which fills so large a portion of these two volumes. The evangelical principles which were taught in these schools, excited the opposition of some of the clergy; but Hannah More, upheld by the approbation of such men as Wilberforce, Porteus, Stephen, and Thornton, felt it unnecessary to reply to the rude, abusive attacks which were made upon her; as though she were inculcating Radical or Jacobinical principles! Her constant attachment to the established church, and her steady loyalty, were so undoubted among all her friends and acquaintance, and might be gathered from her publications, that any answer to such absurd charges was needless. The whole country was now immeasurably indebted to her pen, for the little tract, called Village Politics; which, at the request of several of her friends, she wrote and published in 1792, and which was distributed throughout the kingdom, by thousands.

The success attending her publication of Village Politics, led her, in connection with her sisters and one or two more persons, to enter upon a plan for the production and publication of three tracts a month. Two millions were sold the first year; and to this scheme we owe the Shepherd of Salisbury Plain, and that series of little stories, which goes by the name of the Cheap Repository Tracts, whose merits were evinced in the numerous reformations which attested their power, as exhibitions of the truth upon the heart. As we pass over her letters, we feel strongly inclined to quote passages, which open to us a view of some pleasing exhibitions of piety and humility among her noble friends; but our limits forbid. We hope our readers, however, will have recourse to these volumes themselves, as we know of no other publication, to which we can direct them, so interesting in this particular. We would gladly, also, dwell upon portions of her journal of this date, but must forbear. In 1799, appeared her Strictures on Female Education,―the third of those works which render the name of Hannah More so well known as a christian moralist.

A change in the residence of herself and sisters now took place, and henceforth Barley Wood, a place, doubtless, more than any other, identified with her name in the minds of American christians, became their happy abode. The account of this removal is thus given by Mr. Roberts :

A variety of considerations had for some time been preparing the way for Mrs. More's determination to quit her little residence at Cowslip Green, which, though very pretty, was in many respects inconvenient. The purchase of a piece of ground was offered her at about a mile distant, in a singularly picturesque and healthy elevation, combining every possible advantage for a dwelling. Having selected the most advantageous spot, she built a comfortable mansion upon this ground, which afforded ample scope for the exercise of her taste, and formed around it a delightful territory, planted and disposed with admirable skill and contrivance. The sisters soon became so attached to 84

VOL.VI.

this place, called Barley Wood, and found it at once so cheerful and salubrious, that they soon afterwards parted with their house at Bath, and made this their constant residence.' vol. ii. p. 89.

The letters and the extracts from her journal of this period, are a beautiful exhibition of a spirit gaining increasing nearness to God, and formed under the operation of that principle of faith in the divine word, which threw such a luster around her whole character. A single extract is all that we can give :

Have been looking at one of the answers to Overton. My very soul is sick of religious controversy. How I hate the little names of Arminian and Calvinist! Christianity is a broad basis. Bible christianity is what I love; that does not insist on 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.' vol. ii. pp. 105, 106.

In consequence of suggestions and requests to that effect, Mrs. Hannah More, in 1805, published Hints towards forming the character of a young Princess. Although appearing without her name, yet it was immediately recognized as flowing from her pen, and received with high commendation by the truly pious. The Edinburgh Review attacked the work, on account of its inculcation of evangelical principles; but it found favor with those who were charged with the direction of the Princess Charlotte's education, and probably, in some degree, influenced the course which was adopted. It is said to have been read by the princess herself, and to have been one of the last books in her hands before her death. The succeeding year was one of trial and suffering to Mrs. Hannah More. A pleuritic fever, brought on by a cold, threatened her valuable life; and it was months, before any remedies seemed to promise success. "Under her protracted sufferings," remarks her biographer, "her composure and placidity of temper were so remarkable, as to make those around her exclaim, 'Would that her enemies and traducers could be in her sick-room."" In one of her letters to Sir William W. Pepys, written after her recovery, she thus alludes to the accusations brought against her :

