Fantomina; or, Love in a Maze
By Eliza Haywood

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Sources

London : Printed for Dan Browne, jun. at the Black Swan without Temple-Bar, 1725Each section has a separate titlepage. The titlepage of the first volume only is in red and black. The third volume was printed by Samuel Aris on the evidence of the ornaments.Page images are drawn from the second edition in ECCO.For more information about this item, see the ESTC entry at http://estc.bl.uk/T66936. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania, Celebration of Women Writers, n.d.Text for this digital edition drawn from http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/haywood/fantomina/fantomina.html and checked against the second edition text via ECCO.

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Citation

Haywood, Eliza. "Fantomina; or, Love in a Maze". Secret Histories, Novels, and Poems, Printed for Dan Browne, jun. at the Black Swan without Temple-Bar, 1725 , IIIpp 256-291 . Literature in Context: An Open Anthology. http://anthologydev.lib.virginia.edu/work/Haywood/haywood-fantomina. Accessed: 2025-01-17T19:12:00.205Z

Linked Data

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TEST Audio
[TP] FANTOMINA:
 OR,
 LOVE in a Maze.
 BEING A
 Secret Historysecret_historysecret_historyWhile there are many critical understandings of the secret history in literature, as the essays in The Secret History in Literature: 1660-1820 (2017) suggest, the genre usually offers a glimpse into the secret lives of public individuals. In the amatory tradition of Fantomina, this "private" side is typically filled with sexual or political intrigue. - [TH]
 OF AN
 AMOUR
 Between Two
 PERSONS OF CONDITION.
 By Mrs. ELIZA HAYWOOD.author author Frontispiece portrait engraving of HaywoodSource: Engraved portrait of Haywood Eliza Haywood (c.1693-1756) was a prolific author, actor, and publisher of the early- to mid-eighteenth century. She is most famous, today, for her novels and novellas, among which Fantominais numbered. The image included here, via Wikimedia Commons, is an engraved frontispiece portrait by George Vertue. Haywood wrote in a number of different genres, including amatory fiction, domestic fiction, and essay. - [TH]
 In Love the Victors from the Vanquish'd fly. They fly that wound, and they pursue that dye. WALLER.
wallerThis epigraph is composed of the last couplet from "To A. H: Of the Different Successe of Their Loves," a poem by Edmund Waller (1606-1687). Waller's poem, published in 1645, takes a Petrarchan perspective of the relationship between the male lover and the female beloved. This couplet was oft-quoted during the period, and features in George Etheredge's Restoration comedy Man of Mode, where it is spoken by the protagonist Dorimant. Read more about Waller at Encyclopaedia Britannica. - [TH]
London:
Printed for jun. at the Black-Swan
without Temple-Bar, and S. CHAPMAN, at
the Angel in Pallmall. M.DCC.XXV.
Page [TP]Page [TP]

Footnotes

secret_history_While there are many critical understandings of the secret history in literature, as the essays in The Secret History in Literature: 1660-1820 (2017) suggest, the genre usually offers a glimpse into the secret lives of public individuals. In the amatory tradition of Fantomina, this "private" side is typically filled with sexual or political intrigue.
author_ Frontispiece portrait engraving of HaywoodSource: Engraved portrait of Haywood Eliza Haywood (c.1693-1756) was a prolific author, actor, and publisher of the early- to mid-eighteenth century. She is most famous, today, for her novels and novellas, among which Fantominais numbered. The image included here, via Wikimedia Commons, is an engraved frontispiece portrait by George Vertue. Haywood wrote in a number of different genres, including amatory fiction, domestic fiction, and essay.
waller_This epigraph is composed of the last couplet from "To A. H: Of the Different Successe of Their Loves," a poem by Edmund Waller (1606-1687). Waller's poem, published in 1645, takes a Petrarchan perspective of the relationship between the male lover and the female beloved. This couplet was oft-quoted during the period, and features in George Etheredge's Restoration comedy Man of Mode, where it is spoken by the protagonist Dorimant. Read more about Waller at Encyclopaedia Britannica.
box_Engraving depicting a riot at Covent Garden TheatreSource: Engraving depicting a riot at Covent Garden TheatrePlayhouses during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in England organized seating according to price and social status. Boxes were the most expensive of seating areas, and could hold several people in style. The image included here, from the Victoria and Albert Museum, depicts a famous riot at Covent Garden theater during a performance of the opera Artaxerxes in 1763. For more information about the development of theater in the eighteenth century, see Andrew Dickson's introduction at the British Library.
