"I shall leave my reader to Judge": The Female Spectator as an Interpretive Model for The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless.

This article examines how Eliza Haywood’s periodical *The Female Spectator* (1744–1746) models a dialogic exchange with readers, particularly through discussions about dress and the clothing industry, and how this dialogic framework informs a critical reading of her later novel *The History of Miss Betsy Thoughtless* (1751). The periodical’s incorporation of reader letters and its encouragement of reflective judgment create an interpretive model that challenges straightforward moralizing narratives, especially regarding women’s engagement with fashion and consumer practices. Applying this model to *Betsy Thoughtless* reveals the protagonist’s thoughtful and ethical consumer behavior, complicating conventional readings of female vanity and highlighting women’s roles in the eighteenth-century clothing industry and consumer culture. The analysis contributes to scholarship on eighteenth-century consumerism, literary form, and women’s periodical culture by demonstrating how Haywood’s works foster critical reading practices that parallel critical consumer choices.