There is an admirable sketch of this illustrious lady's
character, drawn soon after her death, in the tenth volume of the
_Gentleman's Magazine_, p. 36, probably by Samuel Johnson. See also "An
historical Character relating to the holy and exemplary Life of the
Right Honourable the Lady Elisabeth Hastings, &c. By Thomas Barnard,
A.M. Printed at Leeds, in 1742, 12mo" (Nichols).--Lady Elizabeth
Hastings, who came into a fortune upon the death of her brother George,
Earl of Huntingdon, settled at Ledstone House, where she was the Lady
Bountiful of the neighbourhood. Her whole estate, however, is said to
have been less than L3000 a year. The best of the clergy of the day were
among her friends. She helped Berkeley in his Bermuda Mission scheme,
and she befriended Miss Mary Astell. Ralph Thoresby, who visited her,
was "extremely pleased with the most agreeable conversation of the pious
and excellent Lady Elizabeth Hastings." ("Diary," ii. 82). She was one
of the numerous eligible ladies that the friends of Lord Raby,
afterwards Earl of Strafford, suggested to him as a suitable wife
("Wentworth Papers," pp.
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