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HISTORT

OF TBB

f EMAL1B S£j(.

VOL I.

POPULAR WORKS
Just Published.

ZOOLOGICAL ANECDOTES 5

OR,

AUTHENTIC *OR INTERESTING FACTS,

RELATIVB TO THE

LlVfiS^ MANNERS,* AND ECONOMY

OP THE

BRUTE CREATION ;

ExhibifiDg the mott striking Instances of the Intelligence
S..^:;.c.ty, S«x.iai iJ'i.pos'iic), and extraordiiiar)' Capa-
cio^.s of vsmiif A:uii)fc?s. bcth in their JCatarVi und
.-.c .ta^.c' in J/'O Vols. Price 10s. b«arai.

THl KBW TORI

TItDtH

STATrj. nf JULIA MAMMIA,
Motherof flie Emperor Alexander Severus

HJSTOHY

OF THE

FEMALE SEX;

COMPRISING

A VIEW OP THE HABITS, MAlTNERS, ANP INFLUENCE OP
WOMEN, AMONG ALL NATIONS, FROM THE EAR-
LIEST AGES TO THE PRESENT TIME.

Tianslate(| fiom the Gennan of

C; MEINERS,

Councillor of State to his Britannic Majes^, and Professor
of Fhiksophy at the University of Uottingen.

BY FREDERIC SHOBERL.

^SSBSSSBaBSatGSm'

IN FOUR VOLUMJEI^T'7: :;-

VOL. L/ >''—■''<- \

< V- ^t J

LONl>6N:\ :.

-_. •

PRINTED FOR HENRY COLBUJlNi QQUDUIT-STREET,

NEW BOND-STIUBET, *

1808.: /•:' •

17, Mar|ii4t.#«iea, CaVeofiiM<j5«?^

» . •

»

. • •

. . . ■ • J i

i.'X

\

./

CONTENTS

f
OF TBB

FIRST VOLUME.

Introduction • • ,1

CHAP. 1.

Of the Condition of the Female Sex amongp
the Heathen Nations of. Siheria, and the
Aborigines of America. >• . .^ . . . 11

CHAP. IL

Of the Condition of the Female Sex among
the N^^gpro Ni&duns uf America • • • • 51

CHAP. ra.

Of the Condition of Women among the Inha-
bitants of Mongolia and the South of Asia;
also in the Islands of the East Indies and
South Sea » . . 70

CHAP. IV.

Of the Condition of Women among the Nap-
tions of the East • 92

Xri GOMTXMTS.

CHAP. V,

Ptege

Of theConditi<m of the Female Sex among
the Slavon Naticms of Europe • • • • 157

*^ '

. CHAP. VL '

Of the Condition of the Female Sex among
the Celtic Nations^ till the Conclusion of
the Age of Chivalry •••••••• 165

CHAP. vn.

Of the State of the Female Sex among the
Greeks . . . . ^• . . • • • . • 25S

CHAP. vin.

Of the Condition of the Female Sex among
tile Romans • ^ • « ^ dO#

' /

TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.

I ESTEEfix viyself happy^ that it has fallen
to my lot to hitroduce to the notice of
the British public the name of a writer,
whose well-earned reputation and popu*
larity in his owp country may reasonably
be deemed pledges of his fevourable re<-
ception in this.

Among the living authors of Genhsnyp
none is more distinguished for various
and extensive erudition than Cheisto-*
PHER Meiners. Whatever Greece and
Rome, Britain^ France^ Italy, Spain, and
Germany have produced most interesting
in the principal departments of literature^

a

^'

VI PREFACE.

especially in history, philosophy, and
statistics, he has read in the original lan-
guages, and that in such a manner, as to
have the prodigious stock of information
which he has tt»is . apc|uired continually
within his reach. In a word, there are
few literati who have read more, or to
better purpose. Solicitous rather to in-
form than to shine, to be extensively useful
than elaborately profouAd^ very few of
the performances of lys prdific pen are
designed for the mere man of letters; but
fer the greater number of them are calcu-
lated for the use of the generaj reader.
His investigations have been principally
directed to historical subjects ;' and the
produ|;tiQtns that have resulted from these
ihquiries are replete with accufate infor-
mation, so that they are continually
quoted by the most celebrated scholars of
the continent. To the English r^uler it
may not be uninteresting to observe, that
he has written an Introduction to Gibbon's

^ Ihe Becttne «nd Fall of the
. Rpmaii !£mpiie9 m wbidi^ though he ad-
mits the merits of our elegant historian,
he 19 not blind to liis defects.

What confers a! particular value on the
Vi^ritingsof M.'Mein^rs, and fenders them
highly instriictive to such as read for the
* purpose cIF information, is, that he always
makes a point of quoting his authorities
. withaclrupulous accuracy^ and gives no-
thing as bis own, -but what is really such.
It is likeiVise no small .i^<$l»mmendation
, to bk wopks, iand has contributed not a
little to their popularity, that he never
• attempts to dazzle by unexpected sallies
of wit, or jp^radoxicml opinions and ob-
servations. Far from the studied elegance
: of fine writers, who are continually hunt-
ing for far-fetched expressions, his object
is to instruct in bu easy way. His style
is unaffected, but not careless, and his
ideas are always 4|par. Ii^eed, the vo-
lumes here .presented to the public md^

a2

serve as a veiy fitir specimen of the 4ten^
ner he has adopted in all his historical
performances.

After this brief notice- relative to the
author of the History of the Female
Sex^ I shall proceed to make a few ob-
servations on the work, and the version
of it, which is here submit^ to the^
public*

The first volume of the original appear-
.ed in 1788 ; and it was not till after a.
period of twelve years that the last was
pablished, in 1 80O. It is to be presumed^
that, in the labours of various travellers^
historians and other writers, which have
been given to the world during that
period, some particulars might be found
of which the author would have been
glad to avail himself occasionally to illus-
trate, confirm or correct his- statements
and opinions. The task of consulting
the authorities whicl^pre here alluded to,
i r^et that I was prevented from under-

IflMng^ >by the hastfe witti iThi<ih> for
teasoi# which it b uhnetfessftry to detail^
I wad obliged to execute dfis tlransla^on.

It is * posBiMli^ th^t my fair countij-
women may be dissatisfied with the small
Epace whidh 'the 'l^^cKes of Br^in occupy
in this History, and may think that strift
justice has- irtot been dbne them in the
general reflecti^jns whidli thte author ha^
subjoined. I will not itt^mpt to dissem-
ble thait su^h wai^^ the impression pm^

« ■

duced^ at tecl^t^ on my mind ; biit yet

with the be^t inclination^ the causcf^ t6

which I have just referteB^ imperiously

forbade any attempt either 'tb enlarge ot

toiindicate.

One 49riot^ i-etoark I ihdll b^ leave to

make. In the ^ttthertim €(iiotatK>hS/^hich

the Author has subjoined by way of Notes, '

he has al ways retained the language of the

original which he cites. The substance^i

or perhaps the very words of these pas-

sages^ are sometimes introduced into th«

a3

PREFACE.

text ; but where this *is not the case, and
other reasons did not induce me to leave
them as they stood, I have given a trans-
lation of them for the beq^t of the mere
English reader*

If the consideration of a subject,*" in
^hich every member of society is more or
less concerned ; if a vast fund of informa-
tion, collected with great labour from a
thousand sources ; if numberless curious
anecdotes and facts, communicated in a
pleasii^ and unafiected manner, are cal-
culated to interest and entertain, then I
may confidently assert that there are few
readers who-^will not derive either instruc-
tion or amusement from these volumes^
and fondly anticipate for my exertions the
tufirage of public approbstioiu

/

THE AUTHOR S PREFACE.

IN this work I enquire not only into
the history of the manners of women^ but
also into that of their intrinsic merits,
of the rights and duties, the respect or
disrespect restating from them, and of
the more or less happy condition of the
9ex in all ages and atmrng all nations.

Inihejirst volume comprehending the
History of fFbmen among all nations, and
tveii those of Europe, till the conclusion of
the age of chivalry, I have not indulged
in any observatiotif except when they
H»m£d necessary either to connect thi

Xii AUTHOE*S Pl^EFACE.

facts adduced^ or to direct the attention
of the reader to such points as appeared
particularly/ worthy of notice. The se*
cond is oect^pied entirely with the £Kstory
of the Female Sex in France till the ac-
cession of Louis XIV. The third brings
it down to the end of the reign of his
successor ; and in the fourth^ after^ com^
pleting the History of Women among tht
different nations of Europe^ I have suh*
joined some general observations^ which
present themselves as the last results of
the survey of the state of the sex in all
countries and all ages^ and whidh may be
used as a scale or standard of its worth
and morals and of the degree of conrider^
ation in which it was held.

Most people atri so habUuaied to rt^
gard that state of ^Hings M .u>hich thesf
have hem hred from their

Juncg^ as the bet^t or the only natural
MatCy that they cannot withhold their
astonishment when they are informed that
-not very long since a totally different
system prevailed in the same countries
and among the same nations. Accord^
ingly many of my readers will, no doubt ^
be surprized tQJind that the way of living
nf the kings and prhices some centuries
agOj and the regulations, the etiquette,

4

and the diversions of their courts, differed
exceedingly from those of the present
day ; thut such courts as now exist did not
begin to be formed till toward the conclu--
sion of thejifteenth^ or rather^t the com^
meniement of the sixteenth century ; and
that these modem cfurts have produced
very great changes in the mutual re-
lations and manners of both sexes, as well

as in their hngUagey eduoathnf anddrm.
I^m therefhre grossly * mistdhen^ if the
historiatl pictures esMbited in these M-
lumeS fail to excite a lively interest in
readers who are desirous of acquiring in^
formation.

In the composition of this worJc^ I have
not, to my knowledge, omitted to avail
myself 'Cf one singh authority of any
consequence. On the contrary, I have
been (j^ the pains to read through many
"volumesfor the sake of individual chap^
ters, and, after nil, my trouble has not
ieen rewarded with tlie discovery of one
solitary fhct that could be of any service
to me. . If in the works which I have con-
*sulted, any cirduniH&nce worthy ofnotio^
should have escaped me, the candor of
the reader will ascribe it not to any want

author's preface. XT

^>f attention during the perusal of them,
hut to an oversight which cannot always

%

he avoided.

A comparison of my work with the Es-
sai sur le Caract^re, les Moeurs, et PEs-
prit des Femmes^ hy the French orator,
Thomas, and with the History of Wo-
rsxexL, hy Alexander, will shew every im^ ^
jpartial reader that I could not derive '
^nuch information suitable to my purpose
jfrom either of those performances.

}

INTEOBUCTION.

^HE history of no people, of no other
Tilass of society, presents a spectacle so
revolting, a spectacle that so powerfully
excites the sentiments of horror and com-
passion, as the histqiy of the condition of
the female sex among most of the nations
xyf the globe. The lot of slaves themselves
was formerly enviable, when compared
with that of women ; and, by an unac-
^iountablc contradiction, the men of those
very nations, who treated the captive
enemies whom they had enslaved, with
the greatest lenity and forbearance, de-
graded the companions of their lives, and
the mothers of their children, by the most
rigid oppression and sovereign contempt.
Among more than one half of the human
race, the life of women was an uninter-
rupted series of hardships and humilia-
tions, the patient endurance of which could
scarcely be expected of human nature;
and the condition of the maid, the wife,
and the widow, was a state of progressively
aggravated subjection and misery, in
which all the mortifications and evils of

VOL. I. B

2 INTRODUCTION.

life were accumulated; and from which,
on the other hand, almost all its pleasures
\ and en jojTnents were excluded. In many
countries, even at the present day, females
are sold hy their fathers before they be-
hold the light, or during the years of early
infancy ; and where this practice has not
been adopted, the parents barter away the
charms of their daughters, resign them to
the arms of every one who chuses to pay
a certain premium for the short-lived en-
joyment, and at length make them over,
without their consent, to the highest
bidder, or to the man who engages to
serve them for the longest time. Among
savage nations^ the entrance into the mar-
ried state is for the female the commence-
ment of the most cruel and abject slavery ;
for which reason many women dread
matrimony more than death. Young fe-
males are obliged to perform, if not all, at
least the most laborious duties, both at
home and abroad ; and to~ provide food
and cloathing, not only for their children,
but also for their indolent and unfeehng
husbands. So far from being remune-
rated with aifection and gratitude for
these incessant labours, which either pre-
maturely terminate the lives of many, or
plunge them into despair, these ^Tetche^

IKTRODUCnON, 3

creatures are treated with the utmost con-
tempt, which is converted into the highest
degree of reUgious abhorrence, during
periodical infirmities, nay even when the^
are about to impart to the hearts of their
obdurate tyrants such joys as fathers only
know ; or when they are engaged in per-
forming the sacred duties of maternity.
Women, during pregnancy, while suck-
ling their offspring, or when subject to the
infirmities incident to the sex, so fai*
from receiving consolation and assistance,
in circumstances, which among us, are
capable of moving even the most insen-
sible heart, are on the contrary avoided
as infectious, and as objects of the divine
wrath. In many cases, they are even prol
hibited from living in the same habitation
with their husbands ; and much less are
they allowed to eat with, or to touch them;
It is not sufficient that women who are
pregnant, or give suck, are depriyed of the
society of their husbands, and the pleasures
of matrknony ; they are also obliged]
without complaining, to suffer them t6
form connexions with other females, knd
even to take the latter into their houses!
Nor is thi|^ all ; for when the first Avives'
begin to losrf their charms, or the husbands
to be weary of them, they are under thtf'

B3.

f

4 INTRODUCTION.

necessity of submitting to be slaves of
their more youthful and arrogant succes-
sors. This galling yoke would perhaps be
endured with some degree of patience by
the women, whose sensibility is not more
refined than that of the other sex, if the
love and affection of their children com-
pensated in some degree, for the indiffer-
ence an4 cruelty of their fathers. Among
a great number, perhaps we may say
among the majority, of the nations in
which the sex is most unhappy, mothers
possess not the smallest authority over
their children, and particularly the sons
that are past the years of infancy. Oa
the contrary, they are obliged to submit
to every species of abuse, of which their
Imital offspring frequently make a boast ;
or it ^ mother were to chastise an unruly
boy, even in the mildest manner, she
would herself incur the most cruel cor-
rection from the unreasonable father.
Though these women are thus doomed to
m life of incessant labour ; though they
endure with such patience the coldness
and ill-treatment of their husbands, the
ingratitude of their children, and the ar-
Yogance of more favoured rivaR still even
thb horrible state of degraoation and
misery cannot be considei*ed as perma^^

-..-i-

INTRODUCTtOX. 5

nent ; for on the slightest pretexts, wives
are repudiated, sold, or put to death with
impunity. Even after the decease of their
husbands, widows have seldom to expect
any mitigation of their lot ; but have in
general more reason to ajiprehend an ag-
gravation of their sufferings. Tliey are
either sold by the relatives of their hus-
bandd^ or plundered of their little pro-
perty, and expelled from their habitations.
Very often after witnessing the death of
their infants by the tedious pangs of
hungei^ they themselves share the same
cruel fate. But if famine and misery
should not terminate their sufferings, yet ou
the approach of age, females are not sure
of their lives for a single day. If any
accident whatever befals an iofnorant sa-
vage, and he is unable to account for it
in any other way, he has no hesitation to
ascribe his misfortunes to the magic spelU
of some old wsman, and this alone is suf-
ficient to remove the supposed sorceress
out of the world, without farther accusa-
tion, trial, or condemnation.

This is a faithful picture of the condi-
tion of the female sex among almost all
the inferior nations of Mongol origin,
who may be regarded as intermediate
beings between the European and the

b3

6 INTRODUCTION.

irrational animals. Many of them, indeed^
partake much more of the disposition of
the brute, than of the character of the
European. Subjected to every hardship,
and possessing not -9. single prerogative,
the women of the Mongol nations are de-
nied even those privileges which Europeans
consider the inviolable rights of man, and
which our laws and customs secure to the
lowest menial, and the most dangerous
enemy. The deplorable condition of the
sex among these brutal people, so far from
being ameliorated by their ardent consti-
tution, and the violence of sensual appetite,
or by the highest degree of civilization of
which those nations are susceptible, is only
rendered stiil more irksome.

The lecherous negroes treat their wives
with little less cruelty and contempt than
the cold Americans ; and the large nations
of southern Asia, who have made the
ferthest advances from the lavage state of
all the ancient tribes of Mongol origin,
conduct themselves towards their daugh-
ters, wives, and widows, with still greater
cruelty, if possible, than even the negroes
and Americans. . Among other nations,
the lot of the weaker 4sex was the more
tolerable, or the more comfortable, the
more tbosft nations were influenced by

iNTRODl^CTIOy. 7

the principles of genuine Bamanity, or
possessed the quaUties characteristic of
generous minds. The Orientals, as they
are denominated, being more indolent,
more unfeeHng, and m<Jre ardent than the
Slavonic nations of our quarter of the globe,
the womea among the former, were always
much more oppressed than those of the
latter ; and among these, they were never
treated with such consideration and in-
dulgence as by the nations of Celtic
origin, whose more generous disposition
was manifested, even in a state of barbarism,
in their conduct toward the sex. The
more liberal and humane were the senti-
ments that pervaded the people, the more
limited was the power of fathers and hus-
bands over their daughters and wives ;
the more the former were consulted on
the subject of marriage, the more free and
independent were the latter, without, how*
ever, enjoying unbridled liberty of will ;
the smaller was the danger of bging repu*
diated without just reason, and finally the
less precarious was their lot, in case of
separation by mutual consent, or if their
husbands were snatched from them by the
hand of death.

Among the nations distinguished for
liberality of sentiment, the. cultivation of

' 8 INTRODUCTION.

the mind, itt'a greater or less degree, had
scarcely any influence upon their conduct
towards the seX; for among the most
generous and valiant European nations,
females possessed, even in the barbarous
-.: ages, prerogatives not inferior, nay, per-
haps even superior to those which they
• enjoyed after the introduction of the arts
and sciences; but the purity or corrup-
tion of manners effected a rapid and im-
portant revolution in the condition of
women. The more the two sexes indulge
' in vicious gratifications, the weaker, or
rather the more enervated the men become,
t and the, bolder and the more masculine
^ the women; the greater is the respect paid
to shameless females; the more the im-
■ becile husband is enslaved and maltreated ;
the more the privileges and the riches of
the women are increased, and the more
the selfish and degraded creatures of the
other sex are oppressed. TThere are even
some Mongol tribes in which the women
govern the men with unlimited sway, and
avenge, on these slaves, the injustice ex-
perienced by their sex among other na-
tions of the same origin.

»

HISTORY

OF THE

FEMALE SEX.

I '^

CHAPTER I.

Of the Condition of the Female Se3B
among the Heathen Nations of Siberia,
and the Aborigines of America.

The condition of women among the
heathen nations of Siberia, and the Abori-*
gines of America, who are descended
from the inhabitants of the north-east part
of Asia, is alone a sufficient demonstra-
tion of one half of the pi-eceding introduc-
tory observations ; that is, that the greater
is the indolence, the insensibility, and the
ignorance of the men, so much the less
respect is paid to the women, and so much
the worse is the treatment they receive.

I

r

r

1% illSTORY OF

But as the slavery of whole nations can-
not be solely the ^fl'ect of the arbitrary
!* power and cruelty of despots, but must
be partly ascribed to the imbecility or
I corruption of their oppressed subjects ; so
\ the degradation of the female sex origi-
j nates, not only in the vices of the men,
but also in the defects of the women. We
find, accordingly, that among all the na-
'* tions of Siberia and America, by whom
\ the female sex is treated with the greatest
degree of cruelty, the women are as desti-
tute of virtue, and in particular as incon-
stant, faithless, and immodest, as the men
are cruel, idle, and insensible. Men of a
more noble disposition would not treat
even such women as Siberia and America
produce, as they are treated by the origi-
nal inhabitants of these remote regions ;
but at the same time, these cruel and
merciless savages would not oppress wo-
* men of more generous dispositions as they
oppress their own ; neither would the
females of Europe brook the tyranny that
is exercised on those of Siberia and Ame*
rica. An observation which I have else-
where made respecting whole nations,
may therefore be applied to women, and
'; we may with truth affirm, that neither
the one nor the other can be ruled with

THE FEMALE SEX. 11

despotic authority, unless thjiir apathy*
and degradation merit no better fate, and
enable them to bear the hardships that
fall to their lot.

One of the principle causes of the
contempt and ill-treatment which the
Siberian and American women have to
endure, is the prejudice universally adopt-
ed by the other sex, that females are im-
pure beings, and odious to the gods ; that
their periodical evacuations, pregnancy,
child-birth, and even suckling, are the effects
of the divine wrath, or contagious infirmi-
ties, by which men, animals, and other
objects, which women happen to touch,
are rendered unfit to assist at any religi-
ous ceremony, and incur the divine dis-
pleasure: This prejudice was the more
deeply rooted among all these nations, the
less their unenlightened minds were ca-
pable of discerning the causes and designs
of all the contingencies incidental to the
nature of woman ; and the more insensi-
* ble the men were to the charms, the d6-
serts, and the sufferings of women, so
much the more violent was their aversion,
and so much the more cruel their behaviour
to the female sex in consequence of this
ridiculous notion. The most intelligent

d*

\2 HlSTOKV OV

nations of the earth, those of genuine Cel-
tic origin, even during the ages of bar-
barism, so far from considering their wo-
men under the above-mentioned circum-
stances as impure, or objects of abhor-
rence, manifested, at such times, a greater
d^ree of tenderness and compassion ; artd
rendered them every assistance which their
situation required. The Greeks and Ro-
mans, it is ti*ue, entertained the prejudice,
that women, during their courses, and for
sometime after child-birth, were infectious
or impure ; but this notion was absmdon-
ed in the more enUghtened ages, and was
consequently less uneradicable among these
nations than among the Orientals, who
cherish it to this day, and with so much
the more obstinacy, the more uncivilized
they are. Even among some of the latter,
this opinion of the religious impurity of
women did not procure the sex such treat-
ment as it produced among all, or most
of the Mongol nations. The Orientals are
too fond of women to be led by the ab-
surd notion of their impurity to degrade
and oppress them in such a degree as
almost all the ignoble nations, and parti-
cularly the pagan tribes of Siberia have
done. As the Laplanders, Sauiojedes, and

Ostiaks^ the Buraetes, the Tungusians, and
other Siberian nations resemble each other
in language, conformation, and disposition ;
so they also agree in their treatment of
females during the periods of menstru-
ation, pregnancy, child-birth, and suck-
ling, when they not only abhor them as
impure, but even put them away from
their huts, or separate them at least in
such a manner, that they cannot touch
either the men themselves, or their food
and utensils. Among several of these
nations, women, even when they are
neither indisposed nor pregnant, nor re-
cently delivered, are looked upon to be so
unclean, that they are never permitted to
approach the sacred fire, and still less the
presence of the gods, or the places of
sacrifice ; and it is thought necessary to
purify every thing they have touched be-
fore it is used, by means of fire, foB fear of
being polluted by the impurity communi-
cated to food, clothes, implements, or
utensils.

The wretched condition of the Siberian
women is attested by numerous witnesses.
In Siberia, and particularly in the eastern
islands, there are various tribes amongwhom
not the least vestige of marriage can be
discovered; the women shiftmg about

VOL. I. c

14 «IST011Y OF ♦

continually frcMn place to place, leading a
precarious life, and procuring an uncertain
subsistence. Among most of them, how-
ever, wives are purchased either with goods
or money, or by services which the bride-

froom performs for the father of the bride,
n many of these cases, the fether has no
more idea of consulting his daughter of
seven or eight years, than if he were bar-
gaining for a rein-deer or a sable's skin.
These graceless parents seldom give any
dowry to their children whom they thus
dispose of, or they present them at the most
with one-fourth of the purchase money,
or of the value of the commodities which
they have received in exchange. It can-
not, therefore, excite astonishment that
husbands should treat their wives as slaves,
or regard them as beasts of burden, or
donrvestic animals, who are theirs by right
of purchase, and whom they may abuse
as they please. As little as the father
concerns himself about the consent of his
daughter, when disposing of her in mar-
riage, so little does the husband consult
his wife, when he chuses to oblige a friend
with a participation in her charms, or has
an opportunity of gaining an honest pro-
fit by the sale of them.

1b Siberia^ it is considered as one of the

THE FEMALE SEX. 15

duties of hospitality for a man to offer his
wife or daughter to a stranger, or an ac-
quaintance who calls to pay him a visit;
so that it belongs to the rights of the
Siberian husband that he can relinquish
his wife for a time by way of etiquette,
as he would lend his rein-deer, his dogs,
and his sledges.* Husbands indeed re-
gard it as an encroachment upon their
prerogative, if their wives resign them-
selves, without their privity, to the em-
braces of others, and especially of natives;
jjlbiit they are easily pacified if a sheep be
'offered as an indemnification. If any one
observes that a neighbour has taken a par-
.ticular fancv to his wife, he either ex-
changes her for the wife of the other, or
sells her perhaps, for a bladder of train-*
.oil, without the slightest objection on the
'fiirt of the woman. If tl]||* reader is as-
tonished at this ready compliance of the
Siberian females, his amazement will be
augmented when he is informed that
women, when, the years of youth are fled,
and they find themselves past child-bear-
ing, freqtfently seek younger wives for
their husbands, and themselves perform,
like slaves, all the laborious domestic

♦ Gcorgi's Dcsctipiion of the Russian Nations,

V 2

16 HISTORY OF

drudgery*. Though it is impossible to
feel any great compassion for women who
vcduntarily suflfer themselves to be prosti-
tuted by their husbands^ to be sold, or
bartered away like domestic animals, and to
be made the slaves of more youthful rival?,
still it is a kind of consolation to learn that
the right of retaliation is sometimes exer-
cised upon the oppressors. The elder
Gmelin, himself, saw an aged Tungusian
beaten by his young wife, and his son who
had attained the years of manhood, be-
cause he expressed his displeasure at tli%
incestuous commerce carried on between
them almost before his face4'. The Tun*,
gusians, to which tribe this unfortunate
father and husband belonged, are just as
^weak as' the other hli^ithen nations of
Siberia ; but on the invasion of the Rus«
sians, they disj^ayed a greater degree-'^
maii;ial spirit, which appears to have been
communicated also to their women. Cer-
tain it is, at least, that the wives and
daughters of many Tungosians, are not
less expert in the management of the
horse, and the use of the bow, than the
men, with whom they even take the field

+ Gmelin*s Truvel$^

THE FEMALE SEX. H?

in war*. Notwithstanding this shew of
masculine spirit, the Tungusian females,
are as often sold and exchanged as the
women of any of the other tribes inhabit-
ing the dreary and widely extended re*
gions of Siberia.

The Kamtschadales differ in a striking
manner from all the other Siberian nation*
in tlie absolute authority wliich they suf-
fer their wives to exercise over them*
Among the Kamtschadales, daughters are^,
it is true, sold by their fathers fo^ the
labour of a longer or shorter period of
«emce; but the father never disposes of
his daughter in this way without previ-
ously consulting her inclination:^. He
merely permits the bridegroom to- labour
for him, to pass as much time as he pos-
sibly can in his daughter s company, and ta
sleep in the same hut with her : but if the
girl rejects a suitor, she is not compelled by
the father either to marry or surrender her
,person to him ;. all the time the lover has^
spent in the service of his intended father--
in-law, is lost ; neither can he complain^
or require any compensation. Even whca
a female encourages the suit of a lover^

* Isl-rand, in the 8th vol. of the Voyage$ au Nor.£..
t isitcUcr.

c a

18 HISTORY 07

neither he nor her father can appoint the
day for the nuptials. The customs of
these people allow the father no other
privilege than that of permitting his future ^
son-in-law to enjoy his daughter by force,
the first favourable opportunity ; and the
bridegroom has no alternative but to avail
himself of such occasions at the peril of
his life, or at least of his skin. If the
girl proves inexorable, the first attempts
to gain possession by surprize scarcely
ever succeed ; her cries bring to her aid
all her female friends, who furiously fall .
upon the assailant with their nails and
fists, and punish him for his temerity*
Though the Kamtschadales are so indo-
lent, that when they imagine they have a
sufficient stock of provisions, they would
not stir a finger, even if the sables were
to enter their huts, which formerly they
not unfrequently did ; yet the domestic
labours are much more equitably divided
between the two sexes in Kamtschatka,
than among the other uncivilized inhabi-
tants of Siberia; the men undertaking
various offices, by which other savages
would consider themselves disgraced.
They not only perform the cookery of the
family, as among the Laplanders, but
willingly do every kind of drudgery which

THE FEMALE 8EX. ig

their wives direct. Such is the attach-
ment^ or rather the submission of the
Kamtschadales, that, without murmuring,
they suffer their wives to have the custody
of all the valuables they possess, and when
they want any article, to deal it out to them
in such proportions as they please. When
a man has been guilty of infidelity to his
wife, she not only refuses him the conju-
gal rights, but denies him tobacco, which
among the Kamtschadales, and all the
other nations of Mongol origin, is still
more indispensable than even brandy itself.
This circumstance, and the kindness of
their wives, subdue the husbands, not by
violence, but by means of the humblest
intreaties, and the most tender caresses.
If want and hunger compel the Kamt-
schadales to quit their huts, and to go a
fishing or hunting, they never wander so .
far as to prevent them from returning
home at night, and recruiting themselves
by the side of their wives after the toils
and hardships they have endured. If
they are absolutely obliged to stay from
home longer than a day, they prevail
upon their wives to attend them, being
unable to forego their company. The
Kamtschadales, nevertheless, are not more
constant than the other Siberian and

fiO HISTORY OF

Mongol savages, making no scruple to
abandon their wives, if they meet witb
women who please them better, or at least
taking fresh ones in addition to those they
had before; but as long as they continue
to hve with them, they are under the
necessity of concealing their amours with
the utmost precaution, though the women
never give themselves the trouble to keep
the favours they have bestowed OA others
a secret from their husbands.

This authority of the women, and the
corresponding subjection on the part of
the men, which we find in Kamtschatka,
must necessarily proceed from the physi-
cal qualities either of one sex or the other,
or of both ; and I think the following exi-
planation of this singular phenomenon will
not be very remote from the truth.

The women of Kamtschatka have, it is
true, all the distinguishing characteristics
of the Mongol features : large heads, flat
faces, depressed noses, little eyes, thick
lips, and prominent cheek-bones ; but
according to all appearance, they retain
their freshness much, longer than the other
Siberian women, iov their small breasts '
continue tolerably firm even at the age of
'forty. They inconteatably possess a
greater portion of beauty, and a mor«

THE FEMALE SEX. 21

blooming colour than the females of all or
most of the other Mongol tribes. Owing
to the favourable temperature of their
climate, the women of Kamtschatka have
a complexion as delicate as those of Eu-
rope, and their cheeks frequently display
the vivid glow of health. They not only
surpass the other Siberian females in beau-
ty, but their intellectual qualities are of a
higher order than those of the latter, or
even of their husbands, and to this superi-
ority of talents, Steller himself ascribed
the extraordinary influence which they
have obtained over their husbands. To
these exclusive advantages possessed by
the women, must be added the negro-like
lechery of the men, which is so great, that
the embraces of tiieir wives are not -less
necessary to them Ulan, their daily fcpct^; -
As the men, therefore, from the violencfe
of their sensual appetite are attracted to
the other sex more powerfully than other
Siberian savages, and are more strongly
attached to their women by the superiori-
ty of their charms ; it is not surprising
that they should be reduced by the talents

riculiar to the latter, to the abject state
have already described.
Nothwithdtanding all the advantages

*,

S2 HISTORY OF

which the Kamtschadale women possess
over their Siberian sisters, and even over
their husbands, they still belong to the
same class as the latter, and with them
form an intermediate species of half-civi-
lized people, who are destitute of many
human perfections by which nations of a
superior cast are distinguished. The wo-
men of Kamtschatka are equally devoid of
modesty with the men, and like them, not
only indulge the most unnatural lusts in a
public manner, and even in the presence
of children, but are also pubHcly delivered,
and resign themselves to the embraces of
their husbands and lovers, like irrational
animals, without betraying the least sense
of shame. So brutal, and so irresistible is
their appetite, so totally destitute are they
>of modesty or fidelity, that they abandoA
their persons to every comer ; for which
reason Steller says of them, that they are
wives to all the men, as the men are hus-
bands to all the women. Their insatiable
lust causes them to prefer the more ro-
bust and vigorous Cossacks and Russians,
to their weaker countrymen, whom they
treat with sovereign contemjjt ; and on
this account they betrayed to their foreign
conquerors almost all the conspiracies pro-

THE FEMALE SEX. 23

jected by their fathers, their husbands, and
tlieir brothers*.

On the first occupation of the country,
many of the Cossacks collected a harem
of ten, twenty, or thirty women, whom
they staked at play like money, or any
other article of property. In this man*
ner, a female was often won and lost three
or four times in the course of an evening,
and immediately taken possession of by
the winner. This degrading treatment,
instead of irritating these patient crea-
tures, gave them such satisfaction, that
when fortune decreed against a change,
they would nm away in despair, and put
an end to their lives. So lately as the
period of Steller's visit to their country, it
was impossible to prevail upon any woman
of Kamtschatka, by the greatest promises
or rewards, to do needle- work, to wash, or

* Sfcller. The description of the extraordinary con-
formation of the sexual organs both of the men and
women, which differ materially from those of £uro])eans9
and are probably constituted in the same maniler among
all the Mongol nations as among the Kamtschadales,
afforded Steller the principal ground of conjecture respect-
ing the reason why the women of Kamtschatka are much
more attached to the Euro|)eans than to their own coun-
trymen. But e\en the wives and concubines of the Cos-
sacks are so far from divesting themselves of their former
propensities, that they bestow their favours as before, on
e\*ery man they meet.

24 HISTOKY OF

to render any other little offioeg of a like
nature : the only way to engage the per-
formance of these services was by the gra-
tification of their sensual appetite^ and the
individual on whom it was conferred,
never failed to boast of the honour all over
the ostrog or village.

With the exception of the Kamtscha-
dales^ the sex probably experiences among
the other heathen of Siberia the same
treatment, as I shall presently shew that
it receives from the Americans : but our
information respecting the women of
Siberia is less authentic and circumstantial
than concerning those of America. It is,
however, not worth our while to collect a)l
the accounts of the latter that have been
given by travellers. The inhabitants of
no other division of the globe so strongly
resemble each other in every respect as
the Aborigines of the new world ; and were
we, therefore, to describe the condition of
the sex among all the nations of America
with which we are acquainted, it would be
jiist as ridiculous as to exhibit to a. person
a prodigious number of copies of the same
picture, one after the other. To me it ap*
pears much more judicious, to give some
of the most faithful a. id circumstantial de-
scriptions of the condition of the female

THB FEMALE SEX. S3

sex, both . in the northern and southera
division of the American continent, intro-.
ducing or subjoining notices of the shght
deviations and exceptions >yhich occasion-
ally occur.

Among the Greenlanders, who may
justly be termed own brothers to the Es-
quimaux and other Americans, infancy is
the only portion of life, which a female
has not abundant cause to execrate. Till
their fourteenth year, the only employment
of girls consists in childish sports, singing,
dancing, and conversation, which amuse-
ments are rather diversified than interrupt-
ed, by their attendance on children, and
the fetching of water*.

From the age of fourteen to the period
of marriage, which is seldom before they
have completed their twentieth year, girls
are instructed in female occupations, and
begin, under the inspection of their
mothers, to apply themselves to sewing,
cookery, tanning, and even learn to navi*
gate women's boats, and to construct
houses. In all these employments un-
married females are not urged beyond
their strength, or otherwise ill-used^ either
by their natural or foster-parents, or by

• Cranz's Greenland.
VOL. I. D

t6 msfotiY bp

such families as have taken them into theif
service ; for girls who have been adopted
as children, or serve for their board and
lodging, are at Hberty, if discontented with
their situation, to leave the houses of theii^
protectors or masters whenever they please ;
and the latter would incur universal con-
tempt if they used the least violence to
their adopted daughters or maid-servants.
Respecting marriage, the Greenlanders
have no more notion of consulting theiif
daughters than the Siberian savages.
Parents frequently betroth their children
in their tenderest infancy. But when
this is not the case, a father promises his
daughter to the first suitor that applies^
and whether she likes him or not, she is
obliged to obey. Very frequently indeed^
it proceeds from mere coquetry that young
females, who are perfectly satisfied with
their lovers, on receiving the first propo-
sals of marriage, utter a violent shnek,
tear their plaited hair, and run away from
the hut. These signs of aversion to mar*-
ris^ are, however, not rarely undissem-
bled, and not a few instances have been
known of girls running away into the
deserts, or even cutting off their hair, the
loss of which, in Greenland, is regarded as
the greatest deformity and disgrace^ after

THfi FEMALE SEX. 27

which a female has nothing more to fear
from the importunities of suitors. When
a girl does not manifest such a violent an^
tipathy to matrimony, she is sought by the
female match-makers ahd their assistants,
who drag her by force to the habitation of
the bridegroom. There they sit for some
.days with dejected looks, and dishevelled
hair, and without taking any sustenance.
When their patience is exhausted with the
duration and obstinacy of the bride's grief,
they compel her with blows to sun'ender
.her person to the young man ; and to him
and his mother she becomes a slave from
the moment this change takes place in her
jcondition. From their twentieth year,
jsays Cranz, the lives of the women are a
continued series of hardships and misery.
The occupations of the men solely consist
in hunting and fishing ; but so far from
giving themselves the trouble to carry
home the fish they have caught, they
would think themselves eternally disgraced
by such a condescension. The men, it is
true, make their implements for fishing
and hunting, and construct the frames of
their boats; but even these the women
are obliged to cover. With the exception
jof the wood-work, it is also their duty to
build houses and tents, and to ke^p th^m

V2

€8 ' HISTORY OF

in repair. When the women are carrying
stones for their winter habitations, and are
ready to sink under their burden, the men
look on with the utmost indifference, not
rendering even the smallest assistance to.
alleviate their labour. Besides this, it falls
exclusively to the lot of the women to kill,
to cook provisions, to tan the skins of ani-
mals, and with these, when properly pre-
pared, to make clothes, shoes, and boots
for their husbands and children ; and all
these things they are obliged to do with so
few instruments, and those so simple, or so
in)perfect,that the most skilful workmen in
Europe would be far surpassed by them if
they had no better. Amid all this labori-
ous and incessant drudgery, the poor wo-
men are frequently subject to the ill-treat-
ment of their mothers-in-law, who are
absolute mistresses in the houses of their
married sons ; and receive still more from
their husbands, who are never guilty of
violence except towards their wives :
neither is it seldom the case, that they are
under the necessity of living with one or
more quarrelsome rival favourites who, as in
Kamtschatka,are sometimes carried otFby
surprize. They are moreover in continual
danj>er of being repudiated by their hus-
bands^ especially if they should not have

THE FEMALE SEX. gP

children soon after their marriage. Whea
a woman is thus put away, she is gene^
rally necessitated to enter into the seivice
pf other Greeulanders, where she receives
.betfier treatment, indeed, than in the hut
of her husband, but is not sure for a mo^
ine^t of her situation and subsistence. On
the other hand, if the husband dies and
leaves his vnfe with an infant family, it iis
%n extremely fortunate event for the widow
if she can obtain a service with her children,
not only for the sake of the support which
they require, but also on account of th^
. fear entertained by her employer lest, when
her children, and especially her sons <ara
grown up, they should forsake him, and
thus leave their former protector in a help-
less situation. Widows who have no near
relations, are robbed of all, or of the best
part of their property, by those who cbm^
to thw hut to testify their afiK^cted regiet,
.even during the most violent paroxysms
of their grief, when prostrate upon tb^
ground with their children they are be-
. moaning the loss of a husband and a father.
The widows and orphans who are thus
scandalously plundered, find neitlier laws,
nor judges, nor friends, whose compassion
.prompts them ito avenge the injustice
they have «iff^?d. On ttie coati^ry, they

d3

50 HISTORY OP

are obliged to strive to insinuate them-
selves into the good graces of those wh6
have clandestinely obtained the largest share
of their property, in order that they may
find a home with them. These thieves
maintain the widows for a time, but soon
becoming weary of them, turn them with
their orphan children out of their hut.
From one, or perhaps several families, they
experience a similar reception ; after which
they are almost invariably driven away
without the least ceremony, till at length
every heart and every door is shut againA
them. In this state of total abandonment
they live for a time on fish, muscles^ and
sea-weecl ; but having no one to catch
seals for them, they soon j)erish of cold and
hunger. This spectacle of expiring widows
and orphans, the Greenlanders behold with
as much indifference as though the suf-
ferers were not human creatures, but beings
of a different species. When we meet
with these and similar traits of the odious
cruelty and obduracy of the savages of
Mongol origin, we cannot forbear deduc-
ing in our own minds this inference, that
these uncivilized people are in many re^
spects more malignant and more just ob-
jects of abhorrence than the most blood-^
thirsty among the beasts of prey.

THE FEMALE SEX, ^1

When, however, woraen chance to have
grown-up sons, their condition is enviable
' m comparison of the state of less fortunate
females. In the first place they are ftot
in danger of being repudiated; for the
children, not excepting the adult sons, the
sole support of age, follow the mother and
not the father ; nor do they return after the
mother's death to the latter, who remains
a perfect stranger to them. But when
the fortunate mothers of grown-up sons
lose their husbands, they are not only
protected from the plunder of their neigh-
bours, and slavery in the huts of strangers,
but enjoy much greater liberty than dur-
ing the life-time of their husbands. From
an inexplicable singularity in the nature of
most of the Mongol, and of all the Ame-
rican savages, the sons, who, in their
childhood give themselves no concern
about either of their parents, but often
treat both ill, when they have arrived at
maturity, pay the most profound respect
and implicit obedience to the feebler sex;
the widowed mother, therefore, continues
to reside in the hut of her son, who pur-
sues the paternal occupations with the
boats and implements of his father; nay,
whenever he marries she is even mistress
over his wife. As mothers, however, are

S2 HISTORY OP

not indebted for this authority to the na-
tural affection of their sons, but to a pre-
judice or superstitious notion which has
not yet been sufficiently investigated, they
are liable to lose this authority, together
with their lives, in consequence of another
prejudice, and a different species of super*-
stition. It is not uncommon for aged
females, eitlier from motives of interest, or
because they actually believe themselves
to be possessed of supernatural arts^ to
make pretensions to divination and magic.
.When they publicly practise their imagi-
niary enchantments, or merely incur the
suspicion of witchcraft, if the wife or child
of a Greenlander happens to die, if his
fowling-piece chances to miss fire, or his
arrow not to hit the mark, this is sufficient
to cause the supposed sorceress to be im-
mediately stoned, or thrown into the sea,
or cut in pieces by her neighbours at the
instigation of the jealous ^w^eAroA:^, or male
magicians. There have even been in-
stances of sons killing their mothers, and
brothers dispatching their sisters with im-
pufiity in the presence of all the. other in-
habitants of the hut, if the unfortunate
creatures had excited the suspicion of
witchcraft. Mothers are likewise exposed
to tiae dafigier i>f a viyotent deajth^ when they

THE FEMALE SEX. 53

liave attained to an advanced age^ and
from the infirmities attendant on it, become
burdensome to themselves and others. In
this case, they are sometimes at their own
request, and sometimes without their con-
sent, interred ahve by the hands of their
cruel offspring. In Greenland, as in the
other regions of America, it has been ob-
served, that the women, notwithstanding
all the hardships and perils to which they
are exposed, attain, upon an average, a
much' more advanced age than the men.
Few Greenlanders survive the age of fifty
years ; the women, on the contrary, fre-
quently live to seventy, eighty, or even
more, if they are not left at any early
period of life in the helpless state of
widowhood, when they generally perish of
hunger and cold.

