The Project Gutenberg eBook of The history of the condition of women, in various ages and nations (vol. 2 of 2), by D. L. Child

Title: The history of the condition of women, in various ages and nations (vol. 2 of 2)

Comprising the women of Europe, America, and South Sea Islands

Author: D. L. Child

Release Date: July 15, 2023 [eBook #71194]

Language: English

Credits: The Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)

THE
HISTORY
OF THE
CONDITION OF WOMEN,
IN VARIOUS AGES AND NATIONS.

BY
MRS. D. L. CHILD.
AUTHOR OF “MOTHER’S BOOK,” “FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE,” ETC.

“In youth women are our idols, at a riper age our companions, in old age our nurses, and
in all ages our friends.”              Lord Bacon.

VOL. II.
COMPRISING THE WOMEN OF EUROPE, AMERICA, AND SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.

THIRD EDITION.

BOSTON:
OTIS, BROADERS & CO.
1840.

Boston:
STEREOTYPED BY SHEPARD, OLIVER AND CO.
No. 3 Water Street.

[Pg 1]

HISTORY OF WOMEN.

---

EUROPE.

Plutarch speaks with disapprobation of the Persian manner of treating women; yet the Greeks themselves kept them under very strict discipline. They had distinct apartments, in the highest and most retired part of the house, and among the wealthier classes these rooms were often kept locked and guarded. Women belonging to the royal families[Pg 2] were not even allowed to go from one part of the house to the other without permission. When Antigone, in Euripides, obtains her mother’s permission to go on the house-top to view the Argian army, her aged guardian insists upon first searching the passage, lest the profane eyes of a citizen should dishonor her by a glance.

Young girls were more rigorously secluded than married women; yet it was considered highly indecorous for the latter to be seen beyond the door-step, until they were old enough to assume the character of matrons. Menander says:

Maidens were rarely allowed to appear in the presence of men; and never without veils. This covering was probably made of transparent stuff; for Iphigenia speaks of seeing her brother through “the veil’s fine texture.”

Eustathius says, “Women should keep within doors, and there talk.” Thucydides declared that “she was the best woman of whom the least was said, either of good or harm;” according to the Greek proverb it was considered extremely dishonorable to be governed by a female; and Plato rejoiced that he was not born a woman.

In order to prevent assignations, Solon enacted that no wife, or matron, should go from home with more than three garments, or a basket longer than[Pg 3] one cubit, or more food than could be purchased for an obolus;[1] or travel in the night-time without a lighted torch carried before her chariot. Lest pride should seek to exhibit itself in a pompous retinue, he ordered that no woman should appear attended by more than one servant, except when she was drunk! On the death of a husband, the oldest son became the guardian of his mother. A woman was incapable of appearing in court without her guardian; therefore the words of the proclamation always were, “We cite —— and her guardian.” No property could be disposed of, either by will or otherwise, without the consent of guardians. Female captives taken in war were not usually treated with any degree of respect or tenderness: thus we find Hecuba complaining that she was chained, like a dog, at the gate of Agamemnon. Alexander the Great formed an honorable exception to this rule, and in his treatment of the royal Persian prisoners imitated the noble example of Cyrus.

Women were not allowed to attend the Olympic games; but this prohibition could not have existed at all periods; for we are told that Cynisca, daughter of Archidamus, king of Sparta, was the first woman who won the prize in the chariot-race at Olympia. Perhaps the Spartan women alone partook of these masculine diversions; those of more feminine habits would probably perceive the propriety of not attending games, where the combatants wrestled[Pg 4] without clothing. In commemoration of her victory, Cynisca sent a chariot and four brazen horses, to be dedicated to Olympian Jupiter.

In the earliest ages, Greek women had a right to vote in the public assemblies; but this privilege was taken away from them. They were never allowed to be present at banquets, and it is not supposed that they ever ate in the same apartment with the men.

The restraint of female influence being thus removed, it may be presumed that the outward forms of decency were less scrupulously observed than they would have been under a different system. A fine of one thousand drachmas was imposed upon every woman who appeared in public without clothing; and the necessity of making such a law does not speak well for purity of manners.

That women were not always entirely passive and subservient, appears by the example of Xantippe, so famous for her household eloquence; and by the dispute between Agamemnon and his wife, concerning his wish that she should absent herself from the wedding of her daughter Iphigenia:

Themistocles used to say, “My little boy rules Athens; for he governs his mother, and his mother governs me.”

The women of Lemnos, finding themselves slighted[Pg 5] for the sake of certain Thracian captives, whose charms conquered their conquerors, resolved upon indiscriminate revenge. They unanimously agreed to put all their male relations to death; and this barbarous plan was carried into execution, with the solitary exception of Hypsipyle, the queen, who spared the life of her father. In consequence of this, the women conspired against her, and soon after drove her from the kingdom.

The most common employments of Grecian women were spinning, weaving, embroidery, making garments, and attending to household avocations. Their embroidery often represented battle-scenes and historical events, which must have required a great deal of time and patience. During the early ages, there seems to have been no difference whatever between the occupations of princesses and women of common rank. Before marriage, Penelope tended her father’s flocks on the mountains of Arcadia; and when she was queen of Ithaca, her son bids her attend to the spindle and the loom, and leave the affairs of the palace to his direction. During the absence of her husband, she was troubled with numerous powerful suitors, whose enmity was greatly to be feared in those turbulent times. She promised to choose one from among them, when she had finished weaving a certain web; but she continually baffled them, by unravelling in the night what she had woven in the day: hence “Penelope’s web” became a proverbial expression for works that were never likely to be finished. We are told that Nausicaa,[Pg 6] daughter of king Alcinous, who met Ulysses shipwrecked on her father’s coast, went down to the shore, accompanied by her maidens, to wash clothes; and princess as she was, she carried her dinner with her.

Women grinding corn, after the manner of the Israelites, are alluded to by old Greek authors; and that they were in the habit of spinning with a distaff as they walked, is to be inferred from the fact that it was considered a bad omen to meet a woman working at her spindle.

As luxury increased, the lines of demarkation between different ranks no doubt became more obvious, and laborious occupations were relinquished by the wealthy. It is likewise probable that restraints became less and less rigid. Women, in later times, certainly joined the men in entertainments at Aspasia’s house, and the remains of an ancient picture leads to the conjecture that at some period they attended the theatres. It is recorded that certain women disguised themselves in male attire, and went to Academus to listen to the philosophy of Plato; and when this desire for knowledge began to prevail, it could not be long before it manifested itself in casting off the fetters prescribed by custom. Individuals there were, as there ever will be, of both sexes, who were in advance of the people among whom they lived. Beside the far-famed Sappho and Aspasia, there was Corinna, the Theban poetess, who is said to have five times carried the prize from Pindar; and there was Arete,[Pg 7] daughter of Aristippus, who taught philosophy and the sciences to her son: from this circumstance the young man was called Metrodidactos, i. e. Taught-by-his-mother.

Increasing luxury evidently did not produce universal corruption; for the wife of Phocion was a model of prudence, simplicity, and domestic virtue. When one of the actors, who was to represent a queen, demanded a more pompous retinue, Melanthius, who was at the charge of the exhibition, said: “Phocion’s wife appears in public with a single maid-servant; and dost thou come here to show thy pride, and corrupt our women?” The audience received this remark with a thunder of applause. This same modest matron, when a lady exhibited many jewels in her presence, replied: “Phocion is my greatest ornament, who is now called for the twentieth time to command the armies of Athens.” Plutarch, who lived as late as the time of Trajan, bears testimony that his wife Timoxena was far above the frivolity and affectation, which characterized many of her sex; that she cared little for dress or parade; and was chiefly desirous to perform all the duties, and observe all the proprieties of life.

Of the amusements of the Grecian women we know little. Religious festivals no doubt constituted a large portion of their recreations. Many dances were used on these occasions; among which was the Caryatides, a Spartan dance, in honor of Diana. Theseus, who invented a circular dance called the Crane, is said to have been the first who introduced[Pg 8] the custom of men and women dancing together. Various musical instruments were in use, such as the harp and the cythara, and women doubtless played upon these, as well as joined in the songs appropriated to various festivals. Female characters at the theatre were performed entirely by men in disguise.

Ladies of rank were at all periods accompanied by attendants; and among them was generally some old nurse, or matron, continually about their persons. Two such are described as waiting upon Penelope, beside a numerous band of maidens, whom she guided in the labors of the distaff and the loom.

The Grecian dress consisted of sandals for the feet, and an ample flowing robe, without sleeves, fastened at the waist by a girdle. The wealthy wore purple, and other rich colors; the common class usually wore white, for the economy of having it dyed when it became soiled. Jewels, expensive embroidery, and delicious perfumes, were used in great profusion by those who could afford them. It is supposed that women stained their eyebrows black, and stained the tips of their fingers rose-color, after the manner of the East. They took great pains to keep their teeth in perfection, and some affirm that they painted their lips with vermillion.

According to Socrates, the most costly female wardrobe in his time might be valued at about fifty minæ, or one hundred and sixty pounds, nine shillings, and two pence.

Until the time of Cecrops, the Grecians lived[Pg 9] without the institution of marriage; but his laws on that subject, being found conducive to the public good, soon became generally observed. He expressly forbade polygamy; but at certain periods, when great numbers of men had been slain in battle, temporary laws were passed allowing men to take more than one wife. Euripides is said to have imbibed a dislike to the whole sex by having two wives at once, who made his house a perpetual scene of dissension. It was allowable for a man to marry his sister by the father’s side, but not by the mother’s. Cimon married his sister Elpinice, because his father’s misfortunes had left him too poor to provide a suitable match for her; but afterward, when Callias, a rich Athenian, became in love with Elpinice, and offered to pay all her father’s fines, if she would consent to be his wife, Cimon divorced her, and gave her to him.

Parents negotiated matches for their children; and neither young men nor maidens presumed to marry without the consent of both father and mother.

In Athens, heiresses were compelled by law to marry their nearest kinsmen, in order to preserve the fortune in the family; but if he chanced to be old and superannuated, a younger relative was admitted into the household, and in all respects considered the lady’s husband, except in having a legal claim to her inheritance.

When a female orphan was left without adequate support, the nearest relative was obliged to marry her, or settle a portion upon her according to his[Pg 10] wealth and rank. When the connections were numerous, they often combined together to contribute the required sum.

Any foreigner who married an Athenian woman was liable to be sold, together with his estate, and a third part given to the accuser. Any foreign woman, who married a citizen of Athens, was liable to be sold for a slave, and the man was likewise fined a thousand drachmas. These laws fell into disuse; but were revived by Pericles for a short period, during which five thousand Athenian citizens were sold on account of foreign alliances.

It was common for Grecian lovers to deck the doors of their beloved with garlands, and pour libations of wine near the threshold, because this was the manner in which Cupid was worshipped at his temple. They likewise inscribed her name on trees, on the walls of their houses, and on the books they used. These inscriptions were generally accompanied by some flattering epithet. In allusion to this custom, one of the characters in Euripides says he never should have a good opinion of women, though all the pines in mount Ida were filled with their names. When a person’s garland was untied, it was taken as a sign of his being in love; and when women were seen weaving wreaths, they were accused of being love-sick.

Various magical arts and spells were in use to discover the state of each other’s affections. The Thessalian women were famous for their skill in these matters; and the Grecian maidens were in the habit[Pg 11] of applying to them for assistance; thus one in Theocritus says:

Many charms and philtres were likewise in use to procure affection, when their love was unsuccessful. These charms were sometimes compounded with blood of doves, the bones of snakes and toads, screech-owl’s feathers, bands of wool twisted upon a wheel, and if possible from the neck of one who had hanged himself. Sometimes pills, roots, and powerful herbs, were the chosen ingredients; and instances occurred wherein the unfortunate victims of superstition lost their reason by the administration of these dangerous philtres. Images of wax were sometimes made and placed before the fire to melt, while certain spells were pronounced; this was done from the idea that there was some mysterious sympathy between the wax and the heart of the beloved object. Sometimes one who was forsaken and indignant made an image of clay and placed it beside the wax, that while one melted the other might harden; they believed that the heart of the rejected thus became stern and unrelenting, while the faithless lover was softened by affection. Other enchantments, too various to mention, were used by those who wished to effect similar purposes.

Particular regard was paid to lucky seasons and omens for the wedding day. The full of the moon[Pg 12] was considered a favorable time, and the conjunction of the sun and moon was peculiarly auspicious. The sixteenth day of the month was regarded as more unlucky than any other. It was supposed that trees planted on that day would wither and die, and that girls who were either born or married at such a date were destined to misery; but for a boy it was considered a lucky augury to be born on the sixteenth.

Before marriage, the Grecian maidens offered baskets of fruit to Diana, and many other ceremonies were performed in her temple. On account of her own aversion to wedlock, it was deemed peculiarly desirable to appease her indignation, and propitiate her favor. Sacrifices were likewise offered to Juno, Minerva, Venus, the Fates, and the Graces. When the victim was opened, the gall was taken out, and thrown behind the altar, as a symbol that all anger and malice must be cast aside. The entrails were carefully examined by soothsayers, and if any unlucky omen presented itself, the contract was dissolved, as displeasing to the gods. The most fortunate omen that could appear was a pair of turtles, because those birds are remarkable for constant affection to each other; if one appeared alone, it was thought to prognosticate separation and sorrow to the young couple.

In many places the bride was required to cut off some of her ringlets and offer them to the gods of marriage, at the same time pouring libations on their altars.

Both bride and bridegroom wore bright colored[Pg 13] garments, and were adorned with garlands, composed of flowers sacred to Venus, and other deities supposed to preside over nuptials. The house where the wedding was celebrated was likewise decked with garlands.

The Bœotians used wreaths of wild asparagus, which is full of thorns, but bears excellent fruit; it was therefore thought to resemble ladies, who give their lovers some trouble in gaining their hearts, but whose affection is a sweet reward. The bride carried an earthen vessel full of parched barley, and was accompanied by a maid bearing a sieve, to signify her obligation to attend to domestic concerns; a pestle was likewise tied to the door, for the same purpose. The bride was usually conveyed in a chariot from her father’s house to her husband’s in the evening. She sat in the middle, with the bridegroom on one side, and one of her most intimate female friends on the other. A widower was not allowed to attend his bride, but sent one of his friends for that purpose. Blazing torches were carried before the young couple, and music followed them. Homer thus describes a bridal procession:

When the chariot arrived at the bridegroom’s dwelling, the axletree was burnt, to signify that the bride was never to return to the paternal roof. As they entered, figs and various kinds of fruit were[Pg 14] poured on their heads, as an indication of future plenty. A sumptuous banquet was prepared for relations and friends, after which the company diverted themselves with dances and hymeneal songs.

At Athens, it was customary for a boy to come in during the feast, covered with thorn boughs and scorns, bearing a basket full of bread, and singing, “I have left the worse and found the better.” Some have supposed this was in commemoration of their change of diet from acorns to corn, but Dr. Potter’s supposition seems much more probable; viz. that it was intended to indicate the superiority of marriage over single life.

In Athens, the bride’s feet were always washed in water brought from the fountain of Callirhoe, which was supposed to possess some peculiar virtue. She was lighted to her apartment with several torches. Around one of these flambeaux, the mother tied the hair-lace of her newly wedded daughter, taken from her head for that purpose. Mothers considered it a great misfortune if illness, or any accident, prevented them from performing this ceremony. The married couple ate a quince together, to remind them that their conversation with each other should be sweet and agreeable. The company remained until late at night, dancing and singing songs filled with praises of the bridegroom and bride, and wishes for their happiness. In the morning they returned, and again saluted them with songs. The solemnities continued several days; during which relations and friends offered gifts, consisting of golden vessels, couches,[Pg 15] ointment boxes, combs, sandals, &c., carried in great state to the house of the bridegroom by women, preceded by a boy in white apparel, with a torch in his hand, and another bearing a basket of flowers. It was likewise customary for the bridegroom and his friends to give presents to the bride, on the third day after the wedding, which was the first time she appeared unveiled.

The old Athenian laws ordered that men should be thirty-five and women twenty-six, before they married; but Plato considered thirty a suitable age for the bridegroom, and other writers approved of brides as young as eighteen, or fifteen. Grecian women never changed the name they received when infants: thus Xantippe would be distinguished from another of the same name, by being called Xantippe, the wife of Socrates.

In the primitive ages women were purchased by their husbands, and received no dowry from relations; but with the progress of civilization and wealth this custom disappeared, and wives were respected in proportion to the value of their marriage portion. Medea, in Euripides, complains that women were the most miserable of the human race, because they were obliged to buy their own masters at a dear rate. Those who brought no dowry were liable to be spoken of contemptuously, as if they were slaves rather than lawful wives. Hence, when men married women without fortune, they generally gave a written instrument acknowledging the receipt of a dowry. Those who received munificent portions required a[Pg 16] greater degree of respect, and expected additional privileges on that account. Hermione, in Euripides, is enraged that the captive Andromache should pretend to rival her in the affections of Pyrrhus; and she thus addresses her:

Some have supposed that Solon intended to forbid dowries, because one of his laws declares, “A bride shall not carry with her to her husband above three garments, and vessels of small value.” But this was probably intended merely to prevent extravagance in dress and furniture; for he allowed men who had no sons to leave their estates to daughters, and express laws were made to secure the property in the family, by regulating the marriage of heiresses. The daughters of several Grecian monarchs carried their husbands whole kingdoms for a dowry. When distinguished men died in poverty, the state sometimes provided for their children. Thus the Athenians gave three hundred drachmas to each of the orphan daughters of Aristides, and bestowed a farm belonging to the city upon the grand-daughter of their famous patriot, Aristogiton. Phares, of Chalcedon,[Pg 17] made a law that rich men should give a portion to their daughters when they married poor men, but receive none with their sons’ wives. As luxury increased, it followed, as an inevitable consequence, that marriages were more and more made with a view to the acquisition of wealth; and fathers were disappointed at the birth of a daughter, on account of the expense attending her establishment. It was customary for the bridegroom to build and furnish the house, and to make a settlement large in proportion to her dowry, for the support of his wife in case of death or divorce; but unless a written receipt of dowry could be produced by the woman’s friends, the husband could not be compelled to allow a separate maintenance. Heirs were bound by law to support the wives of those from whom they received estates.

When sons became of age, they enjoyed their mother’s fortune during her lifetime, affording her a maintenance in proportion to her rank. If a woman died without children, her dowry returned to the relative by whom it had been bestowed.

Girls who had no fathers were disposed of by their brothers; and if they had neither parents nor brethren, the duty devolved upon grandfathers, or guardians. Sometimes husbands betrothed their wives to other persons on their death-beds. The father of Demosthenes gave his wife to one Aphobus, with a considerable portion. Aphobus took the portion, but refused to marry the woman after the death of her husband; in consequence of which her son appealed to the magistrates. The same orator engaged[Pg 18] in the defence of Phormio, who having been a faithful slave, his master, before he died, bestowed upon him freedom and his wife.

The forms of betrothing varied in some particulars in different cities, but bore a general resemblance. The parties took each other by the right hand, promised fidelity, and sometimes kissed each other, while the relative of the woman pronounced these, or similar words: “I bestow upon thee, ——, my daughter, or my sister, or my ward, with such and such money, lands, cattle, or flocks, for her dowry.”

In case of divorce, a man was obliged to restore his wife’s portion, and was required to pay monthly interest upon it, so long as he detained it from her.

In general the Grecian laws allowed men to put away their wives upon slight occasions; even the fear of having too large a family was considered sufficient ground for divorce. A woman incurred great scandal in departing from her husband. In Athens, if wives had reason to complain of their husbands, they could appeal to the appointed magistrate, by appearing publicly in court, and placing in his hands a written statement of their grievances. Hipparete, the wife of Alcibiades, losing all patience with his continued profligacy, availed herself of this privilege; but when she presented herself before the archon, Alcibiades seized her by force, and carried her off; no person presuming to interfere with his authority.

It was not unusual for the marriage tie to be dissolved with consent of both parties. Thus Pericles and his wife being weary of each other’s society, he[Pg 19] bestowed her upon another man, with her own free will and consent. There is likewise reason to suppose that men sometimes lent their wives to each other, without any of the parties incurring blame by the transaction; but when intrigues were carried on without the husband’s sanction, severe penalties were incurred. Women were sometimes put to death, but more generally sold into slavery. They were never after allowed to enter the temples, or wear any but the most ordinary clothing. Whoever found them disobeying these laws, might tear off their garments, and beat them with any degree of severity that did not endanger their life or limbs.

Wealthy paramours generally brought themselves out of difficulty by paying a heavy fine; but those unable to do this, were liable to very severe and disgraceful punishments.

Although the law allowed but one wife, it was thought no dishonor to keep a train of mistresses, who were usually captives taken in war, or women stolen by Grecian sailors and brought home for sale. The public class of women was composed of individuals derived from similar sources; hence the term “strange woman,” (meaning a foreign woman,) was a term of reproach with the Grecians, as well as the Jews. This shameless class were required by Grecian laws to wear flowered garments, by way of distinction from the modest apparel of virtuous women; and various texts of Scripture lead to the supposition that a similar custom prevailed among the Israelites. Some of them acquired immense wealth; and, what[Pg 20] is much more singular, they in some instances enjoyed a degree of influence and consideration unattainable by women of purer manners.

When Thebes was demolished by Alexander, Phryne agreed to rebuild the entire walls at her own expense, if they would engrave on them this inscription: “These walls were destroyed by Alexander, but raised again by Phryne the courtesan.” Phryne had a statue of gold at Delphi, placed between two kings. Theopompus, in his letter to Alexander, speaking of a magnificent mausoleum near Athens, says: “This distinguished mark of public respect a courtesan has received; while not one of all those who perished in Asia, fighting for the general safety of Greece, has been thought worthy to receive a similar honor.” Aspasia, first the mistress and afterward the wife of Pericles, obtained unrivalled influence and distinction. The most celebrated of the Athenian philosophers, orators, and poets, delighted in her society, and statesmen consulted her in political emergencies. They even carried their wives and daughters to her house, that they might there study agreeable manners and graceful deportment. This, together with the fact that Pericles made her his wife, and to the day of his death retained such a strong affection for her, that he never left her to go to the senate without bestowing a parting kiss, seems to imply that she could not have been so shockingly depraved as many writers have supposed. It is more probable that she deserves to rank in the same class as the Gabrielles, and Pompadours of modern times. The public and[Pg 21] distinguished attention such women received in Greece, was no doubt owing to the fact that they alone dared to throw off the rigorous restraints imposed upon the sex, and devote themselves to graceful accomplishments, seductive manners, and agreeable learning. For this reason it was generally taken for granted that women of very strong, well-cultivated minds were less scrupulous about modesty, than those who lived in ignorance and seclusion. Sappho, the celebrated poetess, has by no means descended to posterity with an untarnished name. But a degree of injustice is no doubt done to her memory, by understanding the fervent language of the Greeks as similar epithets would be understood in the dialect of colder climes. Had Sappho been the most profligate of woman-kind, she would not have been likely to destroy herself for love of one individual. She was the first woman who jumped from the famous promontory of Leucate, called the Lover’s Leap. The superstition prevailed that those who could perform this feat, and be taken up alive, would be cured of their passion.

Many ceremonies were performed by Grecian women in the temple of Eleutho, who presided over the birth of children. During the hours of illness it was customary to hold palm branches in their hands, and invoke the favor of this goddess. The old laws of Athens expressly forbade that women or slaves should practise physic; but one Agnodice, having disguised herself in male attire, studied the art under a skilful professor, and made the fact known to many[Pg 22] of her own sex, who gladly agreed to employ her in preference to all others. The jealousy of the physicians led to a discovery of the plot, and Agnodice would have been ruined, had not all the principal matrons of Athens appeared in court and pleaded strongly in her favor. In consequence of their entreaties, the old law was repealed, and women were allowed the attendance of female physicians.

The Grecians generally wrapped infants in swaddling bands, lest their tender limbs should become distorted. In Athens newly born babes were covered with a cloth on which a gorgon’s head was embroidered, because that was represented on the shield of Minerva, to whose care the child was consigned. It was likewise customary to lay boys upon bucklers, as a prognostic of future valor. Infants were often placed upon other things bearing some resemblance to the sort of life for which they were designed. It was common to put them in vans made to winnow corn, and therefore considered as emblems of agricultural plenty. Sometimes instead of a real van, an image of it was made of gold or silver. Wealthy Athenians universally laid young infants upon dragons of gold, in memory of one of their kings, who, when an unprotected babe, was said to have been watched by dragons. When a child was five days old, the nurse took it in her arms and ran round the hearth, thus putting it under the protection of the household gods, to whom the hearth served as an altar. This festival was celebrated with great joy. Friends brought in their gifts, and partook of a feast,[Pg 23] peculiar to the occasion. If the child was a boy, the door was decorated with an olive garland; if a girl, wool was a substitute for the olive, in token of the spinning and weaving destined to occupy her maturer years. On the tenth day, another entertainment was given, and the child received its name, which was usually bestowed by the father. It was common to choose the name of some illustrious or beloved ancestor; but names describing personal and moral qualities were frequently given, such as the ruddy faced, the eagle-nosed, the ox-eyed, the gifted, the lover of his brethren, &c.

When the child was forty days old, another festival was kept, and the mother offered sacrifices in Diana’s temple. Athenian nurses quieted fretful babes with sponges dipped in honey.

It was common to expose children, especially females, on account of the expense attending their settlement. Posidippus says:

The children thus exposed were wrapped in swaddling bands, and placed in a sort of ark, or basket. Sometimes jewels were attached to them, as a means of discovery, if any person should find and nourish them; or, as some have supposed, from the superstition that it was important for the child to die with some of the parents’ property in its possession.

The Thebans disliked this cruel practice, and their laws made it a capital offence. Those who were too poor to rear their children, were ordered to carry[Pg 24] them to the magistrates, who nourished them, and afterwards received their services in payment.

The Grecians believed in the power of the evil eye, especially over little children. It was generally attributed to one under the influence of malice or envy; and they endeavored to protect an infant from its baneful effects, by tying threads of various colors round the neck, and touching its forehead and lips with spittle mixed with earth.

Filial respect and affection, the distinguishing virtue of olden times, was in high repute among the Grecians. The story of the daughter who nourished her imprisoned father with her own milk, is too well known to need repetition. Alexander the Great having received a letter from Antipater full of charges against Olympias, for her interference with public affairs, the monarch read it, and said, “Antipater knows not that one tear from a mother can blot out a thousand such complaints.”

Solon made a law that women should not join in the public funeral solemnities even of their nearest relations, unless they were threescore years old; but this law did not continue to be observed; for gallants are described as falling in love with young women whom they saw at funerals. It is supposed that men and women formed separate portions of the procession; the former preceding the corpse, the latter following it. Mourning women were employed to sing dirges, and bewail the dead. They beat their breasts, disfigured their faces, and made use of other violent demonstrations of grief. The female relatives of the[Pg 25] departed often joined in these excesses, altogether regardless of the hideous scars produced thereby; but this practice was forbidden by Solon. In many places it was the custom for women to shave their heads, and spread their tresses over the corpse. They laid aside all ornaments and rich attire, and wore black garments made of coarse materials. Those who were joined by near relationship, or strong affection, generally shared the same funeral urn. Thus Halcyone, whose husband perished at sea, says:

A very beautiful bas-relief found at Athens, represents a woman seated, while a man with three little children seem bidding her an affectionate farewell. It probably marked the sleeping-place of some beloved wife and mother. At the funeral of a married woman, matrons carried vases of water to pour upon her grave; girls performed this office for maidens, and boys for young men. These processions of water-bearers are often represented on ancient sepulchres. An owl, a muzzle, and a pair of reins, were often carved on the tombs of women; as emblems of watchfulness, silence, and careful superintendence of the family.

It was not uncommon for widows to marry a second time; but those who did otherwise were regarded with peculiar respect. Charondas excluded from public councils those men who married a second[Pg 26] wife, when they already had children. “Those who do not consult the good of their own family cannot advise well for the good of the country,” said he. “He whose first marriage has been happy, ought to rest satisfied with his share of good fortune; if unhappy, he is out of his senses to incur another risk.”

In very early times the priestesses were allowed to marry; thus Homer speaks of the beautiful Theano, wife of Antenor, who was unanimously chosen priestess of Minerva. At later periods, all who were devoted to the service of the temples were required to live unmarried.

The oracles of the gods were universally uttered by women. The most celebrated was the Delphian oracle of Apollo. The priestess who uttered the prophetic words was called Pythia, or Pythonissa. She was obliged to observe the strictest rules of temperance and virtue, and to clothe herself in simple, modest, and maidenly apparel. They neither anointed nor wore purple garments, because such habits belonged to the rich and luxurious. In early times the Pythia was chosen from young maidens; but in consequence of a brutal insult offered to one of them, the selection was ever after made from women more than fifty years old. Before the prophetess ascended the tripus, where she was to receive inspiration, she bathed herself, especially her hair, in the fountain of Castalia, at the foot of Parnassus. When she seated herself upon the tripus, she shook the laurel tree, that grew near it, and sometimes ate the leaves, which were thought to contain some virtue[Pg 27] favorable to prophecy. In a short time she began to foam at the mouth, tear her hair, and cut her flesh, like a maniac. The words she uttered during these paroxysms were the oracles. The fits were more or less violent; sometimes comparatively gentle. Plutarch speaks of one enraged to such a degree that the terrified priests ran from her, and she died soon after. The time of consulting the oracle was only one month, in the spring of the year.

Women had their share in sacred festivals among the Greeks. In the processions of the Panathenæa, in honor of Minerva, women clothed in white carried torches and the sacred baskets. At the annual solemnity in honor of Hyacinthus and Apollo, the Laconian women appeared in magnificent covered chariots, and sometimes in open race-chariots. At the processions in honor of Juno, her priestess, who was always a matron of the highest rank, rode in a chariot drawn by white oxen. Aristophanes describes the wife and daughter of a citizen as assisting in the ceremonials of a rural sacrifice to Bacchus. The girl carried a golden basket filled with fruit, and a ladle with which certain herbs were poured over the sacred cakes. Her father followed, singing a hymn to the god, while the mother, standing on the house-top, watched the procession, and charged her daughter to conduct herself like a lady, as she was, and to be cautious lest her golden ornaments were stolen in the crowd.

One of the most ancient ceremonies among the Greek women was that of bewailing annually, with[Pg 28] dirges and loud cries, the death of Adonis. Processions were formed, and images of Venus and Adonis carried aloft, together with shells filled with earth, in which lettuces were growing. This was done in commemoration of Adonis laid out by Venus on a bed of lettuce.

In Attica, all girls not over ten or under five were consecrated to the service of Diana, during a solemnity which took place once in five years. On that occasion all female children of the proper age appeared dressed in yellow robes, while victims were offered to the goddess, and certain men sung one of Homer’s Iliads. No Athenian woman was allowed to be married unless this ceremony had been performed.

The festival in honor of Ceres was observed with much solemnity at Athens. None but free-born women were allowed to be present; and every husband who received a portion of three talents with his wife, was obliged to assist in defraying the expenses. The women were assisted in the ceremonials by a priest, who wore a crown, and by certain maidens, who were strictly secluded, kept under severe discipline, and maintained at the public charge. The solemnity lasted four days. All the women who aided in it were clothed in simple white garments, without ornaments or flowers. Not the slightest immodesty or merriment was permitted; but it was a custom to say jesting things to each other, in memory of Jambe, who by a jest extorted a smile from Ceres, when she was discouraged and melancholy. On one of the festival days, the women walked in[Pg 29] procession to Eleusis, carrying books on their heads, in memory of Ceres, who was said to have first taught mankind the use of laws; on this occasion it was against the law for any one to ride in a chariot. There was likewise a mysterious sacrifice to Ceres, from which all men were excluded; this was said to have been because in a dangerous war, the prayers of women so prevailed with the gods, that their enemies were driven away.

The custom of offering human beings as sacrifices to the gods was regarded with great abhorrence by the primitive Greeks; but several instances occurred in later times where captives taken in war were devoted to this purpose. There is reason to suppose that the victims were generally men; but there were exceptions to this remark. Bacchus had an altar in Arcadia, upon which young damsels were beaten to death with bundles of rods. Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon, was likewise about to be sacrificed to Diana, because the soothsayer so decreed, when the Greeks were kept back from the Trojan war by contrary winds; and Macaria, the daughter of Hercules and Dejanira, voluntarily offered herself as a victim, when the oracle declared that one of her father’s family must die, to insure victory over their enemies. Great honors were paid to the memory of this patriotic girl, and a fountain in Marathon was called by her name.

The Athenian slaves were much protected by the laws. If a female slave had cause to complain of any want of respect to the laws of modesty, she could seek the protection of the temple, and demand[Pg 30] a change of owners; and such appeals were never discountenanced or neglected by the magistrates.

The Milesian women being at one period much addicted to suicide, a law was passed that all who died by their own hands should be exposed to the public; and this effectually prevented an evil, which no other means had been able to prevent.

The customs of Sparta differed in many respects from the rest of Greece. When a match was decided upon, the mother, or nurse of the bride, or some other woman who presided over the arrangements, shaved the girl’s hair, dressed her in masculine attire, and left her alone in an apartment at evening. The lover, in his every-day clothes, sought an opportunity to enter by stealth, but took care to return to his own abode before daylight, that his absence might not be detected by his companions. In this manner only did custom allow them to visit their wives, until they became mothers. Lycurgus passed a law forbidding any dowry to be given to daughters, in order that marriage might take place from motives of affection only. Marriage was much encouraged in every part of Greece, and peculiarly so in Sparta. The age at which both sexes might marry was prescribed by law, and any man who lived without a wife beyond the limited time was liable to severe penalties. Once every winter, they were compelled to run round the forum without clothing, and sing a certain song, the words of which exposed them to ridicule; they were not allowed to be present at the exercises where beautiful young maidens contended; on a certain[Pg 31] festival, the women were allowed to drag them round an altar, beating them with their fists; and young people were not required to treat them with the same degree of respect that belonged to fathers of families.

Polygamy was not allowed, and divorces were extremely rare; but the laws encouraged husbands to lend their wives when they thought proper. Lycurgus reversed the Athenian custom, and allowed brother and sister of the same mother to marry, while he forbade it if they both had the same father. In Sparta there was a very ancient statue, called Venus Juno, to which mothers offered sacrifice on the occasion of a daughter’s marriage.

Damsels appeared abroad unveiled, but married women covered their faces. Charilus, being asked the reason of this practice, replied, “Girls wish to obtain husbands, and wives aim only at keeping those they already have.” Lycurgus ordered that maidens should exercise themselves with running, wrestling, throwing quoits, and casting darts, with the view of making them healthy and vigorous; and for fear they might have too much fastidiousness and refinement, he ordered them to appear on these occasions without clothing. All the magistrates and young men assembled to witness their performances, a part of which were composed of dances and songs. These songs consisted of eulogiums upon such men as had distinguished themselves by bravery, and satirical allusions to those who had been cowardly or effeminate; and as they were sung in hearing of the senate and people, no inconsiderable degree of[Pg 32] pride or shame was excited in those who were the subjects of them.

The Spartans bathed new-born infants in wine, from the idea that vigorous children would be strengthened by it, while those who were weakly would either faint, or fall into convulsions. Fathers were not allowed to educate and nourish their own children, if they were desirous to do so. All infants, being considered the property of the commonwealth, were brought to the magistrates to be examined. If vigorous and well formed, a certain portion of land was allotted for their maintenance; but if they appeared sickly or deformed, they were thrown into a deep cavern and left to perish.

The Spartan nurses were so celebrated, that they were eagerly sought for by people of other countries. They never used swaddling bands, and religiously observed the ceremony of laying infants upon bucklers, as soon as they were born. They taught children to eat any kind of food, or to endure the privation of it for a long time; not to be afraid when left alone, or in the dark; to be ashamed of crying, and proud to take care of themselves.

The Spartans mourned for deceased relations with great composure and moderation; though when a king died, it was customary for men, women, and slaves, to meet together in great numbers, and tear the flesh from their foreheads with sharp instruments. Indeed, in all things they endeavored to make their own interest and feelings subordinate to the public good. When news came of the disastrous overthrow[Pg 33] of the Lacedæmonian army at Leuctra, those matrons who expected to receive their sons alive from the battle, were silent and melancholy; while those who received an account that their children were slain in battle, went to the temples to offer thanksgivings, and congratulated each other with every demonstration of joy.

The Lacedæmonians usually carried bodies to the grave on bucklers; hence the command of the Spartan mother to her son, “either to bring his buckler back from the wars, or be brought upon it.”

Some foreign women said to Gorgo, wife of king Leonidas, “You Spartans are the only women that govern men.” “Because we are the only women who give birth to men,” she replied. This answer was in allusion to their own strength and vigor, and to the pains they took to make their boys bold and hardy.

The Lacedæmonian women seem to have had a share in all the concerns of the commonwealth; and during the early portions of their history they appear to have been well worthy of the respect paid to them. When a new senator was chosen, he was crowned with a garland, and the women assembled to sing his domestic virtues and his warlike courage. At the public feast given in honor of his election, he called the female relative for whom he had the greatest esteem and gave her a portion, saying, “That which I received as a mark of honor, I give to you.” When Cleomenes, king of Sparta, was beset with powerful enemies, the king of Egypt agreed to furnish[Pg 34] him with succors, provided he would send his mother and his children as hostages. Filial respect and tenderness made the prince extremely unwilling to name this requisition. His mother, perceiving that he made an effort to conceal something from her, persuaded her friends to tell her what it was. As soon as she heard it, she laughed outright, and said, “Was this the thing you so long hesitated to communicate? Put us on board a ship, and send this old carcase of mine wherever you think it may be of the most use to Sparta, before age renders it good for nothing, and sinks it into the grave.” When everything was ready for departure, she, being alone with her son, saw that he struggled hard with emotion. She threw her arms around him, and said, “King of the Lacedæmonians, be careful that we do nothing unworthy of Sparta! This alone is in our power; the event belongs to the gods.”

When Cleombrotus rebelled against his wife’s father, in spite of her entreaties, and usurped the kingdom, Chelonis left her husband and followed the fallen fortunes of her parent; but when the tide turned, and Cleombrotus was in disgrace and danger, she joined her husband as a suppliant for royal mercy, and was found sitting by him, with the utmost tenderness, with her two children at her feet. She assured her father that if his submission and her tears could not save his life, she would die before him. The king, softened by her entreaties, changed the intended sentence of death into exile, and begged his daughter to remain with a father who loved her so[Pg 35] affectionately. But Chelonis could not be persuaded. She followed her husband into banishment.

Such was the character of Spartan women in the earlier periods of their history; but in later times their boldness and immodesty increased to such a degree that they became a by-word and a reproach throughout Greece.

In Grecian mythology, the goddesses are about as numerous and important as the gods. That Beauty, Health, and Majesty should be represented as female deities, is by no means remarkable; but, considering the estimation in which women were held, it is somewhat singular that Wisdom should have been a goddess, and that sister muses should have presided over history, epic poetry, dramatic poetry, and astronomy. The tradition that Ceres first taught the use of laws does not probably imply that legislation was invented by a woman; but that as men left a wandering life, and devoted themselves to agriculture, (of which Ceres was the personification,) they began to perceive the necessity of laws for mutual defence and protection.

In the earliest and best days of Rome, the first magistrates and generals of armies ploughed their own fields, and threshed their own grain. Integrity, industry, and simplicity, were the prevailing virtues of the times; and the character of women was, as it always must be, in accordance with that of men. Columella says: “Roman husbands, having completed the labors of the day, entered their houses, free[Pg 36] from all care, and there enjoyed perfect repose. There reigned union, and concord, and industry, supported by mutual affection. The most beautiful woman depended for distinction only on her economy, and endeavors to assist in crowning her husband’s diligence with prosperity. All was in common between them; nothing was thought to belong more to one than another. The wife, by her assiduity and activity within doors, equalled and seconded the industry and labor of her husband.”

It was common for sons to marry and bring home their wives to the paternal estate. Plutarch says: “There were not fewer than sixteen of the Ælian family and name, who had only a small house and one farm among them; and in this house they all lived, with their wives and many children. Here dwelt the daughter of Æmilius, who had been twice consul, and had triumphed twice; not ashamed of her husband’s poverty, but admiring that virtue which kept him poor.”

Tanaquil, wife of Tarquin the First, one of the best kings of Rome, was noted for her industry and ingenuity, as well as energy and ambition. Her distaff was hung up in the temple of Hercules, and her girdle, with a robe she embroidered for her son-in-law, were long preserved with the utmost veneration. Her political influence seems to have been great, and her liberality munificent. Her husband was originally a private citizen of Tarquinia; but her knowledge of augury led her to predict that an uncommon destiny awaited him at Rome, and she persuaded[Pg 37] him to go thither. After his death, she succeeded in raising her son-in-law, Servius Tullius, to the throne.

Lucretia, a young matron of high rank, was found busy among her maidens, assisting their spinning and weaving, and preparation of wool, when her husband arrived with his guests, late in the evening. The high value placed upon a stainless reputation may be inferred from the fact that Lucretia would not survive dishonor, though she had been the blameless victim of another’s vices.

Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio Africanus, was courted by a monarch, but preferred being the wife of Sempronius Gracchus, a Roman citizen. After the death of her husband, she took the entire management of his estate, and the education of her sons. She was distinguished for virtue, learning, and good sense. She wrote and spoke with uncommon elegance and purity. Cicero and Quintilian bestow high praise upon her letters. The eloquence of her children was attributed to her careful superintendence. When a Campanian lady ostentatiously displayed a profusion of jewels, and begged Cornelia to show hers, she exhibited her boys, just returned from school, saying: “These are my jewels; the only ornaments of which I can boast.” During her lifetime, a statue was erected in honor of her character, bearing this inscription: “Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi.”

The rigid decorum of Roman manners may be inferred from the circumstance that Cato expelled a senator, merely because he kissed his wife in the[Pg 38] presence of his daughter. “For my own part,” said he, “my wife never embraces me except when it thunders terribly;” adding, by way of joke, “I am a very happy man when Jove is pleased to thunder.”

The superior condition of Roman women, in comparison with the Greeks, may in a great measure be attributed to an event that occurred in the very beginning of their history.

