Roger Crab the Hermit of Bethnal Green: Author and Philosopher. Crab, Roger (1621 ?-1680) hermit, a native of Buckinghamshire, was probably born about 1621. He says his mother had 20₤ a year, or his father would not have married her. About 1641 he began to restrict himself to a vegetarian diet, avoiding even butter and cheese. From roots he got to a regimen of broth thickened with bran, and pudding made of bran and turnip leaves chopped together, and finally resorted to dock-leaves and grass. He drank nothing but water and could live on three farthings a week. For seven years he served in the parliamentary army where he was injured which may account for some of his later eccentricities. His asceticism was connected with a rude kind of mystical revolt against established notions in religion. His views came to him by illumination; digging in his garden with his face to the east, he "saw into the paradise of God.' His account of the seven spirits in man is original and curious. He was assisted in bringing out his book(s) by an unknown hand, which supplied some additional particulars by way of introduction. After 1657 he is living in Bethnal Green, Stepney. In his latter days he lived unmolested abd he acquired a reputation for sanctity and seership. He was buried of 14 Sep 1680 in his sixtieth year. His publication include "The English Hermite, or Wonder of this Age, 1655; Dragon-Downfall or the Great Idol digged up Root and branch, 1657; A tract against Quakerism, 1659. Paraphrased From Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-20, 22, Sir Leslie Stephen, ed.. The Dictionary of National Biography Founded in 1882 by George Smith. Vol. I-XX, XXII. London, England: Oxford University Press, 1921-1922.
His grave is no longer seen, but the slab was imbedded in the walkway. Wikipedia has a transcription of his epitaph.
"Tread gently, reader, near the dust
Committed to this tomb-stone's trust:
For while 'twas flesh, it held a guest
With universal love possest:
A soul that stemmed opinion's tide,
Did over sects in triumph ride;
Yet separate from the giddy crowd,
And paths tradition had allowed.
Through good and ill reports he past,
Oft censured, yet approved at last.
Wouldst thou his religion know?
In brief 'twas this: to all to do
Just as he would be done unto.
So in kind Nature's law he stood,
A temple, undefiled with blood,
A friend to everything that 's good.
The rest angels alone can fitly tell;
Haste then to them and him; and so farewell!"
I could not locate any birth or christening record for Roger Crab in Buckingham to name his parents. There are two possibilities in other parishes, but there is no way to know if they are related. There were three marriages of the correct period but again there is no way to know of a relationship. CLKJ
FindAGrave Volunteer Linda Zimmerman also remembers Roger Crab or Crabbe and offered her biography about him which i gladly add to his memorial:
"Roger Crab, Gent. of Bethnal Green, buried Sep. 14, 1680." This man was one of the eccentric characters of the last century. The most that we know of him is from a pamphlet (now very rare) written principally by himself, and entitled "The English Hermit, or the Wonder of the Age."
It appears from this publication that he had served seven years in the parliamentary army, and had his skull cloven to the brain in their service; for which he was so ill requited that he was once sentenced to death by the lord protector, and afterwards suffered two years imprisonment. When he had obtained his release, he set up a shop at
Chesham, as a haberdasher of hats.
He had not been long settled there before he began to imbibe a strange notion, that it was a sin against his body and soul to eat any sort of flesh, fish, or living creature, or to drink wine, ale, or beer. Thinking himself at the same time obliged to follow literally the injunction given to the young man in the Gospel, he quit the business, and disposing of his property gave it among the poor, reserving to himself only a small cottage at Ickenham where he resided, and a rood of land for a garden, on the produce of which he subsisted at the expense of three farthings a week, his food being bran, herbs, roots, dock-leaves, mallows, and grass; his drink, water.
How such an extraordinary change of diet agreed with his constitution the following passage from his pamphlet will shew, and give at the same time a specimen of the work: "Instead of strong drinks and wines, I give the old man a cup of water; and instead of roast mutton and rabbets, and other dainty dishes, I give him broth thickened with bran, and pudding made with bran, and turnep-leaves chop together, and grass; at which the old man (meaning my body), being moved, would know what he had done
that I used him so hardly, then I show'd him his transgression: so the warres began; the law of the old man in my fleshly members rebelled against the law of my mind, and had a shrewd skirmish; but the mind, being well enlightened, held it so that the old man grew sick and weak
with the flux, like to fall to the dust; but the wonderful love of God, well pleased with the battle, raised him up again, and filled him full of love, peace, and content of mind, and is now become more humble; for now he will eat dock-leaves, mallows, or grass."
The pamphlet was published in 1655 (fn. 152 ) . Prefixed to it is a portrait of the author cut in wood; which, from its rarity, bears a very high price.
Over the print are these lines: "Roger Crab that feeds on herbs and roots is here; "But I believe Diogenes had better cheer.
