With Mr. Raikes[3] she was one of the first people to institute Sunday-schools. She was as interested in Betty’s rheumatism as she was in the conversation of a duke or a duchess; a discussion with bishops and Gilbert West on religion, or with Emerson on mathematics, or Elizabeth Carter on Epictetus, all came alike to her gifted nature. She danced with the gay, she wept with the mourner; her sympathies never lay idle, even to the very end of life; and in a century which has been deemed by many to be coarse, uneducated, and irreligious, her sweet wholesome nature shone like a star, and attracted all minor lights. Where in the twentieth century should we find a coterie of men and women of the highest rank and influence in the world, either from intellect or position, so content and devoted to each other, so free from the petty jealousies and sarcasms of the present fashionable society, so anxious for each other’s welfare, socially and morally; so free from cant or prudery, so devoted to each other’s interest? [3] Robert Raikes, born 1735, died 1811. The first Sunday-school instituted by him in 1781. A great and terrible break in this book was caused by the death of my beloved husband in May, 1904, after a long, lingering illness. I doubt if I should have taken courage to resume my pen if it had not been for my friend Mr. A. M. Broadley, whose interest in my literary work and affectionate solicitude for myself has been a kindly spur to goad me on to action, so as to complete the present volumes. To him I tender my thanks for past and present encouragement, as well as many other kindnesses. EMILY J. CLIMENSON. CONTENTS TO VOL. I. PAGE PREFACE vii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv CHAPTER I. The Robinson, Sterne, and Morris families--Birth and childhood of Elizabeth Montagu--Correspondence with Duchess of Portland (_passim_)--Dr. Middleton’s second wife--“Fidget”--A summons --Tunbridge Wells--Mrs. Pendarves--Lady Thanet --Miss Anstey--Bevis Mount--The Wallingfords--A suit of “cloathes”--Anne Donnellan 1–25 CHAPTER II. Correspondence with Duchess of Portland (_passim_)--Sir Robert Austin--The goat story--The Freinds--Country beaux--Thomas Robinson, barrister--Lady Wallingford--Duke of Portland’s letter--A coach adventure--Influenza--Smallpox--Cottage life--Bath--Lord Noel Somerset--Dowager Duchess of Norfolk--Frost Fair on the Thames--The plunge bath--“Long” Sir Thomas Robinson--Lord Wallingford’s death --The menagerie at Bullstrode--Lady Mary Wortley Montagu--Princess Mary of Hesse--Monkey Island--Lydia Botham--Mrs. Pendarves--Lord Oxford--Admiral Vernon--Anne Donnellan--Charlemagne--Dr. Young’s _Night Thoughts_--Duchess of Kent--Mr. Achard 26–62