Note 154 — BOOK XX.

All the young women in Scotland at this time ought to have been taught to read. From every account, traditionary or otherwise, it appears the daughters of the covenanters generally were; and some of their published diaries, which have been held up to scorn, are even in point of elegance equal to many English writers who have been praised as the improvers of the English language; but this is a subject which deserves greater attention than I can afford in a note. I hope at no distant period to discuss it more fully.