oor and the humble, Miss More was still mindful of the wants of the
higher classes, and, in the midst of her anxiety and distress, which
very seriously affected her health, she found time to compose the
"Strictures on Female Education," for their benefit. All her practical
admonitions, and all her delineations of female excellence, were
afterwards brought together in the character of Lucilla, in the novel
of "Coelebs in Search of a Wife," who is a true representative of
feminine excellence within the legitimate range of allotted duties.
She did not venture on publishing this work without much anxious
hesitation. "I wrote it," she says, "to amuse the languor of disease.
I thought there were already good books enough in the world for good
people, but that there was a large class of readers, whose wants had
not been attended to--the subscribers to the circulating library. A
little to raise the tone of that mart of mischief, and to counteract
its corruptions, I thought an object worth attempting." It was
published without her name, and though many at once recognized the
style, she herself did not acknowledge it till it had passed through
many editions. It excited such immediate and universal attention,
that, in a few days after its first appearance, she received notice to
prepare for a second edition; and shortly afterwards she was followed
to Dawlish, whither she had gone to try the effect of repose and the
sea air, in restoring her health, by the eleventh edition.

Her works at an early period were duly estimated in the United
States, and of the "Coelebs" thirty editions had been issued
before the author's death. It is not a little creditable to the
public taste, that a work so full of plain and practical truth
should be so well received. In "Coelebs," as well as in some of her
smaller productions, Miss More evinces her power of invention, and
gives proof that, had she chosen to employ fiction as the vehicle
of instruction, her imagination would have afforded her abundant
resources; but habit and the bias of her mind led her in another
course: a certain substantiality of purpose, a serious devotion to
decided and direct beneficence, an active and almost restless
principle of philanthropy, were the great distinctions of her
character.

When the education of the Princess Charlotte became a subject of
serious attention and inquiry, the advice and assistance of Miss More
were requested by the queen. Bishop Porteus strenuous