ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY been wrong from the beginning ; that all external rites and ceremonies and systems of theology were hindrances, not helps ; and that not only the soul but the whole of religion lay in the inward communing of the individual spirit with God. It was in Leicestershire that the Quakers were first a ' people in the Lord' : their regular meetings began about 1648. Fox himself was in the county in 1646, and again in 1648 : at first the minister of his parish was willing to converse with him in friendly fashion, but after a while he changed his attitude, being afraid of what seemed to be ' new lights.' Fox seems to have had a special dislike for the Baptists, with whom he held disputations at Broughton Astley, Barrow-upon-Soar, and elsewhere. At Market Bosworth, in 1649, h fi an d his companions were stoned and chased out of the town at the instigation of 'Priest Stevens,' of Fenny Drayton. From 1653 onwards there were always a few Quakers of this county in trouble for non-payment of tithes, or for addressing ' Christian exhortations ' to ministers or congrega- tions in the churches.*** This latter ' office of love,' as Besse calls it, seems to us in these days very ill-advised, and inconsistent with the meekness which the Quakers professed to value so highly : and it nearly always produced irritation and resentment. In those times, however, public disputation was very much the fashion, and was held to be a valuable means of spiritual profit. In 1654, when Fox visited his native county again, there was a great open-air contest at Swannington between him and the leaders of various sects: every one quoted scripture to prove his own convictions, and the Ranters sang and danced and whistled after the manner of their school. At the end of the year he was arrested by Colonel Hacker for disturbing the peace of the established order, and was sent up to London to interview the Protector ; but he was able to visit his friends again before the Restoration. 243 As many as twenty-four m of the ejected Leicestershire clergy lived to see the king's return, though one or two of them had but a short tenure of their restored benefices. One or two obtained higher charges than they had held before. Dr. Bretton, of Church Langton, became archdeacon of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and Michael Honeywood of Kegworth was made dean of Lincoln.* 46 This restoration of necessity involved some loss and suffering to the parliamentary nominees recently appointed. Then came the 1 Bartholomew Act ' of 1662, compelling all those who were still in possession to decide whether they could continue to work under the rule of the English Church. Calamy gives a list of thirty-nine who resigned their benefices rather than conform ; but his figures, like those of Walker, need a little examination. Twelve * 48 of the thirty-nine he names were simply replaced by the ejected incumbents, and cannot strictly be considered as sufferers for conscience' sake. William Simes was merely the Leicester lecturer, holding no other benefice ; Matthew Patchet of Thurmaston was only a curate ; "' Besse, Sufferings of Quakers, i, 330, 331. " 3 For all this see Fox's Journ. Fox said in his later days that the Quakers ' began to be a people ' in 1 644 : but he shows himself that his mind was not quite clear as to his mission till 1 648-9, when meetings began to be held. All that went before was only desultory teaching and conversation.
- " Hist. AfSS. Com. Rep. vii, App. pp. 101, 105 ; and notices from parish registers in Nichols.
3ti Walker, Sufferings of the Clergy. 246 These were the ministers of Coleorton, Congerstone, Cotesbach, Ibstock, Church Langton, Lough- borough, Narborough, Ravenstone, Rearsby, Sibson, Packington, and Long Whatton. See Calamy, Noncon. Memorial, ii, 384-410. 387
