structive contrast, the different manner in which it fell on the sufferers.

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My mother dead; at first surprised and very unwilling; she was afterwards resigned; prayed much, had holy things read to her, delighted in heavenly discourse, desired to be dissolved and be with Christ, ended her life cheerfully and without pain, left her family in order, and was much lamented."-"The D—— dead; a princess honoured in power, had much wit, much money, much esteem;-none remembered her after one week, none sorry for her, she was tost and flung about, and every one did what they would with that stately carcase. What is this world, what is greatness, what to be esteemed or thought a wit? We shall all be stripped without sense or remembrance. But God, if we serve him in our health, will give us patience in our sickness." Perhaps this twofold stroke of death tended to increase that habitual seriousness which so remarkably distinguished Margaret Blagge, for, as she often said, she loved to be in the house of mourning.

"She had not been above two years at court, before her virtue, beauty, and wit made her to be looked upon as a little miracle; and, indeed, there were some addresses made to her of the greatest persons-not from the attractions of affected charms, for she was ever, at that sprightful and free age, severely careful how she might give the least liberty, which the gallants there do usually assume, of talking with less reserve; nor did this eclipse her pretty humour, which was cheerful and easy amongst those she thought worthy her conversation." Having been promoted to the station of a maid of honour to the queen, the moral perils of her position became still more imminent, but her watchfulness was proportionably great. "Be sure never to talk to the king,” she says in her diary; "when they speak filthily, though I be laughed at, look grave, remembering that of Micah, there will come a time when the Lord will bind up his jewels. Before I

speak, Lord, assist me; when I pray, Lord, hear me; when I am praised, God humble me; may everything I see instruct me; Lord, cleanse my hands, let my feet tread thy paths."

Providence had in reserve for Margaret two friends, with whom the rest of her history is bound up; and the attachment she felt for them was, no doubt, among the subsidiary means employed by the Divine keeper of that young soul for the strengthening of her virtue, the growth of her piety, and the establishment of her peace.

The first of these frieuds-one who became to her a kind of moral and spiritual Mentor-was the well-known John Evelyn, of Wotton, to whose pleasant and easy pen we are indebted for what we know of her history and character. Minding his books and his garden-a circle, he used to say, "big enough for him "-he never sought acquaintanceships at court; and when he heard some distinguished persons speaking of Margaret Blagge, he "fancied her some airy thing that had more wit than discretion." But making a visit to Whitehall with Mrs. Evelyn, he fell in with the youthful maid of honour, and one day dined in her apartments, when he "admired her temperance, and took especial notice that however wide or indifferent the subject of their discourse was amongst the rest, she would always divert it to some religious conclusion, and so temper and season her replies, as showed a gracious heart, and that she had a mind wholly taken up with heavenly thoughts." A sincere friendship arose between the Whitehall lady and the Wotton sage, which was ratified by a quaint solemnity, illustrative of the character of the parties far more than the fashion of the times. After a formal solicitation that he would look upon her thenceforth as his child, she took a sheet of paper, upon which Evelyn had been carelessly sketching something in the shape of an altar, and wrote these words :-" Be this a symbol of inviolable friendship: Margaret Blagge, 16th October, 1672;"

and underneath, "for my brother E." There was something of romance in the daughter-like attachment which this girl of twenty formed for the amiable Evelyn; but it was indulged for the guidance of her affairs, the increase of her wisdom, and the ripening of her piety. "The most consummate friendships," said he, his heart glowing while he wrote, "are the products of religion and the love of God;" and such, beyond doubt, was the origin of the mutual affection between him and Margaret Godolphin.

