In A Declaration of present Sufferings, printed 1659, recounting six years of persecution, we have a confirmation of G. F.’s statement: under Yorkshire, “William Peers imprisoned till death for Tithes.” (p. 20.)
[16] Prior to her incarceration in York Castle, Jane Holmes was one of the Friends whose preaching made such an impression on the town of Malton that “some was caused to burne a great deale of riboning of silkes and braueries and such things” (D. Swarth. MSS. i. 373). While in the Castle her health suffered, and this may partly account for the low spiritual condition into which she fell. The MSS. tell us that the “wilde nature was exalted in her, aboue the seede of god” and “the wilde Eyrie spirit was exalted aboue the Crosse” (Swarth. MSS. iii. 40), resulting in her “going out” from her quondam friends into darkness and obscurity. See Braithwaite, Beginnings of Quakerism, 1912, pp. 72, 73.
[17] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 35a)
[18] Amor Stoddard (d. 1670), frequently styled Captain, was one of Fox’s companions on various missionary journeys. He lived in London. His wife died in 1665.
Beck and Ball, London Friends’ Meeting, 1869; Camb. Jnl.
[19] James Halliday was a weaver of Allartown, in Northumberland. He travelled frequently with Patrick Livingstone. The date of his detention in York is not found.
[20] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 15) endorsed: “El: Hooton to yᵉ Bench, to set James Holydah free & to call others to yᵉ Bar & set yᵐ at liberty.”
[21] MS. in D. (Portfolio iii. 3) Although this letter is signed “Elizabeth Hooton,” there are evidences that it is in the handwriting of Thomas Aldam, so it is possible that it may have been partly composed or edited by him.
[22] As with William Peares, so with Benjamin Nicholson, the rigours of York Castle, though unable to reduce the spirit, proved too strong for the enfeebled body. Benjamin Nicholson died there in 1660. His home was Tickhill near Doncaster.
[23] Two copies are in D. An interesting and curious production, and badly printed. On page 3 we read: “You do not read in all the Holy Scriptures, that any of the Holy men of God were Cambridge or Oxford Scollers, or Universitie men, or called Masters; but (on the contrary), they were plain men, and laboured with their hands, and taught freely, as they had received it freely from the Lord.”