Page:The histories of Launceston and Dunheved, in the county of Cornwall.djvu/372

336 THE WES LEY AN CHAPEL. prepared formal rules for his society, which rules were pub- lished 1st May, 1743. In the autumn of that year (1743) he passed through Launceston, as he did again in 1744. The earliest mention of Wesley's preaching in this neigh- bourhood occurs 27th August, 1747, when he addressed a congregation on St. Stephen's Down. He again preached there on the 28th August, 1750; and on the 31st August and 1st September, 175 1, he preached in some "room" at Launceston. Between that day and the 5th September, 1754, Wesley visited the town on four several occasions ; but we cannot identify any building used by him on either of the visits. On the 5th September, 1754, however, he twice preached in the Town Hall, which then occupied the site of the existing market-house in Broad Street. He has recorded that, in the evening of 18th October, 1755, he preached here in "a dining-room capable of containing hundreds of people." We are unable to fix the time when the Wesleyans in Launceston first secured a meeting-house for themselves, but we think it must have been prior to, or in, the year 1760. On the 3rd September in that year, Wesley regretfully says that the discipline of the society in this place was lax, and that they had only one sermon a fortnight. In 1766 he complains that " the room " is too small. In his later visits he usually speaks more cheerfully concerning the people. On the last visit — 28th September, 1789 — he writes : " Preached in the new house at Launceston : still too small for the congregation." Now, we find that on the 14th April, 1755, Thomas Welsh had surrendered to Langford Frost a copyhold house, formerly a malthouse, situate in the back lane [Tower Street] nigh the North Gate, and that Mr. Frost had continued the owner of that house until 6th April, 1789, when he sold it. In the description of the property on this sale are the words, "which house was long since