n, which
offered eternal happiness in exchange for the sufferings of a moment.

It is not therefore surprising, that when three beautiful women of the
isle of Cyprus were led prisoners to Selim, to be secluded in the
seraglio, one of them, preferring death to such a condition, conceived
the project of setting fire to the magazine; and after having
communicated her design to the rest, put it in execution.

The year following, a city of Cyprus being besieged by the Turks, the
women ran in crowds, mingling themselves with the soldiers, and,
fighting gallantly in the breach, were the means of saving their
country.

Under Mahomet II. a girl of the isle of Lemnos, armed with the sword and
shield of her father, who had fallen in battle, opposed the Turks, when
they had forced a gate, and chased them to the shore.

In the two celebrated sieges of Rhodes and Malta, the women, seconding
the zeal of the knights, discovered upon all occasions the greatest
intrepidity; not only that impetuous and temporary impulse which
despises death, but that cool and deliberate fortitude which can support
the continued hardships, the toils, and the miseries of war.

OTHER PARTICULARS RESPECTING FEMALES DURING THE AGE OF CHIVALRY.

When a man had said any thing that reflected dishonor on a woman, or
accused her of a crime, she was not obliged to fight him to prove her
innocence: the combat would have been unequal. But she might choose a
champion to fight in her cause, or expose himself to the horrid trial,
in order to clear her reputation. Such champions were generally selected
from her lovers or friends. But if she fixed upon any other, so high was
the spirit of martial glory, and so eager the thirst of defending the
weak and helpless sex, that we meet with no instance of a champion ever
having refused to fight for, or undergo whatever custom required, in
defence of the lady who had honored him with the appointment.

To the motives already mentioned, we may add another. He who had
refused, must inevitably have been branded with the name of coward: and,
so despicable was the condition of a coward, in those times of general
heroism, that death itself appeared the more preferable choice. Nay,
such was the rage of fighting for women, that it became customary for
those who could not be honored with the decision of their real quarrels,
to create fictitious ones concerning them, in order to create also a
necessity of fighting.

Nor was fighti