one day be thought worthy the
consideration of our king, lords, and commons.

Women servants are now so scarce, that from thirty and forty shillings a
year, their wages are increased of late to six, seven, nay, eight pounds
per annum, and upwards; insomuch that an ordinary tradesman cannot well
keep one; but his wife, who might be useful in his shop or business, must
do the drudgery of household affairs; and all this because our servant-
wenches are so puffed up with pride nowadays, that they never think they
go fine enough: it is a hard matter to know the mistress from the maid by
their dress; nay, very often the maid shall be much the finer of the two.
Our woollen manufacture suffers much by this, for nothing but silks and
satins will go down with our kitchen-wenches; to support which
intolerable pride, they have insensibly raised their wages to such a
height as was never known in any age or nation but this.

Let us trace this from the beginning, and suppose a person has a servant-
maid sent him out of the country, at fifty shillings, or three pounds a
year. The girl has scarce been a week, nay, a day in her service, but a
committee of servant-wenches are appointed to examine her, who advise her
to raise her wages, or give warning; to encourage her to which, the herb-
woman, or chandler-woman, or some other old intelligencer, provides her a
place of four or five pounds a year; this sets madam cock-a-hoop, and she
thinks of nothing now but vails and high wages, and so gives warning from
place to place, till she has got her wages up to the tip-top.

Her neat's leathern shoes are now transformed into laced ones with high
heels; her yarn stockings are turned into fine woollen ones, with silk
clocks; and her high wooden pattens are kicked away for leathern clogs;
she must have a hoop too, as well as her mistress; and her poor scanty
linsey-woolsey petticoat is changed into a good silk one, for four or
five yards wide at the least. Not to carry the description farther, in
short, plain country Joan is now turned into a fine London madam, can
drink tea, take snuff, and carry herself as high as the best.

If she be tolerably handsome, and has any share of cunning, the
apprentice or her master's son is enticed away and ruined by her. Thus
many good families are impoverished and disgraced by these pert sluts,
who, taking the advantage of a young man's simplicity and unruly desires,
draw many heedless youths, nay, some of g