The aims of the college and the plans as outlined were so reasonable and put forward with so much eloquence that they attracted favorable attention. Part II of the _Proposal_ was dedicated to the Princess Anne, and it is to her that we must give the credit for a subscription of £10,000 for the necessary buildings.[411] And it is practically certain that Bishop Burnet, at this time tutor to the young Duke of Gloucester and so of easy access to Anne, is the one to whom we must ascribe the withdrawal of that subscription and along with it the royal sanction so essential an element in the success of the plan. Bishop Burnet saw in this proposed "Lay Monastery" a source of plots and cabals dangerous to the Church. And Anne was too devout and narrow-minded a churchwoman to run any such risks. So the plan came to no practical realization. Though the time was probably not ripe for such a college, it is significant that in the aristocratic circle where Mary Astell moved there was apparently considerable favorable discussion of the project. In 1697 Thomas Burnet wrote to the Electress Sophia of Mary Astell as "a young Ladie of extraordinary piety and knowledge as any of the age" and comments on her "two little books of proposals to the Ladies" as showing "both her zeal and judgment in thee advyces given to her sex, for the reformation of manners, living, studies, and conversations of the ladies."[412] In the same year Defoe, in his _Essay on Projects_, referred with praise to Mary Astell, though not agreeing with her plans in detail. In 1697, also, Evelyn commented favorably on Mary Astell: He said that he could not omit some acknowledgment of the satisfaction he had received from her "most sublime" writings, and he adds concerning her college, "Besides what lately she has proposed to the Virtuous of her Sex, to shew by her own Example, what great Things, and Excellencies it is Capable of, and which calls to mind the Lady of that _Protestant Monastery_, Mrs. _Farrer_, not long since at _Geding_ in _Huntington-shire_."[413] George Wheler, in _A Protestant Nunnery_, refers to "_A Serious Proposal_ written by an ingenious Lady" and gives it the further compliment of adopting some of its ideas.[414] George Hickes, in his _Instructions for the Education of a Daughter_ (1708), gives _A Serious Proposal_ and _The Christian Religion_, by Mary Astell, in the list of books which he commends to young women. Robert Nelson, in an _Address to Persons of Quality_ (1715), also praised the _Proposal to Ladies_ as made "by a very Ingenious Gentlewoman, which was then well approved by several ladies and others."[415]