rned, polite, judicious, and humble." At a party at which all these
and other luminaries were collected, Dr. Johnson asked Miss More her
opinion of the new tragedy of "Braganza." "I was afraid," says she,
"to speak before them all, as I knew there was a diversity of opinion:
however, as I thought it a less evil to dissent from a fellow-creature
than to tell a falsity, I ventured to give my sentiments, and was
satisfied with Johnson's answering, 'You are right, madam.'"

Stimulated by the approbation of such judges, Miss More turned to
literature with redoubled energy; and from this period, the important
part of her personal history may be read in that of a succession of
works, all in their season popular; all commendable for moral tone;
considerably above mediocrity in literary execution; and some of them
worthy to survive their age.

After her return home, she one day laughingly said to her sisters, "I
have been so fed with praise, that I think I will try what is my real
value, by writing a slight poem, and offering it to Cadell."
Accordingly she wrote and sent him "Sir Eldred of the Bower," a ballad
in the style which Dr. Percy had rendered popular. Cadell offered her
a price far exceeding her idea of its worth; adding that, if she would
ascertain what Goldsmith received for the "Deserted Village," he
would make it up to the same sum. With the public the poem met with a
success which its merits by no means justify. At a tea-visit in her
own lodgings, where she had Johnson all to herself,--and as she tells
us he ought always to be had, for he did not care to speak in mixed
companies,--the new poem was discussed. The leviathan of letters,
instead of expressing his contempt for compositions of this class, and
treating her to a new stanza,--like

"I put my hat upon my head,
And walked into the Strand,
And there I met another man
With his hat in his hand,"--

indited the following, which she proudly engrafted on the original in
the second edition, no doubt receiving the compliment as paid to the
author, rather than to the heroine:--

"My scorn has oft the dart repelled
Which guileful beauty threw;
But goodness heard, and grace beheld,
Must every heart subdue."

In her early life, Miss More was subject to frequent attacks of
illness, which she was wont to say were a great blessing to her, for
they induced a habit of industry not natural to her, and taught her to
make the most of her _well_