pear to have been much
attended to. When Abraham sent his servant to court a bride for his son
Isaac, we do not so much as hear that Isaac was consulted on the matter:
nor is there even a suspicion, that he might refuse or dislike the wife
which his father had selected for him.

From the manner in which Rebecca was solicited, we learn, that women
were not then courted in person by the lover, but by a proxy, whom he,
or his parents, deputed in his stead. We likewise see, that this proxy
did not, as in modern times, endeavor to gain the affection of the lady
he was sent to, by enlarging on the personal properties, and mental
qualifications of the lover; but by the richness and magnificence of the
presents he made to her and her relations.

Presents have been, from the earliest ages, and are to this day, the
mode of transacting all kinds of business in the east. When a favor is
to be asked of a superior, one cannot hope to obtain it without a
present. Courtship, therefore, having been anciently transacted in this
manner, it is plain, that it was only considered in the same light as
any other negotiable business, and not as a matter of sentiment, and of
the heart.

In the courtship, however, or rather purchase of a wife by Jacob, we
meet with something like sentiment; for when he found that he was not
possessed of money or goods, equal to the price which was set upon her,
he not only condescended to purchase her by servitude, but even seemed
much disappointed when the tender-eyed Leah was faithlessly imposed upon
him instead of the beautiful Rachel.

The ancient Gauls, Germans, and neighboring nations of the North, had so
much veneration for the sex in general, that in courtship they behaved
with a spirit of gallantry, and showed a degree of sentiment, to which
_those_ who called them barbarians, never arrived. Not contented with
getting possession of the person of his mistress, a northern lover could
not be satisfied without the sincere affection of her heart; nor was his
mistress ever to be gained but by such methods as plainly indicated to
her the tenderest attachment from the most deserving man.

The women of Scandinavia were not to be courted but by the most
assiduous attendance, seconded by such warlike achievements as the
custom of the country had rendered necessary to make a man deserving of
his mistress. On these accounts, we frequently find a lover accosting
the object of his passion by a minute and circumsta