THE LIFE AND TRAVELS OF GEORGE WHITEFIELD, M.A. CHAPTER I. 1714-1735. HIS PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD AT OXFORD-AMONG THE TO GIVE the genealogy of George Whitefield, so far as it can be traced, will not be a tedious task. There is not a cloud of ancestors to be acknowledged and honoured 1 before attention can be directed to him whose labours and sacrifices may serve to kindle the emulation of the most saintly, and to provoke admiration wherever they are known. The great-grandfather of George Whitefield was the Rev. Samuel Whitefield, of whom nothing more can be said than that he was a clergyman of the Church of England, and held successively the living of North Ledyard in Wiltshire and that of Rockhampton in Gloucestershire. Perhaps he was rich; for one of his sons, Andrew, is described as a private gentleman.' A family of fourteen children, with which the private gentleman was blessed, must have divided his estate into comparatively small portions; and that which fell to the eldest, a son named Thomas, established him as a wine merchant in Bristol. Thomas Whitefield married Miss Elizabeth Edwards of Bristol, and afterwards removed to Gloucester, to keep the Bell Inn, apparently because he had failed in his first venture. Nothing more is known of the wine merchant and innkeeper than of the Wiltshire rector; but we can scarcely avoid the supposition that his failure in trade was the result of inaptitude, and that he was not without some of the gifts so freely lavished on his son George-youngest of seven, a daughter and six sons-who was born in the Bell Inn, on the 16th of December, 1714. Unwilling to believe that some children, like the favourites of fairies, are capriciously dowered with their splendid gifts, we look for the original of the son in the father or the mother, or in some combination of their respective qualities; and as the wife of the innkeeper seems to have had but little mental or moral likeness to her famous son, we are tempted to ascribe the higher worth to her husband. Yet the mother of Whitefield, if without the clear wisdom and the dauntless piety of the mother of the Wesleys, had a tender, faithful heart, commendable prudence, a great desire for the welfare of her children, and much willingness to deny herself for their sakes. George always held her in reverent affection. With the fondness of a mother for her last-born, she used to tell him that, even when he was an infant, she always expected more comfort from him than from any other of her children. One Christmas more came, and the father was still spared to watch over his children; but, sometime about the coming of the next, he died; and his child was left without one remembrance of him. Only one event of Whitefield's early childhood is on record. When he was about four years of age he had the measles, and through the ignorance or neglect of his nurse, the disease left one of his eyes-dark blue they were, and lively-with a squint, which, however, is said not to have marred the extreme sweetness of his countenance, nor diminished the charm of his glance. Circumstances were not very favourable to the formation of a noble character in the boy. He says that he 'soon gave pregnant proofs of an impudent temper.' He fell into some of the worst of juvenile sins; occasionally he transgressed in a more marked way. His childhood was stained with lying, evil speaking, and petty thefts, which he perpetrated on his mother by taking money out of her pocket before she was up; this he thought, at the time, was no theft at all. He also says that he spent much money in plays, and in the common entertainments of the age.' Playing at cards and reading romances were his heart's delight.' Sabbath-breaking was a common sin, and he generally behaved irreverently at public worship, when he was present. As might be expected, he was fond of playing wild, roguish tricks, such as running into the Dissenting meeting-house, and shouting the name of the worthy old minister-' Old Cole! old Cole! old Cole!' Being asked, one day, by one of Cole's congregation, of what business he meant to be, he replied, 'A minister; but I would take care never to tell stories in the pulpit like the old Cole.' A wild, merry, unkempt lad he was; with no restraint upon him, excepting a wise regulation of his mother, by which he was not allowed to take any part in the business, although he did sometimes sell odd quantities over the counter, and wrongfully keep the money; overflowing with animal spirits, which often led him into mischief, in the execution of which his power of concealment so signally failed him that he was always detected. 'It would be endless,' he says, 'to recount the sins and offences of my younger 1 Augustine goes through a catalogue of similar faults in his 'Confessions.' Tutor, masters, and parents were deceived with innumerable falsehoods, so that he might get off to shows and plays; he also committed thefts from his parents' cellar and table, either to please a greedy appetite, or to give to other boys. |