Page:Littell's Living Age - Volume 128.djvu/774

764 Perhaps no other human headpiece has been the cause of so much stir in society as the hat of George Fox, the founder of Quakerism. We have seen the pilgrims at Thonon, in Savoy, kiss the hat which the eager Francis de Sales forgot to put on his head when he started upon his preaching mission against the Calvinists. What would one give to see the far more important hat which George Fox first refused to put off in the presence of the magistrates and ministers of Cromwell's reign? "Proud flesh," says George Fox, "looks for hat-honour." The refusal to uncover the head before the magistrates, like many other parts of the Quaker ritual, had been intermittently attempted by some of the earlier Puritans. "Saltmarsh was the first," says Dr. King, in his "Life of John Locke," "that began to be scrupulous about the hat." It appears, however, from Camden's Annals, that more than a century earlier Hachet and some of the first Marprelates refused, in Elizabeth's reign, to take off their hats before the magistrates. That which was undefined and tentative for a few here and there among the forerunners of Quakerism became a fixed and hard ritual for thousands when it was adopted by the powerful mind of George Fox. He claimed a divine commandment for his apparent want of respect and politeness. "When the Lord sent me forth into the world He forbade me to put off my hat to any, high or low. O the rage that was then in the priests, magistrates, professors, and people of all sorts! But the Lord shewed me that it was an honour invented by men in the fall and in the alienation from God, who were offended if it were not given them, and yet would be looked upon as saints." His disciples accepted at once and without hesitation the command to pay no "hat-honour" to their neighbours, and were satisfied with the arguments produced by their leader. Before they came into conflict with the higher powers upon this point they had to endure "blows, punches, and beatings for not putting off their hats to men," and often "had their hats violently plucked off and thrown away." Many a good Quaker, George Fox tells us, lost a good hat through his resolute obedience to this novel unsocial ritualism. Many Quaker tradesmen lost their customers at the first, for "the people were shy of them, and would not trade with them, when Friends could not put off their hats, nor bow, nor use flattering words in salutations, nor go into the fashions and customs of the world; so for a time some Friends that were tradesmen could hardly get money enough to buy bread." But when it was discovered that the yea of these queer persons "was yea, and their nay was nay," their customers returned, until the complaint became common in the north of England amongst "envious professors, if we let these Quakers alone, they will take the trade of the nation."

The first occasion on which the Quaker's hat came publicly and officially into trouble was at the Launceston Assizes in the year 1656, before no less a person than Chief-Justice Glynn. "When we were brought into the court," says Fox, "we stood a pretty while with our hats on, and all was quiet, and I was moved to say, 'Peace be amongst you!' 'Why do you not put your hats off?' said the judge to us. We said nothing. 'Put off your hats,' said the judge again. Still we said nothing. Then said the judge, 'The court commands you to put off your hats.'" George Fox, with amazing simplicity, asked for some Scriptural instances of any magistrate commanding prisoners to put off their hats. He next asked to be shown, "either printed or written, any law of England that did command such a thing." Then the judge grew very angry, and said, "I do not carry my law-books on my back." "But," said Fox, "tell me where it is printed in any statute-book, that I may read it." The chief-justice cried out "Prevaricator!" and ordered the Quakers to be taken away. When they were brought before him again, the chief-justice asked Fox whether hats were mentioned at all in the Bible? "Yes," said the Quaker, "in the third of Daniel, where thou mayst read that the children were cast into the fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar's command with their coats, their hose, and their hats on!" Here was a proof that even a heathen king allowed men to wear hats in his presence. "This plain instance stopped him," says Fox. "So he cried again, 'Take them away, gaoler;' accordingly we were taken away, and thrust in among the thieves, where we were kept a great while." After nine weeks' imprisonment "for nothing but about their hats," as the chief-justice told them, they were again brought before him, grimly wearing the offending head-near. "Take off their hats," said the judge to the gaoler. "Which he did," says Fox, "and gave them unto us; and we put them on again. Then the judge began to make a great speech, how he represented the lord protector's person, and that he had