May 6, 1775

Mary Martha Sherwood (May 6, 1775 to September 22, 1851) was as a writer, of novels, of children's literature and magazine articles, a stout precursor of Victorian England. Her themes are typical for her era but she wrote either first or close to, on some themes we associate with her times: instilling Christian virtues in childhood, kindness to animals, and, the theme of the governess.

The governess, (1820) is just one of her works which deal with the effect of servants influencing children. A superficial study of her works in reference to the theme of governesses, suggests it may be misleading to credit her with originating this theme. Her concerns often focus on the bad effects of the Indian servants who cared for the colonial child in India. Even in fairyland there are good and evil governesses. All of which leads me to discount the importance of her introducing the governess into English literature.

Her writing shows a tender sensibility to cats. No doubt other animals also. Soffrona and her cat Muff (1828) makes kindness a Christian value. Another Muff figures in another story, The history of Henry Milner (1823) . Here a cat is "called Muff, because a lady brought her, when she was a kitten, to Mr. Dalben's in her muff. Muff was a tortoiseshell cat, and would have been very handsome, only that she had had the misfortune to lose one eye in a battle with a large rat. " We see a certain morbid tone here which others have noted in Sherwood's writing. Mordancy is not so apparent in another book Emancipation (1829) Here we excerpt an exchange between children and adults:

[T]wo little girls, apparently of the same age (being perhaps about six years old), came quickly forward ... through the green wicket of the garden,...
"What pretty creatures!" exclaimed [one of the party] ...on which she was gently reproved by my sister Ellen; who seldom lost sight of propriety and prudence. [Still the effect the children create is lovely]...What little delicate beings! and how nicely they are dressed, in their pinkstriped frocks! how fair and lovely they are! and what brilliant eyes they have! ....
" The two little ones then, taking each other's hands, walked before us through the green wicket up to the porch, which, by-the-by, like that of a Mahometan temple, was nearly as large as all the rest of the house besides; and the door being already open, we were introduced into a roomy kitchen, paved with square flags, neatly whitewashed, and in every respect as nice as hands could make it. One of the casements was open, and an eglantine had made its way through it in a most fantastic style. A fire of wood was burning on the hearth, and a hissing kettle was hanging over the fire...[A] cat, which, at the sight of my dog, raised her back, and placed herself in an attitude of self-defence.
"This is Fairy-land, I suppose," said Lucy Howard; "for I see no inhabitants in this house, but these two fairies and their cat."...
"Our cat's name is Tippet, ma'am," said one of the little girls, curtsying very low.
"Is Tippet a fairy too ?" asked Lucy.
"We have got the story of the white cat who was a fairy," said the other of the little beauties, courtseying in her turn; "but Tippet is not a fairy."
"Indeed," said Miss Lucy; "are you quite sure?"
"There are no fairies now, ma'am," answered the first little speaker, laying a very strong stress on the word ma•am, and curtsying every time she used it; ....

1820, and there are no fairies in England.