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14 pages (page 2 is blank verso of title page; page 14 is blank verso of last leaf). Signed: Johan, in Hebrew characters. 4°. 15, [1] p.; 19 cm. References: Wing (2nd ed.); P1615 Scans available upon request. Jews Conversion to Christianity Society of Friends. Signatures: A-B4. PERROT, JOHN (d. 1671?), Quaker sectary, born in Ireland, was possibly descended, though not legitimately, from Sir John Perrot [q. v.], lord-deputy "of Ireland. It is hardly likely that he was the John Perrot fined 2,000/. in the Star-chamber on 27 Jan. 1637, and arraigned before the court of high commission on 14 and 21 Nov. 1639 (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1636-7 p. 398, 1639-40 pp. 271, 277). Before 1656 Perrot joined the Quakers, and was preaching in Limerick. The next year he started, with the full authority of the Quaker body and at its expense, with one John Love, also an Irishman, on a mission to Italy, avowedly to convert the pope. Perrot passed through Lyons, and on 12 Aug. 1657 he was at Leghorn. There he wrote a treatise concerning the Jews, and both travellers were examined by the inquisition and dismissed. In September, diverging from their original route, they reached Athens, whence Perrot wrote an' Address to the People called Baptists in Ireland.' A manuscript copy is in the library of Devonshire House. He also wrote an epistle to the Greeks from ' Egripos,' that is the island of Negroponte (now called Eubcea). Returning to Venice, he interviewed the doge in his palace, and presented him with books and an address, afterwards printed. A work dated from the Lazaretto in Venice indicates either that he had fallen ill or was in prison. On arriving in Rome, probably in 1658, Perrot and Love commenced preaching against the Romish church, and were arrested. Love suffered the tortures of the inquisition and died under them. Perrot, whose zeal knew no bounds, was more appropriately sent to a madhouse, where he was allowed some liberty and wrote numerous books, addresses, and epistles. These he was suffered to send to England to be printed, and many of them appeared before his release; His detention excited much sympathy in England. Samuel Fisher (1605-1655) [q.v.], John Stubbs, and other Friends went to Rome in 1660 to procure his freedom. Two other Friends, Charles Bayley and Jane Stokes, also unsuccessfully attempted it, Bayley being imprisoned at Bordeaux on the way out. Some account of his experiences he contributed to Perrot's 'Narrative,' 1661. In May 1661 Perrot was released; but on his return to London he was received with some coldness. He was accused of extravagant behaviour while abroad. Fox and others condemned the papers issued by him from Rome, one of which propounded that the removal of the hat during prayer in public was a formal superstition, incompatible with the spiritual religion professed by Quakers. This notion gained ground rapidly, and was adopted for a time by Thomas Ell wood [q.v.] and Benjamin Furly [q. v.] ; but Fox at once attacked 'it in a tract issued in 1661 (Journal, ed. 1765, p. 332). Perrot was unconvinced, although many of his friends soon forsook him. He was indefatigable in preaching his opinions in various parts of England or Ireland, and attracted large audiences. He was arrested, with Luke Howard (1621-1699) [q. v.], at a meeting at Canterbury on 28 Aug. 1661, and again at the Bull and Mouth, Aldersgate Street, on a Sunday in June 1662, when he was brought before Sir Richard Browne (d. 1669). Seller Inventory # 005573
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