntarily on their
+inclinations; and thus the old women of Greece, like the lawyers of
+modern times, were employed to defeat the schemes and operations of each
+other, and like them too, it is presumable, laughed in their sleeves,
+while they hugged the gains that arose from vulgar credulity.
+
+
+POWER OF PHILTRES AND CHARMS.
+
+The Romans, who borrowed most of their customs from the Greeks, also
+followed them in that of endeavoring to conciliate love by the power of
+philtres and charms; a fact of which we have not the least room to
+doubt, as they are in Virgil and some other of the Latin poets so many
+instances that prove it. But it depends not altogether on the testimony
+of the poets: Plutarch tells us, that Lucullus, a Roman General, lost
+his senses by a love potion; and Caius Caligula, according to Suetonius,
+was thrown into a fit of madness by one which was given him by his wife
+Cęsonia; Lucretius too, according to some authors, fell a sacrifice to
+the same folly. The Romans, like the Greeks, made use of these methods
+mostly in their affairs of gallantry and unlawful love; but in what
+manner they addressed themselves to a lady they intended to marry, has
+not been handed down to us, and the reason we suppose is, that little or
+no courtship was practised among them; women had no disposing power of
+themselves, to what purpose was it then to apply to them for their
+consent? They were under perpetual guardianship, and the guardian having
+sole power of disposing of them, it was only necessary to apply to him.
+In the Roman authors, we frequently read of a father, a brother, or a
+guardian, giving his daughter, his sister, or his ward, in marriage;
+but we do not recollect one single instance of being told that the
+intended bridegroom applied to the lady for her consent; a circumstance
+the more extraordinary, as women in the decline of the Roman empire had
+arisen to a dignity, and even to a freedom hardly equalled in modern
+times.
+
+
+EASTERN COURTSHIP.
+
+It has long been a common observation among mankind, that love is the
+most fruitful source of invention; and that in this case the imagination
+of a woman is still more fruitful of invention and expedient than that
+of a man; agreeably to this, we are told, that the women of the island
+of Amboyna, being closely watched on all occasions, and destitute of the
+art of writing, by which, in other places, the sentiments are conveyed
+to any distance, have methods of making known their inclinations to
+their lovers, and of fixing assignations with them, by means of
+nosegays, and plates of fruit so disposed, as to convey their sentiments
+in the most explicit manner: by these means their courtship is generally
+carried on, and by altering the disposition of symbols made use of, they
+contrive to signify their refusal, with the same explicitness as their
+approbation. In some of the neighboring islands, when a young man has
+fixed his affection, like the Italians, he goes from time to time to her
+door, and plays upon some musical instrument; if she gives consent, she
+comes out to him, and they settle the affair of matrimony between them;
+if, after a certain number of these kind of visits, she does not appear,
+it is a denial; and the disappointed lover is obliged to desist.
+
+We shall see afterward when we come to treat of the matrimonial compact,
+that, in some places, the ceremony of marriage consists in tying the
+garments of the young couple together, as an emblem of that union which
+ought to bind their affections and interests. This ceremony has afforded
+a hint for lovers to explain their passion to their mistresses, in the
+most intelligible manner, without the help of speech, or the possibility
+of offending the nicest delicacy. A lover in these parts, who is too
+modest to declare himself, seizes the first opportunity he can find, of
+sitting down by his mistress, and tying his garment to hers, in the
+manner that is practised in the ceremony of marriage: if she permits him
+to finish the knot, without any interruption, and does not soon after
+cut or loose it, she thereby gives her consent; if she looses it, he may
+tie it again on some other occasion, when she may prove more propitious;
+but if she cuts it, his hopes are blasted forever.
+
+
+LONG HAIR OF SAXONS AND DANES.
+
+The human hair has ever been regarded as an ornament. The Anglo-Saxons
+and Danes considered their hair as one of their greatest personal
+beauties, and took great care to dress it to the utmost advantage. Young
+ladies wore it loose, and flowing in ringlets over their shoulders; but
+after marriage they cut it shorter, tied it up, and covered it with a
+head-dress, according to the fashion of the times; but to have the hair
+cut entirely off, was a disgrace of such a nature, that it was even
+thought a punishment not inadequate to the crime of adultery; so great,
+in the Middle ages, was the value set upon the hair by both sexes, that,
+as a piece of the most peculiar mortification, it was ordered by the
+canons of the church, that the clergy should keep their hair short, and
+shave the crown of their head; and that they should not, upon any
+pretence whatever, endeavor to keep the part so shaved from public view.
+Many of the clergy of these times, finding themselves so peculiarly
+mortified, and perhaps so easily distinguished from all other people by
+this particularity, as to be readily detected when they committed any of
+the follies or crimes to which human nature is in every situation
+sometimes liable, endeavored to persuade mankind that long hair was
+criminal, in order to reduce the whole to a similarity with themselves.
+Amongst these, St. Wulstan eminently distinguished himself. "He rebuked,"
+says William of Malmsbury, "the wicked of all ranks with great boldness,
+but was _peculiarly_ severe upon those who were proud of their long
+hair. When any of these vain people bowed their heads before him, to
+receive his blessing, before he gave it he cut a lock from their hair,
+with a sharp penknife, which he carried about him for that purpose; and
+commanded them, by way of penance for their sins, to cut all the rest in
+the same manner: if any of them refused to comply with his command he
+reproached them for their effeminacy, and denounced the most dreadful
+judgments against them. Such, however, was the value of their hair in
+these days, that many rather submitted to his censures than part with
+it; and such was the folly of the church, and of this saint in
+particular, that the most solemn judgments were denounced against
+multitudes, for no other crime than not making use of pen-knives and
+scissors, to cut off an ornament bestowed by nature."
+
+
+ST. VALENTINE'S DAY.
+
+On St. Valentine's day, it is customary, in many parts of Italy, for an
+unmarried lady to choose, from among the young gentlemen of her
+acquaintance, one to be her guardian or gallant; who, in return for the
+honor of this appointment, presents to her some nosegays, or other
+trifles, and thereby obliges himself to attend her in the most
+obsequious manner in all her parties of pleasure, and to all her public
+amusements, for the space of one year, when he may retire, and the lady
+may choose another in his place. But in the course of this connection it
+frequently happens, that they contract such an inclination to each
+other, as prompts them to be coupled for life. In the times of the
+chivalry, we have seen that the men gloried in protecting the women, and
+the women thought themselves safe and happy when they obtained that
+protection. It is probable, therefore, that this custom, though now more
+an affair of gallantry than of protection, is a relic of chivalry still
+subsisting among that romantic and sentimental people.
+
+But the observation of some peculiar customs on St. Valentine's day is
+not confined to Italy; almost all Europe has joined in distinguishing it
+by some particular ceremony. As it always happens about that time of the
+year, when the genial influences of the spring begin to operate, it has
+been believed by the vulgar, that upon it the birds invariably choose
+their mates for the ensuing season. In imitation, therefore, of their
+example, the vulgar of both sexes, in many parts of Britain, meet
+together; and having upon slips of paper wrote down the names of all
+their acquaintances, and put them into two different bags, the men drew
+the female names by lot, and the women the male; the man makes the woman
+who drew his name some trifling present, and in the rural gambol becomes
+her partner; and she considers him as her sweetheart, till he is
+otherwise disposed of, or till next Valentine's day provide her with
+another.
+
+
+COURTS OF LOVE.
+
+In Spain, during the Middle Ages, courts of Love were established. These
+courts were composed of ladies summoned to meet together, for the
+purpose of discussing, in the most formal and serious manner, "beautiful
+and subtle questions of love." They decided the precise amount of
+inconstancy which a lady might forgive, without lowering her own
+dignity, provided her lover made certain supplications, and performed
+certain penances; they took it into solemn consideration whether a lover
+was justified, under any circumstances, in expressing the slightest
+doubt of his lady's fidelity; they laid down definite rules, and
+ceremonials of behavior, to be observed by those who wished to be
+beloved; and gravely discussed the question whether sentiment, or sight,
+the heart, or the eyes, contributed most powerfully to inspire
+affection.
+
+
+IMMODESTY AT BABYLON.
+
+That modesty and chastity, which we now esteem as the chief ornament of
+the female character, does not appear in times of remote antiquity to
+have been much regarded by either sex. At Babylon, the capital of the
+Assyrian empire, it was so little valued, that a law of the country
+even obliged every woman once in her life to depart from it. This
+abominable law, which, it is said, was promulgated by an oracle,
+ordained, That every woman should once in her life repair to the temple
+of Venus; that on her arrival there, her head should be crowned with
+flowers, and in that attire, she should wait till some stranger
+performed with her the rites sacred to the goddess of debauchery.
