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Title: The history of the condition of women, in various ages and nations (vol. 2 of 2) : Comprising the women of Europe, America, and South Sea Islands
Author: Child, D. L.
Language: English
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*** Start of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The history of the condition of women, in various ages and nations (vol. 2 of 2) : Comprising the women of Europe, America, and South Sea Islands" ***
OF WOMEN, IN VARIOUS AGES AND NATIONS (VOL. 2 OF 2) ***
THE
HISTORY
OF THE
CONDITION OF WOMEN,
IN VARIOUS AGES AND NATIONS.
BY
MRS. D. L. CHILD.
AUTHOR OF “MOTHER’S BOOK,” “FRUGAL HOUSEWIFE,” ETC.
“In youth women are our idols, at a riper age our companions, in old
age our nurses, and in all ages our friends.” _Lord Bacon._
VOL. II.
COMPRISING THE WOMEN OF EUROPE, AMERICA, AND
SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.
THIRD EDITION.
BOSTON:
OTIS, BROADERS & CO.
1840.
Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1835, by
JOHN ALLEN & CO.
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
Boston:
STEREOTYPED BY SHEPARD, OLIVER AND CO.
No. 3 Water Street.
CONTENTS TO VOL. II.
PAGE.
Ambrones 82
Americans, South 246
Americans, North 255
Anne’s reign 143
Athenians 9
Austrians 166
Betrothal, various modern forms of 193
Bona Dea 54
Blue stocking 145
Bravery, female 121, 209
Britons, ancient 81
Celibacy venerated 116
Charles II., time of 140
Chivalry 90
Christianity introduced at Rome 75
Cimbri 82
Convents 125, 249
Courts of Love 111
Cromwell, time of 136, 139
Crusades 118
Danes 174
Dutch 171
English 147
Falconry 114
Feudal times 87
Flitch of bacon 115
Franks 77
Gauls 80
Germans, ancient 79
Germans, modern 165
Goths 80
Greeks, ancient 1
Greeks, modern 176
Greenland 242
Hair 59, 138, 188
Hallow E’en 133
Iceland 175
Indians of North and South America 225, 291
Irish 149
Italians 161
Knights, duties of 92
Lacedæmonians 30
Laws, modern 199
Learned women 127, 208
Liburnians 167
Marriage, modern forms of 189
Marriage deemed unholy 76, 116
Middle ages 86
Military spirit in women 121, 209
Morlachians 168
Northern nations that conquered Rome 77
Nun initiated 251
Offices held by women 146
Panegyrics on women 140
Peasantry of Europe 180, 187
Polanders 162
Portuguese 159
Pythia 26
Quaderoons 263
Queens 206
Romans 35
Russians 172
Russian settlements 246
Saint Dunstan’s Well 116
Salique law 151
Satires on women 141
Scandinavians 77
Scotch 150
Sibyl of Cumæ 55
Sibyl, Danish 83
Slave countries 212
South Sea islands 272
Spain 157
Spartans 30
Swedes 174
Swiss 169
Tournaments 100
Troubadours 105
Tricks, trying 133
Tyrolese 168
United States 255
Valentine’s day 134
Vestals 52
Visigoths 77
Walachians 167
Widows 25, 51, 138, 205
Winnisberg, women of 98
Witches 131, 258
HISTORY OF WOMEN.
[Illustration: Penelope at her loom.]
EUROPE.
Plutarch speaks with disapprobation of the Persian manner of treating
women; yet the Greeks themselves kept them under very strict
discipline. They had distinct apartments, in the highest and most
retired part of the house, and among the wealthier classes these rooms
were often kept locked and guarded. Women belonging to the royal
families were not even allowed to go from one part of the house to
the other without permission. When Antigone, in Euripides, obtains her
mother’s permission to go on the house-top to view the Argian army,
her aged guardian insists upon first searching the passage, lest the
profane eyes of a citizen should dishonor her by a glance.
Young girls were more rigorously secluded than married women; yet it
was considered highly indecorous for the latter to be seen beyond
the door-step, until they were old enough to assume the character of
matrons. Menander says:
“You go beyond the married woman’s bounds,
And stand before the hall, which is not fit;
The laws do not permit a free-born bride
Farther than to the outer door to go.”
Maidens were rarely allowed to appear in the presence of men; and never
without veils. This covering was probably made of transparent stuff;
for Iphigenia speaks of seeing her brother through “the veil’s fine
texture.”
Eustathius says, “Women should keep within doors, and there talk.”
Thucydides declared that “she was the best woman of whom the least was
said, either of good or harm;” according to the Greek proverb it was
considered extremely dishonorable to be governed by a female; and Plato
rejoiced that he was not born a woman.
In order to prevent assignations, Solon enacted that no wife, or
matron, should go from home with more than three garments, or a basket
longer than one cubit, or more food than could be purchased for an
obolus;[1] or travel in the night-time without a lighted torch carried
before her chariot. Lest pride should seek to exhibit itself in a
pompous retinue, he ordered that no woman should appear attended by
more than one servant, except when she was drunk! On the death of a
husband, the oldest son became the guardian of his mother. A woman was
incapable of appearing in court without her guardian; therefore the
words of the proclamation always were, “We cite ---- and her guardian.”
No property could be disposed of, either by will or otherwise, without
the consent of guardians. Female captives taken in war were not usually
treated with any degree of respect or tenderness: thus we find Hecuba
complaining that she was chained, like a dog, at the gate of Agamemnon.
Alexander the Great formed an honorable exception to this rule, and in
his treatment of the royal Persian prisoners imitated the noble example
of Cyrus.
[1] A small coin, about the value of a penny.
Women were not allowed to attend the Olympic games; but this
prohibition could not have existed at all periods; for we are told
that Cynisca, daughter of Archidamus, king of Sparta, was the first
woman who won the prize in the chariot-race at Olympia. Perhaps the
Spartan women alone partook of these masculine diversions; those of
more feminine habits would probably perceive the propriety of not
attending games, where the combatants wrestled without clothing. In
commemoration of her victory, Cynisca sent a chariot and four brazen
horses, to be dedicated to Olympian Jupiter.
In the earliest ages, Greek women had a right to vote in the public
assemblies; but this privilege was taken away from them. They were
never allowed to be present at banquets, and it is not supposed that
they ever ate in the same apartment with the men.
The restraint of female influence being thus removed, it may be
presumed that the outward forms of decency were less scrupulously
observed than they would have been under a different system. A fine
of one thousand drachmas was imposed upon every woman who appeared in
public without clothing; and the necessity of making such a law does
not speak well for purity of manners.
That women were not always entirely passive and subservient, appears by
the example of Xantippe, so famous for her household eloquence; and by
the dispute between Agamemnon and his wife, concerning his wish that
she should absent herself from the wedding of her daughter Iphigenia:
_Agamemnon._ “Without more reasonings, my demands obey!”
_Clytemnestra._ “By Juno, that o’er Argos bears the sway,
Sooner would wretched Clytemnestra bleed,
Than give consent to so unjust a deed.
Affairs abroad better thy lot become;
’Tis fit that I should manage things at home.”
Themistocles used to say, “My little boy rules Athens; for he governs
his mother, and his mother governs me.”
The women of Lemnos, finding themselves slighted for the sake of
certain Thracian captives, whose charms conquered their conquerors,
resolved upon indiscriminate revenge. They unanimously agreed to put
all their male relations to death; and this barbarous plan was carried
into execution, with the solitary exception of Hypsipyle, the queen,
who spared the life of her father. In consequence of this, the women
conspired against her, and soon after drove her from the kingdom.
The most common employments of Grecian women were spinning, weaving,
embroidery, making garments, and attending to household avocations.
Their embroidery often represented battle-scenes and historical
events, which must have required a great deal of time and patience.
During the early ages, there seems to have been no difference whatever
between the occupations of princesses and women of common rank. Before
marriage, Penelope tended her father’s flocks on the mountains of
Arcadia; and when she was queen of Ithaca, her son bids her attend to
the spindle and the loom, and leave the affairs of the palace to his
direction. During the absence of her husband, she was troubled with
numerous powerful suitors, whose enmity was greatly to be feared in
those turbulent times. She promised to choose one from among them, when
she had finished weaving a certain web; but she continually baffled
them, by unravelling in the night what she had woven in the day: hence
“Penelope’s web” became a proverbial expression for works that were
never likely to be finished. We are told that Nausicaa, daughter of
king Alcinous, who met Ulysses shipwrecked on her father’s coast, went
down to the shore, accompanied by her maidens, to wash clothes; and
princess as she was, she carried her dinner with her.
Women grinding corn, after the manner of the Israelites, are alluded to
by old Greek authors; and that they were in the habit of spinning with
a distaff as they walked, is to be inferred from the fact that it was
considered a bad omen to meet a woman working at her spindle.
As luxury increased, the lines of demarkation between different
ranks no doubt became more obvious, and laborious occupations were
relinquished by the wealthy. It is likewise probable that restraints
became less and less rigid. Women, in later times, certainly joined the
men in entertainments at Aspasia’s house, and the remains of an ancient
picture leads to the conjecture that at some period they attended
the theatres. It is recorded that certain women disguised themselves
in male attire, and went to Academus to listen to the philosophy of
Plato; and when this desire for knowledge began to prevail, it could
not be long before it manifested itself in casting off the fetters
prescribed by custom. Individuals there were, as there ever will be, of
both sexes, who were in advance of the people among whom they lived.
Beside the far-famed Sappho and Aspasia, there was Corinna, the Theban
poetess, who is said to have five times carried the prize from Pindar;
and there was Arete, daughter of Aristippus, who taught philosophy
and the sciences to her son: from this circumstance the young man was
called _Metrodidactos_, i. e. Taught-by-his-mother.
Increasing luxury evidently did not produce universal corruption;
for the wife of Phocion was a model of prudence, simplicity, and
domestic virtue. When one of the actors, who was to represent a queen,
demanded a more pompous retinue, Melanthius, who was at the charge
of the exhibition, said: “Phocion’s wife appears in public with a
single maid-servant; and dost thou come here to show thy pride, and
corrupt our women?” The audience received this remark with a thunder of
applause. This same modest matron, when a lady exhibited many jewels
in her presence, replied: “Phocion is my greatest ornament, who is
now called for the twentieth time to command the armies of Athens.”
Plutarch, who lived as late as the time of Trajan, bears testimony
that his wife Timoxena was far above the frivolity and affectation,
which characterized many of her sex; that she cared little for dress or
parade; and was chiefly desirous to perform all the duties, and observe
all the proprieties of life.
Of the amusements of the Grecian women we know little. Religious
festivals no doubt constituted a large portion of their recreations.
Many dances were used on these occasions; among which was the
Caryatides, a Spartan dance, in honor of Diana. Theseus, who invented
a circular dance called the Crane, is said to have been the first who
introduced the custom of men and women dancing together. Various
musical instruments were in use, such as the harp and the cythara,
and women doubtless played upon these, as well as joined in the songs
appropriated to various festivals. Female characters at the theatre
were performed entirely by men in disguise.
Ladies of rank were at all periods accompanied by attendants; and among
them was generally some old nurse, or matron, continually about their
persons. Two such are described as waiting upon Penelope, beside a
numerous band of maidens, whom she guided in the labors of the distaff
and the loom.
The Grecian dress consisted of sandals for the feet, and an ample
flowing robe, without sleeves, fastened at the waist by a girdle. The
wealthy wore purple, and other rich colors; the common class usually
wore white, for the economy of having it dyed when it became soiled.
Jewels, expensive embroidery, and delicious perfumes, were used in
great profusion by those who could afford them. It is supposed that
women stained their eyebrows black, and stained the tips of their
fingers rose-color, after the manner of the East. They took great pains
to keep their teeth in perfection, and some affirm that they painted
their lips with vermillion.
According to Socrates, the most costly female wardrobe in his time
might be valued at about fifty minæ, or one hundred and sixty pounds,
nine shillings, and two pence.
Until the time of Cecrops, the Grecians lived without the institution
of marriage; but his laws on that subject, being found conducive to
the public good, soon became generally observed. He expressly forbade
polygamy; but at certain periods, when great numbers of men had been
slain in battle, temporary laws were passed allowing men to take more
than one wife. Euripides is said to have imbibed a dislike to the
whole sex by having two wives at once, who made his house a perpetual
scene of dissension. It was allowable for a man to marry his sister by
the father’s side, but not by the mother’s. Cimon married his sister
Elpinice, because his father’s misfortunes had left him too poor to
provide a suitable match for her; but afterward, when Callias, a rich
Athenian, became in love with Elpinice, and offered to pay all her
father’s fines, if she would consent to be his wife, Cimon divorced
her, and gave her to him.
Parents negotiated matches for their children; and neither young men
nor maidens presumed to marry without the consent of both father and
mother.
In Athens, heiresses were compelled by law to marry their nearest
kinsmen, in order to preserve the fortune in the family; but if he
chanced to be old and superannuated, a younger relative was admitted
into the household, and in all respects considered the lady’s husband,
except in having a legal claim to her inheritance.
When a female orphan was left without adequate support, the nearest
relative was obliged to marry her, or settle a portion upon her
according to his wealth and rank. When the connections were numerous,
they often combined together to contribute the required sum.
Any foreigner who married an Athenian woman was liable to be sold,
together with his estate, and a third part given to the accuser. Any
foreign woman, who married a citizen of Athens, was liable to be sold
for a slave, and the man was likewise fined a thousand drachmas. These
laws fell into disuse; but were revived by Pericles for a short period,
during which five thousand Athenian citizens were sold on account of
foreign alliances.
It was common for Grecian lovers to deck the doors of their beloved
with garlands, and pour libations of wine near the threshold, because
this was the manner in which Cupid was worshipped at his temple. They
likewise inscribed her name on trees, on the walls of their houses, and
on the books they used. These inscriptions were generally accompanied
by some flattering epithet. In allusion to this custom, one of the
characters in Euripides says he never should have a good opinion of
women, though all the pines in mount Ida were filled with their names.
When a person’s garland was untied, it was taken as a sign of his being
in love; and when women were seen weaving wreaths, they were accused of
being love-sick.
Various magical arts and spells were in use to discover the state of
each other’s affections. The Thessalian women were famous for their
skill in these matters; and the Grecian maidens were in the habit of
applying to them for assistance; thus one in Theocritus says:
“To Agrio too I made the same demand,
A cunning woman she, I crossed her hand;
She turned the sieve and shears, and told me true,
That I should love, but not be loved by you.”
Many charms and philtres were likewise in use to procure affection,
when their love was unsuccessful. These charms were sometimes
compounded with blood of doves, the bones of snakes and toads,
screech-owl’s feathers, bands of wool twisted upon a wheel, and if
possible from the neck of one who had hanged himself. Sometimes pills,
roots, and powerful herbs, were the chosen ingredients; and instances
occurred wherein the unfortunate victims of superstition lost their
reason by the administration of these dangerous philtres. Images of
wax were sometimes made and placed before the fire to melt, while
certain spells were pronounced; this was done from the idea that there
was some mysterious sympathy between the wax and the heart of the
beloved object. Sometimes one who was forsaken and indignant made an
image of clay and placed it beside the wax, that while one melted the
other might harden; they believed that the heart of the rejected thus
became stern and unrelenting, while the faithless lover was softened
by affection. Other enchantments, too various to mention, were used by
those who wished to effect similar purposes.
Particular regard was paid to lucky seasons and omens for the wedding
day. The full of the moon was considered a favorable time, and
the conjunction of the sun and moon was peculiarly auspicious. The
sixteenth day of the month was regarded as more unlucky than any other.
It was supposed that trees planted on that day would wither and die,
and that girls who were either born or married at such a date were
destined to misery; but for a boy it was considered a lucky augury to
be born on the sixteenth.
Before marriage, the Grecian maidens offered baskets of fruit to Diana,
and many other ceremonies were performed in her temple. On account of
her own aversion to wedlock, it was deemed peculiarly desirable to
appease her indignation, and propitiate her favor. Sacrifices were
likewise offered to Juno, Minerva, Venus, the Fates, and the Graces.
When the victim was opened, the gall was taken out, and thrown behind
the altar, as a symbol that all anger and malice must be cast aside.
The entrails were carefully examined by soothsayers, and if any unlucky
omen presented itself, the contract was dissolved, as displeasing to
the gods. The most fortunate omen that could appear was a pair of
turtles, because those birds are remarkable for constant affection to
each other; if one appeared alone, it was thought to prognosticate
separation and sorrow to the young couple.
In many places the bride was required to cut off some of her ringlets
and offer them to the gods of marriage, at the same time pouring
libations on their altars.
Both bride and bridegroom wore bright colored garments, and were
adorned with garlands, composed of flowers sacred to Venus, and other
deities supposed to preside over nuptials. The house where the wedding
was celebrated was likewise decked with garlands.
The Bœotians used wreaths of wild asparagus, which is full of thorns,
but bears excellent fruit; it was therefore thought to resemble ladies,
who give their lovers some trouble in gaining their hearts, but whose
affection is a sweet reward. The bride carried an earthen vessel full
of parched barley, and was accompanied by a maid bearing a sieve, to
signify her obligation to attend to domestic concerns; a pestle was
likewise tied to the door, for the same purpose. The bride was usually
conveyed in a chariot from her father’s house to her husband’s in the
evening. She sat in the middle, with the bridegroom on one side, and
one of her most intimate female friends on the other. A widower was
not allowed to attend his bride, but sent one of his friends for that
purpose. Blazing torches were carried before the young couple, and
music followed them. Homer thus describes a bridal procession:
“The youthful dancers in a circle bound
To the soft flute, and cittern’s silver sound;
Through the fair streets, the matrons in a row
Stand in their porches, and enjoy the show.”
When the chariot arrived at the bridegroom’s dwelling, the axletree was
burnt, to signify that the bride was never to return to the paternal
roof. As they entered, figs and various kinds of fruit were poured on
their heads, as an indication of future plenty. A sumptuous banquet was
prepared for relations and friends, after which the company diverted
themselves with dances and hymeneal songs.
At Athens, it was customary for a boy to come in during the feast,
covered with thorn boughs and scorns, bearing a basket full of bread,
and singing, “I have left the worse and found the better.” Some have
supposed this was in commemoration of their change of diet from acorns
to corn, but Dr. Potter’s supposition seems much more probable; viz.
that it was intended to indicate the superiority of marriage over
single life.
In Athens, the bride’s feet were always washed in water brought
from the fountain of Callirhoe, which was supposed to possess some
peculiar virtue. She was lighted to her apartment with several torches.
Around one of these flambeaux, the mother tied the hair-lace of her
newly wedded daughter, taken from her head for that purpose. Mothers
considered it a great misfortune if illness, or any accident, prevented
them from performing this ceremony. The married couple ate a quince
together, to remind them that their conversation with each other should
be sweet and agreeable. The company remained until late at night,
dancing and singing songs filled with praises of the bridegroom and
bride, and wishes for their happiness. In the morning they returned,
and again saluted them with songs. The solemnities continued several
days; during which relations and friends offered gifts, consisting of
golden vessels, couches, ointment boxes, combs, sandals, &c., carried
in great state to the house of the bridegroom by women, preceded by a
boy in white apparel, with a torch in his hand, and another bearing a
basket of flowers. It was likewise customary for the bridegroom and
his friends to give presents to the bride, on the third day after the
wedding, which was the first time she appeared unveiled.
The old Athenian laws ordered that men should be thirty-five and
women twenty-six, before they married; but Plato considered thirty a
suitable age for the bridegroom, and other writers approved of brides
as young as eighteen, or fifteen. Grecian women never changed the
name they received when infants: thus Xantippe would be distinguished
from another of the same name, by being called Xantippe, the wife of
Socrates.
In the primitive ages women were purchased by their husbands, and
received no dowry from relations; but with the progress of civilization
and wealth this custom disappeared, and wives were respected in
proportion to the value of their marriage portion. Medea, in Euripides,
complains that women were the most miserable of the human race, because
they were obliged to buy their own masters at a dear rate. Those who
brought no dowry were liable to be spoken of contemptuously, as if they
were slaves rather than lawful wives. Hence, when men married women
without fortune, they generally gave a written instrument acknowledging
the receipt of a dowry. Those who received munificent portions required
a greater degree of respect, and expected additional privileges on
that account. Hermione, in Euripides, is enraged that the captive
Andromache should pretend to rival her in the affections of Pyrrhus;
and she thus addresses her:
“With these resplendent ornaments of gold
Decking my tresses, in this robe arrayed,
Which bright with various tinctured radiance flames,
Not from the house of Peleus or Achilles
A bridal gift, I come. In Sparta this
From Menelaus, my father, I received
With a rich dowry: therefore I may speak
Freely, and thus to you address my words.
Woman! would’st thou, a slave, beneath the spear
A captive, keep possession of this house,
And drive me out?”
Some have supposed that Solon intended to forbid dowries, because
one of his laws declares, “A bride shall not carry with her to her
husband above three garments, and vessels of small value.” But this
was probably intended merely to prevent extravagance in dress and
furniture; for he allowed men who had no sons to leave their estates
to daughters, and express laws were made to secure the property in
the family, by regulating the marriage of heiresses. The daughters of
several Grecian monarchs carried their husbands whole kingdoms for a
dowry. When distinguished men died in poverty, the state sometimes
provided for their children. Thus the Athenians gave three hundred
drachmas to each of the orphan daughters of Aristides, and bestowed
a farm belonging to the city upon the grand-daughter of their famous
patriot, Aristogiton. Phares, of Chalcedon, made a law that rich
men should give a portion to their daughters when they married poor
men, but receive none with their sons’ wives. As luxury increased, it
followed, as an inevitable consequence, that marriages were more and
more made with a view to the acquisition of wealth; and fathers were
disappointed at the birth of a daughter, on account of the expense
attending her establishment. It was customary for the bridegroom
to build and furnish the house, and to make a settlement large in
proportion to her dowry, for the support of his wife in case of death
or divorce; but unless a written receipt of dowry could be produced
by the woman’s friends, the husband could not be compelled to allow a
separate maintenance. Heirs were bound by law to support the wives of
those from whom they received estates.
When sons became of age, they enjoyed their mother’s fortune during her
lifetime, affording her a maintenance in proportion to her rank. If a
woman died without children, her dowry returned to the relative by whom
it had been bestowed.
Girls who had no fathers were disposed of by their brothers; and
if they had neither parents nor brethren, the duty devolved upon
grandfathers, or guardians. Sometimes husbands betrothed their wives
to other persons on their death-beds. The father of Demosthenes gave
his wife to one Aphobus, with a considerable portion. Aphobus took the
portion, but refused to marry the woman after the death of her husband;
in consequence of which her son appealed to the magistrates. The same
orator engaged in the defence of Phormio, who having been a faithful
slave, his master, before he died, bestowed upon him freedom and his
wife.
The forms of betrothing varied in some particulars in different cities,
but bore a general resemblance. The parties took each other by the
right hand, promised fidelity, and sometimes kissed each other, while
the relative of the woman pronounced these, or similar words: “I bestow
upon thee, ----, my daughter, or my sister, or my ward, with such and
such money, lands, cattle, or flocks, for her dowry.”
In case of divorce, a man was obliged to restore his wife’s portion,
and was required to pay monthly interest upon it, so long as he
detained it from her.
In general the Grecian laws allowed men to put away their wives upon
slight occasions; even the fear of having too large a family was
considered sufficient ground for divorce. A woman incurred great
scandal in departing from her husband. In Athens, if wives had reason
to complain of their husbands, they could appeal to the appointed
magistrate, by appearing publicly in court, and placing in his hands
a written statement of their grievances. Hipparete, the wife of
Alcibiades, losing all patience with his continued profligacy, availed
herself of this privilege; but when she presented herself before the
archon, Alcibiades seized her by force, and carried her off; no person
presuming to interfere with his authority.
It was not unusual for the marriage tie to be dissolved with consent of
both parties. Thus Pericles and his wife being weary of each other’s
society, he bestowed her upon another man, with her own free will
and consent. There is likewise reason to suppose that men sometimes
lent their wives to each other, without any of the parties incurring
blame by the transaction; but when intrigues were carried on without
the husband’s sanction, severe penalties were incurred. Women were
sometimes put to death, but more generally sold into slavery. They were
never after allowed to enter the temples, or wear any but the most
ordinary clothing. Whoever found them disobeying these laws, might tear
off their garments, and beat them with any degree of severity that did
not endanger their life or limbs.
Wealthy paramours generally brought themselves out of difficulty by
paying a heavy fine; but those unable to do this, were liable to very
severe and disgraceful punishments.
Although the law allowed but one wife, it was thought no dishonor
to keep a train of mistresses, who were usually captives taken in
war, or women stolen by Grecian sailors and brought home for sale.
The public class of women was composed of individuals derived from
similar sources; hence the term “_strange woman_,” (meaning a _foreign
woman_,) was a term of reproach with the Grecians, as well as the
Jews. This shameless class were required by Grecian laws to wear
flowered garments, by way of distinction from the modest apparel of
virtuous women; and various texts of Scripture lead to the supposition
that a similar custom prevailed among the Israelites. Some of them
acquired immense wealth; and, what is much more singular, they in some
instances enjoyed a degree of influence and consideration unattainable
by women of purer manners.
When Thebes was demolished by Alexander, Phryne agreed to rebuild the
entire walls at her own expense, if they would engrave on them this
inscription: “These walls were destroyed by Alexander, but raised again
by Phryne the courtesan.” Phryne had a statue of gold at Delphi, placed
between two kings. Theopompus, in his letter to Alexander, speaking of
a magnificent mausoleum near Athens, says: “This distinguished mark of
public respect a courtesan has received; while not one of all those who
perished in Asia, fighting for the general safety of Greece, has been
thought worthy to receive a similar honor.” Aspasia, first the mistress
and afterward the wife of Pericles, obtained unrivalled influence and
distinction. The most celebrated of the Athenian philosophers, orators,
and poets, delighted in her society, and statesmen consulted her in
political emergencies. They even carried their wives and daughters to
her house, that they might there study agreeable manners and graceful
deportment. This, together with the fact that Pericles made her his
wife, and to the day of his death retained such a strong affection for
her, that he never left her to go to the senate without bestowing a
parting kiss, seems to imply that she could not have been so shockingly
depraved as many writers have supposed. It is more probable that she
deserves to rank in the same class as the Gabrielles, and Pompadours
of modern times. The public and distinguished attention such women
received in Greece, was no doubt owing to the fact that they alone
dared to throw off the rigorous restraints imposed upon the sex, and
devote themselves to graceful accomplishments, seductive manners, and
agreeable learning. For this reason it was generally taken for granted
that women of very strong, well-cultivated minds were less scrupulous
about modesty, than those who lived in ignorance and seclusion. Sappho,
the celebrated poetess, has by no means descended to posterity with an
untarnished name. But a degree of injustice is no doubt done to her
memory, by understanding the fervent language of the Greeks as similar
epithets would be understood in the dialect of colder climes. Had
Sappho been the most profligate of woman-kind, she would not have been
likely to destroy herself for love of one individual. She was the first
woman who jumped from the famous promontory of Leucate, called the
Lover’s Leap. The superstition prevailed that those who could perform
this feat, and be taken up alive, would be cured of their passion.
Many ceremonies were performed by Grecian women in the temple of
Eleutho, who presided over the birth of children. During the hours of
illness it was customary to hold palm branches in their hands, and
invoke the favor of this goddess. The old laws of Athens expressly
forbade that women or slaves should practise physic; but one Agnodice,
having disguised herself in male attire, studied the art under a
skilful professor, and made the fact known to many of her own sex, who
gladly agreed to employ her in preference to all others. The jealousy
of the physicians led to a discovery of the plot, and Agnodice would
have been ruined, had not all the principal matrons of Athens appeared
in court and pleaded strongly in her favor. In consequence of their
entreaties, the old law was repealed, and women were allowed the
attendance of female physicians.
The Grecians generally wrapped infants in swaddling bands, lest their
tender limbs should become distorted. In Athens newly born babes were
covered with a cloth on which a gorgon’s head was embroidered, because
that was represented on the shield of Minerva, to whose care the child
was consigned. It was likewise customary to lay boys upon bucklers,
as a prognostic of future valor. Infants were often placed upon other
things bearing some resemblance to the sort of life for which they
were designed. It was common to put them in vans made to winnow corn,
and therefore considered as emblems of agricultural plenty. Sometimes
instead of a real van, an image of it was made of gold or silver.
Wealthy Athenians universally laid young infants upon dragons of gold,
in memory of one of their kings, who, when an unprotected babe, was
said to have been watched by dragons. When a child was five days old,
the nurse took it in her arms and ran round the hearth, thus putting it
under the protection of the household gods, to whom the hearth served
as an altar. This festival was celebrated with great joy. Friends
brought in their gifts, and partook of a feast, peculiar to the
occasion. If the child was a boy, the door was decorated with an olive
garland; if a girl, wool was a substitute for the olive, in token of
the spinning and weaving destined to occupy her maturer years. On the
tenth day, another entertainment was given, and the child received its
name, which was usually bestowed by the father. It was common to choose
the name of some illustrious or beloved ancestor; but names describing
personal and moral qualities were frequently given, such as _the ruddy
faced_, _the eagle-nosed_, _the ox-eyed_, _the gifted_, _the lover of
his brethren_, &c.
When the child was forty days old, another festival was kept, and the
mother offered sacrifices in Diana’s temple. Athenian nurses quieted
fretful babes with sponges dipped in honey.
It was common to expose children, especially females, on account of the
expense attending their settlement. Posidippus says:
‘A man, though poor, will not expose his son,
But if he’s rich, will scarce preserve his daughter.’
The children thus exposed were wrapped in swaddling bands, and placed
in a sort of ark, or basket. Sometimes jewels were attached to them, as
a means of discovery, if any person should find and nourish them; or,
as some have supposed, from the superstition that it was important for
the child to die with some of the parents’ property in its possession.
The Thebans disliked this cruel practice, and their laws made it a
capital offence. Those who were too poor to rear their children, were
ordered to carry them to the magistrates, who nourished them, and
afterwards received their services in payment.
The Grecians believed in the power of the _evil eye_, especially over
little children. It was generally attributed to one under the influence
of malice or envy; and they endeavored to protect an infant from its
baneful effects, by tying threads of various colors round the neck, and
touching its forehead and lips with spittle mixed with earth.
Filial respect and affection, the distinguishing virtue of olden times,
was in high repute among the Grecians. The story of the daughter who
nourished her imprisoned father with her own milk, is too well known
to need repetition. Alexander the Great having received a letter from
Antipater full of charges against Olympias, for her interference with
public affairs, the monarch read it, and said, “Antipater knows not
that one tear from a mother can blot out a thousand such complaints.”
Solon made a law that women should not join in the public funeral
solemnities even of their nearest relations, unless they were
threescore years old; but this law did not continue to be observed;
for gallants are described as falling in love with young women whom
they saw at funerals. It is supposed that men and women formed separate
portions of the procession; the former preceding the corpse, the latter
following it. Mourning women were employed to sing dirges, and bewail
the dead. They beat their breasts, disfigured their faces, and made
use of other violent demonstrations of grief. The female relatives of
the departed often joined in these excesses, altogether regardless of
the hideous scars produced thereby; but this practice was forbidden by
Solon. In many places it was the custom for women to shave their heads,
and spread their tresses over the corpse. They laid aside all ornaments
and rich attire, and wore black garments made of coarse materials.
Those who were joined by near relationship, or strong affection,
generally shared the same funeral urn. Thus Halcyone, whose husband
perished at sea, says:
“Though in one urn our ashes be not laid,
On the same marble shall our names be read;
In amorous folds the circling words shall join,
And show how much I loved--how you was only mine.”
A very beautiful _bas-relief_ found at Athens, represents a woman
seated, while a man with three little children seem bidding her an
affectionate farewell. It probably marked the sleeping-place of some
beloved wife and mother. At the funeral of a married woman, matrons
carried vases of water to pour upon her grave; girls performed this
office for maidens, and boys for young men. These processions of
water-bearers are often represented on ancient sepulchres. An owl, a
muzzle, and a pair of reins, were often carved on the tombs of women;
as emblems of watchfulness, silence, and careful superintendence of the
family.
It was not uncommon for widows to marry a second time; but those who
did otherwise were regarded with peculiar respect. Charondas excluded
from public councils those men who married a second wife, when they
already had children. “Those who do not consult the good of their own
family cannot advise well for the good of the country,” said he. “He
whose first marriage has been happy, ought to rest satisfied with his
share of good fortune; if unhappy, he is out of his senses to incur
another risk.”
In very early times the priestesses were allowed to marry; thus Homer
speaks of the beautiful Theano, wife of Antenor, who was unanimously
chosen priestess of Minerva. At later periods, all who were devoted to
the service of the temples were required to live unmarried.
The oracles of the gods were universally uttered by women. The most
celebrated was the Delphian oracle of Apollo. The priestess who uttered
the prophetic words was called Pythia, or Pythonissa. She was obliged
to observe the strictest rules of temperance and virtue, and to clothe
herself in simple, modest, and maidenly apparel. They neither anointed
nor wore purple garments, because such habits belonged to the rich and
luxurious. In early times the Pythia was chosen from young maidens; but
in consequence of a brutal insult offered to one of them, the selection
was ever after made from women more than fifty years old. Before the
prophetess ascended the tripus, where she was to receive inspiration,
she bathed herself, especially her hair, in the fountain of Castalia,
at the foot of Parnassus. When she seated herself upon the tripus, she
shook the laurel tree, that grew near it, and sometimes ate the leaves,
which were thought to contain some virtue favorable to prophecy. In
a short time she began to foam at the mouth, tear her hair, and cut
her flesh, like a maniac. The words she uttered during these paroxysms
were the oracles. The fits were more or less violent; sometimes
comparatively gentle. Plutarch speaks of one enraged to such a degree
that the terrified priests ran from her, and she died soon after. The
time of consulting the oracle was only one month, in the spring of the
year.
Women had their share in sacred festivals among the Greeks. In the
processions of the Panathenæa, in honor of Minerva, women clothed in
white carried torches and the sacred baskets. At the annual solemnity
in honor of Hyacinthus and Apollo, the Laconian women appeared in
magnificent covered chariots, and sometimes in open race-chariots.
At the processions in honor of Juno, her priestess, who was always a
matron of the highest rank, rode in a chariot drawn by white oxen.
Aristophanes describes the wife and daughter of a citizen as assisting
in the ceremonials of a rural sacrifice to Bacchus. The girl carried a
golden basket filled with fruit, and a ladle with which certain herbs
were poured over the sacred cakes. Her father followed, singing a hymn
to the god, while the mother, standing on the house-top, watched the
procession, and charged her daughter to conduct herself like a lady, as
she was, and to be cautious lest her golden ornaments were stolen in
the crowd.
One of the most ancient ceremonies among the Greek women was that of
bewailing annually, with dirges and loud cries, the death of Adonis.
Processions were formed, and images of Venus and Adonis carried aloft,
together with shells filled with earth, in which lettuces were growing.
This was done in commemoration of Adonis laid out by Venus on a bed of
lettuce.
In Attica, all girls not over ten or under five were consecrated to
the service of Diana, during a solemnity which took place once in five
years. On that occasion all female children of the proper age appeared
dressed in yellow robes, while victims were offered to the goddess, and
certain men sung one of Homer’s Iliads. No Athenian woman was allowed
to be married unless this ceremony had been performed.
The festival in honor of Ceres was observed with much solemnity at
Athens. None but free-born women were allowed to be present; and every
husband who received a portion of three talents with his wife, was
obliged to assist in defraying the expenses. The women were assisted
in the ceremonials by a priest, who wore a crown, and by certain
maidens, who were strictly secluded, kept under severe discipline,
and maintained at the public charge. The solemnity lasted four days.
All the women who aided in it were clothed in simple white garments,
without ornaments or flowers. Not the slightest immodesty or merriment
was permitted; but it was a custom to say jesting things to each other,
in memory of Jambe, who by a jest extorted a smile from Ceres, when
she was discouraged and melancholy. On one of the festival days, the
women walked in procession to Eleusis, carrying books on their heads,
in memory of Ceres, who was said to have first taught mankind the use
of laws; on this occasion it was against the law for any one to ride
in a chariot. There was likewise a mysterious sacrifice to Ceres, from
which all men were excluded; this was said to have been because in a
dangerous war, the prayers of women so prevailed with the gods, that
their enemies were driven away.
The custom of offering human beings as sacrifices to the gods was
regarded with great abhorrence by the primitive Greeks; but several
instances occurred in later times where captives taken in war were
devoted to this purpose. There is reason to suppose that the victims
were generally men; but there were exceptions to this remark. Bacchus
had an altar in Arcadia, upon which young damsels were beaten to death
with bundles of rods. Iphigenia, daughter of Agamemnon, was likewise
about to be sacrificed to Diana, because the soothsayer so decreed,
when the Greeks were kept back from the Trojan war by contrary winds;
and Macaria, the daughter of Hercules and Dejanira, voluntarily offered
herself as a victim, when the oracle declared that one of her father’s
family must die, to insure victory over their enemies. Great honors
were paid to the memory of this patriotic girl, and a fountain in
Marathon was called by her name.
The Athenian slaves were much protected by the laws. If a female slave
had cause to complain of any want of respect to the laws of modesty,
she could seek the protection of the temple, and demand a change of
owners; and such appeals were never discountenanced or neglected by the
magistrates.
The Milesian women being at one period much addicted to suicide, a
law was passed that all who died by their own hands should be exposed
to the public; and this effectually prevented an evil, which no other
means had been able to prevent.
The customs of Sparta differed in many respects from the rest of
Greece. When a match was decided upon, the mother, or nurse of the
bride, or some other woman who presided over the arrangements, shaved
the girl’s hair, dressed her in masculine attire, and left her alone in
an apartment at evening. The lover, in his every-day clothes, sought
an opportunity to enter by stealth, but took care to return to his own
abode before daylight, that his absence might not be detected by his
companions. In this manner only did custom allow them to visit their
wives, until they became mothers. Lycurgus passed a law forbidding
any dowry to be given to daughters, in order that marriage might take
place from motives of affection only. Marriage was much encouraged in
every part of Greece, and peculiarly so in Sparta. The age at which
both sexes might marry was prescribed by law, and any man who lived
without a wife beyond the limited time was liable to severe penalties.
Once every winter, they were compelled to run round the forum without
clothing, and sing a certain song, the words of which exposed them to
ridicule; they were not allowed to be present at the exercises where
beautiful young maidens contended; on a certain festival, the women
were allowed to drag them round an altar, beating them with their
fists; and young people were not required to treat them with the same
degree of respect that belonged to fathers of families.
Polygamy was not allowed, and divorces were extremely rare; but the
laws encouraged husbands to lend their wives when they thought proper.
Lycurgus reversed the Athenian custom, and allowed brother and sister
of the same mother to marry, while he forbade it if they both had
the same father. In Sparta there was a very ancient statue, called
Venus Juno, to which mothers offered sacrifice on the occasion of a
daughter’s marriage.
Damsels appeared abroad unveiled, but married women covered their
faces. Charilus, being asked the reason of this practice, replied,
“Girls wish to obtain husbands, and wives aim only at keeping those
they already have.” Lycurgus ordered that maidens should exercise
themselves with running, wrestling, throwing quoits, and casting darts,
with the view of making them healthy and vigorous; and for fear they
might have too much fastidiousness and refinement, he ordered them to
appear on these occasions without clothing. All the magistrates and
young men assembled to witness their performances, a part of which were
composed of dances and songs. These songs consisted of eulogiums upon
such men as had distinguished themselves by bravery, and satirical
allusions to those who had been cowardly or effeminate; and as they
were sung in hearing of the senate and people, no inconsiderable degree
of pride or shame was excited in those who were the subjects of them.
The Spartans bathed new-born infants in wine, from the idea that
vigorous children would be strengthened by it, while those who were
weakly would either faint, or fall into convulsions. Fathers were
not allowed to educate and nourish their own children, if they were
desirous to do so. All infants, being considered the property of the
commonwealth, were brought to the magistrates to be examined. If
vigorous and well formed, a certain portion of land was allotted for
their maintenance; but if they appeared sickly or deformed, they were
thrown into a deep cavern and left to perish.
The Spartan nurses were so celebrated, that they were eagerly sought
for by people of other countries. They never used swaddling bands, and
religiously observed the ceremony of laying infants upon bucklers, as
soon as they were born. They taught children to eat any kind of food,
or to endure the privation of it for a long time; not to be afraid when
left alone, or in the dark; to be ashamed of crying, and proud to take
care of themselves.
The Spartans mourned for deceased relations with great composure and
moderation; though when a king died, it was customary for men, women,
and slaves, to meet together in great numbers, and tear the flesh from
their foreheads with sharp instruments. Indeed, in all things they
endeavored to make their own interest and feelings subordinate to
the public good. When news came of the disastrous overthrow of the
Lacedæmonian army at Leuctra, those matrons who expected to receive
their sons alive from the battle, were silent and melancholy; while
those who received an account that their children were slain in battle,
went to the temples to offer thanksgivings, and congratulated each
other with every demonstration of joy.
The Lacedæmonians usually carried bodies to the grave on bucklers;
hence the command of the Spartan mother to her son, “either to bring
his buckler back from the wars, or be brought upon it.”
Some foreign women said to Gorgo, wife of king Leonidas, “You Spartans
are the only women that govern men.” “Because we are the only women who
give birth to men,” she replied. This answer was in allusion to their
own strength and vigor, and to the pains they took to make their boys
bold and hardy.
The Lacedæmonian women seem to have had a share in all the concerns of
the commonwealth; and during the early portions of their history they
appear to have been well worthy of the respect paid to them. When a
new senator was chosen, he was crowned with a garland, and the women
assembled to sing his domestic virtues and his warlike courage. At
the public feast given in honor of his election, he called the female
relative for whom he had the greatest esteem and gave her a portion,
saying, “That which I received as a mark of honor, I give to you.” When
Cleomenes, king of Sparta, was beset with powerful enemies, the king of
Egypt agreed to furnish him with succors, provided he would send his
mother and his children as hostages. Filial respect and tenderness made
the prince extremely unwilling to name this requisition. His mother,
perceiving that he made an effort to conceal something from her,
persuaded her friends to tell her what it was. As soon as she heard
it, she laughed outright, and said, “Was this the thing you so long
hesitated to communicate? Put us on board a ship, and send this old
carcase of mine wherever you think it may be of the most use to Sparta,
before age renders it good for nothing, and sinks it into the grave.”
When everything was ready for departure, she, being alone with her son,
saw that he struggled hard with emotion. She threw her arms around him,
and said, “King of the Lacedæmonians, be careful that we do nothing
unworthy of Sparta! This alone is in our power; the event belongs to
the gods.”
When Cleombrotus rebelled against his wife’s father, in spite of her
entreaties, and usurped the kingdom, Chelonis left her husband and
followed the fallen fortunes of her parent; but when the tide turned,
and Cleombrotus was in disgrace and danger, she joined her husband as
a suppliant for royal mercy, and was found sitting by him, with the
utmost tenderness, with her two children at her feet. She assured her
father that if his submission and her tears could not save his life,
she would die before him. The king, softened by her entreaties, changed
the intended sentence of death into exile, and begged his daughter to
remain with a father who loved her so affectionately. But Chelonis
could not be persuaded. She followed her husband into banishment.
Such was the character of Spartan women in the earlier periods of their
history; but in later times their boldness and immodesty increased to
such a degree that they became a by-word and a reproach throughout
Greece.
In Grecian mythology, the goddesses are about as numerous and important
as the gods. That Beauty, Health, and Majesty should be represented
as female deities, is by no means remarkable; but, considering the
estimation in which women were held, it is somewhat singular that
Wisdom should have been a goddess, and that sister muses should have
presided over history, epic poetry, dramatic poetry, and astronomy. The
tradition that Ceres first taught the use of laws does not probably
imply that legislation was invented by a woman; but that as men left a
wandering life, and devoted themselves to agriculture, (of which Ceres
was the personification,) they began to perceive the necessity of laws
for mutual defence and protection.
* * * * *
In the earliest and best days of Rome, the first magistrates and
generals of armies ploughed their own fields, and threshed their
own grain. Integrity, industry, and simplicity, were the prevailing
virtues of the times; and the character of women was, as it always
must be, in accordance with that of men. Columella says: “Roman
husbands, having completed the labors of the day, entered their houses,
free from all care, and there enjoyed perfect repose. There reigned
union, and concord, and industry, supported by mutual affection. The
most beautiful woman depended for distinction only on her economy,
and endeavors to assist in crowning her husband’s diligence with
prosperity. All was in common between them; nothing was thought to
belong more to one than another. The wife, by her assiduity and
activity within doors, equalled and seconded the industry and labor of
her husband.”
It was common for sons to marry and bring home their wives to the
paternal estate. Plutarch says: “There were not fewer than sixteen of
the Ælian family and name, who had only a small house and one farm
among them; and in this house they all lived, with their wives and
many children. Here dwelt the daughter of Æmilius, who had been twice
consul, and had triumphed twice; not ashamed of her husband’s poverty,
but admiring that virtue which kept him poor.”
