There is

a fad doctrine for an heirefs. preferved in the abbey of St Peter a charter, judged to be 700 years old, in which the Countess of Amiens gifts to the faid abbey land fhe received from her husband at their marriage,

"law," fays fhe,

according to the Salic obliging the husband to give a dowry to his wife." By the laws of King Ethelbert, fect. 32. a man who committed adultery with his neighbour's wife, was obliged to pay him a fine, and to buy him another wife. Giraldus Cambrenfis, in his defcription of Wales, fays, that formerly they hardly ever married without a prior cohabitation; it having been customary for parents to let out their daughters to young men upon trial, for a fum of money told down, and under a penalty if the girls were returned. This I believe to be a mistake. It is more probable, that in Wales men purchased their wives, as was done all the world over, with liberty to return them if they proved not agreeable. The bride's parents retained the dowry, and her chance for a huf band was as good as ever.

The fame cuftom continues among barbarous nations. It continues among the VOL. II.

E

Tartars,

Tartars, among the Mingrelians, among the Samoides, among the Ofliacs, among the people of Pegu, and of the Molucca iflands. In the island of Sumatra a man purchases his wives. He may return a wife to her relations; but they keep the purchase-money. If a woman diflike her hufband, the or her relations must pay to him double the purchase-money. In Timor, an Eaft-Indian ifland, men fell even their children to purchafe more wives. The Prince of Circaflia demanded from the Prince of Mingrelia, who was in fuit of his daughter, a hundred flaves loaded with tapeftry and other household furniture, a hundred cows, as many oxen, and as many horfes. We have evidence of the fame cuftom in Afica, particularly in Biledulgerid, among the negroes on the fea-coaft, and in Monomotapa. Among the Caribbees there is one inftance where a man gets a wife without paying for her. After a fuccessful war, the victors are entertained at a feaft, where the General harangues on the valour of the young men who made the beft figure. Every man who has marriageable daughters, is fond to offer them to fuch young men without any price. The purchafing

1

purchafing of wives is univerfal among the wild Arabs. When the bargain is concluded, the bridegroom is permitted to vifit the bride if fhe answer not his expectations, he may turn her off; but has no claim for the price he paid. In Arabia, fays Niebuhr, a young married woman fufpected of not being a virgin, is fent back to her father, who must reftore the price that was paid for her. The inland negroes are more polished than thofe on the coaft; and there is fcarce any remains among them of purchafing wives: the bridegroom makes presents to his bride, and her father makes presents to him. There are remaining traces in Ruffia of purchasing wives. Even fo late as the time of Peter I. Ruffians married without feeing each other; and before folemnization, the bride received from the bridegroom a prefent of fweetmeats, foap, and other little things.

The purchafing of wives made it a lawful practice, to lend a wife as one does a flave. The Spartans lent their wives to their friends; and Cato the elder is faid to have done the fame. The Indians of

Calicut frequently exchange wives.

If

If brutish manners alone be fufficient to degrade the female fex, they may reckon upon harsh treatment when purchased to be flaves. The Giagas, a fierce and wandering nation in the central parts of Africa, being fupinely idle at home, fubject their wives and their flaves to every fort of drudgery, fuch as digging, fowing, reaping, cutting wood, grinding corn, fetching water, &c. Thefe poor creatures are fuffered to toil in the fields and woods, ready to faint with exceffive labour; while the monsters of men will not give themfelves the trouble even of training animals. for work, though they have the example of the Portuguese before their eyes. It is the business of the women among the wandering Arabs of Africa, to card, spin, and weave, and to manage other household affairs. They milk the cattle, grind, bake, brew, dress the victuals, and bring home wood and water. They even take care of their husband's horfes, feed, curry, comb, bridle, and faddle them. They would alfo be obliged, like Moorish wives, to dig, fow, and reap their corn; but luckily for them the Arabs live entirely upon plun

der. Father Jofeph Gumilla, in his ac

count of a country in South America, bordering upon the great river Oroonoko, defcribes pathetically the miferable flavery of married women there; and mentions a practice, that would appear incredible to one unacquainted with that country, which is, that married women frequently destroy their female infants. A married woman, of a virtuous character and good understanding, having been guilty of that crime, was reproached by our author in bitter terms. She heard him patiently with eyes. fixed on the ground; and answered as follows: "I with to God, Father, I wifh

to God, that my mother had by my "death prevented the manifold diftreffes "I have endured, and have yet to endure as long as I live. Had the kindly ftifled.

me at birth, I had not felt the pain of "death, nor numberless other pains that "life hath fubjected me to. Confider, "Father, our deplorable condition. Our "hufbands go to hunt with their bows and 66 arrows, and trouble themselves no far"ther. We are dragged along, with one "infant at the breaft, and another in a "basket. They return in the evening "without any burden: we return with

"the