their civilization, may, nevertheless, be classed together, for both
belong geographically to the western world, while both present intimate
relations with Europe. Iceland, a lonely, gloomy, and extensive
country, is inhabited by a serious, humble, and quiet people, numbering
about 55,000. Isolated from the rest of the world by dreary and
tempestuous seas spreading far around it on every side, its inhabitants
remain to this day almost in their primitive condition. Nine centuries
have produced little change in their language, costume, or modes of
life. Formerly, indeed, they were heathens, and have now been converted
to Christianity. Modifications have also occurred in their manners. At
one period, for instance, the law allowed the exposure of such children
as their parents desired to be rid of, and the unnatural sacrifice
was common. It originated with the men, and the women appear never to
have become reconciled with the usage, which has now been entirely
abolished, though infants perish in large numbers from insufficient
and unskilful nursing. On the whole, however, the original manners
of the Icelanders remain unchanged. We refer, of course, to a period
since what has been termed the heroic age, when a system of society
prevailed, which has been entirely swept away by a new and victorious
civilization. In those ancient times, when Iceland was a republic, with
institutions of a most remarkable nature, the treatment of the female
sex there, and among the Scandinavian nations generally, was unequalled
by any other heathen communities, except the polished state of Greece.
Polygamy, though not forbidden by their religious code, was exceedingly
rare. Their manners, indeed, are, in several other respects, superior
to their enacted laws. Fathers, or other near male relatives, possessed
unlimited power to dispose of the young girls as best suited their
convenience or caprice, but seldom or ever exercised this invidious
prerogative, leaving them rather to their own choice. With mild advice,
indeed, they persuaded them to prudent unions, but with no harsh,
inconsiderate authority. The daughter received, on her marriage, a
dowry from her parents besides a present from her husband. These
acquisitions formed a property which remained absolutely her own, and
constituted her provision in the event of a divorce. This could take
place whenever she chose to express before certain prescribed witnesses
her desire for such separation. A harsh word, any ill-usage, or a hasty
blow, might be pleaded as sufficient reason for her resolve; and by
a liberal use of this prerogative the wives of Iceland obtained high
authority over their husbands. They occasionally accompanied them to
the public assemblies, which were convened in conformity with their
popular institutions, and were always present at the great festivals.
Sometimes they assembled in rooms assigned exclusively to them, and
made merry among themselves; sometimes they mingled with the general
company. With the exception of a few, whom the fearful superstition of
that age condemned to death as witches, no women suffered very severe
punishment. The warriors of the island delighted to celebrate their
praises, and terms expressing the high qualities of the female sex
were abundant in the Icelandic language, and profusely employed in its
literature. At present the condition of the sexes is somewhat equal.
The men of the humbler classes divide their labours with the women,
but do not oppress them with any of the taskmaster’s tyranny. Both are
alike filthy and coarse in their habits. Among the wealthy, as well
as in the middle orders, it is customary for ladies to wait at table
when strangers are present; but this is considered as an employment by
no means menial. The hospitality of the Icelanders, indeed, assumes
some very singular forms. Their women often salute the stranger with
a cordial embrace, from which on account of their uncleanliness he is
generally desirous to escape as quickly as possible. When Henderson,
the missionary, resided there, he visited, during his travels, the
house of a respectable man, where he was liberally treated. At night,
when he retired to his bedroom, the eldest daughter of the family
attended him, and assisted him to undress by pulling off his stockings
and pantaloons. He was unwilling to accept such services, to which he
was wholly unaccustomed; but she imputed his refusal to politeness,
and insisted on performing the office, declaring it was the invariable
custom of her country. It is the task of the women, almost always, to
unloose the sandals or latchets of their husband’s shoes.
The intercourse of the sexes in Iceland is regulated by few absolute
laws; but Christianity has abolished polygamy, while public opinion
holds a strong check upon illicit communication. With the exception
of those seaport populations, which have been corrupted by an influx
of Danes and other foreigners, generally of disreputable character,
they are, as a nation, moral. These exceptions contribute very
considerably to the number of bastard children. In 1801, the population
was 46,607--21,476 males and 25,131 females, or in the proportion of
thirteen to fifteen of men to women. The average marriages during a
period of ten years, were 250, or one out of 188 of the population; the
births 1350, or one in 35, and the deaths 1250. One child out of nine
was illegitimate. In 1821 one out of seven was illegitimate, and in
1833 the proportion remained the same. Men usually marry between the
ages of 25 and 32, women between those of nineteen and 30.
If, however, we give credit to a scandalous anecdote related by Lord
Kames, in his “Sketches of Man,” we must impute to the Icelanders, of a
century and a half ago, a very profligate disposition. In 1707, it is
said, a contagious distemper having cut off nearly all the people, the
King of Denmark fell on an ingenious device to repeople the country.
