MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. 
tow and rude, who are always pass- 
ing along the streets. This feeling 
they have in common with the wives 
of European noblemen, who, to 
preserve their dignity, are never 
seen walking in the streets; and 
also with ladies in private life, who, 
when walking out at night, and even 
in the day, are always attended by 
a male friend, or servant, who pro- 
tects them. 
*¢ The notion which the Euro- 
pean women have, that the women 
of Asia never see a man’s face but 
their husbands, and are debarred 
from all amusement and society, 
proceeds entirely from misinforma- 
tion: they can keep company with 
their husband’s and father’s male re- 
lations, and with their old neigh- 
bours and domestics ; and at meals 
there are always many men and wo- 
men of this description present ; and 
they can go in palankeens to the 
houses of their relations and of la- 
dies of their own rank, even though 
their husbands are unacquainted ; 
and also to walk in the gardens, af- 
ter strangers are excluded, and they 
can send for musicians and dancers, 
to entertain them at their own 
houses, and they have many other 
modes of amusement besides those 
mentioned. 
*¢ The second cause why the liber- 
ty of Asiatic women appears less than 
that of Europeans, is the privilege of 
the husband, by law, to marry seve- 
ral wives. ‘This, to the European 
women, seems a grievous oppres- 
sion; and they hold those very cheap 
who submit to it. But, in truth, 
the cause of this law and custom is 
the nature of the female sex them- 
selyes, which separates them from 
the husband the several last months 
of pregnancy, and time of suckling ; 
885 
and, besides these, the Asiatic wo- 
men have many other times of being 
separate from their husbands. ‘This 
privilege, not being allowed by the 
English law, is, indeed, a great 
hardship upon the English husbands; 
whereas the Asiatic law, permitting 
polygamy, does the husband justice, 
and wrongs not the wife; for the 
honour of the first and equal wife 
is not afieéted by it: those women 
who submit to marry with a married 
man, not being admitted into the 
society of ladies, as they are never 
of high or wealthy families, no man 
of honour ever allowing his daugh- 
ter to make such a marriage. 
The mode in which these other 
wives live is this :—those who are of 
genteel extraétion have a separate 
house for themselves, like kept mis- 
tresses in England; and those who 
are not, live in the house with the 
equal wife, like servants, and the 
husband, at times, conveys himself 
to them in a clandestine manner.— 
Besides, these wives cannot invade 
any of the rights of the equal wile ; 
for although they and their chil- 
dren are, by law, entitled to inhcrit- 
ance, yet, since the equal wife never 
marries without a very large dowry 
settled upon her, all that the hus- 
band leaves goes to the payment of 
this dowry, and nothing remains for 
his heirs!) The opinion, that the 
men of Asia have three or four 
wives, is .very ill founded ; for, in 
common, they have only one; out 
of a thousand, there will be fifty 
persons who have from one to two, 
and ten out of these who have not 
more than two. The fear of the 
bad consequences of polygamy 
makes men submit with patience to 
the times of separation from the 
equal wife, as much the better way ; 
3L3 for, 
