Gardiner, Jane An Excursion From London to Dover...Particularly intended for the Amuseument and...
Gardiner, Jane An Excursion From London to Dover...Particularly intended for the Amuseument and Instruction of Youth. Longman et al, 1806. 8vo (2 vols). Org. paper-backed boards. A fascinating mix of travelogue and historical anecdote, enlivened by periodic accounts of the people and events they encountered. There is a strong display of sympathy for the downtrodden on display, with accounts of the life of a negro slave lost at sea and the life of a conscripted man being most noticeable.
Gardiner herself was the daughter of John Arden, Mary Wollstonecraft's teacher, and was a friend of hers. She was a well-educated woman, who worked first as a governess and later opened a boarding school for girls. Her other publications seem to be mostly grammars, but the educational urge continues even through this travel writing. An Excursion was cause for some controversy when John Evans (author of The Juvenile Tourist), accused her of plagiarising his book.