+
+This temple was constructed with a great many winding galleries
+appropriated to the reception of the women, and the strangers who,
+allured by debauchery, never failed to assemble there in great numbers,
+being allowed to choose any woman they thought proper from among those
+who came there in obedience to the law. When the stranger accosted the
+object of his choice, he was obliged to present her with some pieces of
+money, nor was she at liberty to refuse either these, or the request of
+the stranger who offered them, whatever was the value of the money, or
+however mean or disagreeable the donor. These preliminaries being
+settled, they retired together to fulfil the law, after which the woman
+returned and offered the goddess the sacrifice prescribed by custom, and
+then was at liberty to return home. Nor was this custom entirely
+confined to the Babylonians; in the island of Cyprus they sent young
+women at stated times to the sea-shore, where they prostituted
+themselves to Venus, that they might be chaste the rest of their lives.
+In some other countries, a certain number only were doomed to
+prostitution, as it is supposed, by way of a bribe, to induce the
+goddess of debauchery to save the rest.
+
+When a woman had once entered the temple of Venus, she was not allowed
+to depart from it till she had fulfilled the law: and it frequently
+happened that those to whom nature had been less indulgent than to
+others, remained there a long time before any person offered to perform
+with them the condition of their release. A custom, we think, some times
+alluded to in scripture, and expressly delineated in the book of Baruch:
+"The women also, with cords about them, sitting in the ways, burn bran
+for perfume; but, if any of them, drawn by some that passeth by, lie
+with him, she reproacheth her fellow that she was not thought worthy as
+herself, nor her cord broken." Though this infamous law was at first
+strictly observed by all the women of Babylon, yet it would seem that,
+in length of time, they grew ashamed of, and in many cases dispensed
+with it; for we are informed that women of the superior ranks of life,
+who were not willing literally to fulfil the law, were allowed a kind of
+evasion; they were carried in litters to the gates of the temple, where,
+having dismissed all their attendants, they entered alone, presented
+themselves before the statue of the goddess, and returned home. Possibly
+this was done by the assistance of a bribe, to those who had the care of
+the temple.
+
+
+INDECENCY AT ADRIANOPLE.
+
+In Adrianople and the neighboring cities, the women have public baths,
+which are a part of their religion and of their amusement, and a bride,
+the first time she appears there, after her marriage, is received in a
+particular manner. The matrons and widows being seated round the room,
+the virgins immediately put themselves into the original state of Eve.
+The bride comes to the door richly dressed and adorned with jewels; two
+of the virgins meet her, and soon put her into the same condition with
+themselves; then filling some silver pots with perfume, they make a
+procession round the rooms, singing an epithalamium, in which all the
+virgins join in chorus; the procession ended, the bride is led up to
+every matron, who bestows on her some trifling presents, and to each she
+returns thanks, till she has been led round the whole. We could add many
+more ceremonies arising from marriage, but as they are for the most part
+such as make a part of the marriage ceremony itself, we shall have
+occasion to mention them with more propriety under another head.
+
+
+ANCIENT SWEDISH COURTSHIP.
+
+Grymer, a youth early distinguished in arms, who well knew how to dye
+his sword in the blood of his enemies, to run over the craggy mountains,
+to wrestle, to play at chess, trace the motions of the stars, and throw
+far from him heavy weights, frequently shewed his skill in the chamber
+of the damsels, before the king's lovely daughter; desirous of acquiring
+her regard, he displayed his dexterity in handling his weapons, and the
+knowledge he had attained in the sciences he had learned; at length
+ventured to make this demand: "Wilt thou, O fair princess, if I may
+obtain the king's consent, accept of me for a husband?" To which she
+prudently replied, "I must not make that choice myself, but go thou and
+offer the same proposal to my father."
+
+The sequel of the story informs us, that Grymer accordingly made his
+proposal to the king, who answered him in a rage, that though he had
+learned indeed to handle his arms, yet as he had never gained a single
+victory, nor given a banquet to the beasts of the field, he had no
+pretensions to his daughter, and concluded by pointing out to him, in a
+neighboring kingdom, a hero renowned in arms, whom, if he could conquer,
+the princess should be given him: that on waiting on the princess to
+tell her what had passed, she was greatly agitated, and felt in the most
+sensible manner for the safety of her lover, whom she was afraid her
+father had devoted to death for his presumption, that she provided him
+with a suit of impenetrable armor and a trusty sword, with which he
+went, and having slain his adversary, and the most part of his warriors,
+returned victorious, and received her as the reward of his valor.
+Singular as this method of obtaining a fair lady by a price paid in
+blood may appear, it was not peculiar to the northerns: we have already
+taken notice of the price which David paid for the daughter of Saul, and
+shall add, that among the Sacę, a people of ancient Scythia, a custom
+something of this kind, but still more extraordinary, obtained: every
+young man who made his addresses to a lady, was obliged to engage her in
+single combat; if he vanquished, he led her off in triumph, and became
+her husband and sovereign; if he was conquered, she led him off in the
+same manner, and made him her husband and her slave.
+
+
+LAPLAND AND GREENLAND LADY.
+
+The delicacy of a Lapland lady, which is not in the least hurt by being
+drunk as often as she can procure liquor, would be wounded in the most
+sensible manner, should she deign at first to listen to the declaration
+of a lover; he is therefore obliged to employ a match-maker to speak for
+him; and this match-maker must never go empty handed; and of all other
+presents, that which must infallibly secures him a favorable reception
+is brandy. Having, by the eloquence of this, gained leave to bring the
+lover along with him, and being, together with the lover's father or
+other nearest-male relation, arrived at the house where the lady
+resides, the father and match-maker are invited to walk in, but the
+lover must wait patiently at the door till further solicited. The
+parties, in the mean time, open their suit to the other ladies of the
+family, not forgetting to employ in their favor their irresistible
+advocate brandy, a liberal distribution of which is reckoned the
+strongest proof of the lover's affection. When they have all been warmed
+by the lover's bounty, he is brought into the house, pays his
+compliments to the family, and is desired to partake of their cheer,
+though at this interview seldom indulged with a sight of his mistress;
+but if he is, he salutes her, and offers her presents of reindeer skins,
+tongues, &c.; all which, while surrounded with her friends, she pretends
+to refuse; but at the same time giving her lover a signal to go out, she
+soon steals after him, and is no more that modest creature she affected
+to appear in company. The lover now solicits for the completion of his
+wishes; if she is silent, it is construed into consent; but if she
+throws his presents on the ground with disdain the match is broken off
+forever.
+
+It is generally observed, that women enter into matrimony with more
+willingness, and less anxious care and solicitude, than men, for which
+many reasons naturally suggest themselves to the intelligent reader. The
+women of Greenland are however, in many cases, an exception to this
+general rule. A Greenlander, having fixed his affection, acquaints his
+parents with it; they acquaint the parents of the girl; upon which two
+female negociators are sent to her, who, lest they should shock her
+delicacy, do not enter directly on the subject of their embassy, but
+launch out in praises of the lover they mean to recommend, of his house,
+of his furniture, and whatever else belongs to him, but dwell most
+particularly on his dexterity in catching seals. She, pretending to be
+affronted, runs away, tearing the ringlets of her hair as she retires;
+after which the two females, having obtained a tacit consent from her
+parents, search for her, and on discovering her lurking place, drag her
+by force to the house of her lover, and there leave her. For some days
+she sits with dishevelled hair, silent and dejected, refusing every kind
+of sustenance, and at last, if kind entreaties cannot prevail upon her,
+is compelled by force, and even by blows, to complete the marriage with
+her husband. It sometimes happens, that when the female match-makers
+arrive to propose a lover to a Greenland young woman, she either faints,
+or escapes to the uninhabited mountains, where she remains till she is
+discovered and carried back by her relations, or is forced to return by
+hunger and cold; in both which cases, she previously cuts off her hair;
+a most infallible indication, that she is determined never to marry.
+
+
+EDUCATION OF WOMEN IN ASIA AND AFRICA.
+
+In several of the warmer regions of Asia and Africa, the little
+education bestowed upon women, is entirely calculated to debauch their
+minds and give additional charms to their persons. They are taught vocal
+and instrumental music, which they accompany with dances, in which every
+movement and every gesture is expressively indecent: but receive no
+moral instruction; for it would teach them that they were doing wrong.
+This, however, is not the practice in all parts of Asia and Africa: the
+women of Hindostan are educated more decently; they are not allowed to
+learn music or dancing; which are only reckoned accomplishments fit for
+those of a lower order; they are notwithstanding, taught all the
+personal graces; and particular care is taken to instruct them in the
+art of conversing with elegance and vivacity; some of them are also
+taught to write, and the generality to read, so that they may be able to
+read the Koran; instead of which they more frequently dedicate
+themselves to tales and romances; which, painted in all the lively
+imagery of the East, seldom fail to corrupt the minds of creatures shut
+up from the world, and consequently forming to themselves extravagant
+and romantic notions of all that is transacted in it.
+
+In well regulated families, women are taught by heart some prayers in
+Arabic, which at certain hours they assemble in a hall to repeat; never
+being allowed the liberty of going to the public mosque. They are
+enjoined always to wash themselves before praying; and, indeed, the
+virtues of cleanliness, of chastity, and obedience, are so strongly and
+constantly inculcated on their minds, that in spite of their general
+debauchery of manners, there are not a few among them, who, in their
+common deportment, do credit to the instructions bestowed upon them;
+nor is this much to be wondered at, when we consider the tempting
+recompense that is held out to them; they are, in paradise, to flourish
+forever, in the vigor of youth and beauty; and however old, or ugly,
+when they depart this life, are there to be immediately transformed into
+all that is fair, and all that is graceful.