'You have, doubtless, heard, that I have had far greater trials than any which sickness could inflict. I will only say, in a few words, that two Jacobin and infidel curates, poor and ambitious, formed the design of attracting notice and getting preferment, by attacking some charity schools (which, with no small labor, I have carried on in this county for near twenty years,) as seminaries of vice, sedition, and disaffection. At this distance of time, for it is now ended in their disgrace and shame, it will make you smile, when I tell you a few of the charges brought against me, viz., that I hired two men to assassinate one of these clergymen, that I was actually taken up for seditious practices,-that I was with Hadfield on his attack on the king's life; one of them strongly

insinuated this from the pulpit, and then caused the newspaper which related the attack to be read at the church door. At the same time, mark the consistency! they declared that I was in the pay of Mr. Pitt, and the grand instigator (poor I,) of the war, by mischievous pamphlets; and to crown the whole, that I was concerned with Charlotte Corday in the murder of Marat!!!' vol. ii. p. 136.

About this time, too, Mrs. More was deeply afflicted by the loss she sustained in the death of Bishop Porteus, an old and valued friend and correspondent.

Her next publication was equally successful with her former

ones :

It appeared in Dec. 1809, in two vols. octavo, under the title of "Celebs in Search of a Wife," and excited such immediate and universal attention, that she received, in the course of a few days, notice from her bookseller to prepare for a second edition; but before this edition could be put to press, and in less than a fortnight after the first appearance of the work, it was out of print, and the booksellers, all over the country, became clamorous for copies. In nine months after its first appearance, she was followed to Dawlish, whither she had gone to try the effect of repose and sea air, by the eleventh edition, which presently gave place to the twelfth.

In America, Celebs" found a proportionably favorable reception; four editions succeeding each other with a rapidity almost unexampled in that country, where her works have been always duly appreciated. Thirty editions of 1,000 copies each were printed in that country during the lifetime of Mrs. More. She continued for a long time after the publication of "Calebs" to receive, to her no small amusement, letters from her intimate acquaintance, earnestly recommending her to read it, and giving a description of the characters, sentiments, and general tendency of the work. Others, however, discovered her style before they had proceeded far in the perusal, and in letters of a humorous character, addressed her as its author. She stood firm, however, against all these attempts to draw a confession from her, till it had run through several editions.' vol. ii. pp. 147, 148.

On the appearance of this work, she was violently attacked by the vicar-general of the Pope, and several letters passed between them. No candid mind can be at a loss to decide, which evinced the superiority in courtesy, and the exhibition of christian feeling.

In 1811, Practical Piety made its appearance. It came out in her own name. The first edition was taken up while in the press; and soon reached to the tenth. This, after an interval of about two years more, was followed by Christian Morals, which itself, about two years after, was succeeded by the Essay on the character and writings of St. Paul. While these works were in progress, Mrs. More was called to experience several painful bereavements, among which were Lord Barham, Henry Thornton, Mr. Bowdler; individuals whom she highly esteemed, and with some of whom, she had been in habits of friendship for many years.

The beloved circle of the sisterhood, which had remained for more than fifty years entire, was also now broken in upon, by the death of the eldest of their number, Mrs. Mary More. She had for some time been declining in health; and "crowned a life of uncommon usefulness, integrity and benevolence, by an old age of placid and dignified serenity, and a death full of hope and resignation." Mrs. Hannah More herself, likewise, was near suddenly losing her own life.

She had retired to her apartment, of which she had locked the door (a thing unusual with her,) to exclude interruption, when in reaching across the fire-place to a book-shelf, the end of her shawl caught fire behind, and before she was conscious of the accident, had communicated it to some of her other clothes, so that when her cries had alarmed the family, they beheld her at the head of the stairs almost enveloped in flames. The instant, however, that she perceived aid approaching, she gently retreated with admirable presence of mind out of the current of air into her chamber, and had the calmness and recollection to abstain from any quick motion; and to this composure and self-possession was it chiefly owing, that the prompt assistance of one of her friends was successful in extinguishing the flames, before her person had received any material injury.' vol. ii. pp. 220, 221.