Among the other savages of America,
the condition of the female sex, is, with
some slight variations, precisely the same
as among the Greenlanders. By all they
are regarded during the period of their
courses, of pregnancy, of child-birth, and of
suckling as impure and infectious; and as
the American females suckle their children
till the third, and not rarely till their sixth
or seventh year, it is obvious that fruitful
womeup during the greatest part of their

34 HISTOEYOP

lives are excluded from the commerce with
their husbands, for which reason, many^
when they find themselves pregnant, pro-
cure abortion*. Most of the savages of
the new world offer strangers their wives
and daughters'!-. Many of them" betroth
their children, particularly the girls, in
their earliest infancy ; £ind almost all dispose
of them either for personal service during a
stated term^ or in exchange for certain
commodities, without asking their daugh-
ters whether they are inclined to marry at.
all^ or to be. united to the men to whom
they assign them. With the exception
of those tribes among which the youth of
both sexes cohabit without any ceremonies,
and part again whenever they please, the
nuptial rites are emblematic of the slavery
to which they are consigned by their
parents. In the northern regions of Ame^
rica it is customary to give the bride a
collar formed of a leathern thong of con-
siderable length and breadth, a kettle, and
a pile of wood : the first to signify that
she is to perform all the domestic drudgery ;
the second, tliat she is to dress the food
of her husband and children, and the third,

• Charlevoix, p. 208, 303.

f Bossu, p. 249. Carver, p. 131. History of ihi
Aucaficers L S38. FMner, p. 120. Craaz, p. SiS.

THE FEMALE SEX* 35

that she is to cany all the wood*. In
many countries it is even usual for the
bride to collect, previous to the nuptials,
a sufficient stock of wood for the ensuing
winter. If we except hunting and fishing,
the making of weapons, and the construc-
tion of canoes, the women are burdened
with all the other concerns of domestic
economy, both at home and abroad, so
that they enjoy scarcely a moment's re-
pose.

Veiy few of the savages assist the women
either in the cultivation of the earth or
in collecting the produce-f-. While, the
men occasionally go out to the chace with
a musket or a light bow, the women are
daily obliged to wander through the forests
and morasses, often with one child in their
arms and another at their back, in quest
of plants, roots, and fruits:}; ; nay they are
frequently compelled to labour in the fields
witti a new-bom infant at the breast, ex-
posed to torrents of rain, or the most in-
tense heat, and with scarcely any nourish-
ment whatever.^

* CkafUvotx, p. S87*

-f" Charlevoix, p, ^30, Bonevere, p. l\2,

X Gumiila, II, p. 134.

§ Voyages au Nord, v* 48.

S6 HISTORY OF

While the men return home at night
without any burden, the women are sink-
ing not only beneath the weight of the
children and of the provisions they have
found, but also of the game which their
husbands have killed. This the poor
wretches are frequently obliged to trans-
port from great distances, their tyrants
giving them no other information than
mdirect hints where to find it*. When,
finally, the men on their return from the
chase are "amusing themselves with their
acquaintance, carousing or quaffing chica,
or reposing after their debauch, the un-
fortunate remales are forced to pass great
part of the night in fetching wood and
water, and grinding maize, for the purpose
of making a fresh supply of chica, the
succeeding day. All these painful and
incessant labours are rewarded with the
most barbarous usage, to whiqh in many
countries these patient creatures are so
accustomed, that they regard it as a proof
of the affection of their husbands, and even
provoke it by intentional misconduct when
they think it has been too long witliheld-|-.
These dreadful labours, and this cruel treat-

♦ Voyages an Nord, v. 48.
t Boycr, p. 134.

meat have caused almost all the trarellersy
who have resided for any length of time
Mxiong the savages^ to consider the females
of America as the most degraded portion
of tJieir whole sex*. These are the reasons
wlvich: induce many of them prematurely
to destroy the fruit of their womb, and
either to break the necks of their new-
bom female children, or to bury them
alive, that they may preserve their off-
spring from that misery by which they
are themselves f educed almost to despair.-^
These labours, and this treatment are also
incontestably the chief, or at least one of
the principal reasons why the young Ame-
ricaoL females have such an aversion to
matrimony, and manifest this aversion
nearly in the same manner as those of
Greeniaod;}:.

In America there are likewise certain
nation^ among which wives may leave
their husbands, or husbands repudiate
their wives with impunity: but among
most of the savages who purchase wives
by service, clothing, household effects,
and other commodities, they are the pro-
perty of th^r luisbands, from whom they

• Gumilla, IL p. 134.

f Ibid, p. 234.

I Dohrizhofer, II, p. 214, 2l6.

VOL. I* £

38 ntsTORY OP

have no trtore. right to withdraw when they
]>lease, than slaves from tlieir masters*.
Notwithstanding the bridegroom some^
times cohabits a whole year, and even
longer, with his bride after she has been
dehvered up to him, without consummat-
ing the marriagef*, still the unnaturally
cold American is by no means constant.
Though at home he is contented with
one female, yet abroad he finds and enjoys
abundant varielv in all the districts and
villages which he visits, when engaged in
the chace ; for wherever he goes, parents
are ready to give up their children, hus-
bands their wives, and women and girls
their own persons for a trifling considera-
tion, to the first comer;};. Many savages,
it is true, content themselves with one
wife at a time, but they drive her away
with her children whenever they think
proper, so that, as Dobrizhofer informs us,
they change their wives oftener than
£uropeans change their shirts^. In case

• See among other writers dn Terirc, II. 376, 379.
Among the Mianiis, in North America, the husband
formerly possessed the right of cutting offlhc nose of his
wife wnere^'er he found her, if she perfidiously deserted
him. CharlevoiXy p. 283, 284.

+ Hid. p. 286.

J Voyages au Nord, v. p. 287. Charlevoix, p. 283.

§ Dobrizhofer, 11. p. 21 9.

THE FEMALE SEX. 39

the first wives are not sent away, they must
submit to serve one, or s^^roil more youth-
ful females, in the capacity of slaves*. As
such they are obliged jto labour not only
for their younger rivals, but they':dare not
even complain if these think fit to beat
their children, or to maltreat themselves,
lest their former husbands, totally regard-
less of their services during an union of
many years, should come to the aid of
their insolent concubines.

Among the savages who admit of poly-
gamy, the women are the most happy in
those countries where each wife has a
separate habitation, as is customary among
the wives of the chiefs in Brasil-f-,or where,
at least, the rights, privileges, and duties of
the sex are established by ancient custom,
as among the Caribs and the inhabitants of
Chili. Amoncr the latter, tlie wife who
passed the preceding night with her hus-
band, cooks for him the following day,
saddles his horse, and performs the other
domestic duties;};. Among the Caribsr,
each wife has her month, in which she
r^ularly cohabits with the husband,
attends to the business of the kitchen.

* Charlevoix, p, 283. Gumllla, II. p, 242.
f Marcgrqf, p, 28.
J Freiicr, p, 125,

£ 2

»-s

40 fitsmojtT ow

And takes npon herseif varrous other
menial offijces^. If a wife who is repa<-
diated by her husband, or i^ {parted from
him by the hand of death, be still young,
she readily finds a home for herself aiWl
her children; but, on the contrary, if she
.be old and infirm, the same fate awaits
her as among the Greenlanders. Young
widows, on the death of their husbands, do
not recover their liberty, but devolve with
the rest of their property to their family^
•by whom they may be sold or ga^en
away^ ; and as long as a male of the
husband's family exists the widow cannoi:
idispose of herself in maiTiage. The ^ie-
pendence of widows on tlie family of the
husband, ceases, however, when they banc
adult sons ; for then they are too old to
to marry again, and are themselves re-
garded as the heads .of families. Not only

* Du Tertre, I J. /?. 379. Tlie Carihs of the West
India islands speak tiiree different languages. The first ia
«f>)iropriated ip tlie women > it is understood hy the men,
biit tlif^ Qt»'er eiuploy it, as tliey would think thenifielves
di.'^graced by its use. Tlif second is sjwken by the men,
land was probably "Isrought by theiu from the continent;
ftnd the third is that used by the warriors aufl old men io
•«ecret consultations, the result of which is to be kept
private from the women and young people. Lahat^ H.
f. 127.

'f Charlevoix, p. 283, 284, 37^«

THE FEMALE-l^EX, 4t

are grown-up sons obedient to the mothef
alone, and all tlie children accompany her,
when she is' repudiated by her husband ;
but among some of the tribes of North
America, the children belong, even during
marriage wholly and exclusively to the
mother; and though they consider the
husband of their mother as the master of
the hut, yet they treat him with as little re-
spect as if he were the greatest stranger*.
Among the Caribs, on the contrary, the
sons, during infancy and youth, pay no
kind of obedience either to the father or
the mother. When, however, a father
becomes old and infirm, the son receives
him into his hut, where he is honoured as
the master of the whole family. As such
they are not addressed, like its other
membem, in the second person, but by
way of respect, in the third-f-.

Througfiout the whole continent of
America there is not a tribe among which
the most common accidents, and natural
evils, are not ascribed to the effects of
witchcraft, among which the practice ". <^i
these magic arts is not attributed by the
jugglers to old women, and in which old

* Charlevoi.r, p. 287-
t Oldcndorp I, p. 28.

e3 /

4S fllSTOSYOF

women are not in cousequence mui^ened
with impunity*^. In South America there are
even nations of cannibals, who devour not
pnly their captive enemies, but slaughter
their own wives and children, particularly
the former, and when they are thoroughly
fat, invite their friends and neighbours to
the repast-f-.

The narratives of Tarious travellers caa*
cerning female sovereigns, and the pro-
found respect paid to the sex among vari-
ous nations, seem to be totally at variance
with the preceding accounts of the wretch-
ed condition of women in America. Both
divisions of the new world, doubtless^ con*-
tain some tribes that, according to appear-
ance, are governed by females;};: and a
;. still greater number, among whcmi every
thing seems to be transactetl in the nmon^
of the women, and who always consult
them on the most important affairs. To
this class, as Charlevoix was informed,
belong in particular all the tribes of North
America which subsist by bunting, and
^^peak the Huron language. Among these

♦ See Meiners' Histoiy of Religions^ under th« hcftd^
Zauherey ( Witchcraft) .

f See Meiners' Inquiry concerning Cannibal nations^
in the Commentaries of the Society of Gottiageiw

} See among othen Bossu, p, 4^,

THE FEMAXE BEX. 43

ntttkms, the dignity iof cliieftain is heredt*
taiy, but only m the female Une^ so that
4iot the :Soii of the deceased leader, but his
nster's soil succeeds him as the head of
.his tribe. When the reigning line be--
comefl ^extioot, the female highest in rank
Tuminates a new so>verekni. The women
moreover select the counsellors appointed
to asHist each successive chief, and without
whose approbation he must not venture
upon any undertaking of rniportanoe.
Sometimes, it is added, even womett «re
nicluded an the number of the counsellors
-di the head of the nation. When any-
important matter is to be taken into con-
•uiertttion, it in previously submitted to the
iliscosfiion of an assembly of women^ who
eommuaicate their opinion to the chief
of the state, by whom it is then laid befone
Idbe great council composed of the elders*;.
But, continues Charlevoix, if the women
-fiMrmeiiy possessed all these prerogatives^
or if tihey are ^ill allowed to retain them
in appeairanoe, the present practice By no
-means corresponds with the ancient ci»-
toms, or with the pro forma proceedangs
of the men. Notwithstanding all aflams
me transacted in the name of oie wonie%

44 HISTORY OF

i

and* the chiefs wish to be considered only
as their vicegerents, yet the men seldom
confer with the women on subjects of im-
portance, arid entrust them with no more
than what they think fit to communicate*.
Moreover the condition of the women of
those nations, in which they appear to have
the greatest weight in pubhc aflairs^ dif-
fers in no respect from the state of the sex
among those tribes who deny their females
not only the substance, but even the very
shadow of respect. The one are slayes to
the men as well as the others ; both must
alike perform the same drudgery and sub-
mit to the Fame harsh treatment*.

That nations who liold the sex in such
supreme contempt, and subject them to
such gross abuse as the Americans, should
nevertheless invest females with the mock-
government of the state, is a circumstance
not difficult to be accounted for. It pro-
ceeds among the Americans, as amongother
nations, which have alike origin, and treat
their women in a similar manner, from
the jealousy of the chiefs who are un-
willing to confer the sovereign power on
any of their number, but chuse rather to
place it in the hands of a weak woman

.• Charlevoix, p, 287.

TH£ FEMALE SEX. 4S

ftom whmn they have no occasion to ap--
prebead any abridgment of their autho-
rity. I am, nevertheless, utterly at a
loss to conceive how such people as the
savage Huron tribes could have bestowed
icwi tbeir oppressed and despised women,
even in appearance only, the prerogatives
tiiot have been assigned them. If only
icertain females, or the wonien of certain
&milie8,were consulted upon public affairs^
^md possessed the right of electing the
princes and their counsellors, tliese privi-
l^es oi^ht be accounted for on the same
principle as those enjoyed by the vnves
jand daughters of the reigning houses
smoag the Natchez, and other similar
Irifaes. But as they are said to be con^
moil to the whole sex, I am unable to
•discover m the sentiments and disposition
'€ithe American savages one single datum
from which to deduce the mysterious
mock-privileges of their women.

Among the Natchez and some neigb-
bourii^ tribes, the reigning families re-
^rded themselvesas descendants of the sun,
and were accordingly venerated by their
jBobjects as supernatural beings. As it
was customary amoi^ these tribes for the
son, not of the deceased prince, but of his
nearest £eimale relative to succeed to the

4R HISTORY OF

sovereim authoritv, which was conse-
quentl y transmitted in the female line, all
the wives and daughters of the reigning
family shared in the divine honours paid
to the sovereign*. The mother of the
prince, or thdSww (for this name was given
to the chiefs of the Natchez, as well as to
the Incas of Peru) w^as during her life,
and more particularly after death, an ob-
ject of equal, nay perhaps still greater
veneration than her despotic son. On the
graves even of other princesses, fathers
were sometimes sacrificed by their own
offspring, if they were of low birth, and
not of the royal blood. All the daughters
of princes possessed the power of life
and death ; and if any one had the mis-
fortune to incur their displeasure, they
might cause him to be dispatched on the
spot by their guards. If any <rf these
princesses conferred on a commoner the
honour of selecting him for her husband,
the latter was oblige^ to pay his illustri-
ous consort the most implicit obedience,
and to observe the most inviolable fide-
lity, for, on the slightest appearance of con-
tumacy or inconstancy, these females might
cause their husbands to be executed like

• C/M[r/ryo?>,;>. 4231, and following pages.

I
I

THE FEMALE SEX. 4?

other common men. Tliey, oh the con-
trary, considered it as a prerogative entail-
ed with their celestial descent, to act and
live just as they pleased, while their ab-
ject husbands were denied the right of
complainings or of calling them to ac-
count*.

In the two principal empires of the
new world, which were overturned by the
Spaniards soon after its discovery, the
condition of the other sex resembled that
of the women of the south of Asia : but
in Mexico wives and daughters were less
dependent than in Peru, where the most
arbitrary despotism had annihilated the
most sacred natural rights of parents. In
Mexico daughters were sold, it is true, by
their fathers, but they received a dowry
proportionate to the rank and ability of
their parents, which remained their in-
violable property. As the husband was
at liberty to repudiate his wife whenever
he pleased, so th^ wife might part, if she
thought fits from her husband, and in
either case she received back her dowry,
and divided the children with her hus-
band, taking the daughters herself and
leaving him the sons. Married people

• ChwlevQtXfp, 421, and following pages.

48 HISTO-RY OF

were prohibited from living together aguQ,
after separation, upon pain of death*.

In Peru, fathers had not the smallest
authority over their children, at least in
any thing that related to marriage. At cer-
tain periods, the reigning Inca ordered all
the marriageable youth of both sexes^ 89
well those of the royal race as the children
of the principal families in the empire, to
be assembled, and united them with each
other. The same mode was followed by the
governors of cities and villages, without
paying the least regard to the wishes of
the parents, the inclinations of the young
people, or the closest ties of consanguinity.
Females, who were thus allotted to the
high and the low, by the venerated sove-
reign, or his vicegerents, were alone en-
titled to the privileges of legitimate wives,
^JThey alone mourned after the death of
the husband, and probably they were also
honoured as the mothers of the children of
their husband's concubines, as was custo*
mary in the south of Asia. Besides his
lawful wife, every man might take ai
many concubines as he pleased. If a wife
intrigued with any other man, both the
seducer and the adultress were punished

• Acosta, p. 246, 347.

THE TEMALE SEX. 4f)

with death, unless her husband interceded
for her, and' consented to forgive her fault.
In this case, she did not escape without
punishmeiit, though the sentence of death
was remitted*. The labours of agricul-
ture were performed by the joint exertions
of the common people and their wives ;
but yet there were provinces in which the
women cirltivated the earth, while the men
were engaged at home in female occupa-
tions. Tile wives of the great were as
closely confined in Peru as in Mexico, and
principally employed themselves in the
spinnmg and weaving of wool and cotton.
Among the lower classes also, the manu-
facture ,of stuffs, for apparel, fell to the lot
of the women ; while the men undertook
the making of coverings for the legs and
feet, an employment of which even the
princes of the reigning house were not
ashamed. Widows with children never
married again, and thQse who had none
very rarely. A natural consequence of
the mode in which young people were
married in Peru was this, that the fathers
gave themselves less concern about dow-
ries for their children than in any other

* Acosta, Liv. VI. c. 18. Garcilasso, Liv. IV. c. 6,
and 13.

VOL. I. F

50 HISTORY OF

country. The habitations of newly mar-
ried Incas^ or princes and princesses of the
reigning house, were erected by the sub-
jects of the provinces to whom this labour
was assigned ; but the household furniture
and the other necessaries and conveniences^
the nearest relations were obliged to sup-
ply. The relatives of the newly-married
of the other classes, were expected to
make a similar provision : but the houses
of all the young people were constructed
at the expence of the city or community
to which they belonged, — a circumstance^
which alone is sufficient to justify the
inference, that these habitations were as
wretched as can well be conceived.

THE FEMALE SEX. 51

CHAPTER 11.

Of the Condition of the Female Sea
among the Negro Nations ofAfriea.

In treating of the negroes of Africa, it is
necessary to make a distinction between
such as are blacks only in complection^
and those whose whole organization of
body and mind proclaim them to be of
genuine negro origin. The former are
undoubtedly descended either from the
Moors or the Abyssinians, to whom they
bear a perfect resemblance in their exte-
rior conformation, and especially in all the
Erincipal features of the face. These
andsome blacks are much more intelli-
gent, well-disposed, cleanly, industrious,
and polished than the plainer tribes, who-
exhibit all the characteristics of the Mon-
gol figure. They hold virginity in request,
pay higher prices for their brides, give
more considerable dowries, celebrate their
nuptials with greater pomp, and lay more
stress upon the fidelity of their wives than
the homely negroes, who resemble the
Americans not only in features and gene-

F2

5S HISTOBY OF

ral appearance^ but also in disposition and
manners, and especially in their treatment
of tlie sex.

Among these ugly blacks, or negroes,
properly so called, fathers and husbands
have as much power over their daughters
and wives as the natives of America. It
is a practice equally, nay perhaps still
more common among the negroes than
among the Americans, to offer their wives
and daughters to Europeans, and they ac«
count it a high honour when either the
one or the other are pregnant by these
strangers*. The fathers find a more cer-
tain market for the charms of their daugh-
ters, since neither a multitude of favoured
lovers, nor repeated proofs of fecundity
are attended with any disgrace, but on the
contrary, are considered as recommendi^
tions in unmarried females ; on which ac-
count they do not always wait for the
commands of their parents to make a lover
happy, but gratify their inclinations some-
times with no other view than to lay up
a little property by way of dowry.
Parents sell their daughters not only to

* Dantpifi, IT. p. B6. Flacourf,p. 85. Gentil, TL
p. b\o. Pages, J L p. 104. Des Marchui»y I,p, 103,
11. 177. Lofofp. 27. Cavazzij I. p. 226. Lfycif p. 7 1.
Lahat, F. p. 67. Bosmann, p. 33, 242, 249.

THE FEMALE 9EX. 53

lovers, but to suitors of any kind, without
doubting or even asking their consent;
for to the female negroes and Americans^
one young fellow of their tribe is equally
acceptable with another, in like manner
as the men seldom make any distinction
on the score of beauty among a number of
women of the. same age. The negroes in
general receive for their daughters a few
bottles of brandy, and at the&rthest a few
articles of wearing apparel, and when
these prices are paid, the fathers conduct
their willing children to the huts of the
purchasers*. Immediately on entering
the hut, the bridegroom commands the
youthful bride to fetch water, or wood, or
aoy thing else that is wanted-f-, in order
to accustom her at the very commence-
ment of their union to that subjection
which she owes to her lord. A negro
may love his wife with all the affection
that it is possible for a negro to possess,
but he never permits her to eat with him,
because he would imagine himself con-
taminated, or his dignity lessened by such
a condescension; and at this degrading

*^ Des Marehaie, II. p, 178. Sneilgrave, p. 210v
JPrv^art, I. p. 6S,

t LaltU, 11. p, 299.

f3

54 HISTORY OF

distance, the very negro slaves in the
West Indies keep their wives, though it
might be presumed that the hardships of
their common lot would have tended to
unite them in the closest manner*. The
poorest and meanest negro, even though
he be a slave, is generally waited upon by
his wife, as by a subordinate being, on her
knees.— On their knees the negro women
are obliged to present to their husbands
tobacco and drink ; on their knees they
salute them when they return frcrm hunt-
ing or any other expedition ; lastly, on
their knees they drive away the flies from
their lords and masters while they sleep-f*.
At the time of menstruation they are not
permitted to enter the huts of their hus-
bands, and during the periods of preg-
nancy and suckling, the latter of which
they prolong to two or three years, they
are totally excluded from the conjugal
embrace.

There are districts contiguous to the
Senegal, in which both sexes are jointly
engaged in agricultural avocations;};. It is

• Lahat, IL p. 299. Adanson, p. 32. Oldendorp,
L p. 37().

t See tlie autliors above-mentioned^ and Moore,
p. 86.

X Moore, p, go.

THE FEMALE SEX. 55

also true that rich negro women are come*
times attended by slaves, male and female,
without being obliged to perform any kind
of drudgery* : but among most of the
n^ro nations all the labours both of the
house arid field are imposed, as in Ame-
rica, upon the women. The husband,
besides constructing his weapons and im-
plements, likewise keeps the hut in re*
pair, and occasionally makes clothes and
ornaments for his wives. His principal
occupations, however, consist in hunting
and fishing ; the produce of these excur-
sions he divides in equal parts among all
his wives, or if it be too little, he gives
the whole of it to her whose day or whose
week it is to superintend his kitchen^
The women, on the other hand, are
obliged not only to wait upon the husband,
to take care of their children, and in gene-
ral to carry one of them at the breast, even
when engaged in the most laborious em-
ployments, but it is likewise their duty
to gather cotton, and manufacture it into
clothing, for themselves, their children,
and their husband ; to cultivate and reap
the crops, of maize, millet, tobacco, and
rice ; to prepare food and drink ; to keep the
huts clean ; to attend the domestic animals,

♦ De Momei, IL p. 44.

50 HISTORY OF

and to fetch wood and water. From these
occupations not even the wives and con-
cubines of kings are in general exempted,
but they may be seen labouring in the
fields like the rest of their country-wo-
men*.

It is much more common among the
negroes than among the frigid Americans,
to have several young wives at once, whose
condition, privileges, and duties ^^ry ex-
ceedingly among the different African na-
tions. These deviations must be ascribed
either to the imitation of neighbouring
Mahometans, or to their being descended
from tribes, who, though black, cannot
with propriety be called negroes, such as
the Moors and Abyssinians. Among
many negro nations all young wives enjoy
equal prerogatives, and bear an equal por-
tion of thedrudcrerv* Each wife has a hut
to herself, receives an equal portion of the
produce of the husband's hunting or fish-
ing expeditions, and provides for him at
her own habitation, or repaii-s to his, when
it is her week or month to taste the joys of
matrimony, and to manage her husband's
domestic cQncems-|r. All their children

♦ Proyart,p. 85. Lalai, II. p. 301.

• Lalat, V. p, 326.

THE FEMALE SEX. 51

too, inherit^ in equal proportions. In
other countries, on the contrary, either
the first wife, or she who has brought the
husband the first son, enjoys privileges
superior to those of the other wives and
concubines*. This fortunate female may
be considered as the mistress of all the
rest ; she keeps all the keys, superintends
the whole household, assigns tasks to the
slaves and concubines, and sleeps three
nights with her husband, to one in which
the other wives are indulged with his com*
pany. Women under these circumstances
cannot be divorced or sold, except in case
pf adultery; and in some countries they
even possess such influence, that the hus-
band dares not take a fresh concubine
without their consent, which, however,
they very readily give, as these concu-
bines and their children constitute the
principal wealth of the negroes'f'. For
the rest, the common n^roes, as well as
their kings, manifest ingratitude not less
horrible than the Americans. When
wives and concubines survive their charms,
and the period of fecundity, they are

* De Marckais, L p. 139, 286, 28?. Lalai, IL
p, 30\. De Momei, 11. p. 53, 64.

f Bosnian, p. 239, ficc. Loger, p. 139-

r

8 nisTORv or

obliged to perform the offices of meniaib
to their youthful rivals, or are even sold
for slaves. The Kincr of Whidb himielf
formerly sent the concubines of whom he
was weary, by whole dozens to market^
to be disposefl of to the Europeans*.

None of the wives, except the first, is
secure from the apprehension of being
sold into slavery to the Europeans; and
to that fate the first themselves are some-
times doomed, even though the negroes
have solemnly sworn not to dispose of
them in this way. The wives of the ne-
groes are, moreover, in continual danger
of being divorced by their husbands-f*,:
though they are bound by indissoluble
chains to the footstool of their lords^
When the negroes repudiate their wives;
they are also at liberty to drive away all
their children, but at the same time they,
possess the right of retaining which they
please, and even of taking them back long
after the divorce;};. In Madagascar, a re-
])udiated wife is not permitted to many

• Dr Momett IT. p, (54, 70.

t Moorr, p. j)4. Dr Momei, IL p. 74. Flaconrt^
p. 104. Laia/ and des Marchais, in the places already

(|llOlOfl.

J Moortf, p. 94.

THE FEMALE SEX. 59

again till she has repaid her former hus-
band the price he gave for her previous
to their union*.

The liusband is the sole and supreme
arbiter in all disputes between his wives.
The contending parties on their knees ex-

Elain their respective cases, while the
usband listens cross-legged with all the
gravity befitting a judge. As soon as he
has pronounced sentence, the accuser and
the accused retire with the most respect-
ful silence, and submit,' without murmur
or complaint, to his decision-|-.

This judicial and domestic authority
which the African n^roes exercise over
their wives, is not sufficient for the Man-
dingos ; but all the men have entered
into a horrible covenant, and established
a secret tribunal against the women, which
is not surpassed in cruelty by the Spanish
Inquisition. In the first place they have,
like the Caribs, a mysterious language,:};
which is used only on certain occasions,
when they are about to wreak their ven-
geance on the women. Were a female
by any means to make herself mistress of
this language, the moment the men dis-

• Flacourt,p. 104.
t Proyari, /. p. 84.
X Moort^ p. S8^ 812.

66 HISTORY OF

covered her proficiency, she would inevi-
tably be put to death without mercy for
such treasonable profanation of their
sacred mysteries. A secret order, founded
for the purpose of imposing restraint, and
inflicting punishment on female culprits, is
equally inaccessible. Into this confede-
racy, no youths under the age of sixteen
years are admitted, and each member, at
his initiation, is obHged to swear the most'
tremendous oath, not to reveal the secrets
of the ordet to any profane person, espe-
cially of the other sex. ■ The violation of
this vow, even by men of the highest rank,
is invariably punished with death*. An
instance of this occurred in I727. A
king of Jagra had communicated the ob-
jects and designs of the order to a fiivourite
wife, who was imprudent enough to com-
municate to some of her female friends
the dangerous secret with which she was
entrusted, so that at length it reached the
ears of the other members. The king
and his consort were instantly summoned
before the tribunal of the order, convicted
of the crime, and executed without delay.
The terrific representative and judge,
or avenger of the order, is a kind of hob-

• Moore, p, 82, 83.

THE FEMALE SEX. Ql

goblin, which the women actually believe
to be a wild man, or pretend to take for
sucb^ because they find it most prudent
to disguise their real sentiments. This
figure, known by the appellation of Mum-
bo Jumbo, is a man disguised in clothes
made of the bark of trees^ and with a
crown or bunch of straw on his head,
which increases his apparent height to
eight or nine feet. This spectre, in order
to produce the more powerful impression,
appears only by night, and with hideous
yells which might be taken for the cries
of some unknown wild beast. When the
women are informed by these terrific
sounds of the approach of Mumbo Jumbo,
they run away with the utmost precipita-
tion. The disguised judge directs the at-
tendants, by whom he is surrounded, to
pursue the fugitives, and to bring back
those who have deserved chastisement.
These are either scourged or dispatched
on the spot, for all the negroes who ac-
company the spectre are compelled to pay
instant and implicit obedience to his
orders*. To this description of the treat-
ment of the sex among the negroes, we
need only subjoin the account of various

• Moore, p. 82,83.
VOL. I. G

62 HISTORY OF

writers of credit and veracity, who report,
that in the southern portion of Africa^
many princes and chieftains keep great
numbers of young girls, not merely to
gratify their passion, but to satiate their
tiger-like appetite for human flesh, in
order to convince ourselves, that the fate
of the black women of Africa is not less
severe than the condition of the brown
females of the American continent.

For such a coincidence in the principles
and conduct of the inhabitants of two di-
visions of the globe, who are neither di-
rectly descended from the same stock, nor
have ever had the slightest intercourse with
each other, it i« impossible to account in
any other way than by ascribing it to a
most extraordinary analogy in the original
constitution and organization of these
peo])le. The resemblance, or rather the
identity of the nature of the Americans
and negroes, is manifest not only in the
circumstances that liave already been no-
ticed, but also in this, that the negroes
suffer themselves, exactly like the Ame-
ricans, to be governed by their wives, and
to be maltreated by the daughters of their
princes.

The daughters of the negro kings*

• Proyart, I. 80, 82, 121.

THE FEMALE SEX. 6S

possess the twofold right to chuse whom-
soever they please out of the whole nation,
and to restrict these husbands from taking
any other wives or concubines. As this
condition is thought too severe by the
males of royal blood, it seldom happens
that any of tliem aspires to an union with
a princess. Even common negroes dread
the honour of being selected as husbands
by the daughters of kings ; but when it is
offered them, they dare not refuse it, on
pain pf losing their liberty, or even their
lives. The wedding-day, as Proyart ob-
serves, is the dying day of the freedom of
such negroes, who are rather the slaves and
the prisoners, than the husbands of their •
illustrious consorts. While married prin-
cesses are at liberty to live just as they
E lease, their unfortunate husbands are pro-
ibited not only from all commerce with
other women, but very often they dare
not even look at them. Jealous or domi-
neering princesses never suffer their hus-
bands to go abroad without a numerous
retinue, who are directed to drive away
all the females whom they may meet
with on the road. If, notwithstanding
this precaution, any strange woman should
approach these men who are so carefully
guarded, or only engage their attention^,

G 2

64 HISTORY OF

their ruin would be inevitable, and they
would be executed with every mark of
disgrace. The husbands would share the
same fate if they proved unfaithful to their
mistresses ; nay, even the purest innocence
cannot prevent the husbands of princesses
from being strangled, or at least divorced
by their inconstant wives. In the latter
case, they cannot marry again, or cohabit
with their former wives, from whom they
were taken by force, till they have ol>-
tained permission from the sovereign. As
these princesses may do any thing with
impunity, and pardon no offence against
themselves, it is not surprising, that they
should inspire no less terror thka their
kings, and be shunned and detested even
still more than they.

It is not the daughters of kings and
princesses alone that exercise unlimited
power over their husbands ; the priestes-
ses of various deities, and especially those
of the great serpent in Whida*, pos-
sess the same authority. These last are
regarded as the wives or daughters of
the supreme deity of the country, and
the respect which is paid them, suffers no
diminution from the irregularity of their
lives. The husbands of these priestesses

• Bosmann,p,463, Des Marchais, IL p. 14G.

THE FEMALB SEX. GS

of the great serpent dare not presume to
give any orders to their wives, or to repri-
mand, or punish them. If a husband
were to lose sight of that respect which is
due to his sacred spouse, she and her
colleagues would soon dispatch the cul-
prit, who would not liave the courage to
make the least effort in his own defence
ag'ainst the violence of his holy assailants.
The. previous subjection of the priestesses,
derogates nothing from ^ the authority
which they assume over their husbands*
Even if they have been raised from slavery
to the sacred function, their husbands are
obliged to wait upon them with the same
humility, and in the same kneeling atti-
tude as the rest of their countrymen are
accustomed to receive the attendance of
their wives.

The same unlimited authority which
the daughters of kings, and the priestesses
of the great serpent in particular exercise
over their husbands, was, and is still exer-
cised over whole nations by the queens of
many countries in Africa*. The negro
queens differ from the princesses of Ame-
rica, and most of the regions of southern
Asia in this particular, that they are not

• Des Marchais, L p. 220. SmWh P' 2O9. Ca*
vazzi^JI.p. 105, kc.

g3

68 HISTORY OF

him into a mortar, and pounded him^ un«
moved by the cries of the infant, or the
horrid spectacle of the mangled relics of
the innocent victim, \yhen she had re-
duced the body of her child to a shapeless
mass, she mingled with it various kinds of
herbs, powders, leaves, and oils, set it over
a fire, and prepared an ointment which
she declared would render her invulner-
able. This assurance, and the example of
their queen overcame the feelings of na-
ture in all the warriors of both sexes, who
followed the standard of this crowned
female monster. All the new-born or
infant males in the whole camp were
slaughtered, and this practice was con-
tinued for many years. Among the negro
women to whom Cavazzi administered
baptism, some acknowledged with tears
that they had killed five, others seven, and
others again ten children w ith their own
hands.

Notwithstanding the despotic authority
of the legislatrix of the Gagers, she was
unable, even by the strictest prohibition
to restrain her warriors from regaling
themselves with tlie flesh of women.
Rich and powerful chieftains continued to
keep whole flocks of young girls as they
would of lambs, calves, or any other ani-

THE FEMALE SEX. Qp

nals^ and had some of them daily slaugh-
tered for the table ; for the Gagers prefer
human flesh to every other species of ani-
mal food, and among the different classes
of human kind, they hold that of young
females in particular estimation^*

• Cavazzi, II. p. 123.

70 HISTORY OF

CHAPTER III.

On the Condition of Women among the
Inhahitants of Mongolia and the South
of Ada; also in the Islands of the East
Indies and South Sea.

In the condition of the fair sex among the
primitive pastoi-al tribes of Mongolia, and
the nations of southern Asia who are
descended from them, as also among the
inhabitants of the East India and South
Sea islands, there is as great a disparity as
among the negroes, and the savages of
America and Siberia. In the many large
nations in the south of Asia, the state of
the women is still more wretched than
among the Americans and negroes. In
others, their condition is more tolerable,
and some, like the Kamtschadales, sub-
mit to be governed and ill-treated by their
wives.

Among the great Mongolian nations on
the continent of Asia, the Calmucks de-
serve the character of treating the sex with
the greatest indulgence and respect. Even
among this people, the fathers, it is true.

THE FEMALE SEX. 71

dispose of their daughters without their
ix^nsent, and it is not uncommon to pro-
mise the infant in the womb, provided at
its birth, it proves to be a female* : but,
on the other hand, they give them a
dowry at least equal in value to the price
which the lover pays for his bride ; and
these dowries the fathers are by express laws
enjoined to assign to their children'^. The
price of a bride among the Calmucks is
considerable. For the daughter of a
prince, for instanqe, it consists of thirty
camels, fifty horses, and four hundred
sheep, and tor the daughter of a common
man in easy circumstances, of iifteen horses
and cows, three camels, and twenty sheep.
As the dowry is equal in value to the con-
sideration given for the bride, and as these
dowries devolve to the widows on the
decease of their husbands, and become
their property in case of divorce, it is ob-
vious, that in consequence of this liberal
provision, the Calmuck women are less
exposed to the danger of arbitrary divorces,
or at least when repudiated or left widows,
they are secured from actual want. The
wives of the Calmucks, it is true, must be

* Pallas Bchcn, 1. p. 3f)l , 362

t Pallas Mongolische Volkcrschqftcn, 1. p. 200#

7'2 HISTORY OF

content to share the possession of their
husbands with numerous rivals; for the
princes and chiefs of that nation have large
harems or seraghos. Their laws and cus-
toms, however, make a material distinc*
tion between legitimate wives and mere
concubines ; and she, alone^ is considered
as the lawful wife who brought her hus-
band a dowry, and whose union with him
has been sanctioned bv the- Lamas, or
priests*. The Calmucks are not exempt-
Cfd from the absurd notion entertained by
the other Asiatic nations, that women
communicate infection or pollution during
their periodical indispositions, and after
child-birth. In the latter case, in parti-
cular, the women are obliged to keep
themselves apart from their husbands, and
are not permitted to touch either their
food or utensils till after ablution ; but at
the end of three weeks, the Calmucks
again consider their wives as pure and
harmless; they never shun them during
the time of suckling, which is sometimes
j)rolonged to four or five years, render
them every assistance in their power in
child-birth, and pay no attention to the
periodical infirmities of unmarried females^

• LcpecMfiU Rcisen, I, p. 2Q7.

^^hich they think of no signification*.
The Calinucks resemble other nations of
the same origin in this respect, that the
labours they impose upon women are
more numerous and more diversified than
the duties which they retain for themselves.
It is, nevertheless, but just to acknowledge,
that they have charged their females with
fewer avocations, and that these less labo-
rious offices they more frequently alle-
viate or divide \\ith them than the Sibe-
rian heathen, or the Americans and ne-
groes-f*. The women take care of the
cattle, and in particular of the young do-
mestic animals, attend to the cookery of
the family, distil kumyss^ a species of
brandy, from mark's milk, shear the
sheep, tan hides, manufacture felts and
8tufi, not only for clothing, but also
for covering their huts and tents, make
ropes, and take down and erect their ha-
bitations. The men on the other hand,
make all their weapons, implements, and
equipage for riding ; feed and water their
herds and flocks, when not engaged in the
chace; repair or improve their dwellings ;
daughter the cattle which they require

• Pallas Mong, Folk. I. p, l65.
t Ibid. I. 143. Pallas Rciscn, L p. 314. Lcpe*
fihin, Lp. 140, 141.

VOL. 1 a

74 HtSTORV Ol*

for their subsistence ; cut up the flesh for
drying; collect and cleave wood for fuel ;
and very often assist their wives in taking
down, packing and erecting their tents^
and in other domestic duties. But what
confers the greatest honour on the Cal-
mucks, is the respect and indulgence
which is shewn to the sex, even in their
laws, the unsophisticated efiusions of their
national spirit. All injuries done to wo-
men, are punished with greater severity
than the same offences coujmitted against
men capable of del'endmg themselves*.
When women apply personally to a j)rince,
and implore the remission of any ])unish«-
ment which either they or theirs are
sentenced to suffer, their petition is
granted without reserve, if the j)enalty be
trivial, or if it be more severe, it is miti«
gated one-half. Finally, a woman, if she
remains at home in her appropriated place,
without quitting her habitation, is, in some
sort an inviolable character. A female, at
her domestic post, may be as abusive as
she pleases to a stranger, or even throw
wood or household utensils at him, with-'
out fear of retaliation-|-. Though thes8

• Pallas Mongol, Folk L p. ^94 .

THE FEMALE SEX. 73

customs and sentiments form such a strik-
ing distinction between the Cahnucks and
the other natioi^s of the same family^ yet
they nearly resemble the latter in their
want of jealousy^ in their generous disposal
of the favours of their wives^ and in the
facility with which they may be appeased
by faithless partners of their beay and their
paramours*. An injured husband, among
the Calmucks, is satisfied on receiving
from his adulterous wife four head of cattle,
%\\d five from the seducer, as though it
were to compensate some damage done to
his herds or habitation. If, however, any
one violates by force the honour of a female,
the perpetrator of the offence is obliged to
bear the whole penalty attached to it, and
to give nine head of cattle to the injured
party-|-.

In China, Siam, and almost all the
other countries in the south of Asia;};, the
condition of the sex, and especially of the
concubines, is so truly deplorable, that it
cannot fail to awaken the sensibilitv of the
European reader, though he is at the same
time«onvinced, that the stupid, uninform-

• PaUai Mongol, folk. L p. 105, 106.
t JHd.

X Du llalde, IT. 141, &c. Louh'rc, I. l60.
Borhinau, IL 80^ &c.

H2

70 HISTORY OF

ed,and abject Chinese women are less aliv6
to the wretch'j(hiesa of their situation, than
the synijKitlietio native of a remote region
ot the ii\oht while perusing a description
of it. 'ihe Chinese, like the Calmucks,
their ])areiit stock, frequently betroth their
8 )ns and daughters even previous to their
entrance into tlie world, and sell or marry
both without their consent. Females, who
r^/eive from their parents a dowry equal
to the price paid for them by their bride-*
grooms, are thereby invested, it is tru^
with all the rights of legitimate wives, and
a tvrannic authority over all the husband's
concubities and their children ; but never-
theless, they are themselves obhged to pay
the same blind and implicit obedience to
the husband as the sons yield to their
fathers, and the subjects to their sove-
reigns*. As the Chinese, contrary to the
custom of the Calmucks and Mongols, and
even of most of the nations of southern
Asia, are^jealous to such a degree, that they
permit their wives to receive no visitors of
tlie other sex, and remove them from
place to place, in strong vehicles sMured
with iron bars, tlie women indeed, con-
tinue as unpolished as when they wer«

* Miimoircs conccrnant Us Chinois, lILps 36&.

THE FEMALE SEX. 77

first taken from the hands of their mothers
and attendants. On the other hand, how-
ever, they possess the advantage of being
exempted from the labours of the field,
and other painful avocations that are in-
compatible with such rigid seclusion*. If,
notwithstanding the care with which she
is guarded, a wife is guilty of infidelity
to her husband, he has a right to kill the
adultress in the presence of her relations-}-.
• Divorces are rare in China, Siam:};, and
the neighbouring countries, but if the
observation or information of Loub^re be
correct, the husbands in Siam never re-
fuse to comply with the demand of their
wives for a divorce, though they might if
they pleased ; and when such a separation
takes place, the husband restores the wife's
dowry, and divides the children with her
in such a manner, that the first, third,
fifth, and so on, fall to her lot, while he
retains the second, fourth, sixth, &c.
From this mode of division, if there be but
one child, it belongs to the wife, and when
the number is uneven, she obtains one
more than the husband. This account, I
am utterly incapable of reconciling with

* Le ComtCy 11, p. 73.

t Ilamil/on, II. p. 275.

J Du Halde, II. 143. LonUre, I. p. l6l.

H3

78 HISTORY OF

the cruel and selfish disposition of thfr
southern Asiatics, and witli the absolute
power which husbands jwssess over their
wives; for which reason I think it. ought
to be received with caution.

The first, or legitimate wives of the
southern Asiatics are only treated with
indignity, but the concubines are subject
to every species of inhumanity, and are,
in fact, more miserable, and more de-
spised than even the female negroes and
Americans. These unfortunate creatures*
are in general the offspring of indigent
parents, by whom they are sold at a higher
or lower price, in proportion to their
charms. They are not only slaves to the
husbands, but also to the wives, both of
whom exercise over them a despotic au-
thority. Notwithstanding the number of
children they may have borne their bar-
barous masters, notwithstanding the length
and fidelity of the services they may have
rendered, they are liable to be sold or
gambled away by them whenever they
please. The jealous wives frequently
cause them to miscarry, and treat them in
other respects with such cruelty, that the

* Du Ilalde and Louhire, as above, M^moiret con»
'^ri, hi Chinoisj IL «0, 8i, ///. 3()S, IV. £88, 2B(>.

THE FEMALE SEX. 79

husbands are obliged to remove their con-
cubines to a different house, in order to
release them from the persecution of their
wives. All these barbarities are, however,
much less revolting and unnatural than a
practice which is in some measure sanc-
tioned by the customs and laws of most of
the nations in the south of Asia. The
children of the concubines are regarded
as the offspring of the legitimate wife, and
even they consider themselves as such.
They shew, tlierefore, not the least re-
S}5ect to their real mothers, frequently
keep their seats when the latter are obliged
to stand, manifest no sign of ginef at their
decease, and reserve all their affection for
the legitimate wife, whom they are habitu-
ated to honour as their mother ; — a cus-
tom which could not have obtained except
among those i.ations in which a law could
be promulgated, that mothers should cease
to be mothers, that mothers should re-
nounce the joys of maternal affection, and
children the sweet duties of filial love.
Not less abhorrent is the right given by
the laws of China and Siam to the lawful
wives and their sons, after the death of
their husbands and fathers, over the con-
cubines and their children. The former
totallv exclude the latter, the concubines

80 IIISTOUY OF

at least, from all share in the property left:
by the deceased, (for in some cases, the sons
of concubines inherit as tlie adopted chil-
dren of the leo'itimale wife), and may turn
out or sell botli, especially the concubines,
for whom there is no redress. These
law^s and customs require no comment or
iUustration to enable the reader to draw
this conclusion, that they presuppose a
very difierent organization of human na-
ture from what we find among the nations
in our division of the globe.

