The Life and Romances of Mrs. Eliza Haywood Part 10

"See next two slip-shod _Muses_ traipse along, In lofty madness meditating song, With tresses staring from poetic dreams And never wash'd, but in _Castalia's_ streams.

H---- and I----, glories of their race!"[11]

The first initial is written in the ma.n.u.script "Heywood," and the second was doubtless intended for Mrs. Thomas. But in this case the very catholicity of Pope's malice defeated its own aim. Originally the first line stood: "See Pix and slip-shod W---- [Wortley?] traipse along." In 1729 the place of the abused Corinna was given to Mrs. Centlivre, then five years dead, in retaliation for a verse satire called "The Catholic Poet, or Protestant Barnaby's Sorrowful Lamentation: a Ballad about Homer's Iliad," (1715).[12] Evidently abuse equally applicable to any one or more of five women writers could not be either specific or strikingly personal. Nothing can be inferred from the lines except that Pope despised the whole race of female wits and bore particular malice against certain of their number. Eliza Haywood sustained the largest share of anathema, for not only was she vilified in the poem, but "Haywood's Novels" and the offensive "Court of Carimania" occupied a conspicuous position in the cargo of books carried by the "a.s.s laden with authors" which formed the well-known vignette to the quarto edition of 1729.

In the universal howl raised against the persecutor by the afflicted dunces the treble part was but weakly sustained. Mrs. Thomas indeed produced a small sixpenny octavo, written for, and perhaps in conjunction with Curll, ent.i.tled "Codrus; or the Dunciad dissected. To which is added Farmer Pope and his Son" (1729), but Mrs. Haywood's contribution was probably on her part unintentional, and was due entirely to the activity of the same infamous bookseller, who was among the first to get his replies and counter-slanders into print.[13] The "Key to the Dunciad" already mentioned ran through three editions in compet.i.tion with an authorized key. "The Popiad" and "The Curliad" were rapidly huddled together and placed upon the market. Close upon the heels of these publications came "The Female Dunciad," containing beside the "Metamorphosis of P. into a Stinging Nettle" by Mr. Foxton, a novel called "Irish Artifice; or, the History of Clarina" by Mrs. Eliza Haywood. In a short introduction to the piece, Curll explained how it happened to fall into his hands.

"I am likewise to inform my _Female Criticks_, that they stand indebted to the entertaining Pen of Mrs. _Eliza Haywood_ for the following _History_ of Clarina. It was sent to me, by herself, on communicating to some of my Friends the Design I had of writing a Weekly Paper, under the t.i.tle of the ROVER, the Scope of which is in some Measure explain'd in her Address to me, and this Project I may yet perhaps put in Execution."

The novelette submitted to Curll for inclusion in his projected periodical relates how an Irish housekeeper named Aglaura craftily promotes a runaway match between her son Merovius and the young heiress Clarina, who, deserted by her husband and disowned by her father, falls into the utmost misery. The story has no possible bearing either on Pope or on "The Dunciad," but was evidently seized by the shifty publisher as the nearest thing to hand when he came to patch up another pamphlet against Pope. Nothing could be more characteristic of Curll than his willingness to make capital out of his own disgrace. So hurried was the compilation of "The Female Dunciad" that he even printed the letter designed to introduce Mrs. Haywood's tale to the readers of the "Rover."

Pope, who a.s.siduously read all the libels directed against himself, hastened to use the writer's confession of her own shortcomings in a note to "The Dunciad, Variorum" of 1729.[14]