Romulus, being unable to obtain wives for the citizens of his new commonwealth, celebrated public games, to which people of neighboring nations were invited. In the midst of the entertainment he and his soldiers seized a large number of women, principally Sabines, and carried them off to his camp. Their restitution was demanded and refused; but the warlike husbands, anxious to conciliate the affections of wives obtained in a manner so violent, treated them with such tenderness, that the women were themselves unwilling to return to their relatives. This led to a war with the Sabines, and Romulus was closely besieged in his citadel. At this crisis, Hersilia, his wife, asked and obtained an audience with the senate, in which she told them that the women had formed a design of acting as mediators between their husbands and fathers. A decree was immediately passed in favor of the proposition. Every woman was required to leave one of her children, as a hostage of her return; the others they carried in their arms, to soften the feelings of their parents. They proceeded to the Sabine camp, dressed in deep mourning, and knelt at the feet of their relatives. Hersilia[Pg 39] described the kindness of their husbands, and their own reluctance to be torn from their families, in a manner so eloquent and pathetic, that an honorable and friendly alliance was soon agreed upon.

In consideration of this important service, the Romans conferred peculiar privileges on women. In capital cases, they were exempted from the jurisdiction of ordinary judges; no immodest language or behavior was allowed in their presence; every one was ordered to give way to them in the street; and a festival was instituted in their honor, called Matronalia, during which they served their slaves at table, and received presents from their husbands.

Three kinds of marriage were in use among the Romans, called confarreatio, coemptio, and usus. The first was established by Romulus, and was the most solemn, as well as the most ancient. A priest, in the presence of at least ten witnesses, pronounced certain words, and sacrificed to the gods a cake made of salt, water, and wheat-flour. The bride and bridegroom ate of this cake, to signify the union which ought to bind them. This manner of celebrating marriage made a wife the partner of all her husband’s substance, and gave her a right to share in the peculiar sacred rites attached to his family. If he died intestate, and without children, she inherited his whole fortune, as a daughter; if he left children, she shared equally with them. If she committed any fault, the husband judged of it in presence of her relations, and punished her at pleasure. Sometimes when women were publicly condemned by law, the[Pg 40] penalty was left to the judgment of her husband and relations. The priests of Jupiter were chosen from sons born of this kind of marriage, and the vestal virgins were selected from the daughters.

The coemptio, or mutual purchase, consisted of the bride and bridegroom’s giving each other pieces of money. The man asked the woman, “Are you willing to be the mistress of my family?” She answered, “I am willing;” and then asked him a similar question, to which he replied in the same manner. According to some authors it was accompanied with the same ceremonies, and conferred the same privileges, as the other form of marriage; and it continued in use a long time after confarreatio was out of date.

That which was called usus, or usage, was when a woman, with consent of her parents or guardians, lived a whole year with a man, without being absent from his house three nights. She thus became his wife, and is supposed to have had the same rights and privileges as other wives; but if absent three nights, she was said to have annulled the contract.

No young man was allowed to marry before he was fourteen, and no girl before she was twelve. A man sixty years old was not permitted to marry a woman younger than fifty; and if he was more than sixty, he could not marry a woman of fifty.

Brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, and cousin-germans, were not permitted to marry each other. For some time it was contrary to law for a patrician to marry a plebeian; but this continued only about five years.

[Pg 41]

All alliances with women of blemished reputation, or low extraction, were considered dishonorable. No marriage of a Roman with a foreigner could be legal, unless express permission had been first obtained from the government. Cicero even reproached Anthony for marrying Fulvia, because her father was a freed-man. A law was, however, passed, by which only senators, their sons, and grandsons, were forbidden to marry a freed-woman, an actress, or the daughter of an actor. Finally the right of citizenship was granted to all inhabitants of countries belonging to the Roman empire, and the stigma attached to foreign alliances was removed.

Neither sons nor daughters could marry without their father’s approbation. The mother’s consent was usually asked as a matter of propriety, though there was no legal restriction to that effect.

When the consent of parents had been obtained, the relatives held a meeting to settle the articles of contract, which were written and sealed, in presence of witnesses. They broke a straw, according to their custom in making bargains; hence it was called stipulation, from stipula, a straw. This occasion was usually celebrated by a feast, during which the bridegroom made presents to the bride, and gave her a ring, that in early times was plain, and made of iron, but afterwards of gold. It was worn on the fourth finger of the left hand, on account of the idea that a vein went from that finger to the heart. Some of these bridal rings were made of brass or copper, with the figure of a key, to signify that the husband[Pg 42] delivered her the keys of his house. Some of them have been found bearing devices; such as I love you. I wish you a happy life. Love me. If, after the espousals, either party wished to retract, they could do so, by observing certain forms.

The marriage portion varied according to the wealth and rank of the parties. It was delivered in money, or secured upon lands; and was paid at three terms fixed by law. The husband was not permitted to alienate it; and in case of divorce, except it took place by his wife’s fault, her relations could reclaim it. If any citizen caused a woman to lose her fair fame, he was obliged to marry her without a portion, or give her one proportioned to her rank. In the first days of the republic, dowries were very small. The senate gave the daughter of Scipio about £35 10s.; and one Megullia was surnamed Dotata, or the Great Fortune, because she had £161 7s. 6d. sterling. But as wealth increased, the marriage portions became greater, until eight or nine thousand pounds sterling was the usual dowry of women of high rank. Seneca says, “The sum that the senate thought sufficient dowry for the daughter of Scipio, would not now suffice even the daughters of our freed-men to buy a mirror.”

No marriage took place without first consulting the auspices, and sacrificing to the gods, especially to Juno, who presided over matrimonial engagements. Like the Greeks, they took the gall from the victims, and threw it behind the altar.

Certain days and festivals were regarded as unlucky[Pg 43] for a wedding; particularly those marked in the calendar with black; but widows might marry on those days. The whole month of May was regarded as unfortunate for marriage, and the middle of June peculiarly auspicious. The ceremony was performed at the house of the bride’s father, or nearest relation. She was dressed in a long white robe bordered with purple, and fastened with a girdle made of wool. Her hair was divided into six locks with the point of a spear, and crowned with a wreath of vervain gathered by herself. Her face was covered with a flame-colored veil, and she wore high shoes of the same color. In the evening, she was conducted to her husband’s house. She was taken apparently by force from the arms of her mother, or nearest female relative, in memory of the Sabine women seized by Roman soldiers. Three boys, who had parents living, attended upon her; one supporting each arm, and the third walking before her with a lighted flambeau. Relations and friends eagerly sought to carry away this torch, when they came near the bridegroom’s house; partly on account of some peculiar virtue it was supposed to possess, and partly for fear it should be made use of for some fascination, that would shorten the lives of the young couple.

A young slave followed the bride, carrying, in a covered vase, her toilet, and corals, and children’s playthings of all kinds, accompanied by maidens, bearing distaff, spindle, and wool. A great train of relations and friends attended the nuptial procession. The door of the bridegroom’s house was adorned[Pg 44] with festoons, garlands of flowers, and lists of woollen, rubbed with oil, and the fat of swine or wolves, to avert enchantments. When the bride arrived thither, being asked who she was, she answered, “Caia.” This custom was taken from the name of Caia Cœcilia, generally called Tanaquil; and the bride’s answer implied that she intended to imitate such a good and industrious wife. She then bound the door-posts of her bridegroom with woollen fillets, likewise anointed with oil, and the fat of swine or wolves; from this circumstance the Latin word for wife is uxor, which signifies the anointer; and our word uxorious is thence derived.

The bride was gently lifted over her husband’s threshold; for it was reckoned a bad omen to touch it with her feet, because the threshold was sacred to Vesta, who presided over female purity.

As soon as she entered, they sprinkled her with water, and delivered the keys of the house, to show that she was intrusted with the management of the family; and a sheep-skin was spread before her, indicating that she was to work in wool. Both she and her husband were required to touch fire and water; and with the water their feet were afterward bathed. In the early ages they put a yoke about the neck of the young couple, as an emblem of the mutual assistance they were expected to render each other in the cares and duties of life. The Latin word conjugium, a yoke, is the origin of our word conjugial. The bridegroom feasted the relations, friends, and attendants of himself and bride. He was placed at the[Pg 45] head of the table, and the bride was laid in his bosom. The feast was distinguished for the abundance, variety, and delicacy of the refreshments. It was accompanied with music. The guests sung to the honor of the newly married an epithalamium, beginning and ending with acclamations, in which was often repeated the name of Thalassius. The following circumstance is supposed to have been the origin of this custom: when the Sabine women were forcibly carried to the Roman camp, one of them, very remarkable for her youthful beauty, attracted so much attention, that quarrels were likely to ensue concerning her. The men who carried her, wishing to avoid any such contention, thought of exclaiming aloud that they were carrying her to Thalassius, a handsome and brave young man, exceedingly beloved by the people. As soon as this was proclaimed, the soldiers withdrew all opposition, and rent the air with acclamations of the hero’s name. The marriage thus prepared for Thalassius proved so happy and prosperous, that the Romans ever after, in their epithalamia, were accustomed to wish the newly-married pair a destiny like his.

The bride was conducted to her apartment by matrons, who had been married to only one husband. The bridegroom scattered nuts among the boys, and the bride consecrated her dolls and playthings to Venus, thereby intimating that they relinquished the sports of childhood. When the guests departed, small presents were distributed among them.

Next day another entertainment was given, when[Pg 46] presents were sent to the bride by relations and friends, and she performed certain sacred rites appropriate to the mistress of a family. The goods which a woman brought her husband beside her dowry were called bona paraphernalia.

Daughters generally received the name of their father, or some relation, varied only by ending according to the feminine instead of the masculine gender: thus Hortensia was the daughter of Hortensius; and the two daughters of Mark Antony were named Antonia Major, and Antonia Minor. By way of endearment they frequently made use of those diminutives, to which the language of Italy owes so much of its gracefulness; thus the beloved daughter of Tullius Cicero was called Tulliola. In a numerous family, girls were often distinguished from each other by the diminutives of numbers; as Secundilla, and Quartilla, the Second and the Fourth. At marriage, a woman retained her original name with the addition of her husband’s; thus Cornelia, the wife of Sempronius Gracchus, was called Cornelia Sempronia.

The birth of children was celebrated by a domestic festival, during which the gates were adorned with branches, garlands, and lamps, and a piece of money was deposited in the temple of Juno Lucina, whose office corresponded to the Eleutho of the Grecians. Boys received the family name on the ninth day after birth, and girls on the eighth; but they did not give the prænomen, or, as we should say, the baptismal name, until they took the virile robe, which marked[Pg 47] their entrance into manhood; and girls did not receive it till they were married.

Romulus introduced the Spartan custom of exposing all sickly and deformed children; with this restriction, that every child should be nourished three years, in order to try whether it would not, in that interval, attain health and vigor. In later times, this prohibition was disregarded, and the custom of exposing infants became very common.

While the Romans retained their primitive simplicity, mothers nursed their own babes, and would have considered it a great misfortune or reproach, to have employed another to fulfil that tender office; but as luxury increased, indolence and love of pleasure so far conquered maternal affection, that women of rank almost universally consigned their children to the care of female slaves.

Education kept pace with the changing character of the people. At first, children were brought up in habits of laborious industry. When the arts and sciences were introduced, the cultivation of the mind and manners received a considerable degree of attention; and we know that girls shared in these privileges, because when Claudius wished to seize the beautiful Virginia as a slave, in order to deliver her to the infamous Appius, he arrested her as she returned from school, attended by her governante. In the last days of Rome, personal habits were exceedingly luxurious, and education became showy and superficial, because it was acquired from vanity, rather than a love of knowledge. The power of Roman[Pg 48] fathers was excessive. They could imprison their children, load them with fetters, make them work with the slaves, sell them, and even put them to death; but mothers had no legal share in this authority. A story is told of a Roman girl, who was starved to death by her father, because she picked the lock of a wine chest, to get at the wine.

The habit of adopting children, even when the parents on both sides were living, was very common. The adopted were subject to the same authority, and received the same share of inheritance, as real sons and daughters. They generally retained the name of their own family, in addition to the one into which they were adopted.

Though the Romans rivalled all preceding nations in justice and kindness toward women, yet husbands were intrusted with a degree of power, which modern nations would consider dangerous. A man might divorce his wife, if she violated the matrimonial vow, poisoned his offspring, brought upon him suppositious children, counterfeited his private keys, or drank wine without his knowledge. Valerius Maximus says that Egnatius Metellus, having detected his wife drinking wine out of a cask, put her to death, and was acquitted by Romulus.

The ancient Romans did not allow women to inherit property; but as wealth increased, fathers did not like to leave their fortunes to distant male relatives, while their daughters were left portionless; they therefore managed to elude the law, by making such provision for their children, as rendered the[Pg 49] estates so taken of little value. The people, vexed at these proceedings, passed the Voconian law, by which no woman could inherit an estate, even if she were an only child; but after a time, the right of succession, both in moveables and land, was granted to females after the death of their brothers.

Women could not dispose of property, or transact any business of importance, without the concurrence of a parent, husband, or guardian. Sometimes a man appointed a guardian to his widow, or daughters, and sometimes they were allowed to choose for themselves. In some cases, discreet elderly women were appointed guardians. No women, except the vestal virgins, were allowed to give evidence in a court of justice concerning wills. The favorite attendants of noble Romans were sometimes intrusted with an extraordinary degree of power over the wives of their masters. Justinian’s principal eunuch threatened to chastise the empress, if she did not obey his orders. These facts show that Roman women were by no means admitted to the social equality, which characterizes the intercourse of the sexes at the present time; but they ate and drank with the men, were present at convivial entertainments, enjoyed the evening air in the public groves, accompanied by fathers, husbands, or brothers, and enjoyed many privileges to which the women of neighboring nations were entire strangers.

The Romans treated female captives with shameless brutality. Queens and princesses were compelled to submit to the grossest personal indignities,[Pg 50] and were often dragged through the streets chained to the conqueror’s chariot wheels. The stern ferocity that mingled with their better qualities is shown in the story of one of the Horatii, who killed his sister, merely because she wept for her lover slain by his hand; and the example of Marcia, wife of Regulus, who shut up some Carthagenian prisoners in a barrel filled with sharp nails, to revenge her husband, who had been put to death in Carthage. It is, however, true that these actions were not sanctioned by public opinion; for Horatius was punished, and the senate interfered to check the wanton cruelty of Marcia.

The Romans followed the common practice of hiring mourning women to sing funeral songs in praise of the dead. The nearest female relations sometimes tore their garments, and covered their hair with dust. In the funeral procession, sons veiled their faces, and daughters went with uncovered heads and dishevelled hair, contrary to the usual practice of both. They followed the Grecian custom of burning the corpse, and depositing the ashes in an urn. Infants, that died before they had teeth, were buried, not burned; and all children not weaned were carried to the grave by their mothers. The sepulchres were covered with flowers and garlands, and a small altar was placed near, on which libations were made, and incense burnt.

It was thought dishonorable for men to mourn; but the law prescribed that women should mourn ten months for a parent, or a husband. During this[Pg 51] time they laid aside ornaments, and purple garments, and staid at home, avoiding all amusements; some even refrained from kindling a fire in the house on account of its cheerful appearance. Under the republic, women dressed in black like the men; but under the emperors, when party-colored garments came in fashion, they wore white for mourning. If a widow married within ten months after her husband’s decease, she was held infamous. Indeed second marriages were never esteemed honorable in women. Even in the most corrupt days of the empire, those who had been married but to one husband were treated with peculiar deference; hence Univira is often found on ancient sepulchres, as an epithet of honor.

Plutarch says maidens never married on festivals, nor widows on working-days, because marriage was honorable to the one and seemed not to be so to the other; for which reason they celebrated the marriage of widows in presence of a few, and on days that called off the attention of the people to other spectacles. Those who remained widows had the first place in certain solemn ceremonies. The crown of chastity was decreed to them; and if they married again, they were never after allowed to enter the temple of that divinity.

The Romans borrowed their mythology from the Grecian, where female deities abound. When they invoked the gods by name, in their temples, the Romans, in order to avoid mistakes, were accustomed to add, “Whether thou art a god, or whether thou[Pg 52] art a goddess.” Women, as well as men, filled the sacred office of the priesthood. The vestal virgins were young girls, six in number, devoted to the service of Vesta. When any vacancy occurred, twenty maidens, not younger than six, or older than sixteen, were selected from the families of Roman citizens. It was required that their parents should both be living, and free-born, and that they themselves should be without any bodily imperfection or infirmity. It was determined by lot which of the twenty should be chosen; unless some one, with requisite qualifications, was voluntarily offered by parents, and approved by the pontifex maximus, or high priest. The vestals were bound to their ministry for thirty years. For the first ten, they learned the sacred rites; for the next ten, they performed them; and for the last ten, they taught the younger virgins. It was the business of the vestals to keep the sacred fire continually burning; they watched it in the night time alternately; and whoever allowed it to go out, was severely scourged. The fire was relighted from the rays of the sun, and extraordinary sacrifices were made to avert the unlucky omen. Certain sacred images, on the preservation of which the safety of Rome was supposed to depend, were likewise intrusted to the care of the vestals. Wills and testaments were often deposited in their hands, by people who were afraid that relations would commit frauds and forgeries. They were chosen as the umpires of difficulties between persons of rank; and their prayers were thought to have peculiar influence[Pg 53] with the gods. Even the prætors and consuls, when they met them in the street, lowered their fasces, and went out of the way, to show them respect. They were supported by a public salary; had a lictor to attend them in the streets; rode in chariots; and sat in a distinguished place at the spectacles. Any insult to them was punished with death; and if a criminal chanced to meet one of them on his way to execution, he was immediately set at liberty, provided the vestal affirmed that the meeting was unintentional. They were allowed to make their wills, although under age; and were not subject to the power of parents or guardians, like other women. They were not forced to swear, unless so inclined; and their testimony was admitted concerning wills, though no other female was allowed to give evidence on the subject. Beside these exclusive honors, they enjoyed all the privileges of matrons who had three children.

If any vestal violated her vow of chastity, she was buried alive, with funeral solemnities, after being tried and sentenced; and her paramour was scourged to death in the forum. Such an event was always thought to forebode some dreadful calamity to the state, and extraordinary sacrifices were offered in expiation.

When the vestals were first chosen, their hair was cut off, and buried under an old lotus tree in the city; but it was afterward allowed to grow. They wore long white robes, edged with purple, and their heads were decorated with fillets and ribands. When[Pg 54] they left the service of the temple, they might marry; but this was seldom done, and always reckoned ominous.

There was at Rome a temple to the goddess who presided over the peace of marriages, and the appeasement of husbands. Gibbon remarks that her name, Viriplaca, shows that repentance and submission were always expected from the woman. When domestic quarrels occurred, sacrifices were offered in this temple, to procure reconciliation.

Beside innumerable religious ceremonies appropriated to certain families, and performed on certain occasions, it was customary for the Roman women, at the end of every consular year, to celebrate in the house of the consul, or prætor, certain rites in honor of Bona Dea, or the good goddess. No man was allowed to be present; even the consul himself was obliged to leave his dwelling. Before the ceremonies commenced, every corner and lurking-place was carefully searched; all pictures and statues of men contained within the building were covered with a thick veil; and male animals of every kind were driven away. All being in readiness, the vestal virgins offered the customary sacrifices; and women kept a secret so much better than free masons have done, that to this day there is no conjecture in what the ceremonies consisted, or why they were observed. Only one attempt was ever made to violate the prescribed rules. While Pompeia, the third wife of Julius Cæsar, was celebrating the mysteries, Clodius, a profligate Roman, who was enamored of her beauty,[Pg 55] habited himself as a singing girl, and walked through the rooms, avoiding the light as much as possible. A maiden asked him to sing; and as he did not reply, she followed him so closely that he was obliged to speak. His voice betrayed him, and the maiden shrieked aloud that the sacrifices were profaned by the presence of a man. He was driven out with ignominy, and soon after brought before the judges; but the populace were in his favor, and he was acquitted. Cæsar did not believe that Pompeia was aware of the intentions of Clodius; but he immediately repudiated her, saying, “the wife of Cæsar must not even be suspected.” On this occasion, Cicero made the following remarks: “This sacrifice, which is performed by the vestal virgins—which is performed for the prosperity of the Roman people—which is performed in the house of the chief magistrate—celebrated with unknown ceremonies—in honor of a goddess, whose very name it is sacrilege to know—this sacrifice Clodius profaned!”

Beside the augurs, or soothsayers, the Romans believed in certain women, supernaturally inspired, called sibyls. The most celebrated is the sibyl of Cumæ, in Italy. It was said that Apollo became enamored of her, and offered to give whatever she would ask. She demanded to live as many years, as she had grains of sand in her hand; but unfortunately forgot to ask for a continuance of youth and health. She usually wrote her prophecies on leaves, which she placed at the entrance of her cave; and unless they were gathered up before the wind dispersed[Pg 56] them, they became incomprehensible. The Roman historians declare that one of the sibyls came to the palace of Tarquin the Second, with nine volumes, which she offered to sell at a very high price. The proposal being disregarded, she burned three, and asked the same price for the remaining six; and when Tarquin refused to buy them, she burned three more, and still required the same sum for the remainder. This singular conduct surprised the king so much, that he consulted the soothsayers, who lamented the destruction of so many of the books, and advised him to purchase those that remained. The sibyl disappeared, and never returned. The books were intrusted to the care of the priests, and consulted with the greatest solemnity on all important occasions.

The Romans, like the Greeks, had firm belief in omens and enchantments, over which they supposed the moon presided; hence their witches were represented as haggard old women, muttering incantations, and accompanied by dogs howling at the moon.

Paulus Æmilius, having been appointed commander-in-chief against Perseus, and conducted home from the Campus Martius in a very splendid manner, found his little daughter Tertia in tears. He took her in his arms, and asked her why she wept. The child embraced him, and said, “Don’t you know, then, father, that Perseus is dead?” The girl alluded to her little dog; but Æmilius replied, “I hail the lucky omen!”

The Romans likewise used philtres. Lucullus[Pg 57] lost his senses by a love potion; and Caligula was thrown into a fit of madness by a philtre which his wife Cæsonia administered.

The ancient dress of Roman women was modest and simple, like their characters. They wore a tunic and toga, like those of the men, excepting that the tunic had sleeves, was high in the neck, and long enough to reach to the feet. The toga was a sort of ample robe fastened on the shoulder, and falling in graceful folds. They wore bands, or fillets, wrapped around the limbs, instead of stockings. Their covering for the feet were of two kinds; one consisting of a pair of soles, fastened with straps, nearly like what we call sandals; the other, a kind of half boot, open from the toe, and laced in front.

Women usually wore white shoes, until Aurelian allowed them to use red ones, forbidding all men, except the royal family, to wear the same color. The fashionable wore them very tight, with high heels, to give them a majestic appearance.

As luxury increased, the ladies became less scrupulous about exposing their persons. Tunics were made shorter, lower in the neck, and with sleeves open from the shoulder to the wrist, to display the beauty of the arm. A good deal of coquetry and grace was manifested in arranging the ample folds which fell from the girdle. The number of tunics increased, until it was customary to wear three. The last invented was a very full robe, called stola; and after this was introduced, the toga was worn only by men and courtesans. The stola had a long[Pg 58] train, often embroidered with gold and purple. The upper part was fitted to the form, and being open in front displayed the second tunic. This gave the first idea of bodices, which soon became the most brilliant article of Roman dress, enriched with gold and pearls, and precious stones. Above this dress the ladies wore a very long mantle, fastened by a clasp on the shoulders, from which it flowed loose, supporting its own weight. It commonly rested on the left arm and shoulder, leaving the right arm entirely uncovered, according to the custom of the men. Under the reign of Nero, women began to wear silken robes, instead of linen or woollen; yet more than half a century later, we find Aurelian refusing his empress a mantle of silk, because the threads were sold at their weight in gold. Afterward a kind of transparent stuff became very fashionable. The texture was so delicate that they were obliged to color it before it was woven; and the fabric was so open, that the body might be distinctly seen through it. Varro called them “dresses of glass,” and Jerome loudly declaimed against them.

Roman fans were round, like hand-screens; generally made of feathers, and sometimes with small metallic mirrors inserted above the handle.

At first, garments were generally white; none but people of great dignity wore them of purple; but in process of time, all manner of brilliant and varied colors came into fashion. Women of rank loaded their shoes with embroidery and pearls, and prided themselves on the variety and costliness of their[Pg 59] necklaces, bracelets, ear-rings, and rings. Pliny says that even women of the utmost simplicity and modesty durst not venture abroad without diamonds, any more than a consul without the marks of his dignity. “I have seen,” says that writer, “Lollia Paulina, wife of Caligula, load herself with jewels, even after her repudiation; not for any pompous festival, but for simple visits. The value of those she affected to show amounted to forty millions of sesterces, (more than two hundred thousand pounds.) They were not given by the prince, but were part of the effects which descended to her from Marcus Lollius, her uncle.”

The Roman women in primitive times arranged their hair in simple braids, neatly fastened with a broad ribbon, or fillet. But afterward, they wore structures of curls, high as a towering edifice; wigs of false hair, like a helmet; combs made of box inlaid with ivory; golden bodkins loaded with pearls; and fillets embroidered with precious stones.

Those who peculiarly studied decorum, still wore the plain broad fillet of olden times, and arranged their hair in simple, graceful knots at the back of the head. This style was called insigne pudoris, or a sign of modesty.

Light colored hair was most admired. Both men and women dyed it, to make the color more lively; they perfumed it, and applied essences to give it lustre. Sometimes they powdered it with gold dust; which custom Josephus says was practised by the Jews. The hair of the emperor Commodus is said[Pg 60] to have been rendered so brilliant by the constant use of gold dust, that when he stood in the sunshine, his head appeared on fire. In the early ages, women never appeared in public without a veil; but in later times this was dispensed with, or used merely in a coquettish manner. The beautiful but infamous Poppæa always partially shaded her face with gauze, to increase the power of her charms.

The Roman ladies enlarged their eyes by stooping over the vapor of burning powder of antimony; and increased their expression by staining the eyelashes, and gently tinting the lid underneath with the same powder. The eyebrows likewise were finely pencilled. Pliny speaks of a wild vine, the leaves and fruit of which were bruised together, to make a cosmetic for the complexion: and Ovid says some women bruised poppies in cold water, and applied it to their cheeks. Martial says Fabula was afraid of the rain, because of the chalk upon her face, and Sabella of the sun, on account of the ceruse with which she was painted. Poppæa made use of an unctuous paint, which formed a crust, that remained some time; it was taken off with milk, and greatly increased the fairness of the complexion. Ladies were accused of keeping the crust for a domestic face, and reserving the beautiful one for seasons when they went abroad. Poppæa, from whom this paint derived its name, had a troop of she-asses following her, even when she went into exile. Juvenal says she would not have dispensed with them if she had gone to the hyperborean pole. Every day they milked five hundred asses,[Pg 61] for a bath to maintain the softness and freshness of her complexion.

The Roman ladies were very careful of their teeth. They cleansed them often with little brushes and tooth-picks. Some were silver; but those made of lentisk wood were considered the best. Artificial teeth were sometimes used; for Martial, in one of his epigrams, says to Maximina, “Thou hast only three teeth; and those are of box varnished over.”

Ladies usually went to the bath when they first arose, and from the bath to the toilet. This important business occupied many hours. The attendants were numerous, and each one had a separate department. One combed, curled, and braided the hair; a second arranged the jewels; a third poured the perfumes; and a fourth prepared the cosmetics. Each one had a name expressive of her employment; hence the words ornatrices, cosmetæ, &c. Some, who were called parasitæ, were merely required to look on, and give advice; those who were the best skilled in flattery were, of course, the greatest favorites. If a curl was misplaced, or a color unbecoming, the waiting maids were abused for the fault. Juvenal, speaking to one of these women, says, “Of what crime is that unhappy girl guilty, because your nose displeases you?”

It was not surprising that such a state of things should exist among women, when the men wore golden soles to their shoes, plucked out the hairs of the beard one by one, and applied bread dipped in milk to the face, to freshen the complexion.

[Pg 62]

Still, in all periods of Roman history, there were bright examples of female excellence. When Coriolanus, in revenge for ungrateful treatment, threatened to destroy Rome with an invading army, the remonstrances and proposals of the nobility and senate had no effect on his stubborn pride. The Roman matrons persuaded his mother Veturia, and his wife Vergilia, to go to his camp, and try their influence in appeasing his resentment. The meeting between Coriolanus and his family was extremely affecting. For a while he remained inflexible; but the entreaties of a mother and a wife finally prevailed over his stern and vindictive resolutions. The senate decreed that Veturia and Vergilia should receive any favor they thought proper to ask. They merely begged permission to build a temple to the Fortunes of Women, at their own expense. The senate immediately ordered that it should be erected on the very spot where Coriolanus had been persuaded to save Rome. They likewise decreed them public thanks; ordered the men to give place to them upon all occasions; and permitted the Roman ladies to add another ornament to their head-dress!!

Veturia was made priestess of the new temple, into which no woman who had married a second husband was allowed to enter.

Portia, the daughter of Cato and wife of Brutus, was remarkable for her prudence, philosophy, and domestic virtues. She wounded herself severely, and endured the pain in silence, to convince her husband that she had sufficient courage to be intrusted[Pg 63] with his most dangerous secrets. Brutus admired her fortitude, and no longer concealed from her his intended conspiracy against Cæsar. On the day when she knew the assassination was to take place, she fainted away with excess of anxiety; but she faithfully kept the secret that had been intrusted to her. When she parted from Brutus, after the death of Cæsar, a picture of Hector and Andromache, that was hanging on the wall, brought tears to her eyes. A friend of Brutus, who was present, repeated the address of the Trojan princess:

Brutus replied, smiling, “I must not answer Portia in the words of Hector, ‘Mind your wheel, and to your maids give law;’ for in courage, activity, and concern for her country’s freedom, she is inferior to none of us; though the weakness of her frame does not always second the strength of her mind.” A false rumor having prevailed that Brutus was dead, Portia resolved not to survive him. Her friends, aware of her purpose, placed every weapon beyond her reach; but she defeated their kindness by swallowing burning coals.

The emperor Augustus is said to have seldom worn any domestic robes that were not woven by his wife, his sister, his daughters, or his nieces. His sister Octavia was celebrated for her beauty and her virtues. When her husband, Mark Antony, deserted her for the sake of Cleopatra, she went to Athens to meet him, in hopes of withdrawing him from this[Pg 64] disgraceful amour; but she was secretly rebuked, and entirely banished from his presence. Augustus highly resented this affront to a beloved sister, but she gently endeavored to pacify him, and made all possible excuses for Antony. When she heard of her husband’s death, she took all his children into her house, and treated them with the utmost tenderness. She gave Virgil ten thousand sesterces for every line of his encomium upon her excellent and darling son Marcellus. The poet was requested to repeat these verses in the presence of Augustus and his sister. Octavia burst into tears as soon as he began; but when he mentioned Tu Marcellus eris, she swooned away. She was supposed to have died of melancholy, occasioned by her son’s death. Augustus himself pronounced her funeral oration, and the Roman people evinced their respect for her character by wishing to pay her divine honors.

Agrippina, the granddaughter of Augustus, was a model of purity in the midst of surrounding corruption. She accompanied her husband Germanicus into Germany, shared in all his toils and dangers, and attached herself to him with the most devoted affection. She often appeared at the head of the troops, appeasing tumults, and encouraging bravery. Tiberius, jealous of virtues that reflected so much dishonor on his own licentious court, entered into machinations against them. Germanicus was poisoned, and Agrippina exiled and treated with the utmost indignity. Despairing of redress, she refused all sustenance, and died.

[Pg 65]

Arria, the wife of Pætus, not being allowed to accompany her husband to Rome, when he was carried thither to be tried for conspiracy against the government, followed the vessel in a fisherman’s bark hired for the occasion. She exerted every means to save his life; and when she found all her efforts unavailing, she advised him to avoid the disgrace and torture that awaited him, by voluntary death. Seeing that he hesitated, she plunged the dagger into her own heart, and gave it to him with a smile, saying, “It gives me no pain, my Pætus.” In judging of these examples, we must remember that the Romans, in their sternness and stoicism, regarded suicide as a virtue.

Eponina, the wife of Sabinus, lived with her husband concealed in a cave, for several years, rather than desert him at a time of disgrace and danger, the consequence of unsuccessful rebellion. Their retreat was at length discovered; and neither her tears, nor the innocent beauty of two little twins born in the cavern, could soften the heart of Vespasian. The faithful wife was condemned to die with her husband.

Valerius Maximus tells of an illustrious lady, whose mother being condemned to die by famine, the daughter obtained access to her prison, and nourished her with her own milk. When this was discovered, the criminal was pardoned; both mother and daughter were maintained at the public expense; and a temple to Filial Piety was erected near the prison.

Pliny, who lived as late as the time of Trajan, warmly eulogizes the talents and domestic virtues of[Pg 66] his wife. He says: “Her taste for literature is inspired by tenderness for me. When I am to speak in public, she places herself as near me as possible, under the cover of her veil, and listens with delight to the praises bestowed upon me. She sings my verses, and untaught adapts them to the lute; love is her only instructer.”

Under the emperors, it was more easy to find women distinguished for talent than for virtue. Julia, the wife of Septimus Severus, was famous for her genius and learning, and for the generous patronage she bestowed on literature. Julia Mammæa, the mother of Alexander Severus, had a mind equally cultivated, with far greater purity of character than her namesake. She educated her son for the throne in a manner so judicious, that his integrity, virtue, and firmness might have effectually checked the tide of corruption, had he not met with an untimely fate.

As learning became fashionable, many acquired it merely for display. Juvenal, speaking of pedantic ladies, says: “They fall on the praises of Virgil, and weigh his merits in the same balance with Homer; they find excuses for Dido’s having stabbed herself, and determine of the beautiful and the sovereign good.”

The Roman women seem to have been less iron-hearted than the Spartans. When the Romans were defeated by Hannibal, women waited at the gates of the city, for news of the returning army. One, who had given up her son for dead, died at the sight of him; and another, having been told that her son was slain, died when the report was contradicted.

[Pg 67]

The Roman women strongly resembled the Spartans in the deep and active interest they took in public affairs. Upon the death of Brutus, they all clad themselves in deep mourning. In the time of Brennus, they gave all their golden ornaments to ransom the city from the Gauls. In reward for this generosity, the senate ordained that they should be allowed to ride in chariots at the public games, and that funeral orations should thenceforth be pronounced for them, as well as for distinguished men.

After the fatal battle of Cannæ, the women again consecrated all their ornaments to the service of the state. But when the triumvirs attempted to tax them for the expenses of carrying on a civil war, they tried various means to resist the innovation. At last, they chose Hortensia for their speaker, and went in a body to the market-place, to expostulate with the magistrates. The triumvirs, offended at their boldness, wished to drive them away; but the populace grew so tumultuous, that it was deemed prudent to give the women a hearing. Hortensia spoke as follows: “The unhappy women you see here pleading for justice, would never have presumed to appear in this place, had they not first made use of all other means their natural modesty could suggest. Yet the loss of our fathers, brothers, husbands, and children, may sufficiently excuse us; especially when their unhappy deaths are made a pretence for our further misfortunes. You say they had offended you—but what have we women done, that we must be impoverished? Empire, dignities, and honors[Pg 68] are not for us; why then should we contribute to a war, in which we can have no manner of interest? Our mothers did indeed assist the republic in the hour of her utmost need; but they were not constrained to sell their houses and lands for that purpose; theirs was the voluntary offering of generosity. If the Gauls or the Parthians were encamped on the banks of the Tiber, you would find us no less zealous in the defence of our country than our mothers were before us; but we are resolved that we will not be connected with civil war. Neither Marius, nor Cæsar, nor Pompey, nor even Sylla himself, who first set up tyranny in Rome, ever thought of compelling us to take part in domestic troubles. Yet you assume the glorious title of reformers of the state! a title which will turn to your eternal infamy, if, without the least regard to the laws of equity, you persist in plundering the lives and fortunes of those who have given you no just cause of offence.”

In consequence of this spirited and eloquent speech, the number of women taxed was reduced from fourteen hundred to four hundred.

When the deification of emperors and heroes became fashionable at Rome, women soon had their statues placed in the temples, and incense burned before them; and these honors, instead of being the reward of virtue, were often bestowed merely to please the corrupt and the powerful. Poppæa, the wife of Nero, a most thoroughly vicious woman, had divine honors paid to her after death; the emperor himself pronounced her eulogium in the rostrum;[Pg 69] and more perfumes were burned at her funeral, than Arabia Felix produced in a year.

Messalina, the profligate wife of Claudius, governed the emperor without control. She appeared with him in the senate, placed herself by him on the same tribunal in all public ceremonies, gave audience with him to princes and ambassadors, and did not even abandon him in the courts of justice.

Heliogabalus made his mother and grandmother his colleagues on the throne, and placed them at the head of a female senate, which he instituted to regulate all matters of dress and fashion; this, however, lasted but a short time. Extravagance, both in dress and style of living, went on increasing to such a degree that the details are almost incredible. During the Carthagenian war, when Rome was in great distress, an effort was made to check the growth of this evil, by a law, which ordained that no woman should wear more than half an ounce of gold, have party-colored garments, or be carried to any place within a mile’s distance, unless it was to celebrate some sacred festivals or solemnities. This created much discontent; and eighteen years after, the ladies petitioned to have it repealed. Cato strongly opposed it, and satirized the women for appearing in public to solicit votes; but the tribune Valerius, who presented the petition, urged their cause so eloquently, that the law was abrogated.

When the Greek custom was introduced of reclining full length upon their couches, while they ate their meals, the ladies for a long time continued to[Pg 70] sit upon benches, because they considered the new mode inconsistent with modesty; but during the reign of the emperors, they began to imitate the men in this particular. In the early ages they were forbidden the use of wine; their relations were allowed to salute them, as they entered the house, in order to discover whether they had drunk it; and in that case their husbands or parents had a right to punish them. But in later times, they indulged themselves without restraint. Seneca says: “Women pique themselves upon carrying excess in wine as far as the most robust men; like them they pass whole nights at table, and holding a cup filled to the brim, they glory in defying, and even in surpassing them.”

The Romans were in the habit of drinking their crowns; that is to say, the wine in which they had been dipped. Cleopatra, perceiving that Antony was jealous she had designs upon his life, diverted herself with his precautions. At one of their splendid feasts she wore upon her head a crown of flowers, the extremities of which had been poisoned. Antony, being invited to drink the crowns, readily consented; but Cleopatra snatched the cup from his lips, saying, “The garland was poisoned. If I could live without you, I could easily find means for your destruction.”

A love for exciting amusements kept pace with other forms of dissipation. Women, not content with music and dancing, and the entertainments of the theatre, began to delight in horse-races, and the[Pg 71] contests of wild beasts and gladiators, during which scenes of cruelty occurred too shocking to be described. Sometimes they fought on the arena with men, at the command of the despotic emperors. The celebration of the Bacchanalian mysteries, in which women took an active part, were a continuation of the most indecent and horrid crimes. In many instances they danced on the stage entirely without clothing, and enjoyed the luxury of public baths promiscuously with the men, totally disregarding the modest regulations of former times.

Roman husbands, from the earliest times, had the power of divorcing their wives whenever they pleased; and afterward the laws were equalized to such a degree, that either party had liberty to demand divorce. If the wife was blameless, she received all her dowry and goods; if culpable, the husband was allowed to retain a sixth part for each child; if she had been unfaithful to him, he kept all the dowry and marriage-presents, even if he had no children by her. Where there was a family, each of the parties settled a proportionable part of their fortune.

Notwithstanding the facility of divorce, five hundred and twenty-one years elapsed without an instance of it in Rome. Carvilius Ruga was the first one who repudiated his wife. He had great affection for her, and parted from her merely because she brought him no children. Notwithstanding this excuse, the Roman citizens were very indignant at the proceeding. But divorces gradually became frequent, and were made upon the slightest pretexts. When[Pg 72] Paulus Æmilius repudiated Papiria, his friends said to him, “Is she not wise? Is she not fair? Is she not the mother of fine children?” In reply, he pointed to his shoe, and said, “Is it not fine? Is it not well made? Yet none of you know where it pinches me.” Sulpicius Gallus turned away his wife because she appeared bare-headed in public. Sempronius Sophus separated from his, because she had whispered to a freed-woman. Antistius Vetus did the same because his wife went to some public place of amusement without his knowledge. Cicero separated from Terentia on account of her extravagance and imperious temper; he espoused Publilia, a young heiress, who had been his ward; but he repudiated her for harsh treatment to his daughter Tullia. Cato gave up his wife Martia, by whom he had had several children, that Hortensius might marry her; and when some time after Hortensius died, and left her to inherit his great wealth, to the prejudice of his own son, Cato retook her. Some men married women of tarnished reputation, on purpose to find opportunity to divorce them and retain their dowry.

Polygamy was at no period allowed; and even a plurality of mistresses was prohibited. Mark Antony gave great offence to the Romans by living with Cleopatra during the lifetime of Octavia.

Papirius was accustomed to attend his father to the senate before he assumed the manly robe; and his mother one day inquired what had been debated there. The lad replied, a decree had been passed that every man should be allowed to have two wives.[Pg 73] The news spread rapidly; and the next day many women presented themselves to demand that every woman might be allowed two husbands. The senators, surprised at such a strange proposition, did not know how to account for it, until young Papirius explained the mystery. They commended his prudence in thus evading female curiosity, and ordained that no young person, himself excepted, should attend the debates of the senate.

As corruption increased, the women made as bad use of divorce as the men. Seneca says there were some who no longer reckoned the years by the consuls, but by the number of their husbands. St. Jerome speaks with indignation of a man in his time who had buried twenty wives, and of a woman who had buried twenty-two husbands. When Severus ascended the throne, he found no less than three thousand prosecutions against faithless wives. Women of the highest rank unblushingly proclaimed their own licentiousness, and laughed at the appearance of modesty. A long train of cruel and disgusting crimes followed this utter abandonment of principle. At one time there was a general conspiracy to murder all husbands, in order that the last appearance of restraint might be thrown aside. Voluptas had a temple, and was worshipped as a beautiful woman, seated on a throne, and treading virtue beneath her feet.

Augustus, perceiving that facility of divorce, far from tending to promote happiness, only increased discontent, endeavored to restrain it by penalties.[Pg 74] He likewise made the laws more severe with regard to infidelity. The father of a faithless wife might put her to death; and if the husband killed her and her gallant, he was not punished by the laws. Fines and banishment were likewise frequently resorted to.

The highest possible encouragement was given to matrimony. When the people were numbered, the censors asked each citizen, “Upon your faith, have you a wife?” and those who had none were subject to a fine. In the tribunals, those who came to make oath were asked, “Upon your faith, have you a horse? Have you a wife?” and unless they could answer these questions in the affirmative, they were not allowed to give testimony. Those who lived in celibacy could not succeed to an inheritance, or legacy, except of their nearest relations, unless they married within one hundred days after the death of the testator. Married men were preferred to all public employments; and the prescribed age was dispensed with in their favor, by taking off as many years as they had legitimate children. They had distinguished places at the theatre and the games, were exempted from guardianships, and other burthensome offices.

