CONDUCT LITERATURE

What is Conduct Literature?

Purpose was to give advice on how to think, feel and act in various social institutions

Origins are in the mid- to late- Middle Ages, though there are examples of some ancestors going back to 2350 bce.

Books originally aimed at nobility, to teach them how to rule and behave royally

Covered topics from religion to sports.

They were written for men and women, adults and children, even governesses and servants, but during the 18th century, there was a focus on writing conduct material for women and girls.  

What is Conduct Literature

The earliest conduct books were written by men and invoked scripture to enforce women’s inferior social position, limiting their sphere of influence to the home.

At the same time that women were relegated to second class social status, they were held to extraordinarily high moral standards and were expected to set the moral tone for their husbands and children.

Conduct books gained popularity in Elizabethan England and influenced behaviour well into Victoria’s reign.

In the 18th century conduct books were in demand by members of prosperous middle class

Most 18th-century conduct books targeted women, creating an ideal of womanhood that persisted for more than a century. Newly-moneyed parents wanted to know how their daughters should behave, husbands wanted wives who would grace their homes, and almost no middle-class home was without a little shelf of conduct books.

Related Texts

- “Mirrors for Princes” - Devotional Writings

- Medieval Courtesy books - Books of Manners

- Chapbooks - Instruction Manuals

And today’s version of conduct lit………………………

- Sermons - Mother’s Advice books

FIND YOUR

INNER

BUNNY

In 267 easy

steps!

How To Be THE CAT’S MEOW: Woo Men Without A Word!

SELF HELP BOOKS!!!

WORST-CASE SCENARIO

WORST-CASE SCENARIO

List of Some Conduct Texts

- To be Practised by the Fair Sex Before, and After Marriage, by Thomas Marriott- The compleat gentleman : or, a description of the several qualifications both natural and acquired, that are necessary to form a great man., by Baltasar Gracian

- The gentlewomans companion, or, A guide to the female sex : containing directions of behaviour, in all places, companies, relations, and conditions, from their childhood down to old age, viz. as, children to parents, scholars to governours, single to servants, virgins to suitors, married to husbands, huswifes to the house, mistresses to servants, mothers to children, widows to the world, prudent to all : with letters & discourses upon all occasions : whereunto is added a guide for cook-maids, dairy-maids, chamber-maids, and all others that go to service, the whole being an exact rule for the female sex in general, by Hannah Wooley

The whole duty of a woman : or, a guide to the female sex ... Written by a lady. – by Lady

John Gregory 1724-1773

John Gregory was born at Aberdeen in Scotland on June 3rd, 1724

-He studied for three years at Edinburgh and became a member of the medical society there-In 1754 went to London, became friends with Lord Lyttleton and acquaintances with Lady Wortley Montagu-John’s health began to decline from gout, which had been affecting him since the age of eighteen- he wrote “A Father’s Legacy to His Daughters”

Choice excerpts from A Father’s Legacy To His Daughters

-When a girl ceases to blush, she has lost the most powerful charm of beauty. That extreme sensibility which it indicates, may be a weakness and encumbrance in our sex, as I have too often felt ; but in yours it is peculiarly engaging. (26-27)-The men will complain of your reserve. They will assure you that a franker behaviour would make you more amiable. But trust me, they are not sincere when they tell you so. I acknowledge, that on some occasions it might render you more agreeable as companions, but it would make you less amiable as women. (36-37) -I mean, the luxury of eating. It is a despicable selfish vice in men, but in your sex it is beyond expression indelicate and disgusting. (39)

- Humour is a different quality. It will make your company much solicited ; but be cautious how you indulge it.--It is often a great enemy to delicacy, and a still greater one to dignity of character. It may sometimes gain you applause, but will never procure you respect. (31)

Mary Wollstonecraft 1759-1797

- Born 1759, 2nd of 7 children

- 1787 – publishes her 1st conduct book, Thoughts on the Education of Daughters- 1789 – publishes conduct anthology, The Female Reader, which included excerpts from John Gregory’s Legacy

- 1792 – publishes A Vindication of the Rights of Woman- 1797 – dies of complications of childbirth, after giving birth to daughter (Mary Shelley)

Choice Excerpts from Thoughts on the Education of Daughters

- A teacher at a school is only a kind of upper servant, who has more work than the menial ones.

