420 THE METHODIST HYMN-BOOK ILLUSTRATED
Sir H. Parry s setting of the well-known words, " In age and feebleness extreme" words sacred to Methodists, which I resolved to have set by the best composer I could secure. I shall be surprised if this fine setting is not looked upon as a very precious possession.
The name Marylebone was given to the tune in memory of the place where the poet spent the last years of his life (i77i-S8),;and where he was laid to rest in the graveyard of the old parish church.
The mother of the Rev. William Pennington Burgess, who wrote a valuable study of our Methodist hymns, told her son in her last letter when she was more than eighty, I often find Charles Wesley s dying hymn, " In age and feebleness extreme," very sweet to me, only I want to dwell now under a constant sense of my Saviour s smile, and then to catch a brighter one at the last.
Hymn 822. The morning flowers display their
sweets.
SAMUEL WESLEY, M.A., JUN. (635).
On Death. In Miscellaneous Poems, by several hands, to which Pope, Vincent Bourne, Thomas Fitzgerald, and others contributed. It was edited by D. Lewis, author of a well-known song, Winifreda, London, 1726.
It is given in his own Poems, 1736, headed Verses on Isa. xl. 6-8. Occasioned by the death of a young lady.
John and Charles Wesley, Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1743.
In January, 1727, Wesley writes to his mother {Works, xii. 10) : About a year and a half ago I stole out of company at eight in the evening, with a young gentleman with whom I was intimate. As we took a turn in an aisle of St. Mary s Church, in expectation of a young lady s funeral, with whom we were both acquainted, I asked him if he really thought himself my friend ; and, if he did, why he would not do me all the good he could. He began to protest ; in which I cut him short, by desiring him to oblige me in an instance, which he could not deny to be in his own power ; to let me have the pleasure of making him a whole Christian, to which I knew he was at least half persuaded already ; that he could not do me a greater kindness, as both of us would be fully convinced when we came
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