respect his work recalls that of the "Begging
Friars" of the thirteenth century (S208), and of Wycliffe's "Poor
Priests" in the fourteenth (S254). For more than thirty years he rode
on horseback from one end of England to the other, making known the
glad tidings of Christian hope. He preached in the fields, under
trees which are still known by the expressive name of "Gospel Oaks";
he spoke in the abandoned mining pits of Cornwall, at the corners of
the streets in cities, on the docks, in the slums; in fact, wherever
he could find listening ears and responsive hearts.

The power of Wesley's appeal was like that of the great Puritan
movement of the seventeenth century (SS378, 417). Nothing more
effective had been heard since the days when Augustine and his band of
monks set forth on their mission among the barbarous Saxons (S42).
The results answered fully to the zeal that awakened them. Better
than the growing prosperity of extending commerce, better than all the
conquests made by the British flag in the east or west, was the new
religious spirit which stirred the people of both England and
America. It provoked the National Church to emulation in good works;
it planted schools, checked intemperance, and brought into vigorous
activity whatever was best and bravest in a race that when true to
itself is excelled by none.

547. Summary.

The history of the reign may be summed up in the great Religious
Movement begun by John Wesley, which has just been described, and in
the Asiatic, Continental, and American wars with France, which ended
in the extension of the power of Great Britain in both hemispheres,--
in India in the Old World and in North America in the New.

George III--1760-1820

548. Accession and Character; the King's Struggle with the Whigs.

By the death of George II his grandson,[1] George III, now came to the
throne. The new King was a man of excellent character, who prided
himself on having been born an Englishman. He had the best interests
of his country at heart, but he lacked many of the qualities necessary
to be a great ruler. He was thoroughly conscientious, but he was
narrow and stubborn to the last degree and he was at times insane.

[1] Frederick, Prince of Wales, George II's son, died before his
father, leaving his son George heir to the throne. See Genealogical
Table, p. 323.

His mother, who had seen how ministers and parties ruled in England
(S534), resolv