soon instructed to be quiet at family prayers, and to ask a blessing immediately before meals, which they used to do by signs before they could kneel or speak. Her method of teaching them to read is detailed in a letter to Mr. John Wesley. "None of them were taught to read till five years old, except Kezzy, in whose case I was over-ruled; and she was more years in learning than any of the rest had been months. The way of teaching was this: the day before a child began to learn, the house was set in order, every one's work appointed them, and a charge given that none should come into the room from nine till twelve, or from two till five, which were our school-hours. One day was allowed the child wherein to learn its letters, and each of them did in that time know all its letters, great and small, except Molly and Nancy, who were a day and a half before they knew them perfectly; for which I then thought them very dull; but the reason why I thought them so was, because the rest learned them so readily, and your brother Samuel, who was the first child I ever taught, learnt the alphabet in a few hours. He was five years old on the tenth of February; the next day he began to learn, and as soon as he knew the letters began at the first chapter of Genesis. He was taught to spell the first verse, then to read it over and over, till he could read it at once without any hesitation; so on to the second, &c. till he took ten verses for a lesson, which he quickly did. Easter fell low that year, and by Whitsuntide he could read a chapter very well; for he read continually, and had such a prodigious memory, that I cannot remember ever to have told him the same word twice. What was yet more strange, any word he had learnt in his lesson, he knew wherever he saw it, either in his bible or any other book, by which means he learnt very soon to read an English author well.

"The same method was observed with them all. As soon as they knew the letters they were first put to spell and read one line, then a verse, never leaving till perfect in their lesson, were it shorter or longer. So one or other continued reading at school time without any intermission; and before we left school, each child read what he had learnt that morning; and ere we parted in the afternoon, what they had learned that day.”

Mr. Wesley usually attended the sittings of convocation; during his absence in the year 1712, Mrs. Wesley formed a little meeting at her house on the Sabbath day evenings, when she read a sermon, prayed and conversed with the people who came for this purpose. She acquainted her husband of their meeting, who, on account of the newness and singularity of the thing, made some objections against it. Her answer is dated the 6th of February, 1712, in which she says, "I heartily thank you for dealing so plainly and faithfully with me in a matter of no common concern. The main of your objections against our Sunday evening meetings, are, first, that it will look particular; secondly, my sex; and, lastly, your being at present in a public station and character; to all which I shall answer briefly.

"As to its looking particular, I grant it does, and so docs almost every thing that is serious, or that may any way advance the glory of God, or the salvation of souls, if it be performed out of a pulpit or in the way of common conversation; because, in our corrupt age, the utmost care and diligence have been used to banish all discourse of God or spiritual concerns out of society; as if religion were never to appear out of the closet, and we were to be ashamed of nothing so much as of professing ourselves to be christians.

To your second I reply, that as I am a woman, so I am also mistress of a large family. And though the superiour charge of the souls contained in it lies upon

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you as head of the family, and as their minister; yet in your absence I cannot but look upon every soul you leave under my care, as a talent committed to me under a trust by the great Lord of all the families of heaven and of earth; and if I am unfaithful to him or to you, in neglecting to improve these talents, how shall I answer unto him, when he shall command me to render an account of my stewardship.

"As these, and other such like thoughts, made me at first take a more than ordinary care of the souls of my children and servants; so, knowing that our most holy religion requires a strict observance of the Lord's day, and not thinking that we fully answer the end of the institution by going to church only; but that likewise we are obliged to fill up the intermediate spaces of that sacred time by other acts of piety and devotion, I thought it my duty to spend some part of the day in reading to, and instructing my family; especially in your absence, when having no afternoon service, we have so much leisure for such exercises; and such time I esteem spent in a way more acceptable to God than if I had retired to my own private devotions.

"This was the beginning of my present practice : other people's coming in and joining with us was purely accidental. Our lad told his parents; they first desired to be admitted; then others who heard of it begged leave also; so our company increased to about thirty, and seldom exceeded forty last winter; and why it increased since, I leave you to judge after you have read what follows.

"Soon after you went to London, Emily found in your study the account of the Danish Missionaries; which, having never seen, I ordered her to read to me. I was never, I think, more affected with any thing than with the relation of their travels; and was exceedingly C

pleased with the noble design in which they were engaged. Their labours refreshed my soul beyond measure, and I could not forbear spending a good part of that evening in praising and adoring the Divine Goodness for inspiring those good men with such an ardent zeal for his glory, that they were willing to hazard their lives and all that is esteemed dear to men in this world, to advance the honour of their Master Jesus! For several days I could think or speak of little else. At last it came into my mind; though I am not a man, nor a minister of the gospel, and so cannot be engaged in such a worthy employment as they were; yet, if my heart were sincerely devoted to God, and if I were inspired with a true zeal for his glory, and did really desire the salvation of souls, I might do somewhat more than I do. I thought I might live in a more exemplary manner in some things; I might pray more for the people, and speak with more warmth to those with whom I have an opportunity of conversing. However, I resolved to begin with my own children; and accordingly I proposed and observed the following method. I take such a proportion of time as I can best spare every night, to discourse with each child by himself, on something that relates to his principal concerns. On Monday I talk with Molly; on Tuesday with Hetty; Wednesday with Nancy; Thursday with Jacky; Friday with Patty ; Saturday with Charles; and with Emily and Suky together on Sunday.

"With those few neighbours who then came to me, I discoursed more freely and affectionately than before ; I chose the best and most awakening sermons which we had, and I spent more time with them in such exercises. Since this our company has increased every night; for I dare to deny none who ask admittance. Last Sunday I believe we had above 200, and yet many went away for want of room.

“But I never dared positively to presume to hope that God would make use of me as an instrument in doing good; the farthest I ever expected was, it may be, who can tell? With God all things are possible; I will resign myself to him: Or, as Herbert better expresses it, "Only, since God doth often make

Of lowly matter, for high uses meet,

I throw me at his feet;

There will I lie, until my Maker seek

For some mean stuff, whereon to shew his skill,

Then is my time

And thus I rested, without passing any reflection on myself, or forming any judgment about the success or event of this undertaking.

"Your third objection I leave to be answered by your own judgment. We meet not upon any worldly design. We banish all temporal concerns from our society; none is suffered to mingle any discourse about them with our reading or singing; we keep close to the business of the day, and as soon as it is over they all go home. And where is the harm of this? If I and my children went a visiting on Sunday nights, or if we admitted of impertinent visits, as too many do who think themselves good christians, perhaps it would be thought no scandalous practice, though in truth it would be so; therefore, why any should reflect upon you, let your station be what it will, because your wife endeavours to draw people to church, and to restrain them, by reading and other persuasions, from their profanation of God's most holy day, I cannot conceive. But if any should be so mad as to do it, I wish you would not regard it. For my part, I value no censure on this account: I have long since shook hands with the world, and I heartily wish I had never given them more reason to speak against me.

"As for your proposal of letting some other person read, alas! you do not consider what a people these are.