A SERMON PREACHED At the Funeral of the Right Honourable ANNE Countess of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery, Who died March 22. 1675/ 6. and was Interred April the 14th following at Appleby in Westmoreland.  
With some REMARKS On the LIFE of that Eminent LADY  
By the Right Reverend Father in God, EDWARD Lord Bishop of Carlisle.  
LONDON, Printed for R. Royston, Bookseller to his most Excellent-Majesty, and H. Broom at the Gun at the West-end of St. Paul's, 1677.   

A SERMON Preached At the Interment of the Right Honourable Anne Countess of Pembroke, Dorset and Montgomery; who died at her Castle of Brougham, March 22th 1675/6, and was buried at Appleby April 14th following.  
THe occasion of our present meeting being to pay our duty to the Memory of the Great, and Good, Anne Countess of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery; whose earthly Relics now lie before us. I sought after a Text which might give me scope pertinently to speak and recount such things, of this their noble Lady, a great Pattern of Virtue, and an eminent Benefactor to her Generation; as that thereby God may be glorified in his Saint, and such Honour given to her Memory, for all that was praiseworthy of her, that others may be inflamed with the Love of all those Virtues, which gained Love and Esteem to her in her life; and shall make precious her Memory after her Death.  
Let me therefore desire that your Attentions may accompany my Meditations, while I treat on that short, but comprehensive portion of Scripture, which is contained in part of the first verse of the 14th Chapter of the Proverbs of the Wise King Solomon.  
Prov. 14. 1. Every wise Woman buildeth her House. 
THese Words are a full Proposition, a clear Assertion, and although there lies under the terms some figurative meaning, as in all Proverbial or Parabolical Sentences there commonly doth (even throughout this Book called the Proverbs or Parables of Solomon) yet these words in the Text come in the plainest kind of Assertion, the most regular form of a Proposition, Categorical and simple, open and Affirmative, and with the most universal note of Comprehension. So that if there be any difficulty by reason of the figurative sense, it may be cleared by the full scope of the Text, and the business of it dispatched, by answering two short questions:  

Who?  
and  
What?   

1. Who it is of whom the Assertion in the Text is verified? And,  
2. What is the full scope of the Assertion?   
Who, is the Subject in the Proposition. The wise Woman.  
And What it is that is asserted? What, To build her House?  
These being answered; Then the Copula, the Connexion of the parts, the truth of the Proposition in the literal sense, and also in the Figure will be manifest, and made easy to our Application, and suitable to the occasion of our present meeting: And so also the truth of the Proposition will be amplified by one great instance, an evident Example here before us; that both the Subject of my Meditations, and of your Contemplations (what we hear and see) may also be the Subject of what we read, the Proposition in the Text; a Woman, adorned with the Adjunct Wise; a wise Woman presented to your Memory. And being such, the Assertion that she built her House (in the Letter as well as in the Figure) built her House, that is, did all things necessary, decent and convenient for the building of it, brought the greatest blessings desirable to her House, shall be manifested by many instances.  
I must first remind you that the manner of expressing the great and important truths in this Text (as in this Book of the Proverbs) is for the most part Figurative, Synecdochical, Allegorical, by Parables, Proverbs and Similitudes.  
Men of the greatest Wisdom and Spirit, even those who spoke by the Holy Spirit, the Penmen of the Holy Writ, have thought it fit to  such Truths, as of themselves are simple, and naked, with these kind of Rhetorical Ornaments; to draw men's more considerate attentions and researches, to fix the eyes of the mind more earnestly on them. By these Goads and Nails, as the 
Eccles. 12. 11.  wise Preacher tells us, to rouse up dull Affections, and to fasten the things in our mind, least at any time we should let them slip. Thus Holy Job and the Prophets, thus Holy David, as well as his wise Son King Solomon, opened their Mouths in Parables; nay, a greater than Solomon here, our Blessed Saviour did open to the people his Wisdom in Parables so frequently, that St. Mat. 13. 34. we are told, All these things spoke Jesus unto the multitude in Parables, and without a Parable spoke he not unto them.  
This Text then, short in Words, but full in Sense, hath no less than four Figurative expressions, the Terms, and the other which bear any Emphasis, or matter to make up the Proposition have something of Scheme or Figure in them.  
1. The subject here, to whom this excellent work in the Text is ascribed, Woman, we must allow to be so far figurative as, (to say no more) by a Synecdoche, under one to comprehend both Sexes (or the species;) For no doubt but what is asserted here of the Woman her Act, Virtue or Duty, belongs even in the first place to the other Sex, Man, Building being more properly his, the Manswork; and it may be as truly said, Every wise man buildeth his House.  
The Note or Inquiries here, then might be, why, here and in other places of the Holy Scripture, in this Book of the Proverbs more especially, so many great say and deeds are attributed to, or have had their instances in Women, in the Female, whereas the same might be exemplified or said much more of men.  
It were needless to speak much of this, yet there might be some Reasons given, and on this occasion I shall briefly touch upon a few, Why great Actions, and the procuring great blessings, have had designedly their instances in that Sex, and that the excellencies of Women have been so often and in all Ages recorded.  
One Reason might have been to put an Honour on that weaker Sex, lest the proud, or more exalted nature of man should undervalue, look down upon, and despise that Sex, as too much inferior to men.  
For that in those things wherein man's greatest excellency consists, the Soul, and its Faculties, we are told by Scripture-philosophy, that all souls are equal, made so by God, all come out of the Hand of God with equal Faculties, and when they return to God, shall in their degrees, be Crowned with equal Glory. All souls are of the same Kind and Order; Souls know no Sexes; when separate, are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 like to the Angels, Mary not, nor are given in Marriage; In Christ Jesus neither Male nor Female, all stand alike related to Christ, as they who hear and obey his Word are his Mother, and Brother, and Sister, stand in equality of Relation in identity of Sex. Souls I say in Substance are alike perfect, 'tis accidental that other things come, Infancy, Childhood, Age, Infirmities; Souls know nor feel such things from their own pure principles; these flow from Union with the Body, the Crasis and Temperaments of the Elements, otherwise I say souls would not Pati Senium, souls of men and women are alike immortal.  
3. Women have been the Instruments to convey great blessings to their Generations; nay, by a woman was conveyed the Greatest Blessing to mankind, our Blessed Saviour, for whom all Generations Shall call her Blessed.  
As God made the first Adam, the Father of all mankind, without the help of a woman, and by taking woman out of man's flesh peopled the World, so God took the second Adam out of woman, without the help of a man, from whence hath issued the Holy Seed, which hath replenished the Church.  
4. Women have given as great examples of Virtue in every kind (and in some kinds of Learning) as men have done.  
It were endless to instance, or compare, we find Women to have been adorned with as great Eulogies in Histories Sacred or Profane, as men have been.  
Hence we find them memorable in so many Addresses to them by Epistles and Panegyrics while they were living; Celebrated by Elegies, Funeral Orations and Epitaphs when they were dead; Canonised, placed in the highest degrees of happiness which Opinion, Fame, or Faith could give them after their death.  
I need not bring to witness the most Learned of the Heathen Writers, Tully, Seneca, Plutarch especially, who has written a Book purposely of the Virtuous deeds of Women. Greg. Nazianzen sets out the great praise of Gorgonia, Basil of Matrina, St. Ambrose of Marcellina, St. Hierom of Eustochium, Marcelia, Asella, etc. He, and St. Austin directs many Epistles, and some of their Books or Treatises to Eustochium, Paulina, Proba and others; women pious and exercised in the learning which the Holy Scripture teaches. Nay, the beloved Apostle, Evangelist and Divine, St. John directs his Epistle to a Lady; either to a particular Eminent Woman as the most aver; or if to the Church Catholic, as some would conjecture, yet under the Scheme of a Lady, a Woman.  
What Honourable and frequent mention do we find in the Old and New Testament, of Women Eminent for Prudence, Constancy, Courage, Piety, and all Graces, as if the Female Spirit had had the ascendant, and had been productive of the highest and most memorable Achievements and Effects. Most Languages, and those who have set out the greatest things, have commonly shadowed and represented them under the Hieroglyphics, Figure, and Scheme of a Woman.  
The Earth itself, the four parts of it, Great Monarchies and Commonwealths, as a Great Queen or Lady. So the Scripture frequently speaks of great Cities, Daughter of Babylon, of Tyre, Danghter of Jerusalem, of Zion.  
Nay further, thus the Church, the Synagogue and Jewish, thus the Church of Christ is expressed and represented; a Spotless Virgin, the Spouse of Christ, the King's Daughter. The Woman, Rev. 12. 1. The wonder in Heaven, clothed with the Sun, the Moon under her Feet, with a Crown of Stars on her Head; this a representation of the Church, Jewish by some, Christian by others.  
Lastly, all the Virtues Intellectual, Moral, Prudence, Justice; Nay, even the Theological, Faith, Hope and Charity, in the import of their names, the Properties and things ascribed to them, are represented under the Schemes and Figures of Women. Even this Wisdom itself is so set out through this whole Book of the Proverbs. Wisdom calls, she lifts up her voice, invites by sweet, yet Powerful Arguments the simple, and those that lack Understanding, to be her Proselytes; Say unto Wisdom thou art my Sister, and call Understanding 
Prov. 7. 4.  thy Kinswoman. And therefore this great Action and Blessing in this Text figuratively expressed by building the House is fitly here attributed to a wise Woman, as the same thing had been before, Chap. 9 1. of Wisdom itself, under the Figure of some magnificent Queen or Lady erecting some stately Fabric. Wisdom hath builded her House, she hath hewn out her seven Pillars, i. e. she hath built, as all the wise do, with Symmetry, with Strength, Beauty and Order. That shows her a wise builder.  
And that is the Epithet or Adjunct to the Woman building in the Text, wise, every wise Woman  
Wise. The word rendered from the Original, literally is the wise of Women, and so as Grammarians note, admits some Figure here, but we need not recede from our own Translation.  
Wise, the Subject is so denominated from the Habit, Wisdom, which is demonstrated by Arts suitable to it, and gives the Title of Wise.  
But neither this, nor the Habit of Wisdom is to be taken in so strict a sense, as Philosophers commonly do, making it only one of those which they call the Intellectual Habits, and to be only Speculative, and so define it by knowledge of all things Divine and Humane, from whence those who studied, and sought after such Knowledge or Wisdom, gained the Title of Philosophers, Lovers and Searchers after Wisdom.  
