"Study, as it rescues the mind from an inordinate fondness for gaming, dress, and public amusements, is an oeconomical propensity; for a lady may read at much less expence than she can play at cards; as it requires some application, it gives the mind an habit of industry; as it is a relief against that mental disease, which the French emphatically call ennui, it cannot fail of being beneficial to the temper and spirits, I mean in the moderate degree in which ladies are supposed to use it; as an enemy to indolence, it becomes a social virtue; as it demands the full exertion of our talents, it grows a rational duty; and when directed to the knowledge of the Supreme Being, and his laws, it rises into an act of religion."
On Dissipation [from Essays on Various Subjects]
11 entries in ESTC (1777, 1778, 1785, 1786, 1787, 1791, 1792, 1796).<br>
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<u>Essays on Various Subjects: Principally Designed for Young Ladies.</u> (London: Printed for J. Wilkie; and T. Cadell, 1777). &lt;<a href="http://name.umdl.umich.edu/004802373.0001.000">Link to ECCO-TCP</a>&gt;