Page:Hannah More (1887 Charlotte Mary Yonge British).djvu/153

Rh might have been derided, but, on the contrary, their house was a centre of intellectual as well as religious society, and they received and entertained many of the most distinguished people of the time, as well as former pupils who were like daughters to them, while the house was also the resort of half the population of the Mendip parishes, who were always coming over to consult or ask assistance from the two diligent workers known as Mrs. Hannah and Mrs. Martha, for just at this time the sisterhood had assumed the good old title of mistress before the Christian name, as was then thought becoming in spinsters of elder years.

The first trouble was the death of Mr. Drewitt, the good curate of Cheddar, who had worked with the sisters, and been persecuted together with them. After returning from the funeral, Hannah writes in her journal: "If I am not the better for her (the widow's) example on this occasion, it will be among the number of my sins."

A fresh task was imposed on the authoress by one especial request of Queen Charlotte, namely that she would write a book of advice on the education of the little Princess Charlotte of Wales, then about six years old, and looked upon as the future Queen Regnant. Perhaps the idea was suggested by the letters in Adèle et Théodore from the Chevalier de Roseville, in which Madame de Genlis actually