Fox
Fox names 4 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Fox GEORGE, founder of the Society of Friends
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
GEORGE, founder of the Society of Friends; born in Drayton in Leicestershire, England, in July, 1624. His the strict father was a weaver, and by his honesty of his conduct had won from neighbors the sobriquet of "Righteous a boy, was Christer." George, while yet and exemdistinguished by his gravity 20th year of plary conduct. When in the years his age, and for some two or three as havafterward, Fox describes himself state ing been in a very distressed of mind, from which the various prohe apfessors and clergymen to whom to relieve plied for counsel were unable was at him. From this condition he length delivered by that which he resoul garded as the voice of God in his , alone able "to directing him to Christ as after speak to his condition." Very soon ministrathis he commenced his public , and tions at Dukinfield, Manchester his the neighborhood. From the first, many preaching seems to have made opposition. converts and excited much place Fox's first imprisonment took in of his opthe year 1648, in consequence posing the preacher in "the great steeple " on a point house at Nottingham, of imprisoned at doctrine. In 1650 he was blasphemy. Derby under a false charge of Bennet, One of the committing justices, on this occaacted with great violence sion. Cromwell, though himself favor- , seems to able to liberty of conscience hoshave been unable to curb popular which detility launched against a sect nounced all state interferences with religion and maintained that the gospel or should be preached without fee reward. About a month after the restoracommitted tion of Charles II., Fox was to Lancaster Castle "on the charge of peace being a common disturber of the , and of endeavoring to make insurrection ." and embroil the whole kingdom in blood a habeas After lying in jail some months, corpus was obtained, and the authorities showed their disbelief of these grave uncharges by allowing Fox himself, Lonbailed and unguarded, to convey to writ. The don the sheriff's return to the act empowering magistrates to tender the oaths of allegiance and supremacy to any person whom they thought fit to suspect, operated with great severity against the Friends; Fri under its provisions Fox was committed to prison at Lancaster in the beginning of 1664, whence he was removed to Scarborough Castle, In where he lay till the autumn of 1666. 1669 Fox married Margaret Fell, the widow of one of the judges of the Welsh the courts. The year 1670 witnessed Conpassing of the most stringent of the venticle Acts, forbidding under heavy religious penalties the assembling for worship, in any house, of more than four acpersons besides the family, except Church of cording to the usages of the to England. Fox exhorted his friends in Lonfirmness, and himself remained Soon don, to share with their sufferings. severe illness after his recovery from a where he he sailed for Barbadoes, interexerted himself greatly in the After ests of religion and humanity. a considerable time spent in Barbadoes, conti- Jamaica, and the North American in 1673. nent, he returned to England awaited him Here further persecutions . He underwent 14 months' imprisonment, Court and was at length liberated by the errors of King's Bench on account of the in company in his indictment. In 1677, had joined with Penn and Barclay, who , he paid the Society about 10 years before some parts of a visit to Holland and to Germany, where his services seem last 15 have been well received. The as regards years of his life were tranquil personal molestation. Persecution of the reign Quakers continued throughout by of Charles II.; and though James, a prerogative, ordered stretch of the royal imprisoned for a general release of those toleration of conscience's sake, the legal reign. dissent was reserved for the next and Mary In the first year of William which nullified the was passed the bill the Friends Conventicle Acts, and allowed in lieu of to make a solemn declaration had the gratitaking the oaths, and Fox fication of seeing the public worship of the Society legally recognized before his death. He died in London, Jan. 13, 1690. See FRIENDS, SOCIETY OF.