Mrs. Haywood admires at some length the Rover's intention of "laying a Foundation for a Fabrick, whose s.p.a.cious Circ.u.mference shall at once display the beautiful Images of Virtue in in all her proper Shapes, and the Deformities of Vice in its various Appearances.... An Endeavour for a Reformation of Manners, (in an Age, where Folly is so much the Fashion, that to have run thro' all the courses of Debauchery, seem requisite to complete the fine Gentleman) is an Attempt as _daring_ as it is _n.o.ble_; and while it engages the Admiration and Applause of the worthy and judicious _Few_, will certainly draw on you the Ridicule and Hatred of that _unnumber'd Crowd_, who justly dread the Lash of a Satire, which their own dissolute Behaviour has given sting to. But I, who am perfectly acquainted with the Sweetness of your Disposition, and that Tenderness with which you consider the Errors of your Fellow Creatures, need not be inform'd, that while you expose the Foulness of those Facts, which renders them deservedly Objects of Reproach, you will [not] forget to pity the Weakness of Humanity and Lethargy of Reason, which at some unguarded Hours, steals on the Souls of even the wisest Men; and tho' I shou'd find, in the Course of your Papers, all the little Inadvertencies of my own Life recorded, I am sensible it will be done in such a Manner as I cannot but approve."

No particular intimacy between the author and the bookseller can be inferred from this extravagant but conventional flattery. The interpretation of what Mrs. Haywood terms inadvertencies--a word almost invariably used in her writings as a euphemism--is a more difficult problem, for definite evidence of the auth.o.r.ess' gallantries is entirely lacking. But however damaging to herself her frankness may have been, there was little in the production to arouse the ire of Pope. The only instance in which the maligned novelist may have intended to show her resentment was in the Preface to her tragedy "Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lunenburgh" (1729) where with veiled sarcasm she confessed herself "below the Censure of the Gyant-Criticks of this Age."

Although Mrs. Haywood was evidently not responsible for the inclusion of her tale in "The Female Dunciad," and although the piece itself was entirely innocuous, her daring to raise her head even by accident brought down upon her another scurrilous rebuke, not this time from the poet himself, but from her former admirer, Richard Savage. In "An Author to be Let" (1732) Pope's jackal directed against the members of a supposed club of dunces, presided over by James Moore-Smith and including Theobald, Welsted, Curll, Dennis, Cooke, and Bezaleel Morris, a tirade of abuse, in which "the divine Eliza" came in for her full share of vituperation.

"When Mrs. Haywood ceas'd to be a Strolling Actress, why might not the Lady (tho' once a Theatrical Queen) have subsisted by turning Washer-woman? Has not the Fall of Greatness been a frequent Distress in all Ages? She might have caught a beautiful Bubble as it arose from the Suds of her Tub, blown it in Air, seen it glitter, and then break!

Even in this low Condition, she had play'd with a Bubble, and what more, is the Vanity of human Greatness? She might also have consider'd the sullied Linnen growing white in her pretty red Hands, as an Emblem of her Soul, were it well scoured by Repentance for the Sins of her Youth: But she rather chooses starving by writing Novels of Intrigue, to teach young Heiresses the Art of running away with Fortune-hunters, and scandalizing Persons of the highest Worth and Distinction."

Savage's mention of eloping heiresses shows that he had been looking for exceptionable material in "Irish Artifice," but finding little to his purpose there, had reverted to the stock objections to the scandal novels, where he was upon safe but not original ground. In the body of the pamphlet he returned to a.s.sault the same breach. The supposed writer, Iscariot Hackney, in stating his qualifications for membership in the Dunces' Club, claims to be "very deeply read in all Pieces of Scandal, Obscenity, and Prophaneness, particularly in the Writings of Mrs. _Haywood, Henley, Welsted, Morley, Foxton, Cooke, D'Foe, Norton, Woolston, Dennis, Nedward, Concanen, Journalist-Pit_, and the Author of the _Rival Modes_. From these I propose to compile a very grand Work, which shall not be inferior to _Utopia, Carimania, Guttiverania, Art of Flogging, Daily Journal_, Epigrams on the _Dunciad_, or _Oratory Transactions_." ... Although the author of "Utopia" and "Carimania" was pilloried in good company, she suffered more than she deserved. She was indeed a friend of Theobald's, for a copy of "The Dunciad: with Notes Variorum, and the Prolegomena of Scriblerus," bearing on the fly-leaf the following inscription:

"Lewis Theobald to Mrs Heywood, as a testimony of his esteem, presents this book called _The Dunciad_, and acquaints her that Mr. Pope, by the profits of its publication, saved his library, _wherein unp.a.w.ned much learned lumber lay_."[15]

shows that the two victims of Pope's most bitter satire felt a sort of companionship in misfortune. But there is no evidence to show that Eliza took any part in the War of the Dunces.

