The Origin of the Distinction of Ranks ... The third edition, corrected and enlarged

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THE ORIGIN OF THE DISTINCTION OF RANKS: OR, AN INQUIRY INTO THE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH GIVE RISE TO INFLUENCE AND AUTHORITY, IN THE DIFFERENT MEMBERS OF SOCIETY. BY JOHN MILLAR, ESQ. frotessor OF law in THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW. THE FOURTH EDITION, CORRECTED. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, AN ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF THE AUTHOR, BY JOHN CRAIG, ESQ. EDINBURGH: PRINTED FOR WILLIAM BLACKWOOD, SOUTH-BRIDGE STREET; AND LONGMAN, HURST, KEES, & ORME, PATERNOSTER-ROW, LONDON. 1806. TO JOHN YOUNG, ESQUIRE, PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW. My Dear Sir, IN presenting you with a Memoir on the Life of our late excellent Friend, Mr Millar, I submit it to the person who, from long and familiar intercourse with him, will most readily perceive any misconceptions of his real character, or inaccuracies in the representation of his opinions.

I am fully aware of the difficulty of delineating a character such as Mr Millar's, and I am not in sensible of the danger of failing in a species of composition in which some late writings have ac customed the Public to the union, in an uncom mon degree, of Philosophy and Taste ; but I could '> DEDICATION, not be deterred by any selfish regard to my own reputation, from making that attempt, for which, in the opinion of our mutual friends, my intimacy with Mr Millar, begun by our near connection, and continued by his kind indulgence, had afforded me peculiar advantages. I am, with the greatest regard, My Dear Sir, Your most obedient Servant, JOHN CRAIG. Glasgow, February, 1S06, CONTENTS. Page Account of the Life and Writings of the Author. i Introduction 1 CHAP. I. OF THE RANK AND CONDITION OF WOMEN IN DIFFERENT AGES.

Sect. I. The effects of Poverty and barbarism, with respect to the condition of women 1 4 Sect. II. The influence acquired by the mother of a family, before marriage is completely established . . . .47 Sect. III. The refinement of the passions of sex, in the pastoral ages 51 Sect. IV. The consequences of the introduction of agriculture, with respect to the intercourse of the sexes 67 Sect. V. Changes in the condition of women, arising from the improvement of useful arts and manufactures VI CONTENTS. Sect. VI. The effects of great opulence, and the culture of the elegant arts, upon the relative condition of the sexes 99 CHAP. II, OF THE JURISDICTION AND AUTHORITY OF A FATHER OVER HIS CHILDREN. Sect. I. The power of a father in early ages 109 Sect. II. The influence of the improvement of arts upon the jurisdiction of the father , , 128 CHAP. III.

Introduction

. I HOSE who have examined the manners and customs of nations have had chiefly two objects in view. By observing the systems of law establish ed in different parts of the world, and by remark ing the consequences with which they are attended, men have endeavoured to reap advantage from the experience of others, and to make a selection of such institutions and modes of government as ap pear most worthy of being adopted. To investigate the causes of different usages has been likewise esteemed an useful as well as an en tertaining speculation. When we contemplate the amazing diversity to be found in the laws of different countries, and even of the same country at different periods, our curiosity is naturally excited to enquire in what manner mankind have been led to embrace such different rules of conduct ; and at the same it is evident, that, unless we are ac- A quainted with the circumstances which have recommended any set of regulations, we cannot form a just notion of their utility, or even determine, in any case, how far they are practicable.

In searching for the causes of those peculiar systems of law and government which have appeared in the world, we must undoubtedly resort, first of all, to the differences of situation, which have suggested different views and motives of action to the inhabitants of particular countries. Of this kind, are the fertility or barrenness of the soil, the nature of its productions, the species of labour requisite for procuring subsistence, the number of individuals collected together in one community, their proficiency in arts, the advantages which they enjoy for entering into mutual transactions, and for maintaining an intimate correspondence. The variety that frequently occurs in these, and such other particulars, must have a prodigious influ ence upon the great body of a people ; as, by giving a peculiar direction to their inclinations and pursuits, it must be productive of correspondent habits, dispositions, and ways of thinking.

