Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg

Hannah More to Marianne Thornton, November 1817

Time tho it has somewhat tranquilized our spirits, has not lightened the feeling of our irreparable loss. Whether we consider the bereaved Prince, or the Country, the calamity is unspeakably great.^* An exquisitely fond and happy, as well as a virtuous and pious Prince and sounded like a Romance, but the woeful catastrophe has brought us back to /the sadness of/ real history. Notwithstanding the delightful and truly Christian letter with which favoured /me/ I cannot help considering the Event as a frowning Providence. Why do we slide so much, nationally, from our daily and hourly dependence upon God? Why were no public prayers offered up for this sweet ? Why was the abundant harvest, a blessing as unexpected as underserved, never acknowledged at least in our Churches? Why are our Rulers in the Church so much less vigilant and active than those of the State? /Yet/ Why are our public recognitions of divine Mercy, so much less frequent as well as less fervent than those of the [firstborn?] States? I sometimes lay this flattering oration to my Soul, that perhaps we feel more than we say, and they say more than they feel.

To Lady Olivia Sparrow, 2 October [1817]

I believe I wrote to you since the and his family were here, and the interesting conversation I had with him respecting and her valuable Consort. God grant they may persevere as they have begun or rather that they may go on to perfection^*