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Howel Harris and ‘The Grand Table’: A Note on Religion and Politics 1744–50
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011
Extract
In the 1740s, despite personal and doctrinal disagreements, the leaders of the Revival were still at one. Between old Dissent and new Methodism suspicions were not absent but were absorbed in a common enterprise. Wales had not yet gone its separate path. The Wesleys, Whitefield, Doddridge and Howel Harris (1714–72), whom some of his countrymen consider the greatest Welshman of his age, were all actively in touch. One form of co-operation was in visits to Lady Huntingdon at her home in Chelsea. Here Whitefield, Doddridge and Harris took turns in preaching before a circle of the countess'ss noble friends. These they hoped to win for the Revival. They also hoped to gain a wider religious, and even political, influence for themselves.
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References
STL, i = Selected Trevecka Letters (1742–1747); HHRS = Howell Harris, Reformer and Soldier; TL = National Library of Wales, Trevecka Letters; HHVL = Howell Harris's Visits to London; CCPD = Calendar of the Correspondence of Philip Doddridge; Humphreys = Correspondence and Diary of Philip Doddridge; GWW = George Whitefield, Works; STL, ii = Selected Trevecka Letters (1747–1794)
This paper is the original English version of a contribution to the Festschrift for Dr R. Tudur Jones of Bangor, γ Gair a'r Genedl, Abertawe 1986. For permission for its appearance here I thank Dr Jones and the editor of the volume, Dr E. Stanley John.
1 Selected Trevecka Letters (1742–1747), ed. Roberts, G. M., Caernarvon 1962, 63 n. 1.Google Scholar
2 Howell Harris, Reformer and Soldier, ed. Beynon, Tom, Caernarvon 1958, 50.Google Scholar
3 National Library of Wales, Trevecka Letters 1024 of 31 Oct. 1743 (a copy) and 2696 of 24 May 1771. Letter numbers as in Jones, M. H., The Trevecka Letters, ed. Jenkins, R. T., Caernarvon 1932.Google Scholar
4 HHRS, 52.
5 Howell Harris's Visits to London, ed. Beynon, Tom, Aberystwyth 1960, 54–5Google Scholar (cited with comprehensive page reference when passages quoted are in chronological sequence).
6 STL, i. 135 (TL 1152).
7 TL 999; for Erskine's reply, see STL, i. 115 (TL 1016). For Erskine (1697–1754), see DNB.
8 HHVL, 48.
9 Ibid. 55.
11 STL, i. 35 (TL 1152).
12 Ibid. i. 140 (TL 1186). For John Dalrymple (1673–1747), 2nd earl of Stair, see DNB; his second wife Eleanor (d. 1759), Viscountess Primrose, is mentioned by Harris in 1749 (HHVL, 255).
13 Calendar of the Correspondence of Philip Doddridge, ed. Nuttall, G. F., London, 1979, Letter 1222.Google Scholar
14 Correspondence and Diary of Philip Doddridge, ed. Humphreys, J. D., London 1829–31, iv. 528Google Scholar(CCPD, 1228).
15 HHVL, 130. William Kerr (c. 1690–1767), 3rd marquis of Lothian, had been among those who welcomed Whitefield to Scotland in 1741 and had opened a correspondence with him: see Whitefield, George, Works, ed. Gillies, John, London 1771–2Google Scholar, Letter cccxlv. For Friedrich Michael Ziegenhagen (d. 1776), minister of the German Chapel at St James's 1722–76, and his contacts, see Nuttall, G. F., ‘Continental pietism and the Evangelical movement in Britain’, in Pietismus und Réveil, ed. van den Berg, J. and van Dooren, J. P., Leiden 1978, 225.Google Scholar For Abigail Edwin (d. 1757), wife of John Edwin, MP-sometimes confused with her sister-in-law, Lady Charlotte Edwin (d. 1772; wife of Charles Edwin, MP), who presented David Jones to Llangan - see CCPD, 1369 n. 1; her daughter married a cousin of the earl of Stair (n. 12, above).
16 HHVL, 134–7.
17 Jenkins, R.T., Yng Nghysgod Treveca, Caernarvon 1968, 138–9;Google Scholar for Edwards (1714–85), see further Miall, J. G., Congregationalism in Yorkshire, London 1868, 305.Google Scholar
18 HHVL, 137.
19 Ibid. 149.
20 Ibid. 146.
21 Ibid. 149. For ‘on the stretch’ as a catch-phrase of the early Evangelicals, see G. F. Nuttall, ‘Continental pietism’, 232; Harris uses the phrase again a week later, 151.
22 HHVL, 163–4, 168. The Lady Coningsby mentioned by Harris as ‘under some awakening’ was sister-in-law to Sir Charles Hanbury Williams.
23 DNB, s.v. Frederick Louis, prince of Wales. Lady Archibald's husband was son to William Douglas, 3rd duke of Hamilton, and uncle to Lady Charlotte Edwin.