Among the nations of the south of
Asia and their descendants, it appears that
the Javanese, all or most of whom derive
their origin from the Chinese, are the
only people who manifest equal, or still
greater jealousy than the Chinese them-
selves, for among them, grown-up sons
are not evt n permitted to see their own
mothers^. Amono the other East Indian na-
tions there are, it is true, some who punish
adulterers and adultresses with death, or
the loss of liberty, but most of them may
be ])aciHed by presents, and even induced
to acknowledge the oflspring of adulterous
commerce as their own. Excepting the
Chinese and Javanese, all the nations of

• Bcschrdhung von Batavia, I, p. 69.

THE FEMALE SEX. 81"

the south of Asia^ and all the inhabitants
of the East Indian and South Sea islands
ofter the Europeans their -Avives and
daughters, or compel them to prostitute
themselves to strangers : nor is this prac-
tice confined to the common people, but
it ii customary also among persons of the
highest rank, who, like the negroes, esteem
it an honour for their wives to become
mothers by white men*. Those people
who sell their wives and daughters, or ex-
change with each other-f^, like the inferior
casts of Hindostan, according to the cus«
torn of other Mongol nations, do not in-
deed shut up their wives so closely as the
Chinese and Javanese, but on the other
hand they impose upon them all the
drudgery which the female Americans ancl
negroes are obliged to perform. Such is
the condition of the sex among the meaner
casts in Hindostan;};, in Ceylon^, in the
regions of southern Asia, excepting China,
and Java||, and in the Molucca and Philip-
pine islands^. In all these countries

♦ Datnpirr, II. p, 6, 86. FoTSter*s Voyage, 7,

JE>. 212, yy. p. 71.

t Voij aires des HoUandois, III. 675.

X lets, p. 48.

§ Knox, p. 8y, 94.

II D ampler, as above.

f Pa^'o, /. p. 382, 383. Vulenti/n^ II, p, 147.

62 HISTORY OF

and islands the women are looked upoti
as so impure, that after child-birth they
are obliged for several days, *or sometimes
four or five successive weeks, to fumi*
gate and broil themselves before a fire, or
even upon a gridiron. Such is the con-
tempt in which they are held, that Aey
are never permitted to eat, or merely to
sit down in tlie presence of the men.
Finall}^ they are abused in the most
shameful manner, not only by their hus-
bands, but also by their children, whom
they dare not presume to punish for their
condnot*. Mothers in Otaheite-f*, and
probably in all the other South Sea island^
inhabited fay n^cple possesHittg personal
beauty, have more authority over their'
children ; they are not burdened with so
many toilsome duties, and are exempted,
in particular from the labours of the field;}: :
at the same time they are treated with
such contempt, that they are not only
prohibited to eat with their husbands, but

♦ Tliis is assert efl, with respect to certain casts of
Hindostan, in the Let ires Ed'ifiantcft^ XII. p. 81. Nonv.
JRd'U. The J'^nglish were themselves eye witnesses of this
fact in New Zealand, where they saw a mother beaten
by her husband for chastising her graceless boy, who had
pelted her with smnes. lu.sf'r, I. p. 510.

t I'oni/a^' Olscrv.p. 3.>1.

J 6WV T/ufd yvyagc, L p, 391.

THE FEMALE SEX. 83

are even excluded from partaking of tlie
best dishes, and especially of animal food;
neither are they permitted to enter the
moraisy or sacred burial places, the only
temples of the South Sea islanders*.

In China, and all the other regions of
the south of Asia, whose inhabitants have
the same origin, or at least the same Ibrm
of government, religion, customs, aijd sys-
tem of education as the Chinese, fathers
possess no Itfss authority over the sons
whom they establish in life, and for whom
they are obliged to purchase wives, than
over their daughters. As they sell the
latter without their consent, and even
against their inclination, so also they marry
the former without consulting them on the
subject ; and a son dare not refuse the
female selected for him bv his father, even
though he never saw her beforej-. Among

♦ Cook*s Third Voyage^ III. p. 1.30, l63. It is more
than probable that the wouu-n uf the South Sea islaihls are
less indebtetl lo any regard on the part of their husbands,
than to their want of jealousy, for the onjovnicnt of equal
liberty with the female infiabitantb of Caucasus. Set
For SUV's Obscrv. p. 30*5.

f Du llalde and LouVhe, as above. At Rintara^
and in the other parts of tlii. island of Java, fatlicrs bc-
trotU their children at as early an age as in C-hina, lest
they might otlierwise be taken away Irom them for the
harems of the kings, or Im? sold for slaves, on the death of
the fathers, by tlie monarch, who is the universal heir of
all his subjects. Vogd, p, ()49« Voyages des MoUandois^
i^p. 349.

84 HISTORY OP

the smaller and poorer tribes, and probably
among the lower classes of the more ex-
tensive nations, in which the fiithers pro-
vide no establishment for their sons, but
the latter themselves pay the purchase
money for their brides, or acquire them by
service for a certain number of years,
young men enjoy the same liberty of
chusing any female they please, as among
the negroes and Americans. The brides
who are thus purchased by the father's, do
not immediately become the property or
the slaves of the sons, but these youths
continue dependent on the fathers of the
females, and are obliged to reside in their
habitations, as members of their families,
during the term of their service, or till the
whole of the purchase-money is paid*
Such is the custom in the Phihppines*,
in Corea and Formosa-j-, and probably in
many other countries and islands of the
East Indies. In Sumatra there formerly
existed a species of compact, by which
the bridegroom was so completely en-
slaved, that he could never acquire any
property, nay even that his children might
be sold by the father and family of the

• Genfil, II. p. 72.

f Uisioire generate de la Chine^XIIL p. l/Q, 181*

TH< FKMALS S£X. 85

irife— '-an unnatural custom, which the
English have endeavoured to suf^ress in
their territories in the island*.

The nations of the south of Asia, and
the inhabitants of the East India and
South Sea islands are not more consistent
in their conduct toward the sex^ than the
negroes and Americans. Though they
despise and oppress their women, yet
many nations suffer themselves to be
governed by females, or at least pay them
the respect that is commonly shewn to
queens. In the peninsula of India, and
the islands of the Soutii Sea, which origi-
nally received their inhabitants from Hin-
dostan, the queens seem to enjoy the
highest prerogatives. On the coast of
Malabar^, where it is customary for wo-
men to have many husbands, and where
the daughters and nieces inherit all pro-
perty, several queens reign, to all appear-
ance, with despotic power, and are in some
ineasure worthy of the sovereign authority,
A queen in the vicinity of Bombay, who
could bring about five thousand cavalry
into the field, exhibited an instance of
courage almost without example, even

♦ Marsden, p. I93, 225.

t Leiires Edifiantes, XII . p. 2Q7. Grose, I. p. 234,

VOL. I. 1

86. HISTORY OF

among the men of the Asiatic continent*
The prince of the Mahrattas having killed
her son in battle, she challenged him to
single combat, but the invitation was de-
clined by the Mahratta sovereign, with this-
reply : that the match between him and
the queen would be very unequal, for if
she had the good fortune to vanquish him,
she would acquire immortal renown, but
if he were victorious, he should gain no
honour by cwiquering a woman*. In most
of the countries where women possess the
supreme autliority, it is probably, as in
the kingdom of Attinga, a fundamental
law of the state^ that none but females
shall inherit the thronej*« These queens
are precluded, by another law, from many*
ins ; but thev may select as many lovers
as they please, so that their seraglio is
generally composed of the handsomest
youths of their court. The sons of queens
sink into the rank of mere gentlemen, and
tlie daughters alone possess an hereditaiy
right of succession to the throne.

Oueens, enjoying similar prerogatives,
wore found amonsr the comelv islanders of
tlie South l^ea. Oberea, queen of Ota«

• G'- .c^ /. p. 234.
t 11: J. p. e44.

f HB FBMALE 9BX. 87

heite, ivhose name is so well known even
in Europe, had not only a multitude of
lovers among her own countrymen, but
made no scruple to grant her favours to
the English, which gave not the slightest
ofience to her subjects. Cook, in his last
voyage to the South Sea, observed to
his great astonishment, in the Friendly
Islands, a matron, in whose presence even
the king was not permitted to eat^ and
whose foot he placed upon his royal head
in token of the most profound submission '*'•
This female, so highly exalted above th^
monarch himself, was perhaps his mother,
for among most of the nations of the globe,
excepting those of Europe, the queen-
mother is treated either with equal or still
greater respect than the sovereign. At
the period of the last visits paid by the
English to the natives of Otaheite, queen
Oberea seemed to enjoy much less consi-
deration than before, and had perhaps
been divested of her royal dignity.

The queens of the other states in the
south of Asia, particularly those of Patani,
Malacca, and Achin, in Sumatra-|*, possess
rather the shadow of authority than any

• Cook*t Third Voyage, I. p. 308.

t Loubhc, I,p,S5l. Dumpier, III, p. 173, &c.

I 2

88 BISTOST OF

real power, and they are elected and toIe-»
rated for no other reason than because the
Orankays, or chiefs of the people, are un-
willing to exalt any of their equals above
their own level. In the countries above^
mentioned, they always make a point of
chusing for their queen some old woman^
who is neither susceptible of feeling, ot*
inspiring the tender passion; being ap-
prehensive lest a younger princess might
admit some of her lovers to a participa*
tion in the throne. These queens, it is
true, are always elected out of the same
families; but in Dampier's time several
of the chieftains in the kingdom of Achin^
insisted, that a king possessing all tlie
prerogatives of royalty should be chosen
instead of these mock-sovereigns. This
demand occasioned a civil war. The
queens of Achin and Patani, notwithstand-
ing all the deference that is paid them,
have little or no authority, which is in the
hands of their vicegerents, the Oranka3r8.
In Dampier's time tbe queen of Achin
was more rarely visible than any of the
other sovereigns of the western and soudi
eastern regions of Asia. She was shut up
all the year through, like a prisoner in her
palace, except on one single day, when «he
rode^ dressed inwhite^upon an elephant to

THS FEMALE STEX, SQf

the river, for the purpose of bathing in its
waters.

Among all the inhabitants of the south
of Asia, and of the East India and South
Sea islands, there exists, or rather existed
but one petty tribe, the natives of the
Ladrone or Marian Islands, among whom
the men were formerly governed by their
wives as though they had all been queens,
or the sacred priestesses of the great na-
tional deities** We are informed by
Gobien, that in these islands, the women
have assumed those rights which over all
the rest of the world are possessed by the
other sex. The wife is absolute mistress
of her house, and the husband dares not do
any thing, or dispose of any thing with-
out her consent. If she disapproves of
his conduct in general, or his treatment
of her in particular, she wreaks her
vengeance upon him, or abandons him
entirely. On a separation of this kind,
the wife takes the property which con-
stituted her dowry, and all her children.

• I purposely make use of the word formerly ^ be-
cause the inhabitants of the Ladrones were in a great
measure exterminated, or perished by disease ; and the
wretched remnants of their race were collected by a phi-
lantiiropic Spaniard^ named Tobias^ in the islana o£
Guam.

la

90 msTo&T OP

along with her^ and the ktter consU
der the new husband whom she chuaea
as their father. If a wife foe guilty of
infidelity, the injured husband may re*
venge himself in any manner he pleases on
the adulterer, and even put him to death;
but he is not permitted to inflict any
punishment on the woman. If, on the
other hand,awife has reason to suspect her
husband c^ too close an intimacy with
other females, she expresses her resent-
ment in an exemplary manner. She either
summons sdl the other women in her
village and its vicinity, or appesJs to her
own relations to avenge her cause* In
the first case, the enraged females assem-
ble with their husband's hats on their
heads, and spears in their hands, and thus
equipped, proceed to the habitation of the
guilty or suspected husband. They com-
mence their operations by ravaging his
fields, and stripping his fiiiit trees.
This done, they attack his house, plunder
it of every thing it contains, and treat the
unfortunate owner in the most cruel man*
ner if they find him in it. The relations
of the wife, if she should in the first in-
stance demand their aid, pursue a similar
line of conduct.

The dread of this ill usuage, or of ever-
lasting slavery, formerly deterred many

THE FSXAIE 8EX. 01

young men from matrimony. A number
of them contributed toward the purchase
and support of females, of whom they were
the masters and proprietqrs^ and hence
arose the community of wives, which is
found to prevail in most of the islands
of the South Sea.

Should the reader enquire how this ex-
traordinary influence, enjoyed by the sex,
is to be accounted for, I must candiclly
acknowledge that I am the more incapa-
hie of answering this question, since the
inhabitants of the Ladrones are as vigor-
ous and robust a race as the natives of any
of the East India or South Sea islands^

m HISTORY OT

CHAPTER IV.

Of the Condition of Women among thr
Nations of the East.

Under the term of Eastern nations^ 1
mean not to comprise all the inhabitants of
Asia, nor do I confine it to the Asiatics
alone^ but comprehend under the deno^
mination the natives of the western re-
gions of Asia, as far a» the Indus^ include
ing the tribes of Caucasus ; the superior
casts of Hindostan ; the Tartar hordes in
Siberia, Bucharia, and the other countries^
far as Thibet ; and lastly, all the nations
of the north-western part of Africa, on this
side of the cataracts of the Nile, about
Mount Atlas, and the Senegal. All these
people bear a striking resemblance to eachr
other, not only in respect to civilization,
but also in regard to their talents, disposi-
tion, form of government, manners, and^
treatment of the female sex.

Among the Oriental nations, the men
are much more elegantly formed, and are
far more robust, more intelligent, and cou-
rageous than the southern Asiatics. Their

THS FEMALE 0EX. 05

wooktn are beyond comparison more beatu
tifiil than those of the Mongol nations^
and some of them may even vie in this
respect with any females on the face of the
globe. Notwithstanding all their charms,
the women of the east have not good
sense and virtue enough to inspire the
men with the genuine sentiments of love
and esteem, aqd the men are not sufficient*
ly liberal, magnanimous, and sensible to
any other than personal attractions, to
treat the sex as their equals, or to allow
them the rights of human beings ; though
tiiey scruple not to acknowledge that they
could not exist ^ without women, and that
they affcyrd them the highest of all earthly
gratifications. The condition of the Ori-
ental females is very few degrees superior
to that of the women of the south of Asia ;
but.it is infinitely more wretched than the
lot of slaves, who are often purchased at a
much dearer rate. The civilization and
refinement of the men, have every where
produced some alleviation of the bondage
of the sex; but the deplorable condition
of wives and concubines is almost in-
variably aggravated in proportion to the
elevation of rank, till it attains the highest
pitch of wretchedness in the harems of

94 HISTOBY Ol'

■

the kings^ which are the graves^ of liberty,
humanity, and every pleasure.

Were we to consider the behaviour of
the Orientals to the sex, in certain indivi-
dual and detached cases, we should be in-
clined to imagine that women were no
where so highly honoured, and eVext
adored as in the east. On meeting fe-
males, and especially those of high rank,
the people turn aside out of their way
with demonstrations of as much respect as
though they were beings of a superior
order*. After the most bloody battles^
amid the most unrelenting pillage^ and
devastation of cities, the wpmen are more*
cautiously spared than even the priests:
themselves, and their habitations are the
only sanctuaries which are exempted from
the destructive swords of the warrior^
athirst for blood and plunder^. When any
of the Beys in Egypt is defeated, or ex-
pelled by his adversaries from his resi-
dence, the harem of the vanquished chief
remains as free from molestation as if the
owner had himself been victorious;!:. Fi-

* In Java, the king himself turns out of his wajr
when he chances to meet a woman. See Besckreihung
von Batania, I. p.6g,

f Doio. til. p. 19.

J Irwin, p. 346.

THE FEMALE SEX. 95

Hally, the harems are the only asylums in
which the slaves of the Orientals are se-
cure from the persecutions and the ven-
geance of their superiors, and from the
«words of their master, which are almost
incessantly suspended over their heads.
The officers of justice^ and executioners,
scarcely ever enter the harems of persons
\vhom they are directed to apprehend as
criminals, unless they are accused of high
treason. In this case, they seize their
victims wherever they find them. But
before they penetrate into the sanctuary of
the female abode, they are careful to give
timely notice to its inhabitants to retire,
and in particular to withdraw from the
culprit*. But, for all these demonstrations
of apparent indulgence and respect the
women of the east are not indebted to the
sacredness of their character, or to the
high opinion entertained of their worth ;
but merely to the unbounded jealousy of
tlieir husbands, which spares them for its
own sake, even when they trample upon
all the laws-of justice and humanity.

As sacred as the women of the eastern
nations are held by their enemies, and by
the civil power, so despicable are they

♦ Arvieux, PI. p, 4^

96 HisTOHY or

nevertheless considered by the Orientals ;
so dependent are 'they upon their fathers,
brothers, relatives, and others in whose
power they happen to be ; so cruel is the
oppression and ill-treatment they expe*
rience from their husbands and eunuchs ;
so wholly abandoned are they by the laws
and the ministers of justice ; so d^raded
according to the precepts of religion ^ so
destitute of hope and consolation with re-
spect to the future state which awaits them
at the close of their moital existence. A
man in the east dares not enquire con-
cerning the health of the wife or daughter
of his most intimate friend, because this
would instantly excite suspicion of illicit
views and connections ; neither does eti*
quette permit him to make mention him-
self of his own wife or daughter. They
are included among the domestic animals,
or comprehended in the general denonii-
nation of the house or the family. When,
however, an Oriental is obliged to men-
tion his wife or his daughter, in conversa*
tion with a physician or any other person
whom he wishes to treat with deference
and respect, he always introduces the sub-
ject with some such ajK)logy as we make
m Europe, when we are obliged to speak "-
of things which are regarded as disgusting

trtE Female sfix. 07

t>r obscene*. Conformably with this Asiatic
prejudice, Tamerlane was highly affronted
with the vanquished Turkish emperor, Ba-
jazet, for mentioning, in his presence, such
impure creatures as women are considered
by the Orientals. Though Mahomet
prized the delights which women afford,
beyond every other gratification, and pro-
mised all the faithful the embmces of
celestial beauties, as the highest reward of
their fidelity and good works ; yet he
speaks of them in his Koran as if they
were beings of an inferior order to men ;
and many Mahometans not only doubt,
but also deny that women have souls, and
that they are destined to participate in the
joys of Paradise-J-. Even the tender-heart-
ed Musuhnans, who are disposed to allow
a future state and future felicity for the
poor women, maintain, hov/ever, that they
will not be admitted into the same Para-
dise with the men, but that there is a
blissful abode set apart for them;}; ; a
notion which has never obtained partizans
in our division of the globe, and which I
ho}>e either sex will be equally ready to
reject. Such a mean estimation of wo-

■

• Arvieux, 1, p, 2QQ, 230.

t Volncyy II. p» 442. Cliardin, IF* p. 26.

t Ckardin, as above.

VOL). K

98 HISTORY o^

men as Mahomef s Koran announces, did
not originate with the Arabs and their
legislator ; but Mahomet derived it from
the universal sentiment of the Orientals,
which from time immemorial has prevailed
from the north-western extremity of Africa
to the shores of the Ganges and the
mountains of Thibet, and still predomi^
nates in those regions, not only among the
Mahometans, but also among their heathen
and Christian inhabitants. Though Ma-
homet has not forbidden it, yet the Orien-
tals are as tenacious as their remotest an-
cestors, of permitting their most highly
favoured women to eat, or merely to be
seated in their presence, because they re-
gard either as an indignity or degradation
to man, the lord of woman. When the
Orientals enter their harem, they never
fondle or caress their favourite wives and
concubines, but these respectfully kiss the
hands of their masters, and it is even a
kind of reproach among the Turks, and
other nations of the East, to be thought
fond of women, or to shew them much
tenderness or respect*. The Persians,
Hindoos, or other Oriental people, regard
it as an irrefragable principle, and nave

• Russel,p. 115.

THE femalI: sex. 99

adopted it as a proverb*, that women were
made solely for the enjoyment of men,
and for. the production of children* ITie
Persians, and other nations of the East,
therefore estimate the value of women, not *
by their talents, abilities, knowledge, and \
industry, but by the degree of sensual gra- \
tification which they attbrd ; on which ac-
count, they prize a certain fullness and
rotundity in femalei, more highly than the
most perfect beauty, the greatest talents,
the most valuable attainments, and the
most exalted virtues-|*. Not only do the
Orientals neither expect nor reverence any
virtue in women, but they ascribe to them,
without exception, every vice of which the
sex is capable, and by which it is most
debased. The appetite of a woman, say
the laws of the Hindoos J, can no more be
satiated than a devouring fire by the com-
bustibles thrown into it, or the ocean by
the rivers which disgorge themselves into
its bosom, or the empire of death by the
men and animals which it swallows up.
Woman, continues the genius of Hindos-
tanic legislation, has six inherent failings :
in the first place, an inordinate love of

• Chardin, II f. p, 39I. Genioo Laws,p, 25^,

•f Ihid, as above.

X Genioo Laws, p. 250.

k2

TOO HISTORY or

finery, dress, and delicacies; in the second,
an immoderate propensity to sensual plea-
sures; t:liirdiy,a violent irascibility; fourth-
ly, a profound and dissembled malice;
fii'thly, an innate jealousy, which converts
the good qualities of others into bad;
sixthly, a natural inclination to evil — a
sentiment that comprehends mnch more
than all the preceding.

With these principles, the conduct of
the natives of the East perfectly coincides,
as the reader will presently be convinced.
If, therefore, so many nations as are in*
eluded in the denomination of Orientals
have for ages thought and acted in a uni-
form, undeviating manner, this harmpny
of sentiment and conduct cannot be
ascribed to the precepts of individual legis-
lators and founders of religions ; but we
are obliged to presume that it is the
effect of immutable causes, and that the
most unlimited authority on the one hand,
and the most abject slavery on the other, pro-
ceed from the natural disposition, qualities,
and relations of the sexes ; — sl conjecture
which, on a closer investigation, we find
confirmed by the most authentic data.

The early and short-lived vouth of the
females of the East renders polygslmy
necessary, at least for many men; and

THE FEMALE SEX. 101 .

among people so addicted to jealousy as
the Orientals, the inevitable consequence
of this polygamy is the confinement of the
women. In the rigid seclusion to which
marriageable females* and wives are doom-
ed, it is impossible for them to acquire
that useful knowledge which can only be
derived from the instruction and company
of men. Even the duties of domestic
economy are performed in the East by
slaves in all the houses of the great and
opulent ; and females, married or unmar-
ried, are as little disposed to undertake
these servile offices, as are husbands and
fathers to commit them to their superin-
tendence-J-. At the tender age in which
girls become wives, with their minds
wholly uncultivated, destitute of all agree-
able or useful knowledge, incapable of any
domestic occupation, and wholly unac^
quainted with the world and the affairs of
life, it is impossible for them to excite in
their husbaiids any thing but appetite,
to inspire them with friendship, love, or es-
teem, to amuse them in the hours of
leisure, to comfort and cheer them in the

* In the countries of the East, girls are o^rriageable
al the age of eight, nine, or ten years.
\ %iktardx%hi as abQve.

k3

102 HISTORY OF

days of affliction, or to give them advice
in matters of importance. The females
of the East are in general just what they
are considered by their most passionate
admirers, children destitute of souls, or
creatures with but half a soul, destined
for m^Te animal enjoyment, and the pro-
pagation of the sj)ecies.
. Incomprehensible as the want of love in
the Orientals under these circumstance
may ap|)ear, the })rofound contempt which
these very people entertain for a sex so
essential to tlieir happiness, may neverthe-
less be very easily accounted for. In
beings so childish, rude, ignorant, and un-
cultivated as the females of the East, in
whom, no less than in themen,the climate
has implanted an insatiable appetite; the
propensity to every kind of sensual grati-
fication, and all the passions of. little, un-
polished, and debased minds, must be
infinitely stronger than in the women of
our division of the globe : because the in-
flate vices are neither eradicated by the
cultivation of the heart and understanding,
nor suj)pressed by useful industry ; but on
the contrary, are powerfully inflamed and
excited by confinement, and the illusions
of those very passions. Accordingly, all
the laws and religions^ all the* moralists

THE FEMALE SEX. 103

■'and travellers in the East, describe volup-
tuousness, indolence, intemperance, e])i-
curism, avarice, love of finery in dress,
luxury, envy, jealousy, and the most unna-
tural propensities as the ordinary vices of
the women of the East, which are not dis-
guised or compensated by one single fe-
male virtue. Can we still be surprised
that the Orientals not only do not love
their women, but hold them in supreme
contempt, and are even apprehensive of
disgracing themselves by giving occasion
to others to suspect them of tenderness
towards their wives? The mean opinion
which the Orientals entertain of the sex,
is too general and uneradicable to be un-
merited ; at the same time it is to be
deplored, that with such constitutions as
the women receive from the nature of their
climate, amid such a total want of educa-
tion and instruction, amid that seclusion
and the oppression under which they
groan, it is impossible for them to be less
despicable than they are.

As the females of the East continue
children in understanding, so according to
the laws of all the Oriental nations they
are during their whole lives considered as
children, who have no will of their own, or
' who would infallibly involve themselves and

104 HISTORY OB'

Others in ruin, if they were left to their
own discretion*. Women and girls are
constantly dependent eitlw^r on fethers^
brothers, or other male relations, continu-
ally remain members of families, and can-
not legally execute any civil act. In the
•regions of the East, the power of the
father over his children is so great, that
the sons are not consulted with respect to
marriage any more than the daughters-|*.
It is the mothers in general who conclude
these matches. When a mother has a son
of a proper age, she searches all the harems
of her acquaintance, and all the baths to
which she has access, till she finds a young
female whom she thinks an eligible com-
panion for her son. As soon as she has
discovered such a one, and her husband
approves her choice, either the mother or
the father of the youth, or some person in
their name, opens the business to the
parents of the female. If the match ap-
pears acceptable to the latter, they negociate
respecting the price to be paid for the
bride, the dowry, settlement, and jointure
in case of widowhood, till at length the
terms are agreed to by both parties. This

* Charditif and Gerttoo Laws, as above,
t Ckardin, L p. 23 1 , &c. hussel, p. 1 1 1, &C. Rui
€SMi, 11. c. SI . Mebukr*>t Arabia, p. 76.

THE FEMALE SEX. 105

cione^ they apply to a cadi, or an ecclesiastic,
by whom, or in whose presence the mar-
riage contract is signed by the agents of
the bride and bridegroom. In Turkey,
the bridegroom, but not the bride, and in
Persia, on the contrary, the bride, but not
her father, is present on this occasion.
The ecclesiastic and the minister of justice,
together with the bridegroom, his father,
and the attorney, then repair to the house
of the bride's father, who, when the con-
tract is transcribed and ready for execu-
tion, withdraws, that the bridegroom may
be left perfectly at liberty. When the
representative of the bride has promised
her to the bridegroom as his wife, the ec- '
clesiastic, or the cadi, goes to the half-
opened door of the adjoining apartment,
where the bride, veiled so as to be quite in-
visible, is surrounded bv her female rela-
tives and friends, and asks her whether
she is satisfied M^ith the match, and with
the terms concluded by her attorney. To
this question, she invariably replies in
the affirmative ; but it should be observed,
that this interrogation of the bride, as well
as the withdrawing of her father, are no-
thing but empty ceremonies. The bride
never sees the bridegroom before the
nuptials, and tlie bridegroom very seldom

106 HISTOHT OP

obtains a sight of the bride, unless he con-
trives to corrupt the female overseer of the
baths which she frequents*. If he does
not avail himself of this method, the
bridegroom never sees his bride till after
the consummation of their nuptials ; for
on the wedding day she is led veiled to
his house, undressed at night in tlie bridal
chamber, and resigned in the dark apart-
ment to the embraces of the bridegroom,
who thus enjoys his young wife before he
has been indulged with a sight of her.
Where young people know neither each
other's person, condition, nor circum-
stances, except by the reports of their re-
' lations, they cannot conceive the idea of
refusing a match propose to them by
their parents, because they have no reason
to hope in future to become more inti-
mately- acquainted with him or her, with
whom they are to pass the remainder of
their lives; but on the contrary to fear that
the next offer which is made them may be
worse instead of better.

When a bride has been delivered to her
bridegroom and found to be a virgin, she
is transferred from the paternal to me con-

* Dow, III. p. 33. Anjuetil Voy, p. 356. Otar^
itn (uid liunsd, as above.

THE FEMALE SEX. 107

V

jugal authority, which is never inferior to
tliat of the father, but in general much
taore oppressive. Among all the eastern
nations there are, however, cases in which
legitimate wives may claim the protection
of the laws, and still more frequently it
depends on the will and the influence of
fathers, to alleviate the condition of their
married daughters.

When rich voluptuaries purchase the
daughters of indigent parents, these wretch-
ed females cannot prevent their lord from
stocking his harem with as many wives as
the laws permit, and whatever number of
concubines he pleases ; nor can they com-
plain if he sells them in case of barrenness,
or puts them away, when he is grown
wreary of them. When, on the contrary,
a wife has brought her husband a consi-
derable dowry^ and their union has been
confirmed by the legal authorities, she runs
much less risk of being divorced, because a
man is obliged to settle a substantialjointure
on a wife whom he repudiates. Opulent
parents often give their daughters to one
of their own freedmen, not only without
accepting any price for them, but with a
large dowry or valuable presents, at the
same time insisting upon this condition,
that their sons-in-law shall take no other

103 HlSTOftYOP

wives, that they shall never put away their
daughters, or in case of divorce, that they
shall make them a handsome settlement—
a stipulation which renders the husband
extremely unwilling to part from his wife.
Women of this description are in some'
measure mistresses of their husbands, for
among the Turks and Arabs^the dowry re-
mains intheirownpossession*. In Persia-|*,
brides receive a dowry, which, in case of
divorce or separation, devolves to the hus-
band, but he is obliged to allow his wife
the jointure he has promised her. Among
the Moors of Africa, and most of the other
Orientals, the wife can claim no part of
the husband's property on his decease, but
retains the dower she brought him;}:.
Among the Arabs, the widow and the in-
fant children reserve the tent, and share
the remainder in equal portions with the
grown sons and daughters^. In Hindos-
tan, it is the duty of the eldest son, or the
male representative of the deceased, to
maintain the widow, and to provide for
the female children||. In most of the

* Nieluhr, as above*
t Chardin, III. p. 409,
i Shaw, p. 2'M).
§ Arvicux, III. p. 338.
II Sotmcrat, I. p. 6*0.

THE riSMALE SJili. l0||

regions of the East, the sons, especially
tlie first-born, enjoy superior rights and
privileges to the daughters. In Persia,
the eldest son is entitled to two-thirds of
the property, the remainder is divided
among the other children, but in such
proportions, that the daughters receive
only half as much as the sons^.

Though the Orientals possess the same
right as the ancient Jews of repudiating their
wives without assigning any reason ; yet
such divorces are very rare among people of
condition, because they are not restrained
only by the loss which they sustain in
such cases, but also by the fear of sliame-}^.
Men of rank, says Chardin, would rather
die themselves than put away their wives,
or dispatch the latter, sooner than agree
to a divorce. While, therefore, the men
very seldom avail themselves of their privi-
lege of divorcing their wives, the women
dare not use tlie right of separating from
their husbands, which they are allowed by
the laws. It is a circumstance equally
rare for women to claim another ri«:ht
which the law5 likewise give them, I mean
that of being favoured every montli with a

* Chardin, as above,
f lUcaul, as above.

VOL. I. L

1 10 HISTORY OF

certain number of embraces bv their hus-
ban»ls*. When complaints of this kind
are made, the men are never at a loss for
excuses to deceive their neglected wives,
even before the tribunal of justice. The
compul: ory law, which obliges the Maho-
metans to perform the conjugal duty, Hke
a service they are bound to render, or a
tribute they are necessitated to pay, ex-
isted also anions: the Jews, and was in*
contestibly adapted to the situation and
sentiments of the Orientals: but it is
scarcely necessary to observe, that this
law presupposes ideas respecting the design
of matrimony, and the relations between
husband and wife, which have never ob-
tained among the nations of our division
of the globe.

Another law, given by Mahoment, with
respect to divorces, which is still observed
by all Mahometan nations, and affords one
of the many demonstrations of the great
inferiority of the Arab to the Jewish legis-
lator, is still more revolting than the last-
mentioned injunction. Moses rendered
the divorce and the reunion of married
people as easy as Mahomet afterwards did ;
but, at the same time, he decreed, that a

• MichaeUs Mos, Rccht, II. p. l63, 185, andSQA,

THE FEMALE SEX. Ill

man should be at liberty to take back his
repudiated wife only when she had not
been married to another husband*. Ma-
homet on the other hand, not only per-
mitted a husband to divorce his wife
thrice, with impunity, but to take her
again a third time, if he first suffered
another man to lie with her. By this
odious law, Mahomet designed to prevent
too frequent divorces, but he failed in this
object ; and at the same time bequeathed
a remarkable monument of the levity of
the Orientals in the most important con-
cerns, of the inconstancy of their passions^
and of a want of decencv, which it seems
impossible to reconcile with their exces-
sive jealousy.

Unnatural, and almost incredible as it
may appear, that a husband should thrice
repudiate his wife, and thrice receive her
again ; that she should always* be willing
to return ; that, moreover, on this third
reunion^ the woman should not only per-
mit herself to be contaminated by another,
but that the husband also should consent
to this proceeding ; certain it is, that in-
stances of this kind are still to be found
among all the Mahometan nations. They

• Michaelis Mos. Rcchf, II. p. 310, &c.

L2

112 HISTORY or

are, it is true, almost exclusively confined
to jthe lowest classes; they are likewise
considered as disgraceful, and the inter-
mediate persons who are employed as the
bedfellows of the women, are regarded as
the vilest of mankind* ; but yet this ab-
horrence has not had the effect of entirely
j)reventing these childish separations, and
diL^honourable reunions In the Maldives,
and probably in the other Mahometan
countries, a method has long been dis-
covered by which the legal stipulation of ,
the third reunion is literally fulfilled, but
without hurting the jealousy of the hus-
band. They hire some poor wretch to lie
with the woman, but previously oblige
him to swear he will not touch her, and
thus evade the intention of the legislator-j*.
As the inhabitants of the Maldives aremuch
more inconstant than the other Orientals,
divorces and reunions are far more fre-
quent, even in the higher classes, among
them than in other countries ; even ladies
of the highest rank, when they have re-
solved to return for the third time to theit*
husbands, are obliged to submit to pass a

* Ricaut, Liv. 11, ck. 21, p. 46?, 408. Chardin, /,
p. 235. Pijrard, I. p. \\5.
t Pyrard, as above.

THE FEMALE SEX. 113

night by the side of a hired stranger, who
is universally considered as a vile and de-
graded character. In the Maldives, the
inconstant couple is allowed to separate a
fourth time, and to be again united by the
same disgraceful medium ; but if they
again part, a fifth reunion is absolutely
prohibited*. Among the Turks, on the
other hand, when a man has taken back
his wife for the third time, their union is
indissoluble^-.

Incompatible as the Mosaic laws may
be with our manners, notions, and institu-
tions, still they are advantageously dis-
tinguished in most respects from the laws
of Mahomet, and the sentiments peculiar
to the Oriental nations. Moses, indeed,
like Mahomet, permitted every Israelite to
take four lawful wives, and an indefinite
number of concubines J ; but he studied
the welfare of slaves and concubines much
more than Mahomet, or than the previous
customs of his own nation had done.
Slaves of either sex, of Jewish origin, were
free, without ransom, in the seventh year
of their servitude. If a master ill-treated

• Pyrard, T. p. \\5.

f Arvieux, VI. p. 448.

J Miehaelis Mos, Recht, Il.p.lSd.

l3

114 HISTORY OF

■

a concubine, she might purchase her
liberty for a moderate sum, or might find
a briciegi'oom to redeem her. An Israelite
was not permitted to sell slaves of his own
nation, who were yet virgins, to foreigners*
ICven those concubines who were either
taken in war, or purchased of heathen
slave-merchants, he was obliged to set at
liberty, without ransom, when he began
to be weary of them*. Among the othcjr
eastern nations, the servitude of purchased
slaves continues for life. When neglected
by their master, they cannot insist on his.
sellinor them for an inconsidei-able sum*
!None can dictate to what new master, and
to what nation he shall or shall not dis-
pose of her; neither can any of them ob-
tain her liberty when her lord is weary of
her. On the contrary, a master may give
away or sell even those which have borne
him children to whomsoever he pleases*
Slaves of this dejicription, however, often
regain their freedom after the death of
their lords; at least in Morocco, female
negroes w^ho have had children by their
masters, cannot be sold, during the life-
time of the latter, and are set at liberty
after their decease-^. If such a law were

♦ Michaelis Mos, Recht, IL p. Il6, 122.
t Host, p, 104.

THE FEMALE SEX. J 15

introduced into all the harems of the
monarchs and great men of the East, neither
so many unborn infants would be de-
stroyed, nor so many deeds of darkness
perpetrated, as even still disgrace the
seraglios of the Orientals.

As invariably as polygamy and concu-
binage have been perpetuated in the re-
gions of the East, so invariably have the
notions of the Israelites, and other ancient
Oriental nations, with respect to fecundity
and barrenness, been retained to the pre-
sent day. By the modern eastern females,
as by the Israelites of old, fecundity is
considered as the greatest blessing of
Heaven, and barrenness as the greatest
misfortune that can befal a woman. When,
therefore, Turkish ladies of distinction,
and other women of the East, find them-
selves doomed to sterility, they purchase
for their husbands, as in ancient times,
concubines or slaves, w^hose children are
regarded as their own*. These notions
concerning fruitfulness and sterility, are
too general and invariable to have been
diffused by legislators and the found-
ers of religions alone.

♦ Maillely IL p. 87. Michaelis Mos. Recht, lU
jp. 124, 129.

116 HISTORY OP

» A striking difference prevails with re-
spect to the legitimate wives of the eastern
monarchs of ancient ami modem times.
The ancient sovereigns of Numidia, Egypt,
Judea, Assyria, Persia, and Parthia, had
not only several queens, or lawful wives,
but often kept a much greater number
than Moses permitted in the remote ages,
and Mahomet in more modern times*.
The queens of Persia were crowned with
a royal diadem, invested with a robe of
purple, the insignia of royal rank, and ap-
peared seated at the right hand of the
monarch, in the presence of all the people*^.
The king settled on these legitimate con-
sorts, the revenues of whole cities to de-
fray the expences of their dress and house-
hold, and the sons of these wives only
could, by right, succeed to the throne:}; •
At the present day, the emperors of Mo-
rocco have four legitimate wives, the chitf
of whom bears the title of Scherifa^.
The same number is kept by the kings of
Java, and other sovereigns in the south
and south-east of Asia, who profess the
Mahometan religion||. The present rulers

* Mickaclis Mos. Recht, Lp. 277-

f Jhiss. de regno Persaium, Lib, I. §. 107> &c.

J llnd. §. 105.

§ Host, p. 175. .

I Falentyn, V. 59.

THE FEMALE SEX. 117

of the Turks and Persians, form a contrast
with these ancient and modern examples
of eastern kings. It is a fundamental law
of the Turkish empire*, that the Sultan
shall not take any legitimate wife, and the
Janissaries assigned as a reason for their
discontent with the emperor Osman, whom
they put to death, that he had taken a
wife contrary to the laws of the Musul-
mans. The cause of the law prohibiting
the Sultan to marry, is said by the Turks
to be this, that Bajazet was. more deeply
afTected by the indignities to which he
saw his beloved wife Despine subjected by
his enemy, than by all those that he him-
self endured in his captivity. Ever since
that period, say the Turks, a law has
been in force forbidding the Sultan to
marry, to prevent the i-ecurrence of a
similar disaster. Ricaut himself acknow-
ledges that this method of accounting for
the Turkish custom is by no means satis-
factory. The observations subjoined, by
the same writer, afibrd a much more plau-
sible reason. In the first place, the Sul-
tan is allowed concubines without number,
but not a wife, in order to obviate the
prodigious expence which the establish-

• Eicaui, p. 464, 4(K3,

US HISTORY OF

ments of four legitimate Sultanas would
require. One wife of the Turkish em-
peror could not be supported with less than
the Valide, or mother of the Sultan, whose
revenues amount to at least one hundred
thousand pounds. A still stronger reason
why this law has been imposed upon the
Turkish emperors, or rather why they
have imposed it on themselves is, that
they may not form a permanent con-
nexion with any family in the realm, which
might afford occasion for civil dissensions,
jealousy, and envy. Similar reasons have
probably induced the Persian sovereigns
to content themselves with concubines,
and not to exalt any of them to the rank
of queen*. Hence no distinction between
legitimate or illegitimate sons and daugh-
ters is made, either in the harem of the
king of Persia, or in the seraglio of Con-
stantinople. All the children are equally
legitimate, and the first-born son of the
king succeeds to the throne, even though
his mother were a negress-}-. Among the
Turks, the children of concubines are en-
titled to equal rights with those of lawful
wives, if the father has given them their

♦ Char din. III. p. 3pi.
t It'id. III. p. 408, 409,

THE FEMALE 8E^. 119

liberty either during his hfe-time, or by
his last will. When this is not done, the
children of concubines continue in servi-
tude, and become the slaves of the eldest
son, or of the legitimate wife*.

According to European notions, there can
scarcely exist a more cruel and disgraceful
captivity than that of the wives and con-
cubines of the kings and grandees of the
East, on their entrance into the harems
of their husbands and masters. A more
dreary abode can indeed scarcely be con-
ceived than that, in which a human being
is continually surrounded by incessant
dangers and malicious enemies ; in which
the most violent passions and appetites
are excited to phrenzy, without ever being
gratified ; in which the blackest ideas and
resolutions are awakened, projected, and
cherished in the soul. The inhabitants of
the harems of the monarchs and grandees
have not only to endure the coldness, the
neglect, the cruelty, or the disgusting, and
often unnatural caresses of husbands and
masters, whom they detest; but they are
exposed to the most humiliating indigni-
ties from eunuchs, to the arrogance of the
jiiothers of their lords, and to the artifices
I

* Rlcaut, p. 4G0.

1(20 History or

of their rivals^ By the inactivity and in-
dolent repose in which they live, and hv
the rich food and deHcacies with which
they are provided, their appetites are in-
flamed to the higliest ])itch of fury; and as
in very few these appetites are gratified in
a natural way, hence originate odious pro-
pensities and horrible vices, which, in
Europe are known only to the most de-
praved wretches in the most corrupt capi-
tals. These unsatisfied, or unnatural pro-
pensities are, however, the least painful of
those internal tormentors by which these
wretched females are incessantly perse-
cuted. Envy and jealousy of more fortu-
nate rivals, with projects of revenge to
destroy these rivals and their hoj^es, are
almost always preying upon the already
wounded and tortured hearts of the females
of the East.

All the travellers in the Oriental re-
gions are, therefore, unanimous in assert-
ing*, what we should easily believe with-
out their assurance, that were it not for
the arbitrary authority of the husband and
his deputies, it would be impossible to
curb the appetites, passions, and criminal
designs of so many women as the harenui

* See Dow, Vol. III. Dissert, p. 14.

THE l^fiMALE SE^C. ICI

of t\^e great contnin. The hands of the
husband, and of his eanuchs, are hke the
hands of tiie eastern despots, and their
viziers, pachas, and agap, incessantly armed
witli the sabre and the scourge, in order
to chastise and exterminate every disobe^
dient or guilty slave from the face of the
earth. Those instruments of terror, the
brandished sword and the uplifted scour^^e,
are so much the more necessary, the more
numerous are the troo})s, nay, we might
even say armies of females confined in the
harems of the kinf^s. Tliree or four hun-
ilred wives! and concubines was the small-
est number kept by the ancient Persian
monarchs, and by the sovereign of tlie
same country in Chardin's time*. Large
as this quantity of women may be con-
sidered, it dwindles almost to nothing in
comparison of the prodigious numbers col-
lected bv other Asiatic and Afi'ican mo-
narchs. We sliould scarcely be able to
give credit to the report that Bensar, em-
peror of Morocco, had eight thousand wives
and concubines-|^, did we not know that
there are negro-kings who have seraglios
of five thousand, and that the harem and

* Bliss, as above,
. t Host, p. 49.

