Sk. VI.

Female Sex.

S-I

jfl.mds, {lie is not permitted to eat even in prefenceof her hufband; and yet we are allured 16 , thatwomen there obey with fuch fweetnefs and refpedt,as never to give their hufbands occafion to remindthem of their duty ; " an example,” adds our fageauthor, worthy the imitation of Chriftian wives>“ who are daily inffructed from the pulpit in the“ duties of obedience and conjugal fidelity, but to“ very little purpoje.” Dampier obferves in general,that, among all the wild nations he was acquaintedwith, the women carry the burdens, while the menwalk before, and carry nothing but their arms.Women even of the highefl: rank are not bettertreated. The fovereign of Giaga, in Africa, hasmany wives, who are literally his flaves : one car-ries his bow, one his arrows, and one gives himdrink; and while he is drinking-, they all fall ontheir knees, clap their hands, and fmg. Not manycenturies ago, a law was made in England, prohi-biting the New Teftament in Englifli to be read bywomen, apprentices, journeymen , or fervingmen 1? .What a pitiful figure mull the poor females havemade in that age! In Siberia , and even in Ruffia,the capital excepted, men treat their wives in everyrefpedl as flaves. The regulations of Peter I. putmarriage upon a more refpeclable footing amongpeople of rank; and yet fuch are the brutal man-ners of the Ruffians , that tyrannical treatment ofwives is far from being eradicated.

Labat’s Voyages to the American islands.

34th and 35th Henry VIII . cap. 1.

C 3,