John Wesley

In her kitchen Susanna held her famous Sunday evening religious meetings when Samuel was away in London as he often was. He seems not to have approved, but she got her own way by saying that she would stop them only if he ordered her to stop.

She had 19 children of whom ten survived infancy. Here she educated them beginning with each at the age of five. She is renowned for teaching them to "cry quietly", a feat accomplished by the threat of a second "whipping". Just like as for Mrs Flinders in the Nursery Rhyme, let us hope this was a colloquialism.

One of the things I bought there was a pamphlet entitled A short Account of the School in Kingswood by John Wesley M.A. (Oxon.). It makes frightening reading. Boys of between Six and twelve years old were taught the following: Reading, Writing, Arithmetic, English, French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, History, Geography, Chronology, Rhetoric, Logic, Ethics, Geometry, Algebra, Physics and Music. Not surprisingly, to achieve this the children rose at 4am, working and meditating until lessons began at 7am. They went to bed at 8pm. No time was allowed  for play on any day. Says Wesley:

Happily I also bought a copy of his  44 Sermons. Despite being a Methodist for 50 years I have never heard one read. Whatever his severe views on education, the clarity of theological argument they contain is breathtaking. And it becomes clear how, despite his high learning, he was able to communicate with common people. Listen to this:

Is the love of God shed abroad in your heart? Can you cry out My God and my All ? Do you desire nothing but Him? Are you happy in God? Is He your glory, your delight, your crown of rejoicing? And is this commandment written in your heart "That he who loveth God, love his brother also"? Do you then love your neighbour as yourself?