sbury, _The Text of Shakespeare_, 275. "But the attack upon
Mrs. Haywood exceeded all bounds of decency. To the credit of the
English race nothing so dastardly and vulgar can be found elsewhere in
English literature. If the influence of 'The Dunciad' was so
all-powerful as to ruin the prospects of any one it satirized, it ought
certainly to have crushed her beyond hope of any revival. As a matter of
fact Mrs. Haywood's most successful and popular writings were produced
after the publication of that poem, and that too at a period when Pope's
predominance was far higher than it was at the time the satire itself
appeared."

[17]
A. Esdaile, _English Tales and Romances_, Introduction, xxviii.

[18]
_The Mercenary Lover.... Written by the Author of Memoirs of the said
Island_ [Utopia] and described on the half-title as by E. H. and _The
Fair Captive_, a tragedy not originally written by her.

[19]
_Philobillon Soc. Misc._, IV, 12. "Clio must be allowed to be a most
complete poetess, if she really wrote those poems that bear her name;
but it has of late been so abused and scandalized, that I am informed
she has lately changed it for that of Myra." Quoted from the _British
Journal_, 24 September, 1726. I am indebted to Miss Dorothy Brewster's
_Aaron Hill_, 189, for this reference.

[20]
See Clara Reeve, _The Progress of Romance_ (1785), I, 121.
[I have re-arranged the passage for the sake of brevity.]

"_Soph._ I have heard it often said that Mr. Pope was too severe in
his treatment of this lady: it was supposed that she had given some
private offence, which he resented publicly, as was too much his way.

"_Euph._ Mr. Pope was severe in his castigations, but let us be just
to merit of every kind. Mrs. _Heywood_ had the singular good fortune
to recover a lost reputation and the yet greater honour to atone for
her errors.--She devoted the remainder of her life and labours to the
service of virtue.... Those works by which she is most likely to be
known to posterity, are the _Female Spectator_, and the _Invisible
Spy_...."

CHAPTER VI

LETTERS AND ESSAYS

The works of Mrs. Haywood's maturity most renowned for their pious
intent were not of the tribe of novels, but rather in the shape of
letters or periodical essays such as "Epistles for the Ladies" (1749)
and "The Female Spectator" (1746). Each of these forms, as practiced
during the eighteenth century, permitted the introduction of shor