To omit what others restrain it unto, who define Wisdom to be the knowledge of the highest things, and their Causes.  
It may suffice in this place, to take wisdom in that large sense, which this wise Author of the Book of the Proverbs doth, throughout this Book, chief in the beginning of it; where he discovers the Heavenly root of the knowledge from whence the true wisdom grows, namely, the fear of the Lord. And this imports a knowledge of God, such as hath always a religious and awful fear of him joined with it, and an endeavour to know and practise all things which conduce to his Worship and Glory, and to man's happiness. Plainly, it is to be wise to Salvation. Therefore this wisdom cannot be a single, nor only a speculative Habit, nor destitute of any of the other Intellectual or Moral Habits, but they all minister unto it as means to attain the highest end; God, and Happiness: but in the first place it may intimate those habits which more immediately perfect the Understanding, Knowledge, Prudence, Discretion, Sagacity, Sound Judgement and good Understanding. These are Wisdom's Companions, or rather Handmaids, always attending upon her, and after these all moral Virtues will vinculo sororio, as they say, willingly follow. Whoso is wise will seek after all these, all Virtue, these constitute a wise Man, or Woman. This is the wise Woman in the Text.  
This may answer the first Question, Who?  
Both why a Woman is here the instance; and who is this wise Woman? The Subject in the Proposition on which is founded this Assertion in the Text. That she buildeth her House.  
And that brings in the second Query, What? is meant by building her House?  
The Design of King Solomon in this Text, being to set out the praise of a wise Woman, or rather of Wisdom under the Scheme and Figure of a Woman. He instances in that part of Wisdom, or of Philosophy, which is esteemed by all Philosophers to be most proper to that Sex, namely, the Oeconomical, or what appertains to the House, the well ordering of that: which although it be an equal Duty, (where the Family is complete and mixed of man and wife) belonging to the Man as well as to the Woman, yet in regard the Man's employment is commonly more abroad, and without doors, the well ordering of the House seems to be more particularly, the Woman's Office; who therefore in our English is properly called the Housewife, and if she perform that part well, Good Housewifery is her praise. And where even the chief Government of the Family is in the Woman, singly, yet her part will be most within the House.  
The House is the Woman's Province, her Sphere wherein she is to Act, while she is abroad she is out of her Territories; she is as a Ruler out of his Jurisdiction.  
And therefore our wise King Solomon makes it not only a Brand of a bad Housewife, but of an ill-woman, Prov. 7. 11. That her feet abide not in her house; And St. Paul makes it a Character of idle Housewives, 1 Tim. 5. 13. That they learntobe idle, wand'ring about from house to house. And he gives charge in the next verse. Let the Woman guide the house; and Tit, 2. 5. That they be, as, Discreet and , so, Keepers at home. A good Housewife seems wedded to her House, as well as to her Husband. Thus King Solomon may intimate in the first place, the Oeconomy in General of a Wise Woman.  
But the principal thing, and the great Honour in Oeconomy is to be the Founder and Builder of the House. He who hath builded the house, hath more honour than the house, (Heb. 3. 3.) or then any belonging to the house. So that by this manner of expressing the chief thing that belongs to the House, the very Building of it is here attributed to the Wise Woman; made her part and praise in this Text.  
Therefore both these Terms, House and Building, being, as I did premise before, Figurative and Metaphorical, the plain sense and meaning of them will be; that a wise (and virtuous) Woman performs the principal, the greatest and most necessary thing (as Building is) to the House; that is, to the Family, to the Children, to the Servants, and to whomsoever, or whatsoever may be comprehended under this Metonymy, the Notion of House; chief viva domus, the Household, as Prov. 31. 27. She looketh well to the Household, or as Joshua 24. 15. I and my House, (that is, all persons belonging to my House) will serve the Lord. And this is farther extended and comprehends all the Descents, Relates or Clientels, as they say of Families; these are belonging to the House; As the Honse of David, the House of Saul; All these are contained under that Metonymy of the House.  
So that the Sum of what may thus be collected, is, That the wise Woman's building her House is, doing all things which belongs to good Oeconomy; the well ordering of a Family, as Aristotle in his Treatise of that Science tells us, that the wise Matron or Mother of the Family is to the House, as the Soul to the Body, and moves all under her in their several Stations, orders all things and persons within the House, and taketh care for them; and all this, as by an Art, as by written Laws and Rules of Oeconomy, or good Housewifery.  
And in this Text this is comprehensively the wise Woman's building the House, well ordering of all within her House, belonging to her Family in the largest sense.  
There is, I confess, noted by some Interpreters, another sense of the word House, that which they call a Tropological, or some a Moral sense, when the Figure is carried inwardly to the Soul and the manners, so that as House may signify first an Artificial and Material House; and then by the Metonymy, the Oeconomical House, the Family; so in the Trope, they tell us of a Moral House, whose materials are Virtue, a Spiritual House, which is made up of Grace; but this I shall pass by here, intending to resume it briefly, when I shall come to apply the Text to the present occasion.  
Thus you have seen both the Questions answered, Who is the wise Woman; the Subject of the Assertion; and What is asserted, in saying, She buildeth her House.  
Now remains the Copula, or Connexion of the Terms, the truth of the Assertion to be proved, And that, as I told you, by one great Instance; waving briefly the ordinary Method of Logical Proofs, by Arguments Topical or Apodictical, I say this shall be represented in the Instance here laid before you; the Remains of a great Personage, in whom may be comprehended all that hath been said of a Woman, a wise Woman, applying her Wisdom to this great End and Effect (in all the Senses which the Letter, or Figure will bear) of building her House.  
So that for Method's sake, the words as they stand in their Natural and Proper, together with their Parabolical and Figurative sense, shall be the Clew which shall lead me through all the Labyrinths, the Passages and Rooms of this great House, while I shall apply the Letter of the Text, by a Figure, to the Subject before us on this occasion.  
1. At the first then, we see a Woman, which might lead us to consider only what is Natural, either in the Original from what Stock she came, or the Portions wherewith Nature endued her.  
But as to the former, I need not be her Herald. Her Blood flowed from the Veins of three anciently ennobled Families, Cliffords, Viponts, & Vesseys; Lords and Barons in the North; and she added (to her Escotcheons) Pembroke, Dorset and Montgomery, the Titles of three great Earldoms in the South.  
But as St. Hierom professed, when speaking upon a like Argument, the praises of Marcelia, a noble Roman Lady, and of high Descent: Nihil in illa laudabo, nisi quod proprium, he would not praise her for any thing, but what was purely her own: So for me, let this deserving Lady, be praised only by her own Achievements. The Additions of Honour wherewith herself adorned her Ancestors; 
Prov. 31. 31.  The Fruits of her Hands, her own Works, these shall praise her in the Gate.  
2. You look at a Woman; but, one of those whom Nature had blessed with her best Dowries. Mens sana, in corpore sano, is the sum of Nature's gifts. She had a clear Soul shining through a Vivid Body; her Body Durable and Healthful, her Soul Sprightful, of great Understanding and Judgement, faithful Memory, ready Wit.  
These are great Advantages for Wisdom and Virtue; and without these, without the aids of a healthful well-constituted Body, fitted to serve the Commands of a great Mind; seldom any Great and Heroic Actions can be produced. Wisdom if it be not well seated, has not fit space and room, nor well disposed Organs; cannot exert, or lay out itself; without Tools the best Artificer, cannot finish any Work, nor bring it to Perfection, although never so well projected and begun.  
Her Body was a faithful Servant to her Mind; had served it fourscore and six Years, and was useful in all the dispatches of her Will; she had accustomed her Body to the Yoke; she had trained it up so well in all Virtuous Exercises, by her admirable Temperance, that she had it perfectly at her Command, and wholly at the Discretion of her Soul. A thing not very observable in this Age of the World, amongst Men or Women. The Body, the will of the Flesh, commonly governs the Man. The Soul in most is drudge to the Body; employs its Wit, and all its Faculties to serve the Interests and Needs of the Body, To make Provision for the Flesh; a Delicate and Luxurious Master.  
So that, truly, if some Vertuoso's had not been convinced of an extraordinary and sublime Spirit in Man, (scarce intelligible by old Philosophy) and some gripes of Conscience had not whispered, that it is immortal, capable of Eternal Bliss or Pain, some of their Epicurean Wits would hardly have believed there is such a thing as a Soul, in the Vulgar notion of Divines. But if they could well dress, had Salt to relish, could feed and satisfy the Cravings of the Body; they than did, bene sapere, were wise and happy enough, as happy as Soul could wish: Indeed when we observe what care some of this Sex, nay, of either Sex, do take about their Body; making it their whole days work, first to adorn, then to glut, then to recreate their Body, then to lay it asleep; not allowing one of  hours, to speak with, or pray for their Soul; much less to take it to task, and employ it in Religious and Virtuous Exercises (the Meat and Drink, as necessary to preserve Life in the Soul, as those are in the Body;) I say, this Carnality might make the Vulgar believe, that although Preachers, and some Women talk of Souls, yet in truth, there is no such thing.  
This excellent Lady then, who neglected, or spent so little Time or Pains about her Body, except it were to make it serviceable to her Soul; which she adorned with her chief care and diligence, may serve for a glass or Mirror, for others of that Quality, or Sex, to dress themselves by her Example.  
So that although nature framed her but as the Subject of this Text, a Woman; yet she having a Body so well ordered, as well as built; a Soul endued by nature with such acute Faculties, we need not doubt to give her the Adjunct, which is given to the Woman here in the Text, to call her Wise; to say that in Her the World had found, and has lost, a wise, a virtuous Woman.  
For that's it; Virtue, which only makes and denominates a Woman wise; wise and virtuous are almost Terms reciprocal; every wise woman is virtuous, and all the virtuous are Wise.  
It was a strange Question for King Solomon to ask, Prov. 31. 10. having had seven hundred wives,) Who can find a virtuous woman? And it was as strange that he should answer that Question, when he was become a Preacher, Eccles. 7. 27. Behold this have I found, (saith the Preacher) counting one by one to find out the account. And what was the sum total, when he had cast up his Account? Why! it is come to one, and none; one man among a thousand have I found, but a woman (a virtuous woman he means) among all these have I not found; and He had the full number of a thousand, seven hundred Wives, three hundred Concubines.) The meaning is, that a truly Virtuous Woman was a rarity in his time, even while King Solomon was a Preacher.  
