,transcriber's note   ,minor punctuation
 errors have been changed without       
notice4 ,printer errors have been       
changed and are listed at the end4      
,the ,riverside ,biographical ,series   
,,andrew ,,jackson1 by ,w4 ,g4 ,,brown  
,,james ,b4 ,,eads1 by ,,louis ,,how    
,,benjamin ,,franklin1 by ,,paul ,e4    
,,more    ,,peter ,,cooper1 by ,r4 ,w4  
,,raymond    ,,thomas ,,jefferson1 by   
,h4 ,c4 ,,merwin    ,,william ,,penn1 by
 ,,george ,,hodges    ,,general ,,grant4
 7,in preparation7    ,,lewis ,,and     
,,clark1 by ,,william ,r4 ,,lighton4    
7,in preparation7  ,each about #ajj     
pages1 #afmo1 with photogravure         
portrait1 #ge cents2 ,school ,edition1  
#ej cents1 net     ,,houghton1 ,,mifflin
  ,,co4    ,,boston ,,and ,,new ,,york  
,the ,riverside ,biographical ,series   
,,number #f  ,,william ,,penn  ,,by     
,,george ,,hodges  ,illustration3       
,,william ,,penn     ,,by     ,,george  
,,hodges     ,illustration              
,,houghton1 ,,mifflin ,,and ,,company   

,boston3 #d ,park ,street2 ,new ,york3  
#aa ,east ,seventeenth ,street          
,chicago3 #cgh-chh ,wabash ,avenue      
,the ,riverside ,press1 ,cambridge      
,,copyright1 #aija1 ,,by ,,george       
,,hodges    ,,all ,,rights ,,reserved   
,,contents      ,,chap4                 
,,page        ,i4 ,a ,,puritan          
,,boyhood3 ,,wanstead ,,church ,,and    
,,chigwell ,,school        #a           
,,ii4 ,,at ,,oxford3 ,,influence ,,of   
,,thomas ,,loe                          
#h      ,,iii4 ,,in ,,france ,,and      
,,ireland3 ,,the ,,world ,,and ,,the    
,,other ,,world         #bb       ,,iv4 
,,penn ,,becomes ,a ,,quaker3           
,,persecution ,,and ,,controversy       
#cc        ,v4 ,,the ,,beginning ,,of   
,,penn',s ,,political ,,life3 ,,the     
,,holy            ,,experiment          
#ec       ,,vi4 ,,the ,,settlement ,,of 
,,pennsylvania3 ,,penn',s ,,first       
,,visit ,,to ,,the            ,,province
                                        
#fh      ,,vii4 ,,at ,,the ,,court ,,of 

,,james ,,the ,,second1 ,,and ,,in      
,,retirement        #ic     ,,viii4     
,,penn',s ,,second ,,visit ,,to ,,the   
,,province3 ,,closing ,,years           
#aac     ,,william ,,penn     ,i  ,a    
,,puritan ,,boyhood3 ,,wanstead ,,church
 ,,and ,,chigwell ,,school   ,the mother
 of ,william ,penn came from ,rotterdam1
 in ,holland4 ,she was the daughter of  
,john ,jasper1 a merchant of that city4 
,the lively ,mr4 ,pepys1 who met her in 
#affd1 when ,william was twenty years of
 age1 describes her as a fat1 short1 old
 ,dutchwoman1 and says that she was     
mighty homely4 ,he records a tattling   
neighbor's gossip that she was not a    
good housekeeper4 ,he credits her1      
however1 with having more wit and       
discretion than her husband1 and liked  
her better as his acquaintance with her 
progressed4 ,that she was of a cheerful 
disposition is evidenced by many        
passages of ,pepys's ,diary4 ,that is   
all we know about her4  ,william's      
father was an ambitious1 successful1 and

 important person4 ,he was twenty-two   
years old1 and already a captain in the 
navy1 when he married ,margaret ,jasper4
 ,the year after his marriage he was    
made rear-admiral of ,ireland2 two years
 after that1 admiral of the ,straits2 in
 four years more1 vice-admiral of       
,england2 and the next year1 a general  
of the sea in the ,dutch war4 ,this was 
in ,cromwell's time1 when the naval     
strength of ,england was being mightily 
increased4 ,a young man of energy and   
ability1 acquainted with the sea1 was   
easily in the line of promotion4  ,the  
family was ancient and respectable4     
,penn's father1 however1 began life with
 little money or education1 and few     
social advantages4 ,lord ,clarendon     
observed of him that he had a great mind
 to appear better bred1 and to speak    
like a gentleman1 implying that he found
 some difficulty in so doing4 ,clarendon
 said1 also1 that he had many good words
 which he used at adventure4  ,the      
,penns lived on ,tower ,hill1 in the    

,parish of ,st4 ,catherine's1 in a court
 adjoining ,london ,wall4 ,there they   
resided in two chambers1 one above      
another1 and fared frugally4 ,there     
,william was born on the #adth of       
,october1 #afdd4  ,marston ,moor was    
fought in that year1 and all ,england   
was taking sides in the contention      
between the ,parliament and the king4   
,the navy was in sympathy with the      
,parliament2 and the young officer1     
though his personal inclinations were   
towards the king1 went with his         
associates4 ,but in #afed he appears to 
have lost faith in the ,commonwealth4   
,cromwell sent an expedition to seize   
the ,spanish ,west ,indies4 ,he put     
,penn in charge of the fleet1 and made  
,venables general of the army4 ,the two 
commanders1 without conference one with 
the other1 sent secret word to ,charles 
,,ii41 then in exile on the ,continent1 
and offered him their ships and         
soldiers4 ,this transaction1 though it  
seemed for the moment to be of none     

effect1 resulted years afterward in the 
erection of the ,colony of              
,pennsylvania4 ,charles declined the    
offer2 he wished them to reserve their  
affections for his ,majesty till a more 
proper season to discover them2 but he  
never forgot it4 ,it was the beginning  
of a friendship between the ,house of   
,stuart and the family of ,penn1 which  
,william ,penn inherited4  ,the         
expedition captured ,jamaica1 and made  
it a ,british colony2 but in its other  
undertakings it failed miserably2 and   
the admiral1 on his return1 was         
dismissed from the navy and committed to
 the ,tower4  ,about that same time1 the
 admiral's young son1 being then in the 
twelfth year of his age1 beheld a       
vision4 ,his mother had removed with him
 to the village of ,wanstead1 in ,essex4
 ,here1 as he was alone in his chamber1 
he was suddenly surprised with an inward
 comfort1 and1 as he thought1 an        
external glory in his room1 which gave  
rise to religious emotions1 during which

 he had the strongest conviction of the 
being of a ,god1 and that the soul of   
man was capable of enjoying             
communication with him4 ,he believed1   
also1 that the seal of ,divinity had    
been put upon him at this moment1 or    
that he had been awakened or called upon
 to a holy life4  ,while ,william ,penn 
the elder had been going from promotion 
to promotion1 sailing the high seas1 and
 fighting battles with the enemies of   
,england1 ,william ,penn the younger had
 been living with all possible quietness
 in the green country1 saying his       
prayers in ,wanstead ,church1 and       
learning his lessons in ,chigwell       
,school4  ,wanstead ,church was         
devotedly ,puritan4 ,the chief citizens 
had signed a protest against any ,popish
 innovations1 and had agreed to punish  
every offender against the true reformed
 ,protestant religion4  ,the founder of 
,chigwell ,school had prescribed in his 
deed of gift that the master should be a
 good ,poet1 of a sound religion1       

neither ,papal nor ,puritan2 of a good  
behaviour2 of a sober and honest        
conversation2 no tippler nor haunter of 
alehouses1 no puffer of tobacco2 and1   
above all1 apt to teach and severe in   
his government4 ,here ,william studied  
,lilly's ,latin and ,cleonard's ,greek  
,grammar1 together with cyphering and   
casting-up accounts1 being a good       
scholar1 we may guess1 in the classics1 
but encountering the master's severe    
government in his sums4 ,chigwell was as
 ,puritan a place as ,wanstead4 ,about  
the time of ,william's going thither1   
the vicar had been ejected on petition  
from the parishioners1 who complained   
that he had an altar before which he    
bowed and cringed1 and which he had been
 known to kiss twice in one day4  ,it is
 plain that religion made up a large1   
interesting1 and important part of life 
in these villages in which ,william     
,penn was getting his first impressions 
of the world4 ,all about were great     
forests1 whose shadows invited him to   

seclusion and meditation4 ,all the news 
was of great battles1 most of them      
fought in a religious cause1 which even 
a lad could appreciate1 and towards     
which he would readily take an attitude 
of stout partisanship4 ,the boy was     
deeply affected by these surroundings4  
,i was bred a ,protestant1 he said long 
afterwards1 and that strictly1 too4     
,trained as he was in ,puritan habits of
 introspection1 he listened for the     
voice of ,god1 and heard it4 ,thus the  
tone of his life was set4 ,there were   
moments in his youth when the world1 as 
the phrase is1 attracted him2 there were
 times in his great career when he      
seemed1 and perhaps was1 disobedient to 
this heavenly vision2 but1 looking back 
from the end of his life to this        
beginning1 as a tale that is told1 it is
 seen to be lived throughout in the     
light of the glory which shone in his   
room at ,wanstead4 ,william ,penn from  
that hour was a markedly religious man4 
,thereafter1 nothing was so manifest or 

eminent about him as his religion4      
,,ii  ,,at ,,oxford3 ,,influence ,,of   
,,thomas ,,loe   ,on the #bb;d of       
,april1 #affa1 we get another glimpse of
 ,william4  ,mr ,pepys1 having risen    
early on the morning of that day1 and   
put on his velvet coat1 and made        
himself1 as he says1 as fine as he      
could1 repaired to ,mr4 ,young's1 the   
flag-maker1 in ,cornhill1 to view the   
procession wherein the king should ride 
through ,london4 ,there he found ,sir   
,w4 ,pen and his son1 with several      
others4 ,we had a good room to          
ourselves1 he says1 with wine and good  
cake1 and saw the show very well4 ,the  
streets were new graveled1 and the      
fronts of the houses hung with carpets1 
with ladies looking out of all the      
windows2 and so glorious was the show   
with gold and silver1 that we were not  
able to look at it1 our eyes at last    
being so overcome4  ,this was a glory   
very different from that which the lad  
had seen1 five or six years before1 in  

his room4 ,the world was here presenting
 its attractions in competition with the
 other world of the earlier vision4 ,the
 contrast is a symbol of the contention 
between the two ideals1 into which      
,william was immediately to enter4  ,the
 king and the ,duke of ,york had looked 
up as they passed the flag-maker's1 and 
had recognized the admiral4 ,he had gone
 to ,ireland1 upon his release from the 
,tower1 and had there resided in        
retirement upon an estate which his     
father had owned before him4 ,thence    
returning1 as the ,restoration became   
more and more a probability1 he had     
secured a seat in ,parliament1 and had  
been a bearer of the welcome message    
which had finally brought ,charles from 
his exile in ,holland to his throne in  
,england4 ,for his part in this pleasant
 errand1 he had been knighted and made  
,commissioner of ,admiralty and         
,governor of ,kinsale4 ,thus his        
ambitions were being happily attained4  
,he had retrieved and improved his      

