found an entrance into worldly hearts, and once and
again Whitefield tried to win for the Saviour such men as Chesterfield
and Bolingbroke. Lady Huntingdon made him one of her chaplains, and in
order to afford greater facilities for this special work, she removed
from Chelsea to a house in Park Street, and for six weeks Whitefield
carried on these special services, in addition to all his other work.
When, for his own spiritual refreshment, he left London for an
evangelistic tour to Bristol, Exeter, and Plymouth, this special work
was continued by John and Charles Wesley, and several of their
fellow-workers.

The young Earl of Huntingdon came of age in 1750, and the Countess gave
up Donnington Park to him, removing her household to Ashby, living there
with her other children and two of the Ladies Hastings. Towards the
close of 1749 Whitefield desired, if possible, with the aid of Lady
Huntingdon, to organise the vast numbers who had been greatly blessed by
his evangelistic work, into a corporate body, like that which the clear,
practical wisdom of John Wesley had created for the societies which
looked up to him as leader. Whitefield had already seriously differed
from Wesley on the tenets of Calvinism and much trouble was to ensue in
after years from a renewal of the controversy between the two sections,
Calvinistic and Arminian Methodism. Lady Huntingdon seems to have been
attracted by Whitefield's wish and plan; though it was not at this time
destined to bear fruit. But early in 1750 she exerted herself, and with
success, to bring about a renewal of thoroughly friendly relations
between the two great leaders. On January 19 and 26, 1750, Whitefield
and Wesley took part in combined services; Wesley reading prayers and
Whitefield preaching on the former, these respective functions being
reversed on the latter date. Until Whitefield's death this harmony was
never again broken.

At this period Whitefield paid several visits to Ashby. Here and in
London he had fellowship with Dr. Doddridge, whose MS., "from
Corinthians to Ephesians," of _The Family Expositor_, was nearly
consumed by fire at Ashby; Hervey, the author of that well-known book of
which so many have heard but so few have read, _Meditations among the
Tombs_; Madan, a lawyer who, going to hear John Wesley, in order that he
might mimic him before his companions, listened to a sermon on the text,
"Prepare to meet thy God," was converted by it, and upon his return,