From Instruction to Delight

Patricia Demers, Professor of English at the University of Alberta, has written extensively about children's literature; her recent publications include Women's Writing in English; Early Modern England and an edition of Hannah More's Clebs in Search of a Wife.

• Illustrations ; Preface ; Acknowledgements ; PART ONE: EARLY LESSONS AT HOME AND SCHOOL ; AELFRIC ; From The Colloquy (c. 1000) ; BARTHOLOMEW THE ENGLISHMAN ; From On the Properties of Things (c. 1250) ; ANONYMOUS ; The ABC of Aristotle (c. 1430) ; FRANCIS SEAGER ; From The Schoole of Vertue and Booke of Good Nurture (1557) ; HUGH RHODES ; From The Boke of Nurture, or Schoole of Good Manners (1577) ; HUGH PLAT ; From A Jewell House of Art and Nature (1594) ; The Hornbook ; The Battledore ; Domestic Writing: Juvenilia and Mothers' Advice ; WILLIAM PAGET ; 'A new yeres gift' (1581) ; GEORGE BERKELEY ; 'George Bercklay to his grandfather' (1610) and 'George to Mrs Cave his mothers wayting woman' (c. 1613) ; MARY DOWNING ; A Letter to her Father: Mary Downing to Emmanuel Downing (1635) ; ELIZABETH GRYMESTON ; From Miscelanea, Meditations, Memoratives (1604) ; ELIZABETH JOSCELIN ; From The Mothers Legacie to her Unborne Childe (1624) ; Writing of Clergymen and Schoolmasters ; EDWARD TOPSELL ; From The Historie of Four-Footed Beastes (1607) ; JOHAN AMOS COMENIUS ; From Orbis Sensualium Pictus (1659) ; PART TWO: PURITAN 'HELL-FIRE': WARNINGS AND WARMTH ; JOHN COTTON ; From Milk for Babes (1646) ; ANNE BRADSTREET ; 'Upon my Son Samuel' (1657) and 'In reference to her Children' (1659) ; JAMES JANEWAY ; From A Token for Children (1672) ; BENJAMIN KEACH ; From War with the Devil (1673) ; From The New England Primer (1683-1830) ; JOHN BUNYAN ; From A Book for Boys and Girls (1686) ; PART THREE: LYRICAL INSTRUCTION: CHRISTIAN SONGS AND SECULAR FABLES ; Holy Commotions in the Soul ; ISAAC WATTS ; From Divine Songs (1715) and Moral Songs (1740) ; Witty Instructions in the World ; ROGER L'ESTRANGE NEW ; 'A Lyon and a Mouse,' From Fables of Aesop and Other Eminent Mythologists, with Morals and Reflexions (1692, 1694, 1720) ; SAMUEL CROXALL ; 'The Shepherd's Boy,' NEW 'The Fox and the Goat,' From The Fables of Aesop and Others (1722) ; JOHN GAY ; From Fables (1727) ; MARY BARBER ; From Poems on Several Occasions (1734) ; PART FOUR: MOTHER GOOSE AND CHAPBOOKS ; Fairy Tales in English ; CHARLES PERRAULT NEW ; 'Cinderilla' and 'The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood,' From Histories or Tales of Past Times with Morals, translated by Robert Samber (1729) ; Ballads and Folklore ; An Elegy on the Death and Burial of Cock Robin (1744) ; The Interesting Story of the Children in the Wood (1595) ; From The Life and Death of Tom Thumb (c.1703) ; The Friar and Boy; or EW The Young Piper's Pleasant Pastime (1760) ; From The Riddle Book; or, Fireside Amusements (late eighteenth century) ; PART FIVE: BOREMAN, COOPER, AND NEWBERY: 'INSTRUCTION WITH DELIGHT' ; THOMAS BOREMAN ; From The Gigantick History (1741) ; JOHN NEWBERY ; From A Little Pretty Pocket-Book (1744) ; From Nurse Truelove's New Year's Gift (1755) ; From The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes (1765) ; PART SIX: RATIONAL MORALISTS ; Tutors' Lessons by Example: Dramatic, Useful Knowledge ; SARAH FIELDING ; From The Governess (1749) ; DANIEL FENNING NEW ; 'A Set of Alphabetical Copies,' From The Universal Spelling-Book (1755) ; MARY ANN KILNER ; From The Adventures of a Pincushion (c. 1780) ; JANE CAVE ; From Poems on Various Subjects (1783) ; ANNE 'NANCY' SHIPPEN LIVINGSTON ; From Nancy Shippen: Her Journal Book (1783) ; THOMAS DAY ; From The History of Sandford and Merton (1783) ; LADY ELLENOR FENN ; From Cobwebs to Catch Flies (c. 1783) ; DOROTHY KILNER NEW ; 'A Conversation between Master Tommy and Miss Jenny on Reading,' From