He caused a law to be promulgated that every young woman in Iceland
might bear as many as six illegitimate children without injuring her
reputation; but, says the gossipping philosopher, the young women
were so zealous to repeople the country, that after a few years it
was found necessary to abrogate the law. Little dependance is to be
placed on such stories, though the number of illegitimate children
born does certainly contradict the panegyrics on the pure morality
of the Icelanders, in which some writers are fond of indulging.
About one person in seven is married; but it is the custom among the
poor for persons of both sexes to sleep promiscuously in small close
cabins, which cannot but corrupt their manners. In the fishing towns,
especially, where numerous foreigners have congregated, there are many
prostitutes, who usually gain only part of their livelihood by that
profession. What their numbers are it is impossible to tell; but it
seems that the crews of the fishing-vessels, as well as the traders who
frequent the ports from time to time, generally resort to the company
of prostitutes, who present themselves in any numbers that may be
required.
Extending our observations to the remote and desolate coast of
Greenland, we find a population partly composed of European colonists
and partly of Esquimaux, who have, however, a system of manners not
identical with that of the tribes we have already noticed. They are a
vain and indolent, but not a very sensual, people. What virtue they
possess consists rather in the negation of active vice, than in any
positive good qualities. Their women occupy an inferior, yet not a
degraded, position. They take charge, indeed, of all domestic concerns,
make clothes, tools and tents, build huts and canoes, prepare leather,
carry home the game, clean and dry the garments, and cook the food,
while their husbands catch seals; but the men often assist their wives
in these occupations. Marriage is essentially a contract for mutual
convenience, to be dissolved when it ceases to be agreeable to both.
The woman looks out for a skilful hunter, the man for an industrious
housewife. She brings him little dowry, possessing usually no more than
a kettle, a lamp, some needles, a knife, and a few clothes. Parents
seldom interfere with the matches of their children. It is considered
proper for a girl, when a man comes to request her in marriage, to
fly away and hide among the hills, whence she is dragged, with a show
of violence, by her suitor. He takes her home, and if her aversion be
real, she runs away again and again, until he is weary of pursuit.
Formerly, it was the custom to make incisions in the soles of a bride’s
feet, as some tribes in Siberia and Borneo are accustomed to do to
the captives, to prevent their escaping. When a woman is courted by a
man whom she detests, she cuts off her hair, which is a sign of great
horror and grief, and usually rids her of her suitor. Among the heathen
tribes polygamy is allowed, though seldom practised. Divorces sometimes
take place. All the man has to do is to assume a stern expression of
countenance, and quit the home for a few days without saying when he
intends to return. The woman takes the hint, packs up her few effects,
and goes with her children to the house of her parents or some friend.
Generally, however, they lead a reputable life, the women being docile,
and the men indulgent.
Considering themselves, as they do, the only civilised people in the
world, the Greenlanders feel a pride in observing the outward shows of
decorum. They do not allow marriages within three degrees of affinity.
It is not considered reputable for persons, though not related, who
have been educated in the same house, to marry. Sometimes a man takes
two sisters, or a mother and her daughter, but this is viewed with
general reprobation. The marriage contract is, on the whole, very
strictly observed, few divorces taking place, except between the young.
“The most detestable crime of polygamy,” as a Danish writer terms it,
produced, where it was practised, little of that jealousy which might
be expected among the wives, until the arrival of the missionaries, who
preached against it, and speedily won the female sex to support their
doctrine.
There was formerly in Greenland a society resembling very closely the
Physical Club of Moscow, but still more obscene in its practices.
This, however, has disappeared. Prostitution, nevertheless, prevails
to a considerable degree, widows and divorced women almost invariably
adopting it, as the only means of life, indeed, to which they can
resort. There are numerous habitations in the larger communities, which
can only be described as brothels; but the profession entails the worst
odium on those who follow it[86].
OF PROSTITUTION IN LAPLAND AND SWEDEN.
A notice of the Scandinavian populations would be incomplete, unless
we touched particularly on the Laplanders; especially as they contrast
very strongly with their neighbours the Swedes, notwithstanding that
these are far more inflated with the pride of civilization. Forming a
nomade race, known in their own region as Finns, they occupy a country
little favoured by the prodigality of nature. Nevertheless, where they
have settled into fixed communities, we find them adopting many forms
of luxury, polishing their manners, and pursuing wealth with eagerness.
But these scarcely belong to the body of the Laplanders, and it is
only necessary to say of them that they are a happy, virtuous people,
distinguished by the affection and harmony existing between men and
women.
