a few were caught by the hair, which, winding round the crags of the rock, caused them to linger many days." A remarkable instance is recorded of the Jews, by Josephus. At the siege of Jerusalem by Vespasian, some Jews took refuge in the castle of Masada, in which they were blockaded by the Romans. These Jews were under the command of Eleazer, by whose advice they murdered their wives and children; and ten men were chosen by lot to destroy the rest. Upon the execution of this, one of the ten was chosen to destroy the remaining nine. This he executed, fired the palace, and stabbed himself. Of 967 persons, only five boys and two women escaped, by hiding themselves in the aqueducts. CERTAIN LAWS AND CUSTOMS RELATIVE TO WOMEN. We may now note a few laws and customs, prevalent in some countries, in regard to women. Polygamy has never been acknowledged in the northern regions of Europe; though Tacitus seems inclined to believe, that it was occasionally allowed to kings in Germany; but to no others. In Sweden it is a capital crime, both by the ancient and the modern laws. In France, Henry the Second caused it, also, to be punished with death: an instance of cruelty, not incurious in a man, who had the disgusting effrontery to live with the mistress of his own father! In England, also, it was once punishable with death; but with benefit of clergy. Polyandry exists in Tibet, Malabar, and Patagonia. In the second, women may have as many husbands as they please. Hamilton, however, restricts them to twelve: children taking pedigrees from their mothers. The emperor of a De Morib. Germ., c. 18. b Father Bodin. c Stat. i. Jac. I. c. ii. Turner's Embassy to the Court of the Teeshoo Lama. * Molina, vol. i. p. 320, in notis. Bisnagar, beyond the Ganges, prides himself, on the contrary, in being "the king of kings, and the husband of a thousand wives." The king of Ashantee is allowed the mystical number of 3,333; 3,000 of whom are trained to arms, under a female officer. The custom of servitude for a certain period formerly obtained in Asia. Jacob served Laban for Rachel fourteen years. The custom of purchasing wives prevailed amongst the Jews, Greeks, Thracians, Spaniards, Goths, Tartars, and Afghauns. The Assyrians and Babylonians even disposed of them by auction. The former custom still continues among the Samoides, in Pegu, the Moluccas, and many other semibarbarous countries. In Circassia, wives are still bought. They are exposed in the market-place; and a beautiful woman is not unfrequently sold for 8000 piastres. In Scotland, and even in England, wives, in early times, were, also, not unfrequently sold. In England they have been, in some instances, even left by will. Sir John Camois followed this example. "I give and devise," said he, in his last testament, "my wife Margaret to Sir William Painel, knight, with all her goods, chattels, and appendages, to have and to hold, during the term of her natural life." I am not aware of any other instance of this nature; but it could not have been unfrequent, since Pope Gregory, in a letter to Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, says, that he is informed, that “in England men give away their wives, while living; or grant them by will to others, when they shall be dead." Cicero describes a state of barbarism, in which no one knew his own offspring: Herodotus says, that the Auses of Lybia lived like animals: and Pliny and Diodorus relate the same of the Garamantes and Taprobananes. Indeed the value of chastity has been so little felt in some countries, that Herodotus b mentions a people, whose women were accustomed to indicate the number of their lovers, by the number of fringed tassels on their garments. The marine Malabars even make presents to strangers, in order to induce them to deflower their brides. Ulloa assures us, that a Peruvian esteems himself dishonoured, if he find he has taken a virgin for his wife: and De Guys relates, that Mitylenian women think themselves disgraced, unless strangers relieve them from the reproach of virginity. This is a custom of ancient date. But in Rome, virgins were so sacred, that their execution was prohibited. The daughter of Sejanus, although condemned, could not, in consequence, legally be executed. Her enemies were resolved, however, to obviate the difficulty: before she was strangled, therefore, she was ravished by the hangman. In Venice, fathers and mothers once publicly sold their daughters to prostitution; and