Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 38.djvu/424

 and the first three were still flourishing in 1825 (for an account of the schools see, pp. 95-122).

During the excitement caused by the French revolution Hannah More had been entrusted to provide an antidote for the poison. She wrote in 1792 a tract called 'Village Politics, by Will Chip,' which was published anonymously. It gained notice at once ; many thousand copies were sent by government to Scotland and Ireland, and patriotic people printed large editions at their own expense. At the beginning of 1793 she published some 'Remarks on the Speech of M. Dupont,' who had avowed atheism in the convention, and sent the profits, amounting to 240l., to the fund for the relief of the French emigrant clergy (, ii. 356). Encouraged by the success of 'Village Politics,' she resolved to publish a series of cheap tracts. With some help from her sisters and friends she produced three tracts a month (a tale, a ballad, and a tract for Sunday reading) for three years, which were sold for a penny, and afterwards collected in three volumes. They were called the 'Cheap Repository Tracts.' Some of them were illustrated by John Bewick [q. v.] Those signed 'Z.' were by Hannah, and those signed 'S.' by Sarah More. In almost every tract there was 'an exemplary parish priest' (, p. 210), as she boasted. The typical character was the 'Shepherd of Salisbury Plain' (said to have been meant for one Saunders of Cherrill Down), who lived on a shilling a day, rejoiced that only three of his children were under five years of age, and never complained of hunger, because he 'lived upon the promises.' Cobbett, then an anti-Jacobin, expressed his delight in them, and helped to circulate them in America (, p. 159 ; Letters to Z. Macaulay, p. 17). The circulation is said to have amounted to two millions in the first year (, rii. 423-4). The venture was, however, supported by committees formed in every part of the kingdom, and the circulation therefore represents the approval of the classes whose cause she supported as much as the taste of the persons to be converted. Her health suffered from the labour, and her income was not improved. They appear to have been partly suggested by Mrs. Trimmer's 'Family Magazine.' The organisation for circulating them seems to have led to the foundation of the Religious Tract Society in 1799 (for a discussion of the bibliography of these tracts see Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. ii. 241, by De Morgan, and p. 291, by W. Lee).

In 1802 Hannah More moved to Barley Wood, in Wrington parish, a mile from Cowslip Green, where she had built a comfortable house and laid out a garden. The sisters soon afterwards made it their sole residence, giving up the house at Bath. Hannah More lived there quietly for many years, writing industriously when her health permitted, and receiving visits from Wilberforce, Zachary Macaulay, and many well-known leaders of the 'Clapham sect.' Macaulay's wife had been a pupil at the Bristol school, and the correspondence with him begins in 1796, before his marriage. Hannah More made a pet of his son, Thomas Babington, who was often at Barley Wood in his childhood ; she gave him his first books, and after her death he showed his affection by refusing to write about her in the 'Edinburgh Review' (letter to M. Napier, 15 June 1837). She had destined her library to him, but dissatisfaction with his religious views led her to bestow it elsewhere. In December 1809 she published the most popular of her works, 'Cœlebs in Search of a Wife.' Although anonymous it succeeded so rapidly that nine months later, when she had gone for rest to Dawlish, she was followed by the eleventh edition. Thirty editions were sold in America. She says in 1810 that she had spent 5,000l. in publishing it, besides the bookseller's profits ; but had cleared 2,000l. and still had the copyright. Scott's ' Rokeby,' published in 1810, had gained for him the same sum ; but 'Cœlebs' was sold for twelve shillings and 'Rokeby' for 2l. 2s. (, iii. 327). Sydney Smith's gibes in the 'Edinburgh' had not injured her circulation, though perhaps his judgment anticipates that of most modern readers. Her success shows the advantage from a worldly point of view of writing orthodox didactic works.

On 18 April 1813 Mary, the eldest of the sisters, died at Barley Wood, aged 75 ; Elizabeth More died 14 June 1816, aged 76 ; Sarah, 17 May 1817, aged 74 ; and Martha, 14 Sept. 1819, aged 60 (?) (see inscription on monument given in ).

During the critical period which followed the peace Hannah More again wrote a series of tracts in prose and verse, which, as before, were circulated with the help of a committee formed in London, and are said by her biographer to have produced a 'very visible effect.' Upon the abolition of slavery in Ceylon she wrote a poetical dialogue called 'The Feast of Freedom,' which was translated into Cingalese by two Buddhist priests, and performed at a public ceremonial on the anniversary of the measure. It was set to music by Charles Wesley. Sir Alexander Johnstone, the governor of Ceylon, saw her