The Gentlewomans Companion, an electronic
	    edition. Edited with an introduction by Katherine EllisonAnonymousCompiled and edited byKatherine Ellison225kbLewis H. Beck CenterEmory UniversityAtlanta, Georgia1996 Emory University. Permission is granted to
download, transmit, or otherwise reproduce, distribute or display the contributions to the work claimed by Emory University for non-profit educational purposes, provided this header is included in its entirety.  For inquiries about commercial uses, contact either: Emory Women Writers Resource Project or Lewis H. Beck Center for Electronic collections and services, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia 303221996http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/17c8rEmory Women Writers Resource ProjectUnknown.  The Gentlewomans Companion.  London: Printed by A. Maxwell for Dorman Newman at the King's Arms in the Poultry, 1673.  Ed. Katherine Ellison.  1999.This text is produced in conjunction with the Emory Women Writers Resource Project.Library of Congress Subject HeadingsEarly Modern through the 18th CenturyEnglishCaucasianEditedProseGreat Britain1600-1699Women--Conduct of life--Early works to 1800.Home economics--Early works to 1800.Etiquette--Early works to 1800.Women authors, English--17th Century.1999Scott EllisStaffSGML tags inserted in compliance with TEI guidelines using TEILITE2006Alden MahlerStaffTEI header elements changed to conform to new Beck Center standards.Ellison, KatherineIntroduction to The Gentlewomans Companion1999First published in 1673, The Gentlewomans Companion stands at an important crossroads in twentieth-century interpretations of seventeenth-century texts.  In its discussion of female education and behavior, the Companion is an integral part of an ongoing debate about the place of women within society's institutions of learning.  In its mission to provide "all Young Ladies, Gentlewomen, and all Maidens whatever" access to information on conduct, fitting female models, speech, fashion, recreation, fine cooking, and medical remedies, the Companion is a key text in the inclusion of women as professional writers in the print community.  In its inaccurate identification as Hannah Wolley's compilation of her own work, the Companion is an excellent example of the conflicts faced by women as writers in the seventeenth-century world of print and plagiarism.  The anonymous author states in the dedication of the work that the "great Design" of the Companion is to present "our Sex a Compleat Directory"-and that is exactly what follows.  Reappearing after at least two later printings in 1675 and 1682, the complete directory enjoyed enormous success, in part because the name of Hannah Wolley, known as one of the first professional women writers, appeared on the title page.  Although Wolley was not given the chance-as she had hoped she would be-to produce a collection of her own works in a single edition, the Companion nonetheless includes several documents that can be traced to Wolley's own voice.  For this reason, the text is a valuable contribution to the growing corpus of Renaissance women's writing and should be studied as a text that encapsulates the gender conflicts of not only the seventeenth century, but also those still persisting today.  Any approach to the Companion, however, must take into consideration the authorship of the text and the problems it poses for modern-day interpretations of Renaissance writings.  Beginning with Elaine Hobby's evidence for the false authorship of the text, this introduction will then comment on what that authorship reveals about the nature of the print culture and the function of literary texts as property.  At this point, it is also necessary to provide a biographical background of Wolley, as well as emphasize the persistence of the false biography printed in the Companion in today's scholarship.  Lastly, this study will look at the place of the Companion within the Renaissance discourse on female education and, finally, the role of advice books as alternative forms of literature that are often overlooked in studies of seventeenth-century contributions to women's writing.The Authorship of The Gentlewomans CompanionThe author of The Gentlewomans Companion, in a chapter entitled "What Recreations and Pleasures are most fitting and proper for young Gentlewomen," asks: "Why should ye seek that in many which you may find in one? The Sun, whilst in our Hemisphere needs no other light but its own to illuminate the World. One Book may serve for a Library. The reading of few Books, is not to be less knowing, but to be the less troubled."  The statement is an essential one, for it not only describes the author's perspective on education and reading, but also contributes a fitting description of the structure of the Companion.  Simply put, the work is a compilation of writings taken from a number of sources, brought together to provide female readers with a definitive edition they can consult on any occasion.  More importantly, the argument that "[o]ne Book may serve for a Library" also provides justification for the Companion's problematic 

authorship.  Despite the work's title page, which boasts that Hannah Wolley is the undisputed author of The Gentlewomans Companion, the work does not belong in Wolley's impressive corpus of advice books, cooking guides, conduct literature, and medical references.  In fact, until Elaine Hobby's important discovery, published in Virtue of Necessity: English Women'' Writing, 1646-1688 (1988), Wolley has been misidentified as the Companion's author for over three centuries.  To prove her theory of the authorship of The Gentlewomans Companion, Hobby studies the chronology of Wolley's writing, as well as analyzes the text's language and style.In the dedicatory poem in the beginning of A Supplement to The Queen-like Closet, first published in 1674, Wolley makes a serious accusation-she has been falsely attributed with the authorship of a recent, unnamed work of writing.1A copy of Wolley's introductory remarks to A Supplement to The Queen-like Closet is available in Appendix A.Unto my self, who have been much abus'dBy a late printed Book, my Name there us'd:I was far distant when they printed it,Therefore that Book to own I think not fit.To boast, to brag, tell stories in my praise,That's not the way (I know) my Fame to raise.Nor shall I borrow any Pen or Wit(Innocence will hide what faults I do commit.) (ll.23-30)Although Wolley resists naming the book and the accused printer, her reference to The Gentlewomans Companion is rather clear.  On one hand, her mention of "a late printed Book" points to the Companion because, published only one year before A Supplement, it is the only work to appear under Wolley's name since 1670, when A Queen-like Closet was published.  Wolley does, in fact, make mention of A Queen-like Closet in the beginning of her poem, citing it as the last work "I sent unto your view" (l.1).  The poem also indicates that the mysterious book employs a style that Wolley considers boasting, and she resents the author's attempts to build her reputation through immodest language.  Indeed, the Companion contains lines that emphasize Wolley's merits, often with excess.  These lines appear in "A Short Account of the life and abilities of the Authoress of this Book," where the author begins by justifying the included biography.2"A Short Account" is included in this edited copy of selected sections of the Companion.  For references to this and other included sections, I will refer to the page numbers as they appear in the following text.  The opening is a conventional one, but the bitter tone that emerges is uncharacteristic of Wolley.  "I would not presume to trouble you with any passages of my life," the author writes, "were it not in obedience to a Person of Honour, who engag'd me so to do if for no other reason than to stop the mouths of such who may be so maliciously censorious as to believe I pretend what I cannot perform" (5).  Throughout the text that follows, the author repeatedly refers to "my extraordinary parts" and countless domestic skills, languages, musical instruments, and other tasks that she has mastered since the age of fourteen.  As well as indicating the style of the Companion and that of Wolley's usual style are not compatible, the biography also presents an inaccurate chronology, which Hobby discusses at length.As Hobby points out, Wolley mentions elsewhere in the supplement that she is fifty-two years old, thus placing her birth in 1622 (counting back from the date of Wolley's writing of the supplement, which was most like 1673) (166).  With a 1622 date of birth, Wolley was most likely married to her first husband, Benjamin Wolley at the age of twenty-four in 1646.  These figures, however, do not fit with the biography included in The Gentlewomans Companion.  

Hobby does not go into detail with the contradictions raised with her findings, so it is necessary to turn to the biography for a look at the signs of its falsification.  When she was fifteen, the author writes, Wolley "was intrusted to keep a little School, and was the sole Mistress thereof" (6).  What is notable about this beginning is that, according to the biography, Wolley has already mastered Italian, singing, dancing, and several musical instruments, and thus, after just two years, she is employed by a "Noble Lady in the Kingdom" who "was infinitely pleas'd" with the author's learning (6).  Wolley, forced to find work as a schoolmistress at the age of fifteen and admittedly not considering "how I might improve my time to the best advantage" until the age of fourteen, would have to be a prodigy in foreign language and the arts to reach the point of mastery the author describes here.  The time spent in the noble lady's home is not provided, but Wolley's accomplishments during this stay--she was governess, learned the arts of preserving and cookery, and became acquainted with the court--suggest that her stay was not a short one.  After the death of the lady, Wolley allegedly moved to another lady's home, where she was governess, stewardess, scribe, and secretary for seven years.  Already, then, Wolley's age is, at the very least, twenty-four years old.  Though the biography is suspicious in its depiction of her early life, then, proof of false authorship demands more substantial evidence.  This is provided in the last paragraph of the biography, where the author states that the "hand of the Almighty hath exercised me in all manner of Afflictions, by death of Parents when very young, by loss of Husband, Children, Friends, Estate, very much sickness, by which I was disenabled from my Employment" (7).  While Wolley's first husband did die in 1661 and her second husband died one year after the publication of the Companion in 1673, we know of at least one of Wolley's children who lived after 1674, for she cites a son in A Supplement.  Hobby's interpretation of the last paragraph of the false biography is both humorous and insightful: "[Wolley's] story ends with the sad reflection that everyone she loves, including her husband, friends and children are dead" (174).  "This silly account," Hobby continues, "turns Hannah Wolley into a romance heroine, discounting the problems created by her imperfect education and the financial insecurity of her existence" (174).The biographical account of Wolley is not the only section of the Companion that points to falsified authorship, but, along with A Supplement, it provides the strongest evidence.  Guesses as to who the true author of the first parts of the Companion can only be speculative, but Hobby feels that a number of passages suggest that the writer is male.  To prove this, Hobby turns to the first paragraph of "The Introduction," where the author discusses society's neglect of female education.  This passage is referred to by every scholarly work that mentions Wolley, and it is usually cited as support for Wolley's inclusion in the debate about female education.  Because the section is the most famous of Wolley's alleged writings, and in order to provide a framework for Hobby's assumption, it is worth citing the entire first paragraph:The right Education of the Female Sex, as it is in a manner everywhere neglected, so it ought to be generally lamented. Most in this depraved later Age think a Woman learned and wife enough, if she can distinguish her Husbands Bed from anothers.  Certainly Mans Soul cannot boast of a more sublime Original than ours, they had equally their efflux from the same eternal Immensity, and therefore capable of the same Improvement by good Education. Vain Man is apt to think we were meerly intended for the Worlds propagation, and to keep its humane Inhabitants sweet and clean; but, by their leaves, had we the same Literature, he would find our brains as fruitful as our bodies. Hence I am induced to believe, we are debar'd from the 
knowledg of Humane Learning, lest our pregnant Wits should rival towring conceits of our insulting Lords and Masters. (3)In this introduction, Hobby observes, the author is "indeed progressive" in his argument for increased opportunities in female education.  Hobby states, however, that "like other male defences of the excellence of woman," the author goes on to cite the expected list of women who were scholarly yet infamous in virtue.  Hobby's main evidence, however, surfaces when she compares the use of first person in this paragraph to the author's slip into second person later on in the introduction.  From the author's beginning conclusion that "we are debar'd from the knowledg of Humane Learning," the language undergoes a subtle change to remark, near the end, that readers should "Look then to your own actions, these must inform [your children]: Without you, they cannot perish; with you they may"(4).  This shift, Hobby feels, in addition to the author's comments on education--particularly on knowledge of Latin--proves that the writer is an educated male who is revealed by his own language.  "His phrases are elaborate," she states, "often verging on the preposterous," which she feels is demonstrated in his use of the phrase "efflux from the same eternal immensity" (174).  Overall, Hobby's conclusion is highly probable, but the textual evidence is questionable.  A shift from a first-person narrative to a second-person one may indicate the author's detachment from the female gender, or it may merely mark a rhetorical strategy to bring female readers into the text with inclusion and then, once the groundwork is set, begin the actual task of giving advice.  The author could in fact be adopting a persona.  The author's comments on Latin may point to a classical education, or they could be opinions overheard in conversation, or perhaps the author has been exposed elsewhere.  The best evidence for identifying the author as male, I think, lies in the fact that, as Hobby earlier points out, the writer is most likely an employee of Dorman Newman, and the probability of that employee being male is rather high.  Pointing to shifts in person and passing references to aspects of education usually attributed to a male classical background may support the argument, but such ventures are not always the most productive way to enter the text.In addition to The Gentlewomans Companion, Wolley is also inaccurately cited as the author of The Compleat Servant-Maid (1677) and The Accomplish'd Ladies Delight (1675). Although Wolley most likely did not survive to see the publication of the latter two writings, her reaction to the Companion is recorded in the A Supplement to The Queen-like Closet, and later in The Ladies Directory Wolley states that she intended to compile materials for her own collection.  "One of her particular complaints," Hobby finds, "is that Newman was selling the text for two shillings and sixpence, when the original had been a much cheaper affair, only one shilling" (172).  While Wolley is upset that her name has been attached to a document without her consent, she is also angered that the work is sold at a price that would make it inaccessible to many members of the readership she targeted beginning with The Queen-like Closet in 1670 (168).Overall, Elaine Hobby's findings are important ones for both the scholarship of seventeenth-century women's writing and for studies of the genre of advice books.  Seventy years before Hobby began work on her Virtues of Necessity, however, another scholar voiced suspicion of Wolley's authorship of the Companion.  Ada Wallas, author of Before the Bluestockings (1929), a study of "the position of educated Englishwomen from the Restoration to the end of the first third of the eighteenth century," includes the most substantial section on Wolley to date.  In her chapter on "Hannah Woolley: A Self-Supporting Woman of the Seventeenth Century," Wallas states that Wolley's contribution to twentieth-century readers' 

understanding of the "diet, the table-manners, and the social customs of people of quality in the time of the Protectorate and Restoration" is essential (19).  More important, however, "is the autobiographical material contained in the Supplement to the second edition of The Queen-like Closet and in The Gentlewoman's Companion" (20).  These two documents, Wallas finds, allows one to reconstruct the life of Hannah Wolley.  For the next few pages, Wallas relates the biographical information provided in the biography of the Companion, failing to mention the statement in the dedication of A Supplement where Wolley remarks that a "late printed Book, my Name there us'd" has been recently printed (l.24).  Unlike Hobby, Wallas locates Wolley's date of birth in 1623, and she cites the 1675 edition of the Companion as the first one, apparently unaware of the earlier, 1673 version.  Wallas's account, however, does indicate an awareness of the biography's fantastic content.  Although Wolley is evidently in possession of a great deal of knowledge of academic and artistic subjects, she quickly abandons those skills in pursuit of more domestic directions.  Wallas observes that "[t]his seems to indicate that book-learning may have held a subordinate place in the time-table of her school" (22).  Wallas's most insightful observation, however, follows her account of Wolley's biography.  Here, Wallas pays closer attention to the complaints raised in A Supplement, though she does not place as much weight on the false attribution of the work as Hobby does in her 1988 study.Wallas begins her explanation of the odd publishing history of the Companion by stating that the "confused state of the law of copyright in the seventeenth century seems a few years afterwards to have enabled a Mr. Dorman Newman to treat [Wolley] as unscrupulous theatre-managers are now sometimes accused of treating dramatic authors" (30).  According to Wallas, Wolley was aware of Newman's plans to compile a collection of her works, and that he actually arranged for the popular author to write a "combined cookery-book and treatise on social behavior" (30).  In Wolley's absence, however, Dorman allegedly handed the manuscript to an employee for revision, and the proofs were sent to Wolley for approval.  Wallas does not cite her source, but finds that Wolley was unhappy with the revisions, at which time Dorman arranged a new monetary arrangement in which Wolley would be allowed to correct the new version for payment, apparently in exchange for her permission to use her name on the title page (30).  According to Wallas, Dorman neglected to honor his payment agreement and, in addition, the Companion was published with a false portrait.  Hobby also recognizes the portrait as an inaccurate one, and both scholars discover that the face belongs to Sarah Gilly 3A copy of this portrait is reproduced in Appendix B. (Hobby 173, Wallas 30).  Wallas concludes with an observation about the Companion's inconsistent style, though it is unclear if the scholar's interpretation is based on the text or the information she discovers about the work's authorship:The book contains, even after her correction, a good deal of second-rate padding by some literary hack, including many conventional references to Latin mythology, and ends with twenty pages of dull "Pleasant discourses and Witty Dialogues", [sic] which are wholly unlike Hannah Woolley's own style.  (30)Wallas ends her discussion of Wolley's biography and questionable authorship by observing that, like Hobby, she can pinpoint no definite date of death.  While Hobby locates Wolley's death sometime, presumably, before the publications of the second edition of The Gentlewomans Companion (1675) and The Accomplish'd Ladies Delight (1675), Wallas speculates that Wolley may have been alive in 1684 when The Queen-like Closet saw its fifth edition (Hobby 167, 

