956 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



by the government, as indeed it 

 could not well happen otherwise 

 where women are articles of pur- 

 cliase, yet it is au evil that, in a 

 great degree, corrects itself. Nine- 

 tenths of the community find it diffi- 

 cult to rear the offspring of one wo- 

 man by the labour of their hands ; 

 such, therefore, are neillier in cir- 

 cumstances, nor probably feel much 

 inclination, to purchase a second. 

 The general practice would, besides, 

 be morally impossible. In a coun- 

 try where so many female infants 

 are exposed, and where the laws or 

 custom oblige every man to iriarry, 

 any person taking to himself two 

 wives must leave some other with- 

 out one, unless, indeed, it be sup- 

 posed with the author of VEsprit 

 Hes Lour^ what there seems to be no 

 grounds for supposing, that a much 

 greater number of females are born 

 than of males. But all the observa- 

 tions of this lively and ingenious 

 author with regard to China, and 

 particularly the inferences he draws 

 with respect to climate, fall to the 

 ground. It is not the vigour of na- 

 tural propensities, as he has sup- 

 posed, that destroys the moral ones ; 

 it is not the cffett of climate that 

 makes it to be considered among 

 these people " as a prodigy of vir- 

 tue for a man to meet a fine woman 

 in a retired chamber, without oHer- 

 ing violence to her," it is the effect 

 of studiously pampering the appe- 

 tite, nurturing vicious notions, con- 

 sidering women as entirely sub- 

 servient to the pleasures of man ; 

 and, in short, by fancying those 

 pleasures in the head, rather than 

 feeling them in the heart, that have 

 led them to adopt a sentiment which 

 docs the nation so little credit. The 

 climate being every Avhere tempe- 

 rate, and the diet of the majority of 



the people moderate, I might say 

 scanty, these have little influence in 

 promoting a vehement desire for 

 sexual intercourse. It is indeed 

 among the upper ranks only, and a 

 few wealthy merchants (whom the 

 sumptuary laws, prohibiting fine 

 houses, gardens, carriages, and every 

 kind of e,\ternal shew and grandeur, 

 have encouraged secretly to indulge 

 and pamper tli«ir appetite in every 

 species of luxury and voluptuous- 

 ness), where a plurality of wives, 

 arc to be found. Every great offi- 

 cer of state has his haram, consist- 

 ing of six, eight, or ten women, ac- 

 cording to his circumstances and his 

 inclination for the sex. Every mer- 

 chant also of Canton has his serag- 

 lio ; but a poor man finds one wife 

 quite sufficient for all his wants, and 

 the children of one woman as many, 

 and sometimes more, than he is able 

 to support. 



" The unsociable distance which 

 the law (or custom, stronger than 

 law) prescribes to be observed be- 

 tween the sexes, and the cool and 

 indifferent manner of bargaining for 

 a wife, are not calculated to produce 

 numerous instances of criminal inter- 

 course. These, however, sometimes 

 happen, and the weight of punish- 

 ment always falls heaviest on the wo- 

 man. The husband finds no diffi- 

 culty in obtaining a sentence of di- 

 vorce, after which he may sell her 

 for a slave, and thus redeem a part 

 at least of his purchase-money. The 

 same thing happens in case a wife 

 should elope, instances of which I 

 fancy are still more rare; as if she 

 be of any fashion, her feet are ill 

 calculated to carry her off with 

 speed ; and if a young girl should 

 chance to lose what is usually held 

 to be the most valuable part of fe- 

 male reputation, she is sent to mar- 

 ket 



