YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Bought with the income
of the
HENRY A. HOMES FUND

YALE

a/' ffuTkfcn&c&n,

THE

LIFE AND TIMES

SELINA

COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON.

BY A MEMBER OP THE HOUSES OP SHIRLEY AND HASTINGS,
.£<: '"'\ tar-o-h C. W.
THIRD THOUSAND

VOL. I.

WILLIAM EDWARD PAINTER, STRAND.
MDCCCXL.

ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL.

-J.t

niLUAsi bdwabd rAisrisB, stuanp, London, uummi.

PREFACE.

It was the express wish of Lady Huntingdon, that, at least for
some years after her decease, her memory should be suffered
to rest, and her actions to make their own impression on the
minds of men. In deference to this wish, all attempts at the
publication of her Correspondence have been resisted by her
Noble Relatives ; and it is only at the present day that a Cadet
of her illustrious Family, after -long years employed in the col
lection and examination of the Documents and Papers to which
he alone, perhaps, was in a condition to have easy and continued
access, has been induced to arrange his materials into the form
of a Memoir of the Life and Times of Selina Countess
of Huntingdon.
Circumstances having prevented the Author from personally
superintending the publication of this Work, a large share of
responsibility has been thrown on those to whose hands it was
committed ; but the task was a labour of love, and the pub
lication has been conducted with all possible regard to the
public demand for ample information, to the feelings of the
living, and the memory of the dead.
Among the illustrious characters of the eighteenth century,
no one has shone more conspicuously in the religious world, or
enjoyed a greater share of heartfelt esteem and love, than the

venerable Countess of Huntingdon. Above all her cele
brated Contemporaries, she was honoured with a life of con
tinued usefulness, protracted to the utmost period of mortal
existence ; with extraordinary talents, ample means, and a head
and heart alike devoted to promote the " glory of God in the
highest, and on earth peace and good-will towards man."
Her body has long been committed to the earth from which
it sprang, and her soul has returned to God who gave it, but
she has left on earth a testimony which will outlive monuments
of brass and stone ; a reputation which has spread to the corners
of the world, and a name which is reverenced by all whose
approbation is praise.
The curiosity that has been as generally expressed as univer
sally felt to know more of the life and character of this, in the
best sense of the word, Illustrious Woman, is a feeling which
ought to be respected ; and it has at length become a duty to
make every effort in order to save from destruction those invalu
able records of her heart and feeling ; those delightful traits of
her distinguished friends ; those heart-stirring pictures of her
private and every-day life ; and those important records of her
public services to religion and humanity, which are contained
in these volumes, and which, but for the present publication,
might have expired with their compiler; or have left but a
vague memory of her excellence, except in those instances where
the sacrifice of her fortune has raised imperishable monuments
to her piety.
The object of the present work has been to afford a" view of
the Life and Times of this distinguished Woman so clear and
ample as to render superfluous all future or collateral efforts
at illustration. Every fact and incident of her long life is
here recorded— every triumph of the Cross under he°r vigor
ous and well-directed leading— every place of worship opened

Ill

under her auspices — and every mark of divine favour and en
couraging grace bestowed upon her labours.
Conscious of the purity of his motive, and having for all his
incentive the desire to pay just tribute to the memory of the
departed Saiut whose name he honours, the Author has spoken
truth from his heart, resolved to flatter no one — to know no fear
in the discharge of his duty. He has sought, with candid zeal,
to avoid every evidence of a sectarian or party spirit in his state
ments. Bigotry, on both sides, may censure; but the just and
generous, on all sides, will approve his course. Narrow pre
judices are already vanishing; and good men, of all denomina
tions, are ready to embrace the truth and each other. The
good Countess was, in this respect, before her age ; and it is
her Catholic and Christian spirit which appears to have inspired
her kinsman in the composition of this Memoir : read in the
same spirit, it will serve to accelerate the benevolent current of
true godliness, and to sweep away the narrow and contracted dis
positions which would check its overflow or turn aside its course.
With this feeling, the Author has drawn, without hesitation,
from all accessible sources, the illustrative matter of his Memoir.
The Biographies of Whitefield, Wesley, Venn, and the
Works and Letters of Fletcher, Bekridge, Romaine, Watts,
Hill, and other eminently pious individuals, have supplied in
valuable contributions to the Work; but its more valuable portion
consists in the Original Letters and Anecdotes with which it
teems, and in the straightforward integrity of purpose in its
Author. Of himself and of his Work, he says : —
" To God, only wise, the Author of every good and perfect
gift, my humble acknowledgments are paid. His grace ren
dered the subject of this Memoir what she was — His wisdom
directed her pious and benevolent efforts for the extension of
the Redeemer's kingdom — and His Spirit supported her in her

IV

departing hours. To Him, therefore, and to Him alone, whose
influence I implore, I commit these Memoirs, such as they are,
in the hope that He will vouchsafe his blessing on a work which
originated in an ardent desire to promote his glory ; and that
he will render it an instrument to extend the knowledge and
experience of the glorious Gospel of God our Saviour."
With these glowing words of the pious Author, the Con
ductors commit his Work to the candid judgment of the en
lightened reader : remarking merely, as they are in justice bound
to do, that the Religious Institution now known as " The Con
nexion of the late Countess of Huntingdon" does not incur the
slightest responsibility with regard to this Work : and that the
Reverend Author of the Introduction to the present Volume
has undertaken to resume his pen for a similar introductory
paper to the second volume of these Memoirs.

INTRODUCTION.

PART I.

Man, amidst an almost infinite variety of circumstances, and
modified, both in body and mind, by a thousand accidental in
fluences, is, in every age and country, essentially the same.
The os sublime and the mens alta alike distinguish him from
the other inhabitants of the earth, and show, whatever may be his
complexion and mental training, that God has made him to
have dominion over the works of his hands — has put all things
in subjection under him. Nor is there less of identity in man's
moral propensities than in his corporeal and instinctive powers.
Bent from his original rectitude, he stoops towards earth and
the things of earth, and gives sad proof of having lost affection
for the Source of his existence, and of being inclined to worship
the creature more than the Creator. The rude savage, the
superstitious devotee, and the intellectual sceptic do not like to
retain God in their knowledge — that God who is " glorious in
holiness," who is partially made known to his creatures by the
works of his hand, and more fully revealed, and in a more
encouraging light, by the words of his mouth.
This Atheistic spirit laboured with a giant's strength to de
face the character of Deity impressed on the world before the
flood ; had cursed the earth with abominable idolatry, or with

VI

heartless superstition, before the coming of our Lord in the
flesh ; and, -not satisfied with the mischief effected under dis
pensations of mercy less intelligible and distinct, has, to a most
awful extent, corrupted a Church, professedly Christian, as it
had polluted both the Jewish temple and the Patriarchal tent.
To educe good out of evil, is the province of the Supreme Good ;
to pervert the good, and, so far as it relates to his own percep
tions and conduct, to abuse and prostitute it to the worst of
purposes, is alas ! the work of man.
Nothing can more affectingly evince the truth of this remark
than the contrast of the Church of Rome with the Church of
the Apostles ; than the pomp and mummery, the dogmatism
and tyranny, the secularity, the superstition, and the heathenism
of Popery with the simplicity, the spirituality, and the divinity of
that religion which the writers of the New Testament advocated,
for which they all suffered, and for which most of them died.
The vapour which, rising from the twofold shores of Corinth and
the province of Galatia, annoyed Saint Paul, continued to spread
itself and to increase in density, till the true Church of Jesus
Christ became scarcely perceptible, and ultimately was totally
obscured by the thick and dark cloud. Let the mind proceed
from the Apostles to Eusebius, thence to Augustine, and
the next advance is to settled darkness, rendered visible by a few
solitary rays of piety — real, though faint and sickly, and the tran
sient scintillations of scholastic wit and learning. The page of
Ecclesiastical History, though inscribed by persons less evan
gelical than the Milners, will show that even superstition was
only one shade in the dark ages ; that vital godliness, as if in
disgust, had fled from the Church, as she was pleased to call
herself, to deserts, and mountains, and dens, and caves of the
earth ; that Justification before God, by faith alone in Jesus
Christ, the " Articulus stantis aut cadentis Ecclesia," asLuTHER
termed it, was buried beneath the records of Councils and the
volumes of Fathers ; and that men, having renounced the Lord
as their righteousness, were without him as their strength.
Like Samson, the Church was shorn of her energy and deprived
of sight— the sport of the Philistines.

vn
It was the glory of the Reformation that it struck at the root
of the evil. The Church of Rome, not satisfied with seekins
righteousness by the works of the law, must needs arrogate to
herself a property in works of supererogation, and impudently
bring it into the market ; but for this daring imposition on
common sense, the fire of Luther might have been employed
rather in consuming the drapery of the Man of Sin than in the
destruction of his person. The sale of indulgences, however,
was such an outrage on the principle of the Gospel, that it
roused his powerful mind, even when only partially enlightened,
to bring all its united force against the blighting and unholy
doctrine of human merit. Thus, in the process of resuscitation,
the Holy Spirit, by the agency of the Reformers, instead
of restoring vital heat by friction at the extremities, breathed
into the dead Church the breath of life, and restored to her a
living soul. Animation diffused itself through a vast range of
nominal Christians, converting them into living members of the
body of Christ ; and the life, which was felt to be redeemed,
was consecrated to Him " who loved his Church and gave him
self for it."
The number of truly converted persons was, no doubt, very
considerable in the days of the Reformers, and the hallowed
work progressed under their survivors, both on the continent of
Europe and in Great Britain. It would, however, be false
charity to conclude that all Protestants, even during the warmth
and freshness of the Reformation, were true Christians ; an
acquaintance with the history of the times, and with human
nature, as well as with the subsequent condition of Protestant
Christendom, will compel us to say, " that all were not Israel
who were of Israel ;" that multitudes, from political and secular
motives, and from the force of custom, or from a conviction of
the truth rather as an intellectual than as a moral proposition,
protested more against the errors of the Man of Sin than against
his iniquities, and were more anxious for emancipation from the
thraldom of superstition than from the bondage of corruption.
The easy transition, indeed, of the majority from one state to
another, under Henry the Eighth and the youthful Edward ;
their coming back again to Popery under Mary \ and their

vm

ready return to Protestantism under her sister— proves that how
ever many loved the truth, even unto the death, more were
indifferent to its divine claims, and accommodated themselves to
the times. The Vicar of Bray was only one of many who ebbed
and flowed with the ocean ; and of those who will always show
that a national religious improvement may be effected, where the
renewal of the mind in the great body of society does not take
place. Worldly men will preserve the element of their character
amidst great external modifications — an element as decidedly
opposed to the holy and humbling truths of the Gospel, in the
Protestant as in the Papist, though exhibited under different
forms. This was the case in the reign of Elizabeth, We hail,
indeed, with feelings kindred with those of Milton, when he
escaped " the Stygian Pool," the settling of a better order of
Ecclesiastical affairs, the liberty of prophesying given to the
ministers of Christ, and the eminent piety, learning, and zeal
of many of the clergy. Her reign is as illustrious for men
devoted to the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ as it is for
patriots and politicians : the preaching and the writings of those
men, some of whom were the survivors of the martyrs, and
of whom others seemed to grow out of their ashes, tended much
to instruct the people in the great principles of the Gospel.
These labourers, however, were few, compared with the extent
and population of their spheres of action, and they could not fail
to leave the mass of the people without the knowledge of true
religion, and, consequently, unrenewed by its power. Nay, the
majority of those who professed to guide the blind were them
selves, it is to be feared, destitute of the wisdom that cometh from
above, and thus unqualified to show to others the way of salvation :
for, we are informed, that, " By the Report of the visiters to the
Queen, it was found that, comparatively very few of the Popish
Bishops, Clergy, and Heads of Colleges, resigned their prefer
ments on account of the new order of things ; and it was remem
bered, that the greatest part of them went with the tide in
Edward's reign, and veered about as readily with the wind on
the accession of Mary." — {Custance's Reformation.) It would
have been ex fumo dare lucem indeed if such men had done

IX

much towards the evangelizing of the nation. The Queen,
herself a genuine Tudor, aiming at absolute sovereignty, wished
to encircle her throne with clouds of darkness, admitting only
so much light as might show that she, and not the Bishop
of Rome, was seated on it. She chose, and with reason,
men of powerful minds to assist her in working the state ma
chine ; but she by no means wished that society at large should
be enlightened with principles which, raising the intellec
tual as well as the moral character, and cherishing a conscious
ness of this elevation, would probably lead her subjects to
question, where it was more convenient to her that they should
obey. " One preacher is enough for a county," was the re
corded expression of her sentiment on this most important
subject. We must, therefore, conclude, that under this extraordinary
ruler — for one does not like to contemplate her as a woman —
the nation, as a whole, with all its improvements, was dark, or,
at best, only relieved with a dim religious light. Under James,
the Bible was re-translated, copies of it were multiplied, and
ministers sincerely Protestant greatly increased in number ; but
there was a re-action in theological sentiments which tended to
lower the tone of piety in those even who were truly religious.
Calvinism, as it is called, had before this reign, in numerous
instances, assumed an appearance of harshness, in the employ
ment of supra-lapsarian terms, though so generally and ably
supported by men of the most holy character and kindly hearts :
but now the influence of Arminius was experienced. A large
part of the clergy went over from scholastic terms and metaphy
sical notions, more speculative than practical, to doctrines which,
as they reject the grace by which we are saved, necessarily
leave the soul, amidst all its moral boastings, in the bonds of
iniquity. This obscuration of the glorious Gospel of the
Blessed God, by low, self-righteous instructors, more than by
any affectation of godliness in the time of the Protector, pre
pared the nation for that laxity, both of morals and of creed,
that licentiousness and infidelity, which stamp infamy on the
reign of the second Charles, The ribaldry of Rochester, the

wit of Butler, and the buffoonery of South, — all had a baneful
influence on the Court and the Nation ; and obscured the holy
light which had appeared to radiate from the stake ofthe martyrs.
Morals and religious principles have perhaps never been at a
lower ebb in our nation since the Reformation, than during this
period — a period, the true character of which it is one of the
most difficult studies in English history to determine. Even the
best men of the age, in their joy for a restored monarchy, and
bewilderment at the splendour and politeness of the Court,
were led to give a false colour to their records of these times,
and to merge the all-important considerations of morals and
truth in the theoretic speculations of a civil and religious esta
blishment. Whatever may be said on the question of equity,
there can, we imagine, be no doubt in an unprejudiced Christian,
that the ejecting of the non-conformists, and the patronizing of
a very different class of men, taken as a whole, both ecclesiastic
and secular, was a heavy blow inflicted on true piety, and intro
duced a style of preaching which operates as a soporific on the
moral sense, and as a cloud on the moral vision. Most victories
are costly, and the triumph of monarchical principle, however
desirable, by overlaying the living and evangelical spirit with a
uniform machinery, in too many instances worked by careless
hands," was gained at an expense which it is not easy to calculate,
but which must qualify the pleasure suggested to a loyal heart
by the return of the twenty-ninth of May.
England may well be proud of the science and literature of
the subsequent age, and call it Augustan : Newton and Locke,
in the worlds of matter and of mind ; Dryden, Pope, and
Thomson, in that of the imagination ; and Addison, with a
host of prose writers, on subjects of taste and morals— have
given it claims to distinction, and illuminated its pages in intel
lectual history. These writers obtained great influence over
the nation, and whatever good they effected, by giving currency
to thought, they directed it in channels leading from evangelical
piety, to sentiment, and ethics, and taste; or to physical know
ledge. The waters were indeed clear and beautiful, but they were
unhealthy, and, in some respects, the opposite of the Prophetic

Xl

stream, of which it is predicated, " Every thing shall live whither
the river cometh." The most chaste and moral of these popu
lar works, though recognizing Christianity, are unvivified by its
spirit ; and while they advocate the claims of virtue, found not
their argument on the principles of the Gospel, and teach, often
not otherwise than as a heathen would have taught, social duties
aud graces, rather than " the obedience of faith." The Founder
of Methodism was not far from the truth, when he said, that few
things were more unfriendly to the progress of the Gospel than
the national fondness for Addison's Spectator.
Nor was the political feeling without its baneful influence on
the religious character of the people. As the fashion of the
Court, under the profligate Charles, had raised up many wits,
like Butler, to caricature true piety, by confounding it with
hypocrisy, so the repeated efforts made to restore the Stuarts
filled Protestants with a dread of change, and induced the High
Church party, most unjustly, to consider all Dissenters, however
attached to the House of Brunswick, and however excelling in
all the virtues of true religion, as confederate with the Scottish
Non-jurors and Jacobites; and thus, by an easy though fallacious
transition, to identify evangelical doctrine with revolutionary
propensities. This, as the following Work will show, was a reason assigned
by the local magistrates of the day, for their leaving the Metho
dist preachers unprotected to the mal-treatment of the mob, in
opposition to Royal pleasure directly expressed ; and this too,
was the pretext under which the magistrates themselves avow
edly and ostensibly excited the ignorant to violence and outrage.
Let us not be deemed illiberal if we notice, as one cause of
the general apathy, the great popularity of Tillotson. It
would, indeed, be uncandid and unjust not to recognize his nu
merous excellences, both as a man and as a writer, and his
merit of giving a more popular character to pulpit addresses in
the Established Church ; but whatever other good his sermons
may have effected, there was little in them to send the people
home imbued with the great principles of the Gospel, and sym
pathizing with St. Paul, when he exclaims, " But God forbid

Xll

that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ,
by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."
An almost total absence of evangelical doctrine — the blood of
sprinkling — and an evident carelessness about the great object
of the Christian Ministry, even where there may not be gaiety
and immorality of conduct, are so palpably inconsistent and
reprehensible in a professed Minister of the Gospel, that the
evil, in a great degree, neutralizes itself: but when moral excel
lence combines with truth indeed, animated with zeal and affec
tion, yet lacking that prominence of the all-important doctrines
of Revelation, which the Holy Ghost has in all ages been
pleased to bless to the glorifying of Christ, a sort of quietus is
ministered to the conscience, and decorum and formality take
the place of " Repentance towards God, and Faith towards our
Lord Jesus Christ." Such writers as Tillotson, and his older
friend, Barrow, will be studied with advantage by men spiritually
minded, because such readers will give an evangelical cast to the
strong reasoning and beautiful illustrations of these writers ; but
where the tone of feeling is to be received from the authors them
selves, we cannot but think that it will be cold. English literature,
from Steele to Johnson, though its period has become an era
in the history of morals, has had the same tendency. Amuse
ment and instruction, taste and decorum, were circulated amono-
a people now denominated " a reading nation ;" but who ever
heard of a sinner being brought to true repentance and to rejoice
in Christ Jesus, having no confidence in the flesh, by a paper
of the Spectator or of the Rambler ? All these movements,
indeed, had a beneficial influence on society, in preparing the
way for a revival in religion, by exciting the attention and teach
ing the mind how to think ; but the direct effect, iii most cases,
of such instruction, was either to lull the moral sense altogether,
or to awaken it to a class of feelings of a self-righteous character,
and, as such, opposed to the Gospel— the righteousness which
is of God by faith.
Thus the slumbering embers of the martyr-flame had died
out, and a degeneracy of doctrine and profligacy of manners had
spread a chilling and destructive influence over a partially enlight-

XIII

ened community ; and Infidelity, political convulsions, and even
literature itself, had each contributed its quota to form a national
soporific. Happily, there were a few in the national pulpits who
had not drank of this cup, and among the Dissenters some holy
men, such as Watts and Doddridge, well represented those who
had suffered for conscience' sake after the Restoration : Theolo
gical writings, too, had accumulated, which will continue to in
struct and bless the Church of Christ, till she shall know even
as she is known : but there was a heaviness in those folios, and
too much of evenness in the public ministrations of the word, for
an age which needed a moral disturbance to prevent its sleeping
the sleep of death. Arguments against Infidelity, and Ethics
cold though beautiful, were the usual themes of the parochial
desk, and the withering influence of Arianism, or of a heartless
Orthodoxy, produced death in many of the Dissenting congre
gations. England and Wales, therefore, in an improved condition
of Politics and Literature, and perhaps also of Morals, was
generally benumbed by the torpedo of Formality, and the vital
feeling and zealous activity of Christianity, were known to the
few only, and these rather mourned over the state of things in
secret, than exerted themselves in public to effect an alteration.
It is not for us to hazard even a conjecture respecting the
number of persons who truly loved our Lord Jesus in this coun
try at the earlier part of the last century. Piety is essentially
a quiet and secret thing, and though it labours to do good at all
times, is greatly dependent on circumstances for the platform on
which it act, that may be the domestic hearth, orit maybe "a
spectacle to the world." At this period, as if wearied with poli
tical distractions and disgusted with the impertinence of Infidelity,
the pious of all denominations very much sought retirement.
We may hope, therefore, that the number of those who loved the
Gospel was much greater than at first, and by comparison
with the present age, it seems to have been ; and perhaps no
documents furnished greater proofs of this delightful fact, than the
early correspondence of the Countess of Huntingdon. This
gives the most satisfactory evidence that "honourable women not
a few," and some men also in the highest walks, were quietly ex-
vol. i. — b

exercising the Christian graces, and waiting and longing for better
days, before the Methodists had obtained publicity. Christians
in the lower ranks of the community, though less conspicuous,
were not likely to be far behind the rich and the noble in true
religion ; from which we infer, that a goodly number even in those
seasons of visible lifelessness, was reserved by himself for the
God of all grace — especially to hail and to aid the new era which
was about to rise on the Church. Extending charity, however,
to the utmost point which correct judgment will allow, we must
look back on that period with feelings far from pleasurable. The
Church is not likely to be in a healthy state when she is without
exercise, and when she makes little or no aggressions on the
world; nor can she richly enjoy those blessings herself which she
is not anxious to distribute to others. But there are specula
tions which may not become us : " the day shall declare it."
Happy was it for the world that this slumbering did not con
tinue — that men arose, who, instead of inquiring about the num
ber who should be saved, themselves strove to enter in at the
strait gate, and zealously endeavoured to excite others to follow
their example. The rise of Methodism now took place, in a band
of brothers who studied at Oxford. Mr. John Wesley, in point
of time, as well as of talent, may be considered the first, though
it is evident that He who brings the blind by a way they know
not, was simultaneously preparing the hearts of many for a most
efficient co-operation in the blessed work about to be performed.
Such were Whitefield, Charles Wesley, Ingham, and
Hervey. The piety of these great men was deep and energetic,
and it clothed them with so much boldness, that, although their
pretensions were humble, and they were in a great degree the crea
tures of circumstances, as well as of divine grace, yet they were
distinguished from their contemporaries — even from the best of
them— and appeared the representatives of the ancient Prophets
and Apostles. Men felt that they were the servants of the Most
High, and earnest in declaring unto them the way of salvation.
Like the ministry of John the Baptist, theirs was a voice in the
wilderness, and while it proclaimed the Kingdom of Heaven, it
was heard with no ordinary attention.

XV

The reader who, piously curious, desires to trace the move
ments of the Holy Spirit on the heart, will find no common
gratification in the following records : he will behold in so many
parts of the great deep numerous symptoms of life, and will
conclude that they are not to be attributed to any artificial or
partial heat, but to Divine power. The Spirit of God moved
upon the face of the waters. There is, perhaps, no error to
which we are more exposed than that of supposing that the
originators of a series of movements, a -priori, saw the whole
process from the beginning, and acted from plan rather than
from circumstances. We see the connexion which an event has
with its antecedent, and therefore imagine the agent was well
acquainted with the tendency of the one to effect the other.
Universal experience, however, contradicts this inference : even
in the history of men of this world, whose plans are often saga
ciously formed, and whose object is more definite, we see that
the ultimate success is more owing to a skilful and prompt use
of accidents than to the guidance of an original design. No
philosophy, independently of experience, could foresee the
branching and stately oak in the acorn.
To assert, therefore, that the Founders of Methodism began
their career by chalking out their future operations, is to pay
a compliment to their foresight, at the expense of truth, and
of the continued superintendence of that Being who apportions
to his servants their daily work, as much as he does their daily
bread. God has a plan, but he does not expose it to the work
men of the temple : it is enough that each knows what he has to
do, and how to perform it, at the present moment.
The following History will abundantly verify these sentiments.
Can a sober man, however systematised, imagine that any thing
like the impression which was made would have been effected,
both in our own country and in America, if the leaders of the
cause — qil of whom were attached to the Established Church —
had maintained what is called regularity, and a tame canonical
obedience to men who had no spirit of enterprise in their cha
racter ? Would the high- ways and hedges have been visited ? —
Would the various branches of orthodox Dissenters have been
b 2

xvi

roused to co-operation ?— Would lay-agency have been made
available to the furtherance of the cause ?— Would the more
regular Clergy themselves have been so active and useful within
the pale of their own community, if there had been no pressure
and provocation from without ?
Now, nothing is more evident than that this irregularity was
unintended. Zeal, indeed, was enkindled, but it would have
continued to warm the churches, had it not been dislodged by
ecclesiastical power. The fire, however, was inextinguishable :
and being forbidden to burn on the usual altar, it sought every
avenue of escape, and visited and blessed other places. Field-
preaching succeeded rejection from the churches ; and the
Countess of Huntingdon, who thought only of Chaplains for
her preachers, and of Episcopal ordination for her Students, was
at length compelled, very much against her will, to violate Ec
clesiastical order, and shelter herself and her companions in zeal
under the Act of Toleration. This growth in the cause of the
Gospel, and extension of their original design, characterise these
"workers together with God," and secure all the glory of the
plan, as it does that of the execution, to Him : while this view
ofthe economy meets a thousand objections urged by the enemies
of vital godliness against this labour of mercy.
If, turning from the more general to the more particular
instance, we contemplate the chief subject of the following Bio
graphy, we shall recognise the same characteristic of Divine
guidance. How steadily and beautifully does grace advance
in the Countess ! We follow her, in the present history, from
the girl of nine years of age, impressed with solemn thought and
purposes on witnessing a funeral, through a series of changes, till
we mark an elevation of spirit truly and sublimely Christian —
which rises above the splendour of a Court; which dares to allow
zeal to act— first in visiting the poor — then in opening the drawing-
room for noble hearers ofthe Gospel— then in the employment
of laymen and in providing chapels for the accommodation of the
multitude— even although those chapels were to be denominated
conventicles ! The Child becomes a Mother in Israel indeed
and theologians [of the first-rate powers feel it a privilege to'

XVII

learn the way of God more perfectly from the lips and the pen
of this saintly woman.
No contemplative mind will peruse The Life and Times
of the Countess of Huntingdon without noticing the power
and the beauty of divine grace, when brought in contact with
a vigorous mind, elevated in society by nobility and fortune.
That energy which, unsanctified, gives obstinacy to prejudice and
pride to vanity, when under the control of " the meekness of
wisdom" leads to boldness of investigation, the avowal of Evan
gelical truth, and to humility, which, in the sight of God, is of
great price.
It will be difficult, indeed, to find an instance of the power of
God unto salvation brighter than that here exhibited. A woman,
a noble personage, a favourite at Court, the wife of a nobleman
who only tolerated and aided her zeal as he was won over by her
chaste conversation ; a widow, and at times much afflicted in her
children — living too in an age when the gaiety and superstition
ofthe nation were scarcely disturbed by the sober and reasonable
voice of truth — every disadvantage overcome, and a meek yet
firm profession made of love to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Nor is the providence less conspicuous than the grace of
God in the Life of the Countess, as related to her Times.
There was, needed, a hallowed work in progress among the poor
and middle classes in society, but the means of reaching these,
which the necessity of the case directed, such as preaching in
fields and in barns, were not likely to command the attention of
the rich and the noble. There nedeed, therefore, an instrument
to bring the Gospel into friendly contact with the highest ranks.
This instrument was the Countess. There was an attraction
and an influence about her which were felt by many of the
great in an extraordinary degree; and not only the courtly
Chesterfield, the political Duchess of Marlborough, the
gay and frivolous Nash, but the infidel Bolingbroke, paid
her marked and sincere homage, and listened to the preachers
whom she patronized and commended. Many will, doubt
less, be astonished, on reading the following pages, to find so
large a number of distinguished personages brought by this

XV1U

zealous woman to hear the word of truth, as well in the
despised conventicle as in her own habitation. It was thus, by
applying the digcharging-rod to the two extremes, that a shock
was given, and that circulation and sensibility were effected
in the social body. Many of the rich and more of the poor met
together — and their place of meeting was the foot of the Cross.
How wisely God adapts his agents to his work !
The personal character of the Countess of Huntingdon will
be best seen in the General History of her Life and Times : she
stands, indeed, so connected with almost all which was goodin the
last century, that the character of the age, so far as religion is
concerned, was in some measure her own. It is not insinuated,
that she alone impressed that character on the Church, but that
she entirely sympathized with it, and was not a whit behind the
foremost in affection for souls and zeal for God — in spirituality
of mind and fervour of devotion — in contrivance and energy for
the extension of the Gospel — in a large and disinterested soul.
If she did not appear as the public advocate of the cause, it was
because a woman is forbidden to speak in the Church ; and if
she did not more excel in literary productions, it was because
she knew her proper talent — that she was rather fitted to think
with vigour and comprehensiveness, than to marshal words to
please a critical review. She never, indeed, seems to have
thought of the manner and structure of her sentences, but only
of giving utterance to the sentiments — always pious, frequently
burning — which filled her breast. Those who may be inclined
to blame her letters, as deficient in smoothness and perspicuity,
will do well to remember that they were not intended for the
public eye; they will also admit, that some minds of a high order
and especially endowed with a power over others, are remarkable
for an abruptness of expression which sometimes involves con
fusion : of this Cromwell was a striking instance. The mental
powers of Lady Huntingdon were anything but feeble. No lady,
however pious and exalted by rank, could have commanded such
respect as she did, unless in the possession of intellectual supe
riority. The sincerity of her piety and the ardour of her zeal
were felt by the first personages of the land, as they were com-.

XIX
bined with the force of her understanding : and it is believed
that the recognition of this fact, in the following Work, will, by
all impartial readers, be considered a sufficient refutation of
Dr. Southey's poetic imaginings of her mental weakness and,
indeed, insanity !
It will, likewise, be seen, that the vigour of the Countess's
mind and the boldness of her zeal were in perfect keeping with
the feminine graces. She was not an Elizabeth. The lady,
the friend of the poor, the wife, the mother, the sister, the widow
¦ — all private and domestic relations — were adorned by her ele
gance and affection, her meekness of wisdom and boundless
kindness, her chaste and winning conversation. The reader
will find it difficult to judge whether she appears to the greater
advantage when co-operating with the spirits which were effect
ing a change throughout the moral world, or when quietly
moving in domestic and social life.
The circumstances, too, in which she was placed, were favour
able to the development of her character. Light enough shone
on the professing Church to render the darkness visible : the
efforts of the Oxford-band, with those of other pious ministers
of various denominations, both in England and in Scotland, had
brought the deadness of merely formal Christianity into juxta
position with the living truth of the Gospel, and the Countess
saw the contrast, and her eye affected her heart. She wept,
she vowed, she acted. She determined to throw all the weight
of her influence into the scale of the Gospel ; and while con
siderations of sex, of the disposition and views of her beloved
lord, of the rank she held, and which she was so well qualified
to support, would have restrained an ordinary mind of common
piety from public interference— these very circumstances to her
appeared to be talents of great worth, and she was excited to
employ them to the greatest advantage. She beheld the rude
and cruel treatment which holy men endured, as well from the
educated and wealthy as from the ignorant and poor, from
magistrates and ecclesiastics as much as from private individuals,
ancTfor what ? for promulgating the truth— truth which she felt
was essential to human salvation— and she generously stepped

XX

orward to their defence and encouragement. She had magna
nimity enough to break the ranks of her order, and attraction
enough to induce many to follow her example. She was as per
severing as she was courageous ; and you see her, having passed
the Rubicon, steadily advancing to the Capitol. She remem
bered Lot's wife ; and no opposition, no unforeseen difficulty, no
associations necessary to the furtherance of her work, however,
plebeian, could induce her to look backward. When, therefore
it was necessary to remove out of the drawing-room into
the chapel, she did remove ; and when she could no longer
conduct the services which an Ecclesiastical regularity, to which
she was attached to the utmost reasonable extent, she braved
the reproach of the conventicle ; and, as the demand for help
increased, while clerical labourers were few, she went before
even Wesley in taking advantage of lay-agency. She followed
where, in her judgment, God was pleased to direct; and, secluded
from her former elegant associations, she ultimately gave up
herself entirely to the direction of her College and of her more
immediate Connexion, and to the most really catholic co-opera
tion with all who loved the Lord Jesus in sincerity.
The world has, perhaps, never seen a finer instance of the
power of divine grace, in enabling the mind to rise above all the
unchristian restraints of state etiquette, the prejudice of early
Ecclesiastical associations, and the spirit of party and sectarian
ism. The last triumph will be viewed by some who understand
human nature as the greatest of the tthree ; for it is easier to
shake off the trammels of rank and of education, than to merge
the individuality of selfishness in 'the general cause of souls and
of Christ. In this fine characteristic, to the glory of her age
let it be recorded, the Countess met with much sympathy. Her
Life and Times will prove how grand, how sublime, were the
views of most of the distinguished agents in the work of God at
that stirring period With the exception of the leader of the
great section of Methodism-whose intention to organize a dis
tinct body we do not blame-all seemed to be so intent on the
general good of the Church, that they overlooked the advantage
of their own particular denominations, and were tod eager to

XXI

pluck men as brands from the burning, to spend time and energy
in discussing questions of comparative non-importance. It was,
indeed, to be expected, that a time of greater leisure and calmness
would follow, and that then an opportunity would be furnished
of investigating the merits of the respective modes of worship
and forms of government. We blame not this exercise when
kept in a subordinate station ; but who, possessed of a shred of
the Countess's mantle, does not weep over the state of
truly Evangelical parties,' in the present day of strife ! So
far from combining their powers to oppose and overturn In
fidelity and .Idolatry, they more than waste a large portion of
them in direct contention with each other. This is an unholy
warfare indeed — a species of fratricide. What, indeed, is
Churchmanship or Dissent compared with the salvation of
the soul? The spirits of the noble group encircling the
truly catholic Selina return an answer — " What, indeed .'"
Should the perusal of the following pages enkindle no breast
into zeal for Christ, they will certainly fail of their reward ; for
we can scarcely conceive of any thing, next to the history of our
blessed Lord and his Apostles, more likely, under the divine
blessing, to set the heart on fire than the facts here recorded.
Zeal, glowing, active, untiring zeal, animates all the story, and
forms the living soul of the entire body : and while, on the one
hand, we behold how God honours zeal in his servants, in making
it tell so powerfully on the world ; orf the other hand, we see the
proper workings of the doctrines of the Cross, and how they
consecrate the affections and form the true philanthropist. Let
the world be brought under the action of the same principles,
and what a scene of brotherly kindness and charity, of mutual
zeal, of millennial happiness, will it exhibit !
The publication of the Life and Times of the Countess
of Huntingdon will appear to many very opportune, as a
spirit of Missionary enterprise has been conferred on the
Churches, and success has attended, in an extraordinary degree,
the efforts which have been made in the South Sea Islands,* so
dear to the heart of this zealous and almost prophetic woman ;
* See William's " Missionary Enterprizes."

xxu

and, as the Lord has put it into the hearts of many to seek,
with growing earnestness, the revival of this work at home.
Those who look upon meetings of Christians for especial
prayer for the Holy Ghost, or upon public exertions in en
deavouring to impress the conscience and win over the heart to
Christ, with surprise, as though some new thing had happened,
will stand corrected as they find how the present movements
were anticipated by those holy personages whose lives are
here recorded. Had their successors in the great work been
warmed with their zeal, and secured the aid of the Almighty
with prayer, united and continuous are theirs, the Church would
have presented a different appearance. We only, therefore,
seem to be returning to the piety and fervour of the days of old,
when we become most anxious to work out our principles and
to win souls to our Divine Redeemer. The rise and success of
Methodism in all its sections are the models of revival meetings,
and an encouragement to engage in them.
Those persons who may look on the gracious principle of the
Gospel with fear or disapprobation, will remember, that if the
sacred band to which these pages refer did, in their zeal for the
Gospel of the Grace of God, ride over the forms of dull and life
less Ethics, which had been so generally adopted ; and if they
did offend the vicious and the self-righteous, their object was as
pure as it was benevolent. They carried with them " letters of
commendation " in the holiness of their own conduct, and per
sonified the apostolic sentiment, that " Grace reigns through
righteousness." Let any man of impartial mind read the fol
lowing Biography, and then say that the tendency of a gratuir
tous salvation is licentious. Nor could such a leader, however
attached to one of the great sections of Methodism, with any
fairness, charge the followers of the other leader as, a body,
either with an undermining of moral requirements, or with a
rejection of the righteousness which is of God by faith. Let
facts and not a priori reasoning, guide the judgment, and it will
decide, that the doctrines of Faith are doctrines which purify
the heart ; and that the essential, plain, scriptural statements,
and belief of those doctrines, and not scholastic and metaphysi-

xxui

cal refinements, are the great instruments, in the economy of
our salvation, of transforming the mind, and of adorning the
character with the Christian graces. The day is gone by, we
trust, or at least it ought to have passed away, when either
party shall condemn the other for deductions which are not
admitted ; when the Calvinist shall charge the Wesleyan with
denying a sinner's justification in the sight of God, by faith
alone in Jesus Christ, — and when the Wesleyan shall teach
his hearers to identify the Calvinistic scheme, as it is gene
rally received, with the monstrous practical error of Anti
nomianism. " My little children, love one another." Perhaps
few, since the days of the catholic and amiable Apostle John,
have repeated these words with more sincerity and emphasis
then Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. She chose her side
of the controversy — and, we think, with reason ; but however
strongly those writers might have expressed themselves whom,
on the whole, she approved, and whatever transient alienations
may have taken place, they were clouds passing before the sun :
the habit of her mind was Christian affection, and her prayer
was for grace to be with all them that love our Lord Jesus
Christ in sincerity.
A rigid examiner and critic of the following papers may, per
haps, be able to detect some variations, at different periods of
her life, in the minuter parts of the Countess's creed, as well as
in her attachments — a temporary leaning towards mysticism, or
towards legality, or towards hyper-Calvinism; but these aberra
tions were kept within bounds, and mutually collected each other.
He will, however, never find a want of true Catholicity, or the
temperament of piety low and frigid. The fervour of her Chris
tian affections would not allow her to be indifferent and heartless ;
her strong sense and reverence for the holy Scriptures preserved
her from the practical errors of the mystics ; and her views of the
Saviour were too enlarged to admit of self-righteous pride ;
while her concern for the glory of God and the salvation of man
kind was too abiding and active to suffer her to be otherwise than
" zealous of good works." She practically as well as theoretically
ponfessed her imperfection and sinfulness, whilst she rejoiced in

xxiv

the all-sufficiency of God her Saviour ; and of no one perhaps
whose name adorns the history of the Church of Christ can
jt be said with greater propriety, than of this extraordinary Lady,
" Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them
all. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain ; but a woman that
feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Give her of the fruit
of her hands ; and let her own works praise her in the gates."

J. K. FOSTER.

Cheshunt College,
April lith, 1839.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.
Antiquity of tho Shirley Family. Saxon Origin. Norman Dignities. Royal Alliances.
Foreign Crowns. British Coronets. The Clanrieardes. Battle of Aghrim. The Parkers.
The Lord High Chancellor found guilty. The Levinges. Irish Alliances. liirth of Lady
Selina. Her Early Character. First Religious Impressions. Tho Grave of Youth. Piety.
Private Prayer. Fashionable Life. Marriage. The Huntingdon Family. Its Ancestry.
The Earl of Huntingdon. His Character. " Tears of the Muses." Self-righteousness. The
Methodists. Lady Margaret Hastings. The Light of Religious Truth. Force of Example.
Conversion. CHAPTER U.
Lord Huntingdon. The Bishop of Gloucester. Mr. Whitefield's preaching. Its effects.
Dr. Southey. Dr. Hurd. Archbishop Seeker. First Methodist Society. Lady Anne Frank-
land. Lord Scarborough. Dr. Young. Lady Fanny Shirley. Mrs. Temple. Lady Mary
Wortley Montague. Lady Townshend. Mr. Pope. Mr. Ingham. Mr. Charles Wesley. Miss
Robinson. Lord Lisbume. The House of Lords. Hammond the Poet. SomerviUe the
Poet. Sarah Duchess of Marlborough. Anecdotes. Duchess of Buckingham. Anecdotes.
Duchess of Queensbury. Lord Orford. Lady Hinchinbroke.
CHAPTER III.
Early Methodists. Lay Preaching. Mr. Bowers. Mr. Cennick. Itinerants. Ordination.
Mr. Maxneld. Mr. Wesley's opinion of his call. Mr. Wesley's sanction. Bishop of Derry.
Fetter-lane Society. r-n?_iTlnti "f *h° F'shons. Opposition without. Bickerings. Shaw.
The Moravians. Separation in Fetter-lane. First JJivision. The Sociely in Mooriields.
Enthusiasm. Pluralities. Bishop Burnet. Mrs. Mitchell. Anecdutc. Mr. Charles Wesley
and the Moravians. David Taylor. General Baptists. Mr. Bennett. GraceMurray. John
Nelson. CHAPTER IV.
The Clergy. Mr. Simpson. Mr. Wresley's Opinion of him. The One Wrong Principle.
Mr. Graves. His Recantation. His Explanatory Declaration. Lady Huntingdon's Schools.
Lord Huntingdon's Character. Miss Cooper : her Death. Lotters. The Poor. Death of
Mr. Jones. The poortPenitent's Death-bed. Mr. Wesley's preaching on his Father's Tomb.
Donnington Park. Lady Abney. Dr. Watts. " The Grave." Dr. Blair. Letters, Colonel
Gardiner. His Marvellous Conversion. Letters.
CHAPTER V.
Lay-Preachers. Mr. Wesley's Defence of them. Converted Clergy. Death of Lady
Huntingdon's Sons, George and Ferdinando Hastings. First Methodist Conference. Dr.
Doddridge. Letters from Lady Huntingdon. Mr. Jones. The Pretender. Lprfl Car^grjit
George II. Death of Colonel Gardiner. Letters to Mr. Wesley, Dr. Doddridge, and Charles
Wesley. CHAPTER VI.
Death of the Earl of Huntingdon. His Lordship's Epitaph . Letters from Sir John Thorold.
Lady Huntingdon's Piety. Letter to Dr. Doddridge. LadyKilmorey. Duchess of Somerset.
Welsh Preachers. Lady Frances Hastings. Mrs. Edwin. Lady Huntingdon's adherence to
the Church df England, tetter from Dr. Watts to Dr. Doddridge.

XXVI
CHAPTER VII.
Mr. Whitefield arrives in England. Preaches at Lady Huntingdon's. Letters. Low!
Chesterfield. Lord Bolingbroke. Anecdotes of Mr. Whitefield s Preaching. Appointed
Chaplain to Lady Huntingdon. Chr.stian Soldiers. Bishop of Exeter Co oncl Gurnlcy.
Mrs. Edwin. Lord St. John. Lady Suffolk. The Court Beauties. Lord Chesterfield. Mar
quis of Lothian. Lady Mary Hamilton. Anecdotes. Lady Townshend. English Nobility
at Lady Huntingdon's. Sir Watkin Williams Wynn. Persecution of the Welsh Methodists.
Liberal Conduct of the Government. Marmaduke Gwynne, Esq.
CHAPTER VIII.
Dr. Gibbons. Dr. Gill. Mr. Daracott. The Young Lord Huntingdon. Lord Chesterfield.
The Jews. German Minister. An Impostor. David Levi. Lady Fanny Shirley. Mr.
Whitefield and Mr. Wesley. Ashby-place. Mr. Baddeley. Lady Huntingdon's Illness.
Lady Anne Hastings. Mr. Hervey. Bishop of Exeter. Mr. Thompson. Duke of Somerset.
Mi*. Moses Bruce. Bishop Lavington. CHAPTER IX.
Mr. Romaine. Earthquake in London. Mr. Romaine appointed Chaplain to Lady Hun
tingdon. Ashby-place. Dr. Stonhouse. Dr. Akenside. New Jersey College. Governor
Belcher. President Burr. Dissenting Ministers. Dr. Doddridge. Education of Ministers.
Mrs. Hester Gibbon. Mr. Law. Mr. Whitefield's success at Rotherham. Lord Lyttleton.
Mr. Hervey. Dr. Doddridge. CHAPTER X.
Mr. Whitefield at Ashby. Mr. Moses Browne. Mr. Martin Madan. Lady Frances Has
tings. Dr. Stonhouse. Mr. Hartley. Death of the Prince of Wales. Anecdote. Lady
Charlotte Edwin. Dr. Ayscough. Lord Lyttleton. Death of Lord Bolingbroke. Dr. Trapp.
Dr. Church. Anecdotes. CHAPTER XI.
Mr. Whitefield visits Scotland. Dr. Erskine ,and Dr. Robertson. Scotch Nobility. Mr.
and Lady Jane Nimmo. Letter to Lady Huntingdon. Mr. Wardrobe Hr. Hervey : his
" Theron and Aspasio." Letters to Lady Huntingdon. Lady Fanny Shirley. Prince aud
Princess of Wales. Mr. Hervey's Method of Preaching. Letter from Lady Huntingdon. Mr.
Steward. Lady Hastings. CHAPTER XII.
History of Mr. Whitefield's Tabernacle and Tottenham Court Chapel. Whitefield in
London. Mr. Broughton. Countess of Hertford. Fetter-lane. Mr. Cennick. Methodist
Society. Tabernacle commenced. Welsh Preachers. Moorfields. Lay-Preachers. Nobility
at the Tabernacle. Opposition of the Dissenters. Anecdotes of Dr. Watts. Lady Hunting
don ane the Moravians. Sir Thomas and Lady Abney. Tabernacle opened. Long-aCM
Chapel. Hon. Hume Campbell. Tottenham-court Chapel opened. Mr. Edward Shuter.
Foote the Player. The Minor. Lord Halifax. Duke of Grafton. Mr. Fox. Mr. Pitt
Mr. Rowland Hill. Captain Joss. Mr. Matthew Wilks. Mr. Knight. Mr. Hyatt. Mr.
Whitefield's Will. CHAPTER XIII.
Mr. Venn begins to attract notico. Revival of Religion in the Established Church and
among tho Methodists. By whom first commenced. Mr. Venn's acquaintance with Mr.
Broughton, one ofthe Original Methodists. Dr. Ha weis. Mr. Law. Illness of Mr. Venn.
Accompanies Mr. Whitefield to Bristol. Remains with Lady Huntingdon at Clifton.
Letter from Mr. Whitefield. Letter to Mr. Venn from Lady Huntingdon. Mr. Whitefield's
Letter to Mr. Venn. Oxford Students. Dr. Haweis. Mr. Whitefield's Letter to Dr.
Haweis. Convicts. Preaching to tho Nobility at Lady Huntingdon's. Handel. GiaTdini.
Musical Composers. CHAPTER XIV.
Lady Huntingdon and Mr. Fletcher. Introduction to Lady Huntingdon by Mr. WTesley.
Bishop of London. Letter to Mr. Charles Wesley. Mr. Fletcher preaches and celebrates the
communion at Lady Huntingdon's, Letter to Mr. C. Wesley. Letter to Lady Huntingdon.
Mr. Fletcher appointed Vicar of Madely. Writes to Lady Huntingdon and Mr. Charles
Wesley. Visits Mr. Berridge. Letter to Lady Huntingdon. Induction to Madely. Success
of his ministry. Letter to Lady Huntingdon.

XXVII
CHAPTER XV.
Riso of Methodism in Yorkshire. Mr. Ingham. Count Zinzondorff. Mr. Delamottc.
Mr. Okeley. Mr. Rogers. Letter from Mr. Whitefield. The United Brethren. Mr. Batty,
Lady Betty Hastings. Ledstone-Hall. Mr. Ingham's marriage with Lady Margaret Hastings.
Count Zinzendorff visits Yorkshire. Moravian settlement at Fulncck. John Nelson. Mr.
Whitefield's Letter to Mr. Ingham. Mr. Grimshaw. Lord and Lady Huntingdon visit
Lcdstone-Hall. Mr. Charles Wesley Mr. Graves encourages John Nelson. Persecution.
Provincial Magistrates. John Nelson taken to Prison. Liberated by the influence of Lady
Huntingdon. Lord Sunderland. Letter from Lady Huntingdon to Mr. Ingham. The Vicar
ofCfilne. Mr. Grimshaw's opinions. Moravian Nobles. JohnCcnnick. Mr. Ingham leaves
the Moravians. John Allen. CHAPTER XVI.
Mr. Whitefield returns to England. Writes to Mr. Ingham. Visits Yorkshire. Lady
Huntingdon in Yorkshire. Extraordinary Occurrence. Mr. Graves. Mr. Milner. Mr.
Grimshawe. Conference at Leeds. Mr. Ingham is chosen General Overseer. Mr. Charles
Wesley. Mr. Whitefield at Haworth. Inghamite Churches. Church Discipline. Ingham-
ite Preachers. Mr. Newton visits Yorkshire. His letter to Mr. Wesley. Anecdote of his
Preaching at Leeds. Mr. Romaine's opinion of the Inghamite Churches. Lady Huntingdon
at Aberford. Mr. Romaine preaches in Mr. Ingham's Chapels. Mr. George Burder. Mr.
Romaine at Haworth. Mr. Grimshaw. Sandeman's Letters. Church Government.
CHAPTER XVII.
Mr. Venn removed to Huddersfield. Mr. Burnett. Lord Dartmouth. Dr. Conyers.
Visitation Sermon. Mr, Thornton. Lady Huntingdon visits Yorkshire. Mr. Romaine.
Mr. Wesley. Mr. Madan. Letters from Dr. Conyers to Lady Huntingdon. Letter from Mr,
Venn. Mr. Titus Knight. Letter from Mr. Grimshaw. Death of Mr. Grimshaw. Letter
from Mr. Venn. Letter from Dr. Conyers. Letter from Mr. Fletcher. Lady Huntingdon.
with Messrs. Townsend and Fletcher, visit Huddersfield. Illness of Lady Huntingdon.
Mr. Whitefield in Yorkshire. William Shent. Mr. Venn's Irregularities. Mrs. Han
nah More. Defence of Mr. Venn. Letter from Mr Fletcher. Mrs Deane. Lady Irvine.
Mr. Occum, the Indian Preacher. Captain Scott. The London Shunaniite. Mr. Wilson.
"CHAPTER XVIII.
Melancholy state of Mr. Ingham. Lady Huntingdon and Mr. Venn. Illness and death
of Lady Margaret Ingham. Letter from Mr'. Ingham. Letter from Mr. Romaine. Mr.
Ingham's Treatise on the Faith and Hope of the Gospel. Mr. Riddell. Lady Huntingdon
sends Students to Yorkshire. Letter from Mr. Riddell. Mr. Joseph Milner of Hull attends
Lady Huntingdon's Preachers. Begins to preach the Gospel. Mr. Myler. Letter from Lady
Huntingdon to Mr. Romaine. Mr. Tyler's labours at Hull. Letter from Lady Huntingdon
to Mr. Milner. York. Mr. Wren. Letter from Lady Huntingdon. Letter from Mr. Wren.
Mr. Glascott. Mr. Wells. Mr. Powley. Lady Huntingdon's Chapel at Y"ork
CHAPTER XIX.
Death of the Hon. Henry Hastings. Lady Huntingdon's exertions at Brighton. Joseph
Wall. Mr. Whitefield's first visit to Brighton. Lady Huntingdon sells her Jewels. Tho
Chapel opened by Mr. Madan. Mr. Romaine. Oathall. Captain Scott. Anecdote. Old
Abraham. Letters from Mr. Fletcher and Mr. Romaine. Christian Perfection. Mr. Max-
field and Mr. Bell. Letter from Mr. Romaine. Mr. Madan. Letters from Messrs Berridge,
Romaine, and Venn. Mr. Jones (of St. Saviour's).
CHAPTER XX.
Dr. Haweis. Mr. Romaine driven from the Chapel of the Broadway. Lord Dartmouth.
Letters from Messrs. Romaine and Conyers. Sinless Perfection. Letters from Messrs.
Romaine and Wesley. Erasmus, Bishop of Arcadia. Mr. Toplady. Letters from Messrs.
Fletcher and Berridge. Death of Lady Selina Hastings. Colonel Hastings. Account of
Lady Selina's death, Letters from Lord Dartmouth. Mr. Venn. Mr. Fletcher. Mr. Ber
ridge. Oathall Chapel. Letters from Mr. Berridge. Mr. Venn's Complete Duty of Man.
Letters from Messrs Venn and Berridge CHAPTER XXI.
Mr.Romaine. Lectureship at St. Dunstan's. Lord Mansfield. Darkness visible. The
Bishop of Peterborough. Popular election. St. Ann's, Blackfriars. Probation Sermon.

XXVIII
Contest. Canvassing. Scrutiny. Second Election. Suit in Chancery. Gratitude of Lady
Huntingdon. Mr. Jesse. Mr. Shirley. Mr. Romaine's views of his preferment. Lewes.
Lady Huntingdon procures an opening for Mr. Romaine, for Mr. Madan, and Mr. Fletcher.
The Oratorio. Musical taste of Mr. Madan and Dr. Haweis. Lady Huntingdon's Chapel
at Lewes opened and re-opened. Mr. Mason. His work on the Catechism. Mr. Edwards
of Ipswich. Mr. Berridge and the Bees. Southey's Reflections. Their Refutation. Cha
racter of Berridge. His wit. His labours. Berridge and the Bishop.
CHAPTER XXII.
Mr. and Mrs. Powys. Letters. Mr. Whitefield. Mr. Fletcher. Mr. Venn. Sir C. Hotham.
Howel Harris. Chapel at Brighton re-opened. Letters. Mr. Romaine. Mr. Talbot. Mr.
Berridge. Anecdote of the Countess. Mr.DeCourcy. Mr. Vincent Perronet. Mr.Toplady.
Mr. Bliss. Mr. Pentycross. Chapel at Chichester opened. Chapels at Petworth, at Guild
ford, and Basingstoke. Enlargement of that at Brighton . Mr. Thomas Jones.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Public Fast. Extracts from Lady Huntingdon's Letters. Prayer-meetings for the Nation.
Mr. Venn. Mr. Berridge. Singular effects of his preaching. Mr. Romaine and Mr. Madan's
visit to Everton. Mr. Wesley preaches at Everton. Convulsive motions amongst the Con
gregation. Letters to Lady Huntingdon. Lady Huntingdon visits Mr. Berridge. Mr. Venn
and Mr. Fletcher preach at Everton. Loud cries amongst their hearers. Duke of York.
Dr. Dodd. Murder of Mr. Johnson. Lord Ferrers. Tried by his Peers. Visited in Prison
by Lady Huntingdon. Singular Conduct of LordJFerrers. Execution.
CHAPTER XXIV.
Proposed Union among the Evangelical Clergy. Methodism in Scotland. Lady Frances
Gardiner. Mr. Townsend sent to Edinburgh, Mr. De Courcy. Lady Glenorchy. Mr.
Wesley. Lady Maxwell. Samson Occum, the Indian Preacher. Mohegan Indians. Dr.
Haweis. Affair of Aldwincle. Lady Huntingdon purchases the Advowson : writes to Mi1.
Thornton. Lady Huntingdon's Letters to Lord Dartmouth and Mr. Madan. Anecdote.
CHAPTER XXV.
Progress of Piety at Cambridge. Rowland Hill. Oxford. St. Edmund's Hall. Tho Six
Students.. Expulsion. Sir. Richard Hill. Dr. Horne, Bishop of Norwich. Mr. Goodwyn.
Charges against Lady Huntingdon. Account of the Students, and the proceedings against
them. Letter from Lady Huntingdon. Lady. Buchan.. Letter from Mr. Wresley. Chel
tenham. Lord Dartmouth. Letter from Mr. Venn . Mr. Wells. Mr. Trinder. Mr. White-
field to Mr. Madan. Mr. Madan to Mr. Wesley. Lady Huntingdon to Mr. Aldennan Harris.
Gloucestershire Association. Lady Huntingdon to Mr. Brewer. Chapels at Gloucester,
Worcester, and Cheltenham. Lady Huntingdon's Letter concerning them.
CHAPTER XXV.
Chapel at Bath. Pope the Poet. Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester. Lady Fanny Shirley.
Charles Wesley. John Wesley. Beau Nash. Anecdote. Mr. Hervey. Methodist Con
ference. Mr. Larwood. Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury. Dr. Doddridge Hon. Mrs.
Scawen. Mr. Cruttenden. Mr. Neal. Dr. Doddridge visits Bristol. Visits Lady Hun
tingdon at Bath. Anecdote. Dr. Oliver. Dr. Hartley. Prior Park. Death of Dr. Dod
dridge. Mr. Grinfleld. The Moravians. Count Zinzendorff. Elizabeth King. Lady Ger
trude Hotham. Death of Miss Hotham. Marriage of Sir Charles Hotham. Death of his
Lady. His own Decease. Death of his Mother. Lady Gertrude. Mr. Theophilus Lindsay.
Mrs. Brewer. Lord Huntingdon and Mr. Grimshaw. Lord Chesterfield and Mr. Stanhope.
Countess of Moira. Mrs. Carteret and Mr. Cavendish. Countess Delitz. Lady Chesterfield.
Earl of Bath. Lord Cork. Anecdote of George II.
CHAPTER XXVII.
Chapter at Bath. Bretby Hall. Mr. Townsend and Mr. Jesse. Mr. Romaine. Mr.
Shrapnell. Mrs. Wordsworth. Letters from Mr. Romaine. Chapel opened at Bath. Mr.
Whitefield and Mr. Townsend. Mr. Fletcher's labours at Bath. Lord and Lady Glenorchy.
Letter from Lady Genorchy to Lady Huntingdon. Death of Lord and Lady Sutherland.
Lady Himtmgdon the Wesleys, and Mr. Whitefield. Letter from Lady Huntingdon to Mr.
Wesley. Horace Walpole Lady Betty Cobbc. Nobility attend Lady Huntingdon's Chapel.
Letter from Mr. Whitefield to Mr. Powys. Mr. Still ingfleet. Mr. Fenn and Sir Charles
Hotham. Anecdotes of Mr. Venn. Mr. Andrews and the Bishop of Gloucester. Mr Venn.
atTrevecca. Mr. Lcc Captain Scott and Mr. Venn. Anecdotes of Captain Scott. Letter
fromMr'FSci WS' *"*** Dr' Haweis' Mr. Cradock Glascotfs Letter

LIFE AND TIMES

COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON.

CHAPTER I.
Antiquity of tlie Shirley Family—Saxon origin— Nornlan dignities— Royal
alliances — Foreign crowns — British coronets — the Clanricardes — Battle of
Aghrim — the Parkers — The Lord High Chancellor found guilty— the Levinges
—Irish alliances — Birth of Lady Selina  her early character — First religious
impressions — The grave of youth — Piety — Private prayer  Fashionable life —
Marriage — The Huntingdon family — its ancestry — The Earl of Huntingdon 
his character — " Tears of the Muses" — Self-righteousness  The Methodists
— Lady Margaret.Hastings — The light of Religious Truth — Force of Example
— Conversion.
SELINA, Countess of Huntingdon, the most extraordinary
woman perhaps of an age fertile in extraordinary characters, and
in many respects the greatest whom England has produced, was
descended from the ancient and honourable house of Shirley
— a house as remarkable for a long successive union of piety
with nobility, as for the rarely-equalled purity of its genealo
gical tree, one of whose ancient branches is coeval with the time
of Edward the Confessor. All its intermarriages having taken
place with the most ancient and illustrious English houses, many
of its line having distinguished themselves in the military history
of their country, — it would be difficult to find a family more
illustrious or better entitled to the claim of true nobility. The
devotion and fidelity they have always borne to their Sovereign
Princes are great and singular. Their high and renowned
alliances joined them in a near degree of propinquity of blood
to the Royal Stem of England, both Saxon and Norman ; to
those of France, Scotland, Denmark, Aragon, Leon, Castile,
the Roman Empire, and almost all the princely houses of Chris
tendom. Within the kingdom of Great Britain, they are con
nected with the most honourable and princely houses of the
Barons of Berkeley, Dukes of Norfolk and Buckingham, Earls
vol. i. — B

2 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
of Arundel, Oxford, Northumberland, Shrewsbury, Kent; .Derby,
Worcester, Huntingdon, Pembroke, Nottingham, Suffolk, Berk
shire, and to most of the ancient and flourishing families of the
nobility and gentry of the monarchy. Thus the living de
scendants of this illustrious house have the honour to issue from
the blood of Emperors, Kings, Princes, Dukes, and some of the
most renowned Earls. The lands and seigniories which they
have held from the remotest period have added to their honour ;
but, above all earthly things, we hold their ardent and inex
tinguishable zeal for the advancement ofthe service of the Most
High God, and their singular liberality towards the Church —
for they have, at all periods, evinced the sincerity of their devo
tion by the great number of places of worship they have founded,
built, re-edified, endowed, or enriched, with their means and
revenue, in various parts of the kingdom.
The Shirleys derive their descent from Sasuallo or Se
wallus de Etingdon, whose name (says Dugdale, in his " Anti
quities of Warwickshire,") argues him to have been of the old
English stock ; which Sewallus resided at Nether-Etingdon,
in the county of Warwick, about the reign of Edward the Con
fessor, the seat of his ancestors for many generations before.
After the Conquest, the lordship of Nether-Etingdon was given
to Henry, Earl of Ferrars, in Normandy, who was one of the
principal adventurers with the Norman Duke William, and was
held under him by this Sewallus ; to whose posterity, in the
male line, it has continued to the present day.
From this Sewallus descended, in a direct line, Sir Henry
Shirley, Bart., who was sheriff of Leicester in the last year of
the reign of James the First, He married,, in 1615, Lady
Dorothy Devereux, the youngest, of the two daughters of that
great but unfortunate favourite of Queen Elizabeth,. Robert
Earl of Essex, and sister and co-heiress to her brother, the last
Earl of Essex. By this alliance, the Earls Ferrars quarter the
arms of France and England with their own; the Earl of Essex
having been maternally descended from Richard Plantagenet,
Earl of Cambridge, grandson to King Edward III., and grand
father to King Edward IV., and also from Thomas Plantagenet,
Duke of Gloucester, youngest son of Edward III. Sir Henry
Shirley had, by the Lady Dorothy Devereux,* two sons and
» Lady Dorothy Shirley took for her second.husband, in 1634,, William Staf
ford of Blatherwick, county of Northampton, Esq. The last male heir of this
family was William Stafford, Esq. , whodied without issue. Of his two sisters,
hiscorheirs, the elder, Susannah, married in 1699, Henry. O'Brien, Esq., son
ot Sir Donatus O'Brien, of Dr,omeland. in the county of Clare. The pre
sent representative of this, family is Stafford O'Brien, Esq., of Blatherwvcke
Park, who married a daughter- of the late excellent Iiady* Barham . tbe'
younger, Anne, became the wife of George Lord Carberry.

SELINA, COUNTESS OE HUNTINGDON. S
one daughter, Lettice,* who married William de Burgh, Earl
of Clanricarde. His eldest son, Charles, died unmarried about
the year 1649; and Sir Henry Shirley was succeeded by his
son, Sir Robert Shirley, who, for his loyalty to Charles I. was
* She had a numerous family, and two of her five sons were successively
Earls of Clanricarde ; Richard, the eldest, left a daughter, Lady Dorothy, who
married Alexander Pendarves, Esq , of Roscarron, in CornwalI|; John, the second
son, who succeeded to the title after the death of his brother Richard, without
issue male, was the colonel of a regiment of foot in King James's army, and
created by that monarch, after his abdication, Baron de Burgh, of Bophin, ail
island adjacent to the county of Galway. He was taken prisoner at the battle
of Aghrim, at the head of his regiment, brought to the castle of Dublin, and
thence went to England, being outlawed and attainted, and his estates forfeited,
for his adherence to that king ; but, in the first year of the reign of Queen Amie,
an act of Parliament was passed for making provision for the Protestant chil
dren of Richard, Earl of Clanricarde, and John Lord Bophin, whereby he was
acquitted of all treasons and attainders, himself and children restored to their
blood and estate ; and Montague, Earl of Abingdon, Robert, Earl Ferrars (tbe
grandfather of L,ady Huntingdon,) and Henry Thynne, Esq. , afterwards Vis
count Weymouth, his next (Protestant) relations, were appointed guardians to
his sons, for the purpose of completing their education in the Protestant reli
gion. One of these sons, Michael, who became tenth Earl, was great grand
father to the present Marquis of Clanricarde.
Ulick de Burgh, the fourth son of Lettice, Countess of Clanricarde, was
created Viscount Galway. He was a nobleman of true courage, and endowed
wifh many good qualites : he commanded a regiment of foot in King James's
army, and was killed at the battle of Aghrim, in the 22nd year of his age. As
he died without issue, as well as the third and fifth sons of his mother, tlie titJe
became extinct. Besides five sons, Lady Clanricarde tad four daughters, two
of whom died unmarried ; Lady Margaret, the eldest, married, first, BryaiV,
Viscount Magennis, of Iveagh ; and secondly, Thomas Butler, Esq., of Kilc'ash,
in the county of Tipperary, where she died, his widow, July 19, 1744 ; Lady
Honora, the second daughter, first married Patrick Sarsfield, Earl of Lucan,
who was killed at the battle of Landen, July i9, 1693; and secondly, in tbe
chapel of the Castle of St. Germain's, near Paris, in 1695, James Fitz-James^
Duke of Berwick, Marshal, Duke, and Peer of France (eldest natural son of
J.imes II. by Lady Arabella Churchill, sister to John, Duke of Marlborougb,)
one of the greatest Generals in Europe, who was killed at the siege of Philips
burgh, June 12, 1734, leading issue by her (who died aft Pezenas, a city of
Languedoc, in 1698,) James Francis Fitz- James, Duke of Berwick, founder of
the branch of the House of Stuart, established in Spain. He was created by
Philip V. Duke of Liria and Xercia, Grandee of Spain of the first Class, Knight
of the Order of the Golden Fleece, of St. Andrew, and St. Alexandro, and?
Chamberlain to the King of Spain. Remarried Catherine de Portugal-Columb,
daughter and heir ofthe Duke of Veraguas, a Grandee of Spain, in wtose right
he bore that title. Having been sent Ambassador from Philip V. to his son
Don Carlos, King of the two Sicilies,, he died at Naples, June I, 1 738;. agedi
forty-two years, leaving issue by his Duchess (who died in October, 1739,) two
sons and one daughter, viz. : —
James Fitz-James Stuart, Duke of Berwick, Liria, and de Veraguas, wio had
a son named Charles-Bernard- Paschal- Fitz-James, baptized July 5, 1751, and
ennobled as Marquis of Jamaica.
Lord Peter Fitz-James, called in Spain Don Pedro, and created JVfarquis de
Saint Leonard, in May, 1774, Lieutenant-General and Admiral of Spain. He
married and* left issue.
Donna- Maria, married to the Duke of Mirandola, Duke and Grandee of the
first Class, wEose widow she died at Madrid, November 1 J, 1740.
B 2

4 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
imprisoned* in the Tower of London, by Oliver Cronlwell,
where he died during his confinement, not without suspicion oi
poison. It was his singular praise to have done the best in the
worst times, and to have hoped even in the most calamitous
circumstances. By his wife, Catherine, daughter of Humphrey
Okeover, Esq., of Okeover, in the county of Stafford, he had
two sons : Sir Seymour Shirley, his successor, and Sir .Robert,
afterwards Earl " Ferrers ; also two daughters : Catherine,
married to Peter Venables, Baron of Kinderton ; and Dorothy,
to George Vernon, Esq., of Sudbury, in Derbyshire. The only
son of Sir Sevmour Shirley, by the Lady Diana Bruce, daugh
ter of the Earl of Aylesbury, surviving his father but a short
time, the title of Baronet devolved on his uncle, Sir Robert
Shirley, the grandfather of Lady Huntingdon ; which Sir Robert
Shirley, First Earl Ferrers, was born at East-Sheen, in
Surrey, during his father's confinement in the Tower; and
on December 14, 1677, his Majesty King Charles II., taking
into consideration that this Sir Robert Shirley was grandson
and heir to Lady Dorothy Devereux, the younger of the two
sisters and heirs of Robert Devereux, the last Earl of Essex
of that family, and that the issue male of the elder sister and
coheiress, the Lady Frances, who married William Seymour,
Marquis of Hertford, was then extinct, was pleased to confirm
unto him and his heirs the ancient Baronies of Ferrars of
Chartley, Bourchier, and Lovaine ; which honour had been in
abeyance between the Ladies Frances and Dorothy Devereux,
and their descendants, from the decease of their brother, the
Earl of Essex, without issue. Sir Robert Shirley being so
declared Lord Ferrars of Chartley, &c, was introduced
into the House of Peers, January 28, 1677-8, and took his
place according to the ancient writ of summons to John de
Ferrars, his lineal ancestor [February 6, 27th Edward I.].
He was Master of the Horse and Steward of the Household
to Queen Catherine, consort of King Charles II., and was
sworn of the Privy-Council to King William [May 25, ] 699.]
In the reign of Queen Anne, he was again sworn of the Privy-
Council [November 25, 1708,] according to the act for the
union ofthe two kingdoms; and on the third September, 1711,
was advanced to the titles of Viscount Tamworth and Earl
Ferrars, by reason of his descent from the ancient and noble
family of Ferrars.
His Lordship was twice married, and had a family of ticenty-
seven children. His first Countess was daughter and heiress to
• See, in Nichol's History of Leicestershire, a fac-simile of a letter from
Charles II. to his widow ; and a portrait of Sir Robert.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 5
Lawrence Washington, Esq., of Caresden, in Wiltshire, who
dying October 2, 1693, was buried at Stanton-Harold ; he
married, as his second wife, in August, 1699, Selina, daughter
of George Finch, Esq., of the citv of London. This Lady
Ferrars died March 20, 1762. Robert Shirley, the eldest son,
was created Earl Ferrars, but died before his father. He had
been twice married; first, to his cousin, Catherine, daughter
to Peter Venables, Baron of Kinderton, who, dying in her
nonage, he married, secondly, Anne, daughter of Sir Humphrey
Ferrars, heiress to her grandfather, John de Ferrars, Esq., of
Tamworth Castle, last heir male of the Barons Ferrars of Groby.
She bore him three sons, Robert, Ferrars, and Thomas, and a
daughter, Elizabeth. Robert became, by his father's death,
heir-apparent to his grandfather, and was elected Knight of the
Shire for the county of Leicester in the last Parliament called
by Queen Anne. He survived both his brothers, and likewise
died of the small-pox in the lifetime of his grandfather, July 5,
1714, unmarried, leaving his sister Elizabeth, married, in 1716,
to James Compton, Earl of Northumberland, his heir ; she died
March, 1740-1, leaving an only daughter, and heiress, Charlotte,
Baroness Ferrars, first wife of George, Marquis Townshend.
Earl Ferrars departed this life on the 25th of December,
1717, and was succeeded in his title and estates by his second
son, the Honourable Washington Shirley, who took his seat in
the House of Peers as Second Earl Ferrars. His Lordship
was father to Lady Huntingdon, and was born June 22, 1677,
and named Washington, after his mother, the daughter and
heiress, as we have said, to Lawrence Washington, Esq., by
Eleanor, sister to Sir Christopher Guise, Bart., of Hynam Court,
in the County of Gloucester. Lord Ferrars was a nobleman of
great honour and probity, and a lover of justice ; the affability
and benevolence of his disposition, and the goodness of his un
derstanding, made him beloved and esteemed throughout his
life. The respect and veneration paid to him while he lived,
and the universal lamentation at his death, are ample testimonies
of a character not easily to be paralleled.
Lady Huntingdon's mother was descended from a family of
great respectability and antiquity, seated at Parwick, in the
county of Derby, as early as 1561. Her great-grandfather,
Richard Levinge, Esq., of Parwick, married the aunt of Thomas
Parker, an eminent lawyer, who rose to the dignity of Lord
High Chancellor and Earl of Macclesfield. It was an extra
ordinary instance of the fallibility of human virtue, that this every
way distinguished character, one of the great ornaments of the
Peerage, who had so long presided at ihe administration of jus-

6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
tice, should himself be arraigned as a criminal on charges of
corruption. He was tried at the bar of the House, and unani
mously pronounced guilty ; in consequence of which he was
removed from his high office and fined thirty thousand pounds,
as a punishment for his offence. He was the second Lord
Chancellor of England impeached by the grand inquest ot the
nation for corruption of office ; and, like his great predecessor,
Lord St. Alban's, found guilty ofthe charge. The prosecution
was carried on with great virulence; and though rigid justice
demanded a severe sentence, yet party zeal and personal animo
sity were supposed to have had their weight in that which was
passed upon him. His Lordship's son succeeded, as second
Earl of Macclesfield, and his only daughter, Lady Elizabeth
Parker, married Sir William Heathcote, of Hursley, in the
county of Southampton, Bart. Upon tbe male descendants of
this lady the honours of her father are entailed, in default, at
any period, of the direct male line.
Her Ladyship's grandfather, the Right Hon. Sir Richard
Levinge, Knight, of Parwick, Recorder of, and member for,
Chester, having attained great eminence at the English Bar, was
appointed, in 1690, Solicitor-General in Ireland and Speaker
of the House of Commons. He was created a Baronet of that
kingdom by Queen Anne, October 26, 1704; he was a man
of good judgment and great integrity ; and set himself with
great application to the functions of his important post. In
1711, Sir Richard was nominated' Attorney-General, and in
1720, Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common-Pleas. A
few years after his removal to Ireland he purchased the estate
of High Park, now Knockdrin Castle, in the county of West-
meath, the present residence of the Levinge family. Sir Richard
married first, in 1680, Mary, daughter and co-heiress of Sir
Gaweh Corbyn, of London, Knt., by whom he had three sons
and three daughters ; the eldest of the latter, Mary, married
Washington, Earl Ferrars ; the second Dorothea, married, first,
Sir John Rawdon, of Moira, and afterwards, Dr. Charles Cobb,
Archbishop of Dublin ; the third, Grace, married Edward Ken
nedy, Esq., of Mullow, in the county of Longford.
Sir Richard Levinge married, second, Mary, daughter of
the Hon. Robert Johnson, one of the Barons of the Exchequer
in Ireland, by whom he had one son, who died July 13, 1/24,
and was interred in St. Mary's, in Dublin, His eldest son, Sir
Richard, succeeded to him as the second Baronet. He was for
many years member of Parliament for Blessington, and died
November 2, 1731, without issue. Lady Levinge survived him
till the 25th of February, 1747. She was a daughter of Sir

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 7
Arthur Rawdon (brother of Mary, Countess of Granard, and
nephew of Edward, Earl Conway,) by Helena, daughter and
heiress to Sir James Graham, third and youngest son of
William, Earl of Monteith and Airth, in Scotland. The title
devolved upon Sir Richard's brother, Sir Charles Levinge,
whose grandson, Sir Richard Levinge, the present representative
of the family, married the eldest daughter of Lord Rancliffe,
and has a very numerous family. Miss Selina Levinge, sister
to Sir Richard, married the Rev. Henry Lambert Bayley, of
Ballyarthur, in the county of Wicklow ; and Miss Anne Levinge
espoused the Rev William Gregory, second son of W. Gregory,
Esq., Secretary of the Civil Department in Ireland, and grand
son, maternally, of William, first Earl of Clancarthy, and
nephew of the present Archbishop of Tuam.
Dorothy Levinge, one of the three sisters of the Right Hon.
Sir Richard Levinge, Bart., married Henry Buckston, Esq.,
whose ancestors had been seated at Bradborne, in Derbyshire,
for several centuries. His descendant, the Rev. German
Buckston, of Bradborne, is the present representative of that
family. Lady Selina Shirley was the second of the three daugh
ters and co-heiresses of Washington, second Earl Ferrars, and
was born August 24, 1707. Her eldest sister, the Lady Eliza
beth was married to Joseph Gascoigne Nightingale, Esq., of
Enfield, in the county of Middlesex, and Mamhead, in the
county of Devon ; and the youngest, Lady Mary, to Thomas
Needham, Viscount Kilmorey, of the kingdom of Ireland,
nephew to the Earl of Huntingdon. His Lordship dying Feb.
3j 1768, without issue by Lady Kilmorey, who died August 12,
1784, was succeeded by his next surviving brother, John, tenth
Viscount, grandfather of Francis, present Earl of Kilmorey.
Lady Elizabeth Nightingale had a son, named Washington
Nightingale, who died, unmarried, in 1754; and a daughter,
Elizabeth, sole heiress to her father and mother, who was
married to Wilmot, Earl of Lisburne, an Irish Peer, and died
May 19, 1755, in giving birth to Wilmot Vaughan, second Earl
of Lisburne. On the death of Sir Robert Nightingale, Bart.,
one of the directors of the East India Company, who died,
unmarried, in 1722, the family estates devolved upon his cousin,
Robert Gascoigne, Esq., second son of the Rev. Joseph Gas
coigne, of Enfield ; and the baronetcy lay dormant for three
quarters of a century, until it was claimed, in 1797, by Lieut-
Colonel Edward Nightingale, father of the present Baronet.
But the eldest son of Mr. Gascoigne had assumed the name of
Nightingale previous to his marriage with the Lady Elizabeth
Shirley* in 1725, who was interred with him in Westminster

8 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Abbey, where a well-known and unrivalled monument by Rou-
billiac is erected to their memory.
Lady Selina's mind, even in very early infancy, was ot a
serious cast. When she was only nine years of age, the sight ot
a corpse, about her own age, on its way to the grave, induced
her to attend the burial. There the first impressions of deep
seriousness concerning an eternal world took possession of her
heart, and with many tears she earnestly implored God, on
the spot, that whenever he should be pleased to take her away,
he would deliver her from all her fears, and give her a happy
departure. She often, afterwards, visited that grave, and always
preserved a lively sense of the affecting scene she had there
witnessed. Though no correct views of evangelical truth had hitherto
enlightened her Ladyship's mind, yet even during her juvenile
days, she frequently retired, for prayer, to a particular closet,
where she could not be observed, and in all her little troubles
found relief in pouring out the feelings of her heart to God.
When she grew up and was introduced into the world, she con
tinued to pray that she might marry into a serious family. None
kept up more of the ancient dignity and propriety than the house
of Huntingdon : the family possessed a sort of decorum which
she perhaps mistook for religion. With the head of that family
she accordingly became united on the 3rd of June, 1728. His
Lordship was descended in a direct line from Francis, second Earl
of Huntingdon, who married Catherine, eldest daughter and co
heiress to Henry Cole, Lord Montacute, son and heir to Sir
Richard Cole, Knight of the Garter, and Margaret, Countess of
Salisbury, daughter to George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence,
brother to Edward IV. and heiress to her brother Edward, Earl of
Warwick, who was the last heir male of the Royal House of Plan
tagenet. Talent and piety adorned the Hastings family : Lord
Hastings, the uncle of Lord Huntingdon, was a nobleman of
great learning, and of so excellent a disposition, that no less than
ninety-eight elegies were made on him, and published under the
title of "Lacrymse Musarum; the Tears of the* Muses:" among
which was Dryden's first essay.
The house of Huntingdon has produced many bright examples
of religious females, who consecrated their endowments to the
service of God. Of this number was the Lady Elizabeth Lang-
ham, the lady of Sir J. Langham, Bart., and aunt to Lord
Huntingdon, of whom an interesting account has been preserved
in "Burder's Memoirs of eminently pious Women." His Lord
ship's sisters, particularly Lady Betty and Lady Margaret
Hastings, were women of singular excellence.
Theoptyl»«u, ninth Earl of Huntingdon, was the eldest son of

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 9
Theophilus, seventh Earl, by his second marriage, and was born
at Donnington Park, November 12, 1696, and baptized on
the 20th of the same month. He succeeded his half-brother,
George, eighth Earl of Huntingdon, February 22, 1704-5; and
at the coronation of George II., October 11, 1727, carried the
sword of State. His Lordship's mother, Frances Countess of
Huntingdon, was daughter and sole heiress to Francis Leveson
Fowler Esq., of Harnage-Grange, in ths county of Salop, and
grand-daughter of Lord Kinderton, who had married Lady
Catherine Shirley, sister to Robert, first Earl Ferrars.
Lord Huntingdon's exemplary character, his marriage and
issue, are set forth in an elegant inscription from . the pen of
Lord Bolingbroke, on a monument erected to his memory* by
Lady Huntingdon, in the church of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where
he lies interred.
Such was the noble Earl to whom the Lady Selina Shirley
was united " in love's inviolable bonds ;" and his Lordship well
knew how to value the treasure which Providence had given
him, in a woman of such exalted merit and amiable qualities,
and accordingly made it his study to repay the felicity with
which she crowned his life. He considered himself possessed
of the greatest possible addition to his earthly happiness, and
from the period of his marriage was uniformly an attentive and
affectionate husband, which character he maintained with a be
coming mixture of dignity and affection till the day of his death.
His esteem for her was equal to that affection, and he often
declared that time increased it — that her life and actions ren
dered virtue amiable, and that in her society he found his greatest
happiness. Nor could any one be happier than herself in such
a partner ; for whom, the longer she knew him, she had the
greater reason to bless God : indeed, the venerable Countess
continued to the last moments of her protracted life to express
the hio-hest veneration and affection for his memory ; and, but a
short time before her death, she discovered how incapable she
was of forgetting him, by shedding fresh tears at every mention
of his name. r
Lady Huntingdon was, unquestionably, formed for eminence.
Her tender age exhibited a fine dawn of her mature excellence ;
and she gave early presages of proving highly useful and orna
mental to society, if permitted to arrive at those years necessary
for maturing the powers of the human mind. Her endowments
were much above the ordinary standard. She possessed a highly
intelligent mind, an extraordinary quickness of apprehension, a
brilliant fancy, a retentive memory, a strong clear understanding,
* See Chap. VI., where the Epitaph will be found.

10 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
and a sound judgment, much improved by reading, conversation,
deep thought, and observation. Her knowledge of mankind, even
at an early age, and her penetration into the characters of those
with whom she was acquainted, were admirable. Though she
was obliged, from her situation in life, to mix with others in
fashionable amusements, an attachment to them, or to the orna
ment of dress, was not the foible of her discerning and con
templative mind. Though not a regular beauty, she possessed
a large portion of the charms of her sex : her person was noble,
commanding respect — her countenance was the living picture
of her mind, and united in it, in a happy combination, both the
great and the condescending. This engaging exterior was ani
mated by a soul, lively and ardent in its pursuits, and enriched
with those qualities which the world most highly commends
and esteems.
At a very early period of life, Lady Huntingdon discovered
an elevated turn of mind : she was impressed with a deep sense
of divine things ; a feeling which had a powerful influence on
her conduct, in leading her to read the word of God with great
diligence. She manifested an extraordinary turn for religious
meditation; and repeatedly felt the most awful convictions
of the certainty and eternal duration of a future state. Her
conversation was modest, and her whole conduct marked with a
degree of rectitude not usually to be found in early life. After
her marriage, she manifested a particularly serious deportment ;
and though sometimes at Court, yet, in visiting the higher circles,
she took no pleasure in the fashionable follies of the great. At
Donnington-park she was the Lady Bountiful among her neigh
bours and dependants; though, as she herself afterwards felt
and declared, going about to establish her own righteousness, she
endeavoured, by prayer, and fasting, and alms-deeds, to commend
herself to the favour of the Most High. For, notwithstanding
the early appearance of piety in Lady Huntingdon, it is evident
she continued for many years a perfect stranger to the true nature
of that Gospel which is the power of God to every one that
believes. She aspired after rectitude, and was anxious to possess
every moral perfection — she counted much upon the dignity of
human nature, and was ambitious to act in a manner becoming
her exalted ideas of that dignity. And here her Ladyship out
stripped the multitude in an uncommon degree : she was rigidly
just in her dealings, and inflexibly true to her word ; she was a
strict observer of her several duties in every relation of hfe ; her
sentiments were liberal, and her charity p'rofuse ; she was pru
dent in her conduct, and courteous in her deportment ; she was
a diligent enquirer after truth, and a strenuous advocate for

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 11
virtue ; she was frequent in her sacred meditations, and was a
regular attendant at public worship. Possessed of so many
moral accomplishments while she was admired by the world, it
is no wonder that she should cast a look of self-complacency
upon her character, and consider herself, with respect to her
attainments in virtue, abundantly superior to the common herd
of mankind. But while the Countess was taken up in congratu
lating herself upon her own fancied eminence in piety, she was
an absolute stranger to that inward and universal change of
heart, wrought by the gracious operations of the Spirit of God,
by which new principles are established in the mind, new incli
nations are imparted, and new objects pursued.
In acting thus, Lady Huntingdon was by no means singular.
It is the faith of multitudes in the present day, who call them
selves Christians, but who, by presuming to compare their own
imaginary good deeds with the all-perfect and only justifying
righteousness of the Saviour, as the ground of their acceptance
before God, make void, as far as in them lies, all the glorious
designs of Jehovah's free and sovereign mercy in man's salvation.
Nothing short of the depravity of our fallen nature can ac
count for our obstinately persisting in the notion, that the sinner
can do anything towards reconciling himself to the favour of the
Most High and Most Holy; forgetting that the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, being in all respects consummate and
glorious, cannot want, and will not admit of, any works of the
sinner as auxiliary to his justification. For, "by the obedience
of one, many are made righteous." And, " to him that worketh
not, but believeth in Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is
counted to him for righteousness."
He who made the heart, and He alone, can change it. A
truth this, to which the experience of every true believer bears
an additional testimony, and which is confirmed by the express
authority of the Word of God. " Without me," says the Saviour,
" ye can do nothing." And he says again, " No man can came
unto me except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him."
If ever the sinner is converted to God, and pursues heavenly
and divine objects, it must be through the power of the Ho}y
Spirit, by whom he is '* created anew in Christ Jesus unto good
works, which God hath before ordained that he should walk in
them." This gracious change L.ady Huntingdon now experi
enced, for which thousands and tens of thousands will have abun
dant reason to bless God to all eternity. The manner in which
it was brought about, and the mighty effects produced by it, it
now becomes the province of her biographer to relate.
Mr. Whitefield, Mr. Ingham, the Wesleys3 Mr. Hervey, .and

12 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
others, the great revivers of heartfelt and serious religion, had
now awakened great attention in the land, and were branded with
the name of Methodists. As they all set out with professions
of strict adherence to the Church of England, the distinguishing
tenets of her Articles and Homilies were particularly enforced
by them. As this was utterly unlike the manner of preaching
which then chiefly obtained, they attracted numerous audiences;
and the lively manner of address, as well as the matter
of their discourses, exceedingly struck the hearers with their
novelty, as well as importance. Nothing awakened greater at
tention to their preaching, than their quitting the universal habit
of reading their sermons from a look, without any animation,
and addressing extempore discourses to the congregations where
they ministered.
The multitudes that followed them were much affected; a
great and visible change was produced in the minds of many ;
the attention paid to these ministers, and the blessings evidently
attendant on their labours, roused them to vigorous and increa
sing exertions: they were always at their work, preachino-
wherever they could find admittance into the churches, and,
perhaps — for they were human — not a little flattered by the
popularity attending their ministrations. Some wild-fire
could hardly fail to mingle with the sacred flame — whilst
the sensation created by their preaching was inconceivable.
Roused by opposition and encouraged by success, the Metho
dists continued to extend their influence, and spread their name
over various parts of the kingdom. The churches being inca
pable of containing the crowds which flocked after them, they
took to the fields and preached everywhere. Their congregations
under the canopy of heaven were prodigious — sometimes, indeed,
riotous and insulting, but, in general, solemn and attentive.
By these labours a flood of gospel light broke upon the nation —
societies increased by thousands, and their ministry was blessed, to
the great revival of religion, wherever they itinerated. Men more
laborious than these leaders were have hardly appeared since
the days of the apostles : they repeatedly travelled over a
space more than the circumference of the globe — wherever
they moved, they were as a flame of fire, and left behind them
a train of evangelical light. They were in preaching un
wearied, two, or three, and frequently four times a- day, and this
sometimes in places many miles distant from each other; and
notice having been previously given of their coming, thousands
awaited and welcomed them, heard them with reverence, and
received them as angels of God. By their instrumentality,
many Church ministers were awakened from the lethargy which

SELINA) COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 13
had beset them, and amazing multitudes were called to the
happy experience of the salvation of Jesus by their labours,
and added to the church of such as shall be everlastingly
saved. As all are by nature alike, in a moral and spiritual sense,
equally guilty and vile, weak and worthless, so divine grace is a
kind leveller of distinctions, and is no respceter of persons or
classes. Though not many women wise after the flesh, not
many mighty, not many noble are called ; yet, to show the
sovereignty, and power, and riches of divine grace, God is
pleased sometimes to select the monuments of his mercy from
among the wealthy and noble, to show that he is no respecter of
persons, but is rich in mercy to all that call upon him. The
sisters of Lord Huntingdon were women not more distinguished
by rank than by general excellence of character. From motives
of curiosity, some of the Ladies Hastings were induced to
attend the preaching of the first Methodists, and there the Lord
met them with the blessings of his grace. Under this ministry
they were given to see the insufficiency of their own righteous
ness and the method of salvation on which they had been resting,
and were made willing to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as the
foundation of their hope and trust. Then " what things were
once gain to them," the}-, with St. Paul, "counted loss for
Christ. Yea, counted all things but loss, for the excellency
of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord." They soon
joined themselves to the people of God, and never appeared to
be ashamed to own whose they were, or whom they served.
Salvation to one of a family, to one of a city, is often but the
prelude of salvation to the whole house, and to hundreds in that
city. When the streams of mercy begin to flow through such
channels, who can say how many different directions they may
take, and how far they may ultimately extend ? Upon the im
portant result of one conversion, no man is able to calculate ;
and, therefore, it is said — no doubt with some reference to the
truth of this remark — "that there is joy in the presence of
the angels over one sinner that repenteth." All who are
themselves brought near to God by the blood of the cross, will
be earnestly concerned for the salvation of others, especially
their own kindred ; and they will estimate the success of their
labours for the accomplishment of this object as the highest
joy in time, and their crown of rejoicing in that day when the
Lord of Hosts shall make up his jewels. No sooner did the
Lord Jesus Christ manifest himself to the woman of Samaria,
than she went into the city to proclaim the glory of his name,
and many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him through

14 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
her testimony. Lady Margaret Hastings was the first who re
ceived the truth as it is in Jesus; and the change effected by
the power of the Holy Spirit on her heart, soon became visible
to all. Considering the obligations she was under to the sove
reign grace of God, she felt herself called upon to seek the
salvation of her fellow-creatures, and the promotion of their best
and eternal interests. Next to her own soul, the salvation of
her own familv and friends became her care. She exhorted
them faithfully'and affectionately, one by one, to " flee from the
wrath to come;" and the Lord was pleased to make her the
honoured instrument of Lady Huntingdon's conversion, as well
as of many others of her family.
Conversing with Lady Margaret one day on this subject, Lady
Huntingdon was exceedingly struck with a sentiment she uttered,
" that since she had known and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ,
for life avid sahationr she had been as happy as an angel." To
any such sensation of happiness, Lady Huntingdon felt that she
was, as yet, an utter stranger. The more she examined herself,
and considered the subject, the more she was convinced of the
momentous truth. This conviction caused many reflections
to arise in her mind ;¦ and beginning also to see her sinfulness
and guilt, and the entire corruption and depravity of her whole
nature, her hope of being able to reconcile herself to God by
her own works and deservings, began gradually to die away.
She sought, however, by the most rigorous austerities, to con
quer her evil nature, and dispel the distressing thoughts which
continually engrossed her mind. But, alas ! the more she strove,
the more she saw and felt that all her thoughts, words, and
works, however specious before men, v;ere utterly sinful before
Him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.
A dangerous illness having, soon after, brought her to the
brink of the grave, the fear of death fell terribly upon her, and
her conscience was greatly distressed. She now perceived that
she had beguiled herself with prospects of a visionary nature ;
was entirely blinded to her own real character ; had long placed
her happiness in mere chimeras,, and grounded her vain hope*
upon imaginary foundations. It was to no purpose that she
reminded herself of the morality of her conduct ; in vain did sh«
recollect the many encomiums that had been passed upon her
early piety and virtue. Her best righteousness now appeared
to be but " filthy rags," which, so far from justifying heT before
God, increased her condemnation. The remorse which before
attended conscience, on account of sin, respected only the
outward actions of heu life ; but now she saw her " heart was
deceitful above all things,, amd teperaitelsy wicked — that all haw

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 15
sinned and come short ofthe glory of God;" and that, "the
thoughts of man's heart are only evil, and that continually."
When upon the point of perishing in her own apprehension, the
words of Lady Margaret returned strongly to her recollection, and
she felt an earnest desire, renouncing every other hope, to cast
herself wholly upon Christ for life and salvation. From her
bed, she lifted up her heart to her Saviour, with this important
prayer, and immediately all her distress and fears were removed,
and she was filled with peace and joy in believing.
Now the day began to dawn, Jesus the Sun of Righteousness
arose, and buret in meridian splendour on her benighted soul.
The scales fell from her eyes, and opened a passage for the light
of life which sprang in, and death and darknsss fled before it,
Viewing herself as a brand plucked from the burning, she could
not but stand astonished at the mighty power of that grace which
saved her from eternal destruction just when she stood upon its
very brink, and raised her from the gates of hell to the confines
of heaven ; and the depths from which she was raised, made
the heights which she reached only the more amazing; she
felt the rock beneath her, and from that secure position looked
with astonishment downward, to that horrible pit from which
she was so mercifully delivered — and upwards, in extasy, to that
glory to which she should be raised. The "sorrow of the
world, which worketh death," was now exchanged for that godly
sorrow which worketh repentance unto life ; and " joy unspeak
able, and full of glory" succeeded that bitterness that comes
of the conviction of sin ; she enjoyed, already, a delightful fore
taste of heaven. Her disorder from that moment took a favour
able turn ; she was restored to perfect health, and, what was
better, to newness of 4ife. She determined thenceforward to
present herself to God, as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable,
which she was now convinced was her reasonable service.
This mighty change began at her Ladyship's heart, and ex
tended its salutary influence to all the sublime faculties of
her mind, and the whole tenor of her outward conversation.
Her understanding was renewed in knowledge. The stubborn.-
ness of the will was broken, and changed into a passive acquies
cence in the sovereign will of God. "Her carnal mind, which
was enmity against God," was subdued by the superior in
fluence of Divine grace. All offences at the Gospel plan of
salvation died away ; for, when the veil of unbelief that covered
her heart was rent, it then "turned to the Lord," and from that
moment she learned " to count all things but loss for the ex
cellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus her Lord." The eye
of her understanding being illuminated and her heart enraptured

16 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
with a view of matchless excellency, she was ready to exclaim*
« Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon
earth that I desire besides thee !" The desire of her soul was
to him, and to the remembrances of his great name and glori
ous salvation. Believing in Jesus, as the Scripture hath said,
she found in him a well of consolation, " springing up unto ever
lasting life." All her wanderings were at once happily termi
nated—her doubts were removed, her tears were dried up,' and
she rejoiced in hope of the glory of God, whom she contem
plated in all his amiable and august perfections, with delight and
wonder; and enraptured with a view of him as reconciled to her
in the Son of his love, she gave vent to the fulness of her heart
in the most glowing affections of gratitude and astonishment.
Her conversion, in which the hand of God was so conspicuous,
was not imaginary, but real. It not only influenced her sentiments
but extended to her conduct, and was productive of the most
salutary effects. No sooner was her heart surrendered to
God, and her alienated affections restored to their original
claimant, than outward fruits appeared in her conversation:
her renovation introduced new light into her understanding,
and new desires into her heart and affections : and produced its
effect upon her temper ; not wholly to eradicate its constitu
tional peculiarity, but to sanctify, and render it subservient to
the glory of God, and the good of souls. Reason resigned its
pretensions to the sacred authority of revelation : her intel
lectual powers were extricated from the darkness of nature,
and brought by the irradiating Spirit of God into the bright
region of light and liberty. Whom she had found a Saviour, him
she was unalterably determined to follow as a Guide : He pos
sessed the supreme affection, reverence, and homage of her heart
— was the centre of its wishes, and the spring of its comforts.
A great cloud of witnesses are ready to testify, that from her
earliest acquaintance with the truths of the Gospel, the vene
rable and elect Countess of Huntingdon continued, through
every stage of her protracted pilgrimage, to walk worthy of her
high vocation, " growing in grace, and adorning the doctrine of
God her Saviour in all things."

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 17

CHAPTER II.
Lord Huntingdon— The Bishop of Gloucester—Mr. Whitefield's Preaching—.
its Effects — Dr. Southey— Dr. Hurd— Archbishop Seeker— First Methodist
Society — Lady Anne Frankland — Lord Scarborough  Dr. Young  Lady
Fanny Shirley— Mrs. Temple — Lady Mary Wortley Montagu—Lady
Townsend — Mr. Pope — Mr. Ingham — Mr. C. Wesley — Miss Robinson —
Lord Lisburne — The House of Lords — Hammond the Poet — Somervile the
Poet — Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough — Anecdotes — Duchess of Buckingham
— Anecdotes— Duchess of Queensberry — Lord Oxford  Lady Hinchinbroke.
The biography of pious persons who have devoted their lives
to the benefit of mankind and to the glory of God, is an ac
knowledged source of pleasure and profit, and a species of
writing possessing peculiar attractiveness, as we trace our subject
through the scenes of life and the chamber of death to the very
gate of heaven ! The illustrious subject of the present memoir
was an example of piety, benevolence, and zeal, in the best of
causes, such as succeeding generations may admire, when the
warriors and statesmen who were her contemporaries shall be
known no more.
On Lady Huntingdon's recovery from the illness adverted to
at page 14, she sent a kind message to Messrs. John and Charles
Wesley, who were then preaching in the neighbourhood, pro
fessing to be one with them in heart, cordially wishing them
good speed in the name of the Lord, and assuring them of her
determined^ purpose to live for Him who had died for her.
The change which divine grace had wrought upon her Lady
ship's heart soon became observable to all around, by the open
confession which she made of the faith once delivered to the
saints, and by the zealous support she gave to the cause of
God, amidst the torrents of reproach with which it was at
tended. To the noble circle iu which the Countess moved,
such professions and conduct appeared strange ; and there were
not wanting some who, under the guise of friendship, wished
Lord Huntingdon to interpose his authority; but although
vol. i. — c

iQ the Life and times of
he differed from her Ladyship in her views of religion, he con
tinued to manifest the same affection and respect, and at his
demise left her the entire management of her children, and
their fortunes. His Lordship was too generous to yield to such
insidious advice, but he recommended her to converse with
Bishop Benson, who had been his tutor, and with this request
she readily complied. The Bishop was accordingly sent for,
and he attempted to convince her Ladyship of the unnecessary
strictness of her sentiments and conduct. But she pressed him
so hard with Scripture, brought so many arguments from the
Articles and Homilies, and so plainly and faithfully urged upon
him the awful responsibility of his station under the Great Head
of the Church, that his temper was ruffled, and he rose up in
haste to depart, bitterly lamenting that he had ever laid his
hands upon George Whitefield, to whom he attributed the
change wrought in her Ladyship. "My Lord ! (said the
Countess,) mark my words: when you are on your dying
bed, that will be one of the few ordinations you will reflect upon
with complacence." The Bishop's conduct at that solemn sea
son verified her prediction : for when near his death, he sent
ten guineas to Mr. Whitefield, as a token of regard and venera
tion, and begged to be remembered by him in his prayers !*
Dr. Southey has, with a partiality little to his credit, related
the former, but suppressed the latter portion of this anecdote,
and has prostituted his talents in order to heap sarcasm, ridicule,
and contempt upon the Countess. Her religious feelings, he
insinuate, originated in a "decided insanity in her family I" — an
assertion as wicked as it is false — and tells us that all the argu
ments of Bishop Benson " were ineffectual to bring her to a
saner sense of devotion." In the next edition of his caricature^
of Mr. Wesley, it would be candour to notice the Bishop's dying
* There was a considerable alteration in his religious sentiments before his
death, which took place August 30th, 1752. At the close of the long inscrip
tion on his monument, in Gloucester Cathedral, it is written -. " Under tbe most
acute pains of his last tedious illness, he possessed his soul in patience, and,
with a firm trust in his Redeemer, calmly resigned his spirit to the Father of.
Mercies." To that epitaph might have been added, as the most distinguishing
honour of this Bishop's life, that he was the prelate who ordained the greatest,
the most eloquent, and the most usetul minister that any age since tliat ofthe
Apostles had produced.
The venerable Dr. Hurd, Bishop of Worcester, being in the habit of preach
ing frequently, had observed a poor man remarkably attentive, and made him
some little present. After a while he missed his humble auditor, and meeting
him, said, '* John how is it that I do not see you in the aisle as usual ?" John,
with some hesitation, replied, " My Lord, I hope you will not be offended, and
I will tell you the truth. I went the other day to hear the Methodists, and I
understand their plain words so much better, that I have attended them ever
since." The Bishop put his hand iato his pocketj and ga,ve Mta a guinea, with

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 19
gift to Mr. Whitefield — his dying professions of regard for Mr.
Whitefield — and his dying request for Mr. Whitefield's prayers ,¦
a luminous commentary on the almost prophetic language of
Lady Huntingdon, and a decisive reproof to the Poet Laureate's
fiction of hereditary insanity, which indeed is sufficiently dis
proved. by her every act, her every letter, and her every word.
Though few persons have ever had so just a claim as her
Ladyship to universal approbation, she was far from courting the
applause of a world in which her Lord and Master had been
publicly despised and rejected, or of making an ostentatious
display of superior parts and accomplishments.. Her family and
connections, her attainments in science and grace, with what
ever else might be considered as tending to her advantage,
she regarded as matters of trivial estimation ; while, in the lowli
ness of her heart, she adopted the language of the great Apostle ;
" God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I
unto the world."
In 1738, the first Methodist Society was formed in the (now
Moravian) chapel, a plain but venerable building in Neville's-"
court, Fetter-lane, London : Messrs. Wesley, Whitefield, Ingham,
Howell Harris, and many other eminent men, preached there
with amazing power and success ; Messrs. Cennick and Oakley,
and others who afterwards made a distinguished figure in the
Church of Christ, were members ofthe congregation at this time.
It was at this place that Lord and Lady Huntingdon first at
tended the Society-meetings. Sir John Phillips and Sir John
Thorold were amongst the awakened, and members of the Fetter-
lane Society. Mr. Whitefield, who had lately returned from
Bristol, where he had been preaching in the open air, was now
in London, and, with Howell Harris, preached frequently at
Fetter-lane. This was the central place of meeting. Here
they had their love-feasts, and eucouraged each other in devo
tedness to God. " On the first night ofthe new year (says Mr.
words to this effect — " God bless you, and go where you can receive the greatest
profit to your soul !" An instance of episcopal candour like this is well worth
recording. We may be pardoned if we subjoin another.
Archbishop Seeker, when laid on his couch with a broken thigh, was visited
at Lambeth by Mr. Talbot, Vicar of St. Giles's, Reading, who had lived in great
intimacy with him,' and received his preferment from him. " You will pray
with me, Talbot ?" said the Archbishop, during this interview. Mr. Talbot rose
and went to look for a Prayer-book. " That is not what I want now," said the
dying prelate j " kneel down by me, and pray for me in the way I know you are
used to do." With which command this zealous man of God readily complied,
and prayed earnestly from his heart for his dying friend, whom he saw no
more.
c2

20 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Wesley,) Messsrs. Hall, Kineton, Ingham, Whitefield, Hutchins,
and my brother Charles, were present at our love-least, with
about sixty of our brethren. About three in the morning, as
we were continuing intent in prayer, the power of God came
mightily upon us, insomuch, that many cried out for exceeding
joy, and many fell to the ground. As soon as we recovered a
little from our awe and amazement at the presence of the Divine
Majesty, we broke out with one voice, ' We praise thee, 0 God!
we acknowledge thee to be the Lord /' " " It was a pentecost season
indeed (says Mr. Whitefield) : sometimes whole nights were
spent in prayer : often have they been filled as with new wine, and
often have I seen them overwhelmed with the Divine Presence,
and heard them cry out, Will God indeed dioell with men upon
earth ? How dreadful is this place ! This is no other than the
house of God and the gate of heaven /"
The preaching of Mr. Whitefield now excited an unusual
degree of attention among persons of all ranks. In many of the
city churches he proclaimed the glad-tidings of great joy to
listening multitudes, who were powerfully affected by the fire
which displayed in the animated addresses of this man of God.
Lord and Lady Huntingdon constantly attended wherever he
preached, and Lady Anne Frankland became one of the first
fruits of his ministry amongst the nobility in the metropolis.*
Her Ladyship spent much of her time with Lady Huntingdon,
from whose society and conversation she derived great comfort ;
but was so affected by the many mortifications she met with,
* Her Ladyship was daughter of Richard, first Earl of Scarborough, and
became second wife to Frederick Frankland, Esq., Member of Parliament for
Thirsk, in Yorkshire, a Commissioner of the Revenue in Ireland, and a Com
missioner of the Excise in England, son of Sir Thomas Frankland, Bart., and
nephew to the Earl of Fauconberg. For many years Lady Anne held the
situation of Lady of the Bed-chamber to the Princess Anne, and to the Princesses
Amelia and Caroline. Attracted by the fame of the first Methodists, who had
been mentioned with high approbation by her friend, Lady Huntingdon, soon
after her marriage, Lady Anne, with her sisters, the Lady Barbara Leigh and
the Lady Henrietta Lumley, sometimes attended their ministry, and received
much spiritual good. This excited the displeasure of Mr. Frankland to such a
degree that he treated her Ladyship with the utmost cruelty and unkindness,
" Poor Lady Anne Frankland (says Lady Hertford,) is already parted from her
husband, and, 1 think, without any one person giving her the least share of
blame. It seems that he parted beds with her before she had been three weeks
married, and on all occasions behaved towards her with the utmost cruelty.
However, she made no complaint, till he insisted on her leaving the house, when
she begged of him not to force her to do that, and told him, that provided he
would allow her to have the sanction of being under his roof, she would submit
to any thing. His answer was, that if she continued there, he would either
murder her or himself. She then applied to my Lord Scarborough, who spoke
to her husband with great warmth. He did not lay any fault to her charge, but

SELINAj COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 21
that she survived her brother, Lord Scarborough, but a few days,
and her separation from Mr. Frankland only eight months.
The illustrious author of the " Night Thoughts " lived at
this time among the great with that respect to which his literary
talents justly entitled him. He had married Lady Elizabeth
Lee, daughter of the Earl of Lichfield, and widow of Colonel
Lee.* With Mrs. Temple, the amiable daughter of Lady
Elizabeth, by her former husband, Lady Huntingdon had been
extremely intimate ; and having met Dr. Young at the residence
of Lord Bolingbroke, soon after his return from abroad, their
conversation had reference to the death of this lady, who died of
a consumption at Montpelier, the year after her marriage with
Mr. Temple, son of Lord Palmerston. It is more than poeti
cally true, that the Doctor and Lady Elizabeth accompanied
her to the continent. " I flew, I snatched her from the rigid north,
And bore her nearer to the Sun."
But in vain. Her funeral was attended with the difficulties
painted in such animated colours in " Night the Third."f
Lady Huntingdon, who had many opportunities of seeing Dr.
Young at this time, observed a settled melancholy in his dispo
sition, and with a view to remove the load of domestic grief
only declared that she was his aversion, and persisted in the resolution of
forcing her to leave him, or killing her or himself. It is said, that he returns
her fortune, allows her six hundred pounds a-year, and has given her a thousand
pounds to buy a house. His strange conduct towards her has been so contrary
to his former character, that his friends rather ascribe it to madness than to his
natural disposition."
* His connexion with this lady arose from his father's acquaintance with
Lady Anne Wharton, who was co-heiress of Sir Henry Lee, of Ditchley, in Ox
fordshire — a lady celebrated for her poetical talents by Burnet and by Waller ;
when poetry had been taught by Addison to aspire to the arms of nobility,
though certainly without any extraordinary success.
f As the Doctor saw her gradually declining, he used frequently to walk
backwards and forwards in a place called the King's Garden, to find the most
solitary spot where he might show his last token ol affection, by leaving her
remains as secure as possible from those savages who would have denied her
Christian burial; for at that time, an Englishman in France was looked upon as
an heretic, an infidel, or a devil. The under-gardener, being bribed, pointed out
the most solitary place, dug the grave, and let him burj his beloved daughter..
The man, through a private door, admitted the Doctor al midnight, bringing his .
daughter, wrapped in a sheet, upon his shoulder ; he laid her in the hole, sat
down, and shed a flood of tears over the remains of his dear Narcissa —
" With pious sacrilege a grave I stole."
Mr. Temple married a second time a daughter of Sir John Bernard, then
Lord Mayor of London. Dying in 1749, he left an only son, afterwards Vis
count Palmerston, father of the present Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
Mr. and Mrs. Temple have generally been considered as the Philander and
Narcissa ofthe " Night Thoughts."

22 ' THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
which seemed to oppress his spirits, introduced him to Mr.
Charles Wesley, with whom he conversed freely, and of whom
he afterwards spoke to her Ladyship in terms of high commen
dation. From the preaching of the great Methodist leaders,
whose ministry he occasionally attended, he appeared to derive
some consolation and support. But another breach in his do
mestic happiness was soon after made by the decease ot Lady
Elizabeth; and to the sorrow Dr. Young felt from these losses,
religion and morality are indebted for the " Night Thoughts.
" There is a pleasure in sadness which mourners only know!"
Lady Huntingdon's intimacy with Lord Bolingbroke, and her
frequent visits to Twickenham, the residence of her aunt, Lady
Fanny Shirley, brought her acquainted with most of the literary
characters of "that day.* Lady Fanny had long been one of the
reigning beauties of the Court of George the First, and her only
rival was the Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, whose talents,
wit, literary genius, and eccentricities, have made her fame as
extensive as the English language. Lady Fanny frequently
attracted the notice of his Majesty, and likewise that of the
prince of Wales.f
Previous to any decided religious impression having been
made on her mind, Lady Huntingdon was much at Court, but
took no part in the fashionable levities of the great and gay.
Amongst her acquaintances, at that period, we find Lady Betty
Finch, daughter of Daniel, Earl of Nottingham, who had just
espoused Mr. Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield ; Lord Towns-
hend's Lady, whose wit and eccentricities made so much noise
* Anthony Hammond, Esq. a Commissioner of the Navy, and some time
representative in Parliament for the county of Huntingdon, and also for the
University of Cambridge, was very frequently at Lord Huntingdon's at that
period. With him was his son, James Hammond, the elegiac poet, whose fame
and fortune were raised by the influence of Lady Huntingdon, and Lady Fanny
Shirley, to whose hand it was believed he vainly aspired  to whom some of his
Elegies are supposed to be addressed. He died at Lord Cobham's house, Stowe,
while member for Truro, in Cornwall. This gentleman, the " silver tongued "
Hammond of Lord Bolingbroke, whu had, says Lord Chesterfield, all the senses
but common sense, was a relative ofthe Shirley family; he married the eldest
daughter of Sir W. Clarges, Bart. , whose fam ily made a triple alliance with that .
of Lady Huntingdon by marriage. At the same time, Somervile, the author of
the " Chace," was introduced to Lady Huntingdon by the eccentric Lady Lux-
borough, the sister of Lord Bolingbroke.
f The three favourite ladies who accompanied the King from Hanover were
Mademoiselle de Schulenberg, the Countess Plater, and Madam Kilmanseg ;
the first alone, whom he created Duchess of Kendal, was lodged in St James's
Palace, and had such respect paid her as very much confirmed the rumour of a
left-handed marriage. She was mother of Lady Chesterfield, and as she usually
presided at the King's evening parties, was on familiar terms with those who
fbrmed his society,

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 23
during a great part ofthe last century,* and Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu, (the rival of Lady Fanny Shirley,) who was the life
and soul of the Court circle, and at one period very intimate
with Lady Huntingdon, though her senior by seventeen years, f
At one period of her life, Lady Huntingdon appears to have
been much occupied with political questions. Her sentiments
were conformable with those of Sir Robert Walpole and his
Administration ; and she was much connected with the courtiers
of that day. A little incident which occurred at this period will
serve to mark the natural ardour of her character. There
were some stormy debates in the House of Lords, in May 1738,
on the depredations of the Spaniards, in which Lord Huntingdon,
Lord Hervey, and others of his intimate friends took a leading
part. Her Ladyship expressed her intention of being present,
though ladies were excluded. " At the last warm debate in the
House of Lords, (says Lady Mary Wortley Montagu,) it was
unanimously resolved there should be no unnecessary auditors ;
consequently the fair sex were excluded, and the gallery destined
to the sole use of the House of Commons. Notwithstanding
which determination, a tribe of dames resolved to show, on this
occasion, that neither men nor laws could resist them. These
heroines were Lady Huntingdon, the Duchess of Queensberry,
the Duchess of Ancaster, Lady Westmoreland, Lady Cobham,
Lady Charlotte Edwin, Lady Archibald Hamilton and her
daughter Mrs. Seott, Mrs. Pendarves, and Lady Frances Saun-
derson. I am thus particular in their names, since I looked
upon them to be the boldest assertors and most resigned sufferers
for liberty I ever read of. They presented themselves at the
door at nine o'clock in the morning, when Sir William Saunderson
respectfully informed them that the Chancellor had made an order
against their admittance. The Duchess of Queensbury, as head
ofthe squadron, 'pished' at the ill-breeding of a mere lawyer,
and desired Sir William to let them up stairs privately. After
some modest refusals, he swore he would not admit them. Her
Grace, with a uoble warmth, answered, they would come in, in
spite of the Chancellor and the whole House. This being re-
* She was the first who extolled the preaching of Mr. Whitefield, whom
she alternately liked and disliked. Her Ladyship is the supposed original of
Lady Bellas/on. in " Tom Jones; and Lady Tempest in "Pompey the Little.'"
She was the mother of George, the first Marquis Townshend, and of the famous
Charles Townshend.
f- On her return from the continent, at Mr. Pope's solicitation, Lady Mary
fixed her summer residence at Twickenham ; but it was not long before she
had a bitter and lasting quarrel with that irritable bard ; when having exhausted
all the pleasures that England oould afford, and disgusted perhaps at that aliena
tion which the sarcasm of her wit had too often produced, she obtained her
husband's leave to pass the remainder of her days on the .continent.

24 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
ported, the Peers resolved to starve them out; an order was
made that the doors should not be opened till they had raised
their siege. These Amazons now showed themselves qualified
for the duty even of foot-soldiers ; they stood there till five in
the afternoon, without sustenance, every now and then plying
volleys of thumps^kicks, and raps, with so much violence against
the door, that the speakers in the House were scarce heard. When
the Lords were not to be conquered by this, the two Duchesses
(very well apprised of the use of stratagems in war) commanded
a silence of half an hour ; and the Chancellor, who thought this
a certain proof of their absence (the Commons also being very
impatient to enter,) gave orders for the opening of the door,
upon which they all rushed in, pushed aside their competitors,
and placed themselves in the front rows of the gallery. They
stayed there till after eleven, when the house rose; and during
the debate gave applause, and showed marks of dislike, not only
by smiles and winks, (which have always been allowed in these
cases,) but by noisy laughs and apparent contempts, which is
supposed the true reason why poor Lord Hervey* spoke so
miserably." Her high birth, of course entitled Lady Huntingdon to the
society and respect of her equals ; and Sarah, Duchess of Marl
borough, and Catherine, Duchess of Buckingham, were her cor
respondents. The former and her sister, the Countess of
Tyrconnell, were two of the most remarkable beauties of their
day. The Duchess of Marlborough was, in early life, appointed
maid of honour to the Duchess of York, and to her external
attractions added what was rarely met with in those days, all the
witchery of mind and all the dignity of conscious rectitude.
Her conversation and deportment were alike irresistible, from a
just and delightful mixture of softness and sprightliness : a
little petulance and caprice of temper ; a little heedlessness of
manner; a good deal of her sex's pride, yet more of its vanity;
a quickness of imagination, which sometimes hurried her to the
verge of imprudence, and a natural acuteness and readiness of
wit which as often extricated her ; —
" Yielding by nature, stubborn but for fame,"
were the characteristics of this woman's masculine mind and
intriguing spirit, which, by her influence in the Cabinet, may be
said to have swayed the destinies of Europe with greater effect
than did her husband by his talents in the field. Her name is
* Lord Hervey was father of the late excellent Lady Mary Fitzgerald, the
friend and correspondent of Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Fletcher, Mr. Venn, and
others alike celebrated. '

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 25
introduced in this place, however, to show the vanity of earthly
triumphs. Two letters from her Grace of Marlborough to Lady
Huntingdon, written about this time, refer principally to the
preaching of the great Methodist leaders, whom her Lfadyship
had invited the Duchess to hear : —
" My dear Lady Huntingdon is always so very good to me, and I
really do feel so very sensibly all your kindness and attention, that I
must accept your very obliging invitation to accompany you to hear Mr.
Whitefield, though I am still suffering from the effects of a severe cold.
Your concern for my improvement in religious knowledge is very
obliging, and I do hope that I shall be the better for all your excellent
advice. God knows we all need mending, and none more than myself.
I have lived to see great changes in the world — have acted a conspicu
ous part myself — and now hope, in my old days, to obtain mercy from
God, as I never expect any at the hands of my fellow-creatures. The
Duchess of Ancaster, Lady Townshend, and Lady Cobham were
exceedingly pleased with many observations in Mr. Whitefield's sermon
at St. Sepulchre's Church, which has made me lament ever since that
I did not hear it, as it might have been the means of doing me some
good — for good, alas ! I ro want : but where among the corrupt sons
and daughters of Adam am I to find it ? Your Ladyship must direct
me. You are all goodness and kindness, and I often wish I had a por
tion of it. Women of wit, beauty, and quality, cannot hear too many
humiliating truths — they shock our pride. But we must die— we must
converse with earth and worms.
t£ Pray do me the favour to present my humble service to your ex
cellent spouse, A more amiable man I do not know than Lord Hun
tingdon. And believe me, my dear Madam, your most faithful and
most humble servant, " S. Maklbobough."
" Your letter, my dear Madam, was very acceptable. Many thanks
to Lady Fanny for her good wishes. Any communications from her,
and my dear good Lady Huntingdon, are always welcome, and always
in every particular to my satisfaction. / have no comfort in my own
family, therefore must look for that pleasure and gratification which
others can impart. I hope you will shortly come and see me, and give
me more of your company than I have had latterly. In truth I always
feel more happy and more contented after an hour's conversation with
you, than I do after a whole week's round of amusement. When
alone, my reflections and. recollections almost hill me, and I am forced
to fly to the society of those I detest and abhor. Now there is Lady
Frances Saunderson's* great rout to-morrow night — all the world will be
there, and I must go. I do hate that woman as much as I do hate a
physician ; but I must go, if for no other purpose than to mortify and
spite her. This is very wicked, I know, but I confess all my little
peccadillos to you, for I know your goodness will lead you to be mild
* Lady Frances was one of the daughters of the Earl of Manchester, and
had married Henry, the son and heir ofthe celebrated Dr. Robert Saunderson,
Bishop of Lincoln.

26 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
and forgiving, and perhaps my wicked heart may gain some good from
you in the end. . tit? v.
" Make my kindest respects to Lord Huntingdon. Lady b anny nas
my best wishes for the success of her attack on that crooked perverse
little wretch at Twickenham.* Assure yonrself, my dear good
Madam, that I am your most faithfnl and most obliged humble servant,
" S. Marlbobough.
This very conspicuous, very assailable, and very irritable
woman, so celebrated for quarrelling with all the rest of human
kind, always took in good part whatever Lady Huntingdon
said or wrote, and never appears to have been affronted or
offended by the home-truths which she must have heard from
her.f The Duchess of Buckingham, a woman perfectly mad with
pride, was distantly connected with Lady Huntingdon's family.
Her first husband the Earl of Anglesey, from whom she was
separated by the unanimous consent of the King and Parlia
ment, was cousin-german to Charles Annesley, Esq., Captain of
the Battle- Axe-Guard, who married Lady Levinge, the second
wife of the Right Hon. Sir Richard Levinge, the grandfather
of Lady Huntingdon. A few years after this she was married to
John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham, died at her house in
St. James's Park, (now Buckingham Palace,) March 13, 1742,
• Alexander Pope, the Poet.
f The calmness and heavenly peace which surrounded Lady Huntingdon
were powerful enough to avoid the hurricanes of temper to which this singular
woman was liable, to such a degree that she would punish even herself rather
than forego her resentment. This is proved by the well known story of her
cutting off her own hair, only because it was esteemed her most beautiful feature
in the eyes of her husband ; on whom to revenge some supposed opposition to
her sovereign will, she disfigured herself. The Duke was not irritated by this
rash act, which the Duchess often related with characteristic candour, weeping
always, as she wound up her story, with the remark, that after bis death she
found her treasured ringlets in the cabinet wherein he kept whatever he esteemed
most precious.
It was her temper that involved her in lawsuits with her own children. Her
eldest grandson, Robert Earl of Sunderland, died before he had forfeited her
favour. Charles was no sooner elevated to his father's dignity, than she openly
quarrelled with, and in the Court of Chancery pleaded her own cause against him.
She accused him of pawning one by one the diamonds in the famous baldric of
the great Marlborough's sword, and his extravagance gave point to the charge:
yet John, her youngest grandson, who was no less profligate, retained her favour
in the midst of his excesses. Her granddaughter, Lady Anne Egerton, was
as proud as the Duchess herself, and no less fiery ; on some quarrel between
them, the Duchess of Marlborough had Lady Anne's picture daubed with black,
and over it this inscription—" She is much blacker within." With her the
ruling passion was strong even against death. About four years before her
demise, the Duchess was attacked by a dangerous disease, and had lain a great
while ill, without speaking : her physician, believing her case very bad, said,
*' She must be Mistered or she will die." Her grace, who had listened with
attention, called out, " I won't be Mistered, and I won't die !" She kept her word.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 27
and was publicly interred about a month after in Westminster
Abbey. During the early days of Methodism, her Grace occa
sionally attended the preaching of Mr. Whitefield and the
Wesleys, but she was decidedly opposed to the doctrines which
they promulgated. In a short epistle to Lady Huntingdon, she
Says : —
fc I thank your Ladyship for the information concerning the Me
thodist preachers; their doctrines are most repulsive, and strongly
tinctured with impertinence and disrespect towards their superiors, in
perpetually endeavouring to level all ranks, and do away with all
distinctions. It is monstrous to be told, that you have a heart as sinful
as the common wretches that crawl on the earth. This is highly offensive
and insulting ; and I cannot but wonder that your Ladyship should
relish any sentiments so much at variance with high rank and good
breeding. " Your Lad3'ship does me infinite honour by your obliging inquiries
after my health. I shall be most happy to accept your kind offer of
accompanying me to hear your favourite preacher, and shall wait your
arrival. The Duchess of Queensbury insists on my patronising her on
this occasion ; consequently she will be an eiddition to our party.
" I have the honour to be, my dear Lady Huntingdon, your Lady
ship's most faithful and obliged, " C. Buckingham."*
During her last illness, Lady Huntingdon made some efforts
to see her, but from a short note which remains, written by one of
her maids of honour, there is reason to believe the attempt was
vain : —
" The Duchess of Buckingham presents her compliments to the
Countess of Huntingdon, is extremely obliged by her kind offer and
attentions, but regrets exceedingly her entire inability to undergo tho
fatigue of conversation.
'' March 2, 1742."
* The Duchess was avowedly the natural daughter of King James the Second ;
but supposed to be realty the daughter of Colonel Graham, an admirer of her
mother, Lady Dorchester. This lady, who was the only daughter of Sir
Charles Sedley, the celebrated wit, was mistress to the King, and had a
pension of five thousand per annum on the Irish Establishment. She after
wards married the Earl of Portmore, and left two sons, one of whom suc
ceeded to the title, and was grandfather to the present Earl. The Duchess
was so proud of her birth, that she would never go to the Court of Versailles,
because they would not give her the rank of Princess of the blood. She not
Only regulated the ceremony of her own burial, and dressed up the waxen figui a
of herself for Westminster Abbey, but had shown the same insensible pride
on tbe death of ber only son, the last duke of Buckingham, dressing his
figure, and sending messages to her friends, that if they had a mind to see him
lie in state, she would carry them in conveniently by a back door. She sent to
the old Duchess of Marlborough to borrow the triumphal car that had carried
the Duke's body. Old Sarah, as mad and as proud as herself, sent her word,
" that it had carried my Lord Marlborough, and should ne<, er be profaned by
any other corpse." Proud Buckingham returned, "that she had spoken to the
undertaker, and he had engaged to make a finer car for twenty pounds P

2Q THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
. The Duchess of Queensbury, to whom allusion has been
Snade, was a very conspicuous figure in the circles of fashion at
this period, she "was second daughter of the Earl of Clarendon
and Rochester, and celebrated for extraordinary beauty, wit,
and sprighthness, by Pope, Swift, and other poets, particularly
by Prior, in one of his well-known ballads. She and the Duke
were forbid the Court by George II., for their patronage of the
poet Gay, but were received by Frederick, Prince of Wales, and
the Duke had an appointment in his household.
\t one period of her life, the Duchess was much affected by
the preachino- of the first Methodists, whose Ministry she con
stantly attended. But her wit and beauty drew her back into
the vortex of dissipation, and she appears to have lost all trace
of the impressions which had been made on her mind in early
life. She was particularly partial to the preaching of Mr.
Charles Wesley and Mr. Ingham, who occasionally visited Lon
don, and were extremely popular. Her Grace survived both
her children, one of whom shot himself by accident, and the
other died from the fright and fatigue he underwent at Lisbon,
at the time of the destruction of that city by the great earth
quake in 1755.
A deep gloom was cast over the family and connections of
Lady Huntingdon at this time, by the sudden and very alarming-
illness of Charles Cotes, Esq., Member of Parliament for Tam-
worth, then on a visit at Lord Huntingdon's house, whilst
attending his parliamentary duties. Dr. Battie, and Mr.
Cheselden, head surgeons to Chelsea hospital, were in daily
attendance on Mr. Cotes, who was soon pronounced out of
danger, and in a few weeks completely convalescent. Religious
subjects were frequently discussed during the visits of these
medical gentlemen ; and, on one occasion, a passage in the begin
ning of Mr. Locke's " Reasonableness of Christianity," which
implies the eternity of that death which all the race of Adam
were exposed to by his transgression until redeemed by Christ,
became the subject of warm debate. Mr. Locke explains, 1 Cor.
v. 22, " As in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made
alive" — thus : as the death that all men suffer is owing to Adam,
so the life that all shall be restored to again is procured them
by Christ. Dr. Battie differed from Lady Huntingdon and Mr.
Cheselden, in the interpretation of this passage ; and some time
after communicated to his friends the result of his reflections,
in a pamphlet printed for private circulation. Both these medi
cal gentlemen were men of singular excellence, and esteemed
tbe first men in their profession. One of the daughters of
Dr. Battie was the wife of Admiral Sir George Young, one

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 29
of the bravest officers in the British service. The only child of
Mr. Cheselden was married to the above-mentioned Mr. Cotes,
the cousin of Lady Huntingdon, and nephew of Lady Fanny
Shirley. Some time prior to this period, Lady Huntingdon, who was
distinguished by that superiority of demeanour which is acquired
by the habit of intercourse with persons of the most cultivated
talents and the most polished manners, had formed an inti
macy with Margaret Cavendish Harley, only daughter and
heir of the Earl of Oxford, who had married the Duke of
Portland, a lady well known for her love of the arts and her
patronage of literature. Their friendship was cemented by her
Ladyship's frequent visits to Wimpole, in Cambridgeshire, the
seat of Lord Oxford, a nobleman eminently distinguished for
his disinterestedness both in public and private life, and re
spected as one of the principal patrons of literature in his age.
His Lordship had a high opinion of the singular worth of Lady
Huntingdon, whom he had known from his earliest days, and,
when near his death, sent for her to attend him and administer
consolation in his last moments. He was a great admirer of
Mr. Whitefield's eloquence, and often attended his ministry ; but
barren admiration seems to have been the utmost effect pro
duced on the mind of his Lordship. What might have been
the result of Lady Huntingdon's faithful and heart-searching
conversations with him, in his dying hours, we are not informed.
He died at his house in Dover-street, June 16, 1741, and was
buried in Westminster Abbey. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu,
speaking of his death, says, he refused all remedies till too
late. His Lordship's valuable collection of manuscripts was
preserved by his Countess, at her residence in Dover-street,
till her ladyship, for the service of the public, consented to
their purchase by the Parliament, in 1754, and they are now
deposited in the British Museum. The Harleian Library was
the choicest and most extensive in England ; and the catalogue
of its literary treasures was printed in two large folio volumes.
Lord Oxford was only forty-two years of age at the time of his
decease. It was during one of Lady Huntingdon's visits to Wimpole
that she first became acquainted with Miss Robinson, a lady
perhaps better known in her time in the circles of fashion and
genius than any of her contemporaries. She was afterwards
married to Mr. Montagu, a man eminent for his acquirements
in science, particularly in mathematics ; and much beloved and
respected for his amiable character and strong understanding.
Lady Huntingdon, with a large circle of her acquaintance, was

{$0 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
present at the marriage ceremony; and her Ladyship, many
years after, had the pleasure of seeing that she was an ex
emplary wife to a man much older than herself, and proved
herself worthy to be the bosom friend of a husband whose strict
honour and integrity, as a gentleman and a member ot Parlia
ment, were not less conspicuous than his unwearied diligence
and deep research as a man of science.
Lord Lisburne dying about this time, without male issue, was
succeeded in title and estates by his next brother, Wilmot, the
third Viscount. This nobleman was on terms of great intimacy
with the family of Lord Huntingdon, to whom he had been
introduced by his cousin, Lady Hinchinbroke, the mother of
John, fourth Earl of Sandwich. Lord Lisburne had married
Miss Watson, of Berwick-upon-Tweed, a woman of great
excellence, and a frequent attendant on the preaching of the
first Methodists. Roused by their powerful ministry to a lively
concern for eternal things, she zealously sought to diffuse in the
circle of her acquaintance the savour of those truths which she
loved and believed. Her Ladyship's intimacy with Lady Hun
tingdon was considerably increased some years after by the
marriage of her son, Lord Lisburne, with Miss Nightingale, the
only daughter of Lady Elizabeth Nightingale, and -the niece of
Lady Huntingdon.
Lady Hinchinbroke, the grand-daughter to the Duke of
Montagu, and nearly allied to those ladies of epistolary genius,
Lady Mary Wortley and Mrs. Montagu, was early left a widow,
and was afterwards married to the second son of the renowned
Sir Edward Seymour, Bart., and brother to the eighth Duke
of Somerset. Her Ladyship had many domestic afflictions,
which she bore with patient resignation to the will of Heaven.
Her mind was deeply imbued with a sense of religion, under the
powerful ministry of these great Methodist leaders, and there
is abundant reason to believe that she was truly converted to
God, Her early acquaintance with Lady Huntingdon was of
essential service in directing her attention to the great and im
portant concerns of eternity; and, in one of her letters to the
Countess, we find her thus expressing herself : —
" My dear Madam, — I am extremely sensible of the honour your
Ladyship has done me by the book which you have sent, from which
I expect to derive much gratification and instruction. I am deeply
indebted to your kindness, and the anxiety you have manifested at all
times for my spiritual improvement. Indeed, I stand in need of all
your sympathy and all your unwearied exertions, for I feel myself
utterly helpless, miserable, and guilty, in the siglit of Heaven; and

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 31
were it not for the ray of hope which I have in the atoning sacrifice of
Christ, would be driven to despair and ruin.
" I shall have much pleasure in waiting on your Ladyship to
morrow. Have you heard where Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Wesley are
to preach this week ? With kindest regards to Lord Huntingdon, I
remain, my dear madam, your faithful friend, and most humble servant,
"E. Hinchinbroke."*

CHAPTER III.
Early Methodists  Lay Preaching — Mr. Bowers  Mr. Cennick — Itinerants-
Ordination — Mr. Maxfield — Mrs. Wesley's opinion of his call — Mr. Wesley's
sanction  Bishop of Deny — Fetter Lane Society — Conduct of the Bishops —
Opposition without  Bickerings — Shaw — The Moravians — Separation in
Fetter Lane  First Division — The Society in Moorfields — Enthusiasm —
Pluralities  Bishop Burnet — Mrs. Mitchell — Anecdote — Charles Wesley
and the Moravians — David Taylor — General Baptists — Mr. Bennett — Grace
Murray — John Nelson.
Methodism, from the reports made of it, and the place it
maintains in the page of history, is so well known, that for its
advocates to try and conceal anything concerning it would be a
vain attempt, even were they so disposed. Such was the art-
lessness, simplicity, and integrity of those excellent men, on
whose life and doctrine the epithet was first fixed ; and so far
were they from having anything of the deceitfulness of un
righteousness about them, that their rejoicing was this, the
testimony of their conscience, that in simplicity and godly sin
cerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, they
had their conversation in the world.
They came forth with no plan before them but that which
* The conduct of her mother-in-law, the old Lady Sandwich, had left an
indelible impression on her mind, which spread a gloom over her latter years.
Lord Sandwich being confined, and denied access to by his eccentric Countess,
was rendered so much a cipher, that all the duties of his station devolved upon
Lord Hinchinbroke, who was an able, active, and spirited young man. His
extraordinary mother, one of the daughters of the witty and repentant Earl
of Rochester, partook of all the fire and vivaeity of her father. She detested
restraint herself, but put her Lord into " durance vile " in his own house. At
his death she quitted England, too stupid, she said, for her, and resided at Paris,
in habits of intimrcy with the Duchess of Orleans, Mazarine, Madame de
Berri, the Regent's daughter, and also that beautiful octogenary, the Ninon de
L'Enclos. Unhappily Lord Hinchinbroke died in. the lifetime of his weak
but worthy father.

32 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
they supposed would have been executed within the sphere of a
parish, and by their own personal exertion. Had they foreseen
the extent of the work which was to be assigned to them, and
the help they must have required, being themselves devoted to
letters, having formed a just estimate of literary endowments,
and knowing their subservience to the work of the ministry, it
is most probable that men of such qualifications would have been
the persons they would have mainly sought and solicited to take
part with them in the ministry. But such was the providential
appointment they were under, that the extent of their work, at
the first commencement of it, was concealed from them; and
the help provided for it was brought to them, accompanied with
evidence that it was not for them to seek, but for the Lord to
send. The first example of lay-preaching appears to have been set
by a Mr. Bowers, who is not otherwise named in the history of
Methodism. Once, after Mr. Whitefield had finished a sermon
in Islington church-yard, Mr. Bowers got up to address the
people; Charles Wesley entreated him to desist, but his en
treaties were disregarded. Mr. Bowers preached again in the
streets of Oxford, and, after a severe reproof from Charles
Wesley, confessed that he had done wrong, and promised he
would do so no more. Mr. Wesley had formerly appointed Mr.
Cennick to reside at Kingswood, with a view to meet the
Society as often as he could, in order to confirm them in the
ways of God, either by reading to them, or by prayer, or by
exhortation. The want of an assistant of this kind" was parti
cularly felt in London, and Mr. Wesley being compelled to leave
town on some important business, and having no clergyman to
watch over the flock in his absence, he appointed Mr. Maxfield
to pray with the people, and to give them such advice as he
judged to be needful. Both these persons were men of great
natural powers, and, though ultimately both separated from him,
they did honour to his discernment, and never disgraced his
choice. Lady Huntingdon, at this time, was a constant attendant at
Fetter-lane, and a member of the first Methodist Society
formed in that place. Having frequently heard Mr. Maxwell
pray, she at length urged him to expound the Scriptures. He
was remarkably useful, and excited the astonishment of those
who heard him. Her Ladyship having heard him several times
with pleasure and profit, wrote to Mr. Wesley in terms of high
commendation :
" I never mentioned to you that I have seen Maxfield : he is one of
the greatest instanges of God's peculiar favour that I know : he is

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 3$
raised from the stones to sit among the princes of his people. He is
my astonishment ! How is God's power shown in weakness ! You
can have no idea what an attachment I have to him. He is highly
favoured ofthe Lord. The first time I made him expound, expecting
little from him, I sat over against him, and thought what a power of
God must be with him to make me give attention to him. But before
he had gone over one fifth part, any one that had seen me would have
thought I had beeii made of wood or stone ; so quite immoveable I both
felt and looked. His power in prayer is quite extraordinary. To deal
plainly, I could either talk or write for an hour about him."
This letter was written the latter end of the year 1739, or
beginning of 1740 ; and is no inconsiderable testimony in favour
of Mr. Maxfield, especially from so excellent and extraordinary
a character in the Church of God.
Fro'm expounding to preaching is an easy step. It is certain
Mr. Wesley had not the most distant idea of his attempting to
preach, nor does it appear that Mr. Maxfield had any such
intention himself. Being fervent in spirit, and mighty in the
Scriptures, he greatly profited the people. Multitudes crowded
to hear him ; and by the increase of their number, as well as by
their earnest and deep attention, and the urgent entreaties of
Lady Huntingdon, he was insensibly led to go further than he
had at first designed, and at last began to preach ! The Lord
so blessed his word that many were not only deeply awakened
and brought to repentance, but were also made happy in a
consciousness of pardon. The Scripture marks of true con
version, inward peace, and power to walk in all holiness, evinced
the work of God.
Mr. Maxfield was, therefore, the first itinerant lay-preacher
thrust forth among the people, and thus Lady Huntingdon was
the honoured instrument of sending this new and unwearied
sickle into the harvest ; and to old age she retained a firm re
gard for one, of whom in early life she had so highly spoken.
After Mr. Maxfield had laboured faithfully and successfully for
a few years, he received episcopal ordination from the Bishop
of Derry, who, during a residence at Bath for the benefit of his
health, frequently attended the ministry of Mr. Whitefield,
Mr. Romaine, Mr. Fletcher, and others, at the chapel of Lady
Huntingdon in that city, whither he was led by her Ladyship's
relative, the Lady Betty Cobbe. On receiving Mr. Maxfield at
Mr. Wesley's particular recommendation, the Bishop said the
following remarkable words : — " Sir, I ordain you to assist that
good man, that he may not work himself to death."
Mr. Maxfield was for several years stationed in London ; and
his withdrawing from Mr. Wesley was a great blow to the latter,
VOL. I. — D

34 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
as it occasioned him a loss of no less than six hundred I of his mem
bers. Mr. Wesley was so deeply affected at it, that he feelingly,
and with tears, preached from that pathetic passap, 1* J am
bereaved of my children, I am bereaved." Mr. Maxfield, after
this, had a very large chapel in Princes-street, in the neighbour
hood of Moorfields, where he was made very useful tor many
years. He also frequently preached in the chapels ot Lady
Huntingdon, particularly at Bath; and often supplied the
parish of Everton, during the absence of Mr. Berridge m his
itinerant excursions for Lady Huntingdon. At one time Mr.
Maxfield was situated near South Petherton, and was made the.
instrument of mnch benefit to the late well-known Dr. Cope, at
that period curate of Petherton. Mr. Maxfield died very sud
denly, of a paralytic stroke, but undoubtedly he was prepared
for the solemn change, and was, therefore, thus suddenly trans
lated to that glorious " rest which remaineth for the people of
God." Mr. Maxfield having thus, as some thought, usurped the
sacred office without a regular call, gave great offence to many ;
and however successful his preaching, it was represented to Mr.
Wesley as an irregularity which it required his presence to put
a stop to, and he was requested to hasten to London without
delay, in order to arrest the evil in its progress. His mother
lived at that time in his house adjoining the Foundry. She was
a woman of deep piety, strong sense, and sound judgment in the
things of God : she had heard Mr. Maxfield preach, and was
fully persuaded that he was called of God to the work of the
ministry. Perceiving marks of displeasure in the countenance
of her son on his arrival, she inquired the cause. He warmly
replied, " Thomas Maxfield has turned preacher, I find." Mrs.
Wesley looked at him seriously, and said, " John, you know
what my sentiments have been; you cannot suspect me of
favouring readily anything of this kind ; but take care what you
do with respect to that young man, for he is as surely called of
God to preach as you are. Examine what have been the fruits
of his preaching, and hear him also yourself."
Mr. Wesley was always ready to correct any part of his con
duct, or system, as soon as he discovered it was inconvenient or
erroneous. He was too wise a man to be obstinate, and too
sincere in all his aetions to feel any reluctance at acknowledging
that he had been mistaken. He heard Mr. Maxfield preach,
and expressed at once his satisfaction and his sanction, by
saying, " It is the Lord ; let Him do what seemeth to Him good."'
He saw that it was impossible to prevent his followers from
preaching, and with admirable readiness resolved to lead the
stream which it was beyond his power to turn. From that time,

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. $J»
therefore, he admitted volunteers whom he thought qualified to
serve him, as " sons in the Gospel ;" but always on condition
that they should labour where he appointed, because otherwise
they would have stood in each others way.
The Methodists still continued to attract considerable atten
tion, and the persons of rank who attended their ministry"
became objects of notoriety. "The Methodists," says the
Countess of Hertford, " have had the honour to convert my
Lord and Lady Huntingdon both to their doctrines and practice ;
and the town says that Lady Margaret Hastings is certainly to
marry one of the preachers, whose name is Ingham." " The
news I have heard from London, is," writes Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu, from Rome, ' Lady Margaret Hastings has dis
posed of herself to a poor wandering Methodist !" The irregu
larity of Mr. Wesley's and Mr. Whitefield's proceedings —
their frequent practice of field-preaching — and particularly the
encouragement they now gave to lay-preachers, were thought
sufficient causes of alarm and discontent to the careless, and
even to the more regular part of their brother clergymen. The
spirit of opposition was consequently excited in the minds of all
those who either did not understand, or did not approve, the
doctrine and practices of the infant sect. Most of the churches
were now shut against them. Every thing that railing and
calumny could effect was employed to crush the new doctrine.
The sober part of the clergy lamented, and laboured to check,
the rising spirit of enthusiasm; while the lethargic and the
vicious employed the base arts of persecution and misrepresent
ation, to stifle that disposition to enquiry which now began so
much to prevail among the people.
Nor was opposition from the enemies of Methodism among
its greatest troubles. Whilst the societies had'fightings without,
they were harassed by fears within ; and although they increased
in number daily, yet intestine bickerings and misunderstandings
began to threaten their very existence.
Some of the Fetter- lane brethren meantime had pursued their •
master's fundamental principle further than he had any intention
of following it. A layman, whose name was Shaw, embraced
the notion, that any Christian might preach and administer the
Sacraments ; and that, in fact, Christianity knew nothing of any
distinctive order of men, as spiritual church-officers. Such a
teacher found ready believers ; and two or three more ardent
innovators began to trouble the brethren with their speculations,
and to disturb their meetings by unseasonable intrusions. Lady
Huntingdon set her face against the leaders of this faction, who,
although laymen, claimed a right to baptize, and administer the
D 2

$6 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Lord's Supper; and, at a meeting held at her Ladyship's house,
it was unanimously agreed by Mr. Ingham, Mr. Stonhouse, and
others, that she should write an account of these proceedings to
Mr. Wesley, and urge his presence in London as speedily as
possible. .
Many of the Moravians had joined the society in better-
lane, and now began to introduce some fatal errors among them.
All was confusion. By some it was contended, that believers
had nothing to do with the ordinances — were not subject to them
— and ought to be still : that they ought to leave off the means
of grace; and not go to church; not to communicate; not to
search the Scriptures ; not to use private prayer, till they had
living faith ; and to be still till they had it. And it was further
explicitly affirmed, that therewere no degrees in faith — that
none had any faith who had ever any doubt or fear, and that
none were justified, till they had clean hearts, with the perpetual
indwelling of Christ, and of the Holy Ghost — and that every
one who had not this, ought, till he had it, to be still — that is,
as it was explained, not to use the ordinances, or means of grace
so called. At length matters came to a crisis, and a division
was unavoidable. On Mr. Wesley's arrival, much time was
spent in useless debate, and fruitless attempts to reclaim those
who had erred from the faith. A meeting was held at his
mother's, at which Lady Huntingdon attended, and after
prayer and much deliberation, it was unanimously agreed what
steps should be taken with regard to their brethren of Fetter-
lane. Mr. Ingham, being about to leave London, preached to
the society, and bore a noble testimony to the ordinances of
God, and the reality of real faith. But the short answer was,
" You. are blind, and speak of the things you know not." The
following Sunday Mr. Wesley preached in Moorfields : and,
accompanied by Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Seward, and others,
went in the evening to the love-feast in Fetter-lane, at the con
clusion of which he read a prayer, expressive of his belief, and
his abhorrence of the errors into which they had fallen. He
then withdrew, and was followed by a very small portion of the
society. This was the first division amongst the Methodists. After
the withdrawal of Mr. Wesley and his friends, the Moravians
retained quiet possession of the meeting-house, and received
large additions to their numbers. It is still in the possession of
the united brethren, and is known under the name of Neville's-
court. In the room of this place, the Foundry, in Upper
Moorfields, was engaged, and thither the feeble remains of the
society repaired. There the first Methodists continued to meet,

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 37
till the differences between Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Wesley
caused another separation to take place. Thus the chapel in
Fetter-lane was the original cradle of the whole Methodist
body ! There the first society was formed — there likewise the
first lay preachers commenced their immensely blessed labours
— there the noble Countess, destined to take such a prominent
lead in the great revival of religion — there the great leaders in
this glorious warfare, with their zealous coadjutors — persons
whose whole souls were consecrated to the cause of God our
Saviour — often took sweet counsel together. They have all long
since gone to their rest, to meet in the better temple together,
as they have often worshipped in the temple below, and to go
out no more.
There is in every new community a superior energy, a pecu
liar fervour in the early days of its existence, which is heightened
by an opposition from the world, that harasses but does not
crush. This energy was evident in the beginning of Christianity;
it appeared again at the reformation from Popery ; it was roused
once more at the era of nonconformity ; and at the period of
which we speak, was in full force among the Methodists. It is a
pleasing and commendable spirit, but enthusiasm sometimes
lurks under the name, and wholly occupies the place of piety,
or almost pushes religion out of the heart. Indeed, in every
revival of the Church of Christ, even where the pure truth is
preached with the greatest wisdom and sobriety, it has been
found that, in numerous instances, while the passions were moved
almost to extasy, the soul has not been truly renewed. Enthu
siasm and fanaticism were the epithets bestowed on Methodism
by the regular clergy. The Methodists may perhaps, in some in
stances, have been wanting in candour towards the clergy : and
under the feeling of personal insult, or of zeal arising out of
general apathy, may have employed epithets not sufficiently
courteous ; nevertheless the general conduct of many ofthe clergy
deserved the severest reprehension. Their ignorance and irre-
ligion were become proverbial. Although they were amply paid
to instruct the people in Christianity, yet the amount of their
labours was a dry critical discourse on a Sunday, which charmed
their hearers to sleep, and left them as lukewarm as their
teachers. With the doctrines of religion they never meddled,
nor did they attempt to arouse the affections by any of the
motives that may be supposed to influence the human heart
in the pursuit of an important object. It is no wonder, there
fore, that infidelity prevailed ; and as the civil government was
mild and tolerant, the most barefaced attacks were made upon
the truths of Christianity. This afforded a new topic for the

38 THE LIFE AND TIMES
discourse of the clergy, but as little conducive to edification
as the former, while the religion of the heart was neglected.
At this critical juncture, the Methodists sprung up, to awaken
the energies of the Establishment, and to instil new life and
vigour into the different sects. Animated by an apostolic
zeal, they burst the fetters of sectarian bigotry, and went forth
preaching the glad tidings of the Gospel to all grades and
classes of their countrymen. The boundless labours of these
energetic men gave great offence to the more cold and regular
brethren, who, alarmed at their popularity, and put to shame by
their diligence, endeavoured to silence them by episcopal autho
rity, and by various acts of persecution. Lampooned in pam
phlets, belied in newspapers, threatened by men in authority,
and robbed by those of the baser sort, the Methodists, however,
persevered with fervour and constancy in their work ; and their
extraordinary courage, zeal, and activity, in this noble cause,
rendered them a perpetual thorn in the sides of the Bishops,
who left no engine unemployed, either to silence or ruin them,
When some person complained to George II. of Mr. White-
field's popularity and success, and recommendrd some restraint
upon his preaching, the monarch answered with jocose severity
— -" I believe the best way will be to make a Bishop of him I"
But all the thunder of the Episcopal Bench was ineffectual
to stay the Methodists in their course. Sincere in the cause
they had undertaken, opposition only served as a stimulus,
and abundant success attended their exertions. From this
time, the cause of religion revived and prospered in the Esta
blishment, and a flame was kindled in the nation, which has con
tinued burning to the present day. The duty enjoined on all
Methodists to propagate the spirit of religion, and the unwearied
endeavours of almost every individual to convert his neighbours,
confer the most distinguished honour on their system. From the
days of the Apostles, the great principle " that it is the duty of
every Christian to endeavour to convert sinners from the evil
of their ways," was never so fully acted upon as bv the English
Methodists of both divisions. This assertion we "make boldly;
for at the period of the Reformation itself the great object was
to work a national and outward change in the form more than in
the spirit of religion : the reformation of the Methodists aimed
at the heart.
For their discourses, too, the Methodists are entitled to sin
gular praise. The talents of the leaders are known, and some
of their helpers were men of ability, knowledge, and wisdom, as
well as zeal. With respect to the greater part of them, as to
method, propriety of language, and delivery, they were exceed-

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 39
ingly defective ; but in the choice of subjects, and in bearing
upon the great design of their ministry, they have scarcely beeh
equalled. To convert sinners was their business and their object,
and they kept it in view with a steadiness and perseverance of
which there has perhaps not been another instance in any sect
of the Christian Church. In the edification of believers they de
pended more on their power of animation, and their knowledge
of practical religion, than on the resources of artificial eloquence
and minute points of controversy ; but in plain, earnest, forcible,
and highly-impassioned addresses to the impenitent, they are a
pattern to all, and their labours were accompanied with success
in an uncommon degree. This practice has since been adopted
by the evangelical preachers of every other denomination in
England, so far as it suits the circumstances of such as officiate
in stated congregations. The subject is kept more constantly
in view than it was before ; scarcely a discourse is preached, in
which the conversion of a sinner to God is not hinted at, and in
some measure explained and enforced. The practice is sanc
tioned by its success.
On the subject of pluralities, Lady Huntingdon always spoke
with marked disapprobation. "The awful responsibility of such"
men (says her Ladyship), makes me tremble. How the blood
of lost, neglected souls will cry against them in that great day
when the chief Shepherd shall summon them to his tribunal !"
She was fond of relating an anecdote of that excellent and con
scientious prelate, Bishop Burnet, who, in his charge to the
clergy of his diocese, with disinterested integrity exclaimed against
pluralities, as a most sacrilegious robbery. In his first visitation
at Salisbury, he urged the authority of St. Bernard, who, being
consulted by one of his followers, whether he might accept of
two benefices, replied, " And how will you be able to serve them
both ? — I intend (answered the priest) to officiate in one of them
by a deputy. — Will your deputy be damned for you too ? cried
the saint. Believe me, you may serve your cure by proxy, but
you must be damned in person."
" 1 venerate the memory of this good prelate (says her Lady
ship) ; and I love those who have descended from him, praying
that the like faith which was in him may be in them also."
Richard West, Esq., only son of Lord Chancellor West, of
Ireland, by Elizabeth, daughter of Bishop Burnet, was a great
favourite with Lord and Lady Huntingdon ; but in 1742, a
rapid consumption terminated his brief career, in the 26th year
of his age. In a letter to Mr. Wesley, her Ladyship pathetically
laments the death of this young man, whose piety and talents
bid fair for extensive usefulness. For Mrs. Mitchell, a daughter

40 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
of the Bishop's Lady Huntingdon had a great esteem. She was
a woman of great piety and benevolence, and was often heard
to say, that, not being able to do more good was the greatest
burden which attended her through life, and the infinite mercy
of God in Christ Jesus her only refuge and chief support in the
prospect of dissolution. She was very frequent in her visits to
Lady Huntingdon, who used to take great delight in her conver
sation. "I was well acquainted with Mrs. Mitchell* (says her
Ladyship); she was the daughter of Bishop Burnet, one of very
superior parts, and an excellent woman." To the best of my
memory, from her I had the following pleasant fact conveyed to
my still admiring mind : —
"Her father, the Bishop, from his zealous care of his diocese, made
it a rule yearly to visit the various parishes of which it was composed ;
and treated with the most distinguished regard, such ministers as were
eminent for their piety, and most attentive in their care ofthe souls ofthe
people. One of those had frequently expressed the great importance
of well understanding our Lord's meaning of the beatitudes, and of
this in particular — Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Many anxious inquiries yet left this gracious minister unsatisfied in his
own mind of the just and true explanation, and many prayers were
added to prevent any partial view or hasty opinion from being adopted
by him.
"In this unresolved state, he took a morning's .walk some considerable
distance from his parish, and observing a habitation more wretched
than any he had before seen, walked towards it, and to his surprise heard
a voice of great joyous praise : drawing nearer, he heard it as that
of an individual only. He wanted to learn the cause, and, looking in
at the window, viewed the poor inhabitant in the most wretched state
of outward want and poverty that he had ever beheld. She had on a
little stool before her a piece of black bread and a cup of cold water;
and with her eyes and hands lifted up to heaven, as in a rapture of
praise, repeated these words — What! all this, and Jesus Christ too?
What ! all this, and Jesus Christ too ? It wants not to be added, that
with the living lesson which this blessed man here learnt, he with holy
gratitude returned, well understanding who only inherited, in our Lord's
sense, the whole earth, by possessing Him. And thus we best find out
the supposed paradox of St. Paul : as having nothing, yet possessing
all things."
* Mrs. Mary Mitchell died at her house in Hart-street Bloomsbury, December
18,1773, and was interred in St. James's Church, Clerkenwell, near the remains
of her venerable father. On taking down the old Church, in September 1 778, the
Bishop's remains were unavoidably disturbed. His body was found in a leaden
conin, broken at the.head, througji which the skull and some hair was visible.
Ihe bishop left three sons— William, Governor of New York and the Massa
chusetts; Gilbert, in holy orders, who took an active part on the side of Bishop
Hoadley, in the Bangorian controversy; and Sir Thomas, who became one of
the best lawyers of his time: Sergeant and Justice ofthe Common Pleas.
He published the posthumous history of his father, and died in 1753

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 41
Mr. Wesley had at this time some cause for apprehending a
division, which would have grieved him far more than anything
which had occurred to him. His brother Charles, who had
assisted him so cordially in opposing the errors which sprang up
among the members of the society in Fetter-lane, was inclined
to side with the Moravians, and proceeded so far as to declare
his intention not to preach any more at the Foundry. " The
Philistines are upon thee, Sampson, (says Mr. Wesley in his
Journal on this occasion,) but the Lord is not departed from
thee. He shall strengthen thee yet again, and thou shalt be
avenged of them for the loss of thine eyes." Mr. Hutchings,
Mr. Stonhouse, the Vicar of Islington, Mr. Chapman, Mr.
Hall, and Charles Wesley, kept aloof from all connexion with
the Foundry, and appeared inclined to join the Moravians, with
whom they associated, and amongst whom they occasionally
preached. This was the cause of much grief to Lady Hun
tingdon, who had a sincere regard for Mr. Charles Wesley, with
whom she remonstrated very freely, and who soon yielded to the
opinions of the Countess, whom he so entirely respected and loved.
A breach between the brothers, indeed, would have afforded a
malignant pleasure to their enemies, but they had too long been
linked together for good to be separated by any slight difference.
Mr. Wesley was fully sensible of the value of such a coadjutor
as his brother, who had one heart and object with himself; whom
he knew so thoroughly, and upon whom he could perfectly rely ;
and whose life, conversation, talents, and acquirements, he could
hold up to the world as confidently as his own, defying calumny,
and courting investigation.
That Lady Huntingdon was the instrument in God's hands
of Mr. Charles Wesley's deliverance from the errors of the Mo
ravians, is obvious, from her Ladyship's letter to his brother : —
"October 24, 1741.
"Wisdom is justified of her children. Your answer to the former
part of mine has quite silenced me on that subject. But I believe your
brother's Journal will clear up my meaning more fully to you, for I
should labour very much to have as few snares in his way as possible.
Since you left us the still ones are not without their attacks. I fear
much more for him than for myself, as the conquest of the one would
be nothing to the other. They have by one of their agents reviled me
very much, but I have taken no sort of notice, as if I had never heard
it. I comfort myself very much that you will approve a) step with
respect to them your brother and I have taken. No less than his
declaring open war with them. He seemed under some difficulty about
it at first, till he had free liberty given him to use my name, as the
instrument in God's hand that had delivered him from them. I rejoiced

42 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
much at it, hoping it might be a means of working my deliverance from
them. I have desired him to enclose to them your's on Christian per
fection. The doctrine therein contained I hope to live and die by; it
is absolutely the most complete thing I know. God hath helped your
infirmities ; His Spirit was with you of a truth. You cannot guess how
I in spirit rejoice over it.
" Your brother is also to give his reasons for quite separating ; and I
am to have a copy of the letter he sends them to keep by me. I have
great faith God will not let him fall; he will surely have mercy on
him, and not on him only, for many would fall with him. I feel he
would make me stagger through his fall ; but I fly from them as far as
pole from pole ; for I will be sound in my obedience. His natural parts,
his judgment, and the improvement he has made, are , so far above
the very highest of them, that I should imagine nothing but frenzy had
seized upon him ; but when I consider him, with so many advocates
for the flesh about him, having the form of angels of light, my flesh
trembleth for fear of him, and I should have no comfort did I not
know assuredly, that He that is for him is greater than he that is
against him.
" When you receive his Journal you will rejoicemuch when you come
to Thursday, October 15. I think you must have felt our happiness;
it was more than I can express. We set out a week ago for Don
nington. I will not allow you to call me a still branch. I spoke so
strongly against boasting, I can desire nothing at present, but that
my name may be cast out from among men, and that you and your
brother might think on me as you do on no one else. I am sure God
will reward you ten thousand times for your labour and love to my soul :
I am sure of your prayers. You are continually borne upon my heart
to God, as well as the flock over whom the Holy Ghost has made you
overseer. " You shall hear from me as soon as I get to Donnington, and have
heard how your little flock goes on in that neighbourhood. "S. Huntingdon."
Most of the first race of itinerant preachers, like their pre
decessors, the first ministers of the Gospel, were men of sound
judgment, and of a quick understanding in the fear of the Lord.
Satisfied of their call from God, and burning with holy zeal for
his glory, they went forth, in his strength, making mention of
his righteousness, and his only. They simply and affectionately
related to their congregations the important truths which they
had been taught from the Scriptures, and which they had hap
pily experienced in their own souls — " not in the wisdom which
the world teacheth, but in the demonstration of the Spirit and
with power." And the great Head of the Church bore testimony
to the words of his servants.
The excellent Lady Huntingdon, who had drank deep into
the spirit of the great Methodist leaders, and entered warmly

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 43
into their views, exerted all the influence which her rank and
fortune gave her to promote their success. The labours of
Mr. Ingham, and of his zealous coadjutors, in Yorkshire and the
surrounding counties, had received her warmest approbation.
Having witnessed the immensely blessed labours of the itinerants
sent forth by Mr. Whitefield and the Wesleys, her Ladyship
now determined to become the patroness of itinerant preaching
in the neighbourhood of Donnington Park.
David Taylor, one of Lord Huntingdon's servants, a man of
ability, knowledge, and wisdom, who had received a tolerable
education, was early called to the knowledge of the grace of
God in truth, under the preaching of the Methodists. Having
tasted of the good word of God, and felt the powers of the
world to come, he was anxiously concerned for the state of his
fellow-servants, and also for his neighbours, whom he saw
thronging the downward road, and perishing for lack of know
ledge. This induced the Countess to send him forth to the
villages and hamlets in the immediate vicinity of Donnington
Park, to speak to lost sinners of their dreadful state — of the
gracious intentions of God in Christ Jesus concerning them — and
of the happiness resulting from the possession of true religion.
His word was in the demonstration of the spirit, and with power,
so that her Ladyship was encouraged to extend the sphere of his
usefulness. In one of these itinerant excursions, David Taylor
was sent, in 1741, to visit Glenfield and Ratby, two villages
near Leicester. Many were incited through curiosity to hear
the strange preacher and his new doctrines, and to enquire con
cerning their sect, which, at that time, was every where spoken
against ; and among the rest, Mr. Samuel Deacon, of Ratby,
being informed, while at work in the field, that a person had
been preaching in the streets of Glenfield, and that he was
going to preach again at Ratby, immediately laid down his
scythe, and went to hear him. The sermon made a lasting im
pression on his mind, and induced him to search the Scriptures.
The dissoluteness and ignorance of the clergyman of his parish
now struck him in a new light, and he began to reflect on his
own danger, a part of the flock of so careless a shepherd. After
much reading, reasoning, and perplexity, he was enabled to rely
on Christ for salvation, and immediately found peace and joy
in believing.
Eventually Mr. Deacon became the pastor of a little Church
at Bartori-fabis, in Leicestershire, which arose out of his labours,
and those of a few colleagues, over which he presided fifty-two
years. This Church, like the leaven in the meal, spread to
Hugglescote, Melbourne, Loughborough, Derby, Leicester,

44 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
(where an old decayed church was resuscitated,) Nottingham,
&c. These Churches, at least such of them as then existed,
with others in Yorkshire, Cambridgeshire, &c, were formed
into a Connexion in 1770, and its beginning was small, but its
latter end has greatly increased. It now contains one hun
dred and thirteen churches, 11,358 members, five District
Home Missionary Societies, a Foreign Missionary Society, es
tablished in 1816, two Academies, &c. The principal strength
of the New Connexion of General Baptists is in the Midland
Counties, and Barton-fabis is considered the " mother of them
all !" In 1802, the Midland Conference included twenty-one
Churches. In 1816, the Warwickshire Churches, six in number,
formed themselves into a separate conference, as also in 1825,
four or five Churches in the north of Nottinghamshire were
formed into what was called the North Midland Conference.
The Midland Conference, in 1832, included forty-two Churches.
These forty-two Churches in the Midland Counties probably
contain 7,000 members ; many of the chapels are large and well
attended; the Sunday-schools attached have many hundred
children in them. As the little one has become a thousand,
may the small one at home and abroad become a strong nation !
These details, when viewed in connexion with the itinerant
labours of a servant belonging to the Countess of Huntingdon,
sent forth under her patronage, are peculiarly interesting. But
for those labours, and the benedictions of the Spirit resting upon
them, giving maturity and reproduction to the seed sown, what
would have been the state of thousands in those villages and
towns ? Coventry is a Home Missionary station of this district,
as are also Northampton, Mansfield, Ashbourne, Macclesfield,
Manchester, &c.
The success attending David Taylor's efforts induced Lady
Huntingdon to enlarge the circle of his labours. He now began
to itinerate in various parts of Cheshire and Derbyshire ; and
soon after commenced field preaching in the neighbourhood of
Chinley, which was about the same time visited by Messrs.
Whitefield and Wesley, and Mr. Ingham, from Yorkshire. Many
were awakened to a concern for their eternal interests, and
began to meet together for prayer and reading the Scriptures.
These innovations were opposed by Dr. Clegg, the Dissenting
Minister at Chinley, both in his sermons and private admoni
tions, so strenuously, that several of his respectable hearers took
offence at his conduct, and espoused the cause of the Methodists.
By this event his mind was much wounded, and his popularity
impaired in the latter years of his life.
The late Mr. Bennett, a gentleman of respectable family in

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 45
Derbyshire, who had been intended for one of the learned pro
fessions, with a view to which he received a classical education,
having heard much to his own spiritual profit from one of the
itinerant Methodist preachers, became warmly attached to them,
and was the first person who introduced Mr. Ingham and David
Taylor into his own and the adjoining counties. He was soon
made known to Lady Huntingdon, and paid her a visit at Don
nington Park ; and by her was first induced to declare the things
which he had seen and felt ; and his word was remarkably owned
and blessed of God. By her Ladyship he was introduced to
Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Wesley, and soon after commenced
preacher in connexion with them. His extraordinary labours
were attended with a remarkable blessing, and he was instru
mental in raising several societies in Lancashire before Mr.
Whitefield or Mr. Wesley had visited that part of the kingdom.
His sentiments coinciding more with those of the former than
the latter, he publicly seperated from Mr. Wesley a few years
after at Bolton, and a chapel was erected for him at Warbur
ton, in Cheshire, a thinly-inhabited part of the country, where
Methodism gained some of its earliest trophies. His ministry,
however, was not confined to this people, but he extended his
itinerant excursions to various parts of the country, frequently
visiting Donnington Park and its neighbourhood, until the year
1759, when he sunk under a series of most arduous, self-deny
ing, and highly useful labours, and " finished his course with
j'°y-" Mrs. Bennett was a native of Newcastle-upon-Tyne ; her^
maiden name was Norman, but under that of Grace Murray
(which she derived from a former marriage,) she occupies a place
no less distinguished than that of her husband in the annals of
early Methodism. She possessed superior personal accom
plishments, united to a mind cultivated by education, and an
imagination brilliant and lively in the highest degree. She
was employed by Mr. Wesley to organise his female societies,
and for this purpose she travelled through various parts of both
England and Ireland. Mr. Wesley used to call her his right
hand ; and it is known that he wished to make her his wife. An
acquaintance, however, was formed between her and Mr. Ben
nett, which in its origin and continuance was marked by several
extraordinary circumstances, and which eventually led to their
marriage. For several years she continued to travel with her hus
band ; but when her family and its cares increased, she retired
to the neighbourhood of Chapel-en-le-Frith, where, for more
than half a century, her life and conversation uniformly did the

46 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
greatest honour to her religious principles and profession. Her
views of Gospel doctrines, after her separation from Mr. Wesley,
were always decidedly Calvinistic, but she retained a partiality to
the modes and usages ofthe Methodists, and had for many years
a class-meeting in her house. She died, after a short illness,
Feb. 23, 1803, in the 89th year of her age; her last words
being, "Glory be to thee, my God : peace thou g'.vest me !
With Lady Huntingdon's permission, David Taylor frequently
assisted Mr. Ingham, preaching with distinguished success
amongst his societies in various parts of Yorkshire, particularly
at Bristol, where he was instrumental in exciting a great spirit
of enquiry, prior to the arrival of John Nelson in his native town,
and the commencement of the immensely blessed labours of
that extraordinary man in Yorkshire and various other parts of
the kingdom.
In the letters of Lady Huntingdon, and in Mr. Wesley's
journals, frequent mention is made of David Taylor ; and about
this period he seems to have incurred their displeasure; but
from what cause, unless perhaps it was an ill-judged marriage,
does not appear. He still, however, continued under Lord
Huntingdon's roof, and remained for several years after in Mr.
Wesley's connexion. In the following letter to Mr. Wesley, her
Ladyship makes particular mention of him.: —
"January 9th, 17-12.
" Your opinion of David Taylor will, I fear, be fonnd too true. I
think it will be best to take na notice till I find a way to do it effec
tually. When we lose our plainness,, there ends the Christian. A
double-minded man who can bear ?
" I have enclosed you Mr. Simpson's conversation. He has left the
Moravians, as he tells me, and is not quite at rest now. 1 have no
doubt but he will be brought right at last. I leave the affair of your
sister to you and your brother. Act in it as you think best, and know
that. God will order all things as shall be most for his glory ; I feel no
desire on earth or heaven, but to cease from offending him, that his
name may be glorified upon earth, and that all the world may know
tbe salvation of God.
" I know that your pious soul would rejoice at the object* now
before me, who is waiting for the consolation of Israel with that firm
ness of faith and hope that is not to- be described : and indeed she
grows in grace, and in the knowledge and love of our Lord and
Saviour. She has, no joys; but the work seems gradual, and the light,
I doubt not, will shine out ere she is called hence.
" I think tliere is not one thing in the Journal that ought to he
omitted. The manner in which you speak of yourself cannot he
mended, supposing you have done justice to the grace you have
* Miss Anne Cooper, who died a few months after.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 47
received. We never forget to recommend you, and all your under
takings, at the throne of grace: and as long as you follow the Lord
Jesus in simplicity and godly sincerity, I hope to be the happy friend
that shall live and die by you, if the Lord permit ; and may you be
his peculiar charge now, henceforth, and for ever.
" My whole heart has not one single grain, this moment, of thirst
after approbation. I feel alone with God ; he fills the whole void ; I
see all mortals under my feet. I have not one wish, one will, one
desire, but in him ; he hath set my feet in a large room. All but
God's children seem as so many machines appointed for uses which I
have nothing to do with. I have wondered and stood amazed that
God should make a conquest of all within me by love. Others may
be conquered by less gifts and graces, but what must that evil heart be
that nothing but the love of God can conquer ? I am brought to less
than nothing; broken to pieces like the potter's vessel. 0, may you
thus be subject — may these tears be your meat night and day. I long
to leap into the flames to get rid of my sinful flesh, and that every atom
of these ashes might be separate, that neither time, place, nor person
should stay God's spirit. And may thes ame Spirit dwell in you, protect
and guide you ta love the Lord Jesus in sincerity and truth. Fear not,
be strong, and he will establish you. Adieu, your most faithful friend,
" S. Huntingdon."