When we survey the present state of the globe, we find that, in many parts of it, the inhabitants are so destitute of culture, as to appear little above the condition of brute animals; and even when we peruse the remote history of polished nations, we have seldom any difficulty in tracing them to a state of the same rudeness and barbarism. There is, however, in man a disposition and capacity for improving his condition, by the exertion of which, he is carried on from one degree of advancement to another ; and the similarity of his wants, as well as of the faculties by which those wants are supplied, has every where produced a remarkable uniformity in the several steps of his progression. A nation of savages, who feel the want of almost every thing requisite for the support of life, must have their attention directed to a small number of objects, to the acquisition of food and clothing, or the procuring shelter from the inclemencies of the weather ; and their ideas and feelings, in conformity to their situation, must, of course, be narrow and contracted.

Their first efforts are naturally calculated to increase the means of subsistence, by catching or ensnaring wild animals, or by gathering the spontaneous fruits of the earth; and the experience, acquired in the exercise of these employments, is apt, successively, to point out the methods of taming and rearing cattle, and of cultivating the ground. According as men have been successful in these great improvements, and find less difficulty in the attainment of bare necessaries, their prospects are gradually enlarged, their appe tites and desires are more and more awakened and called forth in pursuit of the several conveniencies of life ; and the various branches of manufacture, together with commerce, its inseparable attendant, and with science and literature, the natural oft- A spring of ease and affluence, are introduced, anc! brought to maturity.

By such gradual advances in rendering their situation more comfortable, the most important alterations are produced in the state and condition of a people : their numbers are increased; the connections of society are ex tended ; and men, being less oppressed with their own wants, are more at liberty to cultivate the feelings of humanity: property, the great source of distinction among individuals, is established; and the various rights of mankind, arising from their multiplied connections, are recognised and protected : the laws of a country are thereby ren dered numerous ; and a more complex form of government becomes necessary, for distributing justice, and for preventing the disorders which pro ceed from the jarring interests and passions of a targe and opulent community. It is evident, at the same time, that these, and such other effects of improvement, which have so great a tendency to vary the state of mankind, and their manner of life, will be productive of suitable variations in their taste and sentiments, and in their general system of behaviour.

There is thus, in human society, a natural pro gress from ignorance to knowledge, and from rude to civilized manners, the several stages of which are usually accompanied with peculiar laws and customs. Various accidental causes, indeed, have contributed to accelerate, or to retard this advancement in different countries. It has even happened that nations, being placed in such unfavourable circumstances as to render them long stationary at a particular period, have been so habituated to the peculiar manners of that age, as to retain a strong tincture of those peculiarities, through every sub sequent revolution. This appears to have occasion ed some of the chief varieties which take place in the maxims and customs of nations equally civi lized. The character and genius of a nation may, per haps, be considered as nearly the same with that of every other in similar circumstances ; but the case is very different with respect to individuals, among whom there is often a great diversity, proceeding from no fixed causes that are capable of being as certained.

Thus, in a multitude of dice thrown together at random, the result, at different times, will be nearly equal ; but in one or two throws of a single die, very different numbers may often be produced. It is to be expected, therefore, that, though the greater part of the political system of any country be derived from the combined influence of the whole people, a variety of peculiar in stitutions will sometimes take their origin from the casual interposition of particular persons, who happen to be placed at the head of a community, and to be possessed of singular abilities, and views of policy. This has been regarded, by many \\ liters, as the great source of those differences A which are to be found in the laws, and government of different nations. It is thus that Brama is sup posed to have introduced the peculiar customs of Indostan; that Lycurgus is believed to have formed the singular character of the Lacedemonians ; and that Solon is looked upon as the author of that very different style of manners which prevailed at Athens.

