309 



his induction to his office. It was not later than 17G5. From the 

 " Graduati Cantabrigienscs" it appears tliat he took his M.A. degree 

 in 1765. 



When, and by what means, he was led to take up the cause of 

 the Calvinistic Methodists I do not know, but he became one of 

 the many chaplains of the Countess of Huntingdon. From 

 the life of the Countess* we find that he frequently preached 

 for her in the summer of 1765 at Bretby Hall, Derbyshire, 

 sometimes in the Chapel, sometimes to large crowds in the Park. 

 At the opening of her Chapel in the Vineyards, at Bath, ou 

 October 16th, 1765, Whitfield preached in the morning, and 

 Townsend in the evening. His " Every true Christian a new 

 creature " was published in this year. The Countess frequently 

 took three or four of her chaplains on preaching tours, and 

 between 1765 and 1779 we hear of Townsend officiating for her 

 in almost all parts of the country, from the south of Cornwall 

 to Scotland, and in Wales and Ireland. Mr. Warner says, " I 

 have heard indeed, and I can believe it, that Mr. Townsend'a 

 preaching in the early period of his ministry was quite electri- 

 fying." It must be remembered that the Countess believed that 

 by right of her peerage she was entitled to appoint as many 

 clergymen as she pleased to be her chaplains, and to direct where 

 they should, and where they shoiild not, preach, while they stiU 

 retained their connection with the Established Church. Mr. 

 SeUon, the incumbent of Clerkenwell, questioned this supposed 

 right, and brought before an ecclesiastical court some of the 

 clergymen who pi'eached in her chapel at Spa fields. The decision 

 of the coui-t was that they must discontinue their services at the 

 chapel. She sought the highest legal advice, and after much 

 deliberation it was found necessary for those who wished to 

 officiate in her ladyship's chapels to take the oaths of allegiance 

 as Dissenters under the Toleration Act. Some of her chaplains 

 thereupon seceded from the Established Church, while others 

 chose rather to relinquish preaching for her. Townsend was 

 amongst those who adopted the latter course, and his connection 



• The Coronet and the Cross : memorials of Selina Css. of Huntingdon, 

 by Rev. A. H. New, 1857, p. 375. 



