Whitman, under the name "Mrs. Walker," died at the Bell Tavern in Danvers, Massachusetts, after giving birth to a stillborn baby. Biographers are still not certain of the identity of her lover, who is referred to only as "Fidelio" in her letters. Her death notices, published in a variety of New England newspapers in 1788, quickly provoked moral lectures for young women. Whitman's life was turned into a moral allegory, ministers and journalists blaming her demise on her reading of romance novels, which gave her improper ideas and turned her into a coquette. Foster responded with "The Coquette", which offered a more sympathetic portrayal of Whitman and the restrictions placed on middle-class women in early American society.