FOX, in Zoology. See Mammalia.

Fox, John, the martyrologist, was born at Boston in Lincolnshire, in the year 1517. At the age of sixteen he was entered a student of Brazen-Nose College in Oxford; and in 1543 he took his degree of master of arts, and was chosen fellow of Magdalen College. He discovered an early genius for poetry, and, conformably to the taste of his age, wrote several Latin comedies upon subjects taken from Scripture. Of these, one still remains, entitled De Christo Triumphante, printed at London in 1551, and at Bale in 1556, 8vo, and reprinted in 1672. But having forsaken the muses, he applied himself with great assiduity to the study of theology, including church history; and having manifested an inclination, which he took no pains to conceal, for the doctrines of the reformation, he was, ip the year 1545, expelled from his college as a heretic, happy, it is said, to have fared no worse. He had lost his father early in life, and, as his mother had married again, his stepfather availed himself of this occurrence to retain the whole of his patrimony, knowing that Fox would not venture to sue him for restitution. This rascality on the part of his mother’s husband reduced him to the greatest distress; but he soon afterwards found an asylum in the house of Sir Thomas Lucy, Warwickshire, who employed him as tutor to his children. When this engagement expired, Fox, who had in the meanwhile married the daughter of a citizen of Coventry, proceeded to London; but finding no immediate means of subsistence, he was again reduced to absolute want. Relief, however, at length came, and in a manner which is described as almost miraculous. As he was one day sitting in St Paul’s church, emaciated with hunger, a stranger accosted him familiarly, and, bidding him be of good cheer, put a sum of money into his hand; telling him, at the same time, that new hopes were at hand. And, in fact, he was, three days thereafter, received into the family of the Duchess of Richmond, as tutor to the Earl of Surrey’s children, who, upon their father being sent to the Tower, were committed to her care. In this family he lived at Ryegate in Surrey, during the latter part of the reign of Henry VIII., the entire reign of Edward VI., and part of that of Queen Mary; but he could never discover the generous person who had at once relieved his distress and predicted his good fortune. At length, however, being persecuted by his implacable enemy Bishop Gardiner, he was obliged to seek refuge abroad; and he selected as the place of his retreat Basil in Switzerland, where he subsisted by correcting for the press. But on the death of Queen Mary he returned to England, where he was graciously received by his former pupil the Duke of Norfolk, who retained him [7:9:798]in his family as long as he lived, and bequeathed him a pen- ’ sion at his death, which took place in 1S63. Mr Secretary Cecil also bestowed on him a rectory near Salisbury; and, in point of fact, he might have obtained considerable church preferment, had it not been for his unwillingness to subscribe to the canons. He died in the year 1587, in the seventieth year of his age, and was buried in the chancel of St Giles’s, Cripplegate. Fox was a man of great industry, and considerable learning; a zealous, but not a violent reformer; a nonconformist, but not an enemy to the Church of England. The most celebrated of his works is that which is entitled Acts and Monuments of the Church, and commonly called Martyrology, containing a history of the troubles in the church of Rome since the tenth century, particularly in England and Scotland. It was published at London, 1563, in folio, but afterwards augmented, and printed for the fourth time in 1583, two vols. folio, and in 1632, three vols. folio. He relates in detail the history of the martyrs of the Protestant religion, but embellishes his narrative with so many marvellous circumstances, that his enemies, it must be confessed, had some reason in applying to it the name of Legend. The Catholics, in particular, reproached him with passion and with grossness; and, what was far more serious, accused him of having often altered the truth in order to swell the number of martyrs to his creed. Nor can it be denied that, in the first edition, he had enrolled amongst the number of those who had sealed their testimony with their blood, persons still living, and who remonstrated against the honour intended for them. But notwithstanding all these and many other objections, some of which are undoubtedly well founded, the Martyrology met with prodigious success in England, where, amidst all the changes which have taken place in taste and opinion, it still maintains its ground. The other writings of Fox, which were very numerous, consist of works on theology, and particularly controversy; and some of his letters which have been preserved reflect honour on his character as a man of sense and humanity.

Fox, George, the founder of the sect of Quakers, was born at Drayton, Leicestershire, in the year 1624. His father, a zealous Presbyterian, was a weaver. Young Fox, from his earliest years, showed uncommon gravity, and participated in none of the diversions natural to his age; he courted solitude, and when he spoke it was in a melancholy tone. His parents were unable to give him any education beyond reading and writing, but they early inspired him with sentiments of religion and virtue. Fox was at first placed with a wool-merchant, and sent to tend sheep in the woods; a circumstance which seems to have confirmed his inclination for a solitary and contemplative life. He was then put as an apprentice to a shoemaker at Nottingham; and from the accounts of the times we learn, that as he wrought at his trade, he used to meditate much on the Scriptures, which, with his solitary course of life, improving his natural melancholy, induced him at length to fancy himself inspired; and in consequence he set up as a preacher. He proposed but few articles of faith, insisting chiefly on moral virtue, mutual charity, the love of God, and a deep attention to the inward motions and secret operations of the Spirit; he required a plain, simple worship, and a religion without ceremonies, making it a principal point to wait in profound silence for the directions of the Holy Spirit. Fox met with much rough treatment on account of his zeal, was often imprisoned, and several times in danger of being put to death. But, in spite of all discouragements, his sect, which received the name of Quakers, prevailed, and many considerable men were led to join them; amongst whom were Barclay and Penn. Fox died on the 16th of January 1690. He was comparatively an uneducated man, as we have already seen; but he possessed in an eminent degree the talent of persuasion, since, although born in an inferior grade of society, and devoid of any but the simplest instruction, he succeeded in recommending his doctrine to men of a superior rank in society. It was undoubtedly owing to this circumstance that the society of Quakers, or, as they call themselves, Friends, was enabled to outlast so many other sects, founded by enthusiasts, which have generally disappeared immediately after the death of their authors; whereas Quakerism acquired every day new force, and the laws which at first persecuted, ended by tolerating, and even protecting it. Fox, however, only laid the foundation; it was reserved for Barclay and Penn to raise the superstructure. The writings of Fox have been collected in three volumes folio; the first containing his Journal, which is eminently curious; the second, his Correspondence; and the third, all that he has written on his Doctrine. Some persons have indeed pretended that he is not really the author of these different productions; but his followers, on the other hand, maintain that whatever is most admirable in this collection really proceeded from the pen of their patriarch.