Tanaquil, wife of Tarquin the First, one of the best kings of Rome, was
noted for her industry and ingenuity, as well as energy and ambition.
Her distaff was hung up in the temple of Hercules, and her girdle, with
a robe she embroidered for her son-in-law, were long preserved with the
utmost veneration. Her political influence seems to have been great,
and her liberality munificent. Her husband was originally a private
citizen of Tarquinia; but her knowledge of augury led her to predict
that an uncommon destiny awaited him at Rome, and she persuaded him to
go thither. After his death, she succeeded in raising her son-in-law,
Servius Tullius, to the throne.
Lucretia, a young matron of high rank, was found busy among her
maidens, assisting their spinning and weaving, and preparation of wool,
when her husband arrived with his guests, late in the evening. The
high value placed upon a stainless reputation may be inferred from the
fact that Lucretia would not survive dishonor, though she had been the
blameless victim of another’s vices.
Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio Africanus, was courted by a monarch,
but preferred being the wife of Sempronius Gracchus, a Roman citizen.
After the death of her husband, she took the entire management of
his estate, and the education of her sons. She was distinguished for
virtue, learning, and good sense. She wrote and spoke with uncommon
elegance and purity. Cicero and Quintilian bestow high praise upon her
letters. The eloquence of her children was attributed to her careful
superintendence. When a Campanian lady ostentatiously displayed a
profusion of jewels, and begged Cornelia to show hers, she exhibited
her boys, just returned from school, saying: “These are my jewels; the
only ornaments of which I can boast.” During her lifetime, a statue was
erected in honor of her character, bearing this inscription: “Cornelia,
mother of the Gracchi.”
The rigid decorum of Roman manners may be inferred from the
circumstance that Cato expelled a senator, merely because he kissed his
wife in the presence of his daughter. “For my own part,” said he, “my
wife never embraces me except when it thunders terribly;” adding, by
way of joke, “I am a very happy man when Jove is pleased to thunder.”
The superior condition of Roman women, in comparison with the Greeks,
may in a great measure be attributed to an event that occurred in the
very beginning of their history.
Romulus, being unable to obtain wives for the citizens of his new
commonwealth, celebrated public games, to which people of neighboring
nations were invited. In the midst of the entertainment he and his
soldiers seized a large number of women, principally Sabines, and
carried them off to his camp. Their restitution was demanded and
refused; but the warlike husbands, anxious to conciliate the affections
of wives obtained in a manner so violent, treated them with such
tenderness, that the women were themselves unwilling to return to
their relatives. This led to a war with the Sabines, and Romulus was
closely besieged in his citadel. At this crisis, Hersilia, his wife,
asked and obtained an audience with the senate, in which she told them
that the women had formed a design of acting as mediators between
their husbands and fathers. A decree was immediately passed in favor
of the proposition. Every woman was required to leave one of her
children, as a hostage of her return; the others they carried in their
arms, to soften the feelings of their parents. They proceeded to the
Sabine camp, dressed in deep mourning, and knelt at the feet of their
relatives. Hersilia described the kindness of their husbands, and
their own reluctance to be torn from their families, in a manner so
eloquent and pathetic, that an honorable and friendly alliance was soon
agreed upon.
In consideration of this important service, the Romans conferred
peculiar privileges on women. In capital cases, they were exempted from
the jurisdiction of ordinary judges; no immodest language or behavior
was allowed in their presence; every one was ordered to give way to
them in the street; and a festival was instituted in their honor,
called Matronalia, during which they served their slaves at table, and
received presents from their husbands.
Three kinds of marriage were in use among the Romans, called
_confarreatio_, _coemptio_, and _usus_. The first was established
by Romulus, and was the most solemn, as well as the most ancient. A
priest, in the presence of at least ten witnesses, pronounced certain
words, and sacrificed to the gods a cake made of salt, water, and
wheat-flour. The bride and bridegroom ate of this cake, to signify the
union which ought to bind them. This manner of celebrating marriage
made a wife the partner of all her husband’s substance, and gave her
a right to share in the peculiar sacred rites attached to his family.
If he died intestate, and without children, she inherited his whole
fortune, as a daughter; if he left children, she shared equally with
them. If she committed any fault, the husband judged of it in presence
of her relations, and punished her at pleasure. Sometimes when women
were publicly condemned by law, the penalty was left to the judgment
of her husband and relations. The priests of Jupiter were chosen
from sons born of this kind of marriage, and the vestal virgins were
selected from the daughters.
The _coemptio_, or mutual purchase, consisted of the bride and
bridegroom’s giving each other pieces of money. The man asked the
woman, “Are you willing to be the mistress of my family?” She
answered, “I am willing;” and then asked him a similar question, to
which he replied in the same manner. According to some authors it
was accompanied with the same ceremonies, and conferred the same
privileges, as the other form of marriage; and it continued in use a
long time after _confarreatio_ was out of date.
That which was called _usus_, or usage, was when a woman, with consent
of her parents or guardians, lived a whole year with a man, without
being absent from his house three nights. She thus became his wife, and
is supposed to have had the same rights and privileges as other wives;
but if absent three nights, she was said to have annulled the contract.
No young man was allowed to marry before he was fourteen, and no girl
before she was twelve. A man sixty years old was not permitted to marry
a woman younger than fifty; and if he was more than sixty, he could not
marry a woman of fifty.
Brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, and cousin-germans, were not
permitted to marry each other. For some time it was contrary to law for
a patrician to marry a plebeian; but this continued only about five
years.
All alliances with women of blemished reputation, or low extraction,
were considered dishonorable. No marriage of a Roman with a foreigner
could be legal, unless express permission had been first obtained from
the government. Cicero even reproached Anthony for marrying Fulvia,
because her father was a freed-man. A law was, however, passed, by
which only senators, their sons, and grandsons, were forbidden to
marry a freed-woman, an actress, or the daughter of an actor. Finally
the right of citizenship was granted to all inhabitants of countries
belonging to the Roman empire, and the stigma attached to foreign
alliances was removed.
Neither sons nor daughters could marry without their father’s
approbation. The mother’s consent was usually asked as a matter of
propriety, though there was no legal restriction to that effect.
When the consent of parents had been obtained, the relatives held a
meeting to settle the articles of contract, which were written and
sealed, in presence of witnesses. They broke a straw, according to
their custom in making bargains; hence it was called stipulation, from
_stipula_, a straw. This occasion was usually celebrated by a feast,
during which the bridegroom made presents to the bride, and gave her a
ring, that in early times was plain, and made of iron, but afterwards
of gold. It was worn on the fourth finger of the left hand, on account
of the idea that a vein went from that finger to the heart. Some of
these bridal rings were made of brass or copper, with the figure of a
key, to signify that the husband delivered her the keys of his house.
Some of them have been found bearing devices; such as _I love you_.
_I wish you a happy life._ _Love me._ If, after the espousals, either
party wished to retract, they could do so, by observing certain forms.
The marriage portion varied according to the wealth and rank of the
parties. It was delivered in money, or secured upon lands; and was paid
at three terms fixed by law. The husband was not permitted to alienate
it; and in case of divorce, except it took place by his wife’s fault,
her relations could reclaim it. If any citizen caused a woman to lose
her fair fame, he was obliged to marry her without a portion, or give
her one proportioned to her rank. In the first days of the republic,
dowries were very small. The senate gave the daughter of Scipio about
£35 10_s._; and one Megullia was surnamed DOTATA, or the Great Fortune,
because she had £161 7_s._ 6_d._ sterling. But as wealth increased,
the marriage portions became greater, until eight or nine thousand
pounds sterling was the usual dowry of women of high rank. Seneca says,
“The sum that the senate thought sufficient dowry for the daughter of
Scipio, would not now suffice even the daughters of our freed-men to
buy a mirror.”
No marriage took place without first consulting the auspices, and
sacrificing to the gods, especially to Juno, who presided over
matrimonial engagements. Like the Greeks, they took the gall from the
victims, and threw it behind the altar.
Certain days and festivals were regarded as unlucky for a wedding;
particularly those marked in the calendar with black; but widows might
marry on those days. The whole month of May was regarded as unfortunate
for marriage, and the middle of June peculiarly auspicious. The
ceremony was performed at the house of the bride’s father, or nearest
relation. She was dressed in a long white robe bordered with purple,
and fastened with a girdle made of wool. Her hair was divided into six
locks with the point of a spear, and crowned with a wreath of vervain
gathered by herself. Her face was covered with a flame-colored veil,
and she wore high shoes of the same color. In the evening, she was
conducted to her husband’s house. She was taken apparently by force
from the arms of her mother, or nearest female relative, in memory of
the Sabine women seized by Roman soldiers. Three boys, who had parents
living, attended upon her; one supporting each arm, and the third
walking before her with a lighted flambeau. Relations and friends
eagerly sought to carry away this torch, when they came near the
bridegroom’s house; partly on account of some peculiar virtue it was
supposed to possess, and partly for fear it should be made use of for
some fascination, that would shorten the lives of the young couple.
A young slave followed the bride, carrying, in a covered vase, her
toilet, and corals, and children’s playthings of all kinds, accompanied
by maidens, bearing distaff, spindle, and wool. A great train of
relations and friends attended the nuptial procession. The door of the
bridegroom’s house was adorned with festoons, garlands of flowers,
and lists of woollen, rubbed with oil, and the fat of swine or wolves,
to avert enchantments. When the bride arrived thither, being asked who
she was, she answered, “Caia.” This custom was taken from the name
of Caia Cœcilia, generally called Tanaquil; and the bride’s answer
implied that she intended to imitate such a good and industrious wife.
She then bound the door-posts of her bridegroom with woollen fillets,
likewise anointed with oil, and the fat of swine or wolves; from this
circumstance the Latin word for wife is _uxor_, which signifies _the
anointer_; and our word uxorious is thence derived.
The bride was gently lifted over her husband’s threshold; for it was
reckoned a bad omen to touch it with her feet, because the threshold
was sacred to Vesta, who presided over female purity.
As soon as she entered, they sprinkled her with water, and delivered
the keys of the house, to show that she was intrusted with the
management of the family; and a sheep-skin was spread before her,
indicating that she was to work in wool. Both she and her husband were
required to touch fire and water; and with the water their feet were
afterward bathed. In the early ages they put a yoke about the neck
of the young couple, as an emblem of the mutual assistance they were
expected to render each other in the cares and duties of life. The
Latin word _conjugium_, a yoke, is the origin of our word conjugial.
The bridegroom feasted the relations, friends, and attendants of
himself and bride. He was placed at the head of the table, and
the bride was laid in his bosom. The feast was distinguished for
the abundance, variety, and delicacy of the refreshments. It was
accompanied with music. The guests sung to the honor of the newly
married an epithalamium, beginning and ending with acclamations, in
which was often repeated the name of _Thalassius_. The following
circumstance is supposed to have been the origin of this custom: when
the Sabine women were forcibly carried to the Roman camp, one of them,
very remarkable for her youthful beauty, attracted so much attention,
that quarrels were likely to ensue concerning her. The men who carried
her, wishing to avoid any such contention, thought of exclaiming
aloud that they were carrying her to Thalassius, a handsome and brave
young man, exceedingly beloved by the people. As soon as this was
proclaimed, the soldiers withdrew all opposition, and rent the air
with acclamations of the hero’s name. The marriage thus prepared for
Thalassius proved so happy and prosperous, that the Romans ever after,
in their epithalamia, were accustomed to wish the newly-married pair a
destiny like his.
The bride was conducted to her apartment by matrons, who had been
married to only one husband. The bridegroom scattered nuts among the
boys, and the bride consecrated her dolls and playthings to Venus,
thereby intimating that they relinquished the sports of childhood. When
the guests departed, small presents were distributed among them.
Next day another entertainment was given, when presents were sent to
the bride by relations and friends, and she performed certain sacred
rites appropriate to the mistress of a family. The goods which a woman
brought her husband beside her dowry were called _bona paraphernalia_.
Daughters generally received the name of their father, or some
relation, varied only by ending according to the feminine instead of
the masculine gender: thus Hortensia was the daughter of Hortensius;
and the two daughters of Mark Antony were named Antonia Major, and
Antonia Minor. By way of endearment they frequently made use of those
diminutives, to which the language of Italy owes so much of its
gracefulness; thus the beloved daughter of Tullius Cicero was called
Tulliola. In a numerous family, girls were often distinguished from
each other by the diminutives of numbers; as Secundilla, and Quartilla,
the Second and the Fourth. At marriage, a woman retained her original
name with the addition of her husband’s; thus Cornelia, the wife of
Sempronius Gracchus, was called Cornelia Sempronia.
The birth of children was celebrated by a domestic festival, during
which the gates were adorned with branches, garlands, and lamps, and
a piece of money was deposited in the temple of Juno Lucina, whose
office corresponded to the Eleutho of the Grecians. Boys received the
family name on the ninth day after birth, and girls on the eighth; but
they did not give the _prænomen_, or, as we should say, the _baptismal
name_, until they took the virile robe, which marked their entrance
into manhood; and girls did not receive it till they were married.
Romulus introduced the Spartan custom of exposing all sickly and
deformed children; with this restriction, that every child should be
nourished three years, in order to try whether it would not, in that
interval, attain health and vigor. In later times, this prohibition was
disregarded, and the custom of exposing infants became very common.
While the Romans retained their primitive simplicity, mothers nursed
their own babes, and would have considered it a great misfortune or
reproach, to have employed another to fulfil that tender office; but
as luxury increased, indolence and love of pleasure so far conquered
maternal affection, that women of rank almost universally consigned
their children to the care of female slaves.
Education kept pace with the changing character of the people. At
first, children were brought up in habits of laborious industry. When
the arts and sciences were introduced, the cultivation of the mind
and manners received a considerable degree of attention; and we know
that girls shared in these privileges, because when Claudius wished
to seize the beautiful Virginia as a slave, in order to deliver her
to the infamous Appius, he arrested her as she returned from school,
attended by her governante. In the last days of Rome, personal habits
were exceedingly luxurious, and education became showy and superficial,
because it was acquired from vanity, rather than a love of knowledge.
The power of Roman fathers was excessive. They could imprison their
children, load them with fetters, make them work with the slaves, sell
them, and even put them to death; but mothers had no legal share in
this authority. A story is told of a Roman girl, who was starved to
death by her father, because she picked the lock of a wine chest, to
get at the wine.
The habit of adopting children, even when the parents on both sides
were living, was very common. The adopted were subject to the same
authority, and received the same share of inheritance, as real sons and
daughters. They generally retained the name of their own family, in
addition to the one into which they were adopted.
Though the Romans rivalled all preceding nations in justice and
kindness toward women, yet husbands were intrusted with a degree of
power, which modern nations would consider dangerous. A man might
divorce his wife, if she violated the matrimonial vow, poisoned his
offspring, brought upon him suppositious children, counterfeited his
private keys, or drank wine without his knowledge. Valerius Maximus
says that Egnatius Metellus, having detected his wife drinking wine out
of a cask, put her to death, and was acquitted by Romulus.
The ancient Romans did not allow women to inherit property; but as
wealth increased, fathers did not like to leave their fortunes to
distant male relatives, while their daughters were left portionless;
they therefore managed to elude the law, by making such provision for
their children, as rendered the estates so taken of little value. The
people, vexed at these proceedings, passed the Voconian law, by which
no woman could inherit an estate, even if she were an only child; but
after a time, the right of succession, both in moveables and land, was
granted to females after the death of their brothers.
Women could not dispose of property, or transact any business of
importance, without the concurrence of a parent, husband, or guardian.
Sometimes a man appointed a guardian to his widow, or daughters,
and sometimes they were allowed to choose for themselves. In some
cases, discreet elderly women were appointed guardians. No women,
except the vestal virgins, were allowed to give evidence in a court
of justice concerning wills. The favorite attendants of noble Romans
were sometimes intrusted with an extraordinary degree of power over
the wives of their masters. Justinian’s principal eunuch threatened
to chastise the empress, if she did not obey his orders. These
facts show that Roman women were by no means admitted to the social
equality, which characterizes the intercourse of the sexes at the
present time; but they ate and drank with the men, were present at
convivial entertainments, enjoyed the evening air in the public
groves, accompanied by fathers, husbands, or brothers, and enjoyed
many privileges to which the women of neighboring nations were entire
strangers.
The Romans treated female captives with shameless brutality. Queens
and princesses were compelled to submit to the grossest personal
indignities, and were often dragged through the streets chained to
the conqueror’s chariot wheels. The stern ferocity that mingled with
their better qualities is shown in the story of one of the Horatii,
who killed his sister, merely because she wept for her lover slain by
his hand; and the example of Marcia, wife of Regulus, who shut up some
Carthagenian prisoners in a barrel filled with sharp nails, to revenge
her husband, who had been put to death in Carthage. It is, however,
true that these actions were not sanctioned by public opinion; for
Horatius was punished, and the senate interfered to check the wanton
cruelty of Marcia.
The Romans followed the common practice of hiring mourning women to
sing funeral songs in praise of the dead. The nearest female relations
sometimes tore their garments, and covered their hair with dust. In the
funeral procession, sons veiled their faces, and daughters went with
uncovered heads and dishevelled hair, contrary to the usual practice
of both. They followed the Grecian custom of burning the corpse, and
depositing the ashes in an urn. Infants, that died before they had
teeth, were buried, not burned; and all children not weaned were
carried to the grave by their mothers. The sepulchres were covered
with flowers and garlands, and a small altar was placed near, on which
libations were made, and incense burnt.
It was thought dishonorable for men to mourn; but the law prescribed
that women should mourn ten months for a parent, or a husband. During
this time they laid aside ornaments, and purple garments, and staid at
home, avoiding all amusements; some even refrained from kindling a fire
in the house on account of its cheerful appearance. Under the republic,
women dressed in black like the men; but under the emperors, when
party-colored garments came in fashion, they wore white for mourning.
If a widow married within ten months after her husband’s decease,
she was held infamous. Indeed second marriages were never esteemed
honorable in women. Even in the most corrupt days of the empire, those
who had been married but to one husband were treated with peculiar
deference; hence Univira is often found on ancient sepulchres, as an
epithet of honor.
Plutarch says maidens never married on festivals, nor widows on
working-days, because marriage was honorable to the one and seemed not
to be so to the other; for which reason they celebrated the marriage of
widows in presence of a few, and on days that called off the attention
of the people to other spectacles. Those who remained widows had the
first place in certain solemn ceremonies. The crown of chastity was
decreed to them; and if they married again, they were never after
allowed to enter the temple of that divinity.
The Romans borrowed their mythology from the Grecian, where female
deities abound. When they invoked the gods by name, in their temples,
the Romans, in order to avoid mistakes, were accustomed to add,
“Whether thou art a god, or whether thou art a goddess.” Women, as
well as men, filled the sacred office of the priesthood. The vestal
virgins were young girls, six in number, devoted to the service of
Vesta. When any vacancy occurred, twenty maidens, not younger than
six, or older than sixteen, were selected from the families of Roman
citizens. It was required that their parents should both be living,
and free-born, and that they themselves should be without any bodily
imperfection or infirmity. It was determined by lot which of the twenty
should be chosen; unless some one, with requisite qualifications, was
voluntarily offered by parents, and approved by the pontifex maximus,
or high priest. The vestals were bound to their ministry for thirty
years. For the first ten, they learned the sacred rites; for the next
ten, they performed them; and for the last ten, they taught the younger
virgins. It was the business of the vestals to keep the sacred fire
continually burning; they watched it in the night time alternately;
and whoever allowed it to go out, was severely scourged. The fire
was relighted from the rays of the sun, and extraordinary sacrifices
were made to avert the unlucky omen. Certain sacred images, on the
preservation of which the safety of Rome was supposed to depend, were
likewise intrusted to the care of the vestals. Wills and testaments
were often deposited in their hands, by people who were afraid that
relations would commit frauds and forgeries. They were chosen as the
umpires of difficulties between persons of rank; and their prayers were
thought to have peculiar influence with the gods. Even the prætors
and consuls, when they met them in the street, lowered their _fasces_,
and went out of the way, to show them respect. They were supported
by a public salary; had a lictor to attend them in the streets; rode
in chariots; and sat in a distinguished place at the spectacles. Any
insult to them was punished with death; and if a criminal chanced
to meet one of them on his way to execution, he was immediately
set at liberty, provided the vestal affirmed that the meeting was
unintentional. They were allowed to make their wills, although under
age; and were not subject to the power of parents or guardians, like
other women. They were not forced to swear, unless so inclined; and
their testimony was admitted concerning wills, though no other female
was allowed to give evidence on the subject. Beside these exclusive
honors, they enjoyed all the privileges of matrons who had three
children.
If any vestal violated her vow of chastity, she was buried alive, with
funeral solemnities, after being tried and sentenced; and her paramour
was scourged to death in the forum. Such an event was always thought
to forebode some dreadful calamity to the state, and extraordinary
sacrifices were offered in expiation.
When the vestals were first chosen, their hair was cut off, and buried
under an old lotus tree in the city; but it was afterward allowed to
grow. They wore long white robes, edged with purple, and their heads
were decorated with fillets and ribands. When they left the service
of the temple, they might marry; but this was seldom done, and always
reckoned ominous.
There was at Rome a temple to the goddess who presided over the peace
of marriages, and the appeasement of husbands. Gibbon remarks that
her name, Viriplaca, shows that repentance and submission were always
expected from the woman. When domestic quarrels occurred, sacrifices
were offered in this temple, to procure reconciliation.
Beside innumerable religious ceremonies appropriated to certain
families, and performed on certain occasions, it was customary for
the Roman women, at the end of every consular year, to celebrate in
the house of the consul, or prætor, certain rites in honor of _Bona
Dea_, or the good goddess. No man was allowed to be present; even
the consul himself was obliged to leave his dwelling. Before the
ceremonies commenced, every corner and lurking-place was carefully
searched; all pictures and statues of men contained within the building
were covered with a thick veil; and male animals of every kind were
driven away. All being in readiness, the vestal virgins offered the
customary sacrifices; and women kept a secret so much better than free
masons have done, that to this day there is no conjecture in what the
ceremonies consisted, or why they were observed. Only one attempt
was ever made to violate the prescribed rules. While Pompeia, the
third wife of Julius Cæsar, was celebrating the mysteries, Clodius, a
profligate Roman, who was enamored of her beauty, habited himself as
a singing girl, and walked through the rooms, avoiding the light as
much as possible. A maiden asked him to sing; and as he did not reply,
she followed him so closely that he was obliged to speak. His voice
betrayed him, and the maiden shrieked aloud that the sacrifices were
profaned by the presence of a man. He was driven out with ignominy,
and soon after brought before the judges; but the populace were in
his favor, and he was acquitted. Cæsar did not believe that Pompeia
was aware of the intentions of Clodius; but he immediately repudiated
her, saying, “the wife of Cæsar must not even be suspected.” On this
occasion, Cicero made the following remarks: “This sacrifice, which is
performed by the vestal virgins--which is performed for the prosperity
of the Roman people--which is performed in the house of the chief
magistrate--celebrated with unknown ceremonies--in honor of a goddess,
whose very name it is sacrilege to know--this sacrifice Clodius
profaned!”
Beside the augurs, or soothsayers, the Romans believed in certain
women, supernaturally inspired, called sibyls. The most celebrated is
the sibyl of Cumæ, in Italy. It was said that Apollo became enamored of
her, and offered to give whatever she would ask. She demanded to live
as many years, as she had grains of sand in her hand; but unfortunately
forgot to ask for a continuance of youth and health. She usually
wrote her prophecies on leaves, which she placed at the entrance of
her cave; and unless they were gathered up before the wind dispersed
them, they became incomprehensible. The Roman historians declare that
one of the sibyls came to the palace of Tarquin the Second, with nine
volumes, which she offered to sell at a very high price. The proposal
being disregarded, she burned three, and asked the same price for the
remaining six; and when Tarquin refused to buy them, she burned three
more, and still required the same sum for the remainder. This singular
conduct surprised the king so much, that he consulted the soothsayers,
who lamented the destruction of so many of the books, and advised him
to purchase those that remained. The sibyl disappeared, and never
returned. The books were intrusted to the care of the priests, and
consulted with the greatest solemnity on all important occasions.
The Romans, like the Greeks, had firm belief in omens and enchantments,
over which they supposed the moon presided; hence their witches
were represented as haggard old women, muttering incantations, and
accompanied by dogs howling at the moon.
Paulus Æmilius, having been appointed commander-in-chief against
Perseus, and conducted home from the Campus Martius in a very splendid
manner, found his little daughter Tertia in tears. He took her in his
arms, and asked her why she wept. The child embraced him, and said,
“Don’t you know, then, father, that Perseus is dead?” The girl alluded
to her little dog; but Æmilius replied, “I hail the lucky omen!”
The Romans likewise used philtres. Lucullus lost his senses by a love
potion; and Caligula was thrown into a fit of madness by a philtre
which his wife Cæsonia administered.
The ancient dress of Roman women was modest and simple, like their
characters. They wore a tunic and toga, like those of the men,
excepting that the tunic had sleeves, was high in the neck, and long
enough to reach to the feet. The toga was a sort of ample robe fastened
on the shoulder, and falling in graceful folds. They wore bands, or
fillets, wrapped around the limbs, instead of stockings. Their covering
for the feet were of two kinds; one consisting of a pair of soles,
fastened with straps, nearly like what we call sandals; the other, a
kind of half boot, open from the toe, and laced in front.
Women usually wore white shoes, until Aurelian allowed them to use red
ones, forbidding all men, except the royal family, to wear the same
color. The fashionable wore them very tight, with high heels, to give
them a majestic appearance.
As luxury increased, the ladies became less scrupulous about exposing
their persons. Tunics were made shorter, lower in the neck, and with
sleeves open from the shoulder to the wrist, to display the beauty of
the arm. A good deal of coquetry and grace was manifested in arranging
the ample folds which fell from the girdle. The number of tunics
increased, until it was customary to wear three. The last invented
was a very full robe, called _stola_; and after this was introduced,
the _toga_ was worn only by men and courtesans. The _stola_ had a
long train, often embroidered with gold and purple. The upper part
was fitted to the form, and being open in front displayed the second
tunic. This gave the first idea of bodices, which soon became the
most brilliant article of Roman dress, enriched with gold and pearls,
and precious stones. Above this dress the ladies wore a very long
mantle, fastened by a clasp on the shoulders, from which it flowed
loose, supporting its own weight. It commonly rested on the left arm
and shoulder, leaving the right arm entirely uncovered, according to
the custom of the men. Under the reign of Nero, women began to wear
silken robes, instead of linen or woollen; yet more than half a century
later, we find Aurelian refusing his empress a mantle of silk, because
the threads were sold at their weight in gold. Afterward a kind of
transparent stuff became very fashionable. The texture was so delicate
that they were obliged to color it before it was woven; and the fabric
was so open, that the body might be distinctly seen through it. Varro
called them “dresses of glass,” and Jerome loudly declaimed against
them.
Roman fans were round, like hand-screens; generally made of feathers,
and sometimes with small metallic mirrors inserted above the handle.
At first, garments were generally white; none but people of great
dignity wore them of purple; but in process of time, all manner of
brilliant and varied colors came into fashion. Women of rank loaded
their shoes with embroidery and pearls, and prided themselves on the
variety and costliness of their necklaces, bracelets, ear-rings, and
rings. Pliny says that even women of the utmost simplicity and modesty
durst not venture abroad without diamonds, any more than a consul
without the marks of his dignity. “I have seen,” says that writer,
“Lollia Paulina, wife of Caligula, load herself with jewels, even after
her repudiation; not for any pompous festival, but for simple visits.
The value of those she affected to show amounted to forty millions of
sesterces, (more than two hundred thousand pounds.) They were not given
by the prince, but were part of the effects which descended to her from
Marcus Lollius, her uncle.”
The Roman women in primitive times arranged their hair in simple
braids, neatly fastened with a broad ribbon, or fillet. But afterward,
they wore structures of curls, high as a towering edifice; wigs of
false hair, like a helmet; combs made of box inlaid with ivory; golden
bodkins loaded with pearls; and fillets embroidered with precious
stones.
Those who peculiarly studied decorum, still wore the plain broad fillet
of olden times, and arranged their hair in simple, graceful knots at
the back of the head. This style was called _insigne pudoris_, or a
sign of modesty.
Light colored hair was most admired. Both men and women dyed it, to
make the color more lively; they perfumed it, and applied essences
to give it lustre. Sometimes they powdered it with gold dust; which
custom Josephus says was practised by the Jews. The hair of the emperor
Commodus is said to have been rendered so brilliant by the constant
use of gold dust, that when he stood in the sunshine, his head appeared
on fire. In the early ages, women never appeared in public without a
veil; but in later times this was dispensed with, or used merely in a
coquettish manner. The beautiful but infamous Poppæa always partially
shaded her face with gauze, to increase the power of her charms.
The Roman ladies enlarged their eyes by stooping over the vapor of
burning powder of antimony; and increased their expression by staining
the eyelashes, and gently tinting the lid underneath with the same
powder. The eyebrows likewise were finely pencilled. Pliny speaks of a
wild vine, the leaves and fruit of which were bruised together, to make
a cosmetic for the complexion: and Ovid says some women bruised poppies
in cold water, and applied it to their cheeks. Martial says Fabula was
afraid of the rain, because of the chalk upon her face, and Sabella of
the sun, on account of the ceruse with which she was painted. Poppæa
made use of an unctuous paint, which formed a crust, that remained some
time; it was taken off with milk, and greatly increased the fairness
of the complexion. Ladies were accused of keeping the crust for a
domestic face, and reserving the beautiful one for seasons when they
went abroad. Poppæa, from whom this paint derived its name, had a troop
of she-asses following her, even when she went into exile. Juvenal
says she would not have dispensed with them if she had gone to the
hyperborean pole. Every day they milked five hundred asses, for a bath
to maintain the softness and freshness of her complexion.
The Roman ladies were very careful of their teeth. They cleansed them
often with little brushes and tooth-picks. Some were silver; but those
made of lentisk wood were considered the best. Artificial teeth were
sometimes used; for Martial, in one of his epigrams, says to Maximina,
“Thou hast only three teeth; and those are of box varnished over.”
Ladies usually went to the bath when they first arose, and from the
bath to the toilet. This important business occupied many hours. The
attendants were numerous, and each one had a separate department. One
combed, curled, and braided the hair; a second arranged the jewels;
a third poured the perfumes; and a fourth prepared the cosmetics.
Each one had a name expressive of her employment; hence the words
_ornatrices_, _cosmetæ_, &c. Some, who were called _parasitæ_, were
merely required to look on, and give advice; those who were the best
skilled in flattery were, of course, the greatest favorites. If a curl
was misplaced, or a color unbecoming, the waiting maids were abused
for the fault. Juvenal, speaking to one of these women, says, “Of what
crime is that unhappy girl guilty, because your nose displeases you?”
It was not surprising that such a state of things should exist among
women, when the men wore golden soles to their shoes, plucked out the
hairs of the beard one by one, and applied bread dipped in milk to the
face, to freshen the complexion.
Still, in all periods of Roman history, there were bright examples
of female excellence. When Coriolanus, in revenge for ungrateful
treatment, threatened to destroy Rome with an invading army, the
remonstrances and proposals of the nobility and senate had no effect
on his stubborn pride. The Roman matrons persuaded his mother Veturia,
and his wife Vergilia, to go to his camp, and try their influence in
appeasing his resentment. The meeting between Coriolanus and his family
was extremely affecting. For a while he remained inflexible; but the
entreaties of a mother and a wife finally prevailed over his stern and
vindictive resolutions. The senate decreed that Veturia and Vergilia
should receive any favor they thought proper to ask. They merely begged
permission to build a temple to the Fortunes of Women, at their own
expense. The senate immediately ordered that it should be erected on
the very spot where Coriolanus had been persuaded to save Rome. They
likewise decreed them public thanks; ordered the men to give place to
them upon all occasions; and permitted the Roman ladies to add another
ornament to their head-dress!!
Veturia was made priestess of the new temple, into which no woman who
had married a second husband was allowed to enter.
Portia, the daughter of Cato and wife of Brutus, was remarkable for
her prudence, philosophy, and domestic virtues. She wounded herself
severely, and endured the pain in silence, to convince her husband that
she had sufficient courage to be intrusted with his most dangerous
secrets. Brutus admired her fortitude, and no longer concealed from
her his intended conspiracy against Cæsar. On the day when she knew
the assassination was to take place, she fainted away with excess of
anxiety; but she faithfully kept the secret that had been intrusted to
her. When she parted from Brutus, after the death of Cæsar, a picture
of Hector and Andromache, that was hanging on the wall, brought tears
to her eyes. A friend of Brutus, who was present, repeated the address
of the Trojan princess:
“Be careful, Hector! for with thee my _all_,
My father, mother, brother, husband, fall.”
Brutus replied, smiling, “I must not answer Portia in the words of
Hector, ‘Mind your wheel, and to your maids give law;’ for in courage,
activity, and concern for her country’s freedom, she is inferior to
none of us; though the weakness of her frame does not always second the
strength of her mind.” A false rumor having prevailed that Brutus was
dead, Portia resolved not to survive him. Her friends, aware of her
purpose, placed every weapon beyond her reach; but she defeated their
kindness by swallowing burning coals.
The emperor Augustus is said to have seldom worn any domestic robes
that were not woven by his wife, his sister, his daughters, or his
nieces. His sister Octavia was celebrated for her beauty and her
virtues. When her husband, Mark Antony, deserted her for the sake of
Cleopatra, she went to Athens to meet him, in hopes of withdrawing
him from this disgraceful amour; but she was secretly rebuked, and
entirely banished from his presence. Augustus highly resented this
affront to a beloved sister, but she gently endeavored to pacify
him, and made all possible excuses for Antony. When she heard of
her husband’s death, she took all his children into her house, and
treated them with the utmost tenderness. She gave Virgil ten thousand
sesterces for every line of his encomium upon her excellent and darling
son Marcellus. The poet was requested to repeat these verses in the
presence of Augustus and his sister. Octavia burst into tears as soon
as he began; but when he mentioned _Tu Marcellus eris_, she swooned
away. She was supposed to have died of melancholy, occasioned by her
son’s death. Augustus himself pronounced her funeral oration, and the
Roman people evinced their respect for her character by wishing to pay
her divine honors.
Agrippina, the granddaughter of Augustus, was a model of purity in the
midst of surrounding corruption. She accompanied her husband Germanicus
into Germany, shared in all his toils and dangers, and attached
herself to him with the most devoted affection. She often appeared at
the head of the troops, appeasing tumults, and encouraging bravery.
Tiberius, jealous of virtues that reflected so much dishonor on his own
licentious court, entered into machinations against them. Germanicus
was poisoned, and Agrippina exiled and treated with the utmost
indignity. Despairing of redress, she refused all sustenance, and died.
Arria, the wife of Pætus, not being allowed to accompany her husband to
Rome, when he was carried thither to be tried for conspiracy against
the government, followed the vessel in a fisherman’s bark hired for the
occasion. She exerted every means to save his life; and when she found
all her efforts unavailing, she advised him to avoid the disgrace and
torture that awaited him, by voluntary death. Seeing that he hesitated,
she plunged the dagger into her own heart, and gave it to him with a
smile, saying, “It gives me no pain, my Pætus.” In judging of these
examples, we must remember that the Romans, in their sternness and
stoicism, regarded suicide as a virtue.
Eponina, the wife of Sabinus, lived with her husband concealed in a
cave, for several years, rather than desert him at a time of disgrace
and danger, the consequence of unsuccessful rebellion. Their retreat
was at length discovered; and neither her tears, nor the innocent
beauty of two little twins born in the cavern, could soften the heart
of Vespasian. The faithful wife was condemned to die with her husband.
Valerius Maximus tells of an illustrious lady, whose mother being
condemned to die by famine, the daughter obtained access to her prison,
and nourished her with her own milk. When this was discovered, the
criminal was pardoned; both mother and daughter were maintained at
the public expense; and a temple to Filial Piety was erected near the
prison.
Pliny, who lived as late as the time of Trajan, warmly eulogizes the
talents and domestic virtues of his wife. He says: “Her taste for
literature is inspired by tenderness for me. When I am to speak in
public, she places herself as near me as possible, under the cover of
her veil, and listens with delight to the praises bestowed upon me. She
sings my verses, and untaught adapts them to the lute; love is her only
instructer.”
Under the emperors, it was more easy to find women distinguished for
talent than for virtue. Julia, the wife of Septimus Severus, was
famous for her genius and learning, and for the generous patronage she
bestowed on literature. Julia Mammæa, the mother of Alexander Severus,
had a mind equally cultivated, with far greater purity of character
than her namesake. She educated her son for the throne in a manner
so judicious, that his integrity, virtue, and firmness might have
effectually checked the tide of corruption, had he not met with an
untimely fate.
As learning became fashionable, many acquired it merely for display.
Juvenal, speaking of pedantic ladies, says: “They fall on the praises
of Virgil, and weigh his merits in the same balance with Homer; they
find excuses for Dido’s having stabbed herself, and determine of the
beautiful and the sovereign good.”
The Roman women seem to have been less iron-hearted than the Spartans.
When the Romans were defeated by Hannibal, women waited at the gates of
the city, for news of the returning army. One, who had given up her son
for dead, died at the sight of him; and another, having been told that
her son was slain, died when the report was contradicted.
The Roman women strongly resembled the Spartans in the deep and active
interest they took in public affairs. Upon the death of Brutus, they
all clad themselves in deep mourning. In the time of Brennus, they gave
all their golden ornaments to ransom the city from the Gauls. In reward
for this generosity, the senate ordained that they should be allowed to
ride in chariots at the public games, and that funeral orations should
thenceforth be pronounced for them, as well as for distinguished men.
After the fatal battle of Cannæ, the women again consecrated all
their ornaments to the service of the state. But when the triumvirs
attempted to tax them for the expenses of carrying on a civil war,
they tried various means to resist the innovation. At last, they chose
Hortensia for their speaker, and went in a body to the market-place,
to expostulate with the magistrates. The triumvirs, offended at
their boldness, wished to drive them away; but the populace grew so
tumultuous, that it was deemed prudent to give the women a hearing.
Hortensia spoke as follows: “The unhappy women you see here pleading
for justice, would never have presumed to appear in this place, had
they not first made use of all other means their natural modesty could
suggest. Yet the loss of our fathers, brothers, husbands, and children,
may sufficiently excuse us; especially when their unhappy deaths are
made a pretence for our further misfortunes. You say they had offended
you--but what have we women done, that we must be impoverished? Empire,
dignities, and honors are not for us; why then should we contribute
to a war, in which we can have no manner of interest? Our mothers did
indeed assist the republic in the hour of her utmost need; but they
were not constrained to sell their houses and lands for that purpose;
theirs was the voluntary offering of generosity. If the Gauls or the
Parthians were encamped on the banks of the Tiber, you would find us
no less zealous in the defence of our country than our mothers were
before us; but we are resolved that we will not be connected with civil
war. Neither Marius, nor Cæsar, nor Pompey, nor even Sylla himself,
who first set up tyranny in Rome, ever thought of compelling us to
take part in domestic troubles. Yet you assume the glorious title of
reformers of the state! a title which will turn to your eternal infamy,
if, without the least regard to the laws of equity, you persist in
plundering the lives and fortunes of those who have given you no just
cause of offence.”
In consequence of this spirited and eloquent speech, the number of
women taxed was reduced from fourteen hundred to four hundred.
When the deification of emperors and heroes became fashionable at Rome,
women soon had their statues placed in the temples, and incense burned
before them; and these honors, instead of being the reward of virtue,
were often bestowed merely to please the corrupt and the powerful.
Poppæa, the wife of Nero, a most thoroughly vicious woman, had divine
honors paid to her after death; the emperor himself pronounced her
eulogium in the rostrum; and more perfumes were burned at her funeral,
than Arabia Felix produced in a year.
Messalina, the profligate wife of Claudius, governed the emperor
without control. She appeared with him in the senate, placed herself by
him on the same tribunal in all public ceremonies, gave audience with
him to princes and ambassadors, and did not even abandon him in the
courts of justice.
Heliogabalus made his mother and grandmother his colleagues on the
throne, and placed them at the head of a female senate, which he
instituted to regulate all matters of dress and fashion; this, however,
lasted but a short time. Extravagance, both in dress and style of
living, went on increasing to such a degree that the details are
almost incredible. During the Carthagenian war, when Rome was in great
distress, an effort was made to check the growth of this evil, by a
law, which ordained that no woman should wear more than half an ounce
of gold, have party-colored garments, or be carried to any place within
a mile’s distance, unless it was to celebrate some sacred festivals or
solemnities. This created much discontent; and eighteen years after,
the ladies petitioned to have it repealed. Cato strongly opposed it,
and satirized the women for appearing in public to solicit votes; but
the tribune Valerius, who presented the petition, urged their cause so
eloquently, that the law was abrogated.
When the Greek custom was introduced of reclining full length upon
their couches, while they ate their meals, the ladies for a long time
continued to sit upon benches, because they considered the new mode
inconsistent with modesty; but during the reign of the emperors, they
began to imitate the men in this particular. In the early ages they
were forbidden the use of wine; their relations were allowed to salute
them, as they entered the house, in order to discover whether they
had drunk it; and in that case their husbands or parents had a right
to punish them. But in later times, they indulged themselves without
restraint. Seneca says: “Women pique themselves upon carrying excess in
wine as far as the most robust men; like them they pass whole nights at
table, and holding a cup filled to the brim, they glory in defying, and
even in surpassing them.”
The Romans were in the habit of drinking their crowns; that is to say,
the wine in which they had been dipped. Cleopatra, perceiving that
Antony was jealous she had designs upon his life, diverted herself with
his precautions. At one of their splendid feasts she wore upon her head
a crown of flowers, the extremities of which had been poisoned. Antony,
being invited to drink the crowns, readily consented; but Cleopatra
snatched the cup from his lips, saying, “The garland was poisoned. If I
could live without you, I could easily find means for your destruction.”
A love for exciting amusements kept pace with other forms of
dissipation. Women, not content with music and dancing, and the
entertainments of the theatre, began to delight in horse-races, and
the contests of wild beasts and gladiators, during which scenes of
cruelty occurred too shocking to be described. Sometimes they fought
on the arena with men, at the command of the despotic emperors. The
celebration of the Bacchanalian mysteries, in which women took an
active part, were a continuation of the most indecent and horrid
crimes. In many instances they danced on the stage entirely without
clothing, and enjoyed the luxury of public baths promiscuously with the
men, totally disregarding the modest regulations of former times.
Roman husbands, from the earliest times, had the power of divorcing
their wives whenever they pleased; and afterward the laws were
equalized to such a degree, that either party had liberty to demand
divorce. If the wife was blameless, she received all her dowry and
goods; if culpable, the husband was allowed to retain a sixth part for
each child; if she had been unfaithful to him, he kept all the dowry
and marriage-presents, even if he had no children by her. Where there
was a family, each of the parties settled a proportionable part of
their fortune.
Notwithstanding the facility of divorce, five hundred and twenty-one
years elapsed without an instance of it in Rome. Carvilius Ruga was
the first one who repudiated his wife. He had great affection for
her, and parted from her merely because she brought him no children.
Notwithstanding this excuse, the Roman citizens were very indignant at
the proceeding. But divorces gradually became frequent, and were made
upon the slightest pretexts. When Paulus Æmilius repudiated Papiria,
his friends said to him, “Is she not wise? Is she not fair? Is she
not the mother of fine children?” In reply, he pointed to his shoe,
and said, “Is it not fine? Is it not well made? Yet none of you know
where it pinches me.” Sulpicius Gallus turned away his wife because
she appeared bare-headed in public. Sempronius Sophus separated from
his, because she had whispered to a freed-woman. Antistius Vetus did
the same because his wife went to some public place of amusement
without his knowledge. Cicero separated from Terentia on account of
her extravagance and imperious temper; he espoused Publilia, a young
heiress, who had been his ward; but he repudiated her for harsh
treatment to his daughter Tullia. Cato gave up his wife Martia, by whom
he had had several children, that Hortensius might marry her; and when
some time after Hortensius died, and left her to inherit his great
wealth, to the prejudice of his own son, Cato retook her. Some men
married women of tarnished reputation, on purpose to find opportunity
to divorce them and retain their dowry.
Polygamy was at no period allowed; and even a plurality of mistresses
was prohibited. Mark Antony gave great offence to the Romans by living
with Cleopatra during the lifetime of Octavia.
Papirius was accustomed to attend his father to the senate before he
assumed the manly robe; and his mother one day inquired what had been
debated there. The lad replied, a decree had been passed that every
man should be allowed to have two wives. The news spread rapidly;
and the next day many women presented themselves to demand that every
woman might be allowed two husbands. The senators, surprised at such a
strange proposition, did not know how to account for it, until young
Papirius explained the mystery. They commended his prudence in thus
evading female curiosity, and ordained that no young person, himself
excepted, should attend the debates of the senate.