It is thus, also, that the English constitution is understood to have arisen from the un common genius, and patriotic spirit, of King Alfred. In short, there is scarcely any people, ancient or modern, who do not boast of some early monarch, or statesman, to whom it is pretended they owe whatever is remarkable in their form of government. But, notwithstanding the concurring testimony of historians, concerning the great political changes introduced by the lawgivers of a remote age, there may be reason to doubt, whether the effect of their interpositions has ever been so extensive as is gene rally supposed. Before an individual can be in vested with so much authority, and possessed of such reflection and foresight as would induce him to act in the capacity of a legislator, he must, pro bably, have been educated and brought up in the knowledge of those natural manners and customs, which, for ages perhaps, have prevailed among his countrymen.

Under the influence of all the pre judices derived from ancient usuage, he will com monly be disposed to prefer the system already estabfished to any other, of which the effects have not been ascertained by experience ; or if in any case he should venture to entertain a different opinion, he must be sensible that, from the general prepos session in favour of the ancient establishment, an attempt to overturn it, or to vary it in any considerable degree, would be a dangerous measure, ex tremely unpopular in itself, and likely to be attended with troublesome consequences. As the greater part of those heroes and sages that are reputed to have been the founders and model lers of states, are only recorded by uncertain tra dition, or by fabulous history, we may be allowed to suspect that, from the obscurity in which they are placed, or from the admiration of distant posterity, their labours have been exaggerated, and misrepresented.

It is even extremely probable, that those patriotic statesmen, whose existence is well ascertained, and whose laws have been justly celebrated, were at great pains to accommodate their regulations to the situation of the people for whom they were intended ; and that, instead of being actuated by a projecting spirit, or attempt ing, from visionary speculations of remote utility, to produce any violent reformation, they confined themselves to such moderate improvements as, by deviating little from the former usage, were in some measure supported by experience, and coin cided with the prevailing opinions of the country. All the ancient systems of legislation that have been handed down to us with any degree of authen ticity, show evident marks of their having been framed with such reasonable views ; and in none of them is this more remarkable than in the regulations of the Spartan Lawgiver, which appear, in every respect, agreeable to the primitive manners of that simple and barbarous people, for whose benefit they were promulgated.

Among the several circumstances which may af fect the gradual improvements of society, the differ ence of climate is one of the most remarkable. In warm countries, the earth is often extremely fertile, and with little culture is capable of producing whatever is necessary for subsistence. To labour under the extreme heat of the sun is, at the same time, exceedingly troublesome and oppressive. The inhabitants, therefore, of such countries, while they enjoy a degree of affluence, and, while by the mildness of the climate they are exempted from many inconveniencies and wants, are seldom disposed to any laborious exertion, and thus, acquiring habits of indolence, become addicted to sensual pleasure, and liable to all those infirmities which are nourished by idleness and sloth. The people who live in a cold country find, on the contrary, that little or nothing is to be obtained without la bour; and being subjected to numberless hard ships, while they are forced to contend with the ruggedness of the soil, and the severity of the sea sons, in earning their scanty provision, they become active and industrious, and acquire those disposi tions and talents which proceed from the constant and vigorous exercise both of the mind and body.

Some philosophers are of opinion, that the difference of heat and cold, of moisture and dryness, or other qualities of the climate, have a more imme diate influence upon the character and conduct of nations, by operating insensibly upon the human body, and by effecting correspondent alterations in the temper. It is pretended that great heat, by relaxing the fibres, and by extending the surface of the skin, where the action of the nerves is chiefly performed, occasions great sensibility to all external impressions; which is accompanied with proportionable vivacity of ideas and feelings. The inhabitants of a hot country are, upon this account, supposed to be naturally deficient in courage, and in that steadiness of attention which is necessary for the higher exertions of judgment; while they are no less distinguished by their extreme delicacy of taste, and liveliness of imagination.

