Two or three days after writing this, Whitefield set out for Scotland. On Sunday, August 23rd, he preached twice at Lutterworth, “the famous John Wycliffe’s parish.” Next day, he “began, in the name of the Almighty Husbandman, to break up fallow ground at Leicester.” Several thousands attended. Turnips were thrown at Whitefield during the first sermon; but at the second all was hushed. The next Sunday was spent at Newcastle-on-Tyne, where he preached four times, “and a shower of Divine blessing descended on the great congregations.” Early in September, he arrived at Edinburgh, where, for a fortnight, he “preached twice every day” to great multitudes of “polite as well as of common people.” He wrote, “Many young ministers and students were close attendants, and I trust good was done.” A week, also, was spent at Glasgow, where his home, for many years, was at the house of “Mr. James Niven, merchant, above the Cross.”[308] Five more days were employed in Edinburgh; and then, on October 10th,[309] he began his journey back to London. In a letter to the Countess of Huntingdon, he wrote: “For about twenty-eight days, I suppose, I did not preach, in Scotland, to less than ten thousand every day. This has weakened my body; but the Redeemer knows how to renew my strength. I am as well as a pilgrim can expect to be. About £70 were collected for the Edinburgh Orphans; and I heard of near a dozen young men, who were awakened about ten years ago, and have since entered the ministry, and are likely to prove very useful. Praise the Lord, O my soul!” The Rev. John Gillies, one of his constant hearers, remarks:――