Susanna Wesley

90 SUSANKA WESLEY.
to the principles of the Revolution, the Government,
and the Protestant succession. The two sermons,
which contained a great deal of abuse of prominent
personages, were voted scandalous and seditious libels;
and Dr. Sacheverell, being brought to the bar of the
House, acknowledged the authorship of them, and was
committed to the custody of the deputy usher of the
black rod, bail being refused at first, but afterwards
allowed. The trial came on in Westminster Hall on
the 27th of February, 1710, and lasted three weeks,
Queen Anne coming every day in a sedan-chair as a
the hall and its
spectator, and the populace thronging
approaches, and behaving as though Sacheverell were a
saint and martyr. The excitement was so great that
it culminated in a riot, during which a good deal of
mischief was done, in consequence of which some ringleaders
were arrested and, afterwards, tried for high
treason. The Queen, in her heart, favoured the Doctor;
her chaplains extolled him as the champion of
the Church ;
and when his counsel had finished the
defence, he himself rose and delivered a speech, in
which he solemnly justified
his intentions towards Her
Majesty and her Government, and spoke in most
respectful terms of the Revolution and the Protestant
succession. He maintained the doctrine of nonresistance
in all circumstances as a maxim of the
Church of England, and by many touches of pathos
endeavoured to excite the compassion of the audience.
That this speech was the composition of the Rector
of Epworth seems to have been universally recognised
in Lincolnshire, and, in after years, John Wesley declared
positively that his father was its author. Probably
he was paid, in some shape or form, for preparing
it, although, perhaps, like an old war-horse, he scented