Mary Davys is best known for her contributions to the early development of the novel in English; her work is distinctive for its adroit formal structure and witty dialogue. She was conscious of the need for form in fiction, notable in a period when the novel was often episodic rather than structured. As she explains in the Preface to her collected works:
I have in every Novel propos’d one entire Scheme or Plot, and the other Adventures are only incident or collateral to it; which is the great Rule prescribed by the Criticks, not only in Tragedy and other Heroick Poems, but in Comedy too. The Adventures, as far as I could order them, are wonderful and probable; and I have with the utmost Justice rewarded Virtues, and punish’d Vice.
Both her sense of form...
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Citation: Bowden, Martha F.. "Mary Davys". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 10 August 2005; last revised 23 May 2025. [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=1166, accessed 09 June 2026.]
