John Duncombe (1729-1786) published his "canon-forming"[1] celebration of British women writers as The Feminiad in 1754, though the title was revised as The Feminead in the second, 1757 edition.

Duncombe argues that women "shine, / In mind and person equally divine" and urges his readers to resist the "undisputed reign" of "Prejudice" and instead "sing the glories of a sister-choir."

He appeals to his readers' sense of nationalism by contrasting "free-born" "British nymphs" to a stereotypical image of women in a "Seraglio," and situates his subjects in a cultural lineage stemming from classical Greece and Rome.

Duncombe takes care to clarify that his support of women artists only extends to those who continue to fulfill their assigned feminine roles and suggests that the pursuit of art and culture might keep women away from more frivolous pursuits: But lives there one, whose unassuming mind, Tho' grac'd by nature, and by art refin'd, Pleas'd with domestic excellence, can spare Some hours from studious ease to social care, And with her pen that time alone employs Which others waste in visits, cards, and noise; From affectation free, tho' deeply read, "With wit well natur'd, and with books well bred?"

Many of the writers mentioned were connected to the Blue Stockings Society, an informal women's social and educational movement in England in the mid-18th century.