this part of Italy; but it has been carried on with such fervour and
success, that the Italian go far beyond their patterns, the Parisian
ladies, in the extent of their liberty. I am not so much surprised at
the women's conduct, as I am amazed at the change in the men's
sentiments. Jealousy, which was once a point of honour among them, is
exploded to that degree, it is the most infamous and ridiculous of all
characters; and you cannot more affront a gentleman than to suppose
him capable of it. Divorces are also introduced, and frequent enough;
they have long been in fashion in Genoa; several of the finest and
greatest ladies there having two husbands alive. The constant pretext is
impotency, to which the man often pleads guilty, and though he marries
again, and has children by another wife, the plea remains good by saying
he was so in regard to his first; and when I told them that in England a
complaint of that kind was esteemed so impudent no reasonable woman
would submit to make it, I was answered we lived without religion, and
that their consciences obliged them rather to strain a point of modesty
than to live in a state of damnation. However, as this method is not
without inconvenience (it being impracticable where there is children),
they have taken another here: the husband deposes upon oath that he has
had a commerce with his mother-in-law, on which the marriage is declared
incestuous and nullified, though the children remain legitimate. You
will think this hard on the old lady, who is scandalised; but it is no
scandal at all, nobody supposing it to be true, without circumstances to
confirm it; but the married couple are set free to their mutual content;
for I believe it would be difficult to get a sentence of divorce, if
either side made opposition: at least I have heard no example of it."


Lady Mary made no secret of her views upon marriage; and though she did
not so frequently air her religious beliefs, she often pondered the