24 Selected Trevecka Letters (1747–1794), ed. Roberts, G. M., Caernarvon 1962, 11 (as 17 Oct.).Google Scholar
25 HHVL, 171–2, 178, 196, 199–200.
26 Life & Times, i. 88 (not in GWW; TL 1595, but no MS extant).
27 GWW, dciii.
28 HHVL, 201–3, 205.
29 Ibid– 204.
30 CCPD, 1364. Lady Frances was the widow of Colonel James Gardiner (1688–1745, see DNB), whose Life Doddridge had published in the preceding year. A daughter of David Erskine, 4th (or 9th) earl of Buchan, she was a cousin of James Erskine and aunt to Lady Anne Erskine, Lady Huntingdon's eventual trustee.
31 HHVL, 207. Whitefield also corresponded with Lady Frances and her husband, GWW, cccclxii and cccclxviii.
32 CCPD, 1389. For a visit by Harris to Swallow Street in 1739, see Thickens, John, Howel Harrisyn Llundain, Caernarvon [1938], 147Google Scholar; and for the church and its minister, William (not James, as Thickens) Crookshank, see Wilson, Walter, History of Dissenting Churches … in London, London 1808–14, iv. 45–8Google Scholar; see further HHVL, 70.
33 CCPD, 1369.
34 GWW, cclxxx.
35 Life & Times, ii. 162, 400, 64; i. 307; cf. i. 476, ii. 466.
36 The earliest letter extant from Lady Huntingdon to Doddridge, in which she expresses the hope to see him at Chelsea, was written in 1744, CCPD, 953.
37 CCPD, 1373.
38 For Gumley, see Life & Times, i. 94 n.*.
39 CCPD, 1373, 1375, 1377. For Herring's relations with Doddridge, see Nuttall, G. F., ‘Chandler, Doddridge and the archbishop: a study in eighteenth-century ecumenism’, in United Reformed Church Hist. Soc. Journal i (1973), 42–56.Google Scholar
40 Humphreys, v. 480, reading ‘Mrs.’ for ‘Mr.’ Edwin and ‘Gumley’ for ‘Gardiner’ (who was deceased).
41 HHVL, 210.
42 Selections from the Journals and Papers of John Byrom, ed. Talon, H., London 1950, 251–2.Google Scholar For Charles Stanhope (1673–1760), MP, a distant cousin of the earl of Chesterfield, see DNB s.v. his brother William Stanhope (1690?–1756), 1st earl of Harrington.
43 GWW, dclxvi and dclxxiii. For Philip Dormer Stanhope (1694–1773), 4th earl of Chesterfield, and William Pulteney (1684–1764), 1st earl of Bath, see DNB.
44 CCPD, 1392.
45 GWW, delxxi.
46 GWW, delxxxi, delxxxiv, delxxxix, dexcix, dee. For Lady Mary Hamilton (d. 1768), wife of Alexander Hamilton, MP, see Life & Times, i. 101 n.*.
47 GWW, deexix, and CCPD, 1428 (no MS extant). In Letter deexxiii, written nine days later to Lady B[ath], Whitefield uses the same phraseology of both Lady Huntingdon and the assemblies at her house.
48 GWW, deexxix (TL 1841, no MS extant) and deexxv.
49 DNB, s.v. Whitefield; Tyerman, L., Life of the Rev. George Whitefield, ii, 2nd edn, London 1890, 318 n. 1Google Scholar, gives Bolingbroke's exclamation on this occasion as ‘By heavens, the beggar's gone!’. For Henry Saint–John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (1678–1751), see DNB.
50 See his (undated) letter to Lady Huntingdon in Life & Times, i. 179–80.
51 John Saint-John, 2nd Viscount Saint-John (d. 1749), was married to a cousin of Lady Huntingdon.
52 Life & Times, i. 98, 180. In March 1747 Lady Huntingdon conveyed Bolingbroke's compliments to Doddridge, CCPD, 1228.
53 HHVL, 213, reading ‘Lady Fanny Shirley’ (1702–78: ‘a great beauty’: DNB, s.v. Chesterfield) for ‘Lady Phany Sherlock’ and ‘Countess Delitz’ for ‘Countess de Foi’. For Anna Louise Sophie von der Schulenberg (1692–1773: ‘a great beauty’: 51), Countess Delitz suo jure (an imperial title obtained for her by George 1), and her sister, Petronilla Melusine von der Schulenberg (1693–1778), countess of Chesterfield, and countess of Walsingham suo jure, see Hatton, R., George I Elector and King, London 1978, 411Google Scholar (a reference which I owe to Mr John Creasey).
54 Reading ‘Lady Fanny Shirley’ for ‘Lady Phany Charlotte’.
55 HHVL, 216–19, reading ‘Gumley’ for ‘Gurnley’.
56 ibid. 223–6, an interesting early reference to Wesley's The Christian Pattern (1735). Doddridge dedicated his Family Expositor to the princess of Wales, who also accepted presentation copies of other works by him; it was a matter of pride to him that he had been ‘by the particular Direction of their Royal Highnesses the Prince & Princess of Wales admitted into their Presence & treated by them in the most obliging Manner imaginable’, CCPD, 526, 650, 659, 924, 1028, 1035, 1394. James Hervey's writings were also presented to the princess and received by her ‘in a very obliging manner’, Life & Times, i. 167 n.†.
