The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders

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.