CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Louise Harries Stanfield 
 
Cornell University Library 
 BX7791.R521894 
 
 Six generations of Friends In Ireland <1 
 
 3 1924 006 364 412 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924006364412 
 

 PRESENTED BY 
 
 JANE 
 
 M. RICHARDSON, 
 
 
 Besskook, Ireland, 
 
 
 THROUGH 
 
 Friends Book and Tract (Committee, 
 
 
 NEW YORK. 
 
JOHN GRUBB RICHARDSON. 
 
SIX GENERATIONS 
 
 OF FRIENDS 
 
 IN IRELAND 
 
 (1686 to 1890), 
 
 BY 
 
 J. M. R. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 " LET IT PLEASE THEE TO BLESS THE HOUSE OF THY 
 SERVANT . FOR THOU, O LORD GOD, HAST SPOKEN IT, 
 AND WITH THY BLESSING LET THE HOUSE OF THY SERVANT 
 
 be blessed for ever." — II Sam. vii, 29. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 EDWARD HICKS,'. -'J UN.,' 
 
 14, Bishopsgate Without. 
 
 1894. 
 
LONDON : 
 
 Milton Smith & Co., Ld., Printers, Devonshire Street, 
 Bishopsgate, E.C. 
 
 1894. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I 'HESE simple narratives were intended chiefly 
 
 for the use of the family of whose ancestors 
 
 they treat, but as the book has met with a more 
 
 favourable general reception than was expected, a 
 
 Second Edition is now issued, enlarged and revised. 
 
 The lives here traced are necessarily confined 
 to a limited area in space, and were mostly passed 
 within a small section of the Christian Church, 
 whereas the love which inspired them was not 
 limited by space or sectarian difference, but flowed 
 out to meet every human need. 
 
 For several interesting particulars the reader is 
 referred to the appendices. 
 
 J. M. R. 
 
 MOYALLON, 
 
 jth mo., 1894. 
 
To my Beloved Children, the SEVENTH 
 GENERATION of Friends in Ireland, I Dedicate 
 these Simple Memorials. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. Pioneers in Ireland in the 17th 
 
 Century . . . .1 
 
 II. Thomas Wilson 44 
 
 III. Thomas Wilson in Ireland . . 84 
 
 IV. Mount Wilson and Horetown 105 
 V. Divine Protection 133 
 
 VI. Moyallon 183 
 
 VII, Thomas C. Wakefield .... 202 
 
 VIII. John G. Richardson 216 
 
 Appendices 2 55 
 
SIX GEN ERATIONS 
 
 OF FRIENDS 
 
 IN IRELAND 
 
 (1655 TO 189O). 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 17™ CENTURY QUAKER PIONEERS 
 IN IRELAND. 
 
 Before entering upon the simple annals 'of 
 the family whose history we are about to trace 
 in these pages, it may be interesting to the 
 reader to obtain some idea of the political 
 and religious condition of Ireland two hundred 
 and forty years ago, in connection with the 
 introduction of Quakerism into the country. 
 
 With this subject is associated a soldier in 
 Cromwell's army, named William Edmundson, 
 who was born at Musgrove, in Westmoreland, 
 in 1627. In early life he abandoned the pro- 
 fession of arms and entered on a commercial 
 career. Soon after, under the preaching of 
 a powerful minister, James Naylor,* he says : 
 
 * See Appendix D. 
 
2 Six Generations 
 
 " My heart was opened, as was the heart of 
 Lydia ; I received the Truth in the love of it ; 
 I had longed after it, and was ready for the 
 Lord's harvest." 
 
 Having obtained mercy of the Lord to be 
 faithful, after much suffering he joined in wor- 
 ship with Friends, and going to live in Ireland 
 about 1652, he was made the means of ac- 
 complishing a spiritual work, very similar to 
 that effected by George Fox in England. 
 
 Like the founder of the Society, he united 
 clear spiritual apprehension with strong 
 natural character, and though of comparatively 
 humble rank, his consistent godly life, and 
 his impartial view of men and things, gave 
 him a well-merited influence at the seat 
 of Government in Dublin, during both Pro- 
 testant and Catholic ascendancy. He felt 
 through all his sufferings for conscience's sake, 
 in as far as these sufferings were patiently 
 borne with consistent protest against in- 
 tolerance, they might become, as indeed they 
 did, the means of a more universal liberty of 
 ■conscience. 
 
 William Edmundson, on reaching Ireland, 
 
in Ireland. 3 
 
 first settled in Antrim, and then removed 
 to Lurgan, in the Province of Ulster. It 
 may be well to state that two centuries ago 
 Ulster was one of the most uncivilized and 
 wretched portions of Ireland. The plantation 
 of Scottish colonists by James I proved the 
 turning-point, and gradually changed the 
 social, as well as the religious state of the 
 country. 
 
 In 1652, the time of William Edmundson's 
 arrival in Ireland, the country was partially 
 recovering, under the iron rule of Cromwell, 
 from the ruin and desolation caused by the 
 '' War of Religion," 1&4*, an insurrec- 
 tion proclaimed against the Protestants by 
 the Roman Catholic bishops North, south, 
 east, and west, Protestant blood flowed, and 
 cruelties, too terrible to mention, were enacted. 
 Towns and villages were all but destroyed ; in 
 many cases the only burial allowed was the 
 burial of the living. In Ulster it is said 100,000 
 Protestants were either expelled or massacred. 
 
 When the express that brought the news 
 was read in the House of Commons, it pro- 
 duced a general silence, all men being struck 
 
 B2 
 
4 Six Generations 
 
 with horror. When told out of doors it spread 
 like lightning, producing terror over the. King- 
 dom.* 
 
 Doubtless the attacking party had wrongs 
 to redress, and political grievances, and the 
 Protestants, in their suffering and indignation, 
 were guilty of cruel vengeance. It was a 
 truly awful experience, and -for eight succeed- 
 ing years the wretched island groaned under 
 the contending power of four political parties 
 fighting among themselves in bitter animosity 
 of civil and religious hatred. 
 
 In 1649, Cromwell, with an army of the 
 Parliament, succeeded in reducing the country 
 to a good degree of order. 
 
 It was among these surroundings William 
 Edmundson found a home ; here he lived and 
 died a man of love, and a peacemaker between 
 all sects and parties. On his removal to Lur- 
 gan his brother joined the family, and a 
 Meeting in their house was established in 
 1654 — the first settled Meeting of Friends in 
 Ireland. Small at first, the numbers increased 
 
 * See Tract by George Fox : " The Arraignment of Popery," 1669. 
 " An Abstract of the Massacre in Ireland." 
 
in Ireland. 5 
 
 under his care and ministry. " For," says he 
 in his Journal, " the name of Friends and the 
 fame of Truth did spread, and divers sober 
 people, who sought after the knowledge of 
 God, joined us." In 1696 the first Meeting- 
 house was built in Lurgan ; it was used by 
 the Society until about i88g, when a com- 
 modious structure replaced the time-worn and 
 decaying edifice where our forefathers wor- 
 shipped. 
 
 In 1655 William Edmundson crossed to 
 England to see George Fox. " I met him," he 
 writes, " at Badgley, where there was a great 
 gathering of Friends. After Meeting I went 
 to George Fox. He took notice of me. and 
 we went into the orchard, and, kneeling down, 
 he prayed. The Lord's heavenly power and 
 presence was there ; he was tender over me. 
 I told him where I lived, and of the openness 
 among people in the north of that nation to 
 hear the Truth declared, and of the want of 
 ministering Friends in the Gospel there. 
 Soon after this visit ministers began to come 
 from England ; Richard Clayton apparently 
 being the first, with whom W. E. travelled 
 
6 Six Generations 
 
 extensively on foot through a wild country. 
 Next came to visit Ireland two women Friends 
 from London, Ann Gould and Julian Wast- 
 wood. They travelled from Dublin to London- 
 derry, and then to Coleraine, and so through 
 the Scotch country to a place called Clough, 
 all on foot in Winter time, wading rivers and 
 dirty, miry ways, so that Ann Gould, being a 
 tender woman, was much spent. She staid 
 her journey at Clough, the enemy persuading 
 her that God had forsaken her, and that she 
 was there to be destroyed, but I knew nothing 
 of them. My brother and I being at a fair 
 in Antrim, as we were late, proposed to lodge 
 at Glenavy, six miles on our way homewards. 
 Before we reached Glenavy I was under great 
 exercise of spirit, believing my shop was in 
 danger to be robbed that night. I told my 
 brother, and we concluded to travel home, 
 but my spirit was still under great exercise, 
 the word of the Lord moving me to turn back 
 towards Clough. These two motions brought 
 me into a great straight ; to travel back and 
 the service unknown, my shop on the other 
 hand in danger to be robbed. I cried to the 
 
in Ireland. 7 
 
 Lord in much tenderness of spirit, and His 
 word answered : ' That which draws thee 
 back, shall preserve thy shop.' So we returned 
 to Gleriavy, and lodged there, but I slept 
 little. My brother next morning went home, 
 and towards evening I came to Clough, and 
 took up my lodgings at an inn. When I came 
 into the house I found Ann Gould there in 
 despair, and Julian Wastwood with her; but 
 when they heard my name (for they had heard 
 of me before) the poor, disconsolate woman] 
 revived for joy and gladness. I saw then my 
 service of coming there was for her sake, so I 
 told them I was brought there by the good/ 
 hand of God, led as an horse by the bridle to 
 the place where they were ; then they greatly 
 rejoiced and praised God, and the tender 
 woman was helped over her trouble. \ 
 
 " They had a mind to go by my house to 
 Dublin, to take shipping for England, but 
 neither could ride single, so the next day I 
 carried them behind me, first one, and then the 
 other, when we came to a very foul way I set 
 them both on horseback and waded myself 
 through dirt and mire, holding them both on 
 
 
8 Six Generations 
 
 with my hands. I got them to Carrickfergus, 
 and there leaving them, I rode home and sent 
 my brother and two horses to bring them to 
 my own house. They staid some time and 
 visited Friends ; my brother set them on horse- 
 back to Dublin, and so they went to England. 
 
 " On reaching home I enquired about my 
 shop ; they told me the night I was under the 
 exercise about its being robbed the shop 
 window was broken down and fell with such 
 violence op the counter that it awakened our 
 people, and the thieves were affrighted and ran 
 away. So I was greatly strengthened in the 
 Lord, I saw it was His word that said : ' that 
 which draws thee back will preserve thy 
 shop.' " 
 
 As yet Friends were confined to Ulster, but 
 in 1655 this work of convincement and con- 
 version extended to other parts, mainly through 
 the instrumentality of Elizabeth Fletcher and 
 Elizabeth Smith, and that of Francis Howgill 
 and Edward Borrows — they were the first to 
 hold a meeting in Dublin. They travelled 
 south to Bandon and Cork, E. B. preaching 
 through the streets of Limerick as they passed 
 
in Ireland. g 
 
 along, and outside the gates addressing a great 
 multitude. 
 
 Their ministry was so successful in gather- 
 ing in persons of different classes and positions 
 that the religious teachers became alarmed, 
 and on returning to Cork they were appre- 
 hended, and by order of Henry Cromwell they 
 were conveyed to Dublin by a. band of soldiers,/' 
 and left on shipboard under sentence of banish T 
 ment. 
 
 The same day Barbara Blandon landed in 
 Dublin, and proceeded direct to the Deputy. 
 Those who were in waiting on Henry Crom- 
 well tried to deceive her, introducing one of 
 the officers to her, and uncovering the head to 
 him. As she stood in silence, they enquired 
 why she did not speak to their lord, she re- 
 plied : " I will address your lord when I see 
 him." On which they took her to the Deputy. 
 She then declared the message of God, that 
 the injury he was doing to the Lord's people 
 would at last lie heavy on his soul, and spake 
 with such power that Henry Cromwell seemed 
 under deep concern, so that she perceived the 
 enmity did not originate with him, but that 
 
io Six Generations 
 
 the pressure which was brought to bear by 
 Civil Magistrates and Priests stirred up this 
 persecution. 
 
 Soon after James Lancaster and John Tiffin 
 arrived from England and suffered severely, 
 with William Edmundson, at the bands of the 
 populace in Lurgan. 
 
 Also came John Burnyeat, travelling on foot. 
 Many by his ministry were turned from their 
 evil way and converted to God. 
 
 William Edmundson had now a call to 
 Dublin to plead for Robert Lodge, an English 
 Friend, and others cast into prison. "I went," 
 said he, " to the Earl of Montrath, the Lord 
 had given me a place in his heart, which I 
 retained till his dying day. I received a full 
 order to the Sheriff to set these Friends at 
 liberty, without fee or reward ; which was ac- 
 complished, though the Sheriff was very angry, 
 and called me the devil and other bad names." 
 
 One of these travelling ministers writes : 
 " The Lord hath in Ireland a blessed, zealous 
 people for His Name and Truth, they are filled 
 with love to His servants, manifested in their 
 accompanying us from one meeting to another, 
 
in Ireland. n 
 
 from ten to twenty at a time, the distance of 
 five-and-twenty miles, even in harvest time. 
 
 " Now at this time. I travelled much, for the 
 Lord had given me a testimony for His Truth 
 to deliver in Meetings and public places. 
 I met with rough usage, but Truth gained 
 ground, and Meetings were settled for the 
 Worship of God. I was put in prison in 
 Armagh, but, though weak and contemptible 
 in my own eyes, the Lord was with me ; His 
 power and dread was my strength and refuge. 
 I continued my way through danger and hard- 
 ship, being often in prison, yet many were 
 convinced and meetings settled. In the County 
 of Donegal I was moved to go from house to 
 house, and still asked if there were any within 
 who feared God. The country was mostly 
 inhabited by Scotch people who were Presby- 
 terians. In Cavan I was kept close prisoner 
 in a nasty dungeon, amongst thieves andi 
 robbers, for fourteen weeks. When the Assizesj 
 came, as I was looking through the iron grate 
 overhead, a Justice of the Peace saw me, and 
 coming up said he was sorry to see me there. 
 Now my enemies reported I was in prison 
 
12 Six Generations 
 
 because the Quakers were against law and 
 Government, and were only for the Light in 
 men. So I asked him to get me leave to come 
 into Court before the Judge, for I had some- 
 thing to say, so he sent the gaoler for me, 
 and told the people, who crowded round, to 
 make way for the prisoner ; so they made way, 
 and I got near the Judge, but he spoke aloud, 
 asking who I was, what I was, and why I came 
 there ? I answered, with a loud voice, I am a 
 prisoner for my faith towards God, and I want 
 justice, for I know of no law I have broken, 
 but have ventured my life to establish the 
 Government, and I own the Government and 
 the laws. The Judge was disturbed, and cried 
 out to the gaoler : ' Take him away.' I was 
 very easy in my spirit, and much comforted in 
 the Lord, for His power was with me ; and 
 some sober professors came and said they 
 were very glad and well satisfied with what I 
 said of our owning the Government and the 
 laws, for they had heard other things concern- 
 ing Friends. The next day I was turned out 
 of prison without any trial. 
 
 " We had a Meeting at Belturbet, where the 
 
in Ireland. 13 
 
 Provost carried all the men and women to 
 prison, and next morning put me in the stocks. \ 
 The people were much dissatisfied, so the 
 Provost sent his officer to take me out, who 
 opened the stocks and bid me take out my leg 
 and go my way : but I told him I had been 
 grossly abused, as though I had done some 
 great offence, so let the Provost come himself 
 and take me out, for he had put me in. The 
 Provost came and bid me take out my leg. I 
 told him No, for he had made me a spectacle 
 to the people, and I knew no law I had broken, 
 but let him take me out who put me in. So 
 he opened the stocks with one hand, and took' 
 out my leg with the other. 
 
 " At this time Oliver Cromwell had put forth 
 a declaration, that such should be protected 
 in their religion as owned God the Creator of 
 all things, and Christ Jesus the Saviour of 
 men, and the Scriptures, etc. So the Go- 
 vernor and great men of the town would try 
 us by this declaration, whether we and our 
 religion were under Oliver's protection or not. 
 The Provost was there, and I was sent for to 
 answer the particulars. I answered them so 
 
14 Six Generations 
 
 that they gave judgment that we were under 
 protection, and our religion was to be pro- 
 tected. Then I called aloud that they had 
 been witness how long we had been illegally 
 imprisoned, and that I had sat in the stocks in 
 the market-place wrongfully, and that for such 
 cases the law provided reparation. Several of 
 the chief of them offered to be evidence against 
 the Provost. My spirit was borne up on the 
 wings of an eagle ; that day many were con- 
 vinced, several received the Truth, and abode 
 in it. 
 
 " In 1655, it came mightily upon me to leave 
 shop-keeping in Lurgan and to take a farm, 
 jto be an example in the testimony against 
 'paying tithes; There was one, Colonel 
 Kempston, convinced of truth, though he did 
 not join with Friends ; he had much land in 
 Co. Cavan, and wished Friends to settle on his 
 land, promising to build them a Meeting- 
 house. My brother and I rode to his 
 house and treated with him for several parcels 
 of land for ourselves and other Friends. So, 
 leaving Lurgan Meeting well settled, several 
 families moved with us to Co. Cavan, viz., 
 
 I 
 
in Ireland. 15 
 
 Richard and Anthony Jackson, John 
 Thompson, Richard Fayle, John Edmundson, 
 and others. We held Meetings around in divers 
 places, so that several were convinced and 
 joined with us, particularly John Pirn, 
 Robert Wardell, William Neale, Thomas 
 Morris, John Chandley, and many more. 
 Thus Truth spread, Meetings settled, and 
 many brought to the knowledge of God were 
 added to Friends ; but sufferings increased 
 for not paying tithes, priests' maintenance, 
 refusing to repair worship-houses, not ob-/ 
 serving their holy days (so-called) ; for these! 
 things they fleeced us in taking our goods, 
 and imprisoned some of us. But in those 
 days the world and the things of it were not 
 near our hearts, but the love of God and Hisj 
 testimony lived in our hearts, and we were glad I 
 of one another's company. Though sometimes 
 our outward fare was mean, and our lodging 
 on straw, we did not mind high things, but 
 were glad of one another's welfare in the Lord, 
 and His love dwelt in us." 
 
 In the course of a few years, several in this 
 Colony of Friends, being disappointed by the 
 
1 6 Six Generations 
 
 conduct of their landlord, left Co. Cavan, 
 settled near Mountmellick in the Queen's Co., 
 and opened a Meeting about the year 1659. 
 The settlement they left at Cavan was broken 
 up during the next war, Friends being driven 
 from their homes and dispersed to other 
 districts. 
 
 William Edmundson did not confine his 
 life and labours solely to the country of his 
 adoption, for we find him often in England, 
 three times in the Islands or English Planta- 
 tions in America, pursuing the warfare at his 
 own cost — lest he should be chargeable to any 
 man, oftentimes alone and on foot — by land 
 and sea, in the wilderness, among wild beasts 
 and cruel men. In 1688, he is in company 
 with George Fox in Barbadoes, labouring on 
 behalf of the slaves. Again, reminding 
 Friends on the American Continent that 
 " God made of one flesh all men who dwell on 
 the earth, that Our Blessed Saviour shed His 
 blood for All, and that God is no respecter ot 
 persons, having taken away the partition wall 
 of enmity between one people and another"; 
 so said he : " Make their condition your own, 
 
in Ireland. 17 
 
 and remember a conscience void of offence is 
 of more value than all the world, and truth 
 must regulate all wrong." 
 
 Thus early Friends raised their voice against 
 slavery, and continued to labour on behalf of 
 the coloured man, until, in the year 1774. the 
 Society cleared herself of this iniquitous traffic. 
 
 On one of these visits to America, a sudden 
 call to return home overtook him, without any 
 apparent cause ; informing George Fox, the 
 latter remarked Friends were expecting him 
 in certain quarters, and it was improbable he 
 could find a vessel willing to put out, the sea 
 being so infested by pirates. W. E., however, 
 found a home-bound, ship, and made a very 
 fast passage (in three weeks). On arriving, 
 the cause for the recall was apparent, as 
 Friends were' in much trouble through some 
 disorder in the Church, which W. E. was soon 
 enabled to set right. 
 
 The state of Friends in the year 1661, is 
 thus set forth : " Now was King Charles II 
 coming in, and these nations were in heaps of 
 confusion. They ran upon us as if they 
 would have destroyed us at once, breaking up 
 
1 8 Six Generations 
 
 our Meetings, taking us up in highways and 
 haling us to prison, so that there was a 
 general imprisonment of Friends in this 
 nation ; I was prisoner at Maryborough with 
 many more Friends, yet the Lord supported 
 and bore up our spirits above sufferings and 
 cruelties, so that Friends were fresh and 
 lively in the Lord's covenant of Light and 
 Life. 
 
 " Contented in the will of God, we had many 
 heavenly-blessed Meetings in prison, and the 
 Lord's presence was with us, to our great 
 comfort and consolation in Him, who wrought 
 our deliverance in His own time." 
 
 About this time, died Charles Richard Poole 
 in Wexford Prison for non-payment of tithe, and 
 Richard Pike in Cork Jail for conscience sake : 
 " The memory of the just is blessed ! " 
 
 " In 1665, I, having my liberty, found a 
 concern in my mind to solicit the Government 
 against the priest's fierceness and cruelty, for 
 George Clapham. priest of Mountmellick, tried 
 to prevent the miller grinding our corn, or any 
 to speak or trade with us or our children. He 
 watched the market and Friends' shops, and 
 
in Ireland. ig 
 
 those he saw or knew to deal with Friends he 
 sent the Aparitor to summon them to the 
 Bishop's Court, so forced them to give him 
 money, they being afraid of the Bishop's 
 Court, it bore such a great name. 
 
 " This priest told his hearers that if they met, 
 any of us in the highway they should shun us 
 as they would shun the plague, and if they) 
 owed us anything they need not pay it, or if 
 they knocked us on the head the law wouldl 
 bear them out. At which the people werel, 
 mightily troubled, and in general their love 
 declined from the priest and drew towards 
 Friends. They would offer their servants to 
 carry our corn to the mill, that we might get 
 bread for our families. 
 
 " I drew up a paper, stating some of his gross 
 proceedings, and got many of his own people 
 to sign it. He was sharply reproved, and had 
 been punished (for the Primate said he would 
 make them examples) but that I said we 
 desired nothing but to be quiet, and live at 
 peace in our callings, so I forgave it and the 
 matter fell. 
 
 " However, being at Meeting in Mountnlellick 
 
 C2 
 
20 Six Generations 
 
 he sent a constable to apprehend me, and 
 would send me to Maryborough Gaol, but the 
 Earl of Mountrath superseded his warrant and 
 set me at liberty till the Assizes. When the 
 Assizes came, and the said priest stood up 
 against me, four lawyers, one after another, 
 pleaded for me, though I knew nothing of 
 them, or gave them any fee ; but the Lord 
 gave us a place in the heart of the people, and 
 the indictment was quashed and the priest 
 hissed at by the Court. Many Friends who 
 were present greatly rejoiced in the Lord to 
 see these evil designs frustrated. 
 
 " At another time this same man indicted 
 several of us for attending a certain Meeting, 
 which he called an unlawful assembly. He 
 also indicted me for not paying a levy towards 
 the repairs of his worship-house, though the 
 wardens and constable had before taken from 
 me for the same a mare worth £3 10s. Friends 
 thus proceeded against were fined, and an 
 order given to distrain our goods. 
 
 " So I rode to Dublin and petitioned the 
 Lord-Lieutenant and Council. I and another 
 Friend had a fair hearing. The Lord- 
 
in Ireland. 21 
 
 Lieutenant would know why we did not pay 
 tithes to ministers, so I shewed him out of the 
 Bible the law was ended that gave tithes, and 
 the priesthood changed that received them, by 
 the coming and suffering of Christ, who had 
 settled a ministry on better terms, and ordered 
 them a maintenance. He would know what 
 maintenance they must have. I told him 
 Christ's allowance, and I shewed him from 
 Scripture what it was, as the Lord opened 
 them to me by His Spirit and power, which 
 gave me utterance, and sent home what I 
 said to their understandings. 
 
 " There were three Bishops present, but 
 not one replied to this discourse, though so 
 nearly concerned in it. 
 
 " In conclusion, the Lord-Lieutenant bid 
 God bless us, and said we should not suffer by 
 not attending the public worship, neither for 
 going to our own Meetings. Now this quieted 
 the priest, and it soon got abroad that the 
 Quakers had the liberty of their religion, which 
 was a great ease to Friends, for we had been 
 often imprisoned and had goods taken on this 
 account." 
 
22 Six Generations 
 
 After the nation had become settled, and the 
 passions of the people began to cool, William 
 Edmundson, having obtained his liberty for 
 about twenty days during the general imprison- 
 ment, proceeded to Dublin, where he solicited 
 the Lord Justices, the Earls of Orrery and 
 Mountrath to set his Friends at liberty 
 imprisoned in different parts of the nation, and 
 was so successful as to obtain an order for 
 their release; he then travelled through Ireland 
 to see that the Sheriffs had complied with the 
 order. 
 
 In 1669 George Fox and several other 
 Friends came to Ireland. After one Meeting 
 some Papists present were very angry, and 
 raged much, whereupon G. F. sent a challenge 
 to all the Friars, Monks, Priests and Jesuits, 
 to come forward, and in public try their cause, 
 but, as no answer was forthcoming, he told 
 them they were in this respect worse than the 
 Priests of Baal, for they were willing to try 
 their god. 
 
 During this visit of George Fox Meetings 
 were established for the transactions of Church 
 affairs, which at that day chiefly had reference 
 
in Ireland. 23 
 
 to taking an account of sufferings, supplying 
 the need of those in prison, making collections 
 for the poor, &c. 
 
 William Edmundson writes : " I was much 
 eased by it, for these matters had lain heavy on 
 my Spirit ; now, this gave every faithful Friend 
 a share in the burden. I travelled with G. F. 
 from place to place, and when he left for 
 England I laboured in our own nation, the 
 Lord giving me an understanding in the 
 government of his Church." 
 
 The following passage, found in the journal 
 of a minister named Oliver Sansom, will serve 
 to shew the devout disposition of Friends in 
 those days : " In 1676, the general Half-year's 
 Meeting began on the Fourth day of the week, 
 at the ninth hour in the morning ; the Meeting 
 for worship continued till after the first hour. 
 About an hour after Friends met again to con- 
 sider the affairs of the Church, but the power 
 of the Lord brake forth so mighty among 
 Friends in many testimonies, prayers and 
 praises, that there was no time to enter on the 
 business of the day, and so the Meeting broke 
 up. Next morning the Meeting began again 
 
24 Six Generations 
 
 about the ninth hour, and continued until 
 about the third hour in the afternoon, and a 
 precious heavenly time it was, then we ad- 
 journed for one hour, when Friends came to- 
 gether again to go about the business, but then 
 again the Lord's power mightily appeared, 
 whereby many mouths were opened to declare 
 His goodness and to offer up prayers and 
 praises to the Lord, which took up the time of 
 the Meeting of that day also, so that very little 
 could be done as touching business. But early 
 the following morning Friends went about the 
 business of the Meeting, and continued at it 
 the greatest part of that day, when it was 
 concluded, viz., on the Seventh day of the 
 week." 
 
 The outbreak of hostilities between William 
 and James II led to terrible suffering, shared 
 by all respectable classes of settlers in Ireland, 
 Friends and others alike. 
 
 A party of Sir Maurice Eustace's troops 
 coming into the neighbourhood of Mount- 
 mellick, went to William Edmundson's house, 
 and, seizing him by the hair of his head, 
 dragged him about the yard, among their 
 
in Ireland. 25 
 
 horses' feet, without any further provocation 
 than the fact of his not being a Papist. Some 
 of them with clubs, and others with pistols, 
 swore they would kill him ; which being heard 
 by his wife, she came out to them in great, 
 alarm, and desired them to take all their pro- 
 perty and save the life of her husband. 
 
 They then left William and turned after his 
 wife, swearing and calling bad names ; shot 
 several times at his mastiff dog, which was 
 kept chained, and then rode off like madmen, 
 abusing and beating all the English they met, 
 and almost killing some. 
 
 In i6g2 it was computed that the losses of 
 Friends in Ireland amounted to ^100,000 ; so 
 that from England, and even from Barbadoes 
 (where Irish Friends had preached the Gos- 
 pel), money was sent to relieve poverty and 
 suffering. 
 
 Under date 1685, when about 60 years of 
 age, W. E. writes : 
 
 '' A weighty exercise came over my spirit of 
 great trials approaching, which would try us 
 all, that the Lord would spread the carcases of 
 men on the earth as dung ; so, in the power 
 
26 Six Generations 
 
 of the Lord, I faithfully warned Friends and 
 others, in many Meetings and in divers places, 
 and often in His movings advised them to 
 lessen their concerns in the world and be 
 ready to receive the Lord in His judgments, 
 which were at hand, and flee to Him that they 
 might have a place of safety in Him. These 
 admonitions I was moved of the Lord to pub- 
 lish. So I was a. witness that His care is for 
 and over His people, that they might make 
 ready against the day of trial. And in a short 
 time trouble came on apace. 
 
 " The Earl of Tyrconnell, then (under 
 James II), Lord-Deputy of Ireland, armed the 
 Irish and disarmed most of the English, so 
 great fear came upon the Protestants, most of 
 the leading men and many others left their 
 places and substance and went for England, 
 others of them got into garrisons. Soon after 
 war broke out, and abundance of the Irish, 
 who went in bands (but not of the army) called 
 Raparees, plundered and spoiled the English 
 Protestants ; also many of the regular troops 
 were very abusive. We being sharers with 
 other Protestants in these sufferings, a con- 
 
in Ireland. 27 
 
 cern came upon me to appeal to the Govern- 
 ment to redress abuses committed in the 
 country. So I was much in Dublin, applying 
 to the Government on behalf of the people 
 under suffering. They would hear my com- 
 plaint and gave forth several orders to magis- 
 trates and officers of the army to suppress the 
 Raparees and refrain their abuses. 1 was 
 sometimes with King James to make him 
 aware of the calamity the Protestants were 
 under ; the Lord made way for me, and I had 
 a concern upon me to use it for the public 
 good, the chief of the English Protestants 
 being gone who might have appealed to the 
 Government for the safety of the country. 
 
 " Now was wickedness let loose and got 
 ahead, so that through violence and cruelty 
 our Protestant neighbours were forced from 
 their dwellings, and several families came to 
 my house, and every room was full. Most of 
 their cattle that were left they brought to my 
 land, thinking themselves and goods safer there 
 than elsewhere. We were under great exercise/ 
 and danger, not only of losing our goods but' 
 our lives. 
 
28 Six Generations 
 
 " At the battle of the Boyne the Irish Army 
 being beaten, many of them fled our road. 
 They plundered my house several times ; they 
 were so wicked and bloody my family were 
 obliged to go out of the way. My wife desired 
 me to go aside, lest they should kill me, for she 
 would have ventured her live to save mine, but 
 I would not do it. The Lord's secret hand 
 restrained them, and preserved our lives, 
 though they took our household goods and all 
 our horses that were left. 
 
 " Violence was indeed let loose, and no 
 government to apply to. The English Army 
 did not appear for some time, and we were 
 exposed to the wills of cruel and blood-thirsty 
 men.. So I went to the chief of the Irish near 
 me, and advised they would use their utmost 
 endeavour to keep off their countrymen from 
 spoiling the English of what little the}' iiad 
 left, and when the English Army, being 
 masters of the field, would advance, we would 
 then use our endeavour and interest to do the 
 like for them. They promised with many 
 oaths to perform this to the utmost of their 
 power, but did not, for there were few nights 
 
in Ireland. 29 
 
 but that some were robbed or wounded, so 
 that they who lived near us were forced often 
 into the parish worship-house at Rosenallis for 
 safety. When the English and Scotch arrived 
 they began to plunder the Irish, but King 
 William put forth a proclamation, that all who 
 would live peaceably at home should be un- 
 molested. 
 
 " Notwithstanding there came two captains 
 with 300 men and drove away about 500 head 
 of cattle and horses and prisoners, including 
 William Dunn, a captain in the former war ; 
 his son they stript, to hang him under sus- 
 picion of his being a Raparee. The Dunns 
 sent for me in haste ; I took horse and rode 
 as swift as I could, having regard to my 
 promise of neighbourhood. When the Irish 
 saw me riding after them, they followed, 
 hoping to get their people and cattle released. 
 
 " When the officers saw me they made a 
 halt for they knew me. I reminded them of 
 the King's proclamation, and said that not the 
 soldiers but the leaders would be responsible 
 for the injury done, that it was a reflection oh 
 the King's promise, and on the English 
 
30 Six Generations 
 
 nation. So with much discourse and argu- 
 ments, the two captains seemed willing to 
 release all, if the soldiers could be prevailed 
 upon. 
 
 " I rode with them to the head of the party, 
 but they were very angry, and would have 
 killed the Irish that followed for their cattle, 
 whereupon I dismounted and got in among 
 the rude soldiers to save the Irish, and with 
 much ado, I, with the captains' assistance, 
 got them moderated, on condition they should 
 retain a small part of the cattle and release 
 the rest. 
 
 " Then I mounted my horse and sought out 
 the man they had stript for hanging, I threw 
 him my riding coat and reasoned the matter 
 with the officers and men, telling them it was 
 unmanly and not like a soldier to strip men in 
 that manner, for I had been a soldier myself, 
 and should have scorned such a base action. 
 
 " So the captains made the man who wore 
 Dunn's clothes put them off and return them 
 to him, so the father and two sons were 
 released with all their cattle. 
 
 " Now the English Army settled in their 
 
in Ireland. 31 
 
 Winter quarters, and the Raparees increased 
 their strength ; they burned many brave 
 houses and some towns, also killed several 
 Protestants ; so all was full of trouble, yet 
 through the wonderful mercy of God, we kept 
 up our meetings regularly. In travelling to 
 and fro we were often in danger of our lives 
 by the Raparees, but the Lord preserved us, 
 so that I do not know of above four Friends in 
 the whole nation that were killed all the time 
 of this calamity. 
 
 " At our Half-year's Meeting in Dublin, we 
 had heavenly-blessed, powerful Meetings, and 
 Friends were more than ordinary glad one of 
 another in the Lord Jesus, who preserved us 
 alive through many dangers. In the time of 
 the Meeting, tidings came that the Raparees 
 had taken some 20 of my cows, but that none 
 of the family were hurt, so I was well satisfied, 
 for all who lived out of the garrisons were in 
 danger of their lives. 
 
 " When the service of the Meeting was over, 
 I returned home and found my family well ; 
 but spoil and cruelty increased, and great 
 dangers were plain in my view, yet I durst not 
 
32 Six Generations 
 
 remove, for I knew it would discourage 
 Friends and the English about us, and 
 perhaps cause them to flee from their habita- 
 tions, as many of them thought they were 
 safer for my staying in my place. 
 
 ''So I went to Colonel Biarly, then 
 Governor of Mountmellick, near our home, 
 and told him if he did not use some speedy 
 means to succour our quarter, it would be to 
 his great damage ; yet he took no notice of it. 
 That same night some hundreds of Raparees 
 beset my house, I, with my family, being 
 asleep. The shooting was heard at Mount- 
 mellick, and a certain lieutenant went to 
 Colonel Biarly, and desired a party of men to 
 relieve me, but he would not grant the request. 
 So the men set fire to my house. I staid 
 therein till much of it was burned, when we 
 could stay no longer for the fire. I made 
 conditions before I opened the door ; these 
 they broke, though they had bound them- 
 selves with many oaths. What plunder the 
 fire spared they took, with my wife's upper- 
 most garments, and so left her ; but me and 
 my two sons they took away bare-legged and 
 
iii Ireland. 33 
 
 bareheaded, and not much better than naked. 
 One of them lent me, at my request, one of 
 my old blankets to lap about me. We were 
 led through rough places, mire, and water to 
 the knees in cold weather. Our bare legs and 
 feet were sore hurt, and bruised with gravel, 
 stones, and bushes. 
 
 " The next morning they took us to a wood, 
 and held a council upon us ; they concluded 
 to hang my two sons and shoot me, because, 
 they said, I was a stout man. 
 
 " I said many of them knew me and my 
 sons, and I challenged them to prove that 
 either I or my sons had wronged any of their 
 country folk one farthing all these times of 
 trouble, but on the contrary had saved them 
 what I could, sometimes with the hazard of 
 my own life among the English soldiers. 
 Several said they knew I was an honest man. 
 I told them if I died they were my witnesses 
 that I was innocent, and God would revenge 
 my blood. They wondered at my boldness, 
 but my life was little to me, for I desired to 
 die if it was the will of God. They then hood- 
 winked my sons to hang them. When they 
 
34 Six Generations 
 
 came to hoodwink me, I said they need not, 
 for I could look them in the face and was not 
 afraid to die. 
 
 " Now came up Lieutenant Dunn, who 
 knew us well ; he was son of old Captain 
 Dunn, whom I had got released, and brother 
 to him whom they had stript, whom I got 
 released also, as aforesaid. He had com- 
 manded the villanous party that burned my 
 house. Several others to whom I had done 
 kindness were also present. So this lieutenant, 
 expecting to get preferment for what he had 
 done, would take us to Athlone, 20 miles. 
 Thus the Lord interposed, and would not 
 suffer them to take our lives, having a further 
 purpose of service for me. 
 
 " The said Dunn kept us three nights by 
 the way at a cabin, cold and hungry, so that 
 they themselves wondered how I could endure 
 it, but I told them they had taken and 
 [destroyed my food, and the Lord had taken 
 away my appetite so I was fitted for it. As 
 we went to Athlone, Lieutenant Richard Dunn 
 railed against us, but I told him he should not 
 rail at us for we N were prisoners, and a right 
 
in Ireland. 35 
 
 soldier would not rail at a prisoner. They said 
 they were going to burn Mountmellick. I 
 told them there were many honest people 
 there, and said God help them. 
 
 " As we went through Raghan there came 
 forth of a cabin an ancient man, who looked 
 on me with a sorrowful countenance, as though 
 he pitied me. I asked if he would give me a 
 bit of bread, for I knew my sons were very 
 hungry ; the man answered and said he would 
 give me a piece of bread, if he bought it with 
 gold, for he believed I was one that did not use 
 to beg my bread. So he went into his cabin, 
 and fetched as coarse a bit of bread, I thought, 
 as ever I saw, and said he was sorry he had 
 nothing to give to eat with it. I said it was 
 very acceptable, and gave it to the lads. That 
 night we got straw to sleep on, so rested well, 
 and the next day got to Athlone*, where came 
 the High Sheriff and a crowd of rabble and 
 soldiers calling us traitors, rebels, and such 
 names ; it was a wonder they did not stab us 
 with their bayonets and skeins, the High 
 
 * The Headquarters of the Rebels. 
 D 2 
 
36 Six Generations 
 
 Sheriff animating and encouraging them. In 
 the interim a genteel, proper man crowded 
 through them, and came close to me, calling 
 me Master Edmundson, and asking how I did. 
 I answered : ' Thou seest how I do, but I 
 know thee not.' He spoke aloud to the 
 Sheriff and the rest, saying : ' I have known 
 him above 20 years to be an honest man, say 
 you all what ye will of him.' This made them 
 all quiet ; thus the Lord provided succour for 
 us in time of imminent danger from their own 
 people. 
 
