line. But however they may in this resemble the attached to it was of so frail a nature as to make moral conduct of man, it is but doing justice to these little resistance ; so that he and his rider escaped unfavourite children of nature to observe, that, in all hurt from the fall, notwithstanding its being one of their wanderings, each stream follows the strict in- considerable depth. junctions of its parent, and never for a moment loses At first, indeed, neither boy nor horse was seen ; its original character. That our burn had a character but as Mr Stewart advanced to examine, whether by of its own, no one who saw its spirited career could removing the hay, which partly covered the bridge possibly have denied. It did not, like the lazy and and partly hung suspended on the bushes, the road luxuriant streams which glide through the fertile might still be passable, he heard a child's voice in the valleys of the south, turn and wind in listless apathy, hollow exclaiming, Come on, ye muckle brute! ye as if it had no other object than the gratification of had as weel come on! I'll gar ye! I'll gar ye! That's ennui or caprice. Alert, and impetuous, and perse a gude beast now; come awa! That's it! Ay, ye're vering, it even from its infancy dashed onward, proud a gude beast now!' and resolute; and no sooner met with a rebuff from As the last words were uttered, a little fellow of the rocks on one side of the glen, than it flew indig- about ten years of age was seen issuing from the nant to the other, frequently awaking the sleeping hollow, and pulling after him, with all his might, a echoes by the noise of its wild career. Its complexion great long-backed clumsy animal of the horse species, was untinged by the fat of the soil ; for in truth the though apparently of a very mulish temper. soil had no fat to throw away. But little as it owed "You have met with a sad accident,' said Mr to nature, and still less as it was indebted to cultiva- Stewart; 'how did all this happen? 'You may see tion, it had clothed itself in many shades of verdure. how it happened plain eneugh, returned the boy ; The hazel, the birch, and the mountain-ash, were not the brig brak, and the cart couppet.' 'And did you only scattered in profusion through the bottom, but in and the horse coup likewise?' said Mr Stewart. "O many places clomb to the very tops of the hills. The ay, we a' couppet thegither, for I was ridin' on bis meadows and corn-fields, indeed, seemed very evidently back.' 'And where is your father, and all the rest of to have been encroachments made by stealth on the the folk? Whaur sud they be but in the hay-field! sylvan region ; for none had their outlines marked Dinna ye ken that we're takin' in our hay! John with the mathematical precision in which the modern Tamson's and Jamie Forster’s was in a week syne, but improver' so much delights. Not a straight line was we're aye ahint the lave.' to be seen in Glenburnie. The very ploughs moved All the party were greatly amused by the comin curves; and though much cannot be said of the posure which the young peasant evinced under his richness of the crops, the ridges certainly waved with misfortune, as well as by the shrewdness of his anall the grace and pride of beauty.

swers; and having learned from him that the hay. The road, which winded along the foot of the hills, field was at no great distance, gave him some halfon the north side of the glen, owed as little to art as pence to hasten his speed, and promised to take care any country road in the kingdom. It was very nar- of his horse till he should retum with assistance. row, and much encumbered by loose stones, brought He soon appeared, followed by his father and to down from the hills above by the winter torrents. other men, who came on stepping at their usual pace.

Mrs Mason and Mary were so enchanted by the 'Why, farmer,' said Mr Stewart, you have trusted change of scenery which was incessantly unfolding to rather too long to this rotten plank, I think' (pointtheir view, that they made no complaints of the slow- ing to where it had given way); if you remember ness of their progress, nor did they much regret being the last time I passed this road, which was several obliged to stop a few minutes at a time, where they months since, I then told you that the bridge was in found so much to amuse and to delight them. But Mrdanger, and showed you how easily it might be reStewart had no patience at meeting with obstructions, paired ?' which, with a little pains, could have been so easily • It is a' true,' said the farmer, moving his bonnet ; obviated ; and as he walked by the side of the car, ex. but I thought it would do weel eneugh. I spoke to patiated upon the indolence of the people of the glen, Jamie Forster and John Tamson about it; but they who, though they had no other road to the market, said they wad na fash themselves to mend a brig that could contentedly go on from year to year without was to serve a' the folk in the glen.' making an effort to repair it. How little trouble * But you must now mend it for your own sake,' would it cost,' said he, to throw the smaller of these said Mr Stewart, even though a' the folk in the glen loose stones into these holes and ruts, and to remove should be the better for it.' the larger ones to the side, where they would form a * Ay, sir,' said one of the men, 'that's spoken like fence between the road and the hill! There are yoursel! would everybody follow your example, there enough of idle boys in the glen to effect all this, by would be nothing in the world but peace and good working at it for one hour a-week during the summer. neighbourhood. Only tell us what we are to do, and But then their fathers must unite in setting them to I'll work at your bidding till it be pit-mirk.' work; and there is not one in the glen who would "Well,' said Mr Stewart, 'bring down the planks not sooner have his horses lamed, and his carts torn that I saw lying in the barn-yard, and which, though to pieces, than have his son employed in a work that you have been obliged to step over them every day would benefit his neighbours as much as himself.' since the stack they propped was taken in, have never

