| Citation |
NYEP(D.752.037
9 Oct 1752:11,12 (286)
Of Slander. From an ingenious author. Thou shalt not bear
false witness against thy neighbour, says the ninth
commandment. Then farewell the tea-table, and all relishing
conversation, answer the fine ladies. And I confess the
same precept, which is a peremptory embargo upon slander,
would, if it were thoroughly executed, effectually shut up
all the pretty, prating mouths in Great Britain. . . [2
paragraphs]
In Billingsgate, Leadenhall Market, and the like
unpolished places, where fish and flesh are slain and sold,
the females treat one another in a very rough way and
scatter scandal in plain English monosyllables, which I do
not care to repeat: But ladies of better breeding, make the
tea-table their shambles, where every one butchers her
neighbour, and does, as it were, skin her reputation with
great elegance and soft language. . . [10 lines] Miss Amble
dances very finely, and wins hearts with her heels. With
this qualification the young thing was thought in a fair way
of catching a good husband, 'till the spiteful Maria prais'd
her and ruin'd her. It was at a ball, when Miss pleas'd
every body, and was hugely admir'd and commended. Yes, says
Maria, with seeming sincerity, she really dances very well,
and is, I dare say, modest, notwithstanding common report;
for I cannot believe there is any thing criminal in her
intimacy with my Lord ---. Here she names the most
destructive whoremaster in town, whom the poor girl never
saw; and raises a cursed report, by pretending to contradict
it. The innocent virgin is now undone, and the whole town
reckons her a--- I am apt to believe, that if I bestow'd
that filthy name, for which I have left a blank, upon Maria,
I should not violate the nineth commandment. She hides her
lewdness in her malice. . .
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