Fox a well known animal of the dog family
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a well known animal of the dog family. The fox is smaller than the wolf. It has a sharper muzzle. Its ears are more pointed. It is more agile and alert, and steps more lightly. It is also provided with a large, bushy tail which it takes great pains to keep dry and clean. When it lies down to sleep this tail is carefully disposed like a fur blanket over its feet and nose. There are several species. The small arctic fox is of a blue gray in summer and pure white in winter. The silver fox has a beautiful silver gray pelt, for which trappers expect $50. The yellowish gray kit or swift fox of North America is found from Iowa northwestward. The fox of fable and history, the one that did not want sour grapes, is the common red fox of Europe and North America, although there are many varieties. It is an animal of proverbial cunning and sagacity. Foxhunting is a favorite sport in England. A "meet" is quite a social event. Ladies and gentlemen appear at the appointed place mounted on their best horses. The foxhounds are brought to the field in leashes and are loosed in some thicket where foxes are supposed to have concealed themselves. When a fox is started the hounds follow the scent at full cry; the members of the party ride after at full speed vying with each other in their ability to take hedges, fences, and ditches. A fox generally leads off across country, but after a long time is pretty sure to return to its place of starting. It resorts to a great many devices, such as doubling back on its former track, leaping great ditches, walking fences, climbing the top of a stump and from there to a tree; but the hounds are usually too much for any but an experienced old fox. Unless it takes to its den, which it seems to have a strong disinclination to do, they usually succeed in overtaking it. The sportsman who is first up claims the bushy tail or brush as a trophy. An account of a foxhunt is quite incomplete without a list of accidents, more or less serious, that occur in the wild chase across ditches and fields. Foxhunting was a favorite sport in colonial Virginia and in later years has been revived. In England foxes are protected for the hunt regardless of the havoc they play in poultry yards. The female fox or vixen usually prepares a nest for her cubs in a den in an open field, where they can play about and yet take to their hole with least likelihood of surprise. It is said that while a fox springs upon rabbits, partridges, and quails anywhere that it can find them, it will travel far to rob a hen roost rather than make possible trouble for itself and family by thieving near at home. See Dog
Fox CHARLES JAMES, an English statesman
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
CHARLES JAMES, an English statesman; born in England, Jan. 24, 1749; was educated at Oxford; entered Parliament in 1768; and in 1770 of Lord came forward as a supporter support North. After six years' active dismissed of that administration he was from office in consequence of a quarrel the with his chief. Thereupon he joined formiopposition and became the most dable opponent of the coercive measures adopted by England toward the Ameridownfall can colonies. In 1782, on the of Lord North, he was appointed one of he the secretaries of state, which office On held till the death of Rockingham. adminthe dissolution of the Shelburne istration in 1783 the North and Fox coalition was formed, and he resumed his former office; but the rejection of the India Bill by the House of Lords led to his resignation. It was then that Pitt came into power and that the long and famous contest between him and Fox began. After the death of Pitt in January, 1806, Fox became Foreign Secretary in the Ministry ry of All the Talents, and was on the point of introducing a bill for the when he abolition of the slave-trade, , 1806. died in Cheswick, England, Sept. 13
Fox JOHN (WILLIAM)
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JOHN (WILLIAM), an American writer of dialect stories; born in 1863. He became a contributor to magazines, and published "The Cumberland Vendetta, and Other Stories" (1895); ,, "Hell Fer Sartain, and Other Stories" (1897); "Crittenden" (1900); "Bluegrass" (1901); "A Knight of the Cumberland" (1906 "Heart of the Hills" (1913) “In Happy Valley" (1917) "Erskine Dale-Pioneer" (1920). He died in 1920.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 account describes the natural history of the fox accurately enough that most of it still stands, but two of its details have been overtaken. The English "meet" it calls a favourite sport was outlawed by the Hunting Act 2004, which from February 2005 banned hunting wild mammals with dogs in England and Wales (Scotland had legislated in 2002), leaving today's hunts to follow artificial trails. The silver fox whose pelt fetched trappers $50 became instead a laboratory animal: from 1959 Dmitry Belyayev's Novosibirsk breeding experiment produced tame, dog-like silver foxes within a few dozen generations, one of the best-known demonstrations of how domestication works. The red fox, meanwhile, has become a familiar city dweller, colonising British and other suburbs from the 1930s onward in numbers the article's country-dwelling animal never suggested.
Written for this edition, 2026.