and the
women less engaging. Vivacity and cheerfulness seem hardly to have
existed. Even the Babylonians, who appear to have allowed their women
more liberty than any of the ancients, seem not to have lived with them
in a friendly and familiar manner. But, as their intercourse with them
was considerably greater than that of the neighboring nations, they
acquired thereby a polish and refinement unknown to any of the people
who surrounded them. The manners of both sexes were softer, and better
calculated to please.

They likewise paid more attention to cleanliness and dress.

After the Greeks became famous for their knowledge of the arts and
sciences, their rudeness and barbarity were only softened a _few
degrees_. It is not therefore arts, sciences, and _learning_, but the
company of the other sex, that forms the manner and renders the man
_agreeable_.

The Romans were, for some time, a community without any thing to soften
the ferocity of male nature. The Sabine virgins, whom they had stolen,
appear to have infused into them the first ideas of politeness. But it
was many ages before this politeness banished the roughness of the
warrior, and assumed the refinement of the gentleman.

During the times of chivalry, female influence was at the zenith of its
glory and perfection. It was the source of valor, it gave birth to
politeness, it awakened pity, it called forth benevolence, it restricted
the hand of oppression, and meliorated the human heart. "I cannot
approach my mistress," said one, "till I have done some glorious deed to
deserve her notice. Actions should be the messengers of the heart; they
are the homage due to beauty, and they only should discover love."

Marsan, instructing a young knight how to behave so as to gain the favor
of the fair, has these remarkable words:--"When your arm is raised, if
your lance fail, draw your sword directly; and let heaven and hell
resound with the clash. Lifeless is the soul which beauty cannot
animate, and weak is the arm which cannot fight valiantly to defend it."

The Russians, Poles, and even the Dutch, pay less attention to their
females than any of their neighbors, and are, by consequence, less
distinguished for the graces of their persons, and the feelings of their
hearts.

The lightness of their food, and the salubrity of their air, have been
assigned as reasons for the vivacity and cheerfulness of the French, and
their fortitude, in supporting their spirits throu