CHAPTER IV.

The Clergy — Mr. Simpson — Mr. Wesley's opinion of him— The one wrong
Principle  Mr. Graves  His Recantation — His Explanatory Declaration-
Lady Huntingdon's Schools — Lord Huntingdon's character — Miss Cooper —
Her death  Letters  The Poor — Death of Mr. Jones — The poor Penitent's
Death-bed  Mr. Wesley's Preaching on his Father's Tomb — Donnington
Park— Lady Abney— Dr. Watts—" The Grave "—Dr. Blair— Letters— Co
lonel Gardiner — His Marvellous Conversion — Letters.
At this period there were two awakened clergymen in the
neighbourhood of Donnington Park, with whom Lady Hun
tingdon became acquainted by means of Mr. Wesley. Con
cerning Mr. Simpson there is little information to be obtained at
this distance oi time. He was a student at Oxford, and one of
those who composed the first Methodist society in that Univer
sity. Soon after he was ordained, he got a living of considerable
value, in Leicestershire, which he was persuaded to dispose of,
when he left the Church of England and joined the Moravians.
For some time before he took this step, he preached amongst
Mr. Ingham's societies in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Derby
shire} and his ministry was owned of God to the conversion of

48 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
many. When speaking of him after he joined the Moravians,
Mr. Wesley says, " Of this I am fully persuaded, that whatever
he does, it is in the uprightness of his heart ; but he is led into
a thousand mistakes by one wrong principle, (the same which
many either ignorantly or wickedly ascribe to the whole body
ofthe people called Methodists,) the making inward impressions
his rule of action, and not the written word." He appears to
have been a pious, well-meaning man, but was led to adopt some
of those singular notions which distinguished the Moravian body
at that time. He was for a time resident at Nottingham, Og-
brook, Breson, and Markfield, where he propagated his sentiments,
and drew many people from the Church, asserting that " there
was no Scripture for family prayers, nor for praying in private at
any particular seasons, which a believer need not do." Lady
Huntingdon had a great regard for him, and used her utmost
exertions to lead him back to the path he had left, but in vain.
Some years after, however, he withdrew from the Moravians,
and expressed a wish to return to the Church of England, when
his friends promised to provide for him. The last mention of
him which we have been able to trace, is in Mr. Wesley's Journal
for 1747, where he says, "Poor Mr. Simpson spent an hour
with me, distressed on every side : drawn up to London by fair
and specious words, and then left to perish,[unless he would pro
mise never more to preach out of a church. Alas ! what a method
of conversion is this ! I love the Church too ; but I would
no more starve men into the Church than burn them into it."
Of Mr. Graves we have likewise but very scanty information.
He was a student of St. Mary Magdalen College, Oxford, where
he became acquainted with the Messrs. Wesley, and joined the
Methodists in the University. For some time after his ordina
tion he was very zealous, preaching in the fields and wherever
Providence opened a door for him. But giving way to the fear
of man, and the opinion of those whom he accounted wiser than
himself, he was induced to sign a paper, renouncing all connexion
with the Methodists, and promising for the future not to frequent
their meetings or attend their expositions. Mr. Graves expe
rienced considerable uneasiness of mind after this sinful com
pliance, and in 1742 joined Mr. Wesley at Bristol, when, being
unable to delay it any longer, he sent the following letter to the
Fellows of St. Mary Magdalen College :—
" Bristol, August 29, 1742.
" Gentlemen,— In December 1740, I signed a paper containing the
following words:—' I, Charles Caspar Graves, do hereby declare,.that
1 do renounce the modern practice and principles of the persons com-

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 49
monly called Methodists, namely, of preaching in fields, of assembling
together and expounding tlie Holy Scriptures in private houses, and
elsewhere than in churches, in an irregular manner ; and their preten
sions to an extraordinary inspiration and inward feeling of the Holy
Spirit. " I do further declare my conformity to the Liturgy of the Church of
England, and my unfeigned assent and consent to the Articles thereof,
commonly called the Thirty-nine Articles.
" Lastly, I do declare, that I am heartily sorry that I have given
offence and scandal by frequenting the meetings and attending the
expositions of the persons commonly called Methodists, and that I will
not frequent their meetings, nor attend their expositions for the future,
nor take upon me to preach and expound the Scriptures in the manner
preached by them. "Charles Caspar Gbaves."
" I believe myself indispensably obliged openly to declare before
God and the world, that the motives whereby I was induced to sign
that paper, were, partly a sinful fear of man, partly an improper defe
rence to the judgment of those whom I accounted wiser than myself;
and lastly, a resolution that if my own judgment should at any time be
better informed, I would then openly retract, in the presence of God
and man, whatever I should be convinced I had said or done amiss.
" Accordingly, having now had (besides a strong conviction imme
diately consequent thereon) many opportunities of informing my judg
ment better, and being fully convinced of my fault, I do hereby declare
my sincere repentance for my wicked compliance with those oppressive
men, who, without any colour of law, human or divine, imposed such
a condition, of receiving a testimonial, upon me.
" I do further declare, that I know no principles of the Methodists
(so called,) which are, contrary to the Word of God ; nor any practices
of theirs, but what are agreeable both to Scripture, and to the laws of
the Church of England ; and I believe in particular, their preaching
the gospel in the fields (being first forbid to do so in churches, although
a dispensation of the gospel is committed to them, and woe unto them
if they preach not the gospel,) or in private houses, or in any part of
His dominion who filleth heaven and earth, can never be proved to be
contrary to any written law, either of God or man : that I am not
apprised of their preaching anywhere in an irregular, disorderly man
ner, neither of their pretending to any extraordinary inspiration or
extraordinary feelings of the Holy Spirit ; but to those ordinary ones
only, which, if a man have not, he is without hope and without God in
the world.
" I do yet further declare, that (whatever indiscretion I may in other
respects have been guilty of,) I know no just offence or scandal which
I ever gave, by frequenting the meetings, or attending the expositions
of the persons commonly called Methodists, and that I verily believe
no offence was ever taken thereat, unless either by persons loaded by
prejudice, or by those who enter not into the kingdom of heaven them
selves, and if others would enter in, suffer them not.
VOL. I. — E

50 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
« I do lastly declare, that I loot upon myself to be under no kind
of obligation, (except only that I still assent and consent to the Articles
and Liturgy of the Church,) to observe any thing contained m that
scandalous paper, so unchristianly imposed upon me.
(Witness my hand.) ' " Charles Caspar Graves."
About a month after the date of this paper, Mr. Charles
Wesley and Mr. Graves visited Donnington Park, and were
received by Lady Huntingdon with the utmost cordiality and
kindness. Her Ladyship rejoiced that Mr. Graves had burst
his degrading fetters, and was determined once more, in the
strength of his Divine Master, to go forth into the high-ways,
and proclaim the savour of that Name which he loved. During
their stay, Lady Huntingdon invited many persons in the upper
ranks in society, to whom they declared "the unsearchable
riches of Christ," and were heard with apparent deep and
serious attention. From this period Mr. Charles Wesley, and
his brother, and those connected with them, became constant
visitors at Donnington Park, where they were always received by
her Ladyship as the servants of that God to whom she had so
solemnly dedicated herself, and treated with every mark of
polite attention on the part of the noble Earl. This accom
plished nobleman undoubtedly had a high esteem and ardent
affection for the Countess; indeed, a man with far less discernment
than he possessed, could not have been insensible to her superior
talents and worth. The high veneration in which she was held
by him was abundantly evinced by his permitting and enabling
her to promote those schemes of usefulness, and those plans for
the advancement of the interests of religion, which he well
knew constantly lay so near her heart. Every minister of the
Gospel, of whatever name and denomination, whom she wished
to invite, was always welcome at Donnington Park, and treated
by his Lordship with that politeness and affability for which he
was so distinguished. With many of these worthy men Lord
Huntingdon would freely converse on subjects of a religious
nature, proving, however, that he himself was not imbued with
true devotion. It was on one of those occasions, that the con
versation turned on the great doctrine of the Atonement through
the death of Christ, when his Lordship observed, "The
morality of the Bible I admire, but the doctrine of Atonement
I cannot comprehend."
The Countess appears to have continued at Donnington
Park the greater part of this year, fully occupied in devising
schemes for the more extensive diffusion of divine truth, and
meliorating the condition of the poor around her. Sensible oi

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 5l
the benefits resulting from a religious education, her Ladyship
established schools at Ashley and Markfield for the instruction
of the children of those districts. For a time they seemed to
prosper well; but not succeeding according to her wishes,
she was obliged to give them up, and discharge the masters.
This circumstance is briefly noticed in one of her letters to
Mr. Wesley : — " March 15th, 1742.
" My very much beloved Friend in the Lord, — I cannot help saying
that I thought it long till I heard from you ; not but I was well
assured that some good reason had prevented you. May the Lord
strengthen you more and more ! I am sure you are a chosen vessel,
and sent for the defence ofthe Gospel. It is the Lord's work, and the
good that is done upon earth he doeth it himself. Stagger not then
through unbelief at any of his promises. He is come to send fire upon
earth, and soon I believe it will he kindled. 0, that we may all be
fit for the day of trial ! He will throughly purge his floor. The chaff
and the wheat are now mixed together, and it is the Lord of Hosts
must separate them. But I trust we shall be among those who rejoice
at his appearing.
" Many things agreeing, have determined me to lay aside the school
at Markfield, and for that end I have discharged the schoolmasters.
It is but too plain the time is not yet come. Mr, E  is gone much
backward ; fear, and all evil, I find, now break in upon him. I believe
longer experience, with much better observations than I am able to
make, will prove this an undeniable truth — that a school will never
answer the end of bringing forth any of the Gospel fruits of holiness,
till the parents are first made Christians. The parents must lay up
for the children, not the children for the parents.
«##**# Surely, my friend has a mind to exercise his gift of
humility in an extraordinary manner, when he could once ask my
opinion upon his Journal. That it will both delight and comfort me, I
have no doubt ; and I think nothing is left for me but to speak my
heart, knowing the love God hath for you. He will bring good out of
evil for your sake, and in this hope, I will do my uttermost jn much
simplicity.* Our friend,t now in town, seems as a lamb in the midst
of wolves. May the Lord give him tlie wisdom of the serpent and the
innocency of the dove ! Divine grace and the uprightness of his heart,
will make him more than conqueror.
" I think and believe, that God had blessed your conversation to
Mr. Graves, whom I have just heard has, with much love and grati
tude, expressed warm sentiments for you. The Lord will water his
word in his own time.
" All goes on well here, with respect to an abundance of the ouU
* It is evident from the above, as well as from the preceding letter, that Mr.
Wesley consulted Lady Huntingdon relative to his Journals, the manuscripts
of which were submitted to her inspection, and that her Ladyship gave het
opinion of them before they were published.
t Mr. Charles Wesley.
e2

&> THE LIFE AND TtMES OF
ward means ; but, alas ! none of the signs which follow believers. Do
vou not think that John the Baptist's disciples had remission of sms
under his ministry? It is said, 'that he was filled with the Holy
Ghost ; and that he gave the knowledge of salvation by the remission
of sins.' Or rather, is it only meant here, the good tidings which
were to follow, and that our Lord was to give the knowledge of salva
tion ? We read, that repentance went before his baptism, and is it
not proved that pardon followed it, by fire and the Holy Ghost, given
by our Lord himself? Surely less is not meant than entire purification
of Soul. But my blindness your light will assist in this, when you
have leisure.
" We are earnest in prayer for you; and, could I do justice to my
heart, I should say, how much love and gratitude I hourly feel for
you; and it is the only good I know that it ever was possessed of.
May the Lord enable you to remember me ! May your patience he
tried by this, as I think it is the only good you can receive by so
tedious and unpleasant a scrawl. May our Lord bless you ; I wish
you good luck in his name, and that he may prosper your handy-
work. Your most nnworthy, but affectionate friend, " S. Huntingdon."
There was at this period a young lady residing with Lady
Huntingdon, of the name of Cooper.* She was in the last
stage of consumption, and her soul was on the wing for eter
nity. Miss Cooper having expressed an earnest wish to see Mr.
Wesley, Lady Huntingdon wrote to him on Saturday, the 15th
of May, pressing him to come witliout delay, and pay the last
office of friendship to one whose spirit was hovering on the
brink of the eternal world. Three days after the receipt of this
letter, Mr. Wesley left London, and arrived on Saturday the
22nd, at Lord Huntingdon's. " About five in the afternoon,"
says_Mr. Wesley, " I reached Donnington Park. Miss Cooper
was just alive. But as soon as we came in, her spirit greatly
revived. For three days we rejoiced in the grace of God,
whereby she was filled with a hope full of immortality; with
meekness, gentleness, patience, and humble love, knowing in
whom she had believed."
The following letter to Mrs. Bridget Bethel, of Bath, contains
some account of her last hours : —
" My dear Friend in the Lord,— Upon receiving yours, wc could
not help falling prostrate before the throne of grace to acknowledge
the great love wherewith the Lord hath loved you ; and with praises,
and thanksgivings, and hearts of joy, expressing our gratitude.
1 never think on you but with uncommon comfort. Dear Miss Fanny
Cooper was then with us, and day and night prayed to the Lord to
it I Sn CowpiadyShil)'S le"erS the "ame " Sive" aS above' but in others

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 5$
increase and strengthen your faith: she has at last laid down the
burden in much joy and peace. 0 ! my dear friend, were I to tell you
the whole of her sufferings, and the wonderful supports she had, you
would declare that God was with her of a truth * '"' * May the
Lord grant us to follow Christ as she has done, for a blessed saint she
lived and died. Whole nights, when for her pain she could not rest,
yet in hymns, and prayers, and reading, she would say — ¦' 0 ! how
delightful a night have I felt.' Miss Cooper is still with me: it has
not seemed like death amongst us: we rejoice upon every remem
brance of her; all tears are wiped from our eyes; her last hours were
all spent in prayer: and when her change came her countenance spoke
her blessed; and I for a moment tasted her joy, for I thought my
whole soul was so filled with delight it could have followed. She often
would say, ' That sweet woman, Mrs. Bethel, I pray for her.'
" I beg my most sincere compliments to dear Lady Cox* and Mrs.
Bethel ; and believe me your most sincere and affectionate friend in the
Lord Jesus, "S. Huntingdon.
" I find the world more and more a burden to me — pray for me,
that I may no longer live to the desire of man, but of God."
Lady Huntingdon appears to have been much affected by this
incident : nevertheless she still continued actively engaged in
doing good to the souls and bodies of the poor around her ; she
bountifully relieved them in their necessities, visited in sickness,
conversed with and led them to their knees, praying with them
and for them. She sought them out with the most industrious
care, and gave bountifully, and always with more pleasure than
even the poor themselves felt at receiving her alms. Her satis
faction appeared in her countenance and eyes ; she spoke to
them with kindness, and entered into all the particulars of their
wretchedness ; and the more rude, ignorant, and barbarous she
found them, the more they became the objects of her com
passion. In the exercise of these and of all other virtues she
was wonderfully secret, endeavouring to come up as near as she
could to the rule of not " letting her left hand know what her
right hand did."
The inexpressible concern which her Ladyship felt for the
enlargement of the kingdom of Christ and the salvation of
immortal souls, induced her to speak concerning divine things
in all companies, where she had any prospect of doing good
thereby, and to set her face as a flint against all who might
oppose the truth or grace of God. Animated with that burn-
* Lady Cox was one cf the fruits of Mr. Whitefield's ministry at Bath, and
likewise derived much profit from the preaching and heart-searching conversa
tion of the apostolic Griffith Jones, Rector of Llandower, in Carmarthenshire,
and Mr. Thompson, Vicar of St. Ginney's, in Cornwall, both of whom were
often at Bath at this period.

54 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
ing charity by which the great Apostle of the Gentiles was im
pelled to publish the Gospel from nation to nation, Lady Hun
tingdon was constrained to warn the ignorant, the careless, and
the abandoned, that the " wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." Her
highest wish was to " convert the wicked from the errors of his
ways," and her labours were not in vain.
The following letter to Mr. Wesley, written shortly after Miss
Cooper's death, will prove how incessant and unwearied were
the labours of Lady Huntingdon to save perishing fallen mortals
from the error of their ways . —
" My dear friend, — The Lord hath removed from you one whom
you much loved : but I have the pleasure to believe, because he loved
her better, and therefore he graciously delivered her from this present
evil world. Some plain account, unornamented, of what her life and
death were, under the character of a believer, would have the most
weight, in which we might justly boast of God's love to him. I would
have as little of the creature thought of as possible, that God may be
ALL in ALL."
The Countess here relates the death of Mr. Jones, of Fon-
mon Castle, in Wales, a gentleman of large fortune and a truly
pious convert, through the labours of the early Methodists, to
the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. He died in June 1742, and
Mr. C. Wesley wrote an elegy on his memory, to which in this
letter Lady Huntingdon refers, observing that —
" For this fortnight past I have found, that instruction and some short
exhortations to the weak have been of great use, especially amon<* my
work-people, with whom I spend part of every day.* I have found
much comfort in this myself, and am rarely or ever out of the presence
of God. He is a pillar of light befoie me. I want more of this
knowledge, that I may keep his holy law. Yea, I then shall keep it
with my whole heart; clouds and darkness are at times the habitation
of his seat : but there shall go a consuming fire before him, which
shall burn up his enemies, and shall destroy all them that persecute
me ; and he shall say unto my soul, ' I am thy salvation.' The Lord
often appeareth out of Zion, in great beauty. Surely he hath done a
marvellous thing of late ; and I find so much done by this act of his
love, that I am all love and wonder. The heaviness of my heart re-
* Her Ladyship once spoke to a workman who was repairing a earden wall
Tl Pre|nl m t0 *£* S°T t,h0Ught C0Ilce™nS «ernity and the state of his
Td said tHil" TK Va1Vhe WaS Spealdng t0 an0fher on tbe sflme «>l0«*.
vution " .tIi^T' • fGa • y°,U never pm^ nor loob t0 Cb™t *»* «H
ration Your Ladyship is mistaken," answered the man : « I heard what
passed between you and James at such a time, and the word you designed fo
him took effect on me." " How did you hear it ?•' asked her LaSrSST "I
heard it," answered the man, ¦¦ on the other side ofthe garden ttoouri, a hole
in the wall, and shall never forget the impression I received '' S

SELINAj COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 55
specting Miss Cooper's death, is, that she having so much light, I
expected great things from her. My heart used to say, we have prayed
so much, and have longed so much for this triumph of faith in her last
moments, that we shall surely have it. Not considering that we
should not be heard for our much speaking, or that there is any thing
in man that could incline God but only for his holy name's sake. The
Devil thrust sore at me, but I looked unto the Lord, and, though in the
dark, he bade me tarry his leisure.
"After Miss Anne Cooper was gone, I walked a little way from their
house by the water side, where there are some houses for the poor, in
number about six, two of which were ale-houses, and appear to be a
harbour for the devils themselves : I called in at one of the other houses
to see a poor woman that I used to think meant well, in order to stir
her up a little. After talking with her, she told me, she had been
asking one of her neighbours if she had any hope of knowing before
she died whether she should be happy ? and they both wished to konw
my opinion. I answered, that as they believed so would it be done
unto them; and added, that I would come down and read to them
*** I took a friend with me, and found her apparently in great bodily
suffering, but on feeling her pulse I could not find it so much as ruffled;
but her sweats were the most violent I had ever Seen. Her agony of
mind was so great, that she could not contain, but cried out, ' This is
nothing; I possibly may die, and what will be come of my soul? 0,
pray for me! 0 mercy! mercy!' Her trouble and misery were such
as brought tears from all our eyes. I beheld her with my heart filled
with love and pity, and said, ' Now, where are all your gdod works?
What is become of all your honest labour for sixty years? What! are
you a perishing sinner at last ?' She answered, ' It will not do, I am
too bad to be saved.' Her tears, and the expression of her sufferings,
Were more than can be described. I said, ' Well, now that you are
quite lost, you will find Him who came to seek and to save just such as
you are. Now, my life upon it, he will soon come.' ' What !' she cried,
' to such a sinner as I am ?' I answered, • Yes, it was only for such
that he died.' These extreme agonies had so affected her body that We
thought they had brought on a fever, but from her pulse this did not
appear. ' I shall die,' she said. ' Peace will be your portion first, '-<-
but she would not be comforted.
" Next day I found her still the same, and we received the sacra
ment with her. I found the presence of the Lord there. As soon as
it was over, I said, ' 0 what a living Saviour have you !' The tears
were still flowing down her cheeks, with all the marks of misery as
before— the sight was enough to affect a heart of stone.
" About six at night, they brought me word that she was seized with
a cold shivering fit, and was in the agonies of death, and had desired
to take leave of her children. This was her last plunge into the deep.
Her soul and body were as if in hell. Four men were not sufficient to
hold her in bed, so great was Satan's power over her. After these
hours of sufferings, the heavenly child was born. The poor people
were surprised to find her on a sudden lie so still : and she con
tinued twelve hours as it were feeding on the fatted calf. She told

56 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
them, 'I have not slept, but have been all night partaking of the joys of
heaven.' When I came at noon to see her, she said, ' 0, my Lady,
my dear Lady, what great things the Lord hath done for me ! I have
no doubt or fear. He hath given me that peace which the world can
neither give nor take away.' Her looks were altered ; she laid with
such sweetness and complacency in her countenance, that my soul
delighted to behold her. ' You have faved my soul,' she said — ' You
know the blessedness I have found this night : I have such tastes of
divine love as are not to be expressed. 0, what a thing it is to have
the heart all flaming to the Lord Jesus !' From that hour she has felt
no pain either of body or mind, but exhorts all who come near her to
turn to the Lord. She has quite forgot all the knowledge and expe
rience of seventy years, and is become a little child. I have sent many
to see her ; and one of her daughters is now seeking in the bitterness
of her heart that Lord who hath so comforted her mother.
" Much of my time is taken up in bringing souls to seek after the
Lord. I have some difficulty in keeping them from clinging to me — >
such wondrous love they bear me, and this I know mustbe for the Lord's
sake, for in me dwelleth no good thing. " S. Huntingdon."
Her Ladyship continues her interesting account of the poor
penitent in the following letter : —
"My dear Friend, — What blessed effects does the love of God
produce in the heart of those who abide in him ! and how solid is the
peace, and how divine the joy, that springs from an assurance, that we
are united to the Saviour by a living faith ! Blessed be his name, I
have an abiding sense of his presence with me, notwithstanding all the
weakness and unworthiness I feel ; and an intense desire that he may
be glorified in the salvation of souls, especially those who lay nearest
my heart and affections. But how vile and' worthless are my best
services ! After the poor labours of the day are over, my heart still
cries, ' God be merciful to me a sinner !' I am deeply sensible that I
daily, hourly, and momentarily stand in need of the sprinkling of my
Saviour's blood. Thanks be to God, the fountain is always open.
There I may daily wash, and be cleansed from every spot and every
stain. 0, what an anchor is this to the soul !
" The poor woman whom I mentioned to you lately has left us, and
- has joined the Church of the first-born whose names are written in
heaven. About a week before her triumphant exit, she was in great
pain all the day, and in the evening Lady Anne, Lady Frances, and I
, went to prayer with her. When prayer was ended, she broke forth in
praise to God, and continued for a long time, crying, ' All "-lory ' glory !
glory to the Lamb !' During the night she broke out again in an holy
extasy of joy and praise.
/'She endured constant, often violent pain. We esteemed it a
privilege to visit her. Never did I see the power of faith more remark
ably exemplified. She drank deep of the cup of suffering; but
through divme grace and the supporting hand of the great Author of
her eternal salvation, was made more than conqueror. I prevailed on
my Lord Huntingdon to visit her. He was surprised and affected even

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 57
to tears. She was supposed to be dying. As soon as she saw him, she
cried aloud, ' Glory be to God, that Jesus Christ came to seek and to
save the lost ! How great is his love for poor sinners ! If we are
saved, it is because he has died, and poured out his precious blood to
wash our guilty souls. God be praised for that Scripture... H e that
cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.' Sometimes her voice was
loud, and then so low that we supposed her dying. The whole of the
next day she continued in a state of extreme weakness, waiting with
calm resignation for the appearance of her Lord. In the evening she
desired us to sing, after which, and prayer, she was much exhausted.
The following day many symptoms of approaching dissolution ap
peared. I visited her again, with Lady Anne and Lady Frances, and
found her extremely weak. Lady Frances said, ' Your sufferings will
soon be over.' She put forth her hand and bid us farewell. A little
before her departure, she said, ' The fear of death is gone — 0, the
name of Jesus ! bow sweet it is ! All glory to the Lamb !' She
attempted to proceed, but was unable ; but signs, looks, and broken
accents explained the happiness she enjoyed. Just before she
breathed her last, she gave us a parting smile, and her happy spirit
entered into rest.
" There were many witnesses around her dying bed, to whom I
spoke with much fervour and fidelity. The impression will, I trust, be
lasting. Vast numbers from respect, as well as from curiosity, at
tended her funeral.
" I had a visit from Mr. Graves lately. He seems much alive to
God, and much in earnest for the salvation of souls. Mrs. Ingham and
Lady Margaret intend coming to Donnington next week. I wish you
or your brother could give us a little of your time to meet them here.
May every blessing attend you, prays your most faithful friend,
"S. Huntingdon."
To return to Mr. Wesley : before the death of Miss Cooper
he quitted Donnington Park, and preached in various places in
Yorkshire. On his return thence, he visited Epworth, the place
of his nativity, where he was refused the use of the church by
the curate. In the afternoon the church was exceedingly full,
a report being spread that Mr. Wesley was to preach. After
service, David Taylor, who had accompanied him from Don
nington Park, stood in the church-yard, and gave notice, as
the people came out, that Mr. Wesley, not being permitted to
preach in the church, designed to preach there at six o'clock.
" Accordingly at six (says he) I came, and found such a con
gregation as, I believe, Epworth never saw before. I stood
near the east end of the church, upon my father's tomb-stone,
and cried, ' The kingdom of heaven is not meat and drink ;
but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.' "
Mr. Wesley returned to Donnington Park on the 19th of
June. The next day being Sunday, he preached in the morn-

58 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
ing at Ogbrook, and at six in the evening at Melbourne. At
the latter place, and at Markfield, the congregations were so
large, that they could not be accommodated within the church,
and Mr. Wesley was obliged to preach in the open air. At this
period Mr. Wesley's visits to Donnington Park were very fre
quent ; Lady Huntingdon haying a very sincere esteem for him,
and they were much united in sentiments of a theological nature.
Easy and affable in his demeanour, he accommodated himself to
every society, and showed how happily the most finished courtesy
may be blended with the most perfect piety. In his conver
sation, we might be at a loss which to admire most, his fine
classical taste, his extensive knowledge of men and things,
or his overflowing goodness of heart. While the grave and
serious were charmed with his wisdom, his sportive sallies of
innocent mirth delighted even the young and thoughtless ; and
both saw, in his uninterrupted cheerfulness, the excellency of
true religion.
It was about this period that Lady Huntingdon became
acquainted with the well-known and much admired Dr. Watts,
to whom her Ladyship appears to have been introduced by his
kind friend and patroness, Lady Abney. Between these truly
excellent characters a warm friendship existed, which, however,
was of short duration, as the Doctor and Lady Abney were at
this time rapidly descending the vale of life, and a few short
years after were numbered amongst the spirits of the just made
perfect; whilst the noble and elect Countess was destined,
during the protracted period of half a century, to exhibit to
mankind a life of the most extensive usefulness, unbounded
intrepidity, and intrinsic excellence, in the cause of religion.
Unequivocally may it be said, that her character has never been
surpassed or equalled in any age, or even nation.
From a fragment of a letter still remaining, it has been
ascertained, that somewhat about this period Dr. Watts trans
mitted to Lady Huntingdon the manuscript copy of a poem,
entitled " The Grave," at the particular request of the author,
the Rev. Robert Blair, a Scotch divine, minister of Athelstane-
ford, in East Lothian.* With this accomplished man her Lady-
* The very popular, but unequal, poem of " Fhe Grave," was first printed
in London in 1743; and soon after its appearance her Ladyship was pre-
sented with a copy by Dr. Watts, at the particular request of Mr. Blair, as an
expression of high gratitude for the patronage she afforded him. The Doctor
™H t T H If conslde>;able difficulty in the publication of this little piece,
fiXnS comPelled *°«°w Ws own inclination to please popular ?aste
The booksellers can scarcely think, (says Mr. Blair,) considering how critical
an age we live in, with respect to such kind of writings, that a person lvin»
tS&SZ&'X?" L°"d0n C0U'd Wlite S° - fo'be acceptable t^e

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 59
ship was not altogether unacquainted, having often heard
houourable mention made of him by her valued friends, Colonel
and Lady Frances Gardiner. Lady Huntingdon appears to
have approved of the poem, and advised its publication, for in a
letter, written some considerable time after, Colonel Gardiner
says : —
" Our good friend is much flattered by your Ladyship's approbation
of his production. Good Dr. Watts has likewise signified his approval
of the piece in a manner most obliging. Many thanks for your oft-
repeated expressions of regard for one so worthless as I am. I shall
convey your Ladyship's assurances of esteem and respect for Dr. Blair,
to whom I intend writing very soon. Few stand in need of your
prayers and advice more than I do. May the Almighty Saviour pre
serve your valuable life ; bless your exertions for the eternal good of
others ; and that you may ever enjoy a thriving soul in a healthful body,
shall be the continual prayer of, my dear Madam, your most faithful,
most obliged, and most humble servant."
For Dr. Watts, Colonel Gardiner had a most sincere esteem.
He had been introduced to the Doctor at Lord Huntingdon's
house, during one of his visits to the metropolis. Speaking of
this sweet singer in our Israel, he says, —
" I have been in pain lest that excellent person should have been
called to heaven before I had an opportunity to let him know how
much his works have been blessed to me, and of course of returning
him my hearty thanks : for though it is owing to the operation of the
blessed Spirit, that any thing works effectually upon our hearts, yet if
We are not thankful to the instrument which God is pleased to make
use of, whom we do see, how shall we be thankful to the Almight}',
whom we have not seen ? Therefore I must beg the favour of you
to let him know, that I intended to have waited upon him in the
beginning of last May, when I was in London, but was informed^ arid
that ta my great sorrow, that he was extremely ill, and therefore I did
not think that a visit would have been seasonable ; especially con
sidering that I have not the happiness to be much acquainted with
the Doctor ; but well am I acquainted with his works, especially with
his psalms, hymns, and lyrics. How often, by singing some of these
to myself on horseback and elsewhere, has the evil spirit been made
to flee away : — ' Where'er my heart in tune was found,
Like David's harp of solemn sound.'
" I desire to bless God for the good news of his recovery; and en
treat you to tell him, that although I cannot keep pace with him here,
in celebrating the high praises of our glorious Redeemer, which is the
great grief of my heart, yet I am persuaded, that when I join the
glorious company above, where there will be no drawbacks, that none
will outsing me there ; because I shall not find any that has been more
indebted to the wonderful riches of divine grace than I :**-

60 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
' Give me a place at thy saints' feet,
Or some fallen angel's vacant seat;
I'll strive to sing as loud as they
Who sit above in brighter day.'
"I know it is natural for every one who has felt that almighty
power whicli raised our glorious Redeemer from the grave to believe
his case singular. But I have made every one in this respect submit,
as soon as he has heard my story ; and if you seem so surprised at the
account which I gave you, what will you be when you hear it all ?
' Oh ! if I had an angel's voice,
And could be heard from pole to pole ;
I would to all the listening world
Proclaim thy goodness to my soul. '
" I cannot express (says the Countess), how much I esteem that
most excellent man, Colonel Gardiner. What love and mercy has God
shown to him in snatching him as a brand from the burning ! He is
truly alive to God ; and pleads nothing but the plea of the publican in
the temple — God be merciful to me a sinner ! Surely God's work is
perfect. What a monument of the grace, mercy, and love of God ! To
glorify God, and to serve him with all his ransomed powers, is now his
only aim and end."

CHAPTER V.

Lay Preachers — Mr. Wesley's defence of them — Converted Clergy  Death of
Lady Huntingdon's Sons, George and Ferdinando Hastings— First Methodist
Conference_Dr. Doddridge— Letter from Lady Huntingdon— Mr. Jones—
The Pretender—Lord Carteret—George II  Death of Colonel Gardiner-
Letters from Mr. Wesley, Dr. Doddridge, and Charles Wesley.
Methodism had now assumed some form and consistence, and
had taken deep root in the land. Meeting-houses were erected
in various places, societies were formed and disciplined, funds
raised, rules enacted, lay-preachers admitted, and a reo-ular
system of itinerancy begun. When the great leaders had We
admitted the assistance of lay-preachers, volunteers in abun
dance offered their zealous services. If they had been disposed
to be nice in the selection, it was not in their power. They
had called up a spirit which they could not lay ; but they were
still able to control and direct it. They had taken no step in
their whole progress so reluctantly as this. The measure was
forced upon them by circumstances, and by the strong remon
strances of Lady Huntingdon, whose penetrating mind perceived
that if these men were not permitted to preach with the

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 61
sanction of Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Wesley, they would not be
withheld from exercising the power which they felt in them
selves. Her Ladyship had coolly and impartially considered the
difficulties of the case, and upon the calmest view of it, notwith
standing her educational prejudices in favour of the Established
Church, and her repugnance to the irregularity which was
sanctioned by this step, she still thought, that those who were
called only of God, and not of man, had more right to preach
than those who were called only of man and not of God. Now,
that many of the clergy, though called of man, are not called of
God to preach his Gospel, is undeniable : first, because they
themselves utterly disclaim, nay, and ridicule the inward call ;
and secondly, because they do not know what the Gospel is ; of
consequence they do not, and cannot preach it.
Mr. Wesley justified the measure, by showing how it had
arisen : a plain account of the whole proceeding was, he thought,
the best defence of it : —
" And I am bold to affirm (says he, in one of his appeals to Men
of Reason and Religion,) that these unlettered men have help from
God for that great work, the saving souls from death ; seeing he
hath enabled, and doth enable them still, to turn many to righteous
ness. Thus hath he ' destroyed the wisdom of the wise, and brought
to nought the understanding of the prudent.' When they imagined
they had effectually shut the door, and locked up every passage,
whereby any help could come to two or three preachers, weak in body
as well as soul, whom they might reasonably believe would, humanly
speaking, wear themselves out in a short time — when they had gained
their point, by securing (as they supposed) all the men of learning in
the nation, ' He that sitteth in heaven laughed them to scorn,' and came
upon them by a way they thought not of. Out of the stones he raised
up those who should beget children to Abraham. We had no more
foresight of this than you. Nay, we had the deepest prejudices
against it, until we could not but own that God gave wisdom from
above to those unlearned and ignorant men, so that the work of the
Lord prospered in their hands, and sinners were daily converted to
God." About this time, several clergymen, who were awakened by
the preaching of Messrs. Wesley, Mr. Whitefield, and their
zealous coadjutors, boldly came forth, and, according to the
measure of light dawning on their minds, bore a faithful testi
mony to the atonement and grace of the Redeemer. Of these,
the Rev. John Hodges, Rector of Wenvo ; Rev. Henry Piers,
Vicar of Bexley, Kent ; Rev. Samuel Taylor, Vicar of Quin-
tin, Gloucestershire ; Rev. Charles Manning, Vicar of Hayes,
Rev. Vincent Perronet, Vicar of Shoreham, Sussex ; and the
Rev. John Merriton, from the Isle of Man, joined the Methodist

62 THE HFE AND TIMES OF
Society, attended several of the Conference meetings, and la
boured zealously to promote the cause of God our Saviour,
wherever they itinerated, as well as in their respective parishes.
To these was added the Rev. Richard Thomas Bateman, a man
of high birth, and great natural endowments. He was Rector
of St. Bartholomew's the Great, London, and also held a living
in Wales, where he was awakened under the powerful ministry of
the Rev. Howell Davies.
These excellent men were early and intimately acquainted
with Lady Huntingdon, whose patronage and support were
powerfully influential in exciting and encouraging them to per
severe in an itinerant course of life ; and some of them proved
eminently useful and laborious ministers of the Gospel, They
did not disdain to associate with the lay-preachers in these
labours of love— they were one in heart and mind with those
devoted men, many of whom were instrumental either in
awakening, converting, or building up souls, labours which have
ever been regarded as the great business and the peculiar glory
of a Methodist preacher. Aftera time many of the first preachers
withdrew from the career, not because they were desirous of
returning to the ways of the world, and emancipating themselves
from the restraints of their new profession, but because the
labour was too great. Through the instrumentality of Lady
Huntingdon, Messrs. Maxfield, Merrick, Richards, Reeves, and
Williams, whom her Ladyship particularly noticed and recom
mended to Mr. Wesley as the first lay-preachers who assisted
him, were, with several others, episcopally ordained, became
useful ministers of the Establishment, and most indefatigable
and successful labourers in the vineyard.
It pleased the Almighty Disposer of human events to remove
from Lady Huntingdon, at this time, two of her beloved children1,
George and Ferdinando Hastings ; one aged thirteen and the
other eleven, within a very short period of each other. They
died of the small-pox, a disease very prevalent at that time.
Her Ladyship's mind was much affected with this solemn
event: she was properly sensible of the loss she had sustained,
and felt as a mother. Her only source of relief was the un
bounded goodness of God, exhibited in the precious promises of
his word. Deeply humbled before Him under this bereaving
stroke, yet was she enabled to reap much spiritual profit ; she
saw light through the dark cloud, for the Lord can and will
comfort the mourners in Zion.
On the 25th of June, 1744, the first Methodist Conference
was held in London. There were six clergymen and four

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 68
travelling preachers present. Lady Huntingdon was then in
London, and received them with much hospitality at her house.
This is the first mention we have of any public service at her
Ladyship's during Lord Huntingdon's life-time. On this
occasion Mr. Wesley preached from this passage, " What hath
God wrought ?" Mr. Piers, Vicar of Bexley, and Mr. Hodges,
Rector of Wenvo, assisted at the other parts of the service ;
Messrs. Maxfield, Richards, and Bennett, who settled as minister
of a dissenting congregation, and John Downes, who died in the
work, were present. Downes was a man of sincere, unaffected
piety, of great affliction, and possessed of an uncommon genius :
he died in the pulpit of West-street chapel. His last text was,
"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I
will give you rest." His words were unusually weighty, and with
power, but few : he perceived he could not finish his discourse,
and gave out this verse of the hymn —
" Father, I lift my heart to thee,
No other help I know."
His voice failing, he fell upon his knees, as meaning to pray,
but he could not be heard. The preachers ran and lifted him
from his knees, for he could not raise himself. They carried
him to bed, where he lay quiet and speechless fill eight o'clock
on Saturday morning (Nov. 6th, 1774,) and then fell asleep.
His widow, who had but one sixpence in the world at the
moment of his death, was afterwards befriended by Lady Hun
tingdon. Her Ladyship, though circumscribed in her means, continued
to pursue her labours with new zeal, and the Redeemer crowned
them with augmented blessings. She ever kept one great object
in view, the conversion of souls to God, and the increased do
minion of the religion of Jesus over the hearts and lives of its
professors. She now (in 1744) formed some of those friend
ships with pious and distinguished persons beyond the pale of
her own communion, which were the honour and delight of her
future days. She became the friend of Doddridge,* author of
" The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul," a work of
such excellencies and defects as render it equally hazardous to
praise or blame; but which, with all the faults imputed to it, has
been honoured with extensive usefulness. The letters of the
Doctor cannot be laid before the reader, but those of the
Countess sufficiently indicate the tone of the correspondence,
as the following specimen will testify. It was written in answer
* To whose pupil, Risdon Darracott.her Ladyship is named with eulogy in
a letter from Mrs. Anne Dutton, written about this period.

64 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
to one from Dr. Doddridge, and treats principally on the neces
sity of preaching free grace:- ^^ ^ ^
« Dear Sir,— I was most extremely obliged by your very kind letter,
and though I am very glad and thankful to hear from my Christian
friends, yet I consider their callings as so many interruptions from
what their inclinations are often most disposed to. We want not that
friendship which the world has, discovering its degree by the mere
outside shows of ceremony, but those hearts who know Him that
was from the beginning ; by this acquaintance they can trace back the
several other influences upon their minds, besides the secret ones of
his to them, and will not wonder such things should help them to
maintain an esteem of mankind till a stronger motive supplies its place :
no, my worthy friend, never be under any care about any thing relating
to me ; I never can esteem you less, aud only more, by the further
favour the Lord Jesus Christ shall and will still more bestow upon
you ; and may you abound in hope, through the power of the Holy
Ghost ! If I understand upon what your satisfaction was founded in
my discourse with Mr. Jones,'"" I think it depended upon my open and
free declaration of present snlvation — to be free, and through Jesus
Christ alone ; and yet, for many reasons, your being as open in it as a
preacher may not be so effectual, to your universal service I mean, as
by attending to smaller degrees of good in all. In my last letter to
Mr. Whitefield, I think I have said to this effect : ' It is for this point
we must contend, of whicli we are witnesses : with that tender regard
to all degrees or steps leading to it, by which we can alone extricate
ourselves from the trifling wrangles of the schools upon words, and
better confound the infidel world. It is the only answer to that re
mark, which, though I never have heard it, is surely strong ; viz., that
uncertain ties must level all religious feelings too much ; and they
must arise always rather upon the conclusions of men, than the sapient
evidence of the divine propositions.
'' Here, then, my friend, is what our Lord offers us. It is for such
a religion I live, and in which, with his grace, I will die. This mani
festation in the soul of Britain will prove as satisfactory as light is to
the eye ; and whenever this light appears equally great, there will be a
perfect agreement ; the degrees may and will cause disputes, as about
the several imperfect objects a day-dawn produces ; and in this state,
the well-meaning among the Moravians seem, disputing with all who
see differently with them. In this case om- Lord's rule seems best,
which was, not to destroy error with evil, but by the establishment of
truth the rather to let it fall from its own weakness : exhort all the
* This gentleman held the living of Ripton Abbots, in Huntingdonshire, and
appears to have possessed not only a highly catholic spirit, but sound learning.
Lady Huntingdon's conversation was highly beneficial in leading him to clearer
views of divine truth. Mr. Jones was afterwards presented to the Vicarage of
Alconbury, which he resigned in a few years for a living in Bedfordshire.
Whilst there he accepted the curacy of Welwyn from Dr. Young, the celebrated
author of " Night Thoughts," and continued there till the Doctor's decease.
He was killed by a fall from his horse.

' SELINAj COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 65
soiils back, and the deadly thing will not hurt them though they
drink of it. I most fear their political schemes, and cannot tell how
to account for many things upon any other principle than as prior to
the introduction of this, as their phrase is, Infallible Church ; and,
indeed, when we go beyond the written Word, which will, simply
attended to, open with the light by degrees, as we receive its blessed
rays ; I say, when we go beyond this, where must the great confusion
end ? In nothing but a mere Traditionary Church, made up of many
pious but superstitious minds ; which I hope Turkey is not without.
"Your sennon* I read with much care, as well as attention to your
request, that I would sit with pen and paper by me, to mark all 1
could find amiss in it ; but if it will be any satisfaction to you to know
it, I assure you, with all my care I Was not able to make one objection,
nor even to fear one from any mortal for you ; and I must beg you will
be so good to let me have a hundred sent, in order to give away. I
hope Mr. Hervey's fears are groundless about the dedication ; it is, in
all respects, tbe very best judged one, both for your character and his,
that I think could be penned ; you have done right, and my grand
maxim will support you : " Do that which is best and leave the rest
to God." By your confidence in me, you have led me to be thus free
to you. I speak from my heart ; it may mean well, but do you cor
rect its judgments when you find them wrong. I think I should be
even glad to confess them so, whenever I see them so ; and I hope
for more excellent ways of godliness and truth ; with many wishes
to Mrs. Doddridge for her safety, and prayers for you, my friend, I
remain, most sincerely and faithfully yours, " S. Huntingdon."
" P.S. Do not forget unworthy me in your prayers. Lady Frances
Gardiner is to be in England soon, as Mr. Whitefield writes me word."
In the year 1 745, Lady Huntingdon felt, in common with
most who were deeply interested in the welfare of religion, the
most distressing alarms from the rebellion in the north. The
Jacobite faction, which existed chiefly in Scotland, and in the
northern parts of the kingdom, made a last and desperate effort to
overturn our liberties, and enthrone the Pretender. The exiled
Stuarts, who had ever been the dupes of the Roman Catholic
princes, were again thrown upon our shores, as an apple of
discord, to divide our attention, and procure a diversion in
favour of the enemy. The young Pretender landed in Scotland
when there were no hopes of shaking the throne of his rival ;
and with all the silly fondness for royal pomp which charac
terised his family, wasted his precious moments of unexpected
orosperity in proclaiming his father, and disposing of seats in
* For the benefit of the Hospital at Northampton, or Northampton Infirmary.
VOL. I. — F

gg THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
the paradise which he had not yet regained. During the rtrUggte
many Valuable lives were lost ; and the exce llent C ol el
Gardiner fell a sacrifice to the good cause, which eventually
^'While^he civil and religious liberties of our country were
thus exposed to jeopardy, it was natural for the government to
look around with the keen eye of jealousy, to see which way men s
hearts turned. That the character of the government should be
affected by the violence of political feeling is not at all surpri
sing : and if persons in power have occasionally shown hatred
to the Methodists) their malice has been defeated— either by the
tolerant disposition of the monarch, or by a variety of other cir*
cumstances which have had a favourable effect upon religions
liberty. Although the storm of rebellion and popery was dis
pelled by tbe victory at Culloden, the principles that distin
guished the bulk of "the Pretender's adherents diffused them
selves throughout the country. When a rogue wishes to
supplant an honest man in the favour of his prince, it is no
uncommon thing for him to libel his character by a charge of
disloyalty. For the attachment they showed to the great cause
of civil and religious liberty, and forthe joy that some of theiri
expressed at the downfall of the house of Stuart, the Metho
dist were held up as disaffected to their own country. The
strangest suspicious and calumnies were circulated ; and men
believe any calumnies, however preposterously absurd, against
those of whom they are disposed to think ilk It was commonly
reported that Mr. Wesley was a Papist, if not a Jesuit ; that
he kept Popish priests in his house : nay, it was beyond dispute
that he received large remittances from Spain, in order to make
a party among the poor, and when the Spaniards landed) lie
was to join them with twenty thousand men. Sometimes it was
reported that he was in prison upon a charge of high treason :
and there were people who confidently affirmed that they had
seen him with the Pretender in France. Reports to this effect
Were so prevalent) that when a proclamation was issued requir
ing all Papists to leave London, he thought it prudent to remain
a week there, that he might cut off all occasion of reproach ;
but this did not prevent the Surrey magistrates from summoning
him, and making him take the oath of allegiance, and sign the
declaration against Popery. Mr. Wesley was indifferent to all
accusations; but the charge of disaffection, in such times, might
have brought upon him serious inconvenience. He therefore drew
up a loyal address to the King) in the name of " The Societies in
derision called Methodists." They thought it incumbent upon

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 67
them to offer this address. This paper said, they must stand as
a distinct body from their brethren ; but they protested that
th'ey were a part, however mean, of the Protestant Church esta
blished in these kingdoms, and that it was their principle to
revere the higher powers as of God, and to be subject for con
science' sake.
Lady Huntingdon was likewise attacked in, a very, scandalous
manner, arid accused of favouring the Pretender.- These asper
sions tended to aggfcivat6 the increasing obloquy under which
her Ladyship, and those whom she patronised; were now labour
ing: But she paid little attention to these malicious reports,
until several pf the itinerants under her auspices were beaten
and ill-treated. Some qf the neighbouring Magistrates refused
to act in behalf of the Methodists; when their persons and pro
perty were attacked ; and her Ladyship was forced to apply to
higher authority. She addressed a remonstrance to Lord
Carteret, one of his Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, who
laid it before the King. George II. was a prince of superior
accomplishments — of an enlarged and liberal mind— and well
skilled in the art of goyernment. True to those principles
that placed him upon the throne, he continued to the last the
decided friend of civil and religious liberty. If the evil spirit
that resided in the clefgy walked forth upon some occasions, it
was instantly laid by the genialinfluence of a tolerant monarch.
It is well known that some evil-minded persons commenced a
prosecution against the amiable Doddridge for keeping an
academy, which being represented to the King, he instantly put
a stop to it, declaring that he would suffer no persecution in his
reign. Lord Carteret, a nobleman well known in the annals of the
state, was upon very intimate terms with the family of Lord
Huntingdon. Lady Worsley,* the mother of Lady Carteret, to
whose illustrious descent were added a fine1 person and delicate^
understanding,- was a, relative of Lady Huntingdon's. Lord
Carteret's reply to Lady Huntingdon's cbfnniuhication was dated
November 1 9th, 1745, only a few days before his going out of
office, in which' he was succeeded by the Earl of Harrington.
It was as follows : —
* She was' sole daughter of L.ord Weymouth, , and descended from Lady
Prances Devereux, eldest daughter of Robert, Earl of Essex. Sir Robert and
Lady Worsley were' persons of great' honour and integrity, and with Lady Car
teret and the Countess Granville, mother to Lord Carteret, frequently attended
the" preaching of the first Methodists. Lady Worslpy was, aunt to the Duchess
of Somerset, better' known as the Countess of Hertford, celebrated for her
fVStronage of Merftture and her own amiSBle genius.
f2

68 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
" Madam,— I laid your remonstrance before His Majesty the King:
my Royal Master commands me to assure your Ladyship, that, as the
fatlier and protector of his people, he will suffer no persecution on
account of religion ; and I am desired to inform all magistrates to
afford protection and countenance to such persons as may require
to be protected in the conscientious discharge of their religious obser
vances. " His Majesty is fully sensible of your Ladyship's attachment to the
House of Hanover ; and bas directed me to assure your Ladyship of
his most gracious favour and kindest wishes. I have the honour to be,
Madam, your Ladyship's most obedient humble servant, " Cabteret."
Mr. Charles Wesley was more seriously incommoded by the
imputation of disloyalty than his brother, or Lady Huntingdon.
When he was itinerating in Yorkshire, an accusation was laid
against him of having spoken treasonable words, and witnesses
were summoned before the Magistrates at Wakefield to depose
against him. Fortunately for him he learnt this in time to
present himself and confront the witnesses. He had prayed
that the Lord would call home his banished ones ; and this the
accusers construed, in good faith, to mean the Pretender. The
words would have had that meaning from the mouth of a Jacobite:
but Charles Wesley, with perfect sincerity, disclaimed any such
intention. " I had no thought," he said, " of praying for the
Pretender, but for those who confess themselves strangers and
pilgrims upon earth, — who seek a country, knowing this is not
their home. You, Sir," he added, addressing himself to a
clergyman upon the bench : " you, Sir, know that the Scrip
tures speak of us as captive exiles, who are absent from the
Lord while present in the body. We are not at home till we are
in heaven." The magistrates were men of sense : they per
ceived that he explained himself clearly — that his declarations
were frank and unequivocal, and they avowed themselves per
fectly satisfied.
These aspersions aggravated the odium under which the
Methodists were now labouring. " Every Sunday," says
Charles Wesley, "damnation is denounced against all who
hear us ; for we are Papists, Jesuits, seducers, and bringers in
of the Pretender. The clergy murmur aloud at the number of
communicants, and threaten to repel them." He was him
self repelled at Bristol, with circumstances of indecent
violence. In many places they were exposed to the insults of
the rude mob, who had not yet forgotten the art of disturbing
conventicles, nor entirely lost the relish of those delights which
they enjoyed, when terrifying the women or children whom

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 09
they found in those assemblies. It, therefore, became neces
sary for the Methodists, either to endure all the injuries which
the non-conformists suffered, when they were considered as out
laws, or to contradict their solemn professions of indissoluble
union with the Established Church, by classing themselves
with Dissenters, taking refuge under the Toleration Act, regis
tering their places of worship, and licensing their preachers,
as that Act required. They were not so in love either with
persecution or the Church of England, as to hesitate long
between the unequal alternatives ; but instantly became Dis
senters in the eye of the law, in order to become Christians
according to the dictates of conscience.
It was, indeed, a curious phenomonon to behold a whole
host of persons, who rejected the name of Dissenters as an un
founded calumny, who professed themselves the truest sons of
the Church ; attached to her doctrines, ceremonies, and hier
archy ; many of whom retained, even in their places of meeting,
her Liturgy and vestments, and who still communicated at
her altars; yet resorting . for protection to an Act passed " to
exempt persons dissenting from the Church of England from
certain pains and penalties." Had they professed to dissent,
it would have been a question whether the Toleration Act could
have afforded them legal protection ; for neither this, nor any
other law, could be intended to provide for all possible futurity,
and to gather under its wing every sect, of whatever principles
and practices, which might arise in the revolution of ages.
But when the Methodists declared they were not Dissenters,
how could they claim the advantages of an Act made to protect
persons dissenting from the Church of England from the penal
ties of certain laws ?
The politic conduct of the government, in choosing rather to
give a large and liberal interpretation to the Toleration Act,
than to run the hazard of introducing another, was a grand step
in the progress of religious liberty ; for it converted this law into
a much more extensive and mighty blessing than it was ever
designed to be.
As the Methodists of every class — those who still remained
within the walls of the establishment ; those who, like White-
field retained her doctrines, but broke loose from her restraints,
and those who, with Mr. Wesley adopted the Arminian creed —
all formed a body as active as they were new ; they put the
practical liberality of the government and the nation to a severe
test. The Methodists came forth as a foreign army, they
traversed the kingdom through all its extent; professing to
belong to the Establishment, they entered into its precincts,

70 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
sought their converts in its very bosom, and thus roused
attention, jealousy, and rage, by the novelty, nearness, and
anomalous singularity of their attack. The practice of field-
preaching, which Mr. Whitefield, their most intrepid champion,
introduced, was a measure daring as it was unprecedented.
Wlien the government heard that he drew out of London the
almost incredible number of thirty thousand persons to hear
him preach on Kennington Common — when he regularly col
lected numbers, not much inferior, in Moorfields — when Mr.
Wesjey imitated the bold measure, and thus rendered it a
Methodist fashion to stand upon Tower-hill — in the streets of
Bristol — amidst the colliers at Kinggwpod °T Newcastle— ana^ng
the miners pf Cornwall, or wh.er.eyer .else immense crowds coiild
be collected — would it have been surprising if the usual jealousy
of governments had been displayed by the new dynasty, which
had just begun ts sit fifm pn the British throne ? What then
must haye been the wisdom of the prince, and the coqspipus
strength and dignity pf the government, that, in such untried and
critical circurnstancus, laissez nous frtire prevailed without limi
tation, and the rising sect not only gave neither alarm nor offence
to the civjl powers, but was even defended hy the sword and the
mace ? Whenever the mobs were excited tp their own depraved
passion, pr by the insidious arts of bigoted gentry or clergy, to
disturb the wprship pf the Methodists, though inferior magis
trates might refuse redress, the superior courts were a sure refuge,
where, not scanty justice, but liberal countenance was afforded
to the new species of Dissenters. At Bristol the magistrates
instantly quelled the persecuting spirit of the populace, and
placed the Methodists in perfect peace and security. And such
was the effect of the timely and determined interposition of the
civil power, that the Methodists were never again disturbed by
the rabble in that pity. If ftp London mphs were more violent,
the persecute^ people received the satisfaction pf being in-
farmed, frpm high authority, before they wade application for
redress, that; they had no need to suffer the insults and injuries
which they experienced, since the justices of the peace had
received p3rtic.4l.ay prdprs from the government to affprd ftem
hill protecripii. Tl'e House, of Hanover, being assured of the
affections pf the Dissenters, regarded them 3s among the
firmest supporters of the ftrqpp : it js, therefore, nQt improbable,
ftat this new accession to their numbers was far from being
disagreeable to, fte court, which gladly extended to the Meftttr
djsjjsthe protection originally designed fpr other denominations.
4 he storm ftat threatened tq blast every prospect of ugefulr
ness spo.n blew oyer, m<\ \& j^dy Huntingdon to exchange

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 71
the crjj of danger— the prayer of faith — for the song of praise,
find this grateful inquiry " what shall I render to the Lord for
all his benefits ?" The rebellion called forth all her ardpur in
fte c£iuse of liberty, both civil and religions ; apd the sevnipns
- and exhortatiops pf ftp great leaders pf thp Meftpdist pause
spoke the lively interest which they felt in fte sucppss qf fte
coptest. Nor were the Evangelical Dissenters less ?ealpus or
less agitated with solicitude for the safety of the tolerant throne
of Brunswicjc. Dr. Doddridge exerted himself wift great zeal,
and at considerable expense, in a cause which appeared to him
to affept the Christian as deeply as the patriot. His biographer
says :—
" When a regiment was raising in Northamptonshire, to be imder
the cpmmEjnd ofthe Pari of Halifax, he wrote im>ny letters to }(is frjefids
in that county and neighbourhood to further the design. He went
fvnio.ng his own people to encourage tlierp. to enlist, and had the, plea
sure tq find niany of them engaging cheerfully in the cause, jje dre,w
]ip, and printed at his own " expense, ^ friendly letter to the privie
S.pldiers of q regiment pf foot, which was ope, of those engaged ii} thp
glorious ba$le of Cjilloden,"
When his friend Cplppel Gardiner fell in fte struggle between
the House of Hanover and the family of Stuart, Dr. Doddridge
honoured him as one who had poured out his blood for the
sacred as well as civil liberties of Britain. It was his high sense
pf the jmportapce of the cpntest to the religious intprests of the
kingdom, which inspired ftp biographer with the unusual elp-
quenpe ftat glpws ip his rjipnioirs of the Colony}. The DQPtPr
preached ap eloquent and animated discourse pn the qpcEisiQn
pf his death, which was afterwards published, pne hundred copje,s
of which he sent to Lady Huntingdon for distribution. Her
Ladyship's opinion of this sermon is given in a letter to Mr.
Wesley, in which she likewise expresses her lamentations on the
death of the Colonel : — "Jan. 15, 1746.
'; My much esteemed Friend, — I defered acknowledging your last
kind favour till I could send you the excellent germon or my gpod-
fiiiend. 3Qj. Doddridge, upon th'e lamented death of that eminent Chris
tian and gallant soldier, Colonel Gardiner. His death is a heavy afflic
tion to good Lady Frances, as well as to all bis nunipr.pv(s fondly and
accpfjjntanpes. Pttt lle ?s gone to the gr^at Captain of our sjj.jYati'Dn
tp sep him as he is : to praise hini who covered his head in thg day of
hattie ; a.nd h,as talfen him \q bjinself to sing the woncler-s of that lpve
which hath redeemed hir^ from the earth, qpd made him meet to be a
partaker ofthe inheritance of the saints in'light.
' "Eminently successful in illuminating multitudes in various parts of
the country, with the knowledge of the truth qs it is in Jesus, the squJ

72 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
of this excellent minister of Christ is everburning for ? mj^«t^«
advancement of religion, where itis not yet known, "^eMed^te
felt by the people. A high degree of praise is due t°th devoted
man for his exertions in calling sinners to repentance, and stirring up
the nrofessors of religion to the spirit of the Gospel. He would do
honour to any age ofthe Church, and his honesty and zeal entitle him
t^«TSa^nSoet, you will be much delighted with the energy of
expression, and the evangelical strain which runs through his discourse
Though it may be deficient in vigour, it is rich m the display of Gospel
truth." No man can be more remote from party spirit, or exhibit more
of that love which embraces all who love the Lord Jesus Christ of every
name and sect, than the Doctor does in all his writings. This 1 record
to his honour, while there are but too many of the dissenting denomi
nation very differently minded, who are cold, and stand aloot from
Christians, and fellow-heirs of the same inheritance, because they
gather not with them. .
" Amidst abounding opposition much good still continues to be done,
and many poor souls are returning to the fold of the great Shepherd.
The hand of a King is amongst us: many hard-hearted rebels have
been subdued by the resistless power of the Word : many haye fled
for refuge to the hope set before them : and very many are asking the
way to Zion. May the great Shepherd and Bishop of our souls give
us more abundant increase ! The fruits of your ministry yet flourish :
and we long for your coming once more amongst us. May your minis
try be attended and followed by the blessing of the Holy Ghost, and
many be added by your means to the Church of such as shall be saved.
"I have lately heard from dear Mr. Whitefield. He is making full
proof of his ministry in America. Mr. Jones has been with me for
some weeks ; and has been very acceptable and useful to many. I
have just seen Mr. West's 'Observations on the History and Evidences
of Christ's Kesurrection,' but have not yet perused it. Dr. Doddridge
has a high opinion of it, and thinks it calculated for great and exten
sive usefulness amongst infidels.
" And now my good friend, farewell ! I heartily commend you to
the care and guidance of my adorable Master — Him on whom I hang
the weight of my eternal interests — and through whose precious blood
I hope to be cleansed from all my vileness, my worthlessness, ;and
misery, and made a partaker of the blessings of his everlasting covenant.
" I am, my worthy and esteemed friend, your very obliged,
" S. Huntingdon."
In the month of April, Lady Huntingdon was attacked by a
severe illness, and her friends became seriously alarmed ; but, by
the blessing of God on the means. used by her medical advisers,
she was restored to many years of labour and usefulness. To
promote the spread of the religion of Christ was ever the most
prominent object of her life, and she made personal ease and
convenience entirely subservient to it. Notwithstanding her

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 73
debility at this time, she wrote to Dr. Doddridge and Mr. Charles
Wesley, asking them to recommend her a pious Clergyman to
supply the church at Markfield, the living of which she had given
to the Rev. George Baddelley, D.D., then domestic chaplain
at Donnington Park. "June, 1746.
" My worthy Friend, — This very day, after my letter to you, I was
taken ill of a fever, and am now far from a state of perfect recovery,
and I am sure I shall have your prayers, that all those adorable in
stances of God's great mercy to me may be answered according to his
kind intentions towards me.
''Weak as I am, a circumstance I am much interested about makes
me .forget all I feel at present : a young gentleman, to whom I have
just given the Rectory of Markfield, in Leicestershire, and who serves
in my family as my chaplain, is at present in great want of a curate to
supply that place in his absence. His situation with me gives him an
entrance into four churches : and, could we get a Gospel curate, very
great good would be done. I hope he has here won the hearts of
many people, and a little meeting in my house is begun, and though
with much bitterness to me, in spite of all opposition, it increases.
Should Mr. Baddelley leave me to fix in his living, all this prospect
vvould be at an end : but could we get a faithful minister for his assist
ance, the having two who would then preach the Gospel might be
instrumental to unspeakable good. Such a person, who is properly
qualified, he has not yet been able to meet with : he should be not
only a good Christian, but one who is a sensible man, who can act
prudently, and who, in Mr. Baddelley 's absence, would be proper to
perform his duty in my family.
" So surrounded am I by eyes that long to find fault with all I do,
that it makes me cautious to give no offence, either to Jew, Gentile, or
the Church of God ; but to serve all men to their good edification, and
to labour with the remains of life to advance our Lord and Saviour's
kingdom upon earth. Do, my friend, try to look out for me for this
purpose ; and if you know, or can hear of any man so qualified, let
me know from you. Could I explain the consequences of this matter
with sufficient strength, I am sure it would raise emotion in so warm
and earnest a heart as yours, for your most active trial. May heaven
assist you, and live assured that, with great sincerity and pure friend
ship, I am, my worthy friend, your very obliged, ''S. Huntingdon."
The next letter is dated June 18, 1746. It is addressed to
Mr. Wesley, and repeats the early part of the preceding : —
" I have written to my worthy friend, Dr. Doddridge, to assist in
obtaining a pious, sensible man, one whose whole soul is alive to God
and the concerns of eternity, and I have to solicit your assistance, my
good friend, in aiding me in this matter. Amongst your very numer
ous connections, you may hear of some one suited to the situation,
which is of great importance, as he will have four churches open to him,

74 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
where the light of divine truth may be widely extended amongst a
people hungering and thirsting after tbe bread of hfe.
" Do aid me in this business with your willing services, your prayers,
and your a,dyice. I am but a, we^k instrument, and need the suppor.tr
ing care of my great Advocate every minute of my existence. Though
I am hardly ablp to hold my pen, yet I am willing, thanks be to God,
to be employed in any way that may conduce to the good of others.
Pray for me, my good friend, that if it be the will of God and pur Lord
Jesus Christ, I hiay be strengthened for the work which is before me,
and that which he has appointed for me on earth. I feel the flame
still burning within me — the ardent longing to save sinners from, the
error of their ways. 0, how does the zeal of others reprove me ! 0,
that my poor cold heart could catch a spark from others, and be as a
flame of fire in the Redeemer's service ! Some few instances of suc
cess, which God, in the riches of his mercy, has lately favoured pie with,
have greatly comforted me during my season of affliction ; and f have
felt the presence of God in my soul in a very remarkable manper,
prrticularly when I have prayed for the advanpement of his kingdom
amongst men in the world. This revives me, apd if God prolongs my
poor unprofitable, life, I trust it will ever be engaged in orie continued
series of zealous active services for him, and the gpod of precious hn-
mortal souls.
" Adieu, my most worthy friend. Let me hear from you soon, and
give me some'tidings to rejoice my heart. Your most faithful friend,
'< S. Huntingdon^"

CHAPTER VI.

De^th of the Earl oe Huntingdon — His Lordship's Epitaph  Letter from
Sir John Thorold — Lady Huntingdon's Piety— .Tetter to Dr. Doddridge—
Lady kilmorey— Duchess of Sorperset— Welsh Preachprs — Ladj Frspcps
Hastings— Mrs. Edvpin — Lady Huntingdon's adherence to the Church pf
England—Letter frprn Dr. Watts tp Dr, Dpddjidge.
Afflictions seldom come alone. The loss of Lady Hunting
don's children was soon foUpwed by the decease pf the Earl, who
departpd this life, on the 13th of Optpber, 1746, at his house
in Downing-^street, Wpstminster, in the fiftieth year of his age.
His Lordship (who it was remarkable ha4 hardly eypr dreiWlfc in
his life before) drearned, one night, that death, in the sembWe
pf a skeleton, apppared at the bed's fQpt, and, after standing a
while, untucked the bed-elpthes at the bpttpm, .and crept up
to the tpp of the bed (under the clqthes) apd lay between him

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 7fi
and his lady. His Lordship told his dream, in the morning, to
the Countess, who affected to make light of it ; but the T£arl
died of a fit of apoplexy, in about a fortnight after. This cir
cumstance was narrated by her Ladyship to Mr. Toplady, at
Romford, in Essex, April 12, 1776, and was printed in his
posthumous works.*
The death of Lord Huntingdon formed a new era in the life
of his devoted Countess. The loss of children, and the decease
of her Lord, gaye such a blow to the elasticity of her mind, as
a loss like this at her time of life was calculated to inflict. She
had a fine bust of herself placed upon the tomb of her deceased
husband ; and the widowed bosom, in which his memory was
enshrined, remained as cpld to earthly passion as the insensible
marble amidst the symbols of death.
* The epitaph, referred to at page 9, is as follows ¦¦— ?
_ " Here lie the remains of the Right Honourable Thpqphjlus, {Jar! 0f Hpn„
tingdon, Lord Hastings, Hungerford, Bqtreaux, Moels, Newruark, and Molips ;
if his death deserved respect, his life deserved it more. If he derived his title
from a long roll of illustriqus ancestors, he reflected baek pn them siiperipr
Lonours, He ennohW nobility hy virtue, He was of the first rank jn bpth ;
gpod in every relatipn of natural dpty and social life. The learning he acquired
at school he improved at Oxford, under the care of that excellent person, the
late Bishop pf Gloucester.* Acquainted hy his studies with the pharagterg
of past ages, he acquired by his travels a knowledge pf the men spjd manners
of his own : he visited France, Italy, and even Spain. After these excursions
into other countries, he settled in his own. His own was dear to him. No
man had jusfer nptions of the true constitution of her government ; no man
had a more comprehensive view of her real interests, domestic and fpreigp.
Capable of excelling in every form of public life, he chose tq appear in none.
His mind fraught with knowledge, his heart elevated with sentiments of un
affected patriotism, he looked dpwp from higher grpund on, thp low level pf a
futile and corrupt generation. Despairing to dp national gppd, he nijn.gled as
little as his rank permitted in national affairs. Home is thp refuge of a wise
man's life ; home was the refuge of his. By his marriage with the Lady Selina
Shirley, second daughter and one of the co-hijirs of Washington, Earl Feffftr$,
he sepuved to himself in retreat a scene pf happiness be opuld not have found
in the world; the uninterrupted jpj's of conjugal Jove, the npver- failing com
forts of cordial friendship. Every care was softened, every satisfaction height
ened, eyery hour passed smoothly away, ip the cqjnpapy of pne who enjpyed a
perpetual serenity of spul, that none bpt those can fpel in this life, who are
prepared for greater blibS in the next. By her this monument Is erepted to
record the virtues of the deceased, and the grief of the living. He was born
November 12, ]6p6, and marrjpd the said Lady, Jung 3, 1728- By fepr he fogd
four sons and three daughters, Francis,+ the present Earl, born March 1-3, 1729 ;
George, borij March 29, |740, who died of tbe small-pox, aged fourteen; fer
dinando, born January 23, 1732, who also died of the smallpox, aged eleven ;
Elizabeth, t the eldpst daughter, borp March 28, 1731 i Pelipa. born Jppii 173^,
who died an infant ; Selina, the third daughter, born December 3, J73J. The
said Earl died of a fit of apoplexy, October 13, 1746, in the fiftieth year of his
age." * Dr. Martin Benson, whp had ordained Mr, Whitefield,
f Tenth wd last Ear} qf that line-
f Afterwards, Countess pf Mam,

76 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
During Lord Huntingdon's life, her Ladyship's means of
usefulness were necessarily circumscribed. Yet all that she
possessed was expended in promoting the extension of the Re
deemer's kingdom, or in relieving the temporal distress of the
indigent. Unlike the summer bird, which flies on the first
approach of the winter's storm, the chilly blasts of adversity had
peculiar attractions for her benevolent heart. The beautiful
description of an amiable writer was not more applicable to his
deceased friend, than to this illustrious personage : " She was
seen wherever disappointment and losses had left nothing but
the attraction of misery. She and the selfish crew were sure
to meet very near the door — they leaving their friends, when
they found nothing more was to be enjoyed, and she hastening
thither, as soon as she found something was necessary to be
done." Lady Huntingdon was left a widow in the thirty-ninth year of
her age, with the entire management of her children, and their
fortunes, which she carefully attended to, and improved with
the greatest fidelity. Her family affairs necessarily occupied
her attention during Lady Huntingdon's life ; but now, become
her own mistress by the demise of his Lordship, she resolved
to devote herself wholly to the service of Christ, and to the
souls redeemed by his blood.
Few characters have been more erroneously estimated by the
world than that of Lady Huntingdon. She was, in fact, neither
the gloomy fanatic, the weak visionary, nor the abstracted de
votee which different parties have delighted to paint her.
The circumstance of her having forbidden the publication of
her papers, and her retired mode of life, for even her charities
were principally distributed through the medium of her chap
lains, were the causes that baffled the curiosity of those who
felt desirous of discovering the motives which could tempt a
woman to resign the allurements of fashion, frivolity, and high
station, and to devote upwards of a hundred thousand pounds
during her life for the extension of peculiar religious opinions ;
and that too without any view towards the personal distinction
which has been too often a leading inducement with the founders
of new sects.
Instead of giving way to unavailing grief under this afflicting
bereavement, or suffering her mind to prey upon itself in seclu
sion, Lady Huntingdon endeavoured to find comfort in afflic
tion by those unremitting exertions for the extension of divine
truth which characterised every part of her life. The first six
months of her widowhood were spent at Donnington Park,
which she continued to occupy till the young Earl of Hunting-

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 77
don became of age. The members of the little societies in her
neighbourhood were perpetually in, her thoughts, and her heart
was penetrated with the most lively concern for their welfare.
Although her endeavours during this season of affliction were
chiefly exercised for their spiritual benefit, yet was her heart
enlarged also toward all the children of God, by whatever
name they were distinguished, or wherever the bounds of their
habitation were fixed.
The consolations of friendship were highly valued by the
Countess. To her most excellent friend, Sir John Thorold,
she expresses herself deeply indebted, for the paternal interest
which he took in her concerns, and his unremitting exertions
for the improvement of her children's fortunes. Sir John was
a man of piety, and the early and steady friend of her deceased
Lord.* From this period Lady Huntingdon's devotion to Christ was
* He was one of the first members of the Methodist Society in Fetter-lane,
and, with Sir John Phillips, of Picton Castle, also member of the same
Society, very useful in aiding and encouraging the labours of Mr. Whitefield
and the Wesleys. He was a correspondent of the celebrated Griffith Jones,
whom he assisted in the establishment of his Welsh schools, and of Dr. Dod
dridge, and a letter from him to Mr. Wesley appears in an early volume of the
" Methodist Magazine." His death, which occurred in 1748 was a great loss to
the early Methodists. He was twice married, and left five children. His family
was one of the oldest in Lincolnshire, and had given " reeves" to that " shire"
prior to the conquest. By his mother he was related to Sanderson, Bishop of
Lincoln, whose eldest son married Lady Frances Montagu, daughter of the Earl
of Manchester. We will conclude this long note with an extract from Sir
John's letter of condolence to Lady Huntingdon, dated " St. James's Place, 14th
Nov. 1746," and signed your affectionate and most faithful humble servant,
John Thorold.
" My fellow-sharer in the cup of sorrow — the painful task has been imposed
upon us, of consigning the remains of your tenderly affectionate husband and
my most faithful friend, to the bosom of our mother earth, ' where the wicked
cease to trouhle, and where the weary are for ever at rest :' You have been called
upon, by this sad stroke, to entomb in the cold and silent grave, one who has
long been deeply entombed in your warm affectionate heart : but the words of the
great apostle, thanks be unto God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ I will help to soothe your sorrows, and in the midst of your mourn
ing and distress, assist in drying up your tears. I sympathise with you, but
sorrow not as one without hope. Tliere is hope concerning our dear friend :
I believe it is well with him. Your loss must be borne — he cannot come back
to you. The event calls you to self-examination. May every divine support
and comfort be abundantly administered to the disconsolate widow I and may
every blessing rest upon your young and interesting family. Look to the
Rock of Hope — the fountain head of power — that you may derive supplies of
vigour to enable you to prosecute the work which God hath assuredly marked
out for upon the earth. The Captain of your salvation is Jesus Christ,
who has promised you strength for every time of need. Awake ! look up !
and endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ ; and may you he made
truly invincible in the cause of God and truth, only laying down your weapons,
when your dust shall return into the dust, and your spirit unto the God that
gave it !" „

?g Tffis im ANb ¥fM£s of
siace're' aHd tftirfese"rted. Whatever she had formerly admifed
arid pflrsiie'd, she now voluntarily laid at the feet of her Lord :
and dedicated her time, her studies, her acquisitions, and her
sab'stairtse-fj to the service of God, and the furtherance of his
catiSe in the w'tfrld; desirirtg at once to present him with her
Whole being, as a living sacrifice, expressive of her entire de
votion. She had ho interest ftf serve, nO inclination tO' gratify,
nor any connection to maintain, but such as was necessary to
prove the sincerity of her ze'A\, or the fervour of her love.
Wherever she appeared; she breathed the spirit of devotion1,
arid wherever she was familiarly known, the purity^ the fetVotir,
the fesolutiobj and the constancy of that devotion" were uni
versally apparent. Possessed of that faith which " OVereorneth
the wo+ld," she beheld it with the feelings of her tempted
Master ; anxious for its good, but despising its yoke ; prepared
to kbotfr in its service, but resolute to reject its rewards ; deaf
to its promises, blind to its prospects, and dead to its enjoy
ments'. Wherever she was called by the providence of God, she was
acknowledged as a " burning and shining light." The common
lights of Christian's were eclipsed before her; and even her
spiritual friends could never stand in her presence, without
being overwhelmed tfith a consciousness of their own inferiority
arid unprofitableness. Amongst innumerable instances whicli
might be adduced, I shall merely add the testimony of the late
excellent Mt Tbplady., Who considered her Ladyship "the
most precious saint of God he ever knew." The following
letters to Dr. Doddridge, written at this period, prove the love
arid veneration which he had for a character of such inestimable
worth ; and while they exhibit her extraordinary zeal for the
glory of God, which blazed forth with such undiminished
fervour through every stage of her existence, and eonfitfffe'd
with unabated vigour till removed t.6 her eternal rest, will
cause every reader to blush at his own ingratitude and luke-
w&rfmiess. " " February 23, 1747.
" My very worthy ahd rhtich-esteenred Friend,— 1 would not' lo'se
the opportunity of conveying my enquiries after you, and rii'Ost thank
fully acknowledging your letters, for one of Which, I find, I am obliged
to a mistake.
" As there Is nothing yoU either write or do that I ani not interested
for, you rritist forgive' nfy' reminding Jou that So faithfel a minister of
fhe glorious Gospel hot only merits dilr highest regards, but 6itf Mitij
blessings also. I hope you will comfort me by all the, accounts* you
can gather of the flourishing and spreading of the glad tidings? 0 1

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 79
how do I lament the weakness of my hands, the feebleness of my
kAees$ and coolness of my heart. I want it on fire always, not for
self-delightj but to spread the Gospel from pole to pole. Pray for
me, my very excellent friend, ahd cause others to do so-. I dread slack
hands in the vineyard : we must be till Up and doing ; the Lord is at
hand, and let us not lose the things we have wrought, but labour
and exhort each other to diligence and faithfulness: 0 ! my friend,
we shall reap plentifully if we faint not : it is thinking of your un-
wiiaried labours that inspires even so dead a heart as mine at this mo
ment with great earnestness ; and I want wbrds to tell you what shall
be your reward : all I can say is, it is not less than Infinite Bounty
which is to pay you." "March 15th, 1747.
" My most excellent Friend, — I have So sincere a regard for you,
that 1 own it would flatter me to have you think it idhg since you
heard from me. Company, some business, and iiiy weak body, make
my writing often to be attended With difficulty. I wished much to
have been earlier in my acknowledgments of your last thai! usual, as
it gave not only all that spirit of Christian friendship that I now am
honoured by from you, but the consolation of assuring me you have
hopes of finding out a youth who may be thought worthy, from pious
disposition and education, for the ministry. What contribution will
be wanting from me towards this purpose, I beg you will let me know,
and my excellent friend may depend upon my utmost gratitude for this
high honour vouchsafed me : I feel my mite is cast into the treasury
of God ; and 0 ! inexpressible consolation ! that he in his love is
sending these calls to poor, vile, and unworthy me. My heart wants
nothing so much as to dispense all — all for the glory of Him whom
my soul loveth.
" I have ventured to send you a letter written by a young lady
upon the death of her sister, but with perfect confidence that you will
communicate it to no one but Mrs. Doddridge, aftd tliat yoii will be so
good as to return it. A most wonderful conversion, and it has had
the same effect upon both the sisters left beliiiid ! I knew it would
make vour gracious heart glad, as many incidents lately happening
Would do, could I enumerate all. 0 ! many prophets and religious
men have desired to see those days, and have Hot seen them : great,
great is the power of the Lord, and for ever glorified be his name.
Some important time is coming : 0 might I hbpe it is that time when
all things shall be swallowed up by the eiilightenirig and comforting
displays of our glorious Redeemer's kingdom ; when love shall be the
burning language of the heart, and every soul be longing for the
moment of his appearing. My hopes are not only fill! of immortality,
but of this. Your works are blessed, and God is making you a
polished shaft in his quiver. I want every body to pray with yeti. and
for you, that j'ou may wax stronger and stronger. I have had a fetter
fropi Lord Bojingbroke, who thus says — ' I desire my compliments
• and thanks to Dr. Doddridge, and hope I shall continue te deserve his
good opinion.'

80 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
" I am strongly baited to have some advice about my health : it
seems good enough for me, but not for my children, and my sister, who
is now with me, and who is very unhappy to see me so weak and ill.
In submission I have consented to apply to one of the faculty, and I
have desired that it may be Dr. Stonhouse, of your town, who is the
only person to be sent for to me, whenever I should be so ill as to be
thought in any immediate danger : and, till then, his advice taken upon
my case.
" 1 have this day received a fresh mark of your unwearied pains
and thoughts about me. Alas ! could you know those sighs and tears
I am continually offering through the weakness and unprofitableness of
my life, they would speak cruel and bitter answers to the tender care
of all my dear friends. I often took to that bed which promises me a
refuge from an evil world, and from a yet more evil heart ; but how
does it bound, as the roe or hind over the mountains, when that all-
transporting view presents itself ; presents, 0 glorious ! an eternity of
joy, to follow this glad release from time ; everlasting triumphs sound
ing throughout the angelic thrones to welcome my arrival. Such love
and pity dwell in heaven, and only there, for misery and poverty like
mine. What liberty to delight in that which is most excellent ! How
enlarged those faculties which can take in celestial purity, and, by
sweet attraction, engage and eternally maintain a union with it ! Thus
do I look on death ; he is called a monster, a king of terrors, hut as
a Gabriel's salutation shall my soul meet him : he can bring no other
message to the redeemed in Christ, but, ' Hail, thou who art highly
favoured of the Lord !' and though it is true so great a stranger may
surprise for a little, yet his smiles of victory will clear even the
grievance of flesh and blood, and make the grave appear a consecrated
dormitory for sweet repose. 0 glorious Emmanuel ! how, how do I
long for that immortal voice to praise thee with ; and till then, that
mortal one which may sound through earth thy love to man !
" The post will not let me say more. I am happy in writing to you,
as I find so perfect a liberty in my mind as causes me to rejoice. My
kindest services to Mrs. Doddridge and your daughters ; thank them a
thousand times for their thoughts about me ; and live assured of the
most unfeigned esteem, and highest regard of, your most unworthy
friend, who hopes to continue to all eternity, ever, ever your friend, '
"S. Huntingdon."
The following allusion to the malignity of popular persecution
must be deeply interesting: — "May 21, 1747.
" My excellent Friend, — I delivered your letter to our friend, who
was here, and read it with pleasure and joy, as all that comes from
you occasions to those who love our Lord in sincerity. We have
prayed earnestly together for you, and recommended, just before we
parted, the young man.
"My heart is the same, I drag about a painful companion, and yet I
am quite satisfied to do so : howlong it may last I know not. Our affronts
and persecutions here, for the word's sake, are hardly to be described.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 81
But, alas, these are among those honours that should not be mentioned
by me : that so unworthy a mortal should thus be favoured by so
loving a Father, ought to make me bow down with confusion of face,
that he should regard me. Many secret and shameful enemies of the
Gospel, by His will, appear; the particulars would amuse you, and
blessed be God they rejoice me, as good must follow from it. They
called out in the open streets for me, saying, if they had me, they
would tear me to pieces, &c. but, alas, this does but prove that it is
the Lord that offends them, and so must He continue to the unregene
rate heart. In haste I must assure you how sincerely and affectionately
I remain your obliged friend, " S. Huntingdon."
Other letters of interest we are compelled to omit; one,"
written on the eve of her sister's* departure for Shropshire, when
Lady Bentley was also to leave her, is conceived in a spirit of
extreme humility, gratitude, and affection, and of intense long
ing for relief from the burden of the flesh.
Lady Huntingdon's health, although she had a partial recovery,
soon began to decline, and her disorder to increase, to an alarm
ing degree. Dr. Stonhouse was sent for ; but her complaint
increasing rather than abating, he wisely recommended her to
go, as soon as convenient, to Bath, as the most likely means to
restore her. On her way thither, she spent some days with her
sister, Lady Kilmorey, in Shropshire. A letter to Dr. Dod
dridge, written about this time, sufficiently manifests the blessed
state of her mind during the season of affliction, and expresses
the humility aud faith of this illustrious woman :—
"Bath, Nov. 1747.
" I hope you will never care about the ceremony of time in your
letters to me, but just when attended with the greatest ease to yourself,
as we both agree in this sentiment, that the one thing worth living for
must be, the proclaiming the love of God to man in Jesus Christ ; so
all calls for that end will secure my approbation for your silence.
" I am nothing — Christ is all ; I disclaim, as well as disdain, any
righteousness but his. I not only rejoice that there is no wisdom for
his people but that from above, but reject every pretension to any
but what comes from himself. I want no holiness he does not give
me ; and I could not accept a heaven he did not prepare me for : I can
wish for no liberty but what he likes for me, and I am satisfied with
every misery he does not redeem me from ; that in all things I may feel
that without him I can do nothing. To sit at his feet and hearken to
his sayings is an honour worthy of Gabriel, who is alwaysin the presence
of God ; to behold the glory of such a Saviour, even the seraphs might
veil their faces — such love and honour, I say, as this, ought to make
us breathe his praises from pole to pole. Many are our enemies, and
* Lady Kilmorey.
VOL. I.— G.

£2 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
of these, not only our own sins, but the spirit of that world in which
dwells nothing hut wretchedness ; but while it is through his love that
we are to conquer, let the patience of his saints he seen mus; let our
prayers and labours be useful (instrumentpHy) ™ obtaining crowns of
pure gold to be placed on the heads of our most cruel foes ; that the
infinite evil of the worst may serve only to raise our hearts to heaven
for their infinite good. Did we enough take root downward, we should
bear more of this fruit upwards : 'tis humility must make us ascend
by the fiery chariot : that Divine (whom my soul most delights in)
shows me my lesson in these few words, ' Learn of me, for I am meek
and lowly.'
" My family consists of two sons and as many daughters ; for all
"of them I have nothing to do but to praise God. The children of so
many prayers and tears, I doubt not, shall one day be blest, your
prayers for us all helping. The hint you gave me is great matter of
joy to me ; my soul longeth for grace. To preach Christ and his
blessing upon repentance over the eaith, is the commission, the event
must be with him ; all else is from man, and of man : He must gather
and unite the faithful, since it is He alone who sits in heaven, that
may instruct the heart for His purposes. At present the more the
little leaven is hid in all, the more of the whole will be leavened.
Parties and divisions have ever been the stumbling-blocks of the weak ;
if we were altogether with the Lord, as watchmen for him, calling day
and night in order only to prepare the materials, we need not be fear
ful, for the new city would be established and prevail upon the earth;
but this having always been attempted by man's power, and so little
in grace, it hath come to nought. May the L6rd give us all such love,
to live and to die to Him, and for Him alone. I am, with most kind
respects to Mrs. Doddridge, your most sincere, but weak and unworthy
friend, S. Huntingdon.
" P.S. As I write from my heart, and not from my head, you may
more easily forgive incorrectness when you meet with it."
The learning, piety, candour, and politeness of Dr. Dod
dridge recommended him to the esteem and friendship of Lady
Huntingdon; and her correspondence with him, from which the
subjoined extracts are made, was continued up to the time of
his death.
A letter from Dr. Watts to Dr. Doddridge, dated Nov. 1747,
contains the following words: —
" Yesterday my Lady Hertford* gave me the honour of a letter,
wherein she expresses a very high esteem and respect for you, as the
author of the c Rise and Progress,' and for your account of ' Colonel
Gardiner's Life,' which pleased her very much, and she tells me that
I should let you know it."
* Th.e Puchess of; Somerset, a celebrated patroness ofthe literature, of virtue,
ana religion. «

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 83
But it was reserved for Lady Huntingdon to be the means of
introducing the Doctor to the correspondence of the Duchess.
In one of her Ladyship's letters she writes thus concerning this
celebrated woman : —
" Reverend Sir, — Since I wrote my last to you, I have received a
letter from my beloved Duchess of Somerset, who thus writes con
cerning you ; I should be very glad to see any sermons of Dr. Dod
dridge, and should look upon a letter from him as an honour, provided
he will write to me as a person who wants both instruction and reproof,
but not as one who has attained any share of that Christian piety and
self-denial without wliich all pretensions to the name of a disciple
are vain.
" I could not satisfy myself till I had sent you the above, as it will
nbt only encourage you write to her, but shbw you how amiable and
humble a disposition you have to address. I pray to God to improve
this friendship to you both, and then I shall think myself of some ser
vice in life. You were so good as to design for us a parcel, which I
shall be glad to receive, as there is nothing you either write or do but
I am interested in. You must forgive my reminding yous that so
faithful a minister of the Gospel, not only merits our highest regards,
but our many blessings also.
" My kindest respects to Mrs. Doddridge, and the young gentleman
who was with you here, and to Mr. Jones, Whom I shall be extremely
glad to see whenever he has an opportunity of coming my way. Live
assured of the most sincere regard of a very unworthy, lut truly faith
ful and most obliged friend, " S. Huntingdon."
Lady Huntingdon had diligently studied the Gospel, and had
just ideas of the extent and importance of Christian liberty.
She had impartially examined the controversy between the
Dissenters and the Church of England, and thought it her duty
to adhere to the latter. But she was desirous to countenance
and encourage all those who appeared to have the interest of
religion much at heart, and to be zealous to instruct and save
souls, though they were of different persuasions from herself.
Her generous heart never confined truth and goodness to one
particular sect, nor in any other respect appeared bigoted to
that, or uncharitable to those who differed from her. She re
joiced when she met with worthy ministers of moderate principle ;
thought herself happy in the intimate friendship of some of
them ; and maintained a regular correspondence with others.
She always spoke of them in the most respectful terms, fre
quently invited them to her house, and did them all the service
iri her power, as she believed they acted agreeably to the con
victions of their own consciences. Dr. Doddridge was eminently
a man of candour arid liberality. A rigid spirit, and a stiffness
© 2 .

84 THE LIFE AND TIMES OI1
about things non-essential, he very much disliked; he enter
tained a high opinion of the piety and zeal of many of those
Clergymen of the Church of England who were stigmatized as
Methodists. He had seen the good effects of their itinerant
labours in his own neighbourhood — he had heard of more, and
on unquestionable authority ; and this left him no room to doubt
that God had owned them. He was well aware that there
was some enthusiasm among them, and much among their fol
lowers; but he was nevertheless fully convinced that they were
eminently useful in rousing the attention of the careless and
indifferent to the great things of eternity; in leading them to
read and study the Scriptures, and attend religious worship in
places where they might be better instructed and edified. Many
friendly and faithful admonitions he gave them, and it was no
inconsiderable evidence of the humility and candour of some
of the great leaders of Methodism, particularly Mr. Whitefield
and Lady Huntingdon, with whom he was more congenial in
sentiment, that they desired him freely to tell them what he
thought amiss in their sentiments and conduct, and that they
received his admonitions with thankfulness. He endeavoured
to show them their errors and to regulate their zeal, which he
thought a more friendly part, and more becoming a Christian
minister, than to revile and ridicule them. As they saw the
common people struck and captivated with their address and
appearance of zeal, he wished theirwiser brethren would plainly
and seriously teach the Gospel, take due care of the souls
committed to them, labour more abundantly in their Master's
work, and thereby secure yet greater popularity and acceptance
by means which they themselves must think just and laudable ;
for these he thought it their duty to use, whatever their par
ticular sentiments and stations were.
About the month of May, 1748, Lady Huntingdon and her
daughters, accompanied by Lady Anne and Lady Frances
Hastings, left Bath, where they had been staying some con
siderable time, on a tour through Wales, lt is a matter of
regret that so little information can now be obtained of her
Ladyship's journey into a part of the kingdom where she was
destined in after years to reap a harvest so abundant. From
the scanty materials, however, which remain, an imperfect and
irregular journal in the hand-writing of Lady Frances Hastings,
we are informed, that Lady Huntingdon was met at Bristol
by Mr. Howel Harris, Mr. Griffith Jones, Mr. Daniel Row
lands, and Mr. Howel Davies, all of whom accompanied her
into the Principality. They appear to have travelled slowly

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 85
taking short stages every day. For fifteen days successively, two
of the ministers that accompanied her Ladyship preached in
some town or village through which they passed, by which
means the seed of divine truth was widely scattered over a
large extent of country. In Cardiganshire her Ladyship was
visited by the Rev. Philip Pugh, a Dissenting minister, eminent
for his piety, diligence, and success. On their arrival at
Trevecca, in Brecknockshire, they were joined by several of
the awakened clergymen, particularly Mr. William Williams,
Mr. Thomas Lewis, and Mr. Penry Baillie, Mr. John Powel,
and Mr. Thomas Jones. Also by some of the exhorters, or
lay-preachers, and some pious and laborious Dissenting minis
ters, amongst whom Mr. John Watkins, Mr. Lewis Jones, of
Glamorganshire, and Mr. Lewis Rees, from North Wales,
were the most notable. Her Ladyship remained a few days at
Trevecca, which exactly twenty years after became her chief
residence and scene of action. Whilst there, they had preach
ing four or five times a day, to immense crowds who had
collected from all the adjacent country. " The divine influence
of the spirit of God," says Lady Frances, " was very evidently
afforded with his Word, and many were added unto the Lord's
people." On one occasion, when Mr. Griffith Jones preached
in a large field from that passage in the fortieth chapter of the
Prophecies of Isaiah, " What shall I cry," there was an ex
traordinary manifestation of the grace and power of God over
the assembled multitude, so that many were deeply convinced
of their misery and guilt, and cried aloud in the most awful
manner. When the sermon was ended, Lady Huntingdon
inquired of many of those who had been so affected, the cause
of their loud and bitter cries. Most of them replied, " that
they were so powerfully and deeply convinced of their sinful
ness and awful condition in the sight of God, that they were
afraid he never would have mercy on them." The people in
general, through the whole assembly, seemed greatly bowed
down and humbled before the Lord, and many said, "they
should never forget the time when God was so gracious unto
them." On another occasion, when Mr. Rowlands preached at a small
town in Caermarthenshire, God accompanied the word in a very
powerful manner. " It was remarkable at this season," observes
Lady Frances, " that as sinners were generally under a most
distressing sense of their guilt, so the people of God were
sensibly refreshed and comforted. Their souls were magnifying
the Lord, and rejoicing in God their Saviour, who hath done

86 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
such great things for them, while others in distressing agony
were crying out, Men and brethren what shall we do ?"
Accompanied by Mr. Howel Harris and Mr. Howel Davies,
Lady Huntingdon left Wales, and arrived in London, on the
15th June, a few weeks before Mr. Whitefield's return froni
America. Her Ladyship was hoth gratified and refreshed by
what she witnessed in the Principality. " On a review of all I
have seen and heard, during the last few weeks," says the
Countess, I am constrained to exclaim, " bless the Lord, O my
soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. The ser
mons were in general lively and awakening, containing the most
solemn and awful truths ; such as the utter ruin of man by the
fall, and his redemption and recovery by the Lord Jesus Christ,
the energetic declaration of which produced great and visible
effects in many. I enquired the meaning of the outcry which
sometimes spread through the congregation, and when informed
that it arose from a deep conviction of sin, working powerfully
on the awakened conscience, I could not but acknowledge,
This is the Lord's doing, and it is niarveliaus in our eyes.
Many, on these solemn' occasions, there is reason to believe,
were brought out of nature's deepest darkness into the marvellous
light of the all-glorious Gospel of Christ. My earnest prayer
to God for them is, that they may continue in his grace and
love : and, with full purpose of heart, cleave unto the Lord,
Approve themselves the true and faithful disciples of a crucified
Saviour, and through manifold temptations, opposition, and
reproach, be enabled to press toward the mark for the high
prize of the calling of God in Christ Jesus."
Not long after her Ladyship's return to London, Dr. Dod^
dridge paid a visit to the metropolis. During his stay he was
very frequently at Lady Huntingdon's house. In a letter to Mrs.
Doddridge, he says :—
"I c?m conclude with telling you that I am now come to the con
clusion of one of the most pleasant days I shall ever spend without you.
After an hour's charming conversation with Lady Huntingdon and
Mrs. Edwin, I preached in her family, by express desire, and met
Colonel Gumley, who is really a second Colonel Gardiner. Such a
monument of the power and sovereignty of divine grace as, truly, I
have hardly ever met with, since I was acquainted with, his story.
After dinner, the ladies entertained us with their voices and a hswpsi--
chord, with which I waa highly delighted : and I have stolen a hymn,
which I steadfastly believe to be written by goqd Lady Huntingdon,
and which I shall not fail to communicate to you.
* * * # ' #¦ * *
K Lady Huntingdon is quite a mother to the poor.; she visits them,

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 87
and prays with them in their sicknesses ; and they leave their children to
her for a legacy when they die, and she takes care of them. I was
really astonished at the traces of religion I discovered in her and Mrs.
Edwin,* and cannot but glorify God for them. More cheerfulness I
never saw intermingled with devotion. Lady Prances Gardiner sets
out on Tuesday next : I have taken my leave of her."

CHAPTER VII.

Mr. Whitefield arrives in England — Preaehes at Lady Huntingdon's — Letters
— Lord Chesterfield— Lord Bolingbroke  Anecdotes of Mr. Whitefield's
preaching — Appointed chaplain to Lady Huntingdon — Christian Soldiers —
Bishop of Exeter  Colonel Gumley — Mr. Edwin — Lord St. John — Lady
Suffolk  The Court Beauties — Lord Chesterfield — Marquis of Lothian—
Lady Mary Hamilton — Anecdotes— Lady Townshend — English Nobility at
LadyHuntingdon's — Sir Watkins Williams Wynne — Persecution ofthe Welsh
Methodists  Liberal Conduct ofthe Government — Marmaduke Gwynne,Esq.
Lady Huntingdon had now become the open and avowed
patroness of all the zealous clergy of the Church of England
who dared to be singular in the unambiguous preaching of the
Gospel, many of whom exposed themselves, particularly at this
period, to much obloquy, abuse, and persecution. Her Lady
ship became a shelter, and the companion of all those who were
so used. A difference on some doctrinal points caused a separa
tion between Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Wesley, and their
* Several of the Edwin family were conspicuous in the early days of Metho
dism. John Edwin, Esq., the husband of the above-named Mrs. Edwin, held
several offices under government, and was a Member of Parliament. Dr. Dod
dridge, in his Reflections on the opening of the year 1749, tbus speaks of him :
 " The accession of several valuable friends, to balance the loss of some few
by death, is also to be gratefully remembered ; particularly my Lady Hun
tingdon, Mr. Edwin, and Colonel Gumley." His only daughter and heir, Miss
Elizabeth Edwin, wham Horace Walpole complains of to his correspondent,
Sir Horace Mann, as having turned Methodist, was the particular friend of the
eccentric Lady Townsend, and married Charles Dalrymple, Esq,, grandson of
the Hon. Sir Hugh Dalrymple, brother of John, second Viscount Stair. (See
a Note, post, page 89.) Charles Edwin, Esq., M.P. , the brother of Mr.
Edwin, married Lady Charlotte Hamilton, one of the attendants of the Prince
of Wales's children. Their mother, Lady Catherine Edwin, was sister to the
first Duke of Manchester, and to Anne, Countess of Suffolk. Sir Humphrey
Edwin, Lord Mayor of London, was grandfather to Mr. Edwin ; Mrs. Edwin's
family formed alliances with that of the Marquis of Westminster, and Lord St.
John, of Bletsloe. She was eldest daughter of Sir Roger Bradshaigh, of Haigh,
in the county of Lancaster, Bart., and M. P. On the failure of the male blanch
of this family, in 1787, the estate of Haigh devolved on Mrs. Edwin's grandS
daughter, the Countess of Batean-es,

88 ' THE LIFE AND TIMES OP
disciples soon after became divided. " They parted, indeed,"
savs Dr. Haweis, " like Paul and Barnabas ; but the extent of
the sphere of their usefulness was thereby enlarged." Her
Ladyship's correspondence with Mr. Howel Harris, and several
of the Welsh clergy who had been awakened under Mr. White-
field's ministry, was the means, under God, of leading her into
more consistent views of divine truth, which she ever after main
tained, and in the firm belief of which she ended her days. Her
zealous heart embraced with cordiality all whom she esteemed
real Christians, whatever their denomination or opinion might
be ; but from this period her connections with ministers and
Christians of the Calvinistic persuasion, according to the liberal
sense of the Articles of the Church of England, became greatly
enlarged. Lady Huntingdon's heart expanded towards all the children
of God — she loved all those whom she had reason to believe
loved her Divine Master — and considering herself as "a debtor
both to the Greeks and Barbarians," she was ready, had it been
possible, to have visited the uttermost parts of the earth with
the glorious truths of the Gospel of God our Saviour.
At what exact period Lady Huntingdon first became ac
quainted with Mr. Whitefield, cannot now be ascertained with
any degree of accuracy. But it must have been previous to his
voyage to America in 1744. Her Ladyship had heard him
preach several times in London, Bristol, and other places, and
was personally acquainted with him at a very early period. In
one of his letters from Boston, in the beginning of the year
1745, he speaks of her Ladyship's kindness to him, and his joy
at hearing that she continued stedfast and immoveable in her
profession of the faith once delivered to the saints. From
Bethesda, in December, 1746, when writing to Howel Harris,
he says : —
" Blessed be God for the good effected by your ministry at the Taber
nacle, of which I have been informed by letters from Herbert Jenkins
and Thomas Adams. The good Countess hath been there frequently,
and much pleased, I am told. She shines brighter and brighter every
day ; and will yet I trust be spared for a nursing mother to our Israel.
This revives me, after the miserable divisions that have taken place
amongst my English friends. I trust the storm is now blown over,
and that the little flock will enjoy a calm. Her Ladyship's example
and conduct in this trying affair will be productive, of much good. My
poor prayers will be daily offered up to the God of all grace to keep
her stedfast in the faith, and make her a burning and a shining ltght
m our British Israel.''
And again, in June, 1747, when writing from New York, he

SELINA, COUNTESS OP HUNTINGDON. 89
begs to " return his most dutiful respects to good Lady Hun
tingdon, the Marquis of Lothian, &c."
After four years' absence he returns to England, and in one
of his earliest letters, after landing at Deal, he says : —
i! Words cannot express how joyful my friends were to see me once
more in the land ofthe living, for I find the newspapers had buried me
ever since April last.* But it seems I am not to die, but live — 0 that
it may be to declare the works of the Lord."
Howel Harris was at this time in London, having come thither
with the Countess ; whom he accompanied from Wales. Her
Ladyship having now drank in the same spirit with Mr. White-
field, requested Mr. Harris to bring him to her house at Chelsea
as soon as he came on shore. He went, accompanied by Mr.
Harris, and having preached twice, her Ladyship wrote to him,
that several of the nobility desired to hear him. This was on
the 20th of August, and the next day Mr. Whitefield sent the
following letter to the Countess: — "August 21, 1748.
" Honoured Madam, — I received your Ladyship's letter last night,
and write this to inform you that I am quite willing to comply with
your invitation. As I am to preach, God willing, at St. Bartholomew's
on Wednesday evening, I will wait upon you the next morning, and
spend the whole day at Chelsea. Blessed be God that the rich and
great begin to have hearing ears. I think it is a good sign that our
Lord intends to give to some, at least, an obedient heart. Surely your
Ladyship and Madam Edwint are only the first fruits. May you
increase and multiply ! I believe you will. How wonderfully does
our Redeemer deal with souls. If they will hear the Gospel only under
a cieled roof, ministers shall be sent to them there. If only in a church
or a field, they shall have it there. A word in the lesson, when I was
last at your Ladyship's, struck me — ' Paul preached privately to those
that were of reputation.' This must be the way, I presume, of dealing
with the nobility who yet know not the Lord. 0 that I may be enabled,
when called to preach to any of them, so to preach as to win their
souls to the blessed Jesus ! I know you will pray that it may be so.
As for my poor prayers, such as they are, your Ladyship hath them
every day. That the blessed Jesus may make you happily instrumental
in bringing many of the noble and mighty to the saving knowledge of
his eternal self, and water your own soul every moment, is the con
tinual request of, honoured Madam, your Ladyship's most obliged,
obedient, humble servant, " G. Whitefield."
He delayed his departure from London to preach to the nobi-
* See Gentleman's Magazine, 1748.
f Mrs. Edwin was a woman of great rank, and her influence at Court, which
exposed her more to the shafts of ridicule, and made her especially liable to the
attacks of vanity, rendered her conversion the more remarkable. She was the
fast friend of Lady Huntingdon, and a great favourite with Mr. Whitefield, who

90 THK LIFE AND TIMES OF
lity at Lady Huntingdon's — to her Ladyship's invitation the fol
lowing letter refers : —
"Ever since the reading of your Ladyship's condescending letter
(says he) my soul has been overpowered with His presence who is
all in all. As there seems to be a door opening for the nobility to
hear the Gospel, I will defer my journey till Thursday, and, God will
ing, preach at your Ladyship's on Thursday. In the mean while I wait
upon or send to the Count, the Danish Ambassador's brother, who
favours me with his company on Monday, to dine. On Monday morn
ing from nine to near eleven I will be at your Ladyship's, and wait to
know your order concerning Tuesday. 0 that God may be with me
and make me humble ! I am ashamed to think you will admit me
under your roof, much more am I amazed that the Lord Jesus will
make use of such a creature as I am. Under a sense of this I write
to you now. It is late, and my poor body calls for rest. But as I am
to preach four times to-morrow, I thought it my duty to send these
few lines to-night- Quite astonished at your Ladyship's condescension,
and the unremitted superabounding grace and goodness of Him who has
loved me and given himself for me, I subscribe myself, honoured
Madam, your Ladyship's most obliged, obedient, humble, and willing
servant, " G. Whitefield."
On the day appointed Mr. Whitefield preached at Lady
Huntingdon's. The Earl of Chesterfield, and a whole circle
of the nobility attended ; and having heard once, desired they
might hear him again. " My hands (says he) have been full
of work, and I have been among great company. A Privy
Councillor of the King of Denmark, and others, with one of the
Prince of Wales's favourites, dined and drank tea with me on
Monday, On Tuesday I preached twice at Lady Huntingdon's.
to several of the nobility. In the morning the Earl of Chester
field was present ; in the evening the Lord Bolingbroke. All
behaved quite well, and were in some degree affected. Lord
Chesterfield thanked me, and said, ' Sir, I will not tell you what
I shall tell others, how I approve of you,' or words to this pur
pose. He conversed with me freely afterwards. Lord Boling
broke was much moved, and desired I would come and see him
the next morning. I did, and his Lordship behaved with great
candour and frankness. All accepted of my sermons, and seemed
surprised, but pleased. Thus the world" turns round; ' In »U
time of my wealth, good Lord deliver me !' "
Mr. Whitefield never sought the patronage of the great, nor
in all his letters, warned her against the snares to which her condition led.
lo see any one converted, (he says) is a miracle ; but to see a rich person,
Qne ot the mighty, one of the noble converted, is a greater. May the kord
Jesus add more of your rank to his Church !" See the note at close of the last
Chapter, p, 87.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 91
ever employed it for any personal end. To the credit of hia
first noble friends — the Marquis of Lothian, Earl of Leven, and
Lord Roe — they sought his friendship because they admired
his talents and appreciated his character. They were cap
tivated by the preaching which won the multitude ; and when
they wrote to him, he answered them, just as he did any one
else who sought his counsel or prayers, cautiously and faithfully.
He paid them, indeed, the current compliments of his times ;
and if these ever amounted to flattery in appearance, they
were followed by warnings which no real flatterer would have
dared to whisper. In his first letters to the Marquis of
Lothian, he said, " You do well, my Lord, to fear lest your
convictions should wear off — Your Lordship is in a dangerous
situation in the world. Come, then, and lay yourself at the
feet of Jesus. As for praying in your family, I entreat yoii,
my Lard, not to neglect it. You are bound to do, it. Apply
to Christ for strength to overcome your present fears. They
are the effects of pride, or infidelity, or both." These are not
unfair specimens of Mr. Whitefield's correspondence with the
Scotch nobles who honoured him with their confidence. Upon
some of the English noblemen, who were brought to hear him
by Lady Huntingdon, his influence was equally great and,
good. Among his friends were, also, " honourable women not a few-"
These needed " strong consolation," in order to resist the strong
temptations presented by a frivolous Court, a witty Peerage, and
a learned Bench, in favour of a formal religion. Nothing but
" the joy of the Lord" could have sustained them in such a
sphere. Happiness in religion was the best security for their
holiness. They could not be laughed out of a good hope
through grace. Wit and banter may make the fear of persisting
seem a weakness or a fancy ; but they cannot make hope, peace,
or joy seem absurd, Neither the rough jibes of Warburton, nor
the polished sarcasms of Chesterfield and Bolingbroke, could
touch the consciousness of peace in believing, or of enjoyment in
secret prayer, in the hearts of those Peeresses who had found,
at the Cross and the Mercy Seat, the happiness they had sought
in vain from the world.
Few preachers possessed eloquence so well adapted to an
auditory as Mr. Whitefield. H;s metaphors were drawn from
sources easily understood hy his hearers, and frequently from
the circumstances of the moment. The application was gene
rally happy, and sometimes rose to the true sublime : for he was
a man of warm imagination, and by no means devoid of taste.
In a company of noblemen and gentlemen, at breakfast, some

92 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
years since the conversation turned on powerful preachers,
when Mr. Whitefield was naturally mentioned. The Rev. John
Newton said —
"I bless God that I have lived in his time; many were the winter
mornings I have got up at four, to attend his Tabernacle discourses at
five : and I have seen Moorfields as full of lanterns at these times as
I suppose the Haymarket is full of flambeaux on an Opera night. As
a preacher, if any man was to ask me who was the second I ever had
heard, I should be at some loss ; but in regard to the first, Mr, Whitefield
exceeded so far every other man of my time, that I should be at none.
He was the original of popular preaching, and all our popular ministers
are only his copies."*
As might have been expected, the spirit-stirring eloquence of
Mr. Whitefield fixed the attention of the Countess, and she
resolved to appoint him her Chaplain. Her Ladyship's letter,
with the offer of a scarf, and her patronage and protection, is
thus acknowledged by Mr. Whitefield, on the eve of his depar
ture from London. "London, Sept. 1, 1748.
t " Honoured Madam, — Although it is time for me to be setting out,
yet I dare not leave town without dropping a few lines, gratefully to
acknowledge the many favours I have received from your Ladyship ;
especially the honour you have done me in making me one of your
Chaplains. A sense of it humbles me, and makes me to pray more
intensely for more grace, to walk more worthy of that God, who has
called me to his kingdom and his glory. As your Ladyship hath been
pleased to confer on me the honour before mentioned, I shall think it
my duty to send you weekly acounts of what the Lord Jesus is
pleased to do for and by me. Glory be to his great name, the pros
pect is promising. My Lord Bath received me yesterday morning, very
cordially, and Avould give me five guineas for the orphans, though I
* As a proof of the power of Mr. Whitefield's preaching, Mr. Newton men
tioned, that an officer at Glasgow, who had heard him preach, laid a wager with
another, that at a certain charity sermon, though he went with prejudice, he
would he compelled to give something ; the other, to make sure, laid all the
money out of his pockets, but before he left the church, he was glad to borrow
some, and lose his bet. Mr. Newton mentioned another striking example
of Mr. Whitefield's persuasive oratory — his collecting at one sermon, six
hundred pounds for the inhabitants of an obscure village in Germany that had
been burnt down : no very interesting object, surely, forthe public in London.
However, after the sermon, Mr. Whitefield said, " We shall sing a hymn, during
which those who do not choose to give their mite on this awful occasion may
sneak off." Not one stirred; he got down from the pulpit, and ordered all
the doors to be shut but one, at which he held the plate himself, and collected
the above sum ; more than was ever done on a similar occasion. Mr. Newton
related as a fact, that at the time of his greatest persecution, when obliged to
preach in the streets, in one week he received not fewer than a thousand
letters from persons distressed in their consciences by the energy of his
preaching.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 93
refused taking anything for the books. I send your Ladyship a little
box of my sermons, and the last account of God's dealing with me,
and of the money expended for the Orphan House, with my oath be
fore the magistrates of Savannah. I hope God intends to honour your
Ladyship in making you instrumental in doing good to the nobility.
His Providence, his peculiar Providence, hath placed you at Chelsea.
I am persuaded you will not quit that part till he that hath placed
you there plainly gives you a dismission. I dare add no more, but my
hearty prayers for the temporal and eternal welfare of your Ladyship,
and your whole household ; and I subscribe myself, honoured Madam,
your Ladyship's most obliged humble servant, " G. Whitefield."
Mr. Whitefield's connexion with Lady Huntingdon, as her
Chaplain, and his having preached to large numbers of the
nobility at her house, now became generally spoken of in all
circles, so that his popularity was considerably iucreased thereby.
The manner in which he refers to this introduction amongst the
great, has been quoted against him as a proof of vanity. Why
should it ? " True, (he says in his letters to Mr. Wesley, and
other private friends) the noble, the mighty, and the wise have
been to hear me." These are also the very words which Lady
Huntingdon employed in her letters to Dr. Doddridge at the
time. Was she vain, or flattered, because she rejoiced that a
door was opened for the nobility to hear the Gospel ? Besides
this new sphere did not divert him from any of his old work, nor
at all change his spirit or purposes. At the very crisis of his
elevation, he said to Mr. Wesley, " My attachment to America
will not permit me to abide long in England. If I formed so
cieties, I should but weave a Penelope's web. I intend,' there
fore, to go about preaching the Gospel to every creature."
His preaching so frequently at St. Bartholomew's Church gave
great offence to Dr. Gibson, then Bishop of London, and in
volved Mr. Bateman, the reader, in some unpleasant litigations
with his Lordship: for that prelate had given strict injunc
tions to the Clergy of his diocese to exclude all whom they
were pleased to brand with Methodism; which is literally
preaching and zealously inculcating the Articles they have
themselves subscribed.*
The war in Flanders being now over, the British troops re
turned from the Continent. In a letter to Mr. Bateman, Mr.
Whitefield says : — ¦
" I was much delighted to hear there were so many Christian sol-
* The Bishop's death put an end to the proceedings against Mr. Bateman,
who, notwithstanding Southey's eulogy, appears, from his warm altercation with
Mr. Charles Wesley, to haye been a veiy sincere friend to the Methodists,

94 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
diers among the King's forces that came from Flanders. A young
Christian lady, under whose roof they were, Whde m Scotland, told me
that one or other of them were continually wrestling with (jod.
Some of these devout soldiers soon became known to Colonel ,
Gumley,* and he presented them to Lady Huntingdon, who
took a great interest in the welfare of those pious veterans. "I
was trulv amazed, (says the Countess,) with the devotional spirit
of these'poor men, many of whom are rich in faith, and heirs of
the kingdom." Mr. Whitefield collected them together, and
formed them into a small society at Edinburgh; and, on his re
moval to Glasgow, addressed the following letter to the little
band, a copy of which he sent to Lady Huntingdon : —
" To some devout Soldiers. " Glasgow, Sept. 29, 1748.
" My dear brethren, — It gave me no small satisfaction, when I was
lately at Edinburgh, to hear that several of you were enabled to be
have like good soldiers of Jesus Christ. I rejoice greatly that you are
made partakers of his grace ; and I earnestly entreat the Lord of all
Lords that you may grow and increase in it day by day. This is the
Christian's duty— die must forget the things that are behind ; he must
press forward towards the things which are before : he must not stop
till he arrives at the mark of the prize of his high calling. I trust, my
dear brethren, you are all thus minded ; and that whatever befals you,
you will, through Divine assistance.: hold on and hold out to the end.
If I can be any way serviceable to you, be not backward to send to
me. I hear of others of your profession that have lately enlisted
under the banner of the ever-blessed Redeemer. Happy they ! happy.
you ! — You have a good Captain, a good cause, good armour, and an
exceeding great reward. That you may at all times quit yourselves
like men, and be strong ; that you may fight the good fight of faith,
and at length lay hold on life eternal, is the hearty prayer of, my
dear brethren, your affectionate friend and willing servant, for Christ's
sake, " G. Whitefikld."
* The Earl of Bath, who married the eldest of the three daughters of Colonel
Gumley, introduced that gentleman to Lady Huntingdon. And, 3t her house,
thftnigh the preaching of Mr. Whitefield, and the heart-searching conversation
of the Countess, who were God's instruments in Colonel Giimley's conversion,
the Lord met him with the blessings of his grace. Mr. Whitefield kept up a
correspondence with him when absent from London ; for he was ever careful
to keep alive the flame he had lit up in the hearts of his hearers. In one of
these letters to the Colonel, he says—" Good Lady Huntingdon has an extract
of a letter from a Soldier, which will please you : may the Lord Jesus add mo.e
to the Church of such converts.*"
The sisters and co-heiresses of the Countess of Bath, were Letitia, who
married Lancelot Charles Lake, Esq. j whose sons were, Warwick, a Commis
sioner of the Stamp Office, and Gerard, first Viscount Lake, a distinguished
officer in the army ; and Mary, who married Francis Colman, Esq., father of
the elder, and grandfather of the younger George Colman, both celebrated as
dramatic writers.

ELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 95
About this period Lavington, the inveterate enemy of Metho
dists and Moravians, having but lately been advanced to the
Bishopric of Exeter, delivered a charge to the Clergy of his
Diocese. Some persons, from what motive it is difficult to say,
circulated a manuscript copy of what his Lordship was said to
have delivered at the visitation, which contained such a declara
tion of doctrines and Christian experience as soon exposed him
to the stigma of Methodism. This pretended charge was soon
after printed, and was the means of producing several pamphlets
in reply and congratulation. This drew forth a " declaration "
from the angry prelate, in which he charged the Methodist
leaders with being tbe authors of the fraud. A gentleman, who
appears to have had some influence with the Bishop, vindicated
the character of Mr. Whitefield, and informed his Lordship that
he knew nothing of the printing of his pretended charge, or of
the pamphlets occasioned by it. When the former was sent
to Mr. Whitefield in manuscript, as the production of the Bishop
of Exeter, he immediately said, it could not be his : — ¦
"When I found it printed (says he) I spoke to the officious
printer, who did it out of his own head, and blamed him very much.
When I saw the pamphlec, I was still more offended ; repeatedly,
in several companies, I urged the injustice as well as imprudence
thereof, and said it would produce what it did ; I mean a declaration
from bis Lordship, that he was no Methodist. I am sorry he had
such an occasion given him to declare his aversion to what is called
Methodism ; and though I think his Lordship in his declaration hath
been somewhat severe concerning some of the Methodist leaders ;
yet I cannot blame him for saying that he thought some of them were
worse than ignorant and misguided, supposing that he had sufficient
proof, that they either caused to be printed, or wrote against when
printed, a charge which his Lordship had never owned nor published."
The Bishop's " declaration " obtained a wide circulation ; and
the bitter invectives against the Methodists were not easily for
gotten by those who longed for an opportunity to load them with
calumny and reproach. Although well assured that neither Mr.
Whitefield or Messrs. Wesley had any hand in the publication
or circulation of the spurious charge, his Lordship had not the
candour to acquit them of the heavy charges which he brought
against them. Jealous of the reputation of her Chaplain; and
feeling the aspersions cast upon all the professors of the Gospel
as most cruel and unjustifiable, Lady Huntingdon determined
to interpose, and wrote to his Lordship of Exeter, demanding
a candid and honourable renunciation of the charges contained
in his "Declaration." Her letter contained an acknowledg
ment on the part of the printer, that the publication of the

96 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
charge was solely his deed— that he had got the manuscript
from one entirely unconnected with the Methodists— and that
he was ready to verify this statement on oath when required.
The Bishop had the rudeness to suffer Lady Huntingdon's
communication to remain unnoticed, which drew forth a most
spirited letter from her Ladyship, announcing her determination
of making the transaction public, except his Lordship complied
with her demand, and retracted the charge he had brought
against her chaplain and the Messrs. Wesley. This had the
desired effect, and the Bishop sent the following recantation to
Lady Huntingdon, which she caused to be inserted in the lead
ing journals of the day : —
" The Bishop of Exeter having received the most positive assurance
from the Countess of Huntingdon, and other respectable persons, that
neither Mr. Whitefield nor Mr. Wesley, nor any one in connexion
with, or authorised by them, had any concern in the fabrication and
publication of a Charge said to be delivered by him to the Clergy
of his Diocese, takes this opportunity of apologising to her Ladyship,
and Messrs. Whitefield and Wesley, for the harsh and unjust censures
which he was led to pass on them, from the supposition that they were
in some measure concerned in, or had countenanced the late imposition
on the public.
" The Bishop of Exeter feels that it is imperative on him to make
this concession to the Countess of Huntingdon ; and requests her Lady
ship and Messrs. Whitefield and Wesley will accept his unfeigned regret
at having unjustly wounded their feelings, and exposed them to the
odium of the world."
Such was the recantation of this wily prelate ; but it was only
in the language of hypocrisy. He had cast all the odium of this
transaction on the Methodist leaders, but had not the honesty
publicly to apologise for the error into which he had been be
trayed, and the false, unjust, and injurious accusations which he
had made. This implacable enemy of all Methodists had
flattered himself that Lady Huntingdon would have been fully
satisfied with the submissive apology which he wrote, and that
it would obtain a circulation ouly among the Methodist body.
But his Lordship's indignation rose to its utmost height when
informed that his humiliating concessions were made public by
the Countess ; and from that period he became the bitter and
malignant reviler of her Ladyship and the Methodist leaders.
With the intention of giving Mr. Whitefield a wider field of
usefulness, Lady Huntingdon now removed to London, and
opened her house in Park-street for the preaching of the Gospel ;
supposing, as a peeress of the realm, that she had an indisputable
right to employ as her family chaplain those ministers of the

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON". 97
Church whom she patronised. Early in November Mr. White-
field returned from Scotland, and on the 10th of that month
opened his ministry at her Ladyship's residence, before a large
circle of the nobility, and continued to preach there twice a
week during the winter. " Good Lady Huntingdon," says he,
" is come to town, and I am to preach at her Ladyship's house
twice a week to the great and noble. O that some of them
may be effectually called, and taste of the riches of redeeming
love ! About thirty have desired to come, and I suppose they
will bring thirty more. I have heard of two or three more dear
Christians among the great ones. I know you will pray the
Lord of all lords to increase their number. Her Ladyship
hath a great regard for all those in Scotland who stand up for
vital religion. She intends to send you down the picture of poor
Aaron, the late negro preacher."
The Earl of Chesterfield, Lord Bolingbroke, the Earl of
Bath, Lady Townshend, Lady Thanet, and many of the nobility
attached to the Prince of Wales's Court, were constant in their
attendance on Mr. Whitefield's ministry. Lord St. John was
also very frequently at Lady Huntingdon's house at this time,
and was amongst the few " great ones" who had heard to profit.*
"My last, (says Lady Huntingdon, in one of her letters, dated
Feb. 1749, and addressed to Mr. Whitefield,) mentioned the sudden
illness of my Lord St. John. A few days after her Ladyship wrote to
me in great alarm, and begged me to send some pious clergyman to her
Lord, who was most anxious to receive the sacrament before his
death, which was then fast approaching. Mr. Bateman, happening
to be with me when the letter came, went immediately to his Lord
ship, whom he found in the last extremity. He grasped the hand
of Mr. Bateman, on his approaching his bed ; inquired for me, and
for you, to whom he said he was deeply indebted. Mr. Bateman
prayed and read some chapters from the Bible ; after which his Lord
ship expressed his firm reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ, renouncing
every dependence on his own merit. His last words to Mr. Bateman
were — ' To God I commit myself — / feel how unworthy I am — but
He died to save sinners, and the prayer of my heart now to Him is,
God be merciful to me a sinner !' Shortly after this his Lordship's
imminent danger became apparent. At the request of poor Lady St.
John, Mr. Bateman remained with her expiring Lord, who breathed his
last about an hour after, whilst Mr. Bateman was concluding a most
importunate prayer on his behalf.
" This, my good friend," continues the Countess, "is the first fruits
of that plenteous harvest, which I trust the great Husbandman will
* His Lordship was half-brother to Lord Bolingbroke, and had married the
daughter of Sir Richard Furness, Bart., who was uncle to Lady Huntingdon
by his marriage with Lady Anne Shirley, sister to Lady Fanny, and daughter of
Robert, first Earl of Ferrars.
VOL. I. — H

gg THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
vet reap amongst the nobility of our land. Tims thegreat Lord of the
harvest hath put honour on your ministry, and bath given my heart an
encouraging token of the utility of our feeble efforts. 0 that He may
crown them still more abundantly with his blessing Some I trust,
are savingly awakened, while many are inquiring My Lord Boling
broke was much struck with his brother's language in his last moments ;
I have not seen him since, but am told he feels deeply. O that the
obdurate heart of this desperate Infidel may yet be shook to its very
centre-may his eves be opened by the illuminating influence of
Divine truth-and "may the Lord Jesus Christ be revealed to Ins
heart as the hope of glory and immortal bliss hereafter! I tremb le
for his destinv— he is a singularly awful character; and 1 am tearfully
alarmed lest that Gospel which he so heartily despises, yet affects tq
reverence, should prove eventually the savour of death unto death to
his immortal soul."
With the family of Lord Bolingbroke Lady Huntingdon lived
on terms of great intimacy. The impression made upon him
by Mr. Whitefield's preaching, may be judged by his saying to
the Countess, " You may command my pen when you will : it
shall be drawn in your service. For, admitting the Bible to be
true, I shall have "little apprehension of maintaining the doc
trines of predestination and grace, against all your revilers."
His Lordship's sister, Lady Luxborough, the friend and corre
spondent of Shenstone tlie poet, and his sister-in-law, Lady
St. John, were amongst her most intimate friends. With them
were associated Lady Monson, daughter of the first Lord Rock
ingham, and Anne, relict of Lewis Watson, Earl of Rockingham,
all of whom were very frequent in their attendance on Mr.
Whitefield's ministry whenever he preached at Lady Hunting'
don's Lady Rockingham was a woman of general knowledge,
of infinite wit and pleasantry, of a delightful temper, and
with a mind most disinterested. She was cousin-german to
Lady Huntingdon and niece to Lady Fanny Shirley. A few
years after the decease of Lord Rockingham she became the
third wife of Frances North, first Earl of Guildford, by whioh
marriage he acquired the noble seat of Waldershare, near
Dover, and a large surrounding estate of great value : her Lady
ship possessed considerable influence in the higher circles, and
had an extensive acquaintance with persons of genius in her
day. She was often at Court, and lost no opportunity of recom
mending religion to the notice of the great.
Mr. Whitefield's lectures to the "brilliant circle" at Lady
Huntingdon's were evidently as faithful as they were eloquent.
The well-known Countess of Suffolk found them so. Lady
Rockingham prevailed on Lady Huntingdon to admit this
beauty to hear her chaplain; he, however, knew nothing of her

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 99
presence : he drew his bow at a venture, but every arrow
seemed aimed at her. She just managed to sit out the service
in silence, and when Mr. Whitefield retired she flew into a vio
lent passion, abused Lady Huntingdon to her face, and de
nounced the sermon as a deliberate attack on herself. In vain
her sister-in-law, Lady Betty Germain, tried to appease the
beautiful fury, or to explain her mistake — in vain old Lady
Eleanor Bertie and the Duchess Dowager of Ancaster, both
relatives of Lady Suffolk, commanded her silence : she main
tained that she had been insulted. She was compelled, how
ever, by her relatives who were present, to apologize to Lady
Huntingdon : having done this with a bad grace, the mortified
beauty left the place, to return no more.*
Just about this period Lord Chesterfield, who had been dis
missed from the situation of Lord High Steward, with marks of
strong resentment, was admitted into the Cabinet, very much
against the will of the King, who bad long considered him as a
personal enemy. He had married the King's sister, the natural
daughter of George I., and having served his Majesty with
steadiness for many years, seemed to have a right to expect
particular favours, but in this he was disappointed. The secret
cause of this disappointment was his behaviour towards the
Queen and Lady Suffolk, which Lady Huntingdon often lamented;
" I fear (says her Ladyship) that neither influence nor offers can
ever recall Lord Chesterfield from the line of conduct he has adopted
towards the Queen and Lady Suffolk. t I wish it were otherwise ;
* Henrietta, Countess of Suffolk, sister to the first Earl of Buckinghamshire,
a few years after the death of Lord Suffolk, married the Hon. George Berkeley,
a son of the second Earl Berkeley, whom she survived more than twenty years.
She had been a widow only a short time, and had lately lost her only son,
Lord Suffolk, when she was invited to Lady Huntingdon's to hear Mr. White-
field. She lived principally at Marble- Hill, Twickenham, and was a well-
known acquaintance of Pope, the poet, under the name of " Mrs Howard."
She was in much favour with George IL, an influence which is supposed to
have contributed to the grant of her mother's peerdge. Having ingratiated
herself into the favour of Queen Caroline, then Electoral Princess, she accom
panied her to England, and became her bed-chamber-woman. If we were to
draw an estimate of the understanding an 1 character of Lady Suffolk from tbe
representations of Pope, Swift, and Gay, during the time of her favour, we
might suppose that she possessed every accomplishment and good quality
which were ever the lot of a woman. The real truth is, she was more remark
able for beauty than for understanding, and the passion which the King enter
tained for her, was rather derived from chance, than from any combination of
those transcendant qualities which Pope and Swift ascribed to their court-
d vinity. She lived to an advanced age, not dying till 1767. During her last
illness Lady Huntingdon made some efforts to see her, but the mortifif d Lady
Suffolk carried her resentment to the grave, and would never admit her
Ladyship. f Lord Chesterfield paid bis court (according to those maxims and false pre
tensions to superior penetration which characterised him) to Lady Suffolk,
H 2

100 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
my friendship would save him from this error, as well as others more
fatal ; but it is God alone that can open the eyes of his understanding,
to see and know the things wliich belong to his everlasting peace,
as well as his upright intentions towards his fellow-men, which
would be rendered more just and honourable thereby. I do some
times hope well of him, as of Lord Bolingbroke, and some others, and
pray continually that the grace and love of the Saviour may be magni
fied in their renovation."
The Marquis of Lothian now arrived in London to attend
his parliamentry duties , having been elected one of the sixteen
Scotch peers successively returned to all the Parliaments of Great
Britain since the union. He was accompanied by the Mar
chioness, then in a very declining state of health, She was a
daughter of Sir Thomas Nicholson, Bart., of Kemnay, in the
county of Aberdeen, and, from her parents, had imbibed those
principles of religion which became so influential in after life.*
and not to the Queen ; and of those who acted thus the Queen never failed to
oppose the rise : Lord Chesterfield is a remarkable instance. He bad long
coveted the post of Secretary of State, and an arrangement had been made in
his favour : after an audience of the Queen, to which he had been introduced
by Walpole, and thanking her for her concurrence, he had the imprudence to
make a long visit to Lady Suffolk ; the Queen was informed of the circum
stance, and his appointment did not take place. At another time he had
requested the Queen to speak to the King for some small favour; the Queen
promised, but forgot it : a few days afterwards, recollecting her promise,rshe
expressed regret at her forgetfulness, and added, she would certainly mention
it that very day. Chesterfield replied, that her Majesty need not give herself
that trouble, for Lady Suffolk had spoken to the King. The Queen made no
reply, but on seeing the King, told him she had long promised to mention a
trifling request to his Majesty, but it was needless, because Lord Chesterfield
had just informed her that she had been anticipated by Lady Suffolk. The
King, who always preserved great decorum with the Queen, and was very un
willing to have it supposed that the favourite interfered, was extremely dis-
pleased, both with Lord Chesterfield and Lady Suffolk ; the consequence was,
that in a short time her Ladyship went to Bath for her health, and returned no
more to Court ; Chesterfield was dismissed from his office,- and never heard
the reason until two years before his death, when he was informed by Lord
Orford, that his disgrace was owing to his having offended the Queen by paying
court to Lady Suffolk.
* The loss of her youngest son, Lord Robert Ker, had so violent an effect
upon the Marchioness of Lothian, as nearly to overturn her reason and ever
after to leave a shade of melancholy upon her mind. He was a Captain in
the Army, and killed at the battle of Culloden, in April, 1746. Her Ladyship
was the bearer of a letter from her sister-in-law, Lady Mary Hamilton, to Lady
Huntingdon, recommending Lady Lothian to the particular notice of the
Countess. "Her afflictions (says Lady Mary) seem to prey so deeply on
her mind, that I am perpetually afraid of her losing her reason. I have done
allin my power to rouse her from this state of dejection; and I think
Mr. Whitefield's ministry, when last in Edinburgh, was of signal service to her
Ladyship She is so much attached to your Ladyship, that I have the most
sanguine hopes that the Lord will graciously bless your society and converse to
her complete restoration. The Marquis is most painfully anxious for her
recovery, and feels persuaded you will he the means, under God, of effecting a
great change in her spirits. I think you will find his Lordship much increased
in an experimental knowledge of divine things."

