Memoir of William Cookworthy : formerly of Plymouth, Devonshire / by his grandson.

  • Harrison, George
Date:
1854
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memoir of William Cookworthy : formerly of Plymouth, Devonshire / by his grandson. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    12/224 page 4
    foreigners passing through Plymouth; and their society, no doubt, improved his skill in those lan- guages, as he could converse fluently in either. Several of them, from the more eastern parts of Europe, were found to prefer the Latin in conver- sation: hut out of the whole number, one of them, who was a Dane, was, in my grandfather’s estimation, the master in the use of elegant Latin. Towards the age of thirty, my grandfather’s mind took a turn so strong to a serious consideration of the religious f)rinciples and practices of the Society in which he had been born and bred, that he, for some time, devoted himself to the subject, then engrossing his whole attention. After a while, a visible alteration in his appearance was manifest. His dress had, j^i’cviously, been somewhat smart. But he then became changed, in appearance and manner, to that of a plain Quaker. Still his character maintained its lofty fearlessness and courteous integrity. He met his old acquaintance j as usual; and again resorted to that little knot of | literary friends, with whom he had, before, associated. | Upon his first entrance, he saw that his altered i appearance and new mode of address raised a smile on their countenances;—when, instead of shrinking from observation, he boldly challenged them; re- questing, they would candidly say, whether, when the first ceremonials of entrance were over, they did not feel pleasure in being again seated. They, all, acknowledged the justice of his appeal, and confessed that good sense was on his side.
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3