sired him, or marked the refusal with infamy and disgrace.
But custom did not oblige him, in every other part of his conduct, to
behave to this woman, or to the sex in general, with that respect and
politeness which have happily distinguished the character of more modern
times.

The same man who would have encountered giants, or gigantic
difficulties, "when a lady was in the case," had but little idea of
adding to her happiness, by supplying her with the comforts and
elegancies of life. And, had she asked him to stoop, and ease her of a
part of that domestic slavery which, almost in every country, falls to
the lot of women, he would have thought himself quite affronted.

But besides, men had nothing else, in those ages, than that kind of
romantic gallantry to recommend them. Ignorant of letters, arts, and
sciences, and every thing that refines human nature, they were, in every
thing where gallantry was not concerned, rough and unpolished in their
manners and behavior. Their time was spent in drinking, war, gallantry,
and idleness. In their hours of relaxation, they were but little in
company with their women; and when they were, the indelicacies of the
carousal, or the cruelties of the field, were almost the only subjects
they had to talk of.

From the subversion of the Roman empire, to the fourteenth or fifteenth
century, women spent most of their time alone. They were almost entire
strangers to the joys of social life. They seldom went abroad, but to be
spectators of such public diversions and amusements as the fashion of
the times countenanced. Francis I. was the first monarch who introduced
them on public days to court.

Before his time, nothing was to be seen at any of the courts of Europe,
but long bearded politicians, plotting the destruction of the rights and
liberties of mankind; and warriors clad in complete armor, ready to put
their plots in execution.

In the eighth century, so slavish was the condition of women on the one
hand, and so much was beauty coveted on the other, that, for about two
hundred years, the kings of Austria were obliged to pay a tribute to the
Moors, of one hundred beautiful virgins per annum.

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, elegance had scarcely any
existence, and even cleanliness was hardly considered as laudable. The
use of linen was not known; and the most delicate of the fair sex wore
woollen shifts.

In the time of Henry VIII. the peers of the realm carried the