[52] Often styled “Saint Frances” by Walpole.

[53] Afterwards Lord Lyttleton.

[54] Afterwards Lord Melcombe.

[55] Daughter of the great Duke of Marlborough, and mother of Lady Cardigan.

[56] Created Baron Beaulieu in 1762, and Earl Beaulieu in 1784.

[57] Baron Hume, but the title became extinct at his death, in 1781.

[58] Member of the Privy Council, and First Lord Commissioner of the Admiralty.

[59] 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 the 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 proselytes 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 individual 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 Collenberg, of Halle, which was reprinted in London in 1751, with a view to its distribution among Jews and Mohammedans, by English merchants 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 of the Jews, that great triumph which is 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 purpose. 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 grossly 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 sufferers, from whom these impostors had obtained upwards of 1,800l. “Lady Huntingdon (he says) requested me to wait on her, whether for my conversion, or to be better informed concerning the imposture, I cannot tell, for her illness prevented the interview.”

[60] The residence of the Countess Delitz.

[61] Countess Delitz.

[62] Lady Gertrude Hotham.

[63] Lady Anne Hastings, in consequence of the constant attendance on, and anxiety for, Lady Huntingdon, suffered a serious but brief indisposition during the illness of the Countess.

[64] Dr. Doddridge, in his “Life of Colonel Gardiner,” alludes to Mr. Thompson when he says, ‘The conversion of Colonel Gardiner is not altogether singular. 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 which that, or perhaps any Christian communion, can boast.’ Remarking on this passage, the late Mr. Palmer, of Hackney, in his correspondence with Mr. Newton, has supposed Mr. Grimshaw was the clergyman referred to; but Mr. Davidson, 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 revisal were submitted his “Meditations and Reflections,” and the first volume 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 “Zion’s Trumpet,” a periodical published in 1800). His letter to Dr. Watts, printed in “Dr. Gibson’s Memoirs,” is well worth perusal, and a volume of his religious poems was published without his name, by the Rev. Samuel Furlong, of St. Roche. 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 continued active and useful in his parish. He was a visitor 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 conversion of his neighbour, the Rev. W. Hill, of Tavistock.

[65] 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 his Grace did not himself officiate in that capacity; for he thought it not unbecoming his station as a peer of the realm 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 Mr. Browne, at the request of the Duke and Duchess, but was not published till 1756, after the death of both.

[66] 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., Fellow of Magdalene College, afterwards Dean of Canterbury and Bishop of Norwich.

[67] 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?”

[68] His Lordship’s youngest daughter, Lady Charlotte Compton, succeeded, on the termination of the abeyance, by the demise of her eldest sister, in 1749, as Baroness Ferrars, of Chartley, 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.

[69] Dr. Stonhouse and Mr. Hartley.

[70] Some years after, a chapel in Lady Huntingdon’s Connexion was opened 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 remarkable (says Mr. Wills), that so long ago as when dear Lady Huntingdon resided in this town, though it is one of the manors belonging to Lord Huntingdon’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.

[71] Dr. Stonhouse, afterwards so well known as the Rev. Sir James Stonhouse, Bart., Rector of Great and Little Cheveril, Wilts, had his education at Winchester School, and was afterwards of St. John’s College, Oxford. He had his medical education under Dr. Nicholls, the celebrated anatomist, and Professor 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 reflections 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 of the 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 of the truth of Christianity, and at length of enlightening his mind 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 conversion from infidelity, may be found in—“Hervey’s Letters,” “Doddridge’s Letters,” and “Letters from Sir James Stonhouse to the Rev. Thomas Stedman, Vicar of St. Chad’s, Shrewsbury.” Mr. Hervey’s letters on his ordination, first as deacon, by the Bishop of Hereford, and then as priest, by the Bishop of Bristol; the letters of Mr. Whitefield and Lady Huntingdon; and the death of his wife (the eldest daughter of J. Neal, Esq., M.P. for Coventry), were among the things that led to his conversion.

[72] Mr. Hartley, Rector of Winwick.

[73] Dr. Stonhouse.

[74] 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 terms: “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. Pray for me, my 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 gratitude for the very faithful manner in which you 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 continue faithful to the end! What holy and excellent examples have I in the exalted piety and ministerial fidelity of Doddridge, 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! and whatever little differences may exist between us, may we all finally meet before the throne of God and the Lamb!”

[75] 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, to procure from him some valuable instructions in elocution. Being once engaged to read prayers and to preach at a church in the city, he prevailed upon Garrick to go with him. After the service, the British Roscius asked the Doctor what particular business he had to do when the duty was over. “None,” said the other. “I thought you had (said Garrick), on seeing you enter the reading-desk in such a hurry. Nothing (added he) can be more indecent than to see a clergyman set about sacred business as if he were a tradesman, and go into the church as if he wanted 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 player); why you tossed them backwards and forwards, and 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 reprove.

[76] 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 Governor of New York and New Jersey. He was afterwards 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 to 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.

[77] 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 Rev. 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 to the Presidency of the College. She died the year after the death of her husband, leaving a son and a daughter.

[78] On the 11th of May, 1750, the Sessions began at the Old Bailey, and continued 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, Stanhope 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.”)

