prostitutes. What are they but the women, who, under the institution
of monogamy have come off worse? Theirs is a dreadful fate: they are
human sacrifices offered up on the altar of monogamy. The women whose
wretched position is here described are the inevitable set-off to the
European lady with her arrogance and pretension. Polygamy is therefore
a real benefit to the female sex if it is taken as a whole. And, from
another point of view, there is no true reason why a man whose wife
suffers from chronic illness, or remains barren, or has gradually
become too old for him, should not take a second. The motives which
induce so many people to become converts to Mormonism[1] appear to
be just those which militate against the unnatural institution of
monogamy.

[Footnote 1: _Translator's Note_.--The Mormons have recently given up
polygamy, and received the American franchise in its stead.]

Moreover, the bestowal of unnatural rights upon women has imposed upon
them unnatural duties, and, nevertheless, a breach of these duties
makes them unhappy. Let me explain. A man may often think that his
social or financial position will suffer if he marries, unless he
makes some brilliant alliance. His desire will then be to win a woman
of his own choice under conditions other than those of marriage, such
as will secure her position and that of the children. However fair,
reasonable, fit and proper these conditions may be, and the woman
consents by foregoing that undue amount of privilege which marriage
alone can bestow, she to some extent loses her honor, because marriage
is the basis of civic society; and she will lead an unhappy life,
since human nature is so constituted that we pay an attention to the
opinion of other people which is out of all proportion to its value.
On the other hand, if she does not consent, she runs the risk either