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BARLEY wOODTHERE S1DENCE OF THE LATE HANNAH MORE
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OR,
LIFE IN HALL AND COTTAGE.
BY MRS. HELEN C, KNIGHT.
PUBLISHED BY THE
AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY,
150 NASSAU-STREET, NEW YORK.




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1862, by the AmEnsICA.N
TRACT SOCIETY, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States
for the Southern District of NTew York.




CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
Early days -------------------------                                   9
CHAPTER II.
Introduction to London Society-    - -       - - ----------- ---  22
CHAPTER III.
A peep at the Blues —----------------------------------   34
CHAPTER IV.
Literary Blossomings ------------------ -----------------   43
CHAPTER V.
Death of Garrick-Theatrical Amusements --------------  59
CHAPTER VI.
Correspondence —----------------------------------------   69
CHAPTER VII.
Cowslip Green —------------------------------              --         87
CHAPTER VIII.
First Fruits- ------------------- ------------ ------------   101
CHAPTER IX.
Labors among the Poor-Sunday-schools —---------------- 115
CHAPTER X.
Newton in Sorrow —Mendip Feast --------------------—. —- 137
CHAPTER XI.
Will Chip and his Brethren —-----------             ---------        151




4                        CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XII.
Trials and Opposition ------------------------------------ 169
CHAPTER XIII.
Barley Wood —--------- -------------------         ----        90
CHAPTER XIV.
Falling Leaves —------------------------------------  200
CHAPTER XV.
A Golden Harvest —-----------------------------  230
CHAPTER XVI.
Passing Away         -                 ------------------ 256
CoNLusIoN -------------                                       276




PIREFACE.
IT has been written, that "the world's
wealth is its original men; by these and their
works it is a world and not a waste: the memory and record of what men it bore-this is
the sum of its strength, its'sacred property'
for ever, whereby it upholds itself and steers
forward, better or worse, through the yet undiscovered deep of time.
"Science itself, is it not, under one of its
most interesting aspects, biography? Is it not
the record of the work, which an original man,
still named by us or not named, was blessed
by the heavens to do?"
May. it not also be said that the wealth of
the church is her godly men, her holy women,
her ransomed little ones? Are not the record
and memory of their self-denial and suffering,
their' -patient waiting and cheerful courage,
their faith and love, her richest legacies and




6                PREFACE.
dearest treasures? By these is the world an
Eden, and not a waste; by these is the church
the true vine, and not a withered branch; a
living epistle, and not a dead letter: the memory and record of what Christian mzen and
women it bore —this is the sum of her strength,
her "sacred property" for ever.
Christianity itself, is it not, under one of
its most interesting aspects, biography?  Is it
not the record of the work of the G-OD-MAN?
Have not its doctrines been unfolded by the
lives and labors of its eminent disciples?
In this view, what meaning is there in the
Christian life, whenever bearing "precious
fruit," within the cottage or the hall, in the
little child patiently bearing its weary load for
Christ's sake, or in those holy and devout ones
whose faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, and who, having obtained a good report, have gone to receive their great recompense of reward.
Herein is the beauty and excellence of the
life of this eminent servant of God, HANNAH
M 1ORE.
Though among the household memories, if
not among the nursery-rhymes of many in nmiddle life, she is less known to a great multitude




PREFACE:.
of the young, who are just entering upon the
duties, the responsibilities, and conflicts. of the
Christian life, and for them is this sketch prepared. If there is a tendency in the church,
as some fear, to consult worldly advantages
more than Christ's requirements; to be content with a weak faith and feeble hopes, instead
of the warm, large, generous love which inspired the apostles of old, and eminent saints
of later time; to rest satisfied with only a name
to live, instead of bringing forth fruits meet for
repentance-let us turn back and study the
character of those whose lips and lives most.
eloquently expressed the holy gospel they professed.  Let us inquire what doctrines they
believed, what principles they adopted, what
duties they discharged, what labors they' undertook, what amusements they forsook; in a
word, let us seek to find out their apprehension of Bible truth, and how also the Bible
shaped their views, moulded their character,
and fitted them for usefulness. Hannah More
presents one of the most complete models of
Christian character; her life is a beautiful development of that healthy, vigorous, life-giving, and heart-warming piety, which springs
from the distinguishing doctrines of the Bible




8               PREFACE.
cordially believed and faithfully acted upon.
Let every American woman study her biography. It is a legacy left for our benefit, a portrait for our contemplation, an example to imitate, a token for encouragement and hope, an
earnest of that fulness in Christ Jesus, if we
"do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end, that we be not
slothful, but followers of them who through
faith and patience inherit the promises."
This volume, revised from an earlier edition, is now placed among the publications of
thie American Tract Society.
May its mission be blest.
H. C. K.




NEW  MEM3OIR OF'HANNAH MORE.
CHAPTER I.
EARLY DAYS.
LET US visit the retired hamlet of Fishponds; it is in the parish of Stapleton, four
miles from Briistol, and possesses all the quiet
and homely comfort of rural life in England.
Among the humble homes of the hamlet stands
that of Mr. Jacob Miore, a man of piety and
learning, who, though bred to larger expectations and an ampler inheritance, is the faithful
and contented master of the parish school, the
happy husband of his excellent Mary, the
proud father of five little girls, and the thankful proprietor of valuable stock in domestic
peace and enjoyment. He is a devoted member of the English church, and a loyal subject
of "good King George." The overcast fortunes
of his early days, and the mansion and estates
of Wenhaston wrested from hiimin a suit at
1*




10            EANNAH M ORE.
law, are well-nigh forgotten amid the manifold
cares and busy interests of family rearing.
Besides leading a flock of village urchins to
the green pastures of knowledge, he guides his
five little girls by the same friendly "crook;
and in their training he beholds the buds and
blossoms, as in their lives he hopes to realize
the fruit of his professional skill and parental
fidelity.
With more enlarged views of female education than were common a hundred years
ago, good Mr. More, though not without a certain horror for a learned lady, determined to
strengthen the minds of his daughters by a
thorough course of study and well-selected
reading: his object was to fit them for usefulness in whatever path the providence of God
might direct their steps.
The home influences which surrounded this
band of sisters were the pnrest and best-not
harassed byr poverty or enervated by luxury,
but surrounded by the steady yet gentle pres.
sure of ever doing, they were early taught the
wonderful power of the "diligent hand;' away
from fevered excitements and-fashionable follies, they only knew life through the simple
habits of their parents, enriched and beautified




EARLY DAYS.              11
by the clear sense and devout spirit of their
mother, and, by the classic tastes and wellstored mind of their father.
As the sisters passed from infancy to childhood, from childhood to womanhood, the daily
-discipline of reading and grammar, of Latin
and mathematics, was diversified and relieved
by household labors and rural exercises.
To the studies which fell within Mir. More's
own province, he wished to add that of the
French language; and for this purpose, when
Mary, the eldest, was twelve, she went three
times a week to Bristol to receive lessons from
the most approved instructors, in order to fit
her to become the teacher of her younger sisters. Through hot and cold, through wet and
dry, with a resolution which ever afterwards
was one of the most prominent traits in her
character, Maary More trod unweariedly her
solitary four miles' walk, studying with unflinching earnestness until she became a thorough mistress of the French, and spoke it with
the fluency and elegance of a native.
While the eldest daughter was thus toiling,
Elizabeth, next her in age, was busy by her
mother's side plying the needle, turning the
wheel, or adding to family comfort through




12            HANNAIH MORE.
the thousand unseen channels of simple duties
and little kindnesses.
Then came Sarah, brimful of wit and humor, whose quaint sayings and lively answers
were the delight of her companions, and often
provoked a smile from the schoolmaster in his
gravest and most thoughtful moods.
Having lost a valuable portion of his library
by his unhappy expulsion from the paternal
estate, Mr. lMore was constrained to teach history in the more animated style of conversation and story; and his own interest in Grecian sages and Roman heroes was revived and
quickened by the bright eyes and earnest
glance of his fourth little one, ever first on her
father's knee, listening with a glowing face to
the wonderful recitals which fell from his lips.
While still regarded as "the little one," and
long before she was thought worthy of the
paternal teaching, the delighted parents were
surprised to find her reading with intelligence
and fluency, having slipped through the long
apprenticeship of syllables and spelling they
hardly knew when or how.
She learned while others talked; a scrap
Ai paper and an old pen' are among her babyhouse treasures; in rude characters she at.




EARLY DAYS.              13
tempts to put down the thoughts which spring
up abundantly within her little bosom. Before
her father's door was the high-road leading to
Bristol, with its manifold and far off wonders;
the child often sits and ponders whence it
comes and whither it goes, eagerly watching
the heavy carts or the pillion-equestrians as
they occasionally pass and repass, each suggesting a new fancy or pleasing wonder. As
she ponders, she writes. The little child of
four years is a rhymer, perhaps a poet. Besides a poem, her fourth year has other marvels for expectant and loving kindred.  The
village curate awards her sixpence for catechism lessons well learned and perfectly recited-her first earned sixpence. Such were the
first laurels of Hannah, the fourth child of A];r.
More, born in the year 1745.
Her father, delighted with the dawning
abilities of the child, soon began to teach her
his favorite Latin. Amazed at her rapid progress, he abandoned the work, lest Hannah
should grow up a pedant; this however he
willingly resumed not long after at the entreaty of the child, seconded by the persuasions of her mother. The little Hannah was
henceforth permitted to read, study, and write,




14            HANNAh MORE.
as her fancy led; poems, essays, and stories
issued from her pen, and were stored away to
be read or recited to her sisters, whose sympathy encouraged her endeavors.
Patty was the youngest of the flock, loving
and joyous, never jealous of the opening powers of her sister, for whom her admiration was
only equalled by her affection.
As the family grew up, its increasing wants
outran its straitened means, when the elder
sisters proposed to follow the profession of
their fa-ther, and try the experiment of a new
boarding-school in the neighboring city.
Warm friends, who knew their worth, seconded the plan, and offered their patronage
and influence. Among their patrons wass iJrs.
Gwatkin, a lady of worth and high position,
who then little dreamed that, through the
friendly aid she rendered to this band of
teachers, her own name should be handed to
generations yet to come.  The family circle
was broken up. Mary, Elizabeth, and Sarah
left the paternal roof to try their fortunes in
the great world: the school opened, scholars
flocked to it, and the first year confirmed their
hopes and encouraged farther efforts. With
what solicitude and pride must the father have




EARLY DAYS.               15
watched their progress in the same ordeal of
daily struggles, in which he had already become a veteran; and when at last, at the age
of twelve, he suffered the little  H-annah to
escape from his nest and become a pupil in
the now prosperous school he gave the strongest proof which a father could give of his confidence in the well-conducted enterprise.
A.world of interest opened upon the gifted
girl in the wider sphere of study and observation, in the diversity of character, in the new
friendships and associations, in the competitions and struggles of school-life in the city.
She was not-among strangers who, caring not,
crowdel her mind or cramped her heart; affection still folded her in its bosom, defending
her from harmful flatteries, yet rejoicing in her
opening and maturing powers. Heri progress
was brilliant and rapid, reflecting honor upon
the school, and attracting attention from some
of the most cultivated minds in the city. Sir
James Stonehouse, a friend and patron of her
sisters, whose writings for the spiritual benefit
of the sick have been extensively circulated
by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, took every opportunity of cultivating
the young girl's fiiendship, and while she was




16            HANNAH MORE.
yet a pupil predicted her distinguished career.
Besides Sir James, Dr. Tucker, afterwards
dean of Gloucestershire, Mr. Peach, a mall of
extensive reading and fine taste, and Ferg uson the astronomer, then lecturing at Bristol,
sought her society with delight, and were reckoned among her warmest friends.  So great,
at that early period, were the charms of her
conversation, that Dr. Woodward, her physician, a man of some eminence in his time, is
said one day altogether to have forgotten his
professional duty in listening, until half way
down stairs, suddenly recollecting himself, he
exclaimed, "Bless me, I forgot to ask the girl
how she was," and hastened back to amend
the delinquency.
Hannah's literary tastes showed themselves
in her pastimes as well as in her studies, for
we learn that a favorite diversion was the
gathering of small parties, where the talk was
wholly sustained in the language of Shakspeare, and. "it was surprising," she said iafter-days,. "how well the conversation was
kept up."  it must be remembered that children's literature had then no existence; the
Parent's Assistant, Sanford and Merton, Harry




EARLY DAYS.                17
and Lucy, books which a few years afterwards
delighted the young, had not then appeared.
Children read then, if they read at all, books
which their elders read and loved, and Shakspeare, it seems, was among the select reading
of young IHannah More.  This early appreciation of his writings imparted to one of her first
journeys a zest and enjoyment which few at
her age could have been supposed to feel.
In company with friends she visited Stratford-upon-the-Avon, the birthplace of the immortal poet, and brought away a branch of the
famous mulberry growing in his garden; this
she had wrought into sugar-tongs and presented to Mrs. Gwatkin, with the verse,
"I kissed the sacred shrine where Shakspeare lay,
And bore this relic of my bard away:
Where shall I place it, Phoebus? Where't is due,
Apollo answered: and I send it -you."
At seventeen a small work issued from her
pen, entitled, "The Search after ~Happiness,"
a pastoral drama, which, with an ever-grateful
sense of Mrs. Gwatkin's kindness to her family, she dedicated to that lady.
Unexpected success crowned the efforts of
the sisters: their faithful and judicious management of the home. department, together




18            HANNAHII MORE.
with the superior course of instruction given
in the school, gave it a deservedly high position, and attracted pupils from the most distant parts of the kingdomn. The sisters determined to enlarge their boundaries, and for this
purpose they built a large and commodious
house in Park-street, where the number of
applicants still outrun their accommodations.
Nor were they unmindful of the comfort
and increasing infirmities of their now only
remaining parent.:Mr. More, bereft of his
family, was moved to a pleasant house in the
city, where he passed a green old age in the
enjoyment of his garden, his library, his
friends, and above all, the daily visits of his
five excellent daughters.
Having completed her studies, Hannah remained in the school as teacher. Beloved and
respected in no common degree, the younger
sisters were often invited to visit the homes of
their pupils. The2y were at this time intimate
with two young ladies, who frequently carried
them to Belmont, the residence of a cousin,
Edward Turner, Esq., six miles fron Bristol.
Hannah's fine taste and cultivated mind made
a strong impression on the host, who delighted
to consult her about his projected improve



-EARLY DAYS.              19
ments, and followed her suggestions in many
of the embellishments made on his estate.
It is no surprise that she Won his affection,
and for a time at least wooed him from his love
of single life. Though twice her age-Hannah
was now nearly twenty-two-he sought her
handl; the suit was favorably regarded, and
the bridal preliminaries were completed, when
the current of true love, not always smoothly
running, drifted them apart; nor does it appear that Hannah ever afterwards freiglhted
her bark on the same uncertain element.
NMr. Turner- never ceased to regard her
with respect and interest, and his first toast
every day, whether alone or in society, was
"Hannah More."  In after-years, their longsuspended intercourse was renewed, and continued until his death, when he bequeathed to
her a thousand pounds. There are no regrets
to bestow over this severed tie, for Mrs. Turner mighit have deprived the world of the
brilliant career and valuable services of Miss
Hannah More.  She afterwards received an
offer of masrriage from Dr. Langhorne, vicar
of Blagdon, a man of lively wit and cultivated
intellect, with whom she became acquainted
while in quest of health and strength on the




20            HANNAH MORE.
coast of Somersetshire.  Behold her on the
beach, sometimes on a pillion behind her servant, sometimes in company with the doctor,
sometimes surrounded by a group of admiring
friends, drawn thither by the charms of her
brilliant and animated conversation. Though
a rejected suitor, the doctor maintained a poetical and literary correspondence with the
lady until his death, which took place in the
prime of a manhood blighted by irregularities
and misfortune.
Thus far have we caught passing glimpses
of Hannah More in the dear seclusion of her
early home, the busy retreat of her sisters'
school, and the agreeable circle of Bristol society, where her simple manners, her good
sense, and the unaffected friendliness of her
heart, gave an added lustre to those brilliant
powers and that ready wit which afterwards
made her a welcome and honored guest in the
elegant and refined circles of the. metropolis.
How much is there in her early life of which
the few and scanty records that remain fail to
inform  us!  How  many an earnest mother
would rend the veil which conceals her childhood, to learn the secret springs of that Christian nurture which enabled her to pass unse



EARLY DAYS.               21
duced and unscathed through the trying ordeal
of folly, of fashion, and of fame which awaited
her.  The glitter of fashionable life never
seems to have dimmed the clearness of her
moral vision, or prevented her from making a
rational estimate of its maxims, habits, and
pursuits; there ever accompanied her an integrity of moral consciousness, a hidden strength,
which, stronger than breastplate or shield, defended her from  the corrupting influence of
flattery, and enabled her, to maintain that singleness and purity of character, and to foster
those religious convictions which formed the
beauty and excellence of her riper years.




22           HANNAH MORE.
CHAPTER II.
INTRODUCTION TO LONDON SOCIETY.
BRILLIANT minds centre round this period
of English literature. The splendid diction of
Burke had kindled a fresh glow around "The
Sublime and Beautiful;" the Deserted Village
was peopled with admirers; Johnson enriched
the world of letters from the storehouse of his
affluent mind; Sir Joshua Reynolds was in the
zenith of his popularity; and Garrick ruled the
stage.
London society was rife with genius, wit,
and learning; the famous Blue Stocking Club
was then in its glory, and its accomplished
patrons figured in the most elegant and refined
circles of that day. This gathering, which has
unwittingly given a name of implied reproach
to women of literary tastes and pursuits, was
composed of persons distinguished for wit and
talent, who met at each other's houses to enjoy
the charm of each other's society, without ceremony or supper, and without the interloping aid
of cards or dancing, as we learn from a little




LONDON SOCIETY.               23
poem entitled the Bas Bleu, written by Hannah Mfore' a few years after.
"Long was society o'errun
By Whist, that desecrating Hun;
Long did Quadrille despotic sit,
That Vandal of colloquial wit,
And conversation's setting light
Lay deep obscured in Gothic night:
At length the mental shades decline;
Colloquial wit begins to shine;
Genius prevails, and conversation
Emerges into reformation."
Among the admired women of this circle
ranks  Irs. Elizabeth ]M [ontagu, who acquired
much celebrity as the author of an " Essay on
the Genius of Shakspeare," published in 1769.
She became better known in this country by
a volume of delightful letters, which charmed
the reading world fifty years ago.  Beautiful
in youth, and. left in possession of an ample
fortune at the death of her husband, she retained until the latest period of life a grace
of person and manner, which made her splendid mansion at Berkeley-square'a centre of the
most polished society in the metropolis.  By
her side sits Elizabeth Carter, accounted one of
the most learned ladies of her time, the longloved and intimate companion of Mrs. M[on



24            HANNAH MORE.
tagu. At twenty-nine, Dr. Johnson, in a fit of
unusual gallantry, composed a Greek epigram
to her praise; and she was almost' the only
lady, through long years of intercourse, whom
he treated with uniform attention and civility.
For the encouragement of'the young, who are
more ready to question their abilities than to
exercise them, and for the benefit of teachers
impatient of progress which they are not faithful enough to secure, let it be added that Mr.
Carter, in early days Elizabeth's instructor,
became so disgusted by the apparent stupidity
of his daughter, that he abandoned the task of
teaching her; while she, with a resolution which
nothing could quench, continued her studies
until she became one of the most thorough
scholars of her sex.  Dr. Johnson, speaking.
of a celebrated Greek scholar, said he understood Greek better than anybody else, except
Elizabeth Carter; and the fishermen of Deal,
her native place, respectfully regarded her as
the alnaznac maker, that being the highest conception they could form of the abilities and
power of their distinguished townswoman. Her
biography may be found in some of our older
libraries, together with " Mrs. Chapone's Letters to Young Ladies," a famous book in its




LONDON SOCIETY.             25
day, whose wise counsel and judicious guidance
no young lady could presume to be without.
Here is Mrs. Chapone, one of the Blue
Stockings, with another no less distinguished,
Hon. Frances Boscawen, widow of Admiral
Boscawen, a warm and appreciating friend of
literary worth and rising genius.  With her
comes Mrs. Vesey, to whom, in pleasing remembrance of the delightful gatherings at her
house, Miss More dedicated her Bas Bleu poem,
"Vesey, of sense the judge and friend."
Brilliant as these circles were, they were
yet to receive a delightful accession in the gifted woman, who, in company with her sister
Sarah, left Bristol on a visit to London in the
winter of 1773, and began, as she says, for
the first time, to "know something of the hurry, bustle, dissipation, and nonsensical flutter
of town life."'
Her reputation had already preceded her,
and Hannah More is soon a guest at the table
of Sir Joshua Reynolds, whose handsome
establishment in Leicester-fields was the resort
of the gay and learned. Hosts of friends surrounded his board, drawn thither as much lay
his genial hospitality as by the world-wide
HI. MIore.         2




26  -HANNAH MORE.
reputation of his genius, and the monuments
of his industry and art. His sister Frances,
with whom Hannah was soon intimate, presided over his house. Miss Reynolds, if we may
credit a contemporary critic, seems not to have
been a very' skilful housewife, or to have served her brother's table with an especial reference to order or arrangement, there often being
a deficiency of knives, forks, plates, and glasses; yet friends long loved the memory of those
social gatherings, which, after the sun had set
that gave them warmth, no one ever attempted
to revive or imitate.
We next follow her to Hampton Court, the
princely. domain of Cardinal Woolsey, sixteen
miles from  London. Here were royal halls,
with their superb pictures and ancient tapestry; the beauties of. King William's court,
looking beautiful still through the stiff and
antique drapery of elder times; and the records of royal industry, tapestry wrought by
Queen Mary's hands, when, surrounded by her
maidens, " the needle plied its busy task."
Not far off were -the "immortal shades"
of Twickenham, the- abode of Pope, one of her
favorite authors, only a'pleasant walk's distance from Hampton Court.  The curious do



LONDON, SOCIETY.           27
main of the poet, at that time in possession of
Sir William Stanhope, had suffered few out:
ward changes;, the rooms had been stripped
of every memento of its former occupant: his
bust, statue, pictures, and library, many of
them gifts of distinguished men, and tributes
to his genius, had been scattered far and wide
among his friends; but -the house remained,
with its curiously wrought arcades, columns,
and porticos. The garden, shrubbery, and
grotto were also there, where Addison, Swift,
Parnel, and Bolingbroke "read, wrought, and
wrote," far away from the busy and distracting
scenes of London life; nor could she leave
without plucking a sprig of laurel from the
garden, and stealing two stones from the grotto, in memory of the great departed: neither
did she leave Twickenham without visiting his
tomb in the village churchyard bearing the
inscription, " One who would not be buried in
Westminster Abbey," he, as Hannah wittily
suggested, probably choosing to be the first
ghost in Twickenham rather than an inferior
one at Westminster.
On her return to Hampton, she went to the.country' house of David Garrick, beautifully
situated on the Thames, then undergoing re



28           IHANNAH MORE.
pairs. She wandered over the grounds, and
stole into his temple, a quiet garden retreat,
containing, among other things, a chair curiously wrought from the tree which grew in
Shakspeare's garden.
"I sat in it," wrote she to Mrs. Gwatkin,
"'but caught no inspiration. What drew my
attention most was a splendid statue of that
great and original man, in an attitude strikingly pensive; his limbs strongly muscular, his
countenance expressive of some vast conception, and his whole form seeming the bigger
from some immense idea, with which you suppose his imagination pregnant.  The statue
cost ~500."
The drama was then a favorite with Hannah More: her first article was dramatic, and
she had already sketched some -of the thrilling
scenes in Hebrew history, which afterwards
appeared in the form  of "Sacred Dramas."
No wonder that Garrick was at once an object
of curiosity and interest. It was in the character of King Lear that she first beheld his
remarkable powers, a graphic description of
which in a letter to a mutual friend inspired
him with the strongest desire to see and know
her. Though somewhat past the prime of life,




LONDON SOCIETY.            29
having nearly reached his sixtieth year, Garrick's frame still retained the flexibility and
vigor of earlier days. With genius and refinement, "the finest man in the world for
sprightly conversation," as Johnson tells us,
his house, adorned by Eva Maria his beautiful and accomplished wife, was a centre of
attraction to the literary circles of that period.
An introduction soon followed: the interview gave mutual pleasure, and the foundations of a warm  and cordial intimacy were
laid, vwhich lasted until his death.  Garrick
immediately introduced his new friend into the
elegant circle over which Mrs. Montagu presided: she soon became a frequent guest at
Berkeley-square, and a favorite of the choice
spirits of that day.
But Hannah longed to behold the wonder
of the age, " Irene Johnson!" "Dictionary
Johnson!" "Idler, Rambler Johnson!"  Calling one day at Sir Joshua's, she learned he
was within: her friends tried to moderate her
eagerness by hinting at the rudeness of his
manners. On entering the room, she was
agreeably surprised by a cordial greeting in a
verse of her own poetry and a condescending




80           HlANNAH MORE.
advance to receive her. Sir Joshua's macaw
was jauntily perched on his arm, a favorite of
the doctor for its appreciating estimate of
young Northcote's work —a portrait of one of
the servants, whom the bird mistaking for the
original, against which it harbored a grudge,
flew at it with the greatest fury, and nearly
picked the canvas to pieces.
Hannah was favorably impressed, and not
long afterwards, in company with Miss Reynolds, she paid Dr. Johnson a visit at his own
lodgings. On entering his little parlor, they
found it occupied by a pale, shrunken old
lady, dressed in scarlet, her head covered by
a black lace hood with stiff projecting wings.
Jumping into a great armchair, which she naturally concluded could be nobody's accustomed
seat but the doctor's, Hannah playfully invoked the inspiration of his genius.
Their hostess was Miss Anna Williams, the
blind poetess, who for forty years was sheltered beneath the doctor's roof. The daughter
of an early friend, on coming up to London,
before his wife's death, for the purpose of having an operation performed upon her eyes, she
was invited to his house. Failing in the expected aid, Dr. Johnson offered her a home,




LONDON SOCIETY.            31
Her destitute situation enlisted the sympathy
of his friends, and she received from them
substantial support. Garrick gave her a benefit, Mrs. Montagu allowed her ten pounds a
year, and Miss Carter electioneered a long
subscription for her poems.
The heavy tread of the host is at the door:
he enters: behold his burly and unwieldy
body, with face disfigured by scrofula, and
head surmounted by a large, bushy, grayish
wig, well singed, or perhaps quite crisp in
fronrt-a fright, to the respectable company of
wigs with which it daily associates: its master's eyes are both weak and near-sighted, and'
in his absorbing, interest for a favorite author,
he often brings them in dangerous proximity
to the,light, quite regardless of consequences.
On his dining with distinguished guests at Leicester-fields, Sir Joshua's butler used to take
the liberty of replacing the old wig with one
more suitable to the dignity of the occasion.
He is dressed in plain brown clothes, black
worsted stockings, and silver knee-buckles.
H-is rolling gait, with the odd and convulsive
twists of his unwieldy body, added to a harsh
and imperious voice, were sufficiently disagreeable to repulse the least fastidious.




82           -HIANNAH MO RE.
At the time of Hannah's introduction to
him, he was past sixty-five, bearing the accumulated infirmities of age and disease, yet
keenly alive as ever to the pleasures of conversation and tea. No person probably enjoyed more the cup which "cheers but not
inebriates," or possessed a more appreciative
sense of the qualities of Bohea.
Come early or late, the: tea-table was sure
to be spread. By the friendlyinspiration of
the fragrant leaf, his morning was endured,
his evenings solaced; and he could talk the
twenty-four hours together without weariness
or rest, if a considerate regard to the bedtime of his friends did not occasionally release
them from his company.
" I lie down," he once said, "that my acquaintance may sleep; for I lie down to endure
oppressive misery, and soon rise again to pass
the night in anxiety and pain." Poor Johnson's bodily existence was.a torture.
As he enters the little parlor in Fleetstreet, the callers are cordially received; he
laughs heartily at Hannah, and disowns all
special occupancy of the armchair in which she
sits.
Perhaps they discuss his "Journey to the




LONDON SOCIETY.            33
Hebrides," just published, a work investing
the dryest subject with interest, and turning a
most barren spot to profitable account, four
thousand copies of the work having been sold
the first week of its publication.
On H[annah's return to Bristol, in 1774,
her feelings became warmly enlisted for her
favorite candidate in the Parliament election
then going on, Hon. Edmund Burke, who made
the friendship, and was a frequent guest of the
Misses More. When his success at the polls
became certain, the sisters presented him their
congratulatory addresses; throughl a splendid
cockade, composed of "-the sublime and beautiful" colors analyzed in his famous essay,
twined with myrtle, decorated with silver tassels, and filled with appropriate mottoes. The
box was handed him in a large party; and
being opened, the cockade was taken out amid
the applauses of his friends and a general
curiosity concerning the giver. Burke declared it could only be from the Park-street
sisters. It was elevated to a conspicuous sitnation in the committee-room, and graced his
cap on the day of his triumph.




.34          EHANNAH MORE.
CHAPTER  III.
A PEEP AT THE BLUES.
THE, bright world of intellectual life and
social elegance' into which Hannah- More was
suddenly and unexpectedly ushered, while it
brought her into the society of people whom it
was a pleasure and a privilege to know, also
brought her:into contact with amusemnents and
habits not only foreign to her tastes, but opposed to her principles.  In her free home
letters, full of good sense and graphic description, she opens a loophole into her heart and
habits.
The following was written during her second visit to London, in 1775:
" Our visit was at Sir Joshua's, where we
were received with all the friendship imaginable.  I am going to-day to a great dinner:
nothing can be conceived so absurd, extravagant, and fantastical,: as the present mode of
dressing the head. - Simplicity and modesty
are things so much exploded, that their very
names are no longer remembered. I have just
escaped from one of the fashionable disfigur



A PEEP AT THE BLUES.          35
ers; and though I charged him to dress me
with the greatest simplicity, and to have only a
very distant eye upon the fashion, just enough
to-avoid the pride of singularity,-yet in'spite
of all these sage cautions, I absolutely blush
at myself and turn to the glass with as much
caution as a vain beauty just risen from the
small-pox, which cannot be a more disfiguring
disease than the present mode of dress.  Of
the one, the calamity may be greater in its
consequences; but of the other, it is more corrupt in its cause.' We have been reading a treatise on the
morality of Shakspeare.  It is a happy-and
easy way of filling a book that the present
race of authors have arrived at-that of criticizing the works of some eminent poet, with
monstrous extracts and short remarks. It is
a species of cookery that I begin to grow tired
of: they cut up their authors in chops, and by
adding a little crumbled bread of their own,
and tossing it up a little, they present it as a
fresh dish: you are to dine upon the poet; the
critic supplies the garnish, yet has the credit
as well as the profit of the whole entertainmernt. "




HANNAH MORE
"LONDON, 1775.
"I had yesterday the pleasure of dining in
Hill-street, Berkeley-square, at a certain Mrs.
Montagu's, a name not totally obscure. The
party consisted of herself, Mrs. Carter, Dr.
Johnson, Salander, and Matty, Mrs. Boscawen,
Miss Reynolds, and Sir Joshua —the idol of
every company —some other persons of high
rank and less wit, and your humble servant, a
party that would not have disgraced the table
of Lelius or of Atticus.  I felt myself a worm,
the more a worm for the consequence which
was given me by mixing me with such a society; but as. I told Mrs. Boseawen, and with
great truth, I had an opportunity of making
an experiment of my heart, by which I learned
that I was not envious, for I certainly did not
repine at being the meanest person in company.
"  rs. Montagu received me with the most
encouraging kindness; she is not only the finest genius, but the' finest lady I ever saw. She
lives in the highest style of magnificence; her
apartments and table are in the most splendid
taste: but what baubles are these when speakof a Montagu!  Her form-for she has no
body-is delicate even to fragility; her coun



A PEEP AT THE BLUES.
tenancc the most ainimated in the world; the
sprightly vivacity of fifteen with the judgment
and experience of a:Nestor.. -But I fear she is
hastening to decay very fast. Her spirits are
so active that they must soon wear out the
little frail receptacle that holds them.  M[rs.
Carter has in her person a great deal of what
the gentlemenemean when they say such a one
is a'poetical lady.' However, independently
of her great talents and learning, I like her
much: she has affability, kindness, and goodless, and I honor her heart even more than
her talents. Iut I do not like one of them
better than Mrs. Boscawen: she is at once polite, learned, judicious, and humble;  and Mrs.
Palk tells me her letters are not thought infeTior to Mrs. Montagu's. She regretted-so did
— that so many suns could not possibly shine
at one time:-but we are to have a smaller
party, where fromn fewer luminaries there may
emanate a clearer, steadier, and more beneficial light. Dr. Johnson asked me how I liked
the new tragedy of Braganze. I was afraid to
speak before company: however, as I' thought
it a less evil to: dissent from the opinion of a
fellow-creature than to tell a falsity, I ventured
to give my sentiments, and was satisfied with




38            HANNAH MORE.
Johnson's answering,'You are right, mad-"
ain."
With sisterly pride, and in a tone of affectionate eulogy, Sarah, who joined Hannah in
her winter-sojourning at Lolndon, thus writes,
in -her bright and lively style,' to the sisterhood
at Bristol:
"LONDON, 1775.
""Tuesday evening.we'. drank tea at Sir
Joshua's,' with Dr. Johnson.'Hannah is certainly a great favorite. She was placed next
him, and they had the enitire conversation- to
themselves., They were both'in remarkably
high'spirits: it was certainly her lucky night.
I never heard her say so many good' things.
The old genius was extremely jocular, and:the
young one very: pleasant.. - You would have
imagined we had been at some comedy, had
you heard our peals of laughter. They indeed
tried which could'pepper the highest,' and it
is not clear to me that the lexicographer was
really the highest seasoner. Yesterday,' Mr.
Garrick called upon us; a volume of Pope lay
upon the table: we asked him to read, and he
went through the' latter part of the'Essay on
Man.'  He was exceedingly good -humored,
and expressed himself quite delighted with




A PEEP AT THE BLUES.           39
our- eager desire for information; and.wheni
he'. hadd satisfied: our iinterrogatory,' Now,;
madam, what next?'  He'read several lines
we hlad been disputing about,' with regard to
emphasis, in many different ways,- before.he
decided which was' right.'. He'sat- with, us
from half-past twelve till three, reading and
criticizing.  We have just had a call fronm Mr.
Burke."' LONDON, 11175.
"'Bear me, some god, 0 quickly bear me hence,
To wholesome solitude, the nurse of —''Sense,' I was going- to add, in the words of
Pope, till I recollected that pence had a more
appropriate meaning, and was as good a rhyme.
This apostrophe broke from me,"'writes Hannah, "on coming from the opera, the first I ever
did, the last, I trust, I ever Shall go to. For
what purpose has the Lord of the universe
made his creature man with a comprehensive
mind? why make him a little lower than the
angels? why give him the faculty of thinking,
the powers of wit and memory, and to crown
all, an immortal and never-dying spirit? Why,all this wondrous waste, this prodigality of
bounty, if the mere animal senses Of sight and
hearing-by which he is not'distiniguished from




4:0          H'ANNAh MORE.
the brutes that perish-would have answeredc!
the end as well? and yet I find that the same,
people are seen. at the opera every night, an
amusement written in a language the greater
part of them do not understand, and performed
by such a set of beings. But the man'Who bade the reign commence
Of rescued nature and reviving sense,
sat at. my elbow, and reconciled me to my situation, not by his approbation, but his presence.  Going to the opera, like getting drunk,
is a sin that carries its own punishment with
it, and that a very severe one.  Thank my
dear Dr. Stonehouse for his kind and seasonable admonitions on my last Sunday's engagement at Mrs. Montagu's. Conscience had done
its office before; nay, was busy at the time;
and if it did not dash the cup of pleasure to
the ground, infused at least a tincture of wormwood into it. I did think of the alarming call,' What doest thou here, Elijah?' and I thought
of it to-night at the opera."
"Sunday night, 9 o'clock.
"Perhaps you will say I ought to have
thought of it again to-day, when I tell you I
have dined abroad; but it is a day I reflect on




A PEEP AT THE BLUES.          41
without those uneasy sensations one has when
one is conscious it has been spent iii trifling
company.  I have been at Mrs. Boscawen's.
Mrs. Montagu, Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Chapone, and
myself only' were admitted.  We spent the
time, not as wits, but as reasonable creatures;
better characters, I trow.  The conversation
was sprightly, but serious. I have not enjoyed
an afternoon so much since I have been in
town.  There was much sterling sense, and
they are all ladies of high character for piety,
of which, however, I do not think their visiting on Sunday any proof; for though their conversation is edifying, the example is bad.
"The more I see of the'honored, famed,
and great,' the more I see of the littleness, the
unsatisfactoriness of all created good, and that
no earthly pleasure can fill up the wants of
the immortal principle within.'One need go
no farther than the company I have just left,
to be convinced that'pain is for man,' and
that fortune, talents, and science, are no exemption from the universal lot.  Mrs. Montagu, eminently distinguished for wit and
virtue,'the wisest where all are wise,' is hastening to insensible decay by a slow but sure
hectic.  Mrs. Chapone has experienced the




42             HANNAH MORE.
severest reverses of fortune; and MArs. Boscawen's life has been a continued series of afflictions, that may almost bear a parallel.vith
those of the righteous man of Uz.  Tell me,
then; what is it to be wise?  This, you will
say, is exhibiting the unfavorable side of- the
picture of humcanity; but i; is the right side,
the side that shows the likeness."




