Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 April 1881 — Ha[?]nah More. [ARTICLE]

Ha[?]nah More.

“Tfce French r» volutionjust had its fiiry in the place of kub birth, but notVfetjout ndingla Jt+fy wave of infidelity aud discontent to »eiglilx>rfng nations, and amonJ’,lhi>m England, threatening alike adMftaction to both the church and »CasC. : - ' Who is possessed of powhf and wisdom enough U iHy MS plß|iM>u and roll back the gathering Qo4p? Whp shall remove the BCowifroitaPthe faces

of thonsandTof worlSfefi Hhd open their slomd Ifct ready to Strike for what they suppose their tfflgt hitherto refused by priest ana law? In a< small thatched cottag#in nbe parish of 8t ipleton, some foW,•■Pfs from Bristol, secluded from tfferflHfiy world, dwelt the heroine who wasp accomplish this almost impossible Work and save the institutions of Esgfpnd from mob fury. She was to doTl by her >en, for she was not a* JMps. of Are hat could wield A sword???but she knew how to use a pen; anp||o' write a sketch of her life s now obr pleasant task. ..jam She was born hi 'tse mhiiKi of Stapleton, near Bristol, 1716, tile fourth of a fttmfly of five dauribtters. Her father, having lost his fortune In st. lawsuit, was now tbs master of the village school, and there bis daughters received the first rudiments or their' education. < Hannah showed from Iver

earliest yean, wonderfuland her lather, encouraged by it, began to teach her his favorite Latin But amazed at ber rapid progress, soon ceased, lest she should become a pedant; but through the persuasions of her mother the study was again lermitted. Bat the income of a vilage school was not sufficient to provide for five young ladies in idleness, and the result wss the three daughters determined to follow their father’* piofession in Bristol. A private school was opened by them, in which they were very successful, and after i while little Hannah became a pupil, aud afterward a teacher. Here he* superior abilities, and especially her conversational power, attracted attention, and secured her many friends. Here also, at the age of seventeen, her first volume was Issued, and entitled “The Search After Happtasm. ”*-! The sisters were successful beyonjl expectation in their school, and after

a while, Sarah and Hannah determined to visitlidndon and become "acquainted with the literati. The famous “Blue Stocking Club” was then in its glory, and named among its members Mrs. Montague, Mrs. Chapone, Elizabeth Carter, and others, aind to these Hannah More was inltaoduced, and made many llfe-loug friends. She was also kindly received by Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr. Johnson, David Garrick and his wife.- These last named especially pleased her,, and thereafter when visiting London, she made her home in their hepse. Probably through the friendship of Garrick she was led to write dramas for the stage, and several oi these were very successful, and at the time, she thought she was doing something to promote good morale. But soon she had occasion to change her mind,

and she afterward wrote, “I wafiifedj to entertainwbat I must now tl\i]ik a delusive hope, that the stage, under certain regulations, might be concerted Into a school of virtue: that tlfough a had play would always be a ba ijpiay yet the representation of a good' one might become not only harmless but useful. * * # Worldly honor is the very soul and spirit ana lifegiving principle of the drama. It is her moral and political and shame are the capital crimes in her code. Love, jealousy, hatred, ambition, pride and revenge are too often elevated into the rank of splendid virtues, and'form a dazzling system of worldly morality in direct contradiction to the spirit of Christianity. The fruits of the spirit and of the stage, if the parallel we£p followed up, would exhibit as pointed a ooutrast as huujan imagination can conceive.” v ' > Both the church and the world have progressed somewhat in morals since that period. Here is her description of an assemblage at the house of a bishop of the church of England: “Conceive to yourself 160 or 200 people met together, dressed in the extremity of fashion, painted as red as bach anala, poisoning the air with perfumes, treading on each other’s gowns, making the crowd they blame, not ttne In ten able to get a cnafr. protesting they are engaged to ten other places, and lamenting the fatigue they are not obliged to endure, ten or a dozen cardtables crammed with dowagers of quality, grave ecclesiastics andyellow admirals, and you have an idea of an assembly.” Nor were these assemblages wholly confined to week. But Hannah More absolutely refused even to attend one on Sunday. W