fortunes1 and had become an associate   
with persons of rank and a favorite with
 royalty4  ,he had immediately sent his 
son to ,oxford4 ,william had been       
entered as a gentleman-commoner of      
,christ ,church1 at the beginning of the
 ,michaelmas term of #affj4 ,it was     
clearly the paternal intention that the 
boy should become a successful man of   
the world and courtier1 like his father4
  ,sir ,william1 however1 had not       
reflected that while he had been        
pursuing his career of calculating      
ambition and seeking the pleasure of    
princes1 his son had been living amongst
 ,puritans in a ,puritan neighborhood4  
,young ,penn went up to ,oxford to find 
all things in confusion4 ,the ,puritans 
had been put out of their places1 and   
the ,churchmen were entering in4 ,it is 
likely that this1 of itself1 displeased 
the new student1 whose sympathies were  
with the dispossessed4 ,the ,churchmen1 
moreover1 brought their cavalier habits 
with them4 ,in the reaction from the    

severity which they had just escaped1   
they did many objectionable things1 not 
only for the pleasure of doing them1 but
 for the added joy of shocking their    
,puritan neighbors4 ,they amused        
themselves freely on the ,lord's day2   
they patronized games and plays2 and    
they tippled and puffed tobacco1 and    
swore and swaggered in all the newest   
fashions4 ,william was the son of his   
father in appreciation of pleasant and  
abundant living4 ,but he was not of a   
disposition to enter into this wanton   
and audacious merry-making1--a gentle1  
serious country lad1 with a ,puritan    
conscience4  ,moreover1 at this moment1 
in the face of any possible temptation1 
,william's sober tastes and devout      
resolutions were strengthened by certain
 appealing sermons4 ,here it was at     
,oxford1 the nursery of enthusiasms and 
holy causes1 that he received the       
impulse which determined all his after  
life4 ,he spent but a scant two years in
 college2 and the work of the lecture   

rooms must have suffered seriously      
during that time from the contention and
 confusion of the changes then in       
progress2 so that academically the      
college could not have greatly profited 
him4 ,the profit came in the influence  
of ,thomas ,loe4 ,loe was a ,quaker4    
,the origin of the name ,quaker is      
uncertain4 ,it is derived by some from  
the fact that the early preachers of the
 sect trembled as they spoke2 others    
deduce it from the trembling which their
 speech compelled in those who heard it4
 ,by either derivation1 it indicates the
 earnest spirit of that strange people  
who1 in the seventeenth century1 were   
annoying and displeasing all their      
neighbors4  ,george ,fox1 the first     
,quaker1 was a cobbler2 and the first   
,quaker dress was the leather coat and  
breeches which he made for himself with 
his own tools4 ,thereafter he was       
independent both of fashions and of     
tailors4 ,cobbler though he was1 and so 
slenderly educated that he did not      

express himself grammatically1 ,fox was 
nevertheless a prophet1 according to the
 order of ,amos1 the herdman of ,tekoa4 
,he looked out into the ,england of his 
day with the keenest eyes of any man of 
the times1 and remarked upon what he saw
 with the most honest and candid speech4
 ,a man of the plain people1 like most  
of the prophets and apostles1 the       
offenses which chiefly attracted his    
attention were such as the plain people 
naturally see4  ,out of the windows of  
his cobbler's shop1 ,fox beheld with    
righteous indignation the extravagant   
and insincere courtesies of the         
gentlefolk1 and heard their exaggerated 
phrases of compliment4 ,in protest      
against the unmeaning courtesies1 he    
wore his hat in the presence of no      
matter whom1 taking it off only in time 
of prayer4 ,in protest against the      
unmeaning compliments1 he addressed no  
man by any artificial title1 calling all
 his neighbors1 without distinction of  
persons1 by their ,christian names2 and 

for the plural pronoun you1 the plural  
of dignity and flattery1 he substituted 
thee and thou4  ,the same literalness   
appeared in his selection of ,swear not 
at all as one of the cardinal           
commandments1 and in his application of 
it to the oaths of the court and of the 
state4 ,the ,sermon on the ,mount has in
 all ages been considered difficult to  
enact in common life1 but it would have 
been hard to find any sentence in it    
which in the days of ,fox and ,penn1    
with their interpretation1 would have   
brought upon a conscientious person a   
heavier burden of inconvenience4 ,not   
only did it make the ,quakers guilty of 
contempt of court and thus initially at 
fault in all legal business1 but it     
exposed them to a natural suspicion of  
disloyalty to the government4 ,it was a 
time of political change1 first the     
,commonwealth1 then ,charles1 then      
,james1 then ,william2 and every change 
signified the supremacy of a new idea in
 religion1 ,puritan1 ,anglican1 ,roman  

,catholic1 and ,protestant4 ,every new  
ruler demanded a new oath of allegiance2
 and as plots and conspiracies were     
multiplied1 the oath was required again 
and again2 so that ,england was like an 
unruly school1 whose master is          
continually calling upon the pupils to  
declare whether or no they are guilty of
 this or that offense4 ,the ,quakers    
were forbidden by their doctrine of the 
oath to make answer in the form which   
the state required4 ,and they suffered  
for this scruple as men have suffered   
for the maintenance of eternal          
principles4  ,to the social eccentricity
 of the irremoveable hat and the        
singular pronoun1 and to the civil      
eccentricity of the refused oath1       
,george ,fox and his disciples added a  
series of protests against the most     
venerable customs of ,christianity4     
,they did away with all the forms and   
ceremonies of ,churchman and of ,puritan
 alike4 ,not even baptism1 not even the 
,lord's ,supper remained4 ,their service

 was a silent meeting1 whose solemn     
stillness was broken1 if at all1 by the 
voice of one who was sensibly moved by  
the ,spirit of ,god4 ,they discarded all
 orders of the ministry4 ,they refused  
alike all creeds and all confessions4   
,not content with thus abandoning most  
that their contemporaries valued among  
the institutions of religion1 the       
,quakers made themselves obtrusively    
obnoxious4 ,they argued and exhorted1 in
 season and out of season2 they printed 
endless pages of eager and violent      
controversy2 they went into churches and
 interrupted services and sermons4      
,amongst these various denials there    
were two positive assertions4 ,one was  
the doctrine of the return to primitive 
,christianity2 the other was the        
doctrine of the inward light4 ,let us   
get back1 they said1 to those blessed   
centuries when the teaching of the      
,apostles was remembered1 and the       
fellowship of the ,apostles was         
faithfully kept1--when ,justin ,martyr  

and ,irenus and ,ignatius and the other 
holy fathers lived4 ,and let us listen  
to the inner voice2 let us live in the  
illumination of the light which lighteth
 every man1 and attend to the counsels  
of that ,holy ,spirit whose             
ministrations did not cease with the    
departure of the last ,apostle4 ,god1   
they believed1 spoke to them directly1  
and told them what to do4  ,george ,fox1
 in #afef1 had brought this teaching to 
,oxford2 and among the company of       
,quakers which had thus been gathered   
under the eaves of the university1      
,thomas ,loe had become a public        
,friend1 or1 as would commonly be said1 
a minister4 ,when ,william ,penn entered
 ,christ ,church ,college1 ,loe was     
probably in the town jail4 ,it is at    
least certain that he was imprisoned    
there1 with forty other ,quakers1       
sometime in #affj4  ,to ,loe's preaching
 many of the students listened with     
attention4 ,it is easy to see how his   
doctrines would appeal to young manhood4

 ,the fact that they were forbidden     
would attract some1 and that the man who
 preached thus had suffered for his     
faith would attract others4 ,their      
emphasis upon entire sincerity and      
consistency in word and deed would      
commend them to honest souls1 while the 
exaltation of the inward light would    
move then1 as in all ages1 the          
idealists1 the poets1 the enthusiasts   
among them4 ,william ,penn knew what the
 inward light was4 ,he had seen it      
shining so that it filled all the room  
where he was sitting4 ,accordingly1 he  
not only went to hear ,loe speak but was
 profoundly impressed by what he heard4 
,if ,penn was naturally a religious     
person1--by inheritance1 perhaps1 from  
his mother1--he was also naturally of a 
political mind1 by inheritance from his 
father4 ,what ,loe said touched both    
sides of this inheritance4 ,for the     
,quakers had already begun to dream of a
 colony across the sea4 ,the ,churchmen 
had such a colony in ,virginia2 the     

,puritans had one in ,massachusetts2    
somewhere else in that untilled         
continent there must be a place for     
those who in ,england could expect no   
peace from either ,puritan or           
,churchman4 ,not only had they planned  
to have sometime a country of their own1
 but they had already located it4 ,they 
had chosen the lands which lay behind   
the ,jerseys4 ,while ,loe was preaching 
and ,penn was listening1 ,fox was       
writing to ,josiah ,cole1 a ,quaker who 
was then in ,america1 asking him to     
confer with the chiefs of the           
,susquehanna ,indians4 ,this plan ,loe  
revealed to his student congregation4   
,it appealed to ,penn4 ,he had an       
instinctive appreciation of large ideas1
 and an imagination and confidence which
 made him eager to undertake their      
execution4 ,it was in his blood4 ,it was
 the spirit which had carried his father
 from a lieutenancy in the navy to the  
position of an honored and influential  
member of the court4 ,i had an opening  

of joy as to these parts1 he says1      
meaning ,pennsylvania1 in #affa1 at     
,oxford4  ,this meeting with ,loe was   
therefore a crisis in ,penn's life4     
,william ,penn will always be remembered
 as a leader among the early ,quakers1  
and as the founder of a commonwealth4   
,he first became acquainted with the    
,quakers1 and first conceived the idea  
of founding at ,oxford1 or assisting to 
found1 a commonwealth1 by the preaching 
of ,thomas ,loe4  ,it is a curious fact 
that the spirit of protest will often   
pass by serious offenses and fasten upon
 some apparently slight occasion which  
has rather a symbolical than an actual  
importance4 ,william ,penn1 so far as we
 know1 endured the disorders of         
anti-,puritan ,oxford without protest4  
,he entered so far into the life of the 
place as to contribute1 with other      
students1 to a series of ,latin elegies 
upon the death of the ,duke of          
,gloucester2 and he delighted1 ,anthony 
,wood tells us1 in manly sports at times

 of recreation4 ,it is true that he may 
have written to his father to take him  
away1 for ,mr4 ,pepys records in his    
journal1 under date of ,jan4 #be1 #affb1
 ,sir ,w4 ,pen came to me1 and did break
 a business to me about removing his son
 from ,oxford to ,cambridge1 to some    
private college4 ,but nothing came of   
it4 ,william is said1 indeed1 to have   
absented himself rather often from the  
college prayers1 and to have joined with
 other students whom the ,quaker        
preaching had affected in holding       
prayer-meetings in their own rooms4 ,but
 all went fairly well until an order was
 issued requiring the students1         
according to the ancient custom1 to wear
 surplices in chapel4 ,then the young   
,puritan arose1 and assisted in a ritual
 rebellion4 ,he and his friends fell    
upon those students who appeared in     
surplices1 and he and they together tore
 them everywhere over their heads4 ,not 
content with thus seizing and rending   
the obnoxious vestments1 they proceeded 

