CIRCUIT RIDER, a preacher or minister who supplies several localities, preaching at each in succession and thereby forming a "circuit." Francis Asbury, a follower of John Wesley inaugurated the custom in the United States in Nov. 1771, and for 45 years travelled on horseback, at the rate of 5,000 m. a year, preaching twice a day on weekdays and three times on Sunday. Each circuit was under the supervision of a Wesleyan conference preacher and he might have any number of lay assistants. Any young man who showed aptness for public speak ing and willingness to endure the hardships of travelling in the saddle for weeks at a time over a wild and rough country, might become an assistant and finally a circuit rider. The salary was $64 a year until i800, when it was raised to $8o a year, with the horse furnished by the circuit. There were almost no meeting houses and services were held in log cabins, bar-rooms or in the open. Circuit riders were a considerable religious and moral force, especially along the frontier.