dillo which she had not yet committed. She knelt before a priedieu, and drew forth her 'heures' from a reticule, casting down her dove-like eyes, and moving her beautiful lips. The child knelt and yawned beside her. While I gazed in admiration, another votarist appeared. It was our handsome Spaniard, que voilà! The duchess raised her eyes at the sound of his step, and dropped her prayer-book. The young count, of course, picked it up, but not before a billet was dropped from its leaves, and was picked up too, though not returned. He proceeded to the high altar, and the duchess continued to pray. They arose simultane. ously from their devotions; and at the moment when she stepped into her carriage, the count, who was descending the steps, hurried to assist her. I should have done so too, but he was before me. She bowed with undistinguishing coldness to both, and drove off. The whole was a scene of Spanish romance; and as my acquaintance related it, it had all the colouring of

one.

"We are great fools," said a Turkish ambassader in France,"to support a seraglio at a great expense: you Christians avoid both the expense and the troubleyour seraglio is in your friends' houses."

In the women of ITALY, we observe every kind of agreeable sensation become the sole pursuit of a sex which there unceasingly seeks only to enjoy and to inspire pleasure. The amusement derived from the fine arts and the theatres, an indolent and voluptuous existence, and the enjoyments of love, there constitute the employment of the life of women.

In Italy, they hold early marriages so much in

esteem, that, says Misson, "in many churches and fraternities, there are annual funds established to raise portions and procure comfortable matches for poor maidens. And generally, all over Italy, care is taken, by such charitable foundations, to provide for the necessities of the sex."

To give, however, an authentic and indisputable view of the relation which indissoluble marriage has produced between the sexes in Italy, I make the following extracts from the Istoria Critica dei Cavalieri Serventi.

"Among the ancient Romans, a custom nearly analagous to that now to be described, existed in the borrowing and lending of wives.

"Among us, marriage, which, in conformity with the canon law, is indissoluble,* is merely an illusory contract, drawn up by a notary and ratified by a priest, between two persons who are united-generally not to live together.

"Under a law which would enslave both parties for life, if its operation were not counteracted, men know not how to esteem their wives; and esteem is the first bond for a being who has any noble sentiments. Honesty in women is therefore discouraged very speedily, because it finds itself without object or recompence. We may say, that if the husband deprives marriage of the sweetest and most consoling joys which love bestows upon it, it is neither unnatural nor painful for a lady to revenge herself, with the appearance, at least of happiness, on the careless despot who deprives her of the reality. She is

* As it is in England, owing to the adoption of our ecclesiastical law.

entitled to all the felicity of that state; and she is not unlikely to think it her own fault if she does not enjoy it.

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Example, moreover, bestows courage: it is generally first given by the husband, and then followed by the wife; and thenceforward they are too apt to prefer even the disorder of pleasures to that affectation of morality without object, which, even with those who mistake means for ends and words for things, serves no other purpose than that of tranquillizing conscientious prejudices. Hence springs disorder of conduct. A first choice is made; repentance follows it; a second takes place; repentance recurs; and finally there is, perhaps, less even of scrupulous selection.

"To render life regular in this country, however, this has been improved and reduced to a system, in which cicisbeato, a term of which the sound was probably meant to imitate the whispering of voices which murmur softly, expresses the state of courtship or love-making now to be noticed; cicisbeare (the verb) expresses its exercise; and cicisbeo, the person who exercises it.

"Now, as this practice originated with men, it is evident that husbands, serving themselves as cicisbei to other ladies, could not enjoy such a privilege except upon reciprocal conditions: they consequently made no scruple to exchange their own happiness for that of others. It cannot be doubted that men act in this manner, since we every where hear arrangements of this kind spoken of.

“Thus, the practice of the cicisbeato has become a law, not written, but of tacit agreement, sanctioned by fashion, and corroborated by time. Nothing indeed

proves better the tacit consent of husbands to the early gallantry of women, than the crowd of cicisbei devoted to their commands; and indeed we know that it is often the husbands themselves who choose the cicsisbei during the first year of their marriage.

"The cicisbeato, then, designates amongst us the state of a cavaliere chosen by a lady to serve her, to accompany her in her carriage to the promenade,to entertain her, to amuse her,-in short to render time lighter to her. He is a free and voluntary servant, distinct from the mercenary one, a person now become one of absolue necessity, because the laws of the gallant world oblige a young married woman to have always similar servants at her command.

"Among the women, the fashion commenced with ladies of the highest rank and quality. Gradually those also of the second order have all adopted it. The women of the lower class alone live according to their ancient customs. Poor women indeed, being in general the most prolific, abounding in children and in misery, find neither the time nor the means for adorning themselves so as to captivate. Besides, jealousy, which was formerly one of the characters mostly given to the country, may still be found among the people.

"The circumstance that marriages are generally ill. sorted and always indissoluble, has been justly stated to be the first cause of this system. To understand also the origin of the strange consumption of time which attends it, it will be sufficient to observe that, in our country, the nobility and gentry have no desire to mix themselves in political affairs, that they would be ashamed of commerce, that they cannot

procure a military appointment either by land or sea, and that, in their large palaces, they neither divert nor occupy themselves with any thing except music and the reading of the journals.

"Under such miserable circumstances, if a man who is rich does not indulge either in gaming or wine, what shall he do? He has no other resource against ennui except the society of a lady. Those, accordingly, who for a long time have had recourse to such an expedient, have found themselves happy, however strange this may appear to him who does not under. stand it. According to them, nothing can soften the disgusts, and dissipate the bitterness of life so efficaciously, as the society of an amiable and agreeable wo

man.

"Supposing, that the more intimate relations which subsist with this lady, do not pass the limits of simple friendship, there is something more sweet and delightful in this conversation than in that of men. The heart of woman is more sincere, less interested, and more constant in its inclinations; and in general they have more sensibility and delicacy.

“Very well, very well,' I hear some one whisper : 'all this may be true: but may not a man enjoy all these advantages in the same degree of perfection, though he have no other intimacy and friendship than that of his wife, and though he do not pay court to the wife of his neighbour? And may not a lady pay the same regard to her husband?" No, Signore, not at all,' replied a bello spirito, of whom I asked that question the other day. And why not? Because that is not the custom.' This reply to a question so simple will not perhaps seem too satisfactory. Cus

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