The genuine Laplander, among his free rocks and snows, lives partly in
a tent, partly in a hut; but, whichever tenement he inhabits, he is
content with the most simple economy. During the summer he wanders, and
is equally industrious and frugal; during the winter he remains in one
place, enjoying the fruits of his labour in ease and idleness. This is
a peculiar mode of life, and has much influence on the manners of the
people; for, during their leisure months, they invent many pleasures,
few of which are indulged in by one sex apart from the other.
The Lapland families are generally small;--three or four children being
the largest number habitually seen; but what they do bring forth, the
women bring forth easily, scarcely ever requiring help, and speedily
leaving their couch to fulfil their usual tasks.
The general character of the Lapland race is good. From whatever cause
the circumstance proceeds, it is certain that their morals are strict
and virtuous. Few strong passions of any kind prevail among them, and
they are more especially distinguished by their continence.
The priest of a large parish assured one traveller that there had been
but one instance of an illegitimate birth during twenty years, and that
illicit intercourse between the sexes was almost unknown.
Old travellers have amused their readers with accounts of the conjugal
infidelity common in Lapland, and asserted that the men are in the
habit of offering their wives to strangers: this appears to be wholly
untrue. So far from truth is it, indeed, that adultery is a crime
almost unknown among them; they are, in fact, rather jealous than
otherwise of their women. The intercourse of the sexes, nevertheless,
is free and agreeable; their marriages are contracted, sometimes
according to the choice of the young people, sometimes by that of their
parents. Prostitution is unknown among them, except in the fishing
towns, where a few wretched women have taken to that mode of life; but,
on the whole, they are a chaste and virtuous race.
The great difference between the institutions of Norway and those of
Sweden consist in this--that in the former, manners influence the law;
while in the latter, law attempts to regulate every detail of public
manners.
Men, says the public law of Sweden, attain their majority at the age
of 21 years, but women remain in tutelage during the whole period of
their lives, unless the king grants a privilege of exemption: widows,
however, are excepted. Men cannot legally marry before the age of
21. Even to this rule there is an exception, for among the peasants
of the north it is lawful for a youth of eighteen to take a wife--a
device adopted to increase the population of those thinly-inhabited
provinces. Women may marry immediately after their confirmation,
which never takes place before fourteen. The nuptials are recognised
by law, and are celebrated in the presence of a priest, by the gift of
a ring. A man desiring to take his sister-in-law to wife, must have
permission from the king. A few years ago an ordinance was abolished
which required a similar formality to be gone through previous to the
marriage of cousins. A man may marry without the consent of any one;
but a woman must obtain the sanction of her parent or guardian. To
render binding the contract, which stipulates for the rights of each
with respect to property, it must be presented to the magistrates of
the place, and signed by the priest, before the celebration of the
wedding.
In default of such an agreement a division takes place, under rules
which differ in the country and in the town. In the former, two-thirds
of the property belong to the man, and one-third to the woman; in the
latter, half is apportioned to each.
Marriage, when fully consummated, is not indissoluble. Divorce may be
pronounced by the public tribunals of justice. First, for adultery on
the part of the husband or of the wife; second, on the condemnation of
one or the other, on account of a felonious crime, to loss of honour
and liberty for ten years; thirdly, in cases of insanity; fourthly, for
desertion, neglect, or the continued absence, without intelligence,
of husband or wife. When a married person complains of having been
abandoned, the magistrate fixes a certain interval during which the
other may make answer; a notice is inserted in the gazette and the
newspapers. If, at the expiration of this period, no reply is heard,
the divorce is pronounced. The length of absence necessary to justify
such a separation is left to the discretion of the judge. Fifthly,
when one person is palmed off for another; sixthly, for ill-treatment;
seventhly, for apostasy; eighthly, for incurable epilepsy. After
the sentence of the civil tribunal, the divorce is held good in an
ecclesiastical court.
A man is bound to support his natural children, and inquiries in cases
of affiliation are frequent. When a girl accuses a man before a public
tribunal, of being the father of her child, he may deny it upon oath,
when her allegation is dismissed, unless she can prove by witnesses,
or by any other evidence, that her claim is absolutely just. As such a
proof is difficult to obtain, there are abundance of false oaths made
at Stockholm. A girl sometimes accuses a peasant of being the parent
of her child, demanding, perhaps, a sum of money equal to a sovereign
of our coinage, by way of compensation. The man refuses to pay it, and
offers to swear that he is not the child’s father. The magistrate then
seeks by persuasion to induce him to confess the truth; but he persists
in his refusal until the woman modifies her claim. He continues all
the while to threaten her with the oath of repudiation, unless she
is contented with his offer. If she accepts a miserable trifle, he
acknowledges the debt; if not, he perjures himself, and the law allows
him to escape, though morally convinced, beyond all question, of his
profligacy and falsehood.
