f was satisfied also, and came to
see, by the openings of the spirit of God in his heart, over all
the priests and teachers of the world, and did not go to hear
them for some years before he died. He sometimes wished I was
awhile with Judge Bradshaw to discourse with him.'

This was Judge Bradshaw the regicide, and, coming as it did from such
a friend of Cromwell's as Judge Fell, the remark was probably a high
compliment.

The following year, 1653, George Fox came again to Swarthmoor, where
he says he had 'great openings from the Lord, not only of divine and
spiritual matters, but also of outward things relating to the civil
government. Being one day in Swarthmoor Hall when Judge Fell and
Justice Benson were talking of the news in the newsbook, and of the
Parliament then sitting, (called the long Parliament) I was moved to
tell them, "before that day two weeks the Parliament should be broken
up, and the speaker plucked out of his chair"; and that day two weeks
Justice Benson told Judge Fell that now he saw that George was a true
prophet, for Oliver had broken up the parliament.' Although Judge Fell
never actually joined Friends he was their constant protector and
helper, and, in the words of Fox, 'A wall to the believers.' If he did
not himself attend the meetings in the great Hall at Swarthmoor, he
was wont to leave the door open as he sat in his Justice's chair in
his little oak-panelled study close at hand, and thus hear all that
was said, himself unseen. How entirely his wife had regained his
confidence, and how entirely Lampitt and Sawrey had failed to poison
his mind against her or her new teacher, is shown by the following
letter written about this time, when the Judge was away on one of his
frequent absences. It is the only letter to Judge Fell from his wife
that has been preserved, but it is ample assurance that no shadow had
dimmed the unclouded love of this devoted husband and wife.

'Dear Husband,' Margaret writes, 'My dear love and tender
desires to the Lord run forth for thee. I have received a letter
this day from you, and am very glad that the Lord carried you on
your journey so prosperously.... Dear Heart, mind the Lord
above all, with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning,
and who will overturn all powers that stand before Him.... We
sent to my dear brother James Nayler and he is kept very close
and cannot be suffered to have any fire. He is no