Page:Hannah More (1887 Charlotte Mary Yonge British).djvu/34

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the feast of compliments and civilities that she had received, Hannah said to her sisters on her return to Bristol, "I have been so fed with flattering attentions that I think I will venture to try what is my real value by writing a slight poem, and offering it to Caddell myself."

Accordingly she produced a melancholy ballad, by name Sir Eldred of the Bower, on the model of those collected by Dr. Percy:— There was a young and valiant knight, Sir Eldred was his name; And never did a worthier knight The rank of knighthood claim.

The versification is smooth, the story the same as that of the old ballad of Gil Morice, anticipating the