DOMESTICATING THE NOVEL
Moral–Domestic Fiction, 1820–1834

Rachel Howard

I

The 1810s, 20s, and 30s were transitional decades for Britain. These years saw the dislocation of Romantic, revolutionary energies and the onset of a more stable Victorian society. Whilst early-nineteenth-century fiction participated in this development and subsequently reflects the contemporary ethos of shift, emphasising its intermediary status can impose a disjointed character upon late-Romantic writing which is misleading. As a literary interregnum flanked by two great social epochs, and subsequently wrought by transformative pressures, the novel scene between 1820 and 1834 can seem secondary and disjointed, and unlikely to have produced genres of the extent, coherence, and impact of their forbears and successors. [1] This picture is contradicted, however, by the significant rise in the period of female-authored Moral–Domestic fiction.

     Moral–Domestic fiction tapped into an emphatic turn towards seriousness that permeated society in the 1810s, becoming a critically approved and commercially successful presence that effectively domesticated the Romantic novel. Moral–Domestic texts typically combine a grave, educating register with straightforward narration. They offer variations on a stock plot in which a piously Christian, philanthropic heroine endures a series of adversities, from bereavement to poverty, with quiet dignity and unshakable faith, before achieving personal happiness in the home, the respectful deference of her community, and most importantly the promise of eternal reward. The instigating and seminal texts of the genre were Hannah More’s Evangelical manifesto Cœlebs in Search of a Wife (1808), which was amongst the biggest-selling novels of its time, and Mary Brunton’s much-imitated Self-Control (1811). A whole spate of similar female-authored titles followed; of the 207 novels produced by women in the 1810s, 52 were part of the Moral–Domestic genre. Moral–Domestic fiction remained a dominant element of the publishing scene beyond this initial heyday, with the genre comprising 110 of the 421 female-authored novels produced between 1820 and 1834. [2]

     The Moral–Domestic genre is significant for a number of reasons. This body of fiction shares similarities with both Romantic and Victorian fiction. Subsequently, as an extensive and persistent genre it can help to account for the gap between the two periods. [3] More importantly, however, Moral–Domestic fiction is itself an interesting and in many ways surprising genre. The increased competition provoked by male writers in the 1820s meant that the Moral–Domestic genre entered a diverse, experimental phase. In this decade Moral–Domestic fiction incorporated thematic variety, stylistic and formal developments, and complex politics. These features can have a number of insights to offer. The genre’s representation of women, for example, gives rise to some stimulating gender politics. At a cursory glance, the Moral–Domestic genre seems to gratify patriarchal conceptions of women; the genre’s domestic containment of women and its Evangelical advocating of eternal rather than worldly reward seems to support the existing social order, and is at odds with the proposals of recognisably radical writers like Mary Wollstonecraft or Mary Hays. However, a necessarily anti-radical kind of feminism operates in Moral–Domestic texts that empowered its writers and politicised its seemingly orthodox content, and subsequently modifies the way in which radical or feminist literature of the period needs to be defined. For example, owing to the contemporary backlash against the French Revolution the discourse surrounding early-nineteenth-century fiction directed renewed hostility towards radical ideologies, and would have silenced female writers advancing open and aggressive arguments for reform. In this context the Moral–Domestic genre managed to retain a female voice, albeit a domestic and religious one, in the public sphere. Furthermore, the religious earnestness that protected these women writers from disapproval could actually be an empowering subject. As regards the power of the female writer, authors like Hannah More did not seek to alter structural patriarchy, but in elevating the reader’s morality they nonetheless aimed at wielding ideological control. At the level of content, the prioritisation of Protestant Christianity above all other kinds of authority also facilitated the representation of women who could be liberated from male control precisely because of their religious zealousness; the morally superior heroine could reject the advice and demands of a father or husband, and even live happily as an old maid in an exclusively female sphere.

     Many such themes are to be found in the various sub-genres into which the Moral–Domestic movement fractured in the 1820s. A discernible ‘Post-Austenian’ sub-genre, for example, had its heyday in the early 1820s, and contains some of the genre’s most absorbing and important texts. Typically Post-Austenian texts share Jane Austen’s satirisation of gossip, social snobbery, and social climbers, and are concerned with courtship, companionship, and the marriage market. Sometimes these fictions paraphrase sections, or reproduce key scenes, of Austen’s novels. In so doing they support the notion that Austen was a respected and fairly well-known novelist who picked up on contemporary concerns. The Post-Austenians’ key characteristic, however, is that their texts extend beyond the boundaries of Austen’s novels, most often placing a marriage at the beginning of the fictional work, rather than constructing it as the ‘happy ending’ that the reader is expected to conjecture. This has dramatic consequences for the text, making it more intriguing and less formulaic. The early marriage enabled the writer to direct some pointed criticism at existing social practices. In Mary Ann Kelty’s Osmond (1822), for example, the heroine’s marriage proves to be less than satisfactory, and subsequently represents a critique of the system that forces a woman to marry before she fully knows her suitor. The portrayal of unhappiness also enabled the writer to delve into complex psychological states, such as despair and depression, adding a degree of detail and sophistication to the narration.

     A body of texts concerned with religious conversion constitute another central sub-genre. The Conversion Novel, which peaked around 1825–26, usually portrays a heroine converting from Judaism or Catholicism to Protestantism. She is helped by a Christian mentor, often a female religious and domestic exemplar, and usually loses her existing family and friends in the process of converting. Another sub-genre of Moral–Domestic texts appeared in the period under consideration, which broadly serve to anticipate aspects of Victorian thought and fiction. These texts are the product of a somewhat darker social outlook, and they place existing Moral–Domestic tropes and characters into complex situations by which they are questioned. The result is that these texts are fundamentally split, openly advancing the Moral–Domestic heroine and Evangelical qualities as right and proper, yet ultimately undermining this emphasis. Many such Moral–Domestic texts look at poor characters who rise up the social scale, endure adversity, and gain compensation. In similarity with many of Charles Dickens’ characters, however, these social climbers are eventually plagued by a divided sense of self. Likewise, a number of Moral–Domestic writers of this later period examine female characters who become governesses and teachers, and whose external, social behaviour papers over a more critical, dissatisfied inner self.

     Each of the sub-genres mentioned above contains themes and tropes that warrant attention for the insights that they offer into important questions, including the status of the Romantic woman writer and the development of the Victorian novel. This preliminary checklist profiles the titles that comprise the female-authored Moral–Domestic genre as it appeared from 1820 to 1834. [4] The aim is to provide details of the physical make-up of the texts, their publishing details and history, and the nature of their contribution to the genre, so that an investigation of the contemporary impact and broader significance of this body of fiction may be carried out. Although the genre is multifarious to a certain degree, there is a specific criterion to which all of the Moral–Domestic texts in the checklist adhere. As the concern here is with novels that reached the mainstream of the reading audience (which was, it must be noted, a relatively small section of the entire British population, as reading novels continued to be something of a luxury in this period), the checklist only includes novels belonging to the ‘popular’ publishing scene in Britain. At the level of content, these works evince a concern with religion that is more detailed and central than the expression of morality common to much fiction of the period. They also celebrate the domestic by focussing almost exclusively on everyday, familiar scenes of home life and by promoting active domesticity in women. This content is mobilised by a didactic tone; an educating narrative voice seeks to interpolate a moral and domestic subject rather than to entertain or amuse the reader.

Table 1: Output of Moral–Domestic Fiction, 1820–1834

II

A PRELIMINARY CHECKLIST OF MORAL–DOMESTIC FICTION WRITTEN BY WOMEN AND PUBLISHED IN BRITAIN, 1820–1834

There are a number of grounds on which texts have been excluded from the following checklist. Such omissions include:

  Works in which the didactic aim supersedes other novelistic elements to the degree that they would not have been part of the ‘popular’ novel market.

  Works borrowing the Moral–Domestic plot (usually that of a heroine overcoming adversity through faith) and celebrating domestic woman, but lacking religious detail and didacticism. Such novels are geared chiefly towards entertainment, and are more accurately described as ‘society novels’.

  Juvenile literature and tales for youth.

  Moral–Domestic works by male writers.

The entries take the following form:

1. Author. Square brackets have been used if this information is not present on the title page.
2. Full title, as it appears on the title page.
3. Place and date of publication and imprint publication details.
4. Pagination and format.
5. Holding library (normally Die Fürstliche Bibliothek zu Corvey, ‘Princely Library at Corvey’): Corvey Microfiche Edition ISBN number; entry number for EN2.
6. Notes of interest, including details of any relevant dedication, preface, or subscription list that is present, and briefly describing the novel, indicating the sub-genre in which it participates, and its most interesting facets.