 " They took us to the mainguard, where 
 this man came and brought me refreshment, 
 and told them they did not know me so well 
 as he did. He acquainted me with what 
 Lieutenant Dunn had informed against us. 
 This man's name was Valentine Toole, a 
 lieutenant. I heard he was reproved for being 
 so kind to me, and durst come no more to 
 see me, 
 
 ■' We were taken to the Castle, where 
 Colonel Grace and the Council met. I came 
 in with my old blanket lapt about me ; the 
 Governor asked my name and where I lived. 
 
in Ireland. 37 
 
 I told him I was old William Edmundson. 
 He stood up with tears in his eyes, and said 
 he was sorry to see me in that condition, for he 
 knew me well, having been at my house. The 
 Governor spoke roughly to the lieutenant, and 
 asked him what he brought us there for. He 
 answered with this excuse, that the Raparees 
 were about to hang us, and he brought us 
 there to save our lives. The Governor said if 
 he had them there he would hang them, so 
 committed us to the custody of Captain Francis 
 Dunn, and soon sent us a loaf of bread, a piece 
 of beef, a bottle of drink, and 20s. of brass 
 money ; but we could get no straw to lie on, 
 so lay down on the bare floor, which was very 
 hard and cold, we wanting clothes, and my 
 strength was much spent, therefore not likely 
 to continue long if the Lord had not again 
 provided succour. 
 
 " Now John Clibborn,* a Friend, hearing of 
 me, came to Athlone, and when he saw me in 
 that condition he cried out, wringing his hands. 
 He went home six miles to get some meat, 
 
 * See p. 105. 
 
38 Six Generations 
 
 but he had few clothes left for himself, having 
 been sore plundered and spoiled. 
 
 " Now most of the field officers knew me, I 
 having been often in Dublin with the Govern- 
 ment when King James was there, and would 
 discourse familiarly. I asked them what had 
 I done that they kept me prisoner in that sad 
 condition, and did not bring me to a trial. 
 Colonel Moore said they had nothing against 
 me, but they understood I was a very witty 
 man, and capable to do them an injury, and 
 that was the reason they kept me. I told them 
 that was poor justice, to punish a man for 
 what he was capable of doing, and not for 
 what he had done. 
 
 "The next day John Clibborn came again 
 with victuals, but we could get no straw, and 
 I was much spent and my spirit grieved with 
 their wicked company, so that I desired to die 
 quietly in a dungeon rather than be among 
 them. I sent John Clibborn to the Governor to 
 say I desired to be put on trial or be removed 
 to prison. Colonel Grace said he was sorry for 
 me, and they were none of them my enemies 
 but the Dunns, who were all rogues, and he 
 
in Ireland. 39 
 
 durst not release me, for many eyes were upon 
 him, because he was kind to the English ; but 
 to send me to the dungeon he could not find 
 in his heart to do it. The town was so throng 
 of people that there was no room, that I could 
 be easy in, to be had, so he was in a strait, 
 and knew not what to do for me. So John 
 Clibborn requested to let me go with him to 
 his house at the Moate, and he would engage 
 his life, body, and all he had for my true im- 
 prisonment, and that I would come when he 
 sent for me alive or dead. The Governor let 
 me go with him ; thus the Lord provided in 
 the time of my great distress. 
 
 "When I came to the Moate, with much 
 difficulty I got a few lines writ and sent to my 
 wife, which was a great satisfaction to her 
 and Friends, who were under great trouble of 
 mind. 
 
 " One of my sons who was with me had a 
 tan-yard well stocked with hides and leather, 
 and about a week after our house was burned 
 my wife went to fetch them off, with some 
 English neighbours and carts to help, but 
 while loading them, Lieutenant Richard Dunn, 
 
40 Six Generations 
 
 with a multitude of Raparees came upon them ; 
 they were forced to run for their lives and 
 leave all to the Raparees. But my wife not 
 being able to outrun them, they took and 
 stript her naked, it being cold weather and 
 she being ancient, and having to go thus two 
 miles, got a surfeit of cold which continued 
 with her till she died about seven months 
 after. 
 
 " The next morning a small party of English 
 soldiers fell upon that great company and 
 killed the said Richard Dunn, so he was pre- 
 vented from burning Mountmellick as he had 
 threatened to do. 
 
 " While I was at the Moate many of the 
 Irish came daily to get what they could carry 
 off, there came also Colonel Bourke, with 300 
 firelocks, as a Frontier, to intercept the English 
 soldiers. He was very loving, and promised 
 that when he got to Athlone I should have my 
 liberty. So, with his assistance, the Governor 
 set me at liberty, having let my two sons go 
 three or four days before, who were gone to 
 their mother. So, being set at liberty, I got 
 to Streamstown, the next English garrison, 
 
in Ireland. 41 
 
 though it was difficult and dangerous travelling, 
 there being now little but killing and destruc- 
 tion on both sides. 
 
 " I next got to Mullingar, a great garrison 
 of the English, where the officers and soldiers 
 were very glad to see me. Several of them 
 had sworn that if they had killed me and my 
 sons, they would have killed all the Irish they 
 met with. 
 
 " Going on to Mountmellick I met my wife ; 
 we shifted for house room as well as we could, 
 the town being thronged with soldiers and 
 families driven from their homes in the 
 country, many of whom died from want of 
 necessaries and with grief for their losses. 
 Now the Irish preyed much abroad in the 
 country to destroy it, so that the English army 
 marched out to drive them back over the 
 Shannon. Major Kirk came with part of his 
 army to Mountmellick, to settle garrisons 
 about, to save the country. He would have 
 me to go with him to Rosenallis, and shew 
 him the place, so being commanded, I went 
 with him. Many Irish there under English 
 protection supposed I had occasioned Major 
 
42 Six Generations 
 
 Kirk's coming to make a garrison there, and 
 were very angry with me, for this would hinder 
 them harbouring the Raparees, as they had 
 frequently done before, wherefore they got 
 eight or nine bloody Raparees to lie in wait to 
 kill me. They then tried twice to get me to 
 return to Rosenallis, professing great friend- 
 ship, saying the soldiers were pulling down my 
 out-houses which remained unburned, but I 
 was restrained by that Hand that knew their 
 evil design, and would not let me fall into 
 their snare. Next morning John Dobson with 
 his son and cousin going that way, were 
 barbarously murdered. 
 
 " Now as soon as the ways were open to 
 travel I went with some Friends to the north, 
 as we went by Dundalk, where the armies had 
 been in conflict, many bones lay around, and 
 tufts of grass growing out of the carcasses of 
 men as if it had been from heaps of manure. 
 I told Friends who were with me, ' You may 
 remember I declared in public in years past, 
 in many places, that the Lord would spread 
 the carcasses of men as dung on the face of 
 the earth, and you now see it this day.' 
 
in Ireland. 43 
 
 " In that journey I had many sweet, comfort- 
 able meetings, Friends' hearts were glad, and 
 we were greatly refreshed in the Lord Jesus." 
 
 William Edmundson continued for twenty- 
 five years after this time of war and famine to 
 fill his place as a minister of the Gospel and 
 a patriot in his adopted country. He saw 
 tranquillity restored under the Government of 
 William and Mary, and travelled in his 
 Master's service until a year before his death, 
 passing away in 1712, in the eighty-sixth year 
 of his age. From his papers we make the 
 following extract: "Our Saviour left us an 
 example, when under the sense of drinking 
 that cup of suffering for the sins of all man- 
 kind, and to offer to God that great offering 
 for their ransom, He prayed : ' Father, if Thou 
 be willing, remove this cup from me, never- 
 theless not my will, but Thine be done.' 
 
 " I am now clear of the world and the things 
 of it. I see not anything I have left undone, 
 which the Lord required of me. Heaven and 
 earth, sea and dry land, and all things shall 
 be shaken, nothing shall stand but what is ac- 
 cording to the will of God." 
 
44 Six Generations 
 
 In one of his last records he says : "I am 
 content to rest in the will of God, Who has 
 lengthened my days to old age, and done 
 great things for me, to Whose great and worthy 
 Name be glory and honour, for ever and ever 
 more." Amen. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THOMAS WILSON. 
 
 About the year 1655, six generations back 
 from the busy world of to-day, Thomas 
 Wilson was born in Soulby, Cumberland. 
 With a short sketch of his life we begin these 
 family memorials. 
 
 His name, unrecorded in the annals of the 
 great in this world, is doubtless numbered 
 among those who have fought the good fight 
 in the Army of the Lamb. Following his 
 Captain through suffering, danger and oppo- 
 sition, he preached the Gospel freely, became 
 wise in storming the Kingdom of Darkness, 
 and instrumental in turning many to righteous- 
 
in Ireland. 45 
 
 ness — one of those who shall "shine like the 
 stars for ever and ever." 
 
 The political and religious state of society 
 was, in England as well as in Ireland, one of 
 disturbance and upheaval. " Some time before 
 this the Church of England, as a Protestant 
 Church, had been established, and many who 
 were dissatisfied with the settlement of it, had 
 formed themselves into different sects. A great 
 number of persons in the Kingdom, approving 
 neither of the religion of the Establishment 
 nor of the other denominations alluded to, 
 withdrew from the communion of every out- 
 ward church ; nor had the Reformation taken 
 place so long but that thousands were still 
 very ignorant."* The spirit of earnest en- 
 quiry, the seeking after God which at this time 
 manifested itself, was the effect of a visitation 
 of divine love to meet the need of" the period. 
 Formality and deadness largely prevailed in 
 professing churches. Countless numbers failed 
 to find help and enlightenment from man and 
 turned to God himself to satisfy the hunger of 
 
 * Clarkson's Portraiture of Friends. 
 
46 Six Generations 
 
 the soul, and thus, in the language of an old 
 writer : " Groaning seekers became in time 
 joyful finders," by the revelation of God 
 through Jesus Christ.* 
 
 As we have seen in the former chapter, 
 many of these joyful finders instead of return- 
 ing to the worship in their own churches formed 
 themselves into little gatherings, to wait upon, 
 and worship God in spirit and in truth. They 
 did not intend to create a division, or a sect, 
 but called themselves " Friends of God and 
 Mankind." From among these earnest souls 
 many were called to go forth and testify to the 
 people the things they had seen and handled 
 of the Word of Life. But soon persecution, 
 bitter even unto death, broke up their meet- 
 ings and dragged the most prominent to filthy 
 crowded prisons, where they lay for years, and 
 where the sufferings of many were ended 
 only by death. But nothing could check their 
 devotion, and when there failed men and 
 women to sustain the public worship, youths 
 and children continued in some places to 
 
 • See Appendix A. 
 
in Ireland. 47 
 
 gather amid the ruins of their Meeting- 
 houses. 
 
 In the space of three years 10,000 had joined 
 the Friends in the City of London, chiefly 
 through the preaching of Francis Howgel, 
 and Edward Barrows. The former died in 
 Appleby Jail in 1668 ; the latter in Newgate in 
 1661, after ten years of faithful ministry 
 in the highways and hedges, in the lanes and 
 streets of the cities. 
 
 "In the time of our first acquaintance," 
 writes a friend of his youth, " Thomas Wilson 
 was light and airy in conversation, much 
 given to sporting and jesting, having a desire 
 to make people laugh and be merry, as he then 
 called it. But when the Lord was pleased to 
 visit him, and break his rest, giving a sense of 
 this vanity and unprofitable life, a great change 
 was wrought, and all his mirth was turned 
 into mourning. Solitary places became his 
 resort, and a deep concern to seek a Saviour 
 rested on him." This continued until, as 
 another of his friends remarked, "It pleased 
 the Lord to reveal His Son in him and give 
 him an understanding what to do." And here 
 
48 Six Generations 
 
 Thomas Wilson's own simple story of his life 
 and travels may be taken up. 
 
 " My parents, Edward and Anne Wilson, 
 brought me up in the profession of the Church 
 of England. While yet a youth I had great 
 hungering and thirsting after the living God 
 and His Son, Jesus Christ, and went with great 
 diligence to hear the priests, and carefully 
 minded what was spoken. When I heard of 
 one noted as a good man, and who preached 
 two sermons in a day, I went from our own 
 parish, after the forenoon service, eight miles 
 on foot to hear the afternoon sermon. 
 
 " But the more I sought to hear the more my 
 hunger and thirst increased, and in times of 
 singing psalms a thoughtfulness came into my 
 heart that men should be made holy before they 
 could rightly sing to the praise and glory of 
 God. Secret cries and humble prayers ascended 
 to the living Lord God of heaven and earth 
 for a knowledge of the way of salvation, but 
 being in the wilderness of men's creeds and 
 forms I could find no peace of conscience. 
 
 "Thus I continued in great sorrow, being 
 weary of the heavy load of sin. 
 
in Ireland. 49 
 
 " Yet many texts of Scripture were opened 
 to my understanding, and I began to see what 
 was not of faith was sin, even in worship and 
 service of the Great God, and I remembered 
 the words of our blessed Lord and Saviour, 
 ' This people draweth near to me with their 
 mouth and honoureth me with their lips, but 
 their heart is far from me.' And also that our 
 heavenly Saviour had said at Jacob's Well : 
 ' The hour cometh, and now is, that the true 
 worshippers shall worship the Father in 
 spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such 
 to worship Him.' This worship in the renew- 
 ings of the Holy Ghost and not in the oldness 
 of the letter I longed to know, but could not 
 find it, neither could any priest I conversed 
 with tell me how or where to find it. 
 
 " About this time I attended an evening 
 meeting of the people called ' Quakers,' with 
 strong desires if it was the true way I might 
 have some testimony thereof by the blessed 
 Word in my own heart. After some time of 
 silence a Friend began to speak, directing me 
 to a waiting upon the Lord by faith to receive 
 from Him power over every unclean thought, 
 
50 Six Generations 
 
 by which heavenly power men might glorify 
 and praise the holy Name of the Lord. 
 
 " I felt my soul much in love therewith ; and 
 smiting upon my breast, said in my heart, 
 this is what I^greatly wanted — power against 
 every vain thought and idle word. The Lord's 
 power arose in the meeting, and fell mightily 
 upon me, to the breaking and tendering of my 
 heart ; and a glorious time it was, as the 
 mighty day of the Lord ; so that great fear, 
 trembling and shaking seized me, insomuch 
 that the table whereon I leaned and Friends 
 sat, was shaken. Thus being sensible in 
 some measure of the glorious name and power 
 of the Lord Jesus, I was full of inward cries 
 to this effect : ' O Lord ! create in me a clean 
 heart ' ; for I saw the old one was not clean, 
 and that I had been kissing the letter but not 
 the Son, as advised by the Holy Scripture, 
 which saith : ' Kiss the Son, lest He be 
 angry,' &c. 
 
 "And now was a time of the Lord's fierce 
 anger because of sin, He having shewed me 
 all things that ever I had done, and condemned 
 the evil ; so I was made willing to love and 
 
in Ireland. 51 
 
 dwell under His righteous judgments. It was 
 upon my mind, that I must cease from all the 
 doctrines of men, will-worship, hearing the 
 priests, and repeating their sermons, which I 
 had delighted in, and was in the practice of as. 
 religious duties, and sit down among Friends in 
 their silent meetings, to wait upon the Lord for 
 His heavenly teachings and holy leadings ; in 
 the performance of which inward and heavenly 
 worship, the great power of God did wonder- 
 fully break in among us, and manyyoung people 
 turned to the Lord with all their hearts. 
 
 " So the Friends in our meeting became very 
 tender and heavenly minded, and had great 
 love one towards another ; the heart-melting 
 power of God being much felt, even when no 
 words were spoken, so that we experienced 
 Christ to dwell in our hearts by faith,* and the 
 
 * Before the magistrates in Derby, George Fox was examined 
 from one o'clock till nine at night. ■• At last," he says, " they asked 
 whether I was sanctified ? I answered yes, for I was in the Paradise 
 of God, then they asked if I had no sin ? I said Christ my Saviour 
 had taken away my sin, in Him is no sin. They asked how we 
 knew that Christ did abide in us. I answered by His Spirit that he 
 had given us — they temptingly asked if any of us were Christ ? I 
 answered nay, we are nothing, Christ is all. So when they had 
 wearied themselves in examining me, they committed me to the 
 House of Correction, as blasphemer, for six months." 
 E2 
 
52 Six Generations 
 
 renewings of the Holy Ghost were shed on our 
 souls abundantly, whereby some were so filled 
 that they were concerned to declare the things 
 of the kingdom, and to tell what God had 
 done for their souls." 
 
 And now, having been delivered from form 
 and shadow and made a possessor of the 
 eternal substance — Christ within, the hope of 
 glory — Thomas Wilson goes on to say: " One 
 of the first that came forth in prayer and sup- 
 plication was William Greenup, and I was the 
 next in a testimony for the Lord, which was in 
 much fear and trembling, yet the Word of the 
 Lord in and through me was as a devouring 
 fire, burning against all sin and iniquity ; and 
 the Lord made us cry aloud to turn people 
 from all vain worships to the living God, who 
 is a Holy Spirit. 
 
 " The precious life of Jesus broke in wonder- 
 fully amongst us, so that we felt drawings to 
 visit other meetings in the country, wherein 
 the Lord's heavenly power was plentifully 
 enjoyed. 
 
 " In the year 1682, it was upon me from the 
 Lord, in a divine opening, to visit Friends in 
 
in Ireland. 53 
 
 some parts of Ireland. I took shipping at 
 Workington, and landed at Dublin, where I was 
 altogether a stranger. After I had attended 
 a meeting, Friends inquired which way I 
 intended to go ; I told them I had a desire 
 to go to see some Friends that dwelt between 
 the west and north ; a Friend answered he 
 thought there was no such place inhabited 
 by Friends (or to that effect) , but if I would 
 see Friends, I must go north or south. This 
 brought great trouble upon my mind, and I 
 became very low in spirit, questioning in myself 
 whether I was not mistaken in that' which I 
 thought was the Lord's powerful opening in 
 my heart, shewing me both the place and 
 people, and wherein I thought I had the mind 
 of Christ in the holy vision of life ; and the 
 cries of my heart were great unto the Lord 
 in secret, why I was mistaken ; but after some 
 time, a living hope sprung in me that I was 
 not mistaken, and that the Friends lay or 
 inhabited as I had seen. 
 
 " A Friend, named Abraham Fuller, spoke 
 kindly to me, and said he lived near the middle 
 of Ireland, and if I would go with him we 
 
54 Six Generations 
 
 might get a meeting amongst Friends at 
 Edenderry ; and in the way I had much peace 
 in going with him. We had a blessed meeting 
 with Friends at Edenderry, and next day, 
 travelling towards Lehinche, where he dwelt, 
 he asked me if I understood the compass, I 
 told him no, and that I had not seen any com- 
 pass in all my lifetime but that in the ship 
 wherein I came to Dublin. He was then very 
 cheerful, and lovingly said he remembered that 
 I had said in Dublin I would go between the 
 west and north, ' Which now,' said he, ' I see is 
 true, for we go even as thou then said '; at 
 which I was truly thankful to the Lord, who 
 never fails to be gracious, and His blessed Word 
 is infallible. For then I, like Samuel, knew it 
 was the Word of the Lord that called me into 
 His work and service, and shewed me these 
 
 things before I went from home 
 
 " This Province Meeting was large, and 
 divers able Friends in the ministry were 
 there ; but I was very low in my mind, and did 
 not go up into the gallery but sat down a little 
 within the door. Many people came in, so that 
 the place about where I sat was much thronged, 
 
in Ireland. 55 
 
 and it being a time that the rabble sort of 
 people were very rude, several such were there 
 that day. 
 
 " I being under great exercise of spirit, the 
 powerful Word of the Lord filled my heart; so 
 I rose and preached the Gospel in the demon- 
 stration of the spirit and power that was upon 
 me. The rabble were astonished and became 
 very quiet, and the Lord's heavenly power did 
 shine forth gloriously, and under a weighty 
 sense thereof the meeting concluded. 
 
 " This brought me into acquaintance with 
 Friends unto whom I had been a stranger. I 
 understood, afterwards, they were sore afraid 
 when I stood up ' that my appearance ' (i.e. the 
 words he spoke) ' would have been hurtful.' 
 
 " After this meeting I went into County 
 Wicklow and had heavenly-blessed meetings 
 among a lowly, plain people. Soon the 
 motion of life for travelling ceased, and I 
 durst go no further. 
 
 "In a little time came James Dickinson, 
 a young man from Cumberland, to visit 
 Friends, and the Lord was pleased to open 
 my way to go with him, we, being young, 
 
56 Six Generations 
 
 travelled together in true brotherly love, great 
 humility, and godly fear ; and the blessed 
 heavenly power of the Lord did often tender 
 our hearts in meetings, as also the hearts of 
 many Friends, and we had a prosperous 
 journey in the will of God. So I saw it was 
 good to wait the Lord's time in all things ; and 
 having travelled through Leinster and Munster, 
 James Dickinson went northward, but I was 
 afraid of running before my true Guide, because 
 they who run. and are not sent of God, can 
 neither profit the people nor themselves. So 
 I staid at work in the City of Waterford about 
 sixteen weeks, and went from thence to Dublin, 
 and staid the Half-year's Meeting there, which 
 was large and very good; then took shipping 
 and landed at Liverpool, with my former com- 
 panion, James Dickinson ; and though it was 
 now a time of great persecution of Friends in 
 England, it pleased the Lord to give us a 
 peaceable and prosperous journey through the 
 meetings of Friends all along in our way to 
 Cumberland. 
 
 " In a little time after, I, with my dear com- 
 panion James Dickinson, visited Friends in 
 
in Ireland. 57 
 
 the two counties of Cumberland and West- 
 moreland. At Kendal some persons came to 
 break up our meeting, and began to pull out 
 Friends, and, in a very rude manner, took out 
 my companion. Then the Word of the Lord 
 came mightily upon me, and I was made bold 
 to stand up and preach the Everlasting Gospel 
 amongst them. The holy power of the 
 Lord came mightily over the hearts of 
 Friends, and even the opposers were made 
 quiet a considerable time ; but after I had stood 
 about an hour, they came and pulled me to the 
 door. I asked for my hat, and they said : ' Give 
 him his hat, he does well to put it off when 
 he preaches.' And after they had asked me 
 many questions, I asked one of them whether 
 he was a believer in Jesus Christ or not ? He 
 said : ' Yes, and' in the Apostles' Doctrine ' ; 
 then I told him he never read that they disturbed 
 any religious assembly, except Paul, before he 
 knew the Lord Jesus, so I sat me down and 
 all being very still, James Dickinson kneeled 
 down in prayer, and the Lord's heavenly 
 power came over all, and the meeting ended 
 very quietly. 
 
58 Six Generations 
 
 " In- 1684 I and my companion had many 
 blessed meetings in North and South Wales. 
 At Redstone an informer laid violent hands on 
 me while preaching the Word of God to the 
 people. I spoke to him mildly. He sat down, 
 with the constable and the men who came in 
 their company, and I preached the way of 
 salvation to them all. After which James 
 Dickinson kneeled in prayer, when the in- 
 former came to pull him off his knees, but 
 could not, he being fervent in prayer to the 
 Lord. The meeting ended well, thanksgiving 
 be unto Him for ever and ever. Amen. 
 
 " The informer laid hands on me next. I 
 asked for his warrant ; he answered he was 
 an officer, and that I had nothing to do to 
 ask him for a warrant. Friends told him it 
 was but a civil question, so we fell into some 
 friendly discourse. I was very pleasant and 
 easy in spirit ; and walking to and fro in dis- 
 course, one of the company said I smiled (which 
 they admired, we being likely to go to prison). 
 I answered : ' That I came in the true love of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ to visit them, and had 
 nothing but love and good-will to them all,-' 
 
in Ireland. 50, 
 
 and turning to the informer, said to him : ' If 
 thou was in a journey, as we are, and any man 
 should ask thee to go with him before a jus- 
 tice of the peace, without the king's justice's 
 warrant, thou would think it below thee, as a 
 man, to go so.' This being mildly spoken to 
 him. he gave a sudden answer, saying : ' To 
 be sure I would.' ' Then,' said I, ' consider 
 our case ' ; whereupon, perceiving he had over^ 
 shot himself, he rode away and left us. 
 
 " We having appointed a meeting to be 
 next day at Haverfordwest, went thither that 
 night, and next morning to the meeting, 
 wherein after a little time the glorious power 
 of the Lord did shine, and that text of Holy 
 Scripture was opened : ' We shall not find any 
 occasion against this Daniel, except we find it 
 against him concerning the law of his God.' 
 — Dan. vi, 5. And it was further remarked 
 that after they had prevailed with King Darius 
 to sign a decree, whereby Daniel might be 
 ensnared in performing his duty unto his God, 
 this righteous man declined not his duty through 
 fear of suffering, but was very bold as well as 
 innocent, as appears in the tenth verse of the 
 
60 Six Generations 
 
 same chapter, viz., ' Now when Daniel knew 
 that the writing was signed, he went into his 
 house ; and his windows being open in his 
 chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon 
 his knees three times a day, and prayed, and 
 gave thanks before his God, as he did afore- 
 time.' This subject was preached to the people, 
 as our case ; men having nothing against us, 
 but for worshipping the Lord God of Daniel in 
 His Holy Spirit, according to the institution of 
 of our blessed Lord and Saviour above sixteen 
 hundred years ago ; and that in this glorious 
 Gospel time, we are to be very diligent and 
 faithful to the Lord, to keep up our religious 
 meetings, even in stormy times of persecution, 
 referring to that of Daniel, who was blessed of 
 the Lord for his faithfulness ; boldly declaring 
 and affirming that the Lord, whom we serve 
 in the Gospel of His Son, will reward all His 
 faithful children and people ; instancing many 
 proofs out of the Holy Scriptures. The afore- 
 said informer, and several priests, whereof 
 his brother was one, together with some of the 
 town-officers, being at the outside of the house 
 and hearing these Gospel truths preached, 
 
in Ireland. 6i 
 
 were very sober, and staid a great while. 
 Then some of them said : ' Let us pull them 
 out of their meeting ' ; but others said : ' No, 
 by no means, for if this be the Quakers' 
 doctrine, it is good and sound, we never heard 
 the like, let them alone.' So our meeting 
 ended in prayer and thanksgiving to the great 
 Lord of heaven and earth, who is worthy for 
 ever and ever. 
 
 " This informer fined Friends very much ; 
 but the Lord, by one means or another, pre- 
 vented their goods from being taken away, 
 and, lastly, by the death of King Charles the 
 Second. After this, no informer troubled us, 
 though we had many meetings to visit, in all 
 which we had blessed, sweet waterings, and a 
 confirming ministry ; and Friends were glad 
 in that the God of Peace had rebuked the 
 storm. 
 
 " Friends at Great Strickland, not being 
 suffered to meet at their usual meeting-place, 
 met in the highway before the meeting-house 
 door ; and the officers came when I was 
 preaching the Word of the Lord, but were very 
 sober, and did not break up our meeting. 
 
62 Six Generations 
 
 From thence I came home, where my mother 
 and family, with Friends and neighbours, 
 were very glad to see me safe returned, in 
 that stormy time. 
 
 " After some stay at my outward employ 
 about home, I found drawings to visit Friends 
 in Northumberland, Durham and Yorkshire, 
 and had many blessed meetings, mostly 
 peaceable, though the storm of persecution 
 was not yet fully ended. I went into War- 
 wickshire, Oxfordshire, and Oxford City, where 
 I heard the scholars had been rude, and much 
 abused Friends. I went into that city on a 
 First-day morning, in great fear and humility, 
 being a stranger to all Friends there, and sat. 
 me down in a corner of the meeting-house. 
 Friends sat by the sides of the house, and left 
 the middle empty for the rabble (as I thought) . 
 We having sat a little time, a Friend began to 
 speak, and had spoken but a very few words 
 before the scholars came in, in such abundance, 
 that they filled the middle part of the house. 
 The Friend sat down as soon as they came in, 
 and the meeting being in silence, they began 
 to talk one to another, and spy out who would 
 
in Ireland. 63 
 
 preach ; and seeing me like a traveller, said : 
 ' That in the corner,' looking rudely upon me ; 
 and thus talking one to another for some time. 
 The Word of the Lord was strong in my heart 
 to preach unto them. But I was first to say : 
 ' Sit down, young men, we shall be glad of 
 your company so long as you are civil ' ; then 
 they all sat down, and began to listen earnestly. 
 I preached the way to the kingdom of heaven, 
 to be in Jesus Christ, regeneration, to be 
 born again ; and that the blessed Jesus taught 
 this'doctrine to Nicodemus : 'Except a man 
 be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
 God.' — John iii, 3. And though he was a 
 master or teacher in Israel, yet being carnally- 
 minded, he could not understand these things ; 
 neither can any carnally-minded men now 
 know the things of God, ' For no man knoweth 
 the Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever 
 the Son will reveal Him.' So those that 
 preach against revelation, they preach against 
 the true knowledge of the living God and life 
 eternal ; for our blessed Lord said : ' This is 
 life eternal, that they might know Thee, the 
 only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou 
 
64 Six Generations 
 
 hast sent.' And so I went on in preaching as 
 it opened in me. The scholars went away 
 quietly, and the meeting ended in prayer to 
 Almighty God.* 
 
 " I went from Oxford to High Wycombe, 
 and so to the City of London, where I staid 
 some time, and had many blessed meetings 
 amongst Friends ; several of which meetings 
 were held in the streets, where Friends were 
 kept out of their meeting-houses, and the 
 
 * Of another visit to Oxford, a companion, Thomas Storey, writes ; 
 " At Oxford we had a comfortable meeting, for though many of the 
 collegians were there, who used to be rude in an extraordinary 
 manner, yet the invisible power of the Word of Life being over 
 them at that time, they were quiet under the authoritative ministry 
 of Thomas Wilson. Many of them were struck with amazement 
 and surprise, and their eyes were filled with tears, so that several 
 of the elder sort retired, but in a decent manner, as if to hide the 
 effect of Truth, which, if they had staid, could not have been con- 
 cealed ; but above all the rest, a young man, a very comely youth, 
 who, by his appearance and behaviour, seemed to be the son 
 of some noble person, was most deeply affected. The Lord 
 gave us glorious times on our way to Bristol. The sensible 
 enjoyment of His divine and soul-melting presence, to our general 
 and mutual consolation (for in those days Friends were near the 
 Lord, and one another in Him) : the canopy of His love was over 
 us, and we rejoiced together therein, but with holy fear and with 
 trembling, and had often occasion to say concerning the way of the 
 Lord, as of old, and with respect to His noble servant (T. W.), 
 that ' He maketh His angels spirits, and His ministers a name of 
 fire,' for so he was indeed, in an eminent manner to the churches 
 where he came in this visit, as generally elsewhere at other times." 
 
in Ireland. 65 
 
 Lord's Holy Word was preached boldly in the 
 streets of that city. 
 
 " In London I met with my dear companion 
 James Dickinson, and was exceeding glad to 
 see him. We both having had a great exer- 
 cise in our minds to visit the Lord's people 
 in America, and having certificates on that 
 account from the respective Monthly Meetings 
 we belonged unto, we laid our intentions be- 
 fore Friends in London for their concurrence ; 
 which they received very kindly, and approved 
 of, believing that the Lord had called us to 
 preach His gospel in that part of the world. 
 But the times seemed like to be very danger- 
 ous and stormy : the French being at war 
 against England, had a great fleet at sea ; and 
 while we were in London, the rumour was, 
 that the French fleet lay about thirty or forty 
 leagues from the Land's End, in the way we 
 should pass. This brought a very great con- 
 cern upon us, with many inward seekings and 
 supplications to the Lord, if it was His blessed 
 will, that He might be pleased to preserve us. 
 And being strong in faith, that it was easy 
 with the Lord God to deliver us, we trusted 
 
 F 
 
66 Six Generations 
 
 in His holy power ; and I being in deep travail 
 of soul, had an opening from the Lord, that it 
 was His holy will to deliver us, and we should 
 live to see it ; which I believed, and was 
 humbly thankful to the Lord, and told my 
 dear companion thereof with great joy ; for we 
 being nearly united in true love, could freely 
 open our minds each to the other. He also 
 told me, ' that being under a travail of soul, 
 the Lord had shewed him, That the French 
 fleet would encompass us on both sides, and also 
 behind, and come very near ; but the Lord would 
 send in a great mist and darkness between us and 
 them, in which we should sail away, and see them 
 no more. 7 Thus we imparted our minds to 
 each other before we left London ; and our 
 openings so agreeing one with another, we 
 were the more confirmed that it was of the 
 Lord. We staid in the City till the Yearly 
 Meeting, 1691, was over : a blessed meeting it 
 was, and Friends' tender love was towards us, 
 many ancient Friends were there ; particularly 
 William Edmundson from Ireland, who gave 
 us tender advice, which we took very kindly, 
 he having been in America in Truth's service. 
 
in Ireland. 67 
 
 " We sailed from London to Gravesendj 
 and had a blessed meeting with the Friends 
 that accompanied us from the City, and after 
 meeting, took leave of each other. We sailed 
 from thence to the Downs, and the master 
 being very kind, we went on shore, and had 
 some meetings thereabout, wherein the Lord's 
 holy power tendered our hearts together. 
 From thence we sailed to Plymouth, where 
 we had some blessed, comfortable meetings, 
 and Friends were very glad to see us. 
 
 " On the gth day of Fifth Month, 1691, 
 we went aboard, and sailed to Falmouth, 
 where all the fleet put in. After sailing forth 
 we met with the French fleet, who gave us 
 chase, coming up, under English colours, with- 
 in musket shot of us : then the English putting 
 up their own colours, the French began to 
 fire at them. The first French ship that 
 came up was very large, and it was said to 
 have ninety guns ; nigh unto which ship were 
 eleven more, and seventy sail behind them, 
 as some of our company said they counted. 
 The first ship pursued us, and fired hard, a 
 broadside at every time ; and being come up 
 
 F2 
 
68 Six Generations 
 
 within musket-shot, the Lord was graciously 
 pleased to hear our prayers, and sent a great 
 mist, with thick darkness, which interposed 
 betweeri us and them, so that they could not 
 see us, nor we them, any more. Then James 
 Dickinson arose from his seat, and took me 
 by the hand, saying : ' Now I hope the Lord 
 will deliver us ' ; for he had seen all fulfilled, 
 which the Lord had shewed before we left 
 London. This was cause of great gladness 
 to me, who had been under a deep travail of 
 spirit with fasting and prayer to the Lord, 
 that He who smote His enemies in times past 
 with blindness, might please to do so now ; 
 which the Lord did please to answer, whereof 
 our hearts were truly thankful to him. My 
 fasting, praying, and inward giving of thanks 
 continued three days. 
 
 '• Two ships of our company that escaped, 
 came up with us, which we were glad to see ; 
 and the captain of our vessel, being a very 
 kind man, called to those in the other two ships 
 to come aboard his, and have a meeting with 
 us ; which they readily did ; and a large and 
 good meeting we had, giving glory to the 
 
in Ireland. 6g 
 
 Lord's holy name for His great deliverance. 
 So we sailed on our way rejoicing, continuing 
 healthy and well until we landed at Barba- 
 does, which was on the 24th of the Sixth 
 Month, 1691. Here we found a great sickness 
 amongst the people, but Friends were glad to 
 see us. The first meeting we had there, was 
 at the burial of a noted Friend, where we 
 sounded forth the Word of the Lord, a multi- 
 tude of people being there, both white and 
 black ; the Lord's Holy Word powerfully 
 reached, and broke many of their hearts 
 into great tenderness : the blacks stood 
 astonished, with tears running down their 
 cheeks and naked breasts. We staid above 
 two months in that island, in all which time 
 the sickness raged ; yet we had many large 
 and precious meetings, to which there was 
 great flocking, the people being very much 
 humbled by the sickness. So being clear in 
 our spirits of that island, we parted with 
 Friends in great love and sweetness. 
 
 " On the 22nd of the Eighth Month, we 
 took shipping for New York, and arrived there 
 the 23rd of the Ninth Month, being about a 
 
70 Six Generations 
 
 month's time ; and though we had a great 
 storm in our passage, which lasted ten days, 
 the Lord's good hand preserved us. But the 
 captain was very much down in his mind and 
 under indisposition of body, in the time of our 
 voyage, and said to me : ' We ' (meaning him- 
 self and the crew) ' should die like rotten 
 sheep.' I said: ' No, captain, do not fear ' — for 
 I saw that the ship would go safe in ; and after 
 some further discourse he hugged me in his 
 arms and seemed to rejoice. We accordingly 
 arrived at New York, and had a meeting there, 
 and from thence went to Long Island, where 
 we had several good meetings with Friends. 
 Then the Word of the Lord was in me, thus : 
 ' Hasten, hasten, to visit My great people in 
 Philadelphia ' ; so we went forward, having 
 some good meetings in our way thither. 
 
 " When we came to Philadelphia there was 
 a great division raised amongst Friends by 
 George Keith. We preached the Lord Jesus 
 powerfully amongst them, and had some 
 labour tending to peace. My companion had 
 it often upon him to warn them all to keep more 
 inward to the Lord. We staid some time there, 
 
in Ireland. 71 
 
 visiting Friends in that province, and had 
 many precious meetings amongst them ; some 
 of which were kept without doors, for want of 
 room, as there were great flockings to hear 
 the Truth declared, although it was Winter 
 time. We went from thence into Maryland, 
 and visited Friends on the eastern and western 
 shores. Then we travelled to Virginia, the 
 Lord's good presence accompanying us from 
 time to time, and we found a tender, humble 
 people there. 
 
 " We went from Virginia towards North 
 Carolina, where the floods were so great that we 
 could not travel on horseback, but waded bare- 
 foot through swamps and waters. Friends and 
 other people were exceedingly glad to see us, 
 they not having had any visit by a travelling 
 Friend of the Ministry for several years. We 
 had good service amongst them ; for the 
 Lord's heavenly power wonderfully supported 
 us under our difficulties and hard travel, the 
 country being so full of wild creatures, that 
 wolves would come and roar about the houses 
 in the night. So after having had many good 
 and heavenly meetings with Friends there we 
 
72 Six Generations 
 
 took leave of them, and returned through the 
 wilderness to Virginia, then travelled up James 
 River, having service as we went, until we 
 came to Curies, where we had some meetings 
 to satisfaction amongst Friends and other 
 people. 
 
 " We went from Curies through the woods 
 to Black Creek, where we had appointed a 
 meeting ; and, none having been there before, 
 the Sheriff with some officers came to break it 
 up. James Dickinson being then declaring, 
 the Sheriff asked him : ' From whom he had his 
 commission to preach?' James answered to 
 this effect : ' I have my commission from the 
 great God, unto whom thou and I must give 
 an account.' At these words the Sheriff seemed 
 much astonished; and after they had had some 
 further discourse, the Sheriff swore ; for which 
 James reproved him. He answered : ' I know 
 I should not swear,' seeming then very mild, 
 and said : ' We had a gracious king and queen, 
 and they had given us our liberty.' 1 then 
 stood up and asked the Sheriff : ' As he had said 
 that we had a gracious king and queen, that 
 had given us our liberty' (which was true), 
 
in Ireland. 73 
 
 ' then by what law would the Sheriff persecute 
 us ? ' He then turned about and went away. 
 Whereupon James Dickinson spake aloud, 
 saying : ' Let the Sheriff answer the question ' ; 
 but he took the man of the house with him, 
 and then sent him back to bid us go off his 
 land. I said : ' We did not come there without 
 his leave, and both he and the people might 
 know we had not broken the king's law, and 
 if they would have a little patience, and hear 
 what we had to say for the Lord, we would go 
 peaceably away.' Most of the people .staid, 
 and we had a heavenly meeting amongst 
 them. Several were convinced, and in a short 
 time after a Meeting-house was built, and a 
 Meeting settled, which I think is kept there 
 still. 
 
