Excellent Women - Various
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[Illustration: A STREET IN CAIRO. (See _Mary Louisa Whately_.)]
EXCELLENT WOMEN.
BY VARIOUS WRITERS.
CONTENTS.
ELIZABETH FRY. BY JAMES MACAULAY, M.A., M.D.
SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON. BY REV. R. LOVETT, M.A.
RACHEL, LADY RUSSELL. BY JAMES MACAULAY, M.A., M.D.
FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. BY REV. J.P. HOBSON, M.A.
HANNAH MORE. BY HENRY JOHNSON.
SUSANNA WESLEY. BY REV. J. CUNNINGHAM, M.A.
MRS. HEMANS. BY REV. S.F. HARRIS, M.A., B.C.L.
MADAME GUYON. BY WILLIAM NICHOLS.
ANN JUDSON. BY FRED. A. MCKENZIE.
MARY LOUISA WHATELY. BY REV. W.R. BOWMAN.
AGNES JONES. BY ELLEN L. COURTENAY.
ELIZABETH, DUCHESS OF GORDON. BY REV. S.F. HARRIS, M.A., B.C.L.
ELIZABETH FRY.
I.
BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS.
Elizabeth Fry was born in Norwich, on the 21st of June, 1780. She was
the third daughter of John Gurney, of Earlham, Norfolk, and Catherine
Bell, daughter of Daniel Bell, merchant in London. Mrs. Bell was a
descendant of the ancient family of the Barclays of Ury in
Kincardineshire, and granddaughter of Robert Barclay, the well-known
apologist of the Quakers.
John Gurney of Earlham, born in 1749, was educated in the principles of
the Society of Friends, but as he advanced in life, and associated with
persons of various Christian denominations, the strictness of his
religious opinions was much relaxed, and he showed liberality of
sentiment towards others, even if they were indifferent to all spiritual
concerns. In fact, in those times there was throughout England, in all
the churches, a decay of faith and a tendency to unbelief; against which
a few men made noble protest, till the religious Revival, led by
Whitefield and Wesley, inaugurated a happier era.
We are, therefore, not surprised to read that the daughters of John
Gurney, deprived in early life of their mother's care, were accustomed
to mingle with people entirely devoid of religion, although some of
these were accomplished and talented in their way. The father continued
formally to attend the Friends' Meeting; and the eldest daughter,
Catherine, being of a thoughtful mind and with desire for instruction,
was of use to her sisters in somewhat checking their love of worldly
pleasure and amusements. Of Elizabeth, it is said that in her young days
"she was singularly attractive; her figure tall, her countenance sweet
and pleasing, and her person and manners dignified and lovely. She was
gentle and quiet in temper, yet evinced a strong will." The visits of
different Friends, especially her uncle Joseph Gurney, who always had
much influence with her, both then and during her future life, helped to
confirm the good teaching of her mother in childhood.
II.
BEGINS A PRIVATE JOURNAL: WITH RECORD OF HER EXPERIENCES.
In 1793, when in her seventeenth year, Elizabeth Gurney began to keep a
private Journal.[1] In the early part of this record she frankly tells
her proceedings day after day, and describes the long and gradual
struggle that took place in her heart, which ended in her conversion by
the power of the Holy Spirit, and in her thorough consecration to the
service of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a most instructive record,
especially for the young.
[Footnote 1: This Journal was kept up by her till the close of her life,
and contains not only a full account of events, but a personal record of
her thoughts and experiences. It is preserved with pious care by members
of the family. _A Memoir of Elizabeth Fry_, published by her daughters,
in two volumes, was widely circulated after her decease. Innumerable
biographies and memoirs have since appeared, the best of which, by
Susanna Corder, contains selections from the private Journal.]
Her father, a man popular on account of his genial ways and social
disposition, making no objection, she joined, with some of her sisters,
in all the gaieties of life in Norwich. Prince William Frederick,
afterwards Duke of Gloucester, was then quartered with his regiment
there, and there was an incessant round of pleasures--balls, concerts,
and oratorios. Elizabeth Gurney entered into all the gaiety, but she was
ill at ease. She says, "I see the folly of the world. My mind is very
flat after this storm of pleasure." "I do believe if I had a little true
religion, I should have a greater support than I have now."
She had also before this time given expression to the better
dispositions of her natural heart, saying, "I must do what I can to
alleviate the sorrows of others; exert what power I have to increase
happiness; try to govern my passions by reason; and adhere strictly to
what I think right."