But that the immortal infamy heaped upon her by "The Dunciad" injured her prospects cannot be doubted. She was far from being a "signal ill.u.s.tration of the powerlessness of this attack upon the immediate fortunes of those a.s.sailed," as Professor Lounsbury describes her.[16]

It is true that she continued to write, though with less frequency than before, and that some of her best-sellers were produced at a time when Pope's influence was at its height, but that the author was obliged to take extreme measures to avoid the ill consequences of the lampoon upon her may be proved by comparing the t.i.tle-pages of her earlier and later novels.

Before the publication of "The Dunciad" the adventuress in letters had enjoyed a large share of popularity. Most of her legitimate works were advertised as "Written by Mrs. Eliza Haywood" and bore her name in full prominently displayed on the t.i.tle-page. That her signature possessed a distinct commercial value in selling popular fiction was amusingly ill.u.s.trated by a bit of literary rascality practiced in 1727, when Arthur Bettesworth, the bookseller, issued a chapbook called "The Pleasant and Delightful History of Gillian of Croydon." After a long summary of the contents in small type came the statement, "The Whole done much after the same Method as those celebrated Novels, By Mrs.

ELIZA HAYWOOD," the forged author's name being emphasized in the largest possible type in the hope that a cursory glance at the t.i.tle-page might deceive a prospective buyer.[17] Of her forty publications before 1728 only fifteen, of which five from their libelous nature could not be acknowledged, failed to sail openly under her colors. Only once did she employ any sort of pseudonym, and only in one case was her signature relegated to the end of the dedication.[18] A word of scorn from the literary dictator, however, was enough to turn the taste of the town, not indeed away from sensational and scandalous fictions, but away from the hitherto popular writer of them. Eliza Haywood was no longer a name to conjure with; her reputation was irretrievably gone. It was no unusual thing in those days for ladies in semi-public life to outlive several reputations. The quondam Clio had already found the notoriety of that name too strong for her comfort, and had been rechristened Mira by the dapper Mr. Mallet.[19] Instead of adopting some such expedient Mrs.

Haywood found it more convenient simply to lapse into anonymity. Of the four novels published within a year after "The Dunciad" none bore her name on the t.i.tle-page, though two had signed dedications and the others were advertised as by her. Not one of them was re-issued. The tragedy "Frederick, Duke of Brunswick-Lunenburgh," known to be of her make, was a complete failure, and "Love-Letters on All Occasions" (1730) with "Collected by Mrs. Eliza Haywood" on the t.i.tle-page never reached a second edition. Both her translations from the French, "L'Entretien des Beaux Esprits" (1734) and "The Virtuous Villager" (1742), were acknowledged at the end of the dedications, and both were unsuccessful, although the anonymous predecessor of the former, "La Belle a.s.semblee"

(1725), ran through eight editions. The single occurrence of Mrs.

Haywood's name on a t.i.tle-page after 1730, if we except the two reprints of "Secret Histories," was when the unacknowledged "Adventures of Eovaai" (1736) re-appeared five years later as "The Unfortunate Princess" with what seems to be a "fubbed" t.i.tle-page for which the author was probably not responsible. And the successful works referred to by Professor Lounsbury were all either issued without any signature or under such designations as "the Author of the Fortunate Foundlings,"

or "Mira, one of the Authors of the Female Spectator," or "Exploralibus," so that even the reviewers sometimes appeared to be ignorant of the writer's ident.i.ty.

