Selected writings of Hannah More

"Hannah More (1745-1833) was a precociously intelligent child. Educated first by her father at home, then in a predominantly female environment, she was a born proselytist who set about reforming the behaviour of women in poverty-striken and fashionable societies alike. If her arguments appear confrontational to late twentieth-century readers, there is no disputing their popularity in her own day."--BOOK JACKET. "Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education with a view of the Principles and Conduct prevalent among Women of Rank and Fortune was published in 1799 and sold over 19,000 copies; by 1826 it had run into thirteen editions. The work presents a lively critique of the way fashionable women of society wasted their time and talents, attacking the ideas of the French Enlightenment and German romanticism and the representation of women in the novels and plays which these inspired; it argues that women have an important role to play in reforming the morals and manners of society."--BOOK JACKET. "Also included here is a selection of Hannah More's Letters from London in the 1770s, reflecting the fashionable world of the Garrick set and the 'Blue Stockings' circle; her poem 'The Bas Bleu', describing the literary circle of Mrs Vesey; a satirical essay 'The White Slave Trade' which ridicules women enslaved to fashion; her poem 'The Sorrows of Yamba', showing More's devotion to the anti-slave trade movement; three short fictional tales, teaching obedience and subservience, 'Betty Brown', 'Tawney Rachel' and 'Sinful Sally'; and extracts from 'Mr Bragwell and his Two Daughters', which shows the dire consequences of daughters of the new middle class being misled by the representation of women in popular novels."--BOOK JACKET.