Peg died in 1760, at the age of forty. She left more than five thousand pounds. She left it to charity. And, as a testimonial to her, a range of low-roofed, wistaria-covered cottages was built for the exclusive use of the poor. The dwellings were known as "The Margaret Woffington Cottages."
Samson's costume would start a panic on modern Broadway, yet it was doubtless deemed correct in his time. Queen Elizabeth's table manners would cause her speedy ejectment from any civilized restaurant, yet she was sixteenth century's model for etiquette. George Washington's spelling would not pass muster in a primary school, though in 1776 he was regarded as a man of high education. While as for Lady Godiva—
New times, new ways. Won't you remember that, in dealing with Peg Woffington? She was a product—and a fine product—of her generation and surroundings. Think of her only as an unfortunate, warm-hearted, beautiful girl, whom men adored almost as much for her lovable qualities as for her siren fascinations.
She merits a pedestal in the temple of superwomen. If I have failed to establish her right to it, the fault is mine, not hers.
CHAPTER FOUR
HELEN OF TROY
MODEL FOR ALL THE SIRENS OF THE CENTURIES
Some wise folk say she never existed. But, for that matter, some wise folk also say that her press agent, Homer, never existed, and that his "Iliad" and "Odyssey" were compilations of lesser men's writings. As well say that Napoleon was a "compilation" of his marshals.
Some aver that she indeed walked the earth, a Wonder Woman, and that her charm perhaps stirred up strife among nations, but that her fame kept on growing after she was dead, until—even as hundreds of jokes were attributed to Joe Miller that Joe never perpetrated or even heard—people got to making her the heroine of a myriad impossible deeds and adventures that no one woman or no ten women could have achieved.