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sum, not more than about £400,000 can be termed requisite expenditure. To the labourer, the overtaxed operative, and the burdened merchant of Great Britain, it is not to be supposed that the prospect of relief from so heavy a load would be unwelcome. But we advocate, we insist upon, its immediate removal, and a thorough revision of our Colonial system, on other and still wider grounds. A wasteful government must be a bad government; for it is one of those exquisitely beneficent laws which regulate the moral world, that tyrannies, if they fall not through their brutal violence, will ultimately fall because of their expensiveness. No government, it is evident, can be wasteful but for one of two reasons,either it must require to employ and support a large machinery of force, an army; or, it must overpay its servants. Now, the prior case just proves that there is no constitutional government whatsoever; that the people are compelled; not conciliated nor encouraged to develop freely their resources and national spirit: and there is an equal security in the second, in favour of the prevalence of abuse. So long as an office is merely paid in proportion to its duties, there will be no competition for it but amongst capable and laborious men; but when the limits of remuneration are overpassed, we have straight a noisy competition of idlers; a possibility of having deputies to do the drudgery has been constituted, and the colonists must suffer from "my Lord Charles!" So, in regard of that money of which we are filched by the monopolies. Monopolies not only ensure loss, but they derange the progress of society; and we in England are aware what struggles are requisite ere its course can once more be smoothed! Our future colonial policy is plain. We have got quit of our own Oligarchy; we must get quit of the whole of the evils it constituted, and so surely would have entailed. We must hence. forth teach our colonists, if not as freemen, at least as fellow subjects; and thereby provide effectually that in none other of the first histories of the States of the future world, shall we cut the mournful figure in which we must unfortunately appear to the Inquirer of every age and nation, who meditates upon the origin of the Great Republic of America.

CUSTOMS AND MANNERS OF PERSIAN WOMEN.*

THIS, we do not hesitate to say, is the most important work that has ever been published on the East. Whether it has been honoured with a royal or gold medal, does not appear; but that it contains more information respecting the state of society in Oriental countries, (which are all as much influenced by Persia as the Continent was by France,) more solid wisdom, pure morality, and judicious rules of life, than any other profane volume of the same size, will not be doubted by those who read it. The false notions, in particular, which have prevailed about the slavery" of women in the East, are completely blown away.

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It seems that a royal commission was directed (we do not accurately know when, or by whom) to five ladies of distinguished breeding and quality, empowering them to draw up a complete code of laws for the women of Persia ; and, in the prosecution of their labours, to call in, as often

* Customs and Manners of the Women of Persia, with their domestic superstitions. Translated from the original Persian Manuscript, by James Atkinson, Esq., of the Hon. East India Company's Bengal Medical Service. Printed for the Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland.

as their advice might be necessary, two other women of great distinction and learning to aid their deliberations; precisely as the judges are sometimes required to deliver their opinions to Parliament on difficult questions of law. The names of the first five are,

Kulsúm Naneh (President,) Shahr-Banu Dadeh, Dadeh-Bazm Ará, Bági Yasmin, Khála Gul-bari;

The assessors or judges are,

Khála Ián Aghá, Bíbí Ián Afróz ;

And the work before us is the pandect of laws collected, arranged, and settled by them. As we proceed, it will be seen how erroneous were the opinions that regarded freedom, pin-money, separate maintenance, divorce, &c., as peculiar privileges of Western women. It will, on the contrary, be made manifest, that these have come, like the Cholera, Light, &c., from the East; and that the circle of a Persian lady's amusements, though the links may be apparently different, is as large as that of any woman of fashion here; while the ties of morality are equally strict in both countries. If the one has her private box at the opera, church, the race-course, the ball, the carriage; the other has her bath, mosque, litter, pipe, and Almehs, who dress and dance as voluptuously as Taglioni herself. But one circumstance deserves notice: The good treatment of women here is secured partly by sentiment, and partly by law. In Persia, besides law and sentiment, they have religion on their side. A man who abuses his wife is not only exposed to the tongues of all her friends, and a bastinado from the Kází; but he is turned up at the day of resurrection, and lucky is he if his legs are able to carry him into Paradise. If we consider the nature of Al Sirat, it is evident that he must have great difficulty in keeping his footing upon that very narrow pass. The code (and it may be observed that its mere existence proves the great consideration of women in Persia) contains numerous enforcements of this great principle, some of which we proceed to lay before the reader; premising that there are four degrees of obligation mentioned-Wajib, necessary; mustahab, desirable; sunnat, according to the law and traditions of the Prophet ; and sunnat mu’akkad, an imperative duty of religion.

