Betty A. Schellenberg is Associate Professor of English at Simon Fraser University.

'No less striking than the subtlety and learning that distinguish this study is the energy of Schellenberg's prose. This fine new book will establish Schellenberg as a major voice in the field.' Thomas Keymer, University of Oxford

• Acknowledgements; Note on citations; Introduction: 'building on public approbation'; 1. Frances Sheridan, John Home, and public virtue; 2. The politicised pastoral of Frances Brooke; 3. Sarah Scott, historian, in the republic of letters; 4. The (female) literary careers of Sarah Fielding and Charlotte Lennox; 5. Harmless mediocrity: Edward Kimber and the Minifie sisters; 6. From propensity to profession in the early career of Frances Burney; 7. Women writers and 'the Great Forgetting'; Coda; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Betty A. Schellenberg is Associate Professor of English at Simon Fraser University.

'No less striking than the subtlety and learning that distinguish this study is the energy of Schellenberg's prose. This fine new book will establish Schellenberg as a major voice in the field.' Thomas Keymer, University of Oxford

• Acknowledgements; Note on citations; Introduction: 'building on public approbation'; 1. Frances Sheridan, John Home, and public virtue; 2. The politicised pastoral of Frances Brooke; 3. Sarah Scott, historian, in the republic of letters; 4. The (female) literary careers of Sarah Fielding and Charlotte Lennox; 5. Harmless mediocrity: Edward Kimber and the Minifie sisters; 6. From propensity to profession in the early career of Frances Burney; 7. Women writers and 'the Great Forgetting'; Coda; Notes; Bibliography; Index.

Betty A. Schellenberg is Associate Professor of English at Simon Fraser University.

'No less striking than the subtlety and learning that distinguish this study is the energy of Schellenberg's prose. This fine new book will establish Schellenberg as a major voice in the field.' Thomas Keymer, University of Oxford

• Acknowledgements; Note on citations; Introduction: 'building on public approbation'; 1. Frances Sheridan, John Home, and public virtue; 2. The politicised pastoral of Frances Brooke; 3. Sarah Scott, historian, in the republic of letters; 4. The (female) literary careers of Sarah Fielding and Charlotte Lennox; 5. Harmless mediocrity: Edward Kimber and the Minifie sisters; 6. From propensity to profession in the early career of Frances Burney; 7. Women writers and 'the Great Forgetting'; Coda; Notes; Bibliography; Index.