MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 459 



of publication. We do not particularly refer to the letters of Mrs. Hannah 

 More herself, which are more remarkable, perhaps, for their sobriety of tone 

 and good sense, than for any brilliancy of colouring or felicity of expression. 

 We would refer our readers to the few letters by Miss Sarah More, de- 

 scribing the reception of her sister at the tables of the learnedof the flat- 

 teries of Johnson and of Garrick ; and of the attentions of the illustrious 

 and the titled. There are some beautiful letters by Mrs. Montagu and 

 Mrs. Boscawen ; and the contributions of Sir W. Pepys are invariably en- 

 riched by eloquence of diction and correctness of taste. 



We have been very much disposed, during our perusal of the correspon- 

 dence of Mrs. Hannah More, to encourage certain reflections upon the 

 manner in which a literary reputation was established sixty years ago. 

 Mrs. Hannah More was a lady of respectable, and, for a woman, unusual 

 acquirements, when she entered the literary world; she wrote many works, 

 as she proceeded calmly along to the end of a very long life; and, we find 

 that all these works were received with extraordinary favour by the public 

 and called forth from her friends a degree of praise and flattery perfectly 

 astounding. 



We are far from wishing to deny that Hannah More was a most estima- 

 ble and excellent woman, or that many of her works do not desreve, on the 

 score of their practical utility and candour, as much popularity as they 

 have met with ; but we do, indeed, wonder, when we behold such a tra- 

 gedy as " Percy " extolled to the skies by persons who " ought to know 

 better," and, indeed, a degree of fulsome flattery bestowed upon works ; 

 many of which have sunk into deserved and irretrievable oblivion. 



Mrs. More was a lady of the most excellent sense which sometimes 

 might even be called fine sense, and for many years she devoted her 

 talents, her time, and her property, to the improvement, moral and intel- 

 lectual, of the lower orders of this country but she has not the slightest 

 pretensions to the title of Genius. The combination of such moral and 

 intellectual qualities as Mrs. More possessed, is indeed remarkable ; and 

 her unceasing endeavours to render them subservient to the great cause of 

 religion are beyond praise, and may well justify the affectionate admira- 

 tion with which we find many of her correspondents addressing her. 



The class is numerous to which these volumes will be acceptable, and 

 the motives to the publication of the work (the proceeds of which are de- 

 stined to charitable purposes,), would have held us silent with respect to 

 its imperfections, had we not thought that the end might have been better 

 attained by a work of half the size. 



THE LITERARY LIFE AND MISCELLANIES OF JOHN GALT. 3 VOLS. 

 8vo. EDINBURGH AND LONDON, 1834. 



The first volume contains the literary life, and the last two the miscel- 

 lanies of our author. The former is a psychological curiosity. It consists 

 partly of an endeavour to trace the mental process in the mind of Mr. Gait, 

 by which his conceptions were formed into shape and substance. We are 

 besides presented with criticisms by the author upon his own works; in 

 which we see that however little he may be biassed by self-love or vanity, 

 our author is by no means the best judge of his own productions. We 

 wish Mr. Gait had not written the few pages in conclusion, called " An 

 Estimate of Myself." It is far too low an estimate (the same thing in such 

 matters as being no estimate at all), and we do not know how it was to be 

 otherwise. Besides, it has forced us to come to this conclusion that Mr. 

 Gait possesses a higher opinion of himself than he chooses to acknowledge; 

 and we should very much wonder if he had not. An author can hardly be 

 supposed to exist without a private opinion of the extent of his powers ; 



