147 "have the honour of being fworn, I take leave to fub"fcribe myself, Mart. Epig. 183. 1. 14. To banish anxious thoughts, and quiet pain, HE moral world, as confifting of males and Tfemales, is of females, is of a mixt nature, and filled with feveral cuftoms, fashions and ceremonies, which would have no place in it, were there but one fex. Had our fpecies no females in it, men would be quite different creatures from what they are at prefent; their endeavours to please the oppofite fex polishes and refines them out of those manners which are most natural to them, and often fets them upon modelling themselves, not according to the plans which they approve in their own opinions, but according to those plans which they think are most agreeable to the female world. In a word, man would not only be an unhappy, but a rude unfinished creature, were he converfant with none but those of his own make. Women, on the other fide, are apt to form themselves in every thing with regard to that other half of reafonable creatures, with whom they are here blended and confused; their thoughts are ever turned upon appearing amiable to the other fex; they talk, and move, and smile, with a defign upon us; every feature of their faces, every part of their drefs is fille with fnares and allure G 2 ments: ments. There would be no fuch animals as prudes or coquettes in the world, were there not fuch an animal as man. In fhort, it is the male that gives charms to womankind, that produces an air in their faces, a grace in their motions, a foftnefs in their voices, and a delicacy in their complexions. As this mutual regard between the two fexes tends to the improvement of each of them, we may obferve that men are apt to degenerate into rough and brutal matures, who live as if there were no fuch things as women in the world; as on the contrary, women, who have an indifference or averfion for their counter parts in human nature, are generally four and unamiable, Duttish and cenforious. I am led into this train of thoughts by a little manufcript which is lately fallen into my hands, and which I fhall communicate to the reader, as I have done fome other curious pieces of the fame nature, without troubling him with any inquiries about the author of it. It contains a fummary account of two different ftates which bordered upon one another. The one was a commonwealth of Amazons, or women without men; the other was a republic of males that had not a woman in their whole community. As these two states bordered upon one another, it was their way, it seems, to meet upon their frontiers at a certain feafon of the year, where thofe among the men who had not made their choice in any former meeting, affociated themfelves with particular women, whom they were afterwards obliged to look upon as their wives in every one of thefe yearly rencounters. The children that fprung from this alliance, if males, were fent to their respective fathers; if females, continued with their mothers. By means of this anniverfary carnival, which lafted about a week, the commonwealths were recruited from time to time, and fupplied with their refpe&ive fubjects. These two states were engaged together in a perpetual league, offenfive and defenfive, fo that if any foreign potentate offered to attack either of them, both. the fexes fell upon him at once, and quickly brought him to reafon. It was remarkable that for many ages this agreement continued inviolable between the two states, not 4 notwithstanding, as was faid before, they were hufbands and wives: but this will not appear fo wonderful, if we confider that they did not live together above a week in a year. In the account which my author gives of the male republic, there were feveral customs very remarkable. The men never shaved their beards, or pared their nails above once in a twelvemonth, which was probably about the time of the great annual meeting upon their frontiers. I find the name of a minifter of state in one part of their hiftory, who was fined for appearing too frequently in clean linen; and of a certain great general who was turned out of his poft for effeminacy, it having been proved upon him by feveral credible witneffes that he washed his face every morning. If any member of the commonwealth had a foft voice, a smooth face, or a fupple behaviour, he was banished into the commonwealth of females, where he was treated as a flave, dreffed in petticoats, and fet a fpinning. They had no titles of honour among them, but fuch as denoted fome bodily ftrength or perfection, as fuch an one the tall, fuch an one the flocky, fuch an one the gruff. Their public debates were generally managed with kicks and cuffs, infomuch that they often came from the council table with broken fhins, black eyes, and bloody noses. When they would reproach a man in the most bitter terms, they would tell him his teeth were white, or that he had a fair fkin, and a foft hand. The greatest man I meet with in their hiftory, was one who could lift five hundred weight, and wore fuch a prodigious pair of whiskers as had never been seen in the commonwealth before his time. Thefe accomplishments it feems had rendered him fo popular, that if he had not died very feasonably, it is thought he might have inflaved the republic. Having made this fhort extract out of the history of the male commonwealth, I fhall look into the hiftory of the neighbouring ftate which confifted of females, and if I find any thing in it, will not fail to communicate it to the public. N° 434 Friday, July 18. Quales Threicia, cùm flumina Thermodoontis Virg. Æn. 11. v. 660. So march'd the Thracian Amazons of old, From the fierce virgin when the Grecians fied. H AVING carefully perufed the manufcript I mentioned in my yesterday's paper, fo far as it relates to the republic of women, I find in it feveral particulars which may very well deferve the reader's attention. The girls of quality, from fix to twelve years old, were put to public fchools. where they learned to box and play at cudgels, with feveral other accomplishments of the fame nature; fo that nothing was more ufual than to fee a little mifs returning home at night with a broken pate, or two or three teeth knocked out of her head. They were afterwards taught to ride the great horfe, to fhoot, dart, or fling, and lifted into feveral companies, in order to perfect themselves in military exercifes. No woman was to be married 'till fhe had killed her man. The ladies of fashion used to play : with young lions instead of lap-dogs, and when they made any parties of diverfion, instead of entertaining themselves at ombre and piquet, they would wrestle and pitch the bar for a whole afternoon together. There was never any fuch thing as a blush seen, or a figh heard, in the commonwealth. The women never dreffed but to look terrible, to which end they would fometimes after a battle paint their cheeks with the blood of their enemies. For this reafon likewife the face which had the most scars was looked upon as the most beautiful. If they found lace, jewels, ribbonds or any ornaments in filver or gold among the booty which they had taken, they used to dress their horfes with it, but never entertained a thought of wearing it themselves. There were particular rights and privileges allowed to any member of the commonwealth, who was a mother of three daughters. The fenate was made up of old women; for by the laws of the country none was to be a counfellor of ftate that was not paft childbearing. They ufed to boast their republic had continued four thoufand years, which is altogether improbable, unless we may fuppofe, what I am very apt to think, that they measured their time by lunar years. There was a great revolution brought about in this female republic, by means of a neighbouring king, who had made war upon them feveral years with various fuccefs, and at length overthrew them in a very great battle. This defeat they afcribe to several causes; fome fay that the fecretary of ftate having been troubled with the vapours, had committed fome fatal mistakes in several dispatches about that time. Others pretend, that the first minifter being big with child, could not attend the public affairs, as fo great an exigency of ftate required; but this I can give no manner of credit to, fince it feems to contradict a fundamental maxim in their vernment, which I have before mentioned. My author gives the most probable reafon of this great difafter; for he affirms that the general was brought to bed, or (as others fay) mifcarried the very night before the battle However it was, this fignal overthrow obliged them to call in the male republic to their affiftance; but notwithstanding their common efforts to repulfe the victo G 4 go rious |