Page:Susanna Wesley (Clarke 1886).djvu/51

Rh mischief was done. It must have occurred either when Anne was a very few weeks old or just before she was born. Mr. Wesley gave an account of it in writing to his kind and constant friend the Archbishop of York, to whom he had commenced a letter on July 25th, writing only the date and the words "My Lord." This identical sheet of paper was partly burnt and wetted with the water that extinguished the flames; but as it was saved, with other books and papers, the letter was ultimately completed on it and forwarded to Dr. Sharpe.

"He that's born to be a poet must, I am afraid, live and die poor, for on the last of July 1702, a fire broke out in my house, by some sparks which took hold of the thatch this dry time, and consumed about two-thirds of it before it could be quenched. I was at the lower end of the town to visit a sick person, and thence to R. Cogan's. As I was returning they brought me the news. I got one of his horses, rode up, and heard by the way that my wife, children, and books were saved, for which God be praised, as well as for what He has taken. They were altogether in my study and the fire under them. When it broke out she got two of the children in her arms, and ran through the smoke and fire; but one of them was left in the hurry, till the other cried for her, and the neighbours ran in and got her out through the fire, as they did my books and most of my goods; this very paper amongst the rest, which I afterwards found as I was looking over what was saved.

"I find 'tis some happiness to have been miserable, for my mind has been so blunted with former misfortunes that this scarce made any impression upon me. I shall go on, by God's assistance, to take my title