Haywood [née Fowler], Eliza (1693?-1756)

The Fatal Secret: or, Constancy in Distress.

London

1724, 1725

One may be "puzzled with a too great Variety" and "have their Judgments dimm'd with the Confusion of Ideas"

Nothing is so generally coveted by Womankind, as to be accounted Beautiful; yet nothing renders the Owner more liable to Inconveniencies. She who is fond of Praise, is in great Danger of growing too fond of the Praiser; and if by chance she does defend herself from the Attacks made on herVirtue, it is almost a Miracle if her Reputation receives no Prejudice by them: And a Woman who is very much admir'd for the Charms of her Face, ought with infinitely more Reason be so for those of her Prudence, who preserves both amidst so many Enemies as Love and Opportunity will raise against them. For one Woman that has made her Fortune by her Beauty, there are a thousand whose utter Destruction it has been. ----Some, among a Crowd of Adorers, are so long determining which shall be the happy Man, that Time stealing every Day away some Part of their Attractions, they grow at last depriv'd of all, and on a sudden find themselves abandon'd and not worth a Bow from those whose Hearts and Knees bended at their Approach before. ---- Others, puzzled with a too great Variety, have their Judgments dimm'd with the Confusion of Ideas, and more frequently make Choice of the worst than the contrary. ----A third Sort there are, who, by becoming a publick Toast, assume to themselves such an Air of Insolence and Self-sufficiency, that their Behaviour forfeits the Conquest which their Eyes had gain'd, and they grow in a little Time rather Objects of Ridicule than Admiration. ----Numberless are the Dangers to which a young Creature, more than ordinarily fair, is incident; and even where there is the greatest Stock of Virtue, Modesty, and good Sense, it sometimes is the Occasion of Misfortunes which are not to be warded off by all those Guards.
(pp. 207-8)

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At least 4 entries in the ESTC (1724, 1725, 1732, 1742).

See The Fatal Secret: or, Constancy in Distress. By the Author of the Masqueraders, or Fatal Curiosity. 2nd ed. (London: Printed for J. Roberts, near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick-Lane, 1724). <Link to ESTC>

Text from Secret Histories, Novels and Poems. In Four Volumes. Written by Mrs. Eliza Haywood. (London: Printed [partly by Samuel Aris] for Dan. Browne, jun. at the Black Swan without Temple-Bar ; and S. Chapman, at the Angel in Pall-Mall, 1725). <Link to ESTC>

11/17/2004