Nor has there been anywhere change or advance perceptible in the state of society. [Sidenote: Polygamy.]Polygamy and servile concubinage are still the privilege, or the curse, of Islam; the worm at its root, the secret of its fall. By these the unity of the household is fatally broken, and the purity and virtue weakened of the family tie: the vigour of the dominant classes is sapped; the body politic becomes weak and languid, excepting for intrigue; and the throne itself liable to fall a prey to doubtful or contested succession. [Sidenote: Female slavery.]As to slavery, and more especially female slavery, we look too exclusively at its effect on the wretched subject of the institution. Its influence on the owner is infinitely more disastrous. However much the condition of slavery may be ameliorated by the kindly influences which, in Moslem lands, surround it as a domestic institution, still, servile concubinage fixes its withering grasp with more damaging effect even upon the master, than on the miserable slave of his enjoyments. [Sidenote: Divorce.] Hardly less injurious is the power of divorce, which can be exercised, without the assignment of any reason whatever, at the mere word and will of the husband. It not only hangs over each individual household like the sword of Damocles, but affects the tone of society at large; for even if not put in force, it cannot fail, as a potential influence existing everywhere, to weaken the marriage bond, and detract from the dignity and self-respect of the sex at large. [Sidenote: The Veil, and seclusion of women.] Nor is it otherwise with ‘the Veil,’ and those other domestic restrictions enjoined by the Corân, which banish woman from her legitimate place in society. The loss, indeed, is not so much hers as of the other sex, who are altogether shut out, in public and social life, from the bright and gracious, purifying, and softening influences, of female companionship. [Sidenote: Wine and games of chance forbidden.]The interdict against games of chance, and the prohibition of even the moderate use of wine (ordinances in themselves not altogether devoid of merit), have tended to aggravate the moroseness, gloom, and gracelessness of Moslem life in public, resulting from the banishment of the female sex. [Sidenote: Islam stationary.]