John Bill felt certain that when the people were buying copies of his paper to burn, they would read that Mrs. Whittle was in need of the refining influences of a dress-maker.
"The Mystery of the Locks"
Edgar Watson Howe
One condition, as Mr. Meredith again remarks, of the finer comedy is such an equality of the sexes as may admit the refining influence of women.
"English Literature and Society in the Eighteenth Century"
Leslie Stephen
The women of the Restoration time hardly exerted a refining influence.
"English Literature and Society in the Eighteenth Century"
Leslie Stephen