The Valiant Sixty (review)

114Bulletin of Friends Historical Association The Valiant Sixty. By Ernest E. Taylor. London: The Bannisdale Press. 1951. 120 pages. 8s 6d. TPHROUGH an oversight this charming little book about the first aposdes of Quakerism was not noticed in die Bulletin when it first appeared in 1947. It now appears in a revised edition widi twelve illustrations, chiefly by Robert Spence, and a "pictorial map of die Valiant Sixty country." Drawing on die well-known autiiority of Besse, Penney, Jones, Trevelyan and the testimony of contemporary journals and meeting records, Ernest Taylor has concentrated on the personality, occupations and travels of some of diose men and women who first carried die good news of a portable and verifiable religion based on personal experience to the Seekers of the northern shires and later to London and the South. For die student he has rendered a valuable service in tracing the home bases and the civil status of the Valiant Sixty. Of Howgill and Burrough, that devoted and long-suffering pair, he speaks more particularly, and in the Craven district of West Yorkshire he follows the fortunes of early Quakerism in a circumscribed locality. As one reads of the courage and conviction of these first Quakers, one wonders what precise factors have changed the face of Quakerism during die three centuries of its existence. Certainly, as a recent writer has remarked of the early Christians, it can be said of die first Quakers that "persecution kept diem up to the mark." Religious persecution, which Penn did so much to terminate, had its place in producing die qualities we admire in these valiant men and women. The question is left with us to answer: What have we got today in a complacent world which can keep us up to the mark as persecution once did our ancestors in the faith? For a future printing, we have noticed the following typographical errors: p. 14: an for as; p. 16 cear for clear (?) ; pp. 38 and 68 Katherine and Katharine; pp. 38 and 68: Chevers and Cheevers; p. 47 centure for century; p. 86: Appelby for Appleby; p. 93: a for at; p. 98 Harrision for Harrison. Haverford CollegeWilliam Wistar Comfort Whittier and the Carüands. By M. H. Shackford. Wakefield, Massachusetts : The Montrose Press. 1950. 91 pages. $2.00. TP HIS volume contains personal letters between Whittier and his close cousins, the Cartlands written in the years 1839-1888. They provide glimpses into situations which need further light. For instance, what does Whittier refer to when he says, "I felt it due to myself to put down that miserable and ridiculous Chester Co. matter," and speaks of "diffi- ...