Samuel Wesley (poet, died 1739)
Samuel Wesley was a poet, teacher and an Anglican cleric. He was the eldest of the Wesley brothers—with younger brothers John and Charles—but did not play a notable role in the nascent Methodist movement.
"Here lie I, once a witty fair, Ill-loving and ill-loved; Whose heedless beauty was my snare, Whose wit my folly proved. Reader, should any curious stay To ask my luckless name, Tell them the grave that hides my clay Conceals me from my shame. Tell them I mourned for guilt of sin More than for pleasure spent: Tell them, whate’er my morn had been, My noon was penitent."
"Whilst Butler, needy wretch! was yet alive, No genrous patron would a dinner give: See him, when starved to death, and turnd to dust, Presented with a monumental bust! The poets fate is here in emblem shown,— He askd for bread, and he receivd a stone."
