MARY RICH, COUNTESS OF WARWICK 147 



God, and by earnest prayer begged of Him to restore 

 my child, and did then solemnly promise to God, if 

 He would hear my prayer, I would become a new 

 creature. This prayer of mine God was so gracious 

 as to grant ; and of a sudden began to restore my 

 child, which made the doctor himself wonder at the 

 sudden amendment he saw in him, and filled me then 

 with grateful thoughts. After my child's recovery I 

 began to find in myself a great desire to go into the 

 country, which I never remember before to have had, 

 thinking it always the saddest thing that could be 

 when we were to remove." When Mary was again 

 at Leighs she found great consolation in conversing 

 with the household chaplain, Dr. Walker; and it 

 pleased God, she tells us, " by his ministry to work 

 exceedingly upon me, he preaching very awakingly 

 and warmly the two texts which were, by God's 

 mercy, set home to me, 'The wicked shall be 

 turned into hell, and all the nations that forget 

 God'; and the other was, ' Acquaint now thyself 

 with Him and be at peace.' By the first," she adds, 

 " I was much terrified, but by the last I was much 

 allured to come unto God, and to taste of the sweet- 

 ness of religion, which he told me was very sweet, 

 and which I afterwards experienced to be true." 

 Henceforth a life of gaiety and social excitement had 

 lost its attraction for Mary Rich, and though she still 

 moved in the world of rank and fashion, and after 

 the Restoration was not infrequently at Court, she 

 yet found her chief stay and happiness in religious 

 exercises and in quiet meditation in her beloved 

 "wilderness" at Leighs. 



The " wilderness," or wild garden, the most sacred 

 spot in connection with the life of Mary Rich, may 



