% . i . a. : LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON. N. J. Presented by \T\rs.\Ah\\\£Am c)\JJcAr\ . Division.^.^'^m^' Section.J.....&... S *3 I v. 2. &a<**V€*jeL&- %ft* f >. . * % v.. \ DBS 3B FRIENDo/lIK'ri'E 5 CHAPTER XIX. The fame Subjecl continued - 51 CHAPTER XX. Of Drefs, Ornament, and the various other Methods whereby Women endeavour to render ihemfelves agreeable to the Men. - 83 CHAPTER XXI. The fame Subjecl continued - 98 CHAPTER XXII. The fame Subjecl continued - 121 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXIII. Of Courtjhip . . j 44 CHAPTER XXIV. The fame Subjecl continued - 165 CHAPTER XXV^ Of Matrimony - - 186 CHAPTER XXVI. The fame Subj 'eel continued - 197 CHAPTER XXVII. The fame Subjecl continued - 216 CHAPTER XXVIII. The fame Subjecl continued - 241 CHAPTER XXIX. The fame Subjecl continued . 266 CHAPTER XXX. Of Widowhood - - 289 CHAPTER XXXI. Of the Rights, Privileges, and Immunities of the Women of Great Britain ; the Puni foments to which they are liable by Law; and the Rcflriclions they are laid under by Law and Cuflom 3 1 5 THE yio wy of CHAPTER XVL Of Delicacy and Qb&jiity* F all the virtues which adorn the female qhara&er, and enable the fex to fteal imperceptibly into the heart, none arc mure confpicuous unaffected fimplicity and fhynefs of manners which we diftinguiih by the name of delicacy. In the moll rude and favage dates of mankind, however, deli- cacy has no exiftence; in thofe where politenefs and the various refinements connected with it are carried to excefs, delicacy is difcarded, as a vulgar and unfaflbionable reftraint on the freedom of good breeding. To illuftrate thefe obfervations, we.fhall adduce a few facts from the hiftory of mankind. Where the human race have little other culture than what they receive from nature, and hardly any other ideas but fuch as (he dictates; the two fexes live together, unconfeious of almoft any reftraint oa their words or on their actions : Diodorus Siculus mentions feveral nations among the antients, as the Hylo- phagi, and Icthiophagi, who had fcarcely anycloath- ing, whole language was exceedingly imp erf f : ft, and VOL, II. B 6 THE HISTORY whofe manners were hardly diilingui (liable from thofe of the brutes which furrounded them. The Greeks, in the heroic ages, as appears from the whole hiflory of their conduct, delineated by Homer and their other poets and hiflorians, were totally unacquainted with delicacy. The Romans, in the infancy of their empire, were the fame. Tacitus informs us, that the ancient Germans had not fepa- rate beds for the two fexes, but that they lay pro- niiicuoufly on reeds or on heath along the walls of their hoafes ; a cuftom (till prevailing in Lapland, among the peafauts of Norway, Poland, and Ruifia ; and not altogether obliterated in forae parts of the Highlands of Scotland and of Wales. In Terra del Fuego, on feveral places of the Gold Coafi, in the Brazils, and a variety of other parts, the inhabi- tants have hardly any thing to cover their bodies, and fcarcely the lead inclination to canceal any natu- ral action from the eyes of the public. In Otaheite, to appear naked, or in cloaths, are circumftances equally indifferent to both fexes : nor does any word in their language, nor any action to which they have an inclination, feem more indelicate or reprehenfible than another. Such are the effects of a total want of culture: and effects not very diflimilar are in France and Italy produced from a redundance of it; delicacy is laughed out of cxiflence as a filly and unfafhionable weaknefs. Among neople holding a middling degree, or rather perhaps fomething below a middle degree, between the mod uncultivated rnf./city, and the mod refined politenefs, we find female delicacy in its higheft perfection. The Japanefe are but jtift emerged ionic degrees above favagc barbarity, and in their hiflory we are prcfented by Kempfer, with an inftance of the effect of delicacy, which perhaps has not a parallel in any other country. A lady OF WOMEN. 7 being at table in a promifcuous company, in reaching for fomething that me wanted, accidentally broke wind backwards, by which her delicacy was fo much wounded, that me immediately arofe, laid hold on her breads with her teeth, and tore them tiil (lie expired on the fpot. In Scotland, and a few other parts of the north of Europe, where the inhabitants are fome degrees farther advanced in politenefs than the Japanefe; a woman would be almoit as much amamed to be detected going to the temple of Cloa- cina, as to that of Venus. In England, to go in the moll: open manner to that of the former, hardly occafions a blulh on the mod delicate cheek. At Paris, we are told that a gallant frequently accom- panies his miftrefs to the dirine of the goddefs, ftands centinel at the door, and entertains her with boa mots, and protedations of love all the time {he is worfhipping there; and that a lady when in a carri- age, whatever company be along with her, if called upon to exonerate nature, pulls the cord, orders the driver to flop, deps out, and ha.ving performed what nature required, refumes her feat without the lead ceremony or difcompoiure. The Pariiian wo- men, as well as thofe in many of the other large towns of France, even in the mod public companies make no fcruple of talking concerning thofe fecrets of their fex, which almod in every other country are reckoned indelicate in the ears of the men: nay, fo little is their referve on this head, that a young lady on being aiked by her lover to dance, will without bludi or hefitation, excufe herfelf on account of the impropriety of doing fo in her prefent circumdances. The Italians, it is faid, carry their indelicacy dill farther: women even of character and fafliion, when aiked a favour of another kind, will with the utmofl compofure decline the propofal on account of being at prefent under a courfe of medicine for the cure of 8 THE HISTORY a certain diforder. When a people have arrived at that point in the fcale of politenefs, which entirely difcards delicacy, the chaftity of their women mult beat a low ebb; for delicacy is the centinel that is placed over female virtue, and th it centinel once ever-come, chaflityis more than half conquered. From thefe obfervations, a queftion of the moil difficult determination arifes. Is the female delicacy natural or artificial ? if natural, it fhould be found in the highefl perfection in thofe ftates where man- kind approach the neareft to nature ; if artificial, it mould be mofl confpicuous in fiates the moll artiii- cially polifhed, But notwithftanding what we rela- ted in the laft fection, it appears to be regulated by no general or fixed law in either. The inhabitants of the coail of New Zealand are perhaps as little cultivated as any on the globe, and yet their women were amamed to be fcen naked even at a di (lance by the Englifh. In Otaheite, where they are confiderably more polifhed, we have already feeta that they are confeious of no fuch fhame. 4 With 4 the mod innocent look,' fays Hawkefworth, e Obe- c rea their queen and feverai others, on going io ' meet another chief of the ifiand, full uncovered 1 their heads, and then their bodies as low as tfie 6 waid.' Nor can privacy,' adds he, ' be much ' wanted among a people who have not even an ' idea of indecency, and who gratify every appetite ' ana paflion before witneiTes, with no more fenfe ' of impropriety than we feel when w e fatisfy ' our * hunger at the ibcial board.' We have ken that in I ir.ee and Italy, which are reckoned the politeft coimiries in Europe, women let themfelvcs above ihame and defpife delicacy ; but in China, one of the po'liteif countries in Afia, and perhaps not even in this refpeft behind France or Italy, the cafe ii OF WOMEN. 9 quite otherwife : no being can be fo delicate as a women, in her drefs, in her behaviour, and conver- sation ; and fhould (lie ever happen to be expofed in any unbecoming manner, fhe feels with the great- eft poignancy the aukwardnefs of her fituatkm, and if poifible covers her face that fhe may not be known. In the midfl of fo many difcordant appear- ances, the mind is perplexed, and hardly can fix upon any caufe to which delicacy, that chiefeft orna- ment of the fair fex, can be aicribed : ihoulu We afcribe it to cullom only, we would do violence to our own inclinations, as we would willingly trace it to a nobler fource. In profecuting this attempt, let us attend to the whole of the animal creation ; let us confider it attentively, and wherever ft falls under our obfervatL.n, it will difcover to us that in the female there is a greater degree of delicacy or coy referve than in the male : is not this a proof that through the wide extent of the creation, the feeds of delicacy are more liberally beftowed upon females than on males ? And do not the facts which we have mentioned prove, that in the human genius thefe feeds require fome culture to expand, and ftill more to bring them to perfection ; whereas, on t g other hand, too much culture actually dellroys i!;tm altogether; as plants may bedeflroyed in a hot bsd by too much heat, which by a moderate decree: of it would have arrived to the higheft perfection; Allowing then, that delicacy is a virtue planted by the hand of nature in the female mind, let us take a view of the progrefs of this virtue, which males fo diftinguifhing a part of the character of that fex whole Li (lory we are endeavouring to elucidate. In the remoteit periods of which we have any Lif- torical account, we find that the women had a deli- io THE HISTORY cacy to which the other fex were ftrangers. Re- becca veiled hcrielf when (lie firfl approached to Ifaac her future hufband, and in thofe ages it would feem that even proftitution was too delicate to fhew itfelf openly, for Taraar, when ihe perfonated an harlot, covered herfelf with a veil, which appears from the (lory to have been a part of the drefs worn in thofe days by women of that profeffion. Many of the fables of antiquity, while they paint in the molt (biking colours the profligacy of manners, point out at the fame time that delicacy was a latent principle in the female mind, which often mewed itfelf in fpite of manners, cuftoms, and every other difadvantage under which it laboured. Of this kind is the fable of Actceon and Diana. Aft.Ton being a famous hunter, was in the woods with his hounds beating for fome game, when accidentally fpying Diana and her nymphs bathing in ? river, he Hole fikntly into a neighbouring thicket that he might have a nearer view of them; when the goddefs difcovering him, was fo affronted at his audacity, and fo much afhawed to have been fcen naked, that (he in revenge imme- diately transformed him into a Hag, and fet his own hounds upon him, who foon overtook and devoured him. Even among the Lydians, a people who were highly debauched, it appears that female delicacy was far from being totally extinguished ; Candaules, one of their kings, being married to a lady of exqui- fitc beauty, was perpetually boafting of her charms to his courtiers, and at laft, to fatisfy his favourite Gyges that he had not exaggerated the description , he took the dangerous and indelicate refolution of giving him an opportunity of feeing her naked. To accomplish this, Gyges was conveyed by the king into a fecret place, where he might fee the queen OF WOMEN. ii drefs and undrefs, from whence, however, as he retired, (lie accidentally fpied him, but taking no notice of him for the prefent, fhe only fet herfelf to confider the mod proper method of revenging her injured modefty, and puniiliing her indelicate huf- band ; having refolved how to proceed, me fent for Gyges, and told him that as me could not tamely fobmit to the (lain which had been offered to her honour, me infilled that he mould expiate his crime either by his own death or that of the king, that two men might not be living, at the fame time who had thus feeh her in a If ate of nature. Gyges, after fome fruitlefs remoniirances, performed the latter, married the queen, and mounted the throne of Ly- dia. Beildes the fables and hiliorical anecdotes of antiqn^y, their poets feldom exhibited a female character in its love licit form, without adorning it with the graces of modefty and delicacy ; hence we may infer, that theie qualities have not only been always efferitfal to virtuous women in civilized coun- tries, but have been alfo conilantly praifsd and eilcemed by men of fenfibility* Plutarch, in his treatife, entitled, The virtuous Actions, of Women, mentions feveral anecdotes which itrongly favour our idea of delicacy being an innate principle in the female mind ; the moil link- ing is that of the young women of Milefia, many of whom, about that time of life, when nature giving birth to reftlefs and turbulent deiires inflames the imagination, and aitoniihes the heart at the fen fa - fio'n of wants which virtue forbids to gratify, to free themfeivesfrom the conflict between nature, and vir- tue, laid violent hands on themfelves ; the conta- gion becoming every day more general, to put a (lop to it, a law was made, ordaining that every one who committed that c ira( (houid fc*e brought naked to 12 THE HISTORY the market place and publickly expofed to the peo- ple ; and fo powerfully did the idea of this idelicate eJtpofure, even after death, operate on their minds, that from thenceforth not one of them ever made an attempt on her own life. There are fo many evils attending the lofs of vir- tue in women, and fo greatly are minds of that fex depraved when they have deviated from the path of rectitude, that their being generally contaminated may be confidered one of the greater! misfortunes that can befal a ftate, as it in time deftroys almofl every public virtue of the men. Hence all wife legiflators, especially of republics, have ftrictly en- forced upon the fex a particular purity of manners ; and not fatisfied that they mould abftain from vice only, have required them even to fhun every appear- ance of it. Such, in fome periods, were the effects of the laws of the Romans, and fuch were the effects of thefe laws, that if ever female delicacy mone forth in a confpicuous manner, we are of opinion it was among thofe people, after they had worn off much of the barbarity of their firif ages, and before they become contaminated by the wealth and manners of the nations which they plundered and fubjected : then it was that we find many of their women furpaf- fing in modefty almoft every thing related by fable ; and then it was that their ideas of delicacy were fo highly refined, that they could not even bear the fecrel confeioufnefs of an involuntary crime, and far lefs of having even tacitly confented to it. Of this nothing can be aflronger proof than the cuflom men- tioned by Mofes, of expofmg to public view the tokens of a bride's virginity on the morning after her wedding night, to which we fhall only add, that the price demanded by Saul for his daughter, when he gave her to David in marriage j a price the mod OF WOMEN. 13 highly character iftic of the indelicate manners of the times. The Greeks themfelves, who eonfidercd all the reft of the world as barbarians, were in delicacy hardly a few degrees above the inftancesjuft now mentioned; one can icarcely determine whether the comedies of Anftophanes or of Euripides are t,he moll Stocking to a modeft ear. Martial, and even Horace, among the Romans were fcarcely lefs inde- licate, but they flourifhed at Rome during thefe periods when falfe refinement of manners had ban- ifhed delicacy as a filly and unprofitable virtue, and when even law was fo repugnant to decency, that a women taken in adultery was proftituted in the public fbeet to all comers, who were invited by the ringing of a bell to the abpnaipabie ceremony. After the fubverfion of the Roman Empire, there arofe among the barbarians an inllitution, which, as it was in a great meaiiire directed to the defence and protection of women, created in them a dignity and delicacy unknown to any otlvrr age or people, and which perhaps will ever remain unparalleled in the hiliory of mankind, unlefs chivalry or fome fimi- lar inftitution be again revived ; but as chivalry began to decline, . delicacy declined aifc along with it, till at kill both fexes aiiumcd a rudenefs of man- ners and of drels, which for levtral centuries d graced Europe, and required a feries of ages and of efforts to rub oil* and polilh to any decent degree of refinement. Such as we have now feen was the (Lite of delicacy among the antients, and among the inhabitants of Europe; when we leave Europe, and colonies fet- tled by Europeans, we find it a virtue in moil; o*her places hardly taken notice of or cultivated; we fhail therefore turn our attention from delicacy, which we VOL. II. C 14 THE HISTORY confider onlv as an out- work to chnftity, and make a few obfervations on chaftity itfelf. But as we have already ihewn the ftate and fituation of this virtue among the greato part both of the ancients and moderns, we (hall not again enter upon that fubjeit, but confine ourfelves to pointing out the various methods which in divers places and periods have been, and ftill are made uie of to preferve, encou- rage, and defend that virtue. Such has always been the conflitution of human nature, and mode of governing, that the legiilators of every country, except China, have conftantly held oilt terrors to hinder from the commiHion of vice, but feldom or never offered rewards for the practice of virtue; the reafon maybe, that the vicious are few in number, and punifhments cheap; whereas the virtuous are many, and premiums fo coflly, that no government could afford to bellow a reward on each of them; and, befides the moral virtues, not only reward us themfelves with peace of mind in this world; but have annexed to them the promifes of a frill more ample reward in that which is to come. When we confider thefe reafons, it is not furprifing to find that chaftity, upon which all polifhed ftates have fet the higheft value, has never been encoura- ged by any pofitive inllitution in its favour; while its oppofite vice has, by every well regulated govern- ment, been branded with a greater or lefs degree of infamy, according to the ideas which fuch govern- ment had, of the duties of religion and morality, and to the love which it entertained of rectitude and order. Wherever good laws are ellablimed, tend- ing to enforce a decent propriety of manners, every woman, who deviates from chaltity, forfeits almoft entirely the fociety of her own fex, and of the moft worthy and regular part of ours; and, what i^ oi OF WOMEN, 15 infinitely greater confeqaence, flie forfeits ahnoft ail chance of entering into that llate. which women have fo many natural, as well as political reafons, to determine them to wifh for more than the men; and if fhe has any fmall degree of chance left of entering into it, me rauft do it with a partner be- low her rank and itation in life; and even thus matched, flie is liable to have the follies and frailties of her former conduct thrown up to her on every occafion, which gives birth even to the flightefl matrimonial difference. Thefe and others of the fame nature, are the punilhments which every wife legiflature has inflict- ed on the breach of chatlity in unmarried women. We ihall fee afterward, that almoic every people?., whether civilized or favage, have treated this crime in married women with much greater feverny; fub- jecting them not only to feveral kinds of public (hame and indignity, but even to a variety of corporal, and often to capital punilhments. But as every feverity and every punidiment, has been found too weak to prevail againft the vice of incontinence ; especially among people of foft and voluptuous manners, un- der the influence of a warm fun, and profeffing a reli- gion, which lays no reiiraint upon the pailions ; the Eallerns, where thefe caufes moft powerfully operate, have time immemorial endeavoured to fecure the chaftity of their women, by eunuchs and confine- ment. At what period, or in what part of the world, fome of the males of our fpecies were firft emafcu- lated, in order to qualify them for guarding the objects of pleafures of the reft, is not perfectly known. The inftitution cf a cuilom fo barbaroufly unnatural, has, by fome, been attributed to the hi- 1 6 THE HISTORY famous Scmiramis ; but we are of opinion, that it was more likely to originate from the men than the women ; and, befides, we have reaibn to believe, that it was invented long before the time of Semi- ramis ; for Mofes, in his code of legiilation, ex- prefsly prohibits eunuchs from entering into the con- gregation j and Manetho fays, that the father of Seioilris, who lived near two hundred years before Mofes, was afTaflinated by his eunuchs. In the days of Samuel, it feems to have been a general cuirom for the kings of the nations, who lived in the neigh- bourhood of the Ifraelites, to have eunuchs ; for we find this prophet, among the other reafons that he made ufe oi to difluade "his people from chuling a king, telling them, ' that he would take their ennuchs to guard his women.' The nature of our undertaking does not permit us to enquire, how it was firfl difcovered that emafculation would fit men for the defpicable employments to which fuch muti- lated beings have generally been deflined : it is fuf. ficient for us to obferve, that all the voluptuous na- tions of the Eafl have conftantly confidercd fuch beings, as fo envious of the joys, which themfelves Were incapable of tailing, that they would exert every power to hinder ethers from tailing them alio; and hence have fixed upon them as the moil proper guardians of female chaility : nor has their choice been improperly made ; for thefe wretches, lofmg every tender feeling for the other fex, along with the power of enjoying them, to ingratiate themfelves with their jealous mailers, not only debar them from every fpecies of pleafure, under pretence of hindering them from that which is unlawful ; but treat them too often with the utmofl feverity. While the empires and kingdoms of ihc Eaft have been the mod unfettled, and fubjett to the mod lie- OF WOMEN. 17 quent and fudden revolutions, the manners and cuf- toms, like the mountains and rocks of the country, have been, time immemorial, permanent and un- changeable ; and, at this day, exhibit nearly the fame appearance that they did in the patriarchal ages ; nor have thefe cufloms in any thing remained more fixed and unalterable, than in the ufe of eunuchs : every Eaftern potentate, and every other perfon who can defray the expence, employs a num- ber of thofe wretches to fuperinrend his feraglio, and guard the chaflity of his women ; not only from everv rude invader- but alfo from the effects of female affociation and intrigue : nor need we wonder at this, when we confider that into the women of this country are inililled no virtuous principles to enable them to defend themfelves ; that the men are taught by fafhion and prompted by reftraint to attack them as often as they have opportunity ; that the women may therefore be considered in the fame fituation with regard to the men, as the defencelefs animals of the field are to the bead's of prey which prowl around them ; and that on thefe accounts, while the prefent conflitution of the country remains unaltered, to guard the fex by this fpecies of neutral beings, may not be fo unnecefTary as we in this country are apt to confi- der it. There is in the human mind, a reluctance at lhaiv ing with another what we think necefTary for our- felves, or what we greatly love and admire ; hence, perhaps, arofe the cuftom of fencing a field round with a ditch or a wall ; and hence alfo, that of iecu- ring women by confinement, and guarding them by eunnchs. At what period of the world, or in what part of it, women were firfl put under confinement, is uncertain ; we have, however, forne reafons to believe, they were fo ufed among the Philiftmes as 18 THE HISTORY early as the patriarchal ages ; and even among the patriarchs themfelves, we are told that the women had apartments in the back parts of the tents, into which it would feem that the men, or at lead: Gran- gers, were never allowed to enter, and to which the women retired when any flranger approached. But though there might be fome reftraint upon the Tex in thefe ages, it did certainly not amount to abfolute confinement ; for we are informed, that all ranks and conditions of them were employed in the fields, and went out of the cities in the evenings to draw water ; and though feparate apartments were con- trived in the back parts of the tents for the women, as we have no accounts of their being confined to them, it is probable, that they ferved rather as re- treats for decency, than as places of imprisonment. Such was the ftate of women among the Ifracl- ites ; nor do they feem to have wanted their liberty at this time among the Egyptians, as appears from the (lory of the wife of Potiphar ; and in a fubfe- quent period from that of Pharaoh's daughter, who was going with her train of attending nymphs to bathe in the Nile, when {lie found Mofe's among the reeds. Were we to reafon from principles only, on the origin of female confinement, we w ould mod natu- rally derive it from jealoufy ; if we reafon from facts, it may have arifen from experience of the lit- tle fecurity there was for the chaftity of a weak and helplefs woman, in the ages of rudenefs and lawlefs barbarity ; thus many are of opinion, that the rape of Jacob's daughter by the Sechemites induced that patriarch to caufe all his own women and thefe of his dependents to be mut up, left another accident of the fame nature mould befal any of them. The OF WOMEN. ^19 rapes of Io, and of Proferpine, gave birth perhaps to the confinement of women among the Greeks, and fimilar misfortunes might be followed by fimilar con- fequences among other nations. But whether the confinement of women originated from the rape of Dinah, we pretend not to determine ; of this, how- ever, we are certain, that in length of time it be- came a cuftom among the Jews as well as their neigh- bours. King David had his wives confined ; for we are told that they went up to the houfe-top to fee him march out againfl his fon Abfalom, which at this day is all the liberty allowed the- women of the Eaff, when they with to be indulged with the fight of any public proceffion or fhow. But though the women of Kings were at this period generally (hut up, it would feem thatthofeof private perfons enjoyed more liberty ; for the fame David fent and brought the wife of Uriah to his houfe, which all the authority with which he was inverted could not have done without a tumult, had fne been as ftrictly guarded, and the perfons of women as facred and inviolable as they are now in the Eaft. When we come to the hiflory of Solomon, we have plain accounts of a feraglio for the confinement of his women ; and in that of Ahafuerus, king of Perfia, we learn that his feraglio was conftituted not only on a plan of the fevered: confinement, but alio of the moil voluptuous fenfuaiity. It would be needlefs to trace this cultom downward to later periods, as it is well known that it became the common practice of almoft ail nations to the time of the Romans, who perhaps, were the firft people who totally difcard- ed it. 20 THE HISTORY CHAPTER XVII. The fame Subject continued. T HE fame caufes which at flrft introduced particular manners and cuftoms, are not always the only ones which continue or augment them ; thus though feraglios and harams for the confinement of women probably originated from jealoufy, or from the danger of expofing weak and defencelefs beauty to men heated with luft and unreftrained by law, yet they foon after became an article of luxury and oftentation. r Ihe Afiatic monarchs and grandees vied with each other in having the moft numerous and beautiful fet of women, which conferred upon their mailer a luftre and dignity of the fame nature as in modern times we fuppofe we obtain by a fplen- did equipage and a numerous retinue; but the Afiatics carried this matter (till farther, and not content with having luch a number of women in their poffeftion, they made ufe of them to add to the long lift of high-founding titles, of which the Eaft- erns are fo exceedingly fond. The king of Biihagar among the reft of his pompous titles, is ftiled the hufband of a thouiand wives. In this country where we are accuftomed to make a Ihow and parade of every thing which we imagine gives a luftre to our rank, or an addition to our fame, we cannot con- ceive what dignity an Eaftern can derive from a number of beauties, while they are fecluded from every mortal eye but his own; it is not, however, the difplaying of thefe in all their charms that gives him this dignity; it is only neceflary to have it known that they are in his feraglio, as it is in this country OF WOMEN. 21 not requillte that a mifer ftiould. mew his {lore to acquire the reputation of being rich, but only that it be known that he has it in his poiTeiTion, In j unification of feraglios andharams it has been by fome alleged, that they are not lo much places of confinement as of voluntary retreat from the rude- nefs and indecorum of the men; but thoie who argue in this manner mufl be but ill acquainted with the hiflory of the Ea(t, and iefs with human nature ; for we cannot fuppofe it confident with thofe ideas and feelings with which we are endowed, that wo- men mould voluntarily {hut up and feciude them- felves from all the pleasures of liberty, and of fecial life, from the hope and joy of public admiration, without any other recompence than a fmall {hare of the favours of one man. Every human being has by nature an equal right to perfonal liberty, and none feem more tenacious of this ri^ht than the rude and uncultivated; it is probable, therefore, that the frrfr. efforts to confine women were refilled with all their drength and cunning; but the druggie proving ineffe&nal, cuftom at lad damped the fan£tion of judice upon what was at firft only an illegal exertion of power; and now the fex, almolt over half the world, tamely fubmit to be imprifoned like criminals, only becaufe force and cudom have barbaroufly com- bined againd their liberty. If jealoufy was the original fource of female con- finement, when a wife really gave her hufband caufe to be jealous, he had at lead a tolerable pretence for {hutting her up; but to impriion wives in general, becaufe fome of them were found unfaithful, or young women in general, becaufe upon fome few individuals a rape had been committed, was a drange and unlawful exertion of power. The learned Mon- D 22 THE HISTORY tefquieu, in endeavouring to juftify this exertion, fays, ' That fuch is the force of climate in fubliming ' the paffions to an ungovernable height in countries i where women are confined, that were they allow- ' ed their liberty, the attack upon them would always i be certain, and the refinance nothing.' Allowing to this reafoning all its force, does not juftice demand that the attacker rather than the attacked fhould be confined ? But we venture to affirm, though in con- tradition to fo celebrated a genius, that fuch reafon- ing is not founded on nature; for this fo much dreaded attack, and this feeble refinance, are neither of them the effect, of climate only, but of reflraint alfo, and would take place nearly in the fame manner in Lap- land as in Alia, were the fexes there as carefully kept afunder, and were there no other fecurity for virtue but want of opportunity to be vicious; for fuch plainly is the difpolition of human nature, that the greater obftacles thrown in the way of gratifica- tion, the greater are the efforts to overcome them; hence a woman who is malked or veiled more ftrongly attracts our attention, than one who is clothed in the ordinary manner, becaufe, in the former cafe, we only fee a fmall part of her charms, and creative fancy forms the molt extravagant idea of all that is hid: hence, alfo men and women perpetually kept afunder, are for ever brooding over the joys which they would have tailed in the company of each other, and on this account, a man who perhaps in his whole life never has an opportunity of being- alone with one of the other lex, if fuch an opportu- nity fhould perchance happen, never fails to make life of it by attacking her virtue; whereas were he to have frequent opportunities of this nature, his fancy would be lei's heated, he would let lei's value on them, and ufe them with more moderation. Thcfe inferences are much ii lengthened by the fob OF WOMEN. 23 lowing fa&s: a native of China, who lately refided fome years in England, acknowledged, that, for fome time after he arrived here, he had much diffi- culty in retraining liimfelf from attacking every wo- man with whom he was left alone; and a Nun, who had efaped from a convent, imagined that every man who had an opportunity would aflault her virtue, and though me had no inclination to have yielded, even fometimes felt a fecret chagrin that Hie was dif- appointed. In civilized nations, where the principles of mora- lity are cultivated, when a mutual com pact has been entered into between a man and a woman to abide by each other, the faith of this woman, and the fenfe of the obligation (lie has laid herfelf under, are con- iidered as the fecurities of her virtue, without the ufe of any reftrictive methods. This compact, how- ever, is commonly a mutual one; whereas in coun- tries where women are coniined, the compact entered into between hufband and wife, if it can be 1 a compact, is only an act of power on the part of the hufband and parents of the bride, and of paffive obedience on her part. The hufband, therefore, has no great reafon to expect that ihe will pay the fame regard to this compact, as if it had hjeen made by the voluntary agreement of all parties ; fenfible on this account, that her mind may be differently dii- pofed of from her body, he fecures the latter by per- petual confinement; which is all he can do. But this mode of treating women is the vileft indignity that can be offered to human beings, as it prefup- pofes them neither endowed with virtue nor free agency, and places them in the fame point of view with an unoccupied field, which yields itfelf indiffer- ently to the pofleflion of any one, who will be at the pains to fee tire and fence it. It likewife pfefuppofes 24 THE HISTORY the men to be with regard to the women, what they are to the wild beads of the field, absolutely mailers of every one whom they can lay hold of and detain in their cuftody. Ideas which we reprobate as inconfident with human nature, when not warped by cuftom, or led affray by art. It is natural to imagine, that we love and admire, and what, on thefe accounts, we cannot fuller to fee in the company of others, we fliould be as much as poffible in company with ourfelves ; but the reverfe is the cafe with the Afiatics ; though they will not allow their women the company of other men, they are feldcm with them themfelves : fuch conduct is, doubtlefs, one of thofe inconfiftencies which too fre- quently mark the character of man ; nor is it lefs inconfident, that one of the principal enjoyments of the paradife promifed by Mahomet, fliould confift in the company of beautiful women ; while, in this world, the mulfulmen fcarcely ever keep any com- pany with the fex. But we are to confider, that where women are, from their infancy, confined as prifoners, they muft be ignorant almoft of every- thing ; and, confequently, but illy qualified for the pleafures of converfation and of company ; and hence they are never treated as rational companions, nor as equals ; but as inferiors and children. The Per- fian women, according to Sir John Chardin, arc not even confulted in the choice of their own clothes, nor in the propriety of their having new ones ; but arc furnifhed with fuch as are thought ncceffary for them, in the fame manner as we treat children. In Turkey, Perfia, and feveral other parts of Alia and Africa, the monarchs, having an abfoiute power, generally take from their iuhjects by force, fuch women as they find handfome, without any OF WOMEN. z s regard to their rank, or their being married or fin- gle. The Grand Signior has a tribute of young girls annually paid to him by the Greeks, and fome other of his tributary provinces ; thefe are placed in apartments of the palace, which are feparated from all intercourfe with the reft, and are called the Se- raglio ; where they are guarded in the itric~teft man- ner by eunuchs. The gardens of this feraglio, which are fenced with high walls, and planted with rows of trees, to obftrucl the fight, are the utmoft limits to which they are allowed to go ; except when fome of them are carried along with their mailer, if he makes any excurfion, or goes to war againfl an ene- my ; in which cafe, they are placed in clofe ma- chines, on the backs of camels, and as much hid as if in the inmoft receffes of the feraglio. Befides the feraglio of the fultan, private perfons have apartments in their houfes, where they confine their women, called Harams. The Haram is in Turkey, as it^was in ancient Greece ; always in the back part of the houle, and all the windows of it look into the garden. The apartments of the ladies, when the hufband can afford it, are always elegantly furnifhed after their manner ; and they want nothing to make life comfortable but fociety : they have numbers of beautiful female (laves to attend them, who divert them with vocal and inftrumental mufic, dancing, and other amufements. In thefe Harams, women are not fo clcfely confined as in the feraglio y they are fometimes iufFered to go out ; but then they muff, always be veiled and covered from head to foot with a long robe, called a fori gee ; which no wo- man of any rank is allowed to appear in the ilreet without ; and which is fo exactly alike in all, that it is abfolutcly impoflible to diftinguifli the features, or perfon of one woman from another. The mod 26 THE HISTORY jealous hufband cannot know even his own wife ; and no man dure touch, or follow a woman in the ftreet ; fo that the confinement of the women at Conftantinople is not fo rigid as fome of our travel- lers would make us believe. 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 fedan chairs, and fur- rounded by a guard of eunuchs, and armed men, in fuch a manner, that a ftranger would rather fuppofe the cavalcade to be carrying fome defperafe villain to execution, than employed to prevent the intrigues or efcape of a defencelefs woman. At home, the fex are covered with gauze veils, which they dare not take off in the prefence of any man, except their hulband, or fome near relation. Over the greateft part of Afia, and in fome places of Africa, women are guarded by eunuchs, made incapable of violating their chaftity. In Spain, where the na- tives are the defendants of the Africans, and whole jealoufy is not lefs itrong than that of their ancellors, they, for many centuries, made life of padlocks to fecure the chaftity of their women ; but finding thefe ineffectual, they frequently had recourfe to old women, called Gouvernantes. It had been disco- vered, that men deprived of their virility, did not fometimes guard female virtue fo hYnftly, as to be incapable of bring bribed to allow another a taite of thole pleafures they themfelves were incapable of en- joying. The Spaniards, fenfible of this, imagined, that vindictive old women were more likely to be in- corruptible; as envy would ftimulate them to prevent the young from enjoying thofe pleafures, which they themfelves had no longer any chance for ; but OF WOMEN. 27 all powerful gold fooii overcame even tiiis obftacle ; and the Spaniards, at prefent, icem to give up all restrictive methods, and to truft the virtue of then- women to good principles, inftead of rigour and hard ulage. Where there is no public virtue to confide in, be- fides the methods of Duennas, locks, eunuchs, and confinement, feveral others have been, and ftill are, pradlifed in different countries, to preferve female chafiity. Mr. More relates a Angular method ufed for this purpofe in the interior parts of Africa ; it is a figure to which ' they give the name of Mumbo Jumbo, in the fhape of a man, and dreffed in a long coat, made of the bark of a tree, and on its head a large tuft of flraw : into this figure, which is ufu- ally about nine feet high, a man is introduced, who makes it walk along, fpeak what he pleafes, or make fuch a horrid and frightful noife, as he thinks will bed anfwer his purpofe. This figure is kept care- fully concealed by the men, and never comes abroad but in the night, when they want to fettle fome dif- pute with, or frighten the women into chafiity and obedience. They periuade the women that it knows every thing ; they refer every thing to its decifion, and it always decides in favour of the men ; but this is not all, it has a power of inflicting punimments on female delinquents, which it frequently does, by or- e ring them to be whipped. They are taught to believe, that it is particularly offended with them when they violate their chafiity ; a crime which it will certainly difcover, and as certainly punifh. As foon as they hear it coming, they generally run away and hide theinfclves ; but are obliged by their huftnmds to return, though in fear and trembling, to its prefence, and to do or fuller whatever it pleafes to order them. How despicable mult the under- 28 THE HISTORY finding of thefe women be, if they are really thus deceived by fo bungling a trick. In almoft all countries, where female chaftity has been an object much regarded, fome methods have been contrived to awaken the fears of the inconti- nent, as well as to flatter and reward the hopes of thofe who per fevered in virtue ; even the Jewifh legiflator, not thinking that the pofitive laws he had enacted againft unchaftity, and the puniihments he had annexed to them, were fully ftrong to overcome everv vicious inclination, inftituted a mode of alarm- ing their fears of a difcovery, even when fuch dif- covery was above the power of mortal agency : this was the waters of jealoufy, which a huiband, who fufpected the fidelity of his wife, obliged her, with fome folemn ceremonies, to drink ; and which fhe firmly believed would make her belly to fwell and her thigh to rot, if fhe was guilty. When fuch was her belief, and when the hufband had it con- ftantly in his power to put her to the dreadful trial, a barrier was thereby formed againlt unchaftity, ftronger than all the other laws human and divine ; and yet not fo ftrong, but it was frequently by thefe daring women overleaped and difregarded. Where jealoufy is the ruling paiiion, and the men have no ideas that the incontinence of their women can be reftrained by principle, by the hope of reward or the fear of punifhment; and where the unfettled manner in which they live, does not allow them an opportunity of putting the fex under confinement ; they pracYife other methods of a mod defpicable and odious nature, to fecure the body, regardleis per- haps how much the mind be contaminated. As foon as a female child is born, they unite by a kind or future thofe parts which nature has feparated, leav- OF WOMEN. 29 ing juft fpace enough for the natural difcharges ; as the child grows, the parts adhere fo clofely, that at marriage they are obliged to be feparated by an inci- lion. Sometimes they only make ufe of a ring, and the married women as well as the virgins are fubjecl: to this outrage ; with this diiference only, that the ring worn by the young women cannot be taken off, whereas that of the married women has a kind of padlock, of which the hufband keeps the key. This cuftom obtains almoft in every part of Arabia, but is moil generally practiied in that part of it known by the name of Petraea. The ancient Germans, and feveral other northern nations, fen- fible that chaftity was mod likely to be preferved inviolate by a decency of behaviour between the two fexes ; and fuppofmg that this decency could not be properly maintained where familiarity was allowed, prohibited the men even from touching the women, and laid a fine upon them according to the part touched; and in Great Britain, we find that there were laws of this nature even fo late as the ninth century. It is not a little curious to furvey the various me- thods made ufe of in different parts of the world to accomplilh the lame end. In Poland, the charity of young girls is endeavoured to be . fecured by a contrivance hardly lei's lingular, though not fo hu- miliating as fome of thofe we have now mentioned : moil of the young women belonging to the peafants have little bells fattened to various parts of their cloaths, to give notice to their mothers and other female gurdians where they go, that thofe may always have it in their power to detect them fhoula they attempt to intrigue or fecfete themfelves from their view. Where women are no farther regarded than as the means of gratifying aniinal love, methods VOL. II. E ■ : z THE HISTORY like the forgoing maybe rxceffary, or at lead attend- ed v. ith little mifchief to fociety or the peace of indi- viduals; but where they are intended for the more teed purpofes of being friends and companions, they mould be managed in a very different manner. Locks, fpies, and bodily reftri&ions then become high!}- improper, as they tend only to debale their minds, corrupt their morals, and render them del- picable ; circuraftances which ought to be guarded againfl with the Utmoft attention, as, where the mind is debafed and contaminated, the body is not worth the trouble of preferring. In all countries where the religion of Rome is eftablimed, chaftity, and every female virtue which has any relation to it, are endeavoured to be prefer- ved by the artifice of auricular confefiion ; the in- Iiitutors of which probably imagined, that unchaf- tity was a crime which female delicacy would never allow any woman to divulge ; and as damnation was infallibly annexed to the concealing any crime from the father confeffor, it was confequently a crime which no woman would ever commit. Rut how- ever well contrived this plan may appear, experi- ence has fully demonftrated its futility, and that the profeflbrs of the catholic religion, notwithstanding this additional impediment in the way of incontinence, are in that refpect nearly on a footing with the reft of their nei jhbours, who have no fuch (tumbling block in their way. This inftitution of auricular confefiion, in the light which we have jiiit now confulered it, lays an obftacle in the way of unchaftity, by expofing it to public fhame, which In all civilized countries is one of the ftrongeft pafiions which mark the female cha- racter. But women are now become too cunning OF WOMEN. 3? to fall into the fnare ; and while their anions of thi > kind remain private, it is preusmaMe they feldpm confefs them. But as the expofure to public fliauje is one of the mott powerful methods of layijig hold of the minds of the fcx, the laws of fociety, as well as thofe of religious initiiutions, have availed tfaem- felves of it, and made it, among every polifned people, one of the fevere it parts of the punifhmeut to which the female delinquent, who has departed from the path of rectitude, is expofed ; and confe- quently one of the greatcit ob'tacles which can be thrown in the road to unchaitity. This appears from the conduct of the women of Iceland, when the public fhame attending incontinency was lufpended on the following occafion. In the year one thpi|- fand feven hundred and feven, a great part of the inhabitants of Iceland having died or a conta diftemner, the king of Denmark* in order to re- people the country in a more expeditious manner than the common rules of procreation adoi made a law, authorifmg all young women to have each fix baftards, without being expofed to : . fhame, or fuiftring the lofs of reputation. This fucceeded beyond the expectation of the monarch ; and the young women employed themfelves fo fedu- louily in the afrair of population, that, in a few years, it was thought necelfary to abrogate the law, left the country fhould be overflocked with inhabi- tants, and that lenfe of Ihame annexed to unchaftity, fo much obliterated from the female breaft, that neither law nor cuitom would be aide afterwards to revive it. Were it not almoft ieif-evident to every one, that this public ihame attending female indii- cretion, is one of the ftrongefi as to fecure their chaftity, we might prove it more fully from other circumftances. Nothing can be mare certain, than that in thoie countries where ao thame is fixed 3 2 THE HISTORY to any a&ion, there is no public chaftity ; and that this virtue flourishes the mod, where its contrary vices are branded with the very greateft degree of infamy. But this public fhame is only one of the many me-r fhcds which we in this country make ufe of to fecure the chaOity of the fex. We call religion and mora- jii f to our aid ; religion holds out in the one hand rewards of the moil glorious nature, and punifh- meots not lefs dreadful in the other. Morality points out how much the order, peace, and good covcrnment of fociety are influenced by female chaf- tity ; and how each of them are unhinged and de- liroyed by incontinence. Honour, likewife, comes in as an auxiliary, and holds up to their view the luflre and reputation which themfelves and their fa- milies derive from their decency and regularity of conduct, and the ftain and infamy which they bring upon both by lewdnefs and debauchery. Thus ter- rified by fhame, by the lofs of fociety, and by the forfeiting all chance of a hufband fuitable to their rank, and encouraged by religion, by morality, and honour, we trufl fuch women as have arrived at the years of difcretion to themfelves, and experience fully demonftrates, that we place not our truft im- properly ; and that thofc methods are far more pre- valent than locks, bars, eunuch , and all the other barbarous expedients that have been fallen upon, by nations who have not attained to fenfibility enough to clap the padlock on the female mind initead of the body. But though we fulFer women of experience to be the guardians of their own virtue, over the young and the giddy who have not attained to that degree of reafon requifite for governing their paf- fions, nor to that experience fufficient to direct them |n the choice of a hufband, cuftom has placed mo- OF WOMEN. 33 thers, and other female relations, who by time and obfervation have acquired more knowledge of the world, whereby they are enabled to fleer their young pupils with fafety over the dangerous rocks of youthful paflion and inexperience. The inhabitants of the fouthern and northern regions of the globe are in nothing more diftinguifh- able from each other than the different methods of fecuringthe chaftity of their women. In the fouth, while every pofftble reflriclion is laid on the body, they have hardly made ufe of one fmgle precept to bind the mind. In the north, while they have laid every poffible reftriction on the mind, the body is left entirely at liberty; and it is remarkable, that none of the religious fy (terns of the fouth cither offer rewards to encourage female chaftity, or threaten punifhments to deter them from incontinence.— While almoft every religious fyftem of the north has iffued the moil poiitive precepts againfl the indifcre- tion of the fex, and to a difobedience of thefe precepts annexed the mod dreadful punifhment; even Maho- medifm, which is a compound of the religions of both hemifpheres, terrifies not the female finner with hell, or any future flate where (lie (hall fuffer for her levi- ties ; all that fhe has to fear on this head, is the dif- pleafure and correction of her hufband. While in the Edda, or facred records of the ancient Scandi- navians, future punifhments of the raoft tremendous nature are held over the head of the delinquent, ' there is a place,' fays that book, ' remote from the £ fun, the gates of which face the north; poifon ' rains there through a thoufand openings; this place ' is all compoled of the carcafes of ferpents. There e run certain torrents, in which are plunged the ■ bodies of the perjurers, affafiins, and thofe who 34 THE HISTORY 4 fcduce married women. A black-winged dragon 6 flies inceilantly round, and devours the bodies of ' the wretched who are there imprifoned.' So far their religion; the laws of almoft all the northerns conftantly breathed the fame fpirit, and not fatisfled that their women iliould refrain from real urichaftity only, they would not even allow of any thing that had the ilighteft appearance of indecorum, or that might raife improper ideas in the mind. It would be an endlefs talk to enumerate the laws which in every well-regulated country have the fame tendency; fuffice it to fay, that in all fuch, every violent attempt on the virtue of women is puninV.N.: either by death, corporal puniihment, or lofs of mo- ney. It would be needlefs, we prcfmne, to enume- rate to our fair readers, the various interdictions againit unchaiiity almoft every where to be met with in the rules of the Chriftian religion, interdictions which none of them, we hope, are unacquainted with, and to which few only do noi pay a proper regard, both from duty and inclination. When we therefore confider that almou 1 all laws human and divine have fo llrongly inculcated this virtue, when the ingenuity of every nation has been fo flrongly exerted in preserving it, we hope we need not join our feeble efforts in recommending it to our country- i ia particul^^and to the fex in general, as the tefl ornament of their character. OF WOMEN. 3J CHAPTER XVIII. Of the various opinions entertained by different Na- tions concerning Women. N every age and country, have flarted up men diftinguifhed by the Angularity, and not unfre- quently by the abfurdity, of their opinions. The prefent times have given birth to feme jAilofophers, v/ho have degraded human nature to the lowed pitch of infipidity, and placed it below the birds of the air and the beads of the field. According to them, man was at full endowed with nothing but an imitative faculty, and was obliged to employ it in learning ar- ticulate founds, and afterwards mufic from the birds, induflry from the ants and bees, architecture from the beaver, and almofi all the other arts from fome of the animals which he faw at work around him. By which fcheine they have dropt a man at firit from the hands of his Creator, by far the mod un- finimed of all his works; and have gradually traced his advancement to the exalted rank which he at pre- fent holds in the fcale of beings, through a long fe- ries of exertions and improvements of his own. — What an extraordinary animal has their fancy thus formed ? while the condition of all the other animals is fo ftatibnary, that they remain at this day nearly the fame as at the creation, they have given to man a power of forming his own intellectual powers, and of fabricating his own fortunes. When Inch are the general ideas that fome have entertained of our fpecies, and when fuch, as we fometimes fee it, is the pride and arrogance of male 36 THE HISTORY nature, we need not wonder at the mean and def- picable opinions we fhall find in the profecution of this fubject, entertained of a fex, whom fatirical wit- lings and morofe philofophers have employed every talent to vilify and abufe. The human genus has, with no fmall degree of probability, been divided by naturalifls into fever al diftinct fpecies, each marked with corporal differ- ences, which could hardly arife from cuftom or from climate, and with intellectual powers fcarcely lefs indicative of thisdivifion than the marks of their bo- dies. Thefe fpecies, like thofe of moil other animals are again divided into fexes, with different fentiments and faculties, adapted to the different purpofes for which they were intended. So far the diltinclions are plain; but although we find in general through the whole of animated nature the males of every fpe- cies endowed with. a degree of bodily ftrength, fupe- rior to the females, yet we have no plain indication of any fuperiority conferred upon thefe males in the powers, faculties, and inftincts with which their minds are furnimed. Anions the brute animals we O do not recollect that any one has been hardy enough to contend for this male fuperiority ; among human beings, however, it has been, and is ftill fo firongly contended for, that we fhall give a fhort view of this contention, as the hiftory of one of the mofl material peculiarities of opinion that has been en- tertained concerning the fex. Whether this fuppofed fuperiority is, in civil life, owing to any arrogance inherent in male nature, or to the pride of more numerous acquifitions, we fhall not at prefent examine; in favage life we may ac- count for it upon another principle. We have already fecn, that among the rudefl favages, and ill OF WO M E Iv. 37 the earlier ages of antiquity, when the bulk of man- kind were only a few degrees removed from that itate, that bodily flrcngth was the only thing held in particular eflimation; and women having rather a lefs portion of this than men, were on that account never fo much efteemed, nor rated at fo high a value from the body it was eafy to make a tranfition to the mind, and fuppofe its powers lefs extenfible, becaufe for want of opportunities they were lefs extended, hence an inferiority, which arofe only from circum- ftances, was fuppofed to have arifen from nature, and the fex were accordingly treated as beings of an infe- rior order. But in favage life the difference of bodily Strength, between the two fexes is lefs vifible than in civil life. Captain Wallis informs us that Obereah, queen of Otaheite, lifted him over a marfh, when me gallanted him to her houfe, with as much eafe as he could have done a little smeftic and fedentary employments, and the jeaidufy of their hufbands and relations, and per- haps, even more fimple than the men in their diet, would be much more i'ubjecl to nervous weakneiTes, and all. the uncommon appearances that fometimes attend them ; in the paroxyfms of thefe nervous dif- :rs, they would frequently utter the moll ftrange and ii.roherent language, and as the ancient manner of c lginftruciion and predicting future events was i only in this unconnected allegorical (train, ace- d with extraordinary gestures and contor- . lions of I he body, fuch rhapfodical efFufions, die mere effect of nervous irritability, might be eafily miila- ken for the infpiration either of good or evil beings, and therefore women, being more fubje& to fuch fits than men, might be more commonly denominated propheteifes, or witches, according to the nature ■ >f the fpirit with which it was fuppofed they were agi- tated. That this appears at lead no improbable account of the matter, we have reafon to believe, from the ancient manner of initialing men into the myfteries of prophecying, and women into the trade of deli- vering, oracles. Men were of old initiated into the 56 THE HISTORY number of prophets by long and fevere watchings, failings, and by every fpecies of mortification. The Bramins of the Eaft, at this day admit none to their religious myfteries, till they have prepared them- felves by many years of discipline, abftinence, and mortification ; and even the Angekots, or priefts of Greenland, when they pretend to go to vifit the land of fouls for the purpoie of revealing what they are doing or fuffering, prepare themfelves by faffing for their journey, and fet out on it by dancing and howling themfelves into a temportry frenzy. It were eafy to give more inftances, but we rather pro- ceed to the effects of luch a conduct on the body and mind j effects which every one who has been redu- ced to weaknefs by fimilar caufes, will more readily conceive from his own feelings than from any de- fcription ; we fhall, therefore, only obferve in gene- ral, that they are thofe difeafes of the vapourifh kind, which are conftantly accompanied with a train of the molt indigefted and tumultuary ideas. Wo- men were likewife initiated into the myftery of deli- vering oracles, by methods fimilar to thofe we have now related, and when they actually delivered them, were wrought up into a Hate of convulfive enthuii- afm ; the Pythonefs, who gave the anfwers of the Delphian oracle, the mod famous of all antiquity, warned herfelf and ate fome laurel leaves, a plant well known for its intoxicating powers, before Hie afcended the tripod. Thus prepared and lea ted, a prodigious noife was made in the hollow body of the tripod beneath her, which added to the effect of the laurel, and an empty itomach, foon threw her into convulfions and a temporary madnefs ; when, from the ambiguous rhapfodies that lhe uttered, the de- luded confultors were obliged either to deduct fome meaning, or depart in the fame ignorance in which they came. OF WOMEN. 57 As the facred writings fo frequently mention witches, wizzards, and dealers with familiar fpirits, we might from thence imagine that fuch ideas exifted among the Jews only ; were not the other writings of antiquity every where as full of them, a circum- ftance we cannot wonder at, when we confider that fuch ideas were much more favoured by the polythe- ifm of the Gentiles, than by the belief of one Su- preme Almighty Being, as taught among the Jews. Among the Gentiles alfo as well as among the Jews, it is probable there were female enchantreiles, though we do not recollect to have met with any account of them till we come to the Greeks, who exhibit them every where in their fables and mythology, as beings poiTeiTed of the moft aftonifhing and fupernatural powers. Medea is faid to have taught Jafon to tame the brazen-footed bulls, and the dragons which guarded the golden fleece. Hecate, and feveral others are laid to have been fo ikilful in fpells and incantations, that among their other feats, they could turn the moft obdurate hearts to love, as we iliall have occafion to mention afterward in our hif- tory of courtfhip. Circe, we are told, detained even the fage UlyiTes in her enchanted ifland, and transformed his failors into fwine. Eefides thefe, there were many others who, like the witches of our modern times, could bring on difeafes, raife tem- pers in the air, and ride on the clouds from one country to another. Nor were the Romans lefs the dupes of this pretended art than the Greeks; the whole of their hiftorians and poets are full of the fol- lies and abfurdities to which it reduced them; Horace frequently mentions a Canidia, who was reckoned a moft powerful enchantrefs; and Virgil makes one of his fhepherds declare, that fuch was the power of charms, that they could draw down the moon from the iky. But the Romans were not the only people 5 8 THE HISTORY of antiquity who carried their ideas thus far; the Babylonians boafled that ali the contingencies of fate were in their hands, and that they were able to avert every evil, and procure every good by their magi- cal ceremonies. And doctrines of a nature not much diifimilar appear to have been fpread over other countries in the Eafl ; for about Calcutta they for- merly coniulted forcerers concerning the deftiny of their children, and if the prediction promiied hap- pinefs they were fpared to live, but if the contrary, they were put to death as foon as born. The Japa- nefe at this- day pay the mod unlimited credit to for- ceries, incantations, lucky and unlucky days, and publifh every year the almanac, pointing thern out to the public, left upon the unlucky ones they mould tranfacf any bufinefs, which they imagine in that cafe could not poiiibly profper. Almoft every ignorant people are the dupes of fu- perftition, which in nothing ciifplays itfelf more than in fruitlefs attempts to become acquaint with the fecrets of futurity; hence the Greeks and Ro- mans, and perhaps all antiquity, from the number of oracles every where reforted to, were much given to divination; but the northern nations (till much exceeded all others, and carried this fpirit to the mod unaccountable lengths. The Scandinavians, Germans, Gauls, Britons, &c. were of all people perhaps the mod ignorant, and oral!, the greatell flaves to fuperilition ; their druids and druideifes ex- ercifed an authority over them which even the moft abiolute monarch of the prefent times would not dare to attempt, but not to thofe only did they yield an implicit obedience, they obeyed, eileemed, and even venerated every female who pretended to deal in charms and incantations, and the dictates of fuch, as they were fuppofed to come from the inviiible pow- OF WOMEN. 59 ers, were more regarded than the laws of nature, of humanity, or of their country. The life of their warriors was fuch as fee u red them a flrmnefs of nerves, and freedom from nervous hypochondriac diforders; their women being more fubjecT: to then by nature, and by their manner of life, were, in all their fits, conudered as infpired by iome divinity, and regarded accordingly. Women in the North have almoil folely appropriated to themfelves the trade of divination, men have had the largell fhare of it in the South ; the reafon is, men in the South are by the climate and their low diet of rice and fruit, fubjecf to all the difeafes of women, and wo- men are precluded from all communication with the public. Among the ancient inhabitants of the North, noth- ing was held in fo much eftimation as poetry and divination. A troop of poets, called Bards, com- monly attended on the great; not to grace their train but in the effufions of frantic doggerel, to celebrate exploits, and praife their viclorie?. Befides thefe, there was generally in the train of the rich and pow- erful forne venerable propheteffes, who directed their councils, and to whom they paid a deference and relpecl, at prefent almoil incredib' j ; as w31 appear from the ftory of Thorbiorga, a Daniflb efl- chantrel's, reckoned famous for her knowledge of fu- turity. The kingdom of Denmark, being much dif- treiied by a famine, ' Earl Thorchil, who had the ' greateft authority in that country, and was moft 4 defirous to know when the famine and ficknefs, ' which then raged, would come to an end, feflt 6 m< ■ ers to invite Thorbiorga to his houfe. — ' After he had made ail the preparations which were ' uiual for the reception of Inch an honourable gueft, ' in particular, a feat was prepared for the prophet- do THE HISTORY efs, raifed fome fleps above the other feats, and covered with a cnfhion, fluffed with hen-feathers : when flic arrived, on an evening, fhe was dreffed in a gown- of green cloth, buttoned from top to bottom, had a ftring of glafs beads about her neck, and her head covered with the fkin of a black lamb, lined with the fkin of a white cat ; her fhoes were made of calf-fkin, with the hair on it, tied with thongs, and faflened with brafs but- tons ; on her hands flie had a pair of gloves of a white cat-lkin,^ with the fur inward ; about her waift, fhe wore an Hunlandic girdle, at which hung a bag containing her magical inftruments ; and fhe fuoported her feeble limbs, by leaning on a ftaff, adorned with many knobs of brafs. As foon as fhe entered the hall, the whole company rofe, as it became them, and faluted her in the raoft re- fpeclful manner, which fhe returned as fhe thought proper. Earl Thorchil then advanced, and taking her by the hand, conducted her to a feat prepared for her ; after fome time fpent in converfation, a table was fet before her covered with many diflies ; but fhe ate only a pottage of goat's milk, and of a difh which confifted of the hearts of various ani- mals. When the table was removed, Thorchil humbly approached the prophctefs, and aiked her, What flie thought of his houfe, and of his family ? And when flie would be pleafed to tell him what they defired to know ? To this flie replied, That fhe would tell them nothing that evening, but would faiisfy them fully next day. Accordingly the day after, when flie had put all her imple- ments of divination in proper order, flie command- ed a maiden, named Godrcda, to fing the magical fong called Wardlokur ; which flie did with fo clear and fweet a voice, that the whole company were raviflicd with her mufic, and none fo much OF WOMEN. 6.1 1 as the Prophetefs ; who cried out, Now I know ' many things concerning this famine and iicknefs, ' which I did not know before. This famine will 6 be of fhort continuance, and plenty will return ' next feafon ; which will be favourable, and the ' ficknefs alfo will very fhortly fly away. After ' this the whole company approached the goddefs, c one by one, and alked her what ^queflions they ' pleafed, and (lie told them every thing they defired 6 to know.' A variety of inftances of this kind might be adduced, to fhew the veneration in which deal- ers in futurity were held amongfl the ancient north- erns. We fhall only mention another : ' There ' was a certain old woman, named Heida, famous c for her ikill in divination, and the art of magic ; ' who frequented public entertainments, predicted c what fort of weather would be the year after, and ' told men and women their fortunes ; flie was con- ' ftantly attended by thirty men-fervants, and wait- c ed upon by fifteen maidens.' Such was the venera- tion of our anceftors for beings, whom their defend- ants, in a few centuries afterwards, began to exe- crate, to condemn to the flames, to whips, to tor- tures, horfe-ponds, and every other fpecies of cruel indignity. Upon a change fo important in fentiment and behaviour, the following confiderations will, we hope, throw fome light. Every fyflem of theology, from the beginning of time, had been filled with the doctrine of a commu- nication between celeitial and terreftrial beings. — The Jewifh religion was remarkably full of it : the Jews, therefore, greatly venerated fuch human be- ings as they thought were thus dignified with the correfpondence of fpiritual eflences. Thepolythe- ifm of the Gentiles, their different ranks and degrees of gods, and the few degrees of diftin&ion between VOL. II. I 62 THE HISTORY their gods and their heroes, made it no great won- der, that this communication among them was ftill fuppofed to be more common. Among the Jews it would feem, that fome fmall degree of inferiority was affixed to thofe who were fuppofed to draw their knowledge of future events from evil ipirits ; but among moil of the neighbouring nations, they had hardly any fuch diilinclion as evil and good fpi- rits ; they had indeed Dii Infcniales, or infernal gods ; but they made fo little difference between thcfe infernal gods and their celeflial ones, that they paid to each of them almoft an equal (hare of wor- ship and adoration ; hence thofe who foretold events by a communication with the one. kind, were hardly lefs efteemed, than thofe who foretold them by a communication with the other. But when the Chrif- tian religion was introduced, which taught that all future events were only known to God, or to fuch only of his creatures as he chofe to difcover them to; and that in all others, it was impious to endeavour to find out what he had concealed : fuch as ftill pre- tended to deal in them, inftead of being accounted falfe importers, as they ought to have been, were fuppofed to have drawn their information from evil ipirits : hence the trade of predicting, which before whs thought the moil honourable, while its know- ledge was derived from an honourable fource ; now, when that knowledge came from a difhonourable one, likewife became not only difhonourable, but criminal. Every one who pretended to that trade, was denominated witch or wizzard ; and againft all fuch, the obfolete jewiih law, which fays, Thou flialt not fuffer a witch to live, was revived ; and the fame profcilion, which we have before feen raif- ing prophets and propheteffes to the higheil venera- tion and dignity, now fubje&ed them to the flames. OF WOMEN. 63 From the twelfth to the fixteeth century, almoft all Europe was one fcene of highly ridiculous opini- ons ; to maintain which, kings led forth their ar- mies, pioufly to cut the throats of their neighbours ; and priefts condemned to flames in this world, and threatened eternal fire in the world to come. Many of thofe opinions were, however, but local ; and many funk into oblivion with the authors, who firft broached them ; but the notion of females being addicted to witchcraft had taken deep root, and fpread itfelf all over Europe. It had been gather- ing ftrength from the days of Mofes ; and it fubfift- ed till the enquiring fpirit of philofophy, demon ft ra- ted by the plained experiments, that many of thofe things which had always been fuppofed the effect of fupernatural, were really the effect of natural caufes. No fex, no rank, no age, was exempted from the fufpicions of, and punifhments infhsfted on the per- petrators of this fuppofed crime ; but old women were, of all other beings, the moil liable to be fuf- pected of it. Poets had delineated, and painters had drawn all their witches as old women, with ha jgard and wrinkled countenances, withered hands and tottering limbs ; thefe, which were only cha- racterise fymptoms of old age, had, by an unhappy afTemblage of unconnected ideas, become alfo the characteriftic fymptoms of witchcraft. And hence every old woman, bowed down with age and infir- mity, was commonly dubbed with the appellation of witch ; and when any event happened in her neighbourhood; for which the ignorance of the times was not able to account, flie was immediately fuf- pected as the caufe ; and in confequence committed to jail by an ignorant magistrate, and condemned by as ignorant a judge, or what, perhaps was worie than either, made the fpcrt of a ruffian multitude, heated by enthuliafm, and led on by folly \ which 64 THE HISTORY a few centuries ago ran to fuch a pitch of extrava- gance, that Livonia, and fome other parts of the North, it is faid, that not many women who had ar- rived at old age were fuffered to die peaceably in their beds, but were either hurried to an untimely execution, or fo much abufed by a licentious popu- lace, that death was frequently the confequence. But the fufpicions of witchcraft were neither alto- gether confined to age nor to poverty ; the bloom of youth and beauty, and the dignity of rank could afford no fafety. In France, England, and Ger- many, ladies of the higheft quality were condemned to the lfake for crimes of which it was impoffible they could be guilty ; but when crimes are either highly improbable or altogether impofTible, the proof required to be brought againfl thofe who are fup- pofed to have commited them, is on that account generally fuftained as valid, though much lefs clear than in other cafes. Thus it was with witchcraft, while the fixing of every other crime required fome degree of rational and confident evidence, this was fixed by idle and ridiculous tales, or, in fliort, by any fhadow of evidence whatever. Such being the cafe, flatefmen often availed themfelves of witchcraft as a pretence to take off peribns who were obnoxious to them, and againfl whom no other crime could be proved: this was the pretence made ufeof for con- demning the Maid of Orleans, well known in the hiftory of England and of France; who, by her perfonal courage, and the power flie affumed over the minds of a fuperflitious people, by perfuading them that Heaven was on their fide, delivered her country from the mofl formidable invafion which had ever threatened its fubverfion. Such was the pretence for defiroying the Dutchefs de Conchini; who, being afked by her judges, What methods {he OF WOMEN. 