about 1754, Melhem, wearied with the cares of government, abdicated his authority, to live in religious retirement, after the manner of the Okkals; but the troubles that succeeded occasioned him once more to resume the reins of government, which he held till 1759, when he died, universally regretted. He left three sons, minors: the eldest of whom ought to have succeeded him :" but, being only eleven years of age, the authority devolved on his uncle Mansour, agreeably to a law very general in Asia, that the people shall be governed by a sovereign who has arrived at the years of maturity. The young prince was but little fitted to maintain his pretensions; but a Maronite, named Sad-el-Kouri, to whom Melhem had entrusted his education, took this upon himself. Aspiring to see his pupil a powerful prince, that he might himself become a powerful vizier, he made every exertion to advance his fortune. He first retired with him to Djebail, in the Kesraouan, where the emir Yousef possessed large dominions, and there undertook to conciliate the Maronites, by embracing every opportunity to serve both individuals and the nation. The great revenues of his pupil, and the moderation of his expenditure, amply furnished him with the means. The farm of the Kesraouan was divided between several sheiks, with whom the Porte was not very well satisfied. Sad treated for the whole with the pacha of Tripoli, and got himself appointed sole receiver. The Motoualis of the valley of Balbec had for some years before made several encroachments on Lebanon, and the Maronites began to be alarmed at the near approach of these intolerant Mahommedans. Sad purchased of the pacha of Damascus a permission to make war upon them; and in 1763 drove them out of the country. The Druses were at that time divided into two factions; Sad united his interest with those who opposed Mansour, and secretly prepared the plot which was to raise the nephew, by the ruin of the uncle. At this period the Arab Daher, who had made himself master of Galilee, and fixed his residence at Acre, disquieted the Porte by his progress and pretensions: to oppose him, the divan had just united the pachalics of Damascus, Saide, and Tripoli, in the hands of Osman and his children; and it was evident that an open war was not very remote. Mansour, who dreaded the Turks too much to resist them, made use of the policy usual on such occasions, pretending a zeal for their service, while he secretly favored the enemy. This was a sufficient motive for Sad to pursue measures directly opposite. He supported the Turks against the faction of Mansour, and manoeuvred with so much address, as to depose that emir in 1770, and place Yousef in his government. In 1771 Ali Bey declared war, and attacked Damascus. Yousef, called on by the Turks, took part in the quarrel, but without being able to draw the Druses from their mountains, to enter into the army of the Ottomans. Besides their natural repugnance, at all times, to make war out of their country, they were on this occasion too much divided at home to quit their habitations, and they had reason to congratulate themselves on the event. VOL. VII.

The battle of Damascus ensued; and the Turks were completely routed. The pacha of Saide escaping from this defeat, and not thinking himself safe in that town, sought an asylum even in the house of Yousef. The moment was unfavorable: but the face of affairs soon changed by the flight of Mohammed Bey. The emir, concluding that Ali Bey was dead, and not imagining that Daher was powerful enough singly to maintain the quarrel, declared openly against him. Saide was threatened with a siege, and he detached 1500 men of his faction to its defence; while himself in person, prevailing on the Druses and Maronites to follow him, made an incursion with 25,000 peasants into the valley of Bekaa; and in the absence of the Motoualis, who had joined the army of Daher, laid the whole country waste with fire and sword from Balbec to Tyre. While the Druses, proud of this exploit, were marching in disorder towards the latter city, 500 Motoualis, informed of what had happened, flew from Acre inflamed with rage and despair, and fell with such impetuosity on their army as to give them a complete overthrow. Such was the surprise and confusion of the Druses, that, imagining themselves attacked by Daher himself and betrayed by their companions, they turned their swords on each other as they fled. The steep declivities of Djezin, and the pine woods which were in the route of the fugitives, were strewed with dead, few of whom perished by the hands of the Motoualis. The emir Yousef, ashamed of this defeat, escaped to Dair el Kamer, and shortly after attempted to take revenge; but, being again defeated in the plain between Saide and Sour (Tyre), he was constrained to resign to his uncle Manscur the ring, which, among the Druses, is the symbol of command. In 1773 he was restored by a new revolution; but he could not support his power but at the expense of a civil war. In order, therefore, to prevent Bairout from falling into the hands of the adverse faction, he requested the assistance of the Turks, and demanded of the pacha of Damascus a man of sufficient abilities to defend that city. The choice fell on Ahmad, an adventurer, who, from his subsequent fortune, merits particular notice. This man was a native of Bosnia, and spoke the Sclavonian as his mother tongue. It is said, that flying from his country at the age of sixteen, to escape the consequences of an attempt to violate his sister in law, he repaired to Constantinople, where, destitute of the means of procuring a subsistence he sold himself to the slave-merchants to be conveyed to Egypt; and, on his arrival at Cairo, was purchased by Ali Bey, who placed him among his Mamelukes. Ahmad was not long in distinguishing himself by his courage and address. His patron employed him on several occasions in dangerous coups de main, such as the assassination of such beys and cachefs as he suspected; of which commissions he acquitted himself so well, as to acquire the name of Djezzar. With this claim to his friendship, he enjoyed the favor of Ali, until he was disturbed by an accident. The jealous Bey, having proscribed one of his benefactors called Saleh Bey, commanded Ahmad Djezzar to cut off his head. 2 L

