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
The Stage not answering my Expectation, and the averseness of my
Relations to it, has made me Turn my Genius another Way; I have
Printed some Little things which have mett a Better Reception then
they Deservd, or I Expected: and have now Ventur'd on a Translation to
be done by Subscription, the Proposalls whereof I take the Liberty to
send You: I have been so much us'd to Receive favours from You that I
can make No Doubt of y'r forgiveness for this freedom, great as it is,
and that You will alsoe become one of those Persons, whose Names are a
Countenance to my undertaking. I am mistress of neither words nor
happy Turn of thought to Thank You as I ought for the many Unmeritted
favours You have Conferr'd on me, but beg You to believe all that a
gratefull Soul can feel, mine does who am Sir
Yo'r most humble &
most Obedient Serv't
ELIZA HAYWOOD.
August ye 5th 1720
Enclosed with the letter were "Proposals For Printing by Subscription A
Translation from the French of the Famous Monsieur Bursault Containing
Ten Letters from a Lady of Quality to a Chevalier."[18] The work thus
heralded was published in the latter part of 1720 by subscription--
"three shillings each Book in Quires, or five Shillings bound in Calf,
Gilt Back"--a method never again employed by Mrs. Haywood, though in
this case it must have succeeded fairly well. Three hundred and nine
names appeared on her list of subscribers, of which one hundred and
twenty-three were women's. Few subscribers of either sex were
distinguished. There were, however, that universal patron of minor
authors, George Bubb, Esq., later the Doddington to whom Thomson
dedicated his "Summer"; Mrs. Barker, the novelist; Aaron Hill; a Mr.
Osborne, possibly the bookseller whose name was afterward infamously
connected with Eliza's in "The Dunciad"; Charles de La Faye, the
under-secretary of state with whom Defoe corresponded; and a sprinkling
of aristocratic titles.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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