Worthy each other are the two,

Halloo! Boys fairly start ye;
Let those be hated worse than you,
Who ever strive to part ye.

A steward once, the scripture says,
When ordered his accounts to pass,
To gain his master's debtors o'er,
Cried, for a hundred write fourscore.

Near as he could, Sir Robert bent
To follow gospel precedent,
When told a hundred late would do,
Cried, I beseech you, sir, take two.

In merit which should we prefer,
The steward or the treasurer?
Neither for justice car'd a fig,
Too proud to beg, to old to dig;
Both bountiful themselves have shown,
In things that never were their own:
But here a difference we must grant,
One robb'd the rich, to keep off want;
T' other, vast treasures to secure,
Stole from the public and the poor.

His known attachment to Atterbury, and opposition to Walpole, blocked up his way to preferment at Westminster; he therefore left his situation at this place about the year 1732, for the free grammar school at Tiverton, in Devon, over which he presided till his death. In 1756 he published a quarto volume of poems, for which he obtained a numerous and respectable list of subscribers. Many of these poems possess a considerable share of excellence; the tales are adinirably well told, and highly entertaining: the satire is pointed, and the moral instructive. The following beautiful verses are a paraphrase on these words in the fortieth chapter of Isaiah: "All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, and the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever." They were occasioned by the death of a young lady.

The morning flow'rs display their sweets,
And gay their silken leaves unfold;
As careless of the noon-day heats,
And fearless of the evening cold.

Nipp'd by the wind's unkindly blast,
Parch'd by the sun's directer ray,
The momentary glories waste,

The short-liv'd beauties die away.

So blooms the human face divine,
When youth its pride of beauty shows;
Fairer than spring the colors shine,
And sweeter than the virgin rose.

Or worn by slowly rolling years,
Or broke by sickness in a day;
The fading glory disappears,
The short-liv'd beauties die away.

Yet these, new rising from the tomb,
With lustre brighter far shall shine,
Revive with ever-during bloom,
Safe from diseases and decline.

Let sickness blast, and death devour,
If heav'n must recompense our pains;
Perish the grass, and fade the flow'r,
If firm the word of God remains.

Mr. Samuel Wesley was a very high churchman; and it must be owned, that he was extremely rigid in his principles, which is perhaps the greatest blemish in his character. It has lately been said, that he was prejudiced against some of the highest truths of the gospel, because many of the Dissenters insisted upon them. This is a heavy charge, and if true, would show him to have been a man almost void of principle; but happily it is wholly without foundation: ignorance and prejudice have given it existence.

As an high churchman, Mr. Wesley had objections to extempore prayer. In the duodecimo edition of his poems are the following lines on form of prayer, which, for the sprightly turn of thought they contain, I shall insert.

Form stints the spirit, Watts has said,

And therefore oft is wrong;

At best a crutch the weak to aid,

A cumbrance to the strong.

Old David, both in prayer and praise,
A form for crutches brings;

But Watts has dignified his lays,

And furnish'd him with wings.

Ev'n Watts a form of praise can choose,
For prayer, who throws it by;
Crutches to walk he can refuse,
But uses them to fly.

Mr. Samuel Wesley's principles led him to disapprove of the conduct of his brothers, Mr. John and Charles Wesley, when they became itinerant preachers; being afraid they would make a separation from the Church of England. Several letters passed between him and his brother John Wesley, both on the doctrine which he taught, and on his manner of teaching it. I shall have an opportunity of considering some of these letters when I come to that period of Mr. John Wesley's life in which he and Mr. Charles become itinerants.

Mr. Wesley had a bad state of health some time before he left Westminster, and his removal to Tiverton did not much mend it. On the night of the 5th of November, 1739, he went to bed, seemingly as well as usual; was taken ill about three in the morning, and died at seven, after about four hours' illness. But the following letter will state the circumstances more minutely. It was written to the late Mr. Charles Wesley, and by means of a friend I obtained it from among his papers.

"REV. AND DEAR SIR,

Tiverton, Nov. 14, 1789.

"Your brother and my dear friend (for so you are sensible he was to me) on Monday the 5th of November went to bed, as he thought, as well as he had been for some time before; was seized about three o'clock in the morning very ill, when your sister immediately sent for Mr. Norman, and ordered the servant to call me. Mr. Norman came as quick as he possibly could, but said as soon as he saw him, that he could not get over it, but would die in a few hours. He was not able to take any thing, nor able to speak to us, only yes or no to a question asked him, and that did not last half an hour. I never went from his bed-side till he expired, which was about seven the same morning. With a great deal of difficulty we persuaded your dear sister to leave the room before he died. I trembled to think how she would hear it, knowing the sincere affection and love she had for him-but blessed be God, he hath heard and answered prayer on her behalf, and in a great measure calmed her spirit, though she has not yet been out of her chamber. Your brother was buried on Monday last in the afternoon-and is gone to reap the fruit of his labors. I pray God we may imitate him in all his virtues, and be prepared to follow. I should enlarge much more, but have not time; for which reason I hope you will excuse him who is under the greatest obligations to be, and really is, with the greatest sincerity, yours in all things,

AMOS MATTHEWS."

In the second edition of his poems in duodecimo, printed at Cambridge, in 1743, there is some account of the author, by a friend, prefixed to it. I know not who the writer of this account was, but as it was written soon after his death, and by a person who seems to have been well acquainted with him, I shall give a short extract from it.

