WESLEY'S CIPHER.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 631, 7 October 1909, Page 7

WESLEY'S CIPHER.

MYSTERY SOLVED. HIS LOVE AFFAIR IN AMERICA. NEW LIGHT. • . (By, Telegraph-Press Association—Copyright.)! London, October 5. The Rev. Nohemiah Curnock, oveditor of the .""Methodist Recorder," after four years! toil, ;has succccded in deciphering the secret cipher 1 passages hitherto linsolved in Wesley's Journal, .throwing new light on. lii 3 life, including his': version of the Savannah loto'affair and, quarrels. ' JOHN WESLEY'S ROMANCES. ~ THE SAVANNAH :AND OTHER LOVE AFFAIRS. Ono .of. the. mysterious romances of famous biography is recalled by tho above cablegram, sayinga Methodist clergyman, ex-editor of the' ./Methodist .Eocordor/' has succeeded in deciphering-. secretpassages in .Wesley's Journal, • which throw. now light on his life , and on .his version of the Savannah love affair and quarrels. . .;. _ ~ i How He Met Her. - It:was rybon Wesley was about .thirty-threo that ho ,went, to Savannah, . Georgia, with several companions as a missionary .of the Propagation Sooloty."H«, hod hoped that his wo>k would deal largely , with tho'Red Indians, but ho/settled: in Savannah, a colonial town of about 518 adult inhabitants. Here he met with a charming young woman named Sophia Hopkoy, who 'was: Its cousin of one of his friends, and sha evidently loit.-no time in : falling ih love with the young preacher. She became interested m religious matters, she studied them under his direction;. and ' having taken the trouble to find out from a friend of his how ho,liked women to dress, sho thenceforth arrayed ;hersdf'. i n go wns ■of white or sober grey.. In fact sho followed tactics which'she nor; the first to discover, nor tho last to find effective. • \ / ■■■• .

...John.;W«Bl6y, .was' ever inipressiorinblo where women were concerned, and this geni>v tractable, and charming, young woman almout comnleted hSr conqnest of, him when sho nursed him- devotedly through .in . illness, hardly suf. feriajj .cveh . his' nearest' friends to share tho nnrsing : with;,:her. .r.' The girl seems to have .Been, as .far/«■ otie-could jiidgo at that tiiiic • in every way a snitnblo wife for John WesleV and it says niore for his head than, for Kis heart that lie submitted the question of Ids mnrrjiue •fe t0 j c ? nn , cil ' Moravian elders; imdcr whose infiuenke he had come. They considered the.-;matter,- and , solemnly reported that thev .advised him. to • Eo: no7furtlier."- ■ ■

Marriage With a Rival.. : . Just . .what happenod tten is a- question' that has ..troubled the admirers.of: John Wesley; for ' u,i ll J nd -l4 ■ft iTa , ? nd W e -■ Did'ha at once i tireak v.ith the girl, or dicl ho continue to wish to-marry ,her? - : ,Som<vof his friends say ithat : •>«<; Anyway' the girl seems to , haye_,beeii,.as'-was natural, intensely anuojed -at •< this submission of her fate to-the - fc"-- lon of; Moravian aiders, and she promptly W«W en P gl: v A f? ou ? ,g man; described bv hardly in a position to judge fairly, m . a person hot I remarkable for hand! ; . ,^enf£s,^Bor; for- wit f knowledge,: or IS it 38 a ' or roligipn.-i Four^ dave ?Ld^r, 0- i^V e ' ncnt '- Mi ¥ So P hio Ho pW mar! ?»« f»i M l '^ 0 V n , d ft w said ftaCeight „l 7 i, 'forbade her' everto ' \Mr.. ! ]WeSl6y again, or to enter hiV >LS/ : ? hon lr J, lich - Eho evidently di£ /fiTO. months later John Weslev :4SS»kw^!SS!^#thef® hrOSO - ft} PTifin f ' imrnAi*''fn iv~ : r onß d ™ B Jo Ws wife' 3 7ep™ ;The Lady's Affidavit, stating, that' he,-had wish»vPtA ln - nn . affid avit piomising that if thereMvere «toriV 80n ' a J. d;

Fatfid to.Lovu Foolishly, ' Wesley seemed fated to love foolishlv •Tj.w corresponded' wfth- both of them But at® gSKj&al ? j- i 'pat cured him of his affection fnr

Hi* Matrimonial Troubles

Mrs. .Wcsloy proWd 'a. Bend. Sho vorv soon developed' tho'; most : amazing canaoitvjealousy and unpleasantness, and sho kaSe'him nios ; abjectly,miserable. His work "hwiteM Wesley into association with many womenearnest women, deroted to the work ttSf i.»' piovided for tiiem in, different narts ofL„ and^and.:Mr*'Wesley' S to* b e jealous about : them; She used to rush off to distant places on her husband's journeying and appear,before him .in a most surpnS fashion,' She read ,hu .letters,- she: looked into his correspondence,. and she was ■ treacherous enough to,-make; mischievous interpolations ?n those letters bofqre showing them to outsiders mth-a .now,to injuring heri husband."•'Accounts been given of most undignified and violent ; scenes in her - life kI»Hm ySSS should nof.be revived. behavedUfoolishly 'and did not -in the leaf{ realise the sort, of woman he had to deal wits A las sho-left.him hurriedly, and heßecorded solemnly; in, his journal : .'-Non eatt reliquf noc diraisi,, non revocabo," and one feels■ surd that; he,:.had much mora grim > satisfaction fn putting it like-that, .than in lying,: as'ai* woman might have done: "I have not desertS >**il havo not sent, her awsy: I shall not call her-back. -. It was many year* after that before tho lady died, and Wesley's biographers have ,been;,very-.shai ? commcnfs on her. Southey wrote: "With Xantippe, and the Wifo .01 Jqjvshe was one of tho three typical bad wives of the. world.' Can the ciphers go