tolerated by both husband and wife. "In France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and much the largest part of the continent of Europe," says Nichols, "marriages are arranged by the parents of at least one of the parties. A girl, educated in seclusion, sees her intended but twice before he leads her to the hymeneal altar, once to be formerly introduced, and once to sign the marriage contract. If he has suitable position, it is enough; he may be old, ugly, repulsive; he has been chosen as her husband by those who ought to know what is best for her, and she accepts him with disgust because she must, or with indifference because she knows no better."

IN PORTUGAL the marriage customs do not differ much from those of Spain, except that ladies when married retain their maiden names. Females are more secluded than in Spain, but are quite as much given to intrigue and matrimonial infidelity.

THE SWISS, who are noted for their free political institutions, while surrounded with despotism, cannot marry without the consent of the magis trates, whose permission or refusal is governed by the fitness of parties presenting themselves for marriage. It is required that there shall be adaptation between the parties, and this peculiar system of legalizing marriage results in happy families and hardy children. "At Geneva," says Goodrich, "the mode of life is extremely social. The soirées are constant from November to spring. These meetings resemble family assemblages, in their freedom from the constraints imposed by etiquette. A stranger is struck with the affectionate manner by which the women of all ages address each other. This comes from the influence of certain 'Sunday Societies,' in which children meet at their parents' house, where they are left to themselves and have a light supper of fruit, pastry, etc. The friendships thus formed endure through life, and the youthful expressions of fondness are never dropped." Divorces are very uncommon. The front door of marriage is guarded more than the back, and those who enter are generally too well satisfied to wish to get out.

IN ITALY, it has been remarked "that marriage is not a bond, but the reverse." Before marriage a lady is the prisoner of a convent, or the parental mansion, and is not allowed the society of gentlemen; but after she has become the wife, she may also become the lover of from one to three more besides her husband.

Byron, in one of his letters from Venice, said: "The general state of the morals here is much the same as in the Doges' time. A woman is virtuous, according to the code, who limits herself to her husband and one lover; those who have two, three, or more, are a little wild; but it is only those who are indiscriminately diffuse, or form a low connection, who are considered as overstepping the modesty of marriage. There is no convincing a

woman here that she is in the smallest degree deviating from the rule of right, or the fitness of things, in having a lover. The great sin seems to lie in concealing it, or in having more than one-that is, unless such extension of the prerogative is understood and approved of by the prior claimant." The same author further says, "They marry for their parents and love for themselves," and that a "person's character is canvassed, not as depending on their conduct to their husbands and wives, but to their mistress and lover." Still, remarks a noted historian, a person may pass through Italy, or live there for years, and not once be shocked with such undisguised vice, as in one night will intrude upon him in an English city." Prostitution, as a trade, cannot flourish in such society. It is, of course, uncalled for, where infidelity among married ladies is so fashionably allowed, or where polygamy is legally tolerated.

IN GREECE, girls are kept in separate parts of the houses, in a state of seclusion, much the same as in Turkey. They are not permitted to enter Bociety till after marriage, when the restriction is removed. Weddings there are celebrated with great éclat. A procession attends the bride to her future home, preceded by music and young girls dressed in white, who strew the path with flowers.

IN PRUSSIA, parties contemplating marriage are required to announce the fact in the newspapers. Matrimony among the higher classes is contracted on the title and "specie basis," as in most European countries. Infidelities, if discovered, are not overlooked, and divorces are of frequent occurrence-to the number of two or three thousand a year.

THE RUSSIAN nobility conduct their marriages much the same as other Europeans. The peasantry, however, according to popular authority, have peculiar customs. The suitor applies to the mother, saying, "Produce your merchandise, we have money for it." When the bargain is concluded, the bride, at the wedding, is crowned with a chaplet of wormwood. "Hops are thrown over her head, with the wish that she may prove as fruitful as the plant. Second marriages are tolerated, the third are considered scandalous, and the fourth absolutely unlawful." The wives of the lower classes of Russians are treated in a shameful manner and their position is only one remove from that of a slave.

IN AUSTRIA, where the monogamic system is the law, one might almost sup. pose that free love is the practice, if allowed to judge of the country at large by the official tables of the illegitimate children born annually in Vienna; these comprise nearly one-half the total births in that city. In 1853 there were about ten thousand legitimate and ten thousand illegitimate births. In 1854 there was a fraction over eleven thousand legitimate births, and nearly eleven thousand of those which were illegitimate; in 1855 there were about ten and one

half thousand legitimate, against nine and one-half thousand illegitimate. In 1856 there were only about five hundred more legitimate than illegiti mate offspring born in that city. If, as is claimed by many, illegitimate children are smarter, the Viennese ought to be a remarkable people!

IN WALLACHIA, one of the Danubian principalities, "the bride wears a veil the day before, and on that of her marriage. Whoever unveils her," says a writer, "is entitled to a kiss; but to prevent too much impertinence, the bride may in return demand a present, and the request must be com plied with." Unless kisses are decidedly scarce, and an object of consideration with the ladies of Wallachia, it would seem like an act of prudence to keep the lips and purse-strings closed.