As corruption increased, the women made as bad use of divorce as the
men. Seneca says there were some who no longer reckoned the years by
the consuls, but by the number of their husbands. St. Jerome speaks
with indignation of a man in his time who had buried twenty wives, and
of a woman who had buried twenty-two husbands. When Severus ascended
the throne, he found no less than three thousand prosecutions against
faithless wives. Women of the highest rank unblushingly proclaimed
their own licentiousness, and laughed at the appearance of modesty.
A long train of cruel and disgusting crimes followed this utter
abandonment of principle. At one time there was a general conspiracy
to murder all husbands, in order that the last appearance of restraint
might be thrown aside. Voluptas had a temple, and was worshipped as a
beautiful woman, seated on a throne, and treading virtue beneath her
feet.
Augustus, perceiving that facility of divorce, far from tending to
promote happiness, only increased discontent, endeavored to restrain
it by penalties. He likewise made the laws more severe with regard to
infidelity. The father of a faithless wife might put her to death; and
if the husband killed her and her gallant, he was not punished by the
laws. Fines and banishment were likewise frequently resorted to.
The highest possible encouragement was given to matrimony. When the
people were numbered, the censors asked each citizen, “Upon your faith,
have you a wife?” and those who had none were subject to a fine. In the
tribunals, those who came to make oath were asked, “Upon your faith,
have you a horse? Have you a wife?” and unless they could answer these
questions in the affirmative, they were not allowed to give testimony.
Those who lived in celibacy could not succeed to an inheritance,
or legacy, except of their nearest relations, unless they married
within one hundred days after the death of the testator. Married men
were preferred to all public employments; and the prescribed age was
dispensed with in their favor, by taking off as many years as they had
legitimate children. They had distinguished places at the theatre and
the games, were exempted from guardianships, and other burthensome
offices.
But when the condition of the people required laws like these, it was
useless to make them. Mere external rewards are as feeble a barrier
against the tumult of the passions, as a bar of sand against a rushing
stream. The Roman knights loudly demanded that the edicts should be
revoked; and many, to avoid the penalties, went through the form of
marriage with mere infants. Augustus, to prevent this fraud, forbade
any one to contract a girl that was not at least ten years old, that
the wedding might be celebrated two years after. Metellus, the censor,
said to the people, “If it were possible for us to do without wives, we
should escape a very great evil; but it is ordained that we cannot live
very happily either with them or without them.”
Such was the diseased state of society, when Christianity came in with
its blessed influence, to purify the manners, and give the soul its
proper empire over the senses. Many women of the noblest and wealthiest
families, surrounded by the seductive allurements of worldly pleasure,
renounced them all, for the sake of the strength and consolation they
found in the words of Jesus. Undismayed by severe edicts against the
new religion, they appeared before the magistrates, and by pronouncing
the simple words, “I am a Christian,” calmly resigned themselves to
imprisonment, ignominy, and death. Taught by the maxims of the Gospel
that it was a duty to love and comfort each other, as members of the
same family, they devoted their lives to the relief of the sick, the
aged, and the destitute. Beautiful ladies, accustomed to all the
luxurious appendages of wealth, might be seen in the huts of poverty,
and the cells of disease, performing in the kindest manner the duties
of a careful nurse.
In the worst stages of human society, there will ever be seven thousand
of Israel who do not bow the knee to Baal; and such a remnant existed
in Rome. The graceful form of heathen mythology had some degree of
protecting life within it, so long as it was sincerely reverenced;
but the vital spark, that at best had glimmered but faintly, was
now entirely extinguished, and the beautiful form was crumbling in
corruption and decay. The heart, oppressed with a sense of weakness and
destitution, called upon the understanding for aid, and received only
the lonely echo of its own wants. At such a moment, Christianity was
embraced with fervor; and the soul, enraptured with glimpses of its
heavenly home, forgot that the narrow pathway lay amid worldly duties,
and worldly temptations.
The relation of the sexes to each other had become so gross in
its manifested forms, that it was difficult to perceive the pure
conservative principle in its inward essence. Hence, though marriage
was sanctioned, and solemnized by the most sacred forms, it was
regarded as a necessary concession to human weakness, and perpetual
celibacy was considered a sublime virtue. This feeling gave rise to the
retirement of the cloister, and to solitary hermitages in the midst
of the desert. St. Jerome is perhaps the most eloquent advocate of
this ideal purity. His writings are full of eulogiums upon Paula, her
daughter Eustochium, and other Roman women, who embraced Christianity,
and spent whole days and nights in the study of the Scriptures.
Women were peculiarly susceptible to the influence of doctrines whose
very essence is gentleness and love. Among the Jews, the number of
believing women had been greater than converted men; the same was
true of the Romans; and it is an undoubted fact that most nations were
brought into Christianity by the influence of a believing queen. By
such means the light of the Gospel gradually spread through France,
England, part of Germany, Bavaria, Hungary, Bohemia, Lithuania, Poland,
and Russia.
* * * * *
The northern nations bore a general resemblance to each other. War and
hunting were considered the only honorable occupations for men, and all
other employments were left to women and slaves. Even the Visigoths, on
the coasts of Spain, left their fields and flocks to the care of women.
They had annual meetings, in which those who had shown most skill and
industry in agriculture, received public applause. They were bound by
law not to give a wife more than the tenth part of their substance.
The Scandinavian women often accompanied the men in plundering
excursions, and had all the drudgery to perform. The wives of the
ancient Franks were inseparable from their husbands. They lived
with them in the camp, where the marriages of their daughters were
celebrated by the soldiers, with Scythian, and other warlike dances. A
man was allowed but one wife, and was rigorously punished if he left
her to marry another.
They could put their wives to death for infidelity; and if they
happened to kill them without justifiable cause, in a moment of anger,
the law punished them only by a temporary prohibition to bear arms.
The ancient German women could not inherit the estates of their
fathers; but by subsequent laws they were permitted to succeed after
males of the same degree of kindred.
Women of the northern nations rarely ate and drank with their husbands,
but waited upon them at their meals, and afterward shared what was
left, with the children. This custom could not have originated in the
habit of regarding women as inferior beings; for the whole history of
the north proves the existence of an entirely opposite sentiment. It
was probably owing, in part, to the circumstance that women were too
busy in cooking the food, to wish to eat at the same time with the
men; and partly, perhaps, to the fact that these feasts were generally
drunken carousals.
The eastern nations imagine the joys of heaven to consist principally
in voluptuous love; but northern tribes seem to have believed that they
chiefly consisted in drinking. In the Koran, the dying hero is assured
that a troop of _houries_, beautiful as the day, will welcome him with
kisses, and lead him to fragrant bowers; but according to the Edda,[2]
a crowd of lovely maidens wait on heroes in the halls of Odin, to fill
their cups as fast as they can empty them.
[2] The sacred book of the Scandinavians.
In a state of society so turbulent as that we are describing, men had
little leisure, and less inclination, for the sciences; women, having
better opportunities for observation and experience in common things,
acquired great knowledge of simple remedies, and were in fact the only
physicians. Their usefulness, virtue, and decorum, procured them an
uncommon degree of respect. The institution of marriage was regarded
with the utmost reverence, and second marriages were forbidden. Tacitus
says: “The strictest regard to virtue characterizes the Germans, and
deserves our highest applause. Vice is not made the subject of mirth
and raillery, nor is fashion pleaded as an excuse for being corrupt, or
for corrupting others. Good customs and manners avail more among these
barbarous people, than good laws among such as are more refined. It is
a great incitement to courage, that in battle their separate troops,
or columns, are not arranged promiscuously, as chance directs, but
consist of one united clan, with its relatives. Their dearest pledges
are placed in the vicinity, whence may be heard the cries of their
women, and the wailing of infants, whom each one accounts the most
sacred witnesses and dearest eulogists of his valor. The wounded repair
to their wives and mothers, who do not hesitate to number their wounds,
and suck the blood that flows from them. Women carry refreshments to
those engaged in the contest, and encourage them by exhortations.
It is said that armies, when about to give way, have renewed the
struggle, moved by the earnest entreaties of the women, for whose sake
they dreaded captivity much more than their own. Those German states
which were induced to number noble damsels among their hostages, were
much more effectually bound to obedience, than those whose hostages
consisted only of men. Indeed they deem that something sacred, and
capable of prophecy, resides within the female breast; nor do they
scorn the advice of women, or neglect their responses.”
The Goths were likewise remarkable for purity of manners. Their laws
punished with heavy fines the most trifling departure from scrupulous
respect toward women. After the conquest of Rome, they were accustomed
to say: “Though we punish profligacy in our own countrymen, we pardon
it in the Romans; because they are by nature and education weak, and
incapable of reaching to our sublimity of virtue.”
Once, when a civil war arose in ancient Gaul, the women rushed into the
midst of the battle, and persuaded the combatants to be reconciled to
each other. From that time, the Gauls admitted women to their councils
of war, and such disputes as arose between them and their allies
were settled by female negotiation. Thus in a treaty with Hannibal,
it was stipulated that should any complaints be made against the
Carthagenians, it should be settled by their general; but in case of
any complaints against the Gauls, it should be referred to their women.
On account of the confusion at times attendant upon the best regulated
camp, the strictest laws were made for the protection of northern
women, who universally followed the army. The operations of the
soldiers were from time to time settled in a council, of which their
wives formed a part; and when in danger of defeat, they feared their
dishonor more than the swords of the enemy. If a man occasioned a woman
the loss of her fair fame, he was obliged to marry her, if she were his
equal in rank; if not, he must divide his fortune with her; and if he
would not comply with these conditions, he was condemned to death.
The ancient Britons long submitted patiently to the outrageous
oppression of the Romans; but when the tyrants scourged their queen
Boadicea, and loaded her daughters with insult and abuse, they
fought with a desperate fury, that seemed resolved on freedom or
extermination. The women themselves joined the army by thousands, and
contended with the utmost bravery. “They cared not for the loss of
their own lives,” says Holinshed, “so they might die avenged.” The
Britons had priests called druids, among whom were women held in the
highest veneration.
Female deities are found in the mythology of the north. The Scythians
adored Apia, and the Scandinavians Frigga, the consort of Odin,
in whose temples sacred fire was kept burning, watched by virgin
prophetesses.
In Germany women belonged to the priesthood, and inherited the regal
dignity. They often administered the government with a degree of
ability that excited the admiration of neighboring nations. The
greatest heroes were willing to fight under their banners, and be
regulated by their councils; for they imagined them to be guided by
oracular wisdom, derived from sources more than human.
Nothing could exceed the desperation of northern women in times of
defeat. Proud and jealous of their honor, they were willing to suffer
any thing to avoid the indignities that awaited female captives in
those days. When the troops of Marius pursued the Ambrones, the women
met them with swords and axes, and slaughtered the fugitives as well
as their pursuers; for they deemed that no soldier who turned his back
upon an enemy ought to survive his shame. They laid hold of the Roman
shields, caught at the swords with their naked hands, and suffered
themselves to be hacked and hewed to pieces, rather than give up one
inch of ground.
When the Romans, a short time after this, penetrated to the camp of
the Cimbri, a shocking spectacle presented itself. The women, standing
in mourning beside the carriages, killed every one that fled, even
their own fathers, brothers, husbands, and sons. They strangled their
children, threw them under the horses’ feet, and killed themselves.
One was seen slung from the top of a wagon, with a child hanging at
each foot. Notwithstanding these efforts to destroy themselves, many
were taken prisoners. The female captives earnestly begged to be placed
among the vestal virgins, in hopes that a vow of perpetual purity would
afford protection to their persons; but the profligate Romans were
unworthy to be the masters of such noble-minded women, and they sought
refuge in death.
On warlike expeditions, the northern nations were generally accompanied
by hoary-headed prophetesses, clothed in long white robes of linen. In
their divination they observed the moon, and paid particular attention
to the flowing and murmuring of streams. They likewise believed greatly
in the efficacy of philtres and love potions.
Powerful northern nobles generally had some venerable sibyl, who
directed their councils. Thorbiorga, a Danish enchantress, was
consulted by earl Thorchil concerning a famine and pestilence that
afflicted Denmark. “A particular seat was prepared for the prophetess,
raised some steps above the other seats, and covered with a cushion
stuffed with hens’ feathers. She was dressed in a gown of green cloth,
buttoned from top to bottom, had a string of glass beads about her
neck, and her head covered with the skin of a black lamb, lined with
the skin of a white cat; her shoes were of calf’s skin, with the hair
on it, tied with thongs, and fastened with brass buttons; her gloves
were of white cat’s skin, with the hair inward; she wore a Hunlandic
girdle, at which hung a bag containing her magical instruments; and she
supported her feeble limbs on a staff adorned with many knobs of brass.
As soon as she entered, the whole company rose and saluted her in the
most respectful manner. Earl Thorchil advanced, and led her to the seat
prepared for her. At supper she ate only a pottage of goat’s milk, and
a dish consisting of the hearts of various animals. When asked at what
time she would please to tell the things they desired to know, she
replied that she would satisfy them fully the next day. Accordingly
she put her implements of divination in proper order, and commanded a
maiden, named Godreda, to sing the magical song called Wardlokur; which
she did with so clear and sweet a voice, that the whole company were
ravished with her music; and the prophetess cried out, ‘Now I know many
things, which I did not know before! This famine and sickness will soon
fly away, and plenty will return next season.’ Then each of the company
asked her what they pleased, and she told them all they desired to
know.”
The women of the northern nations sometimes fastened their hair in
simple knots on the top of the head, but they generally allowed it to
flow carelessly over their shoulders. A linen garment without sleeves,
with a cloak made of the skins of such animals as their husbands
killed in hunting, constituted their best finery. They were generally
handsome, with large clear blue eyes, fair complexions, regular
features, and majestic forms. Their stately beauty became famous in the
songs of their bards. Among these warlike tribes the passion of love
was mingled with sentiment, not untinged by veneration. The hero would
encounter any dangers, to find favor in the eyes of her he loved, and
no success, however brilliant, could compensate for her indifference.
Battles were often a number of separate duels fought between those who
had rival claims to some fair lady; and in this way the sword often
decided marriage and inheritance.
When these barbarians subdued Rome, Christianity passed from the
conquered to the conquerors; and being ingrafted on their previous
habits, produced that romantic combination of love, religion, and war,
that characterized the middle ages.
[Illustration: Women attended by knights in armor.]
MIDDLE AGES.
As the passion for conquest extended, warlike and predatory bands
spread over Europe, seizing whatever they could take by force of arms.
No other right but that of the strongest was acknowledged. Hence
castles and fortifications became necessary; and the weak were glad to
submit to any service to obtain the protection of the powerful. These
circumstances were the origin of the feudal system. For a long time,
women were not allowed to inherit lands, because the warlike barons
required a military tenant, from whom they could claim assistance in
time of need; but afterward women were allowed to succeed in default
of male heirs, provided they paid a required contribution in money,
instead of forces. If they married without the consent of their feudal
lord, they forfeited their inheritance; and if he chose a husband for
them, they were compelled to accept him. The law required that every
heiress under sixty years of age should marry, and that her husband
should perform feudal duties. If a baron did not provide when a girl
was twelve years old, she might in open court require him to present
three men for her selection; and if he did not comply, he had no right
to control her choice afterward. She might likewise at that age claim
from her guardian the uncontrolled management of her estates. The
mother was guardian of an infant, and in case of her death, the next
heir supplied her place. The widow’s dowry was half of her husband’s
estate for life, and half of his chattels. If there was not sufficient
to pay debts, the widow and creditors divided equally. In some places,
the feudal lord claimed and enforced certain privileges with regard to
the daughters of his tenants, which are too gross to be described. It
is true there were beautiful instances of a patriarchal relation, where
the noble-hearted baron received cheerful and affectionate service,
and gave ample protection and munificent kindness in return; but these
were exceptions. There was a vast amount of ignorance, degradation,
corruption, and tyranny, as there ever must be where one portion of the
human family are allowed unrestrained power over the other.
For several centuries after the fall of Rome, the state of society
was exceedingly unsettled and turbulent. The priests and the powerful
barons were continually at variance with the kings, neither of them
being willing to consent to a division of power; and the settlement
of the Saracens, or Moors, in Spain, produced a spirit of ferocious
discord in religion. The daughters of princes and nobles lived
in perpetual danger; for bold, ambitious men, who coveted their
kingdoms, or their fortunes, often stormed their castles, carried
them off, and compelled them to marry, without pretending to consult
their inclinations. Thus the Saxon heiresses were divided among the
retainers of William the Conqueror. The annals of Scotland furnish a
curious instance of these warlike marriages. Sir William Scott made
an incursion upon the territories of Murray of Elibank, and was taken
prisoner. Murray, in accordance with the barbarous spirit of the times,
sentenced his enemy to immediate death; but his wife said, “Hout, na,
mon! Would ye hang the winsome young laird of Harden, when ye have
three ill-favored daughters to marry?” “Right,” answered the baron
of Elibank; “he shall either marry our mickle-mouthed Meg, or strap
for it.” The prisoner at first resisted the proposal; but he finally
preferred “mickle-mouthed Meg” to the halter; and the union thus
inauspiciously formed proved exceedingly happy.
The father or guardian of the bride generally gave her to the
bridegroom with these words: “I give thee ----, my daughter, or my
ward, to have the keeping of the keys of thy house, and one third of
the money thou art possessed of, or shall possess hereafter, and to
enjoy all the other rights appointed to wives by law.” The bridegroom
generally bestowed handsome presents on the bride, and she received a
dowry proportioned to her father’s wealth.
The young couple were usually escorted to church by a troop of friends.
The priest crowned them with flowers and pronounced a blessing. Maidens
were married beneath a canopy; but this custom was not observed by
widows.
Among the Franks, marriages were not legal unless solemnized in a full
court, where a buckler had three times been lifted up, and three causes
openly tried. Soter, the fifth bishop of Rome, is said to have been the
first who declared marriages illegal unless solemnized by a priest. A
magnificent feast was given in honor of noble marriages, where immense
quantities of wine were drank, and music, dancing, and minstrel songs
enlivened the scene. All the retainers, or vassals, of the feudal lord,
partook of the banquet, which of course was spread in a spacious hall.
The guests sat at table according to their rank; and a huge salt-cellar
marked the dividing line between the noble and the ignoble. Below the
salt-cellar, the food was coarser, and the liquors of a cheap kind.
The unsettled state of society made it exceedingly difficult to have
any places of safe deposit for articles of merchandise, resembling the
convenient stores and shops of modern times. For this reason, fairs
were held; and gradually various shows, antic tricks, and minstrel
songs, were added to the other allurements of the scene. Women visited
these places, escorted by fathers or husbands, with a strong band of
warlike retainers. In the absence of their natural protectors, ladies
could not venture beyond the walls of their castle, even to visit a
dying friend, without being liable to insult and violence. But in a
short time every gallant warrior publicly declared himself the champion
of some fair dame, and proclaimed that any offence given to her, either
in his presence or absence, would meet with ample revenge at his hand.
This was the beginning of the remarkable institution of chivalry,
which has been compared to a golden thread running through the dark
history of the middle ages. Women, who before this period had been
subject to every species of rudeness and neglect, were soon worshipped
as deities. Those of great beauty, wealth, or rank, of course had the
greatest number of champions; but chivalry extended itself by degrees,
until it embraced for its universal object the protection of the weak
against the strong; and women of all ages and ranks were treated with
deference, because their cause was known to be the cause of chivalry.
No man was admitted into the order without the fullest proof of his
bravery, integrity, and virtue. The least disparaging word against the
female sex disqualified a knight for the duties and privileges of
his profession. A lady having any cause of complaint against a knight
touched his helmet, or shield, as a sign that she impeached him of
crime, and applied to the judges for redress. If found guilty of any
misdemeanor, the culprit was excluded from the order, and could never
be restored, except by the intercession of the offended fair one, and
the most solemn promises of amendment.
None but women of stainless reputation were included within the pale
of chivalry; the principles of the order did not require that the
sword should be drawn in defence of one who had forfeited her claim to
respect. The cavaliers, as they travelled, often wrote sentences of
infamy on the door of a castle where a woman of tarnished character
resided; but where a lady of unsullied honor dwelt, they paused and
saluted her most courteously. At public ceremonies, a distinction was
made in favor of the virtuous. If a woman of impure character took
precedence of one distinguished for modesty, a cavalier boldly advanced
and reversed the order, saying: “Be not offended that this lady
precedes you, for although she is not so rich or well allied as you
are, yet her fame has never been impeached.”
The sons of gentlemen were generally placed with some friend, or
superior nobleman, to acquire the education of a knight, which began
as early as seven or eight years of age. The boy was required to
attend upon his lord or lady in the hall, to convey their messages,
and follow them in all their exercises of war or pastime. From the
men he learned to leap trenches, cast spears, sustain the shield, and
walk like a soldier. The ladies of the court gave him his moral and
intellectual education; or, in other words, they instructed him in his
prayers, and the maxims of chivalric love. He was taught to regard
some one lady as his peculiar idol, to whom he was to be obedient,
courteous, and constant. “While the young Jean de Saintré was a page
of honor at the court of the French king, the dame des Belles Cousines
inquired of him the name of the mistress of his heart’s affections.
The simple youth replied that he loved his lady mother, and next to
her his sister Jacqueline was dear to him. ‘Young man,’ rejoined the
lady, ‘I am not speaking of the affection due to your mother and
sister; I wish to know the name of the lady to whom you are attached
_par amour_.’ The poor boy was confused, and could only reply that he
loved no one _par amour_. The dame des Belles Cousines charged him with
being a traitor to the laws of chivalry, and declared that his craven
spirit was evinced by such an avowal. ‘Whence sprang the valiancy
and knightly feats of Launcelot, Tristram, Giron the courteous, and
other ornaments of the round table?’ said she: ‘whence the grandeur
of many I have known rise to renown, except from the noble desire of
maintaining themselves in the grace and esteem of the ladies? Without
this spirit-stirring sentiment, they must have ever remained in the
shades of obscurity. And do you, coward valet, presume to declare that
you possess no sovereign lady, and desire to have none?’
“Jean underwent a long scene of persecution, but was at last restored
to favor by the intercession of the ladies of the court. He then
named as his mistress Matheline de Courcy, a child only ten years
old. ‘Matheline is indeed a pretty girl,’ replied the dame des Belles
Cousines; ‘but what profit, what honor, what comfort, what aid, what
counsel for advancing you in chivalrous fame, can you derive from such
a choice? You should elect a lady of noble blood, who has the ability
to advise, and the power to assist you; and you should serve her so
truly, and love her so loyally, as to compel her to acknowledge the
honorable affection you entertain for her. Be assured there is no lady,
however cruel and haughty she may be, but through long service will be
induced to acknowledge and reward loyal affection with some portion of
mercy. By such a course, you will gain the praise of worthy knighthood;
till then, I would not give an apple for you or your achievements. He
who loyally serves his lady, will not only be blessed at the height of
man’s felicity in this life, but will never fall into those sins that
prevent happiness hereafter. Pride will be entirely effaced from the
heart of him, who endeavors by humility and courtesy to win the grace
of a lady. The true faith of a lover will defend him from the sins of
anger, envy, sloth, and gluttony; and his devotion to his mistress
renders the thought impossible of his conduct ever being stained with
the vice of profligacy.’”
The service which a lady required of her true knight may be inferred
from the following lines of the old English poet, Gower, who wrote in
the days of Edward the Third:
“What thing she bid me do, I do,
And where she bid me go, I go.
And when she likes to call, I come,
I serve, I bow, I look, I lowte,
My eye followeth her about.
What so she will, so will I,
When she would sit, I kneel by.
And when she stands, then I will stand,
And when she taketh her work in hand,
Of wevying or of embroidrie,
Then can I not but muse and prie,
Upon her fingers long and small.
And if she list to riden out,
On pilgrimage, or other stead,
I come, though I be not bid,
And take her in my arms aloft,
And set her in her saddle soft,
And so forth lead her by the bridle,
For that I would not be idle.
And if she list to ride in chare,
And that I may thereof beware,
Anon I shape me to ride,
Right even by the chare’s side,
And as I may, I speak among,
And other while I sing a song.”
These gentle services were the least arduous that a knight was pledged
to perform. The most desperate battles were fought to restore a lady’s
rights, to avenge a lady’s wrongs, or even to gain a lady’s smile.
It was a common maxim of that period that he who knew how to break a
lance, and did not understand how to win a lady, was but half a man. A
knight without a lady-love was compared to a ship without a rudder,
or a horse without a bridle. “Oh that my lady saw me!” was the eager
exclamation of a gallant knight, as he mounted the wall of a besieged
city, in the pride of successful courage.
A cavalier, called the Knight of the Swan, reinstated a lady in the
possessions of which the duke of Saxony had deprived her. During the
reign of Charles the Sixth of France, the gentlewomen of the country
laid before the monarch grievous complaints of their sufferings and
losses from the aggressions of powerful lords; and lamented that
chivalry had so much degenerated that no knights and squires had
armed in their defence. This appeal roused the valiant Boucicaut, who
gathered a band of chevaliers around him, and formed a fraternity for
the protection of all dames and damsels of noble lineage. The device
on their shields was a lady in a green field, and their motto promised
redress to all gentlewomen injured in honor or fortune. The gallant
Boucicaut carried the principle of veneration a little farther than
was, perhaps, pleasing to the sovereign ladies of that romantic period;
for he would not permit one of the knights of his banner to look a
second time at a window where a handsome woman was seated.
In the Spanish order of the Scarf, duties to women were more insisted
on than in any other order. If one of those knights instituted an
action against the daughter of a brother-knight, no woman would
consent to be his lady-love, or wife. If he happened to meet a lady
when riding, it was his duty to alight from his horse, and tender his
service, upon pain of losing a month’s wages, and the favor of all
dames and damsels; and he who hesitated to perform any behest from a
woman was branded with the title of The Discourteous Knight.
Combats often took place for no other purpose but to do credit to the
chosen object of a knight’s affections. This sentiment was frequently
a cause of national rivalry. During a cessation of hostilities, a
cavalier would sally forth, and demand whether any knight in the
opposite host were disposed to do a deed of arms for the sake of his
lady bright. “Now let us see if there be any amorous among you,” was
the usual conclusion of such a challenge, as the cavalier curbed
his impetuous steed, and laid his lance in rest. Such an invitation
was seldom refused; but if it chanced to be so, the bold knight was
suffered to return in safety; for it was deemed unchivalric to capture
or molest an enemy, who thus voluntarily placed himself in the power of
his opponents. When two parties of French and English met accidentally
near Cherbourg, Sir Launcelot of Lorrys demanded a course of jousting
with the English knights for his lady’s sake. The offer was eagerly
accepted, and at the very first onset Sir John Copeland wounded the
French cavalier to death. The chronicler says: “Every one lamented his
fate, for he was a hardy knight, young, jolly, and right amorous.”
James the Fourth, of Scotland, was celebrated for his romantic
chivalry, and graceful bearing at jousts and tournaments; and Louis
the Twelfth, of France, made use of these traits in his character
to effect his own political purposes. Being deserted by most of his
allies, he was anxious to renew the old bond of friendship between
France and Scotland; but this was rendered difficult by the fact that
England and Scotland were at peace, and by the marriage of James with
the sister of Henry the Eighth. This being the posture of political
affairs, Louis induced his beautiful wife, Anne of Bretagne, to choose
the king of Scotland for her knight and champion. An ambassador was
sent to Edinburgh, to present letters from the French queen, wherein
she assumed the style of a high-born damsel in distress, assured James
that she had suffered much blame in defence of his honor, called him
her chosen knight, and besought him for her sake to advance but three
steps into the territory of England, with his warlike banners floating
on the breeze. A present of fourteen thousand crowns, with a glove
and a turquois ring from her own hand, accompanied the message. The
chivalric feelings of James would not permit him to refuse a lady’s
request, especially when that lady was a beauty and a queen. The order
was obeyed; and the hostilities thus commenced terminated in the defeat
at Flodden field, so disastrous to Scotland.
But the good produced by chivalry, in softening the character of
those rude ages, was no doubt greater than the evils arising from its
occasional excesses. A knight was bound to grant safe conduct through
his territories to those that requested it, even when they came to
deprive him of his possessions. When Matilda landed near Arundel,
to contend for the throne of England, Stephen gave her honorable
escort to the castle of his brother, the earl of Gloucester. It was
not considered honorable and courteous to take ladies in war. When a
town was captured, the heralds were wont to proclaim that it was the
conqueror’s will no violence, or disrespect, should be offered to any
gentlewoman. When Caen fell into the hands of the English, in the reign
of Edward the Third, Sir Thomas Holland protected many ladies, damsels,
and nuns from outrage; and when the castle of Poys was taken, the
English knights escorted the daughters of lord Poys to the presence of
Edward, who gave them a cordial welcome, and ordered them to be safely
conducted to a town friendly to their family.
In the wars of the Guelphs and the Ghibbelines, the emperor Conrad
refused all terms of capitulation to the garrison of Winnisberg; but,
like a true knight, he granted the request of the women to pass out
in safety, with such of their most precious effects as they could
themselves carry. When the gates were opened, a long procession of
matrons and maidens appeared, each bearing a husband, son, father, or
brother, on her shoulders. As they passed through the enemy’s lines,
all respectfully made way for them, while the whole camp rang with
shouts of applause.
The sentiment of courtesy was carried so far, that when the Normans and
English took the castle of Du Gueslin, they were indignantly reproved,
because they had transgressed the license of war, by disturbing the
ladies of the castle while they were asleep.
In those turbulent times, no wonder that courage was the quality most
dear to a woman’s heart, and chivalry the idol of her imagination.
Ladies endeavored to stifle the first emotions of love, and proudly
answered their humble suitors, that they must expect no favor until
they had gained sufficient renown by their military exploits. “I should
have loved him better dead than alive,” exclaimed a noble damsel, when
she heard that her chosen knight had survived his honor; and another,
being reproached for loving an ugly man, replied, “He is so valiant I
have never observed his face.”
In some cases, these romantic feelings overcame even the stern
distinctions of feudal pride. A squire of low degree often aspired to
the hand of a princess, and not unfrequently gained it, by the ardor
of his passion and the desperate valor of his achievements. A young
candidate for chivalry said to a high-born beauty, “How can I hope to
find a damsel of noble birth, who will return the affection of a knight
ungraced by rank, with only his good sword to rely upon?” “And why
should you not find her?” replied the lady. “Are you not gently born?
Are you not a handsome youth? Have you not eyes to gaze on her, ears
to hear her, feet to move at her will, body and heart to accomplish
loyally all her commands? Possessing these qualities, you cannot doubt
to adventure yourself in the service of a lady, however exalted her
rank.”
The martial spirit of women was fostered by the honorary titles
bestowed on them, and the part they were expected to take in the
splendid pageants of the day. The wife of a knight was often called
equitissa, or militissa, or chevalière; and a high-spirited maiden
was called _le bel cavalier_. In France, women who ruled over fiefs
could confer knighthood, and had a right to make war, decide judicial
questions, and coin money. At the solemn and imposing ceremony of a
knight’s inauguration, fair ladies attended upon him, and delivered him
the various pieces of his armor. His coat of mail was usually crossed
by a scarf, which his lady-love had embroidered in the seclusion of
her own apartment. The crest of the helmet was often adorned with
ringlets of fair hair, a garland of flowers, or a lady’s glove, which
was sometimes set in pearls. But the great scene of beauty’s triumph
was in the gorgeous pageant of the tournament. On these occasions women
had sovereign power. If any complaint was made against a knight, they
adjudged his cause without appeal. They generally deputed their power
to some cavalier, who was called the Knight of Honor. He bore at the
end of his lance a ribbon, a glove, or some other token of woman’s
favor, and the fiercest warriors obeyed the orders sanctioned by these
simple emblems. The dames and damsels sometimes offered a diamond,
a ruby, a sapphire, a silver helmet, or richly embossed shield, as
the reward of him who should prove himself the bravest in this mimic
war. The laws of chivalry required that a polite preference should
always be given to foreigners; hence when a martial game was held at
Smithfield, during the reign of Richard the Second, the queen proposed
a golden crown to the best jouster, if he were a stranger, but if an
English knight, a rich bracelet was to be his reward. “On the morning
of the day appointed for this merry tournament, there issued out of the
Tower of London, first threescore coursers apparelled for the lists,
and on every one a squire of honor, riding a soft pace. Then appeared
threescore ladies of honor, mounted on fair palfreys, each lady leading
by a chain of silver a knight sheathed in jousting harness. The fair
and gallant troop, with the sound of clarions, trumpets, and other
minstrelsy, rode along the streets of London, the fronts of the housing
shining with martial glory in the rich banners and tapestries, which
hung from the windows.”
The ladies who attended these splendid festivals often wore girdles
ornamented with gold and silver, in imitation of military belts, and
playfully wielded short light swords, embossed with emblems of love
and war. The ladies and high-born spectators were arranged round the
lists in galleries highly adorned. The knights were known by the
heraldic emblems on their shields and banners, and their names were
publicly announced by the heralds. No one was allowed to tourney, who
had blasphemed God, offended the ladies, or assailed his adversary
without warning. Each knight was accompanied by squires, to furnish
him with arms, adjust his armor, and bring encouraging messages from
his lady-love. If the shock of spears tore from a warrior’s helmet
the emblem of affection which the hand of some fair damsel had placed
there, she often took a ribbon from her own person, and sent it to
him with a courteous message. As the combat proceeded, the air was
rent with the names of ladies; for each knight invoked his mistress to
assist him, as if she were endowed with supernatural power to guide and
strengthen him.
The older warriors, who stood gazing on the exciting scene, called out,
“On, valiant knights! Beautiful eyes behold your deeds!” And when the
minstrels greeted some bold achievement with loud strains of music, the
spectators shouted, “_Loyauté aux dames!_”
When the combats were ended, the heralds presented to the ladies those
knights who had borne themselves most bravely. One, who was elected by
her companions, was called the Queen of Beauty and Love. Before her the
warriors knelt down, and received the prizes awarded to their valor.
Sometimes the victorious knights were allowed to choose the fair hand
from which they received their reward. The Queen of Beauty and Love
presented the prize, thanked him for the skill in arms which he had
that day displayed, and wished him success in love; the gallant knight
bowed low and replied, “My victory was entirely owing to the favor of
my mistress, which I wore in my helmet.”
When the heavy armor was laid aside, the cavaliers entered the
banqueting hall, and, amid the flourish of trumpets, seated themselves
under silken banners, with their favorite falcons perched above their
heads. The guests were placed two by two, every knight with a lady by
his side. To eat from the same trencher, or plate, was considered a
strong proof of affection. In the Romance of Perceforest it is said,
“there were eight hundred knights all seated at table, and yet there
was not one who had not a dame or damsel at his plate.” An invitation
to a feast, from a lady to her chosen knight, is thus described:
“----the attendant dwarf she sends;
Before the knight the dwarf respectful bends;
Kind greeting bears as to his lady’s guest,
And prays his presence to adorn her feast,
The knight delays not; on a couch designed
With gay magnificence the fair reclined;
High o’er her head, on silver columns raised,
With broidering gems her proud pavilion blazed.
Herself a paragon in every part,
Seemed sovereign beauty decked with comeliest art.
With a sweet smile of condescending pride,
She seats the courteous Gawaine by her side,
Scans with assiduous glance each rising wish,
Feeds from her food the partner of her dish.”
The minstrels tuned their harps to the praise of beauty and valor, and
after the tables were removed, each knight chose his partner for the
dance by kissing her hand. This custom was introduced into England from
Italy, or Spain, and still retaining the language of the country whence
it came, was called _basciomani_.
The peacock was much honored in the days of chivalry. The knights
associated them with all their ideas of renown, and swore by the
peacocks, as well as by the ladies, to perform their boldest
enterprises. The vow of the peacock was sometimes made at a festival
prepared for the occasion. Between the courses of the repast, a troop
of ladies brought in the splendid bird, on a golden or silver dish,
roasted, but covered with its feathers. In order to do this, it was
skinned very carefully previous to being cooked, and was then served up
in its plumage, with the brilliant tail feathers spread out; but some
preferred to have it covered with leaf gold. Just before it was brought
into the banqueting hall, they crammed the beak with wool, which being
dipped in inflammable matter and set on fire, made the peacock appear
to breathe forth flames.
The hall was adorned with mimic forests, and with images of men,
animals, &c., expressive of the object for which the vow was to be
taken. If it had relation to wars in defence of religion, a matron, in
mourning garments, entered the room, and repeated a long complaint in
verse, concerning the wrongs she suffered under the infidel yoke, and
the tardiness of European knights in coming to her rescue. Some knights
then advanced with measured tread, to the sound of minstrelsy, and
presented to the lord of the castle the two ladies bearing the noble
bird in a glittering dish. The ladies besought his protection, and he
swore by God, the virgin Mary, the ladies, and the peacock, that he
would make war upon the infidels. Every knight in the hall drew his
sword and repeated the vow. The dish was then placed on the table,
and the peacock carved in such a manner that every guest might taste
a morsel. A lady, dressed in white, came in to thank the assembly,
presenting twelve maidens, wearing emblematical dresses to represent
Faith, Charity, Justice, Reason, Prudence, Temperance, Strength,
Generosity, Mercy, Diligence, Hope and Courage. These damsels trooped
round the hall amid the cheers of the company, and so the repast
concluded.
“When they had dined, as I you say,
Lords and ladies went to play;
Some to tables, and some to chess,
With other games more and less.”
The passion for chess was universal at that period, when the favorite
forms of recreation were a pantomime of war. The songs of the
minstrels, or troubadours, were another source of delightful amusement;
and deeds of valor, with maxims how to win a lady’s favor, were the
perpetual theme. To play upon the harp, and be able to sing his love
in verse, were considered as necessary qualifications to the knight
of chivalry, as the knowledge of wielding his sword, or managing his
good steed. Kings, princes, and knights, renowned for their military
exploits, became professors of the “gaye science,” as it was called,
and sung to the harp their own verses in praise of the beauty they
adored. William, count of Poitou, the count de Foix, the dauphin of
Auvergne, a prince of Orange, Thibault, count of Provence and king of
Navarre, a king of Sicily, two kings of Arragon, and Richard the First
of England, prided themselves upon their skill in minstrelsy. The
younger sons and brothers of noble families very generally devoted
themselves to this honorable profession, from which they derived both
pleasure and profit. They wandered about from court to court, and
from castle to castle, singing the praises of knights and ladies, who
rewarded them with smiles, and thanks, rich dresses, horses, armor, and
gold.
Bertrand de Born, a celebrated troubadour in the time of Henry the
Second, says: “The first laws of honor are to make war; to tilt
at Advent and Easter; and to enrich women with the spoils of the
conquered.” Such sentiments were not remarkable at a period when he was
considered the most honorable man, who had burned the greatest number
of castles, and pillaged his neighbor’s estates most successfully.
Bertrand being out of favor with his beautiful mistress, the wife of
Talleyrand de Perigord, in consequence of slanderous stories she had
heard of him, defends himself in a song very characteristic of the
state of society. He wishes “that he may lose his favorite hawk in
her first flight; that a falcon may bear her off as she sits upon his
wrist, and tear her in his sight, if the sound of his lady’s voice be
not dearer to him than all the gifts of love from another. That he may
stumble with his shield about his neck; that his helmet may gall his
brow; that his bridle may be too long, his stirrups too short; that he
may be forced to ride a hard trotting horse, and find his groom drunk
when he arrives at the gate; that the dice may never more be favorable
to him at the gaming table; and that he may look on like a coward and
see his lady wooed and won by another, if there be a word of truth in
the accusations of his enemies.”
Some idea of the general ignorance of the times may be inferred from
the remark of the minstrel, Bernard de Ventadour, who, when he sang the
praises of the princess Eleanor, afterward mother of Richard the First,
adds, “She approves my writings, and she can read them too.”
The story of Geoffroi Rudel is a remarkable illustration of the fervid
and imaginative tone of sentiment that prevailed in those romantic
days. He was the favorite minstrel of prince Geoffroi Plantagenet, the
elder brother of Cœur de Lion. While he lived at the court of England,
admired and beloved by noble knights and lovely ladies, he listened
with delight to descriptions of a certain countess of Tripoli, whose
beauty, kindness, and virtue, were perpetually praised by the crusaders
that returned from Holy Land. Rudel fell deeply and passionately in
love with her fame. In one of his songs he says: “I adore an object I
have never seen. Yet I am convinced that among all the Saracen, Jewish,
and Christian beauties, none can be compared with her. Every night she
appears before me in enchanting dreams. The beauty I adore shall behold
me, for her sake, clad in a woollen garment, and with a pilgrim’s
staff.” The ardent troubadour actually sailed for Palestine. But he
became grievously ill during the voyage, and was nearly senseless
when the vessel reached the shores of Tripoli. The countess, being
informed of the circumstances of his arrival, hastened to meet him,
and offer all the consolation in her power. He fixed his eyes upon her
with a joyful expression, and expired. The countess caused him to be
magnificently buried among the Knights Templars, and erected a monument
of porphyry, with an Arabic inscription, commemorating his genius and
his love. She then retired to a cloister, and took the monastic vow.
The last song Rudel had addressed to her was transcribed in letters of
gold, and she wore it continually near her heart.
Richard de Barbesieu, having broken his vow of fidelity to a certain
princess, built a cabin of boughs in the depth of the forest, and swore
never to leave his solitude till the offended lady again took him
into favor. Being a favorite minstrel in hall and bower, the knights
and ladies sent him many entreaties to return; and finding their
solicitations were all in vain, they tried their utmost to appease the
anger of his lady-love. She at length relented so far as to promise
him pardon, whenever a hundred brave knights, and a hundred beautiful
dames, who had sworn eternal love to each other, should kneel before
her, and with clasped hands supplicate mercy for their minstrel. A
hundred brace of lovers performed the required ceremony, and the
troubadour was pardoned.
Still more extravagant was the conduct of Pierre Vidal, a half-crazed
poet, who followed Cœur de Lion to the crusade. Having been banished
from the presence of one lady for his presumptuous boldness, he chose
for the next object of his amorous effusions a lady by the name of
Louve de Penautier. In her honor he assumed the name of _Loup_, and
actually disguised himself as a wolf, in order to be hunted by a pack
of hounds. He was brought back shockingly mangled; and the lady and her
husband took care of his wounds, though they laughed at his folly.
The entire absence of jealousy in the husbands of that period is by
no means the least remarkable feature of the times. They seem to have
been proud of the protestations of love offered to their wives, and
liberally rewarded the favored troubadour with jewels and gold. Agnes,
countess of Foix, was beloved by a French minstrel, who became jealous
of her. She sent her own confessor to him to complain of the injustice
of his suspicions, and to swear that she was still faithful to him.
She required him to write and publish the history of their loves in
verse. Yet this princess was considered virtuous, both by her husband
and the world. One of the troubadours beseeches a priest to grant him
dispensation from vows of love to a lady whom he loved no longer; but
he does not seem to have considered absolution necessary during the
continuance of his attachment, although the object of it was the wife
of another. Those who know human nature will probably think it requires
a good deal of faith to believe that immaculate purity was universal.
The curious mixture of religion with love is another singular
characteristic of the middle ages. The knight wrote poems in honor
of the virgin Mary, which cannot easily be distinguished from those
addressed to the lady of his affections. The troubadours burned
tapers, and caused masses to be said for the success of their love; and
one of them assures us that he devoutly crossed himself with joy and
gratitude, every time he beheld his mistress. Peyre de Ruer devoted
himself to a noble Italian lady, who was extremely fond of magnificent
entertainments; and in order to find favor in her eyes he exhausted
all his resources in banquets and _joustes_ in her honor. The lady,
however, could not be persuaded to exercise her sovereign attribute
of mercy; and Ruer wandered about the country in the disguise of a
pilgrim. He arrived at a certain church during the holy week, and
asked permission to preach to the audience. This being granted, he
gracefully and earnestly recited one of his own love-songs; for, says
the chronicle, “he knew nothing better.” The congregation, supposing
it to be a pious invocation to the virgin Mary, or the saints, were
much affected; and when he held out his hat for the customary alms, it
was heaped with silver. The minstrel cast aside his pilgrim weeds and
in a splendid dress presented himself before his lady-love, with a new
song in her praise; and she, overcome with such a proof of constancy,
bestowed many caresses on the wandering troubadour.
In Spain, a certain company, called Disciplinarians, went through the
streets every Good Friday, with sugar-loaf caps, white gloves and
shoes, and sleeves tied with ribbons of such a color as their ladies
particularly admired. They carried whips of small cords, with bits
of glass fastened on the ends, and when they met a handsome woman,
they began to whip themselves with all violence, insomuch that the
blood spirted on her robes; for which honor she courteously thanked
them. When a lover arrived opposite the balcony of his mistress, he
scourged himself with redoubled fury, while she looked on with proud
complacency, and perhaps rewarded his sufferings with a gracious smile.
