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diff --git a/26117-8.txt b/26117-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..428f03c --- /dev/null +++ b/26117-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6230 @@ +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 + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SKETCHES OF THE FAIR SEX *** + +***** This file should be named 26117-8.txt or 26117-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/1/1/26117/ + +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.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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