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

BL	British Library
CME	Corvey Microfiche Edition
ECB	English Catalogue of Books 1801–1836, edd. Robert Alexander Peddie and Quintin Waddington (London, 1914; New York: Kraus Reprint, 1963)
edn	edition
EN2	The English Novel 1770–1829: A Bibliographical Survey of Prose Fiction Published in the British Isles. Volume ii: 1820–1829, gen. edd. Peter Garside, James Raven, and Rainer Schöwerling (Oxford: OUP, 2000).
EN3	The English Novel 1830–1836: A Bibliographical Survey of Prose Fiction Published in the British Isles, edd. Peter Garside, Anthony Mandal, Verena Ebbes, Angela Koch, Rainer Schöwerling <http://www.cf.ac.uk/encap/corvey/1830s/>
ill.	illustrated
RLF	The Royal Literary Fund, 1790–1918: Archives (London: World Microfilms, 1984): references are to reel and case number
ser.	series
vol.(s)	volume(s)
xCME	Not in the Corvey Microfiche Edition

1820

1.
BEAUCLERC, Amelia.
DISORDER AND ORDER. A NOVEL. IN THREE VOLUMES. BY AMELIA BEAUCLERC, AUTHOR OF MONTREITHE, OR THE PEER OF SCOTLAND; ALINDA, OR THE CHILD OF MYSTERY; THE DESERTER; HUSBAND HUNTERS, &C.
London: Printed at the Minerva Press for A. K. Newman and Co. Leadenhall-Street, 1820.
I 258p; II 264p; III 275p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47133-8; EN2 1820: 16.
*The overt didacticism and familiar plot of Disorder and Order align it with the strongly Evangelical works of the Moral–Domestic genre’s inception. Like Laura Montreville, the heroine of Mary Brunton’s Self-Control (1811), Beauclerc’s Miriam rejects her first, romantic love in favour of a more steady and secure relationship.

2.
[DRISCOLL, Miss].
NICE DISTINCTIONS: A TALE.
Dublin: Printed at the Hibernia Press Office, 1, Temple-Lane for J. Cumming 16, Lower Ormond-Quay; and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Browne, London, 1820.
vii, 330p. 8vo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48223-2; EN2 1820: 7.
*Nice Distinctions is part of the Post-Austenian Moral–Domestic sub-genre. Referring to the competition evoked by male authors, Driscoll’s preface offers Walter Scott ‘fraternity’ which playfully obscures the author’s own gender. The tale is an exploration, rather than an anticipation, of marriage.

3.
HOFLAND, [Barbara].
TALES OF THE PRIORY. BY MRS HOFLAND. IN FOUR VOLUMES.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Browne, Paternoster-Row, 1820.
I 298p; II 317p; III 361p; IV 309p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-51040-6; EN2 1820: 33.
*Barbara Hofland was a prolific, commercial contributor to the Moral–Domestic genre. Although her oeuvre altered quite radically as the movement did [in step with the movement?], Hofland’s works nonetheless share similar progressive themes. The first tale of the present work, ‘Elizabeth and her Beggar Boys’, contains liberating images of family and womanhood, as Elizabeth independently creates an alternative community of orphans.

4.
[KING, Frances Elizabeth].
THE RECTOR’S MEMORANDUM BOOK, BEING THE MEMOIRS OF A FAMILY IN THE NORTH.
London: Printed for the Editor, and sold by Messrs. Rivington, St. Paul’s Church Yard, and J. Hatchard, Piccadilly, n.d. [1820].
272p. 18mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48602-5; EN2 1820: 41.
*The Rector’s Memorandum Book tells a story of Christian self-control and philanthropy. Yet these typically Moral–Domestic themes are subjected to the scrutiny of multiple voices; a detailed ‘Notice by the Editor’ (p. 2) and an ‘Introductory Letter’ (pp. [3]–11) establish [a fictional?] Mr Wilson as the author of the manuscript.

5.
LAYTON, Jemima.
HULNE ABBEY, A NOVEL, IN THREE VOLUMES. BY MRS. FREDERICK LAYTON, FORMERLY MISS JEMIMA PLUMPTRE. DEDICATED BY PERMISSION TO THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND.
London: Printed for William Fearman, Library, 170, New Bond-Street, 1820.
I xvi, 305p; II 312p; III 290p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47972-X; EN2 1820: 44.
*Hulne Abbey is distinctive for its extreme adherence to norms governing domestic and social behaviour. Whilst much Moral–Domestic fiction celebrates the independence of old maids, Layton’s narrator scorns them as deviant, idle, and ‘malignant old maids, overflowing with gall […] Envy, malice, and hatred all dwell upon their lips’(vol. 1, pp. 304–05).

6.
[LESTER, Elizabeth B.].
TALES OF THE IMAGINATION. BY THE AUTHOR OF THE BACHELOR AND THE MARRIED MAN, THE PHYSIOGNOMIST, AND HESITATION. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Browne, Paternoster-Row, 1820.
I 227p; II 261p; III 252p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48863-X; EN2 1820: 45.
*Tales of the Imagination consists of ‘Genius’ (vol. 1) and ‘Enthusiasm’ (vols. 2 and 3). Both tales reproduce the customary Moral–Domestic plot in which trials are endured and virtues rewarded, although Lester’s religious emphasis is less marked than it is in many Moral–Domestic works.

7.
[MACKENZIE, Mary Jane].
GERALDINE; OR, MODES OF FAITH AND PRACTICE. A TALE, IN THREE VOLUMES. BY A LADY.
London: Printed for T. Cadell and W. Davies, in the Strand; and W. Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1820.
I vii, 293p; II 285p; III 296p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47784-0; EN2 1820: 49.
*Geraldine was well-received in 1820 for its blending of a correct, moral aim with well-drawn characters. Mackenzie replaces the overt didacticism of her Moral–Domestic forbears with a more subtle, illustrative mode of instruction.         

8.
[MORE, Olivia].
THE WELSH COTTAGE.
Wellington, Salop: Printed by and for F. Houlston and Son. And sold by Scatcherd and Letterman, Ave-Maria-Lane, 1820.
ix, 223p, ill. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48883-4; EN2 1820 53.
*In keeping with the majority of Moral–Domestic fictions depicting the figure of the old maid, the maiden Aunt of The Welsh Cottage is an empowered woman who persuades the heroine to view spinsterhood as a satisfying female identity. This plot argues against ‘[t]he current acceptation of the term Old Maid’ which ‘implies a malicious being’ who possesses ‘but few resources for felicity’ (v–vi).

9.
PRINCEPS, Elizabeth Louisa Slater.
VARIETY. A NOVEL. BY ELIZABETH LOUISA SLATER PRINCEPS. WITH POETRY. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for W. Fearman, Library, 170, New Bond-Street, 1820.
I 264p; II 259p; III 224p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-54706-7; EN2 1820: 58.
*Variety shares much with the Moral–Domestic texts of the genre’s 1810s heyday, and is experimental in neither tone nor theme. The inclusion of an additional ballad, ‘The Pilgrim’ by John Percy (vol. 3, p. 129), is slightly unusual however, and reveals the Moral–Domestic style’s capacity to cross literary genres and to attract male writers.

1821

10.
HAWKINS, Lætitia Matilda.                
HERALINE; OR, OPPOSITE PROCEEDINGS. BY LÆTITIA-MATILDA HAWKINS. IN FOUR VOLUMES.
London: Printed for F. C. and J. Rivington, Waterloo Place, Pall-Mall, and St. Paul’s Churchyard: and T. Hookham, Old Bond Street, 1821.
I iv, 362p; II 362p; III 349p; IV 408p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-4751-4; EN2 1821: 44.
*Hawkins’ works of the 1810s were The Countess and Gertrude (1811) and Rosanne (1814). These were celebrated for their coherent plots and proper morals. Heraline, on the other hand, displaces Moral–Domestic tropes, such as that of trials endured, to new scenes. Such experimentation problematises domestic values. For example Heraline’s defeat of plots to usurp her noble title ultimately removes her from domesticity.

11.
HERON, Mrs.
CONVERSATION; OR, SHADES OF DIFFERENCE. A NOVEL. IN THREE VOLUMES. BY MRS. HERON.
London: Printed for A. K. Newman and Co. Leadenhall-Street, 1821.
I 236p; II 238p; III 219p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47886-3; EN2 1821: 47.
*Conversation is part of the Post-Austenian Moral–Domestic sub-genre. Lady Rosvelyn’s subordination of moral integrity to material gain, along with her hypochondria and hysterical outbursts, are reminiscent of Pride and Prejudice’s Mrs. Bennett. Alongside its comic dialogue and visual farce, Conversation explores a range of female characters who do not marry well.

12.
KELLY, Mrs.
THE FATALISTS; OR, RECORDS OF 1814 AND 1815. A NOVEL. IN FIVE VOLUMES. BY MRS. KELLY, AUTHOR OF THE MATRON OF ERIN, &C.
London: Printed for A. K. Newman and Co. Leadenhall-Street, 1821.
I ii, 275p; II 265p; III 291p; IV 294p; V 301p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48008-6; EN2 1821: 52.
*The Fatalists is less flexible in its moral tone than many other Moral–Domestic works of the 1820s. A straightforward plot in which stoicism and virtue are eventually rewarded bears out Kelly’s ‘Christian’ desire to ‘blend useful instruction with innocent amusement’ (Preface, vol. 1, p. ii).

13.
[KELTY, Mary Ann].
THE FAVOURITE OF NATURE. A TALE. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for G. and W. B. Whittaker, Ave-Maria-Lane, 1821.
I iv, 366p; II 414p; III 383p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47503-1. EN2 1821: 54.
*Mary Ann Kelty’s experimental tales are of central importance to the Post-Austenian sub-genre. The Favourite was well-received in its own time, and tracks Eliza Rivers’ negotiation of the pressure to make a good marriage and the need to retain a sense of self-worth. Along the way Eliza is led to ponder more openly than do Austen’s heroines the justice of social norms which prohibit a variety of pleasures.