"The author of these poems, the Rev. Mr. Samuel Wesley, frankly declares in his preface to the edition published by himself, that it was not any opinion of excellence in the verses themselves, that occasioned their present collection and publication, but merely the profit proposed by the subscription. If his modesty had permitted him to have been sensible of his own merit, he might, without this, or any other apology, have safely trusted them to speak for themselves: and perhaps the candid reader, upon an impartial perusal, will hardly think them inferior to the most favored and celebrated collections of this kind.

"For though it must be owned, that a certain roughness may be observed to run through them, the vehemence and surprising vivacity of his temper not suffering him to revise, or, as he used to call it, to tinker what he had once finished-yet strong, just, manly sentiments every where occur, set off with all the advantage which a most luxuriant fancy, and a very uncommon compass of knowledge could adorn them with; together with a flowing and unaffected pleasantness in the more humorsome parts, beyond what could proceed from even the happiest talent of wit, unless also accompanied with that innocence and cheerfulness of heart, which to him made

life delightful in his laborious station, and endeared his conversation to all, especially his learned and ingenious friends; and many such he had, of all ranks and degrees.

"He was the son of a clergyman in Lincolnshire, from whence he was brought to Westminster school; where having passed through the college as a King's Scholar, he was elected Student of Christ Church in Oxford. In both these places, by the sprightliness of his compositions, and his remarkable industry, he gained a reputation beyond most of his cotemporaries, being thoroughly and critically skilful in the learned languages, and master of the classics to a degree of perfection, perhaps not very common in this last mentioned society, so justly famous for polite learning.

"It must be observed, in justice to his memory, that his wit and learning were the least part of this worthy man's praise. An open, benevolent temper, which he had from nature, he so cultivated upon principle, that the number and the continual success of his good offices was astonishing even to his friends. He was an instance how exceedingly serviceable in life a person of a very inferior station may be, who sets his heart upon it. His own little income was liberally made use of, and as his acquaintance whom he applied to, were always confident of his care and integrity, he never wanted means to carry on his good purposes. One particular must not be omitted; he was one of the first projectors, and a very careful and active promoter of the first Infirmary set up at Westminster, for the relief of the sick and needy, in 1719, and had the satisfaction to see it flourish, and to propagate by its example, under the prudent management of other good persons, many pious establishments of the same kind in distant parts of the nation.

The following extracts of letters from his patron, Bishop Atterbury, are too much to his honor not to be mentioned here; they were occasioned by that fine poem on the death of Mrs. Morice, his Lordship's daughter.

"April 24, 1730.

"I have received a poem from Mr. Morice, which I must be insensible not to thank you for, your Elegy on the death of Mrs. Morice I cannot help an impulse upon me, to tell you under my own hand, the satisfaction I feel, the approbation I give, the envy I bear you, for this good work; as a poet and as a man, I thank you, I esteem you."

"Paris, May 27, 1730.

"I am obliged to W. for what he has written on my dear child; and take it the more kindly because he could not hope for my being ever in a condition to reward him-though if I ever am, I will; for he has shown an invariable regard for me all along in all circumstances; and much more than some of his acquaintance, who had ten times greater obligations."

"Paris, June 30, 1730.

"The Verses you sent me touched me very nearly, and the Latin in the front of them as much as the English that followed. There are a great many good lines in them, and they are writ with as much affection as poetry. They came from the heart of the

author, and he has a share of mine in return; and if ever I come back to my country with honor, he shall find it."

These extracts do honor to the feelings of Atterbury as a man; and they give a noble testimony to the disinterested and unchangeable friendship of Mr. Wesley for a person whom he esteemed, and whom he thought deeply injured.

The author of "Some Account of Mr. Samuel Wesley," prefixed to his poems, informs us that the following inscription was put upon his grave-stone in the church-yard at Tiverton."

Here lie interr'd

The remains of the Rev. SAMUEL WESLEY, A. M.
Some time Student of Christ Church, Oxon:
A man for his uncommon wit and learning,
For the benevolence of his temper,
And simplicity of manners
Deservedly beloved and esteemed by all.
An excellent Preacher:

But whose best sermon

Was, the constant example of an edifying life.
So continually and zealously employed
In acts of beneficence and charity,
That he truly followed
His blessed Master's example

In going about doing good.
Of such scrupulous integrity,

That he declined occasions of advancement in the world
Through fear of being involved in dangerous compliances,
And avoided the usual ways to preferment
As studiously as many others seek them.
Therefore after a life spent

In the laborious employment of teaching youth,
First, for near twenty years

As one of the Ushers in Westminster School;
Afterwards for seven years

As Head Master of the Free School at Tiverton,
He resigned his soul to God,
Nov. 6, 1739, in the 49th year of his age.

CHAPTER VI.

Some Account of the Life of the Rev. Charles Wesley, A. M.

SECTION 1.

OF HIS BIRTH, AND EDUCATION UNTIL HIS ORDINATION IN 1785.

MR. CHARLES WESLEY was born December 18, 170S, old style, several weeks before his time, at Epworth in Lincolnshire; being about five years younger than his brother John Wesley, and about sixteen younger than Samuel.

He appeared dead rather than alive when he was born. He did not cry, nor open his eyes, and was kept wrapt up in soft wool