The History of Miss Betsy ThoughtlessHaywood, Eliza Fowler
General
The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless
Haywood, Eliza Fowler
Abused wives -- Fiction; Bildungsromans; Didactic fiction; England -- Fiction; Married women -- Fiction
Miss Flora, who had till now seemed as eager as herself, cried all at
once, that her head ached, and that she did not care for stirring out.
Miss Betsy, who would fain have laughed her out of it, told her, she had
only got the vapours; that the parson would cure her; and such like
things: but the other was not to be prevailed upon by all Miss Betsy, or
even Lady Mellasin herself, could say; and answered, with some
sullenness, that positively she would not go. Miss Betsy was highly
ruffled at this sudden turn of her temper, as it was now too late to
send for any other young lady of her acquaintance to go with her;
resolving, nevertheless, not to baulk her humour, she ordered a chair to
be called, and went alone.
Neither the young parson's manner of preaching, nor the text he chose,
being in any way material to this history, I shall therefore pass over
the time of divine service; and only say, that after it was ended Miss
Betsy passing towards the west gate, and stopping to look on the fine
tomb, erected to the memory of Mr. Secretary Craggs, was accosted by Mr.
Bloomacre, a young gentleman who sometimes visited Lady Mellasin, and
lived at Westminster, in which place he had a large estate.
He had with him, when he came up to her, two gentlemen of his
acquaintance, but who were entire strangers to Miss Betsy: 'What,' said
he, 'the celebrated Miss Betsy Thoughtless! Miss Betsy Thoughtless! the
idol of mankind! alone, unattended by any of her train of admirers, and
contemplating these mementos of mortality!'--'To compliment my
understanding,' replied she, gaily, 'you should rather have told me I
was contemplating the mementos of great actions.'--'You are at the wrong
end of the cathedral for that, Madam,' resumed he; 'and I don't remember
to have heard anything extraordinary of the life of this great man,
whose effigy makes so fine a figure here, except the favours he received
from the ladies.'
'It were too much, then, to bestow them on him both alive and dead,'
cried she; 'therefore we will pass on to some other.'
Mr. Bloomacre had a great deal of wit and vivacity; nor were his two
companions deficient in either of these qualities: so that, between the
three, Miss Betsy was very agreeably entertained. They went round from
tomb to tomb; and the real characters, as well as epitaphs, some of
which are flattering enough, afforded a variety of observations. In
fine, the conversation was so pleasing to Miss Betsy, that she never
thought of going home till it grew too dark to examine either the
sculpture, or the inscriptions; so insensibly does time glide on, when
accompanied with satisfaction.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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