ndance of professors and
priests,[12] and people. And I went up near to Lampitt who was
blustering on in his preaching, and the Lord opened my mouth to
speak.'

Now among the 'abundance of people' who were present in the Church was
that same Mr. Justice Sawrey, 'the Catterpillar,' of whom the last two
stories tell. As soon as George Fox opened his mouth and began to
preach, up bustled the Justice to him, with a patronising air, and
said, 'Now, my good fellow, you may have my permission to speak in
this Church, so long as you speak according to the Scriptures.'

Like lightning, George Fox turned round on the high step where he was
standing near to Priest Lampitt, and saw at his elbow the little
pompous Justice, his face flushed, full of fussiness about his own
dignity and anxious to arrange everything according to his own ideas.

George Fox, who felt he had a message from God to deliver, had no
intention of being interrupted by any man in this way.

'I stranged at him,' says Fox, 'for speaking so to me!'

'Stranged' is an unfamiliar word, no longer used in modern English. It
sounds as if it meant something very fierce, and calls up a picture of
George Fox glaring at his antagonist or trying to shout him down. In
reality it only means that Fox was astonished at his strange
behaviour.

'I stranged at him and told him that I would speak according to the
Scriptures, and bring the Scriptures to prove what I had to say, for I
had something to say to Lampitt and to them.' 'You shall do nothing of
the kind,' said Mr. Justice Sawrey, contradicting his own words of the
moment before, that Fox might speak so long as he spoke according to
the Scriptures.

Fox paid no attention to this injunction, but went on calmly with his
sermon. At first the congregation listened quietly. But Fox had made a
new enemy and a powerful one. The little Justice would not be ignored
in this way. He whispered to one and another in the congregation,
'Don't listen to this fellow. Why should he air his notions in our
fine Church? Beat him! Stop his mouth! Duck him in the pond! Teach him
that the men of Ulverston are sensible fellows, and not to be led
astray by a ranting Quaker!'

These suggestions had their effect. Possibly the congregation agreed
with the speaker. Possibly also, they knew that the little Justice,
though short of stature, was of long memory and an ill man to offend.
Moreover, a magistrate's favour is a useful thing to have at all