Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the GospelYeardley, John
Religion
Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel
Yeardley, John
Clergy -- United States -- Biography; Quakers -- Biography; Yeardley, John, 1786-1858
11 _mo_. 17.--I was this evening accidentally induced to read over a
few of my former memorandums; and it humbled my spirit to retrace the
dealings of my merciful Father with me. I am glad that I have from time to
time penned down a few remarks by way of diary, although it has been done
interruptedly and very imperfectly. It proves a means of enabling me to
see a wonderful concurrence in the ways of Divine Wisdom which has led me
in a way that I knew not, and hitherto preserved me through the mercies of
his love: praise be to his Name now and for ever. Amen.
After his return from Minden he accompanied John and William Seebohm, who
were going on a journey of business to Leipzig. They went by way of
Brunswick and Halberstadt, and returned by Nordhausen and Eimbeck. In this
tour through the heart of Germany, John Yeardley made many observations on
the state of agriculture, the cities, and the character of the people. Of
the last they met with several curious traits, some of them sufficiently
annoying.
On many great roads, says J.Y., there is a summer and a winter way,
running parallel to each other, with a rail across, on which is a notice
that the way is forbidden by a fine of 6_d_. or 8_d_, for each
horse, that the traveller may know when to take the summer or the winter
road. We stopped on the way [they were not far from Wolfenbuettel] to give
our horses a little bread, and our coachman drove to the side of the road
to make way for carriages to pass. But he had inadvertently gone over the
setting on of the road; and the roadmaster came to us, and told us we must
not feed our horses there, as it was not allowed to drive over the stones
on the side, under a penalty of three shillings per horse. The evening of
the same day we fed our horses at an inn, and walked before, leaving the
man to follow us. I and my young friend W.S. sought the cleanest part of
the way by walking in the course made for the water, which was green and
clean; but so soon as we came by the inspectors, who are mostly employed
on the road, one of them told us we must mind for the future and keep the
right footpath, or pay 6_d_. each. This I considered as an
infringement of English liberty, and was ready to reason with him on the
subject; but I reflected that I was a stranger, and that it is always
better and more polite to submit quietly to the regulations of the country
in which we live, than bring ourselves into difficulty through incivility
or contention.
In returning from Leipzig, J.Y. and his friends committed a more serious
offence against the pragmatical regulations of the German States.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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