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at her elbow, and her missionaries bringing forward their contribution of stories, puts me in mind of some lines.

"In Yorkshire dwelt a sober yeoman,

"Whose wife a clean pains-taking woman, "Fed numerous poultry in her pens,

"And saw her cocks well serve her hens.
"A hen she had, whose tuneful clocks
"Drew after her a train of cocks;

"With eyes so piercing, yet so pleasant,
"You would have sworn this hen a pheasant.
"All the plum'd beau-monde round her, gathers,
"Lord! what a brustling up of feathers :
"Morning from noon there was no knowing,
"There was such flutt'ring, chuckling, crowing:
"Each forward bird must thrust his head in,
"And not a cock but wou'd be treading.
"Yet tender was this hen so fair,

"And hatch'd more chicks than she cou'd rear.

"Our prudent dame bethought her then,

"Of some dry nurse to save her hen :
"She made a capon drunk; in fine
"He eat the sops, she drank the wine;
"His rump well pluck'd with nettles stings,
"And claps the brood beneath his wings,
"The feather'd dupe awakes content,
"O'erjoy'd to see what God had sent;
"Thinks he's the hen, clocks, keeps a pother,
"A foolish foster-father-mother!"

"Such, Miss Hannah, are your tricks;
"But since you hatch, pray own your chicks;
"You should be better skill'd in nocks,

"Nor like your capons serve your cocks."

By her usual arrogance of assumption, Mrs. More (for this work is the production of an host)

attempts to blind the public as to her conduct to Mrs. Cowley and Mrs. Yearsley. The public has not yet forgot either, these affairs are known. H. More is proved a plagiary; she has allowed it, she dare not, because she cannot, deny it. It is no difficult matter to publish anonymously, and to tell lies in " private accusations," stage whispers, or anonymous publications, or by some" fool"ish foster-father mother," as has been her constant practice through life. This is her defence with the public; let the public judge it. Mrs. More thinks that by having lain by, now lain in (though this illegitimate bantling is not yet owned) for eight months, by the various babbling of her followers, the original question will be lost and forgot in digressions. No! the ghost of "secret accu"sations," the assassination of characters, shall haunt her night and day as long as she lives. I would advise the injured and oppressed Mr. Bere to this, to pursue her, and her only; for perhaps there has not appeared, for a series of years, so artful, so cunning a person, that can secretly atchieve so much mischief, & under the "vizor of superior "sanctity." He should keep, if he thinks it worth while to say any thing more, to "secret accusa"tions," plagiarism, extravagancies, fanaticism, the ruin of those who are in the way of her GRANDSCHEME and PROJECT of puritanizing the church. H More knows her strength lies in casting prose into verse, stealing the works of others, cunningly and secretly wounding, when she cannot stab her

opponents, without the least courage or candour to come forward before that public who befriended her, and on which she has so long and so shamefully imposed. I hesitate not to say, that Hannah More's religion is craft. It is to her no rule of conduct. It did not restrain her from injuring Mrs. Cowley. It did not curb her tyranny over Mrs. Yearsley, whose genius is far superior to her own. It did not tell her, when she humbled herself on account of her circumstances (which caused the only difference, for she was as well born as herself) at her feet, from insulting and calumniating Mrs. Yearsley; it did not tell her, "thou "shalt not steal," when she refused to return her MS. of poetry; but it permitted her to tell the falsehood, "I have burnt them!" H. More has in this act reduced herself to the situation of a barbarous Goth and Vandal, or a common thief. That she had the poems in her custody, she does not deny, for she says she " has burnt them;" if she burnt poems, the productions of a person of whom she writes to Mrs. Montague in the following strains, she is a barbarian, whose mind is corroded by the meanest and basest envy; if she has not burnt them, she is a thief, for it is clear, they have not been returned. She kept them for her own use, to alter, garble, and publish in another form.*

* As she has made of Sir Abraham, a "very Abram," even so, in like manner, as the minor poet has "damned himself" in verse, will she now " damn "him," in prose. Then he will be "doubly damned."

"A copy of verses was shewn me, said to be written by a poor illiterate woman, in this neighbourhood, who sells "milk from door to door. The story did not engage my "faith, but the verses excited my attention; for though in"correct, they breathed the genuine spirit of poetry, and "were rendered still more interesting, by a certain natural "and strong expression of misery, which seemed to fill the "heart and mind of the author.

"When I went to see her, I observed a perfect simpli"city of manners, without the least affectation or preten"sion of any kind: (this cannot be said of Mrs. H. More, "for she is all cunning and artfulness) she neither attempted "to raise my compassion by her distress, nor my admira"tion by her parts. On a more familiar acquaintance, I "have reason to be surprized at the justness of her taste. "The study of the sacred scriptures has enlarged her ima"gination and ennobled her language.

"You will find her, like all unlettered poets, abounding "in imagery, metaphor, and personification; her faults, "in this respect, being rather those of superfluity than of If her epithets are now and then bold and vehe"ment, they are striking and original; and I should be sorry to see the wild vigour of her rustic muse polished "into elegance, or laboured into correctness. Her ear is

"want.

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perfect; (that is not Hannah's case, for she has many "false rhymes) there is sometimes great felicity in the "structure of her blank verse, and she often varies the pause, with a happiness which looks like skill."

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But because this woman had a soul and a genius, which H. More confessedly wants, and because that she had acquired a little consequence from being useful to her in the subscription, as she would not submit to her abuse and tyranny, she must, in her usual low way, be calumniated. H. More has been uniform in her conduct thro'

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life; those who will not flatter her she will ruin, if possible, and by wearing a religious cloak, with her exquisite refinements in artfulness and trick, she renders the evil deeds consequent to her ingenious malice so incredible, that the world is made to believe they "arise from the ground," for it is impossible that H. More, who is so "ex"cellent," would descend to "secret accusations, "lies, or calumny;" and yet private accusations, lies, and calumny are proved against her. She will not defend any thing; but she will pluck the rumps of others to "foolish foster-father-mo"ther" any action or conduct of hers.

"Thus Candour's maxims flow from Rancour's throat, "As Devils, to serve their purpose, scripture quote." The most fortunate circumstance in Mrs. More's life was the purchase of the annuity of 2001. a year so cheaply, which enabled her to run up and down after great folks, and carry incense. She even flatters the vices of the great to their faces. Had it not been for this income, and her share of 50001. which was made by the school in ParkStreet, and which being invested in 3 per cent. cons. during the American war (which war also H. defended) when sold out in 1785, doubled itself; had it not been for these advantages, H. More would now be poorer than Mrs. Yearsley; and from her temper, and disposition to calumny, would have been, as now she is very generally, and as she soon will be universally, execrated.Put on a robe of sanctity, and stab in the dark.

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