ABSTRACT
According to the last census of England, there were in this country three quarters of a million more women than men. This immense female multitude must consequently remain single all their lives, and in most instances provide for themselves. In London alone there is a whole army of the stronger sex to be found behind counters, measuring out lace, longcloths, and ribbons, while the same number of young women, to whom these occupations are adapted by nature, are condemned to idleness with all the mischievous consequences of which it is almost necessarily the parent. Society abounds with coxcombs, who unquestionably think, if they are really able to think at all, that our sex are perfectly destitute of brains. The surplus female population in the British islands have little or no care or attention bestowed on them. Manners are important enough considered by themselves, but sink into insignificance when thrown into the balance against duty and virtue.