+
+
+RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS OF THE GREEKS.
+
+A cause, which contributed to make the religious festivals of the Greeks
+appear as amusements and diversions, was that ridiculous buffoonery that
+constituted so great a part of them: it would be tedious to enumerate
+one half of these buffooneries; but let a few serve as a specimen. At a
+festival held in honor of Bacchus, the women ran about for a long time
+seeking the god, who, they pretended, had run away from them: this done,
+they passed their time in proposing riddles and questions to each other,
+and laughing at such as could not answer them; and at last often closed
+the scene with such enormous excesses, that at one of these festivals,
+the daughters of Minya, having, in their madness, killed Hippasus, had
+him dressed and served up to table as a rarity. At another, kept in
+honor of Venus and Adonis, they beat their breasts, tore their hair, and
+mimicked all the signs of the most extravagant grief, with which they
+supposed the goddess to have been affected on the death of her favorite
+paramour. At another, in honor of the nymph Cotys, they addressed her as
+the goddess of wantonness with many mysterious rites and ceremonies. At
+Corinth, these rites and ceremonies, being perhaps thought inconsistent
+with the character of modest women, this festival was only celebrated by
+harlots. Athenęus mentions a festival, at which the women laid hold on
+all the old bachelors they could find, and dragged them round an altar;
+beating them all the time with their fists, as punishment for their
+neglect of the sex. We shall only mention two more; at one of which,
+after the assembly had met in the temple of Ceres, the women shut out
+all the men and dogs, themselves and the bitches remaining in the temple
+all night; in the morning, the men were let in, and the time was spent
+in laughing together at the frolic. At the other, in honor of Bacchus,
+they counterfeited phrenzy and madness; and to make this madness appear
+the more real, they used to eat the raw and bloody entrails of goats
+newly slaughtered. And, indeed, the whole of the festivals of Bacchus, a
+deity much worshipped in Greece, were celebrated with rites either
+ridiculous, obscene, or madly extravagant. There were others, however,
+in honor of the other gods and goddesses, which were more decent, and
+had more the appearance of religious solemnity, though even in these,
+the women dressed out in all their finery; and, adorned with flowers and
+garlands, either formed splendid processions, or assisted in performing
+ceremonies, the general tendency of which was to amuse rather than
+instruct.
+
+
+THE DEATHS OF LUCRETIA AND VIRGINIA.
+
+The force of prejudice appears in nothing more strongly than in the
+encomiums which have been lavished upon Lucretia for laying violent
+hands upon herself, and Virginius for killing his own daughter. These
+actions seem to derive all their glory from the revolutions to which
+they gave rise, as the former occasioned the abolition of monarchy
+amongst the Romans, and the latter put an end to the arbitrary power of
+the decemviri. But if we lay aside our prepossessions for antiquity, and
+examine these actions without prejudice, we cannot but acknowledge,
+that they are rather the effects of human weakness and obstinacy than of
+resolution and magnanimity. Lucretia, for fear of worldly censure, chose
+rather to submit to the lewd desires of Tarquin, than have it thought
+that she had been stabbed in the embraces of a slave; which sufficiently
+proves that all her boasted virtue was founded upon vanity, and too high
+a value for the opinion of mankind. The younger Pliny, with great
+reason, prefers to this famed action that of a woman of low birth, whose
+husband being seized with an incurable disorder, chose rather to perish
+with him than survive him. The action of Arria is likewise much more
+noble, whose husband Pętus, being condemned to death, plunged a dagger
+in her breast, and told him, with a dying voice, "Pętus, it is not
+painful." But the death of Lucretia gave rise to a revolution, and it
+therefore became illustrious; though, as St. Augustine justly observes,
+it is only an instance of the weakness of a woman, too solicitous about
+the opinion of the world.
+
+Virginius, in killing his daughter, to preserve her from falling a
+victim to the lust of the decemvir Claudius, was guilty of the highest
+rashness; since he might certainly have gained the people, already
+irritated against the tyrant, without imbruing his hands in his own
+blood. This action may indeed be extenuated, as Virginius slew his
+daughter from a false principle of honor, and did it to preserve her
+from what both he and she thought worse than death; namely, to preserve
+her from violation; but though it may in some measure be excused, it
+should not certainly be praised or admired.
+
+
+ON LOOKING AT THE PICTURE OF A BEAUTIFUL FEMALE.
+
+  What dazzling beauties strike my ravish'd eyes,
+  And fill my soul with pleasure and surprise!
+  What blooming sweetness smiles upon that face!
+  How mild, yet how majestic every grace!
+  In those bright eyes what more than mimic fire
+  Benignly shines, and kindles gay desire!
+  Yet chasten'd modesty, fair white-robed dame,
+  Triumphant sits to check the rising flame.
+  Sure nature made thee her peculiar care:
+  Was ever form so exquisitely fair?
+  Yes, once there was a form thus heavenly bright,
+  But now 'tis veil'd in everlasting night;
+  Each glory which that lovely face could boast,
+  And every charm, in traceless dust is lost;
+  An unregarded heap of ruin lies
+  That form which lately drew ten thousand eyes.
+  What once was courted, lov'd, adored, and prais'd,
+  Now mingles with the dust from whence 'twas raised.
+  No more soft dimpling smiles those cheeks adorn,
+  Whose rosy tincture sham'd the rising morn;
+  No more with sparkling radiance shine those eyes,
+  Nor over those the sable arches rise;
+  Nor from those ruby lips soft accents flow,
+  Nor lilies on the snowy forehead blow;
+  All, all are cropp'd by death's impartial hand,
+  Charms could not bribe, nor beauty's power withstand;
+  Not all that crowd of wondrous charms could save
+  Their fair possessor from the dreary grave.
+
+    How frail is beauty, transient, false and vain!
+  It flies with morn, and ne'er returns again.
+  Death, cruel ravager, delights to prey
+  Upon the young, the lovely and the gay.
+  If death appear not, oft corroding pain,
+  With pining sickness in her languid train,
+  Blights youth's gay spring with some untimely blast,
+  And lays the blooming field of beauty waste;
+  But should these spare, still time creeps on apace,
+  And plucks with wither'd hand each winning grace;
+  The eyes, lips, cheeks, and bosom he disarms,
+  No art from him can shield exterior charms.
+
+    But would you, fair ones, be esteem'd, approved,
+  And with an everlasting ardor loved;
+  Would you in wrinkled age, admirers find,
+  In every female virtue dress the mind;
+  Adorn the heart, and teach the soul to charm,
+  And when the eyes no more the breast can warm,
+  These ever-blooming beauties shall inspire
+  Each gen'rous heart with friendship's sacred fire;
+  These charms shall neither wither, fade, nor fly;
+  Pain, sickness, time, and death, they dare defy.
+  When the pale tyrant's hand shall seal your doom,
+  And lock your ashes in the silent tomb,
+  These beauties shall in double lustre rise,
+  Shine round the soul, and waft it to the skies.
+
+
+
+
+ART OF DETERMINING
+THE PRECISE FIGURE, THE DEGREE OF BEAUTY,
+THE HABITS, AND THE AGE,
+OF WOMEN,
+
+NOTWITHSTANDING THE AIDS AND DISGUISES OF
+DRESS.
+
+
+OF FIGURE.
+
+External indications as to figure are required chiefly as to the limbs
+which are concealed by drapery. Such indications are afforded by the
+walk, to every careful observer.
+
+In considering _the proportion of the limbs to the body_--if, even in a
+young woman, the walk, though otherwise good, be heavy, or the fall on
+each foot alternately be sudden, and rather upon the heel, the limbs
+though well formed, will be found to be slender, compared with the body.
+
+This conformation accompanies any great proportional developement of the
+vital system; and it is frequently observable in the woman of the Saxon
+population of England, as in the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, &c.
+
+In women of this conformation, moreover, the slightest indisposition or
+debility is indicated by a slight vibration of the shoulders, and upper
+part of the chest, at every step, in walking.
+
+In considering _the line or direction of the limbs_--if, viewed behind,
+the feet, at every step, are thrown out backward, and somewhat
+laterally, the knees are certainly much inclined inward.
+
+If, viewed in front, the dress, at every step, is as it were, gathered
+toward the front, and then tossed more or less to the opposite side, the
+knees are certainly too much inclined.
+
+In considering _the relative size of each portion of the limbs_--if, in
+the walk, there be a greater or less approach to the marching pace, the
+hip is large; for we naturally employ the joint which is surrounded with
+the most powerful muscles, and in any approach to the march, it is the
+hip-joint which is used, and the knee and ancle-joints which remain
+proportionally unemployed.
+
+If, in the walk, the tripping pace be used, as in an approach to walking
+on tiptoes, the calf is large; for it is only by the power of its
+muscles that, under the weight of the whole body, the foot can be
+extended for this purpose.
+
+If, in the walk, the foot be raised in a slovenly manner, and the heel
+be seen, at each step, to lift the bottom of the dress upward and
+backward, neither the hip nor the calf is well developed.