But when the condition of the people required laws like these, it was useless to make them. Mere external rewards are as feeble a barrier against the tumult of the passions, as a bar of sand against a rushing stream. The Roman knights loudly demanded that the edicts should be revoked; and many, to avoid the penalties, went through the form of marriage[Pg 75] with mere infants. Augustus, to prevent this fraud, forbade any one to contract a girl that was not at least ten years old, that the wedding might be celebrated two years after. Metellus, the censor, said to the people, “If it were possible for us to do without wives, we should escape a very great evil; but it is ordained that we cannot live very happily either with them or without them.”

Such was the diseased state of society, when Christianity came in with its blessed influence, to purify the manners, and give the soul its proper empire over the senses. Many women of the noblest and wealthiest families, surrounded by the seductive allurements of worldly pleasure, renounced them all, for the sake of the strength and consolation they found in the words of Jesus. Undismayed by severe edicts against the new religion, they appeared before the magistrates, and by pronouncing the simple words, “I am a Christian,” calmly resigned themselves to imprisonment, ignominy, and death. Taught by the maxims of the Gospel that it was a duty to love and comfort each other, as members of the same family, they devoted their lives to the relief of the sick, the aged, and the destitute. Beautiful ladies, accustomed to all the luxurious appendages of wealth, might be seen in the huts of poverty, and the cells of disease, performing in the kindest manner the duties of a careful nurse.

In the worst stages of human society, there will ever be seven thousand of Israel who do not bow the knee to Baal; and such a remnant existed in Rome.[Pg 76] The graceful form of heathen mythology had some degree of protecting life within it, so long as it was sincerely reverenced; but the vital spark, that at best had glimmered but faintly, was now entirely extinguished, and the beautiful form was crumbling in corruption and decay. The heart, oppressed with a sense of weakness and destitution, called upon the understanding for aid, and received only the lonely echo of its own wants. At such a moment, Christianity was embraced with fervor; and the soul, enraptured with glimpses of its heavenly home, forgot that the narrow pathway lay amid worldly duties, and worldly temptations.

The relation of the sexes to each other had become so gross in its manifested forms, that it was difficult to perceive the pure conservative principle in its inward essence. Hence, though marriage was sanctioned, and solemnized by the most sacred forms, it was regarded as a necessary concession to human weakness, and perpetual celibacy was considered a sublime virtue. This feeling gave rise to the retirement of the cloister, and to solitary hermitages in the midst of the desert. St. Jerome is perhaps the most eloquent advocate of this ideal purity. His writings are full of eulogiums upon Paula, her daughter Eustochium, and other Roman women, who embraced Christianity, and spent whole days and nights in the study of the Scriptures.

Women were peculiarly susceptible to the influence of doctrines whose very essence is gentleness and love. Among the Jews, the number of believing women[Pg 77] had been greater than converted men; the same was true of the Romans; and it is an undoubted fact that most nations were brought into Christianity by the influence of a believing queen. By such means the light of the Gospel gradually spread through France, England, part of Germany, Bavaria, Hungary, Bohemia, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia.

The northern nations bore a general resemblance to each other. War and hunting were considered the only honorable occupations for men, and all other employments were left to women and slaves. Even the Visigoths, on the coasts of Spain, left their fields and flocks to the care of women. They had annual meetings, in which those who had shown most skill and industry in agriculture, received public applause. They were bound by law not to give a wife more than the tenth part of their substance.

The Scandinavian women often accompanied the men in plundering excursions, and had all the drudgery to perform. The wives of the ancient Franks were inseparable from their husbands. They lived with them in the camp, where the marriages of their daughters were celebrated by the soldiers, with Scythian, and other warlike dances. A man was allowed but one wife, and was rigorously punished if he left her to marry another.

They could put their wives to death for infidelity; and if they happened to kill them without justifiable cause, in a moment of anger, the law punished them only by a temporary prohibition to bear arms.

[Pg 78]

The ancient German women could not inherit the estates of their fathers; but by subsequent laws they were permitted to succeed after males of the same degree of kindred.

Women of the northern nations rarely ate and drank with their husbands, but waited upon them at their meals, and afterward shared what was left, with the children. This custom could not have originated in the habit of regarding women as inferior beings; for the whole history of the north proves the existence of an entirely opposite sentiment. It was probably owing, in part, to the circumstance that women were too busy in cooking the food, to wish to eat at the same time with the men; and partly, perhaps, to the fact that these feasts were generally drunken carousals.

The eastern nations imagine the joys of heaven to consist principally in voluptuous love; but northern tribes seem to have believed that they chiefly consisted in drinking. In the Koran, the dying hero is assured that a troop of houries, beautiful as the day, will welcome him with kisses, and lead him to fragrant bowers; but according to the Edda,[2] a crowd of lovely maidens wait on heroes in the halls of Odin, to fill their cups as fast as they can empty them.

In a state of society so turbulent as that we are describing, men had little leisure, and less inclination, for the sciences; women, having better opportunities for observation and experience in common[Pg 79] things, acquired great knowledge of simple remedies, and were in fact the only physicians. Their usefulness, virtue, and decorum, procured them an uncommon degree of respect. The institution of marriage was regarded with the utmost reverence, and second marriages were forbidden. Tacitus says: “The strictest regard to virtue characterizes the Germans, and deserves our highest applause. Vice is not made the subject of mirth and raillery, nor is fashion pleaded as an excuse for being corrupt, or for corrupting others. Good customs and manners avail more among these barbarous people, than good laws among such as are more refined. It is a great incitement to courage, that in battle their separate troops, or columns, are not arranged promiscuously, as chance directs, but consist of one united clan, with its relatives. Their dearest pledges are placed in the vicinity, whence may be heard the cries of their women, and the wailing of infants, whom each one accounts the most sacred witnesses and dearest eulogists of his valor. The wounded repair to their wives and mothers, who do not hesitate to number their wounds, and suck the blood that flows from them. Women carry refreshments to those engaged in the contest, and encourage them by exhortations. It is said that armies, when about to give way, have renewed the struggle, moved by the earnest entreaties of the women, for whose sake they dreaded captivity much more than their own. Those German states which were induced to number noble damsels among their hostages, were much more effectually bound to obedience,[Pg 80] than those whose hostages consisted only of men. Indeed they deem that something sacred, and capable of prophecy, resides within the female breast; nor do they scorn the advice of women, or neglect their responses.”

The Goths were likewise remarkable for purity of manners. Their laws punished with heavy fines the most trifling departure from scrupulous respect toward women. After the conquest of Rome, they were accustomed to say: “Though we punish profligacy in our own countrymen, we pardon it in the Romans; because they are by nature and education weak, and incapable of reaching to our sublimity of virtue.”

Once, when a civil war arose in ancient Gaul, the women rushed into the midst of the battle, and persuaded the combatants to be reconciled to each other. From that time, the Gauls admitted women to their councils of war, and such disputes as arose between them and their allies were settled by female negotiation. Thus in a treaty with Hannibal, it was stipulated that should any complaints be made against the Carthagenians, it should be settled by their general; but in case of any complaints against the Gauls, it should be referred to their women.

On account of the confusion at times attendant upon the best regulated camp, the strictest laws were made for the protection of northern women, who universally followed the army. The operations of the soldiers were from time to time settled in a council, of which their wives formed a part; and[Pg 81] when in danger of defeat, they feared their dishonor more than the swords of the enemy. If a man occasioned a woman the loss of her fair fame, he was obliged to marry her, if she were his equal in rank; if not, he must divide his fortune with her; and if he would not comply with these conditions, he was condemned to death.

The ancient Britons long submitted patiently to the outrageous oppression of the Romans; but when the tyrants scourged their queen Boadicea, and loaded her daughters with insult and abuse, they fought with a desperate fury, that seemed resolved on freedom or extermination. The women themselves joined the army by thousands, and contended with the utmost bravery. “They cared not for the loss of their own lives,” says Holinshed, “so they might die avenged.” The Britons had priests called druids, among whom were women held in the highest veneration.

Female deities are found in the mythology of the north. The Scythians adored Apia, and the Scandinavians Frigga, the consort of Odin, in whose temples sacred fire was kept burning, watched by virgin prophetesses.

In Germany women belonged to the priesthood, and inherited the regal dignity. They often administered the government with a degree of ability that excited the admiration of neighboring nations. The greatest heroes were willing to fight under their banners, and be regulated by their councils; for they[Pg 82] imagined them to be guided by oracular wisdom, derived from sources more than human.

Nothing could exceed the desperation of northern women in times of defeat. Proud and jealous of their honor, they were willing to suffer any thing to avoid the indignities that awaited female captives in those days. When the troops of Marius pursued the Ambrones, the women met them with swords and axes, and slaughtered the fugitives as well as their pursuers; for they deemed that no soldier who turned his back upon an enemy ought to survive his shame. They laid hold of the Roman shields, caught at the swords with their naked hands, and suffered themselves to be hacked and hewed to pieces, rather than give up one inch of ground.

When the Romans, a short time after this, penetrated to the camp of the Cimbri, a shocking spectacle presented itself. The women, standing in mourning beside the carriages, killed every one that fled, even their own fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons. They strangled their children, threw them under the horses’ feet, and killed themselves. One was seen slung from the top of a wagon, with a child hanging at each foot. Notwithstanding these efforts to destroy themselves, many were taken prisoners. The female captives earnestly begged to be placed among the vestal virgins, in hopes that a vow of perpetual purity would afford protection to their persons; but the profligate Romans were unworthy to be the masters of such noble-minded women, and they sought refuge in death.

[Pg 83]

On warlike expeditions, the northern nations were generally accompanied by hoary-headed prophetesses, clothed in long white robes of linen. In their divination they observed the moon, and paid particular attention to the flowing and murmuring of streams. They likewise believed greatly in the efficacy of philtres and love potions.

Powerful northern nobles generally had some venerable sibyl, who directed their councils. Thorbiorga, a Danish enchantress, was consulted by earl Thorchil concerning a famine and pestilence that afflicted Denmark. “A particular seat was prepared for the prophetess, raised some steps above the other seats, and covered with a cushion stuffed with hens’ feathers. She was dressed in a gown of green cloth, buttoned from top to bottom, had a string of glass beads about her neck, and her head covered with the skin of a black lamb, lined with the skin of a white cat; her shoes were of calf’s skin, with the hair on it, tied with thongs, and fastened with brass buttons; her gloves were of white cat’s skin, with the hair inward; she wore a Hunlandic girdle, at which hung a bag containing her magical instruments; and she supported her feeble limbs on a staff adorned with many knobs of brass. As soon as she entered, the whole company rose and saluted her in the most respectful manner. Earl Thorchil advanced, and led her to the seat prepared for her. At supper she ate only a pottage of goat’s milk, and a dish consisting of the hearts of various animals. When asked at what time she would please to tell the things they[Pg 84] desired to know, she replied that she would satisfy them fully the next day. Accordingly she put her implements of divination in proper order, and commanded a maiden, named Godreda, to sing the magical song called Wardlokur; which she did with so clear and sweet a voice, that the whole company were ravished with her music; and the prophetess cried out, ‘Now I know many things, which I did not know before! This famine and sickness will soon fly away, and plenty will return next season.’ Then each of the company asked her what they pleased, and she told them all they desired to know.”

The women of the northern nations sometimes fastened their hair in simple knots on the top of the head, but they generally allowed it to flow carelessly over their shoulders. A linen garment without sleeves, with a cloak made of the skins of such animals as their husbands killed in hunting, constituted their best finery. They were generally handsome, with large clear blue eyes, fair complexions, regular features, and majestic forms. Their stately beauty became famous in the songs of their bards. Among these warlike tribes the passion of love was mingled with sentiment, not untinged by veneration. The hero would encounter any dangers, to find favor in the eyes of her he loved, and no success, however brilliant, could compensate for her indifference. Battles were often a number of separate duels fought between those who had rival claims to some fair lady; and in this way the sword often decided marriage and inheritance.

[Pg 85]

When these barbarians subdued Rome, Christianity passed from the conquered to the conquerors; and being ingrafted on their previous habits, produced that romantic combination of love, religion, and war, that characterized the middle ages.

[Pg 86]

MIDDLE AGES.

As the passion for conquest extended, warlike and predatory bands spread over Europe, seizing whatever they could take by force of arms. No other right but that of the strongest was acknowledged. Hence castles and fortifications became necessary; and the weak were glad to submit to any service to obtain the protection of the powerful. These circumstances were the origin of the feudal system. For a long time, women were not allowed to inherit lands, because the warlike barons required a military tenant, from whom they could claim assistance in time of need;[Pg 87] but afterward women were allowed to succeed in default of male heirs, provided they paid a required contribution in money, instead of forces. If they married without the consent of their feudal lord, they forfeited their inheritance; and if he chose a husband for them, they were compelled to accept him. The law required that every heiress under sixty years of age should marry, and that her husband should perform feudal duties. If a baron did not provide when a girl was twelve years old, she might in open court require him to present three men for her selection; and if he did not comply, he had no right to control her choice afterward. She might likewise at that age claim from her guardian the uncontrolled management of her estates. The mother was guardian of an infant, and in case of her death, the next heir supplied her place. The widow’s dowry was half of her husband’s estate for life, and half of his chattels. If there was not sufficient to pay debts, the widow and creditors divided equally. In some places, the feudal lord claimed and enforced certain privileges with regard to the daughters of his tenants, which are too gross to be described. It is true there were beautiful instances of a patriarchal relation, where the noble-hearted baron received cheerful and affectionate service, and gave ample protection and munificent kindness in return; but these were exceptions. There was a vast amount of ignorance, degradation, corruption, and tyranny, as there ever must be where one portion of the human[Pg 88] family are allowed unrestrained power over the other.

For several centuries after the fall of Rome, the state of society was exceedingly unsettled and turbulent. The priests and the powerful barons were continually at variance with the kings, neither of them being willing to consent to a division of power; and the settlement of the Saracens, or Moors, in Spain, produced a spirit of ferocious discord in religion. The daughters of princes and nobles lived in perpetual danger; for bold, ambitious men, who coveted their kingdoms, or their fortunes, often stormed their castles, carried them off, and compelled them to marry, without pretending to consult their inclinations. Thus the Saxon heiresses were divided among the retainers of William the Conqueror. The annals of Scotland furnish a curious instance of these warlike marriages. Sir William Scott made an incursion upon the territories of Murray of Elibank, and was taken prisoner. Murray, in accordance with the barbarous spirit of the times, sentenced his enemy to immediate death; but his wife said, “Hout, na, mon! Would ye hang the winsome young laird of Harden, when ye have three ill-favored daughters to marry?” “Right,” answered the baron of Elibank; “he shall either marry our mickle-mouthed Meg, or strap for it.” The prisoner at first resisted the proposal; but he finally preferred “mickle-mouthed Meg” to the halter; and the union thus inauspiciously formed proved exceedingly happy.

[Pg 89]

The father or guardian of the bride generally gave her to the bridegroom with these words: “I give thee ——, my daughter, or my ward, to have the keeping of the keys of thy house, and one third of the money thou art possessed of, or shall possess hereafter, and to enjoy all the other rights appointed to wives by law.” The bridegroom generally bestowed handsome presents on the bride, and she received a dowry proportioned to her father’s wealth.

The young couple were usually escorted to church by a troop of friends. The priest crowned them with flowers and pronounced a blessing. Maidens were married beneath a canopy; but this custom was not observed by widows.

Among the Franks, marriages were not legal unless solemnized in a full court, where a buckler had three times been lifted up, and three causes openly tried. Soter, the fifth bishop of Rome, is said to have been the first who declared marriages illegal unless solemnized by a priest. A magnificent feast was given in honor of noble marriages, where immense quantities of wine were drank, and music, dancing, and minstrel songs enlivened the scene. All the retainers, or vassals, of the feudal lord, partook of the banquet, which of course was spread in a spacious hall. The guests sat at table according to their rank; and a huge salt-cellar marked the dividing line between the noble and the ignoble. Below the salt-cellar, the food was coarser, and the liquors of a cheap kind.

The unsettled state of society made it exceedingly[Pg 90] difficult to have any places of safe deposit for articles of merchandise, resembling the convenient stores and shops of modern times. For this reason, fairs were held; and gradually various shows, antic tricks, and minstrel songs, were added to the other allurements of the scene. Women visited these places, escorted by fathers or husbands, with a strong band of warlike retainers. In the absence of their natural protectors, ladies could not venture beyond the walls of their castle, even to visit a dying friend, without being liable to insult and violence. But in a short time every gallant warrior publicly declared himself the champion of some fair dame, and proclaimed that any offence given to her, either in his presence or absence, would meet with ample revenge at his hand. This was the beginning of the remarkable institution of chivalry, which has been compared to a golden thread running through the dark history of the middle ages. Women, who before this period had been subject to every species of rudeness and neglect, were soon worshipped as deities. Those of great beauty, wealth, or rank, of course had the greatest number of champions; but chivalry extended itself by degrees, until it embraced for its universal object the protection of the weak against the strong; and women of all ages and ranks were treated with deference, because their cause was known to be the cause of chivalry. No man was admitted into the order without the fullest proof of his bravery, integrity, and virtue. The least disparaging word against the female sex disqualified a knight for[Pg 91] the duties and privileges of his profession. A lady having any cause of complaint against a knight touched his helmet, or shield, as a sign that she impeached him of crime, and applied to the judges for redress. If found guilty of any misdemeanor, the culprit was excluded from the order, and could never be restored, except by the intercession of the offended fair one, and the most solemn promises of amendment.

None but women of stainless reputation were included within the pale of chivalry; the principles of the order did not require that the sword should be drawn in defence of one who had forfeited her claim to respect. The cavaliers, as they travelled, often wrote sentences of infamy on the door of a castle where a woman of tarnished character resided; but where a lady of unsullied honor dwelt, they paused and saluted her most courteously. At public ceremonies, a distinction was made in favor of the virtuous. If a woman of impure character took precedence of one distinguished for modesty, a cavalier boldly advanced and reversed the order, saying: “Be not offended that this lady precedes you, for although she is not so rich or well allied as you are, yet her fame has never been impeached.”

The sons of gentlemen were generally placed with some friend, or superior nobleman, to acquire the education of a knight, which began as early as seven or eight years of age. The boy was required to attend upon his lord or lady in the hall, to convey their messages, and follow them in all their exercises[Pg 92] of war or pastime. From the men he learned to leap trenches, cast spears, sustain the shield, and walk like a soldier. The ladies of the court gave him his moral and intellectual education; or, in other words, they instructed him in his prayers, and the maxims of chivalric love. He was taught to regard some one lady as his peculiar idol, to whom he was to be obedient, courteous, and constant. “While the young Jean de Saintré was a page of honor at the court of the French king, the dame des Belles Cousines inquired of him the name of the mistress of his heart’s affections. The simple youth replied that he loved his lady mother, and next to her his sister Jacqueline was dear to him. ‘Young man,’ rejoined the lady, ‘I am not speaking of the affection due to your mother and sister; I wish to know the name of the lady to whom you are attached par amour.’ The poor boy was confused, and could only reply that he loved no one par amour. The dame des Belles Cousines charged him with being a traitor to the laws of chivalry, and declared that his craven spirit was evinced by such an avowal. ‘Whence sprang the valiancy and knightly feats of Launcelot, Tristram, Giron the courteous, and other ornaments of the round table?’ said she: ‘whence the grandeur of many I have known rise to renown, except from the noble desire of maintaining themselves in the grace and esteem of the ladies? Without this spirit-stirring sentiment, they must have ever remained in the shades of obscurity. And do you, coward valet, presume to declare that you possess no sovereign lady, and desire to have none?’

[Pg 93]

“Jean underwent a long scene of persecution, but was at last restored to favor by the intercession of the ladies of the court. He then named as his mistress Matheline de Courcy, a child only ten years old. ‘Matheline is indeed a pretty girl,’ replied the dame des Belles Cousines; ‘but what profit, what honor, what comfort, what aid, what counsel for advancing you in chivalrous fame, can you derive from such a choice? You should elect a lady of noble blood, who has the ability to advise, and the power to assist you; and you should serve her so truly, and love her so loyally, as to compel her to acknowledge the honorable affection you entertain for her. Be assured there is no lady, however cruel and haughty she may be, but through long service will be induced to acknowledge and reward loyal affection with some portion of mercy. By such a course, you will gain the praise of worthy knighthood; till then, I would not give an apple for you or your achievements. He who loyally serves his lady, will not only be blessed at the height of man’s felicity in this life, but will never fall into those sins that prevent happiness hereafter. Pride will be entirely effaced from the heart of him, who endeavors by humility and courtesy to win the grace of a lady. The true faith of a lover will defend him from the sins of anger, envy, sloth, and gluttony; and his devotion to his mistress renders the thought impossible of his conduct ever being stained with the vice of profligacy.’”

The service which a lady required of her true[Pg 94] knight may be inferred from the following lines of the old English poet, Gower, who wrote in the days of Edward the Third:

These gentle services were the least arduous that a knight was pledged to perform. The most desperate battles were fought to restore a lady’s rights, to avenge a lady’s wrongs, or even to gain a lady’s smile. It was a common maxim of that period that he who knew how to break a lance, and did not understand how to win a lady, was but half a man. A knight without a lady-love was compared to a ship[Pg 95] without a rudder, or a horse without a bridle. “Oh that my lady saw me!” was the eager exclamation of a gallant knight, as he mounted the wall of a besieged city, in the pride of successful courage.

A cavalier, called the Knight of the Swan, reinstated a lady in the possessions of which the duke of Saxony had deprived her. During the reign of Charles the Sixth of France, the gentlewomen of the country laid before the monarch grievous complaints of their sufferings and losses from the aggressions of powerful lords; and lamented that chivalry had so much degenerated that no knights and squires had armed in their defence. This appeal roused the valiant Boucicaut, who gathered a band of chevaliers around him, and formed a fraternity for the protection of all dames and damsels of noble lineage. The device on their shields was a lady in a green field, and their motto promised redress to all gentlewomen injured in honor or fortune. The gallant Boucicaut carried the principle of veneration a little farther than was, perhaps, pleasing to the sovereign ladies of that romantic period; for he would not permit one of the knights of his banner to look a second time at a window where a handsome woman was seated.

In the Spanish order of the Scarf, duties to women were more insisted on than in any other order. If one of those knights instituted an action against the daughter of a brother-knight, no woman would consent to be his lady-love, or wife. If he happened to meet a lady when riding, it was his duty to alight[Pg 96] from his horse, and tender his service, upon pain of losing a month’s wages, and the favor of all dames and damsels; and he who hesitated to perform any behest from a woman was branded with the title of The Discourteous Knight.

Combats often took place for no other purpose but to do credit to the chosen object of a knight’s affections. This sentiment was frequently a cause of national rivalry. During a cessation of hostilities, a cavalier would sally forth, and demand whether any knight in the opposite host were disposed to do a deed of arms for the sake of his lady bright. “Now let us see if there be any amorous among you,” was the usual conclusion of such a challenge, as the cavalier curbed his impetuous steed, and laid his lance in rest. Such an invitation was seldom refused; but if it chanced to be so, the bold knight was suffered to return in safety; for it was deemed unchivalric to capture or molest an enemy, who thus voluntarily placed himself in the power of his opponents. When two parties of French and English met accidentally near Cherbourg, Sir Launcelot of Lorrys demanded a course of jousting with the English knights for his lady’s sake. The offer was eagerly accepted, and at the very first onset Sir John Copeland wounded the French cavalier to death. The chronicler says: “Every one lamented his fate, for he was a hardy knight, young, jolly, and right amorous.”

James the Fourth, of Scotland, was celebrated for his romantic chivalry, and graceful bearing at jousts and tournaments; and Louis the Twelfth, of France,[Pg 97] made use of these traits in his character to effect his own political purposes. Being deserted by most of his allies, he was anxious to renew the old bond of friendship between France and Scotland; but this was rendered difficult by the fact that England and Scotland were at peace, and by the marriage of James with the sister of Henry the Eighth. This being the posture of political affairs, Louis induced his beautiful wife, Anne of Bretagne, to choose the king of Scotland for her knight and champion. An ambassador was sent to Edinburgh, to present letters from the French queen, wherein she assumed the style of a high-born damsel in distress, assured James that she had suffered much blame in defence of his honor, called him her chosen knight, and besought him for her sake to advance but three steps into the territory of England, with his warlike banners floating on the breeze. A present of fourteen thousand crowns, with a glove and a turquois ring from her own hand, accompanied the message. The chivalric feelings of James would not permit him to refuse a lady’s request, especially when that lady was a beauty and a queen. The order was obeyed; and the hostilities thus commenced terminated in the defeat at Flodden field, so disastrous to Scotland.

But the good produced by chivalry, in softening the character of those rude ages, was no doubt greater than the evils arising from its occasional excesses. A knight was bound to grant safe conduct through his territories to those that requested it, even when they came to deprive him of his possessions.[Pg 98] When Matilda landed near Arundel, to contend for the throne of England, Stephen gave her honorable escort to the castle of his brother, the earl of Gloucester. It was not considered honorable and courteous to take ladies in war. When a town was captured, the heralds were wont to proclaim that it was the conqueror’s will no violence, or disrespect, should be offered to any gentlewoman. When Caen fell into the hands of the English, in the reign of Edward the Third, Sir Thomas Holland protected many ladies, damsels, and nuns from outrage; and when the castle of Poys was taken, the English knights escorted the daughters of lord Poys to the presence of Edward, who gave them a cordial welcome, and ordered them to be safely conducted to a town friendly to their family.

In the wars of the Guelphs and the Ghibbelines, the emperor Conrad refused all terms of capitulation to the garrison of Winnisberg; but, like a true knight, he granted the request of the women to pass out in safety, with such of their most precious effects as they could themselves carry. When the gates were opened, a long procession of matrons and maidens appeared, each bearing a husband, son, father, or brother, on her shoulders. As they passed through the enemy’s lines, all respectfully made way for them, while the whole camp rang with shouts of applause.

The sentiment of courtesy was carried so far, that when the Normans and English took the castle of Du Gueslin, they were indignantly reproved, because[Pg 99] they had transgressed the license of war, by disturbing the ladies of the castle while they were asleep.

In those turbulent times, no wonder that courage was the quality most dear to a woman’s heart, and chivalry the idol of her imagination. Ladies endeavored to stifle the first emotions of love, and proudly answered their humble suitors, that they must expect no favor until they had gained sufficient renown by their military exploits. “I should have loved him better dead than alive,” exclaimed a noble damsel, when she heard that her chosen knight had survived his honor; and another, being reproached for loving an ugly man, replied, “He is so valiant I have never observed his face.”

In some cases, these romantic feelings overcame even the stern distinctions of feudal pride. A squire of low degree often aspired to the hand of a princess, and not unfrequently gained it, by the ardor of his passion and the desperate valor of his achievements. A young candidate for chivalry said to a high-born beauty, “How can I hope to find a damsel of noble birth, who will return the affection of a knight ungraced by rank, with only his good sword to rely upon?” “And why should you not find her?” replied the lady. “Are you not gently born? Are you not a handsome youth? Have you not eyes to gaze on her, ears to hear her, feet to move at her will, body and heart to accomplish loyally all her commands? Possessing these qualities, you cannot doubt to adventure yourself in the service of a lady, however exalted her rank.”

[Pg 100]

The martial spirit of women was fostered by the honorary titles bestowed on them, and the part they were expected to take in the splendid pageants of the day. The wife of a knight was often called equitissa, or militissa, or chevalière; and a high-spirited maiden was called le bel cavalier. In France, women who ruled over fiefs could confer knighthood, and had a right to make war, decide judicial questions, and coin money. At the solemn and imposing ceremony of a knight’s inauguration, fair ladies attended upon him, and delivered him the various pieces of his armor. His coat of mail was usually crossed by a scarf, which his lady-love had embroidered in the seclusion of her own apartment. The crest of the helmet was often adorned with ringlets of fair hair, a garland of flowers, or a lady’s glove, which was sometimes set in pearls. But the great scene of beauty’s triumph was in the gorgeous pageant of the tournament. On these occasions women had sovereign power. If any complaint was made against a knight, they adjudged his cause without appeal. They generally deputed their power to some cavalier, who was called the Knight of Honor. He bore at the end of his lance a ribbon, a glove, or some other token of woman’s favor, and the fiercest warriors obeyed the orders sanctioned by these simple emblems. The dames and damsels sometimes offered a diamond, a ruby, a sapphire, a silver helmet, or richly embossed shield, as the reward of him who should prove himself the bravest in this mimic war. The laws of chivalry required that a polite preference[Pg 101] should always be given to foreigners; hence when a martial game was held at Smithfield, during the reign of Richard the Second, the queen proposed a golden crown to the best jouster, if he were a stranger, but if an English knight, a rich bracelet was to be his reward. “On the morning of the day appointed for this merry tournament, there issued out of the Tower of London, first threescore coursers apparelled for the lists, and on every one a squire of honor, riding a soft pace. Then appeared threescore ladies of honor, mounted on fair palfreys, each lady leading by a chain of silver a knight sheathed in jousting harness. The fair and gallant troop, with the sound of clarions, trumpets, and other minstrelsy, rode along the streets of London, the fronts of the housing shining with martial glory in the rich banners and tapestries, which hung from the windows.”

The ladies who attended these splendid festivals often wore girdles ornamented with gold and silver, in imitation of military belts, and playfully wielded short light swords, embossed with emblems of love and war. The ladies and high-born spectators were arranged round the lists in galleries highly adorned. The knights were known by the heraldic emblems on their shields and banners, and their names were publicly announced by the heralds. No one was allowed to tourney, who had blasphemed God, offended the ladies, or assailed his adversary without warning. Each knight was accompanied by squires, to furnish him with arms, adjust his armor, and bring encouraging messages from his lady-love. If the shock of[Pg 102] spears tore from a warrior’s helmet the emblem of affection which the hand of some fair damsel had placed there, she often took a ribbon from her own person, and sent it to him with a courteous message. As the combat proceeded, the air was rent with the names of ladies; for each knight invoked his mistress to assist him, as if she were endowed with supernatural power to guide and strengthen him.

The older warriors, who stood gazing on the exciting scene, called out, “On, valiant knights! Beautiful eyes behold your deeds!” And when the minstrels greeted some bold achievement with loud strains of music, the spectators shouted, “Loyauté aux dames!”

When the combats were ended, the heralds presented to the ladies those knights who had borne themselves most bravely. One, who was elected by her companions, was called the Queen of Beauty and Love. Before her the warriors knelt down, and received the prizes awarded to their valor. Sometimes the victorious knights were allowed to choose the fair hand from which they received their reward. The Queen of Beauty and Love presented the prize, thanked him for the skill in arms which he had that day displayed, and wished him success in love; the gallant knight bowed low and replied, “My victory was entirely owing to the favor of my mistress, which I wore in my helmet.”

When the heavy armor was laid aside, the cavaliers entered the banqueting hall, and, amid the flourish of trumpets, seated themselves under silken banners,[Pg 103] with their favorite falcons perched above their heads. The guests were placed two by two, every knight with a lady by his side. To eat from the same trencher, or plate, was considered a strong proof of affection. In the Romance of Perceforest it is said, “there were eight hundred knights all seated at table, and yet there was not one who had not a dame or damsel at his plate.” An invitation to a feast, from a lady to her chosen knight, is thus described:

The minstrels tuned their harps to the praise of beauty and valor, and after the tables were removed, each knight chose his partner for the dance by kissing her hand. This custom was introduced into England from Italy, or Spain, and still retaining the language of the country whence it came, was called basciomani.

The peacock was much honored in the days of chivalry. The knights associated them with all their ideas of renown, and swore by the peacocks, as well as by the ladies, to perform their boldest enterprises.[Pg 104] The vow of the peacock was sometimes made at a festival prepared for the occasion. Between the courses of the repast, a troop of ladies brought in the splendid bird, on a golden or silver dish, roasted, but covered with its feathers. In order to do this, it was skinned very carefully previous to being cooked, and was then served up in its plumage, with the brilliant tail feathers spread out; but some preferred to have it covered with leaf gold. Just before it was brought into the banqueting hall, they crammed the beak with wool, which being dipped in inflammable matter and set on fire, made the peacock appear to breathe forth flames.

The hall was adorned with mimic forests, and with images of men, animals, &c., expressive of the object for which the vow was to be taken. If it had relation to wars in defence of religion, a matron, in mourning garments, entered the room, and repeated a long complaint in verse, concerning the wrongs she suffered under the infidel yoke, and the tardiness of European knights in coming to her rescue. Some knights then advanced with measured tread, to the sound of minstrelsy, and presented to the lord of the castle the two ladies bearing the noble bird in a glittering dish. The ladies besought his protection, and he swore by God, the virgin Mary, the ladies, and the peacock, that he would make war upon the infidels. Every knight in the hall drew his sword and repeated the vow. The dish was then placed on the table, and the peacock carved in such a manner that every guest might taste a morsel. A lady,[Pg 105] dressed in white, came in to thank the assembly, presenting twelve maidens, wearing emblematical dresses to represent Faith, Charity, Justice, Reason, Prudence, Temperance, Strength, Generosity, Mercy, Diligence, Hope and Courage. These damsels trooped round the hall amid the cheers of the company, and so the repast concluded.

The passion for chess was universal at that period, when the favorite forms of recreation were a pantomime of war. The songs of the minstrels, or troubadours, were another source of delightful amusement; and deeds of valor, with maxims how to win a lady’s favor, were the perpetual theme. To play upon the harp, and be able to sing his love in verse, were considered as necessary qualifications to the knight of chivalry, as the knowledge of wielding his sword, or managing his good steed. Kings, princes, and knights, renowned for their military exploits, became professors of the “gaye science,” as it was called, and sung to the harp their own verses in praise of the beauty they adored. William, count of Poitou, the count de Foix, the dauphin of Auvergne, a prince of Orange, Thibault, count of Provence and king of Navarre, a king of Sicily, two kings of Arragon, and Richard the First of England, prided themselves upon their skill in minstrelsy. The younger sons and brothers of noble families[Pg 106] very generally devoted themselves to this honorable profession, from which they derived both pleasure and profit. They wandered about from court to court, and from castle to castle, singing the praises of knights and ladies, who rewarded them with smiles, and thanks, rich dresses, horses, armor, and gold.

Bertrand de Born, a celebrated troubadour in the time of Henry the Second, says: “The first laws of honor are to make war; to tilt at Advent and Easter; and to enrich women with the spoils of the conquered.” Such sentiments were not remarkable at a period when he was considered the most honorable man, who had burned the greatest number of castles, and pillaged his neighbor’s estates most successfully. Bertrand being out of favor with his beautiful mistress, the wife of Talleyrand de Perigord, in consequence of slanderous stories she had heard of him, defends himself in a song very characteristic of the state of society. He wishes “that he may lose his favorite hawk in her first flight; that a falcon may bear her off as she sits upon his wrist, and tear her in his sight, if the sound of his lady’s voice be not dearer to him than all the gifts of love from another. That he may stumble with his shield about his neck; that his helmet may gall his brow; that his bridle may be too long, his stirrups too short; that he may be forced to ride a hard trotting horse, and find his groom drunk when he arrives at the gate; that the dice may never more be favorable to him at the gaming table; and that he may look on like a coward and see his lady wooed and won by[Pg 107] another, if there be a word of truth in the accusations of his enemies.”

Some idea of the general ignorance of the times may be inferred from the remark of the minstrel, Bernard de Ventadour, who, when he sang the praises of the princess Eleanor, afterward mother of Richard the First, adds, “She approves my writings, and she can read them too.”

The story of Geoffroi Rudel is a remarkable illustration of the fervid and imaginative tone of sentiment that prevailed in those romantic days. He was the favorite minstrel of prince Geoffroi Plantagenet, the elder brother of Cœur de Lion. While he lived at the court of England, admired and beloved by noble knights and lovely ladies, he listened with delight to descriptions of a certain countess of Tripoli, whose beauty, kindness, and virtue, were perpetually praised by the crusaders that returned from Holy Land. Rudel fell deeply and passionately in love with her fame. In one of his songs he says: “I adore an object I have never seen. Yet I am convinced that among all the Saracen, Jewish, and Christian beauties, none can be compared with her. Every night she appears before me in enchanting dreams. The beauty I adore shall behold me, for her sake, clad in a woollen garment, and with a pilgrim’s staff.” The ardent troubadour actually sailed for Palestine. But he became grievously ill during the voyage, and was nearly senseless when the vessel reached the shores of Tripoli. The countess, being informed of the circumstances of his arrival, hastened[Pg 108] to meet him, and offer all the consolation in her power. He fixed his eyes upon her with a joyful expression, and expired. The countess caused him to be magnificently buried among the Knights Templars, and erected a monument of porphyry, with an Arabic inscription, commemorating his genius and his love. She then retired to a cloister, and took the monastic vow. The last song Rudel had addressed to her was transcribed in letters of gold, and she wore it continually near her heart.

Richard de Barbesieu, having broken his vow of fidelity to a certain princess, built a cabin of boughs in the depth of the forest, and swore never to leave his solitude till the offended lady again took him into favor. Being a favorite minstrel in hall and bower, the knights and ladies sent him many entreaties to return; and finding their solicitations were all in vain, they tried their utmost to appease the anger of his lady-love. She at length relented so far as to promise him pardon, whenever a hundred brave knights, and a hundred beautiful dames, who had sworn eternal love to each other, should kneel before her, and with clasped hands supplicate mercy for their minstrel. A hundred brace of lovers performed the required ceremony, and the troubadour was pardoned.

Still more extravagant was the conduct of Pierre Vidal, a half-crazed poet, who followed Cœur de Lion to the crusade. Having been banished from the presence of one lady for his presumptuous boldness, he chose for the next object of his amorous effusions a[Pg 109] lady by the name of Louve de Penautier. In her honor he assumed the name of Loup, and actually disguised himself as a wolf, in order to be hunted by a pack of hounds. He was brought back shockingly mangled; and the lady and her husband took care of his wounds, though they laughed at his folly.

The entire absence of jealousy in the husbands of that period is by no means the least remarkable feature of the times. They seem to have been proud of the protestations of love offered to their wives, and liberally rewarded the favored troubadour with jewels and gold. Agnes, countess of Foix, was beloved by a French minstrel, who became jealous of her. She sent her own confessor to him to complain of the injustice of his suspicions, and to swear that she was still faithful to him. She required him to write and publish the history of their loves in verse. Yet this princess was considered virtuous, both by her husband and the world. One of the troubadours beseeches a priest to grant him dispensation from vows of love to a lady whom he loved no longer; but he does not seem to have considered absolution necessary during the continuance of his attachment, although the object of it was the wife of another. Those who know human nature will probably think it requires a good deal of faith to believe that immaculate purity was universal.

The curious mixture of religion with love is another singular characteristic of the middle ages. The knight wrote poems in honor of the virgin Mary, which cannot easily be distinguished from those addressed[Pg 110] to the lady of his affections. The troubadours burned tapers, and caused masses to be said for the success of their love; and one of them assures us that he devoutly crossed himself with joy and gratitude, every time he beheld his mistress. Peyre de Ruer devoted himself to a noble Italian lady, who was extremely fond of magnificent entertainments; and in order to find favor in her eyes he exhausted all his resources in banquets and joustes in her honor. The lady, however, could not be persuaded to exercise her sovereign attribute of mercy; and Ruer wandered about the country in the disguise of a pilgrim. He arrived at a certain church during the holy week, and asked permission to preach to the audience. This being granted, he gracefully and earnestly recited one of his own love-songs; for, says the chronicle, “he knew nothing better.” The congregation, supposing it to be a pious invocation to the virgin Mary, or the saints, were much affected; and when he held out his hat for the customary alms, it was heaped with silver. The minstrel cast aside his pilgrim weeds and in a splendid dress presented himself before his lady-love, with a new song in her praise; and she, overcome with such a proof of constancy, bestowed many caresses on the wandering troubadour.

In Spain, a certain company, called Disciplinarians, went through the streets every Good Friday, with sugar-loaf caps, white gloves and shoes, and sleeves tied with ribbons of such a color as their ladies particularly admired. They carried whips of[Pg 111] small cords, with bits of glass fastened on the ends, and when they met a handsome woman, they began to whip themselves with all violence, insomuch that the blood spirted on her robes; for which honor she courteously thanked them. When a lover arrived opposite the balcony of his mistress, he scourged himself with redoubled fury, while she looked on with proud complacency, and perhaps rewarded his sufferings with a gracious smile.

Ladies of rank entered the lists of poetry in competition with troubadours of the other sex. Among these were the countess of Champagne, countess of Provence, dame Castelossa, the comtesse de Die, &c. The last-mentioned was beloved by the chevalier d’Adhèmar, whose courage and magnanimity she celebrated in verses, which the favored knight always carried in his bosom; and not unfrequently he entertained a company by singing his lady’s songs in praise of himself. He died of grief, in consequence of a false report of her inconstancy. The young comtesse took the veil immediately, and died the same year in the convent of St. Honoré. Her mother buried her with her lover, and erected a superb monument to the memory of both. The countess of Champagne was much celebrated for the manner in which she presided at one of the Courts of Love. These courts were composed of ladies summoned to meet together, for the purpose of discussing, in the most formal and serious manner, “beautiful and subtle questions of love.” They decided the precise amount of inconstancy which a lady might forgive,[Pg 112] without lowering her own dignity, provided her lover made certain supplications, and performed certain penances; they took it into solemn consideration whether a lover was justified, under any circumstances, in expressing the slightest doubt of his lady’s fidelity; they laid down definite rules, and ceremonials of behavior, to be observed by those who wished to be beloved; and gravely discussed the question whether sentiment, or sight, the heart, or the eyes, contributed most powerfully to inspire affection.

A young maiden in those days was educated, like her brother, in the castle of some knight or baron, her father’s friend; and her duties, like his, were mostly those of personal attendance. She assisted in dressing her lady, and sought by music and conversation to beguile her lonely hours. Their learning, in general, was confined to recipes for cooking, simple medicines, needle-work, the ceremonials of chivalry, and the prayers of the church. Reading and writing were rare attainments, both with men and women.

