CHAPTER VI.'

Samuel Wesley writes against the Private Academics of the Dissenters.— Exposure of his Ingratitude.-Answered by Palmer.- Wesley replies.Remarks upon the subject.-De Foe replies to him, in his " More Short Ways."-Mr. Palmer publishes a second pamphlet upon the subject.—Misrepresentations of party writers.-Wesley closes the Controversy with another pamphlet.-Notice of Mr. Palmer.-Calves'-Head Club.-Made an Occasion to abuse the Dissenters.-Account of it by Leslie.-And Sacheverell. -Brought forward by the Editors of Clarendon.-Oldmixon's Remarks.— Dissenters vindicated from any Participation in it.—By Mr. Shute.-By Thomas Bradbury.-And by De Foe.-Politics of the Dissenters defended.— Publications upon the Calves'-Head Club.-Ward's Account of its Origin and Proceedings.-Remarks upon the Abuse of the Thirtieth of January.— Publication of Lord Clarendon's History.-De Foe's Account of it.

1703.

AMONGST those who assisted to blacken the Dissenters, at this time, in order to render them odious to the government, was the well-known rector of Epworth, the Rev. Samuel Wesley, father of the celebrated founder of Methodism, and who had been born and educated amongst them. Having penned some thoughts concerning their mode of education, intermixed with many gross reflections that deeply affected their character, he transmitted them to a particular friend, who had applied to him for information upon the subject. After slumbering nearly ten years in manuscript, from whence it would have been well for the reputation of the writer if they had never emerged, they were committed to the press; and, as his biographers say, without his consent or knowledge. Truth, however, has

100 WESLEY ATTACKS THE DISSENTING ACADEMIES.

nothing to fear from publicity, although it may not always be discreet to circulate it; but the man who can sit down deliberately to the work of slander, has no right to complain at the exposure of his malice and ingratitude. The publication so surreptitiously brought forward, was intitled "A Letter from a Country Divine to his friend in London, concerning the Education of the Dissenters in their Private Academies, in several parts of this Nation. London, Printed for R. Clavel, at the Peacock in St. Paul's Church-yard. 1703." 4to.

The time selected for the publication of this piece, showed the malicious intention of the person who produced it; for the Dissenters were then under the frown of the civil power, and in daily expectation of some fresh act for the curtailment of their liberties. With regard to Mr. Wesley, no excuse can be made for his conduct. If, when he quitted the Dissenters, he had been satisfied with his own conformity, and abstained from any ungenerous reflections upon his former benefactors, no one would have had any right to question his motives, or to impeach his conduct. But, unhappily, he appears always to have been deficient in judgment; and the indiscretion of his friend in thus bringing him before the public, laid him open to the heavy charges of baseness and ingratitude.

In a

It was not long before Mr. Wesley met with a sharp rebuke, in "A Defence of the Dissenters' Education in their Private Academies: In Answer to Mr. Wy's Disingenuous and Unchristian Reflections upon them. Letter to a Noble Lord. London: printed and are to be sold by A. Baldwin, at the Oxford Arms, in Warwick Lane. 1703." 4to. pp. 24. The able author of this pamphlet was Mr. Samuel Palmer, a Dissenting minister in Southwark, who having been himself educated in one of those academies, was well acquainted with their internal economy, and undertakes their vindication, as well from his own personal know

HE IS ANSWERED BY PALMER.

101

ledge, as from the report of others. He gives a detailed account of the mode of education pursued by his own tutor, Dr. Kerr, and says, that although he cannot be so particular with respect to other academies, yet, he has heard by the most creditable evidence that virtue, piety, and learning, shine very bright amongst them.

In examining the charges brought forward by Mr. Wesley, he exposes their weakness and falsehood, and convicts him of ingratitude to a people, upon whom, for some years, he was dependant for his bread. "He might argue against any of our principles," says he, " and endeavour to convince us in order to our amendment; yet he might not betray our private converse: he might not by artful and false insinuations, endeavour to expose us to contempt. A sense of gratitude ought to have been expressed by a tender regard to our reputation and honour. He ought not to have called us in gross, a sort of people who are none of the best natured in the world, seeing that we fed him but with too kind a hand."