+
+Even with regard to the parts of the figure which are more exposed to
+observation by the closer adaptation of dress, much deception occurs. It
+is, therefore, necessary to understand the arts employed for this
+purpose, at least by skilful women.
+
+A person having a narrow face, wears a bonnet with wide front, exposing
+the lower part of the cheeks.--One having a broad face, wears a closer
+front; and, if the jaw be wide, it is in appearance diminished, by
+bringing the corners of the bonnet sloping to the point of the chin.
+
+A person having a long neck has the neck of the bonnet descending, the
+neck of the dress rising, and filling more or less of the intermediate
+space. One having a short neck has the whole bonnet short and close in
+the perpendicular direction, and the neck of the dress neither high nor
+wide.
+
+Persons with narrow shoulders have the shoulders or epaulets of the
+dress formed on the outer edge of the natural shoulder, very full, and
+both the bosom and back of the dress running in oblique folds, from the
+point of the shoulder to the middle of the bust.
+
+Persons with waists too large, render them less before by a stomacher,
+or something equivalent, and behind by a corresponding form of the
+dress, making the top of the dress smooth across the shoulders, and
+drawing it in plaits to a narrow point at the bottom of the waist.
+
+Those who have the bosom too small, enlarge it by the oblique folds of
+the dress being gathered above, and by other means.
+
+Those who have the lower posterior part of the body too flat, elevate it
+by the top of the skirt being gathered behind, and by other less skilful
+adjustments, which though hid, are easily detected.
+
+Those who have the lower part of the body too prominent anteriorly,
+render it less apparent by shortening the waist, by a corresponding
+projection behind, and by increasing the bosom above.
+
+Those who have the haunches too narrow, take care not to have the bottom
+of the dress too wide.
+
+Tall women have a wide skirt, or several flounces, or both of these:
+shorter women, a moderate one, but as long as can be conveniently worn,
+with the flounces, &c., as low as possible.
+
+
+OF BEAUTY.
+
+Additional indications as to beauty are required chiefly where the woman
+observed precedes the observer, and may, by her figure, naturally and
+reasonably excite his interest, while at the same time it would be rude
+to turn and look in her face on passing.
+
+There can, therefore, be no impropriety in observing, that the conduct
+of those who may happen to meet the women thus preceding, will differ
+according to the sex of the person who meets her.--If the person meeting
+her be a man, and the lady observed be beautiful, he will not only look
+with an expression of pleasure at her countenance, but will afterward
+turn more or less completely to survey her from behind.--If the person
+meeting her be a woman, the case becomes more complex. If both be either
+ugly or beautiful, or if the person meeting her be beautiful and the
+lady observed be ugly, then it is probable, that the approaching person
+may pass by inattentively, casting merely an indifferent glance; if, on
+the contrary, the woman meeting her be ugly, and the lady observed be
+beautiful, then the former will examine the latter with the severest
+scrutiny, and if she sees features and shape without defect, she will
+instantly fix her eyes on the head-dress or gown, in order to find some
+object for censure of the beautiful woman, and for consolation in her
+own ugliness.
+
+Thus he who happens to follow a female may be aided in determining
+whether it is worth his while to glance at her face in passing, or to
+devise other means of seeing it.
+
+Even when the face is seen, as in meeting in the streets or elsewhere,
+infinite deception occurs as to the degree of beauty. This operates so
+powerfully, that a correct estimate of beauty is perhaps never formed at
+first. This depends on the forms and still more on the colors of dress
+in relation to the face. For this reason, it is necessary to understand
+the principles according to which colors are employed at least by
+skilful women.
+
+When it is the fault of a face to contain too much yellow, then yellow
+around the face is used to remove it by contrast, and to cause the red
+and blue to predominate.
+
+When it is the fault of a face to contain too much red, then red around
+the face is used to remove by contrast, and to cause the yellow and blue
+to predominate.
+
+When it is the fault of a face to contain too much blue, then blue
+around the face is used to remove it by contrast, and to cause the
+yellow and red to predominate.
+
+When it is the fault of a face to contain too much yellow and red, then
+orange is used.
+
+When it is the fault of a face to contain too much red and blue, then
+purple is used.
+
+When it is the fault of a face to contain too much blue and yellow, then
+green is used.
+
+It is necessary to observe that the linings of bonnets reflect their
+color on the face, and transparent bonnets transmit that color, and
+equally tinge it. In both these cases, the color employed is no longer
+that which is placed around the face, and which acts on it by contrast,
+but the opposite. As green around the face heightens a faint red in the
+cheeks by contrast, so the pink lining of the bonnet aids it by
+reflection.
+
+Hence linings which reflect, are generally of the teint which is wanted
+in the face; and care is then taken that these linings do not come into
+the direct view of the observer, and operate prejudicially on the face
+by contrast, overpowering the little color which by reflection they
+should heighten. The fronts of bonnets so lined, therefore, do not widen
+greatly forward, and bring their color into contrast.
+
+When bonnets do widen, the proper contrast is used as a lining; but then
+it has not a surface much adapted for reflection, otherwise it may
+perform that office, and injure the complexion.
+
+Understanding, then, the application of these colors in a general way,
+it may be noticed, that fair faces are by contrast best acted on by
+light colors, and dark faces by darker colors.
+
+Dark faces are best affected by darker colors, evidently because they
+tend to render the complexion fairer; and fair faces do not require dark
+colors, because the opposition would be too strong.
+
+Objects which constitute a background to the face, or which, on the
+contrary, reflect their hues upon it, always either improve or injure
+the complexion. For this and some other reasons, many persons look
+better at home in their apartments than in the streets. Apartments may,
+indeed, be peculiarly calculated to improve individual complexions.
+
+
+OF MIND.
+
+External indications as to mind may be derived from figure, from gait,
+and from dress.
+
+As to figure, a certain symmetry or disproportion of parts (either of
+which depends immediately upon the locomotive system)--or a certain
+softness or hardness of form (which belongs exclusively to the vital
+system)--these reciprocally denote a locomotive symmetry or
+disproportion--or a vital softness or hardness--or a mental delicacy or
+coarseness, which will be found also indicated by the features of the
+face.
+
+These qualities are marked in pairs, as each belonging to its respective
+system; for, without this, there can be no accurate or useful
+observation.
+
+As to gait, that progression which advances, unmodified by any lateral
+movement of the body, or any perpendicular rising of the head, and which
+belongs exclusively to the locomotive system--or that soft lateral
+rolling of the body, which belongs exclusively to the vital system--or
+that perpendicular rising or falling of the head at every impulse to
+step, which belongs exclusively to the mental system--these reciprocally
+indicate a corresponding locomotive, or vital, or mental character,
+which will be found also indicated by the features of the face.
+
+To put to the test the utility of these elements of observation and
+indication, let us take a few instances.--If, in any individual,
+locomotive symmetry of figure is combined with direct and linear gait, a
+character of mind and countenance not absolutely repulsive, but cold and
+insipid, is indicated. If vital softness of figure is combined, with a
+gentle lateral rolling of the body in its gait, voluptuous character and
+expression of countenance are indicated.--If delicacy of outline in the
+figure, be combined with perpendicular rising of the head, levity,
+perhaps vanity, is indicated.--But there are innumerable combinations
+and modifications of the elements which we have just described.
+Expressions of pride, determination, obstinacy, &c., are all observable.
+
+The gait, however, is often formed, in a great measure, by local or
+other circumstances, by which it is necessary that the observer should
+avoid being misled.
+
+Dress, as affording indications, though less to be relied on than the
+preceding, is not without its value. The woman who possesses a
+cultivated taste, and a corresponding expression of countenance, will
+generally be tastefully dressed; and the vulgar woman, with features
+correspondingly rude, will easily be seen through the inappropriate mask
+in which her milliner or dressmaker may have invested her.
+
+
+OF HABITS.
+
+External indications as to the personal habits of women are both
+numerous and interesting.
+
+The habit of child-bearing is indicated by a flatter breast, a broader
+back, and thicker cartilages of the bones of the pubis, necessarily
+widening the pelvis.
+
+The same habit is also indicated by a high rise of the nape of the neck,
+so that the neck from that point bends considerably forward, and by an
+elevation which is diffused between the neck and shoulders. These all
+arise from temporary distensions of the trunk in women whose secretions
+are powerful, from the habit of throwing the shoulders backward during
+pregnancy, and the head again forward, to balance the abdominal weight;
+and they bestow a character of vitality peculiarly expressive.
+
+The same habit is likewise indicated by an excess of that lateral
+rolling of the body in walking, which was already described as connected
+with voluptuous character. This is a very certain indication, as it
+arises from temporary distensions of the pelvis, which nothing else can
+occasion. As in consequence of this lateral rolling of the body, and of
+the weight of the body being much thrown forward in gestation, the toes
+are turned somewhat inward, they aid in the indication.
+
+The habit of nursing children is indicated, both in mothers and
+nursery-maids, by the right shoulder being larger and more elevated than
+the left.
