A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/More, Hannah
MORE, HANNAH,
Distinguished for her talents, and the noble manner in which she exerted them, was the fourth daughter of Mr. Jacob More; she was born February 2nd., 1745, at Stapleton, Gloucestershire. Mr. More was a schoolmaster, and gave his daughters the rudiments of a classical education; but he was a narrow-minded man, and so fearful they would become learned women, that he tried by precepts to counteract the effect of his lessons. The elder daughters opened, at Bristol, a boarding-school for girls, which was for a long time very flourishing, and at this school Hannah obtained the best advantages of education she ever enjoyed. How small these were compared with the opportunities of young men I And yet what man of her nation and lime was so influential for good, or has left such a rich legacy of moral lessons for the improvement of the world as Hannah More has done? Her influence has been wonderful in the new world, as well as in her own country.
In 1761, Hannah More wrote a pastoral drama, "The Search after Happiness." She was then sixteen; and though this production was not published till many years afterwards, yet she may be said to have then commenced her literary career, which till 1824, when her last work, "Spirit of Prayer," was issued, was steadily pursued for sixty-three years. The next important event of her life is thus relate by Mrs. Elwood:—
"When about twenty-two years of age, she received and accepted an offer of marriage from Mr. Turner, a gentleman of large fortune, but considerably her senior. Their acquaintance had commenced in consequence of some young relatives of Mr. Turner's being at the Misses More's school, who generally spent their holidays at their cousin's beautiful residence at Belmont, near Bristol, whither they were permitted to invite some of their young friends; and Hannah and Patty More, being near their own age, were generally among those invited. The affair was so far advanced that the wedding-day was actually fixed, and Hannah, having given up her share in her sisters' establishment, had gone to considerable expense in making her preparations,—when Mr. Turner, who appears to have been of eccentric temper, was induced to postpone the completion of his engagement; and as this was done more than once, her friends at length interfered, and prevailed on her to relinquish the marriage altogether, though this was against the wishes of the capricious gentleman.
To make some amends for his thus trifling with her affections, Mr. Turner insisted upon being allowed to settle an annuity upon her, which she at first rejected, but subsequently, through the medium of her friend, Dr. Stonehouse, who consented to be the agent and trustee, she was at length prevailed on to allow a sum to be settled upon her, which should enable her hereafter to devote herself to the pursuits of literature.
She had soon after another opportunity of marrying, which was declined, and from this time she seems to have formed the resolution, to which she ever afterwards adhered, of remaining single."
In 1774, she became acquainted with the great tragedian, David Garrick; he and his wife soon formed a warm attachment for the young authoress, invited her to their house in London, and introduced her to the literary and fashionable world. She was there presented to Sir Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke, and Dr. Johnson; how highly she prized the privilege of such acquaintances may be gathered from her letters. She constantly wrote to her sisters at Bristol, describing in a style of easy elegance whatever interested her in London.
Her first acquaintance with that much-abused class, the publishers, is thus narrated by Mrs. Elwood:—
"Hannah More again visited London, in 1775, and in the course of this year the eulogiums and attentions she had received induced her, as she observed to her sisters, to try her real value, by writing a small poem and offering it to Cadell. The legendary tale of 'Sir Eldred of the Bower' was, accordingly, composed in a fortnight's time, to which she added 'The Bleeding Rock,' which had been written some years previously. Cadell offered her a handsome sum for these poems, telling her if he could discover what Goldsmith received for the 'Deserted Village,' he would make up the deficiency, whatever it might be.
Thus commenced Hannah More's acquaintance with Mr. Cadell, who was, by a singular coincidence, a native of the same village with herself; and her connexion with his establishment was carried on for forty years."
In 1782, Hannah More's "Sacred Dramas" were published, with a poem, entitled "Sensibility."
