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 eight- and-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,