But I hope the World is better since, better for his Preaching, but especially for the Preaching of the Gospel; and although the number of the wise and virtuous men and women be not so great as were to be desired, yet, God be thanked, we want not Examples more plentiful in this loser Age, of either Sex; and here we have one Eminent before us, a Woman, who deserved the Title of Virtuous, and therefore of Wise; a wise and virtuous Woman.  
Therefore to demonstrate this rarely ennobled Woman to have deserved this greatest mark of Honour, to have been truly Wise, I will not stray from my Text in the proof of it; but set forth her Wisdom from the great Effect of Wisdom, set down in this Text, under the Allegory of Building her House; taking the liberty which the Scheme of the Text allows, to extend it to all which so copious a Figure comprehends; but still having regard to the scope, and chief intent of the Text, That by building the House, we may intent the deriving of blessings, most noble, most useful, most necessary to her Family, to her Allies, and to the Generation wherein she lived, for which, that, and many other Generrtions may call her blessed.  
I did put you in mind before of several Houses which the Allegory comprehends; viz. the Artificial, or material House, the Oeconomical House, the Family, the Moral House, whose materials are Virtues; and the Spiritual House, built by Grace. In all these she hath made it to appear that she was a great Builder.  
Now first, that this wise Woman declared her wisdom in building her House in a literal sense, the material House, I can call you all to witness, who have seen so many Houses of her famous Ancestors, which Time had ruined, War, or sad Accidents demolished, rebuilt by her, raised out of their Rubbish, or decays, to their former greatness and beauty.  
To have been a great Builder (if wisdom and discretion were overseers of the Work) was in all Ages accounted an Heroic thing; sufficient to commend the Fame and praise of such Builders to all Posterity.  
To build, importing a design of a great mind, studying to be beneficial to Posterity; whom Builders commonly intent to accommodate and gratify. Thereby Princes, and the greatest of Men, have gained to themselves the greatest Renown.  
Certainly, none had greater Fame upon Earth than King Solomon, nor was his name exalted higher for any thing which his Wisdom enabled him to perform, than for his Building the Temple, and his Houses.  
Thus Trajan, the best of the Emperors (while they were Heathen) was the greatest Builder, the most renowned, the best beloved. 'Tis made a signal blessing, Isa. 58. 12. To be a builder of the old waste places, to raise up the Foundations of many generations, to be called the repairer of the breaches, the restorer of paths to dwell in.  
But, because I am recounting the praise of a Woman; the first, as I take it, that is extolled for this in Story, was a Woman, the Babylonian Semiramis; to whom, for that, and her famous Acts, 
* Berosus.  a Prime Historian tells us, that no Man could ever be compared.  
And it was a Woman also who gave the Pattern to the greatest Princes, how to build their Monuments with most Magnificence. That Monument which She called after her Husband, Mausolus his name, had the honour to give the name to the noblest Monuments of Emperors, and the greatest Princes in the World, the most famous of that kind since, being called Mausolaea.  
But as in all Great Actions, so in this of Building, the End is to be considered; which not being wisely done, many have erected buildings to their Folly, and their Houses (which they designed for Glory) have been called by that name for want of a Wise Masterbuilder to foresee the End for which they built.  
As most of the Pompous Builders of old, those vain Persons who built their Babel, and the proud King his Babylon, to get a Name, or a vainglory; and therefore they did, as Tully terms it, struere insanas moles, amass together wild and confused heaps, vast bulks, things of more admiration than use.  
Let us therefore see what kind of Buildings this wise Woman erected, and for what end they were repaired, or built: And here we shall find, that Piety and Charity, Gratitude and Kindness, were her Inciters to this Work; that all her Buildings were for God, or for the Poor, or for the Honour of her Progenitors, or the Benefit of her Posterity: these were the ends which she propounded▪ to herself in building.  
Indeed, one of the first things (as I was informed) which she built, was (what Jacob had first done) a Pillar. She built a Pillar, a Monument which stands in the Highway, at the place where her endeared Mother and she last parted, and took their final farewell. And as Jacob did, she poured oil upon this pillar, the oil of Charity, pouring down then, and yearly since, (and that the Cruse of oil may never fail, ordered to be always continued;) at a set day every year a sum of money, that oil to make glad the heart of the poor; and withal to be as a precious ointment to perfume her pious Mother's Memory, that her good name, and their mutual dearness of Affection might be engraven, and remembered by their Posterity and the Poor to all generations.  
A good omen of a happy Builder, whose foundations are Charity and Piety; the Saphires and agates mentioned, Esa. 54. 11.  
But her Buildings for Charity were larger than a Pillar; such as gave Shelter and Maintenance to the Poor. Besides the repairs and restoring of an Alms-house, built and endowed by her pious Mother, Margaret Countess of Cumberland, she built 
At Bearmky.  an Alms-house in this Place, and made decent provision 
Appleby.  for thirteen poor women, a Mother and twelve Sisters, as she called them, to the perpetual relief of the poor and destitute; and that Alms and Devotion might not be separated, she gave allowance for the Prayers of the Church to be daily administered to them.  
Indeed she might have an eye to Charity in all her Buildings, by which she did set the poor on work, thus curing their idleness, as well as supplying their indigency.  
Secondly, Gratitude to her Ancestors was another End of her building, that she might with some cost hold up, what they with such vast expense had founded and built.  
Six ancient Castles, ample and magnificent, which her noble Ancestors had built, and sometimes held up with great honour to themselves, security to their Sovereigns, and hospitality to their Friends and Strangers; now, by the rage of War, or Time, or Accidents, pulled or fallen down, or made un-inhabitable, scarce one of those six that shown more than the Sceleton of an House; her reviving Spirit puts life into the work, made (all these dry bones live) these scattered Stones come together; those Ruins forsake their Rubbish, and lift up their▪ Heads to their former height. A marvellous task it was which she undertook, to design the re-building so many, and such great Fabrics; to rear up them, when the earthly house of her Tabernacle began to stoop and decline; being about the sixtieth year of her Age when she began: who then could hope to finish? but when she did consider in her great mind, did think (as Psal. 102. 14.) upon the stones, and it pitied her to see them in the dust 
* One had lain 140 years desolate, after the Fire had consumed it. (Brough-Castle the Timber burned, Anno 1521.) Another 320 years, after the invading Scots had wasted it. (Pendragon-Castle, wasted by David King of Scots, Anno 1341.) . Her Prudence (as with her hands) set on the work, raised, cemented, finished; and where others might have thought it glory enough to have been the Restorer of any one, she laid the Top-stone on them all. These Houses, the End of her building them was, I say, Gratitude to her Ancestors: and also,  
Thirdly, Kindness to her Posterity and Successors, that they might find the blessing of Canaan, Houses which they built not, accommodations ready prepared for them.  
But lastly, She could not forget the main End of her building, Piety to God, in re-building, or repairing his Houses, Churches, or Chapels. She rebuilt, or, by repairing, restored six Houses of her own, but of God's Houses seven 
* Brougham, Nine-Kirks, Appleby, Bongate, Mallerstang, Barden, Skipton. . She had no dwelling for herself, where God had not a House to be worshipped publicly, besides private Oratories in her Houses.  
If now I could set before your eyes, or before your Imaginations, six Castles, seven Churches or Chapels, besides the two Almshouses, and other inferior subservient Buildings, which she made, or made useful; if I could represent all these before you in one Landscape or view, you would imagine you saw something greater than an Escurial: an eighth Wonder, or something more wonderful than the seven, which the Heathen World hath boasted of; at least more Beneficial to the world than they. Some of those Wonders were (possibly) but Poetical; built but by fancy; all of them (as I take it) these great and monstrous Buildings, were to no greater End than to make the name of the Bvilder's Endless. But all this wise Woman's Buildings, as you see, were to some good End, were given either to Charity towards the Poor, Gratitude to her Ancestors, Kindness to her Posterity, or Dedicated to the Worship of God.  
As that good Emperor Trajan was by his emulous Successor (finding his Name or Motto on so many Walls built by himself) called Parietaria, a Wall-flower, a flower (which seldom dies, or easily revives) with us, a flower fragrant, and of a sweet smell; so let the name of this Excellent Lady live, and grow, and be a fragrancy; be a sweet savour to all those who shall possess or find Hospitality, or Charity, or the Service of God celebrated within these Walls, or any of them, which she hath thus erected or restored.  
And thus much for this Wise Woman's building her material House.  
Secondly, Her Family. The Allegory leads me to another House worth your viewing, and that is it which seems most aimed at in the Text; and the building of which is a greater instance of a Wise Woman than any outward building can be. This is the Oeconomical House, the Building, that is to say, the well-ordering of a Family.  
The doing of which is a piece of so great Skill and Wisdom, that Wise men, Philosophers and Moralists, Aristotle himself has given it a place, and name of a particular Science (amongst those which are the Prudential) Oeconomy; directing in it, by as good Rules and Precepts as in any other, in any part of Moral Philosophy. And it is indeed as necessary that the World should be well instructed in this, as in any other Science in the whole Circle.  
For Mankind, which is made up of single Persons, could not have been supported, if they had been to live always separate and single; and not form themselves into Society, which supposes Government, made up of Order, and that supposes subordination.  
It is true, every particular man hath a government in himself; is a King in Plato's sense, hath a Body and Soul, Passions and Members, Words, and Thoughts under his Power and Government; Ethics, Moral Philosophy teaches this Art of Self-government.  
But man being intended for Society, the first rank of that is a Family; 'tis the Science of Oeconomy teaches to rule that well, to Order the house. Now in this House the Subordinate in it are chief the Children, Servants, and Retainers; And to continue the Allegory, the Building of this House is the Governing, the Providing for, the Nourishing and Maintaining, the Ordering and Well-disciplining of these by certain Rules, of which Wise men have said much in their Books; and of which we find much in the Book of God; this Book of the Proverbs most copiously. So also in the New Testament (Ephes. 5. ch. 6. Coll. 3. 4. Tit. 2. and dispersedly in several other Places.  
And certainly good Oeconomy, or right ordering of a Family, is a noble and profitable Art, to be learned by much prudent thinking and consideration; Although the World think little of it, and few study this Art, deeming themselves naturally wise enough, or inspired with the knowledge of this; if they have means and conveniencies to set up a Family, they govern it by rote, not by Rule; if they be rich enough to support it, they mind not to govern (morally) otherwise than by Had-I-wist, hand over head, as things fall out contingently; I mean as to the Moral, or Religious part of governing, live like (Nomades or Tartars) those that live at random.  