LITERARY. BLOSSOMINGS.         43
CHAPTER  ITV.
LITERARY BLOSSOMINGS.
WHILE IMliss Maore was at home in the winter of 1775, she one day said to her sisters,
"I have been so fed with praise, I think I will
venture to try what my real value is, by writing a slight poem.:"
Her social position was much changed since
the Pastoral Drama issued from her pen at
the desk of the noisy school-room, beyond
which her fame and influence were but just
extending.
Within a fortnight two poems were completed, " Sir Eldred of the Bower," and " The
Bleeding Rock." These, on her return to London, she presented to a well-known publisher,
Cadell, who offered her forty guineas, promising at the same time, could she discover what
Goldsmith received for his " Deserted Tillage,".
to increase the sumn to that amount.
Of this flattering award of pounds and
pence, the "Deserted Village" has now no
right to feel envious, for it has a perpetual




44           H11ANNAH I ORE.
inheritance in our hearts, while " Sir Eldred,"
after a brief patronage from the great men of
his day, has passed into obscurity and neglect.
Miss Sally kIvore, who accompanied Hannah to London, writes home the gratifying
news: "From Miss Reynolds we learn that
Sir Eldred is the theme of conversation in all
the polite circles, and that the beauteous Bertha has kindled a flame in the cold heart of
Johnson, who declares that her parent has but
one fault, which is, suffering herself to graze
upon the barren rocks of Bristol, while the
rich pastures of London are guarded by no
fence which could exclude her from them."
In another letter she adds, " If a wedding
should take place before our return, do n't be
surprised —between the mother of Sir Eldred
and the father of Irene; nay, Mrs. 2Iontagn
says, if tender words are the precursors of
connubial e-ngagements, we may expect great
things; for it is nothing but'child,''a little
fool,''love,' and'dearest.' After much critical discourse, le turns round to me, and with
one of his most amiable looks, which must be
seen to form the least idea of, he says,'I have
heard you are engaged in the useful and hon.




LITERARY BLOSSOMP}INGS.       45
orable occupation of teaching young ladies;'
upon which, with all the ease, familiarity, and
confidence we should have done had only our
dear Dr. Stonehouse been present, we entered
upon the history of our birth, parentage, and
education, showing how we were born with
more desires than guineas, and how as years
increased our appetites, the cupboard at length
began to grow too small for them, and how
with a bottle of water, a bed and a blanket,
we set out to seek our fortunes; and how we
found a great house with nothing in it; and
how it was like to remain so, till, looking into
our knowledge-boxes, we happened to find a
little learning a very good thing when land is
gone; and so at last, by giving a little of this
to those who had less, we got a good store of
gold in return; but how, alas, we wanted the
wit to keep it.'I love you. both,' cried the
doctor.'I love you all five. I never was at
Bristol; T will come on purpose to see you.
What, five women live happily together! I
will come and see you. I have spent a happy
evening; I am glad I came; God for ever keep
you; you live to shame duchesses.' He took
his leave with so imuch warlmth and tenderness
we were quite affected by his manner."




46            HANNAH MORE.
The sisters visited Garrick at his pleasant
rural home at Hampton, where he entertained
them by reading a whimsical correspondence
in prose and verse, carried on for many years
with the first geniuses of that age.';We see him now," says Patty, "in his
mellower light, when the world has been shaken off.  He says he longs to enter into himself, and to study the more important duties
of life, which he is determined upon doing.
The next time we go, Hannah is to carry some
of her writing; she is to have a little table by
herself, and to continue her studies, while he
does the same."
"I dined at the Adelphi yesterday," writes
Hannah, in one of her letters home, revealing
just what we want to know. "It was a particular occasion, an annual meeting, where nothing
but men are usually asked. I, however, was of
the party, and an agreeable day it was to me.
I have seldom heard so mluch wit under the
banner of so much decorum. Colman and Dr.
Schomburg were of the party; the rest were
chiefly old doctors of divinity. At six I begged
leave to come home, as I expected a polite assembly a little after seven. They came at seven. The dramatis personh were Mrs.lBoscawen,




LITERARY BLOSSOMINGS.         47
Mrs. Garrick, and Miss Reynolds: my beaux
were Dr. Johnson, Dean Tucker, and last, but
not least in our love, David Garrick. You
know that wherever Johnson is, the confinemnent to the tea-table is rather a durable situation, and it was an hour and a half before I
got my enlargement. Garrick was the very
soul of the company, and I never saw Johnson
in such perfect good-humor. Sally knows that
we have often heard that one can never properly enjoy the company of these two unless
they are together. There is great truth in this
remark; for after the dean and Mrs. Boscawen-who were the only strangers —were
withdrawn, and the rest stood up to go, Johnson and Garrick began a close encounter, telling old stories,'e'en from their boyish dclays,'
at Litchfield. We all stood around them for
above an hour, laughing in defiance of every
rule of Chesterfield.  Johnson outstaid them
all, and sat with me half an hour."
At the repeated solicitations of the Gars
ricks, Miss More soon after took up her abode
at the Adelphi, their town house, of which she
humorously says, "'The master and mistress
are sensible, well-behaved people, and keep
good company; besides, they are fond of books,




48            HANNAH MORE.
and can read, and have a shelf full, which they
lend me. Add to this, it is not a common lodging-house: they are careful whom they take in,
and will have no people of bad character, or
who keep irregular hours.
"I have a great deal of time at my own
disposal, to read my own books and see my
own friends; and whenever I please, may join
in the most elegant and polished society in the
world.  Our breakfasts are little literary societies; there is generally company at meals, as
they think it saves tim e, by avoiding the necessity of seeing people at other seasons.  ir.
Garrick sets the highest value upon his time.
I detest and' avoid public places more than
ever, and should make a miserably bad fine
lady."
Some idea may be formed of her industry,
that among all this social attraction, she could
find time to read four or five hours every day,
and sometimes write ten.
There is somethinog heart-warming in the
cordial and unfettered intercourse of HIannah
and her London friends. The circle contained
almost everv element for social enjoyment:
none indeed has been more famed for colloquial powers, to which wit, learning, and re



LITERARY BLOSSOMINGS.           49
finement, good-breeding, good-nature, and goodsense, made generous contributions.
Miss More once said to Horace Walpole,
that "the truest objects of warn attachment
are the small parts of great characters." VWho
does not love Cowper taming his hares, or enjoy Johnson sipping his tea, or Pope at work
in his garden, when the talents which inspired
our admiration, and seemed to lift their possessor beyond the common reach of our sympathies, take pleasure in those slender joys
which make up the sum of common happiness?
" Let me tell you a ridiculous circumstance
which happened the other day," writes lHannah in one of her delightfal home - letters.
"After dinner Garrick took up the Mionthly
Peview-civil gentlemen, by thie by, these
monthly reviewers-and read'Sir Eldred'
with all his grace and pathos.  I think I was
never so ashamed in my life; but he read it so
superlatively that I cried like a child.  Only
think, what a scandalous thing to cry at the
reading of one's own poetry!  I could have
beaten myself; for it looked as if I thought it
very moving, which I can truly say is far fron
being the case. But the beauty of the jest lies
in this: Mrs. Garrick twinkled as well as I,. Bf1oro.         3




50            HANNAH MORE.
and made as many apologies for crying at her
husband's reading, as I did for crying at my
own verses. She got out of the scrape by pretending that she was touched by the story, and
I by saying the same thing of the reading. It
furnished us a great laugh at the catastrophe,
when it really would have been decent to have
been a little more sorrowful."
Garrick, for so many years the pride of
the English stage, was now about to quit it for
the calm of private life. Having nearly reached his " chair age," and becoming increasingly
subject to severe attacks of sickness, he resolved to leave with all his honors thick upon him.
Before doing so, he consented once more, and
for the last time, to exhibit his remarkable
powers, and for two or three weeks Drury
Lane was filled with admiring audiences. In
the character of Hamlet, Garrick is said to
have excelled-filling, with singular power,
says one, the whole soul of the spectator, and
transcending the most finished idea of the poet.
"I have at last," writes Hannah on this
occasion to Dr. Stonehouse, "had the entire
satisfaction of seeing Garrick in Hamlet. Posterity will never be able to form the slightest
idea of his powers. The more I see him, the




LITERARY BLOSSOMINGS.            51
more I wonder and admire.  It seems to me
as if I had been assisting at the funeral obsequies of the poets. I feel almost as much pain
as pleasure. He is quite happy in the prospect of his release."
The strong intelligence of his eye, the animated and ever - varying expression  of his
whole countenance, the flexibility of his voice,
with his grace and ease of attitude, is said altogether to have produced an indescribable and
profound impression upon the mind, and one
which no language can convey to another.
At the final parting Garrick wept, while
tears and applauses accompanied him fromn the
stage.  This occurred in May, 1776.
He soon afterwards disposed of his share
in Drury Lane for ~35,000, and retreated to
domestic privacy.  Touching the event, Hannah expressed herself in the concluding verses
of a little poem, written after her return to
Bristol, and addressed to Dragon, Garrick's
favorite dog.
"How wise, long pampered with applause,
To make a voluntary pause,
And lay his laurels down!
Boldly repelling each strong claim,
To dare assert to wealth and fame,
Enough of both I've known.




52  HANNAH M O RE.
How wise, a short retreat to steal,
The vanity of life to feel,
And from its cares to fly:
To act one calm, domestic scene,
Earth's bustle and the grave between,
Retire, and learn to die."'
What Dragon failed to appreciate, the poet
naturally concluded his master would.  3Manuscript copies were handed around and read
by her friends, until she was induced to publish it in 1778, when a thousand copies were
sold in a single week.
On the following  summer we find Mliss
Afore journeying into TNorfolk, hunting up old
firiends of her father, visiting country cousins,
eating brown bread and custards, and thoroughly appreciating all the good-sense which
fell in her way.
lannah. never knew whether to be angry
or ashamed, whether to scold or to blush at
the fashionable impositions of her day.  "I
protest," she exclaimed, in speaking of solme
young ladies who came in to pay her an evening's visit, " I hardly do them  justice when I
pronounce that they had among thlem, on their
heads, an acre and a half of shrubbery, besides
slopes, grass-plats, tulip-beds, clumps of peonies, kitchen-gardens, and green-houses."




LITERARY BLOSSOMINGS.           53
"Some ladies carry on their heads a large
quantity of fruit, and yet they would despi.ge a
poor, usefli member of society who carried it
there for the purpose of selling it for bread.
Spirit of Addison,"' she humorously supplicates,
"thou, who with such fine humor and polished
sarcasm didst lash the cherry-colored hood and
party patches, and cut down a whole harvest
of follies, awake; for the follies thou didst lash
were but the beginning of follies, and the absurdities thou didst censure were but the seeds
of absurdities."'
(Garrick, it is said, struck the first blow to
this fashionable folly, by appearing one evening on the stage, his cap decorated with a profusion of every sort of vegetable, with a huge
carrot hanging do wn on either side.
One cannot help thinking that that te spirit of
reform 1has been heard in the councils of fashion, for her sway is surely more benign in our
own day; indeed, when we compare the frightful
wigs and cushions, the high-heeled shoes and
buckram  bodices of our grandamles, with the
comparative ease and naturalness of our own
times, one cannot help hoping that Fashion
has entered into a league of good-fellowship
with Nature, graciously allowing her the exer



54      ~     A~I~~AWHANNAH MIORE.
cise of somne of her inalienable rights to life
and liberty, if not to the pursuit of happiness.
But if the follies of London, aped in the
retreats of Hertfordshire, pained and provoked
her, she found some amends in a visit to Mrs.
Barbauld, and in the sterling merits of her
cousin Cotton, from' whose style of living she
draws the following sensible conclusion, true
all the world over, and worthy the serious
consideration of people whose expenses are
getting the better of their principles and their
purses.  "I have long ago found out that
hardly anybody but frugal, plain people do
generous things.  Our cousin Cotton, who I
dare say is often ridiculed for his simplicity
and frugality, could yet lay down ~200, without being sure of ever receiving a shilling interest, for the laudable purpose of establishing
a worthy minister, to whom he is still a very
considerable contributor.  This is commonly
the case; and I am apt to conceive a prejudice
against everybody who makes a great figure,
and to suspect those who talk generously."
On her return, she accomnpanied the Garricks to Farnborough-place, the residence of
Mr. Wilmot, where she met, among other dis



LITERARY BLOSSOMINGS.         55
tinguished guests, Dr. Kennicott, Hebrew Professor of Oxford, and his wife, with whom Miss
More formed a life-long friendship.
In the year 1777, at the urgent entreaty
of Garrick, she determined to try her powers
for the stage, and "Percy;" was the fruit of
her labors.  Delighted with her success, he
recommended it to Mr. Harris the manager of
Drury Lane.  The tragedy was accepted, and
preparations were speedily made for bringing
it out. Hannah went to London to bespeak a
prologue from Garrick, who humorously begged to know what she meant to pay him; Dryden, he declared, used to have five guineas;
but as he was a richer man, he would be content with a handsome supper. The author insisted she could only afford a beef-steak and a
bottle of porter. At last they settled down on
toast and honey-highly flavored, we may venture to add, with wit and good-humor.
Percy was received with acclamation, and
for twelve nights was played to overflowing
houses, netting her ~700.
The Dukle of Northumberland and the Earl
of Percy sent to congratulate her on her great
success, and to thank her for the honor she had
done them by selecting her subject from the




56            EHANNAH MORE.
historical records of their family.  Detained
at home by the gout, they sent and bought
tickets, for which they paid as "became the
blood of the IPereies.'
"1/lany scenes in this play," says Davies,
Garrick's biographer, "progolsticate to our
stage a rising genius in tragedy, who in time
will produce scenes not inferior to the best of
Otway and Southernm, witout that mixture of
licentiousness and vulgarity which disgrace the
productions of these writers."
The success of Percy increased the interest
already felt in HIannah More by her London
friends. She was beset with engagements and
visitations.  One day we find her at Sir Josha's, another at lirs. Hontagn's, with ]frs.
Chapone, Idrs. Bosc awen, and Myiss Carter;
another at the Garricks', with the "S' our-crout
party," a meeting of learned men once a week
at dinner, at which sour-crout always made a
dish, and to which Miss Mivore was always invited when she was in town.
"They are playing Percy," writes its anthor to her sisters, "at this very momlent, for
the seventh time.   I never think of going: it
is very odd, but it does not aamuse me."'
"Last night was the nini;lth of Percy: it




LITERARY BLOSSOMINGS.          57
was a brilliant house, and I was there.  Lady
NTorth did me the honor to take a stage-box.
I trembled when the wickedness of going to
war was spoken, as I was afraid my Lord was
in th: house, and that speech, though not written with any particular design, is so bold, and
is so warmly received, that it frightens me.
Mrs. Montagu had a box again, which, as she
is a consummate critic, and is hardly ever seen
at a public place, is a great credit to the play.
We spent an agreeable evening together at Dr.
Cadogan's, where she and I, being the only
two monsters in the creation who never touch
a card-and laughed at enough we are for ithad the fireside to ourselves, and a more elegant
and instructive conversation I have seldom enjoyed.  I met Mrs. Chapone one day at Mirs.
M/iontagu's: she is one of Percy's warmest admirers; and as she does not go to plays, but
has formed her opinion in the closet, it is more
flattering."
"]Mrs. Garrick came to me this morning,
and wished 1me to go to the Adelphi, which I
declined doing, being so ill. Shne would have
gone herself to fetch me a physician, and insisted upon sending me my dinner, which I
refused; but at six this evening, when Gar3*




58            HANNAIH MORE.
rick came to the Turk's Iftead to dine, there
accompanied him in the coach a minced chicken in the stew-pan, hot, a canister of her fine
tea, and a pot of cream.  Were there ever
such people? Tell it not in epic or lyric that
the great Roscius rode with a stew-pan of
minced meat with him in the coach, for my
dinner. Percy is acted again this evening;
do any of you choose to go?  For my own
part, I shall enjoy a much superior pleasurethat of sitting by the fire, in a good chair, and
being denied to all company: what is Percy to
this?"
Miss More remained at London during the
winter, and in April,. 1778, returned to Bristol, where she spent the summer in the quiet
enjoyment of home.




DEATH OF GARRICK.          59
CHAPTER V.
DEATH OF GARRICK-THEATRICAL AMUSEMENTS.
THE New-year's greetings of 1779 had
scarcely died away before the tidings of Garrick's death startled the English public. Amid
the Christmas festivities of Althorp he was
suddenly attacked by his old complaint the
stone, whose premonitory warnings he had disregarded in leaving home and mingling at all
in the gayeties of the season.
Recovering a little, he was carried to London, where it was thought skill and attention
might again restore him. The distemper not
yielding to the usual remedies, some of the
most able practitioners of the city came unbidden to his bedside; but the power of human
science and the faithful nursing of his wife
availed not.  Life was ebbing.  His family
physician informed him that if he had any
worldly affairs to settle, it would be prudent
to despatch them as soon as possible.
"I have nothing of that kind to do," answered Garrick, on whose now wan and sunken




60           HLIANNAH 1 ORE.
face the shadow of death was already passing.
Wednesday morning, January 20th, 1779,
witnessed his closing act in the great drama of
life.
Obedient to the summons of the afflicted
wife, Hannah arose from her sick-bed and hastened to the house of death.  MJrs. Garrick
sutnk into her arnms.  "1I have this moment
embraced his coffin, and you come next," she
exclaimed with a bursting heart; " the goodness of God to me is inexpressible.  I do not
deserve it, but I am thankful for it."
TWhat a change in the princely mansion!
the wit, the genius, the presence of its " wellgraced master"' were no longer there. Sorrow
sat upon every household face, and the rooms
were hullg with the drapery of mnournllin.
After mingling her tears and ministering
her consolations to the living, she paid a melancholy visit to all that was left of the departed.
"His new lhouse,; she says, "is not so
pleasant as Hanmpton or so splendid as the
Adelphi, but it is commodious enough for thel
wants of its inhabitant; and besides, it is so
quiet that he will never be disturbed until




DEATH OF GARRICK.             61
the  eternal morning.  May he  then  find
Inery."
The funeral solemnities took place on the
first of February, with all the pomp and circumstance of an English public burial, when
his body was laid in the poet's corner, beneath
the tomb of Shakspeare in Westminster Abbey.
Hannah, accompanied by HMiss Cadogan,
sat in a little gallery directly over the grave,
where she could distinctly hear and see the
solemn ceremony.  "' And this is all of Garrick," was the sad utterance of her heart; "yet
a very little while and he shall say to the
worm, Thou art my brother; and to corruption, Thou art my mother and my sister.  So
passes away tnhe fashion of this vrorid."
iiss fMore, after Garricie's death, wrote
two more dramas, "The Fatal Falsehood,' and
"The Inflexible Captive;" and with these
closed her contributions to the stage.  This
period of intellectual excitement and literary
success was brief as it was brilliant; her views
of theatrical amusenments began to change, and
a few years later she came to regard them as
dangerous to morals and hostile to C0hristian
virtue.
There are few perhaps whose opinions upon




62            HANNAH MORE.
this subject are more entitled to respect. Her
social connections and friendly intercourse
with Garrick would have tempted her to view
them. in the most favorable light, nor could she
be accused of any secret or early bias against
them, it being then thought no disparagement
to the-religious character of dignitaries and
members of the church to frequent the theatre.
"Why," let us ask, "why write for the
stage at all?"
" Because," she replies, " I was led to entertain what I must now think a delusive hope,
that the stage, under certain regulations, might
be converted into a school of virtue; that
though a bad play would always be a bad
thing, yet the representation of a good one
might become not only harmless, but useful.
On these grounds I attempted some theatrical
compositions, which, whatever other defects
might be justly imputed to them, should at
least have been written on the side of virtue
and modesty, and which should neither hold
out any corrupt image to the mind nor any
impure description to the fancy."
Are not then good plays harmless, nay,
improving?
"There will still remain," she replies. " even




THEATRICAL AMUSEMENTS.           63
in tragedies otherwise the most unexceptionable, provided they are sufficiently impassioned
to produce a powerful effect on the feelings,
and have spirit enough to deserve to become
popular, an essential, radical defect.  What I
insist on is, that there almost inevitably runs
through the whole web of the tragic drama a
prominent thread of false principle. It is generally the leading object of the poet to erect a
standard of honor, in direct opposition to the
standard of Christianity.  Worldly honor is
the very soul and spirit and life-giving principle of the drama. It is her moral and political
law. Fear and shame are the capital crimes
in her code. Love, jealousy, hatred, ambition,
pride, revenge, are too often elevated into the
rank of splendid virtues, and form a dazzling
system of worldly morality in direct contradiction to the spirit of Christianity. The fruits
of the Spirit and the fruits of the stage, if the
parallel were followed up, would exhibit as
pointed a contrast as human imagination could
-conceive."
What, must the merits of every play be
tried by the Ten Commandments?
"We may at least venture to answer, that
they should contain nothing hostile to them.




64            HANNAH MORE.
If harmless merriment be not expected to advance our moral improvement, we must take
care that it do not oppose it; for if we concede that our amusements are not expected to
make us better than we are, ought we not to
be careful that they do not make us worse
than they-find us?   Whatever pleasantry of
idea or gayety of sentiment we admit, should
we not jealously watch against anlly unsoundness in the general principle or mischief in the
prevailing tendency?'7
But what essential difference is there between reading a play and seeing it acted? Surely one would not object to reading dramatic
composition.
"I think there is a substantial difference,"2
she still argues, "between seeing and reading
a dramatic composition, and that the objections which lie so strongly against the one, are
not, at least in the same degree, applicable to
the other.  While there is an essential and
inseparable danger attendant on dramatic exhibitions, the danger in reading a play arises
solely from the improper sentiments contained
in it. It is the semblance of real action which
is given to the piece by different persons supporting the different parts, and by their dress,




THEATRICAL AMUSEMENTS.           65
tones, andl gestures, heighteninog' the representation into a kind of enchantment. It is the
pageantry, the splendor of the spectacle, and
even the show of the spectators, these are tthe
circumstances which fill the theatre, produce
the effect, and create the danger.  These give
a pernicious force to sentiments which, when
read, may merely explain the mysterious action
of the human heart, but whlich when thus nttered and accompanied, become contagious and
destructive.  These, in short, makle up a scene
of temptation and seduction, of overwrought
voluptuousness and unnerving pleasnre, which
ill accords with a desire to be enlightened by
the doctrines, or governed by the principles of
the gospel of Jesus Christ./"
But may not the stage become purified, so
as to render it at least harmless and unoljectionable?
" What the stage mnight be under another
and an imaginary state of things, it is not very
easy for us to know, and therefore not very
important to inquire.  Nor is it the soundest
logic to argue on the possible goodness of a
thing which, in the present circumstances of
society, is doing positive evil, from the imagined
good that thing might be conjectured to produce




GO            I HANNAH MiORE.
in a supposed state of unattainable improvement; for unfortunately nothing can be done
until not only the stage itself has undergone
complete purification, but until the audience
shall be purified also. We must first suppose
a state of society in which the spectators will
be disposed to relish all that is pure, and to
reprobate all that is corrupt, before the system of a pure and uncorrupt theatre can be
adopted with any reasonable hope of success:
there must always be a harmony between the
taste of the spectator and the nature of the
spectacle, in order to produce pleasure; for
people go to a play not to be instructed, but
to be amused."
Let every thoughtful parent, doubting Christian, or tempted youth, read carefully and ponder seriously these positions. There is perhaps no question in Christian education more
difficult to settle than what amusements are
safe for our children, or what recreations the
young Christian, away from the restraints and
pastimes of home, may engage in with safety
to himself and honor to his divine Master.
We would point the latter to those principles laid down to Wesley by his mother:
"Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the




THEATRICAL AMUSEMENTS.          6'1
tenderness of your conscience, obscures your
sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiritual things, in short, whatever increases the
strength and authority of your body over your
mind, that thing is szn to you, however innocent it may be in itself."
And yet you may be placed amid influences which for a time may blind your judgment,
and persuade you from your steadfastness: you
find yourself overpowered by plausible reasoning, which you cannot readily meet, and because you cannot meet it you are tempted to
yield.  You are not unlikely to find yourself
thus perplexed; what shall you do?  Shall
you yield without hearty conviction, in deference to the skill or the sneer of your companions?
What shall you do? Refer to the example
of intelligent men and women, eminent for holiness: how have devoted servants of God viewed
the subject?  What has been the Christian apprehension of the church upon the matter? It
is of no great consequence whether you understand or not the train of thought or course of
argument by which their minds were made up
and their conduct directed; you have no time
it may be, to examine them if you would: it is




68            HANNAH MIOnRE.
enough to know how they acted, and that it
will be safe and wise to imitate their example.
Do not hesitate to lean upon an argument
like this, in harmony with the spirit of the word
of God. It is no sign of weakness to take counsel of the matured judgments of Christian experience, and no sign of manliness to disregard
them.




CORRESPONDENCE.              s
CHAPTER VI.
CORRESPONDENCE.
"HAMIPTON, 1s80O.
"'I  ISH you a nerry Christmas as well as
a happy New Year, but that I hate the word
merry as so applied; it is a fitter epithet for
a bacchanalian than a Christian festival, and
seems an apology for idle mirth and injurious
excess.  What frost, what snow!  The vast
expanse of glittering white on the ground, the
fluid brilliants dropping friom the trees, and
the green-house full of beautiful blossoms and
oranges, make it altogether look like some region of enchantment; and as the gravel walks
are all swept clean, I parade an hour or two
every morning."'
"If I commijt any sin here or do any good
here, it must be in thought, for our words are
few and our deeds not at all. Poor H-lermes
1Harris is dead!  Everybody is dead, I think;
one is almost ashamed of being alive. That
you may not think I pass my time quite idly,
I must tell you that I had begun Belshazzar;




70            HANNAH MORE.
I like the subject, and have made some progress
in it. But that and all my other occupations
have given way to the melancholy employment
of reading over with Mrs. Garrick all the private letters of the dear deceased master of this
melancholy mansion. The employment, though
sad, is not without its amusement; it is reading
the friendly correspondence of all the men who
have made a figure in the annals of basiness or
of literature for the last forty years; for I think
I hardly miss a name of eminence in Great
Britain, and not many in France: it includes
also all his answers, some of the first wits in
the country confessing their obligations over
and over again to his bounty; money given to
some, and lent to such numbers as would be
incredible if one did not read it in their own
letters. It is not the least instructive part of
this employment to consider where almost all
these great men are now; the play-writers,
where are they? and the poets, are their fires
extinguished?  Did Lord Bath, or Bishop
Warburton, or Lord Chatham, or Goldsmith,
or Churchill, or Chesterfield, trouble themselves with thinking that the heads that dictated those bright epistles would so soon be
laid low?  Did they imagine that such a no



CORRESPONDENCE.             71
body as I am, whoin they would have disdained to have reckoned'with the dogs of their
flock,' should have had the arranging and disposing of them?"
"LONDON, April, 1781.
"I was last Monday at a meeting at the
Bishop of St. Asaphs, and had the pleasure of
a vast deal of snug chat with the bishop, Mr.
Walpole, Mrs. Montagu, and Mrs. Carter.
"Mrs. Kennicott tells me Bishop Lowth insists upon my publishing'Sensibility,' and all
my other poems together, immediately, that
people may have them all together. The Dean
of Gloucester has sent me his book against
Locke, splendidly bound.
" On Friday I dined at Mrs. Boscawen's.
We had a snug day and a deal of that social,
cordial chat that is so preferable to all the
mummery of great parties.
"Tuesday we were a -small and choice party
at Bishop Shipley's. Lord and Lady Spencer,
Lord and Lady Althorpe, Sir Joshua, Boswell, Gibbon, and to my agreeable surprise,
Dr. Johnson.
"Mrs. Garrick and he had never met since
her bereavement. Johnson came to see us the
next morning, and made us a long visit. On




72            iHANNAH MLiOnE.
Mrs: Garrick's telling him  she was always
more at ease with persons who  had suffered
the same loss with herself, he said that was a
comfort she could seldom  have, considering
the superiority of his merit and the cordialitv
of their union. HIe bore his strong testimony
of the liberality of Garrick.  He reproved me
with pretended sharpness for reading Pascal or
any of the Port Royal authors, alleging, that
as a good Protestant, I ought to abstain from
books written by Catholics.  I was beginning
to stand upon my defence, when he took me
with both. hands, and with a tear running down
his cheeks,'Child,' said hle, with the most affecting  earnestness,'I am heartily glad that
you read pious books, by whomsoever they
may be written.' "
"On Monday we had a farewell party at
~Mrs. Vesey's, where we were a little sad to
think how many of us might never meet again,
particularly poor TInrs. Vesey herself, who is
going to Ireland at an advanced age, and in
bad health."' On Tuesday I[rs. Boseawen carried mle to
Glanvilla; we had the pleasantest tete-a-tete
day imaginable, and  walked about and sat
under the spreading oak, and ate our cold




CO. ESPONDENCE. 
chicken, and drank our tea, as happy folks are
wont to do."
I[n June Mliss I{ore returned to her sisters,
taking Mrs. Garrick with her, who remained a
month at Bristol. HIannah stayed until December, when she again took up her abode in
her friend's faimily.
" Sensibility,'" a short poem, which a good
critic of our own day declares "should be
printed in letters of gold," had been passed
around in mannuscript among her friends, at
whose repeated and urgent request it was now
published, in company with four sacred dramas.
"The word sacred in the title is a damper
in the D)ranas,"  writes Msiss MIore.  "It is
tying a millstone about the neck of'Sensibility,' which will drown them both together."
"Bishop Lowth has just finished the Dramas, and sent me word, that although I have
paid him  the most swinging coimpliment he
ever received, he likes the whole book nmore
than he can say.  But the Bishop of Chester's
compliment is nmorle solid  he said he thought
it would do a vast deal of good-and that is
the praise best waTorfth havin g."
" Mrs. vi ontagn, Chapone, and Carter, are
mightily pleased that, I have attacked that
iF. more.           4




74  HANNAH MORE.
mock feeling and sensibility which is at once
the boast and disgrace of these times, and
which is equally deficient in taste and truth.
Ask Dr. Stonehouse if he has read'Cardiphonia,' by Mr. Newton of Olney. There is in it
much vital religion, and much of the experience
of a good Christian, who feels and laments his
own imperfections and weaknesses. I have
just finished six volumes of Jortin's sermons;
elegant, but cold and very low in doctrine:'plays round the head, but comes not to the
heart;' Cardiphonia does: I like it much,
though not every sentiment or expression that
it contains."
" On. Monday I was at a very great assembly at the Bishop of St. Asaph's. Conceive to
yourself one hundred and fifty to two hundred
people met together, dressed in the extremity
of fashion; painted as red as bacchanals; poisoning the air with perfumes; treading on each
other's gowns; making the crowd they blame;
not one in ten able to get a chair; protesting
they are engaged to ten other places, and laienting the fatigue they are not obliged to
endure; ten or a dozen card-tables crammed
with dowagers of quality, grave ecclesiastics,
and yellow admirals, and you have an idea of




CORRESPONDENCE.'5
an assembly. I never go to such things when
I can possibly avoid it, and stay when there as
few minutes as I can."'
"LONDON, 1182.
"Poor Johnson is in quite a bad state of
health: I fear his constitution is broken up; I
aml quite grieved at it; he will not leave an
abler defender of religion and virtue behind
him, and the following little touch of tenderness which I heard of him last night from one
of the Turk's Heacd Club, endears him to me
exceedingly.  There are always a great many
candidates ready, when any vacancy happens
in that club, and it requires no small interest
and reputation to get elected; but upon Garrick's death, when numberless applications
were made to succeed him, Johnson was deaf
to them all; he insisted there should Be a
year's widowhood in the club before they
thought of any new election. In Dr. Johnson
some contrarieties harmoniously meet; if he
has too little charity for the opinions of others,
and too little patience with their faults, he has
the greatest tenderness for their persons. HIe
told me the other day he hated to hear people
whine about metaphysical distresses, when there
were so much want and hunger in the world."