further to thrust the white gowns into  
the nearest cesspool1 into whose depths 
they poked them with long sticks4  ,this
 incident ended ,william's course at    
college4 ,it is doubtful whether he was 
expelled or only suspended4 ,he was     
dismissed1 and never returned4 ,eight   
years after1 chancing to pass through   
,oxford1 and learning that ,quaker      
students were still subjected to the    
rigors of academic discipline1 he wrote 
a letter to the vice-chancellor4 ,it    
probably expresses the sentiments with  
which as an undergraduate he had        
regarded the university authorities3    
,shall the multiplied oppressions which 
thou continuest to heap upon innocent   
,english people for their religion pass 
unregarded by the ,eternal ,god8 ,dost  
thou think to escape his fierce wrath   
and dreadful vengeance for thy ungodly  
and illegal persecution of his poor     
children8 ,i tell thee1 no4 ,better were
 it for thee thou hadst never been born4
 ,and so on1 in the controversial       

dialect of the time1 calling the        
vice-chancellor a poor mushroom1 and    
abusing him generally4 ,elsewhere1 in a 
retrospect which ,i shall presently     
quote at length1 he refers to his       
university experiences3 ,of my          
persecution at ,oxford1 and how the     
,lord sustained me in the midst of that 
hellish darkness and debauchery2 of my  
being banished the college4     ,,iii   
,,in ,,france ,,and ,,ireland3 ,,the    
,,world ,,and ,,the ,,other ,,world     
,in his retrospect of his early life1   
,penn notes what immediately followed   
his departure from the university3 ,the 
bitter usage ,i underwent when ,i       
returned to my father1--whipping1       
beating1 and turning out of doors in    
#affb4  ,the admiral was thoroughly     
angry4 ,he was at best but imperfectly  
acquainted with his son1 of whom in his 
busy life he had seen but little1 and   
was therefore unprepared for such       
extraordinary conduct4 ,he was by no    
means a religious person4 ,for the      

spiritual1 or even the ecclesiastical1  
aspects of the matter1 he cared nothing4
 ,but he had1 as ,clarendon perceived1 a
 strong desire to be well thought of by 
those who composed the good society of  
the day4 ,he expected the members of his
 family to deport themselves as befitted
 such society4 ,and here was ,william1  
whom he had carefully sent to a college 
where he would naturally consort with   
the sons of titled families1 taking up  
with a religious movement which would   
bring him into the company of cobblers  
and tinkers4 ,it is said1 indeed1 that  
,robert ,spencer1 afterwards ,earl of   
,sunderland1 helped ,william destroy the
 surplices4 ,but this is denied2 and    
even if it were true1 it would be plain1
 from ,spencer's after career1 that he  
did it not for the principle1 but for   
the fun of the thing4 ,william was in   
the most sober earnest4 ,accordingly1   
the admiral turned his son out of doors4
  ,the boy came back1 of course4        
,beating and turning out of doors were  

not such serious events in the          
seventeenth century as they would be at 
present4 ,most men said more1 and in    
louder voices1 and meant less4 ,it was  
but a brief quarrel1 and father and son 
made it up as best they could4 ,it was  
plain1 however1 that something must be  
done4 ,whipping would not avail4        
,william's head was full of queer       
notions1 upon which a stick had no      
effect4 ,his father bethought himself of
 the pleasant diversions of ,france4    
,the lad1 he said1 has lived in the     
country all his days1 and has had no    
acquaintance with the merry world2 he   
shall go abroad1 that he may see life1  
and learn to behave like a gentleman2   
let us see if this will not cure him of 
his pious follies4  ,accordingly1 to    
,france the young man went1 and traveled
 in company with certain persons of     
rank4 ,he stayed more than a year1 and  
enjoyed himself greatly4 ,he was at the 
age when all the world is new and       
interesting2 and being of attractive    

appearance and high spirits1 with plenty
 of money1 the world gave him a cordial 
welcome4 ,so far did he venture into the
 customs of the country1 that he had a  
fight one night in a ,paris street with 
somebody who crossed swords with him1   
and disarmed his antagonist4 ,he had a  
right1 according to the rules1 to kill  
him1 but he declined to do so4 ,when he 
came home1 he pleased his father much by
 his graceful behavior and elegant      
attire4 ,this day1 says ,mr4 ,pepys in  
his diary for ,august #bf1 #affd1 my    
wife tells me that ,mr4 ,pen1 ,sir      
,william's son1 is come back from       
,france1 and came to visit her4 ,a most 
modish person grown1 she says1 a fine   
gentleman4 ,pepys thinks that he is even
 a bit too ,french in his manner and    
conversation4  ,i remember your honour  
very well1 writes a correspondent years 
after1 when you came newly out of       
,france1 and wore pantaloon breeches4   
,this journey affected ,penn all the    
rest of his life4 ,it restrained him    

from following the absurder             
singularities of his associates4 ,george
 ,fox's leather suit he would have found
 impossible4 ,he wore his hat in the    
,quaker way1 and said thee and thou1 but
 otherwise he appears to have dressed   
and acted according to the conventions  
of polite society4 ,he did1 indeed1     
become a ,quaker2 but there were always 
,quakers who looked askance at him      
because he was so different from them1  
able to speak ,french and acquainted    
with the manners of drawing-rooms4  ,in 
two respects1 however1 his visit to     
,france differed from that of some of   
his companions in travel4 ,there were   
places to which they went without him2  
and there were places to which he went  
without them4 ,he kept himself from the 
grosser temptations of the country4 ,you
 have been as bad as other folks1 said  
,sir ,john ,robinson when ,penn was on  
trial for preaching in the street4      
,when1 cried ,penn1 and where8 ,i charge
 thee tell the company to my face4      

,abroad1 said ,robinson1 and at home1   
too4  ,i make this bold challenge1      
answered ,penn1 to all men1 women and   
children upon earth1 justly to accuse me
 with ever having seen me drunk1 heard  
me swear1 utter a curse1 or speak one   
obscene word 7much less that ,i ever    
made it my practice74 ,i speak this to  
,god's glory1 that has ever preserved me
 from the power of those pollutions1 and
 that from a child begot an hatred in me
 towards them4  ,he went away alone for 
some months to the ,protestant college  
of ,saumur1 where he devoted himself to 
a study of that primitive ,christianity 
in which1 as ,loe had told him1 was to  
be found the true ideal of the          
,christian ,church4 ,here he acquired an
 acquaintance with the writings of the  
early ,fathers1 from whom he liked to   
quote4  ,thus he returned to ,england in
 #affd1 attired in ,french pantaloon    
breeches1 and with little ,french       
affectations in his manner1 but without 
vices1 and with a smattering of         

patristic learning4 ,he was sent by his 
father to study law at ,lincoln's ,inn4 
,he was to be a courtier1 and in that   
position it would be both becoming and  
convenient to have some knowledge of the
 law4 ,thus he settled down among the   
lawyers1 and it seemed for the moment as
 if his father had succeeded in his     
purpose4 ,it seemed as if the world had 
effectually obscured the other world4   
,there are two letters1 written about   
this time from ,william to his father1  
which show a pleasant mixture of piety  
with a lively interest in the life about
 him4 ,he has been at sea for a few days
 with the admiral1 and returns with     
dispatches to the king4 ,i bless ,god1  
he writes1 my heart does not in any way 
fail1 but firmly believe that if ,god   
has called you out to battle1 he will   
cover your head in that smoky day4 ,he  
hastened on his errand1 he says1 to     
,whitehall1 and arrived before the king 
was up2 but his ,majesty1 learning that 
there was news1 earnestly skipping out  

of bed1 came only in his gown and       
slippers2 who1 when he saw me1 said1    
',oh6 is't you8 ,how is ,sir ,william8' 
,that was in ,may4 ,within a week the   
plague came4 ,on the #gth of ,june1     
#affe1 ,mr4 ,pepys makes this ominous   
entry3 ,this day1 he says1 much against 
my will1 ,i did in ,drury ,lane see two 
or three houses marked with a red cross 
upon the doors1 and ',lord1 have mercy1'
 written there2 which was a sad sight to
 me1 being the first of the kind that1  
to my remembrance1 ,i ever saw4 ,day by 
day the pestilence increased1 and       
presently there was no more studying at 
,lincoln's ,inn4 ,young ,penn went for  
safety into the clean country4 ,there1  
among the green fields1 in the enforced 
leisure1 with time to think1 and the    
most sobering things to think about1 his
 old seriousness returned4 ,the change  
was so marked that his father1 feeling  
that it were well to renew the pleasant 
friendship with the world which had     
begun in ,france1 sent him over to      

,ireland4  ,at ,dublin1 the ,duke of    
,ormond1 the ,lord ,lieutenant1 was     
keeping a merry court4 ,william entered 
heartily into its pleasures4 ,he resided
 upon his father's estates1 at          
,shannagarry ,castle4 ,he so            
distinguished himself in the suppression
 of a mutiny that ,ormond offered him a 
commission in the army1 and ,william was
 disposed to accept it4 ,he had his     
portrait painted1 clad in steel1 with   
lace at his throat4 ,his dark hair is   
parted in the middle1 and hangs in      
cavalier fashion over his shoulders4 ,he
 looks out of large1 clear1 questioning 
eyes2 and his handsome face is strong   
and serious4  ,but the young cavalier   
went one day to ,cork upon some         
business1 and there heard that ,thomas  
,loe was in town1 and that he was to    
preach4 ,penn went to hear him1 and     
again the spoken word was critical and  
decisive4 ,there is a faith1 said the   
preacher1 which overcomes the world1 and
 there is a faith which is overcome by  

the world4 ,such was the theme1 and it  
seemed to ,penn as if every word were   
spoken out of heaven straight to his own
 soul4 ,in the long contention which had
 been going on within him between the   
world and the other world1 the world had
 been getting the mastery4 ,the         
attractions of a martial life had shone 
more brightly than the light which had  
flamed about him in his boyhood4 ,then  
,loe spoke1 and thenceforth there was no
 more perplexity4 ,penn's choice was    
definitely made4  ,in his account of his
 travels in ,holland and ,germany1      
written some ten years after this       
crisis1 ,penn recurs to it in an address
 from which ,i have already quoted4 ,he 
was speaking in ,wiemart1 at a meeting  
in the mansion-house of the ,somerdykes1
 and was illustrating his exhortations  
from his own experience4 ,he passed in  
rapid review the incidents of his early 
life which we have recounted4 ,here ,i  
began to let them know1 he says1 how and
 where the ,lord first appeared unto me1

 which was about the twelfth year of my 
age1 in #afef2 how at times1 betwixt    
that and the fifteenth1 the ,lord       
visited me1 and the divine impressions  
he gave me of himself4 ,then the        
banishment from ,oxford1 and his        
father's turning him out of doors4 ,of  
the ,lord's dealings with me in ,france1
 and in the time of the great plague in 
,london1 in fine1 the deep sense he gave
 me of the vanity of this world1 of the 
deep irreligiousness of the religions of
 it2 then of my mournful and bitter     
cries to him that he would show me his  
own way of life and salvation1 and my   
resolution to follow him1 whatever      
reproaches or sufferings should attend  
me1 and that with great reverence and   
tenderness of spirit2 how1 after all    
this1 the glory of the world overtook   
me1 and ,i was even ready to give myself
 up unto it1 seeing as yet no such thing
 as the 'primitive spirit and church'   
upon earth1 and being ready to faint    
concerning my 'hope of the restitution  