As he was speaking, they passed the door of one of been lifted. You know what I mean? these small farmers; and immediately turning a sharp O yes, sir,' said the farmer, grinning, 'we ken corner, began to descend a steep, which appeared so what ye mean weel eneugh: and indeed I may ken, unsafe that Mr Stewart made his boys alight, which for I have fallen thrice owre them since they lay there, they could do without inconvenience, and going to the and often said they sud be set by, but we cou'dna be head of the horse, took his guidance upon himself. fashed.'

At the foot of this short precipice the road again While the farmer, with one of the men, went up, made a sudden turn, and discovered to them a mis taking the horse with them, for the planks in question, fortune which threatened to put a stop to their pro- all that remained set to work, under Mr Stewart's ceeding any farther for the present evening. It was direction, to remove the hay, and clear away the rubno other than the overturn of a cart of hay, occasioned bish ; Mrs Mason and Mary being the only idle specby the breaking down of the bridge, along which it tators of the scene. In little more than half an hour had been passing. Happily for the poor horse that the planks were laid, and covered with sod cut from drew this ill-fated load, the harness by which he was the bank, and the bridge now only wanted a little

a

6

ENGLISH LITERATURE.

NOVELISTS.

6

gravel to make it as good as new. This addition, in it a plentiful supply of water, in which they could however, was not essential towards rendering it pass- swim without danger. Happily Mr Stewart was proable for the car, which was conveyed over it in safety; vided with boots, so that he could take a firm step in but Mr Stewart, foreseeing the consequences of its re- | it, while he lifted Mrs Mason, and set her down in maining in this unfinished state, urged the farmer to safety within the threshold. But there an unforeseen complete the job on the present evening, and at the danger awaited her, for there the great whey pot had same time promised to reimburse him for the expense. stood since morning, when the cheese had been made, The only answer he could obtain was, 'Ay, ay, we'll and was at the present moment filled with chickens, do't in time; but I've warrant it'll do weel eneugh.' which were busily picking at the bits of curd which had

Our party then drove off, and at every turning of hardened on the sides, and cruelly mocked their wishes. the road expressed fresh admiration at the increasing Over this Mr Stewart and Mrs Mason unfortunately beauty of the scene. Towards the top of the glen the tumbled. The pot was overturned, and the chickens, hills seemed to meet, the rocks became more frequent cackling with hideous din, flew about in all direcand more prominent, sometimes standing naked and tions, some over their heads, and others making their exposed, and sometimes peeping over the tops of the way by the hallan (or inner door) into the house. rowan-tree and weeping birch, which grew in great The accident was attended with no further bad conabundance on all the steepy banks. At length the sequences than a little hurt upon the shins : and all village appeared in view. It consisted of about twenty our party were now assembled in the kitchen ; but, or thirty thatched cottages, which, but for their chim- though they found the doors of the house open, they neys, and the smoke that issued from them, might saw no appearance of any inhabitants. At length Mrs have passed for so many stables or hogsties, so little Macclarty came in, all out of breath, followed by her had they to distinguish them as the abodes of man. daughters, two big girls of eleven and thirteen years That one borse, at least, was the inhabitant of every of age. She welcomed Mrs Mason and her friends dwelling, there was no room to doubt, as every door with great kindness, and made many apologies for could not only boast its dunghill, but had a small being in no better order to receive them; but said that cart stuck up on end directly before it ; which cart, both her gudeman and herself thought that her cousin though often broken, and always dirty, seemed osten- would have stayed at Gowan-brae till after the fair, as tatiously displayed as a proof of wealth.

