Chapter IV: Closing Years (1)

And, if they be but faithful to their trust,
Earth will remember them with love and joy;
And oh, far better, God will not forget.
For he who settles Freedom’s principles
Writes the death-warrant of all tyranny;
Who speaks the truth stabs falsehood to the heart;
And his mere word makes despots tremble more
Than ever Brutus with his dagger could.—LOWELL, _L’Envoi_.

As to the reason why I write some remarkable Passages of my
Sufferings for Truth, and also the great Things which the
Lord hath wrought for me, both in supporting me therein, and
delivering me out of. I say these Things are wrote, that my
Children and others may be encouraged to be faithful to the
Lord, and valiant for the Truth upon the Earth; for for that
Cause it came into my Mind, to tell unto others how good the
Lord hath been unto me, for which I am deeply engaged to Praise
his great Name.—JOHN GRATTON, _Journal_, 1720, p. 119.

Some time during the year 1665-6 Elizabeth Hooton must have returned to England, for again we find her writing to the King a letter bearing this endorsement, which approximately fixes the date, “This was in the abating of yᵉ Sicknes,” thus showing that it was written in the year of the Plague. An extract from it is interesting, confirming the fact that banishment, and that under terrible conditions, was a punishment to which the Quakers were subjected:[96]

O King,

... What reason is there to carry vs into other lands, and
thrust many into an old vissited shipp wᶜʰ was rotten, & leaked
water, whose blood will be laid to the charge of them that did
it, for many of them are dead, and the rest wee know not what
is become of them, Except they bee took by the Hollanders,
as some of them are. And in three shipps before this was
there more carryed away into other lands both old and Young
from wiues & Children & other relations & their owne Natiue
Country....

There are in existence letters from E. Hooton’s son Samuel, who about this time believed himself called to pay a religious visit to America, and from one of these we find that although the family had interests in Leicestershire, they still held the farm at Skegby. It is dated: “the 17ᵗʰ day of yᵉ 3ᵈ Mo:[May] 66. From Samuell Hooton, now on yᵉ sea goeing for new England” and is addressed: “To Timothy Garland[97] in Mansfeild Nottingam shʳ ffor Oliver Hooton in Skegsby, Wᵗʰ Care.”[98]

The Journal of Samuel Hooton’s visit to New England contains the following interesting allusion to his mother. He had held a large meeting in Boston and in consequence had been taken with many others to the house of the Governor.[99] In the course of his defence he said:[100]

I had an old mother was here amongst you, & bore many of your
stripes, & much cruelty at your hands, & when shee came at
the first, I was against her coming; & now shee is returned.
Is shee returned? saith Bellingham, Yea, I said, shee is safe
returned. And now yᵉ lord hath laid it vpon mee to come hither
to bear witness against your cruelty & hardheartednesse against
the lords innocent lambs; And before I was made willing to give
vp to come, I was brought even to deaths doore, if I had not
obeyed I had been dead before this day. Therefore I can say
with boldnesse, before you all, the lord hath sent mee hither
to bear witnesse against your cruelty.

Truly the son had inherited something of the mother’s boldness.

* * * * *

As so many of Elizabeth Hooton’s letters are undated, they are of but slight assistance in determining the order of events in her life, but in an account written by Patrick Livingstone,[101] of his service in Leicestershire, and his subsequent imprisonment in Leicester gaol, we get a glimpse of her still engaged about what she conceived to be “her Master’s business.” Here are extracts from the narrative:[102]

As I was on my Journy I came into Sison [Syston], it was
ordered, that some Friends, and other sober people of the Town
came into the house, and the love of God did spring in my heart
to the people whom I exhorted.... There came in a Constable,
with one John Lewins, who violently haled me away ... to a
Justices house.

A young man present, having “passed his word,” against the prisoner’s wishes, for his appearance several days later, he was liberated, and during the time other meetings were held and more Friends imprisoned. At what period Elizabeth Hooton comes on to the scenes we are not told, but while the prisoners were detained in an alehouse she

came in to see the Prisoners, and she prayed among them; but
the wicked man Lewins pulled and drew her, & used her badly,
and had like to have hurt her, being an old weak woman, and yet
she was not at the Meeting....

At night they had them to one called Justice Babington,[103]
but no justice appeared in him. He gave order to have them the
next day to Thumerstone ... and put us in an Orchard, where
many people came, and the everlasting Truth was declared....
For several hours we kept the Meeting amongst the people ...
and we were at the back of the house where the Justice was, but
none had power to stop the declaration of Truth.

These determined and intrepid “publishers of the Truth” were called away from their meeting one after another to stand before two Justices, on the charge of illegal gathering, and after much argument with the Bench they were fined and imprisoned, E. Hooton’s share being £1 or three weeks. The narrative concludes as follows (p. 38):

Now we are fully persuaded in our own minds by the Spirit of
God that we do not meet out of contempt to Authority but in
obedience to Divine commands: we must not forbear our Meeting
because they say they fear we will plot. God in his due time
will fully clear us; but in the mean time we must do our duty
as the Lord requires us ... and so long as we stand obedient to
the will of our God it shall be well with us whatever comes,
loss of life or any thing else, our Life in God they cannot
touch....

Written in Leicester-Prison the sixth day of the fourth month,
1667.

