The three volumes contain reviews of nearly two hundred books and other publications; the first of which is a review of “The Life of the Rev. Thomas Brand; and his Funeral Sermon, by Dr Annesley.” It is scarce likely that the whole of these reviews were written by Mr Wesley; but it is more than probable that he was the reviewer of this work of his wife’s father. He thinks that “Dissenters and Churchmen will soon be better friends; and though they may not be able to unite so perfectly as to come under one form of discipline, yet they may give one another the right hand of fellowship, and be without any other heat than that of holy emulation, which shall excel in practical godliness, and in the lively exercises of those graces that shall be most beneficial to mankind, and of most edification to the Church of Christ.”
The frontispiece of each monthly number is curious: in one corner, is a clergyman in gown and bands and a broad-brimmed hat; in another, a scholar writing at a desk; and between the two, a hive of bees, surrounded by plants and flowers; while above and below are three mottoes, viz., “Sic nos non nobis mellificamus apes;” “Omnia in libris;” and,
“All plants yield honey, as you see,
To the industrious chymic bee.”
It is only fair to add, that on the title-page of vol. ii., the “Complete Library” is said to be “by R. W.,” Master of Arts, but there can be little doubt that the “R” is a misprint.
During Mr Wesley’s retired residence at South Ormsby, he was engaged in other literary undertakings. In 1693, the year after the publication of the “Young Student’s Library,” he printed a new work, entitled, “The Life of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: An Heroic Poem. Dedicated to her most sacred Majesty; in Ten Books. Attempted by Samuel Wesley, Rector of South Ormsby, in the county of Lincoln. Each book illustrated by necessary notes, explaining all the more difficult matters in the whole history. Also a Prefatory Discourse concerning Heroic Poetry; with sixty copperplates. London: Printed for Charles Harper, at the Flower-de-Luce, over against St Dunstan’s Church, in Fleet Street; and Benjamin Motte, in Aldersgate Street. 1693.”
The volume is folio in size, contains 349 pages, and is divided into ten books, consisting of nearly 9000 lines. The preface, which fills fourteen closely-printed pages, is an elaborate production, and well written. At the close of it, Wesley says he knows the faults of his book, and would have mended much that is amiss if he had lived in an age when a man might afford to spend nine or ten years about a poem.
Prefixed to the work are a number of commendatory verses by Nahum Tate, poet-laureate, and by others. Tate praises the book and its author to the utmost stretch of poetical eulogium. He regards Samuel Wesley as one who has completed the task which Milton left unfinished; and represents him as a great bard emerging from solitude, fired with rapture, and charmingly unfolding the great themes of angelic hymns, and weaving wit and piety together. His spotless muse brings fresh laurels from Parnassus, and plants them on Mount Zion.
L. Milbourne and Peter Anthony Motteaux are equally lavish of their praises; and both of these writers were men of mark. It is true that Pope gives Milbourne a niche in his “Dunciad;” but Dunton, who knew him well, observes concerning him, “Most other perfections are so far from matching his, that they deserve not to be mentioned; his translations are fine and true; his preaching sublime and rational; and he is a first-rate poet.” Motteaux was a native of France, and was driven to England by the revocation of the edict of Nantes. At first, he kept a large East India warehouse in Leadenhall Street. He was master of several languages, and, during his residence in England, he acquired so perfect a knowledge of the English tongue, that he became a very eminent dramatic writer in a language to which he was not a native. On his birthday, in 1717, he was found dead in a disorderly house in London, not without suspicion of having been murdered.
In opposition to such eulogists, it is only fair to state, that Dunton describes Wesley’s “Life of Christ” as “intolerably dull;” and it has been asserted, that Alexander Pope had so mean an opinion of its merits, that, in one of the early editions of his “Dunciad,” he honoured Wesley with a place in the Temple of Dulness.[[75]] The work was also fiercely assailed by Samuel Palmer, (to be noticed hereafter,) to whom Wesley replied,[[76]] “I know my poem is very faulty; but whether it be in itself so absolutely contemptible as Mr Palmer represents it, I desire may be left to more impartial judges. If he will be so kind as to let me know the particular faults of that poem, I shall own myself highly obliged to him, and will take care to correct them. I am sensible there are too many incorrect lines in it, which had better been left out; but I remember, too, some lines struck out which, perhaps, had been as well left in. I care not if I oblige him with two or three of them, which were in the original but were not printed, and leave him to guess the reason—