Page:Hannah More (1887 Charlotte Mary Yonge British).djvu/61

Rh Lord Monboddo fairly burst into tears at this noble story. Hannah was asked "by the greatest lady in this land" to make an elegy of it; but she wisely observed, "It is above poetry."

The same letter tells how, when George Selwyn was beset by chimney-sweepers, who insisted on forcing money from him, he exclaimed with a low bow, "Gentlemen, I have heard of the majesty of the people. I presume your highnesses are in Court mourning!"

The return from this sojourn in London was by way of Oxford, where, while staying at Christ Church with the Kennicott's, Hannah had the pleasure of being honoured by Dr. Johnson, who took her over his own college, Pembroke, with great enjoyment. "This was my room, this Shenstone's." Then, after pointing out all the rooms of the poets who had been at his college, "In short," said he, "we were a nest of singing birds. Here we walked, here we played at cricket." The letter continues: "When we came into the common room we espied a fine large print of Johnson, framed and hung up that morning, with this motto: 'And is not Johnson in himself a host?' Under which stared you in the face: From Miss More's Sensibility. This little incident amused us; but alas! Johnson looks very ill indeed, spiritless and wan. However, he made an effort to be cheerful, and I exerted myself much to make him so."