A Portraiture of Quakerism, Volume 1 | Page 2

there_.

CHAPTER IV.
_Annual court or meeting for the same purposes--nature and manner of
the business there--striking peculiarities in this manner--character of
this discipline or government_.

CHAPTER V.
_Excommunication or disowning--nature of disowning as a
punishment_.

PECULIAR CUSTOMS.

CHAPTER I.
SECT. I.--_Dress--extravagance of the dress of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries--plain manner in which the grave and religious were
then habited--the Quakers sprang out of these_.
SECT. II.--_Quakers carried with them their plain dresses into their
new society--extravagance of the world continuing, they defined the
objects of dress as a Christian people--at length incorporated it into
their discipline--hence their present dress is only a less deviation from
that of their ancestors, than that of other people_.

SECT. III.--_Objections of the world to the Quaker dress--those
examined--a comparison between the language of Quakerism and of
Christianity on this subject--opinion of the early Christians upon it._

CHAPTER II.
_Furniture--the Quakers use plain furniture--reasons for their
singularities in this respect._

CHAPTER III.
SECT. I.--_Language--Quakers have altered the common
language--substitution of Thou for You--reasons for this
change--opinions of many learned men concerning it._
SECT. II.--_Various other alterations made--as in titled of address--and
of honour--reasons for these changes._
SECT. III.--_Another alteration--as in the names of the days and the
months--reasons for this change--various new phrases also introduced._
SECT. IV.--_Objections by the world against the alteration of Thou for
You._
SECT. V.--_Against that of titles of address and honour._
SECT. VI.--_Against that of the names of the days and months._
SECT. VIII.--_Advantages and disadvantages of these alterations by
the Quaker language._

CHAPTER IV.

_Address--common personal gestures or worldly ceremonies of address
forbidden--no exception in favour of royalty--reasons against the disuse
of these._

CHAPTER V.
_Manners and conversation--hospitality and freedom in Quakers'
houses--their conversation more limited than that of others--subjects of
conversation examined in our towns--and in the
metropolis--extraordinary circumstance that takes place occasionally in
the company of the Quakers._

CHAPTER VI.
_Customs before meals--ancients made an oblation to Vesta--moderns
have substituted grace--account of a Quaker-grace._

CHAPTER VII.
_Customs at and after meals--Quakers never drink healths or
toasts--various reasons for their disuse of these customs--and seldom
allow women to retire after dinner and leave the men
drinking--Quakers a sober people._

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 devote my labours to the abolition
of the slave trade, I was thrown frequently into the company 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 I should be able to exhibit to the
rest of the world many excellent customs, of which they were ignorant,
but which it might be useful to them to know. I believed too, that I
should be affording to the Quakers themselves, some lessons of utility,
by letting them see, as it were in a glass, the reflection of their own
images. I felt also a great desire, amidst these considerations, to do
them justice; for ignorance and prejudice had invented many
expressions concerning them, to the detriment of their character, which
their conduct never gave me reason to suppose, during all my
intercourse with them, to be true.
Nor was I without the belief, that such a history might afford
entertainment to many. The Quakers, as every body knows, differ more
than even many foreigners do, from their own countrymen. They adopt
a singular mode of language. Their domestic customs are peculiar.
They have renounced religious ceremonies, which all other christians,
in some form or other, have retained. They are distinguished from all
the other islanders by their dress. These differences are great and
striking. And I thought therefore that those, who were curious in the
development of character, might be gratified in knowing the principles,
which produced such numerous exceptions from the general practices
of the world.
But though I had conceived from the operation of these sentiments
upon my mind, as long ago as I have stated, a strong desire to write the
moral history of the Quakers, yet my incessant occupations on the
subject of the slave-trade, and indisposition of body afterwards, in
consequence of the great mental exertions necessary in such a cause,
prevented me from attempting my design. At