A PORTRAITURE OF QUAKERIS M, TAKEN FROM A VIEW OF THE MORAL EDUCATION, DISCIPLINE, PECULIAR OF THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS. BY THOMAS CLARKSON, M. A. AUTHOR OF SEVERAL ESSAYS ON THE SUBJECT OF IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. THIRD EDITION. London: PRINTED BY R. TAYLOR AND CO., SHOE-LANE, FOR LONGMAN, HURST, REES, AND ORME, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1807. INTRODUCTION. Motives for the undertaking-Origin of the name of Quakers-George Fox the founder of the Society-Short history of his life. FROM the year 1787, when I began to de vote my labours to the abolition of the Slavetrade, I was thrown frequently into the com→ pany of the people called Quakers. These people had been then long unanimous upon this subject. Indeed, they had placed it among the articles of their religious discipline. Their houses were of course open to me in all parts of the kingdom. Hence I came to a knowledge of their living manners, which no other person, who was not a Quaker, could have easily obtained. As soon as I became possessed of this knowledge, or at least of so much of it as to feel that it was considerable, I conceived a desire of writing their moral history. I believed VOL. I. a |