The Project Gutenberg EBook of Excellent Women, by Various

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Title: Excellent Women

Author: Various

Release Date: November 19, 2003 [EBook #10129]

Language: English

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[Illustration: A STREET IN CAIRO. (See _Mary Louisa Whately_.)]

EXCELLENT WOMEN.

BY VARIOUS WRITERS.




CONTENTS.

ELIZABETH FRY. BY JAMES MACAULAY, M.A., M.D.
SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. BY REV. R. LOVETT, M.A.
RACHEL, LADY RUSSELL. BY JAMES MACAULAY, M.A., M.D.
FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. BY REV. J.P. HOBSON, M.A.
HANNAH MORE. BY HENRY JOHNSON.
SUSANNA WESLEY. BY REV. J. CUNNINGHAM, M.A.
MRS. HEMANS. BY REV. S.F. HARRIS, M.A., B.C.L.
MADAME GUYON. BY WILLIAM NICHOLS.
ANN JUDSON. BY FRED. A. MCKENZIE.
MARY LOUISA WHATELY. BY REV. W.R. BOWMAN.
AGNES JONES. BY ELLEN L. COURTENAY.
ELIZABETH, DUCHESS OF GORDON. BY REV. S.F. HARRIS, M.A., B.C.L.




ELIZABETH FRY.

I.

BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS.

Elizabeth Fry was born in Norwich, on the 21st of June, 1780. She was
the third daughter of John Gurney, of Earlham, Norfolk, and Catherine
Bell, daughter of Daniel Bell, merchant in London. Mrs. Bell was a
descendant of the ancient family of the Barclays of Ury in
Kincardineshire, and granddaughter of Robert Barclay, the well-known
apologist of the Quakers.

John Gurney of Earlham, born in 1749, was educated in the principles of
the Society of Friends, but as he advanced in life, and associated with
persons of various Christian denominations, the strictness of his
religious opinions was much relaxed, and he showed liberality of
sentiment towards others, even if they were indifferent to all spiritual
concerns. In fact, in those times there was throughout England, in all
the churches, a decay of faith and a tendency to unbelief; against which
a few men made noble protest, till the religious Revival, led by
Whitefield and Wesley, inaugurated a happier era.

We are, therefore, not surprised to read that the daughters of John
Gurney, deprived in early life of their mother's care, were accustomed
to mingle with people entirely devoid of religion, although some of
these were accomplished and talented in their way. The father continued
formally to attend the Friends' Meeting; and the eldest daughter,
Catherine, being of a thoughtful mind and with desire for instruction,
was of use to her sisters in somewhat checking their love of worldly
pleasure and amusements. Of Elizabeth, it is said that in her young days
"she was singularly attractive; her figure tall, her countenance sweet
and pleasing, and her person and manners dignified and lovely. She was
gentle and quiet in temper, yet evinced a strong will." The visits of
different Friends, especially her uncle Joseph Gurney, who always had
much influence with her, both then and during her future life, helped to
confirm the good teaching of her mother in childhood.




II.

BEGINS A PRIVATE JOURNAL: WITH RECORD OF HER EXPERIENCES.

In 1793, when in her seventeenth year, Elizabeth Gurney began to keep a
private Journal.[1] In the early part of this record she frankly tells
her proceedings day after day, and describes the long and gradual
struggle that took place in her heart, which ended in her conversion by
the power of the Holy Spirit, and in her thorough consecration to the
service of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a most instructive record,
especially for the young.

[Footnote 1: This Journal was kept up by her till the close of her life,
and contains not only a full account of events, but a personal record of
her thoughts and experiences. It is preserved with pious care by members
of the family. _A Memoir of Elizabeth Fry_, published by her daughters,
in two volumes, was widely circulated after her decease. Innumerable
biographies and memoirs have since appeared, the best of which, by
Susanna Corder, contains selections from the private Journal.]

Her father, a man popular on account of his genial ways and social
disposition, making no objection, she joined, with some of her sisters,
in all the gaieties of life in Norwich. Prince William Frederick,
afterwards Duke of Gloucester, was then quartered with his regiment
there, and there was an incessant round of pleasures--balls, concerts,
and oratorios. Elizabeth Gurney entered into all the gaiety, but she was
ill at ease. She says, "I see the folly of the world. My mind is very
flat after this storm of pleasure." "I do believe if I had a little true
religion, I should have a greater support than I have now."

She had also before this time given expression to the better
dispositions of her natural heart, saying, "I must do what I can to
alleviate the sorrows of others; exert what power I have to increase
happiness; try to govern my passions by reason; and adhere strictly to
what I think right."

This condition of her mind, with alternate indulgence in vanity and
resolutions after better things, lasted till she was twenty-two years of
age, when she came to the settled conviction that "it is almost
impossible to keep strictly to principle without religion. I don't feel
any real religion; I should think those feelings impossible to obtain,
for even if I thought all the Bible was true, I do not think I could
make myself feel it: I think I never saw any person who appeared so
totally destitute of it."

It was something to arrive at the conviction that she lacked the one
thing needful; and that she felt that more than natural effort, even the
power of the Holy Spirit, was necessary to awaken her to new life, and
to change her heart. The arrival at Norwich of an American friend,
William Savery, "a man who seemed to overflow with true religion, and to
be humble, and yet a man of great abilities," confirmed her in her
dissatisfaction with her own state, and strengthened her desires after a
new life. Of him, she says, that "having been gay and disbelieving only
a few years ago, makes him better acquainted with the heart of one in
the same situation."




III.

FIRST VISIT TO LONDON.

While in this unsettled and partially awakened state of mind,
Elizabeth's father proposed to take her to see London, an offer which
she gladly closed with, without any thought beyond the excitement of new
scenes and pleasures. He took her there, and left her for several weeks,
under the care of a relative. It was a perilous trial for a young girl,
but the result was for her happy. The effect was to disgust her more
with the world and mere worldly amusements, and to fix her heart more
surely where true peace can alone be found.

In the middle of April, after having been seven weeks in London, her
father came to take her home, and very thankful she was to get back to
the quiet country. A few days after, a letter came from William Savery,
to whom she seems to have written asking his counsel. It was a long
epistle, full of wise and faithful advice, and showing most loving
interest in his young friend's welfare. A few sentences will give the
substance of his letter, which may be read by others with as much
advantage as it was by Elizabeth Gurney. "I know, my dear, thou hast,
and wilt have, many temptations to combat with: thou wilt, doubtless, be
frequently importuned to continue with thy gay acquaintance, in pursuit
of that false glare of happiness, which the world, in too bewitching and
deceitful colours, holds out to the unwary traveller, and which
certainly ends in blinding the intellectual eye from discovering the
pure source of soul-felt pleasure resulting from a humble heart, at
peace with its God, its neighbour, and itself.

"Thee asks my advice, my dear friend, and without any premeditation when
I sat down, I find I have been attempting to give it; but it is very
evident thou art under the special care of an infinitely better
Instructor, who has already uttered His soft and heavenly voice, to
teach thee that the first step towards religion is true humility;
because in that state only we can feel the need we have of an arm,
stronger than human, to lean upon, to lead us out of and keep us from
things which hinder our access to, and confidence in, that boundless
source of purity, love, and mercy; who, amidst all the vicissitudes of
time, is disposed to be our Shepherd, Guardian, and Friend, in whom we
may trust and never be afraid; but this blessed confidence is not,
cannot be enjoyed by the gay, the giddy, proud, or abandoned votaries of
this world."

Up to this time she had adopted none of the distinctive peculiarities of
the Society of Friends. Although from custom attending the meetings, she
did not confine herself to the services there; for we read such entries
as this, "I went to St. Peter's and heard a good sermon. The common
people seemed very much occupied, and wrapt up in the service, which I
was pleased to see; afterwards I went to the cathedral." She had already
commenced efforts to be useful to others, visiting the sick, and
teaching the children of her poorer neighbours, in Norwich, or at
Bramerton, then a quiet, pleasant village, where the family usually
resided in summer. "I have some thoughts," she says, "of increasing by
degrees my plan for Sunday evening, and of having several poor children,
at least, to read in the Testament and religious books for an hour. It
might increase morality among the lower classes if the Scriptures were
oftener and better read to them." Sunday school work she for herself
discovered to be a profitable, as she found it to be a delightful task.
All this time she was diligent in study, and in the intellectual culture
of her own mind, as we find from her Journal.

"I had a good lesson of French this morning, and read much in
Epictetus." Later on, we find her intent on the books of Dr. Isaac
Watts, his _Logic_ especially, which Dr. Johnson had commended strongly
to all who sought the "improvement of the mind."




IV.

AT COLEBROOK DALE, AND ON A JOURNEY TO WALES.

In the summer of 1798, John Gurney took the whole of his seven daughters
an excursion through parts of England and Wales. At Colebrook Dale,
where they saw several relatives, members of the Society of Friends,
Elizabeth Gurney received the deepest impressions. She was especially
struck with the veteran philanthropist, Richard Reynolds, who having
made a large fortune in his well-managed iron-works, spent his money and
time in seeking the moral good of the working people. At Colebrook Dale
also she spent some days with an elderly cousin, Priscilla Hannah
Gurney, cousin to the Earlham Gurneys by both father and mother, her
father being Joseph Gurney and her mother Christiana Barclay. Being left
by her father alone for some days with this cousin, the influence of the
visit was very powerful on her. "She was exactly the person to attract
the young; she possessed singular beauty, and elegance of manner. She
was of the old school; her costume partook of this, and her long
retention of the black hood gave much character to her appearance. She
had early renounced the world and its fascinations; left Bath, where her
mother and sister Christiana Gurney resided; became eventually a
minister among Friends; and found a congenial retreat for many years at
Colebrook Dale."

The travelling party went on to make a tour in Wales and to attend the
gathering of Friends at the Welsh half-yearly meeting. Most of the
Colebrook Dale Friends were present, and further converse with Priscilla
Gurney induced her niece to resolve openly to conform to Quaker customs,
though at what precise time she became professedly a Friend we are not
told. As to the costume, she was very slow in adopting it--not till some
time after returning to Norwich.

In this early Welsh journey a singular prediction was given in an
address by an aged Friend, Deborah Darby, who said of her that "she
would be a light to the blind, speech to the dumb, and feet to the
lame." "Can it be? She seems as if she thought I was to be a minister of
Christ. Can I ever be one?" asks Elizabeth Gurney in her Journal.




V.

THE LAST YEAR AT HOME.

The early months of 1799 were passed in Norwich, where she engaged in
works which she believed to be right and useful. She visited the poor,
doing what she could to relieve distress, yet cautious lest she should
appear to do too much, telling her friends that in such charity she was
only agent for her father, who approved of her thus helping others. She
held what are now called "mothers' meetings," reading and talking to a
little group of people about fifteen in number. Her "Sunday School" had
also gradually increased, till there were sometimes seventy poor
children receiving instruction from her. Cutting out and preparing
clothes for the poor, and occasional visits to hospitals, and once to
Bedlam to see a poor woman, were among the occupations of the winter
months. She had not yet, however, made any decisive change in her social
habits, for she occasionally accompanied her sisters to balls and other
entertainments, yet finding less and less satisfaction in what she in
calmer moments disapproved.

The doubtful, wavering condition of mind led her to think more seriously
of openly avowing her religious principles.

In the autumn her father travelled to the north of England, taking with
him his son Samuel and his daughters Priscilla and Elizabeth. He was
going to visit an estate belonging to him; also to attend the general
meeting at the Friends' School at Ackworth, after which they were going
to Scotland. All this expedition Elizabeth much enjoyed. At Ackworth she
took part in the examination of the scholars, and had pleasant
conversation with the headmaster Doctor Binns, and with Friends
assembled on the occasion. At York they saw the wonderful Minster; at
Darlington, found themselves in a living colony of Friends; and
Elizabeth was gratified by receiving a note and a book of grammar from
the famous Lindley Murray, whom she had met and taken tea with at York.
Durham, Newcastle, Alnwick Castle, and Edinburgh, were successively
visited, and afforded abundant materials for entries in her Journal, and
for agreeable recollections after returning home.




VI.

MARRIAGE, AND SETTLEMENT IN LONDON.

On August 19, 1800, Elizabeth Gurney was married, at the Friends'
Meeting House, Norwich, to Joseph Fry, youngest son of William Storrs
Fry, of London. He had been to Earlham, and made an offer of marriage,
during the preceding year, but nothing had then been settled, Elizabeth
Gurney being afraid that any change at that time might interfere with
her spiritual welfare and her newly-formed plans of active usefulness.
But after some correspondence, when the proposal was renewed, she felt
it right to give her consent. It was the custom more generally
prevailing than now for the junior partner to reside in the house of
business, and in accordance with this, Joseph and Elizabeth Fry prepared
to establish themselves in Mildred's Court in the City, a large,
commodious and quiet house, since pulled down in consequence of
alterations in London. The parents of her husband occupied a
country-house at Plashet, Essex. The Fry family, like that of the
Gurneys, had long been members of the Society of Friends; but unlike her
own parents, they had adhered strictly to the tenets and the habits of
Quakers. She thus came to be surrounded by a large circle of new
connexions, different from her own early associates at Norwich.

