"Women, of every age, of every condition, contract and retain a taste for novels.... [T]he depravity is universal. My sight is every-where offended by these foolish, yet dangerous, books.... I have actually seen mothers, in miserable garrets, crying for the imaginary distress of an heroine, while their children were crying for bread."
The Sylph, No. 5, Oct. 6, 1795
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