Mr. Whitefield at Ashby--Mr. Moses Browne--Mr. Martin
Madan--Lady Frances Hastings--Dr. Stonhouse--Mr. Hartley--Death
of the Prince of Wales--Anecdote--Lady Charlotte Edwin--Dr.
Ayscough--Lord Lyttleton--Death of Sir George Lyttleton--Death
of Lord Bolingbroke--Dr. Trapp--Dr. Church--Anecdotes--Lady
Luxborough--Mr. Mallet--Mr. Pope.
Early in the month of October, Lady Huntingdon had the pleasure of
another visit from Mr. Whitefield, who had been again ranging about, as
he expresses it, to see who would believe the Gospel report. “I am now
(says he) at Lady Huntingdon’s house, with four other clergymen, who
I believe love and preach Christ in sincerity.” Whilst he remained at
Ashby-place the sacrament was administered every morning by some of the
clergymen who were with her Ladyship; and in the evening Mr. Whitefield
preached.
“It was a time of refreshing from the presence of our God
(writes her Ladyship to Lady Fanny Shirley): several of our
little circle have been wonderfully filled with the love of God,
and have had joy unspeakable and full of glory. Lady Frances
is rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. It is impossible
to conceive a more real happiness than she enjoys. Dear Mr.
Whitefield’s sermons and exhortations were close, searching,
experimental, awful, and awakening. Surely God was with him--he
appeared to speak of spiritual and divine things as awful
realities. Many of us could witness to the truth of what he
uttered, by finding that which our hearts discovered and read to
us. His discourses in the neighbouring churches were attended
with power from on high, and the kingdom of darkness trembled
before the Gospel of Christ.”
Mr. Whitefield, in a letter to the Countess Delitz, says:--
“Good Lady Huntingdon goes on acting the part of a mother
in Israel more and more. For a day or two she has had five
clergymen under her roof, which makes her Ladyship look like a
_good archbishop_, with his chaplains around him. Her house
is a Bethel: to us in the ministry it looks like a college.
We have the sacrament every morning, heavenly conversation
all day, and preach at night. This is to _live at Court_
indeed! Last night I had the pleasure of seeing a little flock
that seemed to be awakened by the grace of God; so that out of
ungrateful Ashby I trust there will be raised up many children
unto Abraham. Your Ladyship and the other elect ladies are never
forgotten by us. I would write to good Lady Fanny, but I hear
she is out of town.”
To Lady Gertrude Hotham he writes:--
“Ashby, October 11, 1750.
“Honoured Madam--It is with great pleasure that I have heard
from good Lady Huntingdon of your Ladyship’s being so supported
under your late bereavement [Lady Gertrude had just lost her
daughter], and of the good impressions made on surviving
relatives by it. Thus the Redeemer delights to magnify his
strength in his people’s weakness, and causes the death of one
to be the life, as it were, the resurrection of another. O
what amazing mysteries will be unfolded when each link in the
golden chain of Providence and grace shall be seen and scanned
by beatified spirits in the kingdom of heaven. There all will
appear symmetry and harmony; and even the most intricate, and
seemingly most contrary dispensations, will be evidenced to be
the result of infinite and consummate wisdom, power, and love.
Above all, there the believer will see the infinite depths of
that mystery of godliness, ‘God manifest in the flesh,’ and join
with that blessed choir who, with a restless unweariness, are
ever singing the song of Moses and the Lamb. May your Ladyship
live to see all your surviving children taught and born of
God! I must not enlarge--neither have I room to acquaint your
Ladyship how that mirror of piety, good Lady Huntingdon, adorns
the gospel of her Lord in all things. I wrote some particulars
of our situation to the good Countess.”
Lady Huntingdon used all her interest in endeavouring to extend the
knowledge of the doctrine of her crucified Lord; and she appears to
have been actively engaged about this time in procuring ordination for
Mr. Moses Browne, and the living of Ashby for Mr. Hervey, who was then
officiating as curate to his father, in the charge of Collingtree;
but upon his demise, in 1752, Mr. Hervey succeeded to the living of
Weston Favell. From what cause Lady Huntingdon did not succeed in
placing Mr. Hervey at Ashby it is difficult, at this distance of time,
to ascertain, as no further mention is made of the affair in the
correspondence or papers of her Ladyship or Mr. Whitefield.
Mr. Moses Browne, afterwards well known as Vicar of Olney, and Chaplain
of Morden College, Blackheath, was at this time very desirous of
procuring ordination, but many obstacles opposed his wishes. He had
never been at either of the Universities; he had a large family,
and his circumstances were very contracted. He had, among his other
talents, a taste for poetry, and some of his early productions are
remarkably easy and elegant. On the institution of the _Gentleman’s
Magazine_, about the year 1730, he became a constant contributor to
it, and obtained some of the prizes offered by Mr. Cave for the best
poems.[87]
By the kindness of Dr. Watts, Mr. Browne was introduced to the notice
of Lady Huntingdon and Lady Hertford, at whose house he met most of the
poets and eminent literary characters of that time. During a severe
illness, which threatened his life, he was penetrated with a deep sense
of the divine reality and importance of religion; but his rage for
dancing and theatrical amusements frequently obliterated for a season
those sacred impressions. Whilst in this state he was providentially
led to attend the preaching of the first Methodists, under whose
powerful and awakening preaching he began to view the things which
concerned his salvation in a clearer light; and from that time his
sentiments and conduct appeared to have undergone a complete revolution.