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 101
Her Ladyship was one of those pious females of rank and in
fluence who united with the Countess of Leven, Lady Balgonie,
Lady Frances Gardiner, Lady Jane Nimmo, and Lady Mary
Hamilton,* in establishing a meeting for prayer and reading
the Scriptures, to be held alternately at each other's houses,
which continued to be well attended, and singularly useful for
many years. It was strictly confined to a very select circle of
women in high life, many of whom were ornaments to the
Christian Church, and adorned the doctrine which they pro
fessed by a life of holiness and deadness to the present evil
world. Many years after, the then Countess of Northesk and
Hopetown, daughters to Lord and Lady Leven, the Countess of
Buchan, Lady Maxwell, Lady Glenorchy, Wilhelmina Countess
of Leven (formerly Lady Balgonie,) with her excellent sisters,
Lady Ruthven and Lady Banff, Lady Henrietta Hope, and
Sophia Countess of Haddington, were valuable members of this
select band. These have all long since joined the general
assembly and church of the redeemed from amongst men, and
are now uniting in ascriptions of praise to Him who hath
redeemed them to God by His blood.
Lady Huntingdon's acquaintance with the Scotch nobility was
much increased by the introduction, through the Lothian family,
of several ofthe representative peers, most of whom were induced
to attend the ministry of Mr. Whitefield at her Ladyship's
house.' Amongst these, the Countess particularly notices
Archibald, Duke of Argyle, cousin to the Marquis of Lothian,
the Earl of Aberdeen, Earl of Lauderdale, and Earl of Hyndford,
who had just then returned to England, after many years' ab
sence, having been appointed Envoy Extraordinary to the King
of Prussia, from whose Court he proceeded, in the same character,
to the Emperor of Russia ; his Lordship's mother, the Dowager
Lady Hyndford, who was the intimate friend of Lady Hunting
don, the Duchess of Somerset, and the Marquis of Tweeddale,
also a representative Peer and Secretary of State for Scotland,
* Lady Mary Hamilton was one of those persons in high life who attended
the ministry of Mr. Whitefield when he visited Scotland, and was a leading
character in the circles in Edinburgh. She was the youngest daughter of the
Marquis of Lothian, aud sister to William, third Marquis, the Countess of Home,
Lady Cranstown, and Lady Ross. Her Ladyship's mother was daughter of
Archibald Campbell, the unfortunate Earl of Argyle, who was beheaded in
1685. She had married Alexander Hamilton, of BaUincrieff, Member of Parlia
ment forthe county of Linlithgow, Post-master-general of Scotland, and repre
sentative of the family of Innerwick. Mr. Hamilton was very partial to the
preaching of Mr. Whitefield, and always received him at his house with every
mark of polite attention. To the period of her death, in 1768, Lady Mary was
the constant correspondent of Mr. Whitefield;

102 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
were all very frequently at Lady Huntingdon's about this period
The MarchLess was you^t, daughter of John last Earl of
Granville, and sister to' Lady Louisa Carteret, who married the
Viscount Weymouth, cousin to the Duchess of Somerset, by
whom they were introduced to Lady Huntingdon.
The following letter from Lady Huntingdon to Dr. Dod
dridge, written at this time, will give some idea of the success
of the Gospel among the » great ones" who frequented her
Ladyship's circle : — " London, 1748.
" My being ill has interfered with my answering yours ; and with it
some interruptions arose which you would, Iknow,be much pleased with.
Religion was, I believe, never so much the subject of conversation as
now? Some of the great of this world hear with me the Gospel
patiently • and thus much seed is sown by Mr. Whitefield's preaching,
and I need not tell you, some of the best. Oh ! that it may fall in
sood "round, and bring forth fruit abundantly. I am sorry to find that
vou are still interrupted by the Moravians : many good souls are among
them and, by-and-by, our Lord will separate them from the chaff.
I hav'e sent Christian salutations to the Count Zinaendorff, and expect
to see him. If the Lord will allow me, I expect to speak a word in
the spirit of love and meekness, hut with plainness to him, upon many
points he establishes as fixed, on which, in some particulars, the Scrip
ture is silent ; and in many others, it is absolutely contrary to most
of their avowed principles. A Hymn-book is lately published hy
them, which to speak as I feel towards them in love, can be thought
of no other way but as the product of the most wild enthusiasts upon
the earth.
" I had the pleasure, yesterday, of Mr. Gibbon's and Mr. Cratten-
den's company, with that of Mr. Gifford, to dine with me. Lord
Lothian and Lady Frances Gardiner gave them the meeting, and we
had truly a most primitive and heavenly day ; our hearts and voices
praised the Lord — prayed to Him, and talked of Him. I had another
lady present, whose face, since I saw you last, is turned Zionwards.
Of the honourable women, I trust there will be not a few ; patience
shall have its proper work ; and if we love our Lord, we must he
tender over his lambs, and lead those gently who yet appear not to he
so. I trust he will assist us to keep fanning the flame in every heart!
this, my friend, is our joyful task for the best Master we can serve,,
either in time or eternity. Do not let our hands hang down ; we must
wrestle for ourselves, and for all dead in their sins, till the day break,
and the shadows of time flee away. Many will be our attacks from
a world lying in the way of the Wicked One, from our evil hearts,
and the infirmity of our flesh ; but let us remember we know in whom
we believe, and that the Captain that leads us is nothing less than an
Almighty Conqueror over all those, and that nothing is too hard fot

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 103
Him. Remember, it wall soon be over ; and let us withstand, for a
moment eyeing the reeompence of reward.
" My kind respects attend Mr. Doddridge. My family are obliged
by your kind inquiries. I am, Sir, beseeching your constant prayers,
your most sincere and affectionate friend, "S. Huntingdon."
Whilst Lady Huntingdon thus sought to promote the spiri
tual interests of the rich and the noble, she was not unmindful
of those of her more humble neighbours ; to them her house
was constantly open, that they might be enriched with that
" faith which comes by hearing, and which is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen," — a practice
which was regularly continued for several years. On the week
days her kitchen was filled with the poor of the flock, for whom
she provided suitable instruction ; and on the Sabbath the rich
and the noble were invited to spend the evening in her drawing-
rooms, where Mr. Whitefield and other eminent ministers of
Christ proclaimed all the words of this life, and with eloquence
which was exceeded only by their faithfulness and affection.
The following anecdote, communicated by Lady Huntingdon
to the late Mr. Barry, R. A., proves that Mr. Whitefield had
other trophies besides the rich and noble, who had escaped
eternal death through the blood and righteousness of the Son
of God. Some ladies called one Saturday morning to pay a
visit to Lady Huntingdon, and during the visit her Ladyship
inquired of them if they had ever heard Mr. Whitefield preach ?
Upon being answered in the negative, she said, " I wish you
would hear him ; he is to preach to-morrow evening." They
promised her Ladyship they would certainly attend — they were
as good as their word : and upon calling on the Monday morn
ing on Lady Huntingdon, she anxiously enquired if they had
heard Mr. Whitefield on the previous evening, and how they
liked him ? The reply was " O my Lady, of all the preachers
we ever heard he is the most strange and unaccountable.
Among other preposterous things (would your Ladyship believe
it,) he declared that Jesus Christ was so willing to receive sin
ners that he did not object to receive even the devil's cast
aways ! Now, my Lady, did you ever hear of such a thing sinee
you were born ? To which her Ladyship made the following
reply : " There is something, I acknowledge, a little singular
in the invitation, and I do not recollect to have ever met witb it
before ; but as Mr. Whitefield is below in the parlour, we will
have him up, and let him answer for himself." Upon his en
tering the drawing-room, Lady Huntingdon said, " Mr. White-*
field, these ladies have been preferring a very heavy charge

104 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
against you, and I thought it best that you should come up and
defend yourself: they say, that in your sermon last evening,
speaking of the willingness of Jesus Christ to receive sinners,
you expressed yourself in the following terms-' So ready
is Christ to receive sinners who come to Him, that he 1S will
ing to receive the devil's castaways." Mr. Whitefield imme
diately replied, " I certainly, my Lady, must plead guilty to
the charge: whether I did what was right or otherwise, your
Ladvship shall judge from the following circumstance. Did
your Ladyship notice, about half an hour ago, a very modest
single rap at the door ? It was given by a poor miserable
looking, aged female, who requested to speak with me. I de
sired her to be shown into the parlour, when she accosted me
in the following manner :— ' I believe, Sir, you preached last
evening at such a chapel?' 'Yes, I did.' 'Ah, Sir, I was
accidentally passing the door of that chapel, and hearing the
voice of some one preaching, I did what I have never been in
the habit of doing — I went in ; and one of the first things I
heard you say was, that Jesus Christ was so willing to receive
sinners, that he did not object to receiving the devil's cast
aways. Now, Sir, I have been on the town for many years,
and am so worn out in his service, that I think I may with truth
be called one of the devil's castaways. Do you think, Sir, that
Jesus Christ would receive me ?' ' I (said Mr. Whitefield) assured
her there was not a doubt of it, if she was but willing to goto Him."'
From the sequel, it appeared that this was the case, and that it
ended in the sound conversion of this poor creature ; and Lady
Huntingdon was assured, from most respectable authority, that
the woman left a very charming testimony behind her, that,
though her sins had been of a crimson hue the atoning blood of
Christ had washed them white as snow.
^j. That would-be wit and affected woman, Lady Townshend,*
was one of Mr. Whitefield's earliest and most strenuous ad
mirers ; she was always running from one extreme to another, and
* Lady Townshend's father, Edward Harrison, Esq., of Balls, in the county
of Hertford, had formerly been Governor of Fort St George, in the East In
dies ; she was sole heir to his immense fortune : her eldest son, the first Mar
quis Townshend, who had served at the battles of Dettingen, Fontenoy, and
Culloden, and also at the remarkable siege of Quebec, which town surrendered
into his hands as commander-in-chief, after the fatal death of Wolfe, became
nearly allied to Lady Huntingdon by his marriage with Lady Charlotte Comp
ton, only surviving issue of James, Earl of Northampton, by Elizabeth Shirley,
who was in her own right Baroness Ferrars, of Chartley ; her second son,
Charles Townshend, was celebrated for his brilliant talents, by which he dis
tinguished himself in a most eminent degree, both in the Senate and Cabinet ;
perhaps there never arose, in any country, a man of more pointed and finished
writ ; and (where his passions were not concerned) of a more refined, exquisite;

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 105
always extravagant in ideas and conduct — she changed about
from one opinion to another with singular velocity.
" Have you heard (says Horace Walpole) the great loss the Church
of England has had ? • It is not avowed, but hear the evidence and
judge : On Sunday last as George Selwyn was strolling home to .
dinner at half an hour after four, he saw my Lady Townshend's coach
stop at Carracioli's chapel — he watched — saw her go in — her footman
laughed — he followed ; she went up to the altar, a woman brought
her a cushion — she knelt, crossed herself, and prayed : he stole up and
knelt by her — conceive her face, if you can, when she turned and
found him close to her — in his most demure voice, he said, ' Pray,
Madam, how long has your ladyship left the pale of our Church ?'
She looked furies, and made no answer. Next day he went to her,
and she turned it off upon curiosity ; but is anything more natural ? —
no : she certainly means to go armed with every viaticum, the Church
of England in one hand, Methodism in the other, and the Host in her
mouth !"
Lady Townshend was attacked with severe illness, and her
life was considered in danger; Lady Huntingdon, who was fre
quent in her attendance, informed Mr. Whitefield of her state,
and, as she professed to be under serious impressions at times,
he wisely considered that a letter at such a moment might be.
attended with lasting benefit : — " London, Nov. 19, 1748.
" Honoured Madam, — When I was lately in Scotland, Colonel
Gumley wrote me word, that your Ladyship was pleased to desire my
poor prayers. Before his writing, they had been put up to the throne
of grace in behalf of your Ladyship very frequently, and I would then
have written to you, had I not feared it would have been making too
free. Yesterday, good Lady Huntingdon informed me that your Lady
ship was ill ; had I judged it proper, I would have waited upon you
this morning ; but I was cautious of intruding. However, the regard
I bear to your Ladyship constrains me to inform you, that my heart's
desire and prayer to God is, that this sickness may not be unto death,
but to his glory, and the present and eternal good of your better part,
your precious and immortal soul. This, no doubt, is the end of afflic
tions — God's name and nature is Love , he cannot, therefore, chastise
us for any other purpose, than that we may he made partakers of his
holiness. Every cross and disappointment, every degree of pain,
brings this important call with it—' My son, my daughter, give me thy
heart.' 0 that your Ladyship's soul may echo back — ' My heart, Lord
Jesus, will I give.' 0 that from a feeling, spiritual, abiding sense of
and penetrating judgment ; but although a man of genius, he appears to have
been rather more fit for literary than political attainments, and from the versa
tility of his political conduct he acquired the nick-name of " The weathercock."
He died in 1767, and his brother, the Marquis Townshend, survived him
exactly forty years ; both through life maintained a steady friendship for Lady
Huntingdon, who outlived their eccentric mother only a few years*

106 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
the vanity and emptiness of all created good, you may, in a holy resent.
ment, cry out — ' Be gone, vain world, my heart resign,
For I must be no longer thine :
A nobler, a diviner guest,
Now claims possession of my breast !'
" Then, and not till then, your Ladyship's mind will be at unity with
itself— then, and not till then, will your Ladyship, upon truly rational
principles, with cheerfulness wait for the approach of deaths and the
coming of the Lord from heaven. It is faith in Jesus, a true and liviflg
faith in the Son of God, that can alone bring present, real peace, and
lay a solid foundation for future and eternal comfort. I cannot wish
your Ladyship any thing greater, any thing more noble, than a large
share of this precious faith ; and a large, yea, very large share in the
glorious Redeemer, ready to give to all that sincerely ask for and seek
after it. He waits to be gracious — He giveth liberally — He upbraideth
not. When, like Noah's dove, we have been wandering about in a
fruitless search after happiness, and have found no rest for the soles of
our feet, he is ready to reach out his merciful hand, and receive us
into his ark. His hand, honoured Madam, is he reaching out to you,
May you be constrained to give your heart entirely to him, and thereby
enter into that rest which remains for the happy, though despised
people of God. But whither am I going ? — I forget that your Lady
ship is indisposed, and I almost a stranger to you : I will only make
this apology — ' the love of Jesus constrains me.' Hoping, therefore,
your ladyship will excuse the freedom I have here taken, I beg leave
to subscribe myself, honoured Madam, your Ladyship's most obliged
humble servant, " G. Whitefield."
Some years before her death, which took place in 1788,
Lady Townshend was again under serious concern for her
eternal interests ; several letters passed between her and Lady
Huntingdon, only one of which has been rescued from oblivion,
* Apropos of Lady Townshend, we may here observe that Horace Walpole
unwittingly bears testimony to the uniform consistency of Mr. Whitefield's
creed and character. When the peace-festival was celebrated at Ranelagh,
some one in the clique of wits, most likely himself, was talking of the Metho
dists, and said, " Pray, Madam, is it true that Whitefield has recanted?" Lady
Townshend replied, " 0 no ; he has only canted. " Walpole thought this a happy
hit, little dreaming it to be a compliment to a man who might have had pre
ferment at the time, if he would have recanted even his clerical irregularities.
In a letler from Bristol dated in the December of this year, Mr Whitefield tells
Lady Huntingdon, " the Bishop behaved respectfully when 1 was at sacrament
at the Cathedral, and my old tutor, one of the prebendaries, was very cordial
when I waited upon him. I told him that my judgment was (I trusted) a
little more ripened than it was some years ago, and that as fast as I found out
my faults I would be glad to acknowledge them. He said, the offence the
governors of the Church had taken against me would lessen and wear off as I
grew moderate. Blessed be God, I am pretty easy about that ; so that I can act
an honest part, and be kept frem trimming, I will, through the Divine assistance,
leave all consequences tp Him who orders all things well."

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 107
itis without date, but was written in 1775, the period of Lady
Townshend's illness : —
" My dearest Madam, — The postscript of your Ladyship's letter
engaged all my few poor attempts to answer that meaning of our only
wise and true Instructor, who enjoins to this purpose in saying, ' Freely
ye have received — freely give.' The state of your heart (as it appears
to me,) is in the Lord's hands, preparing for his own appearance to
)'our joy. The praying for anything but the faith we have not, and
which only can reveal to our distressed souls that true and heavenly
manifestation of our salvation, seems to have little meaning in it, as this
must, and this only, can be the foundation of any lasting peace, or
Jesus Christ the proper object of our everlasting praise. He must
take us as sinners into favour, and no preparation that our own ideas
form can alter the nature of our true condition. Let us pass through
what we will, all can only prove our want of a satisfactory knowledge
of him, as our Saviour ; and when he has thus addressed our hearts he
will become himself the true Leader and Teacher.
*****
" With the truest esteem, and best wishes for your eternal welfare,
I am, my dear Madam, your Ladyship's most faithful friend,
"S. Huntingdon."
Early in December Mr. Whitefield made an excursion to
Gloucester and Bristol, where he preached to great multitudes.
He intended remaining some time in Gloucestershire, and pro
posed making an excursion into Cornwall, but a letter from
Lady Huntingdon on the J 2th of December, requiring his im
mediate return to London, obliged him to postpone his intention.
We find him about this time submitting his journals to the cor
rection of Dr. Doddridge, who gave him some excellent advice
relative to this publication : —
" I thank you (says he to the Ductor,) for your letter a thousand
times : it has led me to the throne of grace, where I have been crying,
' Lord, counsel my counsellors, and shew them all that thou wouldst
have me to do.' Alas, alas ! how can I be too severe against myself,
who, Peter-like, have cut off so many ears, and by imprudence mixed
with my zeal, have dishonoured the cause of Jesus ? I can only look
up to Him who healed the High-Priest's servant's ear, and say, ' Lord
heal all the wounds my misguided zeal has given.' Assure yourself,
dear Sir, every thing I print shall he revised : I always have submitted
my poor performances to the correction of my friends. Time and ex
perience, I find, ripen men's judgments, and make them more solid,
rational, and consistent, both in their conduct and writings. 0 that this
may be my case ! 0 that the blessed Jesus may enable me to hold
on, and hold out, and keep me from flagging in the latter stages of my
road." Dr. Doddridge also communicated his ideas on the same

108 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
subject to Lady Huntingdon, who was of opinion that the
journals, as corrected by the Doctor and others, should be
reprinted. On his return to London, Mr. Whitefield was occupied in his
usual way, besides preaching very frequently at Lady Hunting
don's to very numerous and brilliant assemblies. In a letter to
Dr. Doddridge, he says, " Blessed be God, the prospect is
promising. Last Sunday evening I preached to a most brilliant
assembly indeed ; they expressed great approbation, and some,
I think, begin to feel. Good Lady Huntingdon is indeed a
mother in Israel — she is all in a flame for Jesus. To Howel
Harris he says, " I am now waiting for Lord Bolingbroke and
some others, who are coming to hear the glorious Gospel.
Lord Lothian is in town. Our good Lady is going on, and
every day increasing her reward in heaven." And again to Mr.
Hervey : " You will not be offended if I tell you that good Ladv
Huntingdon saw your letter : she was much pleased with it, and
has a great regard for you. She goes on from strength to
strength — the prospect of doing good to the rich that attend her
Ladyship's house is very encouraging. I preach twice a week,
and yesterday Lord Bolingbroke was one of my auditors : his
Lordship was pleased to express very great satisfaction. Who
knows what God may do ? He can never work by a meaner
instrument." Horace Walpole, when writing to his friend, Sir Horace Man,
at this time, says, in his scoffing way, " If you ever think of
returning to England, as I hope it will be long first, you must
prepare yourself with Methodism, I really believe by that time
it will be necessary ; this sect increases as fast as almost ever
any religious nonsense did. Lady Fanny Shirley* has chosen
this way of bestowing the dregs of her beauty ; and Mr. Lyttle-
tonf is very near making the same sacrifice of the dregs "of all
those various characters that he has worn. The Methodists
love your big sinners, as proper subjects to work upon— and in
deed they have a plentiful harvest." Amongst the persons of
distinction who attended at Lady Huntingdon's house at this
time, we find the following names : Duchess of Argyle— Lady
Betty Campbell — Lady Ferrers, whom Walpole styles " Ge
neral my Lady Dowager Ferrers," a woman of singular habits
and extremely odd in many respects— Lord Burlington— Bubb
Doddington^— George Selwyn— Lady Sophia Thomas— the
* Often styled " Saint Frances " by Walpole.
t Afterwards Lord Lyttleton.
t Afterwards Lord Melcumbe,.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 109
Duchess of Montagu* — Lady Cardigan — Lady Lincoln — Lord
Holderness — Lord Townshend — Charles Townshend — Mr. Lyt
tleton — Mr. Pitt — Lord North — Countess of Rockingham —
Mrs. Boscawen — Mrs. Pitt — Miss Rich — Lady Fitzwalter — Sir
Luke and Lady Schaubs — Lady Caroline Petersham — Duke of
Kingston — Lord Trentham — Lord March — Lord Haddington
— Duchess of Queensbury — Duchess of Manchester — Mr. Hus-
seyf — Mr. Hume Campbell:): — Lady Hinchinbroke — Lord
Sandwich,§ &c.
After six weeks' incessant preaching at Lady Huntingdon's to
large circles of the nobility, Mr. Whitefield, finding his health
much impaired, thought that travelling and preaching in the
country would do him good ; he therefore made another excur
sion to Bristol, and from thence to Exeter and Plymouth,
where he was agreeably surprised to find a great alteration in
the people since his former visit. From Bristol he wrote thus
to her Ladyship : —
" I came hither this evening, where I found my brother in the very
temper I could wish, seemingly quite fixed to leave the world for God.
His visit to town has been greatly blessed to him. Surely your Lady
ship will never know, till the day of judgment, the great ends God
had in view in calling you to London. I rejoice in the prospect of
seeing your Ladyship happy amidst a crowd of your spiritual children,
who will come to you, from time to time, to be built up in their most
holy faith : you will suffer many pangs for them ; but all shall work
for your present and eternal good. I suffer much in my bodily health
for preaching to the nobility ; but thanks be to God that some seem
to have a hearing ear and an understanding heart. My warmest
prayers are continually ascending to the throne of Grace for your
Ladyship, and for all those who have heard the Word, especially those
honourable women that used to join with you in receiving the sacred
symbols of the Redeemer's blessed body and blood. My cry to our
Lord in their behalf is this,
' Take their poor hearts, and let them be
For ever closed to all hut thee.' "
Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, of Wynnstay, in the county of
Denbigh, Bart., representative of one of the most ancient and
influential families in the Principality of Wales, was at this time
the bitter enemy and persecutor of all whom he suspected of
being tinctured with Methodism; but the immensely blessed
* Daughter ofthe great Duke of Marlborough, and mother of Lady Cardigan.
+ Created Baron Beaulieu in 1762, and Earl Beaulieu in 1784.
f Baron Hume, but the title became extinct at his death, in 1781.
§ Member of the Privy Council, and First Lord Commissioner of the
Admiralty.

110 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
labours of the apostolic Howel Harris could not be checked by
the persecuting spirit of the Welsh magistrates. " The gentle
men (says he) in part of Brecknockshire and Carmarthen
shire, hunt us like partridges ; but still the work prospers." In
a letter to one of his friends, Mr. Harris gives an interesting
account of his continued labours, sufferings, and success in
Wales : — -
"Are you surprised (says he) at my silence? Could you but
take a turii with me for two or three months, and see my labours and
trials, your surprise would cease. However, I will inform yon, that it
is now about nine weeks since I began to go round South and North
Wales, and this week returned home. I have visited in that time,
thirteen counties, travelled about 150 miles every week, and discoursed
twice a day, occasionally three or four times. In this last journey I
have not taken off my clothes for seven nights together, being obliged
to meet the people, and discourse at midnight, or very early in the
morning to avoid persecution. One man, near Wrexham, the week
before I went thither, was obliged to pay twenty shillings to Sir W.W.
Wynn, several of the hearers five shillings ; and one of them, who
had paid that sum before, was now fined ten shillings. This is the
third time the poor people have been so served in that neighbourhood
for assembling together. Near the town of Bala, where I was for
merly like to be murdered, I had a severe blow on my head, hut
received no hurt. I never saw such crowds coming to hear ; many
hearts and doors have been opened lately ; we know of several who
have been awakened ; and many speak with delight of coming to hear
Mr. Whitefield when he visits us again."
Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Harris having communicated to Lady
Huntingdon the conduct of Sir W. W. Wynn, and the sufferings
of the Methodists in several parts of Wales, through the intem
perate conduct of the magistrates, her Ladyship lost no time in
laying the particulars before Government ; and, to the no small
mortification of Sir Watkin, the different sums of money which
he had exacted from time to time from the Methodists were
ordered to be returned. The conduct of the Welsh preachers
excited the indignation of this haughty and persecuting Baronet,
who vowed to take ample revenge upon every Methodist in
Denbighshire; but before the lapse of many months the
unhappy man was summoned to another world, having died
suddenly in consequence of a fall from his horse when returning
from hunting.
All the Welsh magistrates, however, were not alike culpable.
Howel Harris being once expected near Garth, in Breconshire,
the residence of Marmaduke Gwynne, Esq., that gentle
man, alarmed at the reports he had heard respecting him,
determined, as a magistrate, to put an end to his proceed"

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. Ill
ings. Regarding him as an incendiary in Church and State,
Mr. Gwynne prepared himself for an open attack, but said to
his lady, on going out, " I'll hear the man myself before I
commit him." Accordingly, he made one of the congregation,
eagerly waiting to lay hold of anything that might be construed
into a charge against the preacher. He had also the Riot Act
in his pocket, which he was prepared to read, and thus disperse
the people. Mr. Harris's sermon, however, was so truly evan
gelical, so calculated to arouse the careless, to alarm the wicked,
and to encourage the penitent, and his manner so zealous and
affectionate, that Mr. Gwynne thought he resembled one of the
apostles. He was so convinced of the purity of his doctrines
and of the benevolence of his motives, that, at the end of the
discourse, he went up to him, shook him by the hand, told him
how much he had heen misled by slanderous reports, avowed
the intention he had formed of committing him, asked his
pardon, and to the amazement of the assembly, entreated him to
accompany him back to Garth to supper.
The authority and countenance of Mr. Gwynne and his family
now became highly important to the cause of religion. Regard
less of public and private censure, he openly stood up in Mr.
Harris's defence, and made use of his extensive influence in pro
moting the spread of the Gospel. One of his daughters was
soon after married to Mr. Charles Wesley.

CHAPTER VIII.

Dr. Gibbons — Dr. Gill — Mr. Darracott— Lord Huntingdon — Lord Chesterfield
 The Jews  German Ministers — An impostor — David Levi — Lady Fanny
Shirley — Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Wesley — Ashby Place — Mr. Baddelley —
Lady Huntingdon's Illness — Lady Anne Hastings — Mr. Hervey — Bishop of
Exeter — Mr. Thompson  Duke of Somerset — Mr. Moses Browne.
On Mr. Whitefield's leaving London, Lady Huntingdon invited
Mr. Wesley to preach at her house, which he did twice a week,
and continued so to do, with the occasional assistance of
Mr. Charles Wesley, Mr. Bateman, and some others, until
Mr. Whitefield's return to the metropolis. Her Ladyship's
acquaintance with Dr. Andrew Gifford and Dr. Gibbons, men

112 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
of great piety, of unimpeachable morals, refined manners, up
right and benevolent, and of great cheerfulness, enabled her to
enlarge the circle of her usefulness. Her spirit and temper
were catholic in the only true sense of the word. The Christian
minister, whatever the name or denomination ot his Church,
was always welcomed to her house. The late Robert Crutten
den, Esq., a pious Dissenter, in a letter to Mr. Whitefield,
writes thus:— "Dr. Gibbons went with me to wait on her
Ladyship ; where he owns he spent two hours with more plea
sure than he ever remembered to have done in any company
before ; and, I must freely own, he spoke my own sentiments."
This intelligence was gratifying to the benevolent heart of that
great and good man : —
" I am glad (says he) your Ladyship approves of Dr. Gibbons.
He is, I think, a worthy man. By maintaining your present course,
you will have an opportunity of conversing with the best of all
parties, without being a bigot and too strenuously attached to any.
Surely in this your Ladyship is directed from above. The blessed
Jesus cares for his people of all denominations. He is gathering his
elect out of all. Happy they, who, with-a disinterested view, take in
the whole church militant, and, in spite of narrow-hearted bigots,
breathe an undissembled catholic spirit towards all. I believe that
you will daily reap tbe fruit of this spirit, and a free conversation with
the truly gracious of all denominations. It is a conduct truly godlike.
I rejoice that your Ladyship hath such a promising prospect of doing
good among the rich and great — that you approve of Mr. Wesley's
conduct, and that he hath preached at your house. The language
of my heart is — Lord, send by whom thou wilt send, only convert
some of the mighty and noble, for thy mercy's sake ! Then, I care
not if I am heard of no more. I am much obliged to those honourable
ladies who are pleased to send me their good wishes. In return, they
have my earnest pravers that they may be filled with all the fulness
of God." Few men were more unconscious of their own abilities, or
more desirous of improving by the meanest instrument, than
Mr. Whitefield. In lowliness of mind, he would prefer others
to himself. He nevdr considered himself as George Whitefield,
the celebrated preacher, but as a poor guilty sinner, equally
indebted to Divine grace with the lowest and meanest of the
human race. Lady Huntingdon having written him word, that
" the prospect of doing good at his return to London was very
encouraging," this otherwise intrepid man trembled at the idea
of again addressing the rich and honourable. In a letter to
Mr. Cruttenden, he thus expresses himself: — "This post
carries answers to the honourable women. I suppose you will

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 113
be pleased to find that I am thus far on my return to London.
O, my friend, my friend, I come with fear and trembling. To
speak to the rich and great, so as to win them to the blessed
Jesus, is indeed a task. But wherefore do we fear ? We can
do all things through Christ strengthening us."
Mr. Whitefield now returned to London, having travelled
about six hundred miles in the West of England, where he had
found, to his satisfaction, that his former labours had been
abundantly blessed. At this period Lady Huntingdon had a
house in North Audley-street, where he preached every Thurs
day evening to very crowded auditories, composed, chiefly, of
the nobihty, whom her Ladyship invited to hear him. To an
American correspondent, he says : — "The news you have had
of my preaching to some great ones is true ; I have done so for
some time twice a week ; and, thanks be to the blessed Re
deemer, it has already produced great effects. Lady Huntingdon
is a mirror of piety indeed. In time, I trust, of the honourable
women there will not be a few who dare to confess the Lord
Jesus before men."
Lady Huntingdon continued in London till the month of
June, when she removed to Clifton for the benefit of her health ;
and about this time became acquainted with that eminent writer
Dr. Gill, whose private character was so excellent, that it has
been said, his learning and labours were exceeded only by the
invariable sanctity of his life and conversation. He had then
lately published his celebrated Commentary on the New Testa
ment, in three folio volumes, which impressed Lady Huntingdon
with esteem for the purity of his intentions, and admiration for
the magnitude of his labours. The immense reading and learn
ing which it displayed, induced the University of Aberdeen to
send him the diploma of D.D., with the following compliment :
" On account of his knowledge of the Scriptures, of the Ori
ental languages, and of Jewish antiquities, of his learned defence
of the Scriptures against deists and infidels, and the reputation
gained by his other works, the University had, without his
privity, unanimously agreed to confer on him the degree of
Doctor of Divinity." His intimate friend and warm admirer,
Mr. Toplady, has' left on record a high opinion of his excellent
character. The young Earl of Huntingdon was now approaching his
majority, and Lady Huntingdon was preparing to resign Don
nington Park to her son. She left Bristol early in the month
of August, and taking a house at Ashby, eatablished herself
there with her other children, and her excellent sisters-in-law,
VOL. I. — I

114 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
the Ladies Hastings. In a letter to the Rev. Risdon Darracott,
her Ladyship mentions this favourite residence : —
" The -affairs of my family called me from home ; but I am again
brought back- in safety, and much happiness of heart, and that to a
sweet little family who live but to devote every hour more and more
to the love and knowledge of the Lord Jesus. We had agreed upon
this retreat, and taken a larger house among us for this purpose, and
we all wish your prayers. To become the Lord's in body, soul, and
spirit, is the one cry and desire of our hearts ; and we know He will
not reject us, nor cast us out ; and though we can do nothing, yet we
can receive of his fulness grace for grace ; and in this world suffer
reproach and persecution for his name's sake, which is sweet and
honourable to us ; when, though we can do nothing, we glory in this,
that, to his praise, he hath redeemed, and will make us priests unto
God. We should rejoice to see you amongst us : and I hope nothing
will prevent it, if convenient to you. All gospel ministers, it is our
highest honour and happiness to serve, aud no denomination do we
ever reject." *
* This excessive liberality on the part of Lady Huntingdon exposed her
sometimes to the artifices of the designing, who failed not to prey upon her
pious generosity. About the date of this letter great efforts were made on tbe
Continent, assisted by the support of the charitable in England, to convert the
Jews to Christianity. Two zealous students in the University of Halle, in
Saxony, devoted themselves to this work of grace, travelling over Europe
during several years ; preaching, and raising funds for the maintenance of pro
selytes and catechumens, and for the publication of tracts, those messengers
of mercy, which were dispersed in thousands, by Russian officers, a Swedish
Bishop, the Danish missionaries, and other zealous persons, wherever an indi
vidual of the Jewish nation was to be found. An account of these efforts was
published in 1732 in a pamphlet of forty-eight pages, drawn up by Professor
John Henry^ Cojlenbergf, of Halle, which was reprinted in London in 1751, with
a view to its distribution among Jews and Mahommedans, by English mer
chants trading to the East. Of the seed thus sown, good fruit was expected,
but tares sprung up to destroy the wholesome grain, and to deceive the hopes
of the sower. Hypocrisy and apostasy marred the fair work of conversion,
and the wicked pretender applied to his own use the contributions intended
for the persecuted convert. In September, 1749, Mr. Whitefield introduced
to Lady Huntingdon two German ministers who had laboured in this vineyard,
and preached in the German chapel here with great power ; but the time for
the conversion ofthe Jews, that great triumph which iB to crown the Christian
verity, had not yet arrived, Her Ladyship, waiting for the fulness of time,
failed not to pour in her mite towards the accomplishment of so pure a pur-
pose. But these true ministers were followed by impostors, two of whom, a
father and son, after having been several times baptized in various countries
of Europe, came to repeat the profitable experiment in England. They found
a liberal friend in Lady Huntingdon, whom they grotsly deceived ; and, as we
learn from David Levi (see his work on the Prophecies, p. 114,) persuaded
her that they were not only proselytes to Christianity, but that they had also
converted him (Levi), whose: example was calculated to produce a powerful
effect on his whole nation. Levi amuses himself with the credulity of the
offerers, from whom these impostors had obtained upwards of £1,800. "tady
Huntingdon (he says) requested me to wart on her, whether for my conver
sion, or to be better informed concerning the imposture, I cannot tell, for her
illness prevented the interview."

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 116
On coming of. age, the Earl of Huntingdon took possession
of Donnington Park, Ledstone Hall, &c. ; and soon after set
out on his travels trough France, Italy, and Germany. The
Earl of Albemarle was then ambassador to the court of France,
and lived in a style of great magnificence. Among the English
residents in Paris were Lady Hervey, Sir Johtl Lafnbert,
Colonel York, and Lord Stormont, who received the young
Earl with most polite attention. Iipjii»Q]lesterfield, who Con
sidered himself his second father, thus intro3uces him to the
notice of one of his most intimate correspondents, a lady Whose
accomplishments and personal virtues Were at least equal to her
birth and high rank : —
" In spite of my promises, Madam, not to saddle you with niy
countrymen, here is one whom I take the liberty to recommend to
you. Don't be afraid, don't be presently angry, and I dare say you
will thank me hereafter. It is the Earl of Huntingdon, one of the
first peers of England, whoje family is celebrated in the most ancient
records. His merit and talents are at least equal to his descent ; he
is distinguished from all our young nobility by his personal erudition ;
in short, he wants nothing to make him perfect, but what he will ac
quire with you, better than any where else ; I mean an acquaintance
with the polite world. I will venture to add one merit more, which I
flatter myself he will have in your opinion, which is that of being my
particular friend. He looks upon me as his father, and 1 consider him
as my adopted son. I therefore earnestly beg, Madam, you will pro
tect, encourage, and even advise him. He has too much discernment
not to be sensible ofthe value of your friendship, and too much feeling
ever to forget it. To sum up all in one word, he Will soon be what
his second father is now, your very faithful servant, " Chesterfield."
Lady Fanny Shirley now began to make an open profession
of the faith once delivered to the saints, and amidst all the
scoffs and taunt ings of a benighted, ill-natured, and ridiculing
world, to rejoice with joy unspeakable, even a joy that is full of
ftory. During Lady Huntingdon's absence from London Lady
anny opened her house for the preaching of the Gospel :
there Mr. Whitefield, and other ministers of Christ, proclaimed
all the words of this life, and were heard with deep and serious
attention. " On Saturday, (says he, in a letter to Lady Hun
tingdon,) I had the honour of being almost all the day long,
with Lady Fanny, Lady Gertrude Hotham, Lady Chesterfield,
and the Countess Delitz. Lady Fanny and the Countess re
ceived the blessed sacrament before the others came, and 1
think they both grow." The Countess Delitz had been the
instrument of much good to Lady Fanny, and was fhe open and
avowed friend of Mr. WhitelfoM,' and all who1 were suffering for
i 2

116 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
the testimony of Jesus. When writing to her Ladyship, he
observes :— " How much are you indebted to Divine grace, that
hath singled you out from among the mighty and noble, and
placed your Ladyship in the number of those happy few to
whom it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God !
I trust your honoured sister (Lady Chesterfield) will ere long
bear you company, and travel with you in that narrow road
which leads to eternal life. When I remember you, I always
think of her, and beg my most dutiful respects may find ac
ceptance with her Ladyship."
Mr. Whitefield was very attentive to the spiritual interests of
his converts in high life, and maintained a constant correspond
ence with several of them. Soon after he left London for a
tour in Yorkshire and the north of England, he writes thus to
Lady Fanny Shirley : — "Newcastle, Oct. 1,1749.
" Honoured Madam, — Some time last week, my wife sent me the
letter your Ladyship was pleased to favour me with about three weeks
ago ; though I was sorry it did not reach me before I left town, yet
I rejoiced to find that it bespoke your Ladyship's attachment to the
ever-loving, ever-lovely Jesus, and a desire to partake of the sacred
symbols of his most blessed body and blood. I doubt not but your
Ladyship, with full purpose of heart, will cleave unto him, and in spite
of men and devils, go on in that narrow way which leads to life eternal.
God's grace will he sufficient for you — he hath promised, and he is
faithful who hath promised, never to leave or forsake those that put
their trust in him. He is in the burning bush — he is in the fiery fur
nace — he can and will make us more than conquerors over all. With
what courage then may your Ladyship go on through this howling
wilderness, whilst leaning on our beloved Saviour ! In him alone is
all our strength found. Honoured Madam, look to him, consider-
him, and thereby you will be kept from being weary and faint in your
mind. I doubt not but you meet with daily crosses. Persons that
stand alone, and in high places, must expect storms ; but Jesus is able
and willing to uphold you — thanks be to his great name for giving you
such a share of prudence and courage. May the glorious Immanuel
increase both ; and, without being attached to any party, may you he
preserved unspotted from the world, and be a common friend to all !
My heart's desire and prayer is, that you may go on from strength to
strength, and be continually growing in the knowledge of yourself
and Christ Jesus your Lord. I must now add no more, but my re
peated thanks for all your Ladyship's favours, and my repeated assu
rances of being, honoured Madam, your Ladyship's most obliged,
obedient, and ready servant for Christ's sake, " G. Whitefield."
Another object lay near to Mr. Whitefield's heart at this time.
It was during this winter that he formed the design of identifying

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 117
Lady Huntingdon with his Societies — the only plan he ever
laid for perpetuating them. He told Lady Fanny that he had
disengaged himself from the immediate care of the Societies,
that he might be more at liberty to preach the Gospel ; and he
saw Lady Huntingdon a Dorcas, and felt that she might and
ought to be a Phoebe. She had used her influence, at his soli
citation, with the Court and the Government, in behalf of the
sufferers in the Cork riots ; and had readily patronized such poor
or persecuted ministers as he brought under her notice. All
this, and the want of a leader, led him to seek her patronage,
especially for his Societies in the west end of the town. How
he opened the subject to her is not known, but it does not seem
to have been ill received, for she desired the public prayers of
the Tabernacle for herself at the time ; and Mr. Whitefield read
that part of her letter to the people, and informed her, that
" thousands heartly joined in singing the following verses for her
Ladyship :" " Gladly we join to pray for those
Who, rich with worldly honours, shine,
Who dare to own a Saviour's cause,
And in that hated cause to join :
Yes we would praise thee, that a few
Love thee, though rich and noble too."
" Uphold this star in thy right hand —
Crown her endeavours with success ;
Among the great ones may she stand,
A witness of thy righteousness,
Till many nobles join thy train,
And triumph in the Lamb that's slain."
In the same letter, he said to her, —
" A leader is wanting. This honour hath been put upon your Lady-.
ship by the great Head of the Church ; an honour conferred on few,
but an earnest of one to be put upon your Ladyship before men and
angels, when time shall be no more. That you may every day add to
the splendour of your future crown, be always abounding in the work
of the Lord, is the fervent prayer of, &c.  "
The great leaders of both the Methodistic Connexions were
at this period in the metropolis, each at their different spheres,
labouring diligently to promote the salvation of immortal souls.
Lady Huntingdon, always desirous of promoting peace and
unanimity amongst those who professed to be the followers of
her adorable Master, determined on an endeavour to heal the
differences that then existed between . these great and good
men. For this benevolent purpose she wrote to Mr. Whitefield

118 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
and Mr. Wesley, urging on them to love as brethren, to let con
troversy alone, and to labour more zealously for the service of
their Lord and Master. This advice seems to have had the
desired effect. In a letter, dated the 12th of January, 1750,
Mr. Whitefield informed her Ladyship that he had offered Mr.
Wesley to assist occasionally at his chapel : —
" And I do not know (says he) but it may be accepted : your Lady
ship will hear soon. 0 that I may learn from all I see to desire to
be nothing ! and to think it my highest privilege to be an assistant to
all, but the head of none. I find a love of power sometimes intoxicates
even God's own dear children, and makes them to mistake passion for
qeal, and an overbearing spirit for an authority given them from above.
For my own part, I find, it much easier to pbey than govern, and that it
is much safer to be trodden under foot, than tp have it jn one'? powej
to serve others so. This makes me fly from that, which af our first
setting out we are too apt tp court. Thanks be to the Jjord of all
lords for taking any pains with hell-deserving me ! I cannot well bny
humility at too dear a rate." This is a grace after which your Lady
ship pants, and with which our Lord will delight to fill you more and
more. Your Ladyship's letter convinces me that those who know and
do most, think they know and do least. If it were not so, grace itself
would prove our bane, and goodness and ze^l, through the pride and
corruption of our hearts, be our destroyers. Honoured Madam, my
hands and heart are eontinually lifted up for you, that you may abound
ever more in every good word and work, and be clothed with that
humility which your Ladyship delights to wear every day ; I mean that
humble mind which was in Christ Jesus.''
Peace being thus happily restored, Mr. Wesley read prayers
at the chapel in West-street on Friday, the 19th of January,
after wliich Mr, Whitefield preached an affectionate discourse
to a very crowded congregation. On the following Lord's-day
Mr. Whitefield read prayers, and Mr. Wesley preached at the
Tabernacle, after which the Sacrament was administered to
above twelve hundred persons. The following morning Mr.
Wesley prayed at the Foundry, and Howel Harris preached a
powerful sermon to an overflowing auditory. This delighted Mr.
Whitefield much. « Oh for love and gratitude I (he exclaims)
I have now preached thrice in Mr. Wesley's chapel, and God
was with us of a truth." From this time those two great men
always apoke of each other in the most affectionate manner, and
assisted each other in their labours wherever they providentially
met; and kept up a correspondence by letter while Mr. White-
lield lived.
"Thanks be to God (says Lady Huntingdon) for the love and una
nimity which have been displayed oa this happy occasion. May the
Gad of peace and hwmony «jrite yp air in a bond of affection! In

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 119
forbearance towards each other, and mutual kindness, may we imitate
his blessed disciples, so that all those who take knowledge of us may
say — 'See how these Christians love one another!'"
The close of the year 1749, and beginning of the succeeding
year, Lady Huntingdon spent at Ashby-place, fully occupied in
administering to the spiritual and temporal necessities of the
poor around her. In these labours of love her Ladyship was
ably assisted by her domestic chaplain, Mr. Baddelley, and her
excellent sister, the Lady Anne and Lady Frances Hastings.
In her Ladyship's intercourse with the poor and illiterate she
always studied what was most plain and easy, and best suited to
their capacities ; and endeavoured to set before them from time
to time the most important and necessary truths of Christianity,
such as most immediately concerned their speedy conversion
to God ; the sinfulness and misery of their state by nature ; the
desperate depravity of their hearts ; the entire pollution of their
natures ; the heavy guilt they were under, and their liability to
everlasting punishment; as also their utter inability to save
themselves, either from their sins, or from those miseries which
are the just punishment of them ; their unworthiness of any
mercy at the hands of God, on account of any thing they them
selves could do to procure his favour ; and consequently their
extreme need of Christ to save them. These truths were in
sisted on with zeal and fidelity, while, at the same time, her
Ladyship endeavoured to open to the view of her attentive lis
teners the fulness, all-sufficiency, and freedom of that redemp
tion which the Son of God has wrought out by his obedience
and suffering — how this provision he had made was suited to all
their wants ; and how he called and invited them to accept of
everlasting life freely offered, notwithstanding all their sinful
ness, inability, and utter unworthiness.
The degree of knowledge which some of these poor people
attained was considerable : and that which afforded Lady Hun
tingdon the greatest encouragement amidst many difficulties and
disconsolate hours, was, that the truth of God's word seemed
at times to be attended with some power upon the hearts and
consciences of those around her. Several of them came, of
their own accord, to speak with her Ladyship about tiieir souls'
concerns ; and some, with tears, inquired what they must do to
he saved ? A visible reformation appeared in the lives and
manners of some ; many vicious practices were broken off; and
& greater degree of regard was manifested for the Lord's-day.
Yet there was much of a discouraging nature. ; and while the
benevolent heart, of the Countess rejoiced to observe any seri-

120 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
ousness among the poor in her neighbourhood, she was not
without continual fear lest such encouraging appearances might
prove like a morning cloud that passeth away.
Mr. Baddelley resided, as we have said, in the family of Lady
Huntingdon in the capacity of domestic chaplain : his piety.
and talents were much respected by her Ladyship, and he was
very zealous in the discharge of his ministerial duties. His
views of divine truth became more consistent; and at this
change his religious friends rejoiced, and none more than Lady
Huntingdon, whose heart-searching conversations, under the
influence of the Spirit of God, first directed his apprehensions
to Christ's righteousness ; and led him to a clear light and
understanding of the gospel of the grace of God. He seems
to have been peculiarly endeared to her Ladyship, from the.
frequent mention of him in Mr. Whitefield's letters.
" I thank the Lord (says he) ten thousand times that your Ladyship
is so well pleased with Mr. Baddelley : he expresses the strong sense
he has of the obligations he lies under to the Lord Jesus Christ, and
under him, to your Ladyship. 0 that neither of us may prove ungrate
ful in any respect !" And again : " I bless God for Mr. Baddelley,
and rejoice exceedingly in the comfort which your Ladyship has in
him. I will take care to cultivate our acquaintance, and earnestly
pray that it may he blessed to our mutual improvement. I trust he
will be a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and doubt not ere long I shall
hear of his receiving some wounds and scars of honour in the field
of battle." Mr. Whitefield had a strong personal regard for Mr. Bad
delley, and frequently corresponded with him. The following
letter, while it exhibits that good man's concern for him, makes
Mr. Baddelley's principles and views also evident : —
"London, Jan. 12,1750.
" My very dear Sir, — Lest I should be hindered to-morrow, or in
the beginning ofthe week, I now sit down to answer your kind letter.
0 that I may be helped to write something that may do you service,
and be a means of quickening you in that delightful cause in which
you are embarked. I see, my dear Sir, you are likely to have hot
workbefore you quit the field; for I find you have begun to batter
Satan's strongest holds — I mean the self-righteousness of man. Here,
Sir, you must expect the strongest opposition — it is the Diana of every
age— it is the golden image which that apostate Nebuchadnezzar, man,
continually sets up ; and the not falling down to worship it, but much
more the speaking, writing, or preaching against it, exposes one im
mediately to the fury of its blind votaries, and we are thrown directly
into a den of devouring lions. But fear not, Mr. Baddelley, the God
whom we serve, the Captain under whose banner we are fisted, is able
to deliver us : he knows how to train us up gradually for war, and is

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 121
engaged to bring us off more than conquerors from the field of battle.
If any one need give way, it must be the poor creature that is writing
to you, for I believe there is not a person living more timorous by
nature. But I trust, in a degree, Jesus hath delivered me from worldly
hopes and worldly fears, and by his grace strengthening me, he makes
me often bold as a lion. But 0, my dear Sir, this petty character of
mine I did not at first care to part with ; 'twas death to be despised,
and worse than death to think of being laughed at by all : but when
I began to consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners
against himself, I then longed to drink of the same cup, and, blessed
be God, contempt and I are pretty intimate, and have been so for
above twice seven years. Jesus' love makes it a very agreeable com
panion, and I no longer wonder that Moses made such a blessed choice,
and rather chose to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. May the Lord Jesus make
us thus indeed ! For there is no doing good without enduring the
scourge of the tongue ; and take this for a certain rule, ' the more
successful you are, the more hated you will be by Satan, and the more
despised you will be by those that know not God.' What has the
honoured Lady Huntingdon suffered, under whose roof you dwell ?
Above all, what did your blessed Master suffer, who hath done such
great things for you ? 0 let us follow him, though it be through a sea
of blood. I covdd enlarge, but time will not permit. I am ashamed
of my unprofitableness, and must retire after begging that you will
not forget, reverend and dear Sir, yours, &c, " G. Whitefield.'
Whilst Lady Huntingdon was thus actively engaged in the
country, Mr. Whitefield was rejoicing in the success attending
his ministry in the metropolis : —
" Though I am wearied (says he) in walking to and from South
Audley-street,* yet I must not omit sending to your Ladyship this
night. Every day we have new hearers, and I find some one or
another is almost continually brought under convictions, or is edified
at the Tabernacle. Were it is as big again, I believe, on Sunday morn
ings, it would be filled. This day hath been spent with the Countess,t
Lady Gertrude,^ Colonel Gumley, &c. I gave them the communion,
and afterwards preached : the public minister from Genoa came to
hear me, and I believe it was a profitable season. Lady Fanny holds
on, and writes word to the Countess, that she wishes all were as happy
as she hath been in reading Bishop Hall's Contemplations.' "
He also expounded at the residence of Lady Gertrude
Hotham, —
" Where (says he) I gave the blessed sacrament, and afterwards a
word of exhortation. Our Lord was there, and your Ladyship and
* The residence of the Countess Delitz.
f Countess Delitz.
t Lady Gertrude Hotham,

122 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
honoured sisters were remembered before Him. On Tuesday next
the blessed feast is to be again repeated at the Countess's house."
Towards the end of January Lady Huntingdon was attacked
by an alarming indisposition, which for several days seemed to
threaten the loss of her valuable life. The Ladies Hastings,
with that solicitude all must feel for an object of so much moment,
sought the best medical assistance which could be procured in
the vicinity of Ashby-place, yet looked continually to God for
his blessing on every means pointed out for the relief of the
Countess. An express was immediately despatched to North
ampton, and in about ten days the violence of the disease began
to abate under the judicious treatment of Dr. Stonhouse, and
her Ladyship became so far recovered as to be able to write to
her friends, though for some weeks unable to leave her apart
ment. Lady Anne Hastings wrote to apprise Mr. Whitefield
of Lady Huntingdon's alarming situation, but he being in the
country did not receive her letter, and knew nothing of her
Ladyship's indisposition till he heard of her recovery on his
arrival at Bristol, whence he wrote to her thus : —
" With great delight (on my coming to Bristol last night,) I heard
of your Ladyship's recovery. May the Lord of all lords perfect the
begun blessing, and give you to live many years to be an ornament to
his Church, and a blessing to his people. May the Lord Jesus be with
your spirit, and with the spirit of your honoured sisters, whom 1 always
remember. I doubt not but they were much concerned at your Lady
ship's illness. May they long live with you to be fellow-helpers of
each other's faith, and to shine as lights in the world ! May the
blessing of many ready to perish descend on your Ladyship !**
Immediately on the approach of convalescence, Lady Hun
tingdon wrote to Mr. Whitefield, who replied from Bristol, where
he was still labouring, to the following effect : —
" Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in
mercy to his Church and people, is yet pleased to hold your soul in
life, and make your Ladyship instrumental in plucking sinners as
brands out of the burning. AU these things I look upon only as the
earnests of good things to come. Goodness and mercy will follow your
Ladyship all the days of your life, and you shall dwell in the houser
of the Lord for ever ! Lady Anne's sudden shock* proves that the
old observation is true, ' seldom one affliction comes alone.' I rejoice
to hear that her Ladyship ia recovered, and pay the Lord of all tords
so, ta^nptify it to her better part, that she may be ready at a moment's
warning to go forth and meet the heavenly Bridegroom. 0, to be
* Lady Anne Hastings, in consequent of the constant attendance on, and
anxiety for Lady Huntingdon, augend, a seqows, but brief indisposition during
tbe illness ofthe Countess.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 128
always ready— to have nothing to do, but to die 1 Surely the Re
deemer hath purchased this blessing for us. Doth not your Ladyship
find it difficult to be resigned to life, and to continue so long absent
from the Lord ? But there is one consideration which may make life
desirable to the greatest saint on earth ; he may here do and suffer for
Jesus, and call sinners to Him ; but in lieaven all this will be over.
Come life then, come death, Jesus, may thy will be done in, by, and
upon thy people ! I know your Ladyship's heart echoes bapk, Amen.
But what shall I say to the opposition arising at Ashby ? I trust it is
a sign that good has already been done, and that more is still doing.
The Searcher of hearts knows how highly I value your Ladyship's
letters ; yet I think it honour enough to have leave to write to you,
without expecting punctual answers. 0 that I may gladden your
heart with glad tidings from the west ! I believe I shall. I have
been much helped in preaching here, and have heard of two that were
thoroughly ashamed when I was here last. But I forget that your
Ladyship is yet confined to your room. May the Lord Jesus make it
a Bethel, a house of God, and a gate of heaven to your soul !"
Hitherto Lady Huntingdon had not corresponded with Mr.
Hervey, though she had long entertained a great regard, for
this amiable man. One or two letters had passed between
them, but no regular correspondence took place till the close
ofthe year 1749; at which time Mr. Whitefield congratulated
him thus : — " I am glad you have opened a correspondence
with our elect Lady. Keep it open, I entreat you, my dear
friend, and be not nimis nullus." To the repeated reqqest of
Lady Huntingdon, conveyed through Mr- Whitefield, Mr.
Hervey at length yielded, and commenced a correspondence)
which continued uninterrupted till he was removed to his
eternal reward. His first letter was dated February 2, 1750, and
runs thus : —
" My Lady, — It is impossible for me to withhold my pen, or to
neglect the opportunity of the very first post, since I am assured, by
your Ladyship's excellent chaplain, that a letter, from so mean a hand,
may hope for the honour of your acceptance.
" But how shall I proceed, now I have begun ? What religious
truth can I write that your Ladyship h^s not known ? What Chris
tian grace can I suggest, that your Ladyship does not exercise ? Or,
what valuable subject touch upon, which your own meditations have
not gone through ? Yes, there is one subject, vvhich even ypur Lady
ship's exalted apprehensions have never found out to perfeption ; I
mean the sublime and adorable attributes of the infinite God. What
aniazing glories shine forth, even }n the ' back parts' of the Lord
Jehovah I In those transient and dim discoveries qf himself which
He vouchsafes to the children of men • to creatures thaij dwell in
clay- "If we talk Qf poper; wb,o. is like, wfa 1% Lord eur God?

124 THE LIFE AND TIMES OP
'which shaketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof
tremble ; which commandeth the sun and it riseth not, and sealeth up
the stars ; which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon
the waves of the sea ; which doeth great things, past finding out ; yea,
and wonders without number.'
" If we admire greatness ; how supremely great is He who inhabits
eternity ; who spans immensity ; before whom all nations are as the
small drop of the bucket ; are' as the smaller dust upon the balance;
are less than nothing, and vanity.
" If we reverence holiness, the Lord of Hosts is 'glorious in holi
ness.' 0, how transcendently holy is that Being, who looketh into
the moon, and it shineth not ; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight;
who sees defilement in the brightness of the firmament, and charges
his angels with folly.' To the footstool of whose throne, not the most
irreproachable saint may draw near, but only through the atonement
and intercession of a Divine Mediator.
"¦ Does wisdom challenge our esteem ? 0, ' the depths of the
riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God !' He has ordered
all things, through heaven, through earth, and through universal
nature, in numbers, weight, and measure. But, by the marvellous
work of redemption, he has brought light out of darkness ; fetched
the most sovereign good from the most destructive evil ; has recon
ciled the claims of inflexible justice with the overtures of unmerited
mercy. Has given such a display of his unsearchably wise counsels,
as the highest archangels contemplate with amazement, adoration,
and joy.
"Is goodness amiable ? How superabundant is the goodness ofthe
Lord f To give us a world for our accommodation, enriched with
innumerable conveniences, adorned with innumerable beauties, is a
small thing for the God of love. He has prepared a heaven of hap
piness, and mansions of immortal glory, for our final reception. Is
not this enough ? — enough, one would think, to charm our hearts, and
make them glow with gratitude. Yet not nearly enough for the
boundless beneficence of our God. He spared us when we deserved
everlasting punishment. He loved us when we were altogether be
come abominable. So immensely, so inconceivably did he love us,
apostates and rebels as we were, that he gave his Son, his Son beyond
thought illustrious, to die in our stead, and to make a reconciliation
for our iniquities.
" My paper shortens, and my subject increases. I must therefore
refrain. Only I pray that your Ladyship may enjoy, every day, every
hour, every moment, richer manifestations of this adorable God, and
of Jesus Christ, whom he hath sent. May your Ladyship delight
yourself in this unutterably excellent Being, and may He give you the
desire of your heart ! Your Ladyship's desire, I am persuaded, is,
that you may be conformed to His lovely image, and resigned to His
blessed will. My desire, and the desire of thousands, to whom your
Ladyship's bounty has boen a relief, and your Ladyship's example a
blessing, is comprehended in that precious promise recorded Psalm xci.
14, 15, 16. I have not room to transcribe it ; but it shall be turned

SELINA, COUNTESS OP HUNTINGDON. 125
into a prayer for your Ladyship, by your Ladyship's most obliged and
most dutiful servant, "James Hervey."
To return to Mr. Whitefield. From Bristol he proceeded to
the Land's End, preaching at a great many places by the way.
From St. Ginny's he writes thus : —
" I preached at Tavistock on my way hither, and yesterday was a
glorious day of the Son of Man. Our Lord gave us to see his stately
steps and outdoings in the sanctuary. Four of Mr. Wesley's preachers
were present, and also four clergymen in their gowns and cassocks;
Mr. Bennett, aged four-score, Mr. Thompson, Mr. Grigg, and myself.
Mr. Thompson desired that his most dutiful respects might be pre
sented to your Ladyship. Blessed be God that you are better. I am
not forgetful of you by night or by day. I hope the souls of your
honoured sisters do prosper ; and that you will yet live to see Jesus
Christ formed in the hearts of all your relations. That every thing
your Ladyship writes, says, or does, may be mightily owned and
blessed by the Redeemer, is the continual prayer of your Ladyship's
most obbged and ready servant, for Christ's sake."
One reason for Mr. Whitefield's visit to the West, at this
time, was to see how his letter to the Bishop of Exeter had _i
been received. He found, in his own circle there, that it had
been " much blest." He learnt also, that " my Lord of Exeter
had said, he writes like an honest man, and had recanted several
things ; but," added Lavington, " he goes on in the same way
yet." He did. He went to Exeter, and appeared in the fields
again. The Bishop, therefore, threatened another pamphlet.
Lavington could do no more against Methodists than write.
Mr. Thompson, Vicar of St. Ginny's, the intimate friend of Lady
Huntingdon, Mr. Whitefield, Mr. Wesley, and Mr. Hervey —
was educated at Exeter College, Oxford ; and after entering into
orders, became Chaplain to the " Tiger" man-of-war, in wliich
he went to America. On his return to England he became
incumbent of St. Ginny's — near Camelford, in Cornwall, and
succeeded to a family estate of about five hundred pounds a
year. He was a first-rate genius, and much caressed by neigh
bouring ministers and gentry ; but was a very gay, dissipated
young man. In the midst of his debaucheries he had the fol
lowing dream : — " This day month, at six in the afternoon, you
must appear before the judgment of Christ, to give an account
of the dreadful abuse of all your talents, and the injuries done
to the souls committed to your care." This remarkable dream,
twice repeated, with circumstances of great terror, was the
means of his conversion. He was now filled with a burning
zeal for the honour of God, and love for immortal souls. He

126 THE LIFE AND TIMES O*
returned to his pulpit, and commenced preaching experimentally
the doctrine of man's fall, sin, and misery ; the necessity of
regeneration; the imputation of Christ's righteousness; the
necessity of holiness as the evidence of acceptance before a
holv God; and the absolute need of the energy of the Holy
Spirit, to begin and carry on a saving change in the heart and
life. The hand of the Lord remarkably sealed the promulga
tion of these doctrines in the conversion of numbers in his
parish. In March 1748, all the neighbouring ministers shut
their pulpit doors against him ; and he was soon after sum
moned before his diocesan to answer the charges made against
him. The Bishop threatened to " strip the gown from him"
for his '' Methodistical practices," and for daring to counte
nance Mr. Whitefield. His Lordship was saved the trouble ; for
that moment, Mr. Thompson stripped himself, and throwing
the gown at Lavington's feet, said, " I can preach the Gospel
without a gown ;"* and retired. Astonished at such indepen
dent conduct, the Bishop stood amazed, and on recovering
his surprise, sent for Mr. Thompson, and soothed him : but he
indemnified himself for his condescension, by publishing im
mediately the second part of his "Enthusiasm Compared."
Mr. Whitefield had good reason, as well as great provocation,
to say of both parts, " The Bishop has served the Methodists
as the Bishop of Constance served John Huss, when he ordered
painted devils to be put round his head before burning him."
He did not answer him. He did better. He went to Exeter,
* Dr. Doddridge in his " Life of Colonel Gardiner," alludes to Mr. Thomp
son when he says, ' The conversion of Colonel Gardiner is not altogether sin
gular. There is at least a second, whose story may be told whenever the
Established Church shall lose one of its brightest living ornaments, and one of
the most useful members whicli that, or perhaps any Christian communion,
can boast.' Remarking on this passage, the late Mr. Palmer, of Hackney, in
his correspondertice with Mr. Newton, has supposed Mr. Grimshaw was tbe
clergyman referred to; but Mr. Darvidson, who, in June 1748, had the account
from Dr, Doddridge's own mouth, says it was Mr. Thompson. Mr. Hervey,
during his residence at Bideford, was intimate with Mr. Thompson, to whose
revisttfl were submitted his " Meditations and Reflections," and the first voiotne
of his " Meditations" was dedicated to Mr. Thompson's eldest daughter. Mr.
Thompson died in 1781, and his widow, a very pious and amiable woman, in
1786. (See some interesting particulars of his life in " Eon's Trumpet," a
periodical published m 1800.) His letter to Dr. Watts, printed in «'Dr. Gib-
Don's Memoirs," is well worth perusal, and a volume of his religions poems was
published without his name, by the Rev. Samuel Furlong, of St. Roebe. Mr.
Thompson lost his sight several years before his death ; and, although he had
joined himself to a church of the United Brethren, retained his living, and con
tinued active and useful in his parish. He was a visiter and correspondent of
the Countess, and a, man of lively passions and of jocular discourse, and his
poetical abilities were considerable. When Mr. Whitefield or Mr. Wesley
visited Cornwall, he itinerated with them, and was made instrumental in tHe
cewversiow of his'ncjghbour, the Rev, W. Hill, of Tavistock.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 127
accompanied by a rural Dean, to preach the Gospel as usual,
and divine influence accompanied the word. " This, (he says)
is, I think, the best way to answer those who oppose them
selves." He preached there twice on the same day. In the
evening, the Bishop and several of his Clergy stood near to him,
and saw ten thousand persons awe-struck by his appeals. They
saw also three large stones thrown in succession at his head,
by a furious drunkard, one of which cut him severely ; but
neither the high-priest nor his Levites interfered, although one
of their own parishioners also was felled to the ground at the
same time.
These particulars are detailed in a letter from Mr. Whitefield
to Lady Huntingdon.
About this period Lady Huntingdon received the melancholy
intelligence of the death ofthe Duke of Somerset, which occurred.
on the 7th of February, at Percy Lodge, near Colnbrook.
" Truly (writes her Ladyship) I sympathize with my beloved
Duchess on the loss of such a husband, who was not more dis
tinguished for his high birth and exalted rank, than for gene
rosity, affability, and every amiable quality which can render a
nobleman beloved and esteemed." For some time previous to
his decease, his Grace was afflicted with severe pain, which he
was enabled to bear with the utmost patience and sweetness of
temper. He was a man of real piety, and presented to the
view of every noble person a pattern worthy of imitation. His
end was peace : and in his last moments he displayed such a
calmness, composure, land resignedness, such a heroic fortitude
and constancy in death! as excited admiration, and left a glorious
proof of the powerful 'support with which the faith and hope of
the real Christian will furnish the good man in his most destitute
and latest moments.
On the decease of the Duke, her Grace retired to " Percy
Lodge," the place so often mentioned in the works of Shen-
stone, Thomson, and other poets of her time, by whom she
was deservedly admired and celebrated for her fine taste, distin
guished genius, amiable manners, and exalted virtues. It was
at Bath that Lady Huntingdon first became acquainted with the
Duchess, to whom she was introduced by the Dowager Lady
Hyndford, when a friendship commenced that continued unin
terrupted to the death of her Grace, which took place a few
years after.*
* Before her formal introduction, however, the Countess had exchanged
letters with her Grace, at the express request of the Rev. Moses Browne, who
acted as the Duke's chaplain, when Ms Grace did not himself officiate in that
capacity; for he thought it not unbecoming his station as a peer of the realm

128 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Her Grace's acquaintance with Lady Huntingdon was the
means, under God, of leading her to a saving knowledge of the
Gospel before she was removed hence. Mr. Whitefield, writing
to Governor Belcher, speaking of Lady Huntingdon, says :—
" Her Ladyship corresponds with the Duchess of Somerset, but
I fear the latter doth not yet glory in the cross of Christ so much
as might be wished. You know we must have true self-denial
and a disinterested spirit, before we can be sincerely willing to
be accounted fools for Christ's sake."

CHAPTER IX.
Earthquake in London— Mr. Romaine, his popularity — Lord Northampton—
The King's Coachman  Lady Huntingdon appoints Mr. Romaine her Chap
lain  Ashby-place— Dr. Stonhouse — Dr. Akenside — New Jersey College-
Governor Belcher— President Burr — Dissenting Ministers — Dr. Doddridge
—Education of Ministers—Mrs. Hester Gibbon— Mr. Law— Mr. Whitefield
 Success of his Ministry at Rotherham — Dr. Doddridge dedicates his Sermon
to Lady Huntingdon — Lord Lyttleton— Mr. Hervey— Dr. Doddridge visits
Ashby — Singular Accident — Lady Stonhouse — Colonel and Mr. Galatin—
Dr. Cotton — Miss Hotham.
Events of a most disastrous and terrifying nature had at this
time spread a general alarm, and awakened the most stolid in
the metropolis to a sense of danger. The earthquake by which
Lisbon was destroyed, the shocks felt in London, and the false
alarm excited by pretended prophecies of still greater devasta
tion, had filled many with terror, whom they eould not bring to
repentance. These signal judgments of Jehovah were preceded
by great profligacy of manners, and its fruitful parent, licentious
ness of principle. Iniquity stalked with brazen front through
the streets ; and error, in ten thousand forms, vented its unsofir
ened blasphemies against God and his Messiah.
to lead the prayers of his family. Mr. Browne was an eye-witness of the
Duke's singular worth, and had begun to taste his favours when he was taken
to his eternal rest. " Had the Duke lived (observes Mr. Hervey) poor Browne
would have met with the encouragement he deserves. He loved and fully
intended to have served him." A short poem, called " Percy Hill," was written
by lur. Browne, at the request of the Duke and Duchess, but was not pubhshed
till 1756, after the death of both.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 129
" As to faith, (says one who preached on that occasion),) is not the
doctrine of the Trinity, and that of the Divinity of our Lord and Sa
viour, without which our redemption is absolutely void, and we are yet
in our sins, lying under the intolerable burden of the wrath of God,
blasphemed and ridiculed openly in conversation and in print ? And
as to righteousness of life, are not the people of this land dead in tres
passes and sins ? Idleness, drunkenness, luxury, extravagance, and
debauchery : for these things cometh the wrath of God, and disordered
nature proclaims the impending distress and perplexity of nations.
And, 0, may we of this nation never read a handwriting upon the wall
of heaven in illuminated capitals of the Almighty — Mene, Mene,
Tekel, Uphabsin : God hath numbered the kingdom, and finished it.
Thou art weighed in the balances of Heaven, and found wanting the
merits of a rejected Redeemer, and therefore the kingdom is divided
and given away."*
The shocks felt in London at this time were considerably
more violent than any remembered for a great number of years :
the earth moved westward, then east, then westward again,
through all London and Westminster. It was a strong and
jarring motion, attended with a rumbling noise like that of
thunder. Many houses were much shaken, and some chimneys
thrown down, but without any further hurt. Multitudes of
every description fled from the city with astonishing precipita
tion, and others repaired to the fields and open places in the
city. Tower Hill, Moorfields, and, above all, Hyde Park, were
crowded with men, women, and children, who remained there a
whole night under direful apprehensions. Places of worship
were thronged with frightened sinners, especially the chapels
of the Methodists, where multitudes came all night knocking at
the doors and begging admittance for God's sake. The con
vulsions of nature are always regarded by enthusiasts and
fanatics as the sure harbingers of its final dissolution. A soldier
" had a revelation" that a great part of London and West
minster would be destroyed by an earthquake on a certain night,
between the hours of twelve and one o'clock. In consequence of
his assertion thousands fled from the city for fear of being sud
denly overwhelmed, and repaired to the fields, where they con
tinued all night, in momentary expectation of beholding the
prophecy fulfilled : whilst thousands ran about the streets in the
most wild and frantic state of consternation, quite certain that
the day of judgment was about to commence : the scene
* See a Sermon preached before the University of Oxford, and at several
other places, on occasion of the late earthquakes, by George Horne, M.A., Fel
low of Magdalen College, afterwards Dean of Canterbury, and Bishop of
Norwich. VOL. I. — K

130 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
was truly awful. Fear filled the chapels ofthe Methodists with
persons of every description. Mr. Charles Wesley, who was
then in London, preached incessantly, and very many were
awakened to a sense of their awful condition befoie God, and
led to rest their hopes of eternal salvation on the Rock of Ages.
Mr. Whitefield, animated with that burning charity which shone
so conspicuously in him, ventured out at midnight to Hyde
Park, where he proclaimed to the affrighted and astonished
multitudes the most essential and important intelligence that
ever assailed the ear of mortals — that there is a Saviour, Christ
the Lord. The darkness of the night, and the awful horrors of
an approaching earthquake, added much to the solemnity of the
scene. The sermon was truly sublime, and to the ungodly
sinner, the self-righteous pharisee, and the artful hypocrite,
strikingly terrific. With a pathos that bespoke the fervour of
his soul, and with a grand majestic voice that commanded at
tention, he took occasion from the circumstances of their assem
bling to call the attention of the surrounding thousands to that
most important event, in which every soul will be essentially
and particularly concerned, namely, the grand final consum
mation of all things, the universal wreck of nature, the disso
lution of this lower world, and the confirming and fixing the
eternal and unalterable state of every son and daughter of Adam.
The awful manner in which he addressed the careless, Christ-
less sinner, the sublimity of the discourse, and the appearance of
the place, added to the gloom of the night, combined to impress
the mind with seriousness, and to render the event solemn and
memorable in the highest degree. Among those who failed not
to improve these awful providences was Mr. Romaine, who then
published his " Alarm to a Careless World," and " The Duty
of Watchfulness enforced," subjects treated so nobly, and with
such awful views of our state and danger, that the two dis
courses remain, not merely the temporary warnings of the day,
but equally applicable at the present time to the inhabitants of
the great metropolis, where the sins that bring down God's
judgment, and the number of those who commit them, seem to
have gone on in an increasing ratio, and the same punishment
for which can be delayed or averted only by the piety and
pravers of such men as Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Romaine.
We must brave abuse when speaking the truth, and fear not
to lay open the nakedness of the land, because of the enmity
which the fidelity of our narrative may excite. It may be a
bold, but it is nevertheless a faithful assertion, that Mr. Romaine
was, at the time of which we speak, almost, if not altogether,
singular in the testimony he -bore for Christ in the Church of

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON, 131
England in this metropolis. The Methodists had indeed
awakened great attention ; they had at their commencement
attracted immense auditories by their occasional discourses in
the different churches to which they were invited ; but as no
one of them had any church settlement in the metropolis
which could be considered as legally his own, the doors of the
Church were soon closed against them, and they were driven
into the fields, or into the chapels of their own erection, whither
they whom their ministry had awakened fled for refuge, resolved
to hear the Gospel wheresoever it should be preached, rather
than be confined to mere morals and the husks of formality.
They who have once tasted that the Lord is gracious must have
the bread of life, and they will seek it even in Egypt.
Mr. Romaine, who had descended from the stilts of self-taught
excellence, and the enticing words of man's wisdom, to the plain
ness and simplicity of the doctrine of the Cross, determined
henceforth to know nothing else but Jesus Christ, and him cru
cified ; and God immediately began to bless his testimony with
the signs of conversion. He had been elected to St. Dunstan's
somewhat before his appointment to St. George's, Hanover-
square, and at both places the word of Lord, preached in
the hght of love, was glorified. Mr. Romaine's now eminent
position drew attention — to his voice, his manner, and more
especially to the subjects he treated, to the dissimilarity of all
around him to what was observed in other churches. Althouch
he still adhered to the written sermon, he delivered it with
energy and pathos, and great and small bore testimony to the
power with which he spake. The Gospel from his mouth ap
peared to them another gospel from that which they had heard
before. His fame spread — multitudes thronged around him ;
the church was crowded, the parishioners incommoded ;* the
merely formal among the clergy were tacitly reproved by his
example, so opposite to theirs; a conspiracy was formed to
remove him, and the Rector, wrought upon by his enemies, was
induced to dismiss him, on no other ground than that he had
ceased not to preach and to teach the Gospel of Christ Jesus.
Among the members of the congregation, who continued sted
fast to Mr. Romaine, was Mr. John Sanderson, many years state-
coachman to George III. He exemplified in himself tlie life,
* Among them was the old Earl of Northampton, who well rebuked those
who complained of the crowding in the Church of God, by reminding them that
they bore the greater crowd of a ball-room, an assembly, or a play-house,
without the least complaint. " If (he said) the power to attract be imputed as
matter of admiration to Garrick, why should it be urged as a crime against
Romaine? Shall excellence be considered exceptionable only in divine things?"
k2

132 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
the walk, and the triumph of faith so excellently described by
the honoured instrument of his conversion. Of this individual,
now occupying a place before Him who is no respecter of per
sons, a few recollections may be acceptable. He was brought
up a coachman, and although in his day post-chaises were in
little use, yet his road-work, such as driving the nobility down
to Bath, &c, had already pointed him out for good conduct and
recommended him to favour, when, being at Exeter, while Mr.
Cennick was preaching in the streets, a new motive for the exer
cise of Christian energy was afforded him ; the preacher, who
had already been ill-treated by the mob, was. expatiating on the
blood of Christ, when a ruffian butcher, exclaiming "if you
like blood you shall soon have enough of it," rushed from his
shop with a pail nearly full of blood, which he would have cast
on Mr. Cennick had not Mr. Sanderson calmly met him, and,
suddenly catching the pail, poured its contents over the man's
own head. This drew the attention of the mob from the
preacher to Mr. Sanderson, who escaped with difficulty, and was
obliged to leave the city early in the morning. From that
moment to his death, which occurred on the 13th of August,
1799, in the 89th year of his age, he adorned the doctrine he
professed by a conversation such as becometh godliness.
But the greatest good often results from the sufferings and
persecutions of God"s people ; as the blood of the Martyrs has
been always the seed of the Church. Lord Northampton, who
had married Lady Huntingdon's relative, the Baroness Ferrars,
of Chartley, grand-daughter and heir of Robert, first Earl Fer
rars,* had mentioned Mr. Romaine with high commendation.,
He spoke of his doctrine with respect, and of his abilities with
admiration. He was now turned out of St. George's, Hanover-
square, but, reluctant to part with many who were dear to him,
and who wished still to profit by his labours, he met them at the
house of a Mr. Butcher; for wliich pretended irregularity, being
threatened with a prosecution in the most apostolic spiritual
court, the excellent Lady Huntingdon, supposing she had a
right to protect -him from this fresh opposition, invited him to
her house in Park-street, gave him her scarf, and as her chap
lain he continued long to preach to the poor in her kitchen
* His Lordship's youngest daughter, Lady Charlotte Compton, succeeded, on
the termination ofthe abeyance, by the demise of her eldest sister, in 1749, as
Baroness Ferrars, of Cliartley, and carried that barony by marriage, in 1751,
with George first Marquis Townshend, to the family of Townshend, as also
the Barony of Compton, on the demise of her father, in 1754. The Earl of
Northampton died without issue male, October 3, 1754. His attention was
called to the concerns of an eternal world by the preaching of Mr. Whitefield at
the house of Lady Huntingdon,

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 133
unmolested; as he did afterwards in her drawing-room, to
numbers of the nobility who were invited by her Ladyship to
hear the Gospel ; and where by his aid, with that of Mr.White-
field, the seraphic Mr. Jones of St. Saviour's, Mr. Wesley, and
others, a weekly lecture was delivered to a very polite circle.
The utility of these labours shortly after induced the Countess
to erect or open a variety of chapels at Brighton, Oathall,
Bath, and Bretby, in all which Mr. Romaine zealously laboured
for her with singular benediction. But the relation of these
faithful services, and the great success attending them, must be
reserved for a fitter period of our history, with the observation
that God never fails to bring still greater good out of man's
enmity and opposition to his Gospel. " The wrath of man
shall praise him."
To return to the earthquake. During that awful visitation
Lady Huntingdon continued at Ashby-place, much indisposed.
In a letter to her Ladyship, Mr. Whitefield says : —
" God has been terribly shaking the metropolis. I hope it is an
earnest of his giving a shock to secure sinners, and making them to
cry out, What shall we do to be saved ? I trust, honoured Madam, you
have been brought to believe on the Lord Jesus, and have experienced
the beginning of a real salvation in your heart. What a mercy is this !
To be plucked as a brand out of the burning — to be one of those few
mighty and noble that are called effectually by the grace of God ; what
consolation must this administer to your Ladyship under all afflictions !
What can shake a soul whose hopes of happiness, in time and in eter
nity, are built upon the Rock of Ages ? Winds may blow, rains may
and will descend even upon persons of the most exalted stations ; but
they that trust in the Lord Jesus Christ never shall, never can, be
totally confounded."
In a letter to the Countess Delitz, sister to the excellent
Lady Chesterfield, he likewise notices the awful occurrences in
the metropolis : —
" The earthquake hath been an alarming providence. Happy they
that have an interest in Christ, and are always ready ! On him alone
is my strength and safety founded. Did not this support and comfort
your Ladyship under the awful alarm ? Go on, then, honoured Madam,
and, by a constant looking to Jesus, make continual advance in the
divine life which I believe hath been communicated to you from above.
The more you see of his excellences, the more will all created things
sicken and die in your view and taste. Wherever I am, your' Lady
ship and honoured sister, with the other honourable ladies, are con
tinually remembered by me at the throne of grace. I hope all are
determined with full purpose of heart to cleave unto the Lord."
Lady Huntingdon's indisposition still continuing, Mr. White-

134 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
field left London for Ashby, and on his way thither had an
interview with Drs. Stonhouse and Doddridge, and Messrs.
Hervey and Hartley.
" On the Tuesday (says Mr. Whitefield) I preached in the morning
to Dr. Doddridge's family, and in the afternoon to above twOjthousand
in the field. Dr. Stonhouse, Mr. Hervey, &c. attended me, and walked
with me afterwards along tbe street ; so that I hope the physician will
now turn his back on the world, and be content to follow a despised
crucified Redeemer without reserve. I expounded at his house in the
evening, and am hereafter to come to it as my own."
Of this interview Mr. Hervey has preserved the following
account : —
" I have seen lately that most excellent minister of the ever-blessed
Jesus, Mr. Whitefield. I dined, supped, and spent the evening with
him at Northampton, in company with Dr. Doddridge and two pious
ingenious clergymen of the Church of England,* both of them known
to the learned world by their valuable writings. And, surely, I never
spent a more delightful evening, or saw one that seemed to make nearer
approaches to the felicity of heaven. A gentleman of great worth and
rank in the town invited us to his house, and gave us an elegant treat ;
but how mean was his provision, how coarse his delicacies, compared
with the fruit of my friend's lips ! — 'they dropped as the honey-comb,
and were a well of life. Surely people do not know that amiable and
exemplary man, or else, I cannot but think, instead of depreciating,
they would applaud and love him. For my part, I never beheld so
fair a copy of our Lord, such a living image of the Saviour, such
exalted delight in God, such enlarged benevolence to man, such a steady
faith in the Divine promises, and such a fervent zeal for the Divine
glory; and all this without the least moroseness of humour, or .extra
vagances of behaviour, sweetened with the most engaging cheerfulness
of temper, and regulated by all the sobriety of reason and wisdom of
Scripture ; insomuch, that I cannot forbear applying the wise man's •
encomium of au illustrious, woman to this eminent minister of the ever
lasting Gospel : ' Many sons have done virtuously, but thou excellent
them all.' "
On Mr. Whitefield's arrival at Ashby, he found the Countess
very weak, but better than he expected. On this, as on a former
visit to Ashby, some of the baser sort were stirred up to riot
be-fore her Ladyship's door while Mr. Whitefield was preaching,
and some persons in their way home narrowly escaped being
murdered. A magistrate residing in the neighbourhood, sent a
message to Lady Huntingdon, in order to bring the offenders
before him. In a letter to Mrs. Colonel Galatin, Mr. White-
field says :— =¦ * Dr, Stonhouse and Mr, Jtartfey,

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 135
" Good Lady Huntingdon hath been ill, but is recovering. There
hath been an awakening at Ashby ; but opposition begins to show itself
in these parts by the instrumentality of a Dissenting Minister."
To another of his correspondents he writes thus : —
"For a few days I have been at good Lady Huntingdon's, who-
though weak in body, is always abounding in the work of the Lord
I preach daily at her Ladyship's, and this week, God willing, I shall
preach in two or three churches."
After Mr. Whitefield left Ashby, in a letter to her Ladyship
he says : —
" I shall be glad to hear what becomes ef the rioters. 0 that your
Ladyship may five to see many of those Ashby stones become children
to Abraham!" And again: — "Ungrateful Ashby! 0, that thou
knewest the day of thy visitation ! Surely your Ladyship may shake
off the dust of your feet against them. This was the command which
the meek and lowly Jesus gave to his Apostles where the Gospel was
not received ; and he himself departed when the Gadarenes desired
him to go from their coasts. This justifies your Ladyship in removing
Mr. Baddeley. What avails throwing pearls before swine, who only
turn again and rend you ?"
In a subsequent letter he writes : —
" EveKhonoured Madam,— The Lord as yet hath but begun to bless
you ; you shaU, you shall, you will be made a great blessing indeed. If
dear Mr. Hervey gets Ashby, that will be making you a blessing. I
om glad that both he and Mr. Doddridge have been with your Lady
ship. I would have all good ministers come and visit you ; there are
numbers would go scores of miles willingly for that purpose. Your
Ladyship hath acted like yourself in forgiving the offenders ; such
offences come that Christ's followers may give evidence of his blessed
temper being wrought in their hearts. Your letter revived my heart,
and gave me some fresh hopes for ungrateful Ashby."
To his friend and correspondent, Lady Gertrude Hotham,
Mr. Whitefield says : —
"Good Lady Huntingdon I left some time ago, weak in body, but
Strong in the grace which is in Jesus Christ. Thousands and thousands
flocked to hear the word twice every day, and the power of God has
attended it. in a glorious manner. But the good people of Ashby were
so kind as to mob round her Ladyship's door whilst the Gospel was
preaching. Alas ! how great and irrecoftcileable is the enmity of the
serpent ! This is my comfort-^the seed of the woman shall at length
be more than conqueror over all. Her Ladyship Will yet Jive, I trust
to declare the works of the Lord. Ashby is not worthy of so rieh a
pearl. The Countess and Lady Fanny were opnjtantly remembered
at Ashby at the holy table."*
" Some years after a chapel in Lady fluntfogdoirt Connexion wtw opened.

136 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
About the period that Dr. Stonhouse* and Dr. Akenside,
author of the " Pleasures of Imagination," came to reside at
Northampton, the Rev. James Hervey had also removed to that
part of the country, and his preaching began to be attended
with signal snccess. Mr. Whitefield soon after paid a visit to
Northampton, and was invited by Dr. Doddridge to preach in
his pulpit. This gave violent offence, and exposed the Doctor
at Ashby, and supplied by clergymen and students from Trevecca. In the
summer of 1784 Mr. Wills preached there to a very large congregation, on these
words— "How can man be justified with God?" Job xxv. 4. "It is very re
markable (says Mr. Wills), th#t so long ago as when dear Lady Huntingdon
resided in this town, though it is one of the manors belonging to Lord Hunting
don's family, nothing could exceed the enmity shown against the Gospel,
and even personally to her Ladyship, on many occasions ; but now this public
opposition appears to be at an end ; at least I met with nothing of the kind."
— The old chapel being very much out of repair and too small, a new one was
erected, and opened in July 1825, on which occasion Dr. Collyer preached
morning and evening to respectable and numerous congregations.
* Dr. Stonhouse, afterwards so well known as the Rev. Sir James Stonhouse,
Bart., Rector of Great and Little Cheveril, Wilts, had his education at Win
chester School; and was, afterwards, of St. John's College, Oxford. He .had
his medical education under Dr. Nicholls, the celebrated anatomist, and Pro
fessor of Anatomy, in Oxford. He was a deist, and took great pains to instil
his pernicious principles into the minds of his pupils. . " Under him (said Dr.
Stonhouse) I commenced infidel." During the years that he remained in this
awful state of delusion, he did all he could to subvert Christianity, and wrote
a keen pamphlet against it ; " for writing and spreading of which (says he,) I
humbly hope God has forgiven me, though I never can forgive myself." His
conversion to Christianity, and the various circumstances attending it, were
such, that he was persuaded to write the history of his life, with many reflec
tions on the several circumstances of it. He kept this by him for some years,
altering and adding, as his recollection enabled him. He read it occasionally
to some of his intimate friends, who highly approved of it ; and it was his
intention that it should have been printed soon after his death, not through
vanity, but as a public acknowledgment of his heinous offences against God,
and his hope of pardon through a crucified Redeemer. But on reading it to a
person for whose judgment he had the highest regard, he gave the Doctor such
valid reasons against the publication, that he burnt it soon after, lest an ill use
should have been made of it after his decease. In a letter to a friend, speaking
of this event, Dr. Doddridge expresses himself in the following manner:—
" One ofthe most signal instances in which God has ever honoured me, is in the
conversion of a physician, in this town, who was once free in his manner of
living, and a confirmed deist. God made me the means of first bringing him
to a conviction ofthe truth of Christianity, and at length of enlightening his
mmd with the true and saving knowledge of Christ, to which I bless God he
has now attained. Good Mr. Hervey has been honoured as a fellow-labourer
with me in this work. My book on the ' Rise and Progress of Religion ' has
been, I hope, honoured of God, as one great means of producing this blessed
change." A full account of Dr. Stonhouse, and the circumstances of his con
version from infidelity, may be found in " Hervey's Letters," " Doddridge's
Letters," and " Letters from Sir James gtonhouse to the Rev. Thomas Sted-
man, Vicar of St. Chad's, Shrewsbury." Mr. Hervey's letters on his ordination,
ftrst as deacon, by the Bishop of Hereford, and then as priest, hy the Bishop of
Unstol ; the letters of Mr. Whitefield and Lady Huntingdon ; and the death of
llYt- (tS! t1?6!* d^.ehter of J- Neal, Esq., M.P. for Coventry), were among
he things that led to his conversion.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 137
to the censure and expostulations of many of his brethren in
the ministry : but the christian simplicity and gentle firmness
with which Dr. Doddridge defended himself and two of his
pupils, Mr. Darracott and Mr.Tawcett, from the unmerited and
bigoted reproaches with which his moderate conduct towards
the Methodists had been assailed, reflects the highest credit on
his character. The wrath manifested towards him was unrea
sonable ; for Mr. Whitefield's visit at Northampton was rather
to his old friend and brother churchman, the ingenious author
of the " Meditations."
Dr. Johnson, in his " Lives of the Poets," speaking of Aken
side, observes, " Being now to live by his profession, he first
commenced physician, at Northampton, where Dr. Stonhouse
then practised with such reputation and success, that a stranger
was not likely to gain ground upon him." Dr. Akenside was
patronized by the Huntingdon family, and an Ode was addressed
by him to the young Lord Hastings, afterwards Earl of Hun
tingdon. Encouraged by such patronage, he tried the contest
with Dr. Stonhouse for a time ; but his unnecessary zeal for
what he called and thought liberty, disgusted Lord Huntingdon :
" A zeal (says Dr. Johnson) which sometimes disguises from
the world, and not rarely from the mind which it possesses, an
anxious desire of plundering wealth or degrading greatness ; and
of which the immediate tendency is innovation and anarchy —
an impetuous eagerness to subvert and confound, with very little
care what shall be established." Though the son of a Presby
terian, and educated for the office of a dissenting minister, yet
he was entirely unsupported by the Dissenters at Northampton.
He might have had the support and countenance of Dr. Dod
dridge, to whom he was known, but the intimacy which had
subsisted for some time between him and Dr. Stonhouse, and
the obligation which the town and country owed to the latter, as
the founder of the Infirmary, induced him to deny his support to
Dr. Akenside, who, after losing the patronage of Lord Hunting
don, and deafening the place with clamours for liberty, removed
to Hampstead, where he resided a short time, and then fixed
himself in London, the proper place for a man of accomplish
ments like his.
Of Mr. Hervey, Mr. Whitefield says : —
"Your sentiments concerning Mr. Hervey's book are very just.
It has gone through six editions ; the author of it is my old friend, a
most heavenly-minded creature, one of the first of the Methodists,
who is contented with a small cure, and gives all that he has to the

138 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
poor. He is very weak, and waits daily for his dissolution. A neigh-
Wine clergyman* near him preaches the Gospel ; and a physician,*
formerTv a noted deist, has lately espoused the interest of Jesus of
Nazareth. We correspond with, though we cannot see one another:
we shall, ere long, meet in heaven ;
" There pain, and sin, and sorrow cease,
And all is calm, and joy, and peace."
Soon after Dr. Stonhouse, the converted infidel, had become
the apostolic minister, we find Mr. Whitefield writing thus to
Mr. Hervey : —
For Christ's sake, my dear Mr. Hervey, exhort Dr. Stonhouse,
now he hath taken the gown, to play the man, and let the world see
that, not worldly motives, but God's glory and a love for souls, have
sent him into the ministry. Though when I conversed with him he
was exceedingly weak, yet, as I trust there is sincerity at the bottom,
I hope he will turn out a flamer at last."
The prevailing weakness of this good man was a dread of
being considered a Methodist. Worldly hopes and worldly fears
were a perpetual stumbling-block in his way. He had not yet
learned to endure the cross, despising the shame.
" I earnestly wish (says the Countess) to see you more actively
engaged in the cause of "Christ, and in shedding abroad the savour of
his° most precious name. Go forth boldly— fear not the reproach of
man, and preach the inestimable gift of God to impotent sinners. My
poor intercessions are ever offered in your behalf, that you may be
led forth to testify the righteousness of our Immanuel, freely imputed
to guilty, hell-deserving man, for his complete justification and accept
ance with the judge of all; and I shall cease not to beseech the Father
of Mercies and Fountain of Light that you may be anointed with the
Holy Ghost and with power."f
Mr. Whitefield's interview with Dr. Stonhouse, on his way te
* Mr. Hartley, Rector of Winwick. t Dr. Stonhouse.
J Her Ladyship, for whom he preached at Northampton, Weston Favel, and
at Ashby, and at whose house he often expounded, was plain and clear in her
remonstrances. He acknowledges one of her Ladyship's letters in these terras:
" Many, many thanks, my dear Madam, for the judgment, discrimination, and
fidelity you have displayed in the letter I have lately had the honour of receiving
from your Ladyship. I humbly hope the glory of my divine Master, and
the salvation of souls, have been the ruling motives which induced me to seek
to be a minister of the everlasting GospeL Ptay for me, roy dear Madam, that
I may be faithful unto death, and that some, by my instrumentality, may be
turned! from darkness to light. Allow me to express my heartfelt gratitnde for
the very faithful manner in whicli yau have placed my various duties before me
— duties high and honourable, but arduous, indeed. May He that hath called
me to the work, give me grace to continuetfeitliM to the end. 1 What holy aad

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 139
to Ashby, excited in his warm and generous heart the live
liest sensations of gratitude for the signal conversion which
God had wrought. On his arrival at Lady Huntingdon's he
communicated what he had witnessed to her Ladyship, who
rejoiced with him that the Doctor had been called without
the camp to bear that reproach which all who will live godly
in Christ Jesus, but especially those who preach him to a
proud, self-righteous, gainsaying world, must ever expect to
meet for their fidelity. Knowing some of the peculiarities
of his character, Mr. Whitefield lost not a moment in com
municating that advice which he conceived most needed for
the confirming of the new convert.* A few days after his
arrival at Lady Huntingdon's he addressed the following letter
to Dr. Stonhouse : — "Ashby, May 11, 1750.
" My dear Doctor, — I have thought of and prayed for you much,
sinee we parted at Northampton. Now, I belie ve„ is the time in which
tbe axe is to be laid at the very root of the tree. How wonderfully doth
the Lord Jesus watch over you ! How sweetly does he lead you out of
temptation ! 0 ! follow bis leadings, my dear friend, and let every, even
the most beloved Isaac, be immediately sacrificed for God. Kindness
is cruelty here. Had Abraham consulted either Sarah or his affections
be never would hare taken the knife to slay his son. God's law is our
rale, and God will have all the heart or none. Agags will plead, birt
they must be hewn in pieees. May the Lord strengthen, stablish, and
settle you ! Good Lady Huntingdon was much rejoiced to hear that
you had been without the camp. May you quit yourself like a maa,
excellent examples have I in the exalted piety and ministerial fidelity of Dod
dridge, Hervey, Hartley, and the undaunted zeal of that great apostle, Mr.
Whitefield. May I be a follower of them as they are followers of Christ I and
whatever little differences may exist between us, may we all finally meet before
the throne of God and the Lamb ?'
* Dr. Stonhouse is said to have been one of the most correct and elegant
preachers in the kingdom. When he entered into holy orders he took occasion
to profit by his acquaintance with Garrick, tp procure from him some valuable
instructions in elocution. Being once engaged to read prayers and to preach
at a churehia the city, he prevailed upon Garrick to go with him. After the
service, the British koscius asked the Doctor what particular business he had
to do when the duty was over ? " None,'' said the other. " I thought you. had,"
said1 Garrick, " on seeing you enter the reading-desk in such a hurry." " No
thing," added he, " can be more indecent than to see a elergyman sat about
sacred business as if he were a tradesman, and go into the church as if he
waated to get out of it as soon as possible." He next asked the Doctor " what
books he had in the desk before him?' ". Only the Bible and Prayer-book."
" Only the Bible and Prayer-book," replied the phvyer; " why you tossed them
backwards and forwards, an 1 turned the leaves as carelessly, as if they were
those of a day-book and ledger." The Doctor was wise enough to see the
force of these observations, and ever after avoided the faults they were designed
to neprove..

140 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
and in every respect behave like a good soldier of Jesus Christ ! Her
Ladyship is very weak, but I hope will yet be spared to do much good
on earth. 0, the happiness of giving up all for Christ, who hath given
himself for us. The Lord be with you. I am yours to command^
" G. W."
Lady Huntingdon was much interested at this time about an
institution wliich seemed to promise much benefit to the cause
of God, and the extension of his kingdom on the continent of
America. From time to time her Ladyship had received letters
from his Excellency Governor Belcher, relative to the Presby
terian College in the New Jerseys. The importance and ex
tensive usefulness of this seminary to the spread of the Gospel
in the New World had been often mentioned by Mr. Whitefield,
who had been on the spot, and had conversed with many con
nected with it. Principally by the exertions of Governor Belcher
the College was now on a different footing from what it had
hitherto been : and in the early part of this year two gentle
men, Mr.' Allen and Colonel Williams, friends ofthe Governor's,
arrived in England, to negotiate all matters concerning the
institution, and collect funds which would enable the president
and trustees to enlarge the sphere of its operations. These
gentlemen brought letters to Lady Huntingdon, from Governor
Belcher and President Burr, which Mr. Whitefield presented
to her on his arrival at Ashby. A statement of the intended
plan and enlargement of the College was drawn up, and several
of the dissenting ministers in London promised their assistance.
By the advice of Lady Huntingdon this statement was printed,
together with a recommendation of the plan, subscribed by her
Ladyship, Dr. Doddridge, Mr. Whitefield, and others. Being
desirous of serving the interests of this rising institution, which
had many worthy Presidents, some of whose names are well
known in the learned world, such as President Burr, Dr. Jona
than Edwards, Dr. Samuel Davies, Dr. Samuel Finley, Dr.
Witherspoon, &c, her Ladyship was very active in collecting
considerable sums amongst her friends and acquaintances, and
corresponded with many persons of eminence in England and
Scotland, to whom she communicated the mission of Mr. Allen
and Colonel Williams. Mr. Whitefield, likewise, lost no oppor
tunity of recommending the institution to the attention of those
who, he thought, could effectually further the objects it had in
view. He preached several sermons in its behalf ; and in the
course of a few months considerable sums were collected, which
were immediately transmitted to America.
Mr. Whitefield, in a letter to the Rev. Mr. McCulloch, of

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 141
Cambuslang, dated about a week after his arrival at Lady Hun
tingdon's, says, " I have desired to write you a long letter for
a considerable time, but was so hurried when at London that
I could not be so explicit as the affair I wanted to write about
necessarily required. It is concerning the Presbyterian Col
lege in the New Jerseys ; the importance and extensive useful
ness of which I suppose you have long since been apprized of.
Mr. Allen, a friend of Governor Belcher's, is come over with a
commission to negotiate this matter : he hath brought with
him a copy of a letter, which Mr. Pemberton sent to you some
months past. This letter hath been shown to Dr. Doddridge
and several of the London ministers, who all approve of the
thing, and promise their assistance. Last week I preached
at Northampton, and conversed with Dr. Doddridge concerning
it. The scheme that was then judged most practicable was
this : — ' That Mr. Pemberton's letter should be printed, and
a recommendation of the affair, subscribed by Dr. Doddridge
and others, be annexed; — that a subscription and collections
should be then set on foot in England, and afterwards that
Mr. Allen should go to Scotland.' I think it is an affair that re
quires despatch. Governor Belcher* is old, but a most hearty
man for promoting God's glory and the good of mankind. He
looks upon the College as his own daughter, and will do all
he can to endow her with proper privileges. The present
* Jonathan Belcher, for many years Governor of Massachusetts and New
Jersey. He succeeded Governor Burnet, eldest son of the celebrated Bishop
Burnet. He was named William, after the Prince of Orange, who stood his
godfather. At one period he possessed a considerable fortune, but it had been
wrecked in the South Sea scheme, which reduced so many opulent families to
indigence. After the loss of his fortune he emigrated to America, and in
process of time became Governorof New York and New Jersey. Hewasafter-
waids Governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, which post he held to
the time of his death. When Mr. Whitefield was at Boston, in 1740, Governor
Belcher treated him with the utmost respect and attention. He even followed
him as far as Worcester, and requested him to continue his faithful instructions
and pungent addresses ta the conscience, desiring him to spare neither ministers
nor rulers. This good man expressed the humblest sense of his own character,
and the most exalted views of the rich, free, and glorious grace offered in the
gospel to sinners. His faith worked by love, and produced the genuine fruits
of obedience. It exhibited itself in a life of piety and devotion, of meekness
and humility, of justice, truth,' and benevolence. He died August 31, 1747,
aged 76 years. One of his sons studied law at the Temple in London, and
gained some distinction at the bar in England. He was afterwards Chief
Justice of Nova Scotia, and died at. Halifax, March 1776. Governor Belcher
was succeeded by William Shirley, Esq., a relative of Lady Huntingdon's, who
was for a time commander-in-chief of the British Forces in America, in which
office he was succeeded by Major General Abercrombie. Governor Shirley
was also Governor of one of the Bahama Islands for a number of years. He
died in 1771.

142 THE UFE AND TIMES OF
President, Mr. Burr,* and most of the trustees, I am well ac
quainted with. They are friends to vital piety, and I trust this
work of the Lord will prosper in their hands. The spreading
of the Gospel in Maryland and Virginia in a great measure
depends upon it, and therefore I wish them much success in the
name of the Lord."
Unhappily for the scheme of the New Jersey College, Mr.
Allen, who came over on purpose to negotiate it, was smitten
by the fatal infection which, during the summer of this year,
was so prevalent at the Old Bailey, f and died about two months
after his arrival in England. Colonel Williams returned to
America, and Dr. Doddridge wrote largely to Mr. Pemberton,
urging him to visit England the ensuing summer, and to bring
over with him some of the converted Indians — a scheme which
had been suggested by Lady Huntingdon, from an idea that it
* Mr. Aaron Burr was educated at Yale College, in Connecticut, New
England; and for his great abilities, and well-approved piety, was unanimously
chosen in 1747 to succeed the Eev. Mr. Dickenson, the first President of New
Jersey College, a man of learning, of distinguished talents, and much celebrated
as a preacher. In the year 1754 Governor Burr accompanied Mr. Whitefield
to Boston, having a high esteem for the character of that eloquent itinerant
preacher, and greatly rejoiced in the success of his labours. After a life of
usefulness and honour, devoted to his Master in heaven, he was called into the
eternal world, September 24, 1757, in the midst of his days, being in the forty-
third year of his age. At the approach of death, that Gospel which he had
preached to others, and which discloses a crucified Redeemer, gave him support
and consolation, and enabled him to triumph over the last enemy. He married
a daughter of Dr. Jonathan Edwards, his successor in the Presidency of the
College. She died the year after the death of her husband, leaving a son and
a daughter. f On the 11th of May, 1750, the Sessions began at the Old Bailey, and con
tinued for some days, in which time a great number of malefactors were tried;
and there was present in the court a great multitude of persons to hear the
trial of Captain Clarke for killing Captain Innes, both officers in the Navy.
It was generally supposed that the air was at first tainted from the bar, by some
of the prisoners then ill of the gaol distemper . and the poisonous quality of
the atmosphere was considerably increased by the heat and closeness of the
court, occasioned by the great number of persons penned up for the most part
of the day, without breathing the free air, or receiving any refreshment.
The Bench consisted of six persons, Sir Samuel Pennant, then Lord Mayor;
Lord Chief Justice Lee ; Sir Thomas Abney, Justice of the Common Pleas ;
Baron Clarke ; and Sir Daniel Lambert, Alderman and M.P. for London,
whereof four died, together with two or three of the Counsel, one of the Under
Sheriffs, several of the Middlesex jury, and others present, to the amount of
above forty in the whole. This event is noticed by Lady Huntingdon, in one
of her letters, in which she laments the death of an intimate friend, £ tmliope
Otway, Esq., barrister-at-law, whose sudden decease was improved by Mr.
Whitefield at Ashby, before a numerous congregation. A narrative of the
awful circumstances connected with the Black Sessions at the Old Bailey,
was drawn up by Dr. Pringle, afterwards Sir John Pringle, son-in-law of Dr.
Oliver, of Bath, the particular friend of Lady Huntingdon, (See Pringle's
" Observations on the Diseases of the Army.")

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 143
would be a convincing proof to the public of the good that had
already been effected, and was likely to result more largely from
the extended operations of the College. Thus matters re
mained till the visit of Messrs. Tennant and Davies to England
in 1753.
It was about the same period that several meetings were held
in London, for the purpose of establishing an academy for the
education of young men for the ministry amongst the Dis
senters. In many congregations the life and power of religion
was almost extinct, and others were wholly destitute of pastors ;
so much so, that when Mr. Whitefield was applied to for a
minister to take charge of a church in America, he returned for
answer : —
" I wish I could send you good news about your minister. But,
alas ! I despair of procuring one. I waited upon Dr. Gifford imme
diately after my arrival ; he gave no hopes. The person that was
fixed upon declined it. Several of the large congregations in London,
besides many more in the country, are without pastors : they are
obliged to make use of our preachers. 0, that the Lord of the harvest
may thrust out more labourers into his harvest !"
Dr. Doddridge felt extremely anxious for the establishment of
an institution that would furnish a succession of true Christian
evangelical ministers to the churches. He circulated the printed
prospectus which had been sent him by the Committee in Lon
don, and was very active in procuring funds, and recommending
it to the Dissenting churches in his neighbourhood. From
Lady Huntingdon, to whom he mentioned the scheme when at
Ashby, he received a most liberal contribution, accompanied by
her prayers and good wishes for its success. When her Lady
ship's donation was remitted to the Committee in London, the
Rev. John Barker, an eminent Dissenting minister in the metro
polis, acknowledged its receipt, and in his reply to Dr. Dod
dridge, says, " Lady Huntingdon's generosity is noble and
catholic."* Mr. Barker was morning preacher at Salter's Hall, long es-
" Mr. Barker had the reputation of being one ofthe most popular preachers
in the metropolis amongst the Dissenters. He was a great favourite with
Lady Huntingdon, whom he frequently visited when in London, and on some
occasions expounded at her house. Few ministers lamented more the decay of
evangelical truth amongst the Dissenters in London, and the open departure ol
many of his brethren from some of tbose doctrines which lie at the foundation
of Christian hope. Through life he discovered an uniform and zealous attach
ment to the great doctrines of the Reformation , and heartily longed for the
union of all real Christians, and the breaking down of the wall of separation
between the Church of England and the Dissenters. Though firmly attached
to the principles of Protestant Dissent, yet he had the interest of vital godliness

144 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
teemed one of the most celebrated places of worship among the
Dissenters. For many years the congregation was large and
respectable, and it was considerably increased during Mr. Bar
ker's ministration, by the attendance of great numbers of the
awakened people in the metropolis, who were eager to profit by
his preaching. Lady Huntingdon, Lady Chesterfield, Lord
Dartmouth, and some others of the nobility, occasionally formed
part of his auditory.
In the correspondence of Lady Huntingdon, Dr. Doddridge,
and Mr. Barker, frequent allusion is made to the decline of vital
godliness in many of the Dissenting churches. " In my opinion
(says the Countess), coldness and indifference have much to do
with tbe desertion so often and so justly complained of. Were
the Gospel of our adorable Saviour preached in purity and with
zeal, the places would be filled with hearers, and God would
bless his own word to the conversion of souls. Witness the
effects produced by those whom he hath sent forth of late to
proclaim his salvation. What numbers have been converted to
God, and what multitudes attend to hear the word wherever it
is proclaimed in the light and the love of it."
In his "Free Thoughts on the most probable means of serving
the Dissenting Interest," and in his letters to his numerous
correspondents, Dr. Doddridge expresses his firm persuasion
that the preaching of evangelical doctrines in a plain, spiritual,
experimental and affectionate way, is the only thing which can
preserve a congregation from decay, and revive it when it is
decayed. So much did the existence of Dissenters, in his view,
depend on this one thing, that he expresses his sentiments in
the following terms : —
more at heart ; and he considered a lively evangelical mode of preaching, such
as then chiefly prevailed amongst those denominated Methodists, as best adapted
to extend its influence. In one of his letters to Lady Huntingdon he feelingly
laments the decay of evangelical truth in the pulpits of many of the Dissenting
churches in London. " Alas ! (says he) the distinguished doctrines of the
Gospel — Christ crucified, the only ground of hope for fallen man — salvation
through his atoning blood — the sanctification by his eternal Spirit, are old-
fashioned things, now seldom heard in our churches. A cold comfortless kind
of preaching prevails almost every where ; and reason, the great law of reason,
and the eternal law of reason, is idolized and deified. But blessed be God for
the revival that has taken place in another branch of the Church of Christ;
the labours of the Methodists will, I hope, infuse new life into some of our
dying churches, and be the means, under God, of spreading such a stream of
light in England, that all the vain efforts of false doctrines and false philosophy
can never darken. We are much indebted to the zeal and catholic charity
which your Ladyship, Mr. Whitefield, and some others, have evinced. I am
now in the decline of life, having attained more than seventy years. Assist
me with your prayers, my dear Madam, that my few remaining years may be
devoted to the interests of my Divine Master, and the spread of his kingdom
amongst men,"

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 1-45
" I cannot but believe, if the Established Clergy and the Dissenting
ministers in general were mutually to exchange their strain of preaching
and their manner of living but for one year, it would be the ruin of our
cause, even though there should be no alteration in "the constitution
and discipline of the Church of England. However you might fare at
London, or in some very singular cases elsewhere, I can hardly imagine
that there would be Dissenters enough left in some considerable coun
ties to fill one of our largest meeting places.
On the character of its ministers the prosperity of the
Church will at all times greatly depend. That they should
first be men of talents ahd piety is devoutly to be desired. Edu
cation succeeds to prepare them for this peculiar service. Could
a greater blessing be wished for the human race, than that it
might be regarded as an universal maxim, " that no man should
receive an education for the pastpral office who had not first
been made a partaker of a divine nature, and know the grace of
God in truth ?" Could a man write Latin with the elegance of
a Cicero, or Greek with the sublimity of a Plato, could he com
pose poetry like Virgil, and vie as a mathematician with Euclid
or Sir Isaac Newton, how little would they all conduce to make
him a good minister of Jesus Christ; for they all lie at the
remotest distance from the knowledge of a Saviour, and the
doctrine which is according to godliness. The most illiterate
man that ever entered a pulpit, if he understands the method of
salvation, is versed in the Scriptures, and can tell one unvar
nished tale of Him who died upon the cross to save the chief of
sinners, though he cannot utter a single sentence without a
breach of the rules of grammar, is infinitely better qualified for
the pastoral office, and will do unspeakably more service in pro
moting the salvation of immortal souls.
The awful departure from the " faith once delivered to the
saints " in many of the old Dissenting congregations, and the
great want of evangelical ministers and students to supply the
place of those who were daily dropping into another world, be
came the objects of Lady Huntingdon's particular solicitude.
She had contributed nobly to the evangelical seminary to be
established by the Dissenting Ministers in London and now
turned her attention to the academy as Northampton, under the
management of Dr. Doddridge, whom she and some of her
friends enabled to increase his establishment by the addition
of two tutors, and six boys to be instructed in grammatical
learning : —
" The want of ministers and students is so seen and felt (says the
Doctor,) and the necessity of the scheme for educating lads not yet
VOL. I. — L

146 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
ripe for academical studies is grown so apparent, that between three
and four score pounds per annum have been, by well-disposed persons,
without any pressing solicitations from me, subscribed for that purpose.
And I have now in that view the six following: Mr. Bennett, a serious
lad lately arrived, and who is subsisted by an exhibition of ten guineas
yearly from Lady Huntingdon; Messrs. Howe, Brooks, Robotham,
Cole, and Smith, three of whom come from a distance : and I hope
they will many of them prove a seed to serve the Lord, who shall
be accounted to him for a generation. The number of pupils and
lads altogether is now thirty-six."*
Mr. Whitefield appears to have continued at Ashby about a
fortnight, actively engaged in preaching whenever he could ob
tain a pulpit : —
" Your kind letter (says he to Dr. Doddridge) found me happy at
our good Lady Huntingdon's, whose path shines brighter and brighter
unto the perfect day. Gladly shall I call upon you again at Northamp
ton, if the Lord spares my life ; and in tbe mean while shall not
fail to pray that the work of our common Lord may more and more
prosper in your hands. I thank you a thousand times for your kind
ness to the chief of sinners, and assure you, reverend Sir, that the
affection is reciprocal. Good Lady Huntingdon greatly esteems yotf.
I go with regret from her Ladyship, who intends writing to yon this
evening: do come and see her soon. I shall not be unmindful of your
sick student.t May the Lord Jesus sanctify all pain, and through his
sufferings make him perfect."
Leaving Ashby, Mr. Whitefield proceeded to Nottingham,;
and on his way thither preached at Milburn and Radcliff. At
the latter place, where he was attended by great crowds, he
* There were mingled with the theological students educated by Dr. Dod
dridge, besides the Earl of Drummond, twelve gentlemen of fortune, not in
tended for the liberal professions ; and of those who were, it appears that live
entered the law. Three others were elected members of Parliament. Of the
theological pupils, six conformed to the Established Church, while the great
body remained Dissenters. Of these many were distinguished for their piety
and learning, and others for their heterodoxy. The names of Darracott, Faw-
cett, and Taylor, of Ashworth, and Kippis, will naturally present themselves to
the mind of the reader.
t The Rev. Richard Denny, the last surviving pupil of the excellent Dod
dridge. He was forty years pastor of the Independent Church and congregation
at Long Buckby, in Northamptonshire, and was distinguished for his unfeigned
regard to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity — for devotion, warm
and fervent to the last— and for the exemplary conduct and useful labour of a
life protracted to the age of nearly ninety. He was introduced by Lady
Huntingdon and Mr. Whitefield to the notice of Dr. Doddridge, who most
kindly and cordially received him under his care and tuition in 1747. During
his severe indisposition, whilst a student at Nottingham, Lady Huntingdon
paid him every mark of attention, and as soon as he was well enough to move
abroad invited him to Ashby for the recovery of his health. He died at Long
Buckby, April 14, 1813.

SELrNA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON.

147

preached on these words — " But one thing is needful." After
sermon he conversed with Mrs. Hester Gibbon, Mrs. Hut
cheson, arid a sister of the celebrated mystic, Mr. Law. The
Divine power accompanied the word, " and many (says Mr.
Whitefield) were deeply impressed. Mr. Law's sister seems
to be under awakenings."
About ten years previous to this period, Mrs. Hester Gibbon,
aunt to the eloquent but infidel historian of the " Decline and
Fall," and Mrs. Hiitcheson, widow of Archibald Hutcheson,
Esq., of the middle Temple, having formed the plan of retiring
from the world to the exercise of charitable and religious duties,
took the well-knowrt author of " The serious Call to a Devotit
Life" as their chaplain, instructor, and almoner, and carrie to
reside at King's Cliffe, in Northamptonshire, having previously
lived for a short time at Thrapston, in the same cotinty. With
these singular and benevolent characters Lady Huntingdon soorf
became acquainted, and occasionally corresponded with Mrs.
Gibbon and Mr. Law. They were frequently visited by Mr.
Hartley, who was an extravagant admirer of the mystic writers,
and in the latter years of his life an enthusiastic follower of the
Baron Swedenborg. The severe' indisposition ilnder which Lady
Huntingdon so long and resignedly laboured, appears to have'
excited considerable alarm in the minds of Mrs. Gibbon and
her amiable associates, and Mr. Hartley was deputed bearer of
the following letter to her Ladyship : —
" King's Cliffe, May 29, 1750.
'' My dear Madam, — Your excellent physician, and our worthy and
respected friend, Dr. Stonhouse,- about a month since, was so kind as to
inform us of your Ladyship's illness, and the alarming state of debility
to which you were reduced. At our particular wish Mr. Law re
quested good Mr. Hartley to visit Ashby, and report to us the result
of his observations ; but the duties of his parish prevented his leaving
home at that time, and we were not able to learn any tidings of your
Ladyship till the other day, when we were delighted with the sight of
your valuable chaplain, Mr. Whitefield. 0,my dear Madam, how have
we prayed and wrestled with the great Author of Life and Light for
the preservation of your invaluable existence ! Precious above esti
mation is the prolongation of such a life as yours. We mourned, we
wept, we prayed, and each returning day your case was presented on
our family altar. Thanks, eternal thanks to Him, with whom are the
issues of life and death, for your restoration and subsequent amend
ment. My dear Mrs. Hutcheson has not been quite well for some
time, and good Mr. Law's advanced stage of life precludes our leaving
ottr beloved retreat, or we should do ourselves the gratification of per
sonally Congratulating you on your recovery. Present our united
l2

148 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
thanks and good wishes to Lady Anne Hastings for her kind remem
brance of us. We hope, now that your Ladyship is so much better,
she will pay us her long-promised visit. Best compliments to Lady
Frances, and all your amiable circle, in which good Mr. Law m»st
cordially unites.
" I remain., my dear Madam, very sincerely, and with Christian
affection, your faithful friend, " Hester Gibbon."*
At Nottingham Mr. Whitefield was attended by great mul
titudes, who thronged every avenue to the place appointed for
his preaching. " Several came to me (says he) inquiring what
they should do to be saved? I preached four times. One
evening Lord Essex and several gentlemen were present, and
behaved with great decency." After leaving Nottingham, Mr.
Whitefield proceeded to Mansfield, Rotherham, and Sheffield,
in which places he preached several times with great and re
markable success.
*' After leaving Mansfield (writes Mr. Whitefield,) I went to Ro
therham, where Satan rallied his forces again. However, I preached
twice, on the Friday evening and Saturday morning. The crier was
employed to give notice of a bear-baiting : your Ladyship may guess
who was the bear. About seven in the morning the drum was heard,
and several watermen attended it with great staves. The constable
was struck, and two of the mobhers were apprehended, but rescued
afterwards. But all this does not come up to the kind usage of the
people of Ashby. I preached on these words — ' Fear not, little flock.'
They were both fed and feasted ; and after a short stay I left Ro
therham, when I knew it was to become more pacific."
With this species of brutal opposition, the propagation of
malicious falsehoods was encouraged, with a design to counteract
the good effects of his labours. Mr. Thorpe, afterwards pastor
of the Independent Church at Masborough, near Rotherham,
ranged under the standard of his most virulent opposers ; and
not content with personal insult, added private ridicule to pub
lic interruption. Public houses became theatres where the
* Mrs. Gibbon's annual income was nearly 1,000/. ; Mrs Hutcheson's about
2,000?. per annum ; and their bounty was bestowed upon the poor of an exten
sive circle. Mr. Law died April 9, 1761, at the advanced age of seventy-five,
and his remains were placed in a new torn b, built by Mrs. Gibbon, in the church
at King's Cliffe. Having long survived their spiritual guide and faithful com
panion, Mrs. Hutchenson died in January 1781, aged ninety-one, and her remains
were placed, by her particular desire, of the feet of Mr. Laxo, in a new tomb.
Mrs. Gibbon followed her old friends and companions in June J 790, aged eighty-
six, and was buried with Mr. Law. Her property she gave by will to her
nephew, the historian, who long expected it, but not without fears that his
aunt would leave it to the friends and purposes to which she had devoted her
life.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 14£J
fate of religious opinions was to be determined.* But a mighty
change awaited Mr. Thorpe, the heart of the scoffer became
changed, and the people whom in the days of his blindness and
thraldom to Satan he so frequently reviled, became the object of
his delight. He sought their company with avidity, and soon after
becameamember of Mr. Ingham's connexion, which at this period
had spread over a great part of Yorkshire and some of the
neighbouring counties. His habitual seriousness and uniform
morality soon endeared him to his new connexions, and the speci
men he gave of his talents, in his occasional exercises in private,
flattered their hopes that he would soon be called forth to
public notice. In these expectations they were not disappointed,
* It was at one of these convivial resorts that Mr. Thorpe and three of his
associates, to enliven the company, undertook to mimic Mr. Whitefield. The
proposition was highly gratifying to all parties present, and a wager agreed upon
to inspire each individual with a desire of excelling in this impious attempt.
That their jovial auditors might adjudge the prize to the most adroit performer,
it was concluded that each should open the Bible and hold forth from the first
text that should present itself to the eye. Accordingly three in their turn
mounted the table, and entertained their wicked companions at the expense of
every thing sacred. When they had exhausted their little stock of buffoonery,
it devolved on Mr. Thorpe to close this very irreverent scene. Much elevated,
and confident of success, he exclaimed, as he ascended the table, " I shall beat
you all !" But O, the stupendous depths of divine mercy I when the Bible was
handed to him it opened at that remarkable passage, Luke xiii. 3 — " Except ye
repent, ye shall all likewise perish. " No sooner had he uttered these words
than his mind was affected in a very extraordinary manner. The sharpest
pangs of conviction now seized him, and conscience denounced tremendous
vengeance upon his soul. In a moment he was favoured with a clear view of
his subject, and divided his discourse more like a divine who had been accus
tomed to speak on portions of Scripture, than like one who never so much as
thought on religious topics, except for the purpose of ridicule. He found no
deficiency of matter, no want of utterance, and he has frequently declared, "if
ever I preached in my life by the assistance of the Spirit of God, it was at that
time." The impression made upon his mind by the subject, had such an effect
on his manner, that the most ignorant and profane could not but perceive
that what he had spoken was with the greatest sincerity. The unexpected
solemnity and pertinacity of his address, instead of entertaining the company,
first spread a visible depression, and afterwards a sullen gloom, upon every
countenance. This sudden change in the complexion of his associates did not
a little conduce to increase the convictions of his own bosom. No individual
appeared disposed to interrupt him ; but, on the contrary, their attention was
deeply engaged with the pointedness of his remarks; yea, many of his sentences,
as he often related, made, to his apprehension, his own bar stand tract!
When he left the table not a syllable was uttered concerning the wager, but
a profound silence pervaded the company. Mr. Thorpe immediately with
drew, without taking the least notice of any person present, and returned
home, with very painful reflections, and in the deepest distress imaginable.
Happily for him this was his last bacchanalian revel. His impressions were
manifestly genuine ; and from that period the connexion between him and
his former companions was entirely dissolved. Thus, by a sovereign and
almost unexampled act of divine grace, in a place where, and at a time when,
it was least expected, " the prey was taken from the mighty, and the lawful
captive delivered !"

150 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
for he was quickly sent forth by Mr. Ingham to " preach the
faith which he once laboured to destroy." He afterwards
preached for a short time in Mr. Wesley's connexion ; but his
ideas becoming more enlarged in the doctrines of grace, he was
eventually chosen pastor of the Independent Church at Mas-
borough, where he exercised the ministerial function thirteen
years." On the 8th of November, 1776, and the 46th year of
his age, he gently resigned his breath without a struggle, and
doubtless went triumphantly to the perfect worship and happi
ness of heaven ! He left a son, the Rev. William Thorpe,
for many years one of the stated supplies at the Tabernacle and
Tottenham Court Chapel, London, and minister of Castle-green
Meeting, in Bristol.
It was about this time that Dr. Doddridge, who had long
known and highly estimated the talents and virtues of Lady
Huntingdon, preached at a meeting of Ministers at Creaton, in
Northamptonshire, and afterwards published a sermon, the title
of which is, " Christian Candour and Unanimity stated, illus
trated, and urged." This is an admirable discourse, and
exhibits a fine transcript of the author's own mind, which was
fully attuned to the virtue he recommended. It was addressed
to Lady Huntingdon,* and strongly displays his admiration of
her excellent character.
Not long after the publication of this sermon Lady Hunt
ingdon wrote to Dr. Doddridge. Her letter speaks of his friend
ship and candour, and towards the close mentions Mr., afterwards
the well known and excellent Lord Lyttleton, with whom her
Ladyship became acquainted about this time. The letter is
dated Ashby Place, June 6, 1750 : —
" My most excellent Friend,^— I know no one who, without intending
it, seems more calculated to betray me into a spirit of partiality than
yourself : for as your friendship and great kindness to me bind me hy
obligation, so your piety and abilities obtain both my love and highest
estimation ; and were I to judge by you of all that think with you,
I should have more to say for my partiality than has fallen to the share
* We insert the inscription, written as it is with evident sincerity: —
" To the Right Honourable the Countess of Huntingdon, that eminent ex
ample of the Christian candour here recommended, and of every other virtue
and grace which can inspire, support, and adorn it,  the Author, finding
himself (after repeated attempts) incapable of writing any dedication, under
the restraints which her humility, amidst its utmost indulgence, has prescribed
him, or to mention any excellence which would not seem an encomium on her,
has chosen thus most respectfully to inscribe this Discourse; entreating that
his farther silence in this connexion may be interpreted" by her Ladyship, and
by every Reader, as the most sensible and painful proof he can give of the
deference, veneration, and grateful affection, with whiph he is her Ladyship's
most obliged and obedient humble servant."

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 151
of any particular denomination ; and yet, by looking a little farther, I
find to distinguish is my best privilege, as it ever will be one of yours
to be most eminently distinguished ; and thus my preference honours
and admires in you only what it would rejoice to see in all ; but this
is reserved for heaven, and a few pledges of it are given us to show
how worthy it will be to all eternity of our friendship.
" Your candour is such a blessedness about you, that I fear it will
make you too soon fit for heaven, and leave no mourning followers of
your example. It is what my whole soul aspires after — it is my reigning
object, as well as subject of delight ; yet how do the fetters of prejudice,
weakness, and ignorance, contend with me ; and still hope assures me
that feeling these so strong wiU but occasion my bolder springs for
liberty ; and while my chains thus oppress me, my longing heart pants
for the deliverance, and sighs after the happy prospect of breathing
love upon the whole creation. I live satisfied for this to be despised,
mistaken, and reproached ; rejected by all, yet rejecting none ; from
the unwearied labours of my life and love hoping all things, and, in
conformity to heaven's best gift to man, the Son of God, ready to yield
up those prison garments of flesh and blood a humble offering to testify
it. , For such a paradise in man it was that Jesus . Christ paid the
penalty — for this blessed reality he died. 0, this high price I Happy
am I, though but a redeemed slave, and following my mighty Con
queror in the bonds of guilt, fear, and shame ; the multitude does not
make him forget me, though so far behind them all ; and on his pardon,
the captive's hberty has reached my rebellious heart, he will yet delight
to listen.
" Thus does divine compassion show me the extremes of love in him,
and by it best discovers the depths of misery in myself, and that nothing
but a sad insensibility to the one can exclude me from the other.
That watchful care follows every unguarded thought, and with those
eyes which are as flames of fire, pursues all our enemies and drives
them out before us, so will he prepare the habitation of his creatures
for himself, till from the charity of their souls he can rejoice in them ;
it is through this transparency alone we can behold him, for ' blessed
are the pure in heart, for they shall see God ;' and, indeed, when we
reflect upon the price of our ransom, we can join in the reasonableness
of the Apostle's argument, and expect unboundedly from such liberality,
' He who spared not his own Son, but delivered Him up for us all,
how shall he not with Him freely give us all things ?' and yet by man
a guilty heart is thought too much to offer him. Oh ! had he not the
love of a God, even earth could not bear us, heaven could not receive
us, and then our miserable but just portion in eternal banishment
would be to enjoy only our own horrid natures — all we could have
left, and hell enough. I can say, for one, mine would be so were I
left to it, and that, my worthy friend, I find myself a miserable being,
existing in time out of eternity ; but that only in order to become, by
an infinite redemption from evil, a glorious, happy, and immortal crea
ture, by an acquaintance and resemblance of nature with the God and
Lord of all heaven and earth ; and I do now, in part, by actual pos
session rejoice in the hope of that glory with God for evermore,

152 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
These truths want no metaphors : that well of living water is ever
springing up, and will eternally abound with further displays of these
infallible truths ; and thus a Christian can never have cause to despair,
or ask any one if tbe promises in the Bible belong to him ;— he has
got them, they are wrote with the spirit of the living God within him,
and each hour serves but to make the characters more legible. Of
this divine knowledge my soul now breathes with the force and ardour
of anticipated glory in hallelujahs with those blessed spirits who are
permitted, to rejoice for us, though not with us ; they are strangers to
the joys of redemption ; and oh ! they must long to have come from
Abraham's loins, since the humility of Jesus took upon him his nature ;
and who, being thus lowly, makes them the blessed beings they are.
Alas ! what a lesson of humiHty have they come from ; rather, how
must they see their glory in this respect to be nothing, by reason of
that which so far excelled in the Son of God : they gaze and admire,
but these depths exceed the capacities of their natures. But how, or
where am 1 looking myself ? Even in a mystery the angels are not
worthy to look into ; forgive the eager adoration and high sensibility of
the love of Jesus Christ, which carries my transported heart to forget
what I am, from the view of what his love is resolved to make me,
and from my great poverty, do not wonder that this exaltation seems
too much for me ; it is literally taking the beggar out of the dust and
seating him for a moment with the princes of his people.
" But I must now beg you to return my kindest respects to Mr.
Lyttleton. I honour his sentiments of universal love to all good men ;
may the choicest of all blessings rest upon him ! I own I should be
glad to hear he was out of those trammels his vast parts and knowledge
may make him liable to continue in long ; his heart none ever doubted
of being truly upright ; but under such his great temporal advantages,
these humble condescensions of becoming simple and quite unknown
before God as a little child, perhaps his whole life has been calculated
to destroy ; books, men, friends, earthly pursuits, with the wise man's
ambitious heart, all serve but to hold that humility cheap which is to
exalt God above all these ; and till He is depended upon for att, as
the ignorance and helplessness of a little child makes his parent the
object of all its hopes and fears, there is no help for man that can vield
him a rational joy, or a secure hour upon earth. I suspect you have
spoken of me to him with that partiality of the friend I have felt you
to be : this is owing to your knowing me but little, as well as the
goodness of your heart, that it makes you hope all things.
" Assure Mrs. Doddridge it is I must sustain the disappointment, by
not having the pleasure of seeing her. How am I bound to your
prayers ! It is these have again lifted me from the gates of death. Do
thank and bless for me the kindness of those charitable souls who so
entreated vfor me; may heaven, with every pure joy upon earth, be
their reward.
" I am, my most excellent friend, with the truest respect, and most
affectionate regard, your companion in the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
" S. Huntingdon."

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 153
Before Mr. Whitefield left Ashby, Lady Huntingdon wrote
to Mr. Hervey, requesting him to pay her a visit as soon as
convenient. Mr. Hervey obeyed the summons, and arrived at
Ashby a few days before Mr. Whitefield set out on his tour.
Mr. Baddelley had been some weeks in London, and during his
absence Mr. Graves and Mr. Simpson alternately supplied his
place as domestic chaplain to the Countess and the Ladies
Hastings. Mr. Baddelley had been usefully and actively en
gaged during his stay in the metropolis, preaching whenever he
could obtain a pulpit : —
"I am glad (says Mr. Whitefield) you have sounded the silver
trumpet in London; crescit eundo must be your motto and mine.
There is nothing like keeping the wheels oiled by action. The more
we do, the more we may do ; every act strengthens the habit : and
the best preparation for preaching on Sundays is to preach every day
in the week. I am glad you have peace at Ashby. What a fool is
Satan always to overshoot his mark ! I hope that Mr. Graves, as well
as Mr. Simpson, will hold on. They will be glorious monuments of
free grace indeed. I am like-minded with you in respect to the Doc
tor's comment ; he is indeed a glorious writer ! May the Lord Jesus
strengthen him to finish the work ! My dear Mr. Baddelley, what
blessed opportunities do you enjoy for meditation, study, and prayer !
Now is your time to get rich in grace, to search into the depths of
divine love, and the mystery of iniquity hid in you own heart. Such
an example, and such advantages'no one in England is favoured with
but yourself. I do not envy you ; but I pray the Redeemer, from my
inmost soul, to sanctify your situation, and give you to increase with
all the increase of God."
In the month of June Dr. Doddridge arrived at Ashby, but
his stay was of short duration, the duties of his congregation
obliging him to return to Northampton, having but lately re
turned from London, Norwich, and other places, where he had
been preaching with great acceptance and success. He remained
one Lord's day at her Ladyship's, on which day Mr. Baddelley
read the service of the Church of England, aud the Doctor
preached to a numerous congregation. In the evening Dr.
Doddridge exchanged places with her Ladyship's chaplain,
reading the Liturgy, and Mr. Baddelley preaching. Speaking
of this circumstances, Lady Huntingdon remarks : —
" His is a true catholic spirit that wishes well to the cause of Christ
in every denomination. I would that all the Dissenting Ministers I
hear of were like-minded ; less attached to all the punctilios of order,
system, regularity, &c, and more determined to publish the glorious
Gospel of the ever-blessed Immanuel, in season and out of season,
wherever men were assembled to hear, whether in a church, a meeting
house, a field, or a barn ; — less desirous to convince men of the e'rrors

154 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
in the discipline of those churches who hold the great doctrines of the
Reformation, and more anxiously solicitous to gather souls to Christ,
the true Shiloh. This should be the one great object of those who
are called to the high and honourable office of Ambassadors of Christ
. — all others are unimportant when compared with this."
Of this visit to Ashby, the providential escape of his MSS.
from destruction, and some singular circumstances which pre
ceded it, the Doctor has preserved the following very interesting
account, contained in a letter to his pupil, the Rev. Benjamin
Fawcett, of Kidderminster : — " Northampton, June 26, 1750.
" Lady Huntingdon, for whom I desired your prayers, is wonder
fully recovered. She walked with me in the garden and park, and
almost wearied me ; such is her recruit of strength : but the strength
of her soul is amazing. I think I never saw so much of the image of
God in any woman upon earth. Were I to write what I know of her,
it would fill your heart with wonder, joy, and praise. She desired
me to educate a lad for the Dissenting ministry at her expense, till he
be fit to come into my academy on an exhibition ; and this is but one
of a multitude of good works she is continually performing. I must
tell you, however, one observation of hers which struck me much:
' None,' said she, ' know how to prize Christ but those who are zealous
in good works. Men know not till they try what imperfect things our
best works are, and how deficient we are in them ; and the experience
of that sweetness which attends their performance makes me more
sensible of those obligations to Him, whose grace is the principle of
them in our hearts.' She has God dwelling in her, and she is ever
hearing her testimony to the present salvation he has given us, and to
the fountain of living waters which she feels springing up in her soul,
so that she knows the divine original of the promises before the per
formance of them to her, as she knows God to be her Creator by the
life he has given her.
" As I was setting out on my blessed journey to her, for such indeed
it was, yesterday was seven-night, a terrible accident happened in my
study, which might have been attended with fatal consequences : I had
been sealing a letter with a little roll of wax, and I thought I had
blown it out, when fanned by the motion of the air, as I arose in haste,
it was re-kindled. It burnt about a quarter of an hour, while we were
at prayer, and would have gone on to consume perhaps the closet and
the house, had not my opposite neighbour seen the flame and given an
alarm. When I came up, I found my desk, which was covered with
papers, burning like an altar ; many letters, papers of memoranda,
and schemes for sermons, were consumed. My book of accounts was
on fire, and the names at the top almost burnt through, a volume of
the Family Expositor, the original MSS. from Corinthians to Ephesians,
surrounded with flames, and drenched in melted wax; the fire had
kindled up around it, and burnt off some leaves and the corners of the
other books, so that there is not one leaf entire : and yet so did God

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 155
moderate the rage of this element, and determine in his Providence
the time of our entrance, that not one account is rendered uncertain
by what it suffered, nor is one line which had not been transcribed
destroyed in the MS. I have to add that all my vouchers for Miss
Ekins'* money, all my sermons and MSS. intended for the press, and,
among the rest, the remainder of the Family Expositor, were all in
such danger, that the fire in another quarter of an hour had probably
consumed them. Observe, my dear friend, the hand of God, and mag
nify the Lord with me."
We find in the memoranda of remarkable incidents in the life
of Dr. Doddridge — a narrative of what he considered the special
dealings of Providence, with regard to himself and some persons
of his acquaintance — these allusions to our subject : —
" The mercies of my journey (says he) I would solemnly acknow
ledge ; the wonderful preservation of my study from fire, and the great
goodness of God in sparing the dear and excellent Lady Huntingdon,
my interview with her, and the preservation and growing friendship of
her Ladyship."
Leaving Rotherham, Mr. Whitefield proceeded to Sheffield
and Leeds, where he was attended by vast multitudes, and from
thence to Aberford, on a visit to Mr. and Lady Margaret Ing
ham. At Sheffield the people received the word gladly ; and
a great alteration was discernible in their looks and behaviour
* Afterwards Lady Stonhouse, the only child and heir of Thomas Ekins,
Esq., of Chester-on- the- Water, in Northamptonshire, a justice of the peace,
and a most religious man. His funeral sermon was preached at Wellingborough,
by Dr. Doddridge, and afterwards transcribed from the Doctor's short hand
copy in long hand, by a son of Dr. Johnstone, a worthy physician at Worcester,
the text is Heb. xi. 26. " Her father (says Dr. Stonhouse) was a Christian
of the first magnitude, who left Dr. Doddridge sole guardian to his child. The
Doctor died before I married her, which I did not do till after she was of age,
and in full possession of her property. Dr. Doddridge's account of her estate
and expenses was so very just, that he really did not do himself justice. In
consideration of which we made his, widow a handsome present, as a satisfaction
for his undercharges. " Lady Stonhouse died at the Hot Wells, Bristol, De
cember 10, 1778, aged fifty-five. A plain but elegant monument was erected
to her memory in the Wells chapel, with an epitaph written by Mrs. Hannah
More. She left two sons, John, in the civil service of the East India Company
at Bengal, father ofthe present Bart., Sir John Brooke. Stonhouse ; Timothy,
in holy orders, Vicar of Sunningwell, county of Berks, who took the surname
and arms of Vigor, and married Miss Huntingford, niece ofthe Bishop of Here
ford ; and a daughter, Clarissa, wife of Henry Tripp Vigor, Esq. The first
wife of Sir James Stonhouse was Anne Neale, as already stated, one of the
maids of honour to Caroline, Queen of George II., by whom he had issue Sir
Thomas, Stonhouse, the thirteenth Baronet, who died unmarried, and Sarah,
who married her cousin, George Vansittart, Esq., of Bisham Abbey, M.P. for
the county of Berks in several Parliaments, by whom she had three sons and
three daughters. M-. Vansittart was uncle to tbe present Lord Bexley. The
Rey. Sir James Stonhouse survived Lady Stonhouse but a few years. He
died December 8, 1792, aged eighty, and was buried in the Wells chapel, in the
spae grave with his beloved wife.

156 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
since he had been there before. Mr. Grimshaw and Mr. Ing
ham joined Mr. Whitefield at Leeds, and the crowds that as
sembled from every side exceeded any thing they had ever seen
before in that part of Yorkshire. " Last night (says he) I
preached to many, many thousands, and this morning also at
five o'clock. Methinks I am now got into another climate. It
must be a warm one, where there are so many of God's people.
Our Pentecost is to be kept at Mr. Grimshaw's : I have seen
him and Mr. Ingham." For these occasional itinerant visits
Mr. Whitefield's talents were admirably adapted. His manner,
his voice, his action, and, above all, his solemnity and fervour,
commanded and riveted the attention beyond any thing that
modern times have exhibited. When he was at Haworth the
Lord's Supper was frequently administered, not only to the
stated communicants, but to hundreds from other quarters, who
resorted thither on those solemn occasions, esteeming them,
in a peculiar sense, as " days of the Son of Man ;" such, in
many respects, as had never been witnessed since the first pro
mulgation of Christionity, when the Spirit was, in so eminent a
degree, " poured out from on high." " Pen (says Mr. White-
field, in a letter to Mr. Hervey,) cannot well describe what
glorious scenes have opened in Yorkshire. Perhaps, since I
saw you at Ashby, seventy or eighty thousand have attended
the word preached in divers places. At Haworth, on Whitsun
day, the church was thrice filled with communicants. It was a
precious season."
Accompanied by Mr. Grimshaw and Mr. Ingham, Mr. White-
field visited Manchester, where they found Colonel and Mrs.
Galatin, who received them with the greatest cordiality. " All
was quiet (he writes to Lady Huntingdon) at Manchester, and
I humbly hope the Redeemer will gather to himself a people
there. Kind Colonel Galatin and his lady will acquaint your
Ladyship with particulars. I hope he will prove a good soldier
of Jesus Christ. I advised him to send your Ladyship word
of their coming to Ashby, that they might be directed the best
road from Derby." Through different parts of Lancashire,
Westmoreland, and Cumberland, Mr. Whitefield was accom
panied by Mr. Ingham and Mr. Milner; Mr. Grimshaw having
returned to Haworth. Every where he preached in Mr. Ing
ham's chapels, and, as usual, was attended by large and atten
tive congregations. At Kendal, and Ulverston, and White
haven, where Lady Huntingdon afterwards had chapels, he was
followed by. immense multitudes, who thronged around him,
eager to hear all the words of this life. From Kendal we find
him writing thus to Mr. Hervey :— « I guess this will find you

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 157
returned from good Lady Huntingdon, with whom, undoubtedly,
you have taken sweet counsel, and been mightily refreshed in
talking about the things which belong to the kingdom of God.
This leaves me at Kendal, where I arrived this morning, and
where, God willing, I shall preach the everlasting Gospel this
evening." Soon after his arrival he was joined by Mr. Batty, a
very popular preacher in Mr. Ingham's connexion. Mr. White-
field preached on the brow of a hill, which overlooks the town,
to many thousands of hearers. That night, some evil-disposed
persons got into the barn and stable where his travelling car
riage and horses were locked up : the leathers were all de
stroyed, and the carriage otherwise much abused : they also
cut off the long tails of a pair of black horses that he had had
a long time, and greatly esteemed. Nevertheless, he rejoiced
at the success attending his labours. " Still (he observes, in
a letter to Lady Huntingdon,) the Lord of all lords vouchsafes
to prosper the Gospel plough. Such an entrance hath been
made into Kendal, as could not have been expected. I preached
twice to several thousands last week, and the people were so
importunate that I was prevailed on to return hither again last
night; the congregation was greatly increased, and the power
of the Lord was displayed in the midst of them."
After preaching some weeks in Scotland, Mr. Whitefield
returned to London, where, besides his usual labours at the
Tabernacle, he frequently assisted Mr. Wesley, at West-street
Chapel. " Mr. Wesley (says he) breakfasted and prayed with
me this morning; and Mr. Hervey was so kind as to come up
and be with me in my house. He is a dear man, and I trust
will yet be spared to write much for the Redeemer's glory. I
have prevailed on him to sit for his picture, and it will be pub
lished in a short time." Mr. Hervey's health was so delicate
that Dr. Stonhouse advised change of" air, and Mr. Whitefield
invited him to the Tabernacle-house, in London. On his way
thither he paid a visit to Dr. Cotton, an eminent physician and
poet, who resided at St. Alban's, where he kept an asylum for
lunatics, in the treatment of whom he was remarkably skilful.
By means of Dr. Stonhouse he was introduced to the notice of
Lady Huntingdon, who had a great esteem for him, and occa
sionally corresponded with him. When the Doctor published
his " Visions," he sent a copy to her ladyship, who, in her
letter acknowledging the receipt of the present, made some
strong animadversions on the defects of the poem: —
" I am glad (says her Ladyship) that my good friend was not
offended at my late well-meant admonition and reproof. We must be

158 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
faithful to each othei', or else how can we expect to meet with joy at
the great tribunal ? I trust he will yet be enabled to see by faith the
Lord's Christ. Blessed be God, in him all fulness dwells, of merit
and righteousness, of grace and salvation, and this for the vilest of the
vile, for whoever will. 0, then, my friend,
" If haply still thy mental shade
Dark as the midnight gloom be made,
On the sure faithful arm Divine
Firm let thy fast'ning trust recline.
The gentlest sire, the best of friends,
To thee nor loss nor harm intends ;
Though tost on a tempestuous main,
No wreck thy vessel shall sustain.
Should there remain of rescuing grace
No glimpse, no footsteps left to trace,
Hear the Lord's voice; 'tis Jesiis* will : —
' Believe (thou poor dark pilgrim) still.'
'" Thus much (continues the Countess) I have written to my worthy
friend at St. Alban's, and I trust God will bless my poor unworthy
services to his eternal good. I long to see his fine genius consecrated
to the best of causes— -the glory of our incarnate God, and the salva
tion of souls redeemed by his most precious blood."
To his pious and ingenious friend, the author of " Medita
tions," Dr. Cotton also sent a copy of his " Visions." In a
letter to Dr. Stonhouse, also a poet and a critic, Mr. Hervey
makes some excellent observations on the merits and defects of
the Doctor's work : —
'' Please (says he) to make my best thanks to Dr. Cotton, for his
very delicate ' Visions.' I think they may do good, and promote
virtue ; then, I am persuaded, they will answer the benevolent inten
tion of the author. I wish, at the same time, that he would be a little
explicit and courageous for Jesus Christ. He deserves it at our hands,
who, for our sake, endured the cross and despised tbe shame : he will
recompense it unto our bosom, by owning us before his Father and Ae
holy angels. Nor can I ever think that the spread of our performances
will be obstructed by pleasing Him who has all hearts and all events
in his sovereign hand. A vision upon death, without a disjslay of
Christ, seems to me like a body without a heart, or a heart without
animal spirits. I am sure, when I was lately (as myself and every one
apprehended) on the brink of eternity, I found no consolation but in
Christ. Then I felt, what I had so often read, that there is no other
name given under heaven whereby man may obtain life and salvation,
but only the name, the precious and inestimable name of Jesus Christ.
O, that its savour may be to us, both living and dying, as ointment
poured out. Shall I beg you to tell Dr. Cotton, that his beautiful
' Visions' were, by Dodsley, the bookseller, put into the hands of a
very pious and ingenious friend of mine (Mr. Moses Browne,) who
pr-Sposes an alteration in a line, where he would read Jesus, instead of
virtue.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 159
" ' At that important hour of need,
Jesus shall prove a friend indeed. '
" But I am not of his opinion, unless an uniform vein of evangelical
doctrine had run through the whole. This, I must confess, I could
have been glad to have seen in so elegant a poem where Spenser's
fancy and Prior's ease are united. And I hope, if the Doctorshould
ever write any more poetry, he will take this important^ hint into his
consideration. Indeed, he ought ; for even in his ' Vision on Death'
he has not paid the least regard to Christ the Redeemer, the conqueror
of death." During Mr. Hervey's residence in London Dr. Cotton visited
the metropolis, and it was Lady Huntingdon's wish that that
good man should avail himself of the Doctor's medical skill,
and at the same time drop such bints as might, by the blessing
of God, be made useful to him. " If I am tolerably well
(says Mr. Hervey), I will Wait upon Dr. Cotton on Tues
day morning. He has a delicate genius, and I dare say he is
an excellent physician. O, that his fine parts may be grafted
into the true olive-tree, and bring forth fruit unto God. If
Providence permits us to meet, I hope to have some evangelical
discourse with him."
Some time after, Lady Huntingdon sent Dr. Cotton a present
of Marshall's " Gospel Mystery of Sanctification," a work that
has long had the seal of high approbation from many judicious
ministers and Christians. It had been recommended to her
Ladyship's notice by Mr. Cudworth, a preacher in Mr. White-
field's connexion, who sometimes- visited Mr. Hervey, and occa
sionally preached at Ashby and other places in the neighbour
hood. But Dr. Cotton thought the doctrine contained in
Marshall's* book inconsistent with Scripture and repugnant to
reason. This produced a little controversy, in which Mr.'Her-
vey ably defended his favourite author. On this subject he
* The famed poet, William Cowper, Esq., who had been long under Dr.
Cotton's care at St. Alban's was very partial to this work. In one of his
letters we find the following Words : " Marshall lies on my table, and is an
old acquaintance of mine. I have both read him and heard him reasd with
pleasure and edification ; the doctrines he maintains are, under the influence
of the Spirit of Christ, the very life of my soul, and the soul of all my happi
ness. I think Marshall one of thebest writers, and the most spiritual expositor
of the Scriptures, I ever read : I admire the strength of his argument and the
clearness of his reasoning, upon the parts of our holy religion which are least
understood (even by real Christians,} as a master-piece of the kind."
Dr. Cotton is said to have studied under Boerhaave, the most Celebrated
professor of physic of the early part of th« eighteenth century, at LeydeiT,
where he took Ms Doctor's degree. He was very assiduous in bis attentions
to Dr. Young, author of " Night Thoughts," whom he attended in bis last
il&ess. His works, which are chiefly on medical subjects, were collected and
published in two volumesy in 1791. He died Aogast 2, 1788.