they were too far off at Glenburnie to think of going In the middle of the village stood the kirk, a to it; though it would, to be sure, be only natural for humble edifice, which meekly raised its head but a Mrs Mason to like to see all the grand sights that few degrees above the neighbouring houses. It was, were to be seen there; for, to be sure, she would gang however, graced by an'ornament of peculiar beauty. mony places before she saw the like. Mrs Mason Two fine old ash-trees, which grew at the east end, smiled, and assured her she would have more pleasure spread their protecting arms over its lowly roof, and in looking at the fine view from her door than all served all the uses of a steeple and a belfry; for on the sights at the fair. one of the loftiest of these branches was the bell sus- 'Ay, it's a bonny piece of corn, to be sure,' returned pended which, on each returning Sabbath,

Mrs Macclarty with great simplicity ; 'but then, what * Rang the blest summons to the house of God.'

with the trees, and rocks, and wimplings o’the burn,

we have nae room to make parks d' ony size.' On the other side of the churchyard stood the manse, * But were your trees, and rocks, and wimplings of distinguished from the other houses in the village by the burn all removed,' said Mr Stewart, then your a sash window on each side of the door, and garret prospect would be worth the looking at, Mrs Macwindows above ; which showed that two floors were, clarty ; would it not ?' or might be, inhabited ; for in truth the house had Though Mr Stewart's irony was lost upon the good such a sombre air that Mrs Mason, in passing, con- woman, it produced a laugh among the young folks, cluded it to be deserted.

which she, however, did not resent, but immediately As the houses stood separate from each other at the fell to busying herself in sweeping the hearth, and distance of many yards, she had time to contemplate adding turf to the fire, in order to make the kettle the scene, and was particularly struck with the num- boil for tea. ber of children which, mas the car advanced, poured * I think,' said Miss Mary, 'you might make your forth from every little cot to look at the strangers daughters save you that trouble, looking at the two and their uncommon vehicle. On asking for John girls, who stood all this time leaning against the wall. Macclarty's, three or four of them started forward to ‘O, poor things,' said their mother, they have not offer themselves as guides; and running before the been used to it; they have eneugh of time for wark yet.' car, turned down a lane towards the river, on a road * Depend upon it,' said Mrs Mason, ‘ young people so deep with ruts, that, though they had not twenty can never begin too soon ; your eldest daughter there yards to go, it was attended with some danger. Mrs will soon be as tall as yourself.' Mason, who was shaken to pieces by the jolting, was 'Indeed she's of a stately growth,' said Mrs Macvery glad to alight; but her limbs were in such a tre clarty, pleased with the observation; "and Jenny mor, that Mr Stewart's arm was scarcely sufficient to there is little ahint her; but what are they but bairns support her to the door.

yet for a' that! In time, I warrant, they'll do weel It must be confessed that the aspect of the dwell-eneugh. Meg can milk a cow as weel as I can do, ing where she was to fix her residence was by no means when she likes.' inviting. The walls were substantial, built, like the * And does she not always like to do all she can?' houses in the village, of stone and lime ; but they said Mrs Mason. were blackened by the mud which the cart-wheels had 0, we mauna complain,' returned the mother; spattered from the ruts in winter; and on one side of she does well eneugh.' the door completely covered from view by the contents The gawky girl now began to rub the wall up and of a great dunghill. On the other, and directly under down with her dirty fingers; but happily the wall the window, was a squashy pool, formed by the dirty was of too dusky a hue to be easily stained. And water thrown from the house, and in it about twenty here let us remark the advantage which our cottages young ducks were at this time dabbling.

in general possess over those of our southern neighAt the threshold of the door, room had been left for bours; theirs being so whitened up, that no one can a paving-stone, but it had never been laid ; and con- have the comfort of laying a dirty hand upon them sequently the place became hollow, to the great ad- without leaving the impression; an inconvenience vantage of the younger ducklings, who always found | which reduces people to the necessity of learning to

