Volume 1

History of the female sex; comprising a view of the habits, manners, and influence of women, among all nations, from the earliest ages to the present time / Translated from the German of C. Meiners. By Frederic Shoberl.

  • Christoph Meiners
Date:
1808
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: History of the female sex; comprising a view of the habits, manners, and influence of women, among all nations, from the earliest ages to the present time / Translated from the German of C. Meiners. By Frederic Shoberl. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    but to tlie husbancl;, vvho is in reality the author of it. As various writcrs, and amonQ' the rest * • . ^ a tairand accomplishedEnglish lady,Mary Wortley Montagii, liave endeavoiircd to- persuade the Europeans. tliat womeii no where enjoy liberty except in Turkey aritl the East, because they are there allowed to ]3ay visits veiled, and to receive visitors in disguise, whenever they please ; I shall subjoin a brief descriptioii ot’the condition of women and v'irgins in the harems of the Persian and Turkish monarchs and grandees. The testimony of history alone must be sufficient toconvince eveiy reader that the state of women in the East, in- stead of being an object of envy, is in the highest degree deplorable. For the harems of the kings of Fersia, (I speak as thoiigh thina's were still the same now' as in Chardin’s time), the most beautiful vir- gins are not only purchased in Georgia and Circassia, but sought uj) in the wiiole kingdom of Fersia*. When it is known that a female of extraordinary beauty is iiving in this place, or in that family, the royai attendants demand her without cere- inony for the harem of the sovereign ; the C/i(irdi>i, III. p. 385, Scc.
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