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
Never did any one pass a night with greater inquietudes than this young
lady sustained; and she felt them the more terribly, as she had no
friend to whom pride and shame would suffer her to impart the cause: she
looked back with horror on the precipice she had fallen into, and
considered it as a kind of miracle, that she had recovered from it
unhurt, she could not reflect on what had passed; that by the levity of
her conduct she had been thought a common prostitute, had been treated
as such, and preserved from irrecoverable ruin by the mere mercy of a
man who was a perfect stranger to her; without feeling anew that
confusion which the most shocking moments of her distress inflicted. The
most bitter of her enemies could not have passed censure more severe
than she did on herself; and, in this fit of humiliation and repentance,
would even have asked Mr. Trueworth pardon for the little regard she had
paid to his advice.
The agitations of her mind would not suffer her to take one moment of
repose for the whole night; nor did the morning afford any more
tranquillity: the disturbance of her heart flew up into her head, and
occasioned so violent a pain there, that she was as unable as unwilling
to get out of bed. She lay till some hours after the time in which they
usually breakfasted, nor would take any refreshment, though the tea was
brought to her bedside. Amongst the crowd of tormenting ideas, the
remembrance that she owed all the vexation she laboured under entirely
to the acquaintance she had with Miss Forward, came strong into her
thoughts; and she had not rose the whole day, if not moved to it by the
impatience of venting her spleen on that unfortunate woman; which she
did, in a letter to her, containing these lines.
'To Miss Forward.
I am sorry that the compassion, which your feigned contrition for
one false step obliged me to take in your misfortunes, should make
you imagine I would continue any conversation with you, after
knowing you had abandoned yourself to a course of life, which I
blush to think any of my sex can descend to brook the thoughts of,
much more to be guilty of. If you had retained the least spark of
generosity or good-will towards me, you would rather have avoided
than coveted my company; as you must be sensible, that to be seen
with you must render me in some measure a partaker of your infamy,
though wholly innocent of your crimes. How base, how cruel, is such
behaviour; especially to one, who had a real regard for you, even
after you had confessed yourself unworthy of it! But I have been
often told, and now I find the observation just, that women of your
wretched principles, being lost to all hope of happiness
themselves, take a malicious pleasure in endeavouring to destroy it
in others.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account