Books of Interest to Friends

32BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL SOCIETY. Progressive Friends, An Account of the Fourth Annual Meeting of the Progressive Friends with some Observations on their Principles and Prospects, by William Logan Fisher. [Philadelphia] 1856. The Friends' Intelligencer (old series), edited by Isaac T. Hopper, New York, Vol. I, 1838-1839. Friends' Weekly Intelligencer (afterwards Friends' Intelligencer), Vols. 5,6,7,8,9, 1848 ff. The Friend (Phila.). " Separation among the Hicksites," Vol. 23, 15, 1849. Memoirs of Edward Hicks. Philadelphia, 1851. James and Lucretia Mott; Life and Letters, selected by their Granddaughter , Anna Davis Hallowell. Boston, 1884. Note.—The Orthodox periodicals, with the single exception of one article mentioned above, both in America and Great Britain, do not appear to have noticed the movement. Nor have any notices been found in published "Journals" or "Memoirs," though there may be some. The general absence of indexes makes any search tedious and unsatisfactory. This applies to both Orthodox and Hicksite works. BOOKS OF INTEREST TO FRIENDS. The Quaker Colonies. By Sydney George Fisher. (In the Chronicles of America Series). Yale University Press, New Haven. 5 X 8% in. Pp. vi, 244. (Sold only in sets.) The author has written a very readable and reliable volume in this sumptuous series of American histories. Any doubtful points are such as might be expected from one not himself a Friend. For instance, we know from Quaker records that the majority of the Assembly after 1756 were not members with Friends. But many of them belonged to Quaker families or preferred an affirmation to an oath, or were so associated with Friends by political, social, or business sympathies that they were considered as Quakers by their coworkers, and naturally by those whose information is derived from the public records of the times. In various other movements men not Friends are called Quakers as indeed many of them were except in nominal membership. When, however , we find in a cotemporary letter describing the challenge to a duel sent by John Dickinson to Joseph Galloway, " That a Quaker should challenge a Quaker may well cause a surprise," and appreciate the fact that at the time probably neither was a Quaker, an error by a modern historian is very natural. The same fact would explain what would seem to be a false estimate of the number of Quakers in the province. This is based on Franklin's statement made about 1750 that one third of the population was Quaker, which would make some 50,000 or 60,000. This was probably true for BOOKS OF INTEREST TO FRIENDS.33 political purposes, but while no census by church or state was taken, it seems doubtful if they ever exceeded 40,000 in number. It is not at all certain that the division in the Society in Revolutionary times was reproduced in the separation of 1827. What our author calls the mystical element, which he associates with the prevailing body in the war and the Orthodox division in the Separation, was probably not more mystical than the other body which emphasized the Inner Light. The war element was in reality small though containing a number of eminent and public-spirited men. It is doubtful if it numbered five percent of the total membership. There seems to have been practical unanimity in the support of the position taken by the Yearly Meeting, and that position was sustained by both bodies after 1827. A few other minor statements may be questioned. Pastorius is mentioned as a Mennonite. Perhaps he was. If so he belonged to two societies , for it is certain that he was a Quaker Minister and served on important committees of the Meeting. It is questionable also whether Penn's " hiding " after the accession of William III. caused him to lose " largely the good will and affection of the Quakers." The Assembly after 1701 was, it is true, composed of " four representatives from each county," but as almost immediately the three southern counties seceded and their share was given to Chester, Philadelphia, and Bucks, making eight for each, and this lasted for seventy-five years, the statement is likely to give a wrong impression. Many Friends will also question this statement, " Quakers though...