This condition of her mind, with alternate indulgence in vanity and
resolutions after better things, lasted till she was twenty-two years of
age, when she came to the settled conviction that "it is almost
impossible to keep strictly to principle without religion. I don't feel
any real religion; I should think those feelings impossible to obtain,
for even if I thought all the Bible was true, I do not think I could
make myself feel it: I think I never saw any person who appeared so
totally destitute of it."
It was something to arrive at the conviction that she lacked the one
thing needful; and that she felt that more than natural effort, even the
power of the Holy Spirit, was necessary to awaken her to new life, and
to change her heart. The arrival at Norwich of an American friend,
William Savery, "a man who seemed to overflow with true religion, and to
be humble, and yet a man of great abilities," confirmed her in her
dissatisfaction with her own state, and strengthened her desires after a
new life. Of him, she says, that "having been gay and disbelieving only
a few years ago, makes him better acquainted with the heart of one in
the same situation."
III.
FIRST VISIT TO LONDON.
While in this unsettled and partially awakened state of mind,
Elizabeth's father proposed to take her to see London, an offer which
she gladly closed with, without any thought beyond the excitement of new
scenes and pleasures. He took her there, and left her for several weeks,
under the care of a relative. It was a perilous trial for a young girl,
but the result was for her happy. The effect was to disgust her more
with the world and mere worldly amusements, and to fix her heart more
surely where true peace can alone be found.
In the middle of April, after having been seven weeks in London, her
father came to take her home, and very thankful she was to get back to
the quiet country. A few days after, a letter came from William Savery,
to whom she seems to have written asking his counsel. It was a long
epistle, full of wise and faithful advice, and showing most loving
interest in his young friend's welfare. A few sentences will give the
substance of his letter, which may be read by others with as much
advantage as it was by Elizabeth Gurney. "I know, my dear, thou hast,
and wilt have, many temptations to combat with: thou wilt, doubtless, be
frequently importuned to continue with thy gay acquaintance, in pursuit
of that false glare of happiness, which the world, in too bewitching and
deceitful colours, holds out to the unwary traveller, and which
certainly ends in blinding the intellectual eye from discovering the
pure source of soul-felt pleasure resulting from a humble heart, at
peace with its God, its neighbour, and itself.
"Thee asks my advice, my dear friend, and without any premeditation when
I sat down, I find I have been attempting to give it; but it is very
evident thou art under the special care of an infinitely better
Instructor, who has already uttered His soft and heavenly voice, to
teach thee that the first step towards religion is true humility;
because in that state only we can feel the need we have of an arm,
stronger than human, to lean upon, to lead us out of and keep us from
things which hinder our access to, and confidence in, that boundless
source of purity, love, and mercy; who, amidst all the vicissitudes of
time, is disposed to be our Shepherd, Guardian, and Friend, in whom we
may trust and never be afraid; but this blessed confidence is not,
cannot be enjoyed by the gay, the giddy, proud, or abandoned votaries of
this world."
Up to this time she had adopted none of the distinctive peculiarities of
the Society of Friends. Although from custom attending the meetings, she
did not confine herself to the services there; for we read such entries
as this, "I went to St. Peter's and heard a good sermon. The common
people seemed very much occupied, and wrapt up in the service, which I
was pleased to see; afterwards I went to the cathedral." She had already
commenced efforts to be useful to others, visiting the sick, and
teaching the children of her poorer neighbours, in Norwich, or at
Bramerton, then a quiet, pleasant village, where the family usually
resided in summer. "I have some thoughts," she says, "of increasing by
degrees my plan for Sunday evening, and of having several poor children,
at least, to read in the Testament and religious books for an hour. It
might increase morality among the lower classes if the Scriptures were
oftener and better read to them." Sunday school work she for herself
discovered to be a profitable, as she found it to be a delightful task.
All this time she was diligent in study, and in the intellectual culture
of her own mind, as we find from her Journal.
"I had a good lesson of French this morning, and read much in
Epictetus." Later on, we find her intent on the books of Dr. Isaac
Watts, his _Logic_ especially, which Dr. Johnson had commended strongly
to all who sought the "improvement of the mind."
IV.
AT COLEBROOK DALE, AND ON A JOURNEY TO WALES.
