eyes; viz. that she was spared to me so long; that her last sufferings, though exquisite, were short; above all, that she is spared feeling for me what I have felt and still feel for her." Writing to Mr. Gwatkin, Mrs. More says, "My merciful Father is indeed very gracious to me under very trying circumstances. He has enabled me to see his goodness in removing my chief earthly comfort. He has taken her from a world of sorrow and sin to a world of rest, and peace, and happiness; and, by thus removing my principal human support, he intended to lead me to depend more entirely on Himself. It is my wish and prayer that I may not entirely frustrate his great design. Her death was as edifying as her life had been exemplary. I may indeed indeed say, 'the house is left unto me desolate,' but I take comfort in the thought that the remainder of my pilgrimage must necessarily be short. May my latter end be like hers!" The prayer was fully heard; the resolution faithfully kept. The withdrawal of the objects of our affection, or the discovery of their unworthiness, is a frequent exercise by which we are taught the triumphant exultation, " I am not alone, because the Father is with me.' 221 He who was "made perfect through sufferings experienced this desolation and this support; and Hannah More, mature in grace, was now called on for this additional proof of her stedfastness in faith, and complete reliance on her loving though chastening Father. 1 John xvi. » 2 2 Hebr. 1 6 The proof was afforded. "If it be possible her character can rise higher,” said a friend who stayed with her soon after, " it does under this heaviest of trials. She is now fully exemplifying Practical Piety.'" From this time she devoted herself more exclusively to religious study and contemplation; although, as will be seen, not having entirely renounced her pen, and still pursued by throngs who sought instruction or gratification at her lips, or possessed the privilege of her intimacy. 1 In the letter in which this remark occurs, we have the following characteristick passage: "She (Hannah) has now many duties to fulfil which dear Mrs. Patty undertook, and in which she took delight. She loved management; the cares of the house and of the schools were hers; all this devolves on Mrs. Hannah. Persons who do not know her as well as we do, exclaim, What will she do?' In reply, I say she can do any thing she pleases. After Mrs. Sally's death, it was supposed the garden would be neglected; but she immediately undertook it, and there was no deficiency of flowers." He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days. Ps. cii. 23. Pray without ceasing. 1 Thess. v. 17. CHAPTER IX. THE popular tumults which had distracted the country in 1816-17, had been renewed in the present year with aggravated violence, and were evidently the result of a combination, extensive, formidable, and skilfully organized. This conspiracy had now existed at least eight years in the country, and was making progress; and not the least untoward circumstance attending it was its identity in all its features with the early stages of the French revolution. The visionary Spencean, who was to regenerate society by a community of lands and goods; the furious ultra-republican, who warred with all government but such as he should make for himself; the reckless plunderer, whose cause was nothing but his own personal enrichment; the assassin, whose element was blood; and the infidel, madly opposing the Providence which he affected to deny, presented a complete counterpart to the Girondist, Jacobin, Philosophe, and the various shades and sections, distinct or blended, which characterized the antichristian and antisocial conspiracy in France. Their clubs and correspondences; their nocturnal drillings and trainings; their systematick attacks on the Bible and the Church; the labour, and even the expense, which they incurred in writing, printing, and disseminating their pernicious doctrines; their attempts to corrupt the whole body of domestick servants, and even the soldiery; and, especially, the organization of large tumultuous bodies of ferocious unsexed women, presented an appalling parallel to the preliminary phenomena of the great revolutionary tornado in the neighbouring country. At Birmingham, which then returned no representatives to Parliament, a person was seditiously elected by a large meeting to sustain that character under the title of "legislative attorney;" and at Manchester a disaffected assembly seemed to threaten destruction to the town; a consummation, probably, only averted by the prompt interference of the local military. Though, on this occasion, hundreds of lives were, probably, preserved, a few, unhappily, were lost: and the disturbers of publick order wanted not address to turn this circumstance to account, and represent it as a violent and flagitious invasion of the liberty and safety of the people. On recovering from the first shock of her irreparable loss, this position of the country was the first external object which met the eye of Mrs. More. Her mind was not sufficiently tranquillized and disengaged to permit her to resume her pen, and she had lost her keenest stimulus to composition, the approbation of her beloved sister, and the pleasure which her success always excited in that dearest of friends. When the news arrived at Barley Wood that a third edition of the " Moral Sketches" was demanded, she observed to a friend, "Had dear Patty been living, how animated would she have been on reading this letter! Now, how vapid it is! when she to whom it would have given so much pleasure is laid in her cold grave."1 Still Mrs. More thought it her duty to do what she could; and she therefore collected into one pamphlet all her political tracts and ballads, with some adaptations, that they might find a more extended circulation among the classes whom they were written to benefit. Perhaps, in imposing on herself this labour, she had in contemplation also the state of her own mind, too ready to 1 Private Letter of a friend of Mrs. More to R. Lovell Gwatkin, Esq. |