Now this neglect of Government in a Family, breeds the greatest mischief in the World; spreads disorder over the face of the Earth. Family's ill-ordered will make ill-governed Cities, and these misgoverned, will fill the whole Commonwealth and Kingdom with disorder and confusion; Families being the first Principles of Bodies public, the Seminaries which stock Cities, out of which Kingdoms and Commonwealths do grow.  
There is no greater cause of decay to the Commonwealth, nor bane to the Church, than want of Discipline and good Order in Families, especially as to one branch of them; mis-governing, and ill-educating of Children, who are the first Elements of Cities and Kingdoms: Undisciplined and bad Children, will hardly make good men, nor honest Commonwealths-men, nor well-principled Subjects, of which a Kingdom consists.  
Train up a child then in the fear of the Lord, season a new Vessel with wholesome Liquor; if they at first are not seasoned with good, or if bad principles be infused into them, they will (without extraordinary Grace do renew them) carry a tang, and ill savour to old age. Misgovernment in this part of the Family, vicious humours in Children, like a fault in the first concoction, breeds an exuberancy of habits, seldom to be corrected and purged out.  
Now this part of Family-Government chief belongs to Women; who, when men's occasions call them out, are commonly fixed to the House, as Intelligences to their Sphere; who, although the man, as the primum mobile, directs the general motion of all; yet the particular and regular inclinations in the Children are commonly form by the Woman; and if she be indeed intelligent and Wise, none can do it better. Children well instituted in Gynaeceo, as plants well ordered in the Nursery, will thrive, and prosper, and fill the World with good fruit.  
Now this House, the Family, and the well-governing of it in all the members (which is indeed the building of it) this Wise Woman did perform with greatest Providence and Prudence. Her Children, which were but two 
* Lady Margaret Countess of Thanet, and Isabel Countess of Northhampton. , that grew up to perfect age; she built them up in the nurture and fear of the Lord; seasoned them with sound Principles of Religion, as was sufficiently evident to those who have known them, and their constancy to the true Religion, in which they were trained up; teaching their Children the same Principles which they had sucked with their Mother's milk.  
This excellent Lady had, I say, but two to build on; but God did so bless them, even in the sight of their Mother, that she saw them arrive at the pitch and praise of Wise Women. And by their issue they gave her Pregnant hopes, that they would build up, or keep up the House of her Ennobled Family, like Rachel and Leah, which two did build the house of Israel. So that her Children, and her children's Children, and their Children, did spring up, crave, and receive her Blessing; and shall always call her Blessed, who hath entailed such Blessings upon them, by her Affection, Piety, and Providence, Prov. 13. 22.  
Next, As to her Servants domestic, she well knew that they were pars domûs; and how necessary a part of the House the Servants are, and therefore to be kept tied, sustained, and carefully to be held up, if in decay, repaired; and therefore this part of her House she was always building or repairing by the hand of her bounty, as well as by good and Religious Order in her Family. Indeed she looked on some (and possibly on some of the meaner sort of her trusty Servants, whose Offices might occasion their nearer attendance) to be such as Seneca allows them to be, humiles amici, Good Servants are humble Friends. As Friends in no ill nor insignificant compliment, style themselves humble Servants to their Friend, true Friends being willing to stoop to the meanest offices of Servants, when their Friends need requires it. Therefore as many great and wise Governors of Families have been observed to do, in certain seasons to condescend, let down themselves and their state, by taking up their discreeter Servants, into some degree of Familiarity with them; so, I say, this Heroic Lady would, (besides the necessary discoursing with them about her Affairs) divert herself by familiar conversation with her servants; in which they were sure (besides other gains from her bountiful hands) to gain from the words of her mouth something of Remark; whether pleasant or profitable, yet very memorable for some or other occasion of life. So well did she observe the Wise man's Caution, Eccesiasticus, 4. 30. Be not a Lion in thy house; intimating that some are always in rage, and brawl, and fright their Family from their presence; her Pleasantness and Affability made their very addresses a great part of their preferment.  
It was indeed observable, that although she clothed herself in humble and mean attire, yet like the wise and virtuous Woman, Prov. 31. 21. She clothed her household with scarlet; her allowance and gifts were so bountiful, and so frequent to them, that they might afford to cloth themselves in such Garb, as best became the servants of so great and so good a Mistress. And some of the Wise have thought it a great Error, and against the Rules of Oeconomics, to be niggardly to good Servants, to grow richer by such a thrift as makes the Servant's back bare, or belly empty, to fill the Master's Purse.  
But although in this she did follow the pattern given to all the Wise, Prov. 31. 15. Give meat to her household, and in such a plenty, that Hospitality and Charity might have their portion with them; while she herself was contented with any pittance, little in quantity, (but enough to keep life and Soul together, as we say) Viands not costly or rare, not far fetched and dear bought, but such as were at hand, parable and cheap. Yet here I may be bold to tell you something to wonder at; That she much neglected, and treated very harshly one Servant, and a very Ancient one, who served her from her Cradle, from her Birth, very faithfully, according to her mind; which ill usage therefore her Menial Servants, as well as her Friends and Children, much repined at. And who this Servant was, I have named before. It was her body, who, as I said, was a Servant most obsequious to her Mind, and served her fourscore and six years.  
It will be held scarce credible to say, but it is a truth to aver, that the Mistress of this Family was dieted more sparingly, and I believe, many times more homely, and clad more coarsely and cheaply than most of the Servants in her House; her Austerity and Humility was seen in nothing more, than (if I may so allude to Coloss. 2. 23.) in neglecting of the body, not in any honour to the satisfying of the Flesh.  
Whether it were by long custom, to prove with how little Nature may be content; and that, if the Appetite can be satisfied, the Body may be fed with what is most common and cheap. She taught us that Hunger and Health seek not Delicacies nor Fullness.  
O that those who think they cannot live, except they far deliciously every day, would but make trial one year, how they may preserve their own health, and save their poor brethren from starving (by hunger or nakedness) out of those superfluities and surfeits, by which they destroy themselves. That those who cloth themselves in Purple (beyond what their station or estate requires) would inquire into more particulars than I can yet inform them, of this great Ladies Abstinencies and humble Attire, and how successful they were to her long Life, with Health and Reputation.  
Some Texts out of this Book of the Proverbs, the Parable of Dives, and even this Lady's Example, might supply the defective Application of a Sermon; reform or shame Gluttony, cause vain Gallantry to impose sumptuary Laws to itself, sit content with homebred fare, home-growing, and homespun manufacture, and not run to France or Persia, to fetch form or matter for their Pride.  
This opulent Lady might, if she had pleased, have fetched from far, and at the dearest rates, provisions for the flesh, the Back or Belly, but her greatest appetite was after Wisdom, and she knew as well as Seneca, that Corpora in sagina, animae in mane, 
Ep. 88  that in a fatted Body, commonly dwells a lean, and starved Soul; and had heard of St. gregory's Aphorism, Wisdom is seldom found in terra suaviter viventium, it will not thrive so kindly in those territories, where men delight to far deliciously every day.  
We may conclude that this great Matron, who had such Command over herself, knew how to Deny herself; had learned our Saviour's lesson of Self-denial; and St. Paul's Affirmation (1 Cor. 9 27.) might be hers; Contundo corpus meum, I keep under my Body, and bring it into subjection. These Abridgements were in this Lady a Mortification, which Humility and Modesty concealed, but which Wisdom and Resolution did put in practice.  
I should now have done with that part of Oeconomy which respects her Servants, but that she had another way of Building, as to them; namely, building them up in the most holy Faith; and also giving them their meat in due season; that meat, which our Saviour told his followers would not perish, but endure to everlasting life; this he told them of in the sixth Chapter of S. John, when they made such haste to find him, soon after he had fed them with the loaves; and by this Meat, in opposition to the perishing, some Interpreters tell us, he meant his Body in the Holy Sacrament, the meat that would nourish them to everlasting life.  
This spiritual meat, this Lady wisely took care that it might be provided for all her household in due season; that is, at the three Seasons in the year when the Church requires it; and once more in the year, at the least; besides those three great Festivals, she made one Festival more, for all that were fit to be invited, or compelled (as in the Gospel) to come to that Supper.  
And that all might be Fitted, and well-prepared, she took care that several Books of Devotion and Piety might be provided four times in the year; that every one might take their choice of such Book as they had not before, by which means those that had lived in her house long (and she seldom turned any away) might be furnished with Books of Religion and Devotion in every kind.  
By these, and more instances, which it were easy to produce, it appeared, that this Religiously Wise Lady had deliberately put on Joshuah's holy resolution, Josh. 24. 15. I and my house will serve the Lord; and might have the Eulogy which that memorable Queen pronounced of the best ordered Family in the World, 1 Kin. 10. 8. Happy are thy men, happy are these thy Servants, which stand continually before thee.  
But yet House and Family, in this copious Allegory, may comprehend more than I have named; Besides Children and Servants, Allies, Relations, and even Friends, were in some sort of her Family and Clientele. The House of Saul and the House of David is taken for all that adhered to either House. Indeed the whole Country, considering the freedom of her Hospitality, was, in this sense, her House; nay, even all of Quality that did pass through the Country. It was held uncouth and almost an incivility, if they did not visit this Lady, and her House, which stood conspicuous and open to all Comers, and her Ladyship known to be easy of access to all addresses in that kind. And seldom did any come under her roof, who did not carry some mark and memorial of her House; some Badge of her Friendship and Kindness: she having always in store such things as she thought fit to present. She did not always consider what was great, or what might by value make the present worth acceptation, or how it suited to the condition of the Person; but what (as her pleasant fancy suggested) might make her memorable to the person who was to receive it.  
Now for the Building, or Repairing, or Adorning all these kinds of Houses, of which I have spoken; the Material, and Houses literally taken, or her Household, her Family of Children, Servants, Allies, and the rest, she had a Providence and Forecast with herself, and also an After-cast, as you may call it, and casting up her expense, and consulting with her Officers. She well understood and followed the advice of our Wise King, Prov. 24. 27. Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the Field, and afterward build thine house. That is, be sure you have Materials in readiness for Building. Now the most material thing to be prepared, and in readiness, is that which provides all materials in every kind; that is, in plain English, Money; which the same Wise man tells in another place, Money answereth all things; all things useful to be prepared claim it, crave it, call for it; and, if it be present, it answers them all with satisfaction.  
Before she began to build a Tower (to build in any kind) she first sat down and counted the cost, as our Saviour intimates wise Builders will do; she kept exact accounts weekly in Books of her own Method, and the Totals were duly signed with her own hand.  
