Wollstonecraft's publication, the blue-stockings had demonstrated the ability of women to write well. Lady Mary Wortley Montague, blessed with a parent who had the sense to give her a sound, private education, had pleased the world with her letters nearly half a century before the Rights of Women appeared. These famous letters sparkle with wit and humour, and occupy a position in the esteem of men of letters not lower than those of her brilliant contemporary, Horace Walpole. Hannah More, Fanny Burney, Elizabeth Montague, and Mrs Thrale are amongst the best-known women who wrote books and pamphlets and earned the invidious title of blue-stocking for daring so far to intrude upon the province of men, and, forgetting the native delicacy and modesty of woman, to appear before the public as authors, unrepentant and unashamed!
Contemporary with the blue-stockings were the pioneers of the education of women. It was wisely understood by the women reformers of the period that a sound education was a necessary preliminary to the opening of fresh spheres for women. It was realised that opposition is almost always more easily broken down by demonstration than by argument. It was of little use to claim that women could do this and that unless they received the training necessary to fit them for the work.
