She is a young lady of as good fashion, and family, and
fortune, as any in Somersetshire. Did you never hear of the great
Squire Western, sirrah? She is his only daughter; she is--, and
heiress to all his great estate. My lady to be called a nasty Scotch
wh-re by such a varlet!- To be sure I wish I had knocked his brains
out with the punchbowl."
The principal uneasiness with which Sophia was affected on this
occasion, Honour had herself caused, by having in her passion
discovered who she was. However, as this mistake of the landlord
sufficiently accounted for those passages which Sophia had before
mistaken, she acquired some ease on that account; nor could she,
upon the whole, forbear smiling. This enraged Honour, and she cries,
"Indeed, madam, I did not think your ladyship would have made a
laughing matter of it. To be called whore by such an impudent low
rascal. Your ladyship may be angry with me, for aught I know, for
taking your part, since proffered service, they say, stinks; but to be
sure I could never bear to hear a lady mine called whore.- Nor will I
bear it. I am sure your ladyship is as virtuous a lady as ever sat
foot on English ground, and I will claw any villain's eyes out who
dares for to offer to presume for to say the least word to the
contrary. Nobody ever could say the least ill of the character of
any lady that ever I waited upon."
Hinc illae, lachrymae: in plain truth, Honour had as much love for
her mistress as most servants have, that is to say- But besides this,
her pride obliged her to support the character of the lady she
waited on; for she thought her own was in a very close manner
connected with it.
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