It seems probable that Patrick Livingstone visited Elizabeth Hooton at her home at Skegby; his future wife, Sarah Hyfeild, of Nottingham, appears as one of the Friends named for “publicke service” in the Minute Book of the Women’s Quarterly Meeting for Nottinghamshire, which Meeting was “setled” in 1671. The marriage took place in 1676, and the occasion elicited from the Friends of Aberdeen Monthly Meeting a fully-signed liberating certificate, which remains a noble tribute to the bridegroom’s Christian character, and a token of the high esteem and love of his north country friends; Robert Barclay and David Barclay are amongst the signatories.[104]

* * * * *

Accustomed as we are to the easy tolerance of the present day, the echoes of the fierce controversies waged between opposing religious sects during the seventeenth century sound strangely in our ears; Elizabeth Hooton, as one would naturally expect, was not behind in engaging in this wordy war. In 1667 we find her writing:[105]

You bawling Women from yᵉ Ranters ... you have said Wee have
made an Jdoll of George Fox.... You have hunted for Richard
Farneworth & others formerly.... Therefore misery will come
upon you.

About 1668, Elizabeth Hooton came into violent conflict with the sect of the Muggletonians. She appears to have written a letter against Lodowicke Muggleton,[106] to which he refers in a letter he sent to her in January, 1668, commencing as follows:[107]

I saw a letter of yours sent to James Brocke; it is supposed
that you are the mother, or some relation to that Samuel Hooton
of Nottingham, who was damned to eternity by me in the year
1662. It is no great marvel unto me that he proved such a
desperate devil, seeing his mother was such an old she-serpent
that brought him forth into this world.... She hath shot forth
her poisonous arrows at me in blasphemy, curses, and words,
thinking herself stronger than her brethren.... Therefore, in
obedience to my commission ... I do pronounce Elizabeth Hooton,
Quaker, ... cursed and damned, both in soul and body, from the
presence of God, elect men and angels, to eternity.

It is only fair to state that if the quotations from the letter written by her to Brocke are correct, her denunciations were equally emphatic.

* * * * *

It is with relief we turn from this phase in her career to find her again pleading the cause of the oppressed, and in statesman-like manner pointing out the evils consequent upon oppression. Here is her letter to the King and both Houses of Parliament:[108]

ffreinds consider in time wᵗ you haue done Both in Citty and
Countrey by this late Act how haue you ruinated hundreds of
Antient housekeepers in the Countrey and yᵉ cry of yᵉ Jnnocent
is entred into the eares of yᵉ Lord against you yᵗ haue done
it, Consider therefore what you will doe with these poore
people you haue Jmpouerished and restore them theire goods
againe, for they were releiuers of the poore And paid theire
Rents and Taxes duly.

But the Justices and some of the preists haue Bought theire
goods for halfe that they were worth and drunkards and swearers
runs away with the rest they sweare men are at the meeting when
they are not & by false sweareinge the Compasse mens goods
into theire hands which is theft; and soe theiues and Robbers
haue entered vpon our goods And men weomen and Children are by
this meanes driuen to great want; They haueing within some few
months enough & to releiue others Soe if you consider not these
things in time it will Bring A ruination both vpon the King and
Countrey, Soe its good for you to consider it in time before it
be to late And take of this Act and make better Lawes Least you
ruinate all.

This is done in the Countrey besides all bodyly Abuses consider
what they doe in this citty they pull downe our houses the[y]
Batter and bruise men And weomen with theire Swords with theire
guns with theire hallbards & with pikes & Staues runing vpon
them with horses what may wee expect But yᵗ many of these are
papists and outlandish men yᵗ doth it. Jf such wicked things
as these bee Tollerated to destroy honest people who serues
the Lord with all theire harts and great companys that follows
Mountebancks play houses & other vaine pastimes that are vpheld
in this Citty what may wee expect But yᵗ the hand of yᵉ Lord
may fall sodainely vpon you.

Therefore in time repent and take heed and doe Justice and loue
mercy And walke humbly with your god that you may find a place
of repentance Least you be shutt out for ever J am a louer of
yoʳ soules who would not haue you to perish,

ELISABETH HOOTON.

Elizabeth Hooton also made a point of informing the King as to what was taking place in Nottinghamshire. In one of these letters, after stating that she, an aged woman, had travelled over a hundred miles, and recounting the “greuieous havock” under the “New Act”[109] caused to Friends in London, she continues:[110] “I Brought you A Letter from Nottingham shire to the Kings hall; which sett forth how Greate oppresshon one side of the shier had suffered Amounting to a Boue three hundred pounds, beeing att one meeting....” Apparently there were only two others present besides the family at whose house the meeting was held, and £12 and £15 were taken from them in fines. “They make noe Conscience what they take,” she continues; and she also tells how one magistrate had fined a man twenty pounds for “worshipping of god” and then had ordered his officers to take three or four times as much “beecause they might Sell good peny worthes, and They Tooke Thirty pownds worth of Goods and sent to the same man for Titth wooll and Lambe After they had taken away his sheep.” She tells also of the loss of her own cows.

In another letter to the King, she writes:[111]

They have taken to Prisson both Men & Boyes in yᵉ Country
& brought yᵐ to Nottingham Prisson Contrary to yᵉ Act & yᵉ
Country is against itt and Jtt brings a Ruination.

And again, to King and Parliament, she writes:[112]

They took from one man for heaueing of 3 meetings in his house
150ˡⁱ pounds & Ruined him his wife and Children by penniston
Whally Justice & Waker yᵉ informer And Ruined other to younge
men at farnsfeild.

And we have another letter asking for an order to the Leicestershire magistrates to restore her goods “that J may haue a horse to ride on in my old age.”[113] So many of her appeals are on the same theme that it is exceedingly difficult in making selections to avoid reiteration, but the following addressed to the Lord Chamberlain[114] is so characteristic of her that, in spite of repetition, we hardly like to omit it:[115]

ffrind.

This J wright that thou maist consider the cause of the
innocent, with the cause of the widdow, how it is as yit
sleighted by one & another.