The weakness, too, of their bodily organs prevents them from consuming a great quantity of food, though their excessive perspiration, the effect of the climate, requires continual supplies of such thin liquors as are proper to repair the waste of their fluids. In this situation, therefore, temperance in eating and drinking becomes a constitutional virtue. The inhabitants of a cold region, are said, on the other hand, to acquire an opposite complexion. As cold tends to brace the fibres, and to contract the operation of the nerves, it is held to produce a vigorous constitution of body, with little sensibility or vivacity ; from which we may expect activity, courage, and resolution, together with such calm and steady views of objects, as are usually connect ed with a clear understanding. The vigorous con stitutions of men, in a cold climate, are also supposed to demand great supplies of strong food, and to create a particular inclination for intoxicating liquors.

In some such manner as this, it is imagined that the character of different nations arises, in a great measure, from the air which they breathe, and from the soil upon which they are maintained. How far these conjectures have any real foundation, it seems difficult to determine. We are too little ac quainted with the structure of the human body, to discover how it is affected by such physical circum stances, or to discern the alterations in the state of the mind, which may possibly proceed from a different conformation of bodily organs ; and in the history of the world, we see no regular marks of that secret influence which has been ascribed to the air and climate, but, on the contrary, may com monly explain the great differences in the manners and customs of mankind from other causes, the existence of which is capable of being more clearly ascertained.

How many nations are to be found, whose situa tion in point of climate is apparently similar, and, yet, whose character and political institutions are entirely opposite? Compare, in this respect, the mildness and moderation of the Chinese, with the rough manners and intolerant principles of their neighbours in Japan. What a contrast is exhibited by people at no greater distance than were the ancient Athenians and Lacedemonians ? Can it be conceived that the difference between the climate of France and that of Spain, or between that of Greece and of the neighbouring provinces of the Turkish empire, will account for the different usages and manners of the present inhabitants? How is it possible to explain those national pecu liarities that have been remarked in the English, the Irish, and the Scotch, from the different tem perature of the weather under which they have lived ?

The different manners of people in the same country, at different periods, are no less remark able, and afford evidence yet more satisfactory, that national character depends very little upon the immediate operation of climate. The inhabitants of Sparta are, at present, under the influence of the same physical circumstances as in the days of Leonidas. The modem Italians live in the coun try of the ancient Romans. The following Inquiry is intended to illustrate the natural history of mankind in several important articles. This is attempted, by pointing out the more obvious and common improvements which gradually arise in the state of society, and by showing the influence of these upon the man ners, the laws, and the government of a people. With regard to the facts made use of in the fol lowing discourse, the reader, who is conversant in history, will readily perceive the difficulty of obtaining proper materials for speculations of this nature.

Historians of reputation have commonly overlooked the transactions of early ages, as not de? serving to be remembered; and even in the history of later and more cultivated periods, they have been more solicitous to give an exact account of battles, and public negociations, than of the interior police and government of a country. Our information, therefore, with regard to the state of man kind in the rude parts of the world, is chiefly de rived from the relations of travellers, whose cha racter and situation in life, neither set them above the suspicion of being easily deceived, nor of en deavouring to misrepresent the facts which they have related. From the number, however, and the variety of those relations, they acquire, in many cases, a degree of authority, upon which we may depend with security, and to which the narration of any single person, how respectable soever, can have no pretension.

When illiterate men, ignorant of the writings of each other, and who, unless upon religious subjects, had no speculative Systems to warp their opinions, have, in distant ages and countries, described the manners of people in similar circumstances, the reader has an opportunity of comparing their several descriptions, and from their agreement or disagreement is enabled to ascertain the credit that is due to them. Ac cording to this method of judging, which throws the veracity of the relater very much out of the question, we may be convinced of the truth of ex traordinary facts, as well as of those that are more agreeable to our own experience. It may even be re marked, that in proportion to the singularity of any event, it is the more improbable that different per sons, who design to impose upon the world, but who have no concert with each other, should agree in relating it.

