Hannah More: Continued

Not five minutes ago, I finished reading Karen Swallow Prior’s biography of the 18th century writer and abolitionist, Hannah More.

When I was young, I read biographies of famous historical figures but I don’t ever remember reading about her.

World changers like More should be the prime examples for our young women to look up to. I know some would say that my thinking on this is old fashioned, out of date, and “Come on Amy, it’s all about movie stars and pop stars now,” but I just can’t help myself.

What would happen if we did teach our young people about individuals like her?

More started “Sunday Schools” for the poor living near her and these schools became very popular throughout England. The schools taught children (and sometimes their parents) how to read, recite the catechism, and other exercises in morality. Although More met with much skepticism from the rich upper classes who deemed the poor unworthy and wished them to remain in their place, the More sister’s endeavors to lift the minds and hearts of the poor working class eventually paid off. Lives were changed because of their efforts.

More was also an instrumental figure in the abolition of slavery in England during the 18th century. Although the barbaric practice was not totally outlawed until a few months before her death, her writings and relationships with the movers and shakers of parliament at the time had a significant impact on the movement. She, along with the well-known William Wilberforce, brought the cruel realities of the slave trade to the forefront of public knowledge. More distributed pamphlets and showed engravings of the goings on on the slave ships to dinner party guests. Anyone who had ears was liable to hear her damning opinion of the practice anytime she was near.

A good movie to watch on the subject is Amazing Grace.

I find it fascinating that More was heavily influenced by philosopher John Locke and many other great intellectuals who also influenced the American Revolution. For a woman to be interested and hold a substantial position on such subjects during the 18th century was virtually unheard of. Her inability to allow the strict societal rules of the time undercut her intelligence and opinion on things that mattered astounds and fascinates me.

After reading this book, I lean back in my chair and think “How can I emulate Hannah More?”

As a 21st century woman, I sometimes feel that my voice is a tiny, insignificant peep compared to hers because of how the world of words churns out opinions these days. The internet is full of women my age, trying to outshine one another. But More helps me realize that although I may think my voice is insignificant, someone out there will read it and be helped forward by it.

I don’t want to re-write the book here because you need to read it for yourself, but I will say that it has affected me in ways I didn’t expect. Much like Prior’s work, Claire Tomalin’s biography of Jane Austen ripped me apart. I cried in the final chapter after reading her dying words while her head lay in Cassandra’s lap, “Pray for me, oh pray for me.”

After witnessing a scene such as this, albeit through text, my heart is weighted down with grief for these women.

Hannah More died much the same way as Austen, surrounded by loved ones. But More’s sisters had all died in the years before her own death, and it was on her death bed that she reached out her arms and said her youngest sister’s name “Patty!” then, “Joy!”

What an effecting sight to behold!

The intellectual crowd More considered her friends included figures such as Edmund Burke, William Wilberforce, and John Wesley. During her life, her works were explosively popular and read widely by rich and poor alike. There was no one who could write quite like Hannah More, and the public loved her. A few of her works were published anonymously, but her name was revealed later on. Critics at the time hailed her genius, especially with the success of her only novel, an art form much the opposite of what we have today. More’s Coelebs In Search of a Wife was a huge hit.

In the years leading up to Jane Austen’s success as a novelist, the novel form was used for writers of thrill and mostly smutty romance. Fielding’s Tom Jones, now a classic example of the 18th century novel, was considered by More and her friends to be a work Christians should avoid exposing themselves to.

But before being scolded, More did read it. As I should at some point!

Her novel is credited with giving the form a moral advantage, a way to teach the masses virtue in a way they had not encountered before. The novel itself is mostly about the choosing of a wife, a practice uncommon at the time for people married out of convenience or in order to climb the social ladder.

What a revolutionary book it must have been!

I find myself fascinated with her life, her work, and her Christian faith. She loved God all her life, but Prior makes the changes in More’s faith a significant part of who she ultimately became. I identify deeply with More in this aspect because there are pockets in my life regarding my faith that I have left behind upon further study of the Bible and how God works in the lives of his children. As a Christian, sometimes it is hard to be cut and dried. We must and need to change sometimes, that is if it does not compromise the word of God. As Hannah proved throughout her life, remain consistent in your faith in God, love him, and he will teach you all you need to know as you journey on life’s road.

Hannah More was an spirited, inspiring woman. Someone whose name will be forever etched on my mind as a monumental gift to the world at the time she walked this earth. Her life challenges me to be like her.

And no matter how cruel and unforgiving her critics were, she stayed the course and finished the race well.

May my pen endeavor to write words that lift and edify, and may my mind remain fixed on my Savior’s face forever as Hannah More’s did.