During the fortnight occupied by the Yearly Meeting, Mildred's Court
was an open house for the entertainment of Friends from all parts of the
kingdom, who would come in to midday dinner, whether formally invited or
not. On one occasion, when an American Friend, George Dilwyn, was a
guest, she commenced regular family worship, with the approval of her
husband, this now recognised duty not having been previously the
practice in the house.

Occasionally she got rest in staying at Plashet, but her life was a busy
one, and hardly favourable to spiritual advancement. At Plashet, on the
9th of seventh month (July) she wrote: "We live at home in a continual
bustle; engagement follows engagement so rapidly, day after day, week
after week, owing principally to the number of near connexions, that we
appear to live for others rather than ourselves. Our plan of sleeping
out so often I by no means like, and yet it appears impossible to
prevent it; to spend one's life in visiting and being visited
seems sad."

It is evident that the circumstances under which she began her married
life were too fatiguing for her, and to these were added the usual
domestic troubles at times with servants. All this told upon her, then
approaching her first confinement, depressing not merely her bodily
powers and natural energy, but in some degree her spiritual liveliness.
But she must attend to present duty, and when her first child, a girl,
was born, she was absorbed in the anxieties, pleasures and
responsibilities of a mother.

From the feeble state of her health, she was some time in regaining
strength enough to attend Meeting, or to resume her usual activity. She
was confined to her room when she heard the great tumult of joy, at the
thanksgiving and the illuminations, for restoration of Peace in 1801, on
the 10th of October; and the noise of the mob in the streets disturbed
her even in this quiet house. A fortnight later the parents went to
Norfolk, taking with them their little treasure, a lovely infant, which
gave great delight to the relatives there. The child was vaccinated by
Dr. Simms on their return to London, and the doctor's advice was taken
about the health of the mother, who then was in a state of much bodily
weakness, with a troublesome cough. These trials caused interruption in
the Journal for some weeks; but she and the child gradually got better;
and at the Yearly Meeting of 1802, she was able to attend almost all the
meetings, and to receive the customary crowd of visitors at her house;
among them her much-loved uncle, Joseph Gurney, whose presence was of
much service to her.




VII.

FAMILY CARES AND TRIALS.

In the autumn her husband took her a journey into the north of England,
going by Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon, Chester, Liverpool, and the
Lakes, some of the excursions at which she went on horseback. She was
even able to climb Skiddaw, so that her health had been much restored by
the expedition. They were glad to get back to their comfortable home,
mother and child both better for the trip. Soon after their return, her
brother Samuel came to reside at Mildred's Court, to learn details of
the banking business, and it was to both a great pleasure to be near one
another. A second girl was born in March, 1803; and altogether she had
in future years a very large family, eleven sons and daughters;
regarding which it is sufficient to say that the succession of illnesses
caused so much nervousness and debility, that we can only the more
marvel at the indomitable spirit with which she afterwards undertook the
labours of charity and beneficence which have made her name so famous.
There were also, besides her personal illnesses, many events of trial
and of bereavement, as must necessarily happen where there are numerous
relatives. Writing at Earlham on the 20th of August, 1808, she says, "I
have been married eight years yesterday. Various trials of faith and
patience have been permitted me; my course has been very different from
what I expected; and instead of being, as I had hoped, a useful
instrument in the Church militant, here I am, a careworn wife and
mother, outwardly nearly devoted to the things of this life. Though, at
times, this difference in my destination has been trying to me, yet I
believe those trials that I have had to go through have been very
useful, and brought me to a feeling sense of what I am: and at the same
time have taught me where power is, and in what we are to glory; not in
ourselves, nor in anything we can be, or do; but we are only to desire
that He may be glorified, either through us, or others, in our being
something or nothing, as He may see best for us."

That same year in late autumn, her dear father-in-law Fry was at
Mildred's Court, very ill; and he died there, being carefully and
tenderly nursed by his daughter-in-law. She also, at risk to her own
family, went to nurse her sister Hannah, in what turned out to be
scarlet fever, about which she says, that "she did not know what malady
it was when she went; and that she was the only sister then at liberty
to wait on her." Through God's mercy, no harm came to her own family
from being there, and no one else took the complaint. "This I consider,"
she says, "a great outward blessing. May I be enabled to give thanks,
and to prove my thankfulness by more and more endeavouring to give up
body, soul, and spirit, to the service of my beloved Master."

In February, 1809, she and her husband left Mildred's Court to occupy
the house at Plashet; to her a pleasant change from the smoke and din of
the great city. Here, her sixth child, a boy, was born in autumn of that
year. Shortly afterwards she was summoned to Earlham, where she
witnessed the death of her own father. It was a heavy blow to her, but
she had the satisfaction of finding that his mind was at peace when he
drew near his end. "He frequently expressed that he feared no evil, but
believed that, through the mercy of God in Christ, he should be received
in glory; his deep humility, and the tender and loving state he was in,
were most valuable to those around him. He encouraged us, his children,
to hold on our way; and sweetly expressed his belief that our love of
good (in the degree we had it) had been a stimulus and help to him." At
the meeting before the funeral she resolved to say nothing, but her
uncle Joseph spoke words of comfort and encouragement; and then she
could not refrain from falling on her knees, and exclaiming, "Great and
marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are all Thy
ways, Thou King of saints; be pleased to receive our thanksgiving." She
could say no more, though intending to express thankfulness on her
beloved father's account. The great tenderness of her uncle gratified
her, "and my husband," she adds, "has been a true helpmate and sweet
counsellor."




VIII.

WORK AT PLASHET.

As soon as they were settled at Plashet, Elizabeth Fry formed and
carried out various plans for the poor. She established a girls' school
for the parish of East Ham, of which Plashet is a hamlet. The clergyman
and his wife gave their help, and a school of about seventy girls was
soon busily at work. The bodily wants of the poor claimed her attention.
A depot of calico and flannel was always ready, besides outer garments.
There was a cupboard well stocked with medicines. In the winter,
hundreds of the destitute poor had the benefit of a soup kitchen, the
boiler of an outhouse being applied to this use. About half a mile off,
on the high road between Stratford and Ilford, there was a colony of
Irish, dirty and miserable, as such settlements in England usually are.
Some she induced to send their children to school, and, with the
consent of the priest, circulated the Bible among them. Once when the
weather was extremely cold, and great distress prevailed, being at the
time too delicate to walk, she went alone to Irish Row, in the carriage
literally piled with flannel petticoats for the poor women, others of
the party at Plashet walking to meet her and help in the distribution.
Her children were trained as almoners very young, and she expected them
to give an exact account of what they gave, and their reasons for
giving. She was a very zealous and practical advocate for vaccination,
having been taught by the celebrated Dr. Willan, one of the earliest and
most successful followers of Dr. Jenner.

It was an annual custom for numbers of gipsies to pitch their tents in a
green lane near Plashet, for a few days, on their way to Fairlop Fair.
The sickness of a child causing the mother to apply for relief, led
Elizabeth Fry to visit the camp; and ever after she was gladly welcomed
by the poor wanderers, to whom she gave clothing and medicines, and
friendly faithful counsel. To those who could read she gave Bibles or
Testaments, and little books or pictures to the children. Thus she ever
abounded in good works for the benefit of others. All this she did in
intervals snatched from home duties, there being in the house a constant
succession of company and employments to occupy her. For her children
she prayed that they might grow in favour with their Heavenly Father, by
walking in humility and in the fear of God.

Such was the routine of work and duty at Plashet for several years after
she went to live there. She had interruption from various illnesses in
her family, five of her children being ill at one time; at other times
overbusied with domestic duties, as many as eighteen, in addition to the
family, once sleeping at the house. At the time of the Yearly Meeting
she had to entertain many visitors in London at Mildred's Court. There
were also occasional visits to Norfolk, during one of which she took
active part in founding the Norfolk and Norwich Bible Society. The
meeting at which this was inaugurated in 1811 was a most successful one.
Old Bishop Bathurst spoke with much decision and liberality, and he was
supported by many of the clergy, and ministers of all denominations, the
Mayor of Norwich presiding. About L700 was subscribed at the meeting.
Mr. Joseph Hughes, one of the secretaries, who, with his venerable
colleague Dr. Steinkopff, arranged the meeting, in an account written of
it, speaks of "a devout address by a female minister, Elizabeth Fry,
whose manner was impressive, and whose words were so appropriate, that
none present can ever forget the incident, or even advert to it without
emotions alike powerful and pleasing. The first emotion was surprise;
the second, awe; the third, pious fervour." Such was the impression made
by the hearty words spoken by Elizabeth Fry.




IX.

FIRST SIGHT OF NEWGATE PRISON.

It was in 1813 that the attention of Elizabeth Fry was first directed to
the condition of female prisoners in Newgate. At the beginning of that
year four members of the Society of Friends had visited some persons
about to be executed. One of the visitors, William Forster, asked Mrs.
Fry if nothing could be done to alleviate the sufferings of the women,
then living in the most miserable condition. The state of the prison was
at that time disgraceful to a civilised country, even after all John
Howard's labours. There were about three hundred women, with many
children, crowded in four small rooms, badly lighted, badly ventilated,
and with no bedding or furniture. They slept on the floor, some of the
boards of which were partially raised, to supply a sort of pillow for
rest; and here, in rags and dirt, the poor creatures cooked, washed, and
lived. Prisoners, tried and untried, misdemeanants and felons, young and
old, were huddled together, without any attempt at classification, and
without any employment, and with no other superintendence than was given
by one man and his son, who had charge of them by night and by day. When
strangers appeared amongst them, there was an outburst of clamorous
begging, and any money given went at once to purchase drink from a
regular tap in the prison. There was no discipline of any sort, and very
little restraint over their communication with the outside world, beyond
what was necessary for safe custody. Oaths and bad language assailed the
ear, and every imaginable horror distressed the eye of a stranger
admitted to this pandemonium. Although military sentinels were posted on
the roof of the prison, such was the lawlessness prevailing, that even
the governor dreaded having to go to the female prisoners' quarters.

Into this scene, accompanied only by Anna Buxton, did Elizabeth Fry
enter. Nothing was at the first visit done but giving warm clothing to
the most destitute; William Forster having told of the wretchedness
caused by the severity of the cold that January of 1813. What was then
witnessed of the sad and neglected condition of these women and children
sank deeply into the heart of the visitors, and Mrs. Fry formed the
resolution to devote herself, as soon as circumstances permitted, to the
work of prison reform, and improvement of the condition of female
prisoners.

The work was not wholly new to her. When not sixteen years of age, she
was deeply interested in the House of Correction in Norwich, and by her
repeated and earnest persuasion she induced her father to allow her to
visit it. She never forgot her experience there, and she afterwards said
that it laid the foundation of her future greater work.

Several years were yet to elapse before the time came for taking up
seriously the cause of prisons. These years were crowded with events of
various kinds, both in the great world and in the little world of her
own family circle. These events caused delays which we must suppose were
needed for preparing more perfectly the instrument to be used in the
great work. Every interval of time, amidst these years of busy and
disturbed life, was occupied in some active and necessary work. There
were meetings at various places, Westminster, Norwich, and also at
Plaistow, after the removal to Plashet brought the family within its
sphere. At most of the meetings she took part, both in the worship and
in visiting the poor or the sick. Then there were family cares,
troubles, and bereavements. The loss of little Elizabeth, the seventh
child, was a sore trial, a child of much promise, and with wisdom and
goodness beyond her years, early called to a heavenly home.

Her tenth child was born on the 18th of April, 1816, for whom she thus
prayed with thanksgiving--"Be Thou pleased, O Lord God Almighty, yet to
look down upon us, and bless us; and if Thou seest meet, to bless our
loved infant, to visit it by Thy grace and Thy love; that it may be
Thine in time, and Thine to all eternity. We desire to thank Thee for
the precious gift."

After a visit to Norfolk, in consequence of the death of the only
surviving son of her uncle Joseph Gurney; and to North Runcton, where
her elder daughters were residing; and having placed her sons at school,
she came to London, to commence the great work to which she now felt she
must devote her life.




X.

PRISON WORK.

Three years had passed since the first visit to Newgate in 1813. The
determination then formed to devote her life to prison-work had been
cherished ever since, though hindrances delayed the carrying out of her
purpose. Nothing but the constraining love of Christ could have thus
induced a woman of Elizabeth Fry's position and character, a woman
delicate and in feeble health, to devote herself to labours so arduous
and painful, sacrificing personal ease and domestic comfort, for the
sake of rescuing from destruction those who were sunk in vice and in
wretchedness. But she was following the example of Him who came to seek
and to save the lost. Her labour was not in vain in the Lord, for she
succeeded not only in greatly lessening the sum of human misery, but was
enabled to bring many to the knowledge and the love of the Saviour.

[Illustration:(From the picture by J. Barrett.) MRS FRY ADDRESSES THE
FEMALE PRISONERS IN NEWGATE [Engraved by Barlow.]]

