In her essays, even the most serious, Mrs. Haywood was a follower of Addison rather than Johnson. The first of them, if we disregard the slight discourse appended to the "Letters from a Lady of Quality to a Chevalier," was "The Tea-Table: or, A Conversation between some Polite Persons of both Sexes, at a Lady's Visiting Day. Wherein are represented the Various Foibles, and Affectations, which form the Character of an Accomplish'd Beau, or Modern Fine Lady. Interspersed with several Entertaining and Instructive Stories,"[7] (1725), which most resembles a "day" detached from the interminable "La Belle Assemblée" of Mme de Gomez, translated by Mrs. Haywood a few months before. There is the same polite conversation, the debate between love and reason, the poem,[8] and the story. But the moral reflections upon tea-tables, the description of Amiana's, where only wit and good humor prevail, and the satirical portraits of a titled coxcomb and a bevy of fine ladies, are all in the manner of the "Tatler." The manuscript novel read by one of the company savors of nothing but Mrs. Haywood, who was evidently unable to slight her favorite theme of passion. Her comment on contemporary manners soon gives place to "Beraldus and Celemena: or the Punishment of Mutability," a tale of court intrigue in her warmest vein. The authors of the "Tatler" and "Spectator" had, of course, set a precedent for the inclusion of short romantic stories in the essay of manners, and even the essays with no distinct element of fiction were preparing for the novelist the powerful tool of characterization. Writers of fiction were slow to apply the new art to their proper materials. In the present instance an experienced novelist employed the essay form to depict the follies and affectations of a beau and fine ladies, and immediately turned back to a story in which characterization is almost entirely neglected for incident. It is interesting to find the same writer using the realistic sketch of manners and the romantic tale of intrigue and passion without any thought of combining the two elements. In the second part of "The Tea-Table" Mrs. Haywood made no attempt to diversify the patchwork of verse and prose with any narrative, save one small incident illustrating pride. The sole point of interest is the long and laudatory tribute to her friend Aaron Hill in "A Pastoral Dialogue, between Alexis and Clarinda; Occasioned by Hillarius's intending a Voyage to America."