Wesley Corpus

borough, in Sir Nevil Hickman's yard. But Sir Nevil is no more, and has left no son; so the very name of that ancient family is lost ! And how changed is the house since I was young, and good Sir Willoughby Hickman lived here ! One of the towers is said to have been built in the reign of King Stephen, above six hundred years ago. But it matters not; yet a little while, and the earth itself, with all the works of it, will be burned up. I preached at New Inn; afterwards at Newark,+ one of the most elegant towns in England; and in the evening at Retford, on, "I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God." I preached at Misterton. 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 But these are evils that God alone can cure. About one I preached at Overthorpe, where the spreading trees sheltered both me and the congregation. But we had a The following is Warton's translation of this quotation from Virgil: The good AEneas am I call'd ; my fame, And brave exploits, have reach'd the starry frame. EDIT. 336 REv. J. WESLEY's Journ AL. June, 1786. far larger at Epworth, between four and five in the afternoon. Surely God will visit this place yet again, and lift up them that are fallen.- I read Prayers and preached in Owstone church, thoroughly filled with attentive hearers; and again at nine in the morning. Tuesday, 27. At one in the afternoon I preached at Belton. While I was preaching, three little children, the eldest six years old, the youngest two and a half, whom their mother had left at dinner, straggled out, and got to the side of a well, which was near the house. The youngest, leaning over, fell in : The others striving to pull it out, the board gave way; in consequence of which, they all fell in together. The young one fell under the bucket, and stirred no more; the others held for a while by the side of the well, and then sunk into the water, where it was supposed they lay half an hour.