In the summer of 1798, John Gurney took the whole of his seven daughters
an excursion through parts of England and Wales. At Colebrook Dale,
where they saw several relatives, members of the Society of Friends,
Elizabeth Gurney received the deepest impressions. She was especially
struck with the veteran philanthropist, Richard Reynolds, who having
made a large fortune in his well-managed iron-works, spent his money and
time in seeking the moral good of the working people. At Colebrook Dale
also she spent some days with an elderly cousin, Priscilla Hannah
Gurney, cousin to the Earlham Gurneys by both father and mother, her
father being Joseph Gurney and her mother Christiana Barclay. Being left
by her father alone for some days with this cousin, the influence of the
visit was very powerful on her. "She was exactly the person to attract
the young; she possessed singular beauty, and elegance of manner. She
was of the old school; her costume partook of this, and her long
retention of the black hood gave much character to her appearance. She
had early renounced the world and its fascinations; left Bath, where her
mother and sister Christiana Gurney resided; became eventually a
minister among Friends; and found a congenial retreat for many years at
Colebrook Dale."
The travelling party went on to make a tour in Wales and to attend the
gathering of Friends at the Welsh half-yearly meeting. Most of the
Colebrook Dale Friends were present, and further converse with Priscilla
Gurney induced her niece to resolve openly to conform to Quaker customs,
though at what precise time she became professedly a Friend we are not
told. As to the costume, she was very slow in adopting it--not till some
time after returning to Norwich.
In this early Welsh journey a singular prediction was given in an
address by an aged Friend, Deborah Darby, who said of her that "she
would be a light to the blind, speech to the dumb, and feet to the
lame." "Can it be? She seems as if she thought I was to be a minister of
Christ. Can I ever be one?" asks Elizabeth Gurney in her Journal.
V.
THE LAST YEAR AT HOME.
The early months of 1799 were passed in Norwich, where she engaged in
works which she believed to be right and useful. She visited the poor,
doing what she could to relieve distress, yet cautious lest she should
appear to do too much, telling her friends that in such charity she was
only agent for her father, who approved of her thus helping others. She
held what are now called "mothers' meetings," reading and talking to a
little group of people about fifteen in number. Her "Sunday School" had
also gradually increased, till there were sometimes seventy poor
children receiving instruction from her. Cutting out and preparing
clothes for the poor, and occasional visits to hospitals, and once to
Bedlam to see a poor woman, were among the occupations of the winter
months. She had not yet, however, made any decisive change in her social
habits, for she occasionally accompanied her sisters to balls and other
entertainments, yet finding less and less satisfaction in what she in
calmer moments disapproved.
The doubtful, wavering condition of mind led her to think more seriously
of openly avowing her religious principles.
In the autumn her father travelled to the north of England, taking with
him his son Samuel and his daughters Priscilla and Elizabeth. He was
going to visit an estate belonging to him; also to attend the general
meeting at the Friends' School at Ackworth, after which they were going
to Scotland. All this expedition Elizabeth much enjoyed. At Ackworth she
took part in the examination of the scholars, and had pleasant
conversation with the headmaster Doctor Binns, and with Friends
assembled on the occasion. At York they saw the wonderful Minster; at
Darlington, found themselves in a living colony of Friends; and
Elizabeth was gratified by receiving a note and a book of grammar from
the famous Lindley Murray, whom she had met and taken tea with at York.
Durham, Newcastle, Alnwick Castle, and Edinburgh, were successively
visited, and afforded abundant materials for entries in her Journal, and
for agreeable recollections after returning home.
VI.
MARRIAGE, AND SETTLEMENT IN LONDON.
On August 19, 1800, Elizabeth Gurney was married, at the Friends'
Meeting House, Norwich, to Joseph Fry, youngest son of William Storrs
Fry, of London. He had been to Earlham, and made an offer of marriage,
during the preceding year, but nothing had then been settled, Elizabeth
Gurney being afraid that any change at that time might interfere with
her spiritual welfare and her newly-formed plans of active usefulness.
But after some correspondence, when the proposal was renewed, she felt
it right to give her consent. It was the custom more generally
prevailing than now for the junior partner to reside in the house of
business, and in accordance with this, Joseph and Elizabeth Fry prepared
to establish themselves in Mildred's Court in the City, a large,
commodious and quiet house, since pulled down in consequence of
alterations in London. The parents of her husband occupied a
country-house at Plashet, Essex. The Fry family, like that of the
Gurneys, had long been members of the Society of Friends; but unlike her
own parents, they had adhered strictly to the tenets and the habits of
Quakers. She thus came to be surrounded by a large circle of new
connexions, different from her own early associates at Norwich.
