I had been at Congleton, and was just come home; and they came shrieking to me to pray with Lady Fitton; she did desire it, it should seem. I went as fast as I could; but just as I came the fit of palsy took her. We went to prayer in the gallery for her again and again. Mr. Machin[21] came in, and he helped me to pray. We prayed there two or three times over. We begged life for mother and child, very earnestly at first. After we begged either, what God pleased. After the night we were brought to beg the life of the soul, for all other hopes were over. The next day I went, and prayed by her i’ th’ forenoon. I was much afflicted to see her die, as in a dream, pulling and setting her head clothes as if she had been dressing herself in the glass; and so to pass out of the world. A lovely, sweet person she was; but thus blasted before us, dyed Jany. 21 (1654), just after evening service. She was buried the next day, at night.... Sir C. Adderley was removed, and all manner of confusion and trouble came upon the estate, Mr. Fitton and the co-heirs striving for possession, which begat a strange alteration in the place. [Note 21: John Machin was then minister of Astbury, and an intimate friend as well as neighbour of Newcome’s.] Lady Fitton, “a very courteous, respectful friend to me while she lived,” as Newcome observes, lies near the east end of the church of Gawsworth, close by the communion rails, and near to the stately tomb of her first husband, on which she is described as “_nulli secundam_.” In her death Newcome lost a good friend, for the living of Gawsworth was very poor, and, finding it difficult to equalise the wants of a growing family and the supplies of a small stipend, he was led to consider the expediency of removing to some other and more lucrative charge. His labours had been by no means confined to his own parish. On the contrary, he devoted a good deal of his time to ministerial work in other places. The fame of the wonderful young preacher spread to the larger towns, and those who had heard him once wished to hear him again. Among other places, he had visited Manchester, and preached in the Old Church during the sickness of Richard Hollinworth. It was only on one Sunday, but the generosity of the town brought him considerable relief at the moment that the necessities of his family were pressing inconveniently upon him. As Dr. Halley tells us, the relief produced an effect the contributors did not intend, as it induced him, when contemplating his removal, to remain in Gawsworth, where Providence had so unexpectedly relieved him of his anxieties by their liberality. He painted his rectory-house, parted off a little study from his parlour, and spent what he could of his friends’ bounty in smartening his home and making it pleasant and comfortable.