In Samuel Richardson's 1740-1741 Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded, a young servant girl fights to repulse the advances of her master, eventually forcing him to legitimize his desire through marriage.

Frances Burney's Evalina; Or, The History of a Young Lady's Entrance into the World (1778) is the story of a witty and plucky young girl who selects her mate from a host of admirers.

Elizabeth Inchbald's A Simple Story (1791) relates the plight of a young girl who falls in love with her protector, who inconveniently happens to be a priest.

In Charlotte Lennox's The Female Quixote (1752), a naïve female protagonist—influenced by reading too many romantic novels—persists in being completely honest, no matter what the circumstances, to the bafflement of her friends and would-be lovers.

London Assurance (1841), by Dion Boucicault, is a drawing room farce with aptly...