Tuesday 10 September 2013

Contemporary Reviews of Haywood's Clementina (1768)

Below are transcripts of three contemporary reviews of Eliza Haywood's Clementina (1768), a revision of The Agreeable Caledonian (1728–29), with links to the original texts (now on Google Books). See here for a complete list of early reviews of Haywood's works available online.

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Ab.41.3 Clementina, Critical Review 25 (January 1768): 59 (Article 14)—online here

14. Clementina; or, the History of an Italian Lady, who made her Escape from a Monastery, for the Love of a Scots Nobleman, 12mo. Pr. 2s. 6d. Noble.

This is a republication of a dull, profligate, Haywoodian production, in which all the males are rogues, and all the females whores, without a glimpse of plot, fable, or sentiment

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Ab.41.3 Clementina, The London Review 37 (January 1768): 47–48—online here

Clementina, or, The History of an Italian Lady, who made her Escape from a Monastery, for the Love of a Scots Nobleman, Noble.

In an advertisement prefixed to this little volume we learn, that it was written by Mrs. Haywood in the year 1728, and published under the title of the Agreeable Caledonian, so that it is now only vamped up with little more that a different title-page, and cannot consequently claim any attention as a new production.

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Ab.41.3 Clementina, Monthly Review 38 (May 1768): 412 (Article 45)—online here

Art. 45. Clementina; or the History of an Italian Lady, who made her Escape from a Monastery, for the Love of a Scots Nobleman. 12mo. 3s. Noble.

We are told, in the advertisement prefixed to this Novel, that, it is not a new work; that it made its first appearance in 1728, under the title of The Agreeable Caledonian; that its author was the late Mrs. Eliza Haywood; and that the present edition is printed from a copy corrected by her, not long before her death,—It is like the rest of Mrs. Haywood's novels, written in a tawdry style, now utterly exploded; the romances of these days being reduced much nearer to the standard of nature, and to the manners of the living world.

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