thout restraint,--for she knows he has
others,--and her education has taught her, that they deserve her respect
in proportion as they contribute to her husband's happiness. The children
of her husband are admitted at all times and seasons, without restraint or
prejudice; she loves them next to her own, because they are her husband's.
She receives the mothers of such children without a shade of jealousy in
her manner, and delights in distinguishing them by favours and presents
according to their several merits. From this picture of many living wives
in Mussulmaun society, it must not be supposed I am speaking of women
without attachment to their husbands; on the contrary, they are persons
who are really susceptible of pure love, and the generosity of their
conduct is one of the ways in which they prove themselves devoted to their
husband's happiness. This, they say, was the lesson taught them by their
amiable mother, and this is the example they would set for the imitation
of their daughters.

I do not mean to say this is a faithful picture of all the females of
zeenahnah life. The mixture of good and bad tempers or dispositions is not
confined to any class or complexion of people, but is to be met with in
every quarter of the globe. In general, I have observed those females of
the Mussulmaun population who have any claim to genteel life, and whose
habits are guided by religious principles, evince such traits of character
as would constitute the virtuous and thoroughly obedient wife in any
country; and many, whom I have had the honour to know personally, would do
credit to the most enlightened people in the world.

Should the first wife prove a termagant or unfaithful--rare occurrences
amongst the inmates of the harem,--the husband has the liberty of
divorcing her by paying down her stipulated dowry. This dowry is an
engagement made by the husband on the night of Baarraat[2] (when the
bridegroom is about to take his bride from her parents to his own home).
On which occasion the Maulvee asks the bridegroom to name the amount of
his wife's dowry, in the event of separation; the young man is at liberty
to name any sum he pleases. It would not prevent the marriage if the
smallest amount were promised; but he is in the presence of his bride's
family, and within her hearing also, though he has not yet seen her;--it
is a critical moment for him, thus surrounded. Besides, as he never
intends to separate from the lady, in the str