Susanna Wesley

FIRE AND PERIL. 77
The rector wrote pretty cheerfully considering how
great was the trial. The books which he had carefully
collected one or two at a time, and paid for
with money which could only be spared by self-denial,
were only a little less dear than his children, and his
collection
of Hebrew poetry and hymns was of considerable
value. A large number of letters from
friends and literary connections were also consumed,
as well as papers connected with the Annesley family
and the parish registers. One item alone was left,
and that was a hymn of six verses, written by Mr.
Wesley, and set to music by, as is supposed, either
Purcell or Dr. Blow. It is incorporated in the Methodist
hymn-book, and is the only specimen of the elder
Mr. Wesley's versification it contains : the opening
words are "Behold the Saviour of Mankind." Then
there was the well-worn though useful furniture, and
the clothes of all, the little store of money and the
indispensable comforts prepared for the expected
babe, all were swept away in a few minutes. The
children were scattered ;
but Emilia, the eldest girl, who
was about seventeen, remained to take care of her
mother in the lodgings where she and her parents
were domiciled at Epworth, and became her patient
and cheerful nurse and constant companion for
nearly a year. She was an unusually well-educated
girl, having shared the lessons given by the father
to Samuel as long as he remained at home, and it
was intended that she should earn her own living
as soon as she was old enough, as a governess. She
loved her mother with the adoring fondness sometimes
seen in an eldest daughter who is old enough
to sympathise with her parent's trials, and regarded
the months in which she had her almost to herself