HANNAH MORE, carried them to a boarding-school, where he had some little friends. So much were these pieces admired that, as a proof of their extensive circu- lation, a specimen of a translation, of one them into the Cingalese language was subsequently presented to our authoress, written on a Palmyra leaf, and enclosed in an exquisitely-painted case. The year of their first publication she was elected a member of the French Academy at Rouen, proving that her celebrity was not confined to England. In 1783, Hannah More lost her beloved father, who died at the advanced age of eighty-three. To her deep sorrow she was not with him when he expired, being on a visit with Mrs. Garrick at Hampton. Some months after this sad event, the parties she had been in the habit of frequenting at the company-loving Mrs. Vesey's gave rise to her clever poem of " The Bas-Bleu," in which, under classical names, she described the leading members of that gay circle. She sent half of this poem " under two franks," to two friends, by whom they were transmitted anonymously to Mrs. Vesey, who was sojourning in Ireland. Dr. Johnson, " that parsimonious praiser," told her -" There was no name in poetry that might not be glad to own it." It was at first circulated in manuscript, and she had the honour of transcribing a copy for the King, who desired to have one, but in 1786, it was published with " Florio, a Poem for Fine Gentlemen and Fine Ladies." 27
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