Page:Susanna Wesley (Clarke 1886).djvu/89

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