With the "Journal" of their celebrated founder my purpose lies; and I am desirous of adding to the critical biography of your periodical work such a brief analysis of the real character of George Fox as may be serviceable to the cause of truth, however homely the garb in which the offering is presented. simplicity of their lives, and that ad- monwealth; but his discourses touchmirable unanimity which prevails ed the wife of Judge Fell: the judge through their classes, renders them died, and George married his widow. far too amiable, and (in despite of This respectable connection certainly their own humility) let me add much added authority to his name; and the too highly exalted, for the pen of novel sect soon boasted the acquisitemperate integrity to approach with tion of some persons of reputed sense a sentence bordering on sarcastic and of indubitable consequence. It stigma. was now clearly ascertained, that the enjoyment of ease or monkish privacy was not the aim of Fox. He did not retire to cultivate, in the seclusion of his own vineyard, the indulgence of his faith, but wandered abroad, argumentatively combated priests within the pale of their own churches; and thinking England, Scotland, and Ireland, theatres too limited for the work The founder of the sect, now called he had undertaken, he visited AmeQuakers, was born of humble pa- rica, the united provinces, and Gerrents, at Drayton, in Leicestershire, many. The zeal of his orations was in the year 1624. According to his backed by the wide influence of the own account he had a "gravity and pen; and his unremitted industry stayedness of mind" very unusual laid the foundation of a sect that vewith a boyish age. So observant nerates his name after the lapse of indeed was the childhood of George, one hundred and eighteen years. that "when he has seen old men carry themselves lightly and wantonly towards each other, a dislike thereof has arisen in his heart, and he has said, 'if I ever come to be a man, surely I shall not do so nor carry myself so wanton.'" He was apprenticed to a shoemaker, and still preserved so much sedateness, that it was a common saying among those who knew him, "If George says verily there is no altering him." Whatever may be the decorous simplicity of his followers, the more rational of them would scarcely at the present day seek to deny that much enthusiasm was blended with the amiable qualities and vigorous intelligence of his character. Such, at least, would be the charitable interpretation put on his actions by those, unconnected with the society derived from him, who ventured on a slight examination to form an estimate of his pretensions. Truth demands free language: I glance not at the sect, but look openly on the man, when I affirm that there was more of design than enthusiasm in the character of George Fox. In the year 1643, he left his master and relations, and wandered forth to indulge meditation. The times were favourable to adventures: George pondered on the abstruse parts of the national religion, confuted priests, There is too much of system in his (who seem to have been at this pe- conduct for the eccentricity of enthuriod a most illiterate set) and com- siasm. Thirty-four years after the menced itinerant preacher. Innu- commencement of his wanderings, merable persecutions attended his he sits down, and collects an account ministry, and each fresh oppression of all the actions of his life, “e'em was the parent of new proselytes. from his boyish days," to the date at His sway was still acknowledged only which he wrote. And from whence by the inferior members of the com- is this journal collected-From a diary regularly preserved, as it would seem, by him during all the painful vicissitudes of his persecuted fortune. They were first so termed at Derby, by a justice of the peace, named Bennet, because G. Fox bade him tremble at the word of the Lord. Such at least is the account given by Fox in his Journal. In a diary regularly kept, and methodically arranged, there is no symptom, it will be averred, of insanity or sinister intention. Let me state the character of this diary before such a conclusion is suggested. In part, George Fox emulates the character of a favoured prophet, and in part that of a still higher name. He predicts; he has visions; and he works miracles! He holds an immediate communication with his Maker through preternatural means; he foretels the fate of those inimical to the purposes of his alledged mission, and his presence produces rain "after a great drought," and raises up those who labour under distempers of body. His frequent use of allegory in the commencement of his memoirs might readily be supposed an artifice, through the operation of which an escape might be effected, were the sobriety of subsequent assertions called in question. If not so, those allegories are very fine imitations of the biblical manner for an enthusiast of his description to have constructed. Soon after the commencement of his labours he mentions one Brown, who had great prophecies and sights upon his death-bed concerning the future worker of miracles; but what those sights" were we are not informed. 66 He gives a kind hint to the soldiery, "that any man at arms who befriended the new opinionists stood a fair chance of escaping, without loss of life and limb, in the most furious encounter; for a trooper, who became a proselyte and offended his colonel by that step, was nominated to join a comrade, in regard to the answer of a challenge given by the opposite faction;" the convert "drove both his enemies within musket-shot of the town, without firing a pistol at them," while his companion (not one of George Fox's proselytes) was killed on the spot. In 1651, he appears to have been particularly favoured, though in prison, for he tells us that he saw the heavens open, and that thereupon an heavenly breathing arose in his soul.” In 1652, when he spoke in a steeple house, he brings forward the testimony of a priest in reference to "the church shaking" while he harangued. In the same year Justice West, who had long been weak in body," was healed merely, as it appears, by the circumstance of George Fox appearing in court before him. The presence of Fox