Ladies of rank entered the lists of poetry in competition with
troubadours of the other sex. Among these were the countess of
Champagne, countess of Provence, dame Castelossa, the comtesse de
Die, &c. The last-mentioned was beloved by the chevalier d’Adhèmar,
whose courage and magnanimity she celebrated in verses, which the
favored knight always carried in his bosom; and not unfrequently
he entertained a company by singing his lady’s songs in praise of
himself. He died of grief, in consequence of a false report of her
inconstancy. The young comtesse took the veil immediately, and died
the same year in the convent of St. Honoré. Her mother buried her with
her lover, and erected a superb monument to the memory of both. The
countess of Champagne was much celebrated for the manner in which she
presided at one of the Courts of Love. These courts were composed of
ladies summoned to meet together, for the purpose of discussing, in
the most formal and serious manner, “beautiful and subtle questions
of love.” They decided the precise amount of inconstancy which a lady
might forgive, without lowering her own dignity, provided her lover
made certain supplications, and performed certain penances; they took
it into solemn consideration whether a lover was justified, under
any circumstances, in expressing the slightest doubt of his lady’s
fidelity; they laid down definite rules, and ceremonials of behavior,
to be observed by those who wished to be beloved; and gravely discussed
the question whether sentiment, or sight, the heart, or the eyes,
contributed most powerfully to inspire affection.
A young maiden in those days was educated, like her brother, in the
castle of some knight or baron, her father’s friend; and her duties,
like his, were mostly those of personal attendance. She assisted in
dressing her lady, and sought by music and conversation to beguile
her lonely hours. Their learning, in general, was confined to recipes
for cooking, simple medicines, needle-work, the ceremonials of
chivalry, and the prayers of the church. Reading and writing were rare
attainments, both with men and women.
The rules for behavior were exceedingly precise and ceremonious.
Maidens were taught that it was unseemly to turn their heads round
after the manner of a crane, and were exhorted rather to imitate the
beautiful and timid hare, which looks straight forward. If necessary
to look aside, they were told to move the head and body together,
that their deportment might appear dignified. Simplicity of dress was
likewise inculcated, except on festival occasions; and that respect
might be shown to religion as well as chivalry, they were commanded
to wear their richest apparel to church. Modesty was strongly urged.
Every bard had a story of the daughter of some knight, who displayed
her person so freely that her intended husband preferred her more
modest, though less beautiful, sister. The ferocious pride of feudal
power was softened by maxims of courtesy toward those of inferior rank.
A noble lady once took off her hood and made respectful obeisance to
a mechanic. One of her friends exclaimed, “Why, noble dame, you have
taken off your hood to a tailor!” “Yes,” she replied; “and I would
rather have doffed it to him, than a gentleman;” and those who heard
her answer, thought she had done right well.
All the domestic economy of the castle was arranged by the maiden
attendants, and they were early instructed in the mysteries of the
healing art. The wounds of husbands and lovers were in those days cured
by the fair hand of woman. Spenser says:
“Into the woods thenceforth in haste she went,
To seek for herbs that mote him remedy;
For she of herbs had great intendiment,
Taught of the nymph from whom her infancy
Her nourced had in true nobility.”
A knowledge of surgery was likewise a necessary feminine accomplishment.
“So prospered the sweet lass, her strength alone
Thrust deftly back the dislocated bone.”
Even as late as the days of queen Elizabeth, some of the ladies of her
court are praised for their skill in surgery.
When men rode forth to hunt or hawk, they were generally accompanied
by ladies, for whom a gentler species of falcons, called sparrow-hawks,
were trained. The birds were gallantly bedight with silver bells,
and it was the duty of every gallant knight to attend on his lady,
to let the falcon loose at the proper moment, to animate it by his
cries, to take from its talons the prey it seized, and then replace
it respectfully on her hand. John of Salisbury, who wrote in the
thirteenth century, says that women even excelled men in the knowledge
and practice of falconry. Julian Berners, prioress of a nunnery in
Sopewell, published, in 1481, a curious book full of directions
concerning heraldry and hawking; for which reason she was called
by cotemporaries “a Minerva in her studies, and a Diana in her
diversions.” Some old English engravings represent ladies followed
by dogs, running on foot, with hawks on their fists; and upon old
monuments it is common to see the image of a woman, with a hawk perched
near her, and a greyhound at her feet. Queen Elizabeth was fond both
of hunting and falconry, and had no objection to the unfeminine
amusement of bear-baiting. Even when she was sixty years old, Sir
Walter Raleigh, in allusion to her sylvan sports, compares her and her
maids of honor, in their stiff ruffs and fardingales, to the goddess
Diana and her graceful nymphs. Tournaments and masks continued to be
favorite amusements during the reign of the maiden queen, though the
last rays of chivalry’s declining sun were then sinking to rise no
more. Elizabeth, who had all the _petitesse_ of a vain woman united
with the cold caution of an artful man, always delivered the prizes
herself; for she could not endure that one younger and fairer should
personate the Queen of Love and Beauty. The gallantry of knighthood
still characterized her courtiers. When she dropped her glove at a
tournament, the earl of Cumberland picked it up, and was graciously
requested to retain it. With the true spirit of chivalry, he caused it
to be set in diamonds, and on festival occasions always wore it in his
high-crowned hat, which had at that period superseded the helmet.
One singular custom that prevailed in England in the old time deserves
to be recorded for its oddity. Sir Philip Somerville, in the reign of
Edward the Third, left the manor of Whichnour to the earl of Lancaster,
on condition that he should at all seasons of the year, except during
Lent, be ready to deliver a flitch of bacon to any man and woman, who
swore they had been married a year and a day without once repenting it;
and that if they were again single, they would choose each other again,
in preference to all the universe. The oath, taken in presence of
witnesses, was as follows: “I A wedded my wife B, and syth I had her in
my keepying and at my wylle, by a yeare and a daye after our marriage,
I would not have changed for none other, richer ne pourer, ne for none
other descended of gretter lynage, sleeping ne waking, at noo tyme.
And if the said B were sole and I sole, I would take her to be my wife
before all the wymen of the worlde, of what condytions so-ever they may
be, good or evyl, as help me God and his seyntys, and this flesh and
all fleshes.”
It is remarkable that during the middle ages, when profound homage
was paid to women, as to things divine, a life closely secluded from
their society was deemed the surest road to heaven. The eucharist was
considered too holy to be touched by female fingers, and they were
required to put a white linen glove upon the hand when they received
it. The emperor Honorius banished Jovinian because he maintained that a
man who lived with a wife might be saved, provided he obeyed the laws
of piety and virtue; and Edward the Confessor was sainted for dying
unmarried. Celibacy was expressly enjoined upon the clergy, and both
priests and deacons were degraded from office for disobedience to this
edict. In France it was carried to such an extent, that the barons
had power to make slaves of any children of the married clergy. St.
Dunstan, so famous for his abhorrence of women, introduced celibacy of
clergy into England, and, with the consent of king Edgar, exhorted the
married priests to put away their wives, under the penalty of being
degraded from office, and deprived of their livings. From the ungallant
character of St. Dunstan arose a superstitious custom, of which some
traces remain in Great Britain even to the present day. It was deemed
that if a bridal couple drank from St. Dunstan’s well, on the day
of their marriage, the first one who tasted the water would govern
the other for life. A bridegroom, who was very desirous to have the
authority in his own hands, repaired to the well as soon as his wedding
day dawned; and after the marriage ceremony was over, he boasted to
his bride that he had drank of the water sooner than she could possibly
have done. “Ah, my friend,” replied she, laughing, “you have not
circumvented a woman’s wit; for I brought some of the water from the
well, in a vial, the night before.”
When knights formed themselves into religious orders, to fight in
defence of the holy sepulchre, they were required to take a vow of
perpetual chastity, poverty, and obedience. A Knight Templar was
forbidden to kiss maid, wife, or widow, not even excepting his mother
and his sisters; and was not permitted to adorn his helmet with
tokens either of nobility or love. But the principles of these pious
knights yielded to the slightest pressure of circumstances. Men of
large fortune paid little attention to their vow of poverty; connubial
fidelity was substituted for perpetual celibacy; and even in this
improved form, the history of the crusades gives us small reason to
suppose that the promise was considered binding.
Such a project as that of the crusades naturally took powerful hold
of the imaginations of women educated amid the splendid pageants of
war and religion, and accustomed to the continual combination of
things in their nature so discordant. Many accompanied their lovers
and husbands to the Holy Land, and, after performing the most romantic
exploits, died beside them on the field of battle. Whole squadrons of
women sometimes took arms in defence of the holy cross. Those that
accompanied the emperor Conrad were remarkable for the splendor of
their military dresses. Their leader was called “the golden-footed
dame.”
The ardor with which chivalry was embraced by all the principal nations
of Europe, and the powerful hold it still retains on the imagination,
notwithstanding the detestable pride and tyranny of those gallant
nobles, is to be attributed to the sacred principles on which the
institution was originally founded; viz. the chaste union of the sexes,
and the forgetfulness of self in the effort to do good to others. But
chivalry gradually degenerated from its original purity, and became
a ridiculous mania for renown. Knighthood was no longer the reward
of high-minded virtue, but was bestowed on any man who had wealth or
power to obtain it for his own selfish purposes. The profligacy of the
troubadours was open and flagrant; the crusaders, who made a pilgrimage
to the holy sepulchre in expiation of their sins, fearfully added to
the list on their way; poor knights, who had no money to pay their
retainers, made no scruple of obtaining it by robbery and violence,
and wandered about in quest of adventures, letting out their swords to
richer brethren; women departed from the modesty which had procured
them homage, and bestowed their smiles so indiscriminately that they
lost their value. Yet, as the affectation of any thing is always more
excessive than the reality, the exploits of the knights during the
rapid decline of chivalry were more outrageously fantastical than
they had ever been. It was common for a cavalier to post himself in
some very public place, and fight every gentleman who passed, unless
he instantly acknowledged that the lady of his affections was the
handsomest and most virtuous lady in the world; and if, as often
happened, he was met by one as mad as himself, who insisted upon
maintaining the superior charms of _his_ dulcinea, a deadly combat
ensued. At the beginning of the fourteenth century, a society of ladies
and gentlemen was formed at Poictou, called the Penitents of Love. In
order to show that love could effect the strangest metamorphoses, they
covered themselves with furred mantles, and sat before large fires, in
the heat of summer, while in winter they wore the slightest possible
covering. Thus chivalry became an absurd and disgusting mockery, and
was finally laughed out of the world by the witty Cervantes. But
though the form became grotesque, and died in a state of frenzy, the
important use performed by the spirit of true chivalry ought not to be
forgotten. It stood in the place of laws, when laws could not have been
enforced, and it raised woman to a moral rank in society, unknown to
the most refined nations of antiquity--a rank she can never entirely
lose, and from which her present comparative freedom is derived. It
taught Francis the First, that most chivalrous of all monarchs, to lay
the foundation of a beautiful social system by introducing the wives
and daughters of his nobles at court, where none but bearded men had
previously been seen. “A court without ladies,” said he, “is a year
without a spring, or a spring without roses.”
The Mohammedan religion, which debases woman into a machine, and
regards love as a merely sensual passion, was introduced into the East
about the same time that chivalry arose in the West, to exalt women
into deities, and chasten passion with the purity of sentiment.
The military spirit induced by chivalry continued in full force through
the whole of its existence, and survived its origin. Philippa, wife of
Edward the Third, was the principal cause of the victory gained over
the Scots at Neville Cross. In the absence of her husband, she rode
among the troops, and exhorted them in the name of God to be of good
heart and courage, promising to reward them better than if her lord
the king were himself in the field. At the surrender of Calais, she
displayed a better quality than courage. Her incensed husband demanded
that six of the principal inhabitants should be put to death; and six
patriotic citizens voluntarily offered their lives to appease the
conqueror. When these heroic men knelt at his feet, to deliver the keys
of the city, the queen likewise knelt, and begged their lives as a boon
to her. Her tears prevailed; and the grateful inhabitants of Calais
exclaimed, “Edward conquers cities, but Philippa conquers hearts!”
Jane, countess of Mountfort, who lived at the same period, and was a
lineal descendant of the German women described by Tacitus, possessed
a large share of manly courage. While her husband was detained in
prison, she defended his right to the duchy of Bretagne against Charles
of Blois. She visited all the principal towns and fortresses, and
exhorted the troops to courage, in the name of herself and her infant
son. When besieged in the strong town of Hennebon, she herself rode
through the streets clad in mail, and mounted on a goodly steed;
and her cheering smiles stimulated valor, even when her voice was
drowned in the din of battle. Perceiving that the enemy’s camp was
deserted, she seized a spear, and, accompanied by three hundred of her
best knights, rode into the midst of it, and set the tents on fire.
Her return being cut off by the French troops, she took the road to
Brest, and for five days the good soldiers of Hennebon were ignorant
of her fate; but on the sixth, she returned, with her golden banners
glittering in the sun, and surrounded by five hundred lances, which
her beauty and bravery had drawn around her. Afterward, she went to
England, to solicit succor from Edward the Third. Returning with a
considerable fleet, she was met by an enemy; and it is recorded that
“the countess on that day was worth the bravest knight; she had the
heart of a lion, and, with a sharp glaive in her hand, she fought
fiercely.”
In 1338, the countess of March, called Black Agnes, from the color of
her eyes and hair, resisted with extraordinary bravery and success the
earl of Salisbury, who besieged her in the castle of Dunbar, during the
absence of her husband.
In Italy, the prince of Romagna intrusted the defence of Cesena to
his wife, Marzia, while he himself maintained a more important post.
The noble matron donned the casque and cuirass, which she never laid
aside, night or day; and when, in a moment of extreme peril, her father
entreated her to surrender, she replied, “My husband has given me a
duty to perform, and I must obey his command.” Though unable to obtain
the victory, her bravery and skill secured a very favorable treaty.
When Regner Lodbrog waged war against Fro, king of Sweden, a young
Norwegian girl, named Lagertha, greatly assisted him in his victory.
Regner became in love with her, and made her his wife; but he
soon after deserted her for another. Lagertha lived in the utmost
retirement, until she heard that her husband was deserted by his
friends, and placed in danger by rebellious subjects; then the generous
wife forgot her own injuries, hastened to his relief, and was again
victorious.
Avilda, daughter of the king of Gothland, scoured the seas with a
powerful fleet; and king Sigar, who found she was not to be won in the
usual manner, gained her heart by fitting out a fleet, and engaging in
a furious battle with her for two days without intermission.
Marguérite of France, wife of St. Louis, while besieged by the Turks
in Damietta, during the captivity of the king her husband, gave birth
to a son, whom she named Tristan, in commemoration of her misfortunes.
In this helpless situation, hearing that the crusaders were about to
capitulate with the enemy she summoned the knights to her apartment,
and the words she uttered stirred their spirits like the tones of a
trumpet. Her address has been immortalized in such beautiful verse, by
Mrs. Hemans, that I cannot forbear quoting some of the stanzas:
“The honor of the lily
Is in your hands to keep,
And the Banner of the Cross, for Him
Who died on Calvary’s steep:
And the city which for Christian prayer
Hath heard the holy bell--
And is it _these_ your hearts would yield
To the goodless Infidel?
“Then bring me here a breastplate,
And a helm, before ye fly,
And I will gird my woman’s form,
And on the ramparts die!
And the boy whom I have borne for woe,
But never for disgrace,
Shall go within mine arms to death
Meet for his royal race.
“Look on him as he slumbers
In the shadow of the Lance!
_Then_ go, and with the Cross forsake
The princely Babe of France!
But tell your homes ye left _one_ heart
To perish undefiled;
A woman and a queen, to guard
Her honor and her child!”
No wonder such an appeal met with a thrilling response:
“We are thy warriors, lady!
True to the Cross and thee!
The spirit of thy kindling words
On every sword shall be!
Rest, with thy fair child on thy breast,
Rest, we will guard thee well
St. Dennis for the Lily-flower,
And the Christian citadel!”
Joan of Arc, born of humble parentage, but strong in military courage,
and the enthusiasm of prophecy, appeared among the discouraged troops
of France, mounted on a milk-white steed, with snowy plumes nodding
over her helmet, and in the name of God urged them on to victory.
Battle after battle was gained by the consecrated maiden; and history
weeps to record that she at last fell a victim to the cruelty of the
English and the base ingratitude of the French.
Margaret of Anjou twice delivered her husband from prison and placed
him on the English throne; nor did she yield to an overpowering torrent
of misfortunes, till she had decided twelve battles in person.
During the reign of Anne of Austria, the French women often appeared
at the head of political factions, wearing scarfs that designated the
party to which they belonged. Swords and harps, violins and cuirasses,
were seen together in the same saloon. There was a regiment created
under the name of _Mademoiselle_; and when Monsieur wrote to the ladies
who attended his daughter to Orleans, the letter was directed as
follows: “_A Mesdames, les Comtesses Maréchales de camp, dans l’ armée
de ma fille, contre le Mazarin_.” The gift of a bracelet, or glove, was
as much valued by the courteous gentlemen of France, as it had been
by the knights of chivalry. M. de Chatillon wore the garter of his
beautiful mistress on his arm; and when the Duc de Bellegarde went to
take command of the army, he besought the queen to honor him so far as
to touch the hilt of his sword. The Duc de la Rochefoucault says of
Madam de Longueville:
“_Pour meriter son cœur, pour plaire à ses beaux yeux,
J’ai fait la guerre aux Roix; je l’ aurois fait aux Dieux._”
During the reign of James the Second, a singular instance of female
heroism occurred in Scotland. Sir John Cochrane being condemned to be
hung for joining in Argyle’s rebellion, his daughter twice disguised
herself and robbed the mail that brought his death-warrant. In the mean
time his pardon was obtained from the king.
A spirit of superstitious devotion manifested itself in those times
to an extent quite as remarkable as the military enthusiasm. No guest
was so welcome in bower and hall as the pilgrim returned from the Holy
Land, with many a tale to tell of victories gained by Knights of the
Holy Cross over the worthless infidel. The troubadours, after a youth
spent in love and minstrelsy, almost invariably retired to the silence
of the cloister. Noble and beautiful ladies, upon the slightest disgust
with life, or remorse of conscience, took the vow that separated them
forever from the world, and pledged them to perpetual chastity and
poverty. When this vow was taken, all jewels and rich garments were
laid aside, and the head shorn of its beautiful ornament of hair. The
building in which they secluded themselves was guarded by massive
walls, and iron-grated windows. The rich and the noble seldom died
without leaving something to endow a convent. At last, they became
powerful instruments of oppression; for if a nobleman had numerous
daughters, and wished, in the pride of his heart, to centre his wealth
upon one only, he could compel all the others to take the veil; if they
were not sufficiently beautiful to aid his ambitious views, or dared to
form an attachment contrary to his wishes the same fate awaited them.
If a nun violated her vow of chastity, she suffered a penalty as severe
as that imposed on the vestal virgins; being placed in an opening of
the walls, which was afterwards bricked up, and thus left to perish
slowly with hunger. The priests, with some honorable exceptions, were
not remarkable for purity, and as the nature of their office gave them
free ingress to the nunneries, the results took place which might have
been expected from people bound by unnatural vows. The licentiousness
of the priesthood gradually made the holy orders a by-word and a
reproach, and prepared the way for the stern reformers of the sixteenth
century.
But the influence of convents was far from being all evil. Their gates
were ever open to the sick, the wounded, and the destitute; in the
most turbulent times, the sweet charities of life there found a kindly
nursery; and many a young mind was trained to virtue and learning,
under the fostering care of some worthy abbess.
As chivalry declined, men began to take pride in literature, instead of
leaving all “book learning to the meaner folk;” and women, of course,
assumed a corresponding character. The merits of Aristotle and Plato
divided the attention of the learned. The universities declared in
favor of Aristotle; but poets, lovers, and women, were enamored of the
ethereal Plato. Women preached in public, supported controversies,
published and defended theses, filled the chairs of philosophy and
law, harangued the popes in Latin, wrote Greek, and read Hebrew. Nuns
wrote poetry, women of rank became divines, and young girls publicly
exhorted Christian princes to take up arms for the recovery of the holy
sepulchre.
Hypatia, daughter of Theon of Alexandria, is said to have exceeded her
father in astronomy, and well understood other parts of philosophy.
She succeeded her father in the government of the Platonic school, and
filled with reputation a seat where many celebrated philosophers had
taught. The people regarded her as an oracle, and magistrates consulted
her in all important cases. No reproach was ever uttered against
the perfect purity of her manners. She was unembarrassed in large
assemblies of men, because their admiration was tempered with the most
scrupulous respect.
In the thirteenth century, a young lady of Bologna, who had great
beauty of person, pronounced a Latin funeral oration at the age of
twenty-three. At twenty-six she took the degree of doctor of laws,
and began publicly to expound the laws of Justinian. At thirty, she
was elevated to a professor’s chair, and taught the law to a crowd of
scholars from all nations.
Marguérite Clotilde de Surville, in the early part of the fifteenth
century, wrote poetry remarkable for its freshness and simplicity,
and for the tender affection toward her husband and child which
breathes on every page. After her husband’s death, she did better than
to enter a nunnery, according to the fashion of the times--she lived
unmarried, and devoted herself to the education of her son. When some
of her verses were repeated to Margaret of Scotland, the first wife of
Louis the Eleventh, she sent her a wreath of laurel, surmounted with
a bouquet of daisies, (in French called _marguérites_,) in which the
flowers were of gold, and the leaves silver. It bore this inscription:
“_Marguérite d’ Ecosse à Marguérite d’ Helicon_.”
Italy produced many learned and gifted women, among whom perhaps none
was more celebrated than Victoria Colonna, marchioness of Pescara. She
was passionately fond of poetry, and being early left to mourn the loss
of a husband dearly beloved, she spent the remainder of her life amid
the quiet pursuits of literature. Nearly all her sonnets bear allusion
to her husband. In one of these she says: “Since I was not permitted
to be the mother of sons, to inherit their father’s glory, I may at
least, by uniting my name with his in verse, become the mother of his
illustrious deeds and lofty fame.” Ariosto says that the marquis of
Pescara was more to be envied for the strains in which his gifted wife
elevated him above cotemporary heroes, than Achilles, whose warlike
deeds were sung by Homer.
In Spain, Isabella of Rosera converted Jews by her eloquent preaching,
and commented upon the learned Scotus before cardinals and archbishops.
In England, Lady Jane Grey had great fame as a scholar. She was found
poring over Plato with delight, while other members of her family were
engaged in diversions; and the night before the blameless creature
was executed for the fault of her ambitious parents, she wrote to her
sister in Greek, exhorting her to live and die in the true faith of the
reformers.
Roger Ascham said of his royal pupil, Elizabeth, “Yea, I believe that,
besides her perfect readiness in Latin, Italian, French, and Spanish,
she readeth more Greek every day than some prebendary of this church
doth Latin in a whole week.”
The eldest daughter of Sir Thomas More had learning equalled only by
her virtues. She corresponded with the celebrated Erasmus, who styled
her “the ornament of Britain.”
Mary, queen of Scots, could write and speak six languages. She made
graceful verses in French; and, when very young, delivered a Latin
oration to the court of France, to prove that there was nothing
unfeminine in the pursuit of letters.
The spirit of chivalry blazed forth anew in the literature of
that period. Many pens were employed in framing the panegyrics of
illustrious women; and Italy was peculiarly distinguished for these
performances. Boccacio set the example in his Panegyric de Claris
Mulieribus. After this, innumerable writers published eulogies on the
celebrated women of all nations. These volumes paved the way for the
discussion of the merits of women in general; and the pre-eminence
of female character over that of men, was proposed for a question in
public debate. In this discussion, Cornelius Agrippa boldly asserted
the superiority of women.
Peter Paul de Ribera, an Italian, published a work entitled, “The
immortal Triumphs and heroic Enterprises of eight hundred and
forty-five Women.” But even this ample panegyric is less singular than
a publication at Venice, in 1555, called “The Temple of the divine
Signora Joan of Arragon; erected in her honor by all the greatest wits,
and in all the principal languages of the world.” The society which
conceived this method of deification, disputed upon one point only;
viz. whether Joan of Arragon should possess the honors of the temple
alone, or share them with her celebrated sister, the marchioness de
Gaust. After mature deliberation, it was decided that two sovereigns
ought not to sit on the same throne; it was therefore resolved by the
academy, “that the marchioness have separate worship, and Joan of
Arragon remain in the sole and exclusive possession of her altars.”
Latin, Greek, Italian, French, Spanish, Sclavonian, Hebrew, Chaldaic,
and many other languages, were combined in this singular monument to
woman’s fame.
In the midst of all this adulation, women were not backward in
vindicating their own claims. Several Italian ladies wrote books to
prove the comparative inferiority of men; and the French women espoused
the cause with equal zeal. The most conspicuous among them was Margaret
of Navarre, the first wife of Henry the Fourth, who undertook to prove
that “woman is much superior to man.” This princess, like Elizabeth of
England, made use of expressions so gross, that we in modern times can
hardly realize they came from a woman.
About the commencement of the sixteenth century, witches began to be
persecuted, abused, and despised, instead of being treated with the
reverence of more ancient times. Either from association with the
idea of the wrinkled sibyl of Cumæ, or from some other less obvious
cause, every woman who was old and haggard was in great danger of being
considered a witch. Every unaccountable event in the neighborhood
was charged to her; and any explanations she attempted to make were
regarded as the cunning instigations of the devil. If a new disease
appeared among cattle, or a blight rested on the fields, or a child
had a singular kind of fit, or a neighbor had the nightmare, it was
immediately attributed to the influence of some old dame, who at
midnight, when honest folks were sleeping, left her mortal body and
went careering through the air on a broomstick, accompanied by a train
of imps. If any person afflicted with fits, or other grievances, swore
that any particular individual was the cause, their oath was deemed
sufficient, and the poor victim of superstition was forthwith committed
to jail, there to await a cruel death. In many parts of the north of
Europe, it was for several years a very remarkable thing for any old
woman to die peaceably in her bed; and the same kind of excitement
prevailed to a considerable extent in England, Germany, and France.
The description of witches and their accompaniments are nearly the same
all the world over. Even in remote Hindostan, an old woman appeared
many years ago, of whom it was reported that she used to cook owls,
bats, snakes, lizards, and human flesh, in the skull of an enemy, by
which means she was able to render men invisible, and strike terror
into their adversaries. If the Hindoos had read Shakspeare, they could
not have pictured more exactly the English ideas of a witch. A cat, and
generally a black one, is usually described as one of the appendages of
these enchantresses; and it was supposed that they very often assumed
the form of that animal.
But it was not merely the aged who fell victims to this strange
superstition: the young and the beautiful were sometimes burned at the
stake, upon the charge of having dealt in magic. Such was the fate
of the high-souled maid of Orleans. The duchess de Conchini, being
summoned before the judges, and asked by what arts she had bewitched
the queen of France, calmly replied, “Merely by that ascendency which
great minds must have over little ones.” In England, the duchess of
Gloster was accused of making a wax figure of Henry the Sixth, and
causing it to melt before the fire with certain incantations, intended
to produce his death. For this offence, charged upon her by political
enemies of her husband, she was condemned to walk through the streets
barefoot, dressed in a white sheet, with papers pinned on her back, and
a burning taper in her hand; and after performing this humiliating
penance three days, followed by an insulting rabble, she was banished
from the realm. Richard the Third pretended that his withered arm was
produced by the sorcery of his brother’s widow and Jane Shore.
Fortune-telling was a power supposed to be universally possessed by
witches; and the most common method was by studying the lines of the
hand. A cup containing tea or coffee grounds was sometimes chosen in
preference; the person whirled it round three times toward herself,
accompanying each motion with a wish; then the sorceress examined the
cup, and pretended to find destiny inscribed there.
On the evening of the thirty-first of October, called Allhallow Even,
or Hallow E’en, witches, devils, and fairies were supposed to be
peculiarly busy. On this occasion it was common for young girls to
try tricks to ascertain whom they were to marry. The burning of nuts
or apple-seeds in a shovel was a favorite charm; the nuts were named,
and accordingly as they burned quietly together, or bounced away from
each other, it was supposed the issue of the courtship would be. Burns
describes this ceremony:
“Jean slips in twa wi tentie e’e;
Wha ’twas she wadna tell:
But this is _Jock_, and this is _me_,
She says in to hersel:
He bleezed owre her, an she owre him,
As they wad never mair part!
Till luff! he started up the lum,
And Jean had e’en a sair heart
To see ’t that night.”
It was likewise customary to go out blindfolded and pull the first
plant of kail they met; its being big or little, crooked or straight,
indicated the size and shape of the future husband or wife; the
quantity of earth that clung to the root was prophetic of the degree
of wealth; and the taste of the stem indicated the natural temper and
disposition. Another trick was to go partly down cellar in the dark,
and throw a ball of thread down stairs, keeping hold of one end to
wind it; if any thing impeded it, they called out, “Who holds?” and it
was believed that a voice from the cellar would answer the name of the
future spouse. Sometimes an individual stole out unperceived and sowed
a handful of hemp-seed, repeating now and then, “Hemp-seed, I sow thee;
hemp-seed, I sow thee; and he that is to be my true love come after me
and pull thee.” Then looking over the left shoulder, the appearance of
the invoked person was supposed to be seen in the attitude of pulling
hemp: and no doubt it often was seen; for roguish lovers did not always
neglect such opportunities to advance their suit.
A volume might be filled with the “tricks” tried by young people to
ascertain who would be their future husband, or wife; but these few
specimens must suffice. Egyptian women were the most famous sorcerers
of the ancient world; and Gipseys have been most famed for magical
skill in modern times.
The fourteenth of February is called St. Valentine’s day. On the
evening previous, it was customary in many parts of the world for
people to write valentines, or love-letters in verse, to any lady
who pleased their fancy; and sometimes ladies were gracious enough to
address their lovers in rhyme. The outer door was usually slyly opened,
and the verses, tied to an apple or an orange, thrown in. A loud rap
then announced the event to the inmates of the house. Sometimes the
boys, for the sake of sport, would chalk the size of a letter on the
door-step, and then have fine fun when some person attempted to pick
it up. There was a superstition that whoever was first seen on the
morning of St. Valentine’s day, would assuredly be the future spouse.
On that day it was customary for a young lady to choose from among the
gentlemen of her acquaintance one to be her gallant; he presented her
with a bunch of flowers, or other trifling present, and thus bound
himself to attend upon her with the most obsequious gallantry for the
space of one year; before the service was completed a more serious
partnership was often resolved on.
On St. Valentine’s day, it is still usual for the common people of
England to draw names by lot. The man whose name is drawn makes the
fair one some trifling present, and is her partner in the dance. She
considers him her beau until he is engaged to some one else, or till
St. Valentine’s day returns.
These customs, together with the superstitious observances of Hallow
E’en, continued in full force during the seventeenth century, and
fragments of them are now found in various parts of the world.
It may be necessary to say a few words concerning the dress worn at
the remote periods of which we have been speaking. The Saxon ladies
wore a bodice and short petticoat, with a kind of mantle over the head
and shoulders. Buskins, laced in front, were worn on the feet. The
custom of combing the hair all back from the face, surmounted with a
black coif and steeple hat, continued from the Norman conquest till
near the seventeenth century. Queen Elizabeth was the first woman in
England that wore silk stockings; embroidered gloves and perfumes were
likewise first introduced into England from Italy, for her use. This
magnanimous queen was extremely offended if any of the ladies of her
court wore garments approaching to her own in magnificence. She had a
new dress for every day in the year, and was much attracted by rich
apparel in gentlemen. Sir Walter Raleigh had even his shoes embroidered
with pearls, and the court dresses of her favorite Leicester were
literally covered with jewels. Elizabeth enacted sumptuary laws, which
defined with great precision what sort of bonnet might be worn by a
gentlewoman, what by an esquire’s wife, what by a baron’s wife, &c.
Aldermen’s wives were permitted by an express law to wear the royal
color of scarlet. Every alderman who failed to supply his wife with a
scarlet gown before the ensuing Christmas, was fined ten pounds; and
every lady, who failed to appear in these dresses at Christmas and
Easter, forfeited twenty shillings for every default.
During Cromwell’s time, ornaments were thought sinful. Women wore their
hair plain and smooth, and muffled their persons from head to foot,
as if beauty were a gift to be ashamed of. This unnatural restraint
produced a violent reaction in the time of Charles the Second. Ladies
began to copy the elegant drapery of Vandyke’s pictures, which
gradually degenerated into extreme immodesty.
The emperor Paul of Russia made very minute regulations concerning
the dress both of men and women; and his laws were so capricious that
it required the most vigilant attention to comply with them. He once
ordered a lady of his court to be imprisoned and kept on bread and
water, because she had been guilty of wearing her hair rather lower in
the neck than was consistent with his decrees.
During the middle ages, the French women wore gowns quite high in the
neck, and fitted closely to the shape. The right side was embroidered
with their husbands’ coat of arms, and the left with their own. The
custom of displaying the shoulders was unknown before the time of
Charles the Sixth. Widows were closely muffled, and wore caps and
veils very much like nuns. Henry the Fourth found himself obliged to
restrain extravagance by sumptuary laws; yet his mistress, Gabriella,
was sometimes so loaded with pearls and diamonds, that she could not
support her own weight.
A taste for rich and elegant dress displayed itself first and most
conspicuously in Italy and France, and thence spread into more northern
nations. Petrarch’s Laura is described as wearing gloves brocaded with
gold, and dressed magnificently in silk, though a pound of silk at
that period was valued at four pounds sterling in money.
Spanish ladies wore necklaces of steel, to which thin iron rods were
fastened, curving upward to expand the veil when thrown over the head.
Caps more than a foot high were likewise much in vogue; they were
dressed in the form of a toupee on the top of the head, and covered
with a black veil. These caps may still be seen in some of the Spanish
provinces. Both in Scotland and Spain it was customary for a widow
to wear mourning till she died, or married again. The first year was
passed in a chamber hung with black, from which the sunlight was
excluded; the second it was hung with gray, and jewels and mirrors
prohibited.
All nations prided themselves on long and beautiful hair. Among the
Saxons and Danes, married women only covered it with a head-dress;
girls wore their tresses loose and flowing. A faithless wife had her
head shaven, and the church sometimes ordered it as a penance for other
sins. The Spanish and Italian ladies retained the Roman predilection
for golden hair. In order to obtain the desired hue, they made use of
sulphur and aquafortis, and exposed their heads to the sun during the
hottest hours of the day.
During the middle ages, dwellings were vast, and in some respects
magnificent, but remarkably comfortless. The wife of the proudest
baron, though she wore
“A mantle of rich degree,
Purple pall and ermine fre,”
was obliged to live without many things, which the least wealthy
citizen of the United States would consider it absolutely necessary
to provide for his household. Coffee and tea were unknown. Coaches
were not used in England until 1680. Before that time ladies rode on
horseback or on palfreys; and sometimes double, with another on the
pillion. A fondness for perfumes was universal; they were usually kept
burning in censers.
The word lady is supposed to have been derived from the Saxon word
_hlaf-dig_, meaning a _loaf-giver_, from the custom of distributing
bread among retainers, after a feast in baronial halls. It was
customary to bind the tender limbs of infants in tight bandages.
After the sixteenth century, books or verses in praise of women
gradually diminished; tournaments were abolished; and manners became
less reserved and respectful. Ladies of rank began to throw aside the
pedantry of learned languages, and acquire what the French call “the
talent of society.” The French were the first to set the example of
graceful accomplishments, and fascinating vivacity of manners; and they
soon became, what they have ever since remained, “the glass of fashion”
for other nations.
The beautiful Mary Stuart carried the gay and graceful refinements of
Paris into the bleak atmosphere of Scotland, and Henrietta Maria, with
her brilliant eyes, lively manners, and ever-changing caprices, made
them fashionable in old England.
Under the commonwealth, society assumed a new and stern aspect. The
theatres were shut; games shows, and amusements of every kind, were
prohibited. Women were in disgrace, and love considered a sin to be
expiated by fasting and prayer. It was everywhere reiterated from the
pulpits that woman caused man’s expulsion from paradise, and ought to
be shunned by Christians, as one of the greatest temptations of Satan.
“Man,” said they, “is conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity;
it was his complacency in woman that wrought his first abasement;
let him not therefore glory in his shame; let him not worship the
fountain of his corruption.” Learning and accomplishments were alike
discouraged; and women confined themselves to a knowledge of cookery,
family medicines, and unintelligible theological disputes of the day.
The reign of Charles the Second was an era of shameless profligacy.
Ladies of the court paid little regard to decorum, either in dress
or manners; and men covered their selfish sensuality with just gloss
enough not to defeat their own purposes. There never was a time when
women were so much caressed and so little respected. It was then
customary, when a gentleman drank a lady’s health, to throw some
article of dress into the flames in her honor; and all his companions
were obliged to sacrifice a similar article, whatever it might be.
One of Sir Charles Sedley’s friends, perceiving that he wore a very
rich lace cravat, drank to the health of a certain lady, and threw
his own cravat in the fire. Sir Charles followed the example very
good-naturedly, but observed that he too would have a joke sometime.
Afterward, when he dined with the same party, he filled a bumper to
some reigning beauty, and called a dentist to extract a decaying tooth,
which had long pained him. Etiquette demanded that every one of the
party should throw a tooth in the fire; and they yielded to necessity,
after unavailing remonstrances against this cruel test of their
gallantry. The practice of drinking in honor of ladies is said to have
originated at the concerts of St. Cecilia. When the concert ended, the
gentlemen retired to a tavern; and he, who could drink the most wine,
acquired the right of naming the reigning toast for the ensuing year.
During the reign of the second Charles, women, instead of being
approached with the respect paid to superior beings, became the objects
of contemptuous satire. The despicable earl of Rochester set the
example of this species of writing; and in succeeding reigns, it was
followed by Pope, Swift, Young, and a multitude of ordinary writers.
Pope says:
“Men some to pleasure, some to business take,
But every woman is at heart a rake.”
The objects of this wholesale bitterness have been disposed to palliate
it, in consideration of the personal deformity of the poet, which made
him magnanimously hate those whom he could not please.
Swift speaks of his unacknowledged and heart-broken wife as follows:
“Her hearers are amazed from whence
Proceeds that fund of wit and sense,
Which, though her modesty would shroud,
Breaks like the sun behind a cloud.
Ten thousand oaths upon record
Are not so sacred as her word!
She tends me like an humble slave,
And when indecently I rave,
She with soft speech my anguish cheers,
Or melts my passion down with tears:
Although ’tis easy to descry
She needs assistance more than I,
She seems to feel my pains alone,
And is a stoic to her own.
Where among scholars can you find
So soft, and yet so firm a mind?”
And yet, when poor Stella had died, a victim to his unkindness, he
reviled all womankind in terms of brutal grossness. He even started the
opinion that women were a connecting link between men and monkeys; and
ladies will no doubt be disposed to thank him for any classification,
that does not place them in the same species with himself.
But panegyrists cannot raise women above their level, or satirists
force them below it. Their character and condition is always in
correspondence with that of men; and both sexes have always furnished
about an equal number of exceptions to the general character of the age
in which they lived. There were liberal-minded women, as well as men,
during the bigoted times of Cromwell, and many an English matron, of
stainless character, educated her pure-minded daughters far from the
corrupting court of Charles the Second. The excellent lady Russell, who
was perhaps the very best woman in the world, lived in these profligate
times.
Mary, the wife of William the Third, made industry, domestic virtue,
and modest apparel, fashionable by her own example; and during Anne’s
reign the social intercourse of the sexes was polite and pleasant
without being profligate. It is true that literature was not the order
of the day; for the women of that period were as ignorant of their
own language, as they had formerly been learned in the classics; Dr.
Johnson declares that even the gifted Stella could not spell correctly.
Needlework became the all-absorbing occupation among women of the
higher classes. Whole churches were hung with tapestry embroidered by
devout dames; and notable housewives prided themselves on covering
their floors, chairs, and footstools, with the workmanship of their own
hands.
In queen Anne’s reign, it was considered vulgar to speak or move like a
person in good health. Complete helplessness was considered peculiarly
feminine and becoming. The duchess of Marlborough carried this fashion
so far, that when she travelled, she ordered the drums of garrisons to
be muffled, and straw laid before her hotels, lest her delicate nerves
should be offended with rude noises. About this time was introduced
from France the fashion of wearing shoes with heels five or six inches
high, top-knots of extraordinary height on the head, and hooped
petticoats measuring six or seven yards in circumference.
The custom of powdering the hair with flour was introduced by ballad
singers, in 1641. In the beginning of the reign of George the First,
only two ladies wore their hair powdered, and they were pointed at
for their singularity. The women of that period likewise wore a great
quantity of artificial hair, in imitation of periwigs worn by men.
About this time, lady Mary Wortley Montagu conferred a great blessing
upon England, and the civilized world, by introducing inoculation for
the small pox, after her return from Turkey. The custom was opposed
with the utmost violence of ignorance and prejudice; but lady Mary
persevered in her generous purpose, and to prove her sincerity, she
first tried it upon her own son, about three years old. In Litchfield
cathedral stands a cenotaph raised to her memory by a lady, who had
herself derived benefit from this salutary practice. The monument
represents Beauty weeping for the loss of her preserver.
Some of the best English writers appeared during the latter part of
the seventeenth century; but the romances of the day were exceedingly
prosaic, love-sick, and sentimental. The hero and heroine always fell
in love at first sight, and always had innumerable difficulties to
contend with, in consequence of the cruelty of relations and the plots
of libertines. Love, instead of being acted upon and developed by
circumstances, was represented as the chief end and aim of life, and
all the events of this busy world were merely its accessories.
About this time was introduced the word “blue-stocking,” which has ever
since been applied to literary ladies, who were somewhat pedantic. It
is said to have originated at a literary club, where several women
assembled. A gentleman who wore blue stockings was regarded as the
lion of the menagerie; and when he was detained, it was common to
observe, “We can do nothing till the blue stockings come.” The manner
in which the phrase has ever since been used leads to the conclusion
that the members of this club were pedantic. It is now common to say
of a sensible, unaffected woman, “She knows a great deal, but has no
tinge of blue.” Byron wittily remarked, “I care not how blue a woman’s
stockings are, if her petticoats are long enough to cover them;” and
this pithy observation comprises all that ever need be said about the
cultivation of female intellect.
English history presents many instances of women exercising
prerogatives now denied them. In an action at law, it has been
determined that an unmarried woman, having a freehold, might vote for
members of parliament; and it is recorded that lady Packington returned
two members of parliament. Lady Broughton was keeper of the Gate-house
prison; and in a much later period a woman was appointed governor of
the house of correction at Chelmsford, by order of the court.
In the reign of George the Second, the minister of Clerkenwell was
chosen by a majority of women. The office of champion has frequently
been held by a woman, and was so at the coronation of George the First.
The office of grand chamberlain, in 1822, was filled by two women; and
that of clerk of the crown, in the court of king’s bench, has been
granted to a female. The celebrated Anne, countess of Pembroke, held
the hereditary office of sheriff of Westmoreland, and exercised it in
person, sitting on the bench of the judges. In ancient councils mention
is made of deaconesses; and in an edition of the New Testament printed
in 1574, a woman is spoken of as minister of a church. The society of
Friends, and the Methodists, are the only Christian sects who now allow
women to speak at public religious meetings.
A woman may succeed to the throne of England with the same power and
privileges as a king; and the business of the state is transacted in
her name, while her husband is only a subject. The king’s wife is
considered as a subject; but is exempted from the law which forbids any
married woman to possess property in her own right during the lifetime
of her husband; she may sue any person at law without joining her
husband in the suit; may buy and sell lands without his interference;
and she may dispose of her property by will, as if she were a single
woman. She cannot be fined by any court of law; but is liable to be
tried and punished for crimes by peers of the realm. The queen dowager
enjoys nearly the same privileges that she did before she became a
widow; and if she marries a subject still continues to retain her rank
and title; but such marriages cannot take place without permission from
the reigning sovereign. A woman who is noble in her own right retains
her title when she marries a man of inferior rank; but if ennobled by
her husband, she loses the title by marrying a commoner. A peeress can
only be tried by a jury of peers.
In old times, a woman who was convicted of being a common
mischief-maker and scold, was sentenced to the punishment of the
ducking-stool; which consisted of a sort of chair fastened to a pole,
in which she was seated and repeatedly let down into the water, amid
the shouts of the rabble. At Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a woman convicted
of the same offence was led about the streets by the hangman, with an
instrument of iron bars fitted on her head, like a helmet. A piece of
sharp iron entered the mouth, and severely pricked the tongue whenever
the culprit attempted to move it.
A great deal of vice prevails in England, among the very fashionable,
and the very low classes. Misconduct and divorces are not unfrequent
among the former, because their mode of life corrupts their principles,
and they deem themselves above the jurisdiction of popular opinion; the
latter feel as if they were beneath the influence of public censure,
and find it very difficult to be virtuous, on account of extreme
poverty and the consequent obstructions in the way of marriage. But
the general character of English women is modest, reserved, sincere,
and dignified. They have strong passions and affections, which often
develope themselves in the most beautiful forms of domestic life. They
are in general remarkable for a healthy appearance, and an exquisite
bloom of complexion. Perhaps the world does not present a lovelier or
more graceful picture than the English home of a virtuous family.
