Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Select Bibliography
- Note on the Text
- The Invisible Spy
- BOOK I
- BOOK II
- VOL. II
- BOOK III
- BOOK IV
- VOL. III
- BOOK V
- CHAP. I The author's introduction to this volume consists only of an apology for making no introduction at all, and his reasons for that omission
- CHAP. II Contains such matters as, it is highly probable, will be the least pleasing to those for whose service it is most intended
- CHAP. III Presents the Reader with a very foolish adventure of Lysetta's, to which all that was contain'd in the preceding chapter was only a prelude; with some short remarks of the author's own on the extreme danger, as well as infatuation, of consulting Fortune-tellers of any kind, and giving credit to their idle and absurd predictions
- CHAP. IV Contains the catastrophe of an affair, which the repetition of ought not to give offence to any one, except the person whose resentment the author will not look upon as a misfortune
- CHAP. V Treats on various matters, some of which, the author dares venture to assure the public, will hereafter be found not only more entertaining, but also of more consequence than at present they appear to be
- CHAP. VI Contains such things as are not often to be met with, neither in the one nor the other sex; yet are, or at least ought to be, equally interesting to both
- CHAP. VII The Author has been in some debate within himself, whether he should insert or not, as he is conscious it will be little relish'd by the fashionable genteel part of his readers; – and what is still worse, can afford neither much entertainment, nor much improvement to the others
- CHAP. VIII Wherein the wonderful power of beauty, when accompany'd with virtue, is display'd in a very remarkable, as well as affecting occurrence
- CHAP. IX Contains only a continuation of the same narrative, begun in the foregoing Chapter, and will not be concluded in this
- CHAP. X The catastrophe of this adventure cannot fail of exciting compassion in the breasts of my fair readers, and also afford much matter of speculation to those of the other sex
- BOOK VI
- BOOK VII
- BOOK VIII
- Editorial Notes
- Silent Corrections
CHAP. II - Contains such matters as, it is highly probable, will be the least pleasing to those for whose service it is most intended
from BOOK V
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- Select Bibliography
- Note on the Text
- The Invisible Spy
- BOOK I
- BOOK II
- VOL. II
- BOOK III
- BOOK IV
- VOL. III
- BOOK V
- CHAP. I The author's introduction to this volume consists only of an apology for making no introduction at all, and his reasons for that omission
- CHAP. II Contains such matters as, it is highly probable, will be the least pleasing to those for whose service it is most intended
- CHAP. III Presents the Reader with a very foolish adventure of Lysetta's, to which all that was contain'd in the preceding chapter was only a prelude; with some short remarks of the author's own on the extreme danger, as well as infatuation, of consulting Fortune-tellers of any kind, and giving credit to their idle and absurd predictions
- CHAP. IV Contains the catastrophe of an affair, which the repetition of ought not to give offence to any one, except the person whose resentment the author will not look upon as a misfortune
- CHAP. V Treats on various matters, some of which, the author dares venture to assure the public, will hereafter be found not only more entertaining, but also of more consequence than at present they appear to be
- CHAP. VI Contains such things as are not often to be met with, neither in the one nor the other sex; yet are, or at least ought to be, equally interesting to both
- CHAP. VII The Author has been in some debate within himself, whether he should insert or not, as he is conscious it will be little relish'd by the fashionable genteel part of his readers; – and what is still worse, can afford neither much entertainment, nor much improvement to the others
- CHAP. VIII Wherein the wonderful power of beauty, when accompany'd with virtue, is display'd in a very remarkable, as well as affecting occurrence
- CHAP. IX Contains only a continuation of the same narrative, begun in the foregoing Chapter, and will not be concluded in this
- CHAP. X The catastrophe of this adventure cannot fail of exciting compassion in the breasts of my fair readers, and also afford much matter of speculation to those of the other sex
- BOOK VI
- BOOK VII
- BOOK VIII
- Editorial Notes
- Silent Corrections
Summary
There is, according to the wise man's phrase, a folly under the sun, which, in my opinion, has as little to be said for it as any one of the many others of the present age, – and that is, – an insatiable inquisitiveness into future events, as if the fore-knowledge of what is to come would enable us either to alleviate or avert the decrees of Providence. – Well does mr. Dryden ridicule this propensity, when he says,
If fate be not, then what can we foresee?
And how can we avoid it, if it be?
Yet are all ages, all degrees of both sexes, tainted, more or less, with this epidemic frenzy. – It cannot but afford the most astonishing, as well as melancholy reflections, in a thinking mind, to observe how many impostors, in and about this great town, are maintained by pretending to the art of divination, while the industrious followers of lawful occupations perish for want of due encouragement.
As I was one day on my Invisible Progressions, I accompany'd a mingled crowd of people into a house situated in one of the most obscure parts of the city: – at first I imagined that this was some private chapel, where persons resorted to pay their adorations to the Deity in a manner not authorised by the government; but was soon convinced of my mistake, when, instead of a pulpit and desk, I found the room we came into furnished only with globes and tellescopes, and other implements of a soothsayer and astrologer. – On looking round me these lines of Dr. Garth's came immediately into my head:
An inner room receives the num'rous shoals
Of such as pay to be reputed fools:
Globes stand on globes; volumes on volumes lie,
And planetary schemes amuse the eye.
[…]
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- Information
- The Invisible Spyby Eliza Haywood, pp. 242 - 247Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014