Wallas 32).  Wallas's miscalculation is due to her assumption that the 1675 edition of the Companion is the first one, when it is actually the second.  Wallas does make a point that Hobby is not aware of, however, when she discovers that The Gentlewomans Companion appears in 1711 under a new name, The Complete Gentlewoman (32).It is tempting to analyze the Companion's problematic authorship against the backdrop of twentieth-century notions of plagiarism.  To do so, however, would be to ignore the fact that Renaissance ideas about plagiarism deserve special attention, as well as to ignore the important issue of property as it is raised in both seventeenth-century literature as a whole and in the anonymous Companion.  In Playwrights and Plagiarists in Early Modern England: Gender, Authorship, Literary Property, Laura J. Rosenthal discusses plagiarism within the context of the professionalization of literature as a profitable business.  "This period," she finds, "defined authorship not just through a material economy of literary property, but through the symbolic economies of social and cultural capital" (3).  Plagiarism, then, "functioned more as a cultural category defining the borders between texts and policing the accumulation of cultural capital" (3).  In other words, plagiarism was-and still often is-an issue closely aligned with problems of subjectivity and gender (3).  Wolley and the compiler of the Companion wrote during an era of economic transition for the business of writing and, significantly, the business of writing opened spaces for women's authorship.  Rosenthal believes that "[f]or both genders, professional writing raised the suspicion of transgressive appropriation, and public spaces themselves were seen as intensifying the danger of plagiarism" (31).Wolley is herself accused of crossing the boundaries of public, printed spaces in her writing.  Wallas points out, for example, that "Hannah Woolley made no claim that all her writings on the domestic arts were original" (32).  As evidence, Wallas cites the author's statement in the beginning of the dedication "To all Young Ladies, Gentlewomen, and all Maidens whatever":I will not deny that I have made some use of that Excellent Book, The Queens Closet; May's Cookery; The Ladies Companion; my own Directory and Guide; Also the second part of Youth's Behavior; and what other Books I thought pertinent and proper to make up a Compleat Book, that might have an Universal Usefulness; and to that end I did not only make use of them, but also of all others, especially those that have been lately writ in the French and Italian Languages.  For as the things treated of are many and various, so were my Helps.  (Companion 1)Of course, the author's statement here cannot be used as evidence of Wolley's borrowing practices, but it does indicate that the author takes a casual approach to the adoption of others' texts for the work at hand.  The author's casualness, however, is in striking contrast to Wolley's actual reaction to the "borrowing" of her own words and, more importantly, of her own name, for an unauthorized compilation.  Gender is not at the center of the author's use of the anonymous The Queens Closet (1661), Robert May's The Accomplish't Cooke, or the Art and Mystery of Cookery (1660), William Sermon's The Ladies Companion, or The English Midwife (1671), and Francis Hawkin's translation of Youths Behaviour (1663).  Even though the author borrows from these sources, the names of the writers are not emphasized.  Wolley's name, however, is arguably the center point of the work, which is suggested not only by the appearance of her name on both the title page and following the dedication, but also by the long included biography.  In contrast, the dedicatory poem of A Supplement ends with a modest "H.W."  In this 

poem, it is also interesting that Wolley writes her line with emphasis on the name, and not the book: "By a late printed Book, my Name there us'd" (l.24).  Wolley is clearly not as angry about the unauthorized publication of a collection of her works as much as she is about the attachment of her name to a text that does not meet the high standards of her writing.  Issues and problems of gender in the compiler's use of Wolley's work and name, however, may be more closely linked to the rights of women writers in the seventeenth century.Wolley's concern for the use of her name emphasizes the important issue of authorship during an era of increased literacy, advancing technology, and expanded print cultures.  In The Imprint of Gender: Authorship and Publication in the English Renaissance, Wendy Wall finds that "authorship bears the mark of things unauthorized" (346).  "In the case of Renaissance authorship," she continues, "what is 'unauthorized' is an unwieldy and curious mass that includes manuscript coterie texts and unstable courtly pageants as well as more expected cultural staples of unruly women and transvestite prodigals" (346).  In Wall's reading, then, advice and conduct literature, as genres that often encourage the development of female communities, are parts of an immense body of literature that is not authorized in the same way that, say, a work of poetry may be.  While there are exceptions to every rule, Wall's point is an important one to keep in mind when studying the advice genre, in part because the physical make-up of the book is often an essential part of its reception.  Wall explains, for example, that the question of authorship is "complicated by the contradictory politics of print that are played out in the physical features of the book, the gendered rhetoric that attends to those features, and the strange overlay of sexual and social authorizations into the domain of literary textuality" (345).  One could argue, for instance, that the concept of "borrowing" is more acceptable to readers of works like the Companion because the very physical make-up of an advice book is a somewhat cluttered one.  In 261 pages, the Companion lectures on topics ranging from ballroom dancing to the preparation of a "Pig Roasted with the Hair on" and how to cure bad breath.4These topics appear as chapter headings in the Companion's table of contents, located in this version in its original position at the beginning of the text.  The book's structure and highly advertised address to women, then, can be used to support stereotypes of women and, more specifically-women writers-as unable to produce works that progress in the logical, polished manner of stereotypical fine literature.Wolley's attention to the preserving, canning, and cooking of food provides another interesting gateway into a discussion of property and commodification in the Companion.  Rosenthal draws an odd yet striking analogy, for example, between virtue and food: "But while the circulation of virtue to make another person good is impossible, the circulation of food to make another fat is comprehensible" (17).  She continues to ask, "Is literary property, then, like virtue in that it adheres to the person and could not possibly add to another's stock of symbolic capital, or is it like food, easily circulated and converted to material capital?" (17).  Rosenthal's question highlights two concerns that are applicable to a discussion of the Companion: first, it asks if Wolley's name, as the name of an author, ceases to be her own name after she publishes a number of texts, becoming instead a public name up for grabs by compilers, plagiarists, and imitators.  Though the situation of the Companion differs from other more clear-cut examples of plagiarism, it nonetheless suggests that Wolley's name can add to another's stock of symbolic capital.  Second, Rosenthal's comparison of literary property and food points to an interesting relationship between the two crafts.  During the seventeenth-century, both the art of writing and the art of cooking experienced a move toward the business world.  When the market of print reached a new level of efficiency and could publish more pamphlets, advice books, conduct 

books, miscellanies, and companions, writers like Wolley were introduced to new career opportunities.  Domestic expertise in the areas of cooking, needlepoint, conduct, letter-writing, fashion, cosmetics, and medicine could be assembled in print form for the benefit of a large audience of both female and male readers.  At the same time, such publications threatened men and women who specialized in these tasks, because information that was once learned only after a long career of practice could be communicated and learned by all literate members of society.  Rosenthal finds, for example, that "the reconceptualization of food as a commodity challenged the traditional perspective of the farmer" (24).  "The seventeenth century," she summarizes, "saw both the emergence of food as a commodity like any other as well as vigorous debates over this transition by economists and moralists" (24).  Ironically, then, domestic occupations open to seventeenth-century women were being threatened by a print culture that opened up new opportunities for women writers. In her reference to Hannah Wolley, Moira Ferguson points to this very issue as justification for Wolley's importance as a writer.  Wolley, she writes, "wrote a form of training manual for women in the domestic arts at a time when jobs were disappearing" (3).  Importantly, Ferguson states, Wolley's "encyclopaedic handbooks" are addressed to women in service jobs as well as middle-class women, thus setting her work apart from other female authors of the time like Bathsua Makin (13).The audience of the Companion and Wolley's true works is essential, for it is here that we begin to note the importance that the advice book genre held in seventeenth-century society and literature.  Ferguson seems comfortable with Wolley's double audience, while other critics either emphasize one readership or express concern over the writer's ambiguity.  Deirdre Raftery, writing in Women and Learning in English Writing, 1600-1900, believes that writers like Wolley "proposed schools and colleges catering for an intellectual rather than a vocational education," and this emphasis on middle- and upper-class women's education "reflects concern at the paucity of provision" (30).5Raftery is apparently unfamiliar with Hobby's findings, thus in her observations she refers to Wolley as the author of the Companion.  On one hand, the Companion does repeatedly speak directly to "ladies," revealing that the Companion is directed toward literature readers of the middle and upper classes.  The Companion also includes sections like "Of a young Gentlewomans deportment to her Governess and Servants in the Family," but the table of contents also notably includes specific individual sections dedicated specifically "To Nursery-Maids in Noble Familes" and "in London or elsewhere," as well as chapters "To Cook-maids," "Laundry-maids," "Dairy-maids," "House-maids," and "Scullery-maids."  Hobby cites Wolley's third publication, The Queen-like Closet (1670), as indicative of the writer's double audience.  This third publication, Hobby feels, is "divided over the problem of which class it is addressing" because while, on one hand, Wolley discusses party food of the upper classes, she also directs the third part of the Closet to servants (169). "Her more likely pupils, of course," Hobby writes, "are not servants themselves, but their mistresses who, in becoming more leisured, might be losing the traditional female skills of running the household" (Hobby 171).  "She seeks, indeed, to professionalize housework, or to turn it into a recognised trade, offering a seven-year training in some ways comparable to the seven-year apprenticeship that Robert May and other men took to become cooks" (171).  Another view of the "problematic" audience of the Companion and Wolley's Closet--and one not mentioned in current scholarship--is that it marks one of the most important characteristics of the genres of advice writing and cookery.  While Wolley's upper-class audience may overlook those sections addressed to their employees, women hired as service workers no doubt paid close attention not only to the chapters dedicated to them, but also 

to the beginning sections of the work that outline proper conduct and education for "ladies and gentlewomen."  Although literacy amongst the working class was still relatively low, advice literature gave women of that class access to literature that not only provided recipes and cleaning suggestions, but that also included arguments for the improved education of the female sex.  It is impossible to measure the impact that advice literature had on members of the working classes, but the content and wide target audience of works like the Companion repeatedly reached readers in a way that poetry, fiction, and other forms of prose could not.Hannah Wolley: Her Life and WorksThe "spurious biography" that appears in the anonymous Companion is the basis for the majority of the few modern Wolley biographies. In her otherwise outstanding book, Raftery adopts the facts of the constructed life of Wolley (spelled "Woolley" in her text), but Raftery does admit that information about the author is incomplete.  Apparently basing her knowledge of Wolley's life on "The Short Account" that appears in the beginning of the Companion, Raftery calculates Wolley's birth year as 1623, just one year off from Hobby's calculation (37).  According to Raftery, Wolley was orphaned at age fourteen and, adopting the language of the account, became "mistress of her own little school" at the age of fifteen (37).  Unfamiliar with Hobby's findings, Raftery inaccurately attributes the Companion to Wolley, stating that it is here that Wolley "boldly states that she believed that female ignorance was the result of male conspiracy" (37).To set the record straight, Hobby provides a new biography, which she compiles after an impressive close reading of small hints throughout the corpus of Wolley's true texts and from county histories and death notices.  From these readings, Hobby discovers that Wolley's date of birth is most likely 1622, and that from 1639 to 1646 Wolley worked as a servant for an unnamed woman, during which time she learned about medical remedies and recipes (166).  In 1646 Hobby married Benjamin Wolley, who was the master of the Newport Grammar School where Hobby put into practice those skills of "physick" which she acquired earlier.  Hobby does not cite where she obtains the information, but she states that Wolley and her husband moved from Newport to Hackney, where the couple started another school (166).  Benjamin Wolley died on August 1661, as indicated in the Victoria County History, and interestingly Hannah Wolley publishes her first book, The Ladies Directory, just one month before her husband's death (166).  Hobby speculates that the husband's death must have followed an illness, for Hannah most likely began publishing to provide an alternative income and to look ahead to her future as a single parent of four children (166).  By the time of her first husband's death, Wolley had earned a reputation as a successful physician, despite her amateur experience and the volatile environment for female medics.  "From the beginning," Hobby writes, "she used her books as an advertisement for her prowess, both preparing the way for her forthcoming publications and inviting her readers to consult her in person if they required further instruction" (167).  Ironically, Hobby points out, Wolley's first title page warns readers to beware of counterfeits (167).  Wolley remarried in 1666, but her second husband, Francis Chaloner, died within a decade later around 1674 (166).  Wolley's own date of death is unknown, "but since she raised no public protest at T.P.s making free with her work in 1675 in The Accomplish'd Ladies Delight, it is possible that she did not live to see it appear"(Hobby 167).
According to Hobby, Wolley is the first woman to earn an income from writing and publishing cookery and medical-remedy books (166).  Author of The Ladies Directory (1661 and 1662), The Cooks Guide (1664), The Queen-like Closet (1670, 1672, 1675-6, 1681, 1684), The Ladies Delight (1672), and A Supplement To The Queen-like Closet (1674, 1681, 1684), Wolley's corpus is impressive in its scope and intention.  Her goal, as each of these works proves, is to achieve no less than educate every female member of society in nearly every area of life imaginable, be it domestic, recreational, romantic, or academic.  Wolley's first book, The Ladies Directory, was first printed in July of 1661 and includes "fanciful instructions for candying and for creating court perfumes" (Hobby 167).  Even on the title page, Wolley demonstrates her keen entrepreneurial skills, boasting that she is a former cook for Charles I and other noble figures.  Hobby states that Wolley's earliest book is typical of the cookbooks of the late seventeenth century, as evidenced by the author's style, "fanciful instructions," and fantastic medical remedies (167).  Hobby points out that Wolley intended The Cooks Guide, first printed in 1664, to be sold with The Ladies Directory, for Wolley states in her address to the reader that she has "joined both the books in one that they may pass as one" (qtd. in Hobby 167).  Importantly, Wolley also follows the literary conventions of her day and dedicates her cookbook to members of the nobility--Lady Anne Wroth and her daughter Mary.  Her failure to "evoke noble protection" in the first book, Hobby observes, "was due only to modesty" (168).  The evolution of Wolley's writing, then, is already in progress.  As well as learn the ropes of modesty tropes, Wolley also practices self-effacement as was already familiar to readers of Aemilia Lanyer and Katherine Philips.The Queen-like Closet was published in 1670, and is largely an expansion of the content of her two previous works.  "Her presentation of her material," Hobby points out, "shows her confidence in the act of writing, and her sense of the role of author, to be expanding" (168).  Hobby concludes her summaries of Wolley's true works with a look at A Supplement to the Queen-like Closet, printed in 1674 and particularly important because it provides the main support for the false authorship of The Gentlewomans Companion.  Like the compiled Companion, the supplement offers advice on letter writing, as well as contains discussions of needlework, handwriting, grammar, and household activities.A look at the evolution of Wolley's writing proves that Renaissance scholars--and all readers in general--would benefit from additional studies of Wolley as a writer, an educator, and an activist. Her low-key goal in The Ladies Directory--to provide information on preserving and candying, is a stark contrast to the confidence of A Supplement, where Wolley even offers advice on writing and communication.  During the course of her career, Wolley picks up the literary conventions of her time and successfully applies them so that, by the 1670s, her name is so well-known it is "borrowed" by a publisher who seeks additional profit for his printing business.  As Hobby states, Wolley's body of work proves that she "has progressed a long way from her initial recipe books made up of long, rambling sentences, to being able to advise and adjudicate about the correct language to use for various purposes" (172).Locating the Companion in Seventeenth-Century Women's Education and LiteratureRaftery writes in Women and Learning in English Writing, 1600-1900 that during the Renaissance, "the debate about the education of women inherited a set of arguments, supported by classical and biblical exempla, that promoted the idea that a woman's education should equip her for nothing more than the duties of a virtuous wife and mother" (16).  "The education of 