VOLK M

1C2 s. HISTORY OF

attendants of the emperor and kings of
Java comprize no less than ten thousand
females*. When we are told that all
these wretches are doomed to a life of
misery for the sake of one single, worthless
despot, what bosom is not filled with in-
dignation at the unrelenting obduracy of
the monsters that can walk without emo-
tion amonjj these hosts of martyrs ; and
who is not struck with horror at the j)ri-
vation of innocent pleasures, the su])j)res-
sion of natural propensities, and the ex-
plosions of unnatural appetites, ])assions,
and vices, which cannot fail to be occa-
sioned by the forcible seclusion of such vast
numbers of females, reduced to the brink
of despair !

As little as the inhabitants of the most
dreary dungeons and prisons can be kept
in order by kind treatment, so little have
the Orientals found themselves able to
govern their harems with love. All the
legislators of the East have, therefore, de-
clared with Moses, that man is the lord of
woman, an expression which never has
been, and never can be understood in
Europe in that sense, in which it is taken
to the present day in the Oriental regions.

• Smith, J), 200, 201^ Valcntyn, F.p. 5g.

THE FEMALE SEX. 123

Unless the royal descent of females, or the
voluntary renunciation of rights in the
marriage-contract make an exception, the
husband in the East is So absolutely the
lord over his wife, that he can scourge her
like a slave, shut Her up like a criminal in
a dungeon,' or put her to death, without
fear of being cited before any tribunal'^.
The friends and relatives of a woman who
is ill-treated by her husband may remon-
strate with him, but cannot prefer any
legal complaint concerning his conduct*!-.
Every wife, on the contrary, is commanded
by the sacred books, and the priests of the
Hindoos^, to think above all things on
her husband, and to let her whole atten-
tion be incessantly engaged with him. If
the wife, say they, be so occupied with
the idea of her husband that her thoughts
are wholly diverted from the Deity, this
cannot be imputed to her as a sin, because
the husband thinks in her atead of the
gods, and her duties to them. Nay, even
if the husband commands his wife to
commit a crime, she is bound to obey
him, since obedience is a good work, and
the misdeed is not imputed to the wife,

* Itogcr, L ch. 14. DcWf as above.

t Ibid.

X [hid, {. ch. 19.

U 2

124 HISTORY OF

but to the husband, who is in reality the
author of it.

As various writers, and among the rest
a fair and accomplished Enj>lish lady,]VIary
Wort ley Montagu, have endeavoured to
persuade the Europeans that women no
where enjoy liberty except in Turkey aniJL
the East, because they are there allowed
to |}ay visits veiled, and to receive visitors
in disguise, whenever they please ; 1 shall
subjoin a brief description of the condition
of women and virgins in tlie harems of
the Persian and Turkish monarchs and
grandees. The testimony of history alone
must be sufficient tp convince every reader
that the state of women in the East, in-
stead of being an object of envy, is in the
highest degree deplorable. For the harems
of the kings of Persia, (I speak as though
tilings were still the same now as in
Chardin's time), the most beautiful vir-
gins are not only purchased in Georgia
and Circassia, but sought up in the whole
kip.<idom of Persia*. When it is known
that a female of extraordmary beauty is
living in this place, or in that family, the
royal attendants demand her without cere-
mony for the harem of the sovereign ; the

• Chjurdln, III. p. 385, &c.

THE FKMALE SEX, 1G5

parents cheerfully suprencler their children,
or rather seek by every possible method
to introduce them into his seraglio, be-
cause they then receive a pension, which
is augmented with the good fortune of
their daughters, and have moreover reason
to expect farther proofs of the bounty of
the kinsr. From the moment the new
comers enter the harem, they never be-
hold the face of a man, except that of
their master; for all the mechanics, all the
attendants, the very guards, nay even the
persons who there perform the duties of
religion, are females. White eunuchs are
not permitted to approach the harem, lest
their appearance should remind the se-
cluded females that there exist other men
like their monarch. Only the most hide-

ttF

ous and aged negroes from Africa, or the
coast of Malabar, who have been totally
deprived of every sign and vestige of
manhood, are allowed to enter tlie harem ;
one of these is the governor of the women,
and before him the favourites of the sove-
reisrn themselves tremble, for he has the
power to scourge and put to death whom-
soever he pleases. Each inhabitant of the
harem has a separate apartment, or two at
most live together in the same chamber,
one young, and the other old. None of

M 3

ICG HISTORY OF

tiiem dares visit her next neighbour, or
most intimate friend, without previously
obtaining j>ermission. Each daily re-
ceives her portion of food, and, at stated
periods, the clothes and pension that
are allowed her. . She is attended by
her own particular slaves of both sexes,
tiie males being emasculated, and either
under ten, or above fifty years of age.
Her sole occupations are singing and danc*
ing before the king, and embroidery : but
most of them pass their lives in total indo-
lence, reclining upon soft couches, smoak-
ing tobacco from morning till night, and
causing themselves to be rubbed by their
sitives, which is one of the principle grati-
fications of the Asiatics. Among all the
beauties who gain the favour of the sove-
reign, she alone who is so fortunate as to
bring him the first son, has reason to ex-
vilt in her lot, because she may indulge
tlie ho})e of one day attaining the rank
and consequence of queen-mother; who, in
conjunction with the chief of the eunuchs
possesses the greatest inilcence not only
in, but also out of the harem. She
dispenses the dignities to which the in-
habitants of the seraglio may aspire,
chuses those who are to be married, and
not only has the lives of the king*s concu*

THE FEMALE SEX. 127

bines at her disposal, but is always closely
connected with his ministers, who in
general obey her will as implicitly as they
follow the commands of the monarch. All
the other concubines who have children
after the birth of the first-born son, are
shut up in detached parts of the harem,
where they are guarded much more strictly
than the rest, and live in continual danger
of being put to death by the reigning
monarch himself, or by his successor.
None of the women who have children
living, or have borne children, or only been
])regnant, may ever indulge the hope of
quitting the royal harem, and being mar-
ried to the principal officers of state, which
is the most ardent wish of them all. After
the death of the king, whose concubines
they were, these wretched creatures are
shut up in a distant quarter, where they
are cut off for ever, not only from the
world, but from the rest of the harem.

In order to avoid these dangers, and this
ho]>eless captivity, all the fair inhabitants
of the harem shun as much as possible the
embraces of the sovereign, or at least seek
to prevent pregnancy and child-birth by
every species of wicked art; and tbis is the
cause of the frequent abortions in the
harems of the kings. The most beautiful
females employ every kind of pretext^ but

128 HISTORY OF

most frequently tha^ of their monthly in-
disposition, in order to disappoint the ap-
petite of the king; but these artifices, if
discovered, draw down upon them the
most cruel punishments. Abbas the Se-
cond^ of Persia, caused a female, who had
thus eluded his embraces to be bound fast
in a chimney, and to be slowly consumed
by a fire kindled underneath her. Though
the women of the harem consider their
abode as a prison, and the love of the
king as their greatest misfortune, they
nevertheless envy and persecute each other
in the bitterest manner, whether thev have
or have not any hop^ of leaving the harem.
The causes of this hostile disposition are
various ; greater or more frequent favours,
and particularly richer presents received
by others from the king ; the ambitious
desire of higher honours ; the general wish
to quit the seraglio, and be married before
the rest ; and consuming jealousy, in the
strictest signification of the word ; for the
females of the East court the favours of
beautiful women more than those of men,
and love persons of their own sex more
passionately than they love their husbands
and masters. These unnatural propensi-
ties excite in them a hatred against men,
as unnatural appetites in men produce an
indifterence toward women. AH the in-

THE FEMALE SEX. 1Q.Q

liabitants of the harem are therefore at
continual warfare, and each seeks every
o{)portunity of destroying her adversaries
by poison, or by cahimnies scarcely less
fatal. The frequent accusations and mur-
ders are the subject of incessant investiga-
tion, and are followed by death, whipping,
and other disgraceful punishments. Some
are confined in the remotest parts of the
harem, and doomed to the lowest drudgery;
others are beaten with rods, or sticks, and
others are strangled, burned, or buried alive.
Yet with all these cruel punishments the
monarch is not able to prevent sometimes a
favourite female, and still more frequently
his children, from being destroyed by
poison, or in other ways. The queen-
mother from time to time causes some of
her son's children to be disj>atched when-
ever they begin to be troublesome from
their numbers. The monarchs are ap-
prized of these proceedings, without put-
ting a stop to them, and were they even
disposed to check these atrocities, how
could they discover all the ways of wicked-
ness in the mazy labyrinths of their im-
mense harem ? It is, however, but very
rarclv that the harems of the Orientals
contain mapy children ; for, if the men
were not to exhaust themselves so early as
they actually do, if they did not so often

l.:0 HISTORY or

throw themselves into the arms of common
women, or sive way to unnatural propen-
sities, in which, as we are informed, the
possessors of the greatest number of the
most beautiful women universally indulge;
yet, the oppression and enmity of these
secluded females would furnish a satisfac-
tory answer to the question, why the Ori-
entals upon an average rear fewer children*
than the Europeans, who content them-
selves with one wife, ^\'omen destroy tlie
fruit of their womb before it is known that
they have conceived. If, however, they
produce a family, secret poison, or the
command of an iron-hearted grandmother
very often snatch from them the children
they have unfortunately brought into the
world.

The seraglio of Constantinople is upon
the same system as that of Ispahan-f*.
llicaut was informed, that when the em-
})ei*or entered his harem all its fair inha-
bitants were placed in a row, that he
might select one to be his companion the
succeeding night, to whom he signified his
choice bv throwins: his handkerchief.
3 J ore recent accounts, however, contradict

• (Viordh), 11 f. p. .?(;!. Itkan^, a^ above,
t liUdut, as above, and //, p.2\^

THE FEMALE SEX. 131

this ancient and generally received report.
The Sultan is more conHned hy the laws
of custom, which prevail in his seraglio,
than any of his subjects. He is not at
liberty to change his bed-fellow except on
high festivals*. Chardin likewise assures
us, that the kings of Persia are generally
tied for a considerable time to one female.
Thus Nature frequently drives back, even
against their will, into her circle, or into
her paths, those rebellious children, whose
sole study it is to violate her laws.

In the harems of the great there are not,
it is true, so many eunuchs, or so many
wives and concubines as in those of the
monarch, but in this consists the only
ditierence. The eunuchs of the great per-
form the same office, and possess the same
authority, and their women are subject to
the same passions, vices, and fortunes as
in the harems of kings. The women of
the great, like those of the king, are not
permitted to quit their habitation, nor
are they allowed to receive visits from
their female relatives and friends, except
at particular times, on occasion of a wed-
ding, lying-in, or great festivals. The?e
visits connnonly last a week, or longer.

♦ Businclio, p. 69. JIalcsci, p. 168.

i:'2 HISTORT OF

'Jlie vUitors do not come privattrly, vnai*
tended, or with a small retinue, but gene-
ra!!v brlnj' v.ith them a*! their valuables,
t'jeir apparel, and female ?iavcrs, besides
which tiievare accomiwinied bva number of
eunuchs, to whose care thev are committed
bv their husband-.*. It must be obvious
to e\'ery one, that it is scarcely possible for
the inhabitants of jireat harems to give or
receive visits of which their husbands or
masters have any reason to be jealous.-l*

It may be justly asserted of all the (Ori-
ental nations, that they are jealous in a
much higher degree than the Europeans,
and that they shut up their women, and
watch them with greater j}recaution than
the latter. Among these nations there is,
n(Aerthe!css, a great diflerence in the de-
Yxcxi of jealousy and rigour with which
they conHne their females. The modem
Persians, like their forefathers in the re-
motest antiquity, arc the most jealous of
all; and those j:eaflers who are not yet ac-
quainted with Chardin's work, would con-
sider tfie instances of Persian jealousy, re-
corded by that writer, as fables, or as the

♦ VhanViriy III. p. 3f)2.

t Ihhs. JI.§. 261. Plft/anh, I. p. 4f^g, F. p. 4^)7,
Jlilii. Iliiskn. {.)\\ the jcalouiy ol" Uie Parlhians, sec
Jn»lin,p. 41, ch. 3.

THE FEMALE 5 ex. l^.!-

follies of the inhabitants of ar.oil.er vvr: 2.
The Persians, says he.* r:-r..r*.l it i- ?. tvr.-t
of their relif^ioii, and a j> c-':.;t «-f t. ::r
prophet, that a man o"^!.t *•* ^ -■. !..«
faith and his wives with eyi::! v v:'. : -.
and that it is thertfore cri::.v ' :.. n
merely to look at the ]:'i' itL:: . : :. -
neighbours wives. If ?.:.-.' ri,- :. - !-
ously surveys cr aprro;-.:.!:^: 1..t ;. :■ .^ r
apartments in wlii-h v.;:::.:: -■-"■-. :;.^
owners or Wtitch-K?^n i"i:. .- 'L:-r' . • ■.-■
him to be jr-'nc* : t;::s i. -.r..:: :. > '• -
stantly con:]vl:c I v. ith. c::.-: ' - ::.:-
offender woulJ receive a ^.v.tt : .t. i -
ment for his teivitritv. '.vi:l.,_.: . . • :• _ r
to obtain the Ied=t e-?ct:fLc::' i:. ( ::. ::. :-
ino; women in a in'jrrirv ■': \'..-. •. _•.
roads, passenj^r^ r^re o. /i' : : I ,. ; :- . . '
backs on them, even tL'-.:::; l:..;. . : ^. r
so securely inclo.-ji iu lit:,rr '• v. r
vehicles. The jti- jusv of t:.^r V-zz..,.- .-.
carried to such a » j i t r:Ii 1 1 i .1 . i n t ;. ^ : . . * : -^ : ; :. t
of women, they ere." te:.*^ o. -r t:.-r r
graves, that no per-^n rr.LV =':■: '.}.'.:: iv-- !-
mate remains, ihev i:, :.l i:-t. t,.'-?- -. •.
of their female:, from th^irec.:.: -t \'r.'.:.' -.
this maxim, tliiit honour c.iA vin.-r '>-.-
sist not only in avoidiis^ ti.-: i/J';tv ^.f

VOL. I. N

^

1:34 m STORY OF

strangers of the other sex, but also in hot
suffering themselves to be seen by men.
Tliey even imagine that the faithful in
Paradise will have eyes in the crown of
the head, to jjrevent tlieir seeing the
houris, or celestial females who belong to
others. All the Mahometans, and the
Persians in particular, rigidly adhere to a
tule which prevailed among the Israelites
in the remotest ages : that a female should
not see any persons of the other sex, except
such as she is legally prevented from mar-
rying. A married womjm, who is not of
the lowest class, is not permitted during
her whole life to see her nephews, or her
husband's brothers, any more than strang-
ers ; her acquaintance with the other sex
being confined to her husband and her
sons. Thus, among the higher classes,
brothers are denied access to their mar-
ried sisters ; the latter are very rarely per-
mitted to pay visits, and that only in the
night. On these occasions, a number of
horsemen always ride before and l>ehind
the vehicle, crying with all their might
hurucky kuruch^ which is equivalent to a
warning to abstain from something pro-
hibited. On hearing this terrific cry,
every one runs away with as much pre-
cipitation as though it were a wild beast

t

THE FEMAI.E SEX. 135

Avhich he was anxious to avoid. If any'
person happens not to hear, or neglects to
attend to the warning voice of the first
troop of horsemen, the eunuchs who ride
between them and the Utters containing;
the women, and are provided with long
staves, fall upon him and beat him most
unmercifully*.

But nothing excites greater terror in
Persia than this exclamation before the
women of the king, for in this case, every
unfortunate wretch found within the for-
bidden circuit pays the forfeit of his life.
This circuit extends as for as the camels
which carry the women can be discerned.
When the royal harem passes through a
tov» n, all the male inhabitants who reside
in the streets through which the caval-
cade passes, are obliged to quit their
houses, and all the avenues leading to them
are closed up with curtains. When Char-
din was in Persia, the harem paid frequent
visits to the countrv during^ the two first
years of the reign of the young monarch,
and the train on these occasions invari-
ably traversed the suburbs of Ispahan.
The king's concubines sometimes took
it into their heads to leave the seraglio in

♦ Chardiu, III. p. 3^2, ^c.
N 2

13G iiisTORYor

the night, and then all those who resided
in the vicinity of their route were obliged
to leave their beds, and fly with the ut-
most ])n:cipitation, whether sick or in
Iiealtli, old or young, let the weather andf "
the roads be ever so bad. When the
hareni is travelling through the country,
the attendants are employed for half a
day before in driving all the men out of
the villages on the way, and even out of
such as are three or four miles-distant fron*
the road along which the women are to?
pass. A whole regiment of horse-guards
is employed to perform thi« duty. The
first notice of flight is not considered suf-
ficient for the perfect security of the king's
women ; for the same regiment, which-
cleared the way half a day l^lbre the de-
parture of the harem, again scours the
road two hours before it sets oiF, and by
incessant disdiargescf musketry announces,
tliat the cavalcade may soon be expected.
Kven this second warning is not enough ;
an hour before the harem breaks up, the
white eunuchs sally forth to see whether
the road is clear and safe. When they
meet with any person, they dispatch him
without mercy, let him be ever so old,
infirm, and imbecile, both in body and
mind. Chardin records several examples

THE FEMALE SEX. 137

of old men, who on account of their great
age conceived themselves entitled to the
rights of eunuchs, and approached the per-
son of the monarch to deliver petitions,
or travellers who were ignorant of the
passing of the harem, or servants of the
king who had fallen asleep from fatigue
being either punished by the hand of the
despot himself, or by his attendants, as
traitors to the sovereign. In Chardin's
time^ women were even forbidden to ap-
pear in the way of the king, or of iiie
royal harem, because the Armenian females
had formerly approached the monarch
under various pretexts, that they might be
tseen by him, and because Abbas the {Se-
cond had caused a beatiful Armenian wo-
man to be taken from her husband. Char-
din observes, that this was the only in-
stance that could be recollected in Persia,
of a king having violated the conjugal
rights, which are held so sacred by the
Mahometans, and appropriated to himself
the wife of another*. The Persians, it is
true, in general admit, that the king has
power to go into the harems of all his
?uhjects, because whatever he touches still
continues pure and immaculate, but the

• CAarc/iw, ///.p.349
N3

ir^S HISTORY OP

captain of the puard of the harem belonging
to the commander in cliief of tlie armies of
Abbas the (ireat, once had the courage
to tell tiie kinj^, who one day after dinner
fiigniHed his intention of reposing in his
^rcwcrdYs harem, that " he would not ad-
mit any beard but his master's into the
seraglio." When the king inquired if he
knew to whom he was speaking, the un-
daunted warrior rephed: "Abbas is cer-
tsiinly the king of men, but not of women.'*
Ibis exj)ression so far from exciting the
chsj>!eaHure of Abbas, procured the man a
han<lsome reward*.

Next to the Persians, the Druses are
t\Kt mo«t jealous people in all Asia-|-. If
a friend or acquaintance were to inquire
of another concerning the health of his
wife or daughter, or if one friend were to
meet another on a journey, and to bring
him a good account of the health of the
feniale branches of his family, this enquiry,
or this intelligence would irritate a Druse
to such a degree, that he would put his
wife and daughter to death,a3 persons who
chsgraced him, and would seize the first
opportunity to dispatch his inquisitive or

• Chardin, TIL p. 383.
t Arvicux, 111, p. 315.

THE FEMALE SEX. ISO

officious acquaintance. Enquiries and ac-
counts which in Europe either pass for
nothing, or at most only bespeak attention
and respect, are certainly fraught with
much more meaning in Asia than in our
division of the globe.

After the Persians come the Arabs,
the Turks, and the Moors, both of Bar-
bary and Hindostan*. Among all these
nations, the women of the great are
as rigidly secluded, and as inaccessible as
in Persia. The wives of opulent and re-
spectable tradesmen, and of the subordi-
nate civil officers, never go to the baths, or
visit the tombs of saints, and the graves of
their deceased relatives on festivals with-
out being attended by one or more eunuchs,
or aged female slaves, who are appointed
their governantes, and receive from them
the appellation of mother. Even the
wi ves of the com mon people, never go abroad
otherwise than veiled, and in some coun-
tries only in the night. The veil in
which the eastern females are enveloped,
covers every part of the body except the
eyes and the tip of the nose. This cau-

* Arvieux, as abeve. Ricaut, as above. liussel,
p. 113, 114. MaUlei, 11. p, 115, &c. Host, p, 103.
Qrosc, J. p. 193.

140 HISTORY OF

tious method of disguising and watcliin^
females, renders intrigues, particularly on
the part of the men, much more diiKcult
and rare than in the countries of the West,
but, at the same time it makes the women,
much more artful and enterprizing. In
the East, the women are almost without
exception the seducers. As none, or very
few of them can write, they have invented
a kind of allegorical language, by means
of which they communicate their wishes
and resolutions to their lovers. They
either form a particular sort of garland of
flowers, or fold up bread, straw, salt, wood,
and other trifles in a handkerchief, which
they send by a trusty slave to some place
where they know they will be safe. Every
flower, and each of the different articles
enveloped in the handkerchief has a par-
ticular signification, and in this manner
they acquaint their lovers with the time
and place in which they intend to meet
them. The women of the middling class
have various opportunities of seeing their
lovers; they either obtain admission for
them in female attire as friends, or as the
wives of tradesmen, or during their visit
to the graves, they secretly elude, for a
short time, the observation of their guar-
dians^ who are not always incorruptible.

^ THE FEMALE SEX. 141

or they change clothes at the baths, and
thus go in disguise to the place of assig-
nation. It frequently happens that a com-
pany of dissolute women attack strangers
whom they may chance to meet in soli-
tary or retired situations, and compel them
by force to gratify their desires.

Though the Abyssinians are descen-
dants of the Arabs, they are not so highly
addicted to jealousy as the nations pro-
perly denominated Orientals, and they
are consequently much less rigid in the
seclusion of their women. The waives of
persons of distinction go abroad when they
please, and even pay visits to persons of
the other sex without exciting suspicion.
The wives and daughters of the lower
classes sleep indiscriminately in the same
chamber wifch thehusbands and young men,
as is customary among the Slavon nations
in Europe*. This want of jealousy among
the Abyssinians proceeded either from
their mixture with some of the negro
nations of Africa, who are distitute of that
quality, or at least from their proximity to
such nations, and the mutual intercourse
which has for ages subsisted' between
them.

• Bcniier, I. p^ IQ ,

142 HISTORY OF

Aft travellers have also remarked that
the superior casts of the Pagan Hindoos
are not accustomed to shut up their wo-
men so cautiously as the Moors of Hin*
dostan, and the other Mahometan nations
of the East*. Neither are the Hin-
doo women so closely veiled as the other
eastern females ; for many Indian women
go, like the South Sea islanders, with their
bosoms and the upper part of the body
entirely naked — a practice which soon be^
comes as familiar to the Europeans as the
uncovered faces and hands of our females-l-.
In many places we even find a community
of wives, and in still more, virginity is
presented as an acceptable offering to the
deities of the country and their priests.
We should, however, be egregiously mis-
taken, were we to conclude from these cir-
cumstances, that the Hindoos of the higher
casts place equal confidence in the sex
with the Europeans. The Hindoos have
two other species of adultery besides the
crime to which we apply that term J.
The laws of these people declare it aduU
tery of a less criminal kind if a man speaks
to, nods, or smiles at a married woman ;

* Chardin and Grose, as above.

f Anf/uelil I'vij. p. 3,')7..

X Genloo Laws, ch. 19, p. 237. 238,

tlCfi FEMALE SEX. ' 1^3

if he enters into conversation with a fe-
male of that description either in the
morning, in the evening, at night, or any
other unseasonable time, or if he remains
with any woman, except his wife, in a
garden or any retired place. A second
and more culpable species of adultery con-
sists in sending a married women either
delicacies or trinkets, or fine clothes.
Upon the whole, however, the Hindoos
are less severe in the punishment of adul-
tery, than of the illicit commerce of men
of low condition with females belonging
to the superior casts ; for the men of the
higher casts are allowed with impunity to
connect themselves with women of the
lower classes, who esteem it an honour
when their superiors condescend to shew
them this attention.

The women of the Hindoos are, it is
true, more at liberty to leave their apart-
ments and habitations than the other fe-
males of the East, but they regard it as
an affront if any one stops to look at them.
On such occasions tliey commonly turn
flwav with these words ; ^^ look, and die.'*
If a woman converses with a person of the
other sex, her nearest relatives excepted,
she forfeits her honour, and often her
Tank or cast. The Bramins, when they

14^ HISTORY OF

are told of the promiscuous intercourse ol
the sexes in Europe, significantly shake
tlieir hands, and reply with an Indian
proverb, wliich may probably be verified
in Asia, and is to this effect : " If you set
butter in the sun, you must expect it to
melt."*

In Ceylon, women are permitted with
impunity to converse in public with any
persons of the other sex tliey j)lease-|-. In
the Maldives, on the conti-ary, the arrival
of Arab missionaries, and the introduction
of the Mahometan religion, appear to have
produced a great alteration in the original
disposition of the inhabitants, and in the
condition of tlie female sex. The women
in the Maldivia islands scarcely ever go
abroad by day, but only at night. When
they pay visits, they are always attended
by a hlave, who precedes them, and calls
to every one who approaches, to keep ofl^.
On this notice, men immediately turn out
of the way ; and even when women meet
persons of their own sex, they never salute
each other, unless they are intimately ac-
quainted. In the Maldives, it is true,
you may pass through the gate into the

* CfrosCy I. p. 240.
f Knox,p, 0'3.

THE>EMALE SEX. 145

irintET court of the house, which, among the '
Moors, the Arabs, the Turks, and the Per-
sians would be a mortal affront ; you must'
not, however, raise the curtains hung up
before the avenues to the apartments, but
call out one of the inhabitants of the place
by coughing, or some other expedient*.
The king's wives very rarely quit the harem,
and their apartments have no windows,
being lighted solely by lamps, which burn
day and night. These apartments are di-
vided into several closets, by tapestry, four
ot five pieces of which descend from the
ceiling. The wives of the sovereign usu-
ally reside behind the last of these cur-
tains, which no mortal dares presume to
draw, not even their most trusty slaves,
unless they are called.

Pallas has observed^f-^that all the Tartar'
tribes eastward of thfe Caspian Sea, and in
Siberia, are miich more jealous, and shut'
up or watch their wives with much greater
precaution than the nations of Mongol '
origin . Among^ thie inhabitants of Mount '
Caucasus, nianyj on the contrary, enter-
tain sentiments very different from those'
of all the Orientals; 'for notwithistanding^'

t Beschreibung der MongoU*VttkiriCh,'Lp^*\0^^
VOL. I. O

146 HISTORY OF

their polygamy, they neither shut up nor
watch their wives and daughters, nor do
they resent, after the eastern fashion, any .
violation of their chastity or conjugal ti-
dehty. The MingreHans and Circassians
have a greater regard for their wives in
proportion to the number of their lovers.
The men and women eat together in com-
pany with the whole family, and females
listen to, and bear a part, in the presence
of their husbands and fathers^ in conversa-
tions so licentious that Chardin durst not
venture to repeat them*. If a Mingrelian •
surprizes his wife in adultery, he receives
a hog from her paramour, with whom, and .
the guilty woman, he cheerfully regales
on the animal. The unrestrained liberty
which the females of Caucasus enjoy from
their earliest infancy, is the cause that^
besides other arts of intrigue, they are in-
structed in writing and arithmetic, of
which not only the nobles, but even the
clergy, not excepting the bishops them-
selves, are in general ignorant-|-. In other
respects, the MingreHans and their neigh-
bours resemble the negroes and Ameri-
cans. When the first wife has lost the

♦ Tavernier, I. p. 147. Chardin, L p, 63, BzQ,
f LamUrti, p. 870^.

' THE FEMALE SEX. 14?

greatest portion of her charms, they take
• a second, or a third, on which the former
becomes the slaves of the latter*.

Notwithstanding the females of the East
are in general the more closely confined,
and the more wretched in proportion to
their own rank and that of their husbands,
yet the daughters of the sovereign, both in
Persia and Turkey, enjoy extraordinary
prerogatives, similar to those of the daugh-
ters of kings in Africa and America'^.
Females of the blood royal, on their mar-
riage, expect their husbands to take no
other wife, nor even to keep a concubine.
Not many years since, a grand vizir was
obliged to put away his wife, to whom he
was exceedingly attached, because an an-
tiquated Sultana had become enamoured
of his person, and had demanded him of
her brother for a husband;}:. The hus-
band must observe the same abstinence
from other women, even if the bride that
is offered him be but a child, or very old,
or hundreds of miles off^. Sultanas of
four or five years are often united to rich
pachas, who are obliged to keep for their

* Lnmheiti, p. 267.

f Ricaut, J. cap. 9. Chardin, I, p. 233.

J Tott, L p. 207.

I Hicaul, as above. Niehuhr, II, p, 409«

O 2

148 HISTORY OF

infant brides a court or state suitable to
their birth, which is attended with pro-
ditjions expence. Sultan Ibrahim, in the
seventeenth century married three of his
<laughtors in so tender an age, that' one of
then) was four times a widow before she
had attiiined the years of puberty. Even
when she was given for the fifth time to a
rich pacha of eighty, she was still too
young to be able to make a man happy.
'Jliese princesses think it beneath their
dignity to accompany their consorts to the
distant provinces of which they .are geno-
rally appointed viceroys. The Suttanas
remain ni the capital, and jsquander the
treasures wrung by their absent husbancU
from the wretches subjected to their
tyranny.

Excej)ting the authority exercised by
the daughters of kings over their husbands,
and which they are said themselves to
denote, by carrying a poniard about their
])ersons, there is not one among all the
modern Oriental nations of which it may
be said, that the men have resigned the
sceptre into the hands of the other sex.
Cireek writers have ascribed to the w^omen
of various eastern nations of antiquity,
prerogatives which we should seek in vain
among the modern inhabitants of the same

THE FEMALE SEX. 149

regions. We are told, that among the
Lycians and various negro nations of
Africa, nobility descended from the female,
so that the children of noble Lycian wo-
men were also noble, even though they
were begotten by a slave*. Still more
extraordinary, however, or rather wholly
unexampled was the authority of the Egyp-
tian women, if they possessed the privi-
leges recorded by Diodorus^. The Egyp-
tians, says that writer, venerated Isis as
their greatest deity and benefactress, more
highly than any other gods, and even than
her husband Osiris, and thence originated
the custom that queens were treated with
tnore profound respect, and enjoyed greater
prerogatives than kings ; and that men, in
their marriage contracts, were obliged to
promise their future wives implicit obe-
dience in every point. Respecting this
authority of queens over kings, and the
obedience promised by husbands to their
wives in the marriage-contract, all other
writers, however, are totally silent. He-
rodotus ;{: and others^, merely relate, that
the Egyptian women, contrary to the cus-

• Herodot, l.p, 173.

+ Diodor. /. p. 3 1 , el Hi Wcssel,

X Herodot, IL p. 3h.

$ Wesseli ad Diod. as above, ^

03

150 HISTORY OP

torn of all the other nations in western
Asia, and the north-west of Africa, were
engaged in masculine occupations and
handicraft businesses, while the men re-
mained at home emjjfloyed in weaving,
and attending to tlie domestic concerns.
7'his is still the case in most of the regiona
of the south of Asia ; so that tliis coinci->
dence between the occupations of the wo-
men of ancient Egypt, and those of the
greatest portion of southern Asia*, proves,
independently of other reasons, that the
Egyptians were neither descended Entirely
from the inhabitants of the western half
of that division of the globe, nor from the
natives of China, where the women are
shut up still more closely than even among
the Oriental nations.

In treating of the condition of the sex
in the East, we must not omit to notice
the dancing-girls, as they are denominated,
who devote themselves to a life of pleasure,
and have but too powerful an influence
over the morals of the Orientals, and the
happiness of families. Among nations
whose kings collect many hundreds of fe-
males in their harems, and whose people
of distinction keep no less than forty or

* Mi'iners Philosophy Schriften^ /. p. S70*

THE FEMALE SEX. ' 151

6fty, where in consequence they are either
rare, or must be purchased at an exorbi^
tant rate — ^among such nations, I say,
public women and temporary connections
with hired females are more indispensable
than in other countries, where unmarried
women are neither scarce nor costly.
Hence the hiring of girls and women for a
time, is permitted in all the regions of the
JEast as a species of marriage, and the
contract is made before the same civil au-
thorities as in real matrimony*. For the
^ame reason the dancing-girls in all the
great states of Africa and Asia, form a
distinct company, class, or sisterhood,
which is under the protection of certain
magistrates, and pays a stipulated tribute
for this protection. In Hindostan, on cer-
taioi festivals they attend upon the em-
peror, like all the other companies and
guilds, and are regarded as the servants
and priestesses of the gods, in whose
temples they reside, by whose ministers
they are instructed in singing, dancing,
and the mysteries of love, before whose
images they are accustomed to dance ; be-
cause the gods are supposed to take as
great delight in the lascivious dances of

* Rkaut, IL ch. 21. Chardin^ i. J).*231.

152 HISTORY OF

public women as the kings and grandees*.
Among all the Oriental nations there is^
indeed, a certain class of females who per-
mit every one indiscriminately to enjoy
their charms, and even in public if it is
desired-|-; but most of the kind sisterhood,
in Asia and Africa, not only fulfil their
calling, by consoling men who have no
wives, but tend also to encourage the ex-
cessive licentiousness of the Orientals, and
hasten the downfal of many families that
are spared by the despot and his rapacious
vicegerents. All travellers assure us, that
the dancing-girls of the East demand ex-
travagant prices for the possession of their
persons, that they not only ruin inadver-
tent youths, but men of the highest dis-
tinction, that they sometimes ensnare even
monarchs, and give sovereigns to powerful
nations ; and finally, that by their volup-
tuous dances and exhibitions they inflame

• On the dancing-girls in Turkey and Egypt, see
della Vallc, /. p. 41 1, 414. Mailie/, J I. p. 75. Hassel-
qu'sl, p. 73. Savarif, 1. p. 149, l^/* Jolney, II. p. 404:
respecting those of Arabia, Arvicux, II L p, ig, 27 ; of
J*er&ia, Chardin, I. p, 224, &:c : of Hindostan» Grose, I,
p. 138, 13C). Bernier, II. p. 60. Sonnnaf, 7. p, 34.
Gailil, I. p. 170, &c. AnqnetUy I. p. 345. Tavernier,
II. p. 40 ; of the south of Asia and China, Marigny^
p. 73. Dii Ila/de, II. p. CO. In China, the dancing*
girls are not permitted to reside in the cities.

t Della rallc, as above.

THE FEMALE 6EX. 1^5

.the passions pfthe Orientals even to frenzy.
A certain number of these females place
thenaselves under tlie direction of an old
governant/5, who provides them with
clothes, board, and lodging, who receives
their earnings, and to whom application
must be made when one or more of them
are wanted merely for dancing and exhi-
bitions, or for other purposes. Each has
a particular price, by which she is called
and known. A tomarty (about two guineas
and a half) is the lowest price of a dancing-
■Ifirl in Persia; but some demand ten,
;t]|venty,.a|id even more. When the charnii
jQ^f th^se females begin to fade, so that
Ahey are not considered worth a toman^
they are dismissed from the society. The
dancing-girls of Persia and Hindostan* ane
clothed in the most superb silks, or gold
and silver ptufFs, and are covered almost
from head to foot with pearls and dia-
monds^ worth, in general, several thou-
sands of pounds. Chardin knew many
sensible men, who were so deeply in love
with some of these dancing-girls, that
they considered it impossible to disengage
themselves from their snares, and allcdged
in excuse of their unhappy propensities,

♦ Chardin and Grose, as above.

154 jriSTHET OF

that they w-ere bevntched by tbeir enamo-

Ffltas. The^e slaves to the tender passion
are knov n bv the marks branded all over
their bf»dieS; but particularly on the arms
and si'Ies. These marks the Persians
make with a reel-hot iron; the more nu-
Hierous. aiid the deeper they are, the
more ardent is the passion thej- bespeak^
and the nioie they hope to convince their
charmers oi the sinceritv of their attach-
ment.

Though the di^nded possession of these
female> is diametrically opposite to the
sentiiTients of the Orientals, yet to men so
addicted to voluptuousness they cannot
fail of being: irresistiblv seductive; because
these dancincr-girls are instructed from
their earliest infancy in all the arts that
tend to inflame the passions, in singing,
playiiisr, dancing, and especially in the
expression ui the tran5jx>rts of love, by
look*!, attitudes, gestures, and the motions
of the body. Tliese supreme delights of
sensual love, constitute the only, or at
least the principal subject of their dances
and exhibitions, in ^hich they often ap-
j>ear entirely naked. All travellers speak
with the highest astonishment, and even
admiration of the majrical effect of the
iJ]>oits of these dancing-girls, and the vio-

THE FEMALE SEX. ]55

lence of the appetites which they thereby
excite. In many of the grandees of Hin-
dostan these desires are so insatiable, that
they sometimes send in one night for four*
or five companies of dancingvgirls, and
i^hen they are ahnost annihilated, throw
themselves into the arms of an Abyssinian
slave*. In Egypt there are certain danc-
ing-girls, who besides making a proficiency
in these seductive arts, strive to acquire
other pleasing accomplishments. These
singers are called Alnie, or the learned,
and these Almes receive no female into
their number but what has an agreeable
voice, possesses some knowledge of rhe-
toric and the rules of poetry, and a
talent for extempore versification. These.
Alm^s know by heart the most beautiful
elegies on the misfortunes of lovers, or the
death of heroes, and by singing these com-
positions they melt even the obdurate
Turks into tears-|-. Seductive as these
dancing-girls have ever been, and still are
to the Orientals, they prove the very re-
verse to Europeans of refined taste and

* Anquetilt as above.

^ Savory t as above. As none but the dancing^girla
and their attendants study dancings music, and theatrical
exhibition, those arts and professions are regarded as dis«
honourable and degrading in tlie East.

156 HISTOHy OF

undepraved sentiments*. Notwithstand-
ing the costliness of their attire, not only
the extravagant ornaments of these danc-
ing-girls, the innumerable rings, ribbons,
and chains, with which their ears, noses,
bosoms, hands, arms, fingers, feet, and toes
are loaded and covered, but likewise the
odious daubing, intended to em beUish their
cheeks, lips, eyes, eye-brows, and even
their hands and nails, are highly disgust-
ing to Europeans. Most of them punc-
tuate the figures of various kinds of flowers
upon their faces, and arms ; and some even
form, by means of a needle and black thready
a circle of that colour round their eyes,
which, they think, adds in an extraordi*
nary degree to their animation and fire.

♦ Grose and Folncy, as above.

THE FEMALE IeK. 157

CHAPTER V.

Of the Condition of the Female Sex among
the Slavon Nations of Europe.

Among the Slavon nations of our division
of the globe, the condition of the sex is
certainly more supportable than among the
Orientals ; but in regard to matrimony,
and their general treatment of women and
children, they afford abundant proofs that
the European Slavons are brethren of the
Eastern nations, though certainly of a
nobler character than the latter. The
European Slavons still keep their wives
and daughters much more secluded than
the nations of Celtic origin, at least such
was their practice within the memory of
man. They purchased, and yet continue
to purchase their brides, and in general
treat their wives as slaves, whom they
think it necessary, for the support of their
dignity, to oppress, or to degrade at least
many steps below themselves.

Among the Russians, the efforts of Peter
the Great, and of the empresses of Ger-

VOL. I. p '

158 lilSTOllt OF

man houses who succeeded him, together
with thedomesticationof great numbers of
foreigners, and the disposition excited in
the people to imitate the Germans and
the French, have produced a great revo-
lution in the primitive manners of the
nation, at least among the superior classes*
Notwithstanding the concurrence of these
different causes, however, the common
Russians are still actuated by the same
narrow, mercantile spirit as formerly in
their conduct towards their daughters, and
the paternal authority is equally un-
bounded*, though sons are no longer com-
pelled by blows to marry, and daughters
are not dragged by their hair to the altar-l".
Even during the past century, the Czars
assumed as much and still more authority
over the children of their subjects than
the parents themselves, and whenever they
thought fit, commanded any of their un-
married courtiers or nobles to wed this or
that female ; an order with which they
innnediately complied, even though they
might previously have passed their word
to another. When Peter the Great, in

* Burihy p. 25. Gecrgi's Bcsckrcih. dcr Nalionc7i
des liussischcn Reichs, p. 4Q3.

t Wibvr's verandertt's Russl<fHd, HI, p, 107, 108.
S«e lUbo Siraunscfi's Iicisen,p. 81,

THE FEMALE SEX. l59

the early years of his reign, had by an
order of this kind prevented the projected
nuptials of two lovers, and had occasioned
an unhappy union between the betrothed
bridegroom and a female whom he did
not know, and could not love, he resolved
to relinquish the pernicious prerogative
exercised by his predecessors, and to in-
terfere no more in matrimonial connex-
ions. In Weber s time, Russian ladies of
rank and their daughters were so rigidly
confined, that they were never permitted
to go abroad except to church, or to visit
their nearest relatives. Hence they en-
vied the condition of the sex in Germany
not a little, when they were informed by
Weber that the women there enjoyed
much greater liberty, and received far
better treatment. Thoufirh this is now
greatly altered, and a stranger no longer
has occasion to dread a box on the ear
if he takes the liberty to kiss the hand
of an unmarried Russian lady*, still the
relations between man and wife among
the common people remain the same, and
vestiges of the former servitude of the
women may yet be found even among the
higher classes. Ladies still appear as

F 3

160 HISTORY OF

though they would kiss the hands of gen-
tlemen of distinction ; but this expression
of Oriental respect is prevented by salut-
ing the fair upon the cheek^. The lower
classes of females are doomed to a life of
incessant labour and hardship ; they are
obliged to put up with the grossest treat-
ment from their husbands, to whose extra-
vagant and violent conduct they are so
accustomed as scarcely to make it a sub-
ject of complaint'}-. These women are
not fond of stripes for their own sake, nor
do they regard them unconditionally as
tokens of the affection of their husbands;
but when a man ceases to beat his wife, it
is a sure sign that he has either given her
up as incorrigible, or that he has wholly
attached himself to other women, and
gives himself no farther concern about his
wife and his domestic affairs ; and in these
respects, observes Weber:};, the wife of a
Russian may certainly affirm, that her hus-
band no longer loves her when he desists
from chastising her, either in his frantic
fits of intoxication, or for vices to which
the Russian women are said to be univer-
sally addicted.

* Coxe, I, p. 370.
•f* Gcorgi, as above.
X Webei,Lp. l^K

THE FEMALE SEX. l6l

Among the Illyrians, as among all the
other Slavon nations, brides are sold to the
highest bidder*. A bargain of this kind
is frequently on foot for months, and even
after it is concluded, if another suitor offers
an additional k^ oi rachy, or brandy, the
girl is his. As the women are sold like
slaves^ so also are they obliged to work like
slaves^ while the men recline at their ease
in their huts. Besides performing all the
drudgery both in and out of the house,
the wives of the lUyrian peasants make all
the stuffs that are required for wearing-ap-
parel and household furniture for the use
of the whole family. Hence you seldom
meet one of them, even abroad, without
her spinning-wheel, which they carry
about with them that they may not be a
moment unemployed. Their skill in the
tanning and preparation of skins and furs,
is truly astonishing. They are likewise
acquainted with the art of dyeing silk,
cotton, woollen and linen stuffs, with colours
equally beautiful and permanent : this
process they keep a profound secret, and
will not communicate even for money.
That the lUyrians should, afte'- the eastern
fashion, keep concubines besides their

• Taule, I. p. (58, //. p, 24t

r»

P o

163 HISTORY OF .

wives*, will appear the less extraordinary
to the reader, since the inhabitants of
ancient Illyricum, the modern Morla-
chiaiis, never sujfTer their wives to speak
to tliem without prefixing the Oriental
formula of — with your permission; and
since even the nobles of Xhilmatia consider
it beneath their dignity to sleep in the
same bed with their wives. When, there-
fore, they retire to rest, their wives are
obliged to take up their night's lodging on
the bare floor, at the foot of the bed-f*.

Among tlie Croats and WallachiansJ,
the men are as indolent and supine as the
Russians, the Illyrians, and the Morla-
chians, and their women, like the females
of those nations, are obliged to perform
all the drudgery for them. The Walla-
chians and Moldavians have retained to the
^present day the greatest resemblance to
the Orientals in their conduct towards the
sex. Most of their young unmarried fe-
males are still as invisible as in the East*
Even at the wedding, the bride eats veiled^
and in a separate apartment ; nor is the
bridegroom permitted to see her face tiU.

