press.

Here the matter ended, as Mr. Silverton saw fit

to be silent.*

99

The only publication, which remains to be noticed in this period, was, "A narrative of the late proceedings of some justices and others, pretending to put in execution the late act against conventicles; against several peaceable people in and about the town of Lewes in Sussex, only for their being quietly met to worship God: together with a brief account of the like proceedings against some at Brighthelmstone, and others at Chillington, in the same county.' This professed to be a faithful Narrative, published with a view to encourage others to suffer the spoiling of their goods by the example of many, who endured it with pa tience and joyfulness; and with the hope, that by it the harsh proceedings against a peaceable people, might come to the knowledge of some in authority, who, out of pity to the distressed, and justice to their righteous cause, would redress their grievances.† Such narratives were, indeed, well adapted to each purpose, and were an affecting appeal to the sense of humanity and equity.

* Crosby, vol. ii. p. 241–244.

† Ibid. vol. ii. p. 245, 6.

518

SECT. II.

The History of the Quakers.

THE society of those called QUAKERS considered the restoration of Charles II. as a signal instance of the interposition of Providence, to restore peace and order to a distracted nation: and soon after he was placed on the throne, Mr. Richard Huberthorne obtained access to the king, and stated the excessive sufferings which his friends had sustained, and under which they were still smarting. The king entered into free conversation with him on the prin ciples of the Quakers, and promised them his protection: saying, "Of this you may be assured, that you shall none of you suffer for your opinions or religion, so long as you live peaceably, and you have the word of a king for it; and I have also given forth a declaration to the same purpose, that none shall wrong you or abuse you."*

This assurance raised in their minds the encouraging expectation of not being molested in their religious worship and profession. Better times than they had hitherto experienced appeared to be opening upon them. Their meetings were large and quiet. Numbers, drawn by curiosity, or better motives, flocked to them, and embraced their sentiments but this calm was of no long duration and they soon found, that the word of a king could be a delusive ground of dependence. Venner's insurrection brought on them new and severe persecution; though they were, by the dying testimony of the sufferers at their execution, exculpated from all knowledge of the design. Their meetings were broken up by soldiers. Their persons were abused by the populace. Their houses were ransacked. They were forced from their employments, and cast into

* Gough's History of the Quakers, vol. i. p. 440.

519

gaols among felons, who rifled them of their money and clothes. And even the sick were dragged out of their beds to prisons; one of whom, Mr. Patchen, a man of considerable estate, being in a fever, died there.*

This persecution was not confined to the city of London, but spread with similar violence over all or most parts of the nation. They were, without conviction, without crimination, without any legal cause, violently haled to prison, and crouded together in close, damp, or unwholesome rooms, by such numbers, as almost to the danger of suffocation. In Bristol, near one hundred and ninety were imprisoned. In Lancaster were two hundred and seventy prisoners in Westmoreland, one hundred and sixteen: in the West-riding of Yorkshire were not fewer than two hundred and twenty nine; and the number in the Northriding amounted to an hundred and twenty-six. And the treatment which they received in prison was generally as cruel as the commitment was unjust.†

When the members of this society had cleared themselves from the imputation of being parties in Venner's insurrection, they were proceeded against on new grounds; and old laws,made in the reigns of Henry VIII. and queen Eliz. were revived and made rules for proceeding against them; namely, the laws against the subtraction of tithes, and neglecting to resort to the parish church, or some other, on every Sunday or holy day. They were also prosecuted on an act made in the beginning of queen Elizabeth's reign, for administering the oath of supremacy, and on one of the third of James, enjoining the oath of allegiance. When there remained no shadow of reason to detain those whom they had imprisoned on account of the rising of the fifth-monarchy men, it was an usual method with the magistrates to tender them the oath of allegiance, which they knew they would not take, that their refusal might be a pretext for still holding them in confinement: though their demeanor was peaceable and unresisting, and by the most explicit declarations they solemnly expressed and pledged their allegiance.‡By the misapplication of the law of James, many of them

Gough's History, vol. i. p. 441, 415. † Ibid. vol. i. p. 446-451.