In the years of preparation for her work, she made herself acquainted
with what had been done by others. At the suggestion of her
brother-in-law, the late Samuel Hoare, she accompanied him to Coldbath
Fields House of Correction, the neglected state of which much shocked
him. She had also visited different prisons with another brother-in-law,
the late Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, at that time occupied, with other
philanthropists, in forming a Society for reformation of juvenile
criminals. The interest was thus kept alive in her mind about the women
in Newgate, whom she again went to see about the end of 1816. On this
her second visit she asked permission to be left alone among the women
for some hours. As they flocked round her, she spoke to those who were
mothers, of the miserable state of their children, dirty and almost
naked, pining for want of proper food, air, and exercise. She said she
would like to get a school for the children, to which they gladly
assented. Then, after talking kindly to many of the women, she read to
them aloud the parable of the Lord of the vineyard, in the 20th chapter
of Matthew, making a few simple comments about Christ coming, and being
ready to save sinners even at the eleventh hour, so wonderful was His
pity and mercy. A few of the listeners asked who Jesus Christ was, so
ignorant they were; others feared that their time of salvation
was passed.

About the school, she said she would do all she could to help them, and
get others to assist; only without their own help she could not
undertake anything. She told them to think and to talk over her plan for
the school, and left it to them to select a teacher or governess from
among themselves. On her next visit they had chosen as schoolmistress a
young woman, Mary Connor, recently committed for stealing a watch. An
unoccupied cell was given to her as the schoolroom by the governor of
the prison. On the next day, Mrs. Fry with a friend, Mary Sanderson
(afterwards the wife of Sylvanus Fox), went to open the school. It was
intended for children and young women under twenty-five, for from the
small size of the room they were obliged to refuse admission to many
older women who earnestly sought to share in the instruction.

The poor schoolmistress, Mary Connor, proved well qualified for her
duties. She taught with the utmost carefulness and patience, and Mrs.
Fry had the satisfaction of seeing her become one of the first-fruits of
her Christian labour in the prison. A free pardon was granted to her
about fifteen months afterwards; but it proved an unavailing gift, for a
cough, which had attacked her some time before, ended in consumption.
She displayed, during her illness, much penitence and true faith, and
she died with a good hope of pardon through her Saviour.

It was in the visits to the school, where some lady attended every day,
that the dreadful misconduct of most of the women in the female side of
the prison was witnessed, swearing, gaming, fighting, singing, dancing;
scenes so bad that it was thought right never to admit young persons
with them in going to the school. But the way in which Mrs. Fry had been
received when she went there among them alone, made her sure that much
could be done by love and kindness, in dependence on Divine help, and
with the power of the Word of God applied by the Holy Spirit.

Eleven members of the Society of Friends, with one other lady, the wife
of a clergyman, formed themselves into an Association for the
Improvement of the Female Prisoners in Newgate. The object was stated to
be "to provide for the clothing, instruction, and employment of the
women; to introduce them to a knowledge of the Holy Scriptures; and to
form in them, as much as possible, those habits of order, sobriety and
industry, which may render them docile and peaceable while in prison,
and respectable when they leave it."

The concurrence of the sheriffs, of the City magistrates, and the
officials of the prison must be obtained, and they were too glad to
grant full permission to the visitors; all of them at the same time
expressing doubt as to the success of the undertaking, on account of the
women not submitting to the restraints it would be necessary to impose.
Mrs. Fry had foreseen this, and had drawn up rules to be observed. On a
fixed date the sheriffs met some of the ladies' association at the
prison; the women were assembled, and asked by Mrs. Fry if they were
willing to abide by the rules. With a unanimous shout they assured her
of their resolution to obey them strictly.

After the adoption of the rules, a visitor to the prison would scarcely
have recognised the place or the people. A matron, partly paid by the
Corporation and partly by the associated ladies, had the women, now
first divided into classes, under her superintendence. A yards-woman
acted as porter. The prisoners, who formerly spent their time wholly in
idleness or in card-playing, were now busily at work. A visitor, who
went to see the change of which he had heard, describes his being
"ushered to the door of a ward, where at the head of a long table sat a
lady belonging to the Society of Friends. She was reading aloud to about
sixteen women prisoners, who were engaged in needle-work. They all rose
on my entrance, curtsied respectfully, and then resumed their seats and
employment. Instead of a scowl, leer, or ill-suppressed laugh, I
observed upon their countenances an air of self-respect and gravity, a
sort of consciousness of their improved character, and the altered
position in which they are placed. I afterwards visited the other wards,
which were the counterparts of the first."

In 1818 there was a House of Commons Committee, before which Mrs. Fry
gave evidence. Her statement is so remarkable as to be worth recovering
out of a long-forgotten Blue Book. In answer to questions, she told the
Committee that "There are rules, which occasionally, but very seldom,
are broken; order has been very generally observed. I think I may say we
have full power amongst them, for one of them said it was more terrible
to be brought up before me than before the judge, though I used nothing
but kindness. I have never punished a woman during the whole time, or
even proposed a punishment to them.

"With regard to our work, they have made nearly twenty thousand articles
of wearing apparel, the generality of which, being supplied by the
shops, pays very little. Excepting three out of this number of articles
that were missing (which we really do not think owing to the women), we
never lost a single thing. They knit from about 60 to 100 pairs of
stockings and socks every month, and they spin a little. The earnings of
their work, we think, average about eighteen-pence per week for each
person. This is usually spent in assisting them to live, and helping to
clothe them.

"Another very important point is the excellent effect we have found to
result from religious education; we constantly read the Scriptures to
them twice a day; many of them are taught, and some of them have been
enabled to read a little themselves. It has had an astonishing effect. I
never saw the Scriptures received in the same way, and to many of them
they have been entirely new, both the great system of religion and of
morality contained in them."




XI.

OTHER BENEFICENT WORKS.

The work so successfully accomplished in Newgate was the precursor of
similar work undertaken in other prisons, not in London only, but all
over the country. With prisons now so much better managed, and with
multitudes of workers, single or associated, striving for the welfare of
prisoners, the record of Mrs. Fry's early labours may have lost much of
its interest. But it is well to state clearly the nature of her work,
and the spirit in which it was undertaken. Nor was it only in the
interior of the prisons that her labours were carried on. At that time
the transportation of criminals to penal settlements was very largely
resorted to, and the state of convict ships was as bad as that of the
worst prisons in England. Mrs. Fry made arrangements for the classifying
of female prisoners; for obtaining superintendents and matrons; for
providing schools and work on board ship; and in many ways attending to
the welfare of the poor convicts. She used to go down to almost every
ship that left the Thames, and saw everything done that was possible for
their comfort. In one case, that of the _Wellington_ convict ship,
hearing that patchwork was an easy and profitable work, she sent quickly
to different Manchester houses in London, and got an abundance of
coloured cotton pieces. When the ship touched at Rio Janeiro, the quilts
made by the women were sold for a guinea each, which gave them money to
obtain shelter on landing, till they could get into service or find
respectable means of subsistence. The children were taught to knit, and
sew, and read; the schoolmistress and monitors being themselves chosen
from the convicts, with guarantee of reward if they continued steady.

A more public and national benefit was the assistance given by Mrs. Fry
to those who sought revision of the penal code by Parliament. Sir Samuel
Romilly, Sir James Mackintosh, the Earl of Lansdowne, Mr. Wilberforce,
all acknowledged the help obtained in their parliamentary efforts to
amend the administration of the criminal law, in the facts and the
experience supplied by her from her long and successful efforts in
prison work. The popularity acquired by her brought all manner of
persons, the very highest in Church and in State, to seek to know her
and to do her honour. Even the aged Queen Charlotte, who had never taken
much interest in philanthropic work, and had paid undue attention to
small matters of court formalism and etiquette, was melted into
admiration of what this Quaker lady had done. On the occasion of a
public ceremony at the Mansion House, the Queen asked Mrs. Fry to be
present, and paid particular attention to her. The pencil of the artist
has left a record of this scene, as well as of the meetings in Newgate,
where she is addressing the prisoners. Some years later she was
introduced to Queen Adelaide by the Duke of Sussex, and it was the
beginning of profitable intercourse with one whom she esteemed on
account of her true piety and unbounded charity. With the Duchess of
Gloucester and others in exalted position she had frequent interviews;
and also more than once visited the Duchess of Kent, and her daughter,
then the Princess Victoria. She was always glad to meet persons of rank,
hoping to be of use to them personally, and also to increase their
interest in works of charity and of mercy. But she valued above all
aristocratic or royal recognition the good opinion of earnest and
devoted Christian workers. Of many gifts which she received, few were
more prized by her than a copy of the venerated Hannah More's _Practical
Piety_, received by her on a visit to Barley Wood, in which the author
wrote the following inscription: "To Mrs. Fry, presented by Hannah More,
as a token of veneration of her heroic zeal, Christian charity, and
persevering kindness, to the most forlorn of human beings. They were
naked and she clothed them; in prison and she visited them; ignorant and
she taught them, for His sake, in His name, and by His word who went
about doing good."

Repeated visits to Ireland, to Scotland, and to different parts of
England, Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Plymouth, and the Channel
Islands, were made at different times in her latter years; forming
Prison Associations and fulfilling various engagements. In 1825 she
wrote: "My occupations are just now multitudinous. I am sensible of
being at times pressed beyond my strength of body and mind. But the day
is short, and I know not how to reject the work that comes to hand to
do." To enumerate all the good works which she originated or supported,
would require more space than a brief memoir could allow. Societies for
visiting prisons, libraries for the Coastguard men, reformatory schools
for juvenile offenders, were among the many institutions which she
established. An excellent institution at Hackney, bearing the name of
the Elizabeth Fry Refuge, for the reception of discharged female
prisoners, will long perpetuate the memory of her useful work.

In the summer of 1829, the family removed to a small but convenient
house in Upton Lane, adjoining the Ham House grounds, the residence of
her brother Samuel Gurney. In this place she passed most of her later
years, and from it she went out on her many expeditions in England or on
the Continent.




XII.

VISITS TO THE CONTINENT.

It was not till 1838, the year after the accession of Queen Victoria,
that Mrs. Fry paid her first visit to France. She saw most of the
prisons of Paris, and she had most pleasant interviews with King Louis
Philippe, the Queen, and the Duchess of Orleans. The Queen was much
pleased with the "Text Book," prepared some years before, and said she
would keep it in her pocket and use it daily. Rouen, Caen, Havre, as
well as Paris, were visited. A second journey in France, in 1839, began
at Boulogne, and thence by Abbeville to Paris. Here she again took
interest in the prisons, obtaining from the Prefect of Police leave for
Protestant ladies to visit the Protestant prisoners. Avignon, Lyons,
Nismes, Marseilles were visited, and the Protestants of the south of
France were much gratified by the meetings held at various places. With
the brothers Courtois of Toulouse they had much agreeable intercourse.
At Montauban they saw the chief "school of the prophets," where the
Protestant pastors are educated, They also went to Switzerland, enjoying
the scenery, and also the intercourse with the Duke de Broglie's
family, then at the house of the Baroness de Stael. Above a hundred
persons were invited to meet her, at the house of Colonel Trouchin, near
the Lake of Geneva. Several places were visited, and they returned by
Frankfort, Ostend, and Dover.

[Illustration: Elizabeth Fry]

In February, 1839, she was called to pay a visit to the young Queen
Victoria at Buckingham Palace. She went, accompanied by William Allen,
Lord Normanby, the Home Secretary, presenting them. The Queen asked
where they had been on the Continent. She also asked about the Chelsea
Refuge for Lads, for which she had lately sent L50. This gave
opportunity for Mrs. Fry thanking Her Majesty for her kindness, and the
short interview ended by an assurance that it was their prayer that the
blessing of God might rest on the Queen and her relatives.

In the autumn of that year she went to the Continent, with several
companions, her brother Samuel Gurney managing the travelling. They saw
Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, and the great prison of Vilvorde; Rotterdam,
Amsterdam, Pyrmont, and Hameln, where there were about four hundred
prisoners, all heavily chained. The prisons in Hanover at that time were
in deplorable condition, about which, at an interview with the Queen,
Mrs. Fry took occasion to speak.

From Hanover they went to Berlin, where a cordial welcome was received.
The Princess William, sister of the late King, was in warm sympathy with
Mrs. Fry's prison-work, and, after the death of Queen Louisa, was a
patron and a supporter of every good word and work. After Frankfort,
they went to Duesseldorf, and paid a most interesting visit to Pastor
Fliedner, at his training institution for deaconess-nurses, at
Kaiserswerth. Pastor Fliedner had witnessed the good results of Mrs.
Fry's labours at Newgate, and he had established a society called the
Rhenish Westphalian Prison Association for similar work in Germany.
Everywhere authority was given to see whatever the travellers desired,
so that this Continental journey was very prosperous and satisfactory.
They got back to England in the autumn of 1840.

In 1841 she once more went with her brother Joseph, who was going to
some of the northern countries of Europe. She knew that such a journey
would be fatiguing to a frame much enfeebled by illness and a life of
continuous exertion, but she still had an earnest desire to work for the
good of others, if it seemed the will of her Lord and Master. "I had
very decided encouragement," she says, "from Friends, particularly the
most spiritual among them;" and so, all difficulties being removed, she
started, with her brother and two young nieces.

