"Burden'd and groaning then no more, "Dear Saviour! help us now to seek, The Rev. Mr. Venn, who came to see her, among other things said: "The Lord is your portion. She replied: "And what a portion He is! Well is it for me that he is my portion," she added, while being supported across the room, "for observe what a poor feeble, helpless creature I am; and yet, I am commanded to run, to strive, and to fight.' The Lord has put me in the furnace of affliction; but he is attending at it himself.” Not many nights before her death, being extremely fatigued through want of rest, which was constantly interrupted by a cough that rendered ineffectual every effort to gain sleep; her sister Mary, who with unwearied assiduity and affection attended her night and day, involuntarily on one occasion, when she was disturbed by the cough, exclaimed from the sympathy of the moment, "Oh! how cruel!" She immediately rejoined, "Do not say so all is right." On her intimate friend, the Rev. Mr. Steinkopff, coming to see her, and conversing in a very affectionate, encouraging, and appropriate manner, her joy seemed too great, and her heart too full, for utterance; her tears alone could express a little of what she felt. She therefore merely said: "I must not speak upon this subject; for, were I to tell you all I feel, it would make me quite ill." On receiving the visits of her younger acquaintance, she was particularly earnest in exhorting them to make religion their business in youth, and to rely on Divine strength alone for ability to persevere; saying, "What a mercy it is that I have not left repentance till a dying hour!". To the children of her sister, Mrs. Thornton, she said: “I am going to heaven; and I hope I shall meet you there. I love you; I love your papa and mamma; but I love God better; and, though it is our constant duty to love our near relations and friends, yet, God demands our first love. Love him, therefore, above all, and pray to him: go to Jesus Christ, who is all compassion, and who invites you to come and accept of his great salvation." The enthusiastic reveries of religious visionaries are generally found to absorb, in what they call personal experience, all regard for the subordinate interests of others. It is therefore proper to notice, though the circumstance is not extraordinary, the great solicitude which our dying friend manifested for the temporal, as well as spiritual welfare of her sister Mary. She told her, that the thought of leaving her, was her chief concern; but, she added, "I am cheered by the reflection, that I leave you in the hands of one who'sticketh closer than a sister a brother,' and whose friendship and counsel will be far better than mine would be, though I were restored to perfect health." She also always expressed herself particularly gratified if any of the friends who prayed by her, remembered to pray for her sister; and seemed disappointed if they did not. or Two days previous to her death, her old and intimate friend Mr. Blair, coming into the room, said: "Mr. Cecil sends his love to you." She replied: "I thank him: pray return mine to him, and tell him I am going to my heavenly Father.-Feel my pulse." Mr. B. remarked, " 120 in a minute." She answered: "The worst is my panting for breath: it is very oppressive and difficult for me to breathe. But I suppose, the more difficult it is, the sooner I shall be dismissed. I assure you, I am not alone; my heavenly Father is with me." Mr. B. said: "May the Lord remain with you, Miss Bacon." She replied: "And with you also; for you cannot do at all without him: you would be sadly off without him. I bless him that I find him with me now: I am in the furnace, and yet, I am supported." Mr. B. added: "You are going where there will be no pain, nor sorrow, nor sin, to enjoy the best of company for ever." She replied: "I shall be with my dear Redeemer. I bless God for all his mercies; but especially for my sickness." "Poor thing!" said Mr. B. "Don't say poor thing," she rejoined; "I am rich in him who has all riches in himself." Mr. B. said: "When flesh and heart fail, God will be the strength of your heart, and your portion for ever." She answered: "A good portion! Yes, He is my portion." Two days afterwards, Mr. Blair again called. It was Christmas eve, and finding her sinking very rapidly, he said, "You will spend a happier Christmas to-morrow than you ever did. You will celebrate the day with Christ and his angels." She replied with a degree of animation more than common, "Do you think so? Blessed be his name! Yes, I shall surely be with him. I have told you the state of my mind already, and what I have felt; I cannot now speak; but all is well." Shortly after which she breathed her last. Her remains were interred at Epsom, in Surrey, agreeably to her desire. On a small cenotaph placed over her grave, is the following inscription, which she had requested me to write, and which was adopted by herself in her last illness : ANN BACON, Daughter of JOHN BACON, Esq. R.A. While Flesh and Heart fail, I desire the Marble which may cover my Remains, Not to myself, But of the Free Grace and Mercy of my Have been preserved from the Evils of the World; 'Not any thing hath failed of all that the Lord hath promised!' If thou, Reader, Art a Seeker of the Kingdom of Heaven, From thy Sister in the same Redeemer. Having been able, by a relation of facts, to give so happy, and, I trust, so interesting a conclusion to this little memorial of my late invaluable sister, I shall be excused from lessening its effect by intruding reflections of my own by way of improvement. I therefore merely add: Let each one encourage in his own mind, such improvements as unprejudiced reason may suggest, while it listens to the voice of conscience; which ever faithfully whispers the true state of things between the soul and that God who, after he hath" required the soul," "hath power to cast it into hell," or to translate it to a state of endless felicity. I have the pleasure to be, Dear Madam, Your indebted friend and servant, Paddington, October, 1812. J. BACON, LADY BURFORD. THOUGH the records of the pious dead are not frequently graced with the names of those who were dignified with worldly titles and honours, yet it pleases God sometimes to select the monuments of his grace from among the rich and noble, to shew that he is no respecter of persons, but is rich in mercy to all that call upon him. In the course of our work, we have given an account of several noble ladies who were not more distinguished by rank than by piety. We now have to record another instance. Lady Burford was the daughter of Mr. Moses, an eminent merchant in Hull, who had married the sister of Sir Henry Etherington, Bart., one of the aldermen of that corporation. Lady B. was the only fruit of that union, her mother dying soon after her birth. And though her father twice afterwards entered into the matrimonial connexion, he left no other child to inherit his vast property. Lady B. was born in the year 1767, at Hull. Being an only child, and, by the death of her father, in possession of a large fortune, and in expectation of a very considerable addition to it at the death of another near relative, she was brought up by that relative with the most anxious solicitude, and with a careful attention to every thing that might qualify her for an elevated rank in society. Her various accomplishments attracted many admirers; and she at length gave her hand, in the year 1790, to the noble lord, whose title she bore, afterwards Duke of St. Albans. Thus dignified and introduced into high life, she was for a season fascinated with the splendour and |