57 Humphreys, v. 38 (CCPD, 1434).
58 HHVL, 216–17, 224, 226.
59 DNB, citing Horace Walpole.
60 HHVL, 216.
61 Ibid. 224, 218; cf. 142.
62 GWW, deelxv to Lady Fanny S[hirley] and deelxvi.
63 HHVL, 229–30.
64 Ibid 244, reading ‘Spangenberg’ for ‘Spannenburg’ Harris had already met Spangenberg in 1742, HHRS, 40.
65 Ibid. 199; according to Harris, ‘the Count's New Testament’ omitted the Epistle of James and the Second and Third Epistle of John, ibid. 245. For the Bible prepared by Zinzendorf (Ebersdorffim Voigtlande 1727) and the New Testament translated by him (Büdingen 1739), see Historical Catalogue of the Printed Editions of Holy Scripture, ed. Darlow, T. H. and Moule, H. F., London, 1903–n, ii. 504, 506.Google Scholar
66 HHVL, 259; ‘the young Duke’ was James, 6th duke (1724–58), Lady Archibald's great-nephew.
67 Ibid. 257–63.
68 GWW, deelxxv to Lady H[untingdo]n and deelxxxv.
69 HHVL, 254–5, 258.
70 GWW, deeev and deeeviii; when writing in 1749 to Countess Dfelitz] Whitefield regularly sent respects to her ‘honoured sister’, Lady Chesterfield. Not every great lady attached to Whitefield was led to wear ‘a grave gown’; Doddridge reports finding Mrs Edwin ‘in a furbelowd & pinkd Sack’, CCPD, 1372; Harris made ‘colouring my dear wife's gown’ a matter of prayer, HHVL, 79.
71 HHVL, 260–1, reading ‘Lady Gertrude’ for ‘Lady Garthright’, 263.
72 GWW, deeexi.
73 HHVL, 264.
74 Ibid. 24, 38.
75 Jenkins, Yng Nghysgod Treveca, 48.
76 Life & Times, i. 175.
77 DNB, s.vv. Walpole and the other persons named in the paragraph.
78 Ibid. s.v. Lyttelton (who was Doddridge's intermediary with the prince); cf. also p. 536, above.
79 Life & Times, i. 108–9; and DNB, s.vv. the persons named.
80 Life & Times, i. 174.
81 Ibid. ii. 283.
82 HHVL, 67; in 1749 Lady Chesterfield memorialised the king on redress for the Methodists being persecuted in Ireland, Life & Times, ii. 151.
83 Ibid. 130, 134; cf. 132, 151, 194, 205. For Lewis Evan(s) (1720–92), see Dictionary of Welsh Biography.
84 Ibid. 199; cf. 185. For Sir Watkin Williams Wynn (1692–1749), see DWB.
85 Ibid. 213, 263; cf. 227. For the editions of the Welsh Bible published in 1746 and 1752 by the SPCK, see Darlow and Moule, iv. 1669.
86 Life & Times, i. 379.
87 Ibid. i. 449.
88 HHVL, 51; for the bishop of Rochester, Joseph Wilcocks (1673–1756), who in 1749 invited Doddridge to lunch, CCPD, 1512, see DNB.
89 Ibid. 249.
90 Ibid. 205.
91 Ibid. 55, 199–200; for the bishop of London, Edmund Gibson (1669–1748), see DNB.
92 HHRS, 187; cf. 200.
93 Ibid. 49.
94 HHVL, 41, 200, 226, 261; for Walter Chapman see Wesley, John, Letters, ed. Telford, J., London 1931, i. 218.Google Scholar
95 HHRS, 185, 159, 198, 200; for the countess of Dartmouth (d. 1805), see DNB, s.v. her husband, William Legge (1731–1801), 2nd earl.
96 Jenkins, R. T., Hanes Cymru yn y Ddeunawfed Ganrif, Caerdydd 1945, 88.Google Scholar
97 Life & Times, i. 180.
98 Ibid. ii. 282.
99 GWW, deeelxv to Countess D[elitz]; cf. Doddridge's remark, ‘Had these Ladies been Bishops’, cited above.
100 Life & Times, i. 269; for Ingham (1712–72), who married Lady Margaret Hastings, see DNB.
101 HHRS, 123; HHVL, 249.
102 Life & Times, i. 167; GWW, deeelxxiv to Lady [Fanny] S[hirley]; for Moses Browne (1704–87), see DNB.
103 Dr. Williams's Library, London, Congregational Library MSS II c 9.
104 Westminster College, Cambridge, Cheshunt College MSS E 3.
105 A. M. W. Stirling, Annals of a Yorkshire House, n.d., i. 296–7.