All the company return to town from these places at the same time; the line of calèches, endless to the sight, raise clouds of dust, to the no small derangement of the ladies’ toilets. Some spend the remainder of the evening in riding up and down the principal streets, and others assemble at different houses to play at cards.
In winter, the afternoon rides are confined to the streets of the town, where the number and splendour of sledges is equal to that of the calèches in the fine season.
Last year a company of German actors came to Bukorest, and after some performances, were encouraged to establish a regular theatre. They gave German operas, and comedies translated into Wallachian, and the first two or three months they attracted crowds from all the classes, who, without exception, seemed to have taken a true liking to the new sort of amusement; but latterly the charm of novelty had begun to wear off, and the Boyars of the first order, with some of the principal foreign residents, seemed to be the only persons disposed to support the continuance of the establishment, more with the view of making it a place of general union of the society, than from the attractions of the stage.
The days of Christmas, new-year, the prince’s anniversary, Easter, and some others, are chiefly devoted to etiquette visits at court. From nine o’clock in the morning to one in the afternoon, the prince and princess, seated at the corner of a very long sopha, and covered with jewels and the most costly apparel, receive the homage of all those who are entitled to the honour of kissing their hands, an honour which the foreign consuls, their wives, and officers attached to their suite, alone, think proper to dispense with. No other persons residing in the country can be received at court on gala days without going through that formality. The wives of Boyars are allowed to sit in the presence of the prince and princess; they take seat according to the rank or office of their husbands, who without exception are obliged to stand at a respectful distance. On similar occasions, the crowd at court is immense; the whole of the outer apartments are filled with persons of every description, and the audience-chamber is not less so by the number of visitors. On new-year’s-day it is customary to make presents of money to the servants attending the court; they have no other pecuniary allowance for their services; and the bustle and confusion occasioned by the avidity of this crowd of harpies is as difficult to be described as it is inconsistent with the dignity of a court who expects and ordains universal homage to its chiefs.
About two hundred and ten days of the year are holidays, and they are strictly observed by the inhabitants, as far, at least, as relates to the exclusion of all kinds of work. The public offices, although they have so great a portion of the year to remain inactive, are allowed, besides, a fortnight’s vacation at Easter and during the hottest days of summer. In these useless and pernicious days of idleness, whilst the Boyars’ chief occupation consists in seeking the means of killing time out of their homes, the lowest classes spend it with their earnings at the brandy-shops, where prostitutes are kept for the purpose of attracting a greater number of customers, and of propagating with vice the most horrible of all the diseases with which human nature is afflicted.
The number of this disgraceful class of females is so great at Bukorest, that the late Aga, or police director, suggested to the prince the plan of levying a capitation tax on each, whereby he would create a new revenue of some hundred thousand piasters. This plan, contrary to expectation, was not put into effect, though it was not likely to meet with obstacles.
The manners of society among the Wallachian Boyars are not remarkable for refinement. The general topics of social conversation are of the most trivial nature, and subjects of an indecent kind frequently take the place of more becoming discourse; they are seldom discouraged by scruples of any ladies present.
In the habitual state of inaction, brought on by a natural aversion to every serious occupation which does not immediately relate to personal interest, both sexes, enjoying the most extensive freedom of intercourse with each other, are easily led to clandestine connexion; the matrimonial faith has become merely nominal.
Various other customs contribute to the domestic disorders prevailing in a great number of private families. Parents never marry their daughters, to whatever class they may belong, without allowing them dowries beyond the proportion of their own means, and to the great detriment of their male children, who, finding themselves unprovided for, look upon marriage as the means of securing a fortune, and consequently regard it as a mere matter of pecuniary speculation. Feelings of affection or sentiments of esteem are therefore out of the question in the pursuit of matrimonial engagements, and money remains the only object in view.
When a girl has reached the age of thirteen or fourteen, her parents become anxious to procure a husband for her. They do not wait for proposals, but make the first offers, sometimes to three or four men at a time, stating with them the amount and nature of the dowry they are disposed to give. They enter into a regular negotiation when a greater amount is required, and finally settle with him who remains satisfied with the most reasonable terms. The inclinations of their daughter are never consulted on the occasion, and too great a disparity of age, or other personal defects on the part of the future husband, never appear to them objectionable. The girl is sometimes perfectly unacquainted with the man of her parents’ choice; and, at her tender age, unable to form any judgment on the state of matrimony, she submits to their will with indifference. Not long after the nuptials, she is left perfect mistress of her actions, her domestic affairs are entirely put into the hands of the servants, and she never interferes with them. Neglected by her husband, and at full liberty to dispose of her time as she thinks proper, she forms connexions of intimacy with women more experienced in the world than herself. The attractions of pleasure and society become too strong to be resisted, and the example of others, with the numerous temptations that surround her, prove, sooner or later, fatal to her virtue. To the harmony which may have subsisted between her and her husband, succeeds disgust; quarrels soon follow, and blows sometimes are not spared on her. Her condition becomes at last intolerable, she quits her husband’s house, sues for a divorce, and generally obtains it, however frivolous the plea in the true sense of the law. Her fortune is given back to her, and enables her to live single, or to attract another husband, if she feels again an inclination to matrimony. She is now allowed her own choice of one; but, once accustomed to the agreeable paths of diversity, she seldom remains more faithful to the second than she had been to the first.