ABSTRACT
Family relationships were intended to provide the various benefits of a sentimental and instrumental nature. Parents were to love and provide for their children, and in return, children were to love and obey their parents. Networks of kin and friendship relations also assisted parents in the discharge of their parental duties to their children. The details of Boyd's life are scarce: she grew up in a large family, her father served in the Stuart court until the death of Queen Anne and afterwards she turned to writing several poems, a novel and a ballad opera, and selling 'all Manner of Stationary Goods' to support herself.
