Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1840-1842, 1841-03-31
MEMORANDA OF TOUR IN THE EAST.
European Correspondence Of the United States
Gazette.

Gazette.
| GREEK WoMEs-SocIAL TYRANNY.
The imagination is much excited by the enco-
mastlc strains OF the Greek poets and OF their mo-
dern im'tators, upon the beauty of the descendants
OF Helen, that we expected, every STEP TO be dag
zed WIN their brillancy. Even in Corinth, which
once bore the palm of female beauty-Cornth, the
Circean charms Of whose daughters caused many a
truant Ulysses to forget his Penelope-that Corinlh
oil which Anacreon sung in his time
For beauteOus nymPhs it bearsthe sway,
For none 30 beautiful sure they."-OpE %.
Even in this lauded Corinth, we did not see n f.
male face that was even comedy. The traveller ma
turalIy turns from the view of nature 10 her fair
est works OF mortal mould and for my part fine see
merry and bright climes appeared to lose part of
their attractions, and nature to be nisgardy Of her
fair gifts, when the face of woman was not as beau
tiui as the soft lakes and mountains among which
she dwelt and as radiant with the unclouded LIGHT
OF peace and love, as the sunny skies which Der
canopied her land. 1t may be conceit but il al
ways seemed paradoNlcal 10 me, 20 expect to find a
country where the beauty Of nature was not mir
rored back from the face of woman.
We must attribute the present dearth of female
beauty IN Greece to the mseries Of war and the
hardships OF country where, till within few
years, the husbandman titled his fields armed to the
teeth, and the wife reared her children and kndled
the household fires in the depths of mountain caves,
from which she was sometimes called forth like the
Maid of Saragossa TO direct the murderous engines
OF war, or raise the dropping courage Of her hus-
band and sons. There IS also something in the pre-
sent hard lot Of the Greek women, that claims our
sympathy. The women in Greece are obliged TO
submit to the hardest toll and are kept in n subiec-
ton little creditable 10 their lords. They partici-
pate not only in the labor of the fields but are
obliged To perform some of the severer kinds Of la
Dor which task even masculine strength. The pea
SAINT women at thirty have the appearance Of ffty.
Bronzed 10y the sun, and dishgured by excessive la
bors, their shryelled features sadly disappont the
enthusiastic traveller, who expects 10 meeIin every
female face Zoe or Haidee.
The Greeks still retain the worst feature of the
social tyranny OF the Turks. Women are kept in
the strictest seclusion and debarred all male society
except that OF their nearest relations Even in the
tender affairs of love, they cannot act without re-
straint- Marriage Is nothing more than bargain
arranged between the bridegroom and the parents
OF the wife. The wishes or feelings ola young girl
rarely consulted, and she is obliged to give her
hand TO one whom she m eeis for the first time at the
altar.
Instead Of being the companion Of her husband,
she becomes his slave. The little society that ex-
lists in Greece, is extremely nspd, from the absence
Of the softer sex; and | cannot but think that the
rough and harsh manners that prevail, would be
softened and refined by the social charms of woman
The Greek ladies Of the higher classes of society
are not waning 10 personal attractions and their
quick and brilliant INA gnatIons would serve as a
foil 10 the present somewhat dull and ethargic tenn
petament OF society IN Greece. But visible i'm
provemeni IS now taking place. Society begins 10
open its portals TO her who constitutes its brightest
ornament, and imbues 1t with all its elegance and
purity. A few Greek ladies' now venture into so Z.
cia intercourse, and time and European inlu-
ences weaken existing preiudices, the number will
Increase. The female school of Mr. Hill, at Athens,
will have q happy effect in this point of view. The
return OF so many young girls TO their families,
with their natural graces heightened by mental &C
| complshments, will materially affect the tone Of
society, and must, in the end should similar schools
be established, restore woman 10 her legitimate SUI
premacy.