Mary Astell's A Serious Proposal to the Ladies is one of the most important and neglected works advocating the establishment of women's academies. Its reception was so controversial that Astell responded with a lengthy sequel, also in this volume. The cause of great notoriety, Astell's Proposal was imitated by Defoe in his "An Academy for Women," parodied in the Tatler, satirized on the stage, plagiarized by Bishop Berkeley, and later mocked by Gilbert and Sullivan in Princess Ida.
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Mary Astell: A Brief Chronology
A Note on the Text
A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, Part I
A Serious Proposal, Part II
Appendix A: Judith Drake, An Essay in Defence of the Female Sex (1696)
Appendix B: Daniel Defoe, An Essay upon Projects (1697)
Appendix C: From The Tatler, no. 32 (June 23, 1709)
Appendix D: From The Tatler, no. 63 (September 3, 1709)
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