 "After the said meeting at Black Creek, 
 one Charles Fleming, who had not been at 
 any of our meetings before, being reached by 
 the Truth, kindly invited us to lodge with him, 
 which we did. From his house we travelled 
 towards Maryland, having company a little 
 way of the first day's journey, and then were 
 left in the woods ; after having travelled all 
 
74 Six Generations 
 
 day, we sat down in the dusk of the evening, to 
 eat a little bread and cheese. My mare went 
 out of my hand, and in a little time I per- 
 ceived she had found water, at which I was 
 very glad ; and I think I never drank anything 
 more sweet and pleasant to me, than that 
 water was. 
 
 " We lodged that night in the woods, and 
 as soon as the day brake set forward on our 
 journey through the woods, northward ; and 
 as we were travelling, met with two men, one 
 of whom being an ancient, comely man, kindly 
 invited us to his house, where we staid two 
 nights and had a meeting, though he was an 
 elder among the Presbyterians ; he also lent 
 us his boat to go over Potomack River. The 
 next night we lodged at a poor man's house, 
 and had no bed to lie in. As we were sitting 
 by his fire, he told us that George Fox and 
 John Burnyeat had travelled in those parts, and 
 had meetings on both sides of the river, and 
 many were convinced, but several of them fell 
 away. We got next day over Patuxent River, 
 into Maryland, and had many blessed meetings 
 amongst Friends on both sides of the bay. 
 
in Ireland. 75 
 
 " Now leaving Friends at Philadelphia, we 
 went into the country to a meeting, to which 
 George Keith came : he asked me where we 
 would be on the First-day, saying also, that he 
 had appointed, a meeting to be next First-day 
 at Crosswicks ; and finding freedom, I went 
 thither : but my companion, James Dickinson, 
 found drawings from the Lord to go to Phila- 
 delphia, and be at the meeting there that 
 First-day. Thither George Keith came, 
 fawningly, as though he and James Dickinson 
 were in unity. But after he had done, James 
 stood up in great authority in the Lord's 
 power, and confuted George's doctrine and 
 practice, setting Truth over him and his party, 
 and opened the mystery of salvation to the 
 people to their great satisfaction. 
 
 "After this George Keith went away in great 
 wrath, and the people who were not Friends, 
 being many, cried aloud : ' Give way and let 
 the devil come out, for the little black man 
 from England has got the day.' " 
 
 With regard to this mention of George Keith, 
 it may be stated, he was a man of position and 
 education, who embraced the views of Friends, 
 
76 Six Generations 
 
 and accompanied Fox and Penn to Holland 
 as an authorized minister. A few years later, 
 however, he became very troublesome, and 
 soon after Fox's death the Society was harassed 
 and embittered through the schism caused by 
 Keith's defection. He visited Pennsylvania, 
 hoping to sow discord there. Sewell remarks : 
 " He was a very witty person, and esteemed 
 very learned." He accused Friends of saying 
 the Light within was sufficient without any- 
 thing else for Salvation ; from whence he 
 endeavoured to prove that they excluded Christ 
 Jesus as not necessary to Salvation. " But 
 they," says Sewell, " denied this to be their 
 doctrine." During the Yearly Meeting in 
 London, 1694, Keith behaved so violently that 
 the Friends considered it needful to disavow 
 all connection with him by sending the follow- 
 ing declaration of their faith to Parliament : — 
 "Be it known unto all that we sincerely 
 believe and confess — 
 
 1st. That Jesus of Nazareth, who was born 
 of the Virgin Mary, isthe true Messiah, 
 the very Christ, the Son of the living 
 God, to whom all the prophets gave 
 
o 
 o 
 
 ef 
 a 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 X 
 
 z 
 
 «: 
 
 o 
 
 H 
 W 
 « 
 O 
 
in Ireland. 77 
 
 witness, and that we do highly value 
 His death, sufferings, works, offices, 
 and merits for the redemption of 
 mankind, together with His laws, 
 doctrines, and ministry. 
 2nd. That this very Christ of God, who is 
 the Lamb of God that taketh away 
 the sin of the world, was slain, was 
 dead, and is alive, and lives for ever 
 in His divine eternal glory, dominion, 
 and power with the Father. 
 3rd. That the Holy Scriptures of the Old 
 and New Testament are of divine 
 authority, as being given by inspi- 
 ration of God. 
 4th. That the magistry or civil government 
 is God's ordinance, the good end 
 thereof being for the punishment of 
 evil doers, and praise of them that do 
 well."* 
 Keith next conformed to the Established 
 Church, and was ordained, after which he was 
 sent by the Bishops to America to oppose the 
 
 * Sewell's " History of Friends." Ed. 1832, p. 258. 
 
78 Six Generations 
 
 Quakers and gain adherents. On his return a 
 living was presented to him near Shoreham, 
 but so poor a one, that he was obliged to sell 
 his library for £10. 
 
 One writer affirms that his life and death was 
 pious and exemplary. Another says that on 
 his death-bed he was heard to remark : "I 
 wish I had died when I was a Quaker, for then 
 I am sure it would have been well with my 
 soul." * 
 
 " On the 17th of the Sixth Month, 1692, we 
 took shipping at Boston, for Barbadoes, and 
 after we had been about two or three days'at 
 sea, the ship, being new, sprung a leak ; part 
 of our lading being tar, it ran out of the'barrels 
 into the hold, and our pumps clogged, so things 
 looked very dangerous. I stripped myself to 
 work at the pump, and James went with the 
 captain to search the hold, where they found 
 a treenail hole that the carpenter had left 
 unfilled, and after they had got it stopped, 
 through the Lord's great mercy we arrived 
 safe at Barbadoes. Some time before we went 
 
 * Bickley's " Life of George Fox." 
 
in Ireland. yg 
 
 in, it fell thick, dark weather, continuing so 
 all the forenoon ; but about twelve o'clock the 
 sun broke out, and our sailors got an obser- 
 vation ; immediately after which, the mist 
 struck in again, and the darkness was so great 
 that although there was a privateer which had 
 laid several days in that latitude, we escaped 
 her, and got well in. So that we saw the 
 same Hand which preserved us in our first 
 going there, by bringing in a thick mist, had 
 again preserved us in like manner, a second 
 time ; which was cause of great joy to us and 
 Friends on the island, who gladly received us. 
 
 " We landed at Barbadoes on the 2nd day 
 of the Eighth Month, i6gz, where we staid some 
 time, and visited Friends' Meetings thoroughly, 
 and had good service for the Lord ; the sick- 
 ness which was in the island at our first coming 
 still continuing, whereby the people were very 
 much humbled ; and their exercise was further 
 increased by a plot the blacks had laid to 
 murder the white people, which was discovered 
 in manner following : 
 
 " A certain man having a black servant, 
 whom he respected, called him in and gave 
 
80 Six Generations 
 
 him a dram ; wherewith he was so well pleased 
 that upon his going out he said to himself: 
 ' My master is a very good man, great pity 
 to kill my master ' ; and being overheard, 
 information was earned to his master ; upon 
 which he had him apprehended, and examined 
 before the Governor. He confessed the whole 
 plot, which was : ' To kill all the white men on 
 Sunday night, and to seize the fort, shipping, 
 horses, and arms.' But being thus discovered, 
 many of the blacks were taken and hung up in 
 gibbets alive till they died. 
 
 " Being clear of Barbadoes, we went from 
 thence to Antigua, where we staid some time, 
 and had several large meetings amongst the 
 people ; the Lord's power did so prevail over 
 them that several were convinced of the Truth, 
 and afterwards became faithful Friends. 
 
 " We passed from Antigua to the Island of 
 Nevis ; and when near it had a consultation 
 whether to go in on the north or south side 
 thereof ; and by the favourable direction of 
 Divine Providence for our preservation, we 
 went in on the south side, where we heard 
 that a French privateer, that lay on the north 
 
in Ireland. 81 
 
 side of the island, had taken a vessel about 
 the same time. We staid several weeks in 
 that island, and had good service for the Lord. 
 Many of the inhabitants had been visited with 
 a mortal distemper, of which many were 
 taken away. There had been four priests on 
 the island before, but when we came, there 
 was but one of them living : he was a great 
 drunkard and swearer ; when the inhabitants 
 came to our meetings, and were so reached 
 by the Lord's power, that they confessed to 
 the Truth, this wicked priest was very angry, 
 and told them he would come and dispute 
 with us on the First-day. This being spread 
 through the island, many of the inhabitants 
 of great note came to the meeting, though the 
 priest did not come, but went to the Governor 
 to inform him against us. We had a large 
 meeting, in which the Everlasting Gospel was 
 proclaimed amongst them, and all were 
 warned to repent of their sins, and turn to 
 the light of Jesus Christ. Many hearts were 
 reached ; one that was a justice of the peace 
 confessed to the Truth, and wrote to the 
 Governor on our behalf. 
 
 G 
 
82 Six Generations 
 
 " Now being clear of this island, our names 
 were put up at a public place, as notice of our 
 going off the island, and certificates written 
 and carried by a Friend to the Governor to be 
 signed by him — but he would not, for he had 
 been much enraged by the priest, and threat- 
 ened that he would put us in the fort. So we 
 took horses and went with the master of the 
 ship, with whom we had taken our passage, 
 to the Governor's house. He appeared very 
 angry with us, and said: ' We were spies, come 
 to spy out the strength of the island.' We 
 told him : ' We were no spies, but true men,' 
 and to satisfy the Governor we shewed him a 
 pass that had the Secretary's seal on it, which 
 we had at our coming out of England, where- 
 upon all governors and officers were com- 
 manded to let us pass. When he saw the 
 broad seal his countenance fell, and he asked 
 why we had not shewed it him before ? We 
 replied : ' We had not shewed it then, but for 
 his satisfaction that we were not spies,' and 
 further told him : ' We came in the love of God 
 to visit our Friends and the inhabitants of the 
 island.' Then he signed the certificate, and 
 
in Ireland. 83 
 
 called for a bottle of wine to drink with the 
 captain and us, but we would not drink any 
 with him. We were deeply bowed under the 
 sense of God's goodness to us, who had not 
 only drawn us into His service, but made way 
 for us, and wrought our deliverance. In the 
 latitude of Bermudas a tornado came, which 
 is a gust of storm (our top sails being a-trip) , 
 and laid the vessel on one side like a log of 
 woocl, and it remained so for some time ; in 
 which time the glory of the Lord did so shine 
 upon us, that the fear of death was taken 
 away, and our hearts were filled with the 
 joy of God's salvation. 
 
 " Now being clear of our service for the 
 Lord in America, we took shipping from 
 Nevis homeward, and in about six weeks 
 landed in the Highlands of Scotland. We 
 travelled from thence by land into Cumber- 
 land, where Friends greatly rejoiced at seeing 
 us, they having heard that we were taken by 
 the French. From hence we travelled up to 
 the Yearly Meeting at London, having some 
 meetings in our way thither : we had a very 
 blessed Yearly Meeting, Friends being in 
 
 g 2 
 
84 Six Generations 
 
 great love and unity, and greatly rejoiced to 
 see us, as we did to see them ; and there is 
 great thankfulness in my soul to the Lord, for 
 His manifold favours and preservation, both 
 by sea and land. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THOMAS WILSON IN IRELAND. 
 
 " In the Autumn of 1695 I married Mary, 
 daughter of Thomas Bewley, of Wood Hall, 
 Cumberland, who proved a true helpmeet indeed 
 to me. Soon after our marriage I found freedom 
 to remove with my wife and her brother into 
 Ireland, and we settled near Edenderry in the 
 King's County." To this place, on Thomas 
 Wilson's first visit to Ireland, he believed he 
 was called — " Somewhere between the west 
 and north." Here he continued to reside until 
 his death in his own house at Thornwell, a 
 property still in the possession of his descen- 
 dants. 
 
 The Journal of Thomas Wilson proceeds: 
 
in Ireland. 85 
 
 " Some time after my removal to Ireland, I 
 found drawings from the Lord to visit Friends 
 in England. I travelled through part of 
 Wales and on to Bristol and London, and 
 from thence to Surrey and Sussex ; then north 
 to Cumberland and to Whitehaven, to take 
 shipping. While waiting for the ship I had 
 a great meeting there out of doors. From 
 1697 to 1713, 1 often travelled through Ireland 
 and also in England. 
 
 " Within this space I was seven times at the 
 Yearly Meeting in London, the Lord's good 
 power accompanying me in His service. 
 
 " ' During one of these visits,' Samuel Neale 
 tells us, ' at a great Meeting of Friends in 
 London were two persons of high rank in the 
 world, who sat very attentively while a Friend 
 was speaking, and seemed to like what was 
 delivered. 
 
 " ' When Thomas Wilson stood up, being old 
 and bald, they despised him, and one said to 
 the other: " Come, my Lord, let us go, for what 
 can this old fool say?" "Nay," said the 
 other, " let us stay, for this is Jeremiah the 
 prophet, let us .hear him." 
 
86 Six Generations 
 
 " 'As Thomas went on the Life arose, and 
 the power got into dominion, which tendered 
 one of them in a remarkable manner : tears 
 flowing in great plenty from his eyes, which 
 he strove in vain to hide, and he stood up when 
 the old man sat down, and desired he might 
 be forgiven of him, and the Almighty, for 
 despising the greatest of His instruments 
 under heaven, or in His creation.' * 
 
 " Now, I having had it upon me from the 
 Lord for a considerable time to visit Friends 
 again in America, my dear ancient friend and 
 companion, James Dickinson, signified to me 
 by a letter, that he had a like concern to visit 
 Friends again in those parts ; whereof I was 
 truly glad, for we had often travelled together 
 in great love, unity and sweetness. So we 
 agreed to meet in Dublin, and thence took 
 shipping for America in the Tenth Month, 
 1713. The name of the captain of the vessel 
 was Richard Kelsey, of Whitehaven, in Cum- 
 berland. 
 
 " We took our voyage north about, and after 
 
 Journal of Samuel Neale. 
 
in Ireland. 87 
 
 I had seen the captain's diligence, care and 
 good conduct in his ship amongst his servants, 
 and those on board, it drew my heart towards 
 him in very much love, and gave me encourage- 
 ment to have some religious discourse, wherein 
 I found he aimed at justice and equity, so that 
 my love increased towards him ; and he being 
 a man frequent in prayer, we entered into dis- 
 course on the substantial part of prayer. I 
 told him : ' We could not pray at all times in 
 words, knowing our own insufficiency, but 
 waited for the assistance of the Holy Spirit to 
 help us and guide our understanding ; having 
 regard to what the Apostle said : "I will pray 
 with the Spirit, and with the understanding 
 also," — 1 Cor. xiv, 15, which might be in- 
 wardly performed, although no words were 
 outwardly spoken.' To which he readily 
 assented, and told us : ' We might keep our 
 meetings in the great cabin at any time when 
 they did not keep theirs.' Now, though we 
 had a storm in this passage for near a month 
 together, yet the captain's prudent manage- 
 ment of the ship, and shewing himself so very 
 respectful to us, and the good conversation 
 
88 Six Generations 
 
 we had together, made our voyage much the 
 pleasanter. 
 
 " On the Seventh day of the week, at night, 
 the captain told us we should find the 
 soundings next day, which we did accordingly 
 about noon ; then he told us, that if the gale 
 stood, we should reach the cape that evening; 
 so sailing on till near night, we were within 
 about seven or eight fathom water ; but night 
 coming on, he wisely stood out to sea, and in 
 a short time we got into Lynnhaven Bay, 
 having been nine weeks in our passage from 
 the sight of Ireland. We parted from our 
 kind captain in great love. He would have 
 us take some of his provision, and gave us 
 much loving counsel, which we accepted 
 kindly. 
 
 "We landed at Queen Anne's Town, and 
 hired horses from thence to York River ; next 
 day we took boat to the western shore, from 
 whence we contentedly took our travel on foot 
 into the woods, having our saddles, saddle- 
 bags, and great coats upon our shoulders. 
 After a little time, seeing a man at a distance, 
 riding towards us, James Dickinson said : 
 
in Ireland. 89 
 
 ' Who knows but yonder man is coming to 
 help us ? ' Who, when he came up, knew 
 James, and cheerfully said : ' I had best alight 
 and take your things upon my horse'; this 
 we accepted of, and he went along with us to 
 James Bates's house, who received us very 
 kindly, his wife having been convinced by 
 James Dickinson, and was a faithful Friend. 
 It being their Weekly Meeting-day, we went 
 along with them to the meeting, and had a 
 good time. 
 
 " From Pennsylvania we crossed the 
 Delaware River, and on our way a Baptist 
 preacher came up to us, and, directing his 
 speech to me, said he would ask me a question. 
 I bid him say on. Then said he : ' My 
 question is, What is the ordination and 
 qualification of a true minister of Jesus 
 Christ ? ' — To which I answered : ' The Apostle 
 saith : "As every man hath received the gift, 
 even so minister the same one to another, as 
 good stewards of the manifold grace of God. 
 If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles 
 of God ; if any man minister, let him do it as 
 of the ability which God giveth : that God in 
 
go Six Generations 
 
 all things may be glorified through Jesus 
 Christ."' — i Peter iv, 10 — n. I further said 
 mildly to him : ' Thou mayest see that the 
 ability of a true minister is in the divine 
 gift.' — Then he said: 'I have another question 
 to ask, which is this : Can any man that hath 
 this divine gift, positively deny the command 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ ? ' — To which I 
 replied : ' That no man that was faithful to his 
 holy gift, durst deny the commands of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ.' — ' But,' said he, 'you 
 do.' — I answered : ' Thou hast charged boldly, 
 now thou must prove in what we deny them.' 
 — He said : ' You deny water-baptism, which 
 Jesus Christ commanded to be an ordinance 
 in His Church to the end of the world.' — I told 
 him he must prove his assertion, for I did not 
 understand that ever Jesus Christ gave any 
 commands to His ministers to baptize in 
 elementary water ; I desired him again to 
 prove what he had asserted. Then he began 
 to repeat many Scriptures, quoting chapter 
 and verse. I patiently heard him, until he had 
 gone on a great while ; and I, seeing he had 
 wrested the Scriptures, told him he must now 
 
ill Ireland. gi 
 
 make a full stop, till the company came up, 
 for my companion had a Bible in his pocket ; 
 so standing still he came up, and the book 
 was given to a young man, who was desired to 
 read all the texts that had been urged to prove 
 water-baptism to be a command of Christ, but 
 finding no text to make good his charge, I 
 opened unto him the true baptism of Jesus 
 Christ, which is ' With the Holy Ghost and 
 with fire.' — Matthew iii, n. The Truth came 
 over him. We parted friends, and he attended 
 our meeting next day, and was silent. 
 
 " From Boston we went to Lynn, and thence 
 to Salem, so to the eastern parts of New 
 England,* as far as Dover, and returned by 
 
 * The circumstances related in the following extract from a 
 Manuscript in the collection at Devonshire House, London, appear 
 to have occurred in the course of this visit to New England : — 
 
 "In the year 1714, our worthy friends, Thomas Wilson and 
 James Dickinson, came into this province on a religious visit to the 
 churches. I was present at a meeting they had at Plymouth, 
 which, on account of the great gathering of people, was held under 
 the trees. Thomas, in the exercise of his gift in the ministry, was 
 led to treat on several subjects, which, making great impression on 
 my mind at that time, and tending to confirm me in the faith I 
 made open profession of, I still remember. He spake largely on 
 ' the captive maid ' in respect to her service to her lord and master > 
 [2 Kings v, 2-4] and in a powerful manner set forth the privileges 
 which the true members of the Church of Christ enjoyed under His 
 
g2 Six Generations 
 
 way of Boston to the Yearly Meeting at 
 Providence." 
 
 After extensive travel and service among 
 Friends, Thos. Wilson and his companion 
 turned toward the coast, in order to take 
 shipping for England. 
 
 " Soon after we agreed with the master of a 
 vessel for our passage, the ship being bound 
 for Liverpool ; but told him we had a desire 
 to stay the First-day Meeting. He said, if he 
 did not fire a gun, we might stay ; and a little 
 
 peaceful government. He spoke prophetically concerning the work 
 of sanctification some were under, saying, the Lord would bring the 
 faithful through all, to His glory and the solid comfort of the 
 afflicted, though some might be, like David, in the horrible pit, &c. 
 This reached me in such a manner, that I was much broken, and 
 said in my heart : ' Surely all here will be convinced, and not only 
 convinced, but converted by the Eternal Word of God unto the true 
 faith of Christ our Lord.' I thought none could withstand the 
 doctrine preached, it being with great power and divine authority. 
 
 " The Friends at whose house they were to dine insisted on my 
 going with them, and as this was on my way home, I complied. 
 Being sat down in the house, Thomas Wilson fixed his eyes upon 
 me, which made me conclude that he saw something wrong in me, 
 upon which I arose and went out, being much affected, but heard 
 him say : ' What young woman is that ? She is like the little 
 captive maid I have been speaking of this day, the God of life 
 strengthen her, she will meet sore trial, but if faithful, the Lord will 
 fit her for His service.' These words have since been a blessing to 
 me, when almost overwhelmed with trouble. Adoration and praise 
 be to the Author of all our mercies for ever !" 
 
in Ireland. 0,3 
 
 before the meeting began, he fired a gun, 
 which gave us warning to hasten aboard, 
 although it was much contrary to our freedom, 
 not being clear in our minds to leave the 
 meeting ; but we went on board. They set sail, 
 but made little way that day, and we soon 
 perceived that as the master of the ship had 
 endeavoured to cross us, the Lord crossed him, 
 for there arose a great storm that night, which 
 continued several days, in which time the ship 
 sprung a leak, which daunted them. Yet 
 taking some courage again, they kept to sea ; 
 but the leak increased so fast that they altered 
 their course and stood in again, and with some 
 difficulty got to an anchor in Lynnhaven Bay ; 
 which brought a fresh engagement upon us 
 of thankfulness to the Lord for so signal a 
 preservation. Here the master concluded to 
 unlade, that he might stop tb!e leak, and told 
 us we might go on shore and see our friends. 
 
 " We hired a boat and sailed up the river, 
 so put to shore at the house of a widow woman, 
 a Presbyterian, who received us kindly. She 
 said she had heard of us, and that the New 
 Testament made much for us. After we had 
 
94 Six Generations 
 
 eaten and drunk, we would have paid her, but 
 she would take nothing from us, and when she 
 had shewed us a little on our way, we parted 
 with her in a friendly manner. That night 
 we got to a Friend's house, and afterwards 
 amongst Friends in Virginia. My companion, 
 James Dickinson, and one Robert Jordan took 
 boat, went aboard the ship and brought off 
 our things ; the master then shewed himself 
 very respectful, and said : ' If we thought fit to 
 come again, we should be very welcome, and 
 if not, we might use our freedom.' 
 
 " We went over the bay, and had a meeting 
 with Friends at the same place where the 
 captain would not suffer us to stay before. 
 After this meeting we were free in our spirits 
 to return, and in a little time after, we took 
 shipping in another vessel, and landed at 
 Cork, in Ireland, where we staid a meeting on 
 the Sixth-day of the week. After meeting we 
 went to Clogheen, and the next day to James 
 Hutchinson's, where we lodged that night, 
 and rode next morning to Mountmellick, where 
 the Province Meeting for Leinster was then 
 held. We went into the meeting, Friends 
 
in Ireland. 95 
 
 being gathered before we came ; and the 
 power of Truth broke in upon the meeting, 
 whereby Friends' hearts were greatly tendered 
 under a sense of the Lord's mercy in pre- 
 serving us ; they not knowing anything of our 
 being landed until we came thither. 
 
 " Here I parted with my dear friend and 
 companion, James Dickinson, and as we had 
 travelled together in great love and unity, we 
 likewise parted in the same. He went to 
 Dublin, in order to take shipping for Cumber- 
 land, and I returned home to my dear wife 
 and family, being truly thankful that the Lord 
 had brought us together again." 
 
 James Dickinson* on his part writes : " I 
 parted with my dear companion, Thomas 
 Wilson, in the love of God ; we had travelled 
 together, by sea and land, about 12,000 miles, 
 labouring to settle the people on Christ, the Rock 
 and the Foundation. The power of the Lord 
 was wonderfully with him, and made him as a 
 flame of fire against sin and wickedness ; often, 
 too, as a cloud full of rain, carried by the 
 
 * See Appendix B. 
 
g6 Six Generations 
 
 breath of the Almighty, to water the thirsty 
 ground and comfort the afflicted. 
 
 " Before reaching Barbadoes we were 
 chased by a man-of-war, but our eye was to 
 the Lord. The company concluded to fight, 
 and made preparations for it, having their 
 places ordered them where they should be ; 
 but the captain, knowing it was a matter of 
 conscience to us, was civil and bade us go 
 to the doctor if we pleased ; at which the 
 passengers were very angry, saying we 
 deserved to be shot. We told them Christ's 
 Kingdom was not of this world, and therefore 
 His servants cannot fight, but as the captain 
 was so kind as to give us liberty of choosing 
 our places, we would be on the quarter-deck 
 with him, which greatly confounded those who 
 were so much against us, and gave us an 
 opportunity to set the testimony of Truth over 
 them. But the ship proved to be an English 
 man-of-war. 
 
 " My dear friend had much service in this last 
 visit to America, and was greatly comforted in 
 seeing the fruit of his former labour, many 
 walking in the light of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
in Ireland. gy 
 
 " What I have said is only to attribute all 
 to the Lord's power, to whom be praise and 
 glory for ever, Amen." 
 
 Again resuming Thomas Wilson's Journal, 
 in 1721, he writes : "I found a concern upon 
 my spirit to go for England, and took shipping 
 in Dublin in company with John Barcroft.* 
 After two days at sea the ship struck on the 
 sand, and in the morning lay aground, so 
 that we got out our horses and went ashore 
 in Wales." We find, that after ten months' 
 extensive travel through England, the faithful 
 labourer returned home much worn in body, 
 and with his life-work almost accomplished. 
 
 He continues : "I stayed about home, 
 visiting meetings, that Winter till Third Month, 
 1724. I went to Half-year's Meeting in Dublin, 
 where I was greatly comforted in the feeling 
 of the Divine Life and power, which is the 
 
 * John Barcroft resided near Edenderry in Ireland. He was 
 the first Friend who came to settle in that neighbourhood after the 
 wars, and was very helpful at that time to encourage a few families 
 to meet together for divine worship. He proved himself very 
 serviceable in that meeting, and it afterwards became large. When 
 about 33 years of age, he was called to the ministry, and was a 
 diligent and successful labourer for the good of souls, both in 
 Ireland and England. 
 H 
 
g8 Six Generations 
 
 crown and glory of our meetings. I then 
 returned home, and growing infirm of body, 
 went little abroad to distant meetings. Now 
 I rejoice that I have served the Lord in my 
 day. I feel great peace from the Lord 
 flowing into my soul, and am thankful that I 
 have been made willing to serve Him. My 
 dear wife, being a woman that truly fears 
 God, hath freely given me up at the Lord's 
 call, so I hope she will have a share in the 
 reward, and peace whereof He has given me 
 the earnest. Having deeply travailed both 
 in soul and body for the promotion of Truth 
 in a general way, I have often besought the 
 Lord that He would effectually reach my own 
 •children in particular, and be pleased to make 
 them faithful witnesses for Him in their 
 generation." 
 
 Thomas Wilson being taken ill in Eleventh 
 Month, 1724, continued weakly for some time, 
 He uttered many weighty expressions, and from 
 time to time was concerned in earnest prayer to 
 the Lord for the young and rising generation. 
 He was fully resigned to the will of God, yet 
 desiring, if He had no further service for him, 
 
in Ireland. gg 
 
 to be removed out of his pain, which was at 
 times great. When in less suffering he often 
 spoke of the things of God. At one time he 
 said : "If Friends kept the ancient path, and 
 observed the Lord's rules, they would be a 
 blessed people " ; and again sweetly and pro- 
 phetically spoke words to this effect : " That a 
 great harvest day was coming over the nations, 
 and that the Lord would fit many and send 
 them into the harvest"; and again: "The 
 Lord's goodness fills my heart, and I have an 
 assurance of my everlasting peace in His 
 Kingdom, with my ancient Friends gone before, 
 with whom I had sweet comfort in the work of 
 the Gospel." At another time he said : 
 "Although the Lord has made use of me in 
 His service, my trust is only in the mercy of 
 God in Christ Jesus." He often expressed his 
 desire : " That Friends might dwell in humility, 
 and keep low ; for that to his sorrow he had seen 
 many who grew high come to ruin, both them- 
 selves and posterity, and their places left desolate." 
 
 He was preserved sensible to the last, and 
 passed away without sigh or groan, as if he 
 had been going to sleep, on the 20th day of the 
 
 h 2 
 
loo- Six Generations 
 
 Third Month, 1725. His remains were buried 
 the 22nd of the same, accompanied by a great 
 number of Friends and others ; when Friends 
 had a good opportunity to bear testimony to 
 that Divine Power, whereby he was raised up 
 to be a faithful witness for the Truth in his 
 generation, 
 
 We now turn to his wife's testimony con- 
 cerning her husband, which is found among 
 ten or twelve other documents of a like 
 character. These coming from Meetings and 
 individuals in England and America, bear 
 witness to this good man's worth and ac- 
 ceptance as a minister of the Gospel. 
 
 "THE TESTIMONY 
 
 Of Mary Wilson concerning her dear husband, 
 deceased. 
 
 " Since it hath pleased the Lord to remove my 
 dear husband by death, it hath often been a 
 concern upon my mind to give testimony con- 
 cerning him, which is as followeth : — 
 
 " Having good cause often to remember the 
 times of our being first acquainted, I well 
 
in Ireland. 101 
 
 remember, when he was come up to the state of 
 a man, how he was restless in his mind, and 
 earnestly desired the knowledge of the true 
 God ; in which time, he went from one place to 
 another, among the Church of England people, 
 to hear what their priests could tell him of the 
 way of salvation : for then his soul was in great 
 want of a Saviour ; and great was his hunger 
 after the way of life and righteousness. 
 
 '' In this condition the Lord was pleased, in 
 His unspeakable love, to visit his soul with the 
 springing in of His light and power, by which he 
 was much broken into tenderness, and brought 
 into great humiliation and fear: in which con- 
 dition he came among the despised people 
 called Quakers ; and although it was then a time 
 of great persecution, yet did he sit down with 
 them in their meetings, in silence, until such 
 time as it pleased the Lord of heaven and earth 
 so to fill his heart with His powerful word, that 
 he knew the burning thereof as a holy flame in his 
 soul : then was his mouth first opened in public 
 prayer and thanksgiving to the Lord ; and after- 
 wards to sound the Everlasting Gospel, which 
 was glad tidings to many poor, benighted souls. 
 
ioa Six Generations 
 
 " And further, I think I may safely say con- 
 cerning him, that when he was sensible that 
 the Lord had revealed His Son in him, and 
 that a necessity was laid upon him to preach 
 the Gospel, he did not consult with flesh and 
 blood, but gave up unto the heavenly vision ; 
 and was willing to spend the flower and prime 
 of his days in the service of Truth, which 
 he did in many years' travel ; and laboured 
 much in the work of the ministry in England, 
 Ireland, and America, before he married. 
 
 " In the fortieth year of his age, we took 
 each other in marriage in Cumberland ; and 
 soon after came into Ireland, and settled near 
 Edenderry ; he having had, for some time 
 before, some remarkable sight of that place, 
 which he at times would speak of: and we had 
 reason to believe it was our place, for the Lord 
 blessed us together, and we had great comfort 
 in that it was our lot to settle among such 
 honest, tender-hearted Friends, unto whom 
 we were nearly united. 
 
 "After we were settled, he was often 
 engaged to travel in Truth's service ; and I 
 may say, from a certain sense that rests 
 
in Ireland. 103 
 
 upon my heart, that the more he gave up to 
 the work he was called unto, the more we 
 were blessed : and although it was pleasant 
 to me to have the company of so good a 
 husband, yet it was more solid satisfaction 
 to me to give him up to answer what the Lord 
 might require of him. And I may say to the 
 praise of God that I was made a sharer with 
 him, in feeling the sweetness of that heavenly 
 love and life that his heart was often filled 
 with, and which streamed forth to the comfort 
 of many ; for he was as a cloud that the Lord 
 often filled and caused to be emptied, to the 
 refreshing of his heritage. My soul, with 
 many more, hath great occasion to bow in 
 deep thankfulness unto the Lord, for the many 
 refreshing showers that we have been favoured 
 with ; and to give Him the praise thereof, who 
 is worthy for ever. 
 
 " He was a loving and kind husband, a 
 tender father to his children ; one that was 
 laborious in the creation, and provided plenti- 
 fully for his family; open-hearted to his friends, 
 and beloved in the neighbourhood by such as 
 knew him. He looked with a pitiful eye to- 
 
104 Six Generations 
 
 wards the poor of all sorts, and did administer 
 unto the wants of many. He was one that 
 delighted in justice and hated wrong things ; 
 and although the Lord blessed him in 
 many ways, yet was not his mind lifted up 
 thereby, but he continued unto the end an 
 humble-minded man. 
 
 " He was often sorely afflicted in body, yet 
 frequently travelled to visit Friends in much 
 outward pain. In his last journey in England, 
 he endured much bodily weakness, which con- 
 tinued upon him to his end ; for he went no 
 more abroad, only to our own meeting and 
 twice to the Half-year's Meeting in Dublin. 
 It was often afflicting unto me to think of 
 being left behind : but what shall I say ? the 
 Lord hath done it ; He have given and taken 
 away. 
 
 " So the Lord hath brought my mind into 
 quietness and contentment with my condition, 
 and with what He hath done ; steadfastly be- 
 lieving that He hath removed my dear husband 
 in His mercy and favour, and received his soul 
 into His everlasting kingdom. I shall con- 
 clude this my testimony, with fervent desires 
 
in Ireland. 105 
 
 in my heart unto the Lord God Almighty, that 
 
 He may, for His work's sake, favour His 
 
 Church and people with a plentiful spring of a 
 
 living ministry, and touch the tongues of many 
 
 of our youth with a live coal from His holy 
 
 altar ; that many may be willing to run His 
 
 errand, and be serviceable in His hand, as 
 
 were many of the generation which He hath 
 
 removed from us. 
 
 " Mary Wilson." 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 MOUNT WILSON AND HORETOWN. 
 
 We have followed the course of a devoted 
 servant of the Lord, and have heard him say, 
 when nearing the heavenly shore, that amid 
 his abundant labours at home and abroad he 
 had earnestly besought the Divine blessing 
 for his own children. These memoirs now 
 lead us in the line of Thomas Wilson's son, 
 Benjamin, whose signature, in conjunction 
 with his brother's, is appended to the following 
 document respecting his father : — 
 
106 Six Generations 
 
 " We give this short testimony concerning 
 our dear father, whom the Lord has been 
 pleased to remove by death. We have no 
 small share in the loss of him, but have great 
 reason, with thankful hearts, to bless the Lord 
 on his account, Who made him so great a 
 blessing to us ; and not to us only, but to 
 many more that had a sensible knowledge of 
 him, and of his diligent care and counsel for 
 the good of souls. This, in the love of God, 
 so prevailed in his heart, that he was made 
 willing to spend and be spent in that work and 
 service, a faithful labourer in God's vineyard, 
 that truth and righteousness might increase 
 on this earth ; not accounting any fading and 
 transitory enjoyment too near or dear to part 
 with for Christ. He much delighted to see 
 the youth among Friends grow up in a living, 
 sensible concern for the Truth ; and desired 
 that elders might be good examples and 
 patterns in the Church, being careful himself 
 to be found of this description. 
 
 " We could say much more concerning him, 
 but rather choose to be brief ; referring to 
 other testimonies given with respect to his 
 
in Ireland. 107 
 
 labours, travels and services for the Truth : 
 and shall conclude with sincere desires that 
 the Lord may so favour us, through His 
 infinite goodness and divine assistance, that 
 we may thereby be enabled to run that race 
 that is set before us, so as to obtain the 
 blessing while here, and the crown of eternal 
 life that is laid up for the righteous. 
 
 " Thomas Wilson. 
 " Benjamin Wilson. 
 " Thornwell, the 1st of the 
 Third Month, 1727." 
 
 There is no record of Thomas Wilson, junr., 
 but we know that Benjamin Wilson married, 
 in 1724, Dinah, daughter of Joshua Clibborn. 
 The latter was a son of a Colonel John 
 Clibborn, an officer in Cromwell's army, and a 
 man of strong character and considerable 
 local influence. 
 
 About the year 1658, when twenty-six years 
 of age, he came with the Army of the Parlia- 
 ment into Ireland, and settled on a property 
 in Moate, King's County. His descendants 
 still inhabit Moate Castle, the family seat. 
 
io8 Six Generations 
 
 Colonel Clibborn had a great aversion to the 
 people called Quakers, and finding that they 
 had a meeting-house on his land, he deter- 
 mined to clear them off by burning this house. 
 Provided with fire he went to the place, when, 
 as he supposed, it was empty, but to his sur- 
 prise he found a meeting going on, and Thomas 
 Loe preaching. He threw away the fire, sat 
 down behind the door, and became so power- 
 fully affected that his purpose was immediately 
 changed. On his return home, his wife asked 
 if the Quaker Meeting-house was burned. 
 "No," said he, " If you will come to meeting 
 there next Sunday, and do not like it, I will go 
 with you to church the following Sunday." 
 
 She accordingly went, and Thomas Loe 
 again preached. Both joined the Friends, and 
 Colonel Clibborn built a Meeting-house, which, 
 with a burial ground, he bequeathed to the 
 Society for ever. 
 
 He was of a generous, open-hearted dis- 
 position, beloved and esteemed in his neighbour- 
 hood, very hospitable, especially to strangers 
 who came on errands of love preaching the 
 Gospel of Peace. 
 
in Ireland. 109 
 
 His situation in the Civil Wars, during the 
 struggle of James II, to retain his power, was 
 very perilous, as his house was only a few 
 miles from Athlone, where the Irish Army had 
 established their garrison, and from whence 
 issued parties to distress the country. 
 
 Meetings were kept up at great hazard. 
 Succouring many, and endued with Christian 
 love, John Clibborn held on his way in patience 
 and courage. He was one night dragged by 
 his hair from that home which had been long 
 a refuge for the distressed, but which was now 
 the spoil of the plunderer, and in flames. 
 
 His life was attempted three times by the 
 bloodthirsty foes around him, and at last they 
 laid his head on a block and raising the hatchet 
 prepared to strike the fatal blow. He called 
 for a brief respite, and then knelt down to 
 pray, as did Stephen, that the sin might not 
 be laid to their charge. Just then another 
 party arrived, and asked : " Who have you 
 got there?" and were answered : " Clibborn." 
 " Clibborn !" they echoed, " a hair of his head 
 shall not be touched." 
 
 Escaping with his bare life, almost naked, 
 
no Six Generations 
 
 he wrapped a blanket around him and presented 
 himself before the Commander at Athlone. 
 
 The officer desired him to point out the 
 men who had been guilty of this outrage, and 
 they should be hanged before his hall-door. 
 But he refused, saying he bore them no ill-will, 
 and only desired that his neighbours and him- 
 self might be allowed to live unmolested. 
 
 John Clibborn lived to see tranquillity res- 
 tored, and ended in peace his long life in 1705. 
 
 In connecting himself with the family of this 
 good man, we may believe Benjamin Wilson 
 came into possession of " a prudent wife, which 
 is from the Lord." 
 
 They made their home at Mount Wilson, 
 near Edenderry, one of three farms owned by 
 his father and uncle, Mungo Bewley. At this 
 date there had settled about Edendeny a 
 number of English colonists who had become 
 Friends. 
 
