Page:Life of Sir William Petty 1623 – 1687.djvu/191

 directions. Wherefore be courageous, let not every cross affect you; let none break your rest; talk with every body; hear all their tales, true or false; see with your own eyes where you can; compare receipts with the Books and Rent Rolls; make no confounding haste; seem to know and understand more than you do; cover your ignorance with silence, nods, shrugs, &c. Make no lasting nor great bargains rashly; let Jamesey keep a diary of all your actings, copy your letters of business, bundle up and endorse your papers; and let God be a light to your feet and a Lanthorn to your paths.'

'Sir,' he writes to Mr. Cosby of Balliboy, 'I must once more take the liberty of writing about the Quakers you keep in prison. The occasion of their being troubled was from their tythes. They say that although they cannot pay them in a formal way, yet they have always permitted you to take even what you please, so as for want of formality only, and no way prejudicial to you, they were put into the Bishop's Court, as they say, to accumulate a new crime upon them, viz. a contempt: which they say also was not want of appearance, but of form only. Now if upon the whole matter, these men do not deny the King's nor the Bishop's power nor jurisdiction, nor withold the Tythe, why should they be persecuted; whereby the commonwealth is deprived of their labour, and His Majesty's intentions, lately declared, frustrated; and the Church and yourself evil spoken of? You know that the way is not apostolical, nor is there one Quaker less in Ireland, since you took this course, but rather the more; as His Majesty also observed in his declaration; and,' he sarcastically concludes, 'let me once more desire and advise you to quit this method of reducing them, and instead thereof try public preaching and particular admonitions of them from the Scripture; and the Lord bless you evermore.'

The following letter from William Penn alludes to this affair: —

'My old friend,—I have broacht yt affaire to the great man. He took it marvellous kindly and desired me to give it him in