An eight page verse satire entitled _The Female Dunces. Inscribed to Mr.
Pope_ (1733) after criticizing the conduct of certain well known ladies,
concludes with praise of a nymph who we may believe was intended to
represent Eliza Haywood:

"Eliza good Examples shews in vain,
Despis'd, and laugh'd at by the _vicious Train_;
So bright she shines, she might adorn a Throne
Not with a _borrow'd_ Lustre, but her Own."

[25]
A single exception was _The Surprise_ (1724), dedicated to Steele in the
following words: "The little History I presume to offer, being composed
of Characters full of Honour and Generosity, I thought I had a fit
Opportunity, by presenting it to one who has made it so much his Study
to infuse those Principles, and whose every Action is a shining Example
of them, to express my Zeal in declaring myself with all imaginable
Regard," etc., etc.

[26]
See the Dedication to _The Fatal Secret_ (1724). "But as I am a Woman,
and consequently depriv'd of those Advantages of Education which the
other Sex enjoy, I cannot so far flatter my Desires, as to imagine it in
my Power to soar to any Subject higher than that which Nature is not
negligent to teach us.
"Love is a Topick which I believe few are ignorant of; there requires no
Aids of Learning, no general Conversation, no Application; a shady Grove
and purling Stream are all Things that's necessary to give us an Idea of
the tender Passion. This is a Theme, therefore, which, while I make
choice to write of, frees me from the Imputation of vain or