• Tauhe^ I. p. 64.

+ For lis, I. p. 80. Anton, p. 130

X Anton, as above. Sulzer, IL p. 35S.

THE FEMALE SEX. • 1(53

after the consummation of the nuptials*. '
Married women, it is true, may go abroad
and pay visits without being prevented by
their husbands, or incurring suspicion ;
but notwithstanding this liberty, they tes-
tify their respect for their husbands and
otherpersons of distinction, in the manner
•Cttstomary in the East, that is, by humbly
kissing their hands-|-. The wives of the
common Wallachians are not allowed to
sit down to table with their husbands, any
more than the women of the East^ but
«taad while. their husbands are eating, in
order to wait upon them ^ . As the women
of the iowest classes are obliged to labour
like those of the Orientals, so the wives
of the bojars, or nobles, pass their lives in
the same indolence as the inhabitants of
the eastern harems§. Their principal occu-
pation consists in paying and receiving
visits, and in going to church ; sometimes,
but very rarely, they employ themselves
with the distaff and tambourine. About
domestic affairs they give themselves no
kind of concern ; they scarcely know their
own children, who, immediately after their

♦ Suher, II, p. 305, 388.
t Hid. 11. p. 384.
X Ibid. ILp, 397.
§ Ibid,

164 HISTORY OF

birth are put out to nurse, and if boys,
are committed to the care of an ignorant
Greek, to be instructed in the common
Greek language, and in the religion, or
rather superstition of their forefathers.

The language of the Crim Tartars con-
tains so many German words, and their
political constitution, their domestic ar-
rangements, habits, and manners, bear such
an affinity to those of the Germans, that
they might be regarded as the only genuine
descendants of the Scythians and Goths
near the Black Sea, if they were not poly^
gamists like the Oriental nations, and did
not conduct themselves towards their wives
and mothers in the same manner as the
latter. The mothers of Sultanas neither
eat with their sons, nor sit down in their
presence. Mothers shew the abject sub-
mission of slaves to their sons, by whom,
on the contrary, they are often ill-treated,
and even put to death*.

* See Pcyssoncl, II. p, 246.

THE FEMALE SEX. lG3

CHAPTER Vr.

Of the Condition of the Female Sex
among the Celtic Nations till the con-
cltesion of the Age of Chivalry.

Hitherto I have depicted only the mise-
.ry and servitude, or the unnatural autho-
rity of the fair sex, and my investigations
could not have afforded, to my female
readers at least, any other pleasure than
that i^hich results from the narration of
an authentic history, or from the compa-
rison of their own fortunate condition
with the unhappy lot of their sisters among
most of the nations of the earth. Now,
on the contrary, I come to the history of
the liberty and happiness of the sex, and
my fair readers will not only confess that
the men were not every where tyrants, but
they will also rejoice that they were born
among nations in which parents know how
to adorn their daughters with such virtues,
and in which the men are capable of diily
appreciating these qualifications. The
Greeks and Romans themselves were as*

\ftf) HISTORY OF

tonished that the Germans and other Cel-
tic nations, who were in a state of barba-
rism, should pay so much respect to the
sex, and allow it such privileges as they
had themselves never granted to their wo-
men, notwithstanding their boasted civili-
zation. The merit arising from the regard
and prerogatives enjoyed by the women
of the ancient Celtic nations, belongs joint-
ly, or equally to both sexes. Had not
the ancient Germans, Scandinavians, and
other people of like origin, even prior to
the general introduction of agi'iculture,
been as sensible of the excellent qualities
of the heart and mind of their females as
of their personal beauty, they would no
more have allowed them those privileges
than the women would have obtained them,
had they not been from the most remote
ages, as rich in virtues, intellectual en-
dowments, and useful knowledge, as they
were in exterior cliarms. The comparison
of the conduct of different nations towards
the sex will teach my fair readers better
than all the maxims and novels in the
world, by what standard they ought to
chuse their lovers and husbands. Men of
a sensual and grovelling disposition, of
narrow minds, and unpolished understand-
ings prepare for their wives the lot of

TUB FEMALE SEX. J67

Uie eastern females — servitude, coldness,
and neglect. Such men are not actuated
by love, but only by desire, and when their
appetites are satiated, they become as in-
ditferent "to- the charms of their wives as
they were from the first insensible to their
talents, attainments and virtues. On the
contrary, the more noble is the disj)osi-
tion, the more cultivated the understand-
ing, and the more enlarged the mind of
the youth and the husband, the more con-
fidently the lover and the wife may expect
to be treated by them, as I shall now shew
that tlie sex was treated by our generous
ancestors.

Though the youthful females of the
German and other Celtic nations were
more beautiful than the women of any of
the other people of whom I have yet
treated, still they were not subjected to
the same confinement as those of the
Orientals and European Slavons, because
they might be abandoned without danger
to their virgin modesty as the safest pro-
tection of their chastity. The seduction
of virgins was as rare among the ancient
Germans as adultery* ; and if, in an un-
lucky moment a female surrendered the

• Tacitus, de Mor. German, ch. 18, IQ.

168 HISTORY OF

flower of her innocence, she could never
hope to obtain a husband, however rich,
beautiful, or nobly descended she might
be. Among all the Celtic nations, especi-
ally the Germans, and the inhabitants of
the north, the puberty of both sexes was
developed much more slowly than among
the other nations of the earth, so that in
Germany and Scandinavia, maidens and
youths at the period of their perfect matu-
rity were full twice as old as girls and boys
in the East*. This tardy expansion of
their youthful bodies, and the consequent
lateness of their loves and marriages, not
only prolonged the period of fecundity in
both sexes, and enabled handsome, vigor-
ous, and healthy parents to beget children
like themselves-^-, but were likewise pro-
ductive of this natural result, that young
females were fit for very different purposes
from those for which alone they were
thought in the East to be designed, for the

* Tacitus J de Mor. German, ch. 18, I9. In Caesar's
time, it was accounted disgraceful in Grenuany for a young
man to have known a woman before he liad completed
his twentieth year, llie longer he abstained from this
indulgence, so much the more honourable it was con-
sidered.

f Tacit, r. 20. Sera juvenum Venus, caque incx"
hausfa pubafas : nee virginesjcstiuantur-y eadem juvenfa,
siiHilis procerifus, pares, validique luisccntur, ac rohora
parenium Uleri rr/'trunt.

f
THE FEMALE SEX. IfiC)

c?are and education of their children, for
the management of the domestic concerns,
and were capable not only of governing
themselves, but also of giving counsel to
their husbands. The German and olher
Celtic maidens were not regarded, like
the eastern brides of eight or nine years, as
beings utterly destitute of freedoin of will,
as children both in mind and bodv, and as
the property of their fathers; they were
not, like them, sold for slaves without
their consent; or, contrary to their inclina-
tion, were not bargained for by men whom
they had never seen, and whom they could
no moi'e love than they could expect to be
loved by them, and then immediately con-
signed to the rod and the superintendence
of wretched eunuchs. Amono; the Ger-
mans and other Celtic nations, fathers
never assumed such absolute authority
over their children as the Slavons and the
Orientals. Parents among the former
might advise or dissuade, might jjrevent
their children, blinded by an imprudent
passion, from rushing into ruin ; but they
could not compel their sons or daugiiters
to marry without their consent, and r;g:unst
their inclination. The presents ma !e by
the bridegroom to the bride shewed, as
Tacitus observes, that the youthful wife
VOL. I. u

170 HI8TOEY OF

was not received into the house of her
husband as a slave^ but as the companion
of his hfe, as the partner of all his joys
and sorrows, of all his dangers, and of all
his labours. Itt ancient Germany, the
bridegroom did not present his wife with
splendid attire or costly ornaments, but
with flocks, more or less numerous, a horse
ready bridled and saddled, and lastly, a
shield, a lance, and a sword*. As long as^
the Celtic nations were more devoted to
pastoral than agricultural pursuits, and the
cultivation of the earth was accounted dis-
graceful or unworthy of freemen, so long
the common people relinquished the la-
bours of the field to the women and chil-.
dren, and the aged ; while the young and
vigorous warrior attended only to the duties
of the chace and of war^. But when the
Germans and other Celtic tribes divided
the soil, and thus acquired an immoveable
property, when they began to be convinced
of the importance of agriculture, and gra-
dually obtained a more perfect knowledge
of the art, the nobles, it is true, still con-
tinued as they had formerly done J, to

• Tacit, ch. 18. '

t See the testimonies relative to all the Celtic nations
in Pellouticr, I. p, 343.
J Tofit, ch, 26.

THE FEMALE SEX. 171

employ their vassals or freedmen in tlie
cultivation of the soil ; but the common
people who had none, themselves under-
took the labours of the field, leaving to
the women more especially the superin-
tendence of their domestic concerns, and
the education of their children. Females
of the highest rank were not in ancient
times ashamed of these domestic duties.
Princesses and the wives of nobles suckled
their children, and nourished them with
their own blood*, and managed the con-
' cems of the domestic economy^". When
the men were engaged in distant expedi-r
tions, or long-protracted wars, they were
.accompanied by their wives and children.
These objects," according to the testimony
of Tacitus and all other Roman authors;};,
most powerfully stimulated the valour of
the ancient Gfermans ; they were the most
solemn witnesses, and the warmest pane-
gyrists of their achievements. When the
German heroes were wounded, they had

♦ Tacit, ch. 20.

t C'aetcris ser\ is, noii in nostrum morem descriptis per
familiaiii iniais'ieriis utuntur. Siiam quisque sedciii, suos
penates regit. Frumenti uioduin domiiius, aut pecoris, aut
vesiis, ut -colono injungit ; et serviis hacteiius paret.
Cactera doams ofKcia uxor uc liberi exsequuuUir, iacii.
ch, 25.

I I Lid, ch,7,B.

a 2

17^ HISTORY OF

recourse to their mothers or their wives,
who suekert, cleansed, and dressed their
wounds ; all the women of Germany and
the North heing thoroughly skilled in
the virtues of simples*. Even during the
eni^agement, wives and mothers mingled
w ith the ranks of the combatants, carry-
ing them refreshments, and renewing their
intreaties and exhortations to fight valiant-
ly, that they and their children might not
fall into the hands of their foes, arid be
doomed to inevitable slavery^-. Wives
and daughters provided with the attire and
the arms of men, very often fought most
courageously beside their husbands and
fathers, and hence the Romans frequently
•observed the bodies of armed women in
the field of battle among the slain:}:.
When the German warriors, unable to
withstand the attack of a superior enemy,
begtm to yield, the women by their lamen-
tations and reproaches very often rouzed
and inflamed their drooping courage to
such a degree, that they returned to the

* Mallei, In f rod, dans Vhisfoire do Dannemarc, ch.
12, p. i:y3. EilU. de Geneve. 17O3, l2mo,

f Toeit, as aljove.

J Schiitz ul'ir den Lehrhegriffrn dtr Alien T(utschen
und Nord. Volker von dem Zuslande der Scelen nach
dem Tode, p. 23u.

THE FEMALE SEX. 173

charge, and attacked the enemy with re-
doubled furv, in order to rescue the dear
pledges of their love, their wives and chil-
dren, from captivity*. When intreaties,
tears and reproaches could not prevail on
the dismayed combatants to renew the
charge, the women and girls mounted the
rampart with which the German camps
were surrounded, placing themselves in hos-
tile array against their dastardly brothers
and husbands, as well as agaii>st the enemy,
and with spears and swords making no
less havoc among their fugitive country-
men, than among their victor ious pursuers-JI*.
When, therefore, the Romans had routed
the German armies, after the most obsti-
nate engagements, they had frequently
such bloody battles to fight at the ram-
part, upon which the wives, sisters, and
daughters of the slaughtered warriors had
posted themselves, that the conquerors ac-
knowledged they could not have been vic-
torious liad the men displayed the same
invincible intrepidity as the women;};. As
the love of liberty overcame the tenderness

♦ Tacit, ch. 7, 8.

t Schi'ttZj as a^o\'e, and Prllou^irr, I. p. 5 14, 5fc. lia^e
collectv'd the records of these examples of bravery exhibited
by the German and other Celtic women.

I Sckiitz, p. 23i5, 233. Peliouticr, as above,

Gl3

1T4 »'^T-:-iT f>F

t>r h3^l>su-«rl« ana ch:klr«i. «) the dread of
ter» Lt-;4«=: fir octweisbcti ihe fesir of death
J 'I the tx>^,'T.* of tbe 3eiier«>o:s Ifeioales ot
a»I tb«: Celt;c iiatior.«. When these he-
toitiira were •s^rrryinded and disanxicd, and
fta^ ri> prosir.tlity of efcapin^ the horrois
of everla^tir.^ slaver^-, thev senemllv dis-
ydtchtd each other, cr handed theai^Ives,
having previously atrargleu their infants,
or dashed out their brains against stones.
Such was the cmduct of the women of the
1'euUines, the C'imbri. the Catti, the Ale-
jnanni, and the Cantabri. after their hus-
haiids hafl been defeated by the Romans,,
and them«5elves o:ade captives by the vic-
tr>rs*. \A'hen Marius had vanquished th^
'J eutone?, a little band of noble females,
who hdil been spared by the sword of the
conqueror, declared their readiness to sur-
render if the Uonian general would grant
them three conditions. These were, that
they ^•hould not be publicly sold as slaves ;
that their cha.:tity should not be violated ;
and that they should be permitted to
<levotc themselves to the service of Vesta,
or some other chaste goddess, for their
<*haslily they were determined to preserve
as inviolably as the Vestals. When the

* The authorities may bedeeain Pelloutier, as ab^re.

THE FEMALE SEX. 175

ohdurate victor rejected the terms of these
noble Teuton females, they dispatched with
undaunted courage both themselves and
their children; and the same conduct was
pursu^ by the women of the Catti and Ale-
manni when Antonius would not take their
lives. The Roman emperor asked the
captive German females, whether they
would rather die than be sold for slaves.
They unanimously preferred death to
slavery, and when, nevertheless, the con-
queror caused them, conformably with the
Roman law, to be sold, they all killed
themselves, and many dispatched their
children also*. This valour and this love
of li?>Jity were perpetuated undiminished
among the Celtic fair till the commence-
ment of the present (18th) century, and I
sincerely hope that these virtues of the
mothers may be transmitted unimpaired
to the latest generations. The history of
the middle ao;es exhibits in every nation
numerous examples of the masculine, or
rather more than masculine intrepidity,
with which ftmaleh* defended their native
towns and their children against hostile
invasion'!".

* Pelloutirr, as abo»'C.

f Si. I'uLv, in his Memoir cs sur Paris^ and Thorn m
iur ies Fcmrnvs^p, 56, 57,

176 HISTORY OF

Wives, who were so faithful, so chaste^
and so tender ; mistresses of families, who
were so conscientious, industrious, -and
intelligent ; mothers, who were so careful
and affectionate ; and partners, who were
so courageous, and so strongly attached to
liberty, as the women of the ancient Ger-
mans, and other Celtic nations, assuredly
deserved a different kind of treatment
from the infantine wives of the Orientals,
who in general gave themselves no more
concern about their children than about
domestic affairs, and suffered themselves,
without sorrow or regret, to be shut up in
the harems of the enemies, or of the sons,
and successors of their former lords*. Oilr
ancestors would not have been what they
actually were, the noblest of men — ^they
must have been monsters had they not
acknowledged the merits and excellencies
of their wives, and rewarded them with the
most distinguished respect, with the most
faithful and tender attachment. They
possessed themselves too many^lents and

• It is well known that among all polygamic nations,
only tli(»sc conciiJ.ines of the sovereign who have borne
him rliildn a or been honoured with his company, are
shut n|) in what is calUd tlie Old Seraglio j those who
ere still vlr^'/ms being separated and regarded as ^e harem
ot liis aucccb&or.

tub: female skx. 177

virtues to be insensible to the virtues and
endowments of their wives.

While other nations excluded women as
impure from the service of the gods, from
the sacred ]>laces, and from all pailicij>a-
tion in their religious rites and ceremonies,
our forefathers drew their virgins and their
wives to tlie altars of the godvS, and not
only admitted them to tlieir festivals and
temples^ but even initiated them into the
most secret mysteries of the druids*.
Instead of believing, with almost all the
less generous nations, that women com-
muted only with evil deities, and could do
mischief by their aid, or by means of other
wicked arts, the ancient Germans ascribed
to their wives and daughters something
particularly sacred, a peculiar disposition
to a more intimate connexion with the
good deities, and the gift of proj)hecy re-
sulting from that com.merce^-. They ge-
nerally honoured some virgin endued with
that faculty as a living goddess. Such
were Velleda and Arminia, before and at
the time of Tacitus. Whole nations hung
upon the divine lips of these virgins, or
waited at a respectful distance from the

• Drryer, If. p. 643.

f Tacti, dc Mor, German, ck. 8-

178 HISTORY OF

lofty towers in. which they dwelt, for the
oracles they might pronounce relative to
the contests of nations, or important en-
terprizes*. In distant military expedi-
tions they were usually accompanied by
these venerated prophetesses, whom they
regarded as interpreters of the will of the
gods, and whose answers they more cheer-
fully obeyed than the summons of their
kings or the commands of their generals.
Unlike all other nations, who most care-
fully excluded women from all participa-
tion in public business and public diver-
sions, the ancient Germans and Scandina-
vians appointee! females of noble birth ta
preside over their public amusements, and
consulted them on the most important
affairs of the state^. Finally, while most
other nations banished their women from
the presence of the ministers of justice^
not even permitting them to complain of
«ny injury that was done them, our fore-
fathers secured the rights of the women
no less than of the men; they placed
them as judges beside* princes and nobles,
or selected them alone as arbitresses be-

♦ Tanf. ITisL U\ ch. C5.

t Tacit, ch. 8. Plutarch^ ^JLp- 13. Keisl(r AnHq,
septcnt. p. •3'72, 373,

tnE FEMALE SEX. 179

tween kings and whole nations, llius
the inhabitants of Cologne, and the Ger-
man tribes eastward of the Rhine, chose
Civilis, a Gallic prince, and the wise Vel-
leda as umpires* : and the Gauls-j- de-
manded of the Carthaginians, that when
they had any cause of complaint against
them, the dispute should be adjusted by
their wives, and that botU parties should
abide by their decisions. It was not,
therefore, the effect of chivahy, but an
ancient Celtic custom that still continued
to predominate, which, during the whole of
the middle ages, so frequently led princes
and lords to select females, celebrated for
their wisdom and their love of justice as
umpires, and among these examples there
are many, in which the arbitresses decided
in favour of the adversaries of their hus-
bands or relations;}:.

As chivalry, tournaments, and min-
strels were not the original productions of
the eleventh century, but were formed
upon more early models, so the respectful
love of the greatest princes and knights of
the middle ages was neither absolutely

• Tacit. Hist. IV. p. 66.
i* Plutarch, as above.
X Dreiser, II. p. 043.

180 HISTORY OF

new, nor a mere consequence of chi\"alr5''.
The love of Ossian's heroes is as pure, as
tender, as infinitely superior to the brutal,
cfontemptuous passion of Homer's, as was
ever the amorous enthusiasm of anj- knight-
errant*. But as some of the learned are
still disposed to doubt the authenticity
and antiquity of Ossian's poems, I shall
demonstrate by incontrovertible facts, that
among the ancient Germans and other
northern nations, love incited to achieve-
ments as transcendent, was subjected to
trials as severe, and was capable of sacri-
fices as great, as ever shed lustre on the
passion of the most irreproachable knights.
Pure as were the morals of our remote
ancestors, chaste as were their marriages,
and unspotted as was the virgin honour of
their daughters, so frequent were also im-
petuous passions, which difficulties and
dangers tended rather to strengthen than
extinguish. All the chronicles of the
Germanic tribes are filled with histories of
the riavishment of virgins and brides, either
by artifice or by force, though their codes
attached heavy penalties to the attempt.
The sole motive for these enterprizes in

* This remark has already been made by Millar, p, 43,
and by many other writers.

THE FEMALE SEX. 181

the earliest ages was all-conquering love^
for. females of the noblest birth were not
entitled to the smallest portion of the
paternal possessions, and tlie ravishers for-
feited the dowries, which, from the most
remote antiquity it was customary to giv^
with the daughters of nobles and gentle-
men. These frequent rapes produced in
the earliest |)eriods the same phenomena
as in the middle ages ; bold projects were
formed by daring adventurers to rescue the
stolen and injured fair. According to the
ancient chronicles and traditions of the
north, a Swedish king had a daughter
named Thora,who was celebrated through-
out all the northern regions for her extra-
ordinary beauty. To preserve this inefv
timable jewel fvom the profane hands of
robbers, he shut up his daughter in a
strong castle, and there consigned her to
the care of a trusty servant*. The keeper
of the fair Thora, unable to resist her
charms, formed the resolution not to deliver
up the princess either to her father, or to
any lover or suitor. The disconsolate
father tried every means to obtain access
to the* fortress, but all his efforts were qut-
availing. Overwhelmed with desjiair, lip

•

^ Mallet f as abcne, p. 299.
VOL. I. R

182 HISTORY OF

caused it to be proclaimed in all the region*
of the north, that the man who should
subdue the ravisher of his child, and rescue
her from his power, should receive her
hand let his rank be what it would.
Among all the youthful heroes who con-
tended for the beauteous prize, the Danish
prince Uegner was the most fortunate ;
he broke into the castle, delivered the
princess, and obtained her for his wife-—
an enterprize which, as he himself says in
the fragments of his lyric compositions
that are yet extant, placed him in the
rank of the heroes of tne north.

Dangerous enterprizes and heroic achieve-
ments were in the remote ages not only
the surest means of acquiring extended
fame, and the love, regard, and favours of
kings and nations, but they wei-e better
calculated to gain the hearts of the gene-
rous fair than high rank, riches, or the
greatest personal attractions. The young
females of the North often rejected the suit
of princes, their superiors in birth and
their equals in beauty, but who had not
signalized themselves by a series of heroic
deeds. The fair- haired Harold, one of the
most poweiHiil lords or princes of Norway,
say the ancient chronicles, was the object
of the secret wishes of the fairest princesses

THE FEMALE SEX. 183

of his'time, on account of his extraordinaiy
beautjr^ and the proofs of valor and other
rojral virtues which hq had exhibited. He,
however, gave his affections to none of the
damsels who thus languished for hiip, but
offered his hand and his heart to the beau-
teous Gida, the daughter of a Norman
prince. Gida returned for answer, that
Harold the Fair had not yet distinguished
himself sufficiently to be worthy of her,
and that he should never possess her till
he had achieved the conquest of all Nor-
way. So far from being offended at this
answer, the gallant youth immediately
prepared for the enterprize, after the for-
tunate completion of which Gida was to
be his. Harold, in a short time subdued
all Norway, and with that kingdom, the
heart of the haughty and ambitious Gida*.
The love of the German and northern
warriors was not less refined than the pas-
sion of Ossian's heroes, or of the most
celebrated knights of the middle ages.
After the death of his beloved Thora^,
the great king Regner Lodbrog, the Her-
cules or Theseus of ancient Scandinavia,
landed on the coast of Iceland, on the very

• Mallet, as above, p. 305, 306.
t Ibid. J). 300, &c,

a 2

184 wistotilr ot

ftpot where the iairest shepherdess in the
whole island Wfis tending her flock. When
the maiden perceived the fleet approaching
the shore, she washed her hands and face^
and adorhed her golden hair which de-
scended to her heels. All the king's at-
tendants who had landed, and had heheld
Ihe Iceland shepherdess, wt ra capJtiVated
with her extraordinary beauty, which, on
their return to the fleet, they could not
forbear praising in the highest strains of
rapture. These concurrent testimonies of
Admiration excited the curiosity of the
king^and he sent to invite the shepherdess to
come on board his ship. The maiden re-
fused to comply with the king's invitation^
till he had promised that her honour should
Sustain noninjury. Having given his wofd^
the shepherdess presented herself before
the king: no sooner did he behold her,
than, struck with astonishment, he thus*
began to tsing: " Mighty Odin t what
soothing, what unexpected consolation,
wouldst thou bestow on me, if it should
please this young and beauteous shep-
herdess to join her hand in an everlasting
union with mine !" — ^The modest maiden^
regarding the exclamation of the king as
mockery, or flattery, replied in verse, that
some mishap would certainly befal the

THE FEMALE SEX. 185

brave and magnanimous Regner, if be
violated the promise he had given her.
*' I have saluted the king," continued she,
'^ and now I request him to send me back
to my parent^ and my flock." ITie pru-
dence, modesty, and propriety of the
damsel's behaviour inflamed the love of
the king still more, and he therefore made
her an offer to take her to his couit, and
provide for her in such a manner that she
should be the envy of all her companions.
Regner seconded these proposals with a
magnificent robe, embroidered in silver,
which had been worn by his consort,
Thora, and which he presented tp the
shepherdess with these words : " take this
costly garment, beauteous maiden, that is
worthy of thy charms. It was made by
the fair hand of my Thora, and it will
ever remain dear to him who is styled by
ail the North the prince of heroes." " No,"
replied Aslauga, for that was the name of
the shepherdess, " I should be ashamed
to wear the magnificent robe of queen
Thora. I am not deserving of such splen-
did attire. Coarse black cloth best be-
comes a poor shepherdess who resides in
a lowly cottage, and wanders about on the
sands of the sea-shore tending her flock.''
WJien the king still more ui^ently in-

r3

166 niSTORT OF

treated her to acquiesce in his wishes, the
shepherdess declared herself determined
not to comply till she was convinced of his
fidelity, and the constancy of his love.
" Let the king," said she, " first terminate
the expedition on account of which he
left his kingdom, and if he then enter-
tains the same sentiments towards ' me
which he now expresses, I will cheerfully
accompany those whom he shall send to
fetch me." The monarch was at length
obliged to submit to the conditions of the
fair shepherdess. ITie expedition was
.speedily and successfiiHy terminated. The
victorious and amorous Regner again land-
ed on the shores of Iceland, and the beauti-
ful Aslauga without hesitation suffered
herself to be conducted to the king. She,
however, insisted that the nuptials should
not take place till their arrival in Den-
mark, and that they should be celebrated
in the presence of the whole court 5 and
notwithstanding the impatient ardour of his
passidn, Regner acquiesced- In order to
form a just conception of the prodigious
difference that exists between the disposi-
tions of different persons, the reader needs
only to figure to himself how an eastern
monarch and an eastern female would
have conducted themselves in similar cir-

THE FEMALE SEX. 18?

camstances^ and compare their behaviour
with that of the northern hero and the
Iceland shepherdess. This last narrative
is extracted, like the preceding one^, from
the most ancient northern records, whose
authenticity has never been doubted by
any intelligent antiquary, and the passion
of the brave king Lodbrog for the Ice-
landic shepherdess has been handed down
in the national traditions 'to the present
time. Pwen though all that the ancient
chronicles record of the hero should riot
be true, still these traditions demonstrate,
that the fictitious achievements and ad-
ventures ascribed to him are consistent
with the taste or the spirit of antiquity.

As an argument against the affection
and regard which the ancient German*
and nothem nations manifested for the
«ex, might be adduced that tenet of
the Scandinavian religion, by which wo-
men were excluded from the Valhalla, or
the blissful mansions of Odin and his im-
mortal heroes*. The uninformed might
perhaps find some analogy between this
doctrine and the severe sentiments of the
Koran ; at least this tenet of the pagan
Scandinavians occasioned the remark of

• Dreyery 11. p. 646.' Schitz, p. 23%.

190 HISTOBYOF

name of men, and of the society of Odin
and his heroes, who had either iailen in
battle, or lost their Hves by the swords of
friends and of priests. When it began to
be the received opinion, that even men
could not obtain access to the halls and
courts of Odin, unless they died like heroes^
or at least by a violent death, it was im-
possible to make any -exceptions with re-
spect to women and servants; and they
were accordingly taught to believe, that
the latter could not attain to a participa-
tion in the same happiness as their hus-
bands and masters, except by d5nng for
them, or with them. If, therefore, the
northern nation!! ii ^acicnt times main-
tained, that women could not obtain ad-
mission into the abodes of bliss, unless
they had the courage to die with their
husbands ; still they cannot be accused of
any disesteem of the other sex, or of any
injustice towards it, because the gates of
Valhalla were opened to the women upon
the very same terms as to the men.

Many of my readers have probably felt
some surprize at the ancient German cus-
tom alluded to above, in consequence of
which, females of the noblest extraction,
though they were supplied on their mar-
riage with a quiMitity of apparel au^ qv^

THE FEMALE SEX. IQX

laments for their persons, }*et received no
dowry whatever, and after the death of
their fathers could not prefer any claim to
the family possessions, even if they had
no brothers to succeed them*. ITiis de-
nial of dowry, and disability to inherit the
patrimony of their ancestors would seem to
betray parsimony and cruelty on the part
of fathers, brothers, and other male heirs,
towards their daughters, sisters, and rela-
tives. But all these wise regulations of
our progenitors were designed to perpetuate
noble families, and to preserve their heredi-
tary possessions entire, and not to inj ure and
oppress the sex. Though German females
on their marriage received no dowry, and
were not admitted after the death of their
fathers to a share of the patrimony, yet
our liberal-minded ancestors by other excel-
lent laws made such a provision for them,
that they might well dispense with those ad-
vantages. As long as they continued un-
married, females resided on the family
estates, and after the death of their lathers,
either their brothers or the next male heirs
were obliged to maintain them, and to
make the customary provisions for theia

* See Grupens Uxor TheoiUca, and Gchauer Dlsiert.
VIL and XHL

192 HISTORY OP

oa their marriage. The day after their nup-
tials, wives rectfived a settlement from iheir
husbands, and on their decease a jointure,
on which thev could live in a manner
suitable to their rank, without being de-
pendent on the bounty of the children or
next male heirs of the husband. When
this settlement and jointure consisted of
immoveable property, they could not,
indeed, be granted without the consent of
the heirs*, and after the death of the

• Anions; the Celtic nations, there were some who
differed widely from our forcfatht r?, l)Oth in regard to the
rij.'hls of inlicritiiice, aqd the authoriiy possessed by hus-
bands and father-^. Aiiion^ tlie Ca4)tabrians, if Strabo's
information be correct, females alone inlieritcd the property
of their parents, and brothers received a inarriage-jwriion
from their sisters. Amonp the Gauls, (Casa- de Hillo
Oallico, Jul). I' I. cli, \gj fathers apd husbands possesM^d
the power of life and death over their cliildrcn and wives>
and this horrible prerogative even devolved, on their de-
cease to their male heirs. \A^hen a j^erson of distinction
liappc icd to die, if there was reason for tjie sli^t^esl sus-
picion that his wi^e had accelerated iiie detith, liia rela-
tions, as Caesar informs us, tortured the widow like a slave,
and put her to the most cruel death if her pmgs extorjU'd
fifmi- her a confession of her guilt. Ai^ong tht? Gauls,
brides received dowries as well as other gifts. The hus-
band bet apart a |)ortiaii of his pfOj;eriy cjuid to tl»e
aiiiountof the dowry, and the income «f the fhiijd furuiecl
by both, ace amul: I led and devolved to the si:r\i\or. All
these Gallic customs that a re mentioned by Ca^iiar, I a)oaidier
as innovations introduced among thos^c people by their ao^
quaintance with the llomans. The German nations also
rery soon adopted tiic Roman laws relative to dowry and

TliE FEMALE SEX. IQS

possessor, reverted to the family of the
husband ; for, according to the ancient
German laws, only the males, who were
able to defend their possessions, could be
the real proprietors of immoveable effects.
The possessor for the time being only en-
joyed the use of the family estates, which
he was not at liberty to alienate either by
deed of gift or by sale. Sons inherited
the family possessions, not only by the
.will of their fathers, but by the usage of
their ancestors, and immoveable goods
could not be affected by any testamen-
tary bequest ; for which reason the next
Hiale heirs were actually co-proprietors,
even during the life-time of the possessors
for the time being*. But though the fe-
males of the ancient Germans could neither
inherit tlie family estates, nor hold any
possessions by right of property, they,
however, enjoyed the same liberty as the
men, to manage the possessions given or
entrusted to them for life, and to expend

i^heiitance^ but I am much more surprised that tho
Gauls should ha\Te borrowed froni that people, the laws
respecting the power of fathers and husbands. This cir-
cumstance at least demonstrates that tlie Gauls, prior to
their intermixture with the Franks, were not so gallant a
nation as they afterwards became.

* Drey-er'i vcrm'uchte Schrlflcn, I, p. QJ,

VOL. I. S

l!>4 nUTOttT Of •

the income of them in wbaterer manner
they pleaseti- They were perfect mis*
tre&«es iu their houses, and in their do^
mestic concerns, and the mothers of kings
and princes were often s^uardians of their
sons during their minority, and regents
over their subjects and dominions. As
early as the time of Tacitus, there were
several tribes in Germany and Britain, who
were governed and even led to war by
queens. The German and Celtic nations,
therefore, never treated their wives and
daughters, in their laws, as silly children
unfit to take care of themselves ; but the
cura Jsexus was totally different from the
tutelage of minors, even when, after the in-
troduction of the Roman laws, females were
allowed to })ossess immoveable effects in
right of property, but were not permitted
to alienate them, or to appear in a court of
justice, without the aid of a j>erson of the
other sex*.

From these considerations, it must be
obvious, that in the exclusion of females
from the inheritance to, and right of pro-
perty in family possessions, our ancestors
no more designed to do injustice to their
wives, widows, and daughters, than to im-

• S'eUhow Elemenia Jw\ Germ, VoL L p, 642.

THE FEMALE SEX. 195

pose disgraceful shackles on their own sex,
by limiting the male proprietors of such
estates to a mere life -interest in them. If
therefore, some rich heiresses, or destitute
females of opulent houses, should be dis-
posed to think ill of our forefathers for
having excluded the sex from the posses-
sion and arbitrary disposal of family
. estates; they will perhaps be reconciled
with the ancient (ierman nations, when
they are informed, that no sooner did the
Germans become acquainted with foreign
laws, more favourable in this respect to the
fair sex, than they immediately relinquish-
ed the ancient customs of their ancestor9
for the purpose of adopting them.

Among the German nations, who, at the
period of the great migration, settled in
the conquered provinces of the Roman
empire, the Lombards in Italy, and the
Visigoths in Spain, were the most ready
to borrow the customs and the laws of the
Romans whom they had vanquished.'
Among the Lombards, as early as the fifth
century, a man might in a dangerous \\U
ness make his last will in bed* ; whereas
among the Saxons, even in the twelfth
century, in which the Sachsenspiegel

* Sex Longob. p. 1030.

S3

vt> t:!i". -i \' n...: - . -i-icrt .»f m^jve-
ti'Jt- jr. '> - ■ .::__- .^- v.\- irfiiv: ^nwuijii

^ivy.v.*^ '.■.' :•-::.. i^-i-s^:!!? v:rnoUc •:•.:!-

'v.:-.t^/ictr .1 .left.-/. :r 1:1: a ::iieir death -
3^**^. ". i..: :" V . :_.>;:i:!jt: :r 1 coiiskler-
i '.'.e: :«'■•", '-ii ':':c:t ra.nilv o«:!?se»*«ioiis for

v-,r. '. A.r. :»"-„■ :*.e L«:cioar:i». 1 trither who
AAri ir^ ■•i", i»r..- ji:;ir:L '.ea-re ro aim whom
ki«=; .'.^ei '•^Su X Cvyi luonr tban to the
«>tir:«^:r-'., ^ivi :." ..■= biti b.-ir -Ttie sod an J
<>n^ ':/t!ir'i-:>:.'if. '■•; iTii^hw i?e»£ow on the
\xtXf<? ^fi*=:-t^i'.;tii '.f hi* ':^:ioie property V
Vtrt^ v. ►: a t*er»«"irj. had oolv lecitimate
^*5-i^i/uer*, ?>ut itatiinr aotK. the :«iws of the

-* //?/< p. .27
1 /^ //. /). VAfi.

THE FEMALE SEX. 197

Lombards allowed the father to bequeath
half of his property to the daughters, one
third to the sons, and one sixth to the
lawful heirs*. At the same time, the
same laws subjected females to a perpetual
curatorship, so that they ^urst not give or
otherwise alienate any part of their pro-
perty either moveable or not, without the
knowledge and consent of their guardians-^.
The Visigoths adopted the Roman laws
of inheritance with scarcely any altera-
tion:!:. Daughters, sisters, and grand-
daughters were entitled" to equal shares
with their brothers, and for this, the Visi-
goth legislators assigned the same reason^
and in the same words as the Roman laws ;
" for it is but just," say they, " that those
whom Nature has allied, should not be
divided by the regulations of hereditary
succession" §. To these examples, and the
alteration of the laws of these German na-
tions, it must incontestibly be ascribed
that, in Germany properly so called, as
early as the thirteenth century, that is,

• • Sex J^isigoth, p. 967, 968.

f Ibid, p, gS2, Lex Goth, p. 205.

t Ibid. Lib. IV. Til. IL p. I957, 1958.

§ " Nam justum omnino est, ut ^uos propinquitas
naturae cousociat^ hereditariae successionis orao non divi-
lUt.-

S3

i

<*iii***jin <r ttj*- jtWBL iicr?.. iJbs
feu>lit! yjiffiewKQEP.. and tiiat i

ttK**tc^ arc H* ♦irlLiiJirV ^wpisrai n tdae

UdTtUid i2^ii^:t ti>e weikk«r «cx. a» ia tlieir
cci'jw r^jlat3*:*iif- 'While their peniihed
tb^ covTvikT of a Rc^baq ^v a tmbI with
tf/nlv half a« Tntich tterentr » tloft of a
fr»«ruti <n!t of t}>eir mid?:, Aer attachr d
t%iof: or thrice a* beaTy a penaltr to tbe
rn'jjr'k'r of a woman wb«-» bad bmie. and
H^^ %'*^ Oc'/Hfj]^ of bearincf chiklren. as to
iFiat of a fraeiLaD-f*. In like maimer.

• S<i>ftf-.^i t Ofr.ir.i'rif dcT TmifCf.nSf II f. p. 153.

p '/M . S< ' ' . c^f '; .Var .'i*i Jlhivv. - fj. p. 2|C.5 . "Hie lajt-
iiMf:^>jiied 'AifA.txxxMkiTz.i ^ rcn^zriiabk i&ocimi«iit ic^ih* to
ii*«- uJ^. 'A TWO hixitk of loD'- bv :ne lords cfPjesse, ia which
J/,«-;. «t r;*iri t;,'r. a^.-.c j jdt^i tftii' t-jr*r^lii, a; :#».«#: ;»! con-
$i-j.iu ui'jtvm r',ht't.fjm f/ cuit ctr ed\ w ». ^^:j trm m rt Hiia-
ftj/r vhi'ttifuih. 'irii^fieed ii disud in 12^, acd coD«e-
','^ ?.♦;". l,:o\fA, tiutx tne Saxoii kw l^i^pan lo^tcmit of some
•r>^.< j4»^yf it th htic'n'Mi Gtrmsmy, wjiick h^ UDdergooe the

^ Li A Sat, itnd mpuar. p. 61, 80, 151- Lix AUmaiu
Li* L^ngoi. p. ijH^^, Ltz Bgv. Art. XIII.

THE FEMALE SEX. 199

other acta of violence committed against
females^ whether married or single^ were
expiated with much heavier fines than
those offered to men. Whoever called a
freewoman a whore, or a witch, forfeited
almost as much as if he had killed a free-
man. If a person had uncovered or touch-
ed the finger of a free woman against her
will, he was obliged to pay fifteen schil-
lings, or the same penalty as if he had cut
off the middle finger of a man*. If he
touched her arm he was fined thirty schiU
lings, the sum levied for striking off the
thumb of a freeman-|*. If he ventured
above the elbow, he had to pay thirty-
five schillings ; but if he had the temerity
to touch her bosom, he was fined forty
schillings ; and no higher penalty was in-
flicted for cuttiilg off the nose, or three
fingers of a warrior J. The ancient north-
em nations were equally, if not still more
severe. A kiss snatched from a female
against her will was punished with exile^
and the same ofifence committed with the
consent of the fair one, but without the
knowledge of her father or husband^ in-

♦ Lex Sal, p. 52, 67.
t Ibid,
X Ibid.

2CK) HISTORY OF

curred a fine of three marks of silver*.
The Allemanni and Bavarians, it is true,
were less rigorous than the Franks and
Scandinavians, but they attached a punish-
ment at lea^t twice as severe to ofiences'
committed against women, as to injuries
offered to men^f*. A bloodless blow in-
flicted on a free AUeman or Bavarian cost
only one schilling, but if tlie sufieier was
of the fair sex, the penalty was doubled.
If any person deranged the hair of a wo-
man, he was fined six solidly but if he un-
covered her in such a manner that her
knees could be seen, he had to pay twelve^
which was the compensation required for
a deep and dangerous wound inflicted on
the head of a freeman.

It is impossible to conceive a greater
contrast between nations of similar origin
than that presented by the vanquished
Romans, and the victorious Germans who
established themselves in the Roman pro-
vinces. The Ronjans were degraded by
all the vices characteristic of enervated
and degenerate nations; by eflfeminacy,
unnatural propensities, base dissimulation^

* Mallet Introd. dans Vhisloire de Dannemarc,p, 3!?1>
388.

t Sex Alaman.p, 22i> 236, Bavar.p, 284.

THE FEMALE SEX. 201

abject submission^ disgraceful cunning
and cowardice, and more than all by a
sofdid spirit of self-interest which banish-
ed from their bosoms every generous sen-
timent. The German victors, therefore,
conceived such a sovereign contempt for
the conquered Romans, that the very
name of Roman became a contumelious
appellation, and romanizure was equiva-
lent with to lie, and to deceive*. The
Romans, on the other hand were filled
with the highest admiration, not only of
the valor, but also of the love of justice,
the chastity and other virtues of their
conqoerors-f'. They themselves acknow-
ledged that they were put to shame by
the barbarous victors ; that wherever the
Goths and Vandals established their sway,
many ancient abuses were corrected ; thai
eqaity and justice were there administered,
that the weak, the widow, and the orphan
were protected from oppression, and that
criminals were punished with severity.
They regarded it as a most surprizing cir-
cumstance, that the Goths and Vandals
had amended the Romans themselves, and

« Grotii Ifisi, Goth. Profeg, p, 33.
t IHii. and Suhian. de (Guhern, Dei, Lib, FIL p%
l?9. Mallit, ch. xii, /». 312, 313.

fi02 niSTOST OF

rendered them more chaste ; and that
plaxres polluted by the vices of the van-
quished had been purified by the innocence
of the conquerors. The Greeks and Ro-
mans of Italy and Africa, accordingly
dreaded nothing so much as to &II again
under the dominion of the Greek empe-
rors. But the innocence and virtues which
the victors brought with them from their
forests, inaccessible to luxurj', were not of
long duration. The Germans experi-
enced the same fortune as the Greeks and
Romans had done in Asia, and as all not
thoroughly civilized nations must expe-
rience, who subdue people more opulent and
more luxurious than themselves ; they did
not long continue to amend the vanquished,
but with their arts and sciences they also
adopted their vices. The contagion of Ro-
man manners is evinced in the laws of the
Burgundians, of the Lombards, and of the
Visigoths, which enumerate a multitude of
new crimes and punishments that would be
sought in vain in the codes of the Salic
and Ripuaric Franks, the Frisians and
Saxons, the Aliemanni and Bavarians.
The corruption of the German nations
wlio liad established themselves in Roman
j)rovinces, is demonstrated in a manner
still more striking, in the capitulations of

TIIR FE-MALE SEX. 205

the monarchs of the Franks. The Jaws of
Charlemagne, and of Louis the Pious, are
so many monuments of the anarchy and
depravity of most of the nations subject to
the Frankish sceptre. All these laws
abound with punishments, with repeated
and a^ravated punishments, for the vio-
lence and exactions of the imperial gover-
nors and officers.; for the frequent op-
pression, persecution, and plunder of the
weak by the strong; for the corruptness
and partiality of judges ; for perjury, false
witness and forgery ; for the extortion of
unjust imposts; and finally, for the un-
bounded licentiousness of tne ecclesiastics,
monks, and nuns, whose debauchery, lewd-
ness, avarice, and even crimes of the black-
est dye, such as robbery and murder, are
painted in the most horrible colours'*^.
Amid this universal depravity of all ranks,
and all ages, the female sex could not pos-
sibly remain uncontaminated ; and accord-
ingly, the Carlovingian laws attest, that
there was scarcely any carnal crime com-
mitted by the Romans, which was not
also practised by the Franks.