When to all this, we are able to add the reasons of those particular customs which have been uniformly reported, the evidence be comes as complete as the nature of the thing will admit. We cannot refuse our assent to such evidence, without falling into a degree of scepticism by which the credibility of all historical testimony would be in a great measure destroyed. This observation, it is hoped, will serve as an apology for the multiplicity of facts that are sometimes stated in confirmation of the following remarks. At the same time, from an apprehension of being tedious, the author has on other occasions, selected only a few, from a greater number to the same purpose, that might easily have been procured. CHAP. I OF THE RANK AND CONDITION OF WOMEN IN DIFFER. ENT AGES.

Section I

The effects of poverty and barbarism, with respect to the condition of women. Of all our passions, it should seem that those which unite the sexes are most easily affected by the peculiar circumstances in which we are placed, and most liable to be influenced by the power of habit and education. Upon this account they ex hibit the most wonderful variety of appearances, and, in different ages and countries, have produced the greatest diversity of manners and customs. The state of mankind in the rudest period of so ciety, is extremely unfavourable to the improve ment of these passions. A savage who earns his food by hunting and fishing, or by gathering the spontaneous fruits of the earth, is incapable of at taining any considerable refinement in his pleasures. He finds so much difficulty, and is exposed to so many hardships in procuring mere necessaries, that he has no leisure or encouragement to aim at the luxuries and conveniencies of life.

His wants are few, in proportion to the narrowness of his circumstances. With him, the great object is to be able to satisfy his hunger, and, after the utmost exertions of labour and activity, to enjoy the relief of idleness and repose. He has no time for cultivating a correspondence with the other sex, nor for attending to those enjoyments which result from it ; and his desires being neither cherished by afflu ence, nor inflamed by indulgence, are allowed to remain in that moderate state which renders them barely sufficient for the continuation of the species. The facility with which he may commonly gratify these appetites, is another circumstance by which his situation is peculiarly distinguished. In the most rude and barbarous ages, little or no pro perty can be acquired by particular persons; and, consequently, there are no differences of rank to interrupt the free intercourse of the sexes.

The pride of family, as well as the insolence of wealth, is unknown ; and there are no distinctions among individuals, but those which arise from their age and experience, from their strength, courage, and other personal qualities. The members of different families, being all nearly upon a level, maintain the most familiar intercourse with one another, and, when impelled by natural instinct, give way to their mutual desires without hesitation or reluctance. They are unacquainted with those refinements which create a strong preference of particular objects, and with those artificial rules of decency and decorum which might lay a restraint upon their conduct. It cannot be supposed, therefore, that the pas sions of sex will rise to any considerable height in the breast of a savage. He must have little regard for pleasures which he can purchase at so easy a rate.

He meets with no difficulties nor disappoint ments to enhance the value of his enjoyment, or to rouse and animate him in the pursuit of it. He arrives at the end of his wishes, before they have sufficiently occupied his thoughts, or engaged him in those delightful anticipations of happiness which the imagination is apt to display in the most flatter ing colours. He is a stranger to that long continued solicitude, those alternate hopes and fears, which agitate and torment the lover, and which, by awakening the sensibility, while they relax the vigour of his mind, render his prevailing inclinations more irresistible. The phlegmatic disposition of savages, in this particular, has accordingly been often remarked as a distinguishing part of their character. There is good reason to believe that, in the state of simplicity which precedes all cultivation and improve ment, the intercourse of the sexes. is chiefly regulated by the primary intention of nature ; that it is of consequence totally interrupted by the periods of pregnancy ; and that the same laws, with re spect to the difference of seasons, which govern the constitution of inferior animals, have also an influence upon the desires of the human species *.

It is true, that, even in early ages, some sort of marriage, or permanent union between persons of different sexes, has been almost universally established. But when we examine the nature of this * A late ingenious author imagines that this coldness of constitution is peculiar to the natives of America ; and he accounts for it, in a most whimsical manner, from the moisture of the climate, by which the inhabitants of that country are, in his opinion, rendered inferior, both in mind and body, to those of the old world. [Recherches sur les Americains.~J But though it must, perhaps, be admitted that particular climates have some influence upon the passions of sex, yet, in most parts of the world, the character of sa vages, in this respect, exhibits a remarkable uniformity. [See an account of the Samoiedes, histoire generale des voyages, tome 18. p. 509, 510. — Of the inhabitants of Kamtschatka, ibid, tome 19. liv. 2. chap. 4.

