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<DATE>2012-07-27</DATE>
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<NAME>John Pas</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B120615.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="A25583">
<STC T="W">A3397</STC>
<STC T="C">R28298</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">10521500</BIBNO>
<VID>45174</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>AN ANSWER To the Character of an Exchange-wench: OR A VINDICATION OF AN Exchange-woman.</P>
<P>LONDON, Printed for <HI>Thomas Cro&s;kill.</HI> 1675.</P>
</DIV1>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="1" REF="2" MS="y">
<HEAD>AN ANSVVER TO THE Character of an Exchange-wench.</HEAD>
<P>AN Exchange-Woman does as far exceed a meer Gentle-Woman, as a Civil Trade&s;man does a common Shark, having a commenda|ble Calling to vouch for her hone&s;ty. She's one Bow with two &s;trings, being generally born to a compitable Fortune, &s;he wi&s;ely &s;hrowds her &s;elf under the &s;afe Covert of a good Trade. To &s;ecure her feli|city; her Shop &s;erves her in&s;tead of a Nunnery, where being bufied with the concerns of a laudable calling, &s;he forgets, or neglects the Debauches of the Town: She's rail'd in like an Altar, and &s;ecur'd by a Partition as a thing that's &s;acred. She's as tempting as the forbidden Fruit,
<PB N="2" REF="3">and has a <HI>Noli me tangere</HI> for her Motto: She needs no o|ther Purgatory, having gone through the &s;trict Di&s;cipline of a &s;evere Mi&s;tre&s;s, whereby &s;he becomes &s;o accu&s;tomed to Vertue, that at length it grows Natural. She is that poli|tick Hermophrodite, who acts the part both of Man and Woman, in pre&s;erving both her Honour and Family; a large Book with a little Title, being really worth five times as much as her Fortune; She's an En-tail for Life, and who|ever has her may reckon he has purchas'd above a hundred a Year.</P>
<P>As for her Original &s;he is generally the Honourable off-&s;pring of &s;ome Country Gentleman, who being cur&s;t with a multitude of Ble&s;&s;ings (I mean Children) and by ambition made &s;lave to his elde&s;t Son, is forced to piece out his Daugh|ters fortune with a profitable employ, which is often the Stirrop to &s;ublimer Fortune.</P>
<P>Her Education is as Gentile as her Birth, and &s;he knows not but &s;he's a Fortune till &s;he goes to receive it. She is re|&s;pected according to the noi&s;e of her Fathers E&s;tate, which is generally two hundred a year, and kept as fine in her Child-hood as if &s;he were to enjoy it her &s;elf.</P>
<P>Her Vertuous Education breeds in her &s;o &s;weet an Inno|cence that &s;he dreads to look in a Mans face for fear of di&s;|covering his de&s;ires at his Eyes, and if he &s;ays but <HI>'Faith,</HI> &s;he pre&s;ently corrects him for Swearing. She has &s;uch a pro|pen&s;ity to goodne&s;s that &s;he acts it unawares, and often &s;ur|prizes both her &s;elf and others with her own Vertue. She is as ignorant of Vice, as of <HI>Terra Incognita</HI> and though &s;he
<PB N="3" REF="3" MS="y">de&s;igned to be wicked &s;he would not know how to effect it. She often wonders at the production of mankind, and lives to eleven or twelve years of Age before &s;he's convinc'd that &s;he did not &s;pring out of the Par&s;ly-Bed.</P>
<P>Thus having the advantages of a Gentile Birth, good E|ducation, and vertuous Inclination; &s;he is de&s;ign'd by her Pa|rents, who&s;e affections are larger then their <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ags (their Quality obliging them to live up to the heighth of their E|&s;tate) to be put under the di&s;creet tuition of &s;ome hone&s;t and able Exchange-Woman, thereby to obtain an hone&s;t and honourable employment, to &s;ecure her from tho&s;e &s;torms of Fate which are commonly &s;evere on little Fortunes.</P>
<P>That the Employment is as honourable as any other In-Land Trade cannot be denyed, they enjoying the &s;ame Privi|ledges, dealing in as Rich Commodities, and having attain'd as great E&s;tates, as any other Vocation what&s;oever. Which hath induc'd many noble families di&s;tre&s;&s;ed by War, or Ac|cidents, to bring up their Daughters to this Calling where|in &s;ome have prov'd &s;o fortunate as to give a happy Re&s;ur|rection to their whole family. And at this day Heaven is &s;o kind to their commendable endeavours, as to recompence their good de&s;igns with unexpected &s;ucce&s;s, of which, &s;hould I give a Catalogue of tho&s;e young Ladies, who&s;e unparallel'd Vertue, and good deportment have tempted Men of extraor|dinary E&s;tates to de&s;ire them in Marriage; I &s;hould write ra|ther a Volumn then a &s;heet: But my de&s;ign in Writing be|ing only to re&s;cue that honourable Society, from the bitter invectives of that Satyrical Character, I &s;hall forbear parti|culars, and only acquaint you, That the Exchange it &s;elf is no le&s;s than an Academy, and the Youth therein, the dilligent
