ncourage her
plantations in the New World, and complaining of the tyranny of
arbitrary governors. But the essay parts of "The Parrot" are not even
equal to "The Female Spectator" and deserve no lightening of the deep
and speedy oblivion cast upon them.

Besides her periodical essays Mrs. Haywood wrote during her declining
years several conduct books, which, beyond showing the adaptability of
her pen to any species of writing, have but small importance. One of
them, though inheriting something from Defoe, owed most to the interest
in the servant girl heroine excited by Richardson's first novel. No
sociologist has yet made a study of the effect of "Pamela" upon the
condition of domestics, but the many excellent maxims on the servant
question uttered by Lord B---- and his lady can hardly have been without
influence upon the persons of the first quality who pored over the
volumes. In popular novels, at any rate, abigails and scullions reigned
supreme. In 1752 the "Monthly Review" remarked of a recent work of
fiction, "The History of Betty Barnes," that it seemed "chiefly
calculated for the amusement of a class of people, to whom the
_Apprentice's Monitor_, or the _Present for a servant maid_ might be
recommended to much better purpose," but the reviewer's censure failed
to quell the demand for romances of the kitchen. Mrs. Haywood, however,
might have approved of his recommendation, since she happened to be the
author of the little manual of household science especially urged upon
the females below stairs.

"A Present for a Servant-Maid. Or, the Sure Means of Gaining Love and
Esteem" was frequently reprinted both in London and Dublin during the
years 1743-4, and as late as 1772 a revision was mentioned in the
"Monthly Review" as a "well-designed and valuable tract."[10] The work
is a compendium of instructions for possible Pamelas, teaching them in
brief how to wash, to market, to dress any sort of meat, to cook, to
pickle, and to preserve their virtue. The maids are cautioned against
such female errors as sluttishness, tale-bearing, staying on errands,
telling family affairs, aping the fashion, and giving saucy answers.
They are forbidden to play with fire or candles, to quarrel with fellow
domestics, to waste victuals or to give them away. A fine example of the
morality of scruples inculcated by the tract is the passage on the duty
of religious observance. A maidservant should not neglect to go to
church at least every