HANNAH PIORE.
"3Mrs. Carter and I met at a little breakfast party with a French lady who writes metaphysical books.  We got into disgrace by
saying that a little common-sense and a little
scripture would lead one much farther and
safer than volumes of metaphysics.  She forgave us, however, on condition we would read
two huge quartos which she had just translated.  What Mrs. Carter will do I know not,
but I shall certainly never fulfil mny part of the
contract."
In June, HIannah muakes a sumnaer flitting
to the IKennicott's at OxforPd, where she mnet
Dr. Johnson, and found him sad, sick, and disconsolate.
The death of his friend 3Mr. Thlrale, which
had occurred the year before, whos.e eye for
fifteen years, as Johnson tendlerly says, "had
scarcely been turned upon him but with respect
and tenderness,"' had left a void which nothing
filled; "such another friend the general course
of human things will not suiffer man to hope for."
He mournfully adds, "In our walk through
life we have dropped our companions, and are
now to pick up such as chani1e may offer to us,
or travel alone."2  As the long shadows of age
and ill health crept over him, Dr. Johnson felt




CORRESPONDENCE.              V7
the want of those homle affections which are
our best earthly solace, and which, when the
busy interests of early and middle life are
over, bear us gently and patiently to our final
rest.
In a jouriney to Oxford at this time, undertaken for the benefit of his health and spirits,
the doctor omet kiss XMore, who, grieved at his
wan and dejected appearance, made every
effort to amuuse hihn.  The memory of early
days quickened the " old man eloquent," as in
her company he retraced the haunts of his college Clays.  On entering a hall, a fine large
print of Johnson, handsomely fralned, stared
upon the party froli the opposite wall, with
the appended -motto, from Mliss More's " Sensibility,"
" AND IS NOT JOHNSON OURS, HIMISELF A HOST?"
a pleasing surprise prepared by Dr. Adams,
Master of Pembroke, for his distinguished
guests.
The doctor remained but a short time; a
few beams froin the light of early years shot
across his path, but they could not renew thle
joys of youth or lighten the iP firmnities of age.




HANNAH MORE.
"LONDON, March, 1 83.
"On Friday I was at a very fine party at
Lady Rothes', where I found a vast many of
my friends-  rs. Montagu, Boscawen, Carter,
Thrall, Burney, and Lady iDartry; in short, it
was remarked that there was not a woman in
London who has been distinguished for taste
and literature that was absent. The men were
modest and were abashed, the other sex made
so strong a party."
" I should be glad to know what our friend
Dr. Stonehouse would say to such new-fashioned doctrines as I have lately heard in a
charity sermon by a dignified ecclesiastic, and
a popular one too, but I will not tell his name:
he told the rich and great that they ought to
be extremely liberal in their charities, because
they were happily exempted from the severer
virtues.  How do you like such a sentiment
from a Christian teacher?  What do you think
Polyearp or Ignatius would say to it?"
"March 27.
"I went and sat the other morning with
Dr. Johnson, who is far from well.  Our conversation was very interesting, but so many
came in that I began to feel foolish, and soon
sneaked off."




CORRESPONDENCE.             79
"May 5.
"Saturday we had a dinner at home, Mrs.
Carter, Miss Hamilton, the Kennicotts, and
Dr. Johnson. Poor Johnson exerted himself
exceedingly, but he was very ill, and looked
so dreadfully it quite grieved me. His sickness seems to: have softened his mind, without
at all weakening it. We had but a small party
of such of his friends as we knew would be
most agreeable to him; and as we were all
very attentive, and paid him the homage he
both expects and deserves, he was very communicative, and of course instructive and delightful in the highest degree."
"May 22.
"A visitor is just gone, quite chagrined
that I am such a rigid Methodist that I cannot
come to her assembly on Sunday, though she
protests with great piety that she never has
cards, and that it is quite savage in me to
think there can be any harm in a little agreeable music."
While Hannah was at Bristol, during 1784,
she became interested for a poor woman in
the neighborhood who, in the depths of famine
and distress, had exhibited striking poetic tal



80             HANNAI MOYiE.
ent, and assisted hei- in preparing a small volume of her poems for the press.  The work
having been completed, friends were enlisted
in its publication.
"I should have taken as mucnh pain as pleasUre in thle fine stanzas you sent me,"2 responds,Lvrs. Montagu, "' if you had not at the same
tihme assured me you had taken care this noble
creature should not want the little coimforts of
life. I shall most joyfu!iy contribute towards
proculring them for her: far, far away all heathen ethics and mythology, geormetry and algebra, and mak1e roonm for t-he Bible and Milton,
when a poet is to be made."
Nearly five hundred pounds were raised
upon the book, which were placed in the hands
of trustees, and invested in the public funds
for the use of the poet and her family.  Enraged that the sum was not at her own disposal, the woman turned against her benefactor, and accused her of having embezzled it.
So outrageous was her conduct, that no one
would hold the trust, and the mloney fell into
her own hands, to be idly squandered, and she
died at last destitute and friendless.  Of the
incident, iannah says, "I grieve for poor fallen human nature; for as to my own particular




CORRESPONDENCE.             81
part, I am persuaded Providence intends me
good by it. Had she turned out well; I should
have had my reward; as it is, I have my trial.
Perhaps I was too vain of my success,,and in
comunting over the money might be elated, and
think, Is not this great Babylon that I have
built?"'
Two little poems which had been passed
around among her friends in manuscript were
now published, the Bas Bleu and Florio. Florio was dedicated to Horace Walpole: "It is
a paltry return,' she writes to him, "for the
many hours of agreeable information and elegant amusement which I have received from
your spirited and very entertaining writings,
andcl yet I am persuaded you will receive it
with favor, as a small offering of esteem and
gratitude."
"Poor, dear Johnson,' she writes, "is past
all hope. I have, however, the comfort to hear
that his dread of dying is in a great measure
subdued. He sent the other day for Sir Joshua,
and after much serious conversation told him
he had three favors to beg of him, and he hoped
he would not refuse a dying friend, be they
what they would. Sir Joshua promised. The
first was, th!at he would never paint on Sun4*




82            HANNAH MORE.
day; the second, that he would give himn ~30
that he had lent him, as he wanted to leave
them to a distressed family; the third, that he
would read the Bible whenever he had an opportunity, and that he would never omit it on
Sunday."
How solemn are the closing scenes of this
dying mlan. He is styled the Moralist.  Justice, truth, virtue, were the pillars of his character; at all times and in all places he was
loyal to his convictions of duty, and reverent
towards God. In the wide grasp of his clear,
calm, comprehensive mind, he everywhere discerned a moral government, and recognized a
righteous Governor; his conscience, unseared
by passion or self-indulgence, spoke solemnly, and was heard; the fear of God was upon
him; but now, as the curtains of death close
around his brave heart and unclouded intellect,
he lies helpless, wrestling for hope, panting for
peace, raising his eyes with a fearful looking
for of judgment into the eternal world.  "The
approach of death is dreadful," he exclaims.
"I am afraid to think on that which I know I
cannot avoid.  It is vain to look round and
round for that help which cannot be had; yet
we hope and hope, and fancy that he who has




CORRESPONDENCE.            83
lived to-day, may live to-morrow. No wise
man will be contented to die, if he thinks he
is going into a state of punishment. Nay, no
wise man will be contented to die, if he thinks
he is to fall into annihilation; for however unhappy any man's existence may be, yet he
would rather have it than not exist at all. No;
there is no rational principle by which a man
can die contented, but a trust in the mercy of
God through the merits of Jesus Christ."
And yet when one said to him in an hour
of gloomy despondency,'"You forget the merits
of your Redeemer," he replied with deep solemnity, "I do not forget the merits of my
Redeemer, but my Redeemer has said, He will
set some on his right hand and some on his left."
"What man," he asks with mournful distrust, "can say that his obedience has been
such as he could approve of in another, or that
his repentance has not been such as to require
being repented of?"
"Remember what you have done by your
writings in defence of virtue and truth," urged
his friends.
"Admitting all you sayto be true," answered the dying hero, "how can I tell when
t have done enough?




84            -HANNAH iORE.
An awful question, who can answer it?
At last he described the kind of clergymanl
whom he wished to see.  2/t. Winstanley was
named, and a note was cdespatched requesting?
]his attenmance in the sick nian's chanmber.
Through ill-health and nervous apprehension,
the clergyman could reply only in writing.
"Permit me, therefore," ran the note, "to
write what I should wish tio say, were I present. I can easily conceive what would be the
subjects of your inquiry.  I can conceive thlat
the views of yourself have chaanged with your
condition, and that on the near approach of
death, what you considered mere peccadilloes,
have risen into mountains of guilt, while your
best actions have dwincdled into nothing.  On
which ever side you lookl, yo  see only positive transgression, or defective obedience; and
hence, in  self-despair, are eagerly asking,'What shall I do to be saved?' I say to you
in the language of the Baptist,'Behold the
Lamb of God.' "
"Does he say so?" exclaimed the anxious
listener.  "Read it again, Sir John."  Upon
the second reading, Dr. Johnson declared, "I
must see that man, write again to him."
A second letter was the reply, enlarging




CORRESPONDENCE.              85
upon and enforcing the subject of the first.
"These, together with the conversation of a
pious friend,,r&r. Latrobe, appear to have been
blessed of God,' continues one in a letter to
Hannah iMore, "in bringing this great mant to
a renunciation of self, and a simple reliance on
Jesus as his Saviour; tlmhs also communicating
to him  tllat peace which he had found the
world could not give, and which, when the
world was fading from his view, was to fill the
void, and dissipate the gloom even of the valley of the shadow of death.  The man whose
intellectual powers had awed all around him,
was in turn made to tremble when the period
arrived when all knowledge is useless and vanishes away, except the knowledge of the true
God and of Jesus Christ whom he has sent.
To attain this knowledge, this giant in knowledge must become a little child.  The man
looked up to as a prodigy of wisdom, tmust
become a fool, that he'might be wise."
"For some time before his death all his
fears were calmed and absorbed by the prevalence of his faith and his trust in the merit
and propitiation of Jesus Christ," testifies Dr.
Brocklesby.
"My dear doctor, believe a dying man,"




86           HANNAH MORE.
exclaimed Johnson, "there is no salvation but
in the Lamnb of God."
"How delighted should I be," said Hannah More, "to hear the dying discourse of
this great and good man, especially now that
faith has subdued his fears."




COWSLIP GREEN.             87
CHAPTER  VII.
COWSLIP GREEN.
HITHERTO Miss More has dwelt in the
hearts and by the hearths of beloved friends:
sometimes we find her at Sandleford Priory,
the country retreat of Mrs. Montagu; her
winters were chiefly passed between the Adelphi and Hampton; sometimes she is brushing
the dust from the blue stockings at a splendid
dinner at Strafford Place, or at a quiet evening at Berkeley-square; lastly, she is nestling
with the sisterhood at Bristol.  This desultory life was neither aimless nor unimproved;
though Mliss Miore had now nearly reached her
fortieth year, and as yet had produced little
but a few poems, whose chief attractions were
their local and personal interest, she had not
looked idly on the diversified scenes of men
and manners passing around her; from these
ample opportunities of understanding the moral
defects of English society, she was gathering
those materials which enabled her afterwards
to speak so powerfully and successfully in the
parlors and palaces of England.




HANNAH MORE.
The death of Garrick deeply impressed
her.  It made an abrupt and solemn pause inll
her social and intellectual enjoyments.  His
taste and genius, his sympathy and interest,
delighted and dazzled her.  Her literary tastes
were banqueted; the amplest opportunities to
enlazrge and cultivate her powers were placed
at her disposal; and more than all, she was encouraged to enter that field of literature towards which she seems to have had a strong and
early bias: nay, she had entered the lists, and
"Percy"  had been crowned with laurels.
Garrick died; it was the first death in'the
gay circle whiclh had first welcomed her to
London, and it left a void never to -be fillecd.
In the long' shadow which it cast over his
home, HIannah sat and thought.  She sawx the
fashion of the world with its pomps and praises passing away.  Could these satisfy the hunger of the soul? AWhat was that greater good,
worthy the energies of her whole being?  She
felt deep within her that it was not all of life
to live, nor all of death to die: a conviction
that life had a wider sphere, nobler motives,
higher aims, and more exalted hopes, than literary ambition or intellectual enjoyments could
give fastened itself upon her.  She saw ac



COWSLIP GREEN.                89
countability to God, written as with a pen of
fire u13on her time and ta1lents. In the devount
solitude of her closet, her solemnized spirit
holds communion withl eternal realities; all
earthly thinogs seem paltry and worthless, coinpared with the favor of God: she inquires
with serious earnestness what is essential to
duty and acceptance in @esrs Currist? what are
the laws of holy living prescribed in his gsospel? how  can the authority of conscience be
mnaintained amid the conflicts of passion, of
sense, and of worldly engageements? how run
the Christian race; how  win the heavenly
prize?  The higoher life of the soul began to
dawn upon her.
"I have naturally a small appetite for grandeur," she says, "which  is always satisfied,
even to indigestion, before I leave town, and I
require a long abstinence to get any relish for
it again.  Yet I repeat, there are very agreeable people; but there is dress, there is restraint, there is want of leisure, to which I
find it muore di.cult to conform fori any length
of time —anld fte Zs sfort."
One _thingr whvlichl greatly aided her in maintaining an habitual thoughtfulness of mind
amid the giddy disregard of sacred things in




90           HtANNAH MORE.
much of the society in which she mixed, was
her strict observance of holy time. The Sabbath
was always to her a day of rest-rest from
society, from visiting, from all worldly occupations and engagements: she used it as it was
designed to be used by its great Author-as
a day of religious improvement, a means of
holy living, sacred to God and eternal things.
Wherever she was, in whatever company she
happened to be, she was never afraid of appearing singular, by a devout and respectful
observance of the Lord's day.
"You know I often told you," she wrote
home while a resident at the Adelphi, "that
Sunday is not only my day of rest, but enjoyment; I go twice to the churches where I expect the best preaching, frequently at St.
Clements, to hear my excellent friend Burrows. Mrs. Garrick declines asking company
on Sunday on my account, so that I enjoy the
whole day to nmyself. After my more select
reading, I attack South, Atterbury, and Warburton. In these great geniuses and original
thinkers, I see many passages of Scripture
presented in a strong and striking light. I
think it right to mix their learned labors with
the devout effusions of more spiritual writers,




COWSLIP GREEN.             91
Baxter, IDoddridge, Hopkins, Jeremy Taylorthe Shakspeare of divinity-and the profound
Barrow in turn. I devour much, but I fear
digest little. In the evening I read a sermon
and prayers to the family, which Mrs. Garrick
likes much."
Miss More had for some time gradually
contracted her circle of acquaintance, confining
her visits to smaller assemblies and choicer
friends.
"I have kept my resolution," she says,
"to avoid great crowds, except when I have
been snared into one under the alluring name
of a little private party, into which trap I have
fallen several times.  On Saturday I got a
sober day at Mrs. Alontagu's, with only the
Smelts, and we all agreed we had not been
more comfortable for a long time; and yet
people rarely have the sense or courage to do
these things, but must still meet in herds and
flocks."
She now began to yearn for a home of her
own, where she could enjoy undisturbed retirement, hedged in from the great world, to
pursue her course of thought, of reading, and
of occupation, more in harmony with the natural simplicity of her tastes, and the progress




92             HANNAH AIMORE.
siae development of her religious character,
WThenl  her purpose of doing so-became Lknown,
the notion was assailed with ridicule and argument, and not a few agreed in predicting her
speedy and permanent return to London and
Bristol.
In spite of forebodings and dissuasives,
Miss ilore at length fixed upon a, small establishment in the parish of W'rington, ten miles
from Bristol, so secluded from  the humn1  of the
great world as to be u-rnvisited even by the
post.  It was a thatched-roof cottage; flowers
edge the walks and fringe thlle green law,
which slopes gently towards the south, diTversified by groups of shrubbery pleasing to the
eye, and aflording a refreshing shade from the
noo0ntide heats.  Ieyond in the d- sky distance rises the 2iTendip Ridge, bold and grand.
Behold Cowslip Green; Horace Walpole called it a country consirn to Strawbe rry-hill.
"I am ftting up a tiny boudoir at Cowslip
Green,'  says the new mistress of the cottage,
"'whiclh I intend shall contain no litera ture b ut
the offerings of kindness: by this means my
imagination wvill convert my little closet into
a temple of friendship; and when the weather
is bad, or my spirits low, what a cordial it




COWSLIP GREEN.              9l
will be to fancy that I am loved and esteemlled
by so many amiable and worthy people as
there have contributed to myv instruction and
deliglht!"
" What book shall I send?" asks Mvr. Pepys, one of her friends and favorites.  "To
sendl you a skimming-dish or fish-kettle towards setiing unup housekeeping would be making
too little distinction between you and the next
g-od housewife in the parish; but if you would
be so good as to tell me any pleasant companion who is not already of your party, I should
have particular pleasure in sending him, and
should be very much flattered with the idea
that on some lonely evening he hmight reca ll
me to y-our 1,memory."
4 I aml miglhtily at a loss," she 111h111urouS1y
replies, "what bool you will send.   ilphat
think you of a cook-book?  tNio, that wont do
either, for it will introduce sauces and luxuiry,
and all mann.er of cunningly devised dishes
and extravagant invlentions into a little cottage clevoted  to simplicity, and from  which
aspiring thoughtls and luxurious desires are to
be entirely excdled.  I should beg a wooden
dish and maple spoon, but tlhat it is pleasanter
to one's friends to be remembered in one's




94           HIANNAH MORE.
more intellectual hours.  Pray take notice, it
must not be a fine new book out of the shop;
that would destroy the charm, which lies in
this, that the book must be transplanted from
the library of a friend."
She afterwards wrote to the same gentleman: " After living melodious days with Mrs.
Montagu, the nightingales, and Spenser, I have
now been quietly set down in my cottage a
month, and the evil days have not come wherein you barbarously prophesied that I should
feel a joy even to see the apothecary ride up
to the door, though it is certain I never do see
him without thinking of you. I do not express
myself very accurately when I talk of living
quietly; for, in truth, my neighbors are so
kind, and so many people have brought themselves into the description, that I am far from
enjoying that perfect retreat which I had figured to myself. I work in my garden all the
morning, and ride in the evening through delicious lanes and hills: my most serious- studies have been a little book of Mrs. Trinlmer's,
that wise and pleasant friend of little children;
it is a most delectable history of Robin Redbreast.':
In relation to the temptations which clog



COWSLIP GREEN.             95
ged her spiritual progress in the new home
which she had chosen, she thus expresses herself to Rev. John Newton:
"The care of my garden gives me employnlent, health, and spirits. I want to know,
dear sir, if it is peculiar to myself to form ideal
plans of perfect virtue, and to dream of all
manner of imaginary goodness in untried circuimstances, while one neglects the immediate
duties of one's actual situation?  Do I make
myself understood?  I have always fancied
that if I could secure to myself such a quiet
retreat as I- have now really accomplished, I
should be wonderfully good; that I should
have leisure to store my mind with such and
such maxims of wisdom; that I should be safe
from such and such temptations; that, in short,
my whole summers would be smooth periods of
peace and goodness.  Now the misfortune is,
I have actually found a great deal of the comfort I expected, but without any of the concomitant virtues. I am certainly happier here
than in the agitation of the world, but I do
not find that I am one bit better; with full
leisure to rectify my heart and affections, the
disposition unluckily does not come. I have
the mortification to find that petty and-as




906            HANiNAll MORE.
they are called-innocent employments can
detain my heart from  heaven as much as tumultuous pleasures.  if to the pure all things
are pure, the reverse must be also true, when
I can contrive to make so hairmless an employment as the cultivation of flowers stand in the
room of a vice, by the great portion of time I
give up to it, and by the entire dominion it
has over mny mind.  You will tell lme that if
the affections be estranged from their proper
object, it signifies not much wThether a bunch
of roses or a pack of cards afiects it.  I pass
my life in intending to get the be4ter, of this,
but life is passing away, a-nd the reform never
begins.  It is a very significant saying', though
a very old one, of one of the Puritans, that'hell is paved with good intentions!' I somsetimes tremble to think how large a square my
procrastination alone nay furnish to this tesselated pavement."'
"WVhat you are pleeased to say, my dear
mnadam, of the state of your mind, I understand perfectly well," answers -this good man,
who well understood the deceitfulness of the
humrLan heart; "I praise God on your behalf,
and I hope I shall earnestly pray for you.  I
have stood upon that ground-myself.




COWSLIP GREEN.             97
"We are apt to wonder that, when what
we accounted hinderances are removed, and
the things which we conceived would be great
advantages are put within our power, still
there is a secret something in the way, which
proves itself to be independent of all external
changes, because it is not affected by them.
The disorder we complain of is internal; and
in allusion to our Lord's words upon another
occasion, I may say, it is not any thing in our
outward situation-provided it be not actually
unlawful-that can prevent or even retard our
advances in religion; we are defiled and impeded by that which is within.  So far as our
hearts are right, all places and circumstances
which this wise and good providence allots us
are nearly equal: their hinderances will prove
helps, losses gains, and crosses will ripen
into comforts; but till we are so far apprized
of the nature of our disease as to put ourselves into the hands of the great and only
Physician, we shall find, like the woman in
Luke 8: 43, that every other effort for relief
will leave us as it found us.
" Our first thought when we begin to be
displeased with ourselves, and sensible that we
have been wrong, is to attempt to reform; to
H. More.           5




98            HANNAH MORE.
be sorry for what is amiss, and to endeavor to
amend. It seems reasonable to ask, What can
wve do more? but while we think we can do so
much as this, we do not fully understand the
design of the gospel. This gracious message
from the God who knows our frame speaks
home to our case.  It treats us as sinners —as
those who have already broken the original
law of our nature in departing fronm God our
Creator, supreme Lawgiver, and Benefactor,
and of having lived to ourselves instead of devoting all our time, talents, and influence to
his glory. As sinners, the first things we need
are pardon, reconciliation, and a principle of
life and conduct entirely new.
"For these purposes we are directed to
Jesus Christ, as the wounded Israelites were
to look at the brazen serpent. John 3 ~14, 15.
When we understand what the Scripture teaches of the person, love, and offices of Christ, the
necessity and final cause of his humiliation unto
death, and feel our own need of such a Saviour, we then know him to be the light, the
sun of the world and of the soul; the source
of all spiritual light, life, comfort, and influence; having access by God to him, and receiving out of his fulness grace for grace.




COWSLIP GREEN.             99
"Our perceptions of these things are for
a time faint and indistinct, like the peep of
dawn; but the dawning light, though faint, is
the sure harbinger of approaching day.
"The beginnings of spiritual life are small
in the true Christian; he passes through a suecession of various dispensations, but he advances, though silently and slowly, yet surely, and
will stand for ever.
"At the same time, it must be admitted
that the Christian life is a warfare.  Much
within us and much without us must be resisted.  In such a world as this, and with such a
nature as ours, there will be a call for habitual
self-denial.  WVe must learn to cease from depending upon our own supposed wisdom, power, and goodness, and frc- self-complacency
and self-seeking, that we may rely upon Him
whose wisdom and power are infinite."
What individual, earnestly striving for a
better life, has not sighed over the clogs and
hinderances which beset his path, and which
he fondly imagines other situations are exempt
from? Were this wish fulfilled, were that place
attained, another goal reached, this obstacle
removed, then how easy the yoke, how light
the burden, how smooth the way! Alas, no




100           HANNAH MORE.
situation is free from straits and perplexities;
nowhere are we exempt friom the necessity of
watchfulness and combat.  The evil is within
us.  "The things that we would, we do not;
and the things that we would not, those we do."
"The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the
spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary
the one to the other."  In this perpetual conflict how can the victory be secured? Only
by watchfulness and prayer through our Lord
Jesus Christ.




FIRST FRUI TS.           101
CHIAPTER  VIII.
FIRST FRIITS.
FROM the time Cowslip Green was made
her home in 1785, may be dated higher views
of duty, a more confirmed religious character,
and a clearer comprehension of her sphere of
usefulness. As the retreat was not sought for
1day-dreaming leisure, her time was not whiled
away in literary effeminacy, nor her pen given
to pleasing fictions. Hannah More soon found
she had a work to do for the day and generation in which she lived, and vigorously she
wrought it out.
The first fruit of Cowslip Green was a
small book, entitled, " Thoughts on the Importance of the WManners of the Great to General
Society," an introductory chapter to that elevated series of Christian teaching which became the business of her life.
It first appeared anonymously, "not so
much for the fear of man," she says, "which
worketh a snare, as because, if anonymous, it
may be ascribed to some better person, and
because I fear I do not live as I write. I hope




102            TA NTN-AH,MORE.
it may be useful to myself at least, as I give a
sort of public pledge of my principles, to which
I pray I may be enabled to act up."
It was at first attributed to Wilberforce,
then to the Bishop of London.  Its author yet
unknown, the book being canvassed in her
presence, she was abruptly asked if she could
conjecture who wrote it.  "Whoever the author may be, I doubt not the writer was in
eariest," replied M]iss -More with the utimost
self-possession.  But it did not long remain a
secret.  She received at last an anonymous
epigram.
"Of sense and religion in this little book,
All agree there's a wonderful store;
But while round the world for an author they look,
I only am wishing for Mlor'e."
This was her first attack upon the ungodly
habits and mlinor immoralities of the age: her
long and intimate acquaintance with the higher
ranks of English society, for whom, as the title
indicates, the book was expressly written, enabled her to write with truth and directness:
she knew whereof she spoke.  "Yet I have
not gone deep," she says; "it is confined to
prevailing practical evils: should this succeed,
I hope by the blessing of God to attack the




FIRST FRUITS.            103
principle."  Rtev. John Newton congratulates
her upon the choice of a subject, and a subject
too most admirably handled.  She skilfully
describes the features and influence of that
large class, abounding in every community,
called good sort of people-people who live
within the restraints of moral obligation, and
acknowledge the truth of the Christian rleligion, yet whose views terminate with this
world's good, and who are destitute of that
first essential principle of human actions, which
can alone render them  of any value in the
sight of God, faith in Christ. It is not so
much what they do, as what they neglect to do,
which constitutes at once the danger to themselves and others; it is the coining short which
is so full of peril.  Alas, how many such are
there all around, pleasant neighbors, generous
friends, worthy citizens, whose prudence, kindness, integrity, honored and respected by the
world, constitute no claim to acceptance before
that tribunal which, searching the heart, declares, "Without holiness no man shall see the
Lord."
The habit of employing hair-dressers upon
the Sabbath, of giving "card money" to servants, and requiring them to dismiss a visitor




104           HANNAH MORE.
with a "Not at home," Sunday concerts, and
Sunday diversions were each in turn commented upon and condemned, in a spirit at once so
kind, so candid, so decided, that the book commended itself alike to reason and consistency,
and chlallenged an impartial reading even from
those most amenable to its reproofs.
On her next meeting Horace Walpole, he
took her to task for having exhibited such
monstrously severe doctrines. "'le defended,
and that was the joke," writes she to her sisters, "religion against me, and said he would
do so against the whole bench of bishopsthat the fourth commandment was the most
amiable and merciful law that was ever promulgated, as it entirely considers the ease and
comfort of the hard-laboring poor and beasts
of burden; but that it was never intended for
persons of fashion, who have no occasion for
rest, as they never do any thing on the other
days; and indeed, when the law was made
there were no people of fashion. He really
pretended to be in earnest, and we parted mutually unconverted; he lamenting I had fallen
into the error of puritanical strictness, and I
lamenting he is a person of fashion, for whom
the ten commandments are not made!"




FIRST FRUITS.            105
The book made its way: when the second
edition was issued it sold in little more than
a week; the third in a few hours; and seven
large editions disappeared in a few months:
extensively read and circulated, it did not fail
to exercise a vast influence in the circles for
whom it was chiefly intended; its admonitions
were heard and heeded; several of these customs fell into disrepute, and at last were entirely abandoned. For these beneficial changes
society is indebted to Miss Hannah More.
Two years afterwards an " Estimate of the
Religion of the Fashionable World" appeared,
striking deep at the false principles which govern men in their daily lives, and laying bare
the inconsistencies and hollow professions of
those who bore the Christian name.
The estimate is full of sound, clear, and
discriminating views, applicable quite as much
to our time as it was to the spirit and tendencies of eighty years ago.
"The present age," she says, "may justly
be called the age of benevolence, Liberality
flows with a full tide through a thousand channels. There is scarcely a newspaper that does
not record some meeting of men of fortune for
the most salutary purposes. The noble and
5*




106           HANNAH MORE.
numberless structures for the relief of distress,
which are the ornament and glory of our metropolis, proclaim species of munificence una
known to former ages. Subscriptions are easily
solicited.
"Allowing the boasted superiority of modern benevolence, it might be well to inquire
whether the diffusion of this branch of charity,
though the most lovely offspring of religion,
be yet any positive proof of the prevalence of
religious principle; and whether it be not the
fashion rather to consider benevolence as a
substitute for Christianity than as an evidence
of it?"
Are not these questions pertinent also to
us in our day?
"It seems to be one of the reigning errors
amrong some," she continues, "to reduce all
religion into benevolence, and all benevolence
into alms-giving.  The wide and comprehensive idea of Christian charity is compressed
into the slender compass of a little pecuniary
relief. This species of benevolence is indeed a
bright gem among the ornaments of a Clhristian, but by no means furnishes all the jewels
of a crown which derives its lustre from tile
associated radiance of every Christian grace.




FJIRST FRUITS.           107
"The mere casual benevolence of any man
can have little claim to solid esteem; nor does
any charity deserve the name which does not
grow out of a steady conviction that it is his
bounden duty; which does not spring from a
settled propensity to obey the whole will of
God; which is not therefore made a part of
the general plan of his conduct; and which
does not lead him to order the whole scheme
of his affairs with an eye to it.
"He therefore who does not habituate
himself to certain interior restraints. who does
not live in a regular course of self-renunciation, will not be likely often to perform acts of
beneficence, when it becomes necessary to convert to such purposes any of that time or money
which appetite, temptation, or vanity solicit
him to divert to other purposes.
"And surely he who seldom sacrifices one
darling indulgence, who does not subtract one
gratification from the incessant round of his
enjoyments, when the indulgence would obstruct his capacity of doing good, or when the
sacrifice would enlarge his power, does not
deserve the the name of benevolent. And for such
an unequivocal criterion of charity, to whom
are we to look but to the conscientious Chris



108           HANNAH MORE.
tian? No other spirit but that by which he is
governed can subdue self-love; and where selflove is the predominant passion, benevolence
can have but a feeble or an accidental dominion.
" Now if we look around and remark the
excesses of luxury, the costly diversions, and
the intemperate dissipation in which numbers
of professing Christians indulge, can any
stretch of candor, can even that tender sentiment by which we are enjoined'to hope' and
to'believe all things,' enable us to hope and
believe that such are actuated by a spirit of
Christian benevolence, merely because we see
them perform some casual acts of charity,
which the spirit of the world can contrive to
make extremely compatible with a voluptuous
life, and the cost of which, after all, bears but
little proportion to that of any one vice, or
even vanity?"
The whole treatise is worth a thorough
reading, abounding as it does with good sense
and sound piety. The Bishop of London declared there were few persons in Great Britain
who could write a book conveying so much
evangelical morality, and so much genuine
Christianity, in such neat and elegant language,




FIRST FRUITS.           109
and predicted that the book would find its way
into every fine lady's library, and if not into
her heart and manners, the fault would be her
own.
A letter from Mrs. Chapone thus expresses
her commendation:
"The same good gentleman, my dear madam, who some time ago gave his excellent
thoughts to'the Great,' has again made a
powerful effort for their reformation, which
they receive with as much avidity as if they
meant to be amended by it: indeed, he has
wisely recommended it to their taste by every
charm and ornament of eloquence.
"He has been so obliging as to send me a
copy of his admirable book, and as I do not
know his name and address, I take the liberty
of applying to you-who are, I believe, pretty
well acquainted with him, though probably not
aware of half his merits-to beg you will convey to hil my grateful acknowledgments for
his favor, and assure him that he continually
rises in my esteem by the faithful zeal with
which he lays out the talents intrusted to him
at the highest interest; and I will venture to
confess, gentleman though he be, that I sincerely love and honor him, and wish the most




110           HANNAH MORE.
perfect success to all his laudable undertakings.
"We long for you in town, my dear Mliss
More; hasten and enjoy the applause your lay
friend has gained, and to which his own heart
must bear testimony.'
Two choice spirits had been added to her
list of friends, Rev. John Newton and William
Wilberforce, both of whom quickened her in the
new and honorable career opening before her.
Of Wilberforce and the great subject that
first linked them together, she thus writes to
M.rs. Carter:
"This most important cause, the project to
abolish the slave-trade in Africa, has very
much occupied my thoughts this summer; the
young gentleman, Mr. Wilberforce, who has
embarked in it with the zeal of an apostle, has
been much with me, and engaged all my little
interest and all my affections in it. It is to
be brought before Parliament in the spring.
Above one hundred members have promised
their votes.  LiAy dear friend, be sure to canvass everybody who has a heart. It is a subject too ample for a letter, and I shall have a
great deal to say to you on it when we meet.
To my feelings, it is the most interesting sub



FIRST FRUITS.             111
ject which was ever discussed in the annals of
humanity."
At twenty-six Wilberforce was a member
of Parliament, master of an ample fortune, surrounded by friends and flatterers, treading a
plath sown with temptations, pleasures, and
vices, all tending to corrupt the morals and
mislead the judgmlent.  On a continental tour
to recruit during a recess of Parliament, in
company with a friend, a little book became
the companion of their journey-a little book
which asked no favors, uttered no flatteries,
and could expect little countenance from one
like Wilberforce.  "It is one of the best little books ever written though," said his friend,
who respected its bravery and truth.  "Let
us read it then," replied Wilberforce; and so
the two journeyed and read.  "I will search
the Scriptures and see if these things are so,"
said Wilberforce, as he read and was astonished.  The book was Doddridge's Rise and
Progress of Religion in the Soul, whose appeals
and persuasiois, whose rebukes and denunciations the young man found recorded and reiterated on every page of the Bible.  Wilberforce saw his danger, and fled for refuge to
the cross of Christ.