The rules for behavior were exceedingly precise and ceremonious. Maidens were taught that it was unseemly to turn their heads round after the manner of a crane, and were exhorted rather to imitate the beautiful and timid hare, which looks straight forward. If necessary to look aside, they were told to move the head and body together, that their deportment might appear dignified. Simplicity of dress was likewise inculcated, except on festival occasions; and that respect might be shown to religion as well as chivalry, they were commanded to wear their[Pg 113] richest apparel to church. Modesty was strongly urged. Every bard had a story of the daughter of some knight, who displayed her person so freely that her intended husband preferred her more modest, though less beautiful, sister. The ferocious pride of feudal power was softened by maxims of courtesy toward those of inferior rank. A noble lady once took off her hood and made respectful obeisance to a mechanic. One of her friends exclaimed, “Why, noble dame, you have taken off your hood to a tailor!” “Yes,” she replied; “and I would rather have doffed it to him, than a gentleman;” and those who heard her answer, thought she had done right well.

All the domestic economy of the castle was arranged by the maiden attendants, and they were early instructed in the mysteries of the healing art. The wounds of husbands and lovers were in those days cured by the fair hand of woman. Spenser says:

A knowledge of surgery was likewise a necessary feminine accomplishment.

Even as late as the days of queen Elizabeth, some of the ladies of her court are praised for their skill in surgery.

When men rode forth to hunt or hawk, they were[Pg 114] generally accompanied by ladies, for whom a gentler species of falcons, called sparrow-hawks, were trained. The birds were gallantly bedight with silver bells, and it was the duty of every gallant knight to attend on his lady, to let the falcon loose at the proper moment, to animate it by his cries, to take from its talons the prey it seized, and then replace it respectfully on her hand. John of Salisbury, who wrote in the thirteenth century, says that women even excelled men in the knowledge and practice of falconry. Julian Berners, prioress of a nunnery in Sopewell, published, in 1481, a curious book full of directions concerning heraldry and hawking; for which reason she was called by cotemporaries “a Minerva in her studies, and a Diana in her diversions.” Some old English engravings represent ladies followed by dogs, running on foot, with hawks on their fists; and upon old monuments it is common to see the image of a woman, with a hawk perched near her, and a greyhound at her feet. Queen Elizabeth was fond both of hunting and falconry, and had no objection to the unfeminine amusement of bear-baiting. Even when she was sixty years old, Sir Walter Raleigh, in allusion to her sylvan sports, compares her and her maids of honor, in their stiff ruffs and fardingales, to the goddess Diana and her graceful nymphs. Tournaments and masks continued to be favorite amusements during the reign of the maiden queen, though the last rays of chivalry’s declining sun were then sinking to rise no more. Elizabeth, who had all the petitesse of a vain woman[Pg 115] united with the cold caution of an artful man, always delivered the prizes herself; for she could not endure that one younger and fairer should personate the Queen of Love and Beauty. The gallantry of knighthood still characterized her courtiers. When she dropped her glove at a tournament, the earl of Cumberland picked it up, and was graciously requested to retain it. With the true spirit of chivalry, he caused it to be set in diamonds, and on festival occasions always wore it in his high-crowned hat, which had at that period superseded the helmet.

One singular custom that prevailed in England in the old time deserves to be recorded for its oddity. Sir Philip Somerville, in the reign of Edward the Third, left the manor of Whichnour to the earl of Lancaster, on condition that he should at all seasons of the year, except during Lent, be ready to deliver a flitch of bacon to any man and woman, who swore they had been married a year and a day without once repenting it; and that if they were again single, they would choose each other again, in preference to all the universe. The oath, taken in presence of witnesses, was as follows: “I A wedded my wife B, and syth I had her in my keepying and at my wylle, by a yeare and a daye after our marriage, I would not have changed for none other, richer ne pourer, ne for none other descended of gretter lynage, sleeping ne waking, at noo tyme. And if the said B were sole and I sole, I would take her to be my wife before all the wymen of the worlde, of what condytions so-ever they may be, good or evyl, as help me God and his seyntys, and this flesh and all fleshes.”

[Pg 116]

It is remarkable that during the middle ages, when profound homage was paid to women, as to things divine, a life closely secluded from their society was deemed the surest road to heaven. The eucharist was considered too holy to be touched by female fingers, and they were required to put a white linen glove upon the hand when they received it. The emperor Honorius banished Jovinian because he maintained that a man who lived with a wife might be saved, provided he obeyed the laws of piety and virtue; and Edward the Confessor was sainted for dying unmarried. Celibacy was expressly enjoined upon the clergy, and both priests and deacons were degraded from office for disobedience to this edict. In France it was carried to such an extent, that the barons had power to make slaves of any children of the married clergy. St. Dunstan, so famous for his abhorrence of women, introduced celibacy of clergy into England, and, with the consent of king Edgar, exhorted the married priests to put away their wives, under the penalty of being degraded from office, and deprived of their livings. From the ungallant character of St. Dunstan arose a superstitious custom, of which some traces remain in Great Britain even to the present day. It was deemed that if a bridal couple drank from St. Dunstan’s well, on the day of their marriage, the first one who tasted the water would govern the other for life. A bridegroom, who was very desirous to have the authority in his own hands, repaired to the well as soon as his wedding day dawned; and after the marriage ceremony was[Pg 117] over, he boasted to his bride that he had drank of the water sooner than she could possibly have done. “Ah, my friend,” replied she, laughing, “you have not circumvented a woman’s wit; for I brought some of the water from the well, in a vial, the night before.”

When knights formed themselves into religious orders, to fight in defence of the holy sepulchre, they were required to take a vow of perpetual chastity, poverty, and obedience. A Knight Templar was forbidden to kiss maid, wife, or widow, not even excepting his mother and his sisters; and was not permitted to adorn his helmet with tokens either of nobility or love. But the principles of these pious knights yielded to the slightest pressure of circumstances. Men of large fortune paid little attention to their vow of poverty; connubial fidelity was substituted for perpetual celibacy; and even in this improved form, the history of the crusades gives us small reason to suppose that the promise was considered binding.

Such a project as that of the crusades naturally took powerful hold of the imaginations of women educated amid the splendid pageants of war and religion, and accustomed to the continual combination of things in their nature so discordant. Many accompanied their lovers and husbands to the Holy Land, and, after performing the most romantic exploits, died beside them on the field of battle. Whole squadrons of women sometimes took arms in defence of the holy cross. Those that accompanied the emperor[Pg 118] Conrad were remarkable for the splendor of their military dresses. Their leader was called “the golden-footed dame.”

The ardor with which chivalry was embraced by all the principal nations of Europe, and the powerful hold it still retains on the imagination, notwithstanding the detestable pride and tyranny of those gallant nobles, is to be attributed to the sacred principles on which the institution was originally founded; viz. the chaste union of the sexes, and the forgetfulness of self in the effort to do good to others. But chivalry gradually degenerated from its original purity, and became a ridiculous mania for renown. Knighthood was no longer the reward of high-minded virtue, but was bestowed on any man who had wealth or power to obtain it for his own selfish purposes. The profligacy of the troubadours was open and flagrant; the crusaders, who made a pilgrimage to the holy sepulchre in expiation of their sins, fearfully added to the list on their way; poor knights, who had no money to pay their retainers, made no scruple of obtaining it by robbery and violence, and wandered about in quest of adventures, letting out their swords to richer brethren; women departed from the modesty which had procured them homage, and bestowed their smiles so indiscriminately that they lost their value. Yet, as the affectation of any thing is always more excessive than the reality, the exploits of the knights during the rapid decline of chivalry were more outrageously fantastical than they had ever been. It was common for a cavalier to post himself[Pg 119] in some very public place, and fight every gentleman who passed, unless he instantly acknowledged that the lady of his affections was the handsomest and most virtuous lady in the world; and if, as often happened, he was met by one as mad as himself, who insisted upon maintaining the superior charms of his dulcinea, a deadly combat ensued. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, a society of ladies and gentlemen was formed at Poictou, called the Penitents of Love. In order to show that love could effect the strangest metamorphoses, they covered themselves with furred mantles, and sat before large fires, in the heat of summer, while in winter they wore the slightest possible covering. Thus chivalry became an absurd and disgusting mockery, and was finally laughed out of the world by the witty Cervantes. But though the form became grotesque, and died in a state of frenzy, the important use performed by the spirit of true chivalry ought not to be forgotten. It stood in the place of laws, when laws could not have been enforced, and it raised woman to a moral rank in society, unknown to the most refined nations of antiquity—a rank she can never entirely lose, and from which her present comparative freedom is derived. It taught Francis the First, that most chivalrous of all monarchs, to lay the foundation of a beautiful social system by introducing the wives and daughters of his nobles at court, where none but bearded men had previously been seen. “A court without ladies,” said he, “is a year without a spring, or a spring without roses.”

[Pg 120]

The Mohammedan religion, which debases woman into a machine, and regards love as a merely sensual passion, was introduced into the East about the same time that chivalry arose in the West, to exalt women into deities, and chasten passion with the purity of sentiment.

The military spirit induced by chivalry continued in full force through the whole of its existence, and survived its origin. Philippa, wife of Edward the Third, was the principal cause of the victory gained over the Scots at Neville Cross. In the absence of her husband, she rode among the troops, and exhorted them in the name of God to be of good heart and courage, promising to reward them better than if her lord the king were himself in the field. At the surrender of Calais, she displayed a better quality than courage. Her incensed husband demanded that six of the principal inhabitants should be put to death; and six patriotic citizens voluntarily offered their lives to appease the conqueror. When these heroic men knelt at his feet, to deliver the keys of the city, the queen likewise knelt, and begged their lives as a boon to her. Her tears prevailed; and the grateful inhabitants of Calais exclaimed, “Edward conquers cities, but Philippa conquers hearts!”

Jane, countess of Mountfort, who lived at the same period, and was a lineal descendant of the German women described by Tacitus, possessed a large share of manly courage. While her husband was detained in prison, she defended his right to the duchy of Bretagne against Charles of Blois. She visited all the[Pg 121] principal towns and fortresses, and exhorted the troops to courage, in the name of herself and her infant son. When besieged in the strong town of Hennebon, she herself rode through the streets clad in mail, and mounted on a goodly steed; and her cheering smiles stimulated valor, even when her voice was drowned in the din of battle. Perceiving that the enemy’s camp was deserted, she seized a spear, and, accompanied by three hundred of her best knights, rode into the midst of it, and set the tents on fire. Her return being cut off by the French troops, she took the road to Brest, and for five days the good soldiers of Hennebon were ignorant of her fate; but on the sixth, she returned, with her golden banners glittering in the sun, and surrounded by five hundred lances, which her beauty and bravery had drawn around her. Afterward, she went to England, to solicit succor from Edward the Third. Returning with a considerable fleet, she was met by an enemy; and it is recorded that “the countess on that day was worth the bravest knight; she had the heart of a lion, and, with a sharp glaive in her hand, she fought fiercely.”

In 1338, the countess of March, called Black Agnes, from the color of her eyes and hair, resisted with extraordinary bravery and success the earl of Salisbury, who besieged her in the castle of Dunbar, during the absence of her husband.

In Italy, the prince of Romagna intrusted the defence of Cesena to his wife, Marzia, while he himself maintained a more important post. The noble matron[Pg 122] donned the casque and cuirass, which she never laid aside, night or day; and when, in a moment of extreme peril, her father entreated her to surrender, she replied, “My husband has given me a duty to perform, and I must obey his command.” Though unable to obtain the victory, her bravery and skill secured a very favorable treaty.

When Regner Lodbrog waged war against Fro, king of Sweden, a young Norwegian girl, named Lagertha, greatly assisted him in his victory. Regner became in love with her, and made her his wife; but he soon after deserted her for another. Lagertha lived in the utmost retirement, until she heard that her husband was deserted by his friends, and placed in danger by rebellious subjects; then the generous wife forgot her own injuries, hastened to his relief, and was again victorious.

Avilda, daughter of the king of Gothland, scoured the seas with a powerful fleet; and king Sigar, who found she was not to be won in the usual manner, gained her heart by fitting out a fleet, and engaging in a furious battle with her for two days without intermission.

Marguérite of France, wife of St. Louis, while besieged by the Turks in Damietta, during the captivity of the king her husband, gave birth to a son, whom she named Tristan, in commemoration of her misfortunes. In this helpless situation, hearing that the crusaders were about to capitulate with the enemy she summoned the knights to her apartment, and the words she uttered stirred their spirits like the tones[Pg 123] of a trumpet. Her address has been immortalized in such beautiful verse, by Mrs. Hemans, that I cannot forbear quoting some of the stanzas:

No wonder such an appeal met with a thrilling response:

[Pg 124]

Joan of Arc, born of humble parentage, but strong in military courage, and the enthusiasm of prophecy, appeared among the discouraged troops of France, mounted on a milk-white steed, with snowy plumes nodding over her helmet, and in the name of God urged them on to victory. Battle after battle was gained by the consecrated maiden; and history weeps to record that she at last fell a victim to the cruelty of the English and the base ingratitude of the French.

Margaret of Anjou twice delivered her husband from prison and placed him on the English throne; nor did she yield to an overpowering torrent of misfortunes, till she had decided twelve battles in person.

During the reign of Anne of Austria, the French women often appeared at the head of political factions, wearing scarfs that designated the party to which they belonged. Swords and harps, violins and cuirasses, were seen together in the same saloon. There was a regiment created under the name of Mademoiselle; and when Monsieur wrote to the ladies who attended his daughter to Orleans, the letter was directed as follows: “A Mesdames, les Comtesses Maréchales de camp, dans l’ armée de ma fille, contre le Mazarin.” The gift of a bracelet, or glove, was as much valued by the courteous gentlemen of France, as it had been by the knights of chivalry. M. de Chatillon wore the garter of his beautiful mistress on his arm; and when the Duc de Bellegarde went to take command of the army, he besought the queen to honor him so far as to touch the hilt of his[Pg 125] sword. The Duc de la Rochefoucault says of Madam de Longueville:

During the reign of James the Second, a singular instance of female heroism occurred in Scotland. Sir John Cochrane being condemned to be hung for joining in Argyle’s rebellion, his daughter twice disguised herself and robbed the mail that brought his death-warrant. In the mean time his pardon was obtained from the king.

A spirit of superstitious devotion manifested itself in those times to an extent quite as remarkable as the military enthusiasm. No guest was so welcome in bower and hall as the pilgrim returned from the Holy Land, with many a tale to tell of victories gained by Knights of the Holy Cross over the worthless infidel. The troubadours, after a youth spent in love and minstrelsy, almost invariably retired to the silence of the cloister. Noble and beautiful ladies, upon the slightest disgust with life, or remorse of conscience, took the vow that separated them forever from the world, and pledged them to perpetual chastity and poverty. When this vow was taken, all jewels and rich garments were laid aside, and the head shorn of its beautiful ornament of hair. The building in which they secluded themselves was guarded by massive walls, and iron-grated windows. The rich and the noble seldom died without leaving something to endow a convent. At last, they became powerful instruments of oppression; for if a[Pg 126] nobleman had numerous daughters, and wished, in the pride of his heart, to centre his wealth upon one only, he could compel all the others to take the veil; if they were not sufficiently beautiful to aid his ambitious views, or dared to form an attachment contrary to his wishes the same fate awaited them. If a nun violated her vow of chastity, she suffered a penalty as severe as that imposed on the vestal virgins; being placed in an opening of the walls, which was afterwards bricked up, and thus left to perish slowly with hunger. The priests, with some honorable exceptions, were not remarkable for purity, and as the nature of their office gave them free ingress to the nunneries, the results took place which might have been expected from people bound by unnatural vows. The licentiousness of the priesthood gradually made the holy orders a by-word and a reproach, and prepared the way for the stern reformers of the sixteenth century.

But the influence of convents was far from being all evil. Their gates were ever open to the sick, the wounded, and the destitute; in the most turbulent times, the sweet charities of life there found a kindly nursery; and many a young mind was trained to virtue and learning, under the fostering care of some worthy abbess.

As chivalry declined, men began to take pride in literature, instead of leaving all “book learning to the meaner folk;” and women, of course, assumed a corresponding character. The merits of Aristotle and Plato divided the attention of the learned. The[Pg 127] universities declared in favor of Aristotle; but poets, lovers, and women, were enamored of the ethereal Plato. Women preached in public, supported controversies, published and defended theses, filled the chairs of philosophy and law, harangued the popes in Latin, wrote Greek, and read Hebrew. Nuns wrote poetry, women of rank became divines, and young girls publicly exhorted Christian princes to take up arms for the recovery of the holy sepulchre.

Hypatia, daughter of Theon of Alexandria, is said to have exceeded her father in astronomy, and well understood other parts of philosophy. She succeeded her father in the government of the Platonic school, and filled with reputation a seat where many celebrated philosophers had taught. The people regarded her as an oracle, and magistrates consulted her in all important cases. No reproach was ever uttered against the perfect purity of her manners. She was unembarrassed in large assemblies of men, because their admiration was tempered with the most scrupulous respect.

In the thirteenth century, a young lady of Bologna, who had great beauty of person, pronounced a Latin funeral oration at the age of twenty-three. At twenty-six she took the degree of doctor of laws, and began publicly to expound the laws of Justinian. At thirty, she was elevated to a professor’s chair, and taught the law to a crowd of scholars from all nations.

Marguérite Clotilde de Surville, in the early part of the fifteenth century, wrote poetry remarkable for[Pg 128] its freshness and simplicity, and for the tender affection toward her husband and child which breathes on every page. After her husband’s death, she did better than to enter a nunnery, according to the fashion of the times—she lived unmarried, and devoted herself to the education of her son. When some of her verses were repeated to Margaret of Scotland, the first wife of Louis the Eleventh, she sent her a wreath of laurel, surmounted with a bouquet of daisies, (in French called marguérites,) in which the flowers were of gold, and the leaves silver. It bore this inscription: “Marguérite d’ Ecosse à Marguérite d’ Helicon.”

Italy produced many learned and gifted women, among whom perhaps none was more celebrated than Victoria Colonna, marchioness of Pescara. She was passionately fond of poetry, and being early left to mourn the loss of a husband dearly beloved, she spent the remainder of her life amid the quiet pursuits of literature. Nearly all her sonnets bear allusion to her husband. In one of these she says: “Since I was not permitted to be the mother of sons, to inherit their father’s glory, I may at least, by uniting my name with his in verse, become the mother of his illustrious deeds and lofty fame.” Ariosto says that the marquis of Pescara was more to be envied for the strains in which his gifted wife elevated him above cotemporary heroes, than Achilles, whose warlike deeds were sung by Homer.

In Spain, Isabella of Rosera converted Jews by her eloquent preaching, and commented upon the learned Scotus before cardinals and archbishops.

[Pg 129]

In England, Lady Jane Grey had great fame as a scholar. She was found poring over Plato with delight, while other members of her family were engaged in diversions; and the night before the blameless creature was executed for the fault of her ambitious parents, she wrote to her sister in Greek, exhorting her to live and die in the true faith of the reformers.

Roger Ascham said of his royal pupil, Elizabeth, “Yea, I believe that, besides her perfect readiness in Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish, she readeth more Greek every day than some prebendary of this church doth Latin in a whole week.”

The eldest daughter of Sir Thomas More had learning equalled only by her virtues. She corresponded with the celebrated Erasmus, who styled her “the ornament of Britain.”

Mary, queen of Scots, could write and speak six languages. She made graceful verses in French; and, when very young, delivered a Latin oration to the court of France, to prove that there was nothing unfeminine in the pursuit of letters.

The spirit of chivalry blazed forth anew in the literature of that period. Many pens were employed in framing the panegyrics of illustrious women; and Italy was peculiarly distinguished for these performances. Boccacio set the example in his Panegyric de Claris Mulieribus. After this, innumerable writers published eulogies on the celebrated women of all nations. These volumes paved the way for the discussion of the merits of women in general; and the[Pg 130] pre-eminence of female character over that of men, was proposed for a question in public debate. In this discussion, Cornelius Agrippa boldly asserted the superiority of women.

Peter Paul de Ribera, an Italian, published a work entitled, “The immortal Triumphs and heroic Enterprises of eight hundred and forty-five Women.” But even this ample panegyric is less singular than a publication at Venice, in 1555, called “The Temple of the divine Signora Joan of Arragon; erected in her honor by all the greatest wits, and in all the principal languages of the world.” The society which conceived this method of deification, disputed upon one point only; viz. whether Joan of Arragon should possess the honors of the temple alone, or share them with her celebrated sister, the marchioness de Gaust. After mature deliberation, it was decided that two sovereigns ought not to sit on the same throne; it was therefore resolved by the academy, “that the marchioness have separate worship, and Joan of Arragon remain in the sole and exclusive possession of her altars.” Latin, Greek, Italian, French, Spanish, Sclavonian, Hebrew, Chaldaic, and many other languages, were combined in this singular monument to woman’s fame.

In the midst of all this adulation, women were not backward in vindicating their own claims. Several Italian ladies wrote books to prove the comparative inferiority of men; and the French women espoused the cause with equal zeal. The most conspicuous among them was Margaret of Navarre, the first wife[Pg 131] of Henry the Fourth, who undertook to prove that “woman is much superior to man.” This princess, like Elizabeth of England, made use of expressions so gross, that we in modern times can hardly realize they came from a woman.

About the commencement of the sixteenth century, witches began to be persecuted, abused, and despised, instead of being treated with the reverence of more ancient times. Either from association with the idea of the wrinkled sibyl of Cumæ, or from some other less obvious cause, every woman who was old and haggard was in great danger of being considered a witch. Every unaccountable event in the neighborhood was charged to her; and any explanations she attempted to make were regarded as the cunning instigations of the devil. If a new disease appeared among cattle, or a blight rested on the fields, or a child had a singular kind of fit, or a neighbor had the nightmare, it was immediately attributed to the influence of some old dame, who at midnight, when honest folks were sleeping, left her mortal body and went careering through the air on a broomstick, accompanied by a train of imps. If any person afflicted with fits, or other grievances, swore that any particular individual was the cause, their oath was deemed sufficient, and the poor victim of superstition was forthwith committed to jail, there to await a cruel death. In many parts of the north of Europe, it was for several years a very remarkable thing for any old woman to die peaceably in her bed; and the same kind of excitement prevailed to a considerable extent in England,[Pg 132] Germany, and France. The description of witches and their accompaniments are nearly the same all the world over. Even in remote Hindostan, an old woman appeared many years ago, of whom it was reported that she used to cook owls, bats, snakes, lizards, and human flesh, in the skull of an enemy, by which means she was able to render men invisible, and strike terror into their adversaries. If the Hindoos had read Shakspeare, they could not have pictured more exactly the English ideas of a witch. A cat, and generally a black one, is usually described as one of the appendages of these enchantresses; and it was supposed that they very often assumed the form of that animal.

But it was not merely the aged who fell victims to this strange superstition: the young and the beautiful were sometimes burned at the stake, upon the charge of having dealt in magic. Such was the fate of the high-souled maid of Orleans. The duchess de Conchini, being summoned before the judges, and asked by what arts she had bewitched the queen of France, calmly replied, “Merely by that ascendency which great minds must have over little ones.” In England, the duchess of Gloster was accused of making a wax figure of Henry the Sixth, and causing it to melt before the fire with certain incantations, intended to produce his death. For this offence, charged upon her by political enemies of her husband, she was condemned to walk through the streets barefoot, dressed in a white sheet, with papers pinned on her back, and a burning taper in her hand;[Pg 133] and after performing this humiliating penance three days, followed by an insulting rabble, she was banished from the realm. Richard the Third pretended that his withered arm was produced by the sorcery of his brother’s widow and Jane Shore.

Fortune-telling was a power supposed to be universally possessed by witches; and the most common method was by studying the lines of the hand. A cup containing tea or coffee grounds was sometimes chosen in preference; the person whirled it round three times toward herself, accompanying each motion with a wish; then the sorceress examined the cup, and pretended to find destiny inscribed there.

On the evening of the thirty-first of October, called Allhallow Even, or Hallow E’en, witches, devils, and fairies were supposed to be peculiarly busy. On this occasion it was common for young girls to try tricks to ascertain whom they were to marry. The burning of nuts or apple-seeds in a shovel was a favorite charm; the nuts were named, and accordingly as they burned quietly together, or bounced away from each other, it was supposed the issue of the courtship would be. Burns describes this ceremony:

It was likewise customary to go out blindfolded and[Pg 134] pull the first plant of kail they met; its being big or little, crooked or straight, indicated the size and shape of the future husband or wife; the quantity of earth that clung to the root was prophetic of the degree of wealth; and the taste of the stem indicated the natural temper and disposition. Another trick was to go partly down cellar in the dark, and throw a ball of thread down stairs, keeping hold of one end to wind it; if any thing impeded it, they called out, “Who holds?” and it was believed that a voice from the cellar would answer the name of the future spouse. Sometimes an individual stole out unperceived and sowed a handful of hemp-seed, repeating now and then, “Hemp-seed, I sow thee; hemp-seed, I sow thee; and he that is to be my true love come after me and pull thee.” Then looking over the left shoulder, the appearance of the invoked person was supposed to be seen in the attitude of pulling hemp: and no doubt it often was seen; for roguish lovers did not always neglect such opportunities to advance their suit.

A volume might be filled with the “tricks” tried by young people to ascertain who would be their future husband, or wife; but these few specimens must suffice. Egyptian women were the most famous sorcerers of the ancient world; and Gipseys have been most famed for magical skill in modern times.

The fourteenth of February is called St. Valentine’s day. On the evening previous, it was customary in many parts of the world for people to write valentines,[Pg 135] or love-letters in verse, to any lady who pleased their fancy; and sometimes ladies were gracious enough to address their lovers in rhyme. The outer door was usually slyly opened, and the verses, tied to an apple or an orange, thrown in. A loud rap then announced the event to the inmates of the house. Sometimes the boys, for the sake of sport, would chalk the size of a letter on the door-step, and then have fine fun when some person attempted to pick it up. There was a superstition that whoever was first seen on the morning of St. Valentine’s day, would assuredly be the future spouse. On that day it was customary for a young lady to choose from among the gentlemen of her acquaintance one to be her gallant; he presented her with a bunch of flowers, or other trifling present, and thus bound himself to attend upon her with the most obsequious gallantry for the space of one year; before the service was completed a more serious partnership was often resolved on.

On St. Valentine’s day, it is still usual for the common people of England to draw names by lot. The man whose name is drawn makes the fair one some trifling present, and is her partner in the dance. She considers him her beau until he is engaged to some one else, or till St. Valentine’s day returns.

These customs, together with the superstitious observances of Hallow E’en, continued in full force during the seventeenth century, and fragments of them are now found in various parts of the world.

It may be necessary to say a few words concerning[Pg 136] the dress worn at the remote periods of which we have been speaking. The Saxon ladies wore a bodice and short petticoat, with a kind of mantle over the head and shoulders. Buskins, laced in front, were worn on the feet. The custom of combing the hair all back from the face, surmounted with a black coif and steeple hat, continued from the Norman conquest till near the seventeenth century. Queen Elizabeth was the first woman in England that wore silk stockings; embroidered gloves and perfumes were likewise first introduced into England from Italy, for her use. This magnanimous queen was extremely offended if any of the ladies of her court wore garments approaching to her own in magnificence. She had a new dress for every day in the year, and was much attracted by rich apparel in gentlemen. Sir Walter Raleigh had even his shoes embroidered with pearls, and the court dresses of her favorite Leicester were literally covered with jewels. Elizabeth enacted sumptuary laws, which defined with great precision what sort of bonnet might be worn by a gentlewoman, what by an esquire’s wife, what by a baron’s wife, &c. Aldermen’s wives were permitted by an express law to wear the royal color of scarlet. Every alderman who failed to supply his wife with a scarlet gown before the ensuing Christmas, was fined ten pounds; and every lady, who failed to appear in these dresses at Christmas and Easter, forfeited twenty shillings for every default.

During Cromwell’s time, ornaments were thought sinful. Women wore their hair plain and smooth,[Pg 137] and muffled their persons from head to foot, as if beauty were a gift to be ashamed of. This unnatural restraint produced a violent reaction in the time of Charles the Second. Ladies began to copy the elegant drapery of Vandyke’s pictures, which gradually degenerated into extreme immodesty.

The emperor Paul of Russia made very minute regulations concerning the dress both of men and women; and his laws were so capricious that it required the most vigilant attention to comply with them. He once ordered a lady of his court to be imprisoned and kept on bread and water, because she had been guilty of wearing her hair rather lower in the neck than was consistent with his decrees.

During the middle ages, the French women wore gowns quite high in the neck, and fitted closely to the shape. The right side was embroidered with their husbands’ coat of arms, and the left with their own. The custom of displaying the shoulders was unknown before the time of Charles the Sixth. Widows were closely muffled, and wore caps and veils very much like nuns. Henry the Fourth found himself obliged to restrain extravagance by sumptuary laws; yet his mistress, Gabriella, was sometimes so loaded with pearls and diamonds, that she could not support her own weight.

A taste for rich and elegant dress displayed itself first and most conspicuously in Italy and France, and thence spread into more northern nations. Petrarch’s Laura is described as wearing gloves brocaded with gold, and dressed magnificently in silk,[Pg 138] though a pound of silk at that period was valued at four pounds sterling in money.

Spanish ladies wore necklaces of steel, to which thin iron rods were fastened, curving upward to expand the veil when thrown over the head. Caps more than a foot high were likewise much in vogue; they were dressed in the form of a toupee on the top of the head, and covered with a black veil. These caps may still be seen in some of the Spanish provinces. Both in Scotland and Spain it was customary for a widow to wear mourning till she died, or married again. The first year was passed in a chamber hung with black, from which the sunlight was excluded; the second it was hung with gray, and jewels and mirrors prohibited.

All nations prided themselves on long and beautiful hair. Among the Saxons and Danes, married women only covered it with a head-dress; girls wore their tresses loose and flowing. A faithless wife had her head shaven, and the church sometimes ordered it as a penance for other sins. The Spanish and Italian ladies retained the Roman predilection for golden hair. In order to obtain the desired hue, they made use of sulphur and aquafortis, and exposed their heads to the sun during the hottest hours of the day.

During the middle ages, dwellings were vast, and in some respects magnificent, but remarkably comfortless. The wife of the proudest baron, though she wore

[Pg 139]

was obliged to live without many things, which the least wealthy citizen of the United States would consider it absolutely necessary to provide for his household. Coffee and tea were unknown. Coaches were not used in England until 1680. Before that time ladies rode on horseback or on palfreys; and sometimes double, with another on the pillion. A fondness for perfumes was universal; they were usually kept burning in censers.

The word lady is supposed to have been derived from the Saxon word hlaf-dig, meaning a loaf-giver, from the custom of distributing bread among retainers, after a feast in baronial halls. It was customary to bind the tender limbs of infants in tight bandages.

After the sixteenth century, books or verses in praise of women gradually diminished; tournaments were abolished; and manners became less reserved and respectful. Ladies of rank began to throw aside the pedantry of learned languages, and acquire what the French call “the talent of society.” The French were the first to set the example of graceful accomplishments, and fascinating vivacity of manners; and they soon became, what they have ever since remained, “the glass of fashion” for other nations.

The beautiful Mary Stuart carried the gay and graceful refinements of Paris into the bleak atmosphere of Scotland, and Henrietta Maria, with her brilliant eyes, lively manners, and ever-changing caprices, made them fashionable in old England.

Under the commonwealth, society assumed a new and stern aspect. The theatres were shut; games[Pg 140] shows, and amusements of every kind, were prohibited. Women were in disgrace, and love considered a sin to be expiated by fasting and prayer. It was everywhere reiterated from the pulpits that woman caused man’s expulsion from paradise, and ought to be shunned by Christians, as one of the greatest temptations of Satan. “Man,” said they, “is conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity; it was his complacency in woman that wrought his first abasement; let him not therefore glory in his shame; let him not worship the fountain of his corruption.” Learning and accomplishments were alike discouraged; and women confined themselves to a knowledge of cookery, family medicines, and unintelligible theological disputes of the day.

The reign of Charles the Second was an era of shameless profligacy. Ladies of the court paid little regard to decorum, either in dress or manners; and men covered their selfish sensuality with just gloss enough not to defeat their own purposes. There never was a time when women were so much caressed and so little respected. It was then customary, when a gentleman drank a lady’s health, to throw some article of dress into the flames in her honor; and all his companions were obliged to sacrifice a similar article, whatever it might be. One of Sir Charles Sedley’s friends, perceiving that he wore a very rich lace cravat, drank to the health of a certain lady, and threw his own cravat in the fire. Sir Charles followed the example very good-naturedly, but observed that he too would have a joke sometime.[Pg 141] Afterward, when he dined with the same party, he filled a bumper to some reigning beauty, and called a dentist to extract a decaying tooth, which had long pained him. Etiquette demanded that every one of the party should throw a tooth in the fire; and they yielded to necessity, after unavailing remonstrances against this cruel test of their gallantry. The practice of drinking in honor of ladies is said to have originated at the concerts of St. Cecilia. When the concert ended, the gentlemen retired to a tavern; and he, who could drink the most wine, acquired the right of naming the reigning toast for the ensuing year.

During the reign of the second Charles, women, instead of being approached with the respect paid to superior beings, became the objects of contemptuous satire. The despicable earl of Rochester set the example of this species of writing; and in succeeding reigns, it was followed by Pope, Swift, Young, and a multitude of ordinary writers. Pope says:

The objects of this wholesale bitterness have been disposed to palliate it, in consideration of the personal deformity of the poet, which made him magnanimously hate those whom he could not please.

Swift speaks of his unacknowledged and heart-broken wife as follows:

And yet, when poor Stella had died, a victim to his unkindness, he reviled all womankind in terms of brutal grossness. He even started the opinion that women were a connecting link between men and monkeys; and ladies will no doubt be disposed to thank him for any classification, that does not place them in the same species with himself.

But panegyrists cannot raise women above their level, or satirists force them below it. Their character and condition is always in correspondence with that of men; and both sexes have always furnished about an equal number of exceptions to the general character of the age in which they lived. There were liberal-minded women, as well as men, during the bigoted times of Cromwell, and many an English matron, of stainless character, educated her pure-minded daughters far from the corrupting court of Charles the Second. The excellent lady Russell, who was perhaps the very best woman in the world, lived in these profligate times.

Mary, the wife of William the Third, made industry, domestic virtue, and modest apparel, fashionable[Pg 143] by her own example; and during Anne’s reign the social intercourse of the sexes was polite and pleasant without being profligate. It is true that literature was not the order of the day; for the women of that period were as ignorant of their own language, as they had formerly been learned in the classics; Dr. Johnson declares that even the gifted Stella could not spell correctly. Needlework became the all-absorbing occupation among women of the higher classes. Whole churches were hung with tapestry embroidered by devout dames; and notable housewives prided themselves on covering their floors, chairs, and footstools, with the workmanship of their own hands.

In queen Anne’s reign, it was considered vulgar to speak or move like a person in good health. Complete helplessness was considered peculiarly feminine and becoming. The duchess of Marlborough carried this fashion so far, that when she travelled, she ordered the drums of garrisons to be muffled, and straw laid before her hotels, lest her delicate nerves should be offended with rude noises. About this time was introduced from France the fashion of wearing shoes with heels five or six inches high, top-knots of extraordinary height on the head, and hooped petticoats measuring six or seven yards in circumference.

The custom of powdering the hair with flour was introduced by ballad singers, in 1641. In the beginning of the reign of George the First, only two ladies wore their hair powdered, and they were[Pg 144] pointed at for their singularity. The women of that period likewise wore a great quantity of artificial hair, in imitation of periwigs worn by men.

About this time, lady Mary Wortley Montagu conferred a great blessing upon England, and the civilized world, by introducing inoculation for the small pox, after her return from Turkey. The custom was opposed with the utmost violence of ignorance and prejudice; but lady Mary persevered in her generous purpose, and to prove her sincerity, she first tried it upon her own son, about three years old. In Litchfield cathedral stands a cenotaph raised to her memory by a lady, who had herself derived benefit from this salutary practice. The monument represents Beauty weeping for the loss of her preserver.

Some of the best English writers appeared during the latter part of the seventeenth century; but the romances of the day were exceedingly prosaic, love-sick, and sentimental. The hero and heroine always fell in love at first sight, and always had innumerable difficulties to contend with, in consequence of the cruelty of relations and the plots of libertines. Love, instead of being acted upon and developed by circumstances, was represented as the chief end and aim of life, and all the events of this busy world were merely its accessories.

About this time was introduced the word “blue-stocking,” which has ever since been applied to literary ladies, who were somewhat pedantic. It is said to have originated at a literary club, where several women assembled. A gentleman who wore blue[Pg 145] stockings was regarded as the lion of the menagerie; and when he was detained, it was common to observe, “We can do nothing till the blue stockings come.” The manner in which the phrase has ever since been used leads to the conclusion that the members of this club were pedantic. It is now common to say of a sensible, unaffected woman, “She knows a great deal, but has no tinge of blue.” Byron wittily remarked, “I care not how blue a woman’s stockings are, if her petticoats are long enough to cover them;” and this pithy observation comprises all that ever need be said about the cultivation of female intellect.

English history presents many instances of women exercising prerogatives now denied them. In an action at law, it has been determined that an unmarried woman, having a freehold, might vote for members of parliament; and it is recorded that lady Packington returned two members of parliament. Lady Broughton was keeper of the Gate-house prison; and in a much later period a woman was appointed governor of the house of correction at Chelmsford, by order of the court.

In the reign of George the Second, the minister of Clerkenwell was chosen by a majority of women. The office of champion has frequently been held by a woman, and was so at the coronation of George the First. The office of grand chamberlain, in 1822, was filled by two women; and that of clerk of the crown, in the court of king’s bench, has been granted to a female. The celebrated Anne, countess of Pembroke,[Pg 146] held the hereditary office of sheriff of Westmoreland, and exercised it in person, sitting on the bench of the judges. In ancient councils mention is made of deaconesses; and in an edition of the New Testament printed in 1574, a woman is spoken of as minister of a church. The society of Friends, and the Methodists, are the only Christian sects who now allow women to speak at public religious meetings.

A woman may succeed to the throne of England with the same power and privileges as a king; and the business of the state is transacted in her name, while her husband is only a subject. The king’s wife is considered as a subject; but is exempted from the law which forbids any married woman to possess property in her own right during the lifetime of her husband; she may sue any person at law without joining her husband in the suit; may buy and sell lands without his interference; and she may dispose of her property by will, as if she were a single woman. She cannot be fined by any court of law; but is liable to be tried and punished for crimes by peers of the realm. The queen dowager enjoys nearly the same privileges that she did before she became a widow; and if she marries a subject still continues to retain her rank and title; but such marriages cannot take place without permission from the reigning sovereign. A woman who is noble in her own right retains her title when she marries a man of inferior rank; but if ennobled by her husband, she loses the title by marrying a commoner. A peeress can only be tried by a jury of peers.

[Pg 147]

In old times, a woman who was convicted of being a common mischief-maker and scold, was sentenced to the punishment of the ducking-stool; which consisted of a sort of chair fastened to a pole, in which she was seated and repeatedly let down into the water, amid the shouts of the rabble. At Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a woman convicted of the same offence was led about the streets by the hangman, with an instrument of iron bars fitted on her head, like a helmet. A piece of sharp iron entered the mouth, and severely pricked the tongue whenever the culprit attempted to move it.

A great deal of vice prevails in England, among the very fashionable, and the very low classes. Misconduct and divorces are not unfrequent among the former, because their mode of life corrupts their principles, and they deem themselves above the jurisdiction of popular opinion; the latter feel as if they were beneath the influence of public censure, and find it very difficult to be virtuous, on account of extreme poverty and the consequent obstructions in the way of marriage. But the general character of English women is modest, reserved, sincere, and dignified. They have strong passions and affections, which often develope themselves in the most beautiful forms of domestic life. They are in general remarkable for a healthy appearance, and an exquisite bloom of complexion. Perhaps the world does not present a lovelier or more graceful picture than the English home of a virtuous family.

In modern times, no nation has produced a greater[Pg 148] number of truly illustrious women. Hannah More wrote as vigorously as Johnson, and with far more of Christian mildness; Maria Edgeworth, as a novelist, is second only to Sir Walter Scott; Mrs. Fry, who cheerfully left the refinements of her own home, to do good to the destitute and vicious in their prisons, deserves a statue by the side of Howard; Mrs. Somerville, notwithstanding the malicious assertion of Byron, has proved that female astronomers can look at the moon for some better purpose than to ascertain whether there be a man in it; and who is disposed to dispute lord Brougham’s assertion, that Harriet Martineau, by her writings on political economy, is doing more good than any man in England?

Modern literature contains abundant satire upon the vices and follies of women; but invectives against the sex are by no means popular. Byron indeed treats them in the true Turkish style, like voluptuous goddesses, or soulless slaves, as his own caprices happen to be; but a libertine will always write thus, because (as the old chronicler said of the troubadour) “he knoweth nothing better.” Cowper, and Wordsworth, and that sweet minstrel Barry Cornwall, have praised us in a purer and better spirit, and thereby left to posterity a transparent record of their own virtue.

The Irish are an extremely warm-hearted people. Their well educated women have an innocent gayety, frankness and naiveté of manner, that is extremely bewitching. As a people, they are remarkably characterized by a want of foresight, and keen enjoyment[Pg 149] of the present moment. The style of Irish beauty indicates this; being generally bright-eyed, fresh, and laughing. If a young couple were in love with each other, it would, in most cases, be in vain to remind them of their extreme poverty, with a view to inculcate maxims of worldly prudence. The answer would be, “Sure, two people eat no more when they’re together, than they do when they’re separate;” and when told that they may have a great deal of trouble and hard work in rearing a family of children, they will simply reply, “Sure, that’s what I’ve always been used to.” They are distinguished for filial piety. The most nourishing food and the best seat in their cabins are always appropriated to father and mother; and the grandchildren are taught to treat them with respectful tenderness.

The ancient custom of hired mourners at funerals still prevails in some of the provinces of Ireland. Women will often join a funeral procession, and unite in the lamentations with all their powers of voice for some time, and then turn to ask, “Arrah! who is it that’s dead? Who are we crying for?” Those who are particularly skilful in crying are in great demand; and, as an Irishman said to Miss Edgeworth, “every one would wish and be proud to have such at his funeral, or at that of his friends.”

The Irish have been great believers in fairies, concerning the existence of which they have many wild popular tales. Their literature is generally imaginative and glowing. Some of the most attractive female writers of the present day are of Irish origin.

