Of the seventeenth-century authors of mothers' legacies for their children, DL
was the earliest to reach print, and probably the most morally and theologically focussed. Writing for sons, not daughters, she gives clear and firm instructions about personal conduct (choosing a wife, for example) and about making a contribution to the community of Christian people, either by becoming a minister or by praying for better preaching and better leadership. Her work includes an accomplished poem.