great influence; and by that means entered deep into the government. It was faid of the famous Demofthenes, "The mea"fure he hath meditated on for a year,

will be overturned in a day by a wo"man." It appears accordingly from Plautus and Terence, that Athenian courtezans lived in great fplendor. See in particular Heautontimoroumenos, act 3. fcene 2.

I proceed to the other caufe of polygamy, viz. opulence in a hot climate. Men there have a burning appetite for animal enjoyment; and women become old and lofe the prolific quality, at an age which carries them little beyond the prime of life in a temperate climate. These circumstances difpofe men of opulence to purchase their wives, that they may not be confined to one; and purchase they muft, for no man, without a valuable confideration, will furrender his daughter, to be one of many who are destined to gratify the carnal appetite of a fingle man. The numerous wives and concubines in Afiatic harems, are all of them purchased with money. In the hot climate of Hindoftan, polygamy is univerfal, and men G 2

buy

1

buy their wives. The fame obtains in China after the price is adjusted and paid, the bride is conducted to the bridegroom's houfe, locked in a fedan, and the key delivered to him: if he be not fatiffied with his bargain, he fends her back at the expence of lofing the fum he paid for her: if satisfied, he feafts his male friends in one room, and the her female friends in another. A man who has little fubftance, takes wife for his fon from a hofpital, which faves him a dowry.

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It has been pleaded for polygamy in warm climates, that women are fit for being married at at or before the age of for ten; that they are paft child-bearing at twenty-five, while men are yet in the prime of life; and therefore that a fecond wife ought to be permitted who can bear children. Are women then created for no other purpose but procreation merely, to be laid afide as ufelefs animals when they ceafe to bear children? In the hoteft climates, a woman may be the mother of ten or twelve children; and are not both parents usefully employ'd, in rearing fuch a number and fitting them to do for themfelves? After this important task is performed,

formed, is not the woman well intitled, for the remainder of life, to enjoy the conjugal fociety of a man, to whom the dedicated the flower of her youth? But even attending to the male fex only without paying any regard to the other fex, it ought to be confidered, that a man, by taking a fecond wife, prevents fome other man from having any. The argument for polygamy would indeed be conclufive, were ten females born for one male, as is faid to be the cafe in Bantam: but as an equality of males and females is the invariable rule of nature, the argument has no force. All men are born equal by nature; and to permit polygamy in any degree, is to authorise fome to ufurp the privilege of others.

Thus in hot climates women remain in the fame humble and dependent state, in which all women were originally, when all men were favages. Women by the law of Hindoftan are not admitted to be witneffes, even in a civil caufe; and I blush to acknowledge, that in Scotland the same law has not been long in difufe. In contradiction to the climate, Chriftianity has banished polygamy from E

thiopia,

thiopia, tho' the judges are far from being fevere upon that crime. The heat of the climate makes them wish to indulge in a plurality of wives, even at the expence of purchafing each of them. Among the Chriftians of Congo polygamy is in ufe, as forinerly when they were Pagans. To be confined to one wife during life, is held by the most zealous Christians there, to be altogether irrational: rather than be fo confined, they would renounce Chriftianity.

"Befide polygamy, many other cuftoms depend on the nature of the matrimonial engagement, and vary according to its different kinds. Marriage-ceremonies, for that reafon, vary in different countries, and at different times. Where the practice is to purchase a wife, whether among favages or among pampered people in hot climates, payment of the price completes the marriage without any other ceremony. Other ceremonies however are fometimes practifed. In old Rome, the bride was attended to the bridegroom's houfe with a female flave carrying a distaff and a fpindle, importing that the ought to spin for the family. Among the favages of Canada

Sk. VI.

Female Sex.

Canada and of the neighbouring countries,

in

a strap, a kettle, and a faggot, are put the bride's cabin, as fymbols of her duty, viz. to carry burdens, to drefs victuals, and to provide wood. On the other hand, the bride, in token of her flavery, takes her axe, cuts wood, bundles it

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up, and lays it before the door of the bridegroom's hut. All the falutation fhe receives is," It is time to go to reft." inhabitants of Sierra Leona, a negro country, have in all their towns a boardingfchool, where young ladies are educated for a year, under the care of a venerable old gentleman. When their education is completed, they are carried in their best attire to a public affembly; which may be termed a matrimonial market, because there young men convene to make a choice. Those who fit themselves to their volqmco fancy, pay the dowry; and over and above, gratify the old fuperintendant for his extraordinary care in educating the bride. In the island of Java, the bride, in token of fubjection, washes the bridegroom's feet; and this is a capital ceremony. In Ruffia, the bride prefents to the bridegroom a bundle of rods, to be u

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