Just at this period, the Rev. Martin Madan, who was originally bred
to the study of the law, changed, by the advice of his friends, Lady
Huntingdon, Mr. Jones of St. Saviour’s, Mr. Romaine, and others, the
abstruse practice of the bar for the elocution of the pulpit. Mr.
Madan, founder and first chaplain of the Lock Hospital, near Hyde
Park-corner, afterwards so celebrated for his writings and as a popular
preacher in the chapels of Lady Huntingdon, was the eldest son of
Colonel Madan, of the Guards, by his wife Judith, daughter of Judge
Cowper, the brother of the Lord Chancellor. Like many others, his
conversion arose from circumstances apparently trivial. The preaching
of the first Methodists had excited universal attention, and roused
many from the torpor of indifference. Mr. Madan, being in company
one evening with some of his gay companions at a coffee-house, was
requested by them to go and hear Mr. Wesley, who, they were told,
was to preach in the neighbourhood; and then to return and exhibit
his _manner_ and _discourse_ for their entertainment. He
went with that intention, and just as he entered the place, Mr.
Wesley named as his text, “_Prepare to meet thy God!_” with a
solemnity of accent which struck him, and which inspired a seriousness
that increased as the good man proceeded in exhorting his hearers
to repentance. He returned to the coffee-room, and was asked by
his acquaintance “if he had taken off the old Methodist?” To which
he answered, “_No, gentlemen, but he has taken me off_.” From
that time he withdrew from their company altogether, and in future
associated with persons of a different stamp. His first friend and
intimate in the religious world was Lady Huntingdon, who had been
well acquainted with his mother-in-law, Lady Hale, relict of Sir
Bernard Hale, Chief Baron of the Exchequer in Ireland, the friend and
contemporary of her Ladyship’s grandfather, Sir Richard Levinge, Lord
Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. Lady Huntingdon’s cousin, Sir Edward
Dering, Bart., grandson of Lady Anne Shirley, afterwards married a
niece of Mr. Madan’s, daughter of William Hale, Esq., of King’s Walden,
and sister to Mrs. Stillingfleet, of West Bromwich.
Possessing a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures in the original
languages, and having embraced those evangelical views of Gospel
truth, of which he afterwards was so zealous a defender, Mr. Madan
was desirous of diffusing amongst his fellow-men the savour of that
name which he loved. Master of an independent fortune, he entered the
ministry without any mercenary views: and though his brother, Dr.
Spencer Madan, was successively Bishop of Bristol and Peterborough, he
never accepted any benefice or emolument in the Church. In consequence
of his religious sentiments, and the open avowal he made of the faith
once delivered to the saints, he experienced some difficulty in
obtaining orders; but through the perseverance and interest of Lady
Huntingdon and some others, he was at length successful. Alluding to
this circumstance, Mr. Whitefield says:--
“I am glad Mr. Madan is ordained, and hope Mr. Browne will be
the next. By the Bishop’s letter to him, I find your Ladyship
has acted in the affair like yourself. Your Ladyship shall
have a copy of it, and you will then see how matters go on.
Mr. Browne is much for embarking in Christ’s cause, and if the
Duchess would but help him at this juncture he might be a useful
and happy man. Both he and Mr. Hervey have the most grateful
sense of your Ladyship’s great kindness. The latter, I believe,
intends to winter with me in London. If possible, I will prevail
on Mr. Hartley to come and pay him a visit.”
Soon after his ordination, Mr. Madan was called to preach his first
sermon in the church of All-hallows, Lombard-street. The lawyer
turning divine was novel: curiosity prevailed among the million of the
metropolis. The manly eloquence of the preacher drew general attention
and excited applause. The poor heard the Gospel with gladness, and
the rich were not sent empty away. Many were filled with wonder. The
croaking cry of prejudice was silenced--her raven voice sunk amidst
the loud acclaims of the friends of religion, who heard the doctrines
of the Reformation nobly defended by an able advocate, whose knowledge
was equal to his zeal. Like Boanerges, a son of Thunder, he proclaimed
the law from the flaming mountain; and from the summit of Zion’s hill
he appeared a Barnabas, a son of consolation. Mr. Madan was rather tall
in stature, and of a robust constitution: his countenance was majestic,
open, and engaging, and his looks commanding veneration: his delivery
is said to have been peculiarly graceful. He preached without notes;
his voice was musical, well-modulated, full and powerful; his language
plain, nervous, pleasing, and memorable; and his arguments strong,
bold, rational, and conclusive: his doctrines were drawn from the
sacred fountain: he was mighty in the Scriptures--a workman that needed
not be ashamed of his labours, rightly dividing the word of truth.
The success attending her Ladyship’s applications in behalf of Mr.
Madan induced her to redouble her efforts to serve Mr. Browne:--
“I have had a polite refusal (says Lady Huntingdon) from the
Bishop of Winchester,[88] but have hopes that my letter to
his Lordship of Worcester will prove more favourable. The
testimonials, signed by Hervey, Hartley, and Baddelley, all
beneficed clergymen, men of known integrity and reputation,
remain in the Bishop’s hands. My dear Lady Chesterfield has been
very kind, and takes a great interest in Mr. Browne’s case. The
Countess Delitz has sent me ten guineas for him. I have written
to Lady Fanny, and hope her application to the Duchess will be
successful.[89] My Lord Bath has promised me his support, and I
doubt not but he will be generous likewise. Let the cry of every
heart be addressed to Him who has all hearts at his disposal,
and will do whatsoever seemeth him good in this as in every
other case. Our business is to spread it before him in prayer;
the result will be according to his most righteous will.”
