Florence.
In a country where men are permitted to speak and write without restraint
on the measures of government; where almost every citizen may flatter
himself with the hopes of becoming a part of the legislature; where
eloquence, popular talents, and political intrigues, lead to honours,
and open a broad road to wealth and power; men, after the first glow of
youth is past, are more obedient to the loud voice of ambition than to
the whispers of love. But in despotic states, and in monarchies which
verge towards despotism, where the will of the prince is law; or, which
amounts nearly to the same thing, where the law yields to the will of the
prince; where it is dangerous to speak or write on general politics, and
death or imprisonment to censure the particular measures of government;
love becomes a first, instead of being a secondary object; for ambition
is, generally speaking, a more powerful passion than love; and on this
account women are the objects of greater attention and respect in
despotic than in free countries. That species of address to women which
is now called gallantry, was, if I am not mistaken, unknown to the
ancient Greeks and Romans; nothing like it appears in any of Terence’s
comedies, where one would naturally expert to find it, if any such thing
had existed when they were written. It now prevails, in some degree, in
every country of Europe, but appears in different forms according to the
different characters, customs, and manners, of the various countries.
In the courts of Germany it is a formal piece of business; etiquette
governs the arrows of Cupid, as well as the torch of Hymen. Mistresses
are chosen from the number of quarters on their family coats of arms,
as well as from the number of their personal charms; and those ladies
who are well provided in the first, seldom are without lovers, however
deficient they may be in the second. But though many avenues, which in
England lead to power and distinction, are shut up in Germany, and the
whole power of government is vested in the sovereign, yet the young
nobility cannot bestow a great deal of their time in gallantry. The
military profession, which in the time of peace is perfect idleness in
France and England, is a very serious, unremitting employment in Germany.
Men who are continually drilling soldiers, and whose fortunes and
reputations depend on the expertness of the troops under their command,
cannot pay a great deal of attention to the ladies.
Every French gentleman must be a soldier; but fighting is the only part
of the business they go through with spirit; they cannot submit to the
German precision in discipline, their souls sink under the tediousness
of a campaign, and they languish for a battle from the impetuosity of
their disposition, and impatience to have the matter decided one way or
the other. This, with many particular exceptions, is the general style
of the French noblesse; they all serve an apprenticeship to war, but
gallantry is the profession they follow for life. In England, the spirit
of play and of party draws the minds of the young men of fortune from
love or gallantry; those who spend their evenings at a gaming house, or
in parliament, seldom think of any kind of women but such as may be had
without trouble; and, of course, women of character are less attended
to than in some other countries. When I was last at Paris, the Marquis
de F—— found an English newspaper on my table; it contained a long and
particular account of a debate which had happened in both houses of
parliament; he read it with great attention while I finished a letter,
and then throwing down the paper, he said to me, “Mais, mon ami, pendant
que vos messieurs s’amusent a jaser comme cela dans votre chambre des
pairs et votre parlement[11], parbleu un etranger auroit beau jeu avec
leurs femmes.”
Intrigues of gallantry, comparatively speaking, occur seldom in England;
and when they do, they generally proceed from a violent passion, to which
every consideration of fortune and reputation is sacrificed, and the
business concludes in a flight to the continent, or a divorce.
They manage matters otherwise in France; you hardly ever hear of flights
or divorces in that country; a hundred new arrangements are made, and as
many old ones broken, in a week at Paris, without noise or scandal; all
is conducted quietly et felon les régles; the fair sex are the universal
objects of respect and adoration, and yet there is no such thing as
constancy in the nation. Wit, beauty, and every accomplishment united
in one woman, could not fix the volatility of a Frenchman; the love of
variety, and the vanity of new conquests, would make him abandon this
phœnix for birds far less rare and estimable. The women in France, who
are full of spirit and sensibility, could never endure such usage, if
they were not as fickle and as fond of new conquests as their lovers.
In Italy, such levity is viewed with contempt, and constancy is, by both
sexes, still classed among the virtues.
That high veneration for the fair sex which prevailed in the ages of
chivalry, continued long after in the form of a sentimental platonic
kind of gallantry. Every man of ingenuity chose unto himself a mistress,
and directly proclaimed her beauty and her cruelty in love ditties,
madrigals, and elegies, without expecting any other recompence than
the reputation of a constant lover and a good poet. By the mere force
of imagination, and the eloquence of their own metaphysical sonnets,
they became persuaded that their mistresses were possessed of every
accomplishment of face and mind, and that themselves were dying for love.
As in those days women were constantly guarded by their fathers and
brothers before marriage, and watched and confined by their husbands
for the rest of their lives; the refined passions above described were
not exposed to the same accidents which so frequently befal those of
modern lovers; they could neither fall into a decay from a more perfect
knowledge of the ladies character, nor were they liable to sudden death
from enjoyment. But whilst the women were adored in song, they were
miserable in reality; confinement and distrust made them detest their
husbands, and they endeavoured to form connections with men more to
their taste than either jealous husbands or metaphysical lovers. To
treat a woman of character as if she were an unprincipled wanton, is the
most likely way to make her one. In those days of jealousy, a continual
trial of skill seems to have subsisted between husband and wife, as if
every lord, soon after marriage, had told his lady, “Now, Madam, I know
perfectly well what you would be at; but it is my business to prevent
you: I’ll guard you so well, and watch you so closely, that it shall
never be in your power to gratify your inclinations.” “You are perfectly
in the right, my lord,” replied the lady, with all meekness, “pray guard
and watch as your wisdom shall direct; I, also, shall be vigilant on my
part, and we shall see how the business will end.” The business generally
did end as might have been expected; and the only consolation left the
husband was, to endeavour to assassinate the happy lover.
But when French manners began to spread over Europe, and to insinuate
themselves among nations the most opposite in character to the French,
jealousy was first held up as the most detestable of all the passions.
The law had long declared against its dismal effects, and awful
denunciations had been pronounced from the pulpit against those who were
inflamed by its bloody spirit; but without effect, till ridicule joined
in the argument, and exposed those husbands to the contempt and derision
of every fashionable society, who harboured the gloomy dæmon in their
bosoms.
As in England, after the Restoration, people, to shew their aversion to
the Puritans, turned every appearance of religion into ridicule, and
from the extreme of hypocrisy flew at once to that of profligacy; so in
Italy, from the custom of secluding the wife from all mankind but her
husband, it became the fashion that she should never be seen with her
husband, and yet always have a man at her elbow.