+
+The habits of the seamstress are indicated by the neck suddenly bending
+forward, and the arms being, even in walking, considerably bent forward
+or folded more or less upward from the elbows.
+
+Habits of labor are indicated by a considerable thickness of the
+shoulders below, where they form an angle with the inner part of the
+arm; and, where these habits are of the lowest menial kind, the elbows
+are turned outward, and the palms of the hands backward.
+
+
+OF AGE.
+
+External indications of age are required chiefly where the face is
+veiled, or where the woman observed precedes the observer and may
+reasonably excite his interest.
+
+In either of these cases, if the foot and ankle have lost a certain
+moderate plumpness, and assumed a certain sinewy or bony appearance, the
+woman has generally passed the period of youth.
+
+If in walking, instead of the ball or outer edge of the foot first
+striking the ground, it is the heel which does so, then has the woman in
+general passed the meridian of life. Unlike the last indication, this is
+apparent, however the foot and ankle may be clothed.--The reason of this
+indication is the decrease of power which unfits the muscles to receive
+the weight of the body by maintaining the extension of the ankle-joint.
+
+Exceptions to this last indication are to be found chiefly in women in
+whom the developments of the body are proportionally much greater,
+either from a temporary or a permanent cause, than those of the limbs,
+the muscles of which are consequently incapable of receiving the weight
+of the body by maintaining the extension of the ankle-joint.
+
+
+
+
+_THE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY_;
+
+OR A DESCRIPTION OF THE FAMOUS STATUE
+OF THE VENUS DE MEDICI.
+
+
+The Venus de Medici at Florence is the most perfect specimen of ancient
+sculpture remaining; and is spoken of as the Model of Female Beauty. It
+was so much a favorite of the Greeks and Romans, that a hundred ancient
+repetitions of this statue have been noticed by travellers. This statue
+is said to have been found in the forum of Octavia at Rome. It
+represents woman at that age when every beauty has just been perfected.
+
+"The Venus de Medici at Florence," says a distinguished writer, "is like
+a rose which, after a beautiful daybreak, expands its leaves to the
+first ray of the sun, and represents that age when the limbs assume a
+more finished form and the breast begins to develop itself."
+
+The size of the head is sufficiently small to leave that predominance to
+the vital organs in the chest, which, as already said, makes the
+nutritive system peculiarly that of woman. This is the first and most
+striking proof of the profound knowledge of the artist, the principles
+of whose art taught him that a vast head is not a constituent of female
+beauty. In mentioning the head it is scarcely possible to avoid noticing
+the rich curls of hair.
+
+The eyes next fix our attention by their soft, sweet, and glad
+expression. This is produced with exquisite art. To give softness, the
+ridges of the eyebrows are rounded. To give sweetness, the under eyelid,
+which I would call the expressive one, is slightly raised. To give the
+expression of gladness or of pleasure, the opening of the eyelids is
+diminished, in order to diminish, or partially to exclude, the excess of
+those impressions, which make even pleasure painful. Other exquisite
+details about those eyes, confer on them unparallelled beauty. Still,
+this look is far from those traits indicative of lasciviousness, with
+which some modern artists have thought to characterize their Venuses.
+
+Art still profounder was perhaps shown in the configuration of the nose.
+The peculiar connexion of this sense with love was evidently well
+understood by the artist. Not only is smell peculiarly associated with
+love, in all the higher animals, but it is associated with reproduction
+in plants, the majority of which evolve delicious odors only when the
+flowers or organs of fructification are displayed. Connected, indeed,
+with the capacity of the nose, and the cavities which open into it, is
+the projection of the whole middle part of the face.
+
+The mouth is rendered sweet and delicate by the lips being undeveloped
+at their angles, and by the upper lip continuing so, for a considerable
+portion of its length. It expresses love of pleasure by the central
+development of both lips, and active love by the especial development of
+the lower lip. By the slight opening of the lips, it expresses desire.
+
+These exquisite details, and the omission of nothing intellectually
+expressive that nature presents, have led some to imagine the Venus de
+Medici to be a portrait. In doing so, however, they see not the profound
+calculation for every feature thus embodied. More strangely still, they
+forget the ideal character of the whole: the notion of this ideal head
+being too small, is especially opposed to such an opinion.
+
+Withal, the look is amorous and languishing, without being lascivious,
+and is as powerfully marked by gay coquetry, as by charming innocence.
+
+The young neck is exquisitely formed. Its beautiful curves show a
+thousand capabilities of motion; and its admirably-calculated swell over
+the organ of voice, results from, and marks the struggling expression of
+still mysterious love.
+
+With regard to the rest of the figure, the admirable form of the mammę,
+which, without being too large, occupy the bosom, rise from it with
+various curves on every side, and all terminate in their apices, leaving
+the inferior part in each precisely as pendent as gravity demands; the
+flexile waist gently tapering little farther than the middle of the
+trunk; the lower portion of it beginning gradually to swell out higher
+even than the umbilicus; the gradual expansion of the haunches, those
+expressive characteristics of the female, indicating at once her fitness
+for the office of generation and that of parturition--expansions which
+increase till they reach their greatest extent at the superior part of
+the thighs; the fulness behind their upper part, and on each side of the
+lower part of the spine, commencing as high as the waist, and
+terminating in the still greater swell of the distinctly-separated hips;
+the flat expanse between these, and immediately over the fissure of the
+hips, relieved by a considerable dimple on each side, and caused by the
+elevation of all the surrounding parts; the fine swell of the broad
+abdomen which, soon reaching its greatest height immediately under the
+umbilicus, slopes neatly to the mons veneris, but, narrow at its upper
+part, expands more widely as it descends, while, throughout, it is
+laterally distinguished by a gentle depression from the more muscular
+parts on the sides of the pelvis; the beautiful elevation of the mons
+veneris; the contiguous elevation of the thighs which, almost at their
+commencement rise as high as it does; the admirable expansion of these
+bodies inward, or toward each other, by which they almost seem to
+intrude upon each other, and to exclude each from its respective place;
+the general narrowness of the upper, and the unembraceable expansion of
+the lower part thus exquisitely formed;--all these admirable
+characteristics of female form, the mere existence of which in woman
+must, one is tempted to imagine, be even to herself, a source of
+ineffable pleasure--these constitute a being worthy, as the
+personification of beauty, of occupying the temples of Greece; present
+an object finer, alas! than nature seems even capable of producing; and
+offer to all nations and ages a theme of admiration and delight.
+
+Well might Thomson say:--
+
+  "So stands the statue that enchants the world,
+  So bending tries to veil the matchless boast,
+  The mingled beauties of exulting Greece."
+
+And Byron, in yet higher strain:--
+
+  "There, too, the goddess loves in stone, and fills
+  The air around with beauty;
+                        within the pale
+  We stand, and in that form and face behold
+  What Mind can make, when Nature's self would fail;
+  And to the fond idolaters of old
+  Envy the innate flash which such a soul could mould.
+
+  We gaze and turn away, and know not where,
+  Dazzled and drunk with beauty, till the heart
+  Reels with its fulness; there--forever there--
+  Chained to the chariot of triumphal Art,
+  We stand as captives, and would not depart."
+
+
+THE FIRST KISS OF LOVE.
+
+BY LORD BYRON.
+
+  Away with those fictions of flimsy romance!
+    Those tissues of falsehood which folly has wove!
+  Give me the mild beam of the soul-breathing glance,
+    Or the rapture which dwells on the first kiss of love.
+
+  Ye rhymers, whose bosoms with phantasy glow,
+    Whose pastoral passions are made for the grove,
+  From what blest inspiration your sonnets would flow,
+    Could you ever have tasted the first kiss of love!
+
+  I hate you, ye cold compositions of art;
+    Though prudes may condemn me, and bigots reprove,
+  I court the effusions that spring from the heart
+    Which throbs with delight to the first kiss of love.
+
+  Oh! cease to affirm that man, since his birth,
+    From Adam till now, has with wretchedness strove;
+  Some portion of paradise still is on earth,
+    And Eden revives in the first kiss of love.
+
+  When age chills the blood, when our pleasures are past--
+    For years fleet away with the wings of the dove--
+  The dearest remembrance will still be the last,
+    Our sweetest memorial the first kiss of love.
+
+
+
+
+THE DEATH OF CLEOPATRA.
+
+_See Frontispiece._
+
+The Princess of antiquity, most renowned for her personal charms, was in
+her unrivalled beauty, her mental perfections, her weaknesses, and the
+unhappy conclusion of an amorous existence the counterpart of the most
+beautiful queen of later times, the unfortunate Mary of Scotland.
+
+Cleopatra was the daughter of Ptolemy Auletes, king of Egypt. She was
+early given to wife to her own brother, Ptolemy Dionysius, and ascended
+the throne conjointly with him, on the death of their father. It was
+doubtless the policy of the kingdom thus to preserve all the royal
+honors in one family--the daughter being the queen, as well as the son
+king of the country. But her ambitious and intriguing spirit, restrained
+by no ties of reciprocal love to her husband, who was also her brother,
+sought for means to burst a union at once unnatural and galling: and the
+opportunity at length arrived. Julius Cęsar, the conqueror of the world,
+having pursued the defeated Pompey into Egypt, there beheld Cleopatra in
+the zenith of her beauty; and he before whose power the whole world was
+kneeling, prostrated himself before a pretty woman. The following is the
+account of her first introduction to Cęsar, as given by the historian.
