would only spoil their
complexions, and furrow their brows.

When we descend to tradesmen and mechanics, the case is reversed: the
wife manages every thing in the house and shop, while the husband
lounges in the back-shop an idle spectator, or struts about with his
sword and bag-wig.

Matrimony among the French, seems to be a bargain entered into by a male
and female, to bear the same name, live in the same house, and pursue
their separate pleasures without restraint or control. And, so
religiously is this part of the bargain kept, that both parties shape
their course exactly as convenience and inclination dictate.

The French girls are kept under very strict superintendence. They are
not allowed to go to parties, or places of public amusement, without
being accompanied by some married female relation; and they see their
lovers only in the presence of a third person. Marriages are entirely
negotiated by parents; and sometimes the wedding day is the second time
that a bride and bridegroom see each other. Nothing is more common than
to visit a lady, and attend her parties, without knowing her husband by
sight; or to visit a gentleman without ever being introduced to his
wife. If a married couple were to be seen frequently in each other's
company, they would be deemed extremely ungenteel. After ladies are
married, they have unbounded freedom. It is a common practice to receive
morning calls from gentlemen, before they have risen from bed; and they
talk with as little reserve to such visiters, as they would in the
presence of any woman of refinement.

In no country does real politeness shew itself more than in France,
where the company of the women is accessible to every man who can
recommend himself by his dress, and by his address. To affectation and
prudery the French women are equally strangers. Easy and unaffected in
their manners, their politeness has so much the appearance of nature,
that one would almost believe no part of it to be the effect of art. An
air of sprightliness and gaiety sits perpetually on their countenances,
and their whole deportment seems to indicate that their only business is
to "strew the path of life with flowers." Persuasion hangs on their
lips; and, though their volubility of tongue is indefatigable, so soft
is their accent, so lively their expression, so various their attitudes,
that they fix the attention for hours together on a tale of nothing.

The Jewish doctors have a fable concer