of all things4' ,it was at this time    
that the ,lord visited me with a certain
 sound and testimony of his eternal     
word1 through one of them the world     
calls ,quakers1 namely1 ,thomas ,loe4   
,struggling1 as ,penn was1 against      
continual temptations to abandon his    
high ideal1 getting no help from his    
parents1 who were displeased at him1 nor
 from the clergy1 whose invectiveness   
and cruelty he remembers1 nor from his  
companions1 who made themselves strange 
to him2 bearing meanwhile that great    
cross of resisting and watching against 
mine own inward vain affections and     
thoughts1 the only voice of help and    
strength was that of ,thomas ,loe4      
,seeking for the primitive spirit and   
church upon earth1 he found it in the   
sect which ,loe represented4 ,his mind  
was now resolved4 ,he1 too1 would be a  
,quaker4     ,,iv  ,,penn ,,becomes ,a  
,,quaker3 ,,persecution ,,and           
,,controversy   ,william now began to   
attend ,quaker meetings1 though he was  

still dressed in the gay fashions which 
he had learned in ,france4 ,his         
sincerity was soon tested4 ,a           
proclamation made against ,fifth        
,monarchy men was so enforced as to     
affect ,quakers4 ,a meeting at which    
,penn was present was broken in upon by 
constables1 backed with soldiers1 who   
rudely and arbitrarily required every   
man's appearance before the mayor4      
,among others1 they violently haled     
,penn4 ,from jail he wrote to the ,earl 
of ,orrery1 ,lord ,president of         
,munster1 making a stout protest4 ,it   
was his first public utterance4         
,diversities of faith and conduct1 he   
argued1 contribute not to the           
disturbance of any place1 where moral   
conformity is barely requisite to       
preserve the peace4 ,he reminded his    
lordship that he himself had not long   
since concluded no way so effectual to  
improve or advantage this country as to 
dispense with freedom i4 e4 to act      
freely in all things pertaining to      

conscience4  ,penn wrote so much during 
his long life that his selected works   
make five large volumes4 ,many of these 
pages are devoted to the statement of   
,quaker theology2 some are occupied with
 descriptions of his colonial           
possessions2 some are given to counsels 
and conclusions drawn from experience   
and dealing with human life in general2 
but there is one idea which continually 
recurs1--sometimes made the subject of a
 thesis1 sometimes entering by the      
way1--and that is the popular right of  
liberty of conscience4 ,it was for this 
that he worked1 and chiefly lived1 most 
of his life4 ,here it is set forth with 
all clearness in the first public word  
which he wrote4  ,william's letter      
opened the jail doors4 ,it is likely1   
however1 that the signature was more    
influential than the epistle2 for his   
,quaker associates seem not to have come
 out with him4 ,the fact which probably 
weighed most with the ,lord ,president  
was that ,penn was the son of his father

 the admiral1 and the protg of ,ormond4 
,his father called him home4 ,it was on 
the #c;d of ,september that ,william was
 arrested2 on the #bith of ,december1   
being the ,lord's day1 ,mrs4 ,turner    
calls upon ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,pepys for an 
evening of cheerful conversation1 and   
there1 among other talk1 she tells me   
that ,mr4 ,william ,pen1 who has lately 
come over from ,ireland1 is a ,quaker   
again1 or some very melancholy thing2   
that he cares for no company1 nor comes 
into any4  ,admiral ,penn was sorely    
disappointed4 ,neither ,france nor      
,ireland had availed to wean his son    
from his religious eccentricities4 ,into
 the pleasant society where his father  
had hoped to see him shine1 he declined 
to enter4 ,he said thee and thou1 and   
wore his hat4 ,especially upon these    
points of manners1 the young man and his
 father held long discussions4 ,the     
admiral insisted that ,william should   
refrain from making himself socially    
ridiculous2 though even here he was     

willing to make a reasonable compromise4
 ,you may 'thee' and 'thou' whom you    
please1 he said1 except the king1 the   
,duke of ,york1 and myself4 ,but the    
young convert declined to make any      
exceptions4  ,thereupon1 for the second 
time1 the admiral thrust his son out of 
the house4 ,the ,quakers received him4  
,he was thenceforth accounted among them
 as a teacher1 a leader3 in their       
phrase1 a public ,friend4 ,this was in  
#affh1 when he was twenty-four years    
old4  ,the work of a ,quaker minister1  
at that time1 was made interesting and  
difficult not only by the social and    
ecclesiastical prejudices against which 
he must go1 but by certain laws which   
limited free speech and free action4    
,the young preacher speedily made       
himself obnoxious to both these kinds of
 laws4 ,of the three years which        
followed1 he spent more than a third of 
the time in prison1 being once confined 
for saying1 and twice for doing1 what   
the laws forbade4  ,the religious world 

was filled with controversy4 ,there were
 discussions in the meeting-houses2 and 
a constant stream of pamphlets came from
 the press1 part argument and part      
abuse4 ,even mild-mannered men called   
each other names4 ,the ,quakers found it
 necessary to join in this rough        
give-and-take1 and ,penn entered at once
 into this vigorous exercise4 ,he began 
a long series of like documents with a  
tract entitled ,truth ,exalted4 ,the    
intent of it was to show that ,roman    
,catholics1 ,churchmen1 and ,puritans   
alike were all shamefully in error1     
wandering in the blackness of darkness1 
given over to idle superstition1 and    
being of a character to correspond with 
their fond beliefs2 meanwhile1 the      
,quakers were the only people then      
resident in ,christendom whose creed was
 absolutely true and their lives        
consistent with it4  ,come1 he says1    
answer me first1 you ,papists1 where did
 the ,scriptures enjoin baby-baptism1   
churching of women1 marrying by priests1

 holy water to frighten the devil8 ,come
 now1 you that are called ,protestants1 
and first those who are called          
,episcopalians1 where do the ,scriptures
 own such persecutors1 false prophets1  
tithemongers1 deniers of revelations1   
opposers of perfection1 men-pleasers1   
time-servers1 unprofitable teachers8    
,the ,separatists are similarly         
cudgeled3 they are groveling in beggarly
 elements1 imitations1 and shadows of   
heavenly things4  ,presently1 a         
,presbyterian minister named ,vincent   
attacked ,quakerism4 ,joseph ,besse1    
,penn's earliest biographer1 says that  
,vincent was transported with fiery     
zeal2 which1 as he remarks in           
parenthesis1 is a thing fertile of ill  
language4 ,penn challenged him to a     
public debate2 and1 this not giving the 
,quaker champion an opportunity to say  
all that was in his mind1 he wrote a    
pamphlet1 called ,the ,sandy ,foundation
 ,shaken4 ,the full title was much      
longer than this1 in the manner of the  

time1 and announced the author's purpose
 to refute three generally believed and 
applauded doctrines3 first1 of one ,god1
 subsisting in three distinct and       
separate persons2 second1 of the        
impossibility of divine pardon without  
the making of a complete satisfaction2  
and third1 of the justification of      
impure persons by an imputed            
righteousness4  ,penn's handling of the 
doctrine of the ,trinity in this        
treatise gave much offense4 ,he had     
taken the position of his               
fellow-religionists1 that the learning  
of the schools was a hindrance to       
religion4 ,he sought to divest the great
 statements of the creed from the       
subtleties of medival philosophy4 ,he   
purposed to return to the ,scripture    
itself1 back of all councils and        
formulas4 ,asserting1 accordingly1 the  
being and unity of ,father1 ,son1 and   
,holy ,ghost1 he so refused all the     
conventional phrases of the theologians 
as to seem to them to reject the        

doctrine of the ,trinity itself4 ,he did
 deny the trinity of distinct and       
separate persons in the unity of        
essence4 ,if the word person has one    
meaning1 ,penn was right2 if it has     
another meaning1 he was wrong4 ,if a    
person is an individual1 then the       
assertion is that there are three ,gods2
 but if the word signifies a distinction
 in the divine nature1 then the unity of
 ,god remains4 ,as so often happens in  
doctrinal contention1 he and his critics
 used the same words with different     
definitions4 ,the consequence was that  
the bishop of ,london had him put in    
prison4 ,he was restrained for seven    
months in the ,tower4  ,the ,english    
prison of the seventeenth century was a 
place of disease of body and misery of  
mind4 ,penn was kept in close           
confinement1 and the bishop sent him    
word that he must either recant or die a
 prisoner4 ,i told him1 says ,penn1 that
 the ,tower was the worst argument in   
the world to convince me2 for whoever   

was in the wrong1 those who used force  
for religion could never be in the      
right4 ,he declared that his prison     
should be his grave before he would     
budge a jot4 ,thus six months passed4   
,but the situation was intolerable4 ,it 
is sometimes necessary to die for a     
difference of opinion1 but it is not    
advisable to do so for a simple         
misunderstanding4 ,penn and the bishop  
were actually in accord4 ,the young     
author therefore wrote an explanation of
 his book1 entitled ,innocency with her 
,open ,face4 ,at the same time he       
addressed a letter to ,lord ,arlington1 
principal secretary of state4 ,in the   
letter he maintained that he had        
subverted no faith1 obedience or good   
life1 and he insisted on the natural    
right of liberty of conscience3 ,to     
conceit1 he said1 that men must form    
their faith of things proper to another 
world by the prescriptions of mortal    
men1 or else they can have no right to  
eat1 drink1 sleep1 walk1 trade1 or be at

 liberty and live in this1 to me seems  
both ridiculous and dangerous4 ,these   
writings gained him his liberty4 ,the   
,duke of ,york made intercession for him
 with the king4  ,penn had occupied     
himself while in prison with the        
composition of a considerable work1     
called ,no ,cross1 ,no ,crown4 ,it is   
partly controversial1 setting forth the 
reasons for the ,quaker faith and       
practice1 and partly devotional1        
exalting self-sacrifice1 and urging men 
to simpler and more spiritual living4   
,thus the months of his imprisonment had
 been of value both to him and to the   
religious movement with which he had    
identified himself4 ,the ,quakers1 when 
,penn joined them1 had no adequate      
literary expression of their thought4   
,they were most of them intensely       
earnest but uneducated persons1 who     
spoke great truths somewhat             
incoherently4 ,penn gave ,quaker        
theology a systematic and dignified     
statement4  ,when he came out of the    

