That as my sister-in-law at Colchester had said, beauty, wit, manners,
sense, good humour, good behaviour, education, virtue, piety, or any
other qualification, whether of body or mind, had no power to
recommend; that money only made a woman agreeable; that men chose
mistresses indeed by the gust of their affection, and it was requisite
to a whore to be handsome, well-shaped, have a good mien and a graceful
behaviour; but that for a wife, no deformity would shock the fancy, no
ill qualities the judgment; the money was the thing; the portion was
neither crooked nor monstrous, but the money was always agreeable,
whatever the wife was.
On the other hand, as the market ran very unhappily on the men's side,
I found the women had lost the privilege of saying No; that it was a
favour now for a woman to have the Question asked, and if any young
lady had so much arrogance as to counterfeit a negative, she never had
the opportunity given her of denying twice, much less of recovering
that false step, and accepting what she had but seemed to decline. The
men had such choice everywhere, that the case of the women was very
unhappy; for they seemed to ply at every door, and if the man was by
great chance refused at one house, he was sure to be received at the
next.
Besides this, I observed that the men made no scruple to set themselves
out, and to go a-fortunehunting, as they call it, when they had really
no fortune themselves to demand it, or merit to deserve it; and that
they carried it so high, that a woman was scarce allowed to inquire
after the character or estate of the person that pretended to her.
This I had an example of, in a young lady in the next house to me, and
with whom I had contracted an intimacy; she was courted by a young
captain, and though she had near #2000 to her fortune, she did but
inquire of some of his neighbours about his character, his morals, or
substance, and he took occasion at the next visit to let her know,
truly, that he took it very ill, and that he should not give her the
trouble of his visits any more. I heard of it, and I had begun my
acquaintance with her, I went to see her upon it. She entered into a
close conversation with me about it, and unbosomed herself very freely.
I perceived presently that though she thought herself very ill used,
yet she had no power to resent it, and was exceedingly piqued that she
had lost him, and particularly that another of less fortune had gained
him.