Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/168

144&#93; [ 144 ] B. B AC BAC BACHELOR, a word of doubt- ful origin ; though, in the political economy of nations, when a plu- rality of persons apparently glory in that appellation, its practice can- riot fail to be attended with effects detrimental to the State, and fre- quently disgraceful to the individual. We do not, however, include in this description, the Bachelors of Arts, those in the Livery Compa- nies, nor even die ancient Knight- Bachelors of Englan&> whose title did not descend to posterity ; but -we more particularly allude to those unmarried men, who pretend to live in a state of stoic celibacy, and are, for the most part, generally, either avaricious misers, or unprin- cipled spendthrifts. That diere are many exceptions to this odious cha- racter, cannot be denied ; yet, in a maritime country, where a great proportion of active men devote themselves to a seafaring life, there ought to be public, disgrace attached to those, who cannot assign the most substantial reasons for their choice of celibacy. Even the ancient Greeks were so fully persuaded of the pernicious influence of professed bachelors, on the population and morals of their countrymen, that, by the laws of Ly c u r g u s, they were branded with infamy, excluded from all of- fices civil and military, as well as from national games and public spectacles. Farther, such persons were compelled to appear at certain festivals, where they were exposed to public derision, and led round the market-place: in this degraded situation, the fair sex conducted ■ them to the altars, and obliged them to make amende honoralla, by submitting to blows and lashes, at discretion. The women, not sa- tisfied with this specimen of passive obedience, forced them to sing cer- tain songs teeming with satire, and deprecating a state of life which Nature had never designed. The Roman laws, also, were not more favourable to their toleration ; and the vigilant censors frequently imposed arbitrary fines on old ba- chelors. According toDioNYSius, the historian, there existed in Rome an ancient edict, by which all per- sons of full age were obliged to marry. But the most remarkable law enacted against them, was that made in the reign of the Emperor Augustus, by which they were' rendered incapable of enjoying the benefit either of legacies or inherit- ance by will, unless from their near relations. This limitation, Plutarch justlyobserves, induced many bachelors to marry ; not so much with the view of having heirs to their own estates, as to qualify themselves to inherit those of others. Thus it clearly appears tiiat, front the early ages, the most civilized nations expressed a just abhorrence of a life which is more calculated to promote die narrow grovelling views of the individual, who pre- fers it to the most sacred and ho- nourable station in society, than to benefit tiiat circle ot the commu- nity, of which he is frequently a consuming, and wortiiless mem- ber. From a conviction, that the plu- rality of bachelors are not condu- cive to the welfare and interest of the State, the British Legislature has already