6$ had pra&ifed to fafcinate the Queen of France ? boldly replied, ' Only by that afcendency which 4 great minds have over little ones.' Nothing was too abfurd in thefe times to gain credit ; and proofs only became the more valid as they were the more ridiculous. Under Manuel Comnenus, one of the Greek emperors at Conflantinople, an officer of high rank was condemned for parc~tifmg fecrets that rendered men invifible. And another had like to have fhared the fame fate, becaufe he was caught- reading a book of Solomon's, the bare perufal of which, they faid, was fufficient to conjure up whole legions of devils. The Dutchefs of Gloucefter, with Mary Gurdemain, and a prieft, were accufed of having made a figure of Henry VI. in wax, and roafted it before the fire ; though the action itfelf was ridiculous, and though there was no proof of it nor poffibility of the confequences which they imagi-. ned were to arife from it, they were all three found guilty; the priefl was hanged, Gurdemain was burnt in Smithfield, and the Dutchefs condemned to penance and perpetual jmprifonment. The Duke of Gloucefter, who was regent to Edward V. (hewed an emaciated arm in the council-chamber; and his really having an arm withered, was deemed a fuffi- cient proof, not only that it was done by forcery, but that the forcerers were the wife of his brother, and Jane Shore. To what a low ebb was human rea- fon reduced, when from fuch premifes it could draw fuch conclulions ? Such was the condition of women in Europe for feveral centuries, conftantly liable to be accufed of and puniihed for, crimes which had no exiftence; till philofophy at lafc came to refcue them from their danger, by diffipating the gloom of ignorance which had for ages enveloped the human mind ; and teach* 66 THE HISTORY ing men to prefer reafon to opinion, however the latter might be fanctified by time, or ftrengthened by the celebrated names from which it had origina- ted. But the ftruggle between reafon and opinion was not the ftruggle of a day or a year, it lafted for feveral ages, and is not at this hour completely deci- ded; as there are fome people ltil to be found, who have more faith in in ancient fayings and opinions, than in the fulled demonstration of which reafon is capable. What reafon and philofophy had atchieved in Eu- rope, was accomplished in America by fhame and remorfe. In the fifteenth and fixteenth centuries, fome of the mod gloomy bigots of feveral nations, and particularly of England, to avoid the periecutions to which their own tenets, and the intolerant jpirit of the times fubjec'r.ed them, had emigrated to the inhofpitable deferts of America ; thefe carried along with them into that New World, the fame ideas of forcery which they had imbibed in Europe, and the fame intolerant fpirit from which they had fled. Though they had accounted it exceedingly hard, that in Europe they mould have been perfecuted for religious opinions, yet they foon impofed the fame hardlhips upon others, from which they them- felves had fled with fo much horror and reluctance; and had but juft begun to breath from a cruel perfe- ction againil the Quakers and Anabaptilts, when a new luppofitious danger alarmed their fears, and fet the whole country of New England in a ferment. A mini iter in Salem had two daughters, one of whom falling into a hyfteric diforder, attended with convnlfions, the father concluded flic was bewitched. An Indian maid-fervant was fufpedted of the crime ; and fo often beat and otherwise cruelly treated by her wrong-headed mailer, that flie at lall confeiTed. OF WOMEN. 67 herfelf guilty, and was committed to prifon ; from whence, after a long confinement, fhe was at laM releafed to be fold for a Have. The idea, however, was now darted ; nor was it fo eafy a matter to lay it again to reft. Every fimilar complaint was fuppofed to proceed from a fimilar caufe, and the affecled naturally call their eyes upon fuch as either were in reality, or were fuppofed to be their enemies ; and thofe they accuf- ed as the caufes of the evils they fullered. Every evil that befel the human body, was in a little time afTerted to be the effecl of witchcraft ; and every enemy to the afflicted was accufed, and every accu- fation certainly proved. In default of rational proof, an evidence called by them fpeclral, and never be- fore heard of, was admitted ; on the validity of which, many were condemned to fufFer death. The mod common and innocent actions, were now con- ftrued to be magical ceremonies, and every one filled with horror, and diffident of his neighbours, was forward to accufe all around him : neither age, fex, nor charailer, afforded the leait protection. Wo- men were [tripped in the moil fhameful manner to fearch for magical teats. Scorbutic or other (tains on the fkin, were called the devil's pinches; and thefe pinches afforded the moil undeniable evidence againft thofe upon whom they were difcovered. But if any tiling was wanting in evidence, it was amply fupplied by the confeffion extorted by tortures, of fo cruel a nature, ana fo long continuance, that they forced the unhappy fufferers to acknowledge them- felves guilty of whatever their tormentors chofe to lay to their charge. Women owned various and ridiculous correipeniencies with infernal fpirits, and even that fuch had frequently cohabited with thenu Nor were the wretches under torture more prelfed 68 THE HISTORY to difcover their own guilt than that of others ; when it frequently happened that, unable to give any account of real criminals, they were forced by torture to name people at random, who being imme- diately taken up, were treated in the fame manner, and obliged, in their turn, to name others, not more guilty than themfelves. The phrenzy was now become univerfal, the near- eft ties of blood, and the moil facred friendfhips, were no more regarded, the gibbets every where exhibited to the people their friends and their neigh- bours hanging as malefactors, the cities were filled with terror and amazement, and the prifons fo crouded that executions were obliged to be made every day, in order to make room for more of the fuppofed criminals. Magillrates who refuted to com- mit to jail, and juries which brought in a verdict for acquittance, were on that account fufpected and accufed ; accufations were alfo at laft brought again ft the judges themfelves, and the torrent had reached even to the palace of the governor, when a general paufe enfued ; confcious of his dangerous fituation, every man trembled on looking around him, and every man refolved to ceafe from profecuting his neighbour, as the only method of procuring his own fafety. Shame and remorfe arofe from reflection, reafon refumed the rein, and the ftorm that had threatened a total depopulation of the country fub- fided at once into peace. In this paroxyfm expired a fpirit which for time immemorial had been a fcourge to the human race, and particularly to that fair part of it whofe hiflory we are now delineating. Another opinion nearly related to that which we have now been difcuillng, and fcarcely, perhaps, lefs ancient, is the pofTeflion by devils. This OF WOMEN. 6y through a long fucceffion of ages had been consi- dered as common to both fexes, and confequently not falling properly within our plan. But as the priefts of the Romifh church have adopted, and iiill maintain it now, when it is nearly exploded by • every other fet of men, and as they almoft entirely confine it to women, we {hall give a fhort account of it. So delicate is the fenfibility, or rather irritability, of the female conftitution, that they are thereby fubje&ed to feveral difeafes, whofe fymptoms and appearances are more extraordinary than thofe with which the men are commonly afflicted. Such, it is highly probable, were thofe difeafes which in the New Teflament are called the pofTefTion of devils, and from perfons thus affected, when they were healed by our Saviour, devils were faid to be cad out. Every one who has had an opportunity of feeing difeafes of the fpafmodic kind, mull have been fenfi- ble that perfons fo affected, frequently exerted a force which at other times they were totally incapa- ble of. Hence, in ages of ignorance and fuperlH- tion, it is no great wonder that fuch exertions, and fuch fymptoms of torture as accompanied them, were attributed to the agency or poifeflion of evil fpirits. But medical phiioiophers, beginning to throw afide every prejudice, and attach themfelves only to truth, at fall difcovered, that fymptoms which had formerly been fuppofed to airife from the agency of malevolent fpirits which had entered into the human body, in reality arofe from natural caufes ; and this doctrine, as being more confonant to reafon, as well as confirmed by obfervation, was at laft pretty ge- nerally received. But as every improvement of the VOL. II. K 7 o THE HISTORY human ahderftaoding is attended with inconveniency to inch as fatten upon human ignorance, the priefts of the Romiili religion, arrogating to themfelves the fame pow ers as the author of Chriftianity ; had always pretended to caft out devils ; and finding that if there were no devils for them to call out, their revenue and reputation would not only be diminish- ed, but an inftrument of managing the people and fupporting their own power, would alio be wrclled out of their hands, ftrongJy oppofed this new doc- trine as impious and difcordant to the fcripture ; and to carry on the farce with the greater probabi- lity, they carefully fought out fiich women as were endowed with a cunning, fuperior to the reft of their fex, and bribed them to declare themfelves poffeffed, that they might have the credit of difpof- Ifffing them, and thereby (hewing to the world, that it had been milled by a belief of natural caufes, and that they had actually derived from their great mat- ter, a power over the legions of darknefs. That their fcheme might be the more complete, they la- boured to inftil a notion into mankind, that as evil fpirits were no doubt fo intelligent as to underfiand every language, thofe poiTefTed by them were alfo endowed with the fame gift. Women, therefore, who feigned this pofTefiion, were, by the priefts appointed lo exorciie them, taught by rote, anfwers fro fuch queilions in feveral languages, as they fhould a/k them. The multitude, when they thus obferveel women whom they knew to be without education fpeaking a variety of languages, were convinced that it was really the devil who fpoke out of them. Though the populace were deluded by this trick, yet the fenfible part of mankind Mill filently dUpiied the authors of furl: an inapofition on human credulity; but as in Catholic countries nothing is more dange- OF WOMEN. 71 rous than contradicting or finding fault with the church, it was long before any one had the Jiardi- nefs openly to attack this palpable abferclity ; inch ah attack was, however, at laft fuccefs fully made by a phyfician-in Sardinia. " A young girl in Turin being troubled with hyiteric fits, which ihrew her body into fuch pofhires and agitations as teemed fupernaiural, the Jefoits, who are always attentive to every thing that has a tendency to promote them- felves, or turn to their advantage^ fobfi flocked about her, attended by a phyfician in their intereil, who alleged that flie was actually potTeffed, and eonfe- quently not to be cured by medicine. Accordingly the exorcifts were aiTenibled, and the girl pte\ ibufly inflructed for the better carrying on the impoilnre; the affair made a great noife, people came from all parts, and the old tales of witchcraft and fdrceries were revived. Dr. R. nobly oppoled thefe proeed- dings, and declared the girl's cafe was entire! v ow- ing to natural caufes, fupporting his opinion by rea- fons and inftances which he had heard of in Holland and England, where he had refided many yeat'sJ The Jefuits farioufly attacked him as an infidel, whom they would infallibly confute from the tefti- mony of his own fences. The Doctor confented to attend them, and while they were performing their prayers and exorcifms appeared devout; when they had finihhed, he defired the two ecclcfiaftks who were entrulted with themanagemement of the aifair, that they would order their patient to anfwer him a few queftions, which they granted, on condition he afked nothing unlawful, and commanded the devil to anfwer. Accordingly the Doctor faid to her in Englifh, What is my name ? This being a language to which both the girl and the Jefuits were ftrangiers ihe anfwered in plain Piedmontefe, that ihe did wst underfland the queftion; but according to the recti- 72 THE HISTORY vcd opinion, as well as the ritual, the knowledge of all languages, the fupernatural ftrength of body, and foretelling things to come, are the proper crite- ria of a real fatanical pofTeflion, the devil therefore ought to underfland all languages, and it is eafily conjectured that this ignorance did not a little mor- tify the Jefuits; they, however, did all in their pow- er to elude the confequence, by pretending that the Doctor had put an unlawful queftion to the evil fpi- rit, and they had forbid him to anfwer any of that kind ; but he foon confuted their allegations by ex- plaining the queftion he had aiked, and immediately repeated it in Piedmontefe; but the pofTefTed, to whom he was unknown, could fay as little to this as be- fore, when the fame queftion was propofed inEngliih. The Doctor highly pleafed at his fuccefs, ran to court in triumph, where he ridiculed the ignorance of their devil ; the king and the prince of Piedmont joined in the laugh, and the latter for the more effec- tually filencing this Jefuitical devil, fetched a Cbi- nefe pfalter from his clofet, fent him by the cardi- nal Tournon as a curiofity ; this pfalter has, indeed, a Latin tranflation, but the Chinefe leaves could be taken out feparately from thofe containing the tranf- lation ; with one of thele leaves .Dr. R. was again difpatched to aik the devil the contents, and in what language it was written. The fathers, who did not defire any more of Dr. R.'s viiits, were for keeping- out of his way, and the devil threatened if he came again, to expofe the minuted tranfactions of his life. A Theatine, who was an accomplice of the Jefuits, acquainted the Doctor's filter with this circumltance ; and fhe, from an implicit veneration for the clergy, was very urgent with her brother not to have any further concern with this devil, but to no purpofe. Th€ Doctor, however, had no great opinion of the devil's omnifcience, and told the king, that if the OF WOMEN. 73 devil knew all things prefent or abfent, there would be no neceility for princes being at fuch immenfe expences in envoys, agents, and fpies; they need only maintain a polTeffed perfon or two, from whom they might conilantly have immediate intelligence of every tranfaclion. After this remark, the Doctor haflened to the houie of the poiTelTed, where he found the Jefuits with the girl. On entering the room, after the ufual compliments, he acquainted them, that having been informed that a detail was to be given of every tranfaction of his life, he was defirous of hearing it himfelf ; and began to defy and challenge the devil to begin his flory ; adding, that if he did not, he would brand him and all who favoured his pretended poiTeilion, as knaves and fools. This refolute fpeech thunder-ilruck both the patient and the Jefuits ; but the latter pretending to (hew the Doctor the nearefl way out of the houie, he foon filenced them, by producing the commiilion ; and infilled, in the name of the prince, that the poiTeiTed ihould declare what was written on the leaf he exhibited, and what language it was written in ? The two Jefuits, who were, doubtlefs, not the mod artful of their order, pretended, that the characters might be diabolical, and therefore refufed to anfwer the queftions. D. R. anfwered, that it did not become them to violate the refpect due to their prince by fuch a fcandalous fufpicion ; and infill- ed, in the name of the king and prince, that they ihould no longer amufe him with fuch weak fubtcr- fuges. The two Jefuits, after whimpering to them- felves, anfwered, That an affair of this kind mufl be introduced by prayer, and a long feries of devotion; wherefore it was neceffary to defer it to a more con- venient opportunity. The Doclor replied, There was now time fufficient for the purpofe, and that he would pray with them. So that they were at lafl, 74 . THE HISTORY notwithftanding their evaiions, obliged to begin their ceremonies. During the exorcifm, the girl threw her body into ftrange contortions, and hideous looks which the Jeiiiits infilled upon were fupernatural j but the Doctor promifmg to mimic her actions, in a manner dill more horrible, orders were given her to anfwer truly to all the various interrogatories. Accordingly, the leaf was laid before her, with the above mentioned queftions : upon this lhe (creamed in a terrible manner, dcliring it might be taken away, for (lie could not bear it. At latf , after the moil preiTmg arguments, (he faid it was Hebrew ; and that it was a blafphemous writing againft the Holy Trinity. This was fufEcient for the Doctor ; who, after {hewing them plainly how ignorant their devil was, returned to court to give an account of his proceedings. The two Jefuits were ban i (lied ; the two phyficians recanted in public ; and the pa- rents and relations were enjoined, on pain of being fent to the gallies, never to mention this affair as a diabolical pofTeihon ; with regard to the girl, (lie was foon cured by proper medicines. Thus ended this impofture ; and with it all notions of iorceries, witchcrafts, and fatanical pofTeffions, with which the minds of the people were infected." As this triumph over prieftcraft was, however, only local ; and as the multitude are (till prone to believe what they do not underftand ; the clergy, in fome places, ftill continue to propagate the doc- trine of evil fpirits entering into female bodies, and keeping poffeffron of them till properly exorciled by the church ; an opinion, long fmcc, totally eradi- cated in Proteftant countries, and only laughed at in fecret by the fenfnble of the Romifli faith. OF WOMEN, 75 Before we take our leave of this fubje£r, it may not be improper to ohferve, that the notions of witchcraft, and of poiTeffion, have not only been almoft nniverfal among mankind, but have had al- mofl the fame ideas every where annexed to them. In Hindodan, an old woman, who had taken upon her the name and character of a witch, raifed a re- bellion againit. her fovereign ; and to draw the mul- titude to her ifandard, fhe circulated a report, which was eagerly credited, That on a certain day of the moon, (lie ufed to cook, in the fkuil of an enemy, a mefs, compoied of owls, bats, fnakes, lizards, human flefh, and other horrid ingredients, which (lie distributed to her followers ; and which, it was believed by the rabble, had a power not only of rendering them void of fear, but alfo of making them rnvifibl.e in the day of battle, and transfbilng terror into their enemies. Would not one fuppofe (he had read the hiilories'of Greece and Rome, and the plays of S'rfakefpear ? Voyages and travels prefent us with leveral hiiiories of uncommon difeafes among lavage;;, whole appearances they at- tributed to the agency of evil fpirits ; but from what fource thev derivedtheie ideas, would be foreign to our purpoie to endeavour io determine. Befides the opinions which have been already mentioned, it has been alleged again!! women,' that they are cither incapable of attending to, cr at lead deaf to reafon and conviction. .This, however, we venture to afflrtn, is an error of partiality, or inat- tention ; for the generality of women can reafon in a cool and candid manner on any fab jeer, where none of their imerciis or pafhons are concerned ; but fuch appears to be the acuteflefs of the female feelings, that wherever pafiion is oppofed to reafon, it operates lb ftrongiy, that every reafoning power 76 THE HISTORY and faculty is, for a time, totally fufpended : the fame thing, in a lefTer degree, happens to men ; and the only difference between the fexes, in this par- ticular, arifes from the different degrees of feeling and fenfibility. Women have likewife been charged by the men with inconftancy and a love of change. However juftly this may characterife the fex in their purfuit of the fafhions and follies of the times, we are of opi- nion, that in their attachments to the men, it is falfe. The fair fex are, in general, formed for love ; and feem impelled by nature, to fix that paffion on fome particular object; as a lover, hufband, or children; and for want of thefe, on fome darling animal : and this attachment, inftead of being changeable, com- monly gains ftrength by time and poffeflion. So ftrong is this peculiarity of female nature, that many inftances have been known, where nuns, for want of any other object, have attached themfelves to a particular filler, with a paffion little inferior to love ; and hiftory affords many inftances of women, who, in fpite of reafon, reflexion and revenge, have been inviolably attached to the perfon of their firft ravifher, though they hated, and had been ruined by his conduct. Among all the fignatures of female inferiority, few have been more infilled on, than their want of that courage and refolution lb confpicuous in the men. We have already given it as our opinion, that this is no defect in their character ; as the Author of nature has, for the molt part, placed them in circumftances which do not demand thcfe qualities; and when he has placed them other wife, he has not withheld them. OF WOMEN. 77 Such are the circumfhmces of the generality of women in favagelife, where the countries are thinly inhabited, and commonly infefted with wild beads; and the men, for days and weeks together, abroad on their hunting excurfions; in which intervals the women, liable to be attacked by the beads of prey, and by their enemies, would be in a miferable fixa- tion, were they the fame weak and timid animals they are in polifhed fociety. Among the Efquimaux, and feveral other fav'age people, the women go out to hunt and fjfh along with the men. In thefe excurfions, it is neceiTary for them not only to have courage to attack whatever comes in their way, but to encounter the dorms of a tempeftuous climate, and endure the harddiips of fa- mine, and every other evil, incident to fuch a mode of life, in fo inhofpitable a country. In fotne places, where the woods aiTord little game for the fubfiftence of the natives, and they are confequentiy obliged to procure it from the ftormy feas which furround them, women hardly fhow lefs courage, or lefs dexterity, in encountering the waves, than the men. In Green- land, they will put off to fea in a veflel; and in a dorm, which would make the mod hardy Europe- an tremble. In many of the iilands of the South Sea, they will plunge into the waves, and Swim through a furf, which no European dare attempt. In Himia, one of the Greek iilands, young grris, before they be permitted to marry, are obliged to fiih up a certain quantity of pearls, and dive for them at a certain depth. Many of the odier pearl-fim- eries are carried on by women, who*, befides the danger of diving, are expofed to attacks of the vo- racious (hark, and other ravenous fea-animals, who frequently watch to devour them. VOL. II. L 78 THE HISTORY Should it be objected here, that this kind of cou- rage is only mechanical or cuffomary, we would afk fuch objectors, Whether alraoil all cour?ge is not of the fame nature ? Take the moll undaunted mor- tal out of the path which he has conftantly trod, and he will not ihew the fame refolution. A failor, who unconcernedly fleers his bark through the mofl tre- menduous waves, would be terrified at following a pack of hounds over hedge and ditch upon a fpirited horfe, which ths well-accuftomed jockey would mount with pleafure, and ride with eafe. A foldier, who is daily accuftomed to face death, when armed with all the horrors of gun- powder and fteel, would fhrink back with reluctance from the trade of gather- ing eider down as practifed by the fimple peafants of Norway, who, for this purpofe, let themfelves down the mofl dreadful precipices by the means of a rope. A thoufand other inffances might be addu- ced to prove this truth; but as many of them mufl have fallen under the obfervation of every one, we fhall not enlarge upon them. That favage women are more generally endowed with courage than thofe in civil life, appears from what we have now mentioned, as well as from the whole hiflory of mankind; yet it does not from thence follow, that thofe in civil life are lefs confpi- cuous for it, when it is required by the circumflances in which they are placed. And though it is not our intention to give a minute hiftory of every female, who, throwing afide the foftnefs of the fex, has fig- Dalized herfelf in fcenes of devaftation and fields of blood, we think it incumbent on us to give a few inffances, to fliew how far the fex have been enabled to exert courage when it became neceifary. O F WO MEN. 79 In ancient and modern hiflory, we are frequently prefented with accounts of women, who, preferring death to flavery or proftitution, facriiiced their lives with the mod undaunted courage to avoid them. Apollodorus tells us, that Herculus having taken the city of Troy, prior to the famous iiege of it celebra- ted by Homer, carried away captive the daughters of Laomedon then king. One of thefe, named Eu- thira, being left with feveral other Trojan captives on board the Grecian fleet, while the failors went on fhore to take in frefh proviiions, had the refolution to propofe, and the power to perfuade her compa- nions, to fet'the fhips on fire, and to perifh them-- felves 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 themfelves in the flames, if their huibands and relations were defeated, in the enthuliafm of their courage and refolution, they crowned her wiih flowers who firft made the propofal. Many inftan- ces occur in thehiflory of the Romans, of the Gauls and Germans, and of other nations in fubfequent periods; where women being driven to defpair by their enemies, have bravely defended their walls, or waded through fields of blood to alTift their country- men, and free themfelves from flavery or from ravifhment. Such heroic efforts are beauties, even in the charafter of the fofter fex, when they proceed from neceflity: when from choice, they are ble- miflies of the mod unnatural kind, indicating a heart of cruelty, lodged in a form which has the ap- pearance of gentlenefs and peace. It has been alleged by fome of the writers on hu- man nature, that to the fair fex the lofs of beaut v h more alarming and infupportable than the lofs of life: So THE HISTORY but even this lofs, however oppofite to the feelings of their nature, they have voluntarily coniented to fiiftain, that they might not he the objects of temp- tation to the lawlefs ravifher. The nuns of a con- vent in France, fearing they mould be violated by a ruffian army, which had taken by dorm the town in which their convent was fituated, at the recom- mendation of their abbefs, mutually agreed to cut off all their noies, that they might lave their chaifity by becoming objects of difguft inftead of delire. Were we to defcend to particulars, we could give innumerable inftances of women, who, from Se- miramis down to the prefent time, 'have diilin- guifhed themfelves by their courage. Such was Pen- theiilea, who, if we may credit ancient (lory, led her army of viragoes to the afllifance of Priam king of Troy ; Thomyris, who encountered Cyrus king of Perfia ; and Thaleftris, famous for her lighting, as well as for hoc amours win. Alexander the Great. Such was Boadicea, queen oi' the Britons, who led on that people to revenge the wrongs clone to herfelf and her country by the Romans. And in later peri- ods, fnch was the Maid of Orleans, and Margaret of Anjou ; which lail, according to feveral hiftori- aus, commanded at no lefs than twelve pitched bat- tles. But we do not choofe to multiply inflances of this nature, as we have already faid enough to ihew, that the fex are not deftitute of courage when that virtue becomes neceffary ; and were they poiTeffed of it, when unneceflary, it would divert 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 fex, becaufe me was intrepid and brave ; no woman ever conciliated the affections oflhe men, by rivalling them in what they reckon ihe peculiar excellencies of their own characv . OF WOMEN. 81 Although it appears, from what we have related, that an opinion has been pretty generally diffufed among mankind that the female fex are in body and in mind greatly inferior to the male ; yet that opi- nion has not been lb univerfal as to exclude every exception ; for whole nations, in fome periods, and fome individuals in every period, have held a con- trary one. We have already given fome account of the veneration in w T hich the ancient Egyptians held their women ; a veneration which feems at lead to have continued to the days of Cleopatra. We have feen other nations placing the fountain of honour in the fex, and others again valuing every fmgle wo- man at the rate of fix men. We have feen the Ger- mans admitting them to be prefent at, and to direct their councils. The Greeks, Romans, and ancient Britons, confecrating them to the facred function of rniniftring at the altars of their gods. We have feen the initiuuion of chivalry railing them almoft above the level of mortality. But in Italy, even in a period when chivalry had nearly expired, we find them rifen in the opinion of the men to a height, at which they had never arrived before. In Rome, when it became io venal, that every thing could be purchafed for money, it was no uncommon thing for the wives or raiftreffes of the rich and opulent to be deified after their death. In modern Italy, this ridi- culous dignity was conferred, while living, upon Joan of Arragon, who was one of the moil: extraor- dinary women of the lixteenth century, in confe- quence of a decree paffed at Venice, in the year one thoufand five hundred and fifty-one, in the acade- my of the Dubbioii. Upon her lifter, the Marchio- nefs de Guaft, they conferred the title of a divinity ; md propofed building a temple, in which thev Id both be worihipped together. But fome of 82 THE HISTORY the academicians obferving, that two divinities, efpecially of the feminine gender, would probably not agree together in the fame temple ; it was at lall refolved, that the Marchionefs mould be worfhipped by herfelf, and that to her lifter, Joan of Arragon, mould be ere&ed a temple, of which fhe mould have the fole poflefTion. It was accordingly raifed, and flood for fome time the mod demonstrative proof of human folly that hiftory has any where re- corded. OF WOMEN. 83 CHAPTER XX. Of Drefs, Ornament ! , and the various other Methods whereby Women endeavour to render themfelves agreeable to the Men. T HE mutual inclination of the fexes to each other, is the fource of many of the ufeful arts, and perhaps of all the elegant refinements ; by con- ftantly exerting itfelf in ftrenuous endeavours to pleafe ; to be agreeable, and even to be neceffary, it gives an additional flavour to the rational pleafures, and multiplies even the conveniences of life. In the articles of convenience and neceility, we have greatly the advantage over the women, who, weak and helplefs in themfelves, naturally rely on us for whatever is ufeful and whatever is neceftary. In the articles of pleafure and of refinement, they have as much the advantage of us, and we as natu- rally look up to them as the fource of our pleafures, as they do to us as the fource of their fuilenance and their fortunes ; but befides the advantages of being fo neceffary to the women on account of procuring them convenience and fubfiltence, men, by nature bold and intrepid, have a thoufand ways of ingratiat- ing themfelves into the favour of the fex, and may praftife them all with opennefs and freedom ; whereas, women mud endeavour to work themfelves into our affections by methods filent and difguifed ; for, mould the mafk be thrown off, their intentions would not only be fruflrated, but the very attempt would fix upon them the character of forwardness, 84 THE HISTORY and want of that modefty which cuftom. has made fo effential a part of female excellence. Nothing ap- pears mor- evi J tnt, than that we all wifh women to be agreeable, and to infmuatc themfelves into our favour, but then we wifli them to do fo only by na- ture, and not by art, or at leaft that the little art they employ, fhould look as like nature as poftible. Compelled to act under thefe difadvantages, the fex are obliged to lay a perpetual reilraint on their behaviour, and often to difclaim by their words, and even their actions, fuch honed and virtuous attach- ments as they approve in their hearts. When they, however, direct their attacks upon no particular in- dividual, but only ftrive to cultivate their minds and adorn their bodies, that they may become the more Worthy of being honourably attacked by us, we not only pardon, but love them for thofe arts, which, by embelliihing nature, render her Hill more agree- able. Nature has given to men ftrength, and to women beauty; our ftrength endears us to them, not only by affording them protection, but by its laborious efforts for their maintenance; their beauty endears them to us, not only by the delight it offers to our fenfes, butalfo by that power it has of foftening and compofmg our more rugged paffions. Every animal is confeious of its own ftrength, and of the proper mode of employing it; women, abundantly confei- ous that theirs lies in their beauty, endeavour with the utmoft care to heighten and improve it. To give fome account of the many and various methods which have been and (till are made ufe of for this purpofe, is the fubject upon which we would wilh at prelect to turn the attention of our fair readers. OF WOMEN. $ s Next to the procuring of daily food for the fufle- nance of our bodies, that of clothing them feems the molt elTentially neceffary, and there 'are few inven- tions in which more ingenuity has been difplayed, or more honour done to the human underftanding. The art of clothing ourfelves with decent propriety, is one of thole improvements which ftrongly diftin- 'guifli us from the brutes; that of clothing ourfelves with elegance, is one of thofe which perpetually whet the invention, and di ftinguilh the man of tafte from the mere imitator. Though the ufe of clothes may appear elTentially neceffary to us who inhabit the northern extremities of the globe, yet as they could not be fo in the warmer climates where they were firft invented, fome other caufe than merely that of fecuring the bod v from the injuries of the air muff, have given birth to them. There are in Afia, which we fuppofe to have been firft inhabited, a variety of places where clothes would not only have been altogether ufelefs, but alfo burdenfome ; yet over all this extenfive country and in every other part of the world, except among a few of the molt favage nations, all mankind have been, and (till are, accuftomed to ufe fome kind of covering for their bodies. Had clothes been origi- nally intended only for defending the body agaiin-. cold, it would naturally follow, that they mu.il have been invented and brought to the greateft perfection in the coldeft regions, and that the inhabitants of every cold country, impelled by neceihty, mull at lead have difcovered the ufe of them long before the prefent time; but neither of thefe is the cafe, for the art of making garments was invented before any of the colder countries were inhabited, and the inhabi- tants of fome of the mod inhofpitable regions of the VOL. II. M ' id THE HISTORY globe, particularly about the dreights of Magellan, are at this day naked. From thefe indances it feems plain, that necerTity was not the fole caufe which fird induced men to cover their bodies ; fome other reafon at lead mud have co-operated with it, to make the cudom fo imiverfal ; fhame has been alleged as this other rea- fon, and by fome faid to have been the only caufe of the original invention of clothing ; but this opinion is not Supported by facts, for fhame does not feem natural to mankind ; it is the child of art, and the nearer we approach to nature, the lefs we are ac- quainted with it. We have already feen that the natives of Otaheite have no fuch feelings, or at lead if they have, that it is not called forth into action by the fame circumdances and fituations as among us. It would be endlefs to enumerate the various coun- tries in which both fexes are entirely naked, and consequently infenfibleon that account ofihame ; or which is ftill a flrongcr proof of our affertion, to enumerate thofe, in which, though clothes are com- monly made ufe of, yet no fhame is annexed to un- covering any part of the body. But that we may not build our hypothecs entirely upon the cudoms of favage life, let us confider the date of infancy and youth in the mod polidied fociety. There nothing is more obvious, than that neither of the fexes have any fhame on account of being naked when leveral years old, and that even at the age of feven or eight, expofing thofe parts of the body that are not ufually expofed, is a circumdance to which they pay fo little regard, that mothers, and other people who have the care of them, often find great difficulty in teaching them to conform in this particular to the cudoms of their country, and are frequently obliged even to e ufe of correction before they can obtain their OF WOMEN. 87 purpcfe. To this teaching, and to this correction, we owe the firll fenfations of (hame, on exposing our- felves otherwiie than the mode of our country prc- fcribes, and cuftom keeps up the lenfation ever after; for fharne is not excited upon deviating from cuftom by doing things only which have a real turpitude in their nature, but alfo by deviating from it in thofe things that are innocent or indifferent. If from the foregoing reafons it fhould appear, that the origin of clothing was neither altogether owing to neceflity, nor to fliame, then the caufe ftill remains to be discovered ; and cfais caufe we fup- pofe to have been a kind of innate principle, efpeci- aliy in the fair fex, prompting them to improve by art thofe charms bellowed on them by nature. The reafons which induce us to be of this opinion are, becaufe, as we obferved above, cloth is were inven- ted in a climate where they were but little wanted to defend from the cold, and in a period when the hu- man race were too innocent, as well as too rude and uncultivated, to have acquired the fenfe of (hame ; becaufe, alfo, in looking over the hiilory of mankind it appears, that an appetite for ornament, if we may fo call it, is univerfally diffufed among them, where- ever they have the lead leifure from the indilpen fable duty of procuring daily food, or are not depreiTed with the moil abfolute ilavery; every lavage people, even though totally naked, (hew their love of orna- ment by marks, ftains, and paintings of various kii upon their bodies, and thefe frequently of the moil finning and gaudy colours. Every people, whole country affords any materials, and who have acqui- red any art in fabricating them, (hew all the ingenu- ity they can in decking and adorning themfelves to the bell advantage, with what they have thus fabri- cated. Thefe circumflances ftrongly demonnrate, 88 THE HISTORY that the love of ornament is a natural principle, which fhews itfelf in every climate, and in every country, almoft without one fingle exception. But further, were clothes intended only to defend from the cold, or to cover fhame, the moft plain and fim- ple would ferve thefe purpofes; at lead as well, if not better, than the moil gay and ornamental ; but the plain and the fimple, every where give way to the gay and the ornamental. Ornament, therefore, muft have been one of the caufes which gave birth to the origin of clothing. As there is in human nature a ftrong propenfity to the love of variety, this might likewife contribute to the ufe of clothing: abfolute nakednefs is the moft deitruclive of variety, having nothing to prefent but the fame object, in the fame fhape and colour, and without any other variations of circumflances than what arife from change of attitude: fuch uniform and unvaried objects, as they make no new impref- fions on the femes, are not likely to excite, and (fill lefs likely to continue the paffion of love; to do either of which, "it is neceiTary that our fenfes mould be ftruck with a variety of appearances. In countries where women are conffantly in the original drefs of nature, they are much lefs objects of deiire, than where they are enabled by drefs to vary their figure and their lhape, conltantly to ftrike us with fome new appearance, and to mew, or conceal from us, a part of their charms, as it (hall bed anfwer their purpofe. It is probable that women became early acquainted with all the difadvantages of appearing perpetually the fame; and that to remedy them, they contrived, by degrees, to alter themfelves by the aififtance of drefs and ornament. OF WOMEN. 89 Becaufe favage life is the ftate that approaches the neareft to nature ; and becaufe, in this ftate, wo- men fometimes neglect every kind of drefs and orna- ment, it has therefore been concluded, that to drefs, and to ornament themfelves, is a paffion not natural to the fex : but this conclufion will be found to be improperly drawn, by confidering, that wherever women totally neglect, ornament and drefs, it is ei- ther where they have no materials for thefe purpo- fes, as in the Streights cf Magellan ; or where they are fo deprefTed with flavery and ill ufage, as on the banks of the Oroonoko, that even a paffion fo natu- ral, is totally fuppreffed by the feverity of their fate; for even in the moil favage ftates of mankind, if the women are not depreffed with abject flavery, they make every effort, and ftrain every nerve to get materials of finery and of drefs. On the coaft of Patagonia, where the natives of both fexes are almoft entirely naked, the women, in point of orna- ment, were much on an equality with the men, and painted nearly in the fame manner ; and one of them, finer than any of her male or female compa- nions, had not only bracelets on her arms, but firings of beads alfo interwoven with her h^ir. — . Among many of the tribes of wandering Tartars, who are almoft as rude and uncultivated as imagina- tion can paint them, the women, even though in a great meafure confined, are loaded with a profufion of the richeft ornaments their hufbands or relations can procure for them. But it would be needlefs to adduce any mere proofs in fupport of our opinion ; the whole hiftory of mankind, ancient and modern, is fo full of them, that unlefs we draw general con- clufions from particular inftances, we cannot enter- tain a doubt, that the love of finery is more natural to the other fex than to ours. 90 THE HISTORY Taking it then for granted, that the love of drefs is a natural appetite, we may reafonably conclude, that it began to (hew itfelf in a very early period of antiquity ; but in what manner it was firft exerted, and what materials originally olFered themfelves for its gratification, are fubjects of which we know but little : the firft garment mentioned by hiftory, was compofed of leaves fewed together, but with what they were fewed, we have no occount ; from this hint, it is reafonable to prcfume, that mankind, in the firft ages, made ufe of fuch materials for drefs as nature prefented, and needed the leaft preparation. Strabo tells us, that fome nations made ufe of the bark of trees, others of herbs or reeds, rudely wo- ven together : but of all other materials, the Adas of animals feem to have been the molt univerfally ufcd in the ages we are confidering : but being then ig- norant of the method of making thefe ikins flexible by the art of tanning, or of feparating the hair from them, they wore them in the fame flate in which they came from the bodies of the animals : finding them, however, cumberfome and inconvenient in this condition, it is natural to fuppofe, that they loon applied themfelves to difcover fome method of ren- dering them more pliable, and better adapted to their purpofes ; but when, or where they diicover- ed this method is uncertain. The ancient annals of China inform us, that Tchifang, one of their rhft kings, taught them to prepare the ikins of animals for garments, by taking off the hair with a wooden roller ; but even after the ikins of animals were, by the various methods praclifed in different countries, rendered fomething more convenient, they were not naturally adapted to form a neat and commodious covering for the human body ; many of them were too little, others too large ; thofe that were too large, it was an eafy matter to make lefs at pieafurej OF WOMEN. 91 but thofe that were too little, could not be enlarged without the art of fewing them together ; an are, which a great part of mankind were long in difco- vering. Tjjaread does not appear to have been among the mod early inventions, as we may fup- pofe from finding many favage nations at this day without it, and without thread they could do no- thing. Hefiod tells us, That, infcead of thread, the ancients ufed the finews of animals dried, and fplit into fmall fibres. Thorns, iharp bones, and the like, fupplied the place of needles; and of thofe rude materials, and in this rude manner were the clothes, or rather coverings, of the firft ages made; but we muft obferve, that they were not fitted to the body as at prefent ; but all loofe, and nearly of an equal fize ; a circumftance ftrongly proved by the many changes of raiment which w r ere in the poffef- fion of the great, and of which they made prefents to fuch as they were inclined to honour, and in which they ufed to clothe the gueffcs who came to vifit them ; purpofes which they never could have an- fwered, had they been all exn.ftiy fitted to the body of the original owner ; but this circumftance is alfo further proved from the clothing of thofe nations which retain ft ill the ltrongeit traces of antiquity. The garments of the Welch, and Scotch Highland- ders, are, at this day, (o wide and loofe, that they may eafily be applied to the ufe of any wearer. As fociety began to improve, and the fexes be- came more ambitious of rendering themfelves agree- able to each other, they endeavoured to di (cover fuch materials as could be made into garments of a more commodious and agreeable cBature than the leaves or bark of tress, or the lkins of animals; and their firfr. efforts were pi ohabl made upon camel's jbair; a material which they ftill work into clothing 92 THE HISTORY in the Eaft. From camel's hair the transition to wool was eafy and natural; and it would foon be found, that either of them formed a covering, not only more pliable, warm, and fubftantial ; but alfo more elegant, than any thing they had before been accuf- tomed to. At what period they firft invented the art of converting thefe materials into garments is un- certain: all we know is, that it was very early; for in the patriarchal ages, we are told of the great care 'taken by the inhabitants of Paleftine and Mefopota- mia, in meering ther flieep ; the wool of which 'they, no doubt, had the art of making into covering and to ornament. The ufes which were now made of wool and of camel's hair, might poffibly fugged the m-fl ideas of feparating into diftinct threads the fibres of plants, fo as to convert them into the fame ufes : however that be, it is certain, that this art was early cultivated. In the plagues which were fent to dif- trefs Egypt, on account of the Ifraelites, we read of the deftruftion of the flax ; and in periods a little polterior, we have frequent mention made of the fine linen of Egypt. Such were the materials in which men clothed themfelves in the firft ages. We mall now take a fhort view of what they had for orna- ment and mow. In the days of Abraham, the art of ornamenting the body with various materials was far from being unknown to many of the Afiatic nations ; they had then jewels of feveral kinds, as well as vdlels of gold and filver. Ellezar, Abraham's fervant, when he went to court Rebecca, for Ifaac his mailer's Ion, carried along with him jewels of gold, and lilver, and bracelets, and rings, as pre- fents to procure him a favourable reception. We find the fame Rebecca afterwards in poiTefiion of perfumed garments, which Hie put on her fon Jacob, OF WOMEN. 93 to enable him to cheat his father, by paffing him- felf upou him for his brother Eiau. Perfumes and odours muft then have been introduced ; and when they had arrived at the luxury of perfuming their apparel, we may conclude, that the modes of dref- fing in thofe days were not io plain and fimple as fome would endeavour to perfuade us. Jacob gave his beloved fon jofeph a coat of divers colours fup- pofedtobe made of cotton, and finer than thofe of his brethren : which was the caufe of their fellino- him for a Have into Egypt. But notwithstanding all this finery, the people of the primative ages were not acquainted with the art of dreffing gracefully ; their upper garment was only a piece of cloth, in which they wrapped therafelves ; nor had they any other contrivance to keep thefe firm about them, than by holding them round their bodies. ■ Many uncultivated nations at this time exhibit the fame rude appearance. We have a ftriking infiance of it in Otaheite, where the people wrap themfelves in pieces of cloth of a length almoft incredible ; and the higher the rank of the wearer, fo much the more is the length of his cloth augmented. In the patri- archal ages, the Pfraelites had advanced a few fleps beyond the fimplicity we have now defcribed ; they had garments made with ileeves, and cloaks which they threw over all ; but their Jhoes were like thofe of the neighbouring nations, only compofed of pie- ces of leather, to defend the foles of their feet, and fattened on with thongs. So nightly defended, they never could travel on foot, nor hardly ftir abroad, without having their feet much defiled ; it was therefore always necelfary to wafli them when they got home, a ceremony often mentioned in the. fcripture, which the fervant generally performed to his matter, and the matter often to his yiiitqrs a guetts. vol. ii. N 94 THE HISTORY Hid all thefe anecdotes of the drefs of the firir. ages, it is not a little furprifing, that we have no account of what was worn by the women, except the few ornaments we have already mentioned being given to Rebecca. But though we connot now con- jecture what was their drefs, we are allured, that it differed on account of different circumftances. — For Tamar, when me went to fit by the way-fide, to impofe herfelf upon Judah for an harlot, was habit- ed in the garments peculiar to a widow, which (he put off, and dreffed herfelf in fuch as were peculiar to an harlot. Whence it appears, that not only widows and harlots, but perhaps fevcral other con- ditions were diitinguilhed from one another by par- ticular drelTes ; a ftrong proof that drefs was in thefe periods a circumilance of no fmall importance, and greatly attended to ; for, where drefs is only in its infancy, it is not made ufe of as a badge to diftra- i{h one perfon from another ; but in poliiheu na- tions', it is not only made ufe of to diftinguifh rank, but even profeflions and circuniitances are marked out by it. Some of the neighbouring nations, and particularly the Midianites, had, in the primitive ages, carried their attention to drefs dill farther than the llraclites; for we read in. the book of Judges, of their gold chains bracelets, rings, tablets, purple ornaments of their kings, and even gold chains or collars for the necks of their camels. Though the drefs of the common people of Egypt Teems to have been fimple, yet the great made ufe of a variety of decorations. They had changes of raiment. Jofeph gave changes of raiment to each of his brethren. They wore i ments made of cotton, and coftly chains about their necks. As to the drefs of the women, all we know of it is, that they had only one kind, whereas the O F WO MEN. 95 men had more; whether by one kind of drefs only, is meant, that all their variety of changes were made in one farhion, or of the fame fort of materials, is uncertain; but however this be, they had, beiidcs their clothes, a variety of ornaments; forMofes tells us, that when the Ifraelites finally departed from Egypt, they were ordered to 'borrow jewels of gold and jewels of filver, to put them on their fons and daughters, and to fpoil the Egyptians. Nor need we wonder, that they were porTelTed of thefe things at the period when the Ifraelites went out from ih'_m, for even in the days of Jofeph, luxury and magnifi- cence were carried to a great height; they. had, be- fides their jewels, veifels of gold and filver, rich ftu&fg and perfumes; were waited upon by a great number of Haves, and drawn in chariots, of which they had feveral forts; they had embroideries of various kinds which were alio ufed among the neighbouring nations ; for Mofes mentions works of embroidery, with an agreeable variety; and Pliny tells us, that they painted linen by laving certain drugs upon it.- — From all thele anecdotes, as well ' as from the ilxi- menfe fums which we have already taken notice of being allotted to the toilette of the queens of Egypt, we may conclude, that the drefs of their women was at leaft coftly, if not elegant. We {hall fini/h what we had to fay on this fubject by obferving, that what moil particularly diftinguifhed this people, wastheir attention to cleanlinefs; they ntst only kept their garments exceedingly neat, but the opulent had them waihed every time they put them on. That beauty was in all ages the fubject of praife and of flattery, we may infer from the nature of man as well as learn from the fongs of the ancient bards. When women were praifed, when they were flat- tered on this fubject, it was natural for them to with 96 THE HISTORY to fee thofe charms of which they had heard fo much; but what all their ingenuity could not difcover, they were directed to by chance. Some perfon, looking on the clear furface of a fmooth pool, faw his own image in the water; whether this furnilhed the firft hint that every poiilhed furface would have the fame effect, or whether chance directed to that difcovery alio, is uncertain, but we find the ufe of mirrors in a very early period in Egypt ; and from them, pro- bably, the Ifraelites firft borrowed that art ; for mir- rors were common among them in their paffage through the wildcrnefs,as appears from Mofes having made his laver of brafs, of the mirrors offered by the women who attended at the door of the tabernacle. The art of making mirrors of glafs was not known in thefe days. The firft and beft are faid to have been made long after, of a fand found on the coafts of the Tyrian fea; thofe then in ufe were made of highly polifhed metal. In Egypt, and in Paleftine, they were of brafs. When the ancient Peruvians were firft difcovercd, their mirrors were of brafs: and, at this day, in the Eaft, they are commonly made of that, or fome other metal, capable of receiving a fine polifh. The ufe of mirrors, among the Egyptians and Ifraelites, is a proof that the ages under review, were not fo rude and fimple as fome would infmuate. Many nations at this period have not arrived to the knowledge of mirrors. The people of New Zea- land were furprifed at this mode of viewing their own faces, ^m\ behaved on the occafion with a mix- ture of the moft ridiculous grimace and merriment. Almoft every writer of voyages into favage countries, prefents us with hiftories of a fimilar nature. How rapid is the progrefs of human genius in fome coun- tries ? How How in othrs ? Whence arifes this diver- OF WOMEN. 97 fity ? Is it from climate, from neceflity, or from a difference in the original powers and faculties of the mind ? Is it poilible that favages never have feen themfelves in the water ? If they have, why fliould they be fo furprifed at feeing themfelves in a look- ing-glafs ? The face is the part of the body where female charms and graces are mod confpicuoufly placed ; but as none could fee her own face without the affiflance of art ; before the ufe of mirrors, a wo- man muft have entirely depended on the relation of others, whether fhe was beautiful or otherwife ; on her own dexterity, or the word of her hand-maid, flie muff have refled the important affair of having her head-drefs properly adjufted, and the colour fuited to her complexion ; points in which fhe might often be deceived, but which the ufe of a mirror put in her own power to difcover. Mirrors, therefore, with regard to their utility in female life, may be juftly reckoned among the mod valuable of human inventions. What kind of drefs was ufed for the head in the primitive ages we know not ; all that we have any account of concerning it is, that on fome occ : :fions the women ufed veils. If the drefs of the head was however as fimple in its con- flru£tion, as that of the body, the adjufling of it would require but little time, and itill lefs inge- nuity. 9 3 THE HISTORY CHAPTER XXI. The fame Subjecl continued. N periods f.) remote as thefe we are now confidering,it is asimpofftble for us togive any diilinft detail of the various dreffes ufed for the body, as of thole ufed for the head; we have neither delcriptions nor monuments left to elucidate io dark a fubject ; nor, if we had, is it our intention to give a minute and circumftantial detail of every article ufed at the female toilette : we only mean to point out how far drefs has been an object of general attention, and in what manner this attention has exened itielf ; and we 111 all leave our readers to make their own reflec- tions, how far a knov\ ledge of the care bellowed on this article may elucidate the manners of the times, and how thefe manners might influence the modes of dreiTmg. Among other fubjects of popular declamation, the prefent luxury of drefs affords a conflant opportuni- ty of endeavouring to perfuade us, that our own times furpafs in this article every thing that has gone before us ; and that our own country furpaffes all the world. But this is no more than mere declama- tion ; for if we look back even to very remote peri- ods of amiquitv, we fhall find that the fame thing was then the fubjeft of declamation as well as at pre- fent. The third chapter of Ifaiah prefents us with an account of the finery of the daughters of Babylon, which no modern extravagance has hitherto equal- led. Homer dreifes feveral of his heroes and hero- OF WOMEN. 99 ines with a magnificence to which we are Grangers ; and Cleopatra exhibited an extravagance in her drefs and entertainments, which in our times would beggar the mod wealthy potentate on the globe. Even in the days of Mofes, they were acquainted with the art of polifhing precious {tones ; and not only knew how to fet, but what appears more ex- traordinary, were alfo acquainted with the art of engraving them. The ephod of Aaron was adorned with two onyxes fet in gold, on each of which the names of fix tribes of Ifratl were engraved. The breaft-plate of judgment, {hone with twelve precious Hones of different colours, upon every one of which was the name of one of the twelve tribes. We might ealily multiply inftances to ihew the fplendour and magnificence of the ancients ; but thofe already given are fufficient to teach us how little reafon there is for declaimers to vilify the prefent times, nor have they more reafon to exclaim again{l this country ; whoever has feen the fplendour and magnificence of the Eaft, muft laugh at every fatire on that of Europe. Notwithstanding all the precious Hones made ufe of by the ancients, it is probable, that they were un- acquainted with the diamond, which modern refine- ment has flamped with fuch an immenfe value; fome have imagined, that PJomer and Hefiod have men- tioned this ftone by the name of Adamas and Ada- mantinos; but it has been more judicioufly fuppofed that thefe Greek terms have not the leaf! relation to it; and Pliny, who has taken much pains to investi- gate the diicovery of precious flones, can find no mention of this till a period near the beginning of the ChrHtaan cera. But Ion? after the diicovery of dia- monds, they cKd not, for want of being properly peliihea, difplay half the fuftfc they do at prefent; ioo THE HISTORY the art of giving them this luftre by poliiliing them with their own dull, is but a late invention, and afcribed to Lewis de Berquen, a native of Bruges, who lived only about three hundred years ago. A delire of attra&iag the public attention, natu- rally firfl prompted the human race to ornament themfelves with the moll: Aiming and brilliant things which nature could fupply. Among all thefe, the diamond, after it was difcovered, held the firfl rank ; it was, therefore, natural, that the mines which produce it mould be fought after with avidity, and preferved with care. The oldefl diamond mine that we know of, is in the river Gouel, which is one of thofe that empty themfelves into the Ganges. The chain of mountains which runs between Cape Como- rin and Bengal has yielded a large quantity of dia- monds; they are there found in cluilers, lying at from fix to twelve feet below the furface of the ground. The ifle of Borneo, according to fome tra- vellers, produces a few diamonds; more are found in Vifapour and Golconda; the mines of Vifapour have been known about three hundred years, and thofe of Golconda not above half that time. About the be- ginning of the prefent century fome flaves, who were condemned to look for gold at Sierra-do-frio in Bra- zil, ufed to fmd fome little bright flones, which they threw away as of no confequence ; a few of thefe, however, being preferved, and mown to the gover- nor-general of the mines, he had them examined by able artifls, who declared that they were fine dia- monds. Soon after this, fearch was made for them with fuch fuccefs, that in a few years the Rio- Janeiro •fleet brought to Lifbon eleven hundred and forty-fix ounces of them. This produced fuch a plenty, that their price was confiderably diminifhed ; but the Por- tuguefe miniflry, in order to reinflate them in their OF WOMEN. 101 original value, conferred on a company the cxclufive privilege of fearching for and felling them; and left the avidity of the company mould fruflrate the inten- tion of the miniftry, it was flipulated, that no more than fix hundred llaves mould be employed in the mines, and that all diamonds exceeding a certain weight fhould be the property of the king. Avarice tramples upon every right human and divine. It was not thought fufficient that death mould be the confequence of encroaching on this privilege of the company; but, as a further fecurity, it was thought neceffary to depopulate all the places that lay in the .neighbourhood of the mines, and turn the whole into a folitary wafle, inacceffible to human foot. This wafte at prefent comprehends a fpace of three hun- dred miles, in which there is only one large village, inhibited entirely by the flaves of the company. So fhort an account of this the mod: important of all bagatelles, we hope our readers will not confider as foreign to our fubje£t, efpecially as it is now not only fuch an article of commerce and luxury, hetalfo the ornament which, of all others, is moil eagerly fought after by the fair fex, and the badge which diftin- guifhes opulence and quality from the lower and more humble ranks of life. Individuals of the human fpecies, like thofe of ail others, grow old, and fufFer by decay; but the fpe- cies itfelf, always the fame, is constantly diftiftin- guifhed by the fame propenfrMes, and actuated by the fame pailions; it treads in the fame path ehaf it did five thoufand years ago ; dignity and power were then, as well as now, in many places conferred by opulence, and diftinguifhed by ornament and drei ; and beauty was fond of adding to nature by all the decorations and embellifhments of art. Aar» n, . VOL. II. O U32 THE HISTORY we have already feen, was diftmguifhed by a great profufion of ornaments ; the greateft part of the he- roes of Homer were diftmguilhed by therichnefs and brilliancy of their armour; and the kings of the an- cient Medes and Perfians, and of many of the neigh- bouring nations, had golden fcepters, as enfigns of their power and authority. But to return from the fubjeft of badges of diflinc- tion, to the drefs and ornament of common life. In ancient Babylon, the men wore fluffs wrought with gold and filver, ornamented with coflly embroidery, and enriched with rubies, emeralds, faphires, pearls, and other jewels, of which the Ealf. has always been remarkably productive; collars of gold were alfo a part of their finery; fuch was the drefs of their men; that of their women has not been fo particularly def- cribed; but when we confider the rank which wo- men held among them, and the natural propenfity of the fex to drefs and ornament, we have realon to be- lieve it was if ill more coftly and magnificent, efpeci- aliy as we fo frequently find the prophets reproving the daughters of Babylon for their pride, and the vanity which they difplayed in the variety and Iplen- dour of their attire. To the coftlinefs of the materi- als of their garments, the BabylonifTi women fre- quently added the expenfe of the moft precious per- fumes, with which they perfumed not only their ap- parel, but alio their bodies; and as it is well known that the perfumes of Babvlon where every where famous for their fuperior excellence, and bore an exceeding high price, this luxurious article mud have added greatly to the expence of the female toi- lette. Drefs and ornament did not lefs excite the atten- tion of the Medes and Perfians than of the Babylo- OF WOMEN. 10; mans ; the women of their kings were habited in pll the pomp of Eaflern magnificence, and the revenues of whole provinces were frequently employed in de- corating her who happened to be the greateft favour- ite. The queens had certain diftricts let apart for maintaining their toilette and wardrobe, one for the veil, and another for the girdle, &c. and thefe dif- trifts took their names from the different parts of the drefs to which they were appropriated, as the queen's girdle, the queen's mantle, &c. The Medes, when a diftinct nation, appear to have paid the greateft attention to drefs, for the luxury and magnificence of which, they are very frequently ex- claimed again ft by the writers of antiquity. They wore long flowing robes with large hanging fleeves ; thefe robes were interwoven with a variety of dif- ferent colours, all of the mod gaudy and Alining nature : and befides, they were richly embroidered with gold and lilver. They were likewife loaded with bracelets, gold chains, and necklaces adorned with precious fiones, and wore upon the head a kind of tiara or high pointed cap, exceedingly magnifi- cent ; nay, fo far had they carried their attention to every fpecies of decoration, that they even tinged their eyes and eye-brows, painted their faces, and mingled artificial with their natural hair. Such, in the articles of drefs and ornament, was the care and attention of the men ; antiquity has left us in the dark concerning that of their women, and has only informed us in general, that they were exceed- ingly beautiful. We may, therefore, reafonably fuppofe, that in a country where drefs was fo much cultivated, they did not leave thofe charms of na- ture unaflifted, but drove to improve them by even- ornament of art. io 4 THE HISTORY Notwithstanding what we have now mentioned, in looking over the hiflory of antiquity, we are apt at firft view to imagine, that the ancient heroes def- pifed drefs, as an effeminacy in which it was below their notice to indulge thtrmfelves. Hercules had only a lion's Jkin flung over his fhoulders, and a va- riety of the heroes of Homer, and the other ancient writers, are wrapped in thofe of the different ani- mals they had deftroyed ; but this feems only to have been the mode in which they clothed themfelves in ordinary life, or perhaps rather when they went to war, or to hunting, in order to make them appear more terrible ; for on public occalions, when cere- mony was thought neceffary, they had other gar- ments of a very different nature. The mantle of Ulyffes is defcribed by Homer as an extraordinary piece of finery, and feveral of the reft of his heroes are now and then introduced in the utmoff magnifi- cence of drefs that gods and men could fabricate for them; even in the heroic ages, the Greeks wore clothes adorned with gold and fiver, and ladies of diilinclion had long flowing robes faftened with clafps of gold, and bracelets of the fame metal, adorned with amber ; nor were they then inconfei- ous that nature might be improved by art, for they endeavoured to improve their complexions by feveral forts of paint, in compofing and laying on of which, they were fcarcely lefs dexterous than the ladies of the Aril rank and fafhion at Vcrfailles. But with all thefe loads of finery, the ancients were flrangers to elegance, and even to convenience, in their drefs. In the times we are fpeaking of, the Greeks had no fhoes, but only a kind of fandals, which they put on when they went out ; neither did they know the ufe of breeches, f lockings, nor drawers, nor pins, nor buckles, nor buttons, nor pockets; they had not invented the art of lining clothes, and when OF WOMEN. 105 cold, were obliged to fupply the defecl of lining, by- throwing one garment over another. As the Greeks emerged from the barbarity of the heroic ages, among other articles of culture, they began to beftow more attention on the convenience and elegance of drefs. At Athens, the ladies com- monly employed the whole morning in drefilng themfelves in a decent and becoming manner ; their toilette confined in paints and wafhes, of fuch a na- ture as to clean and beautify the lkin, and they took great care to clean their teeth, an article too much neglecled : fome alfo blackened their eye-brows, and, if neceflary, fupplied the deficiency of the Vermil- lion on their lips, by a paint faid to have been ex- ceedingly beautiful. At this time the women in the Greek iflands make much ufe of a paint which they call Sulama, which imparts a beautiful rednefs to the cheeks, and gives the Jkin a remarkable glofs. Poffibly this may be the fame with that made ufe of in the times we are confidering ; but however that be, fome of the Greek ladies at prefent gild their faces all over on the day of their marriage, and con- fider this coating as an irrefiftible charm ; and in the ifland of Scios, their drefs does not a little refemble that of ancient Sparta, for they go with their bo- foms uncovered, and with gowns which only reach to the calf of their leg, in order to mew their fine garters, which are commonly red ribbons curicufly embroidered. But to return to ancient Greece, the ladies fpent likewife a part of their time in cornpo- fmg head-drefTes, and though we have reafon to fuppofe that they were not then fo prepofleroully fantallic as thofe prefentty compofed by a Parrfiaa milliner, yet they were probably objects of no fmall induftry and attention, efpeciaily as we find that they then dyed their hair, perfumed it with the moil jo6 THE HISTORY coflly effences, and by the means of hot irons difpo- fed of it in curls, as fancy or fafhion directed. Their clothes were made of fluffs fd extremely light and fine as to mew their fhapes, without offending againfl the rules of decency. At Sparta, the cafe was widely different; we (hall not defcribe the drefs of the women, it is fufficient to fay, that it has been loudly complained of by almoit every ancient author who has treated on the fubjeci. From what has new been related it appears, that the women of antiquity were not lefs folicitous about their perlons than the moderns, and that the mate- rials for decorating them, were neither fo few, nor fo fimple, as has been by fome imagined ; facts which, in the review of the Romans, will appear ftill more confpicuous. In the more early periods of that great republic, the Romans, in their perfons as well as in their manners, were limple and unadorned; we (hall, therefore, pafs over the attire of thefe times, and confine our obfervations to thofe when the wealth of the whole world centered within the walls of Rome. The Roman ladies went to bathe in the morning, and from thence returned to the toilette, where wo- men of rank and fortune had a number of flaves to attend on and do every thing for them, while them- felves, looking conffantly in their glaffes, praclifed various attitudes, fludied the airs of negligence, the fmiles that heft became them, and directed the plac- ing of every lock of the hair, and every part of the luad-drefs. Coquettes, ladies of morofe temper, and thofe whofe charms had not attracted fo much notice as they expected, often blamed the flaves who dreffed them for this want of fuccefs ; and if we may believe Juvenal, fometimes chaflifed them for it with the mod unfeeling feveritv. At firh 1 , the maids who 0£ WOMEN. 