“From earliest dawn of life, through thee alone, The saint sublime, the finish’d Christian shone; Yet would not grace one grain of pride allow, Or cry, “Stand off, I’m holier than thou!” With business or devotion never cloy’d, No moment of thy time pass’d unemploy’d; Well-natured mirth, mature discretion join’d, Most sure attendants on the virtuous mind! A worth so singular, since time began, But one surpass’d, and he was more than man. Nor was thy form unfair, (though Heaven confined To scanty limits thy exalted mind.) Witness the brow, so faultless, open, clear, That none could ask if honesty was there; Witness the taintless lustre of thy skin, Bright emblem of the brighter soul within! That soul which easy, unaffected, mild, Through jetty eyes, with cheerful sweetness smiled. But oh! could fancy reach or language speak The living beauties of thy lip and cheek, Where nature’s pencil, leaving art no room, Touched to a miracle the vernal bloom; Lost though thou art, in _Stella’s_ faithful line, Thy face, immortal as thy fame, should shine. To soundest prudence, (life’s unerring guide,) To love sincere, religion void of pride, To friendship perfect in a female mind, Which I nor wish nor hope on earth to find; To mirth, (the balm of care,) from lightness free, To steadfast truth, unwearied industry, To every charm and grace comprised in you, Most worthy friend, a long and last adieu!” Little South Ormsby, to all interested in the history of the Wesley family, will always be an attractive place. Here Samuel Wesley spent about six of the best years of his life, and wrote some of his ablest works. Here he had at least five children born, and here he buried three. Hither he took his young wife, and his first-born son, Samuel. Here he had to join his wife in mourning the death of her father, Dr Annesley; and from here to Epworth he and his wife took four young children, the eldest only six years old,—Samuel, Emilia, Susannah, and Mary. Before finally quitting South Ormsby, it ought to be added, that Samuel Wesley, who took his degree of A.B. at Oxford in 1688, took his A.M. at Cambridge in 1694. The following notice is from the University Register, Cambridge:— “Incorporated 1694. Sam. Westley, A.B., Coll. Exon. Ox. Samuel Westley, A.M., Coll. C. C. Camb., 1694.”[105] Footnote 105: Clarke’s _Wesley Family_. ----- CHAPTER XI. EPWORTH AND CHRISTIAN SOCIETIES—1696–1699.