The debate commenced, however, at Newport, on the 9th of August, 1672. Mr. Williams rowed, in a boat, to Newport, thirty miles, a feat which few men of seventy-three years could perform, in these degenerate days. He arrived at Newport about midnight.[345] The next day the debate commenced, in the Quaker meeting-house. John Stubs, John Burnyeat and William Edmundson were the champions opposed to him. He speaks of the two former as able and learned men. The debate continued three days. It was, according to his account, a very disorderly scene. There was no moderator, and Mr. Williams complains of frequent and rude interruptions. His health was feeble, and he says, that, on the morning of the second day, “I heartily wished that I might rather have kept my bed, than have gone forth to a whole day’s fresh disputes.” His brother, Robert Williams, then a schoolmaster in Newport, attempted to aid him, but his interference was not permitted by his opponents. Mr. Williams’ demeanor, during the controversy, was, apparently, patient and collected. The debate was renewed at Providence on the 17th, and continued one day, when it was terminated, without producing any change of opinion on either side. Mr. Williams wrote an account of this dispute, in a large book, of 327 pages. It was entitled, “George Fox digged out of his Burrowes,” &c., in allusion to a book which Fox and his friend Edward Burrowes (or Burrough) had written. Of Mr. Williams’ book we shall give a further account. It is able and acute, but it is disfigured by much severe language. Fox and Burnyeat wrote a reply, entitled, “A New-England Firebrand Quenched,” in which they railed at Mr. Williams, in a coarse and bitter style.[346] The following letter of Mr. Williams alludes to the publication of his book against Fox:[347] “My dear friend, Samuel Hubbard,