 An old resident was wont to tell that when 
 a boy his father objected to his going to school 
 on the Mid-week Meeting-day, lest the child 
 should run across one of the fifteen Quaker 
 conveyances which frequented the road ! 
 
in Ireland. in 
 
 To gather in so many of those who were 
 sturdy Puritan soldiers and officers, the power 
 of the life and ministry of Friends must have 
 been considerable. 
 
 About this time William Penn's life was 
 consecrated to God,through the instrumentality 
 of Thomas Loe, to whom reference has just 
 been made ; Sir William Penn, Vice-Admiral 
 of England, had sent his son to Cork, where he 
 had heard Loe preach, and having continued 
 to attend meeting in that City, he was cast into 
 prison. In after life he became the founder of 
 Pennsylvania, a State which prospered without 
 military defence for sixty years, or as long as 
 Friends continued to govern it. 
 
 Another instance of the power accompanying 
 the preaching of plain and often uneducated 
 men, is to be found in a statement of an officer 
 of Cromwell, written after the Battle of Dunbar, 
 as follows : — 
 
 " As I lay at the head of my troop, I observed 
 at some distance a crowd of people, and one 
 standing higher than the rest ; upon which I 
 sent one of my men to bring me word what 
 the gathering meant. Seeing him ride up and 
 
112 Six Generations 
 
 stay, without returning according to my order, 
 I sent a second, who remained in like manner, 
 and then I determined to go myself. When I 
 came thither, I found it was James Naylor, * 
 preaching to the people, but with such a power 
 and reaching energy as I had not until then 
 been ever witness of. I could not help staying 
 also, although I was afraid to stay, for I was 
 made a Quaker, being forced to tremble at the 
 sight I got of myself. I was struck with more 
 terror than at the Battle of Dunbar, when we 
 had naught to expect but to fall a prey to the 
 swords of the enemy. The people in that 
 gathering, in the clear and powerful opening 
 of their inward state, cried out against them- 
 selves and implored mercy. I clearly saw the 
 cross to be taken up, so I durst not stay any 
 longer, but got off, carrying condemnation in 
 my own breast. But ever since I have thought 
 myself obliged to acknowledge on the behalf 
 of the Quakers, as I have now done." f 
 
 We shall now be obliged to turn our attention 
 to other scenes. 
 
 * See Appendix D. t James Gough's Journal. 
 
in Ireland. 113 
 
 About the time that Thomas Wilson first 
 saw the light, in 1655, there was representing 
 Great Yarmouth in Parliament a tried fellow^ 
 soldier and friend of Cromwell, Major-General 
 William Goffe. His father was Stephen Goffe, 
 or Goughe, graduate of Magdalen College, 
 Oxford, and Rector of Stanmar, in Essex, of 
 whom nothing is known before 1590. He is 
 mentioned as a good disputant and logician, 
 and a very severe Puritan. He had a large 
 family, and lost his wife after the birth of his 
 fifth son. 
 
 In Stanmar Church there is a bronze plate 
 inscribed: "Here lyeth Deborah Goffe, the 
 wife of Stephen Goffe, preacher of God's 
 Word, who died 8th day of November, a.d. 
 1626, aged 39." 
 
 The Rector placed his third son, William, 
 in business in London, but ere long the young 
 man quitted the desk and joined the Army of 
 the Parliament, as Quartermaster ; he rose to 
 high command, and married the daughter of 
 Colonel Whalley, Cromwell's first cousin. 
 
 The oldest son, Stephen Goffe, jun., D.D., 
 an Oxford graduate, became, amid the chang- 
 
H4 Si* Generations 
 
 ing religious opinions of that day, a Roman 
 Catholic priest, and was chaplain to Henrietta 
 Maria, wife of Charles I, in Paris. He was 
 one of those who tried to free the King from 
 his confinement in Hampton Court, but was 
 seized and committed to prison, and afterwards 
 found means to escape. 
 
 In Paris we find him as superior of a distin- 
 guished order, acting as a common father 
 to the English exiles, both Catholic and Pro- 
 testant, during the Commonwealth. By the 
 Queen-mother's order he was appointed tutor 
 to the son of Charles II, Duke of Mon- 
 mouth. " Goffe died in the house of the Fathers 
 of the Oratory, Paris, Christmas-day, 1681 ; 
 he was," says Wood, "considered a learned 
 man and well read in the Fathers." * 
 
 Stephen Goffe's second son, John, became 
 D.D. and Rector of Hackington, near Canter- 
 bury. From this living he was ejected in 1643 
 for refusing to take the Covenant, and cast into 
 the country prison ; how long he remained 
 there is not known, but in 1652, through the 
 
 * Anthony Wood's Athena Oxonienses 
 
in Ireland. 115 
 
 influence of his brother William, he was given 
 the living of Norton, Kent, and also became 
 Vicar of St. Stephen's. 
 
 In the fluctuating course of events the peace- 
 ful Quaker family, whom we left at Mount 
 Wilson, married into the family of William 
 Goffe, Major-General in the Protector's Army 
 of Ironsides. 
 
 The career of William Goffe is interesting 
 as a picture of his times. He could preach as 
 well as fight, for in 1648 we find him taking part 
 in the three days of humiliation and prayer, 
 self-imposed on the Puritan Army at Windsor 
 Castle. Troubles were accumulating. The 
 King was a restive prisoner at Carisbrooke ; 
 the Royalists were watching for their chance to 
 retrieve disaster ; the Presbyterians, with the 
 City at their head, were half inclined to return 
 to their allegiance ; the Scotch Army was march- 
 ing upon London ; Parliament was divided 
 against itself ; everything looked black for the 
 army and its leader. 
 
 " Then," says Adjutant-General Allen (" a 
 most authentic, earnest man," in Carlyle's 
 phrase), " the army resolved ' to go solemnly 
 
 1 2 
 
n6 Six Generations 
 
 to search out our own iniquities, and humble 
 our souls before the Lord in the sense of the 
 same ; which, we were persuaded, had pro- 
 voked the Lord against us, to bring such sad 
 perplexities upon us at that day ' And 
 
 at this time did the then Major Goffe make 
 use of that good Word, Proverbs, i, 23 : ' Turn 
 you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my 
 Spirit unto you, I will make known my words 
 unto you.' Which, we having found out our 
 sin, he urged as our duty from those words. 
 And the Lord so accompanied by His Spirit 
 that it had a kindly effect, like a word of His, 
 upon most of our hearts that were then present, 
 which begot in us a great shame and loathing 
 of ourselves for our iniquities, and a justifying 
 of the Lord as righteous in His, proceedings 
 against us." * 
 
 One of the aims of this little series of 
 memoirs is to enforce, by means of an object 
 lesson, the peace principles inculcated by the 
 
 * In 1649 we find the following record: "On the departure of 
 Cromwell for Ireland, his friends assembled at Whitehall, and 
 Colonel Goffe, among others, expounded the Scriptures excellently 
 and pertinently to the purpose." 
 
in Ireland. 117 
 
 Gospel of Christ. But although the universal 
 Christian Church is being led to recognize 
 these more and more, we cannot refuse to 
 acknowledge that servants of God are found 
 among those who, not seeing that the dispo- 
 sitions which lead to war are wholly incom- 
 patible with the spirit of the Gospel, have 
 believed they wielded the sword for Him. 
 William Goffe was a striking example of this 
 fact. 
 
 After the expulsion of the Long Parliament, 
 in December, 1653, he aided Colonel White to 
 turn out the recalcitrant remnant of the Bare- 
 bones Parliament.* Sherton's State Papers 
 describe this as follows : — 
 
 "After the Speaker had left the House, 
 with many Members, twenty-seven stayed be- 
 hind speaking to one another, and goingto speak 
 to the Lord in prayer. Then Colonel Goffe and 
 Lieutenant-Colonel White came in and desired 
 them there to come out. Some answered 
 they were there by a call from the General, and 
 would not move unless they had a command 
 
 State Papers, page 263. 
 
n8 Six Generations 
 
 from him. The Colonel returned no answer, 
 but went out and fetched two files of Musque- 
 teers, and as good as forced them out — among 
 whom I was an unworthy one." 
 
 At Dunbar, Goffe commanded the Protector's 
 own regiment, and in 1655 (the date of Thomas 
 Wilson's birth) we find him one of the ten 
 Major-Generals, under whose absolute control 
 Cromwell has parcelled out the whole country. 
 His district is Surrey, Hants, and Berks. 
 England, wearied of plots and disturbance, 
 settled down peaceably under their control, for 
 they were, as Carlyle says : " Carefully chosen, 
 of real wisdom, valour, and veracity ; men 
 fearing God and hating covetousness." Their 
 duties were as various as their powers were 
 great ; among these being the selection of 
 " Godly ministers " for the various parishes — a 
 task for which these soldier-preachers were 
 perhaps more fit than most military rulers 
 before or afterwards. 
 
 In 1657, with Wh alley and Berry, Goffe 
 seems to have favoured the offer of kingship 
 to Oliver, which their fellow generals opposed. 
 About this date he was nominated for the 
 
in Ireland. 119 
 
 House of Lords, and two years later his name 
 appears, with sixty others, on the death warrant 
 of Charles I. 
 
 He had followed Cromwell through his 
 campaigns in Ireland, and had fought at the 
 sieges of Drogheda and Wexford, and for his 
 services received large grants of land in the 
 County Wexford, among them the estate of 
 Horetown, which his descendants still hold. 
 
 His last public appearance in England was 
 on May 25th, 1659, when he vainly tried to 
 rally his regiment in defence of Richard Crom- 
 well, urging him to arms to maintain his 
 cause.* 
 
 We next find him as a fugitive in America, 
 where he afterwards figured in one of the most 
 interesting incidents in the early history of 
 New England — the deliverance of the frontier 
 town of Hadley from the attack of a barbarous 
 Indian tribe. 
 
 Alarmed at the threatening aspect of events, 
 the inhabitants had, on September, 1675, 
 assembled for prayer, and to humble them- 
 
 * See Appendix C. 
 
120 Six Generations 
 
 selves before God in a solemn fast. While 
 thus engaged, the terrible war-whoop was 
 heard, and all seemed at the mercy of the 
 band of approaching savages, who had partly 
 gained possession of the town before reaching 
 the Church. 
 
 At this crisis, amid the bewilderment and 
 terror of the Colonists, there suddenly appeared 
 among them a man, tall, and erect of stature, 
 •calm and venerable in aspect, with long grey 
 hair falling over his shoulders. Rallying the 
 retreating townsmen, he issued brief and dis- 
 tinct orders in a commanding voice, and with 
 cool and soldierly precision. The powerful 
 influence which, in a moment of peril and 
 difficulty, a master mind assumes over his less 
 gifted fellows, was well exemplified on that 
 occasion. The stranger's commands were im- 
 plicitly obeyed by men who, until that instant, 
 had never seen him. 
 
 The town of Hadley was saved, and the in- 
 habitants preserved from massacre ; after the 
 first moments spent in anxious enquiry and 
 thanksgiving, the Deliverer was eagerly sought 
 for. Where was he ? All had seen him an 
 
in Ireland. 121 
 
 instant before, but he had disappeared, nor 
 was he ever seen again. One or two among 
 the people could have told who he was, but 
 they prudently held their peace. 
 
 Unable to account for the sudden advent 
 and disappearance of the stranger, the people 
 of Hadley believed he was an Angel sent from 
 God for their rescue. 
 
 The story, however, is a historical fact, and 
 although, with the traditions of the Indian 
 War of 1673, this belief has been handed down 
 among the New Englanders, the history of 
 William Goffe accounts for the Delivering 
 Angel of Hadley. After the death of Crom- 
 well, when the Restoration was evidently close 
 at hand, Goffe, well knowing that England 
 would no longer be a place of safety for him, 
 left Westminster in May, 1660, and, accom- 
 panied by Edward Whalley, his father-in-law, 
 whose name stands fourth in the death warrant 
 of Charles I, embarked for Boston. 
 
 On their arrival, both were well received 
 by Governor Endicott and the leading men 
 of the Colony. But, as the news of the 
 Proclamation of Charles the Second came out 
 
122 Six Generations 
 
 in the same ship with them, it was considered 
 prudent that they should retire to the village of 
 Cambridge, now a suburb of Boston. There, 
 any persons insulting the Regicides, were bound 
 over to keep the peace, while in England a 
 reward was offered for their heads. 
 
 But the peaceful days for the refugees at 
 Cambridge were soon to end, Late in 
 November, the Act of Indemnity, from which, 
 among others, the names of Goffe and 
 Whalley were excluded, arrived in Boston. 
 When the Council met, the majority were 
 against taking action. At a consultation of 
 private friends, however, it was decided that 
 Goffe and Whalley should proceed to New- 
 haven, in Connecticut. They were treated 
 with kindness on the journey, and on arrival 
 took up their abode with Mr. Davenport 
 a minister eminent in the early chronicles 
 of the Colony, for piety, learning, and zeal. 
 
 In March, news arrived from England that 
 ten of the Regicides had been executed under 
 circumstances of revolting cruelty. 
 
 These tidings, which Goffe and Whalley 
 received with somewhat of pious exultation, 
 
in Ireland. 123 
 
 were accompanied with others relating more 
 immediately to themselves. A Captain Bredan, 
 having seen the refugees in Boston, reported 
 the circumstance in London, and Governor 
 Endicott received a royal mandate to arrest 
 and send them to England. He did not dare 
 openly to resist this order, but attempted to 
 evade it on the ground of inability to put it 
 into execution. Two young Englishmen, 
 zealous Royalists, offered, however, to arrest 
 them, and immediately proceeded to New- 
 haven. Letters had preceded them, and on 
 the next Sunday Davenport preached a ser- 
 mon divided into no less than thirty-two heads, 
 from Isaiah xvi : " Take counsel, execute 
 judgment ; make thy shadow as the night in 
 the midst of the noonday ; hide the outcasts ; 
 bewray not him that wandereth ; let Mine out- 
 casts dwell with thee ; ... be thou a 
 covert to them from the face of the spoiler." 
 This discourse had the desired effect. When 
 the pursuers arrived, they waited on Governor 
 Leet of Newhaven. Leet replied that a con- 
 scientious scruple prevented him from backing 
 their warrant, and he would not suffer them 
 
124 Six Generations 
 
 to act as magistrates in Newhaven, but would 
 send out his own constables to seek for Goffe 
 and Whalley. 
 
 We need scarcely say Leet's constables did 
 not succeed in arresting "the outcasts," but 
 their retreat having become unsafe, they 
 sought refuge in a cave on the summit of 
 West Hill, one of the headlands that form 
 the harbour, where, supplied with provisions 
 by a woodman, they lived for about a month. 
 The Cave of the "Judges," as the Regicides 
 were invariably called in America, has long 
 been one of the show places in Newhaven. 
 
 The pursuers, after visiting the Dutch Colony 
 of Manhattan, now New York, returned to 
 Boston and made a formal complaint against 
 Governor Leet. 
 
 Matters began to wear a serious aspect. 
 The Council was divided : some advocating the 
 surrender of the " Judges," lest Royal dis- 
 pleasure might injure the infant colony. 
 
 At this crisis, Goffe and Whalley marched 
 down to the Governor and surrendered them- 
 selves. Leet seems to have been unprepared 
 for this bold step, and kept them in conceal- 
 
in Ireland. 125 
 
 ment, provisioning them from his own table 
 for twelve days. It was concluded that Leet 
 should continue to temporize and the Regicides 
 return to their retreat, giving their parole that 
 they would again surrender when required, 
 In the Summer of 1661, the Colony made peace 
 with the Government by proclaiming Charles II, 
 and the pursuit of the " Judges " slackened for 
 a time. At the approach of Winter they went 
 to the house of a man named Tomkins, in 
 Milford, where they remained for two years, 
 and, though never wandering further than the 
 orchard, their residence was known to many. 
 
 Goffe was a man of education, and famous 
 in the Parliamentary Army as a " Preacher, 
 prayer maker, and presser for righteousness 
 and freedom." He distinguished himself thus 
 while at Milford on all suitable occasions, to 
 the great delight of his hearers. Milford, 
 however, was not to be their final resting- 
 place. Matters between the Colonies and the 
 Mother Country being still unsettled, a com- 
 mission was sent to New England, and the 
 astute statesman, Clarendon, when advising 
 this course, used the remarkable words : 
 
126 Six Generations 
 
 " The Colonies are already hardened into 
 republics." The duty of the commissioners 
 included the arrest and transmission to 
 England of Goffe and Whalley. Warned by 
 this intelligence they left Milford in October, 
 1664, for the more remote town of Hadley. 
 Travelling by night, and concealed by day, 
 they reached a retreat provided for them by 
 the minister of Hadley, a Mr. Russell, who 
 had two rooms, an upper and a lower one, 
 adjoining his own house, where, in utter 
 seclusion, Whalley and Goffe lived fourteen 
 years until the death of the former in 1678. 
 It is not certain whether Goffe visited New- 
 haven after the death of his father-in-law, 
 but it is almost certain that he, too, died in 
 Russell's house about two years after. 
 
 Goffe, from the period of his departure from 
 England until the year of his death, kept a 
 diary. Unfortunately this interesting manu- 
 script was burned at Boston, during one of 
 the riots preceding the revolutionary war, but 
 there are a few scattered extracts in the pages 
 of Hutchinson and other New England writers 
 which afford us a glance at the inner life and 
 
THOMAS CHRISTY WAKEFIELD, SENR. 
 
in Ireland. 127 
 
 sentiments of the Refugees. Goffe regularly 
 corresponded with his wife in England under 
 a feigned name. Part of a letter, and his 
 wife's reply, are before the writer of this his- 
 tory. They display great amiability of private 
 character, and minds supported under the 
 affliction of a life-long separation by strong 
 faith in a happy reunion hereafter. Whalley 
 suffered in both mind and body by the sad 
 circumstances of his lot, being for some years 
 quite imbecile, requiring Goffe's constant care. 
 The only events during the prolonged sojourn 
 at Hadley was a visit from John Dixwell, 
 another of the English Regicides, and the 
 attack of the Indians followed by Goffe's 
 remarkable appearance as the deliverer of the 
 town. 
 
 It is known for a certainty that Russell, in 
 whose house they lived, buried the bodies on 
 his own premises, but it is surmised that, to 
 prevent discovery, he procured Dixwell to 
 remove the bodies to Newhaven, where 
 Dixwell had settled, unmolested, under the 
 name of James Davis. Undoubtedly, the 
 last resting place of Goffe, Whalley, and 
 
128 Six Generations 
 
 Dixwell is at Newhaven. On the tomb 
 of the latter is the following inscription : 
 "J. D., Esq., deceased, March 18th, in the 
 82nd year of his age, 1688-g." On the tomb 
 of Whalley there are only the initials E. W., 
 and a date which at first glance appears to 
 be 1:658, but on more careful scrutiny the 5 is 
 discovered to be an inverted 7, meaning 1678, 
 the correct date of his death. The inscrip- 
 tion on Goffe's tombstone, is merely " M. G., 
 80." But there is a dash thus — beneath the 
 letter M., signifying it is to be read inverted 
 as W., the correct initial, and the 80, which 
 would seem to imply his age, denotes the year 
 of his death — 1680. This enigmatical mode of 
 inscription was adopted evidently by Dixwell 
 to avoid detection and desecration ; it answered 
 the purpose in a former age and has attracted 
 attention at a later period, proving the iden- 
 tity of the remains that lie beneath.* 
 
 After Major-General Goffe's flight to 
 America, frequent and affectionate corres- 
 pondence was maintained between him and 
 
 * Chambers's Journal. 
 
in Ireland. 129 
 
 his wife, who, with their son Richard, retired 
 to their estates in Ireland. His son married, 
 in 1681, Hannah, the daughter of J. Chamber- 
 lain, of Portmarle, Co. Wexford. Under the 
 earnest ministry of Friends at that day, it 
 seems the Goffe's early joined the body. 
 The Chamberlains were most likely English 
 settlers, and it was probably to this J. 
 Chamberlain that Besse in his " Sufferings 
 of the Quakers," refers: "1676, Wexford.— 
 By warrant against him in Ecclesiastical 
 Court, Jonas Chamberlain was committed to 
 prison for nine months by Humphery Good, 
 priest." 
 
 In 172 1, Richard Goffe's son, Jacob, 
 married Mary Fade, of Dublin, whose father, 
 Joseph Fade, after a distinguished military 
 career, had joined Friends.* 
 
 From the old book above quoted, we append 
 another entry: " 1661, Dublin. — James Fade 
 
 * Sir John Barnard, the uncle of Mary Fade, who was Member 
 for London, twice Lord Mayor, and whose statue stands in the 
 Exchange, had been a Friend, and never ceased to wear the plain 
 garb, though his Quakerism probably gave way through association 
 with the world. , 
 
 K 
 
130 Six Generations 
 
 and twenty others taken out of their Meeting- 
 house by a guard of soldiers, and committed 
 to Newgate, by order of Hubert Adrian, 
 Mayor," Another entry : " 1671, James Fade, 
 Dublin, having about £40 due to him by one 
 Ezekiel Webb, was by Webb subpcened into 
 Chancery, and, because he would not answer 
 on oath, believing it forbidden by Christ, who 
 said : ' Swear not at all,' he not only lost the 
 ^40, but £70 more to get clear of the 
 debtor." * 
 
 Of this Jacob Goffe, there is little record ; 
 we trace him, however, taking part in public 
 matters connected with the Society. His 
 name with that of James Fade, &c, is ap- 
 pended to a document addressed to King 
 George II in 1744, signifying the fidelity 
 of Friends during a time . of disturbance in 
 the Kingdom. 
 
 His portrait, as seen by the writer in 
 Horetown, represents him as a man of stately 
 Puritan type ; the canvas bears the mark of a 
 
 * George Fox, in a Court of Justice, once addressed his accusers 
 thus : " You say, ' Kiss the Book,' the Book says, ' Kiss the Son,' 
 and the Son says, ' Swear not at all.' " 
 
in Ireland. 131 
 
 pike thrust — a relic of the 1798 Rebellion, when 
 a party who probably entered the house to 
 murder his son thus took vengeance on the 
 portrait of the father. 
 
 The son of Jacob Goffe and Mary Fade bore 
 his father's name, and married Elizabeth, 
 daughter of Benjamin Wilson, whom we left 
 in his quiet home at Mount Wilson, King's 
 County. 
 
 Elizabeth Goffe was a woman of strong 
 character, with an unwavering faith in the 
 God of her fathers. She doubtless occupied a 
 position of influence in the home to which her 
 husband took her in 1769, where, under the 
 pious and watchful care of the father and 
 mother, a numerous family filled the old 
 Horetown House. The quiet of their country 
 life was disturbed in 1798, by the terrible 
 " Irish Rebellion," which broke out around 
 them. Into its causes and results we cannot 
 enter here, but it carried in its train misery, 
 suffering and death, and left behind that 
 legacy of civil war — the bitter heart-burnings 
 of religious and political animosity. County 
 Wexford became the chief seat of warfare. 
 
 K2 
 
132 Six Generations 
 
 There, the priests appeared among the rebels, 
 and murders on a large scale were perpetrated 
 under their sanction. 
 
 During this trying ordeal, the Friends stood 
 firmly by their peace principles, convinced 
 that " They who defend war must defend the 
 dispositions that lead to war, and those 
 dispositions are absolutely opposed to the 
 Gospel."* 
 
 Thus they joined neither party, but became 
 the Friends of all, and experienced wonderful 
 preservation from fire and sword. 
 
 Doubtless spiritual force rises in proportion 
 to meet the emergency which God in His 
 providence permits to overtake His children. 
 So we find Elizabeth Goffe's fine qualities of 
 mind and soul stand out in clearer relief as 
 the furnace of trial tested them with increasing 
 severity ; but the part that she and her family 
 bore in the struggle was but similar to that 
 which very many Friends endured in those 
 trying times. 
 
 We shall now turn to a simple account of the 
 
 * Erasmus. 
 
in Ireland. 133 
 
 experiences of the Horetown family, written 
 by the youngest daughter, Dinah Wilson Goffe, 
 who was requested towards the end of her 
 life to commit to paper some of her early 
 recollections. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 DIVINE PROTECTION. 
 
 Dinah W. Goffe writes : — 
 
 " It has often occurred to me that I ought 
 to leave some little memorial of the preser- 
 vation extended by our Heavenly Father to my 
 beloved parents and their family, as well as of 
 the remarkable faith and patience with which 
 they were favoured, under circumstances of a 
 very peculiar and distressing character. 
 
 " It was about the middle of the Fifth 
 Month, 1798, that the County of Wexford in 
 Ireland, became a scene of open rebellion, 
 headed by B H , a Protestant gentle- 
 man, and two Roman Catholic priests, John 
 Murphy and Philip Roche. Murphy was chief 
 
134 Six Generations 
 
 instigator to cruelty and murder ; he pretended 
 to catch the flying bullets of the royalist 
 troops, but was at length killed by a cannon 
 ball. Roche, though more humane, was 
 finally hung. The aims of the insurgents 
 were various ; some were more cruelty dis- 
 posed than others ; all determined to liberate 
 themselves by force of arms from the unequal 
 yoke, as they believed it, of the British Govern- 
 ment, and to become a free people ; some to 
 bring all Ireland to Catholicism, &c. 
 
 " About ten days before the Rebellion broke 
 out, a Roman Catholic gentleman, who resided 
 near, called on my father, and desired to speak 
 to him in private. He then informed him that 
 the country would, in the course of a few days 
 be in a state of general insurrection. My 
 father replied that he could not credit it, for 
 that he had frequently heard such rumours. 
 The gentleman assured him that he knew cer- 
 tainly it would be so, and that he had procured 
 a vessel, now lying at Duncannon, to convey 
 himself and family to Wales, and that, as a 
 friend, he gladly offered accommodation to 
 our household. My father thanked him for 
 
in Ireland. 135 
 
 this act of friendship, but said that it felt to 
 him a matter of great importance to remove 
 from the position allotted him by Providence, 
 yet that he would consider of it and consult 
 his wife. After having endeavoured to seek 
 best wisdom, my dear parents concluded that 
 it was right for them to remain at home, 
 placing their dependence and confidence in 
 Him who alone can protect, and who has 
 promised to preserve those that put their trust 
 in Him. 
 
 " The estate and spacious mansion, called 
 Horetown, occupied by my parents Jacob and 
 Elizabeth Goffe and the family, were situated 
 about ten miles from each of the towns of 
 Wexford and New Ross. The rebels formed 
 two camps at Carrickburn and Corbett Hill, 
 one on each side of the house, at distances of 
 two and five miles from it. This central posi- 
 tion caused a constant demand on us for pro- 
 visions, with which the insurgents were daily 
 supplied, and they often said they spared the 
 lives of the family for that purpose. 
 
 " A day or two after the commencement of 
 the Rebellion, two carts were brought to our 
 
136 Six Generations 
 
 door, and the cellars emptied of all the salt 
 provisions, beer, cider, &c, which were taken 
 off to the camp. Fourteen beautiful horses 
 were turned out of my father's stables, and 
 mounted in the yard by two or more of the 
 rebels on each. Some, which had not been 
 trained, resisted by plunging ; but their riders 
 soon subdued them, running their pikes into 
 them, and otherwise using great cruelty. 
 Much of our cattle they also took, and 
 orders were sent each week from the camp at 
 Carrickburn, to have a cow and some sheep 
 killed, which were sent for at stated terms. 
 
 " Soon after the general rising and arming 
 of the people in the County of Wexford, we 
 were roused one morning by the sound of 
 cannon at a distance, and quickly heard that 
 there had been an engagement at a place 
 called ' The Three Rocks,' on the Mountains 
 of Forth, near Wexford, between the yeo- 
 manry and the rebels. After a severe conflict 
 the former were put to flight, with great loss 
 of life ; sixty or seventy were buried in one 
 grave. 
 
 " Two of my cousins named Heatly, whose 
 
in Ireland. 137 
 
 mother had married out of our Society, were 
 officers in that corps, and escaped to our house 
 under the cover of the darkness of the night. 
 On their arrival, they found that their father 
 and mother, and seven or eight children, had 
 been turned out of their comfortable home, 
 and had also fled for refuge to my father's, 
 where they were affectionately received. We 
 had all retired to rest when these young 
 officers arrived. The thankfulness of their 
 parents, who had never expected to see them 
 again, passes all description ; they were much 
 affected and immediately returned thanks, on 
 the bended knee, for the preservation of their 
 children. For some days the two young men 
 remained in the house, hiding from room to 
 room, sometimes under the beds ; as there 
 was a frequent search for arms and Orange- 
 men by the rebels. Some of the chief of these, 
 having information of their being with us, 
 called, demanding them to surrender, and 
 offering them the United Irishmen's oath. 
 This however they resolutely refused, saying 
 they had taken the oath of allegiance to their 
 sovereign but a few days before, and would 
 
138 Six Generations 
 
 never perjure themselves. On this one of the 
 rebels laid his hand on his sword, and in great 
 irritation said, were it not for the respect they 
 had for Mr. Goffe, and that they did not wish, 
 to spill blood in his hall, their lives should be 
 the forfeit of their refusal. At length my 
 cousins left our house by night, intending to 
 make their way to Ross, and took shelter in 
 the cottage of an old Roman Catholic nurse 
 employed by the family ; but by her they were 
 betrayed, and handed over to the rebels, who 
 took them prisoners to the camp. The lives 
 of these interesting young men were, however, 
 remarkably preserved, after they had endured 
 much hardship in prison. 
 
 " Two Roman Catholic men-servants, be- 
 longing to our family, and lodging in the house, 
 were compelled to join the rebels to save their 
 lives ; and were armed with pikes — the first we 
 had seen. On my dear mother's hearing of 
 their having these weapons, she sent to let 
 them know she could not allow anything of 
 the kind to be brought into the house, so each 
 night they left them outside the door. They 
 behaved quietly and respectfully throughout, 
 
in Ireland. 139 
 
 generally returning home at the close of the 
 day. 
 
 "The rebels set fire to the houses of many Pro- 
 testants ; and in the morning after the general 
 rising, a Roman Catholic family, seven in num- 
 ber, came from Enniscorthy, apparently in great 
 distress, saying they had left the town on fire. 
 They received shelter and hospitable entertain- 
 ment from my dear parents, and remained with 
 us the whole time. My mother often remarked, 
 with reference to her large family, that provi- 
 sions from day to day were so wonderfully 
 granted, that they seemed, like the cruse of oil 
 and the barrel of meal, never-failing. 
 
 " About twenty persons surrounded our 
 dinner-table each day, beside those in the 
 kitchen, four of whom were members of our 
 Society, which my mother considered a great 
 advantage at that awful period. She fre- 
 quently said that ' hind's feet ' appeared to be 
 given her, in being enabled with extraordinary 
 ease to get through the numerous household 
 duties that then devolved upon her. Thus the 
 gracious promise was verified in her experience : 
 ' As thy days so shall thy strength be.' 
 
140 Six Generations 
 
 " A rebel once inquired of her: ' Madam, 
 do you think we shall gain the day ? ' Feeling 
 it to be a serious question, after a pause she 
 replied : ' The Almighty only knows.' He 
 answered : ' You are right, madam ; have a 
 good heart, not a hair of your head shall be 
 hurt ; but when this business is over, the 
 Quakers are all to be driven down into Con- 
 naught, where the land is worth about two- 
 pence an acre, and you will have to till that, 
 and live on it as you can.' My mother smiled 
 and said : ' Give us a good portion, for we have 
 a large family.' 
 
 " Hannah and Arabella (afterwards Fennell) 
 with Dinah W. Goffe, aged about thirty, nine- 
 teen and fourteen, were the only daughters at 
 home at this time. The two former usually 
 walked three miles on First-days to the Meet- 
 ing-house at Forrest, accompanied by two of 
 the women servants, though they frequently 
 met with interruptions on the way. 
 
 " One day some of the people said, as they 
 passed the Roman Catholic Chapel : ' How 
 they dare us by going through the streets ! 
 If they persist they shall be taken and dragged 
 
JANE SAWDWITH WAKEFIELD, UU GOFFE. 
 
m Ireland. 141 
 
 to the altar of the chapel, and suffer the 
 penalty of their obstinacy.' But my sisters 
 passed quietly on. On one of these occasions 
 they remarked that a strange dog accompanied 
 them : it followed them for some miles, and 
 when they got safe home could not be induced 
 to enter the house, but went away. This cir- 
 cumstance, though simple, seemed remarkable 
 at the time. I fully believe that their minds 
 were not resting on outward help, but on 
 that Omnipotent arm which was mercifully 
 underneath to sustain. They were enabled 
 regularly to pursue their way, and to unite 
 with the few Friends that were permitted to 
 meet, remarking those opportunities as being 
 peculiarly solemn. Our dear parents would 
 gladly have joined them, but were unable from 
 the infirmities of age to walk so far, and had 
 no horses left to draw a carriage 
 
 " The family were always assembled for the 
 purpose of reading the Scriptures, after the 
 fatigues of the day were over, and one evening 
 a priest coming in, as he often did at other 
 times, perhaps to see what we were doing, 
 remarked on the quietude which prevailed. 
 
142 Six Generations 
 
 My mother said it was usually the case when 
 the hurry of household cares had ceased. He 
 said he came with good news — that we were 
 now all of one religion the world over. My 
 mother then inquired what it was, as she 
 believed there was only one true religion. He 
 replied, that an edict from the Pope had 
 arrived, and that it proclaimed a universal 
 Roman Catholic religion, adding that it was 
 high time for her to put up the cross. She 
 asked what he meant by the cross. He said : 
 ' Put up the outward sign on yourself and 
 your children.' She answered : ' That they 
 should never do, but she was thankful in 
 believing that her Heavenly Father was 
 enabling her to bear the cross, and that she 
 trusted He might be pleased to continue to do 
 so to the end.' I was standing near him at 
 the time, when he put his arms round me 
 and said : ' My dear child, we shall have you 
 all to ourselves '; and, placing his hand on 
 my father's shoulder, he said: ' Mr. Goffe, you 
 shall be one of our head senators.' This 
 unhappy man, we afterwards heard, lost his 
 life in attacking a Protestant gentleman, on 
 
THOMAS CHRISTY WAKEFIELD JUNR. 
 
in Ireland. 143 
 
 whose kindness and hospitality he had thrown 
 himself, when his own house was burnt down 
 by the English troops. To us he was uniformly 
 kind, and we thought his attention might, under 
 Providence, have had some influence on the 
 minds of the rebels. 
 
 " Many hundreds were daily on our lawn, 
 and our business was to hand them food as they 
 demanded it. Their fatigue and the heat of 
 Summer being exhausting, large tubs of milk 
 and water were placed at the hall and back 
 doors, with great quantities of bread and 
 cheese. The servants were frequently obliged 
 to stay up all night to bake bread for them, and 
 my mother and sisters often made their hands 
 bleed in cutting the bread and cheese — if not 
 cut up, they would carry off whole loaves and 
 cheese at the end of their pikes. They took 
 carving knives and others of a large size 
 from the pantry to fasten on poles, thus 
 converting them into destructive weapons ; 
 on seeing which, my mother had the re- 
 mainder carefully locked up after the meals. 
 At times they gave us dreadful details of 
 their own cruelty, and of the agonies of the 
 
144 Six Generations 
 
 sufferers, to the great distress of my sisters 
 and myself. 
 
 One day after a battle they related many such 
 acts, and said they had had good fun the day 
 before with the fine young officers, by tickling 
 them under the short ribs with their pikes, 
 making them writhe and cry out bitterly. I 
 was handing them food at the time, and could 
 not refrain from bursting into tears, throwing 
 down what I had in my hand, and running away 
 into the house. 
 
 " We were greatly struck by observing that, 
 however outrageously a party might come, 
 there were generally some among them who 
 were disposed to promote peace. Such would 
 say : ' You ought not to treat them so — the 
 poor ladies who have been up all night making 
 bread for you with their own hands.' One 
 morning a most violent party advanced, yelling 
 and swearing hideously, like savages intent on 
 rapine, so that we fully believed they had 
 formed some wicked design ; but two young 
 men, who looked sorrowful and alarmed on our 
 behalf, though perfect strangers, came forward, 
 requesting we might all withdraw and shut the 
 
in Ireland. 145 
 
 door, as they could not but dread the con- 
 sequences if the party were allowed to enter 
 the house. The young men stationed them- 
 selves on the steps of the hall-door, drew their 
 great cavalry swords, and, flourishing them, 
 declared that no one should pass ; pleading for 
 us in the most kind and energetic manner — 
 ' Why would you injure Mr. Goffe and his 
 family, who are doing all they can, feeding 
 and providing for you ? ' After a long struggle 
 the company relinquished their evil purpose. 
 The young men were quite overcome with the 
 exertion and heat : my father warmly thanked 
 them, and gave them silk handkerchiefs to wipe 
 their faces, inquiring their names — one of them 
 
 was called Denis of Gorey. On that 
 
 occasion, many wicked-looking women were 
 outside, evidently waiting for plunder ; and, 
 when disappointed, they made frightful faces, 
 and shook their hands at us as we stood at the 
 windows. One of them was heard to say when 
 they withdrew : ' You are a set of chicken- 
 hearted fellows ! ' 
 
 "A severe conflict took place at Enniscorthy, 
 the garrison being forced to surrender, and 
 
146 Six Generations 
 
 many hundreds, as we were told, left dead in 
 the streets. Two days after it, our Quarterly 
 Meeting for Leinster Province was, in usual 
 course, held there, and was attended by David 
 Sands from America, a valued minister, who 
 was then travelling through Ireland with 
 Abraham Jackson as his companion. As 
 they passed through Enniscorthy, the latter 
 had to alight and assist in removing the dead 
 bodies, which still lay in the streets, from 
 before the wheels of the carriage. The 
 meeting, though small, was said to have been 
 remarkably solemn, as it well might be. Many 
 other Friends with ourselves were deprived 
 of the means of attending, by the want of 
 horses which the rebels had taken. 
 
 "A barn, about a mile and a half from us, 
 belonging to a gentleman who lived at Sculla- 
 bogue, was used as a prison, in which about 
 250 persons, chiefly Protestants, were confined 
 — men, women and children, some being infants 
 in their mothers' arms. There they remained 
 from Sixth until Third-day, without receiving 
 any food, except some sheaves of wheat occa- 
 sionally thrown in, that the rebels might have 
 
JOHN CONRAN. 
 
in Ireland. 147 
 
 the amusement of seeing them scramble for the 
 grains. On the day of the battle of New Ross, 
 sixty or more of them were brought out on the 
 lawn and offered, one by one, life and liberty 
 if they would change their religious profession, 
 but they all refused. Some, after being half 
 tortured to death, answered : ' No ; give me 
 more powder and ball first.' 
 
 " Two of the prisoners, named John and 
 Samuel Jones, had attended our meeting, 
 though not members, and their case was a 
 particularly dreadful one. Samuel was kindly 
 supported by his wife, whilst he was unmerci- 
 fully tortured ; one limb after another being 
 broken, and each time the question repeated : 
 ' Will you have the priest ? ' Which he steadily 
 refused, looking calmly at his faithful wife, 
 and saying : ' My dear, I am not hurt ; I feel 
 no pain.' His brother also bore his martyr- 
 dom with firmness, and was put to death by 
 slow degrees in a similar way. The wife, with 
 admirable fortitude, stood between them when 
 they were shot, and held a hand of each. She 
 then implored the murderers to take her life 
 also ; but they refused, saying : ' They would 
 
148 Six Generations 
 
 not dishonour the Virgin Mary by killing a 
 woman.' I saw her afterwards in deep afflic- 
 tion passing our gate, as she sat in a cart with 
 the remains of her husband and brother. On 
 the same day — viz., the 4th of Sixth Month 
 — the barn was set on fire, and all the other 
 prisoners (said to be 184) were consumed. 
 Some of the poor women put their infants out 
 through the windows, hoping to save them ; 
 but the ruffians took them up on their pikes 
 and threw them back into the flames. I saw 
 the smoke of the barn, and cannot now forget 
 the strong and dreadful effluvium which was 
 wafted from it to our lawn. 
 
