A HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 



only obtained very brief mentions in his journal. The reason for this appears 

 from an entry of Thursday, 20 March 1766, when he records having preached 

 there ' in the new house throughly filled with serious hearers. Indeed there 

 is never any disturbance here ; and there could be none anywhere, if the magis- 

 trates were lovers of peace and exerted themselves in defence of it.' He had 

 intended to preach in the market-place on the following Sunday ; but a heavy 

 fall of snow in the night rendered this impracticable. 



On Sunday 22 July 1770, Wesley preached at Misterton in this county 

 at 8 a. m. ; at i p.m. at a place half a mile from Haxey Church ; and at 

 5 p.m. at Epworth Cross, where he found the largest congregation he had 

 seen in Lincolnshire. He was at this date 68 years of age. At five in the 

 evening on the following Sunday he preached in Nottingham market-place 

 ' thousands upon thousands flocked together, and all were still as night.' 

 On the next day he preached at Bingham, where he did not form a high 

 idea of the mental capacity of his audience : ' I really admired the exquisite 

 stupidity of the people. They gaped and stared, while I was speaking of 

 death and judgment, as if they had never heard of such things before. And 

 they were not helped by two surly, illmannered clergymen, who seemed to be 

 just as wise as themselves.' 



At noon on Sunday, 7 March 1776, Wesley preached at Stapleford, 

 standing in a meadow, as no house could contain the congregation ; but the 

 assembly was as nothing to that which gathered round Nottingham Cross in 

 the evening. When at Nottingham in the following year, he wrote : 

 ' There is something in the people of this town which I cannot but much 

 approve of ; although most of our Society are of the lower class, chiefly 

 employed in the stocking manufacture, yet there is generally an uncommon 

 gentleness and sweetness in their temper, and something of elegance in their 

 behaviour, which, when added to solid vital religion, make them an ornament 

 to their profession.' In May 1780 Wesley met with a curious experience 

 at Newark. Preaching there on a weekday evening to a crowd of two or 

 three thousand people, ' a big man, exceeding drunk, was very noisy and 

 turbulent, till his wife (fortissima Tyndaridaruni) seized him by the collar, gave 

 him two or three hearty boxes on the ear, and dragged him away like a calf. 

 But at length he got out of her hands, crept in among the people, and stood 

 as quiet as a lamb.' In the following June Wesley had an unpleasant 

 experience at Worksop ; he had been asked to preach there, but on his arrival 

 found that they had not fixed on a place. ' At length they chose a lamentable 

 one, full of dirt and dust, but without the least shelter from the scorching sun. 

 This few could bear. So we had only a small company of as stupid people 

 as ever I saw.' 



On 4 February 1784 Wesley was again in Nottingham and preached a 

 charity sermon for the General Hospital. He preached at Misterton on a 

 Sunday in June 1786 ; on that day he entered in his journal, ' I was grieved 

 to see so small a congregation at Haxey church. It was not so when 

 Mr. Harle lived here. O what a curse in this poor land are pluralities and 

 non-residence.' 



The energy of the aged evangelist was marvellous in his declining years. 

 On Wednesday, 7 February 1787, when he was 85 years of age, Wesley was 

 preaching at Brentford and at Lambeth. Being earnestly desired by the Society 



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