women," she continues, "was associated with the private sphere, while the education of men was associated with preparation for public life" (16).  Because the Companion is sometimes cited as an important document in the argument for female education yet, in its broader content, is an advice book on domestic duties, it emerges as the embodiment of the conflict Raftery here refers to.In a later section of her book, Raftery cites Wolley, alongside other women writers like Bathsua Makin and Mary Astell, as a reformer of female education.  Raftery, evidently unfamiliar with Elaine Hobby's findings, inaccurately attributes Wolley with The Gentlewomans Companion, but her comments are still applicable here.  She states, for example, that the title of the Companion is misleading: it is not a "revolutionary feminist tract" (30).  Writers of works like the Companion, Raftery continues, "sought to secure recognition from society that women could and ought to engage in learning, but they did not dispute contemporary beliefs that woman was man's helpmate and that her 'sphere' was the home" (30).  Raftery also finds that by becoming learned, Renaissance women "ceased to be women," for education "was seen to compromise a woman's femininity" (17).  It is interesting to look from Raftery's statement to the Companion, where the author takes great pains to include sections on both women's education and sections on fashion, cosmetics, recreation, and public behavior.  Raftery points out that publications like the Companion are a consequence of this conflict between femininity and learning, but she believes that this "substantial corpus of print culture . . . limited female learning to training for the domestic sphere" (17).  Raftery's observation is an important one, but Wolley's work and the compiled Companion of course serve a function that extends past domestic training.  Generically, the conventions of advice literature are hinged on the writer's argument for female education and acknowledgment of the "feminine role" in the private sphere (Beilin 266).  "But each recognizes that to write," Elaine Beilin points out in Redeeming Eve: Women Writers of the English Renaissance, "brings her public notice, particularly as she assumes the authority of a preacher" (266).  The role of the advice writer-and particularly of the "loving mother" woman writer who speaks to parents about the education and conduct of their children-is both a "safe persona" and a persona that "highlights the conflict between the private and public status" (266).  The Companion exhibits both of these characteristics, for while it includes sections that give motherly advice, it also fits into a more public role as an argument for female education.Importantly, the increased provision of education for women encouraged an increase in literacy and, in turn, an increase in the number of women writing for public audiences.  It was at this time, between 1670 and 1720, "that a number of important publications written by women appeared, in which arguments for female education were articulated" (31).  Wolley, then, stands at the front edge of a surge in female publications, marking her as one of the first professional women writers in English history.  The advice books of Hannah Wolley's generation, as a whole, are situated at the beginning of a newly charged debate in early Modern English writing.  While earlier books promoted the "synthetic view of woman," mid- to late-seventeenth century writings passionately disputed notions of female intellectual inferiority (Raftery 33).  The "pioneer" of women's education, as Raftery identifies her, is Mary Astell, who in the introduction to her A Serious Proposal to the Ladies for the Advancement of their True and Greatest Interest (1694) states:Its aim is to fix that Beauty, to make it lasting and permanent, which Nature with all the helps of Art cannot secure, and to place it out of the 

reach of Sickness and Old Age, by transferring it from a corruptible Body to an immortal Mind.  (Astell 1)Here, Astell suggests that her female readers place less emphasis on physical beauty and instead turn to the improvement of their intellect.  To do this, however, Astell admits that changes must occur in her society's approach to the education of women, and educational institutions must open their doors to those ladies and gentlewomen who, when given the opportunity, will "surpass the Men as much in Vertue and Ingenuity, as you do in Beauty" (1).  Until formal education opens its doors to women, however, Astell argues that women must learn the craft of self-education: "One wou'd therefore almost think, that the wise disposer of all things, foreseeing how unjustly Women are denied opportunities of improvement from without, has therefore by way of compensation endow'd them with greater propensions of Vertue and a natural goodness of Temper within" (5).A second significant name in the reformation of women's education--and a name mentioned in the Companion--is Anna Maria van Schurman of Utrecht.6pg. 8.  Raftery cites Schurman as the first woman to debate female education, and Elaine Hobby also points to the Dutch scholar as one of the first women to make a case for formalized female learning (33, 198).  Schurman's Disertatio, de Ingenii Muliebris ad Doctrinam, et Meliores Litteras Aptitudine, published in Holland in 1641, was first translated into English as The Learned Maid, or Whether a Maid may be a Scholar in 1659 (Raftery 33).  Schurman's syllogistic argument "proves exhaustively women's need of, and right to, an education in grammar, logic and rhetoric on lines identical to those of the male grammar schools and universities" (Hobby 198).  The difficulty of writing about women's education as Schurman approached it, however, was how to promote female worth but still maintain the important traits of modesty, virtue, and femininity.  Unlike male defenders of women's rights like Cornelius Agrippa, women like Schurman could not justify their writing by appealing to courtly love conventions of a lady's defense (Hobby 199).  Referenced in the Companion, the writings of Cornelius Agrippa are also at the center of seventeenth-century arguments for increased opportunities in female education and influential in the genre of the advice book.7pg. 8.  The citation of well-known advocates of women in the Companion, Hobby remarks, is typical of male defenses of women, and the author-identified by Hobby as a man-"is not unreserved in his promotion of equality" (173).Beginning in the late seventeenth century and continuing into the eighteenth century, women saw a shift in the English economy of the middle and merchant classes, so that more middle-class women could hire a domestic staff and, therefore, were allowed more time to dedicate to occupation and education (Raftery 43).  To address this new demand, printers and publishers began producing a large number of advice books, conduct literature, magazines, miscellanies, mother's manuals, and midwifery information.  While many of these publications were designed for entertainment purposes, most were directed to women with more serious interests.  Scientific information, Raftery finds, enjoyed immense popularity in the seventeenth century, particularly works like Elizabeth Carter's translation of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy explained for the Use of the Ladies (1739) and Priscilla Wakefield's An Introduction to Botany (1760) (44).  Female readers, diaries, and almanacs could also be found on women's coffee tables and found increased popularity in the mid-eighteenth century when such publications like the Female Spectator would feature monthly readings on a variety of crucial issues.
More than any other genre, mother's manuals and advice books enjoyed enormous success during the seventeenth century.  The popularity of this body of literature, Kristen Poole points out in "'The fittest closet for all goodness': Authorial Strategies in Jacobean Mothers' Manuals" "invites us to reconsider the perception and reception of women's writing in Jacobean England" (69).  At the root of the genre's popularity, she explains, is its "highly unusual" presentation--it "overtly commands and instructs" (69, 70).  Poole here focuses on the meaning behind the candidly authoritative female voice of advice literature, which she feels may challenge our tendencies to see the public and private spheres as inherently separate.  To explore the issue of the public and private, Poole looks to the genre's apparent definition of the word "home": "defining 'home' (the private) became a way of defining 'not home' (the public)" (71).  Conduct literature, she concludes, thus not only  "aimed at defining the proper role of gentlewomen" and "the social place and function of domesticity," but also strove to define what was meant by the word "public" (71).  As mothers, Poole also adds, these female writers emphasized the "duality of their private and public roles" (71).  Hannah Wolley pushes this duality even further, it seems, by taking on not only the roles of mother and writer, but by also adopting the roles of teacher, tutor, wife, former cook for Charles I, midwife, apothecary, musician, and poet.It is fitting to begin reading The Gentlewomans Companion with Poole's comments about the thin line between the private and public spheres in the foreground, for they provide a context within which to approach not only the genre of advice writing, but also the text's problematic history.  Before entering the text, however, a statement of gratitude is in order for Elaine Hobby, whose research, as this introduction has attempted to capture, has opened up a large discussion of authorship, authority, and literary property in seventeenth-century English women's writing.  The Companion also provides an effective model for the advice genre in its double audience, diverse subject matter, and portrayal of the conflicting-yet often compatible-issues of female education reformation and domestic training.  Fittingly, the author of the Companion states in a chapter "Of Speech and Complement" that "[t]he Eye entertains it self not with more Objects than the Invention furnisheth the Tongue with Subjects; and as without Speech, no Society can subsist" (14).  The Gentlewomans Companion definitely provides the subjects-it is now up to readers to decide what can be done with them.The Gentlewomans Companion:Textual Explanation and NotesAs is common practice, I have revised the letter 's' in The Gentlewomans Companion, which in the 1673 manuscript, available on microfilm copy from the English Short Title Catalogue, appears as the conventional ["long s"].  I have also left contractions, punctuation, and capitalization as they appear in the original, for two reasons: first, the Companion is highly readable in its current form; more importantly, the preservation of the original style of the manuscript allows scholars to compare The Gentlewomans Companion to texts that are confirmed as works by Hannah Wolley.  Because the authorship of the Companion is still questionable and future scholars may wish to pursue the question of authorship and gender in seventeenth-century advice and conduct literature, the edited text must be as close to the original as possible.  The only spelling variation in the text occurs with the word 'virtue," which often appears in its alternative form as 'vertue.'  While italics in the 1673 edition are confined to proper names, places, languages (as in French, Italian, Greek, and English), and quotations, a 

look at the later 1675 edition reveals a substantially more indulgent use of italics for emphasis.  As editors Kate Chedgzoy, Melanie Osborne, and Suzanne Trill point out in the textual editing explanation to Lay by Your Needles Ladies, Take the Pen: Writing Women in England, 1500-1700, choosing to change italics to fit twentieth-century standards "means that the modern editor is placing yet another layer of interpretation upon the text and is preventing modern readers from making their own decisions about its significance (or lack of it)" (22).  Overall, however, the Companion is very consistent in its use of letters and words that tend to vary in seventeenth-century texts.  There are no instances where a 'v' is used for a 'u', for example, nor has the manuscript been damaged in any way that would obscure sections of the text.  The Companion also differs from many of its contemporaries in that paragraphs are relatively short, so I have not added any alteration in paragraph breaks.Because the edited sections of The Gentlewomans Companion included in this project are meant to benefit undergraduates, beginning Renaissance students, graduate students, and scholars who need additional information and sources for their research, I have annotated a great number of words and passages throughout the text.  Obscure or dated words are defined using the Oxford English Dictionary, and background information is provided for classical references.  In many cases, these references were found with the aid of The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature.  In instances where another source has been consulted, the citation is provided.  A few references are still unidentified, such as the author's mention of D. Heylin, whose name does not appear in any available directory of English or French writers nor in the ESTC (11).  Edesia is also obscure--the only information I could find on this model of female behavior is provided in the attached footnote (3).  Other identified women who demand a more rigorous search are the "seven Milesian Virgins," and the "Lacedemonian wives" (21, 22, 23).  While portraits of these historical, mythical, or fictional figures would add to the argument that is put forth in the Companion, no meaning is lost without them.  Other names that have been uncovered are often misspelled in the text, so it is possible that future searches may discover references under alternative spellings.  Additional information has been provided, however, for titles, phrases, or themes within the Companion that may lead curious readers to additional areas of study.  Several sources have been consulted for these explanations, so citations that refer to the bibliography that appears at the end of the document are provided in the individual notes.Only one additional issue needed to be confronted in the editing of The Gentlewomans Companion--what to include.  The original manuscript is 261 pages, most of which consists of recipes and medical remedies.  The complete table of contents is provided in its regular position in the beginning of the manuscript, so that readers have the opportunity to view the overall arrangement of the text and the immensity of the compilation.  Perhaps the most helpful approach to an explanation of choices of selection is to proceed through the text, identifying the guiding factors in each decision.The first three sections of the Companion--"To all Young Ladies, Gentlewomen, and all Maidens whatever," "The Introduction," and "A Short Account of the life and abilities of the Authoress of this Book"--are the original beginning sections of the text.  The dedication is significant not only because it identifies the intended audience of the work, but also because it provides essential information on the texts that are "borrowed" by the author to compile the Companion.  The section on "What qualifications best become and are most suitable to a Gentlewoman" sets the stage for the author's approach to the audience, as well as cites a number of issues essential to the Companion's argument for advancements in female education, as does the following chapter "Of a Gentlewomans civil Behaviour to all sorts of people in all places."  

The next four sections, all concerned with the physical presentation of gentlewomen, illustrate the conflict cited in the introduction between education and femininity, in addition to including several passages that are worth noting for their wit and humor.  At this point, readers turn to "The Gentlewomans Mirrour, or Patterns for the imitation of such famous Women who have been emminent in Piety and Learning," which places great emphasis on the relationship between scholarship and chastity.  This section also serves as a lengthy catalog of important historical female figures.  The last section in the advice genre is "Of Marriage, and the duty of a Wife to her Husband," which highlights Kristen Poole's argument about the role of the public and private and, in addition, addresses the issue of authority.  The last included chapters are part of a much longer compilation of medical remedies, of which I provide the introduction and a few examples.  This section--as well as the many recipes in the Companion that I regret are not included here--is a rich area for further study.  In the "Observations of Physick and Chyrurgery," for instance, the author puts forth a lecture on hygiene that is essential to the history of the health care practice, proving that the Companion's worth extends outside of the field of literature and into fields that could greatly benefit from additional historical sources.The Gentlewomans Companion: Works CitedAstell, Mary.  A Serious Proposal to the Ladies for the Advancement of their True and Greatest Interest(1694).New York:Source Book Press,1970.Chedgzoy, Kate, Melanie Osborne, and Suzanne Trill, eds.Lay By Your Needles Ladies, Take the Pen: Writing Women in England, 1500-1700. London and New York:Arnold,1997.Ferguson, Moira, ed.First Feminists : British Women Writers, 1578-1799. Bloomington:Indiana University Press,1985.Hobby, Elaine.  Virtue of Necessity: English Women's Writing, 1646-1688. London:Virago Press,1988.Poole, Kristen."'The fittest closet for all goodness': Authorial Strategies of Jacobean Mothers' Manuals."  Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900.  35 (1995): 69-88.Raftery, Deirdre.  Women and Learning in English Writing, 1600-1900. Portland:Four Courts Press,1997.Rosenthal, Laura J.  Playwrights and Plagiarists in Early Modern England: Gender, Authorship, Literary Property. Ithaca and London:Cornell UP,1996.Wall, Wendy.  The Imprint of Gender: Authorship and Publication in the English Renaissance. Ithaca and London:Cornell UP,1993.Wallas, Ada.  Before the Bluestockings. London:George Allen & Unwin Ltd,1929.[Unknown]The Gentlewomans Companion1673To all Young Ladies, Gentlewomen, and all Maidens whatever.I Have formerly sent forth amongst you two little books; the first called, The Ladies Directory1The first copy of Wolley's The Ladies Directory (1661) was destroyed, but a second directory was printed in 1662.; the other, The Cooks Guide2Wolley's The Cooks Guide was first published in 1664 in London for Peter Ding.  The original manuscript is located in the British Library, and a copy is available on microfilm in the English Short Title Catalogue., Both which have found very good Acceptance. It is near Seven years since I began to write this Book, at the desire of the Bookseller3The title page of the 1673 edition of The Gentlewomans Companion states that the guide was printed by A. Maxwell for Dorman Newman at the Kings Arms in the Poultry., and earnest intreaties of very many worth Friends; unto whom I owe more than I can do for them. And when I considered the great need of such a book as might be a Universal Companion and Guide to the Female Sex, in all Relations, Companies, Conditions, and States of Life even from Child-hood down to Old-age; and from the Lady at the Court, to the Cook-maid in the Country: I was at length prevailed upon to do it, and the rather because I knew not of any Book in any Language that hath done the like. Indeed many excellent Authors there be who have wrote excellent well of some particular Subjects herein treated of. But as there is not one of them hath written upon all of them; so there are some things treated of in this Book, that I have not met with in any Language, but are the Product of my Thirty years Observations and Experience.I will not deny but I have made some use of that Excellent Book, The Queens Closet4The Queens Closet was printed anonymously in 1661 by Peter Dring, and highlights techniques for preserving, conserving, and candying.; May's Cookery5Though May's Cookery does not appear as the exact title of any contemporary cookbook, the author is probably referring to a work by Robert May entitled The Accomplisht Cooke, or the Art and Mystery of Cookery, which was first printed in 1660.  As Elaine Hobby states, May was an "arch-rival" of Wolley's, but, as a professional cook, he directed his writing to a male readership (169).  May sought to turn cooking into a 'science' that excluded amateurs (even inventing a new terms), and this approach serves as a striking contrast to Wolley's mission to make fine cooking accessible to all female readers (169-70).; The Ladies Companion6Two works entitled The Ladies Companion appeared during Wolley's lifetime.  The first, printed in 1654, contains tips for preserving, conserving, and candying and was written anonymously and printed by W. Bentley.  The second-and more likely the companion the author is here referencing--was written in 1671 by William Sermon.  Sermon's The Ladies Companion, or The English Midwife contains remedies and outlines medical procedures that may have aided the author in the completion of the medical sections of The Gentlewomans Companion.; my own Directory and Guide; Also, the second part of Youth's Behaviour7Two editions of the influential Youths Behaviour, or Decency in conversation amongst men appeared before 1673.  The first was translated from the French by Francis Hawkins and printed in England in 1663.  The second edition, compiled by Robert Codrington, was printed in 1672., and what other Books I thought pertinent and proper to make up a Compleat Book, that might have an Universal Usefulness; and to that end I did not only make use of them, but also of all others, especially those that have been lately writ in the French and Italian Languages. For as the things treated of are many and various, so were my Helps.I hope the Reader will not think it much, that as the famous Limner8'Limner': a painter of portraits and, in many cases in the seventeenth century, a water-color artist.  Limners also illuminate manuscripts. when he drew the Picture of an Exact Beauty, made use of an Eye from one, of a Mouth from another; and so call'd what was rare in all others, that he might present them all in one entire piece of Workmanship 

