Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1898 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER II. Hhr Literary Work. The works of Mary Wollstouecraft display unusual versatility of mental powers. She was able to turn her mind to new tasks in a way that made her eminent in several directions. She may be classed among pedagogical writers, but she also wrote on historical subjects and took part in discussions in political principles. She wrote fiction, and her letters descriptive of experiences in travel, and letters personal, take a high rank even to this day, among productions of that kind. And more than all this, her genius furnished, in her Vindication of the Rights of IVoiiKin, the motive power, derived from originality of conception, which helped to carry forward an historic movement. Her intellectual endowments then, were of a wide scope. She was a born educator. Her practical skill in education was even superior to her speculations upon that subject, '"1 is the tribute paid her by one of her contemporaries. Godwin says of her: "No person was ever better formed for the business of education; if it be not a sort of absurdity to speak of a person as formed for an inferior object, who is in possession of talents, iu the fullest degree adequate to something on a more important and comprehensive scale." "I have heard her say," he continues, "that she never was concerned in the education of one child, who was not personally attached to her, and earnestly concerned not to incur her displeasure. Another eminent advantage she possessed in the business of education, was that she was little troubled with scepticism and uncertainty. She saw, as it were by intuition, the path which her mind determined to pursue, and had a firm confidence in her own power to effect what she desired."' She wrote but little on strictly educational...