577

stand upon their legs, without the assistance of their nexion with so motley and various a band. Hannah hands ; whereas, in our country, custom has rendered withdrew from the fascinations of London society, the hands in standing at a door, or in going up or down the theatres and opera, in obedience to what she a stair, no less necessary than the feet, as may be considered the call of duty, and we suspect Tom plainly seen in the finger-marks which meet one's eye Jones and Peregrine Pickle would have been as unin all directions.

worthy in her eyes. This excellent woman was one Some learned authors have indeed adduced this of five daughters, children of Jacob More, who propensity in support of the theory which teaches taught a school in the village of Stapleton, in Glouthat mankind originally walked upon all fours, and cestershire, where Hannah was born in the year that standing erect is an outrage on the laws of na- 1745. The family afterwards removed to Bristol, ture; while others, willing to trace it to a more honour- and there Hannah attracted the attention and paable source, contend that, as the propensity evidently tronage of Sir James Stonehouse, who had been prevails chiefly among those who are conscious of many years a physician of eminence, but afterwards being able to transmit the colour of their hands to the took orders and settled at Bristol. In her seventeenth objects on which they place them, it is decidedly an year she published a pastoral drama, The Search impulse of genius, and, in all probability, derived after Happiness, which in a short time went through from our Pictish ancestors, whose passion for painting three editions. Next year she brought out a tragedy, is well known to have been great and universal. The Inflexible Captive. In 1773 or 1774 she made

The interior arrangements and accommodation of her entrance into the society of London, and was this unpromising cottage are neglected and uncom- domesticated with Garrick, who proved one of her fortable. The farmer is a good easy man, but his kindest and steadiest friends. She was received wife is obstinate and prejudiced, and the children with favour by Johnson, Reynolds, Burke, &c. Her self-willed and rebellious. Mrs Mason finds the sister has thus described her first interview with the family quite incorrigible, but she effects a wonder- great English moralist of the eighteenth century: ful change among their neighbours. She gets a We have paid another visit to Miss Reynolds ; she school established on her own plan, and boys and had sent to engage Dr Percy (Percy's Collection, now girls exert themselves to effect a reformation in the you know him), quite a sprightly modern, instead of cottages of their parents. The most sturdy stick-a rusty antique, as I expected : he was no sooner gone lers for the gude auld gaits are at length convinced than the most amiable and obliging of women, Miss of the superiority of the new system, and the village Reynolds, ordered the coach to take us to Dr John. undergoes a complete transformation. In the ma- son's very own house : yes, Abyssinian Johnson! Dicnagement of these humble scenes, and the gradual tionary Johnson ! Ramblers, Idlers, and Irene Johndisplay of character among the people, Mrs Hamil- son! Can you picture to yourselves the palpitation ton evinces her knowledge of human nature, and of our hearts as we approached his mansion? The her fine tact and discrimination as a novelist. conversation turned upon a new work of his just going

to the press (the Tour to the Hebrides), and his old HANNAH MORE.

friend Richardson. Mrs Williams, the blind poet,

who lives with him, was introduced to us. She is Mrs Hannah More adopted fiction merely as a engaging in her manners, her conversation lively and means of conveying religious instruction. She can entertaining. Miss Reynolds told the doctor of all scarcely be said to have been ever 'free of the cor

our rapturous exclamations on the road. He shook his scientific head at Hannah, and said "she was a silly thing!” When our visit was ended, he called for his hat, as it rained, to attend us down a very long entry to our coach, and not Rasselas could have acquitted himself more en cavalier. We are engaged with him at Sir Joshua's on Wednesday eveningwhat do you think of us? I forgot to mention, that not finding Johnson in his little parlour when we came in, Hannah seated herself in his great chair, hoping to catch a little ray of his genius : when he heard it, he laughed heartily, and told her it was s chair on which he never sat. He said it reminded him of Boswell and himself when they stopt a night, as they imagined, where the weird sisters appeared to Macbeth. The idea so worked on their enthusiasm, that it quite deprived them of rest. However, they learned the next morning, to their mortification, that they had been deceived, and were quite in another part of the country.'