and Frame: So I, when I was to write of Physick and Chirurgery9'Chirurgery': surgery., have consulted all Books I could meet with in that kind, to Compleat my own Experiences.If any shall wonder why I have been so large upon it, I must tell them, I look upon the end of Life to be Usefulness; nor know I wherein our Sex can be more useful in their Generation than having a competent skill in Physick and Chirurgery, a competent Estate to distribute it, and a Heart will thereunto.The like Apology I have for my Prolixity10'Prolixity': tendency to write or speak in lengthy, tedious detail. about Cookery and Carving, which being essential to a true Houswife, I thought it best to dwell most upon that which they cannot dwell without, unless they design to render themselves insignificant, not only in the world, but in those Families where they are.As for what concerns Gentlewomans Behaviour, I have the concurrent advice and directions of the most able Professors and Teachers, both here and beyond the Seas; yet durst not be so airy and light in my Treatise about Ladies Love and Courtship as some of the French Authors11The author is probably referring specifically to Monsieur Vincent de Voiture, whose Letters of Affaires, Love and Courtship was printed in London in 1657.  Voiture, a member of the French Academy in Paris, is referenced often in Wolley's body of work and later in The Gentlewomans Companion. have been, but have taken out of them what I found most taking with our English Gentry. The like I may say for Habits and Gesture; I am not ignorant of the vanity of some Mens stiles upon these Subjects; and that young Ladies are too apt to take what may gratifie their Fancies, and leave what may better their Judgments about true Behaviour.I know I may be censured by many for undertaking this great Design, in presenting to all of our Sex a Compleat Directory, and that which contains several Sciences: deeming it a Work for a Solomon, who could give an account from the Cedar to the Hysop12A popular phrase or cliché used to describe an individual who, like King Solomon, can speak knowledgeably about a large number of topics.. I have therefore in my Apology to the Bookseller, declared how I came to be of Ability to do it, reciting to him the grounds of my knowledg in all those Sciences I profess; and also what practice and experience I have had in the World, lest any should think I speak more than I am able to perform. I doubt not but judicious persons will esteem this Essay of mine, when they have read the Book, and weighed it well; and if so, I shall the less trouble my self what the ignorant do or say.I have now done my Task, and shall leave it to your candid Judgments and Improvement; your Acceptation will much encourageLondon, November 10.
Your Most humble Servant, Hannah Woolley.
The IntroductionTHe right Education of the Female Sex, as it is in a manner everywhere neglected, so it ought to be generally lamented. Most in this depraved later Age think a Woman learned and wife enough, if she can distinguish her Husbands Bed from anothers.  Certainly Mans Soul cannot boast of a more sublime Original than ours, they had equally their efflux13'efflux': outflow. from the same eternal Immensity, and therefore capable of the same Improvement by good Education. Vain Man is apt to think we were meerly intended for the Worlds propagation, and to keep its humane Inhabitants sweet and clean; but, by their leaves, had we the same Literature, he would find our brains as fruitful as our bodies. Hence I am induced to believe, we are debar'd from the knowledg of Humane Learning, lest our pregnant Wits should rival towring conceits of our insulting Lords and Masters.Pardon the Severity of this Expression, since I intend not thereby to infuse bitter rebellion into the sweet blood of Females; for know, I would have all such as are enter'd into the Honourable State of Matrimony to be loyal and loving Subjects to their lawful (though lording) Husbands. I cannot but complain of, and must condemn the great negligence of Parents14The author's condemnation of parents, here, is consistent with other arguments in favor of female education.  In her A Serious Proposal for the Ladies (1694), for example, Mary Astell states "that Parents shou'd take all possible care of their Childrens Education, not only for their sakes, but even for their own" (6).  Astell continues, remarking that "to introduce poor Children into the World and neglect to fence them against the temptations of it, and so leave them expos'd to temporal and eternal Miseries, is a wickedness for which I want a Name" (7)., in letting the fertile ground of their Daughters lie sallow, yet send the barren Noddles15'Noddles': the head or brain, usually used playfully, as the author demonstrates, to suggest emptiness. of their Sons to the University. Where they stay for no other purpose than to fill their empty Sconces16'Sconces': the crown of the head. with idel Notions to make a noise in the Country.Pagans of old may teach our Christian Parents a new lesson. Edesia an Infidel, taught her Daughters Learning and Morality.  Cornelia, hers (with the Greek Tongue) Piety. Portia, hers (with the learning of the Egyptians) the exemplary Grounds of Chastity, Sulpitia, hers (with the knowledg of several Languages) the precepts of Conjugal Unity17Edesia is an obscure reference, identified as a goddess of food in a questionable source cited on the internet.  See bibliography under Sulla, Marcus.  Cornelia lived in second century BC Rome and was both the daughter of Scipio Africanus and the mother of twelve children, including Tiberius and Gaius.  Famous as a model of the ideal matron, Cornelia devoted herself to the management and education of her children after the death of her husband, Ti. Sempronius Gracchus.  Portia was the daughter of Cato the Younger and member of prominent family that opposed Julius Caesar in first century AD Rome.  All of the male members of Portia's family died during this opposition.  Bathsua Makin refers to Portia (spelled 'Pertia' in her text) in An Essay to Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen as "the best Philosopher in her Time" (10).  Portia, married to Brutus, is most well known as a character in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.  Sulpitia was a writer of elegies in first century BC Rome. Six of Sulpitia's elegies have been passed down within the corpus of Albius Tibullus's love elegies.  Sulpitia's elegies describe her love for Cerinthus, which is a pseudonym.. These, though Ethnicks, were excellent informers of Youth; so that their Children were more bound to them for their Breeding than Bearing, Nurturing than Nursing. Emulation of Goodness is most commendable; and though you cannot hang up the Pictures of these worthy Persons, so that their Memories may live with you; however, imitate their Virtues, that their memories may live fresher in you. All memorials being Materials, be they never so durable, are subject to frailty; on the precious Monuments of Vertue survive time, and breath Eternity. 
Thus as ye take good Example from others, be ye Mother Patterns of Vertue to your Daughters: Let your living actions be lines of their direction. While they are under your command, the error is yours not theirs, if they go astray. Their honour should be one of the chiefest things you are to tender, neither can it be blemish'd without some soil to your own credit.I have known some inconsiderate Mothers, and those none of the lowest rank and quality, who either out of the confidence of their Daughters good carriage, or drawn with the hopes of some rich Suitors to advance their Marriage, have usually given too free way to opportunity, which brought upon their Daughters name a spreading infamy. Suffer not then those who partake of your image, to lose their best beauty. Look then to your own actions, these must inform them; look to your own examples, these must confirm them: Without you, they cannot perish; with you they may. What will you do with the rest that is left, when you see a part of your self lost.There is no instruction more moving, than the example of your living. By that line of yours they are to conform their own. Take heed then lest the damp of your own life extinguish the light of your Childrens. As you are a kind Mother to them be a careful Monitor about them; and if your business will permit, teach them your self, with their Letters, good Manners. For there is an in-bred, filial fear in Children to their Parents, which will beget in them more attention in hearing, and retention in holding what they hear. But if it be inconsistent with your conveniency, and that you must commit the Tutelage18'Tutelage': protection. and Education of your Children to a Governess, give me leave to inform you what she ought to be.
A Short account of the life and abilities of Authoress of this Book19The following account, as Elaine Hobby has discovered, is an inaccurate one, perhaps written by a male employee of the publisher, Dorman Newman.  See the introduction, pg. vi-vii , for an extended explanation and analysis of the false account.I Would not presume to trouble you with any passages of my life, or relate my innate qualifications, or acquired, were it not in obedience to a Person of Honour, who engag'd me so to do if for no other reason than to stop the mouths of such who may be so maliciously censorious as to believe I pretend what I cannot perform.It is no ambitious design of gaining a name in print (a thing as rare for a Woman to endeavour, as obtain) that put me on this bold undertaking; but the meer pity I have entertain'd for such Ladies, Gentlewomen, and others, as have not received the benefits of the tyth of the ensuing accomplishments. These Ten years and upwards, I have studied how to repair their loss of time, by making publick those gifts which God hath bestow'd upon. To be useful in our Generation is partly the intent of our Creation; I shall then arrive to the top of the Pyramid of my Contentment, if any shall profit by this following Discourse. If any question the truth of what I can perform, their trial of me I doubt not but will convince their Infidelity.The things I pretend greatest Skill in, are all Works wrought with a Needle, all Transparent Works20'Transparent Works': glass etching, staining, painting, etc., Shell-work21'Shell-work': a craft in which seashells are arranged in a pattern, for ornamentation., Moss-work22'Moss-work': gardening or pruning., also Cutting of Prints, and adorning Rooms, or Cabinets, or Stands with them.All kinds of Beugle-works upon Wyers23,'Beugle-works upon Wyers': weaving or looming, where the "beugle" is the hoop and the "wyers" are the wires. or otherwise.All manner of Pretty Toyes for Closets. Rocks made with Shells, or in Sweets.Frames for Looking-glasses, Pictures, or the Like.Feathers of Crewel24'Crewel': a thin yarn usually used for tapestries, embroidery, laces, hosiery, etc. for the corner of Beds. Preserving all kind of Sweet-meats wet and dry.Setting out of Banquets.Making Salves, Oyntments, Waters, Cordials; healing any Wounds not desperately dangerous. knowledg in discerning the Symptoms of most Diseases, and giving such Remedies as are fit in such Cases. All manner of Cookery.Writing and Arithmetick. Washing black or white Sarsnets25'Sarsnets': usually spelled sarsenet; a very fine silk material used for dresses.. Making Sweet Powders for the Hair, or to lay among Linnen. All these and several things beside, too tedious here to relate. I shall be ready to impart to those who are desirous to learn.Now to the intent I may increase your wonder, I shall relate how I came to the knowledg of what I Profess. When I was fourteen years old, I began to consider how I might improve my time to the best advantage, not knowing at that age any thing but what reason and fancy dictated to me. Before I was Fifteen I was intrusted to keep a little School, and was the sole Mistress thereof. This course of life I continued till the age of Seventeen, when my extraordinary parts appear'd more splendid in the eyes of a Noble Lady in this Kingdom, than really they deserv'd, who praising my Works with the appellation of Curious Pieces of Art, was infinitely pleas'd therewith. But understanding withal, that I understood indifferently the smooth Italian, and could sing, dance and play on several sorts of Musical Instruments, she took me from my School, and greedily entertained me in her House as Governess of her only Daughter. Unto this honourable Person I am indebted for the basis, or ground-work of my Preserving and Cookery, by my observation of what she order'd to be done. By this Ladies means I came acquainted with the Court, with a deportment suitable thereunto.The death of this Lady gave me a fit opportunity to be entertain'd by another no way inferiour to the former, with whom I lived seven years. At first I was Governess to those of her Children, whose forward virtue sufficiently declared the goodness of the stock from whence they came. Time and my Ladies good opinion of me, constituted me afterwards her Woman, her Stewardess, and her Scribe or Secretary. By which means I appear'd as a person of no mean authority in the Family. I kept an exact account of what was spent in the house. And as I profited in Externals, so I treasured up things necessary for my understanding, having an happy opportunity so to do, not only by hearing that ingenious and agreeable discourse interfac'd between my Lady and Persons of Honour, but also by inditing all her Letters; in the framing and well fashioning of which (that I might increase my Ladies esteem) I took indefatigable pains. There were not any who both wittily and wisely had publisht their Epistles to view of the world, whom I had not read, and on all occasions did consult: those which I placed in my greatest esteem were the Letters of Mr. Ford, Mr. Howel, Mr. Loveday, and Monsieur Voiture26The author may be referring to Simon Ford, whose A Sober Answer to an Angry Epistle was printed in 1656, but the connection cannot be verified.  Mr. Howel, however, is most likely James Howel, whose political, philosophical, and historical letters appear in a collection entitled Epistolæ Ho-Elianæ. Familiar letters domestic and forren. Epistolæ was first published in 1645, but several subsequent editions and parts were printed as late as the mid-eighteenth century. Loveday's Letters Domestick and Forreign, written by Robert Loveday, were first printed in 1662 in London.  In addition to his letters, Loveday is also remembered as the translator of the first three parts of Gaultier de Coste La Calprenède's Cleopatra, also entitled Hymen's Præludia or Loves Master-piece (1652).  Monsieur Voiture, referenced in the author's dedication, was the author of Letters of Affaires, Love and Courtship, printed in London in 1657..But that which most of all increast my knowledg, was my daily reading to my Lady, Poems of all sorts, and Plays, teaching me as I read, where to place my accents, how to raise and fall my voice, where lay the emphasis of the expression: Romances of the best sort she took great delight in; and being very well verst in the propriety of the French Tongue, there was not any thing published by the Virtuosi of France, which carefully and chargeably she procur'd not; this put me upon the understanding of that Language, she was so well experienc'd therein, which is as great an Ornament for young Ladies as those learned Tongues, of which the Academical Studioso boasts a more than common understanding.Here as I learned hourly Courtly Phrases and Graces, so how to express my self with the attendency of a becoming air. And as I gather'd how to manage my Tongue gracefully, and discreetly; so I thought it irrequisite to let my hands lye idle. I exercised them daily in Carving at 

