It is bad manners for Richardson's heroines to "declare all they think [since] fig leaves are necessary for our minds as our bodies."
— Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley [née Lady Mary Pierrepont] (1689-1762)
Work Title
Date
October 20, 1752
Metaphor
It is bad manners for Richardson's heroines to "declare all they think [since] fig leaves are necessary for our minds as our bodies."
Metaphor in Context
"Richardson never had probably money enough to purchase any, or even a
ticket for a masquerade, which gives him such an aversion to them;
though his intended satire against them is very absurd on the account of
his Harriet, since she might have been carried off in the same manner if
she had been going from supper with her grandmamma. Her whole behaviour,
which he designs to be exemplary, is equally blamable and ridiculous.
She follows the maxim of Clarissa, of declaring all she thinks to all
the people she sees, without reflecting that in this mortal state of
imperfection, fig-leaves are as necessary for our minds as our bodies,
and 'tis as indecent to show all we think, as all we have. He has no
idea of the manners of high life: his old Lord M. talks in the style of
a country justice, and his virtuous young ladies romp like the wenches
round a maypole. Such liberties as pass between Mr. Lovelace and his
cousins, are not to be excused by the relation. I should have been much
astonished if Lord Denbigh should have offered to kiss me; and I dare
swear Lord Trentham never attempted such an impertinence to you."
ticket for a masquerade, which gives him such an aversion to them;
though his intended satire against them is very absurd on the account of
his Harriet, since she might have been carried off in the same manner if
she had been going from supper with her grandmamma. Her whole behaviour,
which he designs to be exemplary, is equally blamable and ridiculous.
She follows the maxim of Clarissa, of declaring all she thinks to all
the people she sees, without reflecting that in this mortal state of
imperfection, fig-leaves are as necessary for our minds as our bodies,
and 'tis as indecent to show all we think, as all we have. He has no
idea of the manners of high life: his old Lord M. talks in the style of
a country justice, and his virtuous young ladies romp like the wenches
round a maypole. Such liberties as pass between Mr. Lovelace and his
cousins, are not to be excused by the relation. I should have been much
astonished if Lord Denbigh should have offered to kiss me; and I dare
swear Lord Trentham never attempted such an impertinence to you."
Categories
Provenance
Reading Watt, Ian. The Rise of the Novel: Studies in Defoe, Richardson,and Fielding. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1957. p. 272.
Citation
Montagu, Lady Mary Wortley. The Letters and Works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. Vol. II. in Collection of Ancient and Modern British Novels and Romances. Vol. CLXIX. Ed. Lord Wharncliffe. Paris: Baudry's European Library, 1837.
Date of Entry
06/05/2006
Date of Review
12/03/2008
