TO YOUNG FEMALES, ON THE DUTIES OF A WIFE, A MOTHER, AND A MISTRESS OF A FAMILY. BY MRS. TAYLOR, Of Ongar, AUTHOR OF MATERNAL SOLICITUDE,' &c. 'Every wise woman buildeth her house, but the foolish TENTH EDITION. LONDON: PRINTED FOR TAYLOR AND HESSEY, FLEET STREET. ADVERTISEMENT. It is not easy to form rules, or even to suggest principles of practice, in such a manner as shall render them applicable to individuals of every class; and it will be obvious, upon a perusal of this little Work, that no attempt of the kind has here been made. Females in the middle ranks of society, in those especially which include numerous occupations and confined circumstances, are more immediately addressed and to them many of the following observations assume to be of essential importance: but, at the same time, a hope is indulged, that readers of a different description may gain an occa sional hint, by which their conduct in domestic life may be improved. The parties more expressly in view are exempt (perhaps happily) from that notoriety and distinction by which the family arrangements of such as move in the upper walks of life are too frequently disturbed; yet they occupy a station of sufficient eminence to render their conduct highly important to society. If it does not necessarily expose them to dissipation, much less does it degrade them into vulgarity or insignificance, as the degree of intellectual cultivation to be found among them evinces; for it is not every citizen in our days who is a John Gilpin; nor is every farmer a rustic. And although the influence of good example in the middle ranks can |