the FIRST PUBLISHERS of Trutii.'' This Work Was Wued As Supplements I to 5 ---- of the JOURNAL Of--- the FRIENDS' HISTORICAL SOCIETY
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.. THE FIRST PUBLISHERS OF TRUTii.'' This work was wued as Supplements I to 5 ---- of THE JOURNAL of--- THE FRIENDS' HISTORICAL SOCIETY. ''THE FIRST PUBLISHERS OF TRUTH." BEING EARLY RECORDS (NOW FIRST PRINTED) OF THE INTRODUCTION OF QUAKERISM INTO THE COUNTIES OF ENGLAND AND WALES. Edited by NORMAN PENNEY, Librarian, Frieads' Reference Library, Loncloo. With Introduction by THOMAS HODGKIN, D.c.L., D.Litt. "Friends grew as ye Garden ol ye Lord.''-p. 145, LONDON Headley Brothers, 14, Bishopsgate Without, E.C. PHILADELPHIA: NEW YORK: Herman Newman, IOJO Arch St. David 5. Taber, 51 Filth Ave, 1907. HEADLEY BROTHERS, PRINTERS, LONDON ; AND ASHFORD, KENT Conttnte. PAGL INTRODUCTION Xl, PREFACE I BEDFORDSHIRE 5 Lower Side 6 Upper Side 6 BERKSHIRE 8 Reading 8 BRISTOL IO BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 12 CAMBRIDGESHIRE 13 Cambridge 13 CHESHIRE 16 Mobberley 18 CORNWALL 20 Minver and Endellion 23 Falmouth 24 CUMBERLAND 30 Carlisle 30 Pardshaw 33 Crosfield 41 Cockermouth 42 Isell 43 Portinscale 44 Broughton 45 Birker 47 Caldbeck 47 Sowerby 50 Mosedale SI Wigton 52 Bolton 56 V vi. CONTENTS. pAGJE. CUMBERLAND (continued) Kirkbride 59 Allonby 60 Kirklinton 61 Solport 66 Scotby 68 Abbey Holme 72 DERBYSHIRE 76 DEVONSHIRE 76 Plymouth 77 DORSETSHIRE 79 Poole 79, 80 Weymouth 79, 81, 82, 85 Bridport 79, 81, 82, 83, 84 Lyme .. Bo, 82, 83 Dorchester 81, 83, 85 Hawkchurch 83, 87 Corff 84 South Perrott 85, 86 Sherborne 86 DURHAM 88 Bishop Auckland 88 Shotton 90 ESSEX AND COLCHESTER 91 Colchester 91 Halstead, Coggeshall and Colchester 96 GLOUCESTERSHIRE 104 Frenchay Monthly Meeting 104 Painswick 105 Nailsworth 106 Tetbury 108 Minchinhampton 108 Gloucester 109 CONTENTS. vii. PA~B. HAMPSHIRE 112 Ringwood 112 Bramshott 112 Alton 112 Basingstoke 112 Southampton 112 HEREFORDSHIRE 113 Almeley 113 Hereford 114 Leominster 115 Bromyard 121 Ross 124 HERTFORDSHIRE 128 HUNTINGDONSHIRE 128 KENT 130 Dover 130, 135, 141, 143 Folkestone 133 Romney and Lydd 133 Ashford and Tenterden 134 Cranbrook and Staplehurst 135 Maidstone 136 Folkestone, Hythe, Romney and Lydd 142 Canterbury .. 142, 146 Sandwich 143 Hythe 145 Ashford 145 LANCASHIRE 1 47 Knowsley 1 47 LEICESTER AND RUTLAND 152 LINCOLNSHIRE 152 Lincoln 152 LONDON 153 Southwark 166 MIDDLESEX 168 viii. CONTENTS. PA.GB. NORFOLK 168 NORWICH 169 NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 194 Wellingborough 197 NORTHUMBERLAND 200 NOTTINGHAMSHIRE 203 OXFORDSHIRE 204 Charlbury 204 Witney 206 Oxford .. 206, 209 Alverscot 207 Milton under Wychwood 207 Chipping Norton 207 Banbury 208 Warborough 215 Henley-on-Thames 218 Turfield Heath 220 SOMERSETSHIRE 221 STAFFORDSHIRE 229 SUFFOLK 230 SURREY 231 SUSSEX 233 WARWICKSHIRE 239 WESTMORLAND 241 Sedbergh .. 242, 250 Preston Patrick .. 244, 254 Underbarrow .. 245, 263 Grayrigg .. 247, 265 Ravenstonedale .. 248, 272 Hutton .. 249, 267 Dent 254 Kendal 257 Langdale 269 Strickland Head 271 WILTSHIRE 273 CONTENTS. ix. PAGE. WORCESTERSHIRE 274 YORKSHIRE 286 Selby .. 289 Brighouse Monthly Meeting 291 Knaresborough ,. 292 Kelk " 293 Elloughton " 295 Settle 301 " Settle .. 302 Selside .. 303 Scalehouse 3o3 Rilstone 304 Salterforth 3o4 Bentham 305 Scarhouse 305 Bolland 306 Richmond Monthly Meeting .. 307, 311 Wensleydale 308 Bainbridge 3o9 Swaledale .. 309, 316 Coverdale 310 Carperby 310 Low Row 316 York Monthly Meeting 317 York 318 NORTH WALES 321 SOUTH WALES 321 ADDENDA. WESTMORLAND 329 Dent .. 329, 331 CUMBERLAND 334 LANCASHIRE 335 Marsden 335 Rossen dale 337 Oldham 339 x. CONTENTS. PACR .. SHROPSHIRE 341 Shrewsbury 341 HERTFORDSHIRE 341 THE PENAL LAWS AFFECTING EARLY FRIENDS IN ENGLAND 343" " GOING NAKED A SIGN" 364 SOME ANCIENT WORDS AND PHRASES 369 PREACHERS WHO BECAME FRIENDS 370 JUSTICES WHO BECAME FRIENDS • • 370 TRADES, PROFESSIONS, ETC., OF FRIENDS 370 INDEXES 373 BENJAMIN BEALING'S MANUSCRIPT front. TITLE PAGE OF FIRST PRINTED UTTERANCE OF PHILADELPHIA YEARLY MEETING 16 MARRIAGE CERTIFICATE, TREGELLES-J OSE 26 TITLE PAGE OF KENT MANUSCRIPTS 130 PORTION OF THE SOMERSET ACCOUNT 221 c=eirca (about). C=Soft c, as accommodacon. D=Friends' Reference Library, Devonshire House, Bishopsgate, London, E.C. jf=ff, as family. iii=dou ble m, as com.and. !J.