Chapter XXVII (5)

On these extraordinary manifestations Mr. Ralph Erskine observes:--“What influence sudden and sharp awakenings may have upon the body I pretend not to explain. But I make no question Satan, so far as he gets power, may exert himself on such 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 the people to distraction.”

[199] 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.

[200] 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 cordially coincides with me. Her Ladyship, I suspect, is much better versed in theology than either of us.” The astonished noble bowed, and the Prince withdrew. 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.

[201] Page, a robber 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 his 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 Lordship was excommunicated, and could not give evidence. He was consequently acquitted.

[202] 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 a man 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 Lount, about half a mile distant from Stanton.

[203] From this period, till he was arrested, Lord Ferrers continued to drink porter, 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 Miss 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 languished till the next morning; and when the Earl heard the poor creature was dead, he said he gloried in having killed him.

[204] “His brothers (says Horace Walpole) were brought to his trial to prove lunacy against their own blood. One of them (Mr. Shirley) is a clergyman, suspended by the Bishop of London for being a Methodist.”

[205] “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 criminal more literally tried by his Peers; for the 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 gallery; the Duke of York and his young brothers were in the Prince of Wales’s box, who was not there, no more than the Princess, Princess Emily, nor the Duke. It was an agreeable humanity in the Duke of York, who would not take his seat in the House before 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 Dowager 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.

[206] 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 Countess); it would be letting him die in adultery.” He resolved not to take leave of his children, four girls, but on the scaffold, and then to read to them a 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 desiring him not to mind the requests of his family in his behalf, which he considered extremely absurd.

[207] 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 Vaillant’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.

[208] “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 sermons. The Methodists have nothing to brag of his conversion, though Whitefield prayed for him and preached about him. I have not heard that Lady Fanny dabbled with his soul.”

[209] Widow of Henry Hastings, Esq., and mother of the Rev. Theophilus Henry Hastings, _de jure_ 11th Earl of Huntingdon, and Colonel George Hastings, father of Hans Francis, the late Earl.

[210] That is, that some should remain regular, others irregular; some either of the two, and some again neither one nor the other.

[211] 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.

[212] Sir Walter Scott, then a youth, heard him; but he remarks that Wesley was too colloquial for Sawney.

[213] Samson Occum, whom Lady Huntingdon considered one of the most interesting 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 amongst the scattered remnants of the Mohegan Indians.

[214] After his return to America he sometimes resided at Mohegan, and was often employed in missionary labours amongst 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 of the _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 Mohegan, in June, 1830, aged 97. Samson Occum and his sister were descended, by their mother, from Uncas, chief of the Mohegans. The family 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 establishment of a teacher among these Indians.

[215] “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.”

[216] We have already adverted to the expulsion of Dr. Haweis from Oxford, and we ought now to state that it was through the absurd authority of Hume, Bishop of that See, in whose eyes it was a crime to attract a great auditory, and be blessed in the conversion of many. His Grace of Canterbury (Seeker), of whom Dr. Haweis begged a fair investigation of his case, offering for inspection three hundred of his sermons, and courting enquiry 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 Dr. 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 Humphrey 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 adherence 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 granddaughter 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 Hampshire.

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.

[217] 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 worth of Dr. 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.

[218] The publication of these narratives produced two pamphlets from Mr. Brewer--the first entitled, “An Exact Copy of an Epistolary Correspondence between the Rev. 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, answerable 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 several important letters, now forced to be made public to vindicate injured character and to undeceive the friends of religion.” From which publications 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_l._ 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.

[219] 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 to us or our friends, and an end put to any further altercation 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 weakness 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 difficulties) 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.”

[220] Among his converts was an old innkeeper, who, having been a good customer 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 contrived, at the next feast-day, to go six miles, avoid a drinking party, and squeeze 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!” 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.

[221] 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, however, 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 Huntingdon, 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 proof. In a petition to the Archbishop of Canterbury he acknowledged that his 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. Matthews 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 Cheveley, in Berkshire, not being in orders. This occurred three years before he entered the University, for which “daring impiety,” as Mr. 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 distinguished 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 the living of Turvey, in Bedfordshire.

