As in the French romances of the Scudery type the missives were quoted at length and labeled with such headings as, “The Despairing D’Elmont to his Repenting Charmer,” or “To the never enough Admir’d Count D’Elmont,” and signed with some such formula as, “Your most passionate and tender, but (’till she receives a favorable Answer) your unknown Adorer.”  The custom of inserting letters in the course of the story was, as has already been indicated, a heritage from the times of Gomberville, La Calprenede, and the Scuderys when miscellaneous material of all sorts from poetry to prosy conversations was habitually used to diversify the narrative.  Mrs. Haywood, however, employed the letter not to ornament but to intensify.  Her billets-doux like the lyrics in a play represent moments of supreme emotion.  In seeking vividness she too often fell into exaggeration, as in the following specimen of absolute passion.

“Torture—­Distraction—­Hell—­what will become of me—­I cannot—­I will not survive the Knowledge that you are mine no more—­Yet this Suspence is worse than all yet ever bore the Name of Horror—­Let me not linger in it, if you have Humanity—­declare my Doom at once—­be kind in Cruelty at least, and let one Death conclude the thousand, thousand Deaths which every Minute of Uncertainty brings with it, to

The Miserable, but
Still Adoring
Melantha.

P.S.  I have order’d the Messenger to bring an Answer; if he comes
without, depend I will murder him, and then myself."[1]

Such remnants of the romantic tradition as the verses on “The Unfortunate Camilla’s Complaint to the Moon, for the Absence of her dear Henricus Frankville” in “Love in Excess” were soon discarded, but the letters, though they encumbered the progress of the narrative, made it more realistic by giving an opportunity for the display of passion at first hand.  Their continued vogue was undoubtedly due in large measure to the popularity of the celebrated “Letters of a Portuguese Nun” (1669), which, with a note of sincerity till then unknown, aided the return to naturalness.[2]

The “Lettres Nouvelles de Monsieur Boursault ...  Avec Treize Lettres Amoureuses d’une Dame a un Cavalier,” loosely translated by Mrs. Haywood as “Letters from a Lady of Quality to a Chevalier” (1721),[3] was one of the numerous imitations of the Portuguese Letters.  Like most of the other imitations it echoed the mannerisms rather than the fervor of its original.  The lady’s epistles do not reveal a story, but describe in detail the doubts, disappointments, fears, jealousies, and raptures of a married woman for a lover who in the last three letters has left France for England.  Except for this remove there is no change in the situation of the characters.  The lover apparently remains constant to the end.  The reader is even left in some doubt as to the exact nature of their relationship.  The lady at one time calls it a “criminal Conversation,” but later resents an attempt upon her honor, and seems generally to believe that “a distant Conversation, if it is less sweet, will be, not only more pure, but also more durable.”