132 Education. [Chap. XXV. 



pone, Mrs. Ratlcliffe, miss Hannah More, miss 

 Seward, Mrs. d'Arblay, Mrs. Charlotte Smith, miss 

 Edgeworth, miss Hamilton, miss Wakefield, and 

 many others, of Great Britain; Mrs. Grierson *, 

 and ^Irs. Sheridan, of Ireland ; madame Dacier, 

 and madame Chatelet f , of France ; together with 

 many more J, worthy of respectful notice. 



The extension and improvement of female edu- 

 cation has also been promoted by the writings of 

 archbishop Fenelon, Dr. Gregory, Dr. Fordyce, 

 Mr. Bennet, Dr. Darwin, and some others. Even 

 the celebrated work of Rousseau has contributed 

 to this end, notwithstanding the visionary and 

 erroneous principles with which it abounds. 



But while female talents have been more justly 

 appreciated, and more generally improved, espe- 



* Mrs. Constantia Grierson descended from very poor and il- 

 literate parents, in the county of Kilkenny, in Ireland. She waaH 

 born in the year 1706, and died in 1733, in the 27th year of her 

 age. She was profoundly acquainted with Grecian and Roman 

 literature; published editions of Terence and Tacitus, which are 

 among the best extant; and addressed an elegant Greek epigram 

 to the son of lord Carteret, by whose influence her husband pro- 

 cured a patent to be the king's printer for Ireland, on condition 

 that the life and character of Mrs. Grierson should be inserted in 

 it, as a monument in honour of her learning. 



f The numerous and profound works of madame Dacier, in 

 classic literature, are well known ; as are also the talents and 

 learn ing of madame du Chatelet, the able commentator on Newton, 



t To this list may be added the names of the margravine of 

 Anspach, Mrs. Dobson, Mrs. Brooke, Mrs. Cowley, Mrs. Years- 

 ley, Mrs. Inchbald, Mrs. West, miss Lee, Mrs. Trimmer, miss 

 H. M. Williams, and several others, distinguished in the walks of 

 polite literature; and also the honourable Mrs. Darner, Mrs. 

 Francis, and Mrs. Thomas, celebrated for their acquirements in 

 the ancient languages. 