IMPERATIVE RIGHTS AND DUTIES OF WOMEN.

"1.-A husband should give his wife money without limit. Allah forbid that she should die of sorrow and disappointment! in which case her blood would be on the head of her husband. The learned conclave are unanimous in declaring that many instances have occurred of women dying from the barbarous cruelty of their husbands in this respect; and if the husband be even a day-labourer, and he does not give his wages to his wife, she will claim them on the day of judgment. It is incumbent on the husband to bestow on the wife a daily allowance in cash, (not yearly or quarterly, but daily, this is a decided improvement on pin-money;) and he must also allow her every expense of feasting, and of excursions, and the bath, and every other kind of recreation. If he has not generosity and pride enough to do this, he will assuredly be punished for all his sins and omissions, on the day of resurrection."

This is not all. He is accountable, not only for his own soul, but his wife's. As in this country, so in the other world, any debts she contracts he becomes liable for; and they are exhibited on the debit side against him, upon the day of judgment.

"2. As long as he will not allow his wife the fees for the bath, and she is thus prevented from performing her ablutions, so long will fasting and prayer be of no use.'

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How pleasant it would be, if, on the eve of an Election, a cry of Atheism could be raised against a candidate, because he did not allow his wife a private box at the Opera? If Sir James Scarlett could intro

duce such a doctrine from Persia, he might then indeed pen luscious ad. dresses to the ladies of Norwich. How much the salvation of a Persian woman's soul depends on the due use of the bath, will be plain from the following extract. Particular attention is requested to the nature of the figures; especially to those of the sun, moon, and beasts. Had not the writer overlooked that essential point, we might have been spared his concluding absurd remark, as he would have seen that the whole is religious in an extreme degree. The correct view is taken by the Wise Women.

"The Persian ladies regard the bath as the place of their greatest amusement. They make appointments to meet there; and often pass seven or eight hours together in the carpeted saloon, telling stories, relating anecdotes, eating sweetmeats, sharing their kalyouns, and embellishing their beautiful forms with all the fancied perfections of the east; dyeing their hair and eyebrows, and curiously staining their fair bodies with a variety of fantastic devices, not unfrequently with the figures of trees, birds, and beasts, sun, moon, and stars. This sort of pencil-work spreads over the bosom, and continues down as low as the navel; round which some radiated figure is generally painted. All this is displayed by the style of their dress, every garment of which, even to the light gauze chemise, being open from the neck to that point; a singular taste, and certainly more barbarous than becoming."-See Porter's Travels in Persia. "3.-On the last Friday of the blessed month of Ramazán, the women ought to dress superbly and perfume themselves, and put on their best ornaments, and go to the porticoes of the mosques; because young men of cypress forms, with tulip cheeks, and amorous demeanour, assemble there in greater numbers than at other places. There they must sit down and stretch out their feet, and every one must light twelve tapers; and in doing this, care must be taken to lift the hand high above the head, so as to raise up the veil, as if by accident, and thus display their beautiful faces. Their crimson-tinted toes must also be exposed, in order that the young men may see and admire them with wounded hearts; but it would be an unlucky omen if one of the tapers was left unlighted. Bibi lán Aghá, and the rest of the learned conclave, are unanimous in this opinion. Further, it is not at all necessary that, in lighting the tapers, silence should be observed. On the contrary, lovely women should always let their sweet voices be heard."

