GEORGE FOX IN PRISON.

ANEW edition of the "Journal of George Fox" has been brought out by the Cambridge University Press, edited by Norman Penney (21s. net). "It differs from all its predecessors in that it is printed verbatim et L:teratita from the original manuscripts, whilst the first edition, which has been followed in all subsequent ones, was much edited and altered, though based upon the same manuscript."

The story of George Fox's life in prison is, we think, the most delightful portion of his altogether delightful journal. The atmosphere in which "dear George Fox," as his contem- poraries called him, habitually lived sparkled with humour, shrewdness, spiritual exaltation, and buoyant self-confidence, and that, under circumstances which would have caused any ordinary man to feel pitifully " blankt and downe," to use one of the great Quaker's expressive phrases. Why George Fox should have suffered seven or eight terms of imprison- ment, two of which at least lasted about a year, it is difficult for the modern mind to grasp. He would not swear nor bear arms either for Cromwell or the King, nor take off his bat to his superiors. He occasionally brawled in church, and his very striking preaching was mat always orthodox. That is the worst that even his contemporaries ever believed of him. That he had a great deal of personal charm is undoubted. Here is what we know of his personal appearance. He was a very big, powerful man, who always wore good clothes in spite of the " leathern brittches " about which he jested and Carlyle preached. His enemies, he tells us, accused him of a too great regard for dress, and said that he wore silver buttons though " they was butt Aichymy." He had a loud voice and very striking eyes; "he shines, he glistens," the Cambridge undergraduates said of him. He came of the small merchant class, yet he seems always to have had money. He was "civil," says Penn, "above all forms of breeding." He said of himself that he had "never feared death nor suffer- ing "—but that he disliked pain and discomfort as much as most men when it was upon him is evident—though of any apprehension he seems to have been incapable.

Behold him then in Derby Gaol in the year 1650. For the first six months his confinement was not very close. He was allowed to walk a mile on parole and to write letters. Now and then he went and preached in the market and returned again to prison. For the doctrine of non-resistance Fox was always ready to suffer, but not quite always to practise— witness the following story : "One time whilsst I was in goale there was a Conjurer brought to prison & bee threatned how bee would() talke with moe (& what hee woulde doe to mee): a wicked ungodly man: but hee had never power to open his mouth unto mee : & one time ye goaler & hee fell out & hee theatned ye goaler to raise ye Devill to breaks his house dome & made ye goaler afraide : & I was moved off ye Lorde to goe in his power and thresh him in it: & to say Come letts see what thou cant doe & bid him doe his worst: & tolde him ye Devill was raised high enough in him already but ye power of God chained him: & hee slunk° away & went from mee."

This incident apparently raised him in the opinion of his fellow-prisoners. About this time" Worcester fight came on" and " they filled the house of correction with persons that they

Lad taken up to be soldiers and then they would have me to be captain of them and to go forth to Worcester fight and the soldiers cryed they would have none but me." Accordingly Fox was brought before the " Commissioners " and asked to take up arms against the King, but he of course refused, believing himself to be, as he told Cromwell later on, "sent to stand a witness against all violence." Perhaps not unnaturally he was sent back to prison and found his lot less comfortable than before. He was very angry. It was, however, by no means all on his own account that Fox lamented the injustice of the times. He tells of his indignation at the way in which men were punished for small offences and by the way repeats an extraordinary psychic experience:

"And in this time I was exceeding° much oppressed with Judges & magistrates & Courts : & was moved to write to ye Judges concerneinge there puttinge men to death for Catle & for money: severall times : howe contrary to ye law of God it was: & one time when I did write to ym I was under such a burden for there takeinge away moms lifes for such small thinges which was see contrary to ye law of God: yt I writt to lett ym see howe con- trary to ye law of God it was & I was under great sufferinges through it: butt when I came out of it: ye heavens was opned & ye glory of God shined over all [& two men suffered for small thinges : & I was moved (to admonish ym for there theft) to Incourage yin concerneinge there suffringe it beings contrary to ye law of God & a litle after they had snfferd there spiritts appeared to mee as I was walking° & I saw ye men was well]."

In the original manuscript we read in the editor's introduction the words "to admonish them for their theft" do not occur. They were put in after George Fox's death, when the journal was prepared for publication. We hardly expect to find psychic phenomena in connexion with George Fox—he was so sane and strong-minded a man. Nevertheless he had, or thought he had, some gift of healing by means of prayer. He tells us of a child crippled with rheumatism who became straight in response to his blessings and supplications, and a still more convincing story of a sudden renewal of physical strength which happened to himself. In 1652 George Fox was at 'Myers- ton, and went one Sunday into the " steeplehonse" (church). He went and sat near the pulpit where the clergyman "was blustering on in his preaching." Fox, oblivious of the rule that members of the congregation must not speak, proceeded to answer his doctrine. An uproar was created and the con- gregation led the brawler on to the common and beat him with clubs till he was unconscious. " When I recovered myselfe again," he tells us, "& saw myselfe lyinge on

a. watery common & all ye people standings about mee I lay a litle still & ye power of ye Lord sprang° through mee & ye eternall refreshinges refresht mee I stoode uppe spine in ye eternall power of God." Thus strengthened he appears to have withstood extraordinary fatigue, but he admits that he felt his bruises later on.

