CHAPTER XIV.
SORROWS.
The noontide season of Mrs. Hannah More's life had been an unusually long and brilliant one, scarcely broken by death or change, and the five sisters were all on the verge of old age. Still together, still with perfect oneness in heart and life, and the younger pair still active and effective, though delicate and often suffering. Yet, perhaps the first trace that the shadows of earth were drawing on, and making them dwell more than ever on light from above, may be found in the fact, that in spite of the success of Cœlebs, it was the last of Hannah's secular works. The next was Practical Piety, published in 1811, a book of advice on the religion of the heart and the manner of carrying it into daily life, since, as she says, "little habits at once indicate the sentiment of the soul and improve it."
