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                            Woman's Work in
                            English Fiction


                      From the Restoration to the
                          Mid-Victorian Period


                                   By
                        Clara H. Whitmore, A.M.


                          G. P. Putnam's Sons
                          New York and London
                        The Knickerbocker Press
                                  1910




                            COPYRIGHT, 1909
                                   BY
                           CLARA H. WHITMORE
                   The Knickerbocker Press, New York




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 (177