The accusations Mr. Shipman had to sustain were similar, and equally unfounded. 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 expound 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 manifest 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 England 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 upon them as evidences of their belief.

[222] 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. 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.

[223] He had just been admitted into orders, and shortly afterwards served us curate to Mr. Hervey, at Weston Favel.

[224] Articles intended to be proposed, mentioned in the foregoing letter:--

_The work of righteousness shall be peace, and the effect of
righteousness quietness and assurance for ever._ (Isaiah
xxxii. 17).

Proposals of peace and union for the most universal spread of
the Gospel in the Connexion of the Rev. Mr. Rowlands, Mr. Hogg,
and Lady Huntingdon.

I. The Gloucestershire Connexion to deliver up to the Welsh
Association all light, 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 that have
been found most faithful to the Lord, and have been owned by
him in each Connexion, shall by the other Connexions 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 best and
most universally served.

IV. No minister or principal in any of the Connexions to
interfere in any 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 possible care
be taken 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 belong,
and to give in such particulars as they may want to communicate,
and what mutual help from any quarter they may be best assisted
by. These meetings to be at Mr. Rowlands’ Association, the
College anniversary, the Gloucestershire Association, and
another in London once a year, to have a full account of the
last year’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 Connexion, upon a supposition they act separately
from the Tabernacle and other Connexions; otherwise Lady
Huntingdon could not think of appearing to interfere with them,
or in the smallest degree to divide friends, having no other
meaning than those already mentioned, and to show by 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 is not complied
with, the whole will drop.

[225] In the year 1807, an appeal was made to the liberality of 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 conscience. The service 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 be gathered should fix upon a settled minister of sound piety and approved and suitable talents.

On the 5th of July, 1808, the foundation of this chapel was laid by the Rev. Rowland Hill, who addressed a very numerous assembly of about three thousand, in an energetic and appropriate speech; after which the Rev. John Brown, then minister of Lady Huntingdon’s chapel at Ebley, in Gloucestershire, 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 congregations. 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 appointed 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 mile 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 recognized 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_!”

[226] As “a Methodist,” in the usual acceptation of the word--that is, as applied, by the world indiscriminately to religious persons.

[227] See Nichols’s “Literary Anecdotes.”

[228] 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 [229], her early acquaintance with Pope may be inferred.

[229] 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 beheld th’ Athenian Queen
Descend, in all her sober charms,”

were addressed to her in return for “a standish and two pens.” Lord Chesterfield’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,” and his observations on Bolingbroke’s “Use and 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, Evelyn John Shirley, Esq., M.P. for South Warwickshire.

[230] When Mr. John Wesley was preaching at Bath, some time before the coming of Charles, Beau Nash entered the room, and approaching the preacher, demanded 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, which 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 Huntingdon, 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 the audience 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.

[231] Mr. Larwood withdrew from Mr. Wesley’s Connexion about the year 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 continued to preach till God called him hence, by a fever, in November, 1756.

[232] 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.

[233] Of this zealous itinerant, Mr. Wesley says, “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.

[234] 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. Kinsman, 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.

[235] 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 remarkably 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 Ladyship, 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 missionary 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.

[236] Letters to and from Dr. Doddridge, edited by the Rev. Thomas Stedman, vicar of St. Chad’s, Shrewsbury.

[237] Belsham’s “Life of Lindsay.”

[238] Afterwards the Rev. Sir James Stonhouse, Bart., rector of Great and Little Cheveril, Wiltshire, the friend and correspondent of Lady Huntingdon, Whitefield, &c.

[239] Mrs. Scawen was the only daughter of Lord James Russell, fifth son of William, first Duke of Bedford, and niece of the celebrated Lady Rachel Russell, whose piety, virtue, and congenial 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 a child. The consolatory letters of Lady Huntingdon and of Dr. Doddridge were of singular service in leading her to more correct views of God, and the designs of Providence, in his afflicting dispensations.

