Gentle Ladies do you in your conscience believe that any reasonable person could possibly think the worse of womankind, for any of the strange and preposterous opinions which my lamented and excellent friend used to repeat in the playfulness of an eccentric fancy? Do you suppose that he was more in earnest when he brought forward these learned fooleries, than the Devil's Advocate when pleading against a suit for canonization in the Papal Court? _questo negro inchiostro, ch'io dispenzo Non fu per dare, o donne, a i vostri nasi, Ingrato odore, o d'altro che d'incenzo._[1] [Footnote 1: MAURO.] Hear but to the end, and I promise you on the faith of a true man a Red Letter Chapter in your praise; not a mere panegyric in the manner of those who flatter while they despise you, but such an honest estimate as will bear a scrutiny,—and which you will not like the worse because it may perhaps be found profitable as well as pleasing. Forgive me, sacred sex of woman, that, In thought or syllable, I have declaim'd Against your goodness; and I will redeem it With such religious honouring your names, That when I die, some never thought-stain'd virgin Shall make a relic of my dust, and throw My ashes, like a charm, upon those men Whose faiths they hold suspected.[2] [Footnote 2: SHIRLEY.] CHAPTER CCVIII. VALUE OF WOMEN AMONG THE AFGHAUNS.—LIGON'S HISTORY OF BARBADOES, AND A FAVORITE STORY OF THE DOCTOR'S THEREFROM.—CLAUDE SEISSEL, AND THE SALIC LAW.—JEWISH THANKSGIVING.—ETYMOLOGY OF MULIER, WOMAN, AND LASS;—FROM WHICH IT MAY BE GUESSED HOW MUCH IS CONTAINED IN THE LIMBO OF ETYMOLOGY. If thy name were known that writest in this sort, By womankind, unnaturally, giving evil report, Whom all men ought, both young and old, defend with all their might, Considering what they do deserve of every living wight, I wish thou should exiled be from women more and less, And not without just cause thou must thyself confess. EDWARD MORE. It would have pleased the Doctor when he was upon this topic if he had known how exactly the value of women was fixed among the Afghauns, by whose laws twelve young women are given as a compensation for the slaughter of one man, six for cutting off a hand, an ear, or a nose; three for breaking a tooth, and one for a wound of the scalp. By the laws of the Venetians as well as of certain Oriental people, the testimony of two women was made equivalent to that of one man. And in those of the Welsh King Hywel Dda, or Howel Dha, “the satisfaction for the murder of a woman, whether she be married or not, is half that of her brother,” which is upon the same standard of relative value. By the same laws a woman was not to be admitted as bail for a man, nor as witness against him.