Either from humanity or some secret friendship for the devoted victim, Djezzar hesitated, and even remonstrated against the order. But learning the next day that Mohammed Bey had executed the commission, and that Ali had spoken of him not very favorably, he thought himself a lost man, and, to avoid the fate of Saleh, escaped unobserved, and reached Constantinople. He there solicited employments suited to his former rank; but meeting, as is usual in capitals, with a great number of rivals, he pursued another plan, and went to seek his fortune in Syria as a private soldier. Chance conducted him among the Druses, where, being hospitably entertained in the house of the kiaya of the emir Yousef, he repaired to Damascus, and obtained the title of Aga, with the command of five pair of colors, that is to say of fifty men. He was thus situated when fortune destined him to the government of Bairout. Djezzar was no sooner establisked there, than he took possession of it for the Turks. Yousef was confounded at this proceeding. He demanded justice at Damascus; but finding his complaints treated with contempt, entered into a treaty with Daher, and concluded an offensive and defensive alliance with him at Rafaen, near Sour. No sooner was Daher united with the Druses, than he laid siege to Bairout by land, whilst two Russian frigates, whose service was purchased by 600 purses, cannonaded it by sea. Djezzar was compelled to submit to force, and, after a vigorous resistance, gave up the city and surrendered himself prisoner. Sheik Daher, charmed with r's courage, and flattered with the preference he had given him in the surrender, conducted him to Acre, and showed him every mark of kindness. He even ventured to trust him with a small expedition into Palestine; but Djezzar, on approaching Jerusalem, went over to the Turks, and returned to Damascus. The war of Mohammed Bey breaking out, Djezzar offered his service to the captain Pacha, and gained his confidence. He accompanied him to the siege of Acre; and that admiral, having destroyed Daher, and finding no person more proper than Djezzar to accomplish the designs of the Porte in that country, named him pacha of Saide. Being now, in consequence of this revolution, superior lord to the emir Yousef, Djezzar was mindful of his past injuries, and, by a conduct truly Turkish, feigning alternately gratitude and resentment, he extorted from the emir, within the space of five years, 4,000,000 of French money (above £160,000), a sum the more astonishing as the farm of the country of the Druses did not then amount to 100,000 livres, £4000. In 1784 he made war on him, deposed him, and bestowed the government on the emir of the country of Hasbeya, named Ismael. Yousef, having once more purchased his favor, returned, towards the end of the same year, to Dair-el-Kamar, and even courted his confidence so far as to wait on him at Acre, from whence nobody expected him to return; but Djezzar was too wise to shed blood while there were any hopes of obtaining money: he released the prince, and sent him back with every mark of friendship. The present emir bashir is a descendant of Yousef. He pays 130 purses annually to the pacha of Tripoli, and 400 to the

pacha of Saide; and, perhaps, 300 purses more in the way of extraordinary demands, or about £20,750 altogether. He has also to purchase, annually, the friendship of the pacha of Akri, or Acre. This revenue is derived from the whole country situated between Bilad Accar, the north declivity of Mount Libanus, and the immediate neighbourhood of Akri. The internal animosities of the Druses have continued from the middle of the last century: in 1799 or 1800 some of the chiefs of one faction were put to death in the palace of the emir: and the most powerful chief in the country in 1812, was, according to Burckhardt, El-sheikh Beshir, of the Jonbelat tribe: he has a clear income of about £50,000 a year, while that of the emir, his nominal superior, is not above £10,000.