160 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
uses a little pleasantry with his friend Dr. Stonhouse, who became
the medium of communication in this affair : —
" Tell our ingenious friend at St." Alban's, if I did not give a direct
answer to his question, it was because he stated it improperly. His
manner was like making a raw apothecary's apprentice the proper
judge of a doctor's bill. If such a chap should take upon himself to
say ' Doctor, your language his unintelligible, your recipes are injudi
cious,' what answer would you make ? Some such answer must be
made to Dr. Cotton, if he maintain, or would intimate, that the Mystery
of Sanctification, as dehneated by Marshall, is unintelligible and inju
dicious, merely because he does not immediately discern its propriety.
"This (says Dr. Cotton) is my firm faith,' 'that if we do well, we
shall be accepted through the merits of Christ.' I might ask the Doctor
whether he does well ? Dare he avow this, even before me, his fellow-
worm and fellow-sinner ? How then will he maintain the pretension
before that infinitely pure God, in whose sight the very heavens are
unclean ? But I choose to ask him (what may seem less offensive),
has he never read of ' the righteousness of faith ?' of being ' made
righteous by one man's obedience ?' of ' righteousness imputed witliout
works ?' Now, I should be glad to learn what the Holy Spirit means
by these expressions ? And if our worthy friend pleases to show how
his faith can be made conformable to any one of these texts, I will
undertake to demonstrate the conformity of my faith to them all. Ah !
why should we hug a despicable rag, and reject a suit of beautiful
apparel ? May the Lord Jesus enable us all to discern the things that
are excellent."
Prevailed on by the repeated importunity of Lady Hunting
don and Mr. Whitefield, Mr. Hervey came to London by easy
stages, in order to try whether change of air might be of any
service to his decayed constitution ; his worthy physician, Dr.
Stonhouse, having declared that nothing which he could pre
scribe was likely to administer relief. One of the winters he
stayed in London he lodged at the house of his good friend, Mr.
Whitefield, adjoining the Tabernacle, in Moorfields. " I took
up my abode (says he), not at my brother's after the flesh, but
with the brother of my heart." By means of Lady Hunting
don he soon became acquainted with many pious and excellent
characters in London, particularly Lady Gertrude Hotham,
Lady Chesterfield, the Countess Delitz, and Lady Fanny Shir
ley, at whose house he occasionally expounded to very po
lite and attentive auditories. With the latter he maintained
a very intimate correspondence for several years, which was
published after her death by her executors. It was to Lady
Fanny that he dedicated his celebrated work, " Theron and
Aspasio," which she was the means of introducing to the
notice of Royalty. I should never have been known to such

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 161
grand personages (says he) if you had not condescended to in
troduce me. My name had never been heard by a royal ear,
if it had not received some credit by your Ladyship's notice."
His " Observations on Lord Bolingbroke's work ' On the Use
and Study of History,' " were likewise addressed to her Ladyship.
Mr. Hervey had also frequent interviews with Miss Hotham,
and on one occasion administered the sacrament at Lady Ger
trude's before Mr. Whitefield's return from Portsmouth. Of
his last interview he has preserved a short notice in his letter to
Lady Huntingdon: —
" I had the pleasure of perusing your Ladyship's letter to Mr. White-
field, and return my grateful acknowledgments for your condescension
in inquiring after me. My kind patroness, Lady Chesterfield, and
many honourable persons whose names I trust are written in the Book
of Life, are very desirous for your Ladyship's return to the great city.
I have lately expounded, and administered the ordinance at good Lady
Gertrude Hotham's. Her daughter is ripening fast for glory. I had
but little conversation with her, for she is too weak to endure much
fatigue. When speaking of God's stupendous love, in giving his only
Son for our salvation, and of our interest in the all-sufficient propitia
tion of his death, I quoted these portions of Scripture — He came into
the world to save sinners — He poured out his soul for transgressors.
' Yes, (said Miss Hotham, who had been listening with singular atten
tion), He died, the just for the unjust — he suffered death upon the cross,
that we might reign with him in glory.' On a subsequent visit I found
her much altered for the worse, as respected her bodily health. Mr.
Whitefield had been to see her the preceding day, and has since gone
to erect the joyful standard at Portsmouth. Blessed be God, she en
joyed much peace and tranquillity of mind, and a firm persuasion that
God was her reconciled Father, and the blessed Redeemer her all-
sufficient portion. I expect to hear every day of her abundant entrance
into the joy of her Lord. Good Lady Gertrude, and all her noble
relatives and friends, are wonderfully supported in this trying affair.
May the inestimably precious Jesus refresh and uphold them with the
choicest cordials of his glorious Gospel ! and may his name be very
precious to them 1"
As often as his health permitted he attended the ministry of
Mr. Whitefield and his faithful associates, at the Tabernacle ; he
says of him : —
" On Sunday, he preached with his usual fervour, and administered
the sacrament to a great number of very serious communicants. He
delights in the work of the ministry, and embraces every opportunity
of preaching the everlasting Gospel. He is, indeed, in labours more
abundant. What a pattern of zeal and ministerial fidelity is our excel
lent friend ! and God rewards him with joy unspeakable. God also
fulfils to him in a remarkable manner, his gracious promise, ' Them
that honour me, I will honour.' This day he was most respectfully
VOL. i. — M

162 THE LIFE AND TIMES OJ
entertained at the houses of two noblemen. What a mosi exalted:
satis^Qtiion muijt he enjoy, in attending, these giseat personages, not to.
cringe for favour, but to, lay upon them a» everlasting obligation not; to
ask their interest at court, but to be the minister qf their reconciliation
to the King of kings."
Again : — -
"Yesterday, our indefatigable friend renewed his labour of love.
He preached to a crowded audience, and yet multitudes went away for
want of room, In the midst of this audience was a clergyman in his
canonical dress — a stranger ; his name I could not, learn, ; he behaved
with exemplary seriousness, and expressed much satisfaction."
While in the metropolis he was visited by Dr. Gill, Dr. Gif
ford, and other ministers of eminence, both in the Established
Church and amjopgst the Dissenters, and declares it was his
own fault if he reaped not much advantage by their conversation.
With Mr. Cennick, Mr. Cudworth, and other devoted men who
laboured at that period in the Tabernacle connexion, he formed
a very intimate friendship. There, ako, for the first time, he
heard Mr. Romaine, to whom he was introduced at Lady Hun-.
tingdon's particular request. To Lady Fanny Shirley he gives
an account of Mr. Romame's style and manner of preaching,
and wishes much success to him in explaining the Gospel to his
thronged auditors, Mr. Romaine often visited him at the Ta
bernacle-house, and occasionally accompanied him to hear Mr.
Whitefield. On one occasion Mr. Wesley and Mr. Romaine
breakfasted with Mr. Whitefield. Besides Mr. Harvey, there
were present Dr. Gifford, Dr. Gill, Mr. Cudworth, and Mr.
Cennick. Mr. Romaine led the doctrinal part of the service,
and Dr. Gill, addressed a short exhortation to his brethren in
the ministry. At other seasons these excellent men often met
at the. residence of the Countess Delitz, Lady Gertrude Hothani,
and Ladj, Ifanny Shirley, where they proclaimed; the truth of
the Gospel to polite and fashipnable,; auditors, and were enriched
with spoils — spoils won from the kingdom of darkness, and con
secrated to the Captain of our salvation.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 163

CHAPTER X.
Mr. Whitefield at Ashby— Mr. Moses Browne— Mr. Martin Madan— Lady
Frances Hastings  Dr. Stonhouse — Mr. Hartley — Death of the Prince of
Wales  Anecdote — Lady Charlotte Edwin — Dr. Ayscough — Lord Lyttleton
— Death of Sir George Lyttleton — Death of Lord Bolingbroke-^Dr. Trapp
— Dr. Church — Anecdotes — Lady Luxborough — Mr. Mallet — Mt. Pope.
Early in the month of October Lady Huntingdon had the
pleasure of another visit from Mr. Whitefield, who had been
again ranging about, as he expresses it, to see who would believe
the Gospel report. " I am now (says he) at Lady Huntingdon's
house, with four other clergymen, who I believe love and preach
Christ in sincerity." Whilst he remained at Ashby-place the
sacrament was administered every morning by some of the cler
gymen who were with her Ladyship ; and in the evening Mr.
Whitefield preached.
" It was a time of refreshing from the presence of our God (writes
her Ladyship to Lady Fanny Shirley) : several of our little circle have
been wonderfully filled with the love of God, and have had joy un
speakable and full of glory. Lady Frances is rejoicing in hope of the
glory of God. It is impossible to conceive a more real happiness than
she enjoys. Dear Mr. Whitefield's sermons and exhortations were
close, searching, experimental, awful, and awakening. Surely God was
with him — he appeared to speak of spiritual and divine things as awful
realities. Many of us could witness to the truth of what he uttered,
by finding that which our hearts discovered and read to us. His dis>-
courses in the neighbouring churches were attended with power from on
high, and the kingdom of darkness trembled before the Gospel of Christ.''
Mr. Whitefield, in a letter to the Countess Delitz, says : —
" Good Lady Huntingdon goes on acting the part of a mother in
Israel more and more. For a day or two she has had five clergymen
under her roof, which makes her Ladyship look like a good archbishop,
with his chaplains around him. Her house is a Bethel : to us in the
ministry it looks like a college. We have the sacrament every morn
ing, heavenly conversation all day, and preach at night. This is to live
ai Court indeed ! Last night I had the pleasure of seeing a little flock
that seemed to be awakened by the grace of God ; so that out of un
grateful Ashby I trust there will be raised up many children unto
Abraham. Your Ladyship and the other elect ladies are never for
gotten, by us. I would write to good Lady Fanny, but I hear she is
out of town."
M 2

164 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
To Lady Gertrude Hotham he writes : —
" Ashby, October 11, 1750.
" Honoured Madam,— It is with great pleasure that I have heard
from good Lady Huntingdon of your Ladyship's being so supported
under your late bereavement, [Lady Gertrude had just lost her daugh
ter] and of the good impressions made on surviving relatives by it.
Thus the Redeemer delights to magnify his strength in his people's
weakness, and causes the death of one to be the life, as it were, the
resurrection of another. 0, what amazing mysteries will be unfolded,
when each link in the golden chain of Providence and grace shall be
seen and scanned by beatified spirits in the kingdom of heaven ! There
all will appear symmetry and harmony ; and even the most intricate,
and seemingly most contrary dispensations, will be evidenced to be the
result of infinite and consummate wisdom, power, and love. Above
all, there the believer will see the infinite depths of that mystery of
godliness, ' God manifest in the flesh,' and join with that blessed choir
who, with a restless unweariness, are ever singing the song of Moses
and the Lamb. May your Ladyship live to see all your surviving
children taught and born of God ! I must not enlarge — neither have I
room to acquaint your Ladyship how that mirror of piety, good Lady
Huntingdon, adorns the gospel of her Lord in all things. I wrote
some particulars of our situation to the good Countess."
Lady Huntingdon used all her interest in endeavouring to
extend the knowledge of the doctrine of her crucified Lord;
and she appears to have been actively engaged about this time
in procuring ordination for Mr. Moses Browne, and the living
of Ashby for Mr. Hervey, who was then officiating as curate to
his father, in the charge of Collingtree ; but upon his demise,
in 1752, Mr. Hervey succeeded to the living of Weston Favell.
From what cause Lady Huntingdon did not succeed in placing
Mr. Hervey at Ashby, it is difficult at this distance of time t'o
ascertain, as no further mention is made of the affair in the
correspondence or papers of her Ladyship or Mr. Whitefield.
Mr. Moses Browne, afterwards well known as Vicar of Olney,
and Chaplain of Morden College, Blackheath, was at this time
very desirous of procuring ordination, but many obstacles opposed
his wishes. He had never been at either of the Universities ;
he had a large family, and his circumstances were very contracted.
He had, among his other talents, a taste for poetry, and some
of his early productions are remarkably easy and elegant. On
the institution of the Gentleman's Magazine, about the year
1730, he became a constant contributor to it, and obtained some
of the prizes offered by Mr. Cave for the best poems.*
* A marked testimony to the poetic talents of Dr. Watts, was shown
him by this gentleman, who, in order to excite emulation, and procure for
his wort productions of real genius, proposed to give certain rewards to his

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 165
By the kindness of Dr. Watts, Mr. Browne was introduced to
the notice of Lady Huntingdon and Lady Hertford, at whose
house he met most of the poets and eminent literary characters
of that time. During a severe illness, which threatened his life,
he was penetrated with a deep sense of the divine reality and
importance of religion ; but his rage for dancing and theatrical
amusements frequently obliterated, for a season, those sacred
impressions. Whilst in this state he was providentially led to
attend the preaching of the first Methodists, under whose power
ful and awakening preaching he began to view the things which
concerned his salvation in a clearer light ; and from that time his
sentiments and conduct appeared to have undergone a complete
revolution. Just at this period, the Rev. Martin Madan, who was originally
bred to the study ofthe law, changed, by the advice of his friends,
Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Jones of St. Saviour's, Mr. Romaine,
and others, the abstruse practice of the bar for the elocution of
the pulpit. Mr. Madan, founder and first chaplain of the Lock
Hospital, near Hyde Park-corner, afterwards so celebrated for
his writings and as a popular preacher in the chapels of Lady
Huntingdon, was the eldestson of Colonel Madan, of the Guards,
by his wife Judith, daughter of Judge Cowper, the brother of
the Lord Chancellor. Like many others, his conversion arose
from circumstances apparently trivial. The preaching of the
first Methodists had excited universal attention, and roused
many from the torpor of indifference. Mr. Madan, being in
company one evening with some of his gay companions at a
coffee-house, was requested by them to go and hear Mr. Wesley,
who, they were told, was to preach in the neighbourhood ; and
then to return and exhibit his manner and discourse for their
entertainment. He went with that intention, and just as he
entered the place, Mr. Wesley named as his text, " Prepare to
meet thy God!" with a solemnity of accent which struck him,
and which inspired a seriousness that increased as the good man
proceeded in exhorting his hearers to repentance. He returned
poetical correspondents, and wrote to the Doctor, requesting him to decide
upon their respective merits. His natural modesty revolted at the idea of
becoming a literary judge ; but on being pressed, he gave his opinion with so
much candour and judicious discrimination, that all parties expressed their
gratitude, and cheerfully acquiesced in his decision. It was this circumstance
which first introduced Mr. Browne to the notice of Dr. Watts, who, during the
remainder of his life, took a kind and almost parental interest in all his concerns.
The extensive learning and poetical abilities, the exemplary piety, the active
benevolence and steady friendship of that excellent man and bright ornament
of the Christian Church, were not less the subjects of delightful conversation
in the privacy of Mr. Browne's life, than they have been the theme of just
eulogium to an impartial posterity.

166 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
to the coffee-room, and was asked by his acquaintance " if he
had taken off the old Methodist ?" To which he answered, " No,
gentlemen, but he has taken me off." From that time he with
drew from their company altogether, and in future associated
with persons of a different stamp. His first friend and intimate
in the religious world was Lady Huntingdon, who had been well
acquainted with his mother-in-law, Lady Hale, relict of Sir
Bernard Hale, Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Ireland, the
friend and contemporary of her Ladyship's grandfather, Sir
Richard Levinge, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas :
Lady Huntingdon's cousin, Sir Edward Dering, Bart., grandson
of Lady Anne Shirley, afterwards married a niece of Mr. Madan's,
daughter of William Hale, Esq., of King's Walden, and sister
to Mrs. Stillingfleet, of West Bromwich.
Possessing a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures in the
original languages, and having embraced those evangelical
views of Gospel truth, of which he afterwards was so zealous a
defender, Mr. Madan was desirous of diffusing amongst his
fellow-men the savour of that name which he loved. Master
of an independent fortune, he entered the ministry without
any mercenary views : and though his brother, Dr. Spencer
Madan, was successively bishop of Bristol and Peterborough, he
never accepted any benefice or emolument in the Church. In
consequence of his religious sentiments, and the open avowal
he made of the faith once delivered to the saints, he experienced
some difficulty in obtaining orders ; but, through the perseve
rance and interest of Lady Huntingdon and some others, he
was at length successful. Alluding to this circumstance, Mr.
Whitefield says : —
" I am glad Mr. Madan is ordained, and hope Mr. Browne will be
the next. By the Bishop's letter to him, I find your Ladyship has
acted in the affair like yourself. Your Ladyship shall have a copy of
it, and you will then see how matters go on. Mr. Browne is much for
embarking in Christ's cause, and if the Duchess would but help him at
this juncture he might be a useful and happy man. Both he and Mr.
Hervey have the most grateful sense of your Ladyship's great kind
ness. The latter, I believe, intends to winter with me in London. If
possible, I will prevail on Mr. Hartley to come and pay him a visit."
Soon after his ordination,-Mr. Madan was called to preach
his first sermon in the church of All-hallows, Lombard-street.
The lawyer turning divine was novel — curiosity prevailed among
the million of the metropolis. The manly eloquence of the
preacher drew general attention and excited applause. The
poor heard the Gospel with gladness, and the rich were not
sent empty away, Many were filled with wonder, The, croaking

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 167
cry of prejudice was silenced— her raVert Voice sunk amidst the
loud acclaims of the friends of religion, who heard the doctrines
of the Reformation nobly defended by an able advocate, Whose
knowledge was equal to his zeal. Like Boanerges, a Son of
thunder, he proclaimed the law from the flaming mountain ;
and from the summit of Zion's hill he appeared a Barnabas* a son
of consolation. Mr. Madan was rather tall in stature, and Df a
robust constitution : his countenance was majestic^ open, and
engaging, and his looks commanding veneration ; his delivery
is said to have been peculiarly graceful. He preactred without
notes ; his voice was musical, well modulated* full and power
ful; his language plain, nervous, pleasing, and memorable;
and his arguments strong, bbld, rational, and conclusive,: his
doctrines were drawn from the sacred fountain: he was mighty
in the Scriptures — a workman that nestled hot be" ashathed of
his labours, rightly dividing the wprd of truth.
The success attending her Ladyship's applications in Behalf
of Mr. Madan, induced her to redouble her efforts to serve Mr.
Browne : —
" I have had a polite refusal (says Lady Huntingdon) from, the
Bishop of Winchester,* but have hopes that my letter to his tiordship
of Worcester wil prove niore favourable. The testiinoriial'sj sighed by
Hervey, Hartley, and Baddelley, all beneficed clergymen, men of known
integrity and reputation, remain in the Bishop's hands. , My dear Lady
Chesterfield has been very kind, and takes a great interest in Mr,
Browne's case. The Countess Deliti has sent me ten guineas for him.
I haye Written to Lady Fanny, and hope her application to the Ducheiss
will be successful, t My Lord Bath has promised me his support; and
I doubt not but he will be generous likewise. Let the cry of every
heart be addressed to Him who has all hearts at his disposal, and will
do whatsoever seemeth him good in this as in every other cases Our
business is to spread it before him in prayer — the result will be according
to his most righteous will."
All these efforts were vain —
" Poor Mr. Browne (says Mr. Whitefield.) in a letter tb Lady Faiiny
* Dr. Benjamin Hoadley, the celebrated prelate who gave rise to the Bangorian
controversy. f Ladjr FSitiiy" wast Vfiry active in hef erideavoiirs to procure pecuniary assis-
ance for Jfe Brdwnfe. She had applied to the Duchess of Somerset attd Br.
Stephen Hales, physician to the prince of Wales, who, at her request, had pre
sented Mr. Hervey's works to the Prihfiess, by whom they were f eceiverl l^i a
vMy obliging faiainei-. Dr. Hales wits ft pilosopher afid divinej alio fi skid tcj
have beeri a mail of great scierlee, huftlility and piety.. He was Successively.
presented to the livings of Teddulgton, Middlesex ; Porlook, Somersetshire ;
and Farringdon, in Hampshire. After, the death of the Prince of Wales, the
- Frirfeess DdWSger made Klrfi clerk of hfe cldsef, arid kttU fits Beatfe. iii 1761,
erected a monument to his tii€ttiotf iti WesfifrinSter &mfef,

168 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Shirley,) is much obliged to you for speaking in his behalf. He hap
pened to be with me when your letter came. The reception your
Ladyship's kind motion met with, convinces me more and more that
« Be ye warmed and be ye filled,' without giving anything to be warmed
or filled with, is the farthest that most professors go. Words are cheap,
and cost nothing ; and, therefore, many can say ' they pity,' and that
extremely too, when at the same time their practice shows it is only a
verbal, and not a real compassion."
At length, however, through the interest of the Hon. Welbore
Ellis,* Lady Huntingdon succeeded in obtaining ordination
for Mr. Browne, who soon after commenced his ministry as
curate to Mr. Hervey, at Collingtree. That inconceivably
amiable, humble man, had frequently urged him to enter the
ministry ; and, in one of his letters to him, says : —
" As to your entering into holy orders, I have no manner of doubt ;
by all means do it. It is what I have been praying for these several
years ; it is what all the disciples of Christ are directed to implore at
the Lord's hands, that he would send many such labourers into his
vineyard. As God has inclined your heart to the work — as he has
given you so clear a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus, and stirred
you up to be zealous for the interests of a bleeding Saviour ; I assure
you if the ] king would make me a bishop, one of the first acts of my
episcopal office should be to ordain the author of ' Sunday Thoughts.'
I hope the Lord will guide you by his spirit, and commission you to
feed his flock, and make you a chosen instrument of bringing many
sinners to Christ — many sons to glory."
Immediately on coming to Collingtree, Mr. Browne was invited
to Ashby-place, and some of his first and most effective discourses
were delivered amongst the people there. When Lady Hun
tingdon removed to London, he occasionally visited the metro
polis, and at her Ladyship's house united with that great apostle
of the Lord, Mr. Whitefield, in preaching the unsearchable
riches of Christ to the polite and fashionable. He likewise
assisted Mr. Madan at the Lock, and Mr. Jones at St. Saviour's,
and the Great Shepherd and Bishop of souls bore testimony to
the word of his servant, and gave him many seals to his ministry.
Early in the month of December Lady Huntingdon was
again alarmingly indisposed. Mr. Whitefield also was danger
ously ill at the same time in London. Dr. Doddridge appears to
have been extremely apprehensive as to her Ladyship's state of
health, and in a letter to his correspondent, the Rev. Mr. Wood,
of Norwich, dated December 4, says — " Dear Lady Huntingdon
is in a very declining way. Pray devoutly for her important
*¦ ThTen,one of the Lords of the Admiralty. He was nephew of Lady Ger
trude Hotham, and afterwards became Lord Mendip.'

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 169
life." On the 22nd of the same month he again mentions her
Ladyship— "I am printing the funeral sermon for my excellent
friend at St. Alban's.* Lady Huntingdon continues very ill. I
fear we shall soon lose her too. But the Lord liveth, and blessed
be our rock." At the close of a letter from Mr. Hervey to the
Rev. Moses Browne, dated December 22, he inquires — " What
account can you give of Lady Huntingdon's health ? Never,
never will the physician's skill be employed for the lengthening
a more valuable life. May Almighty goodness bless those
prescriptions, and command her constitution and our zeal to
flourish." The beginning of the year 1751 Lady Huntingdon's health
declined so rapidly that Mr. Whitefield was sent for express. " I
rode post to Ashby (says he) not knowing whether I should see
good Lady Huntingdon alive. Blessed be God, she is some
what better, and I trust will not yet die, but live, and abound
more and more in the work of the Lord. Entreat all our friends
to pray for her. Indeed she is worthy." Lady Selina was slowly
recovering from a fever, and Lady Frances had died suddenly a
few hours before Mr. Whitefield reached Ashby. She was a
retired character, lived silently, and was removed to that
" land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal reign,"
without a sigh or a struggle. Her Ladyship was born at Don
nington Park, January 8, 1694, and died unmarried, January 23,
1751.J Her humility, meekness, sincerity, and heavenly-mind-
edness were conspicuous in all her deportment, and rendered her
much esteemed and respected by all who had the happiness of
her acquaintance. In her intercourse with society,^; she was
* The Rev. Dr. Samuel Clark, compiler of the " Promises," to whom Dr.
Doddridge was under very particular obligations in the course of his educational
studies. t She was the third daughter of Theophilus, seventh Earl of Huntingdon,
by his (second) marriage with Frances, daughter of Francis Leveson Fowler,
of Harnage Grange, in the county of Salop, Esq., and relict of Thomas, sixth
Viscount Kilmorey. There was a double connexion between those families;
Lord Kilmorey, the nephew of Lady Frances Hastings, having married Lady
Mary Shirley, the youngest sister of Lady Huntingdon.
{ Amongst the early friends and associates of the Ladies Hastings were the
daughters of the Marquis of Lothian. Their mother was a Campbell, sister to
the first Duke of Argyle. Lady Mary Kerr, the youngest daughter, married
Alexander Hamilton, Esq,, of Ballincrieff, Member of Parliament for the county
of Linlithgow, Postmaster-General of Scotland, and representative of the family
of Innerwick. Lady Mary's intimacy with the Ladies Hastings soon brought
her into contact with Mr. Whitefield and the Messrs. Wesley, and under the
preaching of those men of God she was led to embrace the truth as it is in
Jesus. For many years she was the intimate friend and correspondent of Mr.
Whitefield ; and in the collection of letters puhlished by his executors several
will be found addressed to Lady Mary Hamilton, whose mother, we have it on

170 THE LiFE AND TIMES OF
a pattern to all, manifesting an uniform piety, a de&dness to the
world, and a conversation that in all things adorned the doctrine
of our Saviour. She was universally lamented by the poor in
the neighbourhood, of whom a multitude attended her funeral.
Before the body was removed, Mr. Whitefield gave a solemn
exhortation; and after her Ladyship's remains were interred
amongst those of her ancestors, he addressed an attentive and
weeping multitude, preaching from the words, " Blessed are
the dead which die in the Lord, from henceforth ; yea> saith
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their Works
do follow them."
The following letter from Mr. Whitefield to Lady Mary
Hamilton contains some interesting particulars of the death of
Lady Frances :-—
" Honoured Madam, — Last Monday evening, through the goodness
of an ever-blessed Redeemer, I got safe to Ashby, where I found good
Lady Huntingdon very sick, ¦ though I trust not unto death. All ad
vise her Ladyship to take a journey to Bristol, for the benefit of the
waters, which her Ladyship seems determined to do. The death of
Lady Frances has not affected her so as to hurt her, She rejoices at
the thought of her sister's being so quickly translated out of this house
of bondage into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Her death
was a translation indeed ! Her Ladyship died without a groan. She
seemed as it were to smile at death ; and may be said, I trust truly, to
fall asleep in Jesus. Ere long, she and all that sleep in Jesus shall
come with him. Almost all have been ill in their turns. Lady Selina
has had a fever, but is better. Lady Betty is more affected than ever
I saw her. Lady Anne bears up pretty well s but Miss Wheeler is
inconsolable. It is a house of mourning ; that is better than a house
of feasting. The corpse is to be interred on Friday evening. May all
that follow it look and learn ! I mean, learn to live and learn to die.
This is a lesson which you and yours, honoured Madam, I trust, are
learning every day. We had need be careful to get our lesson perfect,
since we know not when the Son-of Man will come, whether at evening,
cock-crowing, or in the morning. To be ready at that hour, is all in
all. Good Lady Huntingdon sends her sincerest compliments. If
any thing extraordinary happens before my return, your Ladyship shall
hear again from, honoured Madam, your Ladyship's most dutiful,
obliged, and ready servant for Christ's sake, « G.W.
Mrs. Whitefield's illness obliging her husband to return to
London, he wrote to Dr. Stonhouse, the day before his depar-
Mr. Whitefield's authority, set her the example of piety; she-died in 1740.
The Marquis of Lothian, the brother of Lady Mary, was also a correspondent
of Mr. Whitefield, and, as we have before stated (see page 91), was one of his
hearers at the house of Lady Huntingdon. Lady Mary died Nor. 17, 1768,
leaving no surviving issue.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 171
ture, urging him to use his influence with Mr. Hartley to come
without delay to Ashby ; but he being then unable to leave his
parish, Dr. Stonhouse went to Ashby, where he remained till
her Ladyship was sufficiently recovered to remove to Bristol Hot
Wells, whither she went in the beginning of March. This was
an important circumstance for the Doctor, who seemed halting
between two opinions, notwithstanding the searching letters ar.d
eloquently urgent remonstrances of Mr. Whitefield. Lady Hun
tingdon says, in a letter, written just before leaving Ashby: —
" The dear and excellent Dr. Doddridge and Dr. Stonhouse have
been to see me. I long to see the latter embark more boldly in the
cause of Christ, but he has an unaccountable dread of the opinion of
the world, and is fearful of being called a Methodist. We spoke
most faithfully and solemnly to him ; he appeared affected, and shed
tears. He and Dr. Doddridge have preached alternately every even
ing, and have occasionally assisted in the administration of the Sacra
ment. How holy, how humble, is that excellent man ! and what divine
words fell from his lips at the last sacramental feast I How close
and searching were his addresses ! I think I Was scarce ever so happy
before. I trust my journey to Bristol will be for good! 0, thattmy
health and strength may be wholly employed for that blessed Redeemer
who has done such great things for me \"
Mr. Whitefield left Ashby the first week in February, and
towards the close of the month received a letter from Lady Hun
tingdon, mth an account of the continued improvement in her
health, which rejoiced the benevolent heart of that great and
good man.
Early in the month of March Lady Huntingdon and family
left Ashby for Bristol. A few days after her arrival she was
agreeably surprised by a visit from Mr. Whitefield, who had been
preaching at Gloucester and Tewksbury, with his accustomed
zeal and success. Intending to proceed towards the south, he
wrote to Mr. Hervey to supply his place : —
" This comes (says he) with a summons from good Lady Hunting
don for you to appear in Bristol and abide for a month or two at
my brother's house : you must not refuse. The God who has carried
that elect Lady through such bad roads from Ashby hither, will take
care of yau, and I am persuaded you will not repent your journey.
Her Ladyship made the motion to me, and intends writing herself.
Blessed be God, she is much better, and I trust will do well. She will
have nobody to give her the sacrament unless you come."
But Mr. Hervey's precarious state of health would not permit
his accepting her Ladyship's kind invitation. He was in Lon
don, and under the roof of his valued friend? at the Tabernacle-
house.

172 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
" This (says Mr. Whitefield) I count a great honour, and such a
privilege, that I wish to have the favour conferred on me as long as I
live. These my hands, could they work, or was there occasion for it,
should readily minister to your necessities."
Disappointed of Mr. Hervey's assistance, Mr. Whitefield wrote
to Mr. Hartley on the 30th of March, enclosing a letter from
Lady Huntingdon, requesting him to visit Bristol without delay :
" I am persuaded (says he) you were surprised to find our elect
Lady gone from Ashby, and I was as much surprised to see her Lady
ship at Bristol ; I hope her journey was of God. The waters agree
with her wonderfully already, and I trust she will be restored to perfect
health. As dear Mr. Hervey cannot be prevailed upon to come down,
if it would any way suit you to be with her Ladyship a month, it would
much refresh her, and I believe be very agreeable to you. Some pul
pits would be open for you, and who knows but you might catch some
great fish in the gospel net ? But I need not enforce this, since her
Ladyship hath written to you herself. May the blessed Redeemer
direct your going in his way !"
After a short visit to Plymouth, Exeter, and other places in
Devonshire and Somersetshire, Mr. Whitefield returned to
Bristol, where he found Mr. Daniel Rowlands, who had arrived a
few days before, on a visit to Lady Huntingdon. These apos
tolic labourers preached frequently at this time in the open air,
to vast multitudes, who heard them with apparently deep and
serious attention : —
" It is delightful (says her Ladyship) to see such multitudes flocking
to hear the word. Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Rowlands are greatly
owned and honoured of the Lord in the conversion of notorious profli
gates and self-righteous formalists. Very many have been compelled
to lay down the arms of rebellion, and submit to the all-conquering
sword of the Spirit. Mr. Hartley hath preached several times in the
churches with great acceptance. I trust my journey hither was of the
Lord, and that some great good will yet appear the result of it. I
often find Luther's words applicable to myself — He was never em
ployed about any fresh work, but he was either visited with a fit of sick
ness or violent temptation."
About this time the Duchess of Somerset, being extremely
anxious to learn the state of her Ladyship's health, wrote both
to Ashby and Bristol, but not receiving any reply, her Grace
wrote thus to Mr. Doddridge, on the 14th of April : —
" I have wrote twice to Lady Huntingdon since I have had a letter
from her ; but a gentleman, who came from Bristol last week, told
me that she was there ; but not having the happiness to be acquainted
with her, he could give me no account of her health, which I most
earnestly pray may be restored by the use of those waters."

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 173
Mr. Hervey also, when writing to Lady Frances Shirley, in
the month of June, says : —
" I have not had the favour of a line from Lady Huntingdon for
some months. When I was at London, to see Mrs. Whitefield, on her
return from Bristol, she told me that the good Countess's health was
very much restored by the waters : that she was (to use her own ex
pression) charmingly well. I hope this amendment continues ; and
wish it may be perpetuated."
The unexpected death of the Prince of Wales at this time
was an alarming stroke to the nation : —
" I suppose (says Mr. Whitefield) the death of our Prince has af
fected you. It has given me a shock — but the Lord reigneth, and that
is our comfort."
The unhappy misunderstanding between the Prince and his
Father, George the Second, caused him to emancipate himself
from all restraint, and form a party of his own. Inflamed by the
artifices and ambition of his supporters, his opposition to govern
ment became systematic, and he conceived a most ill-founded
antipathy against Sir Robert Walpole, his father's minister : as
he had a taste for the arts, and a fondness for literary pursuits,
he sought the society of persons who were most conspicuous for
their talents and knowledge. He was thrown into the company
of Carteret, Chesterfield, Pulteney, Cobham, and Sir William
Wyndham, who were considered as the leading characters for
wit, talents, and urbanity. His house became the rendezvous
of young men of the highest expectation, Pitt, Lyttleton, and
the Granvilles; whom he afterwards took into his household,
and made his associates. The usual topic of conversation in this
select society was abuse of the minister, and condemnation of
his measures, urged with all the keenness of wit and powers of
eloquence. The Prince found the men whose reputation was
most eminent in literature, particularly Swift, Pope, and Thom
son,* adverse to Walpole, who was the object of their private
and public satire. But the person who principally contributed
to aggravate his opposition was Bolingbroke, whose ambition
ever aimed at the summit of power, and whose immoderate de
sires nothing seemed capable of satisfying but the liberty of
governing all things without a rival. About 1748 the party of the
Prince began to form a new opposition ; and in the second and
third sessions of the new Parliament they took the lead against
the administration. In the third session, which commenced in
* In the lihrary of Cheshunt College is a volume of " The Seasons," pre
sented by Thomson himself to Lady Huntingdon, with an autograph in
scription,

t74 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
January 1751, the party of the Prince seemed likely to gain
great accession from the merited unpopularity which the ministry
incurred by the subsidiary treaties in Germany ; while Lord
Cobham and his friends meditated a secession from the minis
terial phalanx. But the unexpected death of the Prince gave a
new aspect to public affairs, and produced a great and singular
change in the temper of the court and the councils of the
kingdom. " Providence (says the Duchess of Somerset, in a
letter to Dr. Doddridge) seems to have directed the blow
where we thought ourselves the most secure ; for among the
manv schemes of hopes and fears which people were laying
down to themselves, this was never mentioned as a supposable
event. The harmony which appears to subsist between his
Majesty and the Princess of Wales is the best support for the
spirits of the nation, under their present concern and astonish
ment. He died h>the forty-fifth year of his age, and is generally
allowed to have been a Prince of amiable and generous disposi
tion, of elegant manners, and of considerable talents.*"
The loss of this amiable and accomplished Prince was most
sensibly felt by Lady Huntingdon, who, in early life, was fre
quent in her attendance- at Court, and had many opportuni
ties of witnessing the simplicity and elegance of his manners,
the liberality of his principles, and the benevolence of his dis
position. When the Prince's difference with his father led him
to keep his own Court, her Ladyship attended it, and Lord
Huntingdon, Lord Ferrars, and others of her Ladyship's friends,
were his political supporters. When her Ladyship withdrew
from her attendance at the fashionable circle of the great, the
line of conduct which she thought proper to pursue naturally
excited the enmity of those of her own rank, although she had
a testimony in the consciences of them, as appeared even in
their words, that what she did was right. One day, at Court,
the Prince of. Wales inquired of Lady Charlotte Edwin,f a
* His Royal Highness had some claims to consideration on the score of
literary talents. See Park's edition of Lord Orford's Royal and Noble Authors,
vol. i. p. 171.
f Lady Charlotte was a daughter of James, Duke of Hamilton, who vras un-
fortunately killed, in a duel by his brother-in-law, Lord Mbhun. Shu married
Charles Edwin, of Dunraven, in Glamorganshire, Esq., M. P. for that county,
who died> at Kensington, June 29,. 1756. Lady Charlotte was one of the ladies
ofthe bed-chamber to Augusta, Princess of Wales; and died at London* Feb.
1, 1777, in her 74lh.year, without issue, leaving a large fortune, chiefly to the
Duke of Hamilton. L'ady Charlotte, some years after the circumstance related
above, became very intimate with Lady Huntingdon, and a constant attendant
on the ministry of Mr. Whitefield and. those faithful men who preached for
her Ladyship,. The misfortunes of her sister, Lady Susan Keck, and the con
duct ofHer sister-in-law, the notorious Lady Vane, had a powerful' effect in

SELINA, COBNTSSS OF HUNTINGDON. 175
lady of fashion, where- my Lady Huntingdon was, that she so
seldom visited the circle ? Lady Charlotte, replied, with a sneer,
" I suppose praying with her beggars." The Prince shook his
head, and, turning to Lady Charlotte, said, " Lady Charlotte,
when I am dying, I think I shall be happy to seize the skirt of
Lady Huntingdon's mantle, to lift me up with her to heaven,"
A letter from Lord Bolingbroke had apprised Lady Hun
tingdon of the unexpected detiiise of the Prince of Wales : " an
event (says his Lordship) likely to cause many extraordinary
changes, at Court,, and much discontent in the kingdom," Her
Ladyship never took any interest or part in the politics of the
times, although, from family connexions and other causes, ber
earliest associates were generally in the opposition rank. De
sirous of knowing the feelings and sentiments of the Prince at
the close of life, she wrote to Mr. Lyttleton, who had been
principal Secretary to his Royal Highness. Little could be as
certained, yet that little was satisfactory : —
" It is certain (says her Ladyship) that he was in the habit of
reading Dr. Doddridge's works, which had been presented to the Prinr
cess, and has been heard to express his approbation of. them in tlie
highest terms. He had frequent argument with my Lord Bolingbroke,
who thought his Royal Highness fast verging towards Methodism, the
doctrines of which he was very curious to ascertain. Piis Lordship
told me, that the Prince went more than once privately to hear Mr.
Whitefield, with whom he said he was much pleased. Had- he lived,
it is not improbable but Mr. Whitefield would have been promoted in
some way. But an all-wise Providence has seen fit to remove him to
another world. May the Judge pf all. the earth dignify him with
the illustrious character of King and Priest, in that kingdom purchased
for the heirs of salvation, by the unspeakably precious merits of Him
who was exalted as a Prince and a Saviour, and humbled himself to
death, even the death of the cross, to procure for us a. heavenly — a
blissful inheritance beyond the skies !"
Dr. Francis Ayscough, afterwards Dean of Bristol, who had
married one of the sisters of Lord Lyttleton, was appointed clepk
of the closet to the Prince of Wales, and first, preceptor to his
late Majesty,. George III. On being appointed by the Prince
to take charge of the education of hjs children, Dr. Doddridge
wrote him a lqtter of congratulation ; in reply to which the
Doctor says : —
" I am truly sensible of the difficulties as well as, the advantages of
the st^ion I am placed, in. A trust of such importance to posterity
is a charge which I" have not only on my mind, but in my conscience.
leading her to think with deep seriousness on the great concerns of an eternal
world. Frequent mention is made of Lady Charlotte in the Diary of the cele
brated Bubb Doddington, afterwards Lord Melcombe.

176 *HE LIFE AND TIMES OF
I hope God will enable me to go through it with success ; and I think
I have a right to call upon every good man and lover of his country
for advice and assistance in the discharge of a duty, on the faithful
performance of which the public good so much depends. And as you
have been so much concerned in the education of youth, I shall always
be glad to receive any advice or instructions from you ; which I desire
you to give me freely, and I promise you it shall be most friendly
received. I thank God I have one great encouragement to quicken
me in my duty, which is, the good disposition of the children entrusted
to me : as an instance of it, I must tell you that Prince George* (to
his honour and my shame) had learnt several pages in your little book
of verses, without any directions from me : and I must say of all the
children (for they are all committed to my care) that they are as con
formable and as capable of receiving instruction as any I ever yet met
with. How unpardonable, then, should I be in tbe sight of God and
man, if I neglected my part towards them ! All that I can say is, that
no care or diligence shall be wanting in me ; and I beg the prayer of
you, and every honest man, for the Divine blessing on my endeavours."
It was through the kindness of Lady Huntingdon that Dr.
Ayscough had become acquainted with her favourite, Dr. Dod
dridge, whom her Ladyship represented as a gentleman, a
scholar, and an able and pious minister in Christ. Lady Hun
tingdon prevailed upon the Doctor to present, as we before
stated, his work on the " Rise and Progress of Religion" to the
Princess of Wales, through the medium of Dr. Ayscough, who
thus informed him of the execution of the commission he had
entrusted him with : —
" I presented your book to her Royal Highness, and ought long
since to have acquainted you with her most gracious acceptance of it,
and that I was commanded to return you her thanks for it. There is,
indeed, such a spirit of piety in it as deserves the thanks of every good
Christian. May God grant it may have its proper effect in awakening
this present careless age ! and then I am sure you will have your end
in publishing it."
Dr. Doddridge was at this time publishing " The Family
Expositor," by subscription, One volume had already appeared,
and few persons in the circle of the Doctor's friends made more
strenuous exertions for the circulation of his work than Lady
Huntingdon. But the dangerous illness of their faithful and
much-esteemed friend, Mr. Lyttleton, retarded the printing of
the remaining volumes.
" The three volumes (sa}'s Dr. Doddridge) will hardly be published
at so small a price as a thousand pounds, and I shall judge it the part
of prudence, and therefore of duty, not to send them to the press oh
any terms on which I shall not be secure ; and if there be such a num-
* His late Majesty, George III.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 177
ber subscribed for, or bespoke by booksellers, as to effect that, I skill
go on with the pubhcation as fast as I can ; and bless God for such an
opportunity of doing any pubhc homage to his word, and endeavouring
with all integrity and simplicity to make it understooc^ and to enforce
it on men's consciences according to the little ability he has been pleased
to give me ; which truly I think so little, that I am sometimes almost
ashamed of having undertaken so great a work."
Mr. Lyttleton, however, soon recovered, and in a short time
transmitted to Lady Huntingdon a long list of additional sub
scribers : —
" I have the unspeakable pleasure (says her Ladyship) of commu
nicating intelligence that will rejoice my much-esteemed friend. You
will be thankful that the great Author of all good has raised our friend,
Mr. Lyttleton, from the borders of the grave, and he is now quite
recovered from his late most alarming indisposition. I have just had
a letter from him, lamenting his not having procured a larger list of
subscribers to ' The Expositor,' owing principally to the delay caused
by his illness ; but hopes, as soon as his strength is restored, to redeem
the time that is lost by redoubling his exertions."
Mr. Lyttleton's exertions in procuring subscriptions for the
remaiuing volumes of " The Family Expositor" were the means
of introducing it to many in high life, to whom it might other
wise have had no access. " Most earnestly (continues her
Ladyship) do I pray the Lord of all lords to prolong your
valuable life, and give you strength and abilities for the com
pletion of a work so calculated to promote the glory of his name,
and the everlasting good of mankind."
It was now that letters from the Duchess of Bridgewater and
Dr. Ayscough to Lady Huntingdon announced the unexpected
death of Sir Thomas Lyttleton, who had long been an intimate
friend of the late Lord Huntingdon and several branches of the
house of Hastings. " My father (says Sir George, afterwards
the well-known and respected Lord Lyttleton,) met death with
so noble a firmness, and so assured a hope of a blessed immor
tality, that it is raised our thoughts above our grief, and fixed
them much more in the example he has left us, than in the
loss we have sustained." Ill health had obliged him to retire
from a public station, and he lived retired, in the continual exer
cise of all the virtues which can ennoble private life. His sound
judgment, inflexible integrity, and universal candour, recom
mended him to the esteem of all parties. Though in a state of
great bodily suffering, his immediate death was not contemplated
by his family : —
"As far as I can judge (writes Lady Huntingdon) from what the
Duchess and Dr. Ayscough write concerning Sir Thomas, he must have
vol. I. — N

178 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
left these scenes of mortality with a well-founded hope of happiness.
The perusal of Dr. Doddridge's ' Rise and Progress of Religion' was
much blessed to him ; and on his dying bed he recommended it to the
serious attention of his children. I have not time at present to give
you many particulars ; but one expression that dropped from him the
day before his departure appears satisfactory, and most consoling to his
afflicted family. Mr. Lyttleton had read some chapters from the Bible,
and afterwards engaged in prayer for his dying parent ; when he had
concluded, Sir George expressed his readiness to depart, adding, ' My
dear child, 1 feel that God my Saviour has pardoned all my sins ; and,
from what you have just read, that his blood cleanseth from all iniquity.
I derive great comfort, for he is my only, only hope.' I pray that
this affliction may be sanctified to the good of surviving relatives. The
Duchess is quite inconsolable ; but the good Doctor rejoices in the
eternal happiness of his respected father-in-law. I shall write to both
the next post."*
Intelligence ofthe death ofthe excellent Dr. Doddridge now
arrived in England, and was quickly followed by that of a cha
racter in every respect dissimilar — namely, the Lord Viscount
Bolingbroke,-]- a man of fascinating manners and commanding
eloquence, abounding in wit and fancy, master of polite learn
ing, which he knew how to draw forth on all occasions ; but
in his private character without morals and without prin
ciples. The intelligence was communicated to her Ladyship
by his Lordship's only sister, the eccentric and accomplished
Lady Luxborough, the friend and correspondent of Shenstone,
the poet.
His Lordship entertained a very contemptuous opinion of
clergymen in general ; and this is not much to be wondered at,
for many of those with whom he had come in contact were mere
sycophants and time-servers — fawning on the great for pre
ferment. The well-known Dr. Trapp, Rector of the united
parishes of Christ Church, Newgate-street, and St. Leonard,
Foster-lane, was his chaplain. He acted as manager to that cele-
* Several of the family of Sir Thomas Lyttleton had much of the external
appearance of religion ; and it is hoped that some of them possessed the life
aud power of divine truth in their own souls. Of the Duchess of Bridgewater
little is known. Her Grace occasionally attended Mr. Whitefield's preaching
at Lady Huntingdon's, and sometimes corresponded with her Ladyship, as did
also several members of the family, all of whom retained a high respect and
esteem for a character of such exalted excellence. Lady Lyttleton, who had
been one of the Maids of Honour to Queen Anne, was a daughter of Sir Richard
Temple, of Stow ; her eldest sister married Dr. Richard West, Prebendary of
Winchester, and was mother of Gilbert West, Esq., a poet, and well known
for his " Observations on the Resurrection."
f He was affected with a cancer in the cheek-bone, for which he was treated
by W. Cheselden, Esq., head Surgeon of St. Thomas's and Chelsea Hospitals ;
but renouncing the aid of this accomplished surgeon, and employing a quack,
the philosophic infidel died most miserably.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 179
brated high-church bigot, Dr. Sacheverel, in his trial before the
House of Lords. With Lord and Lady Huntingdon Dr. Trapp
was well acquainted, and was a frequent guest at their house.
From a mistaken notion that he was recommending himself to
his ecclesiastical superiors, he invariably manifested the most
implacable hatred to the whole Methodist body. His " Pre
servative against unsettled Notions in Religion," and his " Sin
and Folly of being Righteous over-much," were answered by
Messrs. Whitefield, Wesley, and Law.
Dr. Thomas Church, Vicar of Battersea and Prebendary of
St. Paul's, was likewise the intimate friend of Lord Bolingbroke,
and, after his Lordship's decease, published an Analysis of his
Philosophical Works. He also was a violent exposer of the
Methodists, and addressed a " Serious and Expostulatory Let
ter" to Mr. Whitefield, and " Remarks on Mr. Wesley's Jour
nal, in a Letter to that Gentleman."*
It is well known that Lord Bolingbroke professed himself a
Deist : and those principles wliich he had all long avowed he
confirmed with his dying breath, having given orders that none
of the clergy should be permitted to trouble him in his latest
moments. He often attended Mr. Whitefield's ministry, and on
several occasions complimented him on his eloquence and
abilities : —
" He is (says his Lordship, in a letter to Lady Huntingdon,) tlie
most extraordinary man in our times. He has the most commanding
eloquence I ever heard in any person — his abilities are very consi
derable — his zeal unquenchable, and his piety and excellence genuine,
unquestionable. The bishops and inferior orders of the clergy are
very angry with him, and endeavour to represent him as a hypocrite,
an enthusiast : but this is not astonishing ; there is so little real good-
• The Rev. Martin Madan, in his "Comments on the Thirty-nine Articles,''
relates the following curious anecdote of Lord Bolingbroke and Dr. Church, on
the authority of Lady Huntingdon, to whotaitVas communicated by his Lord
ship himself. Lord Bolingbroke was One day sitting in his house at Battersea,
reading Calvin's " Institutes," when he received a morning visit from Doctor
Church. After the usual salutations, he asked the Doctor if he could guess
what the book was which then lay before him ; " and which," says Lord Bo
lingbroke, " I have been studying ?" " No, really, my Lord, 1 cannot," quoth
the Doctor. " It is Calvin's' Institutes,' " said Lord Bolingbroke. " What
do you think of the.-e matters ?" Doctor,—" Oh, my Lord, wc don't think
about such antiquated stuff; we teach the plain doctrines of viitue and
morality, and have long laid aside those abstruse points about grace." " Look
you, Doctor," said Lord Bolingbroke ; " you know I don't believe the Bible to
be a divine revelation ; but they who do, can never defend it on any principles
but the doctrine of grace. To say truth, I have at times been almost persuaded
to believe it upon this view of things ; and there is one argument which has
gone very far with me in behalf of its authenticity, which is, that the belief in
it exists upon earth, even when committed to the care of such "as you,
who pretend to believe it, and yet deny the only principles on which it is'
defensible."
n2

180 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
ness or honesty amongst them. Your Ladyship will be somewhat
amused at hearing' that the King has recommended to his Grace of
Canterbury that Mr. "Whitefield should be advanced to the Bench as
the only means of putting an end to his preaching. What a keen —
what a biting remark ! but how just — and how well earned by those
mitred Lords !"
His friendship for Lady Huntingdon, and his admiration
of her talents and her devotedness to the cause of God her
Saviour, were extraordinary, and continued unabated to the close
of his life. With her Ladyship he frequently conversed on the
most solemn truths of religion. Disdaining the restraints of
God's law, and priding himself in freedom of thought above the
vulgar, the wisdom of God, in his eyes, was foolishness ; and
Revelation, at the bar of his " exalted reason," was weighed and
found wanting ! Nevertheless, he was seldom in her company
without discussing some topic beneficial to his eternal interests,
and he always paid the utmost respect and deference to her
Ladyship's opinion. On one occasion he said, f- How does your
Ladyship reconcile prayer to God for particular blessings, with
absolute resignation to the Divine will ?" — " Very easily," re
plied the Countess; "just as if I was to offer a petition to a
monarch of whose kindness and wisdom I have the highest
opinion. In such a case my language would be — ' I wish you to
bestow on me such a favour; but your Majesty knows better
than I how far it would be agreeable to you, or right in itself to
grant my desire. I therefore content myself with humbly pre
senting my petition, and leave the event of it entirely to you.' "
Lord Bolingbroke's second wife, the Marchioness of Villetta,
was niece to the celebrated Madame de Maintenon (wife of
Louis XIV.) the cruel instigator of those horrid persecutions
of the Protestants which disgraced the reign of that great
monarch. She was a woman of superior accomplishments, and
styled by her aunt, in her published letters, " The most sensible
person among her female relations." Between her Ladyship
and the eccentric Lady Luxborough, his Lordship's only sister,
there existed little cordiality. With Lady Fanny Shirley she
was particularly intimate ; and was very regular in her attendance
at Lady Huntingdon's to hear Mr. Whitefield, and other eminent
ministers. " Of Lord Bolingbroke and the Marchioness (says
her Ladyship) I sometimes have a hope; they attend with such
regularity, and hear with such apparent attention. But Lady
Luxborough is so odd, and so engrossed with her poets ana
literary acquaintances, that she has neither time nor attention
to spare for that which concerns her never-dying soul : she is
good-humoured and good-natured, though no great love exists

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 181
between her and the Marchioness, for what cause I know not.
I cannot, help feeling very anxious about them : and hope and
pray that the Father of light may illuminate their darkened
understandings, and give them at last the knowledge of himself,
whom to know is everlasting life."*
Not long after the death of Lord Bolingbroke, his works, in
five pompous quartos, edited by Mr. David Mallet, were given
to the public. The wild and pernicious ravings, under the name
of " Philosophy," which were thus ushered into the world, gave
great offence to all well-principled men, and produced a host of
answers and refutations. Of these, the most celebrated were
by Clayton, Bishop of Clogher; Warburton, Bishop of Glou
cester ; Dr. Leland, in his " Review of Deistical Writers ;" and
Mr. Hervey, whose answer to his Lordship's observations on the
" Use and Study of History" was addressed to Lady Fanny
Shirley. Dr. Johnson, hearing of the mischievous tendency of
Lord Bolingbroke's works, which nobody disputed, was roused
with a just indignation, and pronounced this memorable sentence
on the noble author and his editor : " Sir, he was a scoundrel
and a coward : a scoundrel for charging a blunderbuss against
religion and morality ; a coward, because he had not resolution
to fire it off himself, but left half-a-crown to a beggarly Scotch
man to draw the trigger after his death !"
Lady Huntingdon, hearing of Mr. Mallet's intention, made
some fruitless efforts to prevent the publication of Lord Boling
broke's works. " I have written to Mr. Mallet (says her Lady
ship) and used my influence with Lord Chesterfield and others,
to try, if possible, to suppress what must be so detrimental to
mankind." But Mallet was a determined infidel, and in other
* Lady Luxborough was the only daughter of the Viscount St. 'John, and
half sister to Lord Bolingbroke. His brother John, who succeeded as second
Viscount St. John, had married a daughter of Lady Anne Furness, the aunt of
Lady Huntingdon, and left three sons and three daughters, one of whom married
Lord Bagot. Her Ladyship was very intimate with the unfortunate Lord
Ferrers, who had married her bosom friend, one of the sisters of Sir William
Meredith. The ill conduct of her only daughter, who was divorced from her
husband and afterwards married the Hon. W. Child, raised a storm, not only in
her own family, but in the world, and drew forth ietters of condolence from
the Duchess of Somerset and Lady Huntingdon. The latter she thanked very
politely for her sympathy, but styles the letter of the Duchess a " kind of ser
mon," and spares her correspondent, Mr. Shenstone, the labour of perusing so
" serious an epistle." Lady Luxborough died in 1756. " Unhappy woman !
(says Lady Huntingdon) how insensible has she been to the many alarming
calls of Providence which she has received from time to time. Such repeated
deaths in her family, the awful end of her brother, Lord Bolingbroke, made no
impression on her ; and she left this world, as she had always lived, intoxicated
with the vanity of her numerous accomplishments and literary acquirements."
Yet her letters to Shenstone, published after his death, 1763, although pleasing
and flattering to the poet, made a weak impression on the public.

182 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
respects a worthless character. By address or accident, perhaps
by his dependence on the Prince of Wales, to whom he was
under-Secretary, Mallet found his way to Lord Bolingbroke, a
man whose pride and petulance made his kindness difficult to
gain or keep, and whom Mallet was content to court by an act
of unexampled infamy. On the death of Pope, when it was
found that he had clandestinely printed an unauthorized number
of the pamphlet called " The Patriot King," Bolingbroke, in a
fit of useless fury, resolved to blast his memory, and employed
Mallet as the instrument of his vengeance. This time-server
had not virtue, or had not spirit, to refuse the office ; and was
rewarded not long after with the legacy of Lord Bolingbroke's
works. This man also received a legacy of five hundred pounds
from Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, to write the life of her
husband ; but he never fulfilled the engagement ; and if any
thing could add to his infamy, it was the publishing of libels
against Byng, while that unfortunate admiral was on his trial ;
and for which the calumniator was rewarded with a pension and
a place. " I mourn the fate of poor Byng (says Lady Hunting
don), and envy not the feelings of his vilifier. Every effort to
save him proved ineffectual ; and he is added to the number of
victims to popular clamour and ministerial policy."
In whatever light we view the character of Lord Bolingbroke,
we shall find him rather an object of wonder than an example
for imitation ; more to be feared than esteemed, and gaining
our admiration without our love. The world now begins to
think justly both of him and of Pope : that Pope was the great
est poet, but not the most disinterested man in tbe world ; and
that Bolingbroke had not all those virtues, nor all those talents
which the other so proclaimed : that he did not even deserve
the friendship which lent him so much merit ; and for the mere
loan of which he dissembled attachment to Pope, to whom in
his heart he was as perfidious and as false as he was to the rest
of the world.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 183

CHAPTER XI.
Mr. Whitefield in Scotland — Dr. Erskine and Dr. Robertson — Scotch Nobility
 Mr. and Lady Jane Nimmo — Letter to Lady Huntingdon — Mr. Wardrobe
—Mr. Hervey : his " Theron and Aspasio" — Letters to Lady Huntingdon —
-Lady Fanny Shirley  Prince and Princess of Wales — Mr. Hervey's method
of preaching — Letter from Lady Huntingdon— Mr. Steward—Lady Anne
Hastings.
Mr. Whitefield visited Scotland, for the first time, in 1741.
The fame of his success as a popular preacher in England and
America, had induced individuals of different persuasions, and,
in particular, a class of ministers who had lately seceded from
the Established Church, to invite him earnestly to that country,
from an expectation that he might be as successful in promoting
the revival of religion there, as they believed him to have been
in England and America; it was also not unreasonably hoped
on the part of the seceding friends, that, by means of his popu
larity, directed by them, they might gain both attention and in
fluence to their infant sect.
He continued to officiate, as he had originally done in Eng
land, sometimes in the parish churches, and more frequently in
the fields, in the most populous districts of Scotland ; from
Edinburgh and Glasgow, to Leith, Dundee, and Aberdeen, every
where attended by immense multitudes of people ; on many
occasions producing effects on his hearers of every rank, age,
and character, of which, though there may have been similar
examples, yet there are certainly not many more striking or
perhaps equal instances on record.
On this first visit to Scotland he was most hospitably received
by many persons of rank, who behaved towards him with great
politeness and attention: and this attention was considerably
increased in every subsequent visit, after he became chaplain to
the Countess of Huntingdon ; her Ladyship being, as we have
already shown, well known to many of the Scotch nobility,
among whom she had a very extensive acquaintance. His ad
herence to the doctrines of Calvin, which he affirmed to be the
doctrines of the Church of England, rendered him far more
popular than Mr. Wesley ; who, although he was more literary,
and spoke with more classical correctness, was yet compelled to
admit the effect of Mr. Whitefield's eloquence, amidst all the
improprieties of manner and language which be imputed to him.

184 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
The countenance which was given to Mr. Whitefield, and the
astonishing effects resulting from his labours, not only created
much diversity of opinion within the Established Church, but
occassioned violent dissensions in private life, as many individuals
still living can attest.
The late Dr. Erskine, minister of the old Greyfriars' Church,
was still, at the period of whieh we speak, a student at the
University of Edinburgh, and was one of those who zealously
defended the character of Mr. Whitefield. He felt the force of
' his powerful and popular eloquence, and seems to have had a
strong impression of the usefulness and efficacy of his evan
gelical doctrines. Dr. Robertson, then also a student at the
University, certainly entertained a different opinion, both of his
character, which they did not at that time consider sufficiently
established, and of the extraordinary effects imputed to his
public ministrations.
Dr. Robertson and Dr. Erskine had been associated in a
literary society, in the University, with a number of individuals
who became afterwards considerable in different departments.
Unfortunately, the question of Mr. Whitefield's character and
usefulness was introduced into their debates ; and, calling forth
very contrary opinions, was agitated with so much zeal and as
perity, as to occasion the dissolution of their society, and to
interrupt even their intercourse in private life.
The clamour excited in England, before this time, against
the progress of Methodism, in which the characters of Lady
Huntingdon, Mr. Whitefield, and the Wesleys, were treated
with equal freedom and severity, must have greatly contributed
to heighten the prejudices circulated in Scotland against Mr.
Whitefield, and the respectability or success of his labours.
There was not, indeed, the same prejudice in Scotland, as in
England, against field-preaching. During the preceding cen
tury the persecuted Presbyterians, driven from their churches,
had transmitted to their descendants a partiality for religious
assemblies in the fields, which, although no longer the effect
of necessity, continued to be in very general practice, as often
as the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was dispensed, and in
some districts of the country are not even at this day completely
disused. When Mr. Whitefield, therefore, appeared in the
Orphan Hospital Park, at Edinburgh, the circumstance of his
addressing the people in the open air exhibited no novelty to
* This anecdoti shows that the interest taken inthis important subject was
far from being confined to the vulgar, and that, even in the Universities, it was
not contemplated with indifference.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 185
an audience who were far too numerous to have been contained
in any church of the city, and who were accustomed to field-
preaching in almost every parish of the country in which they
occasionally resided.
Some of .the most distinguished families in the kingdom were,
as often as the opportunity was given them, his constant hearers ;
and were, besides, in the habit of admitting him to their private
society ; and among those, in particular, was a nobleman, who
was then his Majesty's representative, as Lord High Commis
sioner, in the General Assembly, who not only attended his
. ministrations and invited him to his house, but who introduced
him to his public table, during the session of Assembly.
His visits to Scotland continued, and in the summer of 1750
we find him at the hospitable residence of Mr. Nimmo,* where
he was most kindly received during his then stay in Edinburgh.
Greater multitudes than in any former visits flocked to hear
" James Nimmo, Esq., Receiver-General of Excise, was a man of piety, and
connected with some ofthe first families in the Scottish peerage. His mother,
the Hon. Mary Erskine, was a daughter of Henry, Lord Cardross, and a near
relation to Dr. John Erskine, minister of the old Greyfriars' Church of Edin
burgh, and one of his sisters married his cousin, David Erskine, Esq., son of
the Hon. Captain William Erskine, Deputy-Governor of Blackness Castle.
Mr. Nimmo married, in 1743, Lady Jane Hume, third daughter of the Earl of
Marchmont, by a daughter and heiress of Sir George Campbell, of Cressnock,
in Ayrshire. She was chiefly brought up by her able, prudent, warm-hearted,
and affectionate aunt, Lady Grizel Baillie, of Jerviswood, whose conduct and
character, as portrayed in Rose's " Observations on Fox," it is impossible to
contemplate without admiration. Soon after her marriage she became a corre
spondent of Lady Huntingdon's, and maintained an intimate friendship with her
till her death, in 1770, in the 62nd year of her age. Her Ladyship was sister to
the Hon. Hume Campbell, an eminent counsellor in London, Solicitor to the
Prince of Wales, and Lord Clerk Register of Scotland. Her eldest brother,
Hugh, fourth Earl of Marchmont, became eminent for learning and brilliancy
of genius. The estimation in which his Lordship was held by his contempo
raries, maybe judged of by his close and intimate friendship with Lord Cobham
(who gave his bust a place in the Temple of Worthies, at Stow) and Sir Wil
liam Wyndham, and by the mention of him in Pope's well-known inscription in
his grotto at Twickenham —
" There the bright flame was shot through Marchmont's soul !"
He was one of the executors of Pope, also of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough,
who left him a legacy of £2,500, as such. With Lady Huntingdon, Lord Marcl-
mont and Mr. Hume Campbell lived on very intimate terms, and the latter often
aided her by his excellent advice. Lady Jane was distinguished by a sound and
cultivated understanding ; by genuine and unostentatious piety, guided by great
good sense and discernment ; by uniform mildness, and equality of temper ;
and by those habitually cheerful and affectionate manners, which commanded
the esteem and respect of the society in which she lived, and were the per
petual delight of her own family. Her eldest sister, Lady Anne, married Sir
William Purvis, Bart., whose grandson assumed, on inheriting the estate of his
maternal ancestors, the additional surname of " Hume Campbell," and is the
present representative of that family; the Hon. Alexander Hume Campbell and
Lord Marchmont having died without surviving male issue,

186 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
him, and earnestly entreated him not to leave them soon.
Though burning with fever, and much indisposed from a violent
cold, he continued to preach twice a-day, early in the morning,
and at six in the evening. " Your ladyship's health (says he,
in a letter to the Countess,) is drank and inquired after every
day. Mr. Nimmo, who married Lord Marchmont's sister,
has given me three franks, and his family are in the number
of those who are left in Sardis, and have not defiled their
garments." It was during this visit of Mr. Whitefield to Scotland that
Lady Jane Nimmo wrote the following letter to Lady Hunt
ingdon : —
" Madam,' — Accept my thanks for your very obliging message by Mr.
Whitefield ; and I hope to avail myself of your kind offer the first time
I go to London with Mr. Nimmo. Your very acceptable and truly
christian letter was conveyed to me by my brother, and I ought to
have answered it sooner, had not some family occurrences interfered,
which obliged me to leave home for a distautpart of the kingdom.
" Your Ladyship will rejoice to hear that greater crowds than ever
flock to hear Mr. Whitefield. The energy and power of the Gospel
word is truly remarkable, and such as to cause great joy and thank
fulness among the people of God. Dear Lady Frances Gardiner is
very active in bringing people to hear him, to some of whom there is
reason to believe the word has been blessed. There is a great awaken
ing among all classes. Truth is great and will prevail, notwithstanding
all manner of evil is spoken against it. The fields are more than
white, and ready unto harvest, in Scotland. Many prayers are offered
up for your Ladyship, and many bless God for your sending your
chaplain to these parts. The infinitely condescending Redeemer
vouchsafes to bless your labours for the good of souls in England: and
your Ladyship will shortly have my native country to add to the bril
liancy of that diadem which shall adorn your brow in the great day of
the Lord. I blush and am confouuded when I think to what little
purpose I have lived. It is time now to begin to do something for
Him who has done so much for me, and suffered so much for my
sinful soul. I beg, dear madam, you will pray for me while life lasts.
I feel under manifold obligations to your Ladyship, and hope to spend
an eternity with you in praising that grace and love that has plucked
us as brands out of the burning. Mr. Nimmo begs his most cordial
salutations to you, yours, and all who love our dear Lord and Saviour
in sincerity ; and, wishing you the best of blessings, I subscribe myself,
my dear Madam, your Ladyship's most affectionately, in our common
Lord, " J. Nimmo.
" August 9th."
In one of Lady Huntingdon's letters to Mr. Whitefield she
requests him to invite the correspondence of the Rev. James
Robe, minister of Kilsyth, well known in Scotland for his

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 187
zealous exertions in the cause of truth, and by the publication
of his " Narrative" of the revival of religion, and the visible
convulsive agitations which accompanied his ministrations, and
those of the parish ministers in his neighbourhood.
Dr. Gillies, of Glasgow, Mr. Adams, of Falkirk, Mr. Robe,
of Kilsyth, Dr. Webster, of Edinburgh, and Mr. Wardrobe, of
Bathgate, were men of great piety, and of more liberality of
mind than was commonly found among the Scotch ministers at
the time of which we are writing. They cultivated an acquaint
ance with the Methodists, and frequently invited Mr. White-
field and Mr. Wesley to visit Scotland. With Lady Huntingdon
several of them kept up a constant correspondence for many
years, particularly Mr. Wardrobe, for whom her Ladyship had
a great regard, and whom she often called her zealous Scotch
chaplain.* It was about this time that Mr. Hervey commenced his inimi
table work of " Theron and Aspasio." Of the amiable and
excellent Hervey it may be truly said, that few lives have ever
been more heavenly, and few deaths more triumphant. He
died in the Lord, and is now at rest, where even " the wicked
cease from troubling." His name is recorded in the annals of
eternity, and the honours conferred on him by Christ will for
ever continue blooming and incorruptible in the world of glory ;
his character, both in his public and private capacity, was of
the most exemplary kind ; his writings afford a lasting and indis
putable proof of his grace and abilities ; these were given him
for the use of the Church of God, and they were laid out for
that end. His style has been much admired : it must be owned
that there is much of brilliancy and floridness in all his compo
sitions: but' persons of refined taste have expressed themselves
much less satisfied with his language than his thoughts. The
nervous, chaste, and manly style of the ancient classics he cer
tainly has not copied; but rather that laboured attention to
words and forms, which has been objected to in Seneca, Austin,
and others. However, this is but of small importance, com
pared with the heavenly truths he delivered, and the seraphic
ardour with which he uttered them. The casket, indeed, is
brilliant, and carefully embellished ; but 'tis the jewel within
that gives it value.
* At one period, when Mr. Wesley was at Newcastle, he rode to Hexham,
, at the pressing request of Mr. Wardrobe and others. He preached at the mar
ket-place to a multitude of people, who stared at him, but behaved very quietly.
Mr. Wardrobe pleached in the Methodist Chapel, at Newcastle, in 1755, to the
no small amazement and displeasure of some of his zealous countrymen. He
died in 1786, and a very interesting account of his death has been preserved in
a letter from Mr, Adams, of Falkirk, to Dr, Gillies, of Glasgow,

188 THE LIFE AND TIMES
His " Theron and Aspasio" has proved eminently useful to
multitudes, and it still continues to exhibit, with increasing use
fulness, all those grand doctrines of Christianity which are of
universal concernment, and of the last importance. With that
humility which was so conspicuous in this amiable man, we find
him in the following letter, submitting the first four dialogues
of his work to the critical inspection of Lady Huntingdon : —
" Madam, — With gratitude I received, and with inexpressible de
light I perused, your Ladyship's very kind and truly Christian letter.
I assure you I esteem such epistles to be favours indeed. May I be
so bold as to beg you to continue them ? The languor of my consti
tution is so great, and the failure of my spirits so frequent, that I have
not been able to pay the indispensable debt of gratitude and friend
ship due to my correspondents ; but though I have not wiitten to your
Ladyship as frequently as I ought, I have taken every opportunity to
inquire after you. Lady Frances Shirley has lately given me some
pleasing instauces of your Ladyship's usefulness to the souls of your
fellow-immortals. May your words be 'as polished shafts' in the
victorious Redeemer's quiver, and ' as a nail fastened in a sure place !'
May the seed which you are daily sowing in various parts of the king
dom grow and prosper ; and may the ground before you be like the
harvest of the sixth year in Israel — doubly fruitful.
" Your Ladyship is pleased to express a wish that I should proceed
without delay in finishing my intended work. v Be assured your wishes,
Madam, have all the force of a command with me. I send you the
first four dialogues, beseeching you to peruse them, not with the par
tiality of a friend, but the severity of a critic. The like request I have
made of others, and have received their friendly corrections. I am
deeply sensible of my own deficiencies, and in order, therefore, to
render my work, if possible, fit for public view — meet for the Master's
use — I shall feel obliged by any corrections or improvements which
your pen may make. Your Ladyship is at liberty to show the manu
script to whom you please. Your remarks, and those of your friends,
may supply the sterility of my invention and the poverty of my
language. " The letter of my honourable friend, Lady Frances, brought me
your Ladyship's message. Most gladly will I lend my pulpit to any
minister whom you send ; but it would give me unspeakable pleasure
to see you at Weston. 0, do come, and diffuse a little of that holy
zeal which continually burns in your heart, and which, I trust, will
warm the hearts of multitudes. May your Ladyship be made the
honoured instrument of training up many, very many, for a life of dis
tinguished holiness and extensive usefulness in the world below, and
for a life of consummate happiness and everlasting glory in the man
sions of eternal felicity above !
" My good friend Mr. Hartley begs me to present his respects and
christian regards to your Ladyship, to wliich Dr. Stonhouse requests
his may be united. The latter was much benefited by your very
seasonable letter to him. Once more, I earnestly beg that you will

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 189
bestow your free corrections on my manuscript. If you really ap
prove what I have sketched, I shall be encouraged to proceed in my
work. May I not hope for the honour of dedicating it to your Lady
ship ? It would give me singular pleasure to have any work of my
pen patronised by the Countess of Huntingdon.
" Praying that the Lord Jesus may prosper you in all your labours,
and enable you to pray far the weakest of all your brethren, I remain,
Madam, in great weakness, but with great sincerity, your Ladyship's
truly affectionate friend and willing servant, for Christ's sake,
" James Hebvey."
Lady Huntingdon, entering fully into the design of Mr. Her
vey's work, claimed the assistance of all those whom she con
sidered capable of suggesting improvements and useful hints,
and transmitted their observations to the author. The impu
tation of Christ's righteousness, which is considered very
distinctly and copiously in the Dialogues of "Theron and
Aspasio," becoming the topic of conversation at her Ladyship's,
when several ministers were present, the late Mr. Hartley,*
Rector of Winwick, in Northamptonshire, objected to the doc
trine, and said it would be better to suppress than publish the
intended work. This information was communicated to Mr.
Hervey, who, in a letter to Mr. Ryland, of Northampton,
father of the late Dr. Ryland, of Bristol, thus notices the cir
cumstance : —
"My good friend and pious brother Hartley has just published a
volume of sermons. He is a friend to the righteousness of Christ ;
but so far as it is formed in our hearts, he does not like the doctrine
of imputed righteousness: and said, at Lady Huntingdon's, from the
sincerity and impartiality of his zeal, that it would be better to have
my intended work suppressed than published. This I was told under
the rose ; and this I speak only inter nos. I heartily wish my brother
Hartley's sermons maybe accompanied with an abundant blessing, and
bring much honour to our crucified Lord."
Lady Huntingdon as will appear from the following letter,
dated July 14, 1753, declined the offered dedication. Mr.
Hervey says —
"Madam,— Accept my thanks for taking the trouble of perusing my
very imperfect manuscript, and my grateful acknowledgments for the
improving touches and remarks you have made, as well as for those of
your highly valuable friends and acquaintances. The corrections you
have done me the honour to transmit will be exceedingly beneficial to
* Besides several single sermons, and the volume mentioned by Mr Hervey
Mr. Hartley published a treatise on the Millennium, under the title of ' Para
dise Restored," (1 vol. Svo. ) He became an admirer of the Baron Swedenborc
and translated several of his works. oweueuuorg,

i90

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF

the work, and render it more acceptable to the public in general. But
I confess I feel disappointed at your Ladyship's declining to patronize
the public attempt of my pen : nevertheless, your observations are so
sensible and just, and carry with them so much weight, that I cannot
think of pressing the matter on your attention, further than to solicit
your prayers for the success of the undertaking, and for the unworthy
author. 0 that a double portion of the divine benediction may attend
it ! — that it may be made instrumental in awakening the supine, and
directing many to take shelter in our divine Mediator !
" Your Ladyship's hint relative to Lady Frances I shall certainly
improve without delay. I rejoice to hear that the Redeemer's cause
prospers. 0, may the arm of the Lord be revealed more and more
amongst us, and the triumphs of free grace have wider spread and
freer course ! May your bow ever abide in strength, and may your
abihty for the service of our divine Master increase, as much as mine
decreases !
" When you write next to dear Mr. Whitefield, your Ladyship will
much oblige me by conveying to him my kindest wishes and my Chris
tian love. I shall write in a post or two to Lady Frances. The mo
ment my work comes from the press I must beg your acceptance of a
few copies for your' Ladyship and friends. Continue to beseech the
Lord Jesus to make it subservient to the furtherance of his cause,
and cease not to pray for its most unworthy author. May the eye of
Omnipotence be your guide and mine! Your obliged friend and
servant, for Christ's sake, " James Hebvey."
Few religious authors met with more acceptance than Mr.
Hervey, and few have met with more opposition:* his "Theron
and Aspasio" has been severely censured. This is the more sur
prising, as it contains the leading truths of the Gospel, such as
they were formerly maintained by all the Protestant Churches,
and a great number of the soundest and most holy divines ; and,
indeed, is chiefly prized by the most judicious aud evangelical
friends of the truth. Among many others, the late evangelical
Romaine says, " Read his ' Theron and Aspasio,' and when you
are thoroughly convinced that ' Christ is the end of the law for
righteousness to every one that believeth,' and can say with
faith, ' In the Lord have I righteousness and salvation,' then
your mind will be settled in peace and comfort, and you will be
delivered from those dangerous errors which are now propagated
concerning the righteousness of the Lord Jesus. Thank God
for the masterly defence of it in these Dialogues. In them,
* Mr. Hervey's work occurs in Mr. Bohn's " Catalogue of the Library of
the late Rev. and learned Dr. Samuel Parr," with the following remarkable
note attached to the volume  " This book was the delight of Dr. Parr, when
a boy ; and, for some time, was the model on which he endeavoured to form
a6tyle."

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 191
Mr. Hervey, being dead, yet speaketh the promise of the
adorable Redeemer, and clearly proves that we have our salva
tion through his righteousness." Even his combatant, Mr.
Wesley, owns, that in it most of the grand truths of Christianity
are explained and proved with great strength and clearness.
Lady Fanny Shirley now became the patroness of Mr. Her
vey. The lively imagination, solid judgment, correct taste, and
luxuriance of style displayed in his writing, soon attracted the
cultivated mind of her Ladyship, who invariably expressed her
self highly pleased with the clear, pleasant, and judicious views
of divine truth which he exhibited to the minds of his readers.
Her name has been immortalized by the dedication of " Thereon
and Aspasio" to her Ladyship, — a work which, for nearly a
century, has wonderfully contributed to the diffusion of evan
gelical truth in Britain and elsewhere ; and we fondly hope the
saving effects of the principles it contains may be still more
widely extended for ages to come.
Lady Fanny, having perused Lord Bolingbroke's "Letters
on the Study and Use of History," wrote to Mr. Hervey, asking
his opinion concerning his Lordship's remarks on Scriptural
History. Mr. Hervey immediately procured the book, and sub
mitted to her Ladyship's judgment the thoughts which occurred
whilst reading it. His letter was addressed to Lady Fanny,
whose name, though it would have graced and recommended
his performance, he was not allowed to mention. Her Ladyship's
commands, which would admit of no excuse, drew the remarks
from his pen ; and her desire, which with him always had the
force of a command, brought them to the press. At the com
mencement of his "Letter," he assures her Ladyship that,
though many might discuss the point much more clearly and
satisfactorily than the person she favoured with her commands,
yet no one could think it a greater honour to receive, or a
greater pleasure to execute them.
The cross of Christ was the doctrine that lay nearest the
heart of this good man ; this, in all its tendencies and bearings,
in all its relations to the honour of God and the salvation of men,
he delighted to elucidate in every diversity or form of words,
and on this he dwelt with growing zeal and ardour to the close
of life. It was the subject that met him in every direction, that
beautified and adorned every other topic, that lived and breathed
in all his preaching, the centre point of all his sermons ; in re
ference to, and in dependence upon which, other subjects were
considered. His manner of preaching was impressive ; indeed, he thought
his message written on his heart. He spoke of the guilt of sin,

192 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
and the sufferings of Christ, in the exercise of feeling his own
guilt, and leaning on these sufferings for its expiation. He ex
patiated on the love of Christ, under the influence of a heart
kindled with it ; and on the glory to come, in the temper of one
who expects and longs to be a sharer in that glory. Of his
mode of preaching and the manner in which he exercised
his ministry, an interesting account has been preserved by Lady
Huntingdon in a letter to one of her intimate correspondents,
most probably to Lady Fanny Shirley : —
" My dear Friend, — Your account of the old man was highly satis
factory. The intelligence from Trevecca is most encouraging, and Mr.
Harris is rejoicing over a multitude snatched as firebrands out of the
burning. * * *
" Our dear Mr. Hervey goes on in his usual way ; I lately had an
interesting account of his manner of lecturing in his church, which
pleased me much, and I send it to you, knowing how delighted you
will be with anything that relates to him : — ' Last Sabbath-day, aftqr
preaching in the morning at Olney, with three others, I rode to hear
one Mr. Hervey, a minister of the Church of England, who preached
at Collingtree, and, to my great surprise as well as satisfaction, having
never seen such a thing before, in prayer-time, instead of singing
psalms, they sung two of Dr. Watts's hymns, the clerk giving them
out line byline : after prayer, without going out of the desk, the minister
put off his surplice, and turned to the 15th of St. Matthew, which was
the second lesson of the day, and told the people what pleasure had
occurred in his mind whilst reading the parable of our Saviour's feed
ing the four thousand men, besides women and children, with seven
loaves and a few little fishes : he then spoke in a plain, simplemanner
about it, and afterwards spiritualized it by observing what great things
the Lord sometimes does by small things and weak instruments. And
then, without going up into the pulpit, he turned to the 5 th chapter of
the Ephesians, and read the 25th, 26th, and 27th verses, and very
sweetly and clearly he apoke from them ; showing the meaning of
those words in the creed — I believe in the Holy Catholic C/tor/e, wherein
he observed, they do not believe iu the Church as in God Almighty and
in his Son Jesus Christ our Lord ; but the meaning, he observed, was,
I believe God has a Holy Catholic Church; and the word Catholic sig
nifies universal; that there always was, now is, and will be a Church
of Christ. He then from the holy word showed who were the mem
bers of this Church ; such as were cleansed, washed, or justified from
their sins in the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ : and here he spoke
very clearly to the people, and told them that all were not of or in
this Church, which he compared to Noah and his family in the ark
being safe, when all the rest were drowned ill the deluge. In like
manner he showed, notwithstanding their coming to that place or
building, if they were not members of that Church he had been de
scribing, by being united to Jesus Christ by faith, they, as the people
out ofthe ark, must perish at last. And as he had been teUing them

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 193
who were the members of this Church, he spake in an humble way of
himself, as being an unworthy member thereof. And now having
shown what was meant by the Church, and who were its members, he
showed, lastly, from the words he had read, what were the Church's
privileges. And first, Christ loved the Church — secondly, he gave him
self for it — and last, to crown all, he would present it to himslf, a
glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. Thus
far I have been particular, for such a way of proceeding in the Church
of England seems wonderful to me. But what shall we say ? God is no
respecter of persons, neither of places. Oh, that others of his brethren,
the clergy, may go and do likewise ! And I am not without hope that
many will. I was with him, a little after he had done preaching, and
he spake of two more of the clergy who are coming on much in the
same way, and live down lower in the country, near Daventry ; and
another who came out of Huntingdonshire some time ago, on purpose
to see him, and since has written a letter to him. This Mr. Hervey
expounds every Wednesday night at the same church, preaches twice
on the Sabbath-day, catechizes the children,and meets some people on
Tuesdays and Thursdays, in or near the parish where his fatlier
preached.* Though long I am persuaded your gratification will be as great as
mine at this narration of his proceedings among his people. The fields
are everywhere ready unto harvest, and I consider it right, and the
bounden duty of ministers, to use all lawful efforts for the Gospel's
sake : and our success therein wdl at once declare God's voice to the
land. 0, how little do we do for Him who hath done so much for us !
May we be continually on the stretch for God — now is the time. Let us
use all possible exertions while it is day, for the night cometh wheii no
man can work. Dear Mr. Rowlands says, ' The Lord gets himself the
victory in a wonderful manner in Wales, and many are added to the
Lord. The work is on the increase everywhere.'
" And now, my dear friend, your remembering me before the throve
of grace makes me prize you more than ever. Continue to bear me  '
my poor, vile, and worthless self— and all my wretched performances
for Him, when you approach the mercy-seat" and plead powerfully in
my behalf. Oh! I need it—
' Strengthen thy servant, gracious Lord,
Subdue her sins thro' Jesu's blood,
And when she would from thee depart,
0 bind her, Jesus, to thy heart.
" May the God of love be with you to the close of your earthly
career, is the earnest prayer of your ever faithful and affectionate
friend> " S. Huntingdon."
About this time Lady Huntingdon was much affected on ac
count of the death of the Rev. Mr. Steward, a valuable minister,
who began to be popular in the Church,, but was soon called to
* The above was written by Mr. Joseph Smith, some time a preacher in
Mr. "Whitefield's Connexion, and addressed to the late Mr. Edwards, of White
Chapel, Leeds.
VOL. I

194 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
his everlasting rest. Being acquainted with some members of
the Huntingdon family, he was invited to her Ladyship's house
to hear Mr. Whitefield, and was among the first witnesses tp the
benediction of the Spirit of God upon their labours of love.*
Mr. Whitefield was deeply affected at the loss of this excellent
man, whose lustre was eclipsed in the zenith of merited popu
larity, and whose ministerial career was interrupted before he
had well attained the meridian of life. " Strange (says he,
writing to Mr. Charles Wesley) that so many should be so soon
discharged, and we continued ! Eighteen years have I been
waiting for the coming of the Son of God; but I find we are
immortal till our work is done. O, that we may never live to be
ministered unto, but to minister ! Mr. Seward spoke for his
Lord as long as he could speak at all. He had no clouds nor
darkness : 1 was with him till a few minutes before he slept in
Jesus." The summer of 1754 Lady Huntingdon spent at Ashby-
place, where she was visited by Mr. Ingham, who preached fre
quently during his stay. She also went to Aberford for some
time, and from thence repaired tp London. " I was surprised
(says the Countess of Hertford) to meet Lady Huntingdon on
the road last Saturday fortnight; she was on her way to London,
but her coach drove by so fast that I had only time to send
Lomas after her with my compliments : she seemed to me to
look as well as ever I saw her."
In May, 1755, Mr. Whitefield returned to England from
America, and on his arrival in London was disappointed at
finding Lady Huntingdon had gone to Ashby. He was, how
ever, much gratified at receiving a liberal benefaction from her
Ladyship for Bethesda,' and delighted by the intelligence that
so many had been " stirred up to preach a crucified Saviour"
during his absence. " Many (says Mr. W.) in Oxford are
awakened to the knowledge of the truth, and I have heard almost
every week of some fresh minister or another that seems deter
mined to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
This excites the enmity of the old serpent, which discovers itself
in various shapes. The greatest venom is spit out against Mr.
Romaine, who, having been reputed a great scholar, is now
looked upon and treated as a great fool, because made wise
himself, and earnestly desirous that others also should be made
wise to eternal salvation.
* He was himself a successful preacher, both at Lady Huntingdon's house,
before the nobility, and to a very opposite auditory on Garlick-hill, where he
was stationed for some time. Among his converts was Mrs. Kent, of Edmon
ton, a venerable sister aged 104.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 195
On the 1st of July, Lady Anne Jaqueline Hastings was re
moved to her eternal rest, after a short illness, in the 65th
year of her age. " At Bristol (says Mr. Whitefield) I heard of
the death of good Lady Anne, and was glad to find that Miss
Wheeler bore the news of it with so much composure. Alas !
how many have your Ladyship lived to see go before you ; John
Cennick "is now added to the happy number of those who are
called to see him as he is. 1 do not envy, but I want to follow
after them."

CHAPTER XII.

Restrospective Glances— Georgiiwthe Orphan House— Whitefield in London
 his Ordination — the Clergy— Mr. Broughton — Countess of Hertford —
Breach with Wesley  Societies for the Reformation of Manners — Methodist
Societies — Tabernacle commenced — its History — Welsh Preachers — Moor
fields — Lay Preachers — Nobility at the Tabernacle — Opposition of the Dis
senters  Anecdote of Dr. Watts and Lady Huntingdon— Moravians^- Sir
Thomas and Lady Abney  Tabernacle opened — Long-Acre Chapel — the
Hon. Hume Campbell — Tottenham- Court Chapel opened — Ned Shuter —
Foote, the Player — the Minor — Lord Halifax— Duke of Grafton — Mr. Fox
Mr. Pitt— Mr. -Rowland Hill— Captain Joss— Mr. Matthew Wilks— Mr,
Knight— Mr. Hyatt— Mr. Whitefield's Will— Dr. Ford— Mr. Berridge and
Lady Huntingdon.
It may be well, at this point of our history, to pause and take
a retrospective glance at the progress of Methodism. In 1 73G
Mr. Whitefield preached his first sermon at Gloucester, and he
continued, with zeal and energy unparalleled, and with extra
ordinary eloquence, to preach the Gospel. After the Society
broke up at Oxford, he came to London, and, in spite of his
boyish appearance, and the sneers it excited, succeeded in fixing
deep and serious attention, by his first sermon preached at
Bishopsgate church. On his second visit to London crowds of
hearers climbed the leads and hung on the rails of the churches,
while multitudes were willing, but unable, to get near enough to
hear. These scenes were new to the Church of England, wliich
had not been troubled witli the excessive popularity of its
preachers since the days of Baxter, Vincent, and the Puritans,
The managers of churches of which the coffers were exhausted
appUed to Mr. Whitefield, who preached four times on eaeh Lord's
day, and often nine times in the week, administering the Sacra
ment before day-break in the morning, and thus rousing thou
sands to a state of solicitude for their eternal happiness. He
o 2

196 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
then went. to Georgia, and on his return he was received with
coldness by the clergy, but with extreme enthusiasm by the
people. He came to England to receive priest's orders and to
collect for the Orphan House.* He preached where he could,
but many of the pulpits were now closed against him as the apostle
of a new sect, and the Bishop, of London (Dr. Edmond Gibson)
thought it necessary to write a pastoral letter warning the people
of his diocese against the Methodists.f Nevertheless he ac
cepted Mr. Whitefield's title, and gave him letters dimissory to
the Bishop of Oxford (Dr. Secker,)who in turn gave him simi
lar letters to the Bishop of Gloucester (Dr. Benson,) in virtue
of which he was ordained at Oxford, in accordance with his own
previously recorded prayer to God, that the same excellent pre
late at whose hands he had been ordained deacon, might make
him a priest. The good Bishop in a letter to his pupil, Lord
Huntingdon, gives an account of Mr. Whitefield's ordination,
expressing his hope that the act " will give some satisfaction to
my Lady, and that she will not have occasion to find fault with
your Lordship's old tutor. Though mistaken on some points,
I think him (Mr. Whitefield) a very pious, well-meaning young
man, with good - abilities and great zeal. I find his Grace of
Canterbury thinks highly of him. I pray God grant him great
success in all his undertakings for the good of mankind, and
the revival of true religion and holiness among us in these dege
nerate days ; in which prayer, I am sure your Lordship and my
kind good Lady Huntingdon will most heartily join."
Mr. Whitefield returned from Oxford to London, and the op
position to his preaching was increased by his expounding in
societies and reading and praying in private houses, for joining
in which- several of the ministers threatened their parishioners
with prosecution.^
* The trustees of the colony of Georgia made him rector of Savannah, and
granted him 500 acres of land, whereon to erect an Orphan House. To endow
this institution he sought friends in England.
f The bishop, who was a correspondent of Dr. Watts, and who remonstrated
kindly with Mr. John and Mr. Charles Wesley, when complaints were made to
him against them, often expressed his zeal for the interest of religion, as well
among the Dissenters as within the Church. His dislike to masquerades of
fended the Court and stopped his preferment. He died in 1 748. His daughter
married Dr. Tyrwhitt, Residentiary of St. Paul's, Canon of Windsor, Archdea
con of London, and Rector of St. James's— a pluralist indeed! This gentleman
had a son, Mr. Tyrwhitt, who resigned a fellowship at Cambridge, and all his
bright prospects, rather than subscribe to the Articles of the Church of England :
he was one of the Feathers' Tavern Divines, who, under the pretence of relief
from subscription, set forth an opposition to the doctrine ofthe Trinity.
| The Rev. Bryan Broughton, in reply to a demand made on him to deny
his pulpit, said, " Through Mr. Whitefield's influence I obtained the living
of St. Helen's, and if he insists upon it he shall have my pulpit." Mr. White-
field did insist, and Mr. Broughton lost his lectureship.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 197
The celebrated Countess of Hertford, afterwards Duchess of
Somerset, in a letter to the Countess of Pomfret, then on the
continent, observes on this part of our history —
" I do not know whether you have heard of our new sect, who call
themselves Methodists. There is one Whitefield at the head of them,
a young man under five-and-twenty, who has for some months gone
about preaching in the fields and market-places in the country, and in
London at May-fair and Moorfields, to ten or twelve thousand people
at a time. He went to Georgia with General Oglethorpe, and returned
to take priest's orders, which he did ; and I believe, since that time,
hardly a day has passed that he has not preached, and generally twice.
At first he and some of his brethren seemed only to aim at restoring
the practice of the primitive Christians as to daily sacraments, stated
fasts, frequent prayers, relieving prisoners, visiting the sick, and giving
alms to the poor : hut, upon sound ministers refusing these men their
pulpits, they have betaken themselves to preaching in the fields; and they
have such crowds of followers that they have set in a flame all the clergy
in the kingdom, who represent them as hypocrites and enthusiasts. As
to the latter epithet, some passages in Mr. Whitefield's latest journals
seem to countenance the accusation ; hut I think their manner of living
has not afforded any grounds to suspect them of hypocrisy. The
Bishop of London, however, has thought it necessary to write a pastoral
letter, to warn the people of his diocese against being led away by them;
though at the same time he treats them personally with great tender
ness and moderation. I cannot say Dr. Trapp has done the same in a
sermon which he has published, entitled, < The great Folly and
Danger of being Righteous over-much ;'* a doctrine which does not
seem absolutely necessary to be preached to the people of the pre
sent age."
Now came the breach between the great Methodist leaders.
While Mr. Wesley was preaching in favour of perfection, and
against election, Mr. Whitefield, whose Calvinistic doctrines were
confirmed and enlightened by the descendants of the Puritans
in America, wrote his letters against " The Whole Duty of
Man," and " Archbishop Tillotson." Mr. Charles Wesley, who
was more kind and generous, less positive and hostile to Cal
vinism than his brother, wept and prayed that the breach might
be prevented ; but John Wesley seems to have parted with his
old companion with great coolness. Mr. Whitefield is said to
have told him, " You and I preach a different Gospel :" then
they turned one to the right hand, and the other to the left.
* Both the Bishop of London and Dr. Trapp were answered by Mr. White-
field, whose pamphlets were purchased with the greatest avidity. His portrait "
was multiplied by various competitors ; and his journals were eagerly con
tended for by rival publishers. The Bishop, in a personal interview, charged
the " Journals" with enthusiasm. Mr. Whitefield replied that they were written
for himself and private friends, and were published without his consent.

198 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Mr. Whitefield was only once allowed to preach in the Foundry;
and " at Bristol (he says) I was forbidden to preach in the house
I had founded."
Mr. Cennick, with others of the first labourers in the cause
of Methodism, having adopted Mr. Whitefield's views, joined with
him at Bristol, and assisted him to build another place at Kings-
wood, near that of which Mr. Wesley kept possession ; so that a
congregation was established there on Calvinistic principles ; and
the colliers, who, before Mr. Whitefield introduced the Gospel
among them, were a race of semi-barbarians, now worship God
with constant delight and serious attention, displaying to con
viction the power of the Gospel on the rudest of the human
race. " Calvin (says Beza, in his Life of that Reformer) is turned
out of Geneva, but behold a new church rises !" These words
animated >Mr. Whitefield; the clergy of the Establishment were
now more angry with him than ever, for avowing the sentiments
of Calvin, he therefore sought a substitute for the parochial
pulpits ; and societies* were formed in Beech-lane, Crooked-
lane, Redoross-street, Southwark, the Minories, Wapping, Dow-
gate-hill, Crutched-friars, and various parts of the metropolis.
Many of the Calvinistic Dissenters, who perceived in his preach
ing the savour of their popular commentator, Matthew Henry.
whose creed was the catechism composed by the Westminster
Assembly of Divines, stood firmly by him in this time of trial ;
they procured a piece of ground in Moorfields, and erected
a temporary shed to screen the auditory from cold and rain
at their meetings early in the morning. This place was called
a Tabernacle, in allusion to the moveable tent constructed by
divine direction, for the devotions of the Israelites, while they
were travelling in the wilderness. It was opened in June, 1741,
but Mr. Whitefield did not like the site, because, being near
the Foundry, where Mr. Wesley was preaching, it had the ap
pearance of one altar set up against another. Great success,
however, followed his exertions here ; and, having obtained the
aid of Messrs. Cennick, Adams, Jenkins, Smith, Stevens, Ing
ham, Reynolds, Edwards, Kelly, Middleton, Seagrave, Hum
phries, Godwin, Howel Harris, and the Rev. Daniel Rowlands,
a beneficed clergyman, the congregations were kept up by
variety, increased by novelty, and powerfully affected by the
* The Societies for the Reformation of Manners, which had been the soul of the
establishment, and had assisted Mr, Whitefield in various plans of great utility,
now turned against him, and Ae new societies were founded with a view to
something more than the Reformation of Manners, " Societies" and " congre
gations" became nearly synonymous terms.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 199
"Welsh fire" which was displayed in the animated addresses of
these Cambrian brethren. Mr. Whitefield was thus enabled to
be present at many other places where the Lord called, and new
scenes of usefulness arose.
lt was now that he made his grand assault on that " vanity
fair," which on holidays had assembled in Moorfields all the
booths and shows of Smithfield on St. Bartholomew's day. The
idea of preaching to the mob of idlers thus collected was by
many considered wildly quixotic ; but we may quote his own
words, to prove that his efforts were not vain. " Soon after
three hundred and fifty awakened souls were received into the
society in one day ! and numbers that seemed, as it were, to
have been bred up for Tyburn, were, at that time, plucked as
brands out of the burning."
But not alone the lowly and the miserable, even the great and
wealthy were among the congregation at the Tabernacle.
In the winter of 1742 the Earl and Countess of Huntingdon
were constant in their attendance, and were often accompanied
by his Lordship's sisters, the Ladies Hastings, and occasionally
by Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, and Catherine, Duchess of
Buckingham, two of the most celebrated and remarkable women
of their day ; also by Lord Lonsdale* and others.f
While the noble and the lowly heard with equal reverence
the preaching of the first Methodists, the leading Dissenters
* Henry, third Viscount Lonsdale, was a great patriot, and had been one of
the Lords of the Bed-chamber, Constable of the Tower, Lord Privy Seal, and
Custos Rotulorum for Westmorland. His Lordship was very intimate with
Lady Huntingdon, and used to attend the preaching at her house. He died
March 12, 1753.
t Among these " others " were William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland,
youngest son of George II. , and his brother Frederick, Prince of Wales :
Charles, third Duke of Bolton, who had been thirty-eight years married to the
Lady Anne Vaughan, daughter and sole heir to the Earl of Carbery, but from
some unaccountable cause never lived with her, and who was afterwards
married to the well-known actress, Mrs. Lavinia Beswick • [two of his illegi
timate issue were clergymen, one rector of Itchen, Hants, and the other rector of
Stoke, near Alresford, Hants ;] the celebrated Lord Hervey, who was so lashed
t by Pope, possessed, however, more than ordinary abilities, and much classical
erudition ; and who, for his political abilities, was raised to the post of Lord
Privy Seal : [three of his Lordship's sons were successively Earls of Bristol,
and his second daughter, the excellent Lady Mary Fitzgerald, the correspondent
of Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Wesley, Mr. Fletcher, Mr. Venn, &c. ;] — Lord Sidney
Beauclerk, fifch son of the Duke of St. Alban's, styled by Sir Charles Hanbury
Williams " Worthless Sidney," notorious for hunting after the fortunes of the
old and childless ; Lady Betty Germain, in her old age, was only dissuaded
from marrying him by the Duke of Dorset and her relations : he failed in ob
taining the fortune of Sir Thomas Reeve, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas,
but succeeded in inducing Mr. Topham, of Windsor, to leave his estate to him ;
he married a Miss Norris, and left a son, Topham Beauclerk, whose letters and
other literary efforts are well known, and who married Lady Diana Spencer,
sister to the Duke of Marlborough.

200 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
contemplated their proceedings with feelings of disgust and
suspicion. The Rev. Risdon Darracott (minister of Wellington),
and the Rev. Benjamin Fawcett (minister of Kidderminster), as
well as Mr. Doddridge, were exceptions ; but their reception of
Mr. Whitefield, and their preaching at the Tabernacle, exposed
them to the censure of their metropolitan brethren.* Even the
amiable Dr. Watts was disposed, from the reports made to him,
to judge unkindly of his friend : "lam sorry (says the Doctor)
that since your departure I have had many questions asked
me about your preaching in the Tabernacle, and sinking the
character of a minister, and especially of a tutor, among the
Dissenters, so low thereby. I find many of our friends enter
tain this idea ; but I can give no answer, as not knowing how
much you have been engaged there. I pray God to guard us
from every temptation !" This amiable man, however, took no
part in the very warm censures of his non-conformist brethren ;
and very soon after became the intimate friend of Lady Hun
tingdon and the great leaders of the Methodist body, for each
of whom he entertained the highest respect and esteem.f
During Mr. Whitefield's absence in America, Mr. Harris chiefly
conducted the affairs of the Tabernacle. On some difference
with the latter gentleman, Mr. Cennick quitted the Connexion,
and went over to the Moravians, a circumstance which Lady
Huntingdon vainly struggled to prevent.
On Mr. Whitefield's return from America he found his con-
• See the " Diary and Correspondence " of Dr. Doddridge. The letter of
Nathaniel Neale, Esq., whose father was the historian ofthe Puritans, deserves
particular attention, for the severity and bitterness of its style. The Christian
simplicity and gentle firmness displayed in the Doctor's able and manly defence
of himself and his pupils from the aspersions of their assailants, reflect the
highest honour on his character.
t On one occasion, Dr. Doddridge being in London, he was invited with
Lady Huntingdon to dine at Stoke Newington, at the house of Lady Abney,
with whom Watts was resident. Lady Frances Gardiner, Dr. Gifford, Dr.
Gibbons, the Rev. Samuel Price, Watts's colleague, and Dr. Langford, pastor
of the church at the Weigh House, were present. Lady Abney having men
tioned the influence which appeared to attend the preaching of Messrs. Wesley
and Whitefield, Dr. Watts said, it is a blessing of incalculable value that such
men should have been raised up as ambassadors of Christ, to make known the
great salvation to the minds of men. Lady Huntingdon instanced several re
markable effects of their powerful preaching, and the Doctor (Watts) added,
" Such, my lady, are the fruits that will ever follow the faithful proclamation
of divine mercy ; the Lord our God will crown his message with success, and
give it an abundant entrance into the hearts of men." At parting he took the
Countess most affectionately by the hand, pronounced a paternal benediction,
and concluded with a memorable remark on his approaching dissolution:— "I
bless God (he said) that I can lie down to sleep in comfort, no way solicitous
whether I awake in this world of another."
When on his death-bed, Dr, Watts was visited by Mr. Whitefield, to whom
he described himself as a " waiting servant of Christ." Mr. Whitefield assisted
in raising him to receive some medicine, and would doubtless have prolonged

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 201
gregation much scattered. " Matters (says he) were in great
confusion by reason of Mr. Cennick going over to the Mora
vians ; but, blessed be God, we are now easy at the Tabernacle,
and the word falls with might and power." About the same
period there were similar divisions in Dr. Doddridge's congre
gation, at Northampton, of which frequent mention is made in
his correspondence with Lady Huntingdon and Mr. Whitefield.
The latter, in his reply to the Doctor, thus very feelingly notices
the conduct of the Brethren : —
" I thank you, dear Sir, for your solemn charge in respect to my
health. But what shall I say concerning your present trial ? Shall I
wish you joy ? Surely I may with great propriety, since an inspired
writer hath said, ' Count it all joy when you fall into divers temptations.'
But, at the same time, I most earnesdy sympathize with you, having
had the same trial from the same quarter long ago. The Moravians
first divided my family, then my parish at Georgia, and after that the
societies which, under God, I was an instrument of gathering. I sup
pose not less than four hundred, through their practices, have left the
Tabernacle. All this I find but little enough to teach me to cease from
man, and to wean me from that great fondness which spiritual fathers
are apt to have for their spiritual children. Thus blessed Paul was
served — thus must all expect to be treated who are of Paul's spirit, and
are honoured with any degree of Paul's success. Our Lord blessed
you in your writings ; nay, your people's treating you as they are now
permitted to do, perhaps, is one of the greatest blessings you ever re
ceived from heaven. May patience have its perfect work, and may
you he enabled to sanctify the Lord God in your heart ! I know of
no other way of dealing with the Moravians than to go on preaching
the truth as it is in Jesus, and rest upon that promise, ' Every plant
which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be plucked up.'
Doubtless there are many of God's children in the Moravian flock ; but
many of their principles and practices are decidedly wrong, for which
I doubt not, our Lord will rebuke them in his own time. I thank you
his visit eould he have foreseen that his venerable friend was then within half
an hour of glory
The Doctor died at Stoke Newington, in the house of Lady Abney. " You
have arrived on an extraordinary day (said he to Lady Huntingdon, on one of
her visits), for on this day 30 years I came to the house of my good friend Sir
Thomas Abney, intending to spend but a single week under his friendly roof
and I have extended my visit to the length of 30 years." "I consider your
visit, my dear Sir (said Lady Abney,) as the shortest my family ever received."
" A coalition like this (says Dr. Johnson), a state in which the notions of
patronage and dependence were overpowered by the perception of reciprocal
benefits, deserves a particular memorial."
Sir Thomas Abney was Lord Mayor of London, but his dignities did not
seduce his heart from the duties of the unfashionable religion he had chosen •
on the very day of his inauguration he left the mayoralty feast to read prayers
in his own family. He died eight years after Watts had accepted a home in his
house (on the 6th Feb. 1722). Lady Abney died one year after Watts (Jan 12
1730). Watts was resident in this hospitable'mansion 36 years. ' '

20*2 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
for your sermon. It contains the very life of preaching — I mean sweet
invitations to close with Christ. I do not wonder you are dubbed a
Methodist on account of it. Last Sunday evening I preached to a most
brilliant assembly indeed. They expressed great approbation, and some
I think begin to feel. Good Lady Huntingdon is indeed a mother in
Israel. She is all in a flame for Jesus. You may guess by a word or
two in this that she hath shown me your last letter. I suppose she
will write to you soon."
Shortly after Mr. Whitefield's return to England, matters
assumed a different appearance at the Tabernacle, and he
now began to think of erecting a more spacious edifice, which
his enlarged soul and mighty powers of elocution filled for
many years after. In the summer of 1751, Mr. Whitefield,
being at Lady Huntingdon's residence at Ashby-de-la-Zouch,
in Leicestershire, the building of the Tabernacle was first dis
cussed, in presence of Mr. Hervey, Mr. Hartley, Dr. Doddridge,
and Dr. Stonhouse. The design seems to have originated with
her Ladyship, who was exceedingly zealous in the cause, and
who had already given largely towards the Tabernacle at Kings-
wood —
c! I am much interested (says her Ladyship) about the intended
building, and trust it will be for the glory of our common Lord, and
the increase of his kingdom among men. 0,.that very many pre
cious souls may be there awakened, renewed, pardoned, and consecrated
to God ! Mr. Hervey, Mr. Hartley, Dr. Doddridge, and Dr. Ston
house are most cordial in their approval and promise of support.
May the hearts of the people of God be opened to contribute for this
most desirable object ! If our eye be single, and his glory and the
salvation of souls our only end in view, all will be well. To him I
commit this cause, and my poor prayers shall be daily offered for a
blessing to rest upon it."
How unspeakably great and precious hath been the answer to
these prayers !
In the wbter of 1752 the subject was again renewed at Lady
Frances Shirley's residence in South Audley-street, in the month
of November ; and in compliance with the urgent entreaties of
her Ladyship and Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Whitefield now began
strenuously to exert himself in making collections. " It would
have pleased your Ladyship (says he) to have seen how
willingly the people gave last Lord's day. At seven in the
morning we collected fifty pounds, in the evening one hundred
and twenty-six. Blessed be God, we have now near nine hun
dred pounds in hand." Still he was determined not to commence
building without a sufficient sum to proceed with ; therefore the
foundation-stone of the Tabernacle was not laid till the 1st of

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 203
March, 1753. In a letter to Mr. Charles Wesley there is an
interesting account of this event : —
"On Tuesday morning the first brick of our new Tabernacle was
laid with awful solemnity. I preached from Exodus the twentieth,
and the latter part of the twenty-fourth verse : ' In all places where I
record my name, I will come in to thee and bless thee.' Afterwards we
sung, and prayed for God's blessing in all places where his glorious
name is recorded. The wall is now about a yard high. The building
is to be eighty feet square. It is on the old spot. We have pur
chased the house, and, if we finish what we have begun, shall be rent
free for forty-six years. We have about eleven hundred pounds now
in hand." As the new Tabernacle was intended to be much larger than
the temporary one already mentioned, the shell of it was con
structed round the other, in order that the congregation might
be accommodated with a place to meet in while that part was
erecting. It was opened for the preaching of the everlasting
Gospel on Sunday, June 10, 1753, on which occasion Mr. White-
field preached in the morning from 1 Kings viii. 11:" And it
was so, that when Solomon had made an end of praying all this
prayer," &c; and in the evening from 1 Chron. xxix. 9, " Then
the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly," &c. The
Tabernacle, though capable, with its surrounding galleries,
of containing about four thousand persons, was crowded almost
to suffocation in every part : and there, as in every otherfplace,
the Lord made manifest, by this apostolic man and his zealous
colleagues, the savour of his grace.
Not long after the opening of the Tabernacle in Moorfields,
application was made to Mr. Whitefield to preach twice a-week
in Long-Acre Chapel, then in the possession of the Rev. John
Barnard,* who had officiated in it for some time, as a Protestant
Dissenting Minister. The chapel was licensed, and Mr. White-
field had permission to use the Liturgy if he thought proper.
Looking upon this as a providential call from Him, who in the
days of his flesh taught all who were willing to hear, on a mount,
in a ship, or by the sea-side, and who after his ascension com
manded his ministers, by his apostle, to be " instant in season
and outof season," Mr. Whitefieldreaclilycomplied, and preached
there for the first time, December 23, 1755.
The assemblies at the residences of Lady Huntingdon, Lady
Prances Shirley, and Lady Gertrude Hotham, were composed
* Mr. Barnard was one of Mr. Whitefield's early converts, and began his
ministry among the Independent Dissenters. Afterwards, becoming acquainted
with Mr. Sandeman, Mr. Pike, and others, he embraced the Sandemanian
principles, was ordained an elder in their societies, and became an elonuent
preacher. He died in 1805. »"4««»i

204 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
chiefly of persons in the upper ranks of life, who were very im
portunate to have, nearer home, the blessings of the Gospel,
and hoped it would prove a mercy to their neighbours ; but a
conspiracy was formed to remove him from Long Acre. Some
soldiers, and others, provided with a copper furnace, bells,
drums, clappers, &c, made it their business to raise the loudest
din they possibly could, from the moment he began preaching
to the end of his sermon. Persons were encouraged to riot at
the chapel door during the time of divine service, and insult
and abuse him and the congregation after it was over. The
chapel windows were repeatedly broken by large stones, which
severely wounded many of the congregation. In consequence
of these unwarrantable proceedings, Mr. Whitefield wrote to
Dr. Zachariah Pearce,* Bishop of Bangor, then Dean of West
minster, and applied to a neighbouring magistrate for protec
tion, which being immediately afforded, Mr. Whitefield thus
addressed him : —
" Gratitude (says he) constrains me to send you a few lines of
thanks for the care and zeal you have expressed in suppressing the
late disorders at Long-Acre Chapel. A better acknowledgment will,
I trust, await you at His bar by whom kings reign and princes decree
justice, and who hath instituted magistracy to he a terror to evil-doers,
and a praise to them that do well. I hear that some unhappy men
have incurred the penalty inflicted by our salutary laws. As peace,
not revenge, is the thing aimed at, I should rejoice if this could be
procured without the delinquents suffering any further punisnment.
Perhaps what hath been done already may be sufficient to deter
others from any further illegal proceedings, and that will be satisfac
tion enough."
After preaching a few weeks at the chapel, he was prohibited
from again officiating there by an order from the Bishop of
Bangor. But Mr. Whitefield was not a man to be suspended
from the free declaration of the Gospel by the veto of any in
tolerant or persecuting superior. He complained less of the
veto than of the interruption which was now got up by members
of the Bishop's own vestry; of this he spoke energetically, as
the following letter will show : —
" I beg the favour of your Lordship so far to interpose as to desire
the persons belonging to your vestry to desist from such irregular pro
ceedings. For my own irregularity in preaching I am ready at any
time to answer ; and was I myself the only sufferer, I shouldbe entirely
unconcerned, whatever personal ill-treatment I might meet with in the
way of my duty. If no more roise be made on their part, I assure
your Lordship no further reseutment shall be made on mine. But if
* Afterwards Bishop of Rochester — a man very celebrated in his day as a
scholar and politician, and a determined opposer of Methodism.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 205
they persist, I have the authority of an apostle, on a like occasion, to
appeal unto Caesar. And, thanks be to God, we have a Caesar to appeal
to, whose laws will not suffer any of his loyal subjects to be used in
such an inhuman manner. I have only one favour to beg of your Lord
ship, that you would send (as they are your Lordship's parishioners)
to the above gentlemen, and desire them henceforward to desist from
such unchristian, such riotous and dangerous proceedings. Whether
as a chaplain to a most worthy Peeress, a Presbyter of the Church of
England, and a steady, disinterested friend to our present happy con
stitution, I have not a right to ask such a favour, I leave to your Lord
ship's mature deliberation. You will allow I have a right to do myself
justice, and therefore I hope you will not be offended if I lay a plain
and fair narration of the whole affair, together with what hath passed
between your Lordship and myself, before the world."
As the uproar was still continued, and the facts were so fla
grant, he determined to prosecute the offenders by law. This
being understood, his life was threatened ; when, judging that
others were concerned as well as himself, and that it was an
affair that had reference to the welfare of the civil government,
he, by the advice of Lady Huntingdon, consulted the Hon.
Hume Campbell.* Alluding to these disagreeable circum
stances, in a letter to Lady Huntingdon, he says —
" My greatest distress is, how to act, so as to avoid rashness on the
one hand, and timidity on the other. I have been introduced to the
Earl of Holdernesse,t who received me very courteously, and seemed
to make no objection against issuing a reward for the discovery of the
letter-writer.J Mr. Hume Campbell advises me, by all means, to put
all concerned into the Court of King's Bench. I see no other way
for me to act, than either resolutely to persist in preaching and pro
secuting, or entirely to desist from preaching, which 1 think would
bring intolerable guilt upon my soul, and give the adversary cause to
blaspheme. Alas ! alas ! what a condition would this land be in, were
the Protestant interest not to prevail ! Glad should I be to die by the
hands of an assassin if Popery is to get footing here. I shall then be
taken away from the evil to come."
One effect of this persecution was to induce Mr. Whitefield
to erect a permanent and suitable place of worship at the west-
• Mr. Hume (who took the name of Campbell, from his mother, daughter of
bur John Campbell, of Cessnock, Ayr) was brother of Lady Huntingdon's
mend, Lady Jane Nimmo. He was an eminent counsellor, solicitor to the
Princess of Wales, Lord Clerk Registrar of Scotland, M.P. for Berwick in
several Parliaments, an occasional hearer of Mr. Whitefield, and a liberal con
tniUi°r._t0 the Tottenham-court Chapel. He died at London, July 18 1761
t Robert, Earl of Holdernesse, chosen one of his Majesty's principal Secrp
tones of State, July 12, 1751, in which office he was associated ^ith Henrv Pot"
afterwards Lord Holland, and William Pitt, the celebrated Earl of Chatham
i One of the threats against the life of Whitefield was contained in an anon v
mous letter which the writer or his accomplices contrived to lay unon the
cushion of his pulpit. ' **" ln

206 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
end of London. The first account of his intention is contained
in a letter to Lady Huntingdon, dated May 2, 1756 —
" I find that all things happen for the furtherance of the Gospel.
I suppose your Ladyship hath seen his Majesty's promise of a pardon
to any that will discover the letter-writer : and this brings your Lady
ship the further news of my having taken a pieoe of ground, very
commodious to build on, not far from the Foundling Hospital. On
Sunday I opened the subscription, and, through God's blessing, it
hath already amounted to near six hundred pounds. If he is pleased
to continue to smile upon my poor endeavours, and to open the hearts
of some more of his dear children to contribute, I hope in a few
months to have what hath long been wanted — a place for the Gospel
at the other end of the town. This morning, God willing, I venture
once more to preach at Long-Acre,* The enemy boasts that I am
frightened away; but the triumph of the wicked is short. Our
people, Mr. Hume Campbell, Mr. Madan,t &c, are for bringing the
rioters to the King's Bench ; and, perhaps, upon the whole, it may
behest." The foundation-stone of Tottenham-court Chapel was laid
with great solemnity in the beginning of June, 1756, on whicli
occasion Mr.. Whitefield was supported by three celebrated
Dissenting ministers, who stood by him — Dr. Benjamin Gros
venor, Dr. Thomas Gibbons, and Dr. Andrew Gifford, assistant
librarian at the British Museum. Their countenance at this
period, and on this occasion, and their occasionally preaching
at the Tabernacle for him, are proofs of liberality which redound
much to their honour. It is, perhaps, not generally known that
it was Mr. Whitefield's intention to place this chapel under
Lady Huntingdon's protection : —
" We have consulted the Commons (says he) about putting it
under your Ladyship's protection. This is the answer : — ' No
nobleman can license a chapel, or in any manner have one, but in his
dwelling house ; the chapel must be private, that is, not with doors to
the street, for any persons to resort to at pleasure, for then it becomes
public. A chapel cannot be built and used as such, witliout the con
sent of the parson of the parish ; and when it is done with his consent,
* Mr. Whitefield continued to preach occasionally at Long Acre chapel, after
his chapel in Tottenham-court road was opened. In the year 1780 it was
again used, and for many years tbe late Rev. Henry Foster was the licensed
minister, in connexion with the late Rev. Richard Cecil ; on whose removal to
St. John's, Bedford-row, Mr. Foster was associated with Mr. Cuthbert and Mr.
Watkins, afterwards rector of St. Swithin, London-stone. In 1806 the Rev.
John King became associated with Mr. Watkins in the pastoral services of Long
Acre chapel. To him succeeded the late Rev. Mr. Howells, who continued
his useful ministry there till his death.
f Once a celebrated lawyer, but afterwards minister of the Lock Chapel,
brother ofthe late Bishop of Peterborough, and cousin to Cowper, the poet.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 207
no minister can preach therein without licence of the bishop of the
diocese.' There seems, then, to be but one way — to license it ns
our other houses are ; and thanks be to Jesus for that liberty which
we have !"
Through the liberal contributions of Lady Huntingdon and
other persons of rank, the chapel advanced rapidly, and on the
7th of November, 1756, it was opened for divine worship, accor
ding to the forms of the Church of England. On this occasion
Mr. Whitefield preached from 1 Chronicles iii. 11. The chapel
became an object of intense interest and curiosity.*
" A neighbouring doctor (says Mr. Whitefield) calls the place
Whitefield's Soul-tbap. I pray the Friend of sinners to make it a
soul-trap indeed to many wandering creatures." In a subsequent letter
he adds, " At Long-Acre, indeed, the Word ran, and at Tottenham-
Court Chapel we have had some glorious earnests of future blessings.
My constant work now is, preaching about fifteen times a-week.
Conviction and conversion go on here. God hath met us at our new
building. Last Sunday there was a wonderful stirring amongst the
dry bones ; some great people came, and begged they might have a
constant seat."
Among Mr. Whitefield's frequent hearers at the new chapel
was Shuter, the comedian, then in the height of his reputation
as the representative of Ramble. On one occasion he was seated
in the pew exactly opposite the pulpit, and while Mr. Whitefield,
in his energetic address, was inviting sinners to the Saviour, he
fixed his eye on Shuter, saying — " And thou, poor Ramble,
who hast long rambled from him, come thou also. O, end thy
ramblings by coming to Jesus !" Shuter was exceedingly struck,
and afterwards, coming to Mr. Whitefield, said, " I thought I
should have fainted — how could you serve me so ?"
* Tottenham- Court Chapel, when first erected, was a double brick building,
70 feet square within the walls. Twelve almshouses and a chapel-house were
added in 1758. But the chapel heing too small forthe accommodation of
those who wished to attend, an octangular front was added to it in the winter
of 1759-60. The lease granted by General George Fitzroy to Mr. Whitefield
having expired in 1828, the chapel was closed until 1830, when the trustees
purchased the freehold of it for fourteen thousand pounds, and luid out about
sur thousand more in repairs. It was re-opened Octoher 27, 1831. The Rev.
William Jay preached in the morning, from Rev. xxi. 22 ; and the Rev. J. Pari
sons in the evening, from Jer. ix. 3. The chapel at present is a handsome
building — the exterior, coated with stucco and ornamented with pilasters,
having a boldly projecting moulding. The interior is neat and in good taste, the'
cupola being supported by twelve columns. The present pulpit is the same as
that in which Mr. Whitefield preached. The length is 127 feet, the breadth 70
and the height of the summit of the dome 1 1 4 feet. It will accommodate from
three to four thousand persons, and very many of the seats are free. The voice
of the preacher may be distinctly heard in every part of the building. Among
the monumental tablets are memorials of Whitefield, Toplady, and Joss. And
in the mausoleum are deposited the remains of several clergymen and dissent
ing ministers.

208 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
The Rev. Mr. Kinsman, another intimate friend of Shuter's,
tried hard to wean him from his profession. Meeting one day
in Portsmouth, Mr. Kinsman said he had been preaching so
often, and to such large auditories, that Dr. Fothergill advised
change of air to avert a threatened illness. " And I (said
Shuter) have been acting till ready to die ; but, oh, how different
our conditions ! Had you fallen, it would have been in the ser
vice of God ; but in whose service have my powers been wasted ?
I dread to think of it. I certainly had a call once, while study
ing my part in the Park, and had Mr. Whitefield received me
at the Lord's table I never should have gone back ; but the
caresses of the great, who, when unhappy, want Shuter to'make
them laugh, are too seducing. There is a good and moral play
to-night, but no sooner is it over than I come in with my farce
of ' A dish of all sorts,' and knock all the moral on the head."
Being seen with Mr. Kinsman, his friends rated him as a Metho
dist: "A precious method is mine (said Shuter) : no, I wish I
were ; if any be right they are." The attractions of his profes
sion, however, nipped in the bud the flowers of promise which
his religious friend hoped to see blooming fully.
Shuter once visited Lady Huntingdon at Bath, when per
forming in that city. Her Ladyship met him in the street, and,
though personally unknown to him inquired after his health,
and invited him to her house. The only account of this inter
view which now remains is contained in a short extract of a let
ter from her Ladyship to Lady Fanny Shirley. Speaking of
Shuter, she says : —
" I have had a visit from Shuter, the comedian, whom I saw in the
street, and asked to call on me. He was wonderfully astonished
when I announced my name. We had much conversation ; but he
cannot give up his profession for another more reputable. He spoke
of Mr. Whitefield with great affection, and with admiration of his talents.
He promised to come some other time, when he had more leisure for
conversation. Poor fellow! I think he is not far from the kingdom."
Another actor,* equal in professional eminence to Shuter,
* Foote was a native of Truro, in Cornwall, and in early life the school
fellow and companion ofthe late Dr. Haweis. His father was a justice ofthe
peace, and his mother the sister of Sir John Dinely Goodere, who was mur
dered by his brother, Captain Goodere, in 1741. He had a most amazing talent
for imitating, even to the very voice of those he intended to take off. For this
species of amusement he had several actions brought against him, and was cast
in heavy damages. One of his biographers tells us, that " very pressing em
barrassments in his affairs compelled him to bring out his comedy of The
Minor, in 1760, to ridicule Methodism, which, though successful, gave great
offence, and was at last suppressed." His talent for ridicule ultimately proved
his destruction. In 1776 he drew a character of the celebrated Duchess of
Kingston, then much talked of, who had influence enough to hinder his play

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 209
but of a very different moral character, was employed by Mr.
Whitefield's enemies to mimic and burlesque him, in a manner
the most profane and ludicrous, on the stage of the Theatre
Royal, Drury Lane. His success at that theatre induced hnn to
write, and bring out at the Haymarket Theatre his " Minor," a
ridiculous farce levelled at the" Methodists. Of this miserable
piece of buffoonery it may be enough to say, that he, and the
agents employed at the Tabernacle and Tottenham-Court-
Chapel to procure materials, were so disgracefully ignorant
of the inspired writings, as not to know that what they took
for Mr. Whitefield's peculiar language was that of the word of
God! A letter addressed to Mr. Garrick, written by the Rev.
Martin Madan on the intended representation of this piece,
had a most extensive circulation, and Lady Huntingdon waited
on the Lord Chamberlain, to apply for the suppression of " The
Minor." Her request could not immediately be granted : but
his Lordship assured her that if he had had any intimation of
the evil tendency of " The Minor," previous to its being li
censed, it never should have appeared. Lady Huntingdon next
sought an interview with Mr. Garrick, who treated her Ladyship
with the utmost deference and respect; and her remonstrances
so far succeeded that Roscius promised to use his influence in
excluding it for the present, and added, that had he been aware
of the offence it was calculated to give, it should never have
appeared with his concurrence.
The opposition manifested towards Mr. Whitefield at Long-
Acre Chapel, and the representation of that wretched piece of
mummery at the theatres, so far from lessening the number of
his congregation, considerably increased his popularity, and
brought thousands of new persons to hear the Gospel, which
was the very thing he aimed at; and thus Providence gave
him the victory. About this period he preached frequently
at the Tabernacle and Tottenham-Court Chapel, in behalf
of the poor French Protestants in Prussia, who had suffered
so much from the cruelty of the Russians, when great numbers
of the nobility and many of the highest officers ofthe Crown
went to hear him. The collections on these occasions amounted
to upwards of fifteen hundred pounds, and for this disinterested
act of benevolence Mr. Whitefield received the thanks of his
Prussian Majesty.
from being represented. He then threatened to publish, and endeavoured to
extort a considerable sum of money from the Duchess. The affair ripened at
length into a legal charge, and the shock he received from this disgraceful ex
posure is believed to have had a fatal effect upon him. After a life of great
vicissitude and irregularity, he died at Dover, in 1777.
VOL. I. — P

210 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Again, on the clay appointed for a general fast, Mr. White-
field preached at Tottenham-Court Chapel, from Joel ii. 15,
and in the evening at the Tabernacle, from Gen. vii. 1, after
which collections, amounting to upwards of five hundred and
sixty pounds, were made for the relief of the German Protes
tants and the sufferers by fire at Boston, for which he received
the unanimous thanks of the freeholders and inhabitants of that
town. On this occasion several persons of consequence were
present. "It would delight you (says Lady Huntingdon) to
have seen what crowds of the mighty and noble flocked to hear
him. The collection was for the relief of the poor German
Protestants. I invited several to come who probably would not
attend his ministry on other occasions. All appeared pleased,
and surprised." Lady Chesterfield, Lady Gertrude Hotham,
and Lady Fanny Shirley, also tock large parties of the nobility
with them. Lords Halifax and Holdernesse, the personal friends
of Lady Huntingdon, the latter at that moment Secretary of
State, but succeeded in that office a few weeks after by Lord
Bute, who was likewise present : the young Duke of Grafton,
then rising rapidly into public life, and Lady Harrington, his
Grace's aunt ; the Duchess* was prevented availing herself of
Lidy Huntingdon's invitation. The Duke, now chiefly remem
bered as having been the subject of attack from the eloquent but
rabid pen of the celebrated Junius, whose "Letters" are said
to have driven him from the helm, was soon after in office as
Secretary of State, and First Lord of the Treasury. To the?e
celebrated personages mny be added the names of two of the
greatest men of their day, Charles Fox and William Pitt, who,
with Mr. Orby Hunter, Lord Villiers, and Mr. Soame Jenyns,
the admired author of a treatise on the internal evidence of the
Christian religion, were to be found mingling with the crowd that
thronged every part of these edifices. Few places could boast
of such a constellation of transcendent genius and senatorial
talent, such a brilliant assemblage of wisdom, magnanimity, and
oratorical powers, as was then to be found within the walls of
Tottenham- Court Chapel and the Tabernacle. These congrega
tions were long attracted by the eloquence of Whitefield alone,
and he for many years was the sole minister of those chapels,
which have continued almost ever since to supply a portion ofthe
life-blood of vital Christianity to the metropolis. In 1766, indeed,
he associated with himself the late Captain Joss ; before speak-
* Her Grace, of whom there is such frequent mention in the Letters of
Junius, was a daughter of Lord Ravensworth, and after the dissolution of hei
marriage was united to tbe Earl of Upper Ossory, by whom she had two daugh
ters, Lady Anne and Lady Gertrude Fitzpatrick. Lady Ossory died in 1804.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 21 1
ing of whom, however, let us remind our readers of one of the
most popular of the supplies at these chapels, the late Row
land Hill, who in the summer of 1772, by his ministry in them
was the means of reviving the cause of Methodism. The distin
guished situation in which he was placed, held him up more
than ever before public observation. His labours in the me
tropolis were immense ; and great and small bore testimony to
the power with which he spake. The displays of Gospel grace
under the ministry of this faithful labourer in the Lord's vine
yard were truly surprising ; and his success was, from the begin
ning, as great as the situation in which he stood was peculiar and
eminent. " The popularity of Mr. Hill (says Lady Huntingdon, in a letter
written at this period), and the crowds that follow him wherever he
is called to preach, overwhelm me with astonishment, and gratitude
to the God of all grace, who hath endowed him with such gifts. He
boldly proclaims the doctrines of the cross, and the word of the Lord
runs and is glorified in the conversion of multitudes. Dear Captain
Joss told me above a hundred wakened souls, the fruits of his
preaching, have been received into tbe Tabernacle Society, — so emi
nently does the benediction of our dear and precious Immanuel rest
on the labours of his servant. I have attended him at Blacklieath
and Kennington, where the Lord blessed his tejtimony in a very re
markable manner. Thousands and thousands attended, and the most
awful and solemn impression seemed to pervade the vast assemblies.
Excepting my beloved and lamented Mr. Whitefield, I never wit
nessed any person's preaching wherein tliere was such displays of
the Divine power and glory as in Mr. Hill's. May He who hath
raised up this second Whitefield, with talents and zeal so distinguished,
make him eminent in his day and generation, crown his message with
success, and by his own Almighty power, the copious effusions of his
Spirit, and the effectual manifestations of his grace to his soul, keep
him faithful to the end."
Mr. Hill's residence was at the Tabernacle House in Moor
fields, from which he made preaching excursions in the neigh
bourhood of London, in addition to his labours in the metro
polis itself. The effects of his addresses to the people on
these occasions were extraordinary in the extreme. One in
dividual wrote him word, for his encouragement, that the Lord
had blessed the truth he had delivered to "hundreds," nay,
he might safely say, " thousands ';" and earnestly entreated him
to return as soon as possible, as " multitudes longed for the
time when they should hear him again." " Many (he con
tinues) I have visited on their sick bed, blessing God for the
time they heard you. Notes of thanks were put up from
whole families, stirred up to seek the Lord by your ministry."
f2

212 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
The style of Rowland Hill's addresses to the people was,
at this period of life, extremely simple and forcible; they
abounded with lucid views of the doctrines of the Gospel, min
gled with sudden bursts of vivid, sublime, and sometimes sin
gular illustrations. A specimen of this mode of appealing to
the people is to be found in a preface to a little work, con
taining an address to those who had been converted by his
ministry in London. It is dated Tabernacle House, August 27,
1772. Soon after he- proceeded to the degree of Master of
Arts, at Cambridge, and visited his excellent friend and patron,
Mr. Berridge, vicar of Everton, in the neighbourhood of the
University. He again preached to immense crowds at the
Tabernacle and Tottenham-Court Chapel, after which Le re
tired, as the winter came on, to the seat of his family in
Shropshire. From his friend Captain Joss he received, whilst
there, accounts of his converts in London. " We have taken
(he informs him) above one hundred into society, concerning
whom it may be said that you were the happy instrument of
opening their eyes. There are many more with whom I have
conversed, who, I sincerely trust, will be your crown of rejoicing
in the day of the Lord. Indeed, my dear brother, what the
Lord hath done by you in London cannot but afford you matter
of joy and humiliation."
This was before Mr. Hill had obtained episcopal ordination.
On the 6th of June, 1773, through the kind and unexpected
interposition of Providence, he was ordained by the Bishop of
Bath and Wells, ivithout any promise or condition whatever,
and preached his first sermon for his dear and valued friend,
Mr. Rouquet, at St. Werburgh's, Bristol, on the 8th of June,
to a very large congregation. He then retired to his curacy
at Kingston, in Somersetshire, and after a few months spent
there, returned to London to supply the Tabernacle and Tot
tenham-Court Chapel. The recollection of his early preaching
in these places was cherished by him to the end of his days,
with a happy retrospect of the ease with which he spoke, and
the crowds who attended his ministry. In the last sermon he
ever preached, delivered on March 31, 1833, he said, "Oh!
my dear brethren, I almost wish to be made young again, if I
could but see such days as when I first came and preached at
Tottenham-Court Chapel, and was in the habit of preaching in
the streets and lanes for want of room. Oh ! how I love to
recollect what I then felt."
To return to Captain Joss. On him Mr. Whitefield pre
vailed to leave the compass, the chart, and the ocean, for the
service of the sanctuary. A maritime employment is not

SELINA, COUTNESS OF HUNTINGDON. 213
generally very favourable to religious improvement; but that
God who " sitteth upon the floods can (as Mr. Whitefield
said -of him and Captain Scott) bring a shark from the ocean,
and a lion from the forest," and " form them for himself to
show forth his praise." His sermons, in the former years of
his residence in London, were not only attended by largo
auditories, but with energy, to the conversion of many souls ; nor
did God leave him without many witnesses to the close of his
ministerial labours. He generally spent four or five months in
the year out of London, for the purpose of itinerating. In this
period he regularly visited South Wales, Gloucestershire, Bris
tol Tabernacle, and, occasionally, other parts of the kingdom.
In Pembrokeshire the Welsh followed him in multitudes ; and,
on the Lord's- day, would travel from one to twenty miles round
Haverfordwest to hear him. To not a few of them he became
a spiritual father; and, indeed, wherever he exercised his
talents, though but a few weeks, he left some seals of his minis
try behind.
"Mr. Whitefield and the Rev. Toriel Joss were joint minis
ters, till the death of the former, in 1770 ; soon after which
event a Mr. Brooksbanks was appointed assistant preacher.
How long he continued is uncertain, but most probably to the
autumn of 1775, when the Rev. Matthew Wilks was admitted
a minister of .the Tabernacle connexion. This venerable and
respected man was called under the ministry of the Rev. Wil
liam Piercy, who at that period was curate of West Bromwicli,
in Staffordshire, and afterwards Chaplain to the Countess of
Huntingdon. Early discovering the intellectual powers and
moral worth of Mr. Wilks, and anticipating his becoming of
extraordinary use to the Chnrch of Christ, Mr. Piercy not
only manifested great personal attachment towards him, but
insisted upon his devoting himself to the work of the Christian
ministry. QuotingMr. Wilk's own words : — " To the Countess
of Huntingdon's College, at Trevecca, I must and should go ;
and,, though against my inclination, I went, and closely pursued
my studies."
During the latter part of his college life, Mr. Keene, one of
the executors of Mr Whitefield, and a manager of his London
chapels, paid Lady Huntingdon a visit in Wales, and heard Mr.
Wilks preach part of a Sabbath in the College Chapel. The
result was an invitation to London as a supply, and in the au
tumn of 1775 his appointment as minister of the Tabernacle
connexion took place, the Rev. Messrs. Berridge, Piercy, and
Joss taking parts in his ordination.
For more than fifty years this venerable servant of Christ

214 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
proclaimed the Gospel of his divine Master in the pulpits qf
the Tabernacle and Tottenham- Court Chapel, and during this
very extended period his ministry was attended by all the best
proofs of a decided popularity. The benediction of the Spirit
of God rested upon his labours of love, and numerous have
been the Christian pastors who attributed their conversion to
him as God's honoured instrument, many of whom have been
introduced to their spheres of labour by his kind and effective
patronage. He was greatly honoured of God, in being the
father of several of the great schemes now in operation at
home and abroad for the salvation of souls. The "Evange
lical Magazine" owes its origin to the mutual efforts of the
Rev. John Eyre and himself, both educated at Trevecca, and
introduced into public life under the auspices of the Countess
of Huntingdon. He was one of the fathers of the London
Missionary Society, and preached a sermon previous to its
formation at Tottenham-Court Chapel, in the year 1795, from
Ps. xliii. 3 — " O send out thy life and thy truth," which was
the means of awakening a missionary spirit in the hearts of
many who had the privilege of hearing it. A sermon preached
at its annual meeting, at Surrey- chapel, In 1812, if not the
most eloquent, was, beyond all dispute, the most ingenious and
effective ever preached in its behalf; for from that sermon have
arisen all the Auxiliary and Branch Societies in England and
America. For some years previous to his decease the health of Mr.
Joss was in a declining state. This good man, whom Mr.
Berridge used to style " The Archdeacon of Tottenham," was
removed to his eternal rest April 17, 1797. In consequence
of his inability to preach as frequently as formerly, about eight
years previous to his decease, Messrs. Keene and West gave
the Rev. Joel Abraham Knight a cordial and affectionate in^
vitation to settle in the Tabernacle connexion. He had been
ordained to the work of the ministry in Lady Huntingdon's
connexion, at SpafieldsChapel, March 9, 1783, and was assistant
there and master of the charity-school for some years. This
respected and useful servant of Christ entered into the joy of
his Lord, April 22, 1808. Some years previous to his death,
the Rev. John Hyatt, then of Frome, was invited as a supply
to the Tabernacle and Tottenham-Court Chapel. His talents
arrested the attention of the congregations, and the declining
health of Mr. Knight induced the managers to consider Mr.
Hyatt as a suitable person to become a stated minister in the
Connexion. This invitation was given to him with unanimity,
and accepted op his part with cordiality, On this immense

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 215
field he entered, and here for twenty years he laboured, finish
ing his course January 30, 1826. His venerable colleague,
Mr. Wilks, survived him till January, 1829. His last audible
expressions were uttered when his friend Mr. Townsend in
formed him that they had fulfilled his wish, and thought it
would relieve his mind to know that all was arranged with Mr.
Campbell to succeed him : he lifted up his hand, and exclaimed
softly, " Thank God ! God be praised !— that is well !"
During Mr. Whitefield's life-time the management of his
chapels was frequently committed to a few trusty friends.
Amongst them we find the names of Robert Cruttenden, Esq.,
Charles Hardy, Esq., Robert Keene, Esq., and Mr. Beekman, a
man of great integrity and worth, and often mentioned in the
letters of Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Berridge. Whilst absent in
America, in 1 764, the affairs of the Tabernacle and Tottenham-
Court Chapel were in the hands of Messrs. Keene,* Hardy, and
Beckham. " Three such friends (says he) surely could not be
picked out for the London affairs." Two years previous to his
last voyage to America he formed the determination of making
a final arrangement of his chapels, and all that he possessed in
England. In a letter to Mr. Keene, dated November 27, 1767,
he savs : —
" As another voyage, perhaps, may be the issue and result of all at
last, I would beg you and dear Mr. Hardy to let me have my papers
and letters, that I may revise and dispose of every thing in a proper
manner. This can do no hurt, come life or come death, or whether I
stay at home or go abroad."
In the order of Divine Providence there is a strange combi
nation of circumstances, by which what is appointed is brought
to pass. In the same year died Mr. Whitefield, the Rev. Howel
Davies, rector of Prengast, near Haverfordwest, the head of
Calvinistic Methodism in Pembrokeshire, and the Rev. Thomas
Adam<;, minister of the Tabernacle at Rodborough, the leader
of the same cause in Gloucestershire and Wilts, and Mr.
Whitefield's only surviving first fellow-labourer, to each of
whom he had bequeathed a small legacy. Though the Tabernacle
at Bristol was under Mr. Whitefield's auspices, yet, strange to
say, in his will we do not find the least mention of it. The
trustees in London offered to befriend it, but would not accept
* Whilst in America at this time, Mr. Whitefield was presented with a por
trait of himself, done by a painter at New York. He sent it to England by the
Philadelphia packet, directed to Mr. Keene. and in the letter which accom
panied it he says: — "The painter who gave it me having now the ague and
fever, and living a hundred miles off, I must get you to have the drapery
finished, and then, if judged proper, let it be put up iii the Tabernacle parlour,"

216 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
it as a part of their charge. The Honourable James Haber
sham was appointed executor for his affairs in the province
of Georgia, and Messrs. Hardy, West, and Keene for those
in England.
Having by his will left both of his places of worship in Lon
don, his houses, library, and all things appertaining thereto, to
two of his executors, in survivorship, Mr. West and Mr. Keene,
they were enabled, through the abundant goodness of God, to
carry on the work in the same manner as in Mr. Whitefield's
life-time, without the least diminution either of the largeness of
the congregations, or the visible power of God attending the
ministry of those faithful men who laboured for them. Two
persons could not have been more happily associated than Mr.
West and Mr. Keene. They were always regular and exact in
the discharge of the weighty duties that devolved upon them.
An uninterrupted harmony characterised all their public trans
actions. It was now their study to conciliate the affections of
the ministers, to promote the glory of Jesus Christ, and the
spiritual interests of the congregations ; and they had the hap
piness to see the pleasure of the Lord prosper in their hands.
The late Mr. Berridge, who had a very high regard for them,
when speaking of them, says : —
" Could I discover lucrative views in them, as much as I love the
Tabernacle (that old bee-hive which has filled many bee-hives with
her swarms), I would visit her no longer. But the more I know ofthe
trustees, the more I am confirmed in their integrity, which they will
give a proof of shortly, by adopting Dr. Ford as a third trustee."
This was in the year 1777. From this, as well as from other
circumstances, it would appear that the Doctor, being known as
a preacher and trustee in Lady Huntingdon's connexion, vias
associated with Messrs. West and Keene in the Tabernacle
trust. After the mournful difference between her ladyship and
Mr. Wills, in 1788, some propositions were made relative to a
union between the two connexions, but of what nature,. or to
what extent we have no information. Mr. Berridge, the mutual
friend of both, appears to have been a chief instrument in nc-
fotiating this affair. Lady Huntingdon being in London, in
eptember, 1788, commissioned Mr. Berridge, then residing at
the Tabernacle House, to propose the intended plan, the fulfil
ment of which she seems to have had much at heart. But the
only document we have been enabled to procure which throws
any light on the subject, is a short letter from Mr. Berridge
to her Ladyship, ft is dated Tabernacle House, September
25, 1778:—

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 217
" My Lady, — My ears are so deaf, that I can hear nothing without
bawling, as Mr. Dupont* knows to his sorrow, which makes a visit
very troublesome to others and disagreeable to myself. On this ac
count I thought it more advisable to send you in a letter what has
been shouted into my ears by the trustees, than to wait upon you in
person, and the message I have to communicate is this : ' When Dr.
Ford feturns to London, a fortnight hence, the trustees will consider of
the proposal made to them by Mr. Dupont and others.'
" I was grieved to hear of Mr. Wills's departure ; but our wise Jesus
can overrule this separation for his glory, as well as that between Paul
and Barnabas. I return this week to Everton. May the Lord Jesus
abide with you and go with me, and give us both a triumphant exit at
last. So prayeth )'our affectionate servant, "John Beeridge."
Mr. Keene died on the 30th of January, 1793. His name
deserves to be recorded in the annals of the Church, as an
illustrious example of holiness and zeal in the cause of God.
Mr. West survived him till the 30th of September, 1796. He
was in the 70th year of his age. His remains were interred
under the communion-table, in a vault that contained the re
mains of Mrs. Whitefield, Mrs. West, and Mr. Keene. It is
a singular circumstance, that Mrs, Whitefield, Mr. Keene, and
Mrs. West all died on the 30th day of the month, and Mr.
Whitefield and Mr. West on the -30th of September. Mr.
West, by his last will, bequeathed the management of the
places to Samuel Foyster, Esq. and John Wilson, Esq., both
of whom are since dead. Mr. Foyster's removal to another
world took place February 2, 1805. He was one of his Ma
jesty's justices of the peace, and was a humble, pious, and
peaceable Christian, and an ornament to his religious pro
fession. The ministers who supplied immediately after Mr. White-
field's death were Mr. Berridge, Mr. Green, Mr. Elliott, Mr.
Piercy, Mr. Rowlands, Mr. Shirley, Mr. De Courcy, Mr. Hill,
Mr. Owen, Dr. Peckwell, Dr. Illingworth, Mr. West— all cler
gymen ; and Mr. Kinsman, Mr. Medley, Mr. Edwards, Mr.
Scott, Mr. Titus Knight, Mr. Heath, Mr. Winter, Mr. Beck,
Mr. Ashburner, Mr. Durant, and a long list of worthy clergy
men and Dissenting Ministers from the country, who esteemed
* Mr. Matthias Peter Dupont, from the first opening of Spafields chapel as
a place of worship, was one of its managers. He was also a principal means of
introducing the Gospel to Enfield and its neighbourhood, and of erecting a
chapel in the Chase-side ; and was one of the original trustees appointed by
Lady Huntingdon for her College. He died at his house in Canonbury-lane
Islington November 2, 1816, three weeks before his old and intimate friend'
Mrs. Peckwell. He was in his 70th year. ft intimate mend,

218 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
it their privilege to preach to every large, serious, and attentive
congregations, whose hearts were filled with thankfulness, and
at the same time engaged in prayer for every such minister of
Christ ; and an unusual blessing commonly attended both the
sowers and reapers. It was the desire qf the managers to let
the pulpits be open to every disinterested minister that might
occasionally visit London, of good moral character, sound in the
faith, of moderate Calvinistic principles, without distinction of
parties or denominations, whose talents were suitable to preach
with life and power to overflowing congregations.
Here let us pause, and lift our hearts in thankfulness to the
great Head of the Church, for the plenteous harvest of immor
tal souls that hath been gathered to the true Shiloh in these
highly-favoured chapels. The benediction of the Spirit seems
to have rested in a peculiar manner on the labours of the minis
ters of Christ in these vast fields of usefulness. They were
men of renown in their day, who, through evil report and good
report, preached the everlasting Gospel, and were as distin
guished by the success which crowned their labours, as by the
zeal and ability with which they performed them. This noble
army of confessors are now before the throne. The great
Captain of Salvation hath called them to their eternal reward.
May their surviving brethren catch a glowing spark of the flame
of zeal which animated these men of God, imitate their excel
lencies, avoid their infirmities, and leave behind them a memory
as blessed, and a monument as enduring, in the hearts of thou
sands converted by their ministrations ! Such were the men
"whom the Lord delighted to honour." Happy shall we be
if counted worthy to sit at their feet in Christ's kingdom of
eternal glory !

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 219

CHAPTER XIII.
Mr. Venn begins to attract Notice—Revival of Religion in the Estahlished
Church and among the Methodists— By whom first commenced—Mr. Venn's
Acquaintance with Mr. Broughton— Mr. Broughton one of the original Me
thodists— Dr. Haweis— Mr. Law— Illness of Mr. Venn—Accompanies Mr.
Whitefield to Bristol— Remains with Lady Huntingdon at Clifton — Letter
from Mr. Whitefield— Letter to Mr. Venn from Lady Huntingdon— Mr.
Whitefield's letter to Mr. Venn— Oxford Students— Dr. Haweis— Mr. White-
field's letter to Dr. Haweis— Convicts— Preaching to the Nobility at Lady
Huntingdon's— Handel — Giardini — Musical Composers.
That faithful and able servant of our Lord, the Rev. Henry
Venn, had now commenced his useful ministry as curate of
Clapham, and served three lectureships in the city. At Clap-
ham he became intimately acquainted with the late excellent
and benevolent John Thornton, Esq., then a young man of deep
piety, and rising rapidly into notice. At his house Mr. Venn
had many opportunities of meeting Lady Huntingdon and Mr.
Whitefield, whose ardent and disinterested zeal, so successfully
employed in the service of their great Master, conduced to lead
him to clearer views of divine truth. Mr. Whitefield frequently
expounded at Mr. Thornton's to overflowing assemblies, and
on such occasions Mr. Venn was always present. To Miss
Gideon, the friend and correspondent of Mr. Venn, Mr. White-
field writes : — " At both. ends of the town the word runs and is
glorified. The champions in the Church go on like sons of
thunder. I am to be at Clapham this evening : Mr. Venn will
gladly embrace the first opportunity. May it be a Bethel !"
The venerable names of Romaine, Venn, Adams, Walker (of
Truro,) and others, will long be remembered as among the early
and honoured instruments employed by Almighty God to rouse
a slumbering church from its lethargy, and to revive the cause
of vital religion at a period when the doctrines of the Reforma
tion were almost forgotten, and Christianity had become little
better than a name.
The unquestionable excellence of their character, and the
extent of their usefulness, add greatly to the importance of their
history ; and the more we venerate and admire the devotedness
to God, the more desirous we become to learn something ofthe
commencement and progress of the work of divine grace upon
their minds, and the special dealings of Providence in leading
them to spheres of usefulness.
God sends by whom he will send; but it has been the
infirmity even of good men, and I fear it has not ceased to be

2-20

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF

so, to resemble the people, whose cry was, " The temple of the
Lord, the temple of the Lord are we !" For, while all cordially
unite in ascribing the glory of all good to God, there is no small
contention among the different sections of the Christian Church
for the honour of the instruments employed in the work. It
ought, however, to be regarded as a subject of very inferior
consideration, who, amongst those whom the great Head of the
Church was pleased to employ and crown with success, were
first in the field, or most honoured by their great Master.
Thus in the lives of Walker and Venn, as well as in other
publications, it is attempted to be shown that the revival of vital
religion in the Established Church within the last century is not
to be attributed to the instrumentality of the great Methodist
leaders, and the eminently devoted men who laboured with them ;
but it is to be regarded as a distinct and separate dispensation of
divine grace.
The biographers of Venn, Walker, and other eminent minis
ters, appear to feel for the honour of the Church, and are
anxious to freezer from the reproach of Methodism; but these
departed worthies were faithful ministers ofthe Church of Eng
land, yet by their labours a great measure of what is called
Methodism was diffused and maintained within the pale of the
Church. That the effects of the labours of Mr. Whitefield, the
Wesleys, and their coadjutors, were " confined to their own fol
lowers," and only " manifested in the extension of Methodism," is
assuredly a great mistake ; and proves the writer to be but very
imperfectly acquainted with the genius and history of Methodism.
It is well known that those men of God were sincere as well
as avowed members and ministers of the Church of England.
They were educated within her pale, and were zealously devoted
to her service ; and it was not till insuperable difficulties were
opposed to their labours in the Establishment that they were
constrained to go forth into the highways and hedges to call
sinners to repentance. The effects of their ministry soon attested
its divine authority, and furnished irresistible evidence that they
had not mistaken the call of God. The mere forms of ecclesi
astical authority must not be pleaded against the great object
and design of the Christian ministry itself; and with all respect-
for the Establishment, it is to be regarded only as in the order
of means, and must be estimated according to its adaptation to
accomplish its great end, the salvation of men.
At the period referred to, as it is justly observed by Dr.
Haweis, " the nation was sunk down into corruption, and the
Church erected a feeble barrier against the fashionable pursuits.
The life and power of godliness fell to a very low standard, and

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 221
only here and there an individual cleaved to the faith once de
livered to the saints, and dared to be singular." Speaking of
the first instruments of the revival of vital Christianity among
us, the Doctor adds, " By the labours of these indefatigable
men, a flood of Gospel light broke upon the nation. At first
they were wholly confined to the Church of England, as their
attachment to it by education was strong ; and had they been
fixed in any settled station, they had not improbably lived and
died good men, useful men, but unnoticed and unknown. A
series of providences had designed them for far greater and more
extensive usefulness."*
To this unexceptionable testimony we may add that of the
late Mr. Hall :—
" Such was the situation of things when Whitefield and Wesley
made their appearance, who, whatever failings the severest criticism
can discover in their character, will he hailed by posterity as the second
Reformers of England. Nothing was farther from the views of these
excellent men than to innovate on the established religion of their
country ; their sole aim was to recal the people to the good old way,
and to imprint the doctrine of the Articles and Homilies on the spirits
of men. But this doctrine had been so long a dead letter, and so com
pletely obliterated from the mind by contrary instruction, that the
attempt to revive it met with all the opposition that innovation is sure
to encounter, in addition to what naturally results from the nature of
the doctrine itself, which has to contend with the whole force of human
corruption. The revival of the old appeared like the introduction of
a new religion ; and the hostility it excited was less sanguinary, but
scarcely less virulent, than that which signalized the first publication of
Christianity. The Gospel of Christ, or that system of truth wliich was
laid at the foundation of the Reformation, has since made rapid advances,
and in every step of its progress has sustained the most furious assaults."
If, in its commencement, Methodism meant anything defi
nite, it meant neither more nor less than Christianity in its life
and power. The term, from the beginning, was applied not so
much to a peculiar system, as to a class of character. It was
invariably employed to designate all that was sincere and spiritual
in religion. It thus became the badge of serious piety and
Christian zeal wherever they appeared. Mr. Whitefield and
the Wesleys, by their incessant itinerancy, obtained a sort cf
ubiquity in the land, and the fruit of their labours was almost
everywhere visible. He must, therefore, be a bold man who
will maintain that their instrumentality contributed little or
nothing to the revival of religion in the Church. Many of the
more pious of the clergy lived among the disciples of Methodism,
* Haweis's Church History.

222 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
and some of them belonged to Methodist families, and were the
personal friends of the great leaders of both connexions.
If what God has wrought be but duly acknowledged, we are
not at all anxious to determine the respective claims of the
first instruments; nor would we wish to deprive the respected
clergy of the Establishment of what they seem to value so highly,
the privilege of being perfectly independent of tlie instrumen
tality of Methodism. Whether there were, as is affirmed, " two
kindred, but separate and independent, streams of light," pro
ceeding from the same source, but " flowing in two distinct
channels," one descending on the Methodists, and the other upon
the Church ; or whether the heavenly influence is to be regarded
as forming one general intervention of Divine mercy, for the
revival and spread of vital religion throughout the land, we leave
to the judgment of the reader. Whatever interest may be
attached to the distinction by sectarian prejudice, we cannot
persuade ourselves that its importance is recognized either by
the Head of the Church, or by those great and good men whom
He so signally honoured. They have long since c;u>t their
crowns at the feet of Him to whom they were indebted for the
whole of their success ; and who alone caused them to " triumph
in Christ," in making " manifest the savour of his knowledge by
them in every place."
One thing, however, is too well known to admit of dispute,
that previous to the appearance of the Messrs. Wesley and
Whitefield, and the extraordinary effects produced by their
ministry, the public attention had in no degree been called lo
any description of ministers in the Establishment who inculcated
the evangelical doctrines and excited observation by the fruit
of their labours. It was not until several years after the former
had become extensively known, both by their preaching and
writings, that a few individuals of the clergy were recognised as
having embraced similar sentiments, and as being zealously and
successfully employed in calling sinners to repentance.
How far it may please God to communicate the light of his
truth, or the influence of his grace by particular means or
instruments, cannot be determined by man. We venture to
believe that the water of life retains its virtue by whatever channel
it may be communicated.
In the darkest times that the Church of England has known,
when the light of evangelical truth seemed nearly extinguished,
the Bible exhibited the same divine truths as at present : the
Articles, the Liturgy, and the Homilies, contained the same
spiritual doctrines, and all that beauty and excellence which
have been since found in them ; and yet the land continued to

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON.

223

be overspread with the shadow of death, until it pleased God
to raise up living witnesses, clothed with his own power, and to
send them forth to proclaim to sinners the Gospel of salvation,
He himself giving " testimony to the word of his grace."
Mr. Venn, when he ceased to reside in College, accepted the
curacy of a Mr. Langley, who held the livings of St. Matthew,
Friday-street, London, "and West Horsley, near Guildford, in
Surrey. His duty was to serve the church in London during
part of the summer, and to reside the remainder of the year at
Horsley. His duties in London brought him in contact with
the Rev. Bryan Broughton, Secretary to the Society for Pro
moting Christian Knowledge, and this was probably one of the
most important events of his life ; for Mr. Broughton was one
of the original band of Methodists at Oxford, and the corre
spondent, associate, and fellow-labourer of Mr. Whitefield and
the Wesleys : and it is extremely probable that he was one of
the first, if not the very first, who directed the attention of Mr.
Venn to the important concerns of eternity. About the same
time Mr. Law's " Serious Call" made a deep and lasting im
pression on his mind. He read and read again this pleasing
and most unanswerable advocate for the reasonableness and
dignity of a life of holiness ; and set himself diligently to con
form to his prescriptions of rigid weekly fastings and prayes,
and keeping a daily journal of his thoughts, words, and deeds.
Thus impressed with Mr. Law's " Call," we need not say with
what eagerness he seized on his " Spirit of Prayer" as soon as it
appeared ; but his disappointment was equal to his ardour, when
he found the atonement of Christ, of which he had now begun
to feel his need, was degraded into annihilation ; and a some
thing crucified within, represented as the only satisfaction due
for sin.
At this critical period a friend from Oxford, the late venerable
Dr. Haweis, whom he had pressed to spend some time with him
at Clapham, visited him, and commenced a friendship and cor
respondence that ceased only with his life. As the Doctor was
a convert of that revered name, Mr. Walker, of Truro, he was
firmly established in the principles of free grace, now generally
termed Calvinistic. Hence naturally arose much candid inves
tigation of the subject : both were conscious they sincerely
meant the glory of God, and the salvation of men's souls ; both
were active labourers in the vineyard, and both esteemed the
religion of the heart as only fundamental ; yet both beino- well
informed, their friendly disputes entered deeply into the con
sideration of all the scriptures on the subject, without any imme
diate, considerable change pf sentiment. " Allow me, my dear
Haweis (said Mr. Venn), to be something more than a stone."

