l proved a success, and by the aid of the
subscriptions which her name brought from far and near she eventually
extended the system over nine of the neighboring parishes, sunk in the
barbarism of English village-life of that day, of which Cowper's village
of Olney was an example. But this work did not go on as smoothly as the
sale of _Coelebs_: it at once aroused opposition from the large class
who do not like to see old ruts abandoned, and was branded as
_Methodism_--an epithet that was then freely used as an extinguisher for
anything novel, and was a "bugaboo" of whose terrors we can have in this
day little conception. Hannah was accused of endeavoring to spread
toleration, and a favorite charge against her was that she had partaken
of "bread and wine in a meeting-house." In vain her sister Martha
explained that she sinned in good company, for many "High-Church people
did the same, and one gentleman and lady with ten thousand pounds a
year, who have always the Church prayers performed morning and evening
in their family." Although the bishop excused her, it was determined
that Hannah was to be crushed by a review; but all was of no more avail
than in the case of Miss Martineau, which has been recently recalled by
her autobiography. Hannah survived it all, and stuck through thick and
thin to her triumphant schools and her "strict behavior." A less harmful
shaft was hurled by a Bristol wit on an occasion when her clothes took
fire and she was saved by the stout quality of her gown:

Vulcan to scorch thy gown in vain essays:
Apollo strives in vain to fire thy lays.
Hannah! the cause is visible enough:
Stuff is thy raiment, and thy writings--_stuff_.

[Illustration: BARLEY WOOD, HANNAH MORE'S RESIDENCE.]

A curious incident in Hannah More's life was her encounter with Ann
Yearsley, the Bristol Milkwoman, of whom some account is given in
Southey's _Essay upon the Uneducated Poets_. A gossiping writer briefly
states the case as follows: "This poor woman, as is well known, sold
milk, and, from going to water it each morning at the Pierian font,
caught at length the poetic fervor. Mrs. Hannah More, whom she served
with cream, was struck by the _superior_ merit of her verses, and became
her patroness. Mrs. More's name was enough to sell worse poetry, or even
worse milk, than Ann Yearsley's. Milton had no such friend, and could
not get twenty pounds for _Paradise_; but Ann Yearsley's book brought
her some thr