Neither the chief nor the individual emirs maintain troops; they have only persons attached to the domestic service of their houses, and a few black slaves. When the nation makes war, every man, whether sheik or peasant, able to bear arms, is called upon to march. He takes with him a bag of flour, a musket, some bullets, and a small quantity of powder, made in his village, and repairs to the rendezvous appointed by the governor. If it be a civil war, as sometimes happens, the servants, the farmers, and their friends, take up arms for their patron, or the chief of their family, and repair to his standard. In such cases, the parties irritated frequently seem on the point of proceeding to the last extremities; but they seldom have recourse to acts of violence, or attempt the death of each other; mediators always interpose, and the quarrel is appeased the more readily, as each patron is obliged to provide his followers with provisions and ammunition. This system, which produces happy effects in civil troubles, is attended with great inconvenience in foreign wars, as sufficiently appeared in that of 1784. Djezzar, who knew that the whole army lived at the expense of the emir Yousef, aimed at nothing but delay, and the Druses, who were not displeased at being fed for doing nothing, prolonged the operations; but the emir, wearied with paying, concluded a treaty, the terms of which were not a little rigorous for himself, and eventually for the whole nation. The ceremonies to which I have been a witness on these occasions,' says M. Volney, bear a striking resemblance to the customs of ancient times. When the emir and the sheiks had determined on war at Daer-el-Kamar, criers in the evening ascended the summits of the mountain, and there began to cry with a loud voice: To war, to war; take your guns, take your pistols: noble sheiks, mount your horses; arm yourselves with the lance and sabre; rendezvous to-morrow at Daer-el-Kamar. Zeal of God! zeal of combats!' This summons, heard from the neighbouring villages, was repeated there; and, as the whole country is nothing but a chain of lofty mountains and deep valleys, the proclamation passed in a few hours to the frontiers. These voices, from the stillness of the night, the long resounding echoes, and the nature of the subject, had something awful and terrible in their effect. Three days after, 15,000 armed men rendezvoused at Daer-cl-Kamar and opera

tions might have been immediately commenced. We inay easily imagine that troops of this kind no way resemble our European soldiers; they had neither uniforms, discipline, nor order. They are a crowd of peasants with short coats, naked legs, and muskets in their hands; differing from the Turks and Mamelukes in that they are all foot; the sheiks and emirs alone have horses, which are of little use from the rugged nature of the country. War there can only be a war of posts. The Druses never risk themselves in the plain, and with reason; for they would be unable to stand the shock of cavalry, having no bayonets to their muskets. Their whole art consists in climbing rocks, creeping among the bushes and blocks of stone; from whence their fire is the more dangerous, as they are covered, fire at their ease, and, by hunting and military sports, have acquired the habit of hitting a mark with great dexterity. They are accustomed to sudden in roads, attacks by night, ambuscades, and all those coups de main which require to fall sud denly on, and come to close fight with the enemy. Ardent in improving their success, easily dispirited, and prompt to resume their courage; daring even to temerity, and sometimes ferocious, they possess above all two qualities essential to the excellency of any troops; they strictly obey their leaders, and are endowed with a temperance and vigor of health, at this day unknown to most civilised nations. In the campaign of 1784 they passed three months in the open air without tents, or any other covering than a sheep-skin; yet there were not more deaths or maladies than if they had remained in their houses. Their provisions consisted, as at other times, of stall loaves baked on the ashes or on a brick, raw onions, cheese, olives, fruits, and a little wine. The table of the chiefs was almost as frugal; and we may affirm, that they subsisted 100 days, on what the same number of Englishmen or Frenchmen would not have lived ten. They have no knowledge of the science of fortification, the management of artillery or encampments, nor, in a word, any thing which constitutes the art of war. But had they among them a few persons versed in military science, they would readily acquire its principles, and become a formidable soldiery. This would be the more easily effected, as their mulberry plantations and vineyards do not occupy them all the year, and they could afford much time for military exercises.'

