“Solomon Eccles, an early Friend who was an
They beat up folks so badly that blood
“JC: Who was Solomon Eagle?
JCh: Solomon Eagle – or Solomon Eccles as I prefer to think of him – is one of the great figures in [Daniel] Defoe’s Journal of a Plague Year [1722], which was an amazing reconstruction of what it may have been like to live in urban London. You know, Defoe’s work is based on historical sources. It’s not just a work of fiction. It’s a very clever synthesis of contemporary records.
[Defoe wrote: 'I suppose the world has heard of the famous Solomon Eagle, an enthusiast. He, though not infected at all but in his head, went about denouncing of judgment upon the city in a frightful manner, sometimes quite naked, and with a pan of burning charcoal on his head. What he said, or pretended, indeed I could not learn.'] Solomon Eccles was a Quaker, a man prosecuted numerous times during the Restoration for civil disobedience. He would worship with other Quakers. The law that was passed in the early 1660s said that, if more than three people got together in a room for religious worship, this was a seditious, wicked activity. In May 1665, Solomon Eccles was arrested in Southwark, even though he probably lived in the middle of the City of London, and was put away in prison – probably in the Clink on the South Bank – for about two to three months.
But we know that the Quakers, in a very millennial, apocalyptic sense, reacted to traumas in the natural world by attempting to test their own religious prowess, their own religious identity. This could involve having fasting matches with Anglican priests, stripping naked in a churchyard or branding themselves to show their true piety. Defoe conjures up an image of ‘Solomon Eagle’ walking round with a burning brazier of coals on his head. A lot of 18th-century representations show him Christ-like with his burning coals. I found no contemporary record ascribing this to Solomon Eccles, but it’s the sort of thing that went on quite frequently. We have to remember that the early 1660s was a very apocalyptic time.
The area that we’re talking about – Holborn, St Dunstan’s in the West – was where, in the 1660s, there were Fifth Monarchists: mad, violent, committed Christians who believed Christ’s rule was going to come on earth. In 1661, they tried to encourage Christ’s rule by killing all the wealthy they could find. These were 17th-century David Koreshes who would use any form of public controversy to gain their own authority within the community. Burning braziers might have been a bit painful, but it’s a test, it’s a sign, if you like, of one’s true faith.”
Further probing uncovered the following random facts:
“English composer and teacher of virginals and viol. On becoming a Quaker In middle age, he publicly burned his instruments and music on Tower Hill and took to shoemaking. To show his contempt for ’steeple-houses’ he for two Sundays running insisted on making shoes in the pulpit of a
Ok, so at this point I wanted to find out what a Musick Lector was about, I googled some more and found a copy of it here:
The one a MUSICIAN, and Master of that Art, and zealous for the Church of England; who calls Musick The gift of God.
The other a BAPTIST, who did affirm it to be a decent and a harmless practice.
The other a QUAKER (so called) being formerly of that Art, doth give his Judgment and Sentence against it; but yet approves of the Musick that pleaseth God.”
Here is a little sample of what is contained within the Musik lector:
“Mu. But Friend, you undervalue Musick too much; ’tis true, that if in case you had been a Fidler, it had been no great matter if you had cast it off: but to teach mens sons and daughters on the Virginals and on the Viol, it is as harmless a Calling as any man can follow: How say you, Sir?
Bap. Truly I do not see but he might have followed it still as he us’d it; and as you say, methinks it is a very harmless Calling; there is sufficient proof of Scripture for the lawfulness thereof: only in this one thing the Quakers must be singular.
Qua. I have heard divers men, and some of all Religions, and almost all people, especially those of the Universities, do highly commend Musick: but O the Truth, the Spirit of Truth, nor the Children of Truth can never bear it; but Truth and her Children do trample it under foot; ’tis Babylons Musick, and down it must and shall for ever. And since I through the good hand of God had an eye open in me to see where I stood, I soon sided with the Truth, and stood off from the reasoning part, and then the Zeal of God rose up as hot as fire, and I greatly loathed my self to see what cursed ground I stood in, and I reckon it a happy day that I was redeemed out of a vain practice; Acts 19.19.
Mu. But prethee thou mad Quaker hold a little, for thou wrests the Scriptures, as many of you do, to your own destructions: for they were Magicians, not Musicians, that burnt their Books of great price.
Qua. That which taught them, taught me to deny ungodliness, and will teach all that will turn to it, To deny ungodliness and curious Arts, and is not Musick a curious Art, wilt thou deny it?
Mu. Tis true, musick is a curious Art, but will you say ’tis ungodliness? take heed what you say, lest you pull an old house upon your head: for we are no Fidlers, but are sober men, and in a sober Calling, and that which delights the ears of Kings and wise men, and grave sage men, and the honourablest men and women in the Nation do highly esteem of Musick.
Qua. That which is highly esteemed amongst men, is abomination to the Lord, read Luke 16.15. And why dost thou make such a difference between those called Fidlers, and you who call your selves Musicians? for my own part, since I came to the Truth it self, I do see indeed that I being a Teacher in Musick, it might have this stile above the other; for I count it was a civil Devil, and the Fidler more prophane, but both are for the Lake that practice it, except they do repent, Mat. 9.23. Rev. 18.22.”
Inspired by this random incompressible gibberish I went on to read up a little bit more about quakers and their relationship with music. I found the following piece which was pretty interesting:
“Prisons were a setting where Quakers and music harmonized. Accounts of persecutions and imprisonment of early Friends often mention the spontaneous songs of spirit that arose. Fox, himself, when imprisoned, was beaten by a cruel jailer so that he “was made to sing in the Lord’s power” (Journal of George Fox, 1653). In response the jailer got his fiddle and tried to overpower the sound of Fox’s song to no avail.
Thomas Briggs relates how he was so filled with the power and presence of God when he was imprisoned he “sung for joy” (An account of some of the travels and sufferings of that faithful servant of the Lord, Thomas Briggs, London, 1685).
Elizabeth Gurney Fry (1780-1845) is well known for her concern for women in prison and was an advocate for reform in England. As a convinced Friend, music had been a part of her life before joining the Society and she continued to feel that music could be an important means to keep a healthy mental state even in prison. She regretted that the life of Friends forbade this expression: “Surely He who formed the ear and the heart would not have given these tastes and powers without some purpose for them” (Letter to her brother, Joseph J. Gurney, 2nd month 27, 1833)”