In modern times, no nation has produced a greater number of truly
illustrious women. Hannah More wrote as vigorously as Johnson, and
with far more of Christian mildness; Maria Edgeworth, as a novelist,
is second only to Sir Walter Scott; Mrs. Fry, who cheerfully left
the refinements of her own home, to do good to the destitute and
vicious in their prisons, deserves a statue by the side of Howard;
Mrs. Somerville, notwithstanding the malicious assertion of Byron, has
proved that female astronomers can look at the moon for some better
purpose than to ascertain whether there be a man in it; and who is
disposed to dispute lord Brougham’s assertion, that Harriet Martineau,
by her writings on political economy, is doing more good than any man
in England?
Modern literature contains abundant satire upon the vices and follies
of women; but invectives against the sex are by no means popular.
Byron indeed treats them in the true Turkish style, like voluptuous
goddesses, or soulless slaves, as his own caprices happen to be; but a
libertine will always write thus, because (as the old chronicler said
of the troubadour) “he knoweth nothing better.” Cowper, and Wordsworth,
and that sweet minstrel Barry Cornwall, have praised us in a purer and
better spirit, and thereby left to posterity a transparent record of
their own virtue.
The Irish are an extremely warm-hearted people. Their well educated
women have an innocent gayety, frankness and naiveté of manner, that is
extremely bewitching. As a people, they are remarkably characterized
by a want of foresight, and keen enjoyment of the present moment. The
style of Irish beauty indicates this; being generally bright-eyed,
fresh, and laughing. If a young couple were in love with each other,
it would, in most cases, be in vain to remind them of their extreme
poverty, with a view to inculcate maxims of worldly prudence. The
answer would be, “Sure, two people eat no more when they’re together,
than they do when they’re separate;” and when told that they may have
a great deal of trouble and hard work in rearing a family of children,
they will simply reply, “Sure, that’s what I’ve always been used to.”
They are distinguished for filial piety. The most nourishing food and
the best seat in their cabins are always appropriated to father and
mother; and the grandchildren are taught to treat them with respectful
tenderness.
The ancient custom of hired mourners at funerals still prevails in
some of the provinces of Ireland. Women will often join a funeral
procession, and unite in the lamentations with all their powers of
voice for some time, and then turn to ask, “Arrah! who is it that’s
dead? Who are we crying for?” Those who are particularly skilful in
crying are in great demand; and, as an Irishman said to Miss Edgeworth,
“every one would wish and be proud to have such at his funeral, or at
that of his friends.”
The Irish have been great believers in fairies, concerning the
existence of which they have many wild popular tales. Their literature
is generally imaginative and glowing. Some of the most attractive
female writers of the present day are of Irish origin.
The Scotch women of former times were remarkably high-minded, heroic,
loyal to their prince, and attached to ancient usages. Their character
in these respects corresponded with that of the men, and like them
they had an excessive pride of noble birth. The dress of the Highland
women was very picturesque and graceful. It consisted of a petticoat
and jerkin with straight sleeves, over which they wore a plaid
fastened with a buckle, and falling toward the feet in large folds.
The Scotch generally have high cheek-bones, blue eyes, light hair, and
countenances expressive of good sense. They are a prudent, thrifty,
and cautious people. The popular belief in a kind of fairies, which
they call brownies, is indicative of the national character. Stories
are told of industrious housewives, who have great quantities of
work performed for them by diligent little brownies, while they are
sleeping; and of notable dairy-maids, who awake in the morning and find
silver sixpences in their shoes, placed by the same invisible hands.
Scotland has produced several women of great talent, whose writings are
generally characterized by sound good sense, and accurate observation
of human nature.
It is a singular circumstance that so gallant a nation as the French
should exclude women from the throne, while the ungallant English
have a strong predilection for the government of queens. The ancient
Franks preferred kings, on account of the continual wars in which they
were engaged; and a good deal of difficulty having arisen concerning
a succession to the crown, after the death of Lewis Hutin, it was
solemnly and deliberately decreed that all females should be excluded;
and this decree remains to the present day unreversed. Yet there is
probably no country in the world where women exert such an active
political influence as in France. Under the regency of Anne of Austria,
they obtained an ascendency which they have never since lost. According
to cardinal de Retz, a revolution in the heart of a woman at that time
often produced a revolution in public affairs; and the profligate Louis
the Fifteenth was notoriously governed by his mistresses.
The Comtesse Champagne, when she presided at one of the Courts of Love,
during the age of chivalry, solemnly decided that true love could
not exist between a married pair; and it was the received maxim of
those courts in Provence, that being married was no legitimate reason
against returning the passion of a lover. To this day, the French have
a singular code of morals upon this subject; yet those who know them
well, say they are quite as good, if not a little better than their
more decorous neighbors. It is difficult to make fair comparisons; and
we gladly throw a gauze veil over the subject, _à la mode Française_.
The French are very susceptible, but not characterized by depth of
passion. The following anecdote may serve to illustrate the difference
between them and the English: A Frenchman, by the most ardent
professions, endeavored to gain the affections of a married woman in
England; and she at length became so infatuated as to propose that they
should escape to Scotland and secure the happiness of their future
lives by marriage. The volatile lover excused himself as well as he
could, and often laughed with his countrymen, when he told how much
trouble he had to escape such excess of kindness.
The French girls are kept under very strict superintendence. They are
not allowed to go to parties, or places of public amusement, without
being accompanied by some married female relation; and they see their
lovers only in the presence of a third person. Marriages are entirely
negotiated by parents; and sometimes the wedding day is the second time
that a bride and bridegroom see each other. Nothing is more common than
to visit a lady, and attend her parties, without knowing her husband
by sight; or to visit a gentleman without ever being introduced to his
wife. If a married couple were to be seen frequently in each other’s
company, they would be deemed extremely ungenteel. After ladies are
married, they have unbounded freedom. It is a common practice to
receive morning calls from gentlemen, before they have risen from bed;
and they talk with as little reserve to such visiters, as they would in
the presence of any woman of refinement.
The French are generally slender, active, and well proportioned, with
brown complexions and dark eyes and hair. The prevailing expression of
their countenances is vivacity, and their manners are characterized
by a graceful ease, which, if it be not nature, is the best possible
imitation of nature. An artificial state of society is here carried to
the utmost point of refinement. In the perpetual invention of beautiful
forms more sober nations have toiled after them in vain, scolding all
the while about French fashions, and French caprices.
The beautiful Marie Antoinette first introduced the custom of wearing
feathers in the hair. Having one day playfully stuck a peacock’s
feather among her curls, she was pleased with the effect, and called
for some small ostrich plumes. She arranged them so tastefully with
jewels, that the king declared he had never seen any thing more
beautiful. Feathers immediately brought an extravagant price in France,
and the fashion soon prevailed all over Europe.
One day the same queen put on a brown lutestring dress, which the king,
with a smile, remarked was _couleur de puce_. As soon as this was made
known, every person of fashion was eager to wear the color of a flea.
They distinguished between the various shades of a young and an old
flea, and between different parts of the body of the same insect. The
dyers could not possibly satisfy the hourly demand. The silk merchants,
finding this mania injurious to their trade, presented new satins to
her majesty, who having chosen a glossy ash color, the king observed
that it was the color of her hair. The uniform of fleas was forthwith
discarded, and every body was eager to wear the color of the queen’s
hair. Some of her ringlets were obtained by bribery, and sent to Lyons
and other manufactories with all haste, that the exact hue might be
caught.
French ladies, especially those not young, use a great deal of rouge.
A traveller who saw many of them in their opera boxes, says, “I could
compare them to nothing but a large bed of peonies.”
After the French revolution, it became the fashion to have every thing
in ancient classic style. Loose flowing drapery, naked arms, sandaled
feet, and tresses twisted, or braided, _à la Diane_, or _à la Psyche_,
were the order of the day. The want of pockets, which had previously
been worn, was obviated by sticking the fan in the girdle, and
confiding the snuff-box and handkerchief to some obsequious beau. The
reticule or indispensable was not then invented.
The state of gross immorality that prevailed at this time ought not
to be described, if language had the power. The profligacy of Rome in
its worst days was comparatively thrown into the shade. Religion and
marriage became a mockery, and every form of impure and vindictive
passion walked abroad, with the consciousness that public opinion did
not require them to assume even a slight disguise. The fish-women of
Paris will long retain an unenviable celebrity for the brutal excesses
of their rage. The goddess of Reason was worshipped by men, under the
form of a living woman entirely devoid of clothing; and in the public
streets ladies might be seen who scarcely paid more attention to
decorum. Even the courage they evinced during the reign of terror was
often oddly mingled with frivolity. A French writer, who went to the
house of the minister, to solicit liberty for an imprisoned friend, was
struck with always finding a young woman on the spot, who apparently
came for the same purpose. “Madam,” said he, “you must have a good deal
of energy, to rise every day so early at a season so rigorous.” She
replied, “For more than a month I have constantly been here at eight in
the morning, to beg my husband’s liberty. It is necessary to rise at
seven to arrange my toilet. You may judge how fatiguing this is; for I
cannot miss of a ball, and I often come home at five in the morning,
after having danced all night.”
But the French revolution abounds with anecdotes of women who evinced
a noble forgetfulness of self. Many a one, at the imminent peril of
her life, humanely afforded shelter to fugitives whose religious and
political opinions differed from her own; and the courage with which
they shared the destiny of their friends was truly wonderful. A mother,
in order to gain access to the prison where her son was confined,
became portress of the jail. One day the brutal jailers loaded her
with such an enormous weight that her delicate frame sunk under the
burden, and she expired near him she had loved so well. Madame Lefort
was one among numerous instances of wives, who effected their husbands’
escape by change of dress. The angry guards exclaimed, “Wretch! what
have you done?” “My duty,” she calmly replied; “do yours.” When the
marshal de Mouchy was summoned to appear before the tribunal, his
wife accompanied him. Being told that no one accused her, she replied,
“When my husband is arrested, so am I.” She followed him to prison, and
answered objections by saying, “When my husband is sentenced, so am I.”
She sat by his side in the cart that conveyed him to the guillotine,
and when the executioner told her that no decree of death had been
issued against her, she answered, “Since my husband is condemned, so am
I.” They were beheaded together.
Madam de Maillé was imprisoned instead of her sister-in-law. She was
aware of the mistake, but submitted quietly, that the real victim might
escape. When tried, she merely observed that the Christian name they
had read did not belong to her. When they insisted upon discovering
where the person lived to whom it did belong, she replied, “I am not
weary of life, but I had rather die a thousand deaths than save myself
at the expense of another. Proceed to the guillotine.” The monsters,
for once, spared human life from respect to a noble action.
At this period, people ran wild with the idea that men and women ought
to perform the same duties, and that it was gross tyranny not to
choose women to command armies, harangue senates, &c. An influential
Frenchman, being asked why they did not elect ladies members of the
Chamber of Deputies, replied that the law required every member to
be forty years old, and he despaired of finding any one who would
acknowledge herself of that age.
Perhaps there is no country in the world where women of all ranks are
treated with so much politeness as in France. No party is considered a
party of pleasure without their presence, and great complaints would
be made if they retired from table after dinner, according to the
custom of the English. Whatever may be the husband’s business, they are
active partners in all his concerns. They may be seen talking politics
in saloons, selling goods at the counter, gathering grapes from the
vineyards, and laboring in the fields.
France has produced many distinguished women. Their literature has
been, like themselves, witty, agreeable and graceful; but it often
reminds one of the perfect artificial flowers from Paris, so natural
that they even bear the perfume of the blossoms they represent. It
seems to be universally conceded that Madam de Staël was intellectually
the greatest woman that ever lived.
From the time of the Bourbon dynasty, Spanish women were excluded from
the throne; but the late king reversed the decree in favor of his
daughter, who is now queen. The Spanish women are small and slender,
with dark hair and sparkling black eyes full of expression. They are
in general very ignorant, but naturally witty, and much given to
lively repartee. Their motions are slow and graceful, and their dress
is usually modest. They are rarely seen either in the house or the
street without their fans; and when they meet an acquaintance, they
have an exceedingly graceful and coquettish manner of shaking the
fan, by way of recognition. They are indolent in their habits, doing
little except dressing, sleeping, saying their prayers by bead-roll,
and daily sauntering away a couple of hours on the Prado. Cleanliness
is far from being a national characteristic. There is great fondness
for perfumes, which are generally kept burning in their apartments,
and ladies are seldom without some high-spiced comfit in their mouths.
In no part of the world has the spirit of chivalry lingered so long as
in Spain. The Spanish lover moves, speaks, thinks, and breathes only
for his mistress. He praises her in the most hyperbolical terms, and
approaches her with the deference due to a superior being. Something
of this characterizes the Spanish manners toward the whole sex. They
never sit down while a lady is standing in the room; and at the
close of letters to women, or princes, they say, “I kiss your feet,”
though to a gentleman they merely say, “I kiss your hand.” If a lady
happened to express admiration of a gentleman’s watch, or any valuable
trinket, it would be deemed very impolite not to present it to her.
Throughout Spain, the sound of the guitar, frequently accompanied by
the voice, may be heard until late in the night; for he who has not
chosen a lady-love, will from mere gallantry serenade some lady of his
acquaintance.
The Spanish are fond of masquerades, and have a great passion for
chess. Ladies often attend the cruel entertainment of bull-fights.
Like all the inhabitants of Catholic countries, they spend a great
deal of time at church, in religious ceremonies, which often prove a
convenient cover for love intrigues. One of the boys who attend the
altar is not unfrequently the messenger on these occasions. He kneels
near the fair lady, crosses himself, repeats his _Ave Marias_, and
devoutly kisses the ground; during this process, he contrives to slip a
letter under the lady’s drapery, and receive another in return. Girls
are generally educated at convents, and their marriages arranged for
them by relatives, soon after they leave its walls. It is a matter
of course for a married lady to have a _cortego_, or gallant, who
attends upon her obsequiously wherever she goes, and submits to all her
caprices. The old custom of locks and keys, duennas and spies, to guard
the character of women, has fallen into disuse in modern times.
The Portuguese are, in general terms, so similar to the Spanish, that
they do not need a separate description. The pageantry, superstition
and ignorance of Catholic countries prevail in both kingdoms. Nothing
is more common than to see large processions of men, women and
children, on horses, mules and asses, accompanied with music, going to
return thanks to some particular image of the Virgin, in fulfilment
of a vow. Women sit with the left side toward the horse’s head, and
sometimes ride after the fashion of men. The title of _donna_ is given
to all ladies. Those of high rank make their visits in great state;
they are carried in a chair by four men, of whom the two foremost
are uncovered; two others attend as a guard, and a seventh carries
a lantern; two coaches follow, drawn by mules, one containing her
women, and the other the gentlemen of her household. The market women,
trudging into the cities, by the side of their donkeys, with panniers
heavily laden with fruit and vegetables, and the great numbers kneeling
by the side of rivers to wash clothing, or spreading it out on the
banks to dry, have a very picturesque effect in the eye of a traveller.
In both nations marriages, christenings, and funerals are celebrated
with all the pomp their circumstances will admit; but their usual
habits are frugal and temperate. The ladies seldom taste any thing
but water. Their countenances are generally tranquil and modest; and
their teeth extremely white and regular, owing to the frequent use of
tooth-picks made of soft, pliant wood.
In Portugal, women wear the crown, and confer the title of king on
their husbands, as in England. In the interior provinces, they are not
allowed to go out of doors, without permission of parents and husband;
and even their male relations are not allowed to sit beside them in
public places. The church is almost the only place where lovers have a
chance to obtain a sight of them. The Portuguese women do not assume
the names of their husbands, but retain their own. Children bear the
family name of both parents, and are sometimes called by one, sometimes
by the other. It is not common for widows to marry again.
The Italians, like their neighbors of Spain and Portugal, live under
the paralyzing influence of a religion that retains its superstitious
forms, while little of life-giving faith remains. Like them they have
lively passions, are extremely susceptible, and in the general conduct
of life more governed by the impetuosity of impulse than rectitude of
principle. The ladies have less gravity than the Spanish, and less
frivolity than the French, and in their style of dress incline toward
the freedom of the latter. Some of the richest and most commodious
convents of Europe are in Italy. The daughters of wealthy families
are generally bestowed in marriage as soon as they leave these places
of education. These matters are entirely arranged by parents and
guardians, and youth and age are not unfrequently joined together, for
the sake of uniting certain acres of land. But the affections, thus
repressed, seek their natural level by indirect courses. It is a rare
thing for an Italian lady to be without her _cavaliere servente_, or
lover, who spends much of his time at her house, attends her to all
public places, and appears to live upon her smiles. The old maxim of
the Provençal troubadours, that matrimony ought to be no hindrance to
such _liaisons_, seems to be generally and practically believed in
Italy.
Under the powerful aristocracy of Venice, heiresses were bestowed in
marriage by the government, and never allowed to make a foreigner
master of themselves and their wealth.
In Genoa, there are marriage-brokers, who have pocketbooks filled with
the names of marriageable girls of different classes, with an account
of their fortunes, personal attractions, &c. When they succeed in
arranging connections, they have two or three per cent. commission on
the portion. The marriage-contract is often drawn up before the parties
have seen each other. If a man dislikes the appearance or manners of
his future partner, he may break off the match, on condition of paying
the brokerage and other expenses.
The Italian ladies are affable and polite, and have in general a
good deal of taste and imagination. At the theatres are a class of
performers, called improvisatrice, who recite extempore poetry upon
any subject the audience suggest, and often in such metre as they
prescribe. An English traveller describes an improvisatrice whom he
heard in the winter of 1818, as a pale girl about seventeen, with large
black eyes full of fire. When she first began to declaim, her cheeks
glowed and her whole frame quivered with convulsive effort; but as she
proceeded her language became more flowing and impassioned, and the
audience expressed their delight by loud and frequent applause.
The literature of Italy has several illustrious female names. Their
writings, like every thing in that sunny clime, are full of fervor
and enthusiasm. It has already been mentioned that a woman filled one
of the learned professorships in Bologna in the thirteenth century;
the same thing occurred in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and eighteenth
centuries.
Polish women resemble the French in gayety and love of pleasure, and
the Italians in ardor of passion and vividness of imagination. Their
manners are said to be a seductive mixture of languid voluptuousness
and sprightly coquetry. The state of public opinion is not favorable
to female virtue; a circumstance which at once indicates corruption,
and increases it. The Poles are fond of pageantry and splendor, but
are charged with sluttishness in the interior arrangement of their
houses. I presume there is no nation, whose ladies are so universally
acknowledged to be pre-eminent in beauty. They have fine forms, and an
exceedingly graceful carriage. Their complexions are generally very
fair and clear; but all except the young make use of rouge, and some to
an excessive degree. The eyes and hair are generally light, but there
are numerous exceptions.
During all the struggles of unhappy Poland, the women have manifested
an heroic spirit. When king John Sobieski departed from home to raise
the siege of Vienna, then closely invested by the Turks, his wife
looked at him tearfully, and then at a little boy, the youngest of her
sons. “Why do you weep so bitterly?” inquired the king. “It is because
this boy is not old enough to accompany his father,” she replied.
During the late war, Polish women assisted the men in erecting
fortifications; and one of the out-works was called the “_lunette_
of the women,” because it was built entirely by their hands. The
countess Plater raised and equipped a regiment of five or six hundred
Lithuanians at her own expense; and she was uniformly at their head,
encouraging them by her brave example in every battle. The women
proposed to form three companies of their own sex to share the fatigues
and perils of the army; but their countrymen, wishing to employ their
energies in a manner less dangerous, distributed them among the
hospitals to attend the wounded. The old Spartan spirit revived at
this troubled period, and Polish matrons wished their sons to conquer
or die. If any man, from prudential motives, hesitated to fight for
his country’s freedom, the ladies treated him with contempt, and not
unfrequently sent him a needle and thread, and asked a sword in return.
Two beautiful sisters of Rukiewicz, quietly seated at home, were
startled by the sight of a Russian officer, with gens d’armes, entering
the court. Knowing that their brother was secretary of a patriotic
club, they immediately suspected that he had been arrested, and that
his enemies were in search of his papers. While one sister with
graceful courtesy received and entertained the unwelcome visiters, the
other hastily set fire to the summer-house, where her brother kept
the records of the club. More than two hundred persons, whose names
were on the register, were saved by her presence of mind. She returned
joyfully, and when the Russians inquired what had occasioned the fire,
she replied, “I wished to save you further brutalities. You will find
no documents, or papers. I am your prisoner. Add me to the number of
your victims.” These noble girls were carried to prison, and shamefully
treated for three years. As soon as they were released, they set off,
in spite of the remonstrances of their friends, to travel on foot, and
on the wagons of the peasantry, until they could reach their exiled
brother in Siberia.
In Poland, a son has two shares of an estate, and a daughter but one;
a father cannot dispose of his fortune otherwise, except by a judicial
sentence.
The Germans are less susceptible than the French, but have more depth
of passion. Among them there is little of that instantaneous falling
in love, so common among the Italians and Poles; but their affections
are gained by solid and true qualities. They have more sobriety than
the French, and more frankness than the English. Living for happiness
rather than pleasure, they attach all due sacredness to that good
English word home, the spirit of which is so little understood by
the southern nations. The women of all classes are distinguished for
industry. It is a common practice to carry needlework into parties;
and sometimes a notable dame may be seen knitting diligently at the
theatre. Many of the young Swabian girls, of thirteen or fourteen
years old, are sent to Stuttgard, to acquire music, or other branches
of education, among which household duties are generally included. A
matron, who keeps a large establishment there, gives the instruction,
which they voluntarily seek. They may often be seen returning from
the baker’s, with a tray full of cakes and pies of their own making;
and sometimes young gentlemen, for the sake of fun, stop them to buy
samples of their cookery.
Injustice is always done to nations by describing them in general
terms; and this is peculiarly the case with Germany; for both men and
women are remarkable for individuality of character. It may, however,
be truly said that German women are usually disposed to keep within
the precincts of domestic life, and are little ambitious of display.
Their influence on literature is important, though less obvious than
in some other countries. In almost every considerable town, a few
literary families naturally fall into the habit of meeting at each
other’s houses alternately, and thus, without pretension, form social
clubs, of which intelligent and learned women are often the brightest
ornaments. Their female writers have usually belonged to the higher
classes; others being too much employed in domestic avocations to
attend to literature. Several of these writers are such as any nation
might be proud to own. Among the most distinguished are Theresa Huber,
daughter of the celebrated Heyne, in Göttingen; Madame Schoppenhauer;
and Baronne de la Motte Fouqué.
The women of Germany and Austria have, in general, fair complexions,
auburn hair, large blue eyes, and a mild, ingenuous expression of
countenance. There is a good deal of innocent freedom in their
deportment, but so tempered with modest simplicity, that they receive
respect without the necessity of requiring it. They are in general
exemplary wives, and excellent mothers. Divorce has never been
sanctioned by Austrian laws.
Both Germans and Austrians are said to have great pride of high birth.
The poor are simple and gentle in their manners, very neat in their
dress, and industrious in their habits; but in some of the provinces
the peasantry, both men and women, are addicted to intemperance. The
young men of Vienna are accused of being more fond of riding, hunting,
good eating, and smoking, than of joining the parties of ladies.
A foreigner is somewhat surprised to see on such occasions thirty
or forty ladies, talking together, and engaged in various kinds of
needlework, without attracting, or seeming to expect, attention from
their countrymen.
The people who inhabit the vast extent of country between the Black
sea and the North sea are divided into various distinct races, too
numerous to admit of a particular description. The women are generally
very industrious; even in their walks they carry a portable distaff
and spin every step of the way. Generally speaking, the clothing of
these people is of domestic manufacture; the wants of each family being
supplied by the diligent fingers of its female members. A Walachian
woman may often be seen carrying a large basket of goods to market on
her head, singing and spinning as she trudges along. Both Croatian and
Walachian women perform all the agricultural operations, in addition to
their own domestic concerns. When a mother goes to church, or to visit
a neighbor, or to labor in the fields, she carries her infant in a low
open box, swung over her shoulders by cords; while she is at work, this
box is suspended on a neighboring tree. The Liburnian women carry on
their heads a cradle, in which the babe sleeps securely. When these
cradles are set on the ground, they rock with the slightest impulsion.
The Gothscheer women often follow the trade of pedlers, and are absent
from their homes many months, travelling about the country with staff
in hand, and a pack at their back.
Among these numerous tribes, each preserving their ancient customs
from time immemorial, the Morlachians seem to be the most rude. “In
general,” says M. Fortis, “their women, except those of the towns, seem
not at all displeased to receive a beating from their husbands, and
sometimes even from their lovers.” Being treated like beasts of burden,
and expected to endure submissively every species of hardship, they
naturally become very dirty and careless in their habits. The wretched
wife, after she has labored hard all day, is obliged to lie upon the
floor, and would be beaten, if she presumed to approach the heap of
straw on which her tyrant sleeps. When the Morlachians have occasion
to speak of a woman, before any respectable person, they always say,
“saving your presence;” as if apologizing for the mention of things so
disgusting; and in answer to inquiries reply, “It is my wife--excuse
the word.”
From these brutes in the human form, we gladly turn to the frank,
affectionate, romantic Tyrolese. Among these simple, virtuous people,
husbands and wives are remarkably faithful to each other, and fondly
attached to their children. Their robust and vigorous women are engaged
in very toilsome occupations, but the men take their full share in all
laborious tasks. Many of them travel through Germany as pedlers, and
they are rarely seen without a wife or a sister by their side. The
Tyrolese women are gentle and modest, but not shy in the presence of
strangers. A mother, in the innocent kindness of her heart, frequently
sends her daughters to meet a traveller, and offer him a present of
fruit or flowers, or a draught of sweet milk, from her own neat dairy.
Their affections are ardent, and they are proverbial for constancy.
It is an almost unheard of thing for parents to arrange marriages, or
attempt to throw any obstacle in the way of a desired union between
their children. The young people become acquainted with each other
in their walks, or at their rustic amusements, and when they have
once taken each other by the hand, in earnest pledge of their mutual
affection, every other man and woman in the world are forever after
excluded from their thoughts, so far as love is concerned. The Tyrolese
have a reverent and simple faith in religion, and a strong belief in
the active agency of good and evil spirits. The peasant girls scarcely
dare to go abroad after dark, for fear of falling into snares laid by
mischievous spirits. To protect themselves from these influences, it is
common for both sexes to engrave the figure of Christ upon their flesh,
by pricking it with a needle and rubbing gunpowder into the punctures.
The Swiss resemble the Tyrolese in simplicity, frankness, and honesty.
The women are very neat and industrious. They are busily engaged in
their dairies and domestic avocations, and are little inclined to
visiting. When they do visit socially, very few men are invited, and
those are their nearest relations. Sometimes twenty ladies assemble
together, without one man in the party; their husbands being all
assembled at the smoking clubs.
In Basil, female societies are formed from infancy of children of the
same age, and the same class. They are so particular about equality
of years, that sisters, whose ages differ a few years, belong to
separate societies, with whom they always meet at each other’s houses.
Friendships formed in this way constitute a strong bond of union.
Those that have belonged to the same society in childhood often meet,
after separation, in maturer years, with the affection of sisters. The
ladies usually carry work to parties, at which they assemble as early
as three in the afternoon. Parents have one day of the week, which they
call _le jour de famille_. On this occasion all their offspring, even
to the fifth and sixth generation, are assembled together. The Swiss
women marry at an early age. Not long since, there were six ladies in
Basil whose grandchildren were grandmothers. The manners of these hardy
mountaineers are patriarchal and affectionate. Young people are allowed
to marry according to their inclination, and matches from interested
motives are not common. In such a state of things, there is no need of
the restraints imposed among voluptuous nations. The Swiss girls have a
great deal of freedom allowed them, and are distinguished for innocence
and modesty.
The inhabitants of the Netherlands are proverbial for their industry
and love of acquiring money. Their women are eminently domestic, being
always busy in their household, or engaged in assisting their husbands
in some department of his business, such as keeping accounts, and
receiving money. They are not only thrifty themselves, but teach their
children to earn something as soon as they can use their fingers.
If they quit their domestic employments, it is to join some family
party, or take a short excursion with their husbands. Their stainless
floors, shining pewter dishes, and snow-white starched caps, all
indicate that notable housewives are common in the land. The Dutch
women are generally robust and rosy, with figures the reverse of tall
and slender. At Haarlem, a very ancient and peculiar custom is still
preserved. When a child is newly born, a wooden figure, about sixteen
inches square, covered with red silk and Brussels lace, is placed
at the door. This exempts the master of the house from all judicial
molestation, and is intended to insure the tranquillity necessary for
the mother’s health. To prevent the kind but injudicious intrusion of
friends, a written bulletin of the state of both mother and child is
daily affixed to the door or window; and finally a paper is posted on
the door, to signify on what day the mother will receive the ladies
of her acquaintance. Among the phlegmatic and thrifty Dutch, matches
are, of course, generally made from prudential motives, rather than the
impulses of passion, or the refinement of sentiment.
Russia is a country slowly emerging from barbarism. Of their condition
in the time of Peter the Great, something may be judged by the
regulation he made, ordering the ladies of his court not to get drunk
upon any pretence whatever, and forbidding gentlemen to do so before
ten o’clock. The empress Catherine ordered certain Russian ladies
to be publicly knouted for some indiscretions. French manners now
prevail among the higher ranks, who are generally frank, hospitable
and courtly. The women are serious and dignified, with something of
oriental languor. Their forms of society are ceremonious, compared with
the lively graces of the Poles, of whose manners they are apt to judge
severely. A French writer has asserted that of all countries, except
France, it is perhaps the most agreeable to be a woman in Russia; but
when he said this, he must have been thinking only of cities, and of a
favored class in those cities. The Russian ladies are proverbial for
the facility with which they acquire foreign languages. They speak
and write French like native Parisians, though often unable to spell
the Russian tongue, which is seldom spoken in polite circles. Among
the higher ranks, whose blood is mingled with that of Georgians,
Circassians, and Poles, there are some women of extraordinary beauty;
but the Russian females are in general short, clumsy, round-faced and
sallow. They daub their faces with red and white paint, and in some
districts stain their teeth black. The peasantry use no cradles. The
babe is placed on a mattress, inclosed in a frame like that used for
embroidery, and suspended from the ceiling by four cords, after the
manner of the Hindoos. Russian fathers, of all classes, generally
arrange marriages for their children, without consulting their
inclinations. Among the peasantry, if a girl has the name of being a
good housewife, her parents will not fail to have applications for her,
whatever may be her age, or personal endowments. As soon as a young
man is old enough to be married, his parents seek a wife for him, and
all is settled before the young couple know any thing of the matter.
Porter gives very unfavorable ideas of the morality of the Russian
nobility. He says the marriage tie is little regarded, but the women
are less profligate than the men. It ought, however, in justice, to be
remembered that a traveller has a better chance to see the vices of a
country, than its virtues. Although the Russians, in common with their
neighbors of Sweden and Lapland, have an Asiatic fondness for frequent
bathing, they are so dirty with regard to their garments, that even the
wealthy are generally more or less infested with vermin.
The Cossack women are very cleanly and industrious. In the absence of
their husbands they supply their places, by taking charge of all their
usual occupations in addition to their own. It is rare for a Cossack
woman not to know some trade, such as dyeing cloth, tanning leather, &c.
Throughout Russia all classes salute each other by kissing. “When a
lady would only courtesy a welcome in England, she must kiss it in
Russia;” and if a man salutes her in this way, she must on no occasion
refuse to return it.
The higher classes, both in Denmark and Sweden, imitate the French
manners and customs very closely. The ladies generally have the
northern physiognomy; viz. fair complexion, light hair, blue eyes,
and a mild, clear expression. They have little of the ardor of the
Italians, or the vivacity of the French. Ambition is more easily
excited in their breasts than love. Their manners are modest and
reserved. Gallantry toward ladies is not the characteristic of any of
the northern nations. The Swedes are generally industrious and sincere,
and perhaps there is no country in the world where women perform so
much and such various labor. They serve the bricklayers, carry burdens,
row boats, thresh grain, and manage the plough.
Swedish children are wrapped up in bandages like cylindrical wicker
baskets, to keep them straight, from one to eighteen months old. They
are suspended from pegs in the wall, or laid in any convenient part of
the room, where they remain in great silence and good humor. M’Donald,
in his Travels, says, “I have not heard the cries of a child since I
came to Sweden.” Travellers in these northern countries are surprised
to see women drink strong, spirituous liquors, with as much freedom as
the men.
Among the half-savage Laplanders, this bad habit is carried to a great
extent. There a lover cannot make a more acceptable present to the girl
of his choice, than a bottle of brandy; and when he wishes to gain the
favor of her relations, he endeavors to do it by a liberal distribution
of the same liquor.
The Icelanders, though living in a climate even more inclement, and
exposed to equal fatigue while fishing in their stormy seas, are
temperate in their habits, and at festive meetings rarely drink
any thing but milk and water. They have a love of literature truly
surprising among a people exposed to such continual danger and toil.
It is contrary to law for a woman to marry unless she can read and
write. When darkness covers the land, and their little huts are almost
buried in snow, one of the family reads some instructive volume, by the
light of a lamp, while the others listen to him, as they perform their
usual avocations. “In these regular evening readings the master of the
family always begins, and he is followed by the rest in their turn.
Even during their daily in-door labors, while some are employed in
making ropes of wool, or horse-hair, some in preparing sheep-skin for
fishing dresses, or in spinning, knitting, or weaving, one of the party
generally reads aloud for the amusement and instruction of the whole.
Most farm-houses have a little library, and they exchange books with
each other. As these houses are scattered over a wild country, and far
apart, the only opportunity they have of making these exchanges is when
they meet at church; and there a few always contrive to be present,
even in the most inclement weather.”
The dress of the Icelanders is neat, without any effort to be
ornamental. Families are almost invariably clothed in garments spun
and woven at home. It is needless to say that a people with such habits
cherish the domestic virtues, and treat their women with kindness.
The general manners of the modern Greeks are the same, whether they
live in Constantinople or the various islands of the Archipelago. In
cities, women rarely appear in public, even at churches, till they
are married. In their houses certain rooms are appropriated to the
ladies and their attendants, to carry on embroidery and other feminine
employments. The men have separate apartments. Female slaves are
treated with great gentleness. Some adopt them when very young, and
call them “children of their souls.” Like the Greeks of old, some
trusty female slave is often the nurse, confidant, and friend of her
mistress. A woman of any consideration never appears abroad without
one servant at least; and those who affect display, are attended by an
innumerable troop. The Greek ladies present their hand to be kissed
by their children or inferiors. Young girls salute each other in a
singular manner; they hold each other by the ears while they kiss
the eyes. The wealthy Greeks, like the Turks, are exceedingly fond
of expensive jewels. The ladies often dress themselves in the most
splendid manner, without any expectation of seeing company, merely to
indulge their own fancy, or that of their husbands. Their marriage
ceremonies in many respects resemble those of their classic ancestors.
The evening preceding the wedding, the bride is conducted to the bath,
accompanied by music and attendants. The next day, she proceeds with
slow and solemn pace to the church, adorned with all the jewels she
can obtain, and covered with a rose-colored veil. A blazing torch is
carried before her, and a long procession follows. At the altar both
bride and bridegroom are crowned with flowers, which are frequently
exchanged in the course of the ceremony. They have likewise two wedding
rings, which are exchanged and re-exchanged several times. Immediately
after the benediction, a cup of wine is offered to the young couple,
and afterward to the witnesses of the marriage. When the bride arrives
at her new home, she is lifted over the threshold, it being considered
ominous for her feet to touch it. She likewise walks over a sieve
covered with a carpet. She is seated on a sofa in the corner of the
room, and there expected to remain downcast and immovable, amid all the
music, and dancing, and gayety around her. Every guest, as he comes
into the room, passes by her, and throws a piece of money in her lap,
which she deposits in a small silver box, without moving her lips, or
raising her eyes. The festival is kept up three days, during which time
the bride does not utter a word except it be in a whisper to some of
her female attendants. Marriages usually take place on Sunday, and the
bride is not allowed to leave the house until the Sunday following.
Custom demands that some dowry should be in readiness, and even a
beautiful woman is more acceptable for not being entirely destitute.
The Albanian girls carry their marriage portions on their scarlet
caps, which are covered with paras and piastres, like scales. Peasant
girls will undergo the greatest fatigue to add a para to this cherished
hoard. They often get a large price for old coins found among the
ruins; but sometimes no money will tempt them to sell it, because they
believe a certain charm resides in the legend round the coin. The
Greeks have universally a strong belief in omens, signs, and oracles.
When they drink to the health of a bridal pair, they always accompany
it with the wish that no evil eye, or malignant influence, may blight
their happiness. They are a gay and lively people, exceedingly fond of
music and dancing, which in their fine climate are often enjoyed in the
open air. Their character is ardent and susceptible in the extreme; and
the reality of love is very apt to be tested by the suddenness of the
impression. Girls are often married at ten years of age, and bachelors
are very uncommon. Except in the large towns, and among the opulent
classes, matches are rarely made from interested motives, and divorces
scarcely ever occur.
The inhabitants of ancient Lesbos were said to be dissolute in their
manners; and the island (now called Metelin) still bears the same
character. The women of Scio are said to be peculiarly handsome and
engaging in their manners. They may be seen at the doors and windows,
twisting silk, or knitting; and when a traveller appears, they not only
invite him into their houses, but urge him with playful earnestness.
Their object is partly friendly hospitality, and partly a wish to sell
some of the handsome purses for which Scio is celebrated. They have
learned to offer them in the language of many nations; and Frenchman,
Italian, or Swede, is likely to hear himself addressed, in his own
tongue, from various quarters, “Come and look at some handsome purses,
sir.” But this frankness is so obviously innocent, that a profligate
man would never mistake it for boldness.
The dead are carried to the grave in a kind of open litter, with the
face uncovered. When a young maiden dies, she is covered with rich
garments, and crowned with a garland. As the bier passes along the
streets, women throw roses, and scatter perfumed waters upon it.
At various epochs of their history, the Greek women have evinced
heroism worthy of the ancient Spartans. They have fought against
the Turks with the resolute and persevering bravery of disciplined
warriors, and sought death in its most horrid forms to save themselves
from infamy. A woman of Cyprus, with the consent of her daughters,
set fire to the powder-magazine in which they were concealed, because
they preferred this fate to the sultan’s seraglio; and this was but
one of many instances of similar resolution. The captain of a Greek
gun-brig, famous for his bravery during the dreadful scene at Napoli di
Romania, was treacherously murdered by order of the capitan pacha, at
Constantinople. To avenge his death, his widow built three ships at her
own expense, of which during the war she took the command, accompanied
by her two sons.
The Greeks are very ignorant; but both men and women generally evince
a desire to receive books, and have schools established among them.
Females of the lower class often labor hard in the fields, and thereby
lose the beauty for which their country-women are distinguished. Madox
speaks of seeing women in the Greek islands winnowing corn, who looked
like the witches in Macbeth.
In giving this brief outline of European manners, either in the middle
ages or modern times, the poor have been nearly left out of the
account. In the middle ages, nobles treated their vassals as slaves.
They were scantily fed, miserably clothed, obliged to marry according
to the dictates of a master, and seldom addressed in any better
language than “villain,” or “base hound.” The condition of Polish and
Russian serfs in modern times is about the same. The Polish peasant
women have scarcely clothing enough for decency, and the hardships
and privations to which they are subjected destroy every vestige of
good looks. In Russia, women have been seen paving the streets, and
performing other similar drudgery. In Finland, they work like beasts
of burden, and may be seen for hours up to the middle in snow-water,
tugging away at boats and sledges. In Flanders, girls carry heavy
baskets of coal to market strapped on their shoulders. The old peasant
women in France are said to be frightfully ugly, in consequence of
continued toil and exposure to the weather. In England, it is not
unusual to see poor women scraping up manure from the streets, with
their hands, and gathering it into baskets. In a word, there is no part
of Europe where an American would not see the novel sight of females
laboring in the fields, or carrying burdens in the streets, without a
bonnet to shield them from sun or rain.
But the European structure of society differs from that of Asiatic
nations or savage tribes in the comparative equality of labor between
the sexes; if poor women are obliged to work hard, poor men are so
likewise; they do not, like Orientals, sit in idleness, while women
perform nearly all the drudgery. In some districts, such as Croatia,
Morlachia, &c. women have more than their share of toil. In Savoy and
the north of Italy, emigration, for the purpose of gaining a livelihood
in other countries, is general among the peasantry, especially during
the winter. In some districts it is uncommon to find a tenth part of
the male population at home. The women and children take care of the
goats, sheep, and cattle, do all the out-of-door work, and spin and
weave garments for their absent husbands.
Nearly all the amusements of modern times are shared by the women as
well as the men. No recreations are more universally enjoyed by all
nations, and all classes, than music and dancing. In the splendid
saloons of the wealthy and the fashionable they are introduced in a
thousand forms, to vary the excitements of life; and the toil-worn
peasant dancing with the girl of his heart, with the green-sward for
his carpet, and heaven for his canopy, has enjoyment that princes
might sigh for in vain. A traveller, speaking of Greek dances, says:
“Though the company was generally composed of boatmen, fishermen, and
donkey drivers, with their wives, daughters, sisters, or sweethearts,
I have seen more beauty and grace, and infinitely more spirit and
gayety, than it has been my lot to meet in saloons luminous with
chandeliers, and furnished with all the appurtenances of luxury.” The
Irish are extravagantly fond of dancing. Weddings and other festivals
are celebrated with much dancing, and Sunday rarely passes without it.
Dancing-masters travel through the country, from cabin to cabin, with
a piper or blind fiddler, and their pay is sixpence a quarter. The
_waltz_ is a graceful dance of German origin. Modest matrons formerly
objected to their daughters waltzing with gentlemen, on account of
the frequent intertwining of arms, and clasping each other’s waists;
but this is now common in the fashionable circles of Europe, not only
among the voluptuous nations of the South, but with the more reserved
inhabitants of the North. The _waltz_ is said to have been danced at
Luther’s wedding, when he married the nun.
Theatrical representations are as open to women as to men, though
custom requires that they should not appear in such public places
without some protector. In Spain, no man is allowed to enter the
boxes appropriated to women; but in other places, the male and female
members of the same family, or the same party, sit together. The
public performances called opera-dancing can never be witnessed by
a modest woman for the first time, without feelings of shame; yet
they are sanctioned by fashion. There has been about an equal degree
of male and female talent for dramatic acting. Women who adopt this
profession are not generally respected, because it is taken for granted
that their morals are not very severe; but many have risen to high
rank, in consequence of powerful talent, and purity of character. The
nobility and gentry of Europe have very frequently intermarried with
distinguished actresses.
In Holland and Russia, skating is a favorite amusement both with men
and women. The Friesland women often make a match to contend for a
prize. At one of these races, which took place in 1805, one of the
competitors was past fifty, and many only fifteen. A girl about twenty
gained the principal prize, which was a golden ornament for the head;
another, sixteen years old, gained the second prize, a coral necklace
with a gold clasp. It is stated that the former skated a mile in
something less than two minutes and a half. They commonly go two and
two, each with an arm round the other’s waist, or one before the other,
holding by the hand; but sometimes thirty persons may be seen skating
all together, and holding each other by the hand.
In Catholic countries festival days are too numerous to be described.
During the Carnival there is one universal spirit of gayety and
fun. People appear abroad in all manner of fantastic carriages, and
masquerade dresses. Buffoons, peasant girls, Gipseys, Tartar warriors,
and Indian queens, are mingled together in grotesque confusion. People
pelt each other with sugar-plums, or with small comfits made of plaster
of Paris and flour, until they look as if a sack of meal had been
shaken over them. Beautiful girls have showers of bon-bons bestowed, as
they pass along; and not unfrequently these sweet gifts are contained
in fanciful little baskets tied with ribbons. On certain days it is
allowable to play all manner of mischievous pranks; these are called
_intruding days_, and probably have the same origin as our April-fool
day.
Easter is ushered in with great religious pomp and pageantry. No person
meets another without kissing him on each side of his face and saying,
“_Christ is risen!_” The answer uniformly is, “_He is risen indeed!_”
On Easter Monday begins the presentation of the paschal eggs, which
have been previously blessed by the priest. These ornamental eggs,
either of glass, porcelain, or gold, or real eggs with fanciful colors
and patterns, are presented by lovers to their mistresses, by friends
to each other, and by servants to their masters. The poorest peasant,
when he presents his paschal egg and repeats the words, “_Christ is
risen!_” may demand a kiss even of the empress. All business is laid
aside. The rich devote themselves to suppers, balls, and masquerades,
while the poor sing and carouse in the streets.
Christmas is observed with great festivity in Protestant countries,
as well as Catholic. All the schools give a vacation, that families
may be enabled to meet together round the merry Christmas table. The
custom of bestowing presents is universal. In some places, a large
bough, called the Christmas tree, is prepared the evening previous,
and the boxes, baskets, trinkets, &c. sent by friends are suspended on
the branches, with the name of the person for whom they are intended
affixed to them. There is great eagerness, particularly among the
children of a family, to ascertain what are their Christmas gifts.