The most interesting of all their North German experiences was visiting
the Prussian Royal Family, then in Silesia, whither, on leaving Berlin,
they had been invited to follow them. Mrs. Fry had always misgivings in
regard to her intercourse with exalted personages, chiefly, she herself
explained, lest in anything she said or did she might not "adorn the
doctrine of God her Saviour." But she was soon put at ease as to this,
on finding that she was coming to real Christians, as devoted as she was
to the service of the Master, for such there have generally been among
members of the House of Brandenburg. The King and Queen of Prussia were
at the time residing at Ermansdorf, and most of the Royal Family were
with them or in the neighbourhood. Addresses and conversations on
matters connected with prisons or with religious liberty were prominent
as usual, but the especial feature in the Silesian visit was the
intercourse with the poor Tyrolese refugees from Zillerthal, expelled
from their own country by the Austrian Government, and settled in
Silesia by the permission of the late King of Prussia. These people had
become converts from Romanism to the Reformed faith, by reading the
Bible and religious books. After much suffering, they were commanded to
quit their homes at short notice. The King of Prussia, on hearing of
this cruel edict, was willing to receive them all, and gave them a new
home in the domain of Ermansdorf, which they called Zillerthal, after
their native village. The Countess Reden, an excellent Christian lady,
was authorised to do everything for their comfort. She had cottages
built in the true Tyrolese style, with balconies and all the
picturesqueness of Swiss chalets. Schools were established, and every
means taken to benefit the exiled families. The good Countess Reden
arranged for Mrs. Fry meeting the Zillerthallers, who came in their
national costume, and heard words of kind and earnest counsel from the
English lady. A Moravian brother was brought a distance of forty miles
to be interpreter.




XIII.

IN LONDON AND IN PARIS

Not long afterwards Mrs. Fry's greatly enfeebled health compelled her
return to England. She landed at Dover on the 2nd of October. After a
short stay at Ramsgate with her husband and some of her family, she was
taken to Norfolk. There she received letters from the Countess Reden,
giving most gratifying tidings of the impressions made by her visit, and
of the practical reforms in prisons, effected by royal order since her
visit to Prussia. The chaplain of the great prison at Jauer stated that
above two hundred Bibles and Prayer-books had been purchased by the
prisoners out of their small earnings.

In the winter of 1841, a succession of family events from time to time
occupied her attention, her strength gradually improving, till at the
beginning of 1842 she again took part in public proceedings. Sir John
Pirie was Lord Mayor that year, and Lady Pirie had been a most valued
helper of Mrs. Fry in the cause of prison reform. They were anxious to
give her an opportunity, at the Mansion House, of bringing her influence
to bear on persons of position, and Sir John invited Prince Albert to
dine there, with the most prominent members of the Government.

It was in this year the King of Prussia made a state visit to England,
and the marked attention he showed to Mrs. Fry was much noticed. He went
to meet her at Newgate, and he also insisted on going to Upton to
dinner, where Mrs. Fry presented to the King her husband, eight
daughters and daughters-in-law, seven sons, and twenty-five
grandchildren, with other relatives, Gurneys, Buxtons, and Pellys--an
English family scene much enjoyed by the Prussian guest. Other visits
are described in her Journals, to the Queen Dowager, the Duchess of
Kent, the Duchess of Gloucester, and others of the Royal Family; having
interesting conversations about "our dear young Queen, Prince Albert,
and their little ones; about our foreign journey, the King of the
Belgians, and other matters." She often used to say she preferred
visiting prisons to visiting palaces, and going to the poor rather than
the rich, yet she felt it her duty to "drop a word in season" in high
places, and at the same time to be "kept humble, watchful, and faithful
to her Lord."

After the fatigues of the Continental and London season, she was glad in
the summer to occupy the house of her brother-in-law Mr. Hoare at
Cromer, and when there she saw much of the residents at Northrepps Hall,
The Cottage, and other places famed far and wide for their philanthropic
associations.

She got home to Upton Lane, and spent the winter there. The most
noticeable event mentioned is her meeting at dinner Lord Ashley, at her
son's house. "He is a very interesting man; devoted to promoting the
good of mankind, and suppressing evil--quite a Wilberforce, I think."
Such was her opinion of the good Earl of Shaftesbury in his early days.

In the spring of 1843, feeling her health to be somewhat restored, she
surprised her friends by announcing her wish to visit Paris again, to
complete works of usefulness formerly initiated there. More than once
she saw the widowed Duchess of Orleans at the Tuilleries, the only other
person present being her stepmother the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg,
"an eminently devoted pious woman," by whom the Duchess of Orleans had
been brought up from childhood. They spoke much about the children of
the House of Orleans, and "the importance of their education being early
founded in Christian faith;" a desire which may be re-echoed in another
generation. Another important series of interviews was with M. Guizot,
then the chief statesman of France. Altogether the last visit to Paris
was a pleasant and useful expedition.




XIV.

LAST YEARS.

The end was now drawing nigh--the end of her busy, useful life. In June,
1843, Elizabeth Fry attended the Quarterly Meeting at Hertford, the last
time she left home expressly on religious service. She felt it her duty,
she said, "to encourage the weary, and to stir up to greater diligence
the servants of the Lord, who uses weak and foolish instruments for His
work," yet who is "made unto His people, wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption."

Symptoms of increasing feebleness led to her removal that autumn from
her home at Upton Lane, to various places, Sandgate, Tunbridge Wells,
and Bath, in hope of recovering her strength. But she knew that her time
for active service was over. She frequently said to those about her, "I
feel the foundation underneath me sure." Her concern was not about
herself, but about those near and dear to her.

One of the last entries in her Journal is this: "I do earnestly entreat
Thee, that to the very last I may never deny Thee, or in any way have my
life or conversation inconsistent with my love to Thee and most earnest
desire to live to Thy glory; for I have loved Thee, O Lord, and desired
to serve Thee without reserve. Be entreated, that through Thy
faithfulness, and the power of Thy own Spirit, I may serve Thee unto the
end. Amen."

The year 1844 was one of much trial and affliction. Her husband's only
sister died of consumption on July 2nd; a grandson of much promise was
taken off at the age of twelve by the same disease towards the end of
July; in August and September her second son and two of his young
daughters were rapidly carried off by malignant scarlet fever. In the
spring of the following year the death of her brother-in-law, Sir Thomas
Fowell Buxton, excited her tenderest feelings. In fact, there was a
succession of bereavements, which caused her to say in her Journal,
"Sorrow upon Sorrow!" and after writing the long list of deaths, she
closes the entry with these words "O gracious Lord! bless and sanctify
to us all this afflicting trial, and cause it to work for our
everlasting good; and be very near to the widow and the fatherless; and
may we all be drawn nearer to Thee, and Thy kingdom of rest and peace,
where there will be no more sin, sickness, death, and sorrow."

As to her own health, she rallied a little after returning home from
Bath, but it was thought well to move from place to place for change of
air, and for the pleasure of communion with loved friends. The beginning
of 1845 saw her again in Norfolk, her husband and her daughter taking
her to Earlham, where she enjoyed, for several weeks, the companionship
of her brother, Joseph John Gurney, his wife, and other relatives. She
went frequently to Meeting at Norwich, drawn in her wheeled chair, and
thence ministering with wonderful life and power to those present.

The Annual Meeting of the British Ladies Society, an excellent
organisation for visiting and caring for female convicts, although
usually held at Westminster, was this year held in the Friends'
meeting-house at Plaistow. After the meeting, which she had addressed
several times in a sitting posture, she invited those present to come to
her home, and it was felt that her affectionate words at parting were
probably the last they would hear from her in this world.

As the year passed, it was thought that the air of the south coast might
be useful, and the house at Ramsgate, Arklow House, which proved her
last abode, was prepared for her. Her bed-chamber adjoined the
drawing-room, with pleasant views of the sea, in which she delighted.
While driving in the country, or being wheeled to the pier in a
Bath-chair, she still strove to be useful, distributing Bibles and
tracts, accompanied with a few words of kindly exhortation. Thus she was
employed till the close of her days in work for the Master. She
lingered, with gradual decay; and passed away, after a few days' illness
which confined her to bed, on the morning of the 13th of October, 1845,
in her 66th year. The last words she was heard to articulate, were "O
dear Lord, help and keep Thy servant."

There was much sorrow when she had ended her useful life; and when she
was taken to Barking for interment, a great number of people assembled,
and a solemn meeting was held. But far beyond any local gathering, her
example will continue to speak, through all the ages, and in many a
land. There are many workers in our time in every branch of Christian
usefulness, but the name and the work of Elizabeth Fry will be for ever
remembered.

JAMES MACAULAY, M.D.




SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON

Lady Selina Shirley, afterwards Countess of Huntingdon, was born August
24, 1707. She died June 17, 1791. Hence her long and useful life
extended over almost the whole of the eighteenth century. She witnessed
the rise of the great evangelical revival, which, beginning with the
Holy Club at Oxford, gradually spread over the United Kingdom and the
English colonies in America. For half a century she was a central figure
in that great religious movement which affected so deeply all classes of
the community, consecrating her position, her means, her influence to
the glory and the extension of His kingdom.




I.

EARLY YEARS.

Lady Selina Shirley was the second of the three daughters of Washington
Shirley, who in 1717 succeeded to the Earldom of Ferrars, being the
second to bear that title. She was born at Stanton Harold, a country
seat near Ashby de la Zouch, in Leicestershire. At a very early age she
gave evidence of intelligence above the average, of a retentive memory,
and of a clear and strong understanding. She manifested when but on the
threshold of womanhood that sound common sense and keen insight into
character and the true bearing of affairs which distinguished her so
pre-eminently in mature and late life. She was serious by temperament,
and when at the age of nine years she happened to meet the funeral
cortege of a child the same age as herself, she was attracted to the
burial, and used afterwards to trace her first abiding sense of the
eternal world to the profound impressions produced upon her mind by that
service. In after life she frequently visited that grave. She was
earnest in her study of the Bible, much given to meditation, and at
times almost oppressed by her convictions of the certainty and duration
of a future state. By her station and education she was compelled to go
out into society, and to take her place in circles in which religion was
as far as possible ignored. But her prayer was that she might not marry
into a frivolous, pleasure-seeking family.

On June 3, 1728, she became the wife of Theophilus, the ninth Earl of
Huntingdon, who resided at Donnington Park. This proved a happy union,
and even if, in later life, her husband was not always able fully to
share her beliefs and sympathise with her actions, he never threw any
obstacles in her way.




II.

HER CONVERSION.

At Donnington Park the Countess began the kindly and charitable deeds
for which she afterwards became so noted. Her religious feelings were
strong, and she strove earnestly to discharge fully her responsibilities
to both God and man. And yet, as she afterwards came clearly to see, she
was ignorant of the true nature of the Gospel, and she was attempting,
by strict adherence to prayer, meditation, right living, and charitable
action, to justify herself in the sight of God. But, all unknown to her,
the mighty religious awakening begun at Oxford in 1729, and publicly
preached in 1738 by Whitefield and the Wesleys, was destined to be the
cause of her spiritual awakening also. Lady Margaret Hastings and Lady
Betty Hastings, the Earl of Huntingdon's sisters, had come at Oxford
under the influence of the Methodist movement. While on a visit at
Ledstone Hall, in Yorkshire, they received great blessing under the
preaching of Benjamin Ingham, a well-known member of the Holy Club, whom
in 1741 Lady Margaret married. They both received the truth as it is in
Jesus, and were led by the influence of the Holy Spirit to labour and
pray for the salvation of their relatives and friends. In talking with
her sister-in-law one day, Lady Margaret affirmed "that since she had
known and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ for life and salvation she
had been as happy as an angel."

These words depicted an experience so different from her own that they
exerted a very abiding influence upon Lady Huntingdon's thoughts. She
felt her need, she was conscious of sin, and yet the more she strove to
attain salvation the further she seemed removed from it. "A dangerous
illness having, soon after, brought her to the brink of the grave, the
fear of death fell terribly upon her, and her conscience was greatly
distressed. She now perceived that she had beguiled herself with
prospects of a visionary nature; was entirely blinded to her own real
character; had long placed her happiness in mere chimaeras, and grounded
her vain hopes upon imaginary foundations. It was to no purpose that she
reminded herself of the morality of her conduct; in vain did she
recollect the many encomiums that had been passed upon her early piety
and virtue. Her best righteousness now appeared to be but 'filthy rags,'
which, so far from justifying her before God, increased her
condemnation. When upon the point of perishing, in her own apprehension,
the words of Lady Margaret returned strongly to her recollection, and
she felt an earnest desire, renouncing every other hope, to cast herself
wholly upon Christ for life and salvation. From her bed she lifted up
her heart to her Saviour, with this important prayer, and immediately
all her distress and fears were removed, and she was filled with peace
and joy in believing.... Her disorder from that moment took a favourable
turn; she was restored to perfect health, and, what was better, to
newness of life. She determined thenceforward to present herself to God,
as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable, which she was now convinced
was her reasonable service.... No sooner was her heart surrendered to
God, and her alienated affections restored to their original claimant,
than outward fruits appeared in her conversation: her renovation
introduced new light into her understanding, and new desires into her
heart and affections, and produced its effect upon her temper; not
wholly to eradicate its constitutional peculiarity, but to sanctify and
render it subservient to the glory of God and the good of souls." [1]

The Countess on recovering from her illness, hearing that John and
Charles Wesley were preaching near by, sent them a message wishing them
God-speed and testifying to her own purpose to live entirely for the
Saviour who had died for her. Her friends failing in their attempt to
persuade her husband to exert his influence against what they considered
fanaticism, enlisted the aid of Dr. Benson, Bishop of Gloucester, who
had been Lord Huntingdon's teacher. But the bishop, as many another in
later days, found that the Countess was fully equal to giving cogent
reasons for her faith and practice. It was he who had ordained
Whitefield, and to the latter the bishop ascribed the change in her
opinion. So far from accepting the bishop's view, the Countess urged
home upon him her opinion of _his_ duty, enforcing her argument with
such apt quotations from the Bible, the Articles, and the Homilies, that
at length he left her presence openly regretting the fact that he had
ever laid his hands upon Whitefield's head. "My Lord," was the last word
of the Countess, "mark my words: when you are on your dying bed that
will be one of the few ordinations you will reflect upon with
complacence." It is pleasing to know that when on his death-bed in 1752,
this prelate sent to Whitefield, and asked to be remembered in
his prayers.

