Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/263

Rh and evilly inclined. You have much deceived me, your father, who, blinded with love for you, thought you no less than a young Saint, but now to my grief perceive that you are growing very fast to be an old Devil." The girls were taught still less. A lady was considered sufficiently learned if she could just read and write. Her spelling and grammar were very deficient, her knowledge on ordinary matters lamentable. Even the household duties to which she had formerly been trained were now neglected. Little girls were sent to boarding schools in London, which advertised themselves in this way: "Mrs. Elizabeth Tutchin continues to keep her school at Highgate, where sober young Gentlewomen may be taught whatsoever is necessary to the Accomplishment of that sex." To be a complete gentlewoman was to be able to dance and sing, to play on the bass viol, virginals, spinet, and guitar, to make waxwork, japan, paint upon glass, to make sweetmeats and sauces. "To-morrow I intend to carry my girl to school," wrote an Englishman of this age of his little eight-year-old daughter. So Molly went to school at Chelsea, where she learnt to dance gracefully and to "japan boxes," which art cost