107 attended the toilette were to aflift in adjufting every part of the drefs, but afterward each had her proper talk ailigned her; one had the combing, curling, and dreffing of the hair; another managed the perfumes ; a third difpofed of the jewels, as fancy or famicn directed; a fourth laid on the paint and colmetics: all thefe, and feveral others, had names exprciTive of their different employments: but befides thefe, whofe bufinefs it was to put their hands to the labour of the toilette, there were others, who, acting in a ftation more exalted, only attended to give their opi- nion and advice, to declare what colours molt fuited the complexion, and what method of dreiTmg gave the greateft additional luftre to the charms of nature. To this important council of the toilette we have no account of the male fex being ever admitted : this ufeful, though perhaps indelicate invention was re- ferred for the ladies of Paris, who wifely conlidcrin^, that as they drefs only for the men, the men mud be the bed judges of what will pleaie themfelves. As the loves and the graces more particularly refide in the face, the Roman ladies were hardly more at- tentive to the face itfelf, than to the decorations that furrounded it ; they had combs of box and of ivory for the hair, the curls of which they fattened with gold and filver pins; befides thefe, they commonly duck into their hair, pins fet with pearl, and plait- ed it with chains and rings of gold, or with purple or white ribbons, mining with jewels and precious ftones ; they had alfo in their ears, rings of gold, loaded with pearl, or other jewels. The modern gigantic head-drefs of the prefent time, with all its combs, and wool, and curls, is not the invention of this age ; it is at lead as old as the times we are deli- neating: the Roman ladies, by the aiiiilance of bor- rowed hair or woo!, decorated their heads with 10S THE HISTORY fcreffes, knots, and curls, all fo varioufly difpofed, and in fo many different (lories one above another, that the whole looked like a regular piece of archi- tecture: nor was it always neceffary that a lady fhould fpend her precious time in fitting to have her upper apartments built upon in this manner ; the Romans, as well as the moderns, knew how to min- gle convenience with, folly, they could purchafe in the (hops, as at prefent, a head-drefs ready built, which they had only the trouble to clap on. It would be tedious to mention the various forms in which thefe voluminous head-dreffes were conftruct- ed ; fuffice it to fay, that there were fome modes of dreffing the head which were confidered as diftin- guifhing marks of modefty and virtue, while others were as ftrong indiaitions of lewdnefs and debau- chery. But the difpofmg of the hair in various forms and figures ; the interweaving it with ribbons, jewels, and gold ; were not the only methods they made ufe of to make it agreeable to tafte ; light-coloured hair had the preference of all others ; both men and women therefore dyed their hair of this colour, then perfumed it ,with fweet-fcented effences, and pow- dered it with gold dud ; a cuftom of the higheft ex- travagance, which the Romans brought from Afia, and which, according to Jofephus, was praclifed among the Jews. White hair-powder was not then invented, nor did the ufe of it come into famion till towards the end of the fixteenth century ; the firfl \\ rite* who mentions it is L'Etoile, who relates, that in the year 1593, the Nuns walked the llreets of Paris curled and powdered ; from that time the cuf- tom of powdering has become fo common, that in molt places of Europe, but efpecially in France, it OF WOMEN. 109 is ufed by both fexes, and by people of all ages, ranks and conditions. Such were the ornaments with which the Roman ladies furrounded the face ; thoie of the face itfelf confided of cofmetics, paints, and even palt.es ; of the cofmetics, it would be fuperfluous to give any ac- count, as it is prefumed modern invention has fur- nifhed the prefent times with fuch as are much pre- ferable. Chalk and white lead were then ufed as paints, for we are told by Martial, that Fabula was afraid of the rain, on account of the chalk on her face ; and Sabella of the Sun, becaufe of the cerufe with which me was painted: the famous Poppsea, who was firft the miflrefs, and afterwards the wife of Nero, made ufe of an unctuous paint which harden- ed upon the face, and was left there till me chofe to take it off by warm milk ; its effects were to foften the fkin, and improve the complexion ; and as it originated from an emprefs, it foon became fo fafhion- able at Rome, that it was ufed almoft by every wo- man when at home, and, in the common phrafe of the times, was called the domeftic face, and if we may credit Juvenal, the only one which frequently was known to the hufband, the natural, or more charm- ing one which it covered, being referved for occafi- onal lovers. In order alfo to rectify what they fup- pofed nature had made amifs, they had depilatory plaiilers to take off fuperfluous hairs from the eye- brows, or other parts of the face, where they judg- ed that they were imperfections ; nor was the art of painting, and otherwife making artificial eye-brows, unknown to them. The teeth, we may readily be- lieve, were alfo an object of much attention ; they were not only cleaned and whitened by a variety of methods, but artificial ones were placed in the room of fuch as age or accident had deilroyed ; but the VOL. IT. P no THE HISTORY materials of 'which they were made feem not to have been judicioufly chofen. ' Thou haft only three teeth,' fays Martial to Maxima, ' and thefe are of box, varnifhed over.' But With all this art, there were fome defects for which they were not provided with any remedy : c If,' fays the fame poet to La?- lia, c thou art not afhamedto make ufe of borrowed teeth and hair, yet ft ill thou muft be embarraffed ; What wilt thou do for an eye, there are none to be bought ? Had the unfortunate Lcelia lived in our more inventive days, even this defect might have been fupplied' ; though perhaps an eye made by the Ba- ron de Wenfel, is not altogether fo killing as one fabricated by nature. To mm up all, the Roman ladies took great care that their fkins mould be kept perfectly clean and fweet, by a conilant practice of bathing ; and fome of them, not contented with cammon water for this purpofe, ufed to mix it with a variety of detergent or fweet-fcented ingredients : Poppcea, whom we have before mentioned, had every day the milk of five hundred affes made into a bath, which (he fuppofed gave her ll.in a foftnefs and polifh beyond that of any other woman. In the earlier periods of the Roman republic, as among every uncultivated people, there was but lit- tle difference between the drefs of the men and the women, the toga being the common garment of both ; at length, however, a difference was introduced, and the garment called Stola became the diitinction of the women, as the toga was of the men. It would be dry and infipid to give a minute detail of the form and faihion of thefe and feveral other kinds of drefs ufed by the Romans, a much more adequate idea of which can be formed by a fingle glance at a butt or drawing, than by the moil accurate defcrip- tion. "We mail, therefore, only obferve, that the OF WOMEN. in moll common materials of which their clothes were compofed, were wool and flax.; materials lefs fine indeed than thofe we have at prefent, but to firpply that defect, they were richly embroidered, and fre- quently loaded with different kinds of jewels. Lin- nen only became known to the Romans in the time of the Emperors; and, perhaps, nearly about the fame time, the ufe of filk was introduced among them; but it was long fo fcarce and expenfive, that a imaii quantity of it was only mixed with wool or flax in the compofition of their fineit fluffs. Hcliogabalus is the firil on record who had a robe made entirely of filk. At that time it mull have been exceedingly dear, for even more than fifty years afterwards it was fold for its weight in gold; as we learn from the anfwer of Aurelian to his wife, when me deiired him to let her have a filk mantle, ' I {hall take care,' faid he, ' not to buy threads for their weight in e gold.' As filk is the mod beautiful and elegant-material which has ever been made ufe of to adorn their fair forms whofe hillory we are writing, we hope our rea- ders will not confider a fnort account of it as foreign to our purpofe. Silk is faid to have been brought from Perfia into Greece three hundred and twenty- three years before Ghrilt, and from India to Rome in the year two hundred and ieventy-four after Chriil. During the reign of Tiberius, a law was made in the fenate, forbidding men to debafe themfelves by wear- ing filk, which was fit only for women. It was in thefe days fuppofed to grow like cotton upon trees. In the year five hundred and fifty-five, two monks brought from Cerinda, in the Ealt Indie?, to Con- flantinople, the eggs of fome filk-worms, which ha- ving hatched in a dunghill, they fed the young infers with mulberry leaves, and by this management they ii2 THE HISTORY foon multiplied to fuch a degree, that manufactures of fUk were erected at Conftantionple, at Athens, at Thebes, and at Borinth. In the year eleven hun- dred and thirty, Roger, king of Scicily, brought manufacturers of filk from Greece, and fettled them at Palermo, where they taught the Sicilians the art of breeding the filk worms, and of fpinning and weaving the filk. From Sicily, the art was carried into Italy, from thence to Spain : and a little before the time of Francis the firft, it was brought to the fouth of France. Henry the Fourth of France was at great pains to introduce manufactures of filk into his kingdom, contrary to the advice of his favourite minifter the Duke de Sully, and by his perfeverance, at lad. brought them to a tolerable perfection. In the year twelve hundred and eighty-fix, the ladies of forne noblemen firft. appeared in filk mantles in England, at a ball in Kennehvorth Caftle in War- wickfhire. In the year fixteen hundred and twenty, the art of weaving filk was firft introduced into Eng- land, and in the year feventeen hundred and nine- teen, Lombe's machine for throwing filk was erected at Derby, a piece of mechanifm which well deferves the attention and applaufe of every beholder ; it contains twenty-fix thoufand five hundred and eighty- fix wheels, the whole of which receive their motion from one wheel that is turned by water. Such was the introduction of filk, but it continued long too icarce and dear to be applied to common ufe. Henry the Second of France was the firft in Europe who wore filk ftockings ; in the reign of Henry the Se- venth, no filk ftockings had ever appeared in Eng- land ; Edward the Sixth, his fon and fuccefibr, was prefented by Sir Thomas Grefham with the firft pair that ever were worn in this country ; and the pre- fent was at that time much talked of as valuable and uncommon. Queen Elizabeth was alfo prefented OF WOMEN. 113 with a pair of black filk {lockings by her filk-woman, and was fo fond of them, that we are told by Hol- well, flie never wore any other kind afterwards. — From thefe times, however, filk has, in every fhape, become fo uncommon in this country, that it is now no longer, as formerly, the diflinguifhing badge of rank and opulence, but to be found among people of every flation, from the throne to the dung-hill. But to return to our fubject The mofl common, as well as mofl honourable colour among the Ro- mans, except the purple, only allotted to their emperors, was white. It was long before the fafhion of wearing garments of various colours was intro- duced among them ; white was not only the common colour of the garments worn by the ladies, but alfo of their fhoes, during the time of the republic. Aurelian granted them a power of wearing red ones; and, at the fame time, prohibited all the men from that privilege, except himfelf and fucceffors in the empire. Shoes, with high heels, were firfl invented at Rome ; Auguflus wore them, in order to make himfelf appear taller ; the priefls put them on at their folemn facrifices, and ladies of difiin&ion at balls and public meetings. The fhoes of great men were adorned with gold, and we have reafon to believe, though it is not recorded, that the ladies copied their example. Iieliogabalus adorned his fhoes with precious {tones, finely engraved by the greateft artiils ; the fucceeding emperors, imitating the pattern he had fhewn them, loaded their fhoes with a variety of ornaments ; and had the Roman eagle, for the mofl part, embroidered on them, ftudded round with pearls and diamonds ; but we fhall ceafe to wonder at this foolifh extravagance of ii 4 THE HISTORY the emperors, when we are told, that even private citizens of Rome, Deficits the ornaments on the upper parts of their lboes, had the fples of them fometimts made of o'old. We have already feen, that the ancient inhabi- tants of the North had a much greater regard for their women than any other people, who were equally rude and uncultivated : it would, therefore, be offering an indignity to thefe women, to fuppofe, that they, in their turn, did not endeavour to pleafe and become agreeable to the men, by fuch arts of drefs and ornament as were then known among them, as well as by the virtues of chaftity and obe- dience, for which they were fo remarkably diftin- guimed. We are not, however, to fuppofe, that in thefe articles we mail find them equal to many of the ancient nation , we have hitherto mentioned. The countries they inhabited, in themfelves barren and unhofpitable, hardly afforded any thing to pam- per luxury: all the neceffary aris were either totally unknown, or only in a ftate of infancy; of the ele- gant ones, the northerns were entirely ignorant. They were conllantly, it is true, at war ; but thefe wars were not, like thofe of Rome, undertaken to fubdue neighbouring nations ; and by plundering them, to accumulate the means of fplcndour and magnificence ; but generally either to revenge pri- vate quarrels, or carry home with them a load of provifions to be wailed in riotous fcftivity. From all thefe caufes, the materials which furniihed the female toilette muft have been but few and inele- gant. The hair, which when properly managed is, without any ornament, one of the greatefl beauties of the fex, feems to have been the object of their chief attention. It was fometimes tied and knotted on the crown of their heads, from whence falling OF WOM-EN. i*$ down, it hang negligently on their backs and moul- ders. Among fome tribes, they had acquired the art of curiiag it; but among the greateft part/ it flowed loofe and carelefdy in the wind, A linen fhift, without any fleeces, and over this a cloak OF the lkins of fuch animals as their hulbands had killed in hunting, feems to have been their mod magnificent finery. Where nature has been liberal, (he requires but little affiftance from art. Such was the eafe with the women of the nations we are now confider- ing; they were generally beautiful, having lively blue eyes, large but regular features, a fine com- plexion, and a (kin, which, for whitenefs, equalled the mow upon their mountains. Their ftature was tail, their fhape eafy and majeftic ; and, to crown the whole, this majefty was blended with all that foftnefs which fo peculiarly characlerifes the fex, and which renders them at once the objects of bur ad- miration and our love. So accomplished, they had little occafion for the toilette, and they made as lit- tle ufe of it ; where nature had done fo much, art would only have fpoiled the work. We mall not endeavour to develope the various modes oF drefs, which were the offspring of fancy, fafhion, or neceffity, among the defendants of thele northern nations, of whom \re have now been (peak- ing, in thofe periods, called the M'iddle Ages, or alter they had overturned the Roman Empire, and made th'rnfelves mailers of- the greateft part of Eu- rope. In the hiflory o: France we have the follow- ing ike.tches of it, after en .; rating the various changes which the dress of the men had undergone. 4 The drefs of the &dfes, it may be fuppofed, fays 6 the Author, had likewise its revolutions, They c leem, for near nine : year?, not to have 'been much taken up wiehoirflaine&ts ; nothing n6 THE HISTORY * could require lefs time or nicety than their head- ' drefs, and the difpofition of their hair. Every ( part of their linen was quite plain, but at the fame ' time, extremely fine. Laces were long unknown. ' Their gowns, on the right fide of which was em- * broidered their huibands* coat of arms, and on 6 the left that of their own family, were fo clofe, as * to fliew all the delicacy of their fhape, and came 6 up fo high, as to cover their whole bread up to ' the neck. The habit of widows had very much ' that of our nuns. It was not until Charles the c fixth that they began to expofe their moulders. — ' The gallantry of Charles the Seventh's court bro't ' in the ufe of bracelets, necklaces, and rings. — ' Queen Ann de Bretagne defpifed thofe trinkets, ' and Catherine de Medicis made it her whole bufi- ' nefs to invent new. Caprice, luxury, and vanity, ' have at length brought them to their prefent enor- ' mity.' To this account we {hall add fome remarks on the drefs of the Anglo-Saxons and Danes. They con- fidered their hair as one of their greatefi: perfonal beauties, and took great care to drefs it to the ut- moft advantage. Young ladies wore it loofe, and flowing in ringlets over their moulders; but after marriage they cut it morter, tied it up, and covered it with a head-drefs, according to the fafhion of the times; but to have the hair cut entirely off, was a difgracc of fuch a nature, that it was even thought a punifhment not in adequate to the crime of adul- tery: fo great, in the Middle Ages, was the value fet upon the hair by both fexes, that, as a piece of the mod peculiar mortification, it was ordered by the canons of the church, that the clergy fhould keep their hair fhort, and (have the crown of their head; and that they fhould not, upon any pretence OF WOMEN. 117 whatever, endeavour to keep the part To flaaved from the public view. Many of the clergy of thefe times, finding themfelves fo peculiarly mortified, and perhaps fo eafily diftinguifhed 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 fituation fometimes liable, endeavoured to perfuade mankind, that long hair was criminal, in order to reduce the whole to a fimilarity with themfelves. Amongfl thefe, St. Wulfhin eminently diftinguifhed himfelf; f He rebu- ked,' fays William of Malmfbury, s the wicked of c all ranks with great boldnefs; but was particularly ' fevere upon thofe who were proud of their long c hair. When any of thefe vain people bowed their 6 heads before him, to receive his bleihng; before * he gave it he cut a lock from their hair, with a iharp 6 penknife, which he carried about him for that pur- c pofe; and commanded them, by way of penance 4 for their fms, to cut all the reft: in the fame manner: ' if any of them refufed to comply with his command, ' he reproached them for their effeminacy, and f denounced the mod dreadful judgments againft ' them.' Such, however, was the value of the hair in thofe days, that many rather fubmitted to his cenfures, than part with it; and fuch was the folly of the church, and of this faint in particular, .that the mod fo'ernn judgments were denounced ao-ainft multiudes, for no other crime than not m.ik- ing ufe of penknives and feiifars, to cut oil' an orna- ment beftowed by nature. We have already feen, that the French ladies, in the time of Charlemagne, were acquainted with the ufe of linen ; nor were the Anglo-Saxons ilrangers to it, as appears from feveral anecdotes of their hif- tory; and particularly from this, That the clergy vol. 11. (^ ii3 THE HISTORY frequently ordered the mod obftinate finners to wear woollen fhirts next to their bodies, as an extraordi- nary penance; it would feem, however, that {lock- ings, and other kinds of covering for the legs, were then but little ufed; as the clergy, who had the wealth, as well as power of thefe times in their hands, frequently, with naked legs approached the altar, and celebrated mafs ; till the year 735, when a canon was made in thefe terms : ' Let no minifter ' of the altar prefume to approach it, to celebrate c mafs, with naked legs, left his filthinefs appear, ' and God be offended.' Some perfons of condition, however, had, in thefe times, a kind of covering for their legs, which was faftened on with bandages, wrapped about the leg, from the foot to the knee, as appears from the figures of Edward the Confef- for, Guido, count of Ponthieu, and fome others, in the famous tapeftry of Bayenx ; one of the mod va- luable monuments of the times we are confidering. But though many of the figures of this tapeftry are without ftockings ; yet neither in this, nor any other of the monuments, which reprefent thedrefs of thefe times, are there any without fhoes ; though it would feem, that mankind were then fo little acquainted with the proper materials for this purpofe, that they generally made them of wood. That the common people mould not be able to afford any other than wooden fhoes, in periods fo diftant, does not fur- pi ife us; but we are rather aftonifhed, when we are told, that in the ninth and tenth centuries, fome of the greateft princes in Europe, were only equipped in thi; manner; fure indications, that the invention of the times had not then difcovered any thing that was more proper for the purpole. The diftinguifliing the two fexes from each other, by the materials andfafhion of their drefs, is a car- OF WOMEN. 119 tain fign, that cultivation is arrived at no inconfide- rable length: among the ancient Germans there was, in this article, but little difference. Among the Anglo-Saxons, it confuted only of a few particulars; the mod material of which was, that the mantles oi the women flowed down alirioft to the ground, whereas thofe of the men were considerably fhorter. Thofe people, as well as the Danes, feem to have been fond of every kind of ornament, and particu- larly of gold chains and bracelets: gold chains were worn by officers of high rank as well civil as military, and being given by the fovereigns, theie foVereigns were on that account frequently called by the poets, givers of gold chains. Bracelets of gold, or other precious materials, are an ornament now folely ap- propriated to women. Among the Danes, however, they were indifcriminately the ornaments of either fex; Earl Goodwin prefented king Kardicanute with gold bracelets for his arms, and fo facred were orna- ments of this kind then eftemeed, that they frequently fwore by them, and are laid to have held an oath of this nature as tremenduous and inviolable, as the gods of the pagans did that which was fworn by the Styx. In the Middle Ages there prevailed among man- kind fuch an universal diftrurl of each other, owing to the frequency of crimes and the wcakneis of laws, that there was but little mutual intercourfe or focial communication among the inhabitants of Europe. Neighbours were frequently as much afraid of each other as the people of different nations are at prefent when engaged in a war. On this account there were none of thofe focial meetings which have lince called great numbers of both fexes together; hence neither fex had then any other motive to induce them to drefs than the love of cleaniinefs, and the 120 THE HISTORY innate defire of finery. When the inftitution of chivalry ftafted up, it gave a happy turn to this itidenefs of manners; it afforded more protection to the women, and confcquently enabled them to fee more company; it introduced numerous meetings at tilts and tournaments, where the ladies were confti- tnted the judges of valour and rewarders of the vali- ant, where their charms were fuppofed to add cou- rage to the hearts, and great ftrength to the arms of their admirers, and where they were con- iequently furniihed with the very ftrongeft mo- tives to decorate and embelliih their perfons. But befides tilts tournaments, in the Middle Ages, there arofe alfo in Europe another kind of public meet- ings, called Fairs, to which both fexes, and all ranks reforted. While a mutual diffidence and the greateft diftruft diffufed their baleful influence, and there was hardly any fecurity from rapine and murder, but in the cailles and llrong holds of the barons, trade and commerce were of confequence in the moft languid Hate; to revive them in feme mea- fure, fairs were firft inftituted, where merchants and traders brought their commodities and expofed them to fale; but a bare fale of goods for which there was but little demand, and Hill lei's money to purchafe with, did net at firft anfwer the end of drawing many people together; the venders in time, to allure the multitude, befides the expofure of their goods, entertained them with a variety of public ihows and diverfions, and from that time their fairs became the fafhionable places of rendezvous, and were not only another motive for the fex to drefs and endeavour to appear to advantage, but alfo afforded them the materials for that important purpofe. OF WOMEN. 121 CHAPTER XXII. The fame Subjecl continued. E have already, in treating on the fubject of drefs, had occafion to give fome account of the ancient fplendour and magnificence of the Eafterns ; let us now take a fhort view of their pre- fent condition, which we (hall fee is ftiil governed by the fame cuftoms, and influenced by the fame principles ; for we find them at this day fond of that lupine indolence, and of that pageantry and mow, which fo ftrongly marked their character from the earlieft periods in which hiftory gives an account of them. Such is the conftitution of the two fexes, that the whole of their anions are guided and influenced by each other. The women drefs and ufe every means to appear beautiful and engaging in order to pleafe the men, and the men affume bravery and every mafculine accomplifhment in their power in order to pleafe and render themfelves acceptable to the women. In countries where the fexes are allow- ed in a free and unreitrained manner to keep com- pany with each other, fuch mutual efforts on both fides, as they appear to be the effects of that com- pany, pafs without exciting any wonder ; but when we confider that in the Eaft women fhould take the trouble to decorate and adorn themfelves, when they are certain that thefe decorations and orna- ments cannot be feen by the other fex, we are aito- nifhed. That women, however, do fo, is an in- 122 THE HISTORY contcftible fact ; and fo powerful in the female bread is the pafiion of being admired, that fliould a woman, as it frequently happens in Afia, have only once in twenty years a chance of being feen and exciting that pafiion, fne would every day du- ring that time, ufe every poflible endeavour to put herfelf in a condition to do fo. The Abbe Lambert, in his account of the manners and cuftoms of the Eafl, obferves of the* Chinefe women, that though they are certain that they can be feen by no.'e but their female domeftics, yet they every morning pafs feveral hours in drefhng and adorning themfelves. Though the Chinefe are perhaps the mod: regu- larly ceconomical people on the globe, yet the drefs of their women, and particularly the ornaments of their heads, are flrong inflances of that love of finery and mow which has ever prevailed in the Eaft. The head- drefs of their ladies commonly confifls of feve- ral ringlets of hair varioufly difpofed, and every where ornamented with fmall bunches of gold or filver flowers. Some of them adorn their heads with the figure of a fabulous bird made of gold or filver, according to the quality of the perlon, which has a grotefque though magnificent appearance. Ladies of the firft rank fometimes have feveral of thofe birds fattened together fo as to form the figure of a crown, the wcrkmanfhip of which is exquiikcly curious. — Young ladies generally wear a kind of crown made of pafteboard, covered with filk, and ornamented with pearls, diamonds, and other jewels ; and on the top of the head a bunch of flowers, either natural or artificial, in the middle of which is iluck fmall wires with fparkling jewels fattened on their points. Such is the attention thefe women pay to the drefs of their heads, though fecluded from all communica- tion with the greater part of that fex whom they OF WOMEN. 123 would naturally whh to pleafe by it. The drefs of their bodies is of all others the moll clumfy and ine- legant, though often made of the richefl materials, and decorated, or rather loaded, with the moil conly ornaments; our readers, however, will form a bet- ter idea of it, by looking at a Chinefe figure, than we could convey by the molt laboured defcription. In that extenfive part of the Eaft Indies formerly fubject to the Moguls, though women are, perhaps, more rigidly confined than in China, yet we find the fame paffion for ornament ; their garments are made of the fined filks, richly flowered with gold and fil- ver, and fitted to the fhape with a degree of eafe and elegance, which ihews, that while they have taken nature for their model, their tafte in imitating her is far from being contemptible. About the middle they wear a girdle exqr.ifiteiy embroidered, at the end of which, where it is fattened before, there hangs a glebe of gold, or a large pearl ; but their greatefl attention feems to be paid to their hair, which they drefs in a variety of forms, as pyramids, triangles, crefcents, or in the figure of fome favour- ite flower or ftirub ; this is done by gold buckles and wires intermixed with diamonds, and is a work of much time and no lefs dexterity, though after all, more eafily demolished than an head-drefs of any other fafhioo. Befides thefe tedious and expenfive methods, they have a lefs difficult and more common way of dividing their hair into treffes, which flow with carelefs eafe upon their fhoulders, and to which they tie precious ftories, and little plates of gold ; when thus drefTed, to be able to move the head in fuch a manner as to {hew to the bell advantage all its fplendour and magnificence, is a female art not lefs -difficultly attained, than the proper management of the fan was formerly in Europe', or the taking i2 4 THE HISTORY fnuft with fuch an air as to difplay in the mod en- chanting manner a fine hand, and a finer diamond ring. It has been a cuftom time immemorial, for wo- men over the greater!, part of the world to pierce their ears, in order to hang to them fome trinket, which either gratified their vanity, or was fuppofed to add fome additional luftre to their charms; but this cuftom of giving torture by a ridiculous incifion, and adding a fuperfluous load to nature, has not been confined to the ears only, the ancient inhabitants of the Eafl had nofe as well as ear jewels, and in feve- ral parts of the world we find the cuftom continued to this day. In fome parts of the Indies they pierce one noflril, and put into it a gold ring, in which is let the largeft and fineft diamond they can procure. Our late adventurers in queft of difcoveries to the South Sea, met a few inftances of men who had fomething like a feather fluck acrofs through both noftrils ; and in New South Wales it was almofl common for the men to thruft the bone of fome ani- mal, five or fix inches long, and nearly as thick as one's finger, through their nofes, which fo filled the noftrils, that they not only fnuffled difagreeably, but were alfo obliged conftantly to keep their mouths open for breath. To us Europeans, who have hardly left any part of the body except the nofe without its particular ornaments and decorations, a nofe embellimed with jewels, or other trinkets, has an exceedingly gro- tefque appearance ; but this is only the efteft of cuftom, from which the mind generally imbibes the ideas of beauty, elegance, and even of utility and nccefllty. Thus the Hottentot is perfuaded that beauty is greatly augmented by a proper quantity OF WOMEN. 125 of grcafe and urine. At Smyrna, the women ima- gine itconfills in a large plump fat body, with pro- minent breads ; to obtain all which, they take a va- riety of medicines, and ufe a variety of fuperftitioUs ceremonies. The Dutchman finds elegance in a large pair of trunk breeches, the mifer utility in that hoarded ftore which, even though itarving, he dares not make ufe of, and the man of fafliion thinks his coach almoll as neceffary as the porter does his legs and fhoulders. That thefe things really happen, we need but rerlecl on what we feel, on any remarka- ble change of fafliion ; how uncouth, how unbe- coming does the new one commonly appear, till it is familiarized by cnftom, and as foon as that hap- pens, fhould even the fafliion' we thought fo much preferable to it return, we fhould (land in need of the aid of cuilom to revive our former opinion of it. But though both fexes in fome parts of the Eafl Indies adorn their nofes, the ladies do not forget their ears alfo, which they generally pierce as in Europe, and load with gold and jewels ; they like- wife wear various kinds of necklaces, bracelets, and rings, many of which are of immenfe value there, and would be iiill more fo among us ; nor are they content with fuch kinds of drefs and ornament as cannot be miltaken for nature, they apply them- felves likewife to fuch as nearly refembie her, and may eaiily be taken for her work. They have a va- riety of paints, which they mix and lay on with fuch dexterity, that it is exceedingly difficult to difcover them ; thefe they commonly apply to their cheeks, and to their eyes ; they likewife paint the extremi- ties of their nails, but in this inftance, departing entirely from nature, thev lav on a fine red to thick that on the flighted view it appears to be the work of art. But befides the arts of ornament and drefs, vol. ir. R i2<5 THE HISTORY they have here, as in all other parts of the world, various other methods of rendering therafelves agree- able, and attracting attention. In Europe, a fine lady fometimcs draws the eye upon her by the bril- liancy of her muff- box ; in Afia, fhe frequently ac- complishes the fame end by a mod liberal ufe of betel, which is a root chewed by all ranks and conditions, as in Europe we do tobacco, and with which the more highly a lady is fcentcd, the more agreeable ihe becomes to her admirers. But betel is not the only thing which the ladies depend on to render themielves grateful to the fen- fes, they ufe for this purpofe alfo a great variety of the moft coflly effences and perfumes, whofe aroma- tic flavour is brought to the higheil perfection by an indulgent climate and vertical fun. Of thefe they are fo exceedingly fond, that the expcnce of per- fumes often exceeds that of clothes and jewels ; for they are feldom without fome perfumed flower, or fruit, in their hands ; when they have none of thefe, they hold a phial of precious effence, which they, from time to time, fprinkle on their garments, al- though they are perfumed afrelli every time they put them on. They have likewife in the Eaft a parti- cular mode of attracting our fex by the voluptuouf- nefs of their figures, by their manners, and by their converfation ; all of which are calculated to excite pafTion and dcfire. Among the Balliaderes, or dan- cing girls of the Eaft, we meet with a piece of drefs or ornament, of a very particular nature. To pre- vent their breads from growing to large, or ill-fhaped, they enclofe them in cafes made of exceeding light wood, which are joined together, and buckled be- hind ; thefe cafes are fo fmooth and pliable, that they yield to the various attitudes of the body with- out being flattened, or injuring the delicacy of the OF WOMEN, 127 ikin ; the outfide of them is covered with gold leaf, and ftudded with diamonds. 1 his ornament is well calculated to prevent the laxity induced by .a hot climate, and while it thus preferves the beauties of nature, it does not fo much conceal them as to hin- der the heavings and palpitations of the bofom from being perceived. Were we to furvey all Afia, almoft the, whole of it would afford the ftrongeil proofs of Eafrern fpl en- dour and magnificence ; but we iliall finifli what we had to lay of it by a relation of the {late in which the Portuguefe originally found Ormus, when they firft failed into the Gulph of Perlla. ' The ftreets were covered with mats, and in fome places with car- pets ; and the linen awnings, which were iufpend- ed from the tops of the houfes, prevented any in- convenience from the heat of the fun. Indian ca- binets, ornamented with gilded vales, or china filled with flowering fhaubs, or aromatic plants, adorned their apartments ; camels, laden with water, were Rationed in the public fquares ; Per- fian wines, perfumes, and all the delicacies of the table, were furnimed in the greateil abundance, and they had the mufic of the Eall in its higheft perfection. Ormus was crowded with beautiful women from all parts of Alia, who were ihQrucl- ed from their infancy in ail the arts of varying and heightening the pleafures of voluptuous love : univerfal opulence, an extennve commerce, a re- fined luxury, politenefs in the men, and gallantry in the women, united all their attractions to make this city the feat of pleafare.' Striking as this picture of Afiatic magnificence may appear, in that part of ir which relates to female drels and ornament, it may be equalled", if not furpaffed, 128 THE HISTORY by the inhabitants of Condantinople; who, being originally Afiatic, brought with them from that coun- try the manners and cuftoms which at prefent pre- vail among them. The Turkifh drefs of Lady Mon- tague, which we {hall not defcribe, as we prefume the generality of our fair readers have read her Let- ters, fhews, that the ladies of Conftantinople are far from being deditute of tafte, and that they know how to join the elegant with the fplendid and ufeful; a circumftarice which appears dill more plain in the defcription of the drefs of the fair Fatima. But in that which dm gives of the habit of the Sultana, who had formerly been the favourite miftrefs of the Grand Siguier, while we are (truck with the mod coflly magnificence, we rather form an idea of a woman loaded with the pageantry of (fate, than drefled with eafe or propriety. Though we have now mentioned the Turks who inhabit a part of Europe, yet before we proceed to that continent in general, it will be neceffary to take a fhort view of the article of drefs in America. Of all the people with which we are as yet acquainted, the inhabitants of this cxtenfive continent fecm to be in general the lead favoured by nature, and to have- made themselves the lead affiftance by art. In many places, feemingly but a little raifed in the faculties of their minds above the beads of their foreds, they have fcarcely as yet become acquainted with the ufe of fire, ofhoufes, or of clothing; and where they are acquainted with them, it is only in fo imperfect a manner, that they dp not derive from them half the advantages they do in other countries. In fuch a condition, and iituated in regions inhofpitably bar- ren, they have few materials for drefs, and dill Id's ingenuity to make ufe of them with propriety; as the appetite for drefs, however, is vifible among OF WOMEN. 129 them., it frequently exerts itfelf in forming the moft grotefque appearances ; even the women of Terra del Fuego, though content to be naked, are ambitious to be fine, and for this purpofe paint their faces with a variety of colours ; a circle of white commonly fur- rounds the eyes, and the reft of the face is ftreakcd with red and black, fo varioufly difpofed,that fcarcely any two are to be found alike; andbefides this, they wear bracelets of fliells and bones upon their wrifts and ankles. Either content with thefe unavailing trifles, or unconfcious of the ufe of any thing elfe, ' they feemed,' fays Lieutenant Cook, ' to have no ' wifh for any thing more than they poffeffed; nor 4 did any thing which we offered appear acceptable, ' but beads, as an ornament of fuperfluity/ As the Americans are more the children of untu- tored nature, and confequently Have a greater fimi- larity in their drefs and ornaments than any other people, we fhall only give a fhort and general de- scription of them, without defcending into the differ- ences which diftinguifh the various tribes and nations from each other. There are few American orna- ments in more efteem than garters; thefe the women make of buffaloe's hair, and adorn them as highly as they can with beads and fliells, taking care at the fame time to difpofe their other garments fo as to fhew them to the belt advantage; befides thefe, they wear alfo pieces of deerftin, which they tie to the outfides of their legs, and hang to them tortoife- fhells, pebbles, and beads of various colours and fizes. But the legs are not the only parts of the body decorated with this kind of finery ; both fexes are fre- quently feen fo loaded with fheils from head to foot, as to excite the laughter of an European. This cuf- tom of adorning themfelves with beads and fliells may, however, not be altogether the effect of often- 130 THE HISTORY tation and love of finery ; beads and fhells are their current money, and a perfon thus adorned, perhaps, carries his whole property about him, the better to fecure it from being flolen or plundered. Before they were fupplied with other ornaments from Europe, the American's of both fexes ufed fuch ihining Hones as were the produce of their own coun- try, tying them to their hair, to their npfes and ears, with the fibres of a deer's linew; but fmce our inter- courfe with them, they have ufed brafs and iiiver rings for their ears and their fingers; befides which, they fallen large buttons and knobs of brafs to vari- ous parts of their attire, fo as to make a tinkling when they walk or run. Both fexes efteem thefe ornaments of the mofl dillinguiihing nature, and load themfelves with them in the utmeft proportion of their rank and ability; fo that our European traders judge of the fortune of an American by the trinkets on the crown of his head, at his ears, wrills, fingers, Sec. ; by the quantity of red paint daubed on his face, and by the finery at the collar of his fhirt, if he hap- pens to have one, which is far from being always the cafe. * Although the fame attire and the fame ornaments are indifcriminately ufed both by the male and female favages, yet they are not without their fexual diftinc- tions of drefs, as well as the inhabitants of civilized nations. The women bore fmall holes in the lobes of the ears for their ear-rings as in Europe; the hole which the men make extends almofi from one extremity of the external ear to the other. The men are frequently decorated with plumes of feathers and enfigns of war on their heads; the women, though they fometimes make ufe of feathers, feldom or never wear them in this manner. The men are OF WOMEN. 131 not frequently feen without fome of their warlike weapons, or the trophies of their victory fattened to various parts of their bodies; the women fearcely ever appear armed but in cafes of neceflity, and as rarely wear any of the fpoils of the ham. Some nations of favages, not contented with fuch ornaments as are loofe and eafily detached from the body, have contrived to ornament, or rather to dif- figure, the body itfelf by incifions, ilainings, and paint. In feveral of the iilands lately difcovered in the Gfeat Southern Ocean, a variety of indelible flains are made in different parts of the body, by certain materials which fink into fmall punctures made in the Jkin. In Otaheite, this operation is call- ed tattowing, and reckoned ib eflentially necelfary, that none of either fex rauft be without it, efpecially the women, who are generally marked in the form of a Z on every part of .their toes and fingers. But the part on which thefe ornaments are lavifhed with thegreatefc profunon, is the breech, which, in both fexes is llained with a deep black; and above that, as high as the fhort rib, are drawn arches which take a lighter made as they arife, and feem to be diilin- guifhing marks of honour, as they are mown by both fexes with an oflentatious pleafure. Such is almoft the only mode of ornamenting in this formerly unknown part of the globs; as to the drefs, it differs little in the two fexes, and confiits moltly of loofe garments, fuch as we have already feen were ufed by almoft all nations in their rude and unpolimed ftate. People of condition, however, in Otaheite are diftinguimed, not as a n ng the an- cients, by their great variety of changes of raiment, but by the quantity which they wear at once ; fume of them having around them few ml webs of their 132 THE HISTORY cloth, each of eight or ten yards long, and two broad, and throwing a large piece lo >fely over all, by way of a cloak, or even two of thefe pieces, if they wifli to appear in an extraordinary fhite. Thus the magnificence of unpolifhed nations feems always to have exerted itfelf in quantity only. Abraham dreffed a whole calf, and ferved it up at an enter- tainment to two angels. Jofeph helped his brother Benjamin to five times as much victuals as his bre- thren j and the fame idea of quantity only, feems to have been regarded in all the feaflings of the heroes of Homer, and fome other of the indents. As thefe diftinctions of rank by the quantity of drefs only, mult be exceedingly troublefome in hot coun- tries, the ladies of Otaheite always uncovered them- felves as low as the waifl in the evening, throwing off every thing with the fame eafe and freedom as our ladies would lay afide a glove, cloak, or fuper- numerary handkerchief. Singular as this mode of dreffing and of undreffing may appear to us, that of decorating their heads is hardly lefs fo. They fometimes wear upon them little turbans, but their more common drefs, and what they chiefly pride themfelves in, is long threads of human hair plaited fo as hardly to be thicker than fewing filk, and often a mile or more in length, without a fingle knot : thefe they wind round their heads in a manner that (hows they are neither void of tafte nor elegance, {licking flowers and fprigs of evergreen among them, to give them the greater variety. European fatiriits are apt to declaim againff. our ladies for the time they fpend under the opera- tion of a French hair-drefler, while even thefe un- tutored people cannot be fuppofed to employ much lefs in twilling fo many yards of rope round their heads, and giving it the neceffary de-corations. OF WOMEN. i 33 We left our fketches of the drefs of Europe at thofe periods of time, called the Middle Ages ; and fhail now refume them at thefe ages, which have only a little preceded our own. Were we to endea- vour a minute description of the prefent drefs of Eu- rope, the attempt would be like painting the colour of a camelion, or the fhape of a Proteus ; both of which would be changed long before we could fmifh our talk. We (hall, therefore, content ourfelves with a few general obfervations on the fubjecl. As women never were Haves, nor had their fpirits broken by ill ufage and oppreffion in Europe, as in feveral other parts of the world, that love of finery, fo natural to the fex, mud have conftantly operated in inducing them to decorate themfelves in the beft manner that the circumftances of the times could afford, or the fafhion of them diftate. But when the revival of arts and fciences began to polifli the minds of our anceftors, and to give birth to ne-.v ideas ; when trade and commerce began to furnifh new materials, for the more elegant modes of deco- ration, the paffions of the fex for drefs began alfo to affume new and unreftrainable powers, and often hurried them to fuch unjuftifiable lengths, deaf to reaiqn, the embellifhments which they thought were wanting, in order to make the fame brilliant appear- ance as their neighbours, could not be difpenfed with; though purchated at the price of reputation, and the ruin of fortune. Greece and Rome had of- ten fullered by the fame evil; and had often enacted fumptuary laws to reftrain it : fuch laws now became abfolutely neceffary in Europe, and feveral of them Were pubiimed by Henry Fourth of France; who law, with regret, the women of his exhauflei kingdom, exhauiting themfelves lull more in the love of finery and emulation of their fuperiors. He was not, how- VOL. II. S 134 THE HISTORY ever, the fifd potentate who had recourfe to this method J feveral, both before and after him, had publimed edicts, atccrtaining the utmod limits of fine- ry to which every rank, and condition of life might proceed ; and beyond which they were not to go, without fubjecting themfelves to a fevere penalty. When we confider, how much greater the value of money was in the times we are fpcaking of, than at preient, it will appear, that women were then much more cofdy in their drefs than at this period, fo much declaimed againft. In the fifteenth century Laura, the celebrated midrefs of the no lefs celebra- ted Petrarch, wore on her head a iilver coronet, and tied up her hair with knots of jewels. ' Her drefs, 4 fays the Author of the life of Petrarch, was mag- ' nificent; but, in particular, fhe had filk gloves ' brocaded with gold ;' though at this time filk was fo fcarce, that a pound of it fold for near four pounds fterling, and none but the nobility were allowed to wear it. Women of inferior rank wore crowns of flowers, and otherwife drefied themfelves with all the magnificence which circumflances and fumptuary laws would allow. A mod extenfive acquifition to the materials of the toilette, as well as to the cleannefs and convenience of the men, had now been introduced ; this was linen, which had been known in Europe before, only as a curiofity ; or at mod as a decoration of the mod elevated and opulent, but now was coming into general ufe : cambrics and lawns foon followed, as an improvement ; and after thefe, fine laces were invented, of which women, al mod ever fi nee. have fo much availed themfelves. The art of weaving filk, fo as to make garments, had, for fome time, been known ; but that of making it into riband- . of women; 135 feems not to have been yet invented ; they have fince, however, become fo general, .that they make an indifpenfable part of the dreis of every female, from the higheft to the loweft flation. Diamonds had long been known in the Eall, and fome centu- ries before this, had been introduced into Europe ; but they had not attained the art of poliihing 'diem ; and in their natural (late, or with the little ikill they had in drefling them, they did not mow half th^ir luftre.* It was not long after, however, that the art of polifhing them, by means of their own dull, and fo giving them all their diltinguifhing brilliancy, was discovered. All thefe, and iome others of leis importance, were acquisitions to theftock of female ornament, and rendered the bufineis of the toilette a. matter that required more time, as well as more tafte, than it had ever done before. From the fif- teenth century, to the prefent time, the variations of female drefs and ornament have been more b\A iiig to the inconftancy of manners, and the inflability of fafliion, than to the addition of any new materials. From America, fcarcely any thing has been added, but feathers and furs ; the laft of which, as one of the bed defences from the cold, have been uied in all northern countries time immemorial. Though* in milder climates, they are now introduced as an * They preferve, in the treafury of St. Denis, a clafp of the mantle which the kings of France ufed to wear on the day of their coronation : this piece is very ancient; land has wl; i: called, four natural points. There is Iikewife in the fame tiea- fury, a relic almoit as ancient, and adorned with eight natural points ; but all thefe ftones are fmall, black, and no way agree- able to the eye. Thefe, and feme others, preferred in the ca- binets of the curious, in various parts of Europe, fuliv demon- ftrate, that even the diamond, before the art of giving it a pro- per poliih was difcovered, was far from being that brrlhant, and almoft ineirimable jewel, which it is at prefent, when properly improved by the art of the lapidary. r 3 6 THE HISTORY article of luxury ; and a value fet upon fome of them as imaginary as that of the diamond or the pearl. Though it is not our intention to give an account of all the changes that have happened in drefs, from the fifteenth to the prefent century ; yet there v. as one revolution v\ hich happened to it, under the pro- tectorfhip of Oliver Cromwell, that we cannot pai< by. Aimoit every religion, which had been pro- mulgated, previous to that of Chriftianity, had in- terwoven, in its very eEencej a number of ceremo- nies, where grandeur and magnificence were often- tatioufly dif} layed. Thefe religions, thertfore, in- ftead of diicouraging, raiher encouraged ornament and finery. But the Author of the Chriflian ljficm having taught by his example, as w ell as his doc- trine, the utmoft plainnefs and Simplicity, it, in time, became fafliionable for fuch of the members of that fyftem, as had more zeal than underilanding, to exclaim, in the pittereft terms, againft every fpecies of drefs that had any other object in view than to cover (name, and defend them from the cold. This rage of turning all things into the mod primitive fnn- plicity, feemed rifing to the zenith of its glory, about the time that the Protector began to make fome figure in England. During his adminiftratipn, it triumph- ed over fenfe, reafon, and even decency. Women were then in fo much difgrace, that they were deni- ed all kinds of ornament ; and even the beauties be- ftowed by nature, were conlidered as criminal dif- advantages to the fair poileflcrs, and lufTicient mo- tives to induce every Chriflian to fhun their com- pany ; becaufe it was impofhble to be in it without finning. The pulpits often echoed the following fentiments, that man being conceived in fin, and brought forth OF WOMEN. 137 in iniquity, is a flave to the flefh, till regenerated by the fpirit; that it was his complaifance for woman that firft wrought his debafement, that he ought not therefore to glory in his fhame, nor love the foun- tain of his corruption ; that he mould not marry on account of love, affection, or the focial joys of wed- lock, but purely to increafe the number of the faints, which he mould never occupy himfelf in doing with- out prayer and humiliation, that his offspring might thereby avoid the curfe, Such being the notions inftilled into the people, the mod virtuous emotions cf nature were confidered as arifmg from original guilt, and beauty avoided as an inftrument in the hands of Satan, to feducethe hearts of the faithful; even the women themfelves caught with the unnatu- ral contagion, laid afide the ornaments of their fex, and endeavoured to make themfelves appear difguft- ing by humiliation and faffing ; nay, fome of them were fo much afraid of ornaments, that they even confidered clothes of any kind as tending to that pur- pofe, and one, full of that idea, came into the church where Cromwell fat, in the condition of our original mother before me plucked the fig-leaf, that fhe might be, as (lie faid, a fign to the people. But as the human paffions, like fprings, fly the more violently in the oppofite direction, the more forcibly they have been bent, the reftoration was no fooner brought about, than all this public enthufiafm vanifhed, and elegance of drefs and levity of manners foon became more the fafhion than flovenlinefs and puritanilm had been before. Pleafure became the univerfal object, and the pleafure of love tool; the lead of all others; but beauty unconnected with vir- tue was the object of this love, it was therefore void pf honour or morality, in confequence of which, 138 THE HISTORY female virtue, robbed of its reward, became Icis inflexible, and a total degeneracy of manners enfued. In every country where drefs is under the direc- tion of tafte and judgement, it is fo contrived as nei- ther altogether to conceal, nor altogether to difcover, the beauties of the female form. This general rule, however j has not been without exceptions ; in every country enthuflaftic priefts, antiquated pnyks, and women outrageoufiy virtuous, have muffled tlv m- felves like Egyptian mummies, and exclaimed in the bitternefs of their hearts againft the nakedneis of the reft of the world;* while on the other hand, women of lefs rigid principles, and thofe abandoned to pros- titution, throwing afide all decency, feem 10 wifh that the whole female toilette were reduced to the original fig-leaf: fome nations too are lefs delicate in this refpeft than others; the Italians and French have ever been remarkably fo, while the Spanifh have fallen into the oppofite extreme. At Venice, the ladies in the beginning of the Iaft century dreffcd in fuch light thin (tufts, that not only the lhape of the body, but even the colour of the fkin might eafily be feen through them; and at this day, perhaps owing to the heat of their climate, the drefs of their modeft women is hardly more decent than that of our common proftitutes. The French ladies are but lit- tle lefs diilinguilhed for their loofenefs of drefs than their neighbours the Italians; almoft the only dif- ference is, that more light and fantaftic, they have flown with greater rapidity from one fafhion to ano- * In the latter end of the fourteenth century, a monk of the order of St. Auguftin, who had acquired great reputation for piety, declaimed fo fuccefsfully at Pavia, againfl the ornaments of the times, that many ladies renouncing their finery, appeared in all the fimplicity which this fuppofedly infpired monk dictaud to them. OF WOMEN. 139 ther: In the fourteenth century, they appeared half naked at public atTemblies, and in the public walks drefledfo much like the men, that they could hardly be diftinguiihed from them but by the voice and complexion ; fuch have long been the modes of drelfing in Italy and France, as to endeavour to (how every charm which can with any tolerable degree of decency be difplayed. 'While in Spain, where the fpirit of chivalry is hardly yet extinguished, and where the women confequently Hill retain a little of the romantic dignity which was annexed to it, io far from mowing their nakednefs, they have hardly as yet condefcended even to mow their faces to the other fe'x. Though the French have now taken the lead of the Italians in all the fantailic fripperies of famion, it would feem that the Italians were formerly not lefs noted for it. Petrarch deicribing their drefs in his time fays, ' who can behold the moes with- pointed ' toes, fo long that they will reach to the knee, head- 4 dreffes with wings to them, the hair put into a tail, ' the foreheads of the men furrowed with thofe ivory ' needles, with which the women failened their * hair, and their flomachs Squeezed by machines of ' iron.' The pointed moes and machines of iron were more unnatural, and confequently more ridi- culous, than any fantaftie fafhion which has appear- ed in this fantailic age. As the ornamental part of drefs is evidently meant to heighten the beauties of nature;, nqthiag can be more evident than that it ' thould always coincide with her defi n ;.. wh n v r (he is not defective or luxuriant. Siu;h, we prefumte, are the ideas of true taft'e ; but fuch, however, have not always been thofe adoprri by the leaders or fMiions- towards H» THE HISTORY the beginning of the prefent century, it feems to have been the prevailing opinion, that nature had made the female waift greatly too large; to remedy which the fliffeft flays were laced on in the tighten 1 man- ner, left the young ladies fhould become clumfy, or grow crooked. Towards the middle of the century, it began to be difcovered, that befides the uneafinefs of fuch actuation, it frequently produced the very effects it was intended to prevent ; phyficians and philofophers now declaimed againft flays, and they were by many laid afide with fuch abhorrence, that the fafhion took quite a different turn. We difco- vered that our mothers had been all in the wrong, and that nature had not made the female waill near- ly fo large as it ought to have been ; but the ladies fupplied this defect fo well with clothes that about the years 1759 and 1760 every woman, old and young, had the appearance of being big with child. In ten or twelve years the fafhion began to take the oppofite direction again, and fmall waifts are now efteemed fo great a beauty, that, in endeavouring to procure them, women have outdone all the efforts of their grandmothers in the beginning of the cen- tury. Such have been the revolutions of the waifl within thefe fifty years, thofe of the form in general we pretend not to delineate ; we cannot help, how- ever, obferving, that were we to copy nature, we fhould think the gentle tapering and uprightnefs of a female, contributed not a little to the beauty and elegance of her figure ; but as nature, it feems, has erred here alfo, our ladies endeavour as much as they can, to deflroy this kind of elegance, by whale-bone and cork. The revolutions of the breafls and ihoulders have not been lefs confpicuous than thofe of the waill : about the beginning of the century, it was highly OF WOMEN. 141 indecent to be naked two inches below the neck; about the middle of it, (he was dreffed in the high- eft tafte who ihowed the greateft part of her breads •and fhoulders; fome years afterward, every female of whatever condition was muffled up to the chin; at prefent that mode is difcarded, and the naked breads and moulders begin again to appear. As we have already leen, that in all countries women have been particularly folicitous about the ornament and drefs of their heads, fo in ours thefe have been an object of fo much attention, that the materials em- ployed, and the variations produced by them, are beyond our power to defcribe ; we (hall only, there- fore, obferve in general, that the head-drefs of the prefent times has a near refemblance to that which we have already delineated as ufed by the ladies of ancient Rome, and confifts of fo much wool, falfe hair, pomatum, pafte, quilts, combs, pins, curls, ribbons, laces, and other materials, that the head of a modern lady in full drefs is, when Handing, com- monly fomething more than one-third of the length of her whole figure; we mult, however, obferve, in juftice to the lex, that fuch prepofterous modes of dreffing are not peculiar to them alone; the men have not been lefs rapid in their changes, nor have thefe changes been proofs of a more elegant tafte, or a more folid judgment. We fliall conclude thefe obfervations on drefs and ornament with one of the moil extraordinay inftances of legislative fuperftition that ever contributed to de- mon ft rate human abfurdity. We have already feen that long hair was frequently declaimed againft from the pulpit, and that it was in the days of Cromwell confidered as a fubjecl of difgrace. The gloomy emi- grants who fled from England and other parts about that period, to feek in the wilds of Anierica a retreat vol. if. T 143 THE HISTORY where they might worfhip God according to their eonfeiences, among other whimfical tenets, carried to their new fettlements an antipathy againft long hair, and when they became ftrong enough to pub- Jim a code of laws, we find the following article as a part of it : " It is a circumftance univerfally ac- knowledged, that the cuftom of wearing long hair, after the manner of immoral perfons, and of the fa- vage Indians, can only have been introduced into England, but in facrilegious contempt of the exprefs command of God, who declares, that it is a fliame- ful practice for any man who has the lead care for his foul to wear long hair: as this abomination excites the indignation of all pious perfons, we the magis- trates, in our zeal for the purity of the faith, do ex- prefsly and authentically declare, that we condemn the impious cuftom of letting the hair grow, a cuftom which we look upon to be very indecent and dif- honeft, which horribly difguifes men, and is often - five to modeft and fober perfons, in as much as it corrupts good manners; we, therefore, being juftly incenfed againft this fcandalous cuftom, do defire, advife, and earneftlv requeft all the elders of our con- tinent zcalouily to (hew their averlion from this odi- ous practice, to exert all their power to put a ftop to it, and efpecially to take care that the members of their churches be not infected with it; in order that thofe perfons who, notwithftanding thefe rigorous prohibitions, and the means of correction that {hall be ufed on this account, (hall ftill perfift in this cuf- tom, (hall have both God and man at the fame time againft them." But befides the methods of ornament and drcfe common almoft to all nations, the women of Europe have a variety of others, by which they endeavour OF WOMEN. 145 to attract the attention and attach the heart. Among thefe we may reckon every genteel and polite female accomplifhment, fuch as mulic drawing, dancing, to all which we may add that correfpondent ibftnels of body and of mind, the radiance that fparkles in their eyes, and the melody that flows from their tongue, their unaffected medefty, and the namelefs other qualities which fo eminently diftinguiih them from all the women who are educated only to become flaves, and minifters of pleafure., to the tyrant man. 1*4 THE HISTORY CHAPTER XXIII. Of Courtflrip. O F all that variety of paffions which fo differently agitate the human bread, none work a greater change on the fentiments, none more dulcify and expand the feelings, than love; while anger transforms us into furies, and revenge metamorpho- fes us into fiends, love awakes the mofl oppofite fen- fations. While benevolence warms our hearts, and charity flretches out our hands, love, being com- pounded of all the tender, of all the humane and difinterefled virtues, calls forth at once all their foft ideas, and exerts all their good offices.* The de- claration of this focial and benevolent paffion to the object that infpires it, is what we commonly call courtfhip, and the time of this courtfhip, notwith- {landing the many embarraffinents and uneafineffes which attend it, is generally confidered as one of the happiefl periods of human life, at leafl fo long as it is fupported by hope, that pleafant delirium of the foul. Though the declaration of a paffion fo virtuous, fo benign and gentle, as that which we have now * The reverend Mr. Sterne, author of Triftram Shandy, ufed to fay, That he never felt the vibrations of his heart fo much in unifon with virtue, as when he was in love ; and that whenever he did a mean or unworthy action, on examining himfelf frric"tly, he found that at that time he was loofe from every fentimental at- tachment to the fair fex. OF WOMEN. 145 defcribed, feems to refleft fo much honour on the breaft in which it is harboured, that neither fex can poffibly have any occaiion to be afhamed of it ; yet the great Author of Nature, throughout the wide extent of his animated works, appears to have placed the privilege of afking in the male, and that of re- futing in the female. Nor, when we except man, has it ever been known among the moft favage and ferocious animals, that a rape has been committed on the female, or that fhe has been attempted by any other methods than fuch as were gentle and foothing. Man, however, that imperious lord of the creation, has often departed from this rule, and forced a reluftant female to his hated embrace ; and though he has not any where by law, deprived wo- men from refilling fuch illicit attempts, yet he has gone very near to it ; he has in many nations, from the earlielt antiquity, deprived them of the power of refufing fuch a hufband as their fathers or other re- lations chofe for them ; thereby taking from them what the Creator of all things had given them, as a common right with the females of all other animals, and cb.fhing, at once, courtfhip, and all the deli- cate feelings and pleafures attending it, out of ex- iftence. Though it is prefumable, that the mutual inclina- tion of the fexes to each other, is, in each, nearly equal ; yet, as we conftantly fee the declaration of that inclination made by the men, let us enquire, whether this is the effeft of cuftom, or of nature ? If what we havejuft nowobferved be a general fa£t, that only the males of all animals firfl dilcover their pafiion to the females, then it will follow, that this is the effecl: of nature : but if, on the other hand, it be true, as fome travellers affirm, that, in feveral favage countries, the female fex not only declare 146 THE HISTORY their paffions with as much eafe and freedom as the male, but alfo frequently endeavour to force the male to their embraces, then it will feem to be the elfect of cuftom. Cuflom, however, that whimfi- cal and capricious tyrant of the mind, feldom arifes out of nothing; and in cafes where nature is concern- ed, frequently has nature for her bafis. Allowing then, that it is cuflom, which in Europe, and many other parts ef the world, has placed the right of afking in men, by a long and uninterrupted poUeilion ; yet that very cuflom, in our opinion, may be fairly traced ; for nature, it is plain, has made man more bold and intrepid than woman, lefs fufceptible of fTiame, and devolved upon him almofl all the* more active fcenes of life ; it is, therefore, highly proba- ble, that, confeious of thefe qualities, he at firfl affumed the right of aiking ; a right to which cuf- tom has at lafl given him a kind of exclufive pri- vilege. Taking it for granted then, that the declaration of the fentiment of love, is a privilege of the men, founded on nature, and fanctified by cuflom, the various modes of making that declaration by them, and of accepting or refuting it by the women, were we able to give a perfect account of it, would make one of the mofl curious and entertaining parts of this hiftory, and equally furnifh matter of fpeculation for the fine lady and the philofopher. We can, how- ever, exhibit but little of this entertainment, while we treat of the ancient inhabitants of the Eafl ; who, ftrangers to fentiment and delicacy of feeling, bought a bride with the fame difpaffionate coolnefs and deli- beration, as they would have done an ox 01 an afs; and even in the review of the other nations, hiflorical information does not enable us to make it fo com- plete as we could wifh. OF WOMEN. 147 When' Abraham fefit Eliezer, his fervant, to court a bride for his foil Ifaac, it appears from the {lory, that fentiment was entirely excluded ; that Abraham had never feen Rebecca, knew not whe- ther her perfoa and temper were agreeable, nor whe- the young couple would be pleafed with each other \ and that the only motive which determined his choice was, becaufe {he was his relation. We do not fo much as hear, that Ifaac was confulted in the mat- ter ; nor is there even a fufpicion, that he might refufe or diflike the wife which his father had felect- ed for him ; circumftances which atford the flrong- eft proof that, in thofe days, love and regard had little or no exigence : they likewife teach us, that the liberty of choice in matrimony was more reftricl:- ed among the Ifraelites than the neighbouring na- tions ; for Laban, the brother of Rebecca, did not feem to chufe for his fifter, as Abraham had done for his fon ; but afked her, after Eliezer had made his propofal, Whether flic would go with the man ? And the manner in which {he confented, mews us, that it is to art and refinement we owe the feeming referve of modern times ; and not to honefl and un- tutored nature, which is. never amamed to fpeak the fentiments. of virtue. " I will go," anfwered me. From this ftory,. of the manner in which Rebecca was folicited, we learn two things, which throw much light on the court {hip of antiquity : the iirft is, that women were not courted in perfon by their lovers, but by a proxy ; whom he, or his parents, deputed in his ftead : the fecond, that thefe proxies did not, as in modern times, endeavour to gain the affections of the ladies they were fenl to, by enlarg- ing on the perfonal properties, and mental qualifica- tions of their lovers ; but bv the richnefs and haaghi- 148 THE HISTORY licence of the prefents made to them and their rela- tions. Prefents have been from the earlieft ages, and are to this day the mode of tranfa&ing all kinds of bufmefs in the Eafl. If you go before a fuperior, to afk any favour, or even to require what is your due, you mull carry a prefent with you, if you wilh to fucceed ; fo that courtlhip having been anciently negociated in this manner, it is plain, that it was only confidered in the fame light as any other nego- ciable bufmefs, and not as a matter of ientiment, and of the heart. It appears, however, that Jacob did not, accord- ing to the cuilom of the times, and after the example of Ifaachis father, court a bride by proxy: he went to vilit her in perfon, and their firft meeting has in it fomething very remarkable. Lovers, generally, either are cheerful, or endeavor to afTume that ap- pearance; but Jacob drew near, and killed Rachel, and lift up his voice and wept. How a behaviour of this kind fuited the temper of an Ifraelitilh virgin, in the times of primitive fimplicity, we know not; but may venture to affirm, that a blubbering lover would make but a ridiculous and unengaging figure in the eyes of a modern lady of the ton. In the courtlhip, however, or rather purchafe of a wife by Jacob, we meet with fomething like fentiment; for when he found that he was not pofTefTed of money or goods, equal to the price which was probably fet upon her, he not only condefcended to purchafe her by labour and fervitude, but even feemed much dif- appointed, when the tender-eyed Leah was fakhlefsly impofed upon him, inftead of the beautiful Ra- chel ; for whom he again fubmitted to the fame term of fervitude he had done before. In the courtlhip of Sechem alfo, we find that his choice was flrongly determined by love ; but then his pallion did not, OF WOMEN. t 49 as one would have thought the mod natural, eiFufe itfelf into the bofom of the object beloved. He ap- plied to the brethren of Dinah, making them advan- tageous offers for the poffeffion of the perfon of their fitter, regardlefs, to all appearance, of her heart, il Afk me never fo much dowry, faid he, , and I " will give according as you mail fay unto me. 5 * But when we confider, that in the times we are deli- neating, wives were only looked upon as a kind of fuperior flaves, and not as the focial companions of life, and the equal fharers of good and bad fortune; we fhall eafily perceive, that fentiment in the choice, and reciprocal affection in the bargain, were not fo neceffary as in our times, when the cafe is happily reverfed. We laid it down before as a general rule, that the declaration of love was at all times, and in all countries, the peculiar privilege of the men; but as all general rules are liable to fome exceptions, there are alfo a few to this. An Ifraelitilh widow had, by law, a power of claiming in marriage the brother of her deceafed hufband ; in which cafe, as the privelege of the male was transferred to the female, fo like- wife that of the female was transferred to the male, he had the power of refuting ; the refufal, however, was accampanied with fome mortifying circumftances, the woman whom he had thus flighted was to come unto him in the prefence of the elders of the city, and to loofe the flioe from his foot, and fpit in his face. To man, by nature bold and intrepid, and inverted with unlimited power of aildng, a refufal was of little confequence ; but to woman, more timid and modeft, and whofe power of afking was limited to the brethren of her deceafed hufband, it was not only an affront, but a real injury, as every one would conclude, that the refufal strafe from vol. II, U i 5 o THE HISTORY fome well-grounded caufe, and every one would therefore fo neglect and defpife the woman, that flic could have but little chance for a future huiband ; hence, perhaps, it was thought neceffyry to fix fomc public digma on tin: dadard who was fo ungal- lant as not to comply with the addreffes of a woman. A cudom fometh'mg fimilar to this obtains at prefent among the Hurons and Iriquois; when a wife dies, the hudiand is obliged to marry the fider, or, in her dead, the woman whom the family of his deceafed wife mall chufe for him : a widow is alfo obliged to marry one of the brothers of her deceafed huiband, if he has died without children, and (lie is dill of an age to have any. Exactly the fame thing takes place in the Caroline iflands ; and there, as well as among the Hurons, the women may demand iiich brother to marry her, though we are not informed whether they ever exercifed that power. In the Ifthmus of Darien, we are told that the right of afking is lodged in, and promifcucufly ex- erted by both fexes ; who each, when they feel the naihen of love, declare it without the leaft hefita- tion or embarraffment ; and in the Ukrain, the fame thing is faid to be carried dill farther, and the women more generally to court than the men. When a young uoman falls in love with a man, fhe is not in the leaft afhamed to go to his father's houfe, and reveal Ivr pafllon in the mod tender and pathetic manner, and to promife the mod fubmidive obedi- ence, if he will accept of her for a wife. Should the infer/ible man pretend any excufe, die tells him Ihe is refolved never to go out of the houfe till he gives his. conlent, and accordingly taking up her lodging, remains there; if he dill obdiiiatcly refutes her, his cafe becomes exceedingly didrefling ; the church is commonly on her fide, and to turn her OFWOMEM. 