“The honor of the lilyIs in your hands to keep,And the Banner of the Cross, for HimWho died on Calvary’s steep:And the city which for Christian prayerHath heard the holy bell—And is ittheseyour hearts would yieldTo 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 deathMeet for his royal race.“Look on him as he slumbersIn the shadow of the Lance!Thengo, and with the Cross forsakeThe princely Babe of France!But tell your homes ye leftoneheartTo perish undefiled;A woman and a queen, to guardHer honor and her child!”
“The honor of the lilyIs in your hands to keep,And the Banner of the Cross, for HimWho died on Calvary’s steep:And the city which for Christian prayerHath heard the holy bell—And is ittheseyour hearts would yieldTo 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 deathMeet for his royal race.“Look on him as he slumbersIn the shadow of the Lance!Thengo, and with the Cross forsakeThe princely Babe of France!But tell your homes ye leftoneheartTo perish undefiled;A woman and a queen, to guardHer honor and her child!”
“The honor of the lilyIs in your hands to keep,And the Banner of the Cross, for HimWho died on Calvary’s steep:And the city which for Christian prayerHath heard the holy bell—And is ittheseyour hearts would yieldTo the goodless Infidel?
“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 ittheseyour 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 deathMeet for his royal race.
“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 slumbersIn the shadow of the Lance!Thengo, and with the Cross forsakeThe princely Babe of France!But tell your homes ye leftoneheartTo perish undefiled;A woman and a queen, to guardHer honor and her child!”
“Look on him as he slumbers
In the shadow of the Lance!
Thengo, and with the Cross forsake
The princely Babe of France!
But tell your homes ye leftoneheart
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 wordsOn every sword shall be!Rest, with thy fair child on thy breast,Rest, we will guard thee wellSt. Dennis for the Lily-flower,And the Christian citadel!”
“We are thy warriors, lady!True to the Cross and thee!The spirit of thy kindling wordsOn every sword shall be!Rest, with thy fair child on thy breast,Rest, we will guard thee wellSt. Dennis for the Lily-flower,And the Christian citadel!”
“We are thy warriors, lady!True to the Cross and thee!The spirit of thy kindling wordsOn every sword shall be!Rest, with thy fair child on thy breast,Rest, we will guard thee wellSt. Dennis for the Lily-flower,And the Christian citadel!”
“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 ofMademoiselle; 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 hissword. 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.”
“Pour meriter son cœur, pour plaire à ses beaux yeux,J’ai fait la guerre aux Roix; je l’ aurois fait aux Dieux.”
“Pour meriter son cœur, pour plaire à ses beaux yeux,J’ai fait la guerre aux Roix; je l’ aurois fait aux Dieux.”
“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 anobleman 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. Theuniversities 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 forits 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 calledmarguérites,) 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 thepre-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 wifeof 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 isJock, and this isme,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 heartTo see ’t that night.”
“Jean slips in twa wi tentie e’e;Wha ’twas she wadna tell:But this isJock, and this isme,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 heartTo see ’t that night.”
“Jean slips in twa wi tentie e’e;Wha ’twas she wadna tell:But this isJock, and this isme,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 heartTo see ’t that night.”
“Jean slips in twa wi tentie e’e;
Wha ’twas she wadna tell:
But this isJock, and this isme,
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 andpull 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 concerningthe 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,”
“A mantle of rich degree,Purple pall and ermine fre,”
“A mantle of rich degree,Purple pall and ermine fre,”
“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 wordhlaf-dig, meaning aloaf-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; gamesshows, 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.”
“Men some to pleasure, some to business take,But every woman is at heart a rake.”
“Men some to pleasure, some to business take,But every woman is at heart a rake.”
“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 whenceProceeds that fund of wit and sense,Which, though her modesty would shroud,Breaks like the sun behind a cloud.Ten thousand oaths upon recordAre 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 descryShe needs assistance more than I,She seems to feel my pains alone,And is a stoic to her own.Where among scholars can you findSo soft, and yet so firm a mind?”
“Her hearers are amazed from whenceProceeds that fund of wit and sense,Which, though her modesty would shroud,Breaks like the sun behind a cloud.Ten thousand oaths upon recordAre 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 descryShe needs assistance more than I,She seems to feel my pains alone,And is a stoic to her own.Where among scholars can you findSo soft, and yet so firm a mind?”
“Her hearers are amazed from whenceProceeds that fund of wit and sense,Which, though her modesty would shroud,Breaks like the sun behind a cloud.Ten thousand oaths upon recordAre 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 descryShe needs assistance more than I,She seems to feel my pains alone,And is a stoic to her own.Where among scholars can you findSo soft, and yet so firm a mind?”
“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, fashionableby 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 werepointed 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 bluestockings 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 greaternumber 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 enjoymentof 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 gooddeal 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 ardentprofessions, 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 characterizedby 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 wascouleur 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 Lyonsand 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, orà 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 wherewomen 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, whichoften 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 hisAve 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 acortego, 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 ofdonnais 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 containingher 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, whilelittle 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 hercavaliere 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 suchliaisons, 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 succeedin 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 aresaid 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 “lunetteof 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. Thewomen 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 travelon 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 thecase 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 industriousin 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 laborioustasks. 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.