This way of strictness, indeed hath been slighted in this loser Age, as an impertinent piece of Providence, in persons of great Birth and Estate, but yet the total neglect of it hath not only frustrated the designs of many, who had laid good Foundations for Building, and could get no higher; but hath let fall many well-built Houses, for want of Means to hold them up; and indeed hath been the occasion of ruin to many Noble Houses and Families; while making no reckoning of what they did or might spend, have brought themselves or their Successors to an easy and even reckoning; to have nothing left in remainder; or nothing proportionable to support and hold up the Honour of those Families and Houses which their Progenitors erected.  
This was wisely fore-seen and prevented by this Noble Person, by which means she was able to hold up, and enlarge her Houses, and so left them and her Patrimony entire to her Posterity, which otherwise might have been wholly wasted and dilapidated.  
But yet we have not taken any view of the Chief of her Houses, the immaterial, inward House of her Soul, so termed by Hugo, so by Bede; the former speaks of building the Moral Fabric by Virtue, the other the Spiritual House by Grace.  
And here I must seriously profess myself to have been perplexed in my thoughts, where to begin, and how to make an end, and in what Method to proceed.  
If I should say was well furnished with materials of every kind, to build up this House of her Soul, that is, with all Virtues belonging to her Sex and Condition; if I should say these Virtues were perfected with Divine Graces, I believe I should have plenty of Witnesses who now hear me.  
Virtues, Intellectual, Moral, Theological, they were conspicuous in her Say, in her Do, in her Conversation, and the manner of her Life. As to herself, in great Humility, Modesty, Temperance, and Sobriety of Mind; as to the World, in Justice, Courtesy, and Beneficence; and to God, in Acts of Piety, Devotion, and Religion. These have so flowed, so crowded together, into my Meditations, that as they broke into my thoughts tumultuously, as it were, and without Order, so I must crave your pardon and leave, if I shall take them up as they came, and speak of some few of them, without that exactness of Order which might be thought requisite.  
To have attained to the Title in the Text, to have been Wise, might (as I have intimated before) comprehend all Intellectual, nay indeed, all Moral Virtues, and Divine Graces. Whoso is truly Wise, hath all these in some measure, or must use all diligence to have them; he must add to faith, 
2 Pet. 1. 5, 6, 7.  virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly-kindness, and to brotherly-kindness, charity.  
He that will build for Heaven, or as St. Peter there speaks, be partaker of the divine nature; or as our Saviour expresseth it, would take the Kingdom 
Mat. 11. 12.  of Heaven by violence, he must (addere Pelion Ossae) accumulate, add all those Virtues one to another; He that will build his hopes in Heaven, must be provided of all these materials reckoned up by St. Peter; and when he hath cleared the ground from Briers and Thorns, purged out Lust, got clear from the Corruptions which is in the World through Lust; he must lay the Foundation of Faith; and then must add Virtue, Knowledge, Temperance, Patience, etc. all kinds of Virtue and Grace.  
I might first tell what advantages she had for intellectual Virtues, even from Nature itself, which had endowed her Soul with such excellent Abilities, as made her ready to build up herself in the knowledge of all things decent and praiseworthy in her Sex. She had great sharpness of Wit, a faithful Memory, and deep Judgement, so that by the help of these, much Reading, and Conversation with Persons eminent for Learning, she had early gained a knowledge, as of the best things, so an ability to discourse in all Commendable Arts and Sciences, as well as in those things which belong to Persons of her Birth and Sex to know.  
She could discourse with Virtuoso's, Travellers, Scholars, Merchants, Divines, Statesmen, and with Good Housewives in any kind.— Insomuch that a Prime and Elegant Wit, well seen in all humane 
Dr. Donne.  Learning, and afterwards devoted to the study of Divinity (by the encouragement and command of a Learned King, and a rare Proficient in it) is reported to have said of this Lady, in her younger years, to this effect; That she knew well how to discourse of all things, from Predestination, to Slea-silk. Meaning, that although she was skilful in Houswifry, and in such things in which Women are conversant; yet her penetrating Wit soared up to pry into the highest Mysteries; looking at the highest example of Female Wisdom, Prov. last. Although she knew Wool, and Flax, fine Linen, and Silk, things appertaining to the Spindle and the Distaff; yet (ver. 26.) she could open her Mouth with Wisdom, knowledge of the best and highest things; and if this had not been most affected by her, Solid Wisdom, knowledge of the best things, such as make wise unto salvation; if she had sought Fame rather than Wisdom, possibly she might be ranked among those Wits and Learned of that Sex, of whom Pythagoras, or Plutarch, or any of the Ancients, have made such mention.  
But she affected rather to study with those Noble Bereans, Acts 17. 11, 12. and those honourable women (as St. Paul there styles them) who searched the Scriptures daily; with Mary, she chose the better part, of Learning; the Doctrine of Christ.  
Authors of several kinds of Learning, some of Controversies very abstruse, were not unknown unto her. She much commended one Book, William Barklays Dispute with Bellarmine, both, as she knew, of the Popish persuasion, but the former less Papal; and who, she said, had well stated a main Point, and opposed that Learned Cardinal, for giving too much power, even in Temporals, to the Pope, over Kings and Secular Princes; which, she seemed to think, the main thing aimed at by the followers of that Court; to pretend a claim only to govern directly in Spirituals; but to intent chief (though indirectly) to hook in Temporals, and in them to gain Power, Dominion, and Tribute; Money and Rule being the Gods to which the Roman Courtiers and their Partisans chief Sacrifice.  
She was not ignorant of knowledge in any kind, which might make her Conversation not only useful and grave, but also pleasant and delightful; which that she might better do, she would frequently bring out of the rich Storehouse of her Memory, things new and old, Sentences, or Say of remark, which she had read or learned out of Authors, and with these her Walls, her Bed, her Hang, and Furniture must be adorned; causing her Servants to write them in Papers, and her Maids to pin them up, that she, or they, in the time of their dressing, or as occasion served, might remember, and make their descants on them. So that, though she had not many Books in her Chamber, yet it was dressed up with the flowers of a Library.  
Go now, and tell the Superfinical, who disdain the meanness of her Chamber and Apartments; who cannot dress themselves, but in well-dressed and gorgeous Rooms; let them come hither and see the riches of her Furniture, better than Silver and Gold, if King Solomon (who had Silver beyond weight, and Gold in abundance) may be Judge. The Say of Wisdom, which he determines to be more precious than Rubies, these were strewed about her Chambers, these were instead of those rare Trinkets so much in use, Esa. 3. 20. So that you may safely tell, that her Furniture and Chambers were adorned with many precious Jewels, more eligible than all that glittering bravery which God threatened to take away from the haughty Daughters of Zion, Isa. 3. 18. I will not name them, but it were worth your considering the particulars set down in five or six verses of that Chapter, where the pride and vanity of those women of Zion, who sat at ease, and swum in plenty, is described, and exposed; so that the Great ones of these times, of either Sex, may compare, and see, with how many of those superfluities their Tiring-houses abound, of which this great and noble Lady had neither use nor esteem.  
It was apparent that the virtue which this Lady most studied and practised was Humility. Those that will build high, must lay their foundation low, no fit virtue than Humility for this work, for this Builder, and for that which she esteemed her greatest building, which was to build for Heaven.  
This virtue of Humility shined through her whole Conversation, her easy Reception, her Affability, the Plainness, as I said, of her Chamber and Furniture, so of her Apparel, her Dress, her Garb; she was, as the Apostle advises, Clothed with humility, 
1 Pet. 5. 5.  all over. Her greatest Ornaments were those of a meek and quiet spirit. She was (by the merit of her due Titles) in Honour three Countesses, but had a stranger seen her in her Chamber, he would not have thought he had seen one Lady, as Ladies now adays appear. Indeed you might have sometimes seen her sitting in the Alms-house (which she built) among her twelve Sisters (as she called them) and, as if they had been her Sisters indeed, or her Children, she would sometimes eat her Dinner with them, at their Alms-house; but you might find them often dining with her (at her Table) some of them every Week, all of them once a Month: and after meat, as freely and familiarly conversing with them in her Chamber, as if they had been her greatest Guests. And truly the greatest of her Guests, her noblest Children, could not please her, if they did not visit them, and pass their Salutes at her Alms-house, with those Sisters, and the Mother, sometimes, before they made their first Address to herself, their Mother; whose natural Affection was known to be great, but her Charity and Humility greater; and she commonly admonished her Children, coming from far to pay their Duty to her, that before they made their Address to her for her Blessing, they should take the Blessing of the poor, the Alms-women's blessing by the way.  
Nevertheless, although the Nice and Delicate, who look only at things after the outward appearance, might think meanly of her Chamber, her Accoutrements, Company, and Bodily presence, yet of that plainness, (her choice, not necessity, compelling) the Sober and Wise had other thoughts. And indeed they might look at her Chamber, as a Temple, a Court, a Tribunal, an Almonary; a place where God was daily, nay, thrice a day, worshipped; where almost every day some addresses were made from some of the chief of these parts, and strangers of the best Quality; a Tribunal, where all submitted to the Doom of her Judgement, even to the sentence of her lips, as to an Oracle; and it were not insignificant if I should call it a Royal Burse, or Exchequer, where variety of presents and money flowed, and was issued out daily to some or other Objects of her Charity, Kindness, or Bounty.  
She had known greatness, as well as any other, being bred in the Courts, or in the Verges of the Courts, of three great Princes, who (reigning in Peace) had as much magnificence and glory as any that had swayed the Sceptre of this Land.  
But whether she lived in, or near it, she was one of the Ornaments of it, and knew, when time and occasion served, to shine in her Sphere, and to adorn herself with Ornaments, such as are proper for the Courts of Princes. But when her outward clothing was of wrought Gold, valuable in the sight of men; her inward clothing was humility, a meek and quiet spirit, which God most values; which is in the sight of God of great price. 
1 Pet. 3. 4.   
It was one great sign of Humility in herself, that she was not Censorious of others, and of the Liberty which they took, and might lawfully take, in those outward Garbs, to apparel themselves according to their Rank and Place; which she knew they might do without affectation of Pride and Vanity.  
When of later times, and since the happy Restitution of the King to his Court, she sometimes beheld in Visitants of several Ranks, what others did perchance look at as affected and fantastical, she would only make such innocent and pleasant reflections, as the parties themselves were rather delighted with the freedom, than troubled with any show of Censure.  