,tower1 he went home to his father4 ,the
 admiral had now recovered from his     
first indignation4 ,william was still1  
he said1 a cross to him1 but he had made
 up his mind to endure it4 ,indeed1 the 
world into which he had desired his son 
to enter was not at that moment treating
 the admiral well4 ,he was suffering    
impeachment and the gout at the same    
time4 ,he saw that ,william's religion  
was giving him a serenity in the midst  
of evil fortune which he himself did not
 possess4 ,he could appreciate his      
heroic spirit4 ,he admired him in spite 
of himself4  ,william then spent nearly 
a year in ,ireland1 administering his   
father's estates4 ,when he returned1 in 
#afgj1 he found his ,quaker brethren in 
greater trouble than before4 ,in that   
perilous season of plots and rumors of  
plots1 when ,protestants lived in dread 
of ,roman ,catholics1 and ,churchmen    
knew not at what moment the ,puritans   
might again repeat the tragedies of the 
,commonwealth1 neither church nor state 

dared to take risks4 ,the reigns of     
,mary and of ,cromwell were so recent an
 experience1 the ,papists and the       
,presbyterians were so many and so      
hostile1 that it seemed unsafe to permit
 the assembling of persons concerning   
whose intentions there could be any     
doubt4 ,any company might undertake a   
conspiracy4 ,the result of this feeling 
on the part of both the civil and the   
ecclesiastical authorities was a series 
of ordinances1 reasonable enough under  
the circumstances1 and perhaps          
necessary1 but which made life hard for 
such stout and frank dissenters as the  
,quakers4 ,at the time of ,penn's return
 from ,ireland1 it had been determined  
to enforce the ,conventicle ,act1 which 
prohibited all religious meetings except
 those of the ,church of ,england4      
,there was1 therefore1 a general        
arresting of these suspicious friends of
 ,penn's4 ,in the middle of the summer  
,penn himself was arrested4  ,the young 
preacher had gone to a meeting-house of 

the ,quakers in ,gracechurch or         
,gracious ,street1 in ,london1 and had  
found the door shut1 and a file of      
soldiers barring the way4 ,the          
congregation thereupon held a meeting in
 the street1 keeping their customary    
silence until some one should be moved  
to speak4 ,it was not long before the   
spirit moved ,penn4 ,he was immediately 
arrested1 and ,william ,mead1 a linen   
draper1 with him1 and the two were      
brought before the mayor4 ,the charge   
was that they unlawfully and            
tumultuously did assemble and congregate
 themselves together to the disturbance 
of the king's peace and to the great    
terror and disturbance of many of his   
liege people and subjects4 ,they were   
committed as rioters and sent to await  
trial at the sign of the ,black ,dog1 in
 ,newgate ,market4  ,at the trial ,penn 
entered the court-room wearing his hat4 
,a constable promptly pulled it off1 and
 was ordered by the judge to replace it 
in order that he might fine the ,quaker 

forty marks for keeping it on4 ,thus the
 proceedings appropriately began4       
,william tried in vain to learn the     
terms of the law under which he was     
arrested1 maintaining that he was       
innocent of any illegal act4 ,finally1  
after an absurd and unjust hearing1 the 
jury1 who appreciated the situation1    
brought in a verdict of guilty of       
speaking in ,gracious ,street4 ,the     
judges refused to accept the verdict1   
and kept the jury without food or drink 
for two days1 trying to make them say1  
guilty of speaking in ,gracious ,street 
to an unlawful assembly4 ,at last the   
jury brought in a formal verdict of not 
guilty1 which the court was compelled to
 accept4 ,thereupon the judges fined    
every juryman forty marks for contempt  
of court2 and ,penn and the jurors1     
refusing to pay their fines1 were all   
imprisoned in ,newgate4 ,the ,court of  
,common ,pleas presently reversed the   
judges' decision and released the jury4 
,penn was also released1 against his own

 protest1 by the payment of his fine by 
his father4  ,the admiral was in his    
last sickness4 ,he was weary1 he said1  
of the world4 ,it had not proved1 after 
all1 to be a satisfactory world4 ,he did
 not grieve now that his son had        
renounced it4 ,at the same time1 he     
could not help but feel that the        
friendship of the world was a valuable  
possession2 and he had therefore        
requested his patron1 the ,duke of      
,york1 to be his son's friend4 ,both the
 duke and the king had promised their   
good counsel and protection4 ,thus with 
a gentle and even gale1 as it says on   
his tombstone1 in much peace1 he arrived
 and anchored in his last and best port1
 at ,wanstead in the county of ,essex1  
the #afth of ,september1 #afgj1 being   
then but forty-nine years and four      
months old4  ,the admiral's death left  
his son with an annual income of about  
fifteen hundred pounds4 ,this wealth1   
however1 made no stay in his ,quaker    
zeal4 ,before the year was ended1 he was

 again in prison4  ,sir ,john ,robinson1
 the lieutenant of the ,tower1 had been 
one of the judges in the affair of      
,gracious ,street4 ,he had either taken 
a dislike to ,penn1 or else was deeply  
impressed with the conviction that the  
young ,quaker was a peril to the state4 
,finding that there was to be a meeting 
in ,wheeler ,street1 at which ,william  
was expected1 he sent soldiers and had  
him arrested4 ,they conveyed him to the 
,tower1 where he was examined4 ,i vow1  
,mr4 ,penn1 said ,sir ,john1 ,i am sorry
 for you2 you are an ingenious          
gentleman1 all the world must allow you1
 and do allow you1 that2 and you have a 
plentiful estate2 why should you render 
yourself unhappy by associating with    
such a simple people8 ,that was the     
suspicious fact4 ,men in ,robinson's    
position could not understand why ,penn 
should join his fortunes with those of  
people so different from himself1 poor1 
ignorant1 and obscure1 unless there were
 some hidden motive4 ,he must be either 

a political conspirator1 or1 as many    
said1 a ,jesuit in disguise1 which      
amounted to the same thing4 ,you do     
nothing1 said ,sir ,john1 but stir up   
the people to sedition4 ,he required him
 to take an oath that it is not lawful1 
upon any pretense whatsoever1 to take   
arms against the king1 and that he would
 not endeavour any alteration of        
government either in church or state4   
,penn would not swear4 ,he was therefore
 sentenced for six months to ,newgate4  
,i wish you wiser1 said ,robinson4 ,and 
,i wish thee better1 retorted ,penn4    
,send a corporal1 said the lieutenant1  
with a file of musqueteers along with   
him4 ,no1 no1 broke in ,penn1 send thy  
lacquey2 ,i know the way to ,newgate4   
,william continued in prison during the 
entire period of his sentence1 at first 
in a room for which he paid the jailers1
 then1 by his own choice1 with his      
fellow ,quakers in the common stinking  
jail4 ,even here1 however1 he managed1  
as before1 to write2 and he must have   

had access to books1 for what he wrote  
could not have been composed without    
sight of the authors from whom he       
quoted4 ,the most important of his      
writings at this time was ,the ,great   
,case of ,liberty of ,conscience once   
more briefly ,debated and ,defended by  
the ,authority of ,reason1 ,scripture   
and ,antiquity4  ,being released from   
prison1 ,penn set out for the           
,continent1 where he traveled in        
,germany and ,holland1 holding meetings 
as opportunity offered1 and regaining   
such strength of body as he may have    
lost amidst the rigors of confinement4  
,in #afgb1 being now back in ,england1  
and having reached the age of           
twenty-seven years1 he married ,gulielma
 ,maria ,springett1 a young and charming
 ,quakeress4 ,guli ,springett's father  
had died when she was but twenty-three  
years old1 after such valiant service on
 the ,parliamentary side in the civil   
war that he had been knighted by the    
,speaker of the ,house of ,commons4 ,her

 mother1 thus bereft1 had married ,isaac
 ,pennington1 a quiet country gentleman1
 in whose company1 after some search for
 satisfaction in religion1 she had      
become a ,quaker4 ,pennington's         
,quakerism1 together with the sufferings
 which it brought upon him1 had made him
 known to ,penn4 ,it was to him that    
,penn had written1 three years before1  
to describe the death of ,thomas ,loe4  
,taking me by the hand1 said ,william1  
he spoke thus3 ',dear heart1 bear thy   
cross1 stand faithful for ,god1 and bear
 thy testimony in thy day and           
generation2 and ,god will give thee an  
eternal crown of glory1 that none shall 
ever take from thee4 ,there is not      
another way4 ,bear thy cross4 ,stand    
faithful for ,god4'  ,it was in         
,pennington's house that ,thomas        
,ellwood lived1 as tutor to ,guli and   
the other children1 to whom one day in  
#afee had come his friend ,john ,milton1
 bringing a manuscript for him to read4 
,he asked me how ,i liked it1 and what  

,i thought of it1 which ,i modestly but 
freely told him2 and after some further 
discourse about it1 ,i pleasantly said  
to him1 ,thou hast said much here of    
,paradise ,lost1 but what hast thou to  
say about ,paradise found8 ,whereupon   
the poet wrote his second epic4         
,ellwood has left a happy description of
 ,guli ,springett4 ,she was in all      
respects1 he says1 a very desirable     
woman1--whether regard was had to her   
outward person1 which wanted nothing to 
render her completely comely2 or as to  
the endowments of her mind1 which were  
every way extraordinary4 ,and he speaks 
of her innocent1 open1 free             
conversation1 and of the abundant       
affability1 courtesy1 and sweetness of  
her natural temper4 ,her portrait fits  
with this description1 showing a bright 
face in a small1 dark hood1 with a white
 kerchief over her shoulders4 ,both her 
ancestry and her breeding would dispose 
her to appreciate heroism1 especially   
such as was shown in the cause of       

religion4 ,she found the hero of her    
dreams in ,william ,penn4 ,thus at      
,amersham1 in the spring of #afgb1 the  
two stood up in some quiet company of   
,friends1 and with prayer and joining of
 hands were united in marriage4  ,my    
dear wife1 he wrote to her ten years    
later1 as he set out for ,america1      
remember thou hast the love of my youth1
 and much the joy of my life2 the most  
beloved1 as well as the most worthy of  
all earthly comforts4 ,god knows1 and   
thou knowest it4 ,i can say it was a    
match of ,providence's making4  ,the    
,declaration of ,indulgence1 the king's 
suspension of the penalties legally     
incurred by dissent1 came conveniently  
at this time to give them a honeymoon of
 peace and tranquillity4 ,they took up  
their residence at ,rickmansworth1 in   
,hertfordshire4 ,in the autumn1 ,william
 set out again upon his missionary      
journeys1 preaching in twenty-one towns 
in twenty-one days4 ,the ,lord sealed up
 our labors and travels1 he wrote in his

 journal1 according to the desire of my 
soul and spirit1 with his heavenly      
refreshments and sweet living power and 
word of life1 unto the reaching of all1 
and consolating our own hearts          
abundantly4  ,so he returned with the   
blessings of peace1 which1 as he said1  
is a reward beyond all earthly treasure4
     ,v  ,,the ,,beginning ,,of         
,,penn',s ,,political ,,life3 ,,the     
,,holy ,,experiment   ,in #afgc1 ,george
 ,fox came back from his travels in     
,america1 and ,penn and his wife had    
great joy in welcoming him at ,bristol4 
,no sooner1 however1 had ,fox arrived   
than the ,declaration of ,indulgence was
 withdrawn4 ,it had met with much       
opposition3 partly ecclesiastical1 from 
those who saw in it a scheme to         
restablish relations between ,rome and  
,england2 and partly political1 from    
those who found but an ill precedent in 
a royal decree which set aside          
parliamentary legislation4 ,the         
religious liberty which it gave was     

good1 but the way in which that liberty 
was given was bad4 ,what was needed was 
not indulgence1 but common justice4 ,so 
the king recalled the ,declaration1 and 
,parliament being not yet ready to enact
 its provisions into law1 the prisons   
were again filled with peaceable        
citizens whose offense was their        
religion4 ,one of the first to suffer   
was ,fox1 and in his behalf ,penn went  
to court4 ,he appealed to the ,duke of  
,york4  ,the incident is significant as 
the beginning of another phase of       
,william's life4 ,thus far1 he had been 
a ,quaker preacher4 ,though he was      
unordained1 being in a sect which made  
nothing of ordination1 he was for all   
practical purposes a minister of the    
gospel4 ,he was the ,rev4 ,william      
,penn4 ,but now1 when he opened the door
 of the duke's palace1 he entered into a
 new way of living1 in which he         
continued during most of the remainder  
of his life4 ,he began to be a courtier2
 he went into politics4 ,he was still a 