toasts_According to the OED, a "toast" is a "[a] lady who is named as the person to whom a company is requested to drink; often one who is the reigning belle of the season" (n2.1).
pit_The "pit" was a mixed-sex seating area in the eighteenth-century, notable for its energy and activity. According to The Oxford Companion to Theatre and Performance, the "pit occupied the floor of the theatre at a lower level than the stage and, unlike the standing pit of earlier public theatres, contained rows of backless benches set on a raked floor. Seats in the pit were half the price of a seat in the box and attracted a mixed audience of men and women. The activity of the audience in the pit and the behaviour of the occupants of the boxes, especially with the King present, were part of the theatregoing spectacle." Prostitutes, wits, and rakes frequented the pit and the middle galleries. For more information, see Douglas Canfield's introduction to The Broadview Anthology of Restoration and Early Eighteenth-Century Drama (vxiii).
hoods_Throughout the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, hoods and hooded cloaks were both practical and fashionable garments for women. In the winter, hoods and masks protected the body from icy air, and they generally allowed women more freedom to move un-seen throughout the city, as described in this article from the BBC's History Magazine.
gallery_The gallery-box or middle gallery is a seating area in cost between pit and box seats. Servants often sat in the inexpensive upper gallery seats. When Fantomina goes again tho the playhouse on her "frolick," she sits in the gallery areas that signify her sexual availability. Often, sex workers found partners and keepers at the playhouse, earning the theater a reputation for sexual display.
beauplaisir_Beauplaisir is a French portmanteau word meaning "beautiful pleasure." Beau was also a generic term in the eighteenth century for a lady's suitor or sweetheart, according to the OED.
drawing_room_The drawing or "withdrawing" room was a room in the home of a wealthier class of people to which women would "withdraw" after dinner, to brew tea and converse. Later, the male contingent would join the women in the drawing room for polite conversation and mingling. For more information on the history and evolution of the drawing room, see this review of Jeremy Musson's Drawing Room.
salutations_Salutations refer to customary greetings.
genteel_Used here as an adjective, "genteel" refers to a quality of polite refinement thought to be possessed by those of the gentry class. According to this review of Peter Cross's The Origins of the English Gentry, the gentry class is "a type of lesser nobility, based on landholding," that often dispensed justice in the locality and wielded great social power.
raillery_According to the OED, raillery refers to "[g]ood-humoured ridicule or banter," which can sometimes be more satirical or mocking.
quality_"Quality" is a difficult concept to grasp; in the eighteenth century, it typically referred to rank or social position, and more particularly, noble or high social position, as indicated by senses 4 and 5 in the OED.
chair_A hackney or sedan chair was a hireable mode of transportation that consisted of a single enclosed seat carried, on poles, by two strong men. It was small enough to enter into the front doors of a well-appointed house, thus ensuring secresy. Read more about the hackney or sedan chair in this article from Bath Magazine. The image included here shows an early eighteenth-century French sedan chair, without the horizontal carrying poles, housed in the VAM.Photograph of an early 18th centry French sedan chairSource: Early 18th-century French sedan chair (VAM)
cogitations_"Cogitations" are thoughts; often, the word contains a humourously exaggerated connotation.
devoirs_From the French word for duty, "devoirs" are dutiful addresses paid to someone out of respect or courtesy. See sense 4 in the OED.
lodgings_Fantomina explains that she rented rooms near the playhouse, which were centrally located and more expensive than houses or rooms in houses further afield. She would likely have rented the furnished first floor for between 2 and 4 guineas per week, according to John Trusler's late eighteenth-century London Adviser and Guide. For a sense of the cost of living in the period, see "Currency, Coinage and the Cost of Living" at the Old Bailey Online. For a good overview of early Georgian town houses, see this Google Arts and Culture Spotter's Guide.
collation_A "collation," according to the OED, is a light, often cold meal of meats, fruits, and wine that has little to no need of preparation.
house_When renting furnished rooms, a lodger might bring their own servant or use the servants who work consistently at the house. Here, we learn that Fantomina did not bring her own servant, but drew on the services of those from whom she rented.
honour_Honor, in this sense, is being used to refer to Fantomina's "virtue as regards sexual morality," according to sense 7 in the OED--or, "a reputation for this, one's good name."
