They could put their wives to death for infidelity; and if they happened to kill them without justifiable cause, in a moment of anger, the law punished them only by a temporary prohibition to bear arms. The ancient German women could not inherit the estates of their fathers; but by subsequent laws they were permitted to succeed after males of the same degree of kindred. Women of the northern nations rarely ate and drank with their husbands, but waited upon them at their meals, and afterward shared what was left, with the children. This custom could not have originated in the habit of regarding women as inferior beings; for the whole history of the north proves the existence of an entirely opposite sentiment. It was probably owing, in part, to the circumstance that women were too busy in cooking the food, to wish to eat at the same time with the men; and partly, perhaps, to the fact that these feasts were generally drunken carousals. The eastern nations imagine the joys of heaven to consist principally in voluptuous love; but northern tribes seem to have believed that they chiefly consisted in drinking. In the Koran, the dying hero is assured that a troop of _houries_, beautiful as the day, will welcome him with kisses, and lead him to fragrant bowers; but according to the Edda,[2] a crowd of lovely maidens wait on heroes in the halls of Odin, to fill their cups as fast as they can empty them. [2] The sacred book of the Scandinavians. In a state of society so turbulent as that we are describing, men had little leisure, and less inclination, for the sciences; women, having better opportunities for observation and experience in common things, acquired great knowledge of simple remedies, and were in fact the only physicians. Their usefulness, virtue, and decorum, procured them an uncommon degree of respect. The institution of marriage was regarded with the utmost reverence, and second marriages were forbidden. Tacitus says: “The strictest regard to virtue characterizes the Germans, and deserves our highest applause. Vice is not made the subject of mirth and raillery, nor is fashion pleaded as an excuse for being corrupt, or for corrupting others. Good customs and manners avail more among these barbarous people, than good laws among such as are more refined. It is a great incitement to courage, that in battle their separate troops, or columns, are not arranged promiscuously, as chance directs, but consist of one united clan, with its relatives. Their dearest pledges are placed in the vicinity, whence may be heard the cries of their women, and the wailing of infants, whom each one accounts the most sacred witnesses and dearest eulogists of his valor. The wounded repair to their wives and mothers, who do not hesitate to number their wounds, and suck the blood that flows from them. Women carry refreshments to those engaged in the contest, and encourage them by exhortations. It is said that armies, when about to give way, have renewed the