This general corruption of morals en-
creased during the succeeding ages, in

• Stewart, p. 121, &c.

204 HISTOHY OF

equal proportion with the anarchy of th^
European states, with the ascendancy of a
lawless nobility, and of a still more disso^
lute ar^d powerful clergy, and with the
oppression and misery of the common
people. It was still farther augmented hy
tlie unbridled licentiousness of the crusa-
ders, by the acquaintance which they con-
tracted with the vices of the Greeks and
Orientals, and even by the rapidly advanc-
ing opulence of the great cities of Italy,
Germany, and other countries of Europe*
As the despots of the East keep multi-
tudes of dancing-girls, so the sovereigns of
the West maintained great numbers of
courtezans, who were under the superin-
tendence of particular officers. They ac-
companied the kings and princes in their
campaigns, and the camp of a French
monarcli once contained fifteen hundrred
persons of this description, whose dress
and ornaments were of immense value, and
who, exhibiting an appearance not less
splendid than the first ladies of the court,
mingled on public solemnities among the
latter, and once caused the queen to give
the kiss of peace, to one of their number,
whom she took for a lady of high rank*.

• Sl Palat/e, IL p. 66, 67.

In cities, debauchery advanced with zM
rapid strides as in courts. Prostitutei
formed, as in the East, a particular clas^^
who enjoyed the protection of govern*
ment, {)aid distinct taxes, and could pro*
Ceied at law against such females as followed
the profession without having been ad«-
mitted to the freedom of the sisterhood.
£ven tlie first magistrates of London and
other cities kept public brothels, and the
frequenting of them was considered as so
fer from disgraceful, that creditors were
compelled by law to allow their debtors,
whom liiey had confined, a certain sum
twice a week, exclusive of the expences of
their maintenance for the purchase of ve-*
oereal gratification* . On all festival occa-
uons both public and private, both civil
find religious, prevailed an unbounded and
Ofiore than Oriental shamelessness. At
the Feast of Fools, as it was called, which
was held in theChristmas holidays through-
out all Europe, fi*oin the eleventh to the
nixteenth century, not only dissolute and
licentious laymen, but even ecclesiastics,
danced naked in the streets and in the
churches, during the most blasphemous
mockery and prophanation of the most
sacred acts. At tlie entry of Louis Xf . in
the year 1461, the inhabitants of Paris

* See the Mcmoire sitr Ut F4le det Fous» FoL L
VOL* I. V

V)6 nisTOBY OP

selected tlie most beautiful damsels of their
city who sung, quite naked, in the charac^
ter of Syrens, all kinds of pastoral compo^
sitions for the amusement of the king*:
On the arrival of the Princess Anne of
Bretagne, says the same \^Titer from whom
the preceding fact is taken, they carried
their attention to such a length as to sta-
lion persons at proper intervals with cer-
tain chamber utensils, for the purpose of
running to the aid of 6uch of the queen's
ladies as might chance to be overtaken by*
any pressing necessity. It was even cus-*
tomary to dance naked at weddings, and
it was regarded as a venial ebullition of
pleasantry to strip young females entirely
of their clothes. The balls and festivities
with which tournaments were accompanied
and concluded, were, in general, as devoid ^s
of all regard to decency as the weddings of
the citizens. Amid the intoxication of
impetuous passions, inflamed by wine,
there was nothing that the knights would
not demand attlie courts and banquets of the
kings, and nothing that females of the high-
est rank were not prepared to grant.
Hence it was no uncommon thing for the
husbands to depart from these festivities
with a new ornament on their brows, and
most of the unmarried females with th#

• Si. Foiv, L p. 133,

THE FEMALE SEX. SO?

loss of their honour*. Notwithstanding
the young knights, on their reception into
the orders of chivalry, were obhged to
swear to pay courtesy and respect to the
fair sex; notwithstanding they ran the
risk of being excluded with the utmost
disgrace from the tournaments, on account
of injuries or affrcMits offered to females ;
notwithstanding they treated the ladies
with the most flattering marks of honour
at all public festivals and exercises of chi-
valry, and manifested the enthusiasm of a
more than terrestrial passion ; I say, not-
withstanding all this, throughout the whol^
of the middle ages, and even in the timei
of chivalry nothing was more common
than the persecution and ravishment of
widows and orphans, than incest, adultery,
or the illicit cohabitation of persons not
le^lly married, and even than polygamy ;
for all the knights regarded not only the
maids and attendants of their wives, but
also the females who worked under the
inspection of the latter, as the inmates of
tlieir harem-}". The universality of con

• St, Palace, Jl. p. 69.

f Adam lircm. I^^. p. 20. Fisrhrr i'thcr die Probe*
n&chtc dcr Teutachcn Madchoi, p. 17, 2.'), 38, 60. Mein"
ers Abhandliing uhrr dif lirniifprclsc. Grupcn in Iiis Uxor
TkcoCisca, ou the Genccia of the N^oblcs of the middle

T 2

•m BI8TOKT or

cnbinage among all^ and even the highef
ranks^ entirely did away the disgrace for-
nieriy attached to illegitimate birth. The
natural sons of princes and noblea styled
and subscribed themselves bdtards, and to
these illegitimate children were granted^in
/ the thirteenth and fourteenth century, such
privileges as they had never before enjoyed
among the uticorrupted Teutonic nations*;.
I need scarcely mention the innnorality of
tcie superior as well as inferior clergy^ since
it is generally known, that they were fiot
only more addicted to the excesses of in«^
temperance and uncleanne^s than laymen,,
but even publicly indulged the most odi-*"
.ous and unnatural lusts ; and that among
the ecclesiastics there were perhaps as
many robbers, murderers, and wretches
who merited death for their crimes, as
among the most depraved of the temporal
classes of tlie community!".

agC8, p. 3f>. In 1464, a Cotint d'Armagnac puMiol]^
Aiarricd his owrr sister. Si. Foix, V. p. 130.

• Giupen UxorT^icotisca,p.S57,96Q.

f De Gttignts in Fo/. XliXVH d' xhtMimoires di
TAiadtmie dts /mcript, p. 4g5. Marin Vie de Saladin^
J. p. 412. JlcJiri Eiicnne Apot, pour JJerodote, I. p. 2*3,
i'«2, 480, &c. Mohsens Geschkhte dcr Wisseuschaflen^
I. p. I'J7, 340. Perhaps all my readers may not know
\\i\\t the children of priests were called sons of ui-^-es, that
ecclesiastics publicly invited their neighbours as sponsors,
and that bishops paid the custotoary dues for their cnildteqi.

THE FEMALE SEX. 209

This being the state of morals, the
Icnights could not possibly entertain such
a genuine affection and regard for their
wives, nor could tlie latter deserve the
same attachment and esteem, as our re-
mote ancestors and their wives in the ages
of simplicity and innocence. Neverthe-
less, exterior respect for the fair sex, as well
as the affectation of piety and valor, in-
creased with every generation till towards
the conclusion of the fourteenth, and even
after the commencement of the fifteenth
century. * The universal emulation excited
among the nobiUty by the institution of
chivalry and tournaments, to surpass their
predecessors and rivals in heroic deeds
and the fulfilment of the duties of
knights, combined with the inactive lei-
sure and the want of intellectual cultiva-
tion, impelled the knights on almost every
occasion beyond the bounds of nature
and of reason, imparted to all their passions
the character of unnatural enthusiasm, and
to most of their actions an air of ludicrous
solemnity. Instead of honouring the true
God, by acquiring correct notions of his
works and of his blessings, and by leading

The clergy, therefore, exerted all their iufluence in favoiir
of the cxtensioa of the ri^ts of bastards.

t3

t!0 BISTOKT OF

an irreproachable and useful life, they im-
|)c;:ed upon themselves lasting, castiga--
tion5« and other penances with the rigour of
aiu lionets : attended upon the wounded and
the sick : founded convents and churches;
went into cloisters, where they doom-
eil themselves to the performance of the
lowest odices, such as those of scullions,
swine-henls and the like ; and at length,
w hen at the point of death, directed their
bixties to be enveloped in the garb of
iK^uie spiritual order, and thus interred, as
a protection on the way to heaven against
all the attacks and artifices of Satan. The
p nerosit}' of the knights was commonly
as mistaken and perverted, and at the
same time not less extravagant than their
piety. They rifled churches and convents,
robbed widows and orphans, plundered
merchants and tra^-ellcrs, fleeced their
wretchtd ^-assaK and then squandered the
treasures accumulated by such injustice in
splendid tournaments and feasts, at which
their pretended liberality was often as
ludicrous and eccentric as their piety, their
\ove^ and valour. At a tournament heM at
Beaiicaire in the year 11/4, a Count of
Toulouse made a present of one hundred
thousand pieces of gold or silver to one
single knight^ who immediately divided

THE TEMALE StX. 211

i

the sum among one hundred of his com-
panions in arms. Bertrand Raibaux had
a field, in which a tournament was to be
held, ploughed with twelve yoke of oxen,
and sown with twenty thousand pieces of
ttlver — a folly which was probably not
tare, since the French language still re-'
tains the expression : semer de t argent-— *
to sow money. One Guillaume Gros de
Martello, who had a retinue of four hundred
knights ifnd esquires, suffered no other
dishes to be brought to his table but such
8S had been cooked with wax-lights and
wax- torches. Another gentleman, Ramnons
de Venans, thought to display his magni-
flcehce by ordering thirty of his finest
horses to be burned before the eyes of the
whole assembly*.

The manner in which the knights dis-
played their valour and courtesy is better
known from the imitations and parodies of
the romances of chivalry, than the real na-
ture of their other virtues. The knights
of the middle ages much more rarely em-*
ployed their extraordinary strength, cou-
tage, and experience in arms, in the de-
fence of their country, than in the oppres-
iion ef their inferiors, the invaMon of

212 HISTOKY OF

their equals^ rebellion against their princA
and kings, or finally, in adventures equally
ludicrous and bloody ; so that while we
admire their intrepidity, we cannot for-
bear deploring or laughing at their actions.
The knights did not evince their love and
esteem for the sex by fidelity to their
wives, by a careful education of their
daughters, and by respect for the virtue of
the wives and daughters of others; but
merely by empty o8tentation,whi A corrupt-
ed females instead of honouring them, and
which, in its most ridiculous extravagance,
was as devoid of real love and regard, as
their exterior piety was destitute of true
devotion, and their profusion of genuine
liberality. They paid adoration, from cus-
tom, to females whom they debauched and
despised, and out of vanity engaged in
mortal combat for the honour of ladies
whom they knew to be without honour.
It cannot, indeed, be denied, that, in every
country, and in every age, there were
knights who, like the Constable du Gues-
clin, the Marshal de Boucicaut, and the
Chevalier Bayard, conscientiously fulfilled
all the vows which they made on their re-
ceptioQ into the order, and who were, at
the same time, living patterns of all the
otlier virtues befitting knights. Nor is

THK FEMALB 8EX. Slid

Jt leiM true, that at every period there ex-
isted ladies of extraordinary merits wh^
endeavoured to render themselves worthy
of the esteem of such knights ; but w^
should be egregiously mistaken, were we to
form a judgment from these models of the
majority of knights and ladies, or of the
predominating manners of both sexes dur-
ing the age of chivalry. The admirers of
chivalry, and the panegyrists of the middle
ages, might have inferred, from the consti*.
tution of human nature and the analogy
of history, that, when the sensual appetites
and the impetuous and selfish passions of
arrogant barbarians were neither attemper-
ed by education and instruction, nor re-
strained by the dread of punishment, but
on the contrary, were strengthened and
inflamed by impunity, example, and re*
ligion — that, in this case, I say, the vow$
and oaths that were taken by the knights,
on their entrance into the orders of chi-
valry, were far too weak to keep within
bounds the desires and passions of power-
ful and lawless men, and that words alone,
especially in rude and corrupt times, can-*
not supply the place of education, instruct
tion,good examples, wise laws and punish-
ments, and a pure religion, favourable to
the cause of truth and virtue.

ei4 HISTOftY OP

The knights of the middle ages admitted
ladies to all public transactions and diver-
sions; but this was nothing more than
what our remote ancestors had done before
them, and for this reason, because they re-
garded their wives and mistresses as the
most proper witnesses of their valour, and
the best counsellors in danger and distress.
On the origin of chivalry and tournaments,
the ]>rerogatives of the sex and the duties
of knights were determined by laws and
vows; and from that period the latter
began to affect virtues which they never
possessed, and a regard which they never
felt, but which had formerly been the
natural reward of female virtue and merit.
Outward respect was paid to women, not
out of esteem, but because fashion imposed
it as a duty, and neglect of this exteri6r
deference was attended with disgraceful
punishments.

It maybe presumed, with certainty, that
the courageous females who carried re-
freshments to the ancient Germans in the
midst of an engagement, who sucked and
dressed their wounds, assisted their hus-
bands in putting on their armor before
they went out to battle, and in taking it
oft' again after their return. Hence pro-
bably arose the custom of the middle ages.

y

r THE TEMALE SEX. fi4j

thw young knights, "after their solemn re-
ception into the orc^ers of chivalry, had
their armor taken off by ladies of distinc-
tion, and that valiant warriors before they
engaged in mortal combat, were accoutred
by the fair hands of females. When the
ceremonies of the installation of the knights
in the church were ended, the new mem-
bers of tlie order were conducted, in com-
plete armor, to the palace of the king or
grince in whose capital the solemnity was
eld, and first into the apartment of the
queen or princess, in which all the ladies
of the court and country were assembled.
Here the fairest of their number took off
one portion of the armor of the new knights
after the other, and invested them with
the robes of state embroidered with the
arms of each, and lined and bordered with
ermine or other fur, according to their raiik
andquality. Itwasnotlesscommonfor the
most illustrious ladies of the court, but espe-
cially the mistresses of valiant knights, to
put on their armor when they were going
out to fight, either in behalf of the faith,
the honour of the nation, or the glory of
their prince and of the fair'*.

• Colomlure, I. 18, ig.

tl4 mrrosTOp

One of the principal row% made by Ae
kniglits on their installation was^ that they
would not wound the honour of the sex
either in word or deed. If any one vio*
lated xhiiA tow, he was puni&hed, according
to the laws of tournaments, in the severest
and most disgraceful manner. Previous
to every tournament, the ladies aocompani^
ed by the kings of the tournament, or um^-^
pires, inspected the arms and helmets <tf
the princes and gentlemen who intended to
exhibit proofs of their strength and valor.
At this solemn investigation, every injured
female was at liberty tojx)iutout the arms
of an offender, and thereby subject hira
to a rigid and awful examination*. If the
complaints of the ladies proved well found-
ed, the other knights and esquires fell
upon the culprit, and inflicted a severe
discipline upon his shoulders, till he begged
pardon of the ladies with a loud voice, and
promised never to commit a like ofl^nce
an future-f*. Notwithstanding this rigorous

* See tlie I^ws of Tournaments enacted bv King
Philip (ie V alois, in Coionibitre, I. 33, and those uf Rene
rPAnjou, Kinj5 of Sicily* K'id- />- <)4, (35 ; with which
tlic Cjcrinan laws for the same occasions perfectly con^-
jK)nilcf I .

t The ordinance of Rene d'Anjou is expressed in these
terin« : '* i^)rs cd cc cus cioit etre m bicn baiiu le medisant

Tilt FEMALE StlX. (217

punishment, it must be obvious to every
one, that no genuine respect for the sex
could be inspired by this expedient.

The ladies were not only the co-umpires
at tournaments, but they chose a Cheva-
lier des JJanies, or ladies' knight, whose
duty it was to take under his protection
such combatants as transgressed the laws
of the tournament, and were too unmerci-
fully beaten by their brother-knights* •
The umpires selected from among the
ladies who were present, the two most dis-
tinguished for beauty and rank, and con*
ducted them, preceded by torches, and by
• heralds and esquires, several times round
the ^eat hall in which the knights were
«ussembled. At length they stopj^ed before
the knight or esquire whom they chose,
^y the advice of the umpire, for their che-
valier, on 'which the king at arms announc-
ed the will of the ladies to the fortunate
object of their choice, at the same time
'delivering to him a veil magniticenly em-
broidered and decorated with gold fringe,
which he was to bind on the day of the

t]iie sef cspaules s'en scnlent bien, et si longuement qu'il
€rie mercy aiix dames a haute voix, tellement que chacun
J'oye, en proniettant que jamais no lui advindra aen mcdire
ou villainement pai[ler.*' Colomh, as above*
* Colomhicrc, L p, 65, G7.

VOU i. u

018 HISTORY OF

tournament to the end of a lance. No
sooner did the chevaUer, according to the
direction of his mistresses^ incline this
sacred lance towards a combatant who had
subjected himself to the discipline inflicted
on transgressors, than his persecutors were
obliged to quit their victim, whose person
became inviolable through the protection
of the ladies. The address made by the
king at arms in the name of the ladies to
their chevalier on his election to that
office, and his reply, were prescribed with
the same accuracy, as the formularies pro-
nounced by the heralds before the com-
mencement, and during the continuance
of the tournaments.

In the tournaments themselves, all the
words and actions of the knights had some
reference to the ladies, and especially to
their mistresses. They styled themselves
servants or slaves of love, serviteurs oil
servants damour^ an appellation more
honourable in their opinion than any other
title whatever*. In this quality of slaves
of love, they often suffered themselves to
be led by their fair-ones with small chains
or rich ribbons fastened to the head-piece
of their horses, to the lists or the place

♦ St, Palaye, L p, 90.

THE FEMALE SEX. 519

appointed for the contest*. In the same
quality the knights wore the colour and
livery of their ladies, and certain devices
or emblems which were understood only
by the latter ; and these devises d* Amour
are the principal cause of the single, unin-
telligible words, or broken sentences to be
found in the arms of many noble houses'|".
Thus Saintre, the celebrated companion
in arms of Marshal de Boucicaut, appear-
ed at a tournament which he gave in
honour of a princess of distinction, previ-
ous to his expedition to Germany, on a
horse with a covering of white satin, em-
broidered with fleurs de lis, and the words :
ne m'oubUez mie'^. A no less essential or-
nament of the knights, than the colour or
mottoes of their mistresses, were certain
tokens or memorials of love, which in
French were called by various names, but
most commonly faveurs^ jivi/aux^ or em-
prises d*Amour^. These love-tokens ge-
nerally consisted of some portion of the
dress, or some ornament belonging to the

* This was done by Marshal de Boucicaut and tiis
colleagues at a tournanjcnt held in the year 1387. fie de
Boucicaut, Cologne, 1737, p- 32.

t St. Palaye, I. p. loO, If)?-

j Ibid. I. p, 273.

% Hid. l.pAjl, l6\. Coiomh. L p, 272.

U 2

926 HISTORY OF

ladies ; either of a veil or a scarf, a ribbon/
a bracelet, a feather^ or something of that
kind, \yhich was affixed by the hand of
the fair to a part of the armor, the wea-
pons, or the body of the knights. On
Saintre's departure for Germany,- his illus-
trious mistress with her own hand bound
round the knight's right arm a gold brace-'
let, enriched with two diamonds, six rubies,
and the same number of pearls, after which,
she kissed her lover, and said to him :
" My friend, and my only desire, I

fray to God and the Blessed Virgin that
may fasten this favour at such a titne^
and in such a place, that you may return
crowned with honour ; and, in this case, I
vow to them to wear no linen on my body
for as many Fridays or Saturdays as you
are absent*." Colombi^re very judici-*
ously remarks, that the knights regarded

• The address of the illustrious mistress of Saintr^, and
the answers of the knight, have something so frank, so natu-
ral, and so intercstinu; in the origin, that I think it may not
be amiss to subjoin them : ** Et en le baisant lui dit, mou
amy et mon vrai desir, je prie a Dieuct k notredame, que en
telle heure et en tcl point le vous puisse-je nicltre,que a tout
honneur en puissiez revcnir, et se ainsi est, je leur voue
que touts les Vendredis je ne portcrai Hntce sur ma chair
nue, par aiitnnt de Vendredis oh de Samedis, que serez de-
hors. Hal madame, dit-il, et que vous ai je merite ;
qu'une telle dame fasse tcls iccx [your moy. Oui inou
amy, dit-ellc, car vous cstes tcl, que je vueil."

THE FEMALE SEX. 221

the^ loVe-tokens presented by their mis-
tresses, not only as memorials of the favour
of the ladies, or as a stimulus to great
achievements, but as sacred talismans, by
which new courage and strength were com-
municated, and all impending disasters
were averted.

These love-tokens, whether they were
afBxed to the helmet, or to the lance^ to
the shield, or to the arm of the knight,
were often lost in the heat of combat. In
this case the ladies did not fail to send
their admirers other face urs or emprises
d'amour, that they might never be with-
out the safeguard of the tutelary spirit
residing in these love-tokens. On some
occasions the knights were so often re-
duced to this dilemma, and the ladies
were so ready to relieve them, that amidst
the tumult of the conflict, and the ardor
of their love, they totally forgot them-
selves and the situation in which they
were placed. At a tournament describ-
ed by Perceforest, the ladies isent the
combatants so many new tokens taken
from their hair, or the garniture of their,
dress, or the coverings of their bosoms,
that at length they had stripped themselves
of all their ornaments, and appeared half
undressed. Those who first discove^^^d

u3

%oq BisToitY of

the condition to which they h^d redae-
ed themselves, where overwhelmed with
shame^ but when they perceived that all
their companions had made the slime
sacrifice in behalf of the friends of their"
hearts, the whole assembly could not for-
bear bursting into a loud laugh*. So late
as the first half of the seventeenth century,
it was customary in France for ladies to
give their lovers such-like pledges of their
affection, and for the latter to wear them
in public^.

In order t6 evince their entire devotion
to the mistresses of their hearts, the
knights demanded of their ladies before
tournaments, as they did of their kings-
and princes previous to a battle, a watch-
word which they might repeat during the
combat, for the purpose of reviving their
spirits, and proving, that in the most im-
minent dangers they never suffered their
thoughts to be diverted from their ladies:|^»
When the tournament was finished, they
commonly broke another lance which was
called le coupy or lanee des dames^y and
in the same manner the combat was t^-^

i^i

• St. Palaye, I. p. l6e,
t Ibid.

X Ibid. I. p. 156> 157-
f jm, Lp 97.

THE FEMALE SEX. £2J

newed^ When they came to the battle-axe,
the si/rprd, and the dagger. When all the
combats were entirely finished, the um-
pires commonly adjudged the prizes of
valor to those who had signalized them^
•elves the most. Very often, however,
the ladies were the only judges of the
bravery of the knights, or were at least
consulted respecting the adjudication of
the prizes; but when this was not th6
case, and the umpires did not crown the
knights whom the ladies thought entitled
to the prize, the latter bestowed a second
prize, on which as high, or a still higher
value was set than upon the former*.
The prizes consisted either of gold chains,
or rings, and other jewels composed of
precious atones, and they were given by
the princes or gentlemen by whom the
tournament was held ; but in Germany,
as it, appears, not rarely by the most dis-
tinguished ladies who were present on the
occasion. At a tournament which Flo-
renz. Count of Holland, is reported to
have held at Cologne, his countess pro-
mised the three knights who should ex-
cel all their rivals in the combats of chi-
valry, three jewels or prizes, one valued at

• Si Palaye, I. p. 98.

(224 HISTORY OT

tliree hundred, another at^ two hundred,
and the third at one hundred guilders*.
At another tournament held by the knights
on the banks of the Rhine^ at Worms'^,
four ladies of distinction brought the same
number of prizes of very difibrent value,
for such of the combatants as should most
signalize themselves. The first, a wreath
with twelve gold rings, worth twelve hun-
dred guilders, was delivered by a Countess
of Montferrat to a Duke of Bohemia ; the
second, valued at four hundred guilders,
Rupert, Count of Carinthia, received irom
the hand of a princess of Lorraine. The
third, worth two hundced guilders was
presented by a young Countess of Cleves,
to a lord of Limpurg, and the fourth, of
one hundred and fifty guilders was given
by a Countess of Bitsch to the ChevaUer
Henry von Nussberg. Tournaments and
other public combats were often held,
under this condition, that the vanquished
should pay their conquerors great forfeits^
which almost always consisted of valuable
jewels, and were distributed by the victors
among the ladies ;{;. If, however, the ladies

♦ Turnierl'uch, p. Ql .

t Ibid, p, 107.

J Colomhihe^ /. p, 103, 278.

THE 7EMALE SEX. . 225

neither proposed prizes, noradjudged them^
still they possessed the exclusive right of
delivering to the conquerors such as were
offered. For this honourable office the
ladies of the highest rank and greatest
beauty were selected ; and the happy mor-
tals to whom the prizes were decreed, en-
joyed the enviable privil^e of giving a
respectful kiss to the fair females by whom
they were crowned*.

When the knights had received the
pledge of their valor, or of their glory, they
were conducted amid the acclamations of
the people, the applauses of the umpires
and heralds, the cheerful sounds of various
kinds of music, surrounded by the ladies
who had crowned them, and attended by
all the princes and knights, into the palace
of the prince in whose territory, or of the
gentleman at whose expence the tourna-
ment had been held. Here the ladies
took off the armor of the conquerors, and
invested them with magnificent robes ; and
when they had refreshed themselves a
little, they were conducted by the ladies
into the dinner-hall, where the most ho-
iiourable places were assigned them. It
was not uncommon for ladies to regard it

* Cohml'kW, L p. 99.

2*26 HISTORY or

as an honour to wait at table on Taliant
knights*,from whom at other times they^ie^
cei ved the resj^ect due to independent prin-
cesses. When these marks of distinction
were paid to young kniglits, and they were
obhged to sit between the king or prince
and his consort^ exposed to the gaze of
tlie whole court, they were most grievous-
ly oppressed by the weight of honours to
which thev were unaccustomed, and thrown
into the utmost embarrassment, accom-
panied with all the signs of bashfiilness
and timidity. But when the same honour
was conferred on knights to whom it was
no novelty, they were nevertheless obliged
by the laws of chivalry to preserve the ut-
most modesty of demeanor, ascribing the
glory they had acquired rather to good
fortune than to their own superior merits.
On these occasions likev^ise, all the
speeches, motions, and actions with which
every token of honour was received, seem
to have been prescribed by particular for-
mularies-^.

The spirit of the middle ages, and the
sentiments of the knights are more clearly
displayed in the achievements and adven-

♦ St. Palmje, I. p. 101.
t Ibid.

Tn'E FEMALE SEX. 2^7

tares of the knight-errants, in the orders
founded for the protection of the fair sex,
and in the tribunals in which disputes of
love were decided, than in the institution
of tournaments. Each of those pecuHar
characteristics of the ages of chivalry is
therefore worthy of a brief notice.

Knight-errants were coeval with chivaU
ry jtself, but they were of different kinds,
according to the different objects which
they had in view. In a certain sense, all
knights were knight-errants ; for this ap-
pellation was given indiscriminately to all
those who quitted their native country,
not merely on fortuitous adventures, but
in pursuit of some determinate object, and
for the pur}X)se of acquiring glory in war.
Thus the biographer of the Marshal de
Boucicaut applies the term errer, to all
the campaigns which that valiant knight
and his companions in arms made in
Prussia and against the Turks ; and dur-
. in^ which Boucicaut and his friends even
offered their services to the Turkish Sultan
Amurat, but upon condition that they
should not be employed against the pro-
fessors of theChristain faith*. In a more
limited signification of the word, thos«

* Fie de Boucicaut, p. 27«

f>'2i) HISTORY or

were termed knight-errants, who formed
the resolution of wandering for a certain
time through every countrj' far and near,
to reheve oppressed widows, orphans, and
virgins, to curb or to destroy powerful rob-
bers and disturbers of the peace, and thus
fulfil a solemn vow which all knights were
obliged to take on their reception into the
order. Finally, the term was applied in
its principal sense, to those who, either
by the command of their mistresses, or
fix>m the motive of spontaneous gratitude,
or in order to render themselves more
worthy of the favour of the iair^ and to
exalt their glory, repaired to foreign
countries, where, with sword and lance,
they maintained the superior virtue and
beauty of their ladies against all who inti-
mated a doubt on the subject*.

Those knight-errauts, who set themselves
up for the protectors of innocence, and
the deliverers of the oppressed, formed an
order within an order, and regarded them-
selves as the descendants and rivals of
King Arthur's knights, or the knights of
the round table-}*. The ancient romances

• Coloml'ia-p, 1. ch. 8. Si. Palaije, II. />. 7, Src*
bQ, &c.

t Culomli^rc, I. p. 135.

THE FEMALE SEX. 229

described the knights of the round table
as vahant and philanthropic adventurers,
who went about in quest of giants, and
other knights that were guilty of violence
ami oppression, in order to exterminate
these foes to virtue and innocence from the
face of the earth. They mentioned the
countries and castles where these giants
or monsters had established their resi-
dence^ and where they were overcome ; and
even though all these places and castles
were fictions invented in the spirit of
ancient chivalry, still they evince, that
knight-errants were fruits of the lawless
ages not less beneficial, or less natural
and salutary than Hercules, Theseus, and
other heroes of Grecian fable. The castles
and places which, in the time of the sup-
posed knights of the round table, were the
residence of the violators of innocence, and
the disturbers of the public peace, were
sometimes called la douloureiise Tour, or,
le Chasteau tenebreux ; sometimes le Val
• sans retour, le f^al des faux amans, or la
terre foraine. Of the same description
were le Pont perdu, or le Pont sous tEau,
la Salle perilleuse, le Pas des Roches,
appelle Maupas, le Chasteau de la doulou^
reuse Garde, le Lit advantureux, la For^
est desvoyable, le Chasteau du Trespas, le

VOL. I. X

C30 HISTORY OF

Palais aivantureuxj tEschignier merveiU
ieuxyla Pruson aux qamtre Dames, le Cha^
teau de la blanche Espine, le Tarire des^
ro^bky la Forest perilleusej le Chasteau
de fhle estrange, le Ut des MerveilleSy
la Forest gastte, la Laiire wiramleusej
tEspee hriseCj &c. When the knights
had taken these places of destruction^ and
killed their owners or inhabitants^ they
gave possession of them to just and bene*
▼olent knights:^ and changed their terrific
appellations to more agreeable names*.
' Thus, la Tour de la douloureuse Garde,
was called la Tour de la belle Prise ; and
the names of Chasteau du TrespaSy and
Pont perdu ivere altered to Chasteau
des DoineSj and Pont trourt*.

Knight-errants who wholly devoted
themselves to the service of widows, or-
phans, and otlier persons in distress, en-
joyed extraordinar}' privil^es and ho-
nours^. Every one thought himself for-
tunate to have such a kniglit-errant for
his guest, and to supply all his wants, •
without expecting the smallest recompence.
In the cities there were particular inns
or habitations^ where they were accommo-

♦ Colomb. p. 135.
t IL'id.p. 189, 130.

THi; FEMAL£ SEX. 231

dat^ in a manner suitable to their birth
.and merit, where they were nursed and
attended if they fell sick, atnd at their de^
parture were provided with every nece&-
8ary. Out of the cities they considered
every gentleman's castle as their property^
where they were waited upon by ladies,
and listened to by the knights with the
greatest respect and admiration. Even con-
vents and anchorets vied with each other
in anticipating the wishes and wants, and
in relieving the necessities of knight-er-
rants* If their horses happened to lose a
sboe^ or some parts of their armor and
accoutrements needed repair, the esquiret
of the knights applied to the first black-
smith they came to, and he was obliged to
work for knight-errants without remunera-
tion : for this reason, those who followed
that business during the ages of chivalry
wei'e exempted from all the taxes paid by
othier artizans and mechanics. Wheit
knight-errants could neither find a city, a
castle, nor a village, they reposed in com--
plete armor beneath a ti-ee in the vicinity
of a brook, where themselves and theit
horses might allay their thirst. Their
hunger they either appeased with the littte
store of provisions which their esquires
generally carried with tfaem, or if this was

X2

MrMt HISTORY or

exhausted, their attendants, who had bow9
and arrows for the purpose, killed a rab*
bit, or some other small animal, which
tbey skinned, sprinkled with pepper and
sal^ and frequently ate raw, without farther
preparation. This raw rabbit* s flesh was
called du chevreml de presse^ and hence
in the ancient romances of chivalry we
often meet with the expression chevreavx
de presse lumrriture des Heravx*, In
lonely places they generally made tables
of flat stones, on which the knight-er-
rants and esquires took their moderate
repast. Amid the hospitality universally
experienced by the knight-errants^ they
had little or no occasion for money ; but
they commonly carried with them some
valuable jewels or pieces of gold, for the
purpose of procuring better armor, wea-
pons, and apparel, than what they usually
wore, when they wanted them for a tour-
nament or any other festive occasion*
The knight-errants were, however, not
always the characters which they gave
themselves out to be. Instead of restrain-
ing depredation and oppression, they fre-
quently practised both, and were at least
in later times, robbers and disturbers of

• Cokmlihe, and St. Palaye, JLp, 54,

THE FEMALE SEX. 233^

the public peace> or the associates and as-
sintants of such like offenders.

The amorous knight-errants resembled the
class which has just been described in
this point, that they generally wandered
about without any detefminate object foif
theifpetegrinations> though sblne of them,
like Saintref fixed upon a certain court,
at which they resolved to display their
Valor, and to demonstrate the beauty and
virtue of their ladies'*". . In another par-
ticular alfeo, these amorous knight-errants
probably experienced a similar fortune
with those who made a profession of re-
lieving the distressed ; I mean, they were
often* obliged ta be content with wild rab-
bit's flesh and a bed of turf beneath the
canopy of heav€fn. For the rest, they
were not in general so poor, nor did they*
so frequently avail themselves of the privi-
leges ot the other class; they not only
went in pursuit of the unjust and rapaci-
ous, but sought out vahant knights^ who
vtere ready to risk as much as themselves^
fbr their own reputation and the honour'
of their goddesses. All the amorous^
knight-errants wore green armor, wea-
pons, and apparet, to denote the verdure

• Colomh, I. p. 278^
X3

£34 HISTORY OF

of their youth^ and the flower of theif
strength*. Their expeditions were com-
monly undertaken for the accomplishment
of certain vows^ which^ in moments of
amorous intoxication they had spontane-
ously made, or their adored mistresses had
required of them. A gentleman of Man-^
tua, named Galeazzi, whom queen Joanna
of Naples had chosen for her partner at a
dance, was so deeply impressed with the
distinction conferred on him by that fair^
but notorious princess, that he promised
to travel in France, Burgundy, England^
Spain, Germany, and other countries, tilt
be had vanquished two knights to present
to her as her slaves. This vow he actually
accomplished, and brought two knights to
the queen, who most generously set them
at Hbertyf'. It was not uncommon foe
knights who held inferior tournaments^
known by the appellation of pas darmes^
to impose this condition, that the van-
quished should present themselves as
prisoners to the ladies of the conquerors^
or give a diamond of great value as a ran^
som;};. Brantome relates^, that a con-

♦ St. Palaye, 11, p, 8.

f Ibid. IL p. 63. Brantome sw its duels, pi S6.

J Colombi^ie, I. p. 871,

§ Dametiiiust, p. 37^*

THE FEMALE SEX. 23S

quered knight whom the victor had de«
hvered with his horse and arms to the
canons of the church of St. Peter at Rome,
was kept a prisoner during the remainder
of his hfe, probably because he had not
the means of paying the large ransom de-
manded by the avaricious ecclesiastics.

At the time of Saintr^^ a celebrated
foreign knight, a Pole^ as he is called,
but who was probably a German, visited
Paris. He made a vow to wear two gold
rings, to which were fastened long chains
of the same metal^, above the elbow of

* The custom of young gentlemen presenting them*
selves to their biLdcs> and of knkbts appearing before
t&eir ladies, or in honour of their ladies,, with chains or
ribbons fastened about their lea;s, probably originated in
the age of tournaments and chivalry. On an ancient
casket, upon which is a representation of the nuptials of
the b^uiifiil prince Henricus Palatinus, a son of Heniy
the Lion, with the Countess Palatine Agnes, in 1 1 95, the
bridegroom appears with two ribbons, embroidered wiih
pearls, attached to his lem. Crupens Uxrtr Theofisca,
Introduction, p. 54, 55. The mothers of tiie illustrious

Eair projected and accomplished this union without the
nowledge of their consorts. The mother of the princess,
therefore, informed her. husband, who was returning
from a journey, of the nuptials of her daughter with the
son of Henry the Lion, in an allegory which certainly
' cannot be read v\ ithout interest by every one that feels any
respect for the illustrious house froiiL which the bride-
groom was descended. ** I have cauglit a falcon,*' says
she, ** ^hicji came flying .over the fields, and you never
beheld a finer in all the days of your life. Plk head is
Wowi>^ his throat .white, his piniom long, shewing thai

236 HISTOBT OF

the right arm, and above the ancle of orteT
legj in honour of his mistress for five
years, unless he were vanquished by some
valiant knight before the expiration of
that period. In order to try whether he
should be released from his. vow in France,
he caused a proclamation to be made at
Paris by Brunsvich, his herald at arms,
challenging any knight who might be dis-
posed to fight him, and announcing hir«
intention to stake three jewels, a diamond,
a ruby, and a sapphire, each worth three
hundred crowns, against three prizes of ^
equal value, which shou]fl belong to the
conqueror in the three principal kinds of
combat. Saintr^ was encouraged by his
lady to accept the stranger's challenge,.

his father begot him on a lofty branch, and his talons and
beak finely curved and hooked for seizing his prey/

1*

Ek hebbe eynen Valken nterwek

der quani her geflogen over \e\l,

Gefungen und behaltcn '

dat des Got Lm nte walden

Eynen ako gy over gy gesagen

hi alle juwen dagen

Sin hovet brun, sine kele blank

to ome Stan alle mine Gedank.

Seine 2^s-Fedem ime so lang

zu iirkund ziehet herab

das inc sein vater hah uf hoher ast gez(^e»

wol 2ur kore sein gebogen

Inie seint Klaben uod sein Schoabel.

THE FEMALE SEX. t37

and he was fortunate enough to vanquish
him in each of the three species of com-
bat, both on horseback and on foot^.

One of the most difficult and dangerous
vow» which any knight ever made, or lady
ever required, was that imposed on a
French knight by his young and beautiful
mistress*}*. She promised her suitor to
resign herself to him with heart and hand,
and to place her fortune at his disposal, if
he would bring her the portraits of thirty
fair ladies whose admirers he had van-
quished out of love to her. The knight
accepted the offer, and sallied forth to
accomplish the wishes of his goddess, with
her portrait painted on his shield. When-
ever he met a knight who refused to ac-
knowledge that the lady of the adventurer
was fairer than his own^ he challenged him
to fight, and after vanquishing his antago-
nist, compelled him to suffer the portrait
of his fair-one and her name to be painted
and inscribed upon his shield, under that
of his own mistress. The historian, whose
authority was followed by Colombiere,
affirmed, that in less than a year he re-
turned with thirty portraits of tlie mistres-
ses of conquered knights.

• Colombiere, I. p. 277-
t Hid. p. ig.

$38 HISTORY Of

When one knight challenged another
for the love of his lady"^, and to fulfil his
vow'^, it was done with every testimony
of politeness and regard. In the carte) or
challenge which a knight sent to his an-
tagonist^ he prayed God to grant him
honour^ joy^ and the accomplishment of all
his wishes with respect to his lady^ to
whom the challenger also intreated his
opponent to commend him. When the
party so challenged failed to appear at the
place and time appointed, the challenger
enquired with great civility, whether he
was in disgrace with his lady, or exiled
from the court of Cupid, for otherwise he
could not comprehend why so vaiiant a
knaght should have changed his resolntion
and declined the combat^.

Not less frequent than the expeditions
.and combats of knight-errants for the love
of their ladies, or the conflicts of knights
belonging to belligerent nations for the
glory of iheir country and arms, were the
duels which took place between the war-
riors of hostile armies for the love of the

♦ '* Pour r amour de sa Dame,**

t The acceptance of a challenge to fight pour Pamevf
dfi sa dame, was termed acconiplir le fait d^amour^ St^
Valatjiv, I. p. i>8(i.

X St. Palaijc, /. p, 256, 257.

TIIK FEMALE SEX. Q^Q

m

iadies*. The challenges to these fights
for the honour and love of the ladies were
sometioies given amid the tumult of a battle,
t>r the dangers attendant on the storming
of towns and castles ; and no sooner did
the hostile armies, or the besiegers and
the beai^ed, though animated with mutual
.rage, perceive preparations for such a com-
bat, than they desisted from the work of
destructioD till the enamoured knights had
finished their dueL These combats for
tlie love of the ladies continued till the
reign of Louis XIV ; but after the age of
chivalry they were never so common as
under Henry the Third and Fourth. Dar-
ing the reigns of those monarchs tliere was
a war called la Guerre des Amoureux, be-
cause it was commenced merely at the in-
stigation of the mistresses of the heads of
both parties, that the knights might have
' an gpnortunity of <iisplaying their bravery
and their love for their ladies-|^. About
the same time every man passed for a
coward who would not defend the honour
of his lady to the last extremity, even
though it were notorious that she was
justly deemed the lewdest female in the
whole court or city^.

• St. Palaye, I. p. 219, &c. 270.

t f'ie ttAubign^, p. 7.Q.

X Branlome sur les duels, p» 85.

£40 HISTORY OF

When amorous knights undertook ex,"
peditions to acquire honour for themselves
and the ladies whom they adored^ and by
whom they were beloved, they acquainted
their fair mistresses with the number of
their retinue, the signification of their
arms and accoutrements, and the period of
their return, and received from them ad-.
vice equally tender and devout, if we may
judge from the counsel and instruction
which the illustrious mistress of the gal-
lant Saintre gave to her knight. Previous
to his departure for his expedition to Ger-
many*, he communicated to the lady the
usual sign to repair to the place of their
former assignations. The sign consisted
in this, that the knight rubbed his eye
with his right hand, on which the lady put
a pin or a tooth-pick to her teeth, as if
for the purpose of picking them. At this
last interview, Saintre related how many
knights and esquires, how many heralds,
trumpeters, pages, servants, and horses, he
intended to take with him, and then ex-
plained to his mistress the signification of
the colours, devices, or figures on the ap-
parel, weapons, and armor of himself and
his attendants, and on the trappings of his

♦ Colomhire^ I, 273, &c.

THE FEMALE SEX. 241

liorses. When the lady was apprized,
from the narrative of the knight, that so
large a retinue as he intended to take with
him would be very expensive, she gave a
large sum towards defraying the cost, as
the king and queen had already done
She particularly enjoined him at the con-
clusion of every mass, after the general
benediction, to direct the priest to pro-
noimce over him the following blessing,
which the Lord God with his own moutri
pronounced over Moses ; " T*he Lord
bless thee, and keep thee : the Lord make
his face to shine upon thee, and be graci-
ous unto thee : the Lord lift up his coun-
tenance upon thee, and give thee peace !'*
The same words the lady farther exhorted
her knight to repeat himself previous to
his engaging in any conflict, adding, that
if he followed these directions, and always
conducted himself like a true knight, no-
thing could befal him, whether victory or
defeat, gain or loss, but what would re-
dound to his honour. After she had said
this, the tears flowed from her eyes in such
torrents as to deprive her of the power of
utterance. The enamoured knight was so
deeply affected, that he said to his lady :
- ^^ Illustrious and incomparable goddess,
and absolute mistress of my heart, instead

VOL. I. Y

242 HISTORY OF

of soothing my grief at parting, you have
so penetrated my soul with your sorrov^ s,
Jthat I shall now go hence and die in a
foreign land. God bless you, my sole de-
sire, my only joy, and my greatest comfort!"
At these words the knight turned away,
but the lady, the source of whose tears was
nearly exhausted ((I qui le missel de ses
larmes etoit presque vuide) called hi in
back with a profound sigh, (par un tres
inerveilleux soupir) and addressed the
deeply afflicted knight in the following
terms : *^» You know, my friend, that we
women have tender and compassionate
hearts in all things that relate to the ob-
jects of our dearest affection ; but now I
feel myself endued with new strength, and
hope to God that he will conduct you
back to me in safety to my inexpressible
joy. Be of good cheer, then, my noble
friend, my only consolation, th^ sole ob-
ject of my thoughts, my highest treasure
in life and death, be not dejected ; for, on
account of your love, I will be continually
happy and of good courage. But dear as
my life is to you, send me no information
concerning yourself, but to my queen, from
whom I shall hear every thing." After
this discourse, says the biographer of the
knight^ the two lovers gave each other

THE FEMALE SEX, Q.AS

kisses without number, and without mea-
sure, and each kiss was accompanied with
an affecting sigh. In this state of sorrow-
ing joy and painful pleasure (these anti-
theses the wits of the age of chivalry were
very fond of) the knight and the lady con-
tinued till midnight. When the lovers
heard the clock strike twelve, they were
affrighted at the length of their interview,
kissed each other for the last time, and at
this parting embrace, the lady put a dia-
mond ring of great value on the finger of
the knight*.

