Chapter I: Preface

The writings of many of the women considered in this volume have sunk into an oblivion from which their intrinsic merit should have preserved them. This is partly due to the fact that nearly all the books on literature have been written from a man's stand-point. While in other arts the tastes of men and women vary little, the choice of novels is to a large degree determined by sex. Many men who acknowledge unhesitatingly that Jane Austen is superior as an artist to Smollett, will find more pleasure in the breezy adventures of _Roderick Random_ than in the drawing-room atmosphere of _Emma_; while no woman can read a novel of Smollett's without loathing, although she must acknowledge that the Scottish writer is a man of genius.

This book is written from a woman's viewpoint. Wherever my own judgment has been different from the generally accepted one, as in the estimate of some famous heroines, the point in question has been submitted to other women, and not recorded unless it met with the approval of a large number of women of cultivated taste.

This work was first undertaken at the suggestion of Dr. E. Charlton Black of Boston University for a Master's thesis, and it was due to his appreciative words that it was enlarged into book form. I also wish to thank Professor Ker of London University, and Dr. Henry A. Beers and Dr. Wilbur L. Cross of Yale University for the help which I obtained from them while a student in their classes. It is with the deepest sense of gratitude that I acknowledge the assistance given to me in this work by Mr. Charles Welsh, at whose suggestion the scope of the book was enlarged, and many parts strengthened. I wish especially to thank him for calling my attention to _The Cheap Repository_ of Hannah More, and to the literary value of Maria Edgeworth's stories for children.

It is my only hope that this book may in a small measure fill a want which a school-girl recently expressed to me: "Our Club wanted to study about women, but we have searched the libraries and found nothing."

C. H. W.

CONTENTS

PAGE
CHAPTER I.
MARGARET CAVENDISH, DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE (1624-1674)--
APHRA BEHN (1640-1689)--MARY MANLEY (1672-1724) 1

CHAPTER II.
SARAH FIELDING (1710-1768)--ELIZA HAYWOOD (1693-1756)--
CHARLOTTE LENNOX (1720-1766)--FRANCES SHERIDAN (1724-1766) 24

CHAPTER III.
FRANCES BURNEY (1752-1840) 45

CHAPTER IV.
HANNAH MORE (1745-1833) 62

CHAPTER V.
CHARLOTTE SMITH (1749-1806)--ELIZABETH INCHBALD (1753-1821) 73

CHAPTER VI.
CLARA REEVE (1725-1803)--ANN RADCLIFFE (1764-1822)--SOPHIA
LEE (1750-1824)--HARRIET LEE (1766-1851) 88

CHAPTER VII.
MARIA EDGEWORTH (1767-1849)--LADY MORGAN (1783-1859) 111

CHAPTER VIII.
ELIZABETH HAMILTON (1758-1816)--ANNA PORTER (1780-1832)--JANE
PORTER (1776-1850) 133

CHAPTER IX.
AMELIA OPIE (1769-1853)--MARY BRUNTON (1778-1818) 149

CHAPTER X.
JANE AUSTEN (1775-1817) 157

CHAPTER XI.
SUSAN EDMONSTONE FERRIER (1782-1854)--MARY RUSSELL MITFORD
(1787-1855)--ANNA MARIA HALL (1800-1881) 179

CHAPTER XII.
LADY CAROLINE LAMB (1785-1828)--MARY SHELLEY (1797-1851) 200

CHAPTER XIII.
CATHERINE GRACE FRANCES GORE (1799-1861)--ANNA ELIZA BRAY
(1790-1883) 216

CHAPTER XIV.
JULIA PARDOE (1806-1862)--FRANCES TROLLOPE (1780-1863)--
HARRIET MARTINEAU (1802-1876) 231

CHAPTER XV.
EMILY BRONTE (1818-1848)--ANNE BRONTE (1820-1849)--
CHARLOTTE BRONTE (1816-1855) 247

CHAPTER XVI.
ELIZABETH CLEGHORN GASKELL (1810-1865) 274

CONCLUSION 293

INDEX 297

WOMAN'S WORK IN
ENGLISH FICTION