Susanna Wesley

236 SUSANNA WESLEY.
Miss Wesley died at Bristol, in the autumn of 1828,
of sore throat, when sixty-nine years of age. She was
buried in the same grave with five of her brothers and
sisters, in St. James' Churchyard and
; Charles, inconsolable
for her loss, and all but incapable of acting for
himself, posted back to London, at an expenditure of
thirty-six pounds !
Samuel was born on February 24th, 1766, on the
eighty-second anniversary of Handel's birth. He was
not so precocious as Charles in music, and, instead of
instinctively playing a true bass by ear, did not
attempt
it till he had learned his notes. Someone
gave him a small violin, and he used to accompany
Charles on it, and sing to his playing, and sometimes,
rather to the horror of those holding the notions of
the time that an elder brother was to be held
infallible by the younger he would presume to find
fault. He began composing an oratorio called Ruth
before he was six years old, and had quite finished
and written it down by the time he was eight,
when he gravely presented it to Dr. Boyce, who
received it with ceremonious thanks. He must have
been quite a child when he took the organ at Bath
Abbey for a month, and played the first violin in
many private concerts. He made satisfactory progress
in his general education, and had plenty of common
sense.
After Charles Wesley removed to London, and when
his sons were a good deal talked about, Dr. Johnson
who, as is well known, had no ear for music felt
that it was his bounden duty, out of respect aiid
friendship for the family, to call and hear the lads
play. He made no preamble about the matter, but
at once introduced the subject by saying in his