[Pg 150]

The Scotch women of former times were remarkably high-minded, heroic, loyal to their prince, and attached to ancient usages. Their character in these respects corresponded with that of the men, and like them they had an excessive pride of noble birth. The dress of the Highland women was very picturesque and graceful. It consisted of a petticoat and jerkin with straight sleeves, over which they wore a plaid fastened with a buckle, and falling toward the feet in large folds. The Scotch generally have high cheek-bones, blue eyes, light hair, and countenances expressive of good sense. They are a prudent, thrifty, and cautious people. The popular belief in a kind of fairies, which they call brownies, is indicative of the national character. Stories are told of industrious housewives, who have great quantities of work performed for them by diligent little brownies, while they are sleeping; and of notable dairy-maids, who awake in the morning and find silver sixpences in their shoes, placed by the same invisible hands.

Scotland has produced several women of great talent, whose writings are generally characterized by sound good sense, and accurate observation of human nature.

It is a singular circumstance that so gallant a nation as the French should exclude women from the throne, while the ungallant English have a strong predilection for the government of queens. The ancient Franks preferred kings, on account of the continual wars in which they were engaged; and a good[Pg 151] deal of difficulty having arisen concerning a succession to the crown, after the death of Lewis Hutin, it was solemnly and deliberately decreed that all females should be excluded; and this decree remains to the present day unreversed. Yet there is probably no country in the world where women exert such an active political influence as in France. Under the regency of Anne of Austria, they obtained an ascendency which they have never since lost. According to cardinal de Retz, a revolution in the heart of a woman at that time often produced a revolution in public affairs; and the profligate Louis the Fifteenth was notoriously governed by his mistresses.

The Comtesse Champagne, when she presided at one of the Courts of Love, during the age of chivalry, solemnly decided that true love could not exist between a married pair; and it was the received maxim of those courts in Provence, that being married was no legitimate reason against returning the passion of a lover. To this day, the French have a singular code of morals upon this subject; yet those who know them well, say they are quite as good, if not a little better than their more decorous neighbors. It is difficult to make fair comparisons; and we gladly throw a gauze veil over the subject, à la mode Française.

The French are very susceptible, but not characterized by depth of passion. The following anecdote may serve to illustrate the difference between them and the English: A Frenchman, by the most ardent[Pg 152] professions, endeavored to gain the affections of a married woman in England; and she at length became so infatuated as to propose that they should escape to Scotland and secure the happiness of their future lives by marriage. The volatile lover excused himself as well as he could, and often laughed with his countrymen, when he told how much trouble he had to escape such excess of kindness.

The French girls are kept under very strict superintendence. They are not allowed to go to parties, or places of public amusement, without being accompanied by some married female relation; and they see their lovers only in the presence of a third person. Marriages are entirely negotiated by parents; and sometimes the wedding day is the second time that a bride and bridegroom see each other. Nothing is more common than to visit a lady, and attend her parties, without knowing her husband by sight; or to visit a gentleman without ever being introduced to his wife. If a married couple were to be seen frequently in each other’s company, they would be deemed extremely ungenteel. After ladies are married, they have unbounded freedom. It is a common practice to receive morning calls from gentlemen, before they have risen from bed; and they talk with as little reserve to such visiters, as they would in the presence of any woman of refinement.

The French are generally slender, active, and well proportioned, with brown complexions and dark eyes and hair. The prevailing expression of their countenances is vivacity, and their manners are characterized[Pg 153] by a graceful ease, which, if it be not nature, is the best possible imitation of nature. An artificial state of society is here carried to the utmost point of refinement. In the perpetual invention of beautiful forms more sober nations have toiled after them in vain, scolding all the while about French fashions, and French caprices.

The beautiful Marie Antoinette first introduced the custom of wearing feathers in the hair. Having one day playfully stuck a peacock’s feather among her curls, she was pleased with the effect, and called for some small ostrich plumes. She arranged them so tastefully with jewels, that the king declared he had never seen any thing more beautiful. Feathers immediately brought an extravagant price in France, and the fashion soon prevailed all over Europe.

One day the same queen put on a brown lutestring dress, which the king, with a smile, remarked was couleur de puce. As soon as this was made known, every person of fashion was eager to wear the color of a flea. They distinguished between the various shades of a young and an old flea, and between different parts of the body of the same insect. The dyers could not possibly satisfy the hourly demand. The silk merchants, finding this mania injurious to their trade, presented new satins to her majesty, who having chosen a glossy ash color, the king observed that it was the color of her hair. The uniform of fleas was forthwith discarded, and every body was eager to wear the color of the queen’s hair. Some of her ringlets were obtained by bribery, and sent to Lyons[Pg 154] and other manufactories with all haste, that the exact hue might be caught.

French ladies, especially those not young, use a great deal of rouge. A traveller who saw many of them in their opera boxes, says, “I could compare them to nothing but a large bed of peonies.”

After the French revolution, it became the fashion to have every thing in ancient classic style. Loose flowing drapery, naked arms, sandaled feet, and tresses twisted, or braided, à la Diane, or à la Psyche, were the order of the day. The want of pockets, which had previously been worn, was obviated by sticking the fan in the girdle, and confiding the snuff-box and handkerchief to some obsequious beau. The reticule or indispensable was not then invented.

The state of gross immorality that prevailed at this time ought not to be described, if language had the power. The profligacy of Rome in its worst days was comparatively thrown into the shade. Religion and marriage became a mockery, and every form of impure and vindictive passion walked abroad, with the consciousness that public opinion did not require them to assume even a slight disguise. The fish-women of Paris will long retain an unenviable celebrity for the brutal excesses of their rage. The goddess of Reason was worshipped by men, under the form of a living woman entirely devoid of clothing; and in the public streets ladies might be seen who scarcely paid more attention to decorum. Even the courage they evinced during the reign of terror was often oddly mingled with frivolity. A French writer,[Pg 155] who went to the house of the minister, to solicit liberty for an imprisoned friend, was struck with always finding a young woman on the spot, who apparently came for the same purpose. “Madam,” said he, “you must have a good deal of energy, to rise every day so early at a season so rigorous.” She replied, “For more than a month I have constantly been here at eight in the morning, to beg my husband’s liberty. It is necessary to rise at seven to arrange my toilet. You may judge how fatiguing this is; for I cannot miss of a ball, and I often come home at five in the morning, after having danced all night.”

But the French revolution abounds with anecdotes of women who evinced a noble forgetfulness of self. Many a one, at the imminent peril of her life, humanely afforded shelter to fugitives whose religious and political opinions differed from her own; and the courage with which they shared the destiny of their friends was truly wonderful. A mother, in order to gain access to the prison where her son was confined, became portress of the jail. One day the brutal jailers loaded her with such an enormous weight that her delicate frame sunk under the burden, and she expired near him she had loved so well. Madame Lefort was one among numerous instances of wives, who effected their husbands’ escape by change of dress. The angry guards exclaimed, “Wretch! what have you done?” “My duty,” she calmly replied; “do yours.” When the marshal de Mouchy was summoned to appear before the tribunal,[Pg 156] his wife accompanied him. Being told that no one accused her, she replied, “When my husband is arrested, so am I.” She followed him to prison, and answered objections by saying, “When my husband is sentenced, so am I.” She sat by his side in the cart that conveyed him to the guillotine, and when the executioner told her that no decree of death had been issued against her, she answered, “Since my husband is condemned, so am I.” They were beheaded together.

Madam de Maillé was imprisoned instead of her sister-in-law. She was aware of the mistake, but submitted quietly, that the real victim might escape. When tried, she merely observed that the Christian name they had read did not belong to her. When they insisted upon discovering where the person lived to whom it did belong, she replied, “I am not weary of life, but I had rather die a thousand deaths than save myself at the expense of another. Proceed to the guillotine.” The monsters, for once, spared human life from respect to a noble action.

At this period, people ran wild with the idea that men and women ought to perform the same duties, and that it was gross tyranny not to choose women to command armies, harangue senates, &c. An influential Frenchman, being asked why they did not elect ladies members of the Chamber of Deputies, replied that the law required every member to be forty years old, and he despaired of finding any one who would acknowledge herself of that age.

Perhaps there is no country in the world where[Pg 157] women of all ranks are treated with so much politeness as in France. No party is considered a party of pleasure without their presence, and great complaints would be made if they retired from table after dinner, according to the custom of the English. Whatever may be the husband’s business, they are active partners in all his concerns. They may be seen talking politics in saloons, selling goods at the counter, gathering grapes from the vineyards, and laboring in the fields.

France has produced many distinguished women. Their literature has been, like themselves, witty, agreeable and graceful; but it often reminds one of the perfect artificial flowers from Paris, so natural that they even bear the perfume of the blossoms they represent. It seems to be universally conceded that Madam de Staël was intellectually the greatest woman that ever lived.

From the time of the Bourbon dynasty, Spanish women were excluded from the throne; but the late king reversed the decree in favor of his daughter, who is now queen. The Spanish women are small and slender, with dark hair and sparkling black eyes full of expression. They are in general very ignorant, but naturally witty, and much given to lively repartee. Their motions are slow and graceful, and their dress is usually modest. They are rarely seen either in the house or the street without their fans; and when they meet an acquaintance, they have an exceedingly graceful and coquettish manner of shaking the fan, by way of recognition.[Pg 158] They are indolent in their habits, doing little except dressing, sleeping, saying their prayers by bead-roll, and daily sauntering away a couple of hours on the Prado. Cleanliness is far from being a national characteristic. There is great fondness for perfumes, which are generally kept burning in their apartments, and ladies are seldom without some high-spiced comfit in their mouths. In no part of the world has the spirit of chivalry lingered so long as in Spain. The Spanish lover moves, speaks, thinks, and breathes only for his mistress. He praises her in the most hyperbolical terms, and approaches her with the deference due to a superior being. Something of this characterizes the Spanish manners toward the whole sex. They never sit down while a lady is standing in the room; and at the close of letters to women, or princes, they say, “I kiss your feet,” though to a gentleman they merely say, “I kiss your hand.” If a lady happened to express admiration of a gentleman’s watch, or any valuable trinket, it would be deemed very impolite not to present it to her. Throughout Spain, the sound of the guitar, frequently accompanied by the voice, may be heard until late in the night; for he who has not chosen a lady-love, will from mere gallantry serenade some lady of his acquaintance.

The Spanish are fond of masquerades, and have a great passion for chess. Ladies often attend the cruel entertainment of bull-fights. Like all the inhabitants of Catholic countries, they spend a great deal of time at church, in religious ceremonies, which[Pg 159] often prove a convenient cover for love intrigues. One of the boys who attend the altar is not unfrequently the messenger on these occasions. He kneels near the fair lady, crosses himself, repeats his Ave Marias, and devoutly kisses the ground; during this process, he contrives to slip a letter under the lady’s drapery, and receive another in return. Girls are generally educated at convents, and their marriages arranged for them by relatives, soon after they leave its walls. It is a matter of course for a married lady to have a cortego, or gallant, who attends upon her obsequiously wherever she goes, and submits to all her caprices. The old custom of locks and keys, duennas and spies, to guard the character of women, has fallen into disuse in modern times.

The Portuguese are, in general terms, so similar to the Spanish, that they do not need a separate description. The pageantry, superstition and ignorance of Catholic countries prevail in both kingdoms. Nothing is more common than to see large processions of men, women and children, on horses, mules and asses, accompanied with music, going to return thanks to some particular image of the Virgin, in fulfilment of a vow. Women sit with the left side toward the horse’s head, and sometimes ride after the fashion of men. The title of donna is given to all ladies. Those of high rank make their visits in great state; they are carried in a chair by four men, of whom the two foremost are uncovered; two others attend as a guard, and a seventh carries a lantern; two coaches follow, drawn by mules, one containing[Pg 160] her women, and the other the gentlemen of her household. The market women, trudging into the cities, by the side of their donkeys, with panniers heavily laden with fruit and vegetables, and the great numbers kneeling by the side of rivers to wash clothing, or spreading it out on the banks to dry, have a very picturesque effect in the eye of a traveller. In both nations marriages, christenings, and funerals are celebrated with all the pomp their circumstances will admit; but their usual habits are frugal and temperate. The ladies seldom taste any thing but water. Their countenances are generally tranquil and modest; and their teeth extremely white and regular, owing to the frequent use of tooth-picks made of soft, pliant wood.

In Portugal, women wear the crown, and confer the title of king on their husbands, as in England. In the interior provinces, they are not allowed to go out of doors, without permission of parents and husband; and even their male relations are not allowed to sit beside them in public places. The church is almost the only place where lovers have a chance to obtain a sight of them. The Portuguese women do not assume the names of their husbands, but retain their own. Children bear the family name of both parents, and are sometimes called by one, sometimes by the other. It is not common for widows to marry again.

The Italians, like their neighbors of Spain and Portugal, live under the paralyzing influence of a religion that retains its superstitious forms, while[Pg 161] little of life-giving faith remains. Like them they have lively passions, are extremely susceptible, and in the general conduct of life more governed by the impetuosity of impulse than rectitude of principle. The ladies have less gravity than the Spanish, and less frivolity than the French, and in their style of dress incline toward the freedom of the latter. Some of the richest and most commodious convents of Europe are in Italy. The daughters of wealthy families are generally bestowed in marriage as soon as they leave these places of education. These matters are entirely arranged by parents and guardians, and youth and age are not unfrequently joined together, for the sake of uniting certain acres of land. But the affections, thus repressed, seek their natural level by indirect courses. It is a rare thing for an Italian lady to be without her cavaliere servente, or lover, who spends much of his time at her house, attends her to all public places, and appears to live upon her smiles. The old maxim of the Provençal troubadours, that matrimony ought to be no hindrance to such liaisons, seems to be generally and practically believed in Italy.

Under the powerful aristocracy of Venice, heiresses were bestowed in marriage by the government, and never allowed to make a foreigner master of themselves and their wealth.

In Genoa, there are marriage-brokers, who have pocketbooks filled with the names of marriageable girls of different classes, with an account of their fortunes, personal attractions, &c. When they succeed[Pg 162] in arranging connections, they have two or three per cent. commission on the portion. The marriage-contract is often drawn up before the parties have seen each other. If a man dislikes the appearance or manners of his future partner, he may break off the match, on condition of paying the brokerage and other expenses.

The Italian ladies are affable and polite, and have in general a good deal of taste and imagination. At the theatres are a class of performers, called improvisatrice, who recite extempore poetry upon any subject the audience suggest, and often in such metre as they prescribe. An English traveller describes an improvisatrice whom he heard in the winter of 1818, as a pale girl about seventeen, with large black eyes full of fire. When she first began to declaim, her cheeks glowed and her whole frame quivered with convulsive effort; but as she proceeded her language became more flowing and impassioned, and the audience expressed their delight by loud and frequent applause.

The literature of Italy has several illustrious female names. Their writings, like every thing in that sunny clime, are full of fervor and enthusiasm. It has already been mentioned that a woman filled one of the learned professorships in Bologna in the thirteenth century; the same thing occurred in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and eighteenth centuries.

Polish women resemble the French in gayety and love of pleasure, and the Italians in ardor of passion and vividness of imagination. Their manners are[Pg 163] said to be a seductive mixture of languid voluptuousness and sprightly coquetry. The state of public opinion is not favorable to female virtue; a circumstance which at once indicates corruption, and increases it. The Poles are fond of pageantry and splendor, but are charged with sluttishness in the interior arrangement of their houses. I presume there is no nation, whose ladies are so universally acknowledged to be pre-eminent in beauty. They have fine forms, and an exceedingly graceful carriage. Their complexions are generally very fair and clear; but all except the young make use of rouge, and some to an excessive degree. The eyes and hair are generally light, but there are numerous exceptions.

During all the struggles of unhappy Poland, the women have manifested an heroic spirit. When king John Sobieski departed from home to raise the siege of Vienna, then closely invested by the Turks, his wife looked at him tearfully, and then at a little boy, the youngest of her sons. “Why do you weep so bitterly?” inquired the king. “It is because this boy is not old enough to accompany his father,” she replied.

During the late war, Polish women assisted the men in erecting fortifications; and one of the out-works was called the “lunette of the women,” because it was built entirely by their hands. The countess Plater raised and equipped a regiment of five or six hundred Lithuanians at her own expense; and she was uniformly at their head, encouraging them by her brave example in every battle. The[Pg 164] women proposed to form three companies of their own sex to share the fatigues and perils of the army; but their countrymen, wishing to employ their energies in a manner less dangerous, distributed them among the hospitals to attend the wounded. The old Spartan spirit revived at this troubled period, and Polish matrons wished their sons to conquer or die. If any man, from prudential motives, hesitated to fight for his country’s freedom, the ladies treated him with contempt, and not unfrequently sent him a needle and thread, and asked a sword in return.

Two beautiful sisters of Rukiewicz, quietly seated at home, were startled by the sight of a Russian officer, with gens d’armes, entering the court. Knowing that their brother was secretary of a patriotic club, they immediately suspected that he had been arrested, and that his enemies were in search of his papers. While one sister with graceful courtesy received and entertained the unwelcome visiters, the other hastily set fire to the summer-house, where her brother kept the records of the club. More than two hundred persons, whose names were on the register, were saved by her presence of mind. She returned joyfully, and when the Russians inquired what had occasioned the fire, she replied, “I wished to save you further brutalities. You will find no documents, or papers. I am your prisoner. Add me to the number of your victims.” These noble girls were carried to prison, and shamefully treated for three years. As soon as they were released, they set off, in spite of the remonstrances of their friends, to travel[Pg 165] on foot, and on the wagons of the peasantry, until they could reach their exiled brother in Siberia.

In Poland, a son has two shares of an estate, and a daughter but one; a father cannot dispose of his fortune otherwise, except by a judicial sentence.

The Germans are less susceptible than the French, but have more depth of passion. Among them there is little of that instantaneous falling in love, so common among the Italians and Poles; but their affections are gained by solid and true qualities. They have more sobriety than the French, and more frankness than the English. Living for happiness rather than pleasure, they attach all due sacredness to that good English word home, the spirit of which is so little understood by the southern nations. The women of all classes are distinguished for industry. It is a common practice to carry needlework into parties; and sometimes a notable dame may be seen knitting diligently at the theatre. Many of the young Swabian girls, of thirteen or fourteen years old, are sent to Stuttgard, to acquire music, or other branches of education, among which household duties are generally included. A matron, who keeps a large establishment there, gives the instruction, which they voluntarily seek. They may often be seen returning from the baker’s, with a tray full of cakes and pies of their own making; and sometimes young gentlemen, for the sake of fun, stop them to buy samples of their cookery.

Injustice is always done to nations by describing them in general terms; and this is peculiarly the[Pg 166] case with Germany; for both men and women are remarkable for individuality of character. It may, however, be truly said that German women are usually disposed to keep within the precincts of domestic life, and are little ambitious of display. Their influence on literature is important, though less obvious than in some other countries. In almost every considerable town, a few literary families naturally fall into the habit of meeting at each other’s houses alternately, and thus, without pretension, form social clubs, of which intelligent and learned women are often the brightest ornaments. Their female writers have usually belonged to the higher classes; others being too much employed in domestic avocations to attend to literature. Several of these writers are such as any nation might be proud to own. Among the most distinguished are Theresa Huber, daughter of the celebrated Heyne, in Göttingen; Madame Schoppenhauer; and Baronne de la Motte Fouqué.

The women of Germany and Austria have, in general, fair complexions, auburn hair, large blue eyes, and a mild, ingenuous expression of countenance. There is a good deal of innocent freedom in their deportment, but so tempered with modest simplicity, that they receive respect without the necessity of requiring it. They are in general exemplary wives, and excellent mothers. Divorce has never been sanctioned by Austrian laws.

Both Germans and Austrians are said to have great pride of high birth. The poor are simple and gentle in their manners, very neat in their dress, and industrious[Pg 167] in their habits; but in some of the provinces the peasantry, both men and women, are addicted to intemperance. The young men of Vienna are accused of being more fond of riding, hunting, good eating, and smoking, than of joining the parties of ladies. A foreigner is somewhat surprised to see on such occasions thirty or forty ladies, talking together, and engaged in various kinds of needlework, without attracting, or seeming to expect, attention from their countrymen.

The people who inhabit the vast extent of country between the Black sea and the North sea are divided into various distinct races, too numerous to admit of a particular description. The women are generally very industrious; even in their walks they carry a portable distaff and spin every step of the way. Generally speaking, the clothing of these people is of domestic manufacture; the wants of each family being supplied by the diligent fingers of its female members. A Walachian woman may often be seen carrying a large basket of goods to market on her head, singing and spinning as she trudges along. Both Croatian and Walachian women perform all the agricultural operations, in addition to their own domestic concerns. When a mother goes to church, or to visit a neighbor, or to labor in the fields, she carries her infant in a low open box, swung over her shoulders by cords; while she is at work, this box is suspended on a neighboring tree. The Liburnian women carry on their heads a cradle, in which the babe sleeps securely. When these cradles are set on the ground,[Pg 168] they rock with the slightest impulsion. The Gothscheer women often follow the trade of pedlers, and are absent from their homes many months, travelling about the country with staff in hand, and a pack at their back.

Among these numerous tribes, each preserving their ancient customs from time immemorial, the Morlachians seem to be the most rude. “In general,” says M. Fortis, “their women, except those of the towns, seem not at all displeased to receive a beating from their husbands, and sometimes even from their lovers.” Being treated like beasts of burden, and expected to endure submissively every species of hardship, they naturally become very dirty and careless in their habits. The wretched wife, after she has labored hard all day, is obliged to lie upon the floor, and would be beaten, if she presumed to approach the heap of straw on which her tyrant sleeps. When the Morlachians have occasion to speak of a woman, before any respectable person, they always say, “saving your presence;” as if apologizing for the mention of things so disgusting; and in answer to inquiries reply, “It is my wife—excuse the word.”

From these brutes in the human form, we gladly turn to the frank, affectionate, romantic Tyrolese. Among these simple, virtuous people, husbands and wives are remarkably faithful to each other, and fondly attached to their children. Their robust and vigorous women are engaged in very toilsome occupations, but the men take their full share in all laborious[Pg 169] tasks. Many of them travel through Germany as pedlers, and they are rarely seen without a wife or a sister by their side. The Tyrolese women are gentle and modest, but not shy in the presence of strangers. A mother, in the innocent kindness of her heart, frequently sends her daughters to meet a traveller, and offer him a present of fruit or flowers, or a draught of sweet milk, from her own neat dairy. Their affections are ardent, and they are proverbial for constancy. It is an almost unheard of thing for parents to arrange marriages, or attempt to throw any obstacle in the way of a desired union between their children. The young people become acquainted with each other in their walks, or at their rustic amusements, and when they have once taken each other by the hand, in earnest pledge of their mutual affection, every other man and woman in the world are forever after excluded from their thoughts, so far as love is concerned. The Tyrolese have a reverent and simple faith in religion, and a strong belief in the active agency of good and evil spirits. The peasant girls scarcely dare to go abroad after dark, for fear of falling into snares laid by mischievous spirits. To protect themselves from these influences, it is common for both sexes to engrave the figure of Christ upon their flesh, by pricking it with a needle and rubbing gunpowder into the punctures.

The Swiss resemble the Tyrolese in simplicity, frankness, and honesty. The women are very neat and industrious. They are busily engaged in their dairies and domestic avocations, and are little inclined[Pg 170] to visiting. When they do visit socially, very few men are invited, and those are their nearest relations. Sometimes twenty ladies assemble together, without one man in the party; their husbands being all assembled at the smoking clubs.

In Basil, female societies are formed from infancy of children of the same age, and the same class. They are so particular about equality of years, that sisters, whose ages differ a few years, belong to separate societies, with whom they always meet at each other’s houses. Friendships formed in this way constitute a strong bond of union. Those that have belonged to the same society in childhood often meet, after separation, in maturer years, with the affection of sisters. The ladies usually carry work to parties, at which they assemble as early as three in the afternoon. Parents have one day of the week, which they call le jour de famille. On this occasion all their offspring, even to the fifth and sixth generation, are assembled together. The Swiss women marry at an early age. Not long since, there were six ladies in Basil whose grandchildren were grandmothers. The manners of these hardy mountaineers are patriarchal and affectionate. Young people are allowed to marry according to their inclination, and matches from interested motives are not common. In such a state of things, there is no need of the restraints imposed among voluptuous nations. The Swiss girls have a great deal of freedom allowed them, and are distinguished for innocence and modesty.

[Pg 171]

The inhabitants of the Netherlands are proverbial for their industry and love of acquiring money. Their women are eminently domestic, being always busy in their household, or engaged in assisting their husbands in some department of his business, such as keeping accounts, and receiving money. They are not only thrifty themselves, but teach their children to earn something as soon as they can use their fingers. If they quit their domestic employments, it is to join some family party, or take a short excursion with their husbands. Their stainless floors, shining pewter dishes, and snow-white starched caps, all indicate that notable housewives are common in the land. The Dutch women are generally robust and rosy, with figures the reverse of tall and slender. At Haarlem, a very ancient and peculiar custom is still preserved. When a child is newly born, a wooden figure, about sixteen inches square, covered with red silk and Brussels lace, is placed at the door. This exempts the master of the house from all judicial molestation, and is intended to insure the tranquillity necessary for the mother’s health. To prevent the kind but injudicious intrusion of friends, a written bulletin of the state of both mother and child is daily affixed to the door or window; and finally a paper is posted on the door, to signify on what day the mother will receive the ladies of her acquaintance. Among the phlegmatic and thrifty Dutch, matches are, of course, generally made from prudential motives, rather than the impulses of passion, or the refinement of sentiment.

[Pg 172]

Russia is a country slowly emerging from barbarism. Of their condition in the time of Peter the Great, something may be judged by the regulation he made, ordering the ladies of his court not to get drunk upon any pretence whatever, and forbidding gentlemen to do so before ten o’clock. The empress Catherine ordered certain Russian ladies to be publicly knouted for some indiscretions. French manners now prevail among the higher ranks, who are generally frank, hospitable and courtly. The women are serious and dignified, with something of oriental languor. Their forms of society are ceremonious, compared with the lively graces of the Poles, of whose manners they are apt to judge severely. A French writer has asserted that of all countries, except France, it is perhaps the most agreeable to be a woman in Russia; but when he said this, he must have been thinking only of cities, and of a favored class in those cities. The Russian ladies are proverbial for the facility with which they acquire foreign languages. They speak and write French like native Parisians, though often unable to spell the Russian tongue, which is seldom spoken in polite circles. Among the higher ranks, whose blood is mingled with that of Georgians, Circassians, and Poles, there are some women of extraordinary beauty; but the Russian females are in general short, clumsy, round-faced and sallow. They daub their faces with red and white paint, and in some districts stain their teeth black. The peasantry use no cradles. The babe is placed on a mattress, inclosed in[Pg 173] a frame like that used for embroidery, and suspended from the ceiling by four cords, after the manner of the Hindoos. Russian fathers, of all classes, generally arrange marriages for their children, without consulting their inclinations. Among the peasantry, if a girl has the name of being a good housewife, her parents will not fail to have applications for her, whatever may be her age, or personal endowments. As soon as a young man is old enough to be married, his parents seek a wife for him, and all is settled before the young couple know any thing of the matter. Porter gives very unfavorable ideas of the morality of the Russian nobility. He says the marriage tie is little regarded, but the women are less profligate than the men. It ought, however, in justice, to be remembered that a traveller has a better chance to see the vices of a country, than its virtues. Although the Russians, in common with their neighbors of Sweden and Lapland, have an Asiatic fondness for frequent bathing, they are so dirty with regard to their garments, that even the wealthy are generally more or less infested with vermin.

The Cossack women are very cleanly and industrious. In the absence of their husbands they supply their places, by taking charge of all their usual occupations in addition to their own. It is rare for a Cossack woman not to know some trade, such as dyeing cloth, tanning leather, &c.

Throughout Russia all classes salute each other by kissing. “When a lady would only courtesy a welcome in England, she must kiss it in Russia;”[Pg 174] and if a man salutes her in this way, she must on no occasion refuse to return it.

The higher classes, both in Denmark and Sweden, imitate the French manners and customs very closely. The ladies generally have the northern physiognomy; viz. fair complexion, light hair, blue eyes, and a mild, clear expression. They have little of the ardor of the Italians, or the vivacity of the French. Ambition is more easily excited in their breasts than love. Their manners are modest and reserved. Gallantry toward ladies is not the characteristic of any of the northern nations. The Swedes are generally industrious and sincere, and perhaps there is no country in the world where women perform so much and such various labor. They serve the bricklayers, carry burdens, row boats, thresh grain, and manage the plough.

Swedish children are wrapped up in bandages like cylindrical wicker baskets, to keep them straight, from one to eighteen months old. They are suspended from pegs in the wall, or laid in any convenient part of the room, where they remain in great silence and good humor. M’Donald, in his Travels, says, “I have not heard the cries of a child since I came to Sweden.” Travellers in these northern countries are surprised to see women drink strong, spirituous liquors, with as much freedom as the men.

Among the half-savage Laplanders, this bad habit is carried to a great extent. There a lover cannot make a more acceptable present to the girl of his choice, than a bottle of brandy; and when he wishes[Pg 175] to gain the favor of her relations, he endeavors to do it by a liberal distribution of the same liquor.

The Icelanders, though living in a climate even more inclement, and exposed to equal fatigue while fishing in their stormy seas, are temperate in their habits, and at festive meetings rarely drink any thing but milk and water. They have a love of literature truly surprising among a people exposed to such continual danger and toil. It is contrary to law for a woman to marry unless she can read and write. When darkness covers the land, and their little huts are almost buried in snow, one of the family reads some instructive volume, by the light of a lamp, while the others listen to him, as they perform their usual avocations. “In these regular evening readings the master of the family always begins, and he is followed by the rest in their turn. Even during their daily in-door labors, while some are employed in making ropes of wool, or horse-hair, some in preparing sheep-skin for fishing dresses, or in spinning, knitting, or weaving, one of the party generally reads aloud for the amusement and instruction of the whole. Most farm-houses have a little library, and they exchange books with each other. As these houses are scattered over a wild country, and far apart, the only opportunity they have of making these exchanges is when they meet at church; and there a few always contrive to be present, even in the most inclement weather.”

The dress of the Icelanders is neat, without any effort to be ornamental. Families are almost invariably[Pg 176] clothed in garments spun and woven at home. It is needless to say that a people with such habits cherish the domestic virtues, and treat their women with kindness.

The general manners of the modern Greeks are the same, whether they live in Constantinople or the various islands of the Archipelago. In cities, women rarely appear in public, even at churches, till they are married. In their houses certain rooms are appropriated to the ladies and their attendants, to carry on embroidery and other feminine employments. The men have separate apartments. Female slaves are treated with great gentleness. Some adopt them when very young, and call them “children of their souls.” Like the Greeks of old, some trusty female slave is often the nurse, confidant, and friend of her mistress. A woman of any consideration never appears abroad without one servant at least; and those who affect display, are attended by an innumerable troop. The Greek ladies present their hand to be kissed by their children or inferiors. Young girls salute each other in a singular manner; they hold each other by the ears while they kiss the eyes. The wealthy Greeks, like the Turks, are exceedingly fond of expensive jewels. The ladies often dress themselves in the most splendid manner, without any expectation of seeing company, merely to indulge their own fancy, or that of their husbands. Their marriage ceremonies in many respects resemble those of their classic ancestors. The evening preceding the wedding, the bride is conducted to the[Pg 177] bath, accompanied by music and attendants. The next day, she proceeds with slow and solemn pace to the church, adorned with all the jewels she can obtain, and covered with a rose-colored veil. A blazing torch is carried before her, and a long procession follows. At the altar both bride and bridegroom are crowned with flowers, which are frequently exchanged in the course of the ceremony. They have likewise two wedding rings, which are exchanged and re-exchanged several times. Immediately after the benediction, a cup of wine is offered to the young couple, and afterward to the witnesses of the marriage. When the bride arrives at her new home, she is lifted over the threshold, it being considered ominous for her feet to touch it. She likewise walks over a sieve covered with a carpet. She is seated on a sofa in the corner of the room, and there expected to remain downcast and immovable, amid all the music, and dancing, and gayety around her. Every guest, as he comes into the room, passes by her, and throws a piece of money in her lap, which she deposits in a small silver box, without moving her lips, or raising her eyes. The festival is kept up three days, during which time the bride does not utter a word except it be in a whisper to some of her female attendants. Marriages usually take place on Sunday, and the bride is not allowed to leave the house until the Sunday following. Custom demands that some dowry should be in readiness, and even a beautiful woman is more acceptable for not being entirely destitute. The Albanian girls carry their[Pg 178] marriage portions on their scarlet caps, which are covered with paras and piastres, like scales. Peasant girls will undergo the greatest fatigue to add a para to this cherished hoard. They often get a large price for old coins found among the ruins; but sometimes no money will tempt them to sell it, because they believe a certain charm resides in the legend round the coin. The Greeks have universally a strong belief in omens, signs, and oracles. When they drink to the health of a bridal pair, they always accompany it with the wish that no evil eye, or malignant influence, may blight their happiness. They are a gay and lively people, exceedingly fond of music and dancing, which in their fine climate are often enjoyed in the open air. Their character is ardent and susceptible in the extreme; and the reality of love is very apt to be tested by the suddenness of the impression. Girls are often married at ten years of age, and bachelors are very uncommon. Except in the large towns, and among the opulent classes, matches are rarely made from interested motives, and divorces scarcely ever occur.

The inhabitants of ancient Lesbos were said to be dissolute in their manners; and the island (now called Metelin) still bears the same character. The women of Scio are said to be peculiarly handsome and engaging in their manners. They may be seen at the doors and windows, twisting silk, or knitting; and when a traveller appears, they not only invite him into their houses, but urge him with playful earnestness. Their object is partly friendly hospitality,[Pg 179] and partly a wish to sell some of the handsome purses for which Scio is celebrated. They have learned to offer them in the language of many nations; and Frenchman, Italian, or Swede, is likely to hear himself addressed, in his own tongue, from various quarters, “Come and look at some handsome purses, sir.” But this frankness is so obviously innocent, that a profligate man would never mistake it for boldness.

The dead are carried to the grave in a kind of open litter, with the face uncovered. When a young maiden dies, she is covered with rich garments, and crowned with a garland. As the bier passes along the streets, women throw roses, and scatter perfumed waters upon it.

At various epochs of their history, the Greek women have evinced heroism worthy of the ancient Spartans. They have fought against the Turks with the resolute and persevering bravery of disciplined warriors, and sought death in its most horrid forms to save themselves from infamy. A woman of Cyprus, with the consent of her daughters, set fire to the powder-magazine in which they were concealed, because they preferred this fate to the sultan’s seraglio; and this was but one of many instances of similar resolution. The captain of a Greek gun-brig, famous for his bravery during the dreadful scene at Napoli di Romania, was treacherously murdered by order of the capitan pacha, at Constantinople. To avenge his death, his widow built three ships at her own expense, of which during the war she took the command, accompanied by her two sons.

[Pg 180]

The Greeks are very ignorant; but both men and women generally evince a desire to receive books, and have schools established among them. Females of the lower class often labor hard in the fields, and thereby lose the beauty for which their country-women are distinguished. Madox speaks of seeing women in the Greek islands winnowing corn, who looked like the witches in Macbeth.

In giving this brief outline of European manners, either in the middle ages or modern times, the poor have been nearly left out of the account. In the middle ages, nobles treated their vassals as slaves. They were scantily fed, miserably clothed, obliged to marry according to the dictates of a master, and seldom addressed in any better language than “villain,” or “base hound.” The condition of Polish and Russian serfs in modern times is about the same. The Polish peasant women have scarcely clothing enough for decency, and the hardships and privations to which they are subjected destroy every vestige of good looks. In Russia, women have been seen paving the streets, and performing other similar drudgery. In Finland, they work like beasts of burden, and may be seen for hours up to the middle in snow-water, tugging away at boats and sledges. In Flanders, girls carry heavy baskets of coal to market strapped on their shoulders. The old peasant women in France are said to be frightfully ugly, in consequence of continued toil and exposure to the weather. In England, it is not unusual to see poor women scraping up manure from the streets, with[Pg 181] their hands, and gathering it into baskets. In a word, there is no part of Europe where an American would not see the novel sight of females laboring in the fields, or carrying burdens in the streets, without a bonnet to shield them from sun or rain.

But the European structure of society differs from that of Asiatic nations or savage tribes in the comparative equality of labor between the sexes; if poor women are obliged to work hard, poor men are so likewise; they do not, like Orientals, sit in idleness, while women perform nearly all the drudgery. In some districts, such as Croatia, Morlachia, &c. women have more than their share of toil. In Savoy and the north of Italy, emigration, for the purpose of gaining a livelihood in other countries, is general among the peasantry, especially during the winter. In some districts it is uncommon to find a tenth part of the male population at home. The women and children take care of the goats, sheep, and cattle, do all the out-of-door work, and spin and weave garments for their absent husbands.

Nearly all the amusements of modern times are shared by the women as well as the men. No recreations are more universally enjoyed by all nations, and all classes, than music and dancing. In the splendid saloons of the wealthy and the fashionable they are introduced in a thousand forms, to vary the excitements of life; and the toil-worn peasant dancing with the girl of his heart, with the green-sward for his carpet, and heaven for his canopy, has enjoyment that princes might sigh for in vain. A traveller,[Pg 182] speaking of Greek dances, says: “Though the company was generally composed of boatmen, fishermen, and donkey drivers, with their wives, daughters, sisters, or sweethearts, I have seen more beauty and grace, and infinitely more spirit and gayety, than it has been my lot to meet in saloons luminous with chandeliers, and furnished with all the appurtenances of luxury.” The Irish are extravagantly fond of dancing. Weddings and other festivals are celebrated with much dancing, and Sunday rarely passes without it. Dancing-masters travel through the country, from cabin to cabin, with a piper or blind fiddler, and their pay is sixpence a quarter. The waltz is a graceful dance of German origin. Modest matrons formerly objected to their daughters waltzing with gentlemen, on account of the frequent intertwining of arms, and clasping each other’s waists; but this is now common in the fashionable circles of Europe, not only among the voluptuous nations of the South, but with the more reserved inhabitants of the North. The waltz is said to have been danced at Luther’s wedding, when he married the nun.

Theatrical representations are as open to women as to men, though custom requires that they should not appear in such public places without some protector. In Spain, no man is allowed to enter the boxes appropriated to women; but in other places, the male and female members of the same family, or the same party, sit together. The public performances called opera-dancing can never be witnessed by[Pg 183] a modest woman for the first time, without feelings of shame; yet they are sanctioned by fashion. There has been about an equal degree of male and female talent for dramatic acting. Women who adopt this profession are not generally respected, because it is taken for granted that their morals are not very severe; but many have risen to high rank, in consequence of powerful talent, and purity of character. The nobility and gentry of Europe have very frequently intermarried with distinguished actresses.

In Holland and Russia, skating is a favorite amusement both with men and women. The Friesland women often make a match to contend for a prize. At one of these races, which took place in 1805, one of the competitors was past fifty, and many only fifteen. A girl about twenty gained the principal prize, which was a golden ornament for the head; another, sixteen years old, gained the second prize, a coral necklace with a gold clasp. It is stated that the former skated a mile in something less than two minutes and a half. They commonly go two and two, each with an arm round the other’s waist, or one before the other, holding by the hand; but sometimes thirty persons may be seen skating all together, and holding each other by the hand.

In Catholic countries festival days are too numerous to be described. During the Carnival there is one universal spirit of gayety and fun. People appear abroad in all manner of fantastic carriages, and masquerade dresses. Buffoons, peasant girls, Gipseys, Tartar warriors, and Indian queens, are mingled[Pg 184] together in grotesque confusion. People pelt each other with sugar-plums, or with small comfits made of plaster of Paris and flour, until they look as if a sack of meal had been shaken over them. Beautiful girls have showers of bon-bons bestowed, as they pass along; and not unfrequently these sweet gifts are contained in fanciful little baskets tied with ribbons. On certain days it is allowable to play all manner of mischievous pranks; these are called intruding days, and probably have the same origin as our April-fool day.

Easter is ushered in with great religious pomp and pageantry. No person meets another without kissing him on each side of his face and saying, “Christ is risen!” The answer uniformly is, “He is risen indeed!” On Easter Monday begins the presentation of the paschal eggs, which have been previously blessed by the priest. These ornamental eggs, either of glass, porcelain, or gold, or real eggs with fanciful colors and patterns, are presented by lovers to their mistresses, by friends to each other, and by servants to their masters. The poorest peasant, when he presents his paschal egg and repeats the words, “Christ is risen!” may demand a kiss even of the empress. All business is laid aside. The rich devote themselves to suppers, balls, and masquerades, while the poor sing and carouse in the streets.

Christmas is observed with great festivity in Protestant countries, as well as Catholic. All the schools give a vacation, that families may be enabled to meet together round the merry Christmas table. The[Pg 185] custom of bestowing presents is universal. In some places, a large bough, called the Christmas tree, is prepared the evening previous, and the boxes, baskets, trinkets, &c. sent by friends are suspended on the branches, with the name of the person for whom they are intended affixed to them. There is great eagerness, particularly among the children of a family, to ascertain what are their Christmas gifts. Houses are decorated with evergreens. In Great Britain, a branch of misletoe is hung up in great state, and a man may claim kisses of any woman who passes under it, plucking off a berry at each kiss. Both at Easter and Christmas it is customary to lay aside the distinctions of rank, to a certain extent, in imitation of the “meek and lowly” founder of the Christian religion. The old barons and their vassals shared the same Christmas luxuries at the same loaded table; and even now, a servant may, without offence, kiss the daughter of his lady, if she chance to stand under the misletoe. On this occasion, the rich are expected to give bountifully to the poor.

The custom of bestowing gifts on the first of January, accompanied with wishes for a happy new year, is universal, according to the custom of the old Romans, on the Kalends of January. Almost every lover, husband, and parent, makes it a point to provide some acceptable present for the objects of his affection. On this day there is a great rivalry who shall call the earliest upon friends with the compliments of the season. In France, every man is expected to present[Pg 186] bon-bons, at least, to the ladies of his acquaintance; and whoever visits a Parisian belle on the first of January, will find her table covered with the jewels, gloves, perfumes, and artificial flowers, that have been presented in the course of the day. The ancient Romans had a similar custom on the Kalends of January.

The first of May was formerly observed with the pageantry of processions, music, dancing, and oxen decorated with ribbons and flowers. This festival is still observed in most parts of Europe. People of all classes go out into the fields to gather flowers and green branches, which they often leave in baskets at the door of some friend, accompanied with a poetical welcome to Spring. In most villages a May-pole is erected, decorated with garlands and ribbons, around which the young people dance right joyfully. The favorite of the village is usually chosen queen of May, and crowned with flowers. It was an old superstition that the first dew gathered in May was peculiarly beneficial to the complexion.

The limits of this work will not permit even a passing allusion to the numerous games and festivals of modern times; it is sufficient to say that women join in all, except those which are fatiguing and dangerous.