14.
[LESTER, Elizabeth B.].
THE WOMAN OF GENIUS. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster-Row, 1821/1822.
I (1821) 227p; II (1821) 230p; III (1822) 207p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48975-X; EN2 1821: 55.
*The Woman of Genius centres on the financially distressed and dependent Edith Avondale. This figure of the persecuted heroine is characteristic of the Moral–Domestic genre, yet it is injected here with some less orthodox elements. For example Edith writes a number of philosophical and fictional works (for which her ‘friend’ Lady Athos initially takes undue credit) and is sanctioned as a public artist.

15.
[MOORE, Alicia].
THE SISTERS: A NOVEL, IN FOUR VOLUMES.
London: Printed for Baldwin, Craddock, and Joy, Paternoster-Row, 1821.
I 284p; II 236p; III 244p; IV 248p. 8vo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48748-X; EN2 1821: 60.
*The Sisters places the typical Moral–Domestic heroine in situations that are more frustrating than those depicted in the 1810s. The result is a psychologically interested, and at times morally ambiguous, fiction. The pious Felicia is jilted by Evanmore, whose new bride then elopes with an infamous rake. This representation of a disastrous marriage enables Moore to explore mental turmoil and an unhappy ending.

16.
TAYLOR, [Ann].
RETROSPECTION: A TALE. BY MRS. TAYLOR, OF ONGAR, AUTHOR OF ‘MATERNAL SOLICITUDE’, &C. &C.
London: Printed for Taylor and Hessey, Fleet Street, 1821.
230p, ill. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48944-X; EN2 1821: 70.
*Retrospections is a sermonising tale told from the perspective of an elderly woman named Lucy, who is reflecting on her youth. Lucy depicts her foolish behaviour and selfish aims, before describing how she has redeemed herself by living as a domestically proficient, religious, and helpful member of the community.

17.
[?TAYLOR, Jane].
PRUDENCE AND PRINCIPLE: A TALE. BY THE AUTHOR OF “RACHEL” AND “THE AUTHORESS.”
London: Printed for Taylor and Hessey, Fleet Street, 1821.
vii, 213p, ill. 12mo.
BL 1152.E.8; xCME; N2 1821: 71.
*Prudence and Principle evinces a straightforward morality in a plot of virtue rewarded. The text is almost tract-like in its didactic register, as the narrative voice intervenes to discuss the value of philanthropic activities.

1822

18.
[BARBER, Elizabeth].
DANGEROUS ERRORS: A TALE.
London: Printed for Lupton Relfe, 13, Cornhill, 1822.
vii, 254p, ill. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47395-0; EN2 1822: 37
*Elizabeth Barber produced a series of Moral–Domestic texts in the early 1820s—Influence and Example (1823) and Tales of Modern Days (1824)—in which Christian values and norms are represented as unequivocally just. Barber’s oeuvre reveals that, despite the general trend towards Moral–Domestic diversification in the 1820s, the straightforward didacticism characteristic of the 1810s nonetheless retained its appeal.

19.
[HARDING, Anne Raikes].
THE REFUGEES, AN IRISH TALE. BY THE AUTHOR OF CORRECTION, DECISION, &C. &C. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster-Row, 1822.
I 287p; II 301p; III 354p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47459-0; EN2 1822: 37.
*Harding’s Correction (1818) and Decision (1819) reflect the thematic limitations of their fictional climate, being formulaic in plot and straightforward in their moral register. Harding became an important Post-Austenian writer in the 1820s, however; The Refugees is an exploratory text dealing cultural and linguistic differences, and refusing fully to condemn its less moral characters.

20.
HILL, Isabel.
CONSTANCE, A TALE. BY ISABEL HILL, AUTHOR OF ‘THE POET’S CHILD,’ A TRAGEDY.
London: John Warren, Old Bond Street, 1822.
vii, 279p. 12mo.          
Corvey: CME 3-628-47689-5; EN2 1822: 42.
*In keeping with several Moral–Domestic texts of the 1820s, the ending of Constance undercuts the conventional morality and domesticity advocated by the rest of the text. All Moral–Domestic fictions argue that adversity is rewarded in heaven, but many nonetheless see their heroines compensated on earth. In contrast, Constance endures bereavement and poverty without receiving financial reward or marriage.

21.
HOFLAND, [Barbara].
TALES OF THE MANOR. BY MRS. HOFLAND. IN FOUR VOLUMES.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Browne, Paternoster-Row, 1822.
I 344p; II 309p; III 342p; IV 309p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-51039-2; EN2 1822: 43.
*In Hofland’s second collection of tales multiple voices frame several short moral fictions. A series of narrators (including an elderly man, a romantic woman, and a matriarch) are involved in their own story, and also tell one another tales, thereby drawing attention to the layering of fiction, fact, and interpretation in social life.

22.
JOHNSTON, Mary.
DOMESTIC TALES; CONTAINING THE MERCHANT’S WIFE AND HER SISTER. BY MARY JOHNSTON, AUTHOR OF ‘THE LAIRDS OF GLENFERN; OR, HIGHLANDERS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.’
London: G. and W. B. Whittaker, Ave-Maria-Lane, 1822.
220p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-51080-5; EN2 1822: 48.
*Each of the tales in this collection is dominated by an intrusively didactic narrator. ‘The Merchant’s Wife and her Sister’ is the most sophisticated tale, and draws on the trope of the opposed, differently educated siblings. The need for young ladies to gain a domestically useful education is prioritised over their acquisition of ‘accomplishments’.

23.
[KELTY, Mary Ann].
OSMOND, A TALE. BY THE AUTHOR OF ‘THE FAVOURITE OF NATURE:’ IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for G. and W. B. Whittaker, Ave-Maria-Lane, 1822.
I iv, 312p; II 327p; III 396p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48317-4; EN2 1822: 51.
*The representation of marriage in this Post-Austenian tale challenges the validity of existing sources of female happiness. In Osmond Ellen’s marriage proves less satisfactory than many Austen novels lead the reader to hope [over-simplistic?], and leads the narrative to explore the divide between Ellen’s inner desire and jealousy and her cool, social exterior. This feature anticipates the Victorian concern with the female psyche.

24.
[STODDART, Lady Isabella Wellwood].
TALES OF MY AUNT MARTHA; CONTAINING I. THE LAIRD, A SCOTTISH TALE; II. THE SISTERS, AN ENGLISH TALE; III. THE CHATEAU IN LA VENDEE, A FRENCH TALE.
London: William Fearman, Library, 170, New Bond-Street, 1822.
I xxiv, 344p; II 372p; III 341p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48868-0; EN2 1822: 72.
*Stoddart is another Moral–Domestic author reclaiming the figure of the old maid as an image of female autonomy. The three tales in this collection are the orally transmitted recollections of Aunt Martha, a happily unmarried woman. The fact that she is the story-teller, and intends her stories for female relatives, symbolically reverses the contemporary masculinisation of the novel.

1823

25.
ANON.
JUSTINA; OR, RELIGION PURE AND UNDEFILED. A MORAL TALE. IN TWO VOLUMES.
London: Printed for A. K. Newman and Co. Leadenhall-Street, 1823.
I 272p; II 277p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48011-6; EN2 1823: 6.
*Justina tells of a stoical and domestic heroine who loses her potential suitors to a livelier rival. In dealing with the possibility that the Moral–Domestic heroine may not be attractive to prospective husbands, Justina reveals the importance of the role of wife. By consequence, Justina’s solitude is a lucid indictment of both woman’s ultimate dependence on men and her limited choice of inadequate roles.

26.
[BARBER, Elizabeth].
INFLUENCE AND EXAMPLE; OR, THE RECLUSE. A TALE. BY THE AUTHOR OF “DANGEROUS ERRORS”.
London: Printed for Lupton Relfe, 13, Cornhill, 1823.
iv, 236, ill. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47883-9; EN2 1823: 22.
*Influence and Example is less experimental in its plot than many other Moral–Domestic texts of the 1820s, as it voices an unequivocal support for a number of Evangelical principles, and focuses on the merits of philanthropy. Women are nonetheless powerful in this text, with the heroine’s exemplary behaviour influencing her community.

27.
CRUMPE, Miss [M. G. T.].
ISABEL ST ALBE: OR VICE AND VIRTUE. A NOVEL. IN THREE VOLUMES. BY MISS CRUMPE.
Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Company; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. London; and John Cumming, Dublin, 1823.
I vi, 293p; II 260p; III 230p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47354-3; EN2 1823: 30.
*Female-authored Moral–Domestic texts make a variety of references to male writers’ impact on the novel. Isabel St Albe represents one response, with its grateful acknowledgement to Walter Scott. Crumpe thanks Scott for his ‘approbation and encouragement’ in her dedication, dated Limerick, 24 February 1823 (vol. 1, p. v). The national and historical themes of the novel itself also resonate with Scott’s fictions.

