As to the reason why I write some remarkable Passages of my Sufferings for Truth, and also the great Things which the Lord hath wrought for me, both in supporting me therein, and delivering me out of. I say these Things are wrote, that my Children and others may be encouraged to be faithful to the Lord, and valiant for the Truth upon the Earth; for for that Cause it came into my Mind, to tell unto others how good the Lord hath been unto me, for which I am deeply engaged to Praise his great Name.—John Gratton, Journal, 1720, p. 119.
Some time during the year 1665-6 Elizabeth Hooton must have returned to England, for again we find her writing to the King a letter bearing this endorsement, which approximately fixes the date, “This was in the abating of yᵉ Sicknes,” thus showing that it was written in the year of the Plague. An extract from it is interesting, confirming the fact that banishment, and that under terrible conditions, was a punishment to which the Quakers were subjected:[96]
O King,
... What reason is there to carry vs into other lands, and thrust many into an old vissited shipp wᶜʰ was rotten, & leaked water, whose blood will be laid to the charge of them that did it, for many of them are dead, and the rest wee know not what is become of them, Except they bee took by the Hollanders, as some of them are. And in three shipps before this was there more carryed away into other lands both old and Young from wiues & Children & other relations & their owne Natiue Country....
There are in existence letters from E. Hooton’s son Samuel, who about this time believed himself called to pay a religious visit to America, and from one of these we find that although the family had interests in Leicestershire, they still held the farm at Skegby. It is dated: “the 17ᵗʰ day of yᵉ 3ᵈ Mo:[May] 66. From Samuell Hooton, now on yᵉ sea goeing for new England” and is addressed: “To Timothy Garland[97] in Mansfeild Nottingam shʳ ffor Oliver Hooton in Skegsby, Wᵗʰ Care.”[98]
The Journal of Samuel Hooton’s visit to New England contains the following interesting allusion to his mother. He had held a large meeting in Boston and in consequence had been taken with many others to the house of the Governor.[99] In the course of his defence he said:[100]
I had an old mother was here amongst you, & bore many of your stripes, & much cruelty at your hands, & when shee came at the first, I was against her coming; & now shee is returned. Is shee returned? saith Bellingham, Yea, I said, shee is safe returned. And now yᵉ lord hath laid it vpon mee to come hither to bear witness against your cruelty & hardheartednesse against the lords innocent lambs; And before I was made willing to give vp to come, I was brought even to deaths doore, if I had not obeyed I had been dead before this day. Therefore I can say with boldnesse, before you all, the lord hath sent mee hither to bear witnesse against your cruelty.
Truly the son had inherited something of the mother’s boldness.
As so many of Elizabeth Hooton’s letters are undated, they are of but slight assistance in determining the order of events in her life, but in an account written by Patrick Livingstone,[101] of his service in Leicestershire, and his subsequent imprisonment in Leicester gaol, we get a glimpse of her still engaged about what she conceived to be “her Master’s business.” Here are extracts from the narrative:[102]
As I was on my Journy I came into Sison [Syston], it was ordered, that some Friends, and other sober people of the Town came into the house, and the love of God did spring in my heart to the people whom I exhorted.... There came in a Constable, with one John Lewins, who violently haled me away ... to a Justices house.
A young man present, having “passed his word,” against the prisoner’s wishes, for his appearance several days later, he was liberated, and during the time other meetings were held and more Friends imprisoned. At what period Elizabeth Hooton comes on to the scenes we are not told, but while the prisoners were detained in an alehouse she
came in to see the Prisoners, and she prayed among them; but the wicked man Lewins pulled and drew her, & used her badly, and had like to have hurt her, being an old weak woman, and yet she was not at the Meeting....
At night they had them to one called Justice Babington,[103] but no justice appeared in him. He gave order to have them the next day to Thumerstone ... and put us in an Orchard, where many people came, and the everlasting Truth was declared.... For several hours we kept the Meeting amongst the people ... and we were at the back of the house where the Justice was, but none had power to stop the declaration of Truth.