In a subsequent letter (1776), after the publication of Hannah's poem, Sir Eldred of the Bower,' the same lively writer says—. If a wedding should take place before our return, don't be surprised between the mother of Sir Eldred and the father of my much-loved Irene; nay, Mrs Montagu says if tender words are the precursors of connubial engagements, we may expect great things, for it is nothing but “child," “ little fool,” “ love," and " dearest. ** After much critical discourse, he turns round to me, and with one of his most amiable looks, which must be seen to form the least idea of it, he says, “I have

heard that you are engaged in the useful and honourporation of novelists ; nor would she perhaps have able employment of teaching young ladies." Upon cared much to owe her distinction solely to her con- I which, with all the same ease, familiarity, and confi

Hannah Mores

ENGLISH LITERATURE.

HANNAH MORE.

dence we should have done had only our own dear Dr | little effect. On the Sunday he was in good spirits Stonehouse been present, we entered upon the his- and free from pain; but as the suppression still contory of our birth, parentage, and education; showing tinued, Dr Cadogan became extremely alarmed, and how we were born with more desires than guineas, sent for Pott, Heberden, and Schomberg, who gave and how, as years increased our appetites, the cup- him up the moment they saw him. Poor Garrick board at home began to grow too small to gratify stared to see his room full of doctors, not being conthem; and how, with a bottle of water, a bed, and a scious of his real state. No change happened till the blanket, we set out to seek our fortunes; and how we | Tuesday evening, when the surgeon who was sent for found a great house with nothing in it; and how it to blister and bleed him made light of his illness, was like to remain so, till, looking into our knowledge- assuring Mrs Garrick that he would be well in a day boxes, we happened to find a little larning, a good or two, and insisted on her going to lie down. Tothing when land is gone, or rather none; and so at wards morning she desired to be called if there was last, by giving a little of this little larning to those the least change. Every time that she administered who had less, we got a good store of gold in return; the draughts to him in the night, he always squeezed but how, alas! we wanted the wit to keep it. “I her hand in a particular manner, and spoke to her love you both,” cried the inamorato—“ I love you all with the greatest tenderness and affection. Immefive. I never was at Bristol-I will come on purpose diately after he had taken his last medicine, he softly to see you. What! five women live happily together! said, “Oh dear!” and yielded up his spirit with a I will come and see you, I have spent a happy groan, and in his perfect senses. His behaviour evening-I am glad I came--God for ever bless you! during the night was all gentleness and patience, and

I you live lives to shame duchesses.” He took his leave he frequently made apologies to those about him for with so much warmth and tenderness, we were quite the trouble he gave them. On opening him, a stone affected at his manner. If Hannah's head stands was found that measured five inches and a-half round proof against all the adulation and kindness of the one way, and four and a half the other; yet this was great folks here, why, then, I will venture to say no- not the immediate cause of his death; his kidneys thing of this kind will hurt her hereafter. A literary were quite gone. I paid a melancholy visit to the anecdote: Mrs Medalle (Sterne's daughter) sent to coffin yesterday, where I found room for meditation all the correspondents of her deceased father, begging till the mind“ burst with thinking.” His new house the letters which he had written to them; among is not so pleasant as Hampton, nor so splendid as the other wits, she sent to Wilkes with the same request. Adelphi, but it is commodious enough for all the He sent for answer, that as there happened to be wants of its inhabitant; and besides, it is so quiet nothing extraordinary in those he had received, he that he never will be disturbed till the eternal mornhad burnt or lost them. On which the faithful ing, and never till then will a sweeter voice than his editor of her father's works sent back to say, that if own be heard. May he then find mercy! They are Mr Wilkes would be so good as to write a few letters preparing to hang the house with black, for he is to in imitation of her father's style, it would do just as lie in state till Monday. I dislike this pageantry, well, and she would insert them.'

and cannot help thinking that the disembodied spirit of Percy at Drury Lane, where it was acted seventeen could not be avoided, as he is to be laid in the abbey In 1777 Garrick brought out Miss More's tragedy must look with contempt upon the farce that is played

over its miserable relics. But a splendid funeral nights successively. Her theatrical profits amounted to £600, and for the copyright of the play she got £150 with such illustrious dust, and so many are desirous more. Two legendary poems, Sir Eldred of the Bower,

of testifying their respect by attending. I can never and The Bleeding Rock, formed her next publication.

cease to remember with affection and gratitude so In 1779 the third and last tragedy of Hannah More warm, steady, and disinterested a friend ; and I can was produced ; it was entitled The Fatal Falsehood, never witnessed in any family more decorum, pro

most truly bear this testimony to his memory, that I but was acted only three nights. At this time she had the misfortune to lose her friend Mr Garrick by priety, and regularity, than in his; where I never death, an event of which she has given some inte person of his own profession at his table, of which

saw a card, nor even met (except in one instance) a resting particulars in her letters.

