Page:Susanna Wesley (Clarke 1886).djvu/35

Rh was eminently unfit. Mr. Wesley, who was already in debt, borrowed a hundred pounds from the Bishop of Salisbury, which proving insufficient, before he was fairly installed he had to borrow another fifty pounds. The interest on and repayment of these sums hung like a millstone round his neck for the remainder of his life.

The family could have been only just settled at Epworth when Mehetabel, the fifth daughter, was born, and just about the same time Mrs. Wesley heard of the death of her sweet elder sister Elizabeth, the wife of John Dunton. The Duntons had continued lovers up to the day of the wife's death, and the bereaved husband declared that during the fifteen years of their union not an angry look had passed between them. She had been his book and cash keeper, and always took an active part in his business, and, in spite of cares and worries, he never once went home and found her out of temper. She nursed him devotedly in sickness, and when there seemed some possibility of their migrating to America and settling there in business, acquiesced in the voyage, cheerfully assuring her "most endeared heart" that she would joyfully go over to him, adding, "I do assure you, my dear, yourself alone is all the riches I desire; and if ever I am so happy as to have your company again, I will travel to the farthest part of the world rather than part with you any more. I had rather have your company with bread and water than enjoy without you the riches of both Indies." In another she says, "Prithee, my dear, show thy love for me by taking care of thyself. Get thee warm clothes, woollen waistcoats, and buy a cloak. Be cheerful; want for nothing; doubt not that God will provide for us." She seems to have been proverbials