Imitations of knight-errantry were fre-
quently attached to the tournaments held
so lately as the conclusion of the fifteenth
century. On the last day of sl Pas (TArmSs
held in 1493, near Pontoise, by a Che-
valier de Sandricourt and his companions
in arms, the knights repaired to a neigh-
bouring wood, which they denominated la
Forest desvoyable^ in quest of adventures,
and to fight with every one whom they
should meet within its precincts-|-.

Among all the ages of chivalry, there
was none in which it flourished to such a

• ColomhiA-e, I. p. 274, 275. From the Hisloire de
SaintrS, written in the same tone as the life of Boucicaut.
" *> (Jo lorn Me, I. p. 1C9.

Y3

244 HISTORY OF

degree, at least in France, or that produced
so n\any celebrated knights as the four-
teenth ; and in this very century so great
was the arrogance of the nobles, aad so
frequent were their acts of injustice, that
scarcely a day passed but what complaints
were made at court by ladies, both mar*
ried and unmarried, who had been perse-
cuted, carried off, seduced, and violated
by their powerful ni^^h hours*. When-
ever the Marshal de Boucicaut, the flower
of chivalry, heard these complaints, he'
lent all his influence to give them weight
with the king. Unfortunately, two cen-
turies later, the kings of France were stilL
too weak to check the atrocities of their -
powerful nobles. The Marshal de Bouci-*
caut, with twelve other knights, at whose
head was a cousin of the king, therefore re-
solved to found an order for the protec-
tion of the fair sex, to which they gave the
appellation of the order de la Dame Blan-
che (i tEscu VercL This institution the
members engaged themselves to support
at first for tlie space of five years. In the
letters announcing the foundation, which
they circulated throughout all France, the
protectors of the ladies declared their in--

* JJ is (aire de Messire Jean de Boucicaut, />, 143.

THE FEMALE SEX. .245

tehtion to hasten to the aid of every fair
one who called upon them for assistance,
either singly or with united force. At the
same time they made known to all the
gentlemen, knights, and esquires of their
nation, that if any of them had made or
intended to make a vow to engage in a just
combat, either to display his prowess or
his love to his mistress, he might apply to
any of the thirteen knights of the " W hite
Lady with the Green Shield" he pleased^
who would not foil to facilitate to every
knight of good family and fair reputation,
the accomplishment of his vow. Each of
them, continued they, who is challenged
to honourable fight, will endeavour within
forty days to find a place, and an umpire
to decide the contest. If he cannot meet
with an umpire, he will inform the chal-
lenger of the circumstance, that he may
fix upon a place and an umpire, and when
he has made the knight acquainted with
his determination, the latter will infallibly
repair within thirty days to the appointed
place. None of them will object to fight
with sharp weapons to the last extremity,
(h toute autrance) and even on this con^
dition, that the vanquished shall be the
prisoner of the conqueror ; but both par-

y3

£40 HISTORY or

ties must previously agree upon a sum for
wliicli the captiv^e may at any time be ran-
somed. — The insignia of this order of
kni^ht-errants consisted of a golden shield
enatnellcd with green, containing the figure
of a white lady, and which was bound
round the arm.

The follies and adventures of the mad-
dest of the knight-errants are nothing in
comparison of the ludicrous extravagancies
of the tribunals or courts of love, (cours
d' amour) y and of the societies of love,
which originated in the twelfth, thirteenth,
and fourteenth century, and were imitated
so lately as during the seventeenth. Igno-
rant writers have given currency to the
opinion, that the times of these courts of
love were the pericul at which the tender
passion had attained the highest degree of
purity and refinement, and they have ren-
dered the love of the good old times
(amour du hon vieux tems,amour antique J
a proverbial expression for innocent and
virtuous love; but the veny institutions of
the age of chivalry, which, on the faith of
others, jXH^ple are accustomed to regard
with the highest ailmiration, are the most
monstrous productions of the middle ages,
the most striking proofs of the greatest
perversion of the understanding, and no

THE FEMALE SEX. 247

less depravity of heart, without which they
could not possibly have taken place.

As early as the twelfth centuiy, the
gallantry originating in chivalry and tour-
naments^ or the exterior respect paid to
the sex, the indolent leisure, and frequent
festivities of the princes, gentlemen, and
knights, but above all, the inventive ima-
gination of the Troubadours, concurred in
the institution of courts of love*. The
greatest numoer, and the most famous of
these courts of love, were held in Provence,
the native country of the Troubadours.
The persons who presided at them were
either kings and princes, or celebrated
princesses, and if one of the former offici-
ated as president, he was entitled Prince
d*Amour, or Prince du Pays dans les
cours d Amour. The courts of love had
not only presidents, like other tribunals,
but all the different offices belonging to
the first parliaments of the nation-J-; which
were filled by ladies and gentlemen of the
highest rank. The jurisdiction of the
Omits d Amour was very extensive. They

* Cours d^amour, parlements d'amour, oii de courtoisie
et de gentilessie. See Roland sur Ut prtfgativt$ tits
Dames chez Us Gaulois, Si. Palaye, If, p. 15, &c.
p. 62, &c.

t Holland, p, 44.

.C48 HISTORY OF

heard and decided all disputes between
lovers, enacted ordinances respecting the
rights of man and wife and of lovers of both
sexes, introduced new customs and abolish-
ed old ones, and particularly discussed all
questions relative to the essence and the
expressions of love, the excellencies and
failings of the fair sex, and on the privi-
leges, duties, and sacrifices of loverB.
Writers of the fifteenth century have col.
lected decisions of the courts of love, and
celebrated lawyers of the succeeding age
have with great erudition and truly ludi-
crous gravity commented upon them in
Latin* ; and from these arrets ddammir,
or arresta ainorum, as from the cotempo-
rary romances of chivalry, we may perceive
that the jurisprudence and the philosophy
of love in the middle ages, perfectly re-
sembled the jurisprudence, the divinity,
and the philosophy of the schools, that is,
that they were just as subtle and unprofit-
able, if not so pernicious as the latter.
The corruption of morals and barbarism,
or the deficiency and decrease of useful in-
struction and information, have ever led
mankind from the paths of truth and
nature into the mazy labyrinths of specu-

• Holland, p. 146, &c.

THE FEMALE SEX. £43

ion and error. Thus the very game
ises which occasioned the (ruitless, fri-
ouSj and dangerous inquiries of the
:ient sophists^ and later dialecticians
ong the Greeks^ as well as the subtleties
the modem Platonists, also produced
: futile researches of the scholars, no less
n those of the Troubadours, kitights,
I courts of love of the middle ages. As
[e as we are justified in concluding that

Greeks in the times of the ancient
hists and the later dialecticians, or the
)eks and Romans in the times of the
dem Platonists were better, more saga-
18, or more enlightened, than at other
iods when they did not pursue such
less speculations, so little are we autho-
?d to infer, that the scholars, the Trou-
lours, and the knights of the middle
s were more intimately acquainted with
:ure and the tender passion than their
pendants, because they proposed more
truse disquisitions, and made more subtle
inctions than the latter. On the contrary,
may conclude with certainty, that the
•e i>eople talked of love, and the more
ipously they descanted upon it, the

they were acquainted with its real
ire ; and St. Palaye very judiciously
?rves, that the lovers of the middle

250 HISTORY or

ages had rather borrowed their language
and subtleties from Scotus than from
Plato. Accordingly, the metaphysics of
the schools, and the metaphysics of love
dwindled away nearly in an equal ratio
with the increasing illumination ahd gra-
dual amendment of manners in the six-
teenth* and following centurieis. The
academies of love, which were held even
by the great Cardinal Richelieu, and dur-
ing the reign of Louis XIV. in the Hotel
de Longueville, at Paris, were soon deserv-
edly subjected, like the romances of chi-
valry, to the lash of satire, because their
investigations, were as foreign to sound
philosophy as the antitheses, puns, and
flourishes of the romances were repugnant
to genuine wit*.

About the same period, in which it is
generally believed that the formal courts
of love ceased to be held, that is toward the
conclusion of the fourteenth century, or at
least during the reign of Charles VII. who
ascended the throne in 1380, arose an in-
stitution, called an amorous court (cour
a?noureuse)y which was exactly the same

kind of mockery of an actual court as the

»

* See among others, Rolland, p. 56, 57, where wc
find some accounts of the last imitations of the court
^^'flfwowr, which cannot be read without disgust.

^HE FfiMALfi SEX. £51

tribunals of love were imitations of real
parliaments*. This amorous court had
the same officers^ great and small, as the
courts of the French and other monarchs ;
such as marshals^ treasurers, chamberlains,
&c. all of whom were chosen from families
of the first distinction, and also secreta-
ries, advocates, huntsmen, and the like.
Among the officers and members of this
court, dedicated solely to love, were included
not only ladies and gentlemen of the highest
rank, but likewise doctors of divinity,
canons, preachers, and ecclesiastics of the
superior orders ; a motley mixture, which,
as a modern writer remarks, evinces the
corruption of a rude age, that did not
even understand the easy art of being vici-
* ous with a certain degree of decorum.

At these courts and tribunals of love,
iJie only subjects of discussion were the
torments an^ extacies of love, and the only
subjects of eulogy were the virtues, endow-
ments, and amiable qualities of the fair.
Each had an absolute mistress of his heart,
and of his thoughts, (dame souvercdne de
leurs pens^es) ; and though he had perhaps
never seen, but only heard of this charmer,
he extolled her in the most enthusiastic

• RoUandyp, 47, l62, &c.

252 HISTOEY OF

and extravagant strains*. To her he de-
voted his heart and his services, to her he
vowed and swore everlasting fidelity, "to
her he complained of his intolerable suf-
ferings, and communicated his respectful
wishes. None required more than heart
and mouth, terms borrowed from the
formalities customary at the investiture of

fiefs, and each accounted it an honour to

' i

hold his existence as a tenure dependent
on the favour, of his mistress. These af-
fected expressions of admiration and pas-
sion were accompanied with incessant
bowing, kneeling, and even prostration,
which were equally ludicrous and trouble-
some, and just as insincere as their verbal
protestations. All this ceremony and
parade, however, could neither repress nor
alter the disposition of the knights and
ladies. Amid their adorations, the knights
indulged in the most indecent allusions
and jests, and the poems or narrations of the
Troubadours and minstrels, were full of
obscenities, at which Ovid or other erotic
poets of more corrupt, but more refined
nations, would have blushed. In these
same obscene compositions the greatest
indecencies were blended with the most

• Se, Palaye, as above.

THE FBMALB ^EX. €.35

pious efl^sions, in the same manner as the
sentiments of the knights very frequently
combined excessive bigotry with extreme
licentiousness both in thought and deed.
I have already observed, that the lives of
the knights were at least as impure as their
compositions and those of their Trouba- -
dours ; and in this opinion the reader will
be the more confirmed when he is in-
formed, that it was almost an essential point
in the hospitality of knights, that either
they or their consorts provided for a friend
or stranger of distinction a handsome girl
for a bed-fellow to amuse him during the
night*. Let us not then, may we justly
exclaim with St. Palaye, trust the praises
which one age bestows, and is in the habit
bestowing on another.

The constant, pure, and tender love of
ancient times has ever been held up by the
moralists of every age as a pattern to tfieir
contemporaries ; and as Marot deplored
the extinction of the love of the good old

* St, Palace, as above. See also. Vol, IL p. 6g,
For. this reason it was one of the most common vows of
l^niffhts not to sleep with a pretty girl till they had accom'
plisntd ibis or the other object. It was likewise a ie»
gular practice with the knignts to take with them ooeor
moie handsome females in their hunting excursions, that
they might omvert any thicket they pleased into a Paf^ian
^rove, and sacrifice whenever it suited them to th^ god*
oesa of love.

VOL. I. Z

254 HlSTOilY OF

times, so did the poets who lived two of
tixree centuries before him*. Hugues
Brunet, one of the first Troubadours, la-^-
mented that the lovers of his age, to the
equal detriment of good morals and their
owa happiness, demanded, at the very
commencement of love, the highest re-
wards of their passion, and prodigally la-
vished in one day, or in a few days the
1'oys of love, which in the good old times
lad satisfied the most ardent lovers for
three months together. " I have myself
seen those times," says the poet, '^ inwliich
a ribbon, a ring, a glove, was a sufficient
remuneration for all the proofs of attach-
ment and respect which a lover had given
for a whole year to his goddess. Now-
a-days lovers give up every thing for lost
if they do not immediately obtain the
ultimate object of their desires. In those
happy times, which are now no more, they
preferred a state of hope to the possession
of the highest happiness, and why ? Be-
cause the lover, too early gratified, would
too quickly have lost the pleasing thorns
of desire by which he was impelled. Why ?
Once more I repeat it, because the highest
fa\Ors which pure and chaste love long re-
seives in store, are a thousand times
sweetar than those which impure love so

; Si. Paloj/Cf il. jp. 21, 70.

THE FEMALE SEX. 255

profusely squanders.*' — If Brunei and other
poets of the early times of the Troubadour^
nad not bestowed the same partial praises on
the days of their youth, as tlie writers of
every age are accustomed to- lavish on this
morals of the preceding, still it must be
inferred that the knights and ladies either
were, or endeavoured to be, what in tli«
sequel they only wished to have the ap-
pearance of being; but that the times, in
which the ladies were chaste and the
knights constant and virtuous,passed away
with the same rapidity as the dawn o^
science in the age of Charlemagne ; thaty
finally, the early period of chivalry was
tegacded in succeeding centuriesl, as the
golden times of the middle ages, which^
are imagined by each generation to have
ceased only in that which preceded it. .

If then, with the follies of the knight-
errants, and the absurdities of the courts
and tribunals of love, we unite the ludi-
crous extravagancies of the amorous orders
and fraternities, we shall obtain a tolerably
correct idea of the spirit and of the love
of ancient chivalry. One of these amor-
ous fraternities was instituted in the time
of the chevalier de la Tour, who has de-
scribed it by the names of Galois and Ga-

Z 2

t56 HIiTOXT OF

hise**. The knights, esqaires, and ladies
hekmffDg to this order, made love their
Deity, and actually moulded the dotiea
and wernce ai love into a religions worship.
They soi^t opportnnities of giving eaob
other proo6 of their zeaT for the divini^
whom they adored, and particalariy ta
surpass one another in the $>rtitade with
wiiich they endowed the inoonvenienciea
of the weather, and of the seasons. The
members of both sexes conducted tiiem*
selves in summer as though it had beea
winter, and vice versa^ In summer, these
fanatics wore the i(rarmest clothing, and
the thickest furs, and stilt farther augment--
ed the heat by keeping prodigious fires.^
In winter, on the contrary, they dressed
themselves in the thinnest garments, slqit
undar the lightest coverings, decorated
their fire-places with evergreens and flow-
ers, when they could procure them, and
Irx>ked upon it as a di$<grace to keep a
fire, or to warm themselves at one in the
juost intense cold. When a member of
this fraternity visited a married female
belonging to the order, her husband im-
mediately retired, and did not return home
till the stranger had quitted his house»

TIIEPEMALE SEX. 25?

Hence arose a community of wives, a
practice adopted by other fanatical sects
at different periods. This fraternity of
the Galois and Galoises continued, as
the historian informs us, till most of the
members of the order perished with cold,
and the good knight entertains no doubt,
that the gentlemen and ladies who died in
the performance of the duties of their
order, were really and virtually martyrs to
love.

J ^ • • *•> .-.I'll

353

t59 BiSTOBY av

CHAPTER VII.

Of the State of the Female Sex among the

Greeks.

Though there was an extraordinary coin-
cidence between the other nations of Celtic
origin in their habitations, food, and dress;
in their conduct towards^ their women,
children, servants, and captives ; in their
laws respecting marriage, property, and
.iJifccession ; in their feudal constitution^
tournaments, and single combats, from the
mbst ancient times till the end of the
middle ages; yet the Greeks and Romany
differed — and the former still more than
the latter — in all these points from ' the
most generous nations of the globe. Were
we merely to re^rd the architecture, drei^,
and food of the Greeks and Romans ; their
treatment of women, children, domestics,
and slaves ; their laws relative ta matri*
mony, property, and inheritance; their
{propensity to unnatural gratifications, and
their love of courtezans, we might imagine,
that they had the same origin with the
Orientab of Asia and Africa^ and the

THE FEMALfi SEX. £59

Slavon nations of Europe, The primitive
inhabitants of Greece, it is true, were Sla-
▼ons^ either entirely pare, or with very-
little intermixture ; and it was not till a
subsequent period that Uiese Slavon tribes
in Greece became blended with colonies
of a nobler race. Had it nbt been for this
mixture of the Pelasgi with the Hellenes,
the Greeks would never have, adopted the
athletic excercises of the Celtic nations, or
attained such a high degree of civilization:
they could never have made such numer*
ous discoveries in the arts and sciences ;
nor finally, could they ever have manifest-
ed such an enthusiasm for liberty, such
love of their country, and other exalted
virtues, or performed those glorious achiev--
ments by which they acquired immorta*
lity, and rendered themselves the benefac-
tors of the whole human race. By the
various intermixtures of the Slavonic and
Celtic tribes, the nobler blood of the latter
became predominant in certain regions;
bttt nevertheless, so much of the ancient
Slavonic constitution was left even in
Attica itself, that its pecuHar characterise
tics may be traced, till the latest period;
in every part of the public and domestic
life • of the Greeks ; in the relations be-
tween parents and ddiMren^ husbands and

260 HISTORY OF

wives, masters and slaves ; in all their law^^
as well as in their prevailing customs and
vices. To this mixed origin of the Greeks
alone can it be ascribed that this celebrat-
ed people, which in certain respects so
nearly resembled the most spirited and
magnanimous nations of our division of the
globe ; in other points, and especially in
its general conduct to the sex^ and its laws
concerning women, appeared much more
closely allied to the Orientals and to the
Slavonic nations of Europe.

Though later writers assure us that, at
the time of Cecrops, women were admitted
into the public assemblies of the people^
and that this fugitive first introduced per-
manent marriages, and with only one wife*,
it is nevertheless most clearly demonstrated
by Homer and all the subsequent Greek
writers of any authenticity, that no more
respect was paid to the sex in ancient than
in modern times, that women were not
less rigidly confined ; that they were
bought and sold ; that the females of th^
lower classes were forced to perform the
same drudgery as in the East, and that
))o]ygamy,or rather concubinage, was uni*
Tersaily practised without imputation.

4

• Ooguei, F«(. J2I,p, 40, §md Ml.

THE FEMALE SEX. ^6%

Hence the heroes and kings of the fabulous
ages had as many children as aare contained
in the harems of Oriental princes ; for the
same reason illegitimate birth was not re-
garded as disgraceful, and natural childrea
enjoyed the same privileges as the offspring
of the lawful wife*.

Goguet has justly observed*!", that, in
the sentiments of the Greeks, and in the
conduct of both sexes during the heroic
-ages, there are many I'eal or apparent con-
tradictions which we scarcely know how
to re'concije. Though the Greeks in those
times shut up their females after the jirac-
tice of the Orientals, it was nevertheless
usual for guests to be dressed and undress-*
ed, to be conducted to the bath and to
bed, and even to be anointed by womeri||t «
whose attendance on these occasions bears
a great resemblance to the hospitality of
the knights of the middle ages, and there*
fore it was probably an European custom.
From the seclusion of the women among
the Greeks of remote antiquity, it might
naturally be supposed, that they were

* See the passages of Homer quoted in Goguet, Vol. //,
p. 130, 386. AihencBus, XIII. p, 1. Plutarch, Lf. Q,
60. Edit. Ri'iskij.

f Goguc't, as above, and p. 3G4.

J Ibid., II. p.3^Q.

fifid flISTOKT OF

more jealoas than the pare Celtic nations^
and tbat thejr punished infidelitjr and aduU
tely with much greater rigortiian the btter.
The €rreeks of the heroic ages, however,
like many depraved or barbarous polyga-
mic nations of Asia iand .Arica, r^arded
the seduction or infidelity of their vrives
not as an indelible disgrace, but asan injury
that might easily be repaired. They were
accordingly satisfied with levying a fine
upon the seducers, and the restitution of
the sum they had paid at their marriage
to the fathers of their brides*. The same
want of delicacy which this conduct of
husbands betrays, is likewise manifested in
the occasion and object of the Trojan war.
Agamemnon and M enelaus instigated all
twk moriarchs and nations of Greece to ac-
company a cornuted and despised king in
an expedition to another division of the
globe, not for the purpose of avenging the
forcible rape of a virtuous and universally
beloved queen, but to recover an adulter-
ous wife who was advancing in years, who
had fled of her own accord with her para-
mour, and had lived ten years with him
while her husband and his allies were en-

• Goguii, JII. p. J 30.

TfiS FEMALE 9£3t. 26S

camped before the walls of Troy. A^s the
history of the Celtic tribes aflbixis no ex-
ample of any such undertaking as the
Trojan war, or any conduct on the part of
the kings like that of Menelaus and Aga^
memnon^ neither shall we find among the
European nations of Celtic origin^ even in
the rudest periods of the most remote air-
tiquity, such a want of the sense of deco-
rum, as appears on many occasions in
Homer, and which is erroneously termed
simplicity of manners. Though the num->
ber of slaves of both sexes which the kings
and heroes of the fabulous ages, and their
wives and daughters had to wait upon
them, far surpassed that of the attendants
at the courts of the kings, princes, and
knights of antiquity, or of the middle
ages, yet the former stooped to many
menial offices which the Ic^er always
deemed unworthy of their rank and birth.
Heroes and the sons of princes slaughtered
cattle and broiled the flesh themselves;
harnessed and unharnessed horses and
other animals ; carried burdens from the
chariots into their habitations : and prin-
cesses did not disdain the employment of
washing foul linen, nor were they asham-
ed to be conveyed home in the same vehi-

404 MisTOKY or

cle wth the purified garments. * The ac-
counts which we bare of the modem Sla^
Tonic nations are^ it is true, extremely
imperfect, but yet it must be obvious to
every attentive reader, that similar exam-
ples of indecorum, and the same mixture
of pomp and meanness still distinguish
these people from nations possessing a
more delicate organization and more re*
fined sensibility.

I shall not here repeat the calumnies
which most of the Greek poets and philo-
sophers, and among the former Euripides
in particular, and among the latter Plato,
the great panegyrist of unnatural love^
have advanced against the sex. ^jf To con-
vey a just idea of the state of the female sex,
and of the sentiments of the men among
the most enlightened people of Greece,
we need only cite what Xenophon has
noted down on this subject firom the
mouth of his preceptor in his Art of Eco-
nomy, and what Solon left behind in his

* Goguet, ir. p. 366, 307.

t Tlie sentiments of Plato respecting love and women
are introduced in an essay on the unnatural propensities of
the (j reeks, among my miscellaneous works, and the
gross calumnies of Kunpides are inserted in my Rudi-
ments of the Flue Arts, in estimating the chiiracter of
that jx)ct.

THfi FEMALE SEX. ' 0,63

laws. A faithful delineation of the con-
dition and rights of the female sex among
the Athenians will facilitate the decision
of the question, whether husbands and
wives were more happy among the Greeks,
and whether the latter approached nearer
to the objects for which the sex was de-
signed, than among the civilized nations
of modern Europe.

During the time of the wisest of the
Greeks and the most illustrious <5f their
disciples, * the daughters of persons of
distiftction were not, it is true, sold like
slaves, and even received a dowry from
their fathers ; but yet they were married,
unasked, to men with whom they were
not acquainted, and whom, in general,
they had never seen. They were com-
monly married at such an early age that
they were as ignorant as children how to
act or how to speak, -f- Till the day of their
nuptials, which regularly took place in
theif fifteenth year, or at an earlier pe-*
riod, girls at Athens were shut up with
the greatest care, that they might see,
hear, and speak, as little as possible.:};

♦ See XcnophorCs Oikonomikos, c, 3, 7» 10. Meiner$
Qeschichte der fVissenschqften, II. p. 72, &c.

t Xenopkon, as above, p, 2QQ, Thieme's edit.

J Ibid, c, 17, p. 313.

VOL. I, 2 A

266 HISTORY OF

They had' no other society and no other
instructors but their mothers and their
slaves, and the science of dress constitu-
ted the whole of their attainments. It
was, therefore, regarded as something
extraordinary, when girls had learned
certain female arts, such as spinning,
weaving, and embroidery. As the Greeks
were of opinion with the Orientals, that
lawful wives - were not even destined
for pleasure, but merely for the pro-
creation of legitimate children, the mo-
thers of well-bred daughters gave their
children no other advice than to be chaste
and faithful to their husbands. Even the
consort of Ischomachus, who is held up
by the latter as the pattern of \ perfect
housewife and of an excellent mother,
being asked by her husband, soon after
their marriage, whether she thought he
had taken her to wife merely for the sake
of pleasure, replied : that her mother had
given her no other instruction than to be
feithful to her husband; she, therefore,
knew not how to do any thing else ; but
was ready to learn if he would teach her.
Thus, when young females were delivered
to their husbands, they were not greater
strangers to the latter than to their du-
ties and the concerns of domestic econo-

THE FBMALB SEX. 26?

my. After the nuptials, it was some time
before they were so tame as to venture to
speak witn their husbands, or the latter
with them.* It would appear, that most
of the Athenian women gave themselves
as little concern about household affairs as
the females of the East ; for, the few who
paid any attention to them were extolled
as model* of virtue, after their husbands
had formed them, by their instruction,
'into good housewives. This was done by
Isdiiomacfaus, the friend of Socrates ; this
was done also by the Athenian sage, who
recommended the same method to all his
disciples. He was accustomed to say, that^

Mb a flock which is badly tended im-
peaches the shepherd, and an unruly or

. indolent horse accuses his master, so a
neglectful and careless housewife reflected
shame on her husband, because he had
not instructed and brought her up better.-f-
The most enlightened of the Greeks li-
mited the duties of a good wife, house-
wife, and mother, to these points ; :{; that
she should be faithful to her husband, that
she should go abroad and expose herself

• Xenophon, f. 289, 3*4.

t Hid, p, 28t).

J Hid, p. 296, 317> &C.. Plutarch, VII. />. 1^

2 A 2

^Ai BI5TDKT OF

to the Tiew of strangers as little as possi-
ble ; that ^be should take care of what the
hiuband acquired, and expend it with
frugahty; that she should pay maternal
attention to the younger children di both
htxes^ and keep an ipcesi$antly watchful
eye upon her grown-up daughters. '* Xo
hou^,"* says Socrates, or his friends whom
he regarded as a pattern for alj^&thers of
families, ^^ can subsist, in whidi the fio-
((oisitions of industry are not ke|»t tfiffs^
ther and distributed with econon^. Jyi|»
ture has, therefore, endowed the man 9nd
the woman with such qualities and fiicol-
ties as will, if well employed, conduo^ to
the attainment qi both objects. Tbn
hubbaad is incontestably adapted to those
occupations which must, be performed
abroad, lie is endued with strength and
ability to endure heat and cold, the far
tij^ucH of travelling, of a military life, and
tlui labours of the field, and courage to
cidend his wife, his children, and his pro-
perty, from enemies and dangers. To the
woman, on the other hand, Providencfi
has denied strength, courage, and th^
nower to bear fatigue, and has implanted
m her bosom maternal tenderness towards
h(!r new-Vjorn offspring ; and, by this con-
stitution of her nature, weak and timid

THE FEMALE SEX. 269

woman is charged, as if by Divine com-
mand, with the superintendence of the
domestic concerns. The very timidity of
the female is much more advantageous for
the preservation of that which the strength
and industry of the man has acquitted.
Temperance, frugality, and presence of
mind, have been dispensed to both sexes,
in nearly equal portions, by the bountiful
hafid of Nature, because both sexes have
equal occasion for these qualities; and if
ene or other of them be predominant or
deficient in man or woman, the bonds of
matrimony, by which the husband and
the wife are alike united, tend to restore
the equilibrium. The mistress of a family
ought to resemble the queen of the bees.
As she remains continually in the hive, to ,
send out the labouring bees, to store up
the materials which they bring back, and
to distribute them in due time ; so a good
housewife should attend to the interior of
her habitation, dispatch those slaves that
are to work abroad, assign tasks to such as
ghe keeps at home, and take under her
care the produce of their labours. It is
farther her duty to distribute what is
wanted for daily use, lest as much might
be wasted in a month as would suffice for
liie consumption of a year. It is her pro*

2 A3

1270 HISTORY OF

vince to see that the wool of the flocks is
manufactured into stuiTs for clothing and
other purposes, and that all fruits, dry or
moist, are stored away in such a manner
that they may not spoil or take any injury.
Finally, the mistress of a family should
deposit the arms, clothing, and furniture,
in the safest and most suitable apartments
of the house ; she should take care that
they are kept clean and in good ordei^
and that, after they have been used, t£ey
may be returned to their appointed place^^;
she ought to pay attention to the sick
slaves of both sexes, to reward the indus-
trious, to puiEiish the negligent and the
idle, and to instruct the ignorant. If,''
continues Ischomachus, addressing his wife,
*^ ' you add to the careful performance of
all 'these domestic duties fidelity to me,
and tenderness to your children, you may
even make me your servant : you will haye
no occasion to fear any diminution of my
love when you grow old ; but, on the
contrary, you may confidently expect to
secure so much the more regard, the more
attention you bestow jointly with me qq
your domestic concerriis ;. for all tlie com-
fort and happiness of matrimony, as of
human life in general, depend not upom
personal attractions, which the good and

THE FEMAL£ SEX. ^71

the bad may alike possess, but on virtues
by which the good alone are distinguish-
ed."

Thus, it appears, that from the best of
tlie Grecian women their husbands re-
quired nothing more than that they should
hear them children, and superintend the
domestic economy. The public duties and
private concerns of the men were 9II
transacted abroad, or at least out of the
habitations of the women, which were se-
parated by the baths from those of their
husbands and the male slaves, lest their
female attendants should form too intimate
a connexion with the men, without the
knowledge and consent of their masters
and mistresses. * In the conduct of his
affairs, : it n^ver entered into the head of
the husband to ask the opinion of his
wife, because he knew that, in conse*-
quence of her education and continual se^-
clusion, it was impossible she could un-
derstand any thing of the subject; and^
for the same reason, the wife could never
conceive the idea of intermeddling in the
concerns of the husband. Wives beings
therefore, totally ignorant of the affiiirs of
their husbands, and being neither polished

27^ HISTORY OF

by instruction, nor by the society of men ;
for women of character, whether married
or single, were invariably excluded from
the company of the latter ; their conversa-
tion could not prove interesting or instruc-
4:ive to persons of the other sex: men^
consequently, sought only the society of
men, and even Ischomachus, one of the
most virtuous and upright of the Athe-
nians, acknowledged, that there were fevr
men, for whom he entertained a great
friendship and regard, with whom he con-
versed so seldom or so httle as with his
wife. * Their total exclusion, however,
from the circles, and in some measure
from the presence of their husbands, did
not prevent the Grecian females from
painting their cheeks and other parts of
their body white and red, or even from
tinging their eyes with some particular
colqur.-j-

AH the laws of Solon relating to the
female sex evince either the Oriental spi-
rit of the legislator, or the Oriental vices
and propensities of the Athenian women.
Notwithstanding the number and precision
of Solon's laws respecting the educatioa

* Xenojjkon, J. p, 313.
t Xenophon <Econ. c, X.

THE FEMALE SEX. £7S

f>F boys, he maintains the profoiitidest si-
lence with regard to that of girls ; because
the latter in fact received no education
whatever, and because they were 'merely
regarded as members of families, like
slaves, but not as component parts of the
people. Solon thought that the females of
^is nation were not confined with suffi*
^ient rigour ; and^ that their virtue migbk
%B more securely preierved by inHreaied
fNr6eaut]4)%> he, therefore, directed thsft
domett should nol go abroad in th^da^i^
iittp^, except in full dress; or by night:,
without torches, and in a chariot. * So* ^
l.oa placed no more confidence in the do*
-mestic integrity of wives, than in their
conjugal fidelity. In order, therefore, to
prevent embezzleme«t, he prohibited them
to take out of the houses of their hus-
bands eatables of the value of more than
an obolus, or to carry a basket more than
^ cubit in length. -^ Among the Atheni-
ans in Solon's time, it was customary, as
in all the East, for women to repair to the
graves of their deceased friends, to lament
their loss, to tear their faces and bosoms,
and to repeat this practice at certain

* Plut, in Solone, I. p. 35g,
t Hid,

S74 HisTomT or

timesy for a considerable period after their
interment. Solon not only forbade these
commonly feigned and barbarous expres-
sions of female grief, but likewise the
frequent visits paid to the graves and mo-
numents of strange persons ; because, at
Athens, as throughout all the East, they
furnished pretexts and opportunities for iU
jicit intrigues. The Athenian legislator,
indeed^ deprived his fellow-citizens of ikib
power ibey had previously pincssed to
,idl their diildren and their sisteis ; but
lie allowed fathers, brothers, and guar-
dians, this inhuman right, if their daugh-
ters, sisters, and wards, had been guUty
of an indiscretion and lost their inno-
cence.* Solon likewise endeavoured to
retrench tlTe costly provision made for fe-
males at their marriage ; but this good in-
tention was frustrated by the too-deeply
rooted Oriental practice of carrying, with
great parade, wearing-apparel, ornaments,
and money, to the house of the bride-
groom. ^ Dowries were not forbidden,
nut rather encouraged by Solon ; so that,
at Athens, as at Rome, there were richly
portioned females and opulent heiresses^

♦ Pel it Leg. Attic, p. 159.
t Ibid. p. 4r.O, 45 U

THE FEMALE SEX, ^75

who, from their wealth, became mistresses
over their husbands, a circumstance which
frequently happens in the East. Not-
withstanding their riches, however, fe-
males were always regarded, in the eye of
the law, as infants or minors, and they
were consequently subjected to perpetual
guardianship. On the death of the father,
unmarried females fell under the tutelage
either of their eldest brother, or their
nearest ,male relation, who enjoyed the
same authority over their jsisters and wards
as their Others had possessed* Brothers
were obliged to portion their sisters, and,
by Solon's laws, the nearest relatives were
obliged to marry destitute orphans or to
give them a dowry. * The commerce with
female slaves or concubines, and also with
public courtezans, was as frequent and un-
avoidable at Athens as in the East; and,
therefore, Solon was oblijged, like the
OHental legislators, to enjoin husbands,
especially such as married orphans, to lie
with their legitimate wives at least thrice
a month,+ — a law which was not more
scrupulously observed at Athens than in

* Petit. Leg. Attic, p. 452. Meurs, Lect. Attic. J\ p. 1,
Themis Attic, II, p. 13.

f Plut. in Solon, /. p. 356.

Q76 HISTORY OF

the Easf . Solon did not deprive the Athe-
nian women of the Uberty of procuring
divorces from their husbands, who might
also repudiate their wives, on returning
their dowry, or allowing them a scanty
maintenance ; but the legislator loaded the
right he allowed them, of parting from a
worthless husband with such clogs, that pro-
bably most women would rather have sub-
mitted to any hardship than have vientured
to take the step prescribed by their legislator.
A woman, who wished to obtain a divorce
from her husband, was obliged to prefer
her complaint and petition in person to
the Archon,* to which the Athenian fe-
males, who were continually shut up and
secluded from the society^ of men, must
have felt an invincible repugnance, as to
the most public disgrace. The seducers
of wives, daughters, and sisters, if caugbt
in the foet, might be dispatched with im-
punity; but the lives of the guilty females
were spared. > The latter, according to
Solon's laws, were no longer allowea to
dress like females of charadter, and con-
sequently they durst not appear abroad,
or at public festivals and diversions. If

* Petit, Leg. Attic, as above. Meurs. Themis Attic.

JI. p.Q,

THE IPEMAlft SEX. ft7T

they ventured to do either the one or the
other, any person might attack the de-
graded creatures, strip them of their orna-
ments, tear in pieces their apparet, and
even beat and abuse, but not mutilate or
^ill them*. In Solon's time, there must
have been a great number of convenient
or easy husbands at Athens, for he pro-
hibits the keeping of adulterous wives, or
the reunion with them, on pain of losing
all civil honour, of being excluded from
the assemblies of the people, from holding
public offices, and from participating in the
direction of public affairs. All these re-
strictions, however, like the locks, bolts,
and watchmen of the Gynaikia^ were far
too weak to divert the toiTent of universal
corruption from the solitary abodes of the
women, and to rescue such females as
plunged into the stream. As early as the
Peloponnesian war, women of the highest
rank pointed in public at Alcibiades and
other handsome youths, and were the first
to seduce the innocence of these hopefol
young citizens. About the period of the
downfal of liberty, adultery was as com-
mon as infidelity, bribery, and treason
against the state ; and feniale honour was as

* Meiners Geschichle der IFtssenschqften, 11, p. 53.
VOL, I. 2B '

278 HISTORY OF •

rare as any other public or private vir-'
tue*.

As the Athenians and most of the other
Greeks coincided in general with the
Orientals in their estimation and treat-
ment of won^jpn^ so also they i*esembled
them in their attachm^it to courtezans,
and in their notions respecting connexions
with those females. They were not only
tolerated in Greece, but they were regard-
ed, as in the ancient kingdoms of the £ast
and among the modern Pagans of Hindos-
tan, as servants of deities. The Asiatic
Greeks, after the example of their neigh*
hours, originally honoured common women
as priestesses of Venus, who adored their
peculiar deities, celebrated their peculiar
festivals, and erected and frequented their
peculiar temples. In the mother-country,
courtezans seem to have first attained in
the opulent and luxurious Corinth the
same privileges and consequence as their
Asiatic sisters. After the discomfiture of
Xerxes, the Corinthians ascribed the sal-
vation of their city and of the rest of Greece,
principally to the intercession of the priest-
esses of Venus and tlie protection of that

* Meiners Geschichte der fflssenschqflen, II. p. 606 ;
and ako^ Geschichte dcs Luxus der Athenienser, p. 41.

THE FEMALE SEX. 279

goddess. The grateful Corinthians, there-
fore, had pictures painted of the pious fair
to whom the country owed its preserva-
tion, that the memory of their services
might be transmitted to posterity, as the
Athenians painted the heroes who had
fought at Marathon. At all the festivals
of Venus, the people applied to the public
courtezans as the most powerful interces-
sors with the goddess, and it was even
thought meritorious to vow, in dangers or
calamities, to devote a new priestess to
Venus. Solon himself deemed it advan-
tageous to his native city, to introduce at
Athens the worship of the terrestrial
Venus, and to invite thither public courte-
zans as priestesses of the divinity.

In the first generations subsequent to
Solon's time, the courtezans occasioned no
great mischief to the morals and the fami-;
lies of the Athenians, for it was long*
thought disgraceful to visit their habita-
tions. In the age of Pericles, however^
and still more in the succeeding genera-
tions, till the downfal of the liberty of
Athens, courtezans were one of the prin-
cipal causes of the early depravity of youth,
and of the immorality that pervaded alb
ranks. W^hen Pericles was not ashamed
to receive Aspasia into his house^ and

2B 2

S80 HisTOET or

most distinguished Athenians did not
scruple to take their wives and daughters
to visit her, though it was well known that
she instructed young females in intrigue,
and filled all Greece with these seducers of
youth and destroyers of domestic happi-
ness ; men of alt ranks, both married and
unmarried threw themselves into the arms
of courtezans, who were certainly much
more interesting and accomplished than
the secluded wives and daughters of the
Greeks^ After the age of Pericles and
Socrates^ the most celebrated genends^
statesmen, orators, philosophers, poets, and
artists lived in celibacy, keepii^ eaurte^
zans, who accompanied them in journies
and in war. Demosthenes was not asham*
ed even to declare in public before the
people, that nven tbok wives to beget l^i-
timate children, concubines in order to
ensure good attendance, and courtezans
for the purpose of enjoying the pleasures
of love. Courtezans amassed wealth far
exceeding what any Greek ever acquired
by an honourable art or profession. They
])enetrated into the auditories of philoso-
phers, by whose disciples they were not
only tolerated but admired, and gained
the reputation of elegant writers. The
Ciwekjj er^ted to courtezaijis more splen-..

THE FEMALE SEX. 281

did monuments than to the greatest sages,
or to the saviours and deliverers of their
country ; and at length wrote their Hves
and adventures, with such pains and pre-
cision as they had scarcely bestowed on
the achievements and sj^eeches of the most
celebrated heroes, statesmen, and philoso-
phers. With the decline of public pros-
perity, and of the arts and sciences among
the Greeks, disappeared the Phrynes and
the Aspasias, the objects of the desires and
admiration of all Greece, and the living
models of the greatest master-pieces of
art; but yet the number of courtezans,
their rapacity, their intemperance, their
debauchery, and their extravagance con-
tinued to augment with same rapidity, as
the morals and states of the Greeks sunk
into corruption and decay*.

As the modern Greeks are much more
ignorant, and likewise more oppressed than
their forefathers under the dominion of the
Romans, common women can no longer
attain Ihe reputation, I had almost said,
the greatness, of the courtezans of the
age of Pericles and Demosthenes : but
yet the modern, like the ancient Greeks
have dancing-girls or common women, and

* See the Dialogues of Courtezans In Lucians works.

2 B 3

fi82 HTSTOHY OF

the state of the female sex in general is,
with scarcely any exception, the same
among the modem Greeks as it was some
thousands of years ago. The Greek females
are as invisible before marriage, and after
it as recluse as they formerly were. In
both states their apparel and ornaments
are the same as those of ancient times, and
their usages at weddings, lyings-in, and
funerals perfiectly correspond with those of
antiquity*. A few deviations^ are, how-
ever, observable ; as in the island of Mete-
lin, the ancient Lesbos, where daughters
inherit to the exclusion of their brothers-f* ;
and we are informed, that among the other
Greeks the eldest daughter on her marriage
has half of the father's fortune settled upon
her as a dowry, though there may be ten^
other children to provide forj*

* De Guys, I. p. 28, &c.

t Ibidl.p.46l,

J Toumejhrty I, p. 50. Besides the above' particulars
many others might be adduced to pi»ve the Oriental way
of thinking of the Greeks, so widely different from tha^of
the Cells. Among none of the nobler nations of our
di\ bion of the globe was unnatural love extolled so pub-
licly and with such enthusiasm as in Greece, an4 in no
other country was it necessary to adopt such measures as
^ were thonp:ht requisite by Solon for preserving the inno-
cence of boys and youths. (See my Gvschichie dtr H'is^
semchafien, IL p. 5t), 57). Sueh an idea could never
have entered the imagination of a Celtic legislator as that
paien&> brothers^ and guardi^uis could s^ not ooly'tke

THB FBMALE SEX. QBS

The Spartans differed from the Athe-
nians and all the other Greeks^ not only
in their political constitution and system
of education, but also in their treatment of
the female sex. If the Spartans, in an-
cient times, conducted themselves toward
their t^ives and daughters as the other
Greeks, and did not begin before the age
of Lycurgus, to allow them such exten-
sive rights and privileges as they enjoyed
from me time of that legislator till the
subversion of the republic ; it is impos-

chastity of their daughters, sisters, and female wards, but
even that of their sons, brothers, and joung male relations ;
and had they even conceived it possible, they would have
punished such monsters in a much more exemplary
manner than Solon, who attached no hi^er penalty to the
violation of the innocence of a boy, united to the offender
by the ties of blood, than the privation of civil honour^
(Ibid. p. 54 J, Among what European nations of Celtic
origin, were brothers permitted, as among the Greeks, to
marry their own sisters, and where else, did the violation
of a virgin incur, as among the Greeks, no heavier punish-
ment, tnan the necessity of marrying the injured female?
(Petit, p, 440, 446 J Among what other European
nation would people of character and respectability navv
suffered their. naked daughters to exhibit themselves a»
models to great artists, that from their most secret charms
eminent painters might compose the fisure of a goddess i
Closely as the Greek women were and stiU are confined they
have less genuine modestythan the other females of Europe.
They conceal themselves from the friends of their fatheis
and husbands, and are not ashamed to bathe in public, as
is still the practice among the women of the Orientals^
and of the Slavonic nations of Europe.

