the summer of 1765, while at Taymouth Castle in Perthshire, the seat of the Earl of Breadalbane, she was seized with a dangerous putrid fever. On her convalescence, a train of serious thoughts and reasonings was produced, followed by convictions and purposes, which ended in a complete renovation of heart and of conduct. She had been taught in early youth that form of sound words which is contained in the Assembly's Catechism; and now, the first question and answer occurring to her, "What is the chief end of man?"-" The chief end of man is, to glorify God and to enjoy him for ever"-she was involuntarily led to muse on the words, and to put to herself the important questions: Have I answered the design of my being? Have I glorified God? Shall I enjoy him for ever? On Feviewing her life of thoughtless gayety, she could come to no other conclusion than that there was no connexion between such conduct, and the glorifying and enjoying of God, and that consequently, hitherto, she had not answered the chief end of her existence. The result will best be given in her Ladyship's own words, as contained in her diary. They occur in the memorandum made on her first birthday after the period at which the MS. commences.

"September 2.-I desire this day to humble myself before God, and to bless him as my Creator, who called me into being from the dust of the earth; who hath been my preserver in the midst of many dangers; and who hath, ever since my birth, loaded me with tender mercies and loving-kindnesses. But above all, I would bless his holy name, that he hath not left me in the state of alienation from him in which I was by nature, but that he hath of his free grace and mercy brought me out of darkness, and shewn me the glorious light of his gospel, and caused me to hope for salvation through Jesus Christ. Many a time was he pleased to convince

me of sin in my early years; but these convictions were as the morning dew that soon passeth away. A life of dissipation and folly soon choked the good seed. Carnal company and diversions filled up the place in my soul that was due alone to God. The first twenty years of my life were spent after the fashion of this world. Led away by vanity and youthful folly, I forgot my Creator and Redeemer; and if at any time I was brought by sickness or retirement to serious reflection, my ideas of God were confused and full of terror: I saw my course of life was wrong, but had not power to alter it, or to resist the torrent of fashionable dissipation that drew me along with it. Sometimes I resolved to begin a godly life, to give all I had in charity, and to live only to God;-but I was then ignorant of God's righteousness, and went about to establish a sort of righteousness of my own, by which I hoped to be saved. God was therefore gracious in letting me feel how vain all my resolutions were, by allowing me to relapse again and again into a life of folly and vanity. My ignorance of the gospel was then so great, that I did not like to hear ministers preach much about Jesus Christ; I saw neither form nor comeliness in him, and thought it would have been more to the purpose, had they told us what we should do to inherit eternal life. My idea of Christ was,—that after I had done a great deal, he was to make up the rest: this was my religion! How marvellous is thy grace, O Lord! to pardon such a worthless creature, who thus depreciated thy great sufferings and meritorious death, and endeavoured to rob thee of the glory which belongs to thee alone.

"But this was not the only way in which I tried to rob God of his glory. I claimed great merit in the patience with which he enabled me to bear the severe trials and afflictions he was graciously pleased to send upon me, to bend my stubborn heart to his

yoke. I thought I had not deserved such a lot;and thus I secretly rebelled against the good will of the Lord. About this time I got acquainted with the Hawkstone family-some of them had the reputation of being Methodists. I liked their company and conversation, and wished to be as religious as they were, being convinced that they were right; but I still loved the world' in my heart, and could not think of secluding myself from its pleasures altogether. I would gladly have found out some way of reconciling God and the world, so as to save my soul, and keep some of my favourite amusements. I used many arguments to prove that balls, and other public places, were useful, and necessary in society,-that they were innocent and lawful, and that the affairs of life could not go on well without them. The Lord, however, followed me with convictions. My own thoughts became very uneasy to me, the burden of my misfortunes intolerable. My health and spirits at last sunk under them, and for some time before I left off going to public amusements, (where I appeared outwardly gay and cheerful,) my heart was inwardly torn with anguish and inexpressible grief.

The

enemy now suggested to me, that I had no resource left, but to give myself up entirely to the gayeties of life, and seek consolation in whatever way it presented itself, without paying any regard to those maxims of wisdom which hitherto had kept me within some bounds. To the best of my remembrance, it was the very same night in which this thought was suggested, that I was seized with a fever, which threatened to cut short my days; during the course of which, the first question of the Assembly's Catechism was brought to my mind,What is the chief end of man? as if some one had asked it. When I considered the answer to it, To glorify God and enjoy him for ever, I was struck with shame and confusion. I found I had never

sought to glorify God in my life, nor had any idea of what was meant by enjoying him for ever. Death and judgement were set before me, my past sins came to my remembrance. I saw no way to escape the punishment due unto them, nor had I the least glimmering hope of obtaining the pardon of them through the righteousness of another. In this dismal state I continued some days, viewing death as the king of terrors, without a friend to whom I could communicate my distress, and altogether ignorant of Jesus the friend of sinners. At this time, the Lord put it into the heart of Miss Hill to write to me. I received her letter with inexpressible joy, as I thought she might possibly say something that would lessen my fears of death. I immediately wrote to her of my sad situation, and begged her advice. Her answer set me upon searching the Scriptures, with much prayer and supplication that the Lord would shew me the true way of salvation, and not suffer me to be led into error. One day, in particular, I took the Bible in my hand, and fell upon my knees before God, beseeching him with much importunity to reveal his will to me by his word. My mouth was filled with arguments, and I was enabled to plead with him, that as he had made me, and given me the desire I then felt to know him, he would surely teach me the way in which I should walk, and lead me into all truth,that he knew I only wished to know his will in order to do it, that I was afraid of being led into error; but as he was truth itself, his teaching must be infallible. I therefore committed my soul to him, to be taught the true way of salvation. After this prayer was finished, I opened the Bible then in my hands, and read part of the third chapter of the Epistle to the Romans, where our state by nature, and the way of redemption through a propitiatory sacrifice, are set clearly forth. The eyes of my understanding were opened, and I saw wisdom and