28.
HOFLAND, [Barbara].
INTEGRITY. A TALE. BY MRS HOFLAND, AUTHOR OF TALES OF THE PRIORY, TALES OF THE MANOR, AND A SON OF A GENIUS, &C. &C.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Browne, Paternoster-Row, 1823.
264p, ill. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47664-X; EN2 1823: 42.
*Integrity is the first in a spate of one-volume Moral–Domestic titles that Hofland produced throughout the 1820s. In its portrayal of two female characters who raise orphans, Integrity incorporates an image of an alternative ‘family’ of individuals who are united not by blood ties but by bonds of mutual respect and assistance.

29.
[KENNEDY, GRACE].
FATHER CLEMENT; A ROMAN CATHOLIC STORY. BY THE AUTHOR OF “THE DECISION,” &C.
Edinburgh: Published by William Oliphant, 22 South Bridge Street; and Sold by M. Ogle, and Chalmers & Collins, Glasgow; J. Finlay, Newcastle; Beilby & Knots, Birmingham; J. Hatchard & Son, T. Hamilton, J. Nisbet, Ogle, Duncan & Co., B. J. Holdsworth, F. Westley, and Knight & Lacey, London, 1823.
370p. 18mo.
BL 1509/3275; xCME; EN2 1823: 51.
*Father Clement is a key early text of the Conversion Moral–Domestic sub-genre. Conversion fiction escaped the critics’ hostility owing to its orthodox celebration of Protestantism. Yet the depicting of conversion also led writers to explore some less conventional themes; Kennedy’s tale of the Clarenham family’s conversion from Catholic to Protest Christianity is one of psychological depth and historical comment.

30.
[WALKER, Anne].
RICH AND POOR.
Edinburgh: William Blackwood, and T. Cadell, London, 1823.
401p. 8vo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48570-3; EN2 1823: 81.
*Rich and Poor promotes a strong, evangelical Presbyterianism, whilst also engaging in social satire. Much of the narrative dissects Lady Amelia’s allegiance to both nominal and true Christianity, and her interactions with a range of contrasting secondary characters, such as Dr Pelham, a bon-vivant clergyman, and Mr Mansfield, a hard-line minister.

1824

31.
BARBER, Elizabeth.
TALES OF MODERN DAYS. BY ELIZABETH BARBER, AUTHOR OF “DANGEROUS ERRORS” – “INFLUENCE AND EXAMPLE.”
London. Published by Sherwood, Jones, and Co., Paternoster-Row, 1824.
ix, 340p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47102-8; EN2 1824: 17.
*Barber’s preface to these simple moral tales invokes the contemporary influx of male authors as part of an astute defence of women’s fiction. Barber states that ‘so many writers of distinguished merit have given an air of stability and superiority to works of fiction’ (p. iv) so that ‘a fable has turned the tide of national feeling’ (p. vii).

32.
[BRISTOW, Amelia].
THE FAITHFUL SERVANT; OR, THE HISTORY OF ELIZABETH ALLEN. A NARRATIVE OF FACTS.
London: Printed for Francis Westley, 10, Stationers’ Court; and Ave-Maria Lane, 1824
xii, 216p. 12mo.
O 24, 1; xCME; EN2 1824: 18.
*Bristow is a key contributor to the Moral–Domestic Conversion sub-genre. Although The Faithful Servant is not a conversion novel it is important because its narrator argues the principle importance of Protestant Christianity, whilst the plot, in which the protagonist is praised for resisting temptations, celebrates endurance and duty.

33.
CAREY, Joanna.
LASTING IMPRESSIONS: A NOVEL, IN THREE VOLUMES. BY MRS. JOANNA CAREY.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, Paternoster-Row, 1824.
I v, 367p; II 382p; III 370p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47214-8; EN2 1824: 22.
*Lasting Impressions shares more with the texts of the Moral–Domestic genre’s 1810s heyday than with its more complex and troubling counterparts of the 1820s. Carey’s heroine deals with potential suitors with sense and dignity in scenes that would have been familiar to readers of the ‘society novel’. The inclusion of this element suggests Carey’s desire for broad appeal.

34. CHARLTON, Mary.
GRANDEUR AND MEANNESS; OR, DOMESTIC PERSECUTION. A NOVEL. IN THREE VOLUMES. BY MARY CHARLTON, AUTHOR OF THE WIFE AND MISTRESS, ROSELLA, &C. &C.
London: Printed for A. K. Newman and Co. Leadenhall-Street, 1824.
I 331p; II 318p; III 324p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47254-7; EN2 1824: 23.
Grandeur and Meanness may be seen to exemplify the popular appeal of the 1820s Moral–Domestic style. Writers like Charlton wrote occasionally but not exclusively in the genre, and their Minerva publications presented a subdued morality and domesticity.

35.
[FERRIER, Susan Edmonstone].
THE INHERITANCE. BY THE AUTHOR OF MARRIAGE. IN THREE VOLUMES.
Edinburgh: William Blackwood, and T. Cadell, London, 1824.
I 387p; II 415p; III 359p. 8vo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47877-4; EN2 1824: 33.
*The Inheritance is part of the Post-Austenian Moral–Domestic sub-genre. Ferrier’s first paragraph echoes Austen’s opening to Pride and Prejudice, as does her sustained satirical tone. Moving beyond Austen, and anticipating certain Victorian anxieties, the heroine discovers she is the daughter of a lower-class man. Gertrude’s subsequent distress and shame resonate with Pip’s feelings in Great Expectations.    

36.
[HAWKINS, Lætitia-Matilda].
ANNALINE; OR, MOTIVE-HUNTING.
London: Printed for James Carpenter and Son, Old Bond Street, 1824.
I 346p; II 307p; III 310p. 8vo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47061-7; EN2 1824: 46.
*Annaline is part of the Post-Austenian sub-genre. The heroine is witty, lively, and virtuous in her negotiation of the marriage market. She is not wholly faultless however, being prone to jealousy and sullenness. Significantly she is neither punished nor condemned for these traits.

37.
HOFLAND, [Barbara].
DECISION. A TALE. BY MRS. HOFLAND, AUTHOR OF INTEGRITY A TALE, PATIENCE A TALE, THE SONE OF A GENIUS; TALES OF THE PRIORY; TALES OF THE MANOR, &C. &C.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, Paternoster-Row, 1824.
272p, ill. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47665-8; EN2 1824: 48.
*Decision tells the familiar Moral–Domestic story of financial hardship in which the heroine’s virtue and her strength are tested. Yet whereas Brunton’s Laura Montreville of Self-Control (1811) overcame poverty by painting, Maria becomes involved in a more typically male industry, selling iron in the expanding manufacturing world.

38.
HOFLAND, [Barbara].
PATIENCE. A TALE. BY MRS. HOFLAND, AUTHOR OF INTEGRITY A TALE; THE SONE OF A GENIUS, TALES OF THE PRIORY, TALES OF THE MANOR, &C. &C.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, Paternoster-Row, 1824.
289p, ill. 12mo.
BL N.219; xCME; EN2 1824: 49.
*Hofland’s Patience is more formulaic than the other texts that comprise her 1820s one-volume spate. In keeping with an Evangelical emphasis, an openly didactic narrator praises the heroine’s self-sacrifice and her willingness to defer gratification to the afterlife.

39.
[KELTY, Mary Ann].
TRIALS; A TALE. BY THE AUTHOR OF “THE FAVOURITE OF NATURE,” &C. &C. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for G. and W. B. Whittaker, Ave-Maria Lane, 1824.
I 328p; II 315p; III 314p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48828-1; EN2 1824: 58.
*This unusual Post-Austenian novel sees Caroline’s marriage, which occurs in the beginning of the novel, repeatedly tested as her husband is pursued by a sexually rapacious and immoral woman.

40.
[?TAYLOR, Jane].
SINCERITY: A TALE. BY THE AUTHOR OF “RACHEL,” &C.
London: Published by Knight and Lacey, 24, Paternoster-Row, 1824.
iv, 176p, ill. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48702-1; EN2 1824: 91.
*Of interest in this otherwise conventional moral tale is the emphatic depiction of female solidarity. Sincerity criticises the marriage market because it encourages young women to be vain and jealous, and to resent one another. By the end of this tale the heroine Matilda has rejected marriage, and has set up home instead with an emotionally injured female friend.

41.
[WOODROOFFE, Anne].
SHADES OF CHARACTER; OR, THE INFANT PILGRIM. BY THE AUTHOR OF “THE HISTORY OF MICHAEL KEMP.”
Bath: Printed for the Author; and sold by Relfe, Cornhill, and Hatchard, and Seeley, London; and by all other Booksellers, 1824.
I 474p; II 621p; III 390p. 8vo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48649-1; EN2 1824: 99.
*Shades of Character focuses upon children aged between nine and thirteen. The typical Moral–Domestic heroine is present in the child’s mother, Mrs. Deane, but she is a marginal character, with the children’s experiences, and especially their religious discussions at boarding school, taking centre stage.

1825

42.
[BUSK, Mrs. M. M.].
TALES OF FAULT AND FEELING. BY THE AUTHOR OF “ZEAL AND EXPERIENCE.”
London: T. Hookham, Old Bond-Street, 1825.
I 314p; II 333p; III 303p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-51147-X; EN2 1825: 17.
*Tales of Fault and Feeling contains nine short fictions. The tales all centre on trials and adversities, although they vary significantly in setting. For example ‘Arthur Errington’ is a Post-Austenian tale charting the problems involved in marriage, whereas ‘Miriam’ is a historical narrative.

