gOg LON 
George Stevenfbn, efq. Falcon Herald; Arthur Wilton, 
efq. afting as regifter to the miffion, and James Pulman, 
efq. fecretary to lir Thomas Tyrwhitt, accompanied by 
Several other gentlemen ; left London on the 8th of Au- 
gull, whence they proceeded to Yarmouth, where they 
embarked on-board the Cydnus for Gottenburgh. The 
ceremony was performed on the 27th at Toplitz, the head¬ 
quarters of the emperor, who received the million with 
his ufual affability, and ordered prefents to be diftributed 
among the members of the legation. The next day the 
emperor gave a grand dinner to the plenipotentiaries, and 
to the Englifh minifters refident at the head-quarters of 
the allied fovereigns; the members of their refpe<ftive em- 
baffies ; f'everal Ruffian and Englifh perfons of diftinction ; 
and the gentlemen who had attended the miffion. Upon 
this occafion his imperial majefly appeared in the enfigns 
of the order. 
The friends of religious enthufiafm, who mod likely are 
forty that the age of miracles performed by facred relics 
is irrevocably palt, will certainly be glad to hear that, at 
the fale of the effedls of the late Mr. Huntington, tfie felf- 
anointed prophet, and firmer Javed, which took place at Pen- 
tonville on the ift of October, an old arm-chair, not 
worth having, and in glaring want of repair, fetched the 
enormous price of fixty guineas; asdf the bleffing of in- 
fpiration were ftill fluttering about it, or as if it were im- 
p re fled with the gift of prophecy, like Elijah’s mantle. Se¬ 
veral other articles were knocked down at equally high 
prices, particularly the prophet’s fpectacles, and his fnuff- 
box—fo anxious were the admirers of this curious cha¬ 
racter to preferve fome memorial of his paft exiftence ; and 
lb true is the faying of the poet; Slultofemper adept mirator 
jluliior ipjo .—We do not pretend to inter from the above, 
that Mr. Huntington was either a fool or a conjuror; but 
only to point out a certain degree of extravagance and 
folly which lurks behind the diftorted mafk of hyperbo¬ 
lized religion. 
William Hunt was born in the weald of Kent about the 
year 1743. Being in a very low ftation, and having a baf- 
tard fworn to him, he decamped, and lengthened his name 
to Huntington. At Mortlake in Surry he married ; and 
foon after went to live at Ewell in the fame county. He 
had been firfl an errand-boy, then a day-labourer, after¬ 
wards a cobler, and at Ewell he firfl became a preacher. 
Wretchedly poor he continued for a long time ; but 
Providence aflifled him occafionally, by laying in his 
way—at one time a large eel not quite dead, at another 
time a partridge not quite dead, at another time a 
pair of breeches.—Perfecution at length drove him to 
Thames Ditton, where he was firfl: compelled to embark 
in the fervilely-laborious occupation of coal-heaving. 
This appears to have been that precife portion of his ex- 
iftence during which he felt molt difgufl, and to which he 
never reverts without fome expreflion of indignant grief. 
Notwithftanding the great advantage he fubfequently 
reaped from the mere circumftance of his having been 
once a coal-heaver, by judicioufly intimating to the world 
that “coal-heaving w'as hard work, and that coal-heavers 
required better food than compliments;’’ and notwith- 
Jtanding the (pi ritual manifestations lie there experienced, 
during an illnefs at once gracious as trying; yet, becaufe 
the people of the place, contemning him on account of 
his employment, which ignorant men too naturally would, 
rejefted his miuiltry, he appears to have confidered Thames 
.Ditton as deferving only of anathemas, and configns its 
inhabitants to illimitable reprobation. Yet had Ditton 
not been fo unkind to him : “Some few years before I 
was married,” fays Mr. H. “all my perfonal effefts ufed 
to be carried in my hand, or on mv ftioulders, in one or 
two large handkerchiefs; and after marriage, for fome few 
years, I ufed to carry all the goods that we had gotten, 
ion my fhoulders, in a fack : but, when we moved from 
Thames Ditton to London, we loaded two large carts with 
furniture and other neceflaries; befides a poft-chaile, well 
ifillcd with children and cats.” 
DON. 