She was, I say, so unwilling to be Censorious, or to seem uneasy to any of those, who as she thought did necessarily pay an obedience to Fashion and Custom; which she knew was a kind of Tyrant, and will Reign over the most, while we live under the Moon; That when a Neighbour, a Lady, whom she used (as she commonly did all) with great Familiarity, expressing together with her their Joy, in discourse of His Majesty's most glorious and happy return to his Kingdom, and Court at Whitehall, & the Gallantry which at his entrance attended that place; the Lady wished that she would once more go to London, and the Court, and glut her eyes with the sight of such happy Objects, and after that give up herself to her Country retirement: She suddenly, and pleasantly replied, if I should go to those places, now so full of Gallantry and Glory, I ought to be used as they do ill-sighted, or unruly Horses, have Spectacles (or Blinkerss) put before mine eyes, lest I should see and censure what I cannot competently judge of; be offended myself, or give offence to others; Her meaning was thought to be, that she, having taken leave of worldly glory, as to herself, now unfit for it; aught to give leave to others, to whom such things, of course, and by the Places which they held, did belong, to enjoy their freedom, without her Censure.  
Her Conversation was indeed meek, affable, and gentle, her Words, according to the Circumstances of Persons in her presence, pleasant, or grave, always seasoned with salt, savoury, but never bitter. I had the honour to be often admitted to her Discourse, but never heard (nor have been told by others) that she was invective, or censorious, or did use to speak ill, or censoriously of Persons, or Actions; but she was especially cautious in censuring Public Persons, or Actions in matter of State. I was present when she was told of the certainty of the War with the Dutch, and of the great preparations on all hands; on which Subject she only said, If their sins be greater than ours, they would have the worst.  
Constancy was so known a virtue in Her, that it might vindicate the whole Sex, from the contrary imputation.  
She was observed to be very constant to all her determinations, and would not easily vary from what she had once declared to be her mind. She had that part of Prudence which some call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, consultiveness, deliberating, and well-distinguishing what was fit, what indifferent, what was necessary; She used, as she said, to chew the Chud, ruminating of the next days business in her night wake. When she had once weighed the Circumstances, and resolved; she did not like to have any after considerations, or be moved by them.  
This made her constant to her resolutions, even in lesser matters, as, the times of her removals from one of her houses to another.  
She had six Houses (as I have intimated) in each of which she used, at her prefixed times, to keep her residence.  
None can call this an unsettledness, or humour of mutability; it was not only, that she might the better hold up, and keep in repair those Houses, which commonly in the Owner's absence (who is the Soul of the House) turn to Carcases, ready to be dissolved, fall to ruin and dust; But she resolved by her presence to animate the Houses which she had built, and the Places where she lived; to dispense and disperse the influences of her Hospitality and Charity, in all the Places where her Patrimony lay, that many might be made Partakers of her comforts and kindness.  
In her frequent removals, both going and coming, she strewed her Bounty all the way. And for this end it was, (as may be charitably conjectured) that she so often removed; and that not only in the Winter season, less fit for travelling; but also that she chose to pass those uncouth, and untrodden, those mountainous, and almost impassable ways; that she might make the poor people and Labourers her Pioners, who were always well rewarded for their pains; let the season be never so bad, the places never so barren, yet we may say it, by way of allusion, Psal. 65. 11. She crowned the Season with her goodness, and her paths dropped fatness, even upon the pasture of the wilderness; the barren mountains. If she found not Mines in these Mountains, I am sure the Poor found Money in good plenty, whensoever she passed over them.  
But that which I speak of this for an instance of her Constancy, is a known Story in these parts.  
When about three years since she had appointed to remove from Appleby to Brougham-Castle (in January) the day being very cold; a frost, and misty; yet much company coming (as they usually did) to attend her removals; she would needs hold her resolution, and in her passage out of her house she diverted into the Chapel (as at such times she commonly did) and there, at or near a window, sent up her private Prayers and Ejaculations; when immediately she fell into a Swoon, and could not be recovered, until she had been laid for some time upon a Bed, near a great fire. The Gentlemen and Neighbours who came to attend her, used much persuasion, that she would return to her Chamber, and not travel on so sharp and cold a day; but she having before fixed on that day, and so much company being come purposely to wait on her, she would go; and although assoon as she came to her Horselitter, she swooned again, and was carried into a Chamber, as before, yet assoon as that Fit was over, she went; and was no sooner come to her Journeys end, (nine miles) but a swooning seized on her again; from which, being soon recovered, when some of her servants, and others represented to her, with repining, her undertaking such a Journey, foretell by divers to be so extremely hazardous to her Life; she replied, she knew she must die, and it was the same thing to Her to die in the way, as in her House; in her Litter, as in her Bed; declaring a courage no less than the great Roman General,— Necesse est ut eam, non ut vivam; She would not acknowledge any necessity why she should Live, but believed it necessary to keep firm to her Resolution. She did indeed discover by this, not only a Moral constancy, but a Christian Courage, against the fear of death; from whence might also be well supposed, a Soul ready and prepared to meet Death any where, knowing what the Apostle had taught her, 2 Cor. 5. 1. That if her earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved, she should have a Building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens.  
That Death was but a removal from one house to another, from a worse house, to a better, an earthly house to an heavenly; flitting from an House built by Nature, a Tabernacle earthly and dissoluble, to an House, a firm Mansion, prepared by Christ, built by God, eternal in the Heavens; from a Tabernacle to a Temple.  
And having mentioned her Courage, I might show, that although it be a Virtue, not so often to be found, nor expected to be found in that Sex; yet, that she had it to an Heroic degree; I will set before you but one instance, which hath been brought to me by good Information.  
It was in the late time of Rebellion and Usurpation, when they threatened to levelly all degrees of men and women, and had no respect to Honour, either in Titles or in real Worth and Dignity; but did studiously, and affectedly, seek to affront, and pour contempt upon those, chief, who by their Birth and Place might challenge Honour, as due to them, as Propriety and Inheritance could Entitle any to whatsoever they possessed. Having cut down Honour in its great Emblem, the Royal Oak; intending that in this our Druina, no Loyal Oak should be left, none to give shelter to any of the Royal Branches, (although Providence confuted them literally) but as they could, and by degrees, to extirpate all the Loyal Nobility; I say, when they had dried up the Fountain of Honour in their King, it was too great an eyesore to behold the lustre of it in his Subjects; to let any Noble, but especially Loyal Blood, run in the Streams, that derived their Honour from that Fountain.  
It was even then, that this courageous Lady dared to own herself Loyal; then, when they had filled her Castle with Soldiers, and those of fierce and fanatical spirits, and none more fierce than they.  
The Head of those Locusts, like those in the Revelation, 9 7. armed and crowned; for then every fanatical Head fancied himself to have, or deserve, a Crown: They were the Saints, and they must Reign: Holiness, you know, gives great pretence to govern in Temporals, as well as in Spirituals. The Head of those who at that time oppressed this Noble Lady, was one, whom even his great 
Harrison.  Master himself, looked upon as under a Dispensation, more terribly fanatical than any in his Host, terrible even to himself and his usurped Power. This dreadful man quartered himself under the Roof of this Noble Lady; had made suspicious inquiries, or rather declared his presumptions, of Her sending Assistance privately, where he was conscious that Loyal Duty required, and her affection might wish it, if there had been means with safety to convey it; but being not able to make proof of that, he would needs know her opinion, and dispute her out of her Loyalty; at a time when she slept, and lived but at his mercy, giving her Alarms night and day when he listed.  
If she had now shrunk, and seemed to yield to his Opinion, she might pretend the Learned Philosopher's excuse, who, disputing with a great General, and yielding up the truth of the Cause, pleaded (to those who upbraided him) that he had done wisely, to be confuted by him, who had so many Legions, such an Army to prove what he list, near, and at his Command. But this undaunted Lady would not so easily yield, but would be superior in the Dispute, having Truth and Loyalty on her side, she would not betray them, at the peril of her Life and Fortune; but boldly asserted, that she did love the King, that she would live and die in her Loyal thoughts to the King; and so with her Courage dulled the edge of so sharp an Adversary, that by God's merciful restraint he did her no harm at that time.  
Diligence was a noted Virtue in her; her active Soul filling up all the Gaps of Time, with something useful or delightful to herself or others. But to undertake to describe this, and her other Virtues, that is, her Life, were endless▪ and not necessary; none could describe it but herself that lived it; And, indeed, by her great diligence, she did describe much of it; but if I should tell you how much, possibly you would neither Credit me, nor Commend so much, as Admire, her. But she had such a desire to know, review, and reflect, upon all the occurrences, passages, and actions of her Life, as thinking it an especial mean to apply her heart to Wisdom, by so numbering her days, that none of them might be wholly lost.  
That (as St. Bernard advised) her actions in passing might not pass away; she did cast up the account of them, and see what every day had brought forth; she did set down what was of more remark, or dictated, and caused much of it to be set down in Writing, in some certain seasons, which she contrived to be vacant from Addresses; judging her time to be better spent thus, than in that ordinary Tattle, which Custom has taught many (of her Sex especially) who have no business, and know no greater duty of Life, than to see and be seen, in formal visits, and insignificant parley. As if it were a Game to play away Time, in which all parties cheat each other, yet never feel that they are Cozened of a Jewel most precious and irreparable; which he that wins from another is sure to lose himself. Whatsoever kind of Censure others may pass of this exactness of Diary as too minute and trivial a Diligence; I think we may thence charitatably conclude a serenity of Conscience, clear, at least, from foul and presumptuous sins, which durst bring all past actions of Life, to a Test, and Review. Who of a thousand is there that can produce a thousand witnesses (such is Conscience) of the innocency of their Life? that can, or dare tell, even themselves, all that they have done or said, and open their own Books to rise in Judgement for, or against themselves?  
Oh, that we could do so! This were praejudicium summi illius Judicii, a fore-judging of ourselves, that we might not be judged, (at least) not condemned with the world.  
I confess, I have been informed, that after some reviews, these were laid aside; and some parts of these Diaries were summed into Annals.  
As she had been a most Critical Searcher into her own Life, so she had been a diligent Enquirer into the Lives, Fortunes, and Characters of many of her Ancestors for many years.  
Some of them she hath left particularly described; and the exact Annals of divers passages, which were most remarkable in her own Life, ever since it was wholly at her own disposal; that is, since the Death of her last Lord and Husband, Philip Earl of Pembroke, which was for the space of six or seven and twenty years.  