43.
[CADELL, Cecilia Mary].
MASSENBURG. A TALE. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for T. Cadell, Strand; and W. Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1825.
I iv, 328p; II 359p; III 308p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48135-X; EN2 1825: 18.
*Massenburg makes use of the fact that the approved aim of illustrating ‘the domestic calamities that proceed from vicious pursuits’ (Preface, pp. iii–iv) sanctions fiction to be daring. Massenburg is a tragedy of Gothic proportions; after repeated attempts at reform, Eliza’s decadent father commits suicide. On discovering his corpse, Eliza ends the novel with the ‘wandering, vacant, glance of a MANIAC’ (vol. 3, p. 308).

44.
[HARDING, Anne Raikes].
REALITIES, NOT A NOVEL. A TALE FROM REAL LIFE. IN FOUR VOLUMES. BY THE AUTHOR OF CORRECTION, DECISION, REFUGEES, &C.
London: Printed for A. K. Newman and Co. Leadenhall-Street, 1825.
I viii, viii, 284p; II 254p; III 263p; IV 243p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48456-1; EN2 1825: 39.
*Realities is an experimental Moral–Domestic text which layers a number of inset stories against a central plot, and features a narrator who debates the text’s own fictional status.

45.
HOFLAND, [Barbara].
MODERATION. A TALE. BY MRS. HOFLAND, AUTOR OF INTEGRITY A TALE, PATIENCE A TALE, DECISION A TALE, THE SON OF A GENIUS; TALES OF THE PRIORY; TALES OF THE MANOR, &C.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Browne, and Green, Paternoster-Row, 1825.
253p, ill. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47662-3; EN2 1825: 42.
*Moderation’s principle characters are the good Christian Rector Mr. Carysford and his two daughters, one of whom is vain and temperamental whilst the other is patient and virtuous. This tale exemplifies Hofland’s distinctive capacity to depict loss and tragedy in a poignant, sympathetic manner.

46.
[KENNEDY, Grace].
PHILIP COLVILLE; OR, A COVENANTER’S STORY. UNFINISHED. BY THE AUTHOR OF “THE DECISION,” “FATHER CLEMENT,” &C. &C.
Edinburgh: Published by W. Oliphant, 22, South Bridge; and sold by M. Ogle, and Chalmers and Collins, Glasgow; J. Finlay, Newcastle; Beilby & Knotts, Birmingham; J. Hatchard and Son, Hamilton, Adams & Co., J. Nisbet, J. Duncan, B. J. Holdsworth, and F. Westley, London: and R. M. Tims, and W. Curry, jun. & Co. Dublin, 1825.
272p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48434-0; EN2 1825: 49.
*Philip Colville is this Conversion writer’s unfinished work, and it depicts a series of moral characters struggling in 1600s Britain. It was published posthumously with a final editorial section (by an unspecified person) which states that ‘[t]his would have been a most useful work, for even our most esteemed historians have either slurred over the odious deeds of that day, or they have misrepresented them’ (p. 272).

47.
[LESTER, Elizabeth B.].
FIRESIDE SCENES. BY THE AUTHOR OF THE BACHELOR AND MARRIED MAN, &C. &C. &C. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Browne, and Green, 1825.
I 312p; II 283p; III 300p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47551-1; EN2 1825: 52.
*The tales included in Fireside Scenes are domestic in both ideology and setting, and contain standard, unquestionable moral messages. The religiosity of the text is weaker than that manifest in many other Moral–Domestic works of the period, however.

48.
[WALKER, Anne].
COMMON EVENTS: A CONTINUATION OF RICH AND POOR.
Edinburgh: William Blackwood, and T. Cadell, London, 1825.
382p. 8vo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47276-8; EN2 1825: 83.
*The narrative of Common Events picks up where Walker’s Rich and Poor (1823) left off, with Lady Amelia eventually marrying Mr Moreland, her truly Christian suitor. Like its prequel, this text blends social satire with Calvinist Evangelicalism.

1826

49.
{A}[NLEY], {C}[harlotte].
MIRIAM; OR, THE POWER OF TRUTH. A JEWISH TALE. BY THE AUTHOR OF “INFLUENCE.”
London: John Hatchard and Son, Piccadilly, 1826.
Vii, 384p. 8vo.
BL N.1243; xCME; EN2 1826: 10.
*Miriam is part of the Conversion sub-genre, and appropriates the standard Moral–Domestic depiction of suffering in such a way that psychological torment comes to the fore. In its depiction of a conversion from Judaism to Protestantism, Anley’s fiction possesses historical authority, and also contributes to the broader infusion in British cultural consciousness of Protestantism and nationalism.

50.
[BRISTOW, Amelia].
SOPHIA DE LISSAU; OR, A PORTRAITURE OF THE JEWS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY: BEING AN OUTLINE OF THE RELIGIOUS AND DOMESTIC HABITS OF THIS MOST INTERESTING NATION, WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES, BY THE AUTHOR OF “ELIZABETH ALLEN; OR, THE FAITHFUL SERVANT.”
London: Printed for the Author, by Gardiner & Son, Princes Street, Cavendish Square, and Simpkin & Marshall, Stationers’ Court, 1826.
269p. 18mo.
BL 696.c.9; xCME; EN2 1826: 20.
*Sophia de Lissau is the first text of Bristow’s important ‘Lissau’ Conversion trilogy. In packaging her work as a ‘Portraiture’, with ‘Explanatory Notes’ (pp. 259–69), Bristow claims a factual, enlightening identity for female author and text. In charting the heroine’s indoctrination by her zealously Jewish mother, Sophia details historical events and cultural differences that would have been obscure to many readers.

51.
HALL, Mrs. A. C.
OBSTINACY. A TALE. BY MRS. A. C. HALL.
London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, Paternoster-Row, 1826.
338p, ill. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47622-4; EN2 1826: 42.
*Obstinacy is markedly darker in tone than many of its contemporaries, displacing the familiar Moral–Domestic narrative to an unjust society, and by consequence questioning commonly-held values and morals. The protagonist Frank is forced to learn caution as few of his friends respond to his trusting nature well. Likewise Betsey suffers for her philanthropy when she helps a malicious girl who plots to ruin her.

52.
HOFLAND, [Barbara].
REFLECTION. A TALE. BY MRS. HOFLAND, AUTHOR OF INTEGRITY, A TALE; PATIENCE, A TALE; DECISION, A TALE; MODERATION, A TALE; THE SON OF A GENIUS; TALES OF THE PRIORY; TALES OF THE MANOR; &C, &C.
London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, Paternoster-Row, 1826.
267p, ill. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47661-5; EN2 1826: 46.
*The heroine of Reflection, Clara, represents country society, reason, and virtue. After being snubbed by the Reeds of London, Clara reforms this family’s moral life. Hofland’s preference for country society is based on her view that it empowers women; living in the country encourages Clara to ignore superficial concerns like dress and marriage, and to develop instead a more satisfying individuality.

53.
[KELTY, Mary Ann].
THE STORY OF ISABEL; BY THE AUTHOR OF “THE FAVOURITE OF NATURE,” &C. &C. &C. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, Paternoster-Row, 1826.
I xii, 367p; II 325p; III 332p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48676-9; EN2 1826: 48.
*Isabel is the protagonist of this Post-Austenian text. Yet it is the narrator, Isabel’s friend Miss Delmond, who possesses the typical traits of the Moral–Domestic heroine. Miss Delmond exists oddly on the peripheries of Isabel’s life, and anticipates Victorian heroines such as Jane Eyre and Lucy Snow, who lack wealth and beauty, but who represent psychologically complex, alternative versions of womanhood.

54.
MOSSE, Henrietta Rouviere.
GRATITUDE, AND OTHER TALES. IN THREE VOLUMES. BY HENRIETTA ROUVIERE MOSSE, AUTHOR OF LUSSINGTON ABBEY, HEIRS OF VILLEROY, OLD IRISH BARONET, PEEP AT OUR ANCESTORS, ARRIVALS FROM INDIA, BRIDE AND NO WIFE, A FATHER’S LOVE AND A WOMAN’S FRIENDSHIP, &C.
London: Printed for A. K. Newman and Co. Leadenhall-Street, 1826.
I xv, 304p; II 278p; III 315p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48346-8; EN2 1826: 59.
*Mosse is one of a number of ‘jobbing’ authors whose sporadic adoption of the Moral–Domestic genre proves its popularity. The adversity discussed in her Royal Literary Fund correspondence might also explain her attraction to a genre that enabled her to portray suffering. Interestingly Gratitude’s two heroines develop a bond that supersedes social demands; both refuse to marry, preferring instead to live together.

55.
[OLIVER, Mrs. N. W.].
SEPHORA; A HEBREW TALE, DESCRIPTIVE OF THE COUNTRY OF PALESTINE, AND THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMES OF THE ANCIENT ISRAELITES. TWO VOLUMES.
London: J. Hatchard and Son, 187, Piccadilly, 1826.
I viii, 280p; III 280p. 8vo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48647-5; EN2 1826: 60.
*Sephora’s place in the Moral–Domestic fictional movement of the 1820s is important but also ambiguous. The action occurs in Palestine, and Christianity is not present. Nonetheless Sephora incorporates a number of prominent domestic and moral lessons, and is closely associated with the Conversion sub-genre.