This must be understood to be an important religious ceremony. It will be rendered plainer presently.

"4.-Should a favourable opportunity occur for the beautiful young girls to remain with the young men for a short time, and especially if their intercourse arises from mutual affection, there can be nothing wrong in the indulgence of their attachments. Indeed, it is a fortunate circumstance, and, upon the whole, more gratifying and satisfactory to them than fasting the whole year.

5.--And whenever the young women visit their female friends upon that blessed day, for the purpose of meeting their lovers, they may be permitted, without any violation of decorum, to remain till a late hour."

The love here meant is Platonic love.

« 6. If a woman's husband presumes to ask where she has been, and why returned so late, it is highly reprehensible on his part; for, through the sacred influence of that blessed day, she stands acquitted of all impropriety."

This is what we were insisting upon above.

« 7.—Dadeh-Bazm Ara, Bagi Yasmin, and Shahr-Banu Dadeh, are of opinion, that when a woman applies the end of a taper to the tips of the toes of her right foot, and, at the time of lighting it, displays the beautiful shape of her leg, she will undoubt edly be in no danger of hell-fire."

The Seven Wise Women are careful to lay down axioms, as the groundwork of their reasonings on every subject. The preceding is one.

8." And Kulsum Naneh, the President of the Council, is decidedly of opinion, that no woman can entertain the least hopes of heaven, whose husband forbids the things that are herein commanded, and considered proper for her pleasure and happiness in this world. For, with what comfort (it is logically and forcibly asked) can a woman remain in the house of her husband, who is continually opposed to those recreations to which her whole soul is devoted ?"

This, to us, seems conclusive. Indeed, the husband who can digest so powerful an argument, must have a stomach at least equal to that of an ostrich. But the Learned Women leave no loophole for escape.

"9.-Dadeh-Bazm Ara says, I have proved, from the instructions of my master Iblis, (a great eastern philosopher, not to be confounded with Eblis, Satan,) that the man who does not allow his wife to visit holy places and mosques, and the houses of her friends, male and female, and who prohibits other innocent and agreeable proceedings, such as we have deemed proper and expedient for her own satisfaction and comfort; that man, I say, will be damned hereafter."

Nothing can be more clear or satisfactory than this.

The crimes, however, of the husband, do not escape punishment in this world :— "Should his wife die of a broken heart, he and his relations are liable to pay the expiatory mulct, as in cases of wilful murder."

This great right of women to innocent amusements is further insisted on; and the precise mode of the husband's perdition explained, in another article of the code. It appears that he is to be accused and condemned at the day of resurrection, by the Seven Learned Women.

SCIENTIFIC DIVISION OF MEN,

The Proper Man, the Half Man, and the Hupul-hupla.

"There are three sorts of men: 1. A Proper Man; 2. Half a Man; 3. A Hupul-hupla. A Proper Man at once supplies whatever necessaries or indulgencies his wife may require; he never presumes to go out without his wife's permission, or do any thing contrary to her wish."

It strikes us, that this is the character, which, in these countries, is called "A Jerry Sneak." In the East he seems to be held in high honour.

2.-Your Half Man is a very poor, snivelling wretch, always meddling; with but little furniture in his house, and just bread and salt enough for bare subsistence: never on any occasion enjoying the least degree of comfort. The wife sits in his house, and works, and all she earns is applied to procure food and light. It is, therefore, wajib in that industrious woman to reply harshly to whatever he says; and if he beats her, it is wajib to bite and scratch him, and pull his beard, and do every thing in her to annoy him. If his severity exceeds all bounds, let her petition the Kazi, and get a divorce."

These rules carry on them such a stamp of wisdom and reasonable. ness, that it is unnecessary to express our full concurrence in their perfect propriety. There can be little doubt that they will soon be used to enrich the law of Doctors' Commons. And to whom can the task of improving the social condition of our countrywomen be more safely intrusted, than to the man who has struggled, with such purity of motive, for the happiness of the women of India-Dr. Lushington? The right side of the question, important as it is, may, without hesitation, be confided to him, unless he get money to advocate the opposite side.

