CHAPTER IV
Hannah More
During the time that Dr. Johnson dominated the literary conscience ofEngland, a group of ladies who had wearied of whist and quadrille, thecommon amusements of fashion, used to meet at the homes of one anotherto discuss literary and political subjects. They were called in ridiculethe "Blue Stocking Club," because Mr. Benjamin Stillingfleet, who wasalways present at these gatherings, wore hose of that colour. Among themembers distinguished by their wit and talents were Mrs. ElizabethMontagu, the author of an _Essay on the Genius of Shakespeare_; Mrs.Elizabeth Carter, a poetess and excellent Greek scholar; Mrs. Chapone,whose _Letters to Young Ladies_ formed the standard of conduct for youngwomen of two generations; Miss Reynolds, the sister of Sir Joshua; andMrs. Vesey, noted as a charming hostess. Dr. Johnson, David Garrick,Reynolds, and Burke were frequenters of this club. One may well imaginethat the conversation and wit of the Blue Stockings were far too rareto be understood by the grosser minds of the mere devotees of fashion,who in consequence threw a ridicule upon them which has always adheredto the name.
Hannah More, who had already become known as a playwright, visitedLondon in 1773, and at once was welcomed by this group. In a poem called_The Bas Bleu_, dedicated to Mrs. Vesey, she thus describes the pleasureof these meetings:
Enlighten'd spirits! You, who know What charms from polish'd converse flow, Speak, for you can, the pure delight When kindling sympathies unite; When correspondent tastes impart Communion sweet from heart to heart; You ne'er the cold gradations need Which vulgar souls to union lead; No dry discussion to unfold The meaning caught ere well 't is told: In taste, in learning, wit, or science, Still kindled souls demand alliance: Each in the other joys to find The image answering to his mind.
The Blue Stocking Club was composed largely of Tories, so that when allEurope became restless under the influence of the French Revolution,they strongly combated the levelling doctrines of democracy. Hannah Morein particular, who had been conducting schools for the very poor nearBristol, saw how the teachings of the revolutionists affected menalready prone to idleness and drink. To offset these influences, shepublished a little book with the following title-page: "VillagePolitics. Addressed to all the Mechanics, Journeymen, and Labourers, inGreat Britain. By Will Chip, a country Carpenter."
It is not a novel in the strict sense of the word, but in simplelanguage, easily understood, it teaches the labouring people theinconsistent attitude of France, and the strength and safety of theEnglish constitution. It is not a deep book, but has good work-a-daycommon-sense, such as keeps the world jogging on, ready to endure theills it has rather than fly to others it knows not of.
The book is in the form of a dialogue between Jack Anvil, theblacksmith, and Tom Hood, the mason.
"TOM. But have you read the _Rights of Man_?
"JACK. No, not I: I had rather by half read the _Whole Duty of Man_. Ihave but little time for reading, and such as I should therefore onlyread a bit of the best."
* * * * *
"TOM. And what dost thou take a _democrat_ to be?
"JACK. One who likes to be governed by a thousand tyrants, and yet can'tbear a king."
* * * * *
"TOM. What is it to be _an enlightened people_?
"JACK. To put out the light of the Gospel, confound right and wrong, andgrope about in pitch darkness."
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"TOM. And what is _benevolence_?
"JACK. Why, in the new-fangled language, it means contempt of religion,aversion to justice, overturning of law, doating on all mankind ingeneral, and hating everybody in particular."
For a long time the authorship of the book remained a secret, and WillChip became a notable figure. The clergy and the land-owners inparticular rejoiced over his homely common-sense, and distributed thesepamphlets broadcast over the land. One hundred thousand copies were soldin a short time. _Village Politics_ is said to have been one of thestrongest influences in England to awaken the common people to thedangers which lie in a sudden overthrow of government. The book wastimely, for that decade had become intoxicated by the name of Liberty.To-day democracy and equality are no longer feared.
