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CHAPTER XIV.
EXPANSION OF THE PRISON ENTERPRISE.—HONOURS.
It is an old adage that "nothing succeeds like success." Mrs. Fry and her prison-labours had become famous; not only famous, but the subjects of talk, both in society and out of it. Kings, Queens, statesmen, philanthropists, ladies of fashion, devotees of charity, authors and divines were all looking with more or less interest at the experiments made by the apostles of this new crusade against vice, misery, and crime. Many of them courted acquaintance with the Quakeress who hesitated not to plunge into gloomy prison-cells, nor to penetrate pest-houses decimated with gaol-fever, in pursuance of her mission. And while they courted her acquaintance, they fervently wished her "God speed." Two or three communications, still in existence, prove that Hannah More and Maria Edgeworth were of the number of good wishers.
In a short note written from Barley Wood, in 1826, Hannah More thus expressed her appreciation of Mrs. Fry's character.