+It shows that she had no maidenly scruples as to the mode of attaining
+her ends.
+
+Her intrigues to become sole monarch, had made her husband-brother
+banish her from the capital. Hearing of the arrival of Cęsar, she got
+into a small boat, with only one male friend, and in the dusk of the
+evening made for the palace where Cęsar as well as her husband lodged.
+As she saw it difficult to enter it undiscovered by her husband's
+friends, she rolled herself up in a carpet. Her companion tied her up at
+full length like a bale of goods, and carried her in at the gates to
+Cęsar's apartments. This stratagem of hers, which was a strong proof of
+her wit and ingenuity, is said to have first opened her way to Cęsar's
+heart, and her conquest advanced rapidly by the charms of her speech and
+person. The genius of Shakspeare has well depicted the power of her
+beauty at this time. He makes her to say, at a later period of life,
+when chagrined at the expected desertion of another lover,--
+
+          "Broad-fronted Cęsar!
+  When thou wast here above the ground, I was
+  A morsel for a monarch: And great Pompey
+  Would stand, and make his eyes grow in my brow;
+  There would he fix his longing gaze, and die
+  With looking on his life."
+
+But Cleopatra, who was not less remarkable for her cunning than for her
+beauty, knowing that Cęsar was resolved to be gratified at whatever
+cost, determined that the price should be a round one: the terms of his
+admission to her arms, were that Cęsar should expel her brother from the
+kingdom, and give the crown to her; which Cęsar complied with. Cleopatra
+had a son by Cęsar called Cęsarion.
+
+In the civil wars which distracted the Roman empire after the death of
+Cęsar, Cleopatra supported Brutus, against Antony and Octavius. Antony,
+in his expedition to Parthia, summoned her to appear before him. She
+arrayed herself in the most magnificent apparel, and appeared before her
+judge in the most captivating attire. Though somewhat older than when
+she drew Cęsar to her arms, her charms were still conspicuous;
+
+  "Age could not wither her, nor custom stale
+  Her infinite variety. Other women cloy
+  The appetite they feed. But she made hungry
+  Where most she satisfied."
+
+Her artifice on this occasion succeeded; Antony became enamoured of her,
+and publicly married her, although his wife the sister of Octavius was
+living. He gave Cleopatra the greater part of the eastern provinces of
+the Roman empire. This behaviour was the cause of a rupture between
+Octavius and Antony; and these two celebrated generals met in battle at
+Actium, where Cleopatra, by flying with sixty sail of vessels, ruined
+the interest of Antony, and he was defeated. Cleopatra had retired to
+Egypt, where soon after Antony followed her. Antony stabbed himself upon
+the false information that Cleopatra was dead; and as his wound was not
+mortal, he was carried to the queen, who drew him up by a cord from one
+of the windows of the monument, where she had retired and concealed
+herself.
+
+Antony soon after died of his wounds, and Cleopatra, after she had
+received pressing invitations from Octavius, and even pretended
+declarations of love, destroyed herself by the bite of an asp, not to
+fall into the conqueror's hands. She had previously attempted to stab
+herself, and had once made a resolution to starve herself. But the means
+by which she destroyed herself, is said to produce the easiest of
+deaths: the Asp is a small serpent found near the river Nile, so
+delicate that it may be concealed in a fig; and when presented to the
+vitals of the body, its bite is so deadly as to render medical skill
+useless, while at the same time it is so painless, that the victim
+fancies herself dropping into a sweet slumber, instead of the arms of
+death. So Cleopatra, while she is applying the venomous reptile to her
+bosom, (as represented in the Frontispiece,) is supposed to use language
+like the following,--
+
+  "Dost thou not see my baby at my breast,
+  That sucks the nurse asleep?"
+
+Thus, after having chained in her embrace the two greatest generals that
+the Roman empire had produced, Julius Cęsar and Mark Antony, at the
+periods when they were respectively arbiters of the world's fate,
+perished Cleopatra by her own hand.
+
+Cleopatra was a voluptuous and extravagant woman, and in one of the
+feasts she gave to Antony at Alexandria, she melted pearls into her
+drink to render the entertainment more sumptuous and expensive. She was
+fond of appearing dressed as a goddess; and she advised Antony to make
+war against the richest nations, to support her debaucheries. Her beauty
+has been greatly commended, and her mental perfections so highly
+celebrated, that she has been described as capable of giving audience to
+the ambassadors of seven different nations, and of speaking their
+various languages as fluently as her own.
+
+How vain are the possessions of beauty, power, personal and mental
+accomplishments, if to these are not united virtuous principles. All
+history, as well as all experience, is full of examples calculated to
+impress the great lesson that
+
+  "VIRTUE alone is HAPPINESS below."
+
+
+
+
+AN ESSAY ON MATRIMONY.
+
+Socrates, being asked, whether it were better for a man to marry, or to
+remain single, replied,--"Let him do either, he will repent of it."
+
+The philosopher spoke 'like an oracle,' leaving the world as much in the
+dark as to his views of the comparative advantages of matrimony and
+celibacy, as they could have been before. But a vast majority of men
+have chosen, since they must repent of one or the other, to repent of
+marrying, deeming perhaps that this repentance is "_the repentance which
+needeth not to be repented of_."
+
+We shall conclude our little treatise on "the sex," with a few remarks
+on the subject of--we were about to say--Happiness,--but as we are
+content that every married man and woman should judge for themselves as
+to the happiness of the married state, we will simply style it an ESSAY
+ON MATRIMONY.
+
+No event is more important, and none is conducted, on many occasions,
+with less prudence, than Marriage. Providence has allowed the passions
+to exercise a powerful influence in this matter, otherwise the cares and
+anxieties with which it is attended would deter most persons from
+launching their bark of earthly happiness on the great ocean of
+matrimony. But too frequently the passions are the only guide, and these
+stimulate to bewilder: they exhibit pleasing and attractive imagery, and
+then the possession destroys the bliss.
+
+Love is a pleasing but exciting passion. The eye is delighted by form,
+manners, and the expression of the features, the ears by musical
+language, and the imagination paints future joys; all of which
+contribute to one great principle, that of receiving happiness from
+those we love, and evincing love for those from whom we derive our
+happiness. As the crystal streams are absorbed by the sun, and
+distributed as brilliant clouds in the heavens, and then fall and run in
+their accustomed channels, and thus the rivers supply the clouds, and
+the vapors the rivers, so is the interchange between love and happiness.
+This will agree with the opinion that love may be occasioned suddenly,
+because enjoyment is expected; or it may arise gradually, because the
+unattractiveness which first existed, may be succeeded by attraction.
+
+There was no appointment by nature of particular persons for each other;
+but we may expect among a great variety of occurrences to meet with some
+singular and astonishing coincidences. Human beings appear to be left in
+this respect, as in many others, to their own judgment. If they act
+discreetly, they enjoy the comfort of it; but if otherwise, they bring
+upon themselves a disadvantage.
+
+The happiness arising from an union depends chiefly on the character of
+the persons who are concerned in it. If men and women were as consistent
+and virtuous as they should be, the connubial bond would be soft and
+pleasant; but as these effects do not always arise, where is the fault?
+Which is better, or more worthy, the male or the female sex? This is
+rather a difficult question; and let the palm of superior merit be
+awarded to either, the imputation of prejudice would be connected with
+the decision. But fortunately there is little difference: one varies
+from the other in particular qualities; but if the aggregate of merit be
+taken in each, the amount will not differ much. Education forms the
+principal variation: men are instructed in the more active and laborious
+employments, women in the more sedentary and domestic. Dr Southey says,
+that "if women are not formed of finer clay, there has been more of the
+dew of heaven to temper it." Richard Flecknoe, a contemporary with
+Dryden, observes of the female sex,--"I have always been conversant with
+the best and worthiest in all places where I came; and among the rest
+with ladies, in whose conversation, as in an academy of virtue, I learnt
+nothing but goodness, and saw nothing but nobleness." It must be
+granted, that women in general possess more of the sweetness and
+softness of human nature, while men are endowed with more vigorous
+virtues; women are gifted with more fortitude, and men with more valor.
+
+Jeremy Taylor says,--"Marriage hath in it the labor of love, and the
+delicacies of friendship; the blessings of society, and the union of
+hands and hearts."
+
+Cowper has also alluded to the advantages of a matrimonial settlement,--
+
+  "O friendly to the best pursuits of man,
+  Friendly to thought, to virtue, and to peace,
+  Domestic life in rural pleasure pass'd."
