REVIEWS from John Wesley to assist in a Methodist mission in the newly established British colony. That voyage turned out to be decisive for the course of Whitefield's life and influence. Although Whitefield became the most popular and famous preacher of his day in the English-speaking world, travel was arguably the defining feature of his career. The Anglican priest was by all measures a remarkable speaker. Ben Franklin's account of Whitefield's preaching and fund-raising in downtown Philadelphia is the stuff of legend-one listener who knew of Whitefield's persuasiveness left all his money at home only to have to borrow money from the person next to him when the evangelist made his pitch. But just as characteristic of Whitefield's career was his itinerancy. He never ministered in one place but instead traveled throughout his entire life, both in North America and the in United Kingdom. In all he crossed the Atlantic thirteen times (death prevented the return leg of a seventh round trip), a remarkable feat in a day when transatlantic voyages were by no means routine. Once on dry land, Whitefield traveled extensively by buggy or horseback to preach more than fourteen thousand times for thirty-three years in settings as diverse as chapels, cathedrals, city street intersections, and farm fields. Whitefield's career was physically a feat that has rarely if ever been rivaled. In addition to the strength and health required to endure such a regimen, an evangelist needed a voice (and supporting body parts) that would not go hoarse and that could be heard by thousands (often outside) without amplification. Franklin estimated that Whitefield's Philadelphia audience one night was upward of ten thousand. Aside from the potentially startling assertions Whitefield made about conversion and the threats he 119