English literature -- England -- Lancashire; Legends -- England -- Lancashire
Mrs Fell, after his death, suffered much inconvenience and
oppression because of the religious principles she had
embraced; yet, notwithstanding, the weekly meetings continued
to be held at her house until the year 1690, when a new
meetinghouse was opened about a quarter of a mile distant.
In 1669, eleven years after the death of Judge Fell, she
married George Fox, whom she survived eleven years, dying at
Swartmoor Hall in February 1702, nearly eighty-eight years
old.[15]
The house is still inhabited, though in a very dilapidated
condition. The barns and stables by which it is surrounded, and
the litter of the farmyard, give it a very mean and
undignified appearance.
The tenant is a substantial farmer, who is very assiduous in
showing the premises. The hall is spacious, with an oaken
wainscoting. The bedrooms, which are large and airy, were
formerly ornamented with carved work, now greatly damaged. In
one of them is a substantial bedstead, with carved posts, on
which it is said this reformer used to repose, and any of his
followers have permission to occupy it for one night. This
privilege is either not known, or perhaps not very highly
appreciated, for the tenant states that not a single "Friend"
has availed himself of it during the whole time he has resided
there. Here is shown the study of George Fox in all its
pristine plainness and simplicity. On one side of the hall is
an orchard, looking almost coeval with the building. The house
stands high, and the upper windows command an extensive and
beautiful prospect. The meetinghouse is a neat plain building,
in perfect repair, still used by the Friends at Ulverstone and
the neighbourhood for religious worship. Over the door is the
following inscription, "_Ex dono G.F. 1688_." There is a
burial-place surrounded with trees attached to the chapel.
George Fox did not reside constantly at Swartmoor after his
marriage. The greater part of his time was spent in itinerancy.
He travelled nearly over the whole of Great Britain, and
several parts of America in the exercise of his ministry. After
encountering innumerable sufferings, oppositions, and
afflictions, this indefatigable missionary departed this life on
the 13th of November 1690, in the 67th year of his age, at a
house in White Hart Court, London. He was interred in the
"Friends Burying-Ground," near Bunhill Fields.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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