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.