In the advertisement to her first novel, The History of Cornelia (1750), Sarah Scott pronounced her approbation of works of the imagination that "have a tendency to inculcate, illustrate or exemplify morality." Throughout the twenty-two years of her writing life, Scott adhered to this rule. Author of six novels and three reputable histories, Scott endeavored constantly--as the narrator of her best-known novel, Millenium Hall (1762), remarks--"to inculcate the best principles into youthful minds, the only probable means of mending mankind." She also translated that dictum into action: in her home at Batheaston, she and her friend Lady Barbara Montagu dedicated themselves to a life of charity work--educating the poor, overseeing their work projects, and leading them in spiritual exercises. It is the serious moral strain of her works that makes Scott's writing distinctive. At once a stylistic weakness--overwhelming most attempts at subtle characterization and dramatization--and a strength--her works, as...