 " In the engagement at New Ross the in- 
 surgents were defeated. This was an awful 
 scene of conflict and bloodshed, continuing 
 with but little cessation for nearly twelve 
 hours. It is stated that 2,000 persons were 
 killed. The king's troops retreated twice, and 
 the town was in the hands of the rebels, when 
 a reinforcement was understood to have come 
 up and put them to flight. Some asserted that 
 no reinforcement arrived, and that the assailing 
 multitude fled when there were none to pursue 
 
in Ireland. 149 
 
 them. General Johnston, who commanded 
 the Royalists, said that the success of that day 
 was to be attributed to Providence and was 
 not the work of man. Several Friends of 
 New Ross had previously retired to Waterford; 
 others, who remained, were remarkably pre- 
 served, though the town was, set on fire in 
 different quarters. 
 
 " Previously to the burning of the barn, a 
 company came one day with two horses, saying 
 they had orders to take my dear father and our 
 cousin, J. Heatly, to the camp — the latter 
 being the father of the two young officers 
 before-mentioned. It was nearly noon when 
 they came and seized these two victims ; and 
 my mother having gone to give some orders in 
 the kitchen, I ran to call her, saying they were 
 forcing my father on horseback. On this she 
 came out, and pressing through the dense 
 crowd on the lawn, asked them peremptorily : 
 ' What are you doing with my husband ? ' On 
 their saying they were going to take him to the 
 camp, she said, in the same tone : ' You shall 
 not take my husband, for he is in poor health, 
 and if you put him in prison I think he could 
 
150 Six Generations 
 
 not live many weeks ; he will be here for you 
 at any time you wish, as he cannot leave his 
 house.' They were then silent, and quietly 
 relinquished their design. My mother re- 
 marked: 'We have gotwhatyou call protections 
 from the generals.' These were sent for, and 
 read aloud to this effect : ' Let no one molest 
 Mr. Goff or his family, they being hostages to 
 the United Army. Signed in the camp of 
 Carrickburn by two generals, Harvey and 
 Roche.' These documents had been previously 
 sent without any request made by the family. 
 The party were then satisfied, as related to my 
 father ; all entreaty was, however, unavailing 
 with respect to my cousin, J. Heatly, who was 
 taken away on horseback, amid the shrieks 
 and cries of his afflicted wife and children. 
 
 " We afterwards heard that they soon made 
 him dismount and walk ten miles to Wexford 
 They then put him on board a prison ship on 
 the River Slaney, where he remained until the 
 insurgents were totally defeated. He witnessed 
 many of his acquaintances and fellow-sufferers 
 — said to be to the number of ninety-seven in 
 all — taken out of the same ship and put to 
 
in Ireland. 151 
 
 death, with very cruel circumstances, on Wex- 
 ford Bridge ; but he and a friend of his had a 
 remarkable escape. The prisoners were called 
 out by two and two, and when it came to his 
 and his friend's turn, he made some excuses 
 for delay. The rebels continued calling for 
 them from the deck of the vessel, with their 
 bayonets pointed down towards them, but they 
 still delayed going. At this juncture, a rumour 
 reached their guards that the English Arm)' 
 were marching into the town ; and this report 
 throwing them into a state of terror, the lives 
 of the two prisoners were saved. It proved, 
 however, to be only a few yeomen, boldly 
 preceded by an officer of the corps, which had 
 been defeated in the engagement on the Moun- 
 tains of Forth. The rebels took flight in 
 all directions, and Wexford was left in 
 possession of the English, to the great joy of 
 the loyal inhabitants, who had suffered many 
 privations and cruelties. 
 
 "John Heatly often related the circum- 
 stance afterwards, saying that Providence had 
 in an extraordinary manner saved his life. 
 He had been many years in the navy. His 
 
152 Six Generations 
 
 house, Rock View, was occupied for some 
 time by the rebels, who left it a complete 
 wreck ; and persons in the neighbourhood 
 said it was most amusing to see the country 
 people parading about in the silk and satin 
 trains, which they took when plundering my 
 cousin's property. 
 
 " A party, who assumed the rank of officers 
 in the Rebel Army, came to our house one 
 day, and directed to have dinner prepared 
 immediately. On my mother's requesting the 
 servant to lay the tables in the hall, they 
 indignantly asked : ' Is it there you are going 
 to give us our dinner ? Shew us into the best 
 parlour in the house.' But on my mother 
 assuring them that she had seen noblemen 
 sitting in that hall, they became calm and 
 satisfied. They then asked for spirits and 
 wine — saying they would have some ; and 
 when my mother told them that there were 
 none in the house, they were greatly irritated 
 — still saying they must have some. On being 
 spoken to by my mother in the singular num- 
 ber, they desired her not to say thee and thou 
 to them, as if she were speaking to a dog ; 
 
in Ireland. 153 
 
 and on her again saying thou to one ol them, 
 he flourished his sword over her head, and 
 said, haughtily: ' No more of your theeing and 
 thouing to me.' They ate their dinner, how- 
 ever, and went off peaceably. 
 
 On one occasion (which Dinah Goffe does 
 not mention) when the rebels seemed confident 
 of success, two of the labourers came into the 
 house, and sitting down, rudely addressed 
 their mistress, desiring her to prepare some 
 refreshment, as they had now changed places, 
 and she was their servant. Laying her 
 hand on the shoulder of one of them with 
 physical and moral force, she commanded the 
 men to return without delay to their respective 
 employments, a command which they at once 
 obeyed. 
 
 " We were now informed that orders had 
 been given to take my dear father's life, and 
 my mother was most particular in keeping us 
 all close together around him, saying that if our 
 lives should be permitted to be taken, we might 
 be enabled to support and encourage each 
 other, or else all go together ! One day, about 
 noon, a large company appeared on the lawn 
 
154 Six Generations 
 
 carrying a black flag, which we well knew to be 
 the signal for death. My dear father advanced 
 to meet them, as usual, with his open benevo- 
 lent countenance, and my mother, turning to 
 me, said, with her sweet, placid smile : ' Per- 
 haps my stiff stays may prevent my dying 
 easily.' On which the Roman Catholic who 
 had taken refuge with us said : ' Have faith in 
 God, madam ; I hope they will not hurt you.' 
 She quickly pushed forward and joined my 
 dear father, who was surrounded by a large 
 party. He observed to them, he feared they 
 might injure each other, as their muskets were 
 prepared for firing, when one of them replied : 
 ' Let those who are afraid keep out of the way.' 
 My mother distinctly heard one of them say : 
 ' Why don't you begin ? ' and each seemed 
 looking to the other to commence the work of 
 death. Some of them presently muttered : 
 ' We cannot.' At this critical moment some 
 women came in great agitation through the 
 crowd, clinging to their husbands, and drag- 
 ging them away. Thus a higher Power 
 evidently appeared to frustrate the intentions 
 of the murderers, and my beloved father was 
 
in Ireland. 155 
 
 again graciously delivered. One man said 
 there was ' no use in taking Mr. Goffe's life,' 
 but his two sons, if there, should soon be 
 killed, and then the estate would be theirs. 
 
 " One morning a most outrageous party 
 advanced towards the house, yelling and 
 roaring like savages, evidently with some 
 wicked design, but two young men who 
 looked serious, again interposed in our behalf 
 and would not allow them to enter. Thus 
 were the words of David fulfilled : ' The wrath 
 of man shall praise Thee ; the remainder of 
 wrath Thou wilt restrain.' 
 
 " A young man, who, with his mother, kept 
 a neighbouring public-house, used at that time 
 often to walk into our drawing-room, lay his 
 sword on thetable, and amuse me and my young 
 cousin by giving us his finely-decorated hat to 
 admire. One afternoon he tried to prevail 
 on us to go with him to the camp, saying 
 it was an interesting sight, such as we might 
 never have an opportunity again to see. We 
 were then sixteen and fourteen years of age, 
 and on my saying I did not think my mother 
 would permit us to go, he desired us not to 
 
156 Six Generations 
 
 tell her, and promised to bring us safely back. 
 My mother, ever watchful, was at this moment 
 crossing the hall, and seeing us together, she 
 came forward and inquired what he was say- 
 ing. When we told her, she asked him how 
 he dared to request the children to go to such 
 a place. She then reasoned with us on the 
 impropriety of listening to such invitations, 
 saying that if we had once gone, she should 
 fully have expected never to see us again. 
 
 " Three or four hundred English troops, 
 accompanied by Hompesch's German hussars, 
 at length landed at Duncannon Fort ; this was 
 announced by the firing of cannon early in the 
 morning. On my mother's entering my room, 
 I expressed much pleasure at the intelligence, 
 when she replied : ' My dear, we must rejoice 
 with trembling ; having much to dread from 
 their being strangers, and we know not what 
 may be permitted ; we have only to place our 
 trust and confidence in Him who hath hitherto 
 preserved us ! ' This little army formed an 
 encampment on my late uncle Cesar Sutton's 
 lawn at Longgrague, about two miles from us. 
 The next day whilst we were sitting at dinner, 
 
in Ireland. 157 
 
 one of the servants said the rebel forces were 
 coming from Wexford in thousands, intending 
 to surround the English encampment. The 
 royal troops, commanded by General Moore, 
 having had previous information, were, how- 
 ever, on the alert, and met them on the road 
 near our house. We counted twenty-four 
 pieces of cannon belonging to the rebels which 
 passed the entrance. A dreadful scene, partly 
 in our view, was now enacted, and lasted for 
 three hours ; the firing was awful ! Having 
 closed the doors and windows in the lower part 
 of the house as much as possible, we all retired 
 to an upper room, and there remained in a 
 state of fearful suspense. It was a terrible 
 sight, and deeply affected us, the cannon balls 
 falling thickly about the house. On one of 
 my sisters raising the window to look out, a 
 ball whizzed by her head ; and this, with 
 many others, we afterwards found. At length, 
 seeing the poor deluded people running in 
 all directions, we learned that they were 
 routed. 
 
 " Two soon came to the house to have their 
 wounds dressed, which my sister Arabella did 
 
158 Six Generations 
 
 as well as she could ; one had a ball in the 
 cap of his knee, and both bled profusely ; they 
 expressed much thankfulness, and hoped they 
 might soon be able again to fight for their 
 freedom. A fine young man coming, who had 
 received a severe wound in his side and 
 shoulder, my dear mother used means to 
 relieve him, and dressed him comfortably in 
 clean linen, while he frequently exclaimed : 
 ' Do, ma'am try to stop the blood. I don't 
 mind the pain, so that I may but fight for my 
 liberty.' Observing him in danger from the 
 great injury, she spoke to him in a very serious 
 strain, and also recommended his going to the 
 Wexford Infirmary. We heard afterwards 
 that he died on the way, a few hours after he 
 left us. This battle was at Goffe's Bridge, 
 on the 20th of Sixth Month. Several hundreds 
 of the insurgents were killed, but not many of 
 the military. 
 
 " Soon after the firing had ceased, we 
 observed two of the cavalry moving slowly and 
 suspiciously up our avenue ; on which my 
 father went down to the hall door, and 
 advanced with a smiling countenance and 
 
in Ireland. 159, 
 
 extended arms to meet them. One, who was 
 a German, at once embracing him, saying, in 
 broken English : ' You be Friend — no enemy, 
 no enemy,' and gave him the kiss of peace, 
 adding : ' We have Friends in Germany.' We 
 got them eggs, milk, bread, &c, to refresh 
 them, after the excessive fatigue and excite- 
 ment which it was obvious they had suffered. 
 
 "The evening before this engagement, one 
 of my sisters, passing through the servants' 
 hall, observed the coachman leaning on his 
 arm, apparently much distressed. When she 
 requested to know the cause, he hesitated and 
 said he could not tell her ; but on her entreat- 
 ing him, and adding that she should like to 
 know the worst, he said that he had heard it 
 planned at the camp, that, if they conquered 
 the royalists, we were all to be murdered, and 
 the generals were to take possession of our 
 house. He then added, weeping: 'Oh, our 
 plans are too wicked for the Lord to prosper 
 them !' My sister remarked that we trusted 
 in a Power stronger than man, and able to 
 protect us in the midst of danger ; or to that 
 effect. 
 
160 Six Generations 
 
 " During the night following this battle, our 
 house was surrounded by Hompesch's cavalry, 
 who slept on the lawn wrapped up in their 
 grey coats. The next morning twenty or 
 thirty of the officers breakfasted with us, and 
 said that we had had a marvellous escape on 
 the previous day ; the cannon having been 
 placed on the bridge, and pointed against the 
 house to batter it down ; even the match was 
 lighted, when a gentleman, who knew my 
 father, came forward, and told them the house 
 was ' inhabited by a loyal Quaker and his 
 family.' They had previously supposed it 
 must be a rendezvous of rebels, and feared, 
 from its commanding position, that they them- 
 selves might have been fired upon from it. 
 Some of the officers, being refreshed by their 
 meal, even shed tears when they reflected on 
 the danger we had been in. 
 
 " My cousins Richard and Ann Goffe of 
 Hopefield, near Horetown, had been observed 
 by ' the United Men ' to persevere in walking 
 to Forrest Meeting whilst the country was in 
 a state of rebellion, and were apprised that, 
 if they continued this practice, and refused to 
 
in Ireland. 161 
 
 unite in the Roman Catholic forms of worship, 
 they should be put to death, and their house 
 burned. This threat brought them under deep 
 mental exercise, accompanied with fervent 
 prayers that they might be enabled to come 
 to a right decision ; and, collecting their large 
 family together, in humble confidence that 
 best direction might be mercifully afforded, 
 after a season of solemn retirement, they laid 
 the matter before their children. On this 
 memorable occasion, the noble and intrepid 
 language of Fade Goffe, their eldest son, then 
 about seventeen years of age, is worthy of 
 being recorded. ' Father,' said he, ' rejoice 
 that we are found worthy to suffer.' His 
 parents were deeply affected, and their minds 
 became so much strengthened, that next 
 morning, rising before daybreak, they all pro- 
 ceeded to the meeting, and were enabled to 
 continue to attend Divine worship without 
 molestation expressing thankfulness in thus 
 being permitted to accomplish what they con- 
 sidered their religious duty. Thus Friends 
 remained regular in their attendance, and on 
 the very evening before the meeting day, when 
 
 M 
 
1 62 Six Generations 
 
 so many were to be destroyed, and their houses 
 to be burnt, the power of the insurgents was 
 broken by a decisive battle on Vinegar Hill, 
 and during meeting the next morning not a 
 few of the misguided people actually sought 
 an asylum of safety in the Meeting-house. 
 Many flocked with their families to the homes 
 of Friends. In one place a Popish priest 
 borrowed a Friend's coat in order to save his 
 life, and in another a Protestant minister did 
 the same, but was soon after found in his 
 hiding-place by the river, and murdered by his 
 enemies. 
 
 " The wonderful protection experienced by 
 the Society, brought to mind what had been 
 foretold by some of their ministers years be- 
 fore, and the prediction ' That in a time of trial 
 which was approaching, if Friends were faith- 
 ful, many would be glad to shelter under the 
 skirts of their garments ' was indeed literally 
 fulfilled. 
 
 " David Sands and his companion attended 
 the meeting at Forrest, and, returning to 
 Horetown, were joyfully received ; my dear 
 mother saying that his visit reminded her 
 
g 
 
 o 
 c 
 z 
 H 
 
 o 
 _z 
 
 c 
 w 
 w 
 z 
 
 o 
 
 o 
 
in Ireland. 163 
 
 of the good Samaritan pouring oil into our 
 wounded minds. The three families now 
 occupying our house all assembled with him 
 on this solemn occasion, and his communi- 
 cation was truly impressive and consoling, 
 inducing tenderness in all present. He first 
 alluded to the deep trials we had suffered ; 
 then to the infinite mercy which had brought 
 the family through them ; afterwards offered 
 a solemn tribute of thanksgiving and praise 
 to the great Preserver of men, whose power 
 had been so remarkably displayed for our 
 protection,, when surrounded by danger on 
 every hand. It was indeed a memorable 
 visit, for which thankfulness prevailed to 
 Him from whom all consolation is derived. 
 The Roman Catholic family had never be- 
 fore heard these plain truths so declared, 
 nor witnessed anything of the kind ; but they 
 all united in prayer on their knees, and the 
 mother said : ' I never heard such a minister 
 as that gentleman — he must be an angel from 
 Heaven sent to you.' 
 
 " The Rebellion was now at an end ; but, 
 though peace and order were partially restored 
 
 M 2 
 
164 Six Generations 
 
 to our afflicted country ; yet the sad con- 
 sequences still remained. Not only houses in 
 ruins, burned and torn in pieces by both 
 armies, were to be seen in all directions, but 
 many of the rebels who were outlawed took 
 up their abode in caverns in the Wood of 
 Killoughran, and sallied forth by night, to 
 commit depredations on such of the peaceable 
 inhabitants as had returned to their dilapi- 
 dated dwellings. Twice they visited us, and 
 on these occasions our sufferings were greater 
 than on any during the Rebellion. My father 
 had been urged to accept the nightly services 
 of a guard of yeomanry, but always positively 
 refused. 
 
 " On the first night, having all retired to 
 rest, we were aroused by a terrific knocking 
 with muskets at the hall door. 'My dear 
 father raised his chamber window, and re- 
 quested them to wait a few minutes, and he 
 would open the door ; but they continued 
 knocking still louder, and swearing most 
 awfully until he went down. On his opening 
 the door, they seized him, and instantly 
 rushed up to his room, breaking -a mahogany 
 
in Ireland. 165 
 
 desk and bookcase to pieces with their muskets, 
 and demanding money. My father handed 
 them twenty guineas, which was all he had in 
 the house ; but they persisted in asking for 
 more, and swore, in a most profane manner, 
 that if he did not give them more they would 
 take his life. I slept with a little niece in a 
 room inside his, and we were entreated by my 
 sister Arabella not to rise, as we should be of 
 no use. I endeavoured to comply with her re- 
 quest, and remain quiet, till I heard a dreadful 
 scuffle, and my father's voice exclaiming : 
 ' Don't murder me ' ! I could then no longer 
 keep still, but opened the door, and saw one 
 of the men, dressed in scarlet regimentals, 
 with full uniform, epaulettes, &c, rushing 
 towards my father with a drawn sword in 
 his hand. My sister intercepted it by throw- 
 ing her arms round my father's neck, when 
 the point of the sword touched her side, but 
 not so as to injure her. In the struggle the 
 candle went out, and they called most violently 
 for light. The horror which I felt at this 
 awful moment can scarcely be expressed. 
 My sister went down towards the kitchen, and 
 
1 66 Six Generations 
 
 found a man standing at the foot of the first 
 flight of stairs ; she asked him to light the 
 candle, when he said she might go down, and 
 he would stand guard and not allow any one 
 to pass. This he performed faithfully, and 
 she returned in safety. 1 could not, after this, 
 leave the party, but followed them through the 
 house. The dreadful language they used, 
 some of which was addressed to my sisters, 
 impresses me with horror to this day. Money 
 seemed the sole object of their visit that night, 
 as they repeatedly said: 'Give me more money 
 I tell you ' ; assuring my father that if he did 
 not give them more, they would murder him. 
 They even said from minute to minute, while 
 they held a pistol to his forehead : ' Now you're 
 just gone.' They then forced him to kneel 
 down, repeating the same words and presenting 
 the pistol. Seeing his situation, I threw my- 
 self on my knees on the floor and clung with 
 my arms round him ; when the ruffians pushed 
 me away, saying : ' You'll be killed if you stop 
 there.' But my father drew me towards him 
 more closely, saying : ' She would rather be 
 hurt if I am.' They snapped the pistol several 
 
in Ireland. 167 
 
 times which, perhaps, was not charged, as it 
 did not go off. When they found there was no 
 more money they desisted, asking for watches, 
 which were given them, and at length they 
 went away, after eating and drinking all they 
 could obtain, and charging my father to have 
 more money for them the next time or, they 
 declared, they would have his life. So saying, 
 one of them, who appeared in a great rage, 
 and had a cavalry sword in his hand, cut at 
 the handrail of the hall stairs, the mark of 
 which still remains. 
 
 "About a fortnight afterwards, before the 
 family withdrew to rest, nry father had a 
 presentiment that the robbers might come 
 again that night, and sat up later than usual. 
 About midnight they arrived, knockingfuriously 
 as before, and fully prepared to plunder the 
 house. They soon emptied the drawers and 
 took all the wearing apparel they could get, 
 that did not betray the costume of Friends, so 
 that we were deprived of nearly all our clothes. 
 On perceiving that they were taking all, my 
 mother begged one shirt and one pair of 
 stockings for my father, which they threw at 
 
i68 Six Generations 
 
 her face in the rudest manner, using dreadful 
 language. They behaved most violently, and 
 spreading quilts and sheets on the floor, filled 
 them with all sorts of clothing, they then 
 called for victuals to eat and drink, desiring 
 my sister to drink their health, putting the 
 cup of small beer to her lips and bidding 
 her ' wish long life and success to the " babes 
 of the wood," ' as they called themselves. 
 This she steadfastly refused. They then 
 declared they would come again in two 
 weeks, and take us all to live with them in 
 the wood, ' and cut bread and butter for the 
 babes.' Their behaviour was so insulting, and 
 my dear parents were so fearful of these threats 
 being realized, that they determined on sending 
 us young females to my cousins, Goffe and 
 Neville, who were then merchants in Ross ; 
 and there we remained for some weeks, until 
 tranquillity was restored to the county. 
 
 " After the robbers had finished their repast, 
 the}^ threatened to take my father's life, 
 behaving very outrageously, and saying they 
 must take him to their main guard at a little 
 distance and murder him there, as they did 
 
in Ireland. i6g 
 
 not like to do it in his own house. They then 
 led him out, and we all attempted to follow ; 
 but they pushed my mother back, saying that 
 she should not come — it would be too painful a 
 sight for her to see her husband murdered, 
 which they certainly would do. It was very 
 dark, but my sister Arabella positively refused 
 to leave her father, and they allowed her to 
 accompany him. Whilst crossing the lawn, 
 the root of a beech-tree, projecting above the 
 path, caused him to stumble ; he then sat 
 down, and said : ' If they were determined to 
 take his life, they might as well do it there.' 
 My dear sister stood by in a state of awful 
 suspense. They rudely asked him if he had 
 anything to say, telling him his time was come. 
 On hearing this he remained quite silent, and 
 they, not understanding it, hurried him to 
 speak ; when he said : ' He prayed that the 
 Almighty might be merciful to him, and be 
 pleased to forgive him his trespasses and 
 sins, and also to forgive them, as he did sin- 
 cerely.' They said that was a good wish, 
 and inquired if he had anything more to 
 say ? He requested them to be tender to- 
 
170 Six Generations 
 
 wards his wife and children ; on which they 
 said : ' Good night, Mr. Goffe : we only wanted 
 to rattle the " mocusses" out of you,' — mean- 
 ing guineas. 
 
 " When they took my father forcibly out of 
 the house, my mother, though much distressed, 
 was favoured with her usual quietude and 
 composure of mind, trusting in the Lord, who 
 had been pleased to support her through 
 many deep trials, and then forsook her not. 
 So strong was her confidence, that she even 
 called to the servant for some warm water, to 
 prepare a little negus for my dear father 
 against his return ; when I said : ' It is not 
 likely we shall ever see him again alive, for 
 they are going to murder him,' she replied, 
 with firmness : ' I have faith to believe they will 
 never be permitted to take his life.' In about 
 a quarter of an hour my valued and tender 
 parent returned, pale and exhausted ; and 
 throwing himself on the sofa, said : ' This 
 work will finish me ; I cannot hold out much 
 longer' ; which proved to be the case. 
 
 " Remarkable also was the protecting care 
 vouchsafed to my uncle, Joshua Wilson (my 
 
in Ireland. 171 
 
 mother's brother), whose residence at Mount 
 Prospect, near Rathangan, King's County, was 
 forcibly entered by a party of Rebels. One 
 night, after the family had retired to rest, they 
 were aroused by a tremendous volley of 
 musketry, which at once shattered the hall 
 door ; and a loud cry was raised of ' Arms, 
 money, or life ! ' with most awful swearing. 
 My uncle went hastily down in his dressing- 
 gown, followed by his wife, who heard them 
 exclaim : ' You are a dead man ' ; and seeing 
 one of the men present a pistol at my uncle's 
 head, she rushed between him and the ruffian, 
 exclaiming : ' Thou shalt not, and darest not, 
 take my husband's life, or touch him ; for the 
 arm of the Almighty is stronger than thou art.' 
 The man appeared confounded, and let the 
 pistol drop from his powerless hand ; it was 
 very remarkable that the whole party left the 
 house soon after, without doing any further 
 injury. This great shock, and the alarming 
 state of the country at that time, affected my 
 uncle so much, that he left next day his com- 
 fortable and handsome residence, in which he 
 had resided happily for forty years, and sailed 
 
172 Six Generations 
 
 for England, where he and his wife spent the 
 remainder of their lives, at Taplow Hill, near 
 London.* 
 
 " Many were the heart-rending sufferings 
 that some families endured, being turned out 
 of their comfortable homes, and spending many 
 nights in fields and ditches. Others who still 
 remained in their houses were wonderfully 
 favoured with faith and patience under these 
 privations, conscientiously adhering to the law 
 of their God, and thus experiencing, to their 
 humbling admiration, the Name of the Lord to 
 be ' a strong tower,' in which the righteous 
 find safety. On taking a retrospect of this 
 awful period, and of the strength of mind 
 
 * After they reached Taplow, George III heard that an Irish 
 Quaker gentleman possessed full information of what was taking 
 place as regards the rebellion, and called on Joshua Wilson. When 
 the King found he was in constant communication with King's 
 County and County Wexford, he came often to Taplow Hill ; riding 
 up to the house, he would tap with his whip at the window, enter 
 without ceremony, and then sit down, while Joshua Wilson read the 
 latest accounts. The King would then convey the information to 
 those in authority, and direct them as to where to send reinforce- 
 ments, Sec. 
 
 The Queen was also in the habit of calling on Joshua Wilson's 
 wife, whose advice and help she sought in the illness of one of the 
 young Princesses 
 
in Ireland. 173 
 
 evinced by my beloved parents, sisters, and 
 others, my heart overflows with living praise 
 and thanksgiving to the Father of mercies 
 and God of all consolation. 
 
 " The repeated shocks and trials, which my 
 honoured father endured during these fearful 
 times, were too great for his strength of body ; 
 and on the 23rd of Twelfth Month, in the same 
 year, 1798, surrounded by many of his family, 
 he gently and peacefully breathed his last, being 
 then in his sixty-third year. Our merciful 
 Saviour sweetly sustained him in faith and con- 
 fidence ; the Almighty arm being underneath 
 to comfort and support him whilst passing 
 through the valley of the shadow of death. He 
 never expressed a murmur ; but, in humble 
 Christian patience and acquiescence with the 
 Divine will, often evinced his thankfulness for 
 the mercies received. To one of my sisters, 
 whom he observed weeping a short time before 
 his death, he said: 'Don't shed a tear for me, 
 my dear; but rather rejoice and be thankful that 
 the Almighty has been pleased to permit me to 
 die in peace, with my dear family around me; 
 and not by the hands of wicked and unreason- 
 
174 Six Generations 
 
 able men.' He took my hand affectionately, 
 and said : ' My dear child : I must leave you 
 all ' ; and, after a pause, added : ' Keep near 
 to the Lord, and He will be a Father and a 
 Friend to thee when I am no more.' 
 
 " Horetown now passed to my eldest brother, 
 William Goff, and my beloved mother removed 
 to Dublin. She survived her affectionate hus- 
 band nineteen years, and died in that city in 
 the seventy-eighth year of her age, in perfect 
 peace. For several years she was in the 
 station of an elder ; always endeavouring to 
 rule her own house well, she was accounted 
 worthy of double honour, and much beloved 
 by her many descendants. Sixty children, 
 grandchildren and great-grandchildren were 
 living at the period of her decease, in the year 
 1817. 
 
 " She was grand-daughter of Thomas Wil- 
 son, an account of whose religious labours is 
 published with James Dickinson's. Her last 
 illness was short, being caused by a paralytic 
 seizure. On the morning before the seizure* 
 she entered the drawing-room with an expres- 
 sion of countenance remarkably solemn, and 
 
in Ireland. 175 
 
 kneeling at my side, engaged in fervent vocal 
 supplication for her numerous family, that the 
 blessing of the Most High might rest on them, 
 and that He might be pleased to continue 
 with her to the end." 
 
 When near the close she is said to have 
 requested to be raised on her knees in bed, 
 to pour out her soul for her children and 
 descendants to the fifth and sixth generations. 
 She was perfectly conscious to the last, and 
 sweetly resigned to her Divine Master's will. 
 
 "It is comforting to have a well-grounded 
 hope that, through the mediation and redeem- 
 ing love of our blessed Saviour, the spirits of 
 both my beloved parents have entered into the 
 mansions prepared for the faithful ; and that 
 they are, through unmerited mercy, united to 
 the just of all generations, ' Who have washed 
 their robes and made them white in the blood 
 of the Lamb ' : to whom be glory and honour 
 for ever and ever ! 
 
 " I am the only one now remaining of 
 twenty-two children, and ever felt much 
 attachment to my parents, whose pious and 
 watchful care over their large family in our 
 
176 Six Generations 
 
 early years, lives in my heart as a sweet -me- 
 morial. This feeling, I believe, was cherished 
 by all their children, now, I humbly trust, 
 through unmerited mercy and redeeming love, 
 united to them in that happy state, where all 
 trials and sorrows are at an end, and where 
 all is joy unspeakable and full of glory. 
 
 " The foregoing has been written from 
 memory, after a lapse of nearly fifty -nine 
 years, the affecting events being still vivid 
 in my recollection. 
 
 "A sum of money was raised by Government 
 to compensate the sufferers in property, and 
 a portion of it was offered to my father, Jacob 
 Goffe, with others, in consideration of the great 
 loss and damage he sustained ; but, as a Mem- 
 ber of the Society of Friends, and not taking 
 arms in defence of Government, he felt that 
 he could not accept it. 
 
 " Dinah Wilson Goffe. 
 
 1 ' Penzance, Cornwall, 
 
 Twelfth Month 23rd, 1856," 
 
 To the foregoing account, Dinah Goffe adds 
 the Record made by the Yearly Meeting in 
 Dublin, 1810, which runs as follows : — ■ - 
 
in Ireland. 177 
 
 " The minds of many Friends having been 
 deeply impressed with a thankful and humble 
 sense of the many mercies, preservations, and 
 deliverances, which our Society experienced, 
 during the commotions which prevailed in this 
 nation, in and about the year 1798 ; it was 
 thought desirable that some memorial of them 
 should be preserved — as well in commemoration 
 of those remarkable preservations, as to trans- 
 mit to posterity some account of the signal 
 mercy of the Almighty, who is indeed a shield 
 to those who put their trust in Him. 
 
 " It seems not unsuitable to observe, that 
 for years previous to the breaking out of the 
 Rebellion in 1798, many of the inhabitants of 
 this nation suffered great depredations, by 
 persons breaking into their houses at night 
 and demanding and taking their arms. In 
 the years 1795 and 1796, the sundry Quarterly 
 Meetings were concerned to recommend to 
 Friends who had guns in their houses, to 
 destroy them, which was united with and con- 
 firmed by the National Half-year's Meeting 
 for Ireland, held in Dublin, in 1796, as appears 
 by the following minute, viz. : — 
 
 N 
 
178 Six Generations 
 
 "' National Meeting, Fourth Month, 1796. 
 
 " ' The subject of some in profession with us 
 having guns in their houses, which might be 
 made use of for the destruction of mankind, 
 and other instruments of a like nature, having 
 come weightily under the consideration of 
 Friends in the three provinces ; this Meeting, 
 under a solid feeling, is of the judgment that 
 all such should be destroyed, the more fully 
 and clearly to support our peaceable and 
 Christian testimony in these perilous times.' 
 
 " It appears that the labour of Friends, to 
 carry into effect this recommendation of the 
 National Meeting, was attended with a good 
 -degree of success ; such Friends as had guns 
 having very generally destroyed them. We 
 have abundant cause to believe that this con- 
 cern originated from the influence of best 
 wisdom, and that it was a means of lessening 
 (in some degree) the shedding of human blood, 
 as those weapons would probably have fallen 
 into the hands of violent men ; and likewise, 
 that it tended to preserve some of the mem- 
 bers of our Society, who might, if they had 
 
in Ireland. 179 
 
 had guns in their houses, in an unguarded 
 moment of surprise or attack, have used 
 them so as to take the lives of some of their 
 fellow-creatures. 
 
 " The Winter Half-year's Meeting was, in 
 the year 1797, discontinued ; and, as matters 
 of importance to the Society might arise, re- 
 quiring immediate notice, a Committee was 
 appointed to meet as occasions might require, 
 to consider of and assist in such things of 
 that nature as should occur in the intervals 
 between the Yearly Meetings, relative to our 
 religious Society. 
 
 " The said Committee reported to the 
 Yearly Meeting in 1800 : — 
 
 " ' We have attended to the cases of those 
 Friends who have suffered in the late com- 
 motions, and believe suitable assistance has 
 been afforded to such ; and that there are not 
 now likely to be any further cases transmitted 
 to the Committee. The amount distributed 
 to those who appeared to stand in need is 
 £2,852 15s. iod., and the balance remaining in 
 the hands of the Treasurerbeing£gg4 15s. iod.j 
 we have come to the judgment that it be 
 
 N 2 
 
180 Six Generations 
 
 returned to the different Monthly Meetings, in 
 proportion to the sums sent up by them.' " 
 
 The following extract from the Epistle of 
 the Yearly Meeting in Dublin, 1801, to the 
 Yearly Meeting in Philadelphia, exhibits the 
 singular preservation then experienced : — 
 
 11 Your Epistle given forth in 1799, ad- 
 dressed to Friends in Ireland, we received, 
 which feelingly carried with it genuine marks 
 of strong affection and near sympathy with us. 
 
 "It is cause of humble thankfulness that 
 the dispensation was not of a very long con- 
 tinuance, though many Friends suffered very 
 deeply in their property while the conflict 
 continued. A considerable sum was raised, 
 which, under the direction and management 
 of a National Committee, was administered to 
 the relief of the sufferers, in such proportion 
 as, from accounts transmitted of their loss 
 and circumstances, they appeared to require. 
 When their wants were supplied, there was a 
 redundancy, which was directed to be returned 
 to the subscribers ; so that we do not at pre- 
 sent stand in need of making any other use of 
 your brotherly offer of assistance than to 
 
in Ireland. 181 
 
 express a grateful sense thereof. It is cause 
 of thankful acknowledgment to the God and 
 Father of all our mercies, on the retrospect of 
 that gloomy season, when in some places 
 Friends did not know but that every day would 
 be their last, seeing and hearing of so many 
 of their neighbours being put to death, that 
 no member of our Society fell a sacrifice 
 but one young man.* 
 
 " May the mercy and loving kindness of a 
 gracious God, thus signally manifested, be so 
 deeply impressed on our hearts, that the com- 
 plaint taken up formerly respecting a highly- 
 favoured people be not applicable to us : 
 ' He forsook God which made him, and lightly 
 esteemed the Rock of His salvation.' But in 
 grateful remembrance of -the Lord's gracious 
 
 " * The case of this individual, taken in contrast with that of the 
 other members of our religious Society in Ireland, affords a striking 
 evidence of the truth of our Lord's declaration, that ' they who 
 take the sword shall perish with the sword.' He came to an un- 
 timely end, through his own want of faith, and inconsistent conduct. 
 Alarmed for his safety, he fled to a garrison town in the County of 
 Kildare, took up arms, and put on a military uniform. The place 
 was, however, soon after attacked and taken by the insurgents. 
 He was killed with many others; while the relations whom he had 
 quitted were preserved unhurt, without any external defence. 
 
182 Six Generations 
 
 dealings towards us, and of the preservation 
 we experienced in those times of imminent 
 peril, may we be concerned to walk in deep 
 humility and circumspection before Him. 
 ' Happy is that people that is in such a case ; 
 yea, happy is that people whose God is the 
 the Lord ! ' And may we walk in all respects 
 consistently with our peaceable principles, 
 that so the excellency thereof may be con- 
 spicuous in our conduct, and the standard 
 of truth and righteousness exalted amongst 
 the nations, whereby we may be enabled, 
 from living experience, to adopt the language 
 of the royal psalmist : ' O Israel; trust thou in 
 the Lord : He is their help and their shield ! ' 
 
 " Read and approved in our Yearly Meeting, 
 held in Dublin, the 30th of the Fourth Month, 
 1800, and in and on behalf thereof signed, 
 
 " Samuel Bewley. 
 " Clerk to the Meeting this year." 
 
in Ireland. 183 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MOYALLON. 
 
 In tracing the descent of the family we have 
 in view, our attention must now be directed 
 to Jane Sandwith, the sixth daughter of Jacob 
 and Elizabeth Goffe. She was married in 1794 
 to Thomas Christy Wakefield, of Moyallon, 
 County Down, and while her parents in County 
 Wexford were undergoing the said experiences 
 of the Rebellion, she, in her northern home, 
 was tenderly watching over her first-born son. 
 Joseph Wakefield, her husband's father, was 
 an Englishman, whose family can be traced 
 back for many generations in Westmoreland. 
 He had been sent to the North of Ireland to 
 learn the linen business, of which that part of 
 the country had been the seat since it was 
 established by the Huguenots in the Sixteenth 
 Century.* He had married, in 1766, Hannah, 
 daughter of Thomas Christy, of Moyallon, 
 
 * See Appendix E. 
 
184 Six Generations 
 
 County Down. Moyallon is in the Parish of 
 Tullylish, formerly part of the property of the 
 powerful family of Maginnis, Lords of Iveagh. 
 It was forfeited in consequence of the part 
 taken by the head of this family in the Rebellion 
 and Massacre of Protestants in 1641. Like 
 many other districts in Ireland, it was the 
 scene of some of those incidents, which for 
 ferocity and inhuman cruelty are probably 
 unparalleled in Christian history. A body of 
 Protestant women were driven across Lough 
 Kernan in this parish in Winter, when the ice 
 gave way and the whole party perished. 
 
 " In 1685," says Lewis in his Topographical 
 Dictionary, " the townland of Moyallon was 
 granted to a colony of the Society of Friends 
 in England, whose descendants still maintain 
 the settlement, and have contributed greatly 
 to the prosperity of the surrounding district." 
 
 Here a Meeting-house, since renovated, was 
 built in 1723, and in 1710 a member of the 
 Christy family appears to have introduced 
 the bleaching of linen, a new industry in that 
 part of the country. 
 
 Thomas Christy, son of Joseph Wakefield, 
 
in Ireland. 185 
 
 was born at Laurencetown House, in County 
 Down, in the year 1772. His mother was 
 removed by death when he was seven years 
 old, which proved a great loss to her family of 
 little children. When very young Thomas was 
 sent to school, in Westmoreland, and on his 
 return to Ireland, having entered his fifteenth 
 year, was apprenticed to Joseph Richardson of 
 Stramore, near Moyallon, to learn his father's 
 business. We now refer to a short sketch 
 of his life, written by himself. 
 
