ch tunes, which are built
on the same system. An excellent illustration of its rhythmic structure,
frequent iterations, and melodic character may be found in our own
familiar tune, "There is a happy land, far, far away." The harsh quality
that Europeans often find in Chinese performances is undoubtedly not a
necessary adjunct, as the same criticism may be made upon many of our
own street singers or brass bands.

The Chinese, like many other ancient nations, have a great contempt for
the caste of musicians and actors, although enjoying the drama keenly.
Parents have almost unlimited power over their children, and may sell
them as slaves, or even in some cases kill them; but they are not
allowed to sell them to the troupes of strolling comedians or to
magicians. Any one convicted of doing this, or aiding in the
transaction, is punished by one hundred blows of the bamboo. Any person
of free parentage marrying an actor or actress receives the same
punishment. Yet, while musicians connected with the stage are held
under the ban, those who devote themselves to the religious rites
receive the highest esteem. These, however, cannot be women.

The music of Japan, though built on the chromatic scale, was much the
same as that of China. Actors and musicians command hardly more respect
in the island than on the Continent. Women play a negative part in both
countries, if we except the Geishas, who entertain in the tea-houses.
But Japan has made such rapid strides in civilization recently that it
may not be impossible for woman to develop the activity that she has
already shown in Western lands.

CHAPTER II.

MEDIAEVAL

The position of woman among the northern races that overthrew the Roman
power was wholly different from that which she held in the more ancient
epoch, but even under the newer regime it was no enviable one. In many
of the earlier Germanic systems, wives were bought by a definite payment
of goods or of cattle. That this was a recognized practice is shown in
the laws of Ethelbert, which state that if a man carry off a freeman's
wife, he must at his own expense procure another for the injured
husband. Usually women had no rights of inheritance, though in some
cases they could inherit when there were no male children, and in others
they could transmit the right of inheritance to their male descendants.
Sometimes they were allowed to inherit movable property of a certain
sort, probably largely the result of t