"All her works," says Chambers, in his "Cyclopaedia of English Literature," "were successful, and Johnson said he thought her the best of female versifiers. The poetry of Hannah More is now forgotten, but 'Percy' is a good play, and it is clear that the authoress might have excelled as a dramatic writer, had she devoted herself to that difficult species of composition. In 1786, she published another volume of verse, 'Florio, a Tale for Fine Gentlemen and Fine Ladies,' and 'The Bas Bleu, or Conversation.' The latter, which Johnson complimented as a great performance, was an elaborate eulogy on the Bas Bleu Club, a literary assembly that met at Mrs. Montagu's."
Hannah More's first prose publication was "[[ Thoughts on the Importance of the Manners of the Great to General Society]," produced in 1788. This was followed, in 1791, by an "Estimate of the Religion of the Fashionable World." As a means of counteracting the political tracts and exertions of the Jacobins and levellers, Hannah More, in 1794, wrote a number of tales, published monthly, under the title of "The Cheap Repository," which attained to a sale of about a million each number. Some of the little stories (as the "Shepherd of Salisbury Plain,") are well told, and contain striking moral and religious lessons. With the same object, our authoress published a volume called "Village Politics." Her other principal works are—"Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education," 1799; "Hints towards Forming the Character of a Young Princess," 1805; "Cœlebs in Search of a Wife, comprehending Observations on Domestic Habits and Manners, Religion and Morals," two volumes, 1809; "Practical Piety, or the Influence of the Religion of the Heart on the Conduct of Life," two volumes, 1811; "Christian Morals," two volumes, 1812; "Essay on the Character and Writings of St. Paul," two volumes, 1815; and "Moral Sketches of Prevailing Opinions and Manners, Foreign and Domestic, with Reflections on Prayer," 1819. The collection of her works is comprised in eleven volumes octavo. The work entitled "Hints towards Forming the Character of a Young Princess," was written with a view to the education of the Princess Charlotte, on which subject the advice and assistance of Hannah More had been requested by Queen Charlotte, Of "Cœlebs," we are told that ten editions were sold in one year-—a remarkable proof of the popularity of the work. The tale is admirably written, with a fine vein of delicate irony and sarcasm, and some of the characters are well depicted, but, from the nature of the story, it presents few incidents or embellishments to attract ordinary novel-readers. It has not inaptly been styled "a dramatic sermon." Of the other publications of the authoress, we may say, with one of her critics, "it would be idle in us to dwell on works so well known as the "Thoughts on the Manners of the Great," the "Essay on the Religion of the Fashionable World," and so on, which finally established Miss More's name as a great moral writer, possessing a masterly command over the resources of our language, and devoting a keen wit and lively fancy to the best and noblest of purposes. In her latter days there was perhaps a tincture of unnecessary gloom or severity in her religious views; yet, when we recollect her unfeigned sincerity and practical benevolence—her exertions to instruct the poor miners and cottagers—and the untiring zeal with which she laboured, even amidst severe bodily infirmities, to inculcate sound principles and intellectual cultivation, from the palace to the cottage, it is impossible not to rank her among the best benefactors of mankind.
The great success of the different works of our authoress enabled her to live in ease, and to dispense charities around her. Her sisters also secured a competency, and they all lived together at Barley Grove, a property of some extent, which they purchased and improved. "From the day that the school was given up, the whole sisterhood appears to have flowed on in one uniform current of peace and contentment, diversified only by new appearances of Hannah as an authoress, and the ups and downs which she and the others met with in the prosecution of a most brave and humane experiment—namely, their zealous effort to extend the blessings of education and religion among the inhabitants of certain villages situated in a wild country some eight or ten miles from their abode, who, from a concurrence of unhappy local and temporary circumstances, had been left in a state of ignorance hardly conceivable at the present day." These exertions were ultimately so successful, that the sisterhood had the gratification of witnessing a yearly festival celebrated on the hills of Cheddar, where above a thousand children, with the members of female clubs of industry, (also established by them,) after attending church service, were regaled at the expense of their benefactors.
Hannah More died on the 7th. of September, 1833, aged eighty-eight. She had made about £30,000 by her writings, and she left, by her will, legacies to charitable and religious institutions amounting to £10,000.
In 1834, "Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs. Hannah More," by William Roberts, Esq., were published in four volumes. In these we have a full account by Hannah herself of her London life, and many interesting anecdotes.