Mrs. Har our adventures to them: That we intended By this time fupper was ferved up, and it was an elegant one indeed. The service was all gilt plate, and the most beautiful china. All things were answerable; the most noble and excellent in their kind. The ladys behaved in the most polite, friendly way. Mrs. Harcourt in particular was amiable and matchlefs in her action and difcourfe; and if An account by going to this remote part of the world, of the late through fo many perils and fatigues as we riot, Eufe- were in, I had only seen, and obtained the bia Har- honor of an acquaintance with this extraordinary woman, I should have thought my clauftral time and my pains very well rewarded. She was a valuable and fine creature, to be fure. Here, Fewks, Mrs. Benlow's journal by a misfortune ends. I have loft the remaining fheets of her obfervations by fome accident or other; I know not how; and therefore must now begin to relate.-This lady,at whose house we arrived, was my particular friend, and as extraordinary a woman indeed as ever court, who founded a houfe of religious ladys, which ftill exists in Richmond fhire. ap appeared among human kind. She was the daughter of a Yorkshire gentleman, and born in the North-riding of that country. Her father gave her a learned education, travelled with her over Europe, and left her a fine eftate at his death. In her perfon, fhe was taller than women. generally are, and fo furprisingly graceful, that one was neceffarily charmed whenever fhe appeared. Her face was the sweetest oval, and had a collection of wonders in it that were quite enchanting. She had the fineft black eyes in the world, and a nose the most beautifully Roman. Her lips were red and admirable, and her teeth as polished pearl. She was in reality what Lucian fays of his imaginary Smyrnean, a very miracle; a wonder far exceeding any other mortal beauty I have feen. This terreftrial veil covered a yet fairer fpirit. She had the finest natural abilitys, and by application had improved them to great perfection. She had a correct and fine taste, a happy imagination, and an excellent judgment. Her mind was rich in the nobleft fentiments, her head full of the most delightful images, and could not only exprefs her notions eafily, in an accent sweet and pleafing, with a voice that had all the mufic of the trumpet in it; but could talk them in Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese Y 3 guefe, High-Dutch, Sclavonian, and Latin, as fwiftly and purely as in her mother tongue. In religion the shined with great luftre. She was a warm and fine pleader for the authority of christianity, and fhe did revelation great honor by a converfation worthy of it. Her christianity was without any regard to human authority. True reafon the thought muft claim kindred and common parentage with pure and undefiled revelation. The rule of rectitude and chriftianity fhe imagined at perfect unity, and brought her religious things to the teft of common fenfe and fcripture. She abhorred bigotry, and an impofing fpirit. She was the conftant friend of truth and liberty. The theology of Athanafius the confidered as the most deftructive of all pious inventions. She detefted the ecclefiaftical power, that maintained it, and was indefatigable and expenfive in promoting the ípread of that heavenly religion, which is according to the mind of the Lord Jesus. The piety of Mrs. Harcourt was likewise very glorious. The fcriptures were her conftant ftudy, and her whole life a manifeftation of a heavenly temper. She was the most regular of mortals in her devotions, public and privat. With her best abilitys The worshipped, and never miffed the stated hours in her chapel and closet. Nor was it from the least degree of fuperftition, that all this proceeded. She had too much sense to imagine the Deity can be perfuaded to recede from the fettled laws of the univerfe, and the immutability of his nature but the knew the perfections of God are a ground and reafon of prayer, and that it is both an act and a means of virtue. Piety with her was her duty and intereft, and it was always maffculine and rational. She pretended to no beatifying vifits. She had no engagements of animal nature in her devotions. In calm addrefs, due compofure, and recollection of mind, the was a devout woman; but as to flights and fevers in religion, tho favored with the approbation of fome great men, fhe thought them far from being an excellence in piety, and used to fay, that fuch conftitutional ardors may become the visionmonger, and suit the faints in Ribadeneira (a). Y 4 But (a) Jefuite Efpagnol, qui fut reçu par Saint Ignace au nombre de fes difciples l'an 1540, avant même que fa compagnie eût eté confirmée par le faint Siege. This Jefuit writ the lives of a great number of faints, and dyed at Madrid October 1, 1611, aged eighty four. Óf which he had been feventy one years a Jefuit. That pickled faint Loyola, is the figure that stands fartheft out in his work, and if you would fee what a prodigious rogue the heavenly man was, read a book that has the following title-Vita Sancti Ignatii Loïolæ cum Scholiis Chriftiani Simonis, in 8vo. 1598. Or, if it is not to be met with eafily at this time, fee Hiftoire de l'admirable Dom. Inigo, Chevalier de la Vierge, 2 vols. in 12mo. But christians should be tranquil in prayer, and glory only for advancing thereby in the moral kingdom, the kingdom of perfect reafon and virtue. This ought to be the devout exercise of the heart (a). The gospel then has its genuine effect. Mrs. (a) This is not fayed with any defign to reflect upon the author of the devout exercises of the heart. Mrs. Rowe was an upright chriftian, and however fhe might incline to vifion, was, to my knowledge, very far from any thing of the partie amoureuse in her piety, a human love refined into feraphic rapture at the hallowed fhrine, as Mr. Coventry imagines *. What betrayed her into this weakness, was the fire of her poetic genius. The natural flame was ftrong, and when the turned to religion, fhe fanfied this fire was a vifit from heaven. She was fond of the delufion, as it seemed a celeftial companion in her lone hours, and therefore, instead of stopping the high ideas, to try them at the bar of human reafon, (where all ideas muft be examined to render them of any value) fhe let them pafs as good and excellent, and they formed in time a fort of fixth fenfe, which never fails producing imaginary joys in folitude. The pious foul in this orb lives in a dazling light, and is the favorite and friend of its maker, in its own conceit. The rational chriftian however, fhould be upon the guard in his religion, and have a care of miftaking ecftacy for piety. For, notwithstanding Dr. Watts tells the reader, in praife of Mrs. Rowe, that he will find in her book, (the devout exercifes of the heart) a fpirit dwelling in flesh elevated into divine tranfports congenial to thofe of angels and unbodied minds; that the kindles; fhe tranfcends the limits of mortality + notwithstanding bishop Philemon to Hydafpes. + Watts's preface to the devout exercifes of the heart. |