+
+Marriage is frequently an union of interest: the happiness of one is
+made a source of enjoyment to the other. It is for life, because it is
+most agreeable with the inclination of mankind that friendship, esteem
+and love should be permanent. In this instance a continuance of the
+union constitutes no small part of the bliss. The expectation of a
+durable connection makes men careful, otherwise they would marry and
+unmarry every week. There is, by the arrangement of the Almighty, a
+comparative power or influence vested in the man, because, agreeably
+with all good government,--
+
+  "Some are, and must be, greater than the rest;"
+
+but then, as Dr Beattie observes, "the superiority vested by law in the
+man is compensated to the woman by that superior complaisance which is
+paid them by every man who aspires to elegance of manners." And besides
+this, the husband has frequently the nominal, while the wife has the
+actual power:--
+
+  "Like as the helme doth rule the shippe,"
+
+so she regulates all the household affairs. This is proper, when the
+husband allows it; and he ought to do so, when his wife is capable of
+managing these things; but when the inclinations of his Eve run
+perversely, when he is conscious that he has reason on his side, and she
+only folly, and yet he is vacillating and yielding, he is unmanly and
+inconsistent; he sacrifices future happiness to present peace. Every
+woman, it must be granted, is not a sensible one; and "there is
+nothing," as Lord Burleigh observed to his son, "more fulsome than a she
+foole." If Socrates had properly controlled his Xantippe before her
+disorder had increased beyond cure, it would have contributed to her
+happiness and his own. Prince Eugene observed, on one occasion, rather
+satirically, that love was a mere amusement, and calculated for nothing
+more than to enlarge the influence of the woman, and abridge the power
+of the man. Goldsmith's Hermit said to his lovely visiter,--
+
+  "And love is still an emptier sound,
+    The modern fair one's jest;
+  On earth unseen, or only found
+    To warm the turtle's nest."
+
+But love is an actual, a powerful, and a beneficial principle, if it be
+properly regulated. Among married persons there ought to be as much love
+as would induce either to yield in trifling matters; and there ought to
+be as much reason as would enable both to act correctly. Matrimony
+should be something like the union of the ivy and the oak: the latter is
+firm, and capable of supporting its more tender companion; the ivy,
+however, must follow in some measure the humors and windings of the oak;
+but they grow together, and the longer they continue the more closely
+they are united. There have been many instances of great attachment.
+Porcia, the wife of Brutus, when she heard of her husband's death
+swallowed burning coals that she might go with him. Alceste, wife of
+Admetus king of Thessaly, sacrificed herself for the safety of her
+husband. This monarch was ill; and when the oracle was consulted, it was
+declared that he would not recover except some friend would die for him;
+and as no one else would do so, the wife heroically drank a cup of
+poison. Paulina the wife of Seneca in his old age, was young, beautiful,
+and accomplished; and she was so much attached to her husband, that when
+the veins of Seneca were opened by the command of Nero, she caused her
+own to be cut, that she might also bleed to death. When Conrad III. had
+taken the town of Winsberg in Bavaria, he allowed only the women to go
+out; but they had leave to carry with them as much as they pleased. They
+loaded themselves, therefore, with their husbands and children, and
+brought them all out on their shoulders! When love is genuine; when
+professions are sincere, and the practice agreeable therewith; when
+health is enjoyed, and as many comforts as are necessary for this life;
+when children grow up in vigor, good behaviour, and mental improvement;
+when old age is solaced by the company of each other, and the kind
+attention of daughters and sons; then matrimony is a cause of
+happiness.
+
+But if all these enjoyments were the lot of every married person, men
+would become too much contented with the present life, and they would
+scarcely think, as they sail on smoothly, of the haven, for which they
+are bound. Besides, the fascinations of domestic life would attract
+them from many duties which they owe to their fellow creatures. There
+are then many disadvantages connected with matrimony. There is so
+much ignorance, perverseness, undue inclination for power, disposition
+to contradict, anger, jealousy, hatred, and versatility among human
+beings that many unpleasant occurrences will necessarily arise, and
+especially in the marriage state, because here most of these feelings
+are brought into action, and are most sensibly felt by those who are
+subject to their influence. He that paints the experience of human
+life in brilliant colors only gives a flattering and deceptive
+representation,--he may just as well pretend that the heavens are
+always cloudless. People soon discover that there are sorrows in the
+world as well as joys, unpleasant as well as pleasant events; hence
+arises the advantage of examining, of pointing out, and endeavoring
+to avoid "the ills which flesh is heir to." The perpetuity of marriage,
+under pleasing circumstances, is its most lovely character; but the
+same peculiarity, under a different aspect, is its principal source of
+misery. It is too frequently a state of bondage, "which thousands once
+fast-chained to quit no more." But what exists, and cannot be removed,
+should always be borne as patiently as possible; and thus we may keep a
+cheerful heart, when another, less prudent, would be gloomy. Besides, an
+ill temper makes every condition of life unhappy; a cheerful disposition
+will throw a gleam of sunshine over the scenery of a November day. Some
+people, very foolishly, make themselves uneasy because they are bound.
+Sir Jonah Barrington seems to think it a natural propensity. He
+says,--"The moment any two animals, however fond before, are fastened
+together by a chain they cannot break, they begin to quarrel without
+any apparent reason, and peck each other solely because they cannot get
+loose again." But it must be remembered that people enter into marriage
+with a knowledge of the permanency of the union, and perhaps they seldom
+repent, except they had been deceived; and this we may hope would not
+occur frequently. After the Romans had introduced a law of divorce, no
+respectable person, for the space of forty years, availed himself of it.
+Divorcement was much practised among the Jews, and was productive of
+great evil. One of the Jewish doctors asserted, that if a man beheld a
+woman who was handsomer than his wife, he might put away his wife and
+marry her; and thus all the wives in Judea, except the handsomest, might
+have been divorced. Josephus observes, on one occasion, very
+coolly,--"About this time I put away my wife, who had borne me three
+children, not being pleased with her manners."
+
+One cause of unhappiness in a married state, is too little affection;
+and in other instances, although affection may be possessed, it is not
+shown. Montesquieu observes, "that women commonly reserve their love for
+their husbands until their husbands are dead." Sometimes a mortal hatred
+springs up, which induces a man, like Henry VIII., to cause the murder
+of those whom he has sworn to love and preserve; or a woman, like Livia,
+to poison her husband. Not only is a great dissimilarity of rank and
+condition a cause of dislike, but a great variation in age is frequently
+the cause of distrust and unhappiness. The proportion which Aristotle
+suggests (a man of thirty-seven to a woman of eighteen,) may be
+appropriate in one respect, but it is objectionable in others. The life
+of the female is just as long as that of the male; and the union of
+middle age and youth, where the one is twice as old as the other, will
+not always allow an uniformity of feelings and disposition. The case of
+Seneca (to which we have alluded,) and that of Sir Matthew Hale, are
+exceptions. Youth is generally gay, thoughtless, and frivolous; but
+life, in more advanced periods, is sober, thoughtful, and dignified. A
+husband should not be deemed a teacher or guardian for the wife so much
+as a companion; and the wife should not be considered as guardian for
+the husband: there ought to be a mutual sympathy, and in most respects
+an equality of influence.
+
+Jealousy is a passion which allows the hapless possessor to enjoy
+neither rest nor confidence. It is frequently the companion of love.
+Shakspeare says,
+
+  "For where love reigns, disturbing jealousy
+  Doth call himself affection's sentinel."
+
+When this principle obtains possession of the breast, it destroys the
+health and spirits: the streams which gladden the heart become
+corrupted, and productive of rage and melancholy. Jealousy is like the
+snake which insidiously entwines itself around its victim; or like the
+bohun upas of Java, which diffuses death. The bright beams of hope,
+which cheered the possessor, and carried his vision to distant days and
+distant scenes of enjoyment, are all eclipsed by this pillar of
+darkness. Moliere the poet was endowed with an eminent genius--he was
+esteemed as the first wit in Europe; but his wife was faithless, and no
+enjoyment, or success, or honor could tranquillize his mind, and make
+him happy. The attractions of youth and beauty will sometimes excite an
+illicit passion, but the indulgence of this feeling is the path to
+anxiety and degradation. The female may be less faulty; but she will be
+the greater sufferer; for, with regard to her lawful companion,
+confidence is changed to timidity, love to hypocrisy, and a continual
+fear torments her, lest accident or malice should discover her
+imprudence. How dearly is the pleasure of a moment procured when it is
+purchased by years of unhappiness! On the other hand, it is extremely
+unreasonable for some persons to indulge as they do, their natural
+disposition of suspicion, and thus make others unhappy. Where virtue
+only exists, it is a most grievous hardship that the possessor should be
+subject to the penalty of vice. Nothing should be made with more caution
+than a decision in which the innocent may receive the odium which
+belongs to the guilty.
+
+Sometimes the worst sort of accomplishments are brought by a lady into
+the marriage state: she may be capable of singing admirably, of dancing,
+of painting, of performing skilfully on the harp or piano, of making
+ingenious trinkets and ornaments; all this may be well enough for an
+unmarried lady, but of what use are they in a state of matrimony? It is
+true, that if she be favored with a handsome fortune, she may indulge
+herself agreeably with her inclination, and employ others to manage her
+household affairs; but not many are thus situated; and, even in this
+case, there are duties which belong to the wife, in regard to her
+husband and children, which would occupy pretty much of her time. It is
+still worse if she be fond of dissipation,--of routs, balls, and public
+amusements; if she fly abroad in pursuit of a phantom while domestic
+enjoyment is neglected. A good wife will endeavor to make herself happy
+at home, and she will try to make all at home happy: she should endeavor
+to make the pathway of life cheerful by her smiles and attention, so
+that her husband may be delighted with his dwelling, and find it his
+happiest place; and that the children may be regulated with all
+necessary care.
