distinct terms, that women cannot in general be witnesses,
citing the language of Virgil: 'Varium et mutabile semper
femina'....

"Bruneau, although a contemporary of Madame de Sevigne, did
not scruple to write, in 1686, that the deposition of three
women was only equal to that of two men. At Berne, so late
as 1821, in the Canton of Vaud, so late as 1824, the
testimony of two women was required to counterbalance that of
one man.... A virgin was entitled to greater credit than a
widow.... In the `Canonical Institutions of Devotus,'
published at Paris in 1852, it is distinctly stated that,
except in a few peculiar instances, women are not competent
witnesses in criminal cases. In Scotland also, until the
beginning of the eighteenth century, sex was a cause of
exclusion from the witness-box in the great majority of
instances."

Cockburn in his Memoirs tells of an incident during the trial
of Glengarry, in Scotland, for murder in a duel, which is,
perhaps, explicable by this extraordinary attitude: A lady
of great beauty was called as a witness and came into
court heavily veiled. Before administering the oath, Lord
Eskgrove, the judge (to whom this function belongs in
Scotland), gave her this exposition of her duty:

"Young woman, you will now consider yourself as in the
presence of Almighty God and of this High Court. Lift up
your veil, throw off all your modesty, and look me in the
face."