is dissimilarity was a hindrance to their
joint service in the gospel, any more than to their social harmony and
love. It may be, on the contrary, that Martha Savory's quickness of
understanding and of feeling, the readiness with which she apprehended the
sentiments and condition of others, her conversancy with the allurements
of city life, and the perils of unbelief from which she had been rescued,
fitted her in a peculiar degree to be her husband's helper in the
ministry, especially in their travels on the Continent.

She was born in London in 1781, and was the daughter of Joseph and Anna
Savory. To an active and vigorous understanding she united a strength of
will which would brook little control, together with much energy and
fearlessness; and the propensity to follow the vain inclinations of the
unregenerate heart displayed itself in an indulgence in much that was
inimical to the restraints of Christian principle. Her disposition was
generous; all her emotions were ardent, and were seldom subjected to the
discipline of a corrected judgment. There were, however, various
occasions, even in her very early years, when, through the visitations of
heavenly love, her mind was forcibly aroused to a conviction of the need
of redeeming grace. She was particularly impressed by the preaching and
influence of William Savery, whose home in London was at her father's
house. In some memoranda of this period, she remarks, "Frequently in the
meetings appointed by him, I was greatly wrought upon by his living
ministry;" and notwithstanding that she subsequently wandered far from the
way of peace, there is good ground to believe that the remembrance of
those truths which had penetrated her heart through the instrumentality of
this gospel messenger, was never altogether effaced.

Being naturally endowed with a lively imagination and a taste for
literature, she sought to suppress the upbraidings of conscience in
intellectual pursuits, and employed much time in the composition of verses
that were merely a transcript of visionary and romantic ideas, afterwards
published under the title of "Poetical Tales." This volume obtained but a
limited circulation; for, soon after it had issued from the press, the
conviction that it had been an unhallowed and unprofitable exercise of her
understanding was so impressed upon her spirit, that, although the
sacrifice was considerable, she caused all the unsold copies to be
destroyed. It is interesting to