112           HANNAH MORE.
Immediately on his return to England he
sought the spiritual guidance of John Newton.
Wilberforce soon appeared a changed man.
In his consecration to the service of his divine
Master, there was no reserve or compromise;
he gave up himself and his all: " Henceforth
let me do with my might while the day lasts,"
was the sleepless endeavor of his life.
A  society for the reformation of public
morals was soon set on foot through his instrumentality, which helped greatly to check the
spread of blasphemous and indecent publications, and was the source of many kindred
schemes for the public good.
But the abolition of the slave-trade was the
great work which must immortalize Wilberforce, and at twenty-eight, 1787, he allied himself to its interests.  While making a short
sojourn at Bath for the benefit of its waters,
during the autumn of this year, he records of
himself, "I believe one cause of my having
fallen so short, is my having aimed no higher.
Remember, thy situation abounding in comforts requires thee to be peculiarly on thy
guard, lest when thou hast eaten and art full,
thou forgettest God;" yet 3Miss More, whG
now passed much time in his society, de.




FIRST FRUITS.           113
clares, "This young gentleman's character is
one of the most extraordinary I ever knew
for talents, virtue, and piety. It is difficult
not to grow wiser and better every time one
converses with him.
The enormities of the slave traffic had long
attracted the attention of thoughtful and feeling minds, both in England and America. Seven years before, Mr. Burke had nearly determined to bring the subject before the English
Parliament, having sketched a bill to provide
for the immediate amelioration of its severities
as well as for its ultimate extinction; the measure, however, he abandoned, from a conviction
that it would prove unpopular and ruinous to
his party.
_Meanwhile much was done to arouse and
inform the public mind. In May, 1787, several gentlemen. met together in London, and
formed themselves into a committee to collect
information and raise funds for promoting the
abolition of the trade. Over this body Granville Sharpe presided, while Clarkson, with his
untiring zeal, was kindling the public conscience against it.
And now the subject is to be laid before
Parliament-where is the man of moral mettle




114          HIANNAH,T/0ORE.
to undertake it? No man of party connection
or political ambition dared engage in a work of
such doubtful and dangerous issues.  It must
be undertaken at his own peril, depending
alone on the righteousness of his cause, for
commercial power and self-interest, wealth and
long usage were all too ready to defend it.
Wilberforce was the man. How bravely he
battled, and how glorious the issue, the world
knows well.
Among the publications of the day to
arouse and enlist the public sympathies, "The
Slave-trade," a little poem, came fromn the pen
of Hlannah More.




LABORS ATMYONG THE POOR.       115
CHAPTER IX.
LABORS AMONG THE POOR-SUNDAYSCHOOLS.
ON New-year's day of 1789, Miss lFore is
dining at Berkeley-square, Mrs. ][ontagu having assembled around her a few of the Blues,
among whom we recognize the familiar face of
Tirs. Boscawen.
Mbrs. Vesey was in that state of illness
which left nothing to hope-her mind was
gone.
" Ah," sighed Miss lMore on visiting her,
"it is melancholy to look at this house, where
I have seen so many agiteeable people, and
heard so much pleasant conversation, a-nd made
so many friendships, and think that its mistress is bereft of her faculties. What a call
for serious reflection! I want to get my heart
more affected with feeling for -the sorrows of
others, and with gratitude for mny own mercies."
She soon after went down to Hanmpton,
where she passed a few weeks each year to
cheer the widowed heart of Mrs. Garrick.




116           HANNAH MORE.
The exciting topic of the spring was the slave
question, about to be laid before Parliament.
Wilberforce went to Teston to consult his
advisers and marshal his forces for the approaching debate.  "He with the whole junto
of abolitionists are slaving it till two o'clock
every morning," declares M]Frs. Bouverie.  " I
hope Teston will be the Runnymede of the
negroes," ejaculates Miss: ore, "and the
great charter of African liberty will be completed: the fate of Africa now trembles in the
balance."
On the 12th of May, in a speech of three
hours of surpassing eloquence, Wilberforce
opened the debate in the House of Commons,
denouncing the slave-trade as a national iniquity, and tracing with masterly power its destructive effects upon Africa, upon its victims,
and upon the colonies.  Yiewed from the elevated height of a common humanity and a
Christian civilization, he saw its horrors and
injustice in all their length, breadth, and
depth, and his soul glowed with the magnitude
of the subject. Pitt, Burke, and Fox gave
him a strong and eloquent support, each unanimously declaring that the slave-trade was a
disgrace to the country, and that nothing but




LABORS AMONG THE POOR.         117
its entire abolition could satisfy the demands
of justice and humanity. It was a glorious
night for England.  Principles familiar to us
as household words were then broached as
dangerous and startling innovations, and were
met by a powerful opposition from the callous,
the timid, and the self-interested.
~Aiss More soon left these exciting scenes
for a June flitting to IRosedale, Mrs. Boscawen's new villa at Richmond, "and I am sitting," she closes a letter to Martha, "on the
very seat where Thomson wrote his Seasons."
Then followed a visit to Sandleford, whose
Gothic windows, Grecian wit, and British oaks,
could not ward off five days. of unrelenting
headache, to which Miss More from early life
was subject; next a sail down the Wye, in
company with Mr. and Miss Wilberforce; next
at Stoke, dwelling in sober magnificence with
a certain dowager duchess, where "a little
more discretion and a little less fancy were
proper and decorous," as she tells us.
Hannah and Martha are now at Cowslip
Green: the retreat is enlivened by a day from
lrs. Montagu, a week fromn Mrs. Garrick,
both of whom came to try the benefit of Bath
waters, and a fortnight from Mrs. Kennicott,




118           HANNAH MORE.
"who with wonderful readiness accommodated
herself to the quiet, simple life of their little
cottage;" then came a vacation week from the
elder sisterhood, and last, though not least, the
Wilberforces made a ramble to the Green.
Among the interesting features of the surrounding scenery, rose the bold and romantic
cliffs of Cheddar, forming a picturesque perspective towards the south ten miles from Cowslip Green. Among these cliffs were scenes of
wild beauty and solemn grandeur, yawning
caverns, damp hollows, and bald peaks, which
made them, the summer resort of -many a traveller.
The sisters begged Wilberforce not to leave
Wrington without a visit to these wonders of
the region. Patty was eloquent, and urged
the gratification which the drive would give
to a imind like his: a dclay was  fixed, then given up; the cliffs were discussed at the breakfast-table the next morning, until their guest
was prevailed upon to go.
01n his return, Patty ran into the parlor,
trlumphantly inquiring how he liked the Cliffs.
"Very fine," he replied; " but the poverty
and distress of the people are dreadful."
"This was all that passed," said Patty, in




LABORS ANMONG THE POOR.       119
relating the circumstance.  "Wilberforce soon
retired to his room, and dismissed even his
reader. I said to Hannah and his sister that
I feared he was not well. The cold chicken
and wine put into the carriage for his dinner
were returned untouched. Mr. Wilberforce
appeared at supper, seemingly refreshed with
a higher feast than we had sent with him.
The servant at his desire was dismissed, when
immediately he began:' iss Hannah 3More,
something must be done for Cheddar.'
"He then gave us a particular account of
his day, of the inquiries he had made respecting the poor: there was no resident minister,
no manufactory, nor did there appear any
dawn of comfort, either temporal or spiritual.
The possibility and method of assisting them
were discussed till a late hour: it was then
decided in a few words, by Mr. WXilberforce's
exclaiming,'If you will be at the trouble, I
will be at the expense.'
"Something commonly called an impulse
crossed my heart, that told me it was G(od's
work, and it would do: and though I never
nave, and probably never shall recover the
same emotion, yet it is my business to water
it with watchfulness.




120           HANNAH MORE.
"Mr. Wilberforce and his sister left us in
a day or two.  We turned many schemes in
our head every possible way; at length those
measures were adopted which led to the forrmation of the different schools."
The Cliffs of Cheddar at this time were
inhabited -by a squalid, ignorant, half-savage
people, dwelling in the caves and fissures of
the rocks, and earning a miserable subsistence
by selling roots, stalactites, and other mineral
productions to the travellers who visited them.
The hearts of the sisters had already yearned over the destitution and wretchedness of
this forlorn comm-unity, and they readily responded to the call. Home missionary work
of this kind was then comparatively new:
Robert Raikes had begun to bless Gloucester
with the Sunday-school, and two hundred and
fifty thousand children were already enjoying
its privileges, yet.the inestimable benefits of
the institution were not yet widely known or
fully realized; old Brentford also was reaping
a harvest of good from  the warm-hearted
efforts of good Mrs. Trimmer.  These labors
had received Hannah More's cordial sympathy
and warm approval: a similar field was now
open to her, and she instantly determined to




SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.           121
occupy it. Accompanied by Patty, she explored the region, a graphic account of which
she pens to Wilberforce in a letter dated
George Hotel, Cheddar.
"Though this is but a romantic place, as
my friend Matthew well observed, yet you
would laugh to see the bustle I am in. I was
told that we should meet with great opposition if I did not try to propitiate the chief
despot of the village, who is very rich and
very brutal: so I ventured into the den of
this monster, in a country as savage as himself, near Bridgewater. He begged that I
would not think of bringing any religion into
the country; it was the worst thing in the
world for the poor, it made them lazy and
useless. In vain I represented to him  that
they would be more industrious as they were
better principled; and that for my own part,
I had no selfish views in what I was doing.
He gave me to understand that he knew the
world too well to believe either the one or the
Ather. Somewhat dismayed to find that my
success bore no proportion to my submissions,
I was almost discouraged from more visits;
but I found that friends must be secured at all
events; for if these rich savages set their faces
H. More.         6




122           HANNAH MORE.
against us, and influenced the poor people, I
saw that nothing but hostilities would ensue;
so I made eleven more of these agreeable
visits; and as I improved in the art of canvassing, had better success. Miss Wilberforce
would have been shocked had she seen the
petty tyrants whose insolence I stroked and
tamed, the ugly children I praised, the pointers and spaniels I caressed, the cider I commended, and the wine I swallowed.  After
these irresistible flatteries, I inquired of each
if he could recommend me to a house; and
said that I had a little plan which I hoped
would secure their orchards from being robbed, their rabbits from being shot, their game
from being stolen, and which might lower the
poor-rates. If effect be the best proof of eloquence, then mine was a good speech, for I
gained at length the hearty concurrence of the
whole people, and their promise to discourage
or favor the poor in proportion as they were
negligent or attentive in sending their chilidren. Patty, who is with me, says she has
good hopes that the hearts of some of these rich
poor wretches may be touched: they are as
ignorant as the beasts that perish intoxicated
every day before dinner, and plunged into




SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.            123
such vices as make me begin to think London
a virtuous place. By their assistance I procured immediately a good house, which, when
a partition is taken down and a window added,
will receive a great number of children. The
house and an excellent garden of almost an
acre of ground, I have taken at once for six
guineas and a half a year. I have ventured
to take it for seven years. There is courage
for you. It is to be put in order immediately,'for the night cometh;' and it is a comfort to
think that though I may be in dust and ashes
in a few weeks, yet by that time this business
will be in actual motion. I have written to
different manufacturing towns for a mistress,
but can get nothing hitherto.  As to the mistress for the Sunday-school and the religious
part, I have employed Mrs. Esterbrook, of
whose judgment I have a good opinion. I hope
Miss W-    will not be frightened, but I am
afraid she must be called a Methodist.
"I asked the farmers if they had no resident curate. They told me they had a right
to insist on one; which right they confessed
they had never ventured to exercise, for fear
their tithes would be raised. I blushed for my
species. The glebe-house is good for my pur



124           HANNAH MORE.
poses. The curate lives at Wells, twelve miles
distant.  They have only service once a week,
and there is scarcely an instance of a poor person being visited or prayed with."
In spite of Miss EHannah's repeated headaches, and Miss Patty's ill-health, so promptly
and energetically did they pursue their labors,
that the first of October witnessed the opening
of the school in Cheddar, by Miss Hannah in
person. The principal people from the parishes far and near came to witness the operation
of a scheme, as it was regarded, to reform
Botany Bay.
"It was an affecting siglht," says she. "Several of the grown up youth had been tried at
the late assizes, three were the children of a
person lately condemned to be hanged; many
thieves, all ignorant, profane, and vicious beyond belief.  Of this banditti we have enlisted
one hundred and seventy; aind when the clergyman, a hard man, who is also the magistrate, sam these creatures kneeling around us,
whom he had seen but- to coummit or to punish
in some way, he burst into tears.  I can do
them but little good, I fear, but the grace of
God can.
"Have you never felt your mind," she




SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.            125
asks Wilberforce, "now and then raised and
touched by some very trifling circumstance?
So I felt on Sunday. Some musical gentleman, drawn from a distance by curiosity-just
as I was coming out of church with my ragged
regiment, much depressed to think how little
good I could do them-quite unexpectedly
struck up that beautiful -and animated anthem,'Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the
least of these, ye have done it unto me.' "'
To the Sunday-school was soon added a
school during the week, where sewing, knitting, and spinning were taught to the girls. A
faithful and excellent woman was engaged as
mistress of this school, who, with her daughter,
entered completely into Miss lAore's plans;
medicine, clothing, and small sums of money
were from time to time placed at her disposal
to distribute among the sick and needy, according to her judgment.
Two years after Miss More's first visit toCheddar, she received a zealous ally in the
Rev. Thomas Drewitt, who became a resident
curate among this people, strengthening her
hands, and encouraging her heart by all the
means in his power.
Great as was the work for Cheddar, Ched



126          HANNAH MORE.
dar did not bound their hopes or exhaust their
energies: other fields opened before them, and
they went boldly forward bearing the precious
seed; thirteen parishes were found equally
destitute of the means of social comfort or religious improvement. In Shipham the women
knew nothing of industry or frugality, the
young men spent the Sabbath in sporting and
hunting, and the children grew up in nakedness and vagrancy. At Axbridge the curate
was intoxicated six times in the week, and
very frequently was prevented from preaching
by two black eyes, honestly earned by fighting; the ale-house was more frequented than
the church, the laws of cards or quoits were
better understood than the ten commandments,
while good order and domestic peace were
things unheard of.
"The lower classes are fated to be poor, ignorant, and wicked," said the petty landholders; "and wise as you are, you cannot alter
what is decreed."  "Besides," added another,
"I like the parish very well as it is; if the
young men come and gamble before my house
Sunday afternoon, I have only to go out and
curse and swear at them, and they will march
off; what can one desire more?"




SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.           127
Happily for the parishes, there were those
who did desire more; there were time and talent and money that had been consecrated to
the Lord's service, and were to' be spent for
their good: before the year closed, schools
were established in nine different parishes;
and five hundred scholars were enjoying the
benefits of Sabbath-day instruction.
From  Bath, Wilberforce wrote to Miss
More: "I have more money than time, and if
you or your sister will condescend to be my
almoner, you will enable me to employ some of
the superfluity it has pleased God to give me,
to some good purpose. Sure am I, that they
who subscribe attention and industry furnish
articles of more sterling and intrinsic value.
Besides, I have a rich banker in London, Mir.
Henry Thornton, whom  I cannot oblige so
much as by drawing on him for purposes like
the-se. I shall take the liberty of enclosing a
draft for ~40; but this is only for a beginning."'
"I joyfully accept your office of almoner,"
replies Hannah,  "on condition that you will
find fault with and direct me with as little
scruple as I shall have in disposing of your
money. Patty is very proud at being admitted




128          HANNAH MORE.
into the confederacy, and at being appointed
superintendent at Cheddar; a title, however,
she will only hold by delegation in my too
long absence,'for I like my dignity too well to
allow her to be more than vice-queen.
"What comfort I feel, in looking round on
these starving and half-naked multitudes, to
think that by your liberality many of them
may be fed and clothed: and Oh, if but one
soul is rescued from eternal misery, how may
we rejoice over it in another state, where perhaps it may not be one of our smallest felicities that our friendship was turned to some
useful account in advancing the good of others,
and as I humbly presume to hope,- in improving ourselves for that life which shall have no
end.
" Mr. Henry Thornton, I think, belongs to
the Society of Sunday-schools in London for
assisting necessitous villages with books, etc.
There cannot be a fairer claim on them than
the present. If you and he approve it, perhaps we may apply for a quantity of New
Testaments, Prayer-books, and little Sundayschool books, with a few' Bibles.  The sooner
we get them the better; otherwise, you or he
will be so good as to order a supply from the




SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.             129
Society for' Promoting Christian Knowledge,
to which I do not belong, or I would send
for them.  They may be directed to Parkstreet."
To Mirs. Carter she writes, " It is grievous
to reflect, that while we are sending missionaries to India, our villages are in pagan darkness, and upon many of them scarcely a ray of
Christianity has shone. I speak from the most
minute and diligent examination. I have been
constantly occupied for a long time in trying
what my poor abilities and my small influence
over others richer and better, can bring about.
In one particular spot, for instance, there are
six large parishes without so much as a resident curate. Through the kind assistance of a
friend or two, I am endeavoring to fix schools
and other little institutions in the most destitute of these places, and as they are from six
to ten miles distant, you will judge that it'employs a good deal of my time.  I have the
satisfaction to tell you that Cheddar, our first
establishment, goes on prosperously. We have
a great many children in that parish only, and
by the ability and piety of our teachers, their
improvement surpasses my warmest hopes. I
make no apology to you, my dear friend, for
6*




130           HANNAH MORE.
the freedom of these details. Alas, there are
so few to whom one can speak or write upon
such subjects.
"Poor Patty is a great sufferer.  Our
friend Mrs. Garrick, who is still at Bristol
Wells, has been to see us several times: she
does not think herself quite recovered.  To
those who have enjoyed during a lifetime perfect health, illness is particularly alarming.
Let you and me, my dear friend, number our
infirm health among the merciful providences
which have been dispensed to us. How much
more do we enjoy our intervals of ease than
those who know no pains; and I hope we may
be able to turn the pain itself to a good account.'All things work together for good to
them that love God.'
"I wish you could see my roses. I have a
double end in such a wish, for then I should
see yozu. I am truly and faithfully, my dearest
4Mrs. Carter, yours."
At this time the elder sisters retired from
their school, after a professional experience of
nearly thirty years, highly creditable to themselves, and amply rewarded by an extensive
patronage, which enabled them to build a fine
house in Bath, and spend their later years iu




SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.           131
the enjoyment of every comfort which competency and piety can bestow.
The Mendip schools were dear to the sisterhood: each bore her share in their labors,
fatigues, anxieties, and conflicts, sustaining a l1
encouraging Hannah in the conspicuous and
important part which her talents and energy
awarded her.
In the establishment of these schools, the
difficulties to be overcome needed all the resolution and judgment of minds like theirs.
Though the field was in a.land of Bibles anld
Sabbaths, yet a preparatory work, not unlike
that which is necessary on heathen ground,
was needed here; the people whom they wished to benefit, had to be conciliated: fearing
not God, or regarding man, they neither desired nor cared for the blessings which Christian love would bestow: there were the prejudices and opposition of the small farmers, the
hardness and guilt of the poor, the hatred of
the ale-houses, the indifference of the church;
a general ignorance and incapability of appreciating the nature of the good to be conferred
upon them; the difficulty also of obtaining suittable teachers, prudent, discreet, and pious.'Add to these," said Miss Hannah, after the




9132;HANNAH MOREo
good work was in progress, " the teaching of
the teachers, which is not the least part of the
work: having about thirty masters and mistresses, with under-teachers, one has continually to bear with the faults, the ignorance, the
prejudices, humors, misfortunes, and debts of
all these poor, well-meaning people. I hope,
however, it teaches one forbearance, and it
serves to put me in mind how much God has
to bear from me. I now and then comfort
Patty, in our journeys home at night, by saying, if we do these -people no good, I hope we
do some little'good to ourselves."
But Miss Mlore neither flinched nor faltered in her arduous service: she who had not
hesitated to speak plain but unwelcome truths
to the gay and great, would shrink froml no
personal fatigue, nor be -cdisheartened either by
opposition or indifference.
"For the first year," said 3Miss More, in
speaking of the mother and daughter whom
she had engaged as teachers for Cheddar —.-and
the difficulties presented at - Cheddar were like
those of every other place where schools had
been planted-"tthese excellent women had to
struggle with every kind of opposition, so that
they were frequently tempted to give up their




SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.           133
laborious employ.  They well entitled themselves to ~30 per annum salary and some little
presents. They visited the sick, chiefly with
a view to their spiritual concerns; but we concealed the true motive at first: and in order to
procure them access to the homes and hearts
of the people, they were furnished not only
with medicine, but with a little money, which
they administered with great prudence. They
soon gained their confidence, read and prayed
to them, and in all respects did what a goodcl
clergyman does in other parishes.
" At the end of the year we perceived that
much ground had been gained among the poor;
but the success was attended with no snmall
persecution from  the rich, though some of
them grew more favorable.
"I now ventured to have a sermon read
after school on a Sunday evening, inviting a
few of the parents, and lkeeping the grown-up
children; the sermons were of the most awakening sort, and soon produced sensible effects.
It was at first thought a very nethodistical
measure, and we got a few broken windows;
but quiet perseverance, and the great prudence
with which the zeal of our good mistresses was
regulated, carried us tlirough.  Many repro



134          HANNAH MORE.
bates were by the blessing of God awakened,
and many swearers and Sabbath-breakers reclaimed. The number both of young and old
scholars increased, and the daily life and conversation of many seemed to keep pace with
their religious professions on the Sunday.
"We now began to distribute Bibles, Prayer-books, and other good books, but never at
random, and only to those who had given some
evidence of their loving and deserving them.
They are always made the reward of superior
learning, or some other merit, as we can have
no other proof that they will be read. Those
who manifest the greatest diligence, get the
books of most importance. During my absence
in the winter, a great many will learn twenty
or thirty chapters, psalms, and hymns.
"Finding the wants and distresses of these
poor people uncommonly great-for their wages are but one shilling per day-and fearing
to abuse the bounty of my friends by too indiscriminate liberality, it occurred to me that
I could make what I had to bestow go much
further, by instituting clubs or societies for
the women, as is done for the men in other
places. It was no small trouble to accomplish
this; for though the subscription was only




SUNDAY-SCHOOLS.           135
three half-pence a week, it was more than they
could always raise; yet the object appeared
so important, that I found it would be good
economy privately to give widows and other
very poor women money to pay their club.
After combating many prejudices, we carried
this point, which we took care to involve in
the general system, by making it subservient
to the schools, the rules of the club restraining
the women to such and such points of conduct
respecting the schools. In some parishes we
have one hundred and fifty poor women thus
associated; you may guess who are the patronesses.)"
These clubs proved a great blessing to the
little communities in which they were established, by helping the poor to husband their
small resources for a time of need, and teaching them  the importance and advantage of
economy: in sickness, a member received
three shillings a week; for lying-in, seven shillings and sixpence.
A  girl trained in their schools and sustaining a virtuous character, was presented on
her marriage-day with five shillings, a pair of
white stockings, and a new Bible.
"Henceforth," says Miss More, "I desire




136           HANNAH MORE.
to have little to do with the great. I have
devoted the remnant of my life to the poor
and those that have no helper; and if I can do
them no good, I can at least sympathize with
them; and I know it is some comfort for a forlorn creature to be able to say,'There is something that cares for mne.' The simple idea of
beinzg cared for has always.appeared to me a
very cheering one; besides, the affection they
have for me is a strong engine with which to
lift them to a love of higher things.  Alas, I
might do more and better; pray for me."
lWhen at Wrington, which now began to
be the greater part of the year, accompanied
by one of her sisters, usually Patty, she endeavored to visit at least three parishes every
Sabbath, riding from ten to thirty miles, often
enduring thirteen hours' exposure to the weather, and frequently passing the night at some of
the villages, and all this for upwards of twenty
years. What heroic devotion and inflexibility
of purpose does this not reveal, at an age too
when most women are too willing to retire from
arduous labor in their Master's service, and beg
to be excused from the call of Christian duty.
How beautiful among the cottages are the
feet of her who bringeth glad tidings!




NEWTON IN SORROW.           1,31
CHAPTER X.
NEWTON IN SORROW-MENDIP FEAST.
MR. NTEWTON is smitten, and he seeks the
Christian sympathy of Hannah More.  His
wife, the idol of his early days, the companion
of his later years, is no more.
" I could begin every letter," ran his, "with
the words of David,'Oh magnify the Lord
with me, and let us exalt his name together.'
Great has been his goodness. I am a wonder
to many, and to myself. You perhaps know,
madam, from what you have read of mine, and
possibly from what you have seen in me, that
my attachment to my dearest wife was great,
yea excessive, yea idolatrous. It was so when
it began. I think no writer of romance ever
imagined more than I realized.  It was so
when I married.  She was to me preciselyhow can I write it? —in the place of God. In
all places and companies my thoughts were
full of her. I did every thing for her sake;
and if she was absent-for I made three long




138           HANNAH TMORE.
voyages to Africa afterwards-I could take
pleasure in nothing. So narrow were my notions of happiness at this time, that I had no
idea that I was capable of any thing greater
or better than of being always with her. By
degrees, He who has the only right to my
heart, and who alone can fill it, was pleased
to make me sensible of his just claim, and my
idol was brought some steps lower down; yet
still I fear there was somewhat of the golden
calf in my love, from the moment that joined
our hands to the moment of separation. She
was certainly my chief temporal blessing, and
the providential hinge upon which all the principal events of my life have turned. Before
I was four years old, she was sent into the
world to be my companion, and to soften the
rugged path of life. The difficulties in the
way of our union were so many, so great, so
apparently insuperable, that my hope of obtaining her seemed little less chimerical than if
I had expected'the crown of Poland. Yet at
the proper time it took place. Fond as I was
of her, I knew that inconstancy and mutability
are primary attributes of the human heart depraved, if left to itself; but as the providence
of God joined our hands, a secret blessing from




NEWTON IN SORROW.           139
him cemented our hearts.  We certainly understood Thomson when he says,'Enamored more as more remembrance swells
With many a proof of recollected love.'
Further, though I had deserved to forfeit he:
every day of my life, yet He spared her to me
more than forty years; and lastly, which is
the crowning mercy, when he recalled the
loan-for, strictly speaking, she was not mine,
but his-he made me willing to resign her.
Through the long course of her very trying
illness he supported me. Though my feelings
were often painful, I believe a stranger who
had seen me in company, or heard me from
the pulpit, would hardly have suspected what
was passing at home.  On the evening of the
15th instant I watched her, with a candle in
my hand, for some hours; and when I was
sure she had breathed her last-which could
not at once be determined, she went away so
easily —I kneeled down by her bedside, with
those who were in the room, and thanked the
Lord, I trust with all my heart, for her dismission. I slept this night as well as usual;
and in defiance of the laws of tyrant custom,
I continued to preach while she lay dead in
the house.  We deposited her in our own




140           HANNAH MORE.
vault on the 23d, and last Sunday evening I
was enabled to preach her funeral sermon,
from Habakkuk 3:17, 18.
"In writing to you I feel my heart open;
I am assured of meeting from you with that
synmpathy and sensibility of which I hope I am
not myself wholly destitute; and therefore I
will tattle on. This was not a sudden stroke.
She did not die by a flash of lightning, by what
is called accident, nor by those rapid disorders
which break the thread of life in a few days
or hours. The Lord gave me time to prepare
for it; yea, by the gradual train of his dispensations, he gradually prepared me for it himself.
"She was confined to the house nearly ten
years, excepting that in September, 1789, she
was enabled to go for a month to Southamnpton, and during the last autumn went out every
evening in a coach, for a little air. But she
was shut up from the house of God, and from
visiting her friends, though, till about September, she could generally receive them at home.
Indeed, till about that time I did not give up
all hope of her recovery. But a total loss of
appetite, or rather, a loathing of food, then took
place, which soon reduced her to- a state of




NEWTON IN SORROW.           141
great weakness. In the beginnining of October
she took to her bed, and was soon after, I suppose from some defect in the spine, deprived of
all locomotive power. She could neither move
herself, nor without the greatest difficulty be
moved-sometimes not so much as to have any
thing about her changed for a fortnight together.  Such, imy dear madam, was the state
of my idol: what a rebuke-what a lesson was
it to me, to see her lie for eight or nine weeks
in so sad and pitiable a situation!  But the
case was mingled with many merciful alleviations. -Her patience was wonderful; her natural spirits as good as when she was in health.
Often when my eyes were full of tears, she
has constrained me to smile. When she could
not move her body, she was thankful that she
could move her hands, thankful that the Lord
had laid no more upon her than she could
bear; and wlhen I once said,'You are a great
sufferer,' she replied,'I do suffer, but not
greatly.' So to know that we are sinners, a-nd
so to know the Saviour as to feel both the
necessity and the liberty of applying to him,
constitutes that knowledge which chiefly deserves the name; and this I trust was her privilege long before her last illness. But the




142           HANNAH MORE.
enemy of our peace found advantage, from the
weakness of her frame, to distress her with
doubts which did not so directly apply to her
own state as to the whole system of truth.
She said,'If there be a Saviour'-' If there
be a God.' In this interval, which lasted near
a fortnight, there was some abatement of that
serenity I spoke of, some signs of impatience,
and she discovered a strong reluctance to the
thought of dying.  Then was my sharpest
trial; but the cloud gradually wore off, and
for the last month she spoke of her departure
with great composure, and seemed perfectly
reconciled to it. Yet she never recovered
strength and freedom  to speak much to me
about herself. The Sunday before she died, I
said,'If you cannot easily speak, and if your
mind be at peace, I wish you to signify it by
holding up your hand.' She immediately held
it up, and waved it for a little time. This
from her, who knew the gospel so well, comforted and satisfied me. It reminded ime of
the striking scene in Shakspeare, of Cardinal
Beaufort, which closes with,'lHe dies —but
gives no sign.' Blessed be God, it was not
her case.
"In the course of the day she asked for




NEWTON IN SORROW.           143
me, though I was seldom long or far from her;
but her head was so much affected by lying
many weeks in one position, that though perfectly sensible, she could hardly bear the
sound of the gentlest voice, or the softest footsteps upon the carpet. I went to her; she
stroked my face, squeezed my hand, and said,'My pretty dear!' an appellation she frequently gave me. We both dropped a few tears.
These were the last words I heard her speak,
and I could say but little. Such was our last
farewell. From that night until she obtained
her release, she gave little sign of life but by
breathing.
"Now, my dear madam, I have done. I
shall trouble you with no more in this strain.
She is gone; and may I not add, I am going?
For though my health was n6ver better than at
present, I am advancing in my sixty-sixth year.
What is the world to me now?  All the treasures of the Bank of England could not repair
my loss, or even abate my sense of it. My
chief earthly tie to this life is broken; yet I
thank God I am willing to live while he has
any service for me to do, or rather, while he
pleases, whether I can serve him or not, provided I am favored with submission to his will.