Table. And when any bad accident required their help in Physick and Chirurgery, I was ready to be assisting; in those two excellent Arts in this place I acquired a competent knowledg.In short time I became skilful, and stayed enough to order an House, and all Offices belonging to it; and gained so great an esteem among the Nobility and Gentry of two Counties, that I was necessitated to yield to the importunity of one I dearly lov'd, that I might free my self from the tedious Caresses of a many more.In the time I was a Wife, I had frequent occasion to make use of all, or most of my aforenamed qualities; and what I exercised not within my own roof, I used among my neighbours, friends and acquaintants.That which qualified me as a Governess for Children as well as anything yet I have mention'd, was the great knowledg I had in the humours, inclinations, and dispositions of Children, having often had at one time above Threescore in number under my Tution.Besides, as I have been the Mistriss of many Servants, so I have qualified them with my Instructions to be Mistriss to others; the major part of them living very comfortably in a married condition.As I have taken great pains for an honest livelihood, so that hand of the Almighty hath exercised me in all manner of Afflictions, by death of Parents when very young, by loss of Husband, Children, Friends, Estate, very much sickness, by which I was disenabled from my Employment. 27This ending to the false biography, Hobby observes, depicts Wolley as a damsel who "is saved from her growing acclaim by marriage to her own shining knight," thus transforming her into a "romance heroine" (174).  For more information on the falsification of Wolley's biography, see the introduction, pg. iv-v. Having already given you an account of the duty, and requisite, endowments which ought to be in a Governess, and how qualified I was my self in that troublesome concern; I shall now proceed in giving young Ladies such Rules which long experience and observation hath taught me, which may be as their perfect guide in all ages and conditions, the practice whereof will assuredly imbalm their Names here; let their stedfast faith in Jesus Christ only crown them with Glory hereafter.
What qualifications best become and are most suitable to a GentlewomanI Have already endeavoured to prove, that though Nature hath differ'd Mankind into Sexes, yet she never intended any great difference in the Intellect. This will evidently appear not only from those many arguments learned Cornelius Agrippa hath laid down in a particular Treatise for the Vindication of the Excellency of the Female Sex28Cornelius Agrippa's Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminence of the Female Sex, delivered at the University of Dôle in 1509, argues that women are equal to men in both the private and the public spheres and questions why women are excluded from education (Rabil 3).  Rather than turn to catalogs of virtuous, intelligent women as Boccaccio did, Agrippa "overturn[s] the misogynistic interpretations of the female body in Greek medicine, the Bible, Roman and canon law, theology and moral philosophy, and politics" (4).  Agrippa is also well-known for his skepticism of knowledge, and became the model for Christopher Marlowe's The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (10)., but likewise from the many learned and incomparable Writings of Famous Women, ancient and modern, particularly Anna Commena who wrote the Eastern History in Greek29The author or printer misspells the historian's last name, which should read Anna Comnena. Comnena was a Byzantine historian and daughter of the emperor Alexius I Comnenus. She is remembered for her Alexiad, a history of the life and reign of her father, which became a valuable source as a pro-Byzantine account of the early Crusades., a large Folio. Nor can we without great ingratitude, forget the memory of that most ingenious Dutch Lady Anna Maria Schurman30Anna Maria Schurman, also referred to as Anna Maria van Schurmann, wrote the influential The Learned Maid, or Whether a Maid may be a Scholar, which was translated into English in 1659.  Schurmann, hailed by today's scholars as the first woman to enter the debate on female education, argues for the development of female institutions of learning that follow the same model as male grammar schools and universities (Hobby 198).  Like Wolley, however, as Elaine Hobby points out, Schurmann directs her argument to women of the leisure classes, and her goal is not to introduce education to all women, but only to those who are prone to "tedious idleness" due to their "decorative" task in life (198)., who was so much admired by the greatest Scholars in Europe for her unparallel'd, natural and acquired parts, that there were very few (as the great Salmasius31Salmasius, the discoverer of the Palatine manuscript of the Greek Anthology, was well known for his immense knowledge of philology.  Like Schurmann, he was well versed in a number of languages, including Hebrew, Arabic, Syriac, Persian, and Coptic, as well as Greek and Latin, and he was invited to teach at several universities.  In 1631 he became professor at Leiden, where he taught continuously except for a year-long appointment with the Swedish court in 1650-51.  It was during this time of his life that Salmasius apparently conversed, by letter, with Schurmann, though little is written about their discourse.  Salmasius's writings are mainly political, including a "Defense of the Reign of Charles I" and a condemnation of the English Parliament., & c. ) who did not frequently correspond with her by Letters. Her Opuscela or smaller Works are now extant, printed in Holland in Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, in which there is a small Tract, proving that a Womans capacity is no way inferior to Mans in the reception of any sort of Learning; and therefore exhorts all Parents who are not much necessitated, not to let their Children spin away their precious time, or pore on a Sampler32'Sampler': a beginner's exercise in embroidery., till they have prickt out the date of their life; but rather instruct them in the Principles of those Learned Tongues, whereby they may at pleasure pick-lock the Treasuries of knowledg contained in those Languages, and adapt them for the conversation and discourse of most Nations.I need not go out of our Native Country to produce you Examples enough of our own Sex for your imitation and incouragement in treading the paths of Learning; I shall forbear to speak of the incomparable worth and pregnant parts of some Gentlewomen, lately deceased as Mrs. Philips the ingenious Translatress of Pompey33The author is here referring to Katherine Philips, poet and translator of Corneille's play, Pompey, performed in 1662 and 1663.  Philips' Pompey is famous for its many literary firsts: it is the first play written by a woman and performed in the professional British theater; the first known play to entertain audiences in Dublin's Smock Alley Theater; and the first Corneille play to be translated into heroic couplets (Mambretti 244).  Philips is most well-known for her friendship poems, in which she manipulates courtly love traditions and writes in the persona of Orinda.  Philips is also often cited as one of the first neoclassical writers (Loscocco 260)., & c. since what is extant of hers, or her 
Comtemporaries, will more at large express their matchless merit; nor shall I eulogize or praise the living, nominating any person, lest I be thought one partially addicted to flattery. Yet give me leave to say, I could instance not a few, who (to the glory of our Sex, and the place of their Nativity, if occasion modestly required ) would not blush to answer a Capricious Virtuoso in three of the most useful Tongues spoken or understood, that is, Latin, French, and Italian.I desire not to hyperbolize; it is probable they may not be so expert in the anatomizing an Insect, or the discovery of some monstrous production; as these Epidemial34'Epidemial': able to spread or multiply quickly; epidemic. Wits are; yet for ought I know, may find out many monstrosities in their brain, whist they are subtillyplumming the depth of their self-admired understanding.Now since it may hence appear, Ladies, that you have no Pygmean Souls35'Pygmean Souls': underdeveloped or stunted., but as capable of Gygantick growth as of your Male opponents; apply your self to your Grammar by time, and let your endeavours be indefatigable, and not to be tired in apprehending the first Principles of the Latin Tongue. I shall forbear to give you Rules for attaining the perfect knowledg thereof, but leave you to that Method your Tutor or skilful Governess shall propound for your Observation.I need not tell you the vast advantages that will accrue hereby, your own experience will better inform you hereafter. However, I shall hint some, as first, your understanding the Latin Tongue will inable you to write and speak true and good English, next it will accommodate you with an eloquent stile in speaking, and afford you matter for any discourse; lastly, you will be freed from the fear of encountring such who make it their business to ransack a New World of Words to find out what are long and obscure, not regarding how insignificant, if they carry a rattling found with them. Thus these Fops of Rhetorick, spawns of non-intelligency, will venture the spraining of the Tongues, and splay-footing their own Mouths, if they can but cramp a young Gentlewomans intellect.Our English Tongue is of late very much refined, by borrowing many Words from the Latin, only altering the termination, these you will never perfectly understand without the knowledg of the Latin, but rather misapply or displace them to your great discredit, although you should consult the English Interpreters that were ever extant.And as our Mother Tongue hath finished her expressions with the Roman Dialect; so to make them the more spruce and complacent, she hath borrowed some choice words from other Nations, more specially the neighbouring French, whose Tongue you must in no sort be ignorant of, if you intend to speak with the air of the Court, or like the quaint Oratresses of the Court air.It is no small benefit which will accrue to you by learning the Italian; for by reason of our Gentries travelling into foreign parts, occasioned by our late unhappy and inhumane home-bred distractions, these two Languages are generally spoken in England; insomuch that a Court-Lady will not be induced to esteem a Friend, or entertain a Servant, who cannot speak one of them at least: and that you may not despair of a competent knowledg of either, or both, without going into those Countries, where they are naturally spoken, know there are many excellent Masters who teach here in London those Languages, but more especially that sober and learned natural 
Italian Seignor Torriano36Giovanni Torriano first published his Vocabolario Italiano & Inglese, or Dictionary of  Italian and English, in 1659.  Built from compilations by John Florio and printed by T. Warren for Joseph Martin, James Allestry, and Thomas Dicas, the dictionary also contains proverbs and instructions.  Throughout the mid- and late-seventeenth century, Torriano continued to publish numerous textbooks for students of Italian grammar, including The Italian tutor or A new and most Compleat Italian grammer (1640) and The Italian reviv'd (1689).  Both are available on microform in the English Short Title Catalog.; and that unimitable Master of the French Tongue, Monsieur Mauger37Claude Mauger's French Grammar was first printed about 1658 but returned in countless editions throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.  In addition to dialogues and information for travelers, Mauger's book also contains information on the contemporary ecclesiastical, military, and civil issues of mid-seventeenth century France., both which have publisht their Gramars; the first a large and useful Italian Dictionary also. Both these Countrys have been happy and may be justly proud in producing so many learned and ingenious Men; so many, should I nominate them with their deserved Encomiums38'Encomiums': eulogies or lofty expressions of praise., this small Treatise would swell into Volumes; I shall therefore pass them over, but would not have you their Writings, where you shall find plenty of every thing, which shall either tickle your fancy, or furnish your understanding.  Having thus adapted you for conversation, let me next show you your deportment therein.Of a Gentlewomans civil Behaviour to all sorts of people in all placesA Painter of old being about a Draught39'Draught': a sketch. of a most absolute Beauty, propounded for the accomplishment thereof half a dozen of the most exquisite and wonderful fair Maidens he could find, that he might steal from each those charms and features which he thought were most powerful; but I will assure you, a greater assistance is required in the framing and fashioning of a Woman, whose behaviour should be such as to please in all companies. Whatsoever Nature can afford, or good manners inform, come short of this purpose. In this Subject the fairest Ornaments are most necessary; among which what I have already exprest, are highly to be prized, which with the aggregation40'aggregation': process of collecting parts into a whole. of all the best qualities can be desired, are the proper things, which as in their Center, must terminate in Conversation.The first thing I judg most necessary, and do wish, with Socrates, were in you Ladies, as he desired in his Pupils, are Discretion, Silence and Modesty41From Plato's Charmides.. But this is too general; wherefore since Conversation (after the milk) is the first and chiefest thing, both Animal as well as Rational Creatures, do most desire and delight in, I shall first advise as to choice of Company; next, your Carriage therein, both in Gesture, Look, Speech and Habit.No wonder all Mankind is so generally inclined to Conversation, since Life without Society is more insupportable than Death; it is Discourse makes us pass over our tedious hours and days with delight. What a Desart42'Desart': desert. would this World seem without company!  and how dangerous would it prove were we not cautious in our election! For example is more forcible than precept; thus by ill company you may gain a bad custom, which all good instructions shall never root out. But should you be so prudent as not to follow their evil example, yet by 

associating your self, you will inevitably contract a suspicion of being as bad as they; this made the Philosopher say, Shew me thy Companion, and I will tell thee what thou art.Be not easily induc'd to enter into discourse with strangers, for nothing argueth levity and indicretion more than that.  Consort your self with your betters as near as you can, yet do not despise your equals, but in a most especial manner avoid all familiarity with your inferiors; if Female, in a little time they will thereby be drawn to slight you; if Male, they will be incouraged to attack your honour unlawfully, or subtilly insinuate themselves into your affection; whereby though you are as high in fortune, as honourable in Birth, you may stoop to so low a contract, that forgetting your self by the incessant importunities of their over-blown desires, you are overcome, and so become a grief to your friends, a shame to your selves, and a lamentable spectacle of reproach and sorrow to that worthy Family, from whence you had your Original.Affect not the vanity of some, in being seen in publick too frequently. Thus many excellent Ladies have exposed themselves to the mercy of the Tempter, who otherwise had stood impregnable in the defence of their Chastities. You think, it may be, and intend no harm in your Promenades or Walks; but by so doing, you give too often occasion for licentious Amorists to meet with you, and may thereby be persuaded to throw off the vail of circumspection, to give attention to some wanton smutty story. Consult not too much with youthful blood and beauty, lest they prove too dangerous enemies to be your Privy-Councellors43'Privy-Councellors': confidential advisors..Be not guilty of the unpardonable faults of some, who never think they do better than when they speak most; uttring an Ocean of Words, without one drop of reason; talking much, expressing little: Much like that Woman D. Heylin44I could find no reference to Dr. Heylin. unhappily met withal, in his younger years, with whom he was constrained to travel a long Journey in a Coach: So indiscreetly reserved she was at first meeting, that tendring his devoir of a salute (as it is customary), she would not admit thereof; so speechless withal at first, as if a vow'd resolution had tied up her tongue to the strict observance of an everlasting silence, but the next day, she so far presumed on the slenderness of the acquaintance, that, though she was so silent before, she then opened upon their setting forward; and the continual click of her Tongue never ceast till the Sun was set; which the motion of her Tongue, and the Doctor's watch, kept exact time for eleven hours; and notwithstanding her seeming modesty in refusing a kiss, did now voluntarily prompt him to a close embrace.As I would not advise you to be over-reserv'd, so give not too loose reins to liberty, making pleasure your vocation, as if you were created for no other end than to dedicate the first fruits of the morning to your Looking-glass, and the remainder thereof to the Exchange, or Play-house. Many of our Sex are to blame, who have no sooner ting'd their faces artificially, than some Attendant is dispatcht to know what Plays are to be acted that day; my Lady approveth of one which she is resolved to see, that she may be seen; being in the Pit or Box, she minds not how little she observeth in it, as how much to be observed at it. If the novelty or goodness of the Play invite them not, then what Lady Fashion-monger? or what Lord Beauty-hunter?Shun all affectation in your behaviour, for Virtue admits of no such thing in her gesture or habit, but that which is proper, and not enforced; native or decent, and not what is apishly45'apishly': with silly or ridiculous imitation. introduced. Therefore since nothing better befits you than what is your own, make known by your dress, how much you hate formality. To this end play not the Hypocrite with your Creator, in pretending to go to Church to serve him, whereas it is to serve your selves in the imitation of some new fashion. That which becometh another well, may ill become you. You deserve in your 

preposterous imitation, suitable connection with the Ass in the Fable, who seeing the Spaniel fawningly to leap on his Master, thought that the like posture would alike become and oblige him; which he adventuring to put in practice, alarm'd the whole Family, and was soundly beaten for his unadvised folly. Affectation cannot be conceal'd, and the indecency of your deportment will quickly be discovered in publick Societies, wherefore behave your self so discreetly abroad, that you may confer no less a benefit on such as see your behaviour, than you profit such as shall observe your carriage at home: Express in publick such a well-becoming Garb, that every action may deserve the applause & imitation of all that are your company. Let your conceits be nimble and ready, & not temper'd or mixt with lightness; let your jests be innocent and seasonable, without the least capriciousness; let your discourse be free without niceness; your whole carriage delightful and agreeable, and flowing with a seeming carelessness. Thus much in general, let me now come to particulars.Of the Gait or GestureIT is an easie matter to gather the disposition of our heart, by the dimension of our Gait46'Gait': manner of walking.. A light carriage most commonly discovers a loose inclination; as jetting and strutting, shew haughtiness and self-conceit. Were your Bodies transparent, you could not more perspicuously display your levity than by wanton Gesticulations.Decency, when she seeth Women, whose modesty should be the Ornament of their beauty, demean themselves in the streets or elswhere, more like an Actoress, than Virtue's Imitatress; she endeavours to reclaim them, by bidding them look back to preceding times, and there they shall find Women (though Pagans) highly censured, for that their outward carriage only made them suspected. A Vail47'Vail': veil. (no Vizard-mask48'Vizard-mask': a mask worn to disguise the face, used pejoratively here to emphasize the negative, underlying suggestion of excessive ornamentation. Vizard masks, for example, were commonly worn by prostitutes.) covered their face, modesty measured each step, and so circumspect were they in general of their carriage, lest they should become a scandal or blemish to their Sex.Their repair to their (prophane) Temples was decent, without any loose or light Gesture; and having entred them, constant and setled was their behaviour. Quick was their pace in the dispatch of economick or houshold affairs, but slow in their Epicurean visits, or extravagent Gossipings. How much more should you in these purer Christian times affect that most which most adorns and beutifieth? Eye your feet, how they who so proudly exalt themselves on the surface of the Earth, are but Earth, and are the daily Porters49'Porters': bearers. which carry their earthly frame nearer its Earth.With what apish gestures some walk, to discover their lightness; others like Colosso's50'Colosso's': derived from Colossus of Rhodes, a bronze statue of Helios, the sun god. "Colosso's" here is used loosely to refer to any person who places undue weight on stature., discovering their ambition and haughtiness? How punctually these, as if they were Puppets, who are beholding for their motion to some secret Artifice?  These unstaid dimensions, argue unsettled dispositions. Such as these, discretion cannot prize, nor found judgment praise.  Vulgar opinion, whose applause seldom receives life from desert, may admire what is new; but 