224 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
The manner in which he canvassed the subject in debate mani
fested no aversion to receive the divine truth as far as he discovered
it. He searched the Scriptures daily if those things were so,
and every day grew more disposed to acknowledge the impotence
and guilt of man, and the sovereignty of the grace of God. He
set himself vigorously to preach what he believed, which he did
four or five times a-week at his cure and lectureships, besides his
private exhortations among his friends. His ministry was much
attended and greatly blessed, many calling him Father, as being
begotten by him in the Gospel. Though he generally preached
written sermons, yet he first perhaps of any of the Church minis
ters of that day broke through the bondage of reading, and com
menced a free address to the conscience. In this he preceded
Mr. Romaine, whose name and ministry about the same time
attracted more general notice.
Mr. Venn had not been long at Clapham before he was at
tacked by a severe illness, which incapacitated him for duty for
several months. This, however, was a most useful season to him.
He had time to reflect upon his principles and his conduct ; and
he used to observe, that after that period he was no longer able
to preach the sermons which he had previously composed. His
views of eternal things had now become clearer — his meditations
on the attributes of God more profound — his views of the great
ness of the salvation of Christ more distinct ; and the whole of
his religion had received that tincture of more elevated devotion
wliich rendered his conversation and his preaching doubly in
structive. Just at this period Mr. Whitefield induced Mr. Venn
to accompany him and Mr. Madan on a preaching excursion
into Gloucestershire. At Bristol immense crowds attended
whenever they proclaimed the glad tidings of salvation. " Seven
gospel ministers (says Mr. Whitefield) were together at Bristol
when the Counsellor (Mr. Madan) preached." During Mr.
Venn's stay in Gloucestershire he was hospitably entertained
at Lady Huntingdon's residence at Clifton. Mr. Madan and
Mr. Howel Davies, then supplying the Tabernacle at Bristol,
were likewise at her Ladyship's house. The conversation of
Lady Huntingdon, and those devoted men by whom she was sur
rounded, was attended with the happiest results to Mr. Venn.
The light of Divine truth burst through the darkness in which
his mind had been involved, and he now strenuously laboured to
extend, by every means in his power, the knowledge which had
been imparted to him. The salvation of souls excited his watch
fulness, his prayers, and his zeal ; and in his whole life he was
an " epistle of Christ, known and read of all men." Governed
by a disinterested concern for the everlasting welfare of the

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 225
souls committed to his charge, he was " instant in season, and
out of season; reproving, rebuking, and exhorting, with all long-
suffering and gentleness" —
" And, as a' bird each fond endearment tries
To tempt its new fledged offspring to the skies ;
He tried each art, reproved each dull delay,
Allured to brighter worlds and led the way."
In a letter to Lady Huntingdon, written at this time, Mr.
Whitefield says : —
" The worthy Venn is valiant for the truth— a son of thunder. He
labours abundantly, and his ministry has been owned of the Lord in
the conversion of sinners. Thanks be to God for such an instrument
as this to strengthen our hands ! I know the intelligence will rejoice
your Ladyship. Your exertions in bringing him to a clearer knowl edge
of the everlasting Gospel have indeed been blessed. He owes your
Ladyship much, under God, and I believe his whole soul is gratitude
to the Divine author of his mercies and to you, the honoured instru
ment in leading him to the fountain of truth."
That the noble Countess was the instrument of much good
to Mr. Venn, is obvious from Mr. Whitefield's letter; and is
moreover confirmed by an extract from one addressed by her
Ladyship to Mr. Venn, soon after his return to his charge at
Clapham. After remonstrating with him on the tenor of some
of his discourses, her Ladyship adds : —
" 0, my friend ! we eau make no atonement to a violated law — we
have no inward holiness of our own — the Lord Jesus Christ is the Lord
our Righteousness. Cling not to such beggarly elements — such filthy
rags — mere cobwebs of Pharisaical pride — but look to him who hath
wrought out a perfect righteousness for his people. You find it a
hard task to come naked and miserable to Christ — to come, divested of
every recommendation but that of abject wretchedness and misery, and
receive from the outstretched hand of our divine Immanuel the riches,
the super-abounding riches of redeeming grace. But if you come at
all, you must come thus, and like the dying thief, the cry of your heart
must be, ' Lord, remember me.' There must be no conditions — Christ,
and Christ alone, must be the only Mediator between God and sinful
men — no miserable performances can be placed between the sinner
and the Saviour. Let the eye of faith ever be directed to the Lord
Jesus Christ ; and I beseech him to bring every thought of your heart
into captivity to the obedience of our great High Priest.
" And now, my dear friend, no longer let false doctrine disgrace
your pulpit. Preach Christ crucified as the only foundation of the sin
ner's hope. Preach him as the Author and Finisher, as well as the sole
object of faith — that faith whieh is the gift of God. Exhort Christless
impenitent sinnners to fly to this city of refnge — to look to him who is
exalted as Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance and the remission
VOL. I. — Q

226 THE LiFE AND TIMES OF
of sins. Go on thus, aiid may your bow abide in strength ! Be bold
— be firm^-be decisive. Let Christ he the Alpha and Omega of all
you advance in your addresses to your fellow-men. Leave the con
sequences with your divine master. He will be with his faithful minis
ters to the end of time. May his gracious benediction rest upon your
labours ! and may you be blessed to the conversion of very many, who
shall be your joy and crown of rejoicing in the great day when the Lord,
the righteous Judge, shall appear."
About this period considerable attention was paid to the
subject of religion by many students in the University of
Oxford. Lady Huntingdon, in a letter to Mr. Stillingfleet,
mentions prayer-meetings as very common among the students.
" I am really rejoiced (said her Ladyship) that so many at the
Universities are determined to be on the Lord's side. May
they be kept faithful and steady !" Mr. Whitefield likewise
takes notice of the awakening at Oxford in particular : " Many
(says he) in Oxford are awakened to tbe knowledge of the truth;"
and again, " Many students at Oxford are earnestly learning
Christ." Amongst the number of those who stood forth in the midst
of abounding reproach and hostility, and bore a fearless and
faithful testimony to the grace and atonement of the Re
deemer, was the late venerable Dr. Haweis, who had entered
the University as a student and gentleman commoner of
Christ Church, but afterwards removed to Magdalen Hall.
Early in life he was awakened under tbe powerful ministry of
that good man, Mr. Walker, of Truro. Mr. Whitefield, hear
ing ofthe zeal and the -success attending his labours at Oxford,
and accidentally seeing a letter of his to a correspondent at
Bristol, determined to write to him, and endeavour to strengthen
his hands in the great cause.
The following letter contains some useful hints to young
ministers and candidates for the ministry; and is peculiarly
valuable as having been addressed to one who, for considerably
more than half a century after, was destined by the Great
Head of the Church to bear a fearless and faithful testimony
to the atonement and grace of -the Redeemer, before a proud,
self-righteous, gainsaying world : — •
" To the Rev. Mr. Haweis, " Bristol, May 20, 1756.
« My very dear Sir, — For so I must address myself, having had
you in a peculiar manner upon my heart, ever siuce I saw and read
a letter that came from you some months ago. It bespoke the lan
guage of a heart devoted to the ever-living, ever-lovely Jesus. Mrs.
Bevali confirmed me in this opinion yesterday, and withal told me,
she believed you would be glad of a line from me, who am indeed

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 227
less than the least of all saints, hut willing, if I know anything of my
own heart, to spend and be spent for the good of souls. They are
redeemed by the blood of Jesus, whoso cross, Messed be his name,
hath been made delightful to me for some years. I thank God that I
am cast out for my Master's sake. Indeed, my very dear sir, it is
preferable to all other preferment whatsoever. It is the way to the
crown. Glory be to God that there are some young champions
oomin" forth ; methinks I could bow sing my nunc dimittis with
triumph and joy. Though I decrease, may you, my very dear sir,
increase ! 0, that you may be kept from conferring with flesh and
blood ! 0, that you may be owned and blessed of God ! I believe
you will, and never more so than when you are reviled and despised
by man. It is a fatal mistake to think we must keep our characters
in order to be good ; this is called prudence — in most, I fear, it is
trimming. Honesty I find always to be the best policy. Them who
honour Jesus he will honour. Even in this world, if we confess to him,
his truth, and his people, we shall receive a hundred-fold. To lose
all in this respect is to find all. But whither am going ? Excuse,
my very dear sir, the overflowings of a heart that loves you dearly for
the glorious Redeemer's sake. I am here preaching his cross, and
expect to stay over Sunday. Next week I have thoughts of being
at Bath and Westbury. I lead a pilgrim life — you will pray that I
may have a pilgrim heart. Ere long, I hope my heavenly Father will
take me home. I am ambitious ; I want to sit upon a throne. Jesus
hath purchased and provided a throne in heaven for me. That you
may have an exalted place at his right hand, is, and shall be the earnest
prayer of, reverend and very dear sir, yours most affectionately in our
common Lord, " G. Whitefield."
Lady Huntingdon had interested herself about this time in
the case of an unhappy youth, belonging to an honourable family,
who had been guilty of some serious breach of the law, and had
obtained his Majesty's pardon, through the benevolent exertions
of her Ladyship. This young man appears to have been bene
fited by the mercy which had been extended to him, and the
advice which her Ladyship had kindly given him. " As I thought
it would give your Ladyship satisfaction (says Mr. Whitefield),
I herein inclose the copies of two letters sent from the con
demned youth, in whose behalf your Ladyship hath interposed."
Her liberality was likewise extended to some convicts, whom Mr.
Whitefield felt much interested about. On the 2nd of March
] 757, we find him writing thus to her Ladyship : —
" Ever-honoured Madam, — A few days ago I received the kind bene
faction for the unhappy convicts. Not doubtingof success, Ihadadvanced
some guineas, which with what hath been procured from otherhands, hath
bought both their liberties, and they are provided for on the other side
of the water ; just now, I believe, they are under sail. 0 that he who
I suppose will now receive a pardon, was alike favoured ! But not
Q 2

228 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
many mighty, not many noble, are called. — I hope this will not find
your Ladyship ill of the gout. May the Lord Jesus bear all your
sickness, and heal all your infirmities both of body and soul ! I am
sensibly touched when anything affects your Ladyship : gratitude con
strains to this. What shall I render unto tbe Lord for all his mercies?
I would preach for him, if I could, a hundred times a day. Surely
such a worthless worm was never honoured to speak for the Redeemer
before. Your Ladyship will excuse me, I must away, and give a little
vent to the heart of, ever-honoured Madam, your Ladyship's most
dutiful, obliged, and ready servant, for Christ's sake. " G. Whitefield."
Lady Huntingdon now arrived in London with her family, and
soon opened her house, twice every week, for the preaching of
the Gospel. Messrs. Romaine, Madan, and Venn, principally
officiated at her Ladyship's at that time. " I rejoice (says Mr.
Whitefield) in the increase of your Ladyship's spiritual routs.
I can guess at the consolation such uncommon scenes must
afford to your Ladyship's new-born soul. No wonder you are
distressed from other quarters. Indeed, my most noble and
ever-honoured patroness, thus it must be. Christ's witnesses
must be purged at home. Inward domestic trials fit for out
ward public work. Nature recoils, when constrained to take the
cross, and it may be from a near and dear relation's hand ; but
infinite wisdom knows what is best."
Amongst the great and fashionable who attended at Lady
Huntingdon's house during the season, we find the names of many
who made some figure in the circles of the great ; as the Duchess
of Bedford, Duchess of Grafton, Lady Jane Scott, Lord and
Lady Dacre, Mr. and Lady Anne Connolly, Lady Elizabeth
Keppel, Lady Betty Waldegrave, Lady Coventry, Lord Wey
mouth, Lord Tavistock, Lady Charlotte Edwin, Duchess of
Hamilton, Duchess of Richmond, Lady Ailesbury, Lord and
Lady Hertford, Lady Townshend, Lord Trafford, Lord North
ampton, Lady Hervey, Lady Pembroke, Lady Northumberland,
Lady Rebecca Paulet, Lord Edgecumbe, Lord Lyttleton, Mrs.
Shirley, mother of the unfortunate Lord Ferrers, &c. &c. &c.
Lady Essex and Mrs. Charles Yorke, both of whom had fre
quently attended at her Ladyship's house, died rather suddenly,
at this time, of sore throats. The circumstance caused consder-
able sensation amongst a numerous circle ; and the awful provi
dence was improved by Mr. Whitefield on his arrival in London.
Lady Thanet's decease had preceded that of Lady Essex and
Mrs. Yorke. When Lady Huntingdon heard of her illness, she
sent to offer her to come and prepare her for the last solemn
hour : but Lady Thanet sent her word it was in vain, for she
could neither be prepared to live or die. Her great care upon her

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 229
death-bed was the fear of being buried alive ; to prevent whicli she
ordered herself not to be taken out of her bed for twelve days.
The acquaintance which Lady Huntingdon had formed in
early life with the celebrated Handel, after being suspended for
some considerable number of years, was renewed about this
time. Handel now found himself fast declining, and considered
his recovery as hopeless. The loss of his sight, and the prospect
of his approaching dissolution, made a great change in his tem
per and general behaviour. He became a man of blameless morals,
and throughout his after-life manifested a deep sense of reli
gion. In conversation he would frequently speak of the pleasure
he had experienced in setting the Scriptures to music, and how
much some of the sublime passages of the Psalms had contri
buted to his comfort and satisfaction. And now, when he found
himself drawing near the close of his mortal state, those senti
ments were improved into solid and rational piety, attended by a
calm and undisturbed mind. The course of his life was regular
and uniform. For some years after his arrival in England his
time was divided between study and practice, that is to say,
betwixt composing pieces of music, and conducting concerts at
the Duke of Rutland's, the Earl of Burlington's, the Earl of
Huntingdon's, and the houses of others of the nobility who were
patrons of music and his friends. His little foibles, of which his
biographers have made much, appear to have been the incidental
errors of his time and nation.*
Not long before his death Lady Huntingdon saw him, at his
particular request. " I have had a most pleasiug interview (says
her Ladyship) with Handel — an interview which I shall not
soon forget. He is now old, and at the close of his long career ;
yet he is not dismayed at the prospect before him. Blessed
be God for the comforts and consolations which the Gospel
affords in every situation, and in every time of our need ! Mr.
Madan has been with him often, and he seems much attached
to him." Handel died in April, 1759. Over the place of his
interment, in Westminster Abbey, was erected a monument,
designed and executed by Roubilliac, representing him at full
length, in an erect posture, having a scroll in his hand, inscribed
— " I know that my Redeemer liveth," with the notes to which
these words are set in the Messiah.
With most of the eminent musicians of her time Lady Hunt
ingdon was well acquainted. Giardini, whose great taste, hand,
and style in playing on the violin, procured him universal ad
miration, was a great favourite of her Ladyship's. Lady Ger-
* We grieve to say, that this encomium must be qualified, as it respects the
language of this great man, at one time of his life, at least.— Ed.

230 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
trude Hotham, and Lady Chesterfield, who was esteemed one
of the first private musicians of her day, gave occasional con
certs of sacred music at their residences ; and there Giardini's
performance on the violin, in which at that time he excelled
every other master in Europe, was heard with the most rapturous
applause, and equally astonished and delighted all his auditors.
At Lady Huntingdon's request he composed a few tunes to
some of the hymns used in her chapels ; and this circumstance
becoming public, led Horace Walpole to say — " It will be a
great acquisition to the Methodist sect to have their hymns set
by Giardini." Some time after he was recommended by Lady
Huntingdon to the protection and patronage of Sir William
Hamilton, whom he accompanied to Naples. About the same
period there was another Italian musical composer and writer,
with a name very similar, Tomaso Giordani, with whom Lady
Huntingdon was also acquainted, and who resided so many
years in London, that he was almost as well acquainted with the
English language and English style of music as any indivi
dual of his time. He likewise composed some hymn tunes, and
particularly the well-known air called " Cambridge," adapted
to the words — " Father, how wide thy glory shines !" &c, in
Lady Huntingdon's collection. Mr. Kent of Winchester, was
also well known to Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Whitefield, and the
Wesleys. As a composer of sacred music, he followed closely
the style of Dr, Croft ; and few persons have succeeded better
than he in that due intermixture of harmony and melody which
renders this species of music interesting both to learned and
unlearned auditors. He composed some popular anthems and
hymn tunes, which have long been in use amongst the Metho
dists : few anthems have obtained more celebrity than — " 0,
Lord, our Governor," " My song shall be of mercy," and
" Hear my prayer."
Two of the sons of Mr. Charles Wesley afforded a very early
indication of musical genius. Lady Huntingdon was so well
pleased with the eldest, Charles, that she kindly offered her in
terest with Dr. Boyce to get him admitted among the King's
boys. He was introduced by her Ladyship to two eminent
musicians of that day, Mr. Stanley and Dr. Morgan, both of
whom were extremely kind to him, particularly the latter, who
frequently entertained him by playing on the harpsichord. Se
veral years after Charles Wesley published a set of six hymn
tunes — one of which, adapted to the words, " In Christ my
treasure's all contained," was composed at the request of Lady
Huntingdon. This little publication also included the well-
known hymn by his father on the death of Mr. Whitefield, set to
music by Dr. Boyce, composer to his Majesty George III.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 231

CHAPTER XIV.
Lady Huntingdon and Mr. Fletcher—Introduced to Lady Huntingdon by Mr.
Wesley— Bishop of London— Letter to Mr. Charles Wesley— Mr. Fletcher
preaches and celehrates the Communion at Lady Huntingdon's — Letter to
Mr. Charles Wesley— Letter to Lady Huntingdon — Mr. Fletcher appointed
Vicar of Madely— Writes to Lady Huntingdon and Mr. Charles Wesley-
Visits Mr. Berridge — Letters to Lady Huntingdon— Induction to Madely-—
Success of his ministry-— Letters to Lady Huntingdon.
In the spring of the year 1728 Lady Huntingdon first became
acquainted with that singularly holy and zealous minister, the
late Mr. Fletcher, vicar of Madely, near Bridgnorth, in Shrop
shire. In the family of Thomas Hill, Esq., of Tern Hall, near
Shrewsbury, he had spent some years in the capacity of tutor,
but having been ordained the preceding year by Dr. Egerton,
then Bishop of Bangor, in the Chapel Royal of St, James's, he
was at that time very popular in London and other places,
preaching in Mr. Wesley's chapels, and wherever the providence
of God opened a door to proclaim the " unsearchable riches of
Christ." "I have seen Mr. Fletcher (says Lady Huntingdon, in a letter
dated March 19th, 1758), and was both pleased and refreshed by the
interview. He was accompanied by Mr. Wesley, who had frequently
mentioned him in terms of high commendation, as had Mr. Whitefield,
Mr. Charles Wesley, and others, so that I was anxious to become
acquainted with one so devoted, and who appears to glory in nothing
save in the cross of our divine Lord and Master. Hearing that he
preached in French, his native language, I mentioned the case of the
French prisoners at Tunbridge. May the Lord of the harvest bless
his word, and send forth many such faithful ambassadors."
At Lady Huntingdon's request Mr, Fletcher did preach to
the French prisoners on their parole at Tunbridge. They ap
peared deeply affected, and earnestly requested him to preach
to them on every Lord's-day, and they presented a petition to
the Bishop of London for his leave. The Bishop, however,
peremptorily rejected their petition ! A few months afterwards
he died of a cancer in his mouth.
''Perhaps (says Mr. Wesley) some may think this was a just
retribution for silencing such a prophet on such an occasion I I am
not ashamed to acknowledge this is my own sentiment; aud j do got

232 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
think it any breach of charity to suppose that an action so unworthy of
a Christian Bishop had its punishment in this world."
On this opinion of Mr. Wesley, the reader will form his own
judgment. The estimation in which thehumble and devoted Fletcher held
the Countess of Huntingdon, with whom in the following spring
he had many interviews, may be gathered from the following
short extract from one of his letters to Mr. Charles Wesley,
dated March 22, J 759 :—
" I was this morning with Lady Huntingdon, who salutes you, and
unites with me in saying, that we have need of you to make one in our
threefold cord, and to beg you will hasten your return, when Providence
permits. Our conversation was deep, and full of the energy of faith on
the part of the Countess ; as to me, I sat like Paul at the feet of
Gamaliel." When (in the November of that year) the Countess recom
menced the religious assemblies in her own house, Mr. Fletcher
was one of the clergymen whom she requested to preach and
administer the Sacrament to the elegant and pious persons
whom she gathered around her. Of this invitation we find
Mr. Fletcher giving the following account in another letter to
Mr. Charles Wesley : —
" Your letter (he says) was not put into my hands till eight days
after my arrival in London. I carried the enclosed agreeably to its
address, and passed three hours with a modern prodigy — a pious and
humble Countess! I went with trembling, and in obedience to
your orders ; but I soon perceived a little of what the disciples felt,
when Christ said to them, It is I, be not afraid. She proposed to me
something of what you hinted to me in your garden ; namely, to cele
brate the communion sometimes at her house in a morning, and to
preach when occasion offered; in such a manner, however, as not to
restrain my liberty or prevent my assisting you, or preaching to the
French refugees ; and that only till Providence should clearly point
out the path in which I should go. Charity, politeness, and reason ac
companied her offer; and I confess, in spite of the resolution which I
had almost absolutely formed, to fly the houses of the great, without
even the exception ofthe Countess's, I found myself so greatly changed
that I should have accepted, on the spot, a proposal which I should
have declined from any other mouth, hut my engagement with you
withheld me; and, thanking the Countess, I told her, when I had
reflected on her obliging offer, I would do myself the honour of waiting
upon her again.
'' Nevertheless, two difficulties stand in my way. Will it he con
sistent with that poverty of spirit which I seek ? Can I accept an office
for which I have such small talents ? and shall I not dishonour the
cause of God, by stammering out the mysteries of the Gospel in a
place where the most approved. ministers of the Lord have preached

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 233
with so much power and so much success ? I suspect that my own
vanity gives more weight to this second objection than it ought to have ;
what think you ?"
Mr. Wesley's answer was no doubt encouraging, and the in
vitation of the Countess was accepted.
Neither exalted by the grace he had received, nor elated with
his previous success in the ministry, he opened his commission
amongst the great and honourable in the drawing-rooms of the
Countess, in the lowly manner of the apostle — " Unto me, who
am less thau the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I
should preach the unsearchable riches of Christ." On this, as
on many subsequent occasions, the affectionate and fervent man
ner in which he addressed his hearers, and the earnestness and
zeal with which he delivered his message, were affecting proofs
of the interest he took in their spiritual concerns ; and there is
much reason to believe that his labours in this way were not " in
vain in the Lord."
During the winter Lady Huntingdon continued to be useful in
every possible way, endeavouring with the most ardent zeal and
unwearied diligence, to advance the honour and interest of her
divine Master. At home and abroad, in company and alone, in
public and in private, she ceased not' to keep in view and pro
secute, with the most intense application, her great and important
design ; suffering no talent to remain unoccupied, nor any
moment to pass unimproved. In Mr. Fletcher she found a
powerful auxiliary, and one every way calculated to fan the in
extinguishable flame of holy zeal which burned upon the altar of.
her heart.
He continued in London during four months, assisting the
Messrs. Wesley, and preaching alternately with them and others
at the houses of Lady Huntingdon, Lady Gertrude Hotham,
and Lady Frances Shirley, generally once, and frequently twice
in every week.
In 1760 he employed himself in working in the field of use
fulness he found at Brighton, after which he returned to London :
but Mr. Venn, who had been with him at Brighton, having ac
companied the Countess of Huntingdon to Aberford, in York
shire, Mr. Fletcher went down to Tern Hall, where he had few
opportunities of preaching, partly owing to the shyness of the
neighbouring clergy, and partly to the fears which Mr. Hill
entertained, lest his interest at Shrewsbury should be lessened
at the approaching election, if Mr. Fletcher delivered his senti
ments with unrestrained freedom. He speaks of this in a letter
written about this period to Lady Huntingdon, dated Tern,
September, 6, 1760, and addressed to her Ladyship " At Lady

234 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Margaret Ingham's, at Aberford, near Tadcaster, in Yorkshire."
We make a short extract from this letter : —
" I am greatly indebted to your Ladyship for what light I have into
the nature of the foundation of Christianity ; and, although I have
great reason to be ashamed of the little use I have made of it, I hope
it will work its way, by the power of Christ's Spirit, through the thick
darkness of my ^self-righteous, unbelieving heart, and then to be a closer
follower of you, as you are of Christ.
" The fear of Mr. Hill has, lest I should lessen his interest at Shrews
bury against the next election, — the shyness of the neighbouring
clergy, and the want I feel of an ordination from the great Shepherd
and Bishop of my soul, will probably prevent my preaching at all in
the country. 0, may the Spirit of God preach in the mean-time the
Gospel to my heart.
" Generous as you are, Madam, I believe you would have saved me
the shame of receiving the present you made me at Paddington, had
you foreseen what uneasy thoughts it raised in my heart. ' Is not
this making godliness a gain ? Can I in conscience receive what is
devoted to the poor, and when I am not in actual want V I am not
ashamed of living upon charity, but to receive it without being an im
mediate object is what gives me more uneasiness than want could
possibly do. And now I am deprived for many months of the un
speakable advantage of living upon Providence, and must live upon a
stock as well as the rich of this world ! Is not this a lesson ? And
does not your generosity, Madam, bid me look to Jesus for poverty of
spirit, without which all outward acts are nothing but pride, sin
misery, and lies ? " J. Fletcher."
While living at Tern Hall* Mr. Fletcher was often requested
to do duty for Mr. Chambers, vicar of Madely, which being ten
miles distant, a groom was ordered to get a horse ready for him
every Sunday morning ; but so great was his aversion to giving
trouble, that if the groom did not wake at the time, he seldom
suffered him to be called, but prepared the horse himself.
On the 26th of September Mr. Fletcher wrote again to Lady
Huntingdon, giving an account of his call to Madely, to the
following effect : —
" The light I expected from our friend at Bristol is come, though
from a different quarter. A fortnight ago the minister of the parish,
with whom I have had no connexion for these two years, sent me
word (I know not why) that his pulpit should be at my service at
any time, and seems now very friendly. Some days after, I ventured,
without design, a visit of civility to the vicar of a neighbouring parish,
who fell out with me three years ago, for preaching faith in his church:
* Now Attingham House, a handsome modern mansion, on the right of the
Wellington-road to Shrewsbury, at the confluence ofthe Tern and the Severn.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 235
he received me with the greatest kindness, aud said often he would have
me take care of souls somewhere or other. Last Sunday the vicar
of Madely, to whom I was formerly curate, coming to pay a visit here,
expressed great regard for me, seemed to be quite reconciled, and as
sured me that he would do all that was in his power to serve me; of
which- he yesterday gave me a proof, by sending me a testimonial un
asked. He was no sooner gone than news was brought that the old
clergyman I mentioned' to your Ladyship died suddenly the day be
fore ; and that same day, before I heard it, Mr. Hill, meeting at tlie
races his nephew, who is patron of Madely, told him, that if he would
present me to that cure, he would give the vicar of that parish the
living vacated by the old clergyman's death. This was immediately
agreed to, as Mr. Hill himself informed me in the evening, wishing me
joy.* This new promise, the manner in which Mr. Hill forced me
from London to be here at this time, and the kindness of the three
ministers I mentioned, whose hearts seemed to be turned at this junc
ture to sign my testimonials for institution, are so many orders to be
still, and wait till the door is quite open or shut. I beg, therefore
your Ladyship would present my respects and thanks to Lady Mar
garet and Mr. Ingham, and acquaint them with the necessity which
these circumstances lay me under to follow the leadings of Providence.'
To Mr. Charles Wesley he says : —
" My heart revolts at the idea of being here alone, opposed by my
superiors, hated by my neighbours, and despised by all the world.
Without piety, without talents, without resolution, how shall I repel
the assaults and surmount the obstacles which I foresee, if I discharoe
my duty at Madely with fidelity? On the other hand, to reject this
presentation, to bum the certificate, and to leave in the desert the
sheep whom the Lord has evidently brought me into the world to feed,
appears to me nothing but obstinacy and refined self-love. I will hold
a middle course between these extremes : I will be wholly passive in
the steps I must take, and active in praying the Lord to deliver me from
the evil one, and to conduct me in the way he would have me go.
" If you can see anything better, inform me of it speedily; and. at
the same time, remember me in all your prayers, that, if this matter be
* One day Mr. Hill informed him that the living at Dunham, in Cheshire
then vacant, was at his service. " The .parish (he continued) is small the dutv
light, the income good (4001. per annum,) and it is situated in a fine healthy
Tnr^87^mltIIi\ 5ff ttapKngMr. Hill most cordially for his kindness
Mr. Fletcher added, Alas ! sir, Dunham will not suit me ; there is too much
money and too little labour ." " Few clergymen make such objections (said
Mr. Hill) ; itis a pity to decline such a living, as I do not know that I can find
you another. What shall we do ? Would you like Madely "'" <¦ Thai- rir
would be the very place for me." " My object, Mr. Fletcher; i. to make X'
comfortable in your own way. If you prefer Madely, I shall find no difficile
in persuading Chambers, the present vicar, to exchange it for DunhaiT^hich
is worth more than twice as much.;- In this way he became ricarTjladelv

236 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
not of the Lord, the enmity of the Bishop of Lichfield, who must coun
tersign my testimonials ; the threats of the chaplain of the Bishop of
Hereford, who was a witness to my preaching at West-street ; the ob
jections drawn from my not being naturalized, or some other obstacle,
may prevent the kind intentions of Mr. Hill."
Having occasion, about this period, to accompany his pupils to
London,* he determined to avail himself of that opportunity to
call upon Mr. Berridge, vicar of Everton. He accordingly in
troduced himself as a raw convert, who had taken the liberty to
wait upon him for the benefit of his instruction and advice.
From his accent and manners, Mr. Berridge perceived that he
was a foreigner, and enquired what countryman he was. " A
Swiss, from the canton of Berne," was the reply. " From Berne !
then, probably, you can give me some account of a young coun
tryman of yours, one John Fletcher, who has lately preached a
few times for the Messrs. Wesleyf and of whose talents, learning,
and piety they both speak in terms of high eulogy. Do you
know him?" " Yes, sir, I know him intimately ; and, did those
gentlemen know him as well, they would not speak of him
in such terms, for which he is more obliged to their partial
friendship than to his own merits." " You surprise me (said
Mr. Berridge) in speaking so coldly of a countryman, in whose
praise they are so warm." " I have the best reason (he re
joined) for speaking of him as I do — I am John Fletcher !" " If
you be John Fletcher (replied his host) you must do me the ,
favour to take .my pulpit to-morrow ; and when we are better
acquainted, without implicitly receiving your statement, or that
of your friends, I shall be able to judge for myself." Thus
commenced an intimacy with Mr. Berridge, which controversy
could not interrupt.
On the 3rd of October Mr. Fletcher, in a letter to the Coun
tess of Huntingdon, thus refers to his induction at Madely : —
" Were I to have my choice, I would prefer waiting at the pool un
der your roof, or that of those who think like you, to any other way of
life; and I will own to your Ladyship, that the thought of giving this
up is one of the chief difficulties I have now to encounter. But I
seem to be the prisoner of Providence, who is going, in all probability,
to cast my lot among the colliers and forgemen of Madely : the two
thousand souls of that parish, for whom I was called into the ministry,
are many sheep in the wilderness, which, after all, I cannot sacrifice
to my own private choice. When I was suffered to attend them for a
few days, somebegan to return to theShepherd of their souls, and I found
* The elder of these pupils, the sons of Mr. Hill, died on coming of age; the
younger became M. P. for Shrewsbury, afterwards for Shropshire, and at length
took his seat in the House of Peers, as Baron Berwick of Attingham House.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 237
it then in my heart to spend and be spent for them ; when I was sent
away from them, that zeal, it is true, cooled to such a degree, that I
have wished a thousand times they might never be committed to my
care ; hut the impression of the tears of those who, when I left them,
ran after me crying, ' Who shall now show us the way to heaven V
never wore quite off from the bottom of my heart, and, upon second
thoughts, I always concluded that if the Lord made my way plain to
their church, I could not run away from it without disobeying the order
of Providence. That time is come — the church is vacated — the pre
sentation to it brought, unasked for, into my hands — the difficulty of
gettino- proper testimonials, which I looked upon as insurmountable,
vanishes at once — the three clergymen that had opposed me with most
bitterness signed them — and the Bishop of Lichfield countersigns
them without the least objection — the lord of the manor, my great op-
poser, leaves the parish — and the very man (the vicar) who told me I
should never preach in that church, now recommends me to it, and
tells me he will indnct me himself. Are not these intimations of the
will of God ? It seems so to me. What does your Ladyship think on
it ? I long to go and consult you in Yorkshire, but cannot do it now,
without giving up the point on which I want your advice."
Again, on the 28th of October, 1760, he thus addresses the
Countess : —
" Since I had the honour to write last to your Ladyship, all the little
circumstances of my institution and induction have taken such an easy
turn, that I question whether any clergyman noted for good fellow ship
ever got over them with less trouble. I preached last Sunday for the
first time in my church, and shall continue to do so, though I propose
staying with Mr. Hill till he leaves the country, which will be, I sup
pose in a fortnight, partly to comply with him to the last, partly to
avoid falling out with my predecessor, who is still at Madely, but who
will remove about the same time.
" Among many little providences I have seen the finger of God in
lately, I shall mention one to your Ladyship. The Bishop having un
expectedly sent me word to go to him for institution without delay, if
I would not be at the trouble of following him to London, I set out in
haste for Hereford, where I arrived the day before his Lordship's de
parture. As I went along, I thought that if my going to Madely
was from the Lord, it was providential that I should be thus called to
be instituted in the country, for were it to be in London, Sir Peter
Kivers, the Bishop's chaplain, who examined me for orders, and last
summer made so much noise in West-street Chapel, where he found
me preaching, would infallibly defeat the end of my journey, according
to his threatenings. Thus did worldly wisdom work in my heart ; hut no
divination can stand against the God of Jacob, who is a jealous God
and does not give his glory to another. A clergyman, named Sir Duf>
ton Colt, came to see the Bishop just as I entered the Palace and the
Secretary coming to him, said in my hearing, ' Sir Peter is just come
from London to take possession of a Prebend, which the Bishop has
given him; he is now in the Palace — how do you rank with him?' 

238 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
My surprise was great for a moment, and my first tliought was to ride
away without institution ; but having gone too far to retreat, I had an
instant strength from on high to be still and see the salvation of the
Lord. My second thought was to thank God for sending this man
from London in that point of time to defeat Mr. Hill's design ; and,
easily throwing up Madely, I cried for strength to make a good con
fession before the High Priest and the Scribe ; and I felt I had it, but
was not called to use it, for the Bishop was alone, the ceremony was
over in ten minutes, and Sir Peter did not come in till after. I met
him at the door of the Bishop's room, and a wig I had on that day
prevented his recollecting who I was. Your Ladyship cannot con
ceive how thankful I was for this little incident, not because I was
not disappointed of a living, but because I saw and felt, that, had I
been disappointed, it would have been no manner of disappointment
to me.
" If I know any thing of myself, I shall be much more ready to re
sign my benefice, when I have had a fair trial of my unprofitableness to
the people committed to my care, than I was to accept it. Mr. John
Wesley bids me do' it without a trial. He will fcave me ' see the de
vil's snare, and fly from it at the peril of my soul.' I answer, I cannot
see it in that light. He adds 'others may do well in a living — you can
not, it is not your calling.' I tell him I readily own that I am not fit
to plant or water any part of the Lord's vineyard, but that if I am
called at all, I am called to preach at Madely, where I was first sent
into the ministry, and where a chain of providences I could not break
has again fastened me; and that though I should be as unsuccessful
as Noah, yet I am determined to try to he there a preacher of Christ's
righteousness ; and that, notwithstanding my universal inability, I am
not quite without hopes that he who reproved a prophet's madness
by the mouth of an ass, may reprove a collier's profaneness even
by my mouth. I reserve for another letter an account of my own
soul, and what begins to be as dear to me as my own soul — my parish.
In the mean time, I earnestly recommend both to your Ladyship's
prayers." His next letter to the Countess is dated Tern, Nov. 19th,
1760 ; it is written in a somewhat desponding tone, as the fol
lowing extract shows : —
'c I have hitherto wrote my sermons, hut am carried so far beyond
my notes, when in the pulpit, that I propose preaching with only my
sermon-case in my hand next Friday, when I shall venture on an even
ing lecture for the first time. I question whether I shall have above
half-a-dozen hearers, as the God of a busy world is doubly the God of
this part of tlie world; but I am resolved to try. The weather and
the roads are so bad, that the way to the church is almost impractica
ble ; nevertheless, all the seats were full last Sunday. Some begin to
come from the adjacent parishes, and some more (as they say) threaten
to come when the season permits it. I cannot yet discern any deep
work, or indeed any thing but what will always attend the crying
¦dowa man's righteousness, and insisting upon Christ's,— I mean a

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON.

239

general liking among the poor, and offence, ridicule, and opposition
among the ' reputable' and ' wise' people. Should the Lord vouch
safe to plant the Gospel in this country, my parish seems to be the best
spot for the centre of a work, as it lies just among the most populous,
profane, and ignorant. But it is well if, after all, there is any work in
my parish. I despair even of this when I look at myself, and fall in
quite with Mr. John Wesley s opinion about me ; though sometimes,
too, I hope the Lord hath not sent me here for nothing ; and I beg for
strength to stand still and see tbe salvation of the Lord. Nevertheless
I am still fully determined to resign my living after a while, if the Lord
does not think me worthy to be his instrument. If your Ladyship could
at any time spare a- minute, I should be- glad to know whether you do
not think that I shall then be at full liberty to do it before God. I
abhor the title of a living for a living's sake ; it is death to me.
" There are three meetings in my parish — a Papist, Quaker, and
Baptist, and they begin to call the fourth the Methodist one—\ mean
the Church. But the bulk of the inhabitants are stupid heathens, who
seem past all curiosity, as well as all sense of godliness. I am ready
to run after them into their pits and forges, and I only wait for Provi
dence to show me the way. I am often reduced to great perplexity,
but the end of it is sweet. I am driven to the Lord, and he comforts,
encourages, and teaches me. I sometimes feel that zeal which forced
Paul to wish to be accursed for his brethren's sake ; but I want to feel
it without interruption. The devil, my friends, and my heart, have
pushed at me to make me fall into worldly cares and creature snares
— first, hy the thoughts of marrying, then by the offers of several
' boarders, one of whom offered me sixty pounds a year, (and he is a
Christian youth,) but I have been enabled to cry ' Nothing but Jesus,
and the service of his people,' and I trust the Lord will keep me in the
same mind.
" Wherever this finds your Ladyship, may the angel of the Lord's
presence prevent, accompany, and follow all your steps, which is and
will always be the prayer of your Ladyship's unworthy servant,
" J. Fletcher."
Again, in a letter ofthe 6th January, 1761, he says : —
" I had a secret expectation to be the instrument of a work in this
part of our Church,; and I did not despair of being soon a Utile Ber
ridge ; and thus warmed with sparks of my own kindling I looked out
to see the rocks broke in pieces, and the waters flowing out ; but, to
the great disappointment of my hopes, I am now forced to look within,
and see the need I have of being broken, and of relenting myself. If
my being stationed in this howling wilderness is to answer no public
end as to the Gospel of Christ, I will not give up the hopes that it
maay answer a private end as to myself in humbling me under a sense
of universal unprofitableness. If I preach the Gospel ten years here
(suppose I live so long), and see no fruits of my labours, in either case
I promise to praise God, if I can but say from my heart, ' I am nethinej
—I have ne/thing — / can do nothing.' * * * I complained
secretly a month ago of my want of concern, and my Stupidity, at my

240 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
solemn times of waiting upon God, and the Lord, in answer to my
prayers, I believe, let loose upon me for some moments every evening,
the enemy of ,my soul. I might call him the dog of the good Shep
herd ; for a straying loitering sheep that hears a bull-dog barking,
and sees him ready to devour, cannot fly into the sheep-fold with more
speed than those odd visits made me betahe myself to the stronghold
of my soul. But to my shame, the pressure was no sooner removed
but I returned to my stupid state. Where I am, and what the Lord
will do with me, or by me, I know not. If I can but once truly hold
him, I shall not ,care, for then I shall follow him, though blindfold,
whithersoever he goeth.
" As to my parish, all that I see hitherto in it is nothing but what
one may expect from speaking plainly and with some degree of ear
nestness : a crying out — ' He is a Methodist — a downright Methodist.'
While some of the poorer sort say, ' Nay, but he speaketh the truth !'
Some of the best farmers, and most respectable tradesmen, talk often,
among themselves (as I am told), about turning me out of my
living, as a Methodist, or a Baptist ; and spread about such stories as
your Ladyship may guess at, without my writing them. My Friday
Lectura took better than I expected, and I propose to continue it till
the congregation desert me. The number of hearers at that time is
generally larger than that wliich my predecessor had on Sunday. The
number of communicants is increased from thirty to above a hundred ;
and a few seem to seek grace in the means. May they do it in sin
cerity ! * * I thank your Ladyship for mentioning Mr. Jones as a
curate. There is little probability of my ever wanting one. My oath
obliges me -to residence, and when I am here I can easily manage all
the business, and only wait for some opportunities of bearing oftener
witness to the truth."
One more extract from this interesting correspondence «shall
conclude this chapter. The letter we are about to quote is
dated Madely, April 27, 1761 :—
" Conscious that few people can sympathise with me in so feeling a
manner as your Ladyship, I shall make no apology for pouring out my
complaints before you in this letter.
" I learn, by slow experience, that in me dwelleth no good thing.
This, I find, cannot be learned of man, nor by man — it is a lesson that
grace alone teaches effectually in the furnace of affliction, I am still
at the first line, but I think I read it and understand it in a manner
quite different from what I did before. Surely the Saviour speaks as
no man ever spake, and he teaches with authority, not as the Scribes;
his words are riveted in the heart, those of man only graze the sur
face of the understanding. I have met with several trials since Pro
vidence has cast me (I shall not say in this part ofthe Lord's vineyard,
but) into this part of our spiritual Sodom; nevertheless, they did
not work upon me as they ought to have done : I stood out against
them in a kind of self-resolution, supported by human fortitude rather
than divine humility, and so they did not bring down the strength of

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 241
nature, but rather increased it ; for tlie old man, if he cannot have his
own food, will live quietly and comfortably on spiritual food, too. Yea,
he is often pampered by what the natural mind supposes will poison
him. But of late I have met a trial that, by God's infinite mercy, has
found its way to my heart. 0, may the wound be deep enough to let
in the mind of Jesus.
" A young woman, daughter of one of my most substantial parish
ioners, giving place to Satan, by pride and impatience, is driven; in her
conviction,- into a kind of madness. I could not bear patiently enough
before the reports that went about that I drove people mad, but the
fear of having this laid to my charge, backed with so glaring instance,
has thrown me into some agonies of soul, in which, through very great
storms, I got into a very great calm ; and the Lord, in compassion to
my infirmity, perhaps also for the honour of his cause, seems to hear
me in that which I feared, and I beheve there is some hope that the
snare will be broken.
" Why God permits these offences to arise, has not a litde staggered
me. Once I was for taking to my heels, and, hireling-like, for flying at
the first approach of the wolf. But, thanks be to divine grace, I now
try to commit to the Lord tbe keeping of bis own ark, and cry for a
blind faith in him who calls light out of darkness. Had not this trial
staggered me, I should have great hopes that a few living stones may
he gathered here for the temple of the Lord. There is a considerable
stir about religion in the neighbourhood ; and though most people rise
up against it, yet some begin to inquire in earnest what they must do
to he saved ; and some get a sight of the way. My church is full, not
withstanding the oaths that some of my parishioners have sworn never
to hear me again. I am insensibly led into exhorting sometimes in my
house, and elswhere. I preach" Sunday morning and Friday evening ;
and Sunday evening, after catechising or preaching to the children, I
read one of the homilies, or a sermon of Archbishop Usher s, insisting
on all that confirms what I advanced in the morning, which greatly
stops fhe mouths of the gainsayers, till God shall turn their hearts."
" I beg your Ladyship (when the blessed Spirit blows) would re
member my poor flock and their poor shepherd at the throne of grace
I propose writing soon to Mr. Charles Hotham. and Mrs. Carteret ;
nevertheless, should take it kindly if, madam, you would in the mean
time present my respects, without forgetting Lady Gertrude, Mrs.
Cavendish, and Mrs. Leighton.
" I am, my Lady, with the truest regard and gratitude,
" Your Ladyship's unworthy servant,
" J. Fletcheb."

VOL.1.— R

242 THE LIFE AND TIMES OE

CHAPTER XV.
Rise of Methodism in Yorkshire — Mr. Ingham — Count Zinzendorff— -M. De-
lamotte  Mr. Okeley  Mr. Rogers — Letters from Mr. Whitefield — United
Brethren— Mr. Batty — Lady Betty Hastings — Ledstone-Hall — Mr. Ingham's
marriage with Lady Margaret Hastings — Count Zinzendorff visits Yorkshire
'-, Moravian settlement at Fulneck — John Nelson — Mr. Whitefield's Letter to
Mr. Ingham — Mr. Grimshaw — Lord and Lady Huntingdon visit Ledstone-
Hall — Mr. Charles Wesley — Mr. Graves — Lady Huntingdon encourages John
Nelson — Persecution — Provincial Magistrates — John Nelson taken to prison
— Liberated by the influence of Lady Huntingdon — Lord Sunderland — Letter
from Lady Huntingdon to Mr. Ingham — The Vicar of Colne — Mr. Grim-
shaw's opinions-^Moravian Nobles  John Cennick  Mr. Ingham leaves the
Moravians— John Allen.
More than one hundred years have elapsed since the rise
of Methodism in Yorkshire. The chief instrument in the revival
of religion in that county was the Rev. Benjamin Ingham,
brother-in-law to the Conntess of Huntingdon, and one of the
original band of Methodists at Oxford. This amiable and exem
plary man, was born at Osset, in the parish of Dewsbury, in the
county of York, June the 11th, 1712. Being intended for the
Church, he received a liberal education at Batley school, from
whence he removed to Queen's College, Oxford, where he soon
attracted the notice and acquired the respect of his superiors.
Two years after his residence at the University, he began to
associate with the Messrs. Wesley and others, who were at this
time noted for a variety of particular observances and devotional
exercises, which gained them the name of Methodists. Soon
after Mr. Whitefield, then a youth about 19, joined himself to
the society, of which he was destined to be the great Apollos.
At that time they were fourteen or fifteen in number, all colle
gians, of one heart and mind. From these very small beginnings
what a great increase has been given !
On the 1st of July, 1734, Mr. Ingham returned from Oxford
to Osset, and began to keep religious meetings at his mother's
house ; in a little time several of the neighbours attended, and
within the space of six months a considerable number of persons
assembled, many of whom were brought under a concern for
their souls. This was the commencement of the awakening in
Yorkshire. Mr. Ingham was admitted into holy orders, June 1785, in

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 243
Christ Church, by Dr. John Potter, then Bishop" of Oxford ;
and on that very day commenced his public ministry, by preach
ing his first sermon to the prisoners in Oxford Castle. On the
4th of the same month he left the University for London, and
was accompanied thither by Mr. Gambold. He read prayers
and preached for the first time in Christ Church, and afterwards
in St. Sepulchre's, where his labours were attended with the
happiest effects. His zeal and diligence advanced with the ex
tension of his sphere : far beyond the precincts of London he
published the Gospel, preaching in many of the surrounding
villages with singular success, so that great numbers in these
places carried wilh them into eternity the grateful recollection
of his ministry.
In consequence of a pressing request for his assistance in
preaching from Mr. Wesley, he embarked for Georgia, in Ame
rica, on the 14th of October, 1735, accompanied by Mr. Charles
Wesley and Mr. Delamotte, the son of a merchant in London.*
During the voyage they employed their time, with scrupulous ex
actness and laborious diligence, in acts of devotion, in the study
ofthe Scriptures, and in the instruction of those who were willing
to learn. There were on board the vessel several Germans, who
were missionaries from the Church of the United Brethren,
under the direction of David Nitchman, a Moravian bishop, for
whom Mr. Ingham conceived a great regard during the voyage.
The first attempt made by the Brethren was for the establish
ment of a school-house for Indian children of the Creek nation
living in their neighbourhood, about five miles from the town of
Savannah. Many Indians residing there in one place, gave the
missionaries an opportunity to preach the glad tidings that
unto them also was born a Saviour, who had redeemed them,
and purchased for them, freedom from sin, and^eternal salvation.
In Mr. Ingham the Brethren found an able assistant. He went
and lived among the Indians for some time, and proved very ser
viceable in regulating and promoting the aim of the schools.
Having succeeded in his attempt to learn the language, he com
posed an Indian grammar for the use of the colony ; but he was
soon called away to England, where he arrived the latter end of
the year 1736.
With a view to profit by the example and advice of the Mora
vian Brethren, he determined to visit Germany, where, at Hern*-
* The family of the Delamottes, of Blendon, in Kent, were all converted by
Mr. Ingham ; and his son, William, a student at Cambridge, was the means of
introducing to the University that Zealous paeacher Mr. Lawrence Batty, of
Catherine- Hall, and his brother, who all became Mr. Ingham's assistants in
Yorkshire.
R 2

244 THE LIFE AND" TIMES OF
huth in particular, he expected to meet with many who had long
trodden the paths of holiness, and who would rejoice to be the
helpers of his joy. Accordingly, he embarked at Gravesend iri
the month of June, 1 738, and landed at Rotterdam. On his
journey through Holland and Germany, he found many followers
of the Lord Jesus, who treated him with the greatest hospitality.
At Marienbourn he met with Count Zinzendorff,* Count
de Solmes, and several other eminent Moravians, who all
encouraged him to proceed without wavering in the glorious
cause in which he was engaged. At Hernhuth, where he stayed
a fortnight, he was exceedingly strengthened and comforted by
the Christian conversation of the Brethren. Towards the end
of the year he returned to England, when he found the work
of Methodism had been making rapid advances all over the
kingdom. On Mr. Ingham's return to Osset, his native place, he re
newed his labours, and preached in all the churches and chapels
about Wakefield, Leeds, and Halifax ; and the Lord was pleased
marvellously to display the unsearchable riches and adorable
sovereignty of divine grace in the assemblies of his people.
Such awful reverence, such glorious concern of mind, and such
solemnity under the word, was seldom before witnessed in that
part of the vineyard.
Private religious meetings greatly multiplied, and many, very
many, had an inflamed desire to live to Him who died for them
and rose again. Of such a season as this it may be well said,
" I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of sal
vation have I succoured thee : behold, now is the accepted time,
behold, now is the day of salvation."
Such proceedings soon roused the envy and enmity of the
clergy ; and by an order made at the Visitation, held at Wake
field, June 6th, 1739, Mr. Ingham was prohibited from preaching
in any of the churches in the diocese of York. He immediately
began to preach in the fields, barns, dwellings, and houses; and
•such was the power attending his ministrations, that there were
societies formed in forty different places.
Whilst the knowledge of the Gospel of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ was thus winning its way in Yorkshire, the same
glorious cause was spreading with astonishing rapidity in Bed
fordshire, through the instrumentality of Mr. Francis Okeley
and the Rev. Jacob Rogers, a clergyman of the Church of Eng-
* It was by the advice of the Count and the Rev. Peter Boehler, of the
University of Jena, that Mr. Ingham visited Germany. They both came to
England in 1737, on business connected with the affairs of the Brotherhood in
Georgia.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 245
land who had been preaching the long-exploded doctrines of the
Reformation with great zeal and success. Thither Mr. Ingham
immediately repaired, and found among the awakened, persons
not much concerned about hearing the word, but truly in earnest
to experience the power of it in their hearts. During his stay
he preached and expounded several times, in St. Paul's church,
to vast multitudes, who heard him with an extraordinary degree
of attention.
The number of converts daily increasing, they were formed
into societies, and, by the advice of Mr. Ingham, placed under
the care of the Moravian ministers, who were about this time
invited into Bedfordshire by Mr. Rogers. This led the way for
settlement of the United Brethren at Bedford, which was formed
in the year 1745. A chapel was built for the preaching of the
Gospel, and consecrated in the year 1751. The ministers re
siding at Bedford preached also at several places in the neigh
bourhood, particularly at Risely, where a chapel was erected,
which proved a signal blessing to many.
Concerning Mr. Rogers, Mr. Whitefield writes thus: —
" Mr. Rogers, like me, has lately been thrust out of the synagogues
for speaking of justification by faith and the new birth ; and has com
menced as field preacher. Onee he was shut up in prison for a short
time ; hut thousands flocked to hear him, and God blessed him more
and more. I believe we are the first professed ministers of the Church
of England that were so soon, without cause, excluded every pulpit.
Whether our reverend brethren can justify such conduct, the last day
will determine."
Hearing of the amazing success attending his ministry, and
the continued determined opposition of the high church clergy,
Mr. Whitefield, before he left America, wrote to Mr. Rogers
the following letter : — "Philadelphia, Nov. 10, 1739.
" My dear brother Rogers, — Before I left England I heard of your
progress in Leicestershire and Nottingham. I then rejoiced, yea, and
I do now rejoice, that God hath sent you into his vineyard. I wish
you all imaginable success, with my whole heart. The next news I
hear from England I suppose will inform me of your suffering as well as
preaching for Christ. But I am persuaded a prospect of suffering does
not damp, but excite, tbe zeal of my dear fellow-labourer. He lives
in a place where honest John Bunyan was a prisoner of the Lord for
twelve years. And oh ! what sweet communion did he enjoy in Bed
ford gaol ? I really bebeve a minister will learn more by one month's
confinement than by a year's study. Press on then, my dear brother,
press on and faint not ; speak till you can speak no more. Wait upon
the Lord and you shall renew your strength. Though sometimes faint,
yet still pursue. Up and be doing, and the Lord be with you. See,

246 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
how the fields are white, everywhere ready to harvest. See, how our
Lord's sheep are scattered abroad, having few, too few true shepherds :
I beseech you go on, aud point out to them the Redeemer's good pas
tures. Say not, Wherewithal shall I feed them ? The great Shepherd
shall furnish you with food enough and to spare. Give of your loaves
and ye shall take up of the fragments that remain. To him that hath
shall be given. Satan, no doubt, will resist you ; he will bid you, out
of a false humility, to hold your peace ; but let my friend speak out
boldly as he ought to speak. The Holy Spirit will give him utteranoe,
and apply the word to the hearers. If prayers may water the good
seed, you may depend on mine. Remember the dear Bedford people,
0, let them not forget your poor weak brother in Christ,
" Geoege Whitefield."
Mr. Rogers returned with Mr. Ingham to Yorkshire, and
afterwards they visited Nottingham, where their ministry was
greatly owned. The benediction of the Spirit of God seemed
to rest in a peculiar manner on the labours of those apostolic
witnesses wherever they itinerated, preaching the righteousness
of our God' and Saviour Jesus Christ, and very many on those
occasions have been called by their ministrations to the know
ledge of his grace and faith.
After some time Mr. Ingham entered into close communion
with the church of the United Brethren. In the month of Novem
ber, 1739, he was visited by Mr. William Delamotte and the
Rev. John Toeltschig, a Moravian minister, who had been in
Georgia with Mr. Ingham and Mr. Wesley, and afterwards ac
companied them to Germany. This was the first entrance of
the Moravians into Yorkshire. Others of the Brethren were
soon invited, who laboured for Mr. Ingham with considerable
success : and in a little time the number of lay preachers con*
siderably increased.
Amongst the most eminent were three brothers, Mr. William
Batty, Mr. Christopher Batty, and Mr. Lawrence Batty, of
Catherine Hall, Cambridge, sons of Mr. Giles Batty, a man of
considerable respectability, who resided at Newby Cote, near
Settle, in Craven. Some notice of each of these brothers will
be found in the note below.*
* Mr. Lawrence Batty is said to have been an extremely eloquent preacher;
but from intense study and violent exertion became weakened in his intellects.
He was taken from London by his brother Christopher, for medical advice, and
remained there some lime. Some years after his return to Yorkshire he took
a fever and dier).
Mr. William Batty, the eldest brother, a popular preacher among the Ingham-
ites. In 1760, he was ordained pastor of the Church at Wheatley, in conjunc
tion with the Rev. John Green, who afterwards removed to Nottingham, and
became pastor of a congregation there in the same connexion. His labours
were entirely gratuitous, as his paternal inheritance was ample. In the year
1786 he was sewed with fainting fits, and was ordered by medical men to desist

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 247
They were active labourers in the vineyard, and they had the
satisfaction of witnessing the happy progress of the Gospel
through the circle in which they moved, and the rapid increase
of those who attended their ministry. They were instrumental
in changing many of the outcasts of society into useful members;
civilizing even savages, and filling those lips with prayer and
from preaching ; but this he refused. He died suddenly, without a sigh or a
groan, December 12, 1787, aged 72.
Mr. Christopher Batty died at Kendal, in the county of Westmoreland, April
19, 1797, aged 82, and was buried in the ground adjoining the chapel, where
there isa monument erected to his memory.
Alice, wife of the Rev. Christopher Batty, died March 29, 1794, aged 66.
They had two sons, Giles, who died November 29, 1797, aged 32, and Christo
pher, who was bred to the profession of a surgeon, and died January 25, 1808,
aged 40 ; also two daughters, Jane, wife of Mr. William Knipe, of Kirkland,
died February 9, 1802, aged 45 ; and Alice, wife of Mr. John Brockban]?, of
Kendal, who died May 15, 1801.
The three brothers possessed considerable poetical talents, and some of their
hymns are amongst the best and most poetical now in use. Mr. Christopher
Batty composed the first hymn used among the Inghamites, soon after his
conversion. It begins. " Sweet was the hour, the minute sweet," &c.
At an early period of this Connexion, a hymn-book was printed at Leeds,
chiefly composed by the Messrs. Batty ; from whence several hymns in the
Tabernacle and Lady Huntingdon's Connexion are taken. That well-known
missionary hymn, " Captain of thine enlisted host," &c.
was composed by one of the Battys ; also the following, which are to be found
in many collections, with several ethers in general use :
" What object's this which meets my eyes," &e.
or, as it is altered in another edition, commencing thus,
" From Salem's gate, advancing slow,
What ohject meets my eyes I
What means this majesty of wo ?
What mean these mingled cries ?" 8cc.
" Beloved Saviour, faithful Friend," &c
" O, my Lord I I've often mused," &c.
" Saviour, canst thou love a traitor ?" &c.
" 0 Lord, how great's the favour !" &c.
" I wait the visits of thy grace," &c.
" How blest are they whose feet have found," hes.
" How shall 1 speak my Saviour's worth," &c.
" Strangers and sojourners below," &c.
" Encouraged by the word of grace," &c.
" The God of Salvation, Jehovah by name," &c.
" Compassionate Bridegroom, my Shepherd and Friend," &c.
" O, Jesu, my God, come make thine abode," &c.
" 0, Jesus, my Saviour, I fain would embraee," &c.
" Sinner, attend ! attend, I pray," 8cc,
" See Jesus, our Deliv'rer great," &c
" Nothing in this world I want," &c.
" The God; whose smiles we court," &c.

248 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
praise, that had been accustomed only to oaths and imprecations.
Societies were formed in sixty different places, and were visited
every month. Thus the seed sown sprang up and flourished,
bearing the rich fruits of every grace and virtue.
We must now speak of Mr. Ingham's marriage, and first of
his wife's family : —
The Lady Betty Hastings was a woman of singular excellence.
Her maternal grandfather was Sir John Lewis, of Ledstone, in
the county of York, Bart., one moiety and more of whose very
large estate came to her by inheritance ; and her father was
Theophilus, seventh Earl of Huntingdon. Her countenance
united in it something great and something condescending ; an
ingenuous temper, a quickness of understanding, a benevolent
spirit, a flexibility of nature, a devout frame, and a solemn sense
of sacred things, were observable in her infancy, and her foot
steps slipped not in the dangerous ascent of life, so that she was
not only free from every stain of vice in her early days, but
superior to the world and its vain and trifling amusements.
Though the splendour of her birth was great, it was eclipsed by
her shining qualities : she was agreeable in her person, polite
and amiable in her manners, and charming in conversation.
Her singular accomplishments in early life were celebrated by
one of the ingenious authors of " The Tatler," under the name
of " Aspasia."*
Lady Betty's active life commenced soon after the death of
her brother, George, f Earl of Huntingdon, when her excellent
virtues shone out, by what has been the eclipse of virtue in
others, the accession of a large fortune. Her Ladyship spent
the greater part of her life at Ledstone house, where almost
every eye beheld her with wonder. Such was the superiority
, of her understanding, that in matters of high moment hundreds
would ask counsel of her, who were themselves well qualified to
give it to others ; for she was blessed with a rectitude of judg
ment, and could readily penetrate through perplexities, unravel
them, and mark out the wisest and safest conduct, having ever
for her ground the interests of truth, fidelity, honour, and reli
gion. Her aim was the glory of God, and the good of all men ;
keeping all her capacities, all her powers, and all her fortune,
continually upon the stretch for 'the benefit of her fellow crea
tures ; weeping with them that weep, rejoicing with them that
rejoice ; given to hospitality, distributing to the necessities of
the saints, and to others that were less so ; and having joy at
the conversion of a sinner.
* Tatler, No. 42, dated July 16, 1709.
t The half-brother and predecessor of Theophilus, husband of the Countess.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 249
Lady Anne, Lady Frances, Lady Catherine, and Lady Mar
garet Hastings, were the daughters of the same noble Earl, by
his second wife, Frances, daughter and sole heiress to Francis
Leveson Fowler, of Harnage-Grange, in the county of Salop,
Esq., by Anne and his wife/second daughter to Peter Venables,
Baron of Kinderton, in Cheshire, and widow of Thomas Need
ham, Viscount Kilmorey, in Ireland. At this period, when Mr.
Ingham commenced his public ministry in Yorkshire, the Ladies
Hastings were on a visit to Ledstone Hall, and from motives of
curiosity were first induced to hear him preach in a neighbouring
parish. He was then invited to preach in Ledstone church, and
from that period became a constant visitor at the Hall.
Under the ministry of Mr. Ingham, the Lord met these ex
alted females with all the blessings of his grace. They heard
him with pleasure, and drank in, like thirsty travellers, the
refreshing streams of consolation, they made an open profession
ofthe faith, and exhibited a bright example of female excellence
to the world. The higher ranks of mankind were, bv their
acquaintance, some of them charmed into the love of virtue,
while others found their virtues heightened and improved. As
to the lower sort, they were guided by their wisdom ; and, if thev
wanted it, were cherished by their boundless generosity. If in
one grace, more than another, they resembled their Divine
Master, it was — in meekness and humility. Here they were a
pattern to all, especially to those of theirown rank aod station.
They were amiably condescending to all their inferiors, even to
the poorest and more especially to the pious poor, and would
enter the meanest cottage, with pleasure, to converse and join
in religious exercises with the people of God. With these
excellent women Mr. Ingham soon became a great favourite. On
the death of Lady Betty Hastings, December the 22nd, 1739,
her noble sisters removed to Donnington Park, in Leicestershire,
as Ledstone Hall then became the property of her Ladvship's
brother, the Earl of Huntingdon. Lady Betty was interred with
great funeral solemnity in the family vault at Ledstone, near
her grandfather, Sir John Lewis. She was a pattern to succeed
ing ages of all that is good, and all that is great. In short, scarce
any age has afforded a greater blessing to many, or a brighter
example to all. Her Ladyship was in the 57th year of her ao-e.*
'.Lady Betty bequeathed large sums of money for charitable purposes and
devised lands of considerable value, to the Provo.t and Scholara ofCW^
College, Oxford, for the interest of twelve Northern Schools. In the " HhrforLl
Character" of her Ladyship, by the Rev. Thomas Bernard, Master of rte Frt
School in Leeds, dedicated to Francis, Lord Hastings, then a vouth at w*
minster School (eldest son of Lady Huntingdon), there is k lilt of the Ind^
55SaHZ.m ""^^ -trustees, for theSeS

259

THE LIFE AND TIMES OE

Lady Margaret had nearly attained her forty-second year,
and was twelve years older than Mr. Ingham. She had many
accomplishments, which recommended her to all who had the
happiness of knowing her ; but the greatest glory that shone
m her was that of religion, in which she was not only sincere,
but excelled. To this lady Mr. Ingham was united, November
12, 1741, at the residence of her brother, the Earl of Hunt
ingdon, in London: and he continued to the last moments
of his life to express the highest veneration and regard for her,
and showed a particular regard and esteem for her nohle
relatives ; several of whom honoured him with a most intimate
friendship. About this period Nicholas Lewis, Count of Zinzendorff,
again visited England, and, travelling through Yorkshire, re
mained some time with Mr. Ingham. At this time there were
several thousand persons in the different societies whioh he had
established ; and by his advice they committed themselves to
the care of those ministers whom the Count had sent to assist
Mr. Ingham, promising withal still to continue in communion
with the Church of England. The ministers who had the care
of these societies lived then at Smith-House, and preached in
many parts of the country with much zeal and success. Not
long after, however, many persons having requested to be received
into the congregation of United Brethren, which could not
well be refused to such as did not belong to the Established
Church, or had before separated from it, the Count advised them
to take a place near Pudsey, where the Brethren from Germany,
with such of the English as were desirous of living with them,
might build a particular congregation-place.
Accordingly, the ministers to whom Mr. Ingham had com
mitted the care of his extensive societies, soon after removed to
Pudsey, where they erected several houses and a chapel on a
piece of land which Mr. Ingham had bought, and generously pre
sented to them for that purpose. This settlement was called
Grace Hill. Mr. Ingham was expected at Pudsey on the 10th
of May, 1746, to lay the foundation-stone of the chapel and
other buildings, but being unexpectedly detained in Lancashire,
where he had been preaching, this* office was performed hy Mr.
Toeltschig. By degrees several persons came to reside with the
United Brethren, and a congregation-place was erected near
the chapel, which was called, at first, Lamb's Hill, and now
Fulneck. It was consecrated by the Moravians, May 22nd,
1748. The sooieties in Yorkshire and Bedfordshire, chiefly collected
by the labours of Mr. Ingh'am and Mr. Rogers* which were
placed under the care of the United Brethren, were still oonsi-

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 251
dered in communion with the Church of England, and only in
union with the Moravian Church. But, being greatly disturbed
by frequent mobs, they were compelled to license their cha
pels, and call themselves the Protestant Church of the United
Brethren, or Unitas Fratrum. The Count sent a protest against
this, which was deposited in the archives of the Archbishop at
Lambeth: but little notice being taken of it, he was unable to
do anything more in the affair.
A very singular character was raised up about this time, whose
labours tended in a wonderful degree to enlarge the pale of
Methodism in Yorkshire. John Nelson, a native of Birstal,
near Leeds, whose business led him to reside some years in Lon
don, being employed in the building of Somerset House, was
amongst the number of those who frequently heard Mr. White-
field and Mr. Wesley preach in the open air in Moorfields,
Kennington-common, and other places. In the memoirs of his
life, written by himself, he gives an account of his hearing Mr.
Wesley the first time, which was out of doors, in Moorfields.
He says —
" As soon as he got upon his stand, he stroked back his hair, and
turned his face towards where I stood, and I thought fixedhis eyes upon
me. His countenance struck such an awful dread upon me, before I
heard him speak, that it made my heart beat like the pendulum of a
dock ; and when he did speak I thought his whole discourse was
aimed at me."
After he had been made partaker of the grace of God in
truth, it was impressed upon his mind that he must return to
his native place : he longed to impart to his friends and relations
tbe grace of which he had been made the blessed recipient. And
thus he was brought unawares to quote, explain, compare, and
enforce several parts of Scripture. This he did, at first, sitting
in his house, till the company increased so as the house could
not contain them. He then stood at the door, which he was
commonly obliged to do in the evening, as soon as he came from
work. This may give the reader an idea of the way and man
ner in which many of the first race of Methodist preachers were
called to the work of preaching the Gospel. For some time
Mr. Nelson's friends and his nearest relations opposed him,
and were ashamed of him; but he was stedfast and immovable,
and abounded in the work of the Lord.
These proceedings coming to the ears of Mr. Ingham, he
came to Birstal, enquired into the facts, and talked with Nelson
himself in the closest manner concerning his knowledge and
spiritual experience. Several persons being present, Mr. Ingham

252 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
said, " Before you all, I give John leave to exhort in all my
societies." Then, taking him by the hand, added, " John, God
hath given vou great honour, in that he hath made use' of you to
call sinners to repentance ; and I desire you to exhort in all my
societies as often as you can."
A mightier instrument was raised up in the person of the Rev.
William Grimshaw, Rector of Haworth, near Bradford, who
about this time commenced his apostolic ministry, the influence
of which soon extended beyond the bounds of his parish, and
was felt all over Yorkshire and some of the surrounding coun
ties. Haworth is one of those obscure places which, like the
fishing towns of Gaiilee, favoured with our Lord's presence, owe
all their celebrity to the Gospel. The name of Haworth would
scarcely be known at a distance, were it not connected with the
name of Grimshaw. The bleak and barren face of the adjacent
country was no improper emblem of the state of the inhabitants ;
who, in general, had little more sense of religion than their
cattle, and were wild and uncultivated like the rocks and moun
tains which surrounded them. But, by the blessing of God upon
Mr. Grimshaw's ministry, this desert soon became a fruitful
field : a garden of the Lord, producing many trees of righteous
ness planted by the Lord himself, and the barren wilderness re
joiced and blossomed like the rose.
The tenor and energy of Mr. Grimshaw's preaching could
not fail of being talked of, and bringing, out of curiosity, many
hundreds to Haworth church, where the Lord met them with
the blessings of his grace ; so that when the rage for novelty
had subsided, the church still continued crowded, many of the
congregation coming from a great distance, and this for twenty
years together. Indeed, nothing but the faithful preaching of
the Gospel of the Grace of God will draw souls heartily together
or, according to the prophet's language, " as doves to their
windows." His heart was engaged, he was pressed in spirit, he
spoke with earnestness and authority, as one who was well as
sured of the truth and importance of his message. Nor did he
long speak in vain. A power from on high applied to the heart,
what he could only declare to the ear. An impression, similar
to what he himself felt, began to be felt by some, and in a short
space by many of his hearers. The effects were soon visible.
An effectual "door was now opened, and adversaries were not
wanting. But a growing number who approved and prized his
ministry were soon distinguished, not only by a change in their
views and sentiments, but in their tempers and conduct. Sin
was in many instances forsaken and discountenanced, the

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 253
drunkard became sober, the idle industrious, profaneness gave
place to prayer, and riot to decorum. .
There are four hamlets in the parish of Haworth, and as in
them there were persons whom age, sickness, distance, or preju
dice, prevented from attending at church, he considered them
all as belonging to his charge, and was unwilling that any of them
should perish in ignorance. He therefore went to those who
could not, or would not, come to him, teaching and exhorting
them from house to house, and preaching in a more public way
in the houses where he was invited.
Without intermitting his stated services at home, he went
much abroad. In a course of time he established two circuits,
which, with some occasional variation, he usually traced every
week, alternately. One of these, he often pleasantly called his
idle week, because he seldom preached more than twelve ov four
teen times. His sermons, in his working or busy week, often ex
ceeded the number of twenty-four, and sometimes amounted to
thirty !*
About eight months after Mr. Grimshaw had commenced
his successful ministry at Haworth, he became acquainted, and
soon afterwards closely connected, with Mr. Ingham, and
laboured unweariedly to diffuse the glad tidings of the Gospel
amongst his societies. Once, and sometimes twice, a-year, he
preached through the circuit appointed by Mr. Ingham, f It
is not easy to ascribe such unwearied diligence, and all amongst
the poor, or at least very obscure people, to any motive but the
real one. Whilst he saw multitudes perishing without hope, and
no one breaking to them the bread of life, he was constrained by
love to pity them, and this, notwithstanding the selfish reluctance
he felt within to give up his name to still greater reproach as well
as his time and strength, to proceed in the work of the ministry.
What a reflection does this afford to that laziness of heart, to call
it by no worse name, which thinks the service of God, after call
ing it in prayer before him a perfect freedom, to be ahard burden,
and which courts easy duty and large fees, only for an indulgence
to the flesh, and to hold up a sort of foolish and unmeaning re
spect in the world !
* See Memoirs of Mr. Grimshaw, by the Rev. J. Newton.
f The Wesleyans, therefore, err in claiming Mr. Grimshaw as exclusively
connected with Mr. Wesley. Mr. Ingham had the priority, and as to his faith
if the doctrine which ascribes the whole of a sinner's salvation, from the first
dawn of light to the first motion of spiritual life in the heart, to its full accom
plishment, in victory over the last enemy, be Calvinism, we have his confession
sent to Mr. Romaine, to prove that Mr. Grimshaw was a Calvinist. Mr. Ing
ham had established seventy societies before he was invited by Mr. Wesley
and Mr. Grimshaw had preached at Haworth before either ot the' Wesleys
reached Yorkshire,

264 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
During this interval the Earl and Countess of Huntingdon,
with the Ladies Hastings, arrived at Ledstone Hall, which had
not been visited by any of the family since the decease of Lady
Betty Hastings. In afew days they were joined by Mr. and Lady
Margaret Ingham, and soon after the apostolic Grimshaw
• became a guest at the Hall. Much about the same period Mr.
Charles Wesley and Mr. Charles Graves commenced preaching
in Yorkshire with great success. They were accompanied by
Mr. Bennet and Mr. David Taylor, both of whom were preach
ers for some time in Mr. Ingham's connexion. On visiting
Leeds, Mr. Charles Wesley and Mr. Graves were invited to
Ledstone, where there was preaching twice a day for several suc
cessive days. Great crowds attended, and people flocked from
a vast distance to hear the word. The congregation usually
consisted of many thousands, so that the service was repeatedly
performed without the walls, and a succession of sermons, with
some intervals, were preached in the course of the day to the
people in the open air. Those who object to tbe irregularity of
this course, should remember that there was at that time a great
dearth of Gospel knowledge ; the people were hungering for
the bread of life : they met together for the Lord's sake and in
his name, and He who dwelleth not in temples made with hands
was pleased to afford them tokens of his presence and blessing,
as if to prove that the souls of men are not to be sacrificed to
formal notions of " regularity" and order.
While Messrs. Ingham and Grimshaw were thus triumphing
gloriously in Yorkshire, their fellow labourer, Mr. Whitefield, was
succeeding in like manner in London. He often wrote to con
gratulate Mr. Ingham and Mr. David Taylor on the opening of
new doors for the ministry. " The rams' -horns (he says) are
sounding about Jericho, surely the towering walls will at length
fall." These letters are dated in the year 1743.
Lady Huntingdon having heard much of John Nelson, and.
the surprising success attending his exhortations, expressed a
desire to see and converse with him. Accompanied by Mr. Ing
ham and Mr. Graves, her Ladyship went to Birstal. As Mr.
Ingham was expected to preach, they found a congregation of
some thousands assembled, impatiently waiting their arrival.
After a few moments' repose, Mr. Ingham addressed the multi
tude from that passage — " Seek the Lord while he may be
found — call upon him while he is near." When he had con
cluded, John Nelson spoke for about half an hour. The Coun-.
tess was delighted, and at parting told him, with her charac
teristic energy, that God had called him to put his hand to the
plough, and great would be his punishment if he dared to look

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 255
back for a moment ; adding, with much emphasis, « He that
called you is mighty to save— fear not — press forward — He will
bless your testimony."
Thus encouraged John Nelson soon began to extend his cir
cuit, and preach in different parts of the country. The growing
stigma of Methodism exposed him to much suffering and re
proach: the clergy were his bitterest enemies. In some in
stances, advantage was taken of the popular cry against the
Methodists to break open their doors and plunder their houses ;
but greater personal barbarities were exercised in other places.
Some of the preachers received serious injury ; others were held
under water till they were nearly dead ; and of the women who
attended them, some were so treated by the cowardly and brutal
populace that they never thoroughly recovered. In some places
they daubed the preacher all over with paint ; in others, they
pelted the people in the meetings with egg-shells, which they
had filled with blood, and stopped with pitch. The .progress of
Methodism was rather furthered than impeded by this kind of
persecution, for it often rendered the Methodists object of cu
riosity and compassion ; and in every instance, the preachers
displayed that fearlessness which confidence in God is sure to
inspire, and which, when the madness of the moment was over,
made even their enemies respect them.
These things were sufficiently disgraceful to the nation ;
but the conduct of many of the provincial magistrates was far
more so, for they suffered themselves to be so far influenced by
passion and popular feeling, as to commit acts of abominable
oppression under the colour of the law. The vicar of Birstal,
which was John Nelson's home and head-quarters, though it
justifiable to rid the parish, by any means, of a man who preached
with more zeal and more effect than himself; aud he readily
consented to a proposal from the alehouse-keepers that Nelson
should be pressed for a soldier, a custom then too horribly pre
valent, as the pressing of sailors was at a much later period ; for
as fast as he made converts they lost customers. He was pressed
accordingly, and taken before the commissioners at Halifax,
where the vicar was one ofthe bench ; and though persons enough
attended to speak to his character, the commissioners said they
had heard enough of him from the minister of his parish, and
could hear nothing more. " So, gentlemen (said Nelson), I see
there is neither law nor justice for a man that is called a Me
thodist ; " and addressing the vicar by his name he said, " What
do you know of me that is evil ? Whom have I defrauded? or
where have I contracted a debt that I cannot pay ?" " You have
no visible means of getting your living," was the reply. He

256 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
answered, " I am as able to get my living with my hands as any
man of my trade in England is, and you know it." But all re
monstrances were in vain ; he was marched off to Bradford, and
there, by order of the commissioners, put in the dungeon, where
there was not even a stone to sit on.
John Nelson had as high a spirit and as brave a heart as
ever Englishman was blessed with, and he was encouraged by
the good offices of many zealous friends, and the sympathy of
some to whom he was a stranger. A soldier had offered secu
rity for him, and an inhabitant of Bradford, though an enemy
to the Methodists, had, from mere feelings of humanity, offered
to give security for him if he might be allowed to lie in a bed.
His friends brought him candles and meat and water, which
they put through a hole in the door, and they sang hymns till
a late hour in the night — they without and he within. A poor
fellow was with him in this miserable place who might have
been starved if Nelson's friends had not brought food for him
also. At four in the morning his wife, who had profited by her
husband's lessons, came to the prison-door, and, instead of be
wailing for him and herself, said to him through the keyhole : —
" Fear not ; the cause is God's for which you are here, and he will
plead it himself: therefore he not concerned about me and the chil
dren, for he that feeds the young ravens will be mindful of us. He
will give you strength for your day, and after we have suffered awhile
he will perfect that which is lacking in our souls, and then bring us
where the wicked cease from troubling and where the weary are at
rest." Early in the morning he was marched under a guard to Leeds;
the other pressed men were ordered to the alehouse, but he was
sent to prison, and there he thought of the poor pilgrims who
were arrested in their progress ; for the people came in crowds
and looked at him through the iron grate: some pitied and
others reviled him. The gaoler admited his friends to see him,
and a bed was sent to him by some compassionate person, when
he must otherwise have slept upon damp straw.
On the following day he was marched to York : —
" We were guarded through the city (he says), but it was as if hell
were moved from beneath to meet at my coming. The streets and
windows were filled with people, who shouted and huzzaed as if I had
been one that had laid waste the nation. But the Lord made my hrow
like brass, so that I could look upon them as grasshoppers, and pass
through the city as if there had been none in it but God and myself."
Lots were cast for him at the guard-house, and when it was

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 257
thus determined which captain should have him, he was offered
money, which he refused to take, and for this they bade the
serjeant handcuff him and send him to prison. The handcuffs
were not put on, but he was kept three days in prison, where he
preached to the poor reprobates among whom he was thrown ;
and,- wretches as they were, ignorant of all that was good, and
abandoned to all that was evil, the intrepidity of the man who
reproved them for their blasphemies, and the sound reason
which appeared amidst all the enthusiasm of his discourse, were
not without effect. Strangers brought him food; his wife also
followed him here, and encouraged him to go on and suffer
every thing bravely for conscience' sake. On the third day a
court-martial was held, and he was guarded to it by a file of
musketeers with their bayonets fixed. When the court asked
" What is this man's crime ?" the answer was, " This is the
Methodist preacher, and he refuses to take money." Upon
which they turned to him| and said, " Sir, you need not find
fault with us, for we must obey our orders, which are to make
you act as a soldier ; you are delivered to us, and if you have
not justice done you we cannot help it." When Nelson
plainly told them he would not fight, because it was against his
way of thinking, and when he again refused the money, which
by their bidding was offered to him, they told him that if he ran
away he would be just as liable to suffer as if he had taken it.
He replied, " If I cannot be discharged lawfully I shall not run
away ; if I do, punish me as you please." He was then sent to
his quarters, where his arms and accoutrements were brought
to him and put on. "Why do you gird me," said he, " with these
warlike habiliments ? I am a man averse to war, and shall not
fight but under the Prince of Peace, the Captain of my salva
tion ; the weapons he gives me are not carnal like these." He
must bear these, they told him, till he could get his discharge.
To this he made answer, that he would bear them as a cross,
and use them as far as he could without defiling his conscience,
which he would not do for any man on earth.
There was a spirit in all this which, when it had ceased to
excite ridicule from his comrades, obtained respect. He had as
good opportunities of exhorting and preaching as he could de
sire ; he. distributed also the little books which Mr. Wesley had
printed to explain and vindicate the tenets of the Methodists,
and was as actively employed in the cause to which he had
devoted himself as if he had been his own master. At last
the ensign of his company sent for him, and, accosting him with
an execration, swore he would have no preaching and praying in
the regiment. " Then, sir," said John, "you ought to have no
VOL. i.— -s

258 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
swearing nor cursing either, for surely I have as much right to
pray and preach as you have to curse and swear." Upon this
the brutal ensign swore that he should be flogged for what he
had done. " Let God look to that," was the resolute man's
reply; " the cause is his; but if you do not leave off cursing
'end swearing it will be worse with you than with me." The
ensign then bade the corporal put thatjfellow into prison directly,
and when the corporal said he must not carry a man to prison
unless he gave in his crime with him, he told him it was for
disobeying orders.* To prison, therefore, Nelson was taken, to
his heart's content, and after eight-and-forty hours' confine
ment, was brought before the major, who asked him what he
had been put in confinement for. " For warning people to flee
from the wrath to come," he replied, " and if that be a crime I
shall commit it again, unless you cut my tongue out ; for it is
better to die than to disobey God." The major told him, if
that were all, it was no crime ; when he had done his duty he
might preach as much as he liked, but he must make no mobs.
And then, wishing that all men were like him, he dismissed him
to his quarters.
Lady Huntingdon exerted all her influence to obtain his dis
charge. By means of her acquaintance with Judith, Dowager-
Countess of Sunderland, f she obtained an interview with her
step-son, Charles, fourth Earl of Sunderland, afterwards Duke
of Marlborough, who had a short time before been promoted to
the rank of brigadier-general of his Majesty's forces. On a
faithful representation of the case, his Lordship assured Lady
Huntingdon that those for whom she had interested herself
should be set at liberty in a few days. This intelligence was
communicated to Nelson by Mr. Charles Wesley, while her
Ladyship wrote to inform Mr. Ingham, who had taken an active
part in procuring his enlargement, of the success of her appli
cation. On the 28th of July John Nelson was set at hberty, and the
day after his release from captivity he preached at Newcastle. His
companion, Thomas Beard, who had been pressed for the same
reason, would probably have been discharged also, but the con-
* " It caused a sore temptation to arise in me (said John) to think that an
ignorant, wicked man should thus torment me, and I able to tie his head and
heels together. I found an old man's bone in me ; but the Lord lifted up a
standard when anger was coming on like a cloud, else I should have wrung nis
neck to the ground, and set my foot upon him."
f She was a Miss Titchborne, niece to Lord Farrand. Her sister married
Daniel Pulteney, a statesman of some eminence, grandfather of the late Coun
tess of Bath, and cousin to WUUam Pulteney, Earl of Bath, of whom frequent
mention is made in this work.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 259
sequences of his eruel and illegal impressment had cost him his
life. He was seized with a fever, the effect of fatigue and
agitation of mind; after venesection ill-performed, the lancet
wound in his arm festered and mortified— the limb was ampu
tated, and he died soon after the amputation.
For a few years during Lord Huntingdon's life, Ledstone
Hall was visited every summer, and on these occasions there was
always frequent preaching at the church. Mr. Ingham's socie
ties increased rapidly, and spread not only through all parts of
Yorkshire, but also into Lancashire, Lincolnshire, and Cheshire.
General meetings of the preachers and exhorters in the con
nexion were held frequently, and plans were formed for the
better regulation of the societies, and a more general diffusion
of divine truth in places that had not been visited before. Lady
Huntingdon and Lady Margaret Ingham attended several of
these meetings. The assemblies were exceedingly numerous,
and there was always preaching in the open air. Mr. Grimshaw
invariably attended these meetings, and always preached, never
troubling himself to ask the consent of the minister of the
parish, or caring whether he liked it not. The providence of
God favoured him in these attempts ; for though unsupported
by great patronage, and unsohcitous to obtain it, and though he
went far beyond all his contemporaries in this novel and to some
offensive method, by which envy, jealousy, and displeasure
were excited against him ; yet he was not restrained, nor have we
heard that he met with any serious or determined marks of
disapprobation from his superiors in the Church. It is most
probable they imagined him so determined, intrepid, and un
daunted, that it would be a vain task to attempt to restrain or
oppose him in his career. But he sometimes met with oppo
sition from those who hated to be reformed. He was once dis
turbed by a set of rioters, when preaching at Colne, in Lanca
shire, to which place he was accompanied by Mr. Ingham and
Mr. Batty, both of whom had been there several times, and had
been successful in establishing a small society.
After they had commenced the meeting with singing a hymn
the Rev. George White, the vicar of Colne and Marsden,
rushed furiously into the house with a staff in his hand, attended
by the constable and a mob collected from the lowest and most
depraved people of the town. Mr. White sprang towards Mr.
Batty, with intent to strike him, which Mr. Ingham perceiving-
pulled him on one side, and retired into an adjoining room!
The vicar and constable threatened the master of the house
with the stocks, and attempted to take him away by force but
upon his demanding of the constable his authority for acting in
s ~

260 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
this manner, they desisted, but succeeded in driving the people
away. They then insisted that Mr. Ingham and Mr. Grimshaw
should sign a paper, promising not to .preach in Colne parish
durmg one whole year, under the penalty of fifty pounds. The
refusing to comply with so unreasonable a demand, and remon
strating against such scandalous and disgraceful proceedings on
the part of a clergyman, the mob was ordered by the vicar,
whom they styled " Captain-General,' to lead their prisoners
towards Colne, and on the way they beat and abused every friend
who attempted to speak to them. ^Several times the mob
proposed that Mr. Grimshaw and Mr. Ingham should sign the
paper not to preach for six months, then two, and lastly, if they
would promise upon their word and honour they should be set
at liberty. But when it was understood that Mr. Grimshaw,
Mr. Ingham, and Mr. Batty, refused to comply with any
terms, they were violently dragged along the road, the mob
flourishing their clubs over their heads, menacing and annoy
ing. They were pelted with mud and dirt, and Mr. Ing
ham's coat torn, and hanging on the ground ; thus they were
conducted to the Swan inn, to remain there till dismissed at
Mr. White's pleasure.
On another occasion Mr. Wesley accompanied Mr. Grim
shaw to Roughlee, where they were joined by Mr. Batty and
Mr. Colbeck, two of Mr. Ingham's preachers. Mr. Wesley
preached, but before he had got half through his discourse a
great mob from Colne came pouring down the hill like a tor
rent. After exchanging a few words with their captain, who,
stated that he was a deputy-constable, to prevent any contest,
Mr. Wesley, Mr. Grimshaw, Mr. Batty, and Mr. Colbeck, went
with him to Barrowford, about two miles distant, as he required.
They were escorted there by a drunken rabble, armed with clubs
and staves, who behaved in a very troublesome and riotous
manner, and uttered oaths and imprecations the entire time.
On being brought before the magistrate, he demanded a pro
mise from Mr. Wesley and his friends that they would preach
no more at Roughlee, but this Mr. Wesley stoutly refused.
When Mr. Wesley attemptea to leave the house the mob imme
diately followed and beat him to the ground. Mr. Grimshaw,
in attempting to make his escape, was tossed to and fro with the
utmost violence, and covered with dirt and mire of every sort.
Those who accompanied them were not allowed to depart with
out the most savage treatment: they were made to run for
their lives, amidst showers of stones and dirt, without any regard
to age or sex. Some were trampled in the mire, others dragged
by the hair along the road, and many beaten with clubs with- ¦

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 261
out mercy. One man was forced to leap from a rock ten or
twelve feet high into the river, and when he crawled out, wet
and bruised, they threw him in again, so that he scarcely escaped
with his life, but died soon after from the effects of such ill-
treatment. Whenever the vicar of Colne heard of the arrival of any of the
Methodists in his neighbourhood, it was his usual practice to
call the people together by beat of drum, issue a proclamation
at the market cross, and enlist a mob for the defence of the
Church against the incursions of the Methodists. The follow
ing proclamation, a curiosity of its sort, is transcribed from the
voluminous private journals of Mr. Ingham and Mr. Batty, in
their hand-writing — journals which contain a mass of information
relative to the spread of religion in the North of England, of the
deepest interest : —
" Notice is hereby given, that if any man be mindful to enlist in his
Majesty's service, under the command of the Rev. Mr. George White,
Commander-in-Chief, and John Bannister, Lieut.-General, of his Ma
jesty's Forces for the defence of the Church of England, and the support
of the Manufactory in and about Colne, both which are now in danger,
let him repair to the drum-head at the Cross, where each man shall
receive a pint of ale in advance, and, all other proper encouragements."
Such was the conduct of the then Vicar of Colne.*
Several new societies were formed in Yorkshire, and some
changes were made in their discipline. On the admission of a
member into their societies he received a ticket, which gave him
admission to their meetings, which were very numerous, con
sisting of general meetings, love-feasts, choir-meetings of
men, and choir-meetings of women, &c. &c. Stewards were
also appointed, and the societies were constantly visited by the
itinerant preachers, who were a kind of general rulers or elders
* This wretched enemy to all serious religion was educated at Douay, in
Fiance, for orders in the Church of Rome ; but, upon his recantation, was no
ticed by Archbishop Potter, andby him recommended to the Vicar of Whalley,
who appointed him Vicar of Colne. He was neither devoid of parts nor litera
ture, but childishly ignorant of common life, and shamefully inattentive to his
duty, which he frequently abandoned, for weeks together," to such accidental
assistance as the parish could procure. On one occasion he is said to have
read the funeral service more than twenty times in a single night over the dead
that had been interred in his absence. With these glaring imperfections in his
own character, he sought to distinguish himself by a riotous opposition to the
Methodists. He was a notorious drunkard, and drank himself first into a gaol,
and then into his grave. He was interred in his own church, April 29th, 175],
It is reported and believed in the neighbourhood of Colne, that Mr. White, when
on his dying bed, sent for Mr. Grimshaw, expressed his concern for having
opposed him, being fully convinced of the impropriety of his former conduct
and begged the assistance of his. instructions and prayers  See Historv nf
Whalley, Part ii. 139, &c. by the Rev. T. D, Whitaker. y

262 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Yorkshire, Westmoreland, Cumberland, and Lancashire, with
parts of Cheshire, Derbyshire, and Lincolnshire, were included
in their circuit.
Count Zinzendorff assisted in these regulations, as did his
son-in-law, Joannes de Watteville,* a bishop of the Moravian
Church. This goodman had been married the preceding year to
Henrietta-Benigna-Justina,'eldest daughter of Count Zinzendorff,
and after a short visit to the congregations of the Brethren in
England, was to proceed to America. Lady Margaret Ingham
was particularly pleased with the missionary spirit displayed by
the Bishop's consort, who had accompanied her father to Ame
rica in 1741, and was now again about to visit that continent,
full of zeal for the cause of God.
Count Zinzendorff had come to England to watch the cause
of the Moravians in Parliament, and to arrange tbe affairs of his
Church, by appointing Dr. Wilson, Bishop of Sodor and Man,
to succeed Dr. Cochins, Dean of the King of Prussia's Chapel,
in its administration. On a subsequent visit the Count was
accompanied by the Countess of Zinzendorff, Count Reuss, and
Agnes-Sophia, Countess of Promnitz. On their way .to York
shire they had spent a few days with Lady Huntingdon, at
Donnington Park, and were delighted and edified by the piety
and zeal of the Countess and the Ladies Hastings. The Countess
Zinzendorff, whose maiden name was Erdmurth-Dorothea, Coun
tess Reuss, was a woman eminently devoted to God, and much
esteemed by Lady Huntingdon, and Lady Margaret Ingham.
Whilst they remained with Mr. Ingham, the negotiation between
him and the Count, concerning the premises on which the con
gregation-place is built, was concluded. Mr. Ingham accom
panied them in their visits to the congregations at Pudsey,
Gomersal, Mirfield, Wyke, and Dukenfield, in Cheshire, and
preached very frequently to large congregations in the Brethren's
chapels. On their return to London, a Provincial Synod was
held at Lindsey-House, Chelsea, at which the Rev. John Gam-
bold, rector of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire, a man greatly
esteemed for his piety and learning, and Mr. Ingham's contem
porary and companion at Oxford, was consecrated a Bishop of
the Church of the Brethren.
Much about the same time, the Rev. John Cennick arrived
in Yorkshire, to assist Mr. Ingham in the great work in which
he was engaged. This good man, whose grandfather had been a
Bohemian refugee, had been preaching for Mr. Whitefield in and
* This name he owed to his adoption (confirmed by an imperial diploma) by
the Baron de Watteville.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 263
about Bristol, especially to the colliers at Kingswood, and also
in Wiltshire, with much blessing, and endured much persecution
in many places, especially at Exeter. After preaching a consi
derable time amongst Mr. Ingham's societies, and those formed
by the United Brethren in Yorkshire and Bedfordshire, he went
over to Germany for a short time, and after his return received
a pressing invitation to visit Ireland, and try to diffuse in that
benighted country the light of the Sun of Righteousness.
No name of professing Protestants in our day has displayed
more fervent zeal for the characteristic principles of Christianity
than the Moravian Brethren. With peculiarities, perhaps, in
some respects exceptionable, yet admitting no such impure ideas
as imputed to them by a Warburton, a Lavington, and the trans
lator of Mosheim, the more the principles ot the Brethren are
truly known, and the more intimately their lives are scrutinized,
the more will they he acknowledged among the few faithful who
follow the Lamb in the regeneration. On their first introduction
into England, they were led into many rhapsodies and startling
singularities of sentiment and ceremony. Time, happily, has
so pruned the wild luxuriance and the worldly policy of Mora-
vianism, that it is almost impossible to beheve now that Molther
ever taught the doctrines, or Nitschmann ever sung the hymns,
or Zinzendorff ever sanctioned the practices in London which
Whitefield and Wesley exposed. Their conduct in many in
stances did them no credit. They first alarmed, and then
alienated both Watts and Doddridge, as well as Whitefield and
Wesley. Lady Huntingdon seems to have kept herself more
aloof from any connexion with them, and to have early discovered
some of their perilous errors. Charles Wesley was saved by
her means, when she induced him ta withdraw from the society
in Fetter-lane, and Mr. Ingham was eventually rescued by the
influence she had over him.

264 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF

CHAPTER XVI.
Mr. Whitefield returns to England  Writes'to Mr. Ingham — Visits Yorkshire
, — Lady Huntingdon in Yorkshire— Extraordinary Occurrence — Mr. Graves
— Mr. Milner — Mr. Grimshaw  Conference at Leeds — Mr. Ingham chosen
General Overseer— Mr. Charles Wesley  Mr. Whitefield at Haworth — Ing-
hamite Churches — Church Discipline — Inghamite Preachers — Mr. Newton
visits Yorkshire — His Letter to Mr. Wesley — Anecdote of his preaching at
Leeds — Mr. Romaine — His Opinion of the Inghamite Churches  Lady Hun
tingdon at Aberford— Mr. Romaine preaches in Mr. Ingham's Chapels— Mr.
George Burder_Mr. Romaine at Haworth— Mr. Grimshaw— Sandeman's
Letters — Church Government.
Early in the month of July, 1748, Mr. Whitefield arrived in
England, after an absence of nearly four years. Lady Hun
tingdon had apprized Lady Margaret Ingham of his return, and
the joy that pervaded vast numbers of persons in the metropolis
at seeing him once more among them. Mr. Ingham wrote to
his old and endeared friend, and soon after received an affection
ate reply from the great and good man, who was now actively
engaged in preaching publicly and "privately to those that were
of reputation," at Lady Huntingdon's house. From this letter
we make an extract : —
" As for me, I am a poor, worthless pilgrim, and thought long ere
now to be with Him who has loved and given himself for me. . But it
seems I am not yet to die, but live. 0 that it may be to declare the
work of the Lord ! I think this is the thirteenth province I have been
in within this twelvemonth, in ejich of which our Lord has been pleased
to set his seal to my unworthy ministry. I came from Bermudas last,
where I left many souls seeking after Jesus of Nazareth. In London,
Bristol, Gloucester, and Wales, the glorious Immanuel, since my arrival,
has appeared to his people. In about a fortnight I purpose leaving
town again, in order to go a circuit of about five hundred miles. I need
not to tell you how glad I shall be, whenever opportunity offers, to see
you face to face. In the meanwhile let us correspond by letter. May
Jesus bless it to us both ! I return cordial respects to Lady Margaret.
I pray the Lord to bless her and her little nursery. For the present,
Adieu !"
The year following Mr- Whitefield visited Yorkshire. Mr.
Ingham "and Mr. Batty accompanied him through the country,
and occasionally preached with him. At Leeds, Mr. Charles
Wesley announced him from the pulpit, and afterwards intro
duced him to the pulpit at Newcastle. Having preached about
thirty times in Yorkshire, he accompanied Mr. Ingham into

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 265
Cheshire, and Lancashire, where he was attended by amazing
multitudes. At Manchester they were gratified by meeting
Mrs. Colonel Galatin.
" I conversed (he says) for about two hours with the Captain and
some other officers, upon the nature and necessity of the new birth.
He was affected, and I hope it was blessed. Since I left them I have
preached to many thousands at Eosindale, Aywood, and Halifax, at
Birstal, Pudsey, and Armley, and have had three precious seasons
here. Congregations are exceedingly large indeed, and both the Esta
blished and Dissenting Clergy are very angry. They thundered, I hear,
yesterday heartily. But truth is great and will prevail, though preached
in the fields and streets."
On some of these visits in Yorkshire he was accompanied
by Lady Huntingdon, who delighted in such scenes as she fre
quently witnessed, both in this county and in Gloucestershire.
" This (said her Ladyship) the world calls enthusiasm, but I
call it the work of God."*
At one of these assemblies, when Mr. Whitefield mounted
the temporary scaffold to address the thousands spread before
him, he was observed to engage in secret prayer for a few seconds.
Then casting a look over the multitude, elevated his hands and
in an energetic manner implored the Divine blessing and
presence. With a solemnity peculiarly his own, he announced
his text — It is appointed unto men once to die, and after death
the judgment. After a short pause, as he was about to proceed,
a wild, terrifying shriek issued from the centre of the congre
gation. A momentary alarm and confusion ensued. Mr. White-
field waited to ascertain the cause, and besought the people to
remain still.. Mr. Grimshaw hurried to the spot, and in a few
minutes was seen pressing through the crowd towards the place
where Mr. Whitefield stood. "Brother Whitefield (said he,
with that energy which manifested in the strongest manner the
intensity of his feelings, and the ardour of his concern for the
salvation of sinners), you stand amongst the dead and the dying
— an immortal soul has been called into eternity — the destroying
angel is passing over the congregation, cry aloud, and spare
not ! The awful occurrence was speedily announced to the
people. After the lapse of a few moments, Mr. Whitefield again
* It was customary at these times to read the prayers in the church; they
then went into the church-yard, and, upon a scaffold erected for that purpose
addressed listening thousands, who seemed to hear as for eternity. Having
finished the discourse, they returned into the church, and administered the
Lord's Supper to as many as the church would contain; when these "had
received they withdrew, and the church filled again, and this was repeated until
all had communicated. A succession of sermons were preached at short inter
vals, interspersed with appropriate hymns, and the people returned to their
nouses grateful and rejoicing in the love ofthe Lord.

266 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
announced his text. Again a loud and piercing shriek pro
ceeded from the spot where Lady Huntingdon and Lady Mar
garet Ingham were standing. A thrill of horror seemed to
spread itself over the multitude when it was understood that a
second person had fallen a victim to the king of terrors. When
the consternation had somewhat subsided, Mr. Whitefield gave
indications of his intention of proceeding with the service. The
excited feelings of many were wound up to their highest point.
All was hushed — not a sound was to be heard — and a stillness,
like the awful stillness of death, spread itself over the assembly,
as he proceeded in a strain of tremendous eloquence to warn
the careless, Christless sinner, to flee from the wrath to come.
In allusion to this journey, Mr. Charles Wesley, bears a very
singular and striking testimony to the candour and liberality of
Mr. Whitefield. He had struggled hard to reconcile Mr. Ben
nett to the Wesleys, and at Chinley and Bolton tried all the
gentle arts of the peace -maker, showing how easy it was for those
who had^ a great and common end to agree to differ on minor
points. " At Manchester (says Mr. C. Wesley) I rejoice to see the great
good Mr. Whitefield has done in our societies. He preached as uni
versally as my brother. He warned them everywhere against apostasy,
and insisted on the necessity of holiness after justification. He beat
down the separating spirit — highly commending the prayers and services
of our Church — charged our people to meet their bands and classes
constantly, and never to leave the Methodists, or God would leave
them. In a word, he did his utmost to strengthen our hands, and he
deserves the thanks of all the Church for his abundant love."
After itinerating through Lancashire, Mr. Whitefield, Mr.
Grimshaw, Mr. Ingham, and Mr. Milner proceeded to Man
chester, Stockport, and Chinley, where one of the separations
above alluded to had taken place ; and where, as at Bolton, Mr.
Whitefield endeavoured to heal the breach. His heavenly frame
of mind in this journey is no less remarkable than his physical
strength, which must have been renewed like that of the eagle ;
and the list of places and dates at which he preached would lead
us to imagine that he must have possessed also the eagle's wings.
He would stop at Rotherham, however, because the insults he
had formerly received there had tempted him to return no
more. Then he thought no good was done. Now he found
the chief family of his "bitter persecutors" (the Thorpes)*
* See page 149. Mr. Thorpe, after his conversion, joined the Wesleyans, and
Mr. Wesley wisely stationed him at Rotherham. He afterwards withdrew from
the„Methodists and became the pastor of an Independent congregation. His
son, the Rev. W. Thorpe, was minister of the Castle-green at Bristol.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 267
converted to God, and ready to welcome him under their roof.
Mr. Charles Wesley was then in Yorkshire, met Mr. Grimshaw
at Seacroft, and they proceeded together to Leeds, where (he
says) " I found my brother Whitefield, and was much refreshed
by the account of his abundant labours. I waited on him to
our room, and gladly sat under his word." From Leeds he
went to Birstal, " where my congregation (says he) was a thou
sand or two less, through George Whitefield's preaching to-day
at Haworth. Between four and five thousand were left to re
ceive my warning from Luke xxi. 34. After church service,
we met "again ; every soul seemed to hang on the word. Two
such precious opportunities I have not enjoyed this many a day.
It was the old time revived. A weighty spirit rested on the
congregation, and they stood like men prepared to meet the
Lord." At Leeds Mr. Whitefield addressed an assembly of at least
20,000. Even York could not withstand the fascination of his
field-preaching ; there the Methodists thinned out the minister
and overawed the mob. At Bradford, no place of worship being
large enough to contain the crowd of hearers, he preached in a
large open space near the water-side.*
At Birstal a platform was erected at the foot of a hiU adjoin
ing the town, whence Mr. Whitefield addressed a concourse of
not fewer than twenty thousand, who were ranged before him
on the declivity of a hill in the form of an amphitheatre. At
Haworth, a temporary booth was erected in a field, near the
house of Mr. Grimshaw's son, for Mr. Whitefield and the other
ministers. Not only the field, but the woodland above it, were
covered with crowds collected from different parts. An unusual
solemnity pervaded this vast multitude, and at the close of the
service the 100th psalm was sung, and concluded with Mr. Grim
shaw's favourite doxology —
" Praise God from whom all blessings flow," &c.
The volume of sound produced by the united voices of thou
sands, while it re-echoed through the vale below, is said to have
had such an effect as no language can describe.
* " I lay under the scaffold (said the Rev. Dr. Fawcett, then a boy, but
afterwards a distinguished preacher,) and it appeared as if all his words were
addressed to me, and as if he had known my most secret thoughts from ten
years of age. " "As long as life remains (he would say) I shall remember both
the text and the sermon."
t Mr. Graves, the vicar of Clapham, Yorkshire, was now visited by Mr.
Ingham ; and now it was that Mr. Milner, incumbent of Chipping, near Bolton,

268 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
In May 1755 Mr. Ingham summoned several of his preachersf
to meet him at Leeds, in order to attend the Methodist Confer
ence which was then sitting. Mr. Wesley admitted Mr. Ingham,
but Mr. Batty, Mr. Allen, and the other preachers were ex
cluded —
" The point (says Mr. Wesley) on which we desired all the preachers
to speak their minds at large was, whether we ought to separate
from the Church? Whatever was, advanced on the one side or the
other was seriously and calmly considered ; and on the third day we
were all fully' agreed in that general conclusion, that whether it was
lawful or not, it was no ways expedient''
Some time after the Conference at Leeds, Mr. Ingham went
to Derbyshire and Lincolnshire, and from thence to Ashby, on
a visit to Lady Huntingdon.* During his stay he preached
frequently at her Ladyship's and in the neighbourhood, to very
numerous congregations. On his return to Yorkshire he was
accompanied by her Ladyship, who remained some time, and
visited most of the societies in the neighbourhood. Whilst she
was in Yorkshire a general meeting was held at Winewall. At
this Conference it was agreed among the preachers— -first,
that justification consists in the forgiveness of sins, and an im
putation of Christ's righteousnesss, and that the instrumental
cause of this is faith in Christ ; secondly, that sanctification
consists not in holy actions, but in the divine life, new heart and
spirit, which are given by Jesus Christ at our justification ; and
in Lancashire, put his lips to the Gospel trumpet and proclaimed the truth in
Yorkshire. " Mr. Graves (says he in a letter to Mr. Wesley) is convinced of
the truth, and preaches it with power, not only in church but also from house
to house ; but he has had much opposition from the Moravians on the one side
and the profane scoffers on the other." He then goes on to deplore Mr. Ing
ham's- " entanglement" with the " still brethren," and earnestly recommends to
Mr. Wesley to conciliate Mr. Ingham, " who (he says), with all respect for you,
thinks you have not done justice to Count Zinzendorf." It was now, too, that
the Rev. John Bennet,' of Chinley in Derbyshire, separated from Mr. Wesley,
and a portion of his congregation taking part with him, a chapel was raised for
him at Bolton, arid the congregation organized on the plan of an independent
church. Here he continued ministering until his death, in 1750. He was
married in the presence of Messrs. Wesley and Whitefield, at Newcastle, in 1749,
to the celebrated Grace Murray, whose memoirs were published in 1S04, hy her
son, the pastor of a dissenting congregation in London.
* While he was absent, Mr. C. Wesley, who had been employed in York,
not only in preaching, but in attending persons of learning and character, who
were desirous of stating their objections to the doctrines and economy o'f the
Methodists, and to hear his answers, went to Aberford. " I had the happiness
(says he) of finding Lady Margaret Ingham at home, and their son, Ignatius.
She informed me that Mr. Ingham's circuit takes in about four hundred miles ;
that he has six fellow-labourers and several thousand persons in his societies
most of them converted. I rejoiced in his success. Ignatius would hardly be
satisfied at my preaching." '

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 269
love, joy, and peace, and all the graces or fruits of the Spirit;
and lastly, that all good | works spring from this, as fruit from
a tree. At this meeting, several matters relating to Church
government were discussed. And it being also agreed that there
should be a general overseer chosen and appointed by the
preachers and with consent of the societies, Mr." Ingham was
set apart to the office ; who then proceeded to the dedication
of Mr. Batty, and Mr. Allen as his fellow-helpers. They
severally gave an account to the congregation of their conversion
and call to the ministry, and being examined respecting the
doctrines they had preached and intended to preach in future,
were solemnly ordained by the laying on of hands and prayer of
the general overseer.
From this period, Lady Huntingdon used to call Mr. Ingham
a Bishop. She was, however, far from approving many of the
rules and regulations which had been adopted by the Conference
on the subject of Church government and discipline; and,
whilst she was at Aberford, conferred with Mr. Ingham for
effecting a more perfect union by accomodating matters with
Mr. Wesley. At this juncture Mr. Whitefield again visited
Yorkshire, and accompanied Mr. Ingham to Mr. Grimshaw's,
where the subject of attempting a reconciliation with the
Methodists was renewed. Mr. Whitefield thereupon proceeded
to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, where he met Messrs. John and
Charles Wesley, and was commissioned by Mr. Ingham to offer
them his house at Aberford, for the purpose of discussing the
subject; to which proposal Mr. Charles Wesley readily assented,
but his brother as decidedly objected. Mr. Ingham's views at
that time were very different from Mr. Wesley's, and, becoming
gradually more clear and scriptural, the line of separation
became still more marked and more distinct ; so that, from that
time forth, no further steps were taken to effect a union with
the Methodist body.
Most of the preachers who were raised up to assist Mr. Ing
ham, like their predecessors, the first ministers of the Gospel,
were plain men, called of God from their different secular vo
cations to take upon them this office and ministry. Edmonson,
Hunter, and Brogden had passed the early part of their lives
in the army : having been brought to a knowledge of the
Gospel through the instrumentality of Mr. Ingham and those
who laboured with him, they soon became active, zealous, and
intrepid soldiers of the cross, and, under the great Captain of
Salvation, wielded the sword of the Spirit with extraordinary
decision against the prince of the powers of darkness. Hunter
was the instrument of laying the foundation of a congregation

27*0 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
at Kirby Lonsdale, to which place he invited Mr. Inghaiil,
Mr. Batty, and Mr. Allen, all of whom preached there under
much persecution and opposition from Mr. Croft, minister of
the parish, and Mr. Cock, minister of Tunstal. Bragden was
pressed for a soldier, having obtained his discharge from the
army many years before, whilst preaching in a licensed house
at Kirby-Stephen, in Westmoreland. After remaining in
prison for some days, he was removed to Newcastle, where he
was confined four months, at the expiration of whieh time he
was discharged through the interest of Lady Huntingdon. It
was not very long since he died, having attained the age of one
hundred years.
The Messrs. Allen, Batty, Edwards of Leeds, and Bennet of
Chinley, had received a liberal education. Others succeeded
them : the Rev. James Hartley and the Rev. Richard Smith,
both of whom had been awakened under Mr. Grimshaw's
preaching, beeame pastors of Baptist congregations in York
shire ; the Rev. James Crossley, also one of the fruits of Mr.
Grimshaw's labours, minister of an Independent Church at
Bradford, with Mr. Molesworth, of Thornhill, and Mr. Fleet
wood Churchill, gentlemen descended from noble families and
moving in the upper walks of tlife — all these laboured with Mr.
Ingham, and most of them suffered great persecution for the
Word of God and the testimony which they held ; but they
were enabled to be faithful, and they " endured as seeing Him
who is invisible."
The late Mr. Newton, also, occasionally laboured amongst
Mr. Ingham's societies, preached in his chapels, and attended
several of the general meetings. He was a good deal in York
shire prior to his obtaining ordination in the Established Church,
and always preached for Mr. Grimshaw and Mr. Ingham. In
a letter to Mr. Wesley, dated November 14, 1760, Mr. New
ton says : — .
" I forgot to tell you in my last that I had the honour to appear as
a Methodist preacher. I was at Haworth, Mr. Grimshaw was press
ing, and prevailed. I spoke in his bouse to about one hundred and
fifty persons; a difficult auditory, in my circumstance, about half
Methodists and half Baptists. I was afraid of displeasing both sides;
but my text (John i. 29) led me to dwell upon a point in which we
were all agreed, and before I had leisure to meddle with doctrines, as
they are called, the hour was expired. In short, it was a comfortable
opportunity. 'j Methinks, here again, you are ready to say, Very well ; why not go
on in the same way? What more encouragement can you ask, than
to be assisted and accepted ? But, however it may dp for a time or so,

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 271
I have not strength of body or mind sufficient for an itinerant preacher ;
my constitution has been broken for some years. To ride a horse in
the rain, or more than above thirty miles in a day, usually discomposes
and unfits me for any thing ; then you must allow me to pay some
regard to flesh and blood, though I would not consult them, I have a
maintenance now in my hands, the gift of a kind Providence, and I do
not see that I have a call to involve myself, and a person who has en
trusted all her concerns to me (and must share in whatever I feel), in
want and difficulties. I have likewise an orphan sister, for whom it is
my duty to provide ; consequently it cannot be my duty to disable my
self from fulfilling what I owe her. Aud still the weightiest difficulty
remains : too many of the preachers are very different from Mr. Grim
shaw ; and who would wish to live in the fire ? So that, though I love
the people called Methodists, and vindicate them from unjust asper
sions upon all occasions, and suffer the reproach of the world for being
one myself, yet it seems not practicable for me to join them further
than I do. For the present I must remain as I am, and endeavour to
be as useful as I can in private life, till I can see further. I shall always
be obliged to you for your free sentiments on my case.*"
About this period Mr. Romaine began to make frequent ex
cursions to the north of England. His father was a refugee, one
of the victims of the Edict of Nantes. He settled in Hartle
pool, in the county of Durham, as a merchant, and became a
member of the corporation, which is a very ancient one. After
his death, in 1757, his surviving widow and one unmarried
daughter continued the business, much respected and beloved.
One of his sisters married a Mr. Callendar, of Newcastle, the
* On one of his excursions into Yorkshire, being at Leeds, Mr. Newton, was
requested by the Rev. Mr. Edwards to preach for him at White Chapel. He' met
a party of religious friends at Mr. Edwards's house, which adjoined the chapel
and took his tea (of which he was remarkably fond) with them. When the'
hour of preaching approached, Mi-. Edwards intimated to him that if he was de
sirous to retire before the service (as was then customary with most serious
ministers) there was a room for his reception ; but Mr. Newton declined this, say
ing he was so well pleased with his company, that he was unwilling to leave it-
and added, " I am prepared." At the appointed time the service commenced'
and after prayer Mr. Newton read his text, which was, " I have set the Lord
always before me, because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." Hj
began fluently ; but in a few minutes he lost all recollection of his plan ; was
confused, stopped, and desired Mr. Edwards to come up and finish the service
Mr. Edwards urged Mm to proceed ; but Mr. Newton left the pulpit, which
Mr. Edwards ascended, and concluded with an address to the audience on the
importance of the Spirit's agency to help our infirmities. Such was the con
fusion occasioned by the young preacher's failure, that for some time after he
could not see two or three persons standing together in the street without sus
pecting that he himself must be the subject of their conversation. From this
mortification, doubtless, he learned the important lesson, to put his trust not in
his memory or preparation but in the Lord alone. See some admirable
lhoughts on the snares and difficulties attending the ministry ofthe GosdeI
Omjcron's Letters— Letter V. l —

272 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
other a clergyman of the name of Heslup ; and after they be
came serious characters his visits to the north were more fre
quent than they had previously been. Speaking of his family
he used to say, " Mr. Whitefield often put me in mind how
singularly favoured I was. He had none of his family converted ;
and my father and mother, and three sisters, were like those
blessed people — and Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and
Lazarus ; and as they loved him again, so do we." In a letter
to his sister, dated the year after his father's decease, he says :
— " In a little time I hope to be able get all my churches provi
ded for, and then I shall inform you when I shall set out for
the north. I have had sad troubles with new Vicar of St. Dun-
stan's. He will let none preach for me without a licence, which
puts me to great inconvenience ; but all is governed by One
who knows what is best, for his own glory and his people's
good." On the occasion of each of these visits to Yorkshire Mr. Ro
maine, as chaplain to Lady Huntingdon, was received by Mr.
Ingham and Lady Margaret with every mark of respect and
polite attention. Mr. Romaine was nearly of the same age and ,
standing as Mr. Ingham ; but, though contemporaries at Ox
ford, they had been by no means companions ; for, "while there,
he had studiously avoided all connection with Mr. Whitefield,
Mr. Ingham, the Wesleys, Mr. Hervey, and others, the great
revivers of serious and heartfelt religion, who then began' to
associate together, and to be noted for a variety of particular
observances and devotional exercises, which gained them the
name of Methodists. Engrossed with the eager pursuits of liter
ature, united with a set of scholars who began to be called
Hutchinsonians, and having imbibed with them all their high-
church principles, he felt no relish for men of a spirituality of
temper which he had not yet learned to cultivate, and from
whose reproach, as Methodists, he naturally kept aloof.
During the vacations, when St. Dunstan's was shut against
him, he constantly travelled about for Lady Huntingdon, preach
ing everywhere the doctrine of the kingdom. Nowhere was
he more warmly received than at Aberford ; we cannot refrain
from noting the cordial remembrance and regard he bears to his
" Dear Brother Ingham," whose chapels he constantly attended,
whose friendship he cultivated, and whose ministry he so highly
esteemed. Lady Margaret was a woman of superior attain- -
ments, and he was attached to her in the best of bonds. At a
period when his poor stipend was wholly inadequate to provide
subsistence for his family, his necessities were often liberally

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 273
supplied by her bounty. Mr. Ingham sometimes accompanied him
in his preaching excursions into several parts of the county of
Durham; Mr. Romaine preaching wherever he obtained a church,
and Mr. Ingham in the Methodist chapels and private houses.
During these visits td Yorkshire, Mr. Romaine had many oppor
tunities of conversing with Mr. Batty and Mr. Allen, and other
preachers amongst the Inghamites, occasionally preached in
some of the chapels, and attended several of their meetings for
the regulation of the order and discipline of the churches. That
he entertained a very high opinion of the work carried on by
Mr. Ingham and those who laboured with him, is evident from
the following circumstance : The late respected Mr. Burder was
in company with Mr. Romaine, about the year 1780, at the
house of the late D. Parker, Esq., in the King's Mews, when the
conversation turned upon the congregations and societies in
Yorkshire and Lancashire raised by the labours of Mr. Ingham
and his faithful associates; and among the scattered remnants
of which Mr. Burder occasionally preached while he resided at
Lancaster. Mr. Romaine took up the subject with warmth, and,
referring to that period in which the Gospel gloriously prevailed
in Mr. Ingham's connexion (this, by the way, was also the period
in which Mr. Romaine experienced such hostility in London,) he
said : " If ever there was a Church of Christ upon earth, that
was one. I paid them a visit, and had a great mind to join
them. There was a blessed work of God among that people,
till that horrid blast from the north came upon them and
destroyed all !"
In September, 1760, Lady Huntingdon and Mr. Romaine
arrived at Aberford, on a visit to Mr. Ingham and Lady Mar
garet, and were present at the general meeting of the ministers
and members of the societies, held at Wheatley, on the 27th of
that month, when the choice of church officers was determined
by lot.*
At the conclusion of this meeting, Mr. Ingham, Lady Mar
garet, Lady Huntingdon, and Mr. Romaine visited several of the
societies in Yorkshire and Lancashire, Messrs. Ingham and
Romaine preaching alternately almost every day in some of the
chapels. At Thinoaks, where they remained several days, there
was a large assemblage of people, and two elders were ordained.
. It was agreed by Mr. Ingham and the preachers at this meeting
* It was customary for those who desired to be admitted into Church fellow
ship to declare their experience publicly ; when any difference of opinion took
place about the reception of any member, it was referred to the lot; and all
other matters, where unanimity could not be obtained, were likewise decided
by lot. . Elders were ordained by the holding up of hands.
VOL. I. — T

274 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
to recommend to the different societies in the connexion to
make collections eveiy Sabbath-day; and the following circular
notice was sent to all the churches : —
" Dear Brethren,— -Being mindful of the words of the Apostle Paul,
we have determined to recommend to our societies to have voluntary
collections on the first day of the week, to defray all expenses relative
to the preachers, meetings, &c, &c, &c. " Farewell 1"
On the return of Mr. Ingham and his party to Aberford they
were joined by Mr. Grimshaw. Mr. Romaine engaged to preach
at Haworth, and there was a very numerous assemblage. The
prayers were read in the church by Mr. Grimshaw, who then
announced to the congregation that " his brother Romaine would
preach the glorious Gospel from brother Whitefield's pulpit in
the church -yard." Mr. Romaine, who was averse to open air
preaching, complied in this instance, and preached most power
fully. In the year 1759 Mr. Ingham first read a part of " Sande-
man's Letters on Theron and Aspasio," and Glas's " Testimony
of the King of Martyrs," and at his request Mr. Batty and
Mr. Allen undertook a journey into Scotland privately, for the
purpose of acquiring more distinct information. At Edinburgh
they were introduced to Mr. Sandeman ; at Dundee they met
Mr. Glas, and returned with the Sandemanian principles and
practice, when several warm debates took place amongst the
members of Mr. Ingham's societies respecting the nature of a
true Church, of which we have not a more liberal and genuine
definition than is given in one of the Thirty-nine Articles of the
Church of England. The Church is " a society of faithful
people, where the word of God is truly preached, and the
sacraments duly administered." Let bigots dispute about modes
and forms. If we belong to the best aggregate society originally,
into which corruption of principle and practice has entered so as
to infect the teacher, our duty is to quit such a teacher and the
society which maintains communion with him, and to seek the
fundamentals of a true Church wherever they may be found, and
to join with that in which, according to the best of our knowledge,
the word of God is preached in the greatest purity, and adorned
in the practice of the bishop, presbyter, or pastor, with his con
gregation, in the greatest spirituality.
The societies in connexion with Mr. Ingham might be con
sidered Baxterians in sentiment, and liberal in their connexion
with all good men, until these fiery disciplinarians taught
them to believe the congregation plan unscriptural, and to laugh
at their former views of experience. Mr. Allen made the first

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 276
breach. He expressed his dissatisfaction with the use of the
lot, objected to the choice of elders, and became jealous of the
authority which Mr. Ingham exercised over the people. But
Mr. Ingham being determined to proceed with the validity of
his commission as general overseer, and the authority of the
lot, wished the dissatisfied to withdraw. Frequent attempts were
made towards a reconciliation between the two parties : Lady
Huntingdon wrote, Mr. Romaine visited Yorkshire, Mr. White-
field prayed and wept — but all proved ineffectual. This was a
severe trial to Mr. Ingham, which he never after recovered.
Disputes without end arose, excommunication upon excommu
nication followed, they condemned one another for hair-breadth
differences, and were thus split, like a wrecked ship, into a
thousand pieces. Out of upwards of eighty flourishing churches
only thirteen remained !
He who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks
has- seen fit to withdraw his light from those churches, who
were contending so earnestly, not for the faith, but for forms,
and ceremonies, and matters non-essential. The true Church, is
Catholic, or universal : not monopolized by any one body of
professing Christians, but essentially a spiritual Church ; the
Scriptures everywhere afford abundant proof of how little import
ance the outward forms and administrations in the Church are
compared with holding the head, Christ, and believing the glory
of his person and sacrifice.
The claims of mutual forbearance are infinitely stronger than
the pretensions of any exclusive Church ; the outward adminis
tration of Church order must be a much less important concern
than all the various denominations have supposed, and the in
ward blessings enjoyed in the conscience constitute the essence,
and fill the volume of the sacred records. Every believer in
Jesus, who is a partaker of the grace of God in truth, is a mem
ber of the true Church, to whatever particular denomination of
Christians he may belong : and popes, bishops, presbyters, pas
tors, or deacons, without this, are but the limbs of Anti- Christ,
of the synagogue of Satan, and can belong to no Church ac
knowledged by the Great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls.

T 2

276 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF

CHAPTER XVII.
Mr. Venn removed to Huddersfield_Mr. Burnett— Lord Dartmouth— Dr.
Conyers— Visitation Sermon— Mr. Thornton—Lady Huntingdon visits York
shire  Mr. Romaine— Mr. Wesley— Mr. Madan — Letters from Dr. Conyers
to Lady Huntingdon— Letter from iMr. Venn— Mr. Titus Knight — Letter(
from Mr. Grimshaw — Death of Mr. Grimshaw — Letter from Mr. Venn—"
Letter from Dr. Conyers — Letter from Mr. Fletcher — Lady Huntingdon
with Messrs. Townsend and Fletcher, visit Huddersfield — Illness -of Lady
Huntingdon — Mr. Whitefield in Yorkshire — William Shent — Mr. Venn's
irregularities — Mrs. Hannah More— Defence of Mr. Venn — Letter from Mr
Fletcher  Mrs. Deane — Lady Irvine — Mr. Occum, the Indian Preacher —
Captain Scott-lThe London Shunamite — Mr. Wilson.
In 1759, Mr. Venn left the scene of his labours, to thegreat
grief of his pious friend, Dr. Haweis, and, urged by the neces
sities of his family, accepted from Sir John Ramsden, at the
solicitation of the Earl of Dartmouth, the large and valuable
living of Huddersfield. He found his parish in worse than
Egyptian darkness ; but he prophesied over the dry bones, and
a wonderful rising followed. He was the means of introducing
many valuable clergymen into his parish and neighbourhood,
among whom may be mentioned the late Mr. Burnett,* Mr.
Powly, Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Ryland, who were successively
curates in his parish, though most of them afterwards removed
to other important situations.
Mr. Venn might be called the apostle of the district. On
the Sunday he would often address the congregation from
the desk, briefly explaining and enforcing the Psalms and the
Lessons. He would frequently begin the service with a solemn
and most impressive address, exhorting them to consider them
selves as in the presence of the Great God of Heaven, whose
eye was in a particular manner upon them, whilst they drew
nigh to Him in His own house. His whole soul was engaged in
* The Rev. G. Burnett was early impressed with a deep sense of divine
things by Mr. Walker, of Truro. On his ordination he became curate to the
Rev. Mr. Rawlings, of Padstow, whence he came to Yorkshire, and remained
there two years. He then resided about half that time in Kent, and by the
presentation of Dr. Leigh was ultimately seated at the vicarage of Elland, in
Yorkshire. In this parish he spent his large fortune in works of charity, and
his exertions in acts of grace, until, after a life of indefatigable labour, he gave
up the ghost, in the 59th year of his age, July 8, 1793.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 277
preaching; and as at this time he only used short notes in the
pulpit, ample room was left to indulge the feelings of compas
sion, of tenderness, and of love with which his heart overflowed
towards his people. In the week he statedly visited the different
hamlets in his extensive parish, and collecting some of the inha
bitants at a private house, he addressed them with a kindness
and earnestness that moved every heart.
Lord Dartmouth, writing to Mr. Rawlings, says : —
" I have delightful accounts from Huddersfield of the wonderfu }
manner in which tbe ministry of their faithful and laborious vicar is
blessed to that people ; and, by my last letters from thence, have the
satisfaction to learn that his health was never better than at present.
Mr. Venn laments exceedingly the loss of Mr. Burnett, whose infirm
state has, I find, at last obliged him to seek the benefit of change of
air. In his last letter to me are these words concerning him — ' My
faithful helper in the Lord's work, after many repeated efforts to con
tinue in the exercise of his duty, is obliged to desist ; his behaviour,
under these afflicting circumstances, glorifies his Saviour, and recom
mends his faith. Invincible patience and the deepest humiliation, jus
tifying God and accepting the strokes of his rod as a punishment for
iniquity, joined to stedfast confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ, are the
abiding tempers of his heart. It is my prayer that he may be restored
to help me : for I may really say of Mr. Burnett as Paul of Timothy,
I know few like-minded who preach the hatred and mortification of
sin, whilst they exalt the free grace and righteousness of our God and
Saviour, who teach men to live in the denial of every evil temper, and
in the exercise of every heavenly grace, and, at the same time, sensible
of their vileness, to cry — Godbe merciful to me a sinner!"
Mr. Venn, like the apostolic Grimshaw, was eminently dis
tinguished by a catholic spirit with respect to other denomina
tions of professing Christians. When he visited Mr. Ingham,
he could not witness with indifference the fatal effects of that
dreadful division which had marred the work of God, and
scattered so many flourishing churches in that part of the vine
yard. Great numbers of young persons were among the fruits
of his ministry, and of these at least thirteen became useful
and some of them very eminent ministers, chiefly in the Inde
pendent connexion. -
About the same period that Mr. Venn removed to Hudders
field, the late Dr. Conyers commenced his evangelical ministry
at Helmsley, in the North Riding of Yorkshire. For many
years before his eyes were open to see the truth as it is in Jesus,
he was a most amiable and exemplary clergyman, in a moral
point of view. Having much to do and much to learn, he
entered upon the weighty duties of his office with a zeal, though
not with a knowledge, proportioned to its magnitude. Accord-

278 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
ingly he left no part of his large parish neglected, but regularly
visited and familiarly conversed with the most indigent and illi
terate, and attempted, not only by frequent public ministrations,
catechetical exercises, and private conferences, but also by per
sonal example, to excite to a general propriety of conduct. He
was accustomed to assemble* at bis own house companies of
young men for the purpose of religious improvement and, in
conjunction with them, appointed that at a certain hour, at the
striking of the church clock, each should retire to bis habita
tion, and be present in spirit together before God in the exerr
cise of prayer.
He was respected and commended as an eminent saint and
an exemplary and able minister ; but, alas ! he was yet unpos
sessed of vital godliness, and ignorant of the true nature of the
Gospel, relying solely on his own righteousness for acceptance.
Nay, he imperfectly imbibed the gross and pernicious errors
of a Socinian writer, and actually wrote him a letter of thanks
for his productions, but was prevented from sending it by the
following circumstance, On reading Luke vi< 26, " Woe unto
you when aU men shall speak well of you ! for so did their
fathers to the false prophets," a flash of conviction darted into
his soul. He was honoured by general approbation ; the ran
corous fury of calumny had not interrupted his repose, nor had
he to contend with the virulence of persecuting opposition. He
was, therefore, apparently, included in the tremendous denun
ciation. Yet hoping, by additional punctuality in the discharge
of his duties, to calm his mental perturbation, he conducted
himself with great propriety, fasted more frequently, and used
sometimes at the altar in the church to sign with his own blood,
in a most solemn manner, his resolutions to devote the remains
of his life to the service of his God, and to render himself
acceptable to Heaven by peculiar sanctity.
While reading the lesson for the day in the public service at
the church, the expression of St. Paul (Eph. iii. 8) — " The un
searchable riches of Christ," made a deep impression upon his
mind. On this scripture he was involuntarily led to reflect — " The
unsearchable riches of Christ /" — " I never found, I never knew
that there were unsearchable riches in Him." Accustomed to
consider the Gospel as extremely simple and intelligible, he was
surprised that the Apostle should assert that the riches of Christ
were unsearchable, immediately he concluded that his sentiments
and experience must be entirely dissimilar to those ofthe Apostle.
Deep convictions accompanied these reflections, and his trouble
was not a little increased by considering that if he himself was
wrong in the fundamental articles of religion, he must also, by

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 279
his mode of preaching, have misguided his flock, to the great
prejudice of their souls.
At length the sorrowful sighing of the prisoner was attended
with success, and on the 25th of December, 1758, while walking
in his room, in a pensive frame, he was led to contemplate those
two passages of Scripture, Heb. ix. 22 — " Without shedding of
blood there is no remission," and John i. 7—" The blood of Jesus
Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin." The mists of ignorance
were instantaneously dissipated, and finding that he could centre
his hopes in the atoning blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ,
he became the immediate partaker of real and ineffable joy.
" I went up stairs and down again (said he), backwards and forwards
in my room, clapping my hands for joy, and crying out, / have found
him^-I have found him— I have found him, whom my soul loveth,
and for a little time, as the Apostle said, whether in the body or out of
it I could hardly tell."
The first time that his friends were assembled at his house
he embraced the opportunity of informing them, with truly evan
gelical simplicity, that they had been by him unintentionally
deceived. He related his former distresses, and made them ac
quainted with his present joyful sensations, and concluded by
attempting to convince them from Scripture, that the blood of
Christ could only expiate their innumerable transgressions and
produce real peace of mind, and that his righteousness only could
entitle them to the enjoyment of eternal life.
At the parish church, before a numerous auditory, on the
ensuing Sabbath day, he began to preach without a pre-composed
sermon, spoke to them freely of the way of salvation by the Lord
Jesus alone, acknowledged' that his principles had been erro
neous, that he had been ignorant of the holy Scriptures, andjhat
the doctrine which he had inculcated and laboured to establish
among them was not the Gospel,
He now found that all men did not speak well of him, and he
was soon called upon to suffer the reproach of the cross. Many
of his former friends began to treat him with negligence and
contempt. But none of these things moving him, he determined
by Divine assistance, unremitingly to persevere. Uncommon
success attended his after labours. As the number of converts
considerably increased, he divided them into distinct clauses,
men by themselves and women by themselves, and then into
married and unmarried. His extensive parish containing several
small villages, and being divided into hamlets, these select so
cieties assembled in such places as best suited their convenience.
At appointed times he met them for the purpose of spiritual

280 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
conversation, and every day, at eleven o'clock, preached in some
Eart of the parish. These services were continued by him or
is curates from the time of his removal from Helmsley.
After his character, as a man of evangelical principles, became
generally known, he was called to preach a sermon before the
clergy at a visitation of his diocesan, the Archbishop of York.
This became the topic of general conversation among the neigh
bouring clergy and their parishioners, who declared " if he should
dare to preach his Methodism in the presence of his Grace, his
gown would soon be stripped over his ears."
During his discourse, the beclouded countenances of his
clerical hearers indicated that the imporant doctrine which he
proved and enforced was extremely offensive, and when the ser
vice was concluded, as he was in. the street in conversation with
several farmers, Dr. Drummond, Archbishop of York, advanced
and accosted him as follows : — "Well, Conyers, you have given
us a fine sermon !" — " I am glad (said the Doctor) it meets
the approbation of your Grace." — " Approbation ! approbation !
(replied the Archbishop) if you go on preaching such stuff you
will drive all your parish mad. Were you to inculcate the
morality of Socrates, it would do more good than canting about
the new birth." His Grace immediately walked off without
waiting for a reply.*
With a view to promote the cause of Christ, which, of all
other causes, lay nearest to her heart, Lady Huntingdon made
excursions from time to time, not only into the towns and villages
in 'the neighbourhood of Brighton, Tunbridge Wells, Bath, and
other places, where she occasionally resided, but to more distant
parts of the kingdom. From the first moment that she was
enabled to" give herself, her time, her property, and her talents
wholly to the Lord, she ever preferred the path of duty before
the lap of repose, and was ready, had it been possible, to visit
the uttermost parts of the earth, and convey with her the bless
ing of the everlasting Gospel ; counting neither ease nor interest,
reputation, nor even life itself, as dear to her, if by their sacri
fice she could in any way be instrumental in bringing before
others the grace of which she had been made the happy
recipient. Her Ladyship's journey to Yorkshire, in 1760, was chiefly
* After such insults, the Doctor, instead of spending the afternoon with his
reverend brethren, dined with a party of friends at another inn. His brother-
in-law, the well-known Mr, Thornton, of Clapham, was of this number, who,
while sitting by him, slipped the sermon from his pocket, and printed and dis
persed it about the country. This was the only production ofthe Doctor's that
ever appeared from the press,

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 281
owing to the confusion which was then prevailing amongst Mr.
Ingham's societies, from the repeated discussions on church
government and discipline. She was accompanied by Messrs.
Romaine and Venn, the latter of whom was then returning to
Huddersfield, after labouring at Brighton for some weeks with
great zeal and success. Her Ladyship was joined by Mr. White-
field at Aberford, but their united efforts to restore peace and
prevent confusion, as we have already seen, proved ineffectual.
The succeeding summer Mr. Wesley was in Yorkshire, and
preached at Knaresborough, Tadcaster, and several places in the
immediate vicinity of Aberford. There had been much con
versation about the doctrine of Perfection, which had been
introduced into Yorkshire by the Wesleyan preachers, and Mr.
Wesley laboured hard to defend and explain it to Messrs. Grim
shaw and Venn. His sermon at Haworth was in the manner
of waiting for perfect love, and when he visited Huddersfield he
came to what he calls " a full explanation with that good man,
Mr. Venn," and he adds, " Lord, if I must dispute, let it be with
the children of the devil : let me be at peace with thy children."
A few days after Mr. Wesley went to Kippax ; Mr. Venn came
a little time after they were gone into the church ; Mr. Romaine
read prayers, and Mr. Wesley preached on Christ crucified, to
the Jeios a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness. " O
why (says he) should they who agree in this great point fall out
about smaller things !"
In the summer of 1762 Lady Huntingdon paid another visit
to Yorkshire, and on the 9th of August she attended the nine
teenth Conference held at Leeds, when Messrs. Romaine,
Madan, Venn, Whitefield, John and Charles Wesley were also
present. After which Mr. Whitefield proceeded to Scotland,
and Lady Huntingdon to Knaresborough, where she remained
some time, and had frequent meetings of all the Gospel clergy
men in Yorkshire, with a view to stimulate them to more active
exertions in diffusing the light of divine truth. Dr. Conyers,
being unable to wait upon her Ladyship, sent the following letter
to Knaresborough : —
" Madam, — The many kind messages and invitations which I have
received from your Ladyship, and especially by the Bev. Roger Bentley
who had the honour and happiness of your company at Knaresborouo-h
have filled my heart with the most grateful affections. I have been
long in hopes that it would please God to open a way for me to wait
upon your Ladyship, but it seems not to be his pleasure. I hope I
shall meet you in heaven : we shall ail nothing there — nothing can keep
us asunder there — 0 thou adorable Lord Jesus, hasten thy kingdom 
my heart just pants after that blessed time when all the elect of God

282 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
shall be gathered together— when I shall see him wh<nn my soul loves,
eye to eye. I humbly beg your Ladyship's prayers that I may be
strengthened through grace, and happily triumphant over every evil,
may gain an admission into my heavenly Father's kingdom. I love to
pray for your Ladyship, I feel a sweetness upon my soul when I do —
it raises in me earnest desires to imitate your example, that I may be
with you for ever. I dare hardly take the freedom to beg a line from
your Ladyship, but I know you love to do good, and that, through
God's blessing, would do good to uie. I am your Ladyship's most
obedient and most affectionate servant in Christ Jesus,
(t RlCHABD CONVBBS,
Helmsley, September 14th, 1762."
From Knaresborough Lady Huntingdon removed to Harro
gate, where Mr. Romaine preached several times; and from
thence to Kippax and Aberford, where she remained several
weeks actively engaged in promoting the kingdom of her Lord
and Master. On leaving Yorkshire, her Ladyship proceeded to
Brighton ; whilst there she received the following letter from
Mr. Venn : — " Huddersfield, December 10th, 1762.
" Your Ladyship's letter rejoiced the hearts of many in these parts.
Blessed be God for the refreshment and vigour which your visit to York
shire hath diffused in my own dead soul, and for that light and life which
our dear Immanuel hath made you the honoured instrument of con
veying to the hearts of so many of your fellow-sinners. I cannot but adore
the goodness of the Lord in raising up such a monument of hismercy, and
inflaming you with such a fervent zeal for his blessed name. I trust
the Lord will, in mercy, spare me to see you again in the flesh ; perhaps
in March or April I may be able to visit you and give you some little
assistance ; in order to do this, may the Spirit of God open the eyes of
my understanding more and more to see my need of a Saviour, and to
behold the suitableness, the freeness, and fullness of the redemption
which was wrought out by the Lord of life and glory. 0 help me
with your prayers, for truly I need them. I thank you ten thousand
times for all your repeated marks of love and generosity to me and my
family. Continue to pray for me, and the Lord will return it to you
sevenfold," After some allusion to his preaching with Mr. Ingham at
Aberford, and with Dr, Conyers, at Kippax and Huddersfield,
he says, — -
" My congregations are daily increasing. Besides my stated labours
on the Lord's- day, I generally preach eight or ten sermons in the week
in the distant parts of the parish, where many come to hear who will
not come to the church. I find my out-door-preaching much owned
of the Lord.
" My wife begs herkindestregards to your Ladyship. That the Father
of lights may pour the choicest of his ¦ blessings on your soul, and fill

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 283
you with bis love, in the repeated wish of your Ladyship's unworthy
friend and servant in Christ, " H. Venn."
Whilst Lady Huntingdon was at Aberford, she enjoyed fre
quent opportunities of seeing and conversing with the late Rev.
Titus Knight, who was a constant visiter at Mr. Ingham's. His
first labours, it is well known, were among the Methodists in Mr.
Wesley's societies; and having opportunities of preaching in
various parts of the country, he became signally and extensively
useful. From repeated interviews and conversations with Lady
Huntingdon and Mr. Ingham, it pleased God to give him such
consistent views of divine truth that he could no longer publicly
insist upon certain points of doctrine maintained in Mr. Wesley's
connexion. Christian perfection was much insisted upon at
this time by Mr, Wesley, and Lady Huntingdon felt herself
bound to combat this error, which Mr. Knight had adopted, with
those clear views of revealed truth which she had embraced, and
which she explained in a manner so easy and forcible to the
minds of others, that many acknowledged themselves indebted to
her Ladyship's instrumentality for a deeper insight into the great
doctrines of the Gospel. Lady Huntingdon offered to use her
interest in procuring him episcopal ordination, as he had at
tained a considerable knowledge of the Hebrew, Greek, and
Latin languages, and a copious acquaintance with classical his
tory. This offer, after some consideration, he declined, A few
faithful friends, to whom he had been useful, still adhered to
him : and to them he continued to preach as opportunity per
mitted. These being soon increased by the addition of others,
a scheme was suggested for erecting a house in which they might
more regularly assemble together, but the parties had no re
sources, and Mr. Grimshaw undertook to beg for it. He was
no bigot ; he made no distinction of sect or party the measure of
his love towards Christians. He used to say, " I love Chris
tians, true Christians, of all parties ; I do love them, I will love
them, and none shall make me do otherwise." His first appli
cation was to Lady Huntingdon : —
" Madam,,-— Your last letter has remained a long time unanswered ;
but I know you will excuse what may appear neglect, when informed
that I have been about my Master's business. Indeed, I have the
pleasure of assuring you that the Lord's work prospers amazingly
among us. My exhortations are visibly blessed, and I bless God daily
and hourly for it. The societies are everywhere in a good state. The
Lord is adding to them many seekers of the blessed Jesus— many lively
souls who have come to a sense of the pardoning love of God, and are
eagerly hungering and thirsting after your inestimable Bbdebmir and
mine.

284 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
" I have had two visits from Mr. Knight. He professed great love
and respect for your Ladyship, and acknowledges his deep obligations
for the light and knowledge you were instrumental in communicating
to him. He is actively labouring to rescue sin-slaved souls from the
kingdom of darkness, and the Lord has put honour in his testimony, by
giving him seals to his ministry. The people amongst whom he is
sowing tbe seed of the kingdom are poor, their means are very limited,
yet the Lord bas put it into their hearts to build a house for the preach
ing of his word. Now I have come to the point — can your Ladyship
spare a mite to aid these worthy souls ? The demands on your gene
rosity I know to be great, and on that account I feel a repugnance at
asking, because I am persuaded you would give, even to the gown on
your back, if the case required it. Blessed be God, who has furnished
you with means, and with a heart inclined to dispense the unrighteous
mammon for the good of others. But you are the Lord's, all you have is
is his, and bless and praise him night and day for employing you in his
service. May He bless you, sanctify you, and make you abundantly
useful in your day and generation ! He has raised you up for the ac
complishment of a mighty work in the land ; I may not live to witness
it, but I shall assuredly see some of the triumphs of the cross, the blood-
bought slaves, the ransomed captives, rescued from the tyranny and
slavery of thegreat enemy of souls, in the chapels of your Ladyship, all
arrayed in robes of dazzling white, and washed from every defilement
in the fountain open for sin and uncleanness, praising and blessing
Him who hath made them kings and priests unto God and the Lamb .
for ever. Yes, wheij I am before the throne — then I shall see, and
hear, and know what you have been made -the instrument of accom
plishing upon earth ; and at last we shall meet as two poor worthless
sinners, stripped of every fancied good, to bless and praise him through
eternity !
" I hope ere long to see my dear brother Whitefield in his own pul
pit again. When will your Ladyship revive us with another visit ? What
blessings did the Lord shower upon us the last time you were here !
and how did our hearts burn within us to proclaim his love and grace
to perishing sinners ! Come and animate us afresh — aid us hy your
counsels and your prayers — communicate a spark of your glowing zeal,
and stir us up to renewed activity in the cause of God. Ali the dear
Apostles go on well— all pray for your dear Ladyship, and all long for
your coming amongst us again. I have been a long round since you
were here, and have seen brothers Ingham, Venn, Conyers, and Bent
ley, all alive, and preaching Christ crucified with wonderful success,
and inexpressible benefit to the souls of many.
" Excuse this long, incoherent scribble, and assure yourself I am
your Ladyship's very unworthy and unprofitable friend and brother,
" William Gbimshaw."
"Haworth, November 20, 1762."
To this appeal Lady Huntingdon responded with her accus
tomed liberality ; and in a little time such liberal contributions
were obtained as enabled Mr. Knight and his friends to accom-

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 285
plish their design. A house was erected, a church formed, and
he was ordained pastor in the summer of 1763. Soon after
his acquaintance with Mr. Whitefield commenced, which, under
God, was the means of extending his usefulness very consider
ably ; for being invited by Mr. Whitefield to his pulpit, and
his preaching being approved, he afterwards became one of the
assistant preachers, and spent two months every year in preaching
at the Tabernacle, Tottenham-Court Chapel, Greenwich, Wool
wich, and other places in the same connexion.*
In the spring of 1763, Lady Huntingdon had the misfortune
to lose her very valuable and faithful friend, the laborious and
truly apostolic Grimshaw. Haworth, in the early part of the
year, was afflicted with a putrid fever, of which many persons
died. Mr. Grimshaw had a strong presage upon his mind that
some one of his own family would be added to the number, and
he repeatedly exhorted them all to be ready, as he knew not
which it might be. As for himself, it was not for a man of his-
views and spirit to decline the calls of duty and affection through
apprehension of danger. The fever was highly infectious, and,
.in visiting the sick parishioners he soon caught it. From the
first attack of the disease he expected and welcomed the ap
proach of death. He knew in whom he believed, and felt his
support in the trying hour. While death pointed his javelin to
his heart, he beheld the face of the King of Terrors as if it
were the face of an angel. He said, " Never had I such a visit
from God, since I knew him."
Mr. Ingham, in a letter to Lady Huntingdon, gives the fol
lowing account of his interviews with Mr. Grimshaw : —
" From the moment he was seized with the fever, he felt the sentence
of death in himself. When I first saw him he said, 'My last enemy is
come ! the signs of death are upon me, but I am not afraid — no ! no !
blessed be God, my hope is sure, and I am in his hands.' When I was
pouring out my soul in prayer to the Lord, I mentioned the further pro
longation of his life, that he might have more opportunities of being
useful; and when I had concluded he said, 'My dear brother Ingham,
if the Lord should raise me up, I think I could do more for his glory
* Mr. Knight's ministry was Messed ; his congregation continually increasing,
it soon became necessary to erect a gallery as large as the building would admit,
then a larger and more commodious house became rather desirable than at
tainable. At length, however, it was cordially set about, and a very spacious and
elegant structure completed, which was opened in May, 1772. Here he exer
cised his public ministrations to very large congregations, till it pleased the
Lord to incapacitate him for public service ; and, to use his own expression,
to reduce him from a working to a waiting servant. Mr. Knight was released
from the burden of the flesh, and removed to a better and indissoluble mansion,
March 2, 1793. In 1766 he published a volume of sermons, an elegy on Mr.
Whitefield's death, and a few single sermons and pamphlets,

286 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
than I have hitherto done. Alas ! what have my wretched Services been?
and I have now need to cry, at the close of my unprofitable course— God
be merciful to me a sinner !' On my next visit I found him much
worse, and evidently sinking. I mentioned having received a letter from
your Ladyship, and delivered your message. He seemed much affected,
but after a few moments revived a little. When I had prayed with him,
he said, ' I harbour no desire of life, my time is come, and I am entirely
resigned to God.' Then lifting up his hands and eyes to heaven,
added * Thy will be done ! Tell her Ladyship, that dear elect woman,
that I thank her from the bottom of my heart for all her kindnesses to
me during the years that I have known her. With my dying breath I
implore every blessing temporal and spiritual to rest upon her. May
the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, bless her — bless her in
body, soul and spirit. I can never repay the spiritual good I have
reaped at her hands. ' 0 that she may be eminently useful in her day
and generation !' At another time he said, laying his hand upon his
breast, ' I am quite exhausted, but I shall soon be at home for ever
with the Lord — ra poor miserable sinner redeemed by His blood.' Mr.
Venn having arrived, I shortly after took my leave, but never after saw
my dear brother Grimshaw alive."*
He died on 7th of April, 1763, in the fifty-fifth year of his
age, and in the twenty-first from his settlement at Haworth, the
scene of his eminent usefulness in the Church of God.f
Mr. Grimshaw was twice married, and survived his second
wife ; by the former he had a daughter who died young, and a
son who survived him about two years : he married a worthy
woman, but drinking was his besetment. He often addressed
the horse his venerable father rode with these words—" Once
.* A dear old friend of his, Mr, Jeremiah Robertshaw, called to see him.
When they parted, Mr. Grimshaw took hold of his band and said, " The Lord
bless you, Jerry ; I will pray for you as long as I live ; and if there be such a
thing as praying in heaven, I will pray for you there also." His last words
were, " Here goes an unprofitable servant I" Mr. Robertshaw was one of
the jSrst race of Methodist preachers : he travelled twenty-six years with an
unblameable character : and died at Bradford, in February, 1788.
¦f At his own desire, his remains were brought to Ewood, the farm-house, in
the parish of Halifax, where his son resided, and from thence Ihey were fol
lowed to Luddenden chapel, near Halifax, by great numbers, who with inter
mingled sighs and tears sang, at his dying request, all the way from the house to
the chapel. They lie near the communion table, without any monumental re
cord, except his name, &c, on the stone which covers his grave. Mr. Venn
preached his funeral sermon, in the chuich-yard at Luddenden, the church
itself not being sufficiently large to hold the congregation ; and the next day
(being Sunday) at Haworth, to a numerous and deeply-affected assembly, many
of whom came from a great distance to testify their respect and veneration for
their departed minister. This sermon was afterwards published, and contains
the earliest and most authentic account of him. Mr. Romaine also preached a
sermon on the occasion of his death, ten days after his decease, at St.
Dunstan's in the West, London, from Phil. i. 21 — "For me to live is Christ, and
to die is gain." Both Mr. Venn and Mr. Romaine fixed upon a text which had
been peculiarly precious to him, and of which his life had been a bright illus
tration.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 287
thou carriedst a saint ; now thou carriest a devil." The many
prayers offered up for him were not in vain. The Lord gave
him repentance, and just before he died, he exclaimed — " What
will my father say, ivhen he sees me in heaven ?" The widow
of Mr. Grimshaw's son afterwards became the wife of the late
Rev. John Cross, vicar of Bradford. The successors of Mr.
Grimshaw, the late Rev. John Richardson and the Rev. John
James Charnock, trod in his steps, to the great good of Haworth.
The blessed effects resulting from Lady Huntingdon's former
visits to Yorkshire induced many of the ministers of Christ in
that part of the kingdom to solicit her to honour them with her
presence from time to time ; and as soon as her Ladyship had
determined on taking a journey into Yorkshire, she wrote to
several ministers, explaining the object she had in view, and soli
citing the aid of such as could with convenience accompany her
thither. Mr. Townsend and Mr. Fletcher, it appears, were early
engaged for this labour of love. As early as the month of
February we find the latter writing thus to Mr. Ireland :—
" If I can leave my parish I believe it will be to accompany Lady
Huntingdon to the Goshen of our land, Yorkshire, to learn the love of
Christ at the feet of my brethren and fathers there."
Lady Anne Erskine, who was then residing with her father,
Lord Buchan, at Bath, consented to accompany Lady Hunting
don in her tour into Yorkshire, and her Ladyship was earnestly
entreated to gratify the anxious wishes of the people of God in
Scotland. Lady Huntingdon readily yielded to the desires ofthe
people of Edinburgh, and as soon as she had resolved on visiting
Scotland, wrote to Mr. Venn and Mr. Townsend, inviting them
to accompany her thither. A few days before she set out on
her tour she received the following reply from Mr. Venn : —
" Your Ladyship's letter has rejoiced our hearts, and many more.
Your coming into Yorkshire, attended by two such faithful labourers,
will, I doubt not, be blessed exceedingly to the souls of the people, as
your parlour preaching will be to our own souls. If I can I shall do
myself the pleasure of meeting you at Bretby ; if not, on the 9th of
next month we shall receive you and your blessed company with that
exalted joy which the Holy Ghost inspires. I must take the liberty
of begging your ladyship will present our most respectful compliments
to Lady Anne and Miss Orton, and express our sense of the favour
they will confer on us on coming to my vicarage. We were in hopes
you could have contrived to have spent a Sabbath with us, rather than
at Kippax. Three thousand hearers would be present to receive
the word of life here, whereas at the village there Would be very
few. Love to my flock and desire for their good prompts me to
mention this.