The habits and employments of fashionable circles are nearly the same throughout Christendom; the general tone of their manners is taken from the French and English, and is sometimes a compound of both. Their infants are almost always nourished and taken[Pg 187] care of by hired nurses. The fashion of dress, which varies more rapidly than the changing seasons, is an all-absorbing object of interest. The time that is not spent with mantuamakers, milliners, jewellers, and dressing maids, is devoted to parties, morning calls, and amusements, with an occasional exertion of ingenuity in some light fancy-work. Many of the court ladies of Bavaria are said to have no other employment than changing their dresses many times a day, and playing with their numerous parrots, dogs, and cats. But in every country there are among the wealthy classes honorable exceptions to these remarks—women who appear with elegance, without suffering dress to engross their thoughts, and who can find time for the graceful courtesies of life, without neglecting the cultivation of their minds, or the care of their children. In recent times, it is very common for ladies to form societies for various charitable purposes. Women of different nations sometimes unite their efforts for the same object; thus the English ladies joined with the German, to support the numerous Saxon orphans, who lost their parents in the wars of 1813. Sometimes the members of such societies busy themselves, for months together, in preparing useful and elegant articles, and afterwards sell them at a fair, which their friends and acquaintances are, of course, generally desirous to attend.

In many parts of Europe the peasantry do not change their style of dress in the course of centuries; but each of the innumerable districts has a fashion[Pg 188] peculiar to itself. They are distinguished from the same classes of women in Asia, by going with their faces uncovered, and almost universally dressing modestly high in the neck. Among the wealthy, female decorum is often sacrificed on the altar of unblushing fashion.

Beautiful hair is now, as it always has been, considered the greatest external ornament of woman; and it is one with which the poor are often endowed, as well as the rich. An Oxfordshire lass, with remarkably beautiful hair, was courted by a young man, whose friends objected to the match, unless the girl’s parents would bestow fifty pounds as a dowry. She went to London, sold her hair to a wig-maker for sixty pounds, and triumphantly returned with the requisite sum. The daughter of an English clergyman, who had left his family in poverty, sold her own rich profusion of glossy ringlets, to buy books for her brother in college. A poor young German girl, who lived at service, had very long auburn hair, so remarkable for its beauty, that wealthy ladies repeatedly offered her large sums for it. She could never be persuaded to part with it; but when, during the grievous wars of 1812 and 13, she saw the rich and the noble giving their jewels for the relief of poor soldiers, her shining tresses “of brown in the shadow, and gold in the sun,” were silently and cheerfully laid on the altar of patriotism. Who, after this, will say that beautiful hair, or any other outward adorning, is the greatest ornament of woman?

[Pg 189]

The Catholics, Lutherans, and Episcopalians, usually celebrate their marriages in church. Pope Innocent the Third is said to have been the first who instituted this custom. Centuries ago, the ceremony was performed at the door of the church, as if the interior of the building were too holy for the purpose; but now the young couple kneel before the altar, to receive their nuptial benediction. The Catholics consider marriage as one of the sacraments.

During the time of Cromwell, the Puritans, in their zeal to change all popish customs, good or bad, ordered that marriages should be performed by magistrates, instead of priests; but the old custom was restored by Charles, and though marriages under the previous law were declared valid, many were so scrupulous about the sanction of the church, that they were re-married by clergymen. The Roman Catholic clergy are still required to live in celibacy, unless the pope grants them an especial license to take a wife; and great numbers, both of men and women, seclude themselves in convents, from the idea that there is a peculiar sanctity in single life. In the Greek church, women under fifty years of age are not allowed to become nuns; their priests are required to marry, but in case of a wife’s death are never permitted to marry again. Among the Protestants, I believe there is but one sect, who consider matrimony unholy: the Shakers even require husband and wife to separate when they join their community.

The wedding ceremonies vary in particulars, in different nations and districts, but there is a general[Pg 190] resemblance between all the Christian forms. The intention of marriage is proclaimed in the church, on three successive public days, in order that any one who has legal objections to the match, may have an opportunity to make them known. When the bride and bridegroom stand before the altar, the priest says to the man, “Wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife, to live together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt thou love, honor, and comfort her, and keep her in sickness and in health; and forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, so long as ye both shall live?” The bridegroom answers, “I will.” The same question is then asked of the bride, excepting that she is required to “obey and serve,” as well as “love and honor.” Then her father, or guardian, giveth her to the bridegroom, who takes her by the right hand, saying, “I take thee, ——, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth.” The bride then takes him by the right hand and repeats the same form, with the addition of the word “obey.” The bridegroom then puts a golden ring on the fourth finger of her left hand, saying, “With this ring I thee wed, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow; in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.” They then kneel before the altar, while the priest utters a prayer for their temporal and eternal welfare;[Pg 191] at the close of which, he joins their hands together, saying, “What God has joined together, let no man put asunder.” Among many of the Protestant sects, weddings are not celebrated in the church, but at the house of the bride’s father, or some near relation. The members of the society of Friends have neither priest nor magistrate to officiate at the ceremony. The bride and bridegroom take each other by the hand, and make the required vows to each other, in presence of the congregation and the elders; a public record of the transaction is made, and attested by witnesses. This society do not allow their members to marry individuals of a different creed. In some parts of Switzerland, a marriage between a Protestant and a Catholic is illegal.

It is a general idea that white is the most proper color for a bridal dress. Garlands and bouquets of orange-buds, and other purely white blossoms, are almost universally worn; and pearls are considered the most appropriate jewels. In Holland, the apartment in which the bride habitually resides, and all the furniture in it, are decorated with garlands; every thing belonging to the bridegroom, even his pipe and tobacco box, is adorned in the same manner; and a triumphal arch is erected before the house, or festoons suspended at the entrance. Among the Tyrolese, and in several other parts of Europe, it is customary for the young couple to be escorted to church by a gay procession, wearing flowers and ribbons, dancing, playing on instruments of music, and firing pistols by the way. A part of Bohemia,[Pg 192] called Egra, seems to be the only place where a wedding is not considered an occasion of rejoicing. There it would be deemed indecorous for the bride to appear in white garments, or adorn herself with jewels and flowers. She wears her usual black dress, with a cloak of the same color, with a rosary in one hand, and in the other a veil, with which to cover her during the ceremony. In this dismal attire, she demurely proceeds to church, attended by relations, who preserve the utmost solemnity of countenance.

In Lapland, it is death to marry a girl without consent of her friends. When a young man proposes marriage, the friends of both parties meet to witness a race between them. The girl is allowed at starting the advantage of a third part of the race; if her lover does not overtake her, it is a penal offence for him ever to renew his offers of marriage. If the damsel favors his suit, she may run hard at first, to try his affection, but she will be sure to linger before she comes to the end of the race. Thus no marriages are made contrary to inclination, and this is the probable reason of so much domestic contentment in Lapland.

In the cold climates of Lapland and Iceland, the bride, instead of garlands, wears a crown of silver gilt. In Russia, the priest places silver crowns on the heads of both the young couple; at the marriages of people of rank, these crowns are held over their heads by attendants. In some districts, the peasant bride wears a wreath of wormwood; and in that country of perpetual flagellation, it is an appropriate[Pg 193] emblem of her unhappy lot. After the nuptial benediction is pronounced, it is likewise customary to throw a handful of hops on her head, with the wish that she may prove as fruitful as that vine. In some Russian villages, it is customary, before the bridal procession go to church, for a choir of young girls to chant this epithalamium: “A falcon flies in pursuit of a dove. Charming dove, are you ready? Your mate is come to seek you.” The bride timidly answers, “Yes;” and the procession moves forward. After the wedding ceremony is performed, the bridegroom has a right to give his bride “the kiss of love,” holding her by the ears. The Sclavonian women, for a week previous to their marriage, are expected to kiss every man who visits them, in token of general respect and friendship for the sex. Some nations consider the ceremony of betrothal nearly as solemn as that of marriage. Among the Tyrolese, the father of the lover proceeds to the house of the beloved, accompanied by his younger sons, carrying baskets of honey-comb and aromatic plants. When he arrives, she and all her friends rise and salute him. “Welcome, my friend,” says the head of the family; “what brings thee among us?” He replies, “As thou art a father, let me put a question to thy daughter.” He then steps up to the maiden, kisses her forehead, and says: “God bless thee, lovely girl, who remindest me of the days of my youth. I have a son; he loves thee. Wilt thou make my declining years happy?” If the damsel is too much embarrassed to reply, her mother, who is the confidant[Pg 194] of her sentiments, answers for her. The young man is then introduced, and receives a kiss from his new parents, and his future bride. Sometimes, in order to try the sincerity of their son’s attachment, the old people will not allow him to be formally betrothed to the object of his choice, till he has made a tour into Switzerland, Bavaria, or Italy, to sell some of the productions of the country. “Go, earn thy wife,” say they; “a good husband must be able to earn bread for his family.” The lover almost invariably returns unchanged, bringing the proceeds of his industry, with the ribbons still waving from his hat, which had been placed there by the idol of his heart.

In some parts of Russia young people are solemnly betrothed, in presence of their families. A garment of skin is spread on the ground, and the young people kneel upon it. When they have interchanged rings, the girl’s father places on their heads one of the household saints, and pronounces a blessing. In former times, he gave his daughter a few smart strokes of the whip, and then delivered the instrument of punishment to his future son-in-law, to signify that he transferred authority to him; but this brutal custom is now abolished. Russian husbands were formerly intrusted with power of life and death over their wives and children; but this law is ameliorated. In Scotland and some other parts of Great Britain, lovers, when they plight their troth to each other, break a small coin, and each one wears half of it next the heart.

[Pg 195]

In Scotland, a mutual promise to consider each other husband and wife, if it be given in the presence of two witnesses, constitutes a lawful marriage; and in that country, as well as some parts of Germany, if a man makes public acknowledgment that he considers a woman as his wife, it gives her, and all the children she may have borne to him, the same legal rights they would have had, if the marriage had been duly solemnized.

In the polished circles of Europe, whose marriages are generally made par convenance, the affianced couple do not have frequent opportunities of seeing each other, without the presence of friends. If a gentleman prolonged a visit to his lady after the family had retired to rest, it would be regarded as extremely ungenteel and ridiculous, and in many places would by no means be permitted.

In North Holland, a singular degree of freedom is allowed. A lover comes every Sunday evening “to have a talk” with the girl of his heart, and, having chosen some place apart from the rest of the family, often remains until daybreak. A custom called kweesten likewise prevails here, as well as in some parts of Switzerland and Wales. In this case, if the girl is coy, her admirer watches an opportunity to get in at her chamber window, and there urges his suit. This is so far from being considered any harm, that parents, who have marriageable daughters, do not scruple to leave a window open for the express purpose. Those who are shocked at this custom, will do well to remember that great restraints imposed[Pg 196] upon young people, however necessary they may be, are always an indication of a corrupt state of society.

It is a general custom in all parts of Christendom for parents to give a dowry with their daughters, proportioned to their wealth; even the poorest generally contrive to bestow a few articles of clothing or furniture. It is likewise an universal practice for friends to send presents to the bride, a few days previous to the wedding. When the Welsh peasantry are about to enter into the matrimonial state, they send a man round to invite their friends, and to declare that any donations they may please to bestow will be gratefully received, and cheerfully repaid on a similar occasion. After the wedding party have partaken a frugal entertainment of bread and cheese, a plate is placed on the table to collect money from the guests; and the young couple generally receive as much as fifty or a hundred pounds to furnish their household establishment. The village girls, in nearly all countries, are ambitious about having a few pieces of cloth, and coverlids, woven in readiness for their marriage portion; but in cities, the extreme poverty of the poor usually prevents even this simple preparation. In the Greek island of Himia, the inhabitants gain a livelihood by obtaining sponges for the Turkish baths; and no girl is allowed to marry, till she has proved her dexterity by bringing up from the sea a certain quantity of this marketable article.

Before the time of Francis the First, one hundred[Pg 197] livres, about fifty pounds, was considered a very handsome dowry for a young lady; but at the present time, a fashionable and wealthy bride would expend a larger sum than that upon a single mirror. In all countries a feast is given to relations and friends, on the occasion of a daughter’s wedding; and the entertainment is more or less bountiful and splendid, according to the circumstances of the bride’s family.

After the ceremony is performed, all the guests congratulate the newly married pair, and wish them joy. The young couple generally choose from among their intimate friends some individuals to officiate as bride’s maids and groom’s men. These friends are dressed in bridal attire, and during the wedding ceremony stand on each side of the bride and bridegroom. In some places, the maidens chosen for this office carry the bride’s gloves and handkerchief. In France, some people still retain the old custom of having a silken canopy supported over the heads of a young couple, by their attendants. Those who affect display have five or six bride’s maids, and as many groom’s men; but it is more common to have one or two of each. The groom’s men are expected to make presents to the bride, and to be among the earliest friends, who call at her new abode. The wedding cake is usually much decorated with flowers, and sugar-work of various kinds. This is offered to all visiters, and a slice neatly done up in paper, and tied with white ribbons, is usually sent to intimate friends. The superstitious depend very much upon having a piece of wedding cake to place under[Pg 198] their pillows; and if nine new pins from the bride’s dress are placed in it, the charm is supposed to be doubly efficacious. The object is to dream of the individuals they are destined to marry. Sometimes names are written on small slips of paper, rolled up, and placed beside the cake; and the first one taken out in the morning reveals the name of the future spouse.

The Tyrolese place a similar value upon the bride’s garland, and the pins that fasten it. The bride scatters flowers from a basket among the young men of her acquaintance; and these flowers prognosticate their future fortunes; the honeysuckle and alpine lily promise uncommon prosperity, but the foxglove is an omen of misfortune. The Tyrolese bridegroom distributes ribbons among the girls, to the different colors of which they likewise attach prophetic meaning. The Dutch treat their wedding-guests with a kind of liquor called “the bride’s tears;” and small bottles of it, adorned with white and green ribbons, are sent as presents to friends, accompanied with boxes of sweetmeats.

The time between the avowed intention of marriage and the performance of the bridal ceremony varies in different places, and among different ranks. One year seems to be the most general period of courtship; but people of rank are often contracted to each other several years before marriage; and in all nations there are some individuals who marry after a few months’ or a few weeks’ acquaintance.

In Prussia, men are allowed to form what is called a left-handed marriage, in which the ceremonies are[Pg 199] similar to other marriages, excepting that the left hand is used instead of the right. Under these circumstances, neither the wife nor the children assume the name of the husband, or live in his house, or have a legal claim to dower, or succeed to his estate and titles; but they receive what he pleases to give them during his lifetime, and at his death such legacies as are named in his will. These marriages are principally formed by poor nobles, who already have large families. European monarchs are not allowed to marry into any other than royal families; but they sometimes form left-handed marriages with women, who will not consent to be theirs on less honorable terms.

By the Prussian laws, a man may be imprisoned, and fined half his fortune, or earnings, if he refuses to marry a woman, whom he has deceived with false promises. If he runs away, the woman may be married to him by proxy, and have a legal claim upon him for the maintenance of herself and child.

The laws of most Christian countries do not allow females to dispose of themselves before they are twenty-one years old. If a girl over fourteen marries without the knowledge of her parents, they cannot render the contract void; but if they know of her intention, they have power to forbid the union until she is of age. The consent of both parents is almost universally asked before young people are betrothed; but after they are of age, the opposition of parents cannot prevent marriage, unless the lovers choose to submit, from motives of duty, or filial affection.

[Pg 200]

By the English laws, it is felony to abduct an heiress, even if her consent to matrimony is obtained after forcible abduction. He who compels a woman to marry by threats is subject to a very heavy fine, and two years’ imprisonment. If any girl is forced or persuaded to marry, before she is twelve years old, the ceremony can be declared null and void. Very severe laws are made to protect females from personal insult. Either man or woman may sue for a breach of promise of marriage, and recover a sum of money according to the aggravated nature of the circumstances. If a father is displeased with his daughter’s marriage, he can refuse to bestow any dowry, and can make a will to prevent her receiving any portion of his fortune. Hereditary estates and titles do not descend to daughters so long as any sons are living; but fathers can leave them by will such estates as are not restricted by some settlement or entail. As a general rule, parents bequeath a larger proportion to sons than daughters; but where there is no will, property is equally divided. Among the rich, who settle marriage contracts with all possible formality, the bridegroom often binds himself to pay a certain annual sum to his wife, for her own peculiar use, which is called pin-money. This phrase probably originated in ancient times, when ornamental pins constituted an important and expensive part of a lady’s dress. It is deemed the husband’s business to purchase furniture, and put the house in readiness for his bride.

Not long ago, an English judge decided that the[Pg 201] law allowed a man to beat his wife with a stick as big as his thumb; whereupon the ladies sent a request that his thumb might be accurately measured. In the present state of public opinion, any man who availed himself of such permission would be disgraced. Among the lower classes, a husband sometimes puts a rope round his wife’s neck, and sells her in the market; but this is an adherence to old custom not sanctioned by any law.

A husband is bound to pay all the debts his wife may have contracted since she became of age, whether he knew of their existence or not; if she dies before payment is completed, his liability ceases. If a wife is driven away by ill usage, she can claim a separate maintenance, but the husband is no longer liable for her debts; and if she runs away from his house, it is common to put an advertisement in the newspapers warning people that he has ceased to be responsible for expenses she may incur. Both parties can claim divorce, with leave to marry again, in cases of criminal intercourse. Where a woman claims divorce, the husband is adjudged to afford her a maintenance suitable to his wealth; when a man seeks divorce, the wife’s paramour is condemned to pay damages according to the discretion of the court. The court likewise decide with which of the separated parties the children are to remain. Some individuals, especially officers of the army and navy have thought there was something contemptible in adjudging a sum of money in reparation of so great an injury, and have chosen to revenge themselves by[Pg 202] single combat; but the opinion of the civilized world has been growing more and more opposed to duelling; and it is to be hoped that the last traces of it will soon disappear before the light of the Gospel.

A woman cannot dispose of any property, or bring an action at law, in her own name, during the lifetime of her husband; her signature to a note is of no legal value, because the law considers her as under the guardianship of her husband, and all her property as his. A widow is entitled to one third of her husband’s estate, and any proportion of it may be inherited by his will. Among the wealthy, the bridegroom, before marriage, often settles a jointure upon his bride, which cuts off her right of dower. If a man transfers any landed property without his wife’s signature thereto, the purchaser always remains liable to relinquish a third of it to the widow. Whatever a woman earns, or inherits by legacy, becomes her husband’s, and may be seized by his creditors, or a proportion of it divided among his relations, if he dies without children. To avoid these risks, the whole, or a part of a woman’s fortune, whether inherited before or after marriage, is often put in the hands of trustees, for her especial use. This places it out of the power of creditors, unless it can be shown that the transfer was made with fraudulent intentions.

In Germany such precautions are unnecessary, because the law protects every article of a woman’s property from the creditors of her husband. In France, a widow has no claim on any part of her husband’s fortune, unless he dies without relations,[Pg 203] or a particular contract to that effect has been made previous to marriage; but she always retains a right to her dowry, and to any donations or legacies made to her. When a man has no children, he often wills his whole fortune to his wife; and if he has a family, leaves her one quarter of it, or half the income for life. It is likewise a common thing for women to bestow their fortunes on surviving husbands, by will. The right of primogeniture ceased with hereditary estates and titles; and all the children of a French family now inherit an equal share of their parents’ property.

If a Spaniard has heirs in direct succession, his widow can claim only one fifth of the estate, out of which she is obliged to pay the funeral expenses. European women drop the name of their fathers when they marry, and assume that of their husbands. A woman cannot recover damages for breach of promise of marriage, either in France or Spain. In France, and some parts of Germany, in addition to the usual causes for divorce, it is allowable, whenever both parties appear before magistrates, at successive periods, (the interval between which is prescribed by law,) and persevere in expressing a mutual wish for separation. Exceptions are frequently made to the usual laws, in favor of crowned heads. Philip, landgrave of Hesse, applied to Luther for permission to divorce his wife, and marry another, because his princess was plain in her person, sometimes intoxicated, and had a disagreeable breath. The royal petitioner threatened to apply to the pope for a dispensation,[Pg 204] in case of refusal; and the synod of six reformers, convoked by Luther, contrived to find good reasons for granting his request. In later times, Napoleon divorced Josephine, by decree of the senate, because she brought him no children.

The women of Christian countries generally nurse their children about one year; though many exceed that time. Among the Catholics and Lutherans, the ceremony of baptism is usually performed privately at the house of the minister, soon after the birth of the child, because they are in haste to administer a rite which they deem necessary for salvation; but other Protestant sects have their children baptized in church, after divine service. The parents stand beside each other when their child is offered for baptism. The father takes the infant from its mother’s arms, and presents it to the priest, who sprinkles it with water, and bestows the baptismal name. Some people request several of their friends to stand as godfathers and godmothers at the baptism of their children. Wealthy relations are very apt to have this compliment paid them, because they are expected to make the infant a present, and bound by a promise at the altar to take some interest in its welfare.

In Holland, it is customary, so long as the mother keeps her room, to treat the children of the house and even of the neighborhood, with sugar-plums, which are rough if the babe is a boy, and smooth if a girl. In Russia, all married people who call to congratulate a friend for having become a mother are expected to slip a piece of money under her pillow, the wealthy usually give a ducat.

[Pg 205]

It is uncommon for European women to study medicine for the purpose of attending upon their own sex, in seasons of illness; but in some cases it is practised with great success.

Throughout Christendom, the law allows but one wife. Licentiousness abounds in all cities; it is not confined to a class of women avowedly depraved, but sometimes lurks beneath the garb of decency, and even of elegance. In villages there is a better state of things, because the influences of rural life are more pure, and young people generally form marriages of inclination. Even in thrifty Scotland, and phlegmatic Holland, matches of interest are common only among the wealthier classes.

European laws allow widows to marry again, and they very frequently do so, without the slightest imputation of impropriety; but in all nations, she who remains in perpetual widowhood is involuntarily regarded with peculiar respect. In some parts of Illyria and Dalmatia, if the bride or bridegroom have been previously married, but especially if the bride be a widow, the populace follow the wedding party, as they proceed to church, keeping up a continual din with frying-pans and shovels, and loading them with all manner of abuse; sometimes they gather round the house, and make hideous noises all night long, unless the newly married pair purchase exemption by the distribution of wine.

Some degree of blame is everywhere incurred by a widow who marries again within the time prescribed by custom; which is usually one year. Black is the[Pg 206] color of European mourning. The queens of France formerly wore white as an emblem of widowhood, and were therefore called reines blanches; but this custom was changed by Anne of Bretagne, who assumed black when Charles the Eighth died. The empress dowagers of Austria never lay aside their mourning, and their apartments are always hung with black. In England, the mourning worn on the death of any of the royal family is purple. The nieces of the pope never wear mourning for any relation.

I believe France is the only country in Europe where women do not inherit the crown. There has been a comparatively greater proportion of good queens, than of good kings. Perhaps it may be that women, distrustful of their own strength, pay more attention to the public voice, and their government thus acquires something of the character of elective monarchies. But independent of this circumstance, illustrious queens have generally purchased celebrity by individual strength of character. In England, nothing was more common than to hear the people talk of king Elizabeth and queen James. Margaret, queen of Denmark and Norway, was called the Semiramis of the North, on account of her capacity to plan and conduct great projects. Spain numbers among her sovereigns no one that can dispute precedence with the virtuous and highly-gifted Isabella of Castile. The annals of Africa furnish no example of a monarch equal to the brave, intelligent, and proud-hearted Zhinga, the negro queen of Angola;[Pg 207] and Catherine of Russia bears honorable comparison with Peter the Great. Blanche of Castile evinced great ability in administering the government of France, during the minority of her son; and similar praise is due to Caroline of England, during the absence of her husband.

In the walks of literature, women have gained abundant and enduring laurels; but it cannot be truly said that a Homer, a Shakspeare, a Milton, or a Newton have ever appeared among them. It is somewhat singular that instances of great genius in the fine arts have been more rare among women than any other manifestations of talent. Propertia da Rossi, of Bologna, and the Hon. Mrs. Damer, of England, did indeed gain a considerable degree of distinction as sculptors, and Angelica Kauffman had a high reputation as a painter; but these ladies have had few competitors. Yet in works requiring delicacy, ingenuity, imagination, and taste, women are proverbial for excellence.

When knowledge was confined to a few, and applied principally to the acquisition of languages, which are merely the external forms of thought, men were pedantic, and women were the same; for the correspondence between the character of the sexes is as intimate, as the affections and thoughts of the same individual. In these days, when knowledge is obtained to be applied to use,—when even that pretty and ever-varying toy, the kaleidoscope, is used to furnish new patterns at carpet-manufactories,—female literature is universally more or less practical.[Pg 208] Modern female writers are generally known to be women who can make a pudding, embroider a collar, or dance a cotillion, as well as their neighbors. It is no longer deemed a mark of intellect to despise the homelier duties, or lighter graces of the social system. This will, in time, probably make men more liberal with regard to female learning. A writer in the time of Charles the First says, “She that knoweth how to compound a pudding is more desirable than she who skilfully compoundeth a poem. A female poet I mislike at all times.” Within the last century it has been gravely asserted that “chemistry enough to keep the pot boiling, and geography enough to know the location of the different rooms in her house, is learning sufficient for a woman.” Byron, who was too sensual to conceive of a pure and perfect companionship between the sexes, would limit a woman’s library to a Bible and a cookery book. All this is poor philosophy and miserable wit. It is on a par with the dictatorial assertions of the Austrian emperor, that his people will be better subjects, and far more happy, if they are not allowed to learn to read.

One of the most striking characteristics of modern times is the tendency toward a universal dissemination of knowledge in all Protestant communities. It is now a very common thing for women to be well versed in the popular sciences, and to know other languages than their own; and this circumstance, independent of the liberality and sincerity induced by true knowledge, has very perceptibly diminished[Pg 209] the tendency to literary affectation. Pedantry is certainly not the vice of modern times; yet the old prejudice still lurks in the minds of men, who ought to be ashamed of it. It is by no means easy to find a man so magnanimous, as to be perfectly willing that a woman should know more than himself, on any subject except dress and cookery.

That women are more fond of ornament than men is probably true; but I doubt whether there is so much difference between the personal vanity of the sexes, as has been imagined. Dandies are a large class, if not a respectable one. No maiden lady was ever more irritable under a sense of personal deformity than were Pope and Byron; and Bonaparte was quite as vain of his small foot, as Madam de Staël of her beautiful arms.

In searching the history of women, the mild, unobtrusive domestic virtues, which constitute their greatest charm, and ought always to be the ground-work of their character, are not found on record. We hear of storms and tempests, and northern lights; but men do not describe the perpetual blessing of sunshine.

The personal bravery evinced by women at all periods excites surprise. We hear scarcely any thing of the Phœnician women, except that they agreed to perish in the flames, if their countrymen lost a certain battle, and that they crowned with flowers the woman who first made that motion in the council. The Moorish women of Spain were full of this fiery spirit. When Boabdil wept at taking[Pg 210] a farewell glance of beautiful Granada, his proud-hearted mother said, scornfully, “You do well to weep for it like a woman, since you would not defend it like a man.”

The old Hungarian women, when their country was invaded by the Turks, performed prodigies of valor; and now, among the predatory tribes of Illyria and Dalmatia, he who attempted to insult a girl, would find that she wore a dagger and pistol at her belt. But Christianity, which has done so much for woman—which, at a time when its pure maxims could produce nothing better, by reason of man’s own evils, brought forth the generous spirit of chivalry from the iron despotism of the middle ages—Christianity is removing the garlands from the bloody front of war, and teaching her sons and her daughters that evil must be “overcome with good.”

Women are apt to be more aristocratic than men; for the habits of their life compel attention to details, and consequently make them more observing of manners than of principles.

Where the Mohammedan religion prevails, man’s reason is taught to bow blindly to faith, and his affections have little freedom to seek their corresponding truth; in all such countries women are slaves.

At those periods when reason has run wild, and men have maintained that there was no such thing as unchangeable truth, but that every one made it, according to the state of his own will—at such times, there has always been a tendency to have men and women change places, that the latter might[Pg 211] command armies and harangue senates, while men attended to domestic concerns. These doctrines were maintained by infidels of the French revolution, and by their modern disciple, Fanny Wright.

Many silly things have been written, and are now written, concerning the equality of the sexes; but that true and perfect companionship, which gives both man and woman complete freedom in their places, without a restless desire to go out of them, is as yet imperfectly understood. The time will come, when it will be seen that the moral and intellectual condition of woman must be, and ought to be, in exact correspondence with that of man, not only in its general aspect, but in its individual manifestations; and then it will be perceived that all this discussion about relative superiority, is as idle as a controversy to determine which is most important to the world, the light of the sun, or the warmth of the sun.

[Pg 212]

WOMEN IN SLAVE-HOLDING COUNTRIES.

A separate article is appropriated to this subject, because slavery everywhere produces nearly the same effects on character; but the story is briefly told, because the details of that system are alike discreditable to man and woman. A recent writer who defends slavery has said that in slave-holding countries “women are not beasts of burden.” This is a gallant phrase to apply to all those ladies who live in countries where the traffic in human beings is not introduced, like a plague-spot, into the social system; but[Pg 213] the chief fault to be found with it is, that it is founded on the common mistake of leaving out of the estimate all those whose complexions are not perfectly white. In all slave-holding communities, colored women are emphatically “beasts of burden;” yet, under kindly influences, they are capable of the same moral and intellectual cultivation as other human beings.

One of the worst features of this polluting system is that female slaves are neither protected by law, or restrained by public opinion. Their masters own them as property, and have despotic control over their actions; and such is their degraded condition, that to be the mistress of a white man is an object of ambition rather than of shame. The same result would be produced upon any class of people under similar circumstances. They are taught from infancy that they have no character to gain or to lose; and their whole moral code consists in one maxim—obedience to the white men. The personal kindness of their masters, though founded on the most impure feelings, is likely to shelter them in some degree from harsh treatment, and to procure for them those articles of finery upon which all ignorant people place an inordinate value. The idea of obtaining money to purchase freedom is likewise a frequent incentive to immorality. It is not proposed to disgust the reader with a recapitulation of facts in proof of these remarks. It is sufficient to say that female virtue is a thing not even supposed to exist among slaves; and that when individual instances of it occur, it sometimes meets with severe castigation, and generally with contemptuous ridicule.

[Pg 214]

It may well be supposed that those who are delicately termed “favorite slaves,” sometimes become very pert and impudent, in consequence of their situation in their master’s family. A female slave in Baltimore was, for obvious reasons, very odious in the eyes of her mistress, who let no opportunity escape of getting her flogged for some misdemeanor, real or pretended. The master, for reasons equally obvious, was always reluctant to give orders for her punishment; but he was sometimes obliged to do so, for the sake of domestic peace. On such occasions, the slave flounced about the house, and boasted that every whipping he ordered her should cost him a handsome sum for broken china.

Stedman relates that Mrs. S—lk—r, of Surinam, having observed, among some newly imported slaves, a negro girl of remarkably fine figure and expressive countenance, immediately ordered the poor creature’s mouth, cheeks, and forehead to be burned with red-hot iron, and the tendon of her heel to be cut. These cruel orders were given from mere prospective jealousy of her husband; and to gratify this wicked passion, the unoffending girl was maimed and deformed for life.

One of the most observable effects produced by this system, is that it invariably induces the habit of not considering a large number of men, women, and children in the same light as other human beings; hence the most common maxims of justice and morality, recognised in all other cases, are not supposed to apply to slaves. The dimness of moral perception[Pg 215] and the obtuseness of moral feeling, produced by this state of things, sometimes come out in forms very shocking to those who are unaccustomed to the system. Miss G——, of South Carolina, being on a visit to an intimate friend of the writer, certain ladies, who were present, began to talk on the never-failing topic of domestics. “You do not have the trouble of such frequent changes,” said one of them to Miss G——; “but I should think you would find it very disagreeable to be surrounded by so many slaves.” “Not at all disagreeable,” replied the lady from South Carolina; “I have always been accustomed to blacks; I was nursed by one of them, of whom I was very fond. As for good looks, I assure you some of them are very handsome. I had a young slave, who was an extremely pretty creature. A gentleman, who visited at our house, became very much in love with her. One day she requested me to speak to that gentleman, for she did not wish to be his mistress, and he troubled her exceedingly. I did speak to him, begging him to change his conduct, as his attentions were very disagreeable to my slave. For a few weeks he desisted; but at the end of that time, he told me he must have that girl, at some rate or other; he offered me a very high price; I pitied the poor fellow, and sold her to him.”

Miss G—— was an unmarried woman, with correct ideas of propriety concerning those of her own color; but having been educated under a system that taught her to regard a portion of the human race as mere animals, she made the above remarks without[Pg 216] the slightest consciousness that there was any thing shameful in the transaction.

Pinckard, in his Notes on the West Indies, speaks in terms of strong disgust, of the entire want of modesty evinced by women in cases where their female slaves were concerned. “It is to the advantage of the hostess of a tavern,” says he, “that the female attendants of her family should be as handsome as she can procure them. Being slaves, the only recompense of their services is the food they eat, the hard bed they sleep on, and the few loose clothes which are hung upon them. One privilege, indeed, is allowed them, which you will be shocked to know; and this offers the only hope they have of procuring a sum of money, wherewith to purchase their freedom: and the resource among them is so common, that neither shame nor disgrace attaches to it; but, on the contrary, she who is most sought becomes an object of envy, and is proud of the distinction shown her.

“One of our attendants at table appeared, both from her conversation and behavior, to be very superior to her degraded station. She had nothing of beauty, nor even prettiness of face, but she was of good figure, and of respectable and interesting demeanor, and, in point of intellect, far above her colleagues. Together with gentleness of manner, and an easy, pleasant address, she possesses a degree of understanding and ability which claim respect. In principle and in sentiment she appeared virtuous; and, from the frankness of her replies, it was evident that she knew no sense of wrong in her conduct.[Pg 217] We could not but lament, that the imperious habits of the country did not allow of her being placed as a more respectable member of society.

“This woman is the great support of the house—the bar-maid, and leading manager of the family. Her mistress had refused to take one hundred guineas for her; which, she assured us, had been offered by a gentleman, who would have purchased her. She has a very lively, interesting little daughter, a Mestee, about four years old. Of this child she spake with great tenderness, and appeared to bear it all the fond attachment of an affectionate parent. Yet, as the infant was born in slavery, should the mother by any means obtain her freedom, she cannot claim her child, but must leave it, still the disposable property of her mistress, equally liable to be sold as any other piece of furniture in the house.”

This same habit of putting slaves out of the pale of humanity, leads to great carelessness in sundering the ties of domestic affection. The slave mother and her little ones are advertised for sale “either singly, or in lots, to suit purchasers.” If the will of the purchaser separates them, the wretched parent in vain shrieks, “I can’t leave my children! I won’t leave my children!” With all the kind instincts of human nature strong within her, she is an article of property; and resistance is useless. In old times, when slavery was sanctioned in Massachusetts, a wealthy lady residing in Gloucester was in the habit of giving away the infants of her female slaves, a few days after they were born, as people are accustomed to[Pg 218] dispose of a litter of kittens. One of her neighbors begged an infant, which, in those days of comparative simplicity, she nourished with her own milk, and reared among her own children. This woman had an earnest desire for a brocade gown; and her husband not feeling able to purchase one, she sent her little nursling to Virginia, and sold her, when she was about seven years old.

People who have never been under the influence of this system, are reluctant to believe that slave-owners make no scruple of selling their own mulatto children; but those who have long resided in slave countries know perfectly well that it is a fact of frequent occurrence. One of the most singular instances of this kind occurred a few years since. Doctor W—— went into one of the south-western of the United States to settle as a physician. In one of the families where he visited in the course of his practice, he saw a girl in a humble situation, who was very handsome in her person, and modest in her manners. He became in love with her, and married her. Sometime after, a gentleman called, and announced himself as Mr. I—r—, of Mobile. “Sir,” said he, “I have a trifling affair of business to settle with you. You have married a slave of mine.” Dr. W—— was surprised and indignant; for he had supposed his wife to be perfectly white. But Mr. I—r— brought forward proofs of his assertion, and the unrighteous laws of the land supported his claim. After considerable discussion, the young man found he must either pay eight hundred dollars,[Pg 219] or suffer his wife to be sold at auction. He paid the money. When Mrs. W. was informed of the circumstance, she was in deep distress, and apologized to her husband for the concealment she had practised, by saying, “As Mr. I—r— is my own father, I did hope when I had found an honorable protector he would leave me in peace.”

Another great evil resulting from this system, is the tyrannical habits and impetuous passions that are unavoidably developed by early habits of despotic sway. The manner of speaking to a slave is almost universally haughty and contemptuous. Delicate, languid, and graceful ladies, who would cherish a lapdog, and shrink from harming a butterfly, will, in a moment of anger, seize the whip and chastise a slave for the slightest fault, and sometimes for errors, which in their calmer moments they discover were never committed. If all history did not prove that the possession of absolute power is apt to produce a species of insanity, it would be difficult to believe the occasional demonstrations of vindictive passions in slave countries.

A young man from Missouri lately related, at a public meeting in Ohio, the following circumstance which took place in his own state. A young slave, who had been much abused, ran away, after an unusually severe whipping. She returned in a few days, and was sent into the field to work. In consequence of excessive punishment she was very ill; and when she reached the house at night, she lay down on the floor exhausted. When her mistress spoke to her,[Pg 220] she made no reply. She again asked what was the matter, but received no answer. “I’ll see if I can’t make you speak,” exclaimed she, in a rage; and she applied red-hot tongs to her limbs and throat. The poor girl faintly whispered, “Oh, misse, don’t; I’m most gone”—and expired.

Such cruelties probably are not of common occurrence; but the habits of indolence, acquired by having slaves to obey every look, are universal. Ladies thus educated consider it a hardship to untie a string, or pick up a handkerchief that has fallen. A slave must be always near them to perform such offices. Even after the family have retired to rest, some of their locomotive machinery must be within call. A lady, having heard surprise expressed at this custom, replied with much earnestness, “Mercy! what should I, or my husband do, if we happened to want a glass of water in the night, and there was nobody near to bring it!” A little girl, whose parents removed from Massachusetts to South Carolina, complained that she had an utter aversion to going to school, it was so fatiguing to carry her books. All the other little girls had slaves to carry them.

Among the women of slave countries there is a tendency to mental as well as physical indolence. They are often more elegant and graceful than ladies educated under a more healthy system; but they are far less capable, industrious, and well-informed.

The slaves themselves are brutally ignorant. In several of the United States, there are very strict laws to prevent their learning the alphabet.

[Pg 221]

Early habits of allowed profligacy in men form a bad school for the domestic affections; and a wife who sees herself neglected for others, with a great deal of unemployed time on her own hands, is placed in circumstances where she has need of great strength of principle. According to Stedman’s account, these influences have produced a lamentable effect on the character of women in Surinam; though there are there, as elsewhere, honorable exceptions to the general tone of manners and morals.

Human beings are generally merry and thoughtless in proportion as their wants are merely animal; and slaves are light-hearted, both by habit and natural temperament. The memory of suffering soon passes away; and during every interval of labor they will sing, dance, and laugh, as if the world had no cares for them. Pinckard, speaking of the British West Indies, says: “Sunday is a day of festivity among the slaves. They are passionately fond of dancing; and the Sabbath, offering them an interval from toil, is generally devoted to their favorite amusement. Instead of remaining in tranquil rest, they undergo more fatigue, or at least more personal exertion, during their gala hours of Saturday night and Sunday, than is demanded of them in labor during any four days of the week. They assemble in crowds upon the open green, or in any square or corner of the town, and forming a ring in the centre of the throng, dance to the sound of their beloved African music, consisting of a species of drum, a kind of rattle, and their ever delightful banjar. The dance consists of stamping[Pg 222] of the feet, twisting of the body, and a number of strange, indecent attitudes. It is a severe bodily exertion, more bodily indeed than you can well imagine, for the limbs have little to do with it.”

The clothing of slaves is generally the slightest possible, and of the coarsest materials. Pinckard speaks of seeing old women at Barbadoes washing clothes in the river, with no other covering than a piece of blue cloth fastened round the loins, after the manner of savages. He says “their bodies bore the crowded and callous scars of repeated punishment.”

In the West Indies, the negro women carry their babes across the hip, as in Africa.

Small rude huts are appropriated to the field slaves, where they live much after the fashion of pigs in a sty. Those who are kept for house-servants generally lie down upon the floor, wherever they happen to be when the labors of the day are over. A person rising earlier than usual, is liable to stumble over them in the entries. Female slaves toil in the fields, under the lash of the driver, as laboriously as the men; and, generally speaking, no difference is made in the mode or severity of punishment. A little patch of ground is usually assigned to each slave family, where they may raise vegetables for themselves, in addition to the tasks performed for their masters. Many of them spend their leisure moments in making baskets and brooms to carry to market, and thus procure a little money.

The negroes believe they shall return to Africa when they die; and this idea has often led to suicide.[Pg 223] They follow a friend to the grave with every demonstration of joy; and when the ceremony is finished, sing: “God bless you, Jenny—Good-bye—remember me to all friends t’other side of the sea—tell ’em me come soon—Good-bye, Jenny.”

The influence of slavery is in every sense injurious to the slave. As they derive no benefit from being industrious, they try to evade labor, under all manner of false pretexts; and the more time they can waste, the more they think they have gained. They do not, like free laborers, fear to be dishonest, lest they should lose their character and place; but the compensation which is not given they conceive themselves at liberty to take. It is a common thing for them to say, “Me no steal him; me take him from massa.” Persons who are most kind and indulgent to their slaves are often liable to be served in the most negligent manner. Some have unjustly ascribed this to the bad disposition of the Africans; but the fault is in the pernicious system, which removes all salutary moral restraints, and healthy incentives to exertion. No human being will work from a disinterested love of toil; and slaves soon learn that they gain nothing by industry, and lose nothing by laziness; in either case they get something to eat, and something to cover them—and their greatest exertions will do no more. Under a severe master or mistress, they will work, from fear of the whip, which a driver is paid to hold over their backs; but when this is removed, no other inducement to industry remains.

[Pg 224]

In all slave countries, there are many honorable exceptions to the character implied in the preceding remarks—men and women who conscientiously endeavor to mitigate the condition of their slaves, as far as possible. Instances of strong mutual attachment sometimes occur, between masters and their dependents, as there did in the proud old feudal times. The negro nurse is called “mammy,” by those whom she tended in their infancy, and is sometimes treated with so much tenderness, that her young master and mistress will resent it if an unkind word be spoken to her. The negroes are of an affectionate disposition, and are often devoted to their foster-children with all the strength of maternal affection. During a tremendous earthquake in St. Domingo, when others were saving themselves with all haste, a young female slave remembered a white infant, forgotten by its own mother. She hastened to her nursling, and placing herself in an arch over its body, was killed by the tumbling walls of the house; but the little object of her solicitude was safely restored to its agonized parents.

