In Clara Reeve’s “The Progress of Romance,” Euphrasia makes
sure that Hortensius realizes that male readers are just as effected by “books
of the worst kind,” but never fully explains what the effects are. One would
think that since she is defending her sex, that she would fully posit why men
should re-examine the books they read for their education, but she believes that
“a hint is sufficient” in telling the reader why she is right. I think she may
even confuse some readers in her argument because earlier on she refers to Virgil as the “most
successful of his [Homer’s] Imitators,” but then goes onto say that Virgil “informs
them [young men] of many things, they had better be ignorant of.” Euphrasia
says her assertion is proved by just fetching them “from the School books,” and so she does so, but this results in an incomplete argument.
I think that you make an excellent point but, to play devil's advocate for a moment, I would direct you to the footnote on page 155 which describes that the first lending libraries were created in the late 18th century in Britain and were predominantly sought after by females. In fact, the book notes that about three-quarters of the subscribers were female. I think that Euphrasia's argument is primarily trying to make the point that it is not women alone who are subjected to the various abject pieces circulating through this system. I believe her argument to be less about defending herself and more about illuminating Hortensius' ignorance with regard to the readership of the so-called "books of the worst kind." Hortensius is all too ready to declare these books unsound and to condemn the female sex for their immorality and vice because he claims that these pieces are appropriated to the female gender (an assumption made based on the opportunity a Circulating Library gave to women to actually access books and engage in a literary culture). Perhaps Reeve is trying to make a statement about the underlying contempt or sense of subordination that men, in general, felt as women gained more rights to education and literacy at the time.
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