288 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
" To make one of your tour to Scotland would delight me much
indeed, but my complaint in my breast is returned, and I am notable
to lift up my voice. On Easter Tuesday I perceived the hurt very
sensibly. I was pleading for the Lord's honour and glory as the only
Saviour, and how could I help speaking on such a truth with all
energy ? But the body will not bear it. However, I had yesterday a
poor profligate came to me to tell me that under that sermon, she, who
doubted before the very being of a God, was pricked to the heart, and
is now indeed crying out night and day — ' What shall I do to be saved f
Preaching Christ was never so greatly delightful to me as it is now ;
and yet that highest pleasure I am now incapable of enjoying more
than once a week.
" Praying heartily that your going in and out from place to place
may be under the powerful influence, and rich blessings of the great
Leader and Commander of the people, that as one of his chosen
troops you may do valiantly, putting to flight the army of the aliens, I
conclude myself your Ladyship's servant in the Gospel, and friend,
, " H. Venn."
Dr. Conyers also, to whom her Ladyship had announced her
intention of visiting Yorkshire, felt highly gratified at the pros
pect of seeing her, .and wrote very much to the purport of the
above, under date of Helmsley, April 21, 1767.
Early in the month of May, Lady Huntingdon, Lady Anne
Erskine, Miss Orton, and Mr. Howel Harris left Bath, accom
panied by Mr. Whitefield, on a preaching excursion through a
part of Gloucestershire.
" We have had good seasons at Rodborough (says he) ; I was
regaled with the company of some simple-hearted, first-rate old Me
thodists, of nearly thirty years' standing. God willing, I am to preach
to-morrow morning, and to have a general sacrament on Friday even
ing. I have been out twice in the fields. On Sunday I hope to take
to Rodborough Wood again. Good Lady Huntingdon, &c, were won
derfully delighted. She and her company lay at Rodborough-house.
They honoured dear Mr. Adams with their presence : he is but poorly,
and wants a nurse ; perhaps before next Sunday he may be married to
a simple-hearted, plain, good creature that hath waited upon him and
the preachers near twenty years. She hath no fortune, but is one who,
I think, will take care of and be obedient to him, for Christ's sake."
From Rodborough they proceeded to Gloucester — " Where
(says Mr. W.) we had a most blessed season yesterday. Thou
sands and thousands, I trust, heard, saw, and felt."
Mr. Whitefield going into Wales, Lady Huntingdon and Her
party proceeded to Hawkestone, the celebrated seat of Sir Row
land Hill, Bart., and from thence to Trevecca, where they were
joined by Mr. Fletcher, who conducted them to Madely, where
they spent a few days, on their way to Derbyshire. The ac-

289
count of her Ladyship's progress is contained in a letter from Mr.
Fletcher to Mr. Whitefield, dated Madely, May, 18, 1767 :—
" Reverend and dear Sir, — Your mentioning my poor ministrations
among your congregation opens again a wound of shame that was but
half healed. I feel the need of asking God, you, and your hearers,
pardon, for weakening the glorious matter of the gospel by my
wretched broken manner, and spoiling the heavenly power of it by
the uncleanness of my heart and lips. I should be glad to go and be
your curate some time this year ; but I see no opening, nor the least
prospect of any. What between the dead and the living, a parish
ties one down more than a wife. If I could go anywhere this year
it should be to Yorkshire, to accompany Lady Huntingdon, according
to a design that I had half formed last year ; but I fear that I shall be
debarred even from this. I set out, God willing, to-morrow moraine
for Trevecca, to meet her Ladyship there, and to show her the way
to Madely, where she proposes to stay three or four days in her wav
to Derbyshire. What chaplain she will have there I know not : God
will provide. I rejoice that, though you are sure of heaven, you have
still a desire to inherit the earth, by being a peace-maker. Some how
you will enjoy the blessings that others may possibly refuse.
'• Last Sunday seven-night Captain Scott preached to my congregation
in a sermon wliich was more blessed, though preached only upon my
horse-block, than a hundred of those I preach in the pulpit. I invited
him to come and treat her Ladyship next Sunday with another, now
the place is consecrated. If you should ever favour Shropshire with
your presence, you shall have the captain's or the parson's pulpit at
your option. Many ask me whether you will not come to have some
fruit here also : what must I answer them ? I, and many more, com
plain of a stagnation in the work : what must we do ? ' Everything
huds and blossoms around us, yet our winter is not over. I thought
Mr. Newton, who hath been three weeks in Shropshire, would have
brought the turtle-dove along with him : but I could not prevail upon
to come to this poor Capernaum. I think I hardly ever met his
fellow for a judicious spirit. Still, what hath God done in him and
in me ? I am out of hell, and mine eyes have seen something of his
salvation; though I must and do gladly yield to him and all my
brethren, yet I must and will contend, that my being in the way
to heaven makes me as rich a monument of mercy as he, or any of
them. 0, that I may feel the wonderful effect of the patience that
is manifested towards me ! Lord, break me, and make me a vessel
capable of bearing thy name, and the sweet savour of it, to my fellow-
sinners ! * * * * # * «
" I am, reverend and dear Sir, with, blessed be God, a measure of
sincere affection and respect, your wiUing, though halting and unwor
thy servant, "J. Fletcheb."
Lady Huntingdon and her interesting companions continued
a few days at Madely, where they enjoyed the pleasure
of Captain Scott's company, who, at Mr. Fletcher's urgent
vol. i — u

290 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
request, preached to very large congregations upon his horse
block twice on the Lord's-day, and on Monday in Madely-
wood, to an immense concourse of people, many of whom were
drawn thither from motives of curiosity to see her Ladyship and
the preaching Captain. From Madely her Ladyship pro
ceeded to Bretby, where she remained until joined by Mr.
Venn and Mr. Townsend, both of whom preached in her Lady
ship's chapel there, which was at that time supplied by Mr.
Jesse and Mr. Maxfield. As there were now five clergymen
with Lady Huntingdon, there was preaching twice a day whilst
she remained, and many on these occasions were called to the
happy experience of the salvation of Jesus by their labours in
that place. On the 9th of June her Ladyship, attended by
Messrs. Venn, Townsend, and Fletcher, arrived at Hudders
field, where they were kindly and hospitably received by Mrs.
Venn, at the Vicarage-house. Lady Huntingdon did not pro
ceed to Kippax immediately, according to her previous engage
ment, but complied with the earnest wishes of Mr. Venn by
remaining at Huddersfield the following Sabbath, when Mr.
Fletcher preached twice to very large and deeply attentive
congregations, many of whom received the word with visible
demonstrations of joy.
After leaving Huddersfield, Lady Huntingdon spent some
time at Aberford with Mr. and Lady Margaret Ingham. Whilst
there, her Ladyship made an excursion to Haworths and as it
was understood that Mr. Fletcher and Mr. Townsend would
preach, an immense assemblage of people collected from all
parts. Application was made for the use of " Mr. Whitefield's
pulpit," but the incumbent, though a good man, was averse to
out-of-door preaching. Lady Huntingdon remonstrated — the
multitude could not be sent away empty — and as she was at-
ended by two clergymen, both of whom were willing to under
take the service, the congregation was addressed in the church
yard, by Mr. Fletcher first, and afterwards by Mr. Townsend.
Not long after her arrival at Kippax, on a visit to her niece,
Mrs. Medhurst, Lady Huntingdon became so alarmingly indis
posed as to preclude the possibility of her proceeding to Scot
land, at least for the present. Mr. Townsend, however, was
sent forward ; and the particulars of his mission in that kingdom
will be found detailed im another place. Her Ladyship suffered
much at this time from bodily indisposition, which necessarily
prevented her from exerting herself in the execution of those
benevolent plans she had devjsed for the more general diffusion
of divine truth in Yorkshi e and the neighbouring counties.
Those who were privileged tor attend her at this season witnessed

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 291
her growing zeal for the glory of God, and her evident desire
to live more to Him than ever. Her heart burned with love to
his name, and breathed the most fervent wishes to bring others
to the knowledge and love of the Saviour. The beginning of
July Mr. Madan arrived at Kippax, and, with Mr. Fletcher, Mr.
Venn, and others, was fully occupied in preaching almost every
day in the adjacent counties for some weeks. Dr. Conyers,
rector of Helmsley, Mr. Burnet, vicar of Elland, Mr. Ryland,
curate of Huddersfield, Mr. Bentley, of Kippax, and Mr.
Powley, vicar of Dewsbury, occasionally assisted, and made
frequent excursions, not only in the neighbourhood, but to the
more distant parts of the county, affectionately inviting the
multitudes who attended them wherever they itinerated, to " the
fountain of living waters," and " warning every man, and teach
ing every man, in all wisdom, that they might present every
man perfect in Christ Jesus."
Early in the month of September, Mr. Whitefield arrived in
Yorkshire, where he had what he calls " a blessed Methodist
field-street-preaching plan before him." Having preached at
Leeds and a few other places, he went on to Newcastle, Sun
derland, and Hartlepool, where he preached at the door of Mr-.
Romaine's mother's house, and then returned to Leeds. Whilst
there, he lodged at the house of one William Shent, whom he
designates " a peruke maker," a man Well-known during the
early struggles of Methodism in Yorkshire.*
Mr. Whitefield preached at Helmsley, then visited Dr. Con
yers and Mr. Venn, who never failed to join Mr. Whitefield in
the church, the chapel, the cottage, the street, or the fields-.
This conduct has, to our surprise, been thought to require an
apology. In the account of his life, drawn up by his son, the late Rev-.
John Venn, of Clapham, and lately published by his grandson,
the Rev. Henry Venn, curate of St. John's, Holloway, Islington, we
find the following observation on his having preached frequently
for Mr. Hill, at Surrey Chapel : — " Induced by the hope of doing
good, my father, in certain instahces, preached in unconsecrated
places. But having acknowledged this, it becomes my pleasing
duty to state that he was no advocate for irregularity in others ;
that when he afterwards considered it in its different bearings and
* One time, after Shent had been preaching in Mr. Grimshaw's kitchen, that
good man fell down before the humble itinerant, saying, " I am not worthy to
stand in your presence." Shent suffered many hardships, and was pressed for
a soldier, but was set at liberty through the interest of Lady Huntingdon, who
ftenuendy called him the " guileless Israelite."
V 2

292 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
connections, he lamented that he had given way to it, and re
strained several other persons from such acts by the most cogent
arguments !"
At what precise time Mr. Venn ceased to be guilty of these
very objectionable irregularities, over which his son was so soli
citous to draw the veil, we are at a loss to conjecture. During
a period of considerably more than thirty years, he continued
in the same undeviating line in which he had commenced as
curate of Clapham, in 1755, when his eyes first opened to the
truth. From that time to his acceptance of the living of
Huddersfield, in 1759, he was frequent in preaching and ad
ministering the sacrament at Lady Huntingdon's houses in Lon
don, Clifton, and other places. While at Huddersfield and
Yelling, he continued his faithful ministrations in her Ladyship's
chapels, in private houses, and occasionally in the open air, till
some unpleasant litigations, about the year 1782, obliged him
and other beneficed clergymen reluctantly to withdraw their
services from her Ladyship. But he still continued the irregu
lar practice of preaching in barns, and other unconsecrated
places, in the vicinity of Yelling, and at Surrey and Orange-
street Chapels, in London, up to the year 1790, and within a
very short time of his death, when inability, and not disinclina
tion, obliged him to cease from labour.
This view of Mr. Venn's conduct being considered as offen
sive, his descendants have put forth their own representations
of these matters. Both accounts cannot possibly be true. To
what then can such contradictions tend? The fact is, the
descendants of the worthy Venn dread the charge of irregu
larity, and are studious to wipe him clean of the " odour " of
Methodism, which had aspersed him from the commencement
to the close of his ministerial labours. We have no particular
attachment to the term Methodist ; but think it would be the
height of folly to suppose that those who have experimentally
felt the truth, and tasted indeed that the Lord is gracious,
should ever expect to steer clear of the odium connected with
the avowal of true piety. Every reviver of evangelical truth,
though labouring within the strict pale of regularity — every faith
ful witness who proclaims the righteousness of our God and
Saviour, is sure to sustain the brand of Methodism, and to be
most liberally abused by a proud self-righteous world. Nothing
is gained for the Gospel by timidity : pious clergymen would best
subserve the cause they love by a bold recognition of brotherhood
with all who love and preach our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.
Had more intercourse of a religious character, as far as the pre
sent system of national restrictions allow, been practised by serious

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 293
Churchmen, it would have convinced the world that there are
subjects of paramount importance, in which all the good, have a
common interest: their own minds would have reaped advantage,
the interchange of good offices would have pro moted reciprocl
good feeling, and much would have been done to prevent that
hostility against the Church of England which has discovered
itself in some of the best of the Dissenters.
Like many excellent persons, the late Mrs. Hannah More
piqued herself on the regularity of her attachment to the Es
tablished Church ; and, for various reasons, good no doubt in
her own judgment, though not so in that of others equally pious,
she scrupulously abstained from attending divine worship where
there was no episcopal sanction, and did not hesitate to make
so pitiable an apology as this, and that to a bishop too of no
remarkable excellence : — " As to connexion with conventicles
of any kind, I never had any : had I been irregular, should I
not have gone sometimes, during my winter residence at Bath,
to Lady Huntingdon's chapel, a place of great occasional re
sort ? Should I never have gone to some of Whitefield's or
Wesley's tabernacles, in London, where I have spent a lono-
spring for nearly thirty years ? Should I not have strayed now
and then into some Methodist meeting in the country ? Yet
not one of these things have I ever done."*
Was it necessary for Mrs. Hannah More, in order to prove
her own sincere attachment to the Church, thus to stand in
complete separation from all who were not of her own commu
nion ? But she dreaded the name of Methodist, and from this
part of the reproach of the cross she turned away. She evi
dently loved (as Mr. Roberts acknowledges) the praises of her
friends and of the public generally, She was flattered by the
attention paid her by persons of rank, in Church and State,
and she was unwilling to endanger it by any, the least, con
nexion with those whom it was the fashion to brand as sectaries,
enthusiasts, and fanatics. This was her fault, and it brought
its own punishment with it. She has been indelibly stamped
a Methodist, and all the waters of the Atlantic will not wash
her clean from the " foul blot." How often has she struggled
to throw off the vile imputation ? This is the weakness of her
character. When she found it necessary to appeal to the bishop
of the diocese, we find her employing the language of careful
apology ; assuring and re-assuring his lordship that she was, and
* Notwithstanding this direct assertion, we are greatly mistaken if this pious
Lady did not often attend the preaching of the Rev. W. Jay, and occasionally
receive at his hands the Lord's Supper!

294 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF'
always had been, entirely free from any connexion with conventi-
clers. To the rank and office of the Bishop of Bath and Wells
respect was due ; but to religion and truth much more. Higher
ground ought to have been taken by such a character as
Hannah More; and posterity would not have blamed her
had she shown that, much as she loved the Church, she loved
souls yet better.
Mr" Venn not only wished Lady Huntingdon " good luck in
the name of the Lord," but supported her in what some of
his more timid brethren might reckon very objectionable
irregularities. Inestimable woman ! thou art gone to thy
rest, and whether thy Great Master will blame or praise thee
for doing good to the souls of men, regularly or irregularly, is
now no longer dubious. Hypocrisy itself must be ashamed of
the supposition that Mr. Venn ever disapproved or discoun
tenanced the immensely blessed and successful efforts ofthe
Countess of Huntingdon to spread the knowledge of the doc
trine of her crucified Lord.
Nor was his friendship less for the apostolic Whitefield. How
highly he thought of him, his own account, in the funeral
sermon which he preached in Lady Huntingdon's Chapel at
Bath, will best tell. Such unequivocal and decided testimonies
leave no room for doubt or dispute on the subject. They are
not the friends of Mr< Venn, or the truths he so ably defended,
who vvould cast a veil over those he most honoured, and fear to
have him associated with those apostolic witnesses. It is sin
gular that in his memoirs, lately published by his grandson,
scarcely any allusion is made to Mr. Whitefield or the Messrs,
Wesley, or Mr. Venn's connexion and correspondence with
those great men. They were his first associates when he came
to know the grace of God in Bath, and continued his intimates
to the last. His acquaintance with Lady Huntingdon extended
through a period of more than thirty years, during which time
a very intimate and close correspondence took place between
them, yet not one single letter has appeared in the work ! Need
we mention Mr. Whitefield, Mr. Wesley, Mr. Fletcher, the
well-known Howel Harris, and Captain Scott; some of Mr.
Venn's letters to those apostolic men have appeared in various
publications : he loved them, he venerated them, and did not
disdain to labour in the same vineyard with them. They are
all gone to their glorious rest, to meet in the better temple
together, as they have often worshipped in concert below, and
to go out no more.
Mr, Fletcher, being obliged to attend the duties of his parish

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 295
could not prolong his stay in Yorkshire, and therefore left
Kippax, after Mr. Whitefield's arrival there. On his return to
Madely, he wrote thus to Lady Huntingdon : —
"My very dear and honoured Lady, — The God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, who tried Israel and led them through many a wandering
to the good land, that he might do them more good in their latter end
— this faithful God hath met with you ; a rod is in his hand, but that
hand bears so deep a print of love, that the design of his visitation
cannot be mistaken. Nor does he come without the supporting staff,
he kills to make alive — he wounds to heal — he afflicts to comfort, and
to do it more deeply and effectually. My hearty prayer for your Lady
ship is, that you may drink the cup the Lord holds out to you as a
new token of his unchangeable love : I call it unchangeable, because
it is really so in its nature, though the appearances of it greatly vary,
for the trial of faith. I am God, says he, I change not, therefore Israel
is not consumed, and Shadrac is kept in the burning fiery furnace.
When I think of your Ladyship's illness, the words of Paschal often
occur to my mind, and are a little relief to me. Sickness, said that
devoted soul, sickness is the natural condition of Christians : they are
then, as they should always be, deprived of all the good things that
belong to prosperity, and surrounded with the evils of adversity : their
senses and passions are mortified, their eyes are fixed upon death, and
their hearts on the Prince of Life. What a blessing, added he, to be
placed by the kind hand of Providence in that very state which we
should choose were we allowed our choice !
" I have often heard your Ladyship speaking admirably upon know
ing Christ, and the power of his resurrection, together with the fel
lowship of his sufferings. The Lord will have yon improve in that
heavenly knowledge, therefore he gives you so long a lesson at this
time. The lesson is hard, I grant, but the Master is so loving, the
science so noble, and the scholar so used to severe exercises, that it is
no wonder you are placed in this highest form. No cross — no crown 1
The heavier the cross, the brighter the crown. I often wish I could
bear your Ladyship's burden, but check this impotent wish, by rejoic
ing that one who feels not only touches of sympathy, but love ever
lasting and almighty as Himself, bears it for you, and bears you with
it. On the bosom of this dear heavenly Physician I desire to place you.
There I want you to enjoy all the birth-sweets of sickness, and when
patience hath had its perfect work there, I beg you may live and love
till I have received my dismission ; and when yours is sealed, may I
be allowed to come and meet your departing soul among those whom
you have made your friends with the mammon of unrighteousness and
with the blessings of Gospel righteousness, and who will long to wel
come you into everlasting habitations.
" Till I received Lady Anne's letter, I often wanted to persuade
myself that your Ladyship had got quite well soon after I had left
Kippax, and that you were gone to London, about the death of the
person I heard you speak of. I rejoice that the Lord laid the em
bargo upon your Ladyship among so many good nurses aslleft you with.

296 THE LIFE AND TIMES.-OF
I pray God reward them for their labours of love to your Ladyship,
and make their bed for them when they are visited in their turn.
I beg my best respects and warmest thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Medhurst,
Miss Medhurst, and the dear company of your Ladyship. Their
kindness and patience towards me while at Kippax have laid me
under a heavy burden of obligations, which I desire gratefully to
acknowledge. " Through a mistake of our good friend Ireland,* dear Mr. Glascot
came here the day after I arrived rrom Yorkshire. He Stayed only one
day. This stripling will throw down Goliah. I blessed that cross and
accident which brought me acquainted with a young soldier that made
me so ashamed of mvself. Mr. Hillt is gone to Brighthelmstone,
where I hope be will be as useful as he is in Shropshire. Captain
Scott, set out last Monday for York, after making a great stir for good
in Shrewsbury : he hath been a prophet to several in his own country.
" I am loth to trouble Lady Anne with the request of aline, to know
how your Ladyship does, yet I know not well how to give up tlie
hope she will once more steal two minutes for it. I am, with peculiar
thanks to Lady Anne for her letter, and to your Ladyship for number
less favours, my Lady, your most indebted and obliged servant,
" J. Fletcher.''
Lady Huntingdon being sufficiently recovered from her late
indisposition, proceeded to Leeds for a short time, and was
accompanied thither by Mr. Whitefield. The late Mrs. Deane
who resided at that time at Whitkirk near Leeds, was considered
as ranking among the higher circles. She had occasionally
heard Mr. Ingham and Mr. Edwards, who had withdrawn him
self from Mr. Wesley, and had built himself a place of worship,
known by the name of " White Chapel," at Leeds, where he
continued to dispense the Word of Life for more than thirty
years. Mr. Edwards mentioned Mrs. Deane to Lady Hunting
don, who observing the marks of a penitent in her, invited her
to her house, and there she became acquainted with those bright
stars that then shone in England, and now shine in heaven,
Messrs. Whitefield, the Wesleys, Venn, Ingham, Romaine, and
other clergymen who found a welcome in that honourable house.
She had frequent opportunities of conversing with Lady Hun
tingdon, and of enjoying those spiritual pleasures which would
naturally result from communication with one so well qualified
as that excellent lady, to direct and comfort the Christian in his.
road to glory.
, Mrs. Dean was a woman of rank, of superior education and
accomplishments, and her letters and meditations afford strong
proofs that if there be any happiness separate from union antf
* James Ireland, Esq. of Brislington.
' f Afterwards Sir Richard Hill, Bart,

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 297
communion with God by faith in Jesus Christ, she had powers
capable of discerning and enjoying it. Her writings clearly
show that she did not seek satisfaction in those shadowy sceues
of refined iniquity which too fatally ensnare the majority of
those trifling immortals who are ranked among the rich and
great. She used to say —
" People in general are seeking happiness where it can never be
found — in the world and its pleasures, or else in some created being —
in all which they will surely meet with disappointment. Reason and
religion both teach us that to be happy we must be holy ; and the ex
perience of mind bred up in and inliuenced by such principles niost
attest the truth and importance of them. But yet, notwithstanding
all his knowledge and experience concerning the reasonableness, the
fitness, and the beauty of holiness, let no man trust in or think to find
innate goodness in himself. Let him divest himself of all self-confi
dence, and entirely rely on his Saviour in every spiritual conflict ; and
let him be assured he will then find a strong tower of defence against
every evil, and will be ready to say —
" ' For all the good that is in me,
All glory to the Eternal Three,
Now and to all eternity.'
to which I humbly subscribe in heart and name.''
Mrs. Deane was nearly allied to the noble family of Charles,
Viscount Irvine, of Temple Newson, on the river Aire, two miles
below Leeds. His Lordship, who had succeeded to the title in
1763, had married Miss Sheplierd, a lady possessed of a very
great fortune. Mrs. Deane's attachment to and affection for
Lady Irvine and every member of that honourable family were
remarkable, and always appeared so vigorous that they were
constantly breaking forth in the most ardent prayers for their
eternal welfare. She soon brought her Ladyship acquainted
with Lady Huntingdon, and never failed to invite Lord and
Lady Irvine to her house whenever the Countess was at Leeds,
or at Ledstone Hall. After a sermon had been delivered with
which she had been particular edified, her love for their eternal
interests naturally made her exclaim, " O that Lady Irvine and
family had heard this !" She sometimes hoped well of them
and thought that Lady Huntingdon's conversation had been
blessed to Lady Irvine. In one of her letters to her Ladyship
she says —
" You will rejoiee to hear that my dear Lady Irvine accompanied
me to hear Mr. Charles Wesley. There was a very crowded con
gregation, and he preached as for eternity, and could 'look his hearers
in the face, and say with humble confidence—' I take you to record
this day that I am pure from the blood of all man.; The worship and

298 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
service of the day altogether appeared to my dear friend most sacred,
solemn, and delightful. The impressions which were made on her
mind during your Ladyship's last conversation with her have continued
ever since ; and I earnestly pray and hopemay not pass away like the
morning cloud, or like the early dew. Her judgment and understanding
are enlightened, though her conscience may yet be unawakened ; and
though she thinks differently on some points on which your Ladyship
spoke so ably, she admits the doctrine of man's total depravity by
nature, the atonement, justification by faith, the agency of the
Spirit in the work of regeneration, and holiness of heart and life ,jn
order to final salvation, May the Spirit of God impress those solemn
truths on her conscience, and apply them to her heart with power I
We often speak of your Ladyship ; and my dear Lady Irvine acknow
ledges her obligations to you for the light and comfort which she now
enjoys. Lord Irvine always mentions you iu terms of great respect
and admiration of your talents and your zeal."*
To return to our narrative. The Rev. Samson Occum, the
Indian preacher, and Mr. Whitaker, minister of Norwich, in New
England, who had arrived in this country the preceding year,
* Lady Irvine is said to have been a woman of great excellence, and at one
period of her life much impressed with divine things. To her intercourse with
Lady Huntingdon was attributed that clear and comprehensive view of the plan
of redemption which she attained ; and the influence of the great truths of the
Gos,pel in all the relations of life shone conspicuous. Her Ladyship survived
Lord Irvine nearly thirty years, and died at Temple Newsom, November 20,
1807, in the 74th year of her age, much regretted. She outlived the death of
her dear old friend and relative, Mrs. Deane, about nine months. Her charities
were as extensive as her rank was elevated ; and by his death the poor of the
surrounding villages lost a munificent benefactress. Lord Irvine dying without
male issue, the title became extinct, after it had been possessed by nine indi
viduals in the period of one hundred and seventeen years, making the small
average of thirteen years to each. Lady Irvine was the grandmother of the
present Marquis of Hertford, to whom descended a great portion of the estates
of the Ingram family.
Mrs. Deane lived near nine years of that period when even a " man's strength
is labour and sorrow. " She was, however, no worse than usual till the morning
of February 3d, 1807, and then the springs of life began to ehb in death. She
repeated often that morning —
" Christ in me — my hope of glory,
Christ in me — my God pf love."
She seemed to have a presentiment of her approaching change, breathing out
for some time, "Dear Jesus, be with me tp my journey's end, which Ibe&e»t
willnot be long." On being asked if she wanted anything,she answered— ,"None
but Christ for me." "No music like thy charming name,
Nor half so sweet can be."
About three hours before her dissolution, as if gazing on celestial glories and
listening to angelic praises, completely victorious over the last enemy, she cried
out, "Glory! glory! glory! Hallelujah! hallelujah! hallelujah to God and
the Lamb for ever, and ever, and ever I" The powers of language never failed.
and she gradually sank into the arms of death, falling asleep in Jesus, the 4th
of February, aged 88 years a?»d nine months,

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 299
to promote the interests of the Indian Charity Schools at Le
banon, had been making a tour in Scotland and collecting
money for the object of their mission. At Newcastle a very
considerable sum was collected, after a sermon by Mr. Wesley,
who preached at the particular request of Mr. Whitaker. They
visited several places in Yorkshire, and met with great success ;
Mr. Romaine, Mr. Venn, and Mr. Powley also advocating their
cause at Leeds, Huddersfield, and Kippax. Mr. Whitefield
preached at Sheffield the day after Mr. Occum and Mr. Whita
ker had left it. " The Americans were gone (says he) the day
before I arrived at Sheffield ; I missed them by coming through
Chesterfield instead of Mansfield." At Leeds Mr. Whitefield
and Lady Huntingdon were joined by Captain Scott, who
preached to amazing crowds. His popularity was very great
at this period. Many of the rich, worldly-wise, and honourable
could not endure such preaching; but the common people
heard him gladly, and blessed God for the preaching, whicli
they could fully understand, and were as much disposed as ever
to say, " How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the
gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things !"
Mr. Whitefield proceeded to Huddersfield, and passed some
weeks with Mr. Venn, but was compelled to decline Mr. Flet
cher's invitation to Madely, as stated in a letter to one of his
prime favourites, Mrs. Herritage, whom he calls the " London
Shunamite." "Leeds, Oct. 3, 1767.
" My good Shunamite, — Just as your letter came I was taking pen
in hand to send you a few lines. What a mercy when good news
comes from town and country ! And what news so good as that of
the word of the LoTd Jesus running and being glorified ? This hath
been the case with the willing, but worthless pilgrim. Every where
the sound of his Master's feet hath been heard behind him. Field and
street preaching hath ratber bettered than hurt his bodily health. But
as the weather begins to break, he must look towards winter quarters.
This makes it impracticable for him to go to Madely. It is too far
distant. May Jesus support the suffering martyr. He will ! He will !
' He knows what sore temptations mean,
For he hath felt the same."
I know this will find you a living martyr, a witness of the truths aud
life of Jesus, the only preparative for dying a martyr. That whether
you live, you may live unto the Lord ; or whether you die, you may
die unto the Lord, is the earnest prayer of, dear Mrs. Herritage,
" Yours, &c., in our common Lord,
" George Whitefield."
This was Mr. Whitefield's last visit to Yorkshire; and it is
wprtby of remark that the last sermon preached by that apostolic

300 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
witness in that county was delivered in the pulpit of Hudders
field church.
The ministry of the Rev. Thomas Wilson, about this period,
began to attract much attention in Yorkshire. Possessed of
strong faith in the divine word, a fervent love of God and Christ,
and a living sense of the vast worth of men's souls, he became
a most diligent preacher, uncommonly zealous in his manner,
and remarkably plain and pointed in his addresses to men's con
sciences. His praise, not as a scholar indeed, but as a good
minister of Jesus Christ, will long continue to be heard through
a large and populous district. His simplicity and godly sin
cerity were admitted and admired by great numbers, who could
not be prevailed upon by his tears and entreaties to forsake
their sinful courses ; nevertheless, he has left behind him many
seals of his ministry ; and many, it is believed, converted by
his means, died before him in faith, and most joyfully received
his spirit into the heavenly habitations. He lived down pre
judice and slander in a very uncommon degree : his rule and
his 'practice were, to overcome evil by doing good. He was
eminently a man of peace : he loved it in his heart — he sought
it earnestly: but this divine and amiable disposition did not
damp his zeal for the cause of God, and his concern to save
men's souls. He boldly rebuked sin ; he showed his abhorrence,
particularly, to that destructive vice of drunkedness, so prevalent
in manufacturing places, which robs so many of the lower orders
not only of their comforts, but of the necessaries of life. He
kept a watchful eye over public houses : he felt and frequently
expressed the deepest sorrow (and his regrets were not always
unavailing), at the irregularities and excesses vvhich occurred
in those places, and especially on Sunday evenings. Many
nights of broken rest did he pass, occupied with reflections on
the depravity, blindness, and madness of sinners, who were
treasuring up to themselves wrath against the day of wrath,
while they despised or neglected all his warnings — his warm,
vehement, affectionate appeals to their consciences.
Mr. Wilson was somewhat advanced in life when he first
turned his thoughts towards the ministry ; and he had not had
the advantage of a regular classical education. A clergyman
of Leeds, of a kindred spirit, beheld in his fervent piety the
dawning of singular usefulness, and put him in the way of ob
taining holy orders. He applied himself to the study of the
languages, and was ordained to a curacy near Wetherby, York
shire. There his ardent spirit laboured diligently ; and much
concern about religion appeared in many of his congregation.
Whilst there he received a visit from Lady Huntingdon, in one

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 301
of her numerous rambles through Yorkshire, and her advice
and conversation were of great benefit in exciting him to
greater diligence and zeal in the discharge of the duties of his
function. Some things there were, however, disagreeable to
him in that situation ; and on the removal of Mr. Powley to
Dewsbury, Mr. Wilson, through his means, became perpetual
curate of Slaighwaite.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Melancholy state of Mr. Ingham— Lady Huntingdon and Mr. Venn—Illness
and Death of Lady Margaret Ingham— Letter from Mr. Ingham—Letter
from Mr. Romaine — Mr. Ingham's treatise on the Faith and Hope of the
Gospel— Mr. Riddell — Lady Huntingdon sends Students to Yorkshire-
Letter from Mr. Riddell— Mr. Joseph Milner of Hull — Attends Lady Hun
tingdon's Preachers — Begins to preach the Gospel — Mr. Tyler — Letter from
Lady Huntingdon to Mr. Romaine — Mr. Tyler's labours at Hull — Letter
from Lady Hantingdon to Mr. Milner  York — Mr. Wren — Letter from
Lady Huntingdon— Letter from Mr. Wren— Mr. Glascott — Mr. Wells — Mr.
Powley — Lady Huntingdon's chapel at York.
The almost total dispersion of the Yorkshire churches, caused
by the introduction of the Sandemanian principles, bad a sad
effect on Mr. Ingham's mind. He was liable to sudden tran
sitions from the highest flow of spirits to the utmost depression,
and the peculiar character of his temperament was an extreme
accessibility to sudden attacks of melancholy. It was his belief
that calamity was connected with the conviction of sin and the
desert of punishment. " We are very guilty concerning our
brother, therefore is this distress come upon us." " The thing,"
which, like Job, he had " greatly feared" was come upon him —
he was deserted by his spiritual children, and the thought re
duced him to a most distressing state of mind. " ' He is lost !
He is lost !' this (writes Mr. Venn) is his despairing cry."
Lady Huntingdon wrote to her afflicted relative, and her words
were blessed to his most sorrowful and anguished spirit. " A
thousand and thousand times (he tells her after his recovery)
do I bless and praise my God, for the words of comfort and
consolation which your Ladyship's letters conveyed to my mourn-

302 THE LlEE AND TIMES OF
ful heart, dismayed and overwhelmed as it was by the pressure
of my calamities. ' Righteous art thou, O Lord, and just are
thy judgments.' "
He was soon tried still further, for the health and strength
of Lady Margaret Ihgham now sensibly and visibly declined; to
the last she continued to exercise those christian graces; faith*
patience, and resignation to the will of her heavenly Father
for which she had been long distinguished. Of herself and her
efforts her view was ever humble, and any reference to her
usefulness, she met with grateful acknowledgments of the
sovereignty of that grace that made her the instrument, of good
to others. Her end, though painful, was triumphant. She
welcomed the hour— she longed to receive the prize of her high
calling. Mrs. Medhurst and Miss Wheeler repaired to Aberford
and witnessed her release from the flesh : to both she exclaimed
with all her wonted energy, " Thanks be to God ! thanks be to
God ! the moment's come, the day is dawning !" and thus in
holy extasy she winged her way to glory. Miss Wheeler an
nounced her death to the Countess, who wrote a letter of con
solation to Mr. Ingham, from the reply to which we quote* as
a further illustration of her Ladyship's happiness in the hour
of trial :—
" When she had no longer strength to speak to me (writes Mr.
Ingham), she looked most sweetly at me and smiled. On the Tues
day before she died, when she had opened her heart to me, and
declared the ground of her hope, her eyes sparkled with divine joy,
her countenance shone, her cheeks were ruddy ; I never saw her look
so sweet and lively in my life; All about her were affected ; no one
could refrain from tears, aildfyet it was a delight to be with her."
Lady Margaret died oh the 30th of April, 1768, in her 68th
year, she was borne to .the grave by devout men, and wept by
the tears of the Church.
Mr. Romaine, in a letter to Mrs. Medhurst, says —
" I got a good advancement by the death Of Lady Margaret, and
was led into a sweet path of meditation, iu which I went on contem
plating till illy heart burned within me  Many a time my spirit has
been refreshed with hearing her relate simply and feelingly how Jesus
was her life."
Her marriage with Mr. Ingham had increased his means; but
before that event his benevolence Was no less remarkable thaa
his libei'ality afterwards. His purse supplied the expenses of
almost all his preachers. He survived her Ladyship only foul-
years. In person he is said to have been extremely handsome—
"too hatadsome fof a man*" and the habitual expression of his

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 303
Countenance was most prepossessing. He was a gentleman;
temperate, and irreproachable in his morals ; as a public speaker,
animated and agreeable rather than eloquent ; studious of the
good conversation of his people, and delicately fearful of reproach
to the cause of Christ. His son Ignatius, by his wavering faith,
caused some uneasiness and regret to the friends of his distin
guished parents.
Soon after the establishment, by Lady Huntingdon, of a Col
lege in Wales, Mr. Edward Riddell, a pious Dissenter, who,
having made a casual visit to Hull, was by series of providential
events induced to remain there, wrote to her Ladyship to request
her to send down to him some of the students ; fof he and
others had separated from the Church with which they had been
connected, and a new place of worship was much wanted in
Hull. Her Ladyship complied in this, as in all cases, where
the means of spreading the holy Gospel were within her reach.
The names of the first students at Trevecca who went down to
Hull are irrecoverably lost, but their doctrine is known to have
created a deep feeling in that town. Rich and poor thronged
the chapel to hear of human depravity, of atonement for sin by
the sacrifice of Christ, of justification freely given by grace,
of imputed righteousness, and of the Spirit's work in regene
ration, sanctification, and comfort. Among the converts Mr.
Riddell mentions in a letter to Lady Huntingdon, full of grati
tude for the genrous aid she had lent his " infant society," a
Mr. Milner, head master of the grammar school, and lecturer
of the principal Church in Hull. " He is constant in his atten
dance on the ministry of your Ladyship's students, of whom he
has made particular enquiries concerning your Ladyship's
College in Wales, the teaching of its president and tutors, and
also concerning the chapels at Bath, Brighton, &c." Mr.
Riddell requests her Ladyship will write to Mr. Milner, and
also urges a visit from one of her Ladyship's chaplains, and,
after due acknowledgment for all Lady Huntingdon's efforts in
the cause of the gospel, says, " the land is still before you, in
which the seed has never yet been sown." The Mr. Milner
here alluded to was a native of Leeds, born of parents who, if
not great or noble, were the ornaments of the sphere in which
. thev moved. Joseph, their son, owed much of his deep relio-ious
Jwfhg to his mother, a constant hearer of the Rev. John Ed
wards. He was introduced by this parent to the Rev. Christo
pher Atkinson, of Thorp Arch, near Tadcaster, one of fhe first
Methodists when at Oxford, and a correspondent of White-
field, the Weslevs, Ingham, Hervey, &c, and to his son, the
Rev. Myles Atkinson, afterwards vicar of Kippax, and mtaister

804 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
of St. Paul's at Leeds. He became assistant in the school of Mr.
Atkinson, and also in the care of his church ; but Mr. Milner
has himself declared that he did not then feel the true faith,
but preached himself rather than Jesus. His great ambition
was literary fame, and the applause of his hearers. His first
sermon at Hull was much applauded, but years afterwards he
took that very discourse into the pulpit, dwelt upon its errors,
exposed its fallacies, and contrasted its doctrines with those
he then avowed. Even the early Methodists themselves were
similarly misled ; for they had then scarcely got beyond the
natural, though erroneous hope, of saving themselves by a rigid
observance of the law — by a superstitious excess in abstinence,
nay fasting; instead of simply looking to the Lord Jesus for
righteousness and strength, and making his merits the sole
ground of their justification before God. Mr. Milner, who was
a favourite with his patrons, the Mayor and Aldermen, had
happily secured his election to the school and lectureship
before any outward manifestation had been given of his inward
change. Had it been otherwise his aged mother might have died
for want, his niece and nephew have remained destitute orphans
his brother* have laboured with his hands through life, at
the manufactures in Yorkshire — nay the town of Hull might
have continued without the sound of the Gospel from the pulpits
of the Established Church, ere one vote would have been given
to him for either school or lectureship.
His moral character was without spot ; he was regular, tem
perate, and decorous, orthodox and loyal, admired for his preacn-
ing as well as for his learning, and eagerly intrusted with the
education of the children of the chief inhabitants of Hull, with
whom he was extremely popular. It was then that the students
of Lady Huntingdon's College at Trevecca, by their preaching
in Hull, opened the eyes of his mind to its darkness, and im- •
pressed him with the truth of that saying, " that Jesus Christ
came into the world to save sinners, even the chief of sinners."
They proved to him that he was in the condition of the unre
generate ; and as the light shone on his mind, he poured it out
upon his people, discovering error by the gradual revelation of
the truth as it is in Jesus. It was clear to all that he was in
earnest, and that because he believed therefore had he spoken ;
yet conviction of his truth did not persuade others. The man
who had become intolerable in the pulpit soon became an un
welcome guest at table, and the " Methodist" Milner fell out
of favour with the men of the world. Except once a year, when
* Dr. Isaac Milner, Dean of Carlisle, Master of Queen's College, Cambridge,
and Vice Chancellprpf the University.

305
he preached officially as chaplain to the Mayor, few of tho
superior rank ever attended his ministry, but the common people
heard him gladly, and his large church was crowded. The
"enthusiast" Milner became the subject of scandal and foul-
faced reproach, and the victim of intolerable though petty per
secution. Now he was described as an oily hypocrite, courting
by an affected sanctity the patronage of the Earl of Dartmouth,
Chief Baron Smythe, the Countess of Huntingdon, "and other
notorious enthusiasts ;" at another time he was said to he spurred
on by the love of popular applause ; and at another the cry was
that " Milner was a madman !"
At this moment, Mr.'Harris, minister of Dagger-lane Chapel,
had occasion to leave Hull for a period, and at his request
Lady Huntingdon sent down the Rev. WilUam Tyler to supply
his place. Mr. Tyler was about the same age as Milner, and
the latter attended his ministry as one might be expected to do,
who had been called at the same time and by the same means,
and they found mutual support and improvement in their com
munications, which led to an enduring friendship. Lady Hunt
ingdon soon commenced a correspondence with Mr. Milner,
who had thus been converted by the ministry of her students.
In a letter to Mr. Romaine, her Ladyship says — " I have some
students at Hull whose ministry has been remarkably owned.
Dear Mr. Milner writes me word that he has reason to bless
God for putting it into my head to send ministers to Hull, as
the plain preaching of the Gospel of Jesus, not with words and
reasoning, which man's wisdom teacheth, but as the Holy Ghost
teacheth, God has been pleased to honour and bless, in con
vincing him of the great necessity he was under of securing an
interest in Christ."*
^ Mr. Tyler was, like Mr. Milner, descended from honest but
poor progenitors ; his father, a pious and industrious man, had
him instructed in the ordinary branches of education, and at
fourteen years of age he was bound apprentice to a watchmaker
in London, but his master dying in the first year of his service,
young Tyler returned to his father's house, which he quitted no
more until, in his twenty-fourth year, he was called to preach
* If Mr. Venn, of Holloway, Islington, had heen acquainted with this true
history of the gradual change wrought in the mind of Mr. Milner, he would not
have asserted, as we find he has done in the life of his grandfather, that " Mr.
Milner was one of those evangelical labourers who derived their view of the
truth directly fiom the Word of God, who were independent ef the Methpdists
and nearly contemporaneous with them, and whose labours had an immediate
and remarkahle influence upon the clergy of the Church of England." This is not
the only error Mr. Venn commits in the long list of names prefixed to his
grandfather's correspondence. It would be easy to prove that the light which
then fell upon the Church was poured through the channel of Methodism.
VOL. I. — X

gOe THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
the Gospel. The habits of virtue he had acquired beneath the
parental roof had been shaken in London, where evil company,
especially some of the singers and dancers at Sadler's Wells,
led him into some excesses. With such a party he had joined
to create a riot at the Tabernacle ; but no sooner was the text
uttered, than feelings of home and heaven rushed upon his heart
at the same instant, and he resolved at once to leave for ever
the associates who had misled him. This resolution he had
strength of mind to keep, and his return home occurred in happy
time to prevent any backsliding or yielding of the Spirit. He
eagerly accepted the offer of the good Lady Huntingdon, to
whose notice he had been recommended, to go to her Ladyship's
College, at Trevecca; here he would fain have acquired that
knowledge from which the scantiness of his early instruction
had excluded him, especially the original languages of the Holy
Scriptures. But no sooner had he arrived in Wales than his
hand was put to the plough, and his time was devoted to
preaching in different parts of the country. He was continually
travelling, and his sermons were, for the most part, studied on
horseback. He had not been a long time resident in Hull before Mr.
Milner proposed to him to go to Cambridge ; and as he had
been a Dissenter less by choice than circumstances, to extend,
his usefulness by obtaining episcopal ordination. Mr. Milner
devoted himself to the task of instructing his friend in tbe neces
sary preparatory knowledge, and recommended him to a benevo
lent society, at whose expense he was sent to Magdalen College,
Cambridge, in November 1778. He took a Bachelor's degree
and was ordained deacon in the Temple Church, by the Bishop
of London, on Trinity Sunday, in the year 1782. His title was
to the Churches of Partney and Dulby, in Lincolnshire: and by
the patronage of Lord Monson he became perpetual curate of
the latter. The rector of Partney, after three years' service,
dismissed him from his curacy for holding prayer-meetings in
his own and other houses : but in 1786 he was presented by the
Lord Chancellor to the living of Braytoft, where he laboured
for twenty years, serving three churches, and riding sixteen miles
every Sunday, in rain and snow as well as in sunshine, through
the worst roads in England. In 1806 Dr. Fowler gave him the
living of Ashby, near Spilsby, where he continued till July 14,
1808, when the Lord dismissed him from this world of sin and
sorrow, in the sixtieth year of his age, leaving a widow and one
daughter to lament his loss.
It will be asked, doubtless, what part Lady Huntingdon took
when Mr. Tyler, at Mr. Milner's suggestion, left Trevecca and

Selina, countess of Huntingdon. 307
her Ladyship's religious Connexion, to go to the University and
to seek ordination? The following letter to Mr. Milner will
answer the question : —
" It is no consolation, my dear Sir, that you have so honestly and
so heartily embarked in the cause of good men, of angels, and of God ?
Recollect, ' it is good to be zealously affected always in a good cause.'
Blessed he God that you have put your lip to the Gospel trumpet and
sounded salvation to the guilty. Be not deterred by the shafts of ridi
cule, or the opposition of the profane. Remember the God whom you
serve ' rides on the whirlwind and directs the storm.' Your progress
may be retarded, but your triumph is secure. Though earth and hell
combine their force against you, yet you shall do the work the great
Head of the Church has marked out for you. Labour earnestly, for
you shall not labour in vain. Up and be doing, in the name and for
the sake of Christ ! slumber not at your post. Be thankful, highly
thankful, that the Lord will condescend to let you do any thing for him
7 the furtherance of his kingdom among men. Go on, my good Sir,
g a with your blessed work, for it will not cover you with confusion
in o last great day. By and hy you will reap the fruits of your faith
ant labour of love, and hear your great Master say unto you — .' well
done, good and faithful servant.'
" Universal good to all is my only object upon earth ; and I only
look for further light to promote more extensively the honour of
Christ and the best interests of the multitude everywhere perishing
for lack of knowledge. From your most just and forcible represent
ation, I feel it expedient to relinquish my claims on the services of
Mr. Tyler. Of his abilities you are capable of judging ; and I can
supply you with every honourable and satisfactory testimonial in favour
il P\ety' temPer> and c°nduct. With exemplary devotedness and
zeal he has laboured in, my plan, and his ministry has everywhere
been accompanied with the converting power of divine grace." His
stedfest faith, his ardent and exalted zeal and singleness of heart,
and his superior merits and talents, qualify him for occupying a distin
guished place amongst the preachers of the Gospel. Actuated, I trust,
by the noblest motives by which the human mind can be swayed, he
has devoted himself to the work of the ministry ; and with the enjoy
ment of the approbation of his great Master, which will ever be his best
and highest reward, may he see also the accomplishment of his heart's
desire— the conversion of souls to God and Christ
to 3*? reSIT! 1° thC rrk, am°ngSt US' of which J011 seem anxious
o be informed, I have the pleasure to tell you it is very genemlfy ™
the mcrease : and very many in the large towns where I have chanels
have felt the saving efficacy of redeeming love an(l tho mil-
grace of the Holy Ghost, The Sun of righteousness ^L srise^ „ 2"°"
SfhF and1C0-t-yplaCeS ^ hGalin» on ^s wi^s Therein
trembling and shakmg among the dry hones-sinners are enonirirl a
way to Zion with their faces thitLrwards-Sudes an 1, 1 •
comment upon the truths vvhich they believe-and nl f g
which bartended the labours of £^td^'E35

308 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
proclaims, that the' fields are white already to the harvest;' and the
Spirit of tbe Lord whispers in our ears — ' the time to favour Zion, yea
the set time is come.'
" It aiTords me tbe most cordial satisfaction to see a goodly number
of godly young men offering themselves to the service of our adorable
Saviour, of whose talents and piety I judge most favourably. The
school of the prophets at my beloved Trevecca affords great advantages
to young men, as preparatory to the work, and so easy of access ; but
the labourers are still few and the harvest plenteous. In private
and in public, my dear Sir, unite with the Israel of God in imploring
tbe Lord of the harvest more eopiously to pour out his Spirit on the
assemblies of his saints, powerfully constraining a host of willing la
bourers to come to the help of the Lord against the mighty.
" It is my ardent wish and prayer to God, that you may he enabled
to press forward with increasing ardour in the glorious cause. You
are a living witness that Jesus Christ has power to forgive and to sub
due sin. Glory to God ! Take heed unto yourself and unto your
doctrines ; continue in them, for in doing this, through the divine bless
ing, you shall both save yourself, and them that hear you Sabbath after
Sabbath, and from day to day rehearse to your people and to all you
can collect together, the joyful tidings whicli the Gospel proclaims.
Persuaded that you are connected with many wrestling souls, I cannot
conclude without proffering to them and you an earnest request for
my unworthy self and those devoted souls who serve God in the
Gospel of his Son — ' Pray for us.' That you may be wise to win
souls, and may have many who shall be your joy and crown when
the chief Shepherd of the sheep shall appear, is the earnest and
affectionate prayer of, my dear Sir, your sincere friend and well-wisher
in Christ, " S. Huntingdon."
During Lady Huntingdon's visit to York, (with Mr. White-
field, Mr. Madan, Mr. Venn, Captain Scott, &c.) before alluded
to, a site for a chapel was selected. It was in College-street,
so called from the religious brotherhood, of the Collegiate
Church of St. Wilfrid. This chapel was regularly supplied by
the students of Trevecca until 1779, when the Rev. W. Wren
was invited from Lincolnshire, by Lady Huntingdon, to fill the
place of the student then on the spot, who happened to be ill.
He preached his first sermon from Peter's question to Cornelius,
— " I ask, therefore, for what intent you have sent for me ?"
His services were most acceptable ; and such was his contempt
of labour, and zeal for the calling of perishing sinners to Christ,
that while filling this cure of souls, he contrived to raise and
maintain a congregation at Barrow, first in a barn, and afterwards
* Mr. Wren's original scene of duty was in Wales, and it was because his
health appeared to have sunk beneath his labours there that her Ladyship re
commended a tour in England, " Now, Wren (says the Countess), I charge

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 309
in a chapel built for that purpose.* The following letter from
Lady Huntingdon exhibits her Ladyship's estimate of tho de
votedness of Mr. Wren in his new sphere of duty.
" I have a letter from Mr. Huhback* that has occasioned my
heart to rejoice, that our gracious Lord appears for your labours in
York. Go on, my good young man, as one faithfully devoted to his
blessed service, and fear neither men nor devils. I have experienced
• his continued mercies for more than forty years, in the midst of con
tempt, malice, persecution without the Church ; and false brethren,
treachery, ingratitude, and greater evils than in the world, within the
professing Church ; yet, no weapon formed against me has prospered.
I can, therefore, in the confidence of a faithful friend to you, speak
good of our King of kings and Lord of lords. And for ever blessed
be his glorious name, the Gospel is flourishing and spreading from east
to west, from north to south, under our poor unworthy labours, and
this, while we are testifying that Jesus is exalted as a Prince and a
Saviour, to grant repentance and remission of sins. Mercy is our
only joy that will ever last. Its praises will be sounded in the courts
of heaven by the redeemed to all eternity ; and in this exercise I would
fain be foremost to glorify that mercy wliich could save such a poor,
lost, sinful soul as mine. While the Lord seems to bless you, I hope
you will not think of stirring. Let me know when you think your
message is over at York, that I may have time to appoint a suitable
student in your place. I have a letter from the people you mention
you to be faithful, and to deliver a faithful message in all the congregations."
" My Lady (said Wren) they will not bear it." She rejoined " I will stand by
you." His tour was marked by the seal of utility, especially at Oxford and at
Grimsby, where, being overtaken by a shower of rain, he took shelter in a way
side house, in which many labourers had assembled to take refuge from the rain.
Hearing them swear, he went out of the parlour to them, and upon the promise
ot giving them half-a-csown, obtained their attention while he read two ser
mons to them, and spoke urgently as to the state of their souls. On his return,
he found that two of these men had, by his means, been awakened to a due
sense of their eternal interests. He was invited to remain at York, which
Lady Huntingdon not approving, he withdrew from the Connexion of his noble
patroness in the year 1780. On the 4th August, 1784, in bis 34th year, he fell
asleep in the Lord He died at Scarborough, but was buried at York, in the
chapel winch Mr. Batty built, and where he, too, was interred
In his doctrine, Mr. Wren was strictly Calvinistic. His manner of preaching
was warm and fervid, and but that his voice was sometimes pitched too loudly,
he might have been called an orator of nature's making. Seeing the people
inattentive to one of his unprepared discourses, he hastily descended fiom the
pulpit, and walking rapidly towards that part ofthe congregation tbat betrayed
neglect addressed them with the Spirit and ivith power, and the Lord blessed
the word In Wales, hearing of the reputed efficacy of St. Covin's well in the
Snirit Sfe' rt I?f 1V.Ed V Ca"uy th,ither bis ™<1i«"es for the bruised
Sp it. The Welsh Bethsaida stands at the foot of immense rocks, quite open
to the sea, and far from any town Multitudes assembled in so strange a scene
whom he addressed from the words, « Rocks fall on us," &c. Rev vi 16 T7!
One man who had opposed the dedication of a place of worship, was convinced
and immediately appropriated the place to its purpose. convinced,
* A respectable surgeon with whom Mr. Wren resided till his marriage.

310 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
at Barrow. I have many heart-aching prayers, occasioned by the calls
I have from the fields being white unto the harvest aud the labourers
so few. Alas ! some past days make me ready to weep, to find that
any poor thirsty souls want the waters of life, and that there should
be no ministration of them through the want of a poor earthen vessel
to convey them hy. Pray, pray in private, pray in public, that our
gracious Lord of the harvest would thrust out labourers. We find
none willing but such as he makes so for his work. There are many
willing for their own work, who say, ' Lord ! Lord !' but he knows them
not. I have reason to praise him for his tender mercies ; the deaths of
many, in various parts of our Connexion, would revive the most droop
ing hearts. And now I faithfully commend you to the love, protec
tion, and guidance of Him who is able to make you wise in all that is
good, and to preserve you blameless to the day of his appearing. In
these prayers for you, I, as ever, remain, your never-ceasing friend, for
the Lord Christ's sake, " S. Huntingdon."
" Spafields, January 4, 1 780.
The chapel at York continued to be served by students from
Trevecca, in rotation. In the summer of 1781, the 'Rev. Cra
dock Glascott, on his tour through the north of England, visited
York, and preached twice in her Ladyship's chapel there At
Leeds, at Kirkburton, at Almondbury, at Rotherham, and at
other places, he also preached to the people assembled at fune
rals, &c, as well as in the churches, with great effect : his intro
duction everywhere being the name of Lady Huntingdon. In
the summer of J 785, Mr. Wills visited York. At Bradford,
Mr. Cross offered him the church of which he was vicar, but
Mr. Wills, fearing to involve him in any difficulty with his dio
cesan, declined the offer. At Leeds, he preached in the White
Chapel, formerly belonging to the Rev. Mr. Edwards, and lately
supplied by one of Lady Huntingdon's senior students, the Rev.
Edward Parsons. At Heckmondwick, he preached in the rain
to several hundred people, including his old College friend, Mr.
Rowley, and seven or eight other ministers of the Establishment,
and of other creeds. At Wakefield he preached in Mr. Bruce's
academy, one day ; on another, on Hunslet Common. At York
he preached, one evening in the chapel, and the next at the
Market Cross ; several of the better sort listened from their
windows to his testimony, and though the bells of a neighbour
ing church were kept ringing the multitude held on and profited.
In 1794 Mr. Wydown visited York. He was of Lady Hun
tingdon's Connexion, and worshipped for some time in College-
street, but on the 28th Dec. 1796, his increased congregation
built him a separate chapel, which was opened by the Rev. E.
Parsons, of Leeds, and the Rev. H- Howell, of Knaresborough.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 311
The congregation soon formed itself into an Independent Church,
and on the 18th April, 1797, Mr. Wydown was ordained pastor.
We have thus brought to a close the history of Lady Hun
tingdon's exertions in Yorkshire, and may conclude the present
chapter by recording the names of her ministers who remained
in that county. Mr. Parsons settled at Leeds ; Mr. Povab, Mr.
Bryan, Mr. Parish, and Mr. Dawson, at Sheffield; Mr. Barnard,
Mr. Arbor, and Mr. Morley, at Hull ; Mr. Mather, at Beverley;
and Mr. Beard, at Scarborough.

CHAPTER XIX.

Death of the Hon. Henry Hastings— Lady Huntingdon's exertions at Brighton
—Joseph Wall— Mr. Whitefield's first visit to Brighton— Lady Huntingdon
sells her jewels— The Chapel opened by Mr. Madan— Mr. Romaine— Oat
hall— Captain Scott— Anecdotes—Old Abraham— Letters from Mr. Fletcher
and Mr. Romaine— Christian Perfection—Mr. Maxfield and Mr. Bell— Letter
from Mr. Romaine— Mr. Madan— Letters from Messrs. Berridge, Romaine,
and Venn — Mr. Jones (of St. Saviour's).
The Hon. Henry Hastings, fourth son ofthe Countess of Hun
tingdon, was born December 12, 1739, and departed this life
at Brighton, September IS, 1757, aged eighteen. The only
record of this event is found in the following extract from a
letter of Mr. Whitefield to Lady Huntingdon : —
" I burnt, but I believe I shall never forget, the contents of your
Ladyship's letter. Who but the Redeemer himself can possibly de
scribe the yearnings of such a tender parent's heart ? Surely your
Ladyship is called to cut off a right hand and pluck out a right eye ;
' but it is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good.' This was the
language of Eli, whose sons were sinners before the Lord exceedingly.
This hath often been the case with the best of people and the greatest
favourites of heaven ; but none know the bitterness of such a cup
but those who are called to drink it. If not sweetened with a sense
of the love and mercy of God in Christ, who could abide it ? 0 ! what
physic, what strong physic, do our strong affections oblige our heavenly
Father to give us ! What pruning knives do these luxuriant branches
require, in order to preserve the fruit and delicacy ofthe vine ? Blessed
be God, there is a time coming, when these mysterious dignified pro
vidences shall be explained. I am glad Mr. L. is with your Lady
ship ; he has a friendly heart. May the Lord Jesus raise up your
Ladyship many comforters ! Above all, may he come himself. He
will— he will ! 0 ! that I could bear your heavy load J But I can

312 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
only in my feeble way bear it on my heart, before him who came to
heal our sicknesses and hear our infirmities. That your Ladyship
may come out of these fiery trials, purged and purified like the brightest
gold, is the earnest prayer of, ever honoured madam, your most dutiful
obliged, sympathizing, and ever ready servant for Christ's sake,
" G. Whitefield.''
The illness of her son had brought the Countess from her
house in Park-street to Brighton, where during her stay, she
felt seriously concerned for the spiritual interests of its inhabi
tants, and especially for the company that frequented that place
of fashionable resort, and used her utmost exertions to bestow
upon them some spiritual gift, by carrying to the houses of the
nobility and the poor the welcome tidings of salvation through
faith in a crucified Redeemer.
In the course of her ever-frequent visits of mercy and benevo
lence at Brighton, she entered the lodgings of a soldier's wife
who had been delivered of twins ; and having first relieved the
temporal wants of the poor woman, conversed with her on spiri
tual ^ subjects, affectionately pointing her to the Fountain of
atoning blood opened in the clefts of the " Rock of Ages ;"
in the performance of this duty, her Ladyship displayed an ad
mirable mixture of discretion and zeal, solemnity and sweetness,
and no sopner did she begin to speak of her awful state, by
nature and by practice, and the imminent danger of her soul, if
she died unpardoned, unrenewed, unwashed in the Saviour's
blood, than the poor soldier's wife burst into a flood of tears
under a sense of her guilt and misery, and began to call on the
Lord with all the earnestness of which her dying frame was
capable ; and manifesting an anxious desire to hear more of that
¦ precious salvation which is provided for the guilty and the lost,
she induced the Countess to repeat her visits. The apartment
was contiguous to a public bakehouse, and the people that came
to the oven heard through a ^crack in the partition, her Lady
ship conversing on spiritual subjects. This soon became noised
abroad, and other poor women, feeling a desire to hear such
things, attended at the lodgings ofthe soldier's wife at appointed
times for that purpose. Her usual method was to converse
with them about the one thing needful, to read and expound the
Scriptures, and to pray with them. In a little time the .number
of her hearers increased, and as often as they could be collected
she joyfully proclaimed to them the unsearchable riches of
Christ. The affectionate and fervent manner in vvhich she ad
dressed them, was an affecting proof of the interest she took in
their spiritual concerns. There was an energy in her manner
that was irresistible. Her subject — her language — her ges-

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 313
tures — the tone of her voice— and the tdrn of her countenance,
all conspired to fix the attention and affect the heart.
On one of these occasions, a blacksmith named Joseph Wall,
a man notorious for his profligacy having been directed to the
place of meeting, obtained admittance, though none but females
had hitherto attended. Lady Huntingdon coming in, felt much
surprise at seeing him in a corner of the room, and hesitated in
her mind whether to request him to withdraw, or to refrain from
speaking to him. At length she determined to take no notice
of him, and to proceed in her usual course, (which she con
sidered was the path of duty) by praying with these poor
women, and setting before them the " things which accompany
salvation." The word thus spoken was applied by the power of
the Holy Spirit to the heart of Joseph Wall, and from that
time he became a distinguished monument of the power of
divine grace, so that all who knew him were constrained to ac
knowledge the marvellous change. For a period of twenty-nine
years he adorned the doctrine of God bis Saviour by a life of
holiness, and through every period of his religious life appeared
as a pilgrim and stranger in the world. He told a friend, a day
or two before his departure for glory, " that he longed to be
dissolved, that he was very happy — had not a doubt of his salva
tion, and would not change his state with the king." About
two hours before he expired, every breath appearing as though it
vvould be the last, his lips were observed to move, and his anxi
ous and affectionate daughter, bending her head, heard him
slowly but distinctly utter — " Come, Lord Jesus ! come quicklv !"
The Great Shepherd of the people heard and answered "his
prayer, and took him to the heavenly fold the latter end of
June, 1786.
While the Countess was thus usefully and actively engaged, a
gentlewoman who lived in the vicinity of Brighton, dreamed
that a tall lady, whose dress she particularly noticed, would come
to that town, and be the means Of doing much good. It was
about three years after this dream, that Lady Huntingdon went
down thither. One day the above person met her Ladyship in
the street, and on seeing her, exclaimed, " O, Madam, yon are
come !" Lady Huntingdon, surprised at the singularity of such
an address from an entire stranger, thought at first the woman
was deranged. " What do you know of me ?" asked the Coun
tess. " Madam (replied the person), I saw you in a dream
three years ago, dressed just as you appear now,"— and related
the whole of the dream to her. In consequence of the acquaint
ance whicli was then formed between them, Lady Huntingdon

314 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
was made instrumental in her conversion, and she died about a
year afterwards in the confidence of faith.
It was thus that her zeal and piety prepared the way for the
more public ministrations of Mr. Whitefield, who visited Brigh
ton in the year 1 759, and at first preached under a tree in a
field behind the White Lion Inn.*
The awakened people began to increase in numbers, and a
small Christian society was afterwards established, whose ^em
bers met for prayer and praise, and the reading of the Scriptures.
This promising state of things induced Lady Huutingdon to
erect a small but neat chapel contiguous to her house, on the
site of the present one in North-street, the expense of which
she either wholly, or in part, defrayed by the sale of her jewels,
to the amount of six hundred and ninety-eight pounds fifteen
shillings.f The chapel was opened in the summer of 1761, by the Rev.
Martin Madan. To Mr. Madan succeeded Messrs. Romaine,
Berridge, Venn, and Fletcher, who severally took the charge of
a congregation and people for whom they soon learned to culti
vate the sincerest affection. Instant in season and out of sea
son, these apostolic men diligently performed the. work of
evangelists, and lost no opportunity of proclaiming the unsearch
able riches of Christ. Here, as in other places, they laboured
together for the welfare of the Church of God ; and as they
worshipped often together in the courts below, they are now
doubtless worshipping in the courts above, and enjoying the
¦ * Among his then congregation, was the late Mr. Tuppen, predecessor of
Mr. Jay at Bath. He was brought up by a pious mother in strict observance
of the externals of religion, but at eighteen years of age, when he first heard
Mr. Whitefield, he was ignorant of its essentials. He attended from curiosity,
ready to stone this second Stephen, or to hold the clothes of those who did ; but
the words, " Turn ye, turn ye," were not lost upon him, but became the means
of grace to his soul.
Another convert gained on this spot was Mr. Edward Gadsby, who was now
first called from darkness to light : during his after life he realized the venera
ble Newton's picture of a true saint ; and when he died on the 9th April,jl785,
the Rev. Cradock Glasscott preached at Lady Huntingdon's a powerful sermon,
from the words — " Mark the perfect man and behold the upright ; for the end
of that man is peace. "
f The following account of her Ladyship's jewels sold for this purpose was
found amongst tbe papers of a lady who had resided a considerable time with
her, and was well acquainted with her concerns : —
TwoI5X drops  £400 0 0
Twenty-eight 13 X 2  90 0 0
Thirty-seven pearls, at £4 15s. each  175 15 0
Seed pearls  10 0 0
Gold box  ;.,.,  23 0 0
£698 15 0

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 315
felicity of those, " who, having turned many to righteousness,
shall shine as the stars for ever and ever."
No sooner had these apostolic men unfolded the standard of
the true cross, than a violent clamour was raised against them
and their doctrines ; and frequent attempts were made to intimi
date them from preaching and teaching Jesus Christ. But re
gardless of the torrents of reproach which were continually
rolling on them from every quarter, they prosecuted their
labours in the most undaunted manner ; and the Great Head of
the Church bore testimony to the words of his servants, and con
firmed it by awakening and converting many souls under their
ministry. If God will work, none can let it ; the cause is his,
and he must and will conquer ; and any instrument is sufficient,
though it were but the jaw-bone of an ass, when the Spirit of
the Lord comes upon the appointed Samson.
The connexion of Mr. Romaine with the Countess of Hun
tingdon, as her chaplain, exhibits the interesting picture of two
characters of exalted excellence striving together for the hope
of the Gospel — the one by her influence and wealth, the other
by his zeal and diligence. And, to the honour of Mr. Romaine,
his long and active labours were without the least expectation of
any remuneration ; and all he ever got from Lady Huntingdon
barely paid his journeys and his expenses. Notwithstanding
the basest stories, neither he nor Mr. Whitefield were ever a shoe-
latchet the richer for any service done her Ladyship. Not that
this is meant to impeach her boundless liberality : never perhaps
did mortal make a nobler use of what she possessed : her time,
her talents, her soul and body were consecrated to God. She
knew that it was laudable to feed the hungry and clothe the
naked : but all inferior considerations seemed to be lost in her
superior concern for the everlasting happiness of perishino-
mortals. " Never (says the late Rev. John Eyre, one of her senior ministers)
shall I lose the strong impression which was made on my mind in
a conversation I had with her, about the wants of a family who ap
peared to be in great distress :— I can do for them (said she) but very
little. I am obliged to he a spectator of miseries which I pity
but cannot relieve. For when I gave myself up to the Lord, I like
wise devoted to him all my fortune ; wilh this reserve, that I would
take with a sparing hand what might be necessary for my food and
raiment, and for the support of my children, should they live to be
reduced. I was led to this, continued she, from a consideration that
there were many benevolent persons who had no religion, who would
feel for the temporal miseries of others, and help them ; but few even
among professors, who had a proper concern for the awful condition
pf ignorant and perishing souls. What, therefore, I can save for %

316 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
while out of my own necessaries, I will give them ; but more I dare
not take without being guilty of sacrilege.' "
The value of such a life can never be ascertained till the
heavens and the earth be no more. And then, when temporal
happiness and misery shall have vanished like the illusion of a
dream, thousands and tens of thousands will be thankful that
she lived so long the faithful servant of God, and the happy
instrument of their conversion. All could see her zeal and
her devotion, but herself. The churches of Christ honoured
her as the chief of saints, but she always confessed herself to be
the chief of sinners. Her life was a better comment than all
that was ever written by expositors on those words of Christ,
" Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness,
that when ye fail they may receive you into everlasting habi
tations." What an innumerable multitude, who had never seen
her face in the flesh, were waiting with rapture to receive her
happy spirit into mansions of everlasting glory !
Another house of prayer was the next work of her Ladyship's
hands. An old gentleman of the name of Warden, a justice
of the peace for the county of Sussex, a man well known, then
occupied the mansion of Oathall, which had formerly belonged
to a branch of the house of Shirley,* from which her Ladyship
descended. Hearing of her wish to carry the Gospel into the
wilds of Sussex, he waited on her at Brighton, and offered to
let her the house for a term of years for the very purpose she
meditated. The agreement was immediately adjusted, she
entered upon the premises — fitted up a large hall for the . chapel,
* Sir Anthony Shirley, the original proprietor of Oathall, was one of the
gallant adventurers who went to annoy the Spaniards in their settlements in the
West Indies. He afterwards travelled to Persia, and returned to England in
the quality of Ambassador from the Sophi, when he published an account
of his travels. The Emperor of Germany raised him to the dignity of a Count,
and the King of Spain made him Admiral of the Levant Sea. He died in Spain.
A spirit of adventure ran through the family of the Shirleys. Sir Anthony
had two brothers, who were noted adventurers. Sir Francis, the elder
brother, was unfortunate. Sir Robert was introduced to the Persian Court
by his brother, Sir Anthony, and was also sent Ambassador from.the Sophi
to the Court of England. According to some accounts, he married a near
relation of the Sophi of Persia ; according to others, a Circassian. Lady
Shirley was confirmed in England, to whom the Queen stood godmother and
Prince Henry godfather. Her portrait was painted by Vandyck, from which
a print was takert, that is now very scarce.
William Shirley, of Oathall, emigrated to America, and was Governor of the
province of Massachusetts Bay and of the Bahama Islands. He visited England
in 1760, where he remained some years, but returned to America, where he
died in 1771. His only surviving son was Governor of the Leeward Islands,
a Major General in the army. He was created a Baronet in 1786. His son
was named Sir William Warden Shirley, on whose death, in 1815, the title
became extinct.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 317
and furnished the upper rooms for her own residence, and for the
ministers she brought with her. There Messrs. Romaine, Venn,
Madan, Berridge, Shirley, Townsend, Toplady, and Haweis,
with many others, yielded their services, and there were they
blessed with some singular tokens of divine favour among
a people in whom much of the simplicity of the Gospel was
apparent. Captain Scott, son of Richard Scott, Esq., of Betton, in the
county of Salop, an ancient and highly respectable family,
having received a polite education, embraced the profession of
arms in his" seventeenth year. He began his military career as
cornet, and was promoted to the rank of Captain in the 7th
regiment of dragoons. He was present at the famous battle
fought near Minden, on the first August, 1759, attached to
the cavalry of the right wing, commanded by Lord George
Sackville. The danger to which, as a soldier, he was exposed, was
seriously impressed upon his mind. This led to a train of
thought and a succession of resolutions, which appear to have
been preparatory to his acquiring self-knowledge, to his recep
tion of the Gospel, and which eventually led to the conversion
of his soul.
It was daily his practice, (though felt as a toilsome duty,) to
read the psalms and lessons of the day ; a practice well known
to his brother officers : but as his conduct in other respects
conformed to theirs, they gave him no opposition, but were used
pleasantly to ask him, " Well Scott, have you read your psalms
and lessons to day ?" But while he continued to strive to make
himself righteous by his own works, he necessarily laboured in
vain. Happening to be quartered somewhere in the neigh
bourhood of Oathall, and being out on a shooting party, he was
driven by a storm for cover to the house of a farmer, with whom
some horses of the regiment were at grass. There he found
several labourers who had taken shelter in the same cottage.
The farmer being a pious man, and Captain Scott happening at
this time to be in one of his " religious fits," as he was accus
tomed to call his periods of good resolution, he entered into
conversation, and heard them speak on divine subjects in a way
that astonished him. This naturally produced the enquiry,
where they had collected their information, and the sentiments
they expressed ; they told him at the hall yonder, where there
was now a very famous man, a Mr. Romaine, preaching for
Lady Huntingdon, and they importunately invited him to come
and hear for himself. This he determined to do the following
Sunday. Thither he accordingly repaired; and he was par-

318 THE LIFE AND TIMES Of
ticularly struck with the neatness and solemnity which pervaded
the congregation, as well as with the impressive manner in which
the service was conducted. Mr. Romaine preached on our
Lord's words, in John xiv. 6. — " I am the way." The truth
then delivered was exactly suited to the case of Captain Scott ;
and God, who in his good providence had brought him to hear
it, by the power of his grace, made it effectual to the everlasting
benefit of his soul. From that time the happy chance com
menced for which hundreds have since had reason to bless God,
who have been called under his ministry!
He continued a soldier, but his altered conduct exposed him
to many annoyances in the army: and as he was marching
through Leicester with his regiment, he opened his commission
as a minister of the Lord Jesus Christ. A pious person, to
whom he was introduced, having, probably, been informed of
his usefulness in holding meetings with some of the men of his
regiment, put him into a parlour, and left him with no other
company but a Bible, a Hymn-book, and his God, telling him
that he must preach there that evening. He complied with the
earnest request, and thus entered into that work to which the
Great Head of the Church had chosen him, and in which he
honoured him with abundant success.
Having put his hand to the plough he never turned back, but
preached in his regimentals wherever he was stationed. Mr.
Fletcher, in a letter to Lady Huntingdon, says —
rt I went last Monday to meet Captain Scott, one of the fruits that
have grown for the Lord at Oathall — a captain of the truth— a bold
soldier of Jesus Christ. God hath thrown down before him the mid
dle wall of bigotry, and he- boldly launches into an irregular usefulness.
For some months he has exhorted his dragoons daily ; for some
weeks he hath preached publicly at Leicester in the Methodist meet
ing-house, in his regimentals, to numerous congregations, with good
success. The stiff regular ones pursue him with hue and cry, but I
believe he is quite beyond their reach. God keep him zealous and
simple ! I believe this red coat will shame many a black "one. I am
sure he shames me."
In a subsequent letter she adds : —
" Captain Scott set out last Monday for York, after making a great
stir for good in Shrewsbury — he hath been a prophet to several in his
own country."
Mr. Whitefield gave some account of him in the Tabernacle
pulpit, and said —
" I have invited the Captain to come to London, and bring his ar
tillery to Tabernacle-rampart, and try what execution he can do here."

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 310
He was one of the supplies there for upwards of twenty years ;
and, it should be noticed, to the praise of Mr. Romaine's liber
ality, that he not only gave him encouragement to preach, but
was .particularly active in bringing him to that place. A tre
mendous storm of thunder and lightning, which took place as he
was entering London, was construed him as a probable indi
cation of the divine displeasure, and caused him to fear that the
case of the old prophet misleading the young one was exemplified
in his present circumstance. He, however, persevered, and
came to the Tabernacle, where an immense congregation was
assembled to hear him ; but when the season for addressing
them arrived, he was absorbed in tears, and his utterance com
pletely failed him; at length he became, composed, and was
enabled to deliver his message in a manner that laid the founda
tion of his future popularity in London.
After a while Captain Scott sold his commission, and quitted
the army for the ministry of the Gospel ; and thus ended all the
brilliant views of military rank and fame to which, had he con
tinued in the army, he might have aspired. He was well quali
fied for a military command. His mind was fertile, his appre
hension quick, his utterance ready, and his fortitude great.
The way to worldly honour was open before him. He had a
prospect of obtaining what was once the object of his highest
ambition, but the great Sovereign of the world and the church
had destined him to more important services and higher honours
than any that mere military heroes can ever perform or attain.
Another fruit of the ministry of her Ladyship's chaplains at
Oathall was an old man, called Abraham. He was born in
Sussex ; being an idle youth, he enlisted for a soldier, and after
fifty years' service, obtained his discharge, and with his wife
settled near Oathall. He grew serious, sought after truth,
attended at church, and not quite satisfied with what he heard
at home, went round to the neighbouring churches ; but what
he heard seemed very unsatisfactory and contradictory to what
the Church prayers he read seemed to speak. Uncertain what
was truth, he roamed about, till providentially the chapelo pened
by Lady Huntingdon at Oathall awakened attention ; and though
he did not like the Methodists, he resolved for once to go and
hear. He was then just a hundred years old, but still heartv,
and in the perfect use of his faculties. Mr. Venn was at
that time with Lady Huntingdon, and preached at Oathall the
morning old Abraham attended. The truth struck his mind
with an evidence and power he had never before felt. He listened
with the deepest attention and delight ; he could hardly contain
himself; and as soon as the service- was ended, he laid his haijd

326 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
upon the shoulder of a neighbour who was next him, " Ah !
(says he) neighbour, this is the very truth of God's word, whicli
I have been seeking, and never heard it so plain- before. Here
will I abide."
From that day his conversation bespoke the blessed Spirit
he had received. He spoke of that day as the day of his birth,
and used to say that he was a child born at a hundred years old.
He attended all the ministers whom Lady Huntingdon sent, and
continued to make happy advances in knowledge and experience.
His age and white head made him very distinguished, and his
conversation rendered him very precious to all the serious per
sons round the neighbourhood.
One day Lady Huntingdon was talking with him, and he was
giving an account of his little trials to her : — " Ah, my Lady
(says he), 'tis my grief that my old partner is a little too apt to
run ahead sometimes : but I tell ye what happened the other
day, when that remarkable darkness and tempest came over us
here, she was terribly frightened, and thought it was the day of
judgment, and in she ran with an old gossip of hers, who was
of her mind, and against me, and down they fell upon their
knees upon the floor, and said Abraham, come and pray for us;
so said I, what is the matter, dame ? O, said she, it is the day of
judgment ! it is the day of judgment ! ar'n't you afraid? Afraid !
no, said I, what should I be afraid of ? If it is the day of judg
ment, then I shall see Christ Jesus my Lord, and that will be a
joyful sight. So, my Lady, I began to sing a hymn. By and by
the storm was over, and then they both forgot the fright it had
put them in." He died in the 106th year- of his age, persever
ing in the Christian walk, and adorning the doctrine of our
Saviour in all things ; and as a ripe sheaf in the day of harvest
was gathered into the bosom of our Saviour in peace by a gentle
dissolution, old and full of days.
The summer of 1762, Lady Huntingdon spent principally in
Yorkshire, where her ever active spirit was engaged in forming
fresh plans for erecting the standard of Immanuel "amongst the
thickest ranks of his enemies." The "little cloud" at Brigh
ton, vvhich at the first was " no bigger than a man's hand,"
had gradually increased, and diffused such a copious shower of
blessings as fertilised the hearts of many in that part of the
vineyard. Anxious that the progress of the Gospel should still
continue to increase, that the banner of redeeming love should
be unfurled wider, and the sound of the Gospel-trumpet wax
louder and louder in that favoured place, she continued her
exertions in procuring suitable supplies, and sought the aid of
those apostolic labourers who were fired with zeal for their Mas-

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 321
ter's honour, to convey this best of blessing.s to the many yet
enveloped in the shades of ignorance and perishing for lack of
knowledge. Mr. Fletcher was obliged to decline her Ladyship's invitation
as will be seen by the following extract from a letter, dated
Madely, 26th July, 1762, and addressed to the Countess of
Huntingdon, Knaresborough, Yorkshire. " I humbly thank you
for your obliging invitation to wait for your Ladyship at Bright-
helmstone. It was the more welcome as it hath removed the
fear I had that my wish was presumptuous. Hitherto I have
been closely tied to my parish : no clergymen choose to have
any intercourse with me, and I have not yet preached out of
my church. Of late, blessed be the precious name of Jesus for
it, the work deepens in the hearts of those that have been con
vinced, and I begin not to be at a loss for the company of some
sincere fellow-travellers to our Jerusalem above. One is now
entering that glorious city through the gate of death, with the
steadiness of faitii and the joy of hope, which attended dear
Mr. Jones* in his lost moments. Mav our latter end be like
theirs." Mr. Romaine says —
" I have so managed my matters as to be able to set out for Bright-
helmstone on Monday morning next : and, God willing, shall stay there
till Michaelmas. 0 ! join your prayers with ours, that the Lord of the
harvest would be with us, and bless our labours in this part of his har
vest-field. By all accounts the desires of the people are very pressing
for my coming down to help them, which I hope is ofthe Lord's doing,
and is a good token for us. But be that as it will, it is ours to sow the
seed, to rain and shine upon it and to give the increase is God's part.
To him we must leave it.
" I should be glad to hear from your Ladyship about any part of my
work in Brigbtbelmstone, and any thing you vvould have me to do rela
ting to your house or affairs while I am there. It would be a pleasure
to me to hear from you. I am, with my wishes for yours and Lady
Selina's health, your faithful friend and servant for the Lord's sake,
" August 21, 1762. " W. Romaine.
" 1 breakfasted this morning with Sir Charles Hotham, who is, I
i think, in good spirits, and all his friends."
About this time Mr. Wesley's doctrine of the perfection of
the Christian character was taken up and carried to extravagant
enthusiasm by several ministers, of whom Mr. Fletcher speaks
in the following extract : —
" I have a particular regard for Maxfield and Bell ; both of them are
* The apostolic Griffith Jones, rector of Llandowrer, in Carmarthenshire.
VOL.1. — Y

322 The life and times of
my correspondents, I am strongly prejudiced in favour of ibe witnes
ses, and do not willingly receive what is said against them ; but allow
ing that what is reported is one half mere exaggeration, the tenth part
ofthe rest shews that spiritual pride, presumption, arrogance, stubborn
ness, party spirit, uncharitablenes-s, prophetic mistakes — in short, that
every sinew of enthusiasm is now at work in many of that body. I
do not credit any one's bare word, but I ground my sentiments on Bell's
own letters.
" May I presume, unasked, to lay before you my mite of observation.
If I had it in my power to overlook the matter, as you have, would it
be wrong in me calmly to sit down with some unprejudiced friends
;md lovers of both parties, and fix with them the marks and symptoms
>if' enthusiasm ; then insist, at first in love, and afterwards if necessary,
with all the weight of my authority, upon those who have them, or
jpleadfor them, either to stand to the sober rule of Christianity, or
openly to depart from us ?"
Matters every day became more desperate ; and when Mr.
Maxfield was excluded from preaching in the chapels of Mr.
Wesley, he took one for himself, and drew away several hundreds
ofthe society. The conduct of George Bell and his, followers
drew great odium on the whole body of the Methodists. Their
wildness and enthusiasm daily increasing, Lady Huntingdon
hastened to London to endeavour to stop the plague by every
means in her power.
Her Ladyship had frequent opportunities of speaking to Mr.
Maxfield and others ; and her conversation seems to have had
some effect upon that gentleman, for from that time he became
more settled and more Calvinistic in his sentiments. Soon
after the change in his opinions he published an answer, to Mr.
Wesley's Narrative, which Mr. Wesley was far from approving.
" It was (says he) at the pressing instances of Mr. Whitefield
and Lady Huntingdon that he wrote that wretched book against
me." Mr. Fletcher did not consider it a wretched performance,
for, after a critical examination of it, he says : —
" Mr. Maxfield's reply to Mr. Wesley's answer seems to me just in
some points, and in others too severe. Mr. Wesley is, perhaps, too
tenacious of some expressions, and too prone to credit what he wishes
concerning some mistaken witnesses of the state of fathers in Christ. <
Mr. Maxfield, perhaps, esteems too little the inestimable privilege of
being perfected in that love which casts out fear. But, in general, I
conceive, if I do not presume of myself in answering your question,
that it would be better for babes, or young men in Christ, to cry for a
growth in grace, than to dispute whether fathers in Christ enjoy such
or such privileges."
Mr. Romaine's visit to Brighton and the effects of his minis
try were pecuharly useful at this time, for some of these enthu-

SELlNA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 32 3
siastic notions on the doctrine of perfection, which had caused
such mischief in London, had crept amongst the society there,
and threatened to disturb the peace and tranquillity of the
Church of Christ in that place. Mr. Romaine's letter to Lady
Huntingdon, dated Lambeth, Nov. 11, 1762, details the par
ticulars of what occurred on this occasion : —
" Madam. — As you have got Mr. Madan down with you, I hope the
Lord Christ will make his ministry useful, and that his stay may be as
long-as he chooses. I will undertake for any duty at the Lock, or for
all the duty, if he would let Mr. Haweis go his intended journey.
Although this be inconvenient for me, yet I don't mind that. I find
my heart very closely knit to the little church at Brighthelmstone,
and would do any thing to promote their true happiness. My love to
them would turn inconvenience mto a pleasure. Since I came to town
several things have happened to make the people more clear to me
than when I was among them. I find they are not to live long in peace
— they are going on too well to meet with no disturbance. The enemy
has begun to attack them, and has in part succeeded. He sees how
safe they are while they make Jesus all their salvation and all their hope
— and how happy, while they live wholly by faith upon him, and this
vexes old Satan. Since he cannot dethrone our exalted Head in heaven,
he shews his malice against Ms members upon earth. The temptation
with which at this day he disturbs them, is to hinder them from living
upon Christ, as poor needy helpless sinners, and from finding by faith
all they want in his fulness. This exalts the Saviour too much, and
makes them too safe and happy ; therefore Satan would persuade them
to get riches, strength, and a clean heart, quite without sin in them
selves ; so that then they may look inward with complacency and de
light, and look outward on others of supposed smaller attainments with
a stand by — I AM holier than thou, and look upward with a Gorf, 7
thank thee that I am not as other men are. Thus you see pride enters
in and Christ is thrust out."
Mr. Madan appears to have remained at Brighton nearly
three months, with much utility to the cause of God in that
town. Desirous of supplying his place with the services of
some able minister, her Ladyship wrote to Mr. Berridge, Mr.
Romaine, and Mr. Venn, inviting them to Brighton, to proclaim
the " unsearchable riches of Christ" to a rapidly increasing
congregation. »
Mr. Berridge says, in a letter dated Everton, Nov. 16, 1762 : —
" I cannot see my call to Brighthelmstone ; and I ought to sec it for
myself, not another for me. Was any good done when I was there ?
It was God's doing : all the glory be to him. This shows I did not
then go without my Master, but it is no proof of a second call. Many
single calls have I had to villages when some good was done, but no
further call. I am not well able to ride so long a journey, and my heart
Y2

324 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
is utterly set against wheel-carriages in these roads. Indeed I see not
my call — I cannot think of the journey ; and therefore pray your Lady
ship to think no more of it. I write thus plainly, not out of froward-
ness I trust, but to save your Ladyship the trouble of sending a second
request, and myself the pain of returning a second denial. You threaten
me, Madam, like a Pope, not like a Mother in Israel, when you declare
roundly that God will scourge me if I do not come : but I know your
Ladyship's good meaning, and this menace was not despised. It made
me slow in resolving, and of course slow in writing ; it made me also
attend to the state of my own mind during its deliberation, which was
as follows : Whilst I was looking towards the sea, partly drawn thither
with the hope of doing good, and partly driven by your Vatican Bull, I
found nothing but thorns in my way ; hut as soon as I turned my eyes
from it, I found peace ; and now, whilst I am sending a peremptory
denial, I feel no check or reproof within, which I generally do when
I am not willing to go about my Master's business."
Mr. Venn observes, in a letter, dated Huddersfield, Decem
ber 10, 1762 :—
" In March or April I may be able to visit you and give you some
little assistance. I do love to minister to the dear flock at Brighton ;
and in order to do this, may the Spirit of God open the eyes of my
understanding more and more to see my need of a Saviour ; and to
behold the suitableness, the freeness, and fulness of redemption, which
was wrought out by the Lord of Life and Gloiy. 0 help me with
your prayers — for truly I need them. I thank you ten thousand times
for all your repeated marks of love and generosity to me and mine.
Continue to pray for me, and the Lord will return it to you sevenfold."
Mr. Romaine says, under date of Lambeth, Dec. 28, 1762 : —
" Dear Madam — I have received the enclosed in a letter from Mr.
Grimshaw, and beingengaged to preach onSaturday evening at the Lock,
I could not send it till this day's post. My heart and my prayers are
with you ; but the Lord does not make a way for me visit you. To
him I submit in this (although it be a great self-denial), as well as in
other things. His will is always good, and it is always good for us to
be resigned to it ; but when the Spirit is willing, the flesh is often
weak, therefore the Lord repeats lesson upon lesson, line upon line, to
teach us to submit to his blessed and holy will. I am a poor dull
scholar, but he is a kind Master, and through him I get on, though
halting and slowly. Such am I and such is he, that I can be telling
of nothing else but of his salvation all the day long. _
" I cannot forget the dear little church. I think they must he
better for my fervent prayers. The Lord Christ keep them all, and
add to their number. I hear Bateman has left you, but I have not seen
her. This life itself is changing, and therefore we need not wonder
all things in it change. But Jesus is the same — He changeth not ;
and the happiness derived from Him is the only unchanging happiness.
May this be your portion and mine ! more we cannot ask, more we can
not have. I am, with great respect, for the Lord's sake, your servant."

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 325
On the -departure of Mr. Madan for London, his place was
supplied by Mr. Fletcher, who continued some weeks at Brigh
ton, and was succeeded by Mr. Howel Davies. The labours of
these excellent men contributed, with the divine blessing, to the
restoration of peace and the healing of those divisions which
had caused Lady Huntingdon and her friends so much uneasi
ness and anxiety. By the recent death of Mr. Jones, of St.
Saviour's, she was deprived of a valuable and useful auxiliary in
the great work in which she was engaged. He had often
preached at her Ladyship's in London, and she had calculated
on his services at Brighton and Oathall. His first awakening
was by the gradual working of the law upon his conscience ; and
his inward convictions of siu, wrought by the Spirit of God,
were very deep and distressing. While under this concern
Lady Huntingdon's acquaintance with him first began ; and her
great intimacy and friendship gave her a constant opportunity
of being a witness of God's gracious dealings with his soul.
He was greatly strengthened and established in the faith of the
Gospel by her Ladyship's advice and conversation. He had
great gifts, and great grace ; and he needed both for the work
to which Providence called him. His sweetness of natural tem
per, eminently great as it was, would never have supported him
under the numberless insults he met with, had it not been
strengthened, as well as adorned, by a sublimer influence. It
was this, and only this, which enabled him to overcome evil
with good, as well as to have, not the form only, but the power
of godliness.
" Dear Mr. Jones (observes her Ladyship) lived happily and died
rejoicing. He was long the subject of affliction, and often at death's
door. But he was refined in the furnace of affliction, and his growth
in grace and knowledge of the Saviour, great and remarkable. My
foolish heart fondly looked to his ministerial labours at Brighton ; but
our glorious Head has frustrated my views in this, as well as in many
other ways, to humble me, and teach me to look more constantly to
Him who doeth what seemeth him best."
Mr. Jones exchanged this lower world of sin and sorrow for
the pure unmixed joys of God's eternal kingdom above, on the
6th of June, 1762, in the thirty-third year of his age.

326

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF

CHAPTER XX.
Dr. Haweis — Mr. Romaine driven from the Chapel of the Broadway—Lord
Dartmouth — Letters from Messrs. Romaine and Conyers  Sinless Perfection
—Letters from Messrs. Romaine and Wesley—Erasmus, Bishop of Arcadia-
Mr. Toplady— Letters from Messrs. Fletcher and Berridge— Death of Lady
Selina Hastings—Colonel Hastings— Accountof Lady Selina's death— Letters
from Lord Dartmouth— Mr. Venn— Mr. Fletcher—Mr. Berridge— Oathall
Chapel— Letters from Mr. Berridge — Mr. Venn's Complete Duty of Man-
Letters from Messrs. Venn and Berridge.
Dr. Haweis was now preaching at the Lock, but the chapel in
Broadway, Westminster, becoming vacant by the death of Mr.
Briant, the widow proposed to let it to the Doctor, who applied
to the Dean of Westminster, then Bishop of Rochester, of which
see the chapel was a peculiar, for a licence. This ' modest
application was ungraciously refused. In vain did Dr. Haweis
remonstrate ; he had been oppressively driven from Oxford, and
had preached at the Lock Hospital. These were his crimes ;
and an abuse of authority was thought justifiable, in order to
crush him. Happily these repeated insults moved him not one
jot from the line chalked out for him, nor did he cease to pro
claim the glory of that God and Saviour in whom he trusted.
Dr. Haweis withdrew from the contest, but Mr. Romaine,
who had already a licence to preach in the Diocese of London,
opened the chapel, and preached with wonderful effect from that
pulpit ; but before one year expired the Bishop's mandate com
pelled him to desist, under fear of the terrors of the spiritual
court, and to leave the congregation he had with care collected.
These able men were thus denied a privilege which the most
ignorant curate in the kingdom might have enjoyed. And why?
Because they had dared to preach the Gospel, and had offended
' thereby those in authority, who loved darkness rather than light.
Lord Dartmouth offered Mr. Romaine a living in the country,
apd Mr. Whitefield invited him first, and Dr. Haweis afterwards,
to settle at the gi;eat church in Philadelphia; but both had
r,eas,ons for maintaining their stand, and rearing the cross on the
mount of the Lord's house. Mr. Romaine especially felt him
self bound, like Codes, to keep the pass against Porsenna and
his forces, yea, and if the bridge fell, to leap into the Tiber.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 327
Mr. Romaine wished to assist Lady Huntingdon, and would
have succeeded Mr. Howel Davies, at Brighton, but Mr. Madan
being refused admission to his pulpit, and Dr. Haweis being
still without a licence, he could not conveniently leave Lon
don. Mr. Downing, who had been with Mr. Romaine in town,
had departed at the very time when Mr. Davies left her Lady
ship at Brighton, and Mr. Tilney, like the Doctor, was without
a licence. To this effect he wrote to Lady Huntingdon, under
date of the 5th of February, 1763, from Lambeth ; we shall
not repeat that part of the letter of which we have just given
the substance: but the following interesting extract may be
acceptable : — •
" Our kind love and continual good wishes to Lady Huntingdon'
It would be a great blessing if the Head of the Church should have
more places open to sound lus fame and praise in your neighbourhood ;
and if he has such a gracious design, there shall not be wanting heralds
to proclaim his style and titles. Get churches and you won't want
ministers. For my part I am quite fixed, and every day more so in
my present work. I am called to it, and commanded therein to abide
with God. People say to me, you might be more useful here  or
what a great deal of good you might do there. Alas! they know me
not. What can I do ? Just nothing, except it be marring and spoiling
all that I take in hand; and I do it so entirely, that I want to hide my
face for shame. I don't know that I ever get up to open my mouth in
public, but my heart smites me ; and I am distressed beyond measure
both with the sorry stuff I utter, and also with the wretched manner
of doing it. Such a very fool surely was never set up for a preacher.
Yea, at times I am so broken down with the utter abhorrence I have
of mine own ministry, that I could go and live in the country with my
mother, and seal up my mouth. But then my dear tender Master
gives me a cordial, and tells me 'tis good for me to be kept thus low
and his own glory shall not be hurt by it. The poorness of the minis
ter shall not make the Gospel of none effect, but out of the mouths
of babes and sucklings he will perfect praise. Upon which I begin
again to lisp out his praises as well as I can, but at the very best I am
ashamed. I have such a view of the person of Christ, and of his
offices, and graces, and salvation, that when I attempt to speak of them
I know the highest description cannot come up to their true merit
and dignity, they being altogether divine and infinite : and then I am
quite discouraged, till I recollect that all the tongues in heaven can
only show forth half his praise, and therefore I hope he will for°ive
me my poor thoughts of him, and poor discourses, and poor dofn<rS
for him. I see I must live upon Him in all things, as my Saviour
and then T o-et well." »

and then I get well."
The following is
ebruary 8, 1763 :
"Madam— It is with the utmost satisfaction and with the most

The following is the letter jof Dr. Conyers, dated Helmslev
February 8, 1763 : — •''

328

TJIE LIFE AND TIMES OF

sincere affection that I now sit down to write to your Ladyship— 'tis
true I never had the happiness of seeing you, but in the bowels of
Jesus Christ do I love'you — and it is with the most longing desire that I
look forward to that happy, happy time when I trust to he with your
Ladyship for ever. 0 that blessed God! that out of mere free graeo
has opened my poor blind eyes in some measure to see his' exceeding
great love in his dear Son. It constrains my heart to love him — it binds
my affections to him — and I trust the same grace that laid hold upon
me will help me to the end,' and preserve me to his heavenly king
dom. When I examine the condition into which sin had brought me,
when I look at, one by one, the wants of my soul — my guilt, my
filthiness, my weakness, my nakedness, and my utter wretchedness—
and then contemplate the graces of the Redeemer as they are held out
to me in the Scriptures of truth— when I look at myseif, and then at
him, 0 what my heart feels !— how I admire .'—how I adore and love !
Now I know, 0 thou great and holy Lord God, that thou lovest me,
seeing thou hast not withheld thy Son, thine only Son, from me. If I
judge aright. Madam, I am pouring out my heart to one who is no
stranger to the language of Canaan. Your Ladyship is a sinner as
well as I. I know you feel it, and therefore will not be angry with
me for saying so ; and I know that I am now talking with one who
will not accuse me of running out too far, as the world calls it, in the
great Redeemer's praises, but who will join with me, nay far, very
far outdo me in love and gratitude, in thankfulness and praise, to
that precious Lamb of God who loved us and gave himself for us,
that he might make us, miserable worms of the earth, partakers of his
own eternity. 0 thou adorable Lord Jesus I what shojdd we talk of
or think of, or write of, or glory in else, but thy blessed self, who. art
altogether lovely ? What can I do ? What can your Ladyship do —
what can any one do without him ? and what- can they not do that
Lave him ? We are complete in Him — look by faith to Him who
hung upon the cross, and every mouth of every enemy is stopped,
every accusation is silenced — there is peace without and peace within,
and peace with God that passetb understanding. Dear Lady, if we
are so happy in his love when we cannot see him, 0 what shall we be
when we are made like Him, and shall see Him as he is ?
" I thank your Ladyship for your kind solicitude for my health ;
God be praised it is much better — I can preach again now; and 0
may I no longer live than I preach and love Christ Jesus ! Mr. Bent
ley has been ill, but is much better ; he sends his humblest regards to
your Ladyship. The work of God grows here. I beg your Lady
ship's prayers that it may grow more and more; and for me, that
utterance may be given unto me, that I may be preserved from evil
spirits and evil men, and from my own exceedingly evil heart.
. " 0 Madam I you know not what need I stand in of your prayers-
do let me have the comfort of them — do pray that I may go with you
to the kingdom of the dear Lord Jesus. I am your Ladyship's most
obedient and affectionate servant in our common Lord.
" Helmsley, Feb, 8, UQ3, " Richard Convers,"

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 329
With a laudable desire of enlarging the circle of his useful
ness, and with a hope that the air of the place might have a
beneficial effect on his health, Lady Huntingdon invited Dr.
Conyers to Brighton ; but he modestly declined her invitation,
observing that " the duties of his parish, which was very extensive,
demanded all his abilities, all his zeal, and all his strength ; and
that he was fearful of venturing wherejso many great and eloquent
servants of Christ had so successfully proclaimed his grace and
salvation."* On the subject of these disputes concerning perfection, we
append a letter without date — rather a remarkable circumstance
for the very regular and generally accurate writer — but it is in
scribed in the hand-writing of Lady Huntingdon — " Received at
Brightstone, March 21, 1763, S. H.," which is the reason of its
postponement to this place : —
" My Lady — For a considerable time I have had it upon my mind
t.i write a few lues to your Ladyship, although I cannot learn that
your Ladyship has ever enquired whether I was living or dead ? By
the mercy of.God I am still alive, and following the work to which he
has called me : although without any help, even in the most trying
times, from those I might have expected it from. Their voice seemed
to be rather down with him — down with him ; even to the ground. I
mean ( for I use no ceremony or circumlocution) Mr. Madan, Mr.
Haweis, Mr. Berridge, and ( I am sorry to say it), Mr. Whitefield.
Only Mr. Bomaine has shewn a truly sympathizing spirit, and acted
the part of a brother. I am the wore surprised at this, because he
owed me nothing, only the love which we all owe one another." He
was not my son in the Gospel, neither do I know that he ever received
any help throngh me. So much the more welcome was his kindness
now. The Lord repay it seven-fold into his bosom.
" As to the prophecies of these poor wild men, George Bell and
half a dozen more, I am not a jot more accountable for them than Mr.
Whitefield is ; having never countenanced them in any degree, but
opposed them from the moment I heard them. Neither have these
extravagances any foundation in any doctrine which I teach. The
loving God with all our heart, soul, and strength, and the loving all
men as Christ loved us, is and ever was, for these thirty years, the sum
of what I deliver, as pure religion and undefiled.
* The worthy doctor was not without his singularities. He would never
preach in any pulpit but his own, not even when nominated expressly by his
diocesan to preach in another church, and it was very.rarely that his most inti
mate friends could engage him to lead in family worship at their homes. A
continual hurry and flutter of spirits, to which he was unaccountably subject,
thus contracted his usefulness. The sight even of a stranger in his church
would disconcert him, especially if he thought him a minister. He used to
say to Mr. Thornton, " If you expect any blessing under my ministry, I beg you
will not bring so many black coats with you,"

330 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
" However, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved ! The
will ofthe Lord be done !
' Poor and helpless as I am, Thou dost for my vileness care !
Thou hast called me by my name ! Thou dost all my burdens bear.'
" Wishing your Ladyship a continual increase of all blessings, I anij
my Lady, your Ladyship's servant for Christ's sake, "John Wesley."
A letter from Mr. Romaine, dated Lambeth, March 26, 1763,
(five days after) appears in some degree at variance with that
of Mr. Wesley. It runs thus : —
" Madam, — Thanks to your Ladyship for your kind remembrance
of me in your last. I rejoice in your joy, and am always glad to hear
of the prosperity of your family : for yours the dear people are, and
are as nearly related as your own children are. They are also to me
tied in the best bonds, and what is in my power shall not be wanting
for them. I do not despair of seeing them for a few days before the
summer. " Enclosed is poor Mr. John's (Wesley's) letter. The contents of
it, as far as I am concerned, surprised me : for no one has spoken
more freely of what is now passing among the people than myself.
Indeed I have not preached so much as others whose names he men
tions, nor could I. My subject is one : and I dare not vary from it.
The more I read and preach upon the all-sufficiency of the adorable
Jesus, the more I am determined to know nothing but Him, and Him
crucified. But whatever stands in my way of exalting Him I would
tread upon it as the merest dross and dung. A perfection out of
Christ, call it grace, and say it is grace from him, yet with me it is all
rank pride and damnable sin. Oh ! Madam, we should be careful of
his glory, and not give it to another, least of all to ourselves. Depend
upon it, man cannot be laid too low, nor Christ set too high. I would
therefore, always aim, as good brother Grimshaw expresses it, to get
the old gentleman down, and keep him down : and then Christ
reio-ns like himself, when he is All, and man is nothing !
" I pity Mr. John from my heart. His societies are in great con
fusion ; and the point which brought them into the wildness of rant
and madness is still insisted on as much as ever. I fear the end of
this delusion. As the late alarming Providence has not had its proper
effect, and perfection is still the cry, God will certainly give them up
to some more dreadful thing. May their eyes be opened before it be
too late !
" I am glad we shall see you so soon. I rejoice for myself; hut I
fear you will not stay long. Things are not here as at Brighthelmstone.
We have many precious souls, but we really want Love. The Foun
dry, the Tabernacle, the Lock, the Meeting, yea, St. Dunstan's, has
each its party, and brotherly love is almost lost in our disputes. Thank
God, I am out of them. I wish them all well, and love them all ; and
where we differ, there is exercise for my charity. But I condemn

SELrNA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 331
none that will not subscribe to my creed. By the grace of God I am
what I am. My wife joins me in duty and affection to your Ladyship,
and we are your faithful servants in our most dear and eternally
precious Jesus, " W. Romaine."
Her Ladyship was recalled from London, after a very short
visit, by the melancholy intelligence of the serious illness of
Lady Selina Hastings, which obliged her to return" to Brighton.
The next remarkable incident of her visit to town was the
attempt of a person named Erasmus, a Greek bishop, whose see
wa?, according to the Patriarch of Constantinople, Arcadia, in
Crete, to introduce himself to her Ladyship. "There is some
thing singular in this man (writes her Ladyship),"and it strikes
me that he is not altogether what he appears or pretends to
be. Mr. Romaine, Mr. Madan, and others, have strong doubts
of the reality of his office." Mr. Wesley, however, was of
another opinion, and in opposition to the advice of his brother
Charles, and against the opinions of his best friends, obtained
orders for some of his lay-preachers from the Bishop of Arcadia.
Mr. Jones and Mr. Staniforth (the latter had been a soldier in
Flanders) were so ordained, but found their appointment so
invidiously regarded that they never exercised their functions.
Others coveted the distinction, and obtained of the foreign
bishop the laying on of hands, without Mr. Wesley's knowledge,
for which contempt of his authority he excluded the so-ordained
pastors from his Connexion. Mr. Toplady, who had great doubts
concerning the authority of Erasmus, Bishop of Arcadia, wrote
against his ordination of ministers of the Church in England,
and his objections were, with Mr. Wesley's privity, replied to
by Mr. Thomas Olivers. Mr. Wesley was accused of a breach
of the oath of supremacy, by thus availing himself of the powers
of a foreign prelate ; and he was further charged with having
pressed tbe bishop to consecrate him, Mr. Wesley himself, a
bishop, that he might have power to ordain whomsoever he
vvould. The former charge was denied by Mr. Olivers, and the
latter justified, on the ground that the inward call of Mr. Wes
ley and his followers being manifest, they naturally desired the
outward call also. This being refused them by the Eno-fish
bishops, justified them, it was believed, iu seeking it whereso
ever they pleased.
The Countess, on her return to Brighton, proceeded imme
diately to Oathall, and there, on the 12th May, 1763, was visited
with the severest domestic calamity — the loss of her affectionate
and amiable daughter, Lady Selina Hastings ; whose unwearied
attentions, kindness, and affection had been Jong a source of

332 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
comfort to the Countess amidst the many trials with which she
was surrounded. A heavier infliction could not have been laid
upon her. Lady Selina had been ill sixteen days, having been
seized on the 26th of April. She was the youngest of seven
children, four sons and three daughters, and was born Dec. 3,
1737. Her Ladyship was one of six Earls' daughters who as
sisted the Princess of Augusta in supporting the train of Queen
Charlotte, at her coronation, on the 22nd Sept. 1761. She
was to have been married with the consent of the Countess
her mother, and her brother, Francis, Earl of Huntingdon, to
her relative, Colonel George Hastings, son of Henry, Lord
Hastings, as he was called By courtesy, on account of his affinity
to the then bachelor Earl. The Colonel was two years older
than Lady Selina, and had been educated at the expense of her
father, Theophilus,* with her brother Francis. He married
(after the death of Lady Selina) Sarah, daughter of Colonel
Thomas Hodges, and died in 1802, leaving three sons, two of
whom died unmarried, and the third was Hans Francis, twelfth
Earl of Huntingdon, and father of the present Earl.
The following interesting account of the illness and death of
Lady Selina Hastings was drawn up by the good Countess
herself, and it affords an affecting evidence of her piety and
resignation : —
" It pleased our dear God and only Saviour to take from me, May
12, 1763, at three quarters after four in the morning, my dearest, my
altogether lovely child and daughter, Lady Selina Hastings, the desire
of my eyes and continual pleasure of my heart. On the 26th of April
she was taken ill of a fever, which lasted obstinate till the 17th day
from the time it began. On her going to bed she said she should never
rise from it more ; and from all she said to me through her illness, it
was evident that she continued satisfied she could not live. She said
she did not begin to think about death then, and that she had no desire
* The ninth Earl. Theophilus the eleventh Earl, was the eldest brother of
Colonel Hastings, he was the godson of the ninth Earl and educated by him.
He took orders, and obtained the family livings of Great and Little Beke, Osga-
thorp, and Belton. He was twice married, but died without issue. His first
wife, Miss Pratt, died soon after her marriage. His second wife was Betsy
Warner, a domestic of Donnington Park, with whom having had some dalliance
in his youth, and having promised her marriage as soon as he should get the
living of Beke, was reminded of his promise thirty years after it was made,
Astonished, but not ashamed of his early choice, he enquired into her character,
and finding that clear, he kept his promise. He himself published in his own
village church the bans between the Rev. Theophilus Hastings and Betsy War
ner. "My name (exclaimed the lady from an adjoining pew) is Elizahethj!"
and they were married accordingly. He had never legally claimed the title
which, however, he had personally assumed, and to which he had an undoubted
right. He died in 1804, in the 76th year of his age.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 333
to live ; therefore, my dear mofherjwhy not now ?— the Lord can make
me ready for himself in a moment, and if I live longer I may not be
better prepared; I am a poor creature — / can do nothing myself— I
only hope you will be supported. She often desired me to pray by her,
and with great earnestness accompanied me. At one time she
called me and said, ' My dearest mother, come and He down by me,
and let my heart be laid close to yours, and then- 1 shall get rest.' She
often called on the Lord Jesus to have mercy on her, and complained
of her impatience, though no one ever heard a complaint pass her lip?,
notwithstanding her sufferings were very great. I said she was blessed
with patience ; she replied, Oh, no ¦' with some tears. ^ During the
last four days, these sentences at times fell from her : — Jesus, teach
me ! — Jesus, wash me ! — cleanse me, and purify me ! Lying quiet,
she said, two angels were beckoning her and she must go, but could
not get up the ladder. Another time she said — I am as happy as my
heart can desire to be. The day before her death, I came to her and
asked if she knew me ? She answered, my dearest mother. I then
asked, if her heart was happy ? She replied, / now well miderstand
yoa ; and raising her head from the pillow, added, / am happy, very
very happy! and then put out her lips to kiss me. She gave direc
tions to her servant, Catherine Spooner, about the disposal of some
rings, observing that she mentioned it to her, lest it should shock her
dear mother to tell her. She often said, to be resigned to God's will
was all, and that she had no hope of salvation but in the mercy qf Jesus
Christ alone. Blessed are dead that die in the Lord."
Mr. Romaine, in a letter to Mrs. Medhurst, of Kippax, the
niece of Lady Huntingdon, and one of his most intimate and
attached friends, says : —
" The Lord does not leave himself without a witness among us poor
sinners. He has been doing miracles of mercy for Lady Hnnt'njdon ;
and as she hersrelf says — In the midst of judgment he remembered
mercy. You have heard, I suppose, Of Lady Selina's illness. She had
violent fever for about seventeen days, and the physicians did not
apprehend she was in any great danger, although she was near her
end. On Thursday morning about four o'clock the Lord took her to
himself. 0 what a stroke was that, say you, to Lady Huntingdon ! No,
indeed, it was all mercy, all love, like the rest of Jesus's gracious deal
ings with his people. During her illness, Lady Huntingdon had every
day many promises given her of God's kindness to her daughter; all
which she interpreted in a carnal sense, like the Jews, and thought
her daughter would recover, and do well again. By this means she
was wonderfully supported, and her spirits were kept up to the last.
And when the Lord let her see things were otherwise intended than
she thought, then he had prepared for her a fresh fund of comfort.
Por such was Lady Selina's behaviour, and such her speeches, from
the beginning of her illness, that there is no doubt but she died happy
in the arms of Jesus. My dear friend, if I had time to tell you all the
particulars of her death, your soul would abundantly rejoice, and all

334 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
that is within you would bless the God of your salvation. To him she
committed herself, trusted him, found him faithful, and declared, over
and over again, that in him she was happy. Her last words to her
mother, when she took her leave, were these : Lady Huntingdon had
said, ' My dearest child, how do you feel your heart ? are you happy ?'
Lady Selina answered, lifting up her head from tbe pillow, which she
" had not done for several days, / am happy, exceedingly happy in Jesus
— then she kissed Lady Huntingdon, and presently went home.
Although my Lady bears this so well, yet she feels it. She is but a
woman, and though a gracious one, yet grace does not destroy nature.
She is a parent, and at present incapable of writing."
r It was Lady Selina's happiness to be born of a parent who
considered a religious education the highest accomplishment
with wliich her daughter could be graced, and the most valuable
patrimony with which she could be endowed. Her disposition
was naturally amiable, and she studied to repay maternal affec
tion with an attachment that " grew with her growth, and
strengthened with her strength." Her religion was the religion
of the heart, and consisted in an habitual intercourse with her
God, from which neither the attractions of youth and fortune,
nor the dazzling splendour of high life, could divert her. Her
conduct demonstrated the reality and energy of a divine prin
ciple, always alive and active in its influence on her mind. And
as her life was aimable and useful, so its closing scenes were
highly interesting. Possessing the grace, and living the life,
she had the consolation of departing in the full enjoyment of
faith. ¦ From the commencement of her illness to the closing
scene she discovered great serenity and composure of mind,
arising from a firm reliance on the mediation, righteousness, and
atonement of the Redeemer — a sweet complacency in the con
solations of the Gospel, and the abounding display of divine
mercy to the chief of sinners, through the method of salvation.
To resign into the arms of death so affectionate and dutiful
a daughter was a severe trial to the Countess ; but the consi
deration that it was ordered by. that Being who is too wise to be
mistaken and too good to be unkind, silenced every opposing
thought. " The choicest flowers we collect from the garden of
society, which yield us the richest fragrance, too often fade in
our bosom, drop their leaves, and moulder in the dust." The
loss of such a child was very sensibly felt by her afflicted mother;
she best knew her worth, and most keenly deplored the parting
stroke. But through the whole of this suffering season, this
time of sorest anguish, she was enabled to look for help and
strength to the rock of her salvation, to yield implicit submis
sion to the will of God, to be absolutely resigned to his dispo
sal, and to repress every murmuring thought. " It is the Lord,

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 335
let him do what seemeth him good," was the prevailing senti
ment of her humble, sorrowing, submissive soul.
This was a period much to be remembered by Lady Hunting
don, for the many affecting testimonies of distress which ap
peared on every side. A multitude of consolatory letters were
addressed to her Ladyship on this afflicting event, by friends
who were united to her in that intimacy of heart whicli is felt
only by those who love the brethren for the truth's- sake. Mr.
Whiteiield was in Scotland, and just on the eve of embarking for
America, at the time of Lady Selina's illness and death. In
a letter to Mr. Keene, he says, " I rejoice to hear that good
Lady Huntingdon is so supported ;" and also to another corre
spondent — " Yours to Lady Huntingdon is taken care of. I
hear her daughter died well, and that her Ladyship is comforted
and resigned."
The Earl of Dartmouth writes, under date of Blackheath,
May 18, 1763:—
" My dear Madanip— Permit Lady Dartmouth and myself to sym
pathize with you on the recent departure of the amiable and excellent
Lady Selina Hastings. Mr. Bomaine was so good as to let me see
your Ladyship's letter to him, announcing the solemn event, and de
tailing the supports and divine consolations which she enjoyed in her
last moments. Little did we imagine when we had the pleasure of
seeing her so lately in London that she was so near the confines of the
eternal world. But we know not what a day or a night may bring forth.
Though nature must feel the loss of such a darling object, now must
your Ladyship's grief be mingled with joyful satisfaction and compla
cency that the noble evidence she gave of the grace and hope of the
Gospel, and the loving-kindness and mercy of the Saviour manifested
in her dying moments. Oh, my dear Madam, Lady Selina is now
singing the praises of redeeming love before the throne of God and of
the Lamb. ' She is happy now, and we,
Soon her happiness shall see.'
" Lady Dartmouth feels most sensibly for your Ladyship on this oc
casion, and has been deeply affected by the touching close of yonr
daughter's earthly course. We are deeply indebted to your Ladyship,
more deeply than we can express. Our obligations are of a nature
never to be repaid by us ; but you will be rewarded openly before an
assembled world, when we shall swell that innumerable train of chil
dren vvhich the Lord hath given to you. There, Madam, we shall hope
to meet you and join your beatified child. God grant you grace to feel
resigned and submissive under this event. To his never failing kind
ness and mercy we commend you — living and dying may you be the
Lord's !
" With a grateful sense of your kindness, I remain, my dear Madam
your very affectionate humble servant. " Dartmouth."

336 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Mr. Venn writes from Huddersfield, May 31, 1763, as fol
lows: —
" Amongst the many in these parts who have a love for your Lady
ship's name, and a tender sympathy with )'ou, as a member of Christ,
I desire to assure your Ladyship I do not forget to offer up many
prayers, that your present very severe cross may be sanctified, and the
agonizing separation be made supportable, by larger manifestations of
the faithfulness and marvellous loving-kindness of God our Saviour.
* * # # # *
" I was exceedingly glad to hear from Mr. Bomaine's letter to Mrs.
Medhurst, that in the midst of so much grief there is so much cause
to bless God for the manifestation of his love to your deceased daughter.
How truly are we compared to the tender short-lived flower. In the
short time of only nine months, no less than two of your Ladyship's
visiters at Knaresborough have been gathered to their long home. Mr.
Grimshaw is now before the throne above, and that very amiable youth
your Ladyship was so kind as to take some notice of, Mr. Thomas
Hudson, received his dismission about two months since. His end, as
his hfe, was much to the glory of free grace. Very delightful were
the expressions of comfort that dropped from his lips."*
Mr. Berridge writes from Everton, June 23, 1763: —
" My Lady, — I received your letter from Brighthelmstone, and hope
you will soon learn to bless your Redeemer for snatching away your
daughter so speedily. Methinks I see great mercy in the suddenness
of her removal, and when your bowels have done yearning for her you
will see it too. 0 ! what is she snatched from ? Why, truly, from the
plague of an evil heart, a wicked world, and a crafty devil — snatched
from all such bitter grief as now overwhelms you — snatched from every
thing that might wound her ear, afflict her eye, or pain her heart.
And what is she snatched to ? To a land of everlasting peace, where
the voice of the turtle is ever heard, where [every inhabitant can Jsay,
' I am no more sick ! no more whim in the head, no more plague in
the heart, but all full of Jove and full of praise, ever seeing with enrap
tured eyes, ever blessing with adoring hearts, that dear Lamb who has
washed them in his blood, and has now made them Kings and Priests
unto God for ever and ever. Amen. 0 madam ! What would you
have ? Is it not better to sing in heaven, ' Worthy is the Lamb that was
slain,' &c. than crying at Oathall, ' 0 wretched woman that I am ?' Is
it not better for her to go before, than to stay after you ? and then to be
lamenting, ' Ah my mother !' as you now lament, ' Ah my daughter !'
Is it not better to have your Selina taken to heaven, than to have your
* Mr. Hudson was brother to one of Mr. Venn's most valued and faithful
friends and correspondents, who married in 1768 the Rev. John Ryland, then
curate of Huddersfield, and afterwards successively minister of St. Mary's, Bir
mingham, and Rector of Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire. See some letters to
Miss Hudson, on the death of her hrother, in Mr. Venn's Life and Correspon
dence.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 357
heart divided between Christ and Selina ? If she was a silver idol
before, might she not have proved a golden one afterwards ? She is
gone to pay a most blessed visit, and will see you again by and by,
never to part more. Had she crossed the sea and gone to Ireland,
you could have borne it ; but now she is gone to heaven 'tis almost
intolerable. Wonderful [strange love this ! Such behaviour in others
would not surprise me, but I could almost beatyou for it; and lam sure
Selina would beat you too, if she was called back but one moment
from heaven, to gratify your fond desires. I cannot soothe you, and I
must not flatter you. I am glad the dear creature is gone to heaven
before you. Lament, if you please ; but glory, glory,. glory, be to God,
says "John Berridge."
Mr. Fletcher's letter of condolence is dated Madely, Septem
ber 10, 1763:—
" Blessed be God (he says) for giving us the unspeakable satisfac
tion to see Lady Selina safely landed, and out of the reach of vanity.
This is mercy rejoicing over judgment of a truth. This is an answer
to the blood of Jesus and prayers. This is an earnest of what the
Lord will do for my Lady in his time.
<f Come, my Lady, let us travel on, sticking close to our heavenly
guide : let us keep a hold ofthe hem of his garment ; by firmly believing
the arms of his wise providence and everlasting love are underneath
us ; let us hasten to our friends in light, and while we thus stand still,
we shall see the salvation, the great salvation of our God. He that
cometh will come, and will not tarry — even so, Lord Jesus, come
quickly, and let us all be lost together in thy love and praise."
Another passage from one of Mr. Berridge's letters, a good
specimen of his epistolary style, cannot be otherwise than
acceptable to the reader. It is dated June 27, 1763: — •
" My poor clay ever wants to teach God how to be a good potter ;
and may not your Dresden have something in it that resembles my
Delf ? You would not, like Uzziah, lay your hand on the ark of God ;
hut may you not be too solicitous about a driver of the cart ? and a
blinder hobgoblin than myself you need not desire. Indeed I am so
dissatisfied with my own carting, that, if I durst, I should throw the
whip out of my hands. Every hour I lose my way — every day for
get what I learnt the day before ; neither instruction nor correction
mends me. Yea, verily, though I know myself to be a most stupid
ass, yet at times I am ar-most conceited alao. Though not fit to
drive a dung-cart, yet at some certain seasons I can fancy myself
qualified to be the King's coachman. And nothing so much discovers
to me the sovereign hypocrisy of my heart, as when any one is so
cruelly kind as to tell me that all the mean things I say of myself are
very true. Nay, if your Ladyship should send me word that you
really think me that hobgoblin which I seem to think myself, and fully
think myself to be, it might put me so much out of coftcelt with you
tOli, I,— 2

358 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
as to fancy that your Dresden was now no better than my Delf. Oh!
I am sick, sick mighty sick of this ^elf. How can you but rejoice for
that happy creature who was delivered from this self, almost as soon
as she felt the curse of it ?"
In another letter, dated July 3, Mr. Berridge says : —
" Oh heart ! heart ! what art thou ? a mass of fooleries and absurdi
ties ! the vainest, foolishest, craftiest, wickedest thing in nature. And
yet the Lord Jesus asks me for this heart, woos me for it, died to win
it. 0 wonderful love 1 adorable condescension !
" Take it, Lord, and let it be
Ever closed to all but thee."
Again, under date of July 9, 1763, he says : —
" Mrs. Bateman has sent me a mighty pretty letter to coax me into
Sussex, and withal acquaints me that your Ladyship has been ill of a
fever, but is now better. I was glad to hear of both. Nothing expels
undue grief of mind like bodily corrections. Nothing makes the
child leave crying like the rod ; at least I find it so by experience.
However, I durst not send such consolation to many Christians, because
they are not able to see the truth or bear the weight of it. I found
your heart was sorely pained, and I pitied you, but durst not soothe
you. Por soothing, though it eases grief for a moment, only makes
Lady Self grow more burdensome, and occasions more tears in the end.
A little whipping from your Father will dry up your tears much sooner
than a thousand pretty lullabies from your brethren. And I now hope
you will be well soon."
When Lady Huntingdon removed from Brighton to Oathall,
in the June of this year (1763), she was engaged in making
arrangements for the services of her chapel, which had been sus
pended during the illness and by the death of Lady Selina.
Mr. Berridge could ,not leave Everton till relieved by Mr. Madan
or Dr. Haweis. Mr. Madan went first to Brighton, and promised
Mr. Berridge to visit Everton on Mr. Romaine's return from
Yorkshire. The Tottenham congregation would not be de
prived of the services of Mr. Dyer,* depending on Mr. Green,f
and neither the hospital chaplains^ nor the vicar of St. Dun
stan's § cared (we quote Mr. Berridge) to peep into the Totten
ham pulpit.
In the course of this summer, Mr. Venn, having come from
Huddersfield to London to superintend the publication of his
" Complete Duty of Man," proceeded thence to Brighton, on a
* Rev. George Dyer, then resident minister at Tottenham Chapel, and Lec
turer of St. George the Martyr, Southwark.
t Rev. John Green, formerly curate of Thurnscoe, in Yorkshire.
§ Messrs. Madan and Haweis.
| Mr. Romaine.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 859
visit to Lady Huntingdon. He preached frequently in Brighton,
but could not accompany her Ladyship to Oathall. On the
27th of August, after his return to Huddersfield, he wrote to
acknowledge a letter from the Countess, and observes, " I de
sire to be abased, and am rilled with the deepest wonder at the
account you send me of the Lord's prospering my poor attempts
to preach his name among your people. My visit to your
Ladyship was indeed a great blessing to my oxon soul." In the
letter he alludes to a visit which he paid to Ipswich, on his way
homeward, to his brother, Dr. Edward Venn, M.D., of St. John's
College, Cambridge, who settled as a physician at Ipswich,*
where, he tells us, his wife's brother was minister of the great
church. Mr. Romaine reached Everton on the 1st of August, and
Mr. Berridge set out for Oathall, whence, after a time, he pro
ceeded to London, and preached at the Tottenham Chapel,
and returned to Everton before the end of a month. In the
mean while, Mr. Madan had succeeded Mr. Romaine at Ever
ton, and afterwards, by Lady Huntingdon's desire, extended his
excursion to Yorkshire. Mr. Romaine had by this time reached
Brighton. In Mr. Berridge's letter to Lady Huntingdon,
written after his return home, and dated Everton, September 2,
1763, he says he heard Mr. Edwards, of Leeds, at the Taber
nacle, whom he describes as a sensible man, who seems alive, but
a wonderful admirer of method, and one who has swallowed
John Calvin whole at a mouthful. The congregation at Tot
tenham-street, when Mr. Berridge preached, were, he says,
" much like the mien and garb of an undertaker, rather dismal
than dolorous." He had been hurried from London, he says,
by a letter from Mr. Hicks, of Wrestlingworth, whose wife had
died very suddenly. He tells Lady Huntingdon that Mr.
Reevesf and Mr. Prior had been elected afternoon lecturers at
White Chapel, salary 507. a year, duty a sermon alternately on
Sunday afternoons. Mr. Maxfield, he says, grows violent, and
Bell recovers his delusion apace, bidding fair for a greater en
thusiast than ever. He speaks highly of Mr. Richardson and
~* Dr. Venn's son, Edward Venn, Esq., married his cousin, Charlotte Mary,
eldest daughter of William James Gambier, Esq., of the family of Lord
Gambier. ¦j- One of the first lay preachers, one of the first who visited Ireland, and was
included in the memorable presentation of the Grand Jury of Cork, in 1749.
He afterwards obtained episcopal ordination, and was for some years minister
of Magdalen Hospital. Here, however, the governors forbad his preaching
after his own manner, and constrained him to read from time to time a ser
mon of Archbishop Tillotson. When he became a lecturer of White Chapel
his ministry was more popular and useful, and, he often preached at Brighton
Oathall, Everton, &c, with success. * . J
%2

360 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Mr. Tilney, and concludes his long but amusing letter by pro
mising a speedy return to the Tabernacle.
Lady Huntingdon continued at Brighton. Her friends, Mrs.
Carteret and Mrs. Cavendish, were her inmates there in the
middle of September, about which period she received another
letter from Mr. Berridge, dated the Tabernacle House, but we
do not think it necessary to make any further extracts from this
interesting correspondence.

CHAPTER XXI.
Mr. Romaine — Lectureship at St. Dunstan's  Lord Mansfield — Darkness
visible  The Bishop of Peterborough — Popular election — St Ann's, Black
friars  Probation Sermon — Contest  Canvassing— Scrutiny — Second elec
tion — Suit in Chancery — Gratitude of Lady Huntingdon — Mr. Jesse — Mr.
Shirley — Mr. Romaine's views of his preferment  Lewes — Lady Hunting
don procures an opening for Mr. Romaine, for Mr. Madan, and Mr. Fletcher
—.The Oratorio — Musical taste of Mr. Madan and Dr. Haweis — Lady
Huntingdon's Chapel at Lewes opened  and re-opened — Mr. Mason — his
work on the Catechism  Mr. Edwards of Ipswich— Mr. Berridge and his
Bees  Southey's Reflections — Their Refutation—Character of Berridge—
his wit  his labours— Berridge and the Bishop.
At the beginning of the year 1764 Mr. Romaine was preach
ing at Brighton. He was now a married man, and blessed with
a family, yet his provision from the church amounted to no more
than eighteen pounds a year — such was the value of his only
perferment, the Lectureship of St. Dunstan's. But he was
chaplain to Lady Huntingdon, and had many pious friends, who
proved in his case that they had pondered on the saying " They
who minister at the altar shall live by the altar." He was be
sides singularly abstemious, a grace of poverty which secured to
him the riches of confirmed and continued health throughout a
long career of usefulness. Even the paltry pittance we have
named he was not suffered to enjoy. As at St. George's,
Hanover-square, so at St. Dunstan's his preaching offended the
rector, who always took possession of the pulpit before the
Liturgy was read through, to prevent Mr. Romaine from preach
ing. He appealed to the law, and Lord Mansfield, decided that
he could, not be excluded from the pulpit : yet the loose decision
of the judge enabled the opposite party to keep the church

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON.' 361
closed to the very latest moment, which they failed not to do,
while thousands congregated in the street, and no sooner were
the doors opened than they rushed in, to the great peril of eacli
other's lives. The churchwardens refused to light the church,
or suffer it to be lighted, and Mr. Romaine often preached by
the light of a single candle, which he held in his own hand.*
Ultimately, by the influence of the Bishop of Peterborough, this
vexatious opposition was put an end to, and he was suffered to
see his congregation.
About this time occurred a popular election for the living of
St. Ann's, Blackfriars : the right of presentation to which is
vested alternately in the Crown and in the parishioners. The
last incumbent was the nephew of the Lord Chancellor Henley,
afterwards Earl of Northington, an intimate friend of Lady
Huntingdon. This pious young clergyman had caught a putrid
fever while visiting a parishioner suffering under that disorder,
and, as Mr. Cadogan tells us, died suddenly of this frightful dis
order, after he had held the living six years and a half. " It was
immediately impressed on my mind," said Lady Huntingdon,
" that Mr. Henley's vacancy was to be filled by dear Mr. Romaine."
She spoke to the Lord Chancellor, and, at her suggestion, Mr.
Thornton and Mr. Madan made interest with the parishioners.
Mr. Romaine was absent in Yorkshire, and his canvassers fre
quently heard his pride urged against him. " He," it was said,
" disdains to ask our voices, while the candidate in canonicals
comes hat in hand, bowing from door to door."f On the 30th
• The predecessor of Mr. Romaine was Dr. Terrick, afterwards Bishop of
Peterborough : he held two lectureships in the same church, one a common
parish lectureship, supported by voluntary contribution, the other founded and
endowed by Dr. White for the use of Benchers of the Temple. Mr. Romaine
had been elected to both, hut Lord Mansfield's decision deprived him of the
parish lectureship, while it confirmed him in that of Dr. White.
t His allusion to this complaint, and the admirable answer to it in his proha-
tion sermon, we think it right to extract : — " Some have intimated that it was
from pride that I would not go ahout the parish from house to house, canvassing
for votes ; but truly it was another motive. I could not see how this could
promote the glory of God. How can it be for the honour of Jesus, that his
ministers, who have renounced fame, and riches, and ease, should be most
anxious and earnest in the pursuit of those very things which they have re
nounced ? Surely this would be getting into a worldly spirit, as much as the
spirit of parliamenteering. And as this method of canvassing cannot be for
Jesus's sake, so neither is it for our honour : it is far beneath our function.
Nor is it for your profit. What good is it to your souls ? what compliment to
your understandings ? what advantage to you, in any shape, to be directed and
applied to by every person with whom you have any connexion, or on whom
you have any dependence? Is not this depriving you ofthe freedom of your
choice ? Determined by these motives, when my friends of their own accord
put me up as a candidate, to whom I have to this hour made no application,
directly or indirectlv, I left you to yourselves. If yoil choose me, I desire to be
your servant for Jesus's sake ; and if you do not, the will of the Lord be
done."

362 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
of September, 1764, the candidates were to preach the proba
tion sermon, and Mr. Romaine apprized by his friends, was on
the spot and preached from these words : " We preach not our
selves, but Christ Jesus the Lord ; and ourselves your servants
for Jesus's sake." The sermon contained the truth, the whole
truth, and nothing but the truth, as it is in Jesus. His friends,
including Lady Huntingdon, absented themselves, in order that
the regular parishioners might not be incommoded nor have any
shadow of offence. The word was well received, and was after
wards printed, at the request of the parishioners. The election
proceeded, a scrutiny was demanded, but the qualification of the
votes could not be settled ; a second election took place, Mr.
Romaine obtained a great majority of unchallenged votes, but
the friends of the opposite candidates raised new difficulties,
and the matter was thrown into the Court of Chancery.
Pending this vexatious suit, Mr. Romaine preached for Lady
Huntingdon at Brighton, Oathall, and Bath, and took a journey
into Yorkshire to meet her Ladyship, preaching on his way at
Bretby, Derby, &c. His letters to Lady Huntingdon during
this suspense mark its influence on his mind. In one letter he
solicits her Ladyship's influence with two quakers named Webb,
who had great power with the voters. His friends, he says, ac
cuse him of being too easy, " but, ( he continues) I think not.
* * * Blackfriars' Church is desirable, but we cannot
tell whether Jesus wants it or not ,• if he does, he will bring it
about: if not his will be done." The cause was put off
from day to day ; but for the sake of order, we may here antici
pate the due chronological course of our narrative, to observe
that in the beginning of February, 1 766, the Lord Chancellor
Henley finally decreed in his favour, and he was instituted and
inducted accordingly. During the ceremony he was observed to -
tremble, and it is well known that numbers of his congregation
received their new pastor most unwillingly ; he lived, however, to
remove all their prejudices, and to bless them with, as well as
against, their own consent. While his friends were wishing him
joy of this preferment, he saw it in a different light : " It is my
Master's^will (he says) and I submit." To Lady Huntingdon he
writes : —
" Now, when I was setting up my rest, and had begun to say unto
my soul, ' soul, take thine ease,' I am called into a public station, and
to the sharpest engagement, just as I had got into winter quarters — an
engagement for life. I can see nothing before me, so long as the
breath is in my body, but war, and that with unreasonable men, a
divided parish, an angry clergy, a wicked Sodom, and a wicked world,
all to be resisted and overcome : besides all these, a sworn enemy,

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON 363
subtle and cruel, with whom I can make no peace, no, not a moment's
truce, night and day, with all his children and his host is aiming at
my destruction. When I take counsel of the flesh I begin to faint ;
hut when I go to the sanctuary I see my good cause, and my Master is
Almighty — a tried Friend, and then he makes my courage revive. Al
though I am no way fit for the work, yet he called me to it, and on
him I depend for strength to do it and for success to crown it, I utterly
despair of doing anything as of myself, and therefore the more I have to
do, I shall be forced to live more by faith upon him. In this view I hope tp
get a greatincomebymy living. I shall want my Jesus more, and shall
get closer to him. As he has made my application to him, more ne
cessary and more constant, he has given me stronger tokens of his love*
Methinks I can hear his sweet voice — ' come closer, come closer, soul !
nearer yet; I will bring you into circumstances that you cannot do
without me !"
No one strove more on his side or rejoiced more in his success
than the zealous Countess : —
" Through the gracious hand of God (says her Ladyship) my dear
and excellent Romaine has at length succeeded, and the decision ofthe
Lord Chancellor has put to silence the evd clamours of his unreason
able opponents."
Mr. Jesse, who, with Mr. Shirley, was then at Oathall, says : —
" We have had quite a little jubilee- on the confirmation of the vali
dity of our dear brother Romaine's election. Never have I seen more
heartfelt joy and gratitude than was expressed on that occasion by her
Ladyship. I verily believe that if Mr. Romaine had not gained his
election the disappointment and vexation would have well nigh killed
her." His success was ample, he was heard with reverence by his
parishioners, and vast sums were distributed out of their com
munion offerings. The neglect, by the then rulers of the
Church, of such men as Romaine, Walker of Truro, Adams of
Wintringham, Venn, Newton, Shirley, Townsend, Haweis,
Grimshaw, Berridge, Madan, Fletcher, Talbot, Conyers,
Pentycross, Milner, Jesse, and others, should be a lesson to
the candid diocesan and* Church patrons of our day. -
In the beginning of the year 1765 the Countess of Hunting
don, ever active in well doing, began to concert measures for in
troducing the Gospel into the town of Lewes, where already her
Brighton chaplains had reaped fruit. She first obtained for
Mr. Romaine one of the pulpits, where his preaching gave
great umbrage; he afterwards preached in a large room, and
ultimately in the open fields: — ¦
" All gave earnest heed (said her Ladyship) while he applied those
Solemn words, ' Behold the |Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of

364 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
the world.' I did not see one careless or inattentive person, and there
is reason to think that many poor sinners were cut to the heart."
But her Ladyship, in all her continued efforts to serve the
Master who had washed her from sin, never exalts, but debases
herself, and considers her best exertions valueless in his sight.
In February her Ladyship was in London, at the residence of (
Lady Fanny Shirley, and, in company with her chaplains, '
attended the performance of Ruth, an oratorio, at the Lock
Chapel. Mr. Madan and Dr. Haweis were both extremely
musical, and composers. The'music of " Before Jehovah's awful
throne" — "From all that dwell below the skies" — " Salvation !
O the joyful sound !" — " To God, the only wise" — ^and many
others by Mr. Madan, are well known and deservedly popular.
She returned to Brighton, and thence to Lewes, and obtained
there a pulpit for Mr. Madan and Mr. Fletcher. The clergy •
opposed them violently, and they betook themselves to a large
room, where they preached alternately to great numbers. Very
soon, however, Lady Huntingdon, erected a chapel, which was
opened on the 13th of August, 1765, by Mr. Peckwell, Mr.
Pentycross, and the Rev. George Burder, then a member of the
Tabernacle and about to enter on his ministerial career. The
chapel was regularly supplied by the ministers of Lady Hunting
don's Connexion. Mr. Jones, a student of Trevecca, occupied
it for some time, and thirty years after Dr. Peckwell's opening,
it was re-opened by the Rev. G. S. White, of Cheshunt, on the
21st of July, 1805.
Mr. William Mason, who had been brought to a knowledge of
the light by the Rev. John Wesley, and had been a class leader
in his Connexion, having attended the Tabernacle, and hearing
Mr. Whitefield and other Calvinistic preachers, withdrew from
Mr. Wesley. It was about this time that he published " A
Letter to the Rev. Dr. Free, on the morality and divinity con
tained in certain articles proposed by the Doctor to the Court of
Assistants of the Worshipful Company of Salters." This letter
was a de ence of his honoured and much esteemed friends, the
Rev. Mr. Romaine and Mr. Jones. He was a magistrate of the
county of Surrey, and resided at Rotherhithe Wall, whence he
addressed to Lady Huntingdon an apology for declining an invi
tation to Brighton. This letter is dated January 26, 1765 : —
" Many thanks (he says) for your Ladyship's honour done me in the
third invitation to Brighthelmstone. How happy should I be, if I may
be permitted an excursion from business to embrace it. Our dear Mr.
Romaine is elected to Blackfriars, 134 against 105. I heard from
dear Mrs. Romaine last week, when I dined there, that your Ladyship

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 365
is bringing up a little company for Jesus. Have you seen my poor
thoughts on a sermon and catechism for children ?"
In April Mr. Romaine again visited Brighton, and was aided
in carrying out the pious views of Lady Huntingdon by the Rev.
Howel Davies and the Rev. Peter Williams. At Worthing
several clergymen attempted to excite a riot while Mr. Davies
was preaching, and not succeeding in their efforts, went away,
threatening revenge on the first Methodist parson they might
meet. What a contrast does this conduct afford to that of Mr.
Edwards of Ipswich, a dissenting minister, who, having been re
commended to Lady Huntingdon by Mr. Williams, was invited
by her Ladyship to visit her at Brighton. " I have no objection
to truth from the lips of a Dissenter (said her Ladyship), pro
vided he has no design to form a party." Tb this Mr. Edwards
replied : —
" With an incessant dependence on the Divine Spirit, I desire that
my whole thoughts, aims, and endeavours, in the course of my minis
try, may be to lead the minds of the people to Jesus Christ's person,
offices, character, &c, and to lay no manner of stress upon the out
skirts of religion, and, like your Ladyship, practise what I explode ;
that thereby the fury of bigotry may be tamed and subdued, and, under
the blessing of God, a spirit of love may be kindled towards all who
love Jesus Christ in sincerity. Notwithstanding the sad divisions that
are in the Church, yet the children of God are one : one in relation —
one family — one flock, and, as far as they are sanctified, one in image
and likeness—one in their aims and requests — one in friendship — one
in interest and inheritance. It is a pity, then, that any should have a
narrow spirit, or any alienation of affection between them, seeing that
they have but one common interest to engage in. However, I have
had repeated evidences, from many parts of the kingdom, that your
Ladyship's truly catholic spirit has influenced many ; and a review of
that evangelical temper which yon cultivate will afford an inward satis
faction, which applause cannot give, or censure take away. What a
great historian says of Vespasian is equally applicable to your Lady
ship — that your noble descent and your rich abundance have changed
nothing in you but this, that your power of doing good is made in some
degree to answer your will, counting it a greater honour to lay out
for God than to lay up for yourselves. May your life upon earth con
tinue to a very distant period — the life of faith continually increase,
and may you daily enjoy in rich abundance that unction from the
Holy One ; and at last with a full gale enter the harbour of eternal
glory. These wishes, as they are the agreeable employ of my thoughts,
so they are the earnest prayfer of madam, your Ladyship's, &c."*
* The letter from which this extract is made is dated Ipswich, May 8, 1765.
The Rev. David Edwards was originally fixed at St. Neot's, near Everton and
Golling, where he became the friend and correspondent of Mr. Berridge and
Mr. Venn. He went to Ipswich, and remained there till 1791. and died at Wal-
ton-under-Edge, 1795.

366 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
During this summer the number of Lady Huntingdon's clerical
guests at Brighton and Oathall was increased by the visit of the
Rev. Edward Spencer, afterwards the celebrated rector of
Winkfield, near Bradford, in Wiltshire. At the time of which
we speak, he was curate to Dr. Chapman, of Bradford, master
St. John's Hospital, Bath. His preaching was appealed against
as methodistical, and complaints made to Dr. Hume, Bishop of
Salisbury. He was invited by Lady Huntingdon to join her
Connexion; but with all respect and devotion he declined this
offer, feeling that within the pale of regularity he might encounter
offence and work his master's business. During this summer her
Ladyship opened her chapels at Bretby and Bath, and did not
return to her beloved Brighton till November. In that month
Mr. Romaine addressed to her Ladyship a letter which com
menced thus : —
" Dear and honoured in our eternally precious Jesus, grace be to yon.
His mercies fail not. He is exceedingly, according to his infinite na
ture, kind and good to me and mine. In temporals beyond cur hopes.
Here we are at home in safety, and in want of nothing. In spirituals,
he is a Saviour to us, and what would we more ?"
Having spent the winter of 1765 between Brighton and Oat
hall, her Ladyship, early in the spring of 1766, applied to Mr.
Hicks, rector of Wrestlingworth, to supply her chapels for a
time. Her Ladyship's request was made through Mr. Berridge,
under date of February 12th, and a few days afterwards he
addressed to her Ladyship one of his able but eccentric notes,
declining not only for Mr. Hicks but for himself her Ladyship's
invitation : —
" As to myself (he says), I am now determined not to quit my charge
again -in a hurry. Never do I leave my bees, though for a short space
only, but at my return I find them either casting and colting, or fight
ing and robbing each other ; not gathering honey from every flower in
God's garden, but filling the air with their buzzings, and darting out
the venom of their little hearts in their fiery stings. Nay, so inflamed
they often are, and a mighty little thing disturbs them, that three
months' tinkling afterwards with a warming-pan will scarce hive them at
last, and make them settle to work again. Theyare now in a mighty
ferment, occasioned by the sounding brass of a Welsh Dyer,* who has
done me the same kind office at Everton that he has done my friend at
Tottenham. 'Tis a pity he should have the charge of anything but
wasps ; these he might allure into the treacle pot and step in before
them himself, but he never will fill a hive with honey."
He goes on thus figuratively to warn her Ladyship against
the Independents and Baptists, and other Dissenters, who were
* Rev. G. Dyer, lecturer of St. George the Martyr.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 367
at that time alluring the congregations from her Ladyship's
chapels. This singular style of Mr. Berridge has led Mr. Southey to
call him a " buffoon as well as fanatic." He was neither. Lady
Huntingdon invited him repeatedly to meet at her house the
elegant and the courtly, and Mr. Whitefield called him an
" angel of the Church," indeed employing him repeatedly as his
own substitute at Tottenham-court Chapel and the Tabernacle.
The late Mr. Simeon, of Cambridge, did not think so, when
he preached his funeral sermon. Clare Hall did not think him
either, when it presented him to the vicarage of Everton. But
his office of Moderator is abundant proof that he was neither a
buffoon or fanatic. Unhappily for Southey, when he ventured
to write the life of Wesley, he was ignorant both of the men and
the subject he handled. Mr. Watson has taught him a lesson,
which he will remember to the last hour of his existence ; and
the exclamation of George the Fourth, on the perusal of Mr.
Watson's defence of Wesley — " Oh ! my poor Poet Laureat !
my poor Poet Laureat !" — must have been cutting to Southey.
Berridge was not such a buffoon as South, nor such a punster as
Donne, nor such a satirist as Lavington. His wit never wounded
a penitent, nor hardened a sinner. It disturbed many a solemn
drone, and mortified the self-righteous ; but it never intimidated
the humble, nor led the weak to confound Methodism with
hypocrisy. He was constitutionally mercurial, and his perfect
scholarship, as a classic, enabled him to give point to piquant
thoughts: for he was equally familiar with Aristotelian and
Aristophanic Greek ; and there will be some buffoonery when
ever the latter is understood. He did not, however,
" Win a grin, where he should woo a soul."
He often caused a smile that he might create a tear : a hazardous
if not an unwarrantable experiment in the pulpit. In learning he
was inferior to very few ofthe most celebrated sons of science and
literature at the University : his masculine ability, his uniform
sobriety, and long residence at college, were favourable to im
provement ; and so insatiable was his thirst for knowledge, that
from his entrance at Clare Hall to his acceptance of the vicar
age of Everton he regularly studied fifteen hours a day ! The
late Mr. Venn, who had been in habits of intimacy with him
from their admission into college, has declared " that he was as
familiar with the learned languages as he was with his mother-
tongue." He also added — " That he could be under no temp
tation to court respect by itinerant preaching, for he merited
and enjoyed that in a high degree among all ranks of the liter
ary professions at the University."