/"Rara avis in terris/."
I know nothing of this man's future history, or whether he continued his diet of herbs. A passage in his epitaph seems to intimate that he never resumed the use of animal food. It is not one of the least extraordinary parts of his history that he should so long have subsisted on a diet which, by his own account, had reduced him almost to a skeleton in 1655. It appears that he resided at Bethnalgreen at the time of his decease. A very handsome tomb was erected to his memory in the church-yard at this place; which being decayed, the ledger-stone was placed in the pathway leading across the churchyard to Whitehorse-street, where it still remains, but the inscription is almost defaced. It is given beneath (fn. 152 <#n159>) from Strype; who adds, "this Crab, they say, was a Philadelphian, or sweet finger."
His grave is no longer seen, but the slab was imbedded in the walkway. Wikipedia has a transcription of his epitaph.
"Tread gently, reader, near the dust
Committed to this tomb-stone's trust:
For while 'twas flesh, it held a guest
With universal love possest:
A soul that stemmed opinion's tide,
Did over sects in triumph ride;
Yet separate from the giddy crowd,
And paths tradition had allowed.
Through good and ill reports he past,
Oft censured, yet approved at last.
Wouldst thou his religion know?
In brief 'twas this: to all to do
Just as he would be done unto.
So in kind Nature's law he stood,
A temple, undefiled with blood,
A friend to everything that 's good.
The rest angels alone can fitly tell;
Haste then to them and him; and so farewell!"
I could not locate any birth or christening record for Roger Crab in Buckingham to name his parents. There are two possibilities in other parishes, but there is no way to know if they are related. There were three marriages of the correct period but again there is no way to know of a relationship. CLKJ
FindAGrave Volunteer Linda Zimmerman also remembers Roger Crab or Crabbe and offered her biography about him which i gladly add to his memorial:
"Roger Crab, Gent. of Bethnal Green, buried Sep. 14, 1680." This man was one of the eccentric characters of the last century. The most that we know of him is from a pamphlet (now very rare) written principally by himself, and entitled "The English Hermit, or the Wonder of the Age."
It appears from this publication that he had served seven years in the parliamentary army, and had his skull cloven to the brain in their service; for which he was so ill requited that he was once sentenced to death by the lord protector, and afterwards suffered two years imprisonment. When he had obtained his release, he set up a shop at
Chesham, as a haberdasher of hats.
He had not been long settled there before he began to imbibe a strange notion, that it was a sin against his body and soul to eat any sort of flesh, fish, or living creature, or to drink wine, ale, or beer. Thinking himself at the same time obliged to follow literally the injunction given to the young man in the Gospel, he quit the business, and disposing of his property gave it among the poor, reserving to himself only a small cottage at Ickenham where he resided, and a rood of land for a garden, on the produce of which he subsisted at the expense of three farthings a week, his food being bran, herbs, roots, dock-leaves, mallows, and grass; his drink, water.
How such an extraordinary change of diet agreed with his constitution the following passage from his pamphlet will shew, and give at the same time a specimen of the work: "Instead of strong drinks and wines, I give the old man a cup of water; and instead of roast mutton and rabbets, and other dainty dishes, I give him broth thickened with bran, and pudding made with bran, and turnep-leaves chop together, and grass; at which the old man (meaning my body), being moved, would know what he had done
that I used him so hardly, then I show'd him his transgression: so the warres began; the law of the old man in my fleshly members rebelled against the law of my mind, and had a shrewd skirmish; but the mind, being well enlightened, held it so that the old man grew sick and weak
with the flux, like to fall to the dust; but the wonderful love of God, well pleased with the battle, raised him up again, and filled him full of love, peace, and content of mind, and is now become more humble; for now he will eat dock-leaves, mallows, or grass."
The pamphlet was published in 1655 (fn. 152 ) . Prefixed to it is a portrait of the author cut in wood; which, from its rarity, bears a very high price.
Over the print are these lines: "Roger Crab that feeds on herbs and roots is here; "But I believe Diogenes had better cheer.
/"Rara avis in terris/."
I know nothing of this man's future history, or whether he continued his diet of herbs. A passage in his epitaph seems to intimate that he never resumed the use of animal food. It is not one of the least extraordinary parts of his history that he should so long have subsisted on a diet which, by his own account, had reduced him almost to a skeleton in 1655. It appears that he resided at Bethnalgreen at the time of his decease. A very handsome tomb was erected to his memory in the church-yard at this place; which being decayed, the ledger-stone was placed in the pathway leading across the churchyard to Whitehorse-street, where it still remains, but the inscription is almost defaced. It is given beneath (fn. 152 <#n159>) from Strype; who adds, "this Crab, they say, was a Philadelphian, or sweet finger."