The Druses are considered, throughout the Levant, as restless, enterprising, hardy, and brave even to temerity. Only 500 of them have been seen to enter Damascus in open day, and spread around them terror and carnage. No people are more nice than they, with respect to the point of honor any offence of that kind, or open insult, is instantly punished by blows of the kandjur or the musket; while, among the inhabitants of the towns, it only excites injurious retorts. This delicacy has occasioned in their manners and discourse a reserve, or, if you will, a politeness, which one is astonished to discover among pea

sants.

It is carried even to dissimulation and falsehood, especially among the chiefs, whose greater interests demand greater attentions. Circumspection is necessary to all, says M. Volney,

from the formidable consequences of that retaliation of which I have spoken. These customs may appear barbarous to us; but they have the merit of supplying the deficiency of regular justice, which is necessarily tedious and uncertain in these disorderly and almost anarchical governments. The Druses have another point of honor, that of hospitality. Whoever presents himself at their door, in the quality of a suppliant or passenger, is sure of being entertained and lodged in the most generous and unaffected manner. M. Volney often saw the lowest peasants give the last morsel of bread they had in their houses, to the hungry traveller; and when it was observed to them that they wanted prudence, their answer was, 'God is liberal and great, and all men are brethren.' There are, therefore, no inns in their country any more than in the rest of Turkey. When they have once contracted with their guest the sacred engagement of bread and salt, no subsequent event can make them violate it. Various instances of this are related, which do honor to their character. A few years ago, an aga of the janissaries having been engaged in a rebellion, fled from Damascus and retired among the Druses. The pacha was informed of this, and demanded him of the emir, threatening to make war on him in case of refusal. The emir demanded him of the sheik Talhouk, who had received him; but the indignant sheik replied, When have you known the Druses deliver up their guests? Tell the emir, that as long as Talhouk shall preserve his beard, not a hair of the head of his suppliant shall fall!' The emir threatened him with force; Talhouk armed his family. The emir, dreading a revolt, adopted a method practised as juridical in that country. He declared to the sheik, that he would cut down fifty mulberry-trees a-day until he should give up the aga. He proceeded as far as a thousand, and Talhouk still remained inflexible. At length the other sheiks, enraged, took up the quarrel; and the commotion was about to become general, when the aga reproaching himself with being the cause of so much mischief, made his escape without the knowledge even of Talhouk. The Druses have also the prejudices of the Bedouins respecting birth; like them, they pay great respect to the antiquity of families; but this produces no essential inconveniences. The nobility of the emirs and sheiks does not exempt them from paying tribute in proportion to their revenues. It confers on them no prerogatives, either in the attainment of landed property or public employments. Every man, after paying his miri and his rent, is master of his property. In short, by a particular privilege, the Druses pay no fine for their succession: nor does the emir, like the sultan, arrogate to himself original and universal property: there exists nevertheless, in the law of inheritance, an imperfection which produces disagreeable effects. Fathers have, as in the Roman law, the power of preferring such of their children as they think proper: hence it has happened in several families of the sheiks, that the whole property has centered in the same person, who has perverted it to the purpose of intriguing and caballing, while his relations remain, as they well express

it, 'princes of olives and cheese;' that is to say, poor as peasants. In consequence of their prejudices, the Druses do not choose to make alliances out of their own families. They invariably prefer their relation, though poor, to a rich stranger; and poor peasants have been known to refuse their daughters to merchants of Saide and Bairout, who possessed from 12,000 to 15,000 piastres. They observe also, to a certain degree, the custom of the Hebrews, which directed that a brother should espouse his brother's widow; but this is not peculiar to them, for they retain that as well as several other customs of that ancient people, in common with other inhabitants of Syria and all the Arab tribes. In short, the proper and distinctive character of the Druses, is a sort of republican spirit, which gives them more energy than any other subjects of the Turkish government, and an indifference for religion, which forms a striking contrast with the zeal of the Mahommedans and Christians. They are further said to be remarkably domestic and intelligent. In the evening they sometimes assemble in the court, the area, or house of the chief of the village or family. There, seated in a circle, with legs crossed, pipes in their mouths, and poniards at their belts, they discourse of their various labors, the scarcity or plenty of their harvests, peace or war, the conduct of the emir, or the amount of the taxes; they relate past transactions, discuss present interests, and form conjectures on the future. Their children, tired with play, come fquently to listen; and a stranger is surprised to hear them, at ten or twelves years old, recounting, with a serious air, why Djezzar declared war against the emir Yousef, how many purses it cost that prince, what augmentation there will be of the miri, how many muskets there were in the camp, and who had the best mare. This is their only education. They are neither taught to read the psalms, as among the Maronites, nor the Koran like the Mahommedans; hardly do the sheiks know how to write a letter. But if their minds be destitute of useful or agreeable information, at least it is not pre-occupied by false and hurtful ideas; and, without doubt, such natural ignorance is well worth all our artificial folly. This advantage results from it, that their understandings being nearly on a level, the inequality of conditions is less perceptible. For, in fact, we do not perceive among the Druses that great distance, which, in most other societies, degrades the inferior, without contributing to the advantages of the great. All, whether sheiks or peasants, treat each other with that rational familiarity, which is equally remote from rudeness and servility. The grand emir himself is not a different man from the rest: he is a good country gentleman, who does not disdain admitting to his table the meanest farmer. In a word, their manners are those of ancient times, and of that rustic life which marks the origin of every nation; and prove that the people among whom they are still found are yet only in the infancy of the social state. Volney's Travels.

