Maria Edgeworth,[433] Sydney Owenson (Lady Morgan),[434] Jane Austen,[435] Walter Scott,[436] etc., are all of our century; as { 192} are, I believe, all the Minerva Press novels, as they were called, which show some of the power in question. Perhaps dramatic talent found its best encouragement in the drama itself. But I cannot ascertain that any such power was directed at the multitude, whether educated or uneducated, with natural mixture of character, under the restraints of decorum, until the use of it by two religious writers of the school called "evangelical," Hannah More and Rowland Hill.[437] The _Village Dialogues_, though not equal to the _Repository Tracts_, are in many parts an approach, and perhaps a copy; there is frequently humorous satire, in that most effective form, self-display. They were published in 1800, and, partly at least, by the Religious Tract Society, the lineal successor of the _Repository_ association, though knowing nothing about its predecessor. I think it right to add that Rowland Hill here mentioned is not the regenerator of the Post Office.[438] Some do not distinguish accurately; I have heard of more than one who took me to have had a logical controversy with a diplomatist who died some years before I was born.
A few years ago, an attempt was made by myself and others to collect some information about the _Cheap Repository_ (see _Notes and Queries_, 3d Series, vi. 241, 290, 353; _Christian Observer_, Dec. 1864, pp. 944-49). It appeared that after the Religious Tract Society had existed more than fifty years, a friend presented it with a copy of the original prospectus of the _Repository_, a thing the existence of which was not known. In this prospectus it is announced that from the plan "will be carefully excluded whatever is enthusiastic, absurd, or superstitious." The "evangelical" { 193} party had, from the foundation of the Religious Tract Society, regretted that the _Repository Tracts_ "did not contain a fuller statement of the great evangelical principles"; while in the prospectus it is also stated that "no cause of any particular party is intended to be served by it, but general Christianity will be promoted upon practical principles." This explains what has often been noticed, that the tracts contain a mild form of "evangelical" doctrine, free from that more fervid dogmatism which appears in the _Village Dialogues_; and such as H. More's friend, Bishop Porteus[439]--a great promoter of the scheme--might approve. The Religious Tract Society (in 1863) republished some of H. More's tracts, with alterations, additions, and omissions _ad libitum_. This is an improper way of dealing with the works of the dead; especially when the reprints are of popular works. A small type addition to the preface contains: "Some alterations and abridgements have been made to adapt them to the present times and the aim of the Religious Tract Society." I think every publicity ought to be given to the existence of such a practice; and I reprint what I said on the subject in _Notes and Queries_.