Glicera was the Daughter of an eminent Tradesman; the Reputation of whose Riches drew a greater Number of Admirers to his House, than the Beauty of his fair Daughter's Person; tho' she was really one of the most lovely and accomplished Women of the Age.
The opening line exemplifies the style of writing of the novella. Lots of words that are capitalized for no particular reason, a heavy reliance on commas and semi-colons and that deal where an apostrophe is used to informalize certain words. One thing which almost certainly binds the universe together (with certain notable exceptions among frequent Twitter users) is the thankfulness that 20th century authors finally decided to do away with that whole capitalization thing. But do not despair: after about twenty pages or so most readers will not even notice as they pulled into the story of a typical Haywood heroine. That is not meant as an insult since a typical Haywood heroine verges into Moll Flanders territory as an empowered woman fighting the patriarchy and offering up a healthy critique of capitalist economics.
The Affair between her and Melladore being blaz'd abroad, was of too much Disadvantage to her Reputation, to suffer her to imagine she should be able to make her Fortune by Marriage, tho' several there were that addressed her in Terms which had the appearance of Honourable; but she had already experienced Mankind, and was not to be deceived again by the most specious Pretences: despising therefore the whole Sex, she resolved to behave to them in a manner which might advance both her Interest and Revenge.
This excerpt essentially unfurls the plot of the novel, explaining the motivation of it protagonist and even foreshadowing the ending to a certain point. Again, Moll Flanders is recalled here in some of her glory in the figure of Glicera who begins as a put-upon victim of seduction and abandonment. The focus of the story is not on this pathetic version of the heroine, however, but on the empowerment that can come from such base and primal desires as revenge. Of course, the very same words likely will be especially off-putting to certain male readers…but then again those types of males would never be found reading a book like this in the first place. Which, as it turns out, is kind of the point.
The vast Expences which had attended the Law-Suit, the riotous Manner in which he liv'd after his Marriage with Helena, her Extravagancies at that time, and her Contrivances since her Elopement of undoing him, reduc'd him to mortgage the last Stake he now had left him; and so closely did avenging Fate pursue him, that as if it was not a sufficient Punishment for the Crime he had been guilty of, in breach of Vows, that he had met with those very Misfortunes in the Woman he made choice of, which to avoid, he had made himself that Criminal; he must also have the Person he had wrong'd, the Arbitratress of his Destiny, and become wholly in the power of one from whom he neither could, nor ought to hope for Mercy.
Well, that is certainly a mouthful, isn’t it? Imagine if one had to speak those words on stage. Fortunately, they appear in a novel, a medium for transmitting ideas which allows for the privilege of closer scrutiny and re-reading. The sentences here might well be described as the anti-Twitter methodology of transmitting ideas to others. Instead of breaking down complex concepts into simplistic sentence fragments devoice of nuance and articulation, Haywood coerces the reader into paying attention and then doubles down by demanding closer attention. Essentially what is being conveyed here is the encapsulated in the final few words. This is the sudden, awful, inexorable realization of a man who has discovered he has been bested by a woman and, what’s more, the type of man who had long since settle comfortably into the warm confines of an acceptance that no such thing was even possible.
