Susanna Wesley

EARLY MARRIED LIFE. 17
The Marquis of Normanby had in some way heard
of the young divine and his straitened circumstances,
and, in 1690, when the little parish of South Ormsby
became vacant by the death of the rector, he mentioned
Mr. Wesley to the Massingberds, who then, as now,
were lords of the manor and patrons of the living. Their
offer of it was at once made and readily accepted, and
regarded as a step in advance. The stipend was fifty
pounds a year ;
there was a house to live in, though a
very poor one, and, as the pastoral work was by no
means onerous, there was the prospect of abundant
leisure for writing. The new incumbent was just eightand-twenty,
his wife was in her twenty-second year, and
their babe only four months old, when they
left London
for the country place that was to be their future home,
and with which their memories are indelibly connected.
The monotony of country
life and the utter absence of
the excitement to which Mr. Wesley had been accustomed
must very soon have chafed his spirit, though
he tried to be thankful, as may be seen from his own
description :
" In a mean cot, composed of reeds and clay,
Wasting in sighs the uncomfortable day :
Near where the inhospitable Humber roars,
Devouring by degrees the neighbouring shores.
Let earth go where it will, I '11 not repine,
Nor can unhappy be, while Heaven is mine/'
There were only thirty-six houses and about two
hundred and sixty inhabitants in the parish, wherein the
ancient church of St. Leonard stood on rising ground
just above the parsonage. The young couple arrived
in June, and got settled before the winter came. As
the months passed, and little Samuel began to walk,
2