Poems on Various Subjects for the Amusement of Youth (1785) ; MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT ; From Original Stories from Real Life (1788) ; PRISCILLA WAKEFIELD ; From Mental Improvement (1794) ; MARIA EDGEWORTH ; 'The Purple Jar,' From Early Lessons (1801) ; The Perennial Fable ; LADY ELLENOR FENN NEW ; 'The Fox and the Crow,' From Fables in Monosyllables by Mrs Teachwell (1783) ; ROBERT DODSLEY ; 'The Tortoise and the Two Ducks,' From Dodsley in Miniature; or, The Polite Fabulist (1803) ; EDWARD BALDWIN (WILLIAM GODWIN) NEW ; 'The Dog in the Manger,' From Fables Ancient and Modern (1805) ; Children Giving and Receiving Instruction ; CATHARINE PARR TRAILL ; From The Young Emigrants (1826) ; HENRY SHARPE HORSLEY ; From The Affectionate Parent's Gift (1828) ; JANE MARCET ; From Mary's Grammar (1835) ; JACOB ABBOTT ; 'The Reason Why' From Rollo at School (1839) ; BARBARA HOFLAND ; 'Janetta and her Jujubes', From Farewell Tales Founded on Facts (1840) ; PART SEVEN: SUNDAY SCHOOL MORALISTS ; Children Learning Eagerly ; GEORGE BURDER ; From Early Piety (1777) ; ANNA LAETITIA BARBAULD ; From Hymns in Prose for Children (1781) and Lessons for Children: Part Four (1788) ; SARAH TRIMMER ; From Fabulous Histories (1786) and The Charity School Spelling Book (c. 1798) ; ROWLAND HILL ; From Divine Hymns (1790) and Instructions for Children (1794) ; Lessons from Life ; HANNAH MORE ; 'Black Giles, the Poacher: Part II' From Cheap Repository Tracts (1796) ; MARY MARTHA SHERWOOD ; From The History of the Fairchild Family (1818) ; FAVELL LEE MORTIMER ; From The Peep of Day (1833) ; MRS DALBY ; From Dutch Tiles (1842) ; PART EIGHT: HARBINGERS OF THE GOLDEN AGE ; Poetry for All Ages ; CHRISTOPHER SMART ; From Hymns for the Amusement of Children (1772) and 'My Cat Jeoffry', From Jubilate Agno ; WILLIAM BLAKE ; From Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794) ; Playful Instruction ; LADY ELLENOR FENN NEW ; The Grammar Box (1790) ; 'Education,' From Hieroglyphic Amusement (1791) ; JOHN MARSHALL ; From The Infant's Library (c. 1800) ; Ivory Paddles (c. 1800) NEW ; The Infant's Cabinet of Various Objects (1801) NEW ; The Book Case of Instruction (1812-1813) NEW ; L'Alphabet Moral (1820) NEW ; From First Book for Children (1823) NEW ; From Nouvel Alphabet pour les Commencans (1830) NEW ; The Royal ABC (c. 1844) NEW ; The Earth and Its Inhabitants (1850) NEW ; Versified Delights and Re-tellings ; ANN TAYLOR GILBERT and JANE TAYLOR ; From Original Poems for Infant Minds (1804-1805) and Rhymes for the Nursery (1806) ; ELIZABETH TURNER ; From The Daisy (1807) ; WILLIAM ROSCOE ; The Butterfly's Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast (1807) ; FELICIA DOROTHEA BROWNE ; From Poems (1808) ; RICHARD SCRAFTON SHARPE ; The Master Cat or Puss in Boots (1808) ; CHARLES LAMB ; Beauty and the Beast (1811) ; From Peter Piper's Practical Principles of Plain and Perfect Pronunciation (1813) ; CLEMENT CLARKE MOORE ; 'A Visit from Saint Nicholas' (1823) ; SARAH JOSEPHA HALE ; From Poems for Our Children (1830) ; ELEANOR MURE ; The Story of the Three Bears (1831) ; MARY BOTHAM HOWITT ; From Sketches of Natural History (1834) ; The Charm of Narrative ; CATHERINE SINCLAIR ; From Holiday House: A Series of Tales (1839) ; ELIZA LEE FOLLEN ; From New Nursery Songs for All Good Children (1843) ; EDWARD LEAR ; From The Book of Nonsense (1846) ; HEINRICH HOFFMANN ; From The English Struwwelpeter (1848) ; JANE COTTON BOUCHER de MONTIZAMBERT ; The Sad Tale of Mrs Mole and Mrs Mouse (c. 1849) ; JAKOB and WILHELM GRIMM NEW ; 'Hansel and Grethel,' From Household Stories (1853) ; Bibliography ; Index

The inclusion of more fairy tales and fables better represents an important area of children's literature, both for the specified time period and for later developments in the field."