is true indeed, that there are works, written by Quakers, from which a
certain portion of their history, and an abstract of their religious
principles, might be collected; but none, from whence their living
manners could be taken. It is true also that others, of other religious
denominations, have written concerning them; but of those authors, who
have mentioned them in the course of their respective writings, not one,
to my knowledge, has given a correct account of them. It would be
tedious to dwell on the errors of Mosheim, or of Formey, or of Hume, or
on those to be found in many of the modern periodical[1] publications.
It seemed, therefore, from the circumstance of my familiar intercourse
with the Quakers, that it devolved upon me particularly to write their
history. And I was the more confirmed in my opinion, because, in looking
forward, I was never able to foresee the time when any other cause would
equally, with that of the slave-trade, bring any other person, who was
not of the society, into such habits of friendship with the Quakers, as
that he should obtain an equal degree of knowledge concerning them with
myself. By this new consideration I was more than ordinarily stimulated,
and I began my work.

[Footnote 1: I must except Dr. Toulmin's revision of Neal's history of
the Puritans. One or two publications have appeared since, written, in a
liberal spirit, but they are confined principally to the religious
principles of the Quakers.]

It is not improbable but some may imagine from the account already
given, that this work will be a partial one, or that it will lean, more
than it ought to do, in favour of the Quakers. I do not pretend to say,
that I shall be utterly able to divest myself of all undue influence,
which their attention towards me may have produced, or that I shall be
utterly unbiased, when I consider them as fellow-labourers in the work