FOXE, JOHN, the martyrologist, was b. of respectable parents in 1517, at Boston Lincolnshire. In 1533, he .entered as .a strident ;It Brasenose college Oxford; in 1538' he took his ,/,,,orielor's,,,auu In 1543, his master's degree, and was elected a fellow of Magdalen college. He displayed at an early period an inclination for Latin poetry, and wrote several plays in that language upon scriptural subjects. Of these, the only one that remains, entitled De Mristo Triumphante, was printed at London in 1551, and at Basel in 1556, 8vo, and 1672. The religious movements of the times led him to study the great controversy between popery and Protestantism, and becoming a convert to the principles of the reformation, he was, July 22, 1645, expelled from his college for heresy. His father being dead, and his mother married again, his step-father refused him any further aid, and he was, in consequence, reduced to great distress. For a short time, he was employed as tutor to the children of sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, War wickshire,. and afterwards was engaged by the duchess of Richmond as tutor to the children of her brother, the earl of Surrey, then a state prisoner in the Tower. • In this capacity he remained during the whole reign of Edward VI., hut was never, notwith standing Anthony Wood's assertion to the contrary, restored to his fellowship at Mag dalen. On June 23, 1550, he was ordained deacon by Ridley, bishop of London, and preached the doctrines of the reformation at Reigate. During the reign of Mary, he
retired to the continent. On the accession of queen Elizabeth, he returned to England in Oct., 1559; and in May, 1563, he was inducted into the canonry and prebend of Shipton, in the cathedral of Salisbury. He also enjoyed the living of (Applegate, which he soon resigned, and for a year he held a stall at Durham. In 1575, when some Dutch Anabaptists were condemned to the flames in London, F. interceded for them with queen Elizabeth and other persons in authority, but without effect. He wrote numer ous controversial and other works, but the one that has immortalized his name is his History of the Acts and Monument4, of the Church, popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs, the first part of which. was published at Strasburg in 1554. The first English edition appeared in 1563, in one vol. folio. Sanctioned by the bishops, it was ordered, by a canon of the Anglican convocation, to be placed in the hall of every episcopal palace in England, and has gone tfrwigh innumerable editions. It is not a very critical work, as might naturally be supposed, and Roman Catholics deny its trustwotthiness. F. died in 1587, in his 70th year, and was buried in the chancel of St. Giles's, Cripple gate, London.