[79] Mr. Barker had the reputation of being one of the 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 of many of his brethren from some of those doctrines which lie at the foundation of Christian hope. Through life he discovered an uniform and zealous attachment 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 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 everywhere; 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.”

[80] There were mingled with the theological students educated by Dr. Doddridge, besides the Earl of Drummond, twelve gentlemen of fortune, not intended for the liberal professions; and of those who were, it appears that five 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, Fawcett, and Taylor, of Ashworth, and Kippis, will naturally present themselves to the mind of the reader.

[81] The Rev. Richard Denny, the last surviving pupil of the excellent Doddridge. 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.

[82] Mrs. Gibbon’s annual income was nearly 1,000l.; Mrs. Hutcheson’s about 2,000l. per annum; and their bounty was bestowed upon the poor of an extensive circle. Mr. Law died April 9, 1761, at the advanced age of seventy-five, and his remains were placed in a new tomb, built by Mrs. Gibbon, in the church at King’s Cliffe. Having long survived their spiritual guide and faithful companion, Mrs. Hutcheson died in January, 1781, aged ninety-one, and her remains were placed, by her particular desire, at the feet of Mr. Law, in a new tomb. Mrs. Gibbon followed her old friends and companions in June, 1790, 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.

[83] 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 everything 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! 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 accustomed 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 hair stand erect!

When he left the table not a syllable was uttered concerning the wager, but a profound silence pervaded the company. Mr. Thorpe immediately withdrew, 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!”

[84] We insert the inscription, written as it is with evident sincerity:—

“To the Right Honourable the Countess of Huntingdon, that eminent example 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 which he is her Ladyship’s most obliged and obedient humble servant.”

[85] 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, December 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 of the 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 of the Bishop of Hereford; 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. Mr. Vansittart was uncle to the present Lord Bexley. The Rev. 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 same grave with his beloved wife.

[86] 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 read 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 happiness. I think Marshall one of the best 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 the eighteenth century, at Leyden, where he took his Doctor’s degree. He was very assiduous in his attentions to Dr. Young, author of “Night Thoughts,” whom he attended in his last illness. His works, which are chiefly on medical subjects, were collected and published in two volumes, in 1791. He died August 2, 1788.

[87] 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 work productions of real genius, proposed to give certain rewards to his 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.

[88] Dr. Benjamin Hoadley, the celebrated prelate who gave rise to the Bangorian controversy.

[89] Lady Fanny was very active in her endeavours to procure pecuniary assistance for Mr. Browne. She had applied to the Duchess of Somerset and Dr. Stephen Hales, physician to the Prince of Wales, who, at her request, had presented Mr. Hervey’s works to the Princess, by whom they were received in a very obliging manner. Dr. Hales was a philosopher and divine, and is said to have been a man of great science, humility, and piety. He was successively presented to the livings of Teddington, Middlesex; Portlock, Somersetshire; and Farringdon, in Hampshire. After the death of the Prince of Wales, the Princess Dowager made him clerk of her closet, and after his death, in 1761, erected a monument to his memory in Westminster Abbey.

[90] Then one of the Lords of the Admiralty. He was nephew of Lady Gertrude Hotham, and afterwards became Lord Mendip.

[91] 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.

[92] 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.

[93] 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 published by his executors, several will be found addressed to Lady Mary Hamilton, whose mother, we have it on 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 Nov. 17, 1768, leaving no surviving issue.

[94] In the library of Cheshunt College is a volume of “The Seasons,” presented by Thomson himself to Lady Huntingdon, with an autograph inscription.

[95] 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.

[96] Lady Charlotte was a daughter of James, Duke of Hamilton, who was unfortunately killed in a duel by his brother-in-law, Lord Mohun. She 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 of the bedchamber to Augusta, Princess of Wales; and died at London, Feb. 1, 1777, in her 74th year, without issue, leaving a huge fortune, chiefly to the Duke of Hamilton. Lady 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 conduct of her sister-in-law, the notorious Lady Vane, had a powerful effect in 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 celebrated Bubb Doddington, afterwards Lord Melcombe.

[97] His late Majesty George III.

[98] 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 and 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.”

[99] 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.

[100] 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 whom it was communicated by his Lordship himself. Lord Bolingbroke was one day sitting in his house at Battersea, reading Calvin’s “Institutes,” when he received a morning visit from Dr. 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 Bolingbroke) I have been studying?” “No, really, my Lord, I cannot,” quoth the Doctor. “It is Calvin’s ‘Institutes’ (said Lord Bolingbroke); what do you think of these matters?” Doctor: “Oh! my Lord, we don’t think about such antiquated stuff; we teach the plain doctrines of virtue 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 the 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.”

[101] 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 letters 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 sermon,” 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.

[102] This anecdote shows that the interest taken in this important subject was far from being confined to the vulgar, and that, even in the Universities, it was not contemplated with indifference.

[103] James Nimmo, Esq., Receiver-General of Excise, was a man of piety, and connected with some of the 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 Edinburgh; 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 Gressnock, 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 correspondent 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 contemporaries may be 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 William Wyndham, and by the mention of him in Pope’s well-known inscription in his grotto at Twickenham—

He was one of the executors of Pope, also of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, who left him a legacy of 2,500l., as such. With Lady Huntingdon, Lord Marchmont 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 perpetual 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.