rably clear that the reason of this was that the boy
was studious to a degree, and needed his father's injunction to see to
it that he took regular exercise in the garden. The letters of Mrs.
Wesley to her sons are best represented by those addressed to Samuel,
now twenty years of age. After having distinguished himself at
Westminster School, and won the special regard and friendship of those
two eminent men, Bishops Sprat and Atterbury, Samuel repaired to Oxford.
Following the fashion of the time, the youth had hitherto addressed his
mother as "Dear Madam." His mother disliked the phrase, but had waited
till the change should be made spontaneously to "Dear Mother," which
instantly evoked the response, "Dear Sammy,---I am much better pleased
with the beginning of your letter than with that you used to send me,
for I do not love distance or ceremony; there is more of love and
tenderness in the name of _mother_ than in all the complimentary titles
in the world... You complain that you are unstable and inconstant in the
ways of virtue. Alas! what Christian is not so too? I am sure that I,
above all others, am most unfit to advise in such a case: yet since I
love you as my own soul, I will endeavour to do as well as I can."

Admirable advice is then given as to choice of company, with strictness
yet with charity, for "we must take the world as we find it;" and the
wholesome caution to beware "lest the comparing yourself with others may
be an occasion of your falling into too much vanity," and "rather
entertain such thoughts as these, 'Though I know my own birth and
advantages, yet how little do I know of the circumstances of others!'
'Were they so solemnly devoted to God at their birth as I was?' You have
had the example of a father who served God from his youth; and though I
cannot commend my own to you, for it is too bad to be imitated, yet
surely my earnest prayers for many years and some little good advice
have not been wanting.... If still upon comparison you seem better than
others are, then ask yourself who it is that makes you differ: and let
God have all the praise.... I am straitened for paper and time,
therefore must conclude. God Almighty bless you and preserve you from
all evil. Adieu.

"SUSANNA WESLEY."

It is a striking fact that Mrs. Wesley's letters to her son John are for
the most part concerning his secular affairs; the inference is not
remote that, as regards his spiritual welfare, John Wesley appeared