But although there are here and there spots of sunshine and verdure in the dark picture of slavery, the natural tendency of the system is to turn any form of society into a moral desert. Christian nations are beginning to be aware of this; and the hand of Divine Providence is now visibly seen removing this “costly iniquity” from the face of the earth.

[Pg 225]

AMERICA.

Before America was settled by Europeans, it was inhabited by Indian tribes, which greatly resembled each other in the treatment of their women. Every thing except war and hunting was considered beneath the dignity of man. During long and wearisome marches, women were obliged to carry children, provisions, and hammocks on their shoulders; they had the sole care of the horses and dogs, cut wood, pitched the tents, raised the corn, and made the clothing. When the husband killed game, he left[Pg 226] it by a tree in the forest, returned home, and sent his wife several miles in search of it. In most of the tribes, women were not allowed to eat and drink with men, but stood and served them, and then ate what they left.

When the Spaniards arrived in South America, the Indian women, delighted with attentions to which they had been entirely unaccustomed, often betrayed the conspiracies formed against them, supplied them with food, and acted as guides.

Father Joseph reproved a female savage on the banks of the Orinoco, because she destroyed her infant daughter. She replied, “I wish my mother had thus prevented the manifold sufferings I have endured. Consider, Father, our deplorable situation. Our husbands go out to hunt; we are dragged along with one infant at our breast, and another in a basket. Though tired with long walking, we are not allowed to sleep when we return, but must labor the whole night in grinding maize to make chica for them. They get drunk, and beat us, draw us by the hair of the head, and tread us under foot. And after a slavery of perhaps twenty years, what have we to comfort us? A young wife is then brought home, and permitted to abuse us and our children. What kindness can we show our daughters equal to putting them to death? Would to God my mother had put me under ground the moment I was born.”

The Mexicans and Peruvians, particularly the latter, were more enlightened and refined than the other native tribes. The rich ornaments of gold and pearl[Pg 227] worn by the Peruvians, surprised their European visiters, even more than the gentleness, modesty, and benevolence of their characters. They had a temple of the sun, to whose service young virgins were dedicated, and instructed in many accomplishments.

The parents of a young Mexican having selected a suitable wife, priests are consulted, and the match concludes or not, according to their predictions. If their answers are favorable, the girl is asked of her parents by certain women styled solicitors, who are chosen from the most respectable of the youth’s kindred. The first demand is always refused; the second receives a more favorable answer; and when consent is finally obtained, the bride, after proper exhortation from her parents, is conducted to the house of her father-in-law. If wealthy, she is carried in a litter. The bridegroom and his relations receive her at the gate, where four women are stationed bearing torches. As soon as the young couple meet, they offer incense to each other. They then sit on a curiously wrought mat, in the centre of the hall, near the fire, and the priest ties the bride’s gown to the bridegroom’s mantle. They offer sacrifices to the gods, and exchange presents. The guests are then entertained with feasting and dancing in the open air; but the newly married are shut up in the house for four days. At the end of that period they appear in their richest attire, and give dresses to the company, in proportion to their wealth.

Gumilla, in his History of the River Orinoco, says there is one nation that marry old men to girls and[Pg 228] old women to lads, that age may correct the petulance of youth. They say, to join together people equal in youth and imprudence, is to join one fool to another. The first marriage is however only a kind of apprenticeship; for after a while the young people are allowed to marry those of their own age.

Among several tribes of North American Indians, the lover begins his suit by going at midnight to the tent, or lodge, of his mistress. He lights a splinter of wood, and holds it to her face to awaken her. If she leaves the torch burning, it is a signal that she rejects him; but if she blows it out, he understands that he is at liberty to communicate his intentions.

In some places, when the lover approaches the hut of his mistress, he begs leave to enter it by signs. If permission is obtained, he goes in and sits down by her in silence. If she suffers him to remain, without any expression of disapprobation, it is an indication that she favors his suit; but if she offers him food or drink, he understands it as a refusal.

Indian marriages are generally performed in the following manner: The young couple are seated on a mat in the centre of the room. The bride, or bridegroom, hold a rod or wand between them, while some elderly person harangues them concerning their reciprocal duties. He tells the husband that he must catch plenty of venison and furs for his wife; and the bride is urged to cook his food well, mend his clothes, and take off his moccasins and leggins, when he comes home from hunting. The rod is then broken, and a piece given to the witnesses, in[Pg 229] testimony of the contract. The company form a circle and dance and sing around them. Before they separate, they partake of a plentiful feast provided for the occasion. A strap, a kettle, and a fagot, are put into the bride’s apartment, in token of her employments. At Dacotah weddings, the bride is carried forcibly to her husband’s dwelling, making resistance at every step. In some parts of Old Mexico, the bridegroom was carried off by his relations, as if he were the one forced into wedlock. A Dacotah lover puts on leggins of different colors, seats himself on a log near the wigwam of his beloved, and sings, or plays on some musical instrument. The following has been given as a sample of Indian love-songs, by a writer well acquainted with their manners:

The Indians, both men and women, had great love of finery. Their caps, belts, and moccasins were plentifully embroidered with beads and shells, which they called wampum. The chiefs considered a coronet of feathers peculiarly beautiful; but this ornament, generally indicative of successful war, was seldom worn by women. But even among these rude people, jokes concerning female love of dress were not wanting. A few years since, the writer conversed[Pg 230] with two Penobscot Indians, the one old, the other young, and very handsome. The youth wore a scarlet band upon his hat, and his wampum belt was curiously embroidered; the other had an old blanket carelessly wrapped about him. “Where is your wampum belt?” said I. With a look of quiet scorn, he replied, “What for me wear ribbons and beads? Me no want to catch ’em squaw.”[3]

Among the Hohays are men who dress in a female garb, and perform all manner of female avocations. They are called Winktahs, and treated with the utmost contempt.

The Indian bridegroom generally pays his father-in-law for his bride; and even in their primitive form of society, he who can offer a large price is most likely to be acceptable to parents. Handsome Indian girls are not unfrequently disposed of contrary to their inclinations. They are not permitted to marry relations within so near a degree of consanguinity as cousins. Suicide is common among the women of these savage tribes. When thwarted in love, or driven to desperation by ill usage, they frequently hang themselves to the branch of a tree, rush into the sea, or throw themselves from a precipice. The men very rarely destroy their own lives. They seldom have more than one wife at a time; but they change just when they please, interchange with each other, and lend to visiters, without scandal. When a wife becomes old, a younger one is often purchased; and the first one may either kill herself,[Pg 231] or tamely submit to be the drudge of the family. In several tribes, the pieces of stick given to the witnesses at the marriage are burnt, in sign of divorce. But, generally speaking, new connections are formed without any formal dissolution of the old one.

When the sachem of Saugus married the daughter of the chief of Pennakook, a great feast was given, and the bride and bridegroom escorted to their dwelling by some of the most honorable men of her father’s tribe, who were feasted several days at the expense of the husband. Some time after, the wife expressed a wish to visit her father, and was permitted to do so, with a select escort to accompany her. When she desired to return, the old chief sent to the sachem to come and take her away. This offended the young man’s pride. “I sent her to you in a manner that became a chief,” he replied; “and now that she intends to return to me, I expect the same from you.” The chief of Pennakook considered this an insolent message. He would not allow his daughter to return unless her husband sent for her; the sachem would not submit to the terms; and the young couple saw each other no more.

The Indians pride themselves on stoicism, and at no period of their history have been addicted to voluptuousness. Their sense of manliness and dignity prevents them from being immodest. In this respect, their deportment towards women is abundantly more praiseworthy than that of civilized nations.

When it was proposed (either facetiously or otherwise) that women should be members of parliament,[Pg 232] an Englishman objected to it, on the ground that a lady, who sat with committees of gentlemen, might sometimes meet with a species of impoliteness that would be embarrassing. If this be a reason why women should not transact public business, it is a fact exceedingly disgraceful to civilized men. Female captives taken by Indians, though treated with the most diabolical cruelty, according to their savage mode of warfare, have travelled with powerful warriors days and weeks, through the loneliest paths of the forest, and never been subjected to the slightest personal insult.

Notwithstanding the habitual taciturnity of Indians, and their pride of concealing all emotion, the potent passion of love sometimes gets the mastery of them, as well as of other men. One of their strongest excitements to bravery, is the hopes of gaining favor in the bright eyes of some beautiful maiden; and it is often a matter of peculiar pride with them to obtain the handsomest furs to decorate a wife, and to furnish an abundant supply of venison for her comfortable subsistence. An Indian woman is always proud of having a good hunter for a husband; and a lover is often told that he must signalize himself by more daring exploits, before he can hope to be received into favor.

Mr. Heckewelder, in his interesting account of the American Indians, relates the following anecdote: “In the year 1762, I was witness to a remarkable instance of the disposition of Indians to indulge their wives. There was a famine in the land, and a sick[Pg 233] Indian woman expressed a great desire for a mess of Indian corn. Her husband, having heard that a trader at Lower Sandusky had a little, set off on horseback for that place, one hundred miles distant, and returned with as much corn as filled the crown of his hat, for which he gave his horse in exchange, and came home on foot, bringing his saddle back with him.

“It very seldom happens that an Indian condescends to quarrel with his wife, or abuse her, though she has given him just cause. In such a case, the man, without replying, or saying a single word, will take his gun and go into the woods, and remain there a week, or perhaps a fortnight, living on the meat he has killed, before he returns home again; well knowing that he cannot inflict a greater punishment on his wife for her conduct to him, than by absenting himself for a while; for she is not only kept in suspense, uncertain whether he will return again, but is soon reported as a bad and quarrelsome woman; for, as on those occasions a man does not tell his wife on what day or at what time he will be back again, which he never, when they are on good terms, neglects to do, she is at once put to shame by her neighbors, who, soon suspecting something, do not fail to put such questions to her as she either cannot, or is ashamed to answer. When he at length does return, she endeavors to let him see, by her attentions, that she has repented, though neither speak to each other a single word on the subject of what has passed. And as his children, if he has any,[Pg 234] will on his return hang about him, and soothe him with their caresses, he is on their account ready to forgive, or at least to say nothing unpleasant to their mother.”

The women of these savage tribes, like the female peasantry of Europe, have very hardy constitutions. When an infant is a few hours old, they carry it to some neighboring stream and plunge it in the water, even if they have to break the ice for that purpose. Until it is old enough to crawl about, they lay it down on a clean piece of bark, while they attend to their customary avocations; when obliged to travel, they carry it swung at their backs, in a strip of cloth, or a basket. Some tribes have the habit of placing boys on the skin of a panther, and girls on that of a fawn, from an idea that they will imbibe the qualities of those animals. Names are usually bestowed to indicate some personal or moral quality; as Parrot-nosed, Serpent-eyed, The Timid Fawn, &c. These names are often added to others, signifying The First Son, The Second Son, The First Daughter, &c.

Most of the North American tribes make it a fundamental principle of education never to strike a child. When a fault is committed, the mother begins to cry; if her son or daughter ask what is the matter, she replies, “You disgrace me.” This reproach is keenly felt, and generally produces amendment. If a young person is more obdurate than common, the parents throw a glass of water in his face, and this is considered a most disgraceful punishment. They seldom refuse a child any thing.[Pg 235] Hence when the avenger of blood is implacable, the culprit is often led into his presence by a little child, prettily adorned, and taught to lisp a prayer for pardon; and a petition for mercy from such innocent lips, is rarely denied even by the sternest warrior. Pocahontas was only twelve years old when her intercession saved the life of captain Smith.

Both girls and boys are early taught to endure without a murmur the utmost rigors of climate, excess of labor, and the extremity of pain. It is common to try their fortitude by ordering them to hold their hands in the fire, till permission is given to withdraw them; and if even their countenances give indication of agony, it is deemed dishonorable. When taken captive in war they have need of their utmost powers of endurance; for their enemies exercise all their ingenuity in torture. Yet such is the force of education, that women, as well as men, will smile and utter jeering words, while their nails are pulled out by the roots, their feet crushed between stones, and their flesh torn with red-hot pincers.

It is an almost universal rule that women are more tender-hearted than men; but the North American Indians seem to furnish an exception. When a prisoner is tied to the stake, women are even more furious and active than men, in the work of cruelty. If any one of the tribe chooses to adopt the prisoner, his life is spared, and they cease to torment him. Parents, who have lost their own children in battle, often resort to this expedient, and bring up their adopted sons and daughters with great kindness.

[Pg 236]

The power of Indian husbands is absolute. If they detect a wife in unfaithfulness, they generally cut off her nose, or take off part of her scalp. In a sudden fit of anger they sometimes kill both her and her paramour; and this goes unpunished, though it is considered more proper to call a council of the elders to decide the matter. Those stern old men do not approve of very furious transports on such occasions; because they deem it undignified to make such a fuss about a woman, so long as the world contains plenty of individuals to supply her place.

Dancing was a common amusement with the Indians. Their war-dances were performed by men; but there were others appropriated to women, or in which both sexes united. Captain Smith gives the following account of an “anticke” prepared by Pocahontas for his reception at her father’s place of residence: “Thirty young women came out of the woods, covered onely with a few greene leaues, their bodies all painted, some of one colour, some of another, but all differing. Their leader had a fayre payre of bucks hornes on her head, and an otter-skinne at her girdle, and another at her arme, a quiver of arrowes at her backe, a bow and arrows in her hand. The next had in her hand a sword, and another a club, another a pot-sticke, all horned alike; the rest every one with their seuerall devises. These fiends, with most hellish shouts and cryes, rushing from among the trees, cast themselves in a ring about the fire, singing and dancing with most excellent ill varietie, oft falling into their infernall passions,[Pg 237] and solemnly again to sing and daunce. Having spent neare an houre in this mascarado, as they entred, in like manner they departed.”

Captain Smith does not give a very gallant account of an entertainment intended as a particular compliment to his arrival. The dance, like most savage dances, was unquestionably a pantomime; and he probably did not understand what it was intended to represent.

The Indian women sometimes accompany the men on hunting excursions, for the purpose of bringing home the game; and in time of battle they often encourage and assist the warriors. In addition to the toilsome occupations already alluded to, they made garments of skins, sewed with sinews and thorns, wove neat mats and baskets, and embroidered very prettily with shells, feathers, and grass of various colors. When first visited by Europeans, they wore furs in winter, and mats tied about them in summer; but they soon learned to substitute blankets, and strips of cloth. Those that can afford it, have ears, neck, arms, and waist plentifully decorated with beads, pebbles, fishes’ teeth, or shells. The Indians of California perforate the lobes of the ears, and insert pieces of wood five or six inches long, ornamented with feathers. On the North-West coast, the women make a horizontal incision in the lower lip, for the purpose of introducing a wooden plug, which makes the lip protrude in a hideous manner. In the neighborhood of Kotzebue’s sound, they wear large beads suspended from the nose, and when they[Pg 238] experience inconvenience from these ornaments, they stow them away in the nostrils. The Guiana females stick thorns, or pins, through the lower lip; the heads are inside, and the points rest upon the chin. They have likewise the habit of putting a band round the ankle and knee, when girls are ten or twelve years old; as this is never removed, it produces an unnatural compression, and the calf of the leg swells to an unwieldy size. Indians of both sexes paint themselves in various colors and patterns, and are more or less addicted to tattooing; though it is by no means practised to the extent that it is among the South sea islanders.

Before America was visited by Europeans, the Indian tribes were universally temperate, healthy, and cleanly in their habits; but they have now acquired most of the evils of civilization, with few of its advantages. They have a reddish brown complexion, keen black eyes, regular white teeth, and sleek, shining black hair, which the women usually suffer to flow over the shoulders. Those who live near the sea never become bald, and their hair does not turn gray; perhaps this may be owing to the frequent habit of bathing in salt water, which always has a salutary effect on the hair.

The vigorous forms of their children may be attributed to active habits, and to the entire freedom of their limbs from all bands, ligatures, or clothing. Several tribes have the habit of flattening the forehead, by heavy pressure during infancy. To be childless is considered almost as great a misfortune[Pg 239] as it was among the Jews. A man will never divorce a wife who has brought him sons, and though he may perchance marry several others, he always considers her as entitled to peculiar respect.

Indian women are usually well skilled in simple remedies, and are the physicians of their tribes. In some places, medicine is considered peculiarly efficacious if it is prepared and administered by the hand of a maiden. The healing art is intimately connected in their minds with magic, and medicines are seldom given without prayers and incantations, to avert the influence of evil spirits. There are in almost every tribe individuals who claim the gift of prophecy, and endeavor to foretel future events by conjurations and dreams. I am not aware that they consider women more frequently endowed with this supernatural power than men.

Some tribes bury their dead, others expose them on scaffolds suspended in high trees. The arms and horse of a warrior are buried with him for his use in another world; and a mortar, kettle, and other utensils of daily use accompany the corpse of a female. When a great chief dies, his wives, and many of his attendants, are sometimes obliged to follow him to the world of spirits. The tribe of Natchez is ruled by a chief called The Great Sun; and when any woman of the blood of the Suns dies, it becomes necessary that her husband and attendants should be sacrificed in honor of her decease. The widows of illustrious chiefs generally take pride in devoting themselves to death with stoical firmness. The wife[Pg 240] of The Stung Serpent, who was brother to The Great Sun, thus addressed her children when she was about to leave them: “Your father waits for me in the land of spirits. If I were to yield to your tears, I should injure my love, and fail in my duty. You that are descended of his blood, and fed by my milk, ought not to weep. Rather rejoice that you are Suns and warriors, bound to give examples of firmness to the whole nation.” The victims, having been made giddy by swallowing little balls of tobacco, are strangled, and placed near the corpse upon mats, ranged according to their rank.

The Indians, both men and women, lament for the dead with loud howling and lamentation, blacken their faces, and wound themselves with flints, knives, and splinters of wood. When the women are going out to work, or returning from their labors, the widows of the tribe often join in a sort of dirge, or mourning chorus.

As sailors have the superstition that it brings bad luck to have a woman on board a ship, so the Indians believe that the fleetest horse in the world would lose his speed, if a woman were suffered to mount him; hence when it becomes necessary for women to ride, they are placed on old worn-out animals.

Among the Dacotahs a particular lodge is set apart for councils, and the reception of strangers. The women supply it with wood and water, but are never permitted to enter it. This tribe have an institution called the Lodge of the Grand Medicine, the ceremonies of which are celebrated in secret, and the members[Pg 241] know each other by certain signs. It differs from Free-Masonry, in allowing women to be among the initiated.

The women of the Hurons and Iroquois seem to have had more influence than was common among other tribes. Huron women might appoint a member of the council, and one of their own sex if they chose. They could prevail upon the warriors to go to battle, or desist from it, according to their wishes. Among the Natchez, authority descended in an hereditary line both to male and female. It is a general rule with the American tribes that a man should be succeeded by his sister’s children, not by his own.

The dwellings of the Indians are huts made of the interwoven boughs of trees, or tents covered with the skins of animals, without division of apartments. Whole villages of women and children are often left for weeks, while the men are absent on hunting expeditions.

The South American tribes were more docile, indolent, and soft-hearted than those of the north. They married at an earlier period; twelve or thirteen being the common age for a bride. It is said that the tribes about the isthmus of Darien considered it no impropriety for women to make the first declaration of love. When they preferred a young man, they told him so, and promised to be very faithful, good-tempered, and obedient, if he would take them to wife.

The women of Greenland and other countries about the arctic regions are inured to the utmost[Pg 242] rigor of a northern climate, and the extremity of toil. During the long winters, many of these tribes live in snow huts with ice windows. They consider train-oil one of the greatest of luxuries, and would eagerly devour a tallow candle in preference to the most delicious sweetmeats. They dress in garments of reindeer’s skin, lined with moss, and changed so seldom, that they become filthy in the extreme. The men hunt bears and catch seals; but when they have towed their booty to land, they would consider it a disgrace to help the women drag it home, or skin and dress it. They often stand and look idly on, while their wives are staggering beneath a load that almost bends them to the earth. The women are cooks, butchers, masons, curriers, shoemakers, and tailors. They will manage a boat in the roughest seas, and will often push off from the shore in the midst of a storm, that would make the hardiest European sailor tremble.

In most countries, women enter into matrimony more readily than men, even where their affections are not concerned. The reasons are obvious. Women are more restrained by the laws and usages of society than men, and the scope of their ambition is much more limited. Though marriage subjects them to many cares and privations, it gives them in some respects a greater degree of freedom and consideration; it likewise generally insures protection and support, and is almost the only way in which a woman can rise above her natural condition, with regard to wealth and rank.

[Pg 243]

In Greenland, all this is reversed. Young girls have nothing to do but dance and sing, and fetch water, and look to their baby brothers and sisters; but when they marry, they become the slaves of an absolute master, for whom they are obliged to toil and drudge, with frequent beatings; and if left in widowhood with little children, they are generally in extreme poverty, with none to hunt or fish for them. For these reasons, the Greenland women are averse to marriage. When a girl sees the relations of a young man at her father’s house, and hears them praise his dexterity in catching seals, she begins to suspect that her parents are about to sell her; and she often runs away and hides in the mountains, until the women search for her, and drag her home. On such occasions, she will remain silent and dejected for several days, refusing to be comforted. Sometimes they make a solemn vow that they will never marry, and shave their heads in sign of their determination. Their hair is long, straight and black. The women wear it in a roll on the top of the head, adorned with some gay bandage of beads, or hanging in two long braids each side of the forehead. It is never cut off, except to avoid marriage, or in token of deep mourning, or as a punishment. Mothers tattoo the faces of their daughters, by drawing threads filled with soot under the skin. They are generally short in stature, with shoulders made very broad by the constant habit of carrying burdens. Their complexion is tawny, and their eyes small and sunken. Some of the old women are said to be hideously[Pg 244] ugly; their eyes being inflamed by the glittering of the sun on fields of ice, and their teeth blackened by the constant use of tobacco. Some of the inhabitants of these northern regions have their garments made wide enough in the back to support an infant, which is kept from falling by means of a girdle round the mother’s waist; in other places, the babe sits behind her neck, on a broad strap fastened round her forehead. Some of the children, it is said, are rather comely by nature, but, from being laid carelessly in the bottom of boats, they look very much like wild, neglected little animals.

Polygamy is not common, but is by no means discreditable. The first wife, if she have children, is considered the head of the family. When she dies, the junior wife takes her place, and is generally very kind to the motherless little ones. When a man wishes to obtain a wife, he adorns himself, his children, his house, his boats, and his darts, in the finest manner he can, in order to render himself an object of attraction. Widowers seldom marry under a year, unless they have very small children, with no one to nurse them. When a man wishes for divorce, he leaves the house, apparently in anger, and does not return for several days; the wife understands his meaning, packs up her clothes, and removes to her friends.

In these northern regions the dances are pantomimes, consisting of violent writhings, stampings, and contortions. They are particularly fond of imitating the animals they are accustomed to pursue.[Pg 245] The bear has been called their dancing-master, for they imitate, with wonderful accuracy, his motions and attitudes, in all possible situations. Their skilful female dancers are so rapid and violent in their movements, that they appear to a civilized eye more like furies or maniacs than any thing else.

The Greenlanders and Esquimaux are generally good-humored and friendly, and, like all savages, extremely hospitable. Men, women, and children, who are obliged to live huddled together in small apartments, cannot be expected to have any considerable degree of refinement, or even decency, in their habits; but their perilous mode of life tends to develope a kind of instinctive intelligence. Captain Lyon mentions one female, in particular, named Iligliuk, whom her countrymen called “the wise woman.” She was frequently on board his ship, and gave some valuable geographical knowledge of the country, in the form of a rude map; but she soon became very proud and disdainful, in consequence of the attentions that were paid her.

The tribes of these frozen regions have generally great faith in magic, and place much reliance on information obtained from male and female sorcerers, who go about dressed in a fantastic manner, and assuming a frenzied deportment, as if under the influence of evil inspiration.

Intoxication is a common vice with both sexes; and both have an excessive love of chewing and smoking tobacco.

In the Russian settlements, there is a tribe which[Pg 246] have a strange manner of courtship. When a young man has chosen a girl, he goes to her relations, and offers “to drudge for them,” till he can secure the object of his affections. The young woman is immediately wrapped up in a multiplicity of garments, that scarcely leave her face visible; and the lover has no hope of obtaining his prize, until in some lucky moment he catches her off her guard, and is able to touch her uncovered hand, arm, neck, or face. It is necessary that she should confess the fact, and affirm that she was taken by surprise. It is difficult to perform this task; for her female relations keep near her night and day, and if the young man attempts to tear off the teasing envelopes, he gets a sound beating, and is liable to be dismissed in disgrace. Sometimes two or three years expire before he attains his object; and in the mean time, he is bound to perform, with the utmost industry and submission, any labors her relations choose to impose upon him. Soon after the long-desired triumph is obtained, the damsel consents to be his wife, and her friends, without any further ceremony, commemorate the event by a feast.

The European settlers of South America are principally Spanish and Portuguese. They retain the language, manners, and customs of their ancestors; but if the report of numerous travellers be correct, the state of morals is worse than in the old countries. We find the same ceremonious observance of etiquette—the same exaggerated phrases to express courtesy, friendship, or love—the same chivalrous bearing toward ladies—the same pageantry in religious festivals—and[Pg 247] the same universal practice of taking the siesta, or afternoon’s sleep, which prevail in Spain and Portugal.

An enervating climate, an accommodating religion, and the degrading system of slavery, have all combined to produce an unfavorable influence on the moral and intellectual character of the people. Slavery is indeed nearly abolished, except in Brazil; but a long time will probably elapse before its baneful effects cease to be visible on the manners and habits of those, who have been accustomed to breathe its polluting atmosphere. The South American women are generally ignorant and indolent, and more governed by passion than by principle. Public opinion is by no means rigid concerning the conduct of married women; but individual revenge is not unfrequently taken, in the form of duels and assassinations. Captain Cochrane, speaking of Colombia, says: “The majority of the women are by no means handsome. They certainly have fine eyes and dark hair; but neither features, complexion, nor figure are good, compared with those of Europeans. Some few have, when young, a little bloom on their cheeks; but in general a sallow or Moorish cast of face meets the eye. The men are far handsomer than the women, and their dark complexions are more agreeable to the eye. They are also better educated, being generally able to read and write.”

M. Depons describes the women of Caracas as “generally below the middle size; mild, tender, and seductive; with jet-black hair, alabaster skins, eyes[Pg 248] large and finely shaped, and carnation lips. Their attire is rather elegant. They feel a kind of vanity on being taken for French; but whatever resemblance there may be in the dress, there is too little gracefulness to permit the illusion to subsist. Their principal morning occupation is going to mass, and a great portion of the rest of the day is spent lounging on sofas, or gazing at the windows. Their education is limited to learning a number of prayers, reading badly, spelling worse, and playing by rote a few tunes on the guitar and piano-forte. But in spite of their defective education, the women of Caracas know how to unite social manners with decent behavior, and the art of coquetry with the modesty of their sex.”

The festivals of the Roman Catholic religion are sufficiently numerous to employ a large portion of the time of its votaries; and they are observed with as much pomp in the New World, as in the Catholic countries of Europe. Corpus Christi day is celebrated with unusual magnificence. It is announced the preceding evening by artificial fireworks. The windows of the houses are adorned with gay festoons of silk and ribbons; jewellers sometimes display their whole stock of sparkling gems, exposed in glass cases on the outer walls of the building; at the corners of the streets, through which the procession is to pass, are altars richly ornamented with jewels and flowers; and puppet-shows, with curious animals of various sorts in cages, are ranged on all sides. As soon as the sound of the bell is heard announcing the approach[Pg 249] of the procession, all leave their games, and kneel in the street. “At the head of the procession, are chariots dragged along by men; in one is king David, with the head of Goliath in his hand; in another, Esther; in a third, Mordecai; Joseph next makes his appearance upon a horse richly caparisoned, and followed by a great number of guards; these, however, are only mounted on pasteboard chargers. All these personages are the children of the principal inhabitants of the city. To obtain the honor of acting a part in this imposing spectacle, is a great desideratum; and those who are honored, by having their children nominated, neglect no kind of expense: rivalling each other in splendor, they lay pearls, diamonds, emeralds, and rubies under contribution, and put their imagination to the rack, in order to render the dresses of the actors more magnificent. The most beautiful girls in the city walk between two rows of priests, some carrying the ark, and the show-bread, others incense or baskets of flowers. To these succeed young Indians, who, to the sound of a flute and tabor, perform wild fantastic dances. The procession is closed by a detachment of troops, with arms and colors reversed.” These religious solemnities generally conclude with fireworks, concerts, balls, and masquerades.

Doctor Walsh thus describes the great convent of Ajuda, in Rio de Janeiro: “At the end of the chapel is a large quadrangle, entered by a massive gateway, surrounded by three stories of grated windows. Here female negro pedlers come with their goods, and expose[Pg 250] them in the court-yard below. The nuns, from their grated windows above, see what they like, and, letting down a cord, the article is fastened to it; it is then drawn up and examined, and, if approved of, the price is let down. Some that I saw in the act of buying and selling in this way, were very merry, joking and laughing with the blacks below, and did not seem at all indisposed to do the same with my companion. In three of the lower windows, on a level with the court-yard, are revolving cupboards, like half-barrels, and at the back of each is a plate of tin, perforated like the top of a nutmeg-grater. The nuns of this convent are celebrated for making sweet confectionary, which people purchase. There is a bell which the purchaser applies to, and a nun peeps through the perforated tin; she then lays the dish on a shelf of the revolving cupboard, and turns it inside out; the dish is taken, the price laid in its place, and it is turned in. While we stood there, the invisible lady-warder asked for a pinch of snuff; the box was laid down in the same way, and turned in and out.”

The disposition to take the veil, even among young girls, is not uncommon in Brazil. The opposition of friends can prevent it, until they are twenty-five years old; but after that time they are considered competent to decide for themselves. The same writer describes the initiation of a young lady, whose wealthy parents were extremely reluctant to have her take the vow. She held a lighted torch in her hand, in imitation of the prudent virgins; and when the priest[Pg 251] chanted, “Your spouse approaches; come forth and meet him,” she approached the altar, singing, “I follow with my whole heart;” and, accompanied by two nuns already professed, she knelt before the bishop. “She seemed very lovely, with an unusually sweet, gentle, and pensive countenance. She did not look particularly or deeply affected; but when she sung her responses, there was something exceedingly mournful in the soft, tremulous, and timid tones of her voice. The bishop now exhorted her to make a public profession of her vows before the congregation, and said, ‘Will you persevere in your purpose of holy chastity?’ She blushed deeply, and, with a downcast look, lowly, but firmly answered, ‘I will.’ He again said, more distinctly, ‘Do you promise to preserve it?’ and she replied more emphatically, ‘I do promise.’ The bishop said, ‘Thanks be to God;’ and she bent forward and reverently kissed his hand, while he asked her, ‘Will you now be blessed and consecrated?’ She replied, ‘Oh! I wish it.’

“The habiliments, in which she was hereafter to be clothed, were sanctified by the aspersion of holy water: then followed several prayers to God, that ‘As he had blessed the garments of Aaron, with ointment which flowed from his head to his beard, so he would now bless the garment of his servant, with the copious dew of his benediction.’ When the garment was thus blessed, the girl retired with it; and having laid aside the dress in which she had appeared, she returned, arrayed in her new attire, except her veil. A gold ring was next provided, and consecrated with a[Pg 252] prayer, that she who wore it ‘might be fortified with celestial virtue, to preserve a pure faith, and incorrupt fidelity to her spouse, Jesus Christ.’ He last took the veil, and her female attendants having uncovered her head, he threw it over her, so that it fell on her shoulders and bosom, and said, ‘Receive this sacred veil, under the shadow of which you may learn to despise the world, and submit yourself truly, and with all humility of heart, to your Spouse;’ to which she sung a response, in a very sweet, soft, and touching voice: ‘He has placed this veil before my face, that I should see no lover but himself.’

“The bishop now kindly took her hand, and held it while the following hymn was chanted by the choir with great harmony: ‘Beloved Spouse, come—the winter is passed—the turtle sings, and the blooming vines are redolent of summer.’

“A crown, a necklace, and other female ornaments, were now taken by the bishop and separately blessed; and the girl bending forward, he placed them on her head and neck, praying that she might be thought worthy ‘to be enrolled into the society of the hundred and forty-four thousand virgins, who preserved their chastity, and did not mix with the society of impure women.’

“Last of all, he placed the ring on the middle finger of her right hand, and solemnly said, ‘So I marry you to Jesus Christ, who will henceforth be your protector. Receive this ring, the pledge of your faith, that you may be called the spouse of God.’ She fell on her knees, and sung, ‘I am married to[Pg 253] him whom angels serve, whose beauty the sun and moon admire;’ then rising, and showing with exultation her right hand, she said, emphatically, as if to impress it on the attention of the congregation, ‘My Lord has wedded me with this ring, and decorated me with a crown as his spouse. I here renounce and despise all earthly ornaments for his sake, whom alone I see, whom alone I love, in whom alone I trust, and to whom alone I give all my affections. My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak of the deed I have done for my King.’ The bishop then pronounced a general benediction, and retired up to the altar; while the nun professed was borne off between her friends, with lighted tapers, and garlands waving.”

Doctor Walsh observes, that the spectators did not seem to be at all impressed with the solemnity of this ceremony, but laughed and joked about it with a degree of levity not entirely consistent with delicacy. It is a notorious fact that the South Americans have little hearty faith in the religion they profess. The French philosophy taught in their schools has destroyed this, without introducing any thing better. Women are very regular in their attendance at mass; but men give themselves little trouble about it, unless some love-affair attracts them to the church. Girls often marry as young as twelve or fourteen. Ambitious parents there, as elsewhere, are desirous to have their children form matches of interest; but the natural ardor and sensibility of the people is opposed to this. With all the fervid romance of olden[Pg 254] time, they fall in love at the first glance; and while the paroxysm endures, “the world is divided into two parts—that where the beloved object is, and that where she is not.” It is no uncommon occurrence for the daughters of wealthy families to leave the luxuries of their father’s house, for the sake of some young man, whose industry will afford them merely a comfortable subsistence. The enthusiastic character of the people sympathizes so readily with such disinterestedness, that a law was recently passed in Brazil to prevent rich fathers from disinheriting their children under such circumstances, unless some important charge could be substantiated against the moral character of those they married. It is much to be regretted that the matrimonial vow is often as lightly broken, as it was fervently uttered.

In large cities, French dress and manners prevail to a considerable extent; but in the provinces women frequently follow the Spanish custom of wearing the mantilla, and covering the face, so as to leave only one sparkling eye visible. They likewise ride on horses, or mules, after the fashion of men. The laboring class are principally blacks, or some of the various shades between black and white; and here as in other countries, the free negro is almost as much paralyzed and degraded as the slave himself, by the effects of that lazy and pernicious system. The prejudice with regard to color is much less strong than in North America. The descendants of Africans have a wider field opened for the exercise of such abilities as God may have given them; and both[Pg 255] sexes sometimes form highly respectable marriages with the European race.

Because the prevailing character of South American women is ignorant and voluptuous, it must not be supposed that there are not numerous exceptions. Even the cities, which are always worse than villages, contain many virtuous, modest, and honorable families; and during the frequent struggles for independence, ladies in various parts of South America have often manifested a sublime degree of firmness and patriotism.

It is hardly possible to imagine a greater contrast of character than existed between the settlers of North and South America. Instead of wealth-seeking, voluptuous adventurers, with a religion so flexible, that it adapted itself to every form of human passion, New England was settled by stern, uncompromising Puritans—men who considered mirth an indecorum, the love of women a snare, and dress a shameful memento of the fall of Adam. Though resisting tyranny, they themselves were most tyrannical. The selectmen deemed they had a right to ascertain whether every girl in their village did a proper amount of spinning and weaving; and if a mother staid away from meeting, to tend her babe, the deacon straightway called to reprove her for neglect of the ordinances. It was then customary for women to carry their infants to religious meetings, and attend to all their wants with as much freedom, as if they had been by their own firesides.[Pg 256] With regard to external comforts, there was a near approach to equality in the condition of all classes. The employed ate and drank and labored with their employers. Each household was a patriarchal establishment, of which the hired domestics were a component part; and they generally remained in the family they once entered, until they were married or died. It was an almost unheard-of thing for a family to keep more than one female domestic, and her wages, even forty years ago, was not more than two pistareens, or 2s. 6d. Though cloth was then three times as dear as it now is, this price was sufficient to satisfy all wants; for a new calico gown once a year was then considered quite a luxury. The most respectable inhabitants of the colonies were quite content to ride to church on horseback, with a wife or daughter behind them, on a pillion. One gown of silk brocade was considered wealth, and two constituted magnificence; especially if a string of gold beads, and gold buckles for the shoes, were appended thereto. But though the richest wardrobe of those primitive days would appear scanty enough in modern eyes, men did not fail to discuss the worn-out theme of female extravagance. The Simple Cobbler of Aggawam, who wrote in Massachusetts as early as 1647, says: “I can make my selfe sick at any time with comparing the dazzeling splender wherwith our gentlewomen were embellished in some former habits, with the goosdom, wherewith they are now surcingled and debauched. We have about five or six of them in our colony: if I see any of them[Pg 257] accidentally, I cannot cleanse my phansie of them for a moneth after. I speak sadly; me thinkes it should break the hearts of English-men to see goodly English-women imprisoned in French cages, peering out of their hood-holes for some men of mercy to help them with a little wit, and no body relieves them. It is no marvell they weare drailes, on the hinder part of their heads, having nothing as it seems in the fore-part, but a few Squirrills braines, to help them frisk from one ill-fauored fashion to another. It is no little labour to be continually putting up English women into Out-landish caskes; who if they be not shifted anew, once in a few moneths, grow too sowre for their husbands. When I heare a nugiperous Gentledame inquire what is the newest fashion of the Court, with egge to be in it in all hast, whatever it be, I look at her as the very gizzard of a trifle, the product of a quarter of a cypher, the epitome of nothing, fitter to be kickt, if she were of a kickable substance, than either honoured or humoured.”

About the time of the revolution, the fashion of wearing hooped petticoats was imported from beyond seas, and gave rise to considerable satire. A sailor in New York, finding a narrow street entirely filled by two persons in this inconvenient dress, amused the spectators by jumping over, through a space left between the ladies by the immense circumference of their hoops.

While we remained English colonies, a system of strict subordination was observed throughout society.[Pg 258] Men took off their hats, and women made a profound courtesy to the magistrates, or the minister; children seldom presumed to speak in the presence of their parents, and were always taught to “make their manners,” when they met any person.

It was in these days of simplicity, that the marquis La Fayette went to take leave of the mother of Washington, and found her weeding her garden. The dignified matron received him cordially, without embarrassment or apology; and when he congratulated her on the greatness and glory of her son, she quietly replied: “I am not surprised at what George has done; for he was always a good boy.”

The women of ’76 shared in the patriotism and bravery of the men. They were ready to sacrifice themselves, or their children, for the good of the country. Several individuals carried their enthusiasm so far as to enter the army, where they courageously faced all the perils and fatigues of the camp, until the close of the war.

The strange delusion concerning witchcraft, which prevailed in Europe, extended itself to the English colonies toward the close of the seventeenth century. Every old woman who had an ill temper, a sinister expression of countenance, or an uncommon degree of shrewdness, was in great danger of being burned for a witch. Indeed such was the infatuation, that a little girl about four or five years old was committed to prison, charged with biting some bewitched persons, who showed the print of small teeth on their arms. Another poor child was brought before the magistrates[Pg 259] and asked, “How long hast thou been a witch?” “Ever since I was six years old.” “How old are you now?” “Brother Richard says I shall be eight years old next November.” “You said you saw a black cat once; what did it say to you?” “It said it would tear me to pieces if I did not sign my name to a book.” “How did you afflict folks?” “I pinched them. My mother carried me to afflict them.” “How could your mother carry you, when she was in prison?” “She came like a black cat.” “How did you know it was your mother?” “The cat told me she was my mother.”

It seems unaccountable that such testimony as this was gravely listened to, and believed by the magistrates; and that too in cases where human life was at stake; but the very nature of the supposed crime did not admit of any other than absurd evidence. The delusion prevailed to such a dreadful degree, that every woman feared her neighbor, and when she lay down to sleep, knew not but the next night would find her in prison. Children accused their own parents of carrying them to witches’ meetings at midnight, and baptizing them in the name of the devil. Sometimes the accused denied the charge, and when asked what God witches prayed to, answered, “I cannot tell; the Lord help me:” but in numerous instances they confessed themselves guilty of all the absurd charges brought against them, and accused others as their accomplices. Some of the accusers lived and died without ever acknowledging that they had stated any thing untrue, although they were reputed religious[Pg 260] women; but several of those, who confessed guilt, afterward acknowledged that they did it because they had been told it was the only way to save their lives. Men were sometimes tried as wizards; but this was comparatively rare. Some remnants of this superstition lingered long after the universal epidemic subsided. Within the last twenty years, an old woman in the vicinity of Boston, called Moll Pitcher, pretended to tell fortunes, and her claims to supernatural assistance were believed by many, especially by sailors.

The state of society in the United States bears a general resemblance to the English, though considerably modified by the peculiar circumstances of the country. In Europe, the female peasantry are universally more virtuous than those who (for want of a better term) are called the higher classes; even the contadine[4] of voluptuous Italy are said to be generally modest in their character and deportment. In America there is no class corresponding to the peasantry; but nearly all the people are obliged to support themselves by their own industry. The result is favorable to female virtue. Intrigues with married women, so common in a more luxurious state of society, are almost unheard of in the United States. Should a Frenchman, or an Italian, address himself to an American woman in terms with which his own countrymen are quite familiar, he would generally find it very difficult to make himself understood. I by no means intend to say that profligacy does not[Pg 261] exist, even in the most puritanical portions of our country—far, very far from it. The vicious class of females in our cities perhaps bears as large a proportion to the population, as in European towns; and among the respectable and genteel classes of society, there are individuals whose conduct is culpable; but these are exceptions to the general rule. The laws of modesty are never transgressed in dress, except by a few ultra-fashionables, and the opinion even of their own class is decidedly opposed to it. But a change is visibly coming over the face of society. Wealth is introducing luxury into our cities, and foreign refinements are coming with foreign vices in their train. The descendants of the Puritans allow their daughters to waltz, and think it no scandal to witness the exhibition of opera-dancers. The substantial body of the people have still a religious cast of character; but infidelity has taken strong hold in cities. The connection between religion and marriage is not obvious, but it is real. All infidels, whether they be found in France, England, or America, have a decided tendency to regard the institution of marriage as tyrannical. The lines of demarkation between different classes are becoming more distinct, and active industry is considered a bar to gentility. These causes may work slowly, or rapidly; but if their ultimate effects prove favorable to virtue, the history of America will differ from that of all other nations.

