Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/771

Rh in every respect; for she said, "it was fit, sometimes, to give for the credit of religion, when other inducements were wanting, that the professors of christianity might not be charged with covetousness,"—a vice which she abhorred so much, that scarce any grosser kind of immorality could more effectually exclude from her friendship. Besides the sums of money she gave away, and the distribution of practical books on religious subjects, she employed her own hands in labours of charity to clothe the necessitous. This she did, not only for the natives of the Lower Palatinate, when they were driven from their country by the rage of war, but it was her frequent employment to make garments of almost every kind, and bestow them on those who wanted them. She discovered a strong sense of humanity, and often shewed her exquisite concern for the unhappy, by weeping over their misfortunes. These were the generous tears of virtue, and not from any weakness, for she was rarely observed to weep at afflictions that befel herself. She used to visit the sick and wretched, to inquire into and supply their wants; and caused children to be taught to read and work, furnishing them with clothing and good books. This she did not only at Frome, but in a neighbouring village, where part of her estate lay. And when she met with children of promising countenances, who were perfectly unknown to her, if, upon inquiry, it appeared, that through the poverty of their parents they were not put to school, she added them to the number of those taught at her own expence. She instructed them herself in the plain and necessary principles and duties of religion; and the grief she felt when any of them did not answer the hopes she had entertained was