Coelebs in Search of a Wife
Coelebs in Search of a Wife (1809) is a novel by the British Christian moralist Hannah More. It was followed by "Coelebs Married" in 1814. It is sometimes known by the title "Coelebs in Search of a Wife: Commprehending Observations on Domestic Habits and Manners, Religion and Morals". The novel focuses on Cœlebs, a well-to-do young man who tries to find a wife who can meet the lofty moral requirements laid down by his (now deceased) mother. "Coelebs in Search of a Wife" was extremely popular when it was published. It combined  its novelistic narrative with religious lessons, which helped it to become the first nineteenth century novel to be accepted enthusiastically by the large religious reading public (in Britain, the novel had often been seen as an unrespectable and even immoral literary form). Maria Edgeworth, in an 1810 letter to Mrs. Ruxton, claims that the bachelor was modeled on a Mr. Harford of Blaise Castle. Frank Muir said "it is now high on the list of the world's most unreadable books".