Page:VCH London 1.djvu/478

 A HISTORY OF LONDON which was characteristic of Wesley, the societies of Calvinistic Methodists became Independent, though not at first Congregational. In 1741 there was erected for Whiteiield in Moorfields a temporary wooden preaching-hall, which he named the Tabernacle.'^ Here huge congregations were gathered, and in 1753 it was replaced by a brick edifice. Soft, square, on the same site. In 1756 Whitefield opened another large chapel in Tottenham Court Road, and in the same year he commenced preaching in a licensed chapel in Long Acre, where he was assailed by mobs and his life threatened.'* In these labours he was aided by a few sympathizing clergymen of the Established Church, and by several capable lay preachers, some of whom became regular Nonconformist ministers. To Nonconformity, Whitefield, like Wesley, had no personal inclination, but he found it necessary to register the Tabernacle and Tottenham Court Road chapel as ' places of Worship for Nonconformist Congregations calling themselves Independents.' These were long served by a rotation of ministers, as were several chapels established by the Countess of Huntingdon.'^ The most notable of these, Northampton chapel. Spa Fields (1779), and Sion chapel, Whitechapel (1790), were transformed theatres. Other Calvinistic Methodist chapels were pro- prietary, or were in the hands of trustees or managers, by whom the ministers were appointed. Of these the most conspicuous was Surrey Chapel, Black- friars Road, built for Rowland Hill in 1783, and now represented by Christ Church, Westminster Bridge Road. In most of these places the hturgy of the Anglican Church was used ; none of them were committed to ' the principles of Dissent,' and it was very unwillingly that the Countess had her chapels licensed under the Toleration Act. But ultimately all those that survived except Spa Fields and Christ Church became regular Congre- gational churches. Since the accession of the House of Hanover, Nonconformists had been free from anything that could be called persecution, but certain disabilities remained, and about the middle of the century the City Corporation took advantage of these in a purely mercenary spirit. As far back as 1734 it had been resolved that fines paid to be excused from serving in the office of sheriff should be applied toward building a Mansion House for the public residence of the lord mayor. The foundation of the proposed edifice was laid in 1739, and the building proving unexpectedly costly, a scheme was devised to extort fines from wealthy Dissenters. In 1742 Mr. Robert Grosvenor being nominated for sheriff, refused to qualify as prescribed by the Corporation Act, and claimed the protection of the Toleration Act.'" The City took action to recover the usual fines ; the Dissenting Deputies supported Mr. Grosvenor in his resistance, and the case was at length decided in his favour. Thereupon, the Common Council in 1748 enacted a new regulation, which it was thought would leave the selected victims no loophole for escape. The way thus prepared, many Nonconformists were nominated and elected, some of whom were incapable through age or infirmity, and in a few years fines were extorted to the amount of ^15,000. " Bogue & Bennett, Hist, of Dissenters (2nd ed.), ii, 53 ; Whitefield's Letters, 272, 968, 1117, 1119, II49, 1153. " Gledstone, Life of Whitefield (1871), 456 et seq. " Life and Times of the Countess of Huntingdon, passim. ^ Hist, and Proc. of Diss. Deputies, 32-50.