clined to visiting. When they do visit socially, very few men are invited, and those are their nearest relations. Sometimes twenty ladies assemble together, without one man in the party; their husbands being all assembled at the smoking clubs.

In Basil, female societies are formed from infancy of children of the same age, and the same class. They are so particular about equality of years, that sisters, whose ages differ a few years, belong to separate societies, with whom they always meet at each other's houses. Friendships formed in this way constitute a strong bond of union. Those that have belonged to the same society in childhood often meet, after separation, in maturer years, with the affection of sisters. The ladies usually carry work to parties, at which they assemble as early as three in the afternoon. Parents have one day of the week, which they call le jour de famille. On this occasion all their offspring, even to the fifth and sixth generation, are assembled together. The Swiss women marry at an early age. Not long since, there were six ladies in Basil whose grandchildren were grandmothers. The manners of these hardy mountaineers are patriarchal and affectionate. Young people are allowed to marry according to their inclination, and matches from interested motives are not common. In such a state of things, there is no need of the restraints imposed among voluptuous nations. The Swiss girls have a great deal of freedom allowed them, and are distinguished for innocence and modesty.

The inhabitants of the Netherlands are proverbial for their industry and love of acquiring money. Their women are eminently domestic, being always busy in their household, or engaged in assisting their husbands in some department of his business, such as keeping accounts, and receiving money. They are not only thrifty themselves, but teach their children to earn something as soon as they can use their fingers. If they quit their domestic employments, it is to join some family party, or take a short excursion with their husbands. Their stainless floors, shining pewter dishes, and snow-white starched caps, all indicate that notable housewives are common in the land. The Dutch women are generally robust and rosy, with figures the reverse of tall and slender. At Haarlem, a very ancient and peculiar custom is still preserved. When a child is newly born, a wooden figure, about sixteen inches. square, covered with red silk and Brussels lace, is placed at the door. This exempts the master of the house from all judicial molestation, and is intended to insure the tranquillity necessary for the mother's health. To prevent the kind but injudicious intrusion of friends, a written bulletin of the state of both mother and child is daily affixed to the door or window; and finally a paper is posted on the door, to signify on what day the mother will receive the ladies of her acquaintance. Among the phlegmatic and thrifty Dutch, matches are, of course, generally made from prudential motives, rather than the im pulses of passion, or the refinement of sentiment.

Russia is a country slowly emerging from barbarism. Of their condition in the time of Peter the Great, something may be judged by the regulation he made, ordering the ladies of his court not to get drunk upon any pretence whatever, and forbidding gentlemen to do so before ten o'clock. The empress Catherine ordered certain Russian ladies to be pubicly knouted for some indiscretions. French manners now prevail among the higher ranks, who are generally frank, hospitable and courtly. The women are serious and dignified, with something of oriental languor. Their forms of society are ceremonious, compared with the lively graces of the Poles, of whose manners they are apt to judge severely. A French writer has asserted that of all countries, except France, it is perhaps the most agreeable to be a woman in Russia; but when he said this, he must have been thinking only of cities, and of a favored class in those cities. The Russian ladies are proverbial for the facility with which they acquire foreign languages. They speak and write French like native Parisians, though often unable to spell the Russian tongue, which is seldom spoken in polite circles. Among the higher ranks, whose blood is mingled with that of Georgians, Circassians, and Poles, there are some women of extraordinary beauty; but the Russian females are in general short, clumsy, round-faced and sallow. They daub their faces with red and white paint, and in some districts stain their teeth black. The peasantry use no cralles. The babe is placed on a mattress, inclosed in

a frame like that used for embroidery, and suspended from the ceiling by four cords, after the manner of the Hindoos. Russian fathers, of all classes, general ly arrange marriages for their children, without consulting their inclina.ios. Among the peasantry, if a girl has the name of being a good housewife, her parents will not fail to have applications for her, whatever may be her agc, or personal endowments. As soon as a young man is old enough to be married, his parents seek a wife for him, and all is settled before the young couple know any thing of the matPorter gives very unfavorable ideas of the mo rality of the Russian nobility. He says the marriage tie is little regarded, but the women are less profli gate than the men. It ought, however, in justice, to be remembered that a traveller has a better chance to see the vices of a country, than its virtues. Al though the Russians, in common with their neigh bors of Sweden and Lapland, have an Asiatic fond ness for frequent bathing, they are so dirty with regard to their garments, that even the wealthy are generally more or less infested with vermin.

ter.

The Cossack women are very cleanly and indus trious. In the absence of their husbands they supply their places, by taking charge of all their usual occupations in addition to their own. It is rare for a Cossack woman not to know some trade, such as dyeing cloth, tanning leather, &c.

Throughout Russia all classes salute each other by kissing. "When a lady would only courtesy a welcome in England, she must kiss it in Russia;"

and if a man salutes her in this way, she must on no occasion refuse to return it.

The higher classes, both in Denmark and Sweden, imitate the French manners and customs very closely. The ladies generally have the northern physiognomy; viz. fair complexion, light hair, blue eyes, and a mild, clear expression. They have little of the ardor of the Italians, or the vivacity of the French. Ambition is more easily excited in their breasts than love. Their manners are modest and reserved. Gallantry toward ladies is not the characteristic of any of the northern nations. The Swedes are generally industrious and sincere, and perhaps there is no country in the world where women perform so much and such various labor. They serve the bricklayers, carry burdens, row boats, thresh grain, and manage the plough.

Swedish children are wrapped up in bandages like cylindrical wicker baskets, to keep them straight, from one to eighteen months old. They are suspended from pegs in the wall, or laid in any convenient part of the room, where they remain in great silence and good humor. M'Donald, in his Travels, says, "I have not heard the cries of a child since I came to Sweden." Travellers in these northern countries are surprised to see women drink strong, spirituous liquors, with as much freedom as the men.

Among the half-savage Laplanders, this bad habit is carried to a great extent. There a lover cannot make a more acceptable present to the girl of his choice, than a bottle of brandy; and when he wishes