IN SPAIN little fidelity is known among married people. Jealousy never finds place in the Spanish breast, and the "liberty of married women has no limit except their own discretion," which, owing to an ardent temperament, interposes but a feeble restraint. Marriages are generally arranged by the friends or parents of the parties, and solemnized by the priests, whose powers in that country are despotic. Lord Byron, in describing the customs of the Spaniards, in a letter to his mother, from Cadiz, wrote as follows:

"I beg leave to observe that intrigue here is the business of life; when a woman marries she throws off all restraint, but I believe their conduct is chaste enough before. If you make a proposal which in England would bring a box on the ear from the meekest of virgins, to a Spanish girl, she thanks you for the honor you intend her, and replies, 'Wait till I am married, and I shall be too happy.' This is literally and strictly true.

"The Spanish lady may have her cortejo as well as the Italian her cicisbeo. It is Spanish etiquette for gentlemen to make love to every woman with whom they have the opportunity, and a Spanish lady of rank has said that she would heartily despise the man who, having a proper opportunity, did not strenuously solicit every favor she could grant. Every Spanish woman reckons this as a tribute due to her charms; and, though she may be far from granting all the favors a man can ask, she is not the less affronted if he does not ask them." Yet the husbands of Spanish ladies, like those in all other countries, are under still less restraint than their wives.

It was once a custom in Barcelona, Spain, to lead out of the foundling hospital in procession all marriageable girls brought up in it, and as the procession passed, the masculine bystanders in search of wives indicated their selections by throwing a handkerchief at the object of their choice.

IN FRANCE, marriages among the higher classes are arranged by the parents or relatives of the parties, and generally solemnized by the priests. Separations are more common than divorces, "agreeing to disagree" being settled upon by the parties themselves. "The boudoir," remarks Goodrich "is the sanctuary of a married dame, and the husband who should enter it unbidden would regard his power more than his character; he would bear the reproach of society, and be deemed a brute; for it is a great evil in French society that the unmarried females have too little freedom, and the married quite too much. The boudoir is a fit retreat for the Graces, and other females of the mythology. Paintings, statues, vases, and flowers, nature and art, combine to adorn it. It is the palace Armida, the bower of Calypso; but it breathes of Helicon less than of Paphos." Professional engagements having, at least thus far, prevented me from going abroad to look around with my own eyes, and desiring to know something of Parisian

society, I addressed a letter of inquiry to a personal friend-an intelligent and gifted young woman, at this writing a resident of Paris-who favored me with an interesting response.

"In the first place," remarks my correspondent, "woman is not very much esteemed in Paris. That clever French woman, Madame Audouard, says that women exist for the Frenchmen only while they are young and pretty. A woman is loved, but not esteemed, and almost never spoken of as an intelligent creature. All this is the result of the system of education of the young girls. Not to seem to judge too harshly, I find that the young girl of Paris, with the well-to-do and aristocratic classes, after subtracting from her her dot (dower), is a woman more or less innocent, but helpless, and almost a nonentity. The system pursued which accomplishes this result, as near as I can gather, is to keep her as dependent as possible, the parents dictating the minutest details of her life. Neither familiar conversation or general reading give her the slightest hint of those subjects that am! She is scarcely ever permitted to be alone, never to go into society, to walk or to receive company alone. There are mothers willing to vouch to any gentlemen willing to take their daughters off their hands, that they have never been in the society of man one moment without the presence of their mothers, or some other person competent to take charge of them. This, of course, is a highly satisfactory guaranty for the past, but, in my opinion, a worse than no guaranty for the future. Young girls must not read Molière, who is moral as far as plot is concerned, but sometimes free in language, like our Shakespeare. Neither must they read the journals, which, it is true, are sometimes quite beyond the stretch of decency. The young girls employ themselves in various little feminine arts, and read a literature written expressly for them.

When mademoiselle, with her dot (dower), is married, this unnatural pressure is removed, and the more or less ignorant girl has her liberty at a single stroke. Timid natures cling to their families, and are still the child. Instances are very common here where the young wife prefers her mother's home, and it is with difficulty that the husband can keep her with him. It is the other sort of natures that rush into dissipation, and if they are a little or very wild, society does not turn its back upon them.

"I have heard it said here that any man can kiss a French girl the second time he meets her. This must depend upon individual character; if she is inexperienced some people would call it a weakness, others a fault. In America one might have a worse misfortune befall them than to be kissed; not exactly the same here, though, where Frenchmen, to state it very mildly, are rather impetuous. Having by caprice a poetical, but never a practical respect for women, they consider the least favor a carte blanche for many more. For instance, if a young girl gazes around at a ball or

theatre, as many American girls do, she is pretty sure to receive a chal lenge.