J labored on foot to come hither to London, aboue 100 miles
being one yᵗ is aged, & weake, to lay before the King &
counsell the greuiances of the innocent, who are imprisoned
all ouer the Nation, who haue not wronged the King, nor his
Counsell, nor haue not entertained euill in our hearts against
him, to doe him any hurt, or wrong in the least, & hither
haue J come time after time, for that thinge, & for equity,
& Justice, who had my goods taken away contrary to yʳ owne
law, my goods, for another bodies fine, though he allsoe did
fulfill yʳ law in suffering the penalty of it, & what could be
more required. They took from me 20ˡ worth of goods in time of
harvest, namely my teame, which at that time was aboue 100ˡ
losse to me, & my ffamily, both as to the losse of my cattle
& corne, and putting off my ffarme. This was don at Sileby in
Leicester shire by Mathew Babington of Roadby, whome they call
Justice, he bearinge Sway aboue the rest to doe mischeife, by
setting a Baly of the hundred on worke called William Palmer,
who took away my goods, and sold them, and J would haue had a
warrant time after time of the Justices to fetch him before
them, but they would grant me none, But the hand of the Lord
light on that man, and he died a miserable death.

Soe seing J could not be heard there in the Country, nor
righted, Therefore J haue appealed and applyed my selfe to the
King, who bid me goe to the Lord Chamberlane, and J should haue
an answer by him, soe J applyed my selfe to thee, to know an
answer from the King, how J might haue my ffrinds at liberty,
or gett my goods restored, but as yit J haue had noe answer as
to either of them, but when J was heare before, thou writ me
a letter to carry to the Earle of Stamford,[116] and sealed
it, which J did carry to him accordingly, in a sore jurney to
the endangering of my life, but had J Knowne what had been in
it, J should haue labored more to the King & Duke of Yorke
before J went, which then might haue been serviceable to me or
my ffrinds, J neuer did desire any Lords favor, for my goods
againe, nor deed of Charity, for these were not my words, but
onely equity & Justice.

My harts desire is, that you may doe Justice & Judgement, all
of you while you haue time, least yʳ day goe ouer yʳ heads,
as to others it hath don before you; and so come to yᵗ which
is true honor, out of all flattering titles, for the true
Nobility is to hear the cry of the Jnnocent and to doe Justice
& Judgmᵗ to the widdow, the ffatherlesse, and to Keep yʳ selues
vnspotted from the world, and this is the true Nobility which
is vnchangeable & that man is noble in his place which will
hear the cry of the Jnnocent & help them in theire distresse
but he yᵗ will not doe it, comes short of the vnjust Judge,
whoe though he neither feared God nor regarded man, yit did
the widdow Justice, least shee should weary him, Soe ffrind,
take these thinges into thy Consideration, for J haue respected
thee, more then many because of thy moderation which is noble
in itts place....

Concerning that letter which the Earle of Stamford sent to thee
by me itt being soe coldly handled between you both, noe thinge
is don for my satisfaction, and whereas his letter saith, that
some men are dead that bought my cattle, and that the rest are
vnwilling to contribute any considerable matter, to this, J
say, that the Baley of hundred is dead but the men that bought
the cattle of him were aliue, when J came, for J was with
them, but if any that they sold them to be dead, or noe, that
J cannot tell, but he that should restore my goods is Mathew
Babington if J may haue my right.

The Earle of Stamford hath been about it, to see what they will
doe who had my goods, but seing he hath noe more forceable
letter from hence, he could doe nothing but hath left it vnto
thee, therefore if thou writest to him againe lett it be
effectually that J may haue Justice, for the law is not against
me but for me, (though J cannot make vse of it in a way of
sute) and this J know you may doe between you, being sett in
greater power then many others.

this was deliuered
the 10ᵗʰ day of the
5ᵗʰ month 1667

A louer of your soules
& a frind to all that
are honest harted

ELIZABETH HOOTON.

Evidently this letter to the Lord Chamberlain had no effect, for there is a further appeal to the King, mainly interesting as the following names are given as witnesses to the truth of her statement: Thomas Snooden, William Snooden, Timothy Garland, Nicholas House, Nicholas Parsons, Thomas Barradell, Robert Clarke.[117]

In the same letter she writes:

The Magistrates which will doe me noe justice—Behman [Beaumont]
Dixey, Justice Babington of Rodely [_sic_], Earle of Stamford
and John Grey his sonne, with many others in Leicestershire,
which some said they would doe me Justice, but did me none.

In the Countrey there is no Justice but Cruelty: they will not
heare the Cry of the innocent.

She also appeals to the Duke of York, and in the conclusion of a letter to him, she says:[118]

Therefore I allso apply my selfe to thee, for thy asistance,
in this thing, yᵗ some effectuall meanes may be used for the
restoring of my goods.... The Earle of Stamford who is the
Kings freind knowes how my busines is, & may dispatch it, if
effectually writ to.

Here is another extract setting forth her opinion of lawyers, and others called upon to administer the law, and also demonstrating her pertinacity in her endeavours to obtain justice. She begins in the customary manner by recounting the history of her visits to the King, and continues:[119]

... The King had put it in to the [hands of the] Justices to
[_paper torn_] things and J said J had beene with them and they
would [_paper torn_] me no Right but bad me goe to law but the
lawyars i said ar corrup as the maiestrats ar that J cannot vse
them but they said go to the maiestrats againe and see if they
will do Justice if they will not bring there names and som to
testify the goods were mine and i should haue Justice.

And so i came to another sessions and let them know what J
had done and what they said and hath waited for Justice agen
J went to som of there houses and to the bench and followed
them whether they went both day and at nights when they met to
gether to know whether they would do me Justice or no Justice
to which they hardened there harts and stifened there necks
against the widows complaint and Regarded no Just law....