Roger Crab the Hermit of Bethnal Green: Author and Philosopher. Crab, Roger (1621 ?-1680) hermit, a native of Buckinghamshire, was probably born about 1621. He says his mother had 20₤ a year, or his father would not have married her. About 1641 he began to restrict himself to a vegetarian diet, avoiding even butter and cheese. From roots he got to a regimen of broth thickened with bran, and pudding made of bran and turnip leaves chopped together, and finally resorted to dock-leaves and grass. He drank nothing but water and could live on three farthings a week. For seven years he served in the parliamentary army where he was injured which may account for some of his later eccentricities. His asceticism was connected with a rude kind of mystical revolt against established notions in religion. His views came to him by illumination; digging in his garden with his face to the east, he "saw into the paradise of God.' His account of the seven spirits in man is original and curious. He was assisted in bringing out his book(s) by an unknown hand, which supplied some additional particulars by way of introduction. After 1657 he is living in Bethnal Green, Stepney. In his latter days he lived unmolested abd he acquired a reputation for sanctity and seership. He was buried of 14 Sep 1680 in his sixtieth year. His publication include "The English Hermite, or Wonder of this Age, 1655; Dragon-Downfall or the Great Idol digged up Root and branch, 1657; A tract against Quakerism, 1659. Paraphrased From Dictionary of National Biography, Volumes 1-20, 22, Sir Leslie Stephen, ed.. The Dictionary of National Biography Founded in 1882 by George Smith. Vol. I-XX, XXII. London, England: Oxford University Press, 1921-1922.
His grave is no longer seen, but the slab was imbedded in the walkway. Wikipedia has a transcription of his epitaph.
"Tread gently, reader, near the dust
Committed to this tomb-stone's trust:
For while 'twas flesh, it held a guest
With universal love possest:
A soul that stemmed opinion's tide,
Did over sects in triumph ride;
Yet separate from the giddy crowd,
And paths tradition had allowed.
Through good and ill reports he past,
Oft censured, yet approved at last.
Wouldst thou his religion know?
In brief 'twas this: to all to do
Just as he would be done unto.
So in kind Nature's law he stood,
A temple, undefiled with blood,
A friend to everything that 's good.
The rest angels alone can fitly tell;
Haste then to them and him; and so farewell!"
I could not locate any birth or christening record for Roger Crab in Buckingham to name his parents. There are two possibilities in other parishes, but there is no way to know if they are related. There were three marriages of the correct period but again there is no way to know of a relationship. CLKJ
FindAGrave Volunteer Linda Zimmerman also remembers Roger Crab or Crabbe and offered her biography about him which i gladly add to his memorial:
"Roger Crab, Gent. of Bethnal Green, buried Sep. 14, 1680." This man was one of the eccentric characters of the last century. The most that we know of him is from a pamphlet (now very rare) written principally by himself, and entitled "The English Hermit, or the Wonder of the Age."
It appears from this publication that he had served seven years in the parliamentary army, and had his skull cloven to the brain in their service; for which he was so ill requited that he was once sentenced to death by the lord protector, and afterwards suffered two years imprisonment. When he had obtained his release, he set up a shop at
Chesham, as a haberdasher of hats.
He had not been long settled there before he began to imbibe a strange notion, that it was a sin against his body and soul to eat any sort of flesh, fish, or living creature, or to drink wine, ale, or beer. Thinking himself at the same time obliged to follow literally the injunction given to the young man in the Gospel, he quit the business, and disposing of his property gave it among the poor, reserving to himself only a small cottage at Ickenham where he resided, and a rood of land for a garden, on the produce of which he subsisted at the expense of three farthings a week, his food being bran, herbs, roots, dock-leaves, mallows, and grass; his drink, water.
How such an extraordinary change of diet agreed with his constitution the following passage from his pamphlet will shew, and give at the same time a specimen of the work: "Instead of strong drinks and wines, I give the old man a cup of water; and instead of roast mutton and rabbets, and other dainty dishes, I give him broth thickened with bran, and pudding made with bran, and turnep-leaves chop together, and grass; at which the old man (meaning my body), being moved, would know what he had done
that I used him so hardly, then I show'd him his transgression: so the warres began; the law of the old man in my fleshly members rebelled against the law of my mind, and had a shrewd skirmish; but the mind, being well enlightened, held it so that the old man grew sick and weak
with the flux, like to fall to the dust; but the wonderful love of God, well pleased with the battle, raised him up again, and filled him full of love, peace, and content of mind, and is now become more humble; for now he will eat dock-leaves, mallows, or grass."
The pamphlet was published in 1655 (fn. 152 ) . Prefixed to it is a portrait of the author cut in wood; which, from its rarity, bears a very high price.
Over the print are these lines: "Roger Crab that feeds on herbs and roots is here; "But I believe Diogenes had better cheer.