1827

56.
[BUNBURY, Selina].
CABIN CONVERSATIONS AND CASTLE SCENES. AN IRISH STORY. BY THE AUTHOR OF “EARLY RECOLLECIONS,” “A VISIT TO MY BIRTH-PLACE,” &C. &C.
London: James Nisbet, Berners Street, 1827.
173p, ill. 18mo.
BL N.27(3); EN2 1827: 19.
*Selina Bunbury is an interesting contributor to the Moral–Domestic genre as her works blend didacticism, religious discussion, and Irish concerns and scenery. The present work is one of Bunbury’s short, almost tract-like stories about the need for all classes to lead a religious life.

57.
[HARDING, Anne Raikes].
DISSIPATION. A TALE OF SIMPLE LIFE. IN FOUR VOLUMES. BY THE AUTHOR OF “REALITIES,” “CORRECTION,” &C.
London: Printed for A. K. Newman and Co., 1827.
I x, 290p; II 264p; III 252p; IV 292p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47438-8; EN2 1827: 38.
*A prefatory story about a single woman and her disabled daughter reflects and publicises Harding’s own struggles. The Post-Austenian work itself sanctions the lively Clara to ridicule some extremely moralistic characters, who she describes as ‘moping and moaning for sins never committed’, and adhering to a doctrine of ‘Be wretched on earth, and it will make you happy in heaven!’ (vol. 1, p. 12).

58.
HOFLAND, [Barbara].
SELF-DENIAL. A TALE. BY MRS. HOFLAND, AUTHOR OF INTEGRITY, A TALE; PATIENCE, A TALE; DECISION, A TALE; MODERATION, A TALE; REFLECTION, A TALE; THE SON OF A GENIUS; TALES OF THE PRIORY; TALES OF THE MANOR, &C. &C.
London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, Paternoster-Row, 1827.
254p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47660-7; EN2 1827: 41.
*Self-Denial is implicitly Christian and links domesticity with the security of identity and the empowerment of women. In contrast to many of Hofland’s fictions, however, the present tale is interested in the wealthier sector of society, and centres around the middle-class Elphinstones and their troublesome daughter Caroline.

59.
MOSSE, Henrietta Rouviere.
WOMAN’S WIT & MAN’S WISDOM; OR, INTRIGUE. A NOVEL. IN FOUR VOLUMES. BY HENRIETTA ROUVIERE MOSSE, AUTHOR OF A FATHER’S LOVE AND A WOMAN’S FRIENDSHIP, BRIDE AND NO WIFE, GRATITUDE, &C. &C.
London: Printed for A. K. Newman and Co., 1827.
I iv 308p; II 299p; III 290p; IV 296p; 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48351-4; EN2 1827: 55.
*Woman’s Wit & Man’s Wisdom follows an orphan’s life with her kind uncle, and her domestic support of him in later life. Christian gratitude is reciprocal here, and leads to relationships in which men and women are equal parties.

60.
[WEST, Jane].
RINGROVE; OR, OLD FASHIONED NOTIONS. BY THE AUTHOR OF “LETTERS TO A YOUNG MAN,” “A TALE OF THE TIMES,” &C. &C. IN TWO VOLUMES.
London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, Paternoster-Row, 1827.
I 413p; II 427p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48609-2; EN2 1827: 78.
*In keeping with the Moral–Domestic genre’s positive appropriation of the old-maid figure, Ringrove portrays an elderly, single woman who fosters in the young and wayward Emma an identity that avoids restricting concerns like marriage and beauty. Most of West’s works appeared pre-1820 and testify to the correspondence between Moral–Domestic fiction and earlier anti-Jacobin and anti-sentimental writers.

1828

61.
[BRAY, Anna Eliza].
THE PROTESTANT; A TALE OF THE REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. BY THE AUTHOR OF ‘DE FOIX’, ‘THE WHITE HOODS,’ &C. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Henry Colburn, New Birmingham Street, 1828.
I 344p; II 326p; III 281p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48418-9; EN2 1828: 21.
*The Protestant is a Conversion tale set during the reign of Queen Mary the First, which follows the fate of a good Protestant family as they stoically endure brutal treatment at the hands of Catholics. The Protestant contributes to a contemporary interest in history that was important to Protestant, British nationalism.

62.
[BRISTOW, Amelia].
EMMA DE LISSAU; A NARRATIVE OF STRIKING VICISSITUDES, AND PECULIAR TRIALS; WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES, ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE JEWS. BY THE AUTHOR OF “SOPHIA DE LISSAU,” “ELIZABETH ALLEN,”&C. &C. IN TWO VOLUMES.
London: Published by T. Gardiner and Son, Princes Street, Cavendish Square. Sold by Hatchard and Son, Piccadilly; Simpkin and Marshall, Stationers’ Hall Court, 1828.
I viii, 269p; II viii, 258p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47560-0; EN2 1828: 23.
*This Conversion fiction, in which Emma de Lissau converts to Christianity despite the disapproval of her Jewish family, substantiates conservative Protestant orthodoxy whilst also rejecting patriarchy as radically as did openly feminist writers like Mary Hays and Mary Wollstonecraft. Emma’s conversion sanctions her rational judgment and her refutation of all, except the religious, sources of authority.

63.
[BUNBURY, Selina].
THE ABBEY OF INNISMOYLE: A STORY OF ANOTHER CENTURY. BY THE AUTHOR OF “EARLY RECOLLECTIONS,” “A VISIT TO MY BIRTH PLACE,” &C.
Dublin: William Curry, jun. and Co. 9, Upper Sackville-Street, 1828.
333p, ill. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47001-3; EN2 1828: 25.
*Selina Bunbury’s anti-Catholic novel of religious conversion is set in Ireland during the reign of Elizabeth and blends the Moral–Domestic style with a keen interest in both national and regional character.

64.
CADDICK, Mrs. [H. C.].
TALES OF THE AFFECTIONS: BEING SKETCHES FROM REAL LIFE. BY MRS. CADDICK.
London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green; and T. Sowler, Manchester, n.d. [1828].
v, 199p. 8vo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47182-6; EN2 1828: 27.
*Caddick’s preface defends the female author and bemoans the lot of the average 1820s woman. The short stories in this collection are typically Moral–Domestic tales about pious and caring heroines. For example the first tale, ‘The Soldier’s Sister’, is set in Bristol twenty years before Britain’s war with its North American colonies, and sees the dutiful Catherine support and reform her wayward brother.

65.
[HARDING, Anne Raikes].
EXPERIENCE. A TALE FOR ALL AGES. BY THE AUTHOR OF CORRECTION, REALITIES, DISSIPATION, &C. IN FOUR VOLUMES.
London: Printed for A. K. Newman and Co., 1828.
I 260p; II 241p; III 256p; IV 233p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47617-8; EN2 1828: 46.
*Experience is Harding’s last work and arguably her most diverse Post-Austenian production. There are parallels between the situation of Georgette, the ‘poor relation’ who comes to have a positive influence on her hostile relatives, and Fanny Price of Austen’s Mansfield Park. The ‘rags to riches’ tale that appeared in much Moral–Domestic fiction is here injected with new life by Harding’s fiery Spanish heroine.

66.
[HOFLAND, Barbara].
KATHERINE. A TALE. IN FOUR VOLUMES.
London: A. K. Newman & Co. Leadenhall-Street, 1828.
I 247p; II 231p; III234p; IV 240p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48004-3; EN2 1828: 51.
*Katherine marks Hofland’s departure away from her 1820s series of one-volume Moral–Domestic titles and towards a lengthier, more psychologically intense fiction. In this tale Katherine is jilted by her lover Walmesley, feels jealous and dejected, and has to conceal her heartache. Katherine recall’s Kelty’s silently-fuming Ellen of Osmond (1822) in accentuating the complexity of female experience and selfhood.

67.
[SMYTHE, Amelia Gillespie].
TALES OF THE MOORS: OR, RAINY DAYS IN ROSS-SHIRE. BY THE AUTHOR OF SELWYN IN SEARCH OF A DAUGHTER.
Edinburgh: William Blackwood, and T. Cadell, Strand, London, 1828.
xix, 437p. 8vo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48865-6; EN2 1828: 76.
*The stories that comprise Tales of the Moors are told by four gentlemen (two English, one Irish, and one Scottish) on a series of rainy days during a sporting holiday. In creating male mouthpieces for the fictions that she has produced, Smythe plays with the issue of the gender of authorship in what is arguably a playful response to the contemporary male invasion of the novel.

1829

68.
[CORP, Harriet].
TALES CHARACTERISTIC, DESCRIPTIVE, AND ALLEGORICAL. BY THE AUTHOR OF “AN ANTIDOTE TO THE MISERIES OF HUMAN LIFE,” &C. &C. WITH A FRONTISPIECE.
London: Printed for Baldwin and Cradock, 1829.
vi, 222p, ill. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-51144-5; EN2 1829: 28.
*Corp’s Tales contrasts with the general trend in the 1820s towards experimentation within Moral–Domestic fiction by retaining the uncompromising Evangelicalism of the genre’s early years. In the preface Corp is confident and authoritative when discussing the rigidly moral purpose of her work. The most prevalent concerns of the nine tales in this collection are female education and the family.