The quick-sighted Evelyn soon discovered that there was another who held a different place in her heart from that which he had been chosen to occupy; so, after he had rallied her on the subject, Margaret one day sat down in her chamber at Whitehall, and wrote a confidential epistle, communicating to him tidings of the attachment she had formed for one to whom she was subsequently united. That his tastes were in unison with her own may be gathered from her own account:-" At first we thought of living always together, and that we should be happy. But at last, he was sent abroad by his Majesty and fell sick, which gave me great trouble. I allowed more time for prayer than before I had ever done, and, I thank God, found infinite pleasure in it, and I thought less of foolish things that used to take up my time. Being thus changed myself, and liking it so well, I earnestly begged of God that he would impart the same satisfaction to him I loved. 'Tis done, my friend, 'tis done; and from my soul I am thankful; and though I believe he loves me passionately, yet I am not where I was; my place is filled up with Him who is all in all." She then goes on to say that they were determined not to precipitate their marriage; indeed she indicates some inclination to a perpetual single life, from a mistaken notion that thereby she could more effectually serve God than in a married condition.

Never at home amidst the gaieties of Whitehall, to say nothing of the immorality which there prevailed, Margaret felt, after seven years' continuance in the place, that she could no longer endure to remain amidst its scenes, and therefore earnestly sought, and at length with difficulty obtained, permission from their Majesties to retire from court. It was on a Sunday night, Evelyn tells us, after most of the company were departed, that he waited on her down to her chamber, where she was no sooner entered, but, falling on ber knees, she blessed God as for a signal deliverance; "she was come," she said, "out of Egypt, and was now in the way to the land of promise." Tears trickled down her cheeks, “like the dew of flowers, making a lovely grief," as she parted with one of the court ladies who had a spirit kindred to her own; but the feelings which predominated in her bosom were more like those of one fleeing from the city of destruction.

Her new place of abode was Berkeley House, a mansion which stood on the site of the present town residence of the Duke of Devonshire in Piccadilly. There she found a home with Lady Berkeley, and a pleasant chamber with a library, and quietude and retirement, and, what she specially sought, time for meditation and prayer. She was, however, exposed to occasional interruptions from the visits of distinguished personages, and this, owing to her increased love of seclusion, induced her to contemplate a removal into the country. The desire of celibacy at this time returned with increased force; and it is plain, from her whole story, that there was a strong infusion of asceticism in her piety; an element alien from the religion of Christ, which, while it enjoins self-denial, cherishes the social instincts and domestic charities of our nature, purifying and crowning them with divine benedictions. Evelyn had, in this respect, more sober and scriptural notions of Christianity; and he availed himself of his influence over his young friend, to persuade her to renounce those erroneous views of a

spiritual life into which she had been betrayed. And he succeeded. She indeed withdrew herself from the amusements of the world of fashion; she burst through the entanglements which continued to surround her even after she ceased to be a maid of honour; she was prepared to give up all for Christ: but she was brought to see that union with a person whose religious sentiments and feelings were in harmony with her own, would tend rather to promote than to retard the progress of piety. Accordingly, she was married privately in the Temple church, on the 16th of May; but in a letter written shortly after, she showed what was still the main bent and purpose of her mind. "I have this day," she says to Evelyn, "thought your thoughts, wished I dare say your wishes, which were that I might every day sit looser and looser to the things of this world; discerning, as every day I do, the folly and vanity of it; how short all its pleasures, how trifling all its recreations, how false most of its friendships, how transitory every thing in it; and on the contrary, how sweet the service of God, how delightful the meditating on his word, how pleasant the conversation of the faithful, and, above all, how charming prayer, how glorious our hopes, how gracious our God is to all his children, how gentle his corrections, and how frequently, by the invitations of his Spirit, he calls us from our low designs to those great and noble ones of serving him and attaining eternal happiness."

The person to whom she was married, and to whom she had been attached before she became acquainted with Evelyn, was Sidney Godolphin, before his death created Earl of Godolphin.

Berkeley-house was the first scene of her wedded life. Sweetly "she lived in retirement all the winter," till the return of Lord Berkeley from Paris obliged her to remove, when she repaired to "a pretty habitation which had been built and accommodated for