(BARBADOS) Fox George To the Ministers Teachers and Priests

Sale 2310 - Lot 302

Price Realized: $ 2,400

?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price

Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500

(BARBADOS.) Fox, George. To the Ministers, Teachers, and Priests (So Called, and so Stileing your Selves) in Barbadoes. 4to, modern 1/4 calf; interior worn, with numerous tears (some crudely repaired) and punctures, early leaves and final leaf worn at edges, but complete with only minimal loss of text. [London], 1672

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Fox was the founder of the Society of Friends, better known as the Quakers. He and a small group of followers made a tumultuous visit to Barbados in 1671. In this pamphlet, Fox denounces the Barbados clergy for a variety of sins, starting with their hostility to the Quakers, but also for their mistreatment of slaves: "And if you be Ministers of Christ, are you not Teachers of Blacks and Taunies (to wit, Indians) as well as of the Whites? . . . It seems your Blacks, &c. are taught to Swear, and to Curse, and to say, God Dam them; and many of them do swear almost at every word" (page 5). He reports that "once when a Black came to a Steeple-House in time of worship, That the Sexton came to him with his Whip, and said unto him, Get thee out, thou Dog; what do you here?", and describes his own efforts to minister to the island's slaves, but denies the charge that "we have a Design to teach the Blacks to rebel" (page 77). He also describes "the Whoredoms, and Debauchery, and Drunkenness, the Excess, Sensual Pleasures, Carnal Delights, Carding, Diceing, Dancing, that these dayes are filled up with" (page 14). Guaranteed to be a more compelling read than the average theological tract. European Americana 672/100; Handler, Barbados page 8; Smith, Friends' Books page I:672. 7 copies in ESTC; we have found no other copies offered separately at auction since 1918.