by the
cruel noises purposely raised outside, at last, far in the night, fell
into a heavy slumber and "overlaid the child." Cold and dead, they
brought it to the poor mother.

It was political spite, also, that was at the bottom of the conduct of a
creditor, who caused the rector to be arrested for debt, at the church
door, after a baptismal service, and hurried off to Lincoln Castle,
"leaving his lambs among so many wolves." In prison Mr. Wesley engaged
in an earnest work of evangelising his "brother jail-birds," as he
called them; his conduct at this period more than realising the
world-renowned picture which Goldsmith has drawn of his incarcerated
Vicar of Wakefield. Susanna Wesley now strove to support herself and her
children by means of the diary, but, fearing lest her husband should be
pining in want, she sent to him her wedding-ring, beseeching him by this
to get a little money for his comfort. He returned it with words of
tender gratitude, saying that "God would soon provide." Indeed, being by
this time regarded as a martyr to his political principles, he was
approached by some brethren of the clergy seeking to deliver him, and an
arrangement was made, after three months, by which he was liberated.

V.

THE SCHOOL IN THE HOME.

It would appear that, ultimately, the family of Susanna Wesley was
almost as numerous as that of her father had been. A singular want of
accuracy characterises all the records, but it is safe to say that her
children were some eighteen or nineteen in number. Death came often
during those years of persecution. John Wesley speaks of the serenity
with which his mother "worked among her thirteen children;" but ten was
the number of those who were spared to enjoy the blessing of that
enlightened, affectionate, and admirable training on her part, which has
been so fully recorded, and of which the fruits were witnessed
especially in the eminence of her sons Charles and John. She paid the
utmost attention to physical training. Punctuality in the hours of
sleep was carefully carried out from infancy through the years that
followed. The rules regarding food were all admirable, and the younger
children were early promoted to a place at the parents' own table. Mrs.
Wesley has committed all these matters to writing, and her own words are
valuable for their wisdom. "In order to form the minds of children, the
first thing to be done is to conquer the will. To inform the
understanding is a