The novelist and essayist Elizabeth Hamilton (1756? 1816) wrote with especial distinction on the subject of education. Inspired by her older brother, the orientalist Charles Hamilton, she pursued her literary ambitions, informing her work with a knowledge of history, philosophy and politics. Her ability to present complex ideas in an accessible manner did much to secure her an appreciative readership. Establishing her reputation with a satirical attack on radical thought, Memoirs of Modern Philosophers (1800), she enjoyed her greatest literary success with The Cottagers of Glenburnie (1808),...

The novelist and essayist Elizabeth Hamilton (1756? 1816) wrote with especial distinction on the subject of education. Inspired by her older brother, the orientalist Charles Hamilton, she pursued her literary ambitions, informing her work with a knowledge of history, philosophy and politics. Her ability to present complex ideas in an accessible manner did much to secure her an appreciative readership. Establishing her reputation with a satirical attack on radical thought, Memoirs of Modern Philosophers (1800), she enjoyed her greatest literary success with The Cottagers of Glenburnie (1808),...