46 
lieft youth; for few remain unmar- 
ried till fifteen, and-at thirty have 
a wan and faded look. Ox ne goute 
pas fes plaifirs icy, on les avale*, 
faid Madame la Prefidente yefter- 
day, very judicioufly; yet it is 
only fpeaking popularly that one 
can be fuppofed to mean, what 
however no one much refufes to af- 
fert, that the Venetian ladies are 
amoroully inclined :. the truth is, 
no check being put apon inclina- 
tion, each acts according to imme- 
diate impulfe; and there are more 
devotees, perhaps, and more doat- 
ing mothers at Venice than any 
where elfe, for the fame reafon as 
there are more females who prattife 
gallantry, only becaufe there are 
more women there who do their own 
avay, and follow unreftrained where 
paffion, appetite, or imagination 
‘lead them. ” 
To try ‘Venetian dames by Eng- 
lith rules, would be .worfe than all 
the tyranny complained of when 
fome Eaft Indian was condemned 
upon the Coventry act for flitting 
his wife’s nofe; a common practice 
in 4s country, and perfectly agrec- 
able to cuftom and the w/age du pays. 
Here is no ftruggle for female edu- 
cation as with us, no refources in 
itudy, no duties of family-manage- 
meut; no bill of fare to be looked 
over in the morning, no account- 
book to be fettled at noon; no ne- 
ceffity of reading, to -fupply with- 
out difgrace the evening’s chats no 
laughing at the card-table, or tit- 
tering in the corner if a Japjis lin- 
gu@ has produced a miftake, which 
malice never fails to record. ‘A 
lady in Italy-is fure of applaufe, fo 
fhe takes little pains to obtain it. 
* They do not tafte their pleafures 
here, they fwallow them whole.’ 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1790. 
A Venetian lady has in particular 
fo fweet a manner naturally, that 
fhe really charms without any fet- 
tled intent to do fo, merely from 
that irrefiftible good-humour and 
mellitluous tone of voice which feize 
the foul, and detain it in'defpite of 
Juno-like majefty, or Minerva-like 
wit. Nor ever was there prince or 
fhepherd, Paris I think was both, 
who would not have beftowed his 
apple here. 
Mean while my countryman 
Howel laments that the women at 
Venice are fo little. But why fo? 
the diminutive progeny of Vulcan, 
the Caéirs, mytfterioufly adored of 
old, were of a fize below that of 
the leaft living woman, if we be- 
lieve Herodotus; and they were 
worfhipped with more conitant as 
well as more fervent devotion, than 
the fymmetrical goddefs of Beauty 
herfelf. 
A cuftom which prevails here, 
of wearing little or no.rouge, and 
increafing the native. palenefs of 
their fkins, ‘by fearce lightly wiping 
the very white powder from their 
faces, isa method no Frenchwoman 
of quality would like to adopt; yet 
furely the Venetians are not behind- 
hand-in the art of gaining admi- 
rers; and ‘they do not, like theit 
painters, depend upon colouring to 
enfure it. “hewn 
The longevity of this incompa- 
rable commonwealth is a certain 
proof of its temperanee, exercife, 
and cheerfulnefs, the great prefer- 
vatives in every body, politic as well 
as natural. Wor thould the love of 
peace be left out of-her eulogium, 
who has fo often reconciled contend- 
ing princes, that Thuanus gave her, 
fome centuries ago, due praife for 
her pacific difpofition, fo neceflary 
to the health of a commereial i 
1 a 