All these efforts were vain--
“Poor Mr. Browne (says Mr. Whitefield, in a letter to Lady
Fanny Shirley) is much obliged to you for speaking in his
behalf. He happened to be with me when your letter came. The
reception your Ladyship’s kind motion met with convinces me
more and more that ‘Be ye warmed and be ye filled,’ without
giving anything to be warmed or filled with, is the farthest
that most professors go. Words are cheap, and cost nothing; and,
therefore, many can say ‘they pity,’ and that extremely too,
when at the same time their practice shows it is only a verbal,
and not a real compassion.”
At length, however, through the interest of the Hon. Welbore Ellis,[90]
Lady Huntingdon succeeded in obtaining ordination for Mr. Browne,
who soon after commenced his ministry as curate to Mr. Hervey, at
Collingtree. That inconceivably amiable, humble man had frequently
urged him to enter the ministry; and in one of his letters to him
says:--
“As to your entering into holy orders, I have no manner of
doubt; by all means do it. It is what I have been praying for
these several years; it is what all the disciples of Christ are
directed to implore at the Lord’s hands, that he would send many
such labourers into his vineyard. As God has inclined your heart
to the work--as he has given you so clear a knowledge of the
truth as it is in Jesus, and stirred you up to be zealous for
the interests of a bleeding Saviour--I assure you, if the king
would make me a bishop, one of the first acts of my episcopal
office should be to ordain the author of ‘Sunday Thoughts.’ I
hope the Lord will guide you by his Spirit, and commission you
to feed his flock, and make you a chosen instrument of bringing
many sinners to Christ--many sons to glory.”
Immediately on coming to Collingtree, Mr. Browne was invited to
Ashby-place, and some of his first and most effective discourses were
delivered amongst the people there. When Lady Huntingdon removed to
London, he occasionally visited the metropolis, and at her Ladyship’s
house united with that great apostle of the Lord, Mr. Whitefield,
in preaching the unsearchable riches of Christ to the polite and
fashionable. He likewise assisted Mr. Madan at the Lock, and Mr. Jones
at St. Saviour’s; and the great Shepherd and Bishop of souls bore
testimony to the word of his servant, and gave him many seals to his
ministry.
Early in the month of December, Lady Huntingdon was again alarmingly
indisposed. Mr. Whitefield also was dangerously ill at the same time in
London. Dr. Doddridge appears to have been extremely apprehensive as to
her Ladyship’s state of health, and in a letter to his correspondent,
the Rev. Mr. Wood, of Norwich, dated December 4th, says--“Dear
Lady Huntingdon is in a very declining way. Pray devoutly for her
important life.” On the 22nd of the same month he again mentions her
Ladyship--“I am printing the funeral sermon for my excellent friend
at St. Alban’s.[91] Lady Huntingdon continues very ill. I fear we
shall soon lose her too. But the Lord liveth, and blessed be our
rock.” At the close of a letter from Mr. Hervey to the Rev. Moses
Browne, dated December 22, he enquires--“What account can you give
of Lady Huntingdon’s health? Never, never will the physician’s skill
be employed for the lengthening a more valuable life. May Almighty
goodness bless those prescriptions, and command her constitution and
our zeal to flourish.”
The beginning of the year 1715, Lady Huntingdon’s health declined so
rapidly that Mr. Whitefield was sent for express. “I rode post to Ashby
(says he), not knowing whether I should see good Lady Huntingdon alive.
Blessed be God, she is somewhat better, and I trust will not yet die,
but live, and abound more and more in the work of the Lord. Entreat
all our friends to pray for her. Indeed she is worthy.” Lady Selina
was slowly recovering from a fever, and Lady Frances had died suddenly
a few hours before Mr. Whitefield reached Ashby. She was a retired
character, lived silently, and was removed to that
----“land of pure delight,
Where saints immortal dwell,”
without a sigh or a struggle. Her Ladyship was born at Donnington
Park, January 8, 1694, and died unmarried, January 23, 1751.[92] Her
humility, meekness, sincerity, and heavenly-mindedness were conspicuous
in all her deportment, and rendered her much esteemed and respected by
all who had the happiness of her acquaintance. In her intercourse with
society,[93] she was a pattern to all, manifesting an uniform piety,
a deadness to the world, and a conversation that in all things adorned
the doctrine of our Saviour. She was universally lamented by the
poor in the neighbourhood, of whom a multitude attended her funeral.
Before the body was removed, Mr. Whitefield gave a solemn exhortation;
and after her Ladyship’s remains were interred amongst those of her
ancestors, he addressed an attentive and weeping multitude, preaching
from the words, “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord, from
henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their
labours, and their works do follow them.”
The following letter from Mr. Whitefield to Lady Mary Hamilton contains
some interesting particulars of the death of Lady Frances:--
“Honoured Madam--Last Monday evening, through the goodness of
our ever-blessed Redeemer, I got safe to Ashby, where I found
good Lady Huntingdon very sick, though I trust not unto death.
