the paralyzing influence of a religion that retains its superstitious
forms, while little of life-giving faith remains. Like them they have
lively passions, are extremely susceptible, and in the general conduct
of life more governed by the impetuosity of impulse than rectitude of
principle. The ladies have less gravity than the Spanish, and less
frivolity than the French, and in their style of dress incline toward
the freedom of the latter. Some of the richest and most commodious
convents of Europe are in Italy. The daughters of wealthy families
are generally bestowed in marriage as soon as they leave these places
of education. These matters are entirely arranged by parents and
guardians, and youth and age are not unfrequently joined together, for
the sake of uniting certain acres of land. But the affections, thus
repressed, seek their natural level by indirect courses. It is a rare
thing for an Italian lady to be without her _cavaliere servente_, or
lover, who spends much of his time at her house, attends her to all
public places, and appears to live upon her smiles. The old maxim of
the Provençal troubadours, that matrimony ought to be no hindrance to
such _liaisons_, seems to be generally and practically believed in
Italy.
Under the powerful aristocracy of Venice, heiresses were bestowed in
marriage by the government, and never allowed to make a foreigner
master of themselves and their wealth.
In Genoa, there are marriage-brokers, who have pocketbooks filled with
the names of marriageable girls of different classes, with an account
of their fortunes, personal attractions, &c. When they succeed in
arranging connections, they have two or three per cent. commission on
the portion. The marriage-contract is often drawn up before the parties
have seen each other. If a man dislikes the appearance or manners of
his future partner, he may break off the match, on condition of paying
the brokerage and other expenses.
The Italian ladies are affable and polite, and have in general a
good deal of taste and imagination. At the theatres are a class of
performers, called improvisatrice, who recite extempore poetry upon
any subject the audience suggest, and often in such metre as they
prescribe. An English traveller describes an improvisatrice whom he
heard in the winter of 1818, as a pale girl about seventeen, with large
black eyes full of fire. When she first began to declaim, her cheeks
glowed and her whole frame quivered with convulsive effort; but as she
proceeded her language became more flowing and impassioned, and the
audience expressed their delight by loud and frequent applause.
The literature of Italy has several illustrious female names. Their
writings, like every thing in that sunny clime, are full of fervor
and enthusiasm. It has already been mentioned that a woman filled one
of the learned professorships in Bologna in the thirteenth century;
the same thing occurred in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and eighteenth
centuries.
Polish women resemble the French in gayety and love of pleasure, and
the Italians in ardor of passion and vividness of imagination. Their
manners are said to be a seductive mixture of languid voluptuousness
and sprightly coquetry. The state of public opinion is not favorable
to female virtue; a circumstance which at once indicates corruption,
and increases it. The Poles are fond of pageantry and splendor, but
are charged with sluttishness in the interior arrangement of their
houses. I presume there is no nation, whose ladies are so universally
acknowledged to be pre-eminent in beauty. They have fine forms, and an
exceedingly graceful carriage. Their complexions are generally very
fair and clear; but all except the young make use of rouge, and some to
an excessive degree. The eyes and hair are generally light, but there
are numerous exceptions.
During all the struggles of unhappy Poland, the women have manifested
an heroic spirit. When king John Sobieski departed from home to raise
the siege of Vienna, then closely invested by the Turks, his wife
looked at him tearfully, and then at a little boy, the youngest of her
sons. “Why do you weep so bitterly?” inquired the king. “It is because
this boy is not old enough to accompany his father,” she replied.
During the late war, Polish women assisted the men in erecting
fortifications; and one of the out-works was called the “_lunette_
of the women,” because it was built entirely by their hands. The
countess Plater raised and equipped a regiment of five or six hundred
Lithuanians at her own expense; and she was uniformly at their head,
encouraging them by her brave example in every battle. The women
proposed to form three companies of their own sex to share the fatigues
and perils of the army; but their countrymen, wishing to employ their
energies in a manner less dangerous, distributed them among the
hospitals to attend the wounded. The old Spartan spirit revived at
this troubled period, and Polish matrons wished their sons to conquer
or die. If any man, from prudential motives, hesitated to fight for
his country’s freedom, the ladies treated him with contempt, and not
unfrequently sent him a needle and thread, and asked a sword in return.
Two beautiful sisters of Rukiewicz, quietly seated at home, were
startled by the sight of a Russian officer, with gens d’armes, entering
the court. Knowing that their brother was secretary of a patriotic
club, they immediately suspected that he had been arrested, and that
his enemies were in search of his papers. While one sister with
graceful courtesy received and entertained the unwelcome visiters, the
other hastily set fire to the summer-house, where her brother kept
the records of the club. More than two hundred persons, whose names
were on the register, were saved by her presence of mind. She returned
joyfully, and when the Russians inquired what had occasioned the fire,
she replied, “I wished to save you further brutalities. You will find
no documents, or papers. I am your prisoner. Add me to the number of
your victims.” These noble girls were carried to prison, and shamefully
treated for three years. As soon as they were released, they set off,
in spite of the remonstrances of their friends, to travel on foot, and
on the wagons of the peasantry, until they could reach their exiled
brother in Siberia.