144           HANNAH  MORE.
I have lost my right hand. I-le has made me
willing to part with it, but'I must expect to
miss it often. However, I thanklhim, I am by
no means uncomfortable.  I am satisfied lhe
does all things well; and though some months
ago, had it been lawful, I would have redeemed her life and health by the sacrifice of a limb,
and thought the purchase cheap; yet now his
will is made known by the event, I trust I can
from the heart say with Fenelon,'I would not
take up a straw to have things otherwise than
they are.' Time is short. A new and inconceivable scene will soon open upon us, and if
they who now'sow in tears shall reap in joy,'
they may smile while they weep.
"We seem to want some other word by
which to denote our supreme regard for God,
than that which expresses our affection to
creatures. When we speak of loving him, it
must be in a different sense.  Creature love is
a passion; divine love is a principle. It arises
fromn an apprehension of his adorable perfections, especially as they are displayed in the
great work of redemptidn, without which it is
impossible for a sinner to'love him.
"There is a sensibility of feeling in, creature love, which is no proper standard of our




NEWTON IN SORROW.          145
love to God. This, depending much upon condition and the state of the animal spirits, is
different in different persons, and in the same
persons at different times. It is variable as
the weather, and indeed is often affected by
the weather and a thousand local circumstances no more in our power than the clouds that
fly over our heads. It is no uncommon thing
to judge more favorably of ourselves on this
point on a bright summer's day, and while contemplating a beautiful prospect, than in the
gloom of winter, or the hurry of Cheapside.
The high affection of some people may be compared to a summer's brook after a hasty rain,
which is full and noisy for a little time, but
soon becomes dry. But true divine love is
like a river which always runs, though not
always with equal depth and flow, and never
ceases till it finds the ocean. The best evidences are, admiration of his way of saving
sinners, humble dependence on his care, desire of communion with him in his instituted
means of grace, submission to the will of his
providence, and obedience to the dictation of
his precepts. To keep his commandments,
and to keep them as His commandments, from
a sense of his authority and goodness, is the
H. Malo.          7




146           HANNAH MORE.
best, the most unsuspicious test of our love to
Him."
A year after, Newton comes to Cowslip
Green.
"Pray, my dear sir," wrote Miss More in
a note which met him on the way,'"try to divert your mind from the delights and elegances
of Teston, before you turn your way towards
my little thatched cottage, where a quiet cell,
a few books, a maple dish, and a'dinner of
herbs' are all you can in reason expect; but
then I hope we shall be able to furnish the
appropriate sauce of'quietness therewith,' for
which I trust you will be contented to renounce
the'stalled ox' of noisy London."
He passed a week there in August-a week
of Christian intercourse, the memory of which
cheered him on his solitary pilgrimage.
In passing King Weston's hill, on his homeward journey, nothing in the wide and beauti-ful prospect delighted his eye like a glimpse
of the Men'dip Ridge: "fYes, yes, and I was
so foolish as almost to envy a hill which, if it
had eyes like me, might look at Cowslip Green
from morning till night."
Nor is the interest dimmed by the dirt of
Cheapside, or the duties of Colman-street.




NEWTON IN SORROW.          147
"Every Sunday morning," he writes, "my
thoughts set out in quest of you and Miss
Patty, and though I know not what road you
have taken, I seldom miss finding you. There
is a communion of spirit among the believing
members of that body of which Christ is the
living head, which I believe is not impeded by
local distance."
"I assure you," replied Miss More, "your
kind wishes and your affectionate remembrance
of the mountains of Mendip and of the little
hermitage at the foot of it, are returned with
great sincerity. Your pipe still maintains its
station in the black-currant bush, and that hand
would be deemed very presumptuous and disrespectful which should presume to displace
it. For my own part, the pipe of Tityrus,
though in my youthful days I liked it passing
well, would not now be deemed a more venerable relic; and even the little sick maid Lizzy,
who gratefully remembers the spiritual comfort you administered to her, often cries out,' Oh dear, I hope nobody will break Mr. Newton's pipe.'
"Patty and I remember you as we are
trotting over the hills. She desires her affectionate regards, as do all the rest. You would




148           HANNAH MORE.
enjoy the vale of cowslips in this renewed
spring: we have every thing of the golden age
except the innocence; the garden is full of
roses as in June, and an apple-tree is literally
covered at the same moment with fruit nearly
ripe and fresh blossoms."
In order to increase a general interest in
the schools, and reward the punctual attendance of the scholars, the ladies busied themselves in preparing a feast, or what we should
call a Sabbath-school picnic, the first of the
kind perhaps ever held.  The spot selected on
this occasion was on one of the Mlendip hills,
eight miles from Cowslip Green, commanding
a beautiful and varying prospect of the British
channel and the Welsh mountains, with quiet
hamlets in the foreground: the land was fenced
in, tents pitched, and tables spread; children
and teachers flocked to the spot at an early
hour; a large party in wagons started from
Cowslip Green, while the strangeness of the
event attracted innumerable lookers-on without the enclosure. Psalms were sung, addresses made, and nine hundred sat down to a dinner of beef, plum pudding, and cider; all the
neighboring clergy were present, and grace
was said at each table; the day was fine, and




MENDIP FEAST.            149
MWliss Patty's fears speedily subsided before
the good order and decorum  which everywhere prevailed throughout this immense gathering. A general chorus of "God save the
King" closed the festivities of the day, MAiss
~More always inculcating loyalty in her code
of religious duty.
The female clubs also had their anniversary days, when a sermon was preached at the
parish church, and tea and cakes were served
by the sisters at an adjoining school-room.
These feasts, held from time to time, were attended with the most beneficial results, creating self-respect among the poor, and awakening stronger sympathy in their behalf among
those who had power to benefit them.
A train of carriages, extending no less than
a mile, frequently left Cowslip Green on such
occasions, nor did the highest dignitaries in
church or state disdain the thatched schoolhouses of Cheddar and Shipham.
On one pleasant summer's day, a gentleman came that way. "How beautiful is this,"
he said, stopping at the gate to survey the
rural charms of Cowslip Green.
Miss Mary More issued from the shrub.
bery, and invited the stranger in.




150           HANNAHI MORE.
Delighted with the situation and garden,
he inquired to whom it belonged.
"Hannah More,"' was the reply.
His surprise only equalled his pleasure.
An introduction followed, and Mr. Turner, for
it was he, willingly became her guest.
Their long suspended intercourse was renewed, and remained unbroken until his death.
He became a not unfrequent visitor at the cottage, and was a delighted spectator of the last
picnic given by the ladies on the Mendip
Ridge.




WILL C11IP AND1)  S BI RETIRIEN.   151
CHAPTER XI.
WILL CHIP AND HIS BRETHREN.
THE angry clouds of revolution which swept
over France during the latter part of the last
century, began to darken the English horizon.
The fond hopes awakened by the assembling
of the States-general had long since been dissipated: in place of reform there was revolution; confusion and anarchy swiftly followed;
opinions and principles hostile to order, government, and religion, were propagated under
the guise of philosophy and fraternity, seducing the unwary by a promised good never to
be realized. The clubs of France had overturned and overturned, until the throne, the
state, the church, all civil, social, and moral
law had been trampled down, and the'bleeding people were left to the reckless fury of
leaders who knew not God, neither regarded
man. Wild as was this spirit of change, it
swept over the English channel, gathering, up
the loose and discordant elements of the English masses, threatening the peace of society
and the stability of lhe state.




152           HANNAH MORE.
As much of this agitation and discontent
was grumbling in workshops, and muttering in
ale-houses and clubs, and therefore beyond the
reach of statesmen and below the cognizance
of law, it must be met, if met at all, on its
own ground, with its own weapons-English
sense against French fraternity; tract and
pamphlet against tract and pamphlet.  Dr.
Paley was enlisted in the service. Ile wrote
"Reasons for Contentment," and a prebend of
St. Paul's was his reward. The book aimed
above the mark: it relieved the anxiety of a
higher class, but did not quell the tumultuous
hopes or answer the dangerous sophistry of
the discontented and seditious.  Something
more direct and practical was wanted-somebody with quick wit and sound sense, who
knew the men to be dealt with. At last, Will
Chip showed himself to the English public.
Will Chip, with no more than a sling and a
few smooth stones, ventured forth to meet the
Goliath of the times.  Will Chip makes no
boasts; he simply asks to be heard and read:
he has written "Village Politics," a tract, very
brief, and as everybody began to say, on reading it, very pertinent and very pithy. Bookseller Rivington issued it, and his shop is




WILL CHIP AND HIS BRETHREN.   153
thronged, for wonderful is the demand for
" Tillage Politics."  Bishops christen it, lords
bless it, landholders rejoice over it, everybody
for law and order is thankful for it; it multiplies abundantly: one hundred thousand copies are circulated through lanes and courts; it
speedily makes the circuit of the kingdom; it
goes by hosts into Scotland and Ireland; it
leaps into France, and passes into Italy; it is
hawked and peddled; in hall and cottage " Village Politics" is known and read.  Will Chip
has proved himself a master-workman; he is
thankful and contented, loyal and Christian,
with a plenty of work to do, and a heart to
do it.  "What is a French 7Democrat," cries
Will Chip, " but one who likes to be governed
by a thousand tyrants, yet can't bear a king?
And what is French equality, but every man
trying to pull down every one that is above
him; while, instead of raising those below him
to his own level, he only makes use of them
as steps to raise himself to the place of those
he has tumbled down? and French philosophy, but to believe there is neither God nor
devil, heaven nor hell? and French benevolence, but contempt of religion, aversion to
justice, overturning of law, doubting all man



154           HANNAH MORE.
kind in general, and hating everybody in particular? and as for equalization, fraternization,
inviolability, it is nonsense, gibberish, downright hocus-pocus!"
Will Chip was a match for the times; and
people said that his tact and intelligence did
more than anybody's else to open the eyes of
the people to the follies of French politics, and
set Englishmen considering that, "though they
had a king, he was so kept in, he could not
hurt the people if he would; that they had as
much liberty as could make them happy, more
trade and riches than allowed them to be good;
the best laws in the world, if they were more
strictly enforced; and the best religion in the
world, if it were but better followed."
Englishmen began to come to their senses,
and acknowledge Will Chip told the truth.
But who was this remarkable fellow, so shrewd,
so pointed, so seasonable, so posted in "Village Politics" and French policy? Where did
Will Chip live? The Bishop of London knew,
for he writes to Mrs. Chip:
"I have this moment received your husband's Dialogue, and it is supremely excellent. I look upon Mr. Chip to be one of the
finest writers of the age; this work alone will




WILL CHIP AND HIS BRETHREN.   155
immortalize him; and what is better still, I
trust it will help to immortalize the constitution. If the sale is as rapid as the book is
good, Mr. Chip will get an immense income,
and completely destroy all equality at once.
How Jack Anvil and Tomr H-od will bear this
I know not, but I shall rejoice at Mr. Chip's
elevation, and should be extremely glad at this
moment to shake him by the hand, and ask
him to take a family dinner with me. He is
really a very fine fellow. I have kept your
secret most religiously.
"Your very sincere and faithful
"B. LONDON."
But secrets, like murder, will out. Mrs.
Boscawen suspects.
" Oh, Oh, say you so?" she writes to HIannah More.  " It must have been instinct then
that has made me send for a quarter of a hundred more of'Will Chip,' and still for more
and more; the last bale came in yesterday,
and I see they will not last the week out; I
had better have had a hundred at once. Last
week I sent a packet to Badminton, and my
duchess answers me thus:'We have all read,
and delight in your Village Politics.' A gen.
tleman here says he shall send for a gross of




156           HANNAH MORE.
them to distribute about in his neighborhood.
I have not had a gross, to be sure, like this
Gloucestershire gentleman, but I have had
them past counting, little thinking-why, yes,
I did think too of somebody, though not just
the true body; for you must know the first
word I ever heard of poor Tom H-od, or the
sprightly consolations of his facetious neighbor
Jack Anvil, was one night at Lady Cremorne's,
where the Bishop of London pulled them out
of his pocket, and read the delectable dialogue
to us, in tones so suitable that lie was interrupted continually with our bursts of laughter-ask Mrs. Kennicott else, for she was of the
audience-and when he camle to'my lady,'
and sent her'to cold water, and hot water,
and salt water, and fresh water,' he could not
get on at all, we laughed so immoderately. I
suspected his lordship was the author.'Well,'
as Tomn says, I went home, and sure enough I
wrote upon a bit of paper that minute,'A
quarter of a hundred of Will Chip, or Village
Politics, to be had at lRivington's;' and this I
gave to citizen Brown, and bid him carry it
early next morning to a certain walking bookseller of mine, who procures me all the learning I deal in; and this was accordingly done,




'WILL CHIP AND HIS BRE,-THREN.   15.
but did not hold nme, as I said, three days;
I have had many recruits since, and must
have more.  Last night a gentleman gave me'Reasons for Contentment,' by Archdeacon
Paley, addressed to the laboring part of the
British public. I cast my eyes over it, and
though I honor Archdeacon Paley, yet I assured the giver that I would send him  the
production of one, the minute I got home, who
understood the language much better; and accordingly I despatched a little pac.ket of Will
Chip before I sat down at home. You will
believe that I have not forgotten- to supply
Richmond. ~ Our minister and our apothecary
are supplied; and the first went to the house
of Cambridge, and there excited envy, Mr.
Cambridge declaring he wished he had written it. Mr. Rivington still dispenses them by
thousands —I hope some go to France;  and
though he cannot get any thing by them, nor
the pleasant author, yet both will allow that
this is success.'"
It was a new department for Hannah More;
so influential and successful had she proved
herself as a village politician, the Bishop of
London besought her to come out on the side of
religion and the Bible in " Tillage Christianity."'




158           HANNAH MORE.
The pen of Miss More was not idle.  If
French politics had alarmed and nerved her
to action, the unblushing confessions of French
infidelity shocked her moral sense, and filled
her with the most serious apprehensions.
"Dupont's and Manuel's atheistical speeches," writes she in April to Horace Walpole,
now Earl of Oxford, "have stuck in my throat
all the winter, and I have been waiting for our
bishops and clergy to take some notice of them;
but blasphemy and atheism have been allowed
to become familiar to the minds of our common people, without any attempt being made
to counteract the poison."
The attempt was, however, made by Miss
]More: "I know how paltry is the little I can
do," she says, "but my conscience tells me
that that little ought to be done."
Miss More's "Remarks on the Speech of
M. Dupont," before the National Convention
on Religion and Public Education, made its
appearance in the spring, together with an address to the ladies of Great Britain in behalf
of the French emigrant clergy; these exiles
flocked to England in great numbers, extremely destitute, many lacking even the necessaries
of life. To those in Bath, the sisters freely




WILL CHIP AND HIS BRETHREN.    159
extended the hospitalities of their house, and
a thousand pounds were raised through Hannah's influence in their behalf.
"Your work is so much above praise,"
writes Mrs. Montagu to her, "your mind so
superior to vanity and a desire of fame, that I
shall not repeat to you a word of the universal admiration it has excited, and the great
approbation of the sentiments which prompted
you to write it. I will barely assure you of
what alone interests you, that this work will
afford great assistance to the poor refugees,
and will be of infinite service to the souls of
thousands."
A sunny letter from the Bishop of London
to the lady of Cowslip Green discourses thus:
" As yoi certainly belong to my diocese, and
are on many accounts fairly entitled to the benefit of clergy-for you can not only read, but
also write, and even preach to the great world
more eloquently than most clergy-womenI cannot do very much amiss, I think, in sending you the enclosed charge. There are two
things at least you will learn from it: to sing
psalms more melodiously in your parish church,
and to reside more constantly in your proper
diocese, from which-as I know by experi



160           HANNAH MORE.
ence-you are but too apt to wander, and to
be led astray into the flowery paths of Cowslip, and such like seducing and dangerous
places, where you forget, amid the dissipations
of solitude, your duty towards your neighbor,
and never tlhink of bestowing one single solitary line on Mr. Walpole, or on me.  I have
lately received a letter from him, in which he
complains most bitterly of your pertinacious
silence.  Pray let us hear soon how your cowslips and daisies and acacias go oil, and how
many tons of hay you have this year, for I
take it for granted you are a great farmer.
" Your friend Lord Oxford and myself are,
I believe, the only persons in the kingdom
worthy of the hot weather, the only true, genuine sunmmer we have had for the last thirty
years; we both agreed that it was perfectly
celestial, and that it was quite scandalous to
huff it away as some people did. A few days
before it arrived, all the world was complaining of the dreadfully cold north-east wind;
and in three days after the warmer weather
came in, everybody was quarrelling with the
heat, and sinking under the rays of the sun.
Such is that consistent and contented thing
called human nature.  As to ourselves, we




WILL CHIP AND HIS BRETHREN.    161
enjoyed with gratitude and delight this truly
Italian but short-lived summer. We lived in
Bishop's noble northern room all the day, and
in the evening the meadows were our drawing-room; there our little lawn was as green
as an emerald, and kept constantly cool with
fresh breezes from  the Thames, while every
other field and garden in the kingdom  was
burned up, and brouglht actually to the color
of a gravel-walk. Our little cottage was indeed quite delicious, and this summer alone
has amply repaid me for all my trouble and
expense."
Great as was the care and labor of superintending the Cheddar schools, Miss More still
projected new plans for the improvement and
elevation of the laboring classes. There was,
at that period, a great lack of reading sufficiently cheap, lively, and instructive, to be
within the range of their means and tastes.
Hannah AMore asked, "How can this deficiency
be supplied?"  In the unsettled, discontented,
and inquiring state of the English masses, it
seemed imperiously necessary to furnish them
with the right sort of reading: if Will Chip
had done good service by his judicious efforts
in Village Politics, might he not labor with




162           HANNAH MORE.
equal efficiency for temperance, economy, relig.
ion, social stability, and moral improvement?
Miss More thought he might: at least, the
attempt was worth making; and this gave rise
to "The Cheap Repository," a monthly publication, cheap enough to come within the means
of the humblest cottager.
"Thank you a thousand times for your
most ingenious plan," exclaimed the Earl of
Oxford.  "May great success reward you.
-low calm and comfortable must your slumbers be on the pillow of every day's good
deeds!"  Patty and Sarah, with other friends,
promised their assistance, and the work was
happily commenced. Two committees were
formed in London to promote its regular circulation, and two millions were sold the first
year.
In the winter of the year 1794, which had
been almost unremittingly occupied in work
among her schools, with her pen, or in lesser
schemes of active usefulness, she journeyed
to London, and paid a few visits among old
friends.
"Last Saturday I dined with Mrs. Montagu. It was almost two years since I had found
myself in such grande mnonde; so I told them




WILL CHIP AND HIS BRETHREN.    163
if I should be caught doing any thing vulgar,
they must give me a jog. We were fourteen
at dinner, and many more were added after,
most of them my old and intimate friends, who
seemed to receive me with great kindness. I
told them to make much of me, for their opportunities of seeing such a rarity would be
few. Mrs. Ilontagu is well, bright, and in full
song, and had spread far and wide the fame
of Cowslip Green, and the day she passed
there. In the midst of all the splendor of
lights and grandeur and luxury, word was
brought in of the death of poor Lady EIt was a tremendous warning: she was an amiable, generous, and charitable woman, but was
immersed in luxury and splendor.
"I went to Mrs. Boscawen, with whom I
shall make a point to pass all the time I can
spare. We have had many hours' quiet discussion. She is better, but I fear breaking up.
"Three o'clock. Called down to Mr. Henry
Thornton, just arrived from Clapham, where
he, Mr. Wilberforce, and  Ir. Elliott have
been quietly enjoying themselves several days.
We have had two or three hours' prate, but
our spirits were not exhaustedl: he is not in
very stout health. Yesterday I went to hear




164           HANNAIH MORE.
Mr. Cecil —Naaman the Syrian-very excellent."
March. "Dined with friends at Mrs. -—'s.'What doest thou here, Elijah?'  Felt too
much pleased at the pleasure expressed by
so many accomplished friends, on seeing me
again. Keep me from contagion."
Sunday. "I see the need of doing the duty
of every day in its day. When I look back on
the past week, I see cause of mourning over
my vanity and folly. Sloth and self are getting strong dominion, and much time wasted
which I had devoted to improvement.  Let
these continual discoveries make me hulmble."
May. " Came to Fulham to my dear bishop:
much kindness-literary and elegant society;
but the habits of polished life, even of virtuous and pious people, are too relaxing. Much
serious reading, but not a serious spirit; good
health, with increased relaxation of mind:
thus are the blessings of God turned against
himself."
Some of Miss More's best efforts appeared
in the pages of The Cheap Repository. The
Shepherd of Salisbury Plain, originally one of
its Sunday Tracts, will alone immortalize her.
In consequence of the political distractions




WILL CHIP AND HIS BRETHREN.    165
of the Continent, and the war which England
was called upon to wage, together with the extreme severity of the weather in 1795, which
cut off the crops, there was great suffering
among the lower classes; cold, scarcity, and
discontent everywhere prevailed. The Cheap
Repository, with wonderful sagacity, furnished
plans and precepts for enabling the people to
bear the ills which pressed thus heavily upon
them, and inculcated religious truths in so
simple and direct a manner, that the faith of
multitudes, shaken by the shallow sophistries
of infidelity, became strengthened in the good
old ways of their fathers.
Illustrious was the race of Chips. Mrs.
Jones' cheap dishes in "Hester ~Wilmot" were
in repute even at the tables of the rich; "Black
Giles the Poacher" frightened everybody trying to live by their wits rather than their
work; no tenmperance agent ever effected more
good than "Sorrowful Sam;"' while the "Riot"
ballad, seasonably sung among a gang of miners on the eve of a rising, saved the mills,
spared the butchers, and restored quiet to a
most seditious neighborhood.
Bishop Butler's Analogy for a half-penny
is surely worthy of record; the doubts, per



166             HANNAH MORE.
plexities, and sinful grumblings of many a one
careful and troubled about many things, are
happily and sensibly rebuked in this most excellent epitome of one of the grand truths of
God's providential government: no one can
read "Turn the Carpet " without having his
faith confirmed, and whether willing to confess
it or not, being ashamed of envious comparisons and ungrateful murmurs.
TURN THE CARPET, OR THE TWO WEAVERS.
IN A DIALOGUE BETWEEN DICK AND JOHN.
As at their work two weavers sat,
Beguiling time with friendly chat,
They touched upon the price of meat,
So high, a weaver scarce could eat.
"What with my brats and sickly wife,"
Quoth Dick, "I'm almost tired of life;
So hard my work, so poor my fare,
IT is more than mortal man can bear.'How glorious is the rich man's state I
His house so fine, his wealth so great I
Heaven is unjust, you must agree;
Why all to him? why none to me?
"In spite of what the Scripture teaches,
In spite of all the parson preaches,
This world-indeed, I've thought so longIs ruled, methinks, extremely wrong.




WILL CHIP AND HIS BRETHREN.    167'"Where'er I look, howe'er I range,'T is all confused and hard and strange;
The good are troubled and oppressed,
And all the wicked are the blessed."
Quoth John, " Our ignorance is the cause
Why thus we blame our Maker's laws:
Parts of his ways alone we know;'T is all that man can see below.
"Seest thou that carpet, not half done,
Which thou, dear Dick, hast well begun?
Behold the wild confusion there;
So rude the mass it makes one stare I
"A stranger, ign'rant of the trade,
Would say, No meaning's there conveyed;
For where's the middle, where's the border?
Thy carpet now is all disorder."
Quoth Dick, " My work is yet in bits,
But still in every part it fits.
Besides, you reason like a lout;
Why, man, that carpet's inside out."
Says John, "Thou say'st the thing I mean,
And now I hope to cure thy spleen:
This world, which clouds thy soul with doubt,
Is but a carpet inside out.
"As when we view these shreds and ends,
We know not what the whole intends;
So when on earth things look but odd,
They're working still some scheme of God.
"No plan, no pattern can we trace;
All wants proportion, truth, and grace:
The motley mixture we deride,
Nor see the beau-teous upper side.




168             HANNAH MORE.
"But when we reach that world of light,
And view those works of God aright,
Then shall we see the whole design,
And own the Workman is divine.
"What now seem random strokes, will there
All order and design appear;
Then shall we praise what here we spurned,
For then the carpet shall be turned."
"Thou'rt right," quoth Dick; " no more I'll grumble
That this sad world's so strange a jumble;
My impious doubts are put to flight,
For my own carpet sets me right."




T.RIALS AND OPPOSITION.      169
CIHAPTER XII.
TRIALS AND OPPOSITION.
IN June, Wilberforce made a bridal journey to Cowslip Green; Miss More willingly
left the splendors of London to come and bid
him welcome.  "By this coming," she says,
"he prepaid a sort of vow, made many years
since; you will think it not amiss to make his
agreeable wife set out with such an act of
humility."
On the following Sunday, in company with
the sisters, he visited the schools of Shipham,
Axbridge, and Cheddar. Cheddar then was
not the Cheddar of his first visit, eight years
before, when the sight of its ignorant and
wretched population robbed him of the pleasure of his trip.  Wilberforce rejoiced, and
thanked God for the blessed change.
This year, 1797, was marked by his marriage and the printing of his " Practical Christianity," for it had long been before the world
-in a life of practical godliness, known and read
by all men.  Practical Christianity was at a
H.  orve.         S




170           H ANNAH fMORE.
low ebb; there was little or' no demand for
books of that kind, and his friends tried to
dissuade him from publishing it.
"If you put your name to it, you may possibly sell five hundred copies," said his bookseller, looking as if he thought that extremely
doubtful. But the hidden want was little understood: a religious book of its nature and
spirit was needed; and when issued, the demand was so great that a few days exhausted
the edition.
" I am truly thankful to Providence," says
the excellent Bishop Porteus, "that a work of
this nature has made its appearance at this
tremendous moment. I pray God it may have
a powerful and extensive influence upon the
hearts of men, and in the first place upon my
own, which is already humbled, and will, I
trust, in time be sufficiently humbled by it.'
"Such a book at such a time, and by such a
man!" exclaims Newton: "I accept it as a
token of good, yea, as the brightest token I
can discern in this dark and perilous day."
Fifteen editions issued from  the English
press; twenty-five were sold in this country,
and it took a high place among the instrumentalities that gave a quickened impulse to that




TRIALS AND OPPOSITION.        141
warm and more earnest piety which has distinguished the last half century.
While Wilberforce visits Cowslip Green,
and joins the sisters in their walks of usefulness, Newton enjoys their society and sympathy as fancy sketches them in the quiet of his
study, or along the dust and din of Cheapside.
"I am gone to the Vale of Mendip," writes he,
" to Cowslip Green, to the Root house, where
perhaps the ladies are just now assembled to
breakfast. Oh, could I actually see them, with
what glee should I say,'Good morning, ladies!"
" Well, I must be content with ideal visits
for the present, but not always; a day is approaching when we hope to have a joyful meeting indeed. I trust that Cowslip Green is holy
ground, and all the inhabitants consecrated
persons; sprinkled, like the priests of old, with
the atoning blood, anointed with the holy unction, and devoted with united hearts, hands,
and tongues, to do the will and to proclaim
the praise of our God and Saviour.  It is no
-wonder that I so long to be with them.
" Indeed, I am with you in spirit, and 1
think this is more than a sally of the imagination; the communion of saints, which we profess to believe, like the communion of the




Ito2          HANNAH MORE.
members of the body, is derived from a communication of life and spirits from the same
common Head, by which they have reciprocal
fellowship and  fellow-feeling among themselves: and though believers, the salt of the
earth, are scattered up and down, far and
wide, t.o preserve the whole mass from putrefaction, they are one in Him.  The supreme
object of their love ds as yet unseen.  For his
sake they love all who love him, though it is
but few of them comparatively that they canl
expect to see, until he shall collect themn together in the great day of his appearance.
The virtue of the heavenly magnet which
draws them all to himself, connects them at
the salne time with each other.  Their airms,
their hopes, and their spiritual sustenance are
the same.  Local distance Lneither discourages
their mutual prayers, nor prevents their efficacy.
"The shadows of e.vening are advancing
upon me. if ever I see Mlendip again, it must
be by a bird's-eye view from the higher hill of
Zion above.  1But I trust I shall at intervals
recollect with pleasure the happy week I passed at Cowslip Green while I can remember
any thing."




TRIALS AND OPPOSITION.         173
The New-year's day of 1798 wxas solemnized by Hannah fiore by a renewed and
more entire dedication of herself to the service of her heavenly ilaster.  "Let me now
give myself away with a more entire surrender than I have ever yet made," she
records.
"1. I resolve, by the grace of God, to be
more watchful over my temper.
" 2. 7Nkot to speak idly or harshly.
" 3. To watch over my thoughts; not to
indulge in vain, idle, resentful, impatient,
worldly imaginations.
" 4. To strive after closer communion with
G-od.
" 5. To let no hour pass without lifting up
my heart to him, through Christ.
" 6. Not to let a day pass without some
thought of death.
" 7. To ask myself every night, when I lie
down, Am I fit to die?
" 8. To labor to do and to suffer the whole
will of God.
"9. To cure my overanxiety. by casting
myself on God in Christ.
" I resolve to pray at least twice a week,
separately, for the country in this time of dan



174           HANNAH MORE.
ger, independently of the petitions offered up
in my other prayers.
" Lord, grant that my religious advantages
may never appear against me. ]Many temptations this week to vanity; flattery without end.
God be praised, I was nzot flattered: twentyfour hours' headache makes me see the vanity
of all this.  Am I tempted to vanity?  Let
me recall to mind the shining firiends I have
lost this year, eminent each in his different
way, yet he that is least in the kingdom of
heaven is greater than either."
Among these shining friends was Horace
Walpole, whose twenty years of unclouded
kindness and pleasant correspondence  [iss
More could not drop without a sigh.
As the best proof of her sincerity, we find
her this year extending her labors, and establishing a. new school at Wedmore, the largest
parish in the county, and deplorably ignorant.
In the undertaking she met with unnumbered
trials. The farmers were angry at her interference, and more hostile than any which the sisters had encountered before.  In remodelling
a damp and unfinished building for a schoolhouse, she took a violent cold, which threw
her upon a sick-bed.  Though harassed and




TRIALS AND OPPOSITION.        175
opposed, she went bravely on: it was enough
for her to know that the work was to be done,
and that Providence seemed to have appointed her to do it.
In the midst of her labors Wilberforce
came from Bath, and carried her there to take
the benefit of the waters.
"I feel it rather base to steal away and
leave poor Patty to work double tides," she
wrote to Mrs. Kennicott.  " We have in hand
a new and very laborious undertaking; but the
object appeared to me so important that I did
not feel myself at liberty to neglect it.
" The opposition I have met with in endeavoring to establish an institution for the
religious instruction of these people would excite your astonishment: in spite of it, however,
which far exceeds any thing which I have met
with, I am building a house and taking up
things on such a large scale, that you must not
be surprised if I get into debt. Providence, I
trust, will carry me through the undertaking;
for, notwithstanding the active malevolence we
experience, I have brought already three or
four hundred under a course of instruction.
The worst part of the story is, that thirty miles
there and back is a little too much these short




1?6           HANNAH MORE.
days; and when we get there, our house has
neither windows nor doors: but if we live till
next summer things will mend, and in so precarious a world as this is, a winter was not to
be lost."
Besides these active duties, her pen was
busily employed in preparing "Strictures on
Female Education," which appeared in the beginning of the following year.
The tendencies then, as now, were towards
amusement rather than sobriety, fashionable
aceomplishments instead of valuable knowledge
and practical industry, filial independence in
place of filial obedience.
The practical evils which lie in the path of
Christian education, from  low and imperfect
notions of what should be its chief aim, together with a false estimate of worldly advantages, are portrayed with vigor and truth.
Her pertinent question to the women of
her own time, may be asked with no less significance to ours, "Does it seemn to be the true
end of education to make women dancers, singers, players, painters, actresses, sculptors, gilders, varnishers, engravers, and embroiderers?
"Most men are commonly destined to some
profession, and their minds are consequently




TRIALS AND OPPOSITION.        17]7
turned each to its respective object.  Would
it not be strange if they were called out to
exercise their profession or set up their trade
with only a little general knowledge of the
trades and professions of all other men, and.without any previous definite application to
their own peculiar calling?  The profession of
ladies to which the bent of their instruction
should be turned, is that of daughlters, wives,
mothers, and mistresses of families.  They
should be, therefore, trained with a view to
these several conditions, and be furnished with
a stock of ideas and principles and qualifications and habits ready to be applied and appropriated, as occasion may demand, to each
of these respective situations. For though the
arts which merely embellish must claim admiration, yet when a man of sense comes to
marry, it is a companion whom he wants, and
not an artist. It is not merely a creature who
can paint, and play, and sing, and-draw, and
dress, and dance; it is a being who can comfort and counsel him: one who can reason and
reflect, and feel and judge, and discourse and
discriminate; one who can assist him in his
affairs, lighten his cares, strengthen his principles, and educate his children.
8*




lTX      ~     IAN8 iHANNAH AMORE.
"Almost any ornamental acquirement is a
good thing when it is not the best thing a
woman has; and talents are admirable when
not made to stand proxy for virtues."...  ay not much of the want of success, the
failures, the bankruptcy, the discouragements,
the complaints of men in business, be traced
to a wrong domestic education?  Are women
sufficiently trained for a thorough understanding of their household duties? Do not fashionable accomplishments usurp the place of
domestic virtues?  Turn which way we can,
gild and ornament, and reason and sentimentalize as we may, life is full of practical evils,
unwrought materials, and sore trials, which
require an earnest purpose, a patient, courageous heart, and skilful hands to convert them
into present benefit or future good.
Miss More's happy criticism upon the word
"pleasant," may not be amiss for the benefit
of those who value entertainment at the expense of excellence.
"There was a time when a variety of epithets were thought necessary to express various kinds of excellence, and when the different qualities of the mind were distinguished
by appropriate and discriminating terms:




TRIALS AND OPPOSITION.         179
when the words, venerable, learned, sagacious, profound, acute, pious, worthy, ingenious, valuable, elegant, agreeable, wise, or
witty, were used as specific marks of distinct
characters. But the legislators of fashion have
of late years thought proper to comprise all
merit in one established epithet-an epithet
which, it must be confessed, is a very desirable
one as far as it goes. This term is exclusively
and indiscriminately applied wherever colnmendation is intended.  The word pleasant
now seems to combine and express all moral
and intellectual excellence. Every individual,
from the gravest professors of the gravest profession, down to the trifler who is of no profession at all, must earn the epithet of pleasant or must be contented to be nothing; and
must be consigned over to ridicule under the
vulgar and inexpressive cant word of bore.
This is the mortifying designation of many a
respectable man, who, though of much worth
and ability, cannot perhaps clearly make out
his letters-patent to the title of pleasant.  For
according to this modern classification there is
no intermediate state, but all are comprised
within the ample bounds of one or the other
of these two comprehensive terms."