Houses are decorated with evergreens. In Great Britain, a branch of
_misletoe_ is hung up in great state, and a man may claim kisses of any
woman who passes under it, plucking off a berry at each kiss. Both at
Easter and Christmas it is customary to lay aside the distinctions of
rank, to a certain extent, in imitation of the “meek and lowly” founder
of the Christian religion. The old barons and their vassals shared
the same Christmas luxuries at the same loaded table; and even now, a
servant may, without offence, kiss the daughter of his lady, if she
chance to stand under the _misletoe_. On this occasion, the rich are
expected to give bountifully to the poor.
The custom of bestowing gifts on the first of January, accompanied with
wishes for a happy new year, is universal, according to the custom of
the old Romans, on the Kalends of January. Almost every lover, husband,
and parent, makes it a point to provide some acceptable present for
the objects of his affection. On this day there is a great rivalry
who shall call the earliest upon friends with the compliments of the
season. In France, every man is expected to present _bon-bons_, at
least, to the ladies of his acquaintance; and whoever visits a Parisian
belle on the first of January, will find her table covered with the
jewels, gloves, perfumes, and artificial flowers, that have been
presented in the course of the day. The ancient Romans had a similar
custom on the Kalends of January.
The first of May was formerly observed with the pageantry of
processions, music, dancing, and oxen decorated with ribbons and
flowers. This festival is still observed in most parts of Europe.
People of all classes go out into the fields to gather flowers and
green branches, which they often leave in baskets at the door of
some friend, accompanied with a poetical welcome to Spring. In most
villages a May-pole is erected, decorated with garlands and ribbons,
around which the young people dance right joyfully. The favorite of
the village is usually chosen queen of May, and crowned with flowers.
It was an old superstition that the first dew gathered in May was
peculiarly beneficial to the complexion.
The limits of this work will not permit even a passing allusion to the
numerous games and festivals of modern times; it is sufficient to say
that women join in all, except those which are fatiguing and dangerous.
The habits and employments of fashionable circles are nearly the same
throughout Christendom; the general tone of their manners is taken
from the French and English, and is sometimes a compound of both.
Their infants are almost always nourished and taken care of by hired
nurses. The fashion of dress, which varies more rapidly than the
changing seasons, is an all-absorbing object of interest. The time that
is not spent with mantuamakers, milliners, jewellers, and dressing
maids, is devoted to parties, morning calls, and amusements, with
an occasional exertion of ingenuity in some light fancy-work. Many
of the court ladies of Bavaria are said to have no other employment
than changing their dresses many times a day, and playing with their
numerous parrots, dogs, and cats. But in every country there are among
the wealthy classes honorable exceptions to these remarks--women
who appear with elegance, without suffering dress to engross their
thoughts, and who can find time for the graceful courtesies of life,
without neglecting the cultivation of their minds, or the care of
their children. In recent times, it is very common for ladies to form
societies for various charitable purposes. Women of different nations
sometimes unite their efforts for the same object; thus the English
ladies joined with the German, to support the numerous Saxon orphans,
who lost their parents in the wars of 1813. Sometimes the members of
such societies busy themselves, for months together, in preparing
useful and elegant articles, and afterwards sell them at a fair, which
their friends and acquaintances are, of course, generally desirous to
attend.
In many parts of Europe the peasantry do not change their style of
dress in the course of centuries; but each of the innumerable districts
has a fashion peculiar to itself. They are distinguished from the
same classes of women in Asia, by going with their faces uncovered,
and almost universally dressing modestly high in the neck. Among the
wealthy, female decorum is often sacrificed on the altar of unblushing
fashion.
Beautiful _hair_ is now, as it always has been, considered the greatest
external ornament of woman; and it is one with which the poor are often
endowed, as well as the rich. An Oxfordshire lass, with remarkably
beautiful hair, was courted by a young man, whose friends objected
to the match, unless the girl’s parents would bestow fifty pounds as
a dowry. She went to London, sold her hair to a wig-maker for sixty
pounds, and triumphantly returned with the requisite sum. The daughter
of an English clergyman, who had left his family in poverty, sold her
own rich profusion of glossy ringlets, to buy books for her brother
in college. A poor young German girl, who lived at service, had very
long auburn hair, so remarkable for its beauty, that wealthy ladies
repeatedly offered her large sums for it. She could never be persuaded
to part with it; but when, during the grievous wars of 1812 and 13, she
saw the rich and the noble giving their jewels for the relief of poor
soldiers, her shining tresses “of brown in the shadow, and gold in the
sun,” were silently and cheerfully laid on the altar of patriotism.
Who, after this, will say that beautiful hair, or any other _outward_
adorning, is the greatest ornament of woman?
The Catholics, Lutherans, and Episcopalians, usually celebrate their
marriages in church. Pope Innocent the Third is said to have been the
first who instituted this custom. Centuries ago, the ceremony was
performed at the door of the church, as if the interior of the building
were too holy for the purpose; but now the young couple kneel before
the altar, to receive their nuptial benediction. The Catholics consider
marriage as one of the sacraments.
During the time of Cromwell, the Puritans, in their zeal to change all
popish customs, good or bad, ordered that marriages should be performed
by magistrates, instead of priests; but the old custom was restored
by Charles, and though marriages under the previous law were declared
valid, many were so scrupulous about the sanction of the church, that
they were re-married by clergymen. The Roman Catholic clergy are still
required to live in celibacy, unless the pope grants them an especial
license to take a wife; and great numbers, both of men and women,
seclude themselves in convents, from the idea that there is a peculiar
sanctity in single life. In the Greek church, women under fifty years
of age are not allowed to become nuns; their priests are required to
marry, but in case of a wife’s death are never permitted to marry
again. Among the Protestants, I believe there is but one sect, who
consider matrimony unholy: the Shakers even require husband and wife to
separate when they join their community.
The wedding ceremonies vary in particulars, in different nations
and districts, but there is a general resemblance between all the
Christian forms. The intention of marriage is proclaimed in the church,
on three successive public days, in order that any one who has legal
objections to the match, may have an opportunity to make them known.
When the bride and bridegroom stand before the altar, the priest says
to the man, “Wilt thou have this woman to be thy wedded wife, to live
together after God’s ordinance in the holy estate of matrimony? Wilt
thou love, honor, and comfort her, and keep her in sickness and in
health; and forsaking all others, keep thee only unto her, so long
as ye both shall live?” The bridegroom answers, “I will.” The same
question is then asked of the bride, excepting that she is required
to “obey and serve,” as well as “love and honor.” Then her father, or
guardian, giveth her to the bridegroom, who takes her by the right
hand, saying, “I take thee, ----, to be my wedded wife, to have and
to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for
poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death
us do part, according to God’s holy ordinance; and thereto I plight
thee my troth.” The bride then takes him by the right hand and repeats
the same form, with the addition of the word “obey.” The bridegroom
then puts a golden ring on the fourth finger of her left hand, saying,
“With this ring I thee wed, and with all my worldly goods I thee endow;
in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Amen.” They
then kneel before the altar, while the priest utters a prayer for
their temporal and eternal welfare; at the close of which, he joins
their hands together, saying, “What God has joined together, let no
man put asunder.” Among many of the Protestant sects, weddings are not
celebrated in the church, but at the house of the bride’s father, or
some near relation. The members of the society of Friends have neither
priest nor magistrate to officiate at the ceremony. The bride and
bridegroom take each other by the hand, and make the required vows to
each other, in presence of the congregation and the elders; a public
record of the transaction is made, and attested by witnesses. This
society do not allow their members to marry individuals of a different
creed. In some parts of Switzerland, a marriage between a Protestant
and a Catholic is illegal.
It is a general idea that white is the most proper color for a bridal
dress. Garlands and bouquets of orange-buds, and other purely white
blossoms, are almost universally worn; and pearls are considered the
most appropriate jewels. In Holland, the apartment in which the bride
habitually resides, and all the furniture in it, are decorated with
garlands; every thing belonging to the bridegroom, even his pipe and
tobacco box, is adorned in the same manner; and a triumphal arch is
erected before the house, or festoons suspended at the entrance. Among
the Tyrolese, and in several other parts of Europe, it is customary
for the young couple to be escorted to church by a gay procession,
wearing flowers and ribbons, dancing, playing on instruments of music,
and firing pistols by the way. A part of Bohemia, called Egra, seems
to be the only place where a wedding is not considered an occasion of
rejoicing. There it would be deemed indecorous for the bride to appear
in white garments, or adorn herself with jewels and flowers. She wears
her usual black dress, with a cloak of the same color, with a rosary
in one hand, and in the other a veil, with which to cover her during
the ceremony. In this dismal attire, she demurely proceeds to church,
attended by relations, who preserve the utmost solemnity of countenance.
In Lapland, it is death to marry a girl without consent of her
friends. When a young man proposes marriage, the friends of both
parties meet to witness a race between them. The girl is allowed at
starting the advantage of a third part of the race; if her lover does
not overtake her, it is a penal offence for him ever to renew his
offers of marriage. If the damsel favors his suit, she may run hard
at first, to try his affection, but she will be sure to linger before
she comes to the end of the race. Thus no marriages are made contrary
to inclination, and this is the probable reason of so much domestic
contentment in Lapland.
In the cold climates of Lapland and Iceland, the bride, instead
of garlands, wears a crown of silver gilt. In Russia, the priest
places silver crowns on the heads of both the young couple; at the
marriages of people of rank, these crowns are held over their heads
by attendants. In some districts, the peasant bride wears a wreath
of wormwood; and in that country of perpetual flagellation, it is an
appropriate emblem of her unhappy lot. After the nuptial benediction
is pronounced, it is likewise customary to throw a handful of hops on
her head, with the wish that she may prove as fruitful as that vine. In
some Russian villages, it is customary, before the bridal procession go
to church, for a choir of young girls to chant this epithalamium: “A
falcon flies in pursuit of a dove. Charming dove, are you ready? Your
mate is come to seek you.” The bride timidly answers, “Yes;” and the
procession moves forward. After the wedding ceremony is performed, the
bridegroom has a right to give his bride “the kiss of love,” holding
her by the ears. The Sclavonian women, for a week previous to their
marriage, are expected to kiss every man who visits them, in token of
general respect and friendship for the sex. Some nations consider the
ceremony of betrothal nearly as solemn as that of marriage. Among the
Tyrolese, the father of the lover proceeds to the house of the beloved,
accompanied by his younger sons, carrying baskets of honey-comb and
aromatic plants. When he arrives, she and all her friends rise and
salute him. “Welcome, my friend,” says the head of the family; “what
brings thee among us?” He replies, “As thou art a father, let me put a
question to thy daughter.” He then steps up to the maiden, kisses her
forehead, and says: “God bless thee, lovely girl, who remindest me of
the days of my youth. I have a son; he loves thee. Wilt thou make my
declining years happy?” If the damsel is too much embarrassed to reply,
her mother, who is the confidant of her sentiments, answers for her.
The young man is then introduced, and receives a kiss from his new
parents, and his future bride. Sometimes, in order to try the sincerity
of their son’s attachment, the old people will not allow him to be
formally betrothed to the object of his choice, till he has made a tour
into Switzerland, Bavaria, or Italy, to sell some of the productions
of the country. “Go, earn thy wife,” say they; “a good husband must be
able to earn bread for his family.” The lover almost invariably returns
unchanged, bringing the proceeds of his industry, with the ribbons
still waving from his hat, which had been placed there by the idol of
his heart.
In some parts of Russia young people are solemnly betrothed, in
presence of their families. A garment of skin is spread on the ground,
and the young people kneel upon it. When they have interchanged rings,
the girl’s father places on their heads one of the household saints,
and pronounces a blessing. In former times, he gave his daughter a
few smart strokes of the whip, and then delivered the instrument of
punishment to his future son-in-law, to signify that he transferred
authority to him; but this brutal custom is now abolished. Russian
husbands were formerly intrusted with power of life and death over
their wives and children; but this law is ameliorated. In Scotland and
some other parts of Great Britain, lovers, when they plight their troth
to each other, break a small coin, and each one wears half of it next
the heart.
In Scotland, a mutual promise to consider each other husband and wife,
if it be given in the presence of two witnesses, constitutes a lawful
marriage; and in that country, as well as some parts of Germany, if a
man makes public acknowledgment that he considers a woman as his wife,
it gives her, and all the children she may have borne to him, the
same legal rights they would have had, if the marriage had been duly
solemnized.
In the polished circles of Europe, whose marriages are generally
made _par convenance_, the affianced couple do not have frequent
opportunities of seeing each other, without the presence of friends. If
a gentleman prolonged a visit to his lady after the family had retired
to rest, it would be regarded as extremely ungenteel and ridiculous,
and in many places would by no means be permitted.
In North Holland, a singular degree of freedom is allowed. A lover
comes every Sunday evening “to have a talk” with the girl of his heart,
and, having chosen some place apart from the rest of the family, often
remains until daybreak. A custom called _kweesten_ likewise prevails
here, as well as in some parts of Switzerland and Wales. In this case,
if the girl is coy, her admirer watches an opportunity to get in at her
chamber window, and there urges his suit. This is so far from being
considered any harm, that parents, who have marriageable daughters,
do not scruple to leave a window open for the express purpose. Those
who are shocked at this custom, will do well to remember that great
restraints imposed upon young people, however necessary they may be,
are always an indication of a corrupt state of society.
It is a general custom in all parts of Christendom for parents to give
a dowry with their daughters, proportioned to their wealth; even the
poorest generally contrive to bestow a few articles of clothing or
furniture. It is likewise an universal practice for friends to send
presents to the bride, a few days previous to the wedding. When the
Welsh peasantry are about to enter into the matrimonial state, they
send a man round to invite their friends, and to declare that any
donations they may please to bestow will be gratefully received, and
cheerfully repaid on a similar occasion. After the wedding party have
partaken a frugal entertainment of bread and cheese, a plate is placed
on the table to collect money from the guests; and the young couple
generally receive as much as fifty or a hundred pounds to furnish their
household establishment. The village girls, in nearly all countries,
are ambitious about having a few pieces of cloth, and coverlids, woven
in readiness for their marriage portion; but in cities, the extreme
poverty of the poor usually prevents even this simple preparation.
In the Greek island of Himia, the inhabitants gain a livelihood by
obtaining sponges for the Turkish baths; and no girl is allowed to
marry, till she has proved her dexterity by bringing up from the sea a
certain quantity of this marketable article.
Before the time of Francis the First, one hundred livres, about fifty
pounds, was considered a very handsome dowry for a young lady; but at
the present time, a fashionable and wealthy bride would expend a larger
sum than that upon a single mirror. In all countries a feast is given
to relations and friends, on the occasion of a daughter’s wedding; and
the entertainment is more or less bountiful and splendid, according to
the circumstances of the bride’s family.
After the ceremony is performed, all the guests congratulate the newly
married pair, and wish them joy. The young couple generally choose from
among their intimate friends some individuals to officiate as bride’s
maids and groom’s men. These friends are dressed in bridal attire,
and during the wedding ceremony stand on each side of the bride and
bridegroom. In some places, the maidens chosen for this office carry
the bride’s gloves and handkerchief. In France, some people still
retain the old custom of having a silken canopy supported over the
heads of a young couple, by their attendants. Those who affect display
have five or six bride’s maids, and as many groom’s men; but it is
more common to have one or two of each. The groom’s men are expected
to make presents to the bride, and to be among the earliest friends,
who call at her new abode. The wedding cake is usually much decorated
with flowers, and sugar-work of various kinds. This is offered to all
visiters, and a slice neatly done up in paper, and tied with white
ribbons, is usually sent to intimate friends. The superstitious depend
very much upon having a piece of wedding cake to place under their
pillows; and if nine new pins from the bride’s dress are placed in it,
the charm is supposed to be doubly efficacious. The object is to dream
of the individuals they are destined to marry. Sometimes names are
written on small slips of paper, rolled up, and placed beside the cake;
and the first one taken out in the morning reveals the name of the
future spouse.
The Tyrolese place a similar value upon the bride’s garland, and the
pins that fasten it. The bride scatters flowers from a basket among
the young men of her acquaintance; and these flowers prognosticate
their future fortunes; the honeysuckle and alpine lily promise uncommon
prosperity, but the foxglove is an omen of misfortune. The Tyrolese
bridegroom distributes ribbons among the girls, to the different colors
of which they likewise attach prophetic meaning. The Dutch treat their
wedding-guests with a kind of liquor called “the bride’s tears;” and
small bottles of it, adorned with white and green ribbons, are sent as
presents to friends, accompanied with boxes of sweetmeats.
The time between the avowed intention of marriage and the performance
of the bridal ceremony varies in different places, and among different
ranks. One year seems to be the most general period of courtship; but
people of rank are often contracted to each other several years before
marriage; and in all nations there are some individuals who marry after
a few months’ or a few weeks’ acquaintance.
In Prussia, men are allowed to form what is called a left-handed
marriage, in which the ceremonies are similar to other marriages,
excepting that the left hand is used instead of the right. Under these
circumstances, neither the wife nor the children assume the name of
the husband, or live in his house, or have a legal claim to dower, or
succeed to his estate and titles; but they receive what he pleases
to give them during his lifetime, and at his death such legacies as
are named in his will. These marriages are principally formed by poor
nobles, who already have large families. European monarchs are not
allowed to marry into any other than royal families; but they sometimes
form left-handed marriages with women, who will not consent to be
theirs on less honorable terms.
By the Prussian laws, a man may be imprisoned, and fined half his
fortune, or earnings, if he refuses to marry a woman, whom he has
deceived with false promises. If he runs away, the woman may be married
to him by proxy, and have a legal claim upon him for the maintenance of
herself and child.
The laws of most Christian countries do not allow females to dispose
of themselves before they are twenty-one years old. If a girl over
fourteen marries without the knowledge of her parents, they cannot
render the contract void; but if they know of her intention, they have
power to forbid the union until she is of age. The consent of both
parents is almost universally asked before young people are betrothed;
but after they are of age, the opposition of parents cannot prevent
marriage, unless the lovers choose to submit, from motives of duty, or
filial affection.
By the English laws, it is felony to abduct an heiress, even if her
consent to matrimony is obtained after forcible abduction. He who
compels a woman to marry by threats is subject to a very heavy fine,
and two years’ imprisonment. If any girl is forced or persuaded to
marry, before she is twelve years old, the ceremony can be declared
null and void. Very severe laws are made to protect females from
personal insult. Either man or woman may sue for a breach of promise of
marriage, and recover a sum of money according to the aggravated nature
of the circumstances. If a father is displeased with his daughter’s
marriage, he can refuse to bestow any dowry, and can make a will to
prevent her receiving any portion of his fortune. Hereditary estates
and titles do not descend to daughters so long as any sons are living;
but fathers can leave them by will such estates as are not restricted
by some settlement or entail. As a general rule, parents bequeath a
larger proportion to sons than daughters; but where there is no will,
property is equally divided. Among the rich, who settle marriage
contracts with all possible formality, the bridegroom often binds
himself to pay a certain annual sum to his wife, for her own peculiar
use, which is called pin-money. This phrase probably originated in
ancient times, when ornamental pins constituted an important and
expensive part of a lady’s dress. It is deemed the husband’s business
to purchase furniture, and put the house in readiness for his bride.
Not long ago, an English judge decided that the law allowed a man to
beat his wife with a stick as big as his thumb; whereupon the ladies
sent a request that his thumb might be accurately measured. In the
present state of public opinion, any man who availed himself of such
permission would be disgraced. Among the lower classes, a husband
sometimes puts a rope round his wife’s neck, and sells her in the
market; but this is an adherence to old custom not sanctioned by any
law.
A husband is bound to pay all the debts his wife may have contracted
since she became of age, whether he knew of their existence or not; if
she dies before payment is completed, his liability ceases. If a wife
is driven away by ill usage, she can claim a separate maintenance, but
the husband is no longer liable for her debts; and if she runs away
from his house, it is common to put an advertisement in the newspapers
warning people that he has ceased to be responsible for expenses
she may incur. Both parties can claim divorce, with leave to marry
again, in cases of criminal intercourse. Where a woman claims divorce,
the husband is adjudged to afford her a maintenance suitable to his
wealth; when a man seeks divorce, the wife’s paramour is condemned
to pay damages according to the discretion of the court. The court
likewise decide with which of the separated parties the children are
to remain. Some individuals, especially officers of the army and navy
have thought there was something contemptible in adjudging a sum of
money in reparation of so great an injury, and have chosen to revenge
themselves by single combat; but the opinion of the civilized world
has been growing more and more opposed to duelling; and it is to be
hoped that the last traces of it will soon disappear before the light
of the Gospel.
A woman cannot dispose of any property, or bring an action at law, in
her own name, during the lifetime of her husband; her signature to a
note is of no legal value, because the law considers her as under the
guardianship of her husband, and all her property as his. A widow is
entitled to one third of her husband’s estate, and any proportion of
it may be inherited by his will. Among the wealthy, the bridegroom,
before marriage, often settles a jointure upon his bride, which cuts
off her right of dower. If a man transfers any landed property without
his wife’s signature thereto, the purchaser always remains liable to
relinquish a third of it to the widow. Whatever a woman earns, or
inherits by legacy, becomes her husband’s, and may be seized by his
creditors, or a proportion of it divided among his relations, if he
dies without children. To avoid these risks, the whole, or a part of a
woman’s fortune, whether inherited before or after marriage, is often
put in the hands of trustees, for her especial use. This places it out
of the power of creditors, unless it can be shown that the transfer was
made with fraudulent intentions.
In Germany such precautions are unnecessary, because the law protects
every article of a woman’s property from the creditors of her husband.
In France, a widow has no claim on any part of her husband’s fortune,
unless he dies without relations, or a particular contract to that
effect has been made previous to marriage; but she always retains a
right to her dowry, and to any donations or legacies made to her.
When a man has no children, he often wills his whole fortune to
his wife; and if he has a family, leaves her one quarter of it, or
half the income for life. It is likewise a common thing for women
to bestow their fortunes on surviving husbands, by will. The right
of primogeniture ceased with hereditary estates and titles; and all
the children of a French family now inherit an equal share of their
parents’ property.
If a Spaniard has heirs in direct succession, his widow can claim
only one fifth of the estate, out of which she is obliged to pay the
funeral expenses. European women drop the name of their fathers when
they marry, and assume that of their husbands. A woman cannot recover
damages for breach of promise of marriage, either in France or Spain.
In France, and some parts of Germany, in addition to the usual causes
for divorce, it is allowable, whenever both parties appear before
magistrates, at successive periods, (the interval between which is
prescribed by law,) and persevere in expressing a mutual wish for
separation. Exceptions are frequently made to the usual laws, in favor
of crowned heads. Philip, landgrave of Hesse, applied to Luther for
permission to divorce his wife, and marry another, because his princess
was plain in her person, sometimes intoxicated, and had a disagreeable
breath. The royal petitioner threatened to apply to the pope for a
dispensation, in case of refusal; and the synod of six reformers,
convoked by Luther, contrived to find good reasons for granting his
request. In later times, Napoleon divorced Josephine, by decree of the
senate, because she brought him no children.
The women of Christian countries generally nurse their children about
one year; though many exceed that time. Among the Catholics and
Lutherans, the ceremony of baptism is usually performed privately at
the house of the minister, soon after the birth of the child, because
they are in haste to administer a rite which they deem necessary for
salvation; but other Protestant sects have their children baptized in
church, after divine service. The parents stand beside each other when
their child is offered for baptism. The father takes the infant from
its mother’s arms, and presents it to the priest, who sprinkles it with
water, and bestows the baptismal name. Some people request several of
their friends to stand as godfathers and godmothers at the baptism of
their children. Wealthy relations are very apt to have this compliment
paid them, because they are expected to make the infant a present, and
bound by a promise at the altar to take some interest in its welfare.
In Holland, it is customary, so long as the mother keeps her room, to
treat the children of the house and even of the neighborhood, with
sugar-plums, which are rough if the babe is a boy, and smooth if a
girl. In Russia, all married people who call to congratulate a friend
for having become a mother are expected to slip a piece of money under
her pillow, the wealthy usually give a ducat.
It is uncommon for European women to study medicine for the purpose of
attending upon their own sex, in seasons of illness; but in some cases
it is practised with great success.
Throughout Christendom, the law allows but one wife. Licentiousness
abounds in all cities; it is not confined to a class of women avowedly
depraved, but sometimes lurks beneath the garb of decency, and even
of elegance. In villages there is a better state of things, because
the influences of rural life are more pure, and young people generally
form marriages of inclination. Even in thrifty Scotland, and phlegmatic
Holland, matches of interest are common only among the wealthier
classes.
European laws allow widows to marry again, and they very frequently
do so, without the slightest imputation of impropriety; but in all
nations, she who remains in perpetual widowhood is involuntarily
regarded with peculiar respect. In some parts of Illyria and Dalmatia,
if the bride or bridegroom have been previously married, but especially
if the bride be a widow, the populace follow the wedding party, as
they proceed to church, keeping up a continual din with frying-pans
and shovels, and loading them with all manner of abuse; sometimes they
gather round the house, and make hideous noises all night long, unless
the newly married pair purchase exemption by the distribution of wine.
Some degree of blame is everywhere incurred by a widow who marries
again within the time prescribed by custom; which is usually one year.
Black is the color of European mourning. The queens of France formerly
wore white as an emblem of widowhood, and were therefore called _reines
blanches_; but this custom was changed by Anne of Bretagne, who assumed
black when Charles the Eighth died. The empress dowagers of Austria
never lay aside their mourning, and their apartments are always hung
with black. In England, the mourning worn on the death of any of the
royal family is purple. The nieces of the pope never wear mourning for
any relation.
I believe France is the only country in Europe where women do not
inherit the crown. There has been a comparatively greater proportion
of good queens, than of good kings. Perhaps it may be that women,
distrustful of their own strength, pay more attention to the public
voice, and their government thus acquires something of the character of
elective monarchies. But independent of this circumstance, illustrious
queens have generally purchased celebrity by individual strength of
character. In England, nothing was more common than to hear the people
talk of king Elizabeth and queen James. Margaret, queen of Denmark
and Norway, was called the Semiramis of the North, on account of her
capacity to plan and conduct great projects. Spain numbers among her
sovereigns no one that can dispute precedence with the virtuous and
highly-gifted Isabella of Castile. The annals of Africa furnish no
example of a monarch equal to the brave, intelligent, and proud-hearted
Zhinga, the negro queen of Angola; and Catherine of Russia bears
honorable comparison with Peter the Great. Blanche of Castile evinced
great ability in administering the government of France, during the
minority of her son; and similar praise is due to Caroline of England,
during the absence of her husband.
In the walks of literature, women have gained abundant and enduring
laurels; but it cannot be truly said that a Homer, a Shakspeare, a
Milton, or a Newton have ever appeared among them. It is somewhat
singular that instances of great genius in the fine arts have been more
rare among women than any other manifestations of talent. Propertia
da Rossi, of Bologna, and the Hon. Mrs. Damer, of England, did indeed
gain a considerable degree of distinction as sculptors, and Angelica
Kauffman had a high reputation as a painter; but these ladies have
had few competitors. Yet in works requiring delicacy, ingenuity,
imagination, and taste, women are proverbial for excellence.
When knowledge was confined to a few, and applied principally to
the acquisition of languages, which are merely the external forms
of thought, men were pedantic, and women were the same; for the
correspondence between the character of the sexes is as intimate, as
the affections and thoughts of the same individual. In these days,
when knowledge is obtained to be applied to use,--when even that
pretty and ever-varying toy, the kaleidoscope, is used to furnish new
patterns at carpet-manufactories,--female literature is universally
more or less practical. Modern female writers are generally known
to be women who can make a pudding, embroider a collar, or dance a
cotillion, as well as their neighbors. It is no longer deemed a mark
of intellect to despise the homelier duties, or lighter graces of the
social system. This will, in time, probably make men more liberal with
regard to female learning. A writer in the time of Charles the First
says, “She that knoweth how to compound a pudding is more desirable
than she who skilfully compoundeth a poem. A female poet I mislike
at all times.” Within the last century it has been gravely asserted
that “chemistry enough to keep the pot boiling, and geography enough
to know the location of the different rooms in her house, is learning
sufficient for a woman.” Byron, who was too sensual to conceive of a
pure and perfect companionship between the sexes, would limit a woman’s
library to a Bible and a cookery book. All this is poor philosophy and
miserable wit. It is on a par with the dictatorial assertions of the
Austrian emperor, that his people will be better subjects, and far more
happy, if they are not allowed to learn to read.
One of the most striking characteristics of modern times is the
tendency toward a universal dissemination of knowledge in all
Protestant communities. It is now a very common thing for women to be
well versed in the popular sciences, and to know other languages than
their own; and this circumstance, independent of the liberality and
sincerity induced by true knowledge, has very perceptibly diminished
the tendency to literary affectation. Pedantry is certainly not the
vice of modern times; yet the old prejudice still lurks in the minds of
men, who ought to be ashamed of it. It is by no means easy to find a
man so magnanimous, as to be perfectly willing that a woman should know
more than himself, on any subject except dress and cookery.
That women are more fond of ornament than men is probably true; but I
doubt whether there is so much difference between the personal vanity
of the sexes, as has been imagined. Dandies are a large class, if not a
respectable one. No maiden lady was ever more irritable under a sense
of personal deformity than were Pope and Byron; and Bonaparte was quite
as vain of his small foot, as Madam de Staël of her beautiful arms.
In searching the history of women, the mild, unobtrusive domestic
virtues, which constitute their greatest charm, and ought always to be
the ground-work of their character, are not found on record. We hear of
storms and tempests, and northern lights; but men do not describe the
perpetual blessing of sunshine.
The personal bravery evinced by women at all periods excites surprise.
We hear scarcely any thing of the Phœnician women, except that they
agreed to perish in the flames, if their countrymen lost a certain
battle, and that they crowned with flowers the woman who first made
that motion in the council. The Moorish women of Spain were full of
this fiery spirit. When Boabdil wept at taking a farewell glance of
beautiful Granada, his proud-hearted mother said, scornfully, “You do
well to weep for it like a woman, since you would not defend it like a
man.”
The old Hungarian women, when their country was invaded by the Turks,
performed prodigies of valor; and now, among the predatory tribes of
Illyria and Dalmatia, he who attempted to insult a girl, would find
that she wore a dagger and pistol at her belt. But Christianity, which
has done so much for woman--which, at a time when its pure maxims
could produce nothing better, by reason of man’s own evils, brought
forth the generous spirit of chivalry from the iron despotism of the
middle ages--Christianity is removing the garlands from the bloody
front of war, and teaching her sons and her daughters that evil must be
“overcome with good.”
Women are apt to be more aristocratic than men; for the habits of their
life compel attention to details, and consequently make them more
observing of manners than of principles.
Where the Mohammedan religion prevails, man’s reason is taught to bow
blindly to faith, and his affections have little freedom to seek their
corresponding truth; in all such countries women are slaves.
At those periods when reason has run wild, and men have maintained that
there was no such thing as unchangeable truth, but that every one made
it, according to the state of his own will--at such times, there has
always been a tendency to have men and women change places, that the
latter might command armies and harangue senates, while men attended
to domestic concerns. These doctrines were maintained by infidels of
the French revolution, and by their modern disciple, Fanny Wright.
Many silly things have been written, and are now written, concerning
the equality of the sexes; but that true and perfect companionship,
which gives both man and woman complete freedom _in_ their places,
without a restless desire to go out of them, is as yet imperfectly
understood. The time will come, when it will be seen that the moral
and intellectual condition of woman must be, and ought to be, in exact
correspondence with that of man, not only in its general aspect, but in
its individual manifestations; and then it will be perceived that all
this discussion about relative superiority, is as idle as a controversy
to determine which is most important to the world, the light of the
sun, or the warmth of the sun.
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WOMEN IN SLAVE-HOLDING COUNTRIES.
A separate article is appropriated to this subject, because slavery
everywhere produces nearly the same effects on character; but the
story is briefly told, because the details of that system are alike
discreditable to man and woman. A recent writer who defends slavery has
said that in slave-holding countries “women are not beasts of burden.”
This is a gallant phrase to apply to all those ladies who live in
countries where the traffic in human beings is not introduced, like a
plague-spot, into the social system; but the chief fault to be found
with it is, that it is founded on the common mistake of leaving out of
the estimate all those whose complexions are not perfectly white. In
all slave-holding communities, colored women are emphatically “beasts
of burden;” yet, under kindly influences, they are capable of the same
moral and intellectual cultivation as other human beings.
One of the worst features of this polluting system is that female
slaves are neither protected by law, or restrained by public opinion.
Their masters own them as property, and have despotic control over
their actions; and such is their degraded condition, that to be the
mistress of a white man is an object of ambition rather than of shame.
The same result would be produced upon any class of people under
similar circumstances. They are taught from infancy that they have
no character to gain or to lose; and their whole moral code consists
in one maxim--obedience to the white men. The personal kindness of
their masters, though founded on the most impure feelings, is likely
to shelter them in some degree from harsh treatment, and to procure
for them those articles of finery upon which all ignorant people place
an inordinate value. The idea of obtaining money to purchase freedom
is likewise a frequent incentive to immorality. It is not proposed to
disgust the reader with a recapitulation of facts in proof of these
remarks. It is sufficient to say that female virtue is a thing not even
supposed to exist among slaves; and that when individual instances of
it occur, it sometimes meets with severe castigation, and generally
with contemptuous ridicule.
It may well be supposed that those who are delicately termed “favorite
slaves,” sometimes become very pert and impudent, in consequence of
their situation in their master’s family. A female slave in Baltimore
was, for obvious reasons, very odious in the eyes of her mistress, who
let no opportunity escape of getting her flogged for some misdemeanor,
real or pretended. The master, for reasons equally obvious, was always
reluctant to give orders for her punishment; but he was sometimes
obliged to do so, for the sake of domestic peace. On such occasions,
the slave flounced about the house, and boasted that every whipping he
ordered her should cost him a handsome sum for broken china.
Stedman relates that Mrs. S--lk--r, of Surinam, having observed, among
some newly imported slaves, a negro girl of remarkably fine figure and
expressive countenance, immediately ordered the poor creature’s mouth,
cheeks, and forehead to be burned with red-hot iron, and the tendon of
her heel to be cut. These cruel orders were given from mere prospective
jealousy of her husband; and to gratify this wicked passion, the
unoffending girl was maimed and deformed for life.
One of the most observable effects produced by this system, is that
it invariably induces the habit of not considering a large number of
men, women, and children in the same light as other human beings; hence
the most common maxims of justice and morality, recognised in all
other cases, are not supposed to apply to slaves. The dimness of moral
perception and the obtuseness of moral feeling, produced by this state
of things, sometimes come out in forms very shocking to those who are
unaccustomed to the system. Miss G----, of South Carolina, being on a
visit to an intimate friend of the writer, certain ladies, who were
present, began to talk on the never-failing topic of domestics. “You
do not have the trouble of such frequent changes,” said one of them to
Miss G----; “but I should think you would find it very disagreeable
to be surrounded by so many slaves.” “Not at all disagreeable,”
replied the lady from South Carolina; “I have always been accustomed
to blacks; I was nursed by one of them, of whom I was very fond. As
for good looks, I assure you some of them are very handsome. I had a
young slave, who was an extremely pretty creature. A gentleman, who
visited at our house, became very much in love with her. One day she
requested me to speak to that gentleman, for she did not wish to be his
mistress, and he troubled her exceedingly. I did speak to him, begging
him to change his conduct, as his attentions were very disagreeable to
my slave. For a few weeks he desisted; but at the end of that time, he
told me he must have that girl, at some rate or other; he offered me a
very high price; I pitied the poor fellow, and sold her to him.”
Miss G---- was an unmarried woman, with correct ideas of propriety
concerning those of her own color; but having been educated under
a system that taught her to regard a portion of the human race as
mere animals, she made the above remarks without the slightest
consciousness that there was any thing shameful in the transaction.
Pinckard, in his Notes on the West Indies, speaks in terms of strong
disgust, of the entire want of modesty evinced by women in cases where
their female slaves were concerned. “It is to the advantage of the
hostess of a tavern,” says he, “that the female attendants of her
family should be as handsome as she can procure them. Being slaves,
the only recompense of their services is the food they eat, the hard
bed they sleep on, and the few loose clothes which are hung upon them.
One privilege, indeed, is allowed them, which you will be shocked to
know; and this offers the only hope they have of procuring a sum of
money, wherewith to purchase their freedom: and the resource among them
is so common, that neither shame nor disgrace attaches to it; but, on
the contrary, she who is most sought becomes an object of envy, and is
proud of the distinction shown her.
“One of our attendants at table appeared, both from her conversation
and behavior, to be very superior to her degraded station. She had
nothing of beauty, nor even prettiness of face, but she was of good
figure, and of respectable and interesting demeanor, and, in point
of intellect, far above her colleagues. Together with gentleness
of manner, and an easy, pleasant address, she possesses a degree
of understanding and ability which claim respect. In principle and
in sentiment she appeared virtuous; and, from the frankness of her
replies, it was evident that she knew no sense of wrong in her
conduct. We could not but lament, that the imperious habits of the
country did not allow of her being placed as a more respectable member
of society.
“This woman is the great support of the house--the bar-maid, and
leading manager of the family. Her mistress had refused to take one
hundred guineas for her; which, she assured us, had been offered by
a gentleman, who would have purchased her. She has a very lively,
interesting little daughter, a Mestee, about four years old. Of this
child she spake with great tenderness, and appeared to bear it all
the fond attachment of an affectionate parent. Yet, as the infant was
born in slavery, should the mother by any means obtain her freedom,
she cannot claim her child, but must leave it, still the disposable
property of her mistress, equally liable to be sold as any other piece
of furniture in the house.”
This same habit of putting slaves out of the pale of humanity, leads
to great carelessness in sundering the ties of domestic affection.
The slave mother and her little ones are advertised for sale “either
singly, or in lots, to suit purchasers.” If the will of the purchaser
separates them, the wretched parent in vain shrieks, “I can’t leave
my children! I won’t leave my children!” With all the kind instincts
of human nature strong within her, she is an article of property; and
resistance is useless. In old times, when slavery was sanctioned in
Massachusetts, a wealthy lady residing in Gloucester was in the habit
of giving away the infants of her female slaves, a few days after
they were born, as people are accustomed to dispose of a litter of
kittens. One of her neighbors begged an infant, which, in those days
of comparative simplicity, she nourished with her own milk, and reared
among her own children. This woman had an earnest desire for a brocade
gown; and her husband not feeling able to purchase one, she sent her
little nursling to Virginia, and sold her, when she was about seven
years old.
People who have never been under the influence of this system, are
reluctant to believe that slave-owners make no scruple of selling
their own mulatto children; but those who have long resided in slave
countries know perfectly well that it is a fact of frequent occurrence.
One of the most singular instances of this kind occurred a few years
since. Doctor W---- went into one of the south-western of the United
States to settle as a physician. In one of the families where he
visited in the course of his practice, he saw a girl in a humble
situation, who was very handsome in her person, and modest in her
manners. He became in love with her, and married her. Sometime after,
a gentleman called, and announced himself as Mr. I--r--, of Mobile.
“Sir,” said he, “I have a trifling affair of business to settle with
you. You have married a slave of mine.” Dr. W---- was surprised and
indignant; for he had supposed his wife to be perfectly white. But Mr.
I--r-- brought forward proofs of his assertion, and the unrighteous
laws of the land supported his claim. After considerable discussion,
the young man found he must either pay eight hundred dollars, or
suffer his wife to be sold at auction. He paid the money. When Mrs.
W. was informed of the circumstance, she was in deep distress, and
apologized to her husband for the concealment she had practised, by
saying, “As Mr. I--r-- is my own father, I did hope when I had found an
honorable protector he would leave me in peace.”
Another great evil resulting from this system, is the tyrannical
habits and impetuous passions that are unavoidably developed by
early habits of despotic sway. The manner of speaking to a slave is
almost universally haughty and contemptuous. Delicate, languid, and
graceful ladies, who would cherish a lapdog, and shrink from harming a
butterfly, will, in a moment of anger, seize the whip and chastise a
slave for the slightest fault, and sometimes for errors, which in their
calmer moments they discover were never committed. If all history did
not prove that the possession of absolute power is apt to produce a
species of insanity, it would be difficult to believe the occasional
demonstrations of vindictive passions in slave countries.
A young man from Missouri lately related, at a public meeting in Ohio,
the following circumstance which took place in his own state. A young
slave, who had been much abused, ran away, after an unusually severe
whipping. She returned in a few days, and was sent into the field to
work. In consequence of excessive punishment she was very ill; and when
she reached the house at night, she lay down on the floor exhausted.
When her mistress spoke to her, she made no reply. She again asked
what was the matter, but received no answer. “I’ll see if I can’t make
you speak,” exclaimed she, in a rage; and she applied red-hot tongs
to her limbs and throat. The poor girl faintly whispered, “Oh, misse,
don’t; I’m most gone”--and expired.
Such cruelties probably are not of common occurrence; but the habits of
indolence, acquired by having slaves to obey every look, are universal.
Ladies thus educated consider it a hardship to untie a string, or pick
up a handkerchief that has fallen. A slave must be always near them
to perform such offices. Even after the family have retired to rest,
some of their locomotive machinery must be within call. A lady, having
heard surprise expressed at this custom, replied with much earnestness,
“Mercy! what should I, or my husband do, if we happened to want a glass
of water in the night, and there was nobody near to bring it!” A little
girl, whose parents removed from Massachusetts to South Carolina,
complained that she had an utter aversion to going to school, it was so
fatiguing to carry her books. All the other little girls had slaves to
carry them.
Among the women of slave countries there is a tendency to mental as
well as physical indolence. They are often more elegant and graceful
than ladies educated under a more healthy system; but they are far less
capable, industrious, and well-informed.
The slaves themselves are brutally ignorant. In several of the United
States, there are very strict laws to prevent their learning the
alphabet.
Early habits of allowed profligacy in men form a bad school for the
domestic affections; and a wife who sees herself neglected for others,
with a great deal of unemployed time on her own hands, is placed in
circumstances where she has need of great strength of principle.
According to Stedman’s account, these influences have produced a
lamentable effect on the character of women in Surinam; though there
are there, as elsewhere, honorable exceptions to the general tone of
manners and morals.
Human beings are generally merry and thoughtless in proportion as their
wants are merely animal; and slaves are light-hearted, both by habit
and natural temperament. The memory of suffering soon passes away; and
during every interval of labor they will sing, dance, and laugh, as
if the world had no cares for them. Pinckard, speaking of the British
West Indies, says: “Sunday is a day of festivity among the slaves. They
are passionately fond of dancing; and the Sabbath, offering them an
interval from toil, is generally devoted to their favorite amusement.
Instead of remaining in tranquil rest, they undergo more fatigue, or at
least more personal exertion, during their gala hours of Saturday night
and Sunday, than is demanded of them in labor during any four days of
the week. They assemble in crowds upon the open green, or in any square
or corner of the town, and forming a ring in the centre of the throng,
dance to the sound of their beloved African music, consisting of a
species of drum, a kind of rattle, and their ever delightful _banjar_.
The dance consists of stamping of the feet, twisting of the body,
and a number of strange, indecent attitudes. It is a severe bodily
exertion, more bodily indeed than you can well imagine, for the limbs
have little to do with it.”
The clothing of slaves is generally the slightest possible, and of the
coarsest materials. Pinckard speaks of seeing old women at Barbadoes
washing clothes in the river, with no other covering than a piece of
blue cloth fastened round the loins, after the manner of savages. He
says “their bodies bore the crowded and callous scars of repeated
punishment.”
In the West Indies, the negro women carry their babes across the hip,
as in Africa.
Small rude huts are appropriated to the field slaves, where they
live much after the fashion of pigs in a sty. Those who are kept for
house-servants generally lie down upon the floor, wherever they happen
to be when the labors of the day are over. A person rising earlier than
usual, is liable to stumble over them in the entries. Female slaves
toil in the fields, under the lash of the driver, as laboriously as
the men; and, generally speaking, no difference is made in the mode or
severity of punishment. A little patch of ground is usually assigned to
each slave family, where they may raise vegetables for themselves, in
addition to the tasks performed for their masters. Many of them spend
their leisure moments in making baskets and brooms to carry to market,
and thus procure a little money.
The negroes believe they shall return to Africa when they die; and this
idea has often led to suicide. They follow a friend to the grave with
every demonstration of joy; and when the ceremony is finished, sing:
“God bless you, Jenny--Good-bye--remember me to all friends t’other
side of the sea--tell ’em me come soon--Good-bye, Jenny.”