Descending the vale of life, and having passed her threescore and ten years, the summons from eternity now became more and more frequent; and age began to gather upon the future steps of this valuable woman. Yet in the midst of the changeful events which occurred, she preserved a calm and holy composure; and her letters, in which she alludes to her losses, present a beautiful exhibition of the blessing of sanctified afflictions. In 1816, the second breach was made upon her family, in the death of Mrs. Elizabeth More; and in the spring of the next year, Mrs. Sally More, the eldest of the three surviving sisters, was also laid in the grave.

A companion was taken from them, whose lively sallies of original wit had often made sorrow smile, and pain forget itself. But it was the lot of this intelligent, virtuous, and entertaining person, to linger long in an extremity of suffering rarely surpassed. Her vivacity combated long with her pains, but her victory over them was the reward of her patient hope in the Redeemer, her disclaimer of all self-righteous grounds of consolation, and her humble trust in the purchased pardon of her God. Her bed of death was the scene of awful edification,—the voice of ecstasy mingling with the cry of anguish,-the flesh dissolving in pain, and the spirit departing in peace.' vol. ii. p. 257.

The account of her death-bed is a most interesting one; we have room, however, only for the closing sentence:—

'Her sister asked her if she knew her; she answered, “I know no body but Christ." In the evening of her last day but one, though scarcely able to articulate, she murmured out to those who stood around

her, "Talk of the cross, the precious cross, the King of love." On the very morning of her blessed and quiet release from an earthly existence, though no longer able to swallow food or discern any outward object, she was still enabled to give an evidence of the heavenly frame of her mind; a friend repeating to her that heart-sustaining assurance, "The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin," she pronounced with a devout motion of her hands and eyes, "cleanseth," and a moment after, "Blessed Jesus!" and these were the last of her words that could be collected.' vol. ii. p. 260.

We subjoin an extract from one of Mrs. Hannah More's letters, during her illness in 1818, to Mr. Wilberforce, as a most striking exhibition of her character, while, at the same time, it forms a proper connecting link of her history:

My whole life, from early youth, has been a successive scene of visitation and restoration. I think I could enumerate twenty mortal diseases from which I have been raised up, without any continued diminution of strength, except the last, ten years ago, which remained nearly two years; yet (let me gratefully remember this,) at near sixty, after this hopeless disease, I was restored to strength (physical strength,) sufficient to write ten volumes,-such as they are ;-and in that long affliction, though at one time I very seldom closed my eyes in sleep for forty days and nights, I never had one hour's great discomposure of mind, or one moment's failure of reason, though in health very liable to agitation. I repeat these mercies to you in order to impress them on myself as motives of never-ceasing gratitude to that merciful and long-suffering Father to whom I have made such unworthy returns. Patty, though emerging from this trial, is a poor shattered creature. She joins in affectionate and cordial prayers for you.' vol. ii. pp. 288, 289.

The last of her works, called Moral Sketches, now made its appearance; proving, that the energies of that fine mind and her benevolent heart, which had so long been employed for others, still remained unimpaired. From this period, however, we are called to mark the gradual approaches of decay, both in body and in mind. But a month after the publication of the Moral Sketches, in 1819, her only surviving sister, Mrs. Martha More, was summoned away from her society, after an illness of but four days; and Mrs. Hannah More was left alone of all those who began life with her. In reference to this painful event, she says:

I have lost my chief earthly comfort, companion, counsellor, and fellow-laborer. God, doubtless, saw that I leaned too much on this weak prop, and therefore in mercy withdrew it, that I might depend more exclusively on himself! When I consider how infinitely greater her gain is than my loss, I am ashamed of my weakness. I can truly say, however, that it has not been mixed with one murmuring thought, 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; and that her last trial, though sharp, was short; that she is spared feeling for me what I now