A selection of original tales, essays, and sketches drawn from early issues of a periodical, combining short historical romances and village narratives with reflections on everyday conduct. The narratives present romantic and domestic episodes while the essays address conversation, family relations, thrift, leisure, the drama, and practical political economy. Together the pieces sketch the manners and maxims of the middle ranks through anecdote, moral observation, and light satire, alternating storytelling with prescriptive and observational prose intended to instruct and amuse a general readership.