xvn IN FOTHERGILL'S EARLY DAYS 237 



ship by birthright in the society was first clearly defined 

 in the year 1737. Tradition had come, first to reinforce, 

 and afterwards in part to supplant, the force of living 

 conviction that was the mainspring of Friends' principles ; 

 they were settling down to formalism. A good many 

 indeed of the younger members went out into the world, 

 and were " married by a priest " to its daughters ; these 

 were dealt with as delinquents and usually severed from 

 the body. The procedure in " disownment " seems 

 rigorous to modern eyes, and not less so the public penance 

 of reconciliation. 



But much activity was still shown in several ways. 

 One of these was literary. The fertile pens of the founders 

 of Quakerism had produced a considerable literature of 

 their own. This was enlarged and consolidated during 

 the earlier decades of the eighteenth century. Sewel's 

 History of the Quakers, the voluminous account of Suffer- 

 ings, and a great number of spiritual biographies of 

 members of the society were published in this period, 

 besides many editions of the works of Fox, Barclay, Penn 

 and others. Some of these were intended to influence 

 the world around, but more and more it became the 

 dominant aim to preserve and nurture those within the 

 fold. The young were strictly brought up in the select 

 literary environment of these sober Quaker volumes, 

 whose very bindings were innocent of gilt adornment, as 

 well as in the perusal of manuscript accounts and testi- 

 monies of Friends, carefully copied out and handed down 

 in their families. 



Another form of activity was exercised by the travelling 

 ministers, or " Publick Friends," of both sexes, whose 

 labours were conspicuous in the early days of the society, 

 and who were still numerous throughout the first half of 

 the eighteenth century. 1 Debarred as they were from 

 mixing with the world, the more spiritual members had 

 little other outlet for their energy. But to this work they 



1 President I. Sharpless gives a list of ninety visits, some of them occupying 

 several years, paid by . Friends from beyond seas to Philadelphia Yearly 

 Meeting, between 1700 and 1773. Rufus M.Jones, The Quakers inthe American 

 Colonies, p. 543. 



