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NOTICES OF BOOKS. 277
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
—«B » A. Decade Of Italian Women. By T. ...
While Germany lias its Stifters for tlie endowment of unmarried ladiesTuscany offers a premium upon marriage by the bestowal
, of marriage portions upon candidates under the age of thirty-five . The conditions annexed to the obtainment of this prize , are strict
attention to church rules and church teaching . i i English philanthrophy takes under its especial protection the blind , the
scri deaf ptions , the dumb are raised , the maime , donations d , and g the iven diseased , and legacies in mind bequeathed and body ; by for charitable these subfor persons the . most But part Italian , to take , and a different particularl direction y Tuscan ; for p , hilanthropy judging from would the amount seem ,
of sight funds , of set speech apart , the in failure Florence of for health various , the charitable loss of limbs purposes , of hearing , the , want and of of the vided reaso maiden n with , are a destined each husband accounted to . see Eng her a lish cal youth _, amity benevolence go of b less y , and wei contemp g grey ht than lates hair that with s arrive which indifference , un afflicts
protrul the woes commendable of spinsteris ; m enhancing , but Italian the benevolence effect of feminine rushe graces s to its , aid and with increasing a zeal their y power to subdue tne manly heart , by the substantial charms of money . In Tuscany , as well as throughout all Italy , the bestowal of marriage
portions has ever been one of the most favorite charities ; and in Florence alone thousand the sums pounds thus distributed . The Society annuall of St y . J amount ohn the to Baptist between , the three patron and saint four of
circumstances Florence lied a , certain was with founded portion marriage chiefl of the y portions for funds the of ; purpose the and brotherhood to the of endowing same purpose of the girls Misericordia is in annuall humble y . app
Another Florentine charitable irl with a society matrimoni takes al dowry upon itself of fifty to scudi provide ( about every eleven fatherless pounds quentl g Eng irls lish must money take g pay the . ) great Communion To attention entitle themselves at to their , reli however times gious , duties to to receive confession ; attend such regularl donations mass fre- ,
andabove y , all things , present themselves proper at the , go catechetical examination y , morning called , the service dottrina on _, Sunday held b . y the The priests girl who in the absents several herself parish from , churches the dottrina after without a sufficient cause to justify her absence , has a mark attached to her
name number on . of every three occasion or more of such invalidate truancy her ; claim which to marks the reception accumulatin of the g to next the ing instalment to the age of the of the marriage recip , ient portion , within , which a , otherwise certain limit would , the be portion hers . Accord varies - ;
being undergoes for ( which from reached she eig generall hteen is without alone years y , a a however triennial of husb age and , up increase being entitled to thirty obtained ; to but -five receive the , the the limit hap on young less her of maiden maid five marriage -and is ' doomed s - dower thirty day )
to sion mourn henceforth over the from destruction the _benefits of of all the her charitable matrimonial , endowment hopes , from throug her h exclu which - _, she trusted to win her way to marriage . Poor hapless maid of thirty-five ,
if she such sees , there that be dreaded in Florence day and I who hour cannot approach symp , athise when she with loses her sorrows every right , as to claim the seventeen years' accumulating heap of silver scudi , the due
reward of years of sedulous attendance at mass , confession , and the dottrina ! " Sad , it however well , as be the old maid whether ' s fate is the deemed in Itali inster an pop lot ular in esti the
mation lower classes , may of life at questioned leastis not in reality Tuscan frequentl sp y a far 's happ , ier one than that of many by whom the , marriage portion has been rightfully claimed . If not actually maltreated—as from several cases that came under my wife own
in observation the lower I classes have cause of society to know , occup she ies not the unfrequentl position of y a is mere —the ser Tuscan vant in the ,
Notices Of Books. 277
NOTICES OF BOOKS . 277
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), June 1, 1859, page 277, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01061859/page/61/
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