She did not hesitate boldly to warn the King of his errors, as the following passage shows:[120]

How oft haue J come to thee in my old age both for thy
reformation and safety, for the good of thy soule And for
Justice and equity. Oh that thou would not giue thy Kingdome to
yᵉ papists nor thy strength to weomen....

In her efforts to obtain Justice for herself she was never unmindful of the interests of her friends, and in one of her numerous letters to the King and Council she mentions that William Dewsbury, Thomas Goodaire and Henry Jackson, three Yorkshire men, were in Warwick Prison, Francis Howgill in Kendal, and Thomas Taylor in Aylesbury.[121]

In Northampton there are fifteene under the Act of Banishment.
J desire that you may set them at libertye besides all the rest
that are there. These are all yᵉ Kings Prisoners.[122]

In another letter to the King and Council she mentions that there were forty Friends in Reading prison, and that some had been confined there six or seven years.[123]

In yet another letter addressed to the King she makes allusion to the national calamities, and points a lesson therefrom:[124] “If there be not A speedy repentance judgmᵗˢ will ensue, as Late hath been in England yᵉ Pestilence yᵉ Sword & yᵉ Fire.” It was probably written in the year 1667 or 1668, after the arrival of the Dutch ships in the Thames under De Ruyter. Pepys, under date 11th of June, 1667, in his _Diary_ says: “Pett writes us word that Sheerenesse is lost last night, after two or three hours’ dispute,” and he gives a graphic account of the alarm in the city, consequent on the withdrawal of the soldiers to Chatham and elsewhere: “which looks as if they had a design to ruin the City and give it up to be undone; which, I hear, makes the sober citizens to think very sadly of things.” John Evelyn, too, speaking of the Dutch incursion, says: “The alarme was so greate that it put both Country and Citty into a paniq feare and consternation such as I hope I shall never see more; every body was flying none knew why or whither.”

* * * * *

It is pleasant to turn from sufferings and controversies to events of a domestic character in the strenuous life of Elizabeth Hooton. On 21st September, 1669, her daughter Elizabeth, who had been a sufferer with her mother in New England, was married to Thomas Lambert, of Handsworth, at her mother’s house at Skegby. We have more details of this event in the following record:

Thos: Lamberd of Heansworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire & Elizabeth
Hooton of Skegby in Nottinghamshire, Daughter of Elizabeth
Hooton did take one another to be husband & wife according to
the Church order & yᵉ practice of yᵉ holy men of God in yᵉ
Scripture in yᵉ House of Elizabeth Hooton upon yᵉ 21 of yᵉ VII
mo in yᵉ year 1669 unto yᵉ Truth of which we have set to our
names—

WILLIAM MALSON
THOMAS COCKRAM
ROBERT STACY
ROBERT HASSEHURST
MAHLON STACY
JOHN FFRETWELL
THOMAS BROCKSOPP
JOHN BINGHAM
THOMAS FFOUKE
GEORGE COCKRAM
WILLIAM CLAY
GODFREY NEWBOULD
ABRAHAM SENOR
ROBERT GRACE[125]

The names of most of the Friends who signed Thomas and Elizabeth Lambert’s wedding certificate appear again in the book recording the sufferings of Friends in the Mansfield district, and in the early Minute Book of the Women’s Quarterly Meeting for Nottinghamshire.

Fourteen months later, 30th of November, 1670, Elizabeth Hooton’s son Samuel was married to Elizabeth Smedley, of Skegby, at his mother’s house. There is a very interesting entry in the first Nottinghamshire Quarterly Meeting Minute Book in reference to this marriage. Elizabeth Hooton, in assuring the Meeting of her consent to this union, writes,[126] 26th of December, 1670:

This doe I certify concering my sonne Samuel. I spake to Geo:
Fox about taking the young woman to wife, & he asked me what
she was, & I told him as near as I could of her behaviour, & he
bade me let him take her, & soe that makes me willing that he
should take her to wife.—ELIZABETH HOOTON.

As in the case of the daughter’s marriage the names of no women appear amongst the witnesses, but as their mother was in England at this time, she was most likely present at both ceremonies.

* * * * *

In the Episcopal Returns for 1669, we find the name of Elizabeth Hooton among those of “Heads & Teachʳˢ” of the Friends’ Meeting at Harby, Lincs.[127]

About this time too we find E. Hooton intervened in the dispute between Margaret Fell and her son and daughter-in-law, George and Hannah Fell. There are two letters in existence, both evidently addressed to Hannah Fell; one is endorsed: “ffor George ffells widdow at Marsh Grainge in ffurnace,” the other: “To a Woman unnamed, who had got a judgmᵗ agᵗ her mother in law.”[128] From the latter we learn that Elizabeth Hooton must have seen George Fell on the subject of the litigation, for she writes:

Freind.

When J was wᵗʰ the & thy Husband J hadd some thing on my Spᵗ
from yᵉ Lord yᵗ hee might bee warned from ꝑsecuteing yᵉ Just,
or Joyneing wᵗʰ them yᵗ did, for he is gon from yᵗ Truth wᶜʰ
hee once was in, & had Joyned himselfe wᵗʰ yᵉ ꝑsecuteing
magistrates & preists, & had been a meanes to Cause his mother
to bee ꝑsecuted, & imprisoned, & yᵐ yᵗ mett at hir howse & this
(soe farr as J did heare) was thy Husbands worke, but J was
moved of yᵉ Lord to goe to him, & declare to him hee was gon
out from that Truth he was in before; & now hath hee Joyned him
selfe wᵗʰ yᵉ ꝑsecutors, & was a lover of pleasures & did not
at all love yᵉ Truth, but ꝑsecute it; & was a meanes to keep
his Mother in prison, & was a meanes for ought J Could heare to
premunire hir, but J was made to tell him yᵗ if hee did goe on
in yᵗ ꝑsecuting way & would not turne to yᵉ Truth wᶜʰ hee once
Received, yᵉ Lord would Cutt him off boath Root & branch, &
though his Mother were sett at liberty againe by yᵉ King, yett
did thy Husband goe to yᵉ King againe, & Gott hir premunired &
put into prison againe, (for ought [J] know) & now the lords
hand hath Cutt him off & shortened his dayes.