But this I will say, that as from this her great Diligence her Posterity may find contentment in reading these abstracts of Occurrences in her own Life; being added to her Heroic Father's, and Pious Mother's Lives, dictated by herself; so, they may reap greater fruits of her Diligence, in finding the Honours, Descents, Pedigrees, Estates, and the Titles, and Claims of their Progenitors, to them; comprised Historically and Methodically in three Volumes of the larged size, and each of them three (or four) time's fairly written over; which although they were said to have been collected and digested in some part, by one, 
* Sir Matthew Hales, Lord Chief Justice.  or more, Learned Heads, yet they were wholly directed by herself; and attested in the most parts by her own Hand.  
But I will not spend more time in presenting before you her Personal Moral Virtues; any one of which singly might have made some other Eminent; but in Her, all, or the most of such as might deserve praise or admiration (for their degree) might have been found.  
Her whole Conversation was regular, a Rule (scarce subject to exception) strict, and straitlaced, as to herself; but benign, candid, and favourable, leaving others to their Liberty.  
There might indeed seem in the opinion of some, many Paradoxes and Contradictions in her Life; She lived, and conversed, outwardly with the World, as easily as might be; yet her Guise inward and reflexed, was quite as one of another World.  
Of an humour pleasing to all; yet like to none; her Dress, not disliked by any, yet imitated by none. Those who fed by Her, might be full, if with Her, starved; to eat by the measures she took to herself. She was absolute Mistress of her Self, her Resolutions, Actions, and Time; and yet allowed a time for every purpose, for all Addresses, for any Persons; None had access but by leave, when she called; but none were rejected; none must stay longer than she would; yet none departed unsatisfied. Like him at the Stern, she seemed to do little or nothing, but indeed turned and steered the whole course of her Affairs.  
She seemed (2 Cor. 6. 10.) as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all things. She had many occasions of sorrow, but appeared as if she sorrowed not, and again, rejoiced as if she rejoiced not. She had no visible Transports, she did use the World as not using, at least, as not abusing of it.  
None disliked what she did, or was, because she was like herself in all things: sibi constans, semper eadem, the Great, Wise Queen's Motto, whose Favour in Her first, and that Queen's last years, she was thought worthy of, and received, as herself hath expressly remembered. I say, she was to herself, her own Reason and Resolutions, constant, permanent, knowing that the fashion of this world passeth away.  
If she had been like the world, she could not have liked herself, nor have been so much approved by the Judicious, and Wise. Great Examples, and those that give them, are things rare, and seldom seen; exempt and separate from the Ages they live in; gazed at while living, praised and admired when dead: Future Fame being wiser and kinder than the present Opinion or Judgement of Contemporaries.  
There are a Generation who think that none can be eminently Good, or in any degree Perfect in this world, until they go out of it; by voluntary solitude, and sequestering themselves wholly from Converse with others in it, become secluse, shut up from common Society.  
I have indeed found some Men and Women, eminent in Zeal, wholly devoted to the Church of England; who thought it would be of great advantage, Religious, and Politic, if some kind of Protestant-Nunneries were allowed, and instituted amongst us; for which some have projected Models, and Rules very considerable, and some have well considered them; But I shall not interpose in that now.  
But I find Women of high esteem, whom St. Hierom, St. Austin, and others of the Ancients, have commended for their Holiness of Life, (seen in their Devotions, Abstinencies, Charity, etc.) who never were professed Votaries in that kind.  
And when I call to mind this great Ladies exemplary Regularities, without affectation, and constancy in them; not for some hours, or days, or years; but even all the time that she had the absolute Rule over herself: I cannot but reflect, that Virtue and Piety are more glorious, by how much they are more conspicuous; that it is not necessary that Piety should be less sincere and intense, by the extensiveness of it; but that it is far more useful for the Generation, that our light should shine before men, to draw all eyes to the love and liking of Virtue, than which nothing can be more beautiful, (if an Heathen Philosopher may be Judge) if we had eyes to see it, or mind to understand it.  
As it is more difficult, so it is more praiseworthy to be Good amongst the Society of the Bad; with Lot to remain pure in Sodom; with Joseph and Moses in Pharaoh's Court; with Noah to keep integrity, to be upright against the world, to be so in a crooked and perverse generation.  
Certainly to overcome the World is more generous than to fly from it. Temptations and dangers are not to be sought for, yet he only is to be crowned that overcomes, when necessarily engaged in them; rather than he that quits his Post and Station to avoid them.  
I may say in this case to you, as St. Paul said to 
1 Cor. 5. 10.  his Corinthians, That if you will altogether decline the company of fornicators, covetous, extortioners, or the Idolaters of this world, then must ye needs go out of the world; but he doth not advise them, (nor I you) to do so. But rather (as he advises Timothy) 
1 Tim. 4. 12.  to be examples in Word, in Conversation, in Charity, etc. that your good and chaste conversation (as St. Peter) may win, or shame, or convince, and possibly gain, those with whom we have converse or affinity. For what knowest thou, O man, or woman, (as he said a little after to Believers) but thou may'st save thy unbelieving Wife, Husband, Friend?  
Surely, it had been great pity, great loss to the World, to the Church, that a Person of this Lady's Character, should have been a Recluse, shut up as a Monial; No; rather than confine her large Soul to one Cell; let her expatiate herself, and fill her six Houses, and her Patrimonial Country, with her charity, piety, bounty, and good conversation.  
As 
* Ep. 15.  St. Hierome saith of the devout Asella, living strictly in Rome; In Vrbe turbidâ, Eremum invenerat; so she was a Nun in a Court; using the same, or greater Abstinencies, Hours, Devotions, Reading, Praying, and all kind of decent Regularities, more strictly than they in their Cloisters. And had she been of a Church set upon seven hills, would she have been with outward pomp professed, and have adored him that exalts himself above all that is called God; she should have been mounted up to Heaven, Canonised (for another St. Anne) and peradventure, more deservedly than the Saint with the Wheel, St. Bridget, whose Revelations so ill agree with S. Catharines', Madonna Teresa, or any of those, with whose Miracles and Praises, their old, or new Legends have so swelled, and abused the Credulity of those, who walk not by Faith, but live by Trust.  
She had built a truly Religious House, (if such may be deemed a Nunnery) and was a kind of Abbess over it, by awful oversight, and conversation with the Sisters, and keeping them to Religious Orders and Observances, (such were her Rules) for more than three and twenty years; for so long these twelve Sisters and a Mother, had been her Eleemosynaries, after her own hands had laid the foundation of the House, and led the whole number at first into it, and placed them in their several Rooms.  
I have hitherto spoken of her building by her Virtues; but I am not yet come to her main Building, her Temple; that is, her Religion, and the Worship of God, at which she daily wrought, (serving of God night and day) framing fitly both the outward Porches and the Body of it; composing her Body and Soul to constant and reverend Addresses to God; and by inward Acts of Piety and Grace, ceased not, until she had finished the Sanctum Sanctorum in her Soul, had (as to some good degree) perfected holiness in the fear of God.  
I have mentioned before her outward building, or repairing the Houses of God; a good sign of inward Devotion, that she affected not a cheap Religion, was not willing it should cost her nought; she thought it not decent to repair her own Houses, and let God's House lie waste.  
But it is her inward building, of her Spiritual House, which we now speak of; her Faith, Patience, Mortification, Devotion and Holiness of Life.  
For her Religion, and professing of the true Faith, she did boldly, upon all occasions, acknowledge what it was; but especially upon one remarkable occasion, and it was this.  
About the same time when the Swordmen usurped Dominion over the Persons and Estates of all the Loyal in the Land, they permitted their Spiritual Emissaries to exercise Dominion over their Faith; and they were busy in Catechising, but whom? not Children in the Church, (no more than they cared to Baptise them there;) But they must Catechise Men and Women of all Ages and Ranks whatsoever, in their Houses, or where they appointed them to appear.  
Well, this great Lady was not more dreaded for her Loyalty, than suspected for her Religion, and therefore, as they had brought her to the Touchstone for the one, they must bring her to the Test, and Trial for the other.  
Whether it were a Committee, with a Club of their Divines, Lay-elders, and Superintendents, over all that were appointed, I have not been informed; but to gain countenance, they drew in with them some Ministers of better temper, and came to her Castle, which had a Garrison (no good Guests to her, but sure Friends to them.) They bring her to be examined; what their Questions were, I have not particularly learned; only by her Answer, I may suppose one in general to have been, What Faith and Religion she professed?  
One might well have thought, in a Person of her Quality, Age, and Spirit, Disdain at such Insolency should have kept her from answering, or saying any thing, except in reproaching their Arrogancy, and proud Hypocrisy.  
But she having learned another Lesson, 1 Pet. 3. 15. To be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear, her readiness and meekness made her willing to give a reason of her Hope; Hope, which is built upon Faith; and she told them to this, or like, Effect.  
That her Faith was built upon the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles; that is, upon the Holy Scriptures, the Word of God, as delivered and Expounded by the Church of England, whose Doctrine, Discipline, and Worship, as by Law established, she was bred in, and had embraced; and by God's Grace would persist in it to her Lives end. This general (with other more explicit) Answer, was so apposite; delivered with such firmness of mind, that some Ministers whom they had drawn in with them, to give a colour to their presumption; observing that this well-taught Lady had purchased a good degree of boldness in the Faith; observing, I say, the steadfastness and trial of her Faith, more precious than Gold that perisheth, (they knew that Gold she would easily let go, upon all occasions, very liberally, but saw she would hold fast the Faith once delivered to her) they left her; one of them going out weeping, amazed, and confounded, to find such Knowledge, Constancy, and Courage, in a Woman, her Faith so sound, and laudable, and mixed with so much Christian meekness, and Condescension.  
The rest also (being no doubt, astonished at her Understanding and Answers) left her a glorious Confessor, willing enough, no doubt, to have been a Martyr, and to have sealed to the truth by undergoing any more fiery trial.  
And she was after this so resolute, to stick to the Order of the Church in the main point of Practice, partaking of the holy Eucharist, that when there was a kind of Interdict on the Land, a forbidding to administer the Sacraments according to the Common-Prayer, She would not, what danger soever might happen, communicate any other way; sticking close to the Rules and Forms of sound words, prescribed by the Rubric, to which she had always been accustomed, and had approved it by her own Judgement: having sucked also, as it were, with her Mother's Milk, wholesome Institutions, who trained her up as an obedient daughter of the Church of England.  
