“They and we this day observing, Differ only in one thing, They are canting, whining, starving, We, rejoicing, drink and sing. “Advance the emblem of the action! Fill the calf’s skull full of wine; Drinking ne’er was counted faction, Men and gods adore the vine.” It is said that the author of these scurrilous productions was Benjamin Bridgewater, M.A., of Trinity College, Cambridge, “whose genius,” says Dunton, “was very rich, and ran much upon poetry; but, alas! wine and love were his ruin.” He was largely rewarded by the Calves-head Club for his profane and lewd effusions. Assuming the above description of the Calves-head Club to be correct, no wonder that Samuel Wesley was disgusted with its proceedings; and, though this perhaps scarcely justifies the writing of the letter which was published in 1703, yet, it is some excuse for it. Wesley, in his letter, apologises for writing against a body among whom he was educated, to whom his ancestors belonged, and from whom he had received many personal favours. He declares that he feels no enmity against the party he had left; that he honoured some of them, and pitied others, but hated none. He states that his purpose is to relate the methods used by Dissenters to propagate a ministry in opposition to the Established Church; to describe what kind of schools and colleges they had set up, to supersede the necessity of going to the universities; and to show how these were maintained, what principles they taught, and what sort of arguments they used to confirm their pupils in their dissent, and to hinder them from going over to the communion of the Church.