In 1842, this advertisement appeared in The Time in London:
TO WIDOWERS AND SINGLE GENTLEMEN – WANTED by a lady, a SITUATION to superintend the household and preside at table. She is Agreeable, Becoming, Careful, Desirable, English, Facetious*, Generous, Honest, Industrious, **, Keen, Lively, Merry, Natty, Obedient, Philosophic, Quiet, Regular, Sociable, Tasteful, Useful, Vivacious, Womanish, Xantippish, Youthful, Zealous &c.
The lady also commended herself as an accomplished alphabetician – one who succeeded in writing a sentence in which each letter began with a successive letter of the alphabet.
* In those days this meant witty and amusing
** J was considered an optional letter
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