32 000 People

Sun 22 Aug 1773: I preached in St. Agnes Church-town, at eight; about one at Redruth; and at five, in the amphitheatre at Gwennap. The people both filled it, and covered the ground round about, to a considerable distance. So that, supposing the space to be four-score yards square, and to contain five persons in a square yard, there must be above two-and-thirty thousand people; the largest assembly I ever preached to. Yet I found, upon inquiry, all could hear, even to the skirts of the congregation! Perhaps the first time that a man of seventy had been heard by thirty thousand persons at once!