[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:—

[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—

were addressed to her in return for “a standish and two pens.” Lord Chesterfield’s verses, commencing

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 10,000l. 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.

[258] The Duchess-Countess of Sutherland died in London, in February, 1839. Her remains were conveyed (in a steam-boat) to Aberdeen, to be deposited in the vault of her ancestors.

[259] Margaret Rolle, a great Devonshire heiress, the wife of Robert Lord Walpole, afterwards Earl of Orford, separated from her husband and quarrelled violently with his whole family. On the death of Lord Orford she married the Hon. Sewallis Shirley, uncle to Lady Huntingdon, from whom she also separated in 1754. She affected, at times, great friendship for Lady Huntingdon, and often attended her chapels and the preaching at her house. She was a woman of very singular character, and considered half mad; this last quality she communicated to her unfortunate son, George, third Earl of Orford, the nephew of Horace Walpole. In 1751 she succeeded, in her own right, to the baronies of Clinton and Say, on the death of Hugh, Earl Clinton. She died at Pisa, in Italy, in 1781, and was buried at Leghorn.

[260] There was something else which Walpole did not know of—a seat for Bishops. It was often occupied too! The witty and eccentric Lady Betty Cobbe, daughter-in-law of Dr. Charles Cobbe, Archbishop of Dublin, was cousin-german to Lady Huntingdon. Her influence was extensive, and frequently exerted in bringing Bishops to the chapel, whom she always contrived to smuggle into the curtained seats immediataly inside the door, where they heard without undergoing the dreadful disgrace of being seen in such a place. This seat Lady Betty facetiously termed “Nicodemus’s corner!”

[261] Amongst the number of the great and honourable who at that period frequented her Ladyship’s chapel was to be found Dr. William Barnard, formerly Dean of Rochester, but at that time Bishop of Derry, a man advanced in years, and one who professed a friendship for those who were stigmatized with the name of Methodist. It was at the recommendation of Mr. Wesley that his Lordship ordained Mr. Maxwell, the first Methodist lay-preacher. Increasing infirmities obliged his Lordship to reside at Bath, where he had frequent opportunities of enjoying the society of Lady Huntingdon, to whom he was introduced by Lady Betty Cobbe. The Bishop frequently accompanied Lady Betty to hear the Methodists unseen, and was always very friendly towards the ministers who supplied the chapel. On one occasion Mr. Wesley says—“In the evening I left London, and reached Bath on Tuesday, in the afternoon, time enough to wait on that memorable man, the Bishop of Londonderry. After spending an agreeable and profitable hour with him, my brother read prayers, and I preached in Lady Huntingdon’s chapel. I know not when I have seen a more serious, a more deeply attentive congregation. Is it possible? Can the Gospel have place where Satan’s throne is?”

[262] One proof of his cheerfulness may take the form of an anecdote:—Passing through Towcester, in one of his preaching excursions for Lady Huntingdon, he asked the innkeeper where he put up, it being Saturday morning, who was the vicar, and, as he should stay the next day, whether he would be glad of assistance? “Oh! yes (said the landlord), I dare say, Sir, he will be glad to have his duty done.” “Then carry my compliments, and say a clergyman out of Yorkshire is passing, and will stay to-morrow at the inn, and is ready to read or preach for him, if he needs assistance.” Away went the innkeeper, with what he thought welcome intelligence, to the parson. “Gladly (said the vicar); but what sort of a man is the Yorkshire clergyman? There are Methodist vagrants you know—eh!” The innkeeper laughed, shook his head, and replied, “Ah! Sir, only look at his face and nose, and you will see he is not one of that sort.” In truth, a rubicundity of face and rotundity of form gave Mr. Venn no very Methodistical appearance. “Well (said the vicar), let him come to me in the morning, and then I will see whether I like him to preach or pray.” The landlord returned with the message, and the next morning Mr. Venn waited on his reverend brother. “Sir (says he, after the first bows), you are from Yorkshire?” “I am.” “Will you drink a dram this morning?” “I have no objection.” The bottle came from the closet, and Mr. Venn took a sip. His character was now decided. “Sir, you will preach for me this morning?” “With pleasure.” Robed and ready, they parted to the church, and Mr. Venn to the pulpit. There, his Bible no sooner opened, than the congregation stared, and the vicar hid his face in the surplice. The energetic truth awakened up an attention to which that congregation had been little accustomed. The vicar was done, and left Mr. Venn to retire to his inn alone. A very similar incident occurred during this visit to Bath, and is given in Mr. Venn’s Life, by his grandson. The anecdote we have just related is given verbatim from the mouth of Dr. Haweis.

[263] The Rev. John Andrews was originally of St. Mary’s Hall, Oxford, where he took the degree of LL.B. He resided in America for some years, but was obliged to return to England on account of the bad state of his health. The Archbishop of Canterbury offered him, on his coming over, a living of eighty pounds a year; but, alarmed at the laborious duties of the parish, he requested the Archbishop to give him the living of Stinchcombe, of thirty-six pounds a year, in the diocese of Gloucester, and in the Bishop’s patronage. The see of Gloucester was at that time vacant, and his Grace asked the living of the Lord Chancellor, who presented it to Mr. Andrews. In the parish of Mr. Andrews lived a Mrs. Brown, who used to exhort the people every Sunday evening in the parsonage-house, and, according to high authority, with very great power.

[264] Although the living was given to Mr. Andrews by the Lord Chancellor before Warburton was appointed to the see of Gloucester, yet he calls himself his patron!

[265] As he was walking early on a Lord’s-day to preach, he was accosted on the road by a clergyman on horseback, who was on the same errand, but from a different motive. The latter gentleman was complaining that the drudgery of his profession was unprofitable, for he never could get above half-a-guinea for preaching. The honest Welshman replied, that he preached for a crown. The hireling retorted and said, “You are a disgrace to the cloth.” “Perhaps (said Mr. Davies) I shall be held in greater disgrace, in your estimation, when I inform you that I am now going nine miles to preach, and have but sevenpence in my pocket to bear my expenses out and in, and do not expect the poor pittance remitted that I am now in possession of. But I look forward for that crown of glory which my Lord and Saviour will freely bestow upon me, when he makes his appearance before an assembled world.” In the same way Mr. Venn, in one of his excursions to preach for the Countess of Huntingdon, while riding on the road, fell in company with a person who had the appearance of a clergyman. After riding together for some time, conversing on different subjects, the stranger, looking in his face, said, “Sir, I think you are on the wrong side of fifty?” “On the wrong side of fifty! (answered Mr. Venn)—no, Sir, I am on the right side of fifty.” “Surely (the clergyman replied) you must be turned of fifty?” “Yes, Sir (added Mr. Venn), but I am on the right side of fifty, for I am nearer my crown of glory!” This unexpected explanation damped the conversation on the part of the stranger, whilst it strikingly evinced the happy state of Mr. Venn’s mind.