284 HISTORY OT

sible^ in my opinion^ to produce, in the
history of the world, a more striking ex«
ample of the authority of an individual,
and of the influence of the government
and laws upon the spirit of a nation, than
the deliverance of the Lacedaemonian fair,
from their ancient servitude, by Lycurgus,
and the consequence to which they were
elevated. But the peculiar dress, arms,
and accoutrements, and the characteristic
valour of the Spartans favour the supposi-
tion, that these people bad a greater portion
of Celtic blood in their composition than
the other Greeks, and for the same reason
I think it probable that the Spartan wo-
men were never so closely confined, or so
lightly esteemed, as the females of the rest
of Greece. Impossible as it would have
been for a legislator, among the more en-
lightened nations of Europe, to have ^com-
pelled fathers and husbands to treat their
wives and daughters with such cruelty as
did the ancient Greeks, excepting the
Spartans, and as the modem Oriental and
other Slavonic nations practise toward the
sex ; so impossible would it have been for.
Lycurgus to enforce such a mode of con-
duct towards women as his laws prescribe,
if the sentiments of the Spartans had re-
sembled those of the Athenians or of the

THE FEMALE SEX. £85

inhabitants of the East. liP 9 l^islator
could have produced 80 sudden an altera-
tion in notions interwoven, as it were, with
their very nature, and in the lot assigned
from time immemorial to the women,,
other legislators of Greece, besides Lycur-
gus, would probably have attempted the
same revolution, especially as they had
his example before their eyes. Solon,
however, and other legislators, instead of
alleviating the condition of females, con-
fined them, like the more recent founders
of religions in the East, within narrower
limits than those by which they were before
circumscribed. It may therefore be taken
for granted,' that the women of Sparta
previously enjoyed the same freedom and
respect as those of the Celtic nations ; and
that Ljrcurgus introduced only the unna-
tural regulations, which in some measure
dissolved the bonds of matrimony, en«
couraged a community of wives, and in-^
stilled masculine dispositions into th^
softer sex. However contrary to the na-.
tureand destination of the sex these inno*
vations might be, they were perfectly con^
sonant with the constitution of the state
newly organized by Lycurgus, in which all
the domestic and natural relations, especi-^
ally those between husband and wife^ and

286 HISTORY OF

between parents and children were abo-
lished^ that persons of both sexes and all
ages, might be united and held together
by no other bond but the love of their
country. The depravity of the female
sex, and the contempt in which it was
held in the other states of Greece, or the
numerous instances of patriotism and mas-
culine courage exhibited by the Spartan
women, rendered Plato and others not
ojily enthusiastic admirers of the laws of
ILycurgus, but so dazzled their understand-*
ings, that they proposed to introduce a
community of wives and a perfect equality
in the education and occupaticms of both
sexes in their imaginary states.

In Sparta*, girls, instead of being con-
fined, practised in the public gymnasiums^
like boys, all the exercises that can

Sromote strength, health, and beauty,
lany of these exercises required the com-
petitors to strip themselves of their apparel,
and at tliese contests of naked girls bache-
lors were not permitted to be present.
With respect to paying and receiving
visits, the Spartan females enjoyed the
same liberty as the men. Their appai^l.

* Xenophon de Rep. Lacedeemon, ch. ?. Phitai'ch,

THE FEMALE SEX. 287

was less cumbersome and less adapted to
concealment than that of the other women
<rf Greece; it was, in fact so contrived,
that a Lacedaemonian beauty could not
stir a step without shewing her leg, and
that when she thought it worth her while,
she might, without any extraordinary
effort of coquetry, exhibit all her charms,
not excepting that part of the body which
the Medicean Venus covers with her left
hand. The continual view of female charms
was so far from producing indifference in
the Spartans, that it inflamed their appe-
tites and rendered them more addicted
than the other Greeks to women, to whom
they at length became entirely subject.
To youths and men no incentive to great
achievements was so powerful, no disgrace
so humiliating, as the eulogies or satirical /
songs sung by j^^ixse^-^f young females,
and as the applause or the censure ^of
venerable matrons^ To preserve newly
married husbands from the danger of ex-
cessive indulgence, and the satiety result-
ing from it, Lycurgus directed, that they
should be permitted to pay only stolen
visits to their wives, and that after their
nuptials they should sleep as they had
before done with young men of their own
age. It was not rare for young couples to

S8S HISTORY ov

have children before the husband had
publicly visited his wife; for in Sparta it
was deemed disgraceful for a young man
to be found in company with his wife.
In order that as great a number as possible
of the most handsome^ robust, and courage-
ous citizens might be bom 'to the statey
Lycurgus permitted husbands to exchange
their wives, if any one hoped to beget
more and finer children by the wife of
another than by his own; an old man
might introduce a vigorous youth to his
wife, that he might have a fairer progeny
than he was himself capable of procreat*
ing ; nay, men who were distinguished by
beauty and valor, might even demand of
any husband an interview with hi^,^^ife,
that they might beget children like them-
selves with any women they pleased.

The masculine, gymnastic exercises
which Lycurgus prescribed for girls, were
productive of these evident advantages,
that the Spartan ^^^omen surpassed all the
females of Greece in personal beauty, and
still more in manly courage, fortitude, and
love of their country. These same exer-
cises, however, combined with the ground-
work of the disposition to % community of
wives, which was laid in the laws of Ly-
curgus, were attended with the still greater

THE FEMALE SEX. ^9

disadvantages of a boldness and pretensions
unbecoming the sex, and of an immo*
rality unparalleled in Greece. Hie perni-
cious effects of the unnatural laws of Ly-
cuipis relative to the education of girls
and the relaxation of the sacred bonds of
wedlock, were not apparent so long as the
Spartans observed the precepts of their
Jegi^ator, ^ long as they continued in
their ancient poverty, and retained their
simplicity of manners and the equality, or
rather community of property. In those
times of innocence, the germs of the cor-
ruption which Lycurgus by his laws had
sown in the hearts of the wives and
daughters of his fellow-citizens were not
yet unfolded ; and I am therefore inclined
to attach the more credit to what Plutarch
affirms in several passages of his work, that
the Spartans were strangers to adultery, aft
long as wealth, luxury, and intemperance
were unknown at Lacedsemon^^. A stranger,
conversing with Geradatos, the Spartan,
on the code of Lycurgus, expressed hift
surprize that the legislator had not pre«-
scribed any punishment for adultery, and
asked in what manner it was customary t4
punish those who were guilty oJF that

* PluL L p. 196. VL p. 85K
VOL, I. 3 C

iX90 HISTORY Ot

crime. ^^ How/' replied the Lacedsbmo*
uian, should there he adulterers in Sparta,
where riches, a love of pomp, and fond- .
ness for dress are deemed disgraceful, and
where modesty, frugality, and obedience to
the laws are alone respected and admired T*
The times in which such an observation
might with truth be applied to the Spar-
tans, ceased in the Peloponnesian war*.
After the victories gained by the Spartan
generals and armies at great distances from
their native country, and consequently
beyond the sphere of its laws and their
ministers, over the Greeks and barbarians,
who were equally corrupted, they imbibed
of them in a few years a spirit of insatiable
rapacity, and with it a correspondent love
of luxury and debauchery. WTien the
Spartans had once overthrown the main
pillars which supported their whole con-
stitution — poverty innocence, and all the
laws became too weak to prevent the in-
troduction of foreign treasures and foreign
vices. The seeds of corruption which had
heretofore lain- dormant m the hearts of
the wom'en, now spiiing up with a ra-
pidity which it was impossible to check.

* Mciners Geschichie der Wzssenschnften, IL p. 328^

THE FEMALE SEX. ^91^

Females, both married and single, disho4
noured themselves, their husbands, and
their fathers, depraved the minds of youth
and of their fellow -citizens, and rendered
the return to the ancient constitution and
the virtues of their forefathers totally im-
practicable. The Spartans were soon
punished for their degeneracy and for their
disobedience to the laws of Lycurgus, by
the most ignominious humiliation of their
once invincible country, by the almost
total depopulation of their territory, and
bv the incurable decline of the common-
wealth, which at length terminated in a
lingering death.

As earlv as the me of Plato and Xeno-
phou, and still more in the time of Aris-
totle, female honour was more rare at
Sparta than public virtue, and such was
the depravity of the sex, that the Lacedae-
monian females were a scandal to all the
rest of Greece, and the most intelligent
observers were of opinion, that the corrup-
tion of the women was the principal cause
of the decline and overthrow of the Spartan
gtate*. Adultery was so common as near-

♦ Xrnophon de Rep. Laccdctmorh Plutarrh, in Zy-
air^o, I. p. 190, &c. and es{)ecially Arisioi, 11. p, 9, in

civitate,

... . . • . ,

' 2 C 2

t9< BISTO&Y OV

ly to produce a perfect communtty of
wives ; and it was so far from being dis*
bonourable, that all the women envied an
adultress the possession of a handsome suid
valiant paramour, and the husbands en-
couraged the adulterer to prosecute his
intrigue, that he might present the state
with sons resembling himself*. The more
flagrant were the debaucheries of the Spar-
tan women, so much the more immoderate
became their pretensions, and so much
the more absolute their authority over their
degenerate husbands, who bowed their
necks to the yoke of their women, as they
submitted to that imposed by their appe-
tites and their vices. They began to be
treated as mistresses, and to be called by
that name ; and they not only assumed the
authority of mistresses over their husbands

• Plutarch in Pyrrho, II, p, 785, &c. Cheiidonis •»
Spartan lady of distinction lived in such open adultery with
a handsome youth named Akrotatus, that her husband,
Cleonymus, left his country in despair, and to gratify his
revenge, went over lo Pyrrhus, who was waghig war with
Sparta. When the monarch of Epinis assaulted the city
itself, Akrotatus distinguished himself by his valr.r above
all the rest of his countrymen. Ou his return from the
conflict, covered with blood, he appeared in the eyes of
the Spartan females greater and more beautiful than ever.
They envied Cheiidonis so valiant and so glorious a lover^
and the Spartans themselves thus addressed the youth :
*' Continue, Akrotatus, to embrace Cheiidonis, and pi^«
sent your country with children worthy of youiseU."

THt FEMALE SEX, €93

and lovers, but they became the principal
proprietors of immoveable possessions,
which, with every other kind of goods,
fell into the hands of a few heiresses or
arrogant wives*. The other women of
Greece praised the condition of the Spar-
tan females, who possessed such authority .
over their husbands, and when a stranger
once manifested some symptoms of 6nvy at
the apparent good fortune of the women
of Lacedsemon, one of the latter returned
this smart answer : " We are worthy to
govern men, because we alone bring men
into the world." -j^ At Sparta, as among all
the more noble but corrupt nations, the
government of women was the surest sign
that men who submitted to- female autho-
rity no longer deserved to rule ovfer other
men.

The Spaniards furnish an additional con-
firmation of an old remark, that valour may
exist in the most corrupt of men, or that
it may be combined with the greatest de-
pravity. It was not only during the
period of innocence, but at the time when
a general corruption of morals prevailed.

• See the authoraabove quoted^ and especially Plut» h

^: 190, 191.

t Apopth, Luc. op. Plut, VL p. 894, &c.

2c3

€94 KtSTO«T OP

tliat Sparta exhibited a greater number of
instances than the other Greek states^ of
mothers and wives who exulted in the fall
of their sons and husbands slain in the
defence of their country^ and others who
dispatched their unworthy children with
their own hands, or caused them to be put
to death^b Even during the tinaes of the
greatest profligacy, Sparta produced fe*
males, who, by their courage^ would hav«
done honour to the laws ofLycui^pta, had
they not been disgraced by the irregula-
rities of the rest of their lives. Afk^ the
defeat at Leuctra, the relatives of the
slain paraded the streets in their best ap*
parel with an air of triumph, while the
relations of the survivors, with downcast
looks, and in all the negligence of the
profoundest sorrow, avoided as much as
possibly the public view. When Pyrrhus
laid siege to the city, the women laboured
with no less assiduity than the men^ at
the formation of a ditch for the purpose
of checking the first attack of the enemy*
On the approach of the hostile army^
mothers, wives, and virgins, putting their
weapons into the hands of their sons, hus-
bands, and lovers^ reminded them how

• Geschichte der ]Tis$enich. Ih p. tb3, 554*

THl FSMAXE SEX. QQS

«weet it would be to die in the presence
of their native city^ and in the arms of
those to whom they were most dear, in a
manner worthy of the ancient glory of
Sparta*.

In Plutarch's treatise on the excellencies
©r virtues of women, which evinces rather
the good-*will of the author than ability to
erect a monument in honour of the fair
aex^ are to be found, as in the annals of
almost all the Greek states, examples of
eomrage displayed by females in times of
piblic danger. But these isolated in-
.stances of female heroism, are, upon the
whole, as far from proving the excellence
and the virtue of the sex, as individual
examples of courage and fidelity in slaves
are from evincing the valour and goodness^
of heart of the latter. Among the heroic
deeds of females related by Plutarch^, the
achievement of the Argive women deserves
particular notice, not only on account of
the singular consequences with which it
was attended, but also on account of its
authenticity. When Cleomenes, king of
Sparta, had slain the greatest part of the
Argives in a battle which he had gainedl^

• Phiiarch, n.p,7SBi
t aid. FIL p. 10^ lU

296 HISTOBT OF

and was advan<nng to Aigos^ to make him*
self master of the city, Telesilla, the
poetess, inspired her countrjrwomen, as if
by supernatural agency, with more than
masculine courage. Telesilla was. of noble
birth, but of a constitution so weak and
sickly, that she applied to the gods for a
remedy for her shattered health. The
gods appear, even in ancient times to have
known that in those weakly mortals, in
whom the body generally triumphs over
the mind, the latter in certain cases pos-
sesses far greater influence over the body
than in more robust persons. They,
accordingly, exhorted Telesilla to endea-
vour to overcome the infirmities of her
body by the exertions of her soul, and to
devote herself to the service of the Muses.
Telesilla, in compliance with the counsel
of the gods, began to cultivate poetry, and
acquired such an ascendancy over her
countrywomen, that she was enabled to
rouze the fair of Argos in defence of their
native city. Headed by the poetess, the
women of Argos manned the walls and the
other fortifications of the place, repulsed
Cleomenes, and drove back beyond the
gates the other Spartan king Demaratus^
who had already gained possession of oue

THB FEMALE SEX. 997

quarter of the town. After the deliver-
ance of the city, the female patriots who
had fallen were interred near the pubHc
road, that posterity and strangers who
passed that way might never want a me-
morial of their virtue. The surviving^
heroines obtained the liberty of erecting a
temple to the god of war, and of celebrat-
ing the anniversary of the preservation of
Argos by a festival, which received the
appellation of Ta Uhristikay the festival of
disgrace, because on that day the men
appeared in female apparel, and the wo-
men in male attire. This festival was
celebrated so late as the time of Plutarch,
and the observance of it during so long a
period did more honour to the gratitude
of the men of Argos, than its institution
conferred on the mtrepidity of the Argiva
heroines. The latter, not content with
their annual triumph over their husbands,^
likewise introduced a custom, by which
brides or young wives were permitted to
assume a beard like a man, when they re«
ceived their lovers or husbands in the
bridal or conjugal bed. My fair readers^
themselves will admit, that never did im« '
portant services claim so immoderate and
extravagant a recompence as those which

QQB HISTOKY OF

the Ai^ive women had rendered their
country.

Far more rare and more praise-worthy
than the heroic achievement of the Ai^ive
women, was the modest and unobtrusive
virtue of the Cyanean fair, the memory
of which is hkewise preserved by Plu-
tarch. On all festivals the virgins of
Cyanea assembled with the youths of the
other sex, and when the former sported
and danced, the latter either partook, or
were merely spectators of the diversion.
On these occasions, the bands of love
between the hearts of tender maidens and
youths were commonly tied. When a
female who had several admirers, declared
in favour of one of her lovers, the others
immediately desisted from all fkrther im-
portunity. The Cyanean females boasted,
tliat in the space of seven hundred years
there was not a single instance of adul-
tery or seduction among them ; and if
the assertion be true, the principal causes of
this unparalleled purity of morals and
chastity, doubtless were, the social fes-
tivals at which the maidens and the
youths became acquainted with each
other, and the good sense of the pa-i
rents, who would not separate . loversr

THE FEMALB SEX. '299

without important reasons, but, contrary
to the custom of the other Greeks re-
garded their reciprocal affection as the
foundation of their future happiness in the
conjugal state.

SOO HtSTOHT Of

CHAPTER VIII.

Of the Condition of the Female Sex among

the Romans^

In almost all the points in which the
Athenians and the otlier Greeks, except-
ing the Spartans, corresponded with the
Oriental nations, the Romans also resem-
bled the latter, and for the same reason
which I have assigned in treating of the
Greeks, because, in the remote periods of
antiquity, Italy was not peopled by na-
tions of pure Celtic origin. The affinity
of the Romans to the European Slavons
and the inhabitants of the East, is most
clearly evinced by dieir treatment of the
female sex in the times of liberty and in-
nocence, when their women were indeed
less rigidly confined than among the Greeks
and Orientals, but in other respects were
quite as dependent on fathers, brothers, hus-
bands, and guardians, or perhaps still more
«o, than those of the latter. : The servitude
and dependence of the Roman v^ omen con*
tinned no longer than the sacred laws

THfi FEMALE SEX. 501

(leges sacratce) of Romulus and Numa,
by which the authority of the men and
the rights of the women were estabHshed.
In the/ same degree in which the ancient
customs and virtues were rehnquished
after the second Punic war, the power
and severity of husbands were relaxed
and the morality and modesty of wives
decreased ; and nearlv in the same ratfo
as the men declined in worth and re-
signed their rights, the women acquired
freedom and legal privileges. . When,
therefore, all political liberty and the most
valuable prerogatives of Roman citizens
were annihilated, during the reigns of the
Roman emperors, the women obtained,
like the slaves, one privilege after another,
and were gradually released from those
fetters, by which, as Cato the censor ob-
serves, their ancestors sought to shackle
the women, and nevertheless were unable
to keep them within bounds.* ;i

The state of the female sex, among the
Romans, principally differed, even in the
most remote periods, from that of the
women in the Oriental regions and in
Greece, 'in this point, that the Roman
females were never confined and separated

* Livy, I. 34. ch, 3.
VOL. I. 2 D

302 HISTORY OF

from the society of the men. The Roman
women might walk or ride abroad at what
times, and in what places they pleased;
they always ate with their husbands, and
were never excluded from the entertain:-
ments to which strangers or friends were
invited.* Instead, however, of Ijnng at
table like the men, upon a kind of couch
or soplia, they sat upon chairs, because
that attitude was justly thought more de-
corous. But long before the time of Va-
lerius Maximus, the women of Rome had
relinquished the practice of their mothers
and grandmothers, and begun to recline
at table like the men ; so that the ancient
custom was to be seen only at entertain-
ments, that were given in honour of the
gods and goddesses. On these occasions,
in the time of Valerius, the goddesses
were seated on chairs, while the gods re-
clined around the table on couches. Not-
withstanding the association of the sexes
at Rome, the women appear, in ancient
times to have been extremely silent and
reserved, and the husbands by no means
communicative to their wives. Plutarch
relates,-!* that Numa enjoined the women

• Valerius Maximus IL ch, 1.
t Jn Numa I. p, 309, 310.

'*riIE FEMALE SEX. 303

the most rigid adherence to temperance
and decorum, and such an abstinence
from inquisitive questions and superfluous
words, that they durst not speak even on sub-
jects of necessity, except in the presence of
their husbands. It is more than probable
that Plutarch has here mistaken ancient
customs for ancient laws, as he has also
done in his life of Romulus.* " The
Romans and their kings," says he, in the
last-mentioned place, " enacted many laws,
and ordinances in honour of the female
sex. They decreed in particular, out of
gratitude for the happy reconciliation
which their wives had effected between
them and the Sabines, that females and
their children might wear ornaments and
jewels of every kind ; that they might
ride in chariots in the city; that men
should give way to them, and abstain in
their presence not only from the indecent
exposure of their persons, but also from
the use of indecorous Expressions." All
these marl^s of respect are shewn at the
present day to women in the East, but
not so much for the purpose of doing ho-
nour to the latter, as to the jealousy of
those to whom they belong. Neither was

• l.p, 121, 123.

2 P2

304 HISTOEY OF

it from motives of gratitude, but in con-
sequence of an ancient Oriental or Slavonic
custom, that the Romans permitted their
women, in the most ancient times, to deco-
rate their persons much more than the
men. The females of Rome were al-
lowed, from the earliest period, to ride in
carriages in the city, to wear purple gar-
ments, and all kinds of ornaments of gold
and silver, and it is probable that they not
only powdered their hair red,* but hke-
wise painted themselves after the Oriental
and Slavonic fashion. In the second
Punic war, the Roman women were pro-
hibited by the Oppian law, to ride in
carriages in the city and its environs, to
wear purple garments, and gold trinkets
of the weight of more than half an ounce,
because the state required, for the mo»t
pressing exigencies, all the money and va-
luables formerly expended in procuring
ornaments and conveniencies for the sex.'^
Immediately after the termination of the
war, the Oppian law was repealed, not-
withstanding the opposition of Cato. and
the Roman ladies recovered the liberty of
riding and dressing as they had formerly
done. One argument advanced by the

* Faler, Max. as above,
t Liv, /. 34. ch. 1.

THE FEMALE SEX. 305

advocates of the women against the Op-
pian law was this, that the females of the
allies enjoyed the same conveniencies,
and wore the same dress and ornaments,
which the Roman ladies had been obliged
to reUnquish, and it was unjust that the
wives of the victorious and ruling nation
should be deprived of privileges possessed
by the wives of their neighbours, all of
whom had been conquered and rendered
dependent on Rome.'^

Though the Roman women, by virtue

* The following fact may serve to shew how easy it is
to misinterpret any individual custom, and to ascribe it to
perfectly false motives, either commendable or dishonoura-
ble, without an intimate knowledge of a nation, and a
careful comparison of all its laws and manners. Among
the ancient Romans, sons and fathers, sons-in-law
and fathers-in-law, never bathed together, and this cus-
tom was ascribed by Plutarch, (in vita Catonis, II. p,
6 89 J Valeruis Maximus, (as above') and even Cicero,
(de Qffic. L p. 35. J to the rigid morality or modesty of
the ancient Romans. Had modesty been the cause why
sons were not accustomed to uncover themselves before
their fathers, it must also have prevented men in general
from appearing naked in the presence of men. But
8ons only 'were prohibited to expose themselves before
their fathers, because such a liberty would have been re-
garded as a violation of the respect they owed their pa^
rents ; and fathers abstained from the practice in the
presence of the sons, because they would have thought
that they thereby compromised their paternal majesty*
Plutarch was mistaken in supposing, that the Romans
had learned of the Greeks to practise naked all kinds of
g)'nmastic exercises -, but the same historian obser\*e8 with
much more. truth, that the Romans taught the Greeks
the habit of bathing in company with the women.

2 d3

306 HISTORY OF

of the usage of their remotest ancestors,
were . admitted to the table of their hus-
bands, and were not confined by express
laws, like the wives of the Greeks and
Orientals, within their habitations, or pre-
vented from paying visits, they were
nevertheless, in consequence of another
ancient national custom, much more re-
served, appeared much seldomer at places
of public resort, and had much less ac-
quaintance or intimacy with other men,
than in later times.* When th^ females
of Rome, on the day appointed for dis-
cussing the propriety of repealing or con-
firming the Oppian law, assembled in the
streets, stopping all the senators and
tribunes, and endeavouring to prevail
upon them to espouse their cause and to
oppose the law, Cato censured their con-
duct as a highly dangerous inversion of
ancient order and decorum, as rebellion
against their husbands, the laws and the
government, and as an irrefragable proof
that the men had lost that majesty and
supreme authority which their ancestors
had sought to establish by so many wise
regulations; " for," continued he, address-
ing the senate, ^* if each master jof a

♦ Lii\ L 34. fi. 1.

THE FEWAt.B 5EX. 307

family, emulating the example of his
progenitors, had kept his wife in due sub-
jection, we should not have had so much
trouble in public with the whofe sex."*
So late, therefore, as the latter half of
the sixth -century after the foundation of
Rome, it was quite unusual for women to
appear without ^hame in the public
places, to speak in those places to any
other persons than their husbands, and to
interest themselves so warmly and so
openly in a circumstance on which, how-
ever, their whole temporal comfort de-
pended.

The reserve of the sex in ancient Rome
is still more strikingly evinced in the rarity
of the appearance of females, whether
married or single, before a tribunal of jus-
tice, and in the extraordinary sensation
which circumstances of this kind occa-
sioned at Rome. According to the most

* I shall subjoin the exordium only of Cato's speech^
on the subject of theOppian law, which excepting, per-
haps, the beautiful language in which it was clothed, moBl
certainly be regarded as genuine : — ** Si in sua quisque
nostrfim matrefainiHae, Quirites, jus et majestatem viri
iretinere instituisset, minus cum universis fseminis negotii
hal)eren>us. Nunc domi victa libertas nostra impotentia;
muliebri, hie quoque in foro obteritur et calcatur : et quiil
singulas sustinere noQ potuimus, universas honemqs.*'
Liu. lib. 34. ck. 2,

308 HISTORY OF

ancient customs and laws of the Romans
it was almost impossible for a woman ta
be brought in private causes before a
court ;* but when these laws and customs
began to be disregarded, and the first
woman undertook her defence before a
tribunal, the senate deemed this instance
of masculine boldness an omen, the sig-
nification of which it was necessary to
implore the gods to reveal.'^- The names
of those females who had pleaded or were
accustomed to plead their own cause be-
fore the tribunal were preserved till the
latest period, and each received a particu-
lar surname, or her own name was chang-
ed into one, which was afterwards given
to women of the same description. One
was called Androgyne , the he-woman ; and
the name of another, Afrania, became a
term of reproach, which was applied to
impudent and quarrelsome females. "^ At
the period of the triumvirate of Augustus,
Antony and Lepidus, however, Hortensia,
the daughter of the great orator Hor-
tensius, gained universal admiration for

• According to Plutarch, Romulus gave them the right
of exemption from being cited before a penal tribunal.
Lp. 121.

t Ihid, I. p. 308.

t Valer, Max, L viii. c^. 3.

THE FEMALE SEX. S09

pleading the cause of the women, from
whom the rapacious triumvirs had de-
manded the payment of a large sum, in a
speech replete with all the fire and elo-
quence, which had distinguished her
father.*

The Romans j^ermitted their women to
celebrate an annual feast, to commemorate
the reconciliation effected by their wives,
between them and the Sabines, and to
which they gave the name of the festival
of matrons. -j* They erected an equestrian
statue to the valiant Clselia^^ and a temple
to female Fortune,^ in honour of the
whole sex ; because the mother and wife
of Coriolanus, had caused that irresistible
hero, whose career the men could not op-
pose with their arms, to retire, weeping,
from the territory of his native country.
The Romans acknowledged with gratitude
the sacrifices made by their women, when

* The same compiler, says in another place, (II. p. 1.)
that the laws prohibited the touchnig of a woman, who
was cited to appear, hut that Roman citizens might be
dragged by force before a tribmial. I am very doubtful,
however, if, in the most ancient times, there was any par-
ticular law respecting the treatment of women in a court
of justice.

f Matronalia, Plut. I. p. 123, in HomnlQ^

\ Livy, II. p, 13.

§ Ihid, II. p. 40.

310 HISTORY OF

the latter spontaneously contributed all
their jewels and money, to satisfy the
avaricious Gauls, and when they came
forward, in the most urgent periods of the
Punic war, in aid of their exhausted
country.* Nevertheless, the ancient kings
and the ancient laws for 8^es regarded
children as slaves, and the women as
children, who ought always to remain
under the direction and authority of a man,
and in a state of perpetual tutelage."^ The
severe laws, however, of the ancient Ro-
mans, will excite the less surprize when
it is known that they commonly married
their daughters in their twelfth year, or
even still younger, at which age they
could consequently not be treated other-
wise than as children. :{:

In whichsoever of the three customary
w^ays§ a Roman w^oman was united to a
man, she still continued in the same con-

♦ See the speech of L. Valerius, in Liiy, L 34.
ch. 5.

t Caio ap Livitim, I. 34. ck, 2. " Majores nostri
nullam ne privatam quidem rem agere faeminaa sine
auctore noluerunt j in nianu esse parcntuin, fratrum»
virorum."

J Plutarch, I. p. 308, in Numa.

§ Auf co7(farrcafione, aut cocmfione, ant usu. See
Crupen's excellent Tract, de uxore romand, Hannover^
1727, Bvo. cap. 3, 5.

THE FEMALE SEX. 31b

dition as before. She indeed changed her
name, and was transferred from the family,
hand, or power of her father into the fa-
mily, hand, or power of her husband ; but,
in other respects, the relations between
her and the latter were exactly the same
as those which had previously subsisted
between her and her father ; she retained
the same privileges and duties, and, from
the first moment of her marriage, was re-
garded as a daughter of her husband, and
in the sequel as the sister of her own chil-
dren.* According to the sacred laws of
Romulus and Numa, the authority of the
husband over his wife was as great as that
of the father over his children ; excepting
perhaps that the husband could not sell
bis wife, as the father might dispose of his
sons and daughters.-l" The same laws de-
scribed the condition of a wife as a state of
servitude, and her delivery to the husband
as a transition into a species of slavery, in
which she retained in name all the rights
of a Roman citizen, but lost all the most
valuable prerogatives of a free woman. ;{;

* Gruperiy p. 20. 23. Dtonyss, Halicarn, II, c. 25.

t Ibid. p. 56,

j Hence the legal expressions : in manu sive po/esiale
mancipioque mariti esse — marito servire-^sustinere condi^
tionem iilerce servitutis, Grupen, p. 2\, Hence also the

312 HISTORY OF

In the absolute authority of the husband
over the wife, as his daughter, and the im-
pHcit obedience of the wife, as his child,
originated the rights as well as the duties
conferred and imposed by the Roman laws
upon both. As the daughter of the hus-
band, she was sole heir to his property, if
he left no issue; but if she had borne
children to her husband, who was regarded
by the law as her father, she received in
quality of their sister an equal portion
with them.* Among the filial rights of the
Roman wives, one of the most important
was, that the bonds of conjugal union were
indissoluble, and consequently that, ac-
cording to the ancient Roman laws and
customs, divorces were not allowed. ^

cenventio in marmm, or transfer to the husband, was, like
the adoption of a child, considered as a minima capitis di*
minutio. Ulp, ap. Grup. p. 76. ** Minima capitis di-
minutio est per quam et civitate et libertate salva status
duntaxat hominis mutatur ^ qnod fit adoptione et in ma-
num conventione."

* Ihid. p. 81.

f Dionys, Halicarn. as above. VaL Max. II. p, l.
Chupen, p. 58, 175, 177- 180. Plutarch relates that,
according to the laws of Romulus, the wife could not ob-
tain a separation from her husband, but that he might put
her away in three cases, that is, if she had poisoned
his children, procured false keys, or committed adul-
tery. But Dionysius of Halicarnassus, who describes
marriage as indissoluble according to the sacred
laws, deserves more credit than Plutarch, because the.
testimony of the former is confirmed by the whole history

tHE FEMALE SEX. 313

Five hundred and twenty year^ elapsed
from the foundation of the city, before a
divorce was heard of at Rome, not because
all marriages till that tioae had been
happy, and all husbands content, but be-
cause it was imagined that a man had no
more, or not so much right to put away
his wifie as his child. When, therefore,
the Roman knight, Carvilius, dismissed
his wife on account of barrenness, his
conduct was the subject of universal cen-
sure, not that the reason for separa-
tion was thought too trivial, but because
the people, being unaccustomed to di^
Torces, could scarcely conceive the possi-
bility of such an occurrence. From the
same source whence sprung the rights of
Roman wives, originated also their du-
ties, obli^tions and restrictions. The
wives of the Romans were equally inca-
pacitated with their children to acquire
or possess any thing by right of property,
but whatever they acquired or possessed,
belonged ipso jure to the husbands.* Ac-
cordingly the whole dowry of a wife, and
all that devolved to her by inheritance, -
immediately became the property of the

of Rome, and by the nature of the domestic authority of
the husband, at the most remote period.
* Grupen, p. 63.

VOL. I. 2 £

314 ttlSTOftY OV

husband ; and if she died before the latter,
he retained whatever she had brought
him, not as heir, but because the estate
of the wife had already in her life-time
become his property. Wives no more
enjoyed the right of making wills than
children, they durst no more prefer com-
plaints against their husbands, than chil-
dren against their parents, nor could they
accept presents even from their husbands,
because presents made by the latter to
their wives, were tlie same as though they
had been given to themselves.* Finally,
the power possessed by the husband over
bis wife, was as unlimited as his parental
authority over the children .-|- He held
in his hands the power of life and death,
and could, with the consent of her rela-
tions, punish her for any fault in any way
he thought proper ; nay, he was even
authorized by the sacred laws of Romulus,
to put her to death, not only for adultery,
but merely for drinking wine.ij: The
propensity of the Roman women t» wine,
aixd the irregularities arising from intem-
perance, must have been very great and
flagrant, because Romulus not ohly pro-

• Gmpcn^ p. 63, &c.

f Diojiys* Halicarn, as above« Grupcn, p, 49— *51^
-and p. 110.
J Ibid.

THE FEMALE SEX. 315

hibited the weaker sex the use of wine,
but attached the punishment of death to
the violation of his law. While the hus-
band possessed the power of punishing his
wife as he pleased for smaller faults, and
even of putting her to death, the latter
had not even the right of complaining, if
he was guilty of the greatest crime that
a husband call commit against his wife.
^^ If," says the elder Cato,* '* you sur-

Erize your wife in adultery, you may kill
er without trial. But if she surprizes
you in a like feet, the law will not permit
her to touch you, not even with the tip of
her finger." Such and similar fragments
of Cato the Censor are not the only
proofs, that the ancient laws relative to
wedlock and the authority of the hus-
band continued, with scarcely any altera-
tion, throughout the first sixteen centuries
after the foundation of the city. The long
observance of the laws of Romulus, and
the reservation of the rights of husbands
funded upon that code, are evinced by the
sentences passed upon the females, who
had taken part in the mysteries of Bac-
chus, and the atrocities practised on such
occasions. Such as were found guilty
were delivered either to their husbands,
or to those^ in whose hands they were,

• Jpud AuL Gellium^ X. p* 1^3.
2 £ 2

3\6 , BISTORT OF

that they might execute the sentence of
of the law upon them in private ; but if
among those persons there was none fit
or willing to put them to death, the de-
linquents were publicly executed.*

With the excessive corruption of morals,
which after the destruction of Carthage
spread like a ccmtagion among all ranks,
sexes, and ages, arose at ^ome a new
species of marriage, new conjugal rela-
tions, and new rights and duties of hus-
bands and wives.

The laws of Romulus acknowledged no
other marriages but those in which the
wife wa^ delivered to the husband as a
child to her father, and all the rights
heretofore possessed by the father over his
daughter were transferred to the hus-
band, and which were in general accom-
panied with a great number of religious
ceremonies. In the interval between the
elder Cato and Cicero, the religious cere-
monies at weddings fell into disuse.* The
marriages, by which the husband acquired
the rights of paternal authority over the
wife became more rare ; or if such marri-

* ** Malieres damnatas cognatis, ant in quorum mant^
essent, tradebant : ut ipsi in privato animaidTerterent in
eas. Si nemo erat idonens topplicii exactor, in publico
animadvertebatur." Ltr. UL\ 39. ch. 18. This occurred
;» *u« vearof Rome 566,
^€n^p* 310.

tHE FKMALE ffEX. 317

ages were concluded, the wifes were
emancipated, as was customary with res-
pect to children.* Brides were no longer
willing to become matres-familias^ but
uxores tantum, over whom the husband
acquired no paternal authority ,^1- and none
but these rnere wives were acknowledged
by the laws enacted or enforced by the
emperors.:|: This new description of wives
was permitted not only to possess the
right of property to dowries and other
effects, which though consigned to the
care and management of the husbands,
and expended with the consent of the
wives, could not be alienated by the for-
mer. These the laws began to se ^
cure to the wives, and to allow them the
right of complaining.^ Opulent females
were not only sutiiered to employ the
property which they retained in their own
hands for the purpose of rendering their

* Respecting the emancipation or remancipatio tuxo*
film, see Grupeny p, Q5.

f Wives who were transferred to husbands 9b childreo*
were termed matres-familias -^ those on the other hand,
•ver whom the husband did not acquhre the paternal an-
thority, were denominated uxores tantum/* ** Video,'*
says Boethius, " uxori duas inesse formas, quanxm una
tantum uxor est, altera mater-Jamiliasp qua in manum
conventiooe perficitur*' Grupen, p, fS, 2g5, where othei
testimonies are collected.

X Grupen, p. 297.

$ Grupen, p. 314—3^. Pioperty of this kiad, WM
csi^pafaphema, or bona extttdotuUa* ,

2 E3 •

318 BISTORT OF

husbands dependent on them, but it was
expected or even required that husbands,
who received a large dowry, should make
a proportionate settlement on their
brides^ which settlement was called do-
natio ante, or propter nuptias, and under
the emperors might be deferred till after
the consummation of the marriage. "^^
Long before the time of Cicero, the law*
yers, enervated by the general corruption
of morals,, had employed all the subtleties
of their profession, which had not eseaped
the contagion, to emancipate the sex fnam
the power of guardians, as well as from,
the paternal authority of husbands ; and
Cicero roundly declares^ that through the
kind aid of advocates, the guardians of
females were such only m name, but that
in fact they were totally in the power of
the women.'l:- When husbands availed
themselves of the privileges conferred by
the twelve tables, and repudiated or dis-
carded their wives, they were obliged to
restore their dowry, and probably to altow
them a maintenance besides. Wives,

• Grupen, p. 240, &c.

•f* Pro Murena, ch. 12. ** Nam cum pennulta prae-
clar^ legibus essent eonstituta ea jurisconsultonmi ingeniis
pleraque comipta, et depravata sunt. Mulieres omnes
propter infirmitatem consilii majores in tutorum potestate
esse voluerunt, hi invenerunt geneia tutonun, qut potes-
tate mulierum contincrentur.**

«.k .

THE FEMALE SEX. 319

on the other hand, who separated nn*
lawfully from their husbands, lost no-
thing but their dowry, and very often not
even that;* though at the period when
divorces were most frequent, it certainly
formed but a small portion of the pro-
,perty of wives. Adultery was not less
common than these separations, and it
was committed with equal impunity. A
wife publicly convicted of adultery, was
at most divorced, and if the sentence pro-
nounced by the ancient laws against this
crime had been executed, almost the
whole of the fair sex at Rome, must have
been exterminated.^ In the later periods
of the republic, the Roman women com-
mitted crimes the most abhorrent to the
female character, with the same shameless
audacity, as the most powerful and har-
dened villains. Single women, wives and
widows of high rank, attached themselves
as publicly to their lovers as the men
kept their mistresses. Women had the
principal share in the most horrid
plots ; they were the authors of the most
unnatural poisonings and assassinations^
and the persons who executed the most

t Crupen, p, 177—180. On the divorces of the
Romans.

X See my Essay on the Decline qf the Morals and P^
litical Constitution of the Romans, p* )99> kc.

SSO nisTOKT or

sanguinary and destructive conspiracies,
which had for their object the ruin of
their country, and the massacre of their
husbands and relatives. Even the greatest
statesmen undertook no affair of • impor^
tance without consulting women, or at
least employing them as instruments;*
consequently nothing more was wanting
than to admit them into the assemblies of
the people, as into the amphitheatre, or
to introduce them, as Heliogabalus for*
mally introduced his mother, into the
senate, to proclaim them what they ac*
tually were, the mistresses of their hus-
bands and lovers, and £he rulers of the
whole nation*

Julius Ceesar, Augustus and many sub-
sequent emperors, enacted the wisest laws
for the promotion of fruitful marriages^
and for the prevention both of divorces
and adultery ; but in spite of the menaced
punishments and the promised rewards,
the disposition to celibacy, adultery and
divorce, and the depravity and dominion
of the women, encreased with the corrup->
tion of morals and the despotism of the
rulers from one generation to another*
Notwithstanding the efforts that were
made by means of fruitless laws, and sin->

* See my Essay on the Decline of the Merah andPo*
lUicai Constitutwn »/ ike Rmans, p, 199^ Sre.

THE FEMALE SEX. 3^21

gle, inefficient punishments, to check the
vices of ,both sexes, there was not among
all the legislators and their advisers one
individual, who conceived the idea of cir-
cumscribing the female sex within the an-
cient discipline, regulations and laws.
On the contrary, all the new rights of
women which had originated in the great
revolution that had taken place in man-
ners, and had been* merely tolerated as
abuses, were confirmed, under the empe-
rors, by express laws ; so that at length
the women obtained by means of these
sovereigns, good and bad, but especially the
latter, all the privileges of children, with-
out being subjected to any of the duties or
obligations attached in former ages to that
character.*

In order to convince those who are ac-
quainted with the history of those times,
that the power and profligacy of women
continued to encrease under the emperors,
we need only remind them of the conduct
and actions of a Livia and Julia, an Agrip-
pina and Poppaaa, a Messalina and Fans*
tina, and of the other wives, daughters,
and concubines of the Ca&sars. The atro-
cities and caprices of these female mon-
sters, among whom Livia, the consort of

• Gfupen, j». 81,

SS^ BISTOET OF

Augustus alone deserves a milder appella*
tfon, I shall detail on another occasion^
\mt for the sake of those whose memory
will not supply them with such proofs as
I could wishy I shall here relate a fact
concetning Messalina, to which, in my
opinion, history cannot furnish a parallel,
and which far surpasses any steps not only
that the most powerful and the most
shameless of woinetr, but even that the
most despotic and consummate of villaina
ever presumed to take.

Amid the prodigious number of lovers
which the wife of the emperor Claudius
had publicly selected from all ranks, and
changed at pleasure with impunity, she,
at length, as Tacitus observes*, became
weary of simple adultery, and resolved, in
the life-time of her husband^ to marry^
in the face of the whole city, a Roman
of high rank and great beauty, named
Silius, who was then her paramour. The
time chosen by her for executing this
project was while Claudius was absent on
a journey to Ostia, when she celebrated
her marriage with Silius, with all the pomp
and all the ceremonies customary at the
nuptials of persons of such exalted rank.
JEven after Messalina had married her pa-

^HE ffiMAlfi SEX* S&i

ramour, during the life-time of her hus-
band the emperor, whom she had not the
least intention of dethroning or putting to
death, she felt hei'self so secure, that she
Tcept tlie vintage with the utmost pomp
and profusion, appearing herself at this
ceremony in the character of a Bacchanal^
while ISilius personated the god of wine.
Tacitus can assign no other reason for the
unexampled wickedness of Messalina, ex-
cept that she contrived this marriage mere-
ly for the sake of the infemy ; for persons
thoroughly depraved seek honour in the
magnitude of ignominy and of guilt*.
The historian acknowledges, that the
reader will justly doubt, that an empress
could have ventured to take such a step as
that which he is about to relate, before
the eyes of the whole city, where the
tongue of scandal was never silent ; but,
at the same time, he affirms, that he shall
exaggerate none oJF the circumstances,
and record nothing but what rests on the
testimony of authentic witnesses.

As I have treated of the progressive in-
crease of the rights of the Roman females
in a tone of discontent and disapproba-
tion, my sentiments might perhaps be

* " Nomeh tamen matrimonii conctjpirit, ad magni-
tudinem infamiae^ cujus apud prodigos cunissima volupld^

5*^4 HISTORY OF '

misconstrued, without some brief e^pla^
nation, and I might be accused of equal
injustice towards the fair sex, aqd incon-
sistency with myself, in grudging the wo-
men of Rome those privileges which I
commended our forefathers for granting
to the sex. I declare, then, that I am
&r from regarding the sex in general as
unworthy of those prerogatives which
were conferred on the Roman women,
during the later periods of the republic,
and under the emperors ; at the same
time I am thoroughly convinced, that if
the women of Rome were unworthy at
the time of the most exemplary purity oi
morals, of the privileges that were after-
wards granted them, still less did they
deserve them in the periods of corruption,
and th^t the gradually augmenting privi-
leges of the sex must not be ascribed to
the progress of civilization and refine-
ment, but to the continual increase of
moral depravity.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

11. Juignd, Printer, ^^ i

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