Mrs Garrick, by her elegance of taste, her correctness * From Dr Cadogan's I intended to have gone to the of manners, and very original turn of humour, was Adelphi, but found that Mrs Garrick was at that the brightest ornament. All his pursuits and tastes moment quitting her house, while preparations were were so decidedly intellectual, that it made the making for the last sad ceremony: she very wisely society, and the conversation which was always to be fixed on a private friend's house for this purpose, found in his circle, interesting and delightful.” where she could be at her ease. I got there just be

In 1782 Miss More presented to the world a fore her; she was prepared for meeting me; she ran volume of Sacred Dramas, with a poem annexed, eninto my arms, and we both remained silent for some minutes, at last she whispered, “ I have this moment and Johnson said he thought her the best of the

titled Sensibility. All her works were successful, embraced his coffin, and you come next.” She soon recovered herself, and said with great composure, now forgotten, but ‘Percy' is a good play, and it

female versifiers. The poetry of Hannah More is “ The goodness of God to me is inexpressible; I desired to die, but it is his will that I should live, and is clear that the authoress might have excelled as he has convinced me he will not let my life be a dramatic writer, had she devoted herself to that quite miserable, for he gives astonishing strength lished another volume of verse, Florio, a Tale for

difficult species of composition. In 1786 she pubto my body, and grace to my heart; neither do Fine Gentlemen and Fine Ladies; and The Bas Bleu, deserve, but I am thankful for both." She thanked me a thousand times for such a real act of friendship,

or Conversation. The latter (which Johnson comand bade me be comforted, for it was God's will. She plimented as “a great performance') was an elaborate told me they had just returned from Althorp, Lord eulogy on the Bas Bleu Club, a literary assembly Spencer's

, where he had been reluctantly dragged, for that met at Mrs Montagu's.* The following couplets he had felt unwell for some time; but during his visit

* These meetings were called the Blue Stocking Club, in conhe was often in such fine spirits, that they could not sequence of one of the most admired of the members, Mr Benbelieve he was ill. On his return home, he appointed jamin Stillingfleet, always wearing blue stockings. The appelCadogan to meet him, who ordered him an emetic, lation soon became general as a name for pedantic or ridicuthe warm bath, and the usual remedies, but with very lous literary ladies. Hannah More's poem proceeds on the

have been quoted and remembered as terse and tual cultivation, from the palace to the cottage, it pointed:

is impossible not to rank her among the best bene

factors of mankind. 'In men this blunder still you find,

The great success of the different works of our All think their little set mankind.'

authoress enabled her to live in ease, and to dis"Small habits well pursued betimes,

pense charities around her. Her sisters also secured May reach the dignity of crimes.'

a competency, and they all lived together at Barley Such lines mark the good sense and keen observa chased and improved. From the day that the

Grove, a property of some extent which they purtion of the writer, and these qualities Hannah now school was given up, the existence of the whole sisresolved to devote exclusively to high objects. The terhood appears to have flowed on in one uniform gay life of the fashionable world had lost its charms, current of peace and contentment, diversified only by and, having published her . Bas Bleu,' she retired to

new appearances of Hannah as an authoress, and the a small cottage and garden near Bristol, where her ups and downs which she and the others met with sisters kept a flourishing boarding-school. Her first in the prosecution of a most brave and humane er, prose publication was Thoughts on the Importance of periment-namely, their zealous effort to extend the Manners of the Great to General Society, produced the blessings of education and religion among the in 1788. This was followed in 1791 by an Estimate inhabitants of certain villages situated in a wild of the Religion of the Fashionable World. As a country some eight or ten miles from their abode, means of counteracting the political tracts and exer- who, from a concurrence of unhappy local and temtions of the Jacobins and levellers, Hannah More, in 1794, wrote a number of tales, published monthly porary circumstances, had been left in a state of