"The conversation with married women is very much more free than with us. In common table-talk it is considered nothing to remark that such a lady is enceinte that such an animal or individual is in chaleur. Many

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things that certainly are natural, but which our taste forbids, are spoken of by their real names, and with perfect coolness. This freedom of conversation is carried into the other details of life. Married women may go out with other men if they choose, and are often excessively independent of the husband. In cases where the wife is untrue, it depends on circumstances and the character of the husband, whether he make a fuss or not. If not After giving some chaste in his own habits, he generally takes it easy." notable instances illustrating the truth of the last remark, which I omit on account of the names of the distinguished individuals being given, my correspondent continues: "The courts do not punish a man who shoots his wife's lover. But, if taken in the act, both man and woman may be punished; but this latter case occurs almost never.

"Divorce, to all practical purposes, does not exist in France. It was introduced by Napoleon I. when he wanted to get rid of Josephine. Separation du corps, without the right to marry again, is frequently obtained, but with great difficulty. The only causes that I have been, able to find out, that the court will admit, are-when the husband at marriage has concealed from his wife that he is subject to epilepsy, or that he has been in If in this I am misinthe galleys. Adultery is not a sufficient cause. formed, any of our law-books will correct my statements, as they contain an account of the laws of divorce of all nations. In nearly all cases the law favors (in France) the man. No married woman holds property in her own right, without a special contract before marriage; and if she inherits property, unless when legally separated from her husband, the latter is the heir, or rather guardian, until all the children are of age.

"I think old maids are about as free and enjoy the same social privileges as married women; and if they happen to possess wealth, are very much respected. On the floor below our apartments lives a count, who is an old who is an old maid; both are old, bachelor, with Mademoiselle rich, respectable, etc. The expenses of servants, carriage, garden, etc., are shared equally between them. They have lived thus for many years, and no one seems to think or speak evil of them. I do not think a respectable old maid would thus dare to brave American public opinion.

"As for the unfortunate girls of Paris (les filles de joie), with which the streets swarm, they die mostly in misery, of ill-health and poverty; sometimes in the hospital; sometimes-nobody knows where. There is, near the Seine, a bureau of examination, from which the sick girls are sent to a hospital until cured, or else they are forbidden to exercise their profession The principal causes of prostitution are the difficulty of obtaining work; the actual expenses of the simplest living; sometimes simply a lax morality; but oftenest a passionate love of luxury, which seems to pervade the whole city. Of single girls who become mothers, there seems to

be a general disposition to help them up. They are not regarded as unpardonable sinners; and the illegitimate children are not excluded from society. There is an institution in Paris, 'Des Enfants Trouvés,' designed for the reception and support of illegitimate children. To this place come poor women unable to support their offspring, or rich women too proud to own their fault. Into a little box or car, running on a little railroad, is deposited the infant, which enters the institution without the slightest clew to the person who placed it there. In many cases where the mother intends to reclaim her child, she attaches a name, necklace, or some mark, which is preserved by the institution. I think a good motto to put over the gates of this house would be—The rich and the poor meet together, for the devil is the maker of them all.

"I have not been able to find out any thing of the marriage customs of the provinces of France. Of course the peasants do not have any dot (dower). The women work as hard as men, and quite as much in the fields. These women are short, stunted, bony, strong, with large hands and feet, voices like men, and are very ignorant and very Catholic.

"The dot, or dower, is an institution in Paris. It is made necessary by the extreme difficulty of a young man to earn more than his support. Daughters often are a drug in the market. Marriages from love are common; but I believe these things usually go by the wishes of the parents. I am acquainted with a young gentleman here twenty-six years old; his mother wishes him to marry; he has no faith in woman; prefers his gay bachelor life; adores his mother. She wrote to him that she had selected a wife for him; a young girl of forty thousand francs dot. He did not answer the letter for six weeks, when there arrived an angry letter from his mother; he became contrite, and wrote back his acceptance of the young girl, who, meanwhile, had been trotted by her parents to his father's house. The latter did not consider the young lady good enough for his son, and negotiations were broken off without either of the young people having seen each other. Another anecdote, which is also true, is of a young gentleman who visited a family for the purpose of marrying one of the daughters. After a time, the parents demanded which daughter was his choice? The reply was'Either, if they both have the same dot.'" This interesting letter is coneluded with a little qualification for the fair correspondent's freedom in presenting the subjects upon which she had written. She says: "I have done the best I could, from my limited opportunities for observation, to let you know of Paris. I've laid aside my demoisellish scruples, put on common sense, and spoken on forbidden topics with the utmost frankness," etc.

Marriages of convenience have always a decided tendency to make husband and wife discontented, and these being in the majority in the higher circles of France, it is not singular that many liberties are taken and