These determined and intrepid “publishers of the Truth” were called away from their meeting one after another to stand before two Justices, on the charge of illegal gathering, and after much argument with the Bench they were fined and imprisoned, E. Hooton’s share being £1 or three weeks. The narrative concludes as follows (p. 38):
Now we are fully persuaded in our own minds by the Spirit of God that we do not meet out of contempt to Authority but in obedience to Divine commands: we must not forbear our Meeting because they say they fear we will plot. God in his due time will fully clear us; but in the mean time we must do our duty as the Lord requires us ... and so long as we stand obedient to the will of our God it shall be well with us whatever comes, loss of life or any thing else, our Life in God they cannot touch....
Written in Leicester-Prison the sixth day of the fourth month, 1667.
It seems probable that Patrick Livingstone visited Elizabeth Hooton at her home at Skegby; his future wife, Sarah Hyfeild, of Nottingham, appears as one of the Friends named for “publicke service” in the Minute Book of the Women’s Quarterly Meeting for Nottinghamshire, which Meeting was “setled” in 1671. The marriage took place in 1676, and the occasion elicited from the Friends of Aberdeen Monthly Meeting a fully-signed liberating certificate, which remains a noble tribute to the bridegroom’s Christian character, and a token of the high esteem and love of his north country friends; Robert Barclay and David Barclay are amongst the signatories.[104]
Accustomed as we are to the easy tolerance of the present day, the echoes of the fierce controversies waged between opposing religious sects during the seventeenth century sound strangely in our ears; Elizabeth Hooton, as one would naturally expect, was not behind in engaging in this wordy war. In 1667 we find her writing:[105]
You bawling Women from yᵉ Ranters ... you have said Wee have made an Jdoll of George Fox.... You have hunted for Richard Farneworth & others formerly.... Therefore misery will come upon you.
About 1668, Elizabeth Hooton came into violent conflict with the sect of the Muggletonians. She appears to have written a letter against Lodowicke Muggleton,[106] to which he refers in a letter he sent to her in January, 1668, commencing as follows:[107]
I saw a letter of yours sent to James Brocke; it is supposed that you are the mother, or some relation to that Samuel Hooton of Nottingham, who was damned to eternity by me in the year 1662. It is no great marvel unto me that he proved such a desperate devil, seeing his mother was such an old she-serpent that brought him forth into this world.... She hath shot forth her poisonous arrows at me in blasphemy, curses, and words, thinking herself stronger than her brethren.... Therefore, in obedience to my commission ... I do pronounce Elizabeth Hooton, Quaker, ... cursed and damned, both in soul and body, from the presence of God, elect men and angels, to eternity.
It is only fair to state that if the quotations from the letter written by her to Brocke are correct, her denunciations were equally emphatic.
It is with relief we turn from this phase in her career to find her again pleading the cause of the oppressed, and in statesman-like manner pointing out the evils consequent upon oppression. Here is her letter to the King and both Houses of Parliament:[108]
ffreinds consider in time wᵗ you haue done Both in Citty and Countrey by this late Act how haue you ruinated hundreds of Antient housekeepers in the Countrey and yᵉ cry of yᵉ Jnnocent is entred into the eares of yᵉ Lord against you yᵗ haue done it, Consider therefore what you will doe with these poore people you haue Jmpouerished and restore them theire goods againe, for they were releiuers of the poore And paid theire Rents and Taxes duly.
But the Justices and some of the preists haue Bought theire goods for halfe that they were worth and drunkards and swearers runs away with the rest they sweare men are at the meeting when they are not & by false sweareinge the Compasse mens goods into theire hands which is theft; and soe theiues and Robbers haue entered vpon our goods And men weomen and Children are by this meanes driuen to great want; They haueing within some few months enough & to releiue others Soe if you consider not these things in time it will Bring A ruination both vpon the King and Countrey, Soe its good for you to consider it in time before it be to late And take of this Act and make better Lawes Least you ruinate all.