151 out would provoke all her kindred to revenge her honour : fo that he has no method left but to betake himfelf to flight till fhe is otherwise difpofed of. From the (lory of Sampfon and Delilah, it would feem that the power of aiking a female in marriage was even denied to the young men of Ifrael ; Sarnp- fon faw in Timnah a woman of the daughters of the Philiftines who was beautiful, and he came and told his father and mother, and faid, " I have feeii a woman of the daughters of the Philiftines ; now, therefore, get her for me to wife." Upon his father and mother darting fome objections, he did trot fa^, I will make ufe of the power lodged in my own hands to obtain her, but repeated, " Get her for me, for (he pleafeth me well." Had it been a cuftom for their young men in thofe days to have courted for themfelves, it is highly probable, that on their firfl objection, he would have applied to Delilah in per- fon, inftead of applying again to his father and mo- ther ,after a refufal ; nor was his application to his parents for their advice and confent only, otherwife he would not have faid, Get her for me, but all/.." me to get her for myfelf. From the ages we have now been delineating, where the facied records have afforded us tliefe few hints concerning courtihip, we have fcarcely any thing more on the fubjeft, till we come to the hifto- ry of the Greeks. Among the ancient inhabitants of the Eaftj women were fo little feen by the men, that they had but few opportunities of railing in their bofoms that compofed fentimental feeling which we moderns denominate love, and which cannot pro- perly arife from a tranfient glance; when they were accidentally feen, they only raifed that animal appe- tite, which naturally rages (i) ilrongly where it is i Si THE HISTORY inflamed by the climate, .and whetted by a thoufand obftacles, and which, in fuch circumftances, fcarcely has any choice in its object; hence all the obliging offices of gallantry, and the tender fenfations of courtfhip, were in thofe periods entirely unknown; and as marriage was for the molt part an act of bar- gain and fale, where the woman, in confideration of a price paid for her to her relations, was made a Have to her hufband, the men did not ftudy to pleafe, but to command and enjoy. If, in the periods we are now confidering, we meet with any thing like fentiment between the two fexes, it was in thofe illi- cit amours which depended folely on the parties themfelves; in fuch cafes, they fometimes attempted little flights of gallantry, and ufed mutual endea- vours to pleafe, becaufe neither party was a Have to the other, and their connection was the remit of their own choice, and not of a bargain made for them without their confent, and perhaps without their knowledge. Although fcarcely any of the brute animals will fight in order to force their females to their embrace, yet all of them, even the molt, weak and timid, will exert every nerve in order to drive away or deftroy u fuccefsful rival. Whether this is properly the paf- fion of revenge, or of felf-love, is not our province here to enquire; we only obferve that it fecms to be a principle fo univerfally diffufed through anima- ted nature, and fo peculiarly ingrafted in man, that the hiftory of all ages bears the mod ample teftimony of its exiflence. During the rude and uncultivated ftate of fociety in the early ages, property was hardly to be gained but by fighting to acquire, or kept but by fighting to maintain it; and a woman being considered as OF WOMEN. iff property, it was no uncommon mode of courtfhip, when there was a plurality of lovers, to fight for the poffefiion of her aifo. As fociety began to im- prove, and fighting became lefs fafhionable, this barbarity began to decline, and, inftead of one lover being obliged to fight all his rivals before he could get pofTeflion of his miftrefs, it became the cuftom for the competitors to give a public teftimony of their powers and qualifications in the games and ipectacles inftituted for that purpofe; a cuftom which, as we {hall have occafion to fee afterwards, continued long- to govern the manners of uncivilized nations; and in compliance with which, it was common for kings and other great people, when they had a daughter to difpofe of, to give notice to all fuch young men of quality, as defigned to be competitors, that they might repair to their courts and caftles, to fhew their fkill and dexterity in exercifes and in arms; when the prize of beauty was generally awarded to him who had excelled all the others. But as this method was frequently productive of feuds and ani- moilties, which ended not with the lives of thofe be- tween whom they firfh began, but were handed down from one generation to another, ftained with mur- der and with blood, treaties of marriage by bargain and fale, agreed to t by the relations of the parties, marked the further progrefs of civil fociety ; many revolving ages faw the focial partners of our joys and forrows trafficked for in this cool and diipafllon- ate manner, and ninny parts of the world, yet ftran- gers to friendship and to love, ftill retain the defpi- cable method ; and it is only where the joys of liberty and of freedom ihed their benign influence, that courtfhip is an act of inclination and of choice, end- ing in the joining together the hearts as well as the hands of the contracting parties. 154 THE HISTORY What we have row obferved concerning the manner of courtfhip, was too much the cafe with the Greeks. In the earlier periods of their hiflory, their love, if we may call it fo, was only the animal appe- tite, impetuous and unreitrained either by cultiva- tion of manners, or precepts of morality ; and almofl every opportunity which fell in their way prompted them to fatisfy that appetite by force, and to revenge the obftru&ion of it by murder. When they be- came a more civilized people, they ihone much more i'luflrioufiy in arts and in arms, than in delicacy of fentiment and elegance of manners : hence we fliall find, that their method of making love was more di- rected to compel the fair fex to a compliance with their wifhes by charms and philtres, than to win them by the namelefs affiduities and good offices of a lover. As the two fexes in Greece had but little commu- nication with each other, and a lover was feldom favoured with an opportunitv of telling his paffion to his miftrefs, he uled to dilcover it by inicribing her name on the walls of his houfe, on the bark of the trees of a public walk, or the leaves of his his books ; it was cuflomary for him alio to deck the door of the houfe, where his fair one lived, with garlands and flowers, to make libations of wine be- fore it, and to fprinkle the entrance with the fame liquor, in the manner that was pracfifed at the tem- ple of Cupid. Garlands were of great ufe among the Greeks in love affairs ; when a man untied his garland, it was a declaration of his having been fub- dued by that paffion ; and when a woman compofed a garland, it was a tacit confeffion of the fame thing: and though we are not informed of it, we may pre- fume that both fexes had methods of difcovering by OF WOMEN. 155 thefe garlands, not only that they were in love, but the object alfo upon whom it was directed. Such were the common methods of discovering the paflion of love, the methods of prolecuting it were hall more extraordinary, and lefs reconcilable to civi- lization and to good principles ; when a love affair did not profper in the hands of a Grecian, he did not endeavour to become more engaging in his manners and perfon, he did not lavifh his fortune in prefents, or become more obliging and affiduous in his addref- fes, but immediately had recourfe to incantations and philtres ; in compoling and difpenfing of which, the women of ThefTaly were reckoned the molt famous, and drove a traffic in them of no inconfiderable ad- vantage. Thefe potions were given by the women to the men, as well as by the men to the women, and were generally fo violent in their operation as for fome time to deprive the perfon who took them, of ienfe, and not uncommonly of life : their composi- tion was a variety of herbs of the moll ftrong and vi- rulent nature, which we (hall not mention ; but herbs were not the only things they relied on for their purpofe, they called the productions of the animal and mineral kingdoms to their afiiftance ; when thefe failed, they roaifed an image of wax before the fire, reprefenting the object of their love, and as this became warm, they flattered themfeives that the perfon reprefented by it would be propor- tionally warmed with love. When a lover could obtain any thing belonging to his miilrefs, he ima- gined it of lingular advantage, and depolited it in the earth beneath the threlhold of her door. Be- iides thefe, they had a variety of other methods equally ridiculous and unavailing, and of which it would be trilling to give a minute detail ; we mall, therefore, j uil take notice as we go along, that fuch 156 THE HISTORY of either lex as believed themfelves forced into love by the power of philtres and charms, commonly had recourfe to the fame methods to difengage them- felves, and break the power of thefe enchantments, which they fuppofed operated involuntarily on their inclinations; and thus the old women of Greece, like the lawyers of modern times, were employed to defeat the fchemes and operations of each other, and like them too, it is prefumable, laughed in their fleeves,. while they hugged the gains that arofe from vulgar credulity. In this manner were the affairs of love and gal- lantry carried on among the Greeks, but we have great reafon to apprehend that this was the manner in which unlawful amours only were conducted, for the Greek women, as we have already feen, had not a power of refufmg fuch matches as were provided for them by their fathers and guardians; and confe- quently a lover who could fecure thefe on his fide, was always fure of obtaining the perfon of his mif- trefs; and from the complexion of the times, we have little reafon to fuppofe that he was folicitous about her efteem and affection. This being the cafe, courtihip between the parties themfelves could have little exiflence; and the methods we have now de- fcribed, with a variety of others too tedious to men- tion, muff have been thofe by which they courted the unwary female to her fliame and difgrace, and not thofe by which they folicited the chafle bride to their marriage-bed. The Romans, who borrowed moil of their cuf- toms from the Greeks, alfo followed them in that of endeavouring to conciliate love by the power of phil- tres and of charms; a fact of which we have not the leaft room to doubt, as there are in Virgil and OF WOMEN. 157 fome other of the Latin poets fo many inftances that prove it. But it depends not altogether on the tes- timony of the poets ; Plutarch tells us, that Lucul- lus, a Roman general, loft his fenfes, by a love po- tion ; * and Caius Caligula, according to Suetonius, was thrown into a fit of madnefs by one which was given him by his wife Csefonia; Lucretius too, ac- cording to fome authors, fell a facrifice to the fame folly. The Romans, like the Greeks, made ufe of thefe methods moftly in their affairs of gallantry and unlawful love ; but in what manner they ad- dreffed themfelves to a lady they intended to marry has not been handed down to us, and the reafon as we fuppofe is, that little or no courtfhip was practi- sed among them ; women had no difpofmg power of themfelves, to what purpofe was it then to apply to them for their confent ? They were under perpe- tual guardianfhip, and the guardian having the fole power of difpofmg of them, it was only neceiTary to apply to him. In the Roman authors, we frequently read of a father, a brother, or a guardian, giving his daughter, his lifter, or his ward, in marriage, but we do not recollect one fmgle inftance of being told that the intended bridegroom applied to the lady for her confent ; a circumftance the more extraordi- nary, as women in the decline of the Roman empire had arifen to a dignity, and even to a freedom, hardly equalled in modern times. * As the notion of love potions and powders is at this day not altogether eradicated, we take this opportunity of affuring our readers, that there is no potion, powder, or medicine known to mankind, that has any lpecific power of railing or determining the affections to any certain object, and that all pretenfions 1.5 fuch are not only vain and illufive, but illegal, and 1.0 the laft degree dangerous. VOL. II. X i 5 3 THE HISTORY Though wives were not purchafed among the Celtes, Gauls, Germans, and neighbouring nations of the North as they are in the Eaft, they were neverthelefs a kind of (laves to their hufbands ; but this fiavery was become fo familiar by cuftom, that the women neither loft their dignity by fubmitting, nor the men their regard by fubje&ing them to it; and as they often received portions with their wives, and had fo much veneration for the fex in general, we (hall be the lefs furprifed to find, that in court- fhip they behaved with a fpirit of gallantry, and mowed a degree of fentiment to which the Greeks and Romans, who called rhem Barbarians, never arrived; not contented with getting poffefTion of the perfon of his midrefs, a northern lover was never fatisfied without the ilncere affection of her hearr, nor was his mlftrefs ever to be gained but by fuch methods as plainly indicated to her, die tendered attachment from the molt refpecfcable man. The ancient Scandinavian women were naturally chade, proud, and fcarcely lefs emulous of glory than the men, being conitantly taught to defpife fuch as fpent their youth in peacefnlobfcurity, they were not to be courted but by the mod affiduous at- tendance, feconded by fuch warlike achievements as the cuilom of the country had rendered neceflary to make a man deferving of his miftrefs. On thefe accounts, we frequently find a lover accOuing the cbjecT: of his paflion by a minute and circumitantial detail of all his exploits, and all his accomplifhments. King Regner Lodbrog, in a beautiful ode compofed by himfeif, in memory of the deeds of his former days, gives a ftrong proof of this. " We fought with fwords, fays he, that day, wherein I faw ten thoufand of my foes rolling in the O F WO M E N. 159 duft near a promontary of England. A dew of blood diftilled from our {words, the arrows which flew in fe.arch of the helmets, bellowed through the air. The pleafure of that day, was equal to that of clafping a fair virgin in my arms. " We fought with fwords : a young man mould march early to the conflict of arms, man fhould at- tack man, or bravely refill him; in this hath always confided the nobility of the warrior. He who af- pires to the love of his miitreis, ought to be dauntlefs in the clafli of fwords. " We fought with fwords in fifty and one battles under my floating banners. From my early youth I have learned to dye the fteel of my lance with blood, but it is time to ceafe. Odin hath fent his goddefies to conduct, me to his palace, I am going to be placed on the high eft feat, there to quail" goblets of beer with the ?ods; the hours of my life are rol- led away." Such, and many of the fame kind, are the ex- ploits fung by king Regner. In another ode of Ha- rold the valiant, of a later date, we find an enume- ration of his exploits and accompliihmems joined to- gether, in order to give his miftrefs a favourable idea of him, but from the chorus of his fong we learn that he did not fueceed. " My mips have made the tear of Sicily,; there were we all magnificent and fplendid : my brown veffel, full of mariners, rapidly rowed to the atmoit of my wiflies ; wholly taken up with war, I thought my courfe would nevei flaeken, and yet a Ruffian maiden fcorns me. i6o THE HISTORY " In my youth, I fought with the people of Dron- theim, their troops exceeded ours in number. It was a terrible conflict, I left their young king dead on the field, and yet a Ruffian maiden fcorns me. " One day, we were but fixteen in a veffel, a (lorm arofe and fwelled the fea, it filled the loaded ffiip, but we diligently cleared it out ; thence I formed hopes of the happieft fuccefs, and yet a Ruffian maiden fcorns me. " I know how to perform eight exercifes, I fight valiantly, I fit firmly on horfeback, I am innured to fwimming, I know how to run along the fkates, I dart the lance, and am ikilful at the oar, and yet a Ruffian maiden fcorns me. 4£ Can flie deny, that young and lovely maiden, that on that day, when polled near a city in the fouthern land, I joined battle ; that then I valiantly handled my arms, and left behind me lading monu- ments of my exploits, and yet a Ruffian maiden fcorns me. " I was born in the high country of Norway, where the inhabitants handle their bows fo well ; but I preferred guiding my fhips, the dread of pea- fants, among the rocks of the ocean, and far from the habitations of men. I have run through all the feas with my veffels, and yet a Ruffian maiden fcorns me." Befides thefe methods of courting, or afpiring to the good graces of the fair, by arms and by arts, the ancient Northerns had feveral others ; and among thefe it would feem charms and incantations were reckoned not the leafl powerful. Odin, who flrft OF WOMEN. 161 taught them their mythology, and whom they after- wards worfhipped as their fupreme deity, fays, in one of his difcourfes : " If I afpire to the love and the favour of the chafteft virgin, I can bend the mind of the fnowy armed maiden, and make her yield wholly to my defires. " I know a fecret which I will never lofe, it to render myfelf always beloved of my miftrefs. is " But I know one which I will never impart to any female except my own filter, or to her whom I hold in my arms. Whatever is known only to one's felf is always of great value." In the Hava-Maal, or fublime difcourfes of Odin, we have fome Iketches of directions how to proceed in courtlhip, fo as to be fuccefsful without the aflift- ance of any charm or fecret : " He who would make himfelf beloved of a mai- den, mud entertain her with fine difcourfes, and offer her engaging prefents; he mud alfo inceflantly praife her beauty. It requires good fenfe to be a ikilful lover — If you would bend your miftrefs to your paffion, you muft only go by night to fee her ; when a thing is known to a third perfon, it never fucceeds." The young women of the nations we are confider- ing, not relying upon what fame had reported con- cerning the acquifitions of their lovers, frequently defired to be themfelves the witneffes of them, and the young men were not lefs eager in feizing every opportunity to gratify their defires. This is abun r 1 62 THE HISTORY dantly proved by an anecdote in the hiilory of Charles and Grvmer, two kings of Sweden : " Grymer, a youth early diilinguimed in arms, who well knew how to dye his fword in the blood of his enemies, to run over the craggy mountains, to wreflle, to play at chefs, trace the motions of the liars, and throw far from him heavy weights, fre- quently mewed his ikiil in the chamber of the dam- fels, before the king's lovely daughter ; defirous of acquiring her regard, he difplayed his dexterity in handling his weapons, and the knowledge he had attained m the fdences he had learned ; at length he ventured to make this demand : Wilt thou, O fair princefs, if I may obtain the king's confent, accept of me for a hufband ? To which fhe prudently re- plied, I mud not make that choice myfelf, but go thou and offer the fame propofal to my father." The fequel of the ftory informs us, that Grymer accordingly made his propofal to the king, who an- fwered him in a rage, that though he had learned indeed to handle his arms, yet as he had never gained a fignal viftory, nor given a banquet to the beafts of the field, he had no pretentions to his daughter, and concluded by pointing out to him, in a neighbouring kingdom, a hero renowned in arms, whom, if he could conquer, the princefs fhould be given him : that on waiting on the princefs to tell her what had palTed, me was greatly agitated, and felt in the moil fenfibie manner for the fafety of her lover, whom (he was afraid her father had devoted to death for his prefumption ; that fhe provided him with a fuit of impenetrable armour and a trufty fword, with which he went, and having flain his adverfary, and the molt part of his warriors, return- ed victorious, and received her as the reward of his OP WOMEN, 163 valour. 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 daugh- ter of Saul, and ihall add, that among the Sac ce, a people of ancient Scythia, a cuftom fomething of this kind, but flail more extraordinary, obtained ; every young man who made his addrelTes to a lady, was obliged to engage her in fmgle combat ; if he vanquished, he led her off in triumph, and became her hufband and fovereign ; if he was conquered, fne led him off in the fame manner, and made him her hufband and her Have. From the preceding obfervations, it appears, that the ancient northerns placed their principal felicity in the enjoyments of courtfhip and of love, as they compared even the pleafures of vanquifhing their enemies to this laft, as to. the highell poffible ftand- ard of pleafure. It likewife appears, that, inftiga- ted by fentiment, and actuated by freedom, they made application firil to the object of their withes, to know whether they would be agreeable to her, before they would proceed to folicit the confent of parents or relations ; fentiments which fhone with no imall degree of luftre, even through that fcene of horrid barbarity in which they were conitantly im- merfed. As nothing could be more humble and compiai- fant than the men when they prefented their addref- fes to the fair, fo nothing could be more haughty or determined than the anlwers and behaviour of fuch ladies as did not approve of their luitors. Gida, the daughter of a rich Norwegian lord, when courted by Harald Harfagre, fternly anfwered, that if he afpired to the merit of her love, he rauft iignalize j«4 THE HISTORY himfelf by exploits of a more extraordinary nature than any he had yet performed ; nor was fuch a re- ception peculiar to her ; it was the cuftorn of the times ; and the manners, in a great meafure, con- tributed to render fuch a cuftom necefTary ; for be- fides the perfonal fafety of a wife, depending fo much on the prowefs of the man me married, valour was the only road to riches and to honours, and even fubfiftence frequently depended in a great mea- fure upon the fpoils taken in the excurlions of war. But their haughty behaviour was not entirely con- fined to words ; it is fuppofed, though we do not venture to affirm it, that when a fuitor had gone /hrough the exercife of his arms before them, and when difpleafed with his performance, they wanted to put a negative upon his wifh.es, inflead of a verbal reply, they fometimes arofe haftily, matched the arms from his hands, and mewed him that they could handle them with more dexterity than himfelf ; a proof which not only mortified all his vanity, but impofed eternal filence on his pretenfions to love. OF WOMEN. 165 CHAPTER XXIV. The fame Subjecl continued. ROM this account of the courtiliip of the inhabitants of the North, it is eafy to fee, that they were, in this refpecl at leail, far advanced be- yond the favage barbarity of many nations now ex- ifting; among whom marriages are commonly con- tracted with little previous attachment, and as little regard to the mutual inclination of the parties for each other. Savages, in general, not being deter- mined to marry for any attachment to a particular woman; but becaufe they find that ftate necefiary to their comfortable fubfiftence, and conformable to the fafhion of their country, are not folicitous who fhall become their wives; and, therefore, commonly leave the choice of them to their parents and rela- tions; a method which excludes all the joys, and all the pains of courtfliip, from their fyftem. But as this is not univerfally the cafe in favage life, we fhall give a fhort account of the manner in which they addrefs the females, whom they have felefted as the objects of their love. The method of afking in courtiliip, as well as that of refufing, among fome of. the tribes of American Indians, is the moft fimple that can pofTibly be divi- fed. When the lover goes to viiit his miftreis, he only begs leave to enter her hut by figns ; which having obtained, he goes in, and fits clown by her in the mod refpectful lilence; if fhe fuffers him to remain there without interruption, her doing fo is vol. 11. Y i-66 THE HISTORY corifenting to his fuit; and they go to bed together without further ceremony: but if the lover has any thing given him to eat or drink, it is a reiufal; though the woman is obliged to fit by him till lie has fmifhed his repaft ; after which he retires in filence. In Canada, courtihip is a dranger to that coy referve, and feeming fecrecy, which politenefs has introduced among the inhabitants of civilized nations. When a man and woman meet, though they never faw each other before, if he is captivated with her charms, he declares his pafiion in the politeft manner ; and me, with the fame honed: fimplicity, anfwers, Yes, or No, without further deliberation. It was for- merly a cudom, among the Brazilians, that as foon as a man had flaiii an enemy, he had a right to court a bride; but that cudom is now abolifhed; and the fuitor is now obliged to aik the confent of the girl's parents; which he no looner obtains, than he hadens to the bride, and forces her to his embrace. In Formofa, they diiler lb much from the fimplicity of the Canadians, that it would be reckoned the great- efl indecency in the man to declare, or the woman to hear, a declaration of the pafiion of love. The lover is therefore, obliged to depute his mother, lif- ter, or fome female relation ; and from any of them the foft tail may be heard, without ofFence to deli- cacy or to cudom. Such are the cudoms which, among fome favage nations, regulate the affairs of courtihip; cudoms which mew, that, even in the mod rude and uncul- tivated date, men are hardly more uniform in their ideas and aftions, than when polilhed by civilization and fociety. The lower clafs of the people, who inhabit Maffachufetts Bay, and have borrowed their ideas, perhaps, from the Indians, or brought them from fome of thofe countries from which they emi- CF WOMEN. 487 grated, have a remarkable method of GoHrtfliip. When a man foils in love with a woman, he full pro- pores his conditions to her parents, without whole confent no marriage in the colony can take place; if they approve of him, he repairs to their houfe in the evening, in order to make his court to the young; woman. At their ufual hour, the old people, and the reft of the family, go to bed, leaving the lovers together alfo. Some time after, they go to bed to- gether alfo; but without ilripping themfelvcs naked, to avoid fcandal : if they are pieaftd with each other, the bans are published, and they are married with- out dely; if not, they part, and perhaps never fee one another more; nnlefs, as it feme times happens, the woman mould be with child; when the man is obliged to taarry her, under pain of excomrnunka- tion. This has a great refemblance to a cuftom ufed in fome places by the favages, where a lover goes in the night to the hut of his miftref:, (teals fikiitlv in, lights a match at the fire, and cautiouily ap- proaches her bed, holding the match before lifm ; if (lie blows it out, it is a fign of her approbation, ; and mews that fhe wifnes the affair to be traniafted in darknefs and fecrecy : he takes the hint, and im- mediately lays himfelf down by her fide. U me fufrers the light to remain burning, it is a 8em*al a and he is obliged to retire. &' Before we take leave of the European colonies in America, we fhall mention another fmguiarity in the behaviour of lovers in rennfylvatita j which fhews that the women have not even that degree of delicacy, which we have juft now feen them poifefied of in favage life : when two Pennfyivaman lovers meet with any remarkable eppofition from their friends, they go oft together on h'-rleback ; the lady riding before, and the mail tehind her. In this i63 THE HISTORY fituation, they prefent themfelves before a magif- trate ; to whom flie declares, that fhe has run away with her lover, and has brought him there to be married : fo folemn an avowal, the magistrate is not at liberty to reject, and they are married accord- ingly. It has long been a common obfervation among mankind, that love is the mod fruitful fource of in- vention ; and that in this cafe the imagination of a woman is ftill more fruitful of invention and expedi- ent than that of a man ; agreeably to this, we are told, that the women of the ifland of Amboyna, be- ing cloiely watched on all occafions, and deftitute of the art of writing; by which, in other places, the fentiments are conveyed at any difhmce, have me- thods of making known their inclinations to their lovers, and of fixing aflignations with them, by means of nofe-gays, and plates of fruit fo difpofed, as to convey their fentiments in the moft explicit manner : by thefe means their courtfhip is generally carried on, and by altering the difpofition of fymbols made ufe of, they contrive to fignify their refufal, with the fame explicitnefs as their approbation. In fome of the neighbouring illands, when a young man has fixed his affection, like the Italians, he goes from time to time to her door, and plays upon fome mufical inflrument ; if fhe gives confent, fhe comes out to him, and they fettle the affair of matrimony between them : if, after a certain number of thefe kind of vifits, me does not appear, it is a denial ; and the difappointed lover is abliged to defiil. We fhall fee afterward, when we come to treat of the matrimonial compact, that, in fome places, the ceremony of marriage confjlf s in tying the gar- ments of the young couple together, as an emblem OF WOMEN. 169 of that union which ought to bind their affections and interefls. This ceremony has afforded a hint for lovers to explain their paffion to their miftreffes, in the moft intelligible manner, without the help of fpeech, or the poffibility of offending the nicefl de- licacy. A lover in thefe parts, who is too modefl to declare himfelf, feizes the firft opportunity he can find, of fitting down by his miflrefs, and tying his garment to hers, in the manner that is pra&ifed in the ceremony of marriage : if fhe permits him to finifli the knot, without any interruption, and does not foon after cut or loofe it, fhe thereby gives her confent ; if fhe loofes it, he may tye it again on fome other occafion, when fhe may prove more pro- pitious 5 but if fhe cuts it, his hopes are blafted for- ever. Both thefe laft mentioned cuftoms are peculiar to the Eaft ; and they are almoft the only ones we can find in thefe extenfive regions, concerning courtfhip, that are worth relating ; for where the two fexes are denied all communication with each other, it is im- poffible there fhould be any courtfhip ; where the venal bride is bought from her ftill more venal pa- rents to be the Have not the companion, of her huf- band ; neither are they poffeffed of feelings neceffary for the delicately fentimental prelude of the focial ftate of wedlock. It is obfervable in courtfhip, that wherever wo- men are free and independent, they are addreffed by the men in the manner that is fuppofed will be moll pleafing to them ; where they are not free, the only care of the men is to get poffeffion of their perfons. The Author of Nature having made the female form beautiful and engaging, man is fre- quently captivated with it at firft fight : but ?,■$ man iyo THE HISTORY is a lefs comely and lefs attractive animal, he does not fo commonly infinuate himlelf into the heart of a woman at his firit appearance, but muft do it by a long train of little affiduities, and attention to pro- mote her happinefs and pleafure. According to this obfervation, we find the courtfhip of alrfioit every people, in whatever degree they iiand in the fcale of civil fociety, conftantly tendering to the fair lex thofe objects and amufements in which they take the greatcft delight. In many of the politer coun- tries of Europe, and elfewhere, thefe are prece- dency, titles, pomp, and pageantry. In America, they are beads, (hells, and enormous quantities of red paint ; and among the frigid Laplanders, brandy fupplies the place of all. A Lapland lover is faid to pay little regard to beauty, virtue, or accomplish- ments, but only to the quantity of rein-deer poflefled by the object of his choice ; and fhe and her rela- tions pay as little regard to any thing concerning him, but the quantity of brandy with which he treats them during the courtfhip. The delicacy of a Lapland lady, which is not in the lead hurt by being drunk as often as fhe can pro- cure liquour, would be wounded in the mod fenfi- ble manner, fhould (lie deign at firlt to liften to the declaration of a lover; he is therefore obliged to em- ply a match-maker to fpeakfor him J and this match- maker mult never go empty-handed; and of all other prefents, that which molt infaiiiblv fecures him a favourable 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 neareit male relation, arrived at the houfe where the lady relides, the father and match- maker are invited to walk in, but the lover mult wait patiently at the door till further folicited. The OF WOMEN. i 7 i patties, in the mean time, open their fait to the other ladies of the family, not forgetting to employ m their favour their irrefinVable advocate brandy, a liberal tliftribution of which is reckoned the flrongefl: proof of the lover's affection. When they have all been warmed by the lover's bounty, he is brought into the houfc, pays his compliments to the family, and is defired to partake of their cheer, though at this in- terview feldom indulged with a fight of his miftrefs; but if he is, he falutes her, and offers her prefents of rein-deer flans, tongues, &c. ; all which, while furrounded with her friends, Hie pretends to refufe; but, at the fame time giving her lover a fignal to go out, fhe foon ft-eals after him, and is no more that modefl creature me affected to appear in company. The lover nowfolicitsforthe completion of his wim.es : if fhe is filent, it is conftrued into confent; but if flie throws his prefents on the ground with difdain, the match is broke off for ever. It is generally obferved, that women enter into matrimony with more willingnefs, and lefs anxious care and folicitude, than men, for which many rea- fons naturally lugged themfelves to the intelligent reader. The women of Greenland are, however, in many cafes, 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 fent to her, who, led they ihould fhock her delicacy, do not enter directly on the mbjec"t of their embafTy, but launch out in praifes of the lover they mean to recommend, of his houfe, of his furniture, and whatever elfe belongs to him, but dwell moff parti- cularly on his dexterity in catching of feals. She, ^pretended to be affronted, runs away, Jearicg the ringlets of her hair as (he retires; after, "which the t?a THE HISTORY' two females, having obtained a tacit confent front her parents, fearch for her, and, on difcovering her lurking-place, drag her by force to the houfe of her lover, and there leave her. For fome days fhe fits with dilhevelled hair, filent and dejected, refilling every kind of fuftenance, and at lad, if kind intrea- ties cannot prevail upon her, is compelled by force, and even by blows, to complete the marriage with her huiband. It fometimes happens, that when the female match-makers arrive to propofe a lover to a Greenland young woman, me either faints, or ef- capes to the uninhabited mountains, where fhe re- mains till fhe is difcovered and carried back by her relations, or is forced to return by hunger and cold ; in both which cafes, (lie previoufly cuts off her hair ; a mod infallible indication, that me is determined never to marry. This peculiar difpofition of the Greenland women is not nature ; her dictates are every where nearly the fame ; it is the horror which arifes at the flavilh and dependent ftate of the wives of that country, and the Hill more abject and deferted flate of its widows ; for the wives, befides being obliged to do every fervile office, are frequently fubjecled to the mercilefs correction of their huibands. The widows, when they have no longer a huiband to hunt and nfh for them, are deftitute of every refource, and frequently perifli of hunger: hence matrimony, which in mod places makes the condition of women more independent and comfortable, among them renders it truly wretched ; and hence they enter into it with fo much reluctance and regret. Women were formerly treated little better in fome parts of Europe. In Spain, they had fcarcely, any power in bellowing themfelves on, or refuting OF WOMEN. 173 the offers of, a lover. As the empire of common fenfe began to extend itfelf, they began to claim a privilege, at lead of being confulted in the choice of the partners of their lives. Many fathers and guar- dians, however, hurt by this female innovation, and puffed up with Spanilh pride, (till infilled on forcing their daughters to marry according to their pleafure, by means of duennas, locks, hunger, and even fometimes poifon and daggers: but as nature will revolt againft every fpecies of oppreffion and injus- tice, the ladies have for fome time begun to triumph ; the authority of fathers and guardians begins to de- cline, and lovers find themfelves obliged to apply to the affections of the fair, as well as to the pride and avarice of her relations. As women of fafmbn are, however, feldom allowed to go abroad, and never to =ive male vifiiors at home, unlefs with the confent hr-ir relations, or by the contrivance of a duenna, \ apuiication-is commonly made in a manner aim oft to the Spaniards themfelves: the gallant fets felf to compofe fome love fonnets, as expreflive as he can, not only of the fituation of his heart, but of every particular circumtlance between him and the lady, not forget; ng to lard them every here and there with the moll extravagant encomiums on her beauty, and her merit: thefe he flags in the night below her window, accompanied with his lute, or fometimes with a whole band of mufic. The more piercingly cold the air, the more the lady's heart is fuppofed to be thawed with the patient fu fferance of her lover, who, from night to night, frequently continues this exercife for many hours, heavino- the deeped fighs, and catting the mod piteous looks to- . ward the window; at which, if his goddefs at lad deigns to appear, and drop him a curtefy, he is fu- perlatively paid for all his watching j but if (lie bleu fes him with a fmile, he is ready to run di(lra£ted. vol. 11. Z j 74 THE HISTORY In mofl of the countries we have hitherto men- tioned, love, if we may call it fo, is carried on without fentiment or feeling : in Spain it is quite the reverie ; there, it flows in an uninterrupted courfe of intellectual fenfations, exprefling almoft in an infi- nite variety of different ways. A Spanifh lover hardly thinks, fpeaks, or even dreams, of any thing but his miftrefs ; when he fpeaks to her, it is with the utmoft. refpect and deference ; when he fpeaks of her, it is in the mofl; hyperbolically romantic ftyle ; and when he approaches her, you would think that he was approaching a divinity. But all this de- ference to her godfhip, all this patient fuflerance under her window, is not enough ; and as none but the brave can deferve the fair, he is ready at all times, not only to fight all her enemies, and his own rivals, but to feek every opportunity of fignalizing his courage, that he may fliew himfelf able to pro- tect her. Among all thefe opportunities, none are fo eagerly courted as the fighting with bulls ; a hor- rid amufement, for which Spain is remarkable, where the ladies fit as fpectators, while the cavaliers en- counter thefe furious animals, previoufly exafperated, and turned loofe upon them, and where, according to the farcaftic phrafe of Butler, " — > — ' — he obtains the nobleil fpcufe, " Who widows greateft herds of cows." Some of the human paflions are fo nearly allied to each other, that the tranfltion from this to that, is hardly perceptible to the mind, and feems as eafy and natural as it is to ftep from the threfliold into the houfe. Of this kind is friendfliip with woman, which has been called fifler to love ; and we may add, that to pity a woman, who is tolerably hand- fome and deferving, and at the fame time to guard OF WOMEN. 175 againfl every fofter fenfation, is abfolutely impofli- ble. The Spaniards, tranfpoiing the peribns a&ed upon by this emotion, and finding that the fame caufes rauft produce the fame effects on the tender and companionate natures of women, endeavour, inftead of attaching them by pleafure, as in other countries, to fecure them by exciting their pity and compaffion, not only through every part of the courtfhip we have now related, but ftill more forci- bly in acuftom, which they practifed fome time ago at Madrid, and in other parts of Spain ; when a company of people, who called themfelves difcipliants or whippers, partly infligated by fuperftition, and partly by love, paraded the ftreets every Good Friday, attended by all the religious orders, feveral of the courts of judicature, all the companies of trades, and fometimes the king and all his court.— The whippers were arrayed in long caps in the form ofafugar loaf, with white gloves, and fhoes of the fame colour ; a waiftcoat, the ileeves of which were tied with ribbons of fuch colours as they thought moll agreeable to the fancy of the ladies they ador- ed ; and in their hands were whips made of foiall cords, to the ends of which were cemented little bits of wax ftuck with pieces of broken glafs ; with thefe they whipped themfelves as they went along, and he who fhewed the leafl mercy to his carcafe, was fure of the greatefl pity from his dulcinea. When they happened to meet a handfome woman in the flreet, fome one of them took care to whip himfelf fo as to make his blood fpurt upon her ; an honour for which (he never failed humbly to thank him. When any of them came oppofite to the window of his miilrefs, he began to lay upon himfelf with re- doubled fury, while (lie, from her balcony, looked complacently on the horrid fcene, and knowing it was acted in honour of her charms, thought herfeli" 176 THE HISTORY greatly obliged to her lover, and feldoni failed to reward him accordingly. Not lefs lingular, and much of the fame nature, is a method of courtmip which Lady Montague faw at a proceffion in Conflantinople, when the Grand Signior was going out to take the command of an army. " The rear, fays fhe, was clofed by the volun- teers, who came to beg the honour of dying in his fervice ; they were all naked to the middle, fome had their arms pierced through, with arrows left flick- ing in them, others had them (ticking in their heads, the blood trinkling down their faces: fome flafhed their arms with fharp knives, making the blood fpring out on the bye-flan ders ; and this is looked on as an exprefhon of their zeal for glory. And I am told, that fome make ufe of it to advance their love ; and when they came near the window where their miftrefs ftands, all the women being vailed to fee this fpectacle, they flick another arrow for her fake, who gives fome fign of approbation and en- couragement to this kind of gallantry." We cannot help condemning cufloms fo barba- rous in the fevereft terms ; but while we condemn them, we have the flrongefl hopes that they no longer exifl ; while in Scotland, one of a fomewhat fimilar nature, fcarcely lefs rediculous, or lefs dan- gerous, is not yet obliterated. At a concert annu- ally held on St. Cecilia's day in Edinburgh, mofl of the celebrated beauties are affembled ; when the concert is ended, their adorers retire to a tavern, when he that drinks thelargefl quantity to the health of his miflrefs, according to the phrafe they make ufe of, faves her, and dubs her a public toaft for the OF WOMEN. enfuing year ; while the haplefs fair, who is belov- ed by one of a mere irritable fyftem and lefs capaci- ous ftomach, according to the fame cant, is damned, and degraded by the bucks from being ranked among the number of beauties. In tracing general princi- ples, one often meets with many difcordant and contradictory facts ; it is a general law of nature, that when the male makes love to the female, he en- deavours to put himfelf into the mod agreeable pof- tures and attitudes, and to gain her affection by {hewing, if we may be allowed the expreflion, his beft fide, and mod agreeable accomplishments : but the infiances we have now related are exceptions to this general law ; they tend, however, to eftablifh this truth, that the actions of men are more fre- quently directed by whim and caprice, than by any fixed and permanent principles. Among the various methods which we have in this inquiry feen practifed by the men, of introdu- cing themfelves into the good graces of the fair, fighting has not been the leaft common ; and feveral tolerably good reafons may be afligned why this mould fo fuccefsfully accompliih its purpofe. No- thing, however, feems lefs natural than to endea- vour to engage the female heart by unavailing cru- elty to one's own flelli : this has in itfelf no merit, nor diftinguiihes the man for any thing but a wrong head, and an infenfibility of nerves. Whoever, therefore, gets drunk, or commits any outrage upon himfelf for the fake of his miftrefs, fhould be fruited by the women with caution, as the fame caufes which prompted him to this folly, may prompt him to others in which his own perfon is lefs likely to differ. 173 THE HISTORY Before we take our leave of the Spaniards, we rnuft do them the jufiice to fay, that though their ideas of the ladies, and their manner of addreffing them, is ftrongly tinctured with the wild and the romantic, it is at the fame time directed by an honour and fidelity fcarcely to be equalled by any other peo- ple. In Italy, the manner of courtftiip pretty nearly refembles that of Spain ; in one circumllance, how- ever, this people feem particular; they protract the time of courtfhip for many months, and even fome- times for years, well knowing, that this period, with all the little ills attending it, is one of the fweet- eft of human life; while it lafls, the lady expects to fee her lover at leaft once a day. To the difference of the climate of one country from another, philofophers have generally attributed the different difpofition of the inhabitants. But France and Spain are kingdoms bordering on each other, and yet nothing can be more difiimilar than a Frenchman and a Spaniard, efpecially in affairs of love. A French lover, with the word fentiment perpetually in his mouth, feems by every action, to have excluded it, from his heart. He places his whole confidence in his exterior air and appearance. He dreffes for his miftrefs, dances for her, flutters conftantly about her, helps her to lay on her rouge, and place her patches ; attends her round the whole circle of amufements, chatters to her perpetually, and by making her acquainted with his own confe- quence and qualifications, every now and then drops a hint of the honour he confers upon her; whatever be his ftaticn, every thing gaudy and glittering within the fphere of it, is called in to his afliftance, particularly fplendid carriages and taudry liveries; but if by the help of all thefe, he cannot make ail impreffion on the fair one's heart, it cods him nothing OF WOMEN. 179 at lad but a few flirugs of his fhoulders, and two or three filly exclamations ; and, as it is -impoffible for a Frenchman to live without an amour, he immedi- ately betakes himfelf to another. Among people of fafhion in France, courtfhip begins to be totally annihilated, and marriages made by parents and guardians are become fo common, that a bride and bridegroom not unfrequently meet together for the fecond time on the day of their mar- riage. In a country where complaifance and form feem fo indifpenfable, it may appear extraordinary, that a few weeks at leaft fhould not be allowed a young couple to. gain the afFe&ions of each other, and to enable them to judge whether their tempers were formed for their mutual happinefs ; but this delay is commonly thought unneceffary by the pru- dent parents, whofe views extend no farther than intereft and convenience. In many countries, to be married in this manner would be reckoned the great- efl of misfortunes ; in France, it is little regarded, as in the fafhionable world few people are greater flrangers to, or more indifferent about, each other, than hufband and wife; and any appearance of fond- nefs between them, or their being feen 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 hufband, or viiking the hufband, with- out ever feeing his wife. An hiftorian, who has read how the French have been, time immemorial, governed by their women, and a traveller, who has feen the attention that every one pays to them, will be apt to reckon all we have now faid as falfehood and mifreDrefentation: tfe THE HISTORY but to the firft, we would recommend to confider, that the women, who have commonly governed France, have been the miftrefTes of their kings or other great men, who, trained up in every alluring ^mode of their profeilion, have become artful beyond conception, in infmuating themfelvesby all the ave- nues that lead to the male heart ; the fecond, we would wifh to confider, that this conftant attention is more the effecl: of fafhion and cuftom than of fen- timent or regard; and that even the frequent duels which in France are fought on account of women, are not a proof of the fuperior love or efteem of the men for that fex, nor undertaken to defend their virtue or reputation ; they are only a mode of com- pliance with what is falfely called politenefs, and of fupporting what is falfely efleemed honour. Formerly, while the manners introduced by the fnirit of chivalry were not quite evaporated among the French, before the too great progrefs of polite- nefs had deflroyed the virtues of honed fimplicity, and tongue had learned by rote, to make every day a thoufand proteftations of friendfhip, to which the heart was a ftranger ; the behaviour of this people, though mixed with romantic extravagance, was neverthelefs replete with feeling and with fentiment. During the regency of Anne of Auflria, fighting and religion were the mod" fuccefsful ways by which a lover could recommend himfelf to his miicrefs; the bombaftic verfes of the Duke of Rochefoucault fhew what a lover then promifed with his fword ;* and the number of women of rank who turned Carme- lites, in compliance with the fpirit of their gallants and of the times, point out what was expecled from * To merit her heart, and to pleafe her bright eyes, I have fought againft kings, and dare fight againfr. the flues. OF WOMEN. i8i devotion; but as politenefs began to puih forward beyond the ftandard of nature and of utility, it difli- pated not only all thefe romantic ideas, but a!fo in time thruft out fentiment and aifection, and left the French in their prefent fituation — the creatures of art. The avidity however of the other European nations in copying their manners and cuftoms is fo great, that fuch as they now are, all their neigh- bours will probably in lefsthan a few centuries be. As mankind advance in the principles of fociety., as intereft, ambition, and fome of the other fordid paftions begin to occupy the mind, nature is thruft out. Nothing furely can be more natural than that love fhould direct us in the choice of a partner for life, and that the parties contracting in wedlock, mould enter into that compact with the mutual ap- probation of each other. This right of nature., however, begins to be wrefted from her in every polite country. The poor are the only clafs who flill retain the liberty of acting from inclination and from choice, while the rich, in proportion as they rife in opulence and rank, fink in the exertion of the natural right , of mankind, and mult facriflce their love at the fhrine of intereft or ambition. Such now begins to be the common practice in Britain ; courtfnip, at leaft that kind of it which proceeds from mutual inclination and affection is, among the great, nearly annihilated, and the matri- monial bargain, not lefs fordid than that of the Eaft, is made between the relations of the two families, with all the care and cunning that each is mafter of, to advance its own intereft by over-reaching the other. Were we to deicend to the middling and lower ranks of life, where freedom of the mind ftill exifts ; were we to defcribe their various modes of vol. ii. A a i$2 THE HISTORY addrefling and endeavouring to render themfelves agreeable to the fair, we fhould only relate what our readers are already acquainted with; we fhall there- fore juftobferve, in general, that fuch is the power of love, that it frequently prompts even an Englishman to lay afide fome part of his natural thoughtfulnefs, and appear more gay and fprightly in the prefence of his miltrefs ; that on other occafions, when he is doubtful of fuccefs, it adds to his natural peevifh- nefs and taciturnity, an air of melancholy and em- barraffment, which expofes him to the laughter of all his acquaintance, and feldom or never contributes any thing to advance his fuit. But this laft is not peculiar to the inhabitants of Britain ; for, when a few Angularities are excepted, which arife from manners and cuftoms, in every other refpect the courtfhip of all polifhed people is nearly the fame, confifls chiefly in the lover's endeavouring, by every art, to make his perfon and temper appear as agree- able to his miftrefs as poflible; to perfuade her, that his circumftances are at lead: fuch as may enable him to indulge her in every thing becoming her fta- tion, and that his inclinations to do fo, are not in the leafl to be doubted. Thefe great points being gained, the lover has commonly little elfe left to do, but to enter into the poflefTion of his hopes, unlefs where each party, urged by feparate interefts, pro- pofes unreasonable conditions of fettlement, which frequently break off a match where every other ar- ticle has been agreed on. In the courfe of this enquiry we have feen, that of all the methods pra&ifed by the men to infinuate themfelves into the affe&ions of the fair, none have been more common than fighting. In ancient times, heroes encountered one another to render themfelves acceptable to the ladies they adored. Saxo-Gram- OF WOMEN. 183 maticus gives an account of many duels that were fought between private perfons to determine which of them mould be the fuccefsful lover, a pra&ice common among the Scandinavians before they be- came Chriftians : princes then led their armies into the field, to fight with each other on the fame ac- count; and fo rude were the manners, that a king when he fell in love, inftead of endeavouring to gain the object by gentle and pacific methods, frequently fent to demand her by threatening fire and fword on a refufal. The Spaniards fight the mod ferocious bulls to promote their love; and a few centuries ago, the cavaliers of that and many other nations com- menced knights-errant, and rode about the country fighting every thing that oppofed them, for the ho- nour of their miftreffes. We have already feen, that in fome countries, the faireft and moft noble vir- gins were allotted as a reward to the greateft virtue, that in others they were bafely facrificed to the wretch who was able to give the higheft price for them. But among the ancient Saxons, at Magde- burgh, they had an inftitution ftill more fmgular, the greateft beauties were, at dated times, with a fum of money as the portion of each, depofited in the hands of the magiftrates, to be publicly fought for, and fell to the lot of thofe who were moft famous at tilting. That the foftand companionate temper of women, naturally averfe to fcenes of horror and blood, mould be the moft eafily gained by him who has moft diftin- guifhed himfelf in fcenes of that nature ; appears at firft fight an inexplicable paradox, but on a nearer infpe&ion, the difficulty vanifhes, when we confider, that in rude and barbarous times, the weaknefs of the fex made their property, and their beauty made iS 4 THE HISTORY their perfons, a prey to every invader; and that it was only by flickering; themfelves in the arms of the hero, that they could attain to any fafety, or to any importance. Hence the hero naturally became the object: of their ambition, and their gratitude for the protection of his power, obliterated the idea of his crimes, magnified all his virtues, and held him up as an object of love. But befidcs, in the times of general rapine and devaluation, it was only valour and ftrength that could defend a man's property from being lawlefsly carried away, and his family ruined for want of fubfiftence; and it was only by valour and martial atchievements that ambition could be gratified by rifing to grandeur and to power. When we furvey all thefe reafons, our furprife that fo many warriors in former times fought themfelves into the arms of their miftreffes, will be much abated. We have feen in the courfe of this work, that wo- men have been by authority expofed publicly to fale, we have feen that they have, by order of the magif- trates, been publicly fought for, and that, in the extenfive regions of the Eaft, which compofe almoff. half the globe, they are bought by a huiband as his ox or his afs, and in many relpects treated by him worfe than thefe animals. Such a treatment of the objects which nature has taught us to love, and po- litenefs to refpeel:, excites our aftonimment and in- dignation, and we exult in the happier (late of our own country, when we confider it as not degraded by any fuch inflances of defpotic power, exercifed over a fex which nature meant us to cherifh and de- fend ; but our exultation on this head is not perhaps fo well founded, as we imagine; the matrimonial bargains every day concluded by all the cunning of OF WOMEN. 185 relations, and chicanery of lawyers, are a proof that we not only fell the fair fex, but difpofe even of our- felves for the fake of their fortunes. Such a fpirit of venality in either fex, is a ftrong fymptom of the approaching ruin of the people among whom it is found. Let us remember that wherever the women are the flaves of the men, the men themfelves are the Haves of a defpot, and that wherever the men have become the flaves of women, luxury and effeminacy have brought them to ruin. THE HISTORY CHAPTER XXV. Of Matrimony. S OME regulation of the commerce be- tween the fexes, or the joining of males and females together by mutual ties and obligations, in order to preferve the peace of fociety, and encourage po- pulation, feems either to have been an innate prin- ciple in the human mind, or to have arifen early from neceffityj as we find it, in one fhape or ano- ther, exifting all over the habitable world. Antiquarians, who have folicitoufly endeavoured to trace the manners and cuftoms of pafl ages ; and voyagers and travellers, who have depicted thofe of the prefent, have indifcriminately given the name of marriage to every legal or cuftomary junction of the fexes, which they met with in the countries, whofe records they have fearched or which they have vifited in perfon ; and European readers, be- ing accuftomed only to one kind of marriage, have generally annexed the fame idea, which the word conveys in their own country, to the marriages of the people of all other nations. Marriage, how- ever, is fo far from having been an inftitution, fixed by permanent and unalterable laws, that it has been continually varying in every period, and in every country ; and its prefent indiffoluble nature among us, hardly bears the leaft refemblance to what it was among many of the ancients, or to what it is at prefent in feveral parts of the world. OF WOMEN. 187 It has long been the opinion of the learned, and many of the moil refpe&able authors are quoted to prove it, that feveral nations, during their moil rude and barbarous ftate, had not attained to any idea of matrimony, nor had any regulation of the com- merce between the fexes ; if this is a faft, which, notwithftanding what has been alleged to the con- trary, by a learned author of the prefent age, we have little reafon to doubt, it is intimately connected with another ; which is, that the dawnings of civi- lization no fooner began to appear, than thefe v~ry people difcovered the neceffity of fuch a regulation, and carried it into execution, upon the belt plans which their limited capacities were capable of invent- ing ; and we fcruple not to affirm, that, without it, there could be no fafety for the individual ; the natural progrefs of multiplication mud be retarded, and no people could ever arrive at any perfection in government or civilization. Prefervation of the individual, and propagation of the fpecies, as they are two of the great ends of our exiftence, are fo intimately connected with our nature, that in a very early period of the world, it muft have been difcovered, that prefervation could not properly be attained, unlefs individuals appro- priated to themfelves the produce of their hunting, and certain parcels of ground, from whence the means of that prefervation might be derived ; and if men could not draw their fubfiftence fo conveniently from the ground, while it was in common, they muil, by the fame reafoning have difcovered, that propagation could not be fo properly carried on, im- lefs individuals alio of the two fexes were appropria- ted to each other by fome tie or obligation, which ihould hinder them from beino- confidered as com- moa to the whole fpecies ; but of what kind thefe 1 88 THE HISTORY tie3 and obligations were, or how entered into, we can now only conjecture ; from the complexion of the times, however, we may fuppofe, that they were fimple, and not entered into with any remark- able pomp or ceremony. This we the more readily believe, when we coniider, that in the Mofaic hiltory of the creation, our original mother is introduced as the wife of Adam, without taking notice of any ceremony performed to make her fuch : and that there was none, appears plain from the circumftan- ces of her cafe. Every marriage ceremony is only a mutual agreement of the contracting parties, to be faithful to each other, and the calling in of fomc perfons to confirm, or to witnefs this agreement. — But while only one man, and one woman exifted, they had no third perfon to witnefs their engagement, nor could they poilibly prove unfaithful to each other ; confequently could have no ufe of any mutual engagement to fidelity ; unlefs we can fuppofe, that when their own pofterity became of age, fuch en- gagement mould become neceflary on their account; but here, if we miftake not, nature has interpofed her authority, by raifing a horror at all inceiluous commerce. In the primitive ages of the world, every thing was done in the moil plain and fimple manner ; a man fet up a Hone, or erected a pillar, to mark the fpot of ground he had appropriated to his own ufe ; and he took unto himielf a wife ; that is, carried her home to his houfe, and perhaps made her pro- mife to adhere to him only, and to affift him in bring- ing up the children they might have together; which feems to be the only mode in which marriages were originally contracted ; at lead it was the mode during the patriarchal ages. Lamech, one of the fons of Adam, took unto himfelf two wives. Ab'ra- OF WOMEN. 1S9 ham took unto himfelf a wife ; the other patriarchs and people followed the example ; and, for many ages, the Ifraelitifh women, and perhaps thofe of other nations, were appropriated to their huibands in this fimple manner. But befides thefe marriages, by fimple appropri- ation, there appear to have been others of a nature ftill more fimple. Accidental circumftances fbme- times brought a man and a woman together ; and when any children were the produce of their cor- refpondence, natural affection excited them to re- main together, and unite their endeavours for the prefervation and maintenance of their ofFspring. A ftron^ oroof, that fuch marriages exifted in ancient times, is, that they were much in ufe among the Romans, and are to be found at this day among fome uncultivated people. The mod ancient kind of marriage among the Romans, was that in which a man and woman had come together without any previous bargain ; and having lived together for fome time, became at lafl unwilling to part, as they found themfelves infenfibly become neeeffary to eacli other : and, among the Kalmuc Tartars, a young couple agreeing between themfelves, retire for one year as hufband and wife ; if, in that time, the wo- man brings forth a child, they remain together ; if not, they either make trial of another year, or agree to part. In the ifland of Otaheite, the inhabitant?; purfue incontinent gratifications, wherever inclina- tion leads them ; but when a woman becomes preg- nant, the father of her child thereby becomes her hufband. Before the laws of Mofes were given to the Ifrae!- ites, as the rule of their conduct and manners, it is ailerted by the Jewifh rabbies, that a woman, who vol. it. B b i 9 o THE HISTORY was neither betrothed nor married, might beftow her favours either gratis, or for reward, on any one me pleafed, without incurring the leaft fcandal, or confining herfelf entirely to him, though me lived with him as his wife ; but the aflertions of thefe people are far from deferving the greater!: degree of credit ; for though it feems evident, from the facred records, that little or no ceremony was ufed in tak- ing a wife previous to the patriarchal ages, they have particularly defcribed the ceremonies then made ufe of on that occafion, which we {hall take notice of afterwards. As the number of the human race increafed, and the number of incitements to conjugal infidelity were, confequently, increafed alfo, the fimple modes of ap- propriating a woman, by carrying her home, or by having lived with her for fome time, were, perhaps, found infufficient, either to check her own inclina- tion to infidelity, or fecure her from the attacks of the licentious; hence methods of a more public and folemn nature were fallen upon, and the marriage ceremony probably converted into a covenant, with fimilar ceremonies to the covenants that were made at the efrablifhing of peace, or fecuring of property. Many and various were the contrivances made ufe of to eftablifh and perpetuate the memory of thofe cove- nants: Abraham prefented Abimelech, king of the Phiiiftines, with fheep and oxen; which he defired him, before witnefTes, to accept of as a token, that he fhould have the property of a well which he had digged. The Phoenicians fet up a ftone, or a pillar, or raifed a heap of ftones, as a memorial of any pub- lic agreement; a pK.5Uce which was followed by ma- ny other nations. The Scythians, in their alliances and ceremonies, poured wine into an earthen vefiei; and having mixed it with the blood of the contract- OF WOMEN. 191 ing parties, they dipped a fcymiter, fome arrows, a bill, and a javelin into the veffel; and after many imprecations on the party who fhould break the agreement, they themfelves firft drank of the mix- ture, and the reft of the company as witnefles fol- lowed their example. The ancient Arabians took an oath by cutting the hands of the contracting parties with a (harp (tone, then pulling a tuft from the gar- ment of each, dipped them in the blood which flow- ed from the wounds, and fprinkled the blood upon feven (tones fet up between them, invoking in the mean time Bacchus and Urania. The ancient Medes and Lycians, in making public agreements, wounded themfelves in the arm, and the parties mutually fuck- ed the blood of each other. The Nafamones, in pledging their faith to each other, mutually prefent- ed a cup of liquor, and if they had none, they took up duft and put it in their mouths. The Carians and lonians, in the army of Pfamenitus, when they fought againft Phanes, flew the ions of the latter, and receiving their blood into a bowl, and mixing it with wine and water, drank it as a pledge of their fteady adherence to each other. The other Greeks, and the Romans, in their public contracts joined their hands together, and fwore by their gods, by the tombs of their anceftors, or by any other object of awe and reverence. To thefe ancient methods of covenanting we fliall add a fimilar one practiied at this time at Madagas- car. They put into a large veffel filled with brandy, fome gold, iilver, gun flint in powder, and, if pof- fible, fome of the duft of the tombs of their anceftors, to all which they add, blood from the arms of the contracting parties ; while this mixture is preparing, their weapons are laid on the ground in form of a crofs, foon after, both parties take them up, and i 9 2 THE HISTORY "with the points of them in the veflel conftantly keep ftirring its contents till the agreement is concluded, when the contracting parties, and all who are pre- fent, drink till the cup is emptied; after which, they embrace each other and retire. Such were the cere- monies attending covenants and alliances in the pri- mitive ages; and as marriage was an alliance not only between the two parties, but their families and relations, it is probable that fome of thefe ceremo- nies were made ufe of to ratify and confirm it. But though matrimonial agreements were not only made public, but folemnly confirmed by fome of the above ceremonies; fuch is the frailty of human na- ture, that even thefe were found infufficient to fecure female fidelity; and hence, perhaps, arofe the cuf- tom of purchafmg a wife from her relations for afti- pulated price, and a few prefents made to the bride herfelf ; a cuftom alfo of great antiquity, for we find that Jacob ferved feven years for Rachel, and Sec- hem told the brethren of Dinah that he would give whatever dowry they mould aik for their lifter. — This method of marrying, as it augmented the pow- er of a hufband over his wife, gave him greater iecu- rity for her good behaviour; for by the purchafe fhe became his Have, and on the leaft fufpicion he could confine her, or turn her away at pleafure, upon proof of her guilt. But whatever were the ceremonies of marriage in the primitive ages, it appears plain that the commerce between tup fexes began early to be regulated, as all the molt ancienttraditions agree in afcribing that regu- lation to their tirft fovereigns and law-giver. Menes, who is faid to have been the firft king of Egypt, is alfo laid to Lave been the firft that introduced matrimony OF WOMEN. 193 and fixed the laws concerning it. The Greeks give the honour of this indention to Cecrops; the Chi- nefe to Fo Hi, their firft fovereign; the Peruvians to Manco-capac, and the Jews to God Almighty himfelf ; nor does it only feem that matrimony was early introduced, but that its firft introdu&ion among moil nations, was that of one woman only being dei- tined to one men, as the fables of antiquity when traced as far back as pofiible feem to hint'; Jupiter had only his Juno; Pluto his Proferpine; Ofiris his Ills, and the flolen amours of the gods and heroes of antiquity, and the conduct of their wives upon difco- vering them, feem all plainly to evince that then- legal right of commerce with the fex extended onl) to one woman. The cafe, however, fcems to have been otherwife among the Jews, for as early as the days of Adam, Lamech, once of his fons, introdu- ced the practice of marrying a plurality of wives; a practice which was imitated by the neighbouring nations, till in time it became almofl univerfal. From the earliefl ages of antiquity men were accuf- tomed to feaft and rejoice together on memorable events, and on the acquifitionof any thing they rec- koned valuable : fetting alide the value (lamped on a woman by love, which we have reafon to believe had not, in the times we are (peaking of, arifcn to any great degree of refinement, fhe was a valuable acquilition, as {he flood in the quality of a fervant as well as a wife; in which lafl quality {lie gave her huf- band alfo a profpecl: of raifmg up children, to perpe- tuate his name, and affifl him in old age, circumflan- ces greatly valued in the primitive ages: but befides thefe, a wife was valuable on another account; while lociety was in its infancy, almofl every family fupported feuds and animofities againfl, and was at war with, its neighbours, about the diftributicn and 194 THE HISTORY defence of property, and it was only by the alliance of feveral families together, that they could fome- times be able to fupport themfelves againft their more powerful rivals ; fuch alliances, and fach additional ftrength to families, came generally by marrying, and on all thefe accounts, marriage was confidered as an important tranfaction, and feafts were early inftituted at its celebration ; which feafts, we have reafon to believe, were frequently the whole of the ceremony ; ferved to make the contract: public, and alfo in place of thole writings which in our times af- certain the right and privileges of the parties. La- ban gathered his friends together and made a marri- age-feail, when he deceived Jacob by giving him Leah inftead of Rachel ; but as this feaft is not men- tioned as any thing new or uncommon, we have rea- fon to fuppofe they had been ufed long before that time. Sampfon, when he married Delilah, made a feaft which lafted feven days, for fo ufed the young men to do. The Babylonians carried marriage- feafts to fuch an extravagant length, that many peo- ple having ruined their families by the expence, a mmptuary law was made to reflrain them. Among the ancient Scandinavians, almoft every public trans- action was attended with a feaft, and that at the celebration of a marriage was a fcene of revelry and drunkennefs, which was frequently productive of the molt fatal effects. The Phrygians too had fump- tuous entertainments on thefe occafions ; entertain- ments alfo of a like nature were common among the Jews in the time of our Saviour ; and they are at this day given almoft by all nations, but more par- ticularly bythofe among whom the excefs of polite- nefs has not banifhed merriment and ruftic hofpi- tality. OF WOMEN. 