country_A country gentleman would be a member of the landed gentry, residing most likely in a country house or mansion where the business of the locality was often conducted. The country gentleman would likely have also had a town house in London. To read more about the country house, see Mark Girouard's Life in the English Country House: A Social and Architectural History (1978).
piece_A broad piece is a coin approximately the same as a pound, worth 20 shillings. It was called a "broad piece" because it was thicker and and bigger than newer coins, minted after 1663. See "A Note on British Money", included in the Broadview edition of Anti-Pamela and Shamela (50ff).
barge_Oil painting showing a view of Hampton Court Palace with barges passing on the River ThamesSource: https://www.rct.uk/collection/404760/a-view-of-hampton-courtThe river Thames was a source of work, pleasure, and transportation in the eighteenth century; it connected many significant country towns to London, and access to Hampton Court Palace as well as the many London pleasure gardens was primarily accomplished via the river. To learn more about the history of the Thames, see this BBC article by Andy Dangerfield. The image included here, an early eighteenth-century painting by Leonard Knyff via the Royal Collection Trust, shows Hampton Court Palace and the barges passing on the river Thames.
intrigue_According to the OED, an "intrigue" is at once a secret intimacy between lovers, as well as an intricate or maze-like contrivance, perhaps enabling the clandestine romance.
habit_A habit used in this sense refers to a particular garment or mode of dress, often specific to a profession or activity. See the OED senses 1 and 2.
chapel_Fantomina here likely refers to the Chapel Royal at St. James's Palace. During the Georgian period, the Chapel Royal became "a significant cultural centre." For more information on the Chapel Royal, see this article by Carolyn Harris.
gardens_Bird's eye plan of the gardens at St. James's PalaceSource: Jan Kip, plan of St.James's Palace and Gardens, early 18th centuryThe palace gardens at St. James's Palace, which was the primary royal residence until early nineteenth century, are pictured in the bird's eye plan by Jan Kip shown here (via Wikimedia Commons). Something of the spirit of the parks and gardens of the period can be grasped by examining the 1745 painting of St. James's Park and the Mall, by Joseph Nickolls, discussed here.
opera_Engraving depicting a riot at Covent Garden during a performance of the opera ArtaxerxesSource: Engraving depicting a riot at Covent Garden TheatreOpera became extraordinarily fashionable during the eighteenth century. Read more about the history of opera during the period from the Victoria and Albert Museum. The image included here shows a riot during an opera at Covent Garden Theatre in 1763.
poignancy_According to the OED, "poingnancy" refers to the sharpness or piquancy of a feeling.
dissemble_To "dissemble" is to disguise or feign--to appear otherwise (OED).
bath_Bath is a fashionable resort and thermal spa town located in the south west of England, near Bristol. In the eighteenth century, it became a destination and, according to the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, "one of the most beautiful cities in Europe, with architecture and landscape combined harmoniously for the enjoyment of the spa town’s cure takers."
wagon_A wagon is a much ruder form of transportation than the elegant coach, befitting Fantomina's new character. Travel by stage coach from London to Bath during this period would have taken at least two days.
cap_Photograph of a manneqin in a petticoat and round-eared capSource: Round-eared cap (VAM)According to The Dictionary of Fashion History, a round-eared cap is a "white indoor cap curving round the face to the level of the ears or below," often ruffled, and drawn close with a string along the shallow back edge of the cap. These caps were popular among all classes from around 1730 to 1760, making this an early reference. The image included here, from the Victoria and Albert Museum, shows a mannequin in a quilted green petticoat and round-eared cap.
stuff_"Stuff" here refers to a type of woven material made of worsted woollen cloth. See OED sense 5c.
maid_A maidservant was one of the lowest-paid members of a domestic household, though others--like scullery maids, who were responsible for scrubbing kitchen pans--earned much less. A housemaid was typically responsible for airing rooms, emptying chamber pots, cleaning and beating rugs and beds, and so on. For more information on female domestic servants, see Part 12 of Eighteenth-Century Women: An Anthology, Volume 21.
waters_Watercolor by Rowlandson satirizing the fashionably ill at BathSource: Rowlandson, 'The Comforts of Bath' (1798)Througout the eighteenth century, Bath--known for its thermal springs--became a fashionable place to relax and "take the waters." Thomas Rowlandson's satirical 1798 watercolor, "The Comforts of Bath: The Pump Room," included here via Wikimedia Commons, depicts patients suffering from a variety of illnesses descending on the Pump Room to drink the hot mineral spring waters. It was believed that the mineral spring waters had curative properties, though many people went to Bath for relaxation and leisure in general.