During the fortnight occupied by the Yearly Meeting, Mildred's Court
was an open house for the entertainment of Friends from all parts of the
kingdom, who would come in to midday dinner, whether formally invited or
not. On one occasion, when an American Friend, George Dilwyn, was a
guest, she commenced regular family worship, with the approval of her
husband, this now recognised duty not having been previously the
practice in the house.
Occasionally she got rest in staying at Plashet, but her life was a busy
one, and hardly favourable to spiritual advancement. At Plashet, on the
9th of seventh month (July) she wrote: "We live at home in a continual
bustle; engagement follows engagement so rapidly, day after day, week
after week, owing principally to the number of near connexions, that we
appear to live for others rather than ourselves. Our plan of sleeping
out so often I by no means like, and yet it appears impossible to
prevent it; to spend one's life in visiting and being visited
seems sad."
It is evident that the circumstances under which she began her married
life were too fatiguing for her, and to these were added the usual
domestic troubles at times with servants. All this told upon her, then
approaching her first confinement, depressing not merely her bodily
powers and natural energy, but in some degree her spiritual liveliness.
But she must attend to present duty, and when her first child, a girl,
was born, she was absorbed in the anxieties, pleasures and
responsibilities of a mother.
From the feeble state of her health, she was some time in regaining
strength enough to attend Meeting, or to resume her usual activity. She
was confined to her room when she heard the great tumult of joy, at the
thanksgiving and the illuminations, for restoration of Peace in 1801, on
the 10th of October; and the noise of the mob in the streets disturbed
her even in this quiet house. A fortnight later the parents went to
Norfolk, taking with them their little treasure, a lovely infant, which
gave great delight to the relatives there. The child was vaccinated by
Dr. Simms on their return to London, and the doctor's advice was taken
about the health of the mother, who then was in a state of much bodily
weakness, with a troublesome cough. These trials caused interruption in
the Journal for some weeks; but she and the child gradually got better;
and at the Yearly Meeting of 1802, she was able to attend almost all the
meetings, and to receive the customary crowd of visitors at her house;
among them her much-loved uncle, Joseph Gurney, whose presence was of
much service to her.
VII.
FAMILY CARES AND TRIALS.
In the autumn her husband took her a journey into the north of England,
going by Warwick, Stratford-upon-Avon, Chester, Liverpool, and the
Lakes, some of the excursions at which she went on horseback. She was
even able to climb Skiddaw, so that her health had been much restored by
the expedition. They were glad to get back to their comfortable home,
mother and child both better for the trip. Soon after their return, her
brother Samuel came to reside at Mildred's Court, to learn details of
the banking business, and it was to both a great pleasure to be near one
another. A second girl was born in March, 1803; and altogether she had
in future years a very large family, eleven sons and daughters;
regarding which it is sufficient to say that the succession of illnesses
caused so much nervousness and debility, that we can only the more
marvel at the indomitable spirit with which she afterwards undertook the
labours of charity and beneficence which have made her name so famous.
There were also, besides her personal illnesses, many events of trial
and of bereavement, as must necessarily happen where there are numerous
relatives. Writing at Earlham on the 20th of August, 1808, she says, "I
have been married eight years yesterday. Various trials of faith and
patience have been permitted me; my course has been very different from
what I expected; and instead of being, as I had hoped, a useful
instrument in the Church militant, here I am, a careworn wife and
mother, outwardly nearly devoted to the things of this life. Though, at
times, this difference in my destination has been trying to me, yet I
believe those trials that I have had to go through have been very
useful, and brought me to a feeling sense of what I am: and at the same
time have taught me where power is, and in what we are to glory; not in
ourselves, nor in anything we can be, or do; but we are only to desire
that He may be glorified, either through us, or others, in our being
something or nothing, as He may see best for us."
That same year in late autumn, her dear father-in-law Fry was at
Mildred's Court, very ill; and he died there, being carefully and
tenderly nursed by his daughter-in-law. She also, at risk to her own
family, went to nurse her sister Hannah, in what turned out to be
scarlet fever, about which she says, that "she did not know what malady
it was when she went; and that she was the only sister then at liberty
to wait on her." Through God's mercy, no harm came to her own family
from being there, and no one else took the complaint. "This I consider,"
she says, "a great outward blessing. May I be enabled to give thanks,
and to prove my thankfulness by more and more endeavouring to give up
body, soul, and spirit, to the service of my beloved Master."
