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The reviewer said:
Perhaps in no age have the true interests of our fair country women been more diffusely treated upon than the one in which we now live ; and though the names of Moore, Chapone, Gisborne, And many others , will ever retain their sterling value, and be resorted to with pleasure and advantage, yet we see no reason why the same cause may not be solicitously pursued, the same means of instruction adopted , and some good effects expected to result. The writer of the present work may therefore congratulate her self on the subject she has selected ; and on having , in plain , simple language, called the attention of her young readers to the acquirement of the practical proprieties of conduct; a matter of far more importance than that tinsel of ornament so frequently, but injudiciously the choice of the young and inexperienced.
Ann and Jane Taylor
A sense of duty, and a desire to be adequate to its performance, is requisite in all our attempts at improvement. And as most young women enter into life with the hope , at least, of becoming happy wives; the guide who is competent to lead the way must have a claim to both thanks and commendation. Enough has been said to prove our estimate of the work before us; and, we trust also, to induce our young readers ( whether married or not) to the perusal of a publication which contains many things worthy their observance; and which proposes to raise their happiness on the firmest of all foundations "the practice of religion and virtue."
Without wishing to derogate from the merit of the work, we may be allowed to suggest that the reference to the Diagram is not very probable to elucidate the meaning of the author to females in general.
The following extracts afford favorable specimens of the style and execution of the work. "Many a female because she has been educated at a boarding school, returns home , not to assist her mother , but to support her pretensions to gentility, by idleness, dress, and dissipation. She conceives herself degraded by domestic occupation; and expects to lose her credit , if she is known to be industrious; while the fond parents too frequently aid the delusion, and in due time transfer her to a husband to curse him with a fortune of few hundreds. The Conclusion to No. X "The Step Mother" cannot be too highly commended.
"I would earnestly recommend to you the study of human nature; you need not travel far in your researches; descend into your own heart, and there you will be furnished with lessons well adapted to your purpose. When you have acquired some skill in the science, you will discover that sympathy should be an essential ingredient in your friendly intercourse with all; but especially with him whose bosom friend you are; and to sympathize with him in his tender recollections of a departed wife, while it gratifies his feelings, will enhance your own character, and confirm his affection to yourself. But if her memory should be held thus sacred with equal tenderness should you regard the dear pledges she has left; pledges which Providence and their father's choice have deposited in your hands ; do by each no less than you would wish to be performed to your own memory and your own children, should they ever be committed to the mercy of another; and you will secure the approbation of your husband, of your family, of society, and what is of far greater importance, of your own conscience and of God."
"In order to cherish these kindly feelings, accustom yourself, in the contemplation of your husband's character, to dwell on the bright side; let his virtues occupy your thoughts more than his failings" this will impel you to honor him in the presence of others, and may eventually produce the happiest effect upon his character, for most probably he will feel the value of that estimation in which you hold him, and be solicitous to preserve it._ Do not expose his failings ; no, not to your most confidential friend. If, unhappily, they are of the more flagrant kind, he divulges them himself.; but, if on the contrary, they are merely such as prove him to be a fallible creature, leave your friends to infer it for themselves, rather than furnish them with proofs of it from your complaints. Your own failings, ( should you have any) you would studiously conceal; and probably, you think it the duty of your husband to conceal them , too; but the golden rule of doing to others as you would they should do unto you, does not apply, in this case, with sufficient force ; because it is your very self, your better self, who would suffer by such an exposure, his honor and yours are inseparably one.
"What a melancholy catalogue would our newspapers exhibit, if, beside the ravages of the devouring flames, and the midnight murderers, those made upon the human mind by the habitual absence of mothers were faithfully recorded! If such a register were kept, it would doubtless appear that too severe a censure could not be passed upon those who abandon such important duties for places of public amusement. Mothers ,whose eyes are suffused in tears at the pathetic scenes of a tragedy, may, perhaps at that moment , have the scenes of a deeper tragedy preparing at home, in which themselves at some future period may be among the principal characters. "
 Newspapers
and Magazines Circulation
Illustrations
In Newspapers and Magazines
A
Column from the Morning Post and Gazetteer
Review of a book by Mrs. Taylor
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