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knowing the Cuſtoms of the Country, that a Wife in Portugal if ſhe brought never a Farthing, has Power to diſpoſe of half her Huſband's Eſtate by Will; whereas a Woman by our Laws alienates all her own Property ſo entirely by Marriage, that if ſhe brought an hundred thouſand Pounds in Money, ſhe cannot bequeath one ſingle Penny, even if ſhe left her own neareſt and deareſt Relations ſtarving for Want.
As there may be ſome Objections to theſe Repreſentations, I come now to conſider and anſwer the moſt material that I can at Preſent ſoreſee.
Obj. I. As to Mrs. Lewis's Caſe, there might greater Inconveniencies ariſe from the Validity of ſuch Wills, than from their Non-Validity. Suppoſe Mrs. Lewis having no Child by her firſt Huſband, had bequeathed her Fortune to a Stranger, and afterwards by her ſecond Huſband had had Children, would it not have been hard to have had the Will ſtand againſt theſe Children? However this is a Caſe that may not happen twice in an Age.
My Deſign in theſe Repreſentations, is to ſhew the Scope and Tendency of the Engliſh Laws in Relation to Wives, and that they ſink us lower than Captivity itſelf,