This is done in the Countrey besides all bodyly Abuses consider what they doe in this citty they pull downe our houses the[y] Batter and bruise men And weomen with theire Swords with theire guns with theire hallbards & with pikes & Staues runing vpon them with horses what may wee expect But yᵗ many of these are papists and outlandish men yᵗ doth it. Jf such wicked things as these bee Tollerated to destroy honest people who serues the Lord with all theire harts and great companys that follows Mountebancks play houses & other vaine pastimes that are vpheld in this Citty what may wee expect But yᵗ the hand of yᵉ Lord may fall sodainely vpon you.
Therefore in time repent and take heed and doe Justice and loue mercy And walke humbly with your god that you may find a place of repentance Least you be shutt out for ever J am a louer of yoʳ soules who would not haue you to perish,
Elisabeth Hooton.
Elizabeth Hooton also made a point of informing the King as to what was taking place in Nottinghamshire. In one of these letters, after stating that she, an aged woman, had travelled over a hundred miles, and recounting the “greuieous havock” under the “New Act”[109] caused to Friends in London, she continues:[110] “I Brought you A Letter from Nottingham shire to the Kings hall; which sett forth how Greate oppresshon one side of the shier had suffered Amounting to a Boue three hundred pounds, beeing att one meeting....” Apparently there were only two others present besides the family at whose house the meeting was held, and £12 and £15 were taken from them in fines. “They make noe Conscience what they take,” she continues; and she also tells how one magistrate had fined a man twenty pounds for “worshipping of god” and then had ordered his officers to take three or four times as much “beecause they might Sell good peny worthes, and They Tooke Thirty pownds worth of Goods and sent to the same man for Titth wooll and Lambe After they had taken away his sheep.” She tells also of the loss of her own cows.
In another letter to the King, she writes:[111]
They have taken to Prisson both Men & Boyes in yᵉ Country & brought yᵐ to Nottingham Prisson Contrary to yᵉ Act & yᵉ Country is against itt and Jtt brings a Ruination.
And again, to King and Parliament, she writes:[112]
They took from one man for heaueing of 3 meetings in his house 150ˡⁱ pounds & Ruined him his wife and Children by penniston Whally Justice & Waker yᵉ informer And Ruined other to younge men at farnsfeild.
And we have another letter asking for an order to the Leicestershire magistrates to restore her goods “that J may haue a horse to ride on in my old age.”[113] So many of her appeals are on the same theme that it is exceedingly difficult in making selections to avoid reiteration, but the following addressed to the Lord Chamberlain[114] is so characteristic of her that, in spite of repetition, we hardly like to omit it:[115]
ffrind.
This J wright that thou maist consider the cause of the innocent, with the cause of the widdow, how it is as yit sleighted by one & another.
J labored on foot to come hither to London, aboue 100 miles being one yᵗ is aged, & weake, to lay before the King & counsell the greuiances of the innocent, who are imprisoned all ouer the Nation, who haue not wronged the King, nor his Counsell, nor haue not entertained euill in our hearts against him, to doe him any hurt, or wrong in the least, & hither haue J come time after time, for that thinge, & for equity, & Justice, who had my goods taken away contrary to yʳ owne law, my goods, for another bodies fine, though he allsoe did fulfill yʳ law in suffering the penalty of it, & what could be more required. They took from me 20ˡ worth of goods in time of harvest, namely my teame, which at that time was aboue 100ˡ losse to me, & my ffamily, both as to the losse of my cattle & corne, and putting off my ffarme. This was don at Sileby in Leicester shire by Mathew Babington of Roadby, whome they call Justice, he bearinge Sway aboue the rest to doe mischeife, by setting a Baly of the hundred on worke called William Palmer, who took away my goods, and sold them, and J would haue had a warrant time after time of the Justices to fetch him before them, but they would grant me none, But the hand of the Lord light on that man, and he died a miserable death.
