As the subtitle proclaims, this book originally published in the late 18th century is "intended for the amusement and instruction of young ladies and gentlemen". The introduction is presumably one into the moral ridden world of adults. A vast array of different little stories are told for the purpose, including the excellently titled "Juvenile tyranny conquered" and "The melancholy effects of pride". Each is told in a brilliantly earnest yet flowery style, for example, the first sentence of the first story, "Ernestus and Fragilus", reads: The faint glimmerings of the pale-faced moon on the troubled billows of the ocean are not so fleeting and inconstant as the fortune and condition of human life. 47 beautiful illustrations by I. Bewick adorn it throughout.