ng
of his heavenly Father's love, to bring him out from the thraldom of
sin; and as the preacher with fervid eloquence dwelt on the fruits of
such faith, he was thoroughly broken down, and wept much. After the
meeting he went with Thomas Loe to a Friend's house, where they had a
free conversation, and from that time he became a regular attender of
the meetings of Friends. As the Light of Christ shone with more and more
clearness upon his soul, he saw how grievously he had departed from the
right way of the Lord, and was brought under deep repentance therefor.
Convinced of the truth of the doctrines held by Friends, he heartily
embraced them, and firmly resolved to live and die by them, whatever
sacrifices it might cost him.

Being at a meeting in Cork in 1667, he, with others, was arrested by
officers who came to break the meeting up, and was sent to prison:
though the Magistrate, who recognized him as the son of the lord of
Shangarry Castle, offered to set him at liberty if he would give his
word "to keep the peace," which he refused. From the prison he addressed
a letter to the Earl of Ossory, giving an account of the arrest and
imprisonment of himself and friends, showing their innocence, and
pleading the liberty of conscience demanded by the precepts of the
gospel. An order was immediately dispatched by the Earl for his release;
and as it was soon noised abroad that Admiral Penn's son had turned
Quaker, the Earl wrote to his father, communicating the information.
Startled and annoyed by the intelligence, the Admiral ordered William to
come home immediately, which he did. Josiah Cole, a minister in the
Society of Friends, met him at Bristol; accompanied him to London, and
being deeply interested for his stability and preservation, went with
him to his father's house. Fully as William had adopted the principles
of Friends, and many as were the baptisms he had already passed through,
he had not yet adopted the plain dress that distinguished them from
others; and his father observing this, and that his rapier still hung by
his side, hoped that his friend the Earl had been wrongly informed; and
he treated him and his friend during the evening with ordinary courtesy,
without alluding to the report that had reached him.

Observing, on the next day, that William did not uncover his head when
he came into his presence,--in those days men generally wore their hats
in the house,--and that he used thee and thou when addressing