The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and his Friend, Mr. Abraham Abrams/Book I, Chapter XVIII

CHAPTER XVIII.

_The history of Betty the chambermaid, and an account of what occasioned

the violent scene in the preceding chapter._

Betty, who was the occasion of all this hurry, had some good qualities.

She had good-nature, generosity, and compassion, but unfortunately, her

constitution was composed of those warm ingredients which, though the

purity of courts or nunneries might have happily controuled them, were

by no means able to endure the ticklish situation of a chambermaid at an

inn; who is daily liable to the solicitations of lovers of all

complexions; to the dangerous addresses of fine gentlemen of the army,

who sometimes are obliged to reside with them a whole year together;

and, above all, are exposed to the caresses of footmen, stage-coachmen,

and drawers; all of whom employ the whole artillery of kissing,

flattering, bribing, and every other weapon which is to be found in the

whole armoury of love, against them.

Betty, who was but one-and-twenty, had now lived three years in this

dangerous situation, during which she had escaped pretty well. An ensign

of foot was the first person who made an impression on her heart; he did

indeed raise a flame in her which required the care of a surgeon

to cool.

While she burnt for him, several others burnt for her. Officers of the

army, young gentlemen travelling the western circuit, inoffensive

squires, and some of graver character, were set a-fire by her charms!

At length, having perfectly recovered the effects of her first unhappy

passion, she seemed to have vowed a state of perpetual chastity. She was

long deaf to all the sufferings of her lovers, till one day, at a

neighbouring fair, the rhetoric of John the hostler, with a new straw

hat and a pint of wine, made a second conquest over her.

She did not, however, feel any of those flames on this occasion which

had been the consequence of her former amour; nor, indeed, those other

ill effects which prudent young women very justly apprehend from too

absolute an indulgence to the pressing endearments of their lovers. This

latter, perhaps, was a little owing to her not being entirely constant

to John, with whom she permitted Tom Whipwell the stage-coachman, and

now and then a handsome young traveller, to share her favours.

Mr Tow-wouse had for some time cast the languishing eyes of affection on

this young maiden. He had laid hold on every opportunity of saying

tender things to her, squeezing her by the hand, and sometimes kissing

her lips; for, as the violence of his passion had considerably abated to

Mrs Tow-wouse, so, like water, which is stopt from its usual current in

one place, it naturally sought a vent in another. Mrs Tow-wouse is

thought to have perceived this abatement, and, probably, it added very

little to the natural sweetness of her temper; for though she was as

true to her husband as the dial to the sun, she was rather more desirous

of being shone on, as being more capable of feeling his warmth.

Ever since Joseph's arrival, Betty had conceived an extraordinary liking

to him, which discovered itself more and more as he grew better and

better; till that fatal evening, when, as she was warming his bed, her

passion grew to such a height, and so perfectly mastered both her

modesty and her reason, that, after many fruitless hints and sly

insinuations, she at last threw down the warming-pan, and, embracing him

with great eagerness, swore he was the handsomest creature she had

ever seen.

Joseph, in great confusion, leapt from her, and told her he was sorry to

see a young woman cast off all regard to modesty; but she had gone too

far to recede, and grew so very indecent, that Joseph was obliged,

contrary to his inclination, to use some violence to her; and, taking

her in his arms, he shut her out of the room, and locked the door.

How ought man to rejoice that his chastity is always in his own power;

that, if he hath sufficient strength of mind, he hath always a competent

strength of body to defend himself, and cannot, like a poor weak woman,

be ravished against his will!

Betty was in the most violent agitation at this disappointment. Rage and

lust pulled her heart, as with two strings, two different ways; one

moment she thought of stabbing Joseph; the next, of taking him in her

arms, and devouring him with kisses; but the latter passion was far more

prevalent. Then she thought of revenging his refusal on herself; but,

whilst she was engaged in this meditation, happily death presented

himself to her in so many shapes, of drowning, hanging, poisoning, &c.,

that her distracted mind could resolve on none. In this perturbation of

spirit, it accidentally occurred to her memory that her master's bed was

not made; she therefore went directly to his room, where he happened at

that time to be engaged at his bureau. As soon as she saw him, she

attempted to retire; but he called her back, and, taking her by the

hand, squeezed her so tenderly, at the same time whispering so many soft

things into her ears, and then pressed her so closely with his kisses,

that the vanquished fair one, whose passions were already raised, and

which were not so whimsically capricious that one man only could lay

them, though, perhaps, she would have rather preferred that one--the

vanquished fair one quietly submitted, I say, to her master's will, who

had just attained the accomplishment of his bliss when Mrs Tow-wouse

unexpectedly entered the room, and caused all that confusion which we

have before seen, and which it is not necessary, at present, to take any

farther notice of; since, without the assistance of a single hint from

us, every reader of any speculation or experience, though not married

himself, may easily conjecture that it concluded with the discharge of

Betty, the submission of Mr Tow-wouse, with some things to be performed

on his side by way of gratitude for his wife's goodness in being

reconciled to him, with many hearty promises never to offend any more in

the like manner; and, lastly, his quietly and contentedly bearing to be

reminded of his transgressions, as a kind of penance, once or twice a

day during the residue of his life.