195 In an early period of the world, the intereft, or fometimes the inclination, of parents, when they, had lived in a friendly manner with, and contracted a regard for, their neighbours, naturally prompted them to wifh, that a marriage between their children might take place to itrengthen the alliance of the families ; and as this wifh was frequently formed before the parties were of an age proper for fuch a junction, they fell upon a method of fecuring them to each other; by what is called in the lacred 'wri- tings, betrothing, which was agreeing on a price to be paid for the bride, the time when it fhould be paid, and when (lie fhould be delivered into the hands of her hufband. There were, according to the Talmudifts, three ways of betrothing : the firft, by a written contract ; the fecond, by a verbal agree- ment, accompanied with a piece of money; and the third, by the parties coming together and living as hufband and wife ; which laft they could not pro- perly call betrothing, it was marriage itfelf. The written contract: was in the following words : " On fuch a day, month, and year, A. the fon of B. has faid to D. the daughter of E. be thou my fpoufe according to the law of Mofes and of the Ifraelites, and I will give thee as a dowry for thy virginity the fum of two hundred Suzims, as it is ordered by our law ; and the faid D. hath promifed to be his fpoufe upon the conditions aforefaid, which the faid A. doth hereby bind himfelf, and all that he hath, to the very cloak upon his back ; engages himfelf to love, honour, feed, clothe, and protect her, and to perform all that is generally implied in favour' of the Ifraelitilh wives," i 9 6 THE HISTORY The verbal agreement was made in the pretence of a fufficient number of witneffes, by the man, fay- ing to the woman, Take this money as a pledge, that at fuch a time, I will take thee to be my wife. A woman who was by any of thefe methods betroth- ed or bargained for, was almoft in every refpeft by the law confidered as already married, bound nearly by the fame ties and obligations, and enjoyed nearly the fame privileges and immunities, as me who ac- tually lived and cohabited with her huiband. OF WOMEN. i 97 CHAPTER XXVI. The fame Subjecl continued. .ITHERTO our obfervations on the origin and progrefs of the matrimonial compact have, for the molt part, been either general, or confined to periods enveloped in the darknefs of the remoteft antiquity : we mall now endeavour to trace the cere- monies and ufages of that compact in a more parti- cular manner, as well as through periods which be- gin to be better known, and where, being furnifhed with more hiflorical facts, we fhall have the lefs oc- cailon to fupply their place by probability and con- jecture. Though, from what we have already obferved, it is highly premmable, that the Ifraelites had no marriage-ceremony before the legiilation of Mofes, except fending a few prelents, or feafting together, to make the affair public ; yet the Rabbles, ever fertile in imagination, have told us the contrary: " Marriages, fay they, were even then agreed upon by the parents and relations of both fides ; which being done, the bridegroom was introduced to his bride, prefents were mutually exchanged, the contract ligned before witnefTes; and the bride, hav- ing remained feme time with her relations, was fent away to the habitation of her hufband in the night ; with finging, dancing, and the found of mufical inihumems." vol. it. C r r 9 8 THE HISTORY This ceremonial bears fo ftrong a refemblance to that which the fame Rabbies tell us was inflituted by Mofes, that it is plain they have either taken it from that, or Mofes, if he really did institute any ceremony, mud have taken his pattern from the ancient ufages and cufloms of his country ; as we may fee by the following ceremonial, which they have afcribed to that legiflator. When the day appointed for celebrating the wedding was come, which was generally Friday for a maid, and Thurfday for a widow, the contract of marriage was read in the prefence of, and figned by at leaft ten witneiles, who were free and of age. The bride who had taken care to bathe herfelf the night before, appear- ed in all her fplendour, but veiled, in imitation of Rebecca, who veiled herfelf when {lie came in fight of Ifaac; fhe was then given to the bridegroom by her parents, in words to this purpole : " Take her, according to the law of Mofes ;" and he received her, by faying, " I take her according to that law." Some blellings were then pronounced upon the young couple, both by the parents and the reft of the company.* The virgins fung a marrhge-fong ; the company then partook of a repaft, the mofl mag- nificent that the parties could afford? after which the parties began a dance, the men round the bride- groom, the women round the bride; and this dance they pretended, was of divine inftitution, and an * The blefftngs or prayer? generally ran in this ftyle : " Blefs- ed art thou, O Lord of heaven and earth, who haft created man in thine own likenefs, and haft appointed woman to be his part- ner and companion ! BlefTed art thou, who filled Sion with joy for the multitude of her children ! BlefTed art thou, who fendeft gladnefs to the bridegroom and his bride! who hall ordained for them love, joy, tender nefs, peace, and mutual affection. plealed to blefs, not oniy this couple, but Judah and Jerufalem with longs of joy, and praife for the joy thou givelt them, by the multitude of their fons and of their daughters." OF WOMEN. i 99 efTential part of the ceremony. The bride was then carried to the nuptial bed, and the bridegroom left in the chamber with her; when the company again returned to their feafting and rejoicing, and the Rab- bies inform us, that this feafting, when the bride was a widow, laded only three days, but feven if fhe was a virgin ; a law, which was fo obligatory, that if a man married feveral wives in one dav, he was bound to allow a feaft of feven days to each of them, exactly in the order in which they were mar- ried. In periods later than thefe we are now confidering the ceremonies of marriage were, according to the Rabbies, confiderably changed. Both the man and woman were led to the houie of marriage by their neareft friends, where ten at leaft were to be pre- fent ; there the bill of dowry being publicly ratified, the man ipoke thus to the woman : " Be thou a wife to me, according to the law of Mofes, and I will worlhip and honour thee, according to the word of God, and will feed and govern thee, according to the cuftom of thofe who worfhip, honour, and go- vern their wives faithfully. I give thee, for dowry of thy virginity, fifty fhekels." Having given this account of the Mate of matri- mony among the Ifraelites, let us now turn to the other nations of antiquity, which flourifhed in the fame periods we have been reviewing. It has been already mentioned, that the Egyptians attributed the introduction of matrimony, and the regulation of it by laws, to Menes, faid to have been the Cham of the fcripture, who was one of the fans of Noah, and their firft fovereign. That matrimony was early inilituted among a people who took the lead in almoil every thing that tended to improve fociety, we have 200 THE HISTORY little room to doubt : but though, as will appear afferward, we have fome account of the feveral ties and obligations of the married ftate among them, we are entirely ignorant of the manner in which their marriages were folemnized. In this article, the hif- •tory of the Philiflines, Canaamtes, Carthaginians, and many other nations, is involved in the fame ob- fcurity. Of the Philiflines, however, we may ob- ferve, that their ideas of marriage muff have been exceedingly crude and indigeiled, as the father-in- law of Sampfon gave away his wife Delilah to ano- ther, upon his being fome time abfent from her. The ancient Affyrians feem more thoroughly to have fettled and digeiled the affairs of marriage, than any of their contemporaries. Once in every year they affembled together all the girls that were marriageable, when the public crier put them up to fale, one after another. For her whofe figure was agreeable, and whofe beauty was attracting, the rich drove againft each other, who mould give the higheft price ; which price was put into a public flock, and diflributed in portions to thofe whom nature had lefs liberally accomplifhed, and whom nobody would accept without a reward. After the moil beautiful were difpofed of, thefe were alfo put up by the public crier, and a certain fum of money offered with each, proportioned to what it was thought me flood in need of to bribe a hufband to accept her. When a man offered to accept of any of them, on the terms upon which fhe was expofed to fale, the crier proclaimed, that fuch a man had propofed to take fuch a woman, with fuch a fum of money along with her, provided none could be found who would take her with lefs ; and in this manner the fale went on, till fhe was at lafl allotted to him who offered to take her with the fmallefl portion. — OF WOMEN. 201 When this public fale was over, the purchafers of thofe that were beautiful were not allowed to take them away, till they had paid down the price agreed on, and given fufficient fecurity that they would marry them ; nor, on the other hand, would thofe who were to have a premium for accepting of fuch as were lefs beautiful, take a delivery of them, till their portions were previoufly paid. It is probable, that this fale brought together too great multitudes of people from inconvenient diflances, to the detri- ment, perhaps, of agriculture and commerce, and that ftrangers could not give fufFicient fecur!ty to fulfil the bargains they had made ; for a law was af- terwards iffued, prohibiting the inhabitants of dif- ferent diftricls from intermarrying with each other, and ordainino, that huibands mould not ufe their wives ill ; a vague kind of ordonnance, which (hews how imperfectly legifiation was underflood among thofe people. Hiftory has not, fo far as we know, given us any account of what was meant farther by marrying the woman, after having thus publicly bargained for her : if we may judge, however, from the cuftoms of the times, and of the neighbouring nations, we may fuppofe, that their further marriage conilfted only in taking home to their houfes the wives they had bought, and calling their friends together to feaft with them, and be witneffes of their fulfilling the engagement they had entered into. If, between the time of the fale and this public folemnizaiion, the parties happened to differ, or if they could not agree afterwards, the man was obliged to refund the money he had received, and they parted with mu- tual confent. This being the cafe with thofe who received money with their wives, it has likewiie been fuppofed, that thofe who paid money for them, had 202 THE HISTORY a power of demanding it again, on difagreement and feparation : but of fuch power we have no a- count, nor is it probable that it exifted ; for the money fo paid, being put into a public (lock, and diftributed to fuch a variety of hands, became thereby totally irredeemable. Thefe hints concerning matrimony among the Affyrians plainly prove, that the proper regulation of it was an object, of their mod fcrious attention ; but another circumftance proves this in a frill ftronger manner. The Ally nans had a court, or tribunal, whole only bufinefs was to difpofe of young women in marriage, and to fee the laws of that union properly executed. What thefe law's were, or how the execution of them was enforced,, are circumfhinces which have not been handed down to us; but the erecting a court folely for the purpofe of taking cognizance of them, fuggefts an idea that they were many and various. We have already feen the manner in which the ancient Scythians, fo much famed for natural affec- tion and fidelity, ratified their covenants with each other, and have reafon to fuppofe, that marriage was one of the covenants fo ratified : when w r e turn to the other nations, in the times under review, we find no account of their marriage-ceremonies till we come to the Greeks ; and this lilence on the fubject gives us reafon to fuppofe, that in many countries they really had no other than the f.mple mode of carrying home a bride, and making a feaft for her reception; which we are the more inclined to believe, when we confider the circumllantial detail we have, of many of the public ceremonies of Da- rius, of Cyrus, and of Alexander; that we are not only told of their being married, but have alio an account of the time when, and the perfons to whom, but not the leaf! account of the manner how; which OF WOMEN. 203 the hiftorians of the times Would fcareely have omit- ted, had their marriages been celebrated with pomp and public ceremony. Though Cecrops, the firft king of the Greeks, is fuppofed to have lived nearly about the time of Mo- fes, and to have inflituted marriage among his peo- ple; yet during the whole of the heroic ages, which lafted many centuries after Moles, they appear to have been fo rude and uncultivated, that we cannot fuppofe they had brought this inftitution to any per- fection, either in its ceremonies or its laws. Whe- ther Cecrops ordained that the Greeks lhould follow the euftoms of the Egyptians in marrying, or went a Hep farther, and fixed new ceremonies of his own invention, we know not: we are, however, infor- med, that at a marriage, even in the heroic ages, there was a meeting of relations and of neighbours ; who, in order to recall to memory the times of lim- plicity, when their anceftors lived almoft entirely on the fpontanepus productions of the earth, preferred the new-married couple with a ba/ket of acorns mix- ed with bread; a cuflom, which, perhaps, gave birth to the nuptial fcattering of nuts among the Romans, who borrowed almoft every ufage of the Greeks. At this meeting, the Greeks, according to the hofpitality of lincultiv ited people, had feailings and rejoicings; as appears from i Helens being invi- ted to the nuptials of Pirithous, when he helped him to kill a great number of Centaurs, who in their cups h .1 offered violence to the female gueftsat the v. d- ding; from the ftory of Attis, the fon of Cybele, who was by Mi. las to have been married to his daughter, had not Cybele, prevented it by breaking into the city, and ; a frenzy to fall upon all thole who allured at the? ceremony of the nuptials-. Some are of opinion, that pledges and fecurities 204- THE HISTORY were, by the inftiiution of Cecrops, mutually inter- changed between the parties ; but this, and almoft every other circumftance relative to the mode of mar- rying in the heroic ages, is only conjecture; we mall, therefore, proceed to give fome account of that mode, in periods when the hiftory of the Greeks, being lefs involved in fable is more di ft i nelly known. As foon as the confent of the parents and relations was obtained, the parties were fometimes betrothed, in thefe words : " I give you this my. daughter to make you the father of legitimate children." After Which the young couple plighted their faith to each other by a kifs, or joining together of their right hands, a cuftom obferved by the Grecians in all pub- lic agreements. The Thebans plighted their faith to each other at the monument of Iolaus, who, after he had been advanced to heaven was fuppofed to take care of the affairs of love. The Athenian virgins, when marriageble, prefented bankets of little curioii- ties to Diana, to obtain leave to depart from her trains, fhe being efleemed the peculiar patron of maidens; and before her fhrine at Brauron, an Athe- nian village, in order to appeafe her for intending to depart from the ftate of virginity in which me fo much delighted. The Bceotians and Locrians of both fexes offered; before their nuptials, a facrifice to Euclia, or Diana, to avert her refentment agamft them, for changing from a fingle to a married life. Thefe facrifkes confifted in confecrated wafers, cakes, and animals, which were flain on her altars. Seve- ral other of the gods and goddefTes had facrifkes of- fered at their altars on this occafion, as Jupiter, Ju- no, Minerva, and Venus, who was generally invo- ked with peculiar fervency, as being the goddefs of love. The Lacedemonians had an ancient ftatue of this goddefs, to whom it was incumbent upon, all OF WOMEN. 205 mothers to offer faerifices on the marriage of their daughters. The multiplicity of male and female deities among the Greeks, who were concerned in the affair of love, made the invocations and facrifices on this occafion a tedious affair. Even the Fates were by no means to be forgot, but the favour of the Graces was purchafed by the mod ample offer- ings. The time appointed for thefe ceremonies was commonly the day before marriage, when the par- ties having cut off fome of their hair, prefented it to fuch deities as they mod regarded, or to whom they thought themfelves under the greateffc obligations. Befides thefe facrifices preparatory to the marria- ges,, other victims were offered at the folemnization of it ; anci on this occafion, as foon as the victims were flam, they were opened, the gall taken out, and thrown behind the altar, to intimate that all gall and bitternefs mould be thrown behind the par- ties, before they enter into the married Hate. The entrails were then carefully infpected by the footh- fayers, if they declared that any thing unlucky ap- peared in them, the nuptials were either delayed or broke off; and the fame thing took place if any ill omen happened, during the celebration of them, as was the cafe at the marriage of Clitophon with Cal- ligone, where, an eagle having fnatched a piece of the flefh of the viclim from the altar, the whole company dilmiffed full of terror and confternation. Fortunate omen 5 gave great joy, and the mod for- tunate of all others, was a pair of turtles feen in the air, as thofe birds were reckoned the trued emblem of conjugal love and fidelity; but if one of them was (ten. alone, it infallibly denoted feparation and all the ills attending an -unhappy marriage. We cannot vol. n. £) d 2o6 THE HISTORY help observing here, to what a train of groundless fears and apprehennons fuperftition fubjects her vo- taries, and how eafily they may be deceived, in taking for the denunciations of heaven, the frauds and tricks of their enemies, as fometimes happened to the Greeks ; if what is reported be true, that fuch as were averfe to marriage, or wilhed the par- ties to be unhappy, fometimes took a fingle turtle along with them, and letting it fly, either put an e::d. to the ceremony, or filled the hearts of the con- tracting parties with terror and aitonifhment ; but we muft remark alfo, that thofe who wifhed well to the young couple, fometimes carried a pair of turtles along with them, and by their flight diffufed joy and gladnefs into all the company, and particularly to thofe who weKe the moil interefled in the fate of the marriage. The bride and bridegroom were dreiTed, and adorned with garlands of herbs and flow r ers,and cakes made of fefame, a plant remarkable for its fruitful- nefs, were plentifully distributed among the com- pany. The houfe of the bridegroom was likewife adorned with garlands: a peftle was tied to the door of it, a maid carried a iieve, and the bride an ear- then veflel with barley, all of which were emblems of her future employment. She was conduced in the evening to the houfe of her hufband in a chariot, feated between the hufband and one of his relations; fervants carryinglightedtorch.es immediately before, and fingers and dancers preceding the whole caval- cade : and when the bride alighted from the cha- riot, the axle-tree of it was burnt, to fignify that there was no method left for her to return back. — As foon as the yojing couple entered the houfe, figs an4 other fruits were thrown upon their head;;, to denote plenty ; and a fumptuous entertaiment was OF WOMEN. :c; ready for them to partake of, to which all the rela- tions on both fides were invited ; daring the feaft, the deities that prefided over marriage were invoked, and honoured with mufic and dancing. The chief intention of this feaft, according to the Greek au- thors, was to make the marriage publicity known, and on that account was an eflential part of the ceremony. The dancing ended, the married couple were conveyed to their bed ; previous to which, the bride bathed her feet in water, always brought from the fountain Cailirhoe, on a fuperftkious opinion of fome fecret virtues it contained ; this done, fhe was lighted to bed, by a number of torches, according to her quality ; round one of thefe torches, the bride's mother tied her own hair-lace. Alltherelations of both parties alnited at thefe ceremonies, and to be abfent from them was confidered as the great eft mif- fortune. It was alio the privilege of the mother to light the torches, a privilege of which the Grecian matrons were exceedingly tenacious. The young- couple being now left together, were, by the laws of Athens, obliged to eat a quince, after which the bridegroom proceeded to loofe the bride's girdle, the young men and maidens (landing at the door fmging epithalamia, the men making a great noife with their feet and voices to drown the cries of the bride. This done, the company retired, and re- turned in the morning, to falute the new married couple, to ling epithalamia again at the door of their bed-chamber. Thefe ceremonies being fmimed, the bride pre- fented to her hufoand a garment, and prefents were made both to the bridegroom and bride, by their relations, which confided in fuch kinds of houiehold 208 THE HISTORY furniture as was then made ufe of, and were carri- ed in great flate to their houfeby a company of wo- men, preceded by a boy in white apparel, with a lighted torch in his hand, and between him and the women, a perion with a baiket of flowers, as cuf- tomary at the Grecian proceilions. Such were the moll: material ceremonies at the celebration of a Greek marriage. A variety of others are frequently alluded to in their authors ; but as they would be tedious to relate, and feemed to have been lefs elfential, we iliall pafs over them in ulence, only remarking, that in fome of their ilates, they invoked the crow, to put them in mind of the affection they ought to bear to each other, and it was a common proverb among them, when they heard that fuch a woman was married to a man whom they prefumed would not ufe her well, to fay, She will need to invoke the crow. At Sparta, marriages were conducted in a very different manner. When the preliminaries were fettled by a female match-maker, (lie fhaved the bride, dreifed her in men's clothes, and left her fitting upon a mattrafs; the bridegroom ftole pri- vately to her, and having (laid a iliort time, ilole as privately away, a conduct which the laws of that republic obliged a married couple to obferve, in their intercourfe with each other, through the whole of their lives. Having thus far traced the rites of marriage, we think it necelTary to obferve, that the detail we have given has not been folely with a view to exhi- bit the ceremonies with which it is in different coun- tries celebrated, but alfo with an intention to difco- ver, whether it is of divine or human inflitution. OF WOMEN. 209 In the courfe of our narration we have feen, that the Jews attributed the inftitution of marriage to the Almighty himfelf, when he gave Adam a female for his companion ; but as the fcriptures mention no fuch inftitution, we may with equal reafon fuppofe, that he initituted marriage among the other animals, when he created them male and female. We have further feen, that the Rabbies attributed the cere- monial to be obferved at matrimonial engagements, to Mofes, who was divinely infpired ; but Mofes himfelf mentions no fuch thing, and has only in his code of legiflation promulgated a few laws for the better regulation of the conduct of married people towards each other ; and as no legiflator iifues his laws to regulate what is properly regulated already, we may fuppofe from the laws which Mofes made upon this occafion, that, before his time, marriage was in fo imperfect a Hate, that we cannot reafon- ably conceive it to have, been the inftitution of an all-perfect Being. In the profecution of our enquiry among the other primitive nations, we have icarcely discovered al- moft any of them even pretending, that marriage was the inftitution of their gods ; but of their firft legifla- tors, as Menes in Egypt, and Cecrops in Greece; nor have we found, even among the Jews themfelves, that either prophet, or prieft, were concerned in the celebration of marriage, though they managed every thing that was confidered as facred, or of divine inftitution: the fame was the cafe among the other primitive nations; they had priefts, to whom the cele- bration of every holy rite was committed; but their magiftrates, and the relations of the contracting par- ties, were the only people who concerned themfelves about marriage; a ftrong prefumption, that it was 210 THE HISTORY not confidcred in any other light than as a civil compact. Having preraifed thus much at prefent, on a fub- jeet which we (hall have occafion to difcufs more ful- ly afterwards, before we proceed any farther in our endeavours to invefligate the ceremonies by which men and women were joined together in matrimony, we mall take a veiw of the duties, obligations, and cuftomsof thatftate; and as the manner in which wives are acquired, often determines the manner in which they are ufed by their hufbands, let us inquire into the former, before we proceed to the latter. Wherever the rights of nature remain unviolated byoppreffion, women have a power of difpofmg of themfelves in matrimony; where thefe rights are a little infringed, the confent of parents, relations, or guardians is neceiTary; where they are totally oblit- erated, they are difpofed of by their kindred, or even by the magiflrates, to the higheft bidder. The legiflature of almoft every country has interdicted fuch women as are not of age from difpofmg of themfelves ; and it is only in Europe, where the rights of nature remain fo far untouched, that even inch women as are of age enjoy this power. It is true, that a woman who is more than fourteen, if flie get married without the confent of her parents, is fo bound, that the parents cannot render the en- gagement void ; but they may hinder it from taking place, if they are informed of her intention, till fhe has completed her twenty-firfl year, which they cannot do afterwards, although their confent is even then generally afked from paternal duty and affection. Among the Greeks, Romans, ?nd feveral other nations, a woman never obtained any power of chufing for herfelf a partner in wedlock, but was through life entirely at the difpofal of her parents OF WOMEN. 211 and guardians. When the Roman empire was overturned, and the feudal fyflem erefted on its ruins, that fyftem ordained, that no daughter of a vaffal could be given in marriage without the confent of the liege lord, as well as of her own parents ; and, at this day, the daughters of the great, even in the politeft countries of Europe, can fcarcely be faid to enjoy any dilpdfmg power of themfelves, being fre- quently ftipulated for in a treaty of peace, or court- ed and even married by proxy to a man whom they never faw, and confequently cannot tell v/hether they mall approve of or not. But of all the modes of getting pofTeflion of a wife, after the firft ages of barbarity were over, that of purchafmg her was the mofl common ; it was the practice of the Eafr. from time immemorial, and con- tinues fo to this day. We have feen that Abraham bought Rebecca for his fon; that Jacob, deftitute of any thing to give, ferved Laban fourteen years for his two daughters; and that Sechem, when in love with Jacob's daughter, was determined not to break off the match for whatever price her friends might fix upon her: and we now add, the fame cuftom is mentioned in a variety of places of Homer; that it was praftifed in Thrace, in India, Spain, Germany, and Gaul, and at this day in Hindoftan, China, Tartar/, Tonquin, F, key; by the Moors of Africa, and the fa s . a variety of other parts of the world. In Gaul, during the fifth century, the princefs Clotilda, daughter of Gondebaud, king of the Burgundians, being married to Clovis by proxy, the proxy prefented her with a fol and a de- nier, as the price of her virginity, a cuftom which exiiled among that people ' yard. This cuftom, though under a different form, maintained itfclf flij] longer in England ; in the time of Edward 212 THE HISTOID the Third, Richard de Neville gave twenty palfreys to the king to obtain his requeft to Ifola Biffet, that fhe {hould take him for a hufband ; and Roger Fitz- Walter gave three good palfreys, to have the king's letter to Roger Bertram's mother, that (he (hould marry him. In thofe times, when the kings of Eng- land exercifed fo unlimited a power over their fub- jects, the king's requeft, or his letter, amounted to an abfolute command, and the money paid to obtain thefe, was as literally the purchafe of a wife, as if it had been paid for at a public fale. In Timor, an iiland in the Indian Ocean, it is faid, that parents fell their children in order' to purchafe more wives. In Circaffia, women are reared anil improved in beauty and every alluring art, only for the purpofe of being fold. The prince of the Cir- caflians demanded from the prince of Mingrelia an hundred flaves loaded with tapeftry, an hundred cows, as many oxen, and the fame number of hor- fes, as the price of his lifter. In New Zealand, we meet with a cuftom which may be called purchafmg a wife for a night, and which is a proof that thofe mull alfo be purchafed who are intended for a longer duration ; and what to us is a little furprifing, this temporary wife, infilled upon being treated with as much deference and refpecl, as if flie had been mar- ried for life ; but in general, this is not the cafe in other countries, for the wife who is purchafed, is always trained up in the principles of ilavery ; and, being innured to every indignity and mortification from her parents, fhe expects no better treatment from her hufband. There is little difference in the condition of her who is put to fale by her fordid parents, and her who is difpofed of in the fame manner by the OF WOMEN, 213 magistrates, as a part of the date's property. Befides thofe we have already mentioned in this work, the Thracians put the faireft of their virgins up to public fale, and the ma^'ilnues cf Crete had the fole power of dhtiflfig pawners in marriage for their young men ; and, in the execution of this power, the affection and interefl of the parties was totally overlooked, and the good of die (late the only ob- ject of attention ; in purfuing which, they always allotteJ th„ ftfbngeft and beft made of the fex to one another, that they might raife up a generation of warriors, or of women fit to be the mothers of warriors. In the primitive ages, when the number of the human race was but few, and when every one might confequently appropriate to himfdf, and cultivate fuch grounds as lay mod convenient for Ms ufe; when his wife and children, as foon as they were able, affifted in this and every other kind of labour; a wife was rather an advantage than otherwife, and therefore fhe was bought, both as an inflrnment of propagation, and an aiililani: in the occupations of life. But as focieties were formed, lands and goods of every kind appropriated, and women became, perhaps, lefs induflrious, every addition to' a family became an additional ex pence; hence, iuilead of a man paying a price for his wife, it was necefTary he ihould receive fomething along with her: marriage, therefore, became a compact between a J»an and one or more women, according to the cuitom of the country; to join their flocks, interefb, and perfons together, that they might be the better ena- bled tc bring up a family, and carry on the trade or bufmefs by which they were to acquire fubfillence; and the flock or fortune of a woman fo married, v* as called her portion or dowry, and in procefs of time vol. 11. E e n 4 THE HISTORY came to be fettled upon her as a fecurity from want, if her hufband fhould die before her. As the Egyptians were fuppofed to be the firft people who arrived at any degree of cultivation, among them we meet with the firft: account of por- tions. Pharaoh gave the city of Gazer, as a por- tion with his daughter, to Solomon king of Ifrael. We do not recollect any account of portions given by any other of the ancients, till we come to the Greeks; when we find Phares of Chalcedon, ordering, by a law, that the rich fhould give portions with their daughters to the poor, but receive none with fuch wives as were married to their fons ; a law, which he had founded on the cuftom of his country ; for Helen brought to Menelaus the kingdom of Sparta, and afterwards, in default, we fuppofe, of male heirs, the daughters of feveral Grecian kings car- ried the kingdoms of their fathers, as dowries to their hufbands. But although this was the cafe with regard to kingdoms, yet the contrary feems in other cafes to have been the general practice, as we learn from the ftory of Danaus, whofe daughters having rendered themfel ves infamous, their father caufed a proclamation to be made, that he would not demand any prefents from thofe who mould marry them; and from the conduct of Agamemnon to Achilles, when he tells him, that he will give him one of his daughters in marriage, without requiring any pre- fents. The prefents here mentioned were of two kinds ; the firft was given to the father of the lady, as a bribe or price to engage him to give his daugh- ter to the fuitor; the fecond, to the lady herfclf, in order to gain her affection: and fome authors are of opinion, that the prefents thus made to the father and the daughter, were joined together to compofe the fortune of the latter, which was fettled upon her OF WOMEN. 215 as her dower; {o that if the hufband did not lite- rally purchafe a bride, he bribed her to his arms, and to an independence, with his own money. As the principles of equity and of juitice began to be underftood, it was eafy to difcover, that women who had affifled their fathers and hu (bands in acquir- ing the goods of fortune, fliouid not be given in marriage by the firfl without portions, nor left by the laft at death without fettlements as an equivalent for thefe portions ; hence the cuftom of receiving" a fortune with a bride, and fettling at leaft an equiva- lent upon her and her heirs, iufinuated itlelf into every country, in proportion as its inhabitants be- came civilized, and acquainted with the natural rights of mankind, » 2i6 THE HISTORY CHAPTER XXVII. The fame Subject continued. 3E SIDES the methods of purchafmg wives, and agreeing with them by a mutual compact, polygamy and concubinage are circumftances which greatly influence the conduct of a hufband towards them. Polygamy, or the cnllom of manying a plurality of women, began in a very early period of the world. Lamech, one of the fons of Adam, took two wives, and from that time forward it is probable, that all the inhabitants of the Eafl follow- ed his example, and took as many as their inclina- tions and circumftances would allow of. From the manners of the primitive ages, we may fuppofe, that concubinage followed foon after polygamy, though we have no difrinct account of it till the time of Abraham, in whofe hiftory we are prefented with the ceremony of making a concubine ; a ceremony which to us at this period appears not lefs lingular than unnatural. Sarai, Abraham's wife, being bar- ren, takes her handmaid Hagar, prcfents her to her hufband, and prays him to go in unto her, and raife up feed to Sarai. Although we are not here told of any compulfion on the part of Abraham, it would, nevertheless, fcem that this was not altogether a voluntary act of his wife, as it is fo natural for wo- men to fubmit with reluctance, to allow another to fhare the embraces of their hufbaods, which c \ tn now in Hindollan, where the practife has iiibfifted time immemorial, they are brought to with the ^reatefi: difficulty; as we find by cue of the laws of OF WOMEN. 217 that people, which ordains, " that wherever a huf. band, on his contracting iecond marriage, may give his wife to pacify her, is to be reckoned her own property." Folygamy and concubinage having in procefs of time become falhionable vices, the number of wo- men kept by the great became at laft more an article ^ of grandeur and date, than a mode of fatiilying the animal appetite : Solomon had threeicore queens, and fourfcore concubines, and virgins without num- ber. Maimon tells us, that among the Jews a man might have as many wives as he pleafed, even to the number of a hundred, and that it was not in their power to hinder 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 one month, though with regard to con- cubines he might do as he pleaied. It would be an endlefs talk to enumerate all the nations which practifed polvgamv ; we (hall, there- fore, only mention a few, where the practice feemed to vary fomething from the common method. The ancient Sabceans are not only faid to have had a plu- rality, but even a community of wives ; a thing drongly inconfiflent with that fpirit of jealoufy which prevails among tne men in moft countries where polygamy is allowed. The ancient Germans were l'o ftrt£t monogamies *, that they reckoned it a fpecies of polygamy for a woman to marry a fecond hufband, even after the death of the fird. " A woman, fay they, has but one life, and one body, therefore fhould have but one hufband ;" and be- fides, they added, " that fhe who knows (he is ne- * Monogamy is having only one wife. 218 THE HISTORY ver to have a fecond hu{band, will the more value and endeavour to promote the happinefs and preferve the life of the firft." Among the Heruli this idea was carried farther, a woman was obliged to flran- gle herfelf at the death of her hufband, left fhe fhould afterwards marry another ; fo deteftable was polygamy in the North, while in the Eaft it is one of thefe rights which they moil of all others efteem, and maintain with fuch inflexible firmnefs, that it will probably be one of the laft of thofe that it will wrefl out of their hands. The Egyptians, it is probable, did not allow of polygamy, and as the Greeks borrowed their infti- tutions from them, it was alfo forbid by the laws of Cecrops, though concubinage feems either to have been allowed or overlooked ; for in the OdyfTey of Homer we find Ulyffes declaring himfelf to be the fon of a concubine, which he would probably not have done, had any great degree of infamy been annexed to it. In fome cafes, however, polygamy was allowed in Greece, from a miftaken notion that it would increafe population. The Athenians, once thinking the number of their citizens diminifhed, decreed that it fhould be lawful for a man to have children by another woman as well as by his wife ; befides this, particular inftances occur of fome who tranfgreffed the law of monogamy. Euripides is faid to have had two wives, who, by their conftant diiagreement, gave him a diflike to the whole fex ; a fuppofition which receives fome weight from thefe 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. OF WOMEN. 219 Socrates too had two wives, but the poor culprit had as much reafon to repent of his temerity as Eu- ripides. Polygamy feems not to have been entirely eradi- cated among the Chriftians in the fixth century, as we find it then enacted in the canons of one of their councils, that if any one is married to many wives he fhall do penance. Even the clergy themfelves, in this period, pra&ifed bigamy,* as we find it or- dained by another councir held at Narbonne, that fuch clergymen as were bigamiih, lliould only be prefbyters and deacons, and mould not be allowed to marry and confecrate. But our allonifhment is dill more excited, to find inftances of bigamy and polygamy fo late as the iixteenth century. The Ger- man reformers, though their declared intention was to conform literally to the precepts of the gofpel, were, neverthelefs, inclined to introduce bigamy as not inconfonant with thefe precepts. Philip, Land- grve of Keffe CafTel, wanted, in the lifetime of his wife, to marry a young lady, named Catharine Saal, and having fome fcrupies of confcience, though in every other refpect. a man of good fenfe, he feemed to believe, that, with the approbation of Luther and his brethren, the moral turpitude, if there was any in marrying two wives, might be let aiide ; he, therefore, represented to them his cafe, and told them, that his 'wife, the princefs of Savoy, was ugly, had bad fmeils about her, and often got drunk-; and that his conftitution was fuch as laid him under the frequent neceflity of gratifying his appetite ; and concluded, with fome artful hints, that , ;fs they grafted him a difpenfation to marry ano- * He who .marries two wives comaaits bigamy j if more than twjj it is polygamy. 220 THE HISTORY fiber Wife, he wcuid aik it of the pope. Luther, Upon this, convoked a fyndd of fix reformers, who found that polygamy had been praclifed by a Roman emperor, and by ieveral of the kings of the Franks ; that marriage was only a civil compact, and thai: the gofpel had no where in exprefs terms command- ed monogamy. They therefore figned a permillion for Philip to marry another wife, which he did foon after, with the feeming content of his flrit wife, the princefs of Savoy ; and thus Luther exercifed an authority which not even the molt enterprifmg of the popes, in the plenitude of their temporal and apof- tolic power, had ever dared to attempt. The famous Jack of Leyden, who is fo well known in hiftoryj pretending himfelf to be a prophet and a king, thought that in the article of women he had a right to follow the example of the kings of Ifrael, by taking as many wives as he thought proper, and actually proceeded fo far as to marry feventeen, and had he not been cut fliort in the career of his glory and fanaticifm, would probably have married twice that number. As the men have almoft in all countries arrogated to themfelves the power of making laws and of go- verning the women, they have in a great variety of places indulged in a plurality of wives, but almoft en- tirely debarred the women of a plurality of hufbands; there are, neverthelels, a few inftances of their en- joying this privilege, in places where their credit and iniluer.ee feem equal, if not fuperior to their huf- bands. We have already taken notice, that in fome provinces of ancient Media, the women had a plu- rality of hufbands, as the men in others had a plu- rality of wives. On the coaft of Malabar, a woman may have to the number of twelve hufbands ; and in OF WOMEN. 221 fome cantons of the Iroquois in North America, (he may have feveral. Father Tanchard reports, that. in the neighbourhood of Calicut, the women of the fuperior calls may have a variety of hufbands, and that fome of them actually have ten, all of whom they confider as (o many ilaves fubjecl: to their charms. A .gentleman who has lately vifited the kingdoms of Bautan and Thibet, obferves, that all the males of a family are frequently ferved by one wife. Such inftitutions, as they militate againit. the jurifdiclion of the men, and are deviations from the cuftom of almofl all countries, mu£ have originated from extraordinary and uncommon circumilaiiLes ; but what thefe were, or when they took place, are among the defiderata of hiftcry, which are bit in the abyfs of antiquity. It would only be treading the path, which hundreds have trod before us, fhculd we attempt here to recite all the arguments that have been ufed for and againit polygamy : the greateft part of thofe againil it, have always turned upon this hinge, that ail men are by nature equal, and have consequently an equal right to a wife; that the two fexes are nearly 'equal in number; and where one man marries a va- riety of women, there can be none left for fevera! others. We pretend not to favour polygamy, as we think it far from being either natural or political; but we cannot help obferviug one circumftance, which we do not recollect to have met with, that in the countries where it is practifcd, it becomes in fome degree neceilary, on account of the great num- ber of eunuchs, which retake the number of women greatly exceed tfrat'ofthe mt 1; ,fp that while . . infamous practice of making eunuJis ia allowed, polygamy mud be allowed ajfo, ornerwiie many "wo- men rmi&for ever want 1 vol. ir. 222 THE HISTORY Wherever women are confidered in fo mean a light as to be purchafed for money; wherever they have not influence or power to prevent their huf- bands from the practices of polygamy and concubi- nage, the treatment they receive from thefe huf- bands is regulated by the methods of acquiring them. A man thinks it hard, if he has not the liberty of difpofing of what he purchafed, when he is no lon- ger pleafed with it: hence, wherever wives are bought, they are generally divorced at pleafure; and what feems dill lefs natural, they are Sometimes bor- rowed and lent, like a piece of money, or of fur- nit; v-e. The Spartans Tent a wife with as much in- difference, as they would have done a horfe, or an afs; and the elder Cato is faid to have philofophifed himfelf into the fame cuftom. Where polygamy takes place, a hufnand is naturally deafened with the jealoufies and contentions of his wives; and on that account finds it neceffary to rule them more with the iron rod of a tyrant, than the love and affection of an hufband. Matrimony, in all nations, being a compact be- tween a male and female, for the purpofe of conti- nuing the fpecies, the fir ft: and mofl neceffary obli- gation of it }ias been thought fidelity; but, by va- rious people, this fidelity has been varioufiy under- stood: almoft all nations, however, ancient and modern, have agreed in requiring the mofl: abfolute unconditional fidelity on the part of the woman; while, on that of the man, greater latitude has been given. Thus we have feen, that though among the Jews a woman was ffrictly confined to . man, the maa was allowed as many wives and concubines as inclination dictated, and circumftaiu es ! lowed : nor was this the cafe only among the Jew% a the Babylonians, Aflyrians, Medes, OF WOMEN. 225 Perfrans, and indeed among the greater! part of the inhabitants of ths E&ft, where it continues to this day: but its prefent exi [fence is not confined to the Eait; it fpreads itfelf over feveral other parts of the globe, and is found even in North America; where the Moxes indulge in polygamy and concubinage, and at the fame time pimlfh, with the moll exem- plary feverity, the lead appearance of unchaility in their wives. Civilians;, who have endeavoured to affign a reafon for this difference, tell us, that the hand of feverity is held fo ciofely over the inconti- nence of married women, and fo much latitude given to the men, becaufe the men generally have the care cf providing for the offspring; and it would be hard that a man mould be obliged to provide for, and leave his eftate to children, which he could never with certainty call his own, were the fame indulgence given to the women as to the men. A fhorter way of explaining the matter, would have been, to have faid, that men are generally the framers and explain- ers of the law. Where women have fliared in the legiflations they have put their own fex on a more equal footing with ours. Where civil fociety has made little or no progrefs, the diftinguifhifig chara&eriit. ic of power is to tyran- nize over weaknefs, wherever it is found, or how- ever it is circumftanced ; nature having given to men ftronger bodies, and, in ibme refpect , per- haps, flronger minds than to Women, till taught by culture, and foftened by polhenefs, they have always made ufe of that itrength to enflave them. OF the truth of this, the whole hillory of every fa - vage period and people is a proof; but we ihall de- scend to fome particular instances; and the firft is, the almoft unlimited power veiled in the Jewiih huf- bands, of divorcing their wives at pleafure, without 224 THE 'HISTORY aligning any tolerable reafon for fo doing.. Ano* ther proof, was the trial of jealoufy, which we have already mentioned; a ceremony, the moft arbitrary and extraordinary that we are prefented with tm the annals of hiftory. When to thefe we add their power of annulling the moft folemn vows of their wives, and of turning them into menial fervants, there remains not the lead: {hadow of a doubt, that their conduct was unequitable and tyrannical. — But we Ihould be happy to have it in our power to fay, that they w r ere the only people \» ho behaved to their wives in this manner; which, however, was far from being the cafe; wives are confined by all the tyrants of the Eaft, enflaved byal' the ages of America and elfewhere; and the. read niy turn back to the chapter on the r. ;k and i ondition of women, to have the moil ample coi , :~ r : of thefe, and many other illegal practices, to which they were obliged to fubmit. But befides the illegal advantages, which power is ever apt to alfurae, when oppoled to weaknefs ; as men were almoft every where the lawgivers, moll of the legal advantages of matrimony were alio on their fide. Whoever among the Jews had married a v\ ife, could, not, on any account, be forced to leave her for the fpace of one year. Almoft every where, to command and to rule, are powers placed in the hands of the husband. Among the Romans, even in their moft polifhed ft ate, in certain cafes, the huf- band might proceed fo far as to punifli his wife by death. Amongft almoft every lavage people, whip- ping, and even death itfelf, are frequently inflicted by an enraged husband. In a council of the Chris- tian prelates and clergy, held in the year 400, it was decreed, that if any clergyman's wife had tinned, OF WOMEN. 225 her husband fliould keep her bound, and rafting in his houfe; only he fliould not take away her life. The Brazilians take as many wives as they think proper, difmifs them when they find it convenient, and punifh. their incontinence with death. In Eu- rope, the power of a husband is considerably exten- ded by the laws of the gofpel, and of the conftitution, both over the perfon and property of his wife ; but this power is generally executed with fo much lenity arid indulgence that a ftranger, on feeing a fpoufe and his loving rib together, would be apt to imagine it was placed on her fide. This is owing, in fome meafure, to politcnefs, as well as to fortune; for fuch is the power of fortune and property over the conduct of the human fpecies to each other, that they conhVantly command at leafs: the external appear- ance of deference to the poffeffor : wherever, there- fore, portions become fafhionable, they obliterate the flavery of a wife to her husband, put a ftop to poly- gamy, and difcountenance concubinage; for what woman will volantarily purchafe a tyrant, or give the whole of her fortune for the ihare only of a huf- band; which (hare fhe muft. maintain againft an un- limited number of rivals. While an European wife, therefore, bringing an acquiiition of wealth along with her, is treated by her husband as his equal, and frequently honoured with fuperior notice, the wife of an Eaftern, being purchafed, is confidered as his ilave; is never allowed to eat with, or in the prefence of her husband; feldom to fit down in his company, and always obliged to him as to a mailer and fuperior : and not even content with her paying him all thefe teftimonies of refpecl in his prefence, fhe is obliged to fubmit to a variety of mortifications in his abfence. 226 THE HISTORY " If a man, fays the Shatter,* goes oft a journey, his wife (hall not divert herfelf, nor play, nor fhall ilie fee any public {how, nor (hall laugh, nor fhall drefs herfelf in jewels and fine clothes, nor fhall fhe fee dancing, nor hear mufic, nor fhall fit in the window, nor fhall ride out, nor fhall behold any thing choice and rare ; but fhall fatten well the houfe-door, and remain private, and fhall not blacken her eyes with eye-powder, and fhall not view her face in a mirror ; fhe fhall never exercife herfelf in any agreeable employment during the ab- fence of her hufband." For all thefe mortifications, one would naturally expect fome kind treatment and indulgence from the husband, when he returns home : but the contrary is the cafe; for we are alfo informed by the Shatter, that if fhe fcolds him, he may turn her away ; that he may do the fame, if fhe quarrels with any body elfe, fpoils his or her own property, or even if fhe prefumes to eat before he has finifhed his meal ; and that he may ceafc from any further conjugal duty, if flic is barren, or always brings forth daughters. Although the men have conttantly affirmed the power of making human, and explaining divine, laws, yet they have not left fuch women as entered into the ttate of matrimony entirely without privileges. Among the Jews, when a man married an additional wife, the food, raiment, and duty of a husband, he was in noways to diminifh to thofe he had before. — Mahomet, when he permitted every man to have four wives, eafily forefeeing that fome of them would be neglected, while others were greater favourites, positively inttituted, that every thing, as provilions, * The Shatter is the Bible of the Hindoos. OF WOMEN. 227 clrefs ,and the duty of a husband, ihould be equally divided among them. In the Maldivian iiles, a man is allowed to marry three wives, and is obliged to obferve the fame law. This law appears to have been among the jews, in order to prevent the in- creafe of polygamy, which was every day becoming- more common ; and it feems to have been well cal- culated for that purpofe, efpecially in the lafl claufe, as it will readily be agreed, that no husband was able to render the fame duty of marriage to a plura- lity of wives, that he had done to one. Among this people, alfo, a bond fervant-maid was liable at any time to be fold ; but by being betrothed to the fon of her matter, he could not afterwards fell her, though he might turn her away, without performing the promifed marriage. At what period, or by whom, the laws of the Egyptians were firft promulgated, is uncertain ; but if what has been aflerted by fome ancient authors be true, that the men, in their marriage-contracts, pro- mifed obedience to their wives, we may fuppole that the women had no inconfiderable (hare in their legis- lation, otherwise they could hardly have obtained fo lingular a privilege. But, fmguiar as this privi- lege may appear, it is yet exceeded by the power of wives in the Marian ifiands : there, a wife is abfo- lutcly miftrels of every thing in the honfe, not the fmailcft article of which, can the husband difpofe of without her permiilion ; and if he proves ill-humour- ed, obftinate, or irregular in his conduct, the wife either corrects him, or leaves him altogether, car- rying all her moveables, property, and children along with her. Should a husband furprile his wife in adultery, he may kiii her gallant, but by no means muii ufe her ill. But mould a wife detect her husband in infidelity, fhe may inflict upon him 228 THE HISTORY what punifliment fne pleafes ; to execute which, flie never fails to alterable all the women in the neighbourhood, who, with their husband's caps on their heads, and armed with lances, march to the houfe of the culprit, tear up all his plants, de- ftroy his grain, and hating ruined every thing with- out doors, fall like furies upon his houfe, and de- ftroy it, together with the owner, if he is not alrea- dy fled. But befdes this punifliment inflicted on his incontinence, if the wife does no: like her husband, file complains thru fhe cannot live with him, and ga- thers together her relations, who, glad of the op- portunity, 'under his houfe, and a] proprfate to the wife ant: o tfiemfelves t fp^)il; Stich : ■ legds, hov.v- -. •-. . cannol fn pofe to be legal, a the inhabitants of the Marian iflands are too rude to have many laws, and too little under the fubjection of their governors, to obferve thofe they have. Such of the ofHcers of the Grand Signior as are married to his daughters or fillers, are honoured in public, but in private debated by the alliance; for they are not allowed to come into the prefence ot their wives, nor to fit down by them, without their pertniffion, and almoil in every particular are obliged to act in a character little lefs fubordinate than the meaneft of their (laves. Among the Matches, the daughters of noble families are by law obliged to marry only into obfeure families, that they may exert a governing and directing power over their huf- bands ; which they do fo effectually, that they turn ihem away when they pleafe, and replace them by others of the fame (hit ion. Such is their punifliment for the {lighter offences againfl the majefty of their wives ; but when any of them are unfaithful to the marriage-bed, thofe wives have a power of life or death over them. Wives who are of the blood of GF WOMEN. 22Q their great fun, or chief, may have as many gallants as they pleafe, nor mud their daftardly hufbands fo much as feem to fee it. But this is not all : fuch hufbands muft, while in the prefence of their wives, ffcand in the moll refpeclful pofture, accoil them in the fame fubmiilive tone as their domeltics, and are not allowed to eat with them, nor derive any privi- lege from fo exalted an alliance, but exemption from labour, which is more than counterbalanced by every fpecies of debafement and mortification. The Moxes, a people alfo of North-America, are faid to be obliged by law to yield a moil obfequious obedience to their wives, and to (hi ft their habita- tions, and follow them, when, and to what place they mail direct. Among the ancient Germans, and other north- ern nations, we have feen that women were in general honoured and efteemed, but we have no account of their wives being diftinguiihed by any particular privilege. Among a few of their tribes, however, who allowed of polygamy, one of the wives always claimed and exercifed a fuperiority over the reft; but her prerogative was dearly pur- chafed, if Die furvived herhufband, for Die was obli- ged to burn herfclf on his funeral pile. In Turkey, where the moil unlimited polygamy and concubinage are allowed, the privilege of the lawful wives is, that they can claim the hufbands every Friday night; but every other night he may, if he pleafes, dedi- cate to his concubines. Even among the Hindoos, where women have little regard paid to them but as the inftruments of animal pleafure, the property of a wife is fecured from her husband; and we are told by their laws, that he may not take it without her confent, unlefs on account of ficknefs, or ro fatisfy the demands of a creditor, who has confined VOL. II. G 2 *3«: THE HISTORY without visual s ; and that if, on any other account, he mould feize on it, he (hall be obliged to repay it with interefl. As fidelity to the marriage-bed, efpecially on the part of the woman, has always been confidered as one of the mod eflential duties of matrimony, all wife legislators, in order to fecure that fidelity, have annexed fome punifhment to the breach of it ; thefe punifliments, however, have generally fome refe- rence to the manner in which wives were acquired, and to the value (lamped upon women by civilization and politenefs of manners. It is ordained by the Mofaic code, that both the man and the woman taken in adultery (hall be (toned to death ; whence it would feem, that no more latitude was given to the male than to the female. But this was not the cafe ; fuch an unlimited power of concubinage was oiven to the men, that we may fuppofe him highly licentious indeed, who could not be fatisfied there- with, without committing adultery. The Egyptians, among whom women were greatly efteemed, had a fingular method of puniihing adulterers of both fexes ; they cut off the privy parts of the man, that he might never be able to debauch -another woman ; and the nofe of the woman, that (he might never be the objeci of temptation to another man. Punifliments nearly of the fame nature, and per- haps nearly about the fame time, were inftituted in the Eaft Indies againft adulterers ; but while thofe of the Egyptians originated from a love of virtue and of their women, thofe of the Plindoos probably arofe from jealoufy and revenge. It is ordained by the Shatter, that if a man commit adultery with a woman of a fuperior eaft, he (hall be put to death ; if by force he commit adultery with a woman of an OF WOMEN. 23* equal or inferior call, the magiftrate fhall cenfifcate all his pofieffions, cut off his genitals, and caufe him to be carried round the city, mounted on an. afs. If by fraud he commit adultery with a woman of an equal or inferior call, the magistrate mall cake his poiTeffions, brand him in the forehead, and banilh him the kingdom. Such are the laws of the Shafter, fo far as they regard all the fuperior calls, except the Bramins ; but if any of the molt inferior calls commit adultery with a woman of the cads greatly fuperior, he is not only to be difmembered, but tied to a hot iron plate, and burnt to death ; whereas the higheft caffs may commit adultery with the very lowefl, for the moil trifling fine : and a Bramin, or prieft, can only iuffer by feavrhg 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 fo favourable to his wife; they inflict a fevere difgrace upon her, if fhe commit adultery with any of the higher call; but if with the lowed, the magis- trate fhall cut off her hair, anoint her body with Ghee, and caufe her to be carried through the whole city, naked, and riding upon an afs; andlHaH caff her out on the north fide of the city, or caufe her to be eaten by dogs. If a woman of any of the other . calls soes to a man, and entices him to have crimi- nal correfpondence with her, the magiftrate mail ait off her ears, lips and nofe, mount her upon an i i , and drown her, or throw her to the dogs. To the commiflion of adultery with a dancing-girl, or prof- titute, no punilhment nor fine is annexed. It is worth remarking here, that the word adul- tery, which among all other nations ,is baderftood to mean an illicit correfpondence between married 2 3 2 THE HISTORY people, among the Hindoos is extended to every fpecies of illicit commerce between the fexes ; nor is it lefs remarkable, that among this people, the paflions are fo warm and ungovernable, that every opportunity of committing this crime, is confidered as an actual commiilion of it : thus they have three diflinft fpecies of adultery ; the firfb is, when in a place where there are no other men, a perfon holds any converfation with a woman, and winks, and gallantries and fmiles pafs on both fides ; or the man and woman hold converfation together in the morn- ing, or in the evening, or at night, or the man dal- lies with the woman's clothes ; or when they are together in the garden, or an unfrequented place, or bathe together in the fame pool. The fecond is, when a man fends fandal wood, or a firing of beads, or victuals and drink, or clothes, or gold, or jew- els, to a woman. The third is, when a man and woman fleep and dally upon the fame carpet, or in fome retired place, kifs and embrace, and play with each other's hair ; or when the man carries the wo- man into a retired place, and the woman fays no- thing. Such are the definitions of adultery in the laws of the Hindoos ; but in the puniihments annex- ed to them, it appears that their legislature was not .directed fo much by the moral turpitude of the crime, as by the dignity of the feveral csfts, and by that revenge which fo naturally refults from jealoufy, in a climate where animal love is the predominant pailion. By the laws of Mofcs, when a man caught a betrothed virgin in the field, and lay with her, he only was put to death, as the law in that cafe fup- pofed, ihe had cried and there was none to help her ; but in the city, if any one lay with a betrothed virgin, they were both llontd; for then the law OF WOMEN. 233 fuppofed, that if fhe had cried, fhe would have found affiftance to fave her from the ravifher : and fo great was the abhorrence of adultery in the firft ages, that mofl of the ancient legiflators prohibited it by the fevered penalties ; and there are ftill extant icme Greek copies of the Decalogue, where this prohi- bition is placed before that againft murder, Supposing it to be the greater crime. In the heroic ages, while revenge was almoft the only principle that actuated the Greeks, adultery was frequently punifhed by murder. In the Italian States, in Spain and Portugal, though they have proper laws for the punimment of this crime, re- venge confiders them as too mild, and cruelly watches an opportunity of dabbing the offender. In no cafe has the principle of revenge operated more Strongly on the human mind than puniihment of this crime. When the Levite's wife was defiled, it mitigated the Israelites to take arms, and almoft deStroy the whole tribe of Benjamin, becaufe they refufed to give up the adulterers. ThyeStes having debauched the wife of his brother Atreus, Atreus invited him to afeaft, and in revenge entertained him with the flefh of his own fon. Margaret of Burgundy, Queen to Lewis Hutin, king of France, was hanged for adultery ; but not contented with the death of her gallants, they were ordered to be flead alive. So greatly does a man reckon himfelf dishonoured and affronted by the infidelity of his wife, and fo Strong is the principle of revenge, that the punifh- ment of female adulterers will frequently not wait for the cool and dilatory fentence of the law, which does not keep pace with the vengeance which the hufband reckons due to the crime. In Some places, the execution of this law is left to the hufband. The 254 THE HISTORY Novels of Juftinian gave a hufband a right to kill any perfon whom he fufpected of abufing his bed, after he had given him three times warning in writ- ing before witneffes, not to converfe with her. — Among the ancient Swedes and Danes, if a hufband caught his wife in the act of adultery, he might kill her, and caftrate her galhnt. And among fome of the tribes of Tartars, it was not uncommon for a hufband to deftroy his wife even upon fufpicion. — Some of the eaflern chiefs, on fufpicion of the infi- delity of their wives and concubines, order them to be buried up to the chin, and left to expire in the utmoft agony. The Grand Signior, if he fufpects any of his women, orders her to be fewed in a fack, and thrown into the next river. Among the anci- ent Germans, the hufband had a power of inftantly inflicting punifhment on his adulterous wife ; he cut off her hair in the prefence of her relations, drove her naked out of his houfe, and whipped her out of the city. In the kingdom of Benin, the hufband exercifes a fimilar power. Somewhat lei's fevere is the punifhment of an adulterefs in feveral other countries, where the fenfe of honour is lefs acute, and the injuries done to it lefs ftimulating. The Chinefe, a phlegmatic kind of people, fell an adul- terefs for a flave. Their neighbours of Laos do the fame. And in old times, even the king of Wales thought that a full reparation was made for the dis- honour of defiling his bed, by obliging the offender to pay a rod of pure gold, of the thicknefs of the finger of a ploughman, who had ploughed nine years, and which would reach from the ground to the king's mouth when fitting. In what has been now obferved, we fee the gi ni- dation of the ideas concerning adultery. Among fome people it is thought a crime not to be expiated OF WOMEN. 235 but with death ; among others whipping is thought afufficient punifhment; fome again think a fine fully compenfates for it; while in fome favage countries, it is not conlidered as having the fmallert degree of criminality. In Louifiana, Pegu, Siam, Cambodia, and Cochin-china, it is even looked upon as an honour; they prefent to ftrangers their wives and daughters, and think it a difgrace to their beauty and merit if they are refufed. Where the punifhment of adultery is verted in the laws of the country, it is commonly lefs fevere, than where verted in the hands of the party offended ; and even when in the hands of the offended, it is commonly more or lefs fevere according to the ideas entertained of women, and to the power affumed over them ; where it is veiled in the hands of the women, though it may not be more fevere than when in thofe of their hufbands, yet as their paffions and jealoufies are rtronger, they are apt to inflict it where the certainty of the guilt is not fo well afcer- tained. Of all the modes which have been adopted for the punifliment of adultery, with the greateft efficacy, and at the fame time with the lead feeming feverity, we give the preference to thefe which follow; Ed- gar, kind of England enacted, that an adulterer of either fex fhould, for the fpace of feven years, live three days every week upon bread and water ; Ca- nute, in the beginning of his reign, finding that die punifliment then in ufe of cutting off the nofe and the ears, did not anfvver the purpofej decreed, that fuch as broke their conjugal vow fhould be condem- ned to perpetual celibacy. A fmilar idea for the punifhment of the fame crime, has fnggerted itfelfto the Mufkohge Americans, a people noway famous S36 THE HISTORY for ingenuity in legiflation; they oblige the adultrefs to obferve the flricteil continence during four full moons from the time that her crime was difcovered. Perhaps this idea of a mild and efficacious puniihment was more perfectly conceived by the Greeks, than any of the foregoing inftances; in fome of their dates, a woman offending in this manner, was never after allowed to adorn herfelf with fine clothes, and if ihe did, any one might tear them off, and beat her, foas not to deftroy or difable her; adultreffes were fubject to the fame treatment if they were found in the temples of the gods, and their husbands were forbid ever to cohabit with them under the pain of being declared infamous. We might eafily infert here, a variety of other methods of puniming adulterers, but as thefe few convey a tolerable idea of thefentimtnts entertained of this crime in different periods, and by di^erent people, « e {hall proceed to obferve, that the canon law, following rather the footfteps of Mofes than of Jefus, always condemned adulterers to death : one of the canons has thefe remarkable words : " Let adulterer' be Honed, that they may ceafe to increafe, who will not ceafe to be defiled." And Pope Six- tus i^uintus, not content with the death of adulter- ers themfelves, ordained, that fuch hufbands as knew their wives to be unfaithful, and did not com- plain to him, fhould be put to death alfo. Amidfr. all this iteming regard for conjugal fidelity and fanc- tity of manners, we are forry to obferve, that the clergy of the middle ages, while they enacted canons a £araft, and punifhed adultery with excommunica- tion, were themfelves a kind of licenfed adulterers : debarred from marriage, regardlefs of character, and exempted from the punifhments inflicted on the laity, their debaucheries were often carried to fuch OF WOMEN. 257 lengths as we could fcarcely credit, were we not allured of them by the mod authentic records. Before we leave the iubjedi of adultery, we (hall juft obferve, that, among fome nations, there were methods devifed for fuch women as were accufed of that crime to clear themfelves ; among thefe the waters of jealoufy is the firil we meet with. In Sicily, Japan, and on the coaft of Malabar, the accufed is obliged to fwear that fhe is innocent; the oath is taken in writing, and laid on water, and if it does not fink, the woman is held to be innocent. Thefe and fuch like are the ridiculous exculpatory proofs required in countries overfpread with igno- rance and fuperllition ; in thefe that are more en- lightened, thofe who are accufed of this crime can only invalidate the evidence brought again ft: them by the teftimony of witneffes. In the primitive ages, before laws of matrimony were properly understood and digefted, and before the rights of women were fettled upon any other bails than the pleafure of their parents and hufbands, the felicity of divorcing or putting away a wife, was ahnoft: equal to that of obtaining her. The ancient Ifraelites had a power of divorcing their wives at pleafure. " When a man," fays Mofes, " hath taken a wife and married her, and it come to pais that {he find no favour in his eyes, becaufe he hath found in her fome uncleannefs, then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it into her hand, and fend her out of his houfe." This vague expref- fion of uncleannefs gave occafion among the Jews to the mod frequent divorces, even upon every trifling occafion, infomnch that one of their rabbies tells us, it was lawful, and fometimes pracfifed by a huiband, if a wife fpoiled his dinner in cooking ; and by ano- vol. 11. II h 238 • THE HISTORY ther, that a hufband might give his wife a bill of di- vorce, if he met with a woman who pleafed him bet- rer, or looked handfomer in his eyes. A privilege which gave this fickle people fuch an unlimited right ot getting rid of their wives when difagreeable. was highly valued, and reckoned one of their diftin- guifhing prerogatives : but he who deflowered a vir- gin forfeited it, and the law obliged him, in com- penfation for that injury, not only to pay her father fifty flickers of filver, but to marry and retain her for life. Was it pofiible to devife a law that more (trongly protected female chaftity ? But this facility of obtaining or rather of giving, a divorce, was not peculiar to the Jews; itfeemstobe the refult of the nature of the matrimonial engage- ment ; for when a man mult purchafe his wife as he does a flave, it naturally follows, that he may turn her off when he finds that fhe does not anfwer the purpofe for which he intended her; a rule, which will be found to obtain pretty univerfally among all nations. The negroes purchafe their wives, and turn them away when they think proper; in China and Monoraatapa, they obferve the fame cuftom ; all the ravages of South America, who live near the Oroonoko, purchafe as many wives as they can maintain, and divorce them at pleafure; and even in the ifthmus of Darien, and on the banks of Hud- fon's river, they purchafe a plurality of wives, and difpofe of them according to the dictates of conveni- ency and inclination. In fuch places, the bargain a man makes for his wife, is on his part abfolute and unconditional; but in countries where the natural rights of women are eftablifhed, where the bargain is between the man I his wife, is conditional, and the fortunes of OF WOMEN. . 