First published in 1761, Memoirs of Miss Sidney Bidulph is a love story as well as an indictment of eighteenth-century cultural mores regarding marriage. The story begins with the engagement of Miss Sidney. But when she discovers her fiance's previous affair and that the woman is pregnant, she breaks off the engagement. Miss Sidney moves on and marries another man, but neither her ex-fiance nor his mistress disappear from her life completely.