In February, 1809, she and her husband left Mildred's Court to occupy
the house at Plashet; to her a pleasant change from the smoke and din of
the great city. Here, her sixth child, a boy, was born in autumn of that
year. Shortly afterwards she was summoned to Earlham, where she
witnessed the death of her own father. It was a heavy blow to her, but
she had the satisfaction of finding that his mind was at peace when he
drew near his end. "He frequently expressed that he feared no evil, but
believed that, through the mercy of God in Christ, he should be received
in glory; his deep humility, and the tender and loving state he was in,
were most valuable to those around him. He encouraged us, his children,
to hold on our way; and sweetly expressed his belief that our love of
good (in the degree we had it) had been a stimulus and help to him." At
the meeting before the funeral she resolved to say nothing, but her
uncle Joseph spoke words of comfort and encouragement; and then she
could not refrain from falling on her knees, and exclaiming, "Great and
marvellous are Thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are all Thy
ways, Thou King of saints; be pleased to receive our thanksgiving." She
could say no more, though intending to express thankfulness on her
beloved father's account. The great tenderness of her uncle gratified
her, "and my husband," she adds, "has been a true helpmate and sweet
counsellor."
VIII.
WORK AT PLASHET.
As soon as they were settled at Plashet, Elizabeth Fry formed and
carried out various plans for the poor. She established a girls' school
for the parish of East Ham, of which Plashet is a hamlet. The clergyman
and his wife gave their help, and a school of about seventy girls was
soon busily at work. The bodily wants of the poor claimed her attention.
A depot of calico and flannel was always ready, besides outer garments.
There was a cupboard well stocked with medicines. In the winter,
hundreds of the destitute poor had the benefit of a soup kitchen, the
boiler of an outhouse being applied to this use. About half a mile off,
on the high road between Stratford and Ilford, there was a colony of
Irish, dirty and miserable, as such settlements in England usually are.
Some she induced to send their children to school, and, with the
consent of the priest, circulated the Bible among them. Once when the
weather was extremely cold, and great distress prevailed, being at the
time too delicate to walk, she went alone to Irish Row, in the carriage
literally piled with flannel petticoats for the poor women, others of
the party at Plashet walking to meet her and help in the distribution.
Her children were trained as almoners very young, and she expected them
to give an exact account of what they gave, and their reasons for
giving. She was a very zealous and practical advocate for vaccination,
having been taught by the celebrated Dr. Willan, one of the earliest and
most successful followers of Dr. Jenner.
It was an annual custom for numbers of gipsies to pitch their tents in a
green lane near Plashet, for a few days, on their way to Fairlop Fair.
The sickness of a child causing the mother to apply for relief, led
Elizabeth Fry to visit the camp; and ever after she was gladly welcomed
by the poor wanderers, to whom she gave clothing and medicines, and
friendly faithful counsel. To those who could read she gave Bibles or
Testaments, and little books or pictures to the children. Thus she ever
abounded in good works for the benefit of others. All this she did in
intervals snatched from home duties, there being in the house a constant
succession of company and employments to occupy her. For her children
she prayed that they might grow in favour with their Heavenly Father, by
walking in humility and in the fear of God.
Such was the routine of work and duty at Plashet for several years after
she went to live there. She had interruption from various illnesses in
her family, five of her children being ill at one time; at other times
overbusied with domestic duties, as many as eighteen, in addition to the
family, once sleeping at the house. At the time of the Yearly Meeting
she had to entertain many visitors in London at Mildred's Court. There
were also occasional visits to Norfolk, during one of which she took
active part in founding the Norfolk and Norwich Bible Society. The
meeting at which this was inaugurated in 1811 was a most successful one.
Old Bishop Bathurst spoke with much decision and liberality, and he was
supported by many of the clergy, and ministers of all denominations, the
Mayor of Norwich presiding. About L700 was subscribed at the meeting.
Mr. Joseph Hughes, one of the secretaries, who, with his venerable
colleague Dr. Steinkopff, arranged the meeting, in an account written of
it, speaks of "a devout address by a female minister, Elizabeth Fry,
whose manner was impressive, and whose words were so appropriate, that
none present can ever forget the incident, or even advert to it without
emotions alike powerful and pleasing. The first emotion was surprise;
the second, awe; the third, pious fervour." Such was the impression made
by the hearty words spoken by Elizabeth Fry.