239 both are joined in one common flock; the nature of this bargain implies, that neither of them are privi- leged to difmifs the other, without a juft caafe; in many parts of the world, this caufe has been con- itraed-to be a mutual diflike of the parties, and a mutaal confent of Reparation ; in others, barrennefs of the woman is thought a fufficient caafe. In Eu- rope, no caufe has been deemed valid, unlefs adulte- ry in the woman, and impotence in the man. Seve- ral of the primitive councils enjoined a hufband, for the falvation of his foul, and on pain of fpiritual cen-. hire, to put away an adulterous wife, which was putting into the hands of the hufband a power of divorce; but the council of Trent afterwards decreed, that the marriage-bond was indiilblnble, and could not be broken on any account : notwithstanding tills, the Pope, who frequently arrogated to himielf a power of trampling on all the laws of heaven and earth, readily enough granted divorces, with or without caufe, to fuch as were able to pay for them, either in money, or by adding to the power and ter- ritory of the church; while the poor plaintiff could not gain a hearing at the chair of him who flyles himfelf, fervant of fervants. Englifh lawyers, ever fond of verbofity and end- lefs diftinctions, have divided divorces into two dif- tinct kinds; the firfl:, when the party is divorced from bed and board, but not allowed to marry another; thefecond, when he or ihe is divorced or loofened from the chains of matrimony, and al- lowed to marry again at pleafure: but neither of thcfc kind of divorces can be obtained by any other means than a proof of adultery. Milton, and fcvc- ral other writers who have followed him, galled by the indhToluble chain which they thought tliemfelves intitled to break, have endeavoured, by a variety of 24» THE HISTORY arguments, to fticw, that equity, natural juflice, and found policy, all dictate, that the matrimonial compact ought to . be diffolved from a variety of other caufes befides adultery. The legiflature has, however, hitherto taken no notice of thefe argu- ments ; when philofophy and reafon have ft ill far- ther enlightened the human mind, they may perhaps undergo a fcrutiny, and from that fcrutiny, fome new regulations may arife. In rude and uncultivated fiates of fociety, wc have feen that the power of divorce is placed in the hufband ; in civil fociety, it is veiled in the laws : but in fome Mates it appears to have been occupied by, and in others formerly veiled in, the women. Jo- fephus tells us, that Salmone, filler to Herod the Great, was the firft who took upon her to repudi- ate her hufband, and that her example was foon fol- lowed by many others. Among the Cherokees, the women are faid to marry as many huibands as they think proper, and to change and divorce them at pleafure; a cuflom, which, with little variation, we have already feen praclifed by the women of feveral other countries. In the Wallian laws it is decreed, that a wife may leave her husband, and demand her portion again, if he has as offenfive breath: what is remarkably whimfical, the fame laws ordain, that, on a divorce, the woman fhall divide the fubflance into two equal parts, and the man fhall have choice of the lots ; but in particu- lar, the man fhall have all the fwine, and the woman all the poultry. OF WOMEN. 241 CHAPTER XXVIII. The fame Subjecl continued. T: HOUGH we have feen, in the courfe of our enquiry, that the ideas of the matrimonial compact, and of the duties and privileges of the par- ties entering into it, have been very different in dif- ferent periods, and among different people ; yet, as any kind of regulation of the commerce between the fexes is better than a vague and undetermined com- merce, every well regulated ftate has folicitoufly endeavoured either to promote that kind of matri- mony already in ufe, or to rectify its errors, and model it in a new and better manner ; and fuch is the prevalence of nature, that though the powers and privileges of a hufband are fo enormous, it is only in a few places that we have met with any backwardness in the women to trufl themfelves in their hands. By the ftory of Jephtha's daughter, we are in- formed, that it was cuftomary among the Jews, for a woman, who, on account of a vow or any other reafon, was condemned to perpetual celibacy, to bewail her virginity ; the reafon afftgned for which, by commentators, is, that the Jews having a pro- mife that the Meffiah mould be born of one of their women, every woman among them flattered herfelf, that (he might arrive at that honour, from all prof- peel: of which {lie was entirely cut off, if fhe died a virgin. But the Ifraelitim damfels were not the only women of ancient or modern times, who reckoned 242 THE HISTORY perpetual virginity a misfortune. The ancient Per- fians were of opinion, that matrimony was fo effen- tially neceflary to man, that fuch of either fex as died fmgle, mull infallibly be unhappy in the next world. This opinion gave birth to the mod fmgular cuftom we meet with inhiftory; when any one died unmarried, a relation, or, in default of fuch, aper- fon hired for the purpofe, was folemnly married to the deceafed, as foon as it could conveniently be done after death, as the only recompence now left for having nedefted it in life. The Turks of this prefent period at Conftantino- ple, reckoning, perhaps, the firft great command, " Increafe and multiply," the moil neceflary of all others, entertain the fame opinion of virginity, though they take no fuch ridiculous methods of en- deavouring to obviate the effects of it on their future happinefs. " Every woman, fay they, was made to have as many children as lhe can, (he therefore, who dies unmarried, dies in a ftate of reprobation." Virginity was likewife reckoned a difgrace by the Greek women ; Sophocles makes Eleclra bewail bitterly her hard fate in not being married ; and Polycrates, tyrant of Samos, being angry with his daughter for difTuading him from going to meet Orates, governor of Sardis, threatens her, that fhculd he return in fafety, he would defer giving her in marriage for a long time. But this female diflike to living fmgle, has not been peculiar to any period or people, it has univerfally prevailed among the fex. In many nations, laws have been promulgated to prompt the men to enter into matrimony, to prompt the women none have ever been needed. — " Young women, fays the celebrated Montefquieu, who are conducted by marriage alone to liberty and pleafure, who have a mind which dares not think, a OFWOMEN. 245 heart which dares not fee], eyes which dare not fee, ears which dare not hear ; who appear only to fhew themielves fiily ; condemned without intermifiion to trifles and precepts ; have fufficient inducements to lead them on to marriage: it is the young men that want to be encouraged." A variety of encouragements have accordingly been offered by the wifeft legiflators to tempt young men into matrimony ; but not content with thefe, difagreeabie circumftances, and even punifhments, have been alfo annexed to the (late of a batchelor. The Lacedemonians were not only fevere againft thofe who abftained from, but alfo always againft thofe who deferred, entering into the conjugal ftate : no man among them' could live fingle beyond the time appointed by the laws of his country, without incurring feveral penalties, the firft of- which was, old batchelors were obliged once every w'inter to run naked round the ; market place, finging a fong which pointed out their crime, and expofed them to ridicule. They were excluded from the games where the Spartan virgins, according to the cuftom of their country, danced naked. And, on a certain folemnity, the women, in revenge for the. contempt which was fhewn them, were allowed to drag thefe defpifers of matrimony round an altar, beating them all the time with their fills : and laftly, they were deprived of all that honour and refpeft which the young men of Greece were obliged to pay to their feniors. One of their old captains' coming into an affembly, when he expected that a young man by whom he ftood would have rifen to give him his feat, received this rebuke from him : " Sir, you s muft not expect that honour from me, being young, which cannot be returned to me by a child of yours when I am old." 244 THE HISTORY The Jews were of opinion, that marriage was an indifpenfible duty implied in the words " Increafe and multiply ;" a man, therefore, who did not marry at or before the age of twenty, was confider- ed as acceffary to every irregularity which the young women for want of hufbands might be tempted to commit; and hence there is a proverb in the Talmud : " Who is he that proftitutes his daughter, but he who keeps her too long unmarried, or gives her to an old man." Among the ancient Perfians, though there was no pofitive law for the encouragement of matrimony, yet their kings frequently propofed an- nual prizes as a reward to thofe who were fathers of thegreateft number of children. While the Romans retained their primitive fim- plicity and integrity, no laws were requifite to en- courage their young men to matrimony ; when they became debauched with the love of pleafure, and expenfive in the purfuit of it ; when their wives re- quired immenfe fums to uphold their extravagance, and their children fcarcely lefs to give them a pro- per education, neither threatenings nor encourage- ments conld fometimes prevail on them to enter into that ftate. In no country was there ever a legifla- ture more forward in attempting to encourage ma- trimony, in none were the fubj efts ever lefs forward in feconding thefe attempts. As foon as luxury and expence had begun to frighten, and licentious pleafures to decoy the Ro- man citizens from marriage, to counterbalance thefe, it was thought neceffary to deny fuch men as had not entered into that alliance the privilege of giving evidence in courts of juftice; and the firft question afked by the judge was, Upon your faith, have you a wife, whereby you may have children ? If he OF WOMEN. 24^ anfwered in the negative, his evidence was refufed. And fo intent were the Roman confuls at one time upon multiplying their citizens, that they extorted from all the men an oath, that they would not marry with any other view than that of increafing the fubjefts of the republic, and that whoever had a barren wife mould put her away and marry another. But the men, who had other opportunities of fatis- fying their appetites than that of marriage, conti- nued flill fond of celibacy, which obliged the cenfors, upon finding that population was decreafing, to extort another oath from them, that they would marry with all convenient fpeed. As it commonly happens that oaths extorted by compulfion are but ill obferved, unlefs the fame com- pulfatory power alfo enforces obedience to them, thofe impofed upon the Romans had but little effect ; to remedy which, new honours were heaped upon the married, and fines and punimments were laid upon the batchelors. It was ordained, That fuch of the plebeians as had wives, fhould have a more honourable place in the theatres than fuch as had none : that the married magiftrates and patricians fhould have the precedency of fuch of the fame rank as were unmarried ; that the fines which had been firft levied by Camillus and Poithumus upon batche- lors, fliould be a^ain exacted. When Caefar had fubdued all his competitors, and mod of the foreign nations which made war againlt. him, he found that fo many Romans had been deflroyed in the quarrels in which he had often engaged them, that, to repair the lofs, promifed rewards to fathers of families, and forbade all Ro- mans who were above twenty, and under fcriv years of age, to go out of their native country. vol. 11. I i 246 THE HISTORY Auguftus, his fucceftbr, to check the debauchery of the Roman youth, laid heavy taxes upon fuch as continued unmarried after a certain age, and encou- raged with great rewards the procreation of lawful children. Some years afterwards, the Roman knights having preffingly petitioned him that he would relax the feverity of that law, he ordered their whole body to affemble before him, and the married and unmarried to arrange themfelves in two feparate parties, when, obferving the unmarried to be the much greater company, he firft addreffed thofe who had complied with his law, telling them, That they alone had ferved the purpofes of nature and fociety ; that the human race was created male and female to prevent the extinction of the fpecies ; and that marriage was contrived as the mod: proper me- thod of renewing the children of that fpecies. He added, that they alone deferved the name of men and fathers, and that he would prefer them to fuch offices as they might tranfmit to their pofterity. Then turning to the batchelors, 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 ; not by that of citizens, fince the city might perifh for them ; nor by that of Romans, for they feemed determined to let the race and name become extinct; but by whatever name he called them, their crime, he faid, equalled all other crimes put toge- ther, for they were guilty of murder, in not fufier- ing thofe to be born who mould proceed from them ; of impiety, in abolifhing the names and honours of their fathers and anceftors ; of facrilege, in deltroy- ing their fpecies, and human nature, which owed its original to the gods, and was confecrated to them ; that by leading a fingle life they overturned, as far as in them lay, the temples and altars of the gods ; diflolved the government, by difobeying its lav, s ; OF WOMEN. 20 betrayed their country, by making it barren. Hav- ing ended his fpeech, he doubled the rewards and privileges of fuch as had children, and laid a heavy fine on all unmarried perfons, by reviving the Po- pcean law. Though by this law all the males above a certain age were obliged to marry under a fevere penality, Auguftus allowed them the fpace of a full year to comply with its demands ; but fuch was the back- wardnefs to matrimony, and perverfity of the Ro- man knights, and others, that every poffible method was taken to evade the penalty inflicted upon them, and fome of them even married children in the cra- dle for th3t purpofe'; thus fulfilling the letter, they avoided the fpirit of the law, and though actually married, had no reftraint upon their licentioufnefs, nor any incumbrance by the expence of a family. Such were the methods the Romans were obli- ged to make ufe of, in order to prevent matrimony from falling almoft into dilufe. In fucceeding peri- ods, fcarcely any thing compulfatory has been attempted. It has been generally thought fufficient to ftain, with fome degree of infamy and difhcnour, all kinds of illicit connection between the fcxes, to make the way to the enjoyment of lawful love as eafy and accellible as poffible, and to trull the reft to nature. In this laft refpect, the Englilh legiflature feems of late to have acted contrary to the common maxim, and thrown a variety of obftacles in the way of matrimony; but fhould decreafe of people be the confequeftce, that body, it is prefumable, are too wife to perfift in a voluntary error. As every regulation of the commerce between the fexes feeras plainly to tend towards the falutary pur- 24* THE HISTORY pofe of population and continuance of the fpecies, fo every v/ife legiilature, not folely contented with en- couraging or even enforcing matrimony, has like- wife endeavoured to corre£l all thofe errors and abu- fes which fruflrated the main intention of it, and to oblige the fexes to join themfelves together in fuch a manner as might tend to the increafe and multipli- cation of their fpecies ; thus the Jewifh laws forbade eunuchs to marry. Lycurgus enjoined the coupling together of fuch men and women as were flrong and healthful, and gave a liberty of profecuting fuch men as did not marry at all, as deferred marrying till they were too old, or married improperly; and thus in Rome, it was ordained, That no woman under fifty might marry a man above fixty, and that no man above fixty ihould marry a woman who was not, like himfelf, far advanced in life ; laws of this nature, though evidently tending to promote the great end and defign of marriage, have in fub- fequent periods been but little attended to. If what has been advanced by naturalifh be true, that croffing the breed, either of animals or vegeta- bles, tends greatly to improve their flrength and vigour ; then it will follow, that fuch political rea- fons, as regard flrength and population, have like- wife prompted all wife legiflators to interdict the marriages of near kindred. Among the Jews, the degrees of confanguinity, within which it was unlaw- ful to marry, were accurately marked by the code of Mofes. Among other ancient nations, the affair was fubje£l to much variation. The Egyptians were allowed to marry their fillers. The Scythians were even faid to have married their mothers, grandmo- thers, and fillers. The Medes and Perfians marri- ed their fillers; and, among the Tartars, a man might marry his daughter, but a mother might not OF WOMEN. 249 marry her fon. Among the Hunns, the men mar- ried whoever they pleafed, without the lead: regard to confanguin.ity; a fon even married the widow of his father : fomething of the fame nature feems to have been practifed by the kings of Ifrael ; for Abfa- lom is faid to have gone in unto the wives and con- cubines of David, his father, when he rebelled againft him. In Peru, the Inca, or king, was always married to his lifter; or, if he had no lifters, to his neareft fema!e relation: and, in Otaheite, we are told, that their young king was defigned as a hufband to his fifter, when he became marriageable. At Athens, a man might marry the fifter of his father, but not the fifter of his mother. The natural advantages arifmg from crofting the breed of men, as well as other animals, in order to preferve the fpecies from degenerating, muft have been the refult of experience and cbfervation; it would therefore be long before they were attended to ; and hence, though Mofes, who was infpired by the Divinity, appears to have been acquainted with them, the other nations, whom we have mentioned, were not; and, confequently, long indulged them- felves in marrying, as inclination, or convenience, dictated. But another political reafon may be given, why the marriage of near kindred was prohibited. Before mankind were thoroughly civilized, and brought under the government of laws, families were frequently at war with one another; either on account of property, which was then unfettled, or from their natural inclination to rapine and plunder; in this ftate every acquilition of ftrength to a family, Was an addition of its fecurity ; inftead, therefore, of marrying in his own family, or among his own kindred, who were already in his intereft, a man would, from motives of policy., rather wifti to take tS& THE HISTORY a wife from a neighbouring family, and by that means brine; it into an alliance with his, a circum- itance which would tend greatly to the fecurity of both; and hence the practice of marrying of kindred would fall into difufe. But befides thefe, and other political reafons that might be given againfl near kindred and relations intermarrying with each other, there are alfo natu- ral reafons that ftrongly counteract fuch alliances. The marriage of a father with his daughter would, in molt cafes, be prepofterous ; as the hufband would generally be pad the age of propagation long- before his wife. The marriage of a fon to his mo- ther, befides being liable to the fame objection of inequality of age, would likewife confound the na- ture of things ; as the fon ought to have an unlimi- ted refpect for his mother, and the wife an unlimited refpect for her hufband. But though fimilar reafons do not militate againfl the marriage of brothers and lifters with each other, yet nature herfelf feems here to have interpofed her authority; flic feems not to have given to brothers and fillers, the lame power of railing the paillons and emotions of love in each other, as fhe has given to thofe who are lefs known, and nowife related. The emotions, which pafs between a brother and a fifter, are friendfhip; in the fame circumftances, between a young man and woman, not related to each other, they would be love. With refpect to the prohibitions, concerning the marriage of relations to each other, it is a thing ex- tremely delicate to fix exactly the point at which the laws of nature ftop, The greater part of civilized na- tious feem, in this refpect, not to have differed widely from the directions of Mofes. the Chriftian world had been entirely governed by the rules of OF WOMEN. 2jx that lawgiver, except in fome periods, when a fpi- rit of greater fan£fity extended it flill wider. In a council, held by pope Honori us, in the year 1126. marriages were profcribed between all relations, till after the feventh generation ; and all who had mar- ried within that degree, were ordered to put their wives away : luch were the laws the lee of Rome impofed upon mankind ; but as, in other cafes, it referved to itfelf a power of difpenfmg with them ; and, like the Engiifh, who will not allow any body toabufe their kings but themfelves, the popes would not fufier any but themfelves to infringe the laws of the pentateuch or of the gofpel. But befides the reftrictions laid upon marriage, bv confanguity and politics, there are others affecting certain claffes of mankind, which feem to have ari- fen folely from opinion or caprice. Such are thofe which cuftom has impofed almoft every where, on people of the fame religion, and of the fame rank and condition of life, reftrifting them from marrying thofe of a different religion,* or of an inferior con- dition ; fuch are thofe that the laws of Brama have impofed on the Hindoos, whereby both the men and women, of every particular call, are prohibited from marrying into any other cad ; but what we have more particularly in view, is the reftrictions which, in this particular, have been laid upon the clergy of a variety of nations. While the Ifraelitifh laity were at liberty to marry whom they pleafed, the priefls were prohibited from marrying a woman that was a whore, or that had been put away from her huf- band: or, in fhort, any other but a virgin. The Egyptians, though they indulged their laity in polv- * By the ancient law, a Chriftian, of eith'er fex, marrying with a Jew, was to be burnt or buried aiive ; and at Geneva, a marriage between a Proieftant and a Roman Catholic, is no: valid. 252 THE HISTORY gamy, would not grant the fame liberty to their priefts. After the introduction of the Chriflian reli- gion, the clergy were in marriage reftri&ed by almoft the fame laws as thofe of Mofes; and if the wife of a clergyman, particularly of a bifhop, died before him, he was never allowed to take another. In procefs of time it became unlawful, according to the canons of the church, for a clergyman to marry upon any pretence whatever; a fcheme which, as we fhall fee afterward, was the fource of much wrangling among the priefts, and of much mifchief to fociety. Though, by the Mofaic law, the whole body of the Ifraelites were ftrictly prohibited from intermar- rying with other nations ; yet, in the twenty-firft chapter of Deuteronomy, we find an allowance given them to make wives of the captives taken in war ; and the preparation of thefe captives, to fit them for fo near an alliance with their captors, was fuch as would not a little difguft a modern lover : the bride was to be brought to the houfe of her future huf- band, and there to (have her head ; a circumftance of the mod mortifying nature to a woman, as the loves and the graces wanton in waving ringlets ; be- fides this, fhe was to put the raiment of captivity upon her, and to wear it a month, and comply with fome other ceremonies ; of the intention of which, we are, at this period, entirely ignorant. We return now to take a further view of the ceremonies of marriage, and to trace theprogrefs of that inftitution, from the ancient Greeks, where we left it, to the prefent times. There were three different kinds of marriage among the Romans, diftinguifhed from each other OF WOMEN. 2 53 by the names of Conferration, Coemption, and Ufe ; Conferration was the manner in which only the pon- tiffs and other priefts were married, and was always celebrated by a pried: ; and we call the attention of our readers to this remarkable circumftance, that, in the marriages of the Roman pontiffs, we difcover the firft inftance of priefts having celebrated the rites of that inftitution. The ceremony confifted in the young couple eating a cake together, made only of wheat, fait, and water ; part of which, along with other facrifices, were, in a folemn manner, offered to the gods of marriage. The fecond kind of marriage, called Coemption, was celebrated by the parties folemnly pledging their faith to each other, by giving and receiving a piece of money ; a ceremony which was the mod common way of marrying among the Romans, and which continued in ufe even after they became Ghriftiaiis* When writings were introduced to teflify that a man and woman had become hufband and wife, and alio, that the hufoand had fettled a dower upon his bride, thefe writings were called Tabulae Dotales, dowry tables ; and hence, perhaps, the words in our mar- riage ceremony, I thee endow. The third kind of marriage, denominated Ufe. was, when the accidental living together o^t a man and woman had been productive of children, and they found it neceflary, or convenient, on that, and other accounts, to continue together; when, ifthev agreed on the matter between themfelves, it became a valid marriage, and the children were confidered as legitimate. Something fimilar to this, is the prefent cuftom in Scotland; where, if a man and woman have lived together till they have children, if the man marry the woman, even upon his death-bed, all the VOL. IT, K k 254 THE HISTORY antinuptial children become thereby legitimated, and inherit the honours and eftates of their father. The cafe is the fame in Holland; with this difference only, that all the children to be legitimated muft appear with the father and mother in church, at the ceremony of their marriage. When a marriage was celebrated, in any of the two firft. methods, in order to know the pleafure of the gods, the aufpices were firft of all confuked, and the days which they held unfortunate avoided. — When the contract was drawn up, it was fealed with the feals of the parents, and the portion fometimes depolited with the augur; the bridegroom fent to the bride a plain iron ring. On the wedding-day, while the bride's head was dreffing, it was cuftomary to divide her hair into fix trefTes, with the point of a fpear, after the manner of the veftals ; to teach her that fhe was to be a veflal to all but her hufband. She was then crowned with a wreath of vervain, and other herbs, gathered by her own hands; over the wreath they fometimes threw a veil; and put on her feet a pair of fhoes, of the fame colour as the veil, and fo high as to make her appear taller. In ancient Rome, when the couple were ready for the ceremony, they put a yoke upon their necks, called Conjugium ; and hence our word conjugal, or yoked together, is derived : a ceremony which is more em- blematical of the matrimonial ftate, than any we have hitherto met with. That the bride might feem reluctantly to part with her virgin Hate, they feign- ed to force her from the arms of her mother; which was done by the light of five torches carried by five boys, previoufly warned and perfumed, in honour of the five divinities of marriage, Jupiter, Juno, Venus, Diana, and the goddefs Perfuafion. The bride was led by two young children to the houfe of OF WOMEN. 255 her hufband; a diftaff was carried behind her, with a fpindle, and a trunk or baiket, in which was her toilette; {he was fprinkled with luilral water, in order that (he might enter holy into the houfe of her hufband ; when fhe arrived at the door, which was adorned with garlands of flowers and evergree ns, fire and water were prefented to her, and me war. at the fame time afked her name; to which me an- fwered, Caia, to fignify that lire would be as good a wife as Caia Ccecilia, who was famous for the domes- tic and conjugal virtues. Before the bride entered the houfe, flie put wool upon the door, and rubbed it with oil, crwv.h the fat of fome animal ; (lie was then carried pyer the threfhold, which the augurs reckoned exceedin v !y unlucky for her to touch, on heriirit entrance: im- mediately after, the keys of all things in the houfe were delivered to her, and me was fet upon a (heep-'s fkin with the wool on it, to teach her, that (he was from that to provide clothes for her family. After the young couple werecon ducted to their chamber, immediately before the company took their leave of them, the bridegroom fcattered nuts to the children, and the men fung verfes, to obviate charms and incantations. Care was taken that there Ihould be no light in the nuptial chamber, to fpare the mcdefty of the bride, and prevent the bridegroom from dif- covering her blemiihes: on the next day, the hul- band gave a public entertainment, when the bride, appearing on the fame couch with him at table, lean- ed upon him with an air of familiarity, and in her difcourfe feemed to glory fo much in having thrown oft her virgin modefty, that it became a proverb in Rome, when a woman talked indecently, to fay, the talks like a bride. 256 THE HISTORY Such were the ceremonies by which a hufband and wife were joined together, and fuch the addi- tional ceremonies that ferved to give folemnity to their junction. In the early periods of Rome, Ro- mulus ordered, that no woman mould pretend to direct her hufband, but that a hufband might dis- card his wife, if fhe poifoned the children, counter- feited the keys, or committed adultery: after-periods gave him a power to inflict a fui table punimment upon her, if me acted perverfely, difhoneftly, or drank wine ; and even to kill her, if he furprifed her in infidelity to his bed. But all the privileges were not on the fide of the hufband ; fome of a very extra- ordinary nature belonged to the wives, or rather to the widows, of Romans. Children born ten months after the death of the hufband were reckoned legiti- mate; and Hadrian, thinking this period too fhort, extended it to eleven. Among the northern nations who were contempo- rary with the Romans, and who afterwards overtur- ned their empire, a furprifmg fimilarity of manners was every where obfervable. Wherever fighting was concerned, they were univerfally diftinguifhed by a brutal ferocity almoft inconceivable; while, in regard to the fair fex, they carried their politenefs in many particulars to a degree hardly known even among the molt civilized nations. From the remo- tefh antiquity, they confined themfelves to one wife, to whom they were married in a manner more folemn than we commonly meet with among a people fo rude and uncultivated. The father, or guardian, gave away his daughter in words to this effect: ' I ' give thee my daughter in honourable wedlock, to 4 have the half of thy bed, the keeping of the keys * of thy houfe, one-third of the money thou art at • prefent polfeffed of or malt poilefs hereafter, and OF WOMEN. 257 6 to enjoy the other rights appointed to wives by 4 law/ The hufband then made his bride a prefent, by way of dowry : the relations of both parties were witneftes of what he gave; which were not things adapted to flatter the vanity, or adorn the perfon of the bride, but commonly confided of fome oxen, a bridled node, or a fhield, fpear, or fword; in return for which, the bride, too, made her hufband a prefent of fome arms; and the mutual interchange of thefe prefents they efteemed the moil indiflfoluble tie, as they were given and received before witneffes the mod nearly connected with them, and before the connubial gods. As modes and cuftoms are perpetually changing with the times and circumftances, this iimple cere- mony among the defendants of thefe people became more complicated ; the bridegroom fent all his friends and relations to the houfe of thebride's father, who attended alfo with her relations, conducted her from thence to that of her future hufband, being led by a matron, and followed by a company of young maidens. On her arrival, fhe was received by the bridegroom, who proceeded along with her to the church, where a prieft performed the nuptial bene- diction. When the bride was a virgin, this was commonly done beneath a large canopy, to fave her blulhes : when a widow, it was thought unnecef- fary. Among the Franks., initead of the church, marriages were to be performed in a full court, where a buckler had been three times lifted up, and three caufes at leaft openly tried : othenvife it was not valid. When it was done in the church, the prieft afterward crowned the young couple with flowers : and in this manner they went home, and fpent the afternoon in drinking and dancing ; and at night, the whole of the company having fcen the 258 THE HISTORY bridegroom and bride in bed together, drank to them, and retired. It is a melancholy truth, that the improvement of fociety improves alfo the arts of fraud and of cun- ning, and renders a far greater number of laws and of ceremonies neceiTary, in order to bind mankind, to good faith and duty, than are among the leis culti- vated part of the Ipecies. This is one reaion why the ceremonies of marriage were obliged to be made more folemn and binding ; but befides this, there are others not lefs powerful. The laws of Mofes, as well as thofe of alraoft all antiquity, had given to the men a liberty of polygamy, of concubinage, and had made divorces a matter of the greateft faci- lity : hence the yoke of matrimony to them not only felt light, butwaseafily ihaken off. But the introduction of Chriftianity brought with it laws of a different nature ; it deftroyed all thefe privileges, and having joined only one man and one woman to- gether, required the fame abfolute and unconditional fidelity from both, and bound the yoke of matri- mony fo hard upon them, that death only could break it. Hence the men not only violated their faith to their wives in fecret, but, when opportu- nity offered, alfo denied their marriage; and hence religion was at firfh called in to overawe the conlci- ence, and make the compact more folemn. We have already mentioned, that" the firft cele- bration of marriage by priefts was among the ancient Romans ; and as the Chriftian religion was almoft at its very origin introduced into Rome, from them the Chriftian priefts, perhaps, borrowed the cuf- tom of celebrating marriages alio. But it was fome ages before mankind began to confider thofe as the only legal marriages, which were folemnized by a OF WOMEN. i$ prieft, or before the priefts themfelves thought of appropriating this privilege entirely to their order. The Franks and fome other Chriftians were married in their courts of juftice, by their relations or ma- giftrates. Whether Chriftian priefts firft performed the ceremonies of marriage, with a view to give an additional folemnity to them, and, by fo doing, to induce the parties more ftrictly to obferve their ob- ligations, or with a view to add to the importance and revenues of the church, is at this period uncer- tain. But however that be, Soter, the fifteenth bifhop who had filled St. Peter's Chair (for they had fcarcely then affumed the name and authority of Popes,) finding that the appropriation of marriage folely to the clergy was likely to bring in no incon- fiderable revenue, ordained, that no woman fhould be deemed a lawful wife, unlefs formally married by the pried, and given away by her parents. — Though this was a great innovation on the ancient cuftoms, and perhaps encroachment on the right of civil power, we do not find that any refiftance was made to it at Rome. In other parts of the Chriftian world, however, where the fuccelTor of St. Peter had lefs influence, parents and magiftrates ilil! con- tinued to exert the power of marrying ; but this power feems, in procefs of time, to have been almoft entirely wrefted out of their hands, efpecially in R. Catholic countries, where the clergy were obli- ged to make marriage a facrament, in order to keep the profane laity entirely from adminiftering it; but at what time they fell upon this expedient is not cer- tainly known. Among nations which had fhaken off the autho- rity of the church of Rome, the priefts ftill retained almoft an exclufive power of joining men and women together*™ marriage. This appears rather, how- 2 Go THE HISTORY ever, to have been by the tacit confent of the civil power, than from any defeft in its right and autho- rity; for in the time of Oliver Cromwell, marriages were folemnized frequently by the juftices of the peace ; and the clergy neither attempted to invalidate them, nor to make the children proceeding from them illegitimate; c'.nd when the province of New England wasflril fettled, one of the earlieil: laws of the colo- ny was, that the power of marrying ihould belong to the madftrates. How different was the cafe with the firil French fettlers in Canada ! For many years aprieft had not been feen in that country, and a magistrate could not marry : the confequence was natural; men and women joined themfelves together as hufband and wife, trailing to the vows and pro- mifes of each other. Father Charlevoix, a Jefuit, at lafl: travelling into thofe wild regions, found many of the fnnple, innocent inhabitants living in that manner ; with all of whom he found much fault, enjoined them to do penance, and afterwards mar- ried them. After the Reftoration, the power of marrying again reverted to the clergy. The magif- trate, however, had not entirely reiigned his right to that power; but it was by a late aft of parlia- ment entirely furrendered to them, and a penalty annexed to the folemnization of it by any other per- fon whatever. Whence it originated is not eafy to lay, but a notion pretty generally prevails in this and feveral other countries, that the clergy, and they only, are veiled with a power from heaven, of licenfmg men and women to come together for the purpofes of pro- pagation;* whereas nothing can be more evident, * This was not the only right ufurped by the clergy in the middle ages ; there were a variety of others. No maa was OF WOMEN. 261 than that the two fexes being made for each other, have from nature, the right of coming together for this purpofe, and of difpofmg of themfelves to each other; fo that a clergyman, in performing a marri- age ceremony, does not confer any right or privi- lege on the parties, which they had not before, but only in a public manner, and as appointed by the Jegiflature of his country, witneiTes and authenticates the public declaration they make of having entered into a matrimonial agreement according to the laws and cuftoms of that country ; to which bargain or agreement, this folemn and public authentication obliges the parties to ftand, and becomes their fecu- rity for the fidelity of each other: thus, whether the marriage ceremony be performed as it now is in moft parts of the Chriftian world, by a clergyman, or, as it formerly was, and ftill is in many parts of the globe, by a civil magiflrate ; neither the acl of the clergyman, nor of the magiflrate, convey any right, but only enter on public record, the recog- nizance of fuch parties entering with mutual confent on the exercife of a right they have by nature; in the fame manner, as when an heir at law fucceeds to an eftate, the ceremonies cuftomary in the coun- try where he refides at entering him heir, do not convey to him any new right to that eftate, but only publicly declare and manifeft to his country, that he has .entered on the ufe of that eftate by vir- tue of his inherent right as heir to it by nature. lowed Chriftian burial who had not, according to his circum- ftances, bequeathed iomething to the church. A new-married couple were not allowed to go to bed together for the firft three nights, unlefs they paid the church for a difpenfation. . In fhort, a man could neither come into the world, continue in it, nor go out of it, without being laid under contribution by the clergy, VOL. II. L I zCz THE HISTORY ire many people, and particularly of our fair readers, who imagine, that if marriage were only conlidered as a civil ceremony, it would lofe much of its validity ; but a little reflection will difco- ver this to be an error. When two or more people make an agreement to do fuch and fucti offices, and to abftain from the doing of others, if they take an bath, on the Bible, on the Koran, or the Talmud, at the altar, or in the open field, the oath is not by any of thefe additional circumflances rendered more or lefs binding, unlefs to fuperftitious minds; its force and obligatory power is derived from another fource: from our ideas of moral rectitude and fidelity, and its obligation upon us would be as flrong, and a breach of it as immoral and difhonourable, if we made it in -our clofet, as if before witneffes, and in any of the methods we have mentioned. Every per- fon whofe mind is not warped by fuperilition, confi- ders himfelf to be as firmly bound by a civil as a reli- gious oath, and with an equal degree of confcienti- oufnefs performs what he fwore to, at the bar, as at the altar; and were this not the cafe, we mould either be obliged to call in the aid of religion to every kind of obligation, or to put an end to all mu- tual trull and confidence in every civil tranfattion. Marriage, therefore, (lands exactly in the fame is all other tranfactions of a nature interefiing to the public, it is not allowed that every one fliould enter into it according to his own whim and caprice, but according to all the forms and ceremonies pre- ferred by the laws of this country. In Japan, fhe is only a lawful wife who is given by their great re- nal pontiff. By the laws of Mahomet, fire is only fo, who is married by the judge; and in a great many parts of the world, fhe cannot be fo unlefs given by her parents. OF WOMEN. 2«3 Marriage is a word which, in different countries, admits of a very different fignification ; among the greatefl part of the ancients, it implied a fort of a bargain entered into by one man and feveral women, that they mould ferve and obey him, and be liable to be turned off at his pleafure ; in the Eaft it im- plies nearly the fame thing at this day : in the Greek iflands, and a variety of other places, it fignifies a temporary agreement between a man and a woman to cohabit together fo long as they can agree or find it convenient. On the coafl of Guinea, and in almoft all favage countries, it is a legal method of condemn- ing women to be the flaves of their hufbands, who confider them only as made to earn their fubfiitence, and rear their children. In Europe, it is a mutual and almoft indiffoluble agreement between one man and one woman, to live and cohabit together for life, and abide by one another in every circumftance of profperous or adverfe fortune. But Europe is not the only country where marria- ges are for life ; they are fo wherever men are po- lifhed by fociety, and the marriage rites and cere- monies in fuch places generally have a regard to the liberties and privileges of the woman as well as of the man. But in countries little civilized, and where the fex, from the cradle to the grave, are ilaves to their parents, relations, or hufbands, the marriage ceremonies are for the moft part fomeway expreffive of that abje& condition. There are, however, many exceptions to thefe general rules, and the marriage ceremonies in many countries feem to have been contrived with no other view, than to make the marriage publicly known, by exhibiting feme pom- pous rite in the prefence of a great number of people, which indeed, befides the private engagements of 264 THE HISTORY the parties, is all that can reafonably be wanted in any marriage agreement whatever. Over the greater part of Europe, and in countries peopled by European colonies, the marriage cere- mony expreffes the duty of the parties, as well as their interefts, and the regard they ought to have for the happinefs of each other ; and the general laws of the country, as well as the particular flipu- lations of the matrimonial bargain, take care of the freedom and immunities of the woman, and will nei- ther fuffer her perfon nor property to be abufed by the arbitrary will of a hufband.* But we have already feen, that among the Jews, and other anci- ent nations, the laws fecuring either the perfons or property of married women were but few and weak, and that both were too much left at the mercy of their hufbands. The fame matrimonial powers are veiled in the hufbands of Afia and Africa at this day. The Moguls, who marry as many women as they pleafe, have their wives of feveral different ranks, and may always advance ' any of them to one of the higher ranks, or degrade them to one of the lower at pleafure. In Ruflia, it was formerly a part of the marriage ceremony for the bride to prefent the bridegroom with a whip, made with her own hands, in token of fubjettion ; among the fava- ges of Canada, a flrap, a kettle, and a faggot, are put into the bride's apartment as fymbols of her fub- miffion and flavery ; in the ifland of Java, the bride wafhes the bridegroom's feet -, on the coaft of Gui- * The Ruffians were formerly accuftomed to ufe their wives with the moft relentlefs fevcrity ; to remedy which, the huf- band has of late- fubjecled himfelf, by his marriage contract, to certain penalties if he ufed his wife ill, either by manuul cor- rection, whipping, boxing, kicking, or fcratching. OF WOMEN, 265 nea, the bride folemnly vows love and conftancy, whatever ufage or returns fhe may meet with from her husband. To thefe inftances, we might add many others, where the marriage ceremonies are exurefiive of the condition of the wife ; but we leave the ungrateful talk, and proceed to take notice of thoie, where, on the part of the bridegroom, they exprefshis acknow- ledgment of having attained fomething he efieems, values, and wifhes to cherifh and protecl. 266 THE HISTORY CHAPTER XXIX. The fame Subject continued. 1 HE cuftoms we have juffc now related, are only to be met with among favages, or fuch as are a few degrees removed from that ftate. Thofe we now proceed to, mark a people either confidera- bly removed from ferocity of manners, or far advan- ced in a ftate of cultivation and politenefs. Among the ancient Peruvians, the bridegroom carried a pair of fhoes to the bride, and put them upon her feet with his own hands. At Laos, the marriage cere- mony is not only rational, but expreiiive of the value the bridegroom has for his bride ; their mutual engagements are attefted by two witnefles, felected from among thofe who have lived the longell and moil lovingly together. In Siam, the bridegroom makes a prefent of betel to his bride, in the moil refpeclful manner. In Lapland {lie is prefented with brandy, rein-deer, and trinkets. In countries more civilized, a dower is fettled upon her, and prefents made her on her going home to the houfe of her huf- band. In England, fhe is treated with every cir- cmnfhmce of honour and refpect, and the words of the marriage ceremony are carried to themoft foolifh and unmeaning length : cc With my body I thee wor- kup, and with my worldly goods I thee endow." — Much more fimple, and at the fame time mere fen- fible, were the marriage ceremonies of the ancient Mexicans, and inhabitants of Ceylon, who tied the garments of the bride and bridegroom together, thereby fignifying that they had bound themfclves to OF WOMEN. 267 each other through all the profperous and adverfe circumftances of life. But befides thefe ceremonies of marriage, which feem plainly to be expreihve of the low or of the high condition of women, there are others which have no regard to either, and feem only calculated to give a public notoriety and fkmnefs to the com- pact. Such is that faid to have been anciently prac- tifed in Canada, where the bride and bridegroom held a rod between them, while the old men pro- nounced certain prayers over them, after which, they broke the rod into as many pieces as there were wit- neiTes, and gave to each a piece, who carried it ' home, and depofited it as a teftimony of the marriage that had happened. Such is the ceremony of tying the garments publicly together, and fuch are thofe of inviting friends and neighbours to feaff., and to be witneffes of the matrimonial engagements. As the natural modefty of the fex always fuppofes that a woman {hall with fome reluctance relinquish her flate of virginity, the marriage ceremony is fre- quently expreflive of this reluctance. In fome coun- tries, the bride hides herfelf; in others, (lie muft feemingly be fought for; in others, the ceremony muft be performed while ihe is covered with a veil, or under a canopy to fave her blumes. But what feems more extraordinary, there are iriftances where the man is feemingly to be forced to accept of what almolt in all countries he eagerly feeks after. In a province of Old Mexico, the bridegroom was carri- ed off by his relations, that it might be thought he was forced into the flate of wedlock, a flate fo per- plexed with thorns and cares. In almoft all coun- tries, the day of marriage is dedicated to mirth and to feflivity, and every thing that can cloud the brow, or damp the general joy, is carefully avoided. In 268 THE HISTORY Mufcovy, however, the cafe was different; as a part of the ceremony they crowned the young couple with wormwood, as an emblem of the bitternefs of thofe anxieties and cares upon which they were entering. If the laws we have formerly mentioned, forbid- ding the marriage of near relations with each other, originated from the political view of prefervrag the human race from degeneracy they are the only laws we meet with on that fubjett, and exert almoft the only care we find taken of fo important a matter. The Afiatic is careful to improve the breed of his elephants, the Arabian of his horfes, and the Lap- lander of his rein-deer. The Englifhman, eager to have fwift horfes, flaunch dogs, and victorious cocks, grudges no care, and fpares no expence, to have the males and females matched properly; but fince the days of Solon, where is the legiilator, or fmce the times of the ancient Greeks, where are the private perfons, who take any care to improve, or even to keep from degeneracy the breed of. their own fpecies ? The Englifhman who folicitoufly attends the training of his colts and puppies, would be afhamed to be caught in the nurfery ; and while no motive could prevail upon him to breed horfes or hounds from an improper or contaminated kind, he will calmly, or rather inconfiderately, match him- felf with the moll decrepid or difeafed of the human fpecies ; thoughtlefs of the weakneffes and evils he is going to entail on pofterity, and confidering no- thing but the acquifition of fortune he is by her alli- ance to convey to an offspring, by difeafes rendered unable to ufe it. The Mufcovites were formerly the only people, bcfides the Greeks, who paid a proper attention to this fubjecl. After the preliminaries of a marriage were fettled between the parents of a OF WOMEN. 263 young couple, the bride was (tripped naked, and carefully examined by a jury of matrons, when, if they found any bodily defect, they endeavoured to cure it ; but if it would admit of no remedy, the match was broke off, and fne was confidcred not only as a very improper fubject to breed from, but improper alfo for maintaining the affections of a hufband, after he had difcovered the impofition (he had put upon him. In England, the marriage ceremony is not to be performed but in the church, and between the hours of eight and twelve o'clock in the forenoon. In Scotland, this is deemed incompatible with morality and found policy, as it hinders the valetudinarian from doing all the juftice in his power to the miftrefs he has lived with and debauched ; he may therefore marry her at any hour, or in any place, and by that marriage, legitimate all the children he has bv her, whether they be prefent at the marriage or not. — Nearly the fame thing takes place all over Germany; only in fome parts of it, the children to be legitima- ted are required to be prefent, to be acknowledged by the father, and to hold the lappet of his gar- ment, during the performance of the marriage ceremony. In Pruliia, though their code of laws feems in general to be as reafonable, and as confident with found policy as any in Europe, yet we dill find in it, an allowance given for a fpecies of that concubinage, which has long fmce been expelled from almofr. all the weflern world. A man may there marry what is called a left-handed wife, to whom he is married 'for life, and by the common ceremony ;* but with * The only difference in the ceremony is, the bridegroom gives her his left hand inftead of his right. VOL. IT. M m THE HISTORY this exprefs agreement^ that neither (lie nor her chil- dren fhall live in the houfe of her hufband, nor fhall take his name, nor bear his arms, nor claim any er or donation ufually claimed by every other wife, nor difpofe of any part of his property, exert any authority over his fervants, nor fuccecd to his eftates or his titles ; but {hall be contented with what was agreed on for their fubfiftence during his life, and with what he fhall give them at his death. This privilege, however, is always in the power of the king to deny, and is feldom granted to any but fuch of the nobility as are left with large families, and from the fmallnefs of their fortunes cannot afford to marry another legal wife, and rear up another family of the fame rank with themfelves. Though the laws of almoft every -civilized coun- try have required the confent of parents to the mar- riage of their children, yet when fuch children marry without it, the evil is confidered as incapable of any remedy. The Pruffian law, however, thinks other- wife : and in this cafe gives the parents a power of applying to the confiflory, which feparates the par- ties, and obliges the man to give the woman a portion the lofs of her virginity, and contribute to the ,intenanc€ and education of the child or children of the marriage. Promifes of marriage to a woman, have, in all well regulated dates, been confidered as facred, and the breach of them punifhed by a va- riety of methods ; but the Pruffian laws proceed in another manner ; they do not endeavour io much to punifh the breach of the promife, as to enforce the performance of it, which they do by the admonitions of religion, by imprifonment, by a fine of half the man's fortune, or a certain part of what he earns by his daily labour ; or if he runs away to evade the I arria; e, by marrying the woman to him by OF WOMEN. 271 proxy, and allowing her a maintenance out of hL effete. Before we take leave of the fubjeft of matrimony, it may not be improper to take a view of the opposi- tions that have been made to it ; oppofitions which have arifen chiefly on pretence of religion, but which, when thorough-ly examined, will, we perfuade our- felves, appear to have been founded on a very dif- ferent motive. The two fexes were evidently intend- ed for each other, and " increafe and multiply" was the firft great command given them by the Author of nature ; but fuppofe no fuch command had been given, how it firft entered into the mind of man, that the propagation or continuation of the fpecies was criminal in the eye of heaven, is not eafy to conceive. Ridiculous, however, as this notion may appear, it is one of thole which early inflnuated itfelf among mankind ; and plainly demonftrated, that reafoning beings are the mod apt to deviate from nature, and not only to difobey her plained dictates, but, on pretence of pleafmg her Author, to render themfelves forever incapable of obeying them. As the appetite towards the other fex is one of the flrongeft and mod ungovernable in our nature; as it intrudes itfelf more than any other into our thoughts, and frequently diverts them from every other purpofe or employment ; it may, at firft, on this account, have been reckoned criminal when it interfered with worfhip and devotion; and emafcu- lation was made ufe 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 themfelves inca- pable of procreation on a religious account, as we are told that the priefta of Cybele conftantly caftra- z-jz THE HISTORY ted themfelves; and by our Saviour, that there are eunuchs who make themfelves fuch for the kingdom of heaven's fake. However abfurd it may appear to reafon and to philofophy, it is certainly a raft, that religionifts of various kinds had early got an idea, that the propa- gation of their fpecies was, if not criminal, at leaf! derogatory to their facred functions. Thus the priefts of ancient Egypt were obliged, by the rules of their order, to abftain from women, though in after periods they allowed them one wife; the priefts of the Myfians like wife bound themfelves to celibacy; and the priefts of the Romifh church, in times more enlightened by reafon, {till follow the execrable ex- ample, as if Heaven were pleafed with every means of preferving the individual, and difpleafed with the means of continuing the fpecies. But not only the priefchood, but feveral other religious orders of both fexes,. began to fpring up, who vainly imagined to conciliate the favour of the Author of nature, by difcontinuing his works. — The Egyptians and ancient Indians had communities of Cenobites, who are fuppofed to have lived in celibacy. Strabo mentions a feci: among the Thra- cians that vowed perpetual abftinence from women, and were on that account revered for their fan ctity. The EiTenes, among the Jews, laid themfelves under the fame obligation. The Romans had their veftal virgins, who kept perpetually alive the facred fire in the temple of the goddefs of chaility, and were buried alive if they proved incontinent. The Peruvians had their virmns of the Sun, who were brought up in the temple of that luminary, and obli- -1 to the llricteft virginity, under the fame penalty the vcftals among the Roman?. Friga, the god- OF WOMEN. 273 defs of the ancient Scandinavians, had alfo a temple where her oracles and a facred fire were kept, by prophetefTes devoted to perpetual virginity. Sonte tribes of the ancient Indians reckoned virginity endowed with fuch a power, that their moil appro- ved remedies were ufelefs and unavailing, unleis ad- miniftcred by the hand of a virgin. Soon after the introduction of ehriftianity, St. Mark is faid to have founded a fociety called The- rapeutes, who dwelt by the lake Moeris in l.gypt, and devoted themfelves to folitude and religious offices. About the year 305 of the chriflian com- putation, St. Anthony being perfecuted by Diode- fian, retired into the defert near the lake Moeris j numbers of people loon following his example, joined themfelves to the Therapeutes ; St. Anthony being placed as their head, and improving upon their rules, firft formed them into regular mcna- fteries, and enjoined them to live in mortification and chaflity. About the fame time, or foon after;,. St. Synclitica, refolving not to be behind St. An- thony in her zeal for chaflity, is generally believed to have collected together a number of enthtlfiaftrc females, and to have founded the firft nunnery for their reception. Some imagine the fcheme of celi- bacy was concerted between St. Anthony and S;. Synclitica, as St. Anthony, on his firft retiring foto folitude, is faid to have put his filler into a nunnery, which mud have been that of St. Synclitica; but however this be, from their inftitution, aionjta an nuns increafed fo fall, that in the city of Orix; . about feventeen years after the death of St. Antho- ny, there were twenty thoufand virgins devoted ■- celibacy. 2- + THE HISTORY Such at this time was the rage of celibacy; a rage which, however unnatural, will ceafe to excite our wonder, when we confider, that it was accounted by both fexes the fure and only infallible road to heaven and eternal happinefs; and as fuch, it beho- ved the church vigoroufly to maintain and counte- nance it, which me did by beginning about this time to deny the liberty of marriage to her fons. In the firll council of Nice, held foon after the introduction of chriitianiiy, the celibacy of the clergy was flrenu- oufly argued for, and fome think that even in an earlier period it had been the fubject 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 faid that Syricus, bifhop of Rome, enacted the firfl decree againfl the marriage of monks; a decree which was not univerfally received: for feveral cen- turies after, we find that it was not uncommon for clergymen to have wives; even the popes were al- lowed this liberty, as it is laid in fome of the old fta- tutes of the church, That it was lawful for the pope to marry a virgin for the fake of having children. So exceedingly difficult is it to combat againfl nature, that little regard feems to have been paid to this de- cree of Syricus; for we are informed, that feveral 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 Sylvefler, that every prieft mould be the huf- band of one wife only ; and Pius the Second affirmed, that though many ftrong reafons might be adduced in fupport of the celibacy of the clergy, there were liill flronger reafons againfl it. In the year 400, it was decreed in a council, that fuch of the clergy as had faithful wives fhould not entertain concubines, but fuch as either had no wives, OF WOMEN. 275 or were joined to unfaithful ones, might do as they pleafed. In the year 441, it was decreed, that priefls and deacons fhould either abflain from marri- age, or be degraded from their office. This law feems afterward to have been al'ittle relaxed, for in the year 572 one of the canons of the council of Lu- cenfe fays, when a deacon is elected, and declares that he has not the gift of chaftity, he (hall not be ordained ; but if he fays nothing, is ordained, and afterwards defires to marry, he (hall be fet alide from the miniftry ; and if a fubdeacon take a wife, he may be a reader or door-keeper, but he fhail not read the apofdes. In the year 633, it was ordained, That priefls fhould live chafte, having clean bodies and pure minds ; and the fame council, as if it had been to fliew how ill their itatutes were obferved, ordained alfo, That fuch clergy as had married wi- dows, wives divorced from their hufbands, or com- mon whores, fhould be feparated from them. In the year 743, all the canons againfl marriage feem to have been totally difregarded, as we find, that even thofe who were bigamifts, or had married wi- dows, might be promoted to facred orders. In the year 11 26, the notion of enforcing celibacy feems again to have prevailed; for in a fynod held by pope Honorius, all the clergy are flri&lv forbid to have wives, and ordered to be degraded from their office if they difobeyed the mandate, a mandate which was renewed in the year following, with fome addi- tional threatenings annexed to it; and fo warm were the fathers of the church in their invectives againft matrimony, that fome of them rendered themfelves ridiculous by their intemperate zeal. St. Jerom ex- prefsly declares, that the end of matrimony is eter- nal death, that the earth is indeed filled by ii, but heaven by virginity. Edward the Confeflbr was iainted only for the abdaining from the conjugal em- 2 76 THE HISTORY brace ; and many of the primitive chriftians, fully perfuaded that every fpecies of the carnal appetite was inconii (lent with pure religion, lived with a wife as they would have done with a filter. Jovinian was banifhed in the fourth century by the emperor Honorius, for maintaining, that a man who coha- bited with his wife might be faved, provided he ob- ferved the laws of piety and virtue laid down in the gofpel. Thefirft canons againfl: marriage were, it is faid,only received in Italy and France, a proof that the inha- bitants of thefe countries were either lefs fenfible, or lefs tenacious of the rights of mankind, than their neighbours: when, or by whom the celibacy of the clergy was firft introduced into England is not per- fectly agreed upon, fome fuppofing it was St. Dun- ilan who, with the confent of king Edgar, firfl pro- pofed to, and preffed the married clergy to put away their wives, which all thole that refufed to do were depofed, and monks put into their livings ; thefe monks, whofe invention was always very fruitful in ftories to advance their own interefr, gave out, that all the married clergy who difobeyed the order of the faint were, with their wives and children, transformed into eels ; and, as many of them refi- ded in the Ifle, now called Ely, it is faid to have taken its name from that circumflance. At a fynod held at Winchefter under the fame St. Dunftan, the monks farther averred, that fo highly criminal was it for a pried to marry, that even a wooden crofs had audibly declared againfl the horrid practice. Others place the firO: attempt of this kind, to the account of Alefrick, archbifhop of Canter- bury, about the beginning of the eleventh century : however this be, we have among the canons a de- OF WOMEN. 277 cree of the archbifhops of Canterbury, and York, ordaining, That all the minilters of God, efpecially priefts, ihould obferve chaftity, and not take wives : and in the year 1076, there was a council affembled at Winchester, under Lanfranc, which decreed, That no canon fhould have a wife ; that fuch priefts as lived in caftles and villages ihould not be obliged to put their wives away, but that fuch as had none ihould not be allowed to marry ; and that bifhops ihould not either ordain priefts nor deacons, unlefs they previouily declared that they were not married. In the year 1 102, archbifhop Anfelm held a council at Weftminfter, where it was decreed, That no archdeacon, prieft., deacon, or canon, ihould either marry a wife, or retain her if he had one. Anfelm, to give this decree greater weight, defired of rhe king, that the principal men of the kingdom might be . refent at the council, and that the decree might be enforced by the joint confent both of the clergy and laity ; the king confented, and to thefe canons the whole realm gave a general Sanction. The clergy of the province of York, however, renionflrated againft them, and refufed to put away their wives ; the unmarried refufed alfo to oblige themfblves to continue in that ilate ; nor were the clergy of Can- terbury much more tradable. About two years afterward, Anfelm called a new council at London, in the prefence of the king and barons, where canons (till feverer than the former were enacted ; thofe who had taken women fmce the former prohibition, were enjoined to difmifs them fo entirely, as not to be knowingly with them in the fame hoiife ; and any ecclefiaitic accuf: this tranfgrefTion by two or more witneiies, was i prieft, to purge himfelf by fix wimeifes ; if a cfea- con, by four j if 3 fab-deacon, by two ; otherwise VOL. II, 27 8 THE HISTORY to be deemed guilty. Priefts, archdeacons, or canons, refufing to part with their women, here (tylcd adulterous concubines, were to be de- prived of their livings, put out of the choir, and declared infamous, and the bifhop had authority to take away all their moveable goods, as well as thofe of their women. This law, highly unjuft and fevere, was Mill more fo in France ; for a council held at Lyons in the year 1042, a power was given to the barons to make flaves of all the children of the married clergy. As the Englifh clergy were ftill very refra&ory in the year 1 125, cardinal Cre- ma, the pope's legate, prefiding in a council at Weftminfter with a view to enforce the papal au- thority, made a long and inveterate fpeech againft the horrid fin of matrimony, in which he is faid to have declared, that it was the highefl degree of wickednefs to rife from the fide of a woman, and make the body of Chrift; though it happened fome- what unlucky for the poor cardinal, that he was himfelf that fame evening caught by the conflablein the very fituation he had painted as fo finful, and the fhame of it foon drove him out of England. In the year 11 29, the archbifhop of Canterbury being legate, a council was called at London, to which all the clergy of England were fummoned : here it was enacted, That all who had wives, fhould put them away before the next feafl of St. Andrew, under pain of deprivation. The execution of this decree was left to the king ; who took money of fevc- ral priefts, by way of commutation, and fo the in- tention of the decree was fruftrated. Many of the clergy now finding a heavy fine impofed on them, for keeping a lawful wife, and none for a concu- bine, chofe the latter ; by fuch means their lives became fo openly fcandalous, that about forty-fix OF WOMEN. 279 years after, in the reign of Henry the fecond, Rich- ard, archbifhop of Canterbury, in a fynod held at Weftminfter, prohibited all, who were in holy or- ders, from keeping concubines, as well as from marrying. The like prohibition was ifiued after- ward, by Herbert, archbifhop of Canterbury, and thenalfo chief juftice of England, in a fynod held at York. In the ninth year "of Henry the Third, Ste- phen Langton revived thefe decrees ; and added, That priefts keeping concubines, mould not be ad- mitted to the facraments, nor their concubines allowed Chriftian burial. But in fpite of all thefe efforts, many of the clergy Hill retained their wives, concubines, and benefices, till cardinal Otho, fome time after made a pofitive decree, declaring, That the wives and children of fuch priefts mould have no benefit from the eftates of their hufbands and fathers ; and that fuch eftates fhould be vefted in the church. This, as it cut off the widows and children of the clergy from all means of fubfiftence, and turned them beggars into the world, had a more powerful effect, than all the cenfures and thunders of the church ; and at laft gave the fatal blow to a right which the clergy had ftruggled to maintain for many centuries ; and from this time they feem quietly to have fubmitted to the yoke, till the Reformation reftored to them again the rights of mankind, which had been violently taken from them. In this manner did things continue till the reign of Henry the Eighth, when difpenfations to keep concubines became common to fuch prielis as were able to purchafe them ; but left this fhould be a bad example, they were enjoined to keep them privately, and never to go publickly to them on account of fcandal. Some years after, a temporal law was ad- ded to the fpiritual, declaring it felony for a pried ?8o THE HISTORY to marry ; or if married, to have any commerce ••" ith his wife ; or even fo much as to converfe with her ; or for any perfon to preach or affirm, that it was lawful for a pried to marry. This law was re- pealed the following year, though the canons of the church were ftill in force, and continued fo till the time of Edward the Sixth ; when the authority of the fee of Rome being thrown off, an aft was made, by which the marriages of the clergy were declared lawful, and their children legitimate. Queen Mary, in the firft year of her reign, repealed this aft ; and in this flate things continued during the reign of queen Elizabeth ; but in the firft year of James the Firfr, an aft was again made, refloring to the clergy the rights of nature, and of citizens ; and the aft remains in force at this day. In this conteft: we have feen a long and fevere ftruggle, between one part of the clergy, contending for the authority of the church, and another part, contending for the rights of nature. Rut why this authority of the church, and the rights of nature, fhould be fo oppofite to each other, is a point invol- ved in much obfeurity. It has been alleged, that the reafon why the church enjoined celibacy, was, that the clergy having no legitimate offspring, might turn their whole attention to enrich and aggrandize that community only of which they were members. This, however, does not appear to be well founded ; for illegitimate children may engrofs the attention of parents, and engage them as flrongly in providing for them, as legitimate ones ; as has frequently ap- peared in the conduct of the fovereign pontiffs ; and yet the church has at moft but weakly exerted her- felf in preventing the clergy from having children of this kind. OF WOMEN. 281 In the human breaft there is not a paffion fo natu- ral, fo prevalent, as that which attaches us to the fair fex. The Romifli clergy are fons of nature; they are endowed with the fame paffions, and fuf- ceptible of the fame feelings as the reit of her chil- dren. How then they mould voluntarily give up the gratification of thefe paffions, the pleaiure ari- fing from thefe feelings, feems, if it really were a fact, altogether unaccountable; but if we confider it only as a fineffe, we may guefs at the motives which induced them to it. In all countries, and at all periods, the clergy, rather wifer and more cunning than the reft of man- kind, have arrogated and fecured to themfelves pri- vileges which were denied to all others. Thus the Romifh clergy, no doubt, confidered the enjoyment of the fair fex as a fource of the moll exquifite plea- fure; but then, in the way of matrimony, this enjoyment was attended with many inconvenien- ces and difadvantages, which they were willing to avoid: they therefore pretended, that perfons fo facred as themfelves, were forbid to enter into that flate; but at the fame time refolved to enjoy all the pleafures arifing from the commerce with the other fex, without the expence of a family, or the chance of being tied to a difagreeable partner. To effect this it was neceiTary, firft, to have accefs to every woman in private; fecondly, to get into all the fecrets of the fex ; and, thirdly, to have places ap- propriated, where none but them and priefts mould ever be furTered to enter. In the celibacy of the clergy we may, therefore, perceive the origin of auricular confeffion ; a fcheme well calculated to pro- mote their licentious purpofes, as it obliged all the 282 THE HISTORY women, under pain of eternal damnation, to difco- ver every fecret; and not contented with denouncing damnation on her who concealed any thing, it pro- anifed abfolution, in the mod full and ample manner, of every thing difcovered. Thus threatened with the greateft of all eviis, on the one hand, and fo eafy a method of efcaping it, even after every criminal indulgence, held out on the other, is there any won- der that women were frequently prevailed upon to difcover even thofe fecrets which the fex moft cauti- oufly of all others conceal. When women had con- felfed themfeives guilty of one or more faults of this kind, it was natural to think, that, without great difficulty, they might be prevailed upon to repeat them ; and thus the crafty ions of the church were led to difcover where they might make their attacks with the greateil probability of fuccefs; and they knew alfo, that if gentle methods lhould fail, they could in a manner, force compliance, by threaten- ing to publifh the former faults of their penitents. Being by thefe fchemes, fecured of admittance to all the women, and polfelTed of all their fecrets, which they, no doubt, communicated to each other, the next Itep was to fecure themfeives from interrup- tion, when in private with them. This was eafily accomplished ; they had only to denounce the ven- geance of heaven afgainft the daring niifcreant, whe- ther hufband, father, or lover, who mould facrile- gioufly difturb a holy lecher, while confefliiig his penitent. Thus being poiTeiTed of all the fecrets of the heart, and fecured in their privacy with the wo- men, with nature and the paflions on their fide, and pardon and remiilion in their power; is it any won- der that the Romlih clergy became fo debauched, and fo dangerous to the peace of fociety, that the French and German laity, jointly, petitioned the OF WO LI EM. 283 Council of Trent, that priefls might be allowed to marry, and that their petition fhould have thefe re- markable words ? 