Soe seing J could not be heard there in the Country, nor righted, Therefore J haue appealed and applyed my selfe to the King, who bid me goe to the Lord Chamberlane, and J should haue an answer by him, soe J applyed my selfe to thee, to know an answer from the King, how J might haue my ffrinds at liberty, or gett my goods restored, but as yit J haue had noe answer as to either of them, but when J was heare before, thou writ me a letter to carry to the Earle of Stamford,[116] and sealed it, which J did carry to him accordingly, in a sore jurney to the endangering of my life, but had J Knowne what had been in it, J should haue labored more to the King & Duke of Yorke before J went, which then might haue been serviceable to me or my ffrinds, J neuer did desire any Lords favor, for my goods againe, nor deed of Charity, for these were not my words, but onely equity & Justice.
My harts desire is, that you may doe Justice & Judgement, all of you while you haue time, least yʳ day goe ouer yʳ heads, as to others it hath don before you; and so come to yᵗ which is true honor, out of all flattering titles, for the true Nobility is to hear the cry of the Jnnocent and to doe Justice & Judgmᵗ to the widdow, the ffatherlesse, and to Keep yʳ selues vnspotted from the world, and this is the true Nobility which is vnchangeable & that man is noble in his place which will hear the cry of the Jnnocent & help them in theire distresse but he yᵗ will not doe it, comes short of the vnjust Judge, whoe though he neither feared God nor regarded man, yit did the widdow Justice, least shee should weary him, Soe ffrind, take these thinges into thy Consideration, for J haue respected thee, more then many because of thy moderation which is noble in itts place....
Concerning that letter which the Earle of Stamford sent to thee by me itt being soe coldly handled between you both, noe thinge is don for my satisfaction, and whereas his letter saith, that some men are dead that bought my cattle, and that the rest are vnwilling to contribute any considerable matter, to this, J say, that the Baley of hundred is dead but the men that bought the cattle of him were aliue, when J came, for J was with them, but if any that they sold them to be dead, or noe, that J cannot tell, but he that should restore my goods is Mathew Babington if J may haue my right.
The Earle of Stamford hath been about it, to see what they will doe who had my goods, but seing he hath noe more forceable letter from hence, he could doe nothing but hath left it vnto thee, therefore if thou writest to him againe lett it be effectually that J may haue Justice, for the law is not against me but for me, (though J cannot make vse of it in a way of sute) and this J know you may doe between you, being sett in greater power then many others.
this was deliuered the 10ᵗʰ day of the 5ᵗʰ month 1667
A louer of your soules & a frind to all that are honest harted
Elizabeth Hooton.
Evidently this letter to the Lord Chamberlain had no effect, for there is a further appeal to the King, mainly interesting as the following names are given as witnesses to the truth of her statement: Thomas Snooden, William Snooden, Timothy Garland, Nicholas House, Nicholas Parsons, Thomas Barradell, Robert Clarke.[117]
In the same letter she writes:
The Magistrates which will doe me noe justice—Behman [Beaumont] Dixey, Justice Babington of Rodely [sic], Earle of Stamford and John Grey his sonne, with many others in Leicestershire, which some said they would doe me Justice, but did me none.
In the Countrey there is no Justice but Cruelty: they will not heare the Cry of the innocent.
She also appeals to the Duke of York, and in the conclusion of a letter to him, she says:[118]
Therefore I allso apply my selfe to thee, for thy asistance, in this thing, yᵗ some effectuall meanes may be used for the restoring of my goods.... The Earle of Stamford who is the Kings freind knowes how my busines is, & may dispatch it, if effectually writ to.
Here is another extract setting forth her opinion of lawyers, and others called upon to administer the law, and also demonstrating her pertinacity in her endeavours to obtain justice. She begins in the customary manner by recounting the history of her visits to the King, and continues:[119]
... The King had put it in to the [hands of the] Justices to [paper torn] things and J said J had beene with them and they would [paper torn] me no Right but bad me goe to law but the lawyars i said ar corrup as the maiestrats ar that J cannot vse them but they said go to the maiestrats againe and see if they will do Justice if they will not bring there names and som to testify the goods were mine and i should haue Justice.
And so i came to another sessions and let them know what J had done and what they said and hath waited for Justice agen J went to som of there houses and to the bench and followed them whether they went both day and at nights when they met to gether to know whether they would do me Justice or no Justice to which they hardened there harts and stifened there necks against the widows complaint and Regarded no Just law....
