MARRIAGES, BIRTHS, AND FUNERALS.

27

or two days previous the bride sits in a kind of state to receive the congratulations of friends. It is said the parties, in general, bargain with each other as if purchasing goods; and, in this view, a daughter is frequently betrothed by her father, from mere motives of interest, to a person whom, perhaps, she has hardly seen. This practice brings to my recollection a remarkable instance of the same custom which I witnessed in Egypt; when happening to be in the house of some one, I was introduced by him to his "papa," as he called him, with whom he was entering into negotiation for his daughter, and his consent was a sine quá non with both of the parties. On the birth of a child it is usual for the parents to make out a list of their acquaintance, and send a maidservant, accompanied by a boy from the foundling hospital, to their houses with the infant, when a small present is made, which is actually registered in a book kept for that purpose. Should the young visitor be a boy, the gratuity is greater than when it happens to be of the other sex. Birth-days are kept with great festivity; and on these occasions, also, considerable presents are made. There are likewise some peculiar customs observed when a death takes place, which to an Englishman appears strange the event is announced not only by ringing the bells of the town, but also by the sound of trumpets

from the steeples; and, of course, the noise thus made is in proportion to the rank or opulence of the deceased. The knocker of the outer door of the house is also tied up with black crape. What is hardly less extraordinary, the Hamburghers seldom attend the remains of their departed friends to the tomb; but the body is committed to the care of certain persons whose profession it is to perform the last office, and who may be truly said to "mimic sorrow when the heart is not sad:" of these are several classes, and at the head of them are a set of public officers, sixteen in number. Their costume is a large wig, with a double row of huge curls, black gowns, broad plaited ruffs, and cocked hats, which they carry in their hands. About twelve of them attend the funerals of respectable citizens: they walk on the sides of the hearse, two and two, each holding a lemon in his hand, a custom of which we could not learn either the intention or origin. The hearse is something in the shape of the frame of a fourposted bed, with a tester ornamented with fringe; and the coffin, as at the burials of Quakers, has no pall. When it is laid in the grave, the usual parting ejaculation is, "God rest thy soul!" after which the sable group instantly disperse.

There are a great many printing-offices, and several newspapers are published, the price of

DEFORMED OBJECTS.

29

which is as low as one penny or two-pence each.

The markets of Hamburgh are excellently supplied; and it is said there are three distinct species of fish for every month in the year. The prices of provisions were reasonable: for instance, beef 4d. per lb., veal 5d.; ducks 1s. 4d. each; butter 6d. per lb.; forty eggs for 6d. ; potatoes 1s. per sack, and coals 6s. per ton.

In no city, perhaps, in Europe, are there so many wretched mis-shapen objects among the lower classes, for at almost every other step one meets with some instance of physical deformity or mal-conformation - persons either crooked, hunch-backed, lame, or curtailed of the usual proportions of the human frame. By some this prevalence of deformity is attributed to injudicious management during infancy by nurses. It is indeed most unaccountable to see mothers, in general, as soon as they are delivered, dismiss their offspring, and delegate the power of nursing them to another, whose object is gain, not love for the child, and whose care of it will be merely that of a hireling and drudge. How often have we occasion to hear the observation, that a person of bad temper has imbibed it with the milk of his nurse! And it will be found too true, that infants suck in the passions as well as the diseases of nurses; and though they are born

30

ADVICE TO MOTHERS.

of parents of the most amiable dispositions, yet they may be corrupted by the bad temper of nurses. Frequently, too, the most loathsome of diseases has been communicated to an infant by a nurse of vicious morals. Let mothers consider seriously these important truths, and nurse their own children, else how can they be entitled to the name of mothers, when they refuse to engage in a duty they are so imperiously called on to exercise, by the law of nature and affection? Mothers will naturally be more careful of their children than any hired person. If, however, they are obliged to have recourse to nurses, let them ascertain that they are free from bodily dieases, and vicious passions. Another reason assigned for the prevalence of deformity is the damp cellars and apartments under ground, where children are brought up; and in a great degree, also, to the absurd and pernicious custom of clothing young children in such tight dresses as to impede the free motion of their limbs; also to the equally mischievous one of placing them, while thus bandaged up, between two feather-beds, occasionally setting the poor little creatures upon the damp floor, during the perspiration thus excited. Happily, this preposterous hot-bed and mummybandaging system-a system that has either destroyed the lives or ruined the constitutions of thousands of unfortunate beings-is yielding

ADVICE TO MOTHERS.

31

to the dictates of common sense. It is no longer necessary to caution English mothers against such barbarity towards their helpless offspring, for air, with light and free clothing, are now allowed to be essentially conducive to the health, and consequently the cheerfulness of children; and even did the latter in nowise contribute to it, yet it would still be preferable to the former uncouth fashion, as being more graceful and elegant. So many accidents, indeed, happen to infants committed to nurses, which render them cripples for life, that it is, perhaps, a blessing, that some parents cannot afford to send their offspring out to nurse, but that this duty must devolve entirely on the mother. Pulling, for instance, an infant by the arm to mend its pace, and swinging it by one arm when crossing any place, are practices from which severe effects have been produced, their tender joints being dislocated. An idea has, in general, been entertained, that there are more deformed objects of the female than the male sex, which is accounted for by the greater delicacy of the former; by the present system, too, the brain is strengthened, and the growth of the hair, and dentition, are promoted. In many parts of the world my feelings have been shocked to see infants rolled up from neck to toe, like a bale of goods, and unable to move from the spot, lying like inanimate objects. Before leaving this im