_ The caufe of his going to London mud be related in 
his own words: “ After preaching at Wooking, one even¬ 
ing,” fays he, “I told my dame that I would lie alone 
that night, &c. Accordingly I went into another bed, 
and fell into a very found deep: when I dreamed, and be¬ 
hold ! in my dream I thought I heard the Lord call to me 
with a very Ih rill voice, faying.— Son of man! fon of man ! 
prophefy .; fon of man, prophefy ! I anfwered, Lord what Jhall 
l phophtfy? The voice came again, faying, Prophefy upon 
the thick boughs. I immediately awoke; and felt a com¬ 
fortable power on my heart, and thought the voice feemed 
frefli in my ears. I got up immediately and traced my 
Bible, to lee if I could find thofe words there; thinking 
that, if I could, I (hould conclude the dream to be from 
God. I foon found the words, (Ezekiel xvii. 23. xxxi. 3.) 
and perceived the thick boughs to be men." London, of 
courfe, was the place to find men in abundance, though 
certainly not boughs. To London therefore he came ; 
where he preached firfl at Margaret-ftreet chapel, near Ca- 
vendilh-fquare. He foon longed to have a chapel of his 
own, though he felt almoft hopelefs at feeing this wifh 
brought about by one fo mean and poor as himfelf. 
“ However,” he obferves, “ God fent a perfon, unknown 
to me, to look at a certain fpot, who afterwards took me 
to look at it; but I trembled at the very thought of fuch 
an undertaking. Then God flirred up a wife man to of¬ 
fer to build the chapel, and to manage the work without 
fee or reward : God drew the pattern on his imagination, 
while he was hearing me preach a fermon. I then took 
the ground; this perfon executed the plan; and the cha¬ 
pel fprung up like a mulhroom.” Providence-Chapel was 
thus fpeedily erefted : this chapel was in Little Titchfield- 
ftreet, Oxford market; it was opened in 1788 ; but was 
afterwards deflroyed by fire. Its fucceffor, likewife named, 
was built in the years 1810-11 ; and is fituatedin Gray’s- 
Inn-lane. Both chapels owed their exiflence to the libe¬ 
rality of Mr. Huntington’s congregation; but he refufed 
to officiate in this laft chapel till it was made his own per¬ 
fonal freehold ; and fo great was the devotion of his fol¬ 
lowers, that they refigned their (hares in his favour. He 
did not, however, live long after this infiance of worldly 
wifdom. 
When he had attained great popularity, he began to 
find himfelf fo much at his cafe in the pulpit, that he 
could, in imitation of other low preachers and low aftors, 
indulge in fuch fprightly digreflions as—“Take care of 
your pockets!” “ Wake that fnoring finner!” “Silence 
that noify nOmfcull !” “Turnout that drunken dog!” 
&c. See. Nothing could exceed the dictatorial dogmatifrn of 
this famous preacher. Believe him, none but him,and that 
was enough. If he aimed thus to pin the faith of thofe 
who heard him, he would (ay over and over, “ As fure as I 
am born ’tis;” or “ I know this, I am fure of it;” or “ I be¬ 
lieve the plain Englifh of it (fome difficult text) to be,” 
See. Adding, by way of fixing his point, “Now you 
can’t help it,” or “ fo it is,” or “ it muft be fo in fpite of 
you ;” with a rnofi fignificant fliake of his head, with a fort of 
beldam hauteur, and all the dignity of defiance. He would 
fometimes obferve, foftening his deportment, “I don’t 
know whether I mak eyou underftand thefe things; but / 
underhand them well 1” His epitaph, penned by himfelf, 
will fully exemplify his fpirit of decifion. He was quite as 
fanciful in his applications of (acred Scripture as ever was 
commentator in his luppofed illuflrations of it; and he de¬ 
rived much of his fuccefsfrom this trait. He put his own 
fenfe on all he quoted, and gave it as fuch. Sadly would 
he ramble. So much did lie ltray from his text, that you at 
times lofl all fight of it; and fuch was the multiplicity of 
his heads, fo did he run to and fre, that any one of his fer- 
rnons might make three. It (hould alfo be obferved, that,, 
in his pulpit-prayers, he was never ufed to intercede for 
the king or his land,—His writings and his ferrnons con¬ 
tained frequent mention of the prefents that had been 
made him. His Bank of Faith proved a bank of gold! 
When he wrote (o much of what came to him as gifts, 
3 was 