ignorance hardly conceivable at the present day.** under the title of The Cheop Repository, which at. These exertions were ultimately so successful, that tained to a sale of about a million each number. the sisterhood had the gratification of witnessing a Some of the little stories (as the “Shepherd of yearly festival celebrated on the hills of Cheddar, Salisbury Plain ') are well told, and contain striking where above a thousand children, with the members moral and religious lessons. With the same object, of female clubs of industry (also established by our authoress published a volume called Village them), after attending church service, were regaled Politics. Her other principal works are-Strictures at the expense of their benefactors. Hannah More on the Modern System of Female Education, 1799 ; died on the 7th of September 1833, aged eighty. Hints towards Forming the Character of a Young Prin. eight. She had made about £30,000 by her writcess, 1805 ; Cælebs in Search of a Wife, comprehend- ings, and she left, by her will, legacies to charitable ing Observations on Domestic Habits and Manners, and religious institutions amounting to £10,000, Religion and Morals, two volumes, 1809; Practical

In 1834, Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence Piety, or the Influence of the Religion of the Heart on the Conduct of Life, two volumes, 1871; Christian Morals, of Mrs Hannah More, by William Roberts, Esq.,

were published in four volumes. In these we have two volumes, 1812; Essay on the Character and Writings of St Paul, two volumes, 1815 ; and Moral a full account by Hannah herself of her London life,

and many interesting anecdotes. Sketches of Prevailing Opinions and Manners, Foreign and Domestic, with Reflections on Prayer, 1819. The

LADY MORGAN.. collection of her works is comprised in eleven volumes octavo. The work entitled • Hints towards

LADY Morgan (Sidney Owenson) has, during the Forming the Character of a Young Princess,' was last thirty or forty years, written in various depart. written with a view to the education of the Princess ments of literature-in poetry, the drama, novels, Charlotte, on which subject the advice and assist- biography, ethics, politics, and books of travels. ance of Hannah More had been requested by Queen Whether she has written any one book that will Charlotte. Of • Calebs, we are told that ten edi. become a standard portion of our literature, is doubt. tions were sold in one year—a remarkable proof of ful, but we are indebted to her pen for a number of the popularity of the work. The tale is admirably clever lively national sketches and anecdotes. She written, with a fine vein of delicate irony and sar- has fought her way to distinction, self-educated, in casm, and some of the characters are well depicted, the midst of raillery, sarcasm, and vituperation, probut, from the nature of the story, it presents few voked on the one hand by her careless and bold incidents or embellishments to attract ordinary avowal of liberal opinions on questions of politics novel readers. It has not inaptly been styled “a and the minor morals' of life, and on the other by dramatic sermon.' Of the other publications of the her ill-concealed worship of the fashions and follies authoress, we may say, with one of her critics, ‘it of the great, which has led her democratic friends would be idle in us to dwell on works so well known to pronounce the pretty severe opinion, that there as the “ Thoughts on the Manners of the Great," is not a pernicious vanity or affectation belonging the “ Essay on the Religion of the Fashionable to tuft-hunting or modishness, which she does not World,” and so on, which finally established Miss labour to confirm and strengthen by precept, sentiMore's name as a great moral writer, possessing a ment, and her own goodly example.'t If Lady Mormasterly command over the resources of our lan- gan has not always taste, she has talent; if she has guage, and devoting a keen wit and a lively fancy not always delicacy, she speaks boldly and freely : to the best and noblest of purposes. In her latter if she has got into the society of the great (the repudays there was perhaps a tincture of unnecessary tation of her writings, like those of Swift, doing gloom or severity in her religious views; yet, when the office of a blue ribbon or of a coach-and-six), we recollect her unfeigned sincerity and practical she has told us all she knows about them. She has benevolence—her exertions to instruct the poor been as liberal of satire and sarcasm as of adulation. miners and cottagers—and the untiring zeal with She has a masculine disregard of common opinion which she laboured, even amidst severe bodily in

or censure, and a temperament, as she herself states, firmities, to inculcate sound principles and intellec-as cheery and genial as ever went to that strange

medley of pathos and humour—the Irish character.' mistake of a foreigner, who, hearing of the Blue Stocking Mr Owenson, the father of our authoress, was a Club, translated it literally Bas Bleu.' Byron wrote a light satirical sketch of the Blues of his day-the frequenters of the

* Quarterly Review, 1834. London saloons-but it is unworthy of his genius.

+ Westminster Review, Oct. 18.

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