the rudiments of learning under his mother's tuition, Charles was sent to Westminster School, in the year 1716, being then about eight years of age. John had then been about two years at the Charterhouse School in London, where his proficiency was most encouraging. At Westminster, Charles was placed under the care of his brother Samuel, who was then one of the Ushers in that establishment, and, for a time, bore the expense of Charles's maintenance and education. Samuel was an excellent classical scholar, a poet, a wit, and a man of unimpeachable honour and integrity. He was the personal friend of Bishop Atterbury, a Prelate of great abilities, of elegant scholarship, and one of the finest writers of the age. The Bishop was withal restless, aspiring, and disaffected to the House of Brunswick, one of whose Princes had been recently placed on the British throne. A Bill of Pains and Penalties was brought into Parliament, charging Atterbury with attempts to subvert the reigning dynasty, and to restore to the Stuart family the crown of Great Britain. He solemnly avowed his innocence, and defended himself with extraordinary ability and spirit before the House of Lords. The Bill, however, passed, and Atterbury was sent into banishment. Samuel Wesley's love to his friend suffered no abatement in consequence of this act of the legislature. He was therefore naturally suspected of entertaining the Bishop's political views; especially as he freely lampooned Sir Robert Walpole, the Whig Minister of the day, in several poetic satires. Yet no proof exists that he was opposed to the then the clock struck two. They took him up, carried him into the dormitory, and put him into a warm bed. After some rest he recovered his senses and speech; and being asked how he came into that condition, he told them that as he was coming over Chelsea-fields, he was robbed by two footpads, who then stripped him stark naked, tied him neck and heels, and threw him into a ditch. There he must have perished, but that some young women, coming to market very early in the morning, heard him groan, and, going to the ditch, untied him, and then ran away. He made toward the town as well as he could, till, being unable to walk any farther, he crept into the cloisters upon his hands and feet, where he lay till the King's scholars came. Probably in an hour or two he would have expired. After he had slept some hours, they gave him something warm to drink; then one gave him a shirt; another, a coat or waistcoat; others, what they could spare; till they had clothed him from head to foot. Then they collected for him among themselves about forty shillings, and wished him well home. "See the wisdom of God," says Mr. John Wesley, who relates the fact, "in making the sport of a boy the means of saving a poor man's life."Arminian Magazine. reigning family; and positive testimony is given, by competent witnesses, especially by his brother John, that his loyalty was unshaken. His father, the Rector of Epworth, wrote the first defence of the government of William and Mary that appeared in print after their accession to the throne; and that his son Samuel entertained the father's views concerning the Revolution, is manifest from the following lines, which refer directly to that event : "Lo! Orange sails, the prudent and the brave, Samuel Wesley doubtless believed the Bishop's solemn protestations of innocence, which were the more credible, because he was not proceeded against by impeachment, which is the usual mode of bringing traitors to justice. Be this as it may, he was a high and unbending Churchman, steady in his adherence to his principles, and unswayed by the popular voice. He sacrificed his hopes of preferment by an unwavering regard for his exiled friend, and by lashing his friend's political adversaries. While he succeeded in making his brother Charles an excellent classical scholar, he imbued him also with his own views of Episcopal authority, and of ecclesiastical prerogative. At Westminster Charles was exceedingly sprightly and active; very apt to learn, but arch and unlucky, though not ill-natured, His courage and skill in fighting procured for him the admiration of the boys, and the title of Captain of the school. Among his fellow-students was a Scottish youth, whose ancestors had taken an active part in favour of the Pretender; and who, on his entrance into Westminster School, suffered much ill-treatment from the boys on this account. For nothing was Charles Wesley more remarkable than for generosity; and he appeared as the champion of the persecuted stranger, on whose hapless head the sins of his Jacobite fathers were unmercifully visited. That youth was James Murray, who afterwards became the great Lord Mansfield; and who, in the decline of life, renewed his intimacy with the friend who had assisted him in his juvenile battles. When Charles Wesley had been about five years at West minster he was admitted as one of the King's scholars, and his expenses were borne by the foundation. Being both lively and clever, he was put forward to act dramas; and his progress in learning procured him the favour of his master. During his stay at Westminster an incident occurred which might have been of the most serious consequence both to himself and the world. Garret Wesley, Esq., a gentleman of large fortune in Ireland, wrote to the Rector of Epworth, inquiring whether or not he had a son named Charles; and stating that it was his wish to adopt a youth of that name as his heir. The answer appears to have accorded with his views; for a person in London brought money for Charles's education for several years. One day another gentleman called upon him, who is supposed to have been Mr. Garret Wesley himself. He talked largely with Charles, and asked if he was willing to accompany him to Ireland. Charles wrote to his father for advice; and the father, who answered immediately, referred the matter to the son's own choice. Thus left to decide for himself, he resolved to remain in England, and to decline the flattering offer. Mr. John Wesley, who wrote this account a few months before his death, and left it among his manuscripts, calls his brother's decision "a fair escape."