It would be unjust to omit noticing the judicious mode in which the Seven Learned Women direct a wife to resist her husband. We allude more particularly to the application to be made to his beard. In this point, Eastern women have a decided advantage over the women of the West. For here, unless a woman's husband happen to wear large whiskers, there is nothing on which she can fasten. Then the whiskers may be false ones; and as to mustachios, we are assured that they afford no grip whatever. But in the East, independently of the fact, that both hands may at once be stuck in it,—and that with a powerful purchase,— the beard is the seat of honour, and is looked up to with profound veneration by both sexes. Without a large black beard a man is nobody; he is a being whom, as Hajgi Baba says, a hundred dogs may make a corner-stone of, and bring their friends." The respect in which any

individual is held, varies in the compound ratio of his own length, and that of his beard. Madden, in his very instructive and amusing travels, tells of a French serjeant-major, who, by a portly person, and a huge mane to his chin, obtained great consideration in Constantinople. He was an Effendi, a Prince, a Sultan, to them. As soon as Napoleon's career of victory in Egypt commenced, the most extravagant stories were circulated about his stature and his beard. The Turks declared that he was a giant, with a beard as large as the three tails of a Pasha! and, accordingly, they resolved to submit to such a Child of Destiny; but as soon as they actually saw that he was even under the middle size, and, instead of the phenomenon represented, had no beard whatever, they cried out that he was an infidel; and the rebellion in Cairo was the consequence. The veneration paid to the beard must not be understood to arise merely from motives of personal vanity. It is a part of that mass of religious prejudices which is so firmly rooted in the Eastern mind. Men swear by it as something mysterious and holy. The most dreadful insult, therefore, that can be offered to an Oriental, is any disparagement to, much more manual intermeddling with, his beard. The pity of the Janizaries for Charles XII., at Bender, was converted into fury when he ordered their beards to be cut off.

"3.-The Hupul-hupla has nothing; no friends. He wants to dress and live luxuriously, but is totally destitute of means. If the wife of such a man absents herself from his house even for ten days and ten nights, he must not, on her return, ask her where she has been; and, if he sees a stranger in the house, he must not ask who it is, or what he wants. Whenever he comes home and finds the street-door shut, he must not knock, but retire, and not presume to enter till he sees it open."

Should he be a person of so violent a temper as to think there was any thing in all this, his wife must get divorced instanter; as evidently it would be impossible for any prudent or virtuous woman to live with so suspicious a husband. Considering the Proper Man as the pivot, and the Half Man and Hupul-hupla as the descending part of the series, the ascending would be the Sunnat, (or Godly Man,) who looks up with reverential awe to his better half; and the Sunnat Mu'akkad, or, as we might say, the Martyr.

But in the case last extracted, there seems an omission on the part of the Seven Learned Women:-Should the husband see the street door open, and a young man, of cypress form, &c., come out, might he, in that case, provided it was not the blessed month Ramazan, suspect that there was any thing suspicious in the case? We confess we should like to hear Kulsum Naneh, or a grave Mollah on that point. Our present leaning decidedly is, that he might ask the young man, of the cypress form, &c., what was his business in that house?

OF LIFTING THE VEIL FOR FRANGEES.

"1. The Seven Learned Women declare that, among the forbidden things, is that of allowing their features to be seen by men not wearing turbans unless, indeed, they are handsome, and have soft and captivating manners; in that case their veils may be drawn aside. But they must scrupulously and religiously abstain from all such liberties with mullahs [priests] and Jews; since, respecting them, the prohibition is imperative."

There is as much liberality as sound judgment in this article of the code. Indeed the learned women seem rather beyond their age; for Madden says, that none spit farther or oftner at him than women. Captain Franklin says, that being one day beyond the walls of Constantinople, sketching some scenery, a Turkish lady came up, with, we believe,

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