Wesley at Eighty-one Begs f 200

Tuesday, 4.--At this season we usually distribute coals and bread among the poor of the society. But I now considered, they wanted clothes, as well as food. So on this and the four following days I walked through the town and begged two hundred pounds in order to clothe them that needed it most. But it was hard work as most of the streets were filled with melting snow, which often lay ankle deep; so that my feet were steeped in snow water nearly from morning till evening. I held it out pretty well till Saturday evening; but I was laid up with a violent flux, which increased every hour till, at six in the morning, Dr. Whitehead called upon me. His first draught made me quite easy; and three or four more perfected the cure. If he lives some years, I expect he will be one of the most eminent physicians in Europe.

I supposed my journeys this winter had been over; but I could not decline one more. Monday, 17. I set out for poor Colchester, to encourage the little flock. They had exceedingly little of this world's goods, but most of them had a better portion. Tuesday, 18. I went on to Mistleythorn, a village near Manningtree. Some time since, one of the shipwrights of Deptford Yard, being sent hither to superintend the building of some men-of-war, began to read sermons on a Sunday evening in his own house. Afterward he exhorted them a little and then formed a little society. Some time after, he begged one of our preachers to come over and help them. I now found a lively society, and one of the most elegant congregations I had seen for many years. Yet they seemed as willing to be instructed as if they had lived in Kingswood. Wednesday, 19. I returned to Colchester; and on Thursday, 20, preached to a lovely congregation at Purfleet, and the next morning returned to London.

Sunday, 23.--l preached morning and afternoon, at West Street, and in the evening in the chapel at Knightsbridge. I think it will be the last time, for I know not that I have ever seen a worse-behaved congregation.

Tuesday, 25.--l spent two or three hours in the House of Lords. I had frequently heard that this was the most venerable assembly in England. But how was I disappointed What is a lord but a sinner, born to diel