INDEX TO THE ILLUSTRATIONS.*

Portrait of Hannah More. (Miss Simmons, after Miss
Reynolds.) Engraved on Steel by Scriven

Frontispiece.

The Bleeding Rock, Belmont. (Rev. Henry Thompson.) Page 1
The Free School, Fishponds. (Rev. Henry Thompson)
Inkstand, made of the Mulberry Tree planted by Shaks-
peare, presented to Hannah More by Garrick. (Rev.
Henry Thompson)

Garrick's Villa, Hampton. (Rev. Henry Thompson)

21

30

Louisa, the Maid of the Haystack. (Miss Simmons, after
Palmer.)

Seat in the Grounds at Mendip Lodge, supposed to have been dedicated to Hannah More. (George Douglas Thompson, Esq.)

Cowslip Green. (Rev. Henry Thompson.)

43

62

69

769

95

The old Schoolhouse, Cheddar. (Rev. Henry Thompson.)
Situations of Mrs. More's Schools. Map

Cottage of the Shepherd of Salisbury Plain, Cherril Down,
Wilts. (Rev. Henry Thompson.)

The Schoolhouse, Blagdon. (Rev. Henry Thompson.)
Porteus's Urn, Barley Wood. (Rev. Henry Thompson.)
Barley Wood. (Rev. Henry Thompson.)

123

179

224

226

Locke's Urn, Barley Wood. (Rev. Henry Thompson.)

296

Monumental Tablet in Wrington Church. (Rev. Henry
Thompson.)

313

Wrington Church, and Grave of Hannah More. (Rev.
Henry Thompson.)

323

* The ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD are executed by Messrs. WHITEHEAD and Co.

Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all. Prov. xxxi. 29.

Train up a child in the way he should go; and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Ibid. xxii. 6.

CHAPTER I.

In whatever sense the appellation GREAT can be legitimately applied to any human being, history perhaps will not furnish one name more truly deserving the appendage than hers who is the subject of these pages. Does the name belong to those who have raised themselves from obscurity to eminence? Behold the daughter of an humble schoolmaster elevated by her own industry and

merit to be the favourite and caressed associate of all that was distinguished in contemporary rank and literature! May the title be earned by the abstract importance of achievements? We claim it for her whose ambition was contented with no lower object than the amelioration of human hearts, and the salvation of human souls. Is it conferred by the extent of operations? The benefactions of Hannah More were limited to no class, to no country; and, in respect of time, extended over the period of half a century; and her writings will continue to exercise a wide and deep influence on mankind to latest generations. They have already effected a moral revolution, not merely on the surface, but in the inmost vitals of aristocratick and middle life. They were extensively influential in calming the passions and correcting the delusions of a misguided populace in times of turbulence and discontent; and from them many a cottage still continues to derive a little treasure of religious knowledge, piety, and economy. They are read in almost every language of the globe, from the shores of the Arctick Ocean to those of the Indian, and from the Mississippi to the Ganges.1 Her personal exertions altogether changed the moral conduct of the labouring classes within

1 "Cœlebs" was translated into the Icelandick, "Practical Piety" into the Icelandick and Persian, and the" Sacred Dramas" and "Feast of Freedom" into the Cingalese. Large impressions of all her works have been sold in America. Other translations will be occasionally noticed. Most of Hannah More's writings have appeared in all European languages possessing a literature.