oncerning me. They
have been informed that I can find stolen goods, and am often applied to
on such occasions. I think it would be no hard matter to make them
believe me a wizard." This was probably a serious version of his
pleasantry with the Dutchman about finding his goods by calculating the
age of the moon.

Many of the Irish Friends had formed from hearsay the most extravagant
misconceptions concerning the Friends called "Hicksites." They supposed
them to be outright infidels, and that the grossest immoralities were
tolerated among them; that they pointed loaded pistols at the "Orthodox"
brethren, and drove them out of their own meeting-houses by main force.
One of them expressed great surprise when Friend Hopper informed him
that they were in the constant habit of reading the Scriptures in their
families, and maintained among themselves the same discipline that had
always been used in the Society. Sometimes when he attended Quaker
meetings during the early portion of his visit, the ministers preached
at him, by cautioning young people to beware of the adversary, who was
now going about like a cunning serpent, in which form he was far more
dangerous, than when he assumed the appearance of a roaring lion. But
after a while, this tendency was rebuked by other preachers, who
inculcated forbearance in judging others; reminding their hearers that
the spirit of the Gospel always breathed peace and good will toward men.
As for Isaac himself, he behaved with characteristic openness. When a
stranger, in Quaker costume, introduced himself, and invited him to go
home and dine with him, he replied, "I am represented by some people as
a very bad man; and I do not wish to impose myself upon the hospitality
of strangers, without letting them know who I am."

The stranger assured him that he knew very well who he was, and cared
not a straw what opinions they accused him of; that he was going to have
a company of Friends at dinner, who wished to converse with him. He went
accordingly, and was received with true Irish hospitality and kindness.

Upon another occasion, a Quaker lady, who did not know he was a
"Hicksite," observed to him, "I suppose the Society of Friends are very
much thinned in America, since so many have gone off from them." He
replied, "It is always best to be candid. I belong to the party called
Hicksites, deists, and schismatics; and I suppose they are the ones to
whom thou hast alluded as having gone off from