,quaker1 preaching sermons and writing  
books of theological controversy2 he    
gave up no religious conviction1 and    
abated nothing of the earnestness of his
 personal piety2 but he had found1 as he
 believed1 another and more effective   
way to serve ,god4 ,he now began to     
enter into that valuable but perilous   
heritage which had been left him by his 
father1 the friendship of royalty4      
,penn found the duke's antechamber      
filled with suitors4 ,it seemed         
impossible to get into the august       
presence4 ,but ,colonel ,ashton1 one of 
the household1 looked hard at ,penn1 and
 found in him an old companion1 a friend
 of the days when ,william was still    
partaking of the joys of pleasant       
society4 ,ashton immediately got him an 
interview1 and ,penn delivered his      
request for the release of ,fox4 ,the   
duke received him and his petition      
cordially1 professing himself opposed to
 persecution for religion's sake1 and   
promising to use his influence with the 

king4 ,then1 says ,penn1 when he had    
done upon this affair1 he was pleased to
 take a very particular notice of me1   
both for the relation my father had had 
to his service in the navy1 and the care
 he had promised to show in my regard   
upon all occasions4 ,he expressed       
surprise that ,william had not been to  
see him before1 and said that whenever  
he had any business with him1 he should 
have immediate entrance and attention4  
,fox was not set at liberty by reason of
 this interview4 ,the king was willing  
to pardon ,fox1 but ,fox was not willing
 to be pardoned2 having1 as he insisted1
 done no wrong4 ,penn1 however1 had     
learned that the royal duke remembered  
the admiral's son4 ,it was an important 
fact1 and ,william thereafter kept it   
well in mind4 ,that it was a            
turning-point in his affairs1 appears in
 his reference to it in a letter which  
he wrote in #afhh to a friend who had   
reproached him for his attendance at    
court4 ,i have made it1 he says1 my     

province and business2 ,i have followed 
and pressed it2 ,i took it for my       
calling and station1 and have kept it   
above these sixteen years4  ,penn went  
back to ,rickmansworth1 and for a time  
life went on as before4 ,we get a       
glimpse of it in the good and wholesome 
orders which he established for the     
well-governing of his family4 ,in       
winter1 they were to rise at seven2 in  
summer at five4 ,breakfast was at nine1 
dinner at twelve1 supper at seven4 ,each
 meal was preceded by family prayers4   
,at the devotions before dinner1 the    
,bible was read aloud1 together with    
chapters from the ,book of ,martyrs1 or 
the writings of ,friends4 ,after supper1
 the servants appeared before the master
 and mistress1 and gave an account of   
their doings during the day1 and got    
their orders for the morrow4 ,they were 
to avoid loud discourse and troublesome 
noises2 they were not to absent         
themselves without leave2 they were not 
to go to any public house but upon      

business2 and they were not to loiter1  
or enter into unprofitable talk1 while  
on an errand4  ,with the canceling of   
the ,indulgence1 the persecution of the 
,quakers was renewed4 ,their houses were
 entered1 their furniture was seized1   
their cattle were driven away1 and      
themselves thrust into jail4 ,when no   
offense was clearly proved against them1
 the oath was tendered1 and the refusal 
to take it meant a serious imprisonment4
  ,under these circumstances1 ,penn     
wrote a ,treatise on ,oaths4 ,he also   
addressed the general public with       
,england's ,present ,interest           
,considered1 an argument against the    
attempt to compel uniformity of belief4 
,he petitioned the king and ,parliament 
in ,the ,continued ,cry of the          
,oppressed4 ,william ,brazier1 he said1 
shoemaker at ,cambridge1 was fined by   
,john ,hunt1 mayor1 and ,john ,spenser1 
vice-chancellor1 twenty pounds for      
holding a peaceable religious meeting in
 his own house4 ,the officer who        

distrained for this sum took his leather
 last1 the seat he worked upon1 wearing 
clothes1 bed1 and bedding4 ,in          
,cheshire1 ,justice ,daniel of          
,danesbury took from ,briggs and others 
the value of one hundred and sixteen    
pounds1 fifteen shillings and tenpence  
in coin1 kine1 and horses4 ,the latter  
he had the audacity to retain and work  
for his own use1 and so on1 instance    
after instance4 ,penn's acquaintance at 
court and his friendships with persons  
of position never made him an           
aristocrat4 ,he was fraternally         
interested in farmers and cobblers1 and 
cared for the plain people4 ,quakerism1 
as he held it1 was indeed a system of   
theology which he studiously taught1 but
 it was also1 and quite as much1 a      
social and intellectual democracy4 ,what
 he mightily liked about it was that    
abandonment of artificial distinctions1 
whereby all ,quakers addressed their    
neighbors by their ,christian names1 and
 that refusal to be held by formulas of 

faith1 whereby they were left free to   
accept such beliefs1 and such only1 as  
appealed to their own reason4  ,about   
this time he engaged in controversy with
 ,mr4 ,richard ,baxter4 ,baxter is      
chiefly remembered as the author of ,the
 ,saints' ,everlasting ,rest1 but he was
 a most militant person1 who rejoiced   
greatly in a theological fight4 ,passing
 by ,rickmansworth1 and finding many    
,quakers there1--to him a sad           
spectacle1--he sought to reclaim them1  
and thus fell speedily into debate with 
,penn4 ,the two argued from ten in the  
morning until five in the afternoon1 a  
great crowd listening all the time with 
breathless interest4 ,neither could get 
the other to surrender2 but so much did 
,william enjoy the exercise that he     
offered ,baxter a room in his house1    
that they might argue every day4  ,in   
#afgg1 having now removed to an estate  
of his wife's at ,worminghurst1 in      
,sussex1 ,penn1 in company with ,fox1   
,barclay1 and other ,quakers1 made a    

religious voyage into ,holland and      
,germany1 preaching the gospel4 ,his    
journal of these travels is printed in  
his works4 ,at ,osnaburg1 he writes1 we 
had a little time with the man of the   
inn where we lay2 and left him several  
good books of ,friends1 in the ,high and
 ,low ,dutch tongues1 to read and       
dispose of4 ,then1 in the next sentence1
 he continues1 the next morning1 being  
the fifth day of the week1 we set       
forward to ,herwerden1 and came thither 
at night4 ,this is the city where the   
,princess ,elizabeth ,palatine hath her 
court1 whom1 and the countess in company
 with her1 it was especially upon us to 
visit4 ,thus they went1 ministering to  
high and low alike1 in their democratic 
,christian way making no distinction    
between tavern-keepers and princesses4  
,as they talked with ,elizabeth and her 
friend the countess1 discoursing upon   
heavenly themes1 they were interrupted  
by the rattling of a coach1 and callers 
were announced4 ,the countess fetched a 

deep sigh1 crying out1 ',o the cumber   
and entanglements of this vain world6   
,they hinder all good4' ,upon which1    
says ,william1 ,i replied1 looking her  
steadfastly in the face1 ',o come thou  
out of them1 then4' ,this journey was of
 great importance as affecting          
afterwards the population of            
,pennsylvania4 ,here it was that ,penn  
met various communities of a separating 
and seeking turn of mind1 who found in  
him a kindred spirit4 ,when he          
established his colony1 many of them    
came out and joined it1 becoming the    
,pennsylvania ,dutch4  ,during these    
travels ,penn wrote letters to the      
,prince ,elector of ,heidelberg1 to the 
,graf of ,bruch and ,falschenstein1 to  
the ,king of ,poland1 together with an  
epistle ,to the ,churches of ,jesus     
throughout the world4 ,this was a kind  
of correspondence in which he delighted4
 ,like ,wesley1 after him1 he had taken 
the world for his parish4 ,he considered
 himself a citizen of the planet1 and   

took an episcopal and pontifical        
interest in the affairs of men and      
nations4 ,he combined in an unusual way 
the qualities of the saint and the      
statesman4 ,his mind was at the same    
time religious and political4           
,accordingly1 as he came to have a      
better acquaintance with himself1 he    
entered deliberately upon a course of   
life in which these two elements of his 
character could have free play4 ,he     
applied himself to the task of making   
politics contribute to the advancement  
of religion4 ,many men before him had   
been eminently successful in making     
politics contribute to the advancement  
of the church4 ,penn's purpose was      
deeper and better4  ,he came near1 at   
this time1 to getting ,parliament to    
assent to a provision permitting        
,quakers to affirm1 without oath2 but   
the sudden proroguing of that body      
prevented it4 ,in the general election  
which followed1 he made speeches for    
,algernon ,sidney1 who was standing for 

a place in ,parliament4 ,he wrote       
,england's ,great ,interest in the      
,choice of a ,new ,parliament1 and ,one 
,project for the ,good of ,england4 ,the
 project was that ,protestants should   
stop contending one with another and    
unite against a common enemy4  ,this was
 in #afgi4 ,the next year he took the   
decisive step4 ,he entered upon the     
fulfillment of that great plan1 which   
had been in his mind since his student  
days at ,oxford1 and with which he was  
occupied all the rest of his life4 ,he  
began to undertake the planting of a    
colony across the sea4  ,penn had       
already had some experience in colonial 
affairs4 ,with the downfall of the      
,dutch dominion in the ,new ,world1     
,england had come into possession of two
 important rivers1 the ,hudson and the  
,delaware1 and of the countries which   
they drained4 ,of these estates1 the    
,duke of ,york had become owner of ,new 
,jersey4 ,he1 in turn1 dividing it into 
two portions1 west and east1 had sold   

