Note 50:2 — Chapter V · GERRARD WINSTANLEY

Coomber had already pointed out that Quakerism arose in the North of England, and mainly in Winstanley’s native county of Lancashire. His reference to Giles Calvert, the printer, is also most suggestive; for Calvert published almost all Winstanley’s pamphlets, and later was one of the first authorised publishers of the official publications of the Society of Friends. Calvert’s establishment seems to have been the source, as well as the depository, of much of the advanced literature of his times. In his Protest against Toleration of Printing Pamphlets against Non-Conformists, Baxter refers to it as follows: “Let all the Apothecaries of London have liberty to keep open shop. But O do not under that pretence let a man keep an open shop of poisons for all that will destroy themselves freely, as Giles Calvert doth for Soul-poisons.” Calvert was suspected of having provided the funds for one of the later risings of the Fifth Monarchy Men. He subsequently joined the Quakers.