ABSTRACT
Hannah More’s poem may have been written for the national abolition movement, but Ann Yearsley wrote from, and to, Bristol, establishing a context for competition between the former patron and protegee. Indeed, between 1787 and 1791 the literary careers of both More and Yearsley converged in interesting and unexpected ways; the ties of patronage that bound Yearsley and More together continued to be felt, shaping both their professional identities. Perhaps the most lasting legacy of David Garrick’s patronage in the 1770s was the effect of More’s introduction into polite society. The readiness with which a rivalry was recognized by Yearsley’s supporters suggests that neither they nor Yearsley had forgotten what had happened in 1785. For Yearsley and More, though, involvement with the abolition debate was an early skirmish in what would prove to be along-lived rivalry. Indeed, the next battlefield was being prepared even as the some abolitionist poems were appearing in the press.
