thefe articles. Thefe matrimonial proceffions, attended’ with
pomp and mufic, are not unlike t-hofe ufed by the Greeks
when the bride was, eandufted to. her hufband’s houfe in a fplen-
did car ; only, in the: former inftanee, the lady is completely
invifible to every one.
T o what a degraded condition, is a female reduced b y this, ab-
furd cuftom !' How little inducement, it would be feppofed,
fhe could have to appear amiable or elegant;- or to ftudy her
drefs, or cramp her feet, or paint her face, knowing ffie will
be confignedi into the hands o f the firft man who will give the
price that her parents have fixed upon her charms. No previous
converiatiaQ is allowed to take place; no exchange o f opinions
or comparifon o f fentiments with regard to inclinations or
diflikes ; all the little filent afts o f attention and kindnefs, which
fo eloquently fpeak to the heart, and demonftrate the fincerity
q£ the attachment, are utterly unfelt. In a word, that ftate o f
the human heart, oecafioned; by the mutual afleftion between
the fexes, and from whence proceed the happieft, the moft in-
te.refting, and fometimes alfo, the moft diftreffing moments, o f
life, has no exiftence in China. The man takes a wife becaufe
the laws o f the country direft him to do fo, and cuftom has
made it indifpenfable; and the woman,, after marriage, continues
to be the fame piece o f inanimate furniture fhe always was
in her father’s houfe. She fuffers no indignity, nor does fhe
feel any jealoufy or difturbance (at leaft it is prudent not to
fhew it) when her hufband brings into the fame houfe a feccmd,
or a- third woman. The firft is contented with the honour o f
i prefiding
prefiding over, and directing the concerns of, the family with1-
in doors, and in hearing the children o f the others calling her
mother.
It might he urged, perhaps, on the part o f the hufband, that
it would be highly unreafonable for the woman to complain.
The man who purohafed her ought to have an equal right in
the fame manner to purchafe others. The cafe is materially
different where parties are united by ¡fentiments o f Jove and
efteem, or bound b y promifes or engagements; under fuch ck-
cumftances the iatroduiUom o f a fecond wife, under the fame
roof, oould not fail to iddfturb the harmony o f the family, and
occafioin the moft poignant feelings o f daftrefs to the firft. But
a Chinefe wife has no fuch feelings, nor does the hufband make
any fuch engagements.
Although polygamy he allowed fey the government, as indeed
it could not well happen otherwife where women are articles
o f ¡purchafe, yet it is an evil that, in a ¡great degree, cor-
refits itfietf. Nine-tenths o f the community find it difficult to
rear the ¡offspring o f one woman fey the labour o f their hands;
fuch, therefore, are neither in circumftances, nor probably feel
much inclination, to purchafe a fecond. T he general praftiee
would, befides, be morally impoffihle. In ;a country where fo
many female infants ¿are expofed, and where the laws or cuftom
oblige every man to marry, any per ion taking to himfelf
two wives m uft-leave feme other without one, unlefs indeed it
be fuppofed with the author o f U E fp r it des Loixt what there
feems to be no grounds for fuppofing, that a much greater
v 2 number