ion of the priests and the senate,
they give him none of the honours of a decent funeral, but throw his body
into a ditch.

"Their women are not married before eighteen nor their men before two-and-
twenty, and if any of them run into forbidden embraces before marriage
they are severely punished, and the privilege of marriage is denied them
unless they can obtain a special warrant from the Prince. Such disorders
cast a great reproach upon the master and mistress of the family in which
they happen, for it is supposed that they have failed in their duty. The
reason of punishing this so severely is, because they think that if they
were not strictly restrained from all vagrant appetites, very few would
engage in a state in which they venture the quiet of their whole lives,
by being confined to one person, and are obliged to endure all the
inconveniences with which it is accompanied. In choosing their wives
they use a method that would appear to us very absurd and ridiculous, but
it is constantly observed among them, and is accounted perfectly
consistent with wisdom. Before marriage some grave matron presents the
bride, naked, whether she is a virgin or a widow, to the bridegroom, and
after that some grave man presents the bridegroom, naked, to the bride.
We, indeed, both laughed at this, and condemned it as very indecent. But
they, on the other hand, wondered at the folly of the men of all other
nations, who, if they are but to buy a horse of a small value, are so
cautious that they will see every part of him, and take off both his
saddle and all his other tackle, that there may be no secret ulcer hid
under any of them, and that yet in the choice of a wife, on which depends
the happiness or unhappiness of the rest of his life, a man should
venture upon trust, and only see about a handsbreadth of the face, all
the rest of the body being covered, under which may lie hid what may be
contagious as well as loathsome. All men are not so wise as to choose a
woman only for her good qualities, and even wise men consider the body as
that which adds not a little to the mind, and it is certain there may be
some such deformity covered with clothes as may totally alienate a man
from his wife, when it is too late to part with her; if such a thing is
discovered after marriage a man has no remedy but patience; they,
therefore, think it is reasonable that there should be good provision
made against such mischievous frauds.

"There was