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"piebantur: & erant ferè ex ancillis, & fervilis conditionis: & non erant adjutoria illius præftantioris gradus, ut om"ni rerum communione gauderent fed "humiliore gradu, & quæ haberentur hu"miliore loco, quod ad adminiftrationem "domus attinet, & ad filiorum fucceffionem.-Legitimum verò genus concubinarum eft, quum habentur conjunctæ copula matrimoniali, ne abjici temere poffint: tametfi non habeant commu"nionem plenam omnium rerum cum "marito, ut mätres-familias: nec con"venerunt pactis dotalibus, unde & nati "ex illis non habent fucceffionem in hæ"reditate paternâ cum natis ex matre"familias: ficut Abraham ex concubinis veris uxoribus, fed non matribus-familias, dona quædam deputavit, portionem "hæreditatis nullam addixit.—Ex legitimo genere concubinarum fuerunt concubinæ fanctorum patrum. Et quia DOMINUS dignitates & patrimonia, quæ fuis contulit, confervari vult, optandum om"niró ut hoc genus uxorum, uti apud "fanctiffimos olim Patres obfervatum eft, "rurfus apud Chriftianos, & maximè in præftantibus familiis obfervaretur, &c."

σε

Concubines were alfo lawful wives; "but in this they differed from the ma"trons, that they were received without

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dowry and a folemn fanctification. They

"c were

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were ufually from maid-servants, and "of a fervile condition; and they were not help-mates of that fuperior degree, as to enjoy a communion of things in every refpect, but in a lower degree, " and were reckoned in a lower fphere, as to the adminiftration of the houfe, " and the fucceffion of their fons.-They are a lawful kind of concubines, who are joined to their husbands by a matrimonial tie, fo that they cannot rafhly be put away; although they may not have a "full communion of all things with their "husbands, as miftreffes of the family, nor did they agree [or come together] by dowry

contracts; wherefore the fons born of them "have not a fucceffion in the heritage of "the father, with the fons of the mistress of "the house. Thus Abraham gave gifts to "the fons born of his concubines, who <<' were true wives, but gave them no por

tion of the inheritance.-The concu"bines of the holy fathers were of the "lawful kind. And because the LORD

will, that the dignities and patrimonies " which He has conferred on His people, "should be preserved, it is altogether to "be wifhed, that this kind of wives, "as obferved among the holy patriarchs,

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might be again obferved among Chrif "tians, and especially in great and illuf"trious families, &c."

VOL. I.

There is much good fenfe in what Bucer fays, not only as tending to give a fcriptural and proper idea of concubinage, but alfo as pointing out a convenient medium between men of family and fortune being obliged to match with inferior women whom they may happen to take, fo as to put them upon a footing with themselves and families, and the liberty of abandoning them to prostitution and ruin.

This hint of Bucer's, with refpect to Chriftians, feems to have been taken in fome parts of Germany; where we are told of wives of a fort of fecond degree, which they call left-handed wives; thefe are indeed taken with more ceremony, but, in other refpects, differ little in their fituation from the antient concubines. See Chambers, Tit. HAND-and MARRIAGE. Dr. Alexander, Hift. Wom. vol. ii. p. 267. writes thus concerning this custom in Pruffia Though their code of laws "feems in general to be as reasonable, "and as confiftent with found policy as any in Europe, yet we ftill find in it an "allowance given for a fpecies of that concubinage which has long fince been expelled from almost all the western "world. A man may there marry what " is called a left-handed wife, to whom he "is married for life, and by the common

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ceremony-the only difference is, the

"bridegroom

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"bridegroom gives her his left hand in"stead of his right-but with this exprefs agreement, that neither she nor "her children fhall live in the houfe of " her husband, nor fhall take his name, 66 nor bear his arms, nor claim any "dower or donation ufually claimed by every other wife, nor difpofe of any part of his property, exert any authority over his fervants, nor fucceed to "his eftates or his titles; but fhall be " contented with what was agreed on "for their fubfiftence during his life, and "with what he fhall give them at his "death. This privilege, however, is al

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ways in the power of the king to deny, "and is feldom granted to any but fuch "of the nobility as are left with large "families, and, from the smallness of "their fortunes, cannot afford to marry "another legal wife, and rear up another family of the fame rank with them"felves."

There are certainly in the above very ftrong traces of the antient concubinage, which was allowed and practifed under the divine law. If fuch a custom as this prevailed among us, and was inforced on men of rank and fashion, who are now turned loose on the lower order of females, and debauch them at free coft, without

5

being

being under the least responsibility towards them-it would not only prove a happy check to the moft mifchievous licentioufness in many instances, but be also a means of preventing the utter ruin of thousands, who, under the prefent fyftem of things, are feduced, abandoned, and deftroyed,. without any remedy whatsoever, or almost any poffibility of escape.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.