Ibid. p. 457-466.

suffered the loss of personal liberty, and of all their substance, and were exposed to very hard and illicit treatment. The case of Thomas Goodyear and Benjamin Staples, at the quarter sessions at Oxford, is a striking instance of this. Thomas Goodyear, after receiving the sentence of præmunire, was brought into court, like a common malefactor, with bolts on his legs, and on asking, "whether the jailor had orders to fetter him?" he was answered, "The jailor may do as he will with you, for you are out of the king's protection." This man, encouraged by the example of his superior, when he brought them back to the prison, told the other prisoners, "that if they wanted clothes, they might take theirs off their backs, for they can have no law against you." But one of the prisoners humanely answered, he would rather go naked, than strip honest men of their cloths, who were stripped of all they had beside.*

It is but candid, however, to remark that, though the justices and inferior magistrates, from their bitterness against the non-conformists, were disposed, in some cases, to put the 35th of Elizabeth in full force, yet the instances of enforcing this law, through the intervention of higher authority, were not many, nor equally encouraged with other modes of prosecution; as the full enforcing thereof must have terminated in public executions.†

But notwithstanding this instance of moderation, violent prejudices against the Quakers were so universal, that they were left unmolested in few, or no parts of the kingdom. In 1662, Mr. George Fox represented to the king, that since bis restoration three thousand and sixty-eight of their friends had been imprisoned. A narrative signed by twelve witnesses, attested that four thousand two hundred of those called Quakers, both men and women, were in prison. No age or sex found commiseration. Men of seventy, or more years old, were subjected to all the rigors of a goal. In London and its suburbs, five hundred were, at this time, confined; suffering every severity, their trades ruined, and their families exposed to ruin. The treatment of this people, even in this city, resembled the French dragoonings of the Hugonots, rather than the con+ Ibid. vol. i. p. 537.

*

Gough's History, vol. i. p. 531, 32.

dition of those who were entitled to the privileges of a constitution limited to legal rule. They were beaten with cudgels, cut with swords, and dragged into the streets; there they lay in the kennels, senseless and helpless, besmeared with their blood: and the passengers and spectators, moved by the sight of their condition, would sometimes cry out shame upon the perpetrators, that such a resemblance of massacre should be committed in the streets of London. Some, for these expressions of compassion, had their share of the like treatment. The soldiers being asked, why they could be so cruel to their neighbors? one of them answered, "Nay, we are more merciful than we ought to be, for we have orders to kill; and that his mus quet was double charged, as most of those of the party, were to his knowledge." Through this treatment, some who were hauled out of the meeting at Bull-and-Mouth,31st August, 1662, were so disabled as to keep their beds for some time: one was so wounded in the head that his brains were visible, and one died of the bruises and wounds he received. The coroner's jury, which was impanelled to view the body, broke up without giving a verdict; alledg ing as their reason, that if they pronounced it wilful murder, and the perpetrator could not be found, the city would be liable to a fine. The king, when an account of these barbarous transactions was presented to him by one of the society, said, "I assure you, it was not by my advice, that any of your friends should be slain; you must tell the magistrates of the city of it, and prosecute the law against them." The mayor was, by letter, duly apprized of these proceedings, but afforded no redress. The letter, accompanied by a narrative, was printed and published; for which the au thor was committed to Newgate by Sir Richard Brown, the mayor, on the charge of dispersing scandalous papers.*

After the murder we have mentioned, the meetings in the city were generally undisturbed for six weeks; then similar practices of injustice and cruelty were renewed, under the sanction of the magistrates, and continued nearly to the end of the year 1662. By this time no less than twenty persons had died prisoners at Newgate, Gough, vol. i. p. 538, 546. 67

VOL. IV.