All advise her Ladyship to take a journey to Bristol, for the
benefit of the waters, which her Ladyship seems determined to
do. The death of Lady Frances has not affected her so as to
hurt her. She rejoices at the thought of her sister’s being
so quickly translated out of this house of bondage into the
glorious liberty of the sons of God. Her death was a translation
indeed! Her Ladyship died without a groan. She seemed, as it
were, to smile at death; and may be said, I trust truly, to
fall asleep in Jesus. Ere long, she and all that sleep in Jesus
shall come with him. Almost all have been ill in their turns.
Lady Selina has had a fever, but is better. Lady Betty is more
affected than ever I saw her. Lady Anne bears up pretty well;
but Miss Wheeler is inconsolable. It is a house of mourning:
that is better than a house of feasting. The corpse is to be
interred on Friday evening. May all that follow it look and
learn! I mean, learn to live and learn to die. This is a lesson
which you and yours, honoured Madam, I trust, are learning every
day. We had need be careful to get our lesson perfect, since
we know not when the Son of Man will come, whether at evening,
cock-crowing, or in the morning. To be ready at that hour is all
in all. Good Lady Huntingdon sends her sincerest compliments. If
anything extraordinary happens before my return, your Ladyship
shall hear again from, honoured Madam, your Ladyship’s most
dutiful, obliged, and ready servant for Christ’s sake,
“G. W.”
Mrs. Whitefield’s illness obliging her husband to return to London,
he wrote to Dr. Stonhouse the day before his departure, urging him
to use his influence with Mr. Hartley to come without delay to Ashby;
but he being then unable to leave his parish, Dr. Stonhouse went to
Ashby, where he remained till her Ladyship was sufficiently recovered
to remove to Bristol Hot Wells, whither she went in the beginning of
March. This was an important circumstance for the Doctor, who seemed
halting between two opinions, notwithstanding the searching letters
and eloquently urgent remonstrances of Mr. Whitefield. Lady Huntingdon
says, in a letter written just before leaving Ashby:--
“The dear and excellent Dr. Doddridge and Dr. Stonhouse have
been to see me. I long to see the latter embark more boldly
in the cause of Christ, but he has an unaccountable dread of
the opinion of the world, and is fearful of being called a
Methodist. We spoke most faithfully and solemnly to him; he
appeared affected, and shed tears. He and Dr. Doddridge have
preached alternately every evening, and have occasionally
assisted in the administration of the sacrament. How holy, how
humble, is that excellent man! and what divine words fell from
his lips at the last sacramental feast! How close and searching
were his addresses! I think I was scarce ever so happy before. I
trust my journey to Bristol will be for good! O that my health
and strength may be wholly employed for that blessed Redeemer
who has done such great things for me!”
Mr. Whitefield left Ashby the first week in February, and towards the
close of the month received a letter from Lady Huntingdon, with an
account of the continued improvement in her health, which rejoiced the
benevolent heart of that great and good man.
Early in the month of March, Lady Huntingdon and family left Ashby for
Bristol. A few days after her arrival she was agreeably surprised by
a visit from Mr. Whitefield, who had been preaching at Gloucester and
Tewkesbury, with his accustomed zeal and success. Intending to proceed
towards the south, he wrote to Mr. Hervey to supply his place:--
“This comes (says he) with a summons from good Lady Huntingdon
for you to appear in Bristol and abide for a month or two at my
brother’s house; you must not refuse. The God who has carried
that elect Lady through such bad roads from Ashby hither will
take care of you, and I am persuaded you will not repent your
journey. Her Ladyship made the motion to me, and intends writing
herself. Blessed be God, she is much better, and I trust will do
well. She will have nobody to give her the sacrament unless you
come.”
But Mr. Hervey’s precarious state of health would not permit his
accepting her Ladyship’s kind invitation. He was in London, and under
the roof of his valued friend, at the Tabernacle-house.
“This (says Mr. Whitefield) I count a great honour, and such a
privilege, that I wish to have the favour conferred on me as
long as I live. These my hands, could they work, or was there
occasion for it, should readily minister to your necessities.”
Disappointed of Mr. Hervey’s assistance, Mr. Whitefield wrote to Mr.
Hartley on the 30th of March, enclosing a letter from Lady Huntingdon,
requesting him to visit Bristol without delay:
“I am persuaded (says he) you were surprised to find our elect
Lady gone from Ashby, and I was as much surprised to see her
Ladyship at Bristol; I hope her journey was of God. The waters
agree with her wonderfully already, and I trust she will be
restored to perfect health. As dear Mr. Hervey cannot be
prevailed upon to come down, if it would any way suit you to
be with her Ladyship a month, it would much refresh her, and I
believe be very agreeable to you. Some pulpits would be open for
you, and who knows but you might catch some great fish in the
Gospel net? But I need not enforce this, since her Ladyship hath
written to you herself. May the blessed Redeemer direct your
going in his way!”
