THE HEROINE OF "THE DUNCIAD"
Mr. Pope's devious efforts to make the gratification of his personal
animosities seem due to public-spirited indignation have been generally
exposed. Beside the overwhelming desire to spite Theobald for his
presumption in publishing "Shakespeare Restored" the aggrieved poet was
actuated by numerous petty grudges against the inhabitants of Grub
Street, all of which he masked behind a pretence of righteous zeal.
According to the official explanation "The Dunciad" was composed with
the most laudable motive of damaging those writers of "abusive
falsehoods and scurrilities" who "had aspersed almost all the great
characters of the age; and this with impunity, their own persons and
names being utterly secret and obscure." He intended to seize the
"opportunity of doing some good, by detecting and dragging into light
these common enemies of mankind; since to invalidate this universal
slander, it sufficed to show what contemptible men were the authors of
it. He was not without hopes, that by manifesting the dulness of those
who had only malice to recommend them, either the booksellers would not
find their account in employing them, or the men themselves, when
discovered, would want courage to proceed in so unlawful an occupation.
This it was that gave birth to the 'Dunciad,' and he thought it a
happiness, that by the late flood of slander on himself, he had acquired
such a peculiar right over their names as was necessary to this
design."[1] But gentlemanly reproof and delicate satire would be wasted
on "libellers and common nuisances." They must be met upon their own
ground and overwhelmed with filth. "Thus the politest men are obliged
sometimes to swear when they have to do with porters and
oyster-wenches." Moreover, those unexceptionable models, Homer, Virgil,
and Dryden had all admitted certain nasty expressions, and in comparison
with them "our author ... tosses about his dung with an air of
majesty."[2] In the episode devoted to the "authoress of those most
scandalous books called the Court of Carimania, and the new Utopia,"
remarks the annotator of "The Dunciad, Variorum," "is exposed, in the
most contemptuous manner, the profligate licentiousness of those
shameless scribblers (for the most part of that sex, which ought least
to be capable of such malice or impudence) who in libellous Memoirs and
Novels, reveal the faults and misfortunes of both sexes, to the ruin of
public fame, or disturbance of private happiness. Our good poet (by the
whole cast of his work being obliged not to take off the irony) where he
could not show his indignation, hath shewn his contempt, as much as
possible; having here drawn as vile a picture as could be represented in
the colours of Epic poesy."[3] On these grounds Pope justified the
coarseness of his allusions to Mrs. Thomas (Corinna) and Eliza Haywood.
But a statement of high moral purpose from the author of "The Dunciad"
was almost inevitably the stalking-horse of an unworthy action. Mr.
Pope's reasons, real and professed, for giving Mrs. Haywood a
particularly obnoxious place in his epic of dullness afford a curious
illustration of his unmatched capacity ostensibly to chastise the vices
of the age, while in fact hitting an opponent below the belt.
The scourge of dunces had, as we have seen, a legitimate cause to resent
the licentious attack upon certain court ladies, especially his friend
Mrs. Howard, in a scandalous fiction of which Eliza Haywood was the
reputed author. Besides she had allied herself with Bond, Defoe, and
other inelegant pretenders in the domain of letters, and was known to be
the friend of Aaron Hill, Esq., who stood not high in Pope Alexander's
good graces. And finally Pope may have honestly believed that she was
responsible for a lampoon upon him in person. In "A List of Books,
Papers, and Verses, in which our Author was Abused, Before the
Publication of the Dunciad; with the True Names of the Authors,"
appended to "The Dunciad, Variorum" of 1729, Mrs. Haywood was credited
with an anonymous "Memoirs of Lilliput, octavo, printed in 1727."[4] The
full title of the work in question reads, "Memoirs of the Court of
Lilliput. Written by Captain Gulliver. Containing an Account of the
Intrigues, and some other particular Transactions of that Nation,
omitted in the two Volumes of his Travels. Published by Lucas Bennet,
with a Preface, shewing how these Papers fell into his hands." The
title, indeed, is suggestive of such productions as "The Court of
Carimania." In the Preface Mr. Lucas Bennet describes himself as a
schoolfellow and friend of Captain Gulliver, which is reason enough to
make us doubt his own actuality. But whether a real personage or a
pseudonym for some other author, he was probably not Mrs. Haywood, for
the style of the book is unlike that of her known works, and the
historian of Lilliput indulges in some mild sarcasms at the expense of
women who "set up for Writers, before they have well learned their
Alphabet," Either before or after composing his lines on Eliza, however,
Pope chose to attribute the volume to her. The passage which doubtless
provoked his noble rage against shameless scribblers was part of a
debate between Lilliputian Court ladies who were anxious lest their
having been seen by Gulliver in a delicate situation should reflect on
their reputations. The speaker undertakes to reassure her companions.
