[1056] The negroes in St. Domingo cannot bear to be thought poor, or to
be called beggars. They say none but white men beg; and when any one
asks alms at the door, they observe to their master, “There is a poor
white man, or a poor Frenchman, begging.” Labat had a negro who gave
away a small part of his property, merely that he might have the proud
satisfaction of being able to say, “There, white man; there is an alms
for you.” But, in all probability, there will be beggars even in St.
Domingo, if the negroes are so fortunate as to establish the freedom
which they have obtained at the expense of so much blood, and to form a
negro state.
[1057] During a great scarcity at Hamburgh, when bread was distributed
to the poor, one woman told another, to whose request no attention had
been paid, that she brought her child with her, and pinching it so as
to make it cry, excited compassion and by these means received bread.
The latter begged the other to lend her the child for the like purpose,
and having made it cry obtained bread also; but when she returned and
wished to restore the child with thanks, the mother was not to be
found, and therefore she was obliged to keep the child.
[1058] In the course of nine years not a single individual announced an
intention of marrying. The young people supplied their wants in another
manner. Hence arose a scarcity of men, who cannot be purchased in
Europe, as in the West Indies. The proprietor, therefore, was obliged
to sell his estate. The purchaser improved the condition of his serfs,
and marriages became common among them. See Büsch vom Geld-umlauf. vi.
3. § 35, p. 393. “La dureté du gouvernement peut aller jusqu’à detruire
les sentimens naturels, par les sentimens naturels mêmes. Les femmes
de l’Amerique ne se faisoient-elles pas avorter, pour que leurs enfans
n’eussent pas des maîtres aussi cruels?”--Montesquieu, Esprit des Loix.
Amst. 1758, 12mo, ii. p. 402.
[1059] See an Enquiry by Michaelis, why Moses did not introduce into
his laws anything in regard to child-murder.
[1060] The cause of children being exposed in this manner has
been assigned and ably examined by Lactantius, vi. 20, 21; from
whose remarks one will readily comprehend how parents could be so
hard-hearted.
[1061] Many preparations for this purpose may be seen quoted in
Hofmanni Lexicon Universale: art. Exponendi mos.
[1062] Pomp. Festus de Verb. Signif. p. 203.
[1063] Aristot. Polit. vii. 16.
[1064] Lib. xvii.
[1065] Variæ Histor. ii. 7.
[1066] Such appendages or tokens were called crepundia. Instances
of their use may be found in Heliodor. Æthiop. iv. 7., also in many
comedies.
[1067] De Mor. Germ. cap. 19.
[1068] Histor. v. 5.
[1069] Lib. i. cap. 16.
[1070] Minucii Felicis Octav. xxx. xxxi.
[1071] Cod. Theodos. lib. v. tit. 7, De Expositis, l. 1, p. 487, edit.
Ritteri, where the whole has been proved and illustrated by Gothofredus.
[1072] Lactant. vi. 20, 21.
[1073] Astronom. lib. vii. c. 1. I shall refer those desirous of
becoming acquainted with all the proofs belonging to this subject to
Ger. Noot, Opera Omnia, Col. 1732, fol. p. 493. The observations on
Minucius Felix, pp. 307 and 326, in the beautiful edition Lugd. Bat.
1709, 8vo, deserve in particular to be read.
[1074] Cod. Justin. lib. iv. tit. 52.
[1075] Codex. Theodos. lib. xi. tit. 27.
[1076] Cod. lib. viii. tit. De Infant. Expos. l. 3.
[1077] Cod. lib. i. tit. 2, De Sacrosanctis Eccles. 19, p. 19: “Si quis
vero donationes usque ad 500 solidos in quibuscunque rebus fecerit,
vel in sanctam ecclesiam, vel in xenodochium, vel in nosocomium, vel
orphanotrophium, vel in ptochotrophium, vel in gerontocomium, vel in
brephotrophium, vel in ipsos pauperes, vel in quamcunque civitatem;
istæ donationes”.... The same names are repeated in the law 23
immediately following; also in Novell. Collat. 8, tit. 12, cap. 1,
p. 219, and Coll. 9, tit. 3, cap. 1, p. 245. Here not only foundling
hospitals, but poor-houses in particular, are mentioned. The former are
named also in Cod. lib. 1, tit. 3, De Episc. et Clericis, l. 32, p. 32,
and in the same l. 42, 5 and 9; likewise l. 46, 1.
[1078] The life of St. Goar is to be found in Acta Sanctorum, Jul. 2,
pp. 327-346; also in Mabillon’s Acta Sanctorum Ordinis S. Benedicti,
Venetiis, 1733, fol. p. 266; but at page 273 of Mabillon there is
another life by Wandelbart, in which the story is fuller and more
circumstantial.
[1079] Meusel’s Geschichtforscher, iv. p. 232.
[1080] Du Cange, under the word _brephotrophium_, has quoted the
passage.
[1081] Muratori has printed the letter of foundation in Antiq. Ital.
Medii Ævi, t. iii. p. 587.
[1082] “In quo parentibus orbati pueri pascuntur.” These orphan-houses
then were expressly distinguished from the foundling hospitals.
[1083] Baluzii Capitularia Reg. Franc. i. p. 747; Capit. lib. ii. 29.
[1084] In the Capitulare, composed about the year 744, in Baluz. p. 151.
[1085] See Muratori Antiq. Ital. Medii Ævi, iii. p. 591.
[1086] See Greg. Rivii Monastica Historia Occidentis. Lips. 1737, 8vo
cap. 34. The name of the author was Lauterbach.
[1087] The documents may be found in Von Murr Beschreibung der Merkw.
in Nürnberg, 1801, 8vo.
[1088] Martenne, Vet. Script. amplis. Collectio. Paris, 1724, fol. iii.
p. 15.
[1089] [The foundling hospital of London was founded in the year 1739,
by charter of king George II., on the petition of captain Thomas
Coram, and the memorial of sundry persons of quality and distinction.
It maintains and educates 500 children, from extreme infancy to a
period of life when they are capable of being placed out in the world.
Illegitimate children are the objects of this hospital. The child
must be under twelve months old when offered for admission, and the
committee require to be satisfied of the previous good character and
present necessity of the mother, and that the father has deserted both
mother and infant; and that the reception of the infant will, in all
probability, be the means of replacing the mother in the course of
virtue and the way of an honest livelihood.]
[1090] [The number of illegitimate births in France is truly fearful.
In 1831 there were 71,411, about 1-13th of the total number of births;
in Paris the proportion is still larger, being about one in every three
births!--Penny Cyclopædia.]