 " In consequence of my kind grandfather, 
 Thomas Christy, having left me a well- 
 established and profitable business and con- 
 siderable landed property, I wish to express 
 my gratitude to him, and to my kind and 
 affectionate master, Joseph Richardson. It 
 was a privilege to have been placed with him, 
 and I consider it a mark of my Heavenly 
 Father's care. I believe it was there that I 
 first felt the tendering of my spirit through 
 the ministry of a woman Friend, about my 
 eighteenth year. The visitation was at times 
 renewed, but alas, the vanities and follies of 
 the world led me captive for years, to my 
 
1 86 Six Generations 
 
 great loss and injury. My disposition led me 
 to associate with the thoughtless, and join in 
 their maxims and amusements, one of which 
 was the practice of hunting. Although un- 
 guarded, I was always careful to return home 
 at the end of the chase and, possibly from 
 a degree of pride, to keep what is termed 
 ' good company '—to mix only in respectable 
 society. 
 
 " In justice to my master, I must say he 
 always kept, a watchful eye over me. He was 
 in the practice of taking me to meetings at 
 home regularly, and very often to the Monthly, 
 Quarterly and Half-yearly Meetings, and 
 when the latter ceased, to the Yearly Meet- 
 ings. These were seasons of instruction ; 
 the advice and counsel given have left im- 
 pressions extending to the present time. My 
 master would, on my retiring to rest, say : 
 4 Thomas, be prepared and ready to go with 
 me to the Yearly Meeting in Dublin to-morrow 
 morning at four o'clock.' It was short notice, 
 but I must obey. There was no use in 
 making objections. This strictness, with the 
 regularity observed in his house, trained me in 
 
in Ireland. 187 
 
 habits of punctuality, which, I believe, have 
 had a good effect through life. When 
 the term of my apprenticeship ended, then 
 commenced a critical period ; the yoke being 
 taken off, I was left without restraint. In the 
 pride of my heart the first step was to lay 
 aside my plain garb, and clothe the poor body 
 with the dress of that day. If mercy had been 
 withdrawn in this season of my forgetfulness, 
 what would have been the consequence ? My 
 latter end miserable, and my soul lost for ever. 
 
 " When looking back on these things, how 
 can I render acceptable praise to the great 
 God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 
 who was sent to save us from sin, to enlighten 
 our hearts, and to call us to taste and see what 
 good things are prepared for those who love 
 Him ? Whilst penning these lines, everything 
 within me is humbled and contrited in con- 
 sideration of my Redeemer's love. 
 
 " On leaving my master's safe abode, I 
 returned to my father's house, and entered 
 into partnership with the Friend who had the 
 principal management of the linen and bleach- 
 ing business during my minority. As habits 
 
1 88 Six Generations 
 
 of application had been formed, I gave close 
 attention to business, except on days that I 
 entered on field sports — so captivating to those 
 who follow them. 
 
 " I thus made myself liable to a breach of 
 the rules of our Society ; and kind Friends were 
 not wanting in tendering admonition and 
 advice, but I was like a deaf adder, till the 
 Holy Spirit brought conviction to my heart; 
 although some serious falls from my horse 
 caused at times reason to take the place of 
 thoughtlessness. 
 
 "At this period my father removed to 
 Waterford, and I remained at Moyallon, the 
 residence of my grandfather, who left it to 
 me. This was about the twenty-second year 
 of my age. Many thoughts now occupied my 
 mind. One was to attend to an impression 
 that a young Friend named Jane S. Goffe, with 
 whom I had become acquainted, was designed 
 for me as a companion through life. This 
 I firmly believe was in the ordering of best 
 wisdom. 
 
 " The subject having rested long on my 
 mind the time seemed come for me to proceed. 
 
in Ireland. 189 
 
 I did so by first acquainting my friends, and 
 then by taking a kind friend with me, as was 
 the custom of the day, to inform her parents. 
 As they approved of it, I was left at liberty 
 to make known my affection to the object of 
 my love. She received the communication in 
 a suitable manner, yet with great fear and 
 tenderness, expressing an apprehension that 
 the matter was one of so much consequence 
 that it required deep consideration. 
 
 " Having requested her to weigh the subject, 
 I left, and after some time I returned and had a 
 favourable answer. Words cannot sufficiently 
 convey my thankfulness for such a blessing as 
 was thus dispensed to me. 
 
 " It was the Lord's doing, and we were per- 
 mitted to live in love and harmony for more 
 than forty years. A better wife no man ever 
 had ; her heart overflowed with love to me, to 
 her children, and to all around. 
 
 " She abounded in kindness and generosity 
 to the poor, her mind was stayed on her God,, 
 and through life she endeavoured to serve and 
 obey Him as ability was given. Our children 
 were tenderly brought up, and as they increased 
 
I go Six Generations 
 
 in years our thoughts were much engaged 
 for their improvement in those things that 
 would in future life add to their comfort and 
 everlasting good." Here we may interrupt 
 this true and tender eulogy by saying that 
 her children did indeed rise up to call her 
 "blessed." She was enshrined in their memory 
 as a loving, wise, and Christian parent. One 
 of her sons,* in his ministry of the Gospel, 
 has often been heard to tell how the first 
 prayers framed by his infant lips were dictated 
 by his dear mother, and in early manhood, 
 before he had entered the good Shepherd's 
 fold, how her love and counsel followed him. 
 " A gentle and familar step would be heard in 
 the stillness of his chamber, and the mother 
 would be at his bedside, a feeling having 
 taken possession of her mind that her son 
 needed a word in private, or that he might be 
 wishing to join the hunt on the morrow." 
 
 And as the speaker described how timely 
 and touching such counsels proved in his 
 experience, and how the proud spirit of youth 
 
 * C. F. Wakefield. 
 
in Ireland. igi 
 
 bowed under the power of his mother's love, 
 deep feeling has spread over the audience 
 while he has pleaded with mothers respecting 
 their privilege and power in leading their 
 children early to God. 
 
 To return, after our digression, to T. C. 
 Wakefield's account : " Soon after our mar- 
 riage," he says, "we were, in the year 170,6, on 
 a visit to Friends in Mountmellick, attending 
 the Quarterly Meeting, and taking tea at a 
 Friend's house. Thomas Scattergood, from 
 America, was present. After a time of silence 
 he addressed me in such a powerful manner 
 that I was broken to pieces, and through 
 adorable mercy was favoured to see the way 
 of salvation opened before me. I earnestly 
 prayed that my steps henceforth might be so 
 directed that His peace might be my portion, 
 and that heavenly wisdom might keep me 
 from becoming a prey of the grand adversary 
 of my soul." 
 
 Under the Divine power accompanying this 
 address at this Friend's fireside, it would seem 
 that the young man, through faith, entered 
 there and then into his inheritance among the 
 
ig2 Six Generations 
 
 family of God. An eminent writer,* says 
 truly : " There is no condition for receiving 
 salvation, but an empty hand to receive 
 Christ." 
 
 This blessed experience became a prepara- 
 tion for what was so soon to happen. About 
 a year later a subtle heresy began to manifest 
 itself among Friends in the North of Ireland. 
 The life of early Quakerism which led to de- 
 votion of body, soul and spirit to God had been 
 declining. Prosperity and ease took the place 
 of the active and aggressive Christianity so 
 conspicuous in the founders of the Society. 
 
 An effort was made by multiplying rules 
 and restrictions to provide a substitute for 
 that vitality which comes alone through the 
 entire surrender to God, following on a 
 recognition of the claims of Christ. 
 
 The delusion above mentioned, very similar 
 in some respects to a certain phase of our 
 " Modern Thought," took form through the 
 preaching of a minister from America. It 
 was presented under the guise of extreme 
 
 * Archbishop Usher. 
 
in Ireland. 193 
 
 spirituality. During this time of decline, as the 
 study of the Holy Scriptures was neglected, 
 they were not used as a test to discover and 
 condemn the false teaching. 
 
 Through exalting the inward at the expense 
 of the written Revelation, the soil was prepared 
 for this form of unbelief. It spread rapidly 
 until most of the prominent members of the 
 body were infected by it. A division took 
 place and the affairs of the Church were left in 
 the hands of a small number of younger 
 men, who held their ground, through divine 
 strength, well and wisely. 
 
 In the North of Ireland there was not a 
 minister of the Gospel left, except John 
 Conran, who had entered the body by con- 
 vincement. 
 
 Among the few young men on whom the 
 burden rested, T. C. Wakefield bore his share. 
 He became Clerk to the Meeting, and in time 
 occupied the office of " elder," while his wife 
 performed her part, loving and being beloved 
 as a mother in Israel. 
 
 We again return to T. C. Wakefield's jour- 
 nal : " Not long after my marriage a spirit of 
 
 o 
 
1 94 Six Generations 
 
 delusion laid hold of those who were as pillars 
 in our Church. They mistook imagination 
 for revelation, and placing their dependence 
 thereon, were led from step to step into dark- 
 ness, until that divine light was obscured which 
 would have preserved them from doubting the 
 authenticity of the Holy Scriptures, and the 
 divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.* 
 " To the young and inexperienced this was 
 an awful time. They beheld men and women, 
 
 * It is well known that the founders of the Society of Friends 
 based their doctrine and practice, as they believed, on the testimony 
 of the Bible, according it the honour due to a divine revelation, 
 Robert Barclay gives it as " a positive maxim that whatever any 
 do, pretending to the Spirit, which is contrary to the Scriptures be 
 accounted and reckoned a delusion of the devil." 
 
 Isaac Pennington says : " That light which comes from the same 
 Spirit which the Scriptures come from, cannot teach things contrary 
 to Scripture." 
 
 " By one offering He (Jesus Christ) hath perfected for ever them 
 that are sanctified ; and we are not redeemed with corruptible 
 things, but with the blood of Jesus Christ, as of a Lamb without 
 spot ; and we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the 
 righteous, and He is the reconciliation for our sins, and not for our 
 sins only, but for the sins of the whole world. He is our righteous- 
 ness, and sanctifi cation, and redemption ; God hath made Him so, 
 and we are justified freely by His grace, through the redemption 
 that is in Christ Jesus, and therefore by the works of the law there 
 is no flesh justified. That we are justified by faith in Christ Jesus, 
 which works by love, is not denied by the Apostle, nor us." — 
 Edward Bourn, in reply to a pamphlet against Friends by Dr. Good, 
 1675. 
 
in Ireland. 19,5 
 
 who had been objects of divine love, fall, and 
 carry with them those who were weak in the 
 faith. How can I sufficiently magnify the 
 Shepherd of Israel, that in the riches of His 
 mercy to me and my beloved partner, we did 
 not also become a prey to the enemy ? When 
 nothing to the outward sense was to be seen 
 but many falling on the right hand, and many 
 more on the left ; in adorable mercy the wing 
 
 On the divinity and sacrifice of Christ, George Fox, on being 
 asked by Stevens why Christ cried out upon the Cross : " My God, 
 my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" made answer : "At that 
 time the sins of all mankind were upon Him, and their iniquities 
 and transgressions with which he was wounded, which He was to 
 bear, and be an offering for them as He was man, but died not as 
 He was God. And so, in that He died for all men and tasted 
 death for every man, He was an offering for the sins of the whole 
 world." — G. Fox's Journal, ist edition, page 4. And again : 
 
 " We own and believe in Jesus Christ ... in whom we have 
 redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins 
 we own and believe He was made a sacrifice for sin, who knew no 
 sin ; that He was crucified for us in the flesh without the Gates of 
 Jerusalem ; and that He was buried, and rose again the third day by 
 the power of His Father for our justification. 
 
 " This Jesus, who was the foundation of the holy prophets and 
 Apostles, is our foundation. He tasted death for every man. 
 
 shed His blood for all, and is the propitiation for our sins. . . . 
 'Behold the Lamb of God, Who taketh away the sin of the world.' 
 . . He saves from sin as well as from hell and the wrath to 
 come. He has now come in the Spirit, and given us an under- 
 standing that we may know Him that is true." — Extract from George 
 Fox to Governor of Barbadoes. 
 02 
 
ig6 Six Generations 
 
 of divine love overshadowed us during the 
 storm." 
 
 In the words of one of their own writers, we 
 may add : " The Separatists did not dis- 
 associate as a body, or form a new sect, nor 
 have they joined themselves to any other so- 
 ciety. The considerations and circumstances 
 which led to their separation have been vari- 
 ous. Under the influence of these, they have 
 acted as individuals, independent of each other, 
 and responsible solely each for his own con- 
 duct and opinions." 
 
 It was remarkable that the individuals and 
 families who embraced what in America was 
 called the Hicksite doctrine, either left the 
 country or seemed to melt away, so that in 
 the course of years many homes stood empty 
 and desolate. 
 
 About this date occurred the Rebellion of 
 1798, of which we have before .made mention, 
 and, although the North of Ireland did not 
 suffer from its effects in their worst form, yet 
 the Yearly Meeting exercised much care that 
 Friends should be preserved from a warlike 
 spirit, and that all fire-arms should be des- 
 
in Ireland. 197 
 
 troyed. Thomas C. Wakefield was then a 
 young man of about twenty-five, and in after 
 years he used to tell what a very great cross 
 it was to him to obey this mandate, especially 
 in the case of a new and valuable gun. How- 
 ever, in company with other members of the 
 Meeting, bent on a similar errand, he wended 
 his way to the River Bann, and, standing on 
 the old " White Bridge" and breaking his gun, 
 he consigned his portion of the sacrifice to the 
 deepest depths of the stream. 
 
 Whether the like prompt obedience could be 
 reckoned on at the present day is uncertain, 
 but it became a means of blessing and preser- 
 vation in 1798. The experience of Friends at 
 that time reminds us of events that happened 
 in the United States at an earlier period.* 
 
 * The reader of early American history may remembar a deadly 
 warfare carried on by the Indian tribes against the European 
 settlers. The Indians lay in wait in highways and fields, and shot 
 those who came within their reach without warning ; also attacking 
 the settlers in their homes, scalping some, and dashing out the 
 brains of others. 
 
 From this horrible warfare the Europeans sought shelter by 
 leaving their homes and retiring to fortified places ; those who 
 could not do so provided arms for their defence. Amid that time 
 of desolation and terror the Society of Friends, who formed a con- 
 siderable proportion of the population, were steadfast to their 
 
ig8 Six Generations 
 
 Immediately after the decisive battle of 
 Vinegar Hill, Thomas C. Wakefield took his 
 wife to see her dear father, who had suffered 
 much physically under the trials of the pre- 
 vious few months. 
 
 As their carriage entered Enniscorthy, they 
 found barricades blocking their way, and the 
 channels stained with human blood. 
 
 After leaving, the town their coachman came 
 to a halt, crying out : " We are all lost, a rebel 
 crowd is bearing down upon us." Thomas 
 C. Wakefield got up to look out, but his wife 
 immediately put him aside, saying: " Hide thy- 
 self, and let me deal with the men." As they 
 approached, she leaned out of the carriage 
 window, and speaking pleasantly, said: " I am 
 on my way to Horetown to see my father, 
 
 principles. They would neither retire to garrisons nor provide them- 
 selves with arms. While their neighbours were flying to forts they 
 continued to pursue their ordinary occupations abroad and at home 
 without a weapon for annoyance or defence. And what was their 
 experience ? They lived in security and quiet. The habitation 
 which, to his armed neighbour, was the scene of murder or the 
 scalping knife, was to the unarmed Quaker a place of safety and 
 peace. Three of the Society were, however, killed ; two of these, 
 who, in a moment of weakness, obtained weapons to defend them- 
 selves, were shot dead by the Indians, the third was killed while 
 flying to a fort for safety. 
 
in Ireland. igg 
 
 Jacob Goffe; can you give me any tidings 
 about him? I am anxious to hear." At once 
 remembering the kindness received from her 
 father, they became friendly, and replied : 
 " Mr. Goffe is alive and well," and saluting, 
 they rode off, wishing her a happy meeting. 
 
 Again, referring to Thomas C. Wakefield's 
 journal, he says : " I continued for many years 
 in my outward occupations, which were pros- 
 perous ; but believing there was a right time to 
 cease from labour, in the year 1828 I gave up 
 my business, apprehending that it was my 
 dear Master's will. I am satisfied it was so, 
 as peace followed, and I was set at liberty to 
 attend to things more substantial than adding 
 house to house. 
 
 " My talent is indeed small, but such as it 
 is I try to use it to His praise, who alone is 
 worthy — worthy to be honoured and obeyed." 
 
 In the year 1836 the great sorrow of his life 
 overtook him, and though he lived to number 
 nearly go years it was never forgotten. In 
 Cheltenham the devoted and tenderly-loved 
 wife and mother was called very suddenly to 
 her heavenly home. 
 
20o Six Generations 
 
 In writing to one of his children, the bereaved 
 father says : " Every day since thy dear mother 
 came to Cheltenham, her unbounded love for 
 all mankind shone ever more conspicuously. 
 Every object had a claim on her bounty and' 
 consideration, for she felt more satisfaction in 
 spending her money on others than applying 
 it to her own use. So remarkable was the 
 expression of her countenance for some time 
 past, that the last evening she was in our 
 carriage the occupants of another, which 
 passed us, remarked to me afterwards that it was 
 * heavenly.' How little did I think it was our 
 last earthly journey ! I do most sincerely believe 
 she was prepared to enter the heavenly rest, and 
 that her purified spirit is now united with saints 
 and angels in celebrating the praise and glory 
 of the Lord God and the Lamb immaculate. 
 
 " Let us, who are left behind, try to treasure 
 up her counsels, so faithfully and often given, 
 and endeavour to follow the dear, dear de- 
 parted, as she followed her Lord and Master, 
 Jesus Christ. Of this I am well persuaded — 
 she had no greater joy than to behold her 
 beloved children walk in the Truth. 
 
in Ireland. 201 
 
 " The dear remains were deposited in the 
 new graveyard in Gloucester — a beautiful 
 spot." 
 
 Here, many years afterwards, he was himself 
 laid beside the beloved wife of his youth, to 
 await the resurrection morn. 
 
 The latter part of his life was spent in 
 Torquay ; for he had left the old home in 
 Moyallon to his son, C. F. Wakefield. The 
 last entry in his diary runs thus : " Fourth 
 Month, i860. — -The effort becomes greater as 
 age advances to record the many mercies and 
 blessings poured down on one who is com- 
 passed with infirmity. I am at times made 
 mercifully sensible of the love of a gracious 
 Father marked conspicuously in many ways — 
 none greater than in bestowing on me an 
 affectionate family. My beloved and dutiful 
 daughter watches over me night and day, and 
 ministers to both mind and body." 
 
 After an illness of seven months, he peace 
 fully closed his long life on the 18th of Sixth 
 Month, 1861. 
 
202 Six Generations 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THOMAS C. WAKEFIELD. 
 
 Once more we advance another generation, 
 and follow briefly the life of the eldest son of 
 the family. 
 
 Thomas C. Wakefield was born in 1796, and, 
 as we have intimated elsewhere, in troubled 
 times. 
 
 Religiously and politically a dark cloud hung 
 over Ireland. The Roman Catholic Rebellion 
 was fermenting, and in the Society of Friends 
 a great heresy was imminent. 
 
 Nurtured in the vivid memories of these sad 
 experiences, a lasting impression was made on 
 the mind of Thomas C. Wakefield. 
 
 He held through life with unwavering 
 firmness to peace principles, to a devout 
 appreciation of the Holy Scriptures, and the 
 importance of giving the great work of re- 
 demption through the sacrifice of Christ its 
 due place in Christian teaching. 
 
m Ireland. 203 
 
 His love and reverence for his mother lasted 
 while memory held her seat. How often have 
 his children heard of her beautiful face and 
 noble presence, and of little incidents which 
 marked her character in its benevolence, 
 hospitality and kindness to the poor; how his 
 mother would seek out the small shops on 
 which to bestow her custom, especially wish- 
 ing to encourage young people who were 
 making a start in business. 
 
 Among all those who shared her house and 
 home, none were so welcome as ministers of 
 the Gospel, and he would tell how much 
 " Mother " valued and anxiously expected 
 through such, a message from their Master in 
 " a family visit " ; and when the children, 
 probably well content to have escaped the 
 religious address, would say: "Mother, the 
 Friend had ' no opportunity ' with us," she 
 would sadly reply : " Ah, my dears, I fear 
 we are unworthy to receive such favours ! " 
 
 When very young, Thomas C. Wakefield was 
 sent, under the care of a man servant, to school, 
 near London, with a younger brother. Their 
 first voyage from Dublin to Holyhead occupied 
 
204 Six Generations 
 
 a week. Under these circumstances of tedious 
 travel by sea and land, the intervals were long 
 between the holidays spent at home. Both 
 mother and son were very fond of flowers, and 
 in returning from school this was not for- 
 gotten, and even at the present day there 
 blooms a cherished Polyanthus, which " I 
 brought home for mother." 
 
 Having finished his education in England, 
 he returned at the age of eighteen to settle 
 at home, endowed with refined taste, mental 
 culture, and engaging manners, which, had 
 they been sanctified early by Divine grace, 
 would have well fitted him for a life of useful- 
 ness in the Church, and in the world. At this 
 critical period the Holy Spirit met him with 
 a soul-tendering visitation, and under His 
 blessed influence he sought lonely places to 
 read and weep and pray. He saw the cross 
 prepared for him to bear after Jesus. But the 
 covenants made in those hallowed moments 
 gave way in the day of trial, and this golden 
 opportunity, the most precious crisis in life's 
 history, passed away. 
 
 Soon after this, in 1817, he married Mari- 
 
in Ireland. 205 
 
 anne Wilcox, and with every worldly prospect 
 gay with promise he removed with his young 
 wife to reside near Dublin. Here, amid the 
 fascinations of society and the enjoyment of 
 field sports, the still small voice was well- 
 nigh silenced. Yet the Father's eye still 
 followed the wandering child, and again a 
 message of love was sent to bring him into 
 the service of the King. But as the tender 
 morning call had been disregarded, this time 
 it came with a voice more stern and imperative. 
 A fever that baffled medical skill arrested his 
 course of pleasure, and brought him to the 
 border of the grave ; indeed, so nigh, that the 
 three physicians in attendance believed him to 
 be dead. During these weeks of illness there 
 had been much sorrow in his childhood's 
 home. There, received as an honoured in- 
 mate, lived the old minister who had alone 
 stood his ground when the tempest of infidelity 
 had swept over the little Church. Bowed 
 before a prayer-hearing God, John Conran* 
 
 * John Conran was at times remarkably led by the Holy Spirit. 
 On one occasion a young man, while walking to Moyallon Meeting, 
 said to a companion : " I wonder if that old fool will preach us a 
 
206 Six Generations 
 
 pleaded for the son of the family whose kind- 
 ness had sheltered his old age ; as he pleaded, 
 an answer of peace came, and a message was 
 sent on this wise to the devoted mother : 
 " This sickness is not unto death, but for the 
 glory of God." 
 
 One morning, while that mother was stand- 
 ing over what was pronounced to be the bed 
 of death, a relative, the third doctor in attend- 
 ance, addressing her, said : " Aunt Wakefield, 
 what has now become of old Conran's pro- 
 phecy ? " And yet it was to be according to 
 the old man's faith, for, as the physician spoke, 
 a faint sign of life passed over the pallid 
 features, and the invalid was raised up to 
 regard this illness in its true light. Deeply 
 humbled before the Lord, he renewed his 
 covenants, broke away from his gay associates, 
 and returned to the neighbourhood of his old 
 home to begin life anew. 
 
 Again the enemy was at work, suiting his 
 
 sermon to-day ! " After the meeting was gathered John Conran 
 arose, and before proceeding with his address, said : "It may be 
 that some one here has in his heart or by his lips asked the 
 question : ' Will the old fool preach to-day ? ' " 
 
in Ireland. 207 
 
 temptations to the young man's state of mind, 
 his suggestions being accompanied with just 
 that element of truth which is sufficient to 
 render his reasoning so seductive : " He had 
 stumbled and fallen, he was too weak and 
 too unworthy — would bring only dishonour on 
 the cause he loved." And so, under the guise 
 of a false humility, the cross was again 
 rejected, and again he refused the distinct call 
 to the ministry of the Gospel. Thus, as he 
 was wont to say in after years, was the honour 
 and happiness forfeited, which his Lord held 
 in His hand of blessing to bestow, and the 
 crown placed on the head of his "younger 
 brother." 
 
 Thomas C. Wakefield now lived a simple 
 country life, and became much interested and 
 very useful in the concerns of the Society. 
 His house was one of old-fashioned hospitality, 
 where the poor were, if possible, more welcome 
 than the rich. 
 
 In many respects his mind was in advance 
 of the times in which he lived. He came 
 boldly forward to help the Temperance move- 
 ment in its very early struggles, when un- 
 
208 Six Generations 
 
 popular among Friends, and despised in the 
 eyes of the world. 
 
 Not long after the " Seven Men of Preston" 
 bound themselves to Temperance reform, 
 there was quite a sensation in the school- 
 house at Moyallon, when, on the occasion of 
 the first Temperance address ever given in 
 the district, " the master " rose in presence of 
 his workmen and proceeded to sign the Tem- 
 perance pledge. When they had followed his 
 example, the next proceeding was to clear the 
 wine from the cellar and begin a Temperance 
 society. His children remember how the 
 Temperance lecturers were then welcomed to 
 their home, whether it might be the veteran 
 John Hawkins, from Birmingham, or Whit- 
 field, the Newry blacksmith. The good work 
 thus took hold, while his friends shook their 
 heads, thinking, as " pledges were only for 
 drunkards," that " Mr. Wakefield was de- 
 mented." 
 
 His daughter has often told that, when very , 
 young, she was taken by him to see Father 
 Mathew administering pledges in the street of 
 a neighbouring town. With a great desire to 
 
in Ireland. 209 
 
 become possessed of a shining medal, and her 
 father's permission granted, the child made the 
 promise amid the kneeling peasants, and 
 although the medal was soon lost, the pledge 
 has been honoured through life. 
 
 In the library of the Old Moyallon House, 
 principally conducted by the dear mother of 
 the family, perhaps the very commencement 
 of First-day school work among Friends in 
 Ireland, was inaugurated and carried on. 
 
 Liberal and enlightened, the parents were 
 ready to unite on a common basis with all 
 Christians in fellowship and good works* 
 Avoiding political agitation, Thomas Wake- 
 field's influence was on the side of religious 
 
 • An interesting occurrence may here be mentioned. His wife's 
 family were Episcopalians, and whilst enjoying Christian fellowship 
 with them, he maintained the spirituality of the Gospel dispensation. 
 It is believed that his influence, and that of his wife, was felt among 
 them. His brother-in-law, a clergyman in Norfolk, visited his father 
 on his death-bed, and before leaving, requested the privilege of 
 together partaking of the Sacrament, but, to the young man's 
 surprise, he replied : "My dear son, I have the substance, I do not 
 need the shadow." Disappointed and distressed, the young clergy- 
 man returned to his charge, and a few months after lay down him- 
 self to die. His mother now proposed that the same service should 
 take place as had been so much desired in his father's case. " Ah ! " 
 said he, " I could not at the time understand my dear father's 
 refusal, but now I, too, am feeding on Christ, and I need no outward 
 sign." 
 P 
 
210 Six Generations 
 
 toleration. He had a happy manner of draw- 
 ing Roman Catholics into conversation and 
 friendly feeling, often affirming that there 
 was but one true religion, the work of God in 
 the heart, producing love to all men, to which 
 they would often cordially assent. On the 
 12th of July, the anniversary of the victory 
 won by William of Orange over the Roman 
 Catholics, when in the old garden the " blue." 
 columbine and "orange" lily, among other 
 summer flowers, were in their glory, the 
 •children were not allowed to "shew their 
 colours," by wearing the badges, as did 
 others, for "the feelings of their Roman 
 Catholic neighbours must be respected and 
 considered." 
 
 But all through life, by his refusal to obey 
 that early call, he felt God was saying to him : 
 " Yet one thing thou lackest." This fact was 
 the means, he believed, of clouding his spiritual 
 experience, and filling his cup of life with many 
 deep sorrows. These pressed so heavily on 
 his sensitive nature, at one period, as almost 
 to make shipwreck of his faith. 
 
 After more than threescore years of his 
 
in Ireland. 211 
 
 pilgrimage had passed, a great affliction over- 
 took him, through the sudden death of his dear 
 wife and a beloved son, both absent from his side 
 when they were called away. This was another 
 waymark in life's history. His heart and home 
 now desolate, in mental and spiritual anguish 
 he cast himself in total surrender on Him 
 Whose tender mercy faileth not. After this 
 period his voice was occasionally heard in our 
 Meetings, and he held with acceptance the 
 station of Elder, though he would sorrowfully 
 say: " Ah ! 'tis of little use now ; alas, my early 
 unfaithfulness !" But He whose mercy is great 
 unto the heavens had in reserve a sweet even- 
 tide for the weary traveller. A simple, childlike 
 repose in the love of Him who spared not His 
 own Son, took the place of unavailing regrets 
 for the past, and the lack of assurance of faith 
 for the future. After a Winter's residence 
 abroad, he was gently and safely guided to 
 his daughter's home to die, and there the 
 promise was abundantly fulfilled : "At even- 
 tide it shall be light." Very sweet during 
 that declining day was the atmosphere of 
 his sick room, very touching his patience and 
 p 2 
 
212 Six Generations 
 
 deep humility, while the mercy of God through 
 Christ Jesus filled his lips with praise. 
 
 A few extracts taken from notes during his 
 illness will end the memoir. 
 
 14th of Eleventh Month, 1878. — Lying very 
 low and prostrate, the dear invalid said : 
 " ' Though I walk through the valley of the 
 shadow of death, I will fear.no evil.' I want 
 to lie at the feet of Jesus ; I want to enter into 
 Christ's sufferings ; but none of us can under- 
 stand those words : ' My God, my God, why 
 has Thou forsaken me ? ' " 
 
 15th of Eleventh Month. — He exclaimed: 
 " Precious Saviour, let me lie at the foot of trie 
 Cross and look up there. Thou art my only 
 hope. Oh that forgiving love and mercy ! 
 The peace I have had at times has been 
 unspeakably sweet" ; and again, " Great has 
 been my poverty of spirit." It was said to him : 
 " My peace I give unto you." He responded: 
 " What a peace ! and how remarkable the 
 goodness that has brought me home, a poor, 
 unprofitable, sinful creature ; but it is mercy, 
 mercy, mercy ! Oh that precious blood ! " 
 
 On the 17th he remarked : " It can't be long 
 
in Ireland. 213 
 
 now ; it will be a glorious change. Since this 
 illness I have often contemplated death, never 
 with any fear, sometimes with rapture. There 
 was a time when I feared death ; that was in 
 the days of disobedience to God's will. How 
 sweet it will be to meet on the other side ; it 
 will not be very long, and I hope you will be 
 all there." 
 
 On the 1 8th, after seeing two relatives, he 
 said: " I love them, but I wanted to say the 
 gold of this world bears a different stamp to 
 the gold of the heavenly kingdom. How poor 
 are all the treasures of earth ; I have nearly 
 done with them all." 
 
 On being told a sick Friend was very dull, 
 fearing his faith was not genuine, our dear 
 father quickly responded : " Ah, he may expect 
 these plunges. I know the experience ; bright- 
 ness will come out of it, but there is no way 
 out but by keeping the eye imploringly fixed 
 on Christ." 
 
 igth of Eleventh Month. — After prayer to- 
 day he joined solemnly in the " Amen." Lying 
 very low, scarcely able to articulate, he lifted 
 up his hands, and with raised eyes exclaimed : 
 
214 Six Generations 
 
 " How good the Lord is ! " When his grand- 
 son entered the room he brightened up and 
 said : " My dear boy, watch, watch against 
 the Enemy. Keep the eye on Christ, my 
 blessed, blessed, Saviour ; what would I do 
 without Him ? " 
 
 On his son-in-law coming in to take leave 
 for a day or two, he thus addressed him: " The 
 Lord bless thee and keep thee. He will bless 
 thee for thy works' sake, although works can 
 never save us." 
 
 In an interview with his brother he said : "It 
 is very sweet to have such unity of spirit, to 
 feel thee so very near ; but we shall be nearer 
 still, and shall sing praises and join in that 
 glorious anthem. I love you all ; I love every 
 one. If we enter heaven, it must be on the 
 wings of love." 
 
 To his grandchildren, to whom he was 
 tenderly attached, he said : " You must all be 
 banner-bearers, and valiant too ; I don't think 
 there will be one missing " ; and, smiling 
 sweetly, added : " You don't know how much 
 I love you. Is this not like Jacob blessing his 
 children ? " 
 
in Ireland. 215 
 
 On the 22nd, fearing her dear father was 
 quite unconscious, his daughter got up beside 
 him on the bed, saying : " Bless the Lord, O 
 my soul, and forget not all His benefits." He 
 immediately raised his eyes and lifted his 
 hands, while praise seemed to shine in his 
 dying face. He made the same response 
 when the words were repeated : " He was 
 wounded for our transgressions ; He was 
 bruised for our iniquities." This was his last 
 act of consciousness, as he fell asleep " look- 
 ing unto Jesus," 22nd of Eleventh Month, 
 1878, aged 83. 
 
2 1 6 Six Generations 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 JOHN G. RICHARDSON. 
 
 The second daughter of Thomas C. Wakefield, 
 Jane Marion, was born in the year 1831, in 
 the old Moyallon House (since consumed by 
 fire) , the residence of her great grandfather, 
 Thomas Christy. From this house the family 
 moved to England for the education of the 
 •children, but, after three years, were obliged to 
 return to a property and residence, in County 
 Kildare, impoverished by the non-payment of 
 rents consequent on the Irish famine. Here 
 in Ballytore Meeting, Jane Marion Wakefield 
 was married, in 1853, to John Grubb Richard- 
 son, whose memoir closes this book. 
 
 " From childhood I was strongly impressed 
 with the duty we owe to God in caring for the 
 welfare of the people around us." 
 
 Perhaps few have more faithfully and per- 
 sistently carried out in life such an aspiration 
 of childhood, expressed above in his own words, 
 
in Ireland. 217 
 
 than the subject of this brief memoir, which is 
 written with the desire to exalt His grace, Who, 
 by working in willing hearts to will and to do 
 of His good pleasure, develops and carries 
 to a blessed fruition those aspirations which 
 He implants, sometimes in very early life. 
 
 In a few rough notes, found after his death, 
 John Grubb Richardson briefly reviews his 
 earlier life, but it is a matter for regret that the 
 sketch does not extend to later years. He 
 says : "I have been frequently asked to write a 
 little sketch of my life, and have become willing 
 to give a few facts. I was born in Lisburn, 
 County Antrim, in the year, 1813, where my 
 father lived and carried on the linen business. 
 My grandfather left his early home to learn 
 the business from an uncle named Hogg, 
 and our family has thus been connected with 
 this industry for about 150 years. 
 
 " My excellent father and mother were of 
 the generation of the righteous. They had 
 ten children, seven sons and three daughters 
 — a very united family. We were members 
 of the Society of Friends, our forefathers 
 having been convinced of Quaker principles by 
 
21 8 Six Generations 
 
 the preaching of William Edmundson in 1660. 
 All our ancestors came from the north of 
 England in Cromwell's army, and received 
 grants of land from him to settle in Ireland. 
 My father's mother was a lovely character. 
 She was descended from Captain Nicholson, 
 who, when quartered at Alnwick, married, 
 Lady Betty Percy, and was killed in one 
 of Cromwell's smaller battles in the north 
 of Ireland. A touching story is told of the 
 young wife, who wandered over the battle-field, 
 looking for her husband, with her babe in her 
 arms. The circumstance was reported to 
 Cromwell, who gave the widow a grant of 
 land, which the family still holds. 
 
 " My maternal grandmother, Sarah Grubb, 
 was known in the Society of Friends as the 
 Queen of the South.' She was a noble and 
 vigorous woman, loved and esteemed by a large 
 circle, and, as a widow, managed her late 
 husband's affairs and those of her orphan 
 nephews and nieces — the family of her deceased 
 brother, a banker in Dublin. She died at 
 eighty, leaving a large property." 
 
 It is very characteristic of the writer to 
 
in Ireland. 219 
 
 mention the women rather than the men of his 
 family ; for with him it was a favourite saying: 
 " Women do far more good in the world than 
 men ! " and again, in advocating the cause of 
 Temperance in public and private, he would 
 often say : " Gain the women and the doctors, 
 and the cause is won ! " But to proceed : — 
 
 " I was sent at the age of eleven to the once 
 celebrated school inBallitore, County Wicklow, 
 kept by the Shackletons for three generations, 
 where Edmund Burke was educated." 
 
 He often told his children how he early 
 rose to good standing among the lads, by the 
 result of a forced combat, instituted to prove 
 the rank to be accorded to the new-comer, when 
 he vanquished a much stronger boy by the use 
 of his left fist — an art learned from an old 
 servant at home. He continues : — 
 
 " At the age of fourteen, I was sent to 
 Frenchay, Gloucestershire, to the leading 
 school of the Society of Friends in that day. I 
 left this school in 1830, at the age of seventeen, 
 and went home to take my place in my father's 
 business — contrary to my personal wish, for I 
 had a great desire to become a barrister." 
 
220 Six Generations 
 
 " It may be profitable here to allude to two 
 incidents in my early life, which, under the 
 direction of the Holy Spirit, were the means 
 of shaping my future course, by causing me 
 to reflect on eternal things. 
 
 " My father's coachman was proud of his 
 master's sons — there were seven of us — and 
 was very desirous to teach us to ride and drive 
 well ; he encouraged us to hunt, a favourite 
 amusement of my eldest brother, who was a 
 capital horseman. My dear, good father was 
 much opposed to our doing so, partly on 
 account of the waste of time, but more 
 especially because he dreaded our association 
 with those who led a life devoted to sport 
 and amusement. I had no means of hunting 
 except by taking one of my father's carriage 
 horses, as my eldest brother only was furnished 
 with a riding horse. After a considerable 
 struggle in my mind, by advice of the old 
 coachman, I yielded to the temptation. We 
 had a good run, but, on coming to a narrow 
 lane with a stone wall on each side, instead of 
 taking one wall at a time, as the other trained 
 horses did, my horse, a good jumper, made a 
 
in Ireland, 221 
 
 spring for both, and with the effort shot me 
 over his head on the far side. There, having 
 fallen on my head, I lay unconscious for per- 
 haps an hour, one of my friends brought 
 my horse back, fearing that I had been 
 seriously hurt or killed. I slowly made my 
 way home, reflecting on my position. What 
 would have been the result, I meditated, if 
 I had died there, having taken my father's 
 horse to do that of which he disapproved ? 
 I was brought to a firm resolution to seek 
 forgiveness, and also clearly to see that 
 if I, the second son of a large family, 
 should devote my mind to field sports and 
 other amusements, I would set a bad example 
 to my brothers and be of little use in helping 
 forward my father's interests. I never hunted 
 again, but devoted my time to building up the 
 family business. 
 
 ".The second incident occurred about a 
 year after the foregoing, and when I was 
 twenty years old. Leaving the west of Eng- 
 land in haste to reach home on account of the 
 dangerous illness of one of my brothers, I 
 landed at Cork, and, though it was Winter, I 
 
222 Si$ Generations 
 
 travelled night and day on the outside of a 
 mail coach. I caught cold and was brought 
 near to death by inflammation of the lungs. 
 The doctor asked my father's leave to tell me 
 that, if the mercury that I was taking, as a 
 final resource, did not check the disease, in a 
 few hours I should be dead. He did so in as 
 gentle a manner as he could ; but oh ! how 
 unfit I felt to die, and appear before a just and 
 holy God, knowing that in many things which 
 men might call small, I had been disobedient 
 to the Holy Spirit's teaching. I did most 
 earnestly entreat my Heavenly Father to raise 
 me up again, and made solemn vows to live a 
 more devoted life." 
 
