N° 614. Monday, November 1, 1714. Si mihi non animo fixum immotumque federet, 6 VIRG. En. iv. 15. Were I not refolv'd against the yoke Of hapless marriage; never to be curs'd • With fecond love, fo fatal was the first; To this one error I might yield again.' DRYDEN HE following account hath been tranfmitted to me by the Love cafuift.* TH • Mr. SPECTATor, HA AVING in fome former Papers taken care of the two ftates of virginity and marriage, and being willing that all people fhould be ferved in their turn, I this day drew out my drawer of widows+, where I met with feveral cafes, to each whereof I have returned fatisfactory anfwers by the poft. The cafes are as follow: 2. Whether Amoret be bound by a promife of marriage to Philander, made during • her husband's life? * See SPECT. No 591, N° 602, N° 605, N° 623, and N° 625. + See TAT. with Notes, Vol. III. N° 79, and Note; and TAT. N° 78, Art. 1. Edit. 1786 cr. 8. vo. 2. Whether 2. Whether Sempronia, having faithfully given a promise to two feveral perfons during the laft fickness of her husband, is not thereby left at liberty to choose which of them fhe pleafes, or to reject them both for the fake of a new lover? • Cleora asks me, whether the be obliged to 'continue fingle according to a vow made to her husband at the time of his prefenting her with a diamond necklace; fhe being informed by a very pretty young fellow, of a good confcience, that fuch vows are in their nature 'finful? Another inquires, whether the hath not the right of widowhood, to difpofe of herfelf to a gentleman of great merit, who preffes very hard; her husband being irrecoverably gone in a confumption? An unreafonable creature hath the confidence to afk, whether it be proper for her to marry a man who is younger than her eldest • fon? A fcrupulous well-fpoken matron, who gives me a great many good words, only 'doubts whether the is not obliged in confcience to fhut up her two marriageable daugh6 ters, until fuch time as the hath comfortably 'difpofed of herself? Sophronia, who feems by her phrase and spelling to be a perfon of condition, sets forth, that whereas the hath a great eftate, and is but a woman, fhe defires to be informed whether • fhe would not do prudently to marry Camillus, VOL. VIII, X a very a very idle tall young fellow, who hath no fortune of his own, and confequently hath nothing elfe to do but to manage her's.' Before I fpeak of widows, I cannot but obferve one thing, which I do not know how to account for; a widow is always more fought after than an old maid of the fame age. It is common enough among ordinary people, for a ftale virgin to fet up a fhop in a place where the is not known; where the large thumb ring, suppofed to be given her by her husband, quickly recommends her to fome wealthy neighbour, who takes a liking to the jolly widow, that would have overlooked the venerable spinster. The truth of it is, if we look into this fet of women, we find, according to the different characters or circumstances wherein they are left, that widows may be divided into thofe who raise love, and those who raise compaffion. But, not to ramble from this fubject, there are two things in which confifts chiefly the glory of a widow-the love of her deceafed hufband, and the care of her children; to which may be added a third, arising out of the former, such a prudent conduct as may do honour to both. A widow poffeffed of all thefe three qualities makes not only a virtuous but a fublime character. There is fomething fo great and fo generous in this state of life, when it is accompanied with all its virtues, that it is the subject of one of the fineft among our modern tragedies in the perfon of Andromache, and has met with an univerfal and and deferved applaufe, when introduced upon our English stage by Mr. Philips. The most memorable widow in history is queen Artemifia, who not only erected the famous Maufoleum, but drank up the afhes of her dead lord; thereby inclofing them in a nobler monument than that which fhe had built, though defervedly esteemed one of the wonders. of architecture. This last lady feems to have had a better title to a fecond husband than any I have read of, fince not one duft of her firft was remaining. Our modern heroines might think a husband a very bitter draught, and would have good reason to complain, if they might not accept of a fecond partner, until they had taken fuch a troublesome method of lofing the memory of the firft. I fhall add to thefe illuftrious examples out of ancient ftory, a remarkable inftance of the delicacy of our ancestors in relation to the state of widowhood, as I find it recorded in Cowell's Interpreter *. . At East and West Enborne, in the county of Berks, if a cuftomary tenant die, the widow fhall have what the law calls her 'freebench in all his copyhold lands, dum fola cafa fuerit; that is, while fhe lives fingle and chafte; but if the commit incontinency the forfeits her eftate; yet if the will come into the court riding backward upon a black ram, with his tail in her hand, and say the *No record of this kind is to be found in the edition of COWELL'S "Interpreter" of 1637, 4to. X 2 • words ' words following, the steward is bound by the 'custom to re-admit her to her freebench.' • Here I am, Riding upon a black ram, And for my crincum crancum, Therefore I pray you, Mr. Steward, let The like cuftom there is in the manor of Torre in Devonshire, and other parts of the weft. It is not impoffible but I may in a little time prefent you with a register of Berkshire ladies, and other western dames, who rode publicly upon this occafion; and I hope the town will be entertained with a cavalcade of widows+. *See JACOB's "Law Dictionary," Art. FREE-BENCH.Frank Bank, or Free-bench, [Sedes Libera, or in Law-Latin Francus Bancus,] is that eftate in Copyhold lands, which the wife, being married a virgin, hath after the decease of her hufband for her dower. Fitzherbert calls this a custom by which in fome cities the wife fhall have all the lands of her husband for dower. Les Termes de la Ley. Ed. 1667, p. 375. + See SPECT. N° 623. The custom in the manors of E. and W. Enborne, of Torre, and other parts in the west of England, is a kind of Penance among jocular tenures, to purge the offence, and has there it seems the force and validity of Statute Law. JACOB'S "Dict." Ut fupra. 3d Edit. 1736, in folio. N° 615. |