Henrietta

By Charlotte Lennox, Ruth Perry and Susan Carlile

Annotated Edition: An eighteenth-century satirical novel that follows an iron-willed young Englishwoman as she attempts to make her own way in the world.

A pioneer in the tradition of English women’s fiction, Charlotte Lennox was a valued friend to both Samuel Richardson and Samuel Johnson—and a major influence on Jane Austen. The heroine of Lennox’s Henrietta is a young Englishwoman who resists her aunt’s pressure to convert to Catholicism and marry an awful man—and as a result is set adrift in London society. But unlike many of her passive, vulnerable contemporaries in fiction, the admirable Henrietta makes her way in the world relying on her own cleverness, conviction, and wit.

This groundbreaking work of satire and human folly is republished here in a fully annotated modern edition.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Jun 20, 2008
• ISBN: 9780813138800

Charlotte Lennox

Charlotte Lennox (1730-1804) was a Scottish novelist, poet, and playwright. Born in Gibraltar to a British military officer and his wife, Lennox was raised in England before moving to Albany, New York, where her father served as lieutenant-governor until his death in 1742. At thirteen, Lennox was sent to live with her maternal aunt in London, but ultimately lived as a companion of Lady Isabella Finch due to her aunt’s struggle with mental illness. In 1746, she began acting in civic dramas, public plays designed to address prominent social issues. With the publication of her debut collection of poetry, Poems on Several Occasions (1747), Lennox turned her attention to her career as a writer. Her most successful poem, “The Art of Coquetry,” was published in Gentleman’s Magazine in 1750, bringing Lennox to the attention of Samuel Johnson and his circle of literary friends. In 1752, her novel The Female Quixote was published to critical acclaim from Johnson and Samuel Richardson. Despite publishing anonymously, Lennox was known to be the author of the successful parody of Miguel de Cervantes’ work, earning her a reputation as a leading author of the London literary scene. Although Lennox published several plays and two more novels, she ultimately failed to sustain her early success. After living for nearly a decade through the support of the Royal Literary Fund, Lennox died in London and was buried in an unmarked grave. In the twentieth century, leading feminist scholars rediscovered Lennox’s work, in particular The Female Quixote, earning Lennox posthumous praise as an undervalued artist who managed to excel at a craft dominated by men.

Book preview

CONTENTS.

BOOK I.

CHAP. I. Which introduces our Heroine to the Acquaintance of the Reader in no very advantageous Situation.

CHAP. II. The commencement of a violent friendship between two young ladies, which has the usual consequences, a communication of secrets, by which the reader is let into part of Henrietta’s story.

CHAP. III. Which illustrates an observation ofRochefoucault’s, that in the misfortunes of our friends there is always something that does not displease us.

CHAP. IV. In which our heroine, through inattention, falls into the very difficulty she had taken such pains to avoid.

CHAP. V. Which contains nothing but very common occurrences.

CHAP. VI. In which miss Woodby again makes her appearance.

CHAP. VII. In which Henrietta relates the story of her parents, introductory to her own.

CHAP. VIII. In which Henrietta continues her history.

CHAP. IX. The story continued.

CHAP. X. A farther continuation of her story.

BOOK II.

CHAP. I. In which Henrietta enters upon her own story, and shews, that to confer benefits, is not always a proof of benevolence.

CHAP. II. Wherein family-pride awakens those natural affections which family-pride had suppressed.

CHAP. III. Which introduces a Jesuit to the acquaintance of the reader.

CHAP. IV. In which our heroine engages herself in a very unequal contest.

CHAP. V. Containing an account of some difficulties our heroine was involved in, arising from an old exploded notion, that interest ought not to be the sole consideration in marriage.

CHAP. VI. In which our heroine is very reasonably alarmed.

CHAP. VII. In which Henrietta concludes her history.

CHAP. VIII. Containing nothing either new or extraordinary.

CHAP. IX. A very short chapter.

CHAP. X. Which gives the reader a specimen of female friendship.

CHAP. XI. In which our heroine is in great distress.

CHAP. XII. In which the history goes forward.

CHAP. XIII. The history still advances.

CHAP. XIV. Containing several mysterious circumstances.

CHAP. XV. In which those circumstances are partly explained.

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HENRIETTA.

BOOK THE FIRST.

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CHAP. I.

Which introduces our Heroine to the Acquaintance of the Reader in no very advantageous