368 the Life and times of
The mode of his public ministrations was emphatically original.
He evidently observed method in all his sermons ; but it was
unhackneyed. It was not his custom to arrange his subjects under
general heads of discourse ; but when he made the attempt, his
divisions would be particularly natural, and rigidly adhered to.
As he rarely allegorized, or accommodated the Scriptures, he
was less liable to mistake their meaning. He seldom referred to
their original text ; but when he did his remarks were pertinent.
In his discussion of general topics, his figures were new, his
illustrations apposite, and his, arguments conclusive. Though
he obtained the just reputation of being a learned man, and was
conversant with all the beauties of language, so ardent was his
desire W doing good to his most illiterate hearers, that he laid
aside an affected style of elegance, and from principle cultivated
an easy and familiar diction.
His stature was tall, but not awkward — his make was lusty,
but not corpulent — his voice deep, but not hoarse — strong, but
not noisy — his pronunciation was distinct, but not broad. In
his countenance there was gravity without grimace. His address
was solemn, but not sour — easy, but not careless — deliberate,
•but not drawling — pointed, but not personal — affectionate, but
not fawning. He would often weep, but never whine : his
sentences were short, but not ambiguous — his ideas were col
lected, but not crowded. Upon the whole, his manner and
person were agreeable and majestic. But what transcended all
the above excellences, and gave him such an ascendency in the
consciences of his numerous hearers, were the doctrines he
taught, together with' their unbounded influence upon all the
powers of his mind and transactions of his life. Deep necessity
compelled him to embrace and preach Jesus Christ ; and the
same necessity led him into more enlarged discoveries of his
grace. Living under their perpetual control, and enjoying
their ineffable sweetness, he was not only willing to impart the
truths of the everlasting Gospel, but to consecrate himself to
the service of his Lord and the souls of men. For twenty-four
years he continued to ride nearly one hundred miles and to preach
some ten or twelve sermons every week. At home, for his hearers
who came from a distance, his table was served and his stables
open for their horses, and abroad, houses and barns were rented,
lay preachers supplied, and his own expenses paid out of his own
pocket. His ear was ever attentive to the tale of woe, his eye
was keen to observe the miseries of the poor, the law of kindness
was written upon his heart, and his hand was always ready to
administer relief. The gains of his vicarage, of his fellowship,
and of his patrimonial income (for hi« father died very rich,) and

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 369
even his family plate, were appropriated to support his liberality.
He was always a favourite with Lady Huntingdon. Her con
versation and correspondence with him were greatly blessed to
his profit and advantage, and instrumental, under the divine
blessing, in leading him to clearer and more consistent views of
the plan of salvation, and of preaching the whole counsel of God
with greater boldness and clearness. To her he was indebted
for much spiritual light, and her liberality in other matters was
felt and acknowledged by him.
" Soon after I began to preach the Gospel at Everton (says
Mr. Berridge) the churches in the neighbourhood were deserted,
and mine so overcrowded, that the 'squire, who ' did not like
strangers,' he said, ' and hated to be incommoded,' joined with
the offended parsons, and soon after, a complaint having been
made against me, I was summoned before the bishop. ' Well,
Berridge (said his lordship), did I institute you to Eaton or
Potten? Why do you go preaching out of your own parish?'
' My lord (says I), I make no claims to the living of those
parishes ; 'tis true I was once at Eaton, and, finding a few poor
people assembled, I admonished them to repent of their sins, and
to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, forthe salvation of their souls.
At that very moment, my lord, there were five or six clergymen
out of their own parishes, and enjoying themselves on the Eaton
bowling-green.' ' I tell you (retorted his lordship), that if
you continue preaching where you have no right, you will very
likely be sent to Huntingdon gaol.' ' I have no more regard,
my lord, for a gaol than other folks (rejoined I), but I had
rather go there with a good conscience, than be at liberty with
out one.' His lordship looked very hard at me ' Poor fellow !
(said he), you are beside yourself, and in a few months you will
either be better or worse.' ' Then, my lord, (said I), you may
make yourself quite happy in this business ; for if I should be
better, you suppose I shall desist of my own accord, and if worse,
you need not send me to Huntingdon gaol, for I shall be better
accommodated in Bedlam.' His lordship then pathetically
entreated me, as one who had been and wished to continue my
friend, not to embitter the remaining portion of his days by any
squabbles with my brother clergymen, but to go home to my
parish, and so long as I kept within it I should be at liberty to
do what I liked there : 'As to your conscience (said his lord
ship), you know that preaching out of your parish is contrary to
the canons of the Church.' There is one canon, my lord,
(said I), which I dare not disobey, and that says, ' Go preach
the Gospel to every creature.' "
The bishop was displeased, but Berridge gave himself little

370 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
uneasiness on the subject ; in the mean while an old friend, a
fellow of Clare Hall, who was very intimate with Pitt (after
wards- Lord Chatham), stimulated him to exert his influence
with a nobleman who had been the means of the bishop's pro
motion. This noble lord immediately applied to the bishop
in behalf of Berridge, and, notwithstanding the efforts of his
numerous enemies, the good man was suffered to occupy " the
lines which had fallen to him in pleasant places." Although,
however, Mr. Berridge attributes his triumph over the 'squire
and his party to the influence of Mr. Pitt, we must not forget
that Lord Chancellor Henley, who had promoted the bishop'
(Dr. John Green) to the see of Lincoln, was the friend of Lady
Huntingdon, and that to her Ladyship's application Mr. Berridge
owed the interference with the bishop of his immediate patron,
an influence not inferior to that of the renowned Earl of Chat
ham. To this Mr. Grimshaw alludes in a letter of this period,
when he says — " May the Lord eternally bless that dear, good,
honourable Lady Huntingdon, who would defend a persecuted
minister of Christ to the last gown on her back and the last
shilling in her pocket."
In the beginning of this year her Ladyship came from Brighton
to London, and went thence to Bath, returning to town in July.
One of Mr. Berridge's very singular but powerful letters was
addressed to her Ladyship in that month. It refers, among
other matters, to the fatal illness of Mr. Beekman, a particular
friend of Mr. Whitefield's, who, with Messrs. Keene and Hardy,
managed the affairs of the Tabernacle and Tottenham-court
Chapel. We would quote this letter at length, but fear lest we
should be thought to have already trespassed too long on the
patience of the reader with the eccentric and self-condemning
letters of this excellent and amiable but very original writer.
It is a duty, however, which the biographer cannot with pro
priety neglect, to let men paint themselves. The Christian
cannot take offence at the exhibition of Christian weakness. If
any such weak brother be offended by the quaint strength of
Mr. Berridge's epistolary language, let him remember how the
Apostles speak of their own weakness and that of each other,
and let self-examination lead to better thoughts and milder
judgments. The exuberant humour of Berridge, and his very
figurative and even whimsical mode of illustration, should act
as a warning on all who feel any tendency to singularity in this
way. Let them remember, whether in writing or in speaking,
this sacred injunction — in doctrine show incorruptness, gravity,
and sincerity.
Yf$ have before us a series of letters, a correspondence be-

SELINA, COUNTESS 07 HUNTINGDON. 37l
tween Mr. Berridge and Mr. Thornton. The first of the letters
to which we allude is dated Everton, September 21, 1775, and
in it Berridge gives a whimsical account of his loss of a tooth,
of the ill effects of this loss on his utterance, of his supplying
the cavity with bees' wax, which fell out in the midst of a sermon,
and compelled him to conclude abruptly in horror of the hissing
and indistinct sounds he uttered. He goes on quaintly to relate
a struggle between himself and Lady Pride, who advises him
to go to London and have a new tooth, but to apply to Mr.
Thornton to advance 10?., which would be necessary for the
journey and the operation. To this curious letter of the vicar
of Everton the following delightful and instructive reply was
sent by Mr. Thornton, under date of Clapham, October
17,1775:— " TO THE REV. JOHN BERRIDGE.
" Dear Sir, — Your favour, with the enclo'sed note, I received : we
merchants are better taught than to be offended at any that inclose us
good bank bills, for they are always acceptable ; there is more danger
of my being awkward in the acknowledgement of the receipt than
offended. I recollect but one instance that any of your cloth put me to
the test, and that was through roguery, so I did let it travel back again
to Dr. Shylock, but I promise you I have not a thought of it now. I
shall only add, I thank you for the opportunity, and desire you will be
free with me at all times.
In some discussions we have had relative to ' The Christian World
Unmasked,' I could not help laughing with you, though at the same
time I felt a check within ; your reasons silenced, but did not satisfy
me. Your vein of humour and mine seem much alike ; if there is any
difference between us, it lies here, I would strive against mine, while
you seem to indulge yours. I fight against mine, because I find the
ludicrous spirit is just as dangerous as the sullen one : and it is much
the same to our great adversary, whether he falls in with a capricious
or facetious turn of mind. I could not forbear smiling at your humor
ous allegory about the tooth, and was pleased at the good sense dis
played in it ; yet something came across my mind — Is this method
agreeable to the idea we ought to entertain of a Father in Israel ? It
would pass mighty well in a newspaper, or anything calculated for
public entertainment ; butit certainly wanted that solidity or seriousness
that a Christian minister should write with. What the Apostle said
in another sense, will apply here, ' When I was a child, I spake as a
child,' &c. An expression of yours in your prayer before sermon, when
at Tottenham-court, struck me ; that God would give us new bread
not stale, but what was baked in the oven that day. Whether it is that
I am too little, or you too much used to such expressions, I won't pre
tend to determine ; but I could not help thinking it savoured of atten
tion to men more than fo God, I know the apology frequently made

372 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
for such language is, that the common people require it, it fixes their
attention, and affords matter for conversation afterwards ; for a sentence
out of the common road is more remembered than all the rest. This
may be true ; but the effect it has is only a loud langh among their
acquaintances, not one person is edified, and many are offended by such
like expressions. Some ministers I have known run into the other
extreme, and think something grand must be uttered to strike the
audience ; but tliis seems to me as unnecessary as the other, and both
have a twang of self-conceit, and seem like leaning to carnal wisdom.
Truth, simple truth, requires no embellishments, nor should it he
degraded ; we are not to add or to take from it, but to remember the
power is of God wholly. My reverend friend, as an old man, might he
indulged in his favourite peculiarities, if they would stop with him :
but others catch the infection, and we find young ministers and com
mon people indulging themselves in the same way : they think they
are authorised so to do by such an example. Wit in any person is
dangerous and often mischievous, when used improperly, and especially
on religious subjects ; for as the professing part of an audience will
much longer retain a witty or a low expression, than one more
serious ; so will the wicked part of it too, and turn it to the disadvan
tage of religion. I recollect but one humorous passage in all the Bible,
which is that of Elijah with the Baalites ; and when the time, place,
and circumstances are properly considered, nothing could be more
seasonable, nothing so effectually expose the impotency of their false
god, and the absurdity of their vain worship. The prophets often
speak ironically, sometimes satirically, but I do not remember of their
ever speaking ludicrously. Our Lord and his apostles never had re
course to any such methods. The short abstracts we have of their
sermons and conversations are all in serious strain, and ministers can
not copy after better examples. I dare not say that giving liberty to
a man's natural turn, or an endeavour to put and keep the people in
good humour, is sinful ; but this I may assert, such a method is univer
sally followed on the stage, and in all places of public entertainment ;
and therefore it seems to me to savour much more of the old man than
ofthe new.
" I remember you once jocularly informed me you was born with a
a fool's cap on : pray, my dear sir, is it not high time it was pulled off ?
Such an accoutrement may suit a natural birth and be of service, hut
"surely it has nothing to do with a spiritual one, nor ever can be made
ornamental to a serious man, much less to a Christian minister. I
waive mentioning Scripture injunctions, such as ' Let your speech be
with grace,' &c, as you know these better than I do. Surely they
should have some weight, for idle and unprofitable words stand forbid
den. If it should please God to give you to see things as I do, you
will think it necessary to be more guarded ; but should you think me
mistaken, I trust it will make no interruption in our friendship that I
am thus free with you, as it proceeds from a sincere love and regard.
The Tabernacle people are in general wild4and enthusiastic, and delight
in any thing out of the common, whieh is a temper of mind, though in

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 3?3
some respects necessary, yet should never be encouraged. If you and
some few others, who have the greatest influence over them, would
use the curb instead of the spur, I am persuaded the effect would bo
very blessed. Wild fire is better than no fire; but there is a divine
warmth between these two extremes which the real Christian catches,
and which when obtained is evidenced by a cool head and a warm
heart, and makes him a glorious shining example to all around him.
I desire to be earnest in prayer that we may be more and more par
takers of this heavenly wisdom, and ascribe all might,_majesty, and
dominion to the Lord alone. I am, dear Sir, yours affectionately,
"John Thornton."
The reply to this letter is an honour equally to both corre
spondents : it is addressed to John Thornton, Esq., and dated
Everton, October 22, 1765.
"Dear and honoured Sir, — Your favour of the 17th requires an
answer attended with a challenge. And I do hereby challenge you, and
defy all your acquaintances to prove, that I have a single correspondent
half so honest as yourself. Epistolary intercourses are become a polite
traffic ; and he that can say pretty things, and wink at bad things, is
an admired correspondent. Indeed, for want of due authority and
meekness on one side, and of patience and humility on the other, to
give or to take reproof, a fear of raising indignation instead of conviction,
often puts a bar on the door of my lips ; for I find where reproof does
not humble it hardens ; and the seasonable time of striking, if we can
catch ,it, is when the iron is hot — when the heart is melted down in a
furnace. Then it submits to the stroke, and takes and retains the
impression. I wish you would exercise the trade of a Gospel limner,
and draw the features of all my brethren in black, and send them their m
portraits. I believe you would do them justice every way, by giving
every cheek its proper blush, without hiding a dimple upon it. Yet I
fear, if your subsistence depended on this business, you would often want
a morsel of bread, unless I sent you a quartern loaf from Everton. As
to myself, you know the man : odd things break from me as abruptly
as croaking from a raven : I was born with a fools' cap. True, you
say, yet why is not the cap put off? it suits the first Adam, but not the
second. A very proper question, and my answer is this : a fool's cap
is not put off so readily as a night-cap. One cleaves to the head and
one to the heart. Not many prayers only, but many furnaces, are
needful for this purpose. And after all, the same thing happens to a
tainted heart as to a tainted cask, which may be sweetened by many
washings and firings, yet a scent remains still. Late furnaces have
singed the bonnet of -my cap, but the crown still abides on my head ;
and I must confess that the crown so abides in whole or in part, for
want of a closer walk with God, and nearer communion with him.
When I creep near the throne, this humour disappears, or is tempered
so well as not to be distasteful. Hear, sir, how my Master deals with
nie : when I am running wild, and saying things somewhat rash or
very quaint, he gives me an immediate blow on my breast, which stuns
me. Such a check I received whilst I was uttering that expression in
VOL.1. — A A

374 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
prayer you complained of; but the bolt was too far shot to be recovered.
Thus I had intelligence from above, before I received it from your
hand. However, I am bound to thank you, and do hereby acknow
ledge myself reimbursed for returning your note.
" And now, dear sir, having given you an honest account of myself,
and acknowledged the obligation I owe you, I would return the obli
gation in the best manner I am able. It has been a matter of surprise
to me how Dr. Conyers could accept of Deptford living, and how Mr.
Thornton could present him to it. The Lord says, ' Woe to the idle
shepherd that leaveih his flock.' Is not Helmsley flock, and a choice
flock too, left — left altogether, and left in the hands, not of shepherds
to feed, but of wolves to devour them ? Has not lucre led him to
Deptford, and has not a family connexion overruled your private judg
ment. ? You may give me a box on the ear for these questions, if you
please, and I will take it kindly, and still love and pray for you. The
Lord bless you, and bless your family, and bless your affectionate servant,
" John Berridge."
At the close of this letter Mr. Berridge alludes to a circum
stance which may require some explanation. Mr. Thornton
was induced in 1765 to visit Dr. Conyers, then rector of Helm
sley, in the North Riding in Yorkshire. Delighted as such .
men must be with each other, they became friends, and soon
after brothers, for Mr. Thornton's sister, Mrs. Knipe, a rich and
pious widow, was united to Dr. Conyers in 1765. They were
the blessing of their district; but their happiness was not long
lived, for a lingering illness carried of Mrs. Conyers, to the
deep regret of the parish ; yet was this stroke less heavy than
that by which it was followed, for within eighteen months the
rectory of St. Paul's, Deptford, the presentation to which had
been purchased by Mr. Thornton, became vacant and Dr. Con
yers was removed from his parishioners, to their heart-felt sorrow.
They were his children in the Gospel, and when we say that
the regular communicants were eighteen hundred, we need add
nothing in his praise. But he quitted them, and to avoid the con
fusion that he apprehended from their vehement leave-taking,*
he quitted Helmsley at midnight. His departure has been de
fended by some and blamed by others ; but by his parishioners
hjs loss was the more deplored, as his successor was more of the
wolf than the sheep-dog, and devastated rather than kept the fold.
* A traveller passing through the town, saw, as he approached the Market
place, a great concourse of people in bitter lamentation ; some wringing their
hands, others in a state of distraction, the tears running down their cheeks,
and with all the evidences of an agony of distress. Inquiring into the cause of
their affliction, the traveller learned with surprise that they were mourning over
the irreparable loss they were about to sustain in the removal of their minister.
Many of them declared that they would lay themselves along the road, and if
he was determined to leave them, his carriage should drive over them.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 875

CHAPTER XXII.

Mr. and Mrs. Powys— Letters— Mr. Whitefield — Mr. Fletcher_Mr. Venn— Sir
C. Hotham  Howel Harris — Chapel at Brighton re-opened— Letters— Mr.
Romaine  Mr. Talbot — Mr. Berridge — Anecdote of the Countess— Mr. De
Courcy— Mr. Vincent Perronet — Mr. Toplady — Mr. Bliss— Mr. Pentycross —
Chapel at Chichester opened — Chapel .at Petworth— at Guilford — Basing
stoke  Enlargement of that at Brighton — Mr. Thomas Jones.
Mr. and Mrs. Powys visited Lady Huntingdon at Oathall and
Brighton, in the course of this summer (1766) :* making some
stay in London, on their way, they were introduced to Mr.
Whitefield and Mr. Fletcher, and became intimate with both.
Mr. Whitefield's farewell letter to this " honoured and happy
pair," when his " cloud pointed to Bath and Bristol," theirs to
Brighthelmstone, was dated Tottenham-court, June 2, 1766:
"How glad (he says) will the noble Countess be of the intended
visit ! How will the hearts, both of the visited and the visiters, be
made to burn within them ?" Mr. Fletcher and Mr. Romaine
were at Brighton and Oathall during the visit of Mr. and
Mrs. Powys, and on their departure Mr. Venn and Sir Charles
Hotham arrived. The two latter proceeded from Brighton to
Bath, where they were' met by Mr. Howel Harris, to 'whom Sir
Charles was introduced by Lady Huntingdon ; he accompanied
them to Trevecca, whence, just before his departure with Sir
Charles and Captain Wilson for Berwick, the residence of Mr.
Powys, he wrote the following letter to Lady Huntingdon : —
" Trevecca, Nov. 30, 1766.
" Dear Madam, — The favour of yours, by Sir Charles, I began im
mediately to answer; and then again another; but your last coming
before I could send either, I can only now say, it is my real cross that
it is not in my power to come directly myself, instead of sending this,
* Thomas Powys, Esq., of Berwick, in Shropshire, was a gentleman of large
fortune, and of high connexions ; he btcame very conspicuous about this period,
in conjunction with Sir Richard Hill and Mr. Lee, of Cotery, in the same county,
for zeal in the cause of God and truth.
? Mrs. Powys was daughter of — Poole Esq., of Radbourne, in the county of
Derby. After the death of her husband (in 1775), she became ( September 23,
1776), the second wife of Sir Rowland Hill, of Hawkestone, Bart. She diedin
1790. The present representative of Lady Hill's family is Sacheverel Chandos
Pole, Esq., of Radbourne ; whose daughter, Elizabeth Maryrmarried the present
Lord Byron.
A A 2

376 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
to offer, with all readiness, any little assistance I am able. When
yours came to hand, our Saviour had been just laying your matters on
my heart in an earnest spirit of intercession, as he often does, notwith
standing the backwardness of my pen. And on my laying the contents
of your letter before those that help me here, Evan Moses said that
your matters had been of late laid often more than usual on his heart
to wrestle with God for you, &c, &c, &c, and they would all have
consented to my coming directly to Sussex, but that I had, above a
fortnight ago, sent to publish a long round, which I begin this week,
of about fifteen opportunities, where several thousands, I expect, will
attend, and several of the places I never was in before. And I had
been laying it before the Lord before I sent, and we were all in con
science afraid of disappointing so many. And on laying it again before
the Lord, it seemed clearly to be his mind I should go this round ; and
as soon as I return I trust our Saviour will help me to come to Sussex.
''I hope to commemorate our Saviour's circumcision and entrance on
bis sufferings with' your Ladyship at Brighton ; and to set out from
hence as soon as I return from my journey, in which (when you find
that nothing should have kept me from complying immediately with
your request, but being hound in spirit, as well as conscience and truth)
I am sure you will hold up my hands, and follow me with your pre
valent-prayers of faith ; and that I may be counted worthy to contribute
some weak help to your Ladyship, in your well meant labours for the
glory of the Redeemer and the good of a dark ungrateful age.
" My wife, and Hannah and Betty, Evan Moses, and Jerry Pritch
ard, all join in most grateful regards to your Ladyship; and are so far
from hindering me, that they are sorry that I can't come directly ; and
all feel a oneness between your work and ours, and that your cares
and burdens are ours. * * * * * ' *
" Will you believe me if I say I shall feel the time long till the
Lord, I trust, will bring me to Brighthelmstone. Your Ladyship's
most unworthy, but affectionate and obliged humble servant.
" Howel Harris."
Mr. Fletcher went from Brighton to London, " where (says
Mr. Whitefield) he became a scandalous Tottenham-court
preacher." Lady Huntingdon followed him to London, and
Mr., and Mrs. Powys went on a visit to Mr. Venn, in York
shire. To that place Lady Huntingdon addressed the following
letter : — •
" My dear Madam, — As I have no expectation of seeing you again
from the uncertainty of all things on earth, which suffers us not to call
anything our own that time possesses us of, I could not forbear com
municating my sentiments of love and tender regard to you and Mr.
Powys, hoping that the conviction that will follow from them will be
sufficient to assure you how glad I should be to wait upon you, though
the interposition of Providence may prevent my ever having that op
portunity. I really mean that my friendships, visits, conversation, with
every intercourse of mankind, should lead to but one end. I don't

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 377
every intercourse of mankind, should lead to but one end. I don't
mean by this merely the necessary consistency required of a religious
profession, or the splendid appearances of a devout (or sanctimonious J
character : 0, no ! these the poorest and blindest hypocrite may excel
in ; but the knowledge of truth, essentially and effectually distin
guished from all the plausible opinions about it, is my all.
" These words in your letter struck me with a simplicity I loved — .
' All I know is, that I am exceedingly ignorant, and have need to be
taught as. a little child.' To this real disposition is all truth eminently
and specially addressed ; and without this kind of docility we must
remain where we were. I don't suppose you consider it needful
to become so, as to man, but are you so before Him, who alone can
teach, guide, and lead into all truth ? Read from the 25th verse to the
end of the xivth chapter of St. Luke, and see if, out of that great multi
tude that followed him, you would have rejoiced when he turned and
said to them, " If any man come to me and hate not," fyc, " he cannot
be my disciple" for we hear of none that chose him out of that multi
tude; and in what a state of preparation for heavenly things must
that heart have been that could have embraced him, in his low and
despised estate, so highly as to fly from all things else, nearest and
dearest, as hateful, to follow Him. Is then this the disposition of
your heart, my dearest madam ? This was not said to Apostles, or
eminently chosen instruments, but if any man come to me. Should
this be our Saviour's first lesson to your heart, and it is truly in this
child-like disposition, you will naturally forego every hindrance, you
will embrace the summons, leaving all behind joyfully ; if not, you
will reason, and find out how wise you are in accommodating these
highest privileges of his Gospel with securing to yourself (from worldly
prudence) every comfort he would call you from the enjoyment of,
and rest in the consolation, doctrinally, of the sufficiency of his sacri
fice for sinners. Such, dearest madam, is the blindness and deceitful-
ness of our hearts ; whereas, true faitb in that sacrifice calls upon
all for the sacrifice of their all, in testimony of their faith ; and when
ever we see a sincere heart, though overrun with weakness, unbelief,
&c, as Peter and others, 'yet we find them brought through all to the
point their simple hearts truly aimed at ; therefore we have no reason
to he discouraged at any thing we are not now, as he first works in us
to will, and then to do, of his own good pleasure. But the reserves
willingly held at the bottom of the heart, and not being alive or awake
upon the necessity of this condition of the mind, or by evading the force
of these truths, by arguments drawn from Scripture, with art, to satisfy
the poor foolish heart, this, of all states, appears to be the worst sort;
these are those that are ever learning and never coming to the know
ledge of the truth, and carry the savour of death with them wherever
they go.
" A lady of great quality I knew, that had most serious and reli
gious sentiments, and of this world, in person, fortune, family, friends,
&c, an uncommon share : a gentleman who was well acquainted with
her and saw the snares that would beset her, in order to pervert the solid

378 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
experience of the truth, dealt most plainly with her, and showed her the
consequence of a divided heart : it gave her great pain for a time ; but
at and before her death, she often would cry out, 0, what great, what
unspeakable obligations do I now feel for that dear and faithful friend
who dealt so plainly with me : and, indeed, her death was the most
blessed proof of that solid and most substantial evidence she had of
future glory ; for mortality was swallowed up of life visibly to others.
" It is this sort of friends I feel I want for myself, who will ever
contend with every false rest I would set up ; and with faith and zeal
be hastening my slow and lazy steps through this rough wilderness of
woe ; such it only is to pilgrims, they cannot take up with what is in
it, yet loiter in that way, when faith and love would make them wings
to soar upon. #####*
"Thus, my dearest madam, may you and I practically know, under
stand, and follow, by the guidance of the Spirit of truth, the meaning
and intent of all religious truths revealed in the Bible ; unless this is
the case, Ave are and shall be found the sounding brass, and nothing
better. To our great Prophet, Priest, and King may we ever trust
and commit ourselves, and in his arms of love and mercy may we
be found, when nothing else but the merits of his death shall fill hea
ven and our hearts with his praises. I am, dearest madam, your much
obliged friend and obedient humble servant, "S. Huntingdon."
" To Mrs. Powys."
Mr. Whitefield at the same time wrote to Mr. Powys, con
gratulating him on havingaround himjfoKrMethodistpreachers;*
"enough (he observes,) when Jesus says, Loose them and let
them go, to set a whole kingdom on fire for God." " Our truly
noble mother in Israel (he continues, adverting to the Countess)
is come to London full of the scars of Christian honour : crescit
sub pondere virtus. Happy they who have the honour of her
acquaintance." In February Howel Harris came to London, and, after preach
ing for Mr. Whitefield several times, went down to Brighton to
the Countess. This was a favourite place of resort to the good
Lady Huntingdon, and there she had opened her first chapel :
which had so prospered, that she now found it necessary con
siderably to enlarge the building. Accordingly, on the 20th of
March, she gathered her chaplains around her, and the enlarged
chapel was re-opened. On the 19th her Ladyship had devoted
several hours to solemn and solitary prayer, wrestling with God
for a blessing on this house which "she had reared tp him;f and
* Mr. Venn, Mr. Ryland, Dr. Conyers, and Mr. Powley, vicar of Dewsbury.
t ItffWas not unusual with her Ladyship to anticipate the public prayers of
ner chaplains, by her own private intercessions for the congregation. Before
the officiating minister entered upon the performance of his duty, it was her cus.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 379
that night a prayer-meeting had been held in her own house
for the same purpose. On the day of opening, Mr. Whitefield
preached from 2 Peter iii. 18, "But grow in grace, and in the
knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ : to him be
glory both now and for ever. Amen." Mr. Madan preached in
the forenoon and Mr. Whitefield in the evening, and vast crowds
assembled, and heard as if deeply affected.
Mr. Fletcher, under date of" Madely, March 16th, 1767,
acknowledges her Ladyship's intimation concerning the chapel,
" her Ladyship's comfortable and profitable letter" — which he
waits to answer until he can enter into the spirit of her favourite
Mary ; but he says, "lama stupid sinner still — to say all in one
word, I am myself still;" and he continues to paint his own
struggles for power in the manner of several of his former letters.
Mr. Venn, he says, on his way from Yorkshire to Bath, brought
him the intelligence that Mr. Harris had visited her Ladyship,
and had promised to visit Madely on his return. "Jones (he
writes) has told me that he preached in your Ladyship's chapel,
and he mentions Mrs. Hill and Mr. and Mrs. Powys as having
profited by their visit to London and her Ladyship."
Mr. Harris addressed her Ladyship from Trevecca in a very
energetic letter, on the very day of the opening at Brighton : —
" I am this morning happy (he says) in viewing the glory that I
am sure is this day among you at Brighthelmstone. My prayer is that
your bow may ever abide in strength — that your faith may never fail—
and that the sacred fire may be ever blazing in your heart, life, and pen,
without which all our light is but mere death and darkness."
He promises to be in Bath in May, and adds that he has pre
vailed on Mr. Hart and Mr. Jones to be there, but that Mr. Jesse
did not well receive his remonstrance.
torn, knowing the awful responsibility of his situation, and the inestimable
value of immortal souls, to request the Great Master of assemblies to furnish him
with a subject adapted to the conditions ofthe people ; at the same time earnestly
soliciting for the preacher wisdom, utterance, power, and fidelity ; and for the
hearers a serious frame, an unprejudiced mind, and a retentive heart. Whilst
he was employed in proclaiming the glad tidings of salvation she was engaged
in pouring out her soul to the Great Shepherd and Bishop of Souls to
bless his own word ; pleading that last great promise of her crucified Lord,
" Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world." And when the
service of the sanctuary had ceased, she withdrew to her closet, and earnestly
implored the benediction of the Spirit to accompany the labours of his servants,
that many might be led to the knowledge of his grace and faith in Him.
From year to year sinners were converted from the error of their ways, and
believers were built up in their most holy faith : while she appeared among
them as a happy mother rejoicing in their prosperity, and blessed in the bless*
ings of her spiritual children. _ Thus the seed which she had so often watered
with her tears, and followed with her prayers, produced at length a plenteous
harvest of immortal souls, redeemed by the blood of Jesus,

380 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
" Mr. Romaine (he says) did not preach as I would wish ; Mr.
Madan spoke much against Sandeman (Haweis being present). You
haye heard, I suppose, of my calling at Lord Dartmouth's and seeing
there Stillingfleet, Talbot, and Powys, and Lady Gertrude Hotham's
— Sir Charles — Mrs. Cartwright and Miss Cavendish, and of what
passed at Bath, of my speaking to a society-fellowship with Lady Anne,
and expounding at Lord Buchan's," &c.
"If this comes to hand before the meeting breaks up, I beg my
warmest love to all, being really present there among you in my spirit,
and crying that all there may be indeed devoted to the Lord. 0 how
few, my dear madam, mind Him 'alone ! having no object or care but
Him ! Sure he is but little really known, else all the family would
have but one heart, one voice, one cry, one song, and one joy ! But
stop — He does not despise the day of small things, and we should
bless him that it is a day of small things now, and that the day-star
begins to rise on a dark, fallen, benighted land."
He concludes with a remembrance to Miss Orton, Mrs.
Turner, and the whole society. Mr. Romaine writes from Lam
beth, on the 26th of the month, thus : —
" Honoured Madam, — I was, according to your Ladyship's request,
at your meeting, and waited on you in spirit, with my prayers, which I
have offered up, and shall offer up, for a blessing upon it. I informed
Mrs. Cartwright and Mrs. Cavendish that this was the only way in
which I could be present with you. My curate has left me. I am
without an assistant, and cannot hear of one. The parochial duty
tires me quite, and I would not go through it, but that I am perfectly
satisfied it was the will of God I should have this church. I never
durst take the cure of souls. Several years ago Lord Dartmouth offered
me the living of Bromwich, where his seat is. I refused, never in
tending to burden myself with such a heavy charge. Since that time
I have frequently refused the like offer. When Blackfriars was vacant,
I was put up without my knowledge, being then in Yorkshire. And I
would never meddle with the election ; but it was carried on and suc
ceeded against mine one will. As sure as ever any man had a call from
heaven this was one. I have been long satisfied of this : and, there
fore, I may not reason nor now complain. My time is short ; I must
up and be doing ; for I have a home prospect, bounded in very narrow
limits. I must go briskly on with my work, leaving it to my Lord to
find me strength for it, and success in it ; his blessing I expect here,
and for ever ; not for anything done at Blackfriars; and yet I would
labour as hard as if heaven were to be the reward of my labours.
When I was allowed more time and liberty, I gladly laid them out
in your part of the vineyard, and what I can spare so I hope to do
again. The people are very dear to me at Brighton and Oathall,
having been so much with them, and personally acquainted with
most of their experiences. I shall be amongst you in all your
meetings, and shall keep up with you the communion of saints. May
much life and power be with ministers and people, and may the chapel
be consecrated anew by the presence and glory of the Lord Jesus

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 381
which have so often filled it. All with you share in my best wishes,
I am with great affection, in the bond of all union, your faithful servant
and friend, ' " W. Romaine."
In April, (1767), Lady Huntingdon and Miss Orton went
from Brighton to Bath, and thence through Wales into York
shire. Her Ladyship was much occupied in arrangements for
her College at Trevecca. In the summer of 1768 she was again
at Brighton. " Her only view in Sussex (says Mr. Romaine) is
to carry glad tidings to a wretchedly ignorant people. He has
hitherto prospered her design, and while he smiles upon it I
believe she will never give it up." The Rev. W. Talbot,*
vicar of St. Giles's, Reading, accompanied her Ladyship into
Sussex. He and his wife were pious and excellent persons, and
were both venerated by the congregations of the Countess.
About this time her Ladyship wrote two kind and consoling
letters to Mr. Berridge, who was alarmingly ill ; as he expressed
it, laid on the ground as " flat as a flounder." His letter is the
most admirable description of a disease and its effects that can
be conceived, bnt couched in the most figurative and extraordi
nary language. He excuses his declining her Ladyship's invi
tation to visit her by pleading that he has no coat fit to appear
in out of Everton, and concludes by asking her to patch his coat
by a small bank bill. Her Ladyship immediately complied
with his request, and forwarded a sum for the relief of his neces-
sities.f He afterwards grew worse, and sent to her Ladyship to
borrow a "gospel baker" (a minister), lest his parishioners
should perish for want of bread.
After the dedication of the chapel at Tunbridge Wells, Lady
Huntingdon proceeded to Lewes, accompanied by Mr. De Courcy,
who preached twice to very large congregations in the open air.
* He was the eldest son of Major-General Talbot, and grandson to the
Bishop of Durham, and nephew of Lord Chancellor Talbot, and had just been
presented to this living by the Lord Chancellor Bathurst.
t Lady Huntingdon, with that boundless generosity of heart which she
possessed, wrote to this worthy man by return of post, enclosing a bank post
bill for the supply of his temporal necessities. It was said by Captain Scott
that her Ladyship was so generous and bountiful that she did actually give to
every one who asked her, until her stock being exhausted she was destitute.
At length it became really necessary to conceal cases from her. On one occa
sion the Captain, with some other ministers, having a case presented to them,
and believing that the good Countess would give, though she could ill afford to
do so, resolved not to acquaint her with it. By seme means, however, her
Ladyship heard ofthe case, and likewise of the combination ofthe ministers to
conceal it, with which conduct she was exceedingly grieved ; and the moment
she saw Captain Scott, said, she could not have thought it of him. She burst
into tears and exclaimed, " I have never taken anything ill at your hands before ;
but this I think is very unkind 1" She then gave a hundred pounds to the case.

382 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
From thence her Ladyship went to Brighton, where she made
but a short stay, and leaving Mr. De Courcy to supply the
chapels there and at Oathall, returned to Tunbridge Wells, where
she continued till the month of August, when she took a journey
into Wales to attend the approaching anniversary of her College.
Here Mr. De Courcy laboured with great zeal, truthfulness,
and success. He did not confine himself to the ordinary routine
of labours on the Sabbath and week days, but occasionally went
from " house to house, teaching and preaching Jesus Christ."
He also held a meeting for the purpose of praying with the
society, and hearing them declare what God had done for their
souls. On these occasions he was peculiarly useful in speaking
"a word in season" to the weary, heavy laden, troubled,
tempted, and distressed soul. The great Head of the Church
did not suffer him to labour in vain, but gave him many souls as
seals to his ministry, some of whom fell asleep in Jesus before
him, and would doubtless welcome him to the realms of eternal
day. The following letter expresses Mr. De Courcy's admiration
of her Ladyship, and details his labours in her service and that
of the Lord : —
" Honoured Madam — It has been matter of concern to me that I
have not been able fully to answer your Ladyship's most affectionate
favour of the 16th inst. sooner; but I am confident you will readily
pardon my delay, when I inform your Ladyship that my dear Lord
and Master has honoured me with such constant employ in bis service
that I have really wanted leisure.
" It affords me inexpressible satisfaction to find that my poor ser
vices in the Gospel are at all acceptable to your Ladyship. And it is
matter of deep self-abasement that the Lord is pleased to render them
so agreeable, and a little profitable to the dear, dear people amongst
whom I labour. 0 my Lady ! could I give your Ladyship a window
in my breast, to discover the secret workings of my heart, you would
see, through much vileness and imperfection, that disinterested love for
the propagation of the Gospel, and ardent gratitude to the Lord for
placing me under your Ladyship's wing, and the sweet constraining mo
tions that prompt me to spend and be spent in the Sussex work. I can,
in my present situation, join issue with the Psalmist and say — ' the lots
have fallen to me in a fair place ; yea, I have a goodly heritage 1' I am
thankful, unfeignedly thankful, to your Ladyship, for honouring an un
worthy creature so far as to send him to a people among whom the
Lord resides, and to whom I feel myself so united, that a separation
from them would be a very keen trial.
" Since your Ladyship heard from me last, I have been at Hust, a
town distant about five miles from Dichlin. Prom reports we had a
prospect of a severe persecution, but that promise, ' fear not, for I am
with thee — be not dismayed, for I am thy God,' &c kept my heart at

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 383
perfect peace. Many friends from Dichlin, Oathall, Brighthelmstone,
&c, &c, accompanied me. As soon as we made our appearance in
the streets, the whole town was in a commotion, as if invaded by some
foreign enemy. It was with much difficulty I could get a chair to
stand on. I proceeded in the first hymn aud prayer, and a little of
my discourse, without interruption, but in a short time some laughed,
some shouted, others brought out a table with liquor, and began to
sing round it, whilst others blew a horn : and while I invited the in-
inhabitants of Hust freely to drink of the water of life, a poor sinner
came to me with a mug of ale in his hand, begging I would drink of
his liquor. In the midst of all this the Lord made me as bold as a
lion, so that I was enabled to bear an awful testimony against these
scoffers, and had the pleasure to see many of them so far cut down by
the word that they were silent for some time. But after I had preached
about forty minutes, the uproar was so great that I was obliged to desist,
concluding with a hymn. Towards the close of my discourse, my
bowels yearned so over these poor creatures, that I could have wept
tears of blood for their precious souls. However, notwithstanding the
tumult, many were deeply attentive, and much affected; and I have
since heard that a man in the town has made an offer of any part of his
house for us to meet in, whenever we go again. I am very confident
the Lord will have a people in Hust, and feel a longing desire to pay
it another visit.
"<Last Sunday se'nnight I went to a place called Hellingby, twenty
miles from hence. A man who lives near the place, and is a pretender
to Christianity, mvited me down by a letter, which he sent to one of
the society here, wherein he represented the parish as wholly destitute
of a minister : alleging that the curate was dismissed, and that the
rector would not supply his place. Thinking this a fair opportunity
for the introduction of the Gospel, I left this the Saturday after I saw
the letter, to go to Hellingby. In the way I called on this man, and found
to my great astonishment, that the greatest part of his letter was palpably
false, for the rector was then come. In short, he was quite indifferent,
and would not own us. This was indeed a trial ; but I remember it
was strongly impressed on my mind, that the Lord suffered this for
some wise ends, therefore faith looked to that promise — ' all things
shall work together for good,' and patience waited its fulfilment in this
affair. On Sunday morning I waited on the minister. When he
found I had some connexion with your Ladyship he would not admit
me into his church. I returned very much resigned to a few friends
from Brighthelmstone, &c, who accompanied me to a place called
Laughton, where I stood up under a branching venerable tree, and
preached to a very sweet attentive congregation, though not very nu
merous. We stood on an eminence, and made the hills and vales re
echo with the praises of the Lamb. It was a blessed season. Many were
much affected, and after I had concluded begged hard for one sermon
more. I have given them a promise, and hope soon to fulfil it • for I
long once more to stand under that same tree. The work in Sussex calls
aloud for more labourers. It is impossible for me to give your Ladyship
any idea ofthe universal thirst there is for the Gospel on every side of us

384 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
in the country parts. Every time I preach at Oathall people come to me,
and cry out, like persons famishing with hunger and begging a morsel of
bread — Oh sir, won't you come to such a place ? Indeed, I wish it were
in my power to supply every place, but my calls are so various that it is
quite impracticable. I think Mr. Harman computed ten or twelve dif
ferent parts to which we have been invited. I pray that the Lord may
send us some help. I think Sussex seems to be on fire : and though the
devil strives to extinguish the sacred flame, yet, glory be to God, it re
ceives additional strength from every fresh flood poured on it, and burns
the brighter. The Lord is reviving his work in the hearts of some
here who have lost ground. He blesses us in every meeting. Yes
terday was one ofthe days of the Son of Man. Oathall church was as
full as it could hold, and the Lord was in the midst of us. The word
was as a fire. I preached at eight in the morning five miles from Oat
hall — at eleven, at Oathall — at six, at Brighthelmstone ; and the Lord
gave me such strength of body and spirit that he enabled me to go
through the whole like a giant refreshed with new wine. I really felt
no more lassitude of spirit or fatigue of body than if I had not spoken
a word the whole day. That promise ' as thy day is, so shall thy strength
be,' was my support, and was literally fulfilled to me. 0 my Lady !
what a Master do we serve ! What an ample reward does he give us
even here ! How sweet is his service !
" My Lord and Lady Sussex were at chapel yesterday evening, and
seemed vastly attentive. I received this day a heart-revivin°- cordial
of an epistle from dear Mr. Whitefield. He rejoices in the prospect
of being with your Ladyship this summer at Tunbridge Wells. Your
Ladyship is pleased to ask me what you shall do about my ordination.
This I answer, I am certain your Ladyship will do whatever is our
Lord's will, and therefore do not presume to prescribe. I bless God
my mind is perfectly calm and resigned concerning this matter. The
ordination of the Great Bishop of Souls is infinitely more valid than
that of any creature. I feel much gratitude to the Lord, and am inex
pressibly thankful to your Ladyship for my present comfortable situation.
The free offer you make of being the friend of all my wants is more
than I desire ; and all the requital I can make is to pray that the Lord
may reward you sevenfold into your own bosom. May the Lord Jesus
bear all your burdens ! May he crown your labours with abundant
success, and give your Ladyship to see the travail of your Redeemer's
soul in the conversion of many souls ! But I must at length conclude
with most affectionate respects to Lady Buchan, Lady Anne Miss
Orton, &c., your Ladyship's much obliged and most dutiful servant,
" Richabd De Courcv.
"Brighthelmstone, June 26, 1769.
" P.S. — If it were not inconvenient I should be glad to be permitted
to ho at your Ladyship's house. For being obliged to go out warm
after preaching, I risk my health. I hope your Ladyship will pardon
this freedom. l
Mr. De Courcy was extremely popular at this period. And

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 385
so much was he esteemed in the chapels of the Countess, that
multitudes flocked from every quarter to hear him ; and the
chief Shepherd, who had furnished him with great gifts, con
descended to bless them for the awakening, quickening, and re
viving the souls of many, especially of young persons. " Surely,
my Lady (writes Mr. Fletcher,) you have found at last a man
altogether after your Ladyship's heart, in Mr. De Courcy, yea,
and a man after the Lord's own heart, whom he is pleased to
honour." The winter of 1769 Lady Huntingdon spent in London.
The first day ofthe year 1770 her Ladyship set apart for the
exercise of abstinence — for the duties of impartial examination,
humiliation, and renewed dedication of herself to God. In the
morning she was much profited under a sermon from Isaiah
xxxv. 3 : " Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the
feeble knees." The preacher was the Rev. Andrew Kinsman,
of Plymouth, then supplying the Tabernacle and Tottenham-
court Chapel — a man held in great estimation by her Ladyship
and Mr. Whitefield. In the evening she heard Mr. Romaine at
the Lock Chapel, from those striking words in the prophecies
of Jeremiah — " This year thou shalt die." From a letter written
partly on the evening of this day, but not concluded for some
days after, we extract the following passages, whicli detail the
causes of her sorrows, and from whence arose her joys : —
• I am but just returned from the Lock, where I heard a pro

fitable sermon from dear Mr. Romaine, on that awful passage—' This
year theu shalt die.' If the Lord shall see fit to remove me hence
during tbe year just commenced, may my worthless soul be numbered
with the redeemed before the throne. Of late I have enjoyed much
intimate fellowship with the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit
has frequently witnessed with my spirit that I am his child. This has
caused me to rejoice with joy unspeakable. Truly I can set up my
Ebenezer, saying, ' Hitherto the Lord hath helped me.' During the
year that is gone he appeared wonderfully in my behalf; and has
repeatedly given me to find it is not in vain to trust him. Nevertheless
I am keenly penetrated with a sense of my own utter helplessness
nothingness, aud depravity. Oh ! the desperate deceitfulness of the
human heart ! What depths of depravity are within ! I am a very
Judas, ready to betray my Lord and Master, and did not mighty grace
prevent, would have been a traitor long since. But the Lord is still
merciful and gracious, and though often provoked, has not yet forsaken
me. Through mercy I still hold fast my confidence. My anchor is fixed
and the Lord Jesus is my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and
redemption : and with the apostle I am enabled to forget those things
which are behind, and reach forth to those thing which are before."0.
But whilst inward consolation abounded, outward trials and

386 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
disappointments increased. But He who'js rich in mercy knew
what she was able to bear, and proportioned her sufferings to her
strength. In many places where she was instrumental in plant
ing the Gospel standard, great success attended the first promul
gation of divine truth, and much life and zeal glowed in the
hearts of those who received the truth in the love of it. But
after a season the scene changed, and deadness seemed to spread
over the work. To some such complaints of her Ladyship Mr.
Berridge thus replies, under the date of Everton, January 9,
1770:— " You complain that every new work, after a season, becomes a life
less work. And was it not in the beginning as it is now ? Do not
the Acts and Epistles show that the primitive churches much resembled
our own ? In their infancy we find them of one heart and soul, having
all things common ; but presently read of partiality in the distribution
of their Church-stock, then of eager and lasting contentions about cir
cumcision, coupling Moses with Jesus, and setting the servant on a level
with his master. And Gentile Churches were much on a footing with
Jewish. The Corinthians soon fell into parties about their leaders,
into errors about the resurrection, and into many gross immoralities.
The Galatians seemed ready at first to present Paul with their own
' eyes, but grew desirous at last of plucking out his. The Ephesians
had been much tossed with winds of doctrine. The Colossians had
fallen into will worship, &c. ; and the Thessalonians had some of our
gossips among them who would not work, but sauntered about picking
up news and telling tales. St. Paul's labours were much employed
in Asia, and many churches were gathered there ; yet I hear him
complaining in a certain place ' that all they in Asia were turned aside
from him.' The General Epistles, which were written late, unanimously
show that errors and corruptions had broke into all churches during
the Apostle's life-time : and the seven Epistles dictated by Jesus in
the Revelations confirm the same. Scripture mentions a former and
a latter rain : between which there must of course be an interval of
drought and barrenness. The former rain falls just after seed-time ;
when there is plenty of manna coming down from above, plenty of
honey flowing out of the rock, and plenty of joyful hosannahs rising
up to Jesus. After this rain comes the interval ; during which most
of the stony and thorny grounds sheer off, taking a final leave of
Jesus ; and the good grounds are scarcely discernible, so barren they
appear and full of weeds, and so exceedingly cold and swampy. Now
one soars up into the cloud of perfection, crying out, / am a queen J
and becomes the devil's goddess. Another falls asleep and snores hard
in election ; God's truth, indeed, is often made the devil's cradle. A
third drops plump into a pond, and then keeps roaming day and night
about the devil's wash-pot. A fourth gets bemired in the world, and
lies quite contented, though nearly choked in the devil's quagmire.
At length the Lord ariseth in just indignation to chastise and vex his
people, continuing his plagues till he has broken their bones and hum-

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 387
bled their hearts, causing them to see, and feel, aud loath their back-
slidings, and raising up a sigh and a cry in their hearts for deliverance.
Then comes the latter rain to revive and settle ; after which they learn
to walk humbly with God."
Some time during the month of -January her Ladyship paid
a visit to that very venerable man, Vincent Perronet, vicar of
Shoreham, in Kent, who -had but just recovered from a long
illness — a man certainly entitled, on various accounts, to a con
spicuous place amongst the brightest ornaments of the Christian
Church in the last century. For though he was possessed of
talents and accomplishments which would have qualified him to
have filled any station with dignity, and his connexions in life
were such that he had good reason to expect considerable pre
ferment ; yet as soon as the glorious light of the Gospel visited
his mind, he instantly renounced every prospect of temporal
advantage, counting all things but loss for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord. And from that moment
he unreservedly devoted himself to the glory of his Redeemer
and the interests of the Church militant.
With Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Perronet had occasionally cor
responded, but till this period never had a personal interview with
her Ladyship, who was much impressed with the manly and ex
alted nature of his piety, his Christian courtesy, and the cheer
fulness and sweetness of his disposition and deportment. " A
most heavenlyman (says her Ladyship) with the most lively piety,
joined with the profoundest humility and ardent concern for the
salvation of the people committed to his charge." And as he
was one of the most aged ministers of Christ in the kingdom, so
he was inferior to none, either in the fervour of his spirit, the
simplicity of his manners, or the ancient hospitality of the Gos
pel. At the same time, those who were favoured with his friend
ship can never forget the delicacy and refinement of his senti
ments and the frankness and generosity of his temper ; qualities
which are not to be expected but from great and liberal minds.
Lady Huntingdon was accompanied by Mr. Wesley, who re
mained at Shoreham a few days, whilst her Ladyship proceeded
to Tunbridge Wells to regulate some affairs connected with her
chapel there. From thence she went to Brighton and Oathall,
where Mr. Romaine had arrived a day or two before. Her Lady
ship returned to her residence, in Portland-row, in the month of
February. On Tuesday, the 6th, Mr. Wesley administered the
sacrament at her house for the last time. Mr. Maxfield preached
and spoke strongly against Perfection, a doctrine Mr. Wesley
contended for at this time with much zeal. The following week,
however, he was again at her Ladyship's house, when Mr.

388 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Talbot, of Reading, administered the Lord's Supper, and Mr.
Browne, of Olney, preached, after which Mr. Wesley concluded
with prayer and the usual benediction.
For some weeks Mr. Talbot and Mr. Browne administered
the sacrament and preached afternately at her Ladyship's, as
sisted by Mr. Maxfield, Mr. Green, and Mr. Foster, then curate
and lecturer of St. Ann's, Blackfriars. Early in March Mr.
Romaine returned to London, and on the 5th accompanied her
Ladyship to Reading, where she remained a few days with her
excellent friends, Mr. and Mrs. Talbot. On the 9th she reached
Bristol, where Mr. Romaine preached twice on Sunday the 11th.
The next day she went to Bath ; and the following evening
Mr. Romaine preached in the chapel to a very large and serious
congregation. Passing through Stroud and Painswick, she
arrived at Cheltenham, Wednesday the 14th. Being refused
the use of the parish church, Mr. Romaine addressed a numerous
body of people in a large school-room, where Mr. Madan, Mr.
Talbot, and others had occasionally preached some years before.
On the 1 6th her Ladyship left Cheltenham for Oxford, and the
following day reached Reading, where she remained till Mon
day, Mr. Romaine having engaged to preach on the Sunday for
Mr. Talbot. After spending two days in London, Lady Hun
tingdon set off for Brighton on the 22nd, accompanied by Lady
Anne Erskine, Miss Orton, and Mr. Maxfield.
On the 26th her Ladyship received the following letter from
Mr. Berridge, in answer to one she had lately written him, at
the close of which he makes ;a slight allusion to the disappoint
ment she experienced at this time by the withdrawment of Mr.
De Courcy from her Ladyship's patronage and connexion —
"Everton, March 23, 1770.
" My Lady, — Your letter just suited my case : it was a bleeding
plaster for a bleeding heart. These many months I have done little
else hut mourn for myself and others, to see how we lie among the'
tombs, contented with a decent suit of grave clothes. At times my
heart has been refreshed with these words, ' On the land of my people
is come up briars and thorns, until the Spirit be poured out upon them
from on high ;' but the comfort soon vanisheth, like gleams of a winter
sun. I cannot wish for transports, such as we once had, and which
almost turned our heads ; but I do long to see a spirit poured forth of
triumphant faith, heavenly love, and stedfast cleaving to the Lord.
" Before I parted with honest Glascott, I cautioned him much
against petticoat snares. He has burnt his wings already. Sure he
will not imitate a foolish gnat, and hover again about the candle ? If
he should fall into a sleeping-lap, he will soon need a flannel night
cap^ and a rusty chain to fix him dowu, like a church bible to the
reading-desk. No trap so mischievous to the field-preacher as wed-

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 3S9
lock, and it is laid for him at every hedge corner. Matrimony has
quite maimed poor Charles,* and might have spoiled Johnt and GeorgeJ
if a wise Master had not graciously sent them a brace of ferrets. Dear
George has now got his liberty again, and he will scape well if he is
not caught by another tenterhook.
" Eight or nine years ago, having been grievously tormented with
housekeepers, I truly had thoughts of looking out for a Jezebel my
self. But it seemed highly needful to ask advice of the Lord. So
falling down on my knees before a table, with a Bible between my
hands, I besought the Lord to give me a direction ; then, letting the
Bible fall open of itself, I fixed my eyes immediately on these words,
' When my son was entered into his wedding chamber he fell down and
died.' 2 Esdras, x. 1. This frightened me heartily, you may easily
think ; but Satan, who stood peeping at my elbow, not liking the hea
venly caution, presently suggested a scruple, that the Book was
Apocrypha], and -the words not to be heeded. Well, after a short
pause, I fell on my knees again, and prayed the Lord not to be angry
with me, whilst, like Gideon, I requested a second sign, and from the
canonical scripture; then letting my Bible fall open as before, I fixed
my eyes directly on this passage, ' Thou shalt not take thee a wife,
neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.' Jerem. xvi.
2. I was now completely satisfied ; and being thus made acquainted
with my Lord's mind, I make it one part of my prayers. And I can
look on these words, not only as a rule of direction, but as a promise of
security. ' Thou shalt not take a wife,' that is, I will keep thee from
taking one.
"This method of procuring divine intelligence is much flouted by
flimsy professors, § who walk at large, and desire not that sweet and
secret access to the merey-seat, which babes of the kingdom do find.
During the last twelve years, I have had occasion to consult the oracle
three or four times, on matters that seemed important and dubious, and
have received answers full and plain. Was not this the practice of the
Jewish Church ? God gave laws and statutes to them, as well as to us ;
but when dubious cases arose they consulted the oracle, which gave
directions how to act. Joshua and Israel are blamed for not consulting
the oracle, before they made a league with the Gibeonites. Yea, in the
Patriarchal times, we find Rebecca enquiring of the Lord concerning
her twins ; and are there not now, as well as formerly, many dubious
cases ? And can we think that God will deny that direction to the
Christian Church, which he freely granted to the Jewish ? Is not
access to the mercy-seat more free and more open than before ? I
believe perplexed cases are often sent on purpose to teach us to enquie
of the Lord. But leaving the oracles of God, we make an oracle of
man. A dozen wise heads are consulted, and their sparkling opinions
usually prove as various as the colours of the rainbow. Thus we are

* Rev. Charles Wesley, f Eev- Jolm Wesley. \ Rev. G. Whitefield.
§ The reader will form his own opinion on the propriety of such appeals to
the Sortes Biblical. There is perhaps something too Delphic and oracular in
the form fnr P,hrief-inTi nvnplipp.

VOL.1. — B B

390 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
plunged into greater perplexity than before. A very proper chastise
ment for our folly ! At my first, setting out, I trudged on in this old
beaten dirty track, and many wise folks perplexed me soundly, as I
in my turn have perplexed yourself ; witness the Welsh College. At
length I found the method little better than ' seeking to familiar spirits,
and to wizards that peep and mutter ; should not a people seek to
their God ?' Isaiah viii. 1 9 . Daniel sought to his God, and got out the
secret oi Nebuchadnezzar's dream. ' 0 yes, cries a cauistical professor,
one of Isaiah's muttering wizards, ' but this was a most extraordinary
case.' True, and yet David affirms that the secret of the Lord is with
all them that fear him. Where is faith ? Buried under mountains, and
not removing them. However, this oracular enquiry is not to be made
on light and trifling occasions, and much less with a light and trifling
spirit. Whoever consults the oracle aright will enter on the enquiry
with the same solemnity as the high priest entered into the Holy of
Holies ; neither must this be done upon any day but on a high day ;
not on trifling occasions, but on very important concerns. And
whoever thus consults the word of God as his oracle, with a hearty
desire to know and do God's Will, I believe he will receive due infor
mation. Some people, I am told, have had answers on their first
inquiries, but afterwards have received no answer at all. The rea
son may easily be guessed. We begin our inquiries with momentous
matters, and receive satisfaction, we naturally slide into matters of no
moment, which are either plainly resolved by the word, or require only
common, faith and waiting; and thus we make the consultation
matter of amusement, like the drawing a picture card out of a scrip
ture pack, which is 'not pleasing unto God ; for, though he is willing
to be consulted, he is not willing to be trifled with, and much less to be
made the subject of amusement or diversion."
From this time to the period of her decease Lady Huntingdon
was frequent in her visits to Brighton and' Oathall ; and the
labours of her Ladyship's ministers were attended with such
signal tokens of the divine favour, that the chapel at Brighton,
was soon found to be too small for the members who wished to
attend. In the year 1774 it was taken down, and rebuilt chiefly
at the expense of Miss Orton (afterwards Mrs. Haweis), and
it is worthy to be here recorded, that several pious young men
connected with the congregation, who were mechanics, gave
their services at over-hours, in order to expedite the necessary
work. The chapel was soon finished, and solemnly dedicated
to God on the 24th of July, 1774, on which interesting occasion,
Mr. Romaine preached in the morning from 1 Kings, viii. 11.
" For the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord ;"
and in the evening from John i. 14, " We behold the glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth."
The following year Mr. Toplady visited Brighton, where he

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 39l
found a " very considerable gathering to the standard of the
cross." His ministry was much blessed, and he was exceedingly
attached to the people. " I have found (says he) much union
with them, and the unction of the Holy One has given me much
comfort and enlargement among them hitherto, in our public
approaches to God." Being a man of extensive knowledge,
diversified talents, and great zeal — whose mind was enlarged by
science, whose heart was expanded by the benevolent system of
the Gospel, and whose aims were directed to the best and noblest
ends, it is natural to suppose his discourses contained a rich
body of evangelical truths, urged upon his hearers in a strong
and forcible manner.*
" I have seldom ministered to a congregation (says he) for whom
I have felt more real love and union of spirit. Communion with the
saints is one of the sweetest privileges of the people of God ; and this
I have eminently enjoyed at Brighthelmstone, where there are very
many precious souls whom I esteem as the excellent of the earth, and
in whom the Lord delighteth."
With Mr. Toplady was associated the Rev. Thomas Bliss,
vicar of Ashford and Yarncombe, in Devonshire,-]- of whom he
says, " Your Ladyship has done me an inestimable benefit by
associating me with the amiable, the excellent, the zealous, the
heavenly-minded Mr. Bliss, a pattern for believers, and particu
larly ministers of Jesus."
At sixteen Mr. Bliss heard Mr. Romaine at Oxford, and was
quite exasperated at his preaching ; but soon afterwards hearing
Dr. Haweis, his view of religion changed, and he became at that
early age, what he ever afterwards remained, a true Christian.
* Mr. Toplady' s style is said to have been admirably suited for the pulpit.
¦ His hearers were not puzzled with hard words. His references were in gene
ral short ; and when they were long, the members were so constructed and
arranged as to create no obscurity. There was at the same time a vivacity
and animation in his manner which riveted the attention of his hearers.
t Through the greater part of his life this good man was the subject of
considerable weakness of body. This circumstance, in addition to his lameness,
confined him much to his parish, where he constantly and faithfully peiformed
the important duties of his function, till he was absolutely incapacitated
by disease. He had occasionally preached for Lady Huntingdon at Bath ; and
with the hope of dispelling his nervous disorders, which were sometimes
Wrought up to a high pitch, she prevailed on him to take journey to Biightdn,
where he preached the pure Gospel with the seriousness and earnestness of a
man who had a deep conviction of its truth and value. He was native of
Oxford, and descended from a respectable family there. His father was Pro
fessor of Astronomy in the University. He was intimate with the Duke of
Marlborough, and, being at Blenheim on one occasion, he was asked by the Duke
to recommend a tutor for bis son. The doctor at the moment cast his eye on
a young Oxonian strolling in the park. He knew and recommended him. The
tutor was received, and so much pleased the Dake that all his influence vras
exerted for his elevation, and he lived to be Archbishop of Canterbury !
B B 2

392 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
He left the University in 1760, and was introduced by Lady
Huntingdon to Mr. Grimshaw, whom he assisted till he was
appointed to the living of Ashford, near Barnstable, in Devon
shire, where he died in 1802. He was the life-long victim of
nervous disease : a friend one day calling upon him, and asking
him how he was he replied, " I am tremblingly alive all over.
Every nerve is the seat of torture. Though, to lull my pains, I
take opium enough every day to kill three strong men, the an
guish I feel is so inconceivably excruciating, as can only be
exceeded by suffering the flames of hell." At other times he
would frequently say, " My life is so unspeakably burthensome,
that nothing short of the mighty power of God, and the support
which real and experimental religion affords, could restrain me
from laying violent hands on myself." He died happily. A
few days before his dissolution, he preached a sermon from
his pillow, on " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord,"
with an astonishing energy and pathos. He might, on this occa
sion, have literally adopted the lines of the eminently pious
Baxter — " I preach as if I ne'er should preach again ;
And as a dying man to dying men."
The Countess meanwhile extended on all sides the circle of
her utility. Her oldest chaplain, Mr. Romaine, was her adviser
and assistant on all occasions, and to him the younger ministers
looked up with the highest reverence and affection, and his
advice was always to bear with spiritual wickedness in high places,
and to keep within the pale of the Church.
His true love and respect for the Church of England was in
no wise lessened, nor did ever any man take more effectual pains
to serve her, whether by his preaching or his advice. Many of
his vacations were employed in her service, and he constantly
travelled about with her Ladyship, preaching the doctrine of the
kingdom. Sussex and Hampshire enjoyed much of the fruits of
these excursions.
The labours of Mr. Romaine, and of those men of God who
united with him in " holding forth the word of life," were truly
astonishing. They were not suffered to labour in vain, or spend
their strength for nought, when called to go forth in the name
of his Divine Master. His word directs — " In the morning
sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand ; for
thou knowest not whether shall prosper either this or that."
The same ardent zeal animating Lady Huntingdon's spirit, she
embraced tbe offer of an individual at Chichester to occupy his
house and try to diffuse in that city and the region around it
the light of the Sun of Righteousness. Thither she went, with

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 393
the ministers who laboured for her in the blessed work of spread
ing the everlasting Gospel. A chapel was soon erected, and
opened by Mr. Pentycross. Mr. English, one of her Ladyship's
senior students, left it to take charge of a congregation at Gos
port, of which the late Dr. Bogue was afterwards pastor. Mr.
English had been labouring- at Worcester, and from thence had
been removed by Lady Huntingdon to Chichester. His minis
try was generally acceptable, and he was favoured with encou
ragement and marks of usefulness. He was succeeded by Mr.
MatthewjWilks, and then by the students of Trevecca in rotation.
Two large chapels were soon after erected at the neighbouring
village of Emsworth, and others at Petworth and Guildford.
Such were the fruits of Lady Huntingdon's labours at Chichester.
Great and illustrious, indeed, was the cause in which this
venerable woman was engaged. Surveying the moral condition
of mankind — the imperishable nature and unalterable destination
of the human spirit — how feelingly does she lament the feeble
ness and insufficiency of the instrument in so divine a work;
and the numberless imperfections which mingled with all her
best services ! Nevertheless, she cherished sensations of joy
and thankfulness while she contemplated the glorious effects
which, through such feeble and imperfect means, the power of
the Almighty had accomplished. It was his Spirit which kindled
this flame of divine charity, and, by his efficacious impulse in
her heart, constraining her to unceasing exertions in scattering
the precious seed of the everlasting Gospel in various parts of
the kingdom, then desolate as the barren heath, but in succeed
ing generations producing plenteously the plants of righteousness,
and the ripe fruits of grace and glory.
In 1755 a place of worship was opened by her Ladyship's
means at Basingstoke. After some years it was found too small
and inconvenient for a rapidly increasing congregation, under
the Rev. Thomas Thorne, one of her Ladyship's ministers, who
had settled there. About the year 1799 a new chapel was
erected, capable of accommodating six hundred people, and
opened for divine worship on the lith of July, 1802. In the
morning, ' Mr. Thorne, minister of the chapel, who was much
attached to the use of the Liturgy of the Church of England,
and enjoyed himself most where it was most esteemed, read the
prayers of the Established Church, and the Reverend William
Cooper, who was afterwards minister of her Ladyship's Chapel
in Dublin, preached from Gen. xxviii. 16-17. Mr. Wilkins
preached in the afternoon, and Mr. Cooper again in the even
ing. Mr. Thorne continued at Basingstoke about ten years.
In J 779 Mr. Wills had resigned his charge at St. Agnes,

394 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
near Truro, in Cornwall, and had entered the Connexion of the
Countess of Huntingdon, happy in travelling from town to town,
and from city to city, to diffuse abroad the savour of that name
which he loved. At tbe same time Dr. Haweis, Mr. Glascott,
and Mr. Taylor were frequent in their visits to Brighton and
Oathall, and the other chapels of her Ladyship in the neigh
bourhood. In 1782 the congregation enjoyed the labours of
the Rev. Edward Burn, minister of St. Mary's, Birmingham.
In the year 1788 another alteration took place in the chapel
at Brighton; a front gallery was erected by the voluntary sub
scriptions of several friends, chiefly for the accommodation of
the Sunday school: and in the year 1810-11 a further alteration
was effected, by throwing open to the chapel a large parlour,
by means of folding doors, principally for the accommodation
of the visiters, building a fourth gallery for the poor and the
children of the school, and erecting a minister's vestry behind
the pulpit. The chapel was now rendered a very commodious
place of worship, and was capable of containing about a thou
sand persons. On the completion of this alteration, the Rev.
Rowland Hill preached in the morning and evening, and the
Rev. Mr. Whitefoot, of Enfield, delivered a discourse in the
afternoon. In the year 1822 it was deemed expedient again to enlarge
the chapel, by enclosing a piece of ground at the south end,
equal in size to rather more than half the ground floor in 1810';
and on Sunday April the 19th, 1822, the Rev. Rowland Hill
again preached twice at the re-opening. The chapel is now
considered sufficiently capacious to contain fifteen hundred
persons, and is characterized by a neat and chaste simplicity
throughout.! At Brighton and Oathall the Rev. Thomas Jones passed the
last 26 years of his life, which closed September the 15th, 1814.
At that time he was the senior minister in Lady Huntingdon's
Connexion, having been admitted at Trevecca in 1769. How
encouraging, how animating are these relations of the success
attending the benevolent efforts of the noble Countess ! The
footsteps of Divine Providence, in the government of the world
at large, are traced with devout attention by every real Christian;
but those events which are visibly connected with the extension
of the Saviour's kingdom among men, are observed with the
most diligent and affectionate regard. To those who are the
subjects of the great Redeemer, the interests of pure and vital
godliness are inexpressibly dear; and every advance towards the
establishment of his gracious reign must be pleasing in the
highest degree. The foiegoing narrative hath furnished abunr

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 395
dant evidence of the Lord's gracious approbation of the various
and zealous efforts of the ministers sent forth by her Ladyship,
and, consequently, strong encouragement to those that remain
to proceed with increasing diligence and vigour in this noble
cause. O ! how did the heart of the venerable Foundress of
the Connexion glow with holy ardour for the honour of her
Divine Lord, and for the salvation of lost sinners ! And how
was she constrained to employ all her powers, to exert all their
vigour, to advance the same interests for which the Saviour's
compassion prompted him to live and die ! Much, very much
indeed, remains to be done. The voice pf the Great Leader
and Commander is — Go forward ! the voice of an approving
Providence is — Go forward.

CHAPTER XXIII.
PubUc Fast— Extracts from Lady Huntingdon's Letters— Prayer-meetings for
the Nation — Mr. Venn — Mr. Berridge — Singular effects of his preaching —
Mr. Romaine and Mr. Madan's visit to Everton— Mr. Wesley preaches at
Everton — Convulsive motions amongst the congregation — Letters to Lady
Huntingdon— Lady Huntingdon visits Mr. Berridge  Mr. Venn and Mr.
Fletcher preach at Everton — Loud cries amongst their hearers— Duke of
York— Dr. Dodd — Murder of Mr. Johnson— Lord Ferrers  Tried by his
Peers— Visited in prison by Lady Huntingdon—, Singular conduct of Lord
Ferrers — Execution.
At the commencement of the year 1759 we find Lady Hun
tingdon at Bath, accompanied by Lady Fanny Shirley and
Lady Selina Hastings. On the 4th of January her Ladyship
went to Bristol to meet Mr. Wesley, who accompanied her to
Bath, and, after preachingjto several of the nobility at her house,
proceeded to Salisbury, on his way to London.
Early in February Lady Huntingdon returned to London ;
and Friday the 16th, being the day appointed for a public fast,
her Ladyship went to the Tabernacle to hear Mr. Whitefield,
who addressed an immense congregation from those solemn
words, "Rend your hearts and "not your garments," &e. In
the evening she heard Mr. Wesley at the Foundry, who
preached to an overflowing multitude from "Seek the Lord.

396 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
while he may be found," &c. Every place of public worship
was crowded on this day, and an unusual air of seriousness per
vaded all ranks.
" Surely (observes her Ladyship) the Lord has appeared remark
ably for our sinful land. 0 that the prayers and supplications which
so lately ascended from so many quarters may be heard and answered,-
and abundant blessings be poured down upon our sinful country ! If
our cup of iniquity is not yet full, gracious Lord, 0 spare us ! — spare
thy people, and hide them in the clefts of the Rock of Ages !"
Her Ladyship felt "a particular call in Providence" to
wrestle mightily with God in behalf of our nation, and for the
important work of intercession prayer meetings were estab
lished at her house. On Wednesday, the 21st of February,
Mr. Whitefield, Mr. Charles Wesley, Mr. Maxfield, and Mr.
Venn successively engaged in this solemn exercise; and on
Friday the 23rd, Mr. Romaine, Mr. Wesley, Mr. Madan, and
Mr. Jones conducted the service at her Ladyship's house, when
a deep sense of the Divine presence seemed to penetrate every
soul in attendance.
" I trust (says her Ladyship) great and permanent effects will fol
low, and national judgments be suspended. May the Lord graciously
countenance this attempt; and grant that increasing prayer in the
name of Jesus may ascend from every heart. Of late I have felt the
most ardent desires for the exaltation of the Lord Jesus in every
heart, and the most holy ardour of desire to promote his cause upon
earth. I seem to have done nothing, and would lie low in the dust
before him, and lament my unfaithfulness, my unprofitableness, and my
unfruitfulness. May he increase my faith, animate my heart with a
zeal for his glory, enlarge my sphere, and make me more faithful in the
sphere in which I move.
" Thursday the 27 th (says Mr. Wesley) I walked with my brother
and Mr. Maxfield to Lady Huntingdon's. After breakfast came in
Messrs. Whitefield, Madan, Romaine, Jones, Downing, and Venn with
some persons of quality, and a few others. Mr. Whitefield, I found,
was to have administered the sacrament, but he insisted upon my
doing it : after which, at the request of Lady Huntingdon, I preached
on 1 Cor. xiii. 13, "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three—
but the greatest of these is charity."
On the evening of Wednesday, 'the 28th, the usual prayer-
meeting was held at her Ladyship's house, when Mr. Wesley,
Mr. Venn, and Mr. Madan engaged in the solemn service,
which was closed by a short exhortation from Mr. Whitefield.
The following morning Mr. Jones preached, and Mr. Romaine
concluded with a short scriptural prayer, and the usual bene
diction. At the prayer meeting on Friday evening, Mr. Charles
Wesley gave an address ; and the other parts of the service

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 397
were conducted by Messrs. Whitefield, Romaine, Downing, and
Venn. The Lord's Supper was administered on Tuesday, the
6th of March, by Mr. Whitefield, when he addressed the com
municants in a most solemn and impressive manner. " All
were touched to the heart," says her Ladyship, " and dissolved
in tears. My inmost soul felt penetrated at the height and
depth of that love which passeth knowledge, and I was ready,
with Peter, to say, It is good to be here. Lord, teach me how
to improve to the utmost these gracious visitations."
Mr. Whitefield was assisted by Messrs. Romaine and Madan.
The former prayed before and the latter after the distribution
of the elements. Amongst the communicants were the Earl
and Countess of Dartmouth, Countess of Chesterfield, Lady
Gertrude Hotham, Sir Charles Hotham, Mrs. Carteret, Mrs.
Cavendish, Sir Sidney Halford Smythe, Mr. Thornton, Rev.
Messrs. Venn, Jones, Maxfield, Downing and others. When
this solemn service was concluded, the Earls of Chesterfield and
Holderness, and several persons of distinction, with a few others,
came in. Mr. Whitefield preached with his accustomed elo
quence and energy from that passage — " Him that cometh unto
me, I will in no wise cast out." On this occassion her Ladyship
observes : " The Lord was eminently present. The word
seemed clothed with an irresistible [energy, and drew sighs from
every heart and tears from every eye. Mr. Fletcher concluded
with a prayer, every syllable of which appeared to be uttered
under the immediate teaching of the spirit, and he has told me
since that he never had more intimate communion with God,
or enjoyed so much of his immediate presence as on that occa
sion. Ah ! how poor and trifling does all created good appear
when thus highly favoured of God. He in mercy keeps me
sensible of my weakness, and dependent upon himself, for which
I praise him. He has strengthened my body to undergo more
fatigue than usual, without being hurt by it. But my pen would
fail to testify of the goodness of my God. Bless the Lord, O
my soul ! and forget not all his benefits."
It was now that John Berridge, the vicar of Everton, in Bed
fordshire, and Mr. Hicks, vicar of Wrestlingworth, by their
preaching, produced the same convulsions in their hearers as had
formerly prevailed at Bristol.*
Lady Huntingdon wrote to Mr. Romaine from Bath, request-
* An eye-witness described the church at Everton as crowded with persons,
from all the country round ; " the windows being filled, within and without,
and even the outside of the pulpit, to the very top, so that Mr. Berridge seemed
almost stifled ; yet feeble and sickly as he is, he was continually strengthened,
and his voice, for the most part, distinguishable in the midst of all the outcries."

398 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
ing him and Mr. Madan to repair immediately to Everton, and
examine minutely into ihe circumstances. They were warmly
received by Mr. Berridge and Mr. Hicks. At first they were
astonished, and for a time doubted whether the work was
genuine ; but after they had conversed with several of those who
had fallen in violent convulsive fits, and had accompanied Mr.
Berridge and Mr. Hicks in some of their itinerant excursions,
and witnessed the effects of their preaching, they were filled
with a solemn awe, and felt fully convinced the work was of
God, though occasionally mingled with the wild-fire of enthu
siasm.* Filled with astonishment at what God had wrought, and at
the surprising work whieh he was carrying on in the hearts of
multitudes, Mr. Romaine and Mr. Madan returned to London,
and Mr. Wesley went to Everton, who, after describing the cries
and convulsions, says:—
" I have often observed more or less of these outward symp
toms to attend the beginning of a general work of God. So it was in
New England, Scotland, Holland, Ireland, and many parts of England,
but after a time they gradually decreased, and the work goes on more
quietly and silently. Those whom it pleases God to employ in his
work ought to be quite passive in this respect. They should choose
nothing, but leave entirely to Him all the circumstances of his own
work." In a letter to Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Wesley says : —
" The agreeable hour which I spent with your Ladyship the last
week; recalled to my mind the former times, and gave me much mat
ter of thankfulness to the Giver of every good gift. I have found
great satisfaction in conversing with those instruments whom God has
* On the 13th of July Mr. Romaine and Mr. Madan went with Mr. Berridge
and Mr. Hicks to Tablow, in Cambridgeshire. Great numbers, feeling the
arrows of conviction, fell to the ground, some of whom seemed dead, and others
in the agonies of death ; the violence of their bodily convulsions exceeding all
description. There was also a great crying and agonizing in prayer, mixed with
deep and deadly groans on every side.
At Harlston Mr. Berridge was greatly fatigued and dejected, and said, '¦ I am
now so weak, I must leave off field-preaching." Nevertheless, he cast himself
on the Lord, and preached with amazing energy to upwards qf three thousand
hearers. At Stapleford, where he had been curate for five or six years, at
Grandchester, at Driplow, Orwell, and other places, the like effects followed,
At Everton, the next Sunday, about two hundred persons, chiefly men, cried
aloud for mercy ; but many more were affected, perhaps as deeply, though in a
calmer way.
f On these extraordinary manifestations Mr. Ealph Erskine observes : —
" What influence sudden and sharp awakenings may have upon the body 1 pre
tend not to explain. But I make no question Satan, so far as he gets power,
may exert himself on suqh occasions* partly to hinder the good work in the
persons who are thus touched with sharp arrows of conviction, and partly to
disparage the work of God, as if it tended to lead people to distraction."

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 399
lately raised up. But still there is I know not what in them whom
we have known from the beginning, and who have borne the burden and
heat of the day, wliich we do not find in those who have risen up since,
though they are upright of heart. Perhaps, too, those who have but
lately come into the harvest are led to think and speak more largely of
justification, and the other first principles of the doctrine of Christ.
And it may be proper for them so to do. Yet we find a thirst after
something farther. We want to sink deeper and rise higher in the
knowledge of God our Saviour. We want all helps for walking
closely with Him whom we have received, that we may the more
speedily come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
" Mr. Berridge appears to be one of the most simple as well as most
sensible men of all whom it pleased God to employ in reviving primi
tive Christianity. I designed to have spent but one night with him ;
but Mr. Gilbert's mistake (who sent him word I would be at Everton
on Friday) obliged me to stay there another day, or multitudes of
people would have been disappointed. They come now twelve or
fourteen miles to hear him ; and very few come in vain. His word is
with power : he speaks as plain and home as John Nelson, but with
all the propriety of Mr. Romaine and the tenderness of Mr. Hervey.
" At Colchester, likewise, the word of God has free course — only no
house will contain the congregation. On Sunday I was obliged to
preach on St. John's-green ; the people stood on a smooth sloping
ground, sheltered by the walls of an old castle, and behaved as men
who feit that God was there.
" I am persuaded your Ladyship still remembers in your prayers
your willing servant, for Christ's sake," John Wesley."
Mr. Berridge informed Lady Huntingdon of his call to Cam
bridge, to preach before the University, complaining of his ill
health and want of assistance in his own parish. Her Ladyship
applied to Mr. Fletcher, who volunteered his service till Mr.
Madan or Mr. Romaine could relieve him.
Soon after he had gone to Everton, Lady Huntingdon, accom
panied by Mr. Madan, proceeded thither, anxious to witness the
astonishing effects which had there resulted from the preaching
of the Gospel. She had intimated her intention to Mr. Berridge
some days before her departure from London, and on the morning
after their arrival, at an early hour, an amazing concourse of
people had been collected from all parts. At seven o'clock Mr.
Berridge preached in a field near the church, when the power of
God fell upon all the assembled multitude in a very uncommon
manner. At eleven o'clock public service commenced in the
church. Mr. Hicks read prayers, after which Mr. Venn explained
the "joy that is in heaven over one sinner that repenteth."
In the afternoon, the church being unable to contain a fifth of
the people, Mr. Madan stood in the open air and cried to the
listening multitude, " If any man thirst, let him come unto me

400 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
and drink." The following day there was public service again :
Mr. Fletcher read prayers and Mr. Madan spoke very ener
getically on " Ye must be born again." The congregation was
immense, the windows being filled within and without. In the
afternoon Mr. Berridge read prayers, and Mr. Venn enforced
these solemn words on an attentive congregation — " This is life
eternal, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent." Great numbers who were unable to gain
admittance, remained about the church after the service was
concluded : Mr. Berridge addressed them from the words of the
prophet — " Seek the Lord while he may be found ; call upon
him while he is near."
H ^The arrival of Lady Huntingdon at Everton, and the preach
ing of the ministers who accompanied her, was quickly reported
for many miles round, and awakened considerable attention,
insomuch that on the following day it was judged ten thousand
at least assembled to hear. While Mr. Venn was enforcing
those awful words of the prophet — " The harvest is past, the
summer is ended, and we are not saved," several persons, both
men and women, sunk down and wept bitterly. In the after
noon a still greater multitude collected. The evening being
calm and still, all heard distinctly, whilst Mr. Berridge preached
on these words — " Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away
the sin of the world." Towards the close of the sermon, five
persons, almost at once, sunk down as dead. Others cried with
a loud and bitter cry, " What must we do to be saved ?" In a
little time all was silent, and Mr. Berridge finished his sermon,
after which the service concluded with singing —
" Arm of the Lord awake ! awake !'
Thine own immortal strength put on," &c.
Mr. Madan having consentedato remain at Everton, to supply
Mr. Berridge's church till Mr. Romaine was at liberty to take
his place/ Lady Huntingdon returned to London with Mr.
Fletcher, Mr. Venn, and Mr. Berridge, whom her Ladyship was
desirous of introducing to the religious circles of the metropolis,
with a view to his spiritual improvement. During his stay he
preached two or three times in the city churches, assisted by
Mr. Whitefield and the Messrs. Wesley, and expounded almost
every morning and evening at Lady Huntingdon's, besides his
occasional lectures at Lady Gertrude Hotham's, in New Nor
folk-street, Grosvenor-square, and Lady Fanny Shirley's, in
South Audley-street.
It was about this time that Prince Edward, afterwards created
Duke of York, paid a visit to the Magdalen. His Royal High-

SELINA, COUNTES* OF HUNTINGDON. 401
ness having expressed a wish to attend the evening service, a
party was formed at Northumberland House for that purpose.
The Prince* was accompanied by Colonel Brudenel, Lady
Northumberland, Lady Mary Coke, Lady Carlisle, Miss Pel
ham, Lady Hertford, Lord Beauchamp, Lord Huntingdon,
and Horace Walpole. As soon as he entered the chapel
the organ played, and a hymn was sung by the Magdalens, about
one hundred and thirty in number. After the prayers were
read, Dr. Dodd preached an eloquent and impressive sermon
from Luke xix. 20, which was afterwards published by the ex
press desire of the Prince ; a hymn was then sung, after which
his Royal Highness was conducted to the parlour, where the
Governors kissed the Prince's hand. He particularly noticed
Lady Huntingdon and Lady Chesterfield, with whom he con
versed for several minutes on the merits of the sermon and the
excellence of the institution, expressed himself highly gratified at
what he had witnessed, and at taking his departure left fifty
pounds for the benefit of the institution.f
The dreadful calamity by which Lady Huntingdon's family
was afflicted in 1 760 had a powerful effect on her Ladyship's
mind for a season. Lawrence, fourth Earl of Ferrers, eldest
son of her uncle, the Hon. Lawrence Shirley, by a daughter of
Sir Walter Clarges, of Aston, in Hertfordshire, Bart., though he
was at times a very intelligent person, and a nobleman conver
sant in the constitution of his country, yet, on divers occasions,
exhibited symptoms of constitutional insanity. For more than
a twelvemonth he had supplied a topic for conversation by
an attempt to murder his wife, and every body that took her
part. Having broken the peace, which the House of Lords had
bound him over to keep, the cause was again brought before
them ; but instead of attending it, he went to the assizes at Hert-
* Lord Hertford at the head of the governors, with white staves, met the
Prince at the door, and conducted his Royal Highness into the chapel, where,
before the altar, was an arm-chair for him, with a blue damask cushion, and a
footstool of black cloth. Lady Huntingdon, Lord and Lady Dartmouth, Lady
Fanny Shirley, Lady Gertrude Hotham, Lady Chesterfield, Lady Selina Hastings,
and several persons of distinction occupied forms near his Royal Highness.
+ At the moment of the Prince's departure, some nobleman observed to Lord
Hertford that he thought the sermon savoured a good deal of Methodism. His
Lordship was about to reply, when the Prince, who had overheard the remark,
turned hastily round, and said — " Your Lordship must be fastidious indeed ; I
thought the discourse excellent ; and well adapted to this most useful institution,
a sentiment in which my Lady Huntingdon, I am most happy to say, most cor
dially coincides with me. Her Ladyship, I suspect, is much better versed in
theology than either of us." The astonished Noble bowed, and the Prince with
drew. It should be noticed, that Dr. Dodd was at this time considered decidedly
evangelical in his preaching, and there have been instances of persons called
> under his ministry to a saving acquaintance of divine things. This was -some
years before his awful fall.

402 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
ford to appear against a highwayman.* The Countess was
sister . to Sir W. Meredith, and had no fortune. The Earl
always said she had trepanned him into matrimony, having met
him at an assembly where he was intoxicated, and having kept him
in a state of drunkenness till the ceremony was over. As he
was seldom sober before or afterwards, it is hardly fair to impute
his excesses to this pretty, and, unless it were a crime to wish to
be a countess, very blameless person.
His misfortunes, as he called them, were dated from his mar
riage ; though he had been guilty of horrid excesses unconnected
with matrimony, and is even believed to have killed a groom,
who died a year after receiving a cruel beating from him. He
had a mistress before his marriage, by whom he had two or three
children, and her he took again after the separation from his wife.
He was fond of both, and used both ill : Lady Ferrers so ill —
always carrying pistols to bed, and threatening to kill her before
morning, beatingher, and being jealous without provocation — that
she obtained a separation from him by act of Parliament, in which
were appointed receivers of his estate, to secure her allowance.
This he could not bear. However, he named his steward as one
of these receivers. Afterwards, finding out that Mr. Johnsonf that
paid Lady Ferrers fifty pounds, witliout his knowledge, and sus
pecting him of being in the confederacy against him, he deter
mined, when he failed of opportunities of murdering his wife, to
kill the steward, which he effected.
Having ordered Mr. Johnson to attend him at Stanton, his
lordship contrived to send all the men-servants out of the way,
so that there was no person in the house but himself and three
female servants. On Mr. Johnson entering the room, Lord
Ferrers locked the door. His lordship then ordered him to
settle an account, and after a little time produced a paper pur
porting, as he said, to be a confession of his villany, and required
* Page, arobber of extraordinary courage and singular adventures and escapes,
had stopped Lord Ferrers. His Lordship pulled out a pistol, but while he held
it trembled violently. The robber laughed and took the weapon out of bis
hand, quietly observing, " I know, my Lord, you always carry more than one
pistol about you, let's have the rest." ' At the trial Page pleaded that his Lord
ship was excommunicated, and could not give evidence. He was consequently
acquitted. f Mr. Johnson had been taken into the family of Lord Ferrers in his youth,
and was then his Lordship's land steward. Hoping, probably, that he should
have sufficient influence over him to have procured some deviation from his
trust in his lordship's favour, he soon found that Mr. Johnson would not oblige
him at the expense of his honesty. From that time he conceived an implacable
resentment against him ; and it is easy to conceive that every opposition to the
will of aman so haughty, impetuous, and irascible, would produce the most
disastrous effects. Mr. Johnson lived at the house belonging to the farm which
he held under his Lordship, called Lotmt> about half a inile distant from Stanton.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 40$
Mr. Johnson to sign it. Johnson refused ; on which his lordship,
drawing a pistol from his pocket, ordered him to kneel down,
which the terrified man did, upon one knee ; but Lord Ferrers
cried out so loud as to be heard by one of the women at the
kitchen door, " Down on your other knee — declare what you
have acted against Lord Ferrers — your time is come, and yoti
must die." He fired, and the ball entered Mr. Johnson's
body just below the last rib, yet he did not drop, but rose up,
and expressed the sensations of a dying man both by his looks
and broken sentences. An alarm was soon given, and Dr. Kirk
land was sent for.*
At the time of his arrest Lord Ferrers was armed with a blun
derbuss, two or three pistols, and a dagger. From Ashby-de-la-
Zouch his lordship was sent to Leicester gaol, and from thence,
about a fortnight afterwards, was brought to London, in his own
landau and six horses, under a strong guard. He was dressed like
a jockey, in close riding frock, boots, and cap. Immediately on
his arrival, he was carried before the House of Lords. It is im
possible to conceive the shock which the evidence contained in
the coroner's inquest gave the court : many of the lords were
standing to look at him, but they soon turned from him with
detestation. He was then committed to the custody of the
Black Rod, and ordered to the Tower.
After two months' imprisonment in the Tower, on the 16th April,
1759, Lord Ferrers was brought to his trial in Westminster Hall.
He would not plead guilty, and yet had nothing to plead; and at
last, to humour his family, pleaded madness, against his inclina
tion. It was melancholy to see two of his brothers brought to
depose to lunacy as existing in their own blood, in order to save
their brother's life.f On a former affair in the House of Lords
he is said to have behaved with great shrewdness ; no such thing,'
however, appeared at his trial ; and it was afterwards pretended
that his being forced by hisfamily, against his inclination, to plead
* From this period till he was arrested Lord Ferrers continued to drink por
ter, and in proportion as it took effect his passions became more tumultuous.
Having shot the steward at three o'clock in the afternoon, he persecuted
him till one in the morning, threatening to murder him, and attempting to
tear off his bandages. The last time he went to him he pulled him by the wig,
calling him villain ; and it was with great difficulty that Mjss Johnson and those
about her father could prevent his lordship from striking him. The poor man
was so terrified by his outrageous conduct, that Dr. Kirkland at length succeeded
in removing him in the middle of the night to his own house, where he lan
guished till the next morning ; and when the Earl heard the poor creature was
dead, he said he gloried in having killed him.
+ " His brothers (says Horace Walpole) were brought to his trial to prove
lunacy against their own blood. One of theb [Mr. Shirley] is a clergyman,
suspended by the Bishop of London for being a Methodist. "

404 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
insanity, prevented his exerting his parts ; but Lord Ferrers did
not act in any thing as if his family had influence over him.*
The trial lasted three days. His lordship was sentenced to
be hanged, and to have his body dissected and anatomised, the
evidence of his insanity not proving satisfactory to their lord
ships. But the Right Hon. Lord Henley, late Earl of Notting
ham, who acted as High-Steward at this awful solemnity, with
consent of the peers, respited his lordship's execution till Mon
day, May 5th. On receiving sentence, the unfortunate noble
man begged his peers to recommend him to mercy : but all
application from himself and friends proved ineffectual, and he
was left for execution.
The conduct of Lord Ferrers after his condemnation was
singular and extraordinary,' The very night he received sen
tence he played at picquet, and would have continued to play
every evening, had not permission been refused, at the particular
request of Lady Huntingdon and other members of his family.
Lord Cornwallis, Governor of the Tower, shortened his allowance
of wine after his conviction, agreably to the strict acts concern
ing the crime of murder which had passed both Houses of Par
liament. This his lordship much disliked, and at last pressed
his brother to intercede that at least he might have more porter;
* ""Many Peers (says Horace Walpole) were absent. Lord Foley and Lord
Jersey attended only the first day ; and Lord Huntingdon and my nephew, Lord
Orford (in compliment to his mother, as related to the prisoner,) withdrew
without voting. But never was a criminalmoreliterally tried by his peers ; forthe
three persons who interested themselves most in the examination, were at least
as mad as he — Lord Ravenscroft, Lord Talbot, and Lord Fortescue. Indeed, the
first was almost frantic. The seats of the peeresses were not nearly full. Lady
Coventry was there. I sat next but one to her, and would not have thought she
had been ill ; yet they are positive she has but a few weeks to live. Lady
Augusta was in the same galleiy ; the Duke of York and his young brothers
were in the Prince of Wales's box, who was not there, no more than the Prin
cess, Princess Emily, nor the Duke. It was an agreeable humanity in the Duke
of York, who would not take his seat in the House befoie the trial, that he
might not vote on it. There are so many young peers that the show was fine
even in that respect. The Duke of Richmond was the finest figure ; the Duke
of Marlborough, with the best countenance in the world, looked clumsy in his
robes ; he had new ones, having given away his father's. There were others
not at all so indifferent about the antiquity of theirs. Lord Huntingdon's, Lord
Abervagenny's, and Lord Castlehaven's scarcely hung on their backs ; the two
former they pretend were used at the trial of the Queen of Scots."
Horace Walpole, in this note refers to the mother of his nephew : she was
Margaret Countess Dotvager of Orford, who had married the uncle of Lord
Ferrers, the Hon. Sewallis Shirley, Comptroller of the Household to Queen
Charlotte, and M.P. for Brackley and Callington. The Lady Coventry, to
whose illness he refers, died on the 1st of October in the same year. [See
Mason's elegy on this celebrated beauty in his poems.] She was the eldest
daughter of John Gunning, Esq., and sister to the Duchess of Argyle. Lady
Coventry left two daughters, who were both married, and, strange to say, both
divorced on the ground of ill conduct.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 405
" for," said he, " what I have is not a draught." Mr. Shirlej
remonstrated, but at last consented — " Then," said the Earl,
" now is as good a time as any to take leave of you — adieu !"
Very great exertions were made by Lady Huntingdon and
other branches of the family to save his life. Two petitions were
presented to the King — one by his mother, and the other by all
the members of his family ; but his Majesty said, as the House
of Lords had unanimously found him guilty he would not inter
fere. Another petition was presented by my Lord Keeper, but
the King refused to hear him.
Dr. Pearce, Bishop of Rochester, offered his services to his
Lordship : he thanked the Bishop, and said, as his own brother
was a clergyman, he chose to have him ; but Lady Huntingdon
was more frequently with him than any other relation. The
Earl, although by no means disposed to pay attention to the sub
jects she brought before his mind, allowed her to visit him fre
quently, and often sent for her for the sake of company. He
grew tired of her Ladyship's unwearied exertions to produce
effect upon a conscience so hardened and impenetrable, and
complained that she was enough to provoke anybody; yet he
permitted her to visit him to the last, even after he had declined
seeing his brothers ; and had two interviews with Mr. Whitefield,
to whom he behaved with great politeness. At Lady Hunting
don's request Mr. Whitefield repeatedly offered up public prayer
for Lord Ferrers ; " and that impertinent fellow, (says Horace
Walpole,) told his enthusiasts in his sermons that my Lord's
heart was stone." The very hardened conduct of Lord Ferrers,
through every intricacy of this most horrid affair, even to the
last moment of his departure out of life, but too well justified
Mr. Whitefield. Witness his fearful insensibility the night before
his execution, when he made one of his keepers read Hamlet to
him after he was in bed ; he paid all his bills in the morning as
coolly as if leaving an inn, and half an hour before the arrival
of the sheriffs to convey him to the place of execution, corrected
some verses he had written in the Tower, in imitation of the
Duke of Buckingham's epitaph : —
Dubius sed non improbus vixi.
In doubt I lived — in doubt I die, —
Yet stand prepared the vast abyss to try, —
And undismay'd expect eternity !*
* The Earl wanted much to see his mistress : my Lord Cornwallis consulted
Lady Huntingdon whether he should permit it. " Oh ! by no means (said the
©ountess) it would be letting him die in adultery." He resolved not to take
leave of his children, four girls, but on tbe scaffold, and then to read to them a
VOL. I. — C C

406 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
On the morning of the 5th of May his body was demanded
of the keeper at the gates of the Tower by the sheriffs of Lon
don and Middlesex. His Lordship being informed of it, sent a
message to the sheriffs requesting that he might go in his own
landau, instead of the mourning coach that had been provided
by his family ; and his request being granted, he entered his
landau, drawn by six horses, with Mr. Humphries, chaplain of
the Tower, who had been admitted to his Lordship that morn
ing for the first time. The landau was conducted to the outer
gate by the officers of the Tower, and was there delivered to
the sheriffs. Here Mr. Sheriff Vaillant entered the landau of
Lord Ferrers, and expressing his concern at having so melan
choly a duty to perform ; his Lordship said, " he was much
obliged to him, and took it kindly that he accompanied him."
He was dressed in his wedding clothes, which were of a light
colour, and embroidered in silver, and said he thought this, at
least, as good an occasion of putting them on as that for which
they were first made. Soon after Mr. Sheriff Vaillant came
. into the landau, he said, " You may perhaps, sir, think it
strange to see me in this dress, but I have my particular reasons
for it."
Sir William Meredith, and even Lady Huntingdon, were
strongly convinced that his courage would fail him at last ; but
they were deceived. His courage rose where it was most likely
to fail. The mixture of pageantry, shame, ignominy, and even
of delay, could not shake his resolution. He set out from the
Tower at nine, amidst crowds of spectators.*
The procession was two hours and three quarters on its way ;
but during the whole time Lord Ferrers appeared perfectly easy
and composed, though he often expressed his desire to have it
over, saying, " that the apparatus of death, and the passing
very bitter paper he had drawn up against the Meredith family, and on the
House of Lords for their first interference in separating him from Lady Ferrers.
This Lady Huntingdon, with her usual good sense, persuaded him to drop, and
having brought his children to him he took a cold farewell of them the day
before. He had written two letters during the week to Lord Cornwallis on
some of these requests : .they were cool and rational, and concluded with de
siring him notto mind the requests of his family in his behalf, which he con
sidered extremely absurd.
* First went a large body of constables for the county of Middlesex, preceded
by one of the high constables — a party of horse grenadiers and a party of foot
— then Mr. Sheriff Errington in his chariot and six, the horses dressed with
ribbons — next Lord Ferrers, in his own landau and six, escorted by parties of
horse and foot — Mr. Sheriff Variant's chariot followed with the under sheriff,
Mr. Nicols — a mourning coach and six with some of his Lordship's friends 
and a hearse and six, which was provided for the conveyance of the corpse from
the place of execution to Surgeons' Hall.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 40?
through such crowds of people, were ten times worse than death
itself." At first his Lordship talked on indifferent matters, and
observing the prodigious confluence of people, he said, "but they
never saw a lord hanged, and perhaps will never see another."
One of the dragoons was thrown in consequence of his horse's leg-
becoming entangled in the hind wheel. Lord Ferrers expressed
much concern, and said, " I hope there will be no death to-day but
mine," and was pleased when Mr. Sheriff Vaillant told him that
the man was not hurt. He told the sheriff " that he had written
to the King to beg that he might suffer there where his ances
tor, the Earl of Essex, the favourite of Elizabeth, had suffered,
and was in greater hopes of obtaining that favour, as he had the
honour of being allied to his Majesty and of quartering part of
the royal arms ; he thought it hard (he said) that he must die at
the place appointed for the execution of common felons." The
sheriff made excuses to him on his office. " On the con
trary (said the Earl) 1 am much obliged to you. I feared
the disagreeableness of the duty might make you depute your
under-sheriff. As you are so good as to execute it yourself, I
am persuaded the dreadful apparatus will be conducted with
more expedition."
Mr. Humphries, chaplain of the Tower, who sat backwards,
then thought it his turn to speak, and began to talk on religious
subjects ; but Lord Ferrers received the overture with impatience.
However, the chaplain persevered, and said he wished to bring
his Lordship to some confession or acknowledgment of contri
tion for a crime so repugnant to the laws of God and man, and
wished him to endeavour to do whatever could be done in so
short a time. The Earl replied, " he had done every thing he
had purposed to do with regard to God and man ; and as to dis
courses on religion, you and I sir (said he to the clergyman,)
shall probably not agree on that subject. The passage is very
short — you will not have time to convince me, nor I to refute
you; it cannot be ended before we arrive." The clergyman
still insisted, and urged that, at least, the world would expect
some satisfaction and would naturally be very inquisitive con
cerning the religion his Lordship professed. Lord Ferrers
replied, with some impatience —
" Sir, what have I to do with the world ? I am going to pay a for
feit life, which my eountry has thought proper to take from me. What
do I care, now, what the world thinks of me ? But, sir, since you do
desire some confession, I confess one thing to you : I do believe there
is a God, the Maker of all things. As to modes of worship, we had
better not talk on them : all nations and countries have a form of reli
gion by which the people are governed, and whoever disturbs it I look
cc2

408 LIFE AND TIMES OF
upon as an enemy to society. Whatever my notions may have been,
I have never propagated them, or endeavoured to gain persons over to
my persuasion. I always thought Lord Bolingbroke in the wrong to
publish his notions on religion : I will not fall into the same error.
The many sects and their disputes about religion have almost turned
morality out of doors : and I "can never believe what some sectaries
teach, that faith alone will save mankind ; so that if a man, just before
he dies, should say only — ' I believe' — that that alone will save him."
The chaplain represented to him that it would be expected
from one of his calling, and that even decency required that
some prayer should be used on the scaffold, and asked his leave,
at least, to use the Lord's Prayer there. Lord Ferrers replied,
" I always thought it a good prayer ; you may use it if you
please." The landau being now advanced to the place of execution, his
Lordship alighted from it, aW, with the same composure and
fortitude of mind he had possessed from the time he left the
Tower, mounted the scaffold : it was hung with black by the
undertaker, at the expense of his family. Under the gallows
was a newly invented stage, to be struck from under him. He
showed no kind of fear or discomposure, only just looking at
the gallows with a slight motion of dissatisfaction. He said
little, kneeled for a moment at the Lord's Prayer, and afterwards,
with great energy, uttered the following ejaculations, " O God !
forgive me all my errors — pardon all my sins."
His Lordship then rising quickly mounted the upper stage.
He had come pinioned with a black sash, and was unwilling to
have his hands tied, or his face covered, but was persuaded to
both. When the rope was put round his neck, he turned pale,
but recovered instantly. Within seven minutes after leaving the
landau the signal was given for striking the stage, and in four
minutes he was quite dead.*
Mr. Shirley remained in London some time after the execu
tion, in order to pay his brother's debts, that no further dishonour
might be reflected on his memory. Lady Huntingdon, likewise,
continued in London till the end of June. This is confirmed by
* " This extraordinary history of Lord Ferrers is closed, (says Horace Walpole
to George Montague) : " he was executed yesterday. Madness, that in other
countries is disorder, is here a systematic character : it does not hinder people
from forming a plan of conduct, and from even dying agreeably to it. You.
remember how the last Ratcliffe died with the utmost propriety ; so did this
horrid lunatic, coolly and sensibly. His own and his wife's relations had asserted
that he would tremble at last. No such thing ; he shamed heroes. With all
his madness he was not mad enough to be struck with Lady Huntingdon's ser
mons. The Methodists have nothing to brag of his conversion, though White-
field prayed for him and preached about him. I have not heard that Lady
Fanny dabbled with his soul."

SELINA, COUNTESS O F HUNTINGDON. 409
an extract of a letter from the Countess of Northumberland to
Mr. Lindsay, dated June 17th : —
"As I am in doubt about your direction I shall send this to
Northumberland House, and order them to carry it to Lady Hunting
don, where, I conclude, they will be able to learn how to convey it
safely to you. My Lord desires his compliments to you, and I beg to
trouble you with mine to Lady Huntingdon, Lady Selina, and Mrs.
Hastings."*

CHAPTER XXIV.

Proposed Union among the Evangelical Clergy — Methodism in Scotland — Lady
Frances Gardiner  Mr. Townsend sent to Edinburgh  Mr. De Courcy —
Lady Glenorchy — Mr. Wesley — Lady Maxwell  Samson Occum, the Indian
preacher — Mohegan Indians — Dr. Haweis — Affair of Aldwincle — Lady Hunt
ingdon purchases the Advowson —writes to Mr. Thornton  Lady Hunting
don's Letters to Lord Dartmouth and Mr. Madan_Anecdote.
It was now that Mr. Wesley attempted to form an open and
active union between all the clergymen who preached these
fundamental truths — original sin, and justification by faith,
producing inward and outward holiness. With this hope he
transmitted a circular letter to some fifty ministers of the
Church, known in later times by the appellation of " Evange
lical, or Gospel ministers," wherein he proposed that, leaving
free the disputable points of predestination on one side, and
perfection on the other ; laying no stress upon expressions, and
binding themselves to no peculiar discipline,-]- they should think
and speak kindly of each other, form, as it were, a defensive
league, and each help the other on in his work, and enlarge his
influence by all rightful means.
" For (as he said, in a letter to Lady Huntingdon) some years since
God began a great work in England, but the labourers were few ; at
first these few were of one heart, but this did not continue long ; one
and another broke off, till no two of us were left together in the work,
but my brother and me. This prevented much good, and occasioned
much evil ; it grieved our spirits and weakened our hands ; it gave the
common enemies occasion to blaspheme ; it perplexed and puzzled
* Widow of Henry Hastings, Esq., and mother of the Rev. Theophilus Henry
Hastings, de jure 11th Earl of Huntingdon, and Col. George Hastings, father
of Hans Francis, the late Earl.
t That is that some should remain regular, others irregular; some either of
the two, and some again neither one nor the other.

410 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
many sincere Christians ; it caused many to draw back to perdition ; it
grieved the Holy Spirit of God.
" As labourers increased, disunion increased ; offences were multi
plied; and instead of coming nearer to, they stood farther and farther
from each other ; till, at length, those who were not only brethren in
Christ, but fellow-labourers in his Gospel, had no more connexion* nor
fellowship with each other than Protestants have with Papists."
This attempt at union took place only a few years before Mr-
Wesley's great and final breach with his Calvinistic brethren.
It was in 1751 that Mr. Wesley, accompanied by Mr. Chris
topher Hopper, first sought Scotland, on a visit to Colonel
Galatin, then in quarters at Musselborough. Notwithstanding
the warning of Mr. Whitefield, who had told him that his prin-
cipleswould not do in Scotland, he preached frequently and with
great success.-)- Dr. Gillies (Glasgow), Mr. Wardrope (Bath
gate), Mr. Adams (Falkirk), and other ministers, as well as
several of the nobility, received him with great kindnes s, and
listened with respect to his exhortations; but Mr. Wesley's
comments on Mr. Hervey's " Theron and Aspasia" produced a
new work, called " Aspasia Vindicated," published after Mr.
Hervey's death, and reflecting on the opinions of Mr. Wesley.
About the time of which we write (1766), this work was re
printed with a preface by Dr. Erskine, one of the ministers of
the old Grey Friar's Church, Edinburgh. Lady Frances Gar
diner (widow of the pious Colonel), and Lady Glenorchy^ who
had been introduced by Lady Huntingdon to Mr. Whitefield,
and who, though differing from Mr. Wesley, attended his preach
ing and the ministry of his associates, with other distinguished
persons, separated from him after the publication of these letters.
It was now (1767) that Mr. Townsend visited Scotland, on a
mission from Lady Huntingdon, as before adverted to, when her
Ladyship was detained at Kippax, and prevented from visiting
Scotland according to her fixed intention. Mr. Townsend was
received by Drs. Webster and Erskine, Messrs. Walker, Plen-
derleath, and Johnson, and other pious and able ministers ofthe
Established Church. He preached at Coldstream (then a small
village) on his first entrance into Scotland, thence in two days
he reached Edinburgh, where he preached first at Mr. Lee's
English chapel, to one hundred and fifty people, and then in the
Park to a vast multitude, afterwards in the College church, and
then at Dalkeith, and afterwards at Leith, with great success.
* The remainder of this letter is like that addressed to the Evangelical clergy
before alluded to, and which is so well known that we do not think it necessary
to insert it at length.
f Sir Walter Scott, then a youth, heard him ; hut he remarks that Wesley .
was too colloquial for Sawney.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 411
He was accompanied by Mr. Davies, and remained In Edinburgh
at least two months. During his stay he preached at five
o'clock in the morning, at which early hour the church, and even
the neighbouring park, were crowded.
These proceedings, under the patronage of Lady Hunting
don and Lady Glenorchy, and the efforts of the clergy of Edin
burgh against Arminianism, raised up hosts against Mr. Wesley
on his return to Scotland. He refers in his Journal to the la
bours of "good Mr. Townsend," whereby his flock of one hun
dred and fifty were reduced to fifty. Mr. Townsend soon after
revisited Edinburgh, under the patronage of Lady Huntingdon,
and, at Lady Glenorchy's desire, Mr. De Courcy and Mr.
Erasmus Middleton, met him there, and they, alternately with
Mr. Wesley's preachers, performed divine service in Lady Glen
orchy's chapel. The former being decidedly Calvinistic, and
the latter Perfectionists, an incongruity in teaching arose, to
remedy which Lady Glenorchy withdrew from Mr. Wesley's
connexion. Her Ladyship, in a letter to a friend, says, "the
Methodists charge Mr. De Courcy with having influenced me,
and Lady Maxwell, in particular, is greatly offended with me."
Mr. Wesley's letter to Lady Maxwell about this note especially
warns her against the influence of Mr. De Courcy, and the
preaching of Mr. Townsend ; prophesying that the former, at
least, will be a considerable favourite with Lady Glenorchy.
The Wesleyan doctrine and practice have never made great
progress in Scotland.
About this period the Rev. Samson Occum* arrived in Eng
land, with Mr. Whitaker, the minister of Norwich, to promote
the interests of the Indian charity school founded by Dr. Eleazar
Wheeloch, one of the most interesting, eloquent, and successful
ministers in New England, first President and Founder of Dart
mouth College. • Occum was the first Indian preacher who
* Samson Occum, whom Lady Huntingdon considered one of the most inter
esting and extraordinary characters of her time, was born at Mohegan, near
Norwich, Connecticut, about the year 1723. His parents, like other Indians,
led a wandering life, depending chiefly upon hunting and fishing for subsistence.
Not one then cultivated the land, and all dwelt in wigwams. None of them
could read. During the religious excitement in America, about the year 1740,
Mr. Whitefield, Mr. Gilbert Tennant, and several other ministers, visited these
Mohegan Indians, after which many of them used to repair to the neighbouring
churches. Occum, at this period, became the subject of religious impressions,
and was soon desirous of becoming the teacher of his tribe. In a year or two
he learned to read the Bible. At the age of nineteen he went to the Indian
school of Dr. Wheeloch, of Lebanon, and remained with him four years.
He afterwards kept a school amongst the Indians for ten or eleven years ; and
was eventually ordained by the Suffolk Presbytery, in 1759, after which he
became very zealous in preaching anjongst the scattered remnants of the Mo,
began Indians, ,

412 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
visited England, and, having brought letters of introduction to
Lady Huntingdon, was soon received in all the religious circles
in London. He preached several times for Mr. Whitefield at
the Tabernacle, and at Tottenham-court chapel, which were
filled in every part by thronged and attentive auditories. During
his stay in England he preached in various parts of the king
dom between three and four hundred sermons. The money
which he collected for the Indian school was put into the hands
of trustees in England, of whom the Earl of Dartmouth was
the principal.
During his stay in England he was sensibly affected by the
kindness of Lady Huntingdon, who not only hospitably onter-
tained him at her house, but likewise introduced him to the
notice of several pious persons amongst the nobility, both in
England and Scotland.*
Lady Huntingdon appears to have been much interested about
the Mohegan Indians, from accounts related to her by Occum: —
" Ere long (says her Ladyship) I trust the Lord will make his way
plain through all that country, and under a preached Gospel these
several tribes may become one fold under the spiritual guidance of the
Great Shepherd and Bishop of souls. Occum has been the instrument
of great good to many of his tribe — many of whom have renounced their
idolatry, and worshipped Him who died upon the cross. I hope yet
to have it in my power, if the Lord should see fit to continue me in
his service, to extend some aid to this interesting people."
There were other native preachers scarcely less worthy of
remembrance than Occum, though not so intimately connected
with our subject. One of these, Joseph Johnson, was born at
Mohegan, about 1750. He was educated at Dr. Wheeloch's
s#chool at Lebanon, and was afterwards licensed to preach among
* After his return to America, he sometimes resided at Mohegan, and was
often employed in missionary labours among distant Indians. In the latter
years of his life he resided at New Stockbridge, near Brotherton, where he had
collected a numerous congregation of the Mohegan root. He died in July,
1792. An excellent portrait of him was given in one of the early volumes ofthe
Evangelical Magazine. He published a sermon preached at the execution of an
Indian in 1772. His sister, who was regarded as a pious woman, died at Mo
hegan, in June, 1830, aged 97. Samson Occum and his sister were descended,
by their mother, from Uncas, chief of the Mohegans. The familv have
declined in power with the decay of the tribe. Isaiah Uncas attended Dr.
Wheeloch's school. About the year 1800 Noah and John Uncas were living •
but the name is now extinct at Mohegan. The royal burial ground is not at
Mohegan, but at Norwich city, a short distance from the falls of the Yantic.
A few months after the death of Occum's sister a. Sunday School was opened
at her house, where three or four generations of her descendants lived ¦ and
this commencement of benevolent efforts for the remnant of a once powerful
tribe has led to the erection of a commodious place of worship, and the estab
lishment ot a teacher among these Indians.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 413
the Six Nations of Indians. It was there that, in 1776, he re
ceived a letter from General Washington, dated at Cambridge,
February 20, saying —
" Tell them that we don't want them to take up the hatchet for us,
except they choose it ; we only desire that they will not fight against
us. We want that the chain of friendship should always remain bright
between our friends of the Six Nations and us. We recommend you
to them, and hope, by your spreading the trutlis of the Gospel among
them, it will keep the chain bright."
The Rev. James Fitch, minister of Norwich, was well ac
quainted with the Mohegan language, and preached the Gospel
of salvation to that once powerful tribe for many years. He
even gave some of his own lands to induce them to renounce
their savage manner of living. The descendants of those Indians
at Mohegan, for whose benefit he toiled more than forty years,
have recently had a chapel built for them, by the liberality of
the citizens of Norwich.*
From these instances it will be seen that the school at Leba
non has been extensively useful among the Indians, for whose
use it was established. Lady Huntingdon ^contributed richly to
this institution, and Mr. Whitefield made frequent collections
for it. Dr. Wheeloch died April 24, 1779, aged sixty-eight.
His son, Lieutenant-Colonel Wheeloch, became President of
Dartmouth College on the death of his father. In 1783 the
trustees resolved to send him to England to promote the interests
of the College. With letters from General Washington to Lady
Huntingdon, and from Governors Trumbull and Livingston to
several persons of influence, he arrived in England, and having
procured considerable donations for the College, [in money,
books, &c, returned to America, [but was shipwrecked on the
bar off the point of Cape Cod, losing his strong box, containing
all his money and papers. He died in 1817.
One of the persons who took interest in the Indian preachers
was Dr. Haweis, who was at this moment jplaced in a somewhat
awkward predicament. Mr. Kimpton, who had held the living
of Aldwincle, in Northamptonshire, for several years, had by
some very strange and imprudent conduct fallen into difficulties,
* " There are less than a hundred Mohegans (says a late American writer),
including those of mixed blood, now remaining. The French and revolutionary
wars, and, above all, the use of spirituous liquors, have nearly exterminated
the tribe. However, there is now reason to hope for amendment. They
retain of their large territory 2,700 acres of good land, and have several houses,
which they rent to white men. They have now schools and a preacher. If
they renounce strong drink, and cultivate their remaining land diligently, and
especially if the power of religion should ever be felt among them, they will
become a respectable and happy community."

414 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
and became a prisoner in the King's Bench. A long absence
from his parish could not be dispensed with by his superior,
and as he- was unable to return to Aldwincle, the living was in
danger of lapsing to the Bishop of the Diocese. It therefore
became necessary for Mr. Kimpton either to sell the advowson,
or obtain the Bishop's leave for some clergyman to hold it for
a limited time. Dr. Haweis not having any preferment from
the time he had been driven from his cure at Oxford,* was re-*
commended to Mr. Kimpton by Mr. Madan, who had been
introduced to him by the Rev. Samuel Brewer ; and as the
Bishop's leave could not be obtained for any person to hold the
living for a limited time, he presented it to Dr. Haweis. The
whole transaction was concluded with Mr. Madan and Dr.
Haweis by Mr. Kimpton, when no other person was present.
Mr. Madan and Dr. Haweis, no doubt, acted in this business as
upright and conscientious men, but in the eyes of those equally
excellent, Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Whitefield, and Mr. Thornton,
their conduct appeared less pure.f
* We have already adverted to the expulsion of Mr. Haweis from Oxford,
and we ought now to state that it was through the abused authority of Hume,
Bishop of that See, in whose eyes it was a erime to attract a great auditory,
and he blessed in the conversion of many. His Grace of Canterbury ( Seeker),
of whom Mr. Haweis begged a fair investigation of his case, offering for in
spection three hundred of his sermons, and courting inquiry into his life and
actions, coldly said, — " Sir, whether you gave the offence, or they took it, I shall
not take it upon myself to determine." In this way was Mr. Haweis deprived
of his curacy without redress ; yet he had influence, and was of a good family,
long resident in Cornwall, and well known as Haweis of St. Coose. His
mother, Miss Bridgeman Willyams, was the only daughter of John Willyams,
Esq., of Carmanton, by the youngest daughter and co-heir of Colonel Hum
phrey Noy, whose father was attorney-general to Charles I. Her mother was
a sister of the last Baron Sandys, of the Vine, on whose death, without issue,
the title fell into abeyance among his sisters. Mr. Willyams, (the father of
Mrs. Haweis), of St. Coose, was conspicuous for his active and zealous adher
ence to the Stuarts, and suffered much persecution for his attachment to that
unfortunate House. He was deprived, during the reign of William and Mary,
of his commission of the. peace, but was restored soon after the accession of
Anne. When the old mansion was taken down, some ninety years ago, a fine
picture of James II. was found curiously concealed in the roof. This valuable
Jacobite relic is now at Carmanton.
Hester, the eldest sister of the Lord Sandys above referred to, was grand
daughter and heiress of Lady Sandys, daughter of Edmund Brydges, second
Lord Chandos. She was the great grandmother of Dr. Haweis, and her direct
descendant is Davies Giddy, 'Esq., (now Davies Gilbert, F.R.S.) late M.P.
for Bodmin, who is co-heir to the Barony of Sandys, of the Vine, in Hamp
shire. John Oliver Willyams, a cousin of Dr. Haweis, married Charlotte, daughter
of Chauncey Townsend, Esq., M.P. for London, sister to Mrs. Biddulph, whose
son, Mr. Biddulph, is minister of St. James's, Bristol. Another of his cousins
became the wife of Lord James O'Brien, brother to the Marquis of Thomond.
She died at Clifton, of consumption, leaving no child.
f However severe might be her Ladyship's opinion of this transaction at the
moment, she had always entertained a high opinion of the piety and moral

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 415
Some months after Mr. Kimpton had "signed the presentation,
a gentleman made him an offer of one thousand guineas for the
advowson, whereupon he immediately made an application to
Dr. Haweis, iutimating his hopes of a resignation, or at least
of having a compensation in money. However, as no promises,
or even so much as a hint of a consideration, had been made at
the time when Dr. Haweis was presented to the living, that gen
tleman and Mr. Madan peremptorily refused either resignation
or compensation. The distress which this refusal brought upon
Mr. Kimpton and his family was almost beyond parallel ; Mr.
Kimpton himself being still a prisoner in the King's Bench, his
son driven out of his mind, and the rest of his family nearly
starving. This affair soon became very public, and the foulest aspersions
were thrown on the characters of Mr. Madan and Dr. Haweis
by Mr. Kimpton and his friends. On the part of Dr. Haweis,
it was contended that Mr. Kimpton presented him to the living
without any pecuniary consideration whatever, either at the time
of his acceptance of it, or the least promise or engagement for
any future recompense. Mr. Kimpton and his friends did not
deny this ; but said it must be presumed that when the patron
first waited upon Mr. Madan for his advice in the unfortunate
situation he was then in, that he told him his case, and that Mr.
Madan must have known what he wanted ; and though no pro
mises, or even so much as a hint of a consideration, were made
at the time the presentation was signed, yet Dr. Haweis must
hove known that Mr. Kimpton wholly relied on his honour, and
could not think that he would be willing to give his living away
absolutely to a man he never saw before, and to one who was
likely to enjoy it a great number of years, when he might have
found a person of more than twice the age of Dr. Haweis to
have given it to.
Mr. Madan sought the advice of the first legal authorities,
and having himself been an able practitioner at the bar, felt con
fident that he had acted in the most conscientious and honour
able manner by Mr. Kimpton. Lord Apsley, afterwards Lord
Bathurst, then Lord High Chancellor of England, to whom Mr.
Madan was chaplain, decided in his favour, as did also several
persons conversant with ecclesiastical law. The obloquy and
reproach to which Mr. Madan was exposed, and the base attacks
made upon his character for the part which he took in this un
happy affair, obliged him to publish a narrative of the whole
worth of Mr. Haweis : he became one of her preachers, then her chaplain, and
he was appointed in her will one of the chief managers of her chapels.

416 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
transaction, in which he accuses Mr. Kimpton of stating what was
false, aud of having acted a very close and designing part in not
declaring his real sentiments. This narrative was also designed
to answer the account wliich Mr. Kimpton had published a
short time before.*
Matters were in this state when Lady Huntingdon arrived in
London. After much consultation with Mr. Whitefield, Mr.
Thornton and others, the purchase of the advowson by her
Ladyship was considered the best means to deliver the Christian
cause from that obloquy and reproach which was so abundantly
heaped upon it through this affair, and help out of prison and
debt the miserable sufferers by it, as well as at the same time to
make away for Mr. Madan and Dr. Haweis to stand on ground
that might in the sight of all good and reasonable men become
truly christian and honourable. On the first of March Lady
Huntingdon sent by Mr. Whitefield a draft for one thousand
pounds to Mr. Thornton, and commissioned him, Mr. White-
field, Mr. West, and Mr. Brewer, to purchase the perpetual
advowson of Aldwincle, and deliver Mr. Kimpton and his family
out of their difficulties and distress. By her Ladyship's desire,
an advertisement was inserted in the public papers, directing all
his creditors to apply to Mr. Thornton to receive their respec
tive demands.
The following is a copy of her Ladyship's letter to Mr.
Thornton : — "March 1st, 176S.
" Dear Sir, — In consequence of the visit you had on Saturday, and
your approbation of what appeared most right to me, I have one favour
to ask from your kind and christian influence. The natural effects to
» The publication of these narratives produced two pamphlets from Mr.
Brewer — the first entitled, " An exact copy of an Epistolary Correspondence
between the Eev. Mr. Madan and the Rev. Samuel Brewer, concerning the
living of Aldwincle ; before the publication of either Mr. Kimpton's or Mr.
Madan 's narratives ; with a design and desire of gratifying the public, answer
able to their repeated demands on that unpleasant subject." The second was
published soon after, and entitled, " A Supplement; or, the second part of an
Epistolary Correspondence relative to the living of Aldwincle ; containing seve
ral important letters, now forced to be made public to vindicate injured cha
racter, and to undeceive the friends of religion." From which publicafions it
appears that Mr. Brewer thought with Mr. Kimpton on the subject. Captain
Alexander Clunie, a hearer of Mr. Brewer's, and his friend Mr. West, exerted
themselves with great zeal to prevent these contradictory publications, and to
reconcile Mr. Madan and Mr. Brewer without either appearing in print. " Mr.
Madan (says Captain Clunie) told me he did not mind £1,000 if Kimpton
had a claim upon him; but to give one penny as hush-money, was what he
neither could nor would consent to." Mr. Mays, one of Mr. Kimpton's friends,
published a pamphlet which Mr. Madan's advisers thought libellous, and Mr.
Madan's brother, William Hale, Esq., of Kingswald, the candidate for Hertford,
advised a prosecution.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 417
Mr. Kimpton, on being made easy, may flow in a degree of gratitude to
me that would exceedingly hurt me under any form whatever, either
from him or his friends. I wish extremely it may appear, as it faith
fully is, unconnected with Mr. Madan, and in such a way also as may
silence those evil effects of his conduct ; but with no spirit even to him
that had not the most simple and christian meaning to all, and this can
only be done by that coolness and indifference that belong to every
common just action in life. You would, therefore, highly oblige me to
have in view for me the suppression of any notices on this occasion.
Nothing could so grieve me. My heart feels too much ashamed before
Him who sees it to receive any approbation from man ; may he forgive
my best meanings when mixed with such imperfect actions as I feel
all mine to be. Your kind assistance in this will lay a perpetual
obligation on her who most highly esteems you, and on all occasions
acknowledges herself, dear Sir, your obliged and faithful humble
servant, " S. Huntingdon.
" P. S. I send the note for 1,000/. by Mr. Whitefield."
To this memorable letter Mr. Thornton sent the following
answer : —
" Madam, — I have received, by the Rev. Mr. Whitefield, your Lady
ship's favour of a draft on Messrs. Boldero and Co., for a thousand
pounds ; and it shall he my endeavour to approve myself obedient to
your commands in all respects. And I cannot but admire the true
Christian manner in which you are pleased to study to act, with a sin
gle eye to the honour and glory of our dear Lord and Master, in this
great good work. I trust he will own this and all your Ladyship's
labours of love, and shine upon you more and more, till he receives
you where we shall be everlastingly employed in praise. I am, with
the most sincere regard, your Ladyship most obedient humble servant,
"John Thornton."
Lord Dartmouth having likewise taken an active part in this
unhappy affair, and having intimated his anxiety that the cha
racters of Mr. Madan and Dr. Haweis should not suffer through
her Ladyship's kind and generous intentions, she wrote to
his Lordship the same day on which she commissioned Mr.
Thornton to purchase the advowson, informing him of what
she had done. "March 1st, 1768.
" My Lord, — I have this day sent by the hands of Mr. Whitefield,
to Mr. Thornton, a note for a thousand pounds, to pay (as by agree
ment with Mr. Kimpton) for the perpetual advowson of Aldwincle
living, and which was the full supposed value before Mr. Haweis had
possession of it. As your Lordship must have known the want of con
currence my heart has ever had in this whole affair, so I did think
your Lordship had a right to the earliest and fullest information of this

418 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
transaction, and also of what appearad to me the one best means to
deliver from reproach, on this account, the Christian cause, and help
out of prison and debt the miserable sufferers by it, as well as at the
same time to make a way for Mr. Madan and Mr. Haweis to stand on
ground that might in the sight of all good and reasonable men, become
truly Christian and honourable. Your Lordship, in wishing the pro
tection of the character of those you regard, has seen this matter in a
light tender, friendly, and charitable ; but this medium is not that
through which all can see in it that exactness requisite to actions that
appear of such consequence to the clearing up their fidelity when less
known. A thousand therefore to one, as well in the Christian as ra
tional world, must and do see it in another ; these doubtless claim that
consideration as due to them which every Christian heart would by
concession willingly make, whenever consciously mistaken, else woe
to the world indeed because of offences, which would yet remain the
hindrance of their peace, by the false impressions received against the
power and purity which, through mistaken conduct, must continue so
obscured. As to any reserves pride may make on these subjects, may
the Lord keep me, your Lordship, and all who name the name of Christ
from them. Should not these measures meet with your Lordship's ap
probation, my satisfaction will receive that difference only. As far as I
know, my eye has been single to these three points I [have mentioned,
anti that to Him whose I am, and from whose compassion I look for
pity to all my ignorance and weakness, in want of further abilities in
this matter, as well as for every other purpose to his glory, and in all
situations, remain, my Lord, your Lordship's obliged and faithful hum
ble servant " S. Huntingdon."
It now remained for Lady -Huntingdon to conclude this un
fortunate transaction, by writing to Mr. Madan, with a full dis
closure of her sentiments, imforming him of the step which she
thought it most prudent to take. We transcribe the letter, and
Mr. Madan's reply, from a manuscript in her Ladyship's hand
writing : — " London, March 1st, 1768.
" Rev. Sir, — Some time in last April was a year, in my lodgings at
Chelsea, you were so good as to inform me of this unhappy affair of
Aldwincle. On having your representation read over, my sentiments
on that point I most freely gave, and thought, as the matter stood, I
could not see how Mr. Haweis, as an honest man, could continue to
keep that living. The objection then made against giving it up was
the charge of simony, which might in that case be brought. To avoid
even the suspicion of this it instantly occurred to my mind that you and
Mr. Haweis immediately taking Mr. Kimpton to the bishop, and
proving yourselves free from the charge that was or might be brought
against you, necessarily obliged him (the bishop) either to allow the
resignation of the living in testimony of your innocence, or acquit your
characters in keeping it if he refused to receive it. From the inferior

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 4l9
objection of the 300/. laid out on the house by Mr. Haweis (and which
was afterwards offered to be paid by a friend on a resignation of the
living), it did not then seem expedient to you that the living should be
given up. I then had no more to say, and became satisfied to share in
the certain shame and reproach so many of God's people have had on this
occasion ; but from the conviction of my mind I could take up no wea
pons of defence on this subject. It remained from your own testimony
to me just the same under every various and future appearance to the
world. Since I last came to town I have found a severe scourge indeed
upon the Church of God, and which by going on must end in every evil
word and work. To deliver, therefore, a miserable family, and to stop
all further grief to God's people, who are alike in all parts affected by
this blow, I had but one thing that suggested itself to me adequate to
its relief, and whereby these best motives might be explained. In
order to do this the most effectually in my power, I have commissioned
Mr. Thornton, Mr. Whitefield, Mr. West, and Mr. Brewer (by this day
giving them a note for 1,0007.) to purchase the advowson of Aldwincle,
and they are now gone to see Mr. Kimpton released from prison, restored
to his family, and the debts relative to the advowson, and all his other
debts, punctually discharged. Thus far I have gone, but alas ! I can
go no farther. It remains now only for me to pray to God to enable
both you and Mr. Haweis to make every proper and public concession*
to the world for any conscious infirmity, weakness, temptation, or mis
taken step throughout this transaction. May you stand by the Cross of
Christ in this humbling and trying instance. It will be sufficient to
support and carry you victoriously through all, and bring back the love,
the just love and honour due to you from the Church of God, and in
the end can alone preserve that character, whose defence from man
has wanted that success which God only can give. Should I ever
live to see this happy day of peace proclaimed, you will then find me
that faithful and affectionate friend I desire to be found by you both.
Till then, I can only say, I remain your servant for Christ's sake,
*' S. Huntingdon."
The concession, drawn up by Lady Huntingdon, which she
* This letter enclosed a copy of an advertisement, which her Ladyship
wished Messrs. Madan and Haweis to sign and insert in the papers of the day.
The following is a copy. It was drawn up by the Countess herself: — " As the
public have received much offence by our mutual transactions in the affair of
the living of Aldwincle, we take this method of informing them that we
are assured that Mr. Kimpton is honourably satisfied by the purchase of the
advowson, unknown tous or our friends, and an end put to any further alter
cation on this subject, so we are desirous of saying that anything which might
appear in our conduct contrary to the spirit of Christianity, through the weak
ness and various temptations attending this severe attack upon the honour and
honesty belonging to Christian ministers, we think ourselves bound, from the
grief occasioned to the religious world through our mistakes, or the willing
prejudices of others against our characters, as ministers of Christ, to give every
future proof which (notwithstanding so many unfortunate and various difficul
ties) shall in the issue convince even our worst enemies we have no meaning
but to be found faithful messengers of peace, by the dispensation of that
Gospel which renders this submission the consistent as well as genuine fruits
of it."

420 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
proposed in the above letter to be signed by Mr. Madan and
Dr. Haweis, and circulated in the public prints, never obtained
any publicity.
The following is Mr. Madan's reply, dated March 3, 1768 : —
" Madam, — When I had the honour of your Ladyship's letter
I was confined to my bed, and therefore could not answer it by your
servant. I [am at present very unfit for writing or business of any
sort; but lest my longer silence should be misconstrued into dis
respect, I trouble your Ladyship with the following answer.
" Your Ladyship acquaints me that you have sent a thousand pounds
for the purchase of the advowson of Aldwincle. This step your Lady
ship may have taken with the best intentions ; but, under all the cir
cumstances of the case, it is very evident to me that the necessary
consequence of it will be an increase of reproach and injury to my
friend Mr. Haweis's character and my own ; and therefore I hope your
Ladyship will do us the justice, upon all occasions, to declare that this
step has been taken without our knowledge, privity, consent, or
approbation. " As to the part which Mr. Haweis and I have taken, it has been, all
things considered, a very disagreeable one for us ; and nothing could
have supported us under the oppression and persecution we have met
with, but a consciousness of our having acted uprightly and sincerely.
This has enabled us to stem the torrent of abuse which hath been
poured upon us from all quarters, and I trust will enable us to assert
our integrity as long as we live.
" As to the concessions your Ladyship is pleased to mention, as we
do not conceive we have any to make, so we must assure you that
none can ever be made, by us I mean, for I by no means despair that
some may appear on the other side of the question, when conscience
shall do its office with respect to the wrongs we have sustained, and
our just dealing shall be as the noon-day sun.
" When evil is spoken of us falsely, we are commanded to rejoice ;
when any can be said truly, I shall hope that you will find none more
ready to acknowledge and lament it than dear Mr. Haweis, and,
" Madam, your Ladyship's humble servant,
" Martin Madan."
The preaching of Mr. Haweis, which Mr. Newton (one of the
ministers who approved his conduct and that of Mr. Madan)
said, had like the report of cannon sounded through the country,
attracted vast congregations to Aldwincle church.* Mr. Ro-
* Among his converts was an old innkeeper, who having been a good cus
tomer to his own barrel, had carbuncled his nose into the sign of his calling.
He was from nature and interest averse to the Methodists, and could not see
what all the world, in his part, had to run after at Aldwincle church. Being
fond of music, however, and hearing that the singing was admirable, he con
trived, at the next feast-day, to go six miles, avoid a drinking party, and squeeze

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 4'2l
maine, Mr. Venn, as well as Mr. Newton, visited him in his
living. The friendship of such me is unequivocal testimony
to the piety of Dr. Haweis : but we do not mean to offer any
opinion on the affair of Aldwincle ; suppose him to have erred in
this, let the mistakes of such men be beacons for our admonition
and warning, while their fidelity and devotedness inspire us with
the zeal of imitation, and arouse us. to exertion.

CHAPTER XXV.

Progress of piety at Cambridge  Rowland Hill  Oxford — St. Edmund's Hall —
The six students — Expulsion — Sir Richard Hill — Dr. Horne, Bishop of
Norwich — Mr. Godwyn — Charges against Lady Huntingdon — Account ofthe
Students, and the proceedings against them — Letter from Lady Dartmouth
— Lady Buchan — Letter from Mr. Wesley — Cheltenham — Lord Dartmouth
—Letter from Mr. Venn_Mr. Wells— Mr. Trinder— Mr. Whitefield to Mr.
Madan — Mr. Madan to Mr. Wesley  Lady Huntingdon to Mr. Alderman
Harris — Gloucester Association — Lady Huntingdon to Mr. Brewer —
Chapels at Gloucester, Worcester, and Cheltenham — Lady Huntingdon's
Letter concerning them.'
At this period (1767-8) many students ofthe universities were
deeply imbued with a sense of the value and importance of
religion. The Cambridge band was headed by Rowland Hill,
whose whole soul was bent on promoting the growth of piety in
himself and among his friends, Pentycross, Simpson, Robinso n
and others, who, imbued with his zeal and spirit, possessed,
perhaps, less fire and energy, and unflinching boldness. At the
head of the religious youth of Oxford was Mr. Halward, the
constant correspondent of Mr. Hill, and whose letters .became at
this period peculiarly interesting. Mr. Durbridge, a humble,
himself into a pew somewhat too narrow for his portly person, where he listened
with delight to the hymns, but stopped his ears to the prayer. Heated and
fatigued, he closed his eyes, too, till a fly stinging his nose, he took his hands
from the side of his head to punish the intruder ; just then the preacher, in a
voice that sounded like thunder, gave out the text — " He that hath ears to hear
let him hear I" The impression was irresistible ; his hand no longer covered
his organs of hearing ; a new sense was awakened within ; it was the beginning
of days to him. ' No more swearing, no more drunkenness, but prayer and
hearing occupied his time, and he died after eighteen years' walking with God,
rejoicing in hope, and blessing the instrument of his conversion.
VOL. I. — D D

422 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
but pious friend of Mr. Whitefield, had lately suffered a trium
phant death, and at the house of his widow, Dr. Stillingfleet, Mr.
Halward, of Worcester College, Mr. Foster, of Queen's College
Mr. Pugh, of Hertford College, Mr. Gordon, of Magdalen, and
Mr. Clark, of St. John's, were wont to meet for prayer and
mutual encouragement in religion. To this congregation were
added the celebrated six students of St. Edmund's Hall, of
whom we are about to speak at more length : —
" Faithful and devoted souls (says Lady Huntingdon), and active in
diffusing the light and love of which they are the happy recipients.
With some of them I have long been acquainted, and have heard most
interesting particulars of their proceedings from dear Mr. Whitefield.
0, let earnest, ardent prayer, ascend from every gracious soul for the
success of these young witnesses, whom tbe Lord of the harvest hath
mercifully raised up to proclaim the Gospel of salvation. The hand of
the persecutor is upon some of them, and they have deep waters to
wade through ; but amidst every outward opposition, the little flock
continues to augment its numbers. I expect great things from them,
and hope and pray that these witnesses will rise up and testify to the
Gospel of the grace of God long after I am numbered with the dead."
Mr. Halward, in his letter to Mr. Hill, spoke of the meeting,
and of the excitement thereby created both in " town and gown."
At length the storm which had so long been gathering, and
which had already given a few warnings of its violence, burst.
and poured the full torrent of its vengeance on the devoted
heads of the six students of St. Edmund's Hall. They had
been in the habit of meeting Dr. Stillingfleet, then a fellow of
Merton College, but afterwards Prebendary of Worcester, a well
known writer, and the cherished friend of Lady Huntingdon, at
Mrs. Durbridge's, where the doctor would expound, and pray,
and invite the students to do likewise. Their unusual piety
and zealous efforts, expounding at private houses and preaching
in the neighbourhood, had, as we have seen, excited the jealousy
of the Church, and attracted the ridicule of the gay townsmen.
Mr. Higson, tutor of St. Edmund's Hall, a person who was
liable to attacks of insanity, and who had been treated as insane,
first formally complained to the principal, Dr. Dixon, of several
students in the Hall, "enthusiasts, who talked of inspiration, re
generation, and drawing nigh to God." The worthy principal,
who was thoroughly acquainted with the right "views and
pure lives of the accused students, looked upon the tutor's com
plaint as an evidence of his recurring insanity. Not so the Vice-
Chancellor, Dr. Durrell, to whom Mr. Higson next applied.
He considered that the tutor of St. Edmund's merited by his
zeal the thanks of the whole University; and, fearing that

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 42$
these young men, who already imitated Wesley and White-
field in their piety, might, like them, " turn the world upside
down, and the Church inside out," he summoned a conclave,
appointed assessors, and cited the offending students before him.
The conclave consisted of Drs. Durrell, Randolph, Fothergill,
Nowell, and the senior proctor, Atterbury. Dr. Nowell took
notes, which were afterwards published in vindication of the
Vice-Chancellor and his junta. The students arraigned were
Benjamin Kay, Thomas Jones, Thomas Grove, Erasmus Mid
dleton, and Joseph Shipman. Several heads of houses warmly
espoused the cause of the students, especially Dr. Dixon, who,
as Principal of their Hall, bore direct testimony to their ad
mirable conduct and exemplary piety, and defended them against
Mr. Higson's charges, out of the Thirty-nine Articles them
selves. His amendment was, however, overruled, and sentence
of expulsion was passed against them ; the Vice-Chancellor de
claring that each of them deserved expulsion, and adding, " I,
therefore, by my visitorial power, do hereby pronounce them
expelled." Such was the Oxford bull of 1768.
Mr. Whitefield immediately addressed an admirable letter,
written in his most forcible manner, to the Vice-Chancellor, which
has been very frequently printed, but is now extremely scarce.
Sir Richard Hill wrote a capital pamphlet, entitled Pietas
Oxoniensis, dedicated to the Earl of Lichfield, then Chancellor
of the University of Oxford. Dr. Horne, afterwards Bishop of
Norwich, very ably defended the students, and condemned the
conclave in a powerful paper ; and Mr. Macgowan and several
others, severely lashed the heads of houses for their sentence.
On the other hand, there were a pamphlet by the Vice-
Chancellor, an answer to Sir Richard Hill by Dr. Nowell,
and other vindicatory tracts of great ability. The Rev. Charles
Godwyn, one the Fellows of Baliol College, writing to Mr.
Hutchins, the historian of Devon, says : —
" A very odd affair has happened here. The Principal of Edmund
Hall has been indiscreet enough to admit into his hall, by the recom
mendation of Lady Huntingdon, seven London tradesmen, one a
tapster, another a barber, &c. They have little or no learning, but
have all of them a high opinion of themselves, as being ambassadors of
' King Jesus.' One of them, upon that title, conferred by himself, has
been a preacher. Complaint was made to the Vice-Chancellor^ I
believe by the Bishop of Oxford, and he, in his own right, as Vice-
Chancellor, had last week a visitation of the Hall. Six of the preachin»
tradesmen were found so void of learning that they were expelled and
the tutor with his pupils, not choosing to live under such a principal
are removing, I believe, to Christ Church."
D d2

454 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
In a subsequent letter Mr. Godwyn adds : —
" The Vice-Chancellor has done very well in removing from hence
some ' ambassadors from Jesus Christ,' who were made up of ignorance
and assurance, and were likely to do more harm than good. _ There is
a short sensible pamphlet published in defence of him, relating barely
the facts, and producing the reasons upon which the Vice-Chancellor
proceeded. It says just as much as is proper, and nothing more. A
person among us, of some consequence, has shown his piety to his
alma mater, by publishing what he calls Pietas Oxoniensis. It is in
defence of our Methodists, from whence you may judge of the odd turn
of the man. We are at loss to find out who is the person. The
Vice-Chancellor knows. Nothing of any value has been published
against it."
The expulsion itself was thus announeed in the St. James's
Chronicle: —
"On Friday last (March 11, 1768), six students belonging to
Edmund Hall were expelled the University, after a hearing of several
hours, before the Vice-Chancellor and some ofthe heads of houses, for
holding Methodistical tenets, and taking upon them to pray, read, and
expound the Scriptures, and singing hymns in private houses. The
Principal of the College (Dr. Dixon) defended their doctrines, from the
Thirty-nine Articles of the Established Church, and spoke in the
highest tei-ms of the piety and exemplariness of their lives ; hut his
motion was overruled, and sentence pronounced against them. One of
the heads of houses present observed that, as these six gentlemen were
expelled for having too much religion, it would be very proper to
enquire into the conduct of some who had too little, yet Mr. Vice-
Chancellor Durrell was heard to tell the chief accuser that tbe Univer
sity was much obliged to him for his good work."
We add, in a note some particulars of the expelled students.*
In the public journals of the day, Lady Huntingdon was
* Mr. Jones was originally a hair-dresser, and a letter was produced among
the evidence on this occasion, in which the writer stated that Mr. Jones had
made a very good periwig for him, only two years before. The fact was, how
ever, that he had left the business at seventeen years of age, four years
before he went to College. He had resided some time with Mr. Newton, then
curate of Olney, and under his instruction made considerable progress in
acquiring a knowledge, grammatical and critical, of the Greek and Hebrew
Scriptures. His moral character was unimpeached even by his accusers, and
the charges against him were chiefly that he had been brought up to a trade,
and had been guilty of praying, singing hymns, and expounding the Scriptures
in private houses. After his expulsion, he was much noticed by Lady Hunting
don, was ordained, became curate of Clifton, near Birmingham, married the
sister of Cowper's friend, the Lady Austin, and died rather suddenly several
years ago.
Mr. Kay was of respectable family, and an excellent scholar. He was
bible clerk at St. Edmund's, and had an exhibition, paid by the Ironmongers'
Company. Mr. Grove had been admitted in 1767, and was twenty-one years of age. He
was expelled for barn-preaching, a new crime, of which, however, there was no

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 425
accused not only as Mr. Godwyn accused her, but of " seducing"
several young men from their respective trades and avocations,
and sending them to the University, where they were maintained
at her expense, that they might afterwards " skulk into orders."
Her Ladyship was at Bath during the whole transaction, and she
regarded, not without anxiety, the arbitrary proceedings of the
heads of the University against these young men — for what ?
For maintaining the fundamental doctrine of the Reformation,
and of the Church of England, viz : — Election, perseverance,
justification by faith alone, and the necessity of the influence of
the Holy Spirit to constitute every one a child of God. Doc-
proof. In a petition to the Archbishop of Canterbury, he acknowledged that
is zeal had led him into certain irregularities, but he was not aware that they
violated any statute. The Chancellor consented to his re-admission, but the
Vice-Chancellor and his assessors refused, even after he had declared his
willingness to make submission for irregularity.
Mr. Mathews was charged with having been instructed by Mr. Fletcher, a
declared Methodist, of associating with known Methodists, and of attending
illicit conventicles. He was afterwards received into Lady Huntingdon's-
College, at Trevecca.
Mr. Middleton was accused of preaching at Chevely, in Berkshire, not being
in orders. This occurred three years before he entered the University, for which
" daring impiety," as Dr. Durrell called it, he was expelled by those who looked
over a charge of blasphemy against Mr. Welling, on the ground that he was in
drink when the blasphemy was uttered. But Mr. Middleton was further
charged with having refused ordination from the Bishop of Hereford, and
attaching himself to Mr. Haweis, who had boasted that he could get him into
orders. Erasmus Middleton was, perhaps, the most distidguished of those
persecuted students. He was supported at Cambridge by Fuller, the banker,
a Dissenter, and ordained in Ireland by the Bishop of Down. In Scotland he
married a branch of the ducal family of Gordon. In London he was curate to
Romaine and Cadogan, and there he wrote his Biographia Evangelica ; in his
old age he was presented by the Fuller family with tlie living of Turvey, in
Bedfordshire. The accusations Mr. Shipman had to sustain were similar, and equally un
founded. He was, after his expulsion, admitted to the College of Trevecca.
The morality, then, of the students was not impugned. They were arraigned
and expelled because they met together at Mrs. Durbridge's to read and ex
pound the Scriptures, sing hymns, and pray extempore. This was construed
into " attending an illicit conventicle ; but surely the words of the canon, of
the University statute, and of the preamble to the act of Parliament, plainly
define a conventicle to be a meeting contrary to the doctrine and discipline of
the Church of England, or dangerous to the public peace, whereas, the writing
at Oxford were of persons whose attachment to the doctrines of the Church,
attendance upon her worship, and subscription to all her articles were mani
fest and undeniable. Very similar were the charges of associating with
Stillingfleet, Fletcher, Haweis, Venn, Newton, and other excellent persons.
But the chief cause of the displeasure of their judges was the doctrine of these
pious men. At that time their tenets were considered hostile to the Church to
which they belonged ; but time has done them justice, and the Church of Eng
land is daily adding to the number of her zealous and active ministers men who
consider their doctrines not at variance with her Liturgy and Articles, and who,
without any infringement of her rules, are preaching salvation through faith
alone, and whose works are an answer to those who insinuate that they lay no
stress on them as evidences of their belief

426

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF

trines which lie at the very foundation of Christianity, and have
ever been esteemed the great bulwark of Protestantism ; in so
much that there is not reformed Church in Europe but admits
them to the chief place in her confessions of faith.
"It is a grievous thing (says her Ladyship) to find men who have
solemnly subscribed to the doctrines of the Reformation acting with
such inconsistent cruelty, tyranny, falsehood, and scurrility towards
those who conscientiously adhere to the tenets of our excellent
Church, and endeavour to propagate her principles. Such conduction
the part of our Church rulers and the heads of our Universities, is a
sad hlow to the Church to which they profess to belong, and strengthens
the hands of our Popish adversaries. Of what solemn perjury are
those men guilty who, for the sake of filthy lucre, and creeping into
high places, swear to the belief of doctrines and principles which, in
their hearts, they disbelieve and detest ? How will the Great Head of
the Church be avenged on such people as these ; and how he will re
ward their fidelity a future day will disclose to the view of an assembled
world ! 0, my soul, come not thou into the secrets of such men !
With the foul invectives of common newspapers I have nothing to do,
neither am I accountable for the impudent falsehood of those who have
maliciously asserted that I have inveigled six ignorant young men from
their trades in the country, and maintained them at the University.
All these, and many other absurd and ridiculous accusations, insinua
tions, and statements, are utterly false, and without any, the least,
foundation of truth to support them ; but the Lord God is witness
between me and my accusers in this matter, and woe unto them that
call good evil, and evil good ; that put darkness for light, and light for
darkness. Dr. Nowell seems to be of opinion that the expulsion of
the students ' is a seasonable interposition, and has disappointed the
hopes of those, who were desirous of filling the Church with their
votaries.' Bold assertion often supplies the place of truth with some
men. Ma}' the Lord pardon him for the unjust part he has acted in
this affair, and convince him that his conduct, and that of the other
members of the University, has been utterly inconsistent with every
sentiment of truth, justice, conscience, religion, humanity, and candour."
We have dwelt at some length on the expulsion of these
students on account of the interest Lady Huntingdon took in
the affair, because of Mr. Whitefield's zealous interference in
behalf of the victims, and because we hope and believe this
Oxford bull will remain the last of its race. 2^ow public
opinion would expel from the University of Christian fellowship
any number of heads of houses who should repeat this tyranny.
That great tribunal has just pronounced the sentence of
unqualified condemnation against the late Popish "Oxford
Tracts," and neither the Chancellor, nor ex-Chancellor could
now obtain, were they inclined to try, any mitigation of the
sentence?

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 427
The Tracts are unprotestant and therefore unpopular ; and by
parity of reasoning, the conduct of the persecuted students
would have been supported by popular opinion, had it occurred
in our day, for their conduct was eminently Protestant. The
hisses and yells in which the raw witlings of Oxford indulged
against the Dissenters at the installation of the Duke of Wel
lington were the mere ebullitions of political folly, and proved
nothing against the University but the want of good manners
on gala days ; whereas, the Tracts proved the absence of good
theology, a defect of more importance in such an institution, and
not quite so easily supplied. It may tend to the purification of
doctrines and manners to preserve and keep before the world
the names of the conclave, who expelled six Oxonians for ex
tempore prayer and singing psalms, and retained one who had
been proved guilty of ridiculing the miracles of Moses and Jesus
Christ. But Oxford was never without her Abdiels, and it gives
us real pleasure to recall the names of those faithful ones who
protested against the outrages on truth, decency, and consis
tency. Her cloud of witnesses is not great, but it is sufficiently
splendid to inspire high hopes, as well as hallowed recollections.
Middleton, in his " Ecclesiastical Memoir," laments that any
decree, so unsuitable to the spirit of a purely Protestant insti
tution, as this decree of the Vice-Chancellor, should continue to
disgrace the archives of Oxford; but it appears to us a
fortunate circumstance that the document has been preserved,
for were it not in the archives of Oxford, who would believe that
it had ever existed ?
Whilst Lady Huntingdon was thus deploring the effects of
spiritual wickedness in high places, hostile to that cause which
more than life she valued, there were, on the other hand, signs
of blessedness to rouse her to more vigorous exertion. The
triumphant death of Lord Buchan, and the impressions made on
surviving relatives, were very remarkable circumstances.
The Dowager Countess was a woman of strong natural un
derstanding, and of a highly cultivated mind. She now became
the devoted Christian, and consecrated her honours and her
talents at the foot of the Cross. It was at this period that Lady
Anne Erskine, her eldest daughter, took up her residence with
Lady Huntingdon. The young Earl also was valiant for the truth,
and Mr. Venn and Mr. Berridge were appointed his chaplains.
Mr. Wesley was honoured by a similar mark of regard, through
the intervention of Lady Huntingdon, which he acknowledged
in the following letter, dated London, June 4th, 1768, and ad
dressed to the Countess, at Bute : —
" My [dear JLady, — I am obliged to your Ladyship and to Lady

428 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Buchan, for such a mark of your regard as I did not at all expect. I
purpose to return her Ladyship thanks by this post.
'' That remark is very striking as well as just : if it is the Holy Spirit
that bears witness, then all speaking against that witness is one species
of blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. And when this is done by those
who peculiarly profess to honour him, it must in a peculiar manner
grieve that blessed Spirit. Yet I have been lately surprised to observe,
how many who affirm salvation by faith, have run into this meaning —
fall into Sandeman's notion, that faith is merely an assent to the Bible,
and not only undervaluing, but even ridiculing the whole experience of
- the children of God. But so much the more do I rejoice that your
Ladyship is still preserved from that spreading contagion, and also en
abled, plainly and openly to avow the plain, old, simple, unfashionable
Gospel. I am glad to hear your Ladyship has thoughts of being
soon in town, but sorry that yonr health is not yet re-established. Yet
certainly ' Health we shall have if health be best :'
for the Lord still ruleth in Heaven and earth. Wishing your Lady
ship many happy years, I remain, my dear Lady, your very affectionate
servant, John Wesley."
Mr. Shirley and Mr. Powling (of Dewsbury, in Yorkshire),
were at this time in Bath, and their ministry was attended by
great crowds. Mr. Daniel Rowlands repaired thither, to accom
pany her Ladyship and Mr. Shirley on a tour into Gloucester
shire. Proceeding through Stroud, Painswick, and Gloucester,
they arrived at Tewkesbury, where Mr. Shirley preached from
that passage — "Awaken thou that sleepest !" The audience
was exceedingly large, and deeply attentive. In the afternoon
Mr. Rowlands explained and enforced those solemn words — " It
is appointed unto men once to die." The congregation was
more numerous than in the morning, and there was not an inat
tentive hearer. " A remarkable power from on high (observes
her Ladyship) accompanied the message of his servants, and
many felt the arrows of distress. O may we rejoice in a world
of spirits that we have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain,
but that many in this populous town may be found amongst the
redeemed and ransomed of the Lord.
From Tewkesbury Lady Huntingdon proceeded to Chelten
ham, where much good had been effected through the instru
mentality of those who laboured with her in this honourable and
glorious cause.*
Cheltenham was now well supplied with Gospel ministers,
* As early as the year 1757, her Ladyship engaged Mr. Madan to itinerate
through several parts of the kingdom, and preach, whenever an opportunity
offered, that Gospel which bringeth life and immortality to light. Through
Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, and Buckinghamshire, he was accompanied by Mr.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 429
through the interest and exertions of Lady Huntingdon and
Lord Dartmouth. Mr. Downing, his Lordship's chaplain,
obtained the pulpit of the parish church two or three times ;
but the rector and churchwardens, envious of the signal success
of his preaching, and prejudiced against him, the doctrines he
taught, and the persons who crowded to hear him, refused to
admit him again. Thus excluded from tlie church, Mr. Down
ing preached twice a-week at Lord Dartmouth's residence, and
on Sunday evenings the attendance was always very numerous.
An enquiry was excited, and the prospect of usefuluess becoming
daily more encouraging, his Lordship wrote to Lady Hunting
don for further help.
" I wish (says he) your Ladyship would use your influence with
Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Romaine to pay us a visit. Mr. Stillingfleet
has been obliged to return to Oxford to attend some indispensable
duties, and I know not where to direct to Mr. Madan or Mr. Venn.
Mr. Talbot has promised to come as soon as possible, and next month
I expect good Mr. Walker, of Truro. The rector was so displeased
with Mr. Downing preaching, aud the great crowds that flocked to
hear him, that he excluded him from the pulpit after three or four ser
mons, and refused to admit Mr. Stillingfleet, though I said every thing
I could to induce him to do so. Since then, I have opened my house,
but find it too small for the numbers who solicit permission to attend.
I hope shortly we shall have a large place, for I have no hopes of again
obtaining the use ofthe parish church."
Just at that time Mr. Madan arrived in Cheltenham, and was
soon after joined by Messrs. Venn and Maddock.* Contrary
to the expectations of Lord Dartmouth, both Mr. Madan and
Mr. Venn were several times admitted to preach in the parish
church. About ten days after Mr. Whitefield came to Chelten
ham, and notice of his arrival having been circulated by Lord
Dartmouth, an immense crowd collected from all parts, expecting
he would preach in the church. At the time appointed, Mr.
Whitefield, attended by Lord and Lady Dartmouth, Messrs.
. Madan, Venn, Talbot, and Downing, arrived at the church door,
and, finding it closed, Mr. Whitefield stood upon a tombstone
and addressed a most attentive multitude from " Ho ! every one
that thirsteth," &c. In the evening the sacrament was admi
nistered by Mr. Whitefield, at his Lordship's residence, after
which Mr. Talbot gave a short exhortation, and Mr. Venn
Romaine ; and on their arrival in Warwickshire they were joined by Mr. Talbot,
then vicar of Kineton in that county, from whence they proceeded through
Worcestershire into Gloucestershire.
* He had just been admitted into orders, an.l shortly afterwards served as
curate to Mr. Hervey, at Weston Favel.

