Page:Hannah More (1887 Charlotte Mary Yonge British).djvu/19

Rh set out to seek our fortunes. We found a great house with nothing in it—and it was like to remain so—till, looking into our knowledge-boxes, we happened to find a little larning, a good thing when land is gone, or rather none; and so at last, by giving a little of this larning to those who had none, we got a good store of gold in return."

What did these young ladies teach? It is plain, from the letters of all, that they thoroughly understood their mother tongue, thanks to their scholarly father; and they probably gave what is now called an English education, including the arts of good reading and elocution; French and Italian they also taught, and needle work was then a high art. Miss More's pupils were well thought of for the complete grounding they received.

The change gave Hannah access to a feast of books, especially Shakespeare and Milton and others, among which the Spectator was her favourite and her model in the attempts at writing, which continued to be her delight. One of her first compositions that saw the light was an ode on some lectures on eloquence which Sheridan had been giving at Bristol. It was shown to him by a friend, and was good enough to excite surprise that the writer should be a girl of sixteen.

A little later the fever of the drama set in upon the pupils, and Hannah, at seventeen, produced a play for their acting, entitled The Search after Happiness, a