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in a few days removed into a more commodious room; in which he was daily fed from the said justice's table. After he had been a prisoner about a month, a Supersedeas was obtained from the Court for his discharge but when it came to the prison, he was so ill with the bruise he received when dragged down stairs, and by the increase of his weakness, that he was not fit to be removed; and desired those about him not to attempt it. And to one who offered him the use of a chariot, to carry him to Southampton, he said he had a shorter passage and should be soon at his journey's end, requesting he might not be disturbed: he said he was very easy, and having forgiven his prosecutor, he in a tender resigned frame of mind departed this life in prison the 11th of 12th month, 1758, aged about 97 years. His corpse was, as he desired, interred in friends' burial ground at Newport, in the Isle of Wight." (d)

ART. IV.—Letter from a Friend, written in 1745, relating to a skirmish with the Rebels near Penrith.

In my Chronological Summary (Vol. III. p. 118) I have inserted, from Whiting's Memoirs, some particulars of the conduct of Friends in the rising under the duke of Monmouth. Having occasion in the present No. to mention the rebellion of 1745, I shall here avail myself for the like purpose of a copy of a letter, found among the papers of a deceased relative; which appears to have been written by a member of our Society. I have no further voucher for the genuineness of the letter, I should add, than the internal evidence; which is satisfactory to myself. Ed.

"Rd. Partridge.

"Esteemed Friend,

"Clifton 29th 11 mo. 1745-6.

By this know thine I received, and shall hereby give thee hints of the affair here, as it was from the beginning to the end; I being both eye and ear witness to the truth thereof. But in the first place I cannot easily omit acknowledging the great favour and protecting hand of power to us manifested in so great a danger, as thou, by the following account, may understand-First as to the Rebels, when they came South, we did not suffer much, but they seemed to have great assurance that they would proclaim their king in London, upon the 24th of last month, and crown him on new year's day; and then they would send Geordey, as they called him, over to Hanover, and would tread down his turnip-garth-dikes; highly disesteeming our noble Duke, calling him Geordey's lad, and Geordey's Wolley, with many more opprobrious speeches; but in their return North, they were cruelly barbarous, and inhumane, when here, for their Heads gave them liberty to plunder for four hours; and then to burn Lowther, Clifton Bridge, and Penrith, and some say for six miles round; but thanks be to the Most High, whose power is above the power of man, often preventing the wicked from the prosecution of their wicked designs, which certainly was the Lord's doing, in bringing forward our noble Duke and his men, in the verry hour of great distress; as for my part I must ever love and esteem him as a man of worth.

(d) Gough iv. 420.

"Now I shall give thee to understand the beginning and end of the engagement. First the Rebel Hussars, being gone past to Penrith, came riding back by my door in haste between one and two in the afternoon, about one hour after came back again, driving up the rear of their army with whips to my door; and then some others took their place, and they wheeled off and set themselves in ambush against my barn side: being so inclosed with Cross Houses that our King's men could not see them till upon them; but we not knowing their design, yet I firmly believed it to be evil, and so went into my house; but could not long be easy there, and ventured forth again; and looking about me I espied the heads of the King's men appearing upon the hill, about 400 yards south of my house, for whom my very heart was in pain; for believing that a great number of them might be cut off before they were aware, so our care was great to get the King's men notice, for which my son ventured his life, and gave them notice about 300 yards before they came at the place; when in the mean time a second ambush was laid about 100 yards nearer to our King's men, and the King's hussars with some of the Yorkshire hunters came down and so soon as they came opposite to the first ambush the Rebels fired upon them but did no execution, and then issued out the ambush at my doors, and a furious firing they had, the King's men acting the quickest and nimblest that ever my eyes beheld; not one of them receiving any harm. Some Horse followed the former, so that in a few minutes the Rebels run away like mad men; and close by my doors, one of the Rebels was brought down and taken; and another of them was also taken at the same time, who was the Captain, and name Hamilton, both which was had up to the Duke, then all was still about an hour; in which time I abode in the house, the King's men still standing upon the common; in which time my son went over a little green, to see if he could get the cattle brought into their houses; but seeing that in vain, came homeward again, when four Rebels on horseback seized him, calling him a spy, and had him down under their horses' feet, swearing desperately many times they would shoot him, and three of them commanded the fourth to shoot him, which he attempted with his gun, then pistol, but neither would fire; so he escaped and came in a little after, which I was grown uneasy to go out which I ventured to do, and looking about me 1 saw the King's men standing as before upon the common; turning me about I see the Rebels filling the town-street north of my house, as also running down and lining the hedges and walls, even down to my house on both sides. Then I was in great pain for the Duke and his men, it beginning to grow darkish; but I ventured my life, and stood a little off and waved my hat in my hand which some of them discovering one came riding down towards me, and I called to him bidding him cast his eye about him, and see how the town was filled and hedges lined; after which he returned; and then a party was dismounted and sent down to meet the Rebels; and in the time of stillness, as above they had sent off a party of their horse to plunder and burn Lowther Hall, and town, and was also plundering our town, leaving nothing they could lay their hands on, breaking locks and making ruinous work, even to all our victuals, and little childrens' clothes of all sorts.

