LITERARY NOTICES. 



419 



The subject is English, and is handled with- 

 out reservation. The concluding paper of 

 the volume is devoted to the procedure of 

 deliberative bodies, and what may be called 

 the economics of business in such associa- 

 tions ; and in this country of multitudinous 

 Legislatures, and where the complaint of 

 non-accomplishment of deliberative work is 

 80 general, the hints here given will be found 

 important. 



James and Lucretia Mott : Life and Let- 

 ters. Edited by their Granddaughter, 

 Anna Davis Hallowell. With Por- 

 traits. Boston : Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 

 Pp. 556. Price, $2. 

 Aside from the charming interest of this 

 volume as a biographical study, it will be 

 found instructive as a record of social ex- 

 periences during the last half-century that 

 will be increasingly appreciated in the fu- 

 ture. It might properly be called "The 

 Life and Times of Lucretia Mott," because 

 it deals fully with her public influence so 

 as to become a valuable chapter in the his- 

 tory of a peculiar religious denomination, 

 which is closely . connected with the great 

 anti-slavery reform that was full of such 

 eventful issues to the country. 



The history of the Society of Friends, 

 when it comes to be philosophically written, 

 will be full of instructive interest. That the 

 denomination is declining, is very well 

 known ; but it has been a power in the reli- 

 gious and social life of the community, and 

 has unquestionably exerted a liberalizing in- 

 fluence upon the stringent dogmatism of the 

 more orthodox denominations. Mystical, 

 devout, narrow in many things, rejecting re- 

 ligious forms, and yet tenaciously clinging 

 to religious form, the Society of Friends has 

 still been more protestant than the Protes- 

 tants, and it was in advance of most other 

 sects in working free from the iron dogmas 

 of the old theology. The split that occurred 

 in the society in this country about 1828, in 

 which a large division of the membership 

 organized into an independent society un- 

 der the leadership of Elias Hicks, was but 

 the result of a growing liberality in the 

 bosom of the denomination. That divis- 

 ion, moreover, precipitated the question as 

 to how far it was justifiable for Friends 

 to enter into co-operation with the outside 

 world for philanthropic objects. The so- 



ciety had always been deeply pervaded by 

 the anti-slavery feeling, and had entered 

 its formal protests against the system of 

 African oppression in a much more em- 

 phatic way than other religious denomina- 

 tions. There was, therefore, a strong sen- 

 timent within the society that drew it into 

 sympathy with the anti-slavery movement 

 which began to take definite and organized 

 shape in the North about 1830. But, not- 

 withstanding the traditional impulses and 

 vigorous tendency of the body to join in the 

 general movement, there grew up an active 

 policy of resistance against new alliances, 

 and a determination to hold the denomina- 

 tion within its old sectarian limits of exclu- 

 siveness, under which it preferred to bear 

 its testimonies in its own way. It was in 

 this crisis of the denominational affairs that 

 Lucretia Mott came forward upon the scene, 

 and bore that conspicuous and influential 

 part in bringing the Society of Friends into 

 active participation in the anti-slavery strug- 

 gle which has made her reputation, and for 

 which she will be remembered in the future. 

 To all interested in these reminiscences 

 the present volume is peculiarly attractive. 

 Its chief subject must be deemed fortunate 

 in her biographer ; for, while the book is a 

 loving tribute to personal excellences, and 

 a vivid and charming delineation of char- 

 acter, it has been written with a clear ap- 

 preciation of the importance of faithfully 

 representing the circumstances and condi- 

 tions in which Lucretia Mott accomplished 

 her public work. A large portion of the vol- 

 ume consists of letters which have an his- 

 toric interest as throwing light upon ques- 

 tions, motives, tendencies, and states of 

 mind of individuals, and of masses, in the 

 stirring and exciting times of the early anti- 

 slavery conflict. Lucretia Mott was first of 

 all, and in her whole nature, a reformer, but 

 she was also from the beginning to the end 

 a Quaker, and that she was a good deal of 

 a politician, or at all events of a tactician, 

 is shown by the shrewd and skillful course 

 by which she succeeded in maintaining her 

 position in the society in a time of revolu- 

 tion, and when there was a strong disposi- 

 tion to disown her, as many other prominent 

 abolitionists were disowned because of their 

 affiliations with non-religious societies. Her 

 liberality of thought in religious matters was 