She did not hesitate boldly to warn the King of his errors, as the following passage shows:[120]
How oft haue J come to thee in my old age both for thy reformation and safety, for the good of thy soule And for Justice and equity. Oh that thou would not giue thy Kingdome to yᵉ papists nor thy strength to weomen....
In her efforts to obtain Justice for herself she was never unmindful of the interests of her friends, and in one of her numerous letters to the King and Council she mentions that William Dewsbury, Thomas Goodaire and Henry Jackson, three Yorkshire men, were in Warwick Prison, Francis Howgill in Kendal, and Thomas Taylor in Aylesbury.[121]
In Northampton there are fifteene under the Act of Banishment. J desire that you may set them at libertye besides all the rest that are there. These are all yᵉ Kings Prisoners.[122]
In another letter to the King and Council she mentions that there were forty Friends in Reading prison, and that some had been confined there six or seven years.[123]
In yet another letter addressed to the King she makes allusion to the national calamities, and points a lesson therefrom:[124] “If there be not A speedy repentance judgmᵗˢ will ensue, as Late hath been in England yᵉ Pestilence yᵉ Sword & yᵉ Fire.” It was probably written in the year 1667 or 1668, after the arrival of the Dutch ships in the Thames under De Ruyter. Pepys, under date 11th of June, 1667, in his Diary says: “Pett writes us word that Sheerenesse is lost last night, after two or three hours’ dispute,” and he gives a graphic account of the alarm in the city, consequent on the withdrawal of the soldiers to Chatham and elsewhere: “which looks as if they had a design to ruin the City and give it up to be undone; which, I hear, makes the sober citizens to think very sadly of things.” John Evelyn, too, speaking of the Dutch incursion, says: “The alarme was so greate that it put both Country and Citty into a paniq feare and consternation such as I hope I shall never see more; every body was flying none knew why or whither.”
It is pleasant to turn from sufferings and controversies to events of a domestic character in the strenuous life of Elizabeth Hooton. On 21st September, 1669, her daughter Elizabeth, who had been a sufferer with her mother in New England, was married to Thomas Lambert, of Handsworth, at her mother’s house at Skegby. We have more details of this event in the following record:
Thos: Lamberd of Heansworth Woodhouse in Yorkshire & Elizabeth Hooton of Skegby in Nottinghamshire, Daughter of Elizabeth Hooton did take one another to be husband & wife according to the Church order & yᵉ practice of yᵉ holy men of God in yᵉ Scripture in yᵉ House of Elizabeth Hooton upon yᵉ 21 of yᵉ VII mo in yᵉ year 1669 unto yᵉ Truth of which we have set to our names—
- William Malson
- Thomas Cockram
- Robert Stacy
- Robert Hassehurst
- Mahlon Stacy
- John ffretwell
- Thomas Brocksopp
- John Bingham
- Thomas ffouke
- George Cockram
- William Clay
- Godfrey Newbould
- Abraham Senor
- Robert Grace[125]
The names of most of the Friends who signed Thomas and Elizabeth Lambert’s wedding certificate appear again in the book recording the sufferings of Friends in the Mansfield district, and in the early Minute Book of the Women’s Quarterly Meeting for Nottinghamshire.
Fourteen months later, 30th of November, 1670, Elizabeth Hooton’s son Samuel was married to Elizabeth Smedley, of Skegby, at his mother’s house. There is a very interesting entry in the first Nottinghamshire Quarterly Meeting Minute Book in reference to this marriage. Elizabeth Hooton, in assuring the Meeting of her consent to this union, writes,[126] 26th of December, 1670:
This doe I certify concering my sonne Samuel. I spake to Geo: Fox about taking the young woman to wife, & he asked me what she was, & I told him as near as I could of her behaviour, & he bade me let him take her, & soe that makes me willing that he should take her to wife.—Elizabeth Hooton.
As in the case of the daughter’s marriage the names of no women appear amongst the witnesses, but as their mother was in England at this time, she was most likely present at both ceremonies.