4i We are afraid to trull our wives and daughters at confeffion, with men who reckon no commerce with the lex criminal, but in wedlock." In the celibacy of the clergy, we may difcover alfo the origin of nunneries; the intrigues they could procure, while at confeffion, were only fhort, occafional, and with women who they could not entirely appropriate to themfelves; to remedy which, they probably fabricated the fcheme of having reli- gious houfes, where young women mould be fhut up from the world, and where no man but a pried, on pain of death, fhould enter. That in thefe dark retreats, fecluded from ceufure, and from the know- ledge of the world, they might riot in licentioufnefs. They were feniible, that women, furrounded with the gay and the amiable, might frequently fpurn at the offers of a cloiftered prieft, but that while confi- ned entirely to their own fex, they would take pleafure in a vifit from one of the other, however flovenly and unpolilhcd. In the world at large, mould the crimes of the women be detected, the priefts have no interefts in mitigating their pnniili- ment ; but here the whole community of them are interefted in the fecret of every intrigue, and mould Lucina unluckily proclaim it, me can feldom do it without the walls of the convent, and if (he does, the priefts lay the crime on fome lucklefs laic, that the holy culprit may come off with impunity. Such has been the oppofition made by the clergy to the marriage of their fraternity, and iuch perhaps have been the caufes of it; nor will it appear to any one who is acquainted with the hiitory of the mid- 23 4 THE HISTORY die ages, that we cenfure too feverely in fo faying ; befides, our cenfure is juilified by the joint opinion of two mighty nations in their petition, a part of which we .quoted above. The clergy never had any arguments of confequence to offer in fupport of fo arbitrary a meafure; that of Cardinal Creroa, already mentioned feems to have been what they made mofl ufe of, and befides, they quoted the authority of St. Paul, who fays, " He that marri- eth doth well, but he that marrieth not doth better." They traded mod to papal authority, and dogmati- cal affertion; but even in the ages of ignorance all thefe were too weak to ftifle nature; and men eafily faw through the thin difguife, which the ilagitiouf- nefs of their lives often threw afide without any cere- mony ; and belides, they blundered in making mar- riage a facrament, and denying the adminiftxation of it to that part of mankind who were accounted the moil holy of all others. As we have frequently mentioned the concubinage of the clergy, we think it juftice to take notice here, that, however infamous it became afterwards, it Was towards the beginning of the middle ages a legal union, fomething lefs folemn, but nothing lefs indif- folute than marriage ; and that though a concubine did not enjoy the fame consideration in the family as a wife of equal rank, (lie enjoyed a confequence and honour greatly fuperior to a miilrefs. By the Ro- man law, when the want of birth, or fortune, pro- hibited a woman from becoming the wife of a man of family, the civil law allowed him to take her as a concubine, and the children of fuch concubine, both at Rome and amoncr the ancient Franks, were not lefs qualified, with the father's approbation, to inhe- rit, than the children of a wife. The Weftern church, for feveral centuries, held concubinage of OF WOMEN, v 2 8 5 this kind entirely lawful. The firft council of Tole- do exprefsly fays, That a man mufl have but one wife, or one concubine, at his option ; and feveral councils held at Rome fpeak the fame language : but fo much were thefe indulgences abufed, that they were at laft obliged to abolifh and declare them infamous in every well regulated rtate. We fhall now take our leave of the fubjecl of matrimony, with a few obfervations on the caufes of the frequent difcords and uneafinelTes which arife in that ftate. If the fatirical writers anddeclaimers of the prefent age may be credited, married women have in general arrived at fuch a height of debauch- ery, that few marriages are tolerably happy, and fewer hufbands without the invifible marks of a cuckold. We do not pretrend to juftify all the wives of the prefent times ; but on comparing them with the pad, we find the fame clamours have always exifted againfl them; and without pretending to any fpirit of prophecy, we may venture to affirm, that they will exift fo long as marriages are contracted foleiy with a view to the interefl of the parties, with- out conftdering whether they are poffeiTed of any of the qualifications necelfary to render each other hap- py ; a fcheme by which, tempers the moil difcord- ant are frequently joined together, though neither of them are fo bad, but they might have made good hufbands and wives, if they had been matched with propriety. But this is far from being the only reafon to which we attribute many of the unhappy marriages of this country ; the bafis of them is laid and e(ta~ blifhed in the education of our young women, as well as in the manners and cuftoms of our young men. Young women, inftead of being taught to vol. II. O o 286 THE HISTORY mix the agreeable with the ufeful, are early inflruct- ed to cultivate only the former, and to confider the latter as fit for none but maiden aunts, and other antiquated monitors : but this is not all, flattered by the men from their earliefl infancy, they are never accuftomed to the voice of truth, nor to that plain- dealing which mud unavoidably take place in the married (late ; conftantly accuftomed to fee a lover accoft them with the monVfubmiflive air, to find him yield every point, and conform himfelf entirely to their will, they confider themfelves as oracles of wifdom, always in the right ; taught to form their ideas of the hufband only from thofe of the lover, and the ridiculous notions imbibed from romances ; they enter into the married (fate fully convinced that every hufband is through life to play the lover, and that every lover is the romantic being depicted in the novels which they have read, — ideal fancies and dreams, which mull foon vanim in difappointment. Nor do the men act more wifely ; blinded for the mofl part by love, they confider the object, of their paffion as all perfection and excellence; and when they come to be undeceived, as every lover foon mult, remorfe and chagrine four their tempers, and make them incapable of forgiving the cheat they think impofed upon them, or behaving with that degree of gentlenefs with which the flronger fex mould regard the foibles, and even fome of the fol- lies, of the weaker. Every one who has been attentive to what paffcs in other nations, and to what happens here, before and after marriage, muft readily agree, that nothing- can be more certain than the truth of the old faying, Too much familiarity breeds contempt. In order to infpire and preferve refpect, it is neceiTary for kin.;.', and other great men to wear eniigns of grandeur, OF WOMEN. 287 and to be attended with guards ; for judges to be arrayed in the fymbols of folemnity and wifdom, and for learned men never to be too free in opening the depth of their knowledge. The cafe is exactly the fame with women, and they feem fenfible of it be- fore marriage, but infenfible of it afterward ; before marriage, we are feldom permitted to fee them but in their gay and fplendid drefs, and in their moft cheerful and lively humour ; we enter not into the penetralium of their weakneffes; we difcover none of their faults, and but few of their foibles : but after marriage, they precipitately throw alide the malic, in fuch a manner as to difcover that they wore it only for conveniency; and an intimacy with them opens to the hufband, views which could not poffi- bly fall within the infpe£Hon of the lover ; and hence his ideas of the fame woman when his miitrefs and his wife, are fo widely different. In endeavouring to explore the fources of conju- gal infelicity, we may likewife obferve, that few men have fo fuccefsfully ftudied the temper of wo- men, as to be able to manage it to the beft advan- tage. It has long been an obfervation of the fair; that a reformed rake makes the heft hufoand; and we have known inflances where women, after hav- ing made but indifferent wives to men of probity and virtue, who feldom committed any faults, have after- ward made much better ones to rakifh young fellows, whofe whole lives confided in finning and repenting. The reafon is plain; fuch is the conftitution of female nature, that a little well-timed flattery and fubmifhon will feldom fail of putting them into good humour ; whereas the mofl faultlefs and prudent conduct, cannot always keep them in it. A woman, by the affiftance of a few tender careffes, and pro- teftations of future amendment, will frequently be 2 8& THE HISTORY prevailed on to forgive ten thoufand faults, if the is perfuaded that her hufband loves her in the inter- vals of his folly; butfhe will never forgive indiffer- ence, nor contempt. Hence many of the molt learned and fenfible men are reckoned the worft huf- bands, becaufe they have more friendfhip than love, and more of both than they exprefs ; and many of the mod wild and rakiili reckoned the befl, becaufe they have more love than friendship, and exprefs more of them both than they feel. Thefe, and feveral others too tedious to mention in iketches of this nature, feem to be the fources from which matrimonial infelicity fo often arifes; but would the parties come together with lefs exalt- ed notions of each other; would they lay their ac- count with finding in each other a mixture of human weaknelfes as well as perfections ; and would they mutually forgive faults and weaknefTes, matrimony would not be fo fraught with evils, and fo difturb- ed with flrife. It is the ox that frets who galls his own neck and that of his fellow with the yoke, while the pair who draw quietly and equally, fcarcely feel it inconvenient or troublelome. OFWOME N, CHAPTER XXX. Of Widowhood. A; .S the date of matrimony is of ail others the mod honourable, and ihe mod defired by wo- men, fo that of widowhood is generally the moft deplorable, and confequently the object of their greated averfion. Women, by nature weak, are not able to defend themfelves againft the infults and outrages of man ; the fame weaknefs incapacitates them for maintain- ing themfelves either by the means of fifhing and hunting, practifed among the rude nations, or even by the padurage and agriculture of thofe that are more polite : to launch out into trade and commerce would require, perhaps, more indudry, and more fteady efforts of mind, than are confident with their volatile natures and finer feelings, and would, befides, expofe them to many affaults, which even the fevered virtue might not always be able to repel. On thefe. and a variety of other accounts, we find women commonly dependent on the men for the two im- portant articles, maintenance and protection : while young, they are under the protection of their parents or guardians, who are likewife to provide for them, or at lead to fuperintend the management both of their fortunes and conduct : when they enter into matrimony, they put themfelves under the protec- tion and guardianfhip of a hufband ; but when they become widows, no perfon is henceforth fo much intercded in their welfare, no perfon,. is legally 2y o THE HISTORY bound to defend or to maintain them ; and hence their diflike to that forlorn condition. But there are other caufes befide thefe, which ftrongly contribute to heighten this diflike. In the bloom of virginity, though a woman may not be very hsndfome, yet there is always in youth and the prime of life fomething in her thatattrafts the atten- tion and procures the good offices of the men, and confequently the chance of a hufband is confidera- ble. But when a woman has been married, and is become a widow, me is generally pad: the bloom of life, and has loll, by the bearing of children and care of a family, a great part of thofe charms which pro- cured her a hufband ; and on this, and feveral other accounts, is not fo likely to fucceed in getting ano- ther ; and, as the fex have a ilrong proclivity to the joys of love, which matrimony only can procure them with reputation, we need not wonder at the readinefs with which they enter into, and the reluct- ance they feel in quitting, that flate. Thus the condition of widowhood, in the politefl countries, is attended with many difadvantages : in rude and barbarous ones, thefe difadvantages are Mill more numerous and more grievous. The facred records, and indeed thehiftory of all antiquity, give the flrongeft reafons to fufpeft, that widows were often the prey of the lawlefs tyrant, who fpoiled them with impunity, becaufe they had none to help them. In many places of the fcripture, as well as of prophane authors, we frequently find the Mate of the widow and the fatherlefs depicted as of all others themoft forlorn and miferable ; and men of honour and probity, in recounting their own good actions, making a merit of their having forborne from def- iling the widow and the fatherlefs. In the book OF WOMEN. 291 of Exodus it is declared as a law, " That ye fliaii not afflict the widow, or the fatherlefs child : if thou afflict them in any ways, and they cry unto me, I will furely hear their cry ; and my wrath mall wax hot, and I will kill you with the fword, and your wives lliall be widows, and your children fatherlefs." In the eighth century, one of the canon laws enacted, That none mall prelume to diilurb widows, orphans, and weak people ; all of which create a flrong fui- picion, that widows were often opprefTed ; other- wife, why fo many taws for their particular pro- tection ? But to men who live in happier times, when laws extend an equal protection to all, and when humanity di&ates finer feelings than thofe of triumphing over weak and helplefs beings, fuch laws appear fuperfluous and unnatural ; and the caufes of promulgating them can only be cleared up, by confidering the manners and cufioms of the times in which they were inflituted. One of the mod ancient of all the cufioms of an- tiquity feerns to have been that of revenging injuries, or, as the fcripture calls it, avenging of blood. In the dawn of fociety, the privileges of maintaining their property, and revenging the wrongs either done to that or their perfons, were the rights of nature, and belonged only to individuals ; nor is it flretching the point to fay, that this privilege, or law, was prior to Mofes, and that he probably borrowed it from fome of the neighbouring nations. By this law or cuflom, which feems to have been eflablifhed among every people not thoroughly cultivated, when any perfon was killed, the neareft relation only was empowered to take vengeance on the murderer ; which vengeance he was at liberty to execute with his own hand : but as this could feldom or never be done but at the rifque of life, it often happened, that a 292 THE HISTORY •widow or an orphan might be murdered with impu- nity, as there was no perfon. fo nearly related to either, as to venture his life in taking vengeance on the murderer ; and as the public was not then fo connected into a whole, as to difcover that it dif- fered any damage from the Jofs of an individual. But befides this, as widows and orphans have not friends fo nearly interested in their property, as women who have hufbands, and children who have fathers ; and as, among uncultivated people, that which is not defended by Strength has hardly any barrier around it, widows and orphans, in the times of ancient barbarity, were liable to bcfrequently wronged, opprefTed, and plundered. Hence the dreadful misfortune of being in any of thefe condi- tions; and hence, alfo, the fuperior virtue of not only refilling the temptation of plundering them, but of pleading their caufe, in times when the exer- tions of humanity were but weak, and the tempta- tion of acquiring even a little, exceedingly Strong. When we confider the manners and cuftoms of the favage nations of our own times, we are prefentcd with a picture nearly refembling that of the periods we have juft now mentioned. There, as weaknefs is not protected by the laws, to he allied to power- ful relations and friends, or to be joined in fome formidable party, are its only fecurities againSt rapine and violence. To be thought worthy of the pro- tection of fuch friend-;, or of fuch a party, it is necelfary either to be able to mare in their common dangers, or to be ufeful to them in fome other man- ner. Widows and orphans are frequently incapa- ble of either: hence, among fuch people, they are defpifed and neglected, if not plundered and devoured, by the hand of the oppreffor; circumstan- ces, which nowhere happen more frequently than OF WOMEN. 293 in Greenland; a climate fo extremely barren, that almoil the whole of "their fubfiftence muft be drawn from the fea ; and when they cannot derive it from thence, as is frequently the cafe in ftormy weather, then women, who are in general but little regarded, fall the firft victims of famine. But mould no fuch accident happen, widows, who are left without fons come to age and ftrength enough to fim, and catch feals for them, are always in the mofl deplo- rable condition; for the whole riches of a Green- lander confifts in his little flock of provifions; and fuch is the barbarous cuitom of the country, that when he dies, the neighbours, who affemble to bury him, feldom or never depart from his hut, till they have confumed the whole of that (lock, and left the widow to inhabit the bare walls. In fo hor- rid a climate, and on fo flormy an ocean, it is but little a woman can procure ; me is therefore obliged to fubfift by the cold hand of charity ; in Greenland much colder, than where the blood and kindlier Spi- rits are fanned by a more benevolent atmofphere, and warmed by a more refplendent fun. Hence it frequently happens, that the pieces of feals or of whale-blubber thrown to her, hardly fuflain a wretched exiflence, or entirely fail; when, neglect- ed and unpitied by all around her, me expires by hunger and by cold. Among many of the ancients, widows were, either by law or by cuftom, reilricted from having a fecond hufband. Almoft over all the Eafl, and araon? many tribes of the Tartars, wives were fuppofed to ferve their hufbands as well in the next world as in this ; and as every wife there was to be the fole pro- perty of herfirft hufband, fhe could never obtain a fecond, becaufe he could only fecure to himfelf her fervice in this life. After the Greeks became fenfi- vol. 11. Pp THE HISTOfl i ble of the benefits arifing from the regulation of Cecrops cdncerning matrimony, they conceived fo higl>an idea of them, that they affixed a degree of infamy on the woman who married a fecond huf- band, even after-the death of the rirft ; and it wa more than two centuries after the death of Cecrops, before any woman dared to make the attempt. — Their hiftory has even tranfmitted to pofterity, with fome degree of infamy, the name of her, who firft ventured on a fecond marriage. It was Gorgopho- na, the daughter of Perfeus and Andromeda, who began the practice ; a practice, which, though foon after followed by others, could not, even by the multitude of its votaries, be fcreened from the pub- lie odium ; for, during a great part of the heroic ages, widows who remarried were confidered as having offended againft public decency; a cuflom to which Virgil plainly alludes, when he defcribes the conflict in the breaft of Dido, between her love for iEneas, and fear of wounding her honour by a fecond marriage: nay, fo fcrupulous were the Greeks about fecond marriages, that in fome circumftances they were hardly allowed to the men. Charonidas exclu- ded all thofe from the public councils of the Hate, who had children, and married a fecond wife. — '• ; It is impoffible (laid he) that a man can advife well for his country, who does not confult the good of his own family : he whole firft marriage has been happy, ought to reft fatisfied with that happinefs ; if unhappy, he mult be out of his femes to rifque beimi. fo again." *t> Among fome nations, as the ancient Jews, and Chriftians of the primitive ages, there were certain orders of men, who were not allowed to join them- felves in marriage with widows. Every prieft of the was to take a wife in her virginity ; a widow, OF WOMEN. 295 or a divorced woman, or prophane, or an harlot, thefe he fhall not take ; but he fhall take a virgin of his own people to wife. And Pope Syricus, copy- ing the example let by Mofes, ordained, that if a bifhop married a widow, or took a iecorid wife, he fhould be degraded. It is fomewhat remarkable, that Mofes fhould have put widows on the fame fcale with harlots and prophane women : an arrange- ment which greatly degraded them, and which muft doubtlefs have depended on fome opinion or cuftom, of which we are now entirely ignorant. We are almofl as little acquainted with the reafon why the clergy of the middle ages were prohibited from mar- rying widows; for, befides the prohibition of Syri- cus, which only extended to bifhops, the church afterwards iffued many others of the fame nature, which extended in time to all men in holy orders. In the year 400, we find it decreed in the Cyprian Council, that if a reader married a widow, he fhould never be preferred in the church ; and that if a hib- deacon did the fame, he mould be degraded to a door-keeper or reader. As the Egyptians were the firft people who treat- ed women with propriety, and allowed them to enjoy the common rights of nature, they were not even unmindful of their widows, but protected them by their laws, and allowed them a proper maintenance from the effects of their hufbands. The Greeks, who derived their laws from ancient Egypt, likewife allowed their widows a dowry for their fubfiftence ; but if they had any children, and married a fecond hatband, they could carry to him none of the dower of the firft. Among the Romans, when a man died inteftate, and without children, his widow was the fole heirefs of his fortune; and if he left chil- dren fhe had an equal fhare with them of all that 296 THE HISTORY belonged to him. In the middle ages, when it was cuftomary for creditors to feize upon and fell the wives and children of a debtor, they were not em- powered to take his widow: the connection was dif- iolved, and (lie was no longer his property; though her fons and daughters were, and might be taken and fold accordingly. In the eleventh century, the church began to efpoufe the caufe of widows, and required a promife from penitents, before fhe would give them abfolution, that they would not hence- forth hurt the widow and the fatherlefs. Among the Franks, it was cuftomary to pay to the bride a fmall fum of money, by way of purchafe : this fum was commonly a fol and a denier to a maiden; but to a widow three golden fols and a denier were requifite; becaufe, all women belides widows being under perpetual guardianfhip, marriage made no change in the liberty of a maiden; whereas a widow parted with the liberty fhe had gained by the death of her hufband, when (lie joined herfelf to a fecond. The melancholy ceremonies of mourning have, in all ages and countries, been more particularly allot- ted to women, as the bell: fitted for them, not only by the fympathetic feelings, but alfo by their greater readinefs in calling forth thefe feelings almoil at pleafure. "Widows, however, whether from a fenfe of the almoil unfpeakable lofs they fuilain by the death of a hufband, or from fome other reafons known to themfelves only, have generally, in thofe folcmn ceremonies, gone greater lengths than the reft of their fex. Jewifh widows mourned the death of their hufbands, at lead for the fpace of ten months, and were reckoned iliamefully abandoned, if they married again within that time. Aim oft every civilized people have in fome degree copied this example; fome allotting a longer, and fome a OF WOMEN. 297 fliorter time to the mourning of widows, and all agreeing to mark them with infamy, if they married again too foon. Moil legislators, finding widows rather too prompt to enter into fecond marriages, fixed a certain time within which they mould not marry. The Romans, contrary to the practice of all other nations, fixed the time in which widowers fhould marry. The Julians firft allowed three years, afterwards but one. The Papians gave them two. In the eleventh century the church decreed, that a widow fhould not marry within the fpace of one year after the death of her hufband. ' The laws of Gene- va have fhortened this period to half a year, and in molt civilized countries it is mere regulated by cuf- tom than by law. It was formerly the cuftom in Scotland 1 , and in Spain, for widows to wear the drefe of mourners until death, or a fecond husband put an end to the ceremony. In the latter, the widow palled the firfl year of her mourning in a chamber hung with black, into which day-light was never fufFered to enter: when this year was ended, flie changed this dark and dimial fcene for a chamber hung with grey, into which flie admitted the fun-beams fometimes to pene- trate ; but neither in her black nor grey chamber did cuftom allow her looking glalTes, nor cabinets, nor plate, nor any thing but the moil plain and necelTary furniture ; nor was fhe to have jewels on her perfbn, nor to wear any colour but black.*— * We are fo much accuftomed in Europe to fee mourners dreffed in black, that we have affixed a melancholy idea to that colour. Black is not, however, univerfally appropriated to this purpofe. The drefs of the Chinefe mourners is white ; that of the Turks blue ; of the Peruvians a moufe colour ; of the Egyp- tians yellow, and in fome of their provinces green, and puiple is at prefent made ufe of as the mourning drefs of kings and cardinals. 298 THE HISTORY The faultlefs victim, is, however, immediately dif- charged from her gloomy prifon, if flie is lucky enough to get afecond hufband, and (he frequently lays herfelf out for one, as much with a view to efcape from her confinement, as on account of reite- rating the joys of wedlock. Among nations lefs cultivated, the idea of what a widow ought to undergo on the lofs of her husband, has been carried to a length, in fome refpeefs, more unreafonable than in Spain. The Mulkohge fava- ges in America allot her the tedious fpace of four years to chaflity and to mourning, and the Chikka- jfah dedicate three to the fame purpoics; this, howe- ver, on the part of the women is not voluntary, but complied with only to fave them from the punifh- ment of adulterers, to which they would be lia- ble if they acted otherwife. To this mourning and continency are added particular auil.eritics; every evening and morning, during the firft year, a wi- dow is obliged, by cultom, to lament her lofs in loud and lugubrious drains, and if her husband was a war-chief, me is alfo obliged, during the firft moon, to fit the whole day under his war-pole,* and there incefTantly bewail her lofs in loud lamentations, with- out any melter from the heat, the cold, or whate- ver weather fhall happen; a ceremony fo rigid and fevere, that not a few r in the performance of it, not- withflanding the natural hardinefs of their conflitu- tions, fall victims to the various diflempers which then attack them, and to which they are not allow- ed to pay any regard, till the ceremony is ended. This cuftom, according to the Indians, was inftitu- * This war-pole is a tree ftuck. in the ground, the top and branches cut off, is painted red, and all the weapons and tro- phies of war which belonged to the deceafed are hung on it, and remain there till they rot. OF WOMEN. 29? ted, not only to hinder women from taking any me- thods to deftroy, but alfo to induce them to do all in their power to preferve the lives of their husbands. Befides this, there may be other reafons. It was anciently confidered as one of the greater! cf misfor- tunes to die unlamented ; a circumfhmce which the facred records, and the hiftorians and poets of anti- quity frequently allude to, and which is at this day a cuftom in many parts of the Indies, and exifts alfo in Wales, Ireland, and Scotland, in fome of the northern parts of which, nothing would more dif- turb a chieftain when alive, than to think that his funeral dirge would not be fung by his dependants when dead ; perhaps, therefore, this long and pain- ful mourning of the American widows was initituted to prevent the illufive evil of dying unlamented. But this painful ceremony, and this long celibacy of the Mufkohge and Chikkafah widows is not all that they are condemned to fuller ; the law obliges them alfo, during the continuance of their weeds, to abflain from all kinds of diverfion, and from all public company, to go with their hair negligent and diiheveiled, and to deny themfelves the enchanting pleafure of anointing it with greafe or oil \ the ob- fervance of all which is enforced by the neareft of kin to the deceafed hufband, who keeps a watchful eye over the conducT: of his widow, hecaufe, mould ihe fail in any particular of the duty we have men- tioned, Hie would thereby bring the mod indeliable ilain on the memory of the deceafed, and the honour of his family. Through the whole of their widow- hood, the women continue to mourn their loft huf- bands, and in their lamentations conftantly call on them by name, efpecially when they go out to work in the morning, and when they return in the even- ing, at which time the whole company of maids and 300 THE HISTORY and widows join in a melancholy chorus, making the hills and dales reverberate the funebral found. Hufbands, however, never weep for their wives — " Tears, fay they, do not become men ; it is only women that ought to weep ;" and we may add, that in America they frequently have great reafonfo to do, for if the friends of a widow cannot find a husband for her, add if {he has no fons of age to procure her the means of fubfiftence, her condition is but wretched and miferabie ; what little charity fhe receives is often given with an ill grace, and at laft fhe is frequently in no fmall danger of perifhing for want. Such are the feverities which mark the fate of wi- dows among the favages of America ; but hard as we may reckon all thefe unmerited fufferlngs and aufterities, they are lenient and tender, when com- pared to what widows in feveral parts of Africa are obliged to undergo. In that country of tyranny and defpotifm, wives and concubines are not only doomed to be the flaves of their husbands in this world, but, according to their opinion, in the next alfo ; the husband, therefore, is no fooner dead, than his wives, concubines, fervants, and even fometimes horfes, riftlft be ftrangled, in order to render him the fame fervices in the other world which they did in this. At the Cape of Good Hope, as widows are lefs effeemed than virgins, in order that they may not impofe themfelves on the men forfuch, they are obliged by law to cut off a joint from a finger for every husband that dies ; this joint they prefent to their new husband on the day of their marriage. In the Iflhmus of Darien, both fexes were formerly obliged to obferve this cuftom, that none of them might impofe themfelves on each other for what they were not ; or according to fome authors, which is OFWOME N. 301 not lefs probable, it was their marriage ceremony, by which they were affianced to each Other. We have already feen that widows are in feverai places neglected, and allowed at lead to fall a prey to famine ; but in Darien, the barbarity is carried much farther ; when a widow dies, fuch of her children as are too young to provide fubliflence for themfelves are buried with her in the fame grave, no one being willing to take the charge of them, and the community not being fo far ripened as to difcover that the lofs of every individual is a lofs to the (late. Such is the favage barbarity of African and Ameri- can policy ; a barbarity which can only be exceeded by what we are going to relate of the Hindoos, or ancient inhabitants of the banks of the Ganges, and fome other parts of the Eafl Indies. Befides the remarkable cuftom of making every woman a prifoner for life, the Afiatics prefent us with ilill more extraordinary, and, if poffible, more re- pugnant to human nature. The Hindoos do not bury their dead after the manner of many other nations, but burn their bodies upon a large pile of wood erected for the purpofe ; upon this pile the mod beloved wife, and in fome places it is laid, all the wives of great men are obliged to devote them- felves to the flames which confume the body of their hu [bands. This cruel and inhuman cuftom having exifted among them from the remotefl: antiquity, its origin is dark and uncertain, though they generally give the following account of it. The Hindoo wives having in ancient times become fo wicked and aban- doned, as to make a common practice of poifoning their hulbands whenever they difplealed them ; feve- rai methods were in vain attempted to remedy the vol. it. Q^q 302 THE HISTORY evil, when at laft the men found themfelves under a neceffity of enacting a law, That every Hindoo wife fhould be burned to death on the funeral pile of her dead hufband; a mod: effectual, though dreadful, remedy to prevent the mod norrid of crimes. If there is any truth in this caui"e, and the law which was the confequence of it, it has to fome feemed ilrange that obedience to that law was not enforced by any penalty; but this is not in the lead: drange or unaccountable, for it would be abiurd to enforce the execution of a law by a penalty, when no penalty could be devifed fo dreadful as the execution of the law itfelf. The Hindoos took a more effectual me- thod, they did not drag the victim:, to the pile like criminals to execution, but prevailed upon them to oifer themfelves to it of their own accord; in the flrll place, by annexing to fuch a facrifice all the mod glorious and incomprehenfible reward?, of reli- gion ; and in the ftcond, by fubjecting the refufal to perpetual infamy, by degrading the woman from her tribe, and confidering her as bringing an eter- nal difgrace on her family. As there is no pofitive proof, however, that this was the origin of the burning of widows, others have fuppofed, that the cudom arofe in the follow- ing manner. At the death of Brama, the great prophet and lawgiver of the Hindoos, his wives, inconfolable for fo great a lofs, refolved not to fur- vive him, and therefore voluntarily facrificed them- felves on the funeral pile: the wives of the chief Rajahs, or ofllcers of date, unwilling to have their love and fidelity reckoned lefs than the wives of Bra- ma, followed in a kind of bravo the example fet them by thofe wives. The Bramins, or priells of Brama, forefeeing that it would turn out advantage- ous to their fociety, extolled the new invented piety, OF WOMEN. 3°3 and declared that the fpirits of thofe heroines fronr thenceforth defifted from being tranfmigrated into other bodies, and immediately entered into the firft bhoobun of purification;* a reward fo glorious, which put an end to the fpirit palling a long and difagreeable ftate of probation, in the bodies of a variety of inferior animals, induced even the wives of the Bramins themfelves to claim a right of facri- ficing their bodies in this manner. The wives of all the Hindoos caught the enthufiaftic contagion, and thus in a fhort time the frantic heroifm of a few wo- men brought on a general cuftom ; the Bramins ianc- tirled it by religion, and thereby eftablifhed it on a foundation that feveral thoufand years have not been able to deflroy. As the Bramins receive confiderable emoluments from the burning of widows, being intitled to all the finery in which they are adorned before they afcend the funeral pile, they take care to interweave into their education an idea of its neceffity, and from their earlieft youth inftrucl: them to confider this cataftrophe as the moil pleating to Brama, and the mod: beneficial to themfelves and their children. When they become wives, the fame unwearied efforts are continued to confirm their minds in the principles fo early inculcated; all the enthuliafm of religion, and all the ardour arifing in the human mind from glory, are kindled up into a blaze; all the abhorrence darting up againif degradation; mame and infamy are likewile conjured up to exert themfelves. The woman is told, from the Shaffer, * According to the Bramins there are fourteen bhoobuns or fpheres, feven above the earth, for the reception of the fpirits of the bleifed, and feven below it, for the reception of thofe who are condemned to further mifery and puniihment, till they arrive at the neceffary degre# of purification. Set THE HISTORY their fountain of infallible truth, that flic v\ ho 1 urns with the body of her hufband Avail enjoy life eternal with him in Heaven ; that the children defcended of a mother thus voluntarily facrificed, acquire thereby an additional iuftre, are courted in marriage by the mod honourable of their caft, and even (ometimes advanced to a cad fuperior to that in which they were born; that the who daftardly declines to afcend the funeral pile, is degraded from her cad, thrown out of all fociety, and by every one contemned and def- pifed ; her children too, degraded and buffetted, feel the effects of her crime, and become with her- felf the deteilation even of the lowed and mod defpi- cable of mankind. In whatever light we view this cudom, or from whatever fource we derive its origin, it is certainly one of the mod extraordinary that we are prefented with in hi dory; feveral authors, and among them Monf. Voltaire, have mentioned it as the hmheft effort of fortitude and refolution, that a woman, in the bloom of youth and beauty, fliould not only voluntarily relinquifh life, but calmly and intrepidly kindle, and afterwards afcend the pile whofe flames are to devour her. Of this calmnefs and intrepidity there may, perhaps, be, or rather there appear to be, fome inllances : but even thefe are not fo nume- rous as we are taught to believe; for a variety of authors tell us, and indeed their tedimony is mod cenfonant to human nature, that the greater part, if not all of the victims who devote themfelvcs in t manner, are previoufly rendered infenfible by opium and other foporific drugs. Befides, when we atten- tively confider an action fo repugnant to felf-preler- vation, the dronged of all human principles, we fhall find, that though the victims really offer them- felvcs, yet the facrifice is not altogether voluntary; OF WOMEN. 305 it is an aft to which the mind is forced to give con- fent, by hopes of the higheft: rewards, and fears oi themoft: dreadful punifhmeiits; and to conflitute a voluntary aft, it is evident the mind muft not be influenced by either. It may, perhaps, be alleged here, that no motives whatever are fufficient to influence the human mine, to relinquifh life, and far lefs to meet death when armed with fuch ten-fold terrors; but this is not really the cafe; there are two motives of a nature ft powerful, that either of them have frequently ena- bled both men and women to undervalue life, and fet death and all his terrors at defiance. The firft of thefe is Religion; almoft every religion has been perfecuted, and that perfecution has conftantly been productive of martyrs, who, influenced by the glo- rious rewards which they fancied annexed to their fufterings, and terrified by the punifhmems they mould incur by declining to fuffer, have behaved in death with a courage and magnanimity equal, if not fuperior to the Hindoo women. The fecond is the delufive phantom Honour, whofe empty name drags the foldier to the field of blood, prompts him to fcale the oifenfive wall, and meet the death planted there in ten thoufand terrible fhapes ; where, if he perifhes, the honour he fought after will not enter with him into, nor reward him, in the other world, Thefe motives which, when acting fingiy, are each of them fo powerful, both combine together to lead the Hindoo women to the funeral pile; and what gives them an additional force is, the education of the women, who are from their infancy trained up to confider this world as their place of punimment, their bodies as their prifons, and the final releafe from both as the undoubted commencement of the moll: certain and perfeft happinefs. Lefs tenacious, 3 c6 THE HISTORY therefore, of life than people educated andinflructed in different and more doubtful principles, they fub- mit, though not altogether in a voluntary manner, yet with lefs reluctance than rs natural with us. to this facrifice, which they confider not only as releaf- ing them from all farther tranfmigrations, but as joining them for ever to the happy fpirits of their departed hufbands, in a ftate ot the mott perfect puri- fication. But this cuilom of burning has not been altoge- ther confined to women; feveral Indian philofophers, through an excels of fanaticifra, or chagrined with the ills and accidents of life, have flung themfelves into the devouring flames, and there expired in feeming tranquility. The iateft inftance, perhaps, of this was Calanus, who followed Alexander in his expedition to India ; he had lived free from pain and ilcknefs to the age of eighty-three, when being feized with a violent cholic, and perhaps loaded with the infirmities of agtf, he took the refolution of freeing himfelf from the whole by the funeral pile; a refo- lution which he executed in fpite of all the remon- strances of his royal mafter and oilier friends. We would naturally fuppofe that a nation in which both men and women were To regardlefs of life, fhould be brave and warlike, yet the contrary has always been the cafe, they have yielded and eafy conqueft almolt to every invader. But to return to the women. In fpite of the care of the Bramins, in fpite of all the glorious rewards offered to thofe who burn, and indignant punifliments threatened againft thofe who do not, nature will often revolt at death, and prefer even a life of ignominy to an exit attended with all the flat- tering ideas of honour and felicity. We are encou- OF WOMEN. 307 raged to afTert this, becaufe a gentleman, who has been prefent at many of thefe executions, declares, that in in fome of the victims he obferved a dread and reluctance, which ftrongly fpoke their having repent- ed of their fatal refolution. But too late ; for Vifl- nu is waiting for the Spirit, and mull not be difap- pointed : when the woman, therefore, wants cou- rage, me is forced to afcend the pile, and is after- ward held down by long poles till the flames reach and deftroyher; mean while her fcreams and cries are drowned by the noife of loud mufic, and the ftill more noify {bouts and acclamations of the fur- rounding multitude. Some hiflorians have of late aiTerted, that the cuflom of burning no longer exifts in India ; this, however, is a mi (fake ; there are two recent in- ftances of it tranfmitted by Europeans, who were witneflbs of the tranfactions they relate. Of one of thefe, as being die moil circumftantial, we fhall give our readers an abftract. On the 4th of Febru- ary, 1742, died Rham Chund, pundit of the Maha- rattor tribe; his widow, aged feventeen or eighteen years, as icon as he expired, immediately declared to the Bramins, and witneffes prefent, her refolution to burn. As the family was of great importance, all her relations and friends left no arguments unat- tempted to difluade her from her purpofe. The (late of her infant children, ami die terrors and pains of death {he afpired after, were painted to her in the ftrongeit and mod: lively colours; but me was. deaf to all. Her children, iadeed, fhe feemed to leave wkh fome regret ; but when the terrors of burning were mentioned to her, with a countenance calm and refolved, ilie put. one of her fingers into the fire, and held it there a confiderable time; then, with one of her hands, flic put fire into the palm of the 3 o 8 THE HISTORY other ; fpriftkled incenfe upon it, and fumigated the attending Bnnnins. Being given to underftand, that (lie fhould not obtain permiffion to barn, fhe fell immediately into the moll deep affliction ; but foon recollecting herfelf, anfwered, that death would Hill be in her power ; and that if {he were not allow- ed to make her exit, according to the principles of her calf, (he would ftarve herfelf. Finding her thus refolved, her friends were, at lad, obliged to confent to her propofal. Early on the following morning, the body of the deceafed was carried down to the water fide ; the widow followed about ten o'clock, accompanied by three principle Bramins, her children, relations, and a numerous crowd of fpeclators. As the order f or her burning did not arrive till after one o'clock, the interval was employed in praying with the Bra- mins, and warning in the Ganges: as . foon as it arrived, Ihe retired, and (laid about half an hour in the midll her female relations ; Ihe then diveited herfelf of her bracelets and other ornaments ; and having tied them in a kind of apron which hung before her, was conduced by the females to a cor- ner of the pile. On the pile was an arched arbour, formed of dry flicks, boughs, and leaves ; and open only at one end to admit her entrance. In this was depciited the body of the deceafed ; his head at the end, oppofite to the opening. At that corner of the pile, to which me had been conducted, a Bra- min had made a final I fire, round which fhe and three Bramins fat for a few minutes ; one of them put into her hand a leaf of the bale tree ; of the wood of which a part of the funeral pile is alw conftructed : me threw the leaf into the fire, and ine of the others cave her a fecond leaf, which ihe Held over the flame, whilll he, three times, dropped OF WOMEN. 3 o ? fome ghee on it, which melted and fell into the fire : whilll thefe things were doing, a third Bramin read to her fome portions of the Aughtorrah Beid, and afked her fome queftions, which (he anfwered with a fteady and ferene countenance ; thefe being over, fhe was led with great foletnnity three times round the pile, the Bramins reading before her ; when fhe came the third time to the fmall lire, (he (lopped, took her rings off her toes and fingers, and put them toher other ornaments; then taking a folemn and majeftic leave of her children, parents, and relations, one of the Bramins dipped a large wick of cotton in fome ghee, and giving it lighted in her hand, led her to the open fide of the arbour, where all the Bramins fell at her feet; fhe bleffed them, and they retired weeping. She then afcended the pile, and entered the arbour, making a profound reverence at the feet of the deceafed, and then ad- vancing feated herfelf by his head. In filent medi- tation, fhe looked on his face for the fpace of a mi- nute; then fet fire to the arbour in three places; but foon obferving that (lie had kindled it to the leeward, and that the wind blew the flames from her, fhe arofe, fet fire to the windward, and placidly refumedher Ration; fitting therewith a dignity and compofure, which no words can convey an idea of. The pile being of combuftible matter, the fupport- ers of the rpof were foon confumed, and the whole tumbled in uponher, putting an end at once to hei courage and her life. The other account, of a woman who burned her- felf, happened within thefe very few years, and differs from this, only in a few particulars : in this we are not told how the victim difpofed of her jewels ; in it, they were given to the Bramins: this woman kindled herfelf the fire that was to, devour her; the vol. 11. R r 3 io THE HISTORY other had It kindled by her children: this fat by her deceafed hufband ; the other ftretched herfelf by his fide. But thefe, and forae others, are immaterial differences, and may perhaps be regulated by the cufloms of different diftricte. From fuch fcenes of horror, we naturally turn with abhorrence; and we are happy to fay, that though the practice is not altogether abolifhed, by the authority and example of the Europeans, it is gradually falling into difufe, and cannot be executed without the leave of the governor; who grants it as feldom as poffible : European authority and example, however, cannot prevail on the Afiatics to confider their women in a more liberal point of view ; to treat them as companions and equals, or to releafe them from thofe prifons where they are confined for life. When fuch, therefore, is the general treatment of the lex, even while in all the bloom oi* youth and beauty, we are not to expecl: that fuch widows as do not burn with their hufbands, are to experience much good treatment — when their youth, when their beauty, is no more; when they have failed in a point of duty, and of gratitude, reckoned fo necef- fary ; and have nothing, confequently, left to plead their caufe but humanity, a paffion fcarcely alive among the people we are treating of, and whofe feeble exertions, in many places of Afia and Africa, cannot refcue even the widow of a friend, or a bro- ther, from being confidered as the property of the relations of her deceafed hufband, and fold or con- demned to labour for their profit. Widows are not, however, in all parts of Afia treated in this indignant manner. In China, if they have had children, they become abfolute miftreffes of themfelves, and their relations have no power to OF WOMEN. 311 compel them to continue widows, or to give them to another hufband. It is not, however, reputable for a widow who has children, to enter into a fecond marriage, without great neceflity, efpecially if me is a woman of diflinction ; in which cafe, although (lie has been a wife only a few hours, or barely con- tracted, me frequently thinks herfelf obliged to pafs the reft of her days in widowhood; and thereby to teflify to the world the eileem and veneration (he had for her hufband or lover. In the middle flations of life, the relations of the deceafed hufband, eager to reimburfe the family in the fum which the wife originally cofl it, oblige her to marry, or rather fell her to another hufcand, if (lie has no male iiTue; and it frequently happens, that the future hufband is fixed upon and the money paid for her, before me is acquainted with the tranfa&iom From this oppreffion me has only two methods of delivering herfelf; her relations may reimburfe thofe of the deceafed hufband, and claim her exemption; or me may become a BonzefTe ; aitate, however, not very honourable, when embraced in an involuntary man- ner. By the law of China, a widow cannot be fold to another till the time of her mourning for the firft expires ; fo eager, however, are the friends often to difpofe of her, that they pay no regard to this law ; but on complaint being made to a mandarin, he is obliged to do her juflice. As flie is commonly unwilling to be bartered for in this manner, with- out her confent or knowledge, as foon as the bargain isftruck, a covered chair, with a considerable num- ber of lufty fellows, is brought to her houfe; fhe is forcibly put into it, and conveyed to the houfe of her new hufband, who takes care to fecure her. Though among the favages of America, though in Africa and in Afia, widows are treated in this 3i2 THE HISTORY infamous manner, and their condition thereby ren- dered the moil deplorable ; in Europe the cafe is fo widely different, that widowhood, when tolerable circumilances are annexed to it, is, of all other female Hates, the mod eligible; being free from that guardianfhip and controul, to which the fex are fub- ]tci while virgins and while wives. In no part of Europe is this more exemplified than at Parma, and fome other places of Italy ; where a widow is the only female who is free either to chufe a hufband, or affume government of any of her anions ; while, fhould a virgin pretend to chufe for herfelf, it would be reckoned the mod: profligate licentioufnefs; fhould fhe govern her actions or opinions, fhe would be confidered as the molt pert, and perhaps mod aban- doned of her fex. At Turin, the order of St Mau- rice are reftrifred from marrying widows ; and yet at Turin the condition of a widow is, in point of every other liberty, preferable to that of a maid. As we mail have occafion in the next chapter to treat more fully of the rights and privileges of wi- dows in England, we fhall not at prefent enter on that fubjeel. Our ancient laws, and thofe of a great part of Europe, ordained, that a widow fhould lofe her dower, if fhe married again, or fuffcred her chaitity to be corrupted; and the laws of Prufiia retain this ordinance to the prefent time. They like- wife ordain, that a widow fhall not marry again within nine months after the death of her hufband; and that if a widow, while fhe is with child by a deceafed hufband, marry another, flie fhall be put into the houfe of correction; and the hufband, if he knew her condition, put to work at the wheel- barrow for one year. Befides making a widow lofe her dower when fhe enters into a fecond marriage, the Pruilians have another regulation concerning OF WOMEN. 313 them, highly descriptive of the humanity a©d wif- dom of their legiflator. When a widower and a widow intend to marry, one or both of which hav- ing children, as it too frequently happens that Such children are either deSpifed or neglecled, in conSe- quence of the new connections formed, and perhaps of the new offspring raifcd up, the laws of Fruffia provide for their education and fortune, according to the rank and circumflances of the parents; and will not fuffer either man or woman to enter into a fecond marriage, without previoufly fettling with the children of the fiiSt, and producing a certificate that they have done fo from the judge of the di(tri£t where they refide. We have already related, that widows in fome parts of the world are obliged to diftinguifh them- selves by certain marks from the reft of the Sex, that they may not have a power of impofing them- felves on the men as virgins. The laws of PrufSa carry this idea ilill farther ; they reckon that the man who marries a widow, believing her to be a virgin, is f) egregioufly cheated, that they retort the evil en the aggreffor, and render the marriage null and of no effect. We cannot pretend to ce- fcribe particularly the ideas that the Prrfiians enter- tain of widows : they are certainly, however, much lefs exalted than thofe they entertain of virgins ; as in their code of laws we meet with this remarkable Sentiment : " The husband may prefens to his bride the morgengabe, or gift, on the morning after marriage, even though he fhould have married a widow." But though widows feem by them much lefs effeemed than virgins, they are not with- out Several privileges. In iome provinces, if there is no marriage fettlement, and the husbands dies inteftate, they Succeed to the half of all that was 3H THE HISTORY the joint property of both ; but a privilege ftill more extraordinary, and neither reconcilable to nature, nor to found policy, is, the allowing in fome cafes to a widow, eleven months after the death of her husband, to bring forth the child that was begot by him ; w r hich, according to the Pruffian law, fhall be legitimate, provided nothing can be proved againft the woman. In almofl all the other countries of Europe, the laws and cuftoms, which regard widows, are little different from thofe concerning virgins, only in this circumftance, that they every where allow the widow to be miftrefs of herfelf ; while the maid and the wife are controuled by parent or a husband. They generally alfo fecure to the widow a maintenance from the eftates and effects of her deceafed husband, and frequently devolve upon her in the important trull of bringing up her children, and fuffer her to reap fome advantages from board and education ; but fuch advantages are, for the moft: part, in the power of the father, who, by his will, may leave them to his wife, or to any other guardian he mall think proper to appoint ; for the laws of Europe do not confider the mother as the natural guardian of her own children, nor endow her with any autho- ritative power over them. OF WOMEN. 315 CHAPTER XXXI. Of the Rights, Privileges, and Immunities of the Women of Great Britain ; the Punifmnents to which they are liable by Law; and the Rejiriflionj they are laid under by Law and Cuflom* N proportion as real politenefs and ele- gance of manners advance, the interefl: and advan- tages of the fair fex not only advance alfo, but become more firmly and permanently eftabliihed ; the interefts, however, and good treatment of the fex do not altogether depend on the advancement of politenefs and elegance, for it fometimes happens, that a people rather lefs advanced in thefe articles than their neighbours, make up the lolTes thereby arifing to their women, by good-nature and huma- nity. The French and Italians are before the inhabi- tants of Britain in politenefs, they are fuperior to them in elegance, yet the condition of their women, upon the whole, is not preferable. Such privile- ges and immunities as the French and Italian women derive .from the influence of politenefs, the Britifh derive from the laws of their country. Flowing in this channel, though they are perhaps accompanied with lefs ibftnefs and indulgence, they have the advantage of being eftabliflied on a firmer founda- tion ; and being dictated by equity and humanity, are lefs liable to be altered and infringed, than if they depended on the whim and cap-rice which influ- ences gallantry and politenefs. 316 THE HISTORY Brfore we proceed to a particular detail of thofe laws which regard the perfons and properties of the women of this country, it may not be improper to obferve, that, taken collectively, and compared with the fame kind of laws in other countries, they feem fo much preferable, that we cannot help imagining that the fame fpirit which for many centuries has mitigated the Englifli to be liberal of their blood and of their treafure in fupport of thofe weaker nations who were oppreffed by their more powerful neigh- bours, has alfo dictated the laws which regard that fex who are almod every where enilaved or oppref- fed by the other. It is true, the laws of feveral countries are in fome particulars more favourable to the fex than ours. Thofe of Frederic king of Pruf- fia, which regard the matrimonial compact, ihew a greater indulgence to the women, and vert: in them powers more extenfive than thofe of England. — Thofe of France and Italy, as well as the cuftoms which regard their perfonal liberty, feem more indul- gent; and thofe of Spain, which regard their rank, and fettle the deference to be paid to them, greatly exceed any thing experienced in this country. But thefe favours and indulgences are only partial, they only mark particular parts of their code of female laws, and do not uniformly extend their influence over the whole. In confidering the advantages and difadvantages in the condition of our women, we fhall begin with the higher ranks of life. In France, the Salique law does not allow a female to inherit the crown; but in England a woman may be the firfl: perfonage in the kingdom, may fucceed to the crown in her own right, and in that cafe, not bound by any of the laws that regard women, (lie may enjoy the fame powers and privileges as a king. Such a queen, if OF WOMEN. 317 {he marries, retains the fame power, iffues the orders, and tranfacte the bufinefs of the (late in her afari name, and continues ftili the fovereign, while her huiband is only a fttbjecT. But when a king fuc- ceeds in his own right to the crown, and marries, his queen is then only a fubject, and her rights and pri- vileges not near fo extenfive; fhe is exempted, howe- ver, from the general laws which exclude married womefi from having any property in their own right ; llie is alio .ved a court, and officers difHncl: from thofe of the kingf her hufband; and (he may fue any per- fon at law, withoat joining her huiband in the fuit. It is high treafon to endeavour to compafs her death, and to violate her chaftity is punifhable in a much feverer manner than the punilhments for. committing adultery with any other woman. She may purchafe lands, (he may fell and convey them to another per- fon, without the interference of her hufband. She may have a feparate property in goods and in lands, and may difpofe of thefe by will, as if fhe were a fin- gle woman. She is not liable to pay any toll, and cannot be fined in any court of law. In all other refpech fhe is only confidered as a fubject, and on the commiilion of any crime may be tried and punch- ed by the peers of the realm. A queen-dowager has privileges different from all other women of whatever rank ; fhe remains frill entitled to almoft every right fhe enjoyed during the life of her huf- band, and even if (he marries a fubject, does not lofe her rank or title; but as a marriage of this kind is confidered as derogatory to her dignity, no man is allowed to efpoufe her without a licence from the reigning king. Some of the other females of the royal family are alfo peculiarly diftinguiihed and protected by the Saw. To violate the chaftity of the confort of the VOL. IT. S S THE HISTORY prince of Wales, or of the eldeft. daughter of the kiug, although with their own confent, is deemed high treafonj and puniihable accordingly. In for- mer times, the king had a power of levying an aid upon his iubjects, to enable him to defray the ex- pence of marrying and giving a portion to his eldeil daughter ; but this power, which was frequently ftretched into the mofl exorbitant opprelTion, decli- ned v ith the feudal fyftem, and has long fmce hap- pily expired. As for the younger fons and daugh- ters of the king, they are hardly otherwife diilin- guifhed by the laws from other iubjects, than by having the precedence in all public ceremonies. Befides the privileges annexed to the females of the royal family, there are fome alfo enjoyed by peer- ciTcs, which are not common to other women. A peerefs, when guilty of any crime, cannot be tried but by a jury of the houfe of peers ; and if convicted of any crime within the benefit of clergy, may plead, and is entitled to an exemption from the punifhment of burning on the hand, a punifhment commonly hiflicted upon people of all inferior ranks for fuch kind of offences. A woman, who is noble in her own right, cannot lofe her nobility by marrying the meaneft plebeian; but fhe can neither communicate her nobility to her hufband, nor to her own chil- dren had by him : fhe who is only ennobled by marrying a peer, lofes that nobility if fhe afterward marry a commoner, the law judging it expedient that marriage fhould have a power of degrading as well as of elevating her. She who firfl marries a duke or other peer of a fuperior order, and after- wards a firaple baron, is itill allowed to retain her iirfl title, and the privileges annexed to it; for the law confiders all peers as equals. In the fcale of female rank and importance, there is a kind of inter- OF WOMEN. 319 mediate fpace between the peerefs and the com- moner, filled up by the wives of bifhops, judges, and baronets; all of which, though they mare in the fplendour and opulence of their hufbands, have no title in confequence of the rank which thefe hufc bands enjoy: by the courtefy indeed of this country, the wives of baronets are called ladies, a title fupe- rior to that of their hufbands, but at the fame time a title to which they have no legal right, being in all judicial writs and proceedings only denominated Dame fuch-a-one, according to the name of their hufbands. In Scotland the courtefy of the country is carried flill much farther; every woman who is proprietor of any land in her own right, or is the wife of a man who is proprietor of an efta'te, great or little, is called Lady fuch-a-thing, according to the name of that eftate: fo that a woman is fdme- times accofted with the pompous title of lady, who may almofl cover the whole of her territorial diftricl with her apron. Such are the privileges and immunities enjoyed by the more elevated ranks of female life; but befides thefe, they are alfo entitled to all the other privile- ges and rights which the laws of this country have conferred upon women in general, and which we mall now more particularly confider. As women are, in poKfhed fociety, weak and incapable of felf-defence, the laws of this country have fupplied this defect, and formed a kind of bar- rier around them, by rendering their perfons fo facred and inviolable, that even death is in feveral cafes, the confequence of taking improper advantages of that weaknefs. By our laws, no man is allowed to take a woman of any rank or condition, and oblige her to marry him, under pain of imprifonment for ,:o THE HISTORY two years, and a fme at the pleafure of the king. But he who forcibly carries away an heircfs, and marries her, even though he fhould obtain her con- feut after the forcible abduction, fubjccts himfelf to a rtill greater penalty, he is guilty of felony without benefit of clergy; and there is hardly any criminal whom the law purities to death with more iteady and unrelenting fe verity. Women are, on account of their weaknefs, and the better to prderve the modefty of their fex, excufed from ferving all kinds of public offices; and fucch as are under twelve years of age, which is the time fixed by the law for being marriageable, if forced into marriage, or even (edu- ced to confent to it, may afterwards refufe to the husband the rights of matrimony, and have the roar* ria?e declared null and of no effect. In no inftance has the law exerted itfelf more ftrenuoufly, than in guarding women from rape and violence offered to their chaftity. Their fecu- rity in thefe refpefrs has, in every well regulated itate, been confidered as an object of the utmoft im- portance, not only as guaranteeing to themfelvcs that liberty of refufal, which throughout the whole extent of nature feems the right of females, but alfo, as affording to the public all the fecurity which the law can give, for the the chaftity of their wives, and the legitimacy of their children. We have already mentioned the puniihments inflicted on the perpe- trators of rapes in feveral periods and countries. In Britain thefe punifhments have varied with the man- ners of the times, and the genius of the legiflators. In the time of the Anglo-Saxons, he who committed a rape fuffercd death. William the Conqueror altered that punifhment to the lofs of eyes and emaf- culation, which difabled the offender from being again guilty of the like crime. Henry the Third, OF WOMEN. 321 confidering thefe punifnmcnts as too fevere, and finding that a power io extenfive lodged in the hands of all forts of women, was often abufed from mo- tives of refentment, and a defire of revenge upon thofe who had (lighted or other wife ill-treated them, ordained, that a rape, when not profecuted within forty days, mould only be confidered as a fimple trefpafs, and punifhed by two years imprifonment and a fine, at the pleafure of the crown ; and even when it was profecuted within the forty days, the king referved entirely to himfelf the power of pun- ifliing the offender, having made trial of this me- thod, and finding it was far from being fufficient to euard the fair fex from violence and infult, he at lad made the commifiion of a rape, felony ; finding even this defence too weak, he, fome time after, was obliged to make it felony without benefit of clergy. And fo careful has the Jaw been to fecure all women of whatever character or condition, that even the molt common proftitutcs have in this cafe the fame powers and privileges as other women. In almofl: all other cafes, whether civil or crimi- nal, parties cannot be witneffes for themfelves ; a woman, however, who is ravilhed, may give evi- dence upon her oath, and is in law not only confi- dered as a competent witnefs, but may, by her fole teflimony prove the fact, and deprive the aggrefTor of his life. In fome meafure to counteract, the exor- bitance of this power, and fecure the lives of the men from being facrificed to rique and refentment, the credibility of her teflimony is left entirely in the breaft ofthe jury, to be judged of from the tenour of her conduct, and the circumftances that occur in the trial. This power of being a witnefs in her own caufe, in cafes of afiault, is not confined to fuch women only as are allowed by the law to be com- 322 THE HISTORY petent witneffes in other cafes, it is extended even to infants, and (lie who is under twelve years of age may be a competent witnefs againfl a man who has abufed her, provided me has attained a fufficient degree of underflanding to know the nature of an oath : nor does the privilege of the fex in this par- ticular inflance (lop even here ; it is extended to a length unknown in moil other cafes ; if a man has been tried and condemned for a rape, ;md is after- wards pardoned, the woman may, by an appeal, have him tried again for the fame offence. A mar- ried woman may fue her raviiher in any criminal court, without the confent or approbation of her husband ; and to mm up all, a woman may even kill a man who attempts to ravifh her. Such extenfive privileges, veiled in a fex fo much guided by the impulfes of paffion,and fo fufceptible of the flrongefl and mod implacable refentment, has by many been confidered as a violent flretch of legal au- thority, whereby the balance of juflice, which ought in all cafes to be equal, is evidently made to prepon- derate in favour of the one fex, in prejudice to the other. But on the other hand, when we confider the weaknefs of that fex, the violence of ours, and the neceflity which humanity and the rules of fociety lay us under of defending them ; when to thefe we add, the impoffibility, in this cafe, of framing a law which mail anfwer the intention of the legiflator, and lay neither of the fexes under any difadvantage ; and that much greater evils would arife to fociety, were women fubject to the affaults of every rude invader, than from the powers with which they are inverted, we cannot help thinking, that this law, as it (lands at prefent, is, perhaps, the bell that the nature of the cafe will admit of. OF WOMEN. 323 BefiJes thefe powers which are vefled in the fe- male for the protection and defence of her chaftity, when ihe has fuffered herfelf to be feduced from this virtue by fraud, or by the imbecility of human nature, the law confers on her another power, that of afcertaining, by her oath before a jufiice of the peace, the father of her child. In all other matters of litigation, whether civil or criminal, the perfon accufed has liberty to bring an exculpatory proof: but here, as the nature of the crime is luppofed to have ftronger motives to wifli for exculpation than the woman can have to give her child to a wrong father, no exculpatory proof is admitted, but fuch as renders the commiiTion of the crime impoffible. In Scotland the reverie of this is the cafe ; there, the legiflator confidering it as an extravagant power for a woman to be able to oblige whoever flie pleafes to father her child, and confiding in the religious veracity of the man, has veiled in him the power of exculpating himfelf ; an unmarried woman with child is obliged to difcover to the minifter and elders of the parifti, who is the father ; they fummon him before them, and if he denies it, he may exculpate himfelf by oath ; this oath, of the mod tremendous nature, in which he invokes all the curfes of hea- ven to light on his devoted head if he fwears falfely, is administered to him by the mini tier, in prefence of the whole congregation ; and is fo replete with ter- ror, that it is fuppefed very few men have had the temerity to venture on it, who were not innocent.— The church alfo afiumes a power in Scotland of making every woman of whatever rank or condition, fubmit to certain penance, and declare the father of her baftard child, otherwife they deny her thefacra- ment ; and if {lie continues obltinate, at lad excom- municate her. In England, the church feldom inter- feres with the matter; nor have the church wardens 3 24 THE HISTORY any legal right to carry a woman before a juftice who is pregnant with a baflard child, unlefs {he is likely to become chargeable to the parifh; and even then, they cannot compel her to go before a juflice, nor can he fummon her before him, till at leafl one month after her delivery. We have juft now feen, that the only punifhment which the laws of Scotland allow of being inflicted on a woman for having a baftard child, is to make her do penance in the church. In England the church exacts no penance, but a juf- tice of the peace may oblige her, if in proper cir- cumflances, to defray fome part of the maintenance of her child ; and on refufal may commit her to the houfe of correction. Such are the laws which re- gard women who are fettled in a place, and who, though they ha\re fallen victims to feduction, or their own frailty, are not become abfolutely abandoned ; but a va?rant woman, when delivered of a baftard child in any parifh where flic is begging, may, by the order of a juftice, r be committed to the houfe of correction, and puniilied with whipping by the quarter feilion. As licentioufnefs of manners, fickleriefs of temper, or a fraudulent intention of debauching a woman under pretence of marriage, frequently induce the more giddy or worthlefs of our fex, to addrefs, fwear, and make promifes to a woman without any intention of marrying her; and as it is impolTible in all cafes for the fex to difcover the real lover from the impoffcor; that they may not be altogether without redrefs when fo cheated, the law of England ordains that when a man courts a woman, promifes to marry her, and afterwards marries another, me may, by an acYion at law, recover fuc'h damages, as a jury fhall think adequate to the lofs me has fuftained. In Scotland, it is laid, (lie may recover one half of the OF WOMEN. 