761 Lady Huntingdon built a chapel, to defray the cost of which she
sold her jewels, realising in this way the sum of nearly L700. The
building was opened in 1761, Martin Madan conducting the first services,
and being immediately succeeded by such notable preachers as Romaine,
Berridge, Venn, and Fletcher.

Lady Huntingdon's connection with Bath began as early as 1739, and for
the next twenty-five years she was frequently in that fashionable
resort; but it was not until 1765 that she bought the land and
established the famous Vineyards Chapel. On October 6, 1765, the chapel
was dedicated, and Whitefield preached the first sermon. "Though a wet
day," he wrote, "the place was very full, and assuredly the Great
Shepherd and Bishop of souls consecrated and made it holy ground by His
presence." Romaine and Fletcher often preached at Bath in the early
months of the chapel's history, and the latter thus referred to his
ministry: "This place is the seat of Satan's gaudy throne; the Lord
hath, nevertheless, a few names here, who are not ashamed of Him, and of
whom He is not ashamed, both among the poor and among the rich."

It was in this chapel that there was the noted "Nicodemus Corner," a
seat carefully shrouded from the public gaze, where sometimes a nobleman
and sometimes a bishop heard the goodness of the Gospel.

In this connection may be quoted the following anecdote, given in the
Life of Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, who visited Bath with her mother in
1788. She writes:--

"My mother grew better, she frequently took me with her to the Pump
Room, and she sometimes told me anecdotes of those she had seen there
when a child. On one occasion, when the room was thronged with
company--and at that time the visitors of Bath were equally
distinguished for rank and fashion--a simple, humble woman, dressed in
the severest garb of the Society of Friends, walked into the midst of
the assembly and began an address to them on the vanity and follies of
the world, and the insufficiency of dogmatic without spiritual religion.
The company seemed taken by surprise, and their attention was arrested
for a few moments; as the speaker proceeded, and spoke more and more
against the customs of the world, signs of disapprobation appeared.
Amongst those present was one lady with a stern yet high-toned
expression of countenance, her air was distinguished; she sat erect, and
listened intently to the speaker. The impatience of the hearers soon
beca