The opinions of Mohammed ben Ismael may be regarded as the substance of the religion of

the Druses. They practise neither circumcision, nor prayers, nor fasting; they observe neither festivals nor prohibitions. They drink wine, ea pork, and allow marriage between brothers and sisters, though not between fathers and children From this we may conclude, that the Drusei have properly no religion; but one class of them must be excepted, whose religious customs are very peculiar. Those who compose it are to the rest of the nation what the initiated were to the profane; they assume the name of Okkals, which means spiritualists, and bestow on the vulgar the epithet of Djahel or ignorant; they have various degrees of initiation, the highest orders of which require celibacy. These are distinguished by the white turban they affect to wear, as a symbol of their purity; and so proud are they of this supposed purity, that they think themselves sullied by even touching a profane person. If such eat out of their plate, or drink out of their cup, they break them; and hence the custom, so general in this country, of using vases with a sort of cock, which may be drunk out of without touching them with the lips. All their practices are enveloped in mysteries: their oratories always stand alone, and are constantly situated on eminences: in these they hold their secret assemblies, to which women are admitted. It is pretended they perform ceremonies there, in presence of a small statue resembling an ox or calf; whence some have attempted to prove that they are descended from the Samaritans. But, besides, that the fact is not well ascertained, the worship of the ox may be deduced from other sources. They have one or two books which they conceal with the greatest care: but chance has deceived their jealousy; for in a civil war, which happened about twenty-eight years ago, the emir Yousef, who is Djahel or ignorant, found one among the pillage of one of their oratories. M. Volney was assured by persons who had read it, that it contains only a mystic jargon, the obscurity of which doubtless renders it valuable to adepts. Hakem Bamr Ellah is there spoken of, by whom they mean God incarnate in the person of the caliph. It likewise treats of another life, of a place of punishment, and a place of happiness, where the Okkals shall of course be most distinguished. Several degrees of perfection are mentioned, to which they arrive by successive trials. In other respects these sectaries have all the insolence and all the fears of superstition; they are not communicative, because they are weak; but it is probable that, were they powerful, they would be promulgators and intolerant. The rest of the Druses, strangers to this spirit, are wholly indifferent about religious matters. The Christians, who live in their country, pretend that several of them believe in the metempsychosis; that others worship the sun, moon, and stars: all which is possible; for, as among the Ansarians, every one, left to his own fancy, follows the opinion that pleases him most; and these opinions are those which present themselves most naturally to unenlightened minds. When among the Turks, they affect the exterior of Mahommedans, frequent the mosques, and perform their ablutions and prayers. Among the Maronites, they ac

company then to church, and, like them, make use of holy water. Many of them, importuned by the missionaries, suffer themselves to be baptised; and if solicited by the Turks, receive circumcision, and conclude by dying neither Christians nor Mahommedans.

Mr. Burckhardt confirms this general picture of former travellers. Though a sect of the Mahommedans, they mingle so much of the tenets of Zoroaster and the eastern Christian heretics with their religion, that it belongs as whole to themselves only. Niebuhr has printed a catechism of their faith, which is principally remarkable for its affected mysteriousness on the one hand, and its positive injunction to curse its original author (a great poet) on the other. 'We are they,' says their patriarch Hamzah, 'who have been put in possession of the Faith after the religion of Mahomet, the son of Abdullah; may the curse of our Lord be upon him!'