their friends and neighbours frequently congratulated them on a good sale. "It is curious," says Misson, "to see a mother deliver up her daughter for a sum of money; and swear solemnly, by her God, and upon her salvation, that she cannot sell her for less." The religion of Zoroaster permitted marriages between brothers and sisters: the Tartars were even allowed to marry their own daughters; and incest is, even in the present day, allowed by the laws of Spain and Portugal, after the ancient manner of Egypt, provided it is committed by a prince. As to the Spanish and Portuguese princes, they are a disgrace to mankind for such a practice: and the sovereigns and princes of Europe ought, therefore, to avoid contaminating the purity of their blood by an union with such families, с a Tacit. Annal., lib. v. cap. 9. b Misson, vol. i. p. 267, ed. 1714. Philo, De Specialibus Legibus, quæ pertinent ad precepta Decalogi, p. 778. a Hist. Tartary, part iii. p. 236. * Vide Code de Incestis et Inutilibus Nuptiis, leg. viii. as they would shun the embrace of an ourang-outang. It is a crime, not to be tolerated in a Christian land! a Solinus relates, that the kings of the Western Islands of Caledonia had no property of their own, but might make free use of their people's: neither had they any wives; but they had free access to those of their subjects. This law was enacted for the purpose of taking from them all power, as well as all inclination, for aggrandizing themselves, at the expense of the state. Ovid alludes to nations, where fathers married their daughters, and mothers their sons. The Quebres of the East permitted unions between brothers and sisters; and Strabo gives a horrible picture of similar enormities among the African tribes. The Jews married their brothers' widows; a custom which still prevails in Caubula. Pausanias says, the Greeks forbade second marriages: and among the Thurians, he, who introduced a mother-in-law to his children excluded himself from all participation in the public counsels. In India, some nations even slept with their wives in public. The Spartans, the Romans, and the Tapurians, not unfrequently lent theirs to friends; and many islanders, even in the present day, visit European ships, merely for the purpose of making a tender of their bosom companions. To refuse them is always a subject of mortification to the visiters; and sometimes even a signal for revenge. The Laplanders, also, offer their wives to strangers, and · esteem the acceptance of them an honour. Though the custom of lending wives prevailed at Rome; wives enjoyed no privileges emanating from themselves. a C. XXXV. c Law of Moses. • Diodorus Sic., lib. xii b Met. x. fab. ix. v. 35. d Elphinstone, p. 179, 4to. f Sextus Empiricus, lib. i. c. 14. Tertullian, in Apolog., c. 39. 1 Chalcondyles says, the custom was common in his time in Britain. Vid. De Origine et Rebus Gestis Turcorum. * Clarke, Scandinavia, p. 390, 4to. During the consulship, husbands might kill their wives, if taken in adultery. The Julian law, enacted by Augustus a, and confirmed by Domitian', commuted it into the loss of dower; and gave the punishment into the hands of the wife's father: but a woman, thus detected, in the time of the emperors, was condemned to prostitution, in the public streets, with whomsoever should please, to disgrace himself with her, in that odious manner. This law was abolished by TheodoBachelors were fined for living single; and rendered incapable of receiving legacies or inheritances, except from relatives. sius. с FOOD. A FEW Observations may here be introduced, relative to food; for some persons suppose, that food has great influence on the manners and dispositions of men. The Egyptians considered it worthy of reproach to eat wheat; the head of any animal whatever; and only one day in the year to eat the flesh of swine"; and like all other ancient nations, they ate the flesh of every thing, the moment it was killed. In Java, white ants, as well as every species of worm, are esteemed dainties. The Indians of Cumana eat millepedes ; the Bushiesman of Africa and the New Caledonians, spiders'; the Hottentots, grasshoppers and snakes; the Tonquinese, frogs; and the French and Viennese, not only frogs but snails. In New Holland the natives eat ants and caterpillars"; the Voy. in Search of La Perouse, ch. xiii. 1 The celebrated astronomer, La Lande, is said to have been partial to spiders. VOL. II. m 'Collins, Append. 557, 4to. U |