“I cannot help mentioning to you the manner of this book falling into my hands, as I think there was something providential in it. About four months ago my poor lord had so totally lost his appetite that his physician thought it necessary for him to go to Bath. I was not a moment in doubt whether I should attend him there, because I knew it was my duty, and, besides, I could not have been easy to be absent when I hoped my care might be of some use. Yet I undertook the journey with a weight upon my spirits, and a reluctance which is not to be described, though I concealed it from him. Since the great affliction with which it pleased Almighty God to visit me by the death of a most valuable and only son, I found myself happiest in almost an entire retreat from the world, and being of a sudden called into a place where I remembered to have seen the utmost of its hurry and vanity exerted, terrified my imagination to the last degree, and I shed tears every time I was alone at the thought of what I expected to encounter; yet this dreaded change has, by the goodness of God, proved one of the happiest periods in my life, and I can look back upon no part of it with greater thankfulness and satisfaction. I had the comfort to see my Lord Hertford recovering his health by the use of those waters as fast as I could hope for. I found it was no longer necessary, as formerly, to avoid giving offence, to be always or frequently in company; I enjoyed the conversation of two worthy old friends, whom I did not expect to meet there, and had an opportunity of renewing my acquaintance with Lady Huntingdon, and admiring that truly Christian spirit which seems to animate the whole course of her life; and, as I seldom went out, I read a great deal, and Frederick, the bookseller, used to send the new books which he received on the waggon nights, of which I kept what I chose, and sent back the rest. One night he sent me an account of some remarkable passages relating to the life of Colonel Gardiner; as I had known this gentleman in his unconverted state, and often heard with admiration the sudden and thorough change of his conduct for many years, it gave me curiosity to read a book which seemed to promise me some information upon that subject. I was so touched with the account given of it that I could not help speaking of it to almost everybody I saw; among others, the Dowager Lady Hyndford came to make me a visit in the morning, and as I knew she was of his country, and had lived much in it, I began to talk to her of the book, and happened to name the author. Upon which she said she would believe whatever he wrote, for he was a truly good man, and had wrote upon the ‘Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul’ in a manner which she was sure would please me. She gave me the title in writing,