325 fortune he receives with his wife. On the other hand, as it fometimes happens, that artful women draw on the more fond and filly part of our fex, to make them valuable preients under pretence of mar- riage, and afterwards • laugh at, or refufe to many them : a man who has been fo bubbled may fue the woman to return the prefents he made her, becaufe they were prefumed to have been conditionally given, and die failed in performing her part of that con- dition. Thofe perfonal privileges, and the few reitriction s upon them which we have here enumerated, are chiefly fuch as regard unmarried women : we fhali now proceed to relate fome of the more peculiar advantages and difadvantages of thofe who have entered into the ftate of wedlock. By the laws of this country, the moment a woman enters into the (late of matrimony, her political exigence is annihilated, or incorporated into that of her husband; but by this little mortification flic is no lofer, and her apparent lofs of confequence is abundantly eoiapenfated by a long lift of extenfive privileges and immunities, which, for the encou- ragement of matrimony, were, perhaps, contrived to give married women the advantage over thofe that are iingle. Of ali the privileges which nature ha.^ :! erred upon us, none are fo precious and ineili- mable as perfonal liberty. Men of all ranks and conditions, an.i women who are unmarried, or widows, may be deprived of this for debts contracted by themfclves, or by others for whom they have given fecurity; but wives cannot be impriioncd for debt, nor deprived of their perfonal liberty for any thing but crimes; and even fuch of rhefs as fubje£t the offender only to a pecuniary puniinmsnt mufl be vol. 11. 'J' t 326 THE HISTORY expiated by the hufband. No married woman is liable to pay any debt, even though contracted with- out the knowledge, or agateft the confent, of her husband; and what is full more extraordinary, what- ever debts Ihe may have contracted while fingle, de- volve, the moment of her marriage, upon the huf- band, who, like the fcape-goat, is loaded by the prieft who performs ceremony with all the fins and extravagances of his wife. It is a common opinion among the vulgar, that a general warning in the Ga- zette, or in a news-paper, will exempt a man from the payment of fuch debts as are contracted by his v. ire without his knowledge, but this opinion is with- out any good foundation; particular warnings how- ever, giving in writing, have been held as good ex- emptions; but fuch are of little advantage to a huf- band, as his wife may always find people to give her credit, whom the hufband has not cautioned againft it. So long as a wife cohabits with her hufband, he is, by the laws of his country, obliged to provide her with food, drink, clothing, and all other neccf- faries ilii table to her rank and his circumftances, even although he received no fortune with her, or forces her to leave him by ill ufuge; he is alfo liable to maintain her in the fame manner; but if ihe runs away from him, and he is willing that Ihe fhould abide in his houfe, he is not Jiabie to give her any feparate maintenance, nor to pay any of her debts, unlefs he take her again; in which cafe he mud pay whatever fhe contracts, whether (he behave herfelf ill or well: when a hufband forces his wife to leave him by cruel ufage, fhe may claim a feparate main- tenance; but while fhe enjoys that, he fhali not be liable to pay any of her debts. OF WOMEN. cu 7 As perfonal fafety is of all other ^privileges the greateft and moft valuable, and as weaknefs may often be expofed to danger when in the hands of power, the laws of this country have taken the moft. effectual method of fecuring the fafety of married women. When a huiband, from malicioufnefs of temper, or refentment, or any other caufe, -threat- ens, or actually beats his wife, me may demand fecurity for his future good behaviour; and on ap- plication to any.juftice of the peace, fuch jullice is obliged to make the hufband iind fuch fecurity. And when a huiband, confeicus of having ufed his wife ill, will not allow her to go out of his houfe, or car- ries her away, or keeps her concealed, in order to prevent her endeavouring to find redfefs for the evils that fhe fufFers, her friends may in that cafe, by applying to the court of King's Bench, obtain an order for the huiband to produce his wife before the faid court: and if the there fwears the peace again!! him, lhe delivers herfelf from his jurifdiclion, and he cannot compel her to go to live with him, but the court will grant her an order to live where fiie pleafes; and mould he attempt to force her to do otherwife, it would be a breach of the king's peace, by which he would be fubjected to the penalties annexed to fuch breach. When a wife is beaten by any perfon, fo as to be difabled from managing her family affairs, the huf- band is by law entitled, to fuch damages on that account from the offender as a jury (hall think fit to give; but if an attack is made upon a man's wife in his pretence, the law confidcrs the attack as made up- on himfeif, and gives him the lame liberty of defend- ing her that it allows in defending himfelf : nor dees it flop at the attacks made on her perfon : if her pro- perty is in danger, he may repel force by force, and 5^3 THE HISTORY the breach of the peace which happens on that ac- count is only chargeable on the aggreffor; but care mult be taken that fuch defence do not exceed what is heceffary for prevention ; for if it does, the de- fender becomes himfelf an aggreffor. Among the Romans, among feveral other ancient nations, and among fome people in the 'prefent times, it is not deemed culpable for a hufband to kill the man whom he furprifes commiting adultery with his wife. By the laws of England, he who mould do fo, would be reckoned guilty of manflaughter; but in confe- quence of the enormous provocation given, the court commonly orders the fentence of burning on the hand to be inflicted in the flighted: manner. As it is confidered by the legiilature as advantage- ous to population as well as conducive to the harmo- ny of fociety, that every married couple mould live together, the law ordains that no man take away a wife from her hufband, neither by force, nor by fraud, nor by her own confent; and he who tranf- greffes this order, is liable to a writ of trefpafs, oir au action of ravifhment, by which he (hall be obli- ged to pay damages to the injured hufband, and fufFer imprisonment for two years: but this is not the utmoff. extent of the law, for it alfo intitles a huf- band to damages, not only againft the perfon who a&ually takes away his wife, but alfo againft him who entices or perfuades her to live fcparately from him. The ancient laws of England are faid to have been fo ftricr. in this particular, that when a wife happen- ed to mifs her way, the man who found her might not even take her to his houfe unlefs fhc v. as benight- ed, in danger of being drowned, of falling iflto the hands of robbers, or of being devoured by wild 1 eaftfc; but aftranger might carry her on horfebaek OF WOMEN. 529 to the ncareft market-town, or juftice of the peace, thereto remain, till claimed by her hu fb and. As the wife is not allowed to leave the hufband, fo neither may the hufband abandon his wife ; and if he does fo, without mewing a'fufEcient caufe, fhe may enter a fuit againft him for reltiiuticn of the rights of marriage ; and the fpiritual court will com- pel him to return, to live with her, and to reflcre them. But the law extends its privileges to married women flill farther, and grants them immunities almoft fcarcely compatible with the rules of civil fociety and the public fafety ; if a wife commit felony in the company of her huiband, it fuppofes fhe did it by his compulfon, and on that account abfolves her from the punifhment commonly inflicled en inch delinquents: if a wife take away the goods of her huiband without his knowledge, and fell them, nei- ther the wife who ftole them, nor the perfon who bought them of her, are confidered as guilty of felo- ny. A wife may receive and conceal her hufband if he is guilty of felony of any other crime ; for this aclion of concealment is only confidered in her as felf-prefervation, an inflinct which no law can take away or deftroy. If a wife receives ffolen goods into her houfe, and fecretes them from her husband, the law will neverthelefs impute the crime to the husband, unlefs he either divulges the matter to a magi'ftrate, or leaves his houfe as foon as he difco- vers the crime. Though wives are thus far indulged by the law, yet they are not emancipated from the punilhment it infli&s, when they commit robbery, treafon, or murder, although in the company of, and by the coercion of, their husbands. As a wife always is, or ought to be, the mana- ger of her hufband's family, ihe cemmenly has 33o THE HISTORY fervants under her care, whom me neither can com- pel to do their duty by force, nor defend herfelf againft, fhould they be inclined to offer her any ill ufage ; the law, therefore, ordains, that if any fer- vant or labourer aflault or beat his miftrefs, he mall fuffer one year's imprifonment, or corporal puniih- ment, according to the nature of the crime. All women, whether married or otherwife, ■ who are pregnant, are likewife peculiarly defended by the law ; as every aiTault upon them, while in this date, does not only more eafily endanger their life, but alfo the life of the child ; every affault of fuch kind is therefore punifhed with more exemplary feverky : any woman alfo, who is capitally convicted, whe- ther married or fingle, may plead pregnancy in arreft of the execution of her fentence ; and if (he is really found with child, her plea will be fuftained ; for it would be highly unjuft, that the innocent fhould be deflroyed with the guilty. Although a hufband is, by the laws of this coun- try, veiled with a power over all the goods and chattels of his wife, yet he cannot devife by his will fuch of her ornaments and jewels as flic is accuftom- ed to wear, though it has been held that he may, if he pleafes, difpofe of them in his lifetime. A huf- band h alfo liable to anfwer all fuch actions at law as were attached againft his wife at the time of their marriage, and to pay all her debts contracted before that time ; but if his wife fhall happen to die before he has made payment of fuch debrs, the compact which made them one flem, and binded their inter- efts into one, being difTolved, the hufband is there- by abfolved from paying her antinuptial debts. A married woman may purchafe an cftate, and if the hufband docs not enter his difTcnt before the convey- ance, he (hall be confidered as having given fuch OF WOMEN. 231 confent, and the conveyance be good and valid. A wife who is accuftomed to trade,' may fell goods in an open market ; and fuch goods a hufband, by vir- tue of his authority over her, fhali not have any power to reclaim. Even the feudal barons, and the church, which formerly laid her rapacious hands almofl upon every thing, in feveral cafes exempted the women : the baron could not claim a heriot or gift on the death of his female vaflal, nor can any mortuary gift, at this day, be exacted by the church, on the death of a woman, of whatever pro- perty (he was poffeiTed. No woman can lofe any rank which fhe derived from her birth, by marrying the meaneft plebeian ; but though defcended of the lowed of the human race herfelf, (lie may by marriage be raifed, in this country, to any rank beneath the fovereignty. No woman can by marriage confer a fettlement in any pariili on her husband ; but every man who has a legal fettlement himfelf, confers the fame fettlement by marriage'* on his wife. Though a husband and his wife are by the law considered fo much as one perfon, that they are rarely admitted as evidence for or againft each other, yet this rule has in feme in- itances been departed from, even in cafes not ftric"riy criminal, and a wife has been admitted evidence to prove a cheat put upon her husband. Belldes the advantages we have now mentioned, to which every married woman has a right by the general laws of matrimony as they now Hand in Bri- tain, there are others which they may enjoy by pri- vate contract. It is no uncommon thing, in the pre- lent times, for the matrimonial bargain to be made fo, as that the wife fhali retain the fole and ahfjlute power of enjoying and difpofing qi her own £01 33 2 THE HISTORY in the fame manner as if (lie were not married ; by which inequitable bargain, the husband is debar- red from enjoying any of the rights of matrimony, except the perfon of his wife. But this is not all : if the wife, too, were curtailed in her privileges, the bargain would be in fome degree equitable: this, however, is fo far from being the cafe, that it is quite the reverfe; the husband becomes thereby lia- ble to pay all the debts which his wife may burden him with, even though me have abundance of her own to anfwer that purpofe; he is aifo obliged to maintain her, though her circumftances may be more opulent than his ; and if he mould die before her, (he has a right to a third of his real eftate and to whatever is cudomary for widows to have out of his perfonals ; while, if (lie dies before him, he is not entitled to the value of one fmgle half-pen- ny, uuleis (he has deviled it to him by will. Thefe a.re obvious di fad Vantages on the part of the huf- baad'jj but, what is (till warfe, fuch a bargain over- turns the natural order of things- and deftrovs that authority, which the gofpel and the laws of this country give a man over his wife, and that obedi- ence and fubjeftion which the rules of chriilianity prescribe in the deportment of a wife toward her husband. Such are the privileges and immunities which the women of this country derive from marriage, and which they enjoy from the moment that they enter into that (fate; but there are others of a pofthu- mous nature, and thefe are only rcferved for them if they fur vive their husbands. When a woman, on her entrance into matrimouy, gives up her fortune to the power and difcretion of her husband ; or, per- haps, when me has no fortune, when, through a long and tedious courfe of years, ilie join; her c OF WOMEN. 333 management, labour, and indullry to his; nothing can be more reafonable, than that (he mould be pro- vided for, in cafe of his dying before her; and it would be a capital defect in the laws of civil fociety, to leave this provifion altogether in the power of individuals, by whom it might frequently be'difre- garded or neglected, and the widows even of fuch hufbands as had died in affluence, left to experience all the hardiliips of want and poverty; to prevent which the law of this country has wifely ordered, that every widow mail have a reafonable dower out of the effects or eftates of her deceafed husband, even though there was no marriage-iettlement, or though, in fuch fettlement, no dower was flipula- ted to the wife. Dowers, as it is fuppofcd, were firil introduced into England by the Daniih kings, and into Den- mark, by Swein, the father of ditr Canute the Great, who bellowed on the Danifh ladies this pri- vilege as a grateful acknowledgement of theirhaving parted with their jewels to ranfom him from captivity, when takeri prifoner by the Vandals, Dower out of lands was unknown among the Anglo-Saxons; for, by the laws of king Edward, the widow 7 of any one who dies, is directed to be fupported entirely out of his perfonal eftate; but afterwards, a widow became entitled to a (hare in one-half of the kinds of her deceafed husband, fo long as (he remained chafle and unmarried; conditions which feem anciently to have been annexed to all dowers in this country; on a fuppofition, perhaps, that the dread of falling into poverty would be the ilrongeft inducement to continence, and that if (lie married another husband, all the obligations which bound the eitates and effects of the former to maintain her, from that moment ceafed to exift. Such was the cafe for feme time vol. it. U u 334 THE HISTORY after dowers were inilituted; but thefe conditions were afterward only required of a widow, when her husband left any children, and in time they fell entirely into difufe; fo that at prefent a widow may claim her dower, whether me is chafte and unmar- ried or oiherwiie ; but no woman can claim her dower, who was not actually the wife of a man at the time of his deceafe: a divorce, therefore, from the chains of matrimony takes away all right to a dower; but a divorce only from bed and board, although for the crime of adultery, has no iuch effecT:. A woman who runs away from her husband, and lives with an adulterer, lofes her right to dower, unlefs the husband is reconciled to, and takes her back. As every foreigner is by the laws of Eng- land, incapable of holding lands, therefore the wife who is an alien is entitled to no dower out of the land. of her husband. The wife of him who commits hisdi-treafon is entitled to no dower: nor the wife of an idiot ; for an idiot, being incapable of con- fenting to any contract, cannot lawfully marry ; and therefore all the rights, which w r omen acquire by marriage are nugatory in the cafe of her who is joined to an idiot. Before marriage-fettlements came fo much into fafhion, the dower which wis fettled by the law, or with which the husband endowed the wife at the time of marriage, was the only fecurity (lie had for a maintenance, in cafe fhe became a widow". Rc- fpecting dowers, there are in certain places particu- lar cufloms, which fet afidc the operations of the law in the diPiricls where they prevail. In fome places, cuftom allots to the widow no lefs than the whole of her husband's lands; in others more moderate, it gives her only the half, in others only a quarter. Anciently, the molt common method of fettling the dower of the wife was, by publicly OF WOMEN. 335 endowing her at the church-door, in the prefence of all the company who were aiTembled at the marriage, with the whole, or ftieh quantity of his lands as the husband thought proper to bellow. When the wife was endowed with the whole, we have fome autho- rities to believe the husband made ufe of thefe words: " With all my lands and tenements I thee endow." When he endowed her with a part only, he gave a fpecific defcription of fuch part, that no doubt might remain as to its lituation or extent ; but when he endowed her with perfonal property only, then he ufed to fay, " With all my worldly goods i thee endow •" a fpeech, which, being flill pre- ferved in our marriage-ritual, {hews how fond we are' of continuing forms, even after the reafons which gave birth to them are totally extinct. The dower of a widow was formerly neither fub- jecT: to tolls nor taxes, nor could even the king feize on it for a debt due to the crown ; but this privi- lege, being found greatly to diminifh the public revenue, was at lad difcontinued: at this day, how- ever, the dower of a widow cannot be feized by the creditors of her husband; for it would be unjuft, that me mould not be entitled to an equivalent of her fortune, or a recompenfe for her labour and care, as well as the creditors to' # payment of their monev. Befides the dotal right to a life-rent of one-third of the husband's real eftate, which is commonly allow- ed by law, where the cuftom of the manor or place does not determine it otherwife, when a husband lends money in the name of himfelf and his wife, if the wife furvive him, and there be enough befides this money to pay his lawful debts, the wife is entitled to it. No widow can be endowed out of copyhold lands, unlefs by the local cuftom of the manor, nor can me have any caflle, or place of THE HISTORY defence, as her dower; forfheis confidered as inca- pable of managing it, fo as to make it anfwer the purpofes for which it was intended. In the city of London, province of York, and in Scotland, the effects of him who dies inteftate are generally divided according to the ancient doctrine of giving every one a reasonable ihare. If the de- cealed leaves a widow and children, the widow is firft allowed the furniture of her bed chamber, and wearing apparei ; then all the reft is divided in the following proportions : if the deceafed left a widow and two children, the widow fhall have eight parts (fix by the cuftom, and two by lawj, and each of the children five (three by the cuftom, and two by the law): if he leaves a widow and one child, each {hall have one-half; if he leaves a widow and no child, the widow (hail have three-fourths of the whole, and the remaining fourth {hall go to the next relation. As dower, either by the common law or by the fpecial cuftom of the place, was frequentlv coniider- ed by the contracting parties as too great or too lit- tle, the prefent times have hardly left any thing to run in that channel, the parties thinking it better to ftipulate and agree between themfelvts on a fpecific quantity of land or money, v. Inch is, previous to the marriage, fettled upon the wife by way of jointure, and which effectually takes away all her right to any dower. The jointure, thus legally fettled, is ftiil more inviolate to the wife than her dower; it cannot be touched by the creditors of the husband; and though a dewer be forfeited by the husband being guilty of high treafon, a jointure is not. Every join- ture muft be made to the wife, for the term of her •l natural life; if made for the hie of another per- OF WOMEN. 557 fon, it is not legal, and fhe may refufe it, and claim the dower the common law afligns her. When a jointure is made before marriage, a wife cannot refufe it, and claim her dower in its (lead, ihe having confented to it, while in a free and independent ft ate ; but if the jointure was made after the marriage, flie may refufe it, and have a right to a dower, as ihe is then confidered as having been obliged to give her confent by the impulfe and coercion of her hui- band. If a husband fettle upon his wife a jointure that (hall be of a certain yearly value, and it falls fhort of it, fhe may commit wade, io far as to make up her deficiency, though prohibited from fo doing in the deed of fettlement; for it it is but juf- tice, that the widow fhould have to the full extent of what was intended her by her husband. The wi- dow mud have a right to enter upon her jointure im~ mediately on the death of her husband; and if any fubfequent period is fixed for it, Hie may claim her dower in preference. In fome parts of England there remains f till a Sax- on cuftom, called Borough Engliih, by which the, youngefl inflead of the eldeft fon fuceeeds to the eftate of his father; and the widow, as guardian of that fon, has the whole eftate for life; by the cm : of thofe lands called Gavelkind, the widow has no jointure, but fucceeds to one-half of the lands of the deceafed husband, and holds them fo long as Die re- mains chaile and unmarried. Before the time of William the Conqueror, when a widow married within the year, {he forfeited her dower, or join- ture; but that cuftom long fmce fell into difu.'e, and at prefent the law does not prefcribe any time in which flie mall not re-marry: cuftom, however,fi::e r . a kind of ftigma upon fuch as take fecond husbands, before they have dedicated a decent time to grief and mourning, 33 s THE HISTORY What we have hitherto mentioned refpecting the women of Great Britain, has chiefly regarded thofe privileges and immunities which are eftabliihed to them by law, or conceded to them by cuflom ; but as this long lift of privileges is, on the other hand, contrafted with many difadvantages, which are ne- cefTary, in civil fociety, to put the two fexes nearly on an equal footing with each other, let us turn to the other fide of the piclure, and take a view • \ thefe alfo. The Salique law of France excludes a woman from governing the nation; in Britain, we allow a woman to fway our fceptre, but by law and cuftom we debar her from every other government but that of her own family, as if there were not a public em- ployment between that of fuperintending the king- dom, and the affairs of her own kitchen, which could be managed by the genius and capacity of wo- man. We neither allow women to officiate at our altars, to debate in our councils, nor to fight for us in the field; we fuffer them not to be members of our fenate, to pra&ife any of the learned profellions, nor to concern themfelves much with our trades and occupations; we exercife nearly a perpetual guar- dianfhip over them, both in their virgin and their married ftate; and (lie who, having laid a husband in the grave, enjoys an independent fortune, is almoft the only woman who among us can be call- ed free. Thus excluded almoft from every thing which can give them confequence, they derive the greater part of the power which they enjoy, from their charms ; and thefe, when joined to fenfibility, often fully compenfate, in this refpeft, for all the difadvantages they are laid under by law, and by cuflom. OF WOMEN. 339 As the poiTeffion of property is one of the mod: valuable of all political bleffings, and generally car- ries the poffeffion of power and authority along with it, one of the moil peculiar difadvantages in the con- dition of our women is, their being poflponed to all males in the fuccelfion to the inheritance of landed eftates, and their being generally allowed much (mailer ihares than the man, even of the money and effecls of their fathers and anceftors, when this mo- ney or thofe effects are given them in the lifetime of their parents, or devifed to them by will ; for other- wife, that is, if the father dies inteflate, they fliare equally with fons in all perfonal property. When an eftate, in default of male heir ,, defcends to the daughters, the common cuftom of England is, that the eldefr. ihall not, in the fame manner as an eldefr. fon, inherit the whole, but all the daughters flia.ll have an equal fhare in it. Weftmoreland, however, and fome other places, are exceptions to this general rule, and the eldeft daughter, there, fucceeds to the whole of the land in preference to all the other fillers. In fome ancient dates, where the women had at- tained a confiderable degree of importance, the right of inheritance from an anceflor devolved equally upon the males and females. Among the Greeks and Ro- mans, however, from whom all Europe at firft de- rived the origin of its laws, the fons fucceeded in preference to the daughters. In France, and every other kingdom where the feudal fyftem was intro- duced, women were totally excluded from the inhe- ritance of the feudal lands, becaufe the baron, of whom fuch lands were heid, required a military tenant, who fhould take the field with him when occafion required ; and women being incapable of this fervjce, were alfo confidered as incapable of 340 THE HISTORY fucceeding to fuch eflates as required it. This rule was flrictly adhered to in England for fome ages after the time of William the Conqueror, who nri\ introduced the feudal fyftem among us ; but jn pro- bete of time, when it became cuftomary to levy mo- ney on the tenants, inftead of their perfonal attend- ance in the field, it became cuftomary to allow wo- men to inherit, in failure of male iflue. We have already obferved, that formerly the kings of this country might levy an aid on the fubjects for the marriage of their eldeft daughters : the great barons exercifed the fame power over their tenants, and, on the marriage of their eldeft daughters, obliged each of them to pay what amounted to above five per cent, of their yearly income. But this was only a fmall part of the oppreflion thefe tenants la- boured under : if any of them prefumed to give his daughter in marriage without the confent of his lord, he was liable to an action for defrauding the lord of his property, as the lord had a right to chufe her a husband, to make that husband pay a fine or premium, for providing him with a wife. But be- fides this, it is believed, that the lord claimed a right of a more extraordinary nature, that of enjoy- ing the wife ' of his tenant the flrft night ; a claim which, however improbable it may feem to us, is not. altogether incredible, when we confider the ex- orbitant abufe of power which marked with fo much infamy the times we are fpeaking of. But beudes thefe laws, which for the mod part operate fo as to hinder the fair fex from getting into pofieflion of much property, the laws of marriage again dived them of fuch property as they really are in pofieflion of; by marriage, all the goods and chattel which belonged to the woman become veiled in the husband, and he has the fame power over OF WOMEN. 341 them as fhe had before, while they were her foie and abfolute properly. When the wife, how- ever, is poffeiTed of a real eft/ate in land, the power which the husband acquires over it is not fo exten- five, he only gains a right to the rents and profits an- ting out of it during the continuance of the marriage ; but if a living child is born to him, though it fhould die in a very fhort time, he becomes, in that cafe, tenant for life, by the courtefy of the country : if there happens to be. no child, then at the demife of the wife the eftate goes to her heirs at law ; but the property of her goods and chattels devolves upon the husband, wh j has the fole and obfolute power of difpofmg of them according to his pleafure. Every married woman is confidered as a minor, and cannot do any deed which affects her real or perfonal property without the confent of her huf- band, and if (he does any fuch deed, it is not valid, and the husband may claim the property (lie difpofed of, as if no fuch difpofal had been made. As a married woman cannot difpofe of her property while jiving, fo neither does the law give her that power at her death. In the ftatufe of wills, (he is exprefsly prohibited from devifmg land, and even from be- queathing goods and chattels without the leave of her husband ; becaufe all inch goods and chattels are, without any limitation, his fole and abfolute property ; whether they were fuch as the wife brought along with her at the marriage, or fuch as fhe acquired even by her labour and induftry afterward. The laws of this country not only deny to a mar- ried woman the power of making a will, but alfo VOL. II. A X 3p THE HISTORY diffolve and render of no effect: upon her marriage all and every will (lie may have made while fingle ; and even when a fingle woman who has made her will marries, and her husband dies, the will Ihehad made, being invalidated by her marriage, does not recover its validity by the husband's death. If a husband and wife are jointly poffeiTed of houfes and lands, which are fettled upon the furvivor, if L he husband deitroys himfelf, his wife mall not have the half that belonged to him ; it become the property of the crown, as a compenfation for the lofs of a fub- je£t. When a husband and wife agree to live fepa- rate, and the husband covenants to give her (o much a year, if at any time he offers to be reconciled and to take her home, upon her refufal, he (hall not any longer be obliged to pay her a feparate mainte- nance. If a legacy be paid to a married woman who lives feparate from her husband, the husband may file a bill in chancery to oblige the perfon who paid it to his wife to pay it again to him with intereit. If a wife proves infane, the husband, as her proper guardian, has a right to confineher in his own houfe, or in a private mad houfe ; but fhould the husband not be inclined to releafe her when her fenfes return, a court of equity will give her that relief which the band denies. The power which a husband has over the perfon of his wife does not feem perfectly fettled by the laws of this country ; it isneverthek-.'^ certain, that flie is not to go abroad, nor to ieave his houfe and family, without his approbation; but what coercive methods he may make ufeof toreflrain her from fo doing, or whether he may proceed any farther than to admonition and denying her money, ieems a point not altogether agreed upon. OF WOMEN. 543 When a wife is injured in her perfon "or in her property, fo limited is her. power, that the cannot bring an action for redrefs without the confent and approbation of her husband, nor any way but in his name ; if, however, fuch husband has abjured the realm, or is banifhed from it, he is confidered as dead in lav/, and his wife in that cafe may fue for redrefs in her own name and authority. When" a husband and wife are outlawed, and the wife appears in court without her husband, me cannot have the outlawry taken off, becaufe (he is confidered only as a part of the object againft which the outlawry was hfued. When a hufband becomes bankrupt, and is fufpe&ed of having dealt fraudulently with his cre- ditors, the commiffioners of the bankruptcy may fummon his wife before them, examine her concern- ing his affairs, and commit her to prifon if flic either refufes to aniwer fuch queifions as are put to her, or anfwers them in a doubtful manner. When a wi- dow is endowed of certain lands and tenements, and fells them, the heir at law may not only recover them of the purchafer, but alio refufe to reftore them back to the widow, or to pay her any dower in their (lead. By the laws of England, a father only is empowered to exercrfe a rightful authority over his children, and no power is conferred on the mother, only fo far as to oblige thefe children to con- fider her as a perfon entitled to duty and a reveren- tial regard; Befides the limitations and reftrictions, which the laws of this country have laid upon the fair fex, it is necelTary for the good of fociety that puniihments mould be annexed to their crimes as well as to thofe committed by us; thofe puniihments are for the moil part nearly the fame, in equal degrees of delinquency 344 THE HISTORY in either fex, a few cafes, however, are excepted. A woman guilty of high-treafon is not punifhed in theiame manner as a man; for this crime, a man is condemned to be hanged up, taken down alive, and his bowels taken out, and his body divided into quarters. A woman is condemned to be drawn to the place of execution, and there burnt to death. Condemnation to the flames is obliging the criminal to fuffer a death of all others the moil: tremendous and terrible, and has been feldom inflicted in Europe but by bigoted priefls and relentlefs inquifitors; the laws of England, however, reckoning high-treafon and the murder of a husband equal to herefy, con- demn to the flames her who is guilty of either, fup- pofmg that a puniihment too exemplary cannot be held out to deter from the commiiTion of fuch unna- tural crimes. In Scotland, the woman who murders her hufband is only hung as a common felon. In all the capital punifhments of the fex, the laws of Britain lay it down as a maxim, that decency is not to be violated ; we wiih the fame delicacy was obferved in thofe which are only intended for the reformation of the culprit; but whipping at the cart's tail, as practifed over all England, is often a fhameful in- flance of the contrary. Keeping a houfe for the purpofe of proflitution, being a nuifance to the neighbourhood, and fubver- fivc of the peace and order of fociety, may be pu- nifhed by Uibjecting the lady abbefs to labour, to bodily correction, or to fine and imprifonment at the pleafure of the court. In the protectorihip of Crom- well, wilful adultery was capital, and keeping a bro- thel, or repeatedly committing fornication, were felony without benefit ofclerpy. At prefenf, adul- tery is only puniihable in the fpiritual court by cer- O F W O M E N. 345 tain penances, and in the civil courts by divorce and lofs of dower. Adultery was in Scotland for feve- ral centuries punifhable by death; and even Mary, queen of Scots, a lady, if not belied by fame, no v/ay remarkable for conjugal fidelity, published fome of the fevered edicts againft her fifterhood of finners ; but thefe feverities, at laft, in Scotland as well as in England, and the laws refpefting adultery, are now in both kingdoms nearly upon an equal foot- ing. For a variety of the other crimes committed by the fex againft chaftity, decency, and decorum, the laws have hardly devifed any punifhment, leav* ing the unhappy delinquent to the flings of confei- ence, the lofs of character, the contempt of the vir- tuous, and the vengeance of offended heaven. To this fhort account of punifhments. we fhall add an inconvenience to \\ hich the widowed part of the fex are liable in England, originally brought upon the whole by the indilcretion of a lew. When a hufband dies, and either leaves no chil- dren, or only daughters who are by the nature of an entail cut off from inheriting his eftate, it has fometimes happened, that his widow, though not reaily pregnant, has declared herfelf fo, and at laft impofed a ipuricus heir on the family, in prejudice of the real heir at law; To prevent Inch abufe, the ftattrtcs concerning widows, allow a woman forty weeks after the death of her hufband, as the time Tor pregnancy, and if fhe is not delivered in that time, the child is deemed illegitimate : but as this is far from being a fufficient fecurity againft all fraud and impofturr, they further empower the heir at law, as foon as the widow fhall declare herfelf preg- nant, to have her examined by a jury cf matrpnSj i 346 THE HISTORY and if they declare (lie is not pregnant, the heir may immediately enter upon his eftate ; but if they de- clare that fne is pregnant, then the heir, to prevent all fraud and impofition, may obtain an order from the court of Common Pleas, directing the Iheriif of the county where fhe refides to confine her in a houfe, the doors of which mall be well guarded, and accefs denied to all improper perf jns ; to caufe her to be every day examined by iome of the jury of matrons, and alfo to order, that fome of them be prefent at the birth, to prevent all collufion, and declare whether the child of which me is delivered be a male or female ; fuch treatment, of a perfon guilty of no crime, in a country where liberty is the boafted prerogative, may iuflly be deemed a pecu- liar hardfhip, and as fuch is, if pomble, fcarcely ever practifed, except where depravity of manners, or particular malevolence againft the heir at law make it neceflary ; and even then, it is conducted with the utmoll: caution, and care is taken that the woman mall have nothing to complain of that is not abfolutely neceflary to prevent the dreaded impofiticn on the family. THE END. , PRINTERS— LANG & USTICK. ALPHABETICAL INDEX TO THE SECOND VOLUME. -CCOUNT of the ceremony of a widow burning herfelf in Hindoftan 307 Ad-vantages of men over women 83 of women over men ibid. Adultery, how punifhed among the Jews 230 among the Egyptians ibid. among the Hindoos 231 in what it confifts in Hindoftan 232 the feverity with which they punifh it when committed by women of fuperior cad 234 various ideas concerning its criminality by various nations 235 moil effectual method of punifliing it with lead feverity ibid. Americans, their drefs 128 ambitious to be fine though naked 129 how the fexes are diftinguifhed by drefs 130 Ancient Chinefe, their idea of women 49 Ancients not acquainted with the diamond 99 magnificently drefTed on public occaiions 103 ii INDEX. Ancients at other times clothed in ikins 104 Ancient Greeks, the dref > of their women 1 05 Germans were only allowed one wife 217 AJiaiics place their grandeur in a numerous feraglio 20 take titles fometimes from the number of their wives ibid. AJfyrians, their method of difpofmg of their young women in marriage 200 had a court, whofe only bufmefs was to take cognizance of the laws of marriage 202 Auricular confeffionj one of the modes of fecuring female chaftity 30 B. Barbarity of manners, how it affects female delicacy 5 Bards attended on the great in Germany 59 Barons could not claim a heriot, nor the church a mortuary for women 33 1 Bqftard children, the power of women in fathering Batchelors, when old, are annually beaten by the women of Greece 243 them in England 323 how this power is reftrifted in Scotland ibid. Beneditliom pronounced over a new-married couple by the Jews note — 198 Betrothing, what it means in the facred writings 19^ its meaning according to the Talmud 196 Bigamy practifed in the fixth cent, by the clergy 2 1 9 Brama, his laws allow only people of the lame call to marry 251 Bra?nins attend at the burning of widows, and ex- hort them to fuffer with fortitude 307 Breed, the improvement of that of the human ipe- cies neglected 268 Bride, in fome countries hides herfclf, in others muft be feemingly forced from her relations z6y INDEX. iii jS/vc/c examined by a jury of matrons, to fee if {lie has any defect, in Mufcovy 268 and bridegroom crowned with wormwood, in Mufcovy 267 Bridegroom, in Old Mexico, feemingiy forced into wedlock 267 C. Candaules, king of Lidia, his fooliih behaviour 10 Canons of the church forbidding the clergy to marry, how difregarded 283 Capt'we women, the Jews allowed to marry them Gecrops, the fir/I inftitutor of marriage among the Greeks 102 his ceremonies and laws refpe&ing marriage, what 205 Charonides, his opinion of fecond marriages 204 Cbrjliiy, and the various methods of preferring i:, conildered 1 5 Cleopatra, her extravagance Clergy, forbidden to marry, in the firft council . Nice 274 prohibited from marrying by a variety of iub- fequent decrees 275 ordered by Pope Honorius to be degrad they married ibid of the diocefe of York refirfe to put away their wives 277 never had any proper arguments to oiler in defence of celibacy conjectures on the caufcs of their celibacy 276 inflituted auricular confeflion to get into the fecrets of all the women 2 8 1 why they inflituted nunneries 283 Cloaths, their origin 8 5 were not invented merely to defend L-j:v. the cold .35 VOL, IL Y v h INDEX. Cioaths, why the author is of this opinion Sj were fuppofed by fome to have been invent- ed to cover {hame 88 their fimplicity in the primitive ages 90 were fewed together with the finews of ani- mals fplit into fibres 91 were originally made loofe, and not to fit the body, as at prefent ibid made of cotton and flax in Egypt and Pa- leftine 92 had originally no contrivance to keep them firm to the body 93 Commerce between the fexes, fome regulations con- cerning it, their neceility 186 was early regulated in mod countries 192 Compacls whether civil or religious, equally binding 262 Concubines at one time allowed to the clergy, but not wives 274 what they were among the Romans and in the middle ages 279 Confinement of women, its origin 1 S fuppofed to have arifen from the rape of Jacob's daughter ibid and from that of Io and Proferpine among the Greeks 19 idea of the famous Montefquieu concerning it 22 iliiberality of the idea of Montefquieu con- cerning it ibid Conjeclures on fighting to obtain the favour of the ladies 180 Confangidnity, how far it affe&s die rights of marry- ing, not fettled by any fixed rule among mankind 248 Courage is generally acquired, like any other acquifi- tion 77 INDEX. v Courage, instances of it in women 78 ancient and modern, their kinds 79 Courtjhip, anciently carried on by proxy 147 managed by prefents to the lady and her friends ibid of Jacob to his bride 1 48 of Sechem to the fons of Jacob for their •fjfter ibid of Sampfon to his parents to procure him Delilah 1 5 1 by exhibiting feats of dexterity and /kill in arms 153 Court/hip, how carried on by the Greeks 154 unknown to the Romans, who bargained for a bride with her relations 157 of the ancient northerns confided in fhewing their {kill in arts and in arms 159 a fingular method of it by the Saccse 163 in the ifiand of Amboyna 168 other methods of it in different parts of the world , ibid is in general managed by tempting the fex with every thing pleafmg and agreeable - 169 how carried on in Lapland 170 forwarded bed there by brandy ibid Cre?na, Cardinal, his fpeech again!! the commerce with the other fex 278 is caught the fame evening in the arms of a proftitute ibid Crete, the magifbates had the fole power there of providing wives for their young men 213 Cruelties exercifed on fuppofed witches 64 were a difgrace to the times and the magil- trates 65 Gujloms of various countries in difpofmg of women in marriage 2 \ q vi INDEX. D. Delicacy mod confpicuous in certain Hates of fociety 5 altogether unknown in favage countries 6 and laughed out of exigence in too poliflied ones 7 fiourifhes mod among people not too rude nor too much cultivated ibid is more natural to females than to males 8 has no exigence in Otaheite ibid is remarkable in the women of China and Japan ibid Diamonds, where found ioo firfr. polifhtd with their own dud by Lewis de Berguen (bid the methods taken by the Spaniards to fecure the mines whence they are dug ioi are the badge of quality and opulence ibid Difference of powers and faculties of the rexes in civil life, conjectures on it 44 Different fentiments concerning drefs 116 Difad vantages of female life 338 Divifwn of the human genus ^6 Divorce among the ancient Jews eafily obtained 2 37 the manner in which it Mas given, according to the rabbies ibid why the power of it was lodged in the hands of the hufband 238 was decreed by the council of Trent to be unlawful in any cafe whatever 239 was always granted by the popes to thofq who could pay well for it ibid Divorce, indances of the power of it being lodged in the hands of the wife 240 Dozcer, flrd introduced by the king of Denmark 333 INDEX. vii Dower was not to be 7 aid to v.'i^ows, unlefs they lived chafte and unmarried 333 the ancient method of conveying a right to cannot be feized by the creditors of a hufband ibid Drefs of women in the primitive ages not known 98 Dying unlamented, reckoned in many places a great evil 299 E. Eq/ieni women, their drefs 121 are at much pains to decorate themfelves, though they cannot be feen by the men 122 Edinburgh, how the ladies are dubbed toads there 176 Edward the Confeffbr, why fainted 275 ihe Vlth firfb declared it lawful for the Eng- jifli clergy to marry 280 Egyptians, did not allow of polygamy 218 fometimes fuffered it to take place ibid England, the contradictory fail ions that have pre- vailed among the worsen -here 140 the ladies there laced tight in the beginning of this century ibid ladies there difcarded ftays altogether towards the middle ol this century ibid and toward the end of it laced tighter than ev.-'- ibid England, their ?refent enormous head-drefs 141 Eunuchs, their origin 15 Europe, remarks on the drefs ufed in it no its extenfive trade brings materials for drefs from every part of the world 1 12 European princes have frequently been obliged to enact fumptuary laws 1 1 i viii INDEX. European women, their method of rendering them- felves agreeable 84 Europeans, about what time new materials for drefs were introduced among them 128 from whence they imported thefe materials ibid F. female inferiority deduced. from falfe principles 46 arifes, in civil life, from education and their mode of living ibid Feudal tenants could not give their daughters in mar- riage without confent of their lords 340 Folly of declaiming againll modern ornament and drefs 98 of the ancients in drefs more confpicuous than that of the moderns 92 French^ their mode of dreffing 138 their method of courtfhip 178 their courtfhip carried on by the relations of the parties 179 were formerly much addicled to fighting to gain the ladies they adored 180 G. General idea of men by fome philofophers 3 5 idea of love 144 law, that males have the right of afking, and females of refuting 145 Grand Signior, privileges of his married fillers 228 Greeks burnt the axle of the chariot that carried a bride to the houfe of her hufband 206 their fumptuous marriage feafts 207 obliged a bride and bridegroom to eat a quince together ibid fung Epithalamia in the evening and morn- ing to a new married couple ibid INDEX. ix Greeks of Sparta, differed from all the others in their ceremonies and cuiloms of marriage 208 Greenland women, their averfion to marriage 171 whence this averfion arifes 172 Grymer, the ftory of his courtmip 162 Gorgophona^ the firft Grecian widow who, after the laws of Cecrops, took a fecond hufband 294 H. Hair powder, when the white kind was firft ufed 1 oS Harams, fuppofed by fome, not to be places of con- finement, but of retreat from the world 2 1 are places of confinement ibid how fituated 25 Heida, a famous enchantrefs, how (lie lived 61 Henry the VIII th. granted the clergy difpenfations to keep concubines 279 Hindoo women, their drefs 123 arrayed in filks richly ornamented 124 their hair finely decorated with diamonds, and drelfed into the forms of various flowers ibid their paint for beautifying the fkin 125 their perfumes 126 their cafes for their bread ibid Hujbands, their unlawful power over wives in feve- ral countries 220 the powers granted them by law over their wives . ibid what thefe powers were among the Jews, Romans, in Brafil, Hindoftan, and Europe 223 may recover damages of a perfon who beats their wives 326 may defend their wives as in cafes of felf- defence 327 are only guilty of manflaughfer, if they kill a perfon caught with their wives in adultery 328 x INDEX. Hujbands arc not to have their wives taken from them by fraud or force 128 may recover damages of thofe who entice their wives to feparate from them 128 their power over the eftates of their wives, how limited 340 may confine their wives, if infane 342 the power given them by the laws of Eng- land over the goods and chattels of their wives 340 J- Jack ofLeyden, famous for the number of his wives 220 Idea of drefs and fafhion, the effects of cuflom 124 Jewels were polifhed, fet, and engraved, in the time of Mofes 99 Illiberal reflexions on the fair fex by ancient and modern writers 50 Inclination to each other, the fource of whatever is pleafing and ufeful 84 Indelicacy ', inftances of it in fome countries 13 Inferiority of women an idea too much entertained by the men 35 does not appear in the females of the brute animals 36 has no foundation, except with regard to bodily ftrength ibid Inftances of men burning themfelves to death 366 Jointure of a widow bars her right to dower 336 is not loft to the wife by high treafon in her hufband 337 INDEX. xi Jointure muft be made to a wife for the term of her own life 336 Jovinian was banilhed for maintaining that a mar- ried man might be faved from eternal damnation 276 Italians, their whimfical drefs in the time of Petrarch protract the time of courtfliip, as being the moft happy part of life 178 lfle of Ely, why fo called 276 "Jujiices of the peace, their power over women who have baftard children 324 K. Kindred, near, political reafons why they mould not intermarry 249 natural reafons why they do not marry 250 the laws concerning their marriages in moft places the fame as thofe of Mofes ibid were not allowed to marry by Pope Honorius till after the 7th generation 251 L. Law, that of Europe takes care both of the perfons and property of women 316 that of Afia leaves them at the mercy of their hufbands ibid Left-handed wives in Pruffia, how married 269 what reftrictions they are under 270 Legitimation of children, how accomplifhed in Scot- land 253 how in Holland 254 Love, among the ancients, deflitute of fentiment 152 VOL. II. Z Z INDEX. M. Magift rates, among the Franks, folemnized marri- ages in their courts of juiiice 257 alfohad the power of marrying in the time of Cromwell 260 Marriage, the word falfely applied by many writers 263 was firff. a fimple approbation of a woman, or living with her by accident 189 ceremony afterward became more complex as fociety advanced 190 advantages ariies from it in the early ages ceremonies firfl particularly delcribed by the Greeks 203 ceremonies of the Greeks after they became a polimed people 204 a civil compact only 2 1 o portions, their origin 216 the ceremonies ufed in celebrating it among the Romans 252 Marriage, its yoke in ancient times eafy to the men but lefs fo to the women 258 rites, at what time the clergy afnuned the foie right of celebrating them 259 vows not the lefs valid by confidering it as a civil compact 261 ceremonies, which ate expreiTive of the love and regard of the men 266 ceremonies which ferve only to make the bargain public 20;' Married women, their privilege', in England 325 cannot be imprifoned for debt ibid can oblige their hufbands to pay all the debts they contr act before and after marrriage ibid INDEX, xili Married women may oblige their hufbands to give fecurity for their good behaviour 3 2 7 may bring an acTion to oblige hufbands to reftore the rights of marriage 3 2 9 Married women may carry on any trade they have been accuftomed to, and their bargains bind the hufband . i?. , are all confidered as minors \tota Mary queen of Scots, how fhe puniftied adultery Matrimony an early ' mj station^ 187 encouraged and enforced by the Greens 243 and by the Jews and Perfians 244 Mill more fo by the Romans *«tf Matrimonial regulations concerning the ages pi a bride and bridegroom _ 2 4^ difcord, conjeftures on its caufes 2^5 arifes from the wrong education of the wo- ibia men j r alfo from the particular manners and cus- toms of this country . r 2 Men have taken from women the power of refilling fuch hufbands as their relations provide for them M5 their right of courting the gift of nature 1 46 their crreater liberties in the married itate tlian 6 2J I women , ' M/Vfc/fe ages, iketches of the drefs med then 1 1 5 hair then the principal ornament 1 JO a great punimment to cut it oft una Milefian women, their delicacy x * Mirrors ufed in an early period 9° were made of brafs '/'''. *\ the firft glafs ones made of Tynan fond ibid afford a proof, that the early ages were not Jo rude as we imagine INDEX. Modern Greek women their drefs 105 Mogul women, how concealed when they travel 26 N. Natches, the privileges they allow to fuch wives as are filters of their great chief 228 and to wives who are noble ibid Northern nations, their ancient drefs 114 women, how they drelfed their hair ibid flight /ketches of the other parts of their drefs 115 warriors, placed their greateft happinefs in love 163 women, the manner in which they refufed the addrefles of the men ibid Nofe and ear jewels, where u fed 124 Nunneries, the firfl founded by St. Synclytica 273 O. Objiacles only encreafe our ardour to overcome them 24 Oliver Cromwell, drefs and ornament defpifed in his time 136 fentiments in his time concerning the fair fex ibid is no fooner dead than thefe fentiments take a different dire£tion 137 Omens, good and bad, much taken notice of by the Greeks at marriages 205 Operation of the laws of England in diverting women of property 340 Opinions concerning the intercourfe of women with invifible beings 5 1 that are difadvantageous to the fex 83 Origin of celibacy, whence 271 INDEX. xv Ormus, defcription of its magnificence 127 Ornament and finery, fuppofed to be paflions not natural to the fair iex 89 this fuppofition ill founded ibid of the early ages confided in jewels, rings, perfumes, and garments of divers colours 92 Otabeite, fingular manner of dreffing the head 132 Otho, his decree, that the wives and children of the clergy mould receive no benefit from their eftates 279 P. Parents, in the ifle of Timor, fell their children to purchafe wives 2 1 2 Parliament of Britain has obftru&ed the road to marriage, which almoft every other legiilature f>as made plain and eafy 247 Per/ians, their idea of the neceflity of marriage 242 caufed fuch as died unmarried to be married after death ibid Peerejfes of England, their privileges 318 Philtres, the women of ThefTaly famous for prepar- ing them 154 their dangerous nature ibid inflances of their fatality 153 Polygamy , its early introduction 2 1 6 and concubinage, their origin ibid and concubinage, their increafe 217 how the jews were reftricled in thefe mat- ters ibid pra&ifed in the fixth century 219 arguments for and againfl it ibid PoJJeJJion by devils, conje&ures on its origin 68 an obfolete opinion, now only held by the church of Rome 6g xvi INDEX. Pregnant women, how defended by the law of Eng- land 330 Price of a wife in Mingrelia 212 Priejis of the Jews, whom they might marry 25 1 of Egypt not allowed to marry ibid of the Chriftians, borrowed the cuftom of celebrating the rites of marriage from thofe of ancient Rome 258 are fuppofed to have a divine right to celebrate the rites of marriage, which none elfe can enjoy 2 59 the powers they have ufurped note — 260 declared infamous if they did not put away their wives 278 their legitimate children made llaves in France ibid Privileges of women more firmly fettled in Britain than in any other country 315 of the Princefs of Wales, the daughters and fitters of kings of England 317 of the women of England in general 3 1 9 of women by marriage contract 331 Pruffia, parents there may have the marriage of their children made null when without their con- fen t 270 Pniffian laws make a marriage void, when a widow impofes herfelf inftead of a maid 312 widows in fome cafes, allowed eleven months after the death of a hufband to bring forth a legi- timate child 314 Punijhrnent of deflowering a betrothed virgin 232 Pur chafing of wives, its confequeuces 220 Queen of England, her particular privileges 317 Mary of England, declared the marriages of .the clergy unlawful 280 INDEX. xvii £>ueen of Lydia, her revenge for being affronted by her fooliih hufband 1 1 R. Rabbies their account of the marriage ceremonies of the ancient Jews 197 of the ceremonies they afcribe to Mofes in marriage 198 and of thofe which came into ufe in later periods 199 Rank of birth-right cannot be loft by a woman 331 Rape, the punifhment for it in ancient Britain 320 a woman upon whom it is committed allowed to be a witnefs in her own caufe 321 a man may be tried again for it after having been pardoned 322 Reafons why wives in Europe are not confined 23 why the Afiatics feldom keep company with their women 24 why women have contributed little to ad- vancing the fciences 42 why the opinions concerning witches were i'o much altered 62 why wives brought portions along with them 2i 3 Religion, morality, honour, all contribute to fecure chadity among polimed people 30 Religon of Alia and Europe, the difference between them in regard to continence 32 called in to make the ceremony of marriage more folemn 258 and honour, their power over human a&ions 3°5 Remarkable women of feveral nations 43 Revival of drefs and ornament, their caufes 133 xviii INDEX. Roman women, their drefs 106 how they chaftifed their Haves if they did not drefs them properly ibid the variety of flaves they employed at the toilette 107 allotted to each her proper office ibid did not admit men to the toilette 108 the ornaments they wore in their hair and at their ears ibid their high head-dreffes 109 dyed their hair yellow, and powdered it with gold dud ibid. their cofmetics, paint, and coating for the face 1 09 their falfe teeth made^of box 1 1 o the materials of their drefs 1 1 1 were long unacquainted with the ufe of linen and filk ibid women, their mod fafhionable colours 113 their extravagance in ornamenting their fhoes ibid knights, thefpeech of Casfar to them on their having neglected to marry 246 fined by him for this neglect 247 fome of them married children to fulfil the letter, and avoid the fpirit of the law, which obliged them to marry ibid priefls, the firfr. of the facred order who fo- lemnized marriage rites 253 Romans enforced matrimony on the men 244 fined old batchelors, and obliged the men to fwear that they would marry as foon as co nve- nient 245 their different kinds of marriage 247 INDEX. S. Sabceans had their wives in common 2 1 7 Savages, the reafons why they fuppofe women to be inferior to men 37 Scotland, the church there makes women do penance for baftard children 323 Servants, their puniihment by the law of England for abufmg their miflrefs 330 Shame, annexed to incontinence, one of the methods of fecuring chaflity 130 the confequences of this ihame being taken off in Denmark - 31 Silk, whence originally brought and when 1 1 1 Singular method of fecuring chaflity in Africa 27 of preferving the fidelity of wives among the Jews 28 in Poland 29 inftance of human folly 133 Spaniards, their mannner of courtfhip 172 court by ferenading their miflrefs before her window 173 are the moll obfequious fentimental lovers in the world 174 Spaniards whip themfelves to gain the affection of the ladies 175 Species, human, the propagation of it reckoned cri- minal • 271 Stains in the fkin, an ornament of favages 1 3 1 St. Jerom, his ridiculous opinion of matrimony 27 s St. Maurice, the knights of that order not allowed to marry widows 3 1 2 Sum of all that is alledged for and againfl each fex tends to prove that they are nearly ecfual 43 vol. ir. 1 A INDEX. Superior flrength of body evident in the males of brute animals 36 but have no other fuperiority 37 Tartars, their ideas of their women 49 The two fexes in favage life compared 39 female favage hardly inferior to the male ibid (hare each lex has had in progreffive improve- ment 40 arts attributed to female invention ibid that languifh under their direction 42 reafons why they do fo ibid Therapeutes, by whom founded 273 governed by St. Anthony ibid Thorbiorga, a Danim enchantrefs, ftory of her 59 , Turin, a girl there faid to be poffefled by a devil ? l fhe is managed by two jefuits and a phyfician ibid they pretend to exorcife the devil ibid Dr. JR. maintains there is no devil in the cafe of the girl there 72 and puts fome queftions in a language that the devil does not underftand ibid the jefuits threaten the do&or 73 he produces an order from court to examine the girl ibid Turkijh drefs, foine fketches of it 128 ■ Turks, their cruel method of gaining the affection of the ladies 176 V. Various methods of fecuring chadity in Spain 26 Veils anciently ufed by women 97 INDEX. xxi Venitians, their manner of drefhng 138 Virginity, to remain in it reckoned a great misfor- tune by the Jews 241 by the ancient Perfians 242 by the Greeks ibid and by the women of the Levant ibid W. Wales, the king there was formerly fatisfied with fme- ing the man who had debauched his wife 234 Widowhood, why fo difagreeable to women 289 was the mod defpicable of all conditions in the primitive ages 294 is the mod eligible female condition in Eu- rope, when the widow is in good circumftances 3 1 / Widows in the early ages had none to redrefs their wrongs 292 iuftered in Greenland to die of hunger 293 not allowed to marry again in fome countries and why ibid what claries of men were not allowed to marry them 294 their condition begins to amend 295 not allowed to be feized nor fold by the cre- ditors of their hufbands 296 were protected by the chridian clergy ibid their methods of mourning for their deceafed hufbands ibid Widows were prefcribed, in many centuries, a cer- tain time, within which they Ihould not marry 296 were condemned by cudom to wear their weeds for life in Spain and Scotland 297 difmaj life which they were condemned to while mourning in Spain ibid xxri INDEX. Widows } the time allotted to their mourning in Ame- rica 298 the puniihment to which they are liable, if they do not mourn according ro the cuftom of their country ibid reafons of fubjecling them to this long and fevere mourning 299 are obliged at the Cape of Good Hope, and in the Ifthmus of Darien, to cut off a joint from a finger for every hufband they bury 300 are burnt to death on the funeral pile of their Lufbands in Hindoffan 301 whether their burning is voluntary confider- ed 304 fomctimes revolt againft the dreadful death affigned them 306 the fortitude and refolution fhewn by fome of them in thofe dreadful moments 308 fometimes fet fire themfelves to the pile that is to devour them 309 - in China, are fold by the relations of a de- ceafed hufband 310 of China, may deliver themfelves from being fold by turning Bonzeffes 311 are put in the houfe of correction in Prvifia, if they marry while with child to a deceafed huf- band 3 1 2 their privileges by the law of England 332 their children all buried along with them in the ifthmus of Darien 301 when left with child, particular hardships to which they are liable in England 343 of the Jews, might afk the brothers of de- ceafed hufbands in marriage 149 have the fame right among the Iroquois and Hnrons 1 50 INDEX. xxiii Witchcraft, the idea of it early propagated among mankind 5 1 and mod ridiculoufly believed by the fu- perftitious and ignorant 52 conje&ures on its origin $$ why women were thought more addicted to it than men 54 all antiquity full of the ideas of it 5 5 made ,a pretence for deftroying fuch as were obnoxious to kings and their minillers 64 nothing that was connected with it too ab- furd to gain credit ibid caufes of its decline 62 tortures that were made ufe of to extort confeffion 67 executions obliged to be made every day, to make room in the prifons for the accufed 68 even the magiffrates fufpecled ibid Witches revered by the ancient Germans 51 generally in all nations fuppofed to be moftly old women ibid of antiquity, luppofed to be endowed with mod extraordinary powers 56 confulted at Calcutta about the defliny of children 58 Wives, why purchafed 192 places in which they are purchafed 2 1 1 were allowed a plurality of hufbands by the Medes, on the coaft of Malabar, at Calcutta, &c. 220 their privileges among the Jews 226 among the Egyptians and others - 227 in the Marian iflands, exercife aa unlimited authority over their huibands ibid their privileges' among the ancient Germans 229 in Turkey ibid in Hindoftan ibid Xx» INDEX. Wives method of exculpating themfelves when accufed of adultery 237 Wives and concubines, inftances of their being Wran- gled to ferve their hufbands in the other world 300 cannot bring an action at law without content of their hufbands 341 Women faid to be incapable of liftening toreafon 75 charged with inconstancy of temper 76 faid by fome not to have any fouls 47 origin of that opinion probably was in Afia ibid why they cannot have fouls, according to the opinion of the Scots clergyman 48 among the ancient northerns eonfidered as divinely infpired 58 endowed with courage when in circumdan- ces where it is necefiary JJ are in fome countries more valued than men el were deified, and had temples erected for their worlhip ibid confciou° that their ftrqpgth lies in their beauty 89 in the ifthmus of Darien and the Ukrain, court the men 50 their power to compel the performance of a promife of marriage 324 are obliged to return the prefents made by lovers, or to marry them 325 are hardly allowed any power or management of affairs 338 the punifnment afflicted on them 346 could not fuccced to feudal eftates 340 were in procefs of time allowed to fucceed to them in default of male heirs ibid their wills and teftamehts made .void by mar- riage 34 1 INDEX. xx Women keeping a houfe of ill fame, how punifhable 343 their inferiority to the other fex lefs than is commonly believed >>j Widjian, his ridiculous enmity to long hair 1 17 Y. Toung men, in ancient Ifrael, appear not to have had the power of courting a bride for themfelve?. I 5 I SUBSCRIBERS TO THE HISTORY of WOMEN, PHILADELPHIA. A. BBOT Ssf Barnes Alexander Adams Catharine Auner Elizabeth Anderfon George Afhbey Hannah Armftrong Henry H. Abel Henry Adams Henry Andrews Jacob Anthony Jacob Anthony, jun. Jacob Aflimead James Anderfon John Alexander John Aitken Tohn Allftine J. B. Ackley Jofeph Allen Nathaniel Afhby Nicholas Anthony Rebecca Alice Samuel Allen Samuel I. Axford Sufan Alberger St. Laurence Adams Thomas Allen William Abbott William Anderfon William Alexander William. Allen William Allibone, jun. William Annan, m. d. SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. B. A. Baird, Wa/hingtpn, Pennjylvania Abner Briggs Andrew Bell Andrew Boyd Andrew Butler Anthony Tate Boyd Benj. Franklin Bache Bela Badger Daniel Brewer Ebenezer Bowman Eleanor Brown Elizabeth R. Burden Francis Brown Francis G. Brewfter George Booth George Blackwell George Bringhurffc Henry Baker, jun. Henry Barrington Herman Bake Jacob Bower, Reading, Berks Qeunty Jacob Brown John'Bedford John Bennett John Bever, George- Town, Ohio John Bicren John Brandon, Green/- burgh , Pen nfylvania John Brittengham John Burk Johnfon Beeiley Jofeph Ball jun. Jofeph Britten Jofeph Burden Jofeph Burroughs Kennard Blackifton Lewis Baker Margaret Bowles Margaret Boylan Margaret Brown Martin Bernard Nathan Beach, Luzerne Peter Bell Peter Bob Samuel Bullus Stephen Bennett Thomas Bartlemaa Thomas Batfon William Bonnell William Buck William D. Brown William L. Blair William P. Beatty William P. Brady, Nor 7 hum berland SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. c. Abraham Cohen Adam Corman Alexander Campbell, Richmond, Virginial Ann Carey Ann Chaloner Catharine Coleman Charles Campbell Daniel Carfon Daniel Cafey Daniel Carteret George R. Chapman Hugh Cochran, 12 copies Jacob Carver Jacob Creamer James Collings James Corkrin John Cameron John Campbell John Cannon John Chambers John Clarke John Ciaxton John Cloyd, Attorney at law Jonathan Carmant Jofeph Cafe Levi Croforove Lewis Croufellat Mary Cline Mary Comfort Mary Cowell Mathew Carey, 12 copies Nancy Cornicle Nathaniel Coborn Nicholas Coleman Paul Cutter Richard Coutty Robert Carr Samuel Church Thomas Cantairs Gen. Thomas Craig William Carr "William Clarke William Clew D. Anna Dougherty Elizabeth Doyle Benjamin Davies, 6 copies Francis Daymon Benjamin Dutton Frederick Dern SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. G. Decombaz, 2 copies Ifaac Davis James Dilworth John Dobelbower John Duche Lewis Dobelbower Lucinda Doman Martin Dubs Mafon Dickey Charles Eagan Daniel Eftal David Everhart Elizabeth Emery Charles Farmer Frederick Foy Frederick Frayley James Faichney James Farmer John Felter John Flanigan Jofeph Feinour Jofeph H. Flemming Adam Guyer Cafper Guygcr D. Graffct Mathew Doyle Nicholas Diehl Samuel Dugee Sarah Doyle Thomas Dennis Thomas Dougherty Vorothia Dale William Dewees, m. d. William Dawfon E. George Etris Jonathan Edwards Samuel Elliott Samuel Ervin F. Maria Flemmino- Rebecca Fleefon Sarah Fletcher Thomas French Walter Fortune William Fadel William Fling William Brown Foggo William Fofler G. Daniel Green Henry Garrifon Jacob Gilbert SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. James Gamble John German John Grace Jofeph Gladding Richard Graham, Dum- fries, Virginia A. Hallowell Abraham Hambright Abraham Kilyard Allfree Hart Afsheton Humphreys Benjamin Harrifon David Hall Elizabeth Hartung Henry Hill Henry Holkins Jane Henderfon John Hafline, jun. John Hailman John Harper John Harrifon John Higgins Thomas Grant, Sunbury* Pennsylvania Thomas M' Mullen Gard- ner, Wilmington, Del William Gibbons William A, Grant Alphonzo C. Ireland Elizabeth Ingram Imlay & Harper John In (keep David Johnfcon H. John Hurley Jofiah Holmes Mahlon Hutchinfon Maria Hughs Margaret Hains Mary Harper Philip Heyl Sarah Hunter Sarah Hutton Simon Heligas Sufan Henderfon Sufan Hoffman Thomas Hood Thomas Hofkins William Harnett William Hart, m. d I. & J- Eleanor Jenney Elizabeth Jones Ifaac Jones Jacob Johnfon, &' Go. 25 Copies SUBSCRIB ERS' NAMES. J ° hn J effres "~M^l^fon John Johnfon Mary Jones John Jones, Attorney at Thomas Janvier aw .Thomas Johnfon Catharine Kingfton Charles Kirkham Daniel Knight Edmund Kinfey Ezekiel King Frederick KifFelman George D. Knorr, (deceafed) Abraham Lower Elizabeth C. Leiper James Lackey James Laverty J. Lang, jun. Eang fcf Uftick, 1 2 copies John Lille, jun. Jofeph Lownes Adam Mendenhali Alexander Miller Ann M< Pherfon K. Jacob Knorr,jun. John Kean John Kidd, Reading Berks County John King Luke Kelly * Margaret Knapp Thomas Kelley L. Laetitia Lippineott Michael Lewis Nathaniel Lewis Peter Lohra Samuel Leacock Samuel Levis WiJliam Levis William Linch William Lyle M. Archibald M'Callum Barney Merkle, Reading ■ Berks County SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. Blair M'Clenachan Charles Minifie David M< Calla Denis M'Laughlin Eliflia Moore Frederick Meyers George S. Moore Henry Mitchell Henry Muhlenberg Hyraan Marks Ifaac Martin Ifaac W. Morris- I. Minty James Milnor, Attorney at Law James Molony John Martin John Mearns John Mc Collom John Mc Donald John Mc Knight John Mc Laughlin John Moore Jofeph Matter Jofeph Maxfield Jofeph Miller L. Mitner Lewis Monroe Mary Mafon Mary M'Irmes Mary Miller Michael Moore Michael Murphy M'Kenzie iff Weftcott, Bridge-Town, New- Jerfey, 12 Copies Miller & Atwater, Bar- lington, New Jsrfey, 12 copies Nathan Matthias Patrick Moore Peter tff Henry Mierken Robert $!< Kean Samuel Mafon Thomas Makpln Thomas Matthias Thomas Mifflin, Gover- nor of Pennfylvania Thomas Moore Thomas More, jun. Timothy Mouatford, copies W. Mott Walter Mairs William Martin William Miller William Moore William. Morgan^ m. d. Ch'arkfion^ South Ca- rolina SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. N. Enoch Northrop James Newark fohn Newman Michael Newbold Samuel Nightlinger Thomas Nelfon O. Anthony Ogilvie Griffith Owen John Ormrod, 12 copies P. O'Donnell, 3 copies Thomas Ogle William Owen Abraham Painter Alexander Power Daniel Prelton David Pimple George Peter James Potts John Page John Parker, 6 copies Ann Ruffell Charles Robertfon Elizabeth Randolph, Richmond, Virginia Elizabeth Rhoads Elizabeth Rowe Francis Rifmg George Rees George Roberts P. John J. Parry- John Paterfon John Phillips Jofeph Peart N. Phillips Philip Pancake Sarah Pay ran Thomas Pickins R. H. &f P. Rice Jacob Rizer James Reid James Roche John Rain John Riever John Rofs, jun. Martin Row, jun. Mary Rufb SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. Miles Rourk Morgan John Rhees Samuel Rhodes Abby Skelleriger Alexander Shaw Charles SchafTer Charles Shoemaker Charles Smith Conrad Seyfert, 8 copies Daniel Smith Daniel Sutherland Daniel Sutter, jun. Dorothy Stone Edward Scott Either Sweetzer Francis Shallus George Schlofler George Spain Jacob Siddons James H. Sloan James Smither James Spotts James Stuart, m. d. Benjamin Thornton Elizabeth Taylor George Thompfon George Tryon S. T. Samuel Richards, fen. Spicer Rudderow Stephen Rider John Stroup Lawrence Sink Mrs. Stewart Mahlon Scholfield Prince George County^ Maryland Margaret Smith Maria Shepherd Maria Stephens Morgan Sweeny Nicholas Sullivan Peter Seybert Rebecca Sims Robert Simpfon Samuel Starr Sophia Seckel Sower £sf Jones, 6 copies Thomas Stephens, 12 copies William Semple Henry Toland Ifaac Tomkins Jacob Thomas James Tiiackara 10 SUBSCRIBERS' NAMES. James Truman John R. Taylor John Thornhiil John Thum John Turner Henry Van Kleeck, Pcnghkeepjie James Valliant V. J. OzierThompfon, m.d. Jonathan Tyfon Leiley Thompfon Thomas Tillyer Thomas Tuflain Jacobus Vanoften, Los^r Dublin Thomas Valerius W. Francis Wilfon George Wager George Walters George Watts George* White George Wilfon, Mifflin county, Pennfyhania Ifaac Wainwright Ifaac Warn pole James Whitehead James Wilfon, Judge of the Supreme Court ofabe United States John Wa^dington Y. Anthony Yerkes Charles Yarbrough John F. Young, m. d. John Ward John White Jofeph Wirt Jofeph Wright Mahlon Wright Samuel Wakeling, 6 cop. Samuel Williamfon Samuel Witman Thomas White William Watfon William Wilfon, Miles- burgh, Mifflin County William W. Woodward 6 copies Z. Adam Zantzinger Jacob Zellcr John Zeller. V m