Flirtation and Courtship in Nineteenth-Century British Culture

Ghislaine McDayter, John Hunter, Ghislaine McDayter, John Hunter

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9780367231750
• eBook ISBN: 9781000550122
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: History

This is volume three of a three-volume set that brings together a rich collection of primary source materials on flirtation and courtship in the nineteenth-century. Introductory essays and extensive editorial apparatus offer historical and cultural contexts of the materials included

Throughout the long nineteenth-century, a woman's life was commonly thought to fall into three discrete developmental stages; personal formation and a gendered education; a young woman's entrance onto the marriage market; and finally her emergence at the apogee of normative femininity as wife and mother. In all three stages of development, there was an unspoken awareness of the duplicity at the heart of this carefully cultivated femininity. What women were taught, no matter their age, was that if you desired anything in life, it behooved you to perform indifference. This meant that for women, the art of flirtation and feigning indifference were viewed as essential survival skills that could guarantee success in life.

These three volumes document the many ways in which nineteenth-century women were educated in this seemingly universal wisdom, but just as frequently managed to manipulate, subvert, and navigate their way through such proscribed norms to achieve their own desires. Presenting a wide range of documents from novels, memoirs, literary journals, newspapers, plays, poetry, songs, parlour games, and legal documents, this collection will illuminate a far more diverse set of options available to women in their quest for happiness, and a new understanding of the operations of courtship and flirtation, the "central" concerns of a nineteenth-century woman's life.

The volumes will be of interest to scholars of history, literature, gender and cultural studies, with an interest in the nineteenth-century.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Introduction to Volume III: marriage and conduct unbecoming
• 1 Wetenhall Wilkes, A letter of genteel and moral advice to a young lady … (1746)
• 2 ‘Debates in the Commons on the Clandestine Marriage Bill’ (1753)
• 3 Lady Pennington, An Unfortunate Mother’s Advice to Her Absent Daughters, in a Letter to Miss Pennington (1761)
• 4 [Mrs. Grey], ‘The Matron’ (1779)
• 5 Arnaud Berquin, ‘The School for Step-Mothers’ and ‘The Affectionate Mother’ (1783)
• 6 William Hayley, A Philosophical, Historical, and Moral Essay on Old Maids, by a Friend to the Sisterhood (1785)
• 7 ‘The Cruel Stepmother or the Unhappy Son’ (c. 1785)
• 8 The Trial of Divorce, at the Instance of Peter Williamson Printer in Edinburgh, Against Jean Wilson, Daughter of John Wilson, Bookseller in Edinburgh (1789)
• 9 The Complete Art of Writing Love Letters; or, the Lover’s Best Instructor (1795)
• 10 The Woman of Colour: A Tale … (1808)
• 11 The Female Instructor; Or, Young Woman’s Companion (1811)
• 12 Ann Martin Taylor, ‘The Step-Mother’, Practical Hints to Young Females … (1815)
• 13 Hannah Maria Jones, Gretna Green; Or, The Elopement of Miss D—— with a Gallant Son of Mars (1821)
• 14 ‘The Cuckold’s Chronicle’ and ‘On the New Marriage Act’ (1822)
• 15 Mrs. William Parkes, Domestic Duties; or, Instructions to Young Married Ladies, on the Management of Their Households … (1825)
• 16 Arthur Freeling, The Young Bride’s Book; Being Hints for Regulating the Conduct of Married Women With a Few Medical Axioms (1839)
• 17 Charlotte Bury, The Maneuvring Mother (1842)
• 18 Peter Orlando Hutchinson, Chronicles of Gretna Green (1844)
• 19 Poor Scotch Old Maids, And How to Avoid Becoming One … (1851)
• 20 James Hogg, ‘Provision for Aged Females’ (1851)
• 21 Eliza Cook, ‘Poor Genteel Women’ (January 10, 1852)
• 22 The Etiquette of Courtship and Matrimony: with a Complete Guide to the Forms of a Wedding (1852)
• 23 Caroline Norton, A Letter to the Queen on Lord Chancellor Cranworth’s Marriage and Divorce Bill (1855)
• 24 ‘The Economies and Duties of the Marriage State’, How to Woo; How to Win; and How to Get Married (1856)
• Index