“Mr. Hill has written me a very obliging letter, to engage me to accompany the elder of my pupils to Switzerland; and if I had any other country than the place where I am, I should, perhaps, have been tempted to go. At present, however, I have no temptation that way, and I have declined the offer as politely as I could.”[72] Footnote 72: Letters, 1791, p. 109. The case of the young woman just mentioned was to Fletcher a great trial. In a letter written to Lady Huntingdon[73] on the same day as the foregoing letter to Charles Wesley, he states, that, previous to this, reports had been spread that he drove the people mad, and he had borne such scandals “patiently enough,” but this “glaring instance,” which seemed to confirm the rumours circulated against him, had thrown him into “agonies of soul.” To a great extent, Fletcher had yet to learn a lesson which the Wesleys and Whitefield had long ago been taught: “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you” (1 Peter iv. 14). Footnote 73: “Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon,” vol. i., p. 241. The scandals were continued; and even the pulpit was used in lampooning the Madeley preacher. Hence the following, addressed to Charles Wesley:— “MADELEY, _August 19, 1761_. “I know not whether I mentioned to you a sermon preached at the Archdeacon’s Visitation. It was almost all levelled at the points which are called the doctrines of Methodism, and, as the preacher is minister of a parish near mine, it is probable he had me in his eye. After the sermon, another clergyman addressed me with an air of triumph, and demanded what answer I could make. As several of my parishioners were present, besides the churchwardens, I thought it my duty to take the matter up; and I have done so by writing a long letter to the preacher, in which I have touched the principal mistakes of his discourse, with as much politeness and freedom as I was able; but I have had no answer. I could have wished for your advice before I sealed my letter; but, as I could not have it, I have been very cautious, entrenching myself behind the ramparts of Scripture, as well as those of our Homilies and Articles. “I know not what to say to you of the state of my soul. I daily struggle in the Slough of Despond, and I endeavour every day to climb the Hill Difficulty. I need wisdom, mildness, and courage; and no man has less of them than I.