Part 58 (2/2)
”It appears to me then to be a vanity fair.”
”That there is more vanity in London than in any other city, I grant,”
replied I; ”but recollect, that there are more people and more wealth.
I do not think that there is more in proportion than in other towns in England, and if there is more vanity, Susannah, recollect also that there is more industry, more talent, and I should hope a greater proportion of good and honest people among its mult.i.tudes; there is also, unfortunately, more misery and more crime.”
”I believe you are right, j.a.phet. Are you aware that Mr Cophagus has put off his plain attire?”
”If it grieves you, Susannah, it grieves me also; but I presume he finds it necessary not to be so remarkable.”
”For him, I could find some excuse; but what will you say, j.a.phet, when I tell you that my own sister, born and bred up to our tenets, hath also much deviated from the dress of the females of our sect?”
”In what hath she made an alteration?”
”She has a bonnet of plaited straw with ribands.”
”Of what colour are the ribands?”
”Nay, of the same as her dress--of grey.”
”Your bonnet, Susannah, is of grey silk; I do not see that there is vanity in descending to straw, which is a more homely commodity. But what reason has she given?”
”That her husband wills it, as he does not like to walk out with her in her Quaker's dress.”
”Is it not her duty to obey her husband, even as I obey my father, Susannah?--but I am not ashamed to walk out with you in your dress; so if you have no objection, let me show you a part of this great city.”
Susannah consented: we had often walked together in the town of Reading: she was evidently pleased at what I said. I soon escorted her to Oxford-Street, from thence down Bond Street and through all the most frequented parts of the metropolis. The dress naturally drew upon her the casual glance of the pa.s.sengers, but her extreme beauty turned the glance to an ardent gaze, and long before we had finished our intended walk, Susannah requested that I would go home. She was not only annoyed but almost alarmed at the constant and reiterated scrutiny which she underwent, ascribing it to her dress, and not to her lovely person. As soon as we returned I sat down with her.
”So I understand that Mr Cophagus intends to reside altogether in London.”
”I have not heard so; I understood that it was business which called him hither for a few weeks. I trust not, for I shall be unhappy here.”
”May I ask why?”
”The people are rude--it is not agreeable to walk out.”
”Recollect, my dear Susannah, that those of your sect are not so plentiful in London as elsewhere, and if you wear a dress so different from other people, you must expect that curiosity will be excited. You cannot blame them--it is you who make yourself conspicuous, almost saying to the people by your garment, 'Come, and look at me.' I have been reflecting upon what Mr Masterton said to you at Reading, and I do not know whether he was not right in calling it a garb of pride instead of a garb of humility.”
”If I thought so, j.a.phet, even I would throw it off,” replied Susannah.
”It certainly is not pleasant that everyone should think that you walk out on purpose to be stared at, yet such is the ill-natured construction of the world, and they will never believe otherwise. It is possible, I should think, to dress with equal simplicity and neatness, to avoid gay colours, and yet to dress so as not to excite observation.”
”I hardly know what to say, but that you all appear against me, and that sometimes I feel that I am too presumptuous in thus judging for myself.”
”I am not against you, Susannah; I know you will do what you think is right, and I shall respect you for that, even if I disagree with you; but I must say, that if my wife were to dress in such a way as to attract the public gaze, I should feel too jealous to approve of it. I do not, therefore, blame Mr Cophagus for inducing his pretty wife to make some alteration in her attire, neither do I blame, but I commend her for obeying the wishes of her husband. Her beauty is his, and not common property.”
Susannah did not reply: she appeared very thoughtful.
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