Page:Susanna Wesley (Clarke 1886).djvu/81

Rh About three weeks after the writing of this letter Mrs. Wesley was prematurely confined of her eighteenth child, Charles, who became the sweet singer of Methodism. This was on December 18th, 1707. The babe was a frail and almost inanimate little creature, and neither cried nor opened his eyes for several weeks. He was too fragile even to be dressed, and was kept wrapped up in wool for some time. When the moment arrived at which he should have come into the world if all had been well with his mother, he opened his eyes and cried, and thenceforth throve tolerably. He was somewhat delicate as a youth and young man, but lived to a good old age. In these circumstances Mrs. Wesley could not be expected to write letters, and there is a long gap in her correspondence with Samuel, which the father did his best to fill up.