discretion only that which is neat. Having thus soken what is requisite in Gesture, I shall next treat how the Eye ought to be governed.
Of Speech and Complement.THe Eye entertains it self not with more Objects than the Invention furnisheth the Tongue with Subjects; and as without Speech, no Society can subsist; so by it we express what we are; as Vessels discover themselves best by the found. Let Discretion make Opportunity her Anvil, whereon to fashion a seasonable Discourse; otherwise, though you speak much, you discourse little.It is true (Ladies) your Tongues are held your defensive armour, but you never detract more from your honour than when you give too much liberty to that slippery glib member. That Ivory guard or garrison, which impales your Tongue, doth caution and instruct you, to put a restraint on your Speech. In much talk you must of necessity commit much error, as least it leaves some tincture of vain glory, which proclaims the proud Heart from whence it proceeded, or some taste of scurrility, which dispoils the wanton Heart from whence it streamed.A well disposed Mind will not deliver any thing, till it hath rightly conceived; but its expressions are always prepared by a well-season'd deliberation. Think not I would have you altogether silent (Ladies) in company, for that is a misbecoming error on the other side; but I would have you when you do speak, to do it knowingly and opportunely.A saying of a Philosopher will not be unworthy of your commemoration, who seeing a silent guest at a publick Feast, used these words, If thou beest wise, thou are a fool; if a fool, thou art wise in holding thy peace. For as propriety of Speech affords no less profit than delight to the Hearer, so it argues discretion in the Speaker.By the way, let me advise you never to tye your self to strictly to elegancy, or ornament; as by outward trimming, the internal worth of right understanding should be altogether forgotten, and so your expressions favour of some absurd impertinency. This were to prefer the rind before the pith, and the sound of words before solid reason.That excellent precept of Ecclestasticus, though it was spoken in general, yet I know not to whom it is more particularly useful than to young Women. Thou that art young, speak, if need be, and yet scarcely when thou art twice asked. Comprehend much in few words; in many; be as one that is ignorant; be as one that understandeth, and yet hold thy tongue51Ecclesiastes 5:2: "Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter any thing before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let they words be few.".Volubility of tongue in these, argues either rudeness of breeding, or boldness of expression. Gentlewomen, it will best become ye, whose generous education hath estranged ye from the first, and whose modest disposition hath weaned ye from the last, in publick Society to observe, rather than discourse; especially among elderly Matrons, to whom you owe a civil reverence, and therefore ought to tip your tongue with silence.Silence in a Woman is a moving-rhetorick, winning most, when in words it woeth least. If opportunity give your Sex argument of discourse, let it neither taste of affectation, for that were servile; nor touch upon any wanton relation, for that were uncivil; nor any thing above the Sphere of your proper concern, for that were unequal. This will make your Discourse generally acceptable, and free you from prejudicate censure.
Of Habit, and the neatness and property thereof. Of Fashions, and their ridiculous apish imitation.THe neatness and property of your Clothes, may be said to shew a great part of your breeding. Property, I call a certain suitableness and convenience, betwixt the Clothes and the Person; as Civility is the framing and adapting our actions to the satisfaction of other people. And indeed the suitableness and comeliness of your habit, makes the greatest discovery of your virtue and discretion; for it must consequently follow, that a ridiculous Garb is the most certain indicium52'indicium': indication. of a foolish person.Now if you desire to be exact, you ought to proportion your Clothes to your shape, condition, and age; and not to run into excesses, stimulated thereunto by too much exactness, or an overvalu'd conceit. And indeed it is a great fault in our Sex, being very much inclin'd to pride it in sin with what our merciful Creator bestow'd upon us to cover our shame. The fruit of a Tree made Woman first to sin, and the leaves thereof made her first covering.How careful ought you to be in your Habit, since by it your modesty is best expressed, your dispositions best discovered? As none can probably imagin such to have modest minds, who have immodest eyes; so a Maid cannot be accounted modest whose attire openly proclaims arguments to the contrary. It matters not whether the quality of your Habits be Silken or Woollen, so they be civil and not wanton.Pardon me, I am not of that Cynical and morose temper of some, who affirm all gorgeous apparel is the attire of sin; but if it be a sin, I am perswaded the quality of the person extenuates the quality thereof: For I read, that noble and eminent persons were in all times admitted to wear them, and to be distinguished by them; neither indeed is the sumptuousness of the Habit so reprehensive, as the phantastickness in respect of form and fashion, which of late hath been so much affected, that all fashion is in a manner exiled.I shall not trouble myself with what the glittering Bona-Robas53Bona-Roba is the subject of a poem by Richard Lovelace (1618-1658), entitled "La Bella Bona Roba. To My Lady H. Ode."  In it, the narrator describes the lovely yet dangerous Bona Roba in extravagant language: "Ye cloudy spark lights, whose vast multitude/ Of fires are harder to be found then view'd,/Waite on this star in her first magnitude (ll. 4-6).  More importantly, Bona Roba's excessive charm misleads her admirers, and the consequences are fatal. of our times think, but I am confident it is Civility which adds most grace, Decency which expresseth best state, and Comeliness in attire, which procures most love. These misconceived ornaments are meer deformities to virtuous minds. Foreign fashions are no baits to catch them; nor phantastick, rather phanatick dressings, to delude them. Decency is their choicest livery, which sets them forth above others gaudy pageantry.Those whose erected thoughts sphere them in an higher Orb than this Circle of frailty; those whose spotless affections have devoted their best services to goodness, and made modesty the exact mold of all their actions, will not easily be induced to stoop to such worthless brain-sick lures.Now such of you whose generous descent, as it claims precedence of others, so should your vertuous demeanor in these four things which I have already spoken of, viz. Gesture, Look, Speech, and Habit, improve your esteem above others. In Gesture, by appearing humbly where ever you are, in Look, by disposing it demurely; in Speech, by delivering it moderately; in Habit, by attiring your self modestly.
Frown not on me, Ladies, that I seem to be thus severe in reproving the excess of Apparel; yet I do not deny, there is a kind of priviledg in youth for wearing fashionable Clothes, Jewels and Diamonds, which Nature (who doth nothing in vain) hath provided; and whatsoever some maliciously may whisper to the contrary; the use of Apparel is to dignifie the Wearer, and add more beauty to the Creature, provided the Apparel be not above the dignity of her that weareth it, nor doth exceed the Arithmetick of her Revenues.But whilst I seem to give you (young Gentlewomen) some allowance of liberty in your Clothing; for indeed it is impossible there should be youth without some vanity; yet I know not how to excuse the vain custom now so much in fashion, to deform the face with black Patches, under a pretence to make it appear more beautiful. It is a riddle to me, that a blemish should appear a grace, a deformity be esteemed a beauty: I am confident were any of them born with those half-Moons, Stars, Coach and Horses, and such like trumpery, by which a Lady becomes a stranger to her self, as well as others, she would give more money to be freed from them, than a seven years costly expence, in following the fashion, would amount to.It must not be denied but that the indulgence of Nature hath left a greater liberty to Women, than unto Men, in point of curiosity in Apparel. A priviledg which men ought not to envy them, because whatever imbellishment she bestows on her own beauty, is to be supposed an effect of that great love she would shew to man, by endeavouring and studying how to shew her self most complaisant, grateful, and acceptable to man. And yet Nature hath limited this priviledg of Women with strict Laws.  The dictate of this natural Law, is, That no Woman use any habit or form of attire but that which contributeth to her truest beauty. For since the Fall of their first Parent hath subjected them to the necessity of apparel, they must ever remember to wear it as an ornament of decency, and not of vanity. But if we shall examine the present fashions by the standard of this rule, we shall find, to the amazement of sober thoughts, a new-born Law of Custom to have defaced the reverend old Law of Nature.I cannot imagine whence our Ladies borrowed that monstrous and prodigious custom of patching their faces; if they did borrow it from the French, they did ill to imitate such, who it may be made use of the fashion out of pure necessity, and not novelty; having French- pimples, they needed a French-plaister. Meer need taught us at first to build houses, and wear Clothes, which afterwards were used for ornament: Who then can tax their witty- pride (although justly we may the imitation of the English Gentry therein) which could so cunningly turn botches into beauty, and make ugliness handsome? I know not but that the fashion of wearing Farthingals54'Farthingals': hooped peticoats. of old, were politickly invented to hide the shame of great Bellies unlawfully puft up; and of late the large-topt stockings with supporters to bear them up, were a good excuse for some hot gallants, in that they stradled so much when they walkt the streets; whereas, poor Gentlemen, they could do no otherwise.I have read, that the Indians did accustom themselves to paint the volume of their bodies all over with Apes, Monkies, and other Beasts. I know not whether our Ladies have endeavoured to epitomize their Works, and abridg them into the narrow compass of the Title-page of their own faces. But sure I am, that they are much beholding to the ingenious Artist, whose skillful hand much exceeded his who writ the Ten Commandments and Pater-noster55'Pater-noster': our Father. (to be legibly read) within the compass of a penny. Such a one is able to vie with Wonder it self, since he can pass a Camel through the eye of a Spanish Needle without a Miracle; and contract a Coach and Horses into the narrow dimension of four Gnats.
By the impertinent pains of this curious Face-spoiling-mender, the Exchanges (for now we have three great Arsenals of choice Vanities) are furnished with a daily supply and variety of Beauty-spots (with many other things, whose names are only known to the Inventer and Buyer); and these Patches are cut out into little Moons, Suns, Stars, Castles, Birds, Beasts, and Fishes of all sorts, so that their Faces may be properly termed a Landskip of living Creatures. The vanity and pride of these Gentlewomen hath in a manner abstracted Noah's Ark, and exprest a Compendium of the Creation in their Front and Cheeks. Add to this the gallantry of their garb, with all the Ornamental appurtenances which racktInnvention can discover, and then you will say, there wanted nothing except it be that which a Roman Writer said was wanting to the accomplishments of Poppea Sabina56Poppea Sabina (also spelled Poppaea), as the author mentions, was Nero's mistress in Rome in the first century A.D..  Nero later married Poppaea in A.D. 59, after murdering his mother Agrippina and divorcing his first wife, Octavia.  Poppaea died in A.D. 65, from a blow given her by Nero while she was pregnant (Chilvers 444). (Mistris to bloody Nero), That she was defective in nothing but a vertueus mind.Mediocrity in most things is the best rule for your observation: As in mode and fashion you are to avoid profusion, so you are to shun singularity: The one, as well as the other, will render you ridiculous. I would not advise you to be obstinate, and altogether oppose the torrent of the fashion then in being: for example, should you now wear a Farthingal, or narrow-brim'd Hat with a long crown, and a strutting Ruff57'Ruff': neck-wear of stiff linen, usually arranged in flutings and especially popular during the reign of both Elizabeth and James I. (it is not long since such things were in fashion), a Jack-pudding58'Jack-pudding': a clown. could not attract more Boys after him, than would follow you. Or should you always keep in one fashion, you would be laught at for our singularity, almost as much as others for their profuseness.To avoid this incommodious59'incommodious': troublesome, annoying. extravagancy, incline somewhat to the Mode of the Court, (which is the source and foundation of fashions); but let the example of the most sober, moderate, and modest, be the pattern for your imitation.Those who are too remote in the Country, or hindred by any other impediment to resort to Court, let them acquaint themselves (if they can) with some prudent person who is frequently there, and by her pattern and direction order your habit with reference, as near as may be to your quality, age, and estate. Your own wit and ingenuity may so contrive your Clothes, as to retrench a great part of the luxury of a fashion, and reduce it to suit with your convenience, modesty, and Christian deportment.I have already declared, your Habits ought to be adapted to your conditions; it is easie to judg of the truth of this Rule, if you consider how preposterous you would appear (being nobly born) drest in the Habit of a Dairy-maid, or for a Scullion to be array'd in the dress of a Ladies daughter; this would be looked on as no other than a Masquerade, or a Christmass Mumming60During the Christmas season, Renaissance celebrations often featured a mummer's play, which is a disguised performance.. As it is very unfit to suit your selves unsuitably to your condition, so 'tis likewise as to your age. For an old Woman to habit her self as youthfully as a Gentlewoman of fifteen, is as improper as to sing a wanton song at a Funeral. For a young Woman to clothe her self in the habit of a grave and aged Matron is as preposterous as to weep and mourn at a merry Gossiping.Proportion therefore your Clothes to your bodies, and let them be proper for your persons. I could not forbear to laugh heartily, when heretofore I saw a little man lost in a great 

Band; nor can I now abstain from laughter, when I see a man of small stature with a monstrous broad brim'd Hat; I have often thought the Hat hath walkt alone, and that the narrow Breeches and short Coat shrunk, for fear of the Hats greatness, into an exact fitness for an overgrown Monky or Baboon.Agreeableness therefore ought to be exact, and adequate both to age, person and condition, avoiding extremities on both sides, being neither too much out, nor in the fashions.Now lest I have been too rigid concerning Apparel, and so have justly incur'd the displeasure of some Ladies I am ever bound to respect for those singular favours they have from time to time confer'd on their poor Servant; I shall endeavour to make them amends for it, without wronging my Conscience, in this ensuing Chapter61The chapter to follow the author's introductory remarks to the neatness and appropriateness of fashion is an expanded section entitled "Of New Fashions."  Here, the author remarks that  "Nature is the Mistress of Variety," and thus women should avoid subscribing to a singular mode of fashion..
What Recreations and Pleasures are most fitting and proper for young Gentlewomen.REcreations which are most proper and suitable to Ladies, may be rankt under four principal heads, Musick, Dancing, Limning62'Limning':  painting and illuminating. and Reading. Of Dancing I have already lightly treated on in the directions for your deportment at Balls63The author provides a short discussion of proper female behavior at balls and the necessity of learning dance in a previous chapter entitled "Rules for a Gentlewomans Behaviour at a Ball."; however this I will say further of it, that though the Romans had no very great esteem for it as may appear by Salusts speaking of Sempronia64In his account of The Conspiracy of Catiline, Roman writer and historian Gaius Sallustius Crispus (86 B.C-35 B.C) refers to Sempronia, one of a number of accomplices to Lucius Catiline, who attempted to overthrow the Roman Senate during Pompey's absence in 64 B.C.  According to Sallust, Catiline chose Sempronia because "she committed many crimes that showed her to have the reckless daring of a man" (192-3).  Most striking about Sallust's description of Sempronia, as the author alludes to here, is that he reveals his own fear of women who are both learned and skilled in pursuits of pleasure.  "Well educated in Greek and Latin literature," Sallust writes, "she had greater skill in lyre-playing and dancing than there is any need for a respectable woman to acquire, besides many other accomplishments such as minister to dissipation" (193).  Sempronia is thus a fitting figure to appear in the seventeenth-century Companion, for Sallust's representation of her supports the stereotype that female education is incompatible with chastity., She danced better than became a virtuous Lady, yet the mode and humour of these times look upon it not only as a generous and becoming property, but look upon Gentility ill bred if not thorowly acquainted therewith; and to speak the truth it is the best and readiest way to put the body into a graceful posture; behaviour must of necessity halt without it; and how will you blush when you come into a mixt society, where each person strives to shew her utmost art and skill in Dancing, and you for the want thereof must stand still and appear like one whose body was well framed but wanted motion, or a soul to actuate it.In the next place, Musick is without doubt an excellent quality; the ancient Philosophers were of the opinion, that Souls were made of Harmony; and that that Man or Woman could not be virtuously inclined who loved not Musick; wherefore without it a Lady or Gentlewoman can hardly be said to be absolutely accomplished.Limning is an excellent qualification for a Gentlewoman to exercise and please her fance therein. There are many foreign Ladies that are excellent Artists herein; neither are there wanting Examples enough in his Majesty's three Kingdoms of such Gentlewomen, whose indefatigable industry in this laudable and ingenious Art may run parallel with such as make it their profession.Some may add Stage-plays as a proper recreation for Gentlewomen; as to that (provided they have the consent of Parents or Governess) I shall leave them to make use of their own liberty, as they shall think convenient.I am not ignorant that Stage-plays have been much envy'd at, and not without just cause; yet most certain it is, that by a wise use, and a right application of many things we hear and see contain'd therein, we may meet with many excellent precepts for instruction, and sundry great Examples for caution, and such notable passages, which being well applied (as what may not be perverted) will confer no small profit to the cautious and judicious Hearers. Edward the Sixth the Reformer of the English Church, did so much approve of Plays, that he appointed a Courtier eminent for wit and fancy to be the chief Officer in supervising, ordering, and disposing what should be acted or represented before his Majesty; which Office at this time retains the name of Master of the Revels. Queen Elizabeth, that incomparable Virtuous Princess, was pleased to term 

