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Long before Helen Gurley Brown, Oprah, or Dear Abby dished out a single bit of dating advice, there was Hester Chapone, who declared in a 1773 bestseller that “all your happiness in this world … will probably depend on the companion you fix to for life.” The “conduct books” of Chapone and her contemporaries were the go-to source of advice for young women in the 18th- and early-19th centuries the pre-Victorian era commonly referred to as the Regency era for its distinct style. They advised the ladies on how to make friends, hold a conversation, and, of course, find “a perfect match” (as the ladies of