QUAKERS. 



rtlips of their confinement, were conceived to be in danger of 

 perirtiiiig. The houfe, however, rejefted this propofal, and 

 exprelfed fomc difpleafure at " the refletlions on magiilracy 

 and mini (try," faid to be contained in the memorial. It 

 will be proper to give fome particular initances of their 

 fufferings. 



James Parnel, a youth of good parts and education, 

 going to fee George Fox in a dungeon at Carlifle, became 

 a convert to his principles : and, preaching in Eil'ex, was 

 the means of raifing many congregations of Quakers in that 

 county. He was imprifoned in Colchefter callle, and at 

 the age of nineteen funk "under the cruel treatment there 

 inflidled on him. In 1656, two Quaker women arrived at 

 Boilon, New England. They were apprehended 'ere tliey 

 could land, committed to clofc prifon, and fearchcd in a 

 brutal manner, by ftripping Uiem naked, left they might 

 alfo be luttches ; an objciSt to the colonifts of equal and 

 equally rational dread. Tiiefe two, with eight others who 

 arrived afterwards, were forcibly fent away : but the pre- 

 caution was in vain, their principles entered the colony. An 

 aged citizen, and church m.ember of Bofton, was iirli found 

 favourably inclined to them ; he was fined, imprifoned, and 

 banifticd in the depth of winter. In Rhode ifland he was hof- 

 pitably received by an Indian chief, who offered, if he would 

 live with him, " to make him a warm houfe ;" obferving, 

 " What a God have the Enghfh wlio deal fo with one an- 

 other about their God !" So far is intolerance from re- 

 commending the religion of thofe who pradlife it. Penal 

 laws againll Quakerilm foon followed the appearance of 

 this people in New England. The fcourge was lirfb applied, 

 without regard to age or fcx : mutilation, by cutting off tlie 

 ears, followed: but thefe being found iniuflicient, cruelty 

 proceeded through another intermediate ilep, banifhment on 

 pain of death, to its dreadful extreme ; and four Quakers 

 were hanged at Bollon. Their names were William Robin- 

 fon, Marmaduke Stevenlon, William Leddra, and Mary 

 Dyar. Their cafes, as related by Sewel, in his " Hif- 

 tory of the Quakers," form an interefling piece of mar- 

 tyrology. 



Charles II., on notice of tiiefe proceedings, granted a 

 mandamus, which prevented further executions 'in the colo- 

 nies ; but he was not equally ready to reftrain perfecution 

 at home. The Quakers had feveral meeting houfes in Lon- 

 don. Wlien affembled at thefe, thej' were often difperfed 

 by foldiers, under the direftion of the magiilrates ; thefe 

 effeAed the purpofe by fevere beatings with their arms. 

 One John Trowel being evidently mortally wounded in this 

 way, a coroner's inqueft was held, but the verdift of the 

 jury was fupprefli:d : and the king, on being informed of tlie 

 fafts, evaded interference, telling the complainants to pro- 

 fecute the law againil the foldiers ! Similar proceedings 

 took place at Colcheiler ; where the congregation, being 

 kept out of their houfe, met for many weeks in winter 

 ilanding in the ftreet. Here they were affailed by foldiers 

 on horfeback, who woanded many of them, and a man of 

 feventy 4oll iiis life in confequence. On one of thefe oc- 

 cafions a trooper's fword, by violent ufing, came out of the 

 hilt. The man he had been beating handed it up to him 

 with Ihefe words, " I defire the Lord may not lay this day's 

 work to thy cliarge." In this inftance, as in others, the 

 patience of the fufferers at length triumphed, and they were 

 quietly allowed their right of meeting. 



