The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1852-07-31
ITALIAN WOMEN.

y
lowing melancholy account of the con-
dltion and character of Italian wo-
men = i
General speaking, the fair Italians
are certainly not women of cultivated
minds, Or fine accomplishments. They
are occupied with pursuits of the most
puerile vanity they carry their passion
for dress to the most ruinous ex!rava-
gance, and are victims of languor, indo-
lence, and ennm The Ncapolitan la
dies are more addicted to gambling than
the Romans though there are some here
entirely given up to it, and on whose
countrnances | read, at the nightly faro
table, the deadly passion Of their souls.
The Italian ladies scarce y ever nurse
their children, or attend to their educa-
ton. The boys are instructed at home
by some domestic chaplain: Or placed
In public semnarles. The girls are
either brought up at home, where they
have no proper governess-and their
mothers are seldom qualified, and still
more rarely disposed, to fulfil the Office
Or else they are educated in converts
by nuns, who are too often ignorant,
| pre- JUDGED, and bigoted, and perhaps
less fitted for the important task of form
Ing the female character than any other
class OF woman: they escape from this
gloomy prison to the world. without
having tolmed taste for any rational
pursuits or domestic pleasures; are mar
RED to some man chosen for them by
their parents, and to whom they must
consequently be indiferent-and what
better can be expected from them !
The exclusion Of young unmarried
. women from society in this country, de-
prives it Of one of its greatest charms.
am ready, indeed, to own that too
many young ladies, just come out,
weigh at times somewhat heavily on a
party in our own country but conceive
what blank the absence of the whole
would make, and you will better under
stand the variety and interest, and AMI
nation they give to it.
Though the fair sex in this country
are generally extremely ignorant, there
are certainly many very learned women
t in Italy; so learned, that here, where
Y there is no literary Sale law, the chairs
: in the universities have often, both in
2 past and present time, been filled by
k. female professors. Signora Tambroni,
e late Professor Of Greek in the UNIVERSE
e ty of Bologna, only died within these
S few months, though she retired from
d her situation few years ago; nor was
y she less remarkable for her piety and
o excellence than for her uncommon at
n tainments.
: With few bright exceptions, howev-
er, 1t unfortunately happens that the
class Of literary women in Italy are too
: violently literary. The blues are too
4 deep a blue. They are either wholly
e unlearned, or overpowerlngIy learned.
S A taste for literature Is not generally
dihused and intermingled with other
n pursuits and pleasures, as IN England ;
:. it is confined to few, and reigns in
k them without control. Neither does
It the love of letters exclude the love of
: adulation. Their vanity is of differ
ent cast, but not less Unsuitable than that
Of the other fair Italians. They enter
=. tain you too much with talking of their
;. works, or repeating their own compost
4 tions; and their houses are generally
V infested by a herd of male scribblers,
/ who make large demands on the pa
tience and applause of their auditors,
$ by reading or reciting their various
works IN verse or prose and bepralse
# each other, that they may be praise d
a themselves.
: The women of these (he mlddle)
classes are indolent, useless; and vain.
:. They never seem employed about do
q nestle cares; in fact, tie small matter
i of cleaning which is bestowed upon a
$ house is generally done by men. 1t is
they who make the beds and dust the
v rooms. They cook ; they clean, and
sometimes even make gowns. never
shall forget my establishment at Naples,
Y in sending for dress-maker, when a
4 man appeared F; but he prolessed his Ca,
4 pacity for the undertaking. was in
f haste, and he stitched me up a very
superb ball-dress before night.
!, In Rome, however, think the dress
$ makers, and all the washerwomen are
q Of the female gender. But the Roman
females are really generally useless,
INDECENT set slovenlv and dirty in their
r persons and dress at home, and tawdri,
t ly fine when they go abroad. Their
r virtue, | fear, cannot be much boosted
f. of, and, like their superiors, few of them
S are without their lovers and their intrl,
e CUES.
G-r"My DEAR said a smiling spouse
to her other half, a morning or two since,
'l'm going a shopping; want a little
, change" pooh - responded the ungal.
l. l 10, ,,hur,ra al