<PB N="4" REF="4">Student of Vertue and good manners, 'tis true, there is &s;ome Sub graduates, and other Mi&s;tre&s;&s;es of Arts, who like kind and careful Tutore&s;&s;es take &s;uch pains with their Pupils, that they never leave in&s;tructing them till they have made them as knowing as them&s;elves; If any prove vitious or Irrefectory they are pre&s;ently expell'd.</P>
<P>So that an Exchange Maid is a refin'd <HI>Vertuo&s;a,</HI> one who has &s;eal'd her Gentility, with the Martyrdom of an Appren|tice&s;hip, &s;he's as happy in her Shop as a Mi&s;s in a Play|hou&s;e: and better pleas'd with the moderate gains of an ho|ne&s;t Trade, than the other is with the Extravagant Allow|ance of a Wild Gallant, &s;he's &s;o far from being a drudge to the world that &s;he &s;its &s;till and gets an E&s;tate.</P>
<P>The whole Town's her Labourer, and he that goes fine&s;t her greate&s;t &s;lave, who as if his Money were a bad Commo|dity fooli&s;hly exchanges it for Lace or Ribbonds; as Bubbles do to Game&s;ters, he brings her Ca&s;h whether &s;he will or no; He's her meer &s;ubject, and like the <HI>French</HI> King &s;he impo&s;es a Tax upon every thing he wears. How then can &s;he be un|happy when even our fancies and Extravagancies contribute to her welfare.</P>
<P>She's a Creature ready cut and dry'd for all preferment, and no le&s;s than a coach and &s;ix, can tempt her from her em|ployment, an arrogant Fop that courts her to a &s;mile, &s;wears he has got her heart, and with him&s;elf contrives an a&s;&s;ignati|on, when &s;he only did it, either in complai&s;ance to his folly or her own advantage.</P>
<PB N="5" REF="4" MS="y">
<P>A &s;pruce Cit, bri&s;tles up to her like a Turky-cock, and would fain be Trading, but as &s;he has attractions to draw, &s;o &s;he has di&s;cretion to &s;light his Amours, her facetious di&s;|cour&s;e, makes him think her ea&s;ie to come at, when, indeed &s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter"> does it as Wel&s;hmen on H<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 letter">ls, who though they <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word"> near together, are really likely never to meet.</P>
<P>In &s;hort, her &s;milles are innocent, as &s;leeping Infants, and &s;he pre&s;erves her &s;elf an un-blemi&s;h'd Sacrifice for a happy Husband; She has all the accompli&s;hments of a Gentle Woman, but if &s;he be defective in any thing 'tis Vice, being un-acquainted with the Gallants; She's a Stran|ger to deceit, and hating the ratling of a Coach remains untainted with the Plea&s;ures and Debauches of the Town.</P>
<P>In her Shop &s;he patiently attends both her bu&s;ine&s;s and Fate, and when &s;he marries needs no advice from a Mid-Wife to cheat her Husband into the belief of a Maiden-head: In fine &s;he is happy as &s;he is, but if &s;he alter her condition, experience &s;hews us, &s;he may become a Dutche&s;s.</P>
<LG>
<HEAD>To the Exchange Maids.</HEAD>
<L>THus I like you have wa&s;ted three hours time,</L>
<L>To hide your wrinkles and to make you fine;</L>
<L>Your &s;ickly Credits I &s;o well re&s;tore;</L>
<L>I make you more renowned than before:</L>
<L>The Character you know was &s;omething Witty,</L>
<L>And 'Faith to &s;peak the Truth, I think it hit you,</L>
<PB N="6" REF="5" MS="y">
<L>The Authour knows your tricks, and &s;poke the more,</L>
<L>Becau&s;e he had been bit by you before.</L>
<L>His Pa&s;&s;ion therefore (Ladies) don't admire,</L>
<L><HI>A Child that's burnt, does always dread the Fire.</HI></L>
<L><GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word"> with Frowns&mdash; But ca&s;t your &s;miles on him.</L>
<L>Who took this paine to ran&s;ome your <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word">.</L>
<L>The Theme was barren, and did plague me more,</L>
<L>Then any Subject e're I writ before:</L>
<L>'Twas full an hour e're my Mu&s;e could rai&s;e</L>
<L>A true expre&s;&s;ion to &s;et out your Prai&s;e;</L>
<L>Which that my brooding thoughts did e're impart,</L>
<L>Was more my fancy then your due de&s;ert.</L>
<L>Like him who courts a homely Mi&s;tre&s;s, <HI>I</HI></L>
<L>Was forc'd to give my Con&s;cience the Lye.</L>
<L>And (Heavens forgive me) I know ne're a Line,</L>
<L>In all the Sheet, but what I think's a &s;in.</L>
<L>And &s;ince you're Sinners too, I only wi&s;h</L>
<L>That we may <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="MURP" EXTENT="1 word"> in better Sheets than this.</L>
</LG>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
<PB REF="5">
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