Moreover, Mrs. Haywood's re-establishment as an anonymous author seems to have been a work of some difficulty, necessitating a ten years'

struggle against adversity. Between 1731 and 1741 she produced fewer books than during any single year of her activity after the publication of "Idalia" and before "The Dunciad." Her probable share in the "Secret Memoirs of Mr. Duncan Campbel" was merely that of a hack writer, her contributions to the "Opera of Operas" were of the most trifling nature, and the two volumes of "L'Entretien des Beaux Esprits" were not original. For six years after the "Adventures of Eovaai" she sent to press no work now known to be hers, and not until the catch-penny "Present for a Servant-Maid" (1743) and the anonymous "Fortunate Foundlings" (1744) did her wares again attain the popularity of several editions. All due credit must be allowed Mrs. Haywood for her persistent efforts to regain her footing as a woman of letters, for during this time she had little encouragement. Pope's attack did destroy her best a.s.set, her growing reputation as an author, but instead of following Savage's ill-natured advice to turn washerwoman, she remained loyal to her profession and in her later novels gained greater success than she had ever before enjoyed. But it was only her dexterity that saved her from literary annihilation.[20]

The lesson of her hard usage at the hands of Pope and his allies, however, was not lost upon the adaptable dame. After her years of silence Mrs. Haywood seems to have returned to the production of perishable literature with less inclination for gallantry than she had evinced in her early romances. Warm-blooded creature though she was, Eliza could not be insensible to the cooling effect of age, and perhaps, too, she perceived the more sober moral taste of the new generation. "In the numerous volumes which she gave to the world towards the latter part of her life," says the "Biographia Dramatica," somewhat hastily, "no author has appeared more the votary of virtue, nor are there any novels in which a stricter purity, or a greater delicacy of sentiment, has been preserved." Without discussing here the comparative decency of Mrs.

Haywood's later novels, we may admit at once, with few allowances for change of standard, the moral excellence of such works as "The Female Spectator" and "Epistles for the Ladies." Certainly if the penance paid by the reader is any test, the novelist was successful in her effort to atone for the looseness of her early writings, when she left the province of fiction for that of the periodical essay.

FOOTNOTES [1]

Elwin and Courthope's _Pope_, IV, 4.

[2]

Elwin and Courthope's _Pope_, IV, 135, note 3.

[3]

Elwin and Courthope's _Pope_, IV, 141.

[4]

Elwin and Courthope 's Pope, IV, 232. Professor Lounsbury has apparently confused this work with _A Cursory View of the History of Lilliput For these last forty three Years_, 8vo,1727, a political satire containing no allusion to Pope. See _The Text of Shakespeare_, 287.

[5]

_Memoirs of the Court of Lilliput_, 16.

[6]

_The Dunciad_. 1728. Book II, lines 137-48, and 170; Book III, lines 149-53.

[7]

Elwin and Courthope 's _Pope_, IV, 282.

[8]

A second engraving by Vertue after Parmentier formed the frontispiece of _Secret Histories, Novels, and Poems_.

[9]

E. Curll, _Key to the Dunciad_, 12. Some copies apparently read "peer"

for "poet." See Elwin and Courthope's _Pope_, IV, 330, note pp.; and Sir Sidney Lee, article _Haywood_ in the D.N.B.

[10]

Elwin and Courthope's _Pope_, IV, 330, note ss.

[11]

Elwin and Courthope's _Pope_, IV, 294.

[12]

Elwin and Courthope's _Pope_, IV, 232. See also 159, note I.

[13]

T.E. Lounsbury, _The Text of Shakespeare_, 281. "'The Popiad' which appeared in July, and 'The Female Dunciad' which followed the month after ... were essentially miscellanies devoted to attacks upon the poet, and for them authors were not so much responsible as publishers."

[14]

Elwin and Courthope's _Pope_, IV, 141, note 5.

[15]

Notes and Queries, Ser. I, X, 110. The words italicized by me refer to Pope's description of Theobald's library, _The Dunciad_, (1728), Book I, line 106.

[16]

T. R. Lounsbury, _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-t.i.tle as by E. H. and _The Fair Captive_, a tragedy not originally written by her.

[19]