William Cobbett was an English political pamphleteer, farmer and prolific journalist. Throughout his life he opposed authority and had a suspicion of novelty. In 1829, he published Advice to Young Men And (Incidentally) to Young Women in the Middle and Higher Ranks of Life. In a Series of Letters, Addressed to a Youth, a Bachelor, a Lover, a Husband, a Father, a Citizen, or a Subject. The letters make up an interesting retrospective of the time.