69.
[GREY, Elizabeth Caroline].
THE TRIALS OF LIFE. BY THE AUTHOR OF “DE LISLE.” IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Edward Bull, Holles Street, 1829.
I 319p; II 285p; III 279p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48829X; EN2 1829: 40.
*The Trials of Life is Grey’s only Moral–Domestic fiction, with her other fiction of the period, De Lisle; or the Sensitive Man, being a society novel. Grey is one of a group of popular novelists whose total oeuvre contains one or two Moral–Domestic texts alongside works of other genres. Such writers testify to the malleability of the genre, and to its broad appeal.

70.
HOFLAND, [Barbara].
BEATRICE, A TALE FOUNDED ON FACTS. BY MRS. HOFLAND. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, Paternoster-Row, 1829.
I 324p; II 354p; III 312p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47675-5; EN2 1829: 47.
*In Beatrice social class is a problematic element of identity. Beatrice is an abandoned child, found and taken in by an elderly farmer and his unmarried sister. Beatrice struggles as she both feels her difference from her family but also remains only partially aware of her origins. This psychological investigation anticipates Victorian anxieties about the effects on individuals of increased social mobility.

71.
[MACKENZIE, Mary Jane].
PRIVATE LIFE; OR, VARIETIES OF CHARACTER AND OPINION. IN TWO VOLUMES. BY THE AUTHOR OF “GERALDINE,” &C. &C.
London: Printed for T. Cadell, Strand; and W. Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1829.
I 361p; II 391p. 8vo
Corvey: CME 3-628-48365-5; EN2 1829: 57.
*In this Post-Austenian fiction the death of Mr Grenville leaves the heroine Constance and her mother suffering emotionally and financially. These women overcome their troubles by cultivating a warm relationship with the wealthy Lady Lennox and her sons, one of whom Caroline marries. Private Life depicts male interactions and experiences frequently and convincingly.

72.
[ROBERTSON, Mrs.]
FLORENCE: OR THE ASPIRANT. A NOVEL, IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Whittaker, Treacher, and Co. Ave Maria Lane, 1829.
I 296p; II 293p; III 311p. 8vo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47797; EN2 1829: 52.
*Although it has previously been attributed to Grace Kennedy, Robertson’s Florence is actually a response to that writer’s Protestant Conversion text Father Clement (1823). In Florence the heroine converts from Protestantism to Catholicism. What is extremely interesting is that Florence claims for Catholicism all of the qualities that the Moral–Domestic mainstream sees as integral to Protestantism.

1830

73.
ANON.
THE BIBLICALS, OR GLENMOYLE CASTLE, A TALE OF MODERN TIMES.
Dublin: T. O’Flanagan, 26, Bachelor’s-Walk, 1830.
iv, 292p. 12mo.
BL 1119.d.40; xCME; EN3 1830: 4.
*The Biblicals is part of the Conversion sub-genre. The author makes reference to Kennedy’s important Conversion text of 1823 by stating that ‘The following narrative was written in the year 1827, and was suggested by that interesting fiction, “Father Clement”’ (p. [iii]). The tale itself sees a traditional and strongly religious family prove the contemporary relevance of scripture to their less moralistic acquaintances.

74.
BEST, Eliza.
ST. JAMES’S; OR, A PEEP AT DELUSION. A NOVEL. BY ELIZA BEST. IN TWO VOLUMES.
London: Printed for the Author, and sold by A. K. Newman and Co. Leadenhall Street, 1830.
I xi, 291p; II 304p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47120-6; EN3 1830: 23.
*St. James’s is concerned with gender on a number of levels. In the Preface, Best argue that male writers were matched by women in elevating fiction as ‘the names of Scott, Byron, Porter, and Mitford, have graced the modern catalogue of authors’ (p. xi). The novel itself also pays considerable attention to the male sphere, as Frederick Cherbury is reformed from gaming and drinking by his friend Osmond Danvers.

75.
BOWDLER, H[enrietta] M[aria].
PEN TAMAR; OR, THE HISTORY OF AN OLD MAID. BY THE LATE MRS. H. M. BOWDLER.
London: Printed for Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, Paternoster-Row, 1830.
ix, 244p, ill. 8vo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47271-7; EN3 1830: 24.
*In her preface to this posthumously published work Bowdler claims that she wrote Pen Tamar as early as 1801. This contextualises Moral–Domestic fiction as a daughter genre to anti-Jacobin fiction. Bowdler discusses important authors like Mary Brunton and Elizabeth Hamilton, who were opposed to ‘Mr. Godwin and others’ supporting ‘the horrors of the French Revolution.’ Pen Tamar positively depicts an old maid.

76.
[BRISTOW, Amelia].
THE ORPHANS OF LISSAU, AND OTHER INTERESTING NARRATIVES, IMMEDIATELY CONNECTED WITH JEWISH CUSTOMS, DOMESTIC AND RELIGIOUS, WITH EXPLANATORY NOTES. BY THE AUTHOR OF “SOPHIA DE LISSAU,” “EMMA DE LISSAU,” &C. IN TWO VOLUMES.
London: Published by T. Gardiner & Son, Princes Street, Cavendish Square; sold also by the Author, South Vale, Blackheath, 1830.
I ii, 268p; II 278p. 12mo.
BL N.726; xCME; EN3 1830: 27.
*In this final work of the Lissau Conversion trilogy Gertrude is brought up to be obedient, before being duped by a wicked Rabbi, and finally forced to flee her community. Bristow invokes isolation to both test and argue the necessity of female strength. When alone Gertrude cannot rationalise, and goes insane. Yet the heroine of Emma (1828) has a stable self, and emerges unbeaten from confinement.

77.
[BUNBURY, Selina].
ELEANOR. BY THE AUTHOR OF “A VISIT TO MY BIRTHPLACE,” “THE ABBEY OF INNISMOYLE,” &C. &C.
Dublin: W. Curry, jun. & Co. Sackville-Street, W. Carson, Grafton-Street, 1830.
113p. 18mo.
BL 4413.f.41(1); xCME; EN3 1830: 31.
*Eleanor is a didactic fiction conveyed by an intrusive, educating narrator. The text is concerned with the traits that a good, respectable woman ought to possess, and amongst the most prominent to be advanced are domesticity, sensitivity to others (particularly men), and piety.

78.
GRIMSTONE, Mary Leman.
LOUISA EGERTON, OR, CASTLE HERBERT. A TALE FROM REAL LIFE. BY MARY LEMAN GRIMSTONE, AUTHOR OF “LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT; OR, THE BEAUTY OF THE BRITISH ALPS,” &C.
London: Printed by C. Baynes, Duke Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, for George Virtue, Ivy Lane Paternoster-Row, 1830.
760p. 8mo.
BL 12614.g.28; xCME; EN3 1830: 59.
*Louisa Egerton reveals Grimstone to be a commercial author manipulating the popularity and saleability of the Moral–Domestic genre, as it invokes aspects of the society novel and the Gothic romance. In Louisa Egerton the heroine is tested by false friends and tempted by dissolution, before emerging virtuous.

79.
JEWSBURY, Maria Jane.
THE THREE HISTORIES. THE HISTORY OF AN ENTHUSIAST. THE HISTORY OF A NONCHALANT. THE HISTORY OF A REALIST. BY MARIA JANE JEWSBURY.
London: Frederick Westley and A. H. Davis, Stationers’ Hall Court, 1830.
322p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-51079-1; EN3 1830: 65.
*Each of the three stories in this collection complicates simple morality and unequivocal values. The first tells the story of Julia Osbourne, a naughty and indulged child who must be educated out of her bad ways. The fact that Julia lack morals even after her schooling questions the familiar emphasis placed on a good education.

80.
[LEWIS, Mary Gogo].
THE JEWISH MAIDEN. A NOVEL. BY THE AUTHOR OF “AMBITION, &C.” IN FOUR VOLUMES.
London: Printed for A. K. Newman and Co., 1830.
I 249p; II 246p; III 254p; IV 238p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47986-X; EN3 1830: 70.
*Miriam tells the story of a pious and dutiful Jewish maiden’s dedication to her lover. What is quite singular about this work is its female writer’s confident and competent delineation of male-to-male interactions. In addition, many of Miriam’s most positive traits are linked to her Jewish heritage, which contrasts with the supremacy of Protestantism accentuated in many Moral–Domestic texts.

81.
[LOUDON, Margracia].
FIRST LOVE. A NOVEL. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Saunders and Otley, Conduit Street, 1830.
I 380p; II 367p; III 433p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47498-1; EN3 1830: 71.
*In similarity with Barbara Hofland, Margracia Loudon begins with the typical adversity plot of the Moral–Domestic novel, and focuses on the poverty of the lowest sections of society. This in turn leads to an interest in how changes in wealth affect identity. In First Love a young beggar boy is placed under the care of a wealthy nobleman and his daughter and later experiences class confusion.

