CH. xxn EDUCATION AMONG THE FRIENDS 279 



to this day. The Charity schools of that period were 

 strictly regulated by the Church of England, and therefore 

 inapplicable to Friends. John Betters' Proposals for 

 raising a College of Industry (1696) led to the establish- 

 ment in 1702 of a Friends' Labour School at Clerkenwell, 

 which was afterwards moved to Islington. This school 

 or workhouse, to which Fothergill acted in later years as 

 physician, imperfectly fulfilled the aim of its founders, 

 yet it was an example to others and not without influence 

 in the community. 1 



The means of education were however very inadequate 

 in the large community of Friends during the first half 

 of the eighteenth century. The universities were closed 

 to them, and they feared too the pride of human learning. 

 A time of ease had succeeded to suffering ; industry and 

 integrity promoted business, and wealth increased, but 

 those who like Fothergill sought a high standard of life 

 were uneasy at the ignorance and apathy which existed 

 amongst many Friends. He saw clearly that the main- 

 tenance of the society both in England and in America 

 in a sound condition depended greatly on the training 

 of its youth, and that human knowledge was a help and 

 no hindrance to spiritual strength and insight. Writing 

 to his friend James Pemberton in Philadelphia in 1758, 

 to introduce a new Quaker schoolmaster, " I could wish," 

 he says, " to see free schools erected, for Friends' children 

 only, in different parts of England. Where the Quarterly 

 Meetings are small, I would have two or more join to 

 raise from 30 to 50 yearly, to give to some Friend 

 schoolmaster, who should teach all that came gratis, 

 but might have the benefit of boarding. I could wish 

 that the like might be early introduced with you." If 

 Friends would purchase tracts of land and join them to 

 the schools, the expense would be light, and posterity 

 become great gainers. Where there were settled lucrative 

 posts there would be candidates for them, and one school 

 would breed others. 



Anthony Benezet in the same year defined in an 



1 Saffron Walden School, a Sketch of 200 Years [1902], p. 15. 