,west ,jersey to ,lord ,berkeley1 and   
,east ,jersey to ,sir ,george ,carteret4
 ,berkeley had sold ,west ,jersey to a  
,quaker1 ,john ,fenwick1 in trust for   
another ,quaker1 ,edward ,byllinge4     
,these ,quakers1 disagreeing1 had asked 
,penn to arbitrate between them4        
,byllinge had fallen into bankruptcy1   
and his lands had been transferred to   
,penn as receiver for the benefit of the
 creditors4 ,thus ,william had come into
 a position of importance in the affairs
 of ,west ,jersey4 ,presently1 in #afgi1
 ,east ,jersey came also into the       
market1 and ,penn and eleven others     
bought it at auction4 ,these twelve took
 in other twelve1 and the twenty-four   
appointed a ,quaker governor1 ,robert   
,barclay4  ,now1 in #afhj1 having had   
his early interest in ,america thus     
renewed and strengthened1 ,penn found   
that the king was in his debt to the    
amount of sixteen thousand pounds4 ,part
 of this money had been loaned to the   
king by ,william's father1 the admiral2 

part of it was the admiral's unpaid     
salary4 ,mr4 ,pepys has recorded in his 
diary how scandalously ,charles left his
 officers unpaid4 ,the king1 he says1   
could not walk in his own house without 
meeting at every hand men whom he was   
ruining1 while at the same time he was  
spending money prodigally upon his      
pleasures4 ,pepys himself fell into     
poverty in his old age1 accounting the  
king to be in debt to him in the sum of 
twenty-eight thousand pounds4  ,penn    
considered his account collectible4 ,i  
have been1 he wrote1 these thirteen     
years the servant of ,truth and         
,friends1 and for my testimony's sake   
lost much1--not only the greatness and  
preferment of the world1 but sixteen    
thousand pounds of my estate which1 had 
,i not been what ,i am1 ,i had long ago 
obtained4 ,it is doubtful1 however1 if  
the king would have ever paid a penny4  
,it is certain that when ,william       
offered to exchange the money for a     
district in ,america1 ,charles agreed to

 the bargain with great joy4  ,the      
territory thus bestowed was all that    
tract or part of land in ,america1      
bounded on the east by the ,delaware    
,river1 from twelve miles northward of  
,new ,castle town unto the three and    
fortieth degree of northern latitude4   
,the said land to extend westward five  
degrees in longitude1 to be computed    
from the said eastern bounds1 and the   
said lands to be bounded on the north by
 the beginning of the three and fortieth
 degree of northern latitude and on the 
south by a circle drawn at twelve miles 
distance from ,new ,castle1 northward   
and westward1 unto the beginning of the 
fortieth degree of northern latitude1   
and then by a straight line westward to 
the limits of longitude above mentioned4
  ,this was a country almost as large as
 ,england4 ,no such extensive domain had
 ever been given to a subject by an     
,english sovereign3 but none had ever   
been paid for by a sum of money so      
substantial4  ,on the #dth of ,march1   

#afha1 the charter received the         
signature of ,charles the ,second4 ,on  
the #bast of ,august1 #afhb1 the ,duke  
of ,york signed a deed whereby he       
released the tract of land called       
,pennsylvania to ,william ,penn and his 
heirs forever4 ,about the same time1 by 
a like deed1 the duke conveyed to ,penn 
the district which is now called        
,delaware4 ,penn agreed1 on his part1 as
 a feudal subject1 to render yearly to  
the king two skins of beaver1 and a     
fifth part of all the gold and silver   
found in the ground2 and to the duke one
 rose at the feast of ,st4 ,michael the 
,archangel4  ,this association of       
sentiment and religion with a           
transaction in real estate is a fitting 
symbol of the spirit in which the       
,pennsylvania colony was undertaken4    
,penn received the land as a sacred     
trust4 ,it was regarded by him not as a 
personal estate1 but as a religious     
possession to be held for the good of   
humanity1 for the advancement of the    

cause of freedom1 for the furtherance of
 the kingdom of heaven4 ,he wrote at the
 time to a friend that he had obtained  
it in the name of ,god1 that thus he may
 serve his truth and people1 and that an
 example may be set up to the nations4  
,he believed that there was room there  
for such an holy experiment4     ,,vi   
,,the ,,settlement ,,of ,,pennsylvania3 
,,penn',s ,,first ,,visit ,,to ,,the    
,,province   ,that ,penn undertook the  
holy experiment without expectation or  
desire of profit appears not only in his
 conviction that he was thereby losing  
sixteen thousand pounds1 but in his     
refusal to make his new estates a means 
of gain4 ,he is offered great things1   
says ,james ,claypole in a letter dated 
,september1 #afha1 #fjjj for a monopoly 
in trade1 which he refused4444 ,he      
designs to do things equally between all
 parties1 and ,i believe truly does aim 
more at justice and righteousness and   
spreading of truth than at his own      
particular gain4 ,i would not abuse ,his

 love1 said ,penn1 nor act unworthy of  
,his providence1 and so defile what came
 to me clean4 ,no1 let the ,lord guide  
me by ,his wisdom1 and preserve me to   
honour ,his name1 and serve ,his truth  
and people1 that an example and standard
 may be set up to the nations4  ,so far 
removed was he from all self-seeking1   
that he was even unwilling to have the  
colony bear his name4 ,i chose ,new     
,wales1 he says1 recounting the action  
of the king's council1 being1 as this1 a
 pretty hilly country1--but ,penn being 
,welsh for head1 as ,pennanmoire in     
,wales1 and ,penrith in ,cumberland1 and
 ,penn in ,buckinghamshire1 the highest 
land in ,england--the king called this  
,pennsylvania1 which is the high or head
 woodlands2 for ,i proposed1 when the   
secretary1 a ,welshman1 refused to have 
it called ,new ,wales1 ,sylvania1 and   
they added ,penn to it2 and though ,i   
much opposed it1 and went to the king to
 have it struck out and altered1 he said
 it was past1 and he would take it upon 

him2 nor could twenty guineas move the  
under-secretary to vary the name1 for ,i
 feared lest it should be looked on as a
 vanity in me1 and not as a respect in  
the king1 as it truly was1 to my father1
 whom he often mentions with praise4    
,the charter gave the land to ,penn as  
the king's tenant4 ,he had power to make
 laws2 though this power was to be      
exercised1 except in emergencies1 with  
the advice1 assent1 and approbation of  
the freemen of the territory1 and       
subject to the confirmation of the      
,privy ,council4 ,he was to appoint     
judges and other officers4 ,he had the  
right to assess custom on goods laden   
and unladen1 for his own benefit2 though
 he was to take care to do it           
reasonably1 and with the advice of the  
assembly of freemen4 ,he was1 at the    
same time1 to be free from any tax or   
custom of the king1 except by his own   
consent1 or by the consent of his       
governor or assembly1 or by act of      
,parliament4 ,he was not to maintain    

correspondence with any king or power at
 war with ,england1 nor to make war     
against any king or power in amity with 
the same4 ,if as many as twenty of his  
colonists should ask a minister from the
 ,bishop of ,london1 such minister was  
to be received without denial or        
molestation4  ,the next important       
document to be prepared was the         
,constitution1 or ,frame of ,government1
 and to the task of composing it ,penn  
gave a great amount of time and care4   
,it was preceded by two statements of   
principles1--the ,preface and the ,great
 ,fundamental4  ,the ,preface declared  
the political policy of the proprietor4 
,government1 he said1 seems to me a part
 of religion itself1 a thing sacred in  
its institution and end4 ,as for the    
debate between monarchy1 aristocracy1   
and democracy1 ,i choose1 he said1 to   
solve the controversy with this small   
distinction1 and it belongs to all      
three3 any government is free to the    
people under it1 whatever be the frame1 

where the laws rule1 and the people are 
a party to those laws4 ,his purpose1 he 
says1 is to establish the great end of  
all government1 viz41 to support power  
in reverence with the people1 and to    
secure the people from the abuse of     
power1 that they may be free by their   
just obedience1 and the magistrates     
honourable for their just               
administration2 for liberty without     
obedience is confusion1 and obedience   
without liberty is slavery4  ,in a      
private letter1 written about the same  
time1 ,penn stated his political        
position in several concrete sentences  
which interpret these fine but rather   
vague pronouncements4 ,for the matters  
of liberty and privilege1 he wrote1 ,i  
propose that which is extraordinary1 and
 to leave myself and successors no power
 of doing mischief1 that the will of one
 man may not hinder the good of an whole
 country2 but to publish these things   
now and here1 as matters stand1 would   
not be wise4  ,the ,great ,fundamental  

set forth the ecclesiastical policy of  
the founder3 ,in reverence to ,god1 the 
father of light and spirits1 the author 
as well as the object of all divine     
knowledge1 faith and workings1 ,i do1   
for me and mine1 declare and establish  
for the first fundamental of the        
government of my province1 that every   
person that doth and shall reside there 
shall have and enjoy the free profession
 of his or her faith and exercise of    
worship towards ,god1 in such way and   
manner as every such person shall in    
conscience believe is most acceptable to
 ,god4  ,these principles of civil and  
religious liberty constituted the holy  
experiment4 ,they made the difference   
between ,penn's colony and almost every 
other government then existing4 ,in     
their influence and continuance1 until  
at last they were incorporated in the   
,constitution of the ,united ,states1   
they are the chief contribution of      
,william ,penn to the progress of our   
institutions4     ,all ,europe with     

amazement saw    ,the soul's high       
freedom trammeled by no law4  ,the      
,constitution was drawn up in ,articles 
to the number of twenty-four1 and these 
were followed by forty ,laws4  ,the     
,articles provided for a governor1 to be
 appointed by the proprietor1 and for   
two legislative bodies1 a provincial    
council and a general assembly4 ,the    
provincial council was to consist of    
seventy-two members4 ,of these a third  
were elected for three years1 a third   
for two1 and a third for one2 so that by
 the end of the service of the first    
third1 all would have a three-year term1
 twenty-four going out and having their 
places filled each year4 ,the business  
of the council was to prepare laws1 to  
see that they were executed1 and in     
general to provide for the good conduct 
of affairs4 ,the general assembly was to
 consist of two hundred members1 to be  
chosen annually4 ,they had no right to  
originate legislation1 but were to pass 
upon all bills which had been enacted by

 the council1 accepting or rejecting    
them by a vote of yea or nay4  ,the     
,laws enjoined that all persons who     
confessed the one almighty and eternal  
,god to be the ,creator1 ,upholder1 and 
,ruler of the world1 and who held       
themselves obliged in conscience to live
 peaceably and justly in society1 were  
in no ways to be molested for their     
religious persuasion and practice1 nor  
to be compelled at any time to frequent 
any religious place or ministry         
whatever4 ,all children of the age of   
twelve were to be taught some useful    
trade4 ,all pleadings1 processes1 and   
records in the courts of law were to be 
as short as possible4 ,the reformation  
of the offender was to be considered as 
a great part of the purpose of          
punishment4 ,at a time when there were  
in ,england two hundred offenses        
punishable by death1 ,penn reduced these
 capital crimes to two1 murder and      
treason4 ,all prisons were to be made   
into workhouses4 ,no oath was to be     

required4 ,drinking healths1 selling rum
 to ,indians1 cursing and lying1        
fighting duels1 playing cards1 the      
pleasures of the theatre1 were all put  
under the ban together4  ,penn's        
provincial council suggested the ,senate
 of the ,united ,states4 ,as originally 
established1 however1 the disproportion 
of power between the upper and the lower
 house was so great as to cause much    
just dissatisfaction4 ,the council was  
in effect a body of seventy-two         
governors2 the assembly1 which more     
directly represented the people1 could  
consider no laws save those sent down to
 them by the council4 ,the ,constitution
 had to be changed4  ,one of the good   
qualities of the ,constitution was that 
it was possible to change it4 ,it       
provided for the process of amendment4  
,that customary article with which all  
constitutions now end appeared for the  
first time in ,penn's ,frame of         
,government4 ,another good quality of   
the ,constitution was that it secured an

