The one book by which Mrs. Pilkington is known is her _Memoirs_, the three volumes of which appeared in 1748. In 1754 a third edition appeared with an additional volume by her son. Shortly after her death there appeared a compilation entitled _The Celebrated Mrs. Pilkington's Jests; or, The Cabinet of Wit and Humour_. In the _Memoirs_ the early happy life in Dublin and the later tricks and shifts and intrigues of the London life are described with equal frankness. The result was a tarnished fame as a woman, but an undisputed reputation as a clever writer. When the Earl of Chesterfield wondered that she could write English so well, she sent word to his lordship that Dr. Swift had been her tutor. As a literary critic Mrs. Pilkington is especially severe on the immorality of some contemporary women writers. Speaking of a lady who had refused to subscribe to her book she said: She would have purchased my Book sooner than the Bible, to indulge her private Meditations, Especially if I had the wicked Art of painting up Vice in attractive Colours, as too many of our Female Writers have done, to the Destruction of Thousands, amongst whom Mrs. Manly and Mrs. Haywood deserve the foremost Rank. But what extraordinary Passions these Ladies may have experienced, I know not; far be such Knowledge from a Modest Woman: Indeed Mrs. _Haywood_ seems to have dropped her former luscious Stile, and, for Variety presents us with the insipid: Her _Female Spectators_ are a Collection of trite Stories, delivered to us in stale and worn-out Phrases: Bless'd Revolution! _Yet of the two, less dang'rous is th' Offence_ _To tire the Patience, than mislead the Sense._ And here give me leave to observe, that amongst the Ladies that have taken up the Pen, I never met with but two who deserved the Name of a _Writer_; the first is Madam _Dacier_, whose Learning Mr. Pope, while he is indebted to her for all the notes on _Homer_, endeavoured to depreciate; the second is Mrs. Catherine Philips, the matchless _Orinda_, celebrated by Mr. _Cowley_, Lord _Orrery_, and all the Men of Genius who lived in her Time. I think this incomparable Lady was one of the first Refiners of the _English_ Numbers. I cannot, except my own Country-woman _Mrs. Grierson_, find out another female Writer, whose Works are worth reading; she indeed had a happy and well-improved Genius! The last glimpse we have of Mrs. Pilkington is most effective in the dramatic contrast it presents. On Thursday, April 12, 1750, John Wesley wrote in his Dublin Diary: "I breakfasted with one of the Society, and found she had a lodger I little thought of. It was the famous Mrs. Pilkington, who soon made an excuse for following me up stairs. I talked with her seriously about an hour: we then sung, 'Happy Magdalene.' She appeared to be exceedingly struck: how long the impression may last, God knows."[343] [Sidenote: Mrs. Mary Davys (fl. 1725)]