The friendship between Mr. Whitefield and the Messrs. Wesley was very much increased and perpetuated by the wife of Mr. Charles Wesley. This very extraordinary lady, whose original name was Gwinne, was equally distinguished for her beauty, talents, and piety. She had a very cordial regard for Mr. Whitefield, who as cordially reciprocated it. She was married when the controversy among these eminent men was at its height, and stipulated that she should always be allowed to hear the preaching of Whitefield and his friends. In her latter years especially, and she lived till ninety-six, she expressed her pleasure in the belief that she promoted the continuance of that endearing intercourse which subsisted between Whitefield and her husband. She softened all parties, and was on all occasions a blessed peacemaker. One fact relating to this eminently excellent woman may be mentioned. She was nearly twenty years younger than her husband, and four years after her marriage, and at the age of twenty-six, she was seized with small-pox, of which at that time her eldest child died. She lay twenty-two days in imminent danger of death, and when she recovered she was so much altered in features that no one could recognize her; but never did woman before lose her beauty with so little regret. She used sportively to say, that the change in her appearance "afforded great satisfaction to her dear husband, who was glad to see her look so much older, and better suited to be his companion." On Whitefield's arrival at Falmouth, he immediately set off in a post-chaise to London, in order to preach on the following Sabbath. But he now found occasion for all the patience he had acquired. He had, he says, "written two well-meant, though ill-judged letters against England's two great favorites, '_The Whole Duty of Man_,' and Archbishop Tillotson, who, I said, knew no more about religion than Mohammed. The Moravians had made inroads on our societies;" besides which, the controversy with the Messrs. Wesley injured him. His congregations on the Sabbath were still large, but on week-days he had not more than two or three hundred hearers. He says, "Instead of having thousands to attend me, scarcely one of my spiritual children come to see me from morning to night. Once, on Kennington Common, I had not above a hundred to hear me."