The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-02-25

scandal. His brother yielded and met
h lady 10 say farewell. He kissed
her and said Grace Murray, you have
broken my heart" "A week or two
after she was married to the inferior
sutton. She and Wesley did not meet
again for ~thirty-nine years. She long
outlived her husband, and when in
London she came to hear herson preach
In Mo%orfelds, she met her venerable
|loyer-loyer still apparently, for the i'm
terview Is described as very affecting.
Henceforth they saw each other no
more, and Wesley never again mem
toned her name, Through long years
Grace continued a course of Christian
usefulness, andlived and died eminent
ly respected. She lies In Chinly Church
yard In Derbyshire.
Undeterred by his former expert
ences, In l75l Wesley again ventured
upon an engagement which actually
resulted In marriage. Now, too, the
lady was u widow, q Mrs. Waffle, her
hrst husband having been q merchant,
who had left her u small Independence.
There was little In her toodeserve the
attachment OF such q man, either In
character or intellect. She, too, like
Grace Murray, was Of humble birth,
and, like hor, had bsen q maid servant
Having during her widowhood Joined
herself to the Methodists, she was
naturally pleased and battered with
the a~ttentions'of their renowned head.
Chas. Wesley again i~nterposed, but
this time In vain. 1t soon appeared
how ill-advised q union had been con-
tracted, and after q few years of
wretched married life, marked on her
part by outrageous ill-temper, jealousy,
violence, and even treachery, which
( her husband on his side bore with the
patience of q Socrates, the lady one
day took herself off and lived in q state
of separation from him till her death.
mon cam reliqui, non dimisi, non
revocabo-I did not forsake her, L did
not dismiss her, 1 will not recall her."
was the husbands apt and pardonable
exclamation when he found her gone.
She takes her place In the foremost
rank of the bad wives of eminent men,
worthy to be classed with the welded
companions of Socrates, Of Albert
Durer, of George Herbert, of Richard
Hooder, she was the most vicious vixen
Of them all.
1t may be imagined, without doing
any injustice to him, that when his
letters were stolen, interpolated, and
forged by his wife, for the purpose OF
injuring his character, the grieving
spirit Of the old prophet may some,
times have said, "Grace Murray would
not have lone this" AT the same
time we must, in justice, say tina
Wesley cannot be wholly exoneratet
from blame; for, setting aside the
question whether, after electing tx
marry, he was not bound TO do more
: for the comfort Of his wife, he certainl.
! gave occasion to her jealous temper b.
!, his unwary conduct, and, most of all
!, by his understandable fondness for
, certain Sarah Ryan, a quondam maid
2 servant like the others, who, although
. she was the wife of three living hus
> bands, so won the good opinion AM
, confidence of Wesley by her ostenta
= tious ~devOutness that he actually ap
: = pointed her matron of Kingswoo,
y School, where he necessarily paid fire
: quent visits. No suspicion can reall.
attach, of course, to the fair fame Q
one pure and unblemished as Wesley
o but it was difficult for a jealous wife t
think SO. And assure lily we must sa
= Of him, adopting a,well-known phras
Of Mr.. Froude's, that sin his relation
. with women he seemed to be under
fatal necessity Of mistake"