[F] From William Penn's "Preface to the Journal of George Fox."
[1] Now called Fenny Drayton; a little hamlet about five miles from Nuneaton, in a flat, though beautiful farming country. The house in which George Fox was born has long since vanished, and the few cottages which cluster here about the crossing of two roads are of modern structure. An obelisk, with a long inscription, stands within a hundred yards or so of the site of the birthplace.
[2] This martyred ancestor of Mary Lago was probably a member of the Glover family, of Mancetter, a few miles north of Drayton. (See article on Fox in Dict. of Nat. Biog., which refers to Riching's "Mancetter Martyrs," 1860.)
[3] "Creatures" here and frequently means "created things."
[4] "Priest" here means clergyman in the established Church, though the "priests" with whom he comes in contact in the early years of his ministry are Presbyterian. The word is usually employed for any minister who receives pay for preaching.
[5] This brief connection with shoemaking has been effectively used by Carlyle in his famous characterization of George Fox. (See "Sartor Resartus," book iii., chapter 1: "An Incident in Modern History.") There is, however, no historical foundation for Carlyle's picture. Sewel denies that there was any connection between Fox's suit of leather and "his former leather-work." Croese says the shoemaker and cattle grazer lived in Nottingham.
[6] "Professor" means here and everywhere throughout this book a nominal Christian. Our modern substitute for the expression would be "a church member."
[7] Until 1752 the English year began in March, so that by the calendar then in use June was the fourth month. This method of reckoning time runs through the entire book, and may be mentioned here once for all.
[8] "Tender" is one of George Fox's favorite words. It will come often. It means that the persons to whom it is applied are religiously inclined, serious, and earnest in their search for spiritual realities.
[9] From his return home in 1644, George Fox dates the beginning of his religious society. (See Epistles, Vol. I., p. 10. Philadelphia edition, 1831.)