' lovers; and it was no rare thing that when the wife found
no pleasure in lovers, she did not concern herself about her husband's
mistresses (unless they were intolerably disagreeable to her), often
advising the mistress as to the best method of winning her husband.

It must be admitted that this separation in marriage, this reciprocity
of liberty, this absolute tolerance, was not a phase of the eighteenth
century marriage, but was the very character of it. In earlier times,
in the sixteenth century, infidelity was counted as such and caused
trouble in the household. If the husband abused his privileges, the
wife was obliged to bear the insult in silence, being helpless to
avenge it. If she imitated his actions, it was under the gravest
dangers to her own life and that of her lover. The honor of the
husband was closely attached to the virtue of the wife; thus, if
he sought diversion elsewhere, and his wife fell victim to the
fascinations of another, he was ridiculed. Marriage was but an
external bond; in the eighteenth century, it was a bond only as long
as husband and wife had affection for one another; when that no
longer existed, they frankly told each other and sought that emotion
elsewhere; they ceased to be lovers and became friends.

A very fertile source of so much unfaithfulness was the frequent
marriage of a ruined nobleman to a girl of fortune, but without rank.
Giving her his name was the only moral obligation; the marriage over
and the dowry portion settled, he pursued his way, considering that
he owed her no further duty. Very frequently, the husband, overcome by
jealousy or humiliated by the low standard of his wife who injured or
brought ridicule upon his name, would have her kidnapped and taken
to a convent. This right was enjoyed by the husband in spite of the
general liberty of woman. A letters-patent was obtained through proof
of adultery, and the wife was imprisoned in some convent for the rest
of her life, being deprived of her dowry which fell to her husband.

At one time, the great ambition of woman was to procure a legal
separation--an ambition which seems to have developed into a fad,
for at one period there were over three hundred applicants for legal
separation, a state of affairs which so frightened Parliament that
it passed rigid laws. A striking contrast to this was the custom
connected with mourning. At the death of the husband, the wife wore
mourning, her entire establishment, with ev