Plays the harmless Spenders of time, and largely contributed to the maintenance of the Authors and Actors of them.But if the moderate recourse of Gentlewomen to Plays may be excused, certainly the daily and constant frequenting them, is as much to be condemned.There are an hundred divertisements65'divertisements': recreations, diversions. harmless enough, which a young Lady may find out, suitable to her inclination; but give me leave to find out one for her which hath the attendance of profit as well as pleasure and that is Reading.Mistake me not; I mean the reading of Books whose subjects are noble and honourable. There are some in these later days so Stoical, that they will not allow any Books to Womankind, but such as may teach them to read, and the Bible. The most severe of them do willingly permit young Gentlewomen to converse with wise and learned men; I know not then by what strange nicety they would keep them from reading their Works. There are a sort of Religious men in foreign parts, who do not debar the people from knowing there is a Bible; yet they prohibit them from looking into it.I would sain ask these sower Stoicks what can be desired for the ornament of the mind, which is not largely contain'd and exprest in Books; where Virtue is to be seen in all her lovely and glorious dresses, and Truth discovered in what manner soever it is desired. We may behold it in all its force, in the Philosophers; with all its purity in faithful Historians; with all its beauty and ornaments in golden-tongu'd Orators, and ingenious Poets.In this pleasing variety (whatsoever your humour be) you may find matter for delectation66'delectation': delight. and information. Reading is of most exquisite and requisite use, it for nothing but this that these dumb Teachers instruct impartially. Beauty, as well as Royalty, is constantly attended with more flatterers than true informers. To discover and acknowledg their faults, it is necessary that they sometimes learn of the dead what the living either dare not or are loth to tell them. Books are the true discoverers of the mind's imperfections, as a glass the faults of their face, herein shall they find Judges that cannot be corrupted with love or hate. The fair and the foul are both alike treated, having to do with such who have no other eyes but to put a difference betwen Virtue and Vice. In perswading you to read, I do not advise you should read all Books; advise with persons of understanding in your choice of Books; and fancy not their quantity for quantity but quality. For why should ye seek that in many which you may find in one? The Sun, whilst in our Hemisphere needs no other light but its own to illuminate the World. One Book may serve for a Library. The reading of few Books, is not to be less knowing, but to be the less troubled.
The Gentlewomans Mirrour, or Patterns for them imitation of such famous Women who have been emment in Piety and Learning67The author's choice to include a section that relates learning and piety is typical for both advice and conduct books as a genre and for Renaissance writing about women's education as a whole.  As Deirdre Raftery points out,  in "the corpus of Renaissance writing on female education, the formal debate inherited the association of female virtue with education" (27).  "The virtue of the learned lady," Raftery also finds, "was related exclusively to piety and chastity" (27).  On the other hand, other Renaissance writers fueled the opposite stereotype-that a woman's education masculinized her.  The "masculine woman," or Hic Mulier, was attacked during the famous Pamphlet Wars that took place between 1542 and 1640 (27).  "Publications which dealt with women's education," Raftery concludes, thus "indicate continued negotiations with the ideology of femininity and suggest as much about the writers who participated as they do about the ideology itself" (28).REvisit those ancient Families of Rome, and you shall find those Matrons made a Pagan State seem Morally Christian. Octavia, Portia, Cecilia, Cornelia68Octavia, the sister of Octavius (the early name of the Emperor Augustus), was first married to C. Claudius Marcellus.  When her husband died in 40 B.C., Octavia was married to Marc Antony for political purposes, but the two were divorced only eight years later because of Antony's adulteress relationship with Cleopatra.  Octavia is cited in the Companion because of she selflessly volunteered to raise Cleopatra's children after the queen's suicide, in addition to caring for her own five children.  Portia is identified earlier, in footnote 17.  Cecilia, generally known as a Christian martyr and patron saint of music, is cited in Bathsua Makin's An Essay to Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen.  Makin notes that "Cecelia did strange things by her great Skill in Logic, particularly by solid Argument, she dissuaded Tiberutis Valerianus his Brother, from heathenish Idolatry to the Christian Faith" (9). Cecilia also appears as an important minor character in Walter Pater's Marius the Epicurean (1885).  Cornelia is described previously, in note 16., were such, who though dead, their actions will make their memories live perpetually: Nor were Niostrata, Corvina and Sappho69Niostrata, usually spelled Nicostrata and sometimes referred to as Carmentis, is also referenced by Bathsua Makin in An Essay to Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen as an important learned woman who "helped to make up the Greek Alphabet, and made some addition to the Roman Letters" (9).  Corvina may refer to Corrina, whom Bathsua Makin cites in her Essay. Makin actually identifies three important Corrinas in history.  The first she does not identify by context but only states is famous as a poet.  The second, Corinna Thespie, lived in the Augustan Age and is cited in works by Statius, an "ancient poet" (12).  The third and most famous, Makin observes, is Corrina Thebana, who "was very dear to Ovid," is known as a scholar and because in "five set Contests she bore away the Palm from Pindar, Prince of the Lyric Poets" (12).  Makin also reports that five books of epigrams have been published under Corrina Thebana's name. The last Corrina is most likely the woman referenced in The Companion, for in both this text and in another section of Makin's essay, the name is mentioned in connection with Sappho.  Sappho is the most well known of the three women and famous for her Greek poetry.  Sappho's nine books of lyric verse are written in the Lesbian vernacular, and the subject matter is predominantly concerned with family and friends., Women less famous for Learning, than the other for blameless-Living. Neither have our modern times less flourished with Feminine Worthies, as might be illustrated with several eminent instances, were there not already of them so many Panegyricks extant.It is said of Dorcas70Dorcas, also sometimes referred to as Tabitha, is known, from Acts 9:36-41, as the woman who dedicated her life to making clothes for the poor., She was full of good works and alms which she did. Yea even the Coats and Garments which she made when living, were shown the Aposle as arguments of her industry, and memorials of her piety. Hence it was that Saint Jeromecounselled the holy Virgin Demetrius71Demetrius, a Roman plebian who embraced virginity, is the subject of St. Jerome's 130th letter, "To Demetrius."  In it, St. Jerome states that "[o]f all the subjects that I have treated from my youth up until now, either with my own pen or that of my secretaries I have dealt with none more difficult than that which now occupies me" (1).  Continuing, he explains that "I am going to write to Demetrias a virgin of Christ and a lady whose birth and riches make her second to none in the Roman world" (1). to eschew idleness, exhoring her when she had finished her Devotion, she should 

work with her hands after the commendable example of Dorcas; so that by change of works the day might seem less tedious, and the assaults of the Devil less grievous. And know, that this Demetrius was not one whom poverty did enforce to such actions of necessity, but one honourably descended, richly endowed, powerfully friended.Devout mention is made of zealous Anna72Anna, of Luke 2:36, attended temple faithfully for seven years after the death of her husband. who made frequent recourse to the Temple. Of whom to her succeeding memory the Scripture recordeth, that after her tears devoutly shed, her prayers sincerely offer'd, her religious vows faithfully performed, she became fully satisfied: thus sighing she sought, seeking she obtain'd, and obtaining she retained a grateful memory of what she received.Queen Esther73Esther appears in the Bible as a "woman of deep piety, faith, courage, patriotism, and caution, combined with resolution" (Esther 2:15)., with what servency and zeal did she make Gods cause the progress of her course, desiring nothing more than how to effect it, which was seconded with a successful conclusion? because begun, continued, and ended with, devotion.Neither was Judith74Judith, also referenced by Makin, appears in Gen. 26:34 and 36:2-14. backward in zeal; Faith armed her with resolution, and constancy strengthened her against all opposition: Prayer was her armour, and holy desires her sole attendants. Nazianzen reporteth of his Sister Gorgonia75In  his "Funeral Oration on his Sister Gorgonia," Gregory Nazianzus states that his brother-in-laws success as a shepherd should be attributed to his sister's guidance and prayers (1)., that by reason of the incessancy of her prayers; her knees seemed to cleave to the Earth. Gregory relates, that his Aunt Throstlla being dead, was found to have her Elbows as hard as horn, which became so by leaning to a Desk, at which she usually prayed. Such as these deserve your imitation, who prayed and obtain'd what they pray'd for, they liv'd and practic'd what they fought for; they dy'd and enjoy'd what they so long sighed for.Should you consider what troops of furious and implacable enemies lie in Ambuscado76'Ambuscado': ambush. for you; how many Soul-tempting Syrens are warbling notes of ruin to delude you; what fears within you, what foes without you, what furies all about you; you would not let one minute to pass undedicated to some good employment.The commendable and admired Chastity of Penelope must not be forgot, which suffer'd a daily siege; and her conquest was no less victorious than those Peers of Greece, who made Troy their triumph. Estimation was her highest prize. Suiters she got; yet amidst these was not her Ulysses forgot. Long absence had not estranged her affection; youthful consorts could not move in her thoughts the least distraction; neither could opportunity induce her to give way to any light action. Well might famous Greece then esteem her Penelope of more lasting fame than any Pyramid that ever she erected. Her unblemished esteem was of purer stuff than any Ivory Statue that could be reared.77The wife of Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey, who remains faithful to her husband during his twenty-year absence.Nor was Rome less beholden to her Lucretia, who set her honour at so high a price, that she held death too light to redeem such a prize.Though force, fright, foes and furies gaz'd upon her,Those were no mounds but wonders to her honour. 78Livy reports in his The History of Rome that Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, is raped by Sextus Tarquin in 509 B.C.  Lucretia reports the incident to her husband and then commits suicide. Her rape is cited by Livy as the impetus for the overthrow of the Roman monarchy and the beginning of the Roman Republic.The presence of a Prince no less amorous than victorious, could not win her; though with him, price, prayer and power, did jointly woo her. Well deserved such two modest Matrons the choice embraces of two such heroick Champions as might equal their constant loves with the tender of their dearest lives.There were seven Milesian Virgins, who at such time as the Gauls raved and raged every- where, subjecting all to fire and faggot, deprived themselves of life, lest hostile force should deprive them of their honour. I have read of two Maidens living in Leucra, a Town in Boeotia, who having in their Fathers absence hospitably entertained two young men, by whom made drunk with Wine, they were deflowred that very night; the next morning conceiving a mutual sorrow for their lost Virginity, became resolute Actors in their own bloody Tragedy.We may draw nearer home, and instance this Maiden-constancy in one of our own. It was not long since there lived within the Walls of London a notable spirited Girl, who notwithstanding the frequented places of publick concourse boldly, discoursed freely, expressed her self in all assays forwardly, yet so tender was she in the preservation of her honour, that being on a time highly courted by a spruce and sinical Gallant, who was as much taken with the height of her spirit, wherewith she was endowed, as he preferred it before the beauty of an amorous face, wherewith she was not meanly enriched. She presently apprehending the loosness of his desires, seemingly condescended; so that the business might be so secretly managed, as no occasion of suspition may be probably grounded. In order hereunto a Coach is provided, all things prepared, the place appointed where they shall meet, which for more privacy must be the Country. Time and place they observed; but before she would admit him to her imbraces, she told him (calling him aside) that she would never consent to any such thing with any man, unless she had first tried his valour in the field; and to that purpose she had furnished her self with a Sword, and therefore bid him draw; 79In the 1982 edition of the Companion, an extra line appears between these two parts of the sentence: "he smilingly refus'd, as thinking she was in jest, but seeing by her home-passes how earnestly she prosecuted his life, he was constrained to draw." but this Virago80'Virago': a vigorous woman with tendencies considered masculine; a female warrior., which was metal to the back, disarm'd him in an instant, and had like to have made this a bloody combat, instead of an amorous conflict. Our amazed Gallant not knowing what to think, say, or do, was at last compell'd to beg his life of her; in granting which, she bestow'd on him plentifully her Kicks, advising him ever after to be more wary in the attempting a Maidens Honour.Excellent was the answer of the Lacedemonian Wives, who being courted and tempted to lewd and immodest actions, made this reply, Surely we should give way to this your request, but this you sue for, lies not in our power to grant; for when we were Maids, we were to be disposed of by our Parents; and now being Wives, by our Husbands.Lastly, (that I may avoid prolixity) what singular mirrors of vidual continency and Matron- like modesty were, Cornelia, Vetruria, Livia, and Salvina81For a description of Cornelia, see note 16.  Vetruria (usually spelled 'Veturia') is cited in Livy's The History of Rome as the mother of Coriolanus, who during fifth century B.C. famine in Rome became a foe to tribunitian power.  Coriolanus, in his attemp to take power away from the tribunes, started the Volscian War.  The war was ended by Veturia, who traveled to her son's camp and scolded him.  Her lecture was successful, and the Coriolanus surrendered.  Livia was forced to divorce her husband and marry Octavian (later the emperor Augustus) in 39 B.C. Rome.  Livia is cited for her intelligence, dignity, beauty, and profound influence over Augustus.  The fourth woman mentioned here, Salvina, a member of the imperial court and widow of Nebridius, is memorialized in the seventy-ninth letter of St. Jerome, written about 400 A. D. ("To Salvina" 1).  In this letter, St. Jerome writes that: "For it is not of her purse that I am speaking but of the purity of her soul. I do not know her face but I am well acquainted with her virtues; for report speaks well of her and her youth makes her chastity all the more commendable" (1). St. Jerome continues, stating that "[b]y her grief for her young husband she has set an example to all wives; and by her resignation she has proved that she believes him not lost but gone before" (1).  Though St. Jerome speaks highly of Salvina, his tone is noted for its is arrogance. The introduction to the letter, provided by editors Philip Schaff and Henry Wace of the Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Wheaton College, reports that Salvina became one of Chrysostom's deaconesses.? Now what may you 

suppose did these Pagan Ladies hold to be the absolute end whereto this tender care of their reputation aspired chiefly, and wherein it most cheerfully rested? It was not riches, for these they contemned, so their honour might be preserved: Certainly there was implanted in them an innate desire of moral goodness, mixed with an honest ambition, so to advance their esteem during life, that they might become Examples to others of a good moral life, and perpetuate their memories after death.Your ambition, Gentlewomen, must mount more high, because your Conversation is most heavenly. It is immortality you aspire to, a lower orb cannot hold you; nothing else may confine you.
Of Marriage, and the duty of a Wife to her Husband.MArriage is an holy and inviolable bond; if the choice on both sides be good and well ordered, there is nothing in the World that is more beautiful, more comfortable. It is a sweet society, full of trust and loyalty. It is a fellowship, not of hot distempered love, but endeared affection; for these two are as different as the inflamed fit of an high Feaver, from the natural heat of a sound and healthy body. Love in the first acceptation is a distemper, and no wonder then that Marriages succeed so ill, which have their original from such disordered amorous desires. This boiling affection is seldom worth any thing. There are these two Essentials in Marriage, Superiority and Inferiority. Undoubtedly the Husband hath power over the Wife, and the Wife ought to be subject to the Husband in all things. Although the Wife be more noble in her extraction, and more wealthy in portion, yet being once married is inferior to her Husband in condition. Man, of human-kind, was Gods first workmanship; Woman was made after Man, and of the same substance, to be subservient and assisting to him.Though the power of an Husband in this Kingdom extends it self farther than it is commonly exercised, yet something more moderate than in foreign parts. Amongst the Romans the Husband had power to kill the Wife in four cases; Adultery, suborning of Children, counterfeiting false Keys, and drunkenness.It is customary among the Indians (but I do not therefore approve of it as lawful) that when the Husband dies, the death of the Wife immediately follows. This is not only practiced by the publick Laws of the Country, but oftentimes with such ardent affection, that the Wives (for they allow Polygamy) will contend one amongst the other who shall first sleep with their departed Husband. Though this custom I cannot only reject as unreasonable, but cruel and horrible; so I cannot but applaud those Wives (as they are in duty bound) who affectionately and patiently content themselves to accompany their Husbands in all conditions, in adversity as well as prosperity.Many Examples hereof we may find at home as well as abroad, though in these late depraved and corrupted times there are not so many as may justly be desired. Lentulus being exiled by a Decree of the Roman Senate into Sicily, his loving Wife Sulpitia sold all, and followed him thither. Ipsicratesfollow'd her vanquished Husband and King Mithridates throughout all extremities, notwithstanding she was advantagiouslyperswaded to the contrary.82Sulpitia is cited in Jane Anger's Her Protection for Women (1589) in a discussion of faithful wives (9).  Mithridates' wife Ipsicrates, also spelled Hipsicrates, is also cited in the same sentence in Anger's rally against a misogynist tract.  Jane Anger is a pseudonym-the true writer is still unidentified.Theagena Wife to Agathocles shew'd admirable constancy in her Husbands greatest misery; shewing her self most his own; when he was relinquisht and forsaken of his own; closing her resolution with this noble conclusion, She had not only betaken her self to be his companion in prosperity, but in all fortunes which should befall him.Conform your selves to this mirror, and it will reform in you many a dangerous error. Thus if you live, thus if you love, honour cannot chuse but accompany you living; much comfort attend you loving, and a virtuous memory embalm you dying.The more particular duties of a Wife to an Husband, are first, to have a greater esteem for him than for any other person; and withal, to have a setled apprehension, that he is wise and prudent. That Woman that will entertain mean and low thoughts of her Husband, will be easily induced to love another, whom she ought not to affect. On this good esteem depends a great part of the Wives obedience, who will be apt to run into extravagancies when she is once possessed 