The influence of slavery is in every sense injurious to the slave. As
they derive no benefit from being industrious, they try to evade labor,
under all manner of false pretexts; and the more time they can waste,
the more they think they have gained. They do not, like free laborers,
fear to be dishonest, lest they should lose their character and place;
but the compensation which is not given they conceive themselves at
liberty to take. It is a common thing for them to say, “Me no steal
him; me take him from massa.” Persons who are most kind and indulgent
to their slaves are often liable to be served in the most negligent
manner. Some have unjustly ascribed this to the bad disposition of the
Africans; but the fault is in the pernicious system, which removes
all salutary moral restraints, and healthy incentives to exertion. No
human being will work from a disinterested love of toil; and slaves
soon learn that they gain nothing by industry, and lose nothing by
laziness; in either case they get something to eat, and something to
cover them--and their greatest exertions will do no more. Under a
severe master or mistress, they will work, from fear of the whip, which
a driver is paid to hold over their backs; but when this is removed, no
other inducement to industry remains.
In all slave countries, there are many honorable exceptions to
the character implied in the preceding remarks--men and women who
conscientiously endeavor to mitigate the condition of their slaves,
as far as possible. Instances of strong mutual attachment sometimes
occur, between masters and their dependents, as there did in the
proud old feudal times. The negro nurse is called “mammy,” by those
whom she tended in their infancy, and is sometimes treated with so
much tenderness, that her young master and mistress will resent it if
an unkind word be spoken to her. The negroes are of an affectionate
disposition, and are often devoted to their foster-children with all
the strength of maternal affection. During a tremendous earthquake in
St. Domingo, when others were saving themselves with all haste, a young
female slave remembered a white infant, forgotten by its own mother.
She hastened to her nursling, and placing herself in an arch over its
body, was killed by the tumbling walls of the house; but the little
object of her solicitude was safely restored to its agonized parents.
But although there are here and there spots of sunshine and verdure in
the dark picture of slavery, the natural tendency of the system is to
turn any form of society into a moral desert. Christian nations are
beginning to be aware of this; and the hand of Divine Providence is
now visibly seen removing this “costly iniquity” from the face of the
earth.
[Illustration: The mother of Washington receiving Lafayette in her
garden.]
AMERICA.
Before America was settled by Europeans, it was inhabited by Indian
tribes, which greatly resembled each other in the treatment of their
women. Every thing except war and hunting was considered beneath the
dignity of man. During long and wearisome marches, women were obliged
to carry children, provisions, and hammocks on their shoulders; they
had the sole care of the horses and dogs, cut wood, pitched the tents,
raised the corn, and made the clothing. When the husband killed game,
he left it by a tree in the forest, returned home, and sent his wife
several miles in search of it. In most of the tribes, women were not
allowed to eat and drink with men, but stood and served them, and then
ate what they left.
When the Spaniards arrived in South America, the Indian women,
delighted with attentions to which they had been entirely unaccustomed,
often betrayed the conspiracies formed against them, supplied them with
food, and acted as guides.
Father Joseph reproved a female savage on the banks of the Orinoco,
because she destroyed her infant daughter. She replied, “I wish my
mother had thus prevented the manifold sufferings I have endured.
Consider, Father, our deplorable situation. Our husbands go out to
hunt; we are dragged along with one infant at our breast, and another
in a basket. Though tired with long walking, we are not allowed to
sleep when we return, but must labor the whole night in grinding maize
to make chica for them. They get drunk, and beat us, draw us by the
hair of the head, and tread us under foot. And after a slavery of
perhaps twenty years, what have we to comfort us? A young wife is then
brought home, and permitted to abuse us and our children. What kindness
can we show our daughters equal to putting them to death? Would to God
my mother had put me under ground the moment I was born.”
The Mexicans and Peruvians, particularly the latter, were more
enlightened and refined than the other native tribes. The rich
ornaments of gold and pearl worn by the Peruvians, surprised their
European visiters, even more than the gentleness, modesty, and
benevolence of their characters. They had a temple of the sun, to
whose service young virgins were dedicated, and instructed in many
accomplishments.
The parents of a young Mexican having selected a suitable wife, priests
are consulted, and the match concludes or not, according to their
predictions. If their answers are favorable, the girl is asked of her
parents by certain women styled solicitors, who are chosen from the
most respectable of the youth’s kindred. The first demand is always
refused; the second receives a more favorable answer; and when consent
is finally obtained, the bride, after proper exhortation from her
parents, is conducted to the house of her father-in-law. If wealthy,
she is carried in a litter. The bridegroom and his relations receive
her at the gate, where four women are stationed bearing torches. As
soon as the young couple meet, they offer incense to each other. They
then sit on a curiously wrought mat, in the centre of the hall, near
the fire, and the priest ties the bride’s gown to the bridegroom’s
mantle. They offer sacrifices to the gods, and exchange presents. The
guests are then entertained with feasting and dancing in the open
air; but the newly married are shut up in the house for four days. At
the end of that period they appear in their richest attire, and give
dresses to the company, in proportion to their wealth.
Gumilla, in his History of the River Orinoco, says there is one nation
that marry old men to girls and old women to lads, that age may
correct the petulance of youth. They say, to join together people equal
in youth and imprudence, is to join one fool to another. The first
marriage is however only a kind of apprenticeship; for after a while
the young people are allowed to marry those of their own age.
Among several tribes of North American Indians, the lover begins his
suit by going at midnight to the tent, or lodge, of his mistress. He
lights a splinter of wood, and holds it to her face to awaken her. If
she leaves the torch burning, it is a signal that she rejects him;
but if she blows it out, he understands that he is at liberty to
communicate his intentions.
In some places, when the lover approaches the hut of his mistress, he
begs leave to enter it by signs. If permission is obtained, he goes in
and sits down by her in silence. If she suffers him to remain, without
any expression of disapprobation, it is an indication that she favors
his suit; but if she offers him food or drink, he understands it as a
refusal.
Indian marriages are generally performed in the following manner: The
young couple are seated on a mat in the centre of the room. The bride,
or bridegroom, hold a rod or wand between them, while some elderly
person harangues them concerning their reciprocal duties. He tells the
husband that he must catch plenty of venison and furs for his wife; and
the bride is urged to cook his food well, mend his clothes, and take
off his moccasins and leggins, when he comes home from hunting. The rod
is then broken, and a piece given to the witnesses, in testimony of
the contract. The company form a circle and dance and sing around them.
Before they separate, they partake of a plentiful feast provided for
the occasion. A strap, a kettle, and a fagot, are put into the bride’s
apartment, in token of her employments. At Dacotah weddings, the bride
is carried forcibly to her husband’s dwelling, making resistance at
every step. In some parts of Old Mexico, the bridegroom was carried
off by his relations, as if he were the one forced into wedlock. A
Dacotah lover puts on leggins of different colors, seats himself on
a log near the wigwam of his beloved, and sings, or plays on some
musical instrument. The following has been given as a sample of Indian
love-songs, by a writer well acquainted with their manners:
“She is handsomer than scarlet or wampum;
I will put on a blue leggin and run after her;
And she will flee as if afraid.
But I see, as she turns her head over her shoulder,
And mocks and laughs, and rails at me,
That her fears are nothing but pretence.
She is handsomer than scarlet and wampum;
I will put on a blue leggin and run after her.”
The Indians, both men and women, had great love of finery. Their caps,
belts, and moccasins were plentifully embroidered with beads and
shells, which they called wampum. The chiefs considered a coronet of
feathers peculiarly beautiful; but this ornament, generally indicative
of successful war, was seldom worn by women. But even among these rude
people, jokes concerning female love of dress were not wanting. A few
years since, the writer conversed with two Penobscot Indians, the one
old, the other young, and very handsome. The youth wore a scarlet band
upon his hat, and his wampum belt was curiously embroidered; the other
had an old blanket carelessly wrapped about him. “Where is your wampum
belt?” said I. With a look of quiet scorn, he replied, “What for me
wear ribbons and beads? Me no want to catch ’em squaw.”[3]
[3] Indians call their women _squaws_, and infants _papooses_.
Among the Hohays are men who dress in a female garb, and perform all
manner of female avocations. They are called _Winktahs_, and treated
with the utmost contempt.
The Indian bridegroom generally pays his father-in-law for his bride;
and even in their primitive form of society, he who can offer a large
price is most likely to be acceptable to parents. Handsome Indian
girls are not unfrequently disposed of contrary to their inclinations.
They are not permitted to marry relations within so near a degree of
consanguinity as cousins. Suicide is common among the women of these
savage tribes. When thwarted in love, or driven to desperation by ill
usage, they frequently hang themselves to the branch of a tree, rush
into the sea, or throw themselves from a precipice. The men very rarely
destroy their own lives. They seldom have more than one wife at a time;
but they change just when they please, interchange with each other, and
lend to visiters, without scandal. When a wife becomes old, a younger
one is often purchased; and the first one may either kill herself, or
tamely submit to be the drudge of the family. In several tribes, the
pieces of stick given to the witnesses at the marriage are burnt, in
sign of divorce. But, generally speaking, new connections are formed
without any formal dissolution of the old one.
When the sachem of Saugus married the daughter of the chief of
Pennakook, a great feast was given, and the bride and bridegroom
escorted to their dwelling by some of the most honorable men of her
father’s tribe, who were feasted several days at the expense of the
husband. Some time after, the wife expressed a wish to visit her
father, and was permitted to do so, with a select escort to accompany
her. When she desired to return, the old chief sent to the sachem to
come and take her away. This offended the young man’s pride. “I sent
her to you in a manner that became a chief,” he replied; “and now that
she intends to return to me, I expect the same from you.” The chief of
Pennakook considered this an insolent message. He would not allow his
daughter to return unless her husband sent for her; the sachem would
not submit to the terms; and the young couple saw each other no more.
The Indians pride themselves on stoicism, and at no period of their
history have been addicted to voluptuousness. Their sense of manliness
and dignity prevents them from being immodest. In this respect, their
deportment towards women is abundantly more praiseworthy than that of
civilized nations.
When it was proposed (either facetiously or otherwise) that women
should be members of parliament, an Englishman objected to it,
on the ground that a lady, who sat with committees of gentlemen,
might sometimes meet with a species of impoliteness that would be
embarrassing. If _this_ be a reason why women should not transact
public business, it is a fact exceedingly disgraceful to civilized
men. Female captives taken by Indians, though treated with the most
diabolical cruelty, according to their savage mode of warfare, have
travelled with powerful warriors days and weeks, through the loneliest
paths of the forest, and never been subjected to the slightest personal
insult.
Notwithstanding the habitual taciturnity of Indians, and their pride
of concealing all emotion, the potent passion of love sometimes gets
the mastery of them, as well as of other men. One of their strongest
excitements to bravery, is the hopes of gaining favor in the bright
eyes of some beautiful maiden; and it is often a matter of peculiar
pride with them to obtain the handsomest furs to decorate a wife,
and to furnish an abundant supply of venison for her comfortable
subsistence. An Indian woman is always proud of having a good hunter
for a husband; and a lover is often told that he must signalize himself
by more daring exploits, before he can hope to be received into favor.
Mr. Heckewelder, in his interesting account of the American Indians,
relates the following anecdote: “In the year 1762, I was witness to
a remarkable instance of the disposition of Indians to indulge their
wives. There was a famine in the land, and a sick Indian woman
expressed a great desire for a mess of Indian corn. Her husband,
having heard that a trader at Lower Sandusky had a little, set off on
horseback for that place, one hundred miles distant, and returned with
as much corn as filled the crown of his hat, for which he gave his
horse in exchange, and came home on foot, bringing his saddle back with
him.
“It very seldom happens that an Indian condescends to quarrel with
his wife, or abuse her, though she has given him just cause. In such
a case, the man, without replying, or saying a single word, will take
his gun and go into the woods, and remain there a week, or perhaps a
fortnight, living on the meat he has killed, before he returns home
again; well knowing that he cannot inflict a greater punishment on his
wife for her conduct to him, than by absenting himself for a while;
for she is not only kept in suspense, uncertain whether he will return
again, but is soon reported as a bad and quarrelsome woman; for, as on
those occasions a man does not tell his wife on what day or at what
time he will be back again, which he never, when they are on good
terms, neglects to do, she is at once put to shame by her neighbors,
who, soon suspecting something, do not fail to put such questions to
her as she either cannot, or is ashamed to answer. When he at length
does return, she endeavors to let him see, by her attentions, that
she has repented, though neither speak to each other a single word on
the subject of what has passed. And as his children, if he has any,
will on his return hang about him, and soothe him with their caresses,
he is on their account ready to forgive, or at least to say nothing
unpleasant to their mother.”
The women of these savage tribes, like the female peasantry of Europe,
have very hardy constitutions. When an infant is a few hours old,
they carry it to some neighboring stream and plunge it in the water,
even if they have to break the ice for that purpose. Until it is old
enough to crawl about, they lay it down on a clean piece of bark, while
they attend to their customary avocations; when obliged to travel,
they carry it swung at their backs, in a strip of cloth, or a basket.
Some tribes have the habit of placing boys on the skin of a panther,
and girls on that of a fawn, from an idea that they will imbibe the
qualities of those animals. Names are usually bestowed to indicate some
personal or moral quality; as _Parrot-nosed_, _Serpent-eyed_, _The
Timid Fawn_, &c. These names are often added to others, signifying _The
First Son_, _The Second Son_, _The First Daughter_, &c.
Most of the North American tribes make it a fundamental principle of
education never to strike a child. When a fault is committed, the
mother begins to cry; if her son or daughter ask what is the matter,
she replies, “You disgrace me.” This reproach is keenly felt, and
generally produces amendment. If a young person is more obdurate than
common, the parents throw a glass of water in his face, and this is
considered a most disgraceful punishment. They seldom refuse a child
any thing. Hence when the avenger of blood is implacable, the culprit
is often led into his presence by a little child, prettily adorned,
and taught to lisp a prayer for pardon; and a petition for mercy from
such innocent lips, is rarely denied even by the sternest warrior.
Pocahontas was only twelve years old when her intercession saved the
life of captain Smith.
Both girls and boys are early taught to endure without a murmur the
utmost rigors of climate, excess of labor, and the extremity of pain.
It is common to try their fortitude by ordering them to hold their
hands in the fire, till permission is given to withdraw them; and
if even their countenances give indication of agony, it is deemed
dishonorable. When taken captive in war they have need of their utmost
powers of endurance; for their enemies exercise all their ingenuity in
torture. Yet such is the force of education, that women, as well as
men, will smile and utter jeering words, while their nails are pulled
out by the roots, their feet crushed between stones, and their flesh
torn with red-hot pincers.
It is an almost universal rule that women are more tender-hearted than
men; but the North American Indians seem to furnish an exception. When
a prisoner is tied to the stake, women are even more furious and active
than men, in the work of cruelty. If any one of the tribe chooses to
adopt the prisoner, his life is spared, and they cease to torment him.
Parents, who have lost their own children in battle, often resort to
this expedient, and bring up their adopted sons and daughters with
great kindness.
The power of Indian husbands is absolute. If they detect a wife in
unfaithfulness, they generally cut off her nose, or take off part
of her scalp. In a sudden fit of anger they sometimes kill both her
and her paramour; and this goes unpunished, though it is considered
more proper to call a council of the elders to decide the matter.
Those stern old men do not approve of very furious transports on such
occasions; because they deem it undignified to make such a fuss about
a woman, so long as the world contains plenty of individuals to supply
her place.
Dancing was a common amusement with the Indians. Their war-dances were
performed by men; but there were others appropriated to women, or in
which both sexes united. Captain Smith gives the following account of
an “anticke” prepared by Pocahontas for his reception at her father’s
place of residence: “Thirty young women came out of the woods, covered
onely with a few greene leaues, their bodies all painted, some of one
colour, some of another, but all differing. Their leader had a fayre
payre of bucks hornes on her head, and an otter-skinne at her girdle,
and another at her arme, a quiver of arrowes at her backe, a bow and
arrows in her hand. The next had in her hand a sword, and another a
club, another a pot-sticke, all horned alike; the rest every one with
their seuerall devises. These fiends, with most hellish shouts and
cryes, rushing from among the trees, cast themselves in a ring about
the fire, singing and dancing with most excellent ill varietie, oft
falling into their infernall passions, and solemnly again to sing and
daunce. Having spent neare an houre in this mascarado, as they entred,
in like manner they departed.”
Captain Smith does not give a very gallant account of an entertainment
intended as a particular compliment to his arrival. The dance, like
most savage dances, was unquestionably a pantomime; and he probably did
not understand what it was intended to represent.
The Indian women sometimes accompany the men on hunting excursions,
for the purpose of bringing home the game; and in time of battle they
often encourage and assist the warriors. In addition to the toilsome
occupations already alluded to, they made garments of skins, sewed
with sinews and thorns, wove neat mats and baskets, and embroidered
very prettily with shells, feathers, and grass of various colors. When
first visited by Europeans, they wore furs in winter, and mats tied
about them in summer; but they soon learned to substitute blankets,
and strips of cloth. Those that can afford it, have ears, neck, arms,
and waist plentifully decorated with beads, pebbles, fishes’ teeth,
or shells. The Indians of California perforate the lobes of the ears,
and insert pieces of wood five or six inches long, ornamented with
feathers. On the North-West coast, the women make a horizontal incision
in the lower lip, for the purpose of introducing a wooden plug, which
makes the lip protrude in a hideous manner. In the neighborhood of
Kotzebue’s sound, they wear large beads suspended from the nose,
and when they experience inconvenience from these ornaments, they
stow them away in the nostrils. The Guiana females stick thorns, or
pins, through the lower lip; the heads are inside, and the points
rest upon the chin. They have likewise the habit of putting a band
round the ankle and knee, when girls are ten or twelve years old; as
this is never removed, it produces an unnatural compression, and the
calf of the leg swells to an unwieldy size. Indians of both sexes
paint themselves in various colors and patterns, and are more or less
addicted to tattooing; though it is by no means practised to the extent
that it is among the South sea islanders.
Before America was visited by Europeans, the Indian tribes were
universally temperate, healthy, and cleanly in their habits; but they
have now acquired most of the evils of civilization, with few of its
advantages. They have a reddish brown complexion, keen black eyes,
regular white teeth, and sleek, shining black hair, which the women
usually suffer to flow over the shoulders. Those who live near the sea
never become bald, and their hair does not turn gray; perhaps this may
be owing to the frequent habit of bathing in salt water, which always
has a salutary effect on the hair.
The vigorous forms of their children may be attributed to active
habits, and to the entire freedom of their limbs from all bands,
ligatures, or clothing. Several tribes have the habit of flattening
the forehead, by heavy pressure during infancy. To be childless is
considered almost as great a misfortune as it was among the Jews. A
man will never divorce a wife who has brought him sons, and though he
may perchance marry several others, he always considers her as entitled
to peculiar respect.
Indian women are usually well skilled in simple remedies, and are the
physicians of their tribes. In some places, medicine is considered
peculiarly efficacious if it is prepared and administered by the
hand of a maiden. The healing art is intimately connected in their
minds with magic, and medicines are seldom given without prayers and
incantations, to avert the influence of evil spirits. There are in
almost every tribe individuals who claim the gift of prophecy, and
endeavor to foretel future events by conjurations and dreams. I am
not aware that they consider women more frequently endowed with this
supernatural power than men.
Some tribes bury their dead, others expose them on scaffolds suspended
in high trees. The arms and horse of a warrior are buried with him for
his use in another world; and a mortar, kettle, and other utensils of
daily use accompany the corpse of a female. When a great chief dies,
his wives, and many of his attendants, are sometimes obliged to follow
him to the world of spirits. The tribe of Natchez is ruled by a chief
called The Great Sun; and when any woman of the blood of the Suns
dies, it becomes necessary that her husband and attendants should be
sacrificed in honor of her decease. The widows of illustrious chiefs
generally take pride in devoting themselves to death with stoical
firmness. The wife of The Stung Serpent, who was brother to The Great
Sun, thus addressed her children when she was about to leave them:
“Your father waits for me in the land of spirits. If I were to yield to
your tears, I should injure my love, and fail in my duty. You that are
descended of his blood, and fed by my milk, ought not to weep. Rather
rejoice that you are Suns and warriors, bound to give examples of
firmness to the whole nation.” The victims, having been made giddy by
swallowing little balls of tobacco, are strangled, and placed near the
corpse upon mats, ranged according to their rank.
The Indians, both men and women, lament for the dead with loud howling
and lamentation, blacken their faces, and wound themselves with flints,
knives, and splinters of wood. When the women are going out to work, or
returning from their labors, the widows of the tribe often join in a
sort of dirge, or mourning chorus.
As sailors have the superstition that it brings bad luck to have a
woman on board a ship, so the Indians believe that the fleetest horse
in the world would lose his speed, if a woman were suffered to mount
him; hence when it becomes necessary for women to ride, they are placed
on old worn-out animals.
Among the Dacotahs a particular lodge is set apart for councils, and
the reception of strangers. The women supply it with wood and water,
but are never permitted to enter it. This tribe have an institution
called the Lodge of the Grand Medicine, the ceremonies of which are
celebrated in secret, and the members know each other by certain
signs. It differs from Free-Masonry, in allowing women to be among the
initiated.
The women of the Hurons and Iroquois seem to have had more influence
than was common among other tribes. Huron women might appoint a
member of the council, and one of their own sex if they chose. They
could prevail upon the warriors to go to battle, or desist from it,
according to their wishes. Among the Natchez, authority descended in
an hereditary line both to male and female. It is a general rule with
the American tribes that a man should be succeeded by his sister’s
children, not by his own.
The dwellings of the Indians are huts made of the interwoven boughs of
trees, or tents covered with the skins of animals, without division of
apartments. Whole villages of women and children are often left for
weeks, while the men are absent on hunting expeditions.
The South American tribes were more docile, indolent, and soft-hearted
than those of the north. They married at an earlier period; twelve or
thirteen being the common age for a bride. It is said that the tribes
about the isthmus of Darien considered it no impropriety for women to
make the first declaration of love. When they preferred a young man,
they told him so, and promised to be very faithful, good-tempered, and
obedient, if he would take them to wife.
The women of Greenland and other countries about the arctic regions are
inured to the utmost rigor of a northern climate, and the extremity
of toil. During the long winters, many of these tribes live in snow
huts with ice windows. They consider train-oil one of the greatest of
luxuries, and would eagerly devour a tallow candle in preference to
the most delicious sweetmeats. They dress in garments of reindeer’s
skin, lined with moss, and changed so seldom, that they become filthy
in the extreme. The men hunt bears and catch seals; but when they have
towed their booty to land, they would consider it a disgrace to help
the women drag it home, or skin and dress it. They often stand and
look idly on, while their wives are staggering beneath a load that
almost bends them to the earth. The women are cooks, butchers, masons,
curriers, shoemakers, and tailors. They will manage a boat in the
roughest seas, and will often push off from the shore in the midst of a
storm, that would make the hardiest European sailor tremble.
In most countries, women enter into matrimony more readily than men,
even where their affections are not concerned. The reasons are obvious.
Women are more restrained by the laws and usages of society than men,
and the scope of their ambition is much more limited. Though marriage
subjects them to many cares and privations, it gives them in some
respects a greater degree of freedom and consideration; it likewise
generally insures protection and support, and is almost the only way
in which a woman can rise above her natural condition, with regard to
wealth and rank.
In Greenland, all this is reversed. Young girls have nothing to do but
dance and sing, and fetch water, and look to their baby brothers and
sisters; but when they marry, they become the slaves of an absolute
master, for whom they are obliged to toil and drudge, with frequent
beatings; and if left in widowhood with little children, they are
generally in extreme poverty, with none to hunt or fish for them. For
these reasons, the Greenland women are averse to marriage. When a girl
sees the relations of a young man at her father’s house, and hears them
praise his dexterity in catching seals, she begins to suspect that her
parents are about to sell her; and she often runs away and hides in
the mountains, until the women search for her, and drag her home. On
such occasions, she will remain silent and dejected for several days,
refusing to be comforted. Sometimes they make a solemn vow that they
will never marry, and shave their heads in sign of their determination.
Their hair is long, straight and black. The women wear it in a roll
on the top of the head, adorned with some gay bandage of beads, or
hanging in two long braids each side of the forehead. It is never cut
off, except to avoid marriage, or in token of deep mourning, or as a
punishment. Mothers tattoo the faces of their daughters, by drawing
threads filled with soot under the skin. They are generally short
in stature, with shoulders made very broad by the constant habit of
carrying burdens. Their complexion is tawny, and their eyes small and
sunken. Some of the old women are said to be hideously ugly; their
eyes being inflamed by the glittering of the sun on fields of ice,
and their teeth blackened by the constant use of tobacco. Some of the
inhabitants of these northern regions have their garments made wide
enough in the back to support an infant, which is kept from falling by
means of a girdle round the mother’s waist; in other places, the babe
sits behind her neck, on a broad strap fastened round her forehead.
Some of the children, it is said, are rather comely by nature, but,
from being laid carelessly in the bottom of boats, they look very much
like wild, neglected little animals.
Polygamy is not common, but is by no means discreditable. The first
wife, if she have children, is considered the head of the family. When
she dies, the junior wife takes her place, and is generally very kind
to the motherless little ones. When a man wishes to obtain a wife, he
adorns himself, his children, his house, his boats, and his darts,
in the finest manner he can, in order to render himself an object
of attraction. Widowers seldom marry under a year, unless they have
very small children, with no one to nurse them. When a man wishes
for divorce, he leaves the house, apparently in anger, and does not
return for several days; the wife understands his meaning, packs up her
clothes, and removes to her friends.
In these northern regions the dances are pantomimes, consisting of
violent writhings, stampings, and contortions. They are particularly
fond of imitating the animals they are accustomed to pursue. The bear
has been called their dancing-master, for they imitate, with wonderful
accuracy, his motions and attitudes, in all possible situations. Their
skilful female dancers are so rapid and violent in their movements,
that they appear to a civilized eye more like furies or maniacs than
any thing else.
The Greenlanders and Esquimaux are generally good-humored and friendly,
and, like all savages, extremely hospitable. Men, women, and children,
who are obliged to live huddled together in small apartments, cannot
be expected to have any considerable degree of refinement, or even
decency, in their habits; but their perilous mode of life tends to
develope a kind of instinctive intelligence. Captain Lyon mentions
one female, in particular, named Iligliuk, whom her countrymen called
“the wise woman.” She was frequently on board his ship, and gave some
valuable geographical knowledge of the country, in the form of a rude
map; but she soon became very proud and disdainful, in consequence of
the attentions that were paid her.
The tribes of these frozen regions have generally great faith in magic,
and place much reliance on information obtained from male and female
sorcerers, who go about dressed in a fantastic manner, and assuming a
frenzied deportment, as if under the influence of evil inspiration.
Intoxication is a common vice with both sexes; and both have an
excessive love of chewing and smoking tobacco.
In the Russian settlements, there is a tribe which have a strange
manner of courtship. When a young man has chosen a girl, he goes to
her relations, and offers “to drudge for them,” till he can secure the
object of his affections. The young woman is immediately wrapped up
in a multiplicity of garments, that scarcely leave her face visible;
and the lover has no hope of obtaining his prize, until in some lucky
moment he catches her off her guard, and is able to touch her uncovered
hand, arm, neck, or face. It is necessary that she should confess the
fact, and affirm that she was taken by surprise. It is difficult to
perform this task; for her female relations keep near her night and
day, and if the young man attempts to tear off the teasing envelopes,
he gets a sound beating, and is liable to be dismissed in disgrace.
Sometimes two or three years expire before he attains his object; and
in the mean time, he is bound to perform, with the utmost industry and
submission, any labors her relations choose to impose upon him. Soon
after the long-desired triumph is obtained, the damsel consents to be
his wife, and her friends, without any further ceremony, commemorate
the event by a feast.
The European settlers of South America are principally Spanish and
Portuguese. They retain the language, manners, and customs of their
ancestors; but if the report of numerous travellers be correct, the
state of morals is worse than in the old countries. We find the same
ceremonious observance of etiquette--the same exaggerated phrases to
express courtesy, friendship, or love--the same chivalrous bearing
toward ladies--the same pageantry in religious festivals--and the same
universal practice of taking the _siesta_, or afternoon’s sleep, which
prevail in Spain and Portugal.
An enervating climate, an accommodating religion, and the degrading
system of slavery, have all combined to produce an unfavorable
influence on the moral and intellectual character of the people.
Slavery is indeed nearly abolished, except in Brazil; but a long time
will probably elapse before its baneful effects cease to be visible on
the manners and habits of those, who have been accustomed to breathe
its polluting atmosphere. The South American women are generally
ignorant and indolent, and more governed by passion than by principle.
Public opinion is by no means rigid concerning the conduct of married
women; but individual revenge is not unfrequently taken, in the form of
duels and assassinations. Captain Cochrane, speaking of Colombia, says:
“The majority of the women are by no means handsome. They certainly
have fine eyes and dark hair; but neither features, complexion, nor
figure are good, compared with those of Europeans. Some few have, when
young, a little bloom on their cheeks; but in general a sallow or
Moorish cast of face meets the eye. The men are far handsomer than the
women, and their dark complexions are more agreeable to the eye. They
are also better educated, being generally able to _read and write_.”
M. Depons describes the women of Caracas as “generally below the middle
size; mild, tender, and seductive; with jet-black hair, alabaster
skins, eyes large and finely shaped, and carnation lips. Their
attire is rather elegant. They feel a kind of vanity on being taken
for French; but whatever resemblance there may be in the dress, there
is too little gracefulness to permit the illusion to subsist. Their
principal morning occupation is going to mass, and a great portion
of the rest of the day is spent lounging on sofas, or gazing at the
windows. Their education is limited to learning a number of prayers,
reading badly, spelling worse, and playing by rote a few tunes on the
guitar and piano-forte. But in spite of their defective education, the
women of Caracas know how to unite social manners with decent behavior,
and the art of coquetry with the modesty of their sex.”
The festivals of the Roman Catholic religion are sufficiently numerous
to employ a large portion of the time of its votaries; and they are
observed with as much pomp in the New World, as in the Catholic
countries of Europe. Corpus Christi day is celebrated with unusual
magnificence. It is announced the preceding evening by artificial
fireworks. The windows of the houses are adorned with gay festoons
of silk and ribbons; jewellers sometimes display their whole stock
of sparkling gems, exposed in glass cases on the outer walls of the
building; at the corners of the streets, through which the procession
is to pass, are altars richly ornamented with jewels and flowers;
and puppet-shows, with curious animals of various sorts in cages,
are ranged on all sides. As soon as the sound of the bell is heard
announcing the approach of the procession, all leave their games,
and kneel in the street. “At the head of the procession, are chariots
dragged along by men; in one is king David, with the head of Goliath
in his hand; in another, Esther; in a third, Mordecai; Joseph next
makes his appearance upon a horse richly caparisoned, and followed by a
great number of guards; these, however, are only mounted on pasteboard
chargers. All these personages are the children of the principal
inhabitants of the city. To obtain the honor of acting a part in this
imposing spectacle, is a great desideratum; and those who are honored,
by having their children nominated, neglect no kind of expense:
rivalling each other in splendor, they lay pearls, diamonds, emeralds,
and rubies under contribution, and put their imagination to the rack,
in order to render the dresses of the actors more magnificent. The most
beautiful girls in the city walk between two rows of priests, some
carrying the ark, and the show-bread, others incense or baskets of
flowers. To these succeed young Indians, who, to the sound of a flute
and tabor, perform wild fantastic dances. The procession is closed by a
detachment of troops, with arms and colors reversed.” These religious
solemnities generally conclude with fireworks, concerts, balls, and
masquerades.
Doctor Walsh thus describes the great convent of Ajuda, in Rio de
Janeiro: “At the end of the chapel is a large quadrangle, entered by a
massive gateway, surrounded by three stories of grated windows. Here
female negro pedlers come with their goods, and expose them in the
court-yard below. The nuns, from their grated windows above, see what
they like, and, letting down a cord, the article is fastened to it; it
is then drawn up and examined, and, if approved of, the price is let
down. Some that I saw in the act of buying and selling in this way,
were very merry, joking and laughing with the blacks below, and did
not seem at all indisposed to do the same with my companion. In three
of the lower windows, on a level with the court-yard, are revolving
cupboards, like half-barrels, and at the back of each is a plate of
tin, perforated like the top of a nutmeg-grater. The nuns of this
convent are celebrated for making sweet confectionary, which people
purchase. There is a bell which the purchaser applies to, and a nun
peeps through the perforated tin; she then lays the dish on a shelf of
the revolving cupboard, and turns it inside out; the dish is taken, the
price laid in its place, and it is turned in. While we stood there, the
invisible lady-warder asked for a pinch of snuff; the box was laid down
in the same way, and turned in and out.”
The disposition to take the veil, even among young girls, is not
uncommon in Brazil. The opposition of friends can prevent it, until
they are twenty-five years old; but after that time they are considered
competent to decide for themselves. The same writer describes the
initiation of a young lady, whose wealthy parents were extremely
reluctant to have her take the vow. She held a lighted torch in her
hand, in imitation of the prudent virgins; and when the priest
chanted, “Your spouse approaches; come forth and meet him,” she
approached the altar, singing, “I follow with my whole heart;” and,
accompanied by two nuns already professed, she knelt before the bishop.
“She seemed very lovely, with an unusually sweet, gentle, and pensive
countenance. She did not look particularly or deeply affected; but when
she sung her responses, there was something exceedingly mournful in the
soft, tremulous, and timid tones of her voice. The bishop now exhorted
her to make a public profession of her vows before the congregation,
and said, ‘Will you persevere in your purpose of holy chastity?’
She blushed deeply, and, with a downcast look, lowly, but firmly
answered, ‘I will.’ He again said, more distinctly, ‘Do you promise to
preserve it?’ and she replied more emphatically, ‘I do promise.’ The
bishop said, ‘Thanks be to God;’ and she bent forward and reverently
kissed his hand, while he asked her, ‘Will you now be blessed and
consecrated?’ She replied, ‘Oh! I wish it.’
“The habiliments, in which she was hereafter to be clothed, were
sanctified by the aspersion of holy water: then followed several
prayers to God, that ‘As he had blessed the garments of Aaron, with
ointment which flowed from his head to his beard, so he would now bless
the garment of his servant, with the copious dew of his benediction.’
When the garment was thus blessed, the girl retired with it; and having
laid aside the dress in which she had appeared, she returned, arrayed
in her new attire, except her veil. A gold ring was next provided, and
consecrated with a prayer, that she who wore it ‘might be fortified
with celestial virtue, to preserve a pure faith, and incorrupt fidelity
to her spouse, Jesus Christ.’ He last took the veil, and her female
attendants having uncovered her head, he threw it over her, so that it
fell on her shoulders and bosom, and said, ‘Receive this sacred veil,
under the shadow of which you may learn to despise the world, and
submit yourself truly, and with all humility of heart, to your Spouse;’
to which she sung a response, in a very sweet, soft, and touching
voice: ‘He has placed this veil before my face, that I should see no
lover but himself.’
“The bishop now kindly took her hand, and held it while the following
hymn was chanted by the choir with great harmony: ‘Beloved Spouse,
come--the winter is passed--the turtle sings, and the blooming vines
are redolent of summer.’
“A crown, a necklace, and other female ornaments, were now taken by the
bishop and separately blessed; and the girl bending forward, he placed
them on her head and neck, praying that she might be thought worthy ‘to
be enrolled into the society of the hundred and forty-four thousand
virgins, who preserved their chastity, and did not mix with the society
of impure women.’
“Last of all, he placed the ring on the middle finger of her right
hand, and solemnly said, ‘So I marry you to Jesus Christ, who will
henceforth be your protector. Receive this ring, the pledge of your
faith, that you may be called the spouse of God.’ She fell on her
knees, and sung, ‘I am married to him whom angels serve, whose beauty
the sun and moon admire;’ then rising, and showing with exultation
her right hand, she said, emphatically, as if to impress it on the
attention of the congregation, ‘My Lord has wedded me with this
ring, and decorated me with a crown as his spouse. I here renounce
and despise all earthly ornaments for his sake, whom alone I see,
whom alone I love, in whom alone I trust, and to whom alone I give
all my affections. My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak of the
deed I have done for my King.’ The bishop then pronounced a general
benediction, and retired up to the altar; while the nun professed
was borne off between her friends, with lighted tapers, and garlands
waving.”
Doctor Walsh observes, that the spectators did not seem to be at
all impressed with the solemnity of this ceremony, but laughed and
joked about it with a degree of levity not entirely consistent with
delicacy. It is a notorious fact that the South Americans have little
hearty faith in the religion they profess. The French philosophy
taught in their schools has destroyed this, without introducing any
thing better. Women are very regular in their attendance at mass; but
men give themselves little trouble about it, unless some love-affair
attracts them to the church. Girls often marry as young as twelve
or fourteen. Ambitious parents there, as elsewhere, are desirous to
have their children form matches of interest; but the natural ardor
and sensibility of the people is opposed to this. With all the fervid
romance of olden time, they fall in love at the first glance; and
while the paroxysm endures, “the world is divided into two parts--that
where the beloved object is, and that where she is not.” It is no
uncommon occurrence for the daughters of wealthy families to leave
the luxuries of their father’s house, for the sake of some young man,
whose industry will afford them merely a comfortable subsistence.
The enthusiastic character of the people sympathizes so readily with
such disinterestedness, that a law was recently passed in Brazil to
prevent rich fathers from disinheriting their children under such
circumstances, unless some important charge could be substantiated
against the moral character of those they married. It is much to be
regretted that the matrimonial vow is often as lightly broken, as it
was fervently uttered.
In large cities, French dress and manners prevail to a considerable
extent; but in the provinces women frequently follow the Spanish custom
of wearing the mantilla, and covering the face, so as to leave only one
sparkling eye visible. They likewise ride on horses, or mules, after
the fashion of men. The laboring class are principally blacks, or some
of the various shades between black and white; and here as in other
countries, the free negro is almost as much paralyzed and degraded as
the slave himself, by the effects of that lazy and pernicious system.
The prejudice with regard to color is much less strong than in North
America. The descendants of Africans have a wider field opened for the
exercise of such abilities as God may have given them; and both sexes
sometimes form highly respectable marriages with the European race.
Because the prevailing character of South American women is ignorant
and voluptuous, it must not be supposed that there are not numerous
exceptions. Even the cities, which are always worse than villages,
contain many virtuous, modest, and honorable families; and during
the frequent struggles for independence, ladies in various parts of
South America have often manifested a sublime degree of firmness and
patriotism.
* * * * *
It is hardly possible to imagine a greater contrast of character than
existed between the settlers of North and South America. Instead of
wealth-seeking, voluptuous adventurers, with a religion so flexible,
that it adapted itself to every form of human passion, New England was
settled by stern, uncompromising Puritans--men who considered mirth
an indecorum, the love of women a snare, and dress a shameful memento
of the fall of Adam. Though resisting tyranny, they themselves were
most tyrannical. The selectmen deemed they had a right to ascertain
whether every girl in their village did a proper amount of spinning
and weaving; and if a mother staid away from meeting, to tend her
babe, the deacon straightway called to reprove her for neglect of the
ordinances. It was then customary for women to carry their infants to
religious meetings, and attend to all their wants with as much freedom,
as if they had been by their own firesides. With regard to external
comforts, there was a near approach to equality in the condition of all
classes. The employed ate and drank and labored with their employers.
Each household was a patriarchal establishment, of which the hired
domestics were a component part; and they generally remained in the
family they once entered, until they were married or died. It was an
almost unheard-of thing for a family to keep more than one female
domestic, and her wages, even forty years ago, was not more than two
pistareens, or 2_s._ 6_d._ Though cloth was then three times as dear as
it now is, this price was sufficient to satisfy all wants; for a new
calico gown once a year was then considered quite a luxury. The most
respectable inhabitants of the colonies were quite content to ride to
church on horseback, with a wife or daughter behind them, on a pillion.
One gown of silk brocade was considered wealth, and two constituted
magnificence; especially if a string of gold beads, and gold buckles
for the shoes, were appended thereto. But though the richest wardrobe
of those primitive days would appear scanty enough in modern eyes, men
did not fail to discuss the worn-out theme of female extravagance.
The Simple Cobbler of Aggawam, who wrote in Massachusetts as early as
1647, says: “I can make my selfe sick at any time with comparing the
dazzeling splender wherwith our gentlewomen were embellished in some
former habits, with the goosdom, wherewith they are now surcingled and
debauched. We have about five or six of them in our colony: if I see
any of them accidentally, I cannot cleanse my phansie of them for a
moneth after. I speak sadly; me thinkes it should break the hearts of
English-men to see goodly English-women imprisoned in French cages,
peering out of their hood-holes for some men of mercy to help them
with a little wit, and no body relieves them. It is no marvell they
weare drailes, on the hinder part of their heads, having nothing as
it seems in the fore-part, but a few Squirrills braines, to help them
frisk from one ill-fauored fashion to another. It is no little labour
to be continually putting up English women into Out-landish caskes;
who if they be not shifted anew, once in a few moneths, grow too sowre
for their husbands. When I heare a nugiperous Gentledame inquire what
is the newest fashion of the Court, with egge to be in it in all hast,
whatever it be, I look at her as the very gizzard of a trifle, the
product of a quarter of a cypher, the epitome of nothing, fitter to be
kickt, if she were of a kickable substance, than either honoured or
humoured.”
About the time of the revolution, the fashion of wearing hooped
petticoats was imported from beyond seas, and gave rise to considerable
satire. A sailor in New York, finding a narrow street entirely filled
by two persons in this inconvenient dress, amused the spectators by
jumping over, through a space left between the ladies by the immense
circumference of their hoops.
While we remained English colonies, a system of strict subordination
was observed throughout society. Men took off their hats, and women
made a profound courtesy to the magistrates, or the minister; children
seldom presumed to speak in the presence of their parents, and were
always taught to “make their manners,” when they met any person.
It was in these days of simplicity, that the marquis La Fayette
went to take leave of the mother of Washington, and found her
weeding her garden. The dignified matron received him cordially,
without embarrassment or apology; and when he congratulated her on
the greatness and glory of her son, she quietly replied: “I am not
surprised at what George has done; for he was always a good boy.”
The women of ’76 shared in the patriotism and bravery of the men. They
were ready to sacrifice themselves, or their children, for the good of
the country. Several individuals carried their enthusiasm so far as
to enter the army, where they courageously faced all the perils and
fatigues of the camp, until the close of the war.
The strange delusion concerning witchcraft, which prevailed in Europe,
extended itself to the English colonies toward the close of the
seventeenth century. Every old woman who had an ill temper, a sinister
expression of countenance, or an uncommon degree of shrewdness, was
in great danger of being burned for a witch. Indeed such was the
infatuation, that a little girl about four or five years old was
committed to prison, charged with biting some bewitched persons, who
showed the print of small teeth on their arms. Another poor child was
brought before the magistrates and asked, “How long hast thou been
a witch?” “Ever since I was six years old.” “How old are you now?”
“Brother Richard says I shall be eight years old next November.” “You
said you saw a black cat once; what did it say to you?” “It said it
would tear me to pieces if I did not sign my name to a book.” “How did
you afflict folks?” “I pinched them. My mother carried me to afflict
them.” “How could your mother carry you, when she was in prison?” “She
came like a black cat.” “How did you know it was your mother?” “The cat
told me she was my mother.”
It seems unaccountable that such testimony as this was gravely listened
to, and believed by the magistrates; and that too in cases where human
life was at stake; but the very nature of the supposed crime did not
admit of any other than absurd evidence. The delusion prevailed to
such a dreadful degree, that every woman feared her neighbor, and
when she lay down to sleep, knew not but the next night would find
her in prison. Children accused their own parents of carrying them to
witches’ meetings at midnight, and baptizing them in the name of the
devil. Sometimes the accused denied the charge, and when asked what God
witches prayed to, answered, “I cannot tell; the Lord help me:” but in
numerous instances they confessed themselves guilty of all the absurd
charges brought against them, and accused others as their accomplices.
Some of the accusers lived and died without ever acknowledging
that they had stated any thing untrue, although they were reputed
religious women; but several of those, who confessed guilt, afterward
acknowledged that they did it because they had been told it was the
only way to save their lives. Men were sometimes tried as wizards;
but this was comparatively rare. Some remnants of this superstition
lingered long after the universal epidemic subsided. Within the last
twenty years, an old woman in the vicinity of Boston, called Moll
Pitcher, pretended to tell fortunes, and her claims to supernatural
assistance were believed by many, especially by sailors.
The state of society in the United States bears a general resemblance
to the English, though considerably modified by the peculiar
circumstances of the country. In Europe, the female peasantry are
universally more virtuous than those who (for want of a better
term) are called the higher classes; even the _contadine_[4] of
voluptuous Italy are said to be generally modest in their character
and deportment. In America there is no class corresponding to the
peasantry; but nearly all the people are obliged to support themselves
by their own industry. The result is favorable to female virtue.
