Wesley Corpus

15.--I rode to Birr, through much hail and snow, driven in our face by a furious wind. So was the hail the next day, as we rode to Tullamore. Here, likewise, I lamented the want of zeal. So the society here also is no larger than it was two years ago. On the following days I preached at Coolylough, Mount Mellick, and Portarlington. Monday, 22. I rode to Kilkenny. The new preaching-house was just finished,--a meat and com modious building. But before we came to it in the evening, it was filled from end to end. So it was the next evening. On Wednesday, 24, I cheerfully commended them to the grace of God. In the evening I knew not where to preach at Enniscorthy, the wind being very high and very cold. But I was in some 430 REv. J. weslEY’s [May, 1771. measure sheltered by the side of an house; and the people standing close together, sheltered one another. Only a few careless ones were blown away. Thur. 25.--Two of our brethren from Wexford earnestly entreated me to go thither. I preached in the market-house at ten o’clock. The congregation was very large, and very genteel; and yet as remarkably well-behaved as any I have seen in the kingdom. By hard riding we reached Waterford before six, where the House tolerably well contained the congregation: So it generally does the first night I am here. Fri. 26.--I laboured to calm the minds of some that had separated from their brethren; but it was labour lost. After two or three hours spent in fruitless altercation, I was throughly convinced that they would not, and ought not to be re-united to them. Sun. 28.--At eleven, and again in the afternoon, I went to the cathedral, where a young gentleman most valiantly encoun tered the “grievous wolves,” as he termed the Methodists. I never heard a man strike more wide of the mark. However, the shallow discourse did good; for it sent abundance of people, rich and poor, to hear and judge for themselves. So that the court, at the top of which I stood, was filled from end to end. Mon. 29.-In the evening I preached in the market-place at Clonmell, to a listening multitude. Some seemed inclined to disturb; but the serious, well-behaved Troopers kept them all in awe. Tues.