tions to account. But they are chiefly remarkable as illustrations of the contemporary state of mind, when the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge testified to a sudden desire for popularising knowledge, and when the political economists of the school of Malthus, Ricardo, and James Mill were beginning to have an influence upon legislation. A revelation of their doctrine in the shape of fiction instead of dry treatises just met the popular mood. The 'stern Benthamites,' she says, thanked her as a faithful expositor of their doctrines.
The success of the tales was of course profitable to her publisher, who sold about ten thousand copies and made a profit of 2,000l. A misunderstanding arose as to the terms of the original agreement. Fox held that he had a right to publish the whole series at half profits, while she held that he had only a right to twenty-four numbers. The final numbers were therefore published separately as 'Illustrations of Taxation,' Her complaints of injustice, however, appear to be unintentionally unfair to Fox, whose view of the case was supported by his brother, W. J. Fox. The dispute, however, did not interrupt the friendship between W. J. Fox and Miss Martineau. She sensibly refused to live more expensively, and finally invested 1,000l. in the purchase of a deferred annuity, which gave her 100l. a year, to begin in 1850 (ib. iii. 206).
Her health suffered from her labours, and she resolved upon a holiday. At the suggestion of Lord Harley she went to America, sailing on 4 Aug. 1834, and reaching New York after a voyage of forty-two days. She had already written against slavery and did not attempt to conceal her opinions in the States. At that period the antipathy to the abolitionists had reached its highest point, and they were constantly exposed to lynch-law. Miss Martineau made a tour in the south in her first winter, and was everywhere hospitably received. On going to Boston, however, in 1835, she found that meetings of abolitionists were exposed to serious danger. She attended them in spite of remonstrances, and made friends with the leaders, and especially with Mrs. Chapman, although she had previously regarded them as fanatics. She was afterwards treated with coldness by the respectable, and in later journeys received threats of personal injury. She was forced to abandon a journey down the Ohio, and threatened again during a tour to the northern lakes. She naturally came home a determined abolitionist.
She reached Liverpool on 26 Aug. 1836, and at once received liberal offers from publishers for a book upon her travels. She accepted an offer of 900l. from Messrs. Saunders & Otley for a first edition of her 'Society in America,' and they afterwards gave her 600l. for a lighter book of personal experience called ' A Retrospect of Western Society.' The second was more successful than the first, which was intended to be a philosophical discussion by a radical politician of the political and social state of the United States. She wrote for various periodicals and was offered the editorship of a projected 'Economic Magazine,' She declined on the advice of her brother James, and resolved to write a novel. This was finally published as 'Deerbrook' by Moxon in the spring of 1839, after being declined by Murray, and succeeded fairly. She always held it to be her best work. She also formed a connection with Charles Knight, to whom she suggested the publication of his 'Weekly Volumes.' She published her contributions to the 'Guides to Service,' suggested by the poor-law commissioners (ib. iii. 465). She was again overworked, and in the spring of 1839 made a tour abroad. At Venice she became seriously ill and had to be brought home by the quickest route and taken to Newcastle to be under the care of her brother-in-law. After staying six months with him, she moved into lodgings at Tynemouth. She was able to write 'The Hour and the Man,' of which Toussaint L'Ouverture was the hero, in 1840; and afterwards wrote the series of children's stories called 'The Playfellow,' which are among her most popular works. In 1843 she wrote 'Life in the Sick Room,' which has been highly valued, although she came to 'despise' much of it as scarcely sincere at a later period, when her religious views had developed (ib. ii. 73). She now became incapable of any exertion. At the time of her voyage to America Lord Grey had proposed to give her a pension of 300l. a year. The five months' premiership of Peel. suspended the affair, and she meanwhile made up her mind and intimated that she should decline an offer which she could only accept at some risk to her independence. In 1841 Lord Melbourne offered, through Charles Buller, a pension of 150l.—all in his power at the time. She again declined, on the same principle as she afterwards declined a similar offer in 1873 from Mr. Gladstone (ib. iii. 445). Her friends raised a testimonial in 1843, 1,400l. of which was invested for her benefit in the long annuities.
Miss Martineau's illness had been pronounced incurable. She had been advised by some friends, including Bulwer and the Basil Montagus, to try mesmerism. Spencer Timothy Hall [q. v.] happened to be lectur-