of the weakness of her Husbands understanding: She is to give honour, respect, and reverence to her Husband; so have the wisest ever done, and those which do it not, betray their indiscretion; with reverence she is to express her obedience in all lawful things; and apply and accommodate her self (as much as in her lies) to his humour and disposition.You must be mindful of what you promised your Husband in Marriage; and the best demonstration thereof will be in your carriage; honour and obey, and love no mans company better than his.Be quiet, pleasant, and peaceable with him, and be not angry, when he is so; but endeavour to pacifie him with sweet and winning expressions; and if casually you should provoke him to a passion, be not long ere you shew some regret, which may argue how much you are displeased with your self for so doing; nay bear his anger patiently, though without a cause.Be careful to keep your house in good order, and let all things with decency be in readiness when he comes to his repast; let him not wait for his meals, lest by so staying, his affairs be disorder'd or impeded. And let what-ever you provide be so neatly and cleanly drest, that his fare, though ordinary, may engage his appetite, and disingage his fancy from Taverns, which many are compell'd to make use of by reason of the continual and daily dissatisfactions they find at home.Shew respect and kindness to what Friends he brings home with him, but more especially to his Relations; for by this means he will find your love to him by your respect to them; and they will be obliged to love you for your own as well as his sake.Suffer not any to buz in your ears detracting stories of him, and abhor it in your Servants; for it is your duty to hide his faults and infirmities, and not detect them your self, or suffer them to be discovered. Take them for your greatest enemies who perswade you against your Husband; for without question they have some dangerous design in it. Those whom God hath joined together, let no man put asunder; Cursed then is that instrument which occasions their separation.Breed up your Children in as much or more obedience to him than your self; and keep them in so much awe that they shew no rudeness before him, or make any noise to his disturbance. Make them shew him all awful regard, and keep them sweet, clean, and decent, that he may delight himself in them.Let him see your love to him in your care for them; educating and bringing them up in the knowledg of Religion, with their Learning.Be careful to manage what money he doth trust you with, to his and your own credit: abuse not the freedom you have of his purse, by being too lavish; and pinch not the Guts of your Family at home, that you may pamper your abroad; or throw away that money in buying trifles, which shall evidence your vanity as well as luxury.To govern an House is an excellent and profitable employment; there is nothing more beautiful than an Houshold well and peaceably governed; it is a prosession that is not difficult; for she that is not capable of any thing else, may be capable of this.The principal precepts that belong to the frugal ordering and disposing Houshold-affairs may be compremis'd under these heads.First to buy and sell all things at the best times and seasons.Secondly, to take an especial care that the goods in the house be not spoiled by negligence of servants, or otherwise.
Let me counsel you not only to avoid unnecessary or immoderate charges, but also with a little cost make a great shew; but above all suffer not your expence to exceed the receipt of your Husbands income. There is a Proverbial saying, That the Masters eye maketh the Horse fat; I am sure the active vigilance of a good and careful Wife is the ready way to enrich a bad Husband.
What is to be observed by a Gentlewoman before she undertakes the administration of Physick.83Hobby points out that, while it was conventional for women to take their expertise with recipes and cookery into the medical field to cure members of their own family, it was not acceptable for a woman to take her knowledge to the public level.  To do so, Hobby finds, was to risk accusations of witchcraft or quackery (177).  Wolley appears to have been exempt from these accusations, but others, like Joan Peterson, were not so lucky (177).  Ada Wallas states that Wolley's remedies "were perhaps no better and no worse than those of an average apothecary of her day" (28).THe first inconvenience you must shun (which I have observed in most Physical Practitioners) is the vulgar error of not suffering the diseased or sick person to change his linnen often; and I know not by what unreasonable prescription they will not suffer a diseased female to change her head-clothes, till it too sensibly offend the noses of the Visitants. Their common objection is, That the sick by that means may catch cold; and next, That their shifting much weakneth them.To this I answer, That it is only the foolish conjecture and groundless fear of some old Dotard of our sex; for a good fire will easily prevent catching of cold; and in the next place, their often shifting hath apparently proved the means of their strengthning; besides it much discourageth and dejecteth the sick person to lie in foul linnen, making them even loath themselves in that stinking condition. To make this the more easily understood, take notice, that in humane bodies there is a threefold Concoction; the first in the stomack, which is commonly called the Chyle84'Chyle': intestinal fluid., and hath for its excrement that which is convey'd to Colon or the great Gut; the second concoction is in the Liver, and hath for its excrement the Urine; the last is called Nutrition, and hath for its excrement certain fuliginous85'fuliginous': smoky or sooty. vapours, which by insensible transpiration do breath out themselves through the pores of the body, and by the sweat, which is apparent to the eye. Now in times of Sickness, especially in all sorts of Fevers (which are the usual diseases which invade English bodies) this last excrement doth very much abound, and doth extreamly and speedily foul the Linnen of the sick person; for which cause reason tells us, that the Linnen should be often shifted, especially if, they sweat much, lest the sweat continuing about the body, it should be drawn in by the same way it had its passage out. For know the Arteries of the body have a double motion, one whereby they expel the Excrements, already mention'd; and the other whereby they attract into the body the ambient Air to refresh the blood: Now observe, whatsoever Air is next unto them, whether good or bad they draw it in; and therefore if this foul sweaty Linnen do lie about, or upon them, undoubtedly the noisome airs will be drawn in by the Arteries, and so prolong the distemper. To make further proof hereof, I have heard it reported by an eminent Physician, that let any person newly come out of the Bath go into a place where quantity of dust is rais'd, and he shall instantly feel an universal pricking over his whole body which is nothing else but the Atoms of dust drawn in by the Arteries. By this then you may understand, that the skin ought to be cleansed from all corruption, and the pores and passages to be kept open and clean; for which cause it was that the Romans of old had their bodies frequently rubbed with a coarse cloth. Thus much I have added likewise, to let Gentlewomen see how much they are abused by their credulous and ignorant Nurses.Should I add other observables, with the Symptoms of Diseases, I should swell this small Treatise into a greater volume than is requisite. I shall therefore desist and give you my 

collection (with my own observation) of the choicest receipts in Physick and Chirugery86'Chirugery': surgery. I could meet with in my strictest indigation.Choice and Experimental Observations in Physick and Chyrurgery, such which rarely fail'd any who made trial thereof.A most approved Receipt for a Quartane Ague.87'Quartane Ague': violent fever.PRocure a white flint-stone (for that will best endure the fire without breaking) and let it lye in a quick fire till it be red-hot, then take some small beer and quench it therein; when the fit is coming, let the diseased drink a good draught thereof, and another in the midst thereof; let this be done four several days both in the fit, and when the fit is coming. This I have been credibly inform'd was a receipt a woman had her livelihood from, in curing several when all other means proved ineffectual.For a sudden and violent bleeding at the nose.Take an Egg-shell and burn it to a coal, then pulverize or beat it to a fine powder, and let the person snuff it up his Nostrils, or take your two thumbs and press them hard against the Temples of the Bleeder, and you would admire how speedily it will divert the course of the blood. For those that are accustomed thus to bleed, let them make an ordinary Posset, taking off the curd, let the juice of Liverwort beaten be added thereunto, and so drink morning and evening.To stop the Bleeding of a Wound.Take Vervine dried, and reduce it to powder; or take the sole of an old stocking and burn it, put the ashes of the one, or powder of the other, to the wound, and it will leave bleeding.An approved Medicine of London-Midwives to break and heal Womens sore breasts.Take red Sage and Oatmeal the finest you can get, and boil them together in Spring-water, till you have boil'd them to a consistency, that is as thick as to make a Plaister88'Plaister': plaster.; then add thereunto a fit proportion of Honey; having boil'd a little while together, take it off the fire, and whilst it is boiling-hot, make it indifferent thick with the best Venice-Turpentine, then spread it on fine leather, or linnen-cloth, and laying it on the sore breast it will first break it, and afterwards perfectly heal it.An excellent way to dry up a Womans breast.
Of Linseed-Oyl and English Honey, take of each a peny-worth, of white-wax half a peny- worth, and half a quarter of a pound of sweet butter, boil all these together, spread a Plaister thereof, and lay it on the breast. Probatum est.89'Probatum est': a phrase used often in prescriptions and recipes, meaning "it has been proven or tested."An infallible receipt to increase milk in Womens breasts.Take Chickens and make broth of them, then add thereunto Fennel90'Fennel': a fragrant plant with yellow flowers. and Parsnip-roots, then take the newest-made Butter you can procure, and butter the roots therewith; having so done let her eat heartily, and her expectations therein will be speedily satisfied,Against a Stinking-breath.To prevent a Stinking-breath, you ought to keep your teeth very clean by rubbing them every morning with water and salt, which will also cure the Scurvy; you may if you please try Mr. Turners Dentifrices, which are every-where much cryed up. But if your breath be tainted, proceeding from some other cause, take Rosemary-leaves with the blossoms, if to be had, and seeth them in White-wine, with a little Myrrh, and Cinamon, and you will find the effect to answer your desires if you use it often.For a Cancer in a Womans Breast.Take Goose-dung and Cellydony91'Cellydony': (also spelled 'celidony') an herb., stamp them well together, and lay them Plaisterwise on the fore; this shall cleanse the Cancer, kill the Worm, and heal the Sore. For a Cancer in the Mouth take the juice of Plantane-Vinegar, and Rosewater, mingle together of each a like quantity, and wash the mouth often with them.For young Children who by reason of the weakness of their Limbs can neither stand nor go.Take Marjoram92'Marjoram': aromatic herb used while cooking. and Sage, of each a like quantity, beat them very well together, then strain out the juice, and put it into a double Glass-Vial, filling the Glass as full as it will hold; stop it then with paste very close all over, let it into an Oven, and there let it stand the time of an Houshold-loafs baking; taking it out, let it stand till it be cold; then breaking the paste round about it, see if the juice be grown thick; if so, break the Glass, and put what was therein contain'd, into a Gally-pot93'Gally-pot': small earthen glazed pot used by apothecaries for ointments and medicines., and keep it. When you use it, take the quantity of two spoonfuls at a time and as much Marrow of an Oxleg, melt them together, and mingle them well, and both morning and evening anoint therewith (as warm as can be endur'd) the tender parts of the Childs legs, knees and thighs, chafing them well with your hands; and in a short time (Deo volente94'Deo volente': "God willing.") the child will be able to go and stand; this receipt hath been ever found successful.Ellison, KatherineThe Gentlewomans Companion:
Works Cited1999Anger, Jane.  Her Protection for Women(1589).Sunshine for Women.  Internet.  13 April 1999.  Available: http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/book-sum/makin1.html.  1-13. Astell, Mary.  A Serious Proposal to the Ladies for the Advancement of their True and Greatest Interest(1694).New York:Source Book Press,1970.Chilvers, Ian and Margaret Howatson., ed.   The Concise Oxford Companion to Classical Literature.  Oxford and New York: Oxford UP,1993.Hobby, Elaine.  Virtue of Necessity: English Women's Writing, 1646-1688. London:Virago Press,1988.Jerome, Saint.  "To Demetrius" (414 A.D). Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II: Volume VI -- St. Jerome: Letters and Select Works. Eds. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace.Internet.  14 August 1996.  Available: http://ccel.wheaton.edu/fathers/NPNF2-06/letters/lette130.htm. 1-13.--.  "To Salvina" (400 A.D).  Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series II: Volume VI -- St. Jerome: Letters and Select Works.  Eds. Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Internet.  14 August 1996.  Available: http://ccel.wheaton.edu/fathers/NPNF2-06/letters/letter79.htm. 1-7.Livy.  History of Rome.  Trans. D. Spillan. London:Henry G. Bohn,1850-1856.Loscocco, Paula.  "'Many Sweetness': Katherine Philips Among the Neoclassicals."  The Huntington Library Quarterly.  56.3 (1993): 259-279.Makin, Bathsua.  An Essay to Revive the Antient Education of Gentlewomen in Religion, Manners, Arts & Tongues, with An Answer to the Objections against this Way of Education (1673).Sunshine for Women. Internet.  13 April 1999.  Available: http://www.pinn.net/~sunshine/book-sum/makin1.html.  1-33 Mambretti, Catherine Cole.  "Orinda on the Restoration Stage."  Comparative Literature. 37.3 (1985): 233-251.Nazianzus, Gregory.  "Funeral Oration on his Sister Gorgonia."  Medieval Sourcebook.  Ed. Paul Halsall.  Internet.  February 1996. Available: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/gregnaz-gorgonia.html. 1-9.Plato.  Charmides. The Dialogues of Plato. Trans. Benjamin Jowett.  London:Oxford UP,1931.Rabil, Albert, ed.   Cornelius Agrippa's Declamation on the Nobility and Preeminince of the Female Sex(1509).Chicago and London:The University of Chicago Press,1996.Raftery, Deirdre.  Women and Learning in English Writing, 1600-1900.Portland:Four Courts Press,1997.Sallust.  The Conspiracy of Catiline (44-40 B.C).  Trans. S.A. Handford.Harmondsworth:Penguin Books,1963.Sulla, Marcus. "The Sacrificial Knife."The Stele Home Page of The Omphalos.  Internet. 4 August 1998.  Available: http://www.cs.utk.edu/~mclennan/OM/MS-S.txt. 1-34.  Wallas, Ada.  Before the Bluestockings.London:George Allen & Unwin Ltd,1929.[Unknown]The Gentlewomans Companion:To all Ingenious
Ladies  and  GentlewomenLadies, The last I sent unto your view,The Queen-like Closet I presented you: And in it such rare Secrets I may say, In no Book you will find (though read you may.) 'Tis twelve years past since first in print I came, More for my Countries good, then to get fame. My Study was to impart to others free, What God and Nature hath informed me. I muse not hide that Talent God me gave, Content I am, others a share should haveTo practice what I teach, if pains they'l take, Amends for all my care they will me make. Servant to Ingenuity I'le be, Such Ladies shall command all Arts from me. Nothing from them I'le hide that's in my heart, To wait on them I think it is my part. And to confirm to them what I have writ, Fearing no Censures 'mongst them that have Wit. If any one that Honour will be give, To see me in the place where I do live, I will them satisfie in every thingThat they desire, and vindication bringUnto my self, who have been much abus'dBy a late printed Book, my Name there us'd: I was far distant when they printed it, Therefore that Book to own I think not fit. To boast, to brag, tell stories in my praise, That's not the way (I know) my Fame to raise. Nor shall I borrow any Pen or Wit (Innocence will hide what faults I do commit.) My true intent is for to serve you all; To work, to write, to come when you do call. Nor would I seem as dead while I do live, No commendation to me would that give: Nor like the idle Drone my time to pass, But as the Bee, such Honey from Flower and Grass. The Quintessence of what I have I send; Accept it really, as I intend, For to accomplish those who want the skill, Their Tables to adorn and Closets fill. To those of riper judgment I submit, To commend or to censure want I've writ. Thus Ladies, I take leave, desiring still, Your pleasures and your fancies to fulfil. H. W.