On a review of the condition of women throughout the globe, they have no real ground of complaint in this country. Here a virtuous woman is duly esteemed, and more respect is paid to character than to beauty. The sex are not drudges in laborious life, nor mere appendages to the opulent and noble. Though the indissolubility of marriage may occasionally press hard on some deserving individuals, yet it is clearly ascertained, that the facility of separation would destroy mútual confidence, and prove detrimental to happiness and virtue.

Whatever might give offence to delicacy has, in the following pages, been as much as possible avoided-the object being not to inflame the passions, but to render the thirst of curiosity subservient to the ends of rational enjoyment and the Christian character.

Charenton, 1822.

A. H.

MARRIAGE RITES, &c.

TURKEY, IN EUROPE.

IN the East God created the first parents of the human race, and this quarter may from its early importance claim a precedence in the scale of history. Among the wonderful works of the Creation, revealed to us by the Deity in the sacred scriptures, is the accomplishment of his greatest work,-the inspiration of the immaterial soul into "the likeness of his own image." For the first pair Omnipotence planted the garden of Eden, that earthly Paradise in which "herbs, cooling fruits, and gay flowers," combined to gratify the senses, while streams meandring in gentle currents, trees affording a perfumed shelter, a benevolent cerulean sky, and a tractable animated creation, made them happy in abundance, and sole possessors without termination. These invaluable blessings, however, were not enjoyed without some exactment. As the Great Parent had created his first children with rational faculties, he required a reasonable acknowledgment of dependance, and this was to be exemplified in obedience. While in a state of innocence, they were in the pale of

happiness; but when they tasted of that "forbidden tree, whose mortal taste brought death into the world, and all our woe," they inflicted the penalties of their sin upon all their descendants. Had they remained inculpable, what would have been the state of human existence at this time, may be an object of speculation; but never can be determined by reason or experience. The criminals were driven from the Garden of Paradise, and death was their punishment. Mercy however and judgment were blended together; the propagation of the human race was made one of the strongest and sweetest impulses in human nature, and the enjoyment of a heavenly paradise was promised, as the reward of patience and virtue, till the Messiah should, in the fulness of time, point more immediately" the way that leads to God," and reign in that celestial abode, to which as the Redeemer of the human race he first ascended.

The sentence pronounced on Eve, and so often attended with fatal consequences, is felt less severely in hot climates than in cold ones. Parturition is more easy and more common where the heat is excessive, but the term of life is proportionably short, according to that general law of nature, the more rapid the growth, the earlier the decay. In our happy climate, neither scorched by the unclouded sun, nor shrinking from the nor

theru blast, our women enjoy the advantages of a progeny not too numerous to injure their longevity, nor too expensive to become a burthen. Eminent as good wives, as affectionate mothers, models of chastity, and proverbial for cleanliness and domestic comforts, we feel confident that the British pair would be placed on the highest pedestals in a temple consecrated to the conjugal duties and virtues.

By appreciating and comparing the situations of other countries, we shall enable our own more effectually to value their own advantages, and improve the power which their superior charms possess. As there is nothing perfect that is terminable, so the laws of our country cannot meet every case of conjugal suffering and contumacy, but we are nevertheless certain that as much or more has been done than in even the most polite nations, and that whatever conduces to rational enjoyment and endless felicity has been founded on laws inculcated by religion and experience. The truth of these assertions we shall proceed to illustrate, and shall conduct the reader first to Turkey, once the seat of the Roman Empire in the East, and where the Great Impostor Mahomet, by his fanaticism and laws, perpetuated new doctrines respecting the rights and capacities of the sex, and gave to his bigoted followers a sensual Paradisea heaven formed of earthly materials.

Among the different writers on Turkish manners, and the virtues and foibles of Turkish ladies, very different estimates are made of their general character and temperament. Some render them licentious, and wholly influenced by the bent of amorous impulses, while others have called the picture exaggerated and distorted, defended their character, and classed them in as respectable a rank as those of our own country. Indeed, place a foreigner in many parts of London, from the plebeian female to the plumed peeress, he might find ample ground to reason against the chastity and excellence of our invaluable countrywomen. It is our duty to be impartial, and detail information that may appear sometimes a little in opposition.

Among the Turks marriage is considered merely as a civil contract, and in our country about the time of Henry VIII. it was performed by the Magistrate. The Cadi, or Magistrate of the district, registers the union of the parties; but what is singular, the parties themselves are not present, nor does the bride or any of her female friends attend; a custom which would little suit the anxiety and affection of an English lady. The deed is executed by proxies, and signed by witnesses, who are generally the nearest reiatives, a few friends of the conjugal parties, and the priest of the parish; whose presence is no farther necessary than to give a