xxn FOTHERGILL'S EARLY EFFORTS 281 



Meeting of 1777, and referred for action to the Meeting 

 next year. Fothergill's mind was much occupied with 

 the project. The school must be in healthy surround- 

 ings, in the country, in a place where provisions were in 

 plenty, and not far from Friends. It should give a sound, 

 simple education, the children being trained in habits of 

 obedience and accustomed to restraint. 



Later in the year, whilst travelling in Yorkshire, the 

 doctor heard that a large building at Ackworth in that 

 county was for sale. It was a strong stone edifice with 

 wings, easily accommodating three hundred children, and 

 had been set up by the Foundling Hospital in London 

 some eighteen years before as a country branch of that 

 institution, at a cost, including land, of 17,000. Good 

 work had been done in it for some thousands of children, 

 although sickness and other difficulties had hindered, 

 but after a time the government grants failed and the 

 place had to be closed. The house had been empty for 

 five years, and foxes, it is said, reared their young cubs 

 in its empty corridors. " Why may not this," said 

 Fothergill, " serve the very purpose I am in pursuit of ? " 

 The place was examined and approved. Prompt action 

 was necessary : the premises were purchased, with eighty- 

 four acres of land ; a number of Friends, no doubt 

 including Fothergill and David Barclay, guaranteeing 

 the price, 7000. Deliberate consultations and commit- 

 tees, after the Friends' manner, followed, in all of which 

 Fothergill took a large share. There were many diffi- 

 culties to be overcome. " It will be a long time," he 

 wrote, " before I shall be able to prevail on many whom 

 it concerns to enter thoroughly into my wishes to promote 

 this establishment ; and the times are against me ; yet 

 I am not apt to despair. I have contended with diffi- 

 culties, as every man who travels on this globe must do 

 cheerfully. I knew they were wisely allotted to us." 



At the next Yearly Meeting in 1778, Fothergill proposed 

 the scheme, and much time was given to its examination. 

 A report was brought in by William Tuke of York, who 

 applied his strong practical mind to education with a 



