When the manuscript was finished the publisher, Mr. Bell, thought it needed to have someone to dedicate it to. Mrs. Wheatley remembered that the countess of Huntington was pleased with the elegiac poem I had written for her favorite chaplain, Evangelist George Whitefield. She, therefore, thought it would be good to have the book dedicated to her because of her wealth and many religious and literary contacts.

Mrs. Wheatley asked Mr. Calef to see if the countess would be willing to have my book dedicated to her. So he went to her house and read my poems for her. She must have been impressed because Mr. Calef sent Mrs. Wheatley a letter stating that Lady Huntington would be "fond" of having my book dedicated to her. Furthermore, she said that she wanted "Phillis' picture in the frontispiece."