steeple-house, and put me into the hands of the constables and other officers, bidding them whip me, and put me out of the town. Many friendly people being come to the market, and some to the steeple-house to hear me, divers of these they knocked down also, and broke their heads, so that the blood ran down several; and Judge Fell's son running after to see what they would do with me, they threw him into a ditch of water, some of them crying: 'Knock the teeth out of his head!' When they had hauled me to the common moss-side, a multitude following, the constables and other officers gave me some blows over my back with willow-rods, and thrust me among the rude multitude, who, having furnished themselves with staves, hedge-stakes, holm or holly bushes, fell upon me, and beat me upon the head, arms, and shoulders, till they had deprived me of sense; so that I fell down upon the wet common. When I recovered again, and saw myself lying in a watery common, and the people standing about me, I lay still a little while, and the power of the Lord sprang through me, and the eternal refreshings revived me, so that I stood up again in the strengthening power of the Eternal God, and stretching out my arms amongst them, I said with a loud voice: 'Strike again! here are my arms, my head, and cheeks!' Then they began to fall out among themselves."

The extravagances of Fox were, of course, out-Heroded by some of his disciples. He tells us that one of them walked naked through Skipton declaring the truth; and that another was divinely moved to go naked during several years to market places, and to the houses of the clergy and gentry. Yet he complains that these outrageous manifestations of fanatical indecency were re

quited by an unbelieving generation with hooting, and pelting, and the horsewhip. But though he applauded the zeal of his followers, some remains of natural modesty prevented him from imitating it. He sometimes indeed would cast off his outer raiment, or his shoes; but the article of attire from which he obtained his popular nickname he was always careful, however, to wear in public.

Throughout the Protectorate, and the reign of Charles II., and into the reign of William III., this strange prophet-who could never speak intelligibly-continued to expound his views, and gradually succeeded in organising his followers into a new sect. With the help of the more educated among them, such as Robert Barclay, Samuel Fisher, and George Keith, he reduced into some degree of system and form his teachings, and began to enforce a severe discipline. Later in life he visited Ireland, and the young colonies in North America, where he spent nearly two years in making converts to his doctrines. He died in London, in 1690, aged 66. On the morning of the day appointed for his funeral, a great multitude assembled round the meeting-house in Gracechurch Street. Thence the corpse was conveyed to the Quaker burial-ground near Bunhill Fields. Several orators addressed the crowd which filled it—among these, not the least distinguished of Fox's disciples, William Penn.

William Penn, to whom we have made brief allusion in the opening chapter of this book, was the son of Sir William Penn, the famous Admiral, and was born on the 14th of October, 1644, in St. Catherine's, near the Tower of London. When about eleven years old he was sent to School at Chigwell, where, being on one occasion in his chamber alone, "he was so suddenly surprised with an

inward comfort, and (as he thought) an external glory in the room, that he has many times said how from that time. he had the seal of divinity and immortality; that there was also a God, and that the soul of man was capable of enjoying His divine communications." This mental delusion was the effect, no doubt, of an excited imagination, nourished by the boy's solitary pondering over his mother's religious books.

The Admiral, having fallen into disgrace through the failure of the expedition against Hispaniola, removed his family, in 1656, to Ireland, where he had considerable estates, and while professing to be employed in their cultivation, engaged in plots for the restoration of the Stuart dynasty. His son, meantime, had the advantage of receiving instruction from a private tutor, and profited so largely by it that, at the age of 16, he was sent to Oxford, and entered at Christ Church as a gentleman commoner (1660). There a measure of fame accrued to him very speedily through the brilliancy of his scholarship and his skill in all manly accomplishments. But by degrees Penn awoke to a perception of higher and holier things; his religious instinct was revolted by the unbridled licence of the companions among whom he was thrown; and he began to dream dreams of a Commonwealth of Saints which, in the coming years, he hoped to erect upon enduring foundations among the leafy wildernesses of the New World.

At Oxford, about this time, the doctrines of Fox, the Quaker apostle, were very eagerly discussed. As expounded by one Thomas Loe, or Lowe, they attracted the attention of Penn and his fellow-students; and the apparent simplicity which distinguished them naturally

exercised a powerful influence upon minds alarmed and excited by the Court favour extended to Romanism. They went frequently to Thomas Loe's prelections, and refrained from attending the College services. For their contumacy they were fined. Breaking then into open rebellion they stripped off the surplice, the use of which was enjoined by the authorities; and were thereupon expelled from the University. Penn's father, a man of worldly nature and a great supporter of "the powers that be," was so enraged at this untoward event, that when his son presented himself at home, he caused him to be whipped, and finally turned out of doors. Still the young man held to his view of what was right, and received and answered letters from the Calvanist Owen, whom his father suspected of leading his son astray. After a while the elder Penn relented; and in the hope, natural to a worldly mind, that change of scene might efface the old impressions by exciting new, he sent him on his travels.

At Paris Penn was introducrd to the Court of Louis XIV. He plunged into the wild vortex of fashionable life, and his father's worldly wisdom seemed justified by the eagerness with which this bright and accomplished young man threw himself into the current of dissipation. One night, as he was passing through a dark street, he was stopped by a French gallant, and commanded to draw and defend himself. What offence had he given? The Frenchman accused him of not having returned the salute of courtesy with which he had approached him. Penn replied that he had never seen him; but his adversary would accept of no excuse, and threatened to cut him down with his sword. At this insult Penn's patience

broke its last bonds, and forgetting the doctrines of George Fox, he drew his blade rapidly, and assumed a defensive attitude. By this time a crowd had gathered, who expected that Penn, as in a few passes he had disarmed his quarrelsome adversary, would take his life, in accordance with the laws of the duello; but, greatly to their admiration, he returned him his sword with a polite bow, and unconcernedly went on his way.

Receiving instructions from his father to remain for awhile in France, and resume his studies, he selected for his tutor the eminent theologian, Mons. Ancyrault, of Saumur, and applying himself most earnestly to work, acquired with considerable rapidity a comprehensive knowledge of French literature, as well as a considerable acquaintance with the writings of the early theologians. He then recommenced his travels, and visited Italy, but was recalled to England, in 1664, on the outbreak of the war with Holland. He reached London in August, and seems to have created quite "a sensation" in "polite circles." Gossip Pepys, after receiving a visit from the accomplished young traveller, records in his Diary that "something of learning he hath got, but a great deal, if not too much, of the vanity of the French garb, and affected manner of speech and gait." He had grown a handsome man, and his manners were perfect in their easy grace. "Tall and well-set, his figure promised physical strength and hardihood of constitution. His face was mild, and almost womanly in its beauty; his eyes soft and full; his brow open and ample; his features well-defined and approaching to the ideal Greek in contour; the lines about his mouth were exquisitely sweet, and yet resolute in expression. Like Milton, he wore his hair long and