[Footnote 1: _The Life and Times of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon_,
vol. 1. pp. 14, 15.]




III.

HELP IN THE WORK OF WESLEY AXD WHITEFIELD.

Although in 1738 and 1739 Wesley and his followers frequented the
Moravian meeting-house in Neville's Court, Fetter Lane, the first home
of organised Methodism in London was the Foundry in Moorfields. Lady
Huntingdon had identified herself with the Methodists, and thus was
enabled to exert great influence upon a movement, small at first, but
soon fraught with most potent consequences, the employment by Wesley of
lay evangelistic agency. Wesley had already allowed some of his lay
helpers to expound, but not to preach. Yet here, as in his strong desire
to keep the Methodist movement within the borders of the Established
Church, he was to find that his personal view, if enforced, would hinder
the work which was so manifestly of God, and with his clear common sense
he at once gave way. During 1739 Lady Huntingdon had frequently heard
Thomas Maxfield pray, and, according to her biographer, it was at her
suggestion that he began to expound the Scriptures. Wesley had been
summoned from London, and no clergyman being available at that moment,
he left Maxfield in charge, to pray with the members of the society and
to give them such helpful advice as he could. In a letter to Wesley,
written either at the close of 1739 or the beginning of 1740, Lady
Huntingdon writes of Maxfield: "He is one of the greatest instances of
God's peculiar favour that I know: he is raised from the stones to sit
amongst the princes of His people. The first time I made him expound,
expecting little from him, I sat over against him and thought what a
power of God must be with him to make _me_ give any attention to him.
But before he had gone over one-fifth part, any one that had seen me
would have thought I had been made of wood or stone; so quite immovable
I both felt and looked. His power in prayer is quite extraordinary."

The border line between such expounding and preaching is very narrow,
and it is hardly to be wondered at that Maxfield soon found that he was
not only preaching, but doing so with the most true and certain warrant
of fitness for the office--souls were being born again under his
ministrations. On hearing such unexpected tidings, Wesley hurried back
to London, and entering his house next door to the Foundry with clouded
face, replied to his mother's question as to the cause, "Thomas Maxfield
has turned preacher, I find." Great was his surprise to receive the
rejoinder, "Take care what you do with respect to that young man, for he
is as surely called of God to preach as you are." Such testimony from
such a source could not fail to move John Wesley. He wisely heard for
himself, and expressed his judgment in the words of Scripture--"It is
the Lord: let Him do what seemeth Him good."

Thus Methodism passed through what might have been its first great
crisis. Thus it equipped itself to keep pace with the ever-increasing
claims of its work. The quick spiritual insight of Lady Huntingdon
recognised both the need and the fitness of the hitherto
unrecognised worker.

One of the first members of the noble band of itinerating preachers thus
called into the active exercise of their spiritual gifts was David
Taylor, a servant in Lord Huntingdon's household, who did much fruitful
evangelistic work in the villages surrounding Donnington Park. It was
this man who stood by John Wesley's side when the drunken curate of
Epworth refused him admission to what had been his father's pulpit, and
who announced to the congregation as they left the church that in the
afternoon Wesley would preach in the graveyard. And there that same
afternoon Wesley, standing upon his father's tombstone, preached to a
congregation, the like of which Epworth had never seen before, the first
of a series of sermons that afterwards became famous.

Having thus aided one of the brothers during a critical administrative
stage, Lady Huntingdon shortly afterwards was of great service to the
other in a crisis of spiritual experience. Soon after the organisation
of the first Methodist Society, the "still" heresy developed among the
Moravian members of the Fetter Lane Chapel. This was the view, "that
believers had nothing to do with ordinances--were not subject to
them--and ought to be _still_; that they ought to leave off the means of
grace, and not go to church; not to communicate; not to search the
Scriptures; not to use private prayer till they had living faith; and to
be _still_ till they had it." [1] Wesley used all his influence and all
his persuasive power to counteract these opinions, but without avail. At
length he decided to sever all connection with those who insisted upon
acting in accordance with them, and removed Methodism to the Foundry.
Charles Wesley at first went cordially with his brother, but at a later
date he ceased attending the Foundry, and manifested signs of a desire
to return to Fetter Lane. Lady Huntingdon, for whose views he
entertained feelings of the deepest respect, remonstrated with him, and
in conjunction with John Wesley's efforts kept him from a step that
might have proved fatal to his further usefulness. In a letter written
to John Wesley in October, 1741, Lady Huntingdon writes: "Since you left
us the _still ones_ are not without their attacks. I fear much more for
your brother than for myself, as the conquest of the one would be
nothing to the other.... I comfort myself very much that you will
approve a step with respect to them your brother and I have taken. No
less than his declaring open war with them.... Your brother is also to
give his reasons for quite separating. I have great faith God will not
let him fall; He will surely have mercy on him, and not on him only, for
many would fall with him."

[Footnote 1: _Life and Times of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon_, vol. 1.
p. 36.]




IV.

FAMILY BEREAVEMENTS.

Lady Huntingdon at this period of her life was called upon to endure
some very heavy domestic griefs. She had to mourn for two of her sons,
George, aged thirteen, and Fernando, aged eleven, who died of small-pox.
They were both buried in Westminster Abbey. On October 13, 1746, she
lost her husband, who was carried off by an apoplectic seizure, in his
fiftieth year. The Countess had only just passed her thirty-ninth
birthday when this last great sorrow came upon her. She herself was at
the same time tried by a long and severe illness. The effect of these
repeated and heavy afflictions was to further develop her character, and
to increase the devotion and self-sacrifice with which she gave herself
to works of benevolence and to the extension of the Saviour's kingdom.
On Lord Huntingdon's death, besides having entire control of her own
means, she became sole trustee of the children and their fortune. In
regard to the latter she proved herself a good steward; the former she
devoted very largely to the evangelistic and charitable work in which
she delighted.

Early in 1747 she wrote to Dr. Doddridge: "I hope you will comfort me by
all the accounts you can gather of the flourishing and spreading of the
glad tidings. Oh, how do I lament the weakness of my hands, the
feebleness of my knees, and coolness of my heart! I want it on fire
always, not for self-delight, but to spread the Gospel from pole to
pole." And in other letters: "My heart wants nothing so much as to
dispense _all_--_all_ for the glory of Him whom my soul loveth." "I am
nothing--Christ is all; I disclaim, as well as disdain, any
righteousness but His. I not only rejoice that there is no wisdom for
His people but that from above, but reject every pretension to any but
what comes from Himself. I want no holiness He does not give me, and I
could not accept a heaven He did not prepare me for; I can wish for no
liberty but what He likes for me, and I am satisfied with every misery
He does not redeem me from; that in all things I may feel that without
Him I can do nothing.... To preach Christ and His blessing upon
repentance over the earth is the commission--the event must be with
Him--all else is from man and of man. May the Lord give us all such
love, to live and die to Him and for Him alone."

At a later period in life, May, 1763, she sustained another serious
bereavement in the loss of her youngest daughter. Although only
twenty-six years of age, she had long been a great comfort to her
mother, who, writing after her death, called her "the desire of my eyes
and the continual pleasure of my heart." Many were the letters of
sympathy she received from Venn, Berridge, Romaine, Fletcher, and
others; but it was a loss that could not be replaced. But it could and
it did help to purify still more the loving and trusting heart which
could see, even as Fletcher urged, in so sore a trial, "mercy rejoicing
over judgment." One of the sayings of her daughter on that death-bed
must often have come to the mother's mind in later days, "I am as happy
as my heart can desire to be."




V.

WHITEFIELD AS LADY HUNTINGDON'S CHAPLAIN.

Prior to 1744, the date of Whitefield's first voyage to the American
colonies, the Countess had made his acquaintance, and had often heard
him preach. She, in common with multitudes of her contemporaries, had
come under the extraordinary spell of his pulpit oratory. In 1748, after
a four years' absence in North America, Whitefield returned to England,
and at her request Howel Harris, the famous Welsh evangelist, brought
the great preacher to Lady Huntingdon's house in Chelsea. In a reply to
a letter sent the next day, conveying the request that he would come
again, as "several of the nobility desired to hear him," Whitefield
wrote, August 21, 1748: "How wonderfully does our Redeemer deal with
souls! If they will hear the Gospel only under a ceiled roof, ministers
shall be sent to them there. If only in a church or a field, they shall
have it there. A word in the lesson, when I was last at your Ladyship's,
struck me, 'Paul preached privately to those who were of reputation.'
This must be the way, I presume, of dealing with the nobility who yet
know not the Lord. Oh, that I may be enabled, When called to preach to
any of them, so to preach as to win their souls to the blessed Jesus! I
know that you will pray that it may be so."

Thus began the series of drawing-room services which were attended by
so many of those who were high in rank, and at which some of the most
famous incidents in Whitefield's career occurred. At these services the
Word of God often found an entrance into worldly hearts, and once and
again Whitefield tried to win for the Saviour such men as Chesterfield
and Bolingbroke. Lady Huntingdon made him one of her chaplains, and in
order to afford greater facilities for this special work, she removed
from Chelsea to a house in Park Street, and for six weeks Whitefield
carried on these special services, in addition to all his other work.
When, for his own spiritual refreshment, he left London for an
evangelistic tour to Bristol, Exeter, and Plymouth, this special work
was continued by John and Charles Wesley, and several of their
fellow-workers.

The young Earl of Huntingdon came of age in 1750, and the Countess gave
up Donnington Park to him, removing her household to Ashby, living there
with her other children and two of the Ladies Hastings. Towards the
close of 1749 Whitefield desired, if possible, with the aid of Lady
Huntingdon, to organise the vast numbers who had been greatly blessed by
his evangelistic work, into a corporate body, like that which the clear,
practical wisdom of John Wesley had created for the societies which
looked up to him as leader. Whitefield had already seriously differed
from Wesley on the tenets of Calvinism and much trouble was to ensue in
after years from a renewal of the controversy between the two sections,
Calvinistic and Arminian Methodism. Lady Huntingdon seems to have been
attracted by Whitefield's wish and plan; though it was not at this time
destined to bear fruit. But early in 1750 she exerted herself, and with
success, to bring about a renewal of thoroughly friendly relations
between the two great leaders. On January 19 and 26, 1750, Whitefield
and Wesley took part in combined services; Wesley reading prayers and
Whitefield preaching on the former, these respective functions being
reversed on the latter date. Until Whitefield's death this harmony was
never again broken.

At this period Whitefield paid several visits to Ashby. Here and in
London he had fellowship with Dr. Doddridge, whose MS., "from
Corinthians to Ephesians," of _The Family Expositor_, was nearly
consumed by fire at Ashby; Hervey, the author of that well-known book of
which so many have heard but so few have read, _Meditations among the
Tombs_; Madan, a lawyer who, going to hear John Wesley, in order that he
might mimic him before his companions, listened to a sermon on the text,
"Prepare to meet thy God," was converted by it, and upon his return,
said in reply to the question, "Have you taken off the old Methodist?"
"No, gentlemen, but he has taken me off!" and from that day devoted
himself to the service of God; Moses Browne, afterwards Vicar of Olney,
and many others.

"Good Lady Huntingdon," he wrote from Ashby, "goes on acting the part of
'a mother in Israel' more and more. For a day or two she has had five
clergymen under her roof, which makes her Ladyship look like a good
archbishop with his chaplains around him. Her house is a Bethel; to us
in the ministry it looks like a college. We have the sacrament every
morning, heavenly conversation all day, and preach at night: this is to
live at Court indeed."

Lady Huntingdon's London house continued for very many years to be a
centre of evangelistic effort on behalf of many of the highest rank and
social status in the capital. In addition to Whitefield, John and
Charles Wesley, Romaine, Madan, Venn, and others preached. Among those
who were converted by these sermons were the wife and sister of Lord
Chesterfield; the latter, Lady Gertrude Hotham, opening her house for
the preaching of the Gospel. Lady Huntingdon was no recluse.
Uncompromising as she was in every matter where religious principle was
involved, she was always ready to avail herself of the true privileges
of pleasure which her rank and position enabled her to enjoy. In this
way she cultivated the acquaintance of many of the distinguished
personages of her time. She was fond of music, and in early life had
become acquainted with Handel. In the closing years of the great
composer, the intimacy was renewed, and not long before his death she
paid him a visit, of which she has left this account: "I have had a most
pleasing interview with Handel, an interview which I shall not soon
forget. He is now old, and at the close of his long career; yet he is
not dismayed at the prospect before him. Blessed be God for the comforts
and consolations which the Gospel affords in every situation and in
every time of our need! Mr. Madan has been with him often, and he seems
much attached to him." With Giardini also, whose skill on the violin was
at that time the theme of universal admiration, Lady Huntingdon was well
acquainted. He often played at concerts of sacred music given at her
house, and those of Lady Gertrude Hotham and Lady Chesterfield. At the
request of the Countess he composed tunes for some of the hymns in
frequent use at her chapels, thus giving Horace Walpole occasion to
remark, "It will be a great acquisition to the Methodist sect to have
their hymns set by Giardini." Tomaso Giordani, another Italian, composed
at her request the old familiar tune "Cambridge," for the hymn in the
Countess's book commencing, "Father, how wide Thy glory shines!"




