Dear learned list,

In the new DNB article on James Blair, there's a note about the Commissary's
hospitality to the evangelist George Whitefield, who passed through Virginia in
December, 1739.  Apparently Blair not only invited Whitefield to stay in his
house, but he also invited him to preach in Bruton Parish Church, which he did
in the presence of Governor Gooch, the Council, and (no doubt) many other
eminent Virginians.

Can anybody point me in the direction of a specific date for this event, a
primary source, or a reliable history?

(this is the link to the biography in question: James B. Bell, ‘Blair, James
(1655/6–1743)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University
Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/2564]--you have to be a
subscriber to the database to read it, however).

Cheers -- KJB