SELINA, COUNTESS OF HUNTINGDON, ridicule and expostulation which she brought down upon herself by boldly declaring the change which had come over her spirit, she would at once have retired from the brilliant sphere in which she had been heretofore " Chief Lady of the Revels," had not her husband opposed her desire. Upon each appearance, however, her costume displayed less of the magnificent and more of the tasteful ; until upon her last visit at Court, in January, 1750, she wore a plain but elegant robe of brown brocade flowered with silver. Her half brother, the King, on beholding her in this dress, " first smiled, and then laughed quite out ;" and advancing towards the slightly dis- concerted lady, he remarked aloud, " I know who selected that gown for you ; it must have been Mr. Whitfield. I hear you have been a follower of his for this year and a half." " I have," mildly replied Lady Chesterfield, " and very well do I like him ;" and she quietly withdrew from the Royal presence, but as she " came to her chair," she regretted not having said more in defence of her new opinions. Whitfield was appointed her chaplain by Lady Huntingdon, who completely adopted his theological views, and altogether renounced the Arminian tenets, to which she had formerly inclined ; while with the view of opening up for him a wider range of usefulness, she converted her house in Park Street into " a preaching station." Her eldest son, Francis, having attained his majority in 1750, she resigned Donnington Park to 22
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