Her views on religion were indefinite, and her belief in the principles of Christianity was probably not deeply seated. Atheism, however, she would not tolerate, and Allen’s allusions in her presence to his disbelief in the Godhead would always receive instant reproof. Superstitious she was, to a certain degree, but she seems to have thrown off many of her fancies later in life. ‘She died with perfect composure, and though consciously within the very shadow of death for three whole days before she crossed the dark threshold, she expressed neither fear nor anxiety, and exhibited a tranquillity of mind by no means general at the time’ (_Rogers and his Contemporaries_). Yet to the end she was never entirely free from fears of her own health, and her dread of storms, and especially thunder, was almost ludicrous. Macaulay relates how she would even have her rooms shut up in broad daylight and the candles lit, to prevent her from seeing the lightning, which she dreaded so much. In politics she was by no means an extremist, and especially before she had tasted the sweets of office her influence over Lord Holland tended to restrain him from the more advanced principles of Whiggism which he sometimes affected. Her views were essentially those of a partisan, both in public and in private. No exertion was too great for her, if it was to assist a friend in need or to further any scheme which she considered worthy of support. Her admiration for Napoleon and her efforts to improve his situation when in exile are well known, yet her personal intercourse with her hero was limited to two or three words in one short audience. She revelled in intrigue, and her desire to have a hand in all that was taking place led her at times to assume a more active part than was consistent with her own professions or advantageous to her husband’s position in the party.