IN SWEDEN AND NORWAY, the monogamic system is the law, and practical polygamy the violation; in the country first named, a species of practical omnigamy, or free love, prevails to a remarkable extent, though not under the sanction of law. Bayard Taylor, in a letter from Stockholm, remarked as follows:

"After speaking of the manners of Stockholm, I must not close this letter without saying a few words about its morals. It has been called the most licentious city in Europe, and I have no doubt with the most perfect justice. Vienna may surpass it in the amount of conjugal infidelity, but certainly not in general incontinence. Very nearly half the registered births are illegiti mate, to say nothing of illegitimate children born in wedlock. Of the servant-girls, shop-girls, and seamstresses in the city, it is very safe to say that scarcely one out of a hundred is chaste, while, as rakish young Swedes have coolly informed me, a large proportion of girls of respectable parentage, belonging to the middle class, are not much better. The men, of course, are much worse than the women; even in Paris one sees fewer physical signs of excessive debauchery. Here the number of broken-down young men, and blear-eyed, hoary sinners, is astonishing. I have never been in any place where licentiousness was so open and avowed-and yet where the slang of a sham morality was so prevalent. There are no houses of prostitution in Stockholm, and the city would be scandalized at the idea of allowing such a thing. A few years ago two were established, and the fact was no sooner known than a virtuous mob arose and violently pulled them down. At the restaurants, young blades order their dinners of the female waiters with arms around their waists, while the old men place their hands unblushingly upon their bosoms. All the baths in Stockholm are attended by women (generally middle-aged and hideous, I must confess), who perform the usual scrubbing and shampooing with great nonchalance. One does not wonder when he is told of young men who have passed safely through the ordeals of Berlin and Paris, and have come at last to Stockholm to be ruined.”

IN TURKEY the first marriage is contracted by the parents of children, who are sometimes betrothed at the age of two or three years. When they arrive at adult age, the bride is carried in a procession to the house of the husband. But polygamy is the law of the Ottoman empire, and the husband is allowed to purchase as many more wives as he chooses. They purchase many girls of the Circassians, for which they pay from twenty to thirty dollars apiece for handsome ones. Once they were considered cheap at five hundred dollars. The wives of a Turk are kept in what is termed a harem, a place gorgeously fitted up, and attended by eunuchs.

Formerly, a Turkish lady never left the harem without concealing her face behind a great number of veils. The war between Turkey and Russia has effected considerable change in this custom, and now only one thin veil is used, through which the eyes of strangers look on beauties whilom concealed from the gaze of foreigners. The ladies of Turkey are said to enjoy nearly as much liberty as the females of Christian countries, where polygamy is not tolerated, and where ladies sell themselves to wealthy husbands. Turkish women bear more female than male children, a noticeable fact in all countries where the plurality system of marriage is maintained. A Turk can divorce a wife at pleasure, for if he have no real cause, he can make a false accusation, and sustain it by perjured witnesses, which can be obtained without difficulty; but he is not permitted to take her back again for the fourth time, unless, during the interval of the separation, she has been the wife of another man. Notwithstanding the little regard manifested for the marriage contract, death is the penalty for adultery.

With this cursory view of the matrimonial customs of the old world, we will now turn our eyes to our own continent, and see how we find

Marriage in the New World.

IN SOUTH AMERICA, the marriage institutions of the people compare at least favorably with those of the semi-barbarous portions of the old world.

THE ARAUCANIANS, in the southern part of Chili, with a population of four hundred thousand, believe that marriage is perpetual in this world and the world to come. Every man is allowed to have as many wives as his means will permit, the first being considered superior to the rest. The husband selects his partner for the night at the supper-tabie, by requesting her to prepare his bed. Buying and selling wives is practised to some degree. "Marriage is always celebrated with a show of violence, for even after consent is obtained, the bridegroom conceals himself on the road, seizes the bride, and carries her to his house." It is required that each wife shall present her husband with a fine cloak.

IN BRAZIL, the civilized portion of its inhabitants maintain the monogamie system of marriage, and are said to be "exemplary in their domestic relations." It is not uncommon, however, to see an old man united with a young girl in marriage. Disparity in ages is considered no obstacle to a happy union. Among the uncivilized natives, polygamy is upheld, and ornaments are more profusely bestowed on the person than clothing Fig. 166.

by both sexes, and yet they have a fair reputation for chastity. Adultery is punishable with death. In the foundling hospital at Rio de Janeiro, the girls at a marriageable age may be selected at each anniversary for wives, if the applicants are approved by the managers of the institution.

IN CENTRAL AMERICA AND MEXICO, polygamy, monogamy, and omnigamy are practised, according to the respective conditions of their heterogeneous population. Only about one-fifth are white, and those are of Spanish origin, and imitate, in a measure, the customs of their ancestors. The marriages among this class are generally celebrated with some pomp, "and the fee for the priest, even from parties of the lowest rank," says Goodrich, "is not less than twenty-two dollars. and this in a country where the houses of the poor cost but four dollars, where the price of labor is half a dollar a day, and where the church observances leave but one hundred and seventy-five working days in each year!" The remaining population is divided between Mestizos, Mulattoes, and Zamboes, many of whom are but little above the savage, go naked, and have no established forms of marriage. The Mestizos are the offspring of whites and Indians, and many of the females are said to be very beautiful. Those who do not associate with and imitate the customs of the whites, are omnigamic, and governed by their impulses.

A MESTIZO GIRL