[240] 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 the truths which he from time to time delivered from the pulpit, he had the 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 fifty-second year of his age the Lord was pleased to pluck him as a firebrand out of the 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, 1743, 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 seventy-three. 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 Whitefield’s Letters, Brown’s Life of Hervey, and Porter’s Sermon on the Death of Mr. Cruttenden._

[241] 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. Nathaniel Lardner. He was also secretary of Coward’s trustees, and wrote some insolent letters to Dr. Doddridge, on account of his liberality towards the Methodists.

[242] 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.

[243] 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 attention 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, 1757, leaving two sons and a daughter.--_See Hartley’s Life, by his son, who was M.P. for Hull, 1766._

[244] This eminent physician, so celebrated in his day, had long resided at Bath, where he had great practice, and acquired a large fortune. Although he had long been intimate with Lady Huntingdon and Dr. Stonehouse, after his conversion to Christianity, yet he remained a most inveterate infidel till a 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 humbled, distressed, and broken in heart. Visiting him a few days before he died, he lamented not only his own past infidelity, but the zeal and success with which he had endeavoured to 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!” “Cheer up! (answered Lady Huntingdon). Jesus, the great sacrifice for sin, atoned for the sins of the second table as well as for those of the first.” “God (replied he) certainly can, but I fear he never will, pardon such a wretch as I.” “You may fear it at present (rejoined her Ladyship), but you and I shall most certainly meet each other in heaven.” The Doctor then said, “O woman! great is thy faith! my faith cannot believe that I shall ever be there.”

Soon after, the Lord lifted up the light of his countenance upon Dr. Oliver’s soul, 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 Royal 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 III., 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 died, greatly beloved and respected, Jan. 18, 1782.

[245] 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.

[246] 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.

[247] Mrs. Bevan was a daughter and co-heiress of Mr. Vaughan, of Derllysg, in the parish of Merthyr, Carmarthenshire, and received her first serious impressions 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 Carmarthen, and for fourteen years its representative in Parliament; his public conduct 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 Langharne 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_l._ to perpetuate 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 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 absolutely 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 ground--that the incontrovertible and undeniable evidence of these facts has overcome the notions and prejudices with which his 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 induced 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 Ladyship is well assured she will not lose a favourable opportunity of speaking a word in season.”

[248] 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 overflowing and deeply-affected congregation; and, having heard from Lady Huntingdon 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.

[249] 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.

[250] 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, Birmingham, and rector of Sutton Coldfield, Warwickshire, who died in 1822.

[251] We have elsewhere adverted to Mr. Lindsay. His mother had lived many years in the family of Frances, Countess-Dowager of Huntingdon. The Earl 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 at 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 Piddletown, in Dorsetshire, which he exchanged for the vicarage of Catterick. Afterwards 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 he 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 and Mr. Lindsay on the subject of 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 intended by this praiseworthy lady, who has _for full forty years_ devoted her fortune, time, and labour to promote what she believes to be the truth.”

[252] A Danish Count, brother to the ambassador, who was a constant attendant on Mr. Whitefield’s preaching at Lady Huntingdon’s.

[253] 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.

[254] Lord Chesterfield’s character is too well known to require much comment.

[255] 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, has grown Methodist. His wit is at its wit’s end. Whitefield preaches continually at Lady Huntingdon’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!”

[256] 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 preaching at Derby, both at the great church and at 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 Huntingdon) was then at the Park. In his rambles he met with a poor cottager, whose account of her own conversion, by Mr. Romaine, produced a very powerful 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 off, and many of the neighbours went to hear him, so I thought I would go too. Accordingly away I trudged; and he had no sooner begun his discourse, but it seemed all directed to me: he opened the depravity of my heart and nature, 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 of the 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 then 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, was proportionately affected by this singular proof of God’s grace to him and Lady Huntingdon, and of his blessing on their endeavours. 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.

[257] Relict of John Wordsworth, Esq., of the Isle of Thanet, to whom she was united in 1758. She was sister to Mr. Townsend, rector of Pewsey, in Wiltshire, was a woman of talent, and for many years the intimate friend and correspondent of Mr. Romaine. In January, 1771, she became the wife of Dr. Haweis, rector of Aldwincle. She was a good Hebraist, and the _Clavis Hebraica_ of Julius Bates was Mr. Romaine’s present to her at her wedding.