In Poland, a son has two shares of an estate, and a daughter but one;
a father cannot dispose of his fortune otherwise, except by a judicial
sentence.
The Germans are less susceptible than the French, but have more depth
of passion. Among them there is little of that instantaneous falling
in love, so common among the Italians and Poles; but their affections
are gained by solid and true qualities. They have more sobriety than
the French, and more frankness than the English. Living for happiness
rather than pleasure, they attach all due sacredness to that good
English word home, the spirit of which is so little understood by
the southern nations. The women of all classes are distinguished for
industry. It is a common practice to carry needlework into parties;
and sometimes a notable dame may be seen knitting diligently at the
theatre. Many of the young Swabian girls, of thirteen or fourteen
years old, are sent to Stuttgard, to acquire music, or other branches
of education, among which household duties are generally included. A
matron, who keeps a large establishment there, gives the instruction,
which they voluntarily seek. They may often be seen returning from
the baker’s, with a tray full of cakes and pies of their own making;
and sometimes young gentlemen, for the sake of fun, stop them to buy
samples of their cookery.
Injustice is always done to nations by describing them in general
terms; and this is peculiarly the case with Germany; for both men and
women are remarkable for individuality of character. It may, however,
be truly said that German women are usually disposed to keep within
the precincts of domestic life, and are little ambitious of display.
Their influence on literature is important, though less obvious than
in some other countries. In almost every considerable town, a few
literary families naturally fall into the habit of meeting at each
other’s houses alternately, and thus, without pretension, form social
clubs, of which intelligent and learned women are often the brightest
ornaments. Their female writers have usually belonged to the higher
classes; others being too much employed in domestic avocations to
attend to literature. Several of these writers are such as any nation
might be proud to own. Among the most distinguished are Theresa Huber,
daughter of the celebrated Heyne, in Göttingen; Madame Schoppenhauer;
and Baronne de la Motte Fouqué.
The women of Germany and Austria have, in general, fair complexions,
auburn hair, large blue eyes, and a mild, ingenuous expression of
countenance. There is a good deal of innocent freedom in their
deportment, but so tempered with modest simplicity, that they receive
respect without the necessity of requiring it. They are in general
exemplary wives, and excellent mothers. Divorce has never been
sanctioned by Austrian laws.
Both Germans and Austrians are said to have great pride of high birth.
The poor are simple and gentle in their manners, very neat in their
dress, and industrious in their habits; but in some of the provinces
the peasantry, both men and women, are addicted to intemperance. The
young men of Vienna are accused of being more fond of riding, hunting,
good eating, and smoking, than of joining the parties of ladies.
A foreigner is somewhat surprised to see on such occasions thirty
or forty ladies, talking together, and engaged in various kinds of
needlework, without attracting, or seeming to expect, attention from
their countrymen.
The people who inhabit the vast extent of country between the Black
sea and the North sea are divided into various distinct races, too
numerous to admit of a particular description. The women are generally
very industrious; even in their walks they carry a portable distaff
and spin every step of the way. Generally speaking, the clothing of
these people is of domestic manufacture; the wants of each family being
supplied by the diligent fingers of its female members. A Walachian
woman may often be seen carrying a large basket of goods to market on
her head, singing and spinning as she trudges along. Both Croatian and
Walachian women perform all the agricultural operations, in addition to
their own domestic concerns. When a mother goes to church, or to visit
a neighbor, or to labor in the fields, she carries her infant in a low
open box, swung over her shoulders by cords; while she is at work, this
box is suspended on a neighboring tree. The Liburnian women carry on
their heads a cradle, in which the babe sleeps securely. When these
cradles are set on the ground, they rock with the slightest impulsion.
The Gothscheer women often follow the trade of pedlers, and are absent
from their homes many months, travelling about the country with staff
in hand, and a pack at their back.
Among these numerous tribes, each preserving their ancient customs
from time immemorial, the Morlachians seem to be the most rude. “In
general,” says M. Fortis, “their women, except those of the towns, seem
not at all displeased to receive a beating from their husbands, and
sometimes even from their lovers.” Being treated like beasts of burden,
and expected to endure submissively every species of hardship, they
naturally become very dirty and careless in their habits. The wretched
wife, after she has labored hard all day, is obliged to lie upon the
floor, and would be beaten, if she presumed to approach the heap of
straw on which her tyrant sleeps. When the Morlachians have occasion
to speak of a woman, before any respectable person, they always say,
“saving your presence;” as if apologizing for the mention of things so
disgusting; and in answer to inquiries reply, “It is my wife--excuse
the word.”
