This is the name applied to those young girls who, being obliged to
subsist by their labour, chiefly fill the shops of milliners,
mantua-makers, and sellers of ready-made linen, &c.
The rank which ought to be assigned to them, I think, is between
opera-dancers and demireps. You may smile at the distinction; but, as
Mr. Tickle justly observes, in the Spectator, we should vary our
appellations of these fair criminals, according to circumstances.
"Those who offend only against themselves," says he, "and are not a
scandal to society; but, out of deference to the sober part of the
world, have so much good left in them as to be ashamed, must not be
comprehended in the common word due to the worst of women. Regard is
to be had to their situation when they fell, to the uneasy perplexity
in which they lived under senseless and severe parents, to the
importunity of poverty, to the violence of a passion in its beginning
well-grounded, to all the alleviations which make unhappy women
resign the characteristic of their sex, modesty. To do otherwise than
thus," adds he, "would be to act like a pedantic Stoic, who thinks
all crimes alike, and not as an impartial spectator, who views them
with all the circumstances that diminish or enhance the guilt."
If we measure them by this standard, _grisettes_ appear entitled to
be classed immediately below demireps; for, as Lear says of his
daughter,
"-------- Not to be the worst
Stands in some rank of praise."
Their principal merit consists in their conducting themselves with a
certain degree of decorum and reserve, and in being susceptible of
attachment. Born in an humble sphere, they are accustomed from their
infancy to gain their livelihood by their industry. Like young birds
that feel the power of using their wings, they fly from the
parent-nest at the age of sixteen; and, hiring a room for themselves,
they live according to their means and fancy.
More fortunate in their indigence than the daughters of petty
tradesmen, they overleap the limits of restraint, while their charms
are in full lustre; and sometimes their happiness arises from being
born in poverty. In marrying an artisan of their own class, they see
nothing but distress and servitude, which are by no means compatible
with their spirit of independence. Vanity becomes their guide, and is
as bad a guide as distress; for it prompts them to add the resources
of their youth and person to those of their needle. This double
temptation is too strong for their weak virtue. They therefore seek a
friend to console them on Sundays for the _ennui_ of the remainder of
the week, which must needs seem long, when they are sitting close at
work from morning to night. In general, they are more faithful than
any of the other classes of the frail part of the sex, and may be
supported at little expense, and without scandal.
It would require almost the powers of the inquisition to ascertain
whether _grisettes_ have increased or diminished since the
revolution; but their number is, and always has been, immense in
Paris. An object highly deserving of the attention of the French
legislators would be to find a remedy for this evil. A mortal blow
should, no doubt, be struck at the luxury of the toilet; as the rage
for dress has, I am convinced, undermined the virtue of as many women
as the vile stratagems of all the Lotharios in being. Leaving these
matters to some modern Lycurgus, I shall end my letter. But, in my
eager haste to close it, I must not omit a class, which has increased
in a proportion equal to the decrease of kept women. As they have no
precise designation in France, I shall take the liberty of applying
to them, that of