The “method of swelling distorted and commented trifles into volumes” he is content to leave to the writers of fable and romance.  It was not long before the press-agents of the dumb presager found a romancer willing to undertake the task that Defoe neglected.  Mrs. Haywood in her association with Aaron Hill and his circle could hardly have escaped knowing William Bond, who in 1724 was playing Steele to Hill’s Addison in producing the numbers of the “Plain Dealer.”  Instigated perhaps by him, the rising young novelist contributed on 19 March, 1724, the second considerable work on the fortune-teller, under the caption:  “A Spy upon the Conjurer:  or, a Collection of Surprising Stories, with Names, Places, and particular Circumstances relating to Mr. Duncan Campbell, commonly known by the Name of the Deaf and Dumb Man; and the astonishing Penetration and Event of his Predictions.  Written to my Lord——­ by a Lady, who for more than Twenty Years past; has made it her Business to observe all Transactions in the Life and Conversation of Mr. Campbell."[5a]

“As long as Atalantis shall be read,” some readers were sure to find little to their taste in the curious information contained in the first biography of Campbell, but Mrs. Haywood was not reluctant to gratify an appetite for scandal when she could profitably cater to it.  Developing the clue afforded her by the announcement in Defoe’s “Life and Adventures” of a forthcoming little pocket volume of original letters that passed between Mr. Campbell and his correspondents,[6] she composed a number of epistles as coming from all sorts of applicants to the prophet.  These missives, however, were preceded by a long letter addressed to an anonymous lord and signed “Justicia,” which was chiefly concocted of anecdotes illustrative of the dumb man’s powers.  Unlike the incidents in Defoe’s work, the greater number of the stories relate to love affairs in the course of which one party or the other invoked the seer’s assistance.  Although the author was thoroughly acquainted with the previous history of Mr. Campbell,[7] she was evidently more interested in the phenomena of passion than in the theory of divination, A brief discussion of astrology, witchcraft, and dreams easily led her to a narrative of “Mr. Campbell’s sincerity exemplify’d, in the story of a lady injured in the tenderest part by a pretended friend.”  A glance through the table of contents reveals the preponderance of such headings as “A strange story of a young lady, who came to ask the name of her husband”; “A whimsical story of an old lady who wanted a husband”; “Reflections on the inconstancy of men.  A proof of it in a ruin’d girl, that came to ask Mr. Campbell’s advice”; “A story of my Lady Love-Puppy”; “A merry story of a lady’s chamber-maid, cook-maid, and coach-man,” and so on.  Evidences of an attempt to suggest, if not actual references to, contemporary scandal, are to be found in such items as “A strange instance of vanity and jealousy in the behaviour of Mrs. F—–­ “; “The particulars of the fate of Mrs. J——­ L——­ “; and “A story of the Duke of——­ ’s mistress.”  It is not surprising that “Memoirs of a Certain Island” appeared within six months of “A Spy upon the Conjurer.”