HEYWOOD (Eliza), one of the most voluminous novel writers this island ever produced; of whom we know no more than that her father was a tradesman, and that she was born about the year 1696. In the early part of her life, her pen, whether to gratify her own disposition or the prevailing taste, dealt chiefly in licentious tales, and memoirs of personal scandal: the celebrated Atalanta of Mrs Manley served her for a model; and The court of Carimania, The new Utopia, with some other pieces of a like nature, were the copies her genius produced. She also attempted dramatic writing and performance, but did not succeed in either. Whatever it was that provoked the resentment of Pope, he gave full scope to it by distinguishing her as one of the prizes to be gained in the games introduced in honour of Dulness, in his Dunciad. Nevertheless, it seems undeniable, that there is much spirit, and much ingenuity, in her manner of treating subjects, which the friends of virtue may perhaps wish she had never meddled with at all. But, whatever offence she may have given to delicacy or morality in her early works, she appears to have been soon convinced of, and endeavoured to atone for in the latter part of her life; as no author then appeared a greater advocate for virtue. Among her riper productions may be specified, The female Spectator, 4 vols; The history of Miss Betsy Thoughtless, 4 vols; Jenny and Jenny Jessamy, 3 vols; The invisible spy, 4 vols; with a pamphlet, intitled, A present for a servant-maid. She died in 1759.