One of the most observable traits in the character of Americans, is the great value they place upon education. A mother will submit to any privation for the[Pg 262] sake of placing her children at good schools. There are not many instances of the thorough and elegant female education, which the higher classes of French and English receive; but women are generally intelligent and well informed; a good knowledge of history, the popular sciences, Latin, French, and Italian, are common acquisitions; and among the descendants of the English settlers, it is almost an unheard-of thing, for either man or woman, not to know how to read and write. The Dutch settlers, with their wives and daughters, are generally ignorant of those first rudiments of learning; and the descendants of Africans, of all complexions, from black to the slightest possible tinge of olive, are almost universally so. In the slave-holding states, which constitute half the Union, it is contrary to law to teach them the alphabet; and in the free states the prejudice against their color is so strong, that they have found many discouragements and obstacles in the path of learning. The same prejudice excludes them from all trades and occupations, except those which are considered the lowest. A young mulatto girl, of very respectable character, belonging to Boston, lately attempted to learn the art of mantua-making; she was charged ten dollars, five of which were paid in advance. In a few days the mantua-maker informed her that she must not come any more, because her other apprentices would not consent to work in the same room with a colored person. Another girl, who became an apprentice to a milliner, was discharged, because the woman with whom the milliner boarded threatened to turn her[Pg 263] out of the house, if she thus equalized herself with a mulatto. It is almost an invariable rule to exclude colored people from stages, and from all the comforts and conveniences of vessels and steam-boats; respectability of character and appearance, and ability to pay for such privileges, make no difference in their treatment. A worthy woman, who attempts to visit a dying child at a distance from her home, is generally liable to insulting conduct and contemptuous expressions, if her complexion has the least tinge of African ancestors.

In New Orleans there are a large class of the mixed races, called Quaderoons. They are frequently the daughters of wealthy and accomplished men, who do not spare expense in their education. As a class, they are proverbial for beauty and gracefulness, and are regarded with most peculiar and inveterate dislike by the white ladies. In every slave state, it is supposed to be necessary, for the safety of the planters, to have very severe laws with regard to free people of color; and these laws fall oppressively upon the Quaderoons. Some of them have inherited handsome fortunes; but they are not allowed to ride in a carriage, they must not sit in the presence of white ladies, or enter their apartments without special permission; they can moreover be whipped, like slaves, upon any accusation proved by two witnesses. Many of them have lost even the olive tinge, and have a fair skin, sometimes with light hair and eyes; but the law forbidding marriage between the colored and white race is applied to them. Their personal[Pg 264] endowments often render them objects of attraction to wealthy and distinguished men, and custom bestows upon temporary connections a certain degree of respectability. The Quaderoons are said to be generally modest and decorous in their manners, but usually have that flexibility of principle, which might be expected from people placed under such pernicious influences. Instances are, however, by no means rare of constant and virtuous attachments, which continue through life, though the laws prevent their being sanctioned by the form of marriage. In such cases, the children are frequently sent to France to be educated, where they often form highly respectable matrimonial connections.

The attention of many people in the United States has recently been called to the demoralizing influences growing out of slavery, and the consequent prejudice against color. The reformation of the evil is in the hands of Him, who hath said, “As ye would that others should do unto you, do ye even so unto them.”

As a general rule, education among the wealthy classes is much more neglected in the slave states than in other portions of the Union. This is owing partly to the want of schools, and partly to the indolence induced by slavery. It is a common thing, even for the wives and daughters of distinguished men, to be as deficient in correct spelling, as they are in a knowledge of household duties. But many are sent to the free states for education; and not a few are admirable exceptions to the above remarks.[Pg 265] The southern ladies in general are delicately formed, with pale complexions, a languid gracefulness of manner, and a certain aristocratic bearing, acquired only by the early habit of commanding those who are deemed immeasurably inferior.

The women of the United States have no direct influence in politics; and here, as in England, it is deemed rather unfeminine to take an earnest interest in public affairs. But perhaps there is no country in the world, where women, as wives, sisters, and daughters, have more influence, or more freedom. Some travellers have compassionated the condition of American women, because they spend so small a portion of their time in amusements; but this remark applies equally to men; and it could not well be otherwise in a country where so much is to be done, and where estates are so equally divided that few become very wealthy. It is true that Americans do not treat their ladies with the graceful gallantry of Frenchmen, or the chivalric deference of Spaniards; but in place of these external refinements, women have their respect, esteem, and undoubting confidence.

The class who are exempted from personal exertion, or at least from personal superintendence of their domestic avocations, is comparatively very small. Labor in the open fields and streets is rarely performed by women, unless it be by foreign peasantry lately arrived in the country. The buxom daughters of the Dutch farmers do indeed continue the old custom of raking hay, and the girls in Weathersfield, Connecticut, may often be seen at early[Pg 266] dawn weeding the immense beds of onions, for which that town is celebrated. A large proportion of schools throughout the country are kept by women, and it is not uncommon for them to keep shops for the sale of English and French goods, toys, confectionary, &c. Mantua-making and millinary are, of course, their peculiar province; and many are employed to tend looms in factories, to set types in printing-offices, and fold sheets for the bookbinders. By far the largest proportion of these do not work for support, but to gain additional luxuries, which their parents cannot afford to furnish. Nothing surprises a foreigner more than the near approach to equality in the dress of different classes. The rich and fashionable are in most respects like those of Europe; and humble imitators have need of great diligence to copy their frequent changes. In the article of jewels, the most wealthy cannot indeed cope with their European models; for the diamonds of a foreign duchess often surpass in value the whole fortune, real and personal, of a rich American.

The habit of tight lacing, in order to form a slender waist, has been copied, like other European fashions. This practice, combined with the habit of taking very little exercise in the open air, has an unfavorable effect upon freshness of complexion and beauty of figure. Excursions on horseback have lately become a very favorite amusement with American ladies.

In a country where the price of labor is so high, it is no uncommon thing to see domestics dressed as[Pg 267] well as their employers. But though silk gowns and laces have taken the place of coarse calicoes, the situation of domestics is by no means improved. They are less contented in their situation, and less conscientious in the discharge of their duties, than they were in more patriarchal times. Many attribute this difficulty to our democratic institutions; but I believe it originates in a want of republican principle, not in the excess of it. If people would consider their domestics as sisters of the great human family, differing from them only in having, for the time being, a different use to perform in society—if they would have a tender regard to their health, a reasonable regard to their convenience, a friendly interest in their characters and plans—in a word, if they would perpetually acknowledge a reciprocity of duties—we should soon cease to hear complaints of the indifference and carelessness of domestics. While they are regarded as pieces of machinery, to whom nothing is due but the payment of wages, they cannot be expected to feel a deep interest for those who manifest so little interest in them.

American ladies are accused of being more prudish than foreigners. I hope the charge will always remain a true one; but there may be an excess even of a good thing; and when a sense of decorum led them to be squeamish about seeing Greenough’s beautiful little cherubs, because the marble innocents had no drapery about them, I acknowledge it reminded me of Sir Charles Grandison’s remark: “Wottest thou not, my dear, how much indelicacy there is in thy delicacy?”

[Pg 268]

The tendency of modern times has continually been toward external refinement. The language used by queen Elizabeth and the queen of Navarre would not now be tolerated in any part of the civilized world; yet the marriage of a divorced wife aroused more virtuous indignation in the court of Elizabeth, than a dozen such incidents would now occasion, in any European court. Many phrases and subjects of conversation which appear perfectly proper to an English or French woman, are not so considered by an American. Some of our customs are, however, offensive to the modesty of foreigners; such as the treatment, condition, and sometimes the dress of female slaves. The practice of being assisted by gentlemen, in rising from the rolling surf at Rockaway, after indulging in the refreshment of bathing, has likewise been regarded as singular. It is allowed on account of the overpowering might of the waters, and scrupulous attention to propriety is observed in all the arrangements of the bath.

The laws of England prevail in the United States, with slight modifications. Marriages are not generally performed in the church, because the dissenting sects are more numerous than Catholics or Episcopalians. The ceremony is legal when performed by a magistrate, but a clergyman is universally preferred. Fathers give portions to daughters, according to their wealth, and it is a rare thing for a bride to be entirely destitute. It is customary for women to purchase their furniture, which is generally arranged in the house by some of the bride’s female friends. Divorces[Pg 269] are very uncommon. Infants are never wrapped in the swaddling bands, ligatures, and biggins, still used in many European countries. Of late years, even that pretty ornament, the cap, is generally dispensed with, in conformity with the advice of physicians, except at baptism and on other ceremonious occasions. As yet, it is an uncommon circumstance, even among the rich, for a mother not to nurse her own children.

Great freedom is allowed to young people; particularly during courtship. In old times, the North Holland custom prevailed in interior parts of the country, to considerable extent. It is a universal practice for lovers to remain with the objects of their choice several hours after other members of the family have retired to rest. Aristocratic people do indeed consider this custom ungenteel, and urge upon their daughters the scrupulous etiquette of more corrupt countries. “The spirit of the age” is unfavorable to the old-fashioned doctrine of “falling in love;” even literature, which formerly represented this passion as the moving-spring of all human action, now generally ridicules its power. This influence has extended in a considerable degree to America; and mothers are not wanting who will consent to sell their daughters to the highest bidder, though the bargain is accompanied with formalities, supposed to render it much more respectable than the sale of Circassian girls in the Turkish markets. But while the country is so prosperous, and there are such facilities for gaining a living, matches of interest will continue to be exceptions[Pg 270] to the general rule. Stolen marriages can be solemnized, without the consent of friends, at Providence, Rhode Island, as at Gretna Green, in Great Britain; but there is seldom any serious opposition from parents to render such a step excusable.

There are very few convents in the United States. The nearest approach to them among Protestants are the establishments of Shakers, where the brethren and sisters live in different dwellings, and enter the meeting-house by different doors. These people are proverbial for neatness and industry; but their unnatural mode of life induces something of automaton regularity, which is painful to a free spirit.

The games and amusements of America are similar to those of Protestant Europe. Where all are peculiarly amenable to public opinion, eccentricities in character or dress are very rare, and some complain that this produces a monotonous surface of society. Lady Dare-all, the pride of fox-hunters and horse-racers, would require even more boldness to act in opposition to public opinion here, than was necessary for the same process in England.

The custom of giving presents on the first of January is generally observed; and Catholics and Episcopalians commemorate Christmas with religious services and social festivity. In New England, the last Thursday of November is set apart as a day of thanksgiving, in conformity to the custom of their forefathers. All the members of a family, far and near, generally meet under the parental roof on this occasion. An abundant supply of roasted turkeys,[Pg 271] puddings, and pies are provided, and the day is spent in festivity. The poor are bountifully supplied by their neighbors. In remote parts of the country, it is still considered a delightful frolic for farmers’ families to meet together in the barn, to husk corn. If a girl finds a red ear of corn, she is entitled to receive a kiss; and if a young man finds one, he gains a right to take the same privilege. The party partake of a plentiful supper, and there is no lack of merriment, or good cheer.

Female societies for benevolent purposes are very numerous in the United States. A large portion of their funds are gained by the sale of ingenious articles of their own manufacture.

The United States have produced several female writers, some of whom have talents of the highest order. Foreign critics would probably unite with Americans in conferring the title of pre-eminence on Miss Sedgwick; and never, in any age or country, have the laurels rested on a woman of purer principles, or more expansive benevolence.

[Pg 272]

SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.

Among these numerous islands there is a general resemblance of habits and manners. Their dwellings are small huts covered with matting, and their furniture consists of a few gourds, cocoa-nut shells, lances, slings, fishing-nets, and low wooden stools, of black or brown wood, neatly inlaid with ivory obtained from whale’s teeth; these latter articles serve both for seats and pillows. The floor is strewed with soft grass, covered with mats, on which all the inmates of the house sleep without distinction.

[Pg 273]

The clothing of both sexes is a species of cloth made from the bark of the paper-mulberry tree, called tapa or gnatoo. The common class wear a strip of this cloth fastened about the hips and falling below the knees. The wealthy sometimes have their garments trailing on the ground, because an ample drapery, particularly if it be very fine and delicate, is considered an indication of high rank. The upper part of the person is usually entirely exposed; but on some occasions a mantle of tapa is thrown over the shoulders. In some places mats are worn, one before and the other behind, fastened about the hips with a cord of curious straw work. These mats are made of native flax, very fine and silky, and woven with great neatness and ingenuity. Sometimes the edges are ornamented with stripes of various colors, or with black diamonds, colored with the husk of cocoa-nuts. In several of the islands, one small square apron of this description constitutes all the clothing; and a broad leaf, or a wreath of leaves, often supplies the place even of this slight garment. The women of New Caledonia and New Hebrides wear a short, clumsy-looking petticoat made of the filaments of the plantain tree, about eight inches long, fastened to a very long cord which is passed several times around the waist, until the filaments lie one above another, several inches in thickness. The queens in the Sandwich islands sometimes wear cloaks, or mantles, made of feathers of various colors, and arranged in all manner of beautiful patterns; but this magnificent dress is worn only by people of the highest rank.

[Pg 274]

In some of the islands, the women, when they go abroad, hold a green bough, or a banana leaf, over their heads, by way of parasol; or sit down and weave little bonnets of matting or cocoa-leaves, whenever they have need of them. The belles occasionally decorate themselves with fanciful turbans of fine white gnatoo, among which their shining black ringlets are very tastefully arranged. Sometimes they wear a curious kind of head-dress made of human hair, in braids nearly as fine as sewing silk; these braids have been seen more than a mile long, without a knot. Superb coronets of plumes are worn on state occasions by people of distinction.

European fashions were adopted with great eagerness; and their ignorance of the appropriate use of imported articles often led them into the most grotesque blunders. Mr. Stewart says he has seen a native woman of high rank, and monstrous size, going to church in a fine white muslin dress, with a heavy silver-headed cane, an immense French chapeau, thick woodman’s shoes, and no stockings. But they soon learned better. In those islands that carry on a traffic with Europe and America, the royal family now have their walking dresses, dinner dresses, and evening dresses, of velvet, satin, or crape, in the most approved style; and their wooden stools are changed for sofas and pillows covered with morocco or damask.

In nearly all the South Sea islands, it is the custom to make an incision in the lobe of each ear, into which they introduce large rolls of leaves, sometimes covered[Pg 275] with a very thin plate of tortoise shell, cylindrical pieces of ivory three inches long, or bits of wood, from which they suspend shells, or the teeth of fishes. Sometimes these heavy ornaments distend the ears so much, that the lobes nearly touch the shoulders; and sometimes they are torn asunder, and hang in two slips. These people are exceedingly fond of flowers, which they wear sometimes inserted in the upper edge of the ear, sometimes thrust through the cartilage of the nose, and sometimes woven in beautiful garlands, around the head or the neck. They place peculiar value on necklaces of whale’s teeth, strung in such a manner that the largest come in front, while the others gradually decrease in size toward the back of the neck. When the string is drawn, the pointed extremities diverge, and form a handsome contrast with their dark brown skins. Both sexes are about equally fond of finery. The men of the South Sea islands consider profuse tattooing an indication of rank; and some of them appear to be covered with a permanent suit of embroidery from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot. The women are much less addicted to this practice. Some have their hands tattooed, like embroidered gloves; the feet and ankles of others are stained to resemble ornamented half-boots; while others have merely a few dots on the tip of the tongue, or the palm of the hand. In the Feejee islands only the women are tattooed, while the men are not.

The hair of the South Sea islanders is remarkably[Pg 276] black, glossy, and beautiful. Some have attributed this to the circumstance of their being so much in the salt water; and others have supposed it might be owing to the constant use of cocoa-nut oil. In some islands they rub the hair frequently with lemon-juice, which is said to give it a peculiar lustre. In many places the natural beauty of their tresses is concealed by an artificial color, generally brown or purple, but in a few instances of a deep orange hue. In the Sandwich islands several women have been seen, with hair stained rose-color; these women cut their hair short, comb it back in front, and plaster it with a kind of lime made of burnt shells, so that there is always a white circle round the forehead, contrasting strongly with their dark skins. In the Feejee islands they likewise powder the hair with ashes of the bread-fruit leaf, or stiffen it with pulverized lime. But generally, throughout these islands, they wear the hair long and smooth, tied up behind in a neat and tasteful manner, or suffered to float gracefully over the shoulders. No small degree of coquetry is shown in playing with it, and throwing it out upon the wind.

Complexion varies in the different islands from deep copper-color to light olive. The natives of the Marquesas have light brown complexions, so clear that the mantling blush may be distinctly seen. They generally have fine teeth, expressive features, remarkably delicate hands and arms, and large sparkling eyes, with long glossy eyelashes. These women are considered pre-eminent among the South[Pg 277] Sea islanders for beauty of face and figure. When they become tanned, they have a method of bleaching the skin with the juices of certain plants. The first effect of this cosmetic is a very dark appearance; but they remain in the house, covered up with mats, until it can be washed off, and then the skin becomes very fair. This is considered a necessary preparation for great festivals, though it often costs the ladies several days of seclusion.

In Otaheite they have graceful forms, teeth white and regular, bright black eyes, pale brown complexions, and a skin remarkable for its softness; but the custom of widening the face by continual pressure during infancy gives it a broad and masculine look.

Notwithstanding the practice of frequent bathing, the inhabitants of nearly all the Polynesian islands are much afflicted with cutaneous disorders.

These islanders are, in general, very particular about cleaning their mouths, and frequently rub their teeth with charcoal, or the husk of cocoa-nut. They bathe at sunrise and sunset; and if removed from the vicinity of the sea, they have water poured over them plentifully from cocoa-nut shells. After this, they generally anoint themselves with cocoa-nut oil, perfumed with the aroma of flowers; some color it with the juice of the tumeric, which makes it a pale yellow, or with the burnt root, which produces a deep orange. Wealthy people anoint themselves with oil of sandal-wood. White men, who salute the ladies of the South sea, are sometimes betrayed by a transfer of yellow and orange tints to their own faces.

[Pg 278]

Throughout these islands, they salute each other by rubbing noses, or touching the nose to the forehead, as if smelling. Our mode of expressing affection seems to them very ridiculous, and they call it, in derision, “the white man’s kiss.” At Radack it is considered indecorous for any but husband and wife to salute each other after the fashion of their country, and even they never do it before strangers.

Sensuality is the prevailing characteristic of the South Sea islanders. The licentiousness of their habits and manners, unchecked by nearness of relationship, and unrestrained by any sense of decency, is too gross to be described. A child not unfrequently finds its mother and aunt, or mother and grandmother, in the same individual. The Sandwich islands and the Society islands have maintained a shameful pre-eminence in this respect; and the evil has been much increased by the frequent visits of European and American vessels. Some of the islands furnish an agreeable exception to these remarks. The women of the Tonga islands are said to be very modest and reserved. They take great care of their children; and their girls are early taught many little ornamental accomplishments, such as plaiting flowers in various fanciful devices, as presents for their fathers, brothers, and superior chiefs. Voyagers have likewise described the women of Radack and New Caledonia as decent in their deportment and bashful about mixing with strangers. The natives of the Pelew islands are characterized by an uncommon degree of virtue and decorum, and their manners,[Pg 279] though simple and untutored, are remarkably delicate and obliging.

Gluttony is a prevailing fault in most of the islands of the Pacific. The wealthy class, who can freely indulge their appetites, attain to a size quite as unwieldy as the Moorish women. It is mentioned of one of the queens of the Sandwich islands, that she was in the habit of eating so inordinately, that she remained sluggish for the remainder of the day, and it became necessary for attendants to rub her continually. Mr. Stewart speaks of seeing one of the king’s wives greedily devouring a large living fish, while the blood spirted over her face, and the poor animal wreathed its fins about her head in expiring agony.

Cannibalism prevails in nearly all the islands. The flesh of women and children is preferred to that of men; and captives taken in war are often devoted to this dreadful purpose. In some of the islands this practice is abolished.

Infanticide is of common occurrence in many of the South Sea islands. In Radack, on account of scarcity of provisions, no woman is allowed to bring up more than three children; if she has more than this number, she is herself obliged to bury them alive; the families of chiefs only are exempted from this horrible necessity. Among the warlike inhabitants of New Zealand, boys are of course prized more highly than girls; and when mothers have several daughters in succession, they do not hesitate to destroy them as soon as they are born. When a[Pg 280] chief is very ill, it is customary to strangle the infant child of some female slave, or inferior person, from the idea that it will propitiate the gods. Mr. Mariner relates an instance of this kind that occurred while he was in the Tonga islands. The mother, having some forebodings of what was to be done, hid her babe. But it was discovered, and carried off by some men, who ordered the poor woman to be held back by force, to prevent her from following them. When the child heard her voice, he began to cry; but when arrived at the place of execution, he was so much pleased with the bright band of gnatoo about to be tied round his neck, that he looked up and laughed with delight. This excited so much pity, that even the executioner could not help saying, “Poor little innocent!” Two men pulled the cords, and the smiling little victim was soon deprived of life. In some instances, mothers whose children have been thus destroyed have become crazy, and never recovered their senses.

In the Marquesas and Caroline islands, infanticide is a thing unknown. Even in New Zealand, and in other places where this shocking custom prevails and is justified, the children they do rear are cherished with the most indulgent tenderness, and no difference of treatment is observable toward sons or daughters.

Mr. Ellis thus describes the conduct of a chief named Tetoro, whom he saw at the Bay of Islands in 1816: “Before we set out on our short excursion, an incident occurred, which greatly raised my estimation of Tetoro’s character. In the front of the hut[Pg 281] sat his wife, with two or three children playing around her. In passing from the hut to the boat, he struck one of the little ones with his foot; the child cried, and though the chief had his mat on, and his gun in his hand, and was in the act of stepping into the boat, where we were waiting for him, he no sooner heard its cries, than he turned back, took the child up in his arms, stroked its little head, dried its tears, and giving it to the mother, hastened to join us.”

The unbounded and almost incredible licentiousness that has prevailed in the Sandwich islands and at Otaheite, has produced the natural effect of diminishing parental and maternal love. When it is inconvenient to take care of children, there is no hesitation about killing them; if strangers wish to buy, they are willing to sell them for a string of beads; they generally pay little attention to their cries or sufferings; and if the poor little creatures are very ill, they lay them down upon the sands to die. The introduction of Christianity into these islands is, however, gradually producing a better state of things.

The birth of a son is hailed with the utmost delight. He generally receives the name of some animal, river, or island; but sometimes slight incidents give rise to a name; thus a little girl of the Sandwich islands was called Lealea-hoku, or The Star Necklace, because she had a necklace made of small steel stars, such as European ladies formerly wore on their shoes.

In New Zealand, fathers take the entire care of boys from the moment they are weaned. The child[Pg 282] clasps his little arms about the neck of his parent, and remains suspended on his shoulders, covered with his mat, during the longest journeys and most toilsome occupations. The children are so much accustomed to this position, that they sleep with perfect security.

Infants in this part of the world are nursed a long time. They are often able to run about and talk, before they are weaned. When mothers are busy at their work, they lay them down on a clean mat, and when necessary to carry them about, they fasten them in a sort of satchel at their backs. Little children seldom wear clothing of any kind. In the Marquesas, every child inherits at least one bread-fruit tree from its parents; for if they have no trees in their possession, one is planted as soon as an infant is born, that it may have something for future maintenance. The tree is immediately tabooed, or forbidden, to every one except the individual for whom it is set apart. Even the parents of the child are not allowed to eat of the fruit, or to dispose of it. Both girls and boys, men and women, hold this species of property with perfect security.

The connections formed in the South Sea islands hardly deserve the name of marriage. They take place with very little ceremony, and are dissolved whenever the husband wishes for a change. A woman often has five or six husbands in succession, without the slightest disparagement to her character; but whether she continues to like her companion or not, she is bound to remain with him till he[Pg 283] consents to a separation. The first time a daughter is married, her parents present a hog, a fowl, or a plantain tree, to their son-in-law, before it is allowable for them to eat of his provisions; but this is not customary when the woman has previously had a husband. In some places the lover offers the bride’s father a present of fruit, fish, or other articles, the value of which depends upon his rank. Chieftains of the higher classes generally give a feast on the occasion of a daughter’s marriage. The bride is loaded with mats of the finest workmanship, anointed with fragrant oil, and veiled in delicate white gnatoo. The guests wear wreaths of flowers, and floating red ribands, resembling silk, made of the fine membrane of a tree. When the father gives his daughter to the bridegroom, he reminds her that she is now tabooed, or belongs solely and sacredly to her husband. The entertainment concludes with singing, dancing, and wrestling.

If a powerful chief takes a fancy to a girl, he often carries her off by force, and in spite of her resistance; ambitious parents not unfrequently betroth their daughters in infancy to some man of rank, and the contract must afterward be fulfilled; female captives taken in war are always at the disposal of their conquerors; but, generally speaking, mutual inclination constitutes the sole bond of union in all the islands of the Pacific.

At Nukuhiva it is the custom for every woman to have two husbands. Some favorite of a girl’s father becomes her husband, while she is yet very young,[Pg 284] and remains under the paternal roof, until she is contracted in marriage to another individual. On this occasion, the wife and her first companion remove to their new residence, and are both supported by the second husband.

In the other islands, polygamy prevails under the more usual form of a plurality of wives. The number varies according to circumstances; the poor seldom have more than one or two; the chiefs sometimes have twelve or fifteen. She who is of the best family is the principal wife; the others are subordinate to her, and her children take precedence of theirs. If the mothers are not noble, the children are never so, whatever may be the rank of their father.

When Mr. Marsden, the missionary, talked with some of the New Zealand chiefs concerning the disadvantages of polygamy, they frankly admitted that they should have a more quiet life with one wife, for their women always quarrelled. The younger wives, particularly if they are handsome, often suffer a great deal from the tyranny of the older ones; and if their rank be inferior, their situation is sometimes most lamentable. All the women, who heard the subject discussed, agreed that it would be far better for each man to have but one wife.

Finow, one of the most powerful of the Tonga chiefs, had a sister, who was a very beautiful and lively girl. She talked much about England, and had a desire to go there to amass a great quantity of beads; but she said she supposed the papalangi men would not marry a girl with such a brown skin, and[Pg 285] it would be a sad pity to leave so many handsome young chiefs in the Tonga islands, for the sake of living unmarried in England. She added, laughing, “I think the white men must be uncommonly kind, good-natured husbands, or else white women must have very little spirit; for if it were not so, they could not live so long together without parting. It is a very good custom to have but one wife, provided the husband loves her; but if he does not, he will only tyrannize over her the more; and then she has not so good a chance to deceive him, as where his attention is divided between five or six.”

Notwithstanding the universal practice of polygamy, there are instances of very strong domestic attachment in the South Sea islands. It is said that the infidelity of a husband or wife has often driven the other party to suicide.

Throughout the South Sea islands a woman may carry on as many amours as she chooses, without incurring any blame, until she is married, and thus becomes an article of property; yet notwithstanding this unpropitious course of education, instances of misconduct after marriage are said to be by no means frequent.

The king’s wives are always guarded by attendants, who keep a strict watch upon their proceedings, and whose lives are responsible for a breach of trust.

Where the parties are of high rank, an unfaithful wife and her paramour are sometimes both strangled and thrown into the sea; but usually the woman[Pg 286] receives a sound beating, and no farther notice is taken of the offence. In the Marquesas, if a husband have just cause of complaint, he can transfer his wife, even against her will, to any man who will take her.

In some of the islands, men form what is called “the bond of friendship” with each other. By this bond, individuals are bound to protect and assist each other under all circumstances; and one friend is expected to resign his wife to the other, whenever he visits his house.

It is a common practice for women of rank to be the adopted mother of some individual for whom their husbands entertain great regard. One of the wives of Finow performed this office for Mr. Mariner during his residence in the Tonga islands, and he owed much of his convenience and comfort to her motherly care.

The women of the Ladrone or Marian islands are of a dark yellow complexion. Their teeth are spoiled by the constant use of betel. They dress modestly, and wear the hair tied very low, almost in the neck. If a man marries a woman whose fortune is superior to his, he performs the menial offices of household labor; he cannot dispose of the smallest article without her permission; and should his temper or habits prove disagreeable, she can leave him, carrying with her all the children and property. If he detects her in misconduct, he may kill the gallant, but has no right to use her ill. Should he, on the contrary, be found guilty of the same fault, his wife collects all the women of the neighborhood, who destroy his garden, his grain, and his dwelling, and beat him like so many furies, if they can find him.

[Pg 287]

Where the husband and wife possess an equal degree of property, labor and authority is more equally divided. It is not probable that these things are regulated by laws; but where women are upheld by powerful connections, their husbands are compelled to yield to the right of the strongest. According to an ancient law, if the father or brother of a young woman saved a superior from any imminent danger, the latter was required to prove his gratitude by marrying the girl without any dowry. This law was repealed, but by the force of custom it is still generally observed. Disputes between the men are decided by the women; but female disputes are settled by themselves. When champions try their skill in single combat, women adjudge the victory, and present the reward, which usually consists of fruit or linen. Mourning is worn in the Ladrone islands two months for a man, and six months for a woman.

In the South Sea islands men and women never eat together. Women take their food in the same huts in which they sleep; and if any one should presume to enter the eating-houses of the men, she would be immediately strangled and thrown into the sea. Articles of luxury, such as pork, turtle, shark, cocoa-nuts, bananas, or plantains, are forbidden to women. These rigorous prohibitions are disobeyed whenever it can be done secretly. When ships are near the shore, the women often swim off to them in the night, and indulge their appetites by feasting on various forbidden delicacies. Mr. Campbell says that he once saw the queen of the Sandwich islands[Pg 288] herself guilty of this transgression; but she told him her life would be forfeited, should the circumstance be discovered.

On sacred days women are not allowed to enter the morai, or temple; and at such seasons they must not go out in a canoe. At the Caroline islands, where they have no idols, but offer the first-fruits of the earth to invisible gods, men and women present their offerings in different temples, and at different times, and no man is allowed to be present while the women perform their religious ceremonies.

Riho-Riho, king of the Sandwich islands, at the same time that he caused all the idols to be destroyed, abolished the custom which made it impossible for women to eat with their own husbands and fathers. He invited all the principal chiefs, foreign traders, and mercantile agents to a dinner party. Two long tables, covered with dainties, were spread in an open bower, around which a great multitude had assembled. When the company had all taken their seats, the king, with considerable agitation, seated himself between two of his queens, offered them some of the food forbidden to women, and himself ate from the same dish with them. Some fears were entertained lest this bold innovation of ancient usages should occasion a revolt; but the temporary excitement among the people soon yielded to their habitual obedience to the chief.

In New Hebrides and New Caledonia, the women are scarcely treated better than they are in New Guinea and New Holland; but, with these exceptions,[Pg 289] the condition of Polynesian women is generally preferable to that of most savage tribes. The men universally take a share, though not always an equal one, in laborious occupations. In the Tonga isles a considerable degree of respect and delicacy is manifested toward women of all classes. It is considered rude to take any freedoms without their full consent, and they are not required to perform any hard labor, or very menial tasks. Traits of gallantry and romantic tenderness may be discovered in some of their love stories.

The sovereign power is often inherited by a woman; and not unfrequently many powerful chiefs acknowledge the supremacy of a queen, pay her tribute, and approach her with all the ceremonials due to superior rank. The most distinguished warrior, if he have a wife descended from a family more noble than his own, cannot dispense with certain respectful forms prescribed by etiquette. The female chiefs have as numerous attendants as the men. It is the business of these attendants to shade them with umbrellas, to carry their fans, pipes, spitting-boxes, and kahiles, or feathered staffs with richly ornamented handles, borne as an insignia of their rank. Within doors they are stationed near them to drive away the flies, while they are eating, smoking, or sleeping. Mr. Stewart describes Tamehamaru, queen of the Sandwich islands, as “a dignified and graceful woman, with an unaffected expression of conscious and acknowledged rank.” When he first saw her, she was seated at a long table, with an open writing[Pg 290] desk before her, receiving tribute from her subjects, as they passed along in single file. It is now no uncommon thing, in the vicinity of missionary stations, for chiefs, both male and female, to know how to read and write; and it has even been said that one of the princesses has her autobiography in preparation for the press.

A remarkable degree of energy and moral courage was evinced by one of the native women, who had been a convert to Christianity. There was a large burning lake in the island, that frequently sent forth volcanic flames. From time immemorial there had been a tradition that this place was the residence of Pelé, the mighty goddess of fire. Priestesses were appointed to attend upon this invisible deity, and to place food within the crater for her use; but all except these sacred women were afraid to approach, lest they should be instantly devoured. Notwithstanding the strength of this popular delusion, a female chief descended into the crater, and stirred the fiery ashes with a stick, to convince her ignorant countrymen that Pelé the fire goddess was merely an imaginary being, and nothing was to be dreaded from her vengeance.

Besides the acknowledged priestesses, there are people of both sexes, who when afflicted with extreme depression of spirits, without any apparent cause, are supposed to be inspired by the gods.

Women of the South Sea islands are generally permitted to speak in their councils, and their advice is listened to with respect. Finow murdered his[Pg 291] brother, and conferred his authority upon his aunt. She assembled all the principal people, acknowledged her great obligations to her deceased nephew, and proposed a rebellion against the government of Finow. The matter was discussed for a long time, when the sister of the female chief who had first spoken, rushed into the assembly, armed with a club and spear, and exclaimed in a loud voice: “Why do ye hesitate so long, when honor so clearly points out the proper path to pursue? If the men have become women, the women will be men, and revenge the death of their murdered chief! Then stand and look idly on, while women are sacrificed in the glorious cause! Perhaps their example may at last excite you to die in defence of their rights.” This thrilling exhortation had the desired effect upon the chieftains.

In one respect, there is a decided contrast between the savages of the South sea and those of North America. The North American Indians consider voluptuousness a despicable vice; and in cases of seduction, far more blame is attached to the man than the woman. The latter is forgiven; and, unless her conduct is very gross, finds no difficulty in subsequently forming a matrimonial connection; but her betrayer is treated with the utmost neglect and contempt. It may be questioned, whether Christian nations are in this respect so just as the Indians. While such severe blame and eternal infamy rests on women who have been deceived, it is obviously unjust that civilized society should so readily forgive the deceiver.

[Pg 292]

The most common employment of the South sea women is the manufacture of tapa, for garments and bed clothes. It is made from the bark of the paper mulberry tree, beaten out with a piece of wood grooved like a crimping machine. It can be bleached perfectly white, and much of it is worn in that state. But in general it is stained with a variety of colors extracted from vegetable productions. The stamps used for this purpose are made by the women; sometimes by embroidering leaves with fibres, so as to produce a raised surface, but more frequently by cutting the pattern in a piece of bamboo. When tapa is printed in this way, it is called gnatoo. In point of beauty it compares very well with calico; but as it cannot be washed, a new suit is frequently required.

Women likewise braid very beautiful mats. Those used for sleeping are coarse and strong; but some of them are exceedingly white and delicate, or fancifully ornamented with stained grass woven in various patterns. Mr. Nicholas saw a remarkably elegant and highly finished mat, made of flax, by the wife of a New Zealand chief, and he was assured that it could not be manufactured in less time than two or three years. Even queens pride themselves on their skill in weaving mats and baskets. The eating-houses, being sacred to the use of men, are built entirely by men; but in many of the islands women assist in the construction of the dwellings appropriated to common use. Sometimes a woman of distinction may be seen carrying a heavy stone for the foundation of a building, while a stout attendant carries the light[Pg 293] feathered staff to denote her rank. In some places people of noble birth pride themselves on very long nails, to show that they perform no labor; but, generally speaking, women of all classes assist in the labors of agriculture, and the management of canoes; and when a journey is performed, they often carry the baggage. Mr. Marsden, speaking of an expedition of about fifty of the natives of New Zealand, says: “We were to travel more than a hundred miles, in some of the worst paths that can be conceived, and to carry provisions for the journey. A chief’s wife came with us all the way, and I believe her load could not be less than one hundred pounds; many carried much more.”

Females, particularly of the higher class, spend a great deal of their time in making ornaments for their persons, such as necklaces, finger rings, coronets and mantles of feathers. In those islands where there are missionaries and other European residents, they are learning to make neat hats and bonnets, and garments of cotton and silk. These native mantua-makers are said to evince great dexterity and skill in their new occupation. But with all these various employments, the Polynesians, either men or women, seldom work more than five hours out of the twenty-four. They sleep and lounge half their time, and frolic away a good portion of the remainder. They are attracted by every new object, and run after it with the eagerness of children. Mrs. Williams, wife of one of the missionaries, says: “The best of native girls will, on a hot day, take themselves off and swim, just when[Pg 294] you may be wishing for some one to relieve you; and after this, they will go to sleep for two or three hours. The moment a boat arrives, away run men, boys, and girls, to the beach. If the mistress censures them, they will laugh at her, and tell her she has ‘too much of the mouth.’”

Dancing is one of the most common amusements in the islands of the South sea. The dances in which the women join are generally slow and graceful, accompanied by a variety of motions with the head, body, and limbs. In most of these dances, little attention is paid to decorum. Sometimes forty or fifty women dance together in a solid square, changing their attitudes every moment; sometimes all squatting down, and then all springing up at the same moment. A musician accompanies the dancers, who beats a small drum, made of a cocoa-nut shell covered with shark’s skin. The women likewise strike pieces of wood or notched reeds together in cadence, like the castanets of more civilized nations. In addition to this they often wear around their ankles a network of shells, or dog’s teeth, which rattle as they dance.

They have songs descriptive of war, or love, or beautiful scenery. These are generally sung alternately by both sexes, in a sort of recitative. The following are extracts from a favorite song among the Tonga people: “The women said to us, let us repair to the back of the island to contemplate the setting sun; there let us listen to the warbling of birds and the cooing of the wood-pigeon. We will[Pg 295] gather flowers from the burial place at Matawto, and then bathe in the sea, and anoint ourselves in the sun with sweet-scented oil, and will weave in garlands the flowers gathered at Matawto. Oh, how much happier shall we be than when engaged in the wearisome and insipid affairs of life! How troublesome are the young men begging for wreaths of flowers, while they say in their flattery, ‘See how charming these young girls look coming from Licoo! How beautiful is their skin, diffusing around a fragrance like the flowery precipice of Mataloco!’”

It is a common amusement with the women of Polynesia to throw up five balls in such a manner as to keep four perpetually in the air. They are thrown with the left hand, and caught with the right. The players at the same time chant verses, with the cadence of which their motions keep perfect time. Sometimes seven or eight join together in this recreation.

Swimming is their favorite diversion, and they show an astonishing degree of courage and expertness in the practice of it. Women will often, for mere sport, frolic in places where such a tremendous surf breaks on the shore, that the boldest European swimmer would not dare to venture within its power. If beads, or nails, be thrown into the sea, they will dive after them with incredible velocity, and seldom fail to bring them up.

If a shark makes his appearance when women are swimming, it is said the playful water nymphs surround him, and, if they can once get him into the[Pg 296] surf, fairly drive him on shore; and even if the monster escapes from them, they continue their sport, without any apparent fear of danger.

At great festivals it is not uncommon for the women to wrestle together in pairs. Finow, king of Tonga, ordered a mock fight, in which fifteen hundred women were ranged on each side. They gave fair hits, without pulling each other’s hair, and kept up the contest about an hour, without an inch of ground being lost by either side.

In the Radack islands women fight not merely for pastime, but in good earnest. They station themselves behind the men, beating drums, and throwing stones gathered in baskets for the purpose. When the combat is ended, they throw themselves in as mediators between the conquerors and the vanquished.

When a person of superior rank is ill, it is customary for his relations to cut off a joint of the little finger, as a sacrifice to the gods for his recovery. Even little children will quarrel for the honor of laying their finger upon a block of wood, and having a joint cut off with an axe, or sharp stone. As soon as a person dies, the air is rent with the shrieks and lamentations of friends and dependents. The house is hung with coarse brown gnatoo striped with black, and the mourners, as an indication of wretchedness and gloom, wear the most ragged and dirty mats they can find. They pluck out the hair, beat their faces till they become black and swollen, and disfigure themselves in a frightful manner with gashes made by sharp shells. Very handsome women sometimes,[Pg 297] in the excess of their grief, destroy every vestige of their beauty. In the Feejee islands, when a chief dies, custom requires that his principal wife should be strangled and buried with him. Powerful friends, by the offer of very valuable gifts, may save the widow from this fate; but in many cases they are unable to do it, and in others the victim makes it a point of honor to be sacrificed. In the Sandwich islands, it was formerly the practice to immolate a number of slaves on the grave of the king and queen; but this custom has been abolished by the influence of the missionaries. The graves are decorated with flowers, and carefully kept in order with smooth layers of black and white pebbles gathered from the beach.

Pitcairn’s island was peopled by English seamen, who having mutinied on board the ship Bounty, sought concealment on its distant and rock-bound shores. They went to Otaheite to obtain wives, returned in safety, and for more than twenty years remained in complete seclusion from the civilized world. It would be difficult for the imagination to form a more charming picture, than the description of these primitive people given by the first navigators who visited them in their peaceful retreat. The young people were tall, vigorous, and most beautifully formed, with countenances expressive of the utmost innocence, frankness, kindness, and good humor. The women were exceedingly lovely, and modest even to bashfulness. Marriages were performed with the utmost solemnity, by John Adams, the old patriarch[Pg 298] of the colony. When young people formed an attachment for each other, it was simply necessary to inform this old man that the lover had cleared a piece of land, and raised sufficient stock to support a family; under such circumstances, his approbation was easily obtained, and the marriage ceremony immediately solemnized. Their habits were extremely neat and orderly, and their manners characterized by the utmost purity and decorum.

The young women assisted their fathers and brothers in the cultivation of the ground, which produced bread-fruit, yams, sweet potatoes, cocoa-nuts and bananas. They likewise manufactured tapa for garments, after the manner of their Otaheitan mothers; and had caps and bonnets of their own weaving, in which they displayed a great deal of taste and ingenuity.

The Sabbath was kept as a day of rest and devotion, and they never ate a meal without kneeling and returning thanks, in the most simple and unaffected manner, to the great Giver of all mercies.