"Never mind," said the duke, "let them fire away: the
battle's won, and my life is of no consequence now."
About 15,000 men out of Wellington's army were killed or wounded on
the day of this great battle. But Europe was saved.
The duke, who appeared so calm and unmoved in battle, thus wrote just
afterwards, when the excitement of the conflict was over: "My heart
is broken at the terrible loss I have sustained in my old friends and
companions and my poor soldiers. Believe me, nothing except a battle
lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won."
A PRINCE OF PREACHERS.
THE STORY OF JOHN WESLEY.
"I do intend to be more particularly careful of the soul of this child
that Thou hast so mercifully provided for than ever I have been, that
I may do my endeavour to instil into his mind the principles of Thy
true religion and virtue. Lord, give me grace to do it sincerely and
prudently, and bless my attempts with good success!"
Thus wrote Susanna Wesley of her son John. The child had been nearly
burned to death when he was about six years old in a fire that broke
out at the Rectory of Epworth, where John and Charles Wesley and a
large family were born.
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