“If this be thought an exaggerated portrait, drawn with the inaccuracy of hasty observation and coloured by prejudice, the same cannot be said with regard to the pen of Fielding, who, in “Tom Jones,” reflects popular opinion and represents the standard of the day. A young fellow, named Nightingale, who has betrayed his landlady’s daughter, is thus addressed by his uncle:-- “Honour is a creature of the world’s making, and the world has the power of a creator over it, and may govern and direct it as they please. Now, you well know how trivial these breaches of contract are thought: even the grossest make but the wonder and conversation of the day. Is there a man who afterwards will be more backward in giving you his sister or daughter, or is there any sister or daughter who would be more backward to receive you? Honour is not concerned in these engagements.” It will be remembered how “Squire Western,” when he heard that “Tom Jones” had betrayed a village girl, laughed at the episode as a good joke, and called upon his daughter to bear him out that women would think no worse of a young fellow for that. As for “Sophia” herself, it proved no serious check on her passion. And yet England was said to be the country where offences against women were punished with the greatest severity, and where, if a man wished to find an unlawful partner, he must search among those whose poverty made them ready victims to temptation. It cannot be doubted that women of the middle classes were accustomed to expect a lower standard of morality among men than at the present day. The novels of the last century show that what are now deemed as grave offences were then considered mere peccadilloes. Drinking and swearing were foibles too common to excite notice, and breaches of the moral code were easily condoned. The women were not so prone themselves as might have been thought to the sins which they tolerated, but they were brought up in the belief that a larger licence should be allowed to men. The same tendency is apparent now in circles where the women take little or no share in the occupations of their husbands and brothers, and where the interests are totally different. The women, who are the most ready to be lenient where they should be severe, set up different standards of morality for the sexes, and draw a dividing-line between masculine and feminine virtues and vices. What greatly impressed Frenchmen was the seriousness of English wives, and their sober, chaste lives. “Au milieu des débordemens, souvent poussés à l’excès, dans cette grande ville, il est bien rare de voir la corruption attaquer une femme mariée, et chercher à lui faire partager ses infames plaisirs. Elle trouve un rempart insurmontable dans son amour pour sa famille, les soins de son ménage, et sa gravité naturelle. Je soutiens même qu’il n’y a pas de ville dans le monde où l’honneur des maris soit moins en danger qu’à Londres.”