During many years Hannah More worked industriously among the poor ofCheddar and its vicinity. On a visit to the Cliffs of Cheddar she foundan ignorant, half-savage people, many of whom dwelt in the caves andfissures of the rocks, and earned a miserable subsistence by sellingstalactites and other minerals native to the place, to the travellerswho were attracted thither by the beautiful scenery. Among these peopleHannah More opened a Sunday-school, and later a day school, where thegirls were taught knitting, spinning, and sewing. A girl trained in herschool was presented on her marriage day with five shillings, a pair ofwhite stockings, and a new Bible. The teaching in the schools was sopractical that within a year schools were opened in nine parishes.
In this missionary work, Miss More became intimately acquainted not onlywith the very poor, but also with the rich farmers living in theneighbourhood and the prosperous tradespeople of the villages. Fromthese better educated men she met with great opposition. One pettylandlord met her request for assistance with the remark: "The lowerclasses are fated to be poor, ignorant and wicked; and wise as you are,you cannot alter what is decreed." Another man informed her thatreligion was the worst thing for the poor, it made them so lazy anduseless.
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But the minds of the people had been awakened by the French Revolution.They were beginning to think. Books and ballads attacking church andconstitution were hawked through the country and placed within reach ofall. To counteract the influence of these "corrupt and inflammatorypublications" Hannah More, between the years 1795-1798, published _TheCheap Repository_, the first regular issue of this kind. Every month astory, a ballad, and a tract for Sunday were published. Hannah More knewso well the common reasoning and the mental attitude of those for whomshe wrote, that she was able to make her lessons most effective. Sogreat was the demand for these chap-books that over two million weresold the first year.[1]
[1] For a complete bibliography of these chap-books, see the _Catalogue of English and American Chap-Books_ in Harvard College Library, pp. 8-10; compiled in part by Charles Welsh.
These stories were divided into two classes, those for "persons ofmiddle rank" and those for the common people. The former point out thedangers of pride and covetousness; of substituting abstract philosophyfor religion; and warn masters not to forget their moral obligationstowards their servants. The latter aim to teach neatness, sobriety,regularity in church attendance, and point out the happiness of thosewho follow these precepts, and the misery of those who neglect them.
Her two best known stories are _Mr. Fantom_ and _The Shepherd ofSalisbury Plain_. _Mr. Fantom: or the History of the New-FashionedPhilosopher, and his Man William_ was written to warn masters of thedanger of teaching their servants disrespect for the Bible and for civillaw. Mr. Fantom was a shallow man, who glided upon the surface ofphilosophy and culled those precepts which relieved his conscience fromany moral obligations. When he was asked to help the poor in his ownparish, he refused to consider their wants because his mind was soengrossed by the partition of Poland. Like Mrs. Jellyby of a later time,he was so much troubled by sufferings which he could not see that heneglected his family and servants. When he reprimanded his butler,William, for being intoxicated, the young man replied: "Why, sir, youare a philosopher, you know; and I have often overheard you say to yourcompany, that private vices are public benefits; and so I thought thatgetting drunk was as pleasant a way of doing good to the public as any,especially when I could oblige my muster at the same time." In course oftime William became a thief and a murderer, and expiated his crimes onthe scaffold.
In contrast to this is _The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain_. This shepherdwas contented with his lot, and says: "David was happier when he ke
pthis father's sheep on such a plain as this, and employed in singing someof his own psalms perhaps, than ever he was when he became king ofIsrael and Judah. And I dare say we should never have had some of themost beautiful texts in all those fine psalms, if he had not been ashepherd, which enabled him to make so many fine comparisons andsimilitudes, as one may say, from country life, flocks of sheep, hillsand valleys, fields of corn, and fountains of water." The shepherd'sneat cottage with its simple furnishings, his frugal wife andindustrious children are described in simple and convincing language.