VI.

LADY HUNTINGDON'S CHAPELS.

From the appointment of Whitefield as her chaplain, Lady Huntingdon took
a commanding position in the development of that section of Methodism
which looked rather to Whitefield than to Wesley as its leader, and
which held Calvinistic views. Around the Countess gradually gathered
such fellow-workers as Romaine, Venn, Toplady, Fletcher of Madeley, and
many others equally with them aflame with love for the perishing souls
of men. Religion having become largely a mere matter of outward form
where it was not wholly ignored, great numbers of the clergy being both
ignorant of the true nature of the Gospel and very unwilling that others
should preach it, Lady Huntingdon was led to establish chapels in
different parts of Great Britain. In some parts she rented buildings; in
others she built chapels; and gradually a considerable number of places
of worship, largely originated by her, and almost wholly sustained by
her, came into being. She herself always wished these to remain
connected with the Church of England. She endeavoured to keep their
pulpits supplied with clergymen of her way of thinking, and for a time
succeeded. But the growth of the work early led her to apply the free
agency of lay preachers; and later in life the refusal of the Church of
England, upheld by the Courts, to consider her action legal in
considering them to belong to the Established Church, drove her in
self-defence to constitute her chapels into a connexion with a legal
standing and rights. The hostility on the part of many within the
Established Church of the eighteenth century, to true New Testament
ministry and practice, on the one hand expelled the Wesleyans from the
National Church, and on the other compelled Lady Huntingdon to add one
more to the dissenting bodies.

The most noted of the churches which thus came into being were those at
Brighton, Bath, and Spa Fields. The first named stood upon the site in
North Street, now occupied by a later, larger, and more ornate
structure. Whitefield visited Brighton, first preaching there in the
open air in 1759. This led to the formation of a Christian Society, and
in 1761 Lady Huntingdon built a chapel, to defray the cost of which she
sold her jewels, realising in this way the sum of nearly L700. The
building was opened in 1761, Martin Madan conducting the first services,
and being immediately succeeded by such notable preachers as Romaine,
Berridge, Venn, and Fletcher.

Lady Huntingdon's connection with Bath began as early as 1739, and for
the next twenty-five years she was frequently in that fashionable
resort; but it was not until 1765 that she bought the land and
established the famous Vineyards Chapel. On October 6, 1765, the chapel
was dedicated, and Whitefield preached the first sermon. "Though a wet
day," he wrote, "the place was very full, and assuredly the Great
Shepherd and Bishop of souls consecrated and made it holy ground by His
presence." Romaine and Fletcher often preached at Bath in the early
months of the chapel's history, and the latter thus referred to his
ministry: "This place is the seat of Satan's gaudy throne; the Lord
hath, nevertheless, a few names here, who are not ashamed of Him, and of
whom He is not ashamed, both among the poor and among the rich."

It was in this chapel that there was the noted "Nicodemus Corner," a
seat carefully shrouded from the public gaze, where sometimes a nobleman
and sometimes a bishop heard the goodness of the Gospel.

In this connection may be quoted the following anecdote, given in the
Life of Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, who visited Bath with her mother in
1788. She writes:--

"My mother grew better, she frequently took me with her to the Pump
Room, and she sometimes told me anecdotes of those she had seen there
when a child. On one occasion, when the room was thronged with
company--and at that time the visitors of Bath were equally
distinguished for rank and fashion--a simple, humble woman, dressed in
the severest garb of the Society of Friends, walked into the midst of
the assembly and began an address to them on the vanity and follies of
the world, and the insufficiency of dogmatic without spiritual religion.
The company seemed taken by surprise, and their attention was arrested
for a few moments; as the speaker proceeded, and spoke more and more
against the customs of the world, signs of disapprobation appeared.
Amongst those present was one lady with a stern yet high-toned
expression of countenance, her air was distinguished; she sat erect, and
listened intently to the speaker. The impatience of the hearers soon
became unrestrained. As the Quaker spoke of giving up the world and its
pleasures, hisses, groans, beating of sticks, and cries of 'Down, down!'
burst from every quarter. Then the lady I have described arose with
dignity, and slowly passing through the crowd, where a passage was
involuntarily opened to her, she went up to the speaker, and thanked
her, in her own name and in that of all present, for the faithfulness
with which she had borne testimony to the truth. The lady added, 'I am
not of your persuasion, nor has it been my belief that our sex are
generally deputed to be public teachers; but God who gives the rule can
make the exception, and He has indeed put it in the hearts of all His
children to honour and venerate fidelity to His commission. Again I
gratefully thank you.' Side by side with the Quaker she walked to the
door of the Pump Room, and then resumed her seat. This lady was the
celebrated Countess of Huntingdon." [1]

[Footnote 1: _Autobiography of Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck_, vol. 1. pp.
89, 90.]




VII.

THE COLLEGE AT TREVECCA AND CHESHUNT.

So rapidly did places of worship multiply under the Countess's fostering
care, that very shortly after the opening of the Vineyards at Bath, the
question of supplying preachers for their pulpits became so pressing
that finally the scheme of founding a college for the training of
suitable preachers took definite shape. Lady Huntingdon had already
contributed liberally to Western College, Plymouth, Brecon College, and
Dr. Doddridge's Academy at Northampton. She held much consultation with
her most trusted advisers, Whitefield, Wesley, Venn, Romaine, and
others. All were favourable except Berridge, who, although "the most
dubious man in the world about his own judgment," yet wrote, "Will not
Jesus choose, and teach, and send forth His ministering servants now, as
He did the disciples aforetime; and glean them up when, and where, and
how He pleaseth? The world says no, because they are strangers to a
Divine commission and a Divine teaching. And what if these asses blunder
about the Master's meaning for a time, and mistake it often, as they did
formerly? No great harm will ensue, provided they are kept from paper
and ink, or from a white wall and charcoal."

In 1768 Lady Huntingdon fixed upon an old mansion at Trevecca in
Brecknockshire, as the home of the new experiment. Her relations with
Welsh evangelistic work had long been close and helpful, and by means of
Howel Harris, Trevecca had become familiar to her. Fletcher of Madeley
was appointed President, although he was not to reside there
permanently; and Joseph Easterbrook resident tutor. Students soon began
to appear, the first on the roll being in all probability James
Glazebrook, a collier in Fletcher's parish. To Fletcher the Countess had
sent the circular describing what she wished the college to be, and
asking him, in common with all her ministerial friends, whether he could
recommend any suitable persons as students. He replied: "After having
perused the articles and looked round about me, I designed to answer
your Ladyship that out of this Galilee ariseth no prophet. With this
resolution I went to bed, but in my sleep was much taken up with the
thought and remembrance of one of my young colliers who told me some
months ago that for four years he had been inwardly persuaded that he
should be called to speak for God. I looked upon the unusual impression
of my dream as a call to speak to the young man, and at waking designed
to do so at the first opportunity. To my great surprise he came to
Madeley that very morning, and I found upon inquiry that he had been as
much drawn to come as I to speak to him."

The man who in this remarkable way secured the recommendation and
interest of Fletcher was the first of what is now the long roll of good
and useful men whom the college has sent forth into the evangelical
ministry at home and into the great mission field of the world.

Trevecca House was formally opened and dedicated as a theological
college on August 24, 1768, the anniversary of the birthday of the
foundress. Whitefield preached the sermon, choosing as his text Exodus
xx. 24, "In all places where I record My name, I will come unto thee and
bless thee." The next Sunday he addressed a congregation of some
thousands gathered in the courtyard of the college, from the words,
"Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is
Jesus Christ."

From its foundation the college has combined both the literary and
theological training. While estimating literary and theological learning
at a very high value, the aim has always been first and foremost to
train earnest spiritual evangelistic preachers. The college has been
almost as much a home as a seminary. The students have always resided
within its walls, enjoying intimate relationship with each other, and
friendly intercourse with the principal. Lady Huntingdon made the
college in a very real sense her home, and the institution has never
lost the impress of her own fervent piety and the saintly benediction
bestowed upon it by Fletcher.

From the very beginning the students combined regular preaching, either
in the village near Trevecca, or in the pulpits of the Countess's
chapels, with the prescribed courses of study. The college prospered at
once, and even Berridge bestowed his characteristic blessing upon it. "I
am glad to hear of the plentiful effusion from above on Talgarth. Jesus
has now baptized your college, and thereby shown His approbation of the
work. You may therefore rejoice, but rejoice with trembling. Faithful
labourers may be expected from thence; but if it is Christ's college, a
Judas will certainly be found among them."

Mr. Easterbrook's stay at Trevecca was brief. He left early in 1769,
and was succeeded, on John Wesley's recommendation, by Joseph Benson,
afterwards so eminent in the Methodist movement, and the biographer of
Fletcher. But prior to his coming into residence the first anniversary
was held, and the occasion was utilised for the holding of a series of
very remarkable services. From August 20-23 crowds of people flocked to
hear sermons twice daily in the courtyard by Shirley, Fletcher,
Rowlands, Peter Williams, Howel Harris, and others. On August 24, 1769,
John Wesley administered the sacrament to his fellow-ministers, the
students, the Countess and her household. At ten o'clock "Mr. Fletcher
preached an exceedingly lively sermon in the court; when he had finished
William Williams preached in Welsh till about two o'clock. At two they
all dined with Lady Huntingdon; and baskets of bread and meat were
distributed among the people in the court, many of whom had come from a
great distance. Public service commenced again at three o'clock, when
Mr. Wesley preached in the court, then Mr. Fletcher; about five the
congregation was dismissed." "Truly," wrote Lady Huntingdon, "our God
was in the midst of us, and many felt Him eminently nigh. The gracious
influence of the Spirit seemed to rest on every soul."

Although Fletcher did not reside at Trevecca, he frequently visited it
during the first three years of its history. "Being convinced that to be
filled with the Holy Ghost was a better qualification for the ministry
of the Gospel than any classical learning (although that too be useful
in its place), after speaking awhile in the schoolroom, he used
frequently to say, 'As many of you as are athirst for this fulness of
the Spirit, follow me into my room.' On this many of them have instantly
followed him, and there continued for two or three hours, wrestling like
Jacob for the blessing."

Lady Huntingdon spent much of her time at Trevecca, and for some years
bore the entire cost of the college, expending upon it from L500 to L600
a year. The lease of the property at Trevecca expired within a few
months of the Countess's death in 1791, and it having become imperative
to find a new location, the college was in 1792 removed to Cheshunt in
Hertfordshire, about twelve miles from London, where it has ever since
continued to flourish.

During the century and a quarter of its existence Cheshunt College has
rendered good service to the Church of Christ. Among the students
educated at Trevecca were such men as John Clayton of the Weigh House
Chapel, Roby of Manchester, and Matthew Wilks of the Tabernacle. The
longer roll of those who entered after 1792 contains such names as
Joseph Sortain of Brighton, and James Sherman of Surrey Chapel, in the
ministry of the home churches; and is peculiarly rich in men who have
done and are still doing noble service in the great mission field of the
world. The flame of missionary enthusiasm has ever burnt brightly at
Cheshunt. Among the many who have gone to their well-earned rest are men
like Dr. Turner of Samoa, and James Gilmour of Mongolia. In the
succession of able and devoted workers for the Church at home and for
the heathen abroad, sent forth year by year, the good work begun at
Trevecca is still living and growing.




VIII.

THE CALVINISTIC CONTROVERSY.

The leaders of the great revival of the eighteenth century were divided
into two great groups, the one headed by John Wesley, the other by
George Whitefield. The Calvinism of the latter at times seemed
dangerously rigid to the former; while Whitefield sometimes spoke and
acted as though he feared that in preaching free grace Wesley lost sight
altogether of the Divine sovereignty. So sharply marked was the
divergence of view that for a time it interfered with their
co-operation. Mainly by Lady Huntingdon's influence, as we have seen, in
1750 unity was restored. For twenty years the two wings of the
evangelical army laboured harmoniously; but in 1770 the doctrinal strife
was renewed in a way and with a vehemence that separated the two
sections; although in most cases it did not affect the mutual love and
personal esteem in which the contending parties held each other.

At the annual conference of his ministers, held in August, 1770 (the
year of Whitefield's death), John Wesley drew up his fateful minute on
Calvinism. Intended solely for the guidance of his own preachers, Wesley
apparently had not contemplated the use to which these statements might
be put in controversy; if so, they would in all probability have been
more carefully guarded. He also expected them to be considered _as a
whole_, and could hardly have foreseen the use soon to be made of
fragments torn from their context. However this may be, soon after their
publication the sky was overcast, and Wesley found himself in the centre
of an embittered theological controversy, in which, after he had in vain
striven to maintain peace by explanation and concession, he vigorously
maintained what he held to be the truth. He did this the more because
the Calvinism of the eighteenth century found itself face to face with a
dangerous Antinomianism. This was rife among the Moravians; some of
Wesley's own preachers adopted it; John Nelson fought it to the death in
Yorkshire; and it was in the face of this state of affairs that the
minute was penned.

