Women of History: Selected from the Writings of Standard AuthorsVarious
History
Women of History: Selected from the Writings of Standard Authors
Various
Women -- Biography
The broad facts of this noble lady's history afford ground enough for
the repute she has enjoyed as a woman of much tact and ability, of great
energy, and of a munificent temper; while the use she made of her
influence and fortune for the promotion of the Methodistic movement,
that is to say, of Christianity itself, sufficiently attests her piety
and zeal. It must also be inferred, from the circumstance of her having
retained the friendship and regard of many among the leading persons of
her time through a long period of years, that she possessed qualities of
mind and attractions of manner that were of no ordinary sort; for it is
certain that those who ridiculed, or even hated her Methodism, still
yielded themselves, in frequent instances, to her personal influence. So
far, an idea of Lady Huntingdon may be gathered from facts that are
beyond doubt. There is, however, so little that is discriminative in the
extant eulogies of her friends and correspondents, or of her
biographers, and there is so little that bears a clearly-marked
individuality in her own letters, that a distinct image of her mind and
temper is not easy to obtain.
As to the position assigned to her among the founders of Methodism, it
is due to her rather on the ground of what she did for it as its
patroness, which was almost immeasurable, than because she imprinted
upon it any characteristics of her own mind. Calvinistic Methodism was
not her creation. In the centre of the brilliant company of her pious
relatives and noble friends, and with a numerous attendance of educated
and Episcopally-ordained ministers, and, beyond this inner circle, a
broad _penumbra_ of lay preachers chosen by herself, and educated,
maintained, and employed at her cost, and acting under her immediate
direction, she seems to sit as a queen. Something of the regal style,
something of the air of the autocrat, was natural to one who, with the
consciousness of rank, and with the habitude of one accustomed to the
highest society, was gifted with a peculiar governing ability, and was
actually wielding an extensive influence over men and things. It would
have been wonderful indeed if nothing of the sort had been perceptible
in her manner and style; yet, that her main intention was pure and
beneficent, and that ambition was not her passion, will be felt and
confessed by every candid reader of her letters.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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