Note 3 — Chapter XVI · THE WESLEYS AND THEIR ERA

“Wesley, like Watts, wrote very freely and spontaneously, as the thousands of lyrics he wrote bear witness. Not all of them were good; much of the verse reminds one of a painter’s tentative sketches. But had he not freely written so many, he might not have written the smaller number so consummately well.” (J. Balcom Reeves, in The Hymn in History and Literature.)