FOX, JOHN, commonly called the Martyrologist, from the work by which he is principally known, was born at Boston, in Lincoln shire, in 1517, was entered at Brazenose College, Oxford, in 1531, and elected a fellow of Magdalen College in 1543. Before this he had been chiefly distinguished for the cultivation of Latin poetry ; but he had lately applied himself with great earnestness to the study of divinity, the result of which was that he became a convert to Pro testantiam, and on a charge of heresy being brought' against him, was deprived of his fellowship in 1545. His father had left him some property, but this was also now withheld from him, on the same ground, by a second husband whom his mother had married. and he was in consequence reduced to great distress. At last he obtained the situation of tutor iu the family of Sir Thomas Lucy, of Charlet:et, in Warwickshire, the some whose deer-park Shakepere is accused of robbing. This place however he left after some time, and was again subjected to many disappointments and hardships. At length be was taken into the house of Mary duchess of Richmond, to instruct the children of her brother the Earl of Surrey, who was then confined on the charges for which he soon after suffered death. After the acces sion of Edward VI. Fox was restored to his fellowship; but he Ml again into danger in the time of Mary, in consequence of which he went abroad, and after wandering through different parts of Germany was taken into employment as a corrector of the press by Oporinus, the eminent printer at Basel. On the death of Mary be returned to England, where his former pupil, the eldest son of the unfortunate Earl of Surrey, who was now duke of Norfolk, received him with great kindness, and settled a pension on him for life. A prebend in the church of Canterbury was also given to him by Cecil. Although however he retained this preferment till his death, Fox never would subscribe to the articles of religion as finally settled, and this pre vented his ever attaining any higher dignity iu the church. He may be considered as having belonged properly to the sect of the Puritans. He died in 1587.
Fox was the author of numerous works, a list of which is given in the Biographia Britannica ; ' but the only one that is now remem bered is his 'History of the Acts and Monuments of the Church ' (commonly called his 'Book of Martyrs'), which was first printed in one volume folio, In 1553, but was afterwards divided into three volumes, and has been repeatedly reprinted both entire, and in an abridged, modernised, or otherwise mutilated form. The trust
worthiness of this great record of the sufferings of the early English reformers has been bitterly assailed by many Roman Catholic writers, and of late years by some writers belonging to the "high church" party. But nothing beyond a few comparatively unimportant mistakes, arising from some degree of credulity, and a natural though exagge rated zeal, seems to be established against it : the veracity and honesty of the venerable author may be affirmed to be quite undamaged. Fox's work has preserve d many facts, some of greater, some of Ices importance, that are nowhere else to be found. It ought to be noted to the credit of the author, that he showed himself through out his life, if not a friend to toleration in the largest view, yet a decided enemy to persecution and severity in the suppresaion of religious errors. In this sentimeut he was a considerable way ahead of the general, it may almost be said, the universally prevalent notions cf his age. His mind was certainly not a very capacious one, nor bad he any pretensions to great depth or accuracy of learning ; but for the consistency and excellence of his moral character no man of his time was held in higher regard. Fox was a frequent preacher, as well as a voluminous writer. One of his early performances in Latin poetry, a comedy (as it is called) entitled ' De Christ° Tante. phante,' has been translated into English by Richard Daye, a son of John Daye, the printer, from whose press the first edition of the Acts and Monuments' proceeded, and who indeed would seem to have suggested that work. Daye's epitaph on his tombstone in tho chancel of the church of Little Bradley-juxta-Thurlow, Suffolk, says that he " set a Fox to write how martyrs run By death to life. Fox ventured pains and health To give them light ; Daye spent is print his wealth." (See Nichols, vlii. 580; also 673.) There is also a French translation of the above-mentioned comedy under the title of 'Le Triomphe de J. C.,' by Jacques Bienvenu, citizen of Geneva, 4to, Geneva, 1562; a very scarce work.