5180          HANNAH rEiTORE.
Her chapter upon Children's Balls, which
she declares are a triple conspiracy against
the innocence, health, and happiness of children, would be likely to give almost as much
offence now as it did then. The remark of a
Christian mother in one of our cities, that "the
increasing prevalence of evening dancing parties and late hours for young children, she
could not but consider a serious evil, yet felt
obliged to yield to the fashion;" reveal a sad
defection in parental discipline which it is to
be feared is gaining ground in the religious
community.
The " Strictures" were greatly commended; letters of thanks, congratulation, encouragement, and praise poured in upon the author
from the old circle, Mrs. Boscawen, Mrs. Montagu, Airs. Chapone, Miss Carter, Mrs. Barbauld, and from many others less familiar to
these pages.
The sisters Hannah and Patty, now went
up to London for the benefit of a change, to
both mind and body. Mrs. Boscawen was extremely feeble at this time: " God bless you,
my dear madam,'" said Hannah, on coming
away, afraid lest it might be the last meeting.
"That is well." said the venerable lady,




TRIALS AND OPPOSITION.          181
taking her by the hand, and looking steadfastly into her face, "that is well, but you munst
do more, you must pray for me; I amn going,
gently off.'
Miss Carter at eighty-three was in the enjoyment of better health and spirits than usually fall to the lot of so advanaed aoe, and the
conversation of the friends, if less sparkling,
savored imore of Christian hope and holy joy.
AIeanwhile troubles were brewing in one
of her parishes, which proved extremely vexatious and distressing to Miss More and her
family: viewed through  the lapse of years, it
seems strange that charges so inconsistent with
truth could have been made against her, and
that the affair could ever have assumed the
diognity of a "controversy."
A school had been established in the profligate parishl of Blagdon, near Cowslip Green,
at the earnest and repeated request of both
curate and magistrate, for  liss  Iore, on
their first application, felt that she had neitlher strength nor means for any new undertaling: having consented, she paid particular
attention to its welfare, and in a few  years
had the satisfaction of knowing that disorders,
warrants, and indictments had almost entirely




1i82          HANNAH MORE.
disappeared before the benign and beneficial
influence of the enterprise. For five years
affairs went smoothly on, when one of her
schoolmasters named Young was charged by
the curate Mr. Bere with introducing Methodism into his school, which simply consisted
in encouraging extemporaneous prayer, and
speaking upon religious experience in a little
meeting of a dozen poor neighbors. For this
irregularity, as it was regarded, Miss More,
who was then sick at Bath, gave him a timely
reprimand, and the school went quietly on.
Whether owing to some private pique or personal dislike, the curate was not so easily satisfied; he began to preach against the schools,
and brought fresh  accusations against the
schoolmaster.  The matter was referred to the
rector, and afterwards to a local tribunal, the
result of which was the dismissal of the schoolmaster and the disbanding of the school. Miss
More acquiesced for peace' sake, though her
judgment did not sanction the course. Young
had been in her service for ten years, and his
exemplary conduct and faithful discharge of
duty had won a confidence not to be easily
shaken. She recommended him to the patrons
of a large charitable institution near Dublin,




TRIALS AND OPPOSITION.        183
who not long afterwards appointed him superintendent, the duties of which he fulfilled with
credit to himself and to the satisfaction of his
employers.
Disbanding the school cost her many struggles. " It is with no small concern I have to
inform you that we shall meet no more in this
place," she said in her parting address to the
little flock who sat around her with anxious
looks and tearful eyes.  " The Sunday-school,
and the evening reading, the weekly school of
industry, are all at an end. Before we part, it
is but justice to you to declare that my sister
and I have never had more comfort from the
teachable and dutiful behavior of any children,
nor more satisfaction from the sober and decent conduct of any parents, than we have
experienced in this place.  You will give the
best evidence that you have profited by our
instructions and those of your master,.by carrying the religion you have been taught on
Sunday into the business of the week and the
behavior of your daily life. I shall hold that
person's religious profession very cheap indeed, who is not hereafter sober, peaceable,
industrious, and forgiving.  Be diligent in
your attendance at church twice a day. Show




18-4         HIANNAH MIORE.
that you fear God, by keeping his commandments and reverencing his ministers; show
that you'honor the king,' by submitting to all
that are in authority under him, especially to
mnagistrates.  MIr. Young has proved himself,
during eight years' service, an honest and upright man, and an able and faithlful schoolnmaster. You are greatly indebted to him, and
can reward him in no other way but by living
in such a mananer as shall be a credit to his
instructions.  Ilie will continue in this place,
of which he is a parishioner, till he can settle
himself elsewhere; but I earnestly request
that, though you treat him as a kind friend
and neighbor, you do not, either by many or
by few, resort to him for instruction.
" Young men, let me exhort you to be
sober-minded; avoid the snares and corruptions of the world, against which you have
been so long guarded, and to which, at your
season of life, you will be so much exposed.
My young women, so long the objects of our
tender care and concern, I commit you to the
protection of God. He can, and I trust he will
raise up better friends than we have been to
you. In any case he will himself be your friend,
if you walk in the paths in which you have




TRIALS AND OPPOSITION.        185
been trained. I-e will never leave you nor
forsake you. As those hours on Sunday eveningS which you have been accustomed to pass
in this house are the seasons of the greatest
dangers to your youth and ignorance, watch
well, I beseech you, over yourselves. You
are now furnished with Bibles; you have been
taught to read and understand them; so that
if you now fall into sin, you will no longer have
the former excuse of ignorance to plead. We
have this day repeated our annual gift of forty
Bibles and Common Prayer books, the usual
number of Bishop Gartrell's'Institutes,' Bishop
Beveridge's'Private Thoughts,' Doddridge's'Rise and Progress of Religion,' for the elder,
with some hundreds of Cheap Repository and
other small tracts for younger ones. To the
use of these you iuLst add prayer to God for
his grace and direction. Though what little
we have done here is mixed with much imperfection, yet I trust the general design and tendency of it has been right.
"W e shall never think of the five years
that are past without being thankful for what
has been done, and without wishing we had
done more and better. To the principal farmers and heads of the parish we are obliged




186           HANNAH MOR E.
for their approbation and countenance of the
school, and their kindness to the master and
mistress.  Being willing to leave a last testinmony of our regard to the poor, we have
deposited in the hands of your respectable
church-warden five guineas, to be applied to a
general subscription, in case the scarcity should
make such a measure necessary, or otherwise
to be disposed of at his direction and that of
the vestry.'
The rector having learned that the schoolnmaster's offence had never been repeated after
Miss More's reprimand, dismissed Mr. Bere
from the curacy, and requested Miss More to
reopen the schools: this request was warmly
seconded by her own affectionate interest in
the little Blagdon flock, and accordingly she
did so. But the curate was not so easily shaken off. Having committed no ecclesiastical
or moral offence, he could not be deprived of
his office, and he remained at Blagdon a thorn
in her side. To disarm his hostility, in August
she again closed the schools, not to be reopened.
Grieved and wounded to the quick, Hannah writes to Wilberforce, "In Blagdon is
still a voice heard, lamentation and imourn



TRIALS AND OPPOSITION.        187
ing; and at Cowslip Rachel is still weeping
for her children, and refusing to be comforted
because they are not instructed. This heavy
blow has almost bowed me to the ground. It
was only last night I began to get a little sleep.
Aly reason and my religion know that it is
permitted by that gracious Being who uses
sometimes bad men for his instruments; but
reason and religion do not operate much upon
the nerves. I doubt not but that IHe who can
bring much real good out of much seeming
evil, will eventually turn this shocking business to his glory."
Hlitherto we have only seen Hannah More
borne on favoring gales; her London acquaintance rejoiced in her society and celebrity;
fame and friends followed her to Coxr/slip
Green; her hotne missionary labors, difficult
and arduous as they had been, were crowned
with success; her works placed her among
the revered and honored of England: prosperity, we know, is neither favorable to piety
nor self-knowledge, and the hour of trial came.
" If it please God," she says, " thus to put
an entl to my little-how little!-usefulness, I
hope to be enabled to submit to his will; not
only to submit to it because I cannot help it,




188            HANNAH MORE.
but to acquiesce in it, lbecause it is holy, ust, and
good."
Though her reputation, her character, her
labors were seemingly at stake-for the affair
took the shape of a bitter quarrel, in which the
sisters were assailed with personal abuse and
public misrepresentation-no words of anger
or recrimination or sinful repining issue from
Iher lips.  Conscious of her innocence as far as
regards her fellow-men, she offers neither defence nor exculpation: her chief desire is spiritfual improvelment, an increased purity of heart,
and a more humble reliance upon the Lord her
strength.
"'Blessed are ye when men revile you and
persecute you, and say all manner of evil against
you false/y,' and'for my name's sake.'  Thenl I
consider whose words are these," wrote Newton
to his afflicted friend, "I am more disposed to
congratulate than to condole with you on the unjust' and harcl treatment that you have met With.
"Yet I do feel for you.  These things are
not joyous but grievous at the time; it is afterwar)ds' that they yield the peaceable fruits of
righteousness.'  Cheer up, my friend;- tarry
thou the Lord's leisure.  B-e strong, and he
shall comfort thy heart."




TRIALS AND OPPOSITION.          1S 9
Among the charges laid against Miss More
in this controversy, were those of teaching
Calvinism, sympathizing with the Methodists,
and encouraging dissenters.  Though firmly
attached to her church, Aliss Mfore was less a
church woman than a Christian.
"Bible Christianity is what I love," said
she, "that does not insist upon opinions indifferent in themselves-a Christianity practical
and pure, which teaches holiness, humility,
repentance, and faith in Christ; and which,
after summing up all the evangelical graces,
declares that the greatest of these is charity."
No better description than this could be
given of her religious character: it grew out
of large, intelligent, experimnental views of
Bible Christianity.  No other Christianity but
that which is drawn directly from  the pure
word of God can give equal symmetry and
comprehensiveness-can blend in such just
proportion the deepest self-abasement and the
most trusting faith with tlie greatest amount of
usefulness and good worls.




190          HANNAH MORE.
CHAP TER XIII.
BARLEY WOOD.
VISITORS without number flocked to Cowslip Green, until Cowslip Green was too strait
for the fame and hospitality of its mistress.
She now projected a new house, more ample
and commodious, upon a swell of land half a
mile from  Wrington, commanding a wider
sweep of hill and valley, of hamlet and green.
Its peculiar beauty led one of her friends to
call it "the gift of an all-wise Providence, to
soothe her after her etroubles.'
In conducting this new enterprise, Miss
AMore hoped to regain that tranquillity of mind
and strength of body which the trials she had
passed through had seriously damaged.
Barley Wood became her residence in
1801.
Hitherto the sisters had divided their time
between Bath and Wrington: they now determined to give up the care and expense of a
divided dwelling and a bustling town, and
spend the remainder of their days together at
Barley Wood.




BARLEY WOOD.             191
"Lord, grant that this prove a blessing to
us all, and draw us nearer to him," exclaims
HIannah; "make us thankful that our lot has
fallen in so pleasant a place, that we have a
goodly heritage; but let us not take up with
so poor a portion as this life, or any thing in
it."
Each sister has her place in the household.
There sits Miss Mary, already past sixty, plain
in manners and pointed in speech, who allows
herself no indulgences, nor suffers any impropriety to pass without rebuke.  Here is the
wife of Barley Wood, Mliss Elizabeth, gentle
and loving; her presence, like a good angel,
regulating, smoothing, harmonizing; and her
work-basket, like Dorcas', filled with coats and
garments for the poor. Miss Sally is bright
and spicy.  "Prosy More " she was called by
intimates, in distinction from  Hlannah, who
was sometimes dubbed " Poetry."  Sarah was
the author of two novels, and her witty repartees were the delight of friends, who declared
her a living contradiction of Solomon's position, "nothing new under the sun."
The star of the sphere is Hannah: she is
world-known now, and everybody comes to do
her honor.  There are lines of suffering upon




]92           HANNAH MORE.
her face, yet it is beaming with benevolence;
the pressure of sickness is often heavy, but
her elastic spirit seldom  yields: she thinks
and plans and works and reads even on the
sick-bed.
On her first entrance to the new home, she
was confined to her chamber, and "this puts
inme in mind," she says, "of the old remark,
that the first spot of earth of vwhich Abraham
took possession in the land of promise, was a
grave!"
Amnong the children of England who were
sporting in her stately halls, one little girl
there was on whose fair head rested a nation's
hopes. She was remembered at every household altar; wise men talked of her, and good
nen prayed for her.
To the loyal heart of Hannah Afore, the
education of the Princess Charlotte could
hardly fail to be deeply interesting. Nor is it
surprising that this gifted teacher should be
asked to furnish, from the rich stores of her
experience, valuable suggestions to those who
had the charge of it.
To this end she wrote "Hints towards
Forming the Character of a Young Princess,"
dedicated to Dr. Fisher, Bishop of Exeter,




BARLEY WOOD.             193
who had just been appointed preceptor to the
royal pupil. Copies were presented to the
king and queen, the prince and princess, who
all alike bore testimony to its excellence. Not
]Laving a speedy introduction to this country,
she understood it was excluded by our republican principles.  When informed it was actually in circulation, much gratified, she exclaimed, " I have conquered America."
On the 7th of January, 1804, among the
particular mercies which crowned her days,
she enumerated, "considerable restoration of
my health and spirits; personal and family
comforts continued; family misfortunes averted; opportunities of doing some good; our
schools continued; kindness of friends; ability to enjoy my sweet place; escape from the
turbulent life of Bath; increased opportunities
of reading and retirement," for which she desires to have an abiding and lively gratitude:
"though for all earthly blessings we should
pray only with entire submission to the divine
will; while in praying for spiritual blessings,
no reserve, no caution, no limit is necessary."
"Lord, pour out the grace of thy Holy
Spirit on mne and mine without measure; teach
us to love thee with all our hearts, minds,
9!. 




194           HANNAH MORE.
souls, and strength, and to devote the remainder of our lives to thy service, and to
the glory of our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ."
This month closed her correspondence with
M[rs. Boscawen.
" Yes, my very excellent and dear friend,"
wrote Mrs. Boscawen in her last letter, "I
must send one word sooner or later, in return
for the kindest of letters, which was a cordial
to me; that one word must express the truest
gratitude for such remembrance, the most constant affection; and the sincerest satisfaction in
the news of your better health; so happily
provided for by your own wisdom and activity, in removingo from  the vale below, and
planting yourself so delightfully on a hill.
"I desire the continuance of your prayers
for me, my dear friend; for Oh, what is it to
live so long! It is, you will answer, the will
of Him'in whom we live and move and have
our being.'
"Mrs. Carter was taken ill while dining
w-ith Mrs. Iremonger, but is better to-day.
Adieu, my dear friend."
Mrs. Boscawen died soon after, and bequeathed forty volumes of the Port Royal




BARLEY WOOD.              195
authors to increase the library of her friend,
and recall the memory of early days.
Sickness again visited Barley Wood, and
for a year Miss More seemed hovering on the
confines of. the grave; it was a period of sorrowful suspense to her friends. Anxious inquiries were daily made at the gate, and
prayers for her recovery arose from many a
humble roof: nor was this solicitude confined
to the cottage homes which had been comforted
by her bounty and lighted by her instructions;
every post brought letters of inquiry and sympathy; and at last all fears were put to rest by
returning health.
Cheddar at this time sustained a severe loss
&by the death of its excellent curate, a faithful
coadjutor of the sisters in their labors of love,
whose plain preaching and pious life were
greatly blessed to the people of his charge.
"You would weep over Cheddar," said
Miss More to'Wilberforce, "if you saw the
change occasioned by the death of Drewitt:
no resident minister, only a galloper from
Wells on Sunday, to a twelve minutes' sermon; of course the meeting thins."
The great object to which Wilberforce had
devoted the prime of his life and the strength




196           HANNAH MORE.
of his manhood was now on the eve of completion. Slowly and steadily had the cause of
the abolition of the slave-trade gained upon
the English conscience. In spite of defeats,
distrust, and discouragements without number,
the London Committee, after an interval of
seven years, reassembled in Palace-yard, strong
with the strength of a noble cause.  Wilberforce wrote a powerful appeal upon the Enormities of the Slave-trade, and every agency
which could be brought into action was marshalled for the approaching crisis.
On the 22dc of February, the first reading
of the bill took place before the House of
Lords.  It was a night of exciting fear and
hope. The vote stood 72 to 28.
"  Lord, let me praise thee with imy whole
heart!" ejaculates Wilberforce.
The House of Commons is grappling with
it on the 23d.
Men spoke boldly for justice and humanity: they are earnest, and who shall gainsay them?  Tlhe opposition was feeble and
loose.
One of the members called upon men that
day to mark how much the rewards of virtue
were superior to those of ambition; to contrast




BARLEY WOOD.       1       97
the feelings of Napoleon in his greatness with
those of the honored individual who should
that night lay his head upon the pillow, and
remember that through his agency the slavetrade was no, more. Every eye was directed.
towards Wilberforce, and a sudden burst of
applause rang through the House.
The vote stood 283 to 16. A month afterwards it came for a third reading before the
House of Lords: two days afterwards, Mlarch
25, 1807, the bill received the royal sanction
and became a law.
" Oh, what thanks do I owe the Giver of
all good, for bringing me in his gracious providence to this great cause, which at length,
after nineteen years of labor, is successful "
exclaims the master-spirit of the occasion.
" To speak of fame. and glory to Mr. Wilberforce, would be to use language far beneath
him," said Sir Janmes Mackintoshl. "How precious is time! How noble and sacred is human nature, made capable of achieving such
truly great exploits."
"What a promise of happiness does it
bear to millions aAl hundreds of millions of
our species,' wrote Mir. Stephens, the husband
of Miss Wilberforce, to Hannah More, "and




198          SrHANNAH MORE.
from what a load of odious guilt and shame
does it deliver our country!"
We may well believe it a day of rejoicing
at Barley Wood.
Bishop Portens, the friend and coadjutor
of both Wilberforce and Miss More, was nearing the end of his long and useful life. After
his eye had become dim and his natural force
abated he visited Barley Wood, and spent a
few days with its gifted mistress.
Similarity of taste and character seems
early to have drawn them together; she was a
frequent guest at Fulham  palace, where his
sweetness of temper, playful wit, and innocent
cheerfulness delighted the society of his more
intimate friends, vwhile he exercised the functions of his high office with zeal and judgment,
for the promotion of true religion and the best
interests of humanity.
A few weeks before his death, Miss More
received from him a short and hurried note,
begging her intercession at the throne of mercy
for divine aid on a difficult duty which devolved upon him': "My great hope and resource
is, what I have always had recourse to in such
cases, prayer; give me then your frequent and
fervent prayers, and I shall hope for that most




BARLEY WOOD.             199
powerful protection of a gracious Providence,
which I am convinced has never failed in similar cases."  The nature of the duty he did not
disclose, but on the third day she received the
assurance that prayer had had its usual effect,
and all was well.
A report having reached the worthy prelate of the formation of a Sunday club under
the patronage of the Prince of Wales, this
public desecration of holy time filled him with
sorrow  and  alarm.  Rallying  his wasted
strength, he sought the prince, and in solemn
language warned him of the fatal influence of
his example upon the religion and morals of
his kingdom. The prince heard and yielded,
and the servant of God departe'd in peace: a
few more days, and he entered upon a Sabbath
of eternal rest. iA[iss i[ore erected a cenotaph
to his memory on her grounds at Barley Wood,
bearing the inscription:
TO
BEILBY  PORTEUS,
LATE LORD BISHOP OF LONDON,
IN GRATEFUL MEM1ORY OF LONG AND FAITHFUL FRIENDSHIPo
__ __




I20  t NH A L0 RiE.
CIHAPTER  XIV.
FALLING LEAVES.
IN the summer of 1810, we find Miss More
making a tour among good and agreeable
friends in Gloucester, reviving the friendships
of earlier days, and adding new ones to the
already extended list.
"I have been visiting," she writes to Mrs.
Kennicott, "the scenes where we used to gipg
sy, and traced many a spot where I had picked
dry sticks to boil the tea-kettle under a shady
oak, or broiled a mutton-chop on knittingneedles.  The companions of our harmless
rambles are all gone."!MIrs. Maontagu, sprightly and beautiful even
at fourscore, lhad died, and a volume of her
letters was before the public. Her friend and
intimate, Elizabeth Carter, lived a year or two
longer, surrounded by a11 that could make long
life venerable and attractive, "honor, love,
~obedience, and troops of friends."
Miss More was threescore, and if there be
an abatement of bodily vigor, there is no
slackness of the hidden fires that glow within.




FALLING LEAVES.            201
In spite of "tormenting bile," a burdensome
correspondence, and almost incessant company, time and strength were not wanting to
write "Practical Piety," one of her favorite
works in this country, and one which is far
superior to many works of a kindred character that have superseded it. After describing
what Christianity is as an internal principle,
she thus unfolds its practical influence:
" The love of God, as it is the only source
of every right feeling and action, so it is the
only principle which necessarily involves the
love of our fellow-creatures.  There is a love
of partiality, but not of benevolence; of sensibility, but not of philanthropy; of friends and
favorites, of parties and societies, but not of
men collectively.  It is true, we may and do,
without this principle, relieve man's distresses,
but we do not bear with his faults.  We may
promote his fortune, but we do not forgive his
offences; above all, we are not anxious for his
immortal interests.  We could not see him
want without pain, but we can see him  sin
without emotion.  We could not hear of a
beggar perishing at our door without horror,
but we can without concern witness an acquaintance dying without repentance.  Is it
9*




202            HANNAH MORE.
not strange that we must participate something
of the divine nature before we. can really love
the human?  It seems to be an insensibility to
sin, rather than want of benevolence to mankind, that makes us naturally pity their temporal and be careless of their spiritual wants:
but does not this very insensibility proceed
from a want of love to God?"
This discriminating extract is followed by
a clear analysis of what is sometimes called
"sentimental benevolence,'  and an estimate
of what it is really worth.
"It really feels for the disorders which
afflict humanity, at least while it lasts; it
really desires to relieve them, and sets about
reforming some of the external and more prominent evils, in the hope that if they are cured,
those of lesser note will naturally flat away,
and society in the end will be righted.  Sin is
regarded. as accidental, rather than radical  an
excuse, rather than a cause; poverty a penalty
for wealth, rather than a consequence of idleness and unthrift; restraint, discipline, and
punishment, the inexorable decrees of the few,
instead of the necessary safeguards for the
many; reformation of institutions is more
aimed at than regeneration of principles. But




FALLING LEAVES.            203
it is found to be a far more difficult and perplexing work than was counted for: it is like
stopping the leaks of an old building with
sand; it gets soon discouraged at the hopeless
nature of its task; yet, unwilling to abandon
it, still anxious to seem  to do even when it
knows not what to do or where to begin, it
runs to find fault with those who continue patiently laboring, because so much still tremains
to be done, and rail at -their instruments without offering them  better. - The: truth is, this
philanthropy springs fro'm the natural sensibilities and sympathies of the heart, which are
amiable rather than efficient, self-loving rather
than self-sacrificing, the parent of feeling more
than of principle, partaking more of'the demagogue than the true patriot.
"The disordered state of the world, it must
be confessed, is painful' and perplexing in the
extreme; but the disease lies at the heart and
in the core of society, and there is no love for
man but that which springs from love to God,
which is strong and faithful enough to work
for his salvation.  The maxims, motives, and
aims which control man are wrong, and nothing but the reception of those principles which
God has given in the gospel of his Son can




'20 4         HANNAH MORE.
essentially improve his inward or better his
outward condition.  While much, very much
may be done to benefit and reform the institutions of society, evils still remain which admit
of no cure, but which must be patiently borne;
and it is surely far more difficult to bear each
other's burden, than to comfort with the promise of removing them.  In attempting then to
do any permanent good to our fellows, we
must not only relieve their distresses, but
amend their principles; not only promote their
temporal welfare, but be careful for their ilmmortal interests; not only excite their activity,
but teach them submission; not only give them
alms, but forgive their offences. To do this,
you must be patient and painstaking, continuing on. yet ever forbearing. You must lay
your account with ingratitude and improvidence, disappointment and reproach.  You-L
must meet evils with manliness, and exigencies
without fear or disheartening.  You are to
expend no unavailing sympathy, to utter no
useless complaints, to offer no affected condolence, to make no false promises.  Your duty
is to labor and to wait. In order to do this,
you must love your fellow-men because Christ
loves them; suffer for them because he suffer



FALLING LEAVES.            205
ed for them; labor for them  because he diedl
for the m."'
"Practical Piety" cannot be too highly
recommended; it is a book for our serious
and thoughtful moments, when we desire to
inquire calmly' and seek sincerely after that
obedience which is "perfect and entire, wanting nothing." Its expression differs from religious works of a later growth; it contains no
fervid appeals, no exaggerated estimates, no
startling phrases; it discourses earnestly of
our duties and dangers as professed servants
of God; it deals candidly and plainly, telling
us what we are and what we must be; it shows
th at no superficial obedience can stand in place
of an entire surrender of the whole man to the
service of God; it allows no partial standard,
or low  estimate, or sluggish action in the
Christian life.
"Many are reformed," it tells us, "on
human motives; many are only partially reformed: but those only who, as our great poet
says, are'reforrned altogether,' are converted.
There is no complete -reformation of the conduct effected without a revolution in the heart.
Ceasing from some sins, retaining others in a
less degree, or adopting such as are merely




206           HANNAH MORE.
creditable, or flying from one sin to another,
or ceasing from the external act without any
internal change of disposition, is not Chris,
tian reformation.  The natural bias must be
changed. The actual offence will no more be
pardoned than cured, if the inward corruption
be not eradicated.  To be'alive unto God,
through Jesus Christ,' must follow'death unto
sin.'  There cannot be new aims and ends
where there is not a new principle to produce
them."
"It is not casting a set of opinions into a
mould and a set of duties into a system, which
constitutes the Christian religion. The circumference must have a centre, the body must
have a soul, the performances must have a
principle.  Outward observances were wisely
constituted to rouse our forgetfulness, to awaken our secular spirits, to call back our negligent hearts.  They were designed to execute
holy thoughts, to quicken us to holy deeds, but
not to be used as equivalents to-either.
"Nothing short of a uniform and stable
principle, that fixedness in religion which dire':ts
a man in all his actions, aims, and pursuits, to
God as his uzltimate end, can give consistency
to his' character or tranquillity to his soul."




FALLING LEAVES.              207
In speaking of the importance of correcting small faults and cherishing the minor virtues, these making up the sum of human character, it says, "The reason why what are
called religious people often differ so little
from others in small trials is, that instead of
bringing religion to their aid in their lesser
vexations, they either leave the disturbance to
prey upon their minds, or apply to false reliefs
for its removal.  Those who are rendered unhappy by frivolous troubles, seek comfort in
frivolous enjoyments.  But we should apply
the same remedy to ordinary trials as to great
ones; for as small disquietudes spring from the
same cause as great ones, namely, the uncertain and imperfect condition of human nature,
so they require the same remedy. You would
apply to religion on the loss of your child;
apply to it on the loss of your temper.  As
no calamity is too great for the power of piety
to mitigate, so none is too small to experience
its beneficial results.  Our behavior under the
ordinary accidents of life forms a characteristic distinction between different classes of
Christians: the least advanced resort to religion on great occasions; the deeper proficient
resorts to it on all.




208           HANNAH MIORE.
"Ain acquaintance with the nature of human evils and of their remedy, would check
that spirit of complaint which so much abounds,
and which often makes so little difference between those who profess religion and those
who do not.
"If our duties are not great, they become
important by the constant demand that is made
for them. They have been called the'small
coin of human life,' and on their perpetual and
unobstructed circulation depends much of the
comfort and convenience of life. How few of
us are called to carry the gospel into distant
lands; but which of us is not called every day
to adorn its doctrines by gentleness, kindness,
and forbearance?'
The excessive strictness of Practical Piety
was made a matter of complaint among some
of her religious friends.
"The gospel is strict," was her reply; "the
cutting off a right hand, or the plucking out of
a right eye, though only used as metaphors
and illustrations, is surely more strict than any
thing I have said. The standard of religion
should be always kept high: the very best of
us are always sure to pull it down a good many
pegs in our practice; but how much lower is




FA:LLING LEAVES.           209
the practice of those who fix a lower standard
than the:New Testament holds out?"
But cannot you write of Christianity in
more general terms, like Addison and Johnson, and not dwell so much on the peculiar
doctrines of the Bible? they said again.
"Much as I honor and love these,"' answered she, "their writings would have done
a far wider and deeper good, had they not generalized religion so much.  The soundness of
Johnson's principles is incontestable; but he
scarcely ever enters on any evangelical truth.
Addison had a devout spirit; still he appears
not to have entered into those deep views of
evangelical truth which abound in Pascal and
Taylor, in Leighton and Hall; and my regr et
is, that they did not dwell more on the doctrines of Christianity, and upon what distinguishes it from all religious systems as a scheze
of salvation."
"Compare the influence of Johnson and
Addison as moralists and Christians, celebrated and world-read as they are, with Baxter and Dod'dridge; how do they sink into
comparative insignificance before the pungent,
searching, humbling  teachings of believing
men, who took the Bible as God gave it, dar



210           HANNAH MORE.
ing neither to lessen nor to narrow its solemn
and awful truths, as they stand recorded on
its inspired pages.  It is such men only who
can meet the wants of sinful man; it is only
such preaching and such teaching that can
measure the depth of human frailty and corruption, and which can propose a remedy to,satisfy the conscious need of: the burdened
spirit. 1Men are frail and imperfect and sorrowful; but they are something more, they
are sinners, and are conscious of a weight of
ill-desert of which no one can relieve theml.
Christian generalities may arrest the ear and
please the reason, but they do not and they
cannot strike the conscience, compel a man to
stop, let go his hold on the world, and cry out
with an earnestness never felt before,'What
shall I do to be saved?'
"It is only the distinguishing doctrines of
the Bible, urged by those who have felt their
power, that can have any direct or permanent
influence upon the life and conscience of others.
Any system short of a recognition of a man's
apostasy, his pardon and restoration through
Jesus Christ, with the consequent fruits of a
holy life, all the tremendous issues of which
hang upon immediate action-any system short




FALLING LEAVES.            211
of this, may it not be repeated, is inoperative
and inefficient towards bringing men to repentance and faith, to holiness and heaven.  Believers there are all over the church of Clhrist
on earth, who, under God, bless Doddridge
and Baxter for the joy set before them; while
saints, singing the song of Moses and the
Lamb, will be 6rowns of their rejoicing in the
great day."
It was this solemn persuasion of the essential features of Bible truth which gave such
power to the teachingl and example of Hannah
Ilore  a power which offended some, but benefited more. In all her writings, and in all
her plansfor human good, her great and especial design, was to seek and to save those who
are lost. This was her heart's desire, and it
was this which quickened her in her long and
wearisome journeys among the neighboring
parishes even after the infirmities of age and
sickness crept over the body, and gave vigor
to her pen while the hand that held it was
cramped with pain and benumbed by weakness.
The earnest and heartfelt piety which
springs from a believ/ing reception of divine
truth is often confounded with gloom and aus



212          IHANNAH iM~ORE.
terity, and yet there is none which can give
such cheerfulness to life, and such hope in
death. To one who asked whether her serious
pursuits had not destroyed her relish for pleasantry, she replied, " As you cannot see those
who live with me, you must take my testimony
that I am neither a bigot nor a misanthrope;
my spirits are good, and even'gay.  I hope it
is no infringement on better things to say, that
my bite for hnmor and a sort of sensible nonsense, is not a whit diminished.  A life of illhealth has no ways impaired my constitutional
cheerfulness, and I am sometimes afraid that
I take more than my share of society."
Practical Piety was followed by Christian
Mforals, which soon passed through eleven editions.
But while her pen was more busy and instructive than ever, the sisters were compelled
to curtail their Sabbath labors.  The AMendip
schools, like good children of a healthy stock,
still looked well and thriving; but neither
HIannah nor Patty were longer equal to the
fatigue of superintending so large a field: three
parishes only continued to share their benefactions, Shipham, Nailsea, and Cheddar their
last as well as their first love.  HIere were




FALLING LEAVES.            213
teachers who had been twenty years in their
service, faithful and well-approved.:Aen and
women,  husbands and wives, and Iheads of
families, from little children had grown up in
the schools, and become worthy citizens and
servants of God: many had passed through
sickness arid tribulation, having obtained a
good report thlrough faith, and at last died ripe
with Chlristian hopes. Peace, good order, and
industry everywhere prevailed over the once
abandoned district; friendly neighborhoods
and happy families, thankful hearts and tidy
hearths bore witness that the word of God is
valuable for the life that now is, and for that
which is to come.
But there is sorrow in Barley Wood: they
who have comforted others, themselves need
comfort. Mary is not. During five days of,
suffering, no murmur or complaint escaped
her lips; she talked of "going home,"' and
picked out the poor men who should bear her
to her narrow  cell.  The sisters gathered
around her dying bed: it was Sabbath morning
when she breathed her last.
"How blessed to die on Easter Sunday,"
said Hannah, "to descend to the grave when
Jesus triumphed over it."