In the Episcopal Returns for 1669, we find the name of Elizabeth Hooton among those of “Heads & Teachʳˢ” of the Friends’ Meeting at Harby, Lincs.[127]
About this time too we find E. Hooton intervened in the dispute between Margaret Fell and her son and daughter-in-law, George and Hannah Fell. There are two letters in existence, both evidently addressed to Hannah Fell; one is endorsed: “ffor George ffells widdow at Marsh Grainge in ffurnace,” the other: “To a Woman unnamed, who had got a judgmᵗ agᵗ her mother in law.”[128] From the latter we learn that Elizabeth Hooton must have seen George Fell on the subject of the litigation, for she writes:
Freind.
When J was wᵗʰ the & thy Husband J hadd some thing on my Spᵗ from yᵉ Lord yᵗ hee might bee warned from ꝑsecuteing yᵉ Just, or Joyneing wᵗʰ them yᵗ did, for he is gon from yᵗ Truth wᶜʰ hee once was in, & had Joyned himselfe wᵗʰ yᵉ ꝑsecuteing magistrates & preists, & had been a meanes to Cause his mother to bee ꝑsecuted, & imprisoned, & yᵐ yᵗ mett at hir howse & this (soe farr as J did heare) was thy Husbands worke, but J was moved of yᵉ Lord to goe to him, & declare to him hee was gon out from that Truth he was in before; & now hath hee Joyned him selfe wᵗʰ yᵉ ꝑsecutors, & was a lover of pleasures & did not at all love yᵉ Truth, but ꝑsecute it; & was a meanes to keep his Mother in prison, & was a meanes for ought J Could heare to premunire hir, but J was made to tell him yᵗ if hee did goe on in yᵗ ꝑsecuting way & would not turne to yᵉ Truth wᶜʰ hee once Received, yᵉ Lord would Cutt him off boath Root & branch, & though his Mother were sett at liberty againe by yᵉ King, yett did thy Husband goe to yᵉ King againe, & Gott hir premunired & put into prison againe, (for ought [J] know) & now the lords hand hath Cutt him off & shortened his dayes.
And Now it is Reported yᵗ thou hast Gotten a Judgmᵗ against thy Syce to Sweep away all yᵗ shee hath, boath goods, & Land, wᵗ a Rebellious Daughter in law art thou.
The rest of the letter consists of warnings and predictions of what will befall if such unjust conduct is persisted in. It concludes:
Soe to yᵉ light of Xᵗ in thy Conscience Returne, wᶜʰ will lett the see all thy wayes; J am a lover of thy Soule
Elizabeth Hooten.
Her intervention did not end here, for we find her writing to the King and Council on behalf of Margaret Fox. In an undated letter, after calling their attention to the great distress caused by the Act “which hath ruined many hundred of famylies which cannot now pay Rents taxes nor sesments which did releiue many poore and now is not able to releiue them selues,” she continues:[129]
Shee yᵗ was Judge ffells wife had a rebellious and disobedient sonn which sought the ruination of his own mother the Lord Cutt him of by Death and now her sonnes wife seekes to ruinate her mother in Law by getting a Judgmᵗ against her att this Size at Lancaster to dispossesse her of her proper right and soe both ruinate her and her children if shee can: Lett the King and Councill Consider this and holpe the widow and the fatherlesse. That which her husband left her, her daughter in Law seekes to ruinate her of. Soe I beseech you consider it in tyme and send some thing speedily to yᵉ Judges yᵗ Justice may be administred.
I am a louer of your Soules
Elizabeth Hooton.
Undeterred by age, the perils and discomforts of the voyage, or the prospect of bonds and imprisonment which it was possible would be her portion, Elizabeth Hooton, in a letter written from London in conjunction with Hannah Salter[130] to Margaret Fox, a prisoner in Lancaster Castle, speaks of the call she had received to proceed with George Fox and the party of Friends who were intending to visit their brothers and sisters in the faith beyond the seas:[131]
Deare Margret who Art faithfull and in the wisdome of god and art A sufferer for god and his Truth and thy sufferings hath been many and great and thou art A Mother in Jsraele god is thy witnese thou hast suffered more then many haue Expected, yet hath yᵉ Lord deliuered thee, Euerlasting praises to his name for euer, bee thou of good Cumfort yᵉ Lord will Deliuer thee still and they that seeke to Ruinate thee will yᵉ Lord Ruinate, Jf they doe not Speedely Repent and Amend: there is no way but to trust in yᵉ Lord for hee is A true deliuerer.
