"We have received a printed advertisement of a Seminary for the instruction of young ladies as good housewives. We are at a loss to imagine with what intention it was printed; if as a hoax, it has failed; if as satire, it wants point; but if seriously intended, we must commend it, though the art of "milking cows" and "feeding pigs" are accomplishments which may generally be dispensed with."

Ladies Seminaries were private boarding schools where the daughters of the middle classes and the gentry could be educated, at a price. Jane Austen herself went to two schools like this, between the ages of seven and eleven. The first was Mrs Cawley’s school at Oxford (later Southampton) and the second was Mrs La Tournelles’ school in Reading.

In 1808, Mrs Cross, of Charles Square in London, advertised her Ladies’ boarding school in La Belle Assemblee magazine. She charged doting parents of “a small and select number of ladies” thirty guineas a year. For this sum, along with accommodation, food and laundry, they were taught English and French (with Grammatical purity and correctness!) History and the Needleworks. Music, dancing, drawing, Italian, geography and the use of globes were also available, at an additional charge.

The lessons offered at these type of schools were intended to help the girls’ social activities. A small amount of knowledge in geography or history would enable them to hold intelligent conversations once they were out in society, while learning to write would help them maintain a correspondence with family and friends.

Not everyone thought these Seminaries were useful educational establishments. One female correspondent, writing to The Lady’s Magazine in 1810, described them in less than flattering terms:

“...every town for miles round London, (especially on the Essex side) can boast two or three, or sometimes four of these seats of learning; and we not unfrequently see the pompous inscription ‘Ladies Seminary’ in a country village; the governess of which is usually as ignorant as those she undertakes to teach. To these places are the children of farmers, mechanics and traders sent; where, at an enormous annual expense, they are taught dancing, music, and what are called fancy-works; this, with a superficial knowledge of French, for the most part, completes their education; for, as to their own language, they are not sufficiently acquainted with it to allow them to indite a letter, or even spell it correctly.”

Once a young lady had completed her time at school, there was no “further education” available to her. At that point, she would enter society with the aim of finding herself a husband. A young, educated women who could not find a husband to look after her might return to school to become a teacher or hire herself out as a governess with no further education or training.

"PONDERS END, ENFIELD
At the above place, the Misses Levesques have es tablished a Boarding School. Persons who are acquainted with the vicinity of Enfield, will readily allow it to be a delightfully pleasant neighbourhood: the School commands a most extensive prospect, and is surrounded with pleasure-grounds. This Seminary possesses many advantages, it combines religion with its various literary pursuits. It is only eight miles from the Metropolis. Terms, for Ladies under Ten years of age, 11 Guineas, above Ten, 26 Guineas. Entrance One Guinea."