After a short visit to Plymouth, Exeter, and other places in Devonshire
and Somersetshire, Mr. Whitefield returned to Bristol, where he found
Mr. Daniel Rowlands, who had arrived a few days before, on a visit
to Lady Huntingdon. These apostolic labourers preached frequently at
this time in the open air, to vast multitudes, who heard them with
apparently deep and serious attention:--
“It is delightful (says her Ladyship) to see such multitudes
flocking to hear the word. Mr. Whitefield and Mr. Rowlands
are greatly owned and honoured of the Lord in the conversion
of notorious profligates and self-righteous formalists. Very
many have been compelled to lay down the arms of rebellion,
and submit to the all-conquering sword of the Spirit. Mr.
Hartley hath preached several times in the churches with great
acceptance. I trust my journey hither was of the Lord, and that
some great good will yet appear the result of it. I often find
Luther’s words applicable to myself--_He was never employed
about any fresh work, but he was either visited with a fit of
sickness or violent temptation._”
About this time the Duchess of Somerset, being extremely anxious to
learn the state of her Ladyship’s health, wrote both to Ashby and
Bristol, but not receiving any reply, her Grace wrote thus to Dr.
Doddridge on the 14th of April:--
“I have wrote twice to Lady Huntingdon since I have had a letter
from her; but a gentleman, who came from Bristol last week,
told me that she was there; but not having the happiness to be
acquainted with her, he could give me no account of her health,
which I most earnestly pray may be restored by the use of those
waters.”
Mr. Hervey also, when writing to Lady Frances Shirley, in the month of
June, says:--
“I have not had the favour of a line from Lady Huntingdon for
some months. When I was at London, to see Mrs. Whitefield, on
her return from Bristol, she told me that the good Countess’s
health was very much restored by the waters: that she was (to
use her own expression) charmingly well. I hope this amendment
continues, and wish it may be perpetuated.”
The unexpected death of the Prince of Wales at this time was an
alarming stroke to the nation:--
“I suppose (says Mr. Whitefield) the death of our Prince has
affected you. It has given me a shock--but the Lord reigneth,
and that is our comfort.”
The unhappy misunderstanding between the Prince and his father, George
the Second, caused him to emancipate himself from all restraint, and
form a party of his own. Inflamed by the artifices and ambition of
his supporters, his opposition to Government became systematic, and
he conceived a most ill-founded antipathy against Sir Robert Walpole,
his father’s minister. As he had a taste for the arts and a fondness
for literary pursuits, he sought the society of persons who were most
conspicuous for their talents and knowledge. He was thrown into the
company of Carteret, Chesterfield, Pulteney, Cobham, and Sir William
Wyndham, who were considered as the leading characters for wit,
talents, and urbanity. His house became the rendezvous of young men of
the highest expectation--Pitt, Lyttleton, and the Granvilles; whom he
afterwards took into his household, and made his associates. The usual
topic of conversation in this select society was abuse of the minister,
and condemnation of his measures, urged with all the keenness of wit
and powers of eloquence. The Prince found the men whose reputation was
most eminent in literature, particularly Swift, Pope, and Thomson,[94]
adverse to Walpole, who was the object of their private and public
satire. But the person who principally contributed to aggravate his
opposition was Bolingbroke, whose ambition ever aimed at the summit
of power, and whose immoderate desires nothing seemed capable of
satisfying but the liberty of governing all things without a rival.
About 1748 the party of the Prince began to form a new opposition; and
in the second and third sessions of the new Parliament they took the
lead against the administration. In the third session, which commenced
in January, 1751, the party of the Prince seemed likely to gain great
accession, from the merited unpopularity which the ministry incurred by
the subsidiary treaties in Germany; while Lord Cobham and his friends
meditated a secession from the ministerial phalanx. But the unexpected
death of the Prince gave a new aspect to public affairs, and produced a
great and singular change in the temper of the court and the councils
of the kingdom. “Providence (says the Duchess of Somerset, in a letter
to Dr. Doddridge) seems to have directed the blow where we thought
ourselves the most secure; for among the many schemes of hopes and
fears which people were laying down to themselves, this was never
mentioned as a supposable event. The harmony which appears to subsist
between his Majesty and the Prince of Wales is the best support for the
spirits of the nation, under their present concern and astonishment.
He died in the forty-fifth year of his age, and is generally allowed
to have been a Prince of amiable and generous disposition, of elegant
manners, and of considerable talents.”[95]
The loss of this amiable and accomplished Prince was most sensibly felt
by Lady Huntingdon, who, in early life, was frequent in her attendance
at court, and had many opportunities of witnessing the simplicity and
elegance of his manners, the liberality of his principles, and the
benevolence of his disposition. When the Prince’s difference with his
father led him to keep his own court, her Ladyship attended it, and
Lord Huntingdon, Lord Ferrars, and other of her Ladyship’s friends,
were his political supporters. When her Ladyship withdrew from her
attendance at the fashionable circle of the great, the line of conduct
which she thought proper to pursue naturally excited the enmity of
those of her own rank, although she had a testimony in the consciences
of them, as appeared even in their words, that what she did was right.
One day, at Court, the Prince of Wales enquired of Lady Charlotte
Edwin,[96] a lady of fashion, where my Lady Huntingdon was, that she
so seldom visited the circle? Lady Charlotte replied, with a sneer “I
suppose praying with her beggars.” The Prince shook his head, and,
turning to Lady Charlotte, said, “Lady Charlotte, when I am dying, I
think I shall be happy to seize the skirt of Lady Huntingdon’s mantle,
to lift me up with her to heaven.”