Now, it beginning to grow darkish, and the Rebels so thick about my house that we had no hopes of saving ourselves, we concluded to leave the house, and go into the fields if we could but get there. In the middle of the orchard we were parted by the Rebels, one part of us was drove into the fields, the other part into the house; severely threatened with taking our lives, never expecting to see one another alive any more;-we were not only so, but a son in law and his family were under the like circumstance: for they seemed more severe upon us than upon others-Now, to come to the matter above again, we were not all got to the fire side before the firing on all hands was dreadfull which continued about half an hour, in which time was killed of the King's men ten, and twenty one wounded, and the Duke's footman taken prisoner, who was got again—and of

the Rebels were five killed and many wounded that night; and early next morning was seventy prisoners under custody; and after the heat of firing was over, all seemed still a little space, after which some came and broke in at my court doors, then came to the house doors, calling sharply to open; but we believing it to be the Rebels, I would not open; when they begun to be sharp, and orders were given to fire; they supposing the house to be full of Rebels; but I called and said I would open, as fast as I could; and the first words said to me was, 'could the Duke lodge here to night?' To which with pleasure I answered, 'Yes' and pleasant agreeable company he was; a man of good parts, very friendly and no pride in him.

"Much on this head I could say if it would not be tedious; but I am like to think I am already tedious to thee; yet I shall mention one thing more to thee, very remarkable; which was our cattle was all standing among the slain men, and not one of them hurt, as also them that was banished from our house came in again next morning; which the Duke's men said was a wonder they were not all killed; our next neighbour being shot at the same time. Thou mayst know also I had the Duke of Richmond and Duke of Kingston with about a hundred more, and as many horses. One thing I have not yet mentioned, which was a thing erected by the Rebels, like a scaffold behind a wall at the corner of my house, as we believed to cut off any that might come into my court, which if it had not been so that they had fled, the noble Duke had stood a bad chance there. I am afraid thou can scarcely read this, but if thou thinks proper to shew this to any, I would have thee copy it fair over; and shew it to whom thou will even if it be to the King, I shall be easy because I know it to be the truth; I conclude with true love

"Thos. Savage."

ART. V.-Commentary on Isaiah lviii. by an old English Poet.

ART. VI.--Magical Tricks of the Bhoteans. From Fraser's Tour in the Himaley.

"The Bhoteans speak very highly of the reverence and confidence they repose in their priests: and indeed they may well fear to offend them.

"Those who do not make them meat offerings of ghee, corn &c. are punished it is said, by a spell or charm thrown over them, which they call the great Munter. This makes the culprit quiet enough: for it is said to render him immoveable in whatsoever position he is caught by it, and to become (as they phrase it) like stone or earth. Nor is he released, until it is probable that he may become more tractable— or, he is left to die so!"

A more perfect Animal magnetism than this, I suppose, is not to be found on the face of the earth. It is happy for us, that the black art is less perfectly known among us at the present day; possibly from the books which taught it, Acts xix. 19. having been burnt at Ephesus! I have treated this subject in Vol. i. 251 and ii. 149. Ed.

ART. VII.-The Sect of the Essenes fc: as described by Pliny: Hist. Nat. Lib. v. 17.

"To the westward [of the dead sea and the Jordan] are found the Essenes; who avoid the sea-coast till they trespass on the interior. A solitary people, to whom none are comparable in the known world: since they have no women, having renounced the sexual intercourse—and no money, so that they deal but with the palm-trees about them. Their numbers are kept up by continual new comers: persons who, being burthened with the changeable fortunes of life and weary of the world, become disposed to adopt their manners, and resort to them to dwell in private. Thus is the Sect perpetuated (if we may believe such a thing) without a member being born within its pale, through innumerable generations of mankind!”

It seems that Christianity is not to be blamed, alone and exclusively, for giving birth to a set of spiritual cowards and renegadoes, who flee the combat with the world and the flesh, and prefer to go into solitude, and there as well as they may (which it is believed, after all, is but feebly) to resist the devil.'

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There are however, in the minute account of the Society given by Josephus, so many particulars of a more praiseworthy nature, that I purpose to insert in a future number a translation of it, entire. Jortin, who seems to have looked into this account but carelessly, contents himself with citing the only ridiculous fact in it, as his proof that though they neglected some Ceremonial laws [of the Jews] they observed many foolish austerities, many fantastical and superstitious institutions of their own. We shall see, when the Historian comes to be fairly quoted whether, in that age, their seclusion and their rites (as a monastery without walls, like the quakers, for such they seem to have been) were more likely to be hurtful or beneficial in practice. Ed.

ART. I.-Remarks on Clarkson's Portraiture of Quakerism.

This work is undoubtedly the most minute and careful description extant of the Moral Education, Discipline, Peculiar customs and 'Character of the Society of Friends;' as these were presented to the Author about the end of the last Century. Since that time, however, many changes have taken place; both in the manners and habits of the Society, and in its relations to other Religious bodies, as well as to the Government of the country in which we live. The account of the doctrines held by the Quakers as given by Clarkson is not, moreover, by any means satisfactory to myself: and it is plain that in discussing and vindicating their tenets and practices, he is often the advocate of his own opinions conceived in his own terms; rather than those of Friends, in the terms in which they have been used to state them. I have thought, on these accounts, it might be rendering a service to such of my Readers as may possess this work, and incline to read it over again, to give them a clew to the distinctions which have arisen in my own mind on the subject. The Edition I shall follow is that of 1807, being the Third: my own copy of the First having gone, many years since, into the possession of a Sovereign Prince, now deceased, as a present in the name of the Society of Friends.

Quakerism (the author says in vol. i. p. 4.) may be defined to be an attempt, under the Divine influence, at practical Christianity as far as it can be carried.' But surely it is something more than an attempt at obeying the precepts of Jesus Christ and his Apostles,

VOL. IV.

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