The Life and Romances of Mrs. Eliza HaywoodWhicher, George Frisbie
General
The Life and Romances of Mrs. Eliza Haywood
Whicher, George Frisbie
Haywood, Eliza Fowler, 1693?-1756
Dorante entrusts his small stock of money to his wife's brother,
Abimelech, in order to start him in trade. The Jew goes to Holland with
a woman whom he has saved from religious murder at the hands of a
Levite, and nothing further is heard from him or the money. Imprisoned
by his creditors, Dorante is persuaded by his wife to sign away the
entail of his estate in return for a sum of money. Thereupon she departs
with the gold and a new gallant, leaving her unhappy husband to be
rescued from want by the kindness, of a younger brother. After the poor
solace of hearing that Kesiah and her paramour have been lost at sea, he
dies of a broken heart.[18]
Though Eliza Haywood exhausted nearly every possible bit of
sensationalism that could be extracted from tales of passion, she almost
never made use of the heroic feats of arms which constituted a no less
important resource of the French romances. Her heroes are victors in
love but not in war. The sole exception is a little romance of Moorish
chivalry in the eighth century. Though this period had already been
pre-empted by Mrs. Manley's "Memoirs of Europe," there is little doubt
that Mrs. Haywood was responsible for "The Arragonian Queen: A Secret
History" (1724), a peculiar blend of heroic adventures in battle,
bullfight, and tournament, with amorous intrigues of the most involved
kind.
Prince Albaraizor of Arragon goes to assist Omar, King of Valencia,
against a traitorous foe, and with the help of the young general,
Abdelhamar, succeeds in vanquishing the enemy, though the latter youth
is seriously wounded while performing miracles of valor. To reward the
conqueror the hand of the Princess Zephalinda is bestowed upon him, but
she unfortunately is already enamored of Abdelhamar, whom she had
learned to love at a bullfight. But in spite of a repining letter from
her constant lover, and in spite of his appearance before her all pale
and trembling from his wounds, the Princess refuses to deviate from her
duty.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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