* • Mr. Maxwell, in his "Life of the Duke of Wellington," attempts to throw discredit upon this relation. He says, "That Garret Wellesley contributed to the expenses of Charles Wesley's education, and probably intended to have provided for him more permanently, may be very true; but we doubt much that any proposition of adoption was made; and doubt still more, that, if made, it would have met with rejection." (Vol. i., p. 6.) There are only two grounds upon which this statement can be impugned: either that Mr. John Wesley was an incompetent witness in the case; or that he was a man of doubtful veracity: neither of which, it is presumed, will be seriously maintained. He was likely to know his brother's history; and it would be difficult to assign an adequate reason why he should, in a case of this nature, depart from the truth. When his brother died, he immediately began to collect materials for his biography, which he intended forthwith to publish. He wrote the particulars of this case with a reference to publication, but died before he had completed his design. With all deference to Mr. Maxwell, his own theory is less credible than the plain statement which he calls in question. Why should Garret Wesley, or Wellesley, as he is called, defray the expenses of Charles Wesley at Westminster School, and then propose to take him to Ireland, but for the purpose of adopting him? For anything that appears to the contrary, the family of the Rector of Epworth were entire strangers to him, and were only recommended to him by an identity of name: for Wellesley, as the family designation, does not appear to have been generally The matter was more momentous than even his sagacious mind perceived. Disappointed in this quarter, Garret Wesley offered to bequeath his property to one of his kinsmen, on condition that he should receive the name of Wesley, to which he consented. That kinsman was Richard Colley, who was subsequently known as Richard Colley Wesley. He held the offices of Auditor and Registrar of the Royal Hospital of Kilmainham, and second Chamberlain of the Irish Court of Exchequer. In the year 1734 he was Sheriff of Meath; and he sat for many years in Parliament, as Representative of the borough of Carysford. He was raised to the peerage, in the year 1747, by George II., under the title of Baron Mornington. This eminent man, who inherited the property in the county of Meath, which had been offered to Charles Wesley, was the grandfather of the Marquis Wellesley, and of the Duke of Wellington. Of the second Lord Mornington, the father of the Duke, we shall have occasion to speak in a subsequent part of this narrative. Had Mr. Charles Wesley accepted the proposal that was made to him, he would have been far removed from the religious friends who were the instruments of his conversion and subsequent piety; and Richard Colley would never have possessed the property of Garret Wesley. According to all human calculation, therefore, the world would never have enjoyed the benefit of Charles Wesley's ministry; his incomparable hymns would never have been written; the extension of the British empire in India, under the administration of assumed till many years afterwards. The present noble members of the Wellesley family were in early life known by the name of Wesley. In the "Army List" of the year 1800, the Duke of Wellington, as Lieutenant-Colonel of the thirty-third Regiment, bears the name of the Hon. Arthur Wesley. It was not till the following year that it was exchanged for Wellesley in that publication. It is clearly ascertained that Garret Wesley wanted to adopt some one to inherit his property; and he was resolved that his estates should only be possessed by a man who bore the name of Wesley. Had his only design been to "provide more permanently" for Charles, he might have done this in England, without requiring the youth to leave his native country and his relations. And why, if he were only actuated by humane motives, did he confine his regards to Charles Wesley, to the neglect of every other member of the family, many of whom were greatly in need of pecuniary assistance? Besides, what is there incredible in the account? or on whom does it reflect the slightest dishonour? Mr. Maxwell may believe it or not, as he pleases; but if he expect other people to share in his doubts, he should advance some reason which shall be sufficiently powerful to set aside Mr. John Wesley's express testimony. the Marquis Wellesley, might not have taken place; and the General who conquered Napoleon Buonaparte, and thus overthrew one of the greatest tyrannies that ever existed, might never have been born. What a thought, that events so immensely important, and involving the temporal and spiritual interests of millions, should have been contingent upon the volition of an impetuous boy, who was left to decide whether he would remain in England, with the prospect of poverty and labour before him, or go to Ireland to enjoy the luxuries and honour of wealth! That the hand of God was in the determination, none but an infidel can doubt. The youth decided under the secret guidance of divine mercy, exercised not only towards him, but towards the world. In the year 1726 Mr. Charles Wesley, being about eighteen years of age, removed from Westminster School to the University, being elected to Christ-Church College, Oxford. His brother had lately left the same College, having obtained a Fellowship in that of Lincoln. John was now more than ever intent upon the improvement of his time, as his conviction of the importance of personal religion had become very deep and solemn. On removing to Lincoln College, he broke off all connexion with light and gay company, declining to return their visits, and resolved, by the grace of God, to be a Christian indeed. This alteration in his views and feelings he states to have been produced by the reading of Bishop Taylor's "Rules and Exercises of holy Living and Dying;" Kempis's "Christian's Pattern;" and the Rev. William Law's "Serious Call to a devout and holy Life." From these impressive books he learned that true religion does not consist in orthodox opinions, nor in correct moral conduct, nor in conformity to the purest modes of evangelical worship; necessary as the whole of these things are in their place; but in the possession and uninterrupted exercise of the mind that was in Christ. He was anxious, beyond expression, to attain inward and outward holiness as the great end of his being. At this time Charles was differently minded. For some months after his arrival in Oxford, though moral in his conduct, and very agreeable in his spirit and manners, he was far from being severe and earnest in his application to study; the strict authority over him which his brother Samuel exercised, as his tutor and guardian, being now withdrawn. To a con |