In 1665 a hundred and twenty Quakers were in Newgate, 

 fentenced to tranfpiartatioti, under an aft recently made " to 

 prevent and fupprefs feditious conventicles." The niafters 

 of fliips generally refufing to carry them, an embargo was 

 laid, and it was made a condition of faihng to the Weft 



Indies, that fome Quakers fhould be taken thither by 

 every vefiel. A mercenary •wretch being at length found for 

 the fervice, the Quakers, Unwilling to be active in their ov. 1 

 banifliment, refufed to walk on board, as did alfo the fea 

 men to hoift them in. By the help of foldiers from tli' 

 Tower, fifty-five of them were at length fhipped. But the 

 mafler was now in prifon for debt ; and the fhip, after feven 

 months' detention, quitting the coall, was immediately taken 

 by a Dutchman, and twenty-eight of the prifoners (the re- 

 mainder havmg died of the plague) were liberated in Hol- 

 land 'and fent home. Other parties of Quakers were fet 

 on fhore again from diflcrent veffels, fo that the number ac- 

 tually fent to the Wefl Indies was fmall. 



The preceding initances may ferve to fhew the kind of 

 perfecution wiiich this fociety endured for many years ; it 

 may be obferved in conclufion, that the court (or rather the 

 clergy) of Charles, in their eagernefs to fuj)pref8 the grow- 

 iiig fociety, aiftually defcended to the meafure of iffuing a 

 formal order of council for demolifliing their meeting-houfe 

 in Southwark, which was addrellt'd to no lefs a perfon than 

 Chriftopher Wren, efq. furveyor-gcneral of his majefty's 

 works ; but it was executed by the military, by whom the 

 congregation, who had the courage to meet on the ruins, 

 were dragooned as often as they affembled, for nearly three 

 months together, without however overcoming their firmnefs. 



Though the Quakers never fent out mifTionaries, in the 

 manner of fome other focieties, we have feen that indivi- 

 duals went, under apprehenfions of religious duty, to dif- 

 tant parts. Several of thefe vifited Italy, where they did 

 not conceal their diflike of fuperftition ; and one John Love, 

 being detained at Rome on this account, died (as it feems 

 a violent death) in the prifon of the inquifition. Catharine 

 Evans, and Sarah Chcevers, after three years' confine- 

 ment, and many fufferings in the inquifition at Malta, were 

 releafed and returned to England. But the moft extra- 

 ordinary enterprize, in this way, was performed by Mary 

 Fifher, a maiden, and one of the two who had been fo ill 

 treated at Bollon. She, apprehending fhe had a meffage 

 from God to fultaa Mahomet IV. actually made her way 

 from England to his camp before Adrianople, where fhe 

 delivered, through his interpreters, what was on iier mind, 

 was treated with refpeft, and offered an efcort to Con- 

 ftatitinople, which file declined, and returned, as fhe had 

 gone, alone and in perfeft fafety. A young man, named 

 George Robinfon, went, through ftill greater difficulties, to 

 Jerufalem, where, fpeaking againfl.the fuperflitioS of the 

 pilgrimages, the friars procured him to be forced into a 

 mofque, whence the Turks, on Jiis refufing to turn Ma- 

 hometan, led him out to be put to death, as for wilfully 

 violating the place : but a fudden change taking place in 

 their lentiments concerning him, he alfo v/as permitted to 

 return. ^ 



In 1660 the Quakers held their firft general meeting, 

 for the care of their poor and other concerns of the fo- 

 ciety, at Skipton in Yorkfliire ; within a few years after 

 which, meetings for difcipline were eftablifhed throughout 

 England and Ireland, chiefly by the inceffant perfonal la- 

 bours and epiftolary recommendations of George Fox. At 

 this period the fociety received a confiderable acceffion of 

 refpeftability by the converfion of William Penn and Robert 

 Barclay. The celebrated Apology of the latter gave the 

 world an opportunity of fairly appreciating doclrines till 

 then but partially known, and' on this account the more 

 decried : and the fettlcment of the Jerfevs, and fubfequently, 

 of Pennfylvania, under the aufpices of Penn, opened to the 

 Quakers a new and promifing field of increafe, which they 

 did not fail fpeedily to occupy. Another perfon of con- 

 1 1 fidcrable 



