,
was certainly of Tartar origin, as also the punishment inflicted
upon refractory debtors, called the pravezh. They were beaten on
the shins in a public square every day from eight to eleven o'clock,
till the money was paid. The custom is fully described by Giles
Fletcher and Olearius.

Another strange habit, savouring too much of the Tartar servitude,
was that recorded by Peter Heylin in his _Little Description of
the Great World_ (Oxford, 1629), who says: "It is the custom over
all Muscovie, that a maid in time of wooing sends to that suitor
whom she chooseth for her husband such a whip curiously by herself
wrought, in token of her subjection unto him." A Russian writer
also tells us that it was usual for the husband on the wedding
day to give his bride a gentle stroke over the shoulders with his
whip, to show his power over her. Herberstein's story of the German
Jordan and his Russian wife will perhaps occur to some of my readers.
She complained to her husband that he did not love her; but upon
his expressing surprise at the doubt, she gave as her reason that
he had never beaten her! Indeed the position of a woman in Russia
till the time of Peter was a very melancholy one. Her place in
society is accurately marked out in the Domostroi, or regulations
for governing one's household, written at the time of Ivan the
Terrible. As this book presents us with some very curious pictures
of Russian family life in the olden time, a few words may be permitted
describing its contents. It was written by the monk Sylvester,
who was one of the chief counsellors of Ivan, and at one time in
great favour with him, but afterwards fell into disgrace and was
banished by the capricious tyrant to the Solovetzki monastery,
where he died. The work was primarily addressed by the worthy priest
to his son Anthemus and his daughter-in-law, Pelagia, but as the
bulk of it was of a general character it soon became used in all
households. Nothing escapes this father of the church from the
duties of religion, down to the minor details of the kitchen and
the mysteries of cookery. The wife is constantly recommended to
practise humility, in a way which would probably be repulsive to
many of our modern ladies. Her industry in weaving and making clothes
among her domestics is very carefully dwelt upon. She lived in a kind
of Oriental seclusion, and saw no one except her nearest relatives.
The bridegroom knew nothing of his bride, she was only allowed to