particular for
talking to Women in; and none but those of the very first good
Breeding (who are very few, and who seldom come into my way) can speak
to us without regard to our Sex. Among the generality of those they
call Gentlemen, it is impossible for me to speak upon any subject
whatsoever, without provoking somebody to say, _Oh! to be sure fine
Mrs. such-a-one must be very particularly acquainted with all that;
all the World will contribute to her Entertainment and Information_.
Thus, Sir, I am so handsome, that I murder all who approach me; so
wise, that I want no new Notices; and so well bred, that I am treated
by all that know me like a Fool, for no one will answer as if I were
their Friend or Companion. Pray, Sir, be pleased to take the part of
us Beauties and Fortunes into your Consideration, and do not let us be
thus flattered out of our Senses. I have got an Hussey of a Maid, who
is most craftily given to this ill Quality. I was at first diverted
with a certain Absurdity the Creature was guilty of in every thing she
said: She is a Country Girl, and in the Dialect of the Shire she was
born in, would tell me that every body reckon'd her Lady had the
purest Red and White in the World: Then she would tell me, I was the
most like one _Sisly Dobson_ in their Town, who made the Miller make
away with himself, and walk afterwards in the Corn-Field where they
used to meet. With all this, this cunning Hussey can lay Letters in my
way, and put a Billet in my Gloves, and then stand in it she knows
nothing of it. I do not know, from my Birth to this Day, that I have
been ever treated by any one as I ought; and if it were not for a few
Books which I delight in, I should be at this Hour a Novice to all
common Sense. Would it not be worth your while to lay down Rules for
Behaviour in this Case, and tell People, that we Fair-ones expect
honest plain Answers as well as other People? Why must I, good Sir,
because I have a good Air, a fine Complexion, and am in the Bloom of
my Years, be mis-led in all my Actions? and have the Notions of Good
and Ill confounded in my Mind, for no other Offence, but because I
have the Advantages of Beauty and Fortune? Indeed, Sir, what with the
silly Homage which is paid to us by the sort of People I have above
spoken of, and the utter Negligence which others have for us, the
Conversation of us young Women of Condition is no other