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 ccording to another version, at sea between Jersey and Guernsey. She lost her mother while she was young, and her father, who had literary tastes, does not appear to have taken much care of her. On his death in 1688 he left her 200l. and a share in the residue of the estate. About this time she was drawn into a false marriage by her cousin, John Manley of Truro, whose wife was then living. This cousin was probably the John Manley who was M.P. for Bossiney borough, Cornwell, from 1701 to 1708 and 1710 to 1714, and for Camelford from 1708 to 1710. He died in 1714, and Luttrell mentions a duel he fought with another member (see Key to Mrs. Manley's History, 1725). When he deserted her, Mrs. Manley went to live with the Duchess of Cleveland, who, however, soon quarrelled with her on the pretence that she had intrigued with her son. After two years of retirement, during which she travelled to Exeter and other places, a volume of 'Letters written by Mrs. Manley' was published in 1696. The dedication spoke of the eager contention between the managers of the theatres as to who should first bring her upon the stage, and accordingly we find two plays produced in the same year. The first, a comedy called 'The Lost Lover, or the Jealous Husband.' which was written in seven days and acted at Drury Lane, was not a success: but the second, 'The Royal Mischief,' a tragedy, brought out by Betterton at Lincoln's Inn Field, was more fortunate. Intrigues followed with Sir Thomas Skipworth, of Drury Lane Theatre, and John Tilly, warden of the Fleet; and in 1705 she was concerned with Mary Thompson, a woman of bad character, in an attempt to obtain money from the estate of a man named Pheasant. In order to support the claim, a forged entry of marriage was made in the church register (, Correspondence, ed. Nichols. 1809, ii. 501-2).

'The Secret History of Queen Zarah and the Zararians,' 1705, if it is, as seems probable, properly attributed to her, is the first of her series of volumes dealing with politics and personal scandal in the form of a romance. The species of composition, though new in this precise form to England, had been for some years familiar in France. The book was reprinted, with a second part, 1711, and a French version, with a key, was published at Oxford in 1712. 'Almyna, the Arabian Vow,' a play founded on the beginning of the 'Arabian Nights' Entertainments,' was acted at the Haymarket Theatre on 16 Dec. 1706, and soon afterwards printed, with the date 1707 on the title-page. On 26 May 1709 (Daily Courant) appeared Mrs. Manley's most famous book. 'Secret Memoirs and Manners of Several Persons of Quality, of both Sexes, From the New Atalantis,' and a followed in the same year. This work passed through seven editions, besides a French version printed at the Hague, 1713-16. Swift said of Mrs. Manley's writing that it seemed 'as if she had about two thousand epithets and fine words packed up in a bag, and that she pulled them out by handfuls, and strewed them on her paper, where about once in five hundred times they happen to be right' (Swift to Addison. 22 Aug. 1710). In the 'New Atalantis' Mrs. Manley fully exhibited her taste for intrigue, and impudently slandered many persons of note, especially those of whiggish proclivities. The result was that on 29 Oct. 1709 she was arrested, together with the publishers and printer of the book (, Brief Relation, 1857, vi. 505-8, 508, 546). According to another account she acknowledged herself to be the author in order to shield the others. The printer and publishers were released on 1 Nov., and Mrs. Manley was admitted to bail on 5 Nov. The Earl of Sunderland, then secretary of state, endeavoured without success to ascertain from her where she had obtained some of her information; but she said that if there were indeed reflections on particular characters, it must have been by inspiration. She was finally discharged by the court of queen's bench on 13 Feb, 1710. The only reference to the case that can be traced in the Record Office is a memorandum dated 28 Oct. 1709 of the issue of a warrant for the arrest of John Morphew and John Woodward for publishing certain scandalous books, especially the 'New Atalantis' (State Papers, Dom., Anne, 1709, bundle 17, No. 39).

In May 1710 (Tatler, No. 177, 27 May) Mrs. Manley published 'Memoirs of Europe towards the close of the Eighth Century. Written by Eginardus, secretary and favourite to Charlemagne; and done into English by the translator of the "New Atlantis."' This and a second volume which soon followed were afterwards reprinted as the third and fourth volumes of the 'New Atalantis.' The 'Memoirs of Europe' were dedicated to Isaac Bickerstaff, i.e. Richard Steele, whom Mrs. Manley had attacked in the 'New Atalantis.' She in her turn had been attacked by Swift in the 'Tatler' (No. 63), and Steele, when taxed with the authorship, denied that he had written the paper, and acknowledged that he had been indebted to Mrs. Manley in former days. This letter Mrs. Manley now printed, with alterations, and accompanied by fresh charges. In