"And besides, the inequality of our Stature rightly consider'd, ought
to be for us as full a Security from Slander, as that between Mr.
P--pe, and those _great_ Ladies who do nothing without him; admit him
to their Closets, their Bed-sides, consult him in the choice of their
Servents, their Garments, and make no scruple of putting them on or
off before him: Every body knows they are Women of strict Virtue, and
he a Harmless Creature, who has neither the Will, nor Power of doing
any farther Mischief than with his Pen, and that he seldom draws, but
in defense of their Beauty; or to second their Revenge against some
presuming Prude, who boasts a Superiority of Charms: or in privately
transcribing and passing for his own, the elaborate Studies of some
more learned Genius."[5]
Such an attack upon the sensitive poet's person and pride did not go
unnoticed. More than a year later he returned the slur with interest
upon the head of the supposed author. The lines on Eliza, which still
remain the coarsest in the satire, were in the original "Dunciad" even
more brutal.[6] Nothing short of childish personal animus could account
for the filthy malignity of Pope's revenge.
"See in the circle next, Eliza plac'd;
Two babes of love close clinging to her waste;
Fair as before her works she stands confess'd
In flow'r'd brocade by bounteous _Kirkall_ dress'd,
Pearls on her neck, and roses in her hair,
And her fore-buttocks to the navel bare."[7]
The Goddess of Dullness offers "yon Juno of majestic size" as the chief
prize in the booksellers' games. "Chetwood and Curll accept this
glorious strife," the latter, as always, wins the obscene contest, "and
the pleas'd dame soft-smiling leads away." Nearly all of this account is
impudent slander, but Mr. Pope's imputations may have had enough truth
in them to sting. His description of Eliza is a savage caricature of her
portrait by Kirkall prefixed to the first edition of her collected
novels, plays, and poems (1724).[8] Curll's "Key to the Dunciad," quoted
with evident relish by Pope in the Variorum notes, recorded on the
authority of contemporary scandal that the "two babes of love" were the
offspring of a poet[9] and a bookseller. This bit of libel meant no more
than that Mrs. Haywood's relations with Savage and other minor writers
had been injudiciously unconventional. As for the booksellers, Curll had
not been professionally connected with the authoress before the
publication of "The Dunciad," and the part he played in the games may be
regarded as due entirely to Pope's malice. W. R. Chetwood was indeed the
first publisher of Eliza's effusions, but his name was even more
strongly associated with the prize which actually fell to his lot.[10]
In 1735 Chapman was substituted for Chetwood, and in the last revision
Thomas Osborne, then the object of Pope's private antipathy, gained a
permanent place as Curll's opponent. Taken all in all, the chief
virulence of the abuse was directed more against the booksellers than
against Mrs. Haywood.
The second mention of Eliza was also in connection with Corinna in a
passage now canceled.
"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 manuscript "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 "ass 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, entitled "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
competition 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 title 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 assiduously 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 spacious Circumference 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 _noble_; 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 authoress' 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 assault 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 unpawned
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
illustration of the powerlessness of this attack upon the immediate
fortunes of those assailed," 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 title-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 title-page. That her signature possessed a
distinct commercial value in selling popular fiction was amusingly
illustrated 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 title-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 title-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 title-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 Assemblee"
(1725), ran through eight editions. The single occurrence of Mrs.
Haywood's name on a title-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" title-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 identity.
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
asset, 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-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_...."