Give back the name of wife:....
Although the times were warlike and the fates Called to the fray, etc.'
Lucan, Pharsal.
8.'In the matter of sex there is no prudery, men and women bathing together in the rivers, and wearing skins or short cloaks of reindeer hide which leaves most of the body naked.' Caesar, de bell.Gall.lib.6, ?21.
9.Voyages for making discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere, vol.2, chap.12.
In the same publication, an account of a still more remarkable exhibition, made in that Island, is given as follow:
'A young man, near six feet high, performed the rites of Venus with a little girl about eleven or twelve years of age, before several of our people, and a great number of the natives, without the least sense of its being indecent or improper, but, as appeared, in perfect conformity to the custom of the place.Among the spectators were several women of superior rank, particularly Oberea, who may properly be said to have assisted at the ceremony; for they gave instructions to the girl how to perform her part, which, young as she was, she did not seem to stand in need of.' Ibid.
10.Pope's translation of the Odyssey, bk.4, 1.58.
11.Ruth, chap.iii, ver.7, 8, 9.
12.Byron's Narrative.
13.Numbers, chap.xxvii, ver.1-8.
14.'The present law still fortunately holds that when a woman having a husband departs this life childless, the husband of the deceased wife may not demand her dowery, which was given for her.' Leges Burgundior.tit.1 4, 3.
15.Tacitus, de mor.Germ.
16.Genesis, chap.xxiv, ver.11, 12.
17.1 Samuel, chap.xviii, ver.25.
18.The Commonwealth of England, bk.3, chap.8.
19.Husbands have the same power of life and death over their wives as over their children.When the head of a noble family dies his relatives meet, and if there is suspicion of foul play the widow is examined under torture, just as we examine slaves.'
Caesar, de bell.Gall.lib.6, ?18.
20.She was said 'convenire in manum mariti,' and was precisely in the same condition with a 'filia-familias.'
21.The ceremonies of 'coemptio.'
22.Herodot.hist.lib.1.-- See Goguet's Origin of Laws, etc.
vol.2, book 1.-- Charlevoix Journal historique d'un voyage de l'Amer.Nouveaux voyages aux Indes Orientales, tom.2, p.20.--Mod.Univ.Hist.vol.6, p.561Vestiges of the same practice are also to be found in the writing of the Roman Lawyers.
23.Modern Universal History, vol.16.-- Capt.Hamilton says, that upon the coast of Malabar a woman is not allowed to have more than twelve husbands.
24.Father Tachard, superior of the French Missionary Jesuits in the East Indies, gives the following account of the inhabitants in the neighbourhood of Calicut.'In this county,' says he, called Malleami, 'there are castes, as in the rest of India.Most of them observe the same custom; and, in particular, they all entertain a like contempt for the religion and manners of the Europeans.But a circumstance, that perhaps is not found elsewhere, and which I myself could scarce believe, is that among these barbarians, and especially the noble castes, a woman is allowed, by the laws, to have several husbands.Some of these have had ten husbands together, all of whom they look upon as so many slaves that their charms have subjected.' Lettres edifiantes et curieuses, translated by Mr Lockman, vol.1, p.168.
25.Genesis, chap.xxix, ver.18, 19, 20.
26.As this poet was chiefly employed in describing grand and sublime objects, he has seldom had occasion to introduce any images taken from the pastoral life.From the following passages, however, there can be no doubt that, in his time, the people in the West-Highlands of Scotland, as well as upon the neighbouring coast of Ireland, were acquainted with pasturage.'The deer descend from the hill.No hunter at a distance is seen.No whistling cow-herd is nigh' Carric-thura.
'Let Cuchullin,' said Cairbar, 'divide the herd on the hill.
His breast is the seat of justice.Depart, thou light of beauty.
I went and divided the herd.One bull of snow remained.I gave that bull to Cairbar.The wrath of Deugala rose.' Fingal, B.II.