Herself being also observant of those Rules; and that Lady's great Piety is not only mentioned often in the Annals, which this her affectionate Daughter dictated, but also taken notice of by the Learned and Godly Mr. Perkins, who dedicates one of his Practical Treatises to Margaret Countess of Cumberland, the Mother of this Lady, which I the rather note, that some may take notice, who so readily follow him in doubtful Disputations, and yet scruple to walk with him in his practice of Conformity to the Rules of the Church.  
She was, I say, devoted to the Church of England, notwithstanding that she was compassionate and charitable to some Dissenters; She would tell, that Her Family had furnished this Diocese with one 
Vipont.  Bishop, and that by her assistance an Eminent Prelate now living, was made a Christian, of which, 
B. of W.  and of whom she would often make mention with great contentment.  
For her Devotion; some thought less of it, because she had no Domestic Chaplain; and it was an Objection, which I knew not how to answer, until I was assured, that although she had no Chaplain Menial, in her House, yet she had six Household Chaplains: at every one of her Houses the Parochial Ministers did Officiate to her Family, as well as at their Cures, and they wanted not all due encouragements from so good a Patroness.  
Indeed when Age had deprived her of the benefit of her Limbs; her hearing also being much decayed, her Chamber as I intimated was her Oratory, a house of Prayer, not that the Morning and Evening Service were performed daily there, especially of late, when her Hearing failed. But she seldom ommitted, Morning and Evening, and at Noon, to offer up her private Devotions to God, and in whatsoever Posture she was, to send up some holy Ejaculations. The Psalms for the day of the Month were never omitted to be read by herself; or, when under some indisposition, read to her by her Attendants. She much delighted in that holy Book, it was her Companion, and when persons, or their affections, cannot so well be known by themselves, they may be guessed at by their Companions.  
No greater Testimony of a Soul having her Conversation in Heaven, then by being conversant in that Heavenly Book, which, as holy Athanasius hath well demonstrated, is fitted for all persons; suited for all occasions: To receive comfort, express sorrow, to cast down, or lift up the Soul with joy; to praise God, to expostulate with him, to strengthen Faith, to nourish Hope, to stir up Holy affection; to allay Passion, to teach Patience, to await God's leisure. So that, indeed we may apply to this one parcel of Scripture, what St. Paul makes the scope of the inspired Books, that it is profitable for Doctrine, for Reproof, for Correction, for Instruction in Righteousness, that the man of God, (and not only so, but that every Godly man or woman) may be perfect, throughly furnished to every good work.  
It is scarce possible for any to be bad, that frequently reads and meditates on this Book, with desire to be good: He that reads and digests, shall be transformed into the image of it, be acted by the spirit which breathes in it. No doubt the Compilers of our Liturgy had all this in their eye, when they made the reading a part of the Psalms of David, so great a portion of the Morning and Evening Service.  
Besides this, which she did commonly read herself, she usually heard a large portion of Scripture read every day, as much as one of the Gospels read every week. So that let her Body be fed never so sparingly, her Soul was nourished with sound words, the words of Faith, which must needs give her a growth in Grace, and make a sincere heart.  
She took a particular delight in one Chapter, which she used to repeat every Lord's day in the year, and never failed to do it, it was the eighth of the Romans, which she had by heart (in the best sense) had laid it up in her heart; and truly, she could hardly find a better Cordial in any one Chapter in all the Holy Scriptures.  
Which, how comfortable, how pertinent, how useful it may be to any Christian, in any Condition, who desires with Meditation and Reflection, to peruse it; it may be sufficient to refer them to the serious reading of it, and I doubt not but they will approve this lady's Wisdom and Piety, in her choice, and frequent application of it to herself; and she did so when Death looked her in the face; repeating it the first day when her Sickness (which proved mortal) seized on her.  
As this might excite many Graces, Faith, Hope; so especially, what is the proper effect of those while we are on earth, Patience: and on Earth only these three Plants grow, Faith, Hope, Patience, though they send their fruit to Heaven, yet their Root is only on Earth, Faith is perfected by Vision, Hope consummated by Fruition; and at Heaven's gates the Patience of the Saints leaves them; no more sufferings, pain, or grief: all tears are wiped from their eyes at the first glimpse of the Beatifical Vision: But, I say, in that selected Chapter (Rom 8.) the greatest Emphasis in it, is to teach Patience, either in inward afflictions of the Soul, or outward pressures on the Body, securing the Soul against the fear of damnation, though under sinful infirmities; and sustaining the Body, and outward man, though under the Cross and greatest afflictions: assuring, that where Patience hath endured to the utmost, when Patience shall have perfected its work, it shall have its reward, a Crown at the last.  
I might enlarge by particular instances of her Patience, in bearing, and even Taking up, submissively, the Crosses which she met withal; as it cannot be imagined but one who lived so long in a perverse and crooked generation, must meet with many crosses in several kinds; both in regard of Public revolutions, and Private cross-accidents. Indeed she saw, and felt great varieties, and mixture of better and worse in both. She spun out almost the measure of one whole Age; and the Age wherein she lived, might give her experience of the greatest misery, and also felicity in the late revolutions in these three Nations, that any one Age had ever seen. Wherein the greatest Students and Searchers into the Methods of Providence, could never extricate or clear the doubts which first arose from seeing these Nations, from the top of earthly and heavenly blessings, thrown into the abyss of misery, and hellish slavery; and then again, by a powerful, but gentle hand of Providence, restored, and raised up to its former prosperity and glory.  
Herein this Lady (as many less aged) Had something like the fate of Noah; saw the times before the Flood, which Sin brought down; weathered out, with Patience, the time, under the Floods of War and Misery (Faith and Providence building her an Ark) she lived to see the deluge of Blood, and War dried up; God, in his never to be forgotten Mercy, clearing the Skies, and making the Sun, and Stars shine upon us again.  
Those were times to exercise her Patience, in a joint-stock, with others, under public Sufferings.  
But she had (and it may be seen, that she well remembered then) many private trials of her Patience; not only those, which in Common Providence, happen to all mankind, especially to the long lived, who must needs see the Funerals of Parents, and hear of the Deaths, Misfortunes (or Miscarriages) of Husband's Children and Friends; in all these, there might be work for Patience; although I acknowledge that true Christian-Patience looks upon such as Corrections and Chastisements; and that they are more often the Indulgences of a Father, than the severity of a Judge, Corrections not Judgements. And it is one of the safest ways for any to assure himself that he is the Child of God, when he can willingly submit to his stroke as to the Correction of a Father.  
Amongst the trials of this kind, I was able to observe one great work of Patience, wrought out by this pious Lady.  
When the astonishing news was brought her, about three years since, from the Isle of Garnsey, of the strange and disastrous death of one of her dear grandchildren, with a Lady of great Piety and Honour, and divers others, by a terrible blast by Gunpowder, the relation of which amazed the Court, and all that heard of it; although she first received the news with a sorrow, suppressed by a silence and wonder; yet after, when she heard that the Noble Lord, her Grandson, who had also 
Lord Hatton.  been blown up out of his Chamber, (and by a wonderful Providence, being thrown upon an high Wall) that he, and two of her grandchildren escaped, without any harm; she discovered a patiented Submission to the Will of God, in many Christian expressions, which soon after I did receive from herself, and several times after, when she was pleased to renew the remembrance of it, with much admiration, and acknowledgement of the secret ways of God's Judgements, and Mercies; on which she could enlarge with many heavenly expressions.  
But now Patience through all these experiences, began to draw its work to perfection; which it never doth, except it die with them, whom it hath supported in Life.  
A little before Her death, Patience, and Meekness, and low thoughts of Herself, which had been Her practice, were now Her Argument. Discoursing frequently, with one of her nearest Attendants, and seeing her, and others, passionately concerned, and busy about her, she willed them not to take so much pains for her, who deserved less; expostulating, why any, herself especially, should at any time be angry; why any of these outward things should trouble her, who deserved so little, and had been blessed with so much? By which it might appear that she had brought into subjection all great thoughts, she had cast down imaginations, & every high thing, bringing into Captivity every high thought, and submitting the World and her Soul to the Obedience of Christ; her passions were mortified and dead before her: So that for three or four days of her last sickness, (for she endured no more) she lay as if she endured nothing; she called for her Psalms, which she could not now, as she usually had done, read herself (the greatest Symptom of her extremity) she caused them to be read unto her. But that Cordial of which I have spoken (kept, in Rom. 8. and in her heart) this her Memory held to the last, this she soon repeated: No doubt to secure her Soul against all fear of Condemnation, being now wholly Christ's, having served him in the spirit of her mind, and not loved to walk after the Flesh, having (as often as she affectionately pronounced the words of this Chapter) called in the Testimony of the Spirit to bear her witness, that she desired to be delivered from this Bondage of Corruption; into the glorious liberty of the Children of God; and so to strengthen her Faith and Hope by other comfortable Arguments, contained in the rest of that Chapter, being the last words of Continuance, which this dying Lady spoke.  
The rest of the time, as if it had been spent in Ruminating, Digesting, and speaking inwardly to her Soul, what she had uttered with broken words, she lay quiet, and without much sign of any Perturbation; after a while in a gentle breath, scarce perceptible, she breathed out that Soul which God had breathed into her; rendering it even to that God which gave it. So breathed her last, and quietly slept, not to be awakened again, but by the Archangel's Trumpet, when it shall call her to the Resurrection of the Just.  
Thus fell at last this goodly Building; Thus died this great wise Woman; who while she lived was the Honour of her Sex and Age, fit for an History than a Sermon.  
Who having well considered that her last Remove, (how soon she knew not) must be to the House of Death; she built her own Apartment there; the Tomb before your eyes; against this day, on which we are all now here met to give her Relics Livery and Seizing, quiet possession.  
And while her Dust lies silent in that Chamber of Death, the Monuments which she had built in the Hearts of all that knew her, shall speak loud in the ears of a profligate Generation; and tell, that in this general Corruption, lapsed times decay, and downfall of Virtue, The thrice Illustrious Anne Countess of Pembroke, Dorset, and Montgomery, stood immovable in her Integrity of Manners, Virtue, and Religion; was a well built Temple for Wisdom, and all her train of Virtues to reside in; is now removed and gone to inhabit a Building of God, an House not made with Hands, eternal in the Heavens. To which blessed Mansions let us all endeavour to follow her, by treading in the steps of her Faith, Virtue and Patience: That having fought the good Fight, finished our Course, and kept the Faith, we may receive the Crown of Righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give at that day to all that love his appearing.   
Now unto the King Eternal, Immortal, the only wise God, be Honour and Glory for ever and ever. Amen.  
THE END.