Page:Pleasant Memories of Pleasant Lands.djvu/390

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MRS. HANNAH MORE.
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tion that it had given birth to him who "wove of Thalaba, the wild and wondrous song."

Still more strongly were we impressed, at Clifton, by the sight of the mansion where Hannah More closed her venerable years. Almost as a pioneer for her sex, she entered the field of intellectual labor, warning them to forsake frivolity of pursuit, and exert, in their own proper sphere, their latent power to improve and elevate society. With a versatility equalled only by her persevering industry, she adapted the rudiments of moral truth to the comprehension of the collier, the farmer's boy, and the orange-girl; marked out the map of life for a princess; or depicted in the heights of his sublime piety, the "very chiefest of the apostles." An "upright and clarified common sense" guided her through daily and difficult duties, and in the words of her biographer, "having wings upon her shoulders, wherewith she might have soared, had it pleased her, she yet chose to combat on the same ground with ignorance, and prejudice, and folly." Her writings, at their earliest issue from the press, were welcomed and circulated in America, and she testified for its inhabitants a kindness which increased with her advancing years. Indeed, friendly feelings towards our country seemed prevalent among all with whom we associated in Great Britain. Symptoms of disaffection or hostility between the nations were deprecated by the wisest and best, as unnatural, inexpedient, and unchristian. It was freely acknowledged that whatever promoted amity between two nations,