He then proceeded to the west of England. At Exeter, he writes: “I preached in a convenient room, lately a school; I suppose formerly a chapel. It is both neat and solemn, and is believed to contain four or five hundred people.” This was the meeting-house concerning which Wesley wrote to Samuel Wells, the assistant of the Tiverton circuit, as follows. “LONDON, _January 28, 1779_. “DEAR SAMMY,--According to the act of toleration--1. You are _required_ to _certify_ to the registrar of the bishop’s court, or the justices, the place of your meeting for Divine worship. This is all you have to do. You ask nothing at all of the bishop or justices. “2. The registrar, or clerk of the court, is _required_ to register the same, and to give a certificate thereof to such persons as shall _demand_ the same; for which there shall be no greater fee or reward taken than sixpence. “I advise you to go once more to the sessions, and say, ‘Gentlemen, we have had advice from London; we desire nothing at all of _you_; but we _demand_ of your clerk to register this place, and to give us a certificate thereof; or to answer the refusal at his peril.’ “Answer no questions to the justices, or lawyers, but with a bow, and with repeating the words, ‘Our business is only with your clerk; we _demand_ of him what the act requires him to do.’ “If you judge proper, you may show this to any of the justices. What I have written, I am ready to defend. “You have led the justices into the mistake, by your _manner_ of addressing them. Beware of this for the time to come. You have nothing to ask of _them_. “JOHN WESLEY.”[336] On September 4, Wesley returned to Bristol, where he spent a month in visiting the surrounding societies. He then made his way to London, preaching at Devizes, Winchester, and Portsmouth. On leaving London, he slept, for the last time, in the old Foundery. He now, for the first time slept in the house, in which he afterwards died, in City Road. On October 11, he began his preaching tour to Northamptonshire; a week later to Sussex; and a week later still to Norfolk. He then commenced his annual examination of the London society, and writes: “I did not find such an increase as I expected. Nay, there was a considerable decrease, plainly owing to a senseless jealousy that had crept in between our preachers.”