/"Rara avis in terris/."
I know nothing of this man's future history, or whether he continued his diet of herbs. A passage in his epitaph seems to intimate that he never resumed the use of animal food. It is not one of the least extraordinary parts of his history that he should so long have subsisted on a diet which, by his own account, had reduced him almost to a skeleton in 1655. It appears that he resided at Bethnalgreen at the time of his decease. A very handsome tomb was erected to his memory in the church-yard at this place; which being decayed, the ledger-stone was placed in the pathway leading across the churchyard to Whitehorse-street, where it still remains, but the inscription is almost defaced. It is given beneath (fn. 152 <#n159>) from Strype; who adds, "this Crab, they say, was a Philadelphian, or sweet finger."
His grave is no longer seen, but the slab was imbedded in the walkway. Wikipedia has a transcription of his epitaph.
"Tread gently, reader, near the dust
Committed to this tomb-stone's trust:
For while 'twas flesh, it held a guest
With universal love possest:
A soul that stemmed opinion's tide,
Did over sects in triumph ride;
Yet separate from the giddy crowd,
And paths tradition had allowed.
Through good and ill reports he past,
Oft censured, yet approved at last.
Wouldst thou his religion know?
In brief 'twas this: to all to do
Just as he would be done unto.
So in kind Nature's law he stood,
A temple, undefiled with blood,
A friend to everything that 's good.
The rest angels alone can fitly tell;
Haste then to them and him; and so farewell!"
I could not locate any birth or christening record for Roger Crab in Buckingham to name his parents. There are two possibilities in other parishes, but there is no way to know if they are related. There were three marriages of the correct period but again there is no way to know of a relationship. CLKJ
FindAGrave Volunteer Linda Zimmerman also remembers Roger Crab or Crabbe and offered her biography about him which i gladly add to his memorial:
"Roger Crab, Gent. of Bethnal Green, buried Sep. 14, 1680." This man was one of the eccentric characters of the last century. The most that we know of him is from a pamphlet (now very rare) written principally by himself, and entitled "The English Hermit, or the Wonder of the Age."
It appears from this publication that he had served seven years in the parliamentary army, and had his skull cloven to the brain in their service; for which he was so ill requited that he was once sentenced to death by the lord protector, and afterwards suffered two years imprisonment. When he had obtained his release, he set up a shop at
Chesham, as a haberdasher of hats.
He had not been long settled there before he began to imbibe a strange notion, that it was a sin against his body and soul to eat any sort of flesh, fish, or living creature, or to drink wine, ale, or beer. Thinking himself at the same time obliged to follow literally the injunction given to the young man in the Gospel, he quit the business, and disposing of his property gave it among the poor, reserving to himself only a small cottage at Ickenham where he resided, and a rood of land for a garden, on the produce of which he subsisted at the expense of three farthings a week, his food being bran, herbs, roots, dock-leaves, mallows, and grass; his drink, water.
How such an extraordinary change of diet agreed with his constitution the following passage from his pamphlet will shew, and give at the same time a specimen of the work: "Instead of strong drinks and wines, I give the old man a cup of water; and instead of roast mutton and rabbets, and other dainty dishes, I give him broth thickened with bran, and pudding made with bran, and turnep-leaves chop together, and grass; at which the old man (meaning my body), being moved, would know what he had done
that I used him so hardly, then I show'd him his transgression: so the warres began; the law of the old man in my fleshly members rebelled against the law of my mind, and had a shrewd skirmish; but the mind, being well enlightened, held it so that the old man grew sick and weak
with the flux, like to fall to the dust; but the wonderful love of God, well pleased with the battle, raised him up again, and filled him full of love, peace, and content of mind, and is now become more humble; for now he will eat dock-leaves, mallows, or grass."
The pamphlet was published in 1655 (fn. 152 ) . Prefixed to it is a portrait of the author cut in wood; which, from its rarity, bears a very high price.
Over the print are these lines: "Roger Crab that feeds on herbs and roots is here; "But I believe Diogenes had better cheer.
/"Rara avis in terris/."
I know nothing of this man's future history, or whether he continued his diet of herbs. A passage in his epitaph seems to intimate that he never resumed the use of animal food. It is not one of the least extraordinary parts of his history that he should so long have subsisted on a diet which, by his own account, had reduced him almost to a skeleton in 1655. It appears that he resided at Bethnalgreen at the time of his decease. A very handsome tomb was erected to his memory in the church-yard at this place; which being decayed, the ledger-stone was placed in the pathway leading across the churchyard to Whitehorse-street, where it still remains, but the inscription is almost defaced. It is given beneath (fn. 152 <#n159>) from Strype; who adds, "this Crab, they say, was a Philadelphian, or sweet finger."
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