“They excite a spirit of relaxation,” explained Hannah More without a speck of irony. She was certain they made young women lazy, which in turn led to loose morals. Should that jump in logic seem unbelievable to modern readers, I offer receipts: More says that novels meant for amusement “nourish a vain and visionary indolence, which lays the mind open to error and the heart to seduction.” One popular conduct book by Thomas Gisborne—a work we know Austen read—coyly says, “To indulge in a practice of reading [novels] is, in several other particulars, liable to produce mischievous effects.”
