tyrdom. Constantia is deservedly inserted in the catalogue of women famous and excellent in learning and piety. She from her childhood was so laborious in the best discipline, that, without any premeditation, she was able to discourse upon any argument, theological or philosophical, and was admirably well read in the works of Jerome, Ambrose, Gregory, Cicero, and Lactantius.

How nobly, how heroically, too, have women borne persecution and death for the name of the Lord Jesus! Julitta said, "We women ought to be as strong and constant as men in Christ's cause;" and so they were. Priest's wife said to one who offered her money, "I am now going to a country where money bears no mastery;" and when sentence was read to her, she exclaimed, "Now have I gotten that which many a day I have sought for." Lady Jane Grey, when about to be beheaded, being requested by the Lieutenant of the Tower to write her symbol in his book, wrote the following-" Let the glassy condition of this life never deceive thee; there is a time to be born, and a time to die; but the day of death is better than the day of birth." Alice Drymer, when the chain was placed about her neck, remarked, Here's a goodly neckerchief! God be praised for it!" Elizabeth Folkes, embracing the stake, said, Farewell, all the world; farewell, faith; farewell, hope; and welcome, love." Michaela Caignola, a noble matron, seeing her judges look out of the windows, said to her fellow-martyrs, "These stay to suffer the torment of their consciences, but we are going to glory and happiness." And to certain poor women that were weeping and crying, Oh, Madam, we shall never now have more alms!" Yes," she

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replied, "hold you, once more ;" and plucked off her slippers, and gave them, with such other parts of her apparel as could with propriety be spared from the fire. Joan said to her husband, who was at the stake with her, "Be of good cheer; our wedding was but a shadow, an earnest and contract of that solemn and blessed marriage which the Lamb will now consummate." Anne Audebert exclaimed, I Blessed be God for this wedding girdle, (meaning the chain;) my first marriage was on the Lord's-day, and now my second to my spouse and Lord Jesus Christ shall be on the same.” Windelmuta said to one that told her that she had not yet tasted how bitter death was, No," said she, "neither ever shall I, for so much hath Christ promised to all that keep his word; neither will I forsake him for sweet life, or bitter death."

All these are but a small number of a cloud of examples in which the faith and fortitude of female Christians have shone forth resplendent in the face of the most appalling dangers and terrific deaths. Such instances might be multiplied, were this the place or the occasion for citing them. And if in later ages persecution has not been permitted so to rage as to call for actual martyrdom, yet every true Christian is a little martyr.

In times nearer to our own, there have been a goodly number of pious females who were shining lights in their day; and in the community to which the subject of the following pages was attached, many have been eminent for sanctity, zeal, and usefulness. Several of the last generation were persons of strong minds, high resolve, and excellent cultivation; whose gifts and graces were the ornament and the blessing of the

spheres to which they respectively belonged. Mrs. Tatham must be ranked with this distinguished class : indeed, she was the last survivor of that goodly band of devoted, seraphic, pains-taking, and laborious Christian women, by whom the Wesleyan churches of a former age were adorned and served. May their mantle be caught by the sisterhood of the present generation

CHAPTER I.

HER EARLY LIFE-RELIGIOUS IMPRESSIONS-CONVICTIONS

AWAKENINGS-CONVERSION.

THE following is Mrs. Tatham's own account, written by herself, of that period of her life, natural and spiritual, which is of high interest, as occupying the same relation to its subsequent periods, which the bud holds to the flower, and the dawn to the day.

'I was born on March the 4th, 1764. My parents were both professors of religion among the Calvinist Dissenters; whether of the Presbyterian or Independent Church, I am not quite certain. My father, Robert Strickland, was the youngest of three brothers; his father and mother were both the immediate descendants

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of families of considerable note. His father's family suffered very materially through their adherence to the Stuart line, during the Scotch rebellion and his mother's, through having large concerns in the South Sea expedition. My grandfather and grandmother Strickland lived upon their own estate in Westmoreland, and during their life bestowed a liberal education upon each of their sons. My father settled in London, where he married my mother, whose family originally were Quakers, her father being born and brought up one; but in consequence of his marriage with my grandmother, he was disinherited by his father, and left dependent upon the world. After his death, my grand

mother, having a large acquaintance, and having herself received a superior education, began to keep a school, which enabled her to live comfortably, and also to bring up her daughter to her own satisfaction.

'My father lived only a few years after his union with my mother, and died in the full triumph of faith, when I was about three years and a half old; giving me into the hands of God by faith. After his death, my mother assisted my grandmother in her school as formerly, and for a time things went on well and comfortably; but the effects of my mother's last confinement, which took place after my father's death, together with the loss of her husband, and two of her children, so deeply affected her as to bring on a violent nervous complaint, which ended only with her life.

After my mother's departure, my grandmother superintended my education entirely until I was about twelve years of age, when, through cross providences, my grandmother's affairs became adverse; in consequence of which, my uncle, Daniel Strickland, of Leeds, who had the care of my little property, sent for me, and having no child of his own, he adopted me, and acted the part of a tender and affectionate parent towards me, in all respects, during his life; and when he died, left me entirely independent in the world.

The first religious impressions I ever remember to have received were when I was about five or six years old. I had been reading in the Revelations, and was powerfully struck with the description of the new heavens and the new earth, and also of the last judgment. I thought much about these things, and often wondered within myself whether I should ever be admitted into the New Jerusalem, or escape the second death. About this time I had a dream respecting a little boy, near