The next year we find him in Carlisle and again in prison. Here he was wretchedly uncomfortable. "Ye two Joalers

were like two beare heards." All the same, Fox had a room to himself and bought a bed, and was not too wretched. He was allowed visitors, but they were chosen for him, and his friends were not admitted. "Att nights they woulde lett upp prelate about 10 a clocke att night they wonlde bring° in droves off ym & exceedinge rude & divellish they were." At Carlisle a

rumour got abroad that Fox was to be hanged. " And great

Ladys & countesses came to see a man y' they snide was to dye." Fox was probably amused by the visit, just as he was

amused by another seeker after excitement who " boasted " ".in her light and froathy mind" that she had cut off a lock of the Quaker's hair, " which was a lye." Probably no one seriously intended his death, but for some reason unknown to himself he was removed from his private room and put "amongst ye mosse troopers." Here the prisoners were crowded together "in a nasty & very uncivil manner, which was a shame to Christianity," but Fox, who had a way of getting on with soldiers, was soon popular, and tells us he received great kindness from his fellow-prisoners. In prison he always made every effort to obtain some consideration

and comfort, and failing he made the best of things. We have one very amusing account of a successful effort which

be made to get round the authorities in his native town of Leicester. The first day of his custody Fox passed in the prison-yard, and

"there came a freinde (William Smyth to mee) & I askt him what roomes there was in ye house & what roome freinds usually had been° putt Into before they were putt Into ye Dungeon : & askt him whether ye goaler or his wiffe was master : & hoe aunswered his wiffe was ye master : whoo though shee was lame & sate in her chairs yett shoe woulde beat her husband if hee came within her reach if hee did not doe as shoe wouldo have him doe.

"Soe I desired him to goo & speake to her : & if shee would° lett us have a roome I woulde give her somethings for it : & besydes if shoe woulde lett all our friendes come uppe out of ye Dungeon into there roomes (as formerly) & leave it to ym to give her what they would° : it might bee better for her soe after a great deale of a doe with her att last shoe condescended to it."

It was at Launceston that Fox suffered his worst captivity. He quarrelled with his gaoler about his extortions, and the

man contrived to get him put into "a dungeon" known as " Doomsdale," "a nasty, stinkinge place where they snide few people came out alife." Here, again, he was evidently popular and calmed the minds of the wretched prisoners, who believed the place haunted, telling them "that if all the spirits and devils in hell was there I was over them and feared no such thing." From here Fox managed to convey an account of the prison to Cromwell. Immediate means were taken to alleviate the sufferings of the prisoners. The guards were examined for "abusing of us and striking of mee." A great fuss was made and some reform accomplished.

It seems that while prisons were a thousand times more dreadful than they are now there was yet room in them for a ray of hope. There was always " a sporting chance " of improved circumstances or release. Whether Fox, being what he was, would not have preferred the misery and the " chance " to the tragic dullness of a modern sanitary prison is doubtful. Money was a great help. George Fox ruefully narrates how upon one occasion he spent fifty shillings to get the roof of his room mended, and how next day he was moved to another ! On the whole, however, they were, as Fox says, "amouky, dowdy, stincky, rainny places," hardly fit for pigs, "enough to breed deseases to infect the whole Country." Everything seems to have depended on the gaoler. Maladministration had the most to do with the prisoners' misery, and Fox would not have been human could he have repressed his pleasure when a particularly bad gaoler was confined for his illegal cruelties in the very dungeon he had made horrible to others.

Fox was not exactly a saint, but he was a very good Christian and a wonderfully lovable man. Penn says of him that he was "contented, modest, easy, steady, tender," no "self-seeker," and neither "touchy nor critical "—that is a great deal to say. The only people he was hard on were hypocrites—" rotten professors," as he called them. He was more lovable perhaps than men who are called saints because of his moderation and his "easiness." He did not smoke, but when a young man came to consult him about some spiritual matter and smoked he "showed his unity with the creation" by putting his mouth to the young man's pipe; and when a young prig came to die.

cuss the Scriptures, and spoke in Hebrew, Fox, who knew none, replied in Welsh! The boy took no offence at the jest, and Fox tells us that "he afterwards became a pretty friend."