"j Even among people somewhat advanced beyond the mere savage life, we frequently meet with traces of a similar tem perament. " Sera juvenum Venus," says Tacitus of the Ger mans, " eoque inexhausta pubertas, nee virgines festinantur. " Ergo septa pudicitia agunt, nullis spectaculorum illecebris, " nullis conviviorum irrationibus corruptae." Tacit, de mor. Germ. $.19, 20. The same circumstance is mentioned by Caesar concerning the character of the ancient Gauls. " Qui diutissime impu " beres permanserunt, maximam inter suos ferunt laudem : " hoc ali staturam, ali vires, nervosque confirmari putant. " Intra annum verq vicesimum feminae notitiam habuisse, " in turpissimis habent rebus." Caes. de bell. Gall. lib. 6. C. 21. primitive alliance, it appears to have been derived from motives very little connected with those passions which we are at present considering.

When a child has been produced by the accidental correspondence of his parents, it is to be expected that, from the influence of natural affection, they will be excited to assist one another in making some provision for his maintenance. For this purpose, they are led to take up their residence together, that they may act in concert with each other, and unite their efforts in the preservation and care of their offspring. Among inferior animals, we may discern the in fluence of the same principle in forming an associa tion between individuals of different sexes. The connection indeed, in this case, is commonly of short duration; because the young animal is soon in a condition to provide for its own subsistence. In some of the species of birds, however, the young which are hatched at one time, are frequently in capable of procuring their own food before the mother begins to lay eggs a-new; and the male and female are, therefore, apt to contract a more permanent attachment.

To this circumstance we may ascribe the imagined fidelity of the turtle, as well as the poetical honours that have been paid to the gentleness of the dove; an animal which, notwithstanding the character it has so universally acquired, appears remarkable for its peevish and quarrelsome temper. Among common poultry, on the contrary, whose offspring is reared without much assistance even from the dam, the disposition to unite in pairs is scarcely observable But the long culture which is necessary in rear ing the human species, will generally afford to the parents a second pledge of their commerce, before their assistance can be withdrawn from the former. Their attention, therefore, is extended from one object to another, as long as the mother is capable of child-bearing; and their union is thus continued by the same causes which first gave rise to it.

Even after this period, they will naturally be disposed to remain in a society to which they have been so long accustomed: more especially, as by living at the head of a numerous family, they enjoy a degree of ease, respect, and security, of which they would otherwise be deprived, and have reason, in their old age, to ex pect the assistance and protection of their posterity, under all those diseases and infirmities by which they are rendered incapable of providing for them selves *. These were in all probability the first induce ments to marriage among the rude and barbarous * It seems unnecessary to observe, that what is here said with regard to marriage, together with many other Remarks which follow concerning the manners of early nations, can only be applied to those who had lost all knowledge of the original institutions, which, as the sacred scriptures inform us, were communicated to mankind by an extraordinary revelation from heaven.

B2 t inhabitants of the earth. As it appears to have taken its origin from the accidental and unforeseen exertions of parental affection, we may suppose that it would be commenced without any previous contract between the parties, concerning the terms or duration of their correspondence. Thus, among the Romans, it should seem that the most ancient marriage was formed merely by use; that is, by the parties living constantly together for the space of a year ; a period which, in the ordinary course of things, was sufficient to involve them in the care of a family *. It is believed that the early Greeks were accustomed to marry in the same simple manner t. The Kalmuck Tartars have, at present, a similar practice. Among them, it is usual for a young pair to retire, and live together as man and wife for one year ; and if, during this time, the woman has produced a child, their marriage is un derstood to be completed; but if not, they either separate at pleasure, or agree to make another y.ear's trial \.