Olimpia makes friends with Melora, and tells her romantic stories designed to persuade the inexperienced younger woman to fall for Antonio's seduction.
Francisco (a favourite of Antonio) narrates the second story, 'the History of Emilius and Lovisa', which persuades Melora that true lovers can triumph over all odds (including their public duties and even parental opposition) in order to be together.
The Inhumane Cardinal first brought Pix's writing to public attention, and may even have won her the patronage of Queen Anne or her circle.
Steven Moore also argue that the novella has some distinctive features:'Although The Inhumane Cardinal isn't great literature ... it stands apart from other novels of the period because of its bleak view of human nature.
Though written by a woman, it is unusually harsh on women - Pix harps upon their vanity, ambition, duplicity, and gullibility - and it is one of the few novels of the time that makes explicit reference to sodomy'.