And Now it is Reported yᵗ thou hast Gotten a Judgmᵗ against thy
Syce to Sweep away all yᵗ shee hath, boath goods, & Land, wᵗ a
Rebellious Daughter in law art thou.

The rest of the letter consists of warnings and predictions of what will befall if such unjust conduct is persisted in. It concludes:

Soe to yᵉ light of Xᵗ in thy Conscience Returne, wᶜʰ will lett
the see all thy wayes; J am a lover of thy Soule

ELIZABETH HOOTEN.

Her intervention did not end here, for we find her writing to the King and Council on behalf of Margaret Fox. In an undated letter, after calling their attention to the great distress caused by the Act “which hath ruined many hundred of famylies which cannot now pay Rents taxes nor sesments which did releiue many poore and now is not able to releiue them selues,” she continues:[129]

Shee yᵗ was Judge ffells wife had a rebellious and disobedient
sonn which sought the ruination of his own mother the Lord Cutt
him of by Death and now her sonnes wife seekes to ruinate her
mother in Law by getting a Judgmᵗ against her att this Size at
Lancaster to dispossesse her of her proper right and soe both
ruinate her and her children if shee can: Lett the King and
Councill Consider this and holpe the widow and the fatherlesse.
That which her husband left her, her daughter in Law seekes to
ruinate her of. Soe I beseech you consider it in tyme and send
some thing speedily to yᵉ Judges yᵗ Justice may be administred.

I am a louer of your Soules

ELIZABETH HOOTON.

Undeterred by age, the perils and discomforts of the voyage, or the prospect of bonds and imprisonment which it was possible would be her portion, Elizabeth Hooton, in a letter written from London in conjunction with Hannah Salter[130] to Margaret Fox, a prisoner in Lancaster Castle, speaks of the call she had received to proceed with George Fox and the party of Friends who were intending to visit their brothers and sisters in the faith beyond the seas:[131]

Deare Margret who Art faithfull and in the wisdome of god and
art A sufferer for god and his Truth and thy sufferings hath
been many and great and thou art A Mother in Jsraele god is thy
witnese thou hast suffered more then many haue Expected, yet
hath yᵉ Lord deliuered thee, Euerlasting praises to his name
for euer, bee thou of good Cumfort yᵉ Lord will Deliuer thee
still and they that seeke to Ruinate thee will yᵉ Lord Ruinate,
Jf they doe not Speedely Repent and Amend: there is no way but
to trust in yᵉ Lord for hee is A true deliuerer.

Hannah Salter hath been with the King and Leighboured much in
thy Cause and J haue been prety much with the parliment and
haue giuen them prety many Bookes and spoken prety much to
them. We haue giuen yᵉ parliment above 200 of the Reighnment
of Popery[132] besids many other good Bookes, J beleiue to the
worth of 20ˡⁱ and they tooke them uery well, but what they will
do to us more J Know not.

J haue A great desier to see thee Jf thou could but Come to
thy husband before hee goe so the Lord giue thee some Liberty
that thou may see him, and it would make my hart glad. J know
nothing but J may goe with him it hath been much on mee to goe
a great while and to doe yᵉ best that Js Required for him. One
Letter haue J written to thy Sons wife and J desire thou may
see it ouer, that Jf there bee any thing in it yᵗ is Amisse
thou maist mend it, for it ware much on mee to write it, and so
at present J haue no more but my Loue to thee and thy daughters
and friends for J am in hast to goe up againe to the parlement
and so farwell my dearly beloued friend which art in the Power
of Truth, god blessed for euer.

ELIZ: HOOTON.

Hannah Salter hath some hopes yᵗ the Buisinesse will bee
effected shee would not leaue yᵉ King till he had Granted what
was required and his Counscill with him promised her yᵗ it
should be done Soe shee goes to him againe yᵉ second day to
haue it written & sealed soe J hope it will be done in gods
tyme, yᵗ wee may all praise his holy name for his mercy towards
thee & towards vs. Soe J end farewell, deare Margrett.

From the above letter we obtain an insight into Elizabeth Hooton’s activities in the year 1670. On the 15th January, 1670, Friends in Nottinghamshire appealed to King and Parliament for the relief of their sufferings, and among the Appellants are Elizabeth Hooton and Elizabeth Hooton, Junr.[133] The latter was, probably, the wife of Samuel, become Hooton only a month or two before.

In these days, when we are constantly reminding those outside our Society of the acknowledgment by our early Friends of the spiritual equality of men and women, it is extremely interesting to note that women were frequently engaged in and actually did carry through negotiations of a very delicate and decidedly secular character. This is proved by George Fox’s account of his wife’s release from Lancaster Castle, which took place in April, 1671; he says:[134]

I was moved to speak to Martha Fisher[135] and another woman
Friend, to go to the King about her liberty. They went in
faith, and in the Lord’s power, who gave them favour with the
King, so that he granted a discharge under the broad-seal, to
clear both her and her estate, after she had been ten years a
prisoner and premunired; the like wherof [of such discharge]
was scarcely to be heard in England.