From these brutes in the human form, we gladly turn to the frank,
affectionate, romantic Tyrolese. Among these simple, virtuous people,
husbands and wives are remarkably faithful to each other, and fondly
attached to their children. Their robust and vigorous women are engaged
in very toilsome occupations, but the men take their full share in all
laborious tasks. Many of them travel through Germany as pedlers, and
they are rarely seen without a wife or a sister by their side. The
Tyrolese women are gentle and modest, but not shy in the presence of
strangers. A mother, in the innocent kindness of her heart, frequently
sends her daughters to meet a traveller, and offer him a present of
fruit or flowers, or a draught of sweet milk, from her own neat dairy.
Their affections are ardent, and they are proverbial for constancy.
It is an almost unheard of thing for parents to arrange marriages, or
attempt to throw any obstacle in the way of a desired union between
their children. The young people become acquainted with each other
in their walks, or at their rustic amusements, and when they have
once taken each other by the hand, in earnest pledge of their mutual
affection, every other man and woman in the world are forever after
excluded from their thoughts, so far as love is concerned. The Tyrolese
have a reverent and simple faith in religion, and a strong belief in
the active agency of good and evil spirits. The peasant girls scarcely
dare to go abroad after dark, for fear of falling into snares laid by
mischievous spirits. To protect themselves from these influences, it is
common for both sexes to engrave the figure of Christ upon their flesh,
by pricking it with a needle and rubbing gunpowder into the punctures.
The Swiss resemble the Tyrolese in simplicity, frankness, and honesty.
The women are very neat and industrious. They are busily engaged in
their dairies and domestic avocations, and are little inclined to
visiting. When they do visit socially, very few men are invited, and
those are their nearest relations. Sometimes twenty ladies assemble
together, without one man in the party; their husbands being all
assembled at the smoking clubs.
In Basil, female societies are formed from infancy of children of the
same age, and the same class. They are so particular about equality
of years, that sisters, whose ages differ a few years, belong to
separate societies, with whom they always meet at each other’s houses.
Friendships formed in this way constitute a strong bond of union.
Those that have belonged to the same society in childhood often meet,
after separation, in maturer years, with the affection of sisters. The
ladies usually carry work to parties, at which they assemble as early
as three in the afternoon. Parents have one day of the week, which they
call _le jour de famille_. On this occasion all their offspring, even
to the fifth and sixth generation, are assembled together. The Swiss
women marry at an early age. Not long since, there were six ladies in
Basil whose grandchildren were grandmothers. The manners of these hardy
mountaineers are patriarchal and affectionate. Young people are allowed
to marry according to their inclination, and matches from interested
motives are not common. In such a state of things, there is no need of
the restraints imposed among voluptuous nations. The Swiss girls have a
great deal of freedom allowed them, and are distinguished for innocence
and modesty.
The inhabitants of the Netherlands are proverbial for their industry
and love of acquiring money. Their women are eminently domestic, being
always busy in their household, or engaged in assisting their husbands
in some department of his business, such as keeping accounts, and
receiving money. They are not only thrifty themselves, but teach their
children to earn something as soon as they can use their fingers.
If they quit their domestic employments, it is to join some family
party, or take a short excursion with their husbands. Their stainless
floors, shining pewter dishes, and snow-white starched caps, all
indicate that notable housewives are common in the land. The Dutch
women are generally robust and rosy, with figures the reverse of tall
and slender. At Haarlem, a very ancient and peculiar custom is still
preserved. When a child is newly born, a wooden figure, about sixteen
inches square, covered with red silk and Brussels lace, is placed
at the door. This exempts the master of the house from all judicial
molestation, and is intended to insure the tranquillity necessary for
the mother’s health. To prevent the kind but injudicious intrusion of
friends, a written bulletin of the state of both mother and child is
daily affixed to the door or window; and finally a paper is posted on
the door, to signify on what day the mother will receive the ladies
of her acquaintance. Among the phlegmatic and thrifty Dutch, matches
are, of course, generally made from prudential motives, rather than the
impulses of passion, or the refinement of sentiment.
