The age was characterised by much religious enthusiasm and extravagance. George Fox and his "quaking men in their leather coats" were becoming formidable from their increasing numbers, and attracted much attention. Their opposition, obstinacy, and self-sufficiency, too, in denying the authority of Presbyteries and Synods, and all ecclesiastical officers, frequently brought them into collision with the magistrates. So numerous had they become that it has been computed there were at this period seldom fewer than I,000 of them in prison, some for disturbing the peace, some for refusing to pay tithes, and others because they would not do violence to their principles by taking the oath of allegiance or uncovering their heads in the presence of the magistrates. So frequent and severe were the prosecutions to which the Friends were then subjected that Margaret Fell addressed several letters to Cromwell, drawing his attention to the sufferings they were compelled to undergo. In one of them, written in 1657, she warned the Protector that the wickedness of the oppressor would come to an end, and praying that his understanding might be lightened, and that he might exercise justice and judgment without fear, favour, or affection. In the three years from 1654 to 1657 Fox travelled over nearly the whole of the south of England and Wales. In the autumn of 1657 he turned his steps in the direction of Swarthmoor, passing through Chester and Liverpool on the way, and calling at Malpas; whence he proceeded to Manchester. His reception in the last-named town he thus describes in his _Journal_:--