New Monthly Magazine (1816)

New Monthly Magazine and Universal Register, 4 (January 1816), 531. 

The Brothers, or Consequences; a Story of What Happens every Day; addressed to that useful part of the community the Labouring Poor. By Mary Hays. 1s. 

The benevolent motive which prompted the publication of this little dramatic tale would ensure it our warmest recommendation were the practical lesson which it inculcates less forcible and pathetic. It was penned with a view to exemplify and illustrate the leading principles of the "Prudent Man's Friend Society" established at Bristol for the purpose of promoting provident habits, and a spirit of independence among the poor, by means of a Saving Bank and a Fund for advancing small loans. The contrast between the consequences of prudence and thoughtlessness, particularly in the important business of matrimony, on which the external comfort or misery of a poor man's life must more especially depend, is exhibited by Mrs. Hays in a manner calculated to make a strong impression. We have no hesitation to say, in our opinion, this little tract cannot be too extensively circulated.