 We may interrupt the narrative here by 
 saying that in later life, about the year 1880, 
 inflammation of the lungs again overtook him 
 very suddenly. He rang his night-bell, and, 
 on the appearance of a faithful servant, he 
 said : "I believe the last message has come, 
 but it is sweet to rest in the arms of my 
 Saviour." He was, however, spared for a 
 little further service. 
 
 To resume the personal record : " During 
 
in Ireland. 223 
 
 these early years I was powerfully visited by 
 the Holy Spirit, and longed to be a more 
 devoted and decided Christian. The ministry 
 of Joseph J. Gurney, Elizabeth Fry, and 
 Stephen Grellet, deepened these impressions. 
 I remember carrying about Bunyan's ' Pil- 
 grim's Progress,' and going into quiet corners 
 to read and weep over the struggles of 
 Christian. I should like to say here that I had 
 great religious support from a beloved sister 
 who had been a Christian from childhood. 
 Indeed, through life I have been greatly blessed 
 by the influence of women ; God in His great 
 mercy gave me two very superior wives, who 
 were as angels from Heaven to me. Surely I 
 cannot say too much for feminine influence, 
 and my earnest prayer is that it shall be more 
 and more recognized at home and in public. 
 Indeed, when I think of all the good influences 
 surrounding me from childhood, I only Wonder 
 how little fruit I have brought forth in my 
 life. 
 
 " From 1838 to 1841 I was much occupied 
 with settling my younger brothers in business. 
 It was my great desire that the seven brothers 
 
224 Six Generations 
 
 should be bound together and help one an- 
 other through life. 
 
 "After starting a mercantile house in Belfast, 
 we established another in Liverpool, and in 
 1841 I crossed in one of the first steamers to 
 the United States, and assisted in establishing 
 my brother Thomas as agent there. 
 
 "All these operations so engaged my mind 
 that I lost much of my religious strength ; and 
 business, alas ! so absorbed my thoughts that 
 it measurably drove out spiritual things ; yet I 
 loved the cause of Christ, and desired at some 
 time to become a true and devoted Christian. 
 
 " In 1844 I married Helena Grubb, of Cahir 
 Abbey, County Tipperary, a distant cousin 
 of my own. Though brought up in a gay 
 family, and loved and admired by the fashion- 
 able circle which surrounded her, she had 
 chosen the better part when 14 years of age ; 
 and, after some acquaintance, she accepted 
 my offer of marriage, being impressed by the 
 Holy Spirit that I was to be her companion 
 lor life. A more beautiful character never 
 lived. . . . 
 
 " In extending our business, in partnership -, 
 
in Ireland. 225 
 
 with my brothers, we were obliged to keep 
 pace with the times and become flax spinners 
 and manufacturers. We had then to decide 
 where we should build linen mills. I had a 
 great aversion to be responsible for a factory- 
 population in a large town like Belfast ; so, 
 on looking round, we fixed upon a place near 
 Newry, where had been built the first mill 
 for spinning yarns in Ireland. With water 
 power, a large population around, and in a 
 country district where flax was cultivated in 
 considerable quantities, it had moreover the 
 desirable condition in my sight of enabling us 
 to control our people and do them good in 
 every sense — and from childhood I was strongly 
 impressed with the duty we owe to God in looking 
 after the welfare of those around us. 
 
 " In 1846 we began to build at Bessbrook, 
 and the next year work began there. I had 
 long resolved that we should have a Temper- 
 ance population in our colony, though not 
 until afterwards a total abstainer myself. The 
 place came largely under my care and super- 
 vision, though I lived in Belfast, except in the 
 Summer months." 
 
 Q 
 
226 Six Generations 
 
 Here we may introduce some reminiscences 
 written by his eldest son : 
 
 " My earliest recollection of my father must 
 have been when about three and a half years of 
 age, for it was previous to the death of my 
 mother. It consists of his wrapping me in a 
 shawl and carrying me in his arms from the 
 house to a large shed where an entertainment 
 was being given to the Bessbrook workpeople. 
 This must have been in 1849, so that the latter 
 were not so numerous as at present ; nor were 
 his wishes on Temperance matters as clearly 
 understood among them as they soon after- 
 wards became, for I have a very certain, 
 though confused, recollection of his pleasure 
 being marred by finding out that the ubi- 
 quitous whisky bottle had been ungraciously 
 and ungratefully introduced upon the sly. 
 
 " From this time forward, during some years 
 I was his very constant companion when he 
 was at home, and especially when on horse- 
 back, on which occasions it was his delight to 
 take me out with him on a pony of wonderful 
 speed and spirit, and yet little larger than a 
 large Newfoundland dog. 
 
in Ireland. 227 
 
 " Several of his letters written to me about 
 this time, when away from home, are still 
 treasured, and a quotation from one of them 
 may not be out of place, as shewing the bent 
 of his mind even then : 
 
 " ' Fourth Month i^th, 1850. 
 
 " ' My Dear Little Son, 
 
 " ' I hope is a good little boy, and that the 
 wooden horse I bought for him is not hurt. A nice little 
 boy about his own age has made him a present of a 
 little ship to sail on Bessbrook pond. 
 
 " ' I was very happy to hear that he did not beat 
 Eliza (the nurse), but put down his hand before he hit 
 her. This was the Bad Spirit chased away by the 
 Good Spirit. Papa hopes he will always (?) be able to 
 do so.' 
 
 " Such was the first letter received from an 
 honoured father, and in strange harmony with 
 its spirit— though conveyed in language suited 
 to the experience gained by its recipient during 
 the intervening space of almost forty years — 
 was the last letter of importance received 
 from him shortly before he was taken from 
 us in i8go, which concludes as follows : 
 
 " ' I feel the weakness of age creeping over me, and 
 want to see thee in tKy very right place : 
 Q2 
 
228 Six Generations 
 
 Yet sure there is a warfare, 
 
 No eye but Thine can see ; 
 Oh hear my cry for succour, 
 
 Come Thou and fight for me. 
 This self I cannot conquer, 
 
 This will that still is mine ; 
 Oh take them both, Lord Jesus. 
 
 And make them one with Thine. 
 
 " ' May the Lord bless thee, guide thee, and teach thee, 
 every step of the way, prays thy loving father.' 
 
 " The lessons inculcated in these days of 
 childhood, when he and I were so much to- 
 gether, were easily learnt, and, needless to 
 say, will never be quite forgotten. 
 
 " One was a consideration for the feelings 
 of servants. 
 
 " Another was that mere leisured idleness 
 was an evil thing, and that even little boys 
 enjoy their pleasures more when they feel they 
 have earned them. Thus I can never remember 
 receiving pocket-money, in the way of being 
 given to me by my father, until I went to 
 school ; but he was always ready to pay me 
 well, if I was inclined to earn it. 
 
 " Picking and rooting up dandelions and 
 other weeds was a large source of income, also 
 the trapping of rats and mice, which in those 
 
in Ireland. 229 
 
 days of wheat-growing were very numerous in 
 every farmstead. 
 
 " But side by side with this idea of earning, 
 my father was ever anxious to implant another, 
 which was that even a child's earnings are 
 rendered doubly sweet by being shared with 
 others — especially with the poor. 
 
 " From his conversation in those days, I 
 became early impressed with the idea of 
 looking to the character of a person rather 
 than his position, and remember my father 
 often telling me how he would never take off 
 his hat when, as a youth, he happened to see 
 George IV or William IV in some public 
 procession, not feeling any respect for their 
 private characters, but that when by any 
 chance he saw a well-known figure in those 
 days in the London streets — the Iron Duke of 
 Wellington — his hat went off, as he used to 
 say, ' in spite of himself.' 
 
 "It was probably this tendency to look 
 closely to the private characters of our 
 prominent statesmen which prevented him 
 (though taking a most keen interest in 
 politics) from being a strong party man, or 
 
230 Six Generations 
 
 a ' thick-and-thin ' supporter of either great 
 party in the state. 
 
 " His sympathy, however, in the main ran 
 with the Liberal party until 1886, and to that 
 party he was often able to give valuable sup- 
 port ; indeed, I do not hesitate to say that he 
 was the means of turning more than one local 
 contest in their favour. 
 
 " His confidence in Mr. Gladstone seemed 
 to decline from the hour he deserted the late 
 William Edward Forster, and he often grieved 
 that, when master of the great majority which 
 placed him in power in 1880, Mr. Gladstone 
 was so supine on the subject of Temperance. 
 It is scarcely necessary for me to say that he 
 regarded the Home Rule policy as pregnant 
 with evil, both for Ireland and the Empire. 
 He was a great admirer of the Earl of Derby, 
 father of the present Earl, and who, as Lord 
 Stanley, passed the National Education Act 
 for Ireland, when Chief Secretary. He also 
 was a warm admirer of Sir Robert Peel, both 
 as a statesman and a man of the highest and 
 purest private character, but in his later days, 
 like many others, he appeared to be a little 
 
in Ireland. 23 r 
 
 shaken in his advocacy of the absolutely 
 ' Free Trade ' policy of this country, which 
 Sir Robert Peel inaugurated — in the face of the 
 increasingly-hostile tariffs of other nations — 
 deeming that it was, at all events, debateable 
 as to whether a small tax upon flour would 
 not do more good than harm, and prevent the 
 calamitous disappearance of the hardy agri- 
 cultural labourers and their families from the 
 country districts of the United Kingdom." 
 
 To return to his own words : — 
 
 " In the year 1849, it came before my 
 notice that eleven women, principally from 
 the mountains, brought illicit whisky into 
 Bessbrook, concealed in baskets which were 
 apparently filled with calicoes, tapes, and 
 ribbons. By placing a watch over this traffic 
 we succeeded in excluding all these peddlers 
 except one. This widow was a very deter- 
 mined creature, and used- to disguise herself 
 in a variety of ways. She became a sort of 
 mythical personage, and for twelve months 
 evaded us ; but at last I traced her to her best 
 customer's house, and followed her, sitting 
 down at the fire beside her and chatting, while 
 
232 Six Generations 
 
 poking my stick into the basket to find the 
 hidden treasure. But it was not there. 
 After leaving the house, half an hour did not 
 elapse until it was reported all over the place 
 that she had hoodwinked Mr. Richardson by 
 taking out the gallon of whisky and making a 
 ' stool' of it for herself! This woman at last 
 emigrated to America, and from that day, as 
 far as we know, there has been no ' sinful 
 stuff' sold at Bessbrook. Of course I soon 
 became an abstainer myself to encourage our 
 people." 
 
 We regret to say that at this point there 
 is an abrupt termination to this little auto- 
 biography, but we shall endeavour to continue 
 the history of the founder of Bessbrook, where 
 the great fact has been worked out that a 
 factory population rejoice in the absence of 
 strong drink, and in the happiness and profit 
 its absence confers. It is also a fact that, 
 while party spirit and sectarian feeling have 
 worked havoc in many parts in Ireland, the 
 people of this Temperance colony, Roman 
 Catholic and Protestant, have lived in har- 
 mony, without the crime and disturbance 
 
in Ireland. 233 
 
 which have desolated other parts of the land. 
 In a letter written to W. E. Gladstone, when 
 in office, we shall once more let the subject of 
 this memorial speak : — 
 
 " I am firmly convinced that if the Ministry 
 had done their first work, and had braved the 
 opposition of the spirit trade, they would have 
 had a greater blessing on their labours for 
 Ireland as well as England. It is a well-known 
 fact that not a meeting for rapine and murder 
 takes place in Ireland at which whisky does 
 not play a prominent part, and that our poor 
 countrymen would be incapable of committing 
 the outrages which have taken place without 
 the stimulus of whisky. It is well known, too, 
 that the amount drunk in whisky and beer at 
 least equalled the rental paid during the last 
 three years, and we have proof that where least 
 rent was paid most whisky was sold. God 
 only knows how many murders were hatched 
 in public-houses, or how many publicans 
 licensed by the Government have taken part 
 in the disturbances ! Apropos of licensed 
 spirit dealers, how is it that no effort has been 
 made even to prevent the increase of a class 
 
234 Six Generations 
 
 which, in case of Temperance legislation, you 
 and others have stated would be fairly entitled 
 to compensation ? The effect of this constant 
 increase must surely be a corresponding 
 increase in the liabilities of the nation, not to 
 speak of all the acknowledged evils of which 
 the trade is a fruitful source." 
 
 To return to the point where the auto- 
 biography ends, we find J. G. Richardson, in 
 1847, happily married, occupying himself 
 assiduously in public and commercial affairs, 
 and gaining for himself the reputation of 
 being one of the foremost merchants of the 
 day. Everything had prospered in his hand ; 
 and, guided by a rapidity in forming con- 
 clusions which was certainly more a gift of 
 intuition than due to any lengthened process 
 of reasoning, he had created and built up 
 business concerns and chosen able men to 
 manage them. He had assisted to found 
 the flourishing Inman line of steamers, an 
 enterprise from which, however, he retired 
 in 1854 from conscientious motives, when 
 the owners decided to charter the vessels 
 to carry war stores to the Crimea, Other 
 
in Ireland. 235 
 
 extensive agencies in Alexandria and Phila- 
 delphia were in contemplation, when in this 
 heyday of prosperity and in the strength of 
 manhood he was to hear a Voice speaking 
 above the voices of the world. 
 
 That Holy Spirit which had called him to 
 whole-hearted consecration in early life had 
 been in measure silenced, or only attended to 
 at intervals in his busy life. Now, in infinite 
 love, a pause was ordained, and he was 
 arrested in his career. His beloved wife, after 
 only four years of married life, was suddenly 
 snatched from him in 1849, leaving a son and 
 infant daughter ; a business panic threatened 
 calamity to his commercial interests, and 
 illness laid its hand upon himself, and he 
 was brought to say : " When Thou with 
 rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, Thou 
 makest his beauty to consume away like a 
 moth ; surely every man is vanity." 
 
 In this time of sore affliction he broke up 
 his home in Belfast, and retired with his little 
 boy to live at Lisnagarvey, the home of his 
 eldest sister, Sarah Malcomson, who had in 
 youthful days ministered to the flame of divine 
 
236 Six Generations 
 
 love in his soul. In his stricken condition he 
 found in her society, and that of Eli and Sybil 
 Jones (who remained some months with 
 them on account of illness), that quiet and 
 solace needed; here he remembered, and 
 renewed vows made in the dew of his youth, 
 that if his Heavenly Father would be with 
 him to forgive and bless, he would henceforth 
 give Him the dominion in his heart, life, and 
 business. 
 
 During these years of bereavement and 
 ill-health he withdrew, when still under forty, 
 from the position of leader in business to that 
 of adviser, believing that the Lord required 
 him to be more and more weaned from the 
 spirit of the world, and to serve Him on a 
 higher platform of religion and philanthropy. 
 He had thoughts of retiring altogether from 
 business life, but, in accordance with the 
 counsel of his honoured friend John Hodgkin, 
 he felt that he could best serve his Heavenly 
 Father by still holding his position, while 
 he made it subservient to higher interests. 
 At one period, when ill and almost in despair 
 as to his spiritual state, a beloved uncle, John 
 
in Ireland. 237 
 
 Richardson, sent him a text which he felt as 
 a direct message from Heaven : " In a small 
 moment I have forsaken thee, but with great 
 mercy will I gather thee ; in a little wrath I 
 hid My face from thee for a moment, but with 
 everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, 
 saith the Lord thy Redeemer." 
 
 In 1853 he married Jane M. Wakefield, of 
 Moyallon, County Down, having had, as he 
 believed, the most distinct guidance by the 
 Holy Spirit in taking this important step in 
 life. He settled at Brookhill, near Lisburn, 
 where he devoted himself to country pursuits, 
 affairs of the Society, and benevolent objects, 
 still retaining his business position. Here, 
 as wherever he made his home, he welcomed 
 visitors of all classes, especially keeping open 
 house for the messengers of the Gospel. 
 Jonathan Grubb's visits were a characteristic 
 feature of those days, and were a means of 
 leading him out into a larger place in 
 Christian experience. Being now free from 
 the detail and routine of business, his mind 
 had leisure and opportunity to enter with a 
 wide and increasing interest into all that 
 
238 Six Generations 
 
 affected the good of the country and the 
 world at large. Humble and simple as a 
 child in his spiritual life, he held very 
 strong opinions on matters which concerned 
 the social and political well-being of humanity. 
 
 His native country engrossed much of his 
 attention, and his life-long desire was to 
 lessen, or, if possible, destroy the power of the 
 factors to which most of her miseries were due. 
 These were strong drink, and the spirit of re- 
 ligious animosity which has in Ireland divided 
 man from man. He felt that if the baneful 
 influence of these two foes to peace and good- 
 ness were removed, the third great source 
 of disturbance, political agitation, fomented 
 largely by men who make politics a means of 
 personal gain, would be lessened or destroyed. 
 
 Caring as he did for the welfare of his 
 fellows belonging to every class and creed, 
 the extremes of party feeling were particularly 
 distasteful to him. His children were taught 
 to look on exhibitions of party bigotry on 
 either side with impartial disapproval. 
 
 To heal the wounds of Ireland and repair 
 her waste places was his dearest wish. 
 
in Ireland. 239 
 
 He entered heartily, with John Bright and 
 other lovers of Ireland, into the scheme of 
 Unsectarian National Education which has 
 worked so well for many years, as he felt 
 fully convinced that Protestant and Catholic 
 children, mingling together in school and 
 playground from their earliest years, would 
 not continue to cherish the same bitter 
 animosities which divided their fathers. It 
 was with very great satisfaction that he saw 
 among the names of the original Commissioners 
 of National Education, mingled in harmony 
 of aim, those of Dr. Whately, Protestant Arch- 
 bishop of Dublin and Primate of Ireland, and 
 of Dr. Murray, Roman Catholic Archbishop 
 and Primate. 
 
 In these schools thus inaugurated, which 
 have been such a blessing to the country for 
 many years, half an hour was daily devoted to 
 religious instruction, Protestant and Roman 
 Catholic teachers presiding over their own 
 pupils in separate rooms. In the case of 
 the school having but Protestant teachers, no 
 Roman Catholic children were obliged to 
 attend. 
 
240 Six Generations 
 
 John G. Richardson, and others working 
 on these lines of broad and philanthropic 
 Liberalism, had the comfort of observing, 
 during the 40 years preceding 1886, an 
 unmistakable increase of friendly feeling and 
 reciprocity between Protestants and Roman 
 Catholics. 
 
 With W. E. Gladstone's policy, up to its 
 sudden reversal in 1886, he fully sympathized, 
 although deeply regretting his neglect of Tem- 
 perance legislation, and especially deploring 
 his action with regard to the granting of 
 " Grocers' Licences." The Land Acts for the 
 benefit of the Irish tenant had his active 
 support, though he himself, as a landlord, 
 suffered thereby. By means of these Acts 
 the Irish tenant is in now a more favourable 
 position than any agriculturalist in the civilized 
 world. He rejoiced also in the fact that all 
 political disabilities had been removed from 
 the way of the Roman Catholics. 
 
 Anyone who has not watched the gradual 
 fulfilment of the hopes of such Irish philan- 
 thropists can scarcely imagine the disappoint- 
 ment and dismay which was felt by his Irish 
 
in Ireland. 24 r 
 
 followers when W. E. Gladstone gave in his 
 adhesion to men whose steps he and his fellow- 
 ministers had declared to be " dogged with 
 crime." 
 
 John G. Richardson lived to see his views 
 sadly confirmed, for instead of uniting Irish- 
 men, even the foretaste of such a policy has. 
 had the effect of undoing the beneficient labours 
 of years. The dying animosity has revived on 
 both sides, and is observable by many indi- 
 cations. The Roman Catholic priests withdrew 
 the Catholic children from the liberalizing 
 influences of common education and created, 
 schools of their own. 
 
 The Bill of 1893 he did not live to see,, 
 but in the face of all the conflict in store for 
 Ireland, we may be thankful that, having 
 " served his own generation by the will of 
 God," he was spared the pain of seeing his 
 fears more fully realized. 
 
 About five years after his second marriage 
 the family removed to Moyallon, which brought 
 him within driving distance of Bessbrook. In 
 this colony he continued to take increasing 
 interest as it grew in size and importance 
 
 R 
 
242 Six Generations 
 
 until some 3,000 workers were employed. In 
 order to be more among his people, he en- 
 larged a house and made it a residence for 
 part of the year, remodelling and beautifying 
 the grounds, as he had already done in three 
 other places — for he was naturally a gifted 
 landscape-gardener and a lover of flowers. 
 
 For many years an Elder in the Society of 
 Friends, his voice was often heard in its 
 meetings, and its welfare had a warm place in 
 his heart. At Bessbrook he built a large 
 Meeting-house, and in a few years gathered 
 quite a colony of Friends. But, although he 
 was strongly attached to the distinguishing 
 views of Friends, his religious sympathy was 
 bounded by no sect or limit, but reached out 
 to and embraced all who loved and served the 
 same blessed Master. A First-day Evening . 
 Meeting was begun soon after he settled at 
 Moyallon, held at first in the conservatory, 
 then in a hall built for the purpose. To this, 
 as well as to a large First-day school, all sects 
 and conditions of persons came, and helped in 
 carrying on the work. Many can testify that 
 the whole neighbourhood for miles round felt 
 
in Ireland. 243 
 
 the influence ; and the disappearance of five 
 public-houses was largely due to his efforts. 
 In the words of one who knew him well, we may 
 say: "Praise God for the courage and godly 
 independence with which he stood out for real, 
 soul-converting religion, and resolutely and un- 
 changingly rowed against the opposing current 
 of dead formalism, and the trying influence or 
 quiet opposition of good but mistaken people.'' 
 
 Vocal prayer at family worship was long 
 laid on his heart, but during the earlier period 
 of his family life he had resisted the prompt- 
 ings of the Spirit, and used afterwards to tell 
 how he often went to his room trembling under 
 a sense of unfaithfulness. But in later years 
 his voice was constantly heard at such times 
 in prayer for those he loved, for the work laid 
 upon his heart at Bessbrook and Moyallon, 
 and for the nation at large. 
 
 Among other means of caring for the welfare 
 of the people around him, he frequently dis- 
 tributed tracts and periodicals. The " tract- 
 bag " was a well-known institution in his 
 drives between Moyallon and Bessbrook and 
 elsewhere; the appearance of the carriage was 
 
 R2 
 
244 Six Generations 
 
 a signal for the children to run out expecting 
 the usual supply of literature. His ways with 
 children were very sweet, and the little ones 
 in the cottages loved him. His last act on 
 leaving Moyallon, ten days before his death, 
 was to order the horses to stop, that he might 
 hand a gift to the gardener for his little girl, 
 which he had not had time to deliver himself. 
 We might mention here the pleasure he took 
 in helping young men to start in life, and in 
 assisting others who were in difficulties. Ap- 
 peals for help were seldom refused, and though 
 sometimes deceived, he was never discouraged: 
 
 " Still a large faith in humankind he cherished, 
 And in God's love to all." 
 
 From any tale of woe, or the voice of a 
 beggar, he could not bear to turn away, and 
 his lack of self-consciousness in all he did 
 gave an added charm and originality to his 
 acts on behalf of others. With his own hand 
 he would take garments or food to beggars in 
 the conservatory ; and, on one occasion, after 
 giving one man his fare to help him back to 
 London, clothing two or three families, aiding 
 an old man whose daughter had run away, 
 
in Ireland. 245 
 
 and various other applicants, he came in and 
 said in real perplexity to one of his family : 
 " I wish I could tell wliy these unfortunate 
 creatures come to me ! " 
 
 It was a happy day for many a family when 
 assisted to go to Bessbrook. In many cases 
 taken out of abject poverty, and given a 
 chance of helping themselves, they have 
 become respectable and respected ' members of 
 the colony there. His kind and pleasant 
 manner attracted and attached his people and 
 servants to him. After his death, they would 
 say : " It is a father we have lost !" 
 
 His deep interest in the social welfare of the 
 people, local and general, continued throughout 
 life. In 1882 he declined a baronetcy, saying, 
 in his letter to W. E. Gladstone, that the 
 " acceptance of the offer, on the ground of his 
 having tried to do a little for the benefit of his 
 fellow-men, would detract from the satisfaction 
 he had found in so doing." In the same letter 
 he again strongly urges that statesman to 
 adopt some decided measure in favour of the 
 Temperance cause. 
 
 The cause of peace was very near his heart, 
 
246 Six Generations 
 
 and during his last years he took a great 
 pleasure in extending William Jones ? s tour to 
 Australia and elsewhere, to advocate the cause 
 of international arbitration. 
 
 His last address in Moyallon Meeting was 
 of the nature of a farewell, though he was then 
 in his usual health. He pressed on the young 
 men the sad consequences of permitting the 
 world to occupy the uppermost place in their 
 hearts, and brought his own experience to bear 
 on what he said. 
 
 On the 20th of Third Month he was suddenly 
 seized with influenza, which ended, as we 
 reverently believe, in life more abundant, on 
 the 28th. During the sad week of illness at 
 Bessbrook there was a solemn stillness over the 
 place, the people passing one another without 
 the usual greetings, in silent sorrow, for each 
 felt that it was their friend who was passing 
 away. Congestion of the lungs had fastened 
 for the third time on his now delicate frame, 
 and during most of the time there was uncon- 
 sciousness and little or no suffering. His 
 childhood's instinct was strong even in death. 
 On the last evening in which he was able to 
 
in Ireland. 247 
 
 think consecutively, he desired that something 
 should be given to his night-nurse to read, 
 bearing on the way of salvation through Christ, 
 as he had found that she was a Unitarian. 
 She, like all others in contact with him, became 
 much attached to him on account of his kind- 
 ness and thought for her comfort. At one time 
 he said he had been thinking of the honour 
 God had put upon us poor creatures in making 
 us "heirs with Himself, and joint heirs with 
 Christ." Frequently he asked for hymns, and 
 was soothed by his favourites, "Rock of Ages," 
 "Jesus, lover of my Soul," and many others. 
 The last one he asked for was the simple hymn 
 beginning: " I am so glad that our Father in 
 Heaven." When the verse was repeated, " My 
 God, I am Thine, what a comfort divine ! " he 
 responded with almost his last effort: "Ah, 
 what a comfort ! " 
 
 As his family were gathered in prayer for a 
 painless departing of the spirit, and in thanks- 
 giving for the victory over death and the grave, 
 the summons came and he fell asleep. " The 
 Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, 
 blessed be the Name of the Lord." 
 
248 Six Generations 
 
 As the funeral, a mile and a half in length, 
 passed through the country roads to Moyallon, 
 many expressions of deep sorrow were heard. 
 One of his own tenants was overheard to say : 
 
 " You may talk of the Duke of 's death " 
 
 (a neighbouring landlord), "but what is it to 
 this ? You may expect the great men of your 
 party in Parliament to do wonders for you, 
 but if there were more like Mr. Richardson, 
 who lived among his people, Ireland would 
 soon be a different country." 
 
 These particulars are given with no view of 
 bringing honour to him who would have been 
 the first to shrink from the attempt. The 
 honour all belongs to the Master, through 
 Whose grace the servant was enabled in good 
 measure to accomplish the ambition of his 
 childhood and " care for the welfare of the 
 people around him." This little memoir may 
 also shew how human hearts responded to 
 the touch of kindness, and the blessing that 
 followed a life in which such acts were per- 
 formed spontaneously, naturally, and not on 
 the lines of duty or self-sacrifice. 
 
 After his death some memoranda were 
 
in Ireland. 240, 
 
 found in his desk, referring chiefly to his 
 desire to have a very simple funeral, and 
 written about a year previously. We give 
 extracts : — 
 
 " I have lately been brought to think much 
 about funeral arrangements ; indeed, for the 
 greater part of my life I have tried to battle 
 with the way in which working people and those 
 without a shilling to spare involve themselves 
 in funeral expenses. This habit is kept up by 
 the expensive arrangements of the rich, and 
 the time has come when a decided protest 
 should be made by each of us. I therefore 
 wish to set a quiet example with regard to my 
 funeral. I wish no flowers, no outward show 
 of any kind, but a private committal to the 
 grave by and amongst mine own people. I 
 have also felt concerned of late at the difficulty 
 of controlling the ministry at our ' Friends' ' 
 funerals. I feel sure that the ministry would 
 be most telling if the communications were 
 short. Would that my death might be the 
 means of bringing my dear relations and friends 
 to remember that the end of life must come, 
 and that my funeral might be a day of fresh 
 
250 Six Generations 
 
 consecration of souls to the service of God, so 
 that in some little measure, my death, like 
 Samson's of olden time, might do more good 
 than my life. My earnest prayer is that all 
 may experience that change of heart which is 
 proved by our love for Him and His cause, 
 who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. I 
 fsel every year more and more that I am 
 nothing, Christ is all ; that I am but a monu- 
 ment of Divine Grace ; and that I might have 
 lived a far more devoted life to God, my 
 Master, who, I trust, has forgiven and will 
 forgive me, a poor worm of the dust. I rely 
 only upon the mercy of God, through faith in 
 His Blessed Son, the faith in Jesus which gives 
 the victory." 
 
 As an instance of the practical way in which 
 from time to time he conveyed instruction, a 
 Friend remembers his addressing our Evening 
 Mission Meeting in somewhat of the following 
 manner : — 
 
 ''The case of an awakened sinner made 
 sensible by the Holy Spirit of the value of 
 his immortal soul, may not inaptly be com- 
 pared to a man made aware of the fact that a 
 
in Ireland. 251 
 
 sum of money had become his. He is now 
 anxious to hand it over to safe keeping. He 
 comes to me for advice with regard to a certain 
 bank. I recommend it, as being highly trust- 
 worthy. He appears satisfied and intends to 
 lodge the money there. I meet him in a 
 month and ask if he has carried out his inten- 
 tion. No, the money is still in his pocket. 
 His resolution has never been carried into 
 effect.' Through procrastination he runs a 
 great risk, and after a time I find he has lost 
 the money. 
 
 " Such will be the fate of the Soul, unless, 
 by a definite act of faith in the trustworthiness 
 of God's promises, we commit the keeping of 
 our immortal part unto Him as unto a faithful 
 Creator and Redeemer." 
 
 In the spirit of the above we conclude with 
 Paul's testimony, which may be ours also by 
 faith : 
 
 " I know whom I have believed, and am 
 persuaded that He is able to keep that which 
 I have committed unto Him against that day." 
 — 2 Tim. i, 12. 
 
 We have now brought our task to a 
 
252 Six Generations 
 
 conclusion, having taken up the thread of 
 biography nigh two-and-a-half centuries back, 
 and lived in companionship with many who, 
 with more or less success, helped to make 
 their own day fruitful, and the present what it 
 is for us. 
 
 Two convictions are borne in on the mind 
 in making this review : First, — How full of 
 usefulness is life when God's purposes are 
 fulfilled. Through the doing of God's Will 
 man becomes a centre of light and helpfulness, 
 and thus serves his generation in the sphere 
 appointed for the few years of his life below. 
 Second, — We cannot but marvel at the un- 
 merited goodness of the Heavenly Father, and 
 admire the fulfilment of His covenant of mercy 
 in Jesus Christ, as the blessing descends from 
 generation to generation to them who fear 
 Him, and His righteousness to children's 
 children. — Ps. ciii, 17. 
 
 When first the thought of gathering together 
 these fragments was presented to the mind, 
 the command — " Ye shall let your children 
 know " — caused it to take shape in the present 
 pages. They were intended as a reminder to 
 
in Ireland. 253 
 
 the family concerned of their responsibility 
 and privilege, but if these memorials can have 
 any wider range of service they may go forth 
 as a witness to the goodness and mercy of 
 God. 
 
 " Know, therefore, that the Lord thy God, 
 He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth 
 covenant and mercy with them that love Him, 
 and keep His commandments, to a thousand 
 generations."— Deut. vii, g. 
 
 THE END. 
 
APPENDICES. 
 
INDEX TO APPENDICES. 
 
 APPENDIX A.— George Fox and his Friends, their Im- 
 prisonment and Sufferings - 257 
 
 APPENDIX B. — A Special Providence during James 
 
 Dickinson's Travels in Scotland 272 
 
 APPENDIX C— Major-General Goffe - 276 
 
 APPENDIX D.— James Naylor's Dying Testimony 282 
 
 APPENDIX E.— Huguenots and the Linen Trade in 
 
 Ireland 283 
 
APPENDIX A. 257 
 
 APPENDIX A — George Fox and his Friends.. 
 
 Under the circumstances narrated in Chapter II, many 
 were prepared for a cordial reception of the mission of 
 George Fox, the founder of the Society of Friends. 
 
 Dissatisfied with all that school men and professors, 
 of • religion could do, or say, to meet his anxious and 
 earnest search after truth, when almost in despair, 
 an inward voice bade him turn from man, saying :. 
 " There is one, Jesus Christ, who can speak to thy con- 
 dition." After finding peace through faith in Christ,. 
 " I was sent forth," he writes, " to turn people from 
 darkness to light, that they might receive Christ Jesus- 
 to direct them to the Spirit that gave forth the Scrip- 
 tures, by which they might be led into all truth. I saw 
 that Jesus Christ died for all, and was a propitiation for 
 all. . . I was to bring people off from their own 
 ways to Christ, the new and living way, and from the 
 world teachers, made by man, to learn of Christ, of 
 whom the Father said : ' This is my beloved Son, hear 
 ye Him.' And from the world's worships, that they 
 might worship the Father of Spirits who seeks such to 
 worship Him. I was to call them from the world's- 
 religions, that they might know the pure religion, and 
 might visit the fatherless, and the widows, and the 
 strangers, and keep themselves unspotted from the 
 
 S 
 
258 APPENDIX A. 
 
 world. I was to bring them off from the world's fellow- 
 ships and prayings and singings, which stood in form, 
 not in power, that their fellowship might be in the 
 Eternal Spirit of God — that they might pray in the Holy 
 Ghost, and sing in the spirit, and with the grace that comes 
 by Jesus, making melody in their hearts unto the Lord. 
 . . . Off from vain traditions and Jewish ceremonies, 
 from men's inventions — worldly doctrines, with ministers 
 •of their own making in schools and colleges, who are 
 not of Christ's making — and all vain traditions which 
 the Lord's power was against ; in His dread and 
 authority I was moved to declare against them all. 
 . . . And this made the sects and professors rage. 
 But the Lord's power carried me over all, and many 
 were turned to God in a little time, for the heavenly 
 ■day of the Lord sprung from on high and broke forth 
 apace, and by its light many came to see where they 
 were." 
 
 The work thus begun spread with great rapidity. 
 In ten years sixty ministers were sharing in George 
 Fox's commission, and, in the face of bonds and afflic- 
 tions, were bearing testimony to the spirituality of the 
 Gospel Dispensation in almost every country of the 
 known world. Very soon Barbadoes, New England, 
 Virginia, Algiers, Malta, Turkey, Hungary, Germany, 
 France, Austria, Jerusalem, heard the word from these 
 untiring messengers of the Cross. 
 
 " Fox himself appealed to all sorts and conditions of 
 men. He admonished Pope Leo XI ; he tried to con- 
 
APPENDIX A. 259 
 
 vert Oliver Cromwell ; he exhorted the Ambassadors of 
 the Great Powers assembled at Nimmeguen to make 
 peace ; he warned the citizens of Oldenburg of their 
 iniquities ; he invoked in thousands of the Yeomanry 
 of England a fervour of spirit almost equal to that which 
 actuated himself, believing they were called to kindle 
 a new life in the dying body of society."* He was 
 enabled to confute many professors of religion in public 
 disputation, and became the means of converting magis- 
 trates, priests, and people — some clergymen left valuable 
 livings to follow him. 
 
 In about forty years some 100,000 Friends had been 
 gathered into organized and settled churches. During 
 all this time he experienced fierce persecution, which 
 caused much bodily suffering, through long and repeated 
 confinement in different jails of the kingdom. The 
 state of these prisons is not easily conceived ; that of 
 Doomsdale, in Launceston, has never been exceeded for 
 pestilential noisomeness, nor those of Lancaster and 
 Scarborough Castle for exposure to the inclemency of 
 the elements. In the two latter his clothes were scarcely 
 ever dry for two years. This exposure to the severity 
 of the weather laid the foundation, by injuring his 
 health, for future suffering during the remainder of his 
 life. He possessed the most undaunted courage, for he 
 feared no earthly power, and was never deterred from 
 attending meetings, though he knew officers would be 
 
 * Hepworth Dixon. 
 S 2 
 
26o APPENDIX A. 
 
 there to seize his person. In his conversations with 
 Oliver Cromwell, or in his letters to the Parliament, or 
 to King Charles II, or to any other personage, he dis- 
 played his usual boldness of character, and never lost, 
 by means of any degrading flattery, his dignity as a 
 man. 
 
 At one time King Charles was so touched with the 
 hardship of his case that he offered to discharge him 
 from prison by pardon, but George Fox declined, for the 
 reason that, as pardon implied guilt, his innocence would 
 be called in question by his acceptance of it. So he lay 
 in jail until his trial, when, upon errors in his indictment, 
 he was discharged in an honourable way. 
 
 After nearly fifty years of missionary travel, labour, 
 and suffering he died in London, in the sixty-seventh 
 year of his age, two days after attending a great meeting 
 in Gracechurch Street. William Penn says : " As he 
 lived, so he died ; so full of assurance was he, that he 
 triumphed over death, as if it was scarce worth a notice 
 or a mention : near the last recommending the despatch 
 of an epistle." The last letter written before his busy 
 pen was laid down was to comfort and support Friends 
 in Ireland under their sufferings. " Mind," said he, 
 " poor Friends in Ireland and America." On inquiry 
 being made "how he found himself?" his reply was: 
 " Never heed, the Lord's power is over all weakness 
 and death ; the seed reigns. Blessed be the Lord ! " 
 
 The persecution of the Quakers continued from 1650 
 to the time of the Act of Toleration granted to Pfotes- 
 
APPENDIX A. 26l 
 
 tant dissenters in the first year of William and Mary, in 
 1689. 
 
 Joseph Besse says, in his " Collection of the Sufferings 
 of the People called Quakers" (two large volumes) : 
 " Under this state of persecution, wherein Friends were 
 exercised from infancy, their numbers greatly increased, 
 so that it might be said of them as of the Israelites in 
 Egypt : ' The more they afflicted them the more they 
 multiplied and grew.' For Religion, next to her own 
 light and energy on the heart of man, has not a stronger 
 argument in her favour than the patience and constancy 
 of her afflicted confessors." 
 
 A brotherly love and sympathy was very remarkable 
 in this people, some of whom travelled hundreds of miles 
 to visit and minister to their brethren in prison. While 
 they seemed regardless of their own liberty, they were in- 
 cessant in representing to those in authority the suffering 
 case of their Friends. A printed paper was presented 
 to the Parliament in 1659, and subscribed to by 164 
 Friends wherein they make an offer of their own 
 bodies, person for person, to lie in prison instead of such 
 of their brethren as were then under confinement in 
 danger of their lives through extreme durance. It runs 
 thus : 
 
 " Friends, who are called a Parliament of this 
 nation : We, in love to our brethren who are in houses 
 of correction — many in fetters and irons, cruelly beaten 
 by savage gaolers, and many persecuted to death, 
 dying in prison, many lying sick and weak on straw — 
 
262 APPENDIX A. 
 
 we, in love to our brethren, do offer up our own bodies 
 and selves to you to put us into the same dungeons, on 
 their straw, and into their nasty holes and prisons ; 
 we do stand ready sacrifices to take their places, 
 that they may go forth and not die in prison, for 
 many of the brethren are dead already. . . . And 
 if you will receive our bodies, we freely tender them 
 to you for our Friends who are in bondage for speaking 
 the truth, for not paying tithes, for meeting together in 
 the fear of God, for refusing to swear, for being accounted 
 as vagrants, for wearing the hat, for visiting their 
 friends. We, whose names are hereunto subscribed, 
 are waiting in Westminster Hall for an answer from you 
 to us to answer our tenders." 
 
