ASTELL, Mary, an English authoress, born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1668. She was instructed by her uncle, a clergyman, in Latin and French, logic, mathematics, and natural philosophy. In her twentieth year she went to London, where she continued her studies. Her efforts were especially directed to the mental improvement of her sex, and she published, in 1697, a work entitled A Serious Proposal to the Ladies, wherein a Method is offered for the Improvement of their Minds. With the same end in view she elaborated a scheme for a ladies’ college, which was favourably entertained by Queen Anne, and would have been carried out had not Bishop Burnet interfered. The most important of her other works was The Christian Religion, as professed by a Daughter of the Church of England, published in 1705. She died in 1731.