Intrigues with married women, so common in a more luxurious state
of society, are almost unheard of in the United States. Should a
Frenchman, or an Italian, address himself to an American woman in terms
with which his own countrymen are quite familiar, he would generally
find it very difficult to make himself understood. I by no means intend
to say that profligacy does not exist, even in the most puritanical
portions of our country--far, very far from it. The vicious class
of females in our cities perhaps bears as large a proportion to the
population, as in European towns; and among the respectable and genteel
classes of society, there are individuals whose conduct is culpable;
but these are exceptions to the general rule. The laws of modesty
are never transgressed in dress, except by a few ultra-fashionables,
and the opinion even of their own class is decidedly opposed to it.
But a change is visibly coming over the face of society. Wealth is
introducing luxury into our cities, and foreign refinements are coming
with foreign vices in their train. The descendants of the Puritans
allow their daughters to waltz, and think it no scandal to witness the
exhibition of opera-dancers. The substantial body of the people have
still a religious cast of character; but infidelity has taken strong
hold in cities. The connection between religion and marriage is not
obvious, but it is real. All infidels, whether they be found in France,
England, or America, have a decided tendency to regard the institution
of marriage as tyrannical. The lines of demarkation between different
classes are becoming more distinct, and active industry is considered
a bar to gentility. These causes may work slowly, or rapidly; but
if their ultimate effects prove favorable to virtue, the history of
America will differ from that of all other nations.
[4] Peasant girls.
One of the most observable traits in the character of Americans, is
the great value they place upon education. A mother will submit to any
privation for the sake of placing her children at good schools. There
are not many instances of the thorough and elegant female education,
which the higher classes of French and English receive; but women
are generally intelligent and well informed; a good knowledge of
history, the popular sciences, Latin, French, and Italian, are common
acquisitions; and among the descendants of the English settlers,
it is almost an unheard-of thing, for either man or woman, not to
know how to read and write. The Dutch settlers, with their wives
and daughters, are generally ignorant of those first rudiments of
learning; and the descendants of Africans, of all complexions, from
black to the slightest possible tinge of olive, are almost universally
so. In the slave-holding states, which constitute half the Union,
it is contrary to law to teach them the alphabet; and in the free
states the prejudice against their color is so strong, that they have
found many discouragements and obstacles in the path of learning. The
same prejudice excludes them from all trades and occupations, except
those which are considered the lowest. A young mulatto girl, of very
respectable character, belonging to Boston, lately attempted to learn
the art of mantua-making; she was charged ten dollars, five of which
were paid in advance. In a few days the mantua-maker informed her that
she must not come any more, because her other apprentices would not
consent to work in the same room with a colored person. Another girl,
who became an apprentice to a milliner, was discharged, because the
woman with whom the milliner boarded threatened to turn her out of the
house, if she thus equalized herself with a mulatto. It is almost an
invariable rule to exclude colored people from stages, and from all the
comforts and conveniences of vessels and steam-boats; respectability
of character and appearance, and ability to pay for such privileges,
make no difference in their treatment. A worthy woman, who attempts to
visit a dying child at a distance from her home, is generally liable to
insulting conduct and contemptuous expressions, if her complexion has
the least tinge of African ancestors.
In New Orleans there are a large class of the mixed races, called
Quaderoons. They are frequently the daughters of wealthy and
accomplished men, who do not spare expense in their education. As
a class, they are proverbial for beauty and gracefulness, and are
regarded with most peculiar and inveterate dislike by the white ladies.
In every slave state, it is supposed to be necessary, for the safety of
the planters, to have very severe laws with regard to free people of
color; and these laws fall oppressively upon the Quaderoons. Some of
them have inherited handsome fortunes; but they are not allowed to ride
in a carriage, they must not sit in the presence of white ladies, or
enter their apartments without special permission; they can moreover be
whipped, like slaves, upon any accusation proved by two witnesses. Many
of them have lost even the olive tinge, and have a fair skin, sometimes
with light hair and eyes; but the law forbidding marriage between the
colored and white race is applied to them. Their personal endowments
often render them objects of attraction to wealthy and distinguished
men, and custom bestows upon temporary connections a certain degree
of respectability. The Quaderoons are said to be generally modest
and decorous in their manners, but usually have that flexibility of
principle, which might be expected from people placed under such
pernicious influences. Instances are, however, by no means rare of
constant and virtuous attachments, which continue through life, though
the laws prevent their being sanctioned by the form of marriage. In
such cases, the children are frequently sent to France to be educated,
where they often form highly respectable matrimonial connections.
The attention of many people in the United States has recently been
called to the demoralizing influences growing out of slavery, and the
consequent prejudice against color. The reformation of the evil is in
the hands of Him, who hath said, “As ye would that others should do
unto you, do ye even so unto them.”
As a general rule, education among the wealthy classes is much more
neglected in the slave states than in other portions of the Union. This
is owing partly to the want of schools, and partly to the indolence
induced by slavery. It is a common thing, even for the wives and
daughters of distinguished men, to be as deficient in correct spelling,
as they are in a knowledge of household duties. But many are sent to
the free states for education; and not a few are admirable exceptions
to the above remarks. The southern ladies in general are delicately
formed, with pale complexions, a languid gracefulness of manner, and
a certain aristocratic bearing, acquired only by the early habit of
commanding those who are deemed immeasurably inferior.
The women of the United States have no direct influence in politics;
and here, as in England, it is deemed rather unfeminine to take an
earnest interest in public affairs. But perhaps there is no country in
the world, where women, as wives, sisters, and daughters, have more
influence, or more freedom. Some travellers have compassionated the
condition of American women, because they spend so small a portion of
their time in amusements; but this remark applies equally to men; and
it could not well be otherwise in a country where so much is to be
done, and where estates are so equally divided that few become very
wealthy. It is true that Americans do not treat their ladies with
the graceful gallantry of Frenchmen, or the chivalric deference of
Spaniards; but in place of these external refinements, women have their
respect, esteem, and undoubting confidence.
The class who are exempted from personal exertion, or at least from
personal superintendence of their domestic avocations, is comparatively
very small. Labor in the open fields and streets is rarely performed by
women, unless it be by foreign peasantry lately arrived in the country.
The buxom daughters of the Dutch farmers do indeed continue the old
custom of raking hay, and the girls in Weathersfield, Connecticut,
may often be seen at early dawn weeding the immense beds of onions,
for which that town is celebrated. A large proportion of schools
throughout the country are kept by women, and it is not uncommon for
them to keep shops for the sale of English and French goods, toys,
confectionary, &c. Mantua-making and millinary are, of course, their
peculiar province; and many are employed to tend looms in factories,
to set types in printing-offices, and fold sheets for the bookbinders.
By far the largest proportion of these do not work for support, but to
gain additional luxuries, which their parents cannot afford to furnish.
Nothing surprises a foreigner more than the near approach to equality
in the dress of different classes. The rich and fashionable are in most
respects like those of Europe; and humble imitators have need of great
diligence to copy their frequent changes. In the article of jewels, the
most wealthy cannot indeed cope with their European models; for the
diamonds of a foreign duchess often surpass in value the whole fortune,
real and personal, of a rich American.
The habit of tight lacing, in order to form a slender waist, has been
copied, like other European fashions. This practice, combined with
the habit of taking very little exercise in the open air, has an
unfavorable effect upon freshness of complexion and beauty of figure.
Excursions on horseback have lately become a very favorite amusement
with American ladies.
In a country where the price of labor is so high, it is no uncommon
thing to see domestics dressed as well as their employers. But though
silk gowns and laces have taken the place of coarse calicoes, the
situation of domestics is by no means improved. They are less contented
in their situation, and less conscientious in the discharge of their
duties, than they were in more patriarchal times. Many attribute this
difficulty to our democratic institutions; but I believe it originates
in a want of republican principle, not in the excess of it. If people
would consider their domestics as sisters of the great human family,
differing from them only in having, for the time being, a different
use to perform in society--if they would have a tender regard to their
health, a reasonable regard to their convenience, a friendly interest
in their characters and plans--in a word, if they would perpetually
acknowledge a reciprocity of duties--we should soon cease to hear
complaints of the indifference and carelessness of domestics. While
they are regarded as pieces of machinery, to whom nothing is due but
the payment of wages, they cannot be expected to feel a deep interest
for those who manifest so little interest in them.
American ladies are accused of being more prudish than foreigners. I
hope the charge will always remain a true one; but there may be an
excess even of a good thing; and when a sense of decorum led them
to be squeamish about seeing Greenough’s beautiful little cherubs,
because the marble innocents had no drapery about them, I acknowledge
it reminded me of Sir Charles Grandison’s remark: “Wottest thou not, my
dear, how much _in_delicacy there is in thy delicacy?”
The tendency of modern times has continually been toward external
refinement. The language used by queen Elizabeth and the queen of
Navarre would not now be tolerated in any part of the civilized
world; yet the marriage of a divorced wife aroused more virtuous
indignation in the court of Elizabeth, than a dozen such incidents
would now occasion, in any European court. Many phrases and subjects
of conversation which appear perfectly proper to an English or French
woman, are not so considered by an American. Some of our customs are,
however, offensive to the modesty of foreigners; such as the treatment,
condition, and sometimes the dress of female slaves. The practice
of being assisted by gentlemen, in rising from the rolling surf at
Rockaway, after indulging in the refreshment of bathing, has likewise
been regarded as singular. It is allowed on account of the overpowering
might of the waters, and scrupulous attention to propriety is observed
in all the arrangements of the bath.
The laws of England prevail in the United States, with slight
modifications. Marriages are not generally performed in the church,
because the dissenting sects are more numerous than Catholics or
Episcopalians. The ceremony is legal when performed by a magistrate,
but a clergyman is universally preferred. Fathers give portions to
daughters, according to their wealth, and it is a rare thing for a
bride to be entirely destitute. It is customary for women to purchase
their furniture, which is generally arranged in the house by some of
the bride’s female friends. Divorces are very uncommon. Infants are
never wrapped in the swaddling bands, ligatures, and biggins, still
used in many European countries. Of late years, even that pretty
ornament, the cap, is generally dispensed with, in conformity with
the advice of physicians, except at baptism and on other ceremonious
occasions. As yet, it is an uncommon circumstance, even among the rich,
for a mother not to nurse her own children.
Great freedom is allowed to young people; particularly during
courtship. In old times, the North Holland custom prevailed in interior
parts of the country, to considerable extent. It is a universal
practice for lovers to remain with the objects of their choice
several hours after other members of the family have retired to rest.
Aristocratic people do indeed consider this custom ungenteel, and
urge upon their daughters the scrupulous etiquette of more corrupt
countries. “The spirit of the age” is unfavorable to the old-fashioned
doctrine of “falling in love;” even literature, which formerly
represented this passion as the moving-spring of all human action,
now generally ridicules its power. This influence has extended in a
considerable degree to America; and mothers are not wanting who will
consent to sell their daughters to the highest bidder, though the
bargain is accompanied with formalities, supposed to render it much
more respectable than the sale of Circassian girls in the Turkish
markets. But while the country is so prosperous, and there are such
facilities for gaining a living, matches of interest will continue to
be exceptions to the general rule. Stolen marriages can be solemnized,
without the consent of friends, at Providence, Rhode Island, as at
Gretna Green, in Great Britain; but there is seldom any serious
opposition from parents to render such a step excusable.
There are very few convents in the United States. The nearest approach
to them among Protestants are the establishments of Shakers, where
the brethren and sisters live in different dwellings, and enter the
meeting-house by different doors. These people are proverbial for
neatness and industry; but their unnatural mode of life induces
something of automaton regularity, which is painful to a free spirit.
The games and amusements of America are similar to those of Protestant
Europe. Where all are peculiarly amenable to public opinion,
eccentricities in character or dress are very rare, and some complain
that this produces a monotonous surface of society. Lady Dare-all, the
pride of fox-hunters and horse-racers, would require even more boldness
to act in opposition to public opinion here, than was necessary for the
same process in England.
The custom of giving presents on the first of January is generally
observed; and Catholics and Episcopalians commemorate Christmas
with religious services and social festivity. In New England, the
last Thursday of November is set apart as a day of thanksgiving, in
conformity to the custom of their forefathers. All the members of
a family, far and near, generally meet under the parental roof on
this occasion. An abundant supply of roasted turkeys, puddings,
and pies are provided, and the day is spent in festivity. The poor
are bountifully supplied by their neighbors. In remote parts of the
country, it is still considered a delightful frolic for farmers’
families to meet together in the barn, to husk corn. If a girl finds
a red ear of corn, she is entitled to receive a kiss; and if a young
man finds one, he gains a right to take the same privilege. The party
partake of a plentiful supper, and there is no lack of merriment, or
good cheer.
Female societies for benevolent purposes are very numerous in the
United States. A large portion of their funds are gained by the sale of
ingenious articles of their own manufacture.
The United States have produced several female writers, some of whom
have talents of the highest order. Foreign critics would probably
unite with Americans in conferring the title of pre-eminence on Miss
Sedgwick; and never, in any age or country, have the laurels rested on
a woman of purer principles, or more expansive benevolence.
[Illustration: A Sewing Society.]
[Illustration: Woman of Caroline Islands.]
SOUTH SEA ISLANDS.
Among these numerous islands there is a general resemblance of habits
and manners. Their dwellings are small huts covered with matting, and
their furniture consists of a few gourds, cocoa-nut shells, lances,
slings, fishing-nets, and low wooden stools, of black or brown wood,
neatly inlaid with ivory obtained from whale’s teeth; these latter
articles serve both for seats and pillows. The floor is strewed with
soft grass, covered with mats, on which all the inmates of the house
sleep without distinction.
The clothing of both sexes is a species of cloth made from the bark of
the paper-mulberry tree, called _tapa_ or _gnatoo_. The common class
wear a strip of this cloth fastened about the hips and falling below
the knees. The wealthy sometimes have their garments trailing on the
ground, because an ample drapery, particularly if it be very fine and
delicate, is considered an indication of high rank. The upper part of
the person is usually entirely exposed; but on some occasions a mantle
of _tapa_ is thrown over the shoulders. In some places mats are worn,
one before and the other behind, fastened about the hips with a cord of
curious straw work. These mats are made of native flax, very fine and
silky, and woven with great neatness and ingenuity. Sometimes the edges
are ornamented with stripes of various colors, or with black diamonds,
colored with the husk of cocoa-nuts. In several of the islands, one
small square apron of this description constitutes all the clothing;
and a broad leaf, or a wreath of leaves, often supplies the place even
of this slight garment. The women of New Caledonia and New Hebrides
wear a short, clumsy-looking petticoat made of the filaments of the
plantain tree, about eight inches long, fastened to a very long cord
which is passed several times around the waist, until the filaments
lie one above another, several inches in thickness. The queens in the
Sandwich islands sometimes wear cloaks, or mantles, made of feathers of
various colors, and arranged in all manner of beautiful patterns; but
this magnificent dress is worn only by people of the highest rank.
In some of the islands, the women, when they go abroad, hold a green
bough, or a banana leaf, over their heads, by way of parasol; or sit
down and weave little bonnets of matting or cocoa-leaves, whenever they
have need of them. The belles occasionally decorate themselves with
fanciful turbans of fine white _gnatoo_, among which their shining
black ringlets are very tastefully arranged. Sometimes they wear a
curious kind of head-dress made of human hair, in braids nearly as fine
as sewing silk; these braids have been seen more than a mile long,
without a knot. Superb coronets of plumes are worn on state occasions
by people of distinction.
European fashions were adopted with great eagerness; and their
ignorance of the appropriate use of imported articles often led them
into the most grotesque blunders. Mr. Stewart says he has seen a
native woman of high rank, and monstrous size, going to church in a
fine white muslin dress, with a heavy silver-headed cane, an immense
French chapeau, thick woodman’s shoes, and no stockings. But they soon
learned better. In those islands that carry on a traffic with Europe
and America, the royal family now have their walking dresses, dinner
dresses, and evening dresses, of velvet, satin, or crape, in the most
approved style; and their wooden stools are changed for sofas and
pillows covered with morocco or damask.
In nearly all the South Sea islands, it is the custom to make an
incision in the lobe of each ear, into which they introduce large rolls
of leaves, sometimes covered with a very thin plate of tortoise shell,
cylindrical pieces of ivory three inches long, or bits of wood, from
which they suspend shells, or the teeth of fishes. Sometimes these
heavy ornaments distend the ears so much, that the lobes nearly touch
the shoulders; and sometimes they are torn asunder, and hang in two
slips. These people are exceedingly fond of flowers, which they wear
sometimes inserted in the upper edge of the ear, sometimes thrust
through the cartilage of the nose, and sometimes woven in beautiful
garlands, around the head or the neck. They place peculiar value on
necklaces of whale’s teeth, strung in such a manner that the largest
come in front, while the others gradually decrease in size toward the
back of the neck. When the string is drawn, the pointed extremities
diverge, and form a handsome contrast with their dark brown skins.
Both sexes are about equally fond of finery. The men of the South
Sea islands consider profuse tattooing an indication of rank; and
some of them appear to be covered with a permanent suit of embroidery
from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot. The women are
much less addicted to this practice. Some have their hands tattooed,
like embroidered gloves; the feet and ankles of others are stained to
resemble ornamented half-boots; while others have merely a few dots on
the tip of the tongue, or the palm of the hand. In the Feejee islands
only the women are tattooed, while the men are not.
The hair of the South Sea islanders is remarkably black, glossy, and
beautiful. Some have attributed this to the circumstance of their
being so much in the salt water; and others have supposed it might
be owing to the constant use of cocoa-nut oil. In some islands they
rub the hair frequently with lemon-juice, which is said to give it a
peculiar lustre. In many places the natural beauty of their tresses is
concealed by an artificial color, generally brown or purple, but in a
few instances of a deep orange hue. In the Sandwich islands several
women have been seen, with hair stained rose-color; these women cut
their hair short, comb it back in front, and plaster it with a kind of
lime made of burnt shells, so that there is always a white circle round
the forehead, contrasting strongly with their dark skins. In the Feejee
islands they likewise powder the hair with ashes of the bread-fruit
leaf, or stiffen it with pulverized lime. But generally, throughout
these islands, they wear the hair long and smooth, tied up behind in
a neat and tasteful manner, or suffered to float gracefully over the
shoulders. No small degree of coquetry is shown in playing with it, and
throwing it out upon the wind.
Complexion varies in the different islands from deep copper-color to
light olive. The natives of the Marquesas have light brown complexions,
so clear that the mantling blush may be distinctly seen. They generally
have fine teeth, expressive features, remarkably delicate hands and
arms, and large sparkling eyes, with long glossy eyelashes. These
women are considered pre-eminent among the South Sea islanders for
beauty of face and figure. When they become tanned, they have a method
of bleaching the skin with the juices of certain plants. The first
effect of this cosmetic is a very dark appearance; but they remain in
the house, covered up with mats, until it can be washed off, and then
the skin becomes very fair. This is considered a necessary preparation
for great festivals, though it often costs the ladies several days of
seclusion.
In Otaheite they have graceful forms, teeth white and regular, bright
black eyes, pale brown complexions, and a skin remarkable for its
softness; but the custom of widening the face by continual pressure
during infancy gives it a broad and masculine look.
Notwithstanding the practice of frequent bathing, the inhabitants of
nearly all the Polynesian islands are much afflicted with cutaneous
disorders.
These islanders are, in general, very particular about cleaning their
mouths, and frequently rub their teeth with charcoal, or the husk of
cocoa-nut. They bathe at sunrise and sunset; and if removed from the
vicinity of the sea, they have water poured over them plentifully
from cocoa-nut shells. After this, they generally anoint themselves
with cocoa-nut oil, perfumed with the aroma of flowers; some color it
with the juice of the tumeric, which makes it a pale yellow, or with
the burnt root, which produces a deep orange. Wealthy people anoint
themselves with oil of sandal-wood. White men, who salute the ladies
of the South sea, are sometimes betrayed by a transfer of yellow and
orange tints to their own faces.
Throughout these islands, they salute each other by rubbing noses,
or touching the nose to the forehead, as if smelling. Our mode of
expressing affection seems to them very ridiculous, and they call
it, in derision, “the white man’s kiss.” At Radack it is considered
indecorous for any but husband and wife to salute each other after the
fashion of their country, and even they never do it before strangers.
Sensuality is the prevailing characteristic of the South Sea islanders.
The licentiousness of their habits and manners, unchecked by nearness
of relationship, and unrestrained by any sense of decency, is too
gross to be described. A child not unfrequently finds its mother and
aunt, or mother and grandmother, in the same individual. The Sandwich
islands and the Society islands have maintained a shameful pre-eminence
in this respect; and the evil has been much increased by the frequent
visits of European and American vessels. Some of the islands furnish an
agreeable exception to these remarks. The women of the Tonga islands
are said to be very modest and reserved. They take great care of their
children; and their girls are early taught many little ornamental
accomplishments, such as plaiting flowers in various fanciful devices,
as presents for their fathers, brothers, and superior chiefs. Voyagers
have likewise described the women of Radack and New Caledonia as decent
in their deportment and bashful about mixing with strangers. The
natives of the Pelew islands are characterized by an uncommon degree of
virtue and decorum, and their manners, though simple and untutored,
are remarkably delicate and obliging.
Gluttony is a prevailing fault in most of the islands of the Pacific.
The wealthy class, who can freely indulge their appetites, attain to a
size quite as unwieldy as the Moorish women. It is mentioned of one of
the queens of the Sandwich islands, that she was in the habit of eating
so inordinately, that she remained sluggish for the remainder of the
day, and it became necessary for attendants to rub her continually. Mr.
Stewart speaks of seeing one of the king’s wives greedily devouring a
large living fish, while the blood spirted over her face, and the poor
animal wreathed its fins about her head in expiring agony.
Cannibalism prevails in nearly all the islands. The flesh of women and
children is preferred to that of men; and captives taken in war are
often devoted to this dreadful purpose. In some of the islands this
practice is abolished.
Infanticide is of common occurrence in many of the South Sea islands.
In Radack, on account of scarcity of provisions, no woman is allowed to
bring up more than three children; if she has more than this number,
she is herself obliged to bury them alive; the families of chiefs
only are exempted from this horrible necessity. Among the warlike
inhabitants of New Zealand, boys are of course prized more highly than
girls; and when mothers have several daughters in succession, they do
not hesitate to destroy them as soon as they are born. When a chief is
very ill, it is customary to strangle the infant child of some female
slave, or inferior person, from the idea that it will propitiate the
gods. Mr. Mariner relates an instance of this kind that occurred while
he was in the Tonga islands. The mother, having some forebodings of
what was to be done, hid her babe. But it was discovered, and carried
off by some men, who ordered the poor woman to be held back by force,
to prevent her from following them. When the child heard her voice,
he began to cry; but when arrived at the place of execution, he was
so much pleased with the bright band of _gnatoo_ about to be tied
round his neck, that he looked up and laughed with delight. This
excited so much pity, that even the executioner could not help saying,
“Poor little innocent!” Two men pulled the cords, and the smiling
little victim was soon deprived of life. In some instances, mothers
whose children have been thus destroyed have become crazy, and never
recovered their senses.
In the Marquesas and Caroline islands, infanticide is a thing unknown.
Even in New Zealand, and in other places where this shocking custom
prevails and is justified, the children they do rear are cherished
with the most indulgent tenderness, and no difference of treatment is
observable toward sons or daughters.
Mr. Ellis thus describes the conduct of a chief named Tetoro, whom he
saw at the Bay of Islands in 1816: “Before we set out on our short
excursion, an incident occurred, which greatly raised my estimation of
Tetoro’s character. In the front of the hut sat his wife, with two or
three children playing around her. In passing from the hut to the boat,
he struck one of the little ones with his foot; the child cried, and
though the chief had his mat on, and his gun in his hand, and was in
the act of stepping into the boat, where we were waiting for him, he no
sooner heard its cries, than he turned back, took the child up in his
arms, stroked its little head, dried its tears, and giving it to the
mother, hastened to join us.”
The unbounded and almost incredible licentiousness that has prevailed
in the Sandwich islands and at Otaheite, has produced the natural
effect of diminishing parental and maternal love. When it is
inconvenient to take care of children, there is no hesitation about
killing them; if strangers wish to buy, they are willing to sell
them for a string of beads; they generally pay little attention to
their cries or sufferings; and if the poor little creatures are very
ill, they lay them down upon the sands to die. The introduction of
Christianity into these islands is, however, gradually producing a
better state of things.
The birth of a son is hailed with the utmost delight. He generally
receives the name of some animal, river, or island; but sometimes
slight incidents give rise to a name; thus a little girl of the
Sandwich islands was called Lealea-hoku, or _The Star Necklace_,
because she had a necklace made of small steel stars, such as European
ladies formerly wore on their shoes.
In New Zealand, fathers take the entire care of boys from the moment
they are weaned. The child clasps his little arms about the neck of
his parent, and remains suspended on his shoulders, covered with his
mat, during the longest journeys and most toilsome occupations. The
children are so much accustomed to this position, that they sleep with
perfect security.
Infants in this part of the world are nursed a long time. They are
often able to run about and talk, before they are weaned. When mothers
are busy at their work, they lay them down on a clean mat, and when
necessary to carry them about, they fasten them in a sort of satchel at
their backs. Little children seldom wear clothing of any kind. In the
Marquesas, every child inherits at least one bread-fruit tree from its
parents; for if they have no trees in their possession, one is planted
as soon as an infant is born, that it may have something for future
maintenance. The tree is immediately _tabooed_, or forbidden, to every
one except the individual for whom it is set apart. Even the parents
of the child are not allowed to eat of the fruit, or to dispose of it.
Both girls and boys, men and women, hold this species of property with
perfect security.
The connections formed in the South Sea islands hardly deserve the
name of marriage. They take place with very little ceremony, and are
dissolved whenever the husband wishes for a change. A woman often has
five or six husbands in succession, without the slightest disparagement
to her character; but whether she continues to like her companion or
not, she is bound to remain with him till he consents to a separation.
The first time a daughter is married, her parents present a hog, a
fowl, or a plantain tree, to their son-in-law, before it is allowable
for them to eat of his provisions; but this is not customary when the
woman has previously had a husband. In some places the lover offers
the bride’s father a present of fruit, fish, or other articles, the
value of which depends upon his rank. Chieftains of the higher classes
generally give a feast on the occasion of a daughter’s marriage. The
bride is loaded with mats of the finest workmanship, anointed with
fragrant oil, and veiled in delicate white gnatoo. The guests wear
wreaths of flowers, and floating red ribands, resembling silk, made of
the fine membrane of a tree. When the father gives his daughter to the
bridegroom, he reminds her that she is now _tabooed_, or belongs solely
and sacredly to her husband. The entertainment concludes with singing,
dancing, and wrestling.
If a powerful chief takes a fancy to a girl, he often carries her
off by force, and in spite of her resistance; ambitious parents not
unfrequently betroth their daughters in infancy to some man of rank,
and the contract must afterward be fulfilled; female captives taken
in war are always at the disposal of their conquerors; but, generally
speaking, mutual inclination constitutes the sole bond of union in all
the islands of the Pacific.
At Nukuhiva it is the custom for every woman to have two husbands. Some
favorite of a girl’s father becomes her husband, while she is yet very
young, and remains under the paternal roof, until she is contracted
in marriage to another individual. On this occasion, the wife and her
first companion remove to their new residence, and are both supported
by the second husband.
In the other islands, polygamy prevails under the more usual form of
a plurality of wives. The number varies according to circumstances;
the poor seldom have more than one or two; the chiefs sometimes have
twelve or fifteen. She who is of the best family is the principal wife;
the others are subordinate to her, and her children take precedence
of theirs. If the mothers are not noble, the children are never so,
whatever may be the rank of their father.
When Mr. Marsden, the missionary, talked with some of the New Zealand
chiefs concerning the disadvantages of polygamy, they frankly admitted
that they should have a more quiet life with one wife, for their
women always quarrelled. The younger wives, particularly if they are
handsome, often suffer a great deal from the tyranny of the older
ones; and if their rank be inferior, their situation is sometimes most
lamentable. All the women, who heard the subject discussed, agreed that
it would be far better for each man to have but one wife.
Finow, one of the most powerful of the Tonga chiefs, had a sister, who
was a very beautiful and lively girl. She talked much about England,
and had a desire to go there to amass a great quantity of beads; but
she said she supposed the _papalangi_ men would not marry a girl
with such a brown skin, and it would be a sad pity to leave so many
handsome young chiefs in the Tonga islands, for the sake of living
unmarried in England. She added, laughing, “I think the white men must
be uncommonly kind, good-natured husbands, or else white women must
have very little spirit; for if it were not so, they could not live so
long together without parting. It is a very good custom to have but one
wife, provided the husband loves her; but if he does not, he will only
tyrannize over her the more; and then she has not so good a chance to
deceive him, as where his attention is divided between five or six.”
Notwithstanding the universal practice of polygamy, there are instances
of very strong domestic attachment in the South Sea islands. It is said
that the infidelity of a husband or wife has often driven the other
party to suicide.
Throughout the South Sea islands a woman may carry on as many amours
as she chooses, without incurring any blame, until she is married,
and thus becomes an article of property; yet notwithstanding this
unpropitious course of education, instances of misconduct after
marriage are said to be by no means frequent.
The king’s wives are always guarded by attendants, who keep a strict
watch upon their proceedings, and whose lives are responsible for a
breach of trust.
Where the parties are of high rank, an unfaithful wife and her paramour
are sometimes both strangled and thrown into the sea; but usually the
woman receives a sound beating, and no farther notice is taken of the
offence. In the Marquesas, if a husband have just cause of complaint,
he can transfer his wife, even against her will, to any man who will
take her.
In some of the islands, men form what is called “the bond of
friendship” with each other. By this bond, individuals are bound to
protect and assist each other under all circumstances; and one friend
is expected to resign his wife to the other, whenever he visits his
house.
It is a common practice for women of rank to be the adopted mother of
some individual for whom their husbands entertain great regard. One of
the wives of Finow performed this office for Mr. Mariner during his
residence in the Tonga islands, and he owed much of his convenience and
comfort to her motherly care.
The women of the Ladrone or Marian islands are of a dark yellow
complexion. Their teeth are spoiled by the constant use of betel. They
dress modestly, and wear the hair tied very low, almost in the neck. If
a man marries a woman whose fortune is superior to his, he performs the
menial offices of household labor; he cannot dispose of the smallest
article without her permission; and should his temper or habits prove
disagreeable, she can leave him, carrying with her all the children and
property. If he detects her in misconduct, he may kill the gallant,
but has no right to use her ill. Should he, on the contrary, be found
guilty of the same fault, his wife collects all the women of the
neighborhood, who destroy his garden, his grain, and his dwelling, and
beat him like so many furies, if they can find him.
Where the husband and wife possess an equal degree of property, labor
and authority is more equally divided. It is not probable that these
things are regulated by laws; but where women are upheld by powerful
connections, their husbands are compelled to yield to the right of the
strongest. According to an ancient law, if the father or brother of a
young woman saved a superior from any imminent danger, the latter was
required to prove his gratitude by marrying the girl without any dowry.
This law was repealed, but by the force of custom it is still generally
observed. Disputes between the men are decided by the women; but female
disputes are settled by themselves. When champions try their skill in
single combat, women adjudge the victory, and present the reward, which
usually consists of fruit or linen. Mourning is worn in the Ladrone
islands two months for a man, and six months for a woman.
In the South Sea islands men and women never eat together. Women take
their food in the same huts in which they sleep; and if any one should
presume to enter the eating-houses of the men, she would be immediately
strangled and thrown into the sea. Articles of luxury, such as pork,
turtle, shark, cocoa-nuts, bananas, or plantains, are forbidden to
women. These rigorous prohibitions are disobeyed whenever it can be
done secretly. When ships are near the shore, the women often swim
off to them in the night, and indulge their appetites by feasting on
various forbidden delicacies. Mr. Campbell says that he once saw the
queen of the Sandwich islands herself guilty of this transgression;
but she told him her life would be forfeited, should the circumstance
be discovered.
On sacred days women are not allowed to enter the morai, or temple;
and at such seasons they must not go out in a canoe. At the Caroline
islands, where they have no idols, but offer the first-fruits of the
earth to invisible gods, men and women present their offerings in
different temples, and at different times, and no man is allowed to be
present while the women perform their religious ceremonies.
Riho-Riho, king of the Sandwich islands, at the same time that he
caused all the idols to be destroyed, abolished the custom which made
it impossible for women to eat with their own husbands and fathers.
He invited all the principal chiefs, foreign traders, and mercantile
agents to a dinner party. Two long tables, covered with dainties, were
spread in an open bower, around which a great multitude had assembled.
When the company had all taken their seats, the king, with considerable
agitation, seated himself between two of his queens, offered them some
of the food forbidden to women, and himself ate from the same dish with
them. Some fears were entertained lest this bold innovation of ancient
usages should occasion a revolt; but the temporary excitement among the
people soon yielded to their habitual obedience to the chief.
In New Hebrides and New Caledonia, the women are scarcely treated
better than they are in New Guinea and New Holland; but, with these
exceptions, the condition of Polynesian women is generally preferable
to that of most savage tribes. The men universally take a share, though
not always an equal one, in laborious occupations. In the Tonga isles
a considerable degree of respect and delicacy is manifested toward
women of all classes. It is considered rude to take any freedoms
without their full consent, and they are not required to perform any
hard labor, or very menial tasks. Traits of gallantry and romantic
tenderness may be discovered in some of their love stories.
The sovereign power is often inherited by a woman; and not unfrequently
many powerful chiefs acknowledge the supremacy of a queen, pay her
tribute, and approach her with all the ceremonials due to superior
rank. The most distinguished warrior, if he have a wife descended
from a family more noble than his own, cannot dispense with certain
respectful forms prescribed by etiquette. The female chiefs have
as numerous attendants as the men. It is the business of these
attendants to shade them with umbrellas, to carry their fans, pipes,
spitting-boxes, and _kahiles_, or feathered staffs with richly
ornamented handles, borne as an insignia of their rank. Within doors
they are stationed near them to drive away the flies, while they are
eating, smoking, or sleeping. Mr. Stewart describes Tamehamaru, queen
of the Sandwich islands, as “a dignified and graceful woman, with an
unaffected expression of conscious and acknowledged rank.” When he
first saw her, she was seated at a long table, with an open writing
desk before her, receiving tribute from her subjects, as they passed
along in single file. It is now no uncommon thing, in the vicinity of
missionary stations, for chiefs, both male and female, to know how to
read and write; and it has even been said that one of the princesses
has her autobiography in preparation for the press.
A remarkable degree of energy and moral courage was evinced by one of
the native women, who had been a convert to Christianity. There was a
large burning lake in the island, that frequently sent forth volcanic
flames. From time immemorial there had been a tradition that this place
was the residence of Pelé, the mighty goddess of fire. Priestesses were
appointed to attend upon this invisible deity, and to place food within
the crater for her use; but all except these sacred women were afraid
to approach, lest they should be instantly devoured. Notwithstanding
the strength of this popular delusion, a female chief descended into
the crater, and stirred the fiery ashes with a stick, to convince her
ignorant countrymen that Pelé the fire goddess was merely an imaginary
being, and nothing was to be dreaded from her vengeance.
Besides the acknowledged priestesses, there are people of both sexes,
who when afflicted with extreme depression of spirits, without any
apparent cause, are supposed to be inspired by the gods.
Women of the South Sea islands are generally permitted to speak in
their councils, and their advice is listened to with respect. Finow
murdered his brother, and conferred his authority upon his aunt. She
assembled all the principal people, acknowledged her great obligations
to her deceased nephew, and proposed a rebellion against the government
of Finow. The matter was discussed for a long time, when the sister
of the female chief who had first spoken, rushed into the assembly,
armed with a club and spear, and exclaimed in a loud voice: “Why do
ye hesitate so long, when honor so clearly points out the proper path
to pursue? If the men have become women, the women will be men, and
revenge the death of their murdered chief! Then stand and look idly
on, while women are sacrificed in the glorious cause! Perhaps their
example may at last excite you to die in defence of their rights.” This
thrilling exhortation had the desired effect upon the chieftains.
In one respect, there is a decided contrast between the savages of
the South sea and those of North America. The North American Indians
consider voluptuousness a despicable vice; and in cases of seduction,
far more blame is attached to the man than the woman. The latter is
forgiven; and, unless her conduct is very gross, finds no difficulty
in subsequently forming a matrimonial connection; but her betrayer is
treated with the utmost neglect and contempt. It may be questioned,
whether Christian nations are in this respect so just as the Indians.
While such severe blame and eternal infamy rests on women who have
been deceived, it is obviously unjust that civilized society should so
readily forgive the deceiver.
The most common employment of the South sea women is the manufacture
of _tapa_, for garments and bed clothes. It is made from the bark of
the paper mulberry tree, beaten out with a piece of wood grooved like
a crimping machine. It can be bleached perfectly white, and much of
it is worn in that state. But in general it is stained with a variety
of colors extracted from vegetable productions. The stamps used for
this purpose are made by the women; sometimes by embroidering leaves
with fibres, so as to produce a raised surface, but more frequently by
cutting the pattern in a piece of bamboo. When _tapa_ is printed in
this way, it is called _gnatoo_. In point of beauty it compares very
well with calico; but as it cannot be washed, a new suit is frequently
required.
Women likewise braid very beautiful mats. Those used for sleeping are
coarse and strong; but some of them are exceedingly white and delicate,
or fancifully ornamented with stained grass woven in various patterns.
Mr. Nicholas saw a remarkably elegant and highly finished mat, made of
flax, by the wife of a New Zealand chief, and he was assured that it
could not be manufactured in less time than two or three years. Even
queens pride themselves on their skill in weaving mats and baskets. The
eating-houses, being sacred to the use of men, are built entirely by
men; but in many of the islands women assist in the construction of the
dwellings appropriated to common use. Sometimes a woman of distinction
may be seen carrying a heavy stone for the foundation of a building,
while a stout attendant carries the light feathered staff to denote
her rank. In some places people of noble birth pride themselves on
very long nails, to show that they perform no labor; but, generally
speaking, women of all classes assist in the labors of agriculture, and
the management of canoes; and when a journey is performed, they often
carry the baggage. Mr. Marsden, speaking of an expedition of about
fifty of the natives of New Zealand, says: “We were to travel more than
a hundred miles, in some of the worst paths that can be conceived, and
to carry provisions for the journey. A chief’s wife came with us all
the way, and I believe her load could not be less than one hundred
pounds; many carried much more.”
Females, particularly of the higher class, spend a great deal of their
time in making ornaments for their persons, such as necklaces, finger
rings, coronets and mantles of feathers. In those islands where there
are missionaries and other European residents, they are learning to
make neat hats and bonnets, and garments of cotton and silk. These
native mantua-makers are said to evince great dexterity and skill in
their new occupation. But with all these various employments, the
Polynesians, either men or women, seldom work more than five hours out
of the twenty-four. They sleep and lounge half their time, and frolic
away a good portion of the remainder. They are attracted by every new
object, and run after it with the eagerness of children. Mrs. Williams,
wife of one of the missionaries, says: “The best of native girls will,
on a hot day, take themselves off and swim, just when you may be
wishing for some one to relieve you; and after this, they will go to
sleep for two or three hours. The moment a boat arrives, away run men,
boys, and girls, to the beach. If the mistress censures them, they will
laugh at her, and tell her she has ‘too much of the mouth.’”
Dancing is one of the most common amusements in the islands of the
South sea. The dances in which the women join are generally slow and
graceful, accompanied by a variety of motions with the head, body, and
limbs. In most of these dances, little attention is paid to decorum.
Sometimes forty or fifty women dance together in a solid square,
changing their attitudes every moment; sometimes all squatting down,
and then all springing up at the same moment. A musician accompanies
the dancers, who beats a small drum, made of a cocoa-nut shell covered
with shark’s skin. The women likewise strike pieces of wood or notched
reeds together in cadence, like the castanets of more civilized
nations. In addition to this they often wear around their ankles a
network of shells, or dog’s teeth, which rattle as they dance.
They have songs descriptive of war, or love, or beautiful scenery.
These are generally sung alternately by both sexes, in a sort of
recitative. The following are extracts from a favorite song among the
Tonga people: “The women said to us, let us repair to the back of the
island to contemplate the setting sun; there let us listen to the
warbling of birds and the cooing of the wood-pigeon. We will gather
flowers from the burial place at Matawto, and then bathe in the sea,
and anoint ourselves in the sun with sweet-scented oil, and will weave
in garlands the flowers gathered at Matawto. Oh, how much happier shall
we be than when engaged in the wearisome and insipid affairs of life!
How troublesome are the young men begging for wreaths of flowers, while
they say in their flattery, ‘See how charming these young girls look
coming from Licoo! How beautiful is their skin, diffusing around a
fragrance like the flowery precipice of Mataloco!’”
It is a common amusement with the women of Polynesia to throw up five
balls in such a manner as to keep four perpetually in the air. They
are thrown with the left hand, and caught with the right. The players
at the same time chant verses, with the cadence of which their motions
keep perfect time. Sometimes seven or eight join together in this
recreation.
Swimming is their favorite diversion, and they show an astonishing
degree of courage and expertness in the practice of it. Women will
often, for mere sport, frolic in places where such a tremendous surf
breaks on the shore, that the boldest European swimmer would not dare
to venture within its power. If beads, or nails, be thrown into the
sea, they will dive after them with incredible velocity, and seldom
fail to bring them up.
If a shark makes his appearance when women are swimming, it is said the
playful water nymphs surround him, and, if they can once get him into
the surf, fairly drive him on shore; and even if the monster escapes
from them, they continue their sport, without any apparent fear of
danger.
At great festivals it is not uncommon for the women to wrestle together
in pairs. Finow, king of Tonga, ordered a mock fight, in which fifteen
hundred women were ranged on each side. They gave fair hits, without
pulling each other’s hair, and kept up the contest about an hour,
without an inch of ground being lost by either side.
In the Radack islands women fight not merely for pastime, but in good
earnest. They station themselves behind the men, beating drums, and
throwing stones gathered in baskets for the purpose. When the combat is
ended, they throw themselves in as mediators between the conquerors and
the vanquished.
When a person of superior rank is ill, it is customary for his
relations to cut off a joint of the little finger, as a sacrifice to
the gods for his recovery. Even little children will quarrel for the
honor of laying their finger upon a block of wood, and having a joint
cut off with an axe, or sharp stone. As soon as a person dies, the air
is rent with the shrieks and lamentations of friends and dependents.
The house is hung with coarse brown _gnatoo_ striped with black, and
the mourners, as an indication of wretchedness and gloom, wear the
most ragged and dirty mats they can find. They pluck out the hair,
beat their faces till they become black and swollen, and disfigure
themselves in a frightful manner with gashes made by sharp shells.
Very handsome women sometimes, in the excess of their grief, destroy
every vestige of their beauty. In the Feejee islands, when a chief
dies, custom requires that his principal wife should be strangled and
buried with him. Powerful friends, by the offer of very valuable gifts,
may save the widow from this fate; but in many cases they are unable
to do it, and in others the victim makes it a point of honor to be
sacrificed. In the Sandwich islands, it was formerly the practice to
immolate a number of slaves on the grave of the king and queen; but
this custom has been abolished by the influence of the missionaries.
The graves are decorated with flowers, and carefully kept in order with
smooth layers of black and white pebbles gathered from the beach.
Pitcairn’s island was peopled by English seamen, who having mutinied
on board the ship Bounty, sought concealment on its distant and
rock-bound shores. They went to Otaheite to obtain wives, returned in
safety, and for more than twenty years remained in complete seclusion
from the civilized world. It would be difficult for the imagination to
form a more charming picture, than the description of these primitive
people given by the first navigators who visited them in their peaceful
retreat. The young people were tall, vigorous, and most beautifully
formed, with countenances expressive of the utmost innocence,
frankness, kindness, and good humor. The women were exceedingly lovely,
and modest even to bashfulness. Marriages were performed with the
utmost solemnity, by John Adams, the old patriarch of the colony.
When young people formed an attachment for each other, it was simply
necessary to inform this old man that the lover had cleared a piece
of land, and raised sufficient stock to support a family; under such
circumstances, his approbation was easily obtained, and the marriage
ceremony immediately solemnized. Their habits were extremely neat and
orderly, and their manners characterized by the utmost purity and
decorum.
The young women assisted their fathers and brothers in the cultivation
of the ground, which produced bread-fruit, yams, sweet potatoes,
cocoa-nuts and bananas. They likewise manufactured _tapa_ for garments,
after the manner of their Otaheitan mothers; and had caps and bonnets
of their own weaving, in which they displayed a great deal of taste and
ingenuity.
The Sabbath was kept as a day of rest and devotion, and they never ate
a meal without kneeling and returning thanks, in the most simple and
unaffected manner, to the great Giver of all mercies.
[Illustration]
Transcriber’s Notes
Punctuation errors have been corrected.
Page 25: “bass-relief” changed to “bas-relief”
Page 208: “dance a cotillon” changed to “dance a cotillion”
Page 249: “Rio Janeiro” changed to “Rio de Janeiro”
*** End of this LibraryBlog Digital Book "The history of the condition of women, in various ages and nations (vol. 2 of 2) : Comprising the women of Europe, America, and South Sea Islands" ***
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