When Elizabeth Griffith's last work, Essays, Addressed to Young Married Women, appeared in 1782, the Monthly Review prefaced its remarks with a tribute to the writer's popularity. "Mrs. Griffith's reputation, as an elegant moralist," the reviewer wrote, "is so perfectly established, that it wants no succor from our applause." Best known for her part in Letters between Henry and Frances, a collection of correspondence published with her husband Richard, Elizabeth Griffith enjoyed significant renown as a writer in the latter half of the eighteenth century. The warmth with which her work was received appears somewhat puzzling today. Adapting herself readily to popular modes, Griffith moved among genres with easy flexibility: though a sentimental moral strain distinguishes all her endeavors, her efforts in the drama, essay, and novel lack, finally, a coherent vision, and the range of her achievements seems the mark not of a truly experimental author but of...