Russia is a country slowly emerging from barbarism. Of their condition
in the time of Peter the Great, something may be judged by the
regulation he made, ordering the ladies of his court not to get drunk
upon any pretence whatever, and forbidding gentlemen to do so before
ten o’clock. The empress Catherine ordered certain Russian ladies
to be publicly knouted for some indiscretions. French manners now
prevail among the higher ranks, who are generally frank, hospitable
and courtly. The women are serious and dignified, with something of
oriental languor. Their forms of society are ceremonious, compared with
the lively graces of the Poles, of whose manners they are apt to judge
severely. A French writer has asserted that of all countries, except
France, it is perhaps the most agreeable to be a woman in Russia; but
when he said this, he must have been thinking only of cities, and of a
favored class in those cities. The Russian ladies are proverbial for
the facility with which they acquire foreign languages. They speak
and write French like native Parisians, though often unable to spell
the Russian tongue, which is seldom spoken in polite circles. Among
the higher ranks, whose blood is mingled with that of Georgians,
Circassians, and Poles, there are some women of extraordinary beauty;
but the Russian females are in general short, clumsy, round-faced and
sallow. They daub their faces with red and white paint, and in some
districts stain their teeth black. The peasantry use no cradles. The
babe is placed on a mattress, inclosed in a frame like that used for
embroidery, and suspended from the ceiling by four cords, after the
manner of the Hindoos. Russian fathers, of all classes, generally
arrange marriages for their children, without consulting their
inclinations. Among the peasantry, if a girl has the name of being a
good housewife, her parents will not fail to have applications for her,
whatever may be her age, or personal endowments. As soon as a young
man is old enough to be married, his parents seek a wife for him, and
all is settled before the young couple know any thing of the matter.
Porter gives very unfavorable ideas of the morality of the Russian
nobility. He says the marriage tie is little regarded, but the women
are less profligate than the men. It ought, however, in justice, to be
remembered that a traveller has a better chance to see the vices of a
country, than its virtues. Although the Russians, in common with their
neighbors of Sweden and Lapland, have an Asiatic fondness for frequent
bathing, they are so dirty with regard to their garments, that even the
wealthy are generally more or less infested with vermin.
The Cossack women are very cleanly and industrious. In the absence of
their husbands they supply their places, by taking charge of all their
usual occupations in addition to their own. It is rare for a Cossack
woman not to know some trade, such as dyeing cloth, tanning leather, &c.
Throughout Russia all classes salute each other by kissing. “When a
lady would only courtesy a welcome in England, she must kiss it in
Russia;” and if a man salutes her in this way, she must on no occasion
refuse to return it.
The higher classes, both in Denmark and Sweden, imitate the French
manners and customs very closely. The ladies generally have the
northern physiognomy; viz. fair complexion, light hair, blue eyes,
and a mild, clear expression. They have little of the ardor of the
Italians, or the vivacity of the French. Ambition is more easily
excited in their breasts than love. Their manners are modest and
reserved. Gallantry toward ladies is not the characteristic of any of
the northern nations. The Swedes are generally industrious and sincere,
and perhaps there is no country in the world where women perform so
much and such various labor. They serve the bricklayers, carry burdens,
row boats, thresh grain, and manage the plough.
Swedish children are wrapped up in bandages like cylindrical wicker
baskets, to keep them straight, from one to eighteen months old. They
are suspended from pegs in the wall, or laid in any convenient part of
the room, where they remain in great silence and good humor. M’Donald,
in his Travels, says, “I have not heard the cries of a child since I
came to Sweden.” Travellers in these northern countries are surprised
to see women drink strong, spirituous liquors, with as much freedom as
the men.
Among the half-savage Laplanders, this bad habit is carried to a great
extent. There a lover cannot make a more acceptable present to the girl
of his choice, than a bottle of brandy; and when he wishes to gain the
favor of her relations, he endeavors to do it by a liberal distribution
of the same liquor.
The Icelanders, though living in a climate even more inclement, and
exposed to equal fatigue while fishing in their stormy seas, are
temperate in their habits, and at festive meetings rarely drink
any thing but milk and water. They have a love of literature truly
surprising among a people exposed to such continual danger and toil.
It is contrary to law for a woman to marry unless she can read and
write. When darkness covers the land, and their little huts are almost
buried in snow, one of the family reads some instructive volume, by the
light of a lamp, while the others listen to him, as they perform their
usual avocations. “In these regular evening readings the master of the
family always begins, and he is followed by the rest in their turn.
Even during their daily in-door labors, while some are employed in
making ropes of wool, or horse-hair, some in preparing sheep-skin for
fishing dresses, or in spinning, knitting, or weaving, one of the party
generally reads aloud for the amusement and instruction of the whole.
Most farm-houses have a little library, and they exchange books with
each other. As these houses are scattered over a wild country, and far
apart, the only opportunity they have of making these exchanges is when
they meet at church; and there a few always contrive to be present,
even in the most inclement weather.”
The dress of the Icelanders is neat, without any effort to be
ornamental. Families are almost invariably clothed in garments spun
and woven at home. It is needless to say that a people with such habits
cherish the domestic virtues, and treat their women with kindness.