+
+A good temper is essential for matrimonial happiness. An habitually
+irritable or gloomy disposition is a source of misery to the possessor
+and to others. A dark and murky cave could as well throw out a cheerful
+lustre, as a surly person communicate happiness to those around him.
+Obstinacy must not be indulged by either party; for, as the bond of
+union cannot be easily broken, if one be perverse the other must bend.
+If two trees be bound tightly together, and both be stiff, the cords
+will probably break; if not immediately, they will when the cords become
+weaker: and thus with regard to matrimony, what God has joined together,
+the perversity of human beings will put asunder. Obstinacy in trifling
+matters in the marriage state is an evidence of little love and a bad
+heart; but if trifling matters appear important, and the gaining of
+every point be as the taking of a citadel, the person is wrong in his
+judgment; he is insane, or partially so. Many worthy women have been
+cursed with worthless husbands; but, unfortunately, the grievances of
+the female sex have been less frequently known than those of the men;
+for women are not authors, and men are frequently so; consequently, in
+all estimates of the comparative merit of the sexes, it must be
+remembered that more has been said on the one side than on the other.
+Home, however, is the castle of the wife, if she be a good one; here she
+keeps her permanent abode, agreeably with the injunction of St. Paul.
+The husband is absent the principal part of his time, may there not
+therefore, on some occasions, be too greet an inclination in the lady to
+consider herself as the governor of the establishment, while the husband
+may be deemed a visiter, rather than the master? This would not arise in
+the breast of an amiable and affectionate wife, but it has sometimes
+arisen; for, unfortunately, all wives have not been good ones. Jerome
+Cardan was so unfortunate as to have a wife who was proverbial for her
+ill temper and arbitrary conduct. John Knox said of Lord Erskine, "He
+has a very Jezebel to his wife." Salmasius, the opponent of Milton, was
+made perpetually uneasy by a similar thorn. The unfortunate husband was
+a Frenchman, and Milton said (as Dr Johnson observes,) "Tu es Gallus,
+et, ut aiunt, nimium gallinaceus." Milton himself seems to have suffered
+from a similar cause, for he evinces so much hostility to the female
+sex, that no other reason would so naturally account for it. He
+exclaims,
+
+                            "O why did God,
+  Creator wise, that peopled highest Heaven
+  With spirits masculine, create at last
+  This novelty on earth, this fair defect
+  Of nature, and not fill the world at once
+  With men and angels without feminine?"
+
+Milton adds a great deal more, which, if he had a high opinion of woman,
+even his anxiety to make his character of Adam consistent would not have
+demanded. An amiable temper on the part of a wife, with her own natural
+softness, and an inclination to yield in unimportant matters, will not
+only increase love, but power; for in this respect, agreeably to the
+opinion of Prince Eugene, love is power.
+
+Marriage is sometimes made a matter of mere convenience; people enter
+into it with as much indifference as they would into any other
+speculation, and when one companion dies they take another. In the book
+of Tobit we have an account of Sara, the daughter of Raguel, who had
+been favored with seven husbands, whom "Asmodeus the evil spirit had
+killed." Love must be exceedingly pliable, it must be love to man, and
+not to a man, that would suffer a woman to transfer her affections seven
+times. It would be a ludicrous occurrence, if, upon any particular
+occasion, a man's three or four wives, or a woman's three or four
+husbands, should "burst their cerements," and visit their former
+dwelling. What astonishment! What uplifted hands and distended
+eyeballs! What speechlessness and violent speeches,--reproaches and
+animosities! When the Duke of Rutland was Viceroy of Ireland, Sir John
+Hamilton attended one of his Grace's levees. "This is timely rain," said
+the Duke, "it will bring every thing above ground."--"I hope not, my
+Lord," replied Sir John, "for I have three wives there." Marriage may be
+well extended to two wives and two husbands in succession; this, in some
+cases, is necessary; but when it goes to three or four it is
+objectionable. The man who moves from place, sometimes living here and
+sometimes there, will never gain a pure and ardent love of home; by the
+same rule, a succession of wives will only induce an habitual or
+mechanical regard to the wife for the time being; in the same way as
+loyalty may be transferred from one sovereign to another. Besides, a
+family with different degrees of relationship and with different
+interests is formed, and this contributes nothing towards domestic
+tranquillity. There may be some particular cases in which the evils to
+which we have alluded may not arise; these may be deemed exceptions.
+
+There are some sorrows peculiar to matrimony; and some which, though
+they fall on other conditions of life, are felt more heavily when they
+intrude themselves within the boundary of connubial love. Poverty and
+sickness are more grievous evils under circumstances of this sort;
+because a man feels not only for himself, but for others. How dreadful
+must it be when the husband beholds his wife in squalid misery. What are
+the feelings of a mother when she sees her innocent children suffering
+from hunger! And when the iron hand of affliction presses upon the brow
+of a husband or a wife, and the sharp arrows of pain occasion groans, is
+there not an almost equal anguish is the breast of an affectionate
+partner? And when the heavy clouds of sorrow gather around at the
+anticipated separation of those who had lived in the bonds of
+harmony--when the chilly arms of death are held out to clasp him, or
+her, who had been used to a more tender embrace, how dreadful is that
+period! Is not the woe of separating generally in the same proportion as
+the bliss of uniting? And is it not a valuable loan to be paid by a
+mighty sacrifice?
+
+Unhappiness may be occasioned by indulging an undue degree of love.
+Sentimental bliss is generally followed by sentimental sorrow;
+consequently, people may love one another too ardently, so as to make
+the thought of parting a source of misery. If two plants grow up
+together, imparting to each other shelter and fragrance, it may
+contribute to their mutual advantage; but if they become so closely
+united as to grow from the same stalk, and depend on the same nutriment,
+then take away one, and both will perish. Connubial love should,
+therefore, be regulated by reason. Extremes are seldom durable. Violent
+love in the marriage state may change to hatred; and an unusual quantity
+expended on the husband or wife, may occasion a lesser degree of regard
+towards others. It is not an uncommon event for external enemies to
+occasion harmony at home; and harmony at home, or the yielding to the
+foolish notions of each other, may occasion enemies without. So
+difficult is it to act consistently, and to live in peace with all men!
+But the Scripture demands it, and we have a long period for studying our
+lesson.
+
+In matrimony it is necessary that many things should contribute to a
+permanency of enjoyment. A good temper on both sides; property enough to
+supply the wants of a family; good health; children--not too many, nor
+too few, nor all of one sex; a continuance in each other's society, till
+both pass away gradually as the twilight into darkness: but, if chilly
+poverty exert its influence; if the husband or the wife be ill-tempered;
+if he or she be unfaithful or jealous; if love be followed by hatred; if
+one be taken, and the other left in solitude; if children be imperfect
+in birth, or habitually sickly, or drop off in early years as unripe
+fruit; if sons prove vicious, and daughters bring disgrace on themselves
+and their families; if the extravagance of children bring their aged
+parents in sorrow to the grave; where, then, will be the pleasure of
+matrimony? The cares of a family, when the family is large and unruly,
+are more perplexing than the cares of a state. Cardan confessed, that
+out of four great troubles which he had experienced, two arose from his
+children. When Thales was asked why he did not marry, he replied,
+"because I want no children." One of the ancient sages was so much
+impressed with the disappointments and anxieties of matrimony, that when
+he was asked, at what time, a man should marry? replied, "If he be
+young, not yet; if older, not at all."
+
+This sentiment however, so repugnant to all our ideas of social
+improvement, as well as to the command of our Creator, who presented
+woman to man as a helpmate, because it was not good that he should live
+alone, and demanded of them to "be fruitful and multiply," will find no
+advocates except among the disappointed, the ignorant, and the
+abandoned. "The love of woman" is a feeling too deeply rooted in the
+breast of man, and the reality of domestic felicity has been too long
+tested by experience, for either to be sacrificed on the altar of the
+revilers of matrimony, whether they be libertines, weak husbands, or
+misnamed "philosophers."
+
+  The dearest boon from Heaven above,
+    Is bliss which brightly hallows home,
+  'Tis sunlight to the world of love,
+    And life's pure wine without its foam.
+  There is a sympathy of heart
+    Which consecrates the social shrine,
+  Robs grief of gloom and doth impart
+    A joy to gladness all divine.
+
+
+
+
+    +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+    |                                                              |
+    | Transcriber's Note                                           |
+    |                                                              |
+    | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. Details    |
+    | are provided in the source of the associated html version.   |
+    | Archaic spellings have been retained.                        |
+    |                                                              |
+    +--------------------------------------------------------------+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Sketches of the Fair Sex, in All Parts
+of the World, by Anonymous
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+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES OF THE FAIR SEX ***
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