214           HANNAH MORE.
Twenty times a day did they visit her cold
remains.  "I divide the morning between the
contemplation of her serene countenance and
my favorite Baxter's Saints' Rest,' adds Hannah, her tears stayed, as with the eye of faith
she sees the eldest, "not lost, but gone before."
This was in April, 1813.
When summer came, a journey, with its
change of scene and air, was necessary to recruit the exhausted strength of the two younger sisters. They went into Surrey and Kent,
drove through the environs of London, visited
Henry Thornton, and passed a day with Wilberforce, the home influences of whose quiet
but elegant house spoke peace to many a
guest.
"What extensive good has Mr. Wilber-, force done among young persons of fashion, by
the intellectual and religious intercourse of his
family!" Miss Hannah exclaims. It was not
only in his public acts that Wilberforce was a
Christian; in the bosom of his family, in his
intercourse with his children, in the frank and
chastened courtesy of his manners, his daily
life commended the faith which he loved.
"A few such hours," said she, "where inquiring minds know that they shall meet with




FALLING LEAVES.           215
good company, in the best sense of the word,
would, I am sure, fortify the minds and cheer
the spirits, as well as confirm the principles of
many. I know that many have been deterred
from the society of religious persons by so]nic
want of discretion and delicacy, which they
have been glad to magnify, in order to get
quite out of the connection: I am, however,
aware that all one's prudence is not sufficient
to clear away the charge of enthusiasm which
the world is ever watching for an occasion to
bringforward against those who exhibit a more
than ordinary degree of strictness; but this
they must be contented to bear for their great
Maaster, who bore so much for them."
But a great improvement was already visible in the higher class of English society.
"Twenty years ago," said Jane Porter, "while
a child, I have cried to hear people at the
table scoff so at religion, with nobody daring
to defend it: now such a thing would not be
tolerated."
An increasing seriousness and respect for
religious things were everywhere manifest; the
Sabbath was more strictly observed: levity
upon sacred truths was not only regarded
vulgar and undignified, but' frowned upon. A




216         IHANNAH M ORE.
higher and better tone of moral feeling pervadeCd the public prints, and the tendency
among all classes seemed to be upward. No
small part of this change may be traced to the
influence of Hannah More, whose literary fame
preceded and opened the way for her religious
writings. Known and admired in the most
elegant and learned circles of the metropolis,
it happily became the fashion to read heri productions; and thus her works had an entrance
and an unconscious influence in circles otherwise adverse to religious reading of so decided a character, and indeed to religious reading
of any kind. Nor did fashion here show its
usual fickleness: Miss More continued to be
read and reread, published and circulated,
with an ever-increasing interest and improvement; nor can we ever imagine the time to
Abe, when the Shepherd of Salisbury Plain
shall not be reckoned among the most beautiful and touching illustrations of the power of
divine grace.
Shle left the mansion of 3Wilberforce, and
took her way to Strawberry Hill, now the residcence of Lady Waldegrave, where a thousand recollections of the past, partly pleasing,
but more painful, filled her heart. Here too




FALLING LEAVES.            217
was Hampton, where for thirty years she passed a portion of every winter with Mrs. Garrick. It had now been several years since
they met.  Of the old circle who first welcomed her to London, Mrs. Garrick alone was
living, and she was past ninety.  Miss More
hastened to see her: she was absent; but the
library, the lawn, the temple of Shakspeareshe would see all for the last time!
" What wit, what talents, what vivacity,
what friendship have I enjoyed in this place,"
she said.  "Where are they now?  I have
been mercifully spared to see the vanity and
emptiness of every thing that is not connected
with eternity; and seeing this, how heavy will
my condemnation be, if I do not lay it to
heart."
Her frame is feeble, her step is tottering,
her face wrinkled with age; but within, what
a fountain of life! What spiritual excellency,
what strength, vigor, and serenity, what power
in that sinking and sickly frame!
The travellers returned to Barley Wood,
nud in the autumn Mr. Wilberforce, with his
wife and daughters, spent a few delightful days
at this "favored seat of intellectual and religious sunshine," as it was afterwards called by
H. Moi.e.          10




HANNAH MORE.
one of the sons of this favored guest. A new
source of interest and activity opened to the
sisters in the formation of a Branch Bible Society in the parish of Wrington.  The great
difficulty in obtaining any thing like an adequate supply of Bibles for either home or foreign circulation, led to the foundation of the
British and Foreign Bible Society as early as
1803, in which all religious parties united alike,
without regard to party or sect. No society
ever had a broader or more blessed mission;
its operations were confined to no creed or
country: its field was the world. When a few
used to meet in Mr. Hardcastle's countingroom, to consult together and prepare measures for its formation, Wilberforce came also.
It was planted a very little seed; it grew up,
and has become a goodly tree, yielding her
fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree
are for the healing of the nations.
The first anniversary of the Wrington
Branch was held on the grounds of Barley
Wood; the spiritual - climate being cold, none
of the Mendip gentry opened their mansions.
The meeting took place in the wagon-yard;
one hundred sat down to dinner, and it being
a fine day, the rest dined under the trees.




FALLING LEAVES.           219
"Some may think it would have been better to add ~20 to our subscription," said Miss
More to Wilberforce, "and save ourselves so
much trouble; but we take this trouble from
a conviction of the contrary. The many young
persons of fortune present, by assisting in this
little festivity, will learn to connect the idea
of innocent cheerfulness with that of religious
societies, and may go and do likewise. For
no other cause on earth would we encounter
so much fatigue."  They all enjoyed themselves exceedingly, and the lawn had all the
gayety of a public garden.
Let us hear how Barley Wood and its mistress strike a stranger from the West.  A lady
from Massachusetts pays her a visit. "How did
she look?" and " What did Hannah More say?"
are fair questions enough.
"Miss More was about seventy-five years
old at.the time I saw her, with an eye as brilliant as a girl of eighteen, a dark hazel color,
with a full, matronly form of medium height.
Her dress was of black'cambric, with a plain,
double muslin handkerchief over it, and a fullruffled muslin cap. But her conversation, that
was the charm-interspersed frequently with
quotations from  Scripture.  When we corn



8220Q        E-~~HANNAH MfORE.
mended her works, and told her wee thought
great good had been done by them in America, her reply was,'Oh, if any good has been
done by them, if the few tinsel talents I possess may have been made useful! The Lord
is sometimes pleased to employ the feeblest
instruments in his service: do not praise me,
but give God the glory, it is all of hinm!
You are very encouraging, and I need encouragement.'
"Miss MAore said'we might thinkl.it an
odd speech she was about to make, but that
we' —the clergyman and his wife who aCcompanied me-' could scarcely have found a day
in many years, when they were situated as
they were to-day. The Bristol Fair is now
held, but we do not approve of fairs, and never
allow our servants to go; Bonaparte's carriage,
however, has been a matter of great curiosity
in this family, and one of my sisters has gone
with four of our servants-for we dare not
trust themr alone-to gratify their innocent,
though ridiculous curiosity, and you must receive it as a particular mark of friendship'-at
the same time taking Mrs. T's hand —'if
we ask you to take a bit of boiled beef with
us; but we must wait on ourselves, and if,




FALLING LEAVES.           221
under such circumstances, you will partake
with us, we shall be happy to have you.'
"On our fearing that to dine with them
would detain us too long, she kindly said we
must take some refreshment. She gave us cold
mutton sliced, with bread and butter and beer,
all excellent. In the time it was preparing,
we went over her cottage, which is neatly elegant, having a beautiful verandah in front, ornamented with a variety of flowers, and rosetrees in bloom, rising even to the thatched
roof which covers this interesting dwelling.
She showed us into a'chamber for a friend,'
commanding a prospect of the whole of Wrington valley, in which are situated twelve parish
churches, and whichl was the birthplace of
John Locke, to whose memory she has a monument in her garden. Further west may be
seen two islands in the sea, about nine miles
from the shore, and she observed that'their
nearest market-town in the same direction is
Boston; so,' said she,'when you reach home,
look eastward, and think of me.'
"Aliss ilore told us the place was much
endeared to them, from  the circumstance of
their having planted every tree and shrub,
and even laid the first stone for building their




222           HANNAH MORE.
oottage, about thirteen years before, with their
own hands.
"She took us to her bedroom, which is also
a library, and pointed out the excellences of
almost every author as we passed them, as
familiarly as a parent could the different traits
of her children. Baxter and Saurin were her
favorite authors.  She admired the sublime
words of Baxter on his death-bed: when asked
by a friend how he was, he replied, opening
his eyes,'Almost well!' meaning he should
soon be with Christ in heaven.
"Miss More was not well enough to walk
with us over her grounds, but on our return to
the house we enjoyed her delightful discourse
a little longer in the drawing-room.
"She said much of the evils of hoarding up
wealth, and mentioned the death of a friend
the previous week by the name of Renolds,
who gave away his immense property, restricting himself to bare necessaries.
"'Indeed,' said she,'an avaricious p7rofessor of religion is an anomaly that I cannot understand.'
"Mr. T     said it was a subject on which
he should preach from his own pulpit, when
he returned home.




FALLING LEAVES.            223
"'Do,' said M,1iss More,'and take for your
text, But thou, 0 man of God, flee these things,
Tim. 4:11, and think of me.'
"Miss More mentioned'good news firom
India'-that a bishop had written that he was
then on the sea, going to another part of his
diocese, which was five thousand miles in extent, and that a Brahmin of high caste was
lately converted entirely by his own study of
the Scriptures-'and yet it is said,' she remarked,'this alone is of no use -— and that he,
with more than two hundred of his caste, were
soon to be baptized, when he intended coming
to Europe, to a university.
"Her sister remarked that'the evening before, Lord Tinmcuth and the Bishop of Gloucester had visited them, and that they had sat
conversing until three o'clock in the morning,
and all the time the words went as rapidly
from one to the other as the bird of a battledoor.' "
Can we not almost see the lady of the
manor in her black cambric dress, and full
ruffled cap?
Meanwhile Miss More was ready to issue
another work, an essay on the Life and Writings of St. Paul-the first edition of which is




224           HANNAH MORE.
sold the first day, and she has not a single
copy to present to her sisters. It is a true
and beautiful portrait of this eminent apostle,
whose writings she had studied with profound
interest.
Three years had scarcely passed since the
first breach in the family circle, when Elizabeth, or Betty as she was familiarly called, followed Mary to the final rest.
Ter loss was a serious one to the family at
Barley Wood: no one who understands how
many wheels there are within a wheel, which
need to be kept in harmonious action for a
well-regulated household, could undervalue the
importance of her position. Beyond her home
a large circle also mourned her loss.
The year 1816 and thereabouts witnessed
scarcity, depression, and murmuring among
the English people. War had burdened the
treasury and crippled the resources of the
nation; nor could- the proclamation of peace
immediately restore that prosperity and wellordered industry which are among her chief
blessings. Discontent began everywhere to
prevail; hungry men cried out for reform;
secret assemblies were  holden; unpopular
ministers were, insulted; pikes were manufac.




FALLING LEAVES.           225
tured; and worse than all, the agitation and
violence of the times were increased by the
circulation of a fresh batch of infidel writings,
adding fuel to the flame. The London comnmittees are again in motion: measures must
be taken to circulate throughout the veins and
arteries of society pure blood, or the whole
would be corrupted. Among the publications
of the day, Miss More's tracts and songs again
play a distinguished part.  "Will Chip" reappeared upon the stage; "Village Disputants,"
the title having been slightly altered, rapidly
ran through ten editions. Her quiet insight
of what was necessary, her true woman's tact,
which serves the sex so well, enabling them to
reach just conclusions without troublesome arguments, caused a fresh demand upon her pen.
"I did not think of turning ballad-monger
in my old age," she says, "but -the strong and
urgent representations which I have had from
the highest quarters of the alarming temper of
the times, and the spirit of revolution which
shows itself more or less in all the manufacturing towns, led me to'undertake as a duty a
task I would gladly have avoided."
She set herself to work, and in a few weeks
wrote a dozen penny and half-penny articles,
10*




226            HANNAH MORE.
thousands and tens of thousands of whilch were
circulated far and wide.
"I fear the antidotes are not strong enough
to expel the deeply-rooted poison," she says,
"but each must do what he can."
"These are awful times, and this tempestuous weather, by putting a stop to the sowing
of corn, I fear is preparing for us another season of scarcity. But the Lord God omnipotent
reigneth; what consolation to be assured of
lthis!"
Miss More wrote and published and republished mai.y of her former tracts and stories suited to the present exigencies, while
her heart was aching over the slow and sure
decay of her sister Sally, whose sprightliness
and wit still enchanted- her friends.  For
months she knew there was no prospect of
recovery, neither could any -thing materially
alleviate her disease.  1Her sufferings were
sometimes intense, which drew forth the frequent exclamation, "Poor Sally, you are in
dreadful pain."  "I am indeed, but it is well,"
was her calm reply.  Indeed, so playful still
was her conversation, so quiet and patient her'
temper, -it was hard to believe her dying.
While yet' able to stay in the family sit



FALLING LEAVES.           22'
ting-room, and employ herself a little with
her work-basket, she gave up her old seat at
the bow-window, lest the beauties. of the earthly scene might draw her away from the frequent contemplation of the heavenly. At last,
no longer able to bear a sitting posture, she
was assisted up stairs —for the last time, she
well knew. Before leaving, she looked back,
and cast a parting glance about the room: it
was a silent and solemn farewell; no word was
spoken.  Ier sufferings rapidly increased.
Unable to hear any connected reading, Hlannalh and Patty repeated detached verses from
the Bible, in which she often joined.  Once,
having lain long insensible, a favorite text was
recited.  " Can any thing be finer than that?
It makes one's face shine," she suddenly exclaimed.
When life seemed nearly gone, her physician took her by the hand, and bade her good
morning. Lifting her hands in holy transport,
she said, "Oh. for the glorious morning of the
resurrection! but there are some gray clouds
between." 
"Oh the blood of Christ!  I-He died for
me.  God was man. Talk of the cross, the
precious cross, the King of love!"




2>28    -     EHANNAH MORE.
"Four months,' writes Hannah to Mrs.
Kennicott, "we have watched over her increasing disease.  Poor Patty and I watched
over this bed of suffering, but our distress was
mingled, with much consolation. I cannot do
justice to her humility, her patience, her submission. It was sometimes more than resignation; it was a spiritual triumph over the
suffering of her tormented body.  She often
said,'I have never prayed for recovery, but
pardon. I do not fear death, but sin.'
M" Iy three sisters have quitted the world
in the same order of succession as they entered it.  My turn, in course, would be next.
Pray for me, that I may do and stffer the
whole will of God."
A friend who visited Barley Wood after
the last sad bereavement, writes thus of the
remaining two sisters: "Feeling as they do
very deeply the sad breach made in their circle, they are wisely, cheerfully, and piously
submissive to this appointment of Providence;
and neither their talents nor their vivacity are
in the least subdued. I am disposed to believe that they will be blessed to the last with
the retention of those faculties which they
have employed so well.  With Patty I had a




FALLING LEAVES.            229
long and interesting conversation.  This interesting woman is suffering with exemplary
patience the greatest pain: not a murmur
escapes her, though at night especially groans
and cries are inevitably extorted, and the moment after the paroxysm she is ready to resume
with full interest and animation whatever may
have been the subject of conversation.  Hannah is still herself. She took the 1Rev. Charles
Forster and me to drive to Brockley Combe;
in the course of which her anecdotes, her wit,
her powers of criticism, and her admirable
talent at recitation, had ample scope."
How serene and beautiful is the picture!
WVe forget that old age and sickness are there,
so repulsive to youth, so uninteresting and unattractive to busy, bustling middle life. IHannah is seventy-three, and Patty an invalid;
therefore when Sally died, who cared for the
flowers, "-The garden will be neglected; there
is no one left to do like Sally." Ah, no; Haniiah went out to meet the spring flowers: she
gathered the roses and bound up the honeysuckles, and the garden bloomed as sweetly as
it used to.




230           HANNAH MORE.
CHAPTER XV.
A GOLDEN HARVEST.
MIss MORE sits at her desk correcting the
fifteenth edition of Coelebs, and the eleventh of
Practical Piety. She speaks thus: "In spite
of the dull task of reforming points and particles, I found the revisal of the last especially
a salutary and mortifying employment. HIow
easy it is to be good upon paper!  I felt mllyself humbled, even to a sense of hypocrisy, to
observe-for I had forgotten the book-how
very far short I had fallen of the habits and
principles and interior sanctity which I hlad
found it so easy to recommend to others. I
hardly read a page which did not carry some
reproach to my own heart. I frequently think
of a line which Prior puts into the mouth of
Solomon,
"'They brought my Proverbs to confute my life.'
"Coelebs in Search of a Wife" had now
been before the public ten years, with a rapid
sale both in England and the United States.
" Never was more pain bound tp in two vol



A GOLDEN HARVEST.           231
umes,' she said, alluding to her illness while
writing it.
Dr. Henderson, the entertaining tourist of
Iceland, found Coelebs enlivening the long evenings of many a circle in that ice-bouncd region;
Swedish youths learned from it lessons of wisdom; it was translated into French and German; and may it not be hoped that young men
and maidens, and the newly married, became
wiser and better for having read it?
Nor was Russia impenetrable to her influence. The "Shepherd of Salisbury Plain."'
with "Charles the Footman," and several of
their excellent companions, made an extensive
circuit throughout that empire; and she received the assurance from a pious Russian princess, that they were opening the way for other
works of a kindred character.
India also reaped the benefit of her labors.
Portions of "h3;[oses in the Bulrushes" were
presented to M.iss ]More, written in Cingalese
on the palmyra leaf, and many of her writings
were translated both in Tamnul and Cingalese.
Sir Alexander Johnstone, Chief- Justice of
Ceylon, on his return to England, visited Barley Wood to assure her of the interest which
they excited among the natives, and to be



232         IhANNAH MORE.
speak a poem from her gifted pen. to be sung
on the anniversary of the abolition of domestic slavery on that island. Servitude existed
among the Dutch settlers of Ceylon when it
fell into the hands of the English, who at the
time guaranteed to all the inhabitants their
rights of private property; nor were they
willing to relinquish this among the rest, until
Sir Alexander having secured to them some
important privileges from the English government, in gratitude to him they resolved that
all children born of their slaves after the 12th
of August, 1816, should become free. Miss
More wrote a little dramatic poem, called the
"Feast of Freedom," which was translated
into the native language by two young priests
then receiving an English education under the
care of Dr. Adam Clarke, and became a great
favorite in Ceylon.
" What a pleasure must it afford you, my
dear madam," wrote the Chief-Justice to the
author, " to have the power of producing such
moral improvement by your writings, not
only throughout Europe, but throughout Asia
also; for I ant convinced that your writings
have had a greater effect, and have been
more generally read, than any other works




A GOLDEN HARVEST.           233
which have been written for the last hundred
years."
The next pilgrims to Barley Wood, Mliss
More says, " are two very interesting and sensible Persians, who have been studying the
literature, arts, and sciences of this country,
and are returning home with great acquisitions
of knowledge. I never saw any Asiatics before who had energy, spirit, and curiosity:
these are all alive. In my garden is an urn
to the memory of Locke, who was born in our
village. When they saw it, they exclaimed
in rapture,' What, Locke the metaphysician?'
They go to our different places of worship,
attend Bible and other public meetings, and
seem to have fewer prejudices against Christianity than you would suppose. They particularly admire Job and Isaiah, and those
parts of the Old Testament which have the
most orientalism.  Their figures and costume
are striking, their manners very genteel. I
was amused to see the Mohalmmnedans drink a
little wine. The most literary of the two wished to have something of mine as a memento.
I gave him Practical Piety, which he said he
would translate when he got home."
The formation and growth of the religious




23 4          H A 1N-'NA H Ai OR  E
institutions which have so distinctly marked
the beginning of the present century, were a
source of unspeakable gratitude to Hannah
Mfore; and "I sometimes regret, foolishly
enough," she said, "that some of my earliest
and dearest friends did not live to promote
-and rejoice in the wonderful prosperity of
such as each particularly delighted in.  Dean
Tucker, Dr. Kennicott, and Bishop Horne
would have been among the most zealous supporters of the conversion of the Jews, as Dr.
Johnson would of the slave abolition and the
Bible and missionary societies.  Bishop Portens would have rejoiced in the prosperity of
all.  To descend to so poor a thing as myself
and my writings, the gratification I feel in that
measure of success which it has pleased God
to grant unworthy ime, when so many abler
and better persons have been neglected, is
much diminished by the loss of the abovenamed and many others, who would have taken a warmer interest inll what concerned me
than I deserved, and that from partial kindness.  But all this is necessary, salutary, and
right."
In the spring of 1818, both-sisters were so
much shattered by sickness, that friends sus



A GOLDEN HARVEST.          235
pended their accustomed visits to Barley Wood,
and left the invalids to that undisturbed repose which they greatly needed. Its benefits
uponi Hannah were soon apparent; both mind
and body were improved, and she, under that
abiding sense of " doing with her miglt," began and prepared a small work, called "Moral
Sketches of Prevailing Opinions and Manners,
Foreign and Domestic," to which were added
her "Reflections on Prayer," so deservedly
known in this country.
The first edition sold on the first day, and
realized fifteen thousand dollars.
In spite of the great popularity and excellent tendency of her writings, Miss More seems
ever to have made a low estimate of her merits,
declaring on one occasion, that "the only remarkable thing which belonged to her as an
author was, that she had written eleven books
after the age of sixty."
The attachment of the two surviving sisters
was most tender and true; they had lived
much together; their Sunday labors had been
equally shared; they loved the same things,
and in company had visited often and again
the same places; the "sweet sense of kindred"
had been strengthened by the hallowed associ



236           HANNAH MORE.
ations of a long and endeared partnership in
every good word and work; and now they two
were all that were left of the happy band that
once sported on old Stapleton Green.
As months and years passed by, each was
admonished that frail was her hold on life,
and each sought to live in preparation for the
last summons. Miss Patty wrote in her account-book,'"This is the last I shall ever want;"
and every scrap of paper in her desk bore record of a willing and waiting spirit: yet "she
is eye.s and hands and feet" to Hannah, who
might well exclaim, " ow can I give thee up?"
ThLe Wilberforces made a short sojourn at
Barley Wood in the early part of September,
1819.  On the last day of their visit, Patty accompanied them to dear old Cheddar, Brockley
Combe, and among the green winding ways of
the region, and then remained up long after
her usual time, talking over HIannah's first introduction to London, with all her wonted animation. It was late when she cane to her
sister's bedside to say good-night. "Our Wilberforce and I have had such a nice hour's
chat," said she cheerfully.  A few hours later,
and she awoke in the pangs of death.  "Oh,
I love my sufferings," she exclaimed; "they




A GOLDEN HARVEST.            237
come from God, and I love every thing which
comes from him."'
Whenever the mind wandered, the ruling
passion, strong in death, issued its orders like
these:'"Be sure let that old woman have her
shoes;" "Do not forget the old man's clothes;"
intent still upon those objects which bad formed her chief interest and daily business of
many years.
"I have lost," said the stricken survivor,
"my chief earthly comfort, companion, counsellor, and fellow-laborer. I need not tell you
that my grief is exquisite.  God doubtless saw
that I lenaed too mluch on this weak prop, and
therefore in mercy withdrew it, that I mioht
depend more exclusively on himself.  When I
consider how infinitely greater heir gaizn is than
IZy loss, I am ashamed of my weakness. I cal
truly say, however, that it has not been mixed
wvith one mlur-muring thoungtht-i  kiss the rod
and adore the hand that employs it.  I do not
so much brood over my loss as over the many
mercies which accompany it. I bless God that
she was spared to me so long; that her last
trial, though sharp, was short; that she is
spared feelinug-for me what I now feel for her-;
and though I must finish my journey alone, yet




238           HANNAl-: MORE.
it is a very short portion of my pilgrimage
which remains to be accomplished."
"In our numerous charity schools she had
exerted herself for thirty-two years with the
mlst unwearied perseverance," wrote Mliss
More, "and I may be allowed to add-now
she is gone-with great success in training up
numbers of useful members of the community,
and many souls for heaven. Never was any
private individual more lamented.  Our poor
gardener said'she had made as many garments for the poor as Dorcas, and had as many
tears shed over her death-bed.' Several funeral sermons were preached for her in the
neighborhood, and our neighbors have put on
mourning."
Almost every day used to come messages
or applications to Barley Wood, from the poor
or sick or needy of the surrounding parishes,
in request of relief and sympathy, found always within its friendly gates. For several
weeks after Miss Patty's death, no one of them
knocked at the door, or came near the house.
At last the schoolmaster of Shipham with his
donkey and panniers came to receive his stated
supply of books for the schools.  "It is very
long since we have seen any of you," said Miss




A GOLDEN HARVEST.           2 9
Hannah.  "Why, madam, they be so cut up,
they have not the heart to come," answered
the old man mournfully.
Letters of sympathy, affection, and condolence came in upon the mourner from all
quarters, and friends flocked around to relieve
by their kind offices that void which none could
again fill.
"'lany people under a similar affliction are
apt to say that it is of too deep a nature to admit of consolation from the sympathy of friends.
I am not of their opinion," said this honored
disciple; "I feel the sympathy of kind and
Christian friends very soothing to my mind,
and I bless God for affording me, in his mercy
and goodness, such a source of comfort."
The withered branch will not long survive:
so thought and feared the friends who waited
and watched around her. During the spring
and summer of 1820, she seemed gradually
wasting beneath the repeated and violent seiz
ures of her old complaint: speaking of hei
burning fever, "Nothing but the last icy hand
will cool me," said she.  "Poor Patty, I shall
soon join her. I hope I shall feel the same
patience and submission as dear Patty did. I
have great comfort and quietness in my mind."




240           HANNAH MORE.
"I have never known,v" she said to a clerical friend, "much of those triumphs which I
hear of, but I have never been destitute of consolation, trust, and reliance-not that unauthorized calmness which some deem to be always
a symptom of peace to the soul."
"You have been a blessing to the world,"
spoke one near her.
"No, mine has been but a poor little way:
I have done nothing, I could do nothing. The
righteousness, mercies, and merits of Christ
are all in all."
"How long, 0 Lord, how long?" she exclaimed, in the extremity of her suffering.
"If you need all this, madam," said one of
her attendants, "we may be well filled with
dismay."
"The blood of Christ is sufficient: there is
no acceptance for the best without it, and with
it the worst need not fear obtaining pardon
and salvation upon repentance; but it must be
profound heart-repentcance."
Mronths of suffering passed by, and her resignation in sorrow, her patience in sickness,
her forgiveness of injuries, afforded an eloquent commentary upon the holy doctrines
which it was the aim of her writings to enforce.




A GOLDEN HARVEST.           241
But God was graciously pleased to raise up
his aged servant, and restore to her a com-.
fortable measure of health.
In the worst of her illness, Cadell wrote to
entreat her to prepare a preface for a new
edition of "Mloral Sketches," with a short tribute to our lamented king.  "My friend wrote
him  word it was utterly impossible," she related afterwards;;'that I might as well attempt
to fly as to write. A week after, supposing me
to be better, he again renewed his entreaty. I
was not better, but worse. I fancied, however,
that what was difficult might not be impossible.
So having got everybody out of- the way, I
furnished myself with pen, ink, and paper,
which I concealed in my bed, and next morning in a high fever, with my pulse above a
hundred, without having formed one thought,
bolstered up, I began to scribble. I got on
about seven pages, my hand being almost as
incompetent as my head. I hid my scrawl
and said not a word, while my doctor and my
friend wondered at my increased debility.
After a strong opiate, i next morning returned to my task of seven pages more, and deliveredl my almost illegible papers to my friend
to transcribe and send away. I got well scoldH. More.         11




242           HANNAH MORE.
ed, but I loved the king, and was carried
through by a sort of affectionate impulse; so
it stands as a preface to the seventh edition.
You will be as much surprised as myself that
this slight work should have made its way so
rapidly in these distracted times, which the
bookseller tells me have been the most unfavorable to literature that he has ever known.
The preface is such a meaugre performance as
you would expect from  the writer, and the
strange circumstances of the writing."
Neither sickness nor sorrow subdued the
wonderful elasticity of her mind, alert to the
call of duty, and pressing into service a weak
and suffering frame.
Called upon to make some arrangements
which anticipated the future, she added, "Not
that I have the remotest idea of living through
the winter; but we must plan for time, and
prepare for eternity."
"I often think," she said one day, "that we
are not thankful enough for negative mercies.
I have often felt grateful that I have never been
confined in a madhouse, a prison, or a court."
While slowly regaining strength, unable to
endure either much company or great fatigue,
she relieved the monotony of her confinement




A GOLDEN HARVEST.           243
by composing "Bible Rhymes, " pleasant verses
for the young.
"People are too apt, at an advanced age,"
she remarked, "to imagine, because they were
able to do but little, they were exempted from
doing any thing; but our work is never finished while we are on earth, and when we have
but one talent left, we must strive to the last
to make the most of it."
"I can find sufficient employment, which,
if not splendid, is not quite useless," she writes
to an old friend.  "At Bristol, Clifton, and
Bath, they have an annual bazaar for the different charitable societies, which, by means of
contributions of ladies' different work, produces a good deal of money. You will say that in
my old age I am brought so low as to write
half-penny papers. Every year I write some
such trifle. The ladies who conduct the bazaars in the different places, get these paltry
papers printed sometimes on colored papers,
and by selling them for a shilling, ~20 have
been collected in a year. I spend all my leisure in knitting garters and muffatees, a little
decorated; these, by the lady-customers giving five times more than they are worth, bring
in the year no contemptible sum."