A letter from Lord Bolingbroke had apprised Lady Huntingdon of
the unexpected demise of the Prince of Wales: “an event (says his
Lordship) likely to cause many extraordinary changes at Court, and much
discontent in the kingdom.” Her Ladyship never took any interest or
part in the politics of the times, although, from family connexions and
other causes, her earliest associates were generally in the opposition
rank. Desirous of knowing the feelings and sentiments of the Prince at
the close of life, she wrote to Mr. Lyttleton, who had been principal
secretary to his Royal Highness. Little could be ascertained, yet that
little was satisfactory:--
“It is certain (says her Ladyship) that he was in the habit
of reading Dr. Doddridge’s works, which had been presented to
the Princess, and has been heard to express his approbation of
them in the highest terms. He had frequent argument with my
Lord Bolingbroke, who thought his Royal Highness fast verging
towards Methodism, the doctrines of which he was very curious
to ascertain. His Lordship told me that the Prince went more
than once privately to hear Mr. Whitefield, with whom he said
he was much pleased. Had he lived, it is not improbable but Mr.
Whitefield would have been promoted in some way. But an all-wise
Providence has seen fit to remove him to another world. May
the Judge of all the earth dignify him with the illustrious
character of King and Priest, in that kingdom purchased for the
heirs of salvation by the unspeakable precious merits of Him
who was exalted as a Prince and a Saviour, and humbled himself
to death, even the death of the cross, to procure for us a
heavenly--a blissful inheritance beyond the skies!”
Dr. Francis Ayscough, afterwards Dean of Bristol, who had married one
of the sisters of Lord Lyttleton, was appointed clerk of the closet to
the Prince of Wales, and first preceptor to his late Majesty, George
III. On being appointed by the Prince to take charge of the education
of his children, Dr. Doddridge wrote him a letter of congratulation; in
reply to which the Doctor says:--
“I am truly sensible of the difficulties as well as the
advantages of the station I am placed in. A trust of such
importance to posterity is a charge which I have not only on
my mind, but in my conscience. I hope God will enable me to
go through it with success; and I think I have a right to
call upon every good man and lover of his country for advice
and assistance in the discharge of a duty, on the faithful
performance of which the public good so much depends. And as
you have been so much concerned in the education of youth, I
shall always be glad to receive any advice or instructions from
you, which I desire you to give me freely, and I promise you it
shall be most friendly received. I thank God I have one great
encouragement to quicken me in my duty, which is, the good
disposition of the children entrusted to me: as an instance
of it, I must tell you that Prince George[97] (to his honour
and my shame) had learned several pages in your little book of
verses without any directions from me: and I must say of all the
children (for they are all committed to my care) that they are
as conformable and as capable of receiving instruction as any I
ever yet met with. How unpardonable, then, should I be in the
sight of God and man, if I neglected my part towards them! All
that I can say is, that no care or diligence shall be wanting in
me; and I beg the prayer of you, and every honest man, for the
Divine blessing on my endeavours.”
It was through the kindness of Lady Huntingdon that Dr. Ayscough had
become acquainted with her favourite, Dr. Doddridge, whom her Ladyship
represented as a gentleman, a scholar, and an able and pious minister
of Christ. Lady Huntingdon prevailed upon the Doctor to present, as
we before stated, his work on the “Rise and Progress of Religion” to
the Princess of Wales, through the medium of Dr. Ayscough, who thus
informed him of the execution of the commission he had entrusted him
with:--
“I presented your book to her Royal Highness, and ought long
since to have acquainted you with her most gracious acceptance
of it, and that I was commanded to return you her thanks for it.
There is, indeed, such a spirit of piety in it as deserves the
thanks of every good Christian. May God grant it may have its
proper effect in awakening this present careless age! and then I
am sure you will have your end in publishing it.”
Dr. Doddridge was at this time publishing “The Family Expositor,” by
subscription. One volume had already appeared, and few persons in the
circle of the Doctor’s friends made more strenuous exertions for the
circulation of his work than Lady Huntingdon. But the dangerous illness
of their faithful and much-esteemed friend, Mr. Lyttleton, retarded the
printing of the remaining volumes.
“The three volumes (says Dr. Doddridge) will hardly be
published at so small a price as a thousand pounds, and I
shall judge it the part of prudence, and therefore of duty,
not to send them to the press on any terms on which I shall
not be secure; and if there be such a number subscribed for,
or bespoke by booksellers, as to effect that, I shall go on
with the publication as fast as I can; and bless God for such
an opportunity of doing any public homage to his word, and
endeavouring with all integrity and simplicity to make it
understood, and to enforce it on men’s consciences according to
the little ability he has been pleased to give me; which truly
I think so little, that I am sometimes almost ashamed of having
undertaken so great a work.”
Mr. Lyttleton, however, soon recovered, and in a short time transmitted
to Lady Huntingdon a long list of additional subscribers:--
“I have the unspeakable pleasure (says her Ladyship) of
communicating intelligence that will rejoice my much-esteemed
friend. You will be thankful that the great Author of all good
has raised our friend, Mr. Lyttleton, from the borders of
the grave, and he is now quite recovered from his late most
alarming indisposition. I have just had a letter from him,
lamenting his not having procured a larger list of subscribers
to ‘The Expositor,’ owing principally to the delay caused by
his illness; but hopes, as soon as his strength is restored, to
redeem the time that is lost by redoubling his exertions.”
