People
Let this great maxim be my virtue’s guide,– In part she is to blame that has been tried: He comes too near that comes to be denied.
— Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Behind the line May contain spoilers.
Our reading
An editorial interpretation.
The speaker adopts a maxim about virtue, blame and refusal. Its criticism falls on a woman who has been approached as well as the person approaching her; that restrictive judgment does not establish responsibility for any actual encounter.
Context reviewed