John Rous, writing to his mother-in-law, Margaret Fox, gives a more detailed account of the proceedings attendant on her release, in a letter dated 4th of April, 1671; he says:[136]

Last 6ᵗʰ day yᵉ two women tooke the grant out of the Attourney
Generals office, & he gave yᵐ his fee, wᶜʰ should have been
5ˡⁱ, & his clerke tooke but 20ˢ, wheras his fee was 40ˢ.
Yesterday they went with it to yᵉ King who signed it in the
Counsell & Arlington[137] also signed it but would take noe
fees, wheras his fees would have been 12ˡⁱ or 20ˡⁱ, neither
would Williamsons[138] man take any thing saying yᵗ if any
religion were true, it is ours, tomorrow it is to passe yᵉ
Signet; & on 6ᵗʰ day, the privy seale, & afterwards the broad
Seale wᶜʰ may be done on any day. The power of the Lord hath
bowed their hearts wonderfully.

Margaret Fox, after her release from Lancaster, returned to Swarthmoor for a brief period; she then joined George Fox in London for the Yearly Meeting of 1671, and afterwards remained with him, until, three months later, 13th August, he and his little company of twelve set sail “towards America and some of the Isles thereunto belonging.” Elizabeth Hooton and Elizabeth Miers[139] were the only women included in the party.

From George Fox and others we have a very full account of the voyage of the “Catch _Industry_, Master Thomas Foster.” Margaret Fox and other Friends accompanied the travellers as far as Deal. After these had left the boat her voyage was interrupted by a visit from the “Presse Master” of one of the two men-of-war which were lying in the Downs. He took off three of their seamen which action might have postponed the voyage indefinitely had not the Captain of the other frigate, “out of Compassion and much Civillity,” spared two of his men.

Their vessel was leaky: on the 27th of August this entry appears in the diary of the voyage, kept by John Hull:[140]

Our Ship soe leaky ever since wee came to the Downes that
Seamen and passengers doe for the most part day and night
pumpe. this day wee observed that in two houres she suckt in
sixteene Inches of water in the well, some makes it tenne Tunn
a day. It is well however for it is good to keepe Seamen and
passengers in health.

Travellers of to-day would probably strongly object to this particular form of health-giving exercise, except under the very sternest necessity.

Then the Journal tells of an apparent “Chace” given by a strange ship which “some conjectur’d by her sayles among the Marriners that it was likely a Sally man of warr, standing of the A sores Ilands, which caused a great feare among some of the passengers, dreading to be taken by them, but friends were well satisfyed in themselves, having no feare upon their spirrits.” George Fox assured the Master when he came “to advise with him and understand his Judgment of it in the power made answer that the life was over all, and the power was betweene them and us.” The _Industry_ escaped attack and eventually they lost sight of the “Sally man.”

Many meetings were also held, some amongst Friends only, and others with the passengers who “seemed to be very attentive.”

At length, after nearly two months, this voyage—not lacking in interest and incident—ended, and the _Industry_ anchored in Carlisle Bay, Barbados, about nine o’clock at night on the 3rd October.

During his stay, George Fox addressed a letter to the Governor of Barbados, defending the Quakers against gross slanders which had been promulgated against them. We have also two letters from Elizabeth Hooton. Whether both were written at this period is uncertain. One is addressed “To the Rulers and Magestrats of this Island that ought to Rule for god.” After general exhortations and warnings, she continues:[141]

J haue seene many ouerturnes, and the Lord will ouerturne
Still. Therefore haue a Care in the feare of the Lord that
hee may giue a blessing vnto you.... And soe Consider what is
required for in this Jsland. There is Great need of Justice
and Judgment, for if one goe vp into the Countrey, there is A
great Cry of the Poore being Robbed by Rich mens Negroes, Soe
that they cannot with out great Troble, keep any thing from
being Stolen; And if they doe complaine they Cannot get any
Sattisfaction; Now it is the Duty of Euery man to take Care and
see there family haue Suffitient food and any thing else the
stand in need off; as Jnstructed in that that is good, that
they may bee Kept from Stealeing and doeing any thing that is
Euill; Soe that yoᵘ may make good Lawes and yoʳ People be Kept
in good order, according to what is made knowne to them by them
that Rule ouer them. And soe yoᵘ Come ... to a true Reformation
yoʳ Selues, first reforming yoʳ Selues in yoʳ familyes, and
yoᵘ will see Clearly how to Rule others, for a Reformation god
looks for Among yoᵘ and all People, that god may bless yoᵘ....
Therefore to the Light of Christ returne; that yoᵘ may see what
yoᵘ should doe and what yoᵘ should not doe and that all yoʳ
ac̄c̄ons may be guided by itt, for hee hath Jnlightened Euery
one that Comes in to the World. J am a louer of yoʳ Soules and
am Come to Warne yoᵘ

ELIZA: HOOTON.

The second letter[142] is probably the last she wrote, and was evidently prompted by the same reasons which had influenced George Fox in addressing the Rulers of the Island. It is endorsed: “E. Hooton to some Ruler in Barbado’s 7ᵗʰ of 10/mo 1671 To warne him not to give eare to false reports & yᵉ Priests suggestions agᵗ yᵉ innocent.”

ffrend.

Some thing J haue to thee, Jf thou wilt be noble in thy place,
lend not an eare to the wicked nor to persecutors, if thee
Prests come about thee aganst the Jnnocent, as they haue all
wayes don, and Cry help magistrats or else our traid will goe
downe. Neither giue eare to Any Sett that comes to the wᵗʰ
falce Accusations.... The Lord hath somtimes Restrained such
men as would haue done us mischeefe and oft haue J been wᵗʰ the
Parlement & they haue been very Ciuell to me & J haue giuen
them many Boockes & Letters & they haue Receᵈ them & haue not
done those many bad Things against us as Sum would haue had
them to haue done; but let persecution sease, and our Meetings
in London ware & are still as wee are informed by yᵉ Last
Shipes peaceable: and the Last Mayor that wos when J wos there
never did us hurt nor broke up ouer metings....