Mr. Lyttleton’s exertions in procuring subscriptions for the remaining
volumes of “The Family Expositor” were the means of introducing it to
many in high life, to whom it might otherwise have had no access. “Most
earnestly (continues her Ladyship) do I pray the Lord of all lords to
prolong your valuable life, and give you strength and abilities for the
completion of a work so calculated to promote the glory of his name,
and the everlasting good of mankind.”
It was now that letters from the Duchess of Bridgewater and Dr.
Ayscough to Lady Huntingdon announced the unexpected death of Sir
Thomas Lyttleton, who had long been an intimate friend of the late
Lord Huntingdon and several branches of the house of Hastings. “My
father (says Sir George, afterwards the well-known and respected Lord
Lyttleton) met death with so noble a firmness and so assured a hope
of a blessed immortality, that it has raised our thoughts above our
grief, and fixed them much more in the example he has left us, than in
the loss we have sustained.” Ill health had obliged him to retire from
a public station, and he lived retired, in the continual exercise of
all the virtues which can ennoble private life; his sound judgment,
inflexible integrity, and universal candour, recommended him to the
esteem of all parties. Though in a state of great bodily suffering, his
immediate death was not contemplated by his family:--
“As far as I can judge (writes Lady Huntingdon) from what the
Duchess and Dr. Ayscough write concerning Sir Thomas, he must
have left these scenes of mortality with a well-founded hope
of happiness. The perusal of Dr. Doddridge’s ‘Rise and Progress
of Religion’ was much blessed to him; and on his dying bed he
recommended it to the serious attention of his children. I
have not time at present to give you many particulars; but one
expression that dropped from him the day before his departure
appears satisfactory, and most consoling to his afflicted
family. Mr. Lyttleton had read some chapters from the Bible,
and afterwards engaged in prayer for his dying parent; when he
had concluded, Sir George expressed his readiness to depart,
adding, ‘My dear child, I feel that God my Saviour has pardoned
all my sins; and from what you have just read, that his blood
cleanseth from all iniquity, I derive great comfort, for he is
my ONLY, ONLY HOPE.’ I pray that this affliction may be
sanctified to the good of surviving relatives. The Duchess is
quite inconsolable; but the good Doctor rejoices in the eternal
happiness of his respected father-in-law. I shall write to both
the next post.”[98]
Intelligence of the death of the excellent Dr. Doddridge now arrived
in England, and was quickly followed by that of a character in every
respect dissimilar--namely, the Lord Viscount Bolingbroke,[99] a man
of fascinating manners and commanding eloquence, abounding in wit and
fancy, master of polite learning, which he knew how to draw forth on
all occasions; but in his private character without morals and without
principles. The intelligence was communicated to her Ladyship by his
Lordship’s only sister, the eccentric and accomplished Lady Luxborough,
the friend and correspondent of Shenstone, the poet.
His Lordship entertained a very contemptuous opinion of clergymen
in general; and this is not much to be wondered at, for many of
those with whom he had come in contact were mere sycophants and
time-servers--fawning on the great for preferment. The well-known Dr.
Trapp, rector of the united parishes of Christ Church, Newgate-street,
and St. Leonard, Foster-lane, was his chaplain. He acted as manager
to that celebrated High Church bigot, Dr. Sacheverel, in his trial
before the House of Lords. With Lord and Lady Huntingdon, Dr. Trapp
was well acquainted, and was a frequent guest at their house. From a
mistaken notion that he was recommending himself to his ecclesiastical
superiors, he invariably manifested the most implacable hatred to the
whole Methodist body. His “Preservative against Unsettled Notions in
Religion,” and his “Sin and Folly of being Righteous over-much,” were
answered by Messrs. Whitefield, Wesley, and Law.
Dr. Thomas Church, Vicar of Battersea and Prebendary of St. Paul’s,
was likewise the intimate friend of Lord Bolingbroke, and, after his
Lordship’s decease, published an Analysis of his Philosophical Works.
He also was a violent exposer of the Methodists, and addressed a
“Serious and Expostulatory Letter” to Mr. Whitefield, and “Remarks on
Mr. Wesley’s Journal,” in a letter to that gentleman.[100]
It is well known that Lord Bolingbroke professed himself a Deist: and
those principles which he had all along avowed he confirmed with his
dying breath, having given orders that none of the clergy should be
permitted to trouble him in his latest moments. He often attended Mr.
Whitefield’s ministry, and on several occasions complimented him on his
eloquence and abilities:--
“He is (says his Lordship, in a letter to Lady Huntingdon)
the most extraordinary man in our times. He has the most
commanding eloquence I ever heard in any person; his abilities
are very considerable; his zeal unquenchable; and his piety and
excellence genuine--unquestionable. The bishops and inferior
orders of the clergy are very angry with him, and endeavour
to represent him as a hypocrite, an enthusiast; but this is
not astonishing--there is so little real goodness or honesty
amongst them. Your Ladyship will be somewhat amused at hearing
that the King has recommended to his Grace of Canterbury that
Mr. Whitefield should be advanced to the Bench, as the only
means of putting an end to his preaching. What a keen--what a
biting remark! but how just, and how well-earned by those mitred
lords!”