-pounds sterling. THE JouRNAL=]ourna! of the Friends' Historical Society. Jntrobuction. It will certainly be generally admitted that, by the publication of the following papers, the Friends' Historical Society is doing good service to the cause of historical research, chiefly, but by no means exclusively, in connection with the Society of Friends. It will perhaps excite some surprise that these records, which were collected two centuries ago, should have slumbered so long in manuscript form, in the silent strong rooms of Devonshire House. Of course the eighteenth century was a time when a somewhat different view was taken of the historian's duty from that which is now prevalent, nor was the publication of mere ma terials for history in a non-literary form then so frequent a practice as, thanks to the labours of the Record Office and of many archreological societies, it has since become. Were the ruling spirits of the Society of Friends in 1720 waiting the uprising of some well-educated Quaker, like Thomas Ellwood, or William Sewel, to whom they might entrust these precious manuscripts, that he might reduce them into literary form ? If so, it is perhaps well for us that the able editor did not appear ; for the original documents after they had passed through his hands would probably have disappeared, whereas we have them now, not complete, alas-far from it, dust and decay have made great gaps in the series-but still in their original shape, untampered with by any editor, representing the very " form and pressure of the times " in which they were composed. xL xii. INTRODUCTION- The first movements in the direction of a systematic history of the origin of Quakerism seem to have been made in 1680, little more than thirty years from the beginning of George Fox's apostolate. As I understand the Editor's notes, some of the documents now before us were probably compiled in that and the immediately following years ; but the historic instinct was feeble and intermittent. The first generation of Friends was too busily engaged in doing and suffering, especially the latter, to have much time for reviewing the past. Another effort was made in 1704, but still, " despite the various requests made," and the "Directions to Collect Matters for a General History of the Entrance and Progress of Truth in this Age, by Way of Annals," the accounts which were called for came in but slowly, and it was not till 1720, when nearly all the actual coevals of George Fox must have been in their graves, that the work was finally accomplished, and "The First Publishers of Truth," in the shape in which it now emerges from the press, was deposited on the shelves of Devonshire House. It has seemed to me in reading this account of the genesis of the work before us, that we have probably a good illustration of the way in which some of the Christian Scriptures came to be written. So long as the great events recorded in the Gospels were recent, though they were often transmitted from person to person by word of mouth, there would be little disposition to commit them to writing. Even in our own day how few people undertake the labour of composing an account for those who shall come after us, of the events of the time through which we are actually passing ! But the first generation began to pass away; the number of those who could say, " I saw," " I heard," grew smaller; it was felt that mere oral tradition could no longer be relied on to keep an accurate record of the facts which INTRODUCTION. xiii were the foundation of the Church's life, and some docu ment such as the Gospel of Mark came into being. Then later on, when" many have taken in hand "-some perhaps not too wisely-" to set forth in order a declaration of the things most surely believed" among Christians, Luke takes up the pen, and, inquiring, collating, re viewing, like those good Friends of 1720 (though not of course separated by so great a distance of time as they from the facts recorded), writes his first treatise for " the most excellent Theophilus." In reading this series of narratives consecutively, one is struck by the fact that the years from 1652 to 1655 were pre-eminently the formative years of the Society of Friends ; and one also feels how important was the part played by young men from Cumberland, Furness, West morland, Yorkshire, and Bishopric (Durham) in promul gating the message which they had received through the ministry of George Fox. The names of William Dewsbury, Thomas Salthouse, Edward Burrough, Francis Howgill, Richard Farnsworth, James N ayler, John Audland, John Camm, Richard Hubberthorne, William Caton, and John Stubbs, all of them North-countrymen, are of frequent occurrence ; and we find all of them taking a leading part in what is termed " The Publishing of Truth," in the southern and midland counties of England. Several of these belonged to the household of Judge Fell, and the record of their labours convinces one afresh of the great importance to Quaker history of George Fox's memorable visit to Swarthmore. On the other hand I think it will be found that the East Anglian counties, which sent so many brave Puritan soldiers to fight in the ranks of the "new model" army, did not contribute many apostles to the young Society. This, however, is quite consistent with the nature of the new movement, which in its earlier phases was directed more against militant Puritanism, :riv. INTRODUCTION. against preaching colonels and praying Independents, than against the then depressed and extruded Episcopalian clergy. The "high professors" with whom George Fox had so many a sharp encounter were, I believe, without exception, what we should call Puritans ; and in this connection it is interesting to observe that the name, which, as used by a Quaker chronicler, certainly conveyed a hint of blame, was still applied long after the Stuart Restoration.