 Here follow the names of 164 brave and devoted 
 Friends, a muster roll precious in the sight of their God, 
 though little esteemed among men. 
 
 During the time of George Fox's imprisonment in 
 Launceston Jail, a friend offered himself " To lie in 
 Doomsdale Dungeon in his stead." It was not allowed, 
 but, on this occasion, Cromwell asked some of his 
 council : " Which of you would do as much for me ? " 
 
 William Dewsbury, second only to George Fox in 
 labours and sufferings, lay 19 years in Warwick Prison, 
 four of them in a dungeon 12 feet under ground, with a 
 cesspool in the middle. " Few ever came out in health," 
 quietly observed the Friends who wrote at this time. 
 W. Dewsbury's little grand-daughter, of 12 years of 
 age, who, under a sense of duty came to wait on him in 
 
APPENDIX A. 263 
 
 confinement, took ill, and on her death-bed spoke to 
 those around like an experienced Christian. 
 
 Sewell's " History of the Quakers," exhibits such a 
 scene of savage persecution on the one hand, and 
 firmness and patience on the other, as is not easily 
 paralleled. 
 
 " At one time, there were few of them except those 
 below the cognizance of the magistrates, who were not 
 in prison for their faith." About the year 1662, perse- 
 cution ran very high in England and Wales, so that 
 upwards of 4,200 Quakers were in prisons of the vilest 
 description. 
 
 But the malice of persecution did not stop here ; the 
 property of the most respectable families was confis- 
 cated, and a great number died of maltreatment. 
 
 The worst outrages were, however, perpetrated in 
 New England, by those who had themselves fled from 
 persecution in their native land — among many other 
 instances, three Quaker women were stripped to the 
 waist and beaten. On Boston Common, in 1660, Mary 
 Dyer sealed her testimony with her blood. It not often 
 falls to the lot of one individual to be twice brought as a 
 martyr to the place of execution, but such was the fact 
 in the case of this brave woman, before she died by the 
 hands of the common hangman. She is described as 
 being " Comely and of a grave countenance, of a good 
 family and estate," comfortably married and the mother 
 of several children. 
 
 It appears that her home was in Rhode Island, and 
 
264 APPENDIX A. 
 
 that she had joined the new Society during a temporary 
 sojourn in England. A Friend named Ann Burden, 
 a widow with children • depending on her, wishing 
 to go to America to collect some debts, Mary Dyer, 
 ignorant of the severe laws recently passed against 
 the Quakers, accompanied her. On landing at the 
 Port of Boston, they were at once thrown into prison, 
 from which Mary Dyer was liberated by the exertions 
 ■of her husband, who had to become " Bound in a 
 great penalty not to lodge her in any town of the 
 colony, nor permit an}' to have speech with her on her 
 journey." 
 
 The recollection of what she had previously endured 
 was, doubtless, still vividly before her when two years 
 afterwards she felt that the Lord called her to go again 
 to Boston, where two young Englishmen of the same 
 religious profession, William Robinson and Marmaduke 
 Stevenson, were then in prison for conscience's sake. 
 Mary Dyer, as we might expect, was again imprisoned, 
 and when at length the three friends were set free, they 
 were forbidden under pain of death to return to the 
 city. Vain, however, were the laws of man to deter 
 these soldiers of the Cross from obeying the orders of 
 their Captain ; they returned, ere long, to bear witness 
 for their Lord in Boston. 
 
 After her two companions were condemned to be 
 executed, Mary Dyer was brought before the relentless 
 Endicott. On receiving her sentence, she said : " The 
 will of the Lord be done," and as she went forth to 
 
APPENDIX A. 265 
 
 prison, to await her execution, she uttered speeches of 
 praise to the Lord, being full of joy. 
 
 Mary Dyer was led out with her companions to 
 the place of execution on Boston Common. " With 
 great cheerfulness they went," says Sewel, " as to an 
 everlasting wedding feast," with "glorious signs of 
 heavenly joy and gladness in their countenances." 
 What mattered to them the two hundred armed men 
 and the noise of the drummers who were ordered to 
 drown their voices ? The exalting martyr seemed 
 already among the saints in light. " This is to me," she 
 said " an hour of the greatest joy I could have in this 
 world. No eye can see, no ear can hear, no tongue can 
 utter, and no heart can understand the sweet incomes 
 and refreshings of the Spirit of the Lord, which now I 
 eel." After seeing the dead bodies of those with whom 
 she had lately held sweet fellowship, she mounted the 
 fatal ladder. But just before the accomplishment of 
 the final deed, a cry was heard : " Stop, for she is 
 reprieved." Her feet were loosed, and she was told to 
 come down, but the return to earth from the very 
 portals of heaven was not a thing she had desired. She 
 stood still, and calmly said she was there willing to 
 suffer as her brethren did, unless they would annul 
 their wicked law. 
 
 It appeared that her son had interceded for her life, 
 but it was a forfeited life still, and she was remanded 
 to prison. 
 
 The people at Boston were more compassionate than 
 
266 APPENDIX A. 
 
 their rulers. Many of them were aroused to indig- 
 nation at the death of two good men like Stevenson and 
 Robinson, and in order to calm them it was thought 
 expedient to send Mary Dyer to her home, so she 
 was put on horseback, and escorted fourteen miles on 
 her return journey towards Rhode Island. The fol- 
 lowing year, however (1660), she felt called once more 
 to go back, and remonstrate against the unrighteous 
 and unjust laws. 
 
 Being summoned before the General Court, she 
 undauntedly owned herself to be the same Mary Dyer 
 who had been sentenced before by the same tribunal. 
 Governor Endicott, doubtless enraged to see that his 
 laws availed nothing with this courageous woman, 
 allowed her only a few hours to await the carrying out 
 of her sentence of death. But this was no trouble to 
 her, of whom one of her fellow-labourers gave a similar 
 testimony to that which we read of the first martyr ; 
 " She even shined in the image of God." 
 
 From an earthly prison to a heavenly mansion was a 
 royal passage, though the way might be rough. When 
 offered her life if she would return, her reply was ready : 
 " Nay, I cannot, for in His will I abide faithful to 
 death." " I have been in Paradise several days," were 
 some of her last words. A moment under the rough 
 hand of the executioner, and then present with her God. 
 
 In the year 1661, after the cruel treatment thus 
 inflicted upon the Quakers at Boston, Elizabeth 
 Hutton, one of George Fox's first converts, believed 
 
APPENDIX A. 267 
 
 herself called to proceed there and witness against 
 these wicked laws. 
 
 When carried before Governor Endicott, he asked, 
 with much abuse, what she and her companion came 
 there for. Elizabeth answered : " To warn thee, that 
 thou shed no more innocent blood." • They were con- 
 ve}'ed to prison, but afterwards were taken two day's 
 journey to a desolate wilderness, infested by bears and 
 wolves, and left there to take chance of life or death. 
 Through the protecting hand of their God they got 
 from thence to Rhode Island. But returning to Boston 
 she was ordered to be whipped as a vagrant, which 
 order was executed in several towns, after which, being 
 left again in a wilderness, she made her way to her 
 friends, giving thanks to God, who had counted her 
 worthy to suffer for His name. In after years we find 
 this record by George Fox's pen : " About a week after 
 we landed in Jamaica, Elizabeth Hutton, a woman of 
 great age, who had travelled much in Truth's service, 
 and suffered much for it, departed this life. She was 
 well the day before she died, and went in peace like a 
 lamb, bearing testimony to Truth at her departure." 
 
 The early Evangelistic stage of the Society produced 
 many women who received a share in proclaiming the 
 Gospel in its simplicity and spirituality. On the subject 
 of the ministry of woman, Barclay, in his " Apology," 
 Proposition X, says : 
 
 " Seeing male and female are one in Christ Jesus, 
 and that He gives His Spirit no less to one than to the 
 
268 APPENDIX A. 
 
 other, when God moveth by His Spirit in a woman, we 
 judge it no ways unlawful for her to preach in the 
 assemblies of God's people. 
 
 " Neither think we that of Paul, i Cor., xiv, 34, to 
 reprove the inconsiderate and talkative women among 
 the Corinthians, who troubled the Church of Christ with 
 their unprofitable questions, or 1 Tim., ii, 11-12, that 
 women ought to learn in silence, not usurping over the 
 man, anyways repugnant to this doctrine. 
 
 " Because it is clear that women have prophesied and 
 preached in the Church, else had that saying of Joel 
 been ill applied by Peter, Acts ii, 17. 
 
 " And seeing Paul himself in the same Epistle to the 
 Corinthians giveth rules how women should behave 
 themselves in their public preaching and praying, it 
 would be a manifest contradiction if that other place 
 were taken in a larger sense. 
 
 " And the same Paul speaks of a woman that laboured 
 with him in the work of the Gospel, and it is written 
 that Philip had four daughters that prophesied. 
 
 " A.nd lastly it hath been observed that God hath 
 effectually in this day converted many souls by the 
 ministry of women, and by them also frequently com- 
 forted the souls of His children, which manifest ex- 
 perience puts the thing beyond all controversy.'' 
 
 Margaret Fell, the wife of Judge Fell, who was 
 married to George Fox after eleven years of widowhood, 
 was a zealous preacher and able writer. She suffered 
 two imprisonments, and three times did she journey 
 
APPENDIX A. 269 
 
 from her northern home to plead with King Charles on 
 behalf of the suffering Quakers. She died in much peace 
 at Swartenmore, aged 86, having survived her husband 
 twelve years. 
 
 Among other women who laboured in the Gospel were 
 Catherine Evans and Sarah Chevers, called, as they 
 believed, to Alexandria. They were arrested at Malta, 
 and suffered a fearful imprisonment in the Inquisition, 
 which lasted four years. One man died from torture in 
 the Inquisition in Rome. 
 
 It appears that in 1656 Friends first found their way 
 to America. Mary Fisher, accompanied by Anne 
 Austin, who had left behind in London a husband and 
 five children, sailed from Barbadoes to Massachusetts 
 Bay. After suffering severe imprisonments in Boston, 
 they were shipped back to Barbadoes under strict 
 guard. But scarcely had the vessel left the port when 
 another arrived from London, bringing eight more 
 ministers of the Gospel to suffer in their turn. 
 
 Mary Fisher, soon after her return to England, entered 
 once more an untrodden path. She sailed for Smyrna, 
 with a message to deliver to Mahomet IV, encamped 
 with his army near Adrianople. On reaching Smyrna 
 she was stopped by the English Consul and sent back 
 to Venice, from whence she made her way by land to 
 Adrianople, preserved from peril and abuse through a 
 journey of 500 miles. On her arrival she requested to 
 be accompanied to the camp. The citizens whom she 
 consulted, fearing the Sultan's displeasure, declined to 
 
27O APPENDIX A. 
 
 •do so, and Mary Fisher therefore went to the camp 
 alone. When the Grand Vizier heard that there was 
 an English woman who had a message from the Great 
 God to the Sultan, he sent her word that she might 
 speak to him next morning. On returning to the camp 
 at the hour appointed, the Sultan, attended by his great 
 officers of state, sent for her, and asked if it were true 
 that she had a message from the Lord. Mary Fisher 
 answered in the affirmative, upon which he bade her 
 speak on, as she remained silent, with her soul waiting 
 on God, the Sultan supposed she was oppressed with 
 awe, in the presence of such an assembly, and asked 
 her whether she desired that any of the company should 
 retire? She answered : "Nay." He then desired her 
 to speak the Word of the Lord, and not to fear, for 
 they had good hearts, and charged her to speak the 
 Lord's Word, neither more or less, for they were willing 
 to hear it. They all gave attention, with much gravity, 
 till she had concluded, when the Sultan enquired if she 
 had any more to say. She asked if he had understood 
 what she had said ? He replied : " Yea, every word," 
 and added, that it was the truth, and desired her to 
 stay in his country, for they could not but respect one 
 who had endured so much and had come so far to carry 
 them the Lord's message. This kindness she modestly 
 declined, as also an escort to Constantinople. He 
 reminded her it was a very dangerous journey, especially 
 for such a maiden, and wondered she had passed so far in 
 safety ; and it was out of respectful concern he offered 
 
APPENDIX A. 271 
 
 her a guard, as he would not on any consideration have 
 an injury befall her in his dominions. They then asked 
 what she thought of their prophet, Mahomet, she 
 made a cautious reply that she knew him not, but she 
 knew Christ, the true prophet, the Son of God, who 
 enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world, and 
 added : " If the word of a prophet come to pass then ye 
 shall know the Lord hath sent that prophet, but if it 
 come not to pass then ye shall know the Lord never 
 sent him " ; to which they assented, and acknowledged it 
 to be truth. And so she departed without a guard, and 
 reached England safely, having experienced neither 
 injury nor insult. This reception of the infidel Sultan 
 contrasts favourably with that which Christian New 
 England accorded her, and other early Friends. 
 
272 APPENDIX B. 
 
 APPENDIX B.— A SPECIAL PROVIDENCE DURING 
 
 james Dickinson's travels in Scotland. 
 
 A remarkable circumstance befell James Dickinson 
 and Jane Fearon, while travelling in Gospel service 
 through Scotland, of which we find the following 
 account : — 
 
 " Evening approaching, after a tempestuous day, they 
 wished to stop for the night in a small public-house, but 
 their hired guide objected ; they could not, however, 
 well understand his dialect, and, being wet and weary, 
 they discharged him and entered the inn. After a short 
 time they became painfully apprehensive that the people 
 of the house had a design upon their lives, and, although 
 they behaved with apparent kindness and attention, 
 these uncomfortable feelings increased. The Friends 
 saw three men about, who were heard to say : ' They 
 have good horses and saddle-bags,' and another added : 
 ' Aye, and good clothes too.' 
 
 " The lonely situation of the house and other appear- 
 ances seemed favourable to the wicked designs of the 
 people. James Dickinson, having seen to the horses, 
 enquired for a room, in which he walked up and down, 
 while his companion broke into tears, saying : ' I fear 
 these men have a design on our lives.' Her companion 
 answered : ' They have mischief in their hearts, but I 
 
APPENDIX B. 273 
 
 hope the Lord will deliver us ; if so, we must run." 
 Then James Dickinson, taking the candle carefully and 
 examining the room, discovered a door, which he opened, 
 and perceived a stone staircase leading outside the 
 house. 
 
 " Upon this discovery, putting off their shoes they 
 descended softly, leaving the candle burning in the room. 
 After running a considerable time they found a building 
 which they entered ; but soon James Dickinson said r 
 ' We are not safe here, we must run again,' to which his 
 friend answered : ' I am so weary, I think I cannot go any 
 further.' She, however, endeavoured to proceed till 
 they came to a river near the south coast. On passing 
 along they came to a bridge, but, attempting to go over 
 James Dickinson said : ' We must not go over this- 
 bridge, but go further up the river side.' This they did, 
 and sat down. 
 
 "After some time he grew uneasy, and said: 'We 
 must wade through the water.' Jane Fearon replied :. 
 ' Alas ! how can we cross the river, knowing not its 
 depth ? rather wait and let us see what they will be- 
 permitted to do ; it will be better for them to take our 
 lives than for us to drown ourselves.' But James said : 
 ' Fear not, I will go before thee !' upon which they 
 entered the river and got safe through. Walking on 
 they came to a sand bank, and sat down. But not 
 feeling easy yet, they arose. 
 
 " Proceeding further, they found another sand bank 
 with a cavity. After a while James said : ' Now we are 
 T 
 
274 APPENDIX B. 
 
 safe, and in my heart is a song of thanksgiving and 
 praise.' 
 
 " When they had been there some time they heard a 
 noise of people on the other side of the river, and 
 fearing they should be discovered, James Dickinson 
 said : ' Our lives now depend on our silence.' Atten- 
 tively hearkening, they could hear the men say : ' Seek 
 them, Keeper ! ' They believed they were the men seen 
 in the inn. The dog would not go over the bridge, but 
 followed the scent up the stream to the place they 
 •crossed. The people repeatedly cried : ' Seek them, 
 Keeper ! ' which they not only heard, but saw the men 
 with a lantern. One said : ' They have crossed the 
 river ! ' another replied : ' That is impossible, unless the 
 Devil took them over, for the river is brink full.' After 
 a considerable time they left, and the Friends saw them 
 no more. 
 
 " When the day dawned, a man appeared on a hill at 
 some distance, searching apparently for some one, and 
 they apprehended it was for them. Some time after 
 sunrise 'they discovered that under the first sandbank 
 they could have been seen from the other side of the 
 river, while their last refuge shaded * them from 
 •observation. 
 
 " Upon considering what they should do to recover 
 their horses and saddle-bags, James Dickinson said : 
 J I incline to return to the inn, fully believing our 
 belongings will be ready for us.' Jane Fearon replied : 
 x I dare not go back ' ; upon which James said : ' Thou 
 
APPENDIX B. 275 
 
 mayst safely, for I have seen that which has never 
 failed me.' Upon which they returned — no one being 
 in the house but an old woman sitting in a nook by the 
 fireside. The horses were in a stable, which they 
 mounted and departed. 
 
 " Some time after, James Dickinson going that way, 
 found the house had been searched, and a number of 
 human bones found. Some of the people were executed, 
 and the inn ordered to be pulled down. It lay there a 
 heap of rubbish." — Friends' Select Miscellanies. 
 
 T3 
 
276 APPENDIX C. 
 
 APPENDIX C. WILLIAM GOFFE, 
 
 From " National Dictionary of Biography ." 
 
 " In 1642 Goffe was imprisoned by the Royalist Lord 
 Mayor for promoting a petition in support of the Parlia- 
 ment's claims to the militia. In 1645, his name appears 
 in the list of the New Model, as captain in Harley's 
 Regiment, and as one of the deputation which presented 
 the charge of the eleven members, July, 1647. 
 
 " Goffe was a prominent figure in the Prayer Meeting, 
 when it was decided to bring the King to a trial. He 
 was named one of the Judges, sat frequently during 
 the trial, and signed the King's death warrant. 
 
 " In December, 1653, he aided Colonel White to expel 
 the remnant of the Barebones Parliament. In December, 
 1655, he was appointed Major-General for Berkshire, etc. 
 A large amount of his correspondence is printed in the 
 Thurlow papers, and proves that while active on behalf 
 of the Government he was less arbitrary than many of 
 his colleagues. 
 
 " The ' Second Narrative of the Late Parliament ' 
 "describes Goffe as in ' so great esteem and favour at 
 Court that he is judged the only fit man to have Major 
 Lambert's place and command, as major-general of the 
 army, and, having so far advanced, is in a fair way to 
 the Protectorship hereafter.' He was one of nine 
 
APPENDIX C. 277 
 
 persons on the important committee appointed in June, 
 1658, to consider what should be done in the next 
 Parliament. 
 
 " Goffe was one of the persons summoned by Crom- 
 well during his last illness to receive his declarations 
 respecting his successor. He subscribed to the pro- 
 clamation declaring Richard Cromwell Protector. 
 
 " On November 15th, 1658, Richard granted Goffe 
 Irish lands to the value of £"500 per annum in fulfilment 
 of his father's intentions. 
 
 ' ' Before the Restoration actually took place, April 1 6th, 
 1660, a warrant was issued for Goffe's arrest, probably 
 on suspicion that he was concerned in Lambert's 
 intended rising. He succeeded, however, in escaping, 
 but a proclamation offered £100 for his arrest. 
 
 " In company with his father-in-law, Lieutenant- 
 General Whalley, Goffe landed at Boston, Massa- 
 chusetts, in July, 1660. under the name of Stephenson, 
 making no other attempt to conceal his identity. 
 
 " It was deposed by a certain John Crowne that the 
 Governor, John Endicott, embraced them, and bade 
 them welcome to New England, and wished more such 
 good men would come over. 
 
 "They staid for a time at Cambridge, ' where they - 
 were held in exceeding high esteem for their piety and 
 parts,' but being, after a time, hotly pursued by order 
 of the English Government, they moved from place to 
 place, and at last to the Rev. John Russell's house at 
 Hadley, in October, 1664. 
 
278 APPENDIX C. 
 
 " Goffe seems to have died in 1679 ; his last letter was 
 dated April 2nd in that year. His correspondence with 
 his wife was conducted as a son to a mother, under the 
 pseudonyms of Frances and Walter Goldsmith, it shews 
 him to have been a man of deep and enthusiastic 
 religious feeling, and explains much relating to his 
 political actions. 
 
 " Three of the city avenues at Newhaven, Connecticut, 
 are called respectively, Goffe, Whalley, and Dixwell." 
 
 _jThe following is extracted from Anthony Wood's 
 " Athena? Oxoniensis " and " Fasti Oxoniensis": — 
 
 " William Goffe, son of Stephen Goffe, and younger 
 brother of John, was apprenticed to one Vaughan, a 
 Salter, in London, brother of Colonel Jos. Vaughan, a 
 Parliamentarian and zealous Presbyterian. Goffe 
 became a common soldier, and was finally promoted 
 to the rank of Colonel. In 1649 he was one of the 
 Judges of King Charles I, and agreed, by standing up 
 and bowing his head, to the sentence of death. In 
 1654 ne > with Colonel White, brought musqueteers and 
 turned out the Anabaptist members which were left 
 behind in the Little, or Barebones, Parliament. Made 
 by Cromwell Major-General of Hampshire, Sussex, and 
 Berks- — a place of great profit. Afterwards became 
 Major-General of the Army of Foot, and it was said the 
 Protectorate was settled on him for some future time. 
 He was raised to the Upper House. In 1660 he betook 
 himself to his heels to save his neck, and afterwards, with 
 other Regicides, lived several years in vagabondage." 
 
APPENDIX C. 279 
 
 The following is a copy of the Proclamation Form of 
 arrest from the Guildhall Library : — 
 
 " By the King. 
 
 "A Proclamation 
 
 " for Apprehension of Edward Whalley and William Goffe. 
 
 " Charles R. 
 
 " Forasmuch as Edward Whalley, commonly known 
 by the name of Colonel Whalley, and William Goffe, 
 commonly called Colonel Goffe, are, amongst others, by 
 an Act of this present Parliament, entitled ' An Act of 
 free and general pardon, indemnity and oblivion,' 
 wholly excepted from pardon and left to be proceeded 
 against as traytors for their execrable treasons in 
 sentencing to death, signing the instrument for the 
 horrid murder, or being instrumental in taking away 
 the precious life of Our late Dear Father, of blessed 
 memory. 
 
 " And forasmuch as they, the said Edward Whalley 
 and William Goffe, having absented themselves, with- 
 drawn themselves and fled, as we have been informed, 
 to the parts beyond the seas, and are now, as we cer- 
 tainly understand, lately returned into Our Kingdom of 
 England, and do privately lurk and obscure themselves 
 in places unknown : We therefore have thought fit, by 
 and with the advice of Our Privy Council, to publish 
 the same to all our loving subjects, not doubting their 
 care and forwardness in their apprehension ; and we do 
 hereby require and command as well, all and singular, 
 
1280 APPENDIX C. 
 
 ■our judges, justices of the peace, mayors, sheriffs, 
 bailiffs, constables, and head boroughs, as also the 
 ■officers and ministers of our ports and other our subjects 
 whatsoever within Our realms of England, Scotland and 
 Ireland, and Our dominion of Wales, and all other Our 
 ■dominions and territories, to be diligent in inquiring, 
 searching, or seizing and apprehending them, the said 
 Edward Whalley and William Goffe, in all places what- 
 soever, as well within liberties as without, whom, if they 
 shall happen to take and apprehend, our further will 
 and pleasure is that they cause them, or either of them 
 so apprehended, to be safely carried to the next justice 
 ■of the peace to where they or either of them shall be 
 arrested, and whom we straitly command to commit 
 them or either of them to prison, and presently inform 
 us and our Privy Council of their or either of their 
 apprehension. 
 
 " And we do hereby further declare and publish that 
 if any person or persons after this our Proclamation 
 published, shall directly or indirectly conceal, harbour, 
 keep, retain or maintain the same Edward Whalley or 
 William Goffe, or either of them, or shall contrive or 
 ■connive at any means whereby they or either of them 
 shall or may escape from being taken or arrested, or 
 shall not use their best endeavour for their or either of 
 their apprehensions, as well by giving due advertise- 
 ment thereof to Our officers as by all other good means, 
 we will, as there is just cause, proceed against them 
 that shall so neglect this Our commandment with all 
 ■due severity. 
 
APPENDIX C. 28l 
 
 " And lastly, we do hereby declare that whosoever 
 shall discover the said Edward Whalley or William 
 Goffe, either within our Kingdom of England, Scotland, 
 Ireland, or Dominion of Wales, or in any other Our 
 dominions or territories, or elsewhere, and shall cause 
 them or either of them to be apprehended and brought 
 in alive, or dead if they or either of them attempting 
 resistance happen to be slain, shall have a reward of 
 one hundred pounds in money for each of them so 
 brought in dead or alive as aforesaid, to be forthwith 
 paid unto him in recompence of such his service. 
 
 "Given at our Court at Whitehall the Two and 
 Twentieth day of September, in the Twelfth Year of 
 Our Reign. 
 
 " London : Printed by Christopher Barker and John Bill, 
 Printers to the King's Most Excellent Majesty, 1660." 
 
282 APPENDIX D. 
 
 APPENDIX D. — james naylor's dying testimony. 
 
 " There is a spirit which I feel that delights to do no 
 evil, nor to revenge any wrong, but delights to endure 
 all things, in hope to enjoy its own at the end. Its 
 hope is to outlive all wrath and contention, and to 
 weary out all exaltation and cruelty, or whatsoever is 
 of a nature contrary to itself. It sees to the end of all 
 temptation ; as it bears no evil in itself, so it conceives 
 none in thought to any other. If it be betrayed, it 
 bears it ; for its ground and spring is the mercies and 
 forgiveness of God. Its crown is meekness, its life is 
 everlasting love unfeigned, and takes its kingdom with 
 entreaty and not with contention, and keeps it by 
 lowliness of mind. 
 
 " In God alone it can rejoice, though none else regard 
 it, or can own its life. It is conceived in sorrow and 
 brought forth without any to pity it, nor doth it murmur 
 at grief and oppression. It never rejoiceth but through 
 suffering, for with the world's joy it is murdered. I 
 found it alone, being forsaken ; I have fellowship therein 
 with them who live in dens and desolate places in the 
 earth, who through death obtained this resurrection and 
 eternal holy life." 
 
APPENDIX E. 283 
 
 APPENDIX E. THE HUGUENOTS AND THE LINEN 
 
 TRADE IN IRELAND. 
 
 The direful storm of persecution which swept over 
 France and the Netherlands compelled a hardy, God- 
 fearing and industrious people to find refuge in England 
 and Ireland, where they might worship God according 
 to the reformed religion the)' carried with them — a faith 
 and practice that became a great blessing to the land of 
 their adoption. Perhaps the brightest record we have 
 at this period in the annals of Ireland was the settling 
 down of these outcast Huguenots, to introduce new 
 trades, and, in the midst of strife and party spirit, to 
 live quiet, consistent Christian lives. 
 
 The Duke of Alva, in the Low Countries, and the 
 Queen Mother, in France, vied with each other in doing 
 their utmost with the pitiless weapons that fanaticism 
 puts into the hands of Rome. 
 
 The Council of Trent, in 1545, sat eighteen years to 
 codify the laws of the Romish Church. The results 
 were statutes clearly setting forth the religious and 
 ecclesiastical faith of Christendom. From these many 
 texts could be gathered which justified any method of 
 diffusing the true belief and exterminating the false. 
 It was decided religion must be honoured by the intro- 
 duction of the Inquisition and a general massacre of 
 heretics in every land. 
 
284 APPENDIX E. 
 
 A few months later, Philip of Spain, under the 
 ferocious Alva, began his bloodthirsty career in the 
 Netherlands ; in regard to which, he boasted he had 
 sent 18,000 to the scaffold, besides the immense number 
 killed in battle. 
 
 Catherine de Medici pondered this object lesson, 
 and when seven years had passed and the Huguenots 
 were still unsubdued, occasion was found, in 1572, 
 of attracting all the chief Huguenots to Paris, by 
 her invitation to attend the marriage of the Huguenot 
 Prince, Henry of N avarre, with her daughter Margaret. 
 
 In the midst of feast and friendship, the tocsin 
 sounded, and the murderers were let loose all over 
 Paris. Hospitality, relationship, youth, sex, were all dis- 
 regarded ; the streets ran with blood, and the river was 
 choked with mutilated bodies. No pen can picture the 
 horrors of St. Bartholomew's Day. Sully says 70,000 
 Protestants perished during that August, 1572, and a 
 Roman Catholic Bishop stated the number to be 100,000. 
 
 Pope Gregory XIII, who was privy to the plot, 
 celebrated a Te Deum on hearing the news, and 
 proclaimed a Jubilee over the whole Christian world, 
 and a solemn procession, in which he took part, to 
 thank God for this glorious success. A messenger was 
 despatched to Paris to congratulate the King, and give 
 the assassins his blessing.* 
 
 Huguenot emigrants of all classes fled in open boats 
 
 * See Eighteen Christian Centuries. — White. 
 
APPENDIX E. 285 
 
 across the channel, and found a retreat on the shore of 
 England ; a large proportion were industrious trades- 
 men, who had read the newly-translated Bible in their 
 own tongue, and renounced the errors of the papal 
 system. 
 
 Sir Thomas Gresham, writing from Antwerp, in 1566, 
 said : " There are here above 40,000 who will rather 
 die than have the Word of God put to silence.'' 
 
 Leaving the busy quays deserted, and most of their 
 property in the hand of the spoiler, merchants and men 
 came to lay the foundation of industries in other lands. 
 
 The Massacre in France was the cause, as we have 
 seen, of another invasion, but our brief notice rests with 
 the Refugees who reached Ireland, and established the 
 linen trade in that distracted country. 
 
 So early as 1590, Sir Henry Sidney mentions a small 
 colony settled in County Dublin, diligently employed in 
 making diaper, ticks, and other stuffs for men's use, 
 and tanning leather of deer skins. 
 
 In the reign of Charles I, Chief Deputy the Earl of 
 Stafford applied himself with much zeal, and used his 
 own private means to establish the linen industry, though 
 it was afterwards made one of the grounds of his im- 
 peachment that he had obstructed trade by introducing 
 new and unknown processes in the manufacture of flax. 
 
 The Duke of Ormond followed his example by induc- 
 ing Refugees to settle in Ireland. Many were pursuing 
 peaceably their respective trades, when, in the revolution 
 of 1688, Ireland became the scene once more of con- 
 
286 APPENDIX E. 
 
 fusion and civil war, which continued to the detriment 
 of trade and progress until the Peace of Limerick, 1691, 
 when William III took measures to restore the prostrate 
 industry of the country. • > ■ > ■ 
 
 Naturalization was granted to those refugees who 
 would settle in Ireland, with freedom to exercise their 
 religion, of which many took advantage. 
 
 The northern counties of Down and Antrim were, 
 however, more than any other, regarded as the sanctuary 
 of the Refugees. There they settled among men of their 
 own faith, who had fled from the Stuart persecution in 
 Scotland to take refuge in the comparatively unmolested 
 districts of Ulster. 
 
 Lisburn, seven miles south of Belfast, was one of their 
 favourite settlements ; the place, with many others, had 
 been burnt to the ground in the civil war of 1641. 
 
 But under the encouragement of the Government, 
 and in the hands of a busy and God-fearing people, it, 
 ere long, became a flourishing place of trade and linen 
 industry. 
 
 Thus in great measure began the prosperity of Pro- 
 testant Ulster, the chief seat of commerce in due time 
 being moved to Belfast. 
 
 And here we may learn afresh the lesson, that there is 
 no evil so terrible out of which God cannot work good. 
 For we see in the history of the Scotch, French, and 
 Low Country Refugees evidence that a blessing to 
 themselves and to their adopted country followed their 
 faithfulness to God. 
 
APPENDIX F. 287 
 
 Seepages APPENDIX F. 193-6. 
 
 In order that the ground of this separation may not 
 be misunderstood, we give the following extract from 
 the Minute of London Yearly Meeting of 1829, in re- 
 lation to this subject. 
 
 After concluding not to hold any correspondence with 
 the section of " Friends " in Baltimore Yearly Meeting 
 referred to, the Minute continues : — 
 
 " This step is taken under a feeling of painful concern 
 for those who have recognized a body of separatists in 
 Pennsylvania ' who have denied the proper divinity of 
 our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and whose aim has 
 been much directed against the virtue and benefit of that 
 most satisfactory sacrifice, which He made of Himself 
 when He was crucified without the gates of Jerusalem ' 
 (see the Epistle from the Meeting for Sufferings .in 
 Philadelphia, Eleventh Month 23, 1827). And this 
 Meeting feels a warm desire that it may please the 
 Lord in His abundant mercy to enable them clearly to 
 see that blessing which He has provided for the whole 
 human race in His beloved Son, our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ, Who died for our sins and rose again for 
 our justification ; ' in Whom dwelleth all the fulness of 
 the God-head bodily,' and Whose glorious divinity is set 
 forth in this declaration of the Evangelist : ' In the 
 beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 
 and the Word was God ; all things were made by Him, 
 and without Him was not anything made that was 
 made ' ; ' And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt 
 amongst u c , and we beheld His glory, the glory as of 
 the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and 
 truth.' " See also Declaratory Minute of same year in 
 London Book of Discipline. 
 
SELECTED BOOKS 
 
 Published by EDWARD HICKS, Jim., 
 
 AT 
 
 14, BISHOPSGATE WITHOUT, 
 LONDON, E.C. 
 
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY EDWARD HICKS, JUN. 
 Three Shillings and Sixpence. Many Illustrations. 
 
 QUAKER PICTURES 
 
 (SECOND SERIES). 
 
 WITH NOTES BY 
 
 WILFRED WHITTEN. 
 
 The popularity of the First Series of " Quaker Pictures " has led 
 to the production of a Second Series, which, like the first, deals 
 descriptively with Paintings, Engravings, Portraits, etc., interesting 
 to the Society of Friends, and includes Biographical Sketches and 
 Critical Notes. Among the subjects will be the following : — White 
 Hart Lane Meeting in the Seventeenth Century — Ury — John 
 Lilburne — Thomas Coram — Dr. John Fothergill — Ackworth in the 
 Olden Time— Portraits of Benjamin West — Amelia Opie — Earith 
 Meeting (from the Painting by Samuel Lucas)— THE NEW 
 COLOSSAL STATUE OF WILLIAM PENN AT PHILADELPHIA 
 —The Philadelphia City Hall— The Bride— etc. The view of 
 White Hart Lane Meeting in the Seventeenth Century is from an 
 old print of great merit not described in the catalogue of pictures at 
 Devonshire House. 
 
 A few copies of the First Series are still in stock. Price Five 
 Shillings net. This volume contains notices of Portraits, Prints, 
 etc., relating to George Fox, William Penn, Dr. Lettsom, The West 
 Family, Elizabeth Fry, etc. 
 
 One Shilling and Sixpence. 
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 
 Tottenham Friends and the Forster Family 
 
 By THEODORE COMPTON. 
 
 Contents. — Tottenham — Tottenham Meeting — The Old Scholars 
 — Thomas Coar — Deborah Forster — Josiah Forster — The Coar's 
 Pupils — Names of Note — The Forster Family. 
 
 Abounds with Anecdote. 
 
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY EDWARD HICKS, JUN. 
 Five Shillings. With Portrait. 
 
 BERNARD BARTON AND HIS FRIENDS : 
 
 A Record of Quiet Lives, 
 By EDWARD TEEEALL LUCAS. 
 
 In this book, which is based upon the volume of Selections from 
 Bernard Barton's Letters and Poems, edited by his Daughter, and 
 prefaced by a Memoir by Edward FitzGerald, which was published 
 in 1849, the writer has endeavoured to present the story of the 
 placid life of the Quaker Poet. Bernard Barton was the friend and 
 correspondent of Charles Lamb, Edward FitzGerald, William 
 Bodham Donne, the Rev. John Mitford, the Rev. George Crabbe, 
 the Rev. Charles Benjamin Tayler, Allan Cunningham, Robert 
 Southey, and many other eminent men, much information concern- 
 ing whom will be found in these pages. 
 
 Cheap Edition of William Beck's Work. One Shilling. 
 
 THE FRIENDS : Who they are, What 
 they have done. 
 
 The contents are of the most complete and varied character, a 
 fact sufficiently indicated by the titles of the chapters, which are : — 
 A Chosen Generation — Some Details of George Fox's Early Life — 
 George Fox's Personal Appearance — The Early Friends Travelling 
 in the Ministry — The Early Missionaries (Continued) — Persecution 
 under Monarchy — Origin of the Discipline — Meeting Houses, etc. — 
 George Whitehead and his Service — Scotch Friends — Irish Friends 
 — Friends in Holland, Germany, and West Indies — Friends in 
 America— Friends in Pennsylvania — Ministers Amongst the Settlers 
 in America — George Fox's Death— Society Organization — Yearly 
 Meeting Premises — Christian Doctrine and Counsel, issued by the 
 Yearly Meeting — Education — Disruption and Secession— Friends as 
 Pioneers in Philanthropic Efforts — Slavery — Treatment of the 
 Insane — Testimony Against all War — Friends' Industrial, Com- 
 mercial, and Social Influence — Friends' Missions— Friends as at 
 Present in Europe and Australasia — The Richmond Conference — 
 Conclusion. 
 
 "This book fills a vacant place, is written in a lucid style, and is not without 
 an element of romance. There are many suggestions to be found in its pages for 
 all sorts of Christian workers, and. apart from its great value as a history of a 
 great work of God, is well worth reading on that account alone. For those who 
 wish a general view of the Society; nothing could be hettet."—Metkodist Times. 
 
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY EDWARD HICKS, JUN. 
 Demy 8vo. Three Shillings and Sixpence. With Illustrations. 
 
 Stephen Crisp and his Correspondents, 
 
 By C. FELL SMITH. 
 
 "As a contribution to our knowledge of the early Quakers (both 
 local and general), the book is of high value and interest." 
 
 Second'Edition, 8vo., Cloth. Two Shillings and Sixpence. 
 
 The Penns and Peningtons of the 
 Seventeenth Century. 
 
 Illustrated by Original Family Letters, also Notices of their 
 Friend, Thomas Ellwood. 
 
 By MARIA WEBB. ' 
 
 " The present volume will be found to possess an interest, not only for the 
 readers who coine fresh to its subject, but for those who have long been 
 conversant with the leading facts that cluster round the names of Penn, Penington, 
 and Ellwood." — The Friend. 
 
 Cheap Edition, Five Shillings. 
 
 FRIENDS OF A HALF CENTURY, 
 
 BEING 
 
 SFiftp $ttetmrr:als, hritl; portraits, 
 
 Of Members of the Society of Friends, 1840-1890. 
 Edited by WILLIAM ROBINSON. 
 
 " ' Friends of a Half-Century ' is a monumental book that is likely to find itself 
 set up on many a shelf besides those in Quaker libraries."— Christian World. 
 
 " The plain and unvarnished record of these pious and heroic lives is very 
 
 impressive The book is turned out in good style by the publisher 
 
 and the Ink Photos preceding each of the memoirs are well executed."— 
 Herefordshire Times.