appointed for the men, who are to be entertained by celestial beauties. But there is a place of happiness destined for souls of the inferior order, where all good women are to be in eternal bliss. Many of them are very superstitious, and will not remain widows ten days, for fear of dying in the reprobate state of a useless creature. But those that like their liberty, and are not slaves to their religion, content themselves with marrying when they are afraid of dying. This is a piece of theology very different from that which teaches that nothing is more acceptable to God than a vow of perpetual virginity.

The marriage ceremonies of the Armenians at Constantinople, are nearly similar to those of the Turks. The lover sees nothing of his intended till the nuptials. The bride is closely veiled during the whole ceremony, and, when over, the husband returns home; at night the bride is brought to his house, surrounded by her relations, where she is conducted to an apartment filled with women, to partake of an entertainment; the bridegroom entertains her male relations with those of his own in a chamber apart. When the entertainment is over, they all go, except the bridegroom, and pay their compliments to the bride, to which the lady makes no reply; for was she to utter a syllable, she would be deemed a bold wanton hussey; after this she is conducted to the nuptial chamber, where the bridegroom is ready to receive her. The

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bridegroom for the first time lifts the veil, and embraces her, after which she in token of duty and submission hands him a glass of wine, and then takes one herself. The bridegroom then undresses his bride and himself, and the moment they are getting into bed, he contrives to give the signal for a concert of music, which is immediately performed in the anti-chamber, accompanied by voices, in honor of Hymen.

Having submitted to the opinion of our readers the various religious and domestic restrictions of the Turkish females, we shall conclude with a few remarks. Limited in that general family intercourse which forms so much of the comfort of more westerly countries, they are known only in the harem, and play an insignificant part in the activities of useful or public life. Mahomet has placed a religious chain on their energies and their capacities; he has made them the household machine of the man, and the mere instruments of pleasure. While the rest of Europe presents us with women eminent in various sciences, those of Turkey are scarcely known in the literary or cultivated field. In short, they are the complete contrasts to those of France, where the sex reigns triumphant in wit, politics, and fashion, leaving to the English lady that just medium of character which is neither swayed by frivolity, nor vapid from insignificance.

GREECE.

IN this ancient and renowned seat of arts and arms, now subject to Turkish despotism, it was common to indulge in unconfined and promiscuous love; because, forbidden by no human authority, it was permitted without control. The first that restrained this liberty was Cecrops, who, having raised himself to be King over that people, afterwards called the Athenians, amongst many other useful institutions, introduced that of marriage. In short, no sooner had the Greeks in general entered into a state of civilization, than they found it necessary, by marriage, and other good rules of manners, to restrain the unruly passions of men.

Marriage was very honorable in several of the Grecian commonwealths, it being as much encouraged by their laws as the abstaining from it was discountenanced, and in some places even punished. The strength of states consisting in the number of their inhabitants, those that refused to contribute to their increase were thought to be very cold in their affections to their country.

The Lacedæmonians are very remarkable for their severity against those that deferred marrying, as well as those who abstained therefrom. No man among them could live single beyond the time li

mited by their lawgiver, without incurring several penalties; as, first, the magistrates commanded such, once every winter, to run round the Public Forum quite naked, and, to increase their shame, they sang a song, the words of which aggravated their crime, and exposed them to ridicule.

Another of their punishments was the being excluded from those exercises in which, according to the Spartan custom, young virgins contended naked. A third penalty was inflicted upon a certain solemnity, wherein the women dragged them round the altar, beating them all the time with their fists. They were also deprived of that respect and observance which the younger were accustomed to pay to their elders; therefore, says Plutarch, no man found fault with what was said to Dercyllidas, a great captain, and one that had commanded armies, who, coming into the place of the assembly, a young man, instead of rising and making room, told him, Sir, you must not expect that honor from me, though young, which cannot be returned to me by a child of yours when I am old."

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To these we may add the Athenian law, whereby all that were commanders, orators, or entrusted with any public office, were to be married, and have children, and estates in land, which were looked on as so many pledges of their good behaviour, without which they thought it dangerous

to commit to them the management of public

trusts.

Polygamy was not commonly tolerated in Greece, for marriage was thought to be a conjunction of one man with one woman. When Herodotus reports that Anaxandridas, the Spartan, had two wives, he remarks that it was contrary to the custom of Sparta. The rest of the Grecian cities here agree with the Lacedæmonians, only upon some emergent occasions: when the men had been destroyed by war or some other calamity, toleration was granted for marrying more than one wife.

The time of marriage was not the same in all places; the Spartans were not permitted to marry till they were arrived at their full strength, though we are not informed what was the exact number of years they were confined to; yet it appears from one of Lycurgus's sayings, that both men and women were limited in this particular, that the children might be strong and vigorous. The Athenian laws are said to have ordered that men should not marry under thirty-five years of age; but this depended upon the humour of every lawgiver. Aristotle thought thirty-seven a good age, Plato and Hesiod thirty. Some of the old Athenian laws permitted women to marry at twentysix, Aristotle at eighteen, Hesiod at fifteen, &c. The time or season most proper for marriage was, according to the Athenians, in the winter months,