She wm a great admirer of Dt, Johnsoa, and often visited his bouse, and was courteously received by the gruff old moralist. She describes his last days as follows: “How solemn are the closing scenes of this dying man. He is styled the moralist. Justice, truth, virtue, were the pillars 4of his character; at all times and .in all places he was loyal to his convictions of duty and reverent to God. §ln the wide grasp of his clear, calm, comprehensive mind he everywhere discerned a moral government and repogtiized a righteous governor, his cehscienoe unswerved by oassion or self-indulg-ence, spoke solemnly and was heard; the fear of God was. upon him;. hut now as the curtains of deash dose around his brave heart and unclouded Intellect, he lias helpless, wrestling for hope, panting for peace, raising (his eyes with a fearful lookingfor of judgment . . . The , man Whose Intellectual powers has awed ail around him was now trembling hopeless unless external help Is obtained. But that help was obtained,/and he could declare that, though there was no Salvation bat in the Lamb of God, there was salvation there.” The suocees of her writings furnished her fUnds, and she purchased a thatched cottage, with a flowery garden, at Cowslip Green, a few miles Jrom Bristol. Here with Patty, her younger sister, she took up her residence, and began the attack on the ungodly and immoral usagee and customs of the times. Her Brit volume from this new home was entitled, “Thoughts on the Importance es. the Manners of the Great to General Society.” It appeared anobmnously and wae attributed to the Bishop of London, Wm.Wllberforoe, and others.

The ’ book was a suoeoss; seven editions were sold in a few months, 1^ rw t rd . her “Estimate of the Religkta of the Fashionable World” appeared, in which she attacked the two oommon custom! of imttihg the formal observances of Christian duty for heart piety—the giving of # few dollars to a worthy cause,instead of confession of sin and humble devotion to the divine Redeemer. The book wae highly commended, and is worth reading still. She was too noble a worker to remain hid in England, and Wilberforce Sought her out to engage her in the work to which he yraeht this Ume especially dbvot-

ed, Him. : the abolition of the slave trade, the emancipation of the slaves in the West India Islands, and he found her a willing and an efficient worker, for she had a heart and i a hand for every good work.

Mr. Wilberforoe visited her in her home at Cowslip Green, and in visiting the romantic cliffs of Cheekier in the neighborhood, he found that In j that village, so near the refined city of Bristol, heathenism existed. Ignorance, poverty, and immorality abounded, and with a sad heart he returned to Miss More’s cottage, and I on a consultation with her It was de-1 termined to do something to alleviate their condition, and Mr. Wilberforoe | became responsible for the expense off conducting the enterprise. This was! the beginning of that system of mis-1 Sion schools which accomplished sol

much good for the poor of those parishes in the neighborhood of their dwellings. The need of such schools can easily be seen from the fact that in a neighboring parish the curate was frequently intoxicated, and sometimes unable to preach on nrmwnt ir ‘black eyes received in ale-house fights. Happily, such men would not now be in any parish in England. Such, however, was the opposition of the people to anything like evangelical religion, that it required tact I equal to that now required by our foreign missionaries to accomplish ! the work neqeas&ry in the premises; but Hannah More ; was equal to the task, and a noble work was done in I several adjoining parishes, and an example set which doubtless has been followed by pbilanthrophists in other places.

This brings us to the period when the French Revolution filled the prisons and deluged the streets of Fans with blood, and produced discontent among the workingmen in the neighboring kingdoms, including England. Paley was appealed to, to write a book that would quiet the excitement, and be published “Reasons for Contentment,” for which he was made a prebend of St. Paul’s; but it was better suited to the minds of the educated class than to the masses of the people. Something simple but frill of wit and good common sense was needed, and Hannah Mores, under the cognomen of Will Chip, supplied it. and In a few weeks her Politics’, found its way to the palace and cottage by the tens of thousands, and the king, lords, bishops and commons were loud in its praise. The Bishop of London said or it: “I look upon Mr. Chip as one of the finest writers of the age phis work alone will immortalise him. and, what is better still, I trust it will immortalize the constitution.” F

Soon after this she commenced the {mblicatien of the “Cheap Repostory,” in which appeared her celebrated tract, “ The Shepherd of Salisbury Plains,” “Black Giles the Poacher,” “Sorroful Sam,” and sofeh ballads as “The Two Weavers,” which we have published before, but which we now reproduce as a specimen of the Christian tact by which she could reach the masses and inspire them with contentment and hopefulness for the future.— Ex.