Author: GUNNING (Susannah):
Title: A Letter from Mrs. Gunning, Addressed to His Grace The Duke or Argyll. The Second Edition
Description: London, Printed for the Author: And sold by Mr. Ridgwway..., and Mr. Boyter..., 1791. 8vo, 208 Xx123 mms., pp. [ii], 147 [148 Errata], early 19th century half calf, marbled boards, gilt spine, raised bands, morocco label; some stains on title-page and several following leaves, but a sound copy This denial of accusations against the character of the author's daughter, Elizabeth Gunning, for whom Susannah was trying to secure and rich and titled husband. A pamphlet war ensued, and a succinct account of what Horace Walpole termed the "Gunningiad," can be found in Pam Perkins' Oxford DNB entry, "Gunning's pamphlet, which is at least as melodramatic as any of her novels, portrays Elizabeth [her daughter] as the victim of nefarious plots by her father, who was determined to blacken her name so that he could justify himself in casting her off and refusing any dowry or any further financial support for either his wife or his daughter. Gunning does not seem to have succeeded in convincing many readers to believe her version of the case. David Rivers, writing in 1798, thought the pamphlet 'deform[ed]' by 'foolish and simple anecdotes', and that 'it abounds infinitely more in invective than argument' (Rivers, 1.230). The London Chronicle, going even further, decided that the scheme of using false love-letters to destroy the reputation of an innocent girl had to be 'the offspring of a female imagination', and pointed out that Gunning herself, 'who is perfectly conversant in Novels and consquently fertile in the contrivance of new incidents and unexpected situations', was an obvious suspect (London Chronicle, 181). A later pamphlet, supposedly the confessions of General Gunning (though its authenticity has been doubted), claims as well that Susannah Gunning was behind the whole affair. The pamphlet alleged that her attempt to win a marquess for her daughter went badly askew when she could not decide whether to settle on Lorne or Blandford as her future son-in-law; General Gunning, who had known her plans all along, was then obliged to abandon his wife to salvage his own reputation. What in fact happened has never been determined, but the story of a matchmaking scheme gone wrong is probably the most plausible of the explanations offered." Pam Perkins, "The Fictional Identities of Elizabeth Gunning," Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature (1996).

Keywords: scandal marriage literature


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