Ther fore take heade that thou doe not Joyne with them that
would percecute & wrong yᵉ Jnnocent, for Jf thou doest thou
wilt wrong thy one Sole: neither harken thou to such wicked men
as will bring thee Storeys & lyes against George ffox, nor anny
of Gods people for J haue knone him to be An upright honest
harted man as wast in England this twenty fiue years: Soe quit
thy selfe well in thy Place & god will bles the but Giue not
head to folce accusors nor to the preasts for thos war thay
that Crusified Christ & put his Apossells to deth and thay are
yᵉ men yᵗ now would doe the same thinges if thay had power.
J haue knone there Cruelty aboue this twenty yeares to me &
to many others, thouf J haue no Enmyty against them nor noe
Revenage Jn my harte but desire that thay Repent and turne to
the Lorde as sum of them haue done: Soe Returne to the Light in
thy Consciene wᶜʰ will not let the doe any Wrong to any if thou
be Obedient to Jt:

from one yᵗ is a louer of thy Sole

ELIZABETH HOOTON.

Barbados this 7ᵗʰ of the 10ᵗʰ monᵗʰ 1671.

After three months’ stay in that island, on the 8th January, 1671/2, George Fox, accompanied by Elizabeth Hooton and others, left for Jamaica and arrived safely on the 18th.

From the Testimony of James Lancaster[143] concerning Elizabeth Hooton we gather particulars of her illness and death. He says:[144]

Her seruise was to stay at the place called porte royall and
alsoe my seruise to be there the next ffirst day and soe comeing
in vpon the 7 day of the weeke found her weake in bodie at
present though the day before shee had beene among friends in
the towne exorting them to faithfullnes in the worke of god and
J came vp the staires where shee was and the had newlie taken
her out of her bed into a chaire.

She was much swelled and J said let her haue iaire and the
opened the windowes and opened her bodies and then her breath
came and shee looked vp and see me but could not speake. J said
let vs put her into her bed least shee gett cold, and we did
and shee looked vpon me and J her my life rose towards her and
allsoe her life answered mine again with greate Joy betwixt vs
and shee said it is well James thou art come and fastened her
arms aboute me and said blessed be the lord god that has made
vs partakers of those heuenly mercies and more words to the
like effecte and embraced me with a kisse and laid her selfe
Downe and turned her selfe on her side and soe her breath went
weaker and weaker till it was gone from her and soe passed away
as though shee had beene asleep and none knew of her departure
but as her breath was gone....

And so, still in the thick of the fight, far from her home in the quiet Nottinghamshire village, she fell on sleep. Though her story is so far removed from our own time, something of that peace enters into our souls in the knowledge that her long and strenuous life ended in a great calm.

George Fox, writing to Friends from Rhode Island, 19th June, 1672, says:[145]

Elizabeth Hootton is deceased at Jamaicae ... James Lancaster
was by her and can give an account what words she spoke and of
her Testimony concerneing Truth a farther account I shall give
concerneing her outward things to her Relations but let her
Sonne Oliver gather up all her papers and her sufferings and
send them to London that her life and death may bee printed.

To our lasting regret the latter injunction never appears to have been carried out, or at any rate the record has been lost, for no history of her, written by a contemporary, remains, and after the lapse of over two hundred and forty years there are necessarily many blanks which can never be filled. George Fox, in his Testimony concerning her, written in 1690, says:[146]

In her Life she was very much Exercised with priests outward
Professours Apostates Backsliders and Profane, for she was
a Godly Woman & had a Great Care Lay upon her for People to
walk in yᵉ Truth that did Profess itt, and from her Receiving
yᵉ Truth she never turned her Back of itt but was fervent &
ffaithfull for it till Death.

This is amply confirmed by the fragments of her history which remain to us, and from these fragments she emerges a heroic figure, one who worthily played her part in the heroic age of the Society of Friends: always valiant for the truth, quick to seize any opportunity that offered to plead the cause of her fellow sufferers, even though her own sufferings made the occasion—fearless in denouncing the evils of the time—far in advance of the age in which she lived in her advocacy of prison and other reforms, and, though her methods may appear strangely uncouth in our politer days, yet her history is eloquent in its lessons for us, conscious, it may be, that, in the words of Whittier,

The spirit’s temper grows too soft in this still air.[147]

Does not the injunction of an earlier writer[148] need special emphasis to-day? “May we not now, in a time of ease and liberty, live carelessly and indifferently towards Him, but in deep reverence and fear worship him, our great Deliverer, who powerfully wrought in the King’s heart to the setting at freedom and liberty these sons and children of the morning!”

Another age, other problems, and as we consider those which confront us to-day, we ask, with Florence Nightingale, “Was there ever an age in so much need of heroism?” and we recognise too that to solve those problems aright we must approach them in the spirit in which Elizabeth Hooton approached the problems of her time, that spirit which prompted her to say:

All this and much more I have gone thorugh and suffered,
and much more could I for the Seed’s sake which is Buried
and Oppressed, and as a Cart is laden with Sheaves and as
a Prisoner in an inward Prison-House; Yea, the Love that I
bear to the Souls of all Men, making me willing to undergo
whatsoever can be inflicted.[149]

_See p. vii._]

Addenda

THE HUSBAND OF ELIZABETH HOOTON (pp. 2, 16)

Several writers on Elizabeth Hooton have stated that her husband was _Samuel_: James Bowden, _Hist._ i. 260; A. C. Bickley in _D.N.B._; Charlotte Fell Smith in _The British Friend_, 1893.

