report upon it. So, take warning, my Friends, and every one look to their way, and to the prosperity of Truth. And, my Friends, I thought the zeal of Truth should have had more effect upon some, than I see it hath; but I shall forbear, leaving every one to their own Master:-but they that follow for loaves and fishes, when they get them not, will fail even in that zeal also.

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My little children, love one another.'

"GEORGE GRAY."

CHAPTER XV.

1690: RELIGIOUS PROGRESS AND LATTER END OF ROBERT BARCLAY-LETTER OF GEORGE FOX TO HIS WIDOW-HIS CHARACTER.

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BUT the loss which the Friends in this part of the country sustained, by the removal of such men as George Gray and David Barclay, was not all; it was quickly followed, and without doubt exceeded by the death of one, whom they and the Society at large were bound in a more than ordinary manner to esteem, as worthy of double honour." Surprising," says William Penn, "was the death of dear Robert Barclay, to me particularly, from the share I claimed in him, and the esteem I had for him but that which gave weight to my sorrow, was the loss which thereby comes to the church of God, and especially in Scotland. That he lived no longer, who was so well fitted to live for the service and honour of the Truth, and the good of God's people, must render his death more afflicting to all those, who desire to be reckoned among this number."-" O Friends!" continues the same writer, "if precious in the eyes of the Lord be the death of his saints, ought not their labours and death to be precious to the Lord's people?”

But before touching upon his close, we must take a view, such a superficial view as the existing documents oblige us to take,-of those transactions which throw light upon the religious progress of this " prince in Israel," 2 Sam. iii. 38, during the last ten years of

his pilgrimage. Hitherto his course has been that of the Christian advocate, strenuous and firm, yet tender and discreet, in all his services for the cause in which he engaged; meek and patient also, under those numerous provocations which were poured upon him. But the days of public persecution being now over, as regards the Friends in Scotland, and the principles they uniformly held becoming better understood by the public, we do not find that fresh occasions presented for such laborious exercises as those, in which Robert Barclay had been hitherto involved for the defence and spreading of the gospel. The same voice, which had sounded an alarm in the ear of his soul, which had girded him for this description of warfare and put him forth in it, many a time giving him the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, doubtless conveyed to his submissive spirit a release from the field of controversy. It was this, which now led him in a line of duty, less conspicuous indeed, and less accounted of by men, but in its place and season no less acceptable in the sight of God. Not that it was the easeful, inert, instinctive observance of such duty, either in a private, social, or more enlarged scale, that could satisfy the cravings of his enlivened soul;-for if so, the character of Barclay has been strangely misrepresented. We have, on the contrary, good cause to assume, however few the traces of his latter years which have come down to us, that this portion of his life was equally passed under the blessed influence of that Sun of righteousness, which had gilded his earlier path, that the evidences of his peace and adoption grew brighter and brighter till his final change.

We find him represented during this period, as being warmly alive to the welfare of his fellow-men,

his family and relations, his friends and his acquaintance; but more especially so, in what concerned the cause of his brethren in religious connexion. He employed himself in many acts of kindness and friendship towards each of these; and was several times from home at Edinburgh or in London, more often on behalf of others than on account of his own affairs; but particularly applied his interest at court, which was considerable, and the frequent access which he had to the person of King James the 2nd, for the benefit of his friends and of others. Being connected, or on terms of intimacy, with some families of the highest rank in Scotland, he had great opportunity of evincing, in his daily intercourse, the practical operation of those religious principles, respecting which both vocally and with his pen he had so largely treated. And there are sufficient proofs, that he possessed the esteem and confidence of that class in no common degree. On one occasion, it appears, he was made use of, in composing a difference between the Duke of Gordon and "Sir Ewen Cameron," who had married his sister, Jean Barclay; and undertook a journey to London chiefly with this view; which object was at length accomplished, as it is said, by the King's interposition. SEE APPENDIX, AA.

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In the Memoirs of the family, it is also stated, that In 1682, the Earls of Perth and Melfort, with the other proprietors, elected him Governor of East Jersey, North America; and to induce him to accept thereof, they gifted him a large propriety with five thousand acres more for him to bestow as he should think fit, the government being confirmed to him during life by King Charles the 2nd's letter;-his commission bears, that such is his known fidelity and capacity, that he has the government during life, but

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that every Governor after him, shall have it three years only.' He had likewise the power of appointing a deputy governor, with a salary of four hundred pounds per annum."-Whatever worthy purposes he might have had, in accepting this post, it is clear, that patronage rather than riches would be the immediate result; and this, with a very considerable weight of care and responsibility. But it seems, that the settlement of his two younger brothers in that province, became part of the design, although with regard to the youngest, David, this plan, owing to his death. while on the voyage, was not permitted to take effect.

The little incident, well known to readers among the Society of Friends, of Robert Barclay's rencounter with highwaymen, on his way back to Scotland from London, in 1683, will not by them be expected to be passed over, in these recollections of his life and conduct. His grandson's own account, now before the Author, may at least be fresh to every one.

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Having staid most of the summer [in London] visiting his friends, as he, with his wife and brother in law [Gilbert Molleson,] and his intimate friend Aaron Sonemans, an eminent merchant in Holland, were travelling homeward in company together, they were upon the 8th of August attacked in Stonegatehole, in Huntingdonshire, by highwaymen. One of them presented a pistol to my grandfather; he took him by the arm very calmly, asking him how he came to be so rude-for he knew his business. The fellow, trembling, dropt the pistol out of his hand upon the ground, in great surprise, and did not so much as demand any thing. But his brother-in-law was riffled, and poor Sonemans was shot through the thigh, [it was thought more by accident than design,] who being with some difficulty brought to Stilton, died in