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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    and takes npon lierself various other inenial odices*. If a wife vvho is repu- diated by her husband, or is ]>arted from Iiim by the hand of deatli, be still youn^-, slie readily finds a horne for lierself and her childreii; but, on the contraiy, if she be old and infirm, the same fate awaits her as among the (ireenlanders. Young widows^on the death of their husbandsylo not recover their liberty^ but devolve with the rest of their property to their family, by whom they may be sold or given away-j~ ; and as long as a male of the husband’s family exists the widovv cannot dispose of herseif in marriage. The de- pendence of widows on the family of the husbandj ceases, however, when they have adult sons; for then they are too old to to marry again, and are, themselves re- garded as the heads of families. Not only * DuTerirr, 11. p, 379- TiieCaribsof the West Inclia islands-speak three different languages. The first is appropriatcd to the women it is understood by the men, but tliey never cmploy it, as they would think themselves disgraced by its usc. The second is spoken by the men, and was pfobably brought by tiiem from the continent; and the third is that used by the warriors and old men in secret consultations, the result of which is to be kept private from the women and young people. Lulut, 11. p. 127. f Charlevoix, p. 283, 284, 376*
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