In the stories of the poor there are many interesting details of theeveryday life of that class that did not blossom into heroes andheroines of romance for nearly half a century. Mrs. Sponge, in _TheHistory of Betty Brown, the St. Giles's Orange Girl_, is a characterthat Dickens might have immortalised. Mrs. Sponge kept a little shop anda kind of eating-house for poor girls near the Seven Dials. She receivedstolen goods, and made such large profits in her business that she wasenabled to become a broker among the poor. She loaned Betty fiveshillings to set her up in the orange business; she did not ask for thereturn of her money, but exacted a sixpence a day for its use, and wasregarded by Betty, and the other girls whom she thus befriended, as abenefactor. At last, Betty was rescued from the clutches of Mrs. Sponge.By industry and piety she became mistress of a handsome sausage-shopnear the Seven Dials, and married a hackney coachman, the hero of one ofMiss More's ballads:
I am a bold coachman, and drive a good hack With a coat of five capes that quite covers my back; And my wife keeps a sausage-shop, not many miles From the narrowest alley in all broad St. Giles. Though poor, we are honest and very content, We pay as we go, for meat, drink, and for rent; To work all the week I am able and willing, I never get drunk, and I waste not a shilling; And while at a tavern my gentleman tarries, The coachman grows richer than he whom he carries, And I'd rather (said I), since it saves me from sin, Be the driver without, than the toper within.
_The Cheap Repository_ was written to teach moral precepts. NeitherHannah More nor her readers saw any artistic beauty in the sordid livesof this lower stratum of society. They were not interested in thesuperstitions of "Poor Sally Evans," who hung a plant called"midsummer-men" in her room on Midsummer eve so that she might learn bythe bending of the leaves if her lover were true to her, and whoconsulted all the fortune-tellers that came to her door to learn whetherthe two moles on her cheek foretold two husbands or two children.Hannah More recorded these simple fancies of poor Sally only to show herfolly and the misfortunes that afterwards befell her on account of hersuperstitions. Writers of that century either laughed at the ignorantblunders of the poor, or used them to point a moral. An interest in thembecause they are human beings like ourselves with common frailtiesbelongs to the next century. Nothing proves more conclusively the growthof the democratic idea than the changed attitude of the novel toward theignorant and the criminal.
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Hannah More was always interested in the education of young ladies. Shewrote a series of essays called _Strictures on the Modern System ofFemale Education_, in which she protested loudly against the tendency togive girls an ornamental rather than a useful education. This was sohighly approved that she was asked to make suggestions for the educationof the Princess Charlotte. This led to her writing _Hints towardsForming the Character of a Young Princess_.
Hannah More finally embodied her theories on the education of women in abook which she thought might appeal most strongly to the young ladiesthemselves, _Coelebs in Search of a Wife_. Running through it, is aslight romance. Coelebs, filled with admiration for Eve, as describedin _Paradise Lost_, where she is intent on her household duties, goesforth into the world to find, if possible, such a helpmate for himself.As he meets different women, he compares them with his ideal, and,finding them lacking, passes a severe criticism upon female educationand accomplishments. Finally, he meets a lady with well-trained mind,who delights in works of charity and piety, one well calculated toconduct wisely the affairs of his household. She has besides properhumility, and accepts with gratitude the honour of becoming Coelebs'swife.
Until her death at the advanced age of eighty-eight years, Hannah Morecontinued to write moral and religious essays, so that she was beforethe public view for over fifty years, Mrs. S. C. Hall in her book_Pilgrimages to English Shrines_ thus describes her in old age:
"Hannah More wore a dress of very light green silk--a white China crapeshawl was folded over her shoulders; her white hair was frizzled, aftera by-gone fashion, above her brow, and that _backed_, as it were, by avery full double border of rich lace. The reality was as dissimilar fromthe picture painted by our imagination as anything could well be; such asparkling, light, bright, 'summery'-looking old lady--more like abeneficent fairy, than the biting author of _Mr. Fantom_, though inperfect harmony with _The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain_."
Woman's Work in English Fiction, from the Restoration to the Mid-Victorian Period Page 5