244           HANNAH MORE.
No one perhaps ever set more value on her
time than did Hannah More; how else could
she have accomplished so much with the various hinderances which sickness and society
threw in her way?
"'What a large portion of time may be improvidently squandered," she remarks; "what
days and nights may be suffered to waste themselves, if not criminally, yet inconsideratelyif not loaded with evil, yet destitute of good;
how much consumed in worthless employments,
frivolous amusements, listless indolence, idle
reading, and vain imaginations: and one can
never make a right use of time who turns it
over to chance, or who lives without any definite scheme for its employment, or any fixed
object for its end."
Upon this subject she again speaks.
"Through the unwearied kindness of more
Christian friends than any other unworthy
creature was ever blessed with, I see through'my loophole of retreat,' or rather hear of
whatever interesting is going on.  MAy conclusion is, that wickedness is wickeder than it
used to be, and that goodness is better.  Religion certainly has increased much among the
higher classes in England, and perhaps still




A GOLDEN IIARVEST.          245
mnore in Ireland. Yet I will still venture to
say, even to the religious world,'I have a few
things against thee.'
"WFitll no small number of happy exceptions, I cannot help observing' the common
fault of good people-the misappropriationn of
tine.  I will only instance two particulars of
the evil, of which they do not seem to me to
be sufficiently aware-music and light reading.
Twenty years ago, when I wrote'Strictures
on Female Education,' Bishop Cleaves of St.
Asaph was at Bath. Hle was much attached
to mne, though we differed on many points.
Talking on this subject, he was so much of my
opinion, that he wrote the following statement,
which I inserted in a note in the first volume:'Suppose your pupil to begin music at six
years of age, and to continue the average of
four hours a day at her instrumnent-a very
low calculationi-Sundays excepted, till she
is eighteen, the statement stands thus: three
hundred days multiplied by four, the number
of hours amounts to twelve hundred; this multiplied by twelve, which is the number of years,
amounts to fourteen thousand four hundred
hours!'
"I come now to the reading. I pass over




246           HANNAH MIORE.
Byron and his compeers in sin and infamy,
though I have known some good people who
now and then take a slice even of this highly
seasoned corruption. I pass over the more
loose and amatory novels, and take my stand
on what is said to be safe ground, the novels
of that unparalleled genius  Walter Scott.
Now I would not have it supposed that I have
not read with delight and admiration all his
poetry.  This is a repast that might be taken
with safety, thoughl certainly not with profit,
for it would be difficult to find another specimen of such admirable works with so few
maxims for the improvement of life and imanners.  Let that pass: they gratify the taste
without vitiating the imagimnation; add to this,
they were written at reasonably distant periods from each other, so that we were refreshed
without being crammed. We come now to his
novels, in which his fecundity is as marvellous
as his invention. I have read one volume and
a half, in which the powers of his vigorous
and versatile mind were conspicuous; but from
what I have since read in reviews, I rather
see the absence of much evil than the presence
of much good. I of all people ought not to
find fault with authors for writing too much;




A GOLDEN HARVEST.            247
yet I must return to my first position, the misapplication of time.  Had he written before
the flood, when perhaps there were not so
many books in the world as he has introduced
into it, all would have been well; he would
have been a benefactor to the antediluvian
IHilpahs and Zylpahs.  A  life of eight hundred years might be allowed the perusal of
the whole of his volumes; a proportionate
quantity in each century would have been delightful; but for our poor scanty threescore
years and ten, it is too much. Nay, I underestimate the chronology: I believe they have
all been produced nearly in odd teii years.
Now I readily grant, that to the mass of readers the reading of these works should not be
prohibited.  To the gay, the worldly, and the
dissipated, it is perhaps as safe, and even more
safe, than any of their other pleasurable resources, being often their only intellectual one.
The strong sense, lively exhibition of character, and animated style, certainly afford aliment to the mind.  MI1y remarks are limited
to a certain class of readers, who have made
a strict profession of religion.  If indeed our
time is to be accounted for as scrupulously as
the other talents committed to us, how will




248U          HANNAH MORE.
their reckoning stand?  In the case of some, it
is almost the only talent they have.  Such
ought to be especially careful that this one be
rightly employed, as we have an awful lesson
on the danger of unprofitableness."
On October 22, 1822, Miss More writes to
a friend, "I was much affected yesterday with
a report of the death of my ancient and valuied friend Mirs. Garrick.  She was in her
hundredth year.  I spent above twenty winters under her roof, and gratefully remember,
not only their personal kindness, but my first
introduction through them into a society retarkable for rank, literature, and talent."
Behold her working for our American
Board of Missions.
" A drawing of my little habitation having
found its way to New York, they have made
a very good engraving of it, which their Board
of Foreign Mlissions is selling; and they are
sanguine enough to expect the sale will enable
them to build a school in the distant island of
Ceylon for poor girls, which they intend doing
me the honor of calling Barley Wood."  A
smile of gratification steals over her countenance.
"I find a good deal of time to work with




A GOLDEN HARVEST.           249
my hands, while MBiss Frowd reads for the entertainment of my head," she adds a while
after; " and the learned labors of my knittingneedle are now amassing to be sent to America for the Barley Wood school at Ceylon; so
you see I am still good for something."
The history of this school is thus: the
plan of a girl's school in Ceylon was suggested
to a lady in Massachusetts by a letter from the
Rev. Mr. Woodward, missionary of the American Board at Ceylon, addressed to the Society
of Inquiry at Princeton Theological Seminary,
in which he mentioned that associations of
ladies imight be formed in America to build
school-houses for girls, which would cost about
thirty dollars, each school bearing the name of
the association which supported it.
" I had just then," says the lady, " received a print of Barley Wood from a relation in
England; finding it much admired, and many
wishing to possess a copy, I united with a
friend, who like myself was gratuitously collecting funds for the Board, in the risk of having the print engraved for the benefit of foreign missions.  I wrote.to Mr. Woodward,
with the approbation of Mr. Evarts, that the
avails of my part of the engraving were to be
11*




250           HANNAH TMvORE.
appropriated to the building of a bungalow and
the support of a girl's school within the limits
of his missionary field, requesting him at the
same time to select a site as nearly like Barley Wood as could be found, and as early as
possible to make the pupils acquainted with
the character and works of Hannah More.
"The school was accordingly established
in 1823, and the house has been used also as
a place of public worship on the Sabbath. I
sent copies of the engraving to Mir. Woodward and also to Miss More, who was so much
pleased with the plan of a school in memory
of her residence, that she immediately sent for
its support ten pounds; the next year ten
more; the year following twenty, besides bequeathing to it at her death one hundred
pounds, which, together with the avails of the
engraving, formed a fund for the enlargement
and permanent support of the school."
"Barley Wood in Ceylon!" humorously
responded an old correspondent, the oldest
then living, Sir William Pepys, to whom she
communicated the plan. "How this will puzzle some future commentator of your works,
who will find some obscure tradition, that for
some reason or other —most probably he will




A GOLDEN HARVEST.          251
say, for the laudable purpose of disseminating
religion-our author took this long voyage,
and in commemoration of it, gave the name of
her own residence to the school, which she
evidently established in this island."
Her correspondence at this time was extensive and burdensome.  "I[ see a good deal
of company," she tells us, "but the post occupies and fatigues me more than my guests. If
you saw my table on most days, you would
think, were I not a minister of state, I was
become at least a clerk in a public office.
"The mass of books and pamphlets whichl
I have from America would surprise you. I
do not naturally love republicans; but these
people appear really to be making such rapid
advances, that they seem to be determined to
run with us the race of glory."
Bishop Chase of Ohio paid her a visit in
July of 1824, at the anniversary of the Wrington Bible Society, when with a party of seventeen others he dined at Barley Wood, still
hospitably open to numerous and admiring
guests. The venerable hostess was unable to
appear at table, but she received the company
in h.er own apartment after dinner, where a
long and animated conversation was kept up




252           HANNAH MTIORE.
for several hours, in which she bore a distinguished part.  Her powers of conversation
even at seventy-nine were almost unrivalled;
so rich, so eloquent, so judicious, so appropriate.  "You could not touch her," says one,
"without finding her electrical wit, genius,
and godliness; her speech was always with
wit, seasoned with grace, and ministered to
the edifying of the hearers."
Besides the larger appropriations demanded by her schools and the various missionary
and charitable objects in,which she took a
deep interest, her benefactions went into humbler and more retired channels; students were
aided in their books and education, young
clergymen in purchasing their libraries, and
poor widows in eking out their scanty incomes;
twenty guineas, a legacy just received from
some dignitary whose name she had never
heard, were sent to Mirs. Judson for the redemption of two little Burmah slaves; and ten
pounds were once sent to Miss Hannah Adams
at Boston, on receiving her history of the
Jews, and learning that her efforts were made
in'behalf of a widowed sister and aged father."
On the reception of one hundred pounds




A GOLDEN HARVEST.            253
from the son of Sir William Pepys, who had
for many years been in t he habit of makling
her an almoner of his bounty, and at whose
death his son thus evinced his reverence for
his memory, her reply admits us to take, as it
were, a parting glance at Cheddar, and a pleasant farewell of the comfort and prosperity
which, like the green grass, is creeping around
the AIendip Ridge.
"I most thankfully accept the liberal sutn
you so generously offer.  It is indeed rmost
gratuitous oni your part, and very acceptable
on mine, as my schools consist of six hundred
children, and the friends that used to. help me
out a little are dead.  I do not know if I
ever mentioned to my admirable correspondent that, attached to my schools, in three difTerent parishes, - instituted thirty-five years
ago a female club for the parents of my children.  I continue to give them an annual festivity, when every girl bred in my schools and
belonging to their respective clubs, if they
have maintained a virtuous character, receives
what they are pleased to call the bride's portion of the club-pay.  This envied portion
does not amount to a guinea; but I think it
has helped to promote sobriety.  I have the




254           HANNAH MORE.
satisfaction to know that by petty accumulations and long perseverance, though the members of the club only subscribe sixpence a
month, I shall leave these poor people possess.
ed of nearly two thousand pounds in the three
parishes. I have long since placed it in the
funds, where it is accumulating. I have put it
in the trustees' hands.  The club is now no
further expense to me, except the annual feast,
where my valuable companion represents me.
Since my inability to be with them, to give it
more credit, ten neighboring clergymen, with
some other gentry, attend, and make tea for
the poor women.  I should not have dwelt so
long on this subject, but as an instance of what
perseverance and petty saving may accomplish.
It explains how misers with small means grow
rich by petty savings."
Life has gone through its spring of hope,
its summer work, the autumn harvest; and
now, though winter chills are benumbing the
limbs, within is glowing a heavenly flame, without, the friendly warmth of human kindness.
How sweetly it leans on the unseen arm.
"When and whether belong to Him who governs both worlds. I have nothing to do but
to trust. I bless God I enjoy great tranquil



A GOLDEN HARVEST.          255
lity of mind, and am willing to depart and be
with Christ when it is his will; but I leave it
in his hands, who does all things well," is the
language of Hannah AMore, with eighty years'
experience of the goodness and grace of Him
in whom she believed.




256           HANNAH MORE.
CHAPTER XVI.
PASSIN G AnVWAY
EVENING shadows were fast creeping around
the lengthened days of Hannah Miore. Her
life, prolonged far beyond threescore years
and ten, was slowly ebbing amid the fragrant
lamwns and shady groves of Barley Wood,
when a strange and unexpected disclosure in
her family history drove her from its bosom,
and compelled her to find another home.
Delicate health had almost entirely confined her to her chamber for thle last seven
years, and necessarily withdrawn her from
household occupations; nor could MIiss Frowd,
her daily friend and companion since Patty's
death, be supposed to exercise any very thorough inspection or strong influence over famnily servants, old in her service, and long used
to the ways and wants of their inistress: but
Miss lfore's kindness and confidence were alike
disregarded and betrayed. Although trained
to the practice of every Christian duty, illustrated by the'brightest examples of piety,
breathing an atmosphere of purity and love,




PASSING AWAY.             257
and pensioners upon her bounty, her servants
proved false to their Irust, and betrayed the
interests of their too indulgent mistress: to
fill their pockets, frauds, impositions, and
thefts were for years carried on in her kitch.
en; her charities had been diverted from their
appropriate channels; orders sent to traders
which were never issued; while their midnight
revelries began to be the scandal of the neighborhood.  Miss More disregarded for a time
the damaging hints concerning her household,
until at length they became unmistakably confirmed, and she felt that decided measures
must be immediately taken. Two lines of conduct were marked out by her counsellors: one
an entire change in the domestic cabinet, and
the other a removal from Barley W'ood to a
situation less cumbered with care.  After a
short but severe setrugogle she chose the latter.
The Rev. Dr. Whalley offered her his convenient and elegant house in Windsor Terrace,
Clifton, and thither she concluded to remove.
"I have been quite overwhelmed by this
heavy blow,"' she writes to Mliss Roberts.  "I
strive and pray fervently for divine support
and direction; but such is the variety of difficulties which await me the next month, that I




258           HANNAH MORE.
sink under the thought. I bless God that T
slept last night, but, like the disciples, it was
from sorrow: my kind partner in these sufferings, Miss Frowd, is, I am. grieved to say, in
bed with a severe cold; this adds much to my
distress. You must indeed, my dear friends,
you must come and advise me. I would consult you what gentleman I' shall get to stay
with me in the dreaded moment of separation.
"The shocking conduct of the people below
it seems has been long the subject of discourse
with the whole neighborhood; I alone was left
in ignorance through false kindness.  I am
more obliged to dear Mir. II     than I can
say; he is a true Christian friend. I really
think this shock has hurt my hearing and my
mlelmory."
The morning of final leave-taking at length
arrived, a cloudy April day. The servants,
who, surmising a change, had begun to treat
her with personal disrespect, were paid a quarter's wages in'advance by their generous and
forgiving mistress, and for ever dismissed from
her service.
Several gentlemen, with affectionate assiduity, came to support her through her last farewell to Barley Woodl-beloved Barley Wood,




PASSING AWAY.            259
whose roses and jessamines had for twentyseven years breathed their fragrance and flung
their beauty upon her daily paths-Barley
Wood, whose walls and walks were instinct
with the treasured memories of the past-Bar.
ley Wood, where the sisters dwelt in the mellow light of their declining days, and where,
one by one, like ripened sheaves, they had
been gathered to the eternal harvest.
Descending the stairs with a placid countenance, she was led into the room below, hung
with the portraits of friends long gone, and
gazed upon them for a few moments in silence;
then hurried with tottering steps towards the
carriage.  "Ah," she sadly said, "I am driven
like Eve from Paradise, but not by angels."
Her elastic and thankful spirit was not
slow to discern the beauties of her new home,
which commanded a bold and delightful prospect of Leigh woods and Nightingale valley,
with the blue Avon winding between. Her
face glowed with delight, as her dim eye lingered on the rich expanse.
"I was always," she exclaimed, "delighted
with fine scenery, but my sight of late years
has been too dim to discern the distant beauties of the vale of Wrington. It has pleased




260           HANNAH hIORE.
Providence to ordain nme in my last days a
view no less beautiful, all the features of which
my eye can embrace."
Miss More's ready and gentle acquiescence
in this providential ordering of her affairs gratified her friends, and reflected peace and homelikeness throughout her new abode. "Clifton is
very pleasant," she gratefully declares; "fewer cares and more comforts."  A few months
after the settlement, she pleasantly writes to
XWilberforce,  "I am  diminishing my worldly
cares.  I have sold Barley Wood, and have
just parted with the copyright to Cadeli of those
few of my writings which I had not sold him
before.  I have exchanged the eight'panmpered iminions' for four sober servants.  I have
greatly lessened my house expenses, which enables nie to maintain my schools and enlarge
my charities. My schools alone, with clothing
and rent, cost me two hundred and fifty pounds
a year.  Dear good Miss Frowd looks after
them, though we are removed much farther
from  them.  Thle squire of Cheddar attends
them  for almost the whole of Sunday, and
keeps and sends me an accurate statement of
merits and wants; so that I have many comforts.




PASSING AWAY.            261
As I have sold imy carriage and horses, I
want no coachman; as I have no garden, I
want no gardener. I have two pious clergymen whom I call my chaplains, and who frequently devote an evening to expound and
pray with my family, uniformly on Saturdays.
My most kind and skilful physician, Dr. Carrick, who used to have twelve miles to come
to me, has now not mnuch above two hundred
yards.  As to your kiind visit, we can give you
two beds, and one for a female servant; I am
sorry I canl do no more. The house, though
good, furnishes few conveniences.  We have
no servants' hall, of course no second table;
buit we are surrounded with hotels and lodlging-houses, etc. It is delightful that we shall
mneet once more this side of Jordan.  Miss
Frowd desires her best respects. She is my
great earthly treasure.  She joins to sincere
piety great activity and useful knowledge.
She has the entire management of my family,
and manages well. She reads well, and reads
much to me. I have much more to say, and
muchl, I trust, to hear, when we meet."
But if Clifton released its venerable occupant from home cares, it opened the door to
hosts of visitors whose fittings would never




262           HANNAH MORE.
have extended to Wrington.  Her conversational powers still retained their brilliancy and
freshness; her liveliness of manner, chastened
by time and sorrow, was blended with a heartwarming Christian love, inspiring both old and
young with confidence and affection, while many
were attracted towards her by the world-wide
reputation of her writings and labors.  Nearly
four hundred visited her in the first three
weeks, which so exhausted her strength and
consumed her time, that two days in a week
were set apart for general visitors, her "levee
days'; as they were called; while to her most
intimate friends she was at all times accessible.
One day in playful mood she sketched her
Court at Windsor Terrace.  "The Duke of
Gloucester, Sir Thomas Acland, Sir Edmund
Hlartapp, and Mr. Harford are my sportsmen;
Mr. Battersby, Mr. Pigott, and Mrs. Addington my fruiterers;  Irs. Walker Gray my
confectioner; Mr. Edward Brice my fishmonger; Dr. Carrick  my state  physician and
zealous friend; Mrs. La Touche my silk mercer and clothier; Bishop of Salisbulry my oculist; Mlisses Roberts my counsellors, not solicitors, for they give more than they take;
Misses David my old friends ands anew nw  eigh



PASSING AWAY.             263
bors; Messrs. lHensman and Elwin my spiritual directors; Mr. Wilberforce my guide,
philosopher, and friend; Miss Frowd my domestic chaplain, secretary, and house apothecary, knitter, and lamplighter, missionary to my
numerous and learned seminaries, and without
controversy, the queen of clubs," in allusion to
the village clubs already mentioned; " fr. lHuber my incomparable translator, who by his
superiority puts the original out of countenance; Air. Cadell accoucheur to the muses,
who has introduced many a sad sickly brat to
see the light, but whispers that they must not
depend on a long life."
Barley Wpod was sold to William Harford,
Esq., and her business interests were so adjusted that no cares were left to harass the infirmities of that period when the grasshopper
becomes a burden.
Repeated attacks of inflammatory disease
in the region of the chest often brought her
extremely low, fromn  which, through the unremlitted care and faithful attentions of Miss
Frowd, she again and again revived, until Novenber of 1832, when the seizure became more
violent, prostrating both the mind and body,
and rendering the remaining ten months of her




264           HANNAH A. ORE.
earthly pilgrimage months of extreme weakness, of wakeful nights and restless days, unalleviated by any hope of favorable change,
except the heavenly rest. Her pious ejaculations were the utterance of a soul ripening
for glory.
"Grow in grace," she earnestly whispered
to her attendants, "grow in grace, and in the
knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ;" "Jesus
is all in all," "God of grace."  "God of light,
God of light, whom  have I in heaven but
thee?"  "What can I do-what can I not do
with Christ?  I know that my Redeemer liveth."  "iHappy, happy are these, who are expecting to meet in a better world, The thought
of that world lifts the mlind above itself.  Oh
the love of Christ, the love of Christ!"
Long waiting, "My dear, do people ever
die?" she said to her f-riend.  "Oh glorious
grave!  It pleases God to affect me for lmy
good, to make me humble and thankful. Lord,
I believe, I do believe with all the powers of
my weak, sinful heart. Lord Jesus, support
nme in that trying hour when I most need it.
It is a glorious thing to die."
When some one spoke of the good deeds
which had adorned her life, she quickly re



PASSING AWAY.            265
plied, "Talk not so vainly: I utterly cast
them from me, and fall low at the foot of the
cross."
Thus she waited until the 6th of September, 1833. The usual family devotions were
attended at her bedside in the morning; her
wasted hands were devoutly raised in prayer,
while her countenance glowed with unwonted
light; she lay all day quietly and speaking
not, while a radiance as from the land of glory
illumined her sunken features. In the early
night she extended her arms, calling "Patty."
A few more hours and she sweetly fell asleep
in Jesus, on the dawning of the 7th, in the
eighty-ninth year of her age. Five days afterwards Miss More's remains were conveyed to
Wrington, and consigned to the family vault
by the Rev. Thomas Biddulph, Rector of St.
James at Bristol.
All the shops were closed, and the churchbells tolled their solemn requiem, as a long
procession followed her to the grave, joined at
its arrival at Barley Wood by large numbers
of the neighboring gentry, clergy, peasantry
and multitudes of little children.
In the village churchyard, beneath a yew
and willow, the traveller beholds a plain stone,
H. More.          12




266           HANNAH MORE.
marking the final resting-place of the five good
sisters, and bearing the simple inscription:
"BENEATH ARE DEPOSITED THE MORTAL REMAINS OF
FIVE SISTERS:
MARY MORE DIED 18TH OF APRIL, 1813, AGED 75 YEARS.
ELIZABETH MORE DIED 16TH OF JUNE, 1816, AGED 76
YEARS.
SARAH MORE DIED 17TH OF MAY, 1817, AGED 74 YEARS.
MARTHA MORE DIED 16TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1819, AGED 60
YEARS.
HANNAH MORE DIED 7TH OF SEPTEMBER, 1833, AGED 89
YEARS.
ALL THESE DIED IN FAITH,
ACCEPTED IN THE BELOVED.
HIEBREWS 11:13. EPHESIANS 1: 6."'
A handsome fortune had been accumulated
by the industry and talent of these ladies; Miss
Hannah More having realized from  her pen
alone, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
A large portion of it was bequeathed to public
institutions, whose fortunes and influences she
had long followed with deep and hearty interest. Among the various items mentioned in her
will, we find some relating to our own land.
Diocese of Ohio, ~200. Books for Ohio, ~50.
Newfoundland schools, ~100.  Also Barley
Wood school, Ceylon, ~100. Distressed Vaudois. ~180. Afte'r an enumeration of seventy



PASSING AWAY.            267
one objects, to which fifty thousand dollars were
appropriated, the remainder of her property
was to be invested in three per cent. consols, to
increase the endowment of the new church of
St. Philip and Jacob, which began to be erected in one of the destitute parishes of Bristol,
numbering a population of sixteen thousand
souls, hitherto without the public services of
the gospel. It was now suggested adding a
school to the church, which should bear her
name, and thus commemorate her memory
through an instrumentality which she had used
with such eminent success-teaching the poor.
At a meeting holden in Clifton on the October
following, these resolutions were presented and
adopted:
"'That the distinguished talents and qualifications of the late Miss Hannah More, consecrated most usefully and efficiently, throughout
the course of a long life, to the noblest ends of
Christian benevolence, have justly embalmed
her memory in the public esteem and veneration.
"That this meeting is of opinion it is desirable to convey to posterity some public memorial of the sentiments embodied in the preceding resolution.




268          HANNAH MORE.
"That a subscription be entered into for
placing a tablet to the memory of 3iss Hannah More, in the parish church of Wrington,
where her own remains and those of her four
sisters are interred; and should the sum collected exceed what may be deemed necessary
for the proper execution of such purpose, that
the surplus be devoted to the establishment
of a school-to bear her name-in connection
with the new church in the parish of St. Philip
and Jacob in Bristol, towards the endowment
of which she has bequeathed the residue of her
estate."
Six thousand dollars remained after the
erection of the tablet, costing six hundred dollars, which may be seen in the parish church
at Wrington, bearing this humble testimony to
her worth and genius:




PASSING  AWAY.                     269
ZacLcrb to tI)e temuorti
OF
H ANNAH MORE.
SItE WAS BORN IN THE PARISH OF STAPLETON, NEAR BRISTOL
A. D. 17,15, AND DIED AT CLIFTON, SEPTEMBER 7TH, A. D. 1833.
ENDOWED WITH GREAT INTELLECTUAL POWERS,
AND EARLY DISTINGUISHED BY THE SUCCESS
OF HER LITERARY LABORS,
SHE ENTERED THE WORLD UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES
TENDING TO FIX HER AFFECTIONS ON ITS VANITIES;
BUT, INSTRUCTED IN THE SCHOOL OF CHRIST
TO FORM A JUST ESTIMATE OF TIIE REAL END OF HUMAN EXISTENCE,
SHE CHOSE THE BETTER PART,
AND CONSECRATED HER TIME AND TALENTS
TO THE GLORY OF GOD AND THE GOOD OF IIHER FELLOW-CREATURES,
IN A LIFE OF PRACTICAL PIETY AND DIFFUSIVE BENEFICENCE.
HER NUMEROUS WRITINGS IN SUPPORT OF RELIGION AND ORDER,
AT A CRISIS WHtEN BOTH WERE RUDELY ASSAILED,
WERE EQUALLY EDIFYING TO THE READERS OF ALL CLASSES,
AT ONCE DELIGHTING THE WISE,
AND INSTRUCTING THE IGNORANT AND SIMPLE.
IN TIIE EIGHTY-NINTH YEAR OF HER AGE,
BELOVED BY HER FRIENDS, AND VENERATED BY THE PUBLIC,
SHE CLOSED HIER CAREER OF USEFULNESS
IN HIUMBLE RELIANCE ON THE MERCIES OF GOD,
THIROUGH FAITH IN TI-IE MERITS OF HER REDEEMER.
HER M1ORTAL REMAINS ARE DEPOSITED IN A VAULT IN THIS
CHURCHYARD, WHICH ALSO CONTAINS THOSE OF HER FOUR SISTERS,
WHO RESIDED WITH HER AT BARLEY WOOD, IN THIS PARISH, HER
FAVORITE ABODE, AND WHO ACTIVELY COOPERATED IN HER UNWEARID"
ACTS OF CHRISTIAN BENEVOLENCE.




20  HANNAH MORE.
CONCLUSION.
WE have played with her at Stapleton,
studied with her at Bristol, admired her at
London; we have gone with her to the thoughtful retirement of Cowslip Green, joined the
sisterhood at Barley Wood, visited her schools,
heard her conversation, beheld her popularity,
Witnessed her daily life; and now, shall we
pass from the contemplation of a character
like hers no wiser or better than before? Are
there no lessons of se!f-application in this brief
sketch?'What shall the young   ofour own
day learn from the light of her shining example?
Much of the personal influence which Hannah More exercised in the brilliant circles of
literary life was undoubtedly owing to her unrivalled powers of conversation, full of wit,
sense, and originality; to these were added a
penetrating and sagacious mind, which, with
its thorough knowledge of mankind, obtained
by a large acquaintance with almost every
class of society, enabled her to comprehend
the dangers to which the English masses were




CONCLUSION              271
exposed, from the sophistries of French infidelity and English demagogues, and instantly
to seize and apply an appropriate remedy.
Her tracts and stories for the times are among
her most remarkable productions, displaying
as they do the nicest perceptions of character
and opinion; they silenced the murmurs of
discontent and the doubts of skepticism, and
were like oil upon the rising waves of revolution.
Her first works upon the irreligious habits
and tendencies of the higher classes in English
society were characterized by clear and candid
statements of the most obvious and reasonable
requirements of Christianity-statements uttered with such discretion and truthfulness,
that their directness could not offend, even
where it was least welcome. They were read
and pondered.
~As she herself came to clearer and fuller
apprehensions of truth and duty, the nature
and importance of her mission became more
distinctly revealed: then followed that series
of religious teaching, that plain and faithful
application of the principles of the gospel to
the heart and life, which tended so powerfully
to quicken the spiritual life of the church and




212 WHANNAH MORE.
elevate the standard of practical piety. Miss
Mlore felt the moral want of her times: these
were general declension and coldness in the
religious world; customs and maxims had insensibly stolen upon the church, which sullied
its purity and diminished its influence. The
writings of Wilberforce and Hannah More,
warmed and enriched by a living faith, infused
new life into dead forms, and gave to the Christian profession a quickened conscience, higher
aims, and a holier life.
The intellectual gifts which distinguished
Hannah More, rich and influential as they
were, formed not her chief excellence, nor
that perhaps which most commends itself to
our reverence and affection.  It was her solid
and earnest piety which imparted breadth and
depth, strength and beauty to her character,
and made her influence felt even to the ends
of the earth. Herein is that with which we
have to do.  What were the elements of that
faith which obtained so good a report, and left
so shining an example?
There is a religion of taste, which admires
the beauties of this world, and is awed by the
grandeur of its:31aker. It is inspired more by
the book of nature than of revelation-more




CONCLUSION.              213
by the natural than the moral attributes of
God; it seeks solitary places, and dies amid
the din and bustle of noon-day life; it shrinks
from the sin and distress of the actual, and
sighs for the good and beautiful of the ideal;
it yearns for the dim aisles of an old past, and
would seek the aid of painter and sculptor to
help it in its devotions; it is amiable, tasteful,
and full of reverence.  Was it the religion of
taste which moulded a character like Hannah
More's?
"'I am a passionate admirer of whatever is
beautiful in nature or exquisite in art," she
declares. "These are the gifts of God, but
no part of his essence; they proceed from
God's goodness, and should kindle our gratitude to him; but I cannot conceive that the
most enchanting beauties of nature, or the
most splendid productions of the fine arts, have
any necessary connection with religion.  You
will observe that I mean the religion of Christ,
not that of Plato; the religion of reality, and
not that of the beau ideal.
"Adam sinned in a garden too beautiful
for us to have any conception of it.  The
Israelites selected fair groves and pleasant
mountains for the peculiar scenes of their idol12*




274          IHANNAH MORE.
atry. The most exquisite pictures and statues
have been produced in those parts of Europe
where pure religion has made the least progress.  These decorate religion, but they neui.
ther produce nor advance it. They are the
enjoyments and refreshments of life, and very
compatible with true religion, but they make
no part of it. Athenswas at once the most
learned and the most polished city in the
world; so devoted to the fine arts, that it is
said to have contained more-statues than men;
yet in this eloquent city the eloquent apostle's
preaching made but one proselyte in the whole
areopagus.
" Nothing, it appears to me, can essentially
improve the character and benefit society,- but
a saving knowledge of the distinctive doctrines
of Christianity. I mean a deep and abidingr
sense in the heart, of our fallen nature, of our
actual and personal sinfulness, of our lost state
but for the redemption wrought for us by Jesus Christ, and of our universal necessity, and
the conviction that this change alone can be
effected by tlhe influence of the Hloly Spirit.
This is not a splendid, but it is a saving religion; it is humbling now, that it may be elevating hereafter.  It appears to me also, that




CONCLUSION.               275
the requisition which the Christian religion
makes of the most highly gifted, as well as of
the most meanly endowed, is, that after the
loftiest and most successful exercise of the
most brilliant talents, the favored possessor
should lay his talents and himself at the foot
of the cross, with the same deep self-abasement and self-renunciation as his more illiterate neighbor, and this from  a conviction of
who it is that hath made them to differ."
Again, there is a fashionable religion, priding itself upon orthodox doctrines, but lax
enough in orthodox practice: it is trifling,
irresponsible, and florid, mixed up with frivolity and worldliness; enjoyment is the measure
of duty; it seeks to be pleased, not instructed, and in the pursuit has contracted habits
which have proved fatal snares, and imbibed
tastes which have weakened and debased its
principles.  I-low is it rebuked by the strong
language of earnest piety and a living faith!
"We must avoid," says Hlallah More, "as
much as in us lies, all such society, all such
namusements, all stzch temnpers which it is the
daily business of a Christian to subdue, and
all those feelings which it is his constant duty
to suppress.  Some things, which are appar



2 s1           HANNAH MORE.
ently innocent and do not assume an alarming
aspect or bear a dangerous character-things
which  the  generality  of decorous people
affirm  (how truly we know  not) to be safe
for them; yet if we find that these things stir
up in us improper propensities —if they awaken thoughts which ought not to be excitedif they abate our love for religious exercises,
or infringe on our time for performing themif they make spiritual concerns appear insipid-if they wind our heart a little more about
the world-in short, if we have formerly found
them injurious to our own souls, then let no
example or persuasion, no belief of their alleged innocence, no plea of their perfect safety tempt us to indulge in them.  It matters
little to our security what they are to others.
Our business is with ourselves.  Our responsibility is on our own heads.  Others cannot
know the side on which we are assailable. Let
our own nnbiassed judgment determine our
opinion, let our own experience decide for our
own conduct.
"As our kind of reading has much to do
with the formation of our religious character,
and the fostering of corrupt or correct tastes,
we cannot forbear noticing that very prevalent




CONCLUSION.              277
sort of reading which is little less productive
of evil, little less prejudicial to moral and
mental improvement, than that which carries a
more formidable appearance. We cannot cone
fine our censure to those more corrupt writings which deprave the heart, debauch the
imagination, and poison the principles.  Of
these the turpitude is so obvious, that no cauntion on this head, it is presumed, can be necessary.  But if justice forbids us to confound
the insipid with the mischievous, the idle with
the vicious, and the frivolous with the profligate, still we can only admit of shades, deep
shades we allow, of difference.  These works,
if comparatively harmless, yet debase the
taste, slacken the intellectual nerve, let down
the understanding, set the fancy loose, and
send it gadding among low and mean objects.
They not only run away with the time which
should be given to better things, but gradually
destroy all taste for better things. They sink
the mind to their own standard, and give it a
sluggish reluctance, we had almost said a moral
incapacity for every thing above their level.
The mind, by long habit of stooping, loses its
erectness, and yields to its degradation.  It
becomes so low and narrow by the littleness




a28           HANNAH MORE.
of the things which engage it, that it requires
a painful effort to lift itself high enough, or to
open itself wide enough to embrace great and
noble objects.  The appetite is vitiated.  E3.
cess, instead of producing a surfeit, by weakening the digestion only induces a loathing for
stronger nourishment.  The faculties which
might have been expanding in works of science,;or soaring in the contemplation of genius, become satisfied with the impertinences of the
most ordinary fiction, lose their relish for the
severity of truth, the elegance of taste, and
the soberness of religion.  Lulled in the torpor of repose, the intellect dozes, and enjoys
in its waking dream,
"All the wild trash of sleep, without the rest.
"In avoiding books which excite the passions, it would seem strange to include even
some devotional works. Yet such as merely
kindle warm feelings are not always the safest.
Let us rather prefer those which, while they
tend to raise a devotional spirit, awaken the
affections without disordering them; which
while they elevate the desires, purify them;
which show us our own nature, and lay open
its corruptions: such as show us the malig



CONCLUSION.               279
nity of sin, the deceitfulness of our hearts, the
feebleness of our best resolutions; such as
teach us to pull off the mask from the fairest
appearances, and discover every hiding-place
where some lurking evil would conceal itself;
such as show us not what we appear to others,
but what we really are'; such as, co6perating
with our interior feelings and showing us our
natural state, point out our absolute need of a
Redeemer, lead us to seek to him for pardon
from a conviction that there is no other refuge,
no other salvation. Let us be conversant with
such writings as teach us that, while we long
to obtain the remission of our transgressions,
we must not desire the remission of our duties."
"A life devoted to trifles," she again says,
" not only takes away the inclination, but the
capacity for higher pursuits.  The truths of
Christianity have scarcely more influence on a
frivolous than on a profligate character. If
the mind be so absorbed, not merely with what
is vicious, but with what is useless, as to be
thoroughly disinclined to the activities of a
life of piety, it matters little what the cause is
which so disinclines it. If these habits cannot
be accused of great moral evil, yet it argues a




280           HANNAH MORE.
low state of mind, that a being who has an
eternity at stake, can abandon itself to trivial
pursuits. If the great concern of life cannot
be secured without habitual watchfulness, how
is it to be secured by habitual carelessness?
It will afford little comfort to the trifler, when
at the last reckoning he gives in his long negative catalogue, that the more ostensible offender was worse employed.  The trifler will not
be weighed in the scale with the profligate, but
in the balance of the sanctuary."'
Are there not many who may well take
heed?  Shall we be content with the "beggarly elements " of a religious profession, when
God demands a holy life?
Still further, earnest piety prevents that
skepticism which is liable to creep into the soul
at a certainl stage in the religious experience,
and which, if not expelled, chills our faith,
until we have only a name to live.  Have
you not known many who entered upon the
religious life with the fairest promise?  How
lovely were the first blossoms of piety; what
prayers were offered for their fruit —what
hopes were entertained of their usefulness!
Time elapses, and alas, how is the fine gold
become dim!  They have lost their confi



CONCLUSION.              281
dence; they see no use in that wherein they
once delighted; their love is cold, their faith
low, their hands feeble; they.are weary, discouraged, faint-hearted.
W~hy is this so? Amid the first exercises
of the renewed soul, ah, there was no account
laid with remaining corruptions within, and
discouragements and trial from without. What
various hinderances beset the way; what disappointments chill the heart; what sins still
clog the soul!  They may have learned to
labor, but not to wait: while planting the
seed, they looked for the harvest. This forms
the great crisis in the religious life, when in
the waning light of our first love to God, we
first fully comprehend all which that love demands-when the ardor of feeling is to be
replaced by the steadfastness of principle-when
the life that has been given us, no longer dependent upon the nurture of Christian friends,
must henceforth depend upon ourselves: our
watchfulness, our labors, our care must nourish it, strengthen it, and bring it to the stature
of a perfect man in Christ Jesus.  From this
day of labor and of trial, alas, how many
shrink!  Who is sufficient for these things?
cries the fainting believer.




282           HANNAH MORE.
"I can do all things through Christ which
strengtheneth me," responds a living faith,
which bears the soul through its doubts and
fears, and teaches that hardest, last learned
lesson, yet best of all, that in yielding a willing obedience to God, and striving to do hzs
work, he will work in us both to will and to do
of his own good pleasure-Christ in man.
This is the substance of an earnest piety —
of a working, saving, living faith, beautifully
and impressively illustrated in the life and
labors of Hannah More.
Who is striving after it?  Who will go
and do likewise?




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