A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Wakefield, Priscilla
WAKEFIELD, PRISCILLA,
An Englishwoman, well known for the useful and ingenious works she has written for the instruction of youth. She is said to be the original promoter of banks for the savings of the poor, which are now so general. Some of her works are, "Juvenile Improvement," "Leisure Hours," "An Introduction to Botany," "Mental Improvement," "Reflections on the Present Condition of the Female Sex, with Hints for its Improvement," "A Familiar Tour through the British Empire," "Excursions in North America," "Sketches of Human Manners," "Variety," "Perambulations in London," "Instinct Displayed," "The Traveller in Africa," "Introduction to the Knowledge of Jnsects," and "The Traveller in Asia." Mrs. Wakefield was one of those useful writers, whose talents, devoted to the cause of education, have been a moral blessing to the youth of England. Her first work was published in 1795, her last in 1817; thus, for more than twenty years, she kept her post in the cause of improvement.