Lady Huntingdon from the first took great umbrage at the teaching of the
minute. She apprehended "that the fundamental truths of the Gospel were
struck at and considering Mr. Wesley's consequence in the religious
world, as standing at the head of such numerous societies, thought it
incumbent on them to show their abhorrence of such doctrines." She
further declared "that whoever did not wholly disavow them should quit
her college."

Wesley, on the other hand, thought the time had come when it was his
duty to act the part of a faithful pastor towards the good Countess.
"For several years I had been deeply convinced that I had not done my
duty with regard to that valuable woman; that I had not told her what I
was convinced no one else would dare to do, and what I knew she would
hear from no other person, but _possibly_ might hear from _me_. But
being unwilling to give her pain I put it off from time to time. At
length I dare not delay any longer lest death should call one of us
hence; so I at once delivered my own soul by telling her all that was in
my heart."

Lady Huntingdon on her part acted promptly and vigorously. Mr. Benson
having defended the minute, was dismissed from Trevecca. Fletcher, by
whom Benson's appointment had been arranged, visited the college in
March, 1771, preached under great difficulties, and proffered his
resignation, which Lady Huntingdon accepted at once.

All hope of a peaceful settlement was now at an end. Lady Huntingdon
drew up a circular inviting the clergy of all denominations to assemble
at the Wesleyan Conference at Bristol in August, 1771, and protest
against the obnoxious minute. It is needful to quote some extracts from
this circular in order that the position of the Countess may be fully
perceived. "The minutes given by John Wesley we think ourselves obliged
to disavow, believing such principles repugnant to Scripture and the
whole plan of salvation under the new covenant. In union with all
Protestant and Reformed Churches we hold _faith_ alone in the Lord Jesus
Christ for the sinner's justification, sanctification, righteousness,
and complete redemption. And that He, the only wise God, our Saviour, is
the First and Last, the Author and Finisher, the Beginning and the End
of man's salvation: wholly by the sacrifice of Himself to complete and
perfect all those who believe. And that under this covenant of free
grace for man He does grant repentance, remission of sins, and meetness
for glory, for the full and true salvation to eternal life; and that
all called good works are alike the act of His free grace.... We mean to
enter into no controversy on the subject; but, separated from all party
bigotry, and all personal prejudice to Mr. Wesley, the Conference, or
his friends, do hereby most solemnly protest against the doctrine
contained in these minutes."

The leader and champion on the part of Lady Huntingdon was the
Honourable and Rev. Walter Shirley, grandson of the first Earl Ferrars,
and her own first cousin. He was an able, fervent, eloquent man, who
both in Ireland and England had given full proof of his ministry, and at
first was left almost alone in the conflict. Wesley wrote to Lady
Huntingdon on June 19, 1771, ending with these words, "You have one of
the first places in my esteem and affection; and you once had some
regard for me. But it cannot continue if it depends on my seeing with
your eyes, or my being in no mistake. What if I were in as many errors
as Mr. Law himself? If you were, I should love you still, provided your
heart was still right with God. My dear friend, you seem not well yet to
have learned the meaning of these words, which I desire to have ever
written upon my heart, 'Whoever doeth the will of My Father which is in
heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother.'"

As the time for the conference drew on, it became apparent that the
protestors had no standing place there. Only those who were actual
members of the conference could attend. Hence, instead of the large
number looked for, Shirley and seven others only appeared. The circular,
which perhaps was needlessly strong in its statements, had been
withdrawn the day before the conference met. Wesley allowed Shirley to
appear at the third session of the conference, and after careful
consideration a declaration was drawn up stating that as the minutes of
1770 "have been understood to favour justification by works," "we abhor
the doctrine of justification by works;" "that we have no trust or
confidence but in the alone merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
for justification or salvation, either in life, death, or the day of
judgment. And though no one is a real Christian believer (and
consequently cannot be saved) who doth not good works when there is time
and opportunity, yet our works have no part in meriting or purchasing
our justification, from first to last, either in whole or part." Wesley
and fifty-three of his ministers signed this, John Nelson and Thomas
Olivers alone refusing.

Shirley, on the other hand, was constrained to sign a public avowal that
"he was convinced that he had mistaken the meaning of the doctrinal
points" of the minute. Fletcher meanwhile had written his five letters
to Shirley, and the MS. was in Wesley's hands during the conference.
Unfortunately he ordered it to be printed, and then left for Ireland.
Fletcher, after learning the issue of the conference, would have liked
to stay their publication, but in Wesley's absence this could not be
done. Thus appeared the first portion of Fletcher's famous _Checks to
Antinomianism_. Into the subsequent controversy, extending over several
years, many writers were drawn, the chief being on Wesley's side,
Fletcher and Olivers; and on Lady Huntingdon's, Shirley, Toplady,
Berridge, Sir Richard and Rowland Hill. Many bitter words were written,
and much said and done that would have been far better left unsaid and
undone. But through it all even Toplady, Wesley's bitterest opponent,
could say of Olivers, "I am glad I saw him, for he appears to be a
person of stronger sense and better behaviour than I had imagined;" and
Berridge welcomed Fletcher to Everton after a twenty years' absence,
with tears in his eyes, crying, "My dear brother, how could we write
against each other when we both aim at the same thing, the glory of God
and the good of souls!"




IX.

SPA FIELDS CHAPEL.

In addition to the constant services held in her different London houses
by her chaplains and others, Lady Huntingdon opened and supported
several chapels in the capital. The first was leased in 1770 in Ewer
Street. The next was in Princess Street, Westminster, and was opened in
1774. Then came Mulberry Gardens Chapel at Wapping, where George Burder
sometimes and John Clayton very often preached. Towards the close of
1776 negotiations for the purchase of what was known as the Pantheon, a
large building in Spa Fields, one of "the places where Satan had his
seat," were commenced. Owing to the advice of Shirley and Toplady, the
completion of the purchase was delayed; but at length the Countess
wrote: "My heart seems strongly set upon having this temple of folly
dedicated to Jehovah-Jesus, the great Head of His Church and people. I
feel so deeply for the perishing thousands in that part of London that I
am almost tempted to run every risk; and though at this moment I have
not a penny to command, yet I am so firmly persuaded of the goodness of
the Master whose I am and whom I desire to serve, that I shall not want
gold or silver for the work." Nor did she. A company of gentlemen
secured it, fitted it up as a chapel, and on July 5, 1777, John Ryland
of Northampton preached the opening sermon.

Unforeseen and far-reaching consequences followed hard upon the opening
of this place of worship. The Rev. W. Sellon, incumbent of St. James,
Clerkenwell, the parish in which the new chapel stood, was a pluralist,
holding no less than four ecclesiastical appointments, yielding him in
all L1500 a year. Destitute himself of any knowledge of or sympathy for
Gospel preaching, he resented this attempt to feed "the hungry sheep" of
his parish. He invoked the law against Mr. Jones and Mr. Taylor, both
clergymen of the Established Church, who were conducting the services at
Spa Fields with conspicuous success. Sellon claimed the right of
preaching in Spa Fields whenever he wished, and asserted his right to
all the moneys derived from sittings and other sources. He obtained a
verdict in the Consistorial Court inhibiting Jones and Taylor and
closing the church. To meet this state of affairs, Lady Huntingdon
acquired the building in her own right, changed the earlier name of
Northampton Chapel into Spa Fields Chapel, and appointed Dr. Haweis, one
of her chaplains, to preach. Sellon again applied to the Ecclesiastical
Courts, and obtained an inhibition prohibiting any clergyman of the
Established Church, whether Lady Huntingdon's chaplain or not, from
preaching in Spa Fields.

Lady Huntingdon rose to the occasion. She was not the woman to allow an
altogether unworthy opposition to defeat what she felt to be God's work.
Since the law upheld Sellon, she in her turn invoked it. Under the
Toleration Act she claimed and exercised her rights. "I am reduced," she
wrote, "to turn the finest congregation, not only in England, but in any
part of the world into a Dissenting meeting." Mr. Wills and Mr. Taylor,
two clergymen who were prominent at this time among the Countess's
helpers, both determined to secede from the Established Church; and thus
once and for ever she disposed of Mr. Sellon's claims and prerogatives.
Mr. Wills became the regular minister of the church. It was in this
building that the first annual sermon of the London Missionary Society
was preached by Dr. Haweis, and for over a hundred years Spa Fields
Chapel was a centre of light and help and healing for that part
of London.

This legal conflict had placed those numerous and able clergymen who had
been in the habit of preaching in Lady Huntingdon's chapels in a very
awkward position. They had to choose between two masters. Not
unnaturally they remained in the Established Church. Hence from 1779
Romaine, Venn, Jones, and many others, though still in full sympathy
with the Countess's work, ceased to preach in her chapels.

The students educated at Trevecca now rendered services of great value.
In addition to their itinerating labours, they gradually filled the
pulpits thus left vacant in the chapels. Hitherto the great majority of
them had sought ordination in the Church of England, such having always
been Lady Huntingdon's desire for them. This being no longer possible,
the first public ordination of Trevecca students took place at Spa
Fields March 9, 1783, when Mr. Wills and Mr. Taylor ordained six young
men to the work of the ministry. It was on this occasion that the
well-known Fifteen Articles, subscription to which became essential for
entrance into the college, or into any of the pulpits under Lady
Huntingdon's control, were first publicly read.

"Lady Huntingdon never intended her chapels or societies to be organised
into a denomination--she never thought of providing for them an
ecclesiastical constitution as such. As she intended and sustained them
they were simply evangelising agencies. The spiritual necessities of her
day induced her to become a builder of chapels for Evangelical preaching
and worship. These she sustained and ruled as her own private property,
devoted by her to the service of Christ, but disposable by her own
uncontrolled will. No elements of ecclesiastical constitution or
permanence are to be found in such an agency. Nor are there in the
trusts declared after her death. The trustees of her chapels are
invested with absolute powers of government, like her own." [1]

[Footnote 1: Address by Dr. Allon in the _Centenary Celebration of
Cheshunt College_, p. 33.]

By her will dated January 11,1790, Lady Huntingdon bequeathed "all her
chapels, houses, furniture therein, and all the residue of her estates
and effects to Thomas Haweis and Janetta Payne, his wife, Lady Ann
Erskine, and John Lloyd." These persons were thus constituted trustees
of all her property, to administer it all to the best of their ability,
in harmony with what they knew to be her wishes. Many of the buildings
associated with her name and ministers were local trusts, so that the
power of the Connexion trustees never extended over more than a portion
of the churches which her evangelistic zeal had founded or strengthened.
It was almost inevitable that such an arrangement should be fatal to
development, and so it has proved.

The latest sketch of Lady Huntingdon's life thus sets forth the present
position of the Connexion: "The Fifteen Articles are the bond and
doctrinal basis of administration in the Connexion; and in the words of
the Countess, written when she left the Church of England, 'Our
ministers must come recommended by that neutrality between Church and
Dissent--secession.' Beyond this the Connexion has no act of uniformity.
The worship, according to the varying needs of different localities,
may be liturgical or non liturgical. Congregations are allowed much
liberty in the form of their self-government." [1]

[Footnote 1: _The Countess of Huntingdon and her Connexion_, edited by
Rev. J.B. Figgis, M.A., p. 48.]

[Illustration: L: Huntingdon]

When Lady Huntingdon died there were only seven chapels in the legal
possession of her representatives; but there were in all about one
hundred in close union with and considered as together forming her
Connexion. In the century succeeding her decease, while the number
vested in the trustees of the Connexion increased from seven to
thirty-three, the total number diminished to less than one half. Not a
few of those included in the latter half became Congregational Churches,
and remain in that fellowship up to this time. Some have been swept away
by modern improvements, and never rebuilt elsewhere. The steady pressure
of life and thought during the last half century has told rather against
the development of churches which stand apart from the life and
associations on the one hand of the Established Church, and on the other
of Nonconformity. But the mere enumeration of the chief chapels yet
remaining, either in the central or in special local trusts, is
interesting as an illustration of how the evangelising influence of Lady
Huntingdon and her preachers extended to all corners of the kingdom.
They are found at Bath, Bristol, Brighton, Canterbury, Cheltenham, Ely,
Exeter, Hereford, Kidderminster, Malvern, Margate, Norwich, St. Ives,
Cornwall, Rochdale, Swansea, Spa Fields, Tunbridge Wells, Worcester,
and Yarmouth.




X.

CLOSING YEARS.

Until the close of her long life of eighty-four years, Lady Huntingdon
retained much of that vigour of intellect which had marked the whole of
her career. In spiritual life also she continued to develop year by
year. In a letter written to an old ministerial friend on April 26,
1790, she says, "Here (in my heart) every wild and warm imagination,
intoxicated by pride and self-love, must end; and submit, not only to
learn of the poorest and most afflicted Man in our nature, but also to
find in Him, and in Him alone, a suitable relief for all our misery;
and, through the same medium, a free access to all divine and heavenly
wisdom, whenever a sense of our own evil renders us sufficiently
conscious of our wants. Thus faith, that faith which is the substance or
subsistence of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, must
carry the day; and by it walking in the light, as God is in the light,
the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin; while His heavenly
and Divine Spirit, daily carrying us forward, leads us experimentally
into those various states which He Himself has declared to be
truly blessed."