They are a branch, it is clear, of the sect Ismayly. Enquiries,' says Burckhardt, 'have often been made concerning the religious doctrines of this sect, as well as those of the Anzeyrys and Druses. Not only European travellers, and Europeans resident in Syria, but many natives of influence, have endeavoured to penetrate the mysteries of these idolaters, without success, and several causes combine to make it probable, that their doctrines will long remain unknown. The principal reason is, that few individuals among them become acquainted with the most important and secret tenets of their faith, the generality contenting themselves with the observance of some exterior practices, while the arcana are possessed by the select few. It will be asked, perhaps, whether their religious books would not unveil the mystery? It is true that all the different sects possess books, which they regard as sacred, but they are intelligible only to the initiated. A sacred book of the Anzeyrys fell into the hands of a chief of the army of Yousef pacha, who plundered the castles of that sect in 1808; it came afterwards into the possession of my friend Selym of Hamah who had destined it as a present to me; but he was prevailed upon to part with it to a travelling physician, and the book is now in the possession of M. Rousseau, the French Consul at Aleppo, who has had it translated into French, and means to publish it, but it will probably throw little light upon the question. Another difficulty arises from the extreme caution of the Ismaylys upon this subject; whenever they are obliged to visit any part of the country under the Turkish government, they assume the character of Mussulmans; being well aware that if they should be detected in the practice of any rite contrary to the Turkish religion, their hypocrisy, in affecting to follow the latter, would no longer be tolerated; and their being once clearly known to be pagans, which they are only suspected to be at present, would expose them to the heaviest exactions, and might even be followed by their total expulsion or extirpation. Christians and Jews are tolerated because Mahomet and his immediate successors granted them protection, and because the Turks acknowledge Christ and

the prophets; but there is no instance whatever of pagans being tolerated.

The Ismaylys, when they go to Hamah, pray in the mosque, which they never do at Kalaat Maszyad. This castle has been from ancient times their chief seat. One of them asserted that his religion descended from Ismayl, the son of Abraham, and that the Ismaylys had been possessed of the castle since the time of El Melek el Dhaher, as acknowledged by the Firmahns of the Porte. A few years since they were driven out of it by the Anzeyrys, in consequence of a most daring act of treachery. The Anzeyrys and Ismaylys have always been at enmity; the consequence, perhaps, of some religious differences.'

tne true

With respect more particularly to religion of the Druses,' says this intelligent traveller, 'none but a learned Druse can satisfy the enquirer's curiosity. What I have already said of the Anzeyrys is equally applicable to the Druses; their religious opinions will remain for ever a secret, unless revealed by a Druse. Their customs, however, may be described; and, as far as they can tend to elucidate the mystery, the veil may be drawn aside by the researches of the traveller. It seems to be a maxim with them to adopt the religious practices of the country in which they reside, and to profess the creed of the strongest. Hence they all profess Islamism in Syria; and even those who have been baptised, on account of their alliance with the Shehab family, still practise the exterior forms of the Mahommedan faith. There is no truth in the assertion, that the Druses go one day to the mosque, and the next to the church. They all profess Islamism, and whenever they mix with the Mahommedans they perform the rites prescribed by their religion. In private, however, they break the fast of Ramadhan, curse Mahomet, indulge in wine, and eat food forbidden by the Koran. They bear an inveterate hatred to all religions except their own, but more particularly to that of the Franks, chiefly in consequence of a tradition current among them, that the Europeans will one day overthrow their commonwealth. This hatred has been increased since the invasion of the French; and the most unpardonable insult which one Druse can offer to another, is to say to him, May God put a hat on you.'

'Nothing is more sacred with a Druse than his public reputation: he will overlook an insult, if known only to him who has offered it; and will put up with blows, where his interest is concerned, provided nobody is a witness; but the slightest abuse given in public he revenges with the greatest fury. This is the most remarkable feature of the national character: in public a Druse may appear honorable; but he is easily tempted to a contrary behaviour, when he has reason to think that his conduct will remain undiscovered. The ties of blood and friendship have no power amongst them; the son no sooner attains the years of maturity, than he begins to plot against his father. Examples are not wanting of their assailing the chastity of their mothers, and towards their sisters such conduct is so frequent, that a father never allows a full grown son to remain alone with any of the fe