This is the first scholarly edition of the Memoirs of Laetitia Van Lewen Pilkington (1709?-1750), a poet, ghostwriter, and protégée of Jonathan Swift and the

Thompson presents a re-appraisal of the 'scandalous memoirists' Costantia Phillips and Laetitia Pilkington, who feature with a cast of other 18th century apolog

"I dined yesterday at Mrs Garrick's with Mrs Carter, Miss Hannah More and Miss Fanny Burney. Three such women are not to found; I know not where I could find a