- We should always try to fix in our minds the rational grounds we have for loving a person, that we may be able to recollect them when we feel disgust or resentment; we should then habitually practice forbearance, and the many petty disputes which interrupt domestic peace would be avoided. A woman cannot reasonably be unhappy, if she is attached to a man of sense and goodness, though he may not be all she could wish.

- The management of servants is a great part of the employment of a woman's life; and her own temper depends very much on her behaviour to them.

Simplicity of Dress, and unaffected manners, should go together. They demand respect, and will be admired by people of taste, even when love is out of the question.

Lyttleton and Montagu

Hard is the fortune that your sex attends;

Women, like princes, find few real friends:Nor make too dangerous wit a vain pretence,

But wisely rest content with modest sense;

For wit, like wine, intoxicates the brain,

Too strong for feeble women to sustain:

Of those who claim it more than half have none;

And half of those who have it are undone”

For you the plainest is the wisest rule:

A CUNNING WOMAN IS A KNAVISH FOOL

Seek to be good, but aim not to be great:

A woman’s noblest station is retreat”Only one care your gentle breasts should move,

Th’important business of your life is love;

To this great point direct your constant aim,

This makes your happiness, and this your fame

From each concern about his weal or woe,

Let each domestic duty seem to flow.

The household sceptre is he bids you bear,

Make it your pride his servant to appearWhat did Montagu have to say???

Be plain in dress, and sober in your diet, In short, my deary, kiss me! and be quiet

A Summary of Lord Lyttleton's Advice to a Lady

Eliza Haywood 1693 - 1756

- Prolific writer spanning genres, from amatory fiction to translations, from poetry to conduct literature. - Some of her last publications were conduct books, The Wife and The Husband in Answer to The Wife. - Published a periodical, The Female Spectator, which mixed conduct literature with tales reminiscent of Haywood’s earlier amatory fiction- The History of Betsy Thoughtless is considered by some to be a conduct text, with the advice given by the character of Lady Trusty outlining the rules of proper conduct.

The History of Inky Thoughtless

A Game of Conduct

a) Servants are, in general, ignorant and cunning; we must consider their characters, if we would treat them properly, and continually practice forbearance. The same methods we use with children may be adopted with regard to them.

Question 1

c) I know very well, that those who are commonly called learned women have lost all manner of credit by their impertinent talkativeness, and conceit of themselves. But there is an easy remedy for this; if you consider, that, after all the pains you may be at, you never can arrive, in point of learning, to the perfection of a school-boy.

b) A husband is unfortunate if any dispute with his wife is witnessed in public. Therefore reserve any pains you may feel and rest until in the privacy of his home. There are inopportune times to speak ill, and in presence of society is one.

b) But though good health be one of the greatest blessings of life, never make a boast of it, but enjoy it in grateful silence. We so naturally associate the idea of female softness and delicacy with a correspondent delicacy of constitution, that when a woman speaks of her great strength, her extraordinary appetite, her ability to bear excessive fatigue, we recoil at the description in a way she is little aware of.

a) I must likewise warn you strictly against the least degree of fondness to your husband before any witness whatsoever, even before your nearest relations, or the very maids of your chamber. This proceeding is so exceeding odious and disgustful to all who have either good breeding or good sense…

c) But there is no emotion more shameful in a lady than pride. Though happiness at our accomplishments is expected, pride in ourselves can lead to arrogance; it is unbecoming of our sex.

A Game of Conduct

Question 2

c) You will perhaps be offended, when I advise you to abate a little of that violent passion for fine cloaths so predominant in your sex.

A Game of Conduct

Question 3

a) Gentlewomen, the first thing you are to observe, is to keep your Body strait in the Chair, and do not lean your Elbows on the table. Discover not by any ravenous gesture your angry appetite; nor fix your eyes too greedily on the meat before you, as If you would devour more that way than your throat can swallow, or your stomach digest. b) If you are standing by your husband but are in height over him, slightly bend to make the difference. Preferably there would be a seat nearby; if so, sit aside him and render the contrast unnoticeable.

FINAL THOUGHTS

- Considering some of the role models children have today (e.g. Britney Spears, The Kardashians, Snooki and The Situation), do you think there is any place for conduct literature in today’s society?

- Who is most in need of conduct literature, boys or girls?

- How do you think the character of Betsy Thoughtless would benefit from herself reading conduct books earlier in her life?

- Do you think that “The History of Betsy Thoughtless” falls into the category of conduct literature (in this case a ‘conduct novel’). Why or why not?