CHARLES WESLEY (1707-1788)

This article appears in Volume V28, Page 527 of the Encyclopedia Britannica.

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CHARLES WESLEY (1707-1788) was the eighteenth child of the

Rector

RECTOR (Lat. for " ruler," " guide," &c., from regere, " rule ")

of Epworth, and was saved from the fire of 1709 by his nurse. He entered Westminster School in 1716, became a King's Scholar and was captain of the school in 1725. He was a plucky boy, and won the life-long friendship of the future

earl

EARL

of Mansfield by fighting battles on his behalf. Garret
Wesley of Ireland wished to adopt his young kinsman, but this offer was declined and the estates were left to Richard Colley on condition that he assumed the name Wesley. The duke of

Wellington

was Colley's grandson, and appears in the Army

List

LIST (O.E.
lisle
- LISLE, ALICE (c. 1614-1685)
, a Teutonic word, cf. Dut. lust, Ger. Leiste, adapted in Ital. lista and Fr.
lisle
- LISLE, ALICE (c. 1614-1685)
)
LIST, FRIEDRICH (1789-1846)

for ',Soo as the Hon. Arthur Wesley. Charles Wesley was elected to Christ Church in 1726. John had become fellow of Lincoln the previous March. Charles lost his first twelve months at Oxford in " diversions," but whilst John was acting as their father's curate, his brother " awoke out of his lethargy." He persuaded two or three other students to go with him to the weekly sacrament. This led a young

gentleman

GENTLEMAN (from Lat. gentilis, " belonging to a race or gens," and " man "; Fr. gentilhomme, Span. gentil hombre, Ital. gentil huomo, in its
original
- ORIGINAL
and strict signification, a term denoting a man of good family, the Lat. generosus (its invariable transl

of Christ Church to exclaim: " Here is a new set of Methodists sprung up." The name quickly spread through the university and Oxford Methodism began its course. In 1735 Charles Wesley was ordained and went with his brother to Georgia as secretary to Colonel, afterwards General, Oglethorpe, the

Governor

GOVERNOR (from the Fr. gouverneur, from gouverner, O. Fr. governer, Lat. gubernare, to steer a ship, to direct, guide)

. The work proved uncongenial, and after enduring many hardships his health failed and he left Frederica for England on July the 26th, 1736. He hoped to return, but in February 1738 John Wesley came home, and Charles found that his state of health made it necessary to resign his secretaryship. After his evangelical conversion on Whit Sunday (May 21st, 1738), he became the poet of the Evangelical Revival. He wrote about 6500 hymns. They vary greatly in merit, but Canon Overton held him, taking quantity and quality into consideration, to be " the great hymn-writer of all ages." Their early volumes of poetry

bear

the names of both brothers, but it is generally assumed that the

original

ORIGINAL

hymns were by Charles and the translations by John Wesley. Poetry was like another sense to Charles, and he was busy writing verse from his conversion up to his death-bed when he dictated to his wife his last lines, " In age and feebleness extreme." For some years he took a full share in the hardships and perils of the Methodist itinerancy, and was often a remarkably powerful preacher. After his marriage in 1749 his work was chiefly confined to Bristol, where he then lived, and London. He moved to London in 1771 and died in Marylebone on March the 29th, 1788. He was strongly opposed to his brother's ordinations, and refused to be buried at City Road, because the ground there was unconsecrated. He was buried in the graveyard of Marylebone Old Church, but this appears to have been unconsecrated also.
Charles Wesley married Sarah Gwynne, daughter of a Welsh

magistrate

MAGISTRATE (Lat. magistratus, from magister, master, properly a public office, hence the person holding such an office)

living at Garth, on April 8th, 1749. She died in 1822 at the age of ninety-six. Five of their children died as infants and are buried in St James's Churchyard, Bristol. Their surviving daughter Sarah, who was engaged in literary work, died unmarried in 1828. Charles Wesley, Junr. (1759-i834) was organist of St George's, Hanover Square. He published Six Concertos for the Organ and Harp in 1778. He also died unmarried. Samuel, the younger brother (1766-1837), was even more gifted than Charles as an organist and composer; he was also a lecturer on musical subjects. Two of his sons were Dr Wesley, sub-dean of the Chapel Royal, and Dr Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876), the famous composer and organist of Gloucester Cathedral.

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