likewise, about this time, "chained down a distracted man, and made him quiet." In 1654, a butcher, who had been accustomed to thrust his tongue out of his mouth in derision of friends, had it so swollen that he could not draw it in again,-and consequently the man died. In 1655, George Fox restored a dying woman to life, merely by speaking to her, "to the great astonishment of the town and country.” Her name was Baldock, and she resided at Baldock, in Hertfordshire. In 1656, persons who addressed him in unpleasant language "were suddenly filled with evil air, so that they blubbered and stuttered and were almost choaked;"-after which visitation they became very loving. On another occasion, a person who ridiculed the Quakers was incontinently tossed to death by a bull. In 1600, a woman who spoke revilingly to George was cut off, and died in a miserable condition." Very terrible disasters befel the enemies of George and his friends in 1662. Many officers who had been wealthy men, but enemies of the Quakers, experienced so sudden a re"At this time," says he, "there verse of fortune that they became was a great drought; but after our mere paupers; and one John Line, a general meeting was ended there fell constable, who had taken a false oath so great rain, that Friends said, they against the brotherhood, had his flesh thought we could not travel, the wa- "rot away;"-from which circumters would be so risen.-But I believed stance he died, as may be conjectured, the rain had not gone so far as they in a very miserable condition," and had come that day to the meeting."wishing that he had never medaled The next day, in the afternoon, when with the Quakers." we turned back into some parts of Wales again, the ways were dusty, and no rain had fallen thereabouts." Through numberless successive instances the same fatal consequences follow an opposition to the interests of the new sect. Many are too for- enthusiastic. If mere enthusiasm midable to mention. Suffice it that dictated his enterprises, is it not surof these " Examples," as George prising that he should so carefully restyles them, I have selected those cord every occurrence in which he least offensive to rational apprehen- was concerned? In the annals of that harmless species of insanity sion. In 1664, George saw the angel of which opens to the enthusiast's fancy the Lord, with a glittering drawn the heaven of heavens, and leads him sword stretched southward: not long to an ideal interview with the Godafterwards the wars broke forth with head, it is somewhat new to find the Holland. But George's vision, it patient registering an account of his may be noted, is not made public till own wanderings. many years after the wars commenced. When George was in Virginia, he found the fierce watch-dogs of the back-settlers forbore to bark at, or bite, the people termed Quakers. In 1675, he nearly cured a woman of the king's evil, by praying over her. "Tis not madness That I have utter'd! Bring me to the test, And I the matter will reword; which mad ness Would gambol from !" says Hamlet,and it was never doubted that Shakspeare understood the nature of insanity. His Journal is professed by the editor of the book I will conclude my specimens of to have been regularly kept, and the the style and matter of Fox's Journal volume is said to be literally tranwith an account of a perilous adven- scribed from the original diary.ture at sea, in which the piety of Now, is it not singular that a man George was of eminent service. It engaged in such peculiar underoccurred while he was on board a takings as was George Fox, should yacht destined for America. They be able to keep a record so explicit, were chased by a vessel suspected to so methodical, and so uninterrupted. be an Algerine pirate. It grew dark, He was many times in prisons, where and they altered their course to miss he was shut from the light, and his her; but she altered hers also, and friends were not permitted to bring continued the pursuit. In this situa- him the most common necessaries. tion the master of the yacht and se- How were pen, ink, and paper then veral of his crew entered the cabin of procured, or indeed the means of George, and "asked what they using them?-The fact is, that the should do?" observing "that if the Journal was prepared by him for the mariners had taken Paul's counsel press at his leisure, and is not transthey had not come to the damage they cribed from his familiar diary, as the did." George retired to solicit inspi- editor presumes to assert. This apration, and the Lord shewed him pears evident from the following that his power was placed between circumstances:-George did not usuthem and the ship that pursued ally travel with a journal about him, them." This was enough: Fox bade for when he was once suspected on a them be of good cheer, for their journey of harbouring intentions iniescape was indubitable. In addition mical to government, he exposed the to which intelligence, he desired them whole of his travelling stock to the to put out every candle in the ship, questioners, when it appeared that save the one by which they steered, there were no written papers among and insist on the passengers preserv- the articles. He addresses himself ing entire silence. The order respect- frequently to "the reader," and ofing the candles was of the tirst conse- ten antedates circumstances of his quence, for the moon was just going down. They altered their course, and escaped, through the darkness of the season. From the character of his Journal thus communicated to the readers, I venture to presume it concluded that George Fox was either designing or story, by informing us that such a person afterwards came to be convinced, or afterwards met with some dreadful and sudden death, in consequence of his opposition to the people called Quakers.