e. Ladies of title, society beauties, and leaders of
fashion, who were unapproachable by other religious influences, she
urged in private to consider their spiritual interests. The method she
adopted was not, usually, to start religious topics, but "to extract
from common subjects some useful and awful truth, and to counteract the
mischief of a popular sentiment by one drawn from religion." Perhaps a
message which John Wesley once sent to her through a sister may have
weighed considerably in deterring her from an entire severance from the
fashionable world. "Tell her to live in the world; _there_ is the sphere
of her usefulness; they will not let _us_ come nigh them."

Not content with personal and private reproof, advice, and entreaty, she
now devoted her pen to the denunciation of folly and vice in high
places. In her work, _Thoughts on the Importance of the Manners of the
Great to General Society_, whilst protesting against prevalent
irreligious practices and habits of dissipation, which even good people
sanctioned, she sought to arouse a sensitive regard for mutual
responsibility as set forth in the New Testament.

In 1788 the slave trade formed a burning question in Parliament. Miss
More, intensely aroused by the descriptions presented of the horrible
traffic, found vent for her feelings in a poem on the subject. About the
same time a close friendship began with Wilberforce, which lasted to the
end of life.

A yet more important friendship commenced at this period--one that was
destined to work a powerful influence on Miss More's life. The Rev. John
Newton, one of the leaders amongst the evangelical clergy, held the
incumbency of St. Mary Woolnoth. Attendance on his ministry led to a
correspondence and a deep friendship. John Newton was precisely the kind
of man whom Hannah More needed to assist her in spiritual progress, and
to direct her steps into paths of settled peace. Her letters to Mr.
Newton, stating her difficulties and seeking counsel, breathe the spirit
of the humble and sincere scholar of Christ. Her willingness to obey the
Master whom she professed to serve, and her earnest desire to be brought
into closer relations with God, although checked, had never been stifled
by the claims of intellect or by the attractions of the world. From this
time the work of the Holy Spirit in deepening her love for the Saviour
became more and more prominent. Turning for a time from Christian work
amongst the rich, Miss