Sketches Of The Fair Sex


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(4.2 stars; 13 reviews)

Sketches of the fair sex, in all parts of the world. To which are added rules for determining the precise figure, the degree of beauty, the habits, and the age of women, notwithstanding the aids and disguise of dress.

It is our design to present a pleasing and interesting miscellany, which will serve to beguile the leisure hour, and will at the same time couple instruction with amusement. We have used but little method in the arrangement: Choosing rather to furnish the reader with a rich profusion of narratives and anecdotes, all tending to illustrate the FEMALE CHARACTER, to display its delicacy, its sweetness, its gentle or sometimes heroic virtues, its amiable weaknesses, and strange defects—than to attempt an accurate analysis of the hardest subject man ever attempted to master, viz—WOMAN. (Summary from the book) (6 hr 6 min)

Chapters

01 - IN THE FOLLOWING PAGES. THE FIRST WOMAN, AND HER ANTEDILUVIAN DESCENDANTS.… 16:38 Read by Colman Shew
02 - GRECIAN WOMEN. GRECIAN COURTEZANS. 6:48 Read by Lucy Perry
03 - ROMAN WOMEN. LAWS AND CUSTOMS RESPECTING THE ROMAN WOMEN. 13:53 Read by swade
04 - WOMEN IN SAVAGE LIFE. EASTERN WOMEN. 12:55 Read by Kalynda
05 - CHINESE WOMAN. AFRICAN WOMEN. 7:56 Read by Bellona Times
06 - GREAT ENTERPRISES OF WOMEN IN THE TIMES OF CHIVALRY. OTHER PARTICULARS RES… 13:18 Read by Bellona Times
07 - FRENCH WOMEN. ITALIAN WOMEN. 10:25 Read by Chloe
08 - SPANISH WOMEN. ENGLISH WOMEN. RUSSIAN WOMEN. 12:22 Read by swade
09 - THE IDEA OF FEMALE INFERIORITY. FEMALE SIMPLICITY. 17:33 Read by TriciaG
10 - THE MILD MAGNANIMITY OF WOMEN. FEMALE DELICACY. INFLUENCE OF FEMALE SOCIET… 19:31 Read by edbucks
11 - MONASTIC LIFE. DEGREES OF SENTIMENTAL ATTACHMENT AT DIFFERENT PERIODS. 16:36 Read by edbucks
12 - GERMAN WOMEN. A VIEW OF MATRIMONY IN THREE DIFFERENT LIGHTS. BETROTHING AN… 13:59 Read by Tim Ferreira
13 - FEMALE FRIENDSHIP. 6:18 Read by Terry Goodyer
14 - ON THE CHOICE OF A HUSBAND. 20:54 Read by Bellona Times
15 - A LETTER TO A NEW MARRIED MAN. GARRICK'S ADVICE TO MARRIED LADIES. 9:31 Read by TriciaG
16 - ORIGIN OF NUNNERIES. DESCRIPTION OF THE GREAT CONVENT AT AJUDA IN RIO JANE… 9:11 Read by Kalynda
17 - WEDDED LOVE IS INFINITELY PREFERABLE TO VARIETY. ITALIAN DEBAUCHERY. NAKED… 11:07 Read by summerdaze
18 - WOMEN OF OTAHEITE. CRIM. CON. OF CLAUDIUS AND POMPEIA. A WORD TO A VERY NI… 9:35 Read by summerdaze
19 - CUSTOM IN THE MOGHUL EMPIRE. CUSTOM OF THE MUSCOVITES. SALE OF CHILDREN TO… 15:59 Read by TriciaG
20 - PUNISHMENT OF ADULTERY. ANECDOTE OF CÆSAR. POWER OF MARRYING. 8:03 Read by Kalynda
21 - CELIBACY OF CLERGY. DESPERATE ACT OF EUTHIRA. 6:55 Read by Randall Ryan
22 - LUXURIOUS DRESS OF GRECIAN LADIES. GRECIAN COURTSHIP. 6:06 Read by Terry Goodyer
23 - POWER OF PHILTRES AND CHARMS. EASTERN COURTSHIP. LONG HAIR OF SAXONS AND D… 7:05 Read by Nadine Eckert-Boulet
24 - ST. VALENTINE'S DAY. COURTS OF LOVE. IMMODESTY AT BABYLON. INDECENCY AT AD… 8:06 Read by edbucks
25 - ANCIENT SWEDISH COURTSHIP. LAPLAND AND GREENLAND LADY. 5:38 Read by Terry Goodyer
26 - EDUCATION OF WOMEN IN ASIA AND AFRICA. RELIGIOUS FESTIVALS OF THE GREEKS. … 12:07 Read by Bellona Times
27 - ART OF DETERMINING THE PRECISE FIGURE, THE DEGREE OF BEAUTY, THE HABITS, A… 19:44 Read by Dirk Eichhorn
28 - THE IDEAL OF FEMALE BEAUTY; OR A DESCRIPTION OF THE FAMOUS STATUE OF THE V… 16:48 Read by Demi Fair
29 - AN ESSAY ON MATRIMONY (Part 1) 16:17 Read by edbucks
30 - AN ESSAY ON MATRIMONY (Part 2) 15:25 Read by edbucks

Reviews

Delightfully Old-Fashioned and Sexist


(4 stars)

This book was probably a compliment to women when written, but today parts of it will get even the least feminist woman a little piqued. If taken in good humour and as a specimen of its time, it's a delightful look through male eyes at that most inscrutable of creatures: woman.