celia_Celia is a generic pastoral female name.
service_"Service" in this sense refers to the position of domestic servitude she has acquired (OED).
mourning__miniature portrait of a woman in mourning garbSource: Portrait of a widow in mourning garbIn this enamel miniature portrait c.1710, via Philip Mould and Company, the artist Christian Zincke has depicted Henrietta Maria, Lady Ashburnham, in first mourning for her husband; Henrietta Maria is twenty-three in this portrait. First or deep mourning lasted approximately three months after the death of a spouse, during which time the mourner wore non-reflective black fabrics like bombazine.
pinners_A pinner is, according to the OED, a cap with long flaps on either side that fits more tightly around the head; it is often worn by women of higher social standing. "Pinners" also refers to the flaps on either side of the cap.
bristol_Bristol is a port town about 15 miles west of Bath.
ephesian_matron_In the story of the Ephesian matron, first told in Petronius' Satyricon, a new widow in deep mourning for her husband and known for her chastity is seduced by a soldier tasked with guarding the crucified bodies of three theives. While the soldier and the beautiful young widow are otherwise employed, one of the bodies disappears, and to save her lover, the widow replaces the missing thief with her husband's corpse. This story was adapted in the seventeenth century by Jean de La Fontaine. Read more about this story and the seventeenth-century adaptation that Haywood would have known of in Robert Colton's article, "The Story of the Widow of Ephesus in Petronius and La Fontaine."
narrator_While "Fantomina" appears to be told in the third person omniscient, there is a first-person narrator who interjects at points with her own thoughts, as she does here.
billet_A "billet" is the French word for letter; a billet doux is a love letter.
hand_"Hand" here refers to the style of handwriting used in the letter.
gall_Gall is another word for bile; figuratively, it refers to bitterness, a feature of bile.
nymph_engraving of nymphs at a bath, via the Metropolitan Museum of ArtSource: Boucher, 'Les Nimphes au Bain (The Nymphs at the Bath)' (18th Century), by Jean Ouvrier after Francois Boucher,"/>A "nymph" is a mythological nature spirit, usually depicted as a young woman disporting, semi-nude, in woodlands or near water. The word is often used allegorically or metaphorically to refer to elegant, flirtatious young women. The image included here shows an engraving, Les Nimphes au Bain (The Nymphs at the Bath), by Jean Ouvrier after Francois Boucher, via The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
embryo_This is an archaic spelling of embryo.
park_St. James's Park was radically redeveloped by Charles II after his return to the throne as a public space associated with the court. Here, Fantomina recounts visiting the park to acquire the services of some young men down on their luck and willing to be hired for a variety of services. Edmund Waller, whom Haywood quotes in her epigraph, praised the park as a grand, idealized gathering place for the fashionable elite in "ON St. James's PARK As lately improved by his MAJESTY"; however, John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester, reveals the darker, seamier side of the park in his satire, "A Ramble in St. James's Park". For more analysis of these competing readings of St. James's Park in context, see Christian Verdú's ""‘Me thinks I see the love that shall be made’: Two Restoration Views of St James Park".
mall_18th century image showng a group of people walking along the Mall in St. James's ParkSource: Nickolls, 'St. James's Park and the Mall' (1721-22)The Mall here refers not to a shopping center but a wide path for walking or formal processions. The accompanying image, attributed to Joseph Nickolls, shows a crowd of fashionable people on the Mall in St. James's Park (Via Wikimedia Commons).
chameleon_Chameleons were long thought to subsist on air. According to Pliny the Elder's The Natural History, the chameleon "always holds the head upright and the mouth open, and is the only animal which receives nourishment neither by meat nor drink, nor anything else, but from the air alone" (8.51). These impecunious men subsist on air, except when an employer happens upon them. It is worth noting that the chameleon, as Pliny goes on to say, is also "very remarkable" for the "nature of its colour," which "is continually changing; its eyes, its tail, and its whole body always assuming the colour of whatever object is nearest, with the exception of white and red."
physiognomy_Physiognomy refers to a pseudoscience that assessed the moral character of an individual--or a group of people--by their physical appearance. For more information on physiognomy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, see Sarah Waldorf's essay for The Iris, "Physiognomy, the Beautiful Pseudo-Science". For a fuller scholarly assessment, see Kathryn Woods's "‘Facing’ Identity in a ‘Faceless’ Society: Physiognomy, Facial Appearance and Identity Perception in Eighteenth-Century London".