430 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
closed the solemnities ofthe evening with a most scriptural
prayer. On these subjects Mr. Venn writes to Lady Huntingdon in
the following terms : —
" To give your Ladyship any just description of what our eyes have
witnessed and our hearts felt within the last few days, exceeds my
feeble powers. My inmost soul is penetrated with an overwhelming
sense of the awful power and presence of Jehovah, who hath visited us
with the blessed effusion of his Spirit on this occasion in a very eminent
manner. Under Mr. Whitefield's first sermon there was a visible ap
pearance of much soul-concern among the immense crowd that filled
every part of the burial ground, so that many were overcome with
fainting : others sobbed deeply ; some wept silently, and a solemn con
cern appeared on.the countenance of almost the whole assembly. When
he came to press the injunction in the text (Isaiah li., ],) upon the un
converted and the ungodly, his words seemed to cut like a sword upon
several in the congregation, so that whilst he was speaking they could
no longer contain, but burst out in the most piercing bitter cries. At
this juncture Mr. Whitefield made an awful pause of a few seconds —
then burst into a flood of tears. During this short interval Mr. Madan
and myself stood up, and requested the people as much as possible to
restrain themselves from making any noise. Twice afterwards we had
to repeat the same counsel, still advising the people to endeavour to,
moderate and bound their feeling, but not so as to resist or stifle their
convictions. 0 with what eloquence, what energy, what melting ten
derness did Mr. Whitefield beseech sinners to be reconciled to God — .
to come to him for life-everlasting, and rest their weary souls in Christ
the Saviour ! When the sermon was ended the people seemed chained
to the ground. Mr. Madan, Mr. Talbot, Mr. Downing, and myself
found ample employment in endeavouring to comfort those who seemed
broken down under a sense of guilt. We separated in different direc
tions among the crowd, and each was quickly surrounded by an atten
tive audience, still eager to hear all the words of this life. Of such
a season as this it may well be said, ' I have heard thee in a time ac
cepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee : behold !
now is the accepted time — behold ! now is the day of salvation.'
" The next day a like scene was exhibited to our wondering eyes,
when dear Mr. Whitefield preached to a prodigious congregation from
that passage — ' Seek the Lord while he may he found, call upon him
while he is near.' In the evening Mr. Talbot preached at Lord Dart
mouth's to as many as the rooms would hold. Hundreds crowded
round his Lordship's residence, anxiously expecting Mr. Whitefield to
preach. Exhausted as he was from his wonderful exertions in the
morning, when he heard that there were multitudes without, he stood
upon a table near the front of the house, and proclaimed the efficacy of
the Saviour's blood to cleanse the vilest of the vile from the guilt and
filth of sin and iniquity.
*' Intelligence of the extraordinary power attending the word soon

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 431
spread, and the next day we had Mr. Charles Wesley and many friends
from Bristol, Gloucester, Tewkesbury, Rodborough, and the villages in
the neighbourhood. But all loud weeping and piercing cries had sub
sided ; and the work of conversion went on, though in a more silent
manner. For several days we have had public preaching, which has
been well attended, and much solid good has been done.
" Mr. Whitefield and m}'self purpose leaving this for London the
day after to-morrow, and Mr. Madan and Mr. Talbot go in a few days
to Northamptonshire. I shall defer further particulars till I have the
honour of waiting upon your Ladyship. With many thanks for all your
kindness to a sinful man, and increasing prayers for your eternal wel
fare, I remain, madam, yours in the Gospel of our adorable Lord,
" H. Venn."
On leaving Cheltenham Mr. Madan and Mr. Talbot itinerated
through Wiltshire, Oxfordshire, and Northamptonshire. At
Winwick their preaching was attended by great crowds, having
been invited thither by Mr. Hartley, tbe pious and useful rector
of that place. From thence they proceeded to Weston Favel,
where they were most joyfully received by Mr. Hervev. When
writing to his excellent friend and correspondent, the late Mr.
Ryland, then of Warwick, but afterwards of Northampton, he
says, " I had, not long ago, the favour of a visit from your
worthy neighbour, Mr. Talbot. He came accompanied by Mr.
Madan, and both were like men baptized with the Holy Ghost
and with fire, fervent in spirit, and setting their faces as a
flint," From Northampton they returned to Cheltenham, where
they were allowed the occasional use of the pulpit, though the
rector still persisted in excluding Lord Dartmouth's chaplain,
Mr. Downing. Not long after, Mr. Walker, of Truro, arrived
at his Lordship's, on his way to visit Mr. Hervey, in Northamp
tonshire, and during his stay he preached frequently with much
acceptance. Thelate Mr. Samuel Wells then resided in Cheltenham, as
head master of an extensive public seminary : he was a man of
deep piety, and having tasted of the richness of the Gospel,
•opened his house whenever the pulpit of the church could not
be obtained. There many able and faithful ministers, especially
Mr. Talbot and Mr. Madan, preached two or three times in the
course of the week, and officiated occasionally at several villages
in the neighbourhood.
The late Mr. Thomas Trinder, the respectable deacon of the
Baptist Church, at Northampton, was at that time a pupil at
Mr. Wells's school.
fi On the 17th of July (says he), I first hep,rdthe Rev. Mr. Madan,

432 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
His discourse was founded upon the third chapter of John's Gospel,
and the first nine verses, containing the conference between Nicodemus
and our Lord Jesus Christ. I do not intend to give any larger account
of his sermon than just to say, he shewed what regeneration was not ;
but more particularly what it was. The word was armed with power
to me. I was convinced I had never experienced the great change ;
I saw the necessity of it, and that without it I should be miserable to
all eternity. When the service was over I came home with my master
and schoolfellows, but I think it was with great difficulty that I could
refrain from tears in going along the streets. When at home, I retired
into my chamber — upon my knees — there to give vent to my tears, and
prayed, if I could pray, that I might be born again. I felt that I was
a lost creature  My soul was now all on fire forthe preaching
of the word, and about three of my schoolfellows got together after
school, in our room, and read the New Testament. The Gospel ac
cording to John wrought most upon me, but chiefly the eight or nine
last chapters ; these I read over and over privately to myself. I, with
some others who were most affected, were ready to break through the
rules of decency and good manners to hear but a single word concern
ing salvation. I well remember, that whenever Mr. Madan came to
Mr. Wells's,ashe commonly did two or three times a-week (Mr. Wells
being the only religious persou that he and his brethren were conversant
with in Cheltenham), if we could obtain the knowledge of it, we should
immediately run down from school ; and happiest was he who could
obtain the key-hole to hear the conversation."
Mr. Madan appears to have continued at Cheltenham some
considerable length of time, making . frequent excursions to
various parts of Gloucestershire and Warwickshire, and had
the satisfaction of seeing his labours blessed. Encouraged by
the success he had met with, he now made application for the
use of the parish church for a week-day sermon, which he
soon obtained through the interest of Lord Apsley, to whom he
was chaplain, and who was at this time a visiter at Cheltenham.
As soon as he had accomplished this object, he wrote to inform
Mr. Whitefield, from whom he shortly after received the follow
ing reply, dated London, Nov. 3, 1757 : —
" Your kind letter was very acceptable. Ere now, I trust, the
Redeemer hath given you the prospect of the barren wilderness being
turned to a fruitful field. Never fear ; Jesusus will delight to honour
you. Every clergyman's name is Legion. Two more are lately or
dained. ' Satan lets and men object,
Yet the thing they thwart, effect.
Thoughts are vain against the Lord,
All subserves his standing word ;
Wheels encircling wheels must run,
Each in course to bring it on.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 433
" You need not remind me of praying for the noble pair; surely they
are not to be prisoners another winter. The kingdom of God suffereth
violence ; and really if we would take it by force, we must do violence
to our softest passions, and be content to be esteemed unkind by those
whose idols we once were. This is hard work; but, Abba, Father, all
things are possible with the ! Blessed be God for putting it into
your heart to ask the pulpit for a week-day sermon. Are we not
commanded to be instant in season and out of season ? If dear Mrs.
Madan will take my word for it, I will be answerable for your health.
The joy resulting from doing good will be a continual feast. God
knows how long our time of working may last. This order undoes
us. As affairs now stand, we must be disorderly or useless. 0 for
more labourers ! Go on, my dear Sir, and tell a sinful nation that
sin and unbelief is the accursed thing which prevents success. . Thus,
at least, we shall deliver our own souls, and be free from the blood of
all men. But I forget ; I suppose you are preparing for the pulpit : I
dare not detain you. My best respects await Mrs. Madan ; your
mother is well. That you may return to London in all the fulness of
the blessings of the Gospel of Christ is and shall be the prayer of, dear
Sir, yours, &c, " G. Whitefield."
In a letter to Mr. Wesley Mr. Madan speaks thus of Lord
and Lady Dartmouth, whose conduct, in opening their house for
the preaching of the Gospel at Cheltenham, rendered them
extremely conspicuous : —
" I have been this month (says he) at Cheltenham to drink the
waters, and have preached every Sunday. Some of the company are
much offended ; others very thankful : the poor people of the place
are very desirous to hear, and those of all persuasions flock to hear the
word of life. Last time the Quakers and Baptists made no incon
siderable part of the congregation ; and this confirms me in an opinion
I have loDg had, that if the truth was preached in the church, few, if
any, would separate from it.
" Lord and Lady Dartmouth are here ; we pass much time to
gether : and I have daily more and more reason to rejoice before God
in their behalf; all prejudice is taken out of their hearts, and I verily
believe their delight is in the saints that are upon the earth, and in
such as exceed in virtue, without any party spirit, in narrowing their
affection towards any of their brethren in Christ Jesus, upon account
of any outward difference. 0, Sir, how extraordinary is it to see
people of their rank, youth, and property, joined by every qualification
and endowment of mind and body which can make them amiable in
the eyes of the world, desiring to become yet more vile for Christ's
sake ; to see them breathing after inward holiness, as the hart panteth
after the water-brooks ! Surely nothing less than Almighty power
could effect this. I trust you will remember both them and me in
your prayers, that we may not stop short of the crown and prize."
By the labours of these eminent persons considerable attention

434 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
was excited to the subject of religion in this resort of fashion
and dissipation. Lady Huntingdon also frequently visited Chel
tenham, and her active spirit diffused there, as in every other
place, the savour of that name which she loved. On one of her
visits to Cheltenham, her Ladyship writes thus : —
" I sincerely hope that I may be enabled to pay much attention to
this interesting field of labour. There is certainly an incorrigible
apathy prevalent amongst the gay who frequent this place, and it is
difficult to prevail upon them to attend the faithful preaching of the
truth as it is in Jesus. Nevertheless, much good has been done, and
not a few have given manifest proofs of the reality of their conversion
to God, and of their love to his ways. Over such we do and will re
joice as the fruits of our humble efforts. Lord, give us the spirit of
ardent labour, and of patient faith ; for ' neither is he that planteth
anything, neither is he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase.'
To his name, then, be all the glory."
Some time after her Ladyship's college was established at
Trevecca, at the particular request of some of the leading mem
bers in the Gloucestershire Association, she sent some of the
students to Cheltenham : those who laboured there and in
other parts of Gloucestershire, were Messrs. Matthew and Mark
Wilks, Boddily, Richardson, Honeywell, Shenstone, and Brewer.
Mr. Shenstone, having adopted some opinions on the subject of
infant baptism, drew away many of the congregation, and acted
in other respects so as to displease his kind patroness and sup
porter. Many disagreeable circumstances arising from some
improper interference with the students, her Ladyship wrote to
Mr. Whitefield's old friend, Gabriel Harris, Esq., one of the
aldermen of Gloucester, giving an ample detail of her proceed
ings This was in September, 1781 : —
" My dear Sir, — You will find by this how much I feel obliged by
taking jyour word, but before I have done, I fear your patience wiil
be proved. My present difficulties oblige my confidence iu you, hoping
to prevent any perplexitiss by so judicious a friend, and that in the
course which I account my only happiness on earth. Your good opi
nion of Mr. Hogg, and your long acquaintance with him, renders your
access easy and natural 'to find out matters so dark and obscure, as
well as extremely distressing to me. In March last, I had a letter
from Mr. Butler, one of the principals in the Gloucestershire connexion,
earnestly requesting me to take the chapel at Cheltenham into my
hands, as they had no ministers for it. I had no great ease upon my ¦
mind on the subject, irom the delicacy of appearing in so wrong and
unfaithful a light as entering into others, labours. I got Mr. Groves
(one that often preaches for them) to write me word if it was the
united desire of the managers ; to which, by letter, he rephed in the
affirmative. I then sent the student I believe best calculated for that

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 435
service. Mr. Hogg wrote me the most thankful and christian letter
on the occasion. Very soon after this  met with some of my
students in our work in , various parts of Wiltshire, and told them that
the old man intended seducing the students I had sent to Cheltenham ;
and in consequence of this the Wiltshire student, a very honest young
man, shocked at the duplicity that did appear in this matter, came over
to inform me of it. I said I could not give credit to anything so un
worthy ; but as he seemed so uneasy, being a student himself, and
liable to much reflection upon himself by any suspicion, I advised him,
as he heard this said, to go, as from himself to the old man, and ask
if there was any truth in it. He went directly from Bath (where I then
was) and opened the matter. They positively declared such a thing
never entered into their thoughts ; and after he went to his brother
student at Cheltenham, who had not been (of his four years) but one
year and a half. He also denied the thought. At this very time the
acceptance of another student serving our work in Staffordshire was
transacting, and a letter was found by the master of the college, with
directions for him to go and settle at Wooton-under-Edge. I called
on Mr. Hogg on my way here, and had the most christian and friendly
reception. He wanted me to go to Kodborough ; but I on no account
could do this, and gently said, ' I don't approve your ministers ;' and
that day I first heard that the student had arrived there from my col
lege. I let all pass, and coming home found that student gone, after
labouring to divide and bring all contusion into the college. I wrote
to the Cheltenham student (Shenstone) to order him to France, as having
a more able one to employ while the company was there. But he
sent him back, and said he would not go. I then repeated my orders
to both to change, and the France student went to Cheltenham ; and
again Shenstone said he would not stir, sent his horse home to the
college, and refused even answering my letter. In this situation I am.
They want me to be angry, and to turn him off, and so charge all this
on me, in order to have him leave me with appearance of some face
of justice; and I am bound to conclude they will take back Chelten
ham, and fix that student there. Their whole connexion of preachers
are those who have broken through every tie that could hold an honest
man in order. You may enquire this most fully after them. This
conduct I abhor of entering into those blessed men's labours, and try
ing to bring every scandal upon the best of men, who for near forty
years I have known, loved, and honoured, for the most disinterested
services I have yet known in the world or church either. The point
is now to seduce away, by any means, those whom I at much expense,
labour, and care for the poorest, and with the Lord's blessing, have
maintained. After a year or two, their gifts appear, and while honest
and simple are useful — these are the objects as you see above, and by
these to raise a connexion to oppose and distress me. Four years is
their absolute engagement to labour in the place ; those from under my
roof, * * # * they get as they can, without the
least information or the smallest civility to me. This is the hopeful
state of the Gloucestershire connexion. The good old man, Hogg,

436 the Life and times of
desired peace and union with me from his heart ; but still truant prin
ciples rule, I may be silent, but never will approve. I send you ar
ticles of agreement under the strictest equity I know. The wicked
and most shameful confusion they have made in Wales must be no
longer continued ; the spirit of God must be in all righteousness, good
ness, and truth : the divisions and distractions occasioned in God's
church by those prove this is not their guide ; and no peace can be
made with my dear Welsh friends and me, but what has this for the
foundation. — — — — - has been in London to offer peace, and wanted
to preach in our large congregation, and by getting in bring nothing
hut division. I have avoided this with him, but upon these con
ditions, viz. — that the Welsh work be instantly returned to the asso-
cation, and that my own ministers must have the lead through all
the work. There are nine or ten of the first clergymen in this nation
for abilities, disinterestedness, gifts, and grace ; and had their eyes been
single they would have rejoiced, in these, in the room of such poor run
away boys as they only employ among them.
" Matters go on ill in dear Mr. Whitefield's places, and you must
judge when the good old men drop in Gloucestershire, what these
poor honest souls must he left to, and which I have some reason to
believe does distress their poor old hearts. My intention by this
(trusting on your fidelity) is to come to these close quarters of con
science with Hogg : — how receiving these men can be consistent with
common justice, and if he thinks such who have acted so unfaithfully
can he good men, or men fit to be trusted with the souls of simple
honest people ? Take notice, I mention this to prevent future robbery,
as our work is so immense we want all hands that appear fit to be sent,
and such reproach brought upon the college by all honest men by this
means, that make my' heart ache, and often makes me, like him under
the juniper tree, say, ' It is better for me to die :' hut strength comes
for the next day of trial, and hitherto the Lord Jesus has kept my
poor unworthy soul in his hands, and my weak, foolish, and blunder
ing labours as my only honour and happiness through all in his dear
divine services. Could any further procceedings for such barefaced
wrong be prevented, and I serve them on any occasion, as a truly dis
interested friend for the Lord's sake, I can say my heart is ready ; but
to be the dupe for such evil practices I must make great distance and
silence my point, ever wishing to do my worst enemy any possible
good, so it does not essentially affect those my honour and justice
oblige me to defend. Perfect harmony and the most astonishing
success now follow our disinterested labours over England and
Wales ; and unless this point is universally carried through by all, I
would suffer death rather than one dying moment should convince me
any part of my life had another meaning. I know your love and
faithful regard to dear Mr. Whitefield would make you feel for these
miserable threatenings. You will be sure unceasing difficulties to me
me must arise, did any know of my communicating this to you — "but ' '
you must assert the facts without my name on any account ; and if a
possible evil can be avoided for the future by your means, I am sure

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 437
you will rejoice. I should just mention  's conduct previous
to this, in taking possession of two congregations the college had
laboured in and raised to me at my great expense; and trying every
means to reflect and bring disgrace upon us all, by trying to divide my
friends from me, and so taking us all up at times as bis merry Andrews
into the pulpit, and leaving a bitter sting, as far as he could, through his
evil jokes. All this, though not fair or upright, I should have so far
despised as for peace' sake to have passed over ; but it is the worm that
yet lies at the bottom of the gourd in Wales, that no honest conscience
can put up with, that staggers all within me, knowing the whole of
this by the friends departed from the association to mc with all par
ticulars, ministers, and the true trustees for the place they possess.
" Boddily and Brewer have -written to me very lately, as wishing to
give me no offence, and they have all my good wishes for them. As
I mean to hurt none by this, but save the cause from offence, and to
prevent the ruin of young men ignorant of the world, and drawn in
thus to their destruction, this is also due from me by a means that
cannot hurt the worst, and on this account I could wish, on your being
fully apprised of these my simple and honest wishes, to prevent this
falling into any hands whatsoever, you would burn it. I am tired with
thinking I tire so severely my kind and worthy friend ; but in this most
faithful relation my heart seems relieved, knowing that a single mean
ing to hurt any creature is not intended by me, but one single desire to
prevent the evil of all, and the honour of our blessed Lord's Church
among all his servants. The very, very meanest and least he ever had,
is, ever dear Sir, your truly faithful and ever obliged friend,
" S. Huntingdon.
" P. S. Let me hear soon that you have received this.
" The articles intended to be proposed, and which never were, I send
you ; but since the proposals for peace were sent from Mr. Keene and
Mr. Hill in London, I could not abide by them universally, yet par
tially they might be considered as having some utility in them."*
* Articles intended to be proposed, mentioned in the foregoing letter: —
The work of righteousness shaU be peace, and the effect qf righteousness quietness
and assurance for ever. Isaiah xxxii. 17.
Proposals of peace and union for the most universal spread ofthe Gospel in
tiie connexion ofthe Rev. Mr. Rowlands, Mr. Hogg, and Lady Huntingdon.
_ I. The Gloucestershire connexion to deliver up to the Welsh Association all
right, power, or influence in Haverfordwest, or elsewhere in Wales, held by
them : thus having no preference.
II. That each connexion take their own private cares and expenses upon
themselves ; and that those ministers who have been found most faithful to the
Lord, and have been owned by him in each connexion, shall hy the other con
nexions ever be accounted worthy of double honour, and be universally received
by the several connexions when applied to for their services.
III. When any minister or ministers are wanted, a letter to be wrote to the
immediate connexion to which they belong, requesting their assistance, and for
what time, that the most general help to the whole may be considered, and thus
hest and moit universally served.
IV. No minister or principal in any of the connexions to interfere in any
VOL. I. — E E

438 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
At length the differences and divisions became so disagree
able that Lady Huntingdon determined on giving up Chelten
ham altogether, and accordingly wrote to Mr. Brewer to that
effect. Her letter is dated from Trevecca, February 10,
1782. "Mr. Brewer, — Your principal situation in the Rodborough con
nexion obliges me to give you this trouble. You must be well acquainted
that at the request of others, and Mr. Butler in particular, I undertook
the services at Cheltenham, hy no means my choice, and that lest diffi
culties might arise in its being in the midst of another connexion, which
I had never for a moment interfered with, and so produce some conse
quences, wherein peace, the bond of all union, might in the end be
miserably wanting. The friendly appearances in this matter made me
glad at length to give any assistance, and I appointed one of my stu
dents, Mr. Shenstone, a sober and serious young man, who had long
been ill at the college, hoping that the poor might be profited by his
labours and his health restored : in the last it proved successful, but
his whole conduct so reversed the meaning of this college that I never
mean to admit of his return here, or to labour in any part of this con
nexion. I am obliged to be thus explicit, as he has taken the liberty
to order my student at Worcester to change with him, while his own
unfaithful practice regarded no orders given to himself. This, with
various other instances of insolence most unfit for his own character,
and that while under obligations of his own making, and even quite
unsought by me, renders him the last kind of disposition I can hope
any good from myself, or recommend to others as a minister of that
Gospel which is in all truth and righteousness. The warning I had of
other than their own, that no divisions may arise, and that if such are known
it ought to be mutually agreed by all to discard such an one, and that all possi
ble care be takan to prevent perplexities to the people, and that mutual love
and unwearied diligence alike be expected, having this one point only in view,
viz : the enlargement of our precious Lord's kingdom^by the call of perishing
souls all over England and Wales.
V. In order that this may be best effected, four general meetings in the year
will be needful. To each of these a deputation, agreed upon, should be sent
of six chosen out of each connexion, to represent the bodies to which they be
long, and to give such particulars in as they may want to communicate, and
what mutual help from any quarter they may be best assisted by. These meet
ings to be at Mr. Rowlands' Association, the College Anniversaiy, the Glouces
tershire Association, and another in London once a-year, to have a Ml account
ofthe last vear's success, and to agree upon the future steps for each connexion
unitedly to follow the ensuing year.
Memorandum  These hints are given for the benefit of the Gloucester con
nexion, upon a supposition they act separately from the Tabernacle and other
connexions, otherwise Lady Huntingdon could not think of appearing to inter
fere with them, or in the smallest degree to divide friends, having no other mean
ing than those already mentioned, and to shew bv this her readiness to serve
and comply with the wishes of Mr. Hogg, Mr. Vines, and Mr. Butler, as her own
and Mr. Whitefield's old friends.
If the first article respecting Haverfordwest ia not complied with, the whol«
will drop r

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 439
the intended imposition relative to Cheltenham I gnvc no credit to.
though now too, too clearly explained by the event ; as I had sup
posed it impossible that honest men, fearing God, could mean to act so
deceitfully by one kindly disposed to servo them, and never having
given them any offence, so on that account 1 could not look to the
warmth of any personal resentment for the possible cause. The whole
"of this affair obliges me to give up Cheltenham for any future care
under this connexion. Should the united ill-usage of the managers
have been occasioned by Shenstone's intended views of being joined
with them, the end is now most certainly obtained, yet on both sides
most unworthy of honest men. I wish them all every blessing con
nected for the future with the most upright conduct towards God and
man ; but I am truly glad they are freed from one they could use so
ill, and adding this satisfaction to them of being sure of my never on
any occasion troubling them for one moment in future. Nevertheless,
the Judge of the whole earth will do right ; and they must bear their
burdens whosoever they be.
" As I never heard you were concerned in this affair, and believing
you a faithful servant of God, I thought you most proper to give this
information to the managers, Shenstone and BaUinger, at Cheltenham ;
praying God a thousand-fold of blessings may arise to the succeeding
trust of that very important stand for the Gospel, and most faithfully
and earnesdy requesting every increasing honour upon your judicious
and upright services in the Church of Christ, and wherein you may be
eminently owned by the Lord in bringing glory to his name, and
abounding joy and peace to your own soul. Live in peace and the
God of peace shall be with you. This is my motto as far as lies in
us to maintain ; and when this disposition is wanting, distance and
silence may remain the next best fruit of divine charity to our worst
enemies. " Blessed be God, the offence of the Cross does not sever us from
the1 world with so many threatenings, but love and harmony unite us
to each other. I am, Mr. Brewer, with great regard and respect to
your character, your much obliged and faithful friend,
" S. Huntingdon.
" P.S. I hope to give you pleasure by assuring you your honest porter
promises well, and I hope you will have great cause to rejoice in future
for your recommendation."
Thus by the conduct of Mr. Shenstone, Lady Huntingdon
was induced to withdraw her valuable assistance from Chelten
ham; and the narrow, confined views of this gentleman ended
in establishing a small Baptist congregation, which, with a still
smaller one, belonging to the Wesleyan Methodists, and the
parish church, constituted all the places of worship at that time
in the town. A poor provision for the accommodation of a place,
containing three thousand resident inhabitants, and which was the
annual resort of many thousand persons, who visited it for the
E E 2

440 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
benefit of the waters. For a number of years the town conti
nued increasing, and while Christians of various denominations
felt the inconveniency of having no place of worship suited^ to
their wishes, those which existed were not capable of holding
all that were disposed to attend.*
Lady Huntingdon's attention was now directed to Gloucester
shire and Worcestershire, where a spirit of religious inquiry con
tinued to increase. This was not only apparent from the numbers
who attended the ministry of Mr. Andrews, and of those ministers
who occasionally visited Gloucester, but in the deep seriousness
which they manifested while sitting under the word. The
labours of Mr. Alderman Harris had been abundantly blessed.
Through evil report and through good this excellent man held
* In the year 1807, an appeal was made to the liberality ot the religious
world in behalf of a chapel intended to be erected at Cheltenham, wherein the
Gospel should be plainly preached, and the mode of worship should, as much
as possible, meet the prejudices of all Christians, without invading the rights of
concience. The «ervice was to be conducted on the plan of Lady Huntingdon's
chapels ; the Liturgy to be read, and the pulpit open to ministers of various
denominations who embraced orthodox principles, and whose characters were
unblemished, till the congregation that might he gathered, should fix upon a
settled minister of sound piety and approved and suitable talents.
On the fifth of July, 1808, the foundation of this chapel was laid by the Rev.
Rowland Hill, who addressed a very numerous assembly of about three thou
sand, in an energetic and appropriate speech; after which the Rev. John
Brown, then minister of Lady Huntingdon's chapel at Ebley, in Gloucester
shire, concluded with prayer. On the 2nd of August, 1809, the chapel, being
entirely finished, was opened for public worship by Mr. Hill, who preached in
the morning, and Mr. Jay, of Bath, in the evening, to very crowded congrega
tions. A variety of ministers supplied the chapel till the year 1813, when Mr.
Brown, the present gifted and respectable minister, commenced his pastoral
charge. In 1816, Robert Capper, Esq., having taken up his residence at Cheltenham,
built, at his own expense, a very handsome and commodious place of worship,
called " Portland Chapel," which in the year 1819, he vested in the present
trustees of Lady Huntingdon's connexion. This neat and convenient chapel
was opened for public worship on Sunday, June 27th, 1819, by the Rev. James
Sherman, now minister of Surrey Chapel, who preached both morning and
evening. Portland Chapel was supplied by various ministers in the connexion
till the Rev. Elias Parry, who had his education at Cheshunt college, was ap
pointed minister. On his removal to London, as minister of Northampton
Tabernacle, the chapel was supplied by the Rev. J. L. Wake, who continues
to be the minister.
Mr. Biddulph when residing at Henwick Hill, within a mije of Cheltenham
opened his house morning and evening for family prayer ; the faithful few who
profited by this followed him to Tibberton church, and when he went away
from Worcester, (1767,) assembled in a garret of Mr. Skinner's warehouse.
There Sir Richard Hill and his venerable brother, the late Rev. Rowland Hill,
often preached. A few years ago, the latter, while passing with the present,
minister through the street in which the old building stood, immediately recog
nized it, and said, in a way peculiar to himself, " Why, this is the place, is
it not, where we used to preach at Mr. Skinner's ? Yes, in Mr. Skinner's
garret 1"

SELrNA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 441
on the unvarying tenor of his way, and many by his instrumen
tality experienced the grace of God in truth.
On Lady Huntingdon's visit to Gloucester she was accom
panied by Mr. Shirley and Mr. Rowlands, both of whom preached
several times in the pulpits of the Established Church. A
chapel was afterwards erected, and supplied by the ministers
and students in the connexion. The late Mr. Thome, who had
his education at Trevecca, was for many years the resident
minister at Gloucester. From Gloucester Lady Huntingdon,
and the clergymen who accompanied her, proceeded to Wor
cester —
" Where (says her Ladyship) we have full employment in minis
tering to a people not unwilling to hear the Gospel. The labours of
Mr. Glascott, Mr. Venn, and others, have excited a disposition among
the inhabitants of this city to attend to the things which belong, to
their peace. Nearly two hundred persons have been united in religious
society, many of whom have given decisive proofs of their conversion
to God, and are encouraging rewards of our disinterested labours for
our great and gracious Master. To spread the knowledge of his blessed
name amongst those who knew not God has been my chief desire for
many years: and I think that desire has suffered no diminution, but
rather gained strength, since I left Bath ; and my daily prayers and
exertions are made with a view to an increased ability to afford my
fellow-sinners all the blessings connected with that unspeakably pre
cious Gospel which is the power of God unto salvation."
The vigorous and well-directed efforts of her Ladyship, and
the powerful preaching of Mr. Shirley and Mr. Rowlands, excited
an interest so lively and extensive, that her Ladyship was so
licited by a considerable number of persons to erect a chapel
for the preaching of that Gospel which they could not hear
within the walls of their parish churches. To this request she
readily yielded ; and the necessary steps for this purpose were
taken without delay.
" Thus have I been called (observes her Ladyship) to erect another
chapel for the service of the living God. May He deign to bless it,
and cause the cloud of his gracious presence to rest upon it ! It is his
work ; I can only plant : his Holy Spirit will water, and give the in
crease. I leave all events with him. Great difficulties and dis
couragements attend every effort to spread the knowledge of divine
truth : but those who labour with me have been taught to feel that
it is not by might, nor by power ; and that nothing short of the vital
energy of the Holy Ghost can give success to the preaching of the
Gospel." About the year 1771 a chapel was erected in Bridport-street,
partly by a subscription, and the interest of the remaining debt

442 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
was paid by Lady Huntingdon till the congregation was enabled
to liquidate the whole. This chapel was opened by the Hon.
and Rev. Walter Shirley in 1773.
" It will afford you unspeakable pleasure (writes Lady Huntingdon)
to hear of the amazing success which hath attended our labours at
Worcester. The chapel was crowded, and multitudes went away un
able to gain admittance. We had a glorious display of the power and
grace of our adorable Immanuel, and dear Mr. Shirley was enabled
to testify of the salvation which is provided for the guilty and the
lost with great boldness and fidelity. I know not which way to turn,
I have so many applications from the people in various parts of the-
kingdom for more labourers. Pray mightily to tbe Lord to send forth
a host of holy devoted souls to proclaim the glory of his righteousness.
and blood to an unbelieving and degenerate world. I feel that if I had
a thousand worlds, and a thousand lives, through grace assisting, that
dear Lamb of God, my test, my, eternal, my only friend, should hav&
all devoted to his service and glory. 0 pray for me, that I may be-
more extensively Useful in promoting the extension of his kingdom upon
earth, for it is matter of unceasing grief that I have done so little fou
so good a master."
For several years the chapel continued to be supplied by the
students from Trevecca, amongst whom we find the names of
Green, Hayes, English, Jones, Merror, Winkworth, Newel, and
French. The congregation having increased, it was determined
in 1804, that this chapel should be taken down, and a more
capacious one erected on its site, capable of containing about a
thousand persons. It was opened by the Rev. John Brown, of
Cheltenham. Under the ministry of the respected pastor, the
Rev. Edward Lake, the Lord " added to the Church," and
the chapel became so thronged by the increasing congregation,
as to render it necessary to make considerable enlargement.
On the completion of these alterations, in 1815, the chapel was
re-opened by the Rev. Rowland Hill. The building, which is
capable of containing more than 1,500 persons, was soon well
filled by an overflowing congregation. Attached to the chapel
are Sunday schools, first established by the Rev. Mr. Harris,
in 1791. They were regulated and re-organized in 1799, by the
late Rev. Robert Bradley, of Manchester ; and there are now ten
schools in the city and suburbs belonging to the chapel, and
pine in the villages. The number of children under instruction
is about twelve hundred. The whole of the teachers act gra
tuitously in this important sphere of labour.
Several schools in the western part of the county, border
ing on Herefordshire, were taught and supported by the cono-re-
gation at Lady Huntingdon's chapel; but as there are tSree

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 443
chapels now erected, whose congregations support their own
schools, they are not numbered among the children of her Lady
ship's chapel at Worcester. There are also nine stations in the
country, at various distances from the city, for village preaching,
which are rendered a great blessing to many, the power of the
Holy Ghost having evidently accompanied the simple declaration
of the truths of the everlasting Gospel.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Chapel at Bath — Pope the Poet — Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester  Lady
Fanny Shirley — Charles Wesley — John Wesley — Beau Nash  Anecdote —
Mr. Hervey — Methodist Conference — Mr. Larwood — Potter, Archbishop of
Canterbury — Dr. Doddridge— Hon. Mrs. Scawen— Mr. Cruttenden  Mil
Neal — Dr. Doddridge visits Bristol — visits Lady Huntingdon at Bath 
Anecdote — Dr. Oliver— Dr. Hartley— Prior Park  Death of Dr. Doddridge
— Mrs. Grinfield — The Moravians  Count Zinzendorff— Elizabeth King 
Lady Gertrude Hotham — Death of Miss Hotham  Marriage of Sir Charles
Hotham — death of his Lady — his own decease — death of his mother, Lady
Gertrude — Mr. Theophilus Lindsay — Mrs. Brewer — Lord Huntingdon and
Mr. Grimshaw — Lord Chesterfield and Mr. Stanhope  Countess of Moira
— Mrs. Carteret and Mrs. Cavendish — Countess Delitz— Lady Chesterfield
— Earl of Bath — Lord Cork — Anecdote of George II.
The frequent visits of Lady Huntingdon to Bath, during a
period of twenty-five years prior to the opening of her chapel in
that city, were attended with the happiest results. Wherever
she went she invariably produced an extraordinary degree of
attention to religious subjects. Her Ladyship's character * was
in many respects new. There was a publicity in her religion
which no other, Dissenter, Puritan, Churchman, or Reformer,
had ever displayed, at least since the Reformation. Wherever
she was, and in whatever company, her conversation was on reli
gion, in which there was this peculiarity, that she spoke of the
sins and errors of her former life, her conversion to God, the
alteration in her heart and conduct ; and she plainly said to all,
it was absolutely necessary that the same change should take
place in them, if they would have any hope in death. What an
* As " a Methodist," in the usual acceptation of the word, that is, as applied,
by the world indiscriminately to religious persons.

444 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
innumerable multitude will have abundant cause to bless God
to all eternity on her account, as the honoured instrument in his
hands of leading them to a saving acquaintance with the truth
as it is in Jesus. The means on which she chiefly relied in this
good work was the erecting of numerous chapels, where the
glad tidings of a free and full salvation, suited to the wants and
necessities of the ruined, the vilest, and most abject of the
human race, have been, and still continue to be, faithfully pro
claimed; whereby many outcasts and wanderers have been
brought back to the fold of the Great Shepherd and Bishop of
Souls. Towards the close of the year 1739, the Earl of Huntingdon,
who had been much indisposed during the summer, had been
recommended to use the Bath waters. One of his friends, the
late Mr. Allen, then resided at Widcombe, where Pope (the
poet) and Dr. Warburton (afterwards Bishop of Gloucester)
were on a visit.* In the society of these distinguished menf
Lady Huntingdon enjoyed many opportunities of advancing the
interests of true religion, which she uniformly embraced with
all the ardour of a newly-awakened convert, and with that energy
and talent which she so remarkably possessed. The bigoted
and intolerant Warburton took every occasion to rally her Lady
ship on her newly-adopted sentiments, and, with his charac
teristic rudeness, pronounced her an incurable enthusiast ; for
with him all personal experience of a divine witness by the
Spirit of God in the heart was rank enthusiasm : and this Lady
Huntingdon maintained as the essence of truth and Christianity.
She pleaded for the application and enjoyment of divine truth
* See Nichols's Literary Anecdotes.
f We have already noticed (see page 22) the intimacy of Lady Huntingdon
with Lord Bolingbroke, and from her frequent visits to Twickenham, where
her aunt, Lady Fanny Shirley, then resided ( 1 ), her early acquaintance with Pope
may be inferred.
(I) Lady Fanny Shirley, the aunt of Selina Countess of Huntingdon, had a
house at Twickenham, very near the residence of Pope. Lady Fanny was a
reigning beauty of the Court of George I. Pope's lines —
" Yes, I heheld th' Athenian Queen
Descend, in all her sober charms,"
were addressed to her in return for " a standish and two pens. " Lord Chester
field's verses, commencing " So the first man from Paradise was driven,"
were also written in celebration of Lady Fanny Shirley. To her were addressed
Hervey's " Theron and Aspasia,9 and his observations on Bolingbroke's " Use
amt Study of History." Here it was that Lady Huntingdon became intimate
with the celebrated men of the day. The house which was left by Lady Fanny to
her brother, the Hon. G. Shirley, of Eatington Park, Warwickshire, is now one
of the residences of the present representative of that branch of the Shirley
family, Welyn John Shirley, Esq., M.P. for South Warwickshire.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 445
in the conscience ; Warburton for bishops, priests, and deacons,
and the two sacraments of sacerdotal administration, as essential
to the being of a Christian. Through life this singular man
was strongly prejudiced against, and warmly opposed and cen
sured both the principles and people that Lady Huntingdon
honoured and respected, and on numberless occasions mani
fested an undeviating opposition, contempt of, and endeavour to
suppress, what he was pleased to style Methodism, which he
abhorred, but whicli her Ladyship loved and vindicated — even
that true, spiritual, experimental religion that is really felt in
the heart, and acknowledged to be the work of the Holy Ghost,
illuminating, converting, and comforting the chosen people of
God. Mr. Charles Wesley was at Bath,* but meeting great oppo
sition, preached only once or twice. Lady Huntingdon, how
ever, attended his preaching at Bristol, Bradford, and other
* When Mr. John Wesley was preaching at Bath, some time before the coming
of Charles, Beau Nash entered the room, and approaching the preacher, de
manded by what authority he was acting ? Mr. Wesley answered, " By that of
Jesus Christ, conveyed to me by the present Archbishop of Canterbury, when
he laid his hands upon me and said — take thou authority to preach the Gospel .'"
Nash then affirmed that he was acting contrary to law. " Besides (said he)
your preaching frightens people out of their wits. " "Sir (replied Mr. Wesley)
did you ever hear me preach?" "No," said the Master of the Ceremonies.
" How then can you judge of what you never heard ?" " By common report"
(replied Nash). " Sir (said Mr. Wesley), is not your name Nash ? I dare not
judge of you by common report." Nash, finding himself a very different person
in the meeting-house from what he was in the pump-room, thought it best to
withdraw. Nash sometimes conversed with Lady Huntingdon on religious subjects, and
was once prevailed on to hear Mr. Whitefield at her house. Beau Nash was
congratulated on his conversion by his gay associates, who failed not to rally
him on his turning Methodist. Verses were written on her Ladyship and Mr.
Nash, whieh were fastened to the walls of the pump-room and assembly-room ;
and printed notices were circulated in every direction, one of which was shown
to the writer many years ago by Dr. Haweis, stating that " the Countess of Hunt
ingdon, attended by some saintly sister, purposed preaching at the pump-room
the following morning, and that Mr. Nash, henceforth to be known as the Rev.
Richard Nash," was expected to preach in the evening at the assembly-room.
It was hoped that theaudience would be numerous, as a collection was intended
for the late Master of the Ceremonies, who was retiring from office. This
profane raillery never discomposed the Countess, but gave great offence to Mr.
Nash ; and no inducement could ever after prevail upon him to go to Lady
Huntingdon's house.
This man of pleasure died as he lived — a monument of irreligion, folly.
and vice, in the year 1761, aged 87 ! He dreaded the approach of death more
than the generality of mankind ; and sought refuge in some fancied devotion
while it threatened him. Though a complete libertine in practice, none
trembled more than he did. To embitter his hopes, he found himself at last
abandoned by the great, whom he had long endeavoured to flatter and to serve,
and was obliged to fly for protection to those of humbler station, whom he had
once affected to despise. The corporation of Bath allowed him a scanty pittance,
which saved this miserable trifler from starvation in his last days.

446 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
places, where he was heard by thousands. The ridicule of War
burton was ever ready to encounter her Ladyship on her return
from these excursions.
In the year 1745'the second Methodist Conference was held
in Bristol. Besides Messrs. John and ' Charles Wesley, there
were present the Rev. John Hodges, rector of Wenvo, and
seven travelling preachers : Thomas Richards, Samuel Lar-
wood,* Thomas Meyrick, James Wheatley.f Richard Moss,
John Slocombe,^ and Herbert Jenkins.§ Lady Huntingdon
was then at Clifton, and formed an acquaintance with several
of these apostolic labourers, some of whom, particularly Messrs.
Richards, Meyrick, and Moss, she invited to Bath, whither
she went for a short period. The preaching of these men of
God was attended by a divine power, and many in the mid
dling and inferior classes of society, as well as some in the more
refined circles, became the " seals of their apostleship in the
Lord." ||
In 1747 Lady Huntingdon again visited Bath for the benefit
of her health. Previous to her Ladyship leaving London she
called on Dr. Potter, Archbishop of Canterbury ; and as he was
„"* * Mr. Larwood withdrew from Mr. Wesley's connexion about thej-ear 1753>
at which time four others left the itinerant plan, and established independent
congregations in different parts of the kingdom. Mr. Larwood took an old
Presbyterian chapel in the borough of Southwark, called Zoar, where he con
tinued to preach till God called him hence, by a fever, in November, 1756.
f Of this gentleman, so distinguished for his zeal and imprudences during
the early struggles of Methodism, an ample account will be found in the history
of the Tabernacle at Norwich.
} Of this zealous itinerant Mr. Wesley says — F He was an old labourer, worn
out in the service of his Master." He finished his course at Clones, in Ireland,
in the year 1777.
§ Herbert Jenkins joined Mr. Wesley's society in 1743, and itinerated for
some years in that connexion, with great zeal and success. He afterwards
joined Mr. Whitefield, and laboured in conjunction with Mr. Cennick, Mr.
Adams, Mr. Godwin, &c, in the Tabernacle connexion. He preached frequently
for Mr. Kinsrr an, at Plymouth, by whom he was highly esteemed. He also
laboured much in Wales ; but when or where he finished his course we have
not been able to learn.
|| Mr. Richards afterwards left Mr. Wesley's society, and obtained episcopal
ordination through the interest of Lady Huntingdon. Mr. Meyrick, who
preached more frequently than the others at her Ladyship's residence, was a
native of Cornwall, and brought up and educated for the law. He was remark
ably zealous in propagating divine truth, and endured great persecutions in
various parts of the kingdom. Having obtained episcopal ordination, through
the intervention of Lady Huntingdon, he became curate of a small chapel in
the parish of Halifax,, in Yorkshire. A short time before his death he was
made afternoon lecturer of the parish church of Halifax ; and there he ended
his days about the year 1770. Mr. Moss resided for some time with her Lady
ship, who had a very sincere friendship for him, and showed him many acts of
kindness. He was afterwards ordained by the Bishop of London, as a mission
ary for the Island of Providence, one of the Bahama Islands in the West Indies,
where he preached the Gospel for several years, in company with Mr. Tizzard,
his fellow-labourer.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 447
then in his seventy-fifth year, and in a declining state, her Lady
ship, with the utmost tenderness and fidelity, spoke of the near
approach of that last solemn event which would terminate all
earthly friendships. He appeared sensibly affected, and at part
ing, took her Ladyship's hand, and said with great earnestness,
" May the Lord God of Abrahim, of Isaac, and of Jacob bless
thee !" For many years she enjoyed the friendship of this
learned divine, who succeeded Dr. Wake in the see of Canter
bury, which high and important office he supported with much
dignity for a period of ten years. When Bishop of Oxford he
had an opportunity of witnessing the rise of Methodism in the
University ; and afterwards ordained the Messrs. Wesley
Ingham, Hervey, Broughton, Clayton, Kinchin, &c, the first
members of that society. On one occasion he treated Mr.
Charles Wesley with great severity; but towards the close of life
his sentiments respecting the Methodists seem to have under
gone a more favourable change. His long intimacy with Lady
Huntingdon may have contributed to this end. On the death
of Lord Huntingdon, he visited her frequently, and always treated
her with parental tenderness. Not long after her Ladyship
left London for Bath, his grace was seized with an alarming
illness, from which he never entirely recovered. The last act
of his life was writing the following note to her Ladyship, on
the 10th of October^ 1747 :—
"Dear Madam, — I have been very ill since I last saw you. I hope
soon to hear from you, that your health is better for your being at Bath.
Continue to pray for me until we meet in that place where our joy
3hall be complete. I am, as ever, your affectionate friend,
"John Cantuar."
After his Grace had written the above, he was walking with it
to his scrutoire, and (as his son, Mr. Potter, acquainted Lady
Huntingdon), being seized with a sudden syncope, dropped upon
the floor, and expired with the letter in his hand !
Lady Huntingdon was again in Bath in 1750. At this period
she was extremely ill, and serious apprehensions were entertained
for her life. At the close of a letter from Mr. Heryey to the
Rev. Moses Browne, afterwards vicar of Olney, dated December
22, 1750, he enquires : —
" What account can you give of Lady Huntingdon's health ?
Never, never will the physician's skill be employed for the lengthening
of a more valuable life. May Almighty goodness bless those prescrip
tions, and command her constitution and our zeal to flourish."
Dr. Doddridge, in a letter to his correspondent, the Rev. Mr,

448 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Wood, of Norwich, dated about the same time, says : — " Dear
Lady Huntingdon is in a very declining way. Pray devoutly for
her important life."* From a letter written by the Duchess of
Somerset, better known to the world as the Countess of Hert
ford, to the Rev. Theophilus Lindsay, dated Percy Lodge, July
9th, 1751, we learn that Lady Huntingdon's health, had by
that time considerably improved : — " I have had no letter from
Lady Huntingdon (says the Duchess), but I hear she is at Chel
tenham, and pretty well." In a subsequent letter from the
Duchess of Somerset we find Lady Huntingdon had returned
to Bath in the month of August, or beginning of September.
Her Grace writes : —
, " I have had a very agreeable letter last week from Dr. Oliver, who
tells me that Lady Huntingdon is pretty well, and much employed in
attending Dr. Doddridge, who is in a deep consumption at Bath, but is
to set out in a few days, in order to embark at Falmouth, for Lisbon,
from whence, it is Dr. Oliver's opinion, be will never return."t
The consumptive disease under which Dr. Doddridge had
long suffered, now began to make more rapid progress. His
health declined so fast that his excellent physician, Dr. Ston
house,^; recommended him a voyage to Lisbon. He had been
at Shrewsbury for some time, forthe benefit of air, exercise, and
an entire cessation from business and company. From thence
he proceeded to Bristol, where he remained several weeks,
during which period he received numerous letters of condolence
from his friends, filled with anxious enquiries after the state of
his health. The letters of Lady Huntingdon, the Honourable
Mrs. Scawen,§ Robert Cruttenden, Esq,, H Nathaniel Neale,
* Letters to and from Dr. Doddridge, edited by the Rev. Thomas Stedman,
vicar of St. Chad's, Shrewsbury.
j- Belsham's Life of Lindsay.
j Afterwards the Rev. Sir James Stonhouse, Bart, rector of Great and Little
Cheveril, Wiltshire, the friend and correspondent of Lady Huntingdon, White-
field, &c.
§ Mrs. Scawen Was the only daughter of Lord James Russel, fifth son of
William, first Duke of Bedford, and niece of the celebrated Lady Rachel
Russel, whose piety, virtue, and conjugal affection have immortalized her
memory. Mrs. Scawen was introduced to the notice of Lady Huntingdon by
Dr. Doddridge, at a season of parental bereavement, when, in almost hopeless
anguish, she was lamenting the loss of achild. The consolatory letters of Lady
Huntingdon and Dr. Doddridge were of singular service, in leading her to more
correct views of God, and the designs of Providence, in his afflicting dispen
sations. || This gentleman was the very particular friend of Lady Huntingdon Mr
Whitefield, and Mr. Hervey. He was nephew to the Rev. Robert Bragge"
minister of an Independent congregation, in Lime-street, London. He was
educated for, and called to the ministry, and preached frequently in his uncle's
pulpit, finding, however, that his conscience would not permit him to believe

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 449
Esq.,* and Lord Lyttleton, were peculiarly interesting and affec
tionate, from the friendship expressed in them, and the divine
consolations which they administered.
The worthy doctor hesitated to take the journey to Portugal,
lest the necessary expense should injure his family, but Lady
Huntingdon, with that noble generosity which so distinguished
her character, contributed the sum of one hundred pounds : but
her liberality did not stop here, for with the assistance of Lady
Chesterfield, Lady Fanny Shirley, Lord Lyttleton, Lord Bath,
and a few others amongst the nobility, she gathered a sum of
about three hundred pounds, which she placed in the hands of
Mrs. Doddridge : —
" Words (says her Ladyship) cannot express the gratitude and
thankfulness with which dear Mrs. Doddridge accepted the contri
butions which I was enabled to collect. I felt grateful to God, that he
enabled me thus, in a trifling degree, to administer to the external com
fort of one of his dear servants. Less than the least, I feel humbled
before him for this instance of his goodness, in making me instrumental
of any benefit to the saints that are upon the earth. The Lord dis
posed my heart to add one hundred pounds to the benefactions of dear
Lady Chesterfield, Lady Fanny, Lord Lyttleton, and Lord Bath, making
a total of nearly three hundred ; which, with that Mr. Neale and his
friends amongst the Dissenters may collect, will, I hope, be of es
sential service in procuring him every comfort which his almost helpless
state requires."
Accordingly on the 17th of September, Dr. Doddridge left
Bristol, and, on his arrival in Bath, became the guest of Lady
Huntingdon, until the period of his departure for Falmouth.
the truths which he from time to time delivered from the pulpit, he had tha
honesty to desist from preaching, and, in process of time, was chosen the Lord
Mayor's Common Hunt, a place of considerable profit. He possessed a large
fortune, a considerable portion of which he lost in the South- Sea Bubble. In
the 52nd year of his age the Lord was pleased to pluck him as a firebrand out
ofthe burning, under the powerful ministry of Mr. Cennick ; in what manner
he himself informs us, in the narrative of his experience, delivered before Mr.
Richardson's church, at the time of his being admitted a member, June 4.
1713, and afterwards published, with a recommendation by Mr. Whitefield,
He survived his conversion upwards of twenty years, and during that time bore
a noble testimony to the truth and power of religion. He died happily, June
23, 1763, aged 73. When writing to Mr. Keene, Mr. Whitefield speaks thus
of his death -. " Mr. Cruttenden, I find, is gone. God be praised that he
went off so comfortably ! May our expiring hour be like his !" — See White-
field's Letters, Brown's Life of Hervey, and Porter's Sermon on the Death of Mr.
Cruttenden. * This gentleman was the son of the Rev. Dr. Neale, who, as a historian,
has obtained considerable celebrity. His son, Mr. Nathaniel Neale, was an
eminent attorney, and secretary to the Million Bank. His mother was a sister of
the learned Dr. Nathamel Lardner. He was also secretary of Coward's
trustees, and wrote some insolent letter to Dr. Doddridge, on account of his
liberality towards the Methodists.

450 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
In the morning of the day on which he set out from Bath to
Falmouth, Lady Huntingdon came into the room, andfoundhim
weeping over that passage in Daniel, ix. 11, 12, " Daniel, a
man greatly beloved," &c. " You are in tears, Sir," said Lady
Huntingdon, " I am weeping, Madam, (answered the Doctor,)
but they are tears of comfort andjoy ; I can give up my country,
my relations, my friends, into the hands of God : and, as to
myself, I can as well go to Heaven from Lisbon, as from my
own study at Northampton."
Dr. Oliver, Mr. Allen, Pope, and Dr. Warburton, testified
their regard for Dr. Doddridge at this period. Between War
burton and Doddridge long and intimate friendship existed, and
much of the correspondence between them has been preserved
in Nichols's " Literary Anecdotes," and the " Diary and Cor
respondence of Dr. Doddridge," lately published. In the last
letter which he wrote, that worthy and amiable man, whilst at
the Hot-wells, for the benefit of the waters, says : 
" Your kind letter gave me, and will give Mr. Allen,* great concern ;
but for ourselves, and not for you, death, whenever it happens, in a life
spent like yours, is to be envied, not pitied ; and you will have the
prayers of your friends, as conquerors have the shouts of the crowd.
God preserve you, if he continues you here to go on in his service ; if
he takes you to himself, to be crowned with glory, be assured the
memory of our friendship, will be as durable as my life."
Warburton visited Lady Huntingdon while Dr. Ddddridge
was her guest, and in the presence of Dr. Oliver and Dr. Hart
ley, author of " Observations on Man," rated her Ladyship and
Doddridge about enthusiasm. On another occasion, when Lady '
Huntingdon dined at Prior Park, the subject of conversation
happening to turn on Mr. Whitefield, who had just then em
barked for America, Dr. Hartley! spoke of his abilities with ad
miration, and of his doctrines with respect. " Of his oratorical
powers (said Warburton), and their astonishing influence on the
minds of thousands, there can be no doubt — they are of a high
¦ Pope's introducing Warburton to Mr. Allen led to his marriage with Miss
Gertrude Tucker. The splendid seat of Mr. Allen, Prior Park, immediately
became the residence, and afterwards the property, of Warburton.
f Dr. Hartley was a man of genius, and had a wide acquaintance with books,
and a mind active and adventurous, eager to pursue knowledge, and attentive
to retain it; always investigating, always aspiring; and therefore not easily
silenced by the violence and arrogance of Warburton. He received his academical
education at Jesus' College, Cambridge, where he took his degree of A. M., being
intended for the Church, but having some scruples about subscribing to the
Thirty-nine Articles, turned his attentton to the study of physic. He settled for
some time in London, from whence he removed to Bath, where he practised
with great reputation till his death, August 28, 1 757, leaving two sons and a
daughter — See Hartley's Life, by his son, who was M. P. for Hull, 1766.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 451
order; but with respect to his doctrines, I consider them per
nicious and false." A very animated and interesting debate took
place, in the course of which Dr. Hartley ably defended Mr.
Whitefield against the unjustifiable aspersions of his unreason
able antagonist, and proved the uniformity of his doctrines with
the articles and formularies of the Established Church, and their
accoi iance with the Confessions of Faitii of all the Reformed
Churches in Christendom. In this sentiment Lady Hunting
don, Dr. Oliver,* and Mr. Allen concurred. Warburton's
irascibility and unappeasable malignity to what he denominated
Methodism could not endure this, and he hastily left the apart
ment. On the 30th of September Dr. Doddridge embarked at Fal
mouth, and landed at Lisbon on tbe 13th of October. A few
days after his departure from Bath, Lady Huntingdon writes
thus concerning him : —
"Our dear and much-loved Doddridge has left us for Lisbon, and
left us without tbe shadow of a hope of meeting again on this side
eternity. May the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ go with
him, and abide with him to his journey's end : and give him at last a
triumphant entrance into his kingdom of eternal rest and glory, re
served for the people of his choice, the objects of his redeeming love
and boundless mercy !"
* This eminent physician, so celebrated in his day, had long resided at Batb,
where he had great practice, and acquired a large fortune. Although he had
long been intimate with Lady Huntingdon, and Dr. Stonhouse, after his con
version to Christianity, yet he remained a most inveterate infidel till * short
time before his death. In his last illness the arrows of conviction stuck fast
in him. Lady Huntingdon said she never saw a person more thoroughly hum
bled, distressed, and broken in heart. Visiting him a few days befoie he died,
he lamented not only his own past infidelity, but the zeal and success with
wliich he had endeavoured infect the minds of others. " O that I could
undo the mischief I have done ! I was more ardent," said he, " to poison people
with the principles of irreligion and unbelief, than almost any Christian can be
to spread the doctrines of Christ 1" " Cheer up !" answered Lady Huntingdon,
" Jesus, the great sacrifice for sin, atoned for the sins of the second table as
well as for those ofthe first." " God," replied he, " certainly can, but I fear
he never will, pardon, such a wretch as I." " You may fear it at present," re
joined her Ladyship, " but you and I shall most certainly meet each other in
heaveri." The Doctor then said, " O woman ! great is thy faith ! my faith can
not believe that I shall ever be there."
Soon after, the Lord lifted up the light of his countenance upon Dr. Oliver's
«oul, and he lay the rest of his time triumphing and praising God for the free
grace he had bestowed upon him.
Dr. Oliver's second daughter, Charlotte, married Sir John Pringle, Bart., a
celebrated physician, philosopher, and president of the Roy.-'l Society. He
favoured the public with many useful works, some of which are translated into
several of the European languages. On the accession of George the Third,
Sir John Pringle was appointed Physician to the Queen's household. For
many years he constantly attended Lady Huntingdon, and entertained a high
veneration for her Ladyship. He diedgreatlybelovedand respected, Jan. 18,1782.

452 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Of the serene and happy state of the Doctor's mind, in the
prospect of approaching dissolution, the following extract from
one of his letters, written during this solemn season, is a charac
teristic and instructive proof : —
' " I see, indeed, no hope of "recovery, yet my heart rejoiceth in my
God and in my Saviour ; and I can call Him under this failure of
every thing else its strength and everlasting portion. I must now
thank you for your heart-reviving letter to strengthen my faith, to
comfort my soul, and assist me in swallowing up death in victory !
God hath, indeed, been wonderfully good to me ; but I am less than
tbe least of his mercies, less than the least hope of his children.
Adored be his grace for whatever it hath wrought by me ; and blessed
be you of the Lord for the strong consolations you have been the
instrument of administering ; let me desire you to write again, and to
pour out your heart freely with all its strong cordial sentiments of
Christianity ; nothing will give me greater joy. What a friend you will
be in heaven ! How glad shall I be to welcome you there, after a
long and glorious course of service, to increase the lustre of your
crown ! May you long shine with your light, warmth, and influence,
like a sun upon the earth, when there remains not any united particles
of that poor, wasting, sinking frame, which enables this immortal
spirit to call itself your friend in everlasting bonds."
The melancholy intelligence of his death was communicated
by Dr. Stonhouse to Lady Huntingdon, than whom, in the ex
tensive circle of his acquaintance, few had a warmer friendship
for the Doctor, or more sincerely mourned his removal in the
height of vigour, usefulness, and honour: —
" The death of my dear lamented Doddridge has affected my heart
in a very uncommon manner, and I am often melted into tears when I
reflect upon his unspeakable loss to the Church and the world. But
all my murmurings are silenced by the voice of Him, in whose hands
are the issues of life and death, and who hath said — Shall I not do
what I will with my own ? With my hand on my mouth, and my
mouth in the dust, I desire to acquiesce in this divine prerogative to
take and leave as seemeth good to him, crying from my heart, Thy
righteous will be done .'"
The remains of Dr. Doddridge were interred in the burying
ground belonging to the British Factory at Lisbon ; and a
handsome monument was afterwards erected to his memory at
Northampton, at the expense of the congregation, and an
epitaph inscribed upon it, drawn up by his much esteemed
friend, Gilbert West, Esq., Clerk of the Privv Council, and
nephew of Lord Viscount Cobham.
The latter end of May, 1752, found Lady Huntingdon
again at Bath.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 453
"May the waters (writes Mr. Whitefield) be abundantly blessed to
the restoring of your bodily health, and may the comforts of the ever-
living, ever-lovely Jesus fill and refresh your soul ! I hope to see
your Ladyship about the 24th of this month. Next week, God will
ing, I go to Portsmouth, and from thence to Bath. My body is much
enfeebled, but the joy of the Lord is my strength. Hoping shortly to
see your Ladyship prospering, both in soul and body, and begging a
continual interest in your Ladyship's prayers, I subscribe myself,"&c.
On the 22nd of June Mr. Whitefield arrived in Bath, and
continued with Lady Huntingdon about three weeks, preaching
every evening to great numbers of the nobility. Here he first
became acquainted with the late Mrs. Grinfield,* a lady who
attended on Queen Caroline : — " One of Caesar's household
(writes Mr. Whitefield) hath been lately awakened through her
Ladyship's instrumentality, and I hope others will meet with the
like blessing."
The dangerous illness of Mrs. Charles Wesley obliging Lady
Huntingdon to remove to Bristol, Mrs. Grinfield returned to
London to attend her duties at Court, and Mr. Whitefield to his
usual occupation. In a few days he writes thus : —
''Yesterday morning I obeyed your Ladyship's commands, and
carried the enclosed to Mrs. Grinfield, at St. James's Palace. I was
much satisfied with my visit, and am rejoiced to find that she seems
resolved to show out at once. The Court, I believe, rings of her, and
if she stands, I trust she will make a glorious martyr for her blessed
Lord." In another letter, he says : —
" Till Mrs. Grinfield can meet with company that is really in earnest,
I think the closer she keeps to her God and her book the better. The
Lord strengthen, stablish, and settle her in his wavs and will !"
Now was the period of the Moravian controversy, to which
we have alluded, and the result of which was to draw Mrs. Grin
field,-)- with Mr. Cennick and others, over to the Church of the
United Brethren.
Mr. Whitefield wrote his remonstrance to the Count Bishop
* Aunt of the late General Grinfield and the Rev. Thomas Grinfield, of
Kensington, who espoused Anne, daughter of Joseph Forster, Esq,, youngest son
of Colonel John Forster, of the Island of Jamaica, who afterwards assumed the
surname of Barham.
t But Mrs. Grinfield continued her intimacy with Lady Huntingdon and
her friendship for Mr. Whitefield, and when the Tabernacle-house at Bristol
was without a servant, she lent her own, Mrs. Elizabeth King, for that purpose.
This respectable woman afterwards kept the Tabernacle-house in London, and
found at last shelter in the house of the Rev. Dr. Winter, enjoying a pension
for her services, and blessed with the means of grace as long as she could use
them. VOL I. — F F

454 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
of the United Church in England, and the Countess of Hun
tingdon's part in the affair may be related in her own words.
Count Zinzendorff paid her Ladyship a visit and was received
with the hospitality, dignity, and politeness due to a person of
high distinction. Her Ladyship, with mingled tenderness and
fidelity, remonstrated with the Count on the farrago of super
stitious fopperies and shocking offences introduced by the lead
ing brethren in London and other places, whereby hundreds of
honest-hearted Christians were deluded and involved in un
speakable distress and anguish of mind : — ¦
" He heard my remonstrance with patience (says the Countess), and
seemed much troubled when I mentioned the cases of those persons
who have been involved in utter ruin hy means of the brethren. I
entered at some length into the superstitious horrors acted at Hatton-
o-arden, and the evident impropriety of usurping an authority over the
consciences and properties of the people. Our conference was long,
and, as the Count honoured me with his company for a few days, was
resumed at intervals, always closing with a solemn scriptural prayer to
our great and glorious Head for the illuminating influences of his Spirit
to guide us into all truth. We parted with tbe utmost cordiality.
Dear Mr. Whitefield's letter has much grieved the Count. But his re
monstrance is faithful, and the awful exposures he has reluctantly been
forced to make, may be productive of the highest good in opening the
eyes of many to the miserable delusions under which they lie."
About this period the illness of one of her daughters obliged
Lady Gertrude Hotham to remove to Bath. In the summer of
1755 Mr. Whitefield again visited that city, and preached fre
quently at the residence of Lady Gertrude. Lord Chester
field and Mr. Stanhope, who had just then returned from the
Continent after a long absence, were on a visit to Lady Ger
trude. Mrs. Bevan* and Mrs. Grinfield were also of the
* Mrs. Bevan was a daughter and co-heiress of Mr. Vaughan, of Derllysg, in
the parish of Merthyr, Caermarthenshire, and received her first serious impres
sions under the apostolic ministry of Griffith Jones, Rector of Llandowvor.
She was very handsome, sensible, and accomplished. Her husband, Arthur
Bevan, Esq., of Langharne, was Rector of the County-Borough of Caermarthen,
and for fourteen years its representative in Parliament; his public condnct was
at once dignified and endearing, and he died (March 6, 1745, aged 56,) 'beloved
and lamented. To Mr. Jones Mrs. Bevan was ever grateful and affectionate,
attended his ministry at Llandowvor and Llandilo, powerfully assisted his
efforts in establishing that blessing to the poor of the Principality — the Welsh
Circulating Charity Schools — and, at last, in 1761, it was in her house at Lang
harne that he died, and at her own expense she erected a monument to his
memory in the parish church he had so faithfully served. For twenty years
after his death she continued his schools, and in her will left £10,000 to per
petuate their good effects. The executrix, Lady Stepney, disputed the legacy,
and it was thrown into Chancery, whence, in 1808, it came, increased to a vast

SELINA, COUNTESS OE HUNTINGDON. 455
party ; but the most interesting member of this remarkable circle
was the young lady whose illness had brought Lady Gertrude
and her friends to Bath. She was the eldest daughter, and
had all her mother's piety. When Lady Gertrude opened her
house to the preaching of the Gospel, and when the house of
Lady Huntingdon was a temple at which the great were not
ashamed to worship Christ, this young lady had been heartily
awakened by the preaching of Mr. Whitefield.* Before the
period of which we write she had long seemed to be preparing
for that inheritance which was reserved for her in the courts
sum, and was applied to the purposes willed by the testatrix. At every visit
of Mr. Whitefield to Bath he preached in Mrs. Bevan's house, and at the
period of which we speak, the Earls of Chesterfield and Huntingdon, and Mrs.
Stanhope, were among the distinguished auditory. Mrs. Bevan's elegant and
accomplished manners attracted Lord Chesterfield's attention, and having
studied the Deistical writers of the age, she was enabled to give all her eminent
ability and clearness to the discussion of the topics he was fond of introducing.
She easily and solidly refuted his plausible objections to revealed religion.
" Lord Chesterfield's inclination to subvert Christianity (she writes to Lady
Huntingdon) has involved me in many inconsistencies. A greater proof of
his prejudices and his being reduced to the last distress in point of argument is
his general clamours and invectives against all historical evidence, as abso
lutely uncertain ; and it is not so much the corruptions of Christianity that his
Lordship finds fault with, as with the Christian revelation itself, which he does
not scruple to represent as the product of enthusiasm or imposture. Yet, at
other times, he will agree with me, that never were there any- facts that had
clearer and more convincing evidence attending them, than the extraordinary
and miraculous facts whereby the divine original and authority of the Christian
revelation was attested and confirmed. This strange fluctuation of opinion I
can account for only on this gTound — that the incontrovertible and undeniable
evidence of these facts has overcome the notions and prejudices with which
bis mind has been so strongly prepossessed :' and it is this shaking of the
Babel of unbelief that fills me with hope that the great Dispenser of spiritual
benefits will, of his free grace and mercy, reveal to his Lordship's mind the
grand and harmonious system of revealed truth, the several parts of which are
like so many links of a beautiful chain, one part answering to another, and all
concurring to exhibit an admirable plan, in which the wisdom, the grace and
goodness, and the righteousness of God, most eminently shine forth. Your
Ladyship's great intimacy with, and friendship for, Lord Chesterfield, has in
duced me to be thus minute in what related to him. Of Lord Huntingdon, I
have not had much opportunity of forming an opinion ; but I hear from good
Lady Gertrude, that Sir Charles and his Lordship are inseparable, and have
long and animated discussions on the most interesting topics. He has called
frequently on Mrs. Grinfield, with whom he seems much pleased. Your Lady
ship is well assured she will not lose a favourable opportunity of speaking a
word in season."
* At the moment of Miss Hotham's triumphant departure, Mr. Whitefield
was at Portsmouth, and, as soon as he received the intelligence, he wrote an
affecting letter to Lady Gertrude. On his return to town, he preached a
funeral sermon at the Tabernacle on the death of Miss Hotham, to an over
flowing and deeply affecting congregation t and having heard from Lady Hun
tingdon of the Christian fortitude with which Lady Gertrude supported her
deprivation, he wrote a kind and consoling letter to the bereaved mother,- who
was greatly comforted by religious resignation and the sympathies of tender
friends.
f f a

45G THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
above ; but her friends had little expectation of the calm splen
dour of that closing scene which rendered her an example to
the Church. A few days before her departure, Mr. Whitefield
visited her at the particular request of Lady Gertrude. She
had been prayed for very earnestly two days before at the ad
ministrations of the sacrament at Lady Huntingdon's, the pre
ceding day at the administration of the same ordinance at Lady
Fanny Shirley's, and likewise previous to his interview, in Lady
Gertrude's drawing-room, on which occasion her Ladyship, Sir
Charles Hotham, the Misses Melisina and Gertrude Hotham,
the Countess Delitz, Lady Fanny Shirley, and the attending
domestics, were much affected with the awful and impressive
solemnity of the scene. When Mr. Whitefield approached her
bed-side, she seemed glad to see him, but requested he would
speak and pray as softly as he could. She desired to keep her
lying posture ; " but I can rise to take physic," she exclaimed ;
"why not to pray?" He conversed with her a little, during
which she dropt some strong expressions about the depravity
of her heart, the vanity of the world, and the littleness of every
thing out of Christ. She appeared to speak out of the abun
dance of her heart, from a feeling sense of her own vileness.
After prayer she seemed as though she felt things unutterable.
Those about her wept for joy. A short time before her dis
solution she declared to those around her dying bed, her peace
and hope, and bore the strongest testimony to the faithfulness
and love of God to her soul at that solemn season. She knew
in whom she had believed ; and her hope of eternal life, founded
on the Rock of Ages, was an anchor to her soul, " both sure
and stedfast." Before the final struggle she affectionately em
braced her whole family, and, with almost her last breath, assured
her afflicted parent that she was quite free from pain or fear.
In this peaceful state she took her leave of earthly scenes and
entered into the joy of her Lord.*
In December, 1757, Lady Gertrude had the happiness of
seeing her son, Sir Charles Hotham, married to an amiable
and accomplished young lady, Miss Clara Anne Clutterbuck,
daughter and heiress of Thomas Clutterbuck, Esq., of Mill-green,
in Essex. Their union was but of short duration. In June,
1759, Lady Hotham was suddenly seized with a violent fever,
which, in the course of a few days, terminated in death. This
severe affliction, however, was the appointed means of leading
* See, in the second volume of Mr. Whitefield's Letters, a narrative of his
last interview with Miss Hotham, addressed to Lady Elizabeth Hastings,
afterwards Countess of Moira, the eldest daughter of Selina, Countess of
Huntingdon.

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 457
Sir Charles to a deeper knowledge and experience of the truth
as it is in Jesus. He, had frequently heard Mr. Whitefield and
other eminent ministers at his mother's house in London and
Bath, and had not drunk the poison of his uncle Chesterfield ;
yet he was not a decided character until he became a lonely
widower. From that time he defied all the sneers of the Court,
and dared to be " singularly good."
Soon after the death of his lady, Sir Charles Hotham became
Groom of ihe Bed-chamber to George III., through the interest
of his uncle, Lord Chesterfield ; owing to his increased ill health
and being ordered change of air, he went to Germany in 1767,
and in the same year died there, at a village near the Spa. This
last stroke was a severe one to Lady Gertrude. She had
already lost her hopes, and now her Isaac was called for, but in
the trial she showed an Abraham's faith and patience. The
very evening after she received the intelligence of her melan
choly loss, being alone and reading, she set fire to her ruffles,
and the linen about her neck and head burned so rapidly, that
for fifteen days she was under means for her recovery. She
would not suffer her friends to lament the accident, blamed her
self for having been desirous of a speedy flight, or marking out
the way to God. While Mr. Adair dressed her wounds, which
daily occupied an hour and a half, she would speak of God's
mercies to her. The surgeon would say that her good life had
merited heaven ; but she, in holy indignation, would rouse her
fainting spirits to reply, that there was no merit but in Christ
Jesus, and that in his blood and righteousness were all her
hopes. She called on her friends to bless God for her accident,
and suffered the means' of recovery to be taken with her only
in the spirit of submission, lest it should be God's will that she
should live. For every nourishment afforded, she gave peculiar
thanks, and on being directed to take some wine, she could not
speak of its restoring influence without remembering that on his
cross her Saviour was denied the kind indulgence then afforded
her. A few minutes before her death, her friends put some
liquid in her mouth, and she, who had spoken little for three
days, said, " Enough — happy — happy !" and one sigh set her
spirit at liberty !*
* This interesting account of the death of the good and pious Lady Gertrude
Hotham the writer received from the lips of Lady Maxwell, of Edinburgh, one
well acquainted with the leading worthies mentioned in these memoirs. The
reader is referred to a letter from Mr. Venn to Mrs. Ryland, Lady Huntingdon
and Mr. Venn's friend and correspondent, wife of the Rev. John Ryland,
formerly curate of Huddersfield, and afterwards Minister of St. Mary's, Birming
ham, and Rector of Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, who died in 1822,

458 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
Sir Charles Hotham had been the intimate companion of the
young Earl of Huntingdon, upon whom he had exerted some
good influence, at least for a time. Mr. Whitefield, in a letter
to Lady Fanny Shirley, says, in reference to the friendship of
Sir Charles and her nephew, the Earl of Huntingdon —
" It will be pleasant to see Sir Charles and the Earl striving who
shall go fastest to heaven. Your Ladyship will scorn to be out
stripped by any. The Almighty God approves the ambition, and
angels look down with pleasure to see the event. Blessed be God,
that is certain. All believers here do run, and all hereafter shall
obtain the prize."
Unfortunately, the Earl of Huntingdon was not a Sir Charles
Hotham. Little has ever been made known relative to this ac
complished nobleman, the eldest and only surviving son of Lady
Huntingdon. He was born in 1729, the memorable year in
which Methodism took its rise at Oxford.
We have already spoken of his tour to France, and his intro
duction from his adopted father, Lord Chesterfield, formerly
ambassador to that Court, to the celebrated Lady Hervey,
mother of the excellent Lady Mary Fitzgerald, the friend and
correspondent of Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Venn, Mr. Fletcher,
and Mr. Wesley. When young, the public expectation was
raised very high regarding him ; and an Ode was addressed to
him by Dr. Mark Akenside, who, as the reader knows, had
settled as a physician at Northampton, and was patronized by
the Huntingdon family.
In November 1756, he was appointed Master of the Horse
to George the Third, then Prince of Wales ; who, succeeding
to the crown October 25, 1760, continued his Lordship in that
office, and nominated him one of the Privy Council in Decem
ber following. . His Lordship carried the Sword of State at his
Majesty's coronation, in 1761 : and December 29th, the fol
lowing year, was appointed Lord Lieutenant, and Custos Rotu-
lorum of the West Biding of Yorkshire, and of the City of
York and County of the same. At the baptism of Prince
Frederick, his Majesty's second son, on Wednesday evening,
September 14, 1763, the Earl of Huntingdon, being then Groom
ofthe Stole, (which office he resigned in January, 1770,) stood
proxy for the Duke of York, one of the sponsors. His Lord
ship was also enrolled among the members of the Royal Society.
He is said to have left his place at Court, and given up all em
ployment, offended at being refused the Dukedom of Clarence,
which he had claimed by hereditary right. Although his man
ners were] much more like those of a foreigner than an English?

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 459
man (speaking French, Italian, and Spanish perfectly, with all
the elegance of a foreign courtier, ) yet he never made a display
of any thing like superiority. It was impossible to be in his
society without obtaining information, and he was equally polite
to the wise and to the ignorant. His venerable mother, how
ever, through a long life, had to mourn over the infidelity of her
child, and the baseness of those principles which he had im
bibed from Lord Chesterfield and Lord Boligbroke.*
When Lady Huntingdon was in Yorkshire, Mr. Grimshaw,
rector of Haworth, used to he much with her Ladyship, and
had frequent arguments with Lord Huntingdon on the internal
evidence of the Christian religion. On one occasion, after a
discussion of this nature, Mr. Grimshaw, with the openness and
frankness so characteristic of that apostolic labourer, told his
lordship " that the fault was net so much in his head as in his
heart." His Lordship was so much affected with this remark,
that he never encountered that antagonist again. So true it is
that the most insurmountable, as well as the most usual, obstacle
to our belief, arises from our passions, appetites, and interests ;
for faith being an act of the will as much as of the understanding,
we more often disbelieve for want of inclination than for want
of evidence.
Lord Huntingdon died before his venerable parent, October
2, 1789. He was unmarried, but left a natural son, Lieutenant-
General Sir Charles Hastings, Bart. The barony of Hastings
devolved on his sister, the Countess of Moira, but the Earldom
* We have elsewhere adverted to Mr. Lindsay. His mother had Uved many
years in the family of Frances, Countess-Dowager of Huntingdon. The Eari
was his godfather, and gave him the name of Theophilus. By the kindness of
Lady Betty and Lady Anne Hastings, he was placed at the Free Grammar
School of Leeds, under the Rev. Mr. Barnard (the biographer of Lady Betty),
and his vacations were spent at the house of his noble patrons. With them,
too, his mother and only sister continued to find a shelter after the death of his
father. The mother died in 1747, and over her remains was erected a stone,
on which we read, that " while a child she had been the playfellow, and when
a widow the friend of Lady Anne Hastings, who erected that monument to her
memory, and was a sincere and affectionate mourner for her death." The Rev.
Theophilus Lindsay was appointed by Lord Huntingdon to the living of Piddle-
town, in Dorsetshire, which he exchanged for the vicarage of Catterick. After.
wards he seceded from the Established Church, and the personal intercourse
with his noble patron was suspended. Yet in 1786, when he visited Trevecca,
the Countess gave orders that all attention should be shown him, and received
himself and wife " most graciously, as usual," as he himself has recorded. Much
and earnest conversation passed between the Lady Selina an d Mr. Lindsay on the
subject qf the- Earl, her son. Mr. Lindsay hinted, that possibly the state of
future punishment might be only a process of severe discipline, and that the
greatest sinners might ultimately find mercy. These words sank deep into her
heart. " Some good, I hope, is done (says Mr. Lindsay), where much is in
tended by this praiseworthy lady, who has for full forty years devoted her for
tune, time, aw} labour, to proniote what she believes to be the truth,'?

460 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
remained unclaimed till January 14, 1819, when Hans Francis
Hastings, son of Lieutenant-Colonel George Hastings, who
had been educated at the sole expense of Theophilus, Earl
of Huntingdon, was confirmed in his claim to the Earldom,
and took his seat in the House of Peers, as twelfth Earl of
Huntingdon. Lady Elizabeth Hastings, afterwards Countess of Moira, was
the eldest daughter of Lady Huntingdon. In early life she was
much admired at Court for her elegance of manners, her vi
vacity, and great abilities. She was appointed Lady of the
Bedchamber to the Princesses Amelia and Caroline, sisters to
George the Third, in March 1749, in the room of Lady Anne
Montague, who resigned. Her Ladyship held the situation
only a few months. Horace Walpole, afterwards Lord Orford,
says, — " The Queen of the Methodists got her daughter named
for Lady of the Bedchamber to the Princesses; but it is all
off again, as she will not let her play at cards on Sundays."
Whether this was the real cause we do not pretend to know ;
but she was shortly succeeded by a daughter of Earl Gower.
Lady Elizabeth married, in 1752, John, first Earl of- Moira, and
on the decease of her brother, Francis, tenth Earl of Hunting
don, in 1789, carried the Baronies, by writ, Botreaux, Hun
gerford, Molines, and Hastings, to that family. Her grandson,
George Augustus Francis, present Marquis of Hastings, married
Barbara Gray de Ruthyn, heir to the whole blood of the Earls
of Pembroke, and the elder branch of the house of Hastings.
His infant son is heir to three noble families — namely, the Mar-
quisate of Hastings, the Scotch Earldom of Loudon, and the
Barony of Ruthyn. The Earl of Moira was Baron Rawdon at
the period of his union with Lady Elizabeth Hastings. He
was the cousin-german to Lady Huntingdon, and their marriage
appears to have given her considerable satisfaction. Soon after
the union, the Countess of Hertford, when writing to a friend,
says —
" Lady Rawdon's marriage has given unmingled satisfaction to all
her family and friends, and Lady Huntingdon tells me she is extremely
happy and contented. I rejoice at this, not only on her account, but
on account of her worthy mother, who has certainly done her duty by
her, and fulfilled her trust with the most scrupulous fidelity. Lady
Selina (this letter was written before the death of that excellent young
lady) is a great comfort to her, and is a most amiable, pious, and affec
tionate character. What an affliction is Lord Huntingdon's dislike to
religion ! And what have not my Lords Chesterfield and Bolingbroke
to answer for ? But he is most attentive, respectful, and kind to Lady
Huntingdon. This is some consolation ; and we may hope that in the
course of time, her example, and the excellent advice which he has

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 461
received, may have their full weight of influence on his character. He
is a most interesting, elegant, and accomplished young nobleman and
very likely to make some figure in the world. He was much affected
at the death of Miss Hotham, to whom he is said to have been greatly
attached ; but of this I cannot speak with any certainty, as Lady Hun
tingdon has never mentioned it to me."
The writer of these pages was very intimate with Lady Moira
after she had passed her seventieth year, and received from her
many interesting particulars relative to her venerable mother.
Her Ladyship always spoke of Lady Huntingdon with marked
respect and affection. She frequently called attention to an
original likeness of her Ladyship, which represents the Countess
placing her foot on her coronet. This portrait must have been
painted prior to the year 1773 ; for we find Horace Walpole, in
one of his letters of that date, mentioning what he terms the
" Beatific print" of Lady Huntingdon, just then published,
which was copied from it. Lady Moira was a great political
character ; she was a woman of exquisite taste, of extensive
literary acquirements — and the patroness of all the literary
geniuses of her day. Lord Moira died in ] 793, and his Countess
survived him till April 12, 1808. She was in her seventy-eighth
year. Among Lady Huntingdon's visitors at Bath this season, were
Mrs. Carteret and Mrs. Cavendish, two sisters, allied to two of
the noblest and most ancient families in England ; they formed
part of the great harvest collected at Lady Huntingdon's house
in London, having there first heard and received the Gospel in
the light and in the love of it. Being women of rank and for
tune, their influence was considerable, and many, by their instru
mentality, were induced to attend Mr. Whitefield's ministry.
They united with Lady Huntingdon, Lady Gertrude Hotham,
and the other " honourable women," in their exertions to spread
in the region around them, the light of the Sun of Righteousness,
and very many monuments remained of their successful labours.
In the published correspondence of Mr. Fletcher, Mr. Berridge,
and others, letters to these excellent women will be found.
There is an interesting narrative of their dying experience, in a
volume of the Christian Guardian, in a letter addressed to their
very dear and intimate friend, the ever-to-be-revered Lady Mary
Fitzgerald, now united to them in glory. In their last illness
they were frequently visited by Messrs. Romaine, Newton,
Hill, Cecil, Foster, Jones (of Langan), Venn, and other emi
nent ministers of Christ. Two or three days before Mrs. Car
teret's death, her dear old friend, Mr. Venn, went in to look at
her, She took hold of his hand, and prayed most earnestly that

462 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
the Lord Jesus would blot out every spot of sin in his most
precious blood, and clothe her in his most glorious righteousness,
that therein her soul might be justified. These prayers she
repeated again and again with great earnestness; they were
prayers which received and embraced the promises, and, laying-
hold of them with a sure and certain hope, she rejoiced in a full
salvation. Mrs. Cavendish said — " It is enough — an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and sure — this is all my salvation and all
my desire." Her favourite hymn, during the whole course of her
illness, was the one commencing —
" There was a fountain filled," &c.
They were removed hence within a short time of each other,
to meet again in the kingdom of their Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ. " They were lovely in their lives, and in their deaths
were not divided."
The Countess Delitz, one of the daughters of the Duchess of
Kendal and the sister of Lady Chesterfield, was another gem
of the same crown ; and many of the letters of Mr. Whitefield
to her Ladyship have been preserved in the collection pub
lished by his executors. The Countess was particularly intimate
with Lady Fanny Shirley, and is frequently mentioned in the
correspondence of Mr. Hervey with her Ladyship. She died in
Chesterfield-street, May-fair, November 2, 1773.
Such were Mr. Whitefield's trophies in the Chesterfield fa
mily. He won souls in it, upon the right hand and the left of
the Earl ; thus leaving him without excuse for his wilful blind
ness and obstinate rejection of divine truth : his Countess made
a better choice.
Lady Chesterfield was a natural daughter of George the First,
and was created Countess of Walsingham and Baroness of Aid-
borough in her own right. Her mother was Melosina de
Schulenberg, Duchess of Kendal, who died in 1743, when her
title became extinct. Born to wealth, and allied to a rich and
noble house, she was fitted to make a distinguished figure among
the great, and to shine at Court. Her various accomplishments
attracted general admiration ; and she was for many" years fasci
nated with the splendour and allurements of high life, which
seemed to absorb all her thoughts and gratify her utmost wishes.
But it pleased God to lead her to attend the preaching of Mr.
Whitefield, at the Countess of Huntingdon's house ; and to con
vince her, that no situation, however high and elevated, can secure
to its possessor uninterrupted felicity; and at the same time
exhibited to her view the souree of true and permanent happi-

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 463
ness. Lady Chesterfield knew the world too well, not to expect.
its hatred and reproach for casting her fortune, her honours, and
her talents, at the foot of His Cross. In compliance with the
wishes of Lord Chesterfield, her Ladyship sometimes went to
Court, and mixed with the gay and thougtless ; but found no
pleasure]in the fashionable follies of those around her. The
last time she visited the royal circle, her plain but elegant dress
was of a brown ground with silver flowers, which Lord Chester
field, a nobleman of undoubted taste, had obtained from the
Continent at considerable expense. His Majesty, who it seems
was well acquainted with the proceedings at Lady Huntingdon's,
coming up to Lady Chesterfield, first smiled, and then forgetting
royal decorum, remarked — " I know who chose that gown for
you — Mr. Whitefield ; and I hear you have attended on him
this year and a half." Lady Chesterfield replied, " Yes, I have,
and like him very well ;" but after she came to her chair, was
grieved she had not said more, when she had so favourable an
opportunity. Lord Chesterfield had been the intimate companion and
friend of the Earl of Huntingdon, on whose deceasa the young
Earl became, as we have stated, his adopted son. Hence an
extraordinary degree of intimacy subsisted between the families ;
and he was on all occasions the counsellor and friend of Lady
Huntingdon and her children. Notwithstanding his infidel
sentiments, he was very constant in his attendance at her Lady
ship's whenever Mr. Whitefield was to preach.
Lady Huntingdon had at times some favourable hopes of
Lord Chesterfield. She said to Dr. Doddridge —
" Sometimes I do hope for dear Lord Chesterfield and Lord Bath,
Mr. Stanhope, and one of the privy council of Denmark,* with a great
many ladies and people of fashion as well as of quality. I know your
warm heart will rejoice at this, and your prayers will help with ours
for an increase to our blessed Lord's kingdom, even among them."
Lord Chesterfield, however, deceived her hopes. He called
death a " leap in the dark ! " but Lady Huntingdon, discussing
this subject with him, said —
" The sentence, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall pass upon
impenitent sinners at the great day of judgment, will be final and
irreversible. It is our unspeakable advantage, that we are not left
merelv to the uncertain light or feeble conjectures of our own unassisted
reason in matters of the highest importance. In the revelation which
• A Danish Count, brother to the ambassador, who was a constant attendant
on Mr. Whitefield's preaching at Lady Huntingdon's.

464 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
he has given us of himself, he declares, with great solemnity, that it
shall be more tolerable in the day of judgment for the most profligate
parts of the heathen world, than for those who obstinately reject and
abuse his offers of mercy and salvation — this is the condemnation,
saith the Saviour himself, that light is come into the world, but men
love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil — and so go on
in an obstinate course of aggravated guilt, in opposition to the clearest
light and most glorious advantages. Nor is it any impeachment of
the wisdom, justice, and equity of the divine government, that obsti
nate sinners, who now reject his mercy and grace, should never be
admitted to that transcendent bliss and glory, which he hath of his own
free and sovereign goodness promised to the righteous, but be left to
perish in their sins, and for ever abide under the stinging reflections
of their own guilty consciences."
His Lordship lived, with increasing infirmities, to the 24th of
March, 1773. Not all the efforts of Lady Chesterfield, of his
sister, Lady Gertrude Hotham, nor of Lady Huntingdon, could
induce the hardened Infidel to follow their example.
" I saw my dear and valued friend (says Lady Huntingdon) a short
time before his departure. The blackness of darkness, accompanied
by every gloomy horror, thickened most awfully round his dying mo
ments. Dear Lady Chesterfield could not be persuaded to leave his
room for an instant. What unmitigated anguish has she endured.*
But her confidential communications I am not at liberty to disclose.
The curtain has fallen — his immortal part has passed to another state
of existence. Oh ! my soul, come not thou unto his end !"t
In his will he mentions his servants, " his unfortunate friends,
his equals by nature," and the mother of his natural son ; but
not one word is said of his excellent Lady, who survived him
only a few years ; but how different was her death-bed : —
" I was with her to the last (says Lady Huntingdon), and never saw
a soul more humbled in the dust before God, on account of her own
vileness and nothingness, but having a sure and stedfast hope in the
love and mercy of God in Christ, constantly affirming that his blood
cleanseth from all sin. The last audible expressions that fell from
her, a few moments before the final struggle, were — ' Oh ! my friend,
I have hope — a strong hope — through grace !' then taking my hand, and
claspingit earnestly between her's, exclaimed with much energy — ' God
be merciful to me a sinner !' "
Lady Chesterfield died September 16, 1778, without issue,
whereby her titles became extinct.
* Her Ladyship sent for Mr. Rowland Hill, but Lord Chesterfield refused to
see him. After his Lordship's death, this reverend gentleman became chaplain
to Lady Chesterfield, and she, like Lady Huntingdon, used to open her
splendid mansion for the preaching of the Gospel.
f Lord Chesterfield's character is too well known to require much comment.

SELINA, COUNTESS OP HUNTINGDON. 465
Though Lord Chesterfield seldom exerted his poetical talents
except in epigrams and ballads, the few that are known to be
his are evidently by the hand of a master ; witness his " Fanny,
blooming fair," written on Lady Fanny Shirley, a reigning beauty
at Court ; " Advice to a Lady in Autumn," addressed to the
same ; his epigram on the Duchess of Richmond, and verses
written in a lady's " Sherlock on Death," &c. No attack of an
enemy could have degraded his character so much as the publi
cation of his " Letters to his Son," which, if they do not deserve
the severe reprehension of Dr. Johnson, that they " inculcated
the morals of a strumpet with the manners of a dancing-master,"
certainly display a relaxation of principle for which no talents
can make amends, and which prove him to have been a man in
whose mind the applause of the world was the great, and almost
the sole, governing principle.
At the same time with Lady Chesterfield, William Pulteney,
Earl of Bath, the celebrated statesman, and a person of much
notoriety in his day, was deeply impressed under Mr. Whitefield's
ministry. There had been for many years the most intimate
friendship between him and Lady Huntingdon, in which Lady
Fanny Shirley had no small share. Whatever, therefore, may
be thought of his public character, he must have been rather
more than moral, to have secured their esteem. He is said to
have been extremely amiable in his private life, and much
beloved by his friends. Lord Chesterfield's malignity towards
him was keen and inveterate. Like his political antagonist, Sir
Robert Walpole, Lord Bath could, when —
" Uncumbered by the venal tribe,
Smile without art, and win without a bribe."
He attended Tottenham-court chapel regularly for some years,
and was very liberal on several occasions, contributing munifi
cently to the establishment of the Orphan-House, in Georgia,
and the erection of the Tabernacle at Bristol. He died July
7th, 1764, without surviving issue.*
* The Countess of Bath was one of the daughters and co-heiresses of Colonel
Gumley, so frequently mentioned in these memoirs. Horace Walpole, writing
to George Montague, says  " Gumley, whom you know is grown Methodist.
His wit is at its wit's end. Whitefield preaches continually at Lady Hunting
don's, at Chelsea. Lord Chesterfield, Lord Bath, Lady Townsend, Lady
Thanet, and others have been to hear him ; nor shall I wonder if next winter
he is run after instead of Garrick !"

466 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF

CHAPTER XXVII.
Chapel at Bath— Bretby Hall— Mr. Townsend and Mr. Jesse — Mr. Romaine
— Mr. Shrapnell— Mrs. Wordsworth — Letters from Mr. Romaine — Chapel
opened at Bath — Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Townsend — Mr. Fletcher's labours
at Bath— Lord and Lady Glenorchy — Letter from Lady Glenorchy to Lady
Huntingdon—Death of Lord and Lady Sutherland — Lady Huntingdon, the
Wesleys, and Mr. Whitefield — Letter from Lady Huntingdon to Mr. Wesley
 Horace Walpole — Lady Betty Cobbe — Nobility attend Lady Huntingdon's
Chapel — Letters from Mr. Whitefield to Mr. Powys — Mr. Stillingfleet —
Mr. Venn and Sir Charles Hotham — Anecdotes of Mr. Venn  Mr. Andrews
and the Bishop of Gloucester — Mr. Venn at Trevecca — Mr. Lee — Captain
Scott and Mr. Venn — Anecdotes of Captain Scott  Letter from Mr. Venn —
Mr. Howel Davies — Anecdote — Dr. Haweis — Mr. Cradock Glascott —
Letter from Mr. Fletcher.
In the year 1765lier Ladyship bought a piece of ground in the
vineyards at Bath, and erected there a house and the beautiful
chapel which was destined to prove so great a blessing. While
those buildings were in course of erection, her Ladyship accepted
Lord Chesterfield's offer of his house and chapel at Bretby
Hall. Thither she went with Mr. Jesse, of West Bromwich ;
Mr. Romaine was prevented from accompanying, but promised
to follow her Ladyship, and Mr. Townsend joined her on her
arrival, which was .towards the close of July in the year above
named. These ministers preached alternately in the Hall chapel,
which on Mr. Whitefield's arrival was exchanged for the Park, so
vast was the concourse, and Mr. Romaine's auditors were hardly
less numerous ; but he refused to be a ^e^-preacher, and the
crowd heard only what they could gather from the pulpit.*
* The letters of Mr. Romaine to Mrs. Medhurst, of Kippax, published by her
brother-in-law, the Rev. Thomas Wills, refer to this period and to his preach
ing at Derby, both at the great Church and St. Werburgh's. " Fifteen pulpits
(he says) were open, and showers of grace came down ; but Mrs. Wordsworth
was taken ill and obliged to go to Bath, and this broke up the party. " The late
Zachary Shrapnell (a man of great piety and the intimate friend of Lady Hun
tingdon) was then at the Park. In his rambles he met wth a poor cottager,
whose account of her own conversion, by Mr. Romaine, produced a very power-
, ful impression on his mind. " Some time ago (she said) there was a famous
man down in this country, called Mr. Romaine ; he preached some miles ofiy
and many of the neighbours went to hear him, so I thought I would go too.
Accordingly away I trudged ; aridhe TOS no sooner begun his discourse, but it
seemed all directed to me : he opened the depravity of my heart and nature,

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 467
Lady Huntingdon left Bretby for Bath, recalled by the indisposi
tion of Mrs. Wordsworth.*
Soon after her arrival at Bath, Lady Huntingdon summoned
the ministers who laboured for her, Messrs. Whitefield, Shirley,
Romaine, Venn, Madan, and Townsend, to the opening of her
chapel there.
Mr. Romaine was willing to attend the summons, but having
been received in Yorkshire with the greatest attention by the
clergy, who, on account of his greater " regularity," opened to
him pulpits which were closed against Mr. Whitefield; and,
being then engaged with equal ardour and success at Oathall and
Brighton, he preferred remaining there. "The Society (he
says) most earnestly entreat you, if Mr. Madan should come
down to Bath, that I may be suffered to stay here with them.
Why should we both be there at the same time, to stand in one
another's way ? Why should Bath have all, poor Brighton none ?"
This note is dated September 11, 1765. Mr. Madan was pre
vented from attending, and Lady Huntingdon wrote again, to
Mr. Romaine, who replied, under the date of October 1st, 1765,
again denying her request — " I must openly tell you (he says)
that my very heart and soul are now in this work ; inasmuch that
I have not minded going to Oathall wet to the skin, for the jov
that was set before me." Lady Huntingdon insisted no more,
and Mr. Romaine was suffered to remain at Oathall.
On the 6th of October, 1765, the chapel was dedicated to
convinced my conscience of the awful condition in which I had been living,
showed me the wages of sin which was due to me, the truth of which I felt in
my own soul. He then spoke ofthe fulness and glory of Christ, described his
sufferings and passion, and the design of them, displayed the riches of his grace
to the miserable and the desperate, and invited them to embrace it and be
blessed. Sir, you cannot think the instantaneous and wonderful effect it had
upon me. I was convinced of sin, justified by faith, and came home rejoicing ;
and from that day to this have never lost the sweet savour of the truths I there
embraced. How I should long to hear the gentleman ! Do you know him ?
I think they said he came from London. " Mr. Shrapnell, who was himself a
convert of Romaine's, was proportionately affected by this singular proof of
God's grace to him and Lady Huntingdon, and of his blessing on their endea
vours. Mr. Shrapnell was the father of Major-General Henry Shrapnell, and
Miss Rachael Shrapnell, who married the Rev. Thomas Tregenna Biddulph,
minister of St. James's, Bristol. The Rev. Thomas Shrapnell Biddulph, eldest
son of the last-named, is a. prebendary of Brecon, (and a magistrate of the
counties of Carmarthen and Pembroke. He married a daughter of the
Rev. James Stillingfleet, prebendary of Worcester, the intimate friend of Lady
Huntingdon. * Relict of John Wordsworth, Esq., of the Isle of Thanet, to whom tslie was
united in 1758. She was sister to Mr. Townsend, Rector of Pewsey, in Wilt
shire, was a woman of talent, and for many years the intimate friend and corre
spondent of Mr. Romaine. InJanuary, 1771, shebeeame the wife of Dr. Haweis,
rector of Aldwincle. She was a good Hebraist, and the Govts Hebraica of
Julius Bates was Mr. Romaine's present to her at her wedding.

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
God and the preaching of his everlasting Gospel. An im-'
mense crowd attended, and great numbers of the nobility who
had been specially invited by Lady Huntingdon. Mr. White-
field preached in the morning, and the rector of Pewsey, the
son of the celebrated Alderman Townsend, of London, in the
evening. " Could you have come, (says Mr. Whitefield, in a letter to his friend,
Eobert Keene, Esq.,) and have been present at the opening of the
chapel, you would have been much pleased. The building is extremely
plain, and yet equally grand. A most beautiful original ! All was
conducted with great solemnity. Though a wet day, the place was
very full, and assuredly the Great Shepherd and Bishop of souls con
secrated and made it holy ground by his presence."
Mr. Whitefield 'preached but a few times, being obliged to
return to London. Mr. Madan, however, arrived soon after he
left Bath, and his ministry was attended with very considerable
success. Thither, also, Mr. Romaine followed, and spent there
many of his vacations, with great utility to the cause of God ;
for the Lord was pleased to make known, by him, the savour of
his grace in every place. - There, as at Brighton, he united in
labour with that great apostle of the Lord, Mr. Whitefield ; and
though many are now so shy of mentioning his name, or owning
their obligations to his diffusive zeah Mr. Romaine honoured
his character, gloried in his friendship, and cheerfully associated
with him in his labours. They were, indeed, par nobile fratrum.
In point of popular eloquence and commanding oratory, Mr.
Whitefield was certainly his superior, as indeed he was to every
other man of his day. He had arrows in his quiver which he
alone knew how to sharpen ; but in erudition and critical know
ledge of the Scriptures Mr. Romaine far excelled him, and,
indeed, most of his contemporaries.
Much about the same period Mr. Fletcher repaired to Bath,
on a summons from Lady Huntingdon, and entered on the
duties of his vocation with an extraordinary degree of earnest
ness and zeal. Instant in season and out of season, this man
of God diligently performed the work of an evangelist, faithfully
dispensing the word of life, according as every man had need ;
instructing the ignorant, reasoning with gainsayers, exhorting
the immoral, rebuking the obstinate, and earnestly beseeching
all to flee from the wrath to come, and lay hold on the hope
set before them in the Gospel of God our Saviour.
No age or country has ever produced a man of more fervent
piety, or more perfect charity ; no church has ever possessed a
more apostolic minister. Being by this time fully acquainted

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 469
with the English language, he generally trusted to his powers,
and preached ex tempore, that mode of address so universal on
the Continent, being much more consonant with the lively feel
ings and ready utterance of Mr. Fletcher, than the reading of a
pre-composed sermon, however important the subject, or well
arranged its materials. The deep attention he had paid to the
recesses of his own heart enabled him to form no inadequate
idea of the internal feelings of others. Hence he knew when
to probe and when to heal — when to depress and when to en
courage : and no person's case was so perplexed or desperate,
but he was in some measure prepared to explain and relieve it.
A happy talent which he possessed of selecting at a moment the
most appropriate passages of Scripture, clothed his words with
a divine authority, and enabled him to speak as one who was
conscious of his high credentials : —
" There was an energy in his preaching (says Mr. Gilpin) that was
irresistible. His subjects, his language, his gestures, the tone of his
voice, and the turn of his countenance, all conspired to fix the atten
tion and affect the heart. Without aiming at sublimity, he was truly
sublime : and uncommonly eloquent without affecting the orator. He
was wondrously skilled in adopting himself to the different capacities
and conditions of his hearers. He could stoop to the illiterate, and
rise with the learned : he had incontrovertible arguments for the
sceptic, and powerful persuasions for the listless believers; he had
sharp remonstrance for the obstinate, and strong consolation for the
mourner. To hear him without admiration, was impossible, without
profit, improbable ! The unthinking went from his presence under the
influence of serious impressions, and the obdurate with kindled re-
lentings." Such was the man whom Lady Huntingdon appointed to hold
forth the word of life to the numerous auditories that thronged
her chapel at Bath. His words were clothed with power, and
entered the heart of many a sinner : — '-
"Deep and awful (says her Ladyship) are the impressions made on
every hand. Dear Mr. Fletcher s preaching is truly apostolic — the
Divine blessing accompanies his word in a very remarkable manner.
He is ever at his work, is amazingly followed, and singularly owned of
God." In one of his pastoral letters to his flock at Madely, in re
ference to his labours at Bath, he says : —
"By the help of Divine Providence and the assistance of your
prayers, I came safe here. I was, and am still, a good deal weighed
down under the sense of my own insufficiency to preach the unsearch
able riches of Christ to poor dying souls. This place is the seat of
Satan's gaudy throne ; the Lord hath, nevertheless, a few names here,
VOL. I. — G G

470 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
who are not ashamed of him, and of whom he is not ashamed, both
among the poor and among the rich. There are not many of the last,
though blessed be God for any ono ; it is a great miracle if one camel
pass through the eye of a needle : or, in other words, if one rich man
enters into the kingdom of lieaven. I have been sowing the seed
the Lord hath given me, both in Bath and Bristol, and I hope your
prayers have not been lost upon me as a minister ; for though I have
not been enabled to discharge my office as I would, the Lord hath yet,
in some measure, stood by me, and overruled my foolishness and help
lessness. I am much supported by the thought that you bear me on
your hearts, and when you come to the throne of grace ask a blessing
for me in the name of Jesus, and that the Lord doth in no wise cast
you out."
Lord and Lady Glenorchy had but lately returned from the
Continent, and at this time resided at Great Sugnal, a place at
a short distance from Hawkestone, the celebrated seat of Sir
Rowland Hill, Bart. At this time, several of the younger
branches of this family, Mr. Richard Hill, the Rev. Rowland
Hill, Miss Hill, their eldest sister, and another sister, Elizabeth,
who afterwards married Clement Tudway, Esq., Member of
Parliament for Wells, were of decidedly pious character, and
bore the reproach ordinarily connected with it, from the thought
less, the formal, and the profligate. Lady Glenorchy visited
this family, became intimate with it, revered and loved its
members, and secretly wished that she were like them. Hap
pily the time was at hand in which God fulfilled these desires of
her heart.
Lady Glenorchy was not yet twenty-four, and Miss Hill was
about her own age, or perhaps somewhat older. They had
before been intimate, from this time they became bosom friends.
The goodness of God was very evident in providing for Lady
Glenorchy an adviser so well informed, so wise, and prudent,
so faithful and affectionate. In the summer of 1 765 her Lady
ship was seized with a dangerous putrid fever, and was confined
to her bed for a considerable time. On her convalescence, by a
singular circumstance in Providence, a train of serious thoughts
and reasonings was produced, followed by convictions and pur
poses which ended in a complete renovation of heart and con
duct. From that interesting moment, without hesitation or
conferring with flesh and blood, she resolutely turned her back
on the dissipated world, and without reserve devoted herself, an'd
all that she could command and influence, to the service of
Christ and the glory of God ; and in this she invariably per
sisted to her latest breath. l
In order to divert her mind from those serious subjects which
occupied it, Lord Glenorchy was advised to leave the country,

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 47l
at an earlier season of the year than usual, for London and Bath,
where every means were employed to induce her to return to
the gaieties of the world. Her judgment and her conscience,
however, were decidedly against it : and neither severity or art
(both were put in practice) could divert her from her purpose.
Just at this juncture, her intimacy with Lady Huntingdon was
of the most essential service to her. The excellent advice
and heart-searching conversation of the Countess, united with
the preaching of Mr. Madan, Mr. Romaine, and other ministers,
contributed to establish and confirm her in the faith and hope
of the Gospel. Lady Glenorchy's future path of life lay through
evil report and through good report ; in the midst of deep ad
versity and high prosperity ; of severe trials and strong tempta
tions, both temporal and spiritual ; but none of these things
moved her from the steadfastness of her Christian profession.
Although her road was often rough in the extreme, and her
enemies cruel, strong, and numerous, yet on she went in her
Christian course, never deviating to the right hand nor to the
left, but ever pressing towards the mark for the prize of her high
calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Lady Glenorchy was destined to be the Selina of Scotland.
Lady Huntingdon was her model, although her biographer
seems to have forgotten the fact. She derived great spiritual
benefit, and caught her inspiration in the cause of God from
the example and the chaplains of the Countess. Dr. Thomas
Snell Jones, who had received his education at Trevecca, was
supplying the Tabernacle at Plymouth, having been sent thither
by Lady Huntingdon, when first introduced to the notice of
Lady Glenorchy, whose chaplain and biographer he eventually
became. It is somewhat extraordinary that Dr. Jones should have
made so little mention of his former noble patroness, to whom he
was so deeply indebted, or of the long and very intimate con
nexion and correspondence that existed between these excellent
women. Her Ladyship left Bath in the spring ; and soon after
her arrival in Edinburgh, thus expressed her gratitude and
thanks to Lady Huntingdon for the inestimable benefits she had
reaped from her conversation and society : —
" My dear Madam, — How shall I express tbe sense I have of your
goodness ? — it is impossible in words. But my comfort is, that the
LoTd knows the grateful thoughts of my heart, and he will amply re
ward you for the kindness you have shown a poor unworthy creatoirte,
whom blindness and ignorance render an object of pity. When you
say your heart is attached to me, I tremble lest I should prove an ad
ditional cross to you in the end, and the pain I suffer in the apprehen
sion of this is unspeakable. I hope the Lord permits it as a spur to
G o 2

472 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
me to be watchful, and to keep near to him who alone is able to keep
me from falling. I can truly say, that next to the favour of God, my
utmost ambition is to be found worthy of the regard which your Lady
ship is pleased to honour me with, and to be one of those who shall make
up ihe crown of rejoicing for you in the day of our Lord.
" I am sorry to take up more of your precious time than is needful
to express my gratitude for the obliging lines your Ladyship favoured
me with ; and will only add, that I ever am, with the greatest respect
and affection, my dear, and much-honoured Madam, your most obedient
servant, " W. Glenobchy."
Suffering under a depression of spirits by the untimely death
of their eldest daughter, Lord and Lady Sutherland sought re
lief by change in the society and amusements of Bath, where
they arrived shortly after Lady Glenorchy had departed for
Scotland. Lady Sutherland was the only sister of Lady Glen
orchy, who introduced her by letter to the notice and attention
of Lady Huntingdon : —
" Never (says her Ladyship) have I seen a more lovely couple—
they may, indeed, with justice, be called, the Flower of Scotland — and
such amiability of disposition, so teachable, so mild ! They have, in
deed, been cast in Nature's finest mould. Bowed down to the earth
by grief, they are almost inconsolable for the loss of their daughter.
The good Providence of God has, I hope, directed them to this place,
in order to divert their attention from their recent loss, and lead them
to the fountain of living waters, from whence to draw all the consola
tion and comfort they stand in need of. May the word of the Lord
be powerfully applied to their hearts in this season of trial ! Dear
Lady Glenorchy is extremely anxious on their account."
At this critical moment Mr. Whitefield returned to Bath, and
the youthful Earl and Countess of Sutherland were induced to
attend his preaching : —
" Last Friday evening (says he) and twice yesterday, I preached at
Bath to very thronged and brilliant auditories. I am told it was a very
high day. The glory of the Lord filled the house. To-morrow, God
willing, I return thither again. Mr. Townsend is too ill to officiate.
Lady Huntingdon is mounting on her high places."
But one affliction rapidly succeeded another. Soon after
their arrival, the Earl was attacked with a putrid fever, with
which he struggled for fifty-four days, and then expired. The
attentions of the Countess, who was devoted to her Lord, were
so unremitting — having watched him in his chamber for twenty-
one nights and days without intermission or retiring to rest — that
at last, overcome with fatigue, anxiety, and grief, she sunk, an
unavailing victim to an amiable, but excessive attachment, seven
teen days before the death of her Lord. In this season of sorest

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 473
anguish, Lady Huntingdon had several interviews with Lady
Sutherland, and endeavoured to 'pour into her bleeding heart all
the consolation and comfort which the religion of Jesus can im
part. Prayer, both public and private, was incessantly offered
up on their behalf. The best medical advice was of no avail.
"Every body (says Lady Huntingdon) was interested about them,
and I never saw such a universal concern at the death of any persons
before. Many seem cut to the heart — others plunged into the deepest
grief. It has been a most awful event, and has brought many to the
chapel who had hitherto refused to enter it."
P : Lady Sutherland was in her twenty-fifth year, and Lord
Sutherland in his thirty-first. They left an infant daughter,
Lady Elizabeth, who succeeded her father in the honours of
Sutherland, and who, having married the late Marquis of
Stafford, survived him and the Duchess-Countess Dowager of
Sutherland, and died only afew months since.* Thus the vene
rable Countess of Huntingdon, and her celebrated chaplain, the
apostolic Whitefield, ministered to her Grace's suffering parents,
when she was an unconscious infant !
This melancholy event spread a general gloom over the gay -
inhabitants of Bath. Two sermons were preached on the occa
sion in Lady Huntingdon's chapel, attended by almost all
the nobility then in Bath, many of whom seemed to feel the
awful Providence. A remarkable circumstance aggravated this
bereavement to the family. Strange and unaccountable as the
circumstance may appear, yet it is a fact of which there can be
no doubt, that Lady Sutherland's mother, Lady Alava, knew
nothing of the death of her daughter for nearly three weeks
after the event had taken place. The death of her daughter
had been concealed from her, and only that of Lord Sutherland
communicated. The way in which she at last became acquainted
with it was in itself particularly singular and affecting. Whilst
Lady Alava was hastening from Scotland to the assistance of her
daughter, she happened to alight from her carriage at the door
of an inn, on the road to Bath, where she saw tio o hearses stand
ing. Upon inquiring whose remains they contained, she was
told they were those of Lord and Lady Sutherland, on their
way to Scotland for interment !
Soon after the death of the Earl and Countess of Sutherland,
Lady Huntingdon left Bath, and proceeded to Brighton, where
she remained the principal part of the summer. About the
* The Duchess Countess of Sutherland died in London, in February, 1839.
Her remains were conveyed (in a steam boat) to Aberdeen, to be deposited in
the vault of her ancestors.

474 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
same time Mr. Whitefield appears to have gone to Bath, where
his health became so much impaired by his exertions, that he
was obliged to retire to Cottam, near Bristol, for a few weeks.
But his active spirit was not idle there : —
" As my feverish heat continues (says he), and the weather is too
wet to travel, I have complied with the advice of friends, and have
commenced hot- well-water-drinker twice a day. However, twice this
week, at six in the morning, I have been enabled to call thirsty souls
to come and drink of the water of life freely. To-morrow evening,
God willing, the call is to be repeated. Good seasons at Bath. Good
seasons here. Large auditories. Grace I Grace !
Towards the end of August Mr. Wesley, being in Bath, was
invited, as usual, to preach in her Ladyship's chapel. " Many,"
says he, " were not a little surprised at seeing me in the Countess
of Huntingdon's chapel. The congregation was not only large
but serious ; and I fully delivered my own soul."
Hitherto Mr. Wesley and Mr. Whitefield had interchanged
letters not very frequently, and they preached occasionally in
each other's pulpits ; but there was no cordial intercourse — no
hearty co-operation. Such a wound as had been made in their
friendships always leaves a scar, however well, to outward
appearance, it may have healed. Nevertheless, they did justice
to each other's intentions and virtues; and old feelings rose again,
as from the dead, like the blossoming of spring flowers in au
tumn, which reminds us that the season of hope and of joy is
gone. It is pleasant to observe, that this tenderness increased
as they advanced towards the decline of life. When Mr. White-
field returned from America to England, for the last time, Mr.
Wesley was struck with the change in his appearance : " He
seemed," says he, in his Journal, " to be an old man, being
fairly worn out in his Master's service, though he has hardly
seen fifty years." Mr. Whitefield, at this time, to use Mr.
Wesley's language, breathed nothing but peace and love.
"Bigotry," says he, "cannot stand before him, but hides its
head wherever he comes." On a summons from Lady Hunting
don, Mr. Wesley hastened from Yorkshire to meet Mr. White-
field in London : —
" And if no other good result from it (says Mr. Wesley) but our
firm union with Mr. Whitefield, it is an abundant recompense for my
labour. My brother and I conferred with him every day ; and let the
honourable men do what they please, we resolved, by the grace of
God, to go oh, hand in hand, through honour and- dishonour."
Mr. Wesley's plan of union amongst the Evangelical clergy
men in different parts of England, at that period not more than

SELINAr COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 475
forty in number, not having met with any cordial support, it was
agreed, about this time, that Lady Huntingdon, Mr. Whitefield,
Mr. John and Mr. Charles Wesley, should meet as frequently
as convenient, and co-operate with each other in the general
diffusion of divine truth. That this alliance had been entered
into is certain ; but we cannot concur with Southey, in his Life
of Mr. Wesley, imputing the non-fulfilment of it to what he is
pleased to call the " bigotry and intolerance of Lady Hunting
don and a clique of Calvinistic clergy," whom she had collected
around her. Mr. Charles Wesley was of a different opinion.
In a letter to Lady Huntingdon, written after the publication
of the Minutes of Conference .of 1770, and after Mr. John
Wesley had preached Mr. Whitefield's funeral sermon at the
Tabernacle, he remarks : —
" You remember a sort of quadruple alliance entered into three or
four years ago, which one ofthe parties never thought of from that day
to this. How soon is that alliance come to nothing ! One is safely
landed — -another removed to an immeasurable distance — while yet we
live, scarce one short year perhaps, betwixt us two let there be peace !
I am very sensible that my night cometh ; my course is well-nigh
finished, and I pray and hope my work and life will end together. I
expect to be in town the beginning of February, witliout my family, .,
There, and in all places let me find the benefit of your prayers, till I""
also arrive where the wicked cease from troubling — where the weary
are at rest !"
That Mr. Wesley had entered into this alliance is further
evident from the offer which he made to Lady Huntingdon, of
supplying her chapel at Bath, during his stay at Bristol. Her
Ladyship's reply to Mr. Wesley, expressing her gratitude for his
kind offer, and his universal devotedness to the glory of their
divine Master, and the souls redeemed by his blood, will be
read with deep interest. Southey might have had access to
this document, as it appeared in the twentieth volume of the
Methodist Magazine, and it would have corrected one of the
numerous blunders, false statements, and wilful misrepresenta
tions, with which his work everywhere abounds. "September 14, 1766.
"My dear Sir,— I am most highly obliged by your kind offer of
serving the chapel at Bath during your stay at Bristol ; I mean on
Sundays. It is the most important time, being tbe height of the latter
season, when the great of this world are only in the reach of the sound
of the Gospel from that quarter. The mornings are their time— the
evenings the inhabitants chiefly. I do trust that this union which is
commenced will be for the furtherance of our faith and mutual love to
each other. It is for the interest of the best of causes that wesliould

476 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
all be found, first, faithful to the Lord, and then to each other. I find
something wanting, and that is a meeting now and then agreed upon
that you, your brother, Mr. Whitefield, and I, should at times be glad
regularly to communicate our observations upon the general state of
the work. Light might follow, and would be a kind of guide to me,
as I am connected with many.
" Universal and constant usefulness to all, is the important lesson.
And when, we are fully and wholly given up to the Lord, I am sure
the heart can long for nothing so much as that our time, talents, life,
soul, and spirit, may become upon earth a constant and living sacrifice.
How I can be most so, that is the one object of my poor heart. There
fore, to have all the light that is possible, to see my way in this matter
is my prayer day and night ; for worthy is the Lamb to receive all
honour and glory, and blessing.
" What you say of reproach, I hope never to be without, so that it
be for obeying. I am honoured by every degree of contempt, while
my heart has its faithful testimony before him who can search it to the
bottom, and knows that his glory and the good of souls is my one object
upon earth. I shall turn coward, and disgrace you all, when I have
any worse ground to stand upon, and I am sure my prayer will be an
swered which has been made for these seven-and-twenty years, that
whenever his eye, whicli is as a flame of fire, sees any other end or
purpose of my heart he will remove my poor wretched being from this
earth. But so vile, and foolish, and helpless as I am, he keeps my
heart full of faith that he never will leave me nor forsake me : having
neither help nor hope, but that he will each moment prove the Lord,
the Lord full of mercy and compassionate love, to such a poor worm.
Pray, when you have leisure, let me hear from you, and believe me
most faithfully, your affectionate friend, "S. Huntingdon."
Lady Huntingdon's chapel was at this time principally sup
plied by Mr. Madan and Mr. Townsend, and two Welsh clergy
men of great notoriety, Mr. Howel Davies and Mr. Daniel
Rowlands, with the occasional assistance of Mr. Whitefield, who
generally preached once, and sometimes twice a week, besides
his stated labours at Clifton and Bristol. On Mr. Madan
leaving Bath for Aldwincle, in Northamptonshire, whither he
went to preach for Dr. Haweis, Mr. Romaine supplied his place
during the months of October and November. Early in the
month of October Mr. Wesley arrived in Bath, and during his
stay preached frequently in her Ladyship's chapel. Being very
popular at this time, he was remarkably well attended, and his
labours were not altogether in vain in the Lord. On Sunday,
the 5th of October, at eight o'clock in the morning, he admi
nistered the Sacrament, and at eleven preached on these words
in the Gospel of the day — " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself." « The word," says Mr. Wesley, « was quick and

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 477
powerful, and I trust many, even of the rich and great, felt
themselves sinners before God."
At this period Horace Walpole visited Bath. There was a
sort of family connexion between the Walpole and Lady Hun
tingdon.* And, therefore, perhaps, Horace Walpole accom
panied his friends, Lord and Lady Powys, to the chapel. Mr.
Wesley was the preacher, but the chapel itself was attractive : —
" They have (says he) boys and girls with charming voices that sing
hymns in parts. The chapel is very neat, with true Gothic windows.
I was glad to see that luxury is creeping in upon them before perse
cution. They have very neat mahogany stands for branches, and
brackets of the same in taste. At the upper end is a broad hautpas of
four steps, advancing in the middle ; at each end of the broadest part
are two eagles with red cushions for the parson and clerk. Behind
them rise three more steps, in the midst of which is a third eagle for
a pulpit. Scarlet arm chairs to all three. On either hand a balcony
for elect ladies. The rest of the congregation sit on forms. Behind
the pit, in a dark niche, is a plain table within rails ; so you see the
throne is for the apostle. Wesley is a clean elderly man, fresh coloured,
his hair smoothly combed, but with a little soupcon of curl at the ends.
Wondrous clever, but as evidently an actor as Garrick, He spoke his
sermon, but so fast, and with so little accent, that I am sure he has
often uttered it, for it was like a lesson. There were parts and elo
quence in it ; but towards the end he exalted his voice, and acted very
vulgar enthusiasm."t
There were several personsof distinction at this time in Bath,
almost all of whom, according to Walpole, were constantly in
the habit of attending divine service at Lady Huntingdon's
chapel. Indeed, he says, it was quite the rage amongst persons
in high life to form parties to hear the different preachers who
* Margaret Rolle, a great Devonshire heiress, the wife of Robert Lord Wal
pole, afterwards Earl of Orford, separated from her husband, and quarrelled
violently with his whole family. On the death of Lord Orford she married
the Hon. Sewallis Shirley, uncle to Lady Huntingdon, from whom she also
separated in 1754. She affected, at times, great friendship for Lady Hunting.
don, and often attended her chapels, aud the preaching at her house. She was
a woman of very singidar character, and considered half mad ; this last quality
she communicated to her unfortunate son, George, third Earl of Orford, the
nephew of Horace Walpole. In 1751 she succeeded, in her own right, to the
Baronies of Clinton and Say, on the death of Hugh, Earl Clinton. She died
at Pisa, in Italy, in 1781, and was buried at Leghorn.
+ There was spmething else which Walpole did not know of; — a seat for
Bishops, lt was often occupied too I The witty and eccentric Lady Betty
Cobbe, daughter-in-law of Dr. Charles Cobbe, Archbishop of Dublin, was
cousin-german to Lady Huntingdon. Her influence was extensive, and free-
quently exerted in bringing Bishops to the chapel, whom she always contrived
to smuggle into the curtained seats immediately inside the door, where they
heard without undergoing the dreadful disgrace of being seen in such a place.
This seat Lady Betty facetiously termed " Nicodemus's corner /"

478 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
supplied the chapel. Amongst these he enumerates Lord
Camden (then Lord High Chancellor of England), Lord North-
ington (Lord President of the Council), Earl Chatham and
family, Lord Rockingham, Lady Malpas, Lord and Lady Powys,
Lord and Lady Buchan and family, Miss Rich (sister to Lord
Lyttleton), the Duke of Bedford and family, Mr. and Lady
Lucy Trevor, &c*
Early in the month of November, we find Mr. Whitefield again
at Bath. He and Mr. Romaine preached alternately at Lady
Huntingdon's chapel to very numerous and attentive auditories.
" Bath air (says Mr. Whitefield) will never agree with me long.
However, if good is done, all will be well. Sunday and last
night were seasons of power. Some, we trust, were made
willing." During his stay at Bath his health was indifferent, but
he went occasionally to Bristol, where he preached to very
crowded congregations. On one occasion he administered the
sacrament there, and used eight bottles of wine. His popularity
continued to increase at Bath, and many of the nobility who had
not before heard him, were now eager to attend his ministry.
" Such a numerous and brilliant assembly (says he) of the mighty
and noble, I never saw attend before at Bath. Every thing is so
promising, that I am constrained to give notice of preaching next Sun
day. I hope the Redeemer will give us a blessed Sabbath. I trust
already the arm of the Lord hath been revealed. Congregations have
been very large and very solemn. 0, what bethels hath Jesus given
to us I We were filled as with new wine 1"
Receiving an invitation from Mr. Stillingfleet to visit Oxford,
on his return to London, Mr. Whitefield resolved to go thither
immediately : —
" And have, therefore (says he), written to dear Mr. Jesse to stay
two or three weeks at London. Mr. Howel Davies, who, they say,
* Amongst the number of the great and honourable who at that period fre
quented her Ladyship's chapel, was to be found Dr. William Barnard, formerly
Dean of Rochester, but at that time Bishop of Derry, a man advanced in years,
and one who professed a friendship for those who were stigmatized with the
name of Methodist. It was at the recommendation of Mr. Wesley that his
Lordship ordained Mr. Maxwell, the first Methodist lay-preacher. Increasing
infirmities obliged his Lordship to reside at Bath, where he had frequent oppor
tunities of enjoying the society of Lady Huntingdon, to whom he was introduced
by Lady Betty Cobbe. The Bishop frequently accompanied Lady Betty to
hear the Methodists unseen, and was always very friendly towards the ministers
who supplied the chapel. On one occasion Mr. Wesley says — " In the evening
I left London, and reached Bath on Tuesday, in the afternoon, time enough to
wait on that memorable man, the Bishop of Londonderry. After spending an
agreeable and profitable hour with him, my brother read prayers, and I preached
in Lady Huntingdon's chapel. I know not when I have seen a more serious,
a. more deeply attentive congregation. Is it possible? Can the Gospel have
place where Satan's throne is P"

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 47
is expected here next week, may then officiate for thnt space of time at
Bath, and, at Mr. Jesse's leaving Londoa, may go up to town. I beg
Captain Joss may go through with the Tabernacle work, and stick to
it with his whole heart."
Mr. Whitefield was followed by Mr. Venn, one of the most
powerful and successfully pious preachers of the time ; but he
was not only distinguished as a minister ; as a companion he
was the most agreeable man imaginable ; he had a flow of con
versation which never ceased to delight and edify ; and, out of
a store of anecdotes treasured up in his memory, produced a
fund of entertainment as well as usefulness, which those who
were his favoured companions seldom forgot.*
In his journey from Brighton to Bath, Mr. Venn paid a visit
to his valued friend, Mr. Townsend, at Pewsey.
" That dear minister (says he), has a single eye and a warm heart.
Three young students are in his house, in order to prepare for the
ministry. Here I spoke the word of life to a small church-full and to
a large room-full afterwards ; and, though the sphere of action in his
parish is small, yet round about there are a great number of souls
awakened and some who know the Lord to be their God."
In his letter to Miss Wheeler, niece to Lady Huntingdon,
* One proof of his cheerfulness may take the form of an anecdote : — Passing
through Towcester, in one of his preaching excursions for Lady Huntingdon, he
asked the innkeeper where he put up, it being Saturday morning, who was the
vicar, and, as he should stay the next day, whether he would be glad of assist
ance ? " Oh ! yes, (said the Landlord), I dare say, Sir, he will be glad to have
his duty done." " Then carry my compliments, and say a clergyman out of
Yorkshire is passing, and will stay to-morrow at the inn, and is ready to read or
preach for him, if he needs assistance." Away went the innkeeper with what
he thought welcome intelligence, to the parson. " Gladly (said the vicar) ;
but what sort of a man is the Yorkshire clergyman ? There are Methodist
vagrants youknow  eh !" The.innkeeper laughed, shook his head, and replied,
" Ah ! Sir, only look at his face and nose, and you will see he is not one of that
sort." In truth, a rubicundity of face and rotundity of form gave Mr. Venn no
very Methodistical appearance. " Well (said the vicar), let him come to me
in the morning, and then I will see whether I like him to preach or pray."
The landlord returned with the message, and the next morning Mr. Venn waited
on his reverend brother ; " Sir (says he, after the first bows), you are from
Yorkshire?" "lam." "Will you drink a dram this morning?" " I have
no objection." The bottle came from the closet, and Mr. Venn took a sip. His
character was now decided. " Sir, you will preach for me this morning?"
" With pleasure." Robed and ready, they parted to the Church, and Mr. Venn
to the pulpit. There, his Bible no sooner opened, than the congregation stared,
and the vicar hid his face in the surplice. The energetic truth awakened up an
attention to which that congregation had been little accustomed. The vicar
was done, and left Mr. Venn to retire to his inn alone. A very similar incident
occurred during thin visit to Bath, and is given in Mr. Venn's Life, by his
grandson. The anecdote we have just related is given verbatim from the
mouth of Dr. Haweis.

480 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
and one of the daughters of Lady Catharine Wheeler, Mr.
Venn says : —
" At Bath we heard Mr. Romaine, in the plain but elegant chapel
of Lady Huntingdon. He was very well attended on the week days,
but on Sundays the chapel is crowded. My kind friend, Miss Gideon,
I had both the pleasure and grief of seeing, with Mr. and Mrs. Ro
maine ; the pleasure, because she triumphs in the blood of the Cross,
and is, indeed, an ornament to her Christian faith ; but it was a grief
to see her labouring under a complication of diseases, and one among
these the dropsy, so that Dr. Moisey told me he apprehended there was
great danger of her soon being called hence. Yet which of her friends
can coolly wish her to stay ? as, not only a most infirm afflicted body
prevents the full exercise of her mental powers, but even in our best
estate of body here, how poor, how sinful is the soul ! We cannot
possibly be like Jesus till we see him as he is."
Mr. Andrews* occasionally visited Bath, and united with those
men of renown who in that day dared to be singular in the cause
of Christ. He was very zealous in the discharge of his ministe
rial duties ; but was incapacitated by ill-health from doing as
much as many of his brethren. He frequently preached in other
places, and was always delighted with the visits of Mr. White-
field and Mr. Wesley, and any other minister who proclaimed
the name of that Saviour whom he loved.
When Lady Huntingdon was at Bath, Mr. Andrews preached
very frequently at her Ladyship's, and united with those cross-
bearing labourers who aided her in the great work of spreading
the everlasting Gospel. He went boldly to Christ without the
camp, bearing his reproach. He was a faithful minister of the
Church of England, but never ashamed of the brand of Metho
dism, or of those most liberally abused by a wicked world, and
often most obnoxious to their own brethren. His work was
his wages, and the souls of men redeemed his object.
Such conduct provoked the implacable enmity of the intole
rant Warburton, then Bishop of Gloucester, who, like his neigh
bour, Lavington, Bishop of Exeter, was the inveterate enemy of
all Methodists and Moravians. His Lordship informed Mr.
Andrews that he had received several complaints of him, and,
* The Rev. John Andrews'was originally of St. Mary's Hall, Oxford, where
he took the degree of LL.B. He resided in America for some years, but was
obliged to return to England on account of the bad state of his health. The
Archbishop of Canterbury offered him, on his coming over, a living of eighty
pounds a year; but, alarmed at the laborious duties of the parish, he requested
the Archbishop to give him the living of Stinchcombe, of thirty-six pounds a-
year, in the diocese of Gloucester, and in the Bishop's patronage. The see of
Gloucester was at that time vacant, and his Grace asked the living ofthe Lord
Chancellor, who presented it to Mr. Andrews. In the parish of Mr. Andrews
lived a Mrs. Brown, who used to exhort the people every Sunday evening in
the parsonage house, and, according to high authority, with very great power.

SELINAj COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 4S1
unless he had ample satisfaction, threatened to revoke his
licence by process in the spiritual court : —
" I shall insist upon your constant residence in your parish, not so
much for the good you are likely to do there, as to prevent the mischief
you may do by rambling about in other places. Your Bishop, and
(though your fanatic conduct has almost made me ashamed to own it),
your patron, " W. Gloucester.*
Mr. Andrews acquainted the Bishop, by letter, in answer to
the first charge, " that he had resided at least two years and
nine months out of the three years that he had been in possession
of the living ;" and, in reply to the second, " that the Bishop
had at Bath, in consideration of the smallness of the income,
and Mr. Andrews's want of health, recommended it to him to
officiate at Stinchcombe only once on a Sunday ; and that, not
withstanding, he had several times done double duty ; that many
other clergymen, in the Bishop's diocese, on much better livings,
did not reside at all : and that he had refused a living of eighty
pounds a year, and taken one of thirty-six pounds, merely on
account of its requiring less duty." But as might have been
anticipated, remonstrance with such a man as Warburton was in
vain. Mr. Andrews was a Methodist ; he had committed the
unpardonable crime of preaching for Lady Huntingdon, and
without a divine legation, the Bishop was resolved to interdict his
itinerancy : —
" If I indulged you in giving your parish only one service on a Sun
day, I hereby revoke that indulgence, and insist on your giving them
full service. " W. Gloucester."
The Bishop appears somewhat amiable in his correspondence
with Doddridge, and not a little faithful in exposing "the "un
clean beasts" in his own ark ; but he could persecute, as well
as rail. At length Lady Huntingdon interfered : —
' " Poor Andrews (says her Ladyship) is sadly used by his Bishop.
I have written to his Lordship, hoping that my long and intimate ac
quaintance with him, may induce him to relax a little of his severiy,
but I much fear, knowing his implacable enmity, so long indulged, and
his most unreasonable hostility to dear Mr. Whitefield and myself, whom
he sometimes treated most uncourteously.''
The reply of Warburton was laconic, and quite in character.
It ran thus :
" Madam — Mr. Andrews is under my jurisdiction, and I am re
solved to keep him, and his fanatic conduct, within my own parish. —
" I remain, Madam, your obedient servant, " W. Gloucester."
* Although the living was given to Mr. Andrews by the Lord Chancellor, be
fore Warburton was appointed to the See of Gloucester, yet he calls himself
his patron !

482 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
The preceding year the Bishop of Gloucester had published
" The Doctrine of Grace ; or, the Office and Operation of the
Holy Spirit vindicated from the insults of infidelity and the
abuses of Fanaticism;" a work containing many shrewd and
pertinent observations, and original lucky turns of thought, with
a considerable portion of critical sagacity. This most "impu
dent man of the age," through almost every part of his book,
not only wantonly throws about the arrows and firebrands of
scurrility, buffoonery, and personal abuse, but at the same time,
on account of some unguarded expressions and indiscretions of
a particular set of honest, though fallible, men, takes occasion to
wound, vilify, and totally deny the all-powerful operations of
the Spirit of God, by which alone his Lordship, or any other
man, can be sanctified and sealed to the day of eternal redemp
tion. The work soon produced answers from Mr. Whitefield
and Mr. Wesley, one from Mr. Payne, Accountant-General to
the Bank, and one from Mr. Andrews, entitled " The. Scripture
Doctrine of Grace, in an answer to a Treatise on the Doctrine of
Grace, by William, Lord Bishop of Gloucester, so far as that
important doctrine is considered."
On leaving Bath, Mr. Venn preached at Bristol and Glou
cester, and in the pulpit of Mr- Andrews ; thence he passed on
to Trevecca, " Happy Trevecca !" as he styles it, of which, and
of Mr. Howel Harris, he gives the following account in a letter
to Miss Wheeler : —
" Howel Harris is the father of that settlement, and the founder.
After labouring for fifteen years, more violently than any of the ser
vants of Christ, in this revival, he was so hurt in body as to be confined
to his own house for seven years. Upon the beginning of this confine
ment, first one and then another, whom the Lord had converted under
his word, to the number of near a" hundred, came and desired to live
with him, and that they would work and get their bread. By this
means, near one hundred and twenty, men, women, and children, from
very distant parts of Wales, came and fixed their tents at Trevecca.
We were there three days, and heard their experience, which they
spoke in Welsh to Mr. Harris, and he interpreted to us. Of all the
people I ever saw, this society seems to bethe most advanced in grace.
They speak as men and women who feel themselves every moment
worthy of eternal punishment, and infinitely base ; and yet, at the
same time have such certainty of Salvation through the second Man
the Lord from heaven, as is indeed delightful to behold. My heart
received a blessing from them and their pastor, which will abide with
me." Mr. Venn, being obliged to return to Huddersfield before the
end of the month, could make but a short stay at Trevecca ; but

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 483
there, as in other places where the churches were not open to
him, he hesitated not to proclaim the riches, the glory, and the
grace of his Lord and Master.
" From Trevecca (says Mr. Venn, in his long letter to Lady Hun
tingdon,) we came to Berwick; where, though we did not find you had
yet made the Squire a preacher, yet both his consort and himself were
much the better in their souls for the rummaging they went through
at Brighthelmstone ; — not from the custom-house officers, but from one
who is very zealous lest the revenue of Jesus should sustain damage ;
and that none should be deceived into a notion, that their goods have
the seal royal upon them, when it is no more than a counterfeit ticket.
In a word, they are both, I trust, in earnest, seeking the face of the
Lord, and to know the certainty of the words of truth. A (ew days
after we got there, a Mr. Lee, a man of estate in Shropshire, came to
pay his visit. He is, I do think, of all the persons I ever saw in my
life, the very one that you would be made a blessing to. His under
standing is clear and strong : his sight of human nature in its fall
amazingly deep : his spirit bold and intrepid — only fearful of being
deceived to take that for grace and faith which may not be so. He
speaks of himself as yet a seeker; and I trust the Lord will give him
to know his love, and his peace, and the power of his resurrection.
We returned, with Mr. and Mrs. Powys, the visit ; and in his parlour
I preached to eighty people. If your Ladyship comes into Shropshire,
he will certainly seek an opporunity of being in your company ; or, if
he goes to Bath, you will see him there in the spring."
To Miss Wheeler, Mr. Venn says, " Mr. Lee is a gentleman
of fortune, about forty years of age, and a man of uncommon
parts, with whom I was much delighted. Mr. Whitefield and
Mr. Wesley visited him whenever they were in Shropshire, and
his house was usually open for the preaching of the Gospel.
Mr. Wesley being in that part of the country in March, 1769,
was invited by Mr. Lee to his house. " My horse being lame
(says he), and part of the road very bad, I did not reach Mr.
Lee's, of Cotery, till noon. The house is delightfully situated
in his park at the top of a fruitful hill. His chaplain had just
begun reading prayers ; afterwards he desired me to give an ex
hortation." In the month of August the same year, Mr. Wesley
was again in Shrewsbury, on his way to attend the anniversary
of Lady Huntingdon's College at Trevecca, and receiving invi
tations from Messrs. Powys and Lee, preached at Berwick and
Cotery.
• While Mr. Venn was at Berwick, Captain Scott, of whose
conversion by Mr. Romaine we have spoken, had succeeded in
obtaining an introduction to that honoured instrument of his
conversion, who would not see him at Brighton, but at London
kindly received and prayed with and for him. On Captain Scott

484 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
taking leave, Mr. Romaine gave him a letter for Mr. Powys, of
Berwick, in Shropshire, whither the Captain was proceeding.
Leaving London in the Shrewsbury mail-coach, as soon as he
had well adjusted himself, Captain Scott found by the common
observations which curiosity ever makes on the associates with
whom we travel, that one of his companions was a Major, destined
to Shrewsbury. Among other conversations which took place in
the interval before they fell asleep, the Captain asked, whether
he knew any families there. He answered in the affirmative,
and enumerated among other families of his particular acquaint
ance, the Scotts. Captain Scott professed himself to have had
formerly some acquaintance with this family ; and begged to
know such particulars as occurred respecting those members of
it he had lately seen or heard of. After the mention of a variety
of particulars, in which the Captain expected his own name to
have occurred, but without being gratified, he asked if the Ma
jor had heard nothing of any other branches of the family. He
replied, " Yes — there was one mad fellow, who many years ago
went into the army ; and, when he was there, turned Methodist,
and went about preaching with the regiment."
Captain Scott asked if he had shown any other mark of de
rangement besides those he had mentioned, which appeared to
be of a religious kind. The Major replied, " He could not say,
as he really knew very little about him." The night drew on,
and the parties slept and conversed at intervals till they arrived
at Oxford, when they got out of the coach, and were ushered
into a room, lighted by two large candles. The Captain imme
diately, taking one of the candles in each hand, walked, with a
firm step, up to the Major, and bowing, said, " Give me leave,
sir, to introduce to you the mad Captain Scott." The Major
appeared overwhelmed with surprise and confusion. He seemed
much hurt at what had passed ; but Captain Scott, seeing his
embarrassment, soon relieved him — assured him that he had not
felt hurt at any thing he had said ; and, indeed, under the cir
cumstances, could not be so ; and only begged of him the favour,
as he was then going to Shropshire, and would probably see
many of his friends, to correct their mistaken apprehensions of
his being deranged; for that he had travelled with him from
London, and discovered (as Captain Scott hoped) no mark of a
disordered mind.
Captain Scott observed to him that it was no uncommon
thing for a man to be charged, by the unthinking part of man
kind with derangement, at the very time when he was beginning
to be truly wise, and to live to better purpose than any part of
his preceding life ; particularly when he begins to reflect that

SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 485
he has an immortal and invaluable soul, and makes it his great
concern to secure its eternal happiness. Captain Scott admitted
that, when he went into the army, he had been a dissipated cha
racter, but that a great revolution in his sentiments and conduct
had afterwards taken place ; and he begged the indulgence of
the Major briefly to state to him the nature of those views of
religion which he had imbibed, that he might be enabled to
judge whether they merited the severe reflections with which
they had been charged. This gave him an opportunity of open
ing to him the plan of divine truth as revealed in the Gospel ;
which was, no doubt, accompanied with Captain Scott's earnest
prayer for his conversion. The Major bowed assent to every
thing advanced, and declared it very sober, very rational, very
proper, &c. but whether any salutary effects were produced, the
Captain did not learn, never afterwards having the opportunity
of another interview with his polite and candid friend.
After a few days spent amongst his family and friends, Captain
Scott rode to Berwick, to deliver the letter which Mr. Romaine
had entrusted to him. We have said that at that time Mr.
Powys entertained Mr. Venn as a visitor in his house. One
morning, soon after breakfast and family prayer, Mr. and Mrs.
Powys and Mr. Venn were looking from the parlour window in
front of the hall, and who should they see but Captain Scott,
who was now bringing Mr. Romaine's letter, enter upon the
lawn, dressed in his uniform and riding his military horse. Mr.
Powys recognized him at a distance, and said, " There is Captain
Scott ; what can he want here ? I am determined not to see
him if I can avoid it." Upon this they all withdrew.
Captain Scott rode up and asked, " Is Mr. Powys at home ?"
The servant, uninstructed by his master to adopt the fashionable
expedient of stating an untruth to avoid an inconvenience, in
formed him that he was. Mr. Powys was called, and received his
visitor with an air of distant civility, thinking that his presence
would be an interruption to the spiritual enjoyments of himself
and friends ; but after he had read Mr. Romaine's letter, which
he received with considerable agitation, giving an account of
Captain Scott's conversion, he caught him in his arms, embraced
and rejoiced over him as over one raised from the dead. In
this position, with an elevated voice, he cried out "Mr. Venn !
Mr. Venn ! Mrs. Powys ! Mrs. Powys ! come, come here quickly !
Here is Captain Scott, a convert to Christ ! a new' creature
in Christ Jesus!" They both came, and being informed of
the contents of Mr. Romaine's letter, all three, in the joy of
their hearts, embraced the •oeriitent, and, in imitation of the
VOL I.  H H

486 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
angels in heaven, rejoiced over him who had been dead, but was
alive again ; who had been lost, but was found.
Of Manchester, where Mr. Venn next proceeded, he says—
" There is much life in Mr. Wesley's society, and a great crowding
to hear the word. And well for the nation it is so : since in the
churches, at all the great towns we came to, there are no worshippers
scarce of any sort to be found. Absolute profaneness begins visibly to
reign. Formality and pharisaism is and has been of late so much
beseiged and battered down, that a crisis seems approaching. Real
believers possessing the Holy Ghost or open revilers of Christian faith,
seem to be the two standards under which men will rank themselves.
As to my own flock, I found them at my return well. The Lord is
with us. Sinners are converted, souls are happy in Christ, and his
pleasant odours diffuse their life-giving fragrance in the congregation."
In the mean while the Rev. Howell Davies came to Bath to
supply her Ladyship's chapel. He was one of her Ladyship's
oldest acquaintances in the Principality ; and, with the Rev.
Daniel Rowlands, Rev. Peter Williams, Rev. William Williams,
and other awakened clergymen, was eminently useful in the
great revival of religion in Wales. He was educated by the
apostolic Jones, rector of Llandowrer, in Carmarthenshire, who
when he received priest's orders, gave notice to the whole con
gregation of it ; and desired an interest in their prayers, that the
Lord would bless him, and give him success in the ministry.
The first church in which Mr. Davies was called to officiate was
Llys-y-fran, in Pembrokeshire ; but he was soon turned out on
account of his zeal and faithfulness in the cause of God and
truth. He was a Boanerges, and mere formalists could not bear
his faithful application of the truths of the Gospel to the heart
and life. He was a burning and a shining light ? and preached
in four different places statedly, besides his daily labours in
houses, barns, fields, commons, mountains, &c. He had upwards
of two thousand communicants, and the church has been fre
quently emptied twice, to make room for the third congregation
to partake of the Lord's supper ! He would break through the
form of words used upon these occasions ; and would speak of
Christ and his sufferings in a variety of scripture expressions.*
It was about this period that the Rev. Dr. Haweis, rector of
* As he was walking early on a Lord's-day to preach, he was accosted on the
road by a clergyman on horseback, who was on the same errand, but from a
different motive. The latter gentleman was complaining that the drudgery of
his profession was unprofitable, for he never could get above half-a-guinea for
preaching. The honest Welshman replied, that he preached for a crown : the
hireling retorted and said, " You are a disgrace to the cloth." " Perhaps (said
Mr. Davies) I shall be held in greater disgrace in your estimation, when I in
form you, that I am now going nine miles to preach, and have but seven-pence
in my pocket to bear my expenses out and in, and do not expect the poor pit-

SELINA5 COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. 487
Aldwincle? the Rev. Cradock Glascott, afterwards vicar of
Hatherleigh, in Devonshire : the Rev. William Jesse, perpetual
curate and lecturer of West Bromwich, in Staffordshire ; and the
Rev. John Harmer, of Warrington, commenced preaching in the
chapels of Lady Huntingdon, and wherever she required them
to itinerate. In the early part of his ministry, Mr. Jesse was an
occasional preacher at Tottenham-court Chapel, and was held
in good estimation by Mr. Whitefield and Lady Huntingdon.
In 1771 this exemplary minister was situated in Lincolnshire.
Mr. Venn, in a letter to Mrs. Ryland, says, " Mr. Jesse met me
at Malton, and accompanied me as far as Hull : he is a very
excellent man, and seems appointed to evangelize the Wolds,
the inhabitants of which are dark almost as the Indians." How
highly Lady Huntingdon thought of him, her own words will
best tell : " Dear, honest-hearted Jesse has my best wishes. He
is a humble, devoted soul, and much in earnest in his Master's
work. Having ever found him faithful, I can in truth recom
mend him to your Lordship's kind notice andjmtronage." This
was addressed to Lord Dartmouth, through whose interest he
became curate and lecturer of West Bromwich. He also became
rector of Dowles and Riblesford, in the county of Worcester,
and chaplain to the Earl of Glasgow. Mr. Harmer was sent
by her Ladyship to Brighton and Oathall; he also preached
occasionally at Bath, but he was not a popular speaker. After
some time, however, he thought proper to withdraw from all
connexion with her Ladyship, and declined preaching in her
chapels, without assigning any cause for such a step. This was
the source of much vexation and disappointment to her Lady
ship ; and to this Mr. Fletcher alludes in the following letter,
dated Morley, Dec. 9, 1766 :
" I stayed in London just to receive your Ladyship's letter, but not
to see Mr. Glascott or Mr. Harmer. For some days the latter had kept
out of my way, nor did 1 know the reason. He told Jesse his design
to decline serving the chapels of your Ladyship, but hid it from me, I
tance remitted that I am now in possession of. But I look forward for that
crown of glory which my Lord and Saviour will freely bestow upon me, when he
makes his appearance before an assembled world. " In the same way Mr. Venn,
in one of his excursions to preach for the Countess of Huntingdon, while riding
on the road, fell into company with a person who had the appearance of a cler
gyman. After riding together for some time, conversing on different subjects,
the stranger, looking in his face, said " Sir, I think you are on the wrong side
of fifty?" " On the wrong side of fifty! (answered Mr. Venn) no Sir, I am on
the right side of fifty," " Surely (the clergyman replied) you must be turned
of fifty?" " Yes, Sir (added Mr. Venn), but I am on the right side of fifty, for
I am nearer my crown of glory I" This unexpected explanation damped the
conversation on the part of the stranger, whilst it strikingly evinced the happy
state of Mr. Venn's mind.

488 THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
had it from Jesse the day before I set out. .So far as I could g.atlier,
he was fixed in his resolution, and whether his reasons were solid or
only pretended ones, to his own Master he stands or fa)ls, and by Him
they will be tried. In the Gospel I had rather have nobody than an
unwilling servant and a slave. Providence, I hope, designs you a son.
Sarah waited long for Isaac. She saw the ingratitude of Hagar, and
the pertness of Ishmael, before the true seed was given her. The be
liever does not make baste. It is a blessing that the cause is the Lord's,
and that the disposal of all affairs and all hearts is in his hands. If a
sparrow falleth not to the ground without his leave, much less can a
minister fall from an agreement without it. He will never suffer a
disappointment to befal us, but to prevent a greater one, or to bring in
a superior blessing. This we shall see in the end. In the mean time,
I repeat it, we walk by faith."
Mr. Harmer joined Mr. Wesley, and in- the year 1780 was
situated at Warrington ; of his subsequent history little is known.
The Rev. W. Buckingham, who held a curacy in Cornwall,
preached for Lady Huntingdon on Mr. Harmer's secession. Soon
after he too joined Mr. Wesley, but in two years withdrew from
the Methodists. " He had no sooner done this (says Mr. Wes
ley), than the Bishop rewarded him by turning him out of his
curacy; which, had he continued to walk in Christian simplicity,
he would probably have had to this day." In 1781 he was
residing in London, assisting Mr. Wesley as a curate, with Mr.
Richardson ; but at what period he terminated his course we
have not been able to learn.

END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.

WILLIAM EDWARD PAINTER, STRAND, LONDON, PRINTER.

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