His friendship for Lady Huntingdon, and his admiration of her
talents and her devotedness to the cause of God her Saviour, were
extraordinary, and continued unabated to the close of his life. With
her Ladyship he frequently conversed on the most solemn truths of
religion. Disdaining the restraints of God’s law, and priding himself
in freedom of thought above the vulgar, the wisdom of God, in his
eyes, was foolishness; and revelation, at the bar of his “exalted
reason,” was weighed and found wanting! Nevertheless, he was seldom in
her company without discussing some topic beneficial to his eternal
interests, and he always paid the utmost respect and deference to her
Ladyship’s opinion. On one occasion he said, “How does your Ladyship
reconcile prayer to God for particular blessings, with absolute
resignation to the Divine will?” “Very easily (replied the Countess);
just as if I was to offer a petition to a monarch of whose kindness and
wisdom I have the highest opinion. In such a case my language would
be--‘I wish you to bestow on me such a favour; but your Majesty knows
better than I how far it would be agreeable to you, or right in itself
to grant my desire. I therefore content myself with humbly presenting
my petition, and leave the event of it entirely to you.’”
Lord Bolingbroke’s second wife, the Marchioness of Villetta, was niece
to the celebrated Madame de Maintenon (wife of Louis XIV.), the cruel
instigator of those horrid persecutions of the Protestants which
disgraced the reign of that great monarch. She was a woman of superior
accomplishments, and styled by her aunt, in her published letters,
“the most sensible person among her female relations.” Between her
Ladyship and the eccentric Lady Luxborough, his Lordship’s only sister,
there existed little cordiality. With Lady Fanny Shirley she was
particularly intimate; and was very regular in her attendance at Lady
Huntingdon’s to hear Mr. Whitefield, and other eminent ministers. “Of
Lord Bolingbroke and the Marchioness (says her Ladyship) I sometimes
have a hope; they attend with such regularity, and hear with such
apparent attention. But Lady Luxborough is so odd, and so engrossed
with her poets and literary acquaintances, that she has neither time
nor attention to spare for that which concerns her never-dying soul:
she is good-humoured and good-natured, though no great love exists
between her and the Marchioness, for what cause I know not. I cannot
help feeling very anxious about them, and hope and pray that the Father
of light may illuminate their darkened understandings, and give them at
last the knowledge of himself, whom to know was everlasting life.”[101]
Not long after the death of Lord Bolingbroke, his works, in five
pompous quartos, edited by Mr. David Mallet, were given to the public.
The wild and pernicious ravings, under the name of “Philosophy,”
which were thus ushered into the world, gave great offence to all
well-principled men, and produced a host of answers and refutations.
Of these, the most celebrated were by Clayton, Bishop of Clogher;
Warburton, Bishop of Gloucester; Dr. Leland, in his “Review of
Deistical Writers;” and Mr. Hervey, whose answer to his Lordship’s
observations on the “Use and Study of History” was addressed to Lady
Fanny Shirley. Dr. Johnson, hearing of the mischievous tendency of Lord
Bolingbroke’s works, which nobody disputed, was roused with a just
indignation, and pronounced this memorable sentence on the noble author
and his editor: “Sir, he was a scoundrel and a coward: a scoundrel, for
charging a blunderbuss against religion and morality; a coward, because
he had not resolution to fire it off himself, but left half-a-crown to
a beggarly Scotchman to draw the trigger after his death!”
Lady Huntingdon, hearing of Mr. Mallet’s intention, made some fruitless
efforts to prevent the publication of Lord Bolingbroke’s works. “I
have written to Mr. Mallet (says her Ladyship), and used my influence
with Lord Chesterfield and others, to try, if possible, to suppress
what must be so detrimental to mankind.” But Mallet was a determined
infidel, and, in other respects, a worthless character. By address or
accident, perhaps by his dependence on the Prince of Wales, to whom he
was under-secretary, Mallet found his way to Lord Bolingbroke, a man
whose pride and petulance made his kindness difficult to gain or keep,
and whom Mallet was content to court by an act of unexampled infamy.
On the death of Pope, when it was found that he had clandestinely
printed an unauthorized number of the pamphlet called “The Patriot
King,” Bolingbroke, in a fit of useless fury, resolved to blast his
memory, and employed Mallet as the instrument of his vengeance. This
time-server had not virtue, or had not spirit, to refuse the office;
and was rewarded not long after with the legacy of Lord Bolingbroke’s
works. This man also received a legacy of five hundred pounds from
Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, to write the life of her husband; but
he never fulfilled the engagement; and if anything could add to his
infamy, it was the publishing of libels against Byng, while that
unfortunate admiral was on his trial; and for which the calumniator was
rewarded with a pension and a place. “I mourn the fate of poor Byng
(says Lady Huntingdon), and envy not the feelings of his vilifier.
Every effort to save him proved ineffectual; and he is added to the
number of victims to popular clamour and ministerial policy.”
In whatever light we view the character of Lord Bolingbroke, we shall
find him rather an object of wonder than an example for imitation;
more to be feared than esteemed, and gaining our admiration without
our love. The world now begins to think justly both of him and of
Pope--that Pope was the greatest poet, but not the most disinterested
man in the world; and that Bolingbroke had not all those virtues nor
all those talents which the other so proclaimed: that he did not even
deserve the friendship which lent him so much merit, and for the mere
loan of which he dissembled attachment to Pope, to whom in his heart he
was as perfidious and as false as he was to the rest of the world.