218 
VApe Italiana.—No. XXV. [Oct. 1, 
men being liable to repudiation, take 
advantage of the passion they inspire, 
to draw from their suitors presents and 
gratifications; divorces however, are 
rare, and the Maldivese in general 
content themselves with two wives; 
mariners may take more, as by passing 
from island to island, they ofien form 
fresh connexions. 
The rare occurrence of divorces must 
be ascribed to the sage and exemplary 
conduct of the women, and to the satis¬ 
faction which it inspires throughout the 
domestic household. Industry is their 
grand characteristic; idleness seems a 
stranger to them ; you see them always 
employed in spinning or in dyeing 
stuffs, or weaving caire, or cleaning 
couries, or in the minor affairs of do¬ 
mestic management. 
Their dress is modest and becoming; 
cotton or striped silk about the neck ; 
sleeves long and broad with broaches ; 
sometimes a ruff or neck-covering of 
gold-lace, with additional ornaments of 
ear-rings and a gold necklace. 
Prostitution and adultery are, in a 
manner, unknown, but women de¬ 
tected in it are liable to a singular 
punishment. My friend, the head vizir, 
informed me, that long ago, five wo¬ 
men convicted of illicit commerce 
with the crews of some Arab vessels, 
were transported separately into an un¬ 
inhabited island, for a limited time, 
where they Avotild have neither succours 
nor visitor. When the term of exile 
was elapsed, one only was alive, and 
she died soon after her return. This 
example produced such an effect that 
there has been no occasion since to in¬ 
flict a similar punishment. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
do not find the article treacle recom¬ 
mended as a cure for the gout by 
any medical writer. 
Mr.-was attacked for the third 
time within twelve months, in both 
feet. The frequency of its recurrence 
since he first called in medical aid , in¬ 
duced him to resolve upon doing with¬ 
out advice this time; and all the physic 
he now took, was first a brisk cathartic, 
and subsequently what he described as 
simply 44 opening physic.” His feet 
were swelled to an enormous size when 
I saw him five days after ; he suffered 
excruciating torments, and lost his 
wonted vigour in consequence: he 
panted for the open air, and sighed for 
his horse exercise, I instantly fur¬ 
nished him with as much of the former 
as could be obtained by opening the 
windows, but the latter he must wait 
for a few days longer. The same night 
was applied to each of his feet a large 
plaister of treacle , not over thick, but 
completely covering the whole extent 
of the redness; the plaisters were not 
renewed, but remained until last even¬ 
ing, he continuing the same gentle me¬ 
dicine daily as before described. I bad 
not heard of this curious application, 
and was this day proceeding to make 
inquiry respecting his health, when I 
met him in Aldersgate-street, walking 
with one of his family. He was ema¬ 
ciated, low in spirits, and walked with 
difficulty, but without pain, and his 
feet were reduced to their usual size,— 
in fact he wore his ordinary shoes. 
John Badcock. 
For the Monthly Magazine . 
I/APE ITALIANA. 
No- xxv. 
Dov J ape snsiirrando 
Nei mattutiui albori 
Vola suggendo i rugiodesi umori. 
Guarini. 
Where the Lee at early dawn, 
Murmuring sips the dews of morn. 
PETRARCH. 
From the conclusion of his 44 Letter to 
Postei'ityd 1 
T was in the year 1351, that Pe¬ 
trarch revisited France. He staid 
there two years, dividing his time be¬ 
tween his favourite solitude of Vaucluse 
and the city of Avignon. During this 
period, on the fith of December, 1352, 
Clement VI. died, and the Cardinal 
Stephen Alberti was elected as his suc¬ 
cessor under the name of Innocent VI. 
The new pope regarded Petrarch with 
by no means a favourable eye, and 
strongly suspected him of 44 dealing 
with the devil;” so that.the poet, 
disgusted with his ignorance and 
bigotry, returned to Italy in the month 
of May, 1353, without having paid his 
respects to his Holiness. On his arrival 
at Milan he was received with such dis¬ 
tinguished honour and courtesy by the 
Visconti family, who at that time held 
the sovereignty of that city, that he 
was induced to take up his residence 
there, and he spent the greater part of 
the following ten years at a villa about 
three miles from Milan. The way in 
which he passed his time here will be 
best learned from his own account. 
44 My life,” says he, in a letter ad¬ 
dressed to his friend Guido da Settimo, 
44 has 
