bring him in not guilty on hearing the evidence.
There were three cows all wounded at the same time,
one of them in three places ; the biggest was a flesh
wound, not slanting but directly in towards the heart,
which it only missed by glancing outwards on the ribs.
It was nine inches deep, whereas the brawn's tusks
were hardly two inches long. All conclude that the
work was done with a sword by the breadth and shape
of the orifice. The same night the iron latch of my
door was turned off, and the wood hacked in order to
shoot back the lock, which nobody will think was with
an intention to rob my family. My house-dog, who
made a huge noise within doors, was sufficiently
punished for his want of politics and moderation, for
the next day but one his leg was almost chopped off
by an unknown hand. 'Tis not everyone could bear
these things; but, I bless God, my wife is less concerned with suffering them than I am in the writing,
or than I believe your Grace will be in reading them.
She is not what she is represented, any more than me.
I believe it was this foul beast of a worse than Erymanthean boar, already mentioned, who fired my flax by
rubbing his tusks against the wall; but that was no
great matter, since it is now reported I had but five
pounds loss."
Whether the Archbishop of York went to Epworth to see the state of affairs for himself, or whether Mrs. Wesley met him at Lincoln or elsewhere, during her husband's imprisonment, is not known, but certain it is that they had an interview, at which, among other questions, he asked, "Tell me, Mrs. Wesley, whether you ever really wanted bread?" "My Lord," said she, "I will freely own to your Grace that, strictly speaking, I never did want bread. But then I had
