relating to the situation of the Friends at Montrose, who, it will be recollected, were but few in number.— The true worship of the Almighty, which is " in spirit," whether divested of or clothed in words, continued to be so great an occasion of offence, and so repugnant to the persecutors, that they went on in increasing malice and fury, shamefully to entreat these " poor innocents," as if they even thirsted for their blood. No sooner did any meet together to perform this reasonable service, than they were cast into prison; and at length, from one of them, James Nuccoll, a tailor by trade, they took away his work, alleging, he was not a freeman of the town; whereas, he had long before obtained from them a promise of his freedom, and had sought, but in vain, to pay for and enter it. In this course, they were mightily incited by the same David Lyall, their stated preacher, who had been so active in the like wicked work at Aberdeen. The magistrates, having sent to prison several of these individuals in the midst of the winter of 1677, were so cruel, as to deprive those of work, who could labour at their outward callings for a livelihood, at the same time threatening all those who should in any wise pity or relieve them. And when Alexander Seaton, a Friend among the prisoners at Aberdeen, had got liberty to visit his imprisoned friends at Montrose, he was himself detained with them. On one occasion, because he exhorted the people that passed by the window in the street, to fear the Lord, and mind his light and Spirit in themselves that strove with them, these oppressors were much incensed, and had all the windows and passages for light or air, wholly closed up for several days.

About this time also, Andrew Jaffray, having set out on some occasion from the prison in Aberdeen, felt

an impression of duty to go to Montrose, and to bear a testimony for the Truth of Christ in the public place of worship there. It seems, David Lyall had been grievously railing from his pulpit against the Friends, endeavouring to render them odious in the eyes of the people, both as to their doctrine and practice. On hearing this, the mind of Andrew Jaffray became confirmed, and settled in the intention, of publicly expostulating with this person, before his own people on the very next day, being the 29th of the 11th month. Accordingly, he waited in the grave-yard, till the congregation were beginning to withdraw; then went in, and addressed him in bold and plain terms on his unjust allegations, made, as they were, against Friends, at a time when there was no one who could or dared reply to him; desiring him then to make good his charges, and that he was ready to reply to them. But, as soon as words to this effect could be pronounced, at the instigation of David Lyall, Andrew Jaffray was hurried away with great violence into a dungeon vault, under one of the aisles of the building, and there confined within two doors, quite out of the reach of any one's hearing, and among the graves of the dead. But mark the language in which this narrative proceeds. "Yet was this place made very comfortable through the sweet presence of the Lord with him" during his abode there, from the said 3rd day of the week to the 6th, when, in the night season, they released him from his state of jeopardy; some of those who had sorely beaten him being much ashamed at this their inhuman conduct. It was remarkable, that one of the persons who had thus ill-used this Friend, going to sea shortly after, the vessel was encountered by a Turkish pirate, when, being seized, he was beaten most sadly, beyond all the others.

And at that very time, as he afterward feelingly confessed to a Friend, his conscience so smote him for his cruelty to Andrew Jaffray, that he could not but accept it as a righteous and heavy judgment upon him from God. Thus, the language of Scripture respecting a persecutor appears to have been literally fulfilled, "His mischief shall return upon his own head, and his violent dealing shall come down upon his own pate." Psal. vii. 16.

CHAPTER XIII.

LILIAS SKENE'S EXPOSTULATORY LETTER TO ROBERT MACQUARE-1677: ROBERT BARCLAY'S SECOND JOURNEY TO HOLLAND AND GERMANY: HIS LETTER TO THE PRINCESS ELIZABETH-CONTINUANCE OF PERSECUTION DURING THE SPACE OF TWO YEARS AND A HALF-REFLECTIONS CONSTANCY OF PATRICK LIVINGSTON-1678: HE, WITH GEORGE GRAY, AND ANDREW JAFFRAY ARE THRUST UP INTO THE IRON HOUSE-THE FAVOUR AND PROVIDENCE OF GOD TOWARDS THE SUFFERERS-ARCHBISHOP SHARPE'S END, WITH THE REMOVAL BY DEATH OR OTHERWISE OF THE MOST ACTIVE PERSECUTORS.

AN early portion of these Memoirs has been appropriated to an Exhortation from the pen of Alexander Jaffray; and it was designed that, in the present chapter, should be revived a Piece of similar description, but by another hand, and of no ordinary character. It was however found needful, in the arrangements for the volume, that the Piece now alluded to should be consigned to the Notes. This measure was adopted with some reluctance; and therefore the reader is particularly invited to a perusal of the document, before he proceeds further. SEE APPENDIX, X.

The Friends at Aberdeen were last noticed, as being, through the summer and autumn of 1677, continually harassed with a prison allotment. Before reverting, however, to their condition, and carrying onward the narrative of their trials to its full extent of severity, and to its termination; it will be needful, in the order of events, to turn for a short interval to some engagements of one of their little band, whose temporary separation from his companions and from this scene, placed him in a position for renewed exertions on their behalf, and in a way, which, it is believed,

materially operated towards their recovery of those civil and religious privileges, from which they had been so long debarred.

Robert Barclay's acquaintance with the Princess Elizabeth of the Rhine, and the intimation she gave of her purpose, to intercede, so far as lay in her power, for the liberation of the Friends in Scotland, will doubtless be fresh in the recollection of the reader. Very shortly after his release from prison, in the 2nd month, 1677, Robert Barclay travelled into the south, was at London in the following month, and early in the 6th month paid a visit to his friend, the Princess, at Herwerden in Germany. The objects which he had before him by this journey into England, and a tarriance there for the space of two months, may have been various; but on these points there are no documents that supply scarce any information. It is clear, however, with regard to his travels on the Continent, that he had expressly in view, to pay a visit in the character of a minister among those churches, that were then gathered to the same religious acknowledgment with Friends, as well as among others whom he might find seriously disposed to seek the way of salvation. His companions were George Fox, William Penn, George Keith, and Benjamin Furly, with two or three more. At Amsterdam, it appears, they proposed to the General Meeting of Friends then convened there, a method of regularly transacting church discipline, adapted to the state and exigency of that body.

But it does not altogether come within the scope of these Memoirs, to go into Robert Barclay's services in particular, while on this gospel errand, much less those of his fellow-helpers; nor even to give an account of their visit to the Princess Elizabeth;