Mrs. Manners has come to the conclusion that Elizabeth’s husband was _Oliver_. She thus states her case:

1. Though an exhaustive search of the Nottinghamshire Parish Registers has been made, I failed to find any marriage of a _Samuel_ Hooton to Elizabeth ⸺ in any years when it would possibly have occurred.

2. At Ollerton (which village is said by Thoroton to have been partly owned by Hootons) I found that in the year 1628 _Oliver_ Hooton married Elizabeth Carrier—and on the 4th of May, 1633, Samuel, son of Oliver and Elizabeth Hooton, was baptized. (Ollerton Parish Registers.)

3. No entries in Ollerton Registers between the years 1633 and 1636.

4. At Skegby in the year 1636 a son was born to _Oliver_ and Elizabeth Hooton, and in succeeding years the children born are described as above.

5. In 1657, in the Friends’ Digest Register, the death of _Oliver_ Hooton is recorded, and under the same year the Skegby Parish Registers record _Oliver_ Hooton the elder buried.

6. We learn from a letter written by Thomas Aldam from York Castle, where he and Elizabeth Hooton were imprisoned in 1652, that E. H.’s husband was living at that time.

7. George Fox in his Testimony concerning E. H. says: “Her husband being Zealous for yᵉ Priests much opposed her, in soe much that they had like to have parted but at Last it pleased yᵉ Lord to open his understanding that hee was Convinced alsoe & was faithfull untill Death.” From this statement I should expect to find the entry of his death in the Friends’ Register. The name of _Samuel_ does not occur in either Register of deaths.

8. The late Mary Radley also arrived at the conclusion that the husband’s name was _Oliver_, and our investigations were conducted entirely independently.

NOAH BULLOCK (p. 7)

The name of Noah Bullock does _not_ appear in the list of Mayors of Derby given in William Hutton’s _History of Derby_, ed. of 1791, but the following curious allusion to Bullock occurs in the same work, page 236:

“1676—We sometimes behold that singularity of character which joyfully steps out of the beaten track for the sake of being ridiculous; thus the Barber, to excite attention, exhibited in his window green, blue and yellow wigs, and thus Noah Bullock, enraptured with his name, that of the first navigator, and the founder of the largest family upon record, having 3 sons, named them after those of his predecessor, Shem, Ham and Japhet; and to complete the farce, being a man of property, built an ark, and launched it upon the Derwent, above St. Mary’s-bridge; whether a bullock graced the stern history is silent. Here Noah and his sons enjoyed their abode and the world their laugh. But nothing is more common than for people to deceive each other. The world acts under a mask. If they publicly ridiculed him, he privately laughed at them: for it afterwards appeared he had more sense than honesty; and more craft than either; for this disguise and retreat were to be a security to coin money. He knew Justice could not easily overtake him, and if it should, the deep was ready to hide his coins and utensils. Sir Simon Degge, an active magistrate, who resided at Babington-hall, was informed of Noah’s proceedings, whom he personally knew: the Knight sent for him and told him, ‘he had taken up a new occupation, and desired to see a specimen of his work.’ Noah hesitated. The magistrate promised that no evil should ensue, provided that he relinquished the trade. He then pulled out a sixpence and told Sir Simon ‘He could make as good work as that.’ The Knight smiled; Noah withdrew, broke up his ark, and escaped the halter.”

The family is an ancient one; there are monumental inscriptions in St. Alkmund’s church to Bullocks of Darley Abbey. The name is still represented in the town.

Information supplied by Edward Watkins, of Fritchley, Derby.

COMMITMENT TO LINCOLN CASTLE (p. 14)

Lyncolnshere.

J was gon out of becingham, & was gone to barnbe in Nottingham shire, & as J was warneing some to repent in yᵉ towne, there come a wicked man forth whose name was Atkingson, a proud man, he stroake me unreasonably, then pul’d he me out of my way over a bridge & when J was over he sent to the Preist of becingham to serve his warrant upon me, & wᵗʰ his warrant he sent me to the Justice, & the Justice being a wicked man he sent me to prison to Lincoln goal. The same Preist put another Man friend into prison for tithes, & hee dyed, & his house keeper came through the chamber where the Preist lay, & he sᵈ good morrow Valentine in a vain light condition, & tooke her in his armes to salute her & suddainly the Lord stroak him wᵗʰ death, though he cryed for his bottle of strong waters but it would not save him, thus the hand of the Lord is agᵗ wicked men, both old & young, [they] shall perish if they transgress. Atkingson came to nought alsoe & was taken away suddainly, yet the Lord was with me in prison though J endured a very cold winter, it was God’s mercy in preserving me that winter from being starved to death, & this widdow woman that kept yᵉ goal was full of cruelty towards me & all yᵉ prisoners.

[Endorsement]

An imperfect paper, yet expressing the Manner of her being sent to Lyncolne Prison: and Gods hand upon yᵉ Priest & Atkinson that were yᵉ cause of her Jmprisonmᵗ there.

MS. in =D.= (Portfolio i. 136)

_To face p. 78._] [_See p. vii._]

UNKETTY (page 43)

An enquiry addressed to Augustine Jones, LL.B., of Newton Highlands, Mass., has brought the following information:

Unquity, or Unquity-quisset was the Indian name for Dorchester, which, in 1662, was incorporated as Milton. It is across the Neponset River from Boston, on the somewhat indirect way from Cambridge to Scituate.

Unquity means “a place at the end of the small tidal stream or creek.”

A YOUNG MAN OUT OF THE NORTH OF ENGLAND (p. 43)