number o f females are born than of males. But all the obfer-
vations o f this lively and ingenious author with regard to China,
and particularly the inferences he draws with refpedt to climate,
fall to the ground. I It is not the vigour o f natural propenfities,
as he has fuppofed, that deftroys the moral ones ; it is not the
effedt o f climate that makes it to be confidered among thefe
people “ as a prodigy o f virtue for a man to meet a fine woman
in a retired chamber without offering violence to her,” — ■
it is the effedt o f ftudioufly pampering the appetite, nurturing
vicious notions, confidering women as entirely fubfervient to
the pleafures o f man ; and, in fhort, by fancying thofe plea-
fures in the head, rather than feeling them in the heart, that
have led them to adopt a fentiment which does the nation fo
little credit. The climate being every where temperate, and the
diet o f the majority o f the people moderate, I might fay
fcanty, thefe have little influence in promoting a vehement
defire for fexual intercourfe. It is indeed among the upper
ranks only and a few wealthy merchants (whom the fumptu-
ary laws, prohibiting fine houfes, gardens, carriages, and every
kind o f external fhew and grandeur, have encouraged fecretly
to indulge and pamper their appetite in every fpecies o f luxury
and voluptuoufnefs) where a plurality o f w ives are to be found.
Every great officer o f ftate has his haratn confifting o f fix, eight,
or ten women, according to his circumftances and his inclination
for the fex. Every merchant alfo o f Canton has his fera-
g lio ; but a poor man finds one wife quite fufficient for all his
wants, and the children o f one woman as many, and fometimes
more, than he is able to fupport.
The
The unfociable diftance which the law (or cuftom, ftronger
than law) prefcribes to be obferved between the fexes, and
the cool and indifferent manner o f bargaining for a wife,
are not calculated to produce numerous inftances o f criminal
intercourfe. Thefe, however, fometimes happen, and
the weight o f punifhment always fall heavieft on the woman.
The hufband finds no difficulty in obtaining a fentence o f divorce,
after which he may fell her for a flave and thus redeem
a part at leaft o f his purchafe-money. The fame thing happens
in cafe a wife fhould elope, inftances o f which I fancy
are ftill more rare; as i f fhe be o f any fafhion, her feet are ill
calculated to carry her o ff with fpeed; and i f a young girl
fhould chance to lofe what is ufually held to be the moft valuable
part o f female reputation, fhe is fent to market by her parents
and publicly fold for, a flave. In cafes o f mutual diflike, or incompatibility
o f temper, the woman is generally fent back to
her parents. A woman can inherit no property, but it may be
left to her by will. I f a widow has no children, or females
only, the property defcends to the neareft male relation on the
deceafed hufband’ s fide, but he muft maintain the daughters until
he can provide them with hufbands.
T he prohibition againft the frequent intercourfe with modeft
females, for there are public women in every great city, is not
attended here with the eff'edl o f rendering the purfuit more
eager; nor does it increafe the ardour, as among the ancient
Spartans who were obliged to fteal, as it were, the embraces
o f their lawful wives. In China it feems to have the contrary
effedt o f promoting that fort o f connexion which, being one o f
the