China Patterns

In class on Friday, I had mentioned that I vaguely remembered Dr. Shurbutt saying something about china being paralleled to a woman's virginity.  I searched my book, and finally found the passage from Alexander Pope's The Rape of the Lock in which a "china vessel" / woman is ruined:

"Then flashed the living lightning from her eyes,  / And screams of horror rend the affrighted skies. / Not louder shrieks to pitying heaven are cast, / When husbands, or when lapdogs breathe their last; / Or when rich china vessels fallen from high, / In glittering dust and painted fragments lie!"  (Canto 3: 155-60)  

I found this an interesting recall based on the excerpt on page 331 where Lydgate is telling Mrs. Vincy about the china he purchased.  Part of Mrs. Vincy's response to Lydgate's description is, "I trust in heaven it won't be broken!"  Lydgate responds, "One must hire servants who will not break things."  I found this to be a very telling passage based on the "broken china is a symbol for a ruined woman" theory.  It's almost as if Mrs. Vincy is warning Lydgate not to ruin her daughter.  I haven't quite decided if Lydgate is agreeing to treat Rosamond with the utmost care, or if Mrs. Vincy's poetic plea went right over his head, because he is, after all, a man of science (331).  Obviously, these comments come after Rosamond and Lydgate's discussion of their engagement and upcoming forbidden marriage; and on the heels of a very steamy encounter between Lydgate and Rosamond.  I'm almost positive that the china in this passage refers to Rosamond, and the desire to keep the china unbroken refers to Rosamond's chastity.  Thoughts?