Gossip Society Manuscript, Vol. I, 1803-1804

The volume contains the productions of the Sisterhood of the Gossip Society of Gloucester, England. The author is unknown, but goes by the nom de plume “Penelope Placid.” The entire work is purportedly a product of these women’s meetings; more likely, it is the work of one woman satirizing the situation of elderly spinsters whom society considered to be gossips in nineteenth century England.

Among the daily entries are moral lessons, small observations, anecdotes, and tales all told by members of the society.