“LONDON, _December 25, 1750_. “HONOURED MADAM,――Poor Mr. Browne is much obliged to your ladyship for speaking in his behalf. He happened to be with me when your ladyship’s letter came. The reception your kind motion met with, convinces me more and more that, ‘Be ye warmed, and be ye filled,’ without giving anything to be warmed and filled with, is the farthest that most professors go. Words are cheap, and cost nothing. I often told the poor man that his dependence was too strong, and that I was afraid help would not come from the quarter where he most expected. He sends ten thousand thanks for what your ladyship has done already. Surely he is worthy. He is a lover of Christ, and his outward circumstances are very pitiable. Your ladyship will not be offended at the liberty I take. You love to help the distressed to the utmost of your power; and your ladyship shall find that good measure, pressed down and running over, shall be returned into your bosom.” To Whitefield, the year 1751 opened sadly. It is true, he speaks of having had “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” in London, and of many being awakened to a consciousness of their sins and danger; but his own health was shaken, his wife was “expecting an hour of travail,” and death was entering the mansion of the Countess of Huntingdon. During the whole of December, the Countess had been dangerously ill; and, at the beginning of 1751, her health declined so rapidly, that Whitefield was requested to hasten to Ashby with all the speed he could. He obeyed the summons; but, before his arrival, death had claimed a victim,――not, however, Whitefield’s honoured patroness; she was spared to the Church and the world forty years longer; but Lady Frances Hastings, sister of her late husband, was taken to the rest of the righteous; and Lady Selina, the Countess’s daughter, was extremely ill, though slowly recovering from a fever. Extracts from two of Whitefield’s letters will tell all that it is needful to relate:―― “Ashby, January 29, 1751. I rode post to Ashby, not knowing whether I should see good Lady Huntingdon alive. Blessed be God! she is somewhat better. Entreat all our friends to pray for her. Her sister-in-law, Lady Frances Hastings, lies dead in the house. She was a retired Christian, lived silently, and died suddenly, without a groan. May my exit be like hers! Whether right or not, I cannot help wishing that I may go off in the same manner. To me it is worse than death, to live to be nursed, and see friends weeping about one. Sudden death is sudden glory. But all this must be left to our heavenly Father.” Strangely enough, Whitefield’s wish, so often uttered, was literally fulfilled. To Lady Mary Hamilton, Whitefield wrote:――