Now let us open it at the right place, and, before any of the other
stories, let us hear what the writer says about that dismal prison in
Scarborough Castle: how long he stayed there, and how he was at last
set free.
'One day the governor of Scarborough castle, Sir Jordan Crosland, came
to see me. I desired the governor to go into my room and see what a
place I had. I had got a little fire made in it, and it was so filled
with smoke that when they were in it they could hardly find their way
out again.... I told him I was forced to lay out about fifty
shillings to stop out the rain, and keep the room from smoking so
much. When I had been at that charge and had made it somewhat
tolerable, they removed me into a worse room, where I had neither
chimney nor fire hearth.'
(This last is the room in the castle cliff that is still called
'George Fox's prison,' where we have been standing in imagination and
looking in upon him. We will listen while he describes it again, so as
to get accustomed to his rather old-fashioned English.)
'This being to the sea-side and lying much open, the wind drove in the
rain forcibly, so that the water came over my bed, and ran about the
room, that I was fain to skim it up with a platter. And when my
clothes were wet, I had no fire to dry them; so that my body was
benumbed with cold, and my fingers swelled, that one was grown as big
as two. Though I was at some charge in this room also, yet I could not
keep out the wind and rain.... Afterwards I hired a soldier to fetch
me water and bread, and something to make a fire of, when I was in a
room where a fire could be made. Commonly a threepenny loaf served me
three weeks, and sometimes longer, and most of my drink was water,
with wormwood steeped or bruised in it.... As to friends I was as a
man buried alive, for though many came far to see me, yet few were
suffered to come to me.... The officers often threatened that I should
be hanged over the wall. Nay, the deputy governor told me once, that
the King, knowing that I had a great interest in the people, had sent
me thither, that if there should be any stirring in the nation, they
should hang me over the wall to keep the people down. A while after
they talked much of hanging me. But I told them that if that was what
they desired and it was permitted them, I was ready; for I never
feared death nor sufferings in my life, but I was known to be an
innocent, peaceable man, free from all stirrings and plottings, and
one that sought the good of all men. Afterwards, the Governor growing
kinder, I spoke to him when he was going to London, and desired him to
speak to Esquire Marsh, Sir Francis Cobb, and some others, and let
them know how long I had lain in prison, and for what, and he did so.
When he came down again, he told me that Esquire Marsh said he would
go a hundred miles barefoot for my liberty, he knew me so well; and
several others, he said, spoke well of me. From which time the
Governor was very loving to me.
'There were among the prisoners two very bad men, who often sat
drinking with the officers and soldiers; and because I would not sit
and drink with them, it made them the worse against me. One time when
these two prisoners were drunk, one of them (whose name was William
Wilkinson, who had been a captain), came in and challenged me to fight
with him. I seeing what condition he was in, got out of his way; and
next morning, when he was more sober, showed him how unmanly a thing
it was in him to challenge a man to fight, whose principle he knew it
was not to strike; but if he was stricken on one ear to turn the
other. I told him that if he had a mind to fight, he should have
challenged some of the soldiers, that could have answered him in his
own way. But, however, seeing he had challenged me, I was now come to
answer him, with my hands in my pockets: and, reaching my head
towards him, "Here," said I, "here is my hair, here are my cheeks,
here is my back." With that, he skipped away from me and went into
another room, at which the soldiers fell a-laughing; and one of the
officers said, "You are a happy man that can bear such things." Thus
he was conquered without a blow.
'... After I had lain a prisoner above a year in Scarborough Castle, I
sent a letter to the King, in which I gave him an account of my
imprisonment, and the bad usage I had received in prison; and also I
was informed no man could deliver me but he. After this, John
Whitehead being at London, and being acquainted with Esquire Marsh,
went to visit him, and spoke to him about me; and he undertook, if
John Whitehead would get the state of my case drawn up, to deliver it
to the master of requests, Sir John Birkenhead, and endeavour to get a
release for me. So John Whitehead ... drew up an account of my
imprisonment and sufferings and carried it to Marsh; and he went with
it to the master of requests, who procured an order from the King for
my release. The substance of this order was that the King, being
certainly informed, that I was a man principled against plotting and
fighting, and had been ready at all times to discover plots, rather
than to make any, therefore his royal pleasure was, that I should be
discharged from my imprisonment. As soon as this order was obtained,
John Whitehead came to Scarborough with it and delivered it to the
Governor; who, upon receipt thereof, gathered the officers together,
... and being satisfied that I was a man of peaceable life, he
discharged me freely, and gave me the following passport:--
'"Permit the bearer hereof, GEORGE FOX, late a prisoner here, and now
discharged by his majesty's order, quietly to pass about his lawful
occasions, without any molestation. Given under my hand at Scarborough
Castle, this first day of September 1666.--JORDAN CROSLAND, Governor
of Scarborough Castle."
'After I was released, I would have made the Governor a present for
his civility and kindness he had of late showed me; but he would not
receive anything; saying "Whatever good he could for me and my
friends, he would do it, and never do them any hurt." ... He continued
loving unto me unto his dying day. The officers also and the soldiers
were mightily changed, and became very respectful to me; when they had
occasion to speak of me they would say, "HE IS AS STIFF AS A TREE, AND
AS PURE AS A BELL; FOR WE COULD NEVER BOW HIM."'