hired_Photograph of the Handel Hendrix town houses in LondonSource: The Handel and Hendrix townhouses in LondonAs Incognita, Fantomina would have rented what John Trusler describes as a "high rented" townhouse in a central location. He goes on to note that "Houses about twenty-one feet in front will let from four guineas a week furnished to eight guineas, according to the season of the year and the time they are engaged for." This house, which is much more magnificent, would have been about two and a half to three times the price per week of the lodgings she took near the theaters. To learn more about London townhomes in the eighteenth century, see Rachel Stewart's The Town House in Georgian London (2009). The image included here, from the Handel Hendrix town home on Brook Street, London, depicts an excellent example of a large town home built during the early eighteenth century.
livery_Photograph showing 18th century ball dress and formal liverySource: Formal livery, via Colonial WilliamsburgLivery is the term given to the uniform worn by a household servant. In this image, showing a formal ball entrance reconstructed at Colonial Williamsburg, the two flanking servants are wearing the livery of the house (via Colonial Williamsburg Foundation).
incognita_Incognita is a feminine form of the Italian "incognito," meaning one who is unknown or in disguise (OED).
ball_Court dress made of Spitalfields silkSource: Court dress, Museum of LondonCourt dress for both women and men was both political and sumptuous, some of which can be seen in the accompanying image, showing an extravagant court dress made from Spitalfields silk and housed in the Museum of London. Click this link to view a high-resolution image of a ball at St. James's Palace, c.1766, via the Lewis Walpole Library. To learn more about fashion at court balls in the eighteenth century, see Hannah Greig's "Faction and Fashion : The Politics of Court Dress in Eighteenth-Century England."
vizard_French drawing showing an aristocratic woman with a vizard mask and fanSource: Drawing (c.1750) by Jean-Marc Nattier showing an aristocratic woman with vizard and fanA "vizard" is a black velvet mask worn by elite women in the Renaissance to protect the skin from sunburn. It became a fashionable accoutrement during the eighteenth century, when masquerades were popular, and it was also often worn to the theater. The image included here is a French pastel drawing (c.1750) by Jean-Marc Nattier showing an aristocratic woman with vizard and fan (via Neil Jeffares). For more information on masquerade in the eighteenth century, see Terry Castle's Masquerade and Civilization: The Carnivalesque in Eighteenth-century English Culture and Fiction (1986).
cries_Penny merchants were street vendors or hawkers; their cries would fill the streets. To learn more about the history of street hawking in London, see "The Lost Cries of London: Reclaiming the Street Trader's Devalued Tradition," published in The Guardian.
lacing_photograph of stays from the VAMSource: Late 18th-century stays (VAM)Lacing here refers to the lacing up of the stays, a shaping undergarment like the one seen here, from the late eighteenth century, housed in the Victoria and Albert Museum. According to Valerie Steele in The Corset: A Cultural History, tightly laced stays were the visible sign of strict morality" (26).
hoop_photograph of a formal hoop petticoatSource: Hoop petticoat (VAM)Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, women's formal fashion was characterized by the exaggerated bell shape created by the hoop petticoat, an example of which can be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum's digital collections. By 1750, the hoop petticoat could be as large as 1.5 meters in diameter, and with the addition of panniers, court dress like that which Fantomina is described as wearing--and which the included image, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, shows--could be notably voluminous.
midwife_Until the mid to late eighteenth century, childbirth was an almost exclusively female domain. Midwives were women who had experience in both giving birth and attending at other births. During the eighteenth century, midwifery was becoming professionalized and as a result masculinized into obsetetric science. For more information on the shift in the science of childbirth from a feminine tradition to a masculine profession, see Ernelle Fife's "Gender and Professionalism in Eighteenth-Century Midwifery".
monastery_The role of the French convent in English literary and cultural imagination is complex. Elite young women might be educated in a convent before their marriage; the convent might also be a house of reformation; for some women, the convent offered an intellectual alternative alternative to marriage in the company of other women. In the English protestant imagination, the French convent was often seen as an erotically-charged place. As Ana Acosta writes in "Hotbeds of Popery: Convents in the English Literary Imagination," the convent "provided a site for amorous encounters, forced and broken vows, sacrificed youth, and unrequited love" (619). Yet, the convent is also a specifically female community, where women lived, worked, studied, and conversed with other women outside of the male gaze. For futher information, see Elizabeth Rapey's A Social History of the Cloister, reviewed by Patrick Harrigan in Historical Studies in Education.