Hannah Salter hath been with the King and Leighboured much in thy Cause and J haue been prety much with the parliment and haue giuen them prety many Bookes and spoken prety much to them. We haue giuen yᵉ parliment above 200 of the Reighnment of Popery[132] besids many other good Bookes, J beleiue to the worth of 20ˡⁱ and they tooke them uery well, but what they will do to us more J Know not.
J haue A great desier to see thee Jf thou could but Come to thy husband before hee goe so the Lord giue thee some Liberty that thou may see him, and it would make my hart glad. J know nothing but J may goe with him it hath been much on mee to goe a great while and to doe yᵉ best that Js Required for him. One Letter haue J written to thy Sons wife and J desire thou may see it ouer, that Jf there bee any thing in it yᵗ is Amisse thou maist mend it, for it ware much on mee to write it, and so at present J haue no more but my Loue to thee and thy daughters and friends for J am in hast to goe up againe to the parlement and so farwell my dearly beloued friend which art in the Power of Truth, god blessed for euer.
Eliz: Hooton.
Hannah Salter hath some hopes yᵗ the Buisinesse will bee effected shee would not leaue yᵉ King till he had Granted what was required and his Counscill with him promised her yᵗ it should be done Soe shee goes to him againe yᵉ second day to haue it written & sealed soe J hope it will be done in gods tyme, yᵗ wee may all praise his holy name for his mercy towards thee & towards vs. Soe J end farewell, deare Margrett.
From the above letter we obtain an insight into Elizabeth Hooton’s activities in the year 1670. On the 15th January, 1670, Friends in Nottinghamshire appealed to King and Parliament for the relief of their sufferings, and among the Appellants are Elizabeth Hooton and Elizabeth Hooton, Junr.[133] The latter was, probably, the wife of Samuel, become Hooton only a month or two before.
In these days, when we are constantly reminding those outside our Society of the acknowledgment by our early Friends of the spiritual equality of men and women, it is extremely interesting to note that women were frequently engaged in and actually did carry through negotiations of a very delicate and decidedly secular character. This is proved by George Fox’s account of his wife’s release from Lancaster Castle, which took place in April, 1671; he says:[134]
I was moved to speak to Martha Fisher[135] and another woman Friend, to go to the King about her liberty. They went in faith, and in the Lord’s power, who gave them favour with the King, so that he granted a discharge under the broad-seal, to clear both her and her estate, after she had been ten years a prisoner and premunired; the like wherof [of such discharge] was scarcely to be heard in England.
John Rous, writing to his mother-in-law, Margaret Fox, gives a more detailed account of the proceedings attendant on her release, in a letter dated 4th of April, 1671; he says:[136]
Last 6ᵗʰ day yᵉ two women tooke the grant out of the Attourney Generals office, & he gave yᵐ his fee, wᶜʰ should have been 5ˡⁱ, & his clerke tooke but 20ˢ, wheras his fee was 40ˢ. Yesterday they went with it to yᵉ King who signed it in the Counsell & Arlington[137] also signed it but would take noe fees, wheras his fees would have been 12ˡⁱ or 20ˡⁱ, neither would Williamsons[138] man take any thing saying yᵗ if any religion were true, it is ours, tomorrow it is to passe yᵉ Signet; & on 6ᵗʰ day, the privy seale, & afterwards the broad Seale wᶜʰ may be done on any day. The power of the Lord hath bowed their hearts wonderfully.
