ABSTRACT
In the Puritan family however reading had a significance which went far beyond any mere literary interest such as had stimulated it in the past. The moral periodicals had recommended that women should concern themselves with literary study as a means of correcting the terrible idleness that marked their lives. The emergence of one species of literature can only be attributed to this well-nigh incredible neglect of female education. Around 1700 women’s education was rather poor. Among the higher non-Puritan bourgeoisie and among the aristocracy it was held that woman could only claim a very small share of the learning of the day. The prevailing atmosphere in this ladies’ world now begins to exercise its influence on Samuel Richardson, the greatest novelist of the day, and brings him wholly under its spell. The first discovery of family art was the family itself, as depicted by Richardson and then by his rival, Fielding.