The decay of her bodily powers was hastened by the breaking of a
blood-vessel in November, 1790. During the ensuing illness at her house
next door to Spa Fields Chapel she said to Lady Ann Erskine, who was
continually with her, "I am well, all is well--well for ever; I see
wherever I turn my eyes, whether I live or die, nothing but victory."
From this attack she partially recovered, and for months she lingered in
a weakened state, eager up to the last for the extension of her Master's
kingdom. About a week before her death she was confined to her bed, and
during this time she was greatly interested in a scheme for sending
missionaries to the South Seas. Lady Ann Erskine and the other watchers,
who were unremitting in their attentions, heard her praying day and
night, and saying at one time, "I am reconciled in the arms of love and
mercy;" and at another, "I long to be at home; oh, I long to be at
home!" Only an hour before her death she asked, "Is Charles' letter
come?" referring to a request that had been sent to the Rev. Thomas
Charles of Bala, asking him to come and preach at Spa Fields. Almost the
last words that fell from her lips were a testimony to the strength and
clearness of her faith: "My work is done--I have nothing to do but to go
to my Father." Soon after saying these words, on June 17, 1791, she
"fell asleep in Jesus." She was buried in the family vault at Ashby
de la Zouch.

Lady Huntingdon, whose long life thus triumphantly closed, was happy in
many ways. She possessed rank and a competency and all the social
advantages which such things involve. She was blessed with exceptional
vigour of body, of mind, and of spirit. She was happy also in the time
of her earthly life. Above all was she happy in the fact that she came
so early and so completely under the power of saving faith in the Lord
Jesus and under the renewing power of the Holy Spirit. From that time
she threw herself into God's work; and by her zeal, ability, and
consecration, quite as much as by her rank and wealth, became one of the
spiritual landmarks of a wonderful century.

From a course which she believed to be right even John Wesley could not
move her; and on one occasion she showed her power even to the
Archbishop of Canterbury. About 1770 the prelate then holding that high
office, and his wife, gave some balls and parties which scandalised even
the gay votaries of fashion who attended them. Remonstrances which Lady
Huntingdon addressed to the archbishop, Dr. Cornwallis, through
relatives, being treated with ridicule and contempt, she appealed direct
to George III. The King and Queen received her most graciously,
conversed with her about her religious work for more than an hour, and a
few days later surprised the Archbishop by a letter requesting the
summary suppression of these "improprieties." The prelate was probably
as much astonished as shortly afterwards a lady was, who, in the King's
presence, said Lady Huntingdon must surely be insane since she had
ventured to "preach to His Grace." "Pray, madam," said the King after he
had assured her she was quite mistaken, "have you ever been in company
with her?" "Never!" "Then never form your opinion of any one from the
ill-natured remarks and censures of others."

Fitted to shine in courts, in an age notoriously pleasure-loving,
profligate, and irreligious, she deliberately and whole-heartedly cast
in her lot with the despised people of God, "accounting the reproach of
Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt." She was tried by
repeated bereavements, and she had to bear the heavy cross of a son who
lived and died in hostility to the Christian faith. But these sorrows
only deepened her trust in and her hold upon the Lord Jesus Christ. In
1747 she had written, "My heart wants nothing so much as to dispense
_all--all_, for the glory of Him whom my soul loveth." In 1791, after
forty-four long years of hard labour, steady faith, and self-sacrificing
zeal, she passed to her eternal rest, with the simple trust that He
whose glory she had so humbly and earnestly sought had glorified Himself
in her. No nobler close could have been desired for such a life than
that which God granted: "My work is done--I have nothing to do but to go
to my Father."

RICHARD LOVETT, M.A.




RACHEL, LADY RUSSEL.

I.

It is not often that we find the names of person illustrious in the
annals of this world also pre-eminent in the records of the kingdom of
heaven. "Not many wise, not many noble are called;" but sometimes the
wisest and noblest appear among the truest and best of Christians. Such
were, in our English history, William, Lord Russell, patriot and martyr,
and his wife Rachel, Lady Russell, whom all agree in regarding as at
once a heroine and a saint.

With the cause of civil and religious liberty the name of Lord Russell
will be for ever associated. He died, as he had lived, the friend of
true religion and a firm adherent of the reformed faith. He said that he
hoped his death would do more for the Christian good of his country than
his life could do. He was beheaded on Saturday, July 21,1683. Upon the
scaffold, just before his execution, he handed to the sheriffs a written
declaration, in which, after denial of the false charges on which he had
been condemned, he concludes with a prayer which shows that far higher
than mere political feelings moved him: "Thou, O most merciful Father,
hast forgiven all my transgressions, the sins of my youth, and all the
errors of my past life, and Thou wilt not lay my secret sins and
ignorance to my charge, but wilt graciously support me during the small
time of life now before me, and assist me in my last moments, and not
leave me then to be disordered by fear or any other temptations, but
make the light of Thy countenance to shine upon me. Thou art my Sun and
my Shield; and as Thou supportest me by Thy grace, so I hope Thou wilt
hereafter crown me with glory, and receive me into the fellowship of
angels and saints in the blessed inheritance purchased for me by my most
merciful Redeemer, who is at Thy right hand, I trust preparing a place
for me, and is ready to receive me, into whose hands I commend
my spirit!"

It is of Lady Russell, the wife and the worthy partner of this good man,
that we are about to give a brief memoir in our gallery of
_Excellent Women_.




II.

Rachel Wriothesley, born in 1636, was second daughter of Thomas
Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, by his first wife, Rachel de Ruvigny,
of an ancient Huguenot family. Her mother died during her infancy. An
elder sister, Lady Elizabeth, married Edward Noel, son of Viscount
Campden, afterwards Earl of Gainsborough. Lord Southampton married twice
after his first wife's death, but he had only one surviving daughter by
his second marriage, who being heiress of Sir Francis Leigh, afterwards
Earl of Winchester, the whole of the Southampton property was left to
the children of his first marriage, who thus became considerable
heiresses. Lady Rachel, when yet young, married Francis, Lord Vaughan,
eldest son of the Earl of Carberry, but it was an alliance rather of
acceptance than of choice on either side, and the early death of Lord
Vaughan left her free to marry again. All we know is that she possessed
the love and attachment of her husband and the respect of his family.
They had one child who died in infancy.

In 1667, on the death of her father, she inherited the estates of
Stratton, but she passed most of her time with her beloved sister, Lady
Elizabeth Noel, at Tichfield, in Hampshire. There she became engaged to
Mr. Russell, younger son of the Earl of Bedford. They were married in
1669, but she still retained the name of Vaughan till in 1678, on the
death of his elder brother Francis, William succeeded to the courtesy
title of Lord Russell, when she assumed that of Lady Russell.

Lord Southampton, her father, was a man of high character and great
influence. During the civil troubles he took no very decided part until
after the misfortunes of Charles I., when his loyalty overmastered all
other feelings. In the first disputes between the king and the
parliament he disapproved of the high-handed measures of the Court, and,
disliking the government of Strafford and the principles of Archbishop
Laud, he was considered to be one of the peers attached to the popular
cause. But, like Lord Falkland, he could not heartily join the party
opposed to the king, whom he accompanied to York and to Nottingham. He
was at the fight at Edgehill, and thence went to Oxford, where he
remained with the Court during the rest of the war. He was hopeless all
along of the success of the royal cause, and was ever the strenuous and
unwearying advocate of accommodation and peace. When the execution of
the misguided king took place, he was one of the four faithful servants
who obtained permission to pay the last sad duty to his remains. From
that time he retired to his seat at Tichfield, taking no further part in
public affairs. When Cromwell rose to supreme power he greatly wished
to meet Lord Southampton, but the meeting was avoided by the earl, and
he continued in retirement. His daughter was educated on strict
Protestant lines, with every predilection for the doctrines which her
mother's family, professing a faith persecuted in their own country,
were likely to encourage. Southampton, though attached to the Church of
England, was most tolerant towards Dissenters, so much so that Clarendon
in his History, while describing him as "a man of exemplary virtue and
piety, and very regular in his devotions," says, "He was not generally
believed by the bishops to have an affection keen enough for the
government of the Church, being willing and desirous that something more
might be done to gratify the Presbyterians than they thought right."
This spirit of her father was probably the source of the Christian
charity as well as piety of Lady Rachel's life, appearing in her letters
and animating her whole conduct. Or rather we may say, that both father
and daughter were influenced by the old Huguenot principles and
connection.




III.

The Marquis de Ruvigny, head of an old family in Picardy, had long been
the leader of the Protestant cause in France; in fact, he was almost the
minister plenipotentiary of the Huguenots at the Court of Louis XIV. As
"Deputy-General of the Reformed Church," he well served the interests of
that body, both in getting a patient hearing of their grievances, and
obtaining knowledge of the designs of their enemies. He possessed the
personal favour and the support of Cardinal Mazarin, and the king
himself put confidence in Ruvigny. He was several times employed in
services of a confidential kind to the English Government, but was given
to understand that any military position or further advancement must be
purchased by a change of his religion. To this he never could consent,
being a man of sincere and enlightened piety, as well noted for his
ability, courage, and conduct. On the recall of Colbert in 1674, he was
minister plenipotentiary in England, and remained so for two or three
years, when a more pliable tool was found in a M. Courtin. He still
retained the good opinion of the French king and his advisers, for on
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes he had permission to emigrate to
England with his family, a permission granted to no other Protestant
noble. His estates, however, were confiscated, as were those of all the
_emigres_. It was the sister of this Marquis, Rachel de Ruvigny, who
became the wife of Lord Southampton. For the family of the Ruvignys Lady
Russell always retained a warm affection.




IV.

During the fourteen years of her happy married life with William
Russell, she was seldom parted from her husband. Their only moments of
separation were during his visits of duty to his father at Woburn, and
short absences on private or political business. The longest absence was
when Lord Russell attended a meeting of parliament summoned by the king
at Oxford. Her letters during this period are such as would be written
by a loving wife and a tender mother--happy, cheerful messages of
personal or domestic interest; yet even in these familiar epistles
displaying a character of good sense and deep piety as well as womanly
affection. "They are the most touching love-letters I have ever read,"
says the editor of the published selection from her correspondence. Two
or three short bits out of many letters will suffice to show the spirit
in which she then wrote. August 24, 1680. "Absent or present, my dearest
life is equally obliging, and ever the earthly delight of my soul. It is
my great care (or ought to be so) so to moderate my sense of happiness
here, that when the appointed time comes of my leaving it, or its
leaving me, I may not be unwilling to forsake the one, or be in some
measure prepared and fit to bear the trial of the other. This very hot
weather does incommode me, but otherwise I am very well, and both your
girls. Your letter was cherished as it deserved, and so, I make no
doubt, was hers, which she took very ill I should suspect she was
directed in, as truly I thought she was, the fancy was so pretty. I have
a letter about the buck, as usual, from St. Giles's [the seat of the
Earl of Shaftesbury, in Dorsetshire]; but when you come up I suppose it
will be time enough to give order. Coming so lately from St. Giles's, I
am not solicitous for news for you, especially as Sir Harry Capel is to
see your lordship to-morrow. The greatest discourse we have is (next to
Bedloe's affidavit) Tongue's accusing of Lord Essex, Lord Shaftesbury,
and Lord Wharton, for the contrivers of the plot, and setting his father
and Oates to act their parts. This was told me by a black-coat who made
me a visit yesterday, but I hear it by nobody else. My sister and Lady
Inchiquin are coming, so that I must leave a better diversion for a
worse, but my thoughts often return where all my delight is. I am,
yours entirely, R RUSSELL."

In a letter sent to Oxford in March, 1681, she says: "The report of our
nursery, I humbly praise God, is very good. Master [her son] improves
really, I think, every day. Sure he is a goodly child; the more I see of
others, the better he appears; I hope God will give him life and virtue.
Misses and their mamma walked yesterday after dinner to see their
cousin Alington. Miss Kate wished she might see the new-born son, so I
gratified her little person. Unless I see cause to add a note, this is
all this time,

"From yours only entirely, R. RUSSELL."

The postscript of this letter conveys a curious idea of the suspicion
and insecurity of the times: "Look to your pockets. A printed paper says
you will have fine papers put into them, and then witnesses to swear."

A later letter, October 20,1681, written on Saturday night, begins: "The
hopes I have, my dearest life, that this will be the concluding epistle,
for this time, makes me undertake it with more cheerfulness than my
others." And it thus closes: "I pray God direct all your consultations;
and, my dearest dear, you guess my mind. A word to the wise. I never
longed more earnestly to be with you, for whom I have a thousand kind
and grateful thoughts. You know of whom I learned this expression. If I
could have found one more fit to speak the passion of my soul, I should
send it you with joy; but I submit with great content to imitate, but
shall never attain to any equality, except that of sincerity; and I will
ever be, by God's grace, what I ought and profess,

"Thy faithful, affectionate, and obedient wife,

"R. RUSSELL.

"I seal