Margaret Fox, after her release from Lancaster, returned to Swarthmoor for a brief period; she then joined George Fox in London for the Yearly Meeting of 1671, and afterwards remained with him, until, three months later, 13th August, he and his little company of twelve set sail “towards America and some of the Isles thereunto belonging.” Elizabeth Hooton and Elizabeth Miers[139] were the only women included in the party.
From George Fox and others we have a very full account of the voyage of the “Catch Industry, Master Thomas Foster.” Margaret Fox and other Friends accompanied the travellers as far as Deal. After these had left the boat her voyage was interrupted by a visit from the “Presse Master” of one of the two men-of-war which were lying in the Downs. He took off three of their seamen which action might have postponed the voyage indefinitely had not the Captain of the other frigate, “out of Compassion and much Civillity,” spared two of his men.
Their vessel was leaky: on the 27th of August this entry appears in the diary of the voyage, kept by John Hull:[140]
Our Ship soe leaky ever since wee came to the Downes that Seamen and passengers doe for the most part day and night pumpe. this day wee observed that in two houres she suckt in sixteene Inches of water in the well, some makes it tenne Tunn a day. It is well however for it is good to keepe Seamen and passengers in health.
Travellers of to-day would probably strongly object to this particular form of health-giving exercise, except under the very sternest necessity.
Then the Journal tells of an apparent “Chace” given by a strange ship which “some conjectur’d by her sayles among the Marriners that it was likely a Sally man of warr, standing of the A sores Ilands, which caused a great feare among some of the passengers, dreading to be taken by them, but friends were well satisfyed in themselves, having no feare upon their spirrits.” George Fox assured the Master when he came “to advise with him and understand his Judgment of it in the power made answer that the life was over all, and the power was betweene them and us.” The Industry escaped attack and eventually they lost sight of the “Sally man.”
Many meetings were also held, some amongst Friends only, and others with the passengers who “seemed to be very attentive.”
At length, after nearly two months, this voyage—not lacking in interest and incident—ended, and the Industry anchored in Carlisle Bay, Barbados, about nine o’clock at night on the 3rd October.
During his stay, George Fox addressed a letter to the Governor of Barbados, defending the Quakers against gross slanders which had been promulgated against them. We have also two letters from Elizabeth Hooton. Whether both were written at this period is uncertain. One is addressed “To the Rulers and Magestrats of this Island that ought to Rule for god.” After general exhortations and warnings, she continues:[141]
J haue seene many ouerturnes, and the Lord will ouerturne Still. Therefore haue a Care in the feare of the Lord that hee may giue a blessing vnto you.... And soe Consider what is required for in this Jsland. There is Great need of Justice and Judgment, for if one goe vp into the Countrey, there is A great Cry of the Poore being Robbed by Rich mens Negroes, Soe that they cannot with out great Troble, keep any thing from being Stolen; And if they doe complaine they Cannot get any Sattisfaction; Now it is the Duty of Euery man to take Care and see there family haue Suffitient food and any thing else the stand in need off; as Jnstructed in that that is good, that they may bee Kept from Stealeing and doeing any thing that is Euill; Soe that yoᵘ may make good Lawes and yoʳ People be Kept in good order, according to what is made knowne to them by them that Rule ouer them. And soe yoᵘ Come ... to a true Reformation yoʳ Selues, first reforming yoʳ Selues in yoʳ familyes, and yoᵘ will see Clearly how to Rule others, for a Reformation god looks for Among yoᵘ and all People, that god may bless yoᵘ.... Therefore to the Light of Christ returne; that yoᵘ may see what yoᵘ should doe and what yoᵘ should not doe and that all yoʳ ac̄c̄ons may be guided by itt, for hee hath Jnlightened Euery one that Comes in to the World. J am a louer of yoʳ Soules and am Come to Warne yoᵘ
Eliza: Hooton.
The second letter[142] is probably the last she wrote, and was evidently prompted by the same reasons which had influenced George Fox in addressing the Rulers of the Island. It is endorsed: “E. Hooton to some Ruler in Barbado’s 7ᵗʰ of 10/mo 1671 To warne him not to give eare to false reports & yᵉ Priests suggestions agᵗ yᵉ innocent.”