Thoughts on the Education of Daughters

By Mary Wollstonecraft

Thoughts on the education of daughters: with reflections on female conduct, in the more important duties of life is a conduct book that offers advice on female education to the emerging British middle class. Although dominated by considerations of morality and etiquette, the text also contains basic child-rearing instructions, such as how to care for an infant. As an early version of the modern self-help book, the 18th-century British conduct book drew on many literary traditions, such as advice manuals and religious narratives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: DigiCat
• Release date: May 29, 2022
• ISBN: 8596547020561

Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was an English writer, philosopher, and feminist. Born in London, Wollstonecraft was raised in a financially unstable family. As a young woman, she became friends with Jane Arden, an intellectual and socialite, and Fanny Blood, a talented illustrator and passionate educator. After several years on her own, Wollstonecraft returned home in 1780 to care for her dying mother, after which she moved in with the Blood family and began planning live independently with Fanny. Their plan proved financially impossible, however, and Fanny soon married and moved to Portugal, where, in 1785, she died from complications of pregnancy. This inspired Wollstonecraft’s first novel, Mary: A Fiction (1788), launching her career as one of eighteenth-century England’s leading literary voices. In 1790, in response to Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790), Wollstonecraft wrote Vindication of the Rights of Men, a political pamphlet defending the cause of the French Revolution, advocating for republicanism, and illustrating the ideals of England’s emerging middle class. Following the success of her pamphlet, Wollstonecraft wrote A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), a groundbreaking work of political philosophy and an early feminist text that argues for the education of women as well as for the need to recognize them as rational, independent beings. The same year, Wollstonecraft travelled to France, where she lived for a year while moving in Girondist circles and observing the changes enacted by the newly established National Assembly. In 1793, she was forced to leave France as the Jacobins rose to power, executing many of Wollstonecraft’s friends and colleagues and expelling foreigners from the country. In 1797, she married the novelist and anarchist philosopher William Godwin, with whom she bore her daughter Mary, who would eventually write the novel Frankenstein (1818). Several days afterward, however, Wollstonecraft died at the age of 38 from septicemia, leaving a legacy as a pioneering feminist and unparalleled figure in English literature.

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Mary Wollstonecraft

Thoughts on the Education of Daughters

EAN 8596547020561

DigiCat, 2022

Contact: [e-mail]

Table of Contents

THOUGHTS

EDUCATION

DAUGHTERS.

The NURSERY.

Moral Discipline .

EXTERIOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS .

ARTIFICIAL MANNERS.

DRESS .

The FINE ARTS.

READING.

BOARDING-SCHOOLS.

The TEMPER.

LOVE.

MATRIMONY .

DESULTORY THOUGHTS.

THE BENEFITS WHICH ARISE FROM DISAPPOINMENTS .

ON THE TREATMENT OF SERVANTS .

THE OBSERVANCE OF SUNDAY .

ON THE MISFORTUNE OF FLUCTUATING PRINCIPLES.

BENEVOLENCE .

CARD-PLAYING .

THE THEATRE .

PUBLIC PLACES .

.

PREFACE.

IN the following pages I have endeavoured to point out s ome important things with re s pect to female education. It is true, many treati s es have been already written; yet it occurred to me, that much s till remained to be s aid. I s hall not s well the s e s heets by writing apologies for my attempt. I am afraid, indeed, the reflections will, by s ome, be thought too grave; but I could not make them le s s s o without writing ​ affectedly; yet, though they may be in s ipid to the gay, others may not think them s o; and if they s hould prove u s eful to one fellow-creature, and beguile any hours, which s orrow has made heavy, I s hall think I have not been employed in vain.

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THOUGHTS

Table of Contents

ON THE

EDUCATION

Table of Contents

OF

DAUGHTERS.

Table of Contents

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The NURSERY.

Table of Contents

AS I conceive it to be the duty of every rational creature to attend to its offspring, I am s orry to ob s erve, that rea s on and duty together have not s o powerful an influence over ​ human conduct, as in s tinct has in the brute creation. Indolence, and a thoughtle s s di s regard of every thing, except the pre s ent indulgence, make many mothers, who may have momentary s tarts of tenderne s s, neglect their children. They follow a plea s ing impul s e, and never reflect that rea s on s hould cultivate and govern tho s e in s tincts which are implanted in us to render the path of duty plea s ant—for if they are not governed they will run wild; and s trengthen the pa s s ions which are ever endeavouring to obtain dominion—I mean vanity and s elf-love.

​The first thing to be attended to, is laying the foundation of a good constitution. The mother (if there are not very weighty reasons to prevent her) ought to suckle her children. Her milk is their proper nutriment, and for some time is quite sufficient. Were a regular mode of suckling adopted, it would be far from being a laborious task. Children, who are left to the care of ignorant nurses, have their stomachs overloaded with improper food, which turns acid, and renders them very uncomfortable. We should be particularly careful to guard them in their infant state from bodily pain; as their minds can then afford them no ​amusement to alleviate it. The first years of a child's life are frequently made miserable through negligence or ignorance. Their complaints are mostly in their stomach or bowels; and these complaints generally arise from the quality and quantity of their food.

The suckling of a child also excites the warmest glow of tenderness—Its dependant, helpless state produces an affection, which may properly be termed maternal. I have even felt it, when I have seen a mother perform that office; and am of opinion, that maternal tenderness arises quite as much from habit as instinct. It is possible, I ​am convinced, to acquire the affection of a parent for an adopted child; it is necessary, therefore, for a mother to perform the office of one, in order to produce in herself a rational affection for her offspring.

Children very early contract the manners of those about them. It is easy to distinguish the child of a well-bred person, if it is not left entirely to the nurse's care. These women are of course ignorant, and to keep a child quiet for the moment, they humour all its little caprices. Very soon does it begin to be perverse, and eager to be gratified in every thing. The usual ​mode of acting is complying with the humours sometimes, and contradicting them at others—just according to the dictates of an uncorrected temper. This the infant finds out earlier than can be imagined, and it gives rise to an affection devoid of respect. Uniformity of conduct is the only feasible method of creating both. An inflexible adherence to any rule that has been laid down makes children comfortable, and saves the mother