Women went about with "bare neck, Hoop'd Petticoats, Lac'd Shoes, Clock't Hose, Gold-chains, Lockets, Jewels, and fine Silks." Seeing in these characteristics of the main mass of the second generation nothing but the ravages of laxity, the faithful nucleus of the society determined on a measure of reform. A missionary party, with full powers to this end, went forth in 1760 from London Yearly Meeting. In every separate meeting throughout the country wayward members were dealt with. Many were reclaimed; those who showed themselves either stubborn or indifferent were expelled from the society. Disownment for marriage outside the group dates from this time, and it has been estimated that by this means alone the membership was reduced by one-third. [Footnote 14: W. Bromfield: _The Faith of the True Christian and the Primitive Quaker's Faith._ 1725.] Amongst the remnant the Quaker testimonies against extravagance in dress, unprofitable occupations and amusements, and advices as to simplicity in manners, were stereotyped into a code, and became matters of strict observance. It is from this middle period that the popular picture of Quakerism is borrowed. The Quakers went forward from their great purgation--a strictly closed sect, carefully guarded from outside influence, the younger generations forced either to conform to the traditional pattern or to suffer banishment--depleted and decreasing until the time of the modern revival taking place about the middle of the nineteenth century. The deductions made by modern commentators from these data fall into two groups. There is the view held generally by those standing outside the body, whether enemies or friends, that Quakerism comes to an end with its heroic period. The first recognize its initial catholicity, rejoice in its successful tilting with Puritan Protestantism, but see it foredoomed by its heresies, by its neglect of the outward symbols of the sanctification of human life, and by the deleterious effect of the admission of women into the ministry. The sympathizers see the early Quakers either as the glory of seventeenth-century Christianity or the left wing of a widespread effort to democratize formal religion--a shifting of the centre of authority from the official custodian to the man himself. They come regretfully upon the undisciplined ranks of the second generation. They have no faith in the movement for reform; for them the little church of the Spirit dwindles, lit with a faint sunset glow of romance down towards extinction. All, both enemies and friends, who see Quakerism end with the seventeenth century, dispose of the modern revival by placing it within the general movement of Protestant evangelicalism.