the sign of Cato's Head, Covent Garden. He had already brought out for
Mrs. Haywood the first effort of her genius, a romantic tale entitled
"Love in Excess: or, the Fatal Enquiry." We have the author's testimony
that the three parts "mett a Better Reception then they Deservd," and
indeed the piece was extraordinarily successful, running through no less
than six separate editions before its inclusion in her collected "Secret
Histories, Novels and Poems" in 1725. On the last page of "Letters from
a Lady of Quality to a Chevalier" Chetwood had also advertised for
speedy publication "a Book entitled, The Danger of giving way to
Passion, in Five Exemplary Novels: First, The British Recluse, or the
Secret History of Cleomira, supposed dead. Second, The Injur'd Husband,
or the Mistaken Resentment. Third, Lasselia, or the Unfortunate
Mistress. Fourth, The Rash Resolve, or the Untimely Discovery. Fifth,
Idalia, or the Self-abandon'd.[19] Written by Mrs. Eliza Haywood."
During the next three years the five novels were issued singly by
Chetwood with the help of other booksellers, usually Daniel Browne, Jr.,
and Samuel Chapman. This pair, or James Roberts, Chetwood's successor,
published most of Mrs. Haywood's early writings. The staple of her
output during the first decade of authorship was the short amatory
romance like "Love in Excess" and the "exemplary novels" just mentioned.
These exercises in fiction were evidently composed _currente calamo_,
with little thought and less revision, for an eager and undiscriminating
public. Possibly, as Mr. Gosse conjectures,[20] they were read chiefly
by milliners and other women on the verge of literacy. But though
persons of solid education avoided reading novels and eastern tales as
they might the drinking of drams, it is certain that no one of scanty
means could have afforded Mrs. Haywood's slender octavos at the price of
one to three shillings. The Lady's Library ("Spectator" No. 37)
containing beside numerous romances "A Book of Novels" and "The New
Atalantis, with a Key to it," which last Lady Mary Montagu also enjoyed,