About six months after the appearance of Mr. Palmer's pamphlet, Mr. Wesley replied to it, in "A Defence of a Letter concerning the Education of Dissenters in their Private Academies; with a more full and satisfactory Account of the same, and of their Morals and Behaviour towards the Church of England: being an Answer to the Defence of the Dissenters' Education. By Samuel Wesley. Noli irritare crabrones!

"The Kirk's a Vixen; don't anger her."

London. 1704." 4to. pp. 64. Regardless of the injunction in his motto, the writer infused into his pages, a sufficient quantity of irritating matter to draw forth the sting of resentment from the party he had so unjustly provoked.

The Dissenters, being excluded from the public schools, had no other alternative than to institute seminaries of their

102

REMARKS UPON THE SUBJECT.

own, or to rear their children in ignorance. As it was not reasonable that they should so far accommodate themselves to the prejudices of churchmen as to submit to the latter, the other expedient was the only course before them. It might have been expected by any reasonable person, that the ample endowments of the established church, and the total exclusion of Dissenters from the least participation in them, would have been sufficient to satisfy the most craving mouths, and to quiet the monopolists. But the demands of bigotry are not easily answered, and the more plentiful the food, the more voracious is the appetite. Far from contented with their ecclesiastical privileges, these furious churchmen could not be happy without invading the Dissenters in their own quarters. This was not the first time that they had raised a clamour at their private academies ; and in their anxiety to suppress them, but little regard was shown to reason and decency. To a mind cast in the mould of Sacheverell, who was in the foremost of their accusers, it is no wonder that they should appear "an insupportable grievance;" for, in the crucible of party, the most innocent plants are converted by an easy process, into the most deadly poison. It is to be regretted that the name of Wesley should be dishonoured by an association with this church-malignant; but the sons of the prophet too often degenerate from the virtues of their parents, and the converts from the Dissenters at this period, were amongst their bitterest opponents.

De Foe, who had been educated at the same academy as Wesley, and being of the same standing, was, in all probability, his contemporary there, had as great facilities for becoming acquainted with the character and habits of both the tutor and his pupils; but the impression made upon him was widely different, Soon after the appearance of Wesley's second pamphlet, he published "More Short Ways with the Dissenters," in which he takes notice of this attack upon

DE FOE REPLIES TO HIM IN "MORE SHORT WAYS." 103 their academies. As he mixes a variety of other matters in his pamphlet, a more distinct notice of it will be reserved for a future chapter; but, in the mean time, the following passages may be fitly quoted, as bearing directly upon the subject.

Alluding to some recent publications, by Sacheverell and others, De Foe says, "Here is now a new attempt started, which strikes at the root of the Dissenters' interest, and is an effectual way to destroy the succession of them in the nation; and that is, to prevent their educating their children in their own opinions. Possibly, some may be angry if I should call this another Short Way; but I must beg leave to say, that next to the methods formerly proposed, this is, doubtless, "The Shortest Way with the Dissenters." If I should tell the world that there is an association formed among some gentlemen, to have followed the Occasional Bill with an Act for disabling all such ministers to preach in England, as are not for the future educated in one of the two Universities of Oxford and Cambridge; if I should say, that a mercenary renegado was hired to expose the private academies of the Dissenters, as nurseries of rebellious principles, I should say nothing but what was in too many mouths to remain a secret."

In the following passage, he does honour to the memory of his tutor, and chastises the conduct of his ungrateful pupil. "The Reverend Mr. Wesley, author of two pamphlets calculated to blacken our education in the academies of the Dissenters, ingenuously confesses himself guilty of many crimes in his youth, and is the willinger to confess them, as he would lay them at the door of the Dissenters, and their schools, in which he was educated; though I humbly conceive, it is no more proof of the immorality of the Dissenters in their schools, that he was a little rakish among them, or, that he found others like himself-than the hanging five students of Cambridge, in a very short compass of time, for