82.
MAINWARING, Mrs {M.}.
THE SUTTEE; OR, THE HINDOO CONVERTS. BY MRS. GENERAL MAINWARING, AUTHOR OF MOSCOW, OR THE GRANDSIRE, AN HISTORICAL TALE, &C. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for A. K. Newman and Co., 1830.
I viii, 288p; II 281p; III 256p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48149-X; EN3 1830-77.
*The Suttee; Or, The Hindoo Converts is a very interesting Conversion text. Appearing late in the sub-genre’s life, and in keeping with the trend within the Moral–Domestic movement as whole towards increased experimentation in this period, Mainwaring’s work goes beyond the familiar conversion novel territory of Judaism or Catholicism, and turns towards Hinduism.

83.
POLLACK, Maria.
FICTION WITHOUT ROMANCE OR THE LOCKET-WATCH. BY MRS. MARIA POLLACK, IN TWO VOLUMES.
London: Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange, 1830.
I ii, 242p; II 275p. 8vo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48452-9; EN3 1830: 88.
*Pollack’s is a straightforward contribution to the Moral–Domestic genre, exhibiting the tropes of the genre’s heyday with little of the experimentation characteristic of the 1820s. The story features Mr Desbro and his daughter Eliza, a good Christian girl who struggles to make a good marriage.

1831

84.
[FERRIER, Susan Edmonstone].
DESTINY; OR, THE CHIEF’S DAUGHTER. BY THE AUTHOR OF “MARRIAGE,” AND “THE INHERITANCE.” IN THREE VOLUMES.
Edinburgh: Printed for Robert Cadell, Edinburgh; and Whittaker and Co., London, 1831.
I 337p; II 407p; III 399p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47415-9; EN3 1831: 27.
*Destiny is Ferrier’s third Post-Austenian fiction which incorporates a varied and lively plot and an ambitious investigation of female identity. By placing a marriage at the beginning of the novel, and exploring the realities of bad marriage, Destiny stresses the fact that women and men ought to know each other fully before marrying.

85.
SHERWOOD, [Mary Martha].
ROXOBEL. BY MRS. SHERWOOD, AUTHOR OF “LITTLE HENRY AND HIS BEARER,” &C. &C. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Printed for Houlston and Son, 65, Paternoster-Row; and at Wellington, Salop, 1831.
I viii, 380p, ill.; II 513p, ill.; III 464p, ill. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48688-2; EN3 1831: 64.
*Roxobel has an extremely religious preface (pp. [v]–viii) in which Sherwood strongly defends the novel as a means by which to communicate approved Christian and educational themes that are otherwise unpalatable to the ‘youthful reader’.

1832

86.
ANON.
SADDOC AND MIRIAM. A JEWISH TALE. PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COMMITTEE OF GENERAL LITERATURE AND EDUCATION, APPOINTED BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE.
London: John W. Parker, West Strand, 1832.
iv, 130p. 16mo.
BL 863.1.26; xCME; EN3 1832: 9
*Saddoc and Miriam is an important text associated with the late Conversion sub-genre, in which cultural specificities and religious differences are highlighted. The displacement of a moral and domestic romance story to a culturally alien scene substantiates the malleability of the Moral–Domestic genre.

87.
[CADELL, Cecilia Mary].
THE REFORMER. BY THE AUTHOR OF “MASSESBUNG.” IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Published by Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange, 1832.
I 331p; II 352p; III 311p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48524-X; EN3 1832: 16.
*The Reformer is concerned with wayward men and masculine identity. Lord Haverfield suffers from a split sense of self; on the one hand, he is talkative and amusing in company, and on the other he is bored and discontented when alone, suffering ‘the penalty of dissipation in the shape of headache and lassicitude’ p. 2. The story centres around Haverfield’s gradual rejection of his shallow life.

88.
[?ST. JOHN, Lady Isabella or ?M’LEOD Miss E. H.].
GERALDINE HAMILTON; OR, SELF-GUIDANCE. A TALE. IN TWO VOLUMES.
London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street. (Late Colburn and Bentley.), 1832.
I 306p; II 356p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47763-8; EN3 1832: 73.
*Geraldine Hamilton follows the heroine from the moment of her beloved guardian Uncle’s death, through her subsequent temptation to join the fashionable world of her estranged father, and her final, sensible persuasion of her father to be a competent Irish landlord. Christianity and domesticity are praised throughout.

1833

89.
[BUNBURY, Selina].
TALES OF MY COUNTRY. BY THE AUTHOR OF “EARLY RECOLLECTIONS,” “A VISIT TO MY BIRTH PLACE,” “THE ABBEY OF INNISMOYLE,” &C. &C.
Dublin: William Curry, jun. and Company; Simpkin and Marshall, London; sold also by Seeley and Sons, J. Nisnet, and J. Hatchard And Son, London, 1833.
vii, 301p. 16mo.
BL N.1484; xCME; EN3 1833: 14.
*Once again, Bunbury’s allegiance to Moral–Domestic fiction testifies to the increased experimentation of the genre in the 1820s and beyond, as it is fundamentally mixed. In the present work the celebration of the domestic and the didactic aim of inculcating correct morality are indisputably present, yet the drawing of national character is more prominent still.

90.
[CATHCART, Miss].
ADELAIDE; A STORY OF MODERN LIFE. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green & Longman, Paternoster-Row; Richard Nichols, Wakefield, 1833.
I xiv, 312p; II 266p; III 279p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47014-4; EN3 1833: 16.
*Adelaide contains a condemnation of women’s wit and intellect which goes against the liberal, progressive stance adopted by much Moral–Domestic fiction. Adelaide Fauconberg is a moral and dutiful young woman who modestly keeps her acts of Christian charity to herself, and is rewarded with a happy marriage. However Julia, a kind, but also clever, witty, and playful, woman, suffers a brain disorder and is ruined.

91.
GRIMSTONE, [Mary] Leman.
CHARACTER; OR, JEW AND GENTILE: A TALE. BY MRS. LEMAN GRIMSTONE, AUTHOR OF “WOMAN’S LOVE,” &C. &C. IN TWO VOLUMES.
London: Charles Fox, 67, Paternoster-Row, 1833.
I iv, 261p; II 256p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47769-7; EN3 1833: 30.
*Grimstone’s Preface substantiates the idea that the female writer had an increasingly confident voice in the 1830s. Grimstone rejects the didacticism of many of her Moral–Domestic forbears, stating that ‘[t]o invite thinking rather than to give my own thought – to invite that train of thinking that will make us more liberal, more considerate towards each other, are among the motives from which I write.’

92.
[MANNING, Anne].
VILLAGE BELLES. A NOVEL. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Baldwin and Craddock, Paternoster-Row, 1833.
I 316p; II 308p; III 347p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-48917-2; EN3 1833: 47.
*Manning’s text promotes the stable home, in which the domestic mother is the centre, and celebrates Christian morals and values.

93.
STICKNEY, Sarah.
PICTURES OF PRIVATE LIFE. BY SARAH STICKNEY.
London: Smith, Elder, and Co., Cornhill, 1833.
xii, 348p. 12mo.
BL N.1481; xCME; EN3 1833: 72.
*Stickney’s is a grave work, as the opening ‘Apology for Fiction’ (pp. [v]–xii) indicates. Stickney states that she is ‘a member of a religious society’ whose writing ‘keeps steadily in view the development of moral truth’ (p. vi).

94.
[THOMSON, Katherine].
CONSTANCE. A NOVEL. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street. (Successor to H. Colburn.), 1833.
I iv, 338p; II 348p; III 330p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47321-7; EN3 1833: 7.
*Constance is a fairly straightforward contribution to the Moral–Domestic mainstream. The three orphaned Miss Seagraves go to live with their aunt and uncle, an amusing, disgruntled pair. The heroine Constance is spiritually superior to her sisters, and manages to improve her relations’ domestic arrangements.

1834

95.
GRIMSTONE, [Mary] Leman.
CLEONE, A TALE OF MARRIED LIFE. BY MRS. LEMAN GRIMSTONE, AUTHOR OF “WOMAN’S LOVE,” “CHARACTER,” &C.
London: Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange, 1834.
I viii, 368p; II 342p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-47773-5; EN3 1834: 31.
*Grimstone’s Cleone has a bold preface (pp. [iii]–viii) in which she argues that ‘I wish all who possess influence, political, social, or domestic, could be convinced that to create happiness is to produce virtue’ (p. viii). Yet bolder is her feminist lamentation of women’s lack of power; she longs for the time when ‘woman might, as she ought, speak and act as a free agent.’

96.
HOFLAND, [Barbara].
THE CAPTIVES IN INDIA, A TALE; AND A WIDOW AND A WILL. BY MRS. HOFLAND. IN THREE VOLUMES.
London: Richard Bentley, New Burlington Street. (Successor to Henry Colburn.), 1834.
I 327p; II 320p; III 338p. 12mo.
Corvey: CME 3-628-27676-3; EN3 1834: 37.
*In The Captives an orphaned child returns from India to transform, in a positive way, the moral habits and domestic unhappiness of her nearest relations, the Falklands. After this occurs, the family go to India and assist a fellow English family.   

Last modified 2 September, 2005 .
This document is maintained by Anthony Mandal (Mandal@cf.ac.uk).