John, Wesley wrote the speech delivered at his trial (7 March 1709–10) by Henry Sacheverell [q. v.] During his absence at this time in London his wife supplied deficiencies of Inman, his curate, by reading prayers and a sermon on Sunday evening at the rectory to her family and two hundred of the neighbours.
Towards the close of 1716 the Epworth rectory was the scene of noises and disturbances, lasting till the end of March 1717, and supposed to have a preternatural origin. The account, from family manuscripts which had come into possession of Samuel Badcock [q. v.], was first published in 1791 by Joseph Priestley [q. v.], who speaks of it as ‘perhaps the best authenticated, and the best told story of the kind, that is anywhere extant.’ From 1722 (Foster; and Wesley's own statement) Wesley held in addition to Epworth the small rectory of Wroot, five miles distant; here he sometimes resided, but the addition to his income was inconsiderable. He was accused, and by his brother Matthew, of lax economy; his reply (1731) furnishes a minute history of his affairs, which proves that he had done his best.
His later years were employed upon an exhaustive work on Job; his first collections for it were destroyed in the fire of 1709. Gout and palsy compelled him to employ amanuenses. Proposals for printing were issued in 1729. Pope wrote (1730) to interest Swift in the subscription list, engaging that ‘you will approve his prose more than you formerly could his poetry.’ The publication was posthumous, ‘Dissertationes in Librum Jobi’ (1735, fol., but most copies have new title-page, and date 1736), with portrait of the author (in fantastic dress, and bearing a sceptre), several plates, and a dedication to Queen Caroline. John Wesley presented a copy to the queen, who remarked, ‘It is very prettily bound.’
On 4 June 1731 Wesley was disabled by being thrown from a waggon, and never recovered his strength. He died at Epworth on 25 April 1735, and was buried in the churchyard. The inscription on his tombstone was renewed 1819, and again 1872, when the tomb was rebuilt. Tyerman has reproduced his portrait, engraved by J. H. Baker, from the frontispiece to ‘Job,’ engraved by Vertue; the portrait-frontispiece to ‘Maggots’ was reproduced (1821) by Thomas Rodd the younger [q. v.] From him his sons inherited their small stature. His widow was buried (1 Aug. 1742) in Bunhill Fields; a poetical epitaph by Charles Wesley implies that his mother had not known true religion before her seventieth year; her gravestone was renewed in 1828; a marble monument to her memory was erected (December 1870) in front of City Road Chapel (for her portrait, see Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. vii. 148). Of his nineteen children the following survived infancy: 1. Samuel, who is noticed below. 2. Emilia (1691–1770?), married Robert Harper, quaker apothecary at Epworth; left early a widow without issue. 3. Susanna (1695–1764), married, 1721, Richard Ellison (d 1760), a man of good estate, from whom she separated; had two sons and two daughters; the descendants of her daughters and younger son have been traced. 4. Mary (1696–1734), married, 1733, John White Lamb, later known as Whitelamb (1707–1769), her father's curate, and died in childbed. 5. Mehetabel (1697–1751), married, 1724, William Wright, a London plumber, of low habits; none of her children survived infancy; her poetical gift was remarkable; her pieces, some of them printed in various magazines and in the lives of her brothers, have never been collected. 6. Anne (b 1702), married, 1725, John Lambert, land surveyor at Epworth, had issue, and was living in 1742. 7. John, who is separately noticed. 8. Martha (1707?–1791), married, 1735, Westley Hall [q. v.]; of her ten children nine died in infancy; Hall was a pupil of John Wesley at Lincoln College, Oxford; he followed the methodist movement for a time, but eventually took to erratic courses in religion and practice, including a more than theoretical adoption of polygamy; Mrs. Hall was a friend of Dr. Johnson, who offered her a home at Bolt Court. 9. Charles, who is separately noticed. 10. Keziah (1710–1741), died unmarried; she had been engaged to Westley Hall. All the daughters of Samuel Wesley showed great ability and were highly educated; three of them were very unfortunate in their marriages.
Wesley's publications, additional to the above-mentioned, were (in verse): 1. ‘The Life of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ: an Heroic Poem. … Ten Books,’ 1693, fol., plates; dedication to Queen Mary, with new title-page, 1694, fol.; revised edition 1697, fol.; abridged edition 1809, 2 vols. 12mo, by Thomas Coke [q. v.]; this poem is said to have brought Wesley his Epworth preferment. 2. ‘Elegies … on the death of … Mary Queen of England … on the death of … John [Tillotson], late Archbishop of Canterbury,’ 1695, fol. 3. ‘An Epistle to a Friend concerning Poetry,’ 1700, fol.; Wesley criticises English poets, especially from the point of view of religion and
