_

_'A magnanimous soul is always
awake. The whole globe of the Earth
is but a nutshell in comparison
with its enjoyments. The Sun is its
Lamp, the Sea its Fishpond, the
Stars its Jewels, Men, Angels, its
attendance, and God alone its
sovereign delight and supreme
complacency.... Nothing is great if
compared with a Magnanimous soul
but the Sovereign Lord of all the
Worlds.'--REV. THOMAS TRAHERNE (A
Contemporary of G. Fox)._

_'They threw stones upon me that
were so great, that I did admire
they did not kill us; but so
mighty was the power of the Lord,
that they were as a nut or a bean
to my thinking.'--THOMAS BRIGGS, 1685._

XIII. MAGNANIMITY

Beloved Swarthmoor! Dear home, where kind hearts abode, where gentle
faces and tender hands were ever ready to welcome and bind up the
wounds, both visible and invisible, of any persecuted guest in those
troubled times. Surely, after his terrible experiences on the day of
the riot at Ulverston, George Fox would yield to the entreaties of his
entertainers, and allow himself to be persuaded to rest in peace under
the shadow of the Swarthmoor yew-trees, until the bloodthirsty fury
against all who bore the name of Quaker, and against himself in
particular, should have somewhat lessened in the neighbourhood? Far
from it. To 'Flee from Storms' was never this strong man's way.[13]
Gentle reeds and delicate grasses may bow as the storm-wind rushes
over them. The sturdy oak-tree, with its tough roots grappling firmly
underground, stubbornly faces the blast. George Fox, 'ever Stiff as a
Tree,' by the admission even of his enemies, barely waited for his
'yellow, black and blue' bruises to disappear before he came forth
again to encounter his foes. Certain priests had however taken
advantage of this short enforced absence to 'put about a prophecy'
that he had disappeared for good, and 'that within a year all these
Quakers would be utterly put down.' Great, therefore, must have been
their chagrin to hear, only a short fortnight after the Lecture Day at
Ulverston, that the hated 'Man in Leather Breeches' was off once more
on his dangerous career.

Fox's companion on this journey was that same J