A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



that bigotry ' may be attacked by sap more successfully than by storm.' ' 

 Such was the man who, from his centre at Northampton, revived once and 

 for all the dissenting interest, and placed upon English Nonconformity a stamp 

 which has lasted to the present day. 



Nor was the county without a share in the labours of that still greater 

 man, John Wesley. Wesley, it is well to recollect, lived and died a conforming 

 churchman, but the certain tendency of his work, and the story of the 

 society he founded will explain the mention of his labours in connexion 

 with Nonconformity. Like so many, he owed much to Law's great 

 book, and within six years of the founding of Methodism he was visiting 

 Northamptonshire. The circuit he usually followed during his visit to this 

 shire was Whittlebury, Towcester, and Northampton.'' On his second visit to 

 Northampton in 1745, he called on Dr. Doddridge and addressed the young 

 men of his academy. In 1767, when visiting Weedon he was refused the use 

 of the church, and preached in the Presbyterian (now Independent) meeting- 

 house, and in the evening spoke in the riding-school at Northampton. At 

 Harlestone in 1769 he preached in a malt room. As an example of his 

 marvellous energy and of the eagerness of the people to hear him at any hour 

 or on any day, the diary of his work from a Monday to a Saturday in October, 

 1770, may be cited. On Monday, 22 October, he started from London on 

 horseback at 5 a.m. and preached both morning and evening at Whittlebury. 

 On Tuesday at noon he preached at Towcester, and in the evening at Weedon. 

 On Wednesday he preached at Weedon at 5 a.m., and about 9 a.m. at Kis- 

 lingbury, where, from the largeness of the congregation, they had to adjourn 

 to the open air. At noon he was at Harlestone, from whence he rode into 

 Northampton, and preached in the old Presbyterian (Castle Hill Independent) 

 chapel. Many of the townsmen assembled next morning at 5 o'clock to 

 hear him preach again, and thence he went to Brington, where at 10 o'clock 

 'The multitude of the people constrained me to preach abroad.' About 

 2 o'clock he preached ' To a far greater multitude in a delightful meadow at 

 Haddon.' ' Nor,' adds Wesley, ' did I find any want of strength when I 

 concluded by preaching and meeting the Society at Northampton.' On Friday 

 he was preaching at Bedford ; on Saturday at noon at Hertford, and in the 

 afternoon returned to London.' The last visit to Northampton recorded in 

 his journal was in 1780. Wesley encountered no active opposition or rioting 

 in the county, but he met with little sympathy from the beneficed clergy. 



Methodism in Northamptonshire, though not at any time occupying a 

 very dominant position, has met with considerable success. Its strength has 

 lain chiefly in the shoemaking districts of East Northamptonshire, and in the 

 large agricultural district in the south-west of the county which looks to 

 Banbury as a centre. 



During the first half of the eighteenth century the Baptists in North- 

 amptonshire were becoming a more distinctive society. In two or three 

 cases where a dissenting community had included Independents and Baptists, 



' The chief author! ties on Doddridge are The Cotrespondence and Diary of P. Doddridge, 1829-3 i, 8vo. 5 vols.; 

 Orton Memoirs, 1766; Philip Doddridge, 1880, by Chas. Stanford, D.D. ; and P. Doddridge: A Centenary 

 Memorial, by Dr. J. S. Stoughton, 1851. See also The Church Book of Castle Hill Chapel, Coleman, op. cit. 

 pp. 13-27, and Diet. Nat. Biog. article 'Doddridge, P.' 



' All the incidents here referred to will be found in his journ.il under the several years. 



^ Journals, pt. xvi, 1 1 et seq. 



72 



