liza's peace of mind was that universal mistress of
minor poets, the Mira of Thomson, the Clio of Dyer and Hill, the famous
Martha Fowke, who at the time happened to have fixed the scandal of her
affections upon the Volunteer Laureate.[16] That the poet's opinion of
her remained unchanged by Mrs. Haywood's vituperation may be inferred
from some lines in her praise in a satire called "The Authors of the
Town," printed soon after the publication of "Memoirs of a Certain
Island."[17]

"Clio, descending Angels sweep thy Lyre,
Prompt thy soft Lays, and breathe Seraphic Fire.
Tears fall, Sighs rise, obedient to thy Strains,
And the Blood dances in the mazy Veins!....
In social Spirits, lead thy Hours along,
Thou Life of Loveliness, thou Soul of Song!"

But not content with singing the praises of her rival, Savage cast a
slur upon Mrs. Haywood's works and even upon the unfortunate dame
herself.

"First, let me view what noxious Nonsense reigns,
While yet I loiter on Prosaic Plains;
If Pens impartial active Annals trace,
Others, with secret Histr'y, Truth deface:
Views and Reviews, and wild Memoirs appear,
And Slander darkens each recorded year."

After relating at some length the typical absurdities of the _chronique
scandaleuse_--deaths by poison, the inevitably dropped letter, and
intrigues of passion and jealousy--he became more specific in describing
various authors. Among others

"A cast-off Dame, who of Intrigues can judge,
Writes Scandal in Romance--A Printer's Drudge!
Flush'd with Success, for Stage-Renown she pants,
And melts, and swells, and pens luxurious Rants."

The first two lines might apply to the notorious Mrs. Manley, lately
deceased, who had for some time been living as a hack writer for
Alderman Barber, but she had written no plays since "Lucius" in 1717.
Mrs. Haywood, however, equally a cast-off dame and a printer's drudge,
had recently produced her "Fair Captive," a most luxurious rant. The
passage, then, may probably refer to her.

If, as is possible, the poem was circulated in manuscript before its
publication, this intended insult may be the injury complained of by
Mrs. Haywood in "Memoirs of a Certain Island." Though she was content to
retaliate only by heaping coals of fire upon the poet's bays, and though
she even heightens the pathos of his story by relating how he had
refused the moiety of a small pension from his mother upon hearing that
she had suffer