Page:Hannah More (1887 Charlotte Mary Yonge British).djvu/74

62 wild and secluded places, resting from what was sometimes one of their labours, namely, teaching their governesses to read and spell.

It was in the course of this summer that the sisters learnt from their cook that the milkwoman, Anne Yearsley, who called for the kitchen refuse of their large household, was in great distress, and, moreover, was given to writing poetry. On investigation it turned out that the woman, in spite of great poverty and a large family, had read various poems, and written verses good enough to excite vehement enthusiasm in the ladies; who not only believed in her wonderful genius, but endowed her with all imaginable virtues; and, indeed, she does seem to have been a sober, patient, hard-working, religious woman, while left to herself and unspoilt.

Hannah went to work, correcting and arranging Yearsley's poems for the press, and writing letters about "Lactilla" to all her friends, who became fired with the same enthusiasm, so that Mrs. Montagu wrote, "What force of imagination! What harmony of numbers! In Pagan times, one could have supposed Apollo had fallen in love with her rosy cheek, snatched her to the top of Mount Parnassus, given her a glass of his best Helicon, and ordered the nine Muses to attend her call!" In thirteen months Hannah had written about a thousand letters on her behalf, and collected £600 for her, which was to be invested for her benefit. But