Page:The Life and Times of Selina, Countess of Huntingdon Vol. 1.djvu/10

Rh venerable. Above all her celebrated Contemporaries, she was honoured with a life of continued usefulness, protracted to the utmost period of mortal existence; with extraordinary talents, ample means, and a head and heart alike devoted to promote the "glory of God in the highest, and on earth peace and good-will towards man."

Her body has long been committed to the earth from which it sprang, and her soul has returned to God who gave it, but she has left on earth a testimony which will outlive monuments of brass and stone; a reputation which has spread to the corners of the world, and a name which is reverenced by all whose approbation is praise.

The curiosity that has been as generally expressed as universally felt to know more of the life and character of this, in the best sense of the word, Illustrious Woman, is a feeling which ought to be respected; and it has at length become a duty to make every effort in order to save from destruction those invaluable records of her heart and feeling; those delightful traits of her distinguished friends; those heart-stirring pictures of her private and every-day life; and those important records of her public services to religion and humanity, which are contained in these volumes, and which, but for the present publication, might have expired with their compiler; or have left but a vague memory of her excellence, except in those instances where the sacrifice of her fortune has raised imperishable monuments to her piety.

The object of the present work has been to afford a view of the Life and Times of this distinguished Woman so clear and ample as to render superfluous all future or collateral efforts at illustration. Every fact and incident of her long life is here recorded—every triumph of the Cross under her vigorous and well-directed leading—every place of worship opened