-George Fox was certainly in his senses when he compiled his "Journal;" and what must be the character of the motive that led him to pen in hours of evident sobriety the seeming vagaries of madness? The vanity of Fox is perpetually exhibiting itself in allusions to the skill with which he overcame his rival disputants: unmixed religious enthusiasm is generally attended with humility. than to resent so inconsequential a peculiarity with any great rigour. age. Thus he fomented that continual opposition necessary to the consis tency of the brethren, without hazarding the serious remonstrances of high authority. The invariable retention of the hat to what Hamlet justly styles its proper office, (the covering of the head) formed a rallyFox shews his deep knowledge of ing point, a sort of token in freehuman nature by the constant atten- masonry by which friends recognised tion he pays to the temporal hopes each other on all public occasions; and fears of the persons with whom and it was a singularity judiciously he is connected. Those who secede calculated to please the men who from the society he generally traces had acquired a considerable liking for to sickness and want, while staunch notions of republican equality from friends are so particularly the care of the temper and discussions of the Providence, that not even the dog of an American planter would offer to In many respects the Journal of bite them. The art displayed in this George Fox resembles the ancient conduct seems to mark the man sys- works of night errantry. In one tematically desirous of founding a the similitude is striking-there is new and powerful sect. The mere little or no mention of that " elevated religionist would certainly thing needful," the circulating mehave confined the notion of reward dium. George rode a good horse, to the vale of futurity! and went to good inns, before his matrimonial connection with the widow of Judge Fell. Whence the money came that enabled him to do so does not appear. It could not be from his family, for they discountenanced his rambles. It would be invidious to hazard supposition. Suffice it, George does not appear to have travelled without money in his pocket. His love of artifice is clearly be trayed in his conduct on board the vessel bound for America. He retired, and sought communion with heaven. "The Lord," he says, "shewed him that his power was placed between them and the vessel that held them in chace." Had Fox been the simple enthusiast which some part of his writings would appear to describe him, he would certainly have been satisfied with this sacred assurance, and have despised all efforts at self-preservation, while favoured with the particular care of that divine being, in whose name he had so often been able to work miracles. But it appears that, during the same minutes in which he informed the captain that they were quite secure, for heaven had spoken to him, its favourite agent, he directed the crew to alter their course and put out the lights. This advice was 50 good, that the escape of the vessel must appear to every dispassionate reader very far from miraculous. ̄ one It may be asked what but mere enthusiasm could possibly induce a man to defy the beatings of some, and the opprobrium of others, during the most fatiguing expeditions for a long series of years, when that man, both in theory and practice, declined all the pomp and grandeur usually seen attendant on individual distinction?-To this query it would not be difficult to give a lengthened reply. The records of human nature would produce many parallel instances of men rejecting positive benefits for the pursuit of gratifications not deemed equivalent to such a sacrifice by the bulk of mankind. On this head, The singularities adopted by Fox however, I forbear to say more were skilfully chosen. The thou than the egotistic vanity continually and thee" of his sect were at that evinced in the Journal renders it time particularly offensive to the highly probable that the love of fame, lower orders of people, the upper the pride of being accounted by fuclasses he knew to have more sense ture ages the founder of a sect, was a UNIVERSAL MAG. VOL. XI. C stimulus sufficient to produce all the third book commences, "Hail, ardour and perseverance noted in George Fox. If he really acted under such an impulse, it confessedly was a love of fame very innoxiously employedfor it has produced a religious brotherhood remarkable for temperance and the decent graces in an age of foppery, licentiousness, and insincerity. I am, Sir, your's, &c. VERITAS. A VINDICATION of the OPENING of the THIRD BOOK of PARADISE LOST. Sir, DR. NEWTON, in his notes upon Milton, has the following words, speaking of the introductory lines to B. III. of Paradise Lost: "Our author's address to light, and lamentation of his own blindness may perhaps be censured as an excrescence or digression not agreeable to the rules of epic poetry." It This opinion, as expressed above, is partly false and partly true. may be true that Milton's lamentation of his own blindness, as it intro duces the author when we wish to be acquainted only with the action, is digressive, and perhaps censurable; but his address to light, considered without the connection which he has forced upon it, by bewailing the "drop serene which obstructed his own visual ray, has a regular coherence, in my opinion, with the narrative. Satan, at the conclusion of the second book, having toiled through Chaos and Darkness, at length reaches the confines of Light: But now at last the sacred influence Of light appears, and from the walls of heaven Shoots far into the bosom of dim night Her farthest verge, and Chaos to retire That Satan with less to, and now with holy light! Offspring of heav'n first born, &c." is an excrescence? Is it not rather a natural effusion of the poet, warranted by the course of the narrative, in which he seems to rejoice that he has at length finished his sojourn in the region of darkness, and now "revisits safe the sovereign vital lamp?" It has an intimate connection with the conclusion of the preceding book, and therefore cannot, I think, be censured as digressive. I agree indeed with Dr. Newton, that the lamentation of his own blindness, which follows, is an excrescence, but I also agree with him, "that it is so charming a part of the poem that the most critical reader cannot wish it were omitted." this subject, I will point out a ridicuWhile my pen is occupied with lous error in Milton, which I have not seen noticed by any commentator. Satan, in his address to the sun, B. IV. 1. 76, exclaims,― Which way &c. |