The illegitimate child has no claim on the property of its father, or
even on that of its mother; but if the parents marry, however short a
time before the child’s birth, it is saved from the stigma of bastardy.
A legitimate child cannot be disinherited by its parents, unless for
marrying against their consent, or being condemned for felony to a
heavy and disgraceful punishment.
Death is the penalty attached to infanticide, but is almost invariably
commuted to detention for a longer or shorter period, with hard labour
in prison. In 1832 the House of Correction for females in Stockholm,
which served for all Sweden, contained 290 women, of which 45 were
condemned to hard labour for life; of these, 30 had murdered their
children.
The punishments denounced against adultery endeavour to mark a
distinction between particular degrees of the crime. Incest and
bestiality are, however, punished only with a moderate fine. When a
married man indulges in guilty intercourse with a married woman, they
both suffer death by decapitation. When it is committed by a married
man with a girl betrothed and pregnant by her lover, he receives 120
blows with a stick, and she 90 lashes with a whip. Punishments of
this sort continually take place in a public square at Stockholm. At
present, in whipping the girls on their naked persons, care is taken
to protect their bosoms and their abdomens with plates of copper.
Formerly, however, when this precaution was not adopted, the lash
frequently lacerated the bosom and tore open the flesh, so as to
expose the bowels. When adultery is committed by a married man with an
affianced girl, or the reverse, a simple fine is exacted; in default
of which, imprisonment on bread and water, or a public flogging, is
inflicted. When one of the criminals only is married, and the other is
entirely free, an inferior money penalty is adjudged.
An unmarried woman becoming a mother pays to the church penance money,
to a certain amount. So also does every man: that is to say, the law
enacts it; but it is, perhaps, needless to add that the priests get, in
this respect, much less than is legally their due.
In 1836 prostitution was forbidden by law throughout Sweden. The public
woman, being convicted, was imprisoned in a house of correction,
until she had time to reclaim herself, and some one was willing to
take her into service. The same, indeed, was done to any poor woman,
whatever her character, who could not describe her occupation. Many
little girls, some not more than eleven years old, were confined as a
punishment for being without a regular avocation. Professional and open
prostitution being thus severally prohibited by the law, there were, at
that period, no regular brothels in Sweden; but the women of the lower
orders were so corrupt, that prostitution was as common as possible.
“Every servant girl,” says the advocate Angelot, who wrote in 1836,
“may be considered as a public prostitute, and every house of public
entertainment may be described as a brothel.”
So far the laws describe the manners of Sweden; that is, they indicate
the profligacy they are unable to cure. The country is, perhaps, one
of the most demoralized in Europe. During many years it continued to
decline in population, prosperity, and character; and if during the
last quarter of a century it has improved in these respects, it is
because the old system of institutions is gradually wearing away.
Superficial travellers, who gather their ideas of other countries by no
other light than that of the chandelier, and in no other society than
that of fops and flirts, describe Sweden as a paradise of good breeding
and elegance. Society is there often gay and lively, which satisfies
the inquiries of such tourists. The ladies of that nation also possess
many fascinations, with an apparent frankness and sincerity, which
never fail to please. The women of the humbler orders wear, in the
streets, the airs of modesty, and never shock the eye by exhibitions
of wantonness or indecency. The intercourse of the sexes is extremely
free; and therefore there are fewer signs of intrigue, because this is
not necessary; but to infer from such circumstances that Sweden is a
moral country, is to fall into a grievous error.
Sweden is immoral, and Stockholm is the most immoral place in Sweden.
For many years it absolutely decayed under the moral disease which
afflicted it. In 1830 it contained nearly 81,000 inhabitants; this
number decreased in a year or two to 77,000, and the deaths during a
period of ten years exceeded the births by an average of 895. Yet it is
in a healthy situation; the people are well lodged; everything, indeed,
is there to render it pure and salubrious; but the moral atmosphere is
tainted by a continual epidemic of depravity.
The whole nation numbers about 3,000,000; but it is in the capital that
the excess of profligacy is displayed. Three or four years ago the
proportion of illegitimate children was as one to two and three-tenths,
that is to say, one person out of every three was a bastard. Taking all
Sweden, we find the proportion of the ten years, from 1800 to 1810, was
one in sixteen; from 1810 to 1820, one in fourteen; from 1820 to 1830,
one in fourteen and six-tenths. It was thus the town population which
was to be charged with the immoral result of depravity. In Stockholm,
however, statistics could not fully exhibit the general demoralization.
Laing asserts his deliberate belief that the offspring of adultery and
children saved from illegitimacy by the late marriage of their parents
were there exceedingly numerous; and it is probable that the law
forbidding young men to marry before they were 21 years of age had, in
this respect, a very evil influence, as similar checks have undoubtedly
had in Norway.