particular grievance. The discussion is frequently
illustrated by anecdotes or even by stories, though the author makes
comparatively small use of her talent for fiction. Indeed she records at
one point that "Many of the Subscribers to this Undertaking ... complain
that ... I moralize too much, and that I give them too few Tales." The
Oriental setting used by Addison with signal success is never attempted
and even scandal stories are frowned upon. Instead of the elaborate and
elegantly turned illustrative narratives of the "Spectator," Mrs.
Haywood generally relates anecdotes which in spite of the disguised
names savor of crude realism. They are examples rather than
illustrations of life.

One of the most lively is a story told to show the inevitable
unhappiness of a marriage between persons of different sects. The
husband, a High Church man, and the wife, of Presbyterian persuasion,
were happy enough during the first months of married life, "tho' he
sometimes expressed a Dissatisfaction at being denied the Pleasure of
leading her to Westminster-Abbey, for he would hear no Divine Service
out of a Cathedral, and she was no less troubled that she could not
prevail with him to make his Appearance with her at the Conventicle."
Consequently when their first child was born, they were unable to agree
how the boy was to be baptized. "All their Discourse was larded with the
most piquant Reflections," but to no purpose. The father insisted upon
having his own way, but Amonia, as his consort was not inappropriately
named, was no less stubborn in her detestation of lawn sleeves, and on
the eve of the christening had the ceremony privately performed by her
own minister. When the bishop and the guests were assembled, she
announced with "splenetic Satisfaction" that the child had already been
"made a Christian" and that his name was John. The astonished husband
lapsed into an "adequate rage," and though restrained by the company
from doing an immediate violence to his help-mate, was permanently
estranged from her through his resentment. Two other stories from "The
Female Spectator" were quoted by Dr. Nathan Drake in his "Gleaner."

In her bold attempt to rival Addison upon his own ground Mrs. Haywood
was more than moderately successful in the estimation of many of her
contemporaries. Rambling and trite as are the essays in her periodical,
their excellent intentions, at least, gained them a degree of
popularity. A writer in the "Gent