 abiding harmony between its fundamental
 statements and all further legislation4
 ,penn was the first one to hit upon the
 foundation or first step in the true   
principle1 now the universal law in the 
,united ,states1 that the               
unconstitutional law is void4  ,whatever
 help ,penn may have had in the framing 
of this legislation1 from ,algernon     
,sidney and other political friends1 it 
is plain that the best part of it was   
his own1 and that he wrote it not as a  
politician but as a ,quaker4 ,it is an  
application of the ,quaker principles of
 democracy and of religious liberty to  
the conditions of a commonwealth4 ,from 
beginning to end it is the work of a man
 whose supreme interest was religion4   
,it is at the same time singularly free 
from the narrowness into which men of   
this earnest mind have often fallen4    
,religion1 as ,penn considered it1 was  
not a matter of ordinances or rubrics4  
,it was righteousness1 and fraternity1  
and liberty of conscience4  ,in this    

spirit he wrote a letter to the ,indian 
inhabitants of his province4 ,the great 
,god1 who is the power and wisdom that  
made you and me1 incline your hearts to 
righteousness1 love1 and peace4 ,this ,i
 send to assure you of my love1 and to  
desire you to love my friends2 and when 
the great ,god brings me among you1 ,i  
intend to order all things in such a    
manner that we may all live in love and 
peace1 one with another1 which ,i hope  
the great ,god will incline both me and 
you to do4 ,i seek nothing but the      
honour of his name1 and that we1 who are
 his workmanship1 may do that which is  
well pleasing to him4444 ,so ,i rest in 
the love of ,god that made us4  ,now    
colonists began to seek this land of    
peace across the sea4 ,a hundred acres  
were promised for forty shillings1 with 
a quit-rent of one shilling annually to 
the proprietor forever4 ,in clearing the
 ground1 care was to be taken to leave  
one acre of trees1 for every five acres 
cleared4 ,all transactions with the     

,indians were to be held in the public  
market1 and all differences between the 
white man and the red were to be settled
 by a jury of six planters and six      
,indians4 ,penn also counseled          
prospective colonists to consider the   
great inconveniences which they must of 
necessity endure1 and hoped that those  
who went would have the permission if   
not the good liking of their near       
relations4  ,there were already in the  
province some two thousand people1      
besides ,indians1--a peaceable and      
industrious folk1 mostly ,swedes and    
,english4 ,they had six meeting-houses2 
the ,english settlers being ,quakers4   
,they lived along the banks of the      
,delaware4 ,in the autumn of #afha1 the 
ship ,sarah and ,john brought the first 
of ,penn's emigrants1 and in ,december  
the ship ,bristol ,factor added others4 
,in #afhb1 ,penn came himself4  ,the    
journey at that time was both long and  
perilous4 ,if it was accomplished in two
 months1 the voyage was considered      

prosperous4 ,to the ordinary dangers of 
the deep was added the terror of the    
smallpox4 ,scarcely a ship crossed      
without this dread passenger4 ,william1 
accordingly1 as one undertaking a       
desperate adventure1 took a tender leave
 of his family4 ,he wrote a letter whose
 counsels might guide them in case he   
never returned4 ,my dear wife and       
children1 he said1 my love1 which       
neither sea1 nor land1 nor death itself 
can extinguish or lessen towards you1   
most endearedly visits you with eternal 
embraces1 and will abide with you       
forever2 and may the ,god of my life    
watch over you1 and bless you1 and do   
you good in this world and forever4 ,be 
diligent1 he advised his wife1 in       
meetings for worship and business1 444  
and let meetings be kept once a day in  
the family to wait upon the ,lord1 444  
and1 my dearest1 to make thy family     
matters easy to thee1 divide thy time   
and be regular2 it is easy and sweet4444
 ,cast up thy income1 and see what it   

daily amounts to1 444 and ,i beseech    
thee to live low and sparingly1 till my 
debts are paid4 ,as for the children1   
they are to be bred up in the love of   
virtue1 and that holy plain way of it1  
which we have lived in1 that the world  
in no part of it get into my family4    
,they are to be carefully taught4 ,for  
their learning be liberal1 spare no     
cost4 ,agriculture is especially in my  
eye2 let my children be husbandmen and  
housewives2 it is industrious1 healthy1 
honest1 and of good example4 ,they are  
to honor and obey their mother1 to love 
not money nor the world1 to be temperate
 in all things4 ,if they come presently 
to be concerned in the government of    
,pennsylvania1 ,i do charge you1 their  
father wrote1 before the ,lord ,god and 
the holy angels1 that you be lovely1    
diligent and tender1 fearing ,god1      
loving the people1 and hating           
covetousness4 ,let justice have its     
impartial course1 and the law free      
passage4 ,though to your loss1 protect  

no man against it2 for you are not above
 the law1 but the law above you4 ,live  
the lives yourselves1 you would have the
 people live4  ,unhappily1 of ,guli's   
children1 seven in number1 four died    
before their mother1 and one1 the eldest
 son1 ,springett1 shortly after4        
,springett inherited the devout spirit  
of his parents2 his father wrote an     
affecting account of his pious death4   
,of the two remaining1 ,william fell    
into ways of dissipation1 and ,letitia  
married a man whom her father disliked4 
,neither of them had any inheritance in 
,pennsylvania4  ,penn's ship1 the       
,welcome1 carried a hundred passengers1 
most of them ,quakers from his own      
neighborhood4 ,a third part died of     
smallpox on the way4 ,on the #bdth of   
,october1 he sighted land2 on the #bgth1
 he arrived before ,newcastle1 in       
,delaware2 on the #bhth1 he landed4     
,here he formally received turf and     
twig1 water and soil1 in token of his   
ownership4 ,on the #bith1 he entered    

,pennsylvania4 ,adding ten days to this 
date1 to bring it into accord with our  
present calendar1 we have ,november #h  
as the day of his arrival in the        
province4 ,the place was ,upland1 where 
there was a settlement already2 the name
 was that day changed to ,chester4      
,penn was greatly pleased with his new  
possessions4 ,he wrote a description of 
the country for the ,free ,society of   
,traders4 ,the air1 he said1 was sweet  
and clear1 and the heavens serene4      
,trees1 fruits1 and flowers grew in     
abundance3 especially a great1 red      
grape1 and a white kind of muskadel1 out
 of which he hopes it may be possible to
 make good wine4 ,the ground was        
fertile4 ,the ,indians he found to be   
tall1 straight1 and well built1 walking 
with a lofty chin4 ,their language was  
like the ,hebrew1 and he guessed that   
they were descended from the ten lost   
tribes of ,israel4 ,light of heart1 they
 seemed to him1 with strong affections1 
but soon spent2 444 the most merry      

creatures that live4 ,though they were  
under a dark night in things relating to
 religion1 yet were they believers in   
,god and immortality4  ,i bless the     
,lord1 he wrote in a letter1 ,i am very 
well1 and much satisfied with my place  
and portion4 ,o how sweet is the quiet  
of these parts1 freed from the anxious  
and troublesome solicitations1 hurries1 
and solicitations of woeful ,europe6    
,in the midst of these fair regions1    
beside the wedded rivers1 the ,delaware 
and the ,schuylkill1 in the convenient  
neighborhood of quarries of building    
stone1 at a place which the ,indians    
called ,coaquannoc1 he established his  
capital city1 calling it                
,philadelphia1--perhaps in token of the 
spirit of brotherly love in which it was
 founded1 perhaps in remembrance of     
those seven cities of the ,revelation   
wherein was that primitive ,christianity
 which he wished to reproduce4  ,here he
 had his rowers run his boat ashore at  
the mouth of ,dock ,creek1 which now    

runs under ,dock ,street1 where several 
men were engaged in building a house1   
which was afterwards called the ,blue   
,anchor ,tavern4 ,penn brought a        
considerable company with him4 ,in the  
minutes of a ,friends' meeting held on  
the #hth 7#ahth7 of ,november1 #afhb1 at
 ,shackamaxon1 now ,kensington1 it was  
recorded that1 at this time1 ,governor  
,penn and a multitude of ,friends       
arrived here1 and erected a city called 
,philadelphia1 about half a mile from   
,shackamaxon4 ,presently1 the ,indians  
appeared4 ,they offered ,penn of their  
hominy and roasted acorns1 and1 after   
dinner1 showed him how they could hop   
and jump4 ,he is said to have entered   
heartily into these exercises1 and to   
have jumped farther than any of them4   
,the governor had already determined the
 plan of the city4 ,there were to be two
 large streets1--one fronting the       
,delaware on the east1 the other        
fronting the ,schuylkill on the west2 a 
third avenue1 to be called ,high ,street

 7now ,market71 was to run from river to
 river1 east and west2 and a fourth1    
called ,broad ,street1 was to cross it  
at right angles1 north and south4       
,twenty streets were to lie parallel    
with ,broad1 and to be named ,first     
,street1 ,second ,street1 and so on in  
order1 in the plain ,quaker fashion     
which had thus entitled the days of the 
week and the months of the year4 ,eight 
were to lie parallel with ,high1 and to 
be called after the trees of the        
forest1--,spruce1 ,chestnut1 ,pine4 ,in 
the midst of the city1 at the crossing  
of ,high and ,broad ,streets1 was to be 
a square of ten acres1 to contain the   
public offices2 and in each quarter of  
the city was to be a similar open space 
for walks4 ,the founder intended to     
allow no house to be built on the river 
banks1 keeping them open and beautiful4 
,could he have foreseen the future1 he  
would have made the streets wider4 ,he  
had in mind1 however1 only a country    
town4 ,let every house be placed1 he    

directed1 if the person pleases1 in the 
middle of its plot1 as to the breadth   
way of it1 that so there may be ground  
on each side for gardens or orchards or 
fields1 that it may be a green country  
town1 which will never be burnt and     
always wholesome4  ,among those houses  
was his own1 a modest structure made of 
brick1 standing on ,front ,street south 
of the present ,market ,street1 and     
still preserved in ,fairmont ,park4 ,he 
afterwards gave it to his daughter      
,letitia1 and it was called ,letitia    
,house1 from her ownership4  ,in the    
mean time1 he was making his famous     
treaty with the ,indians4 ,penn         
recognized the ,indians as the actual   
owners of the land4 ,he bought it of    
them as he needed it4 ,the transfer of  
property thus made was a natural        
occasion of mutual promises4 ,as there  
were several such meetings between the  
,quakers and the ,indians1 it is        
difficult to fix a date to mark the     
fact4 ,one meeting took place1 it is    

said1 under a spreading elm at          
,shackamaxon4 ,the commonly accepted    
date is the #bc;d of ,june1 #afhc4 ,the 
elm was blown down in #ahaj4 ,there is a
 persistent tradition to the effect that
 ,william was distinguished from his    
fellow ,quakers in this transaction by  
wearing a sky-blue sash of silk network4
 ,but of this1 as of most other details 
of ceremony in connection with the      
matter1 we know nothing4  ,penn gives a 
general description of his various      
conferences upon this business4 ,their  
order1 he says1 is thus3 the king sits  
in the middle of a half-moon1 and has   
his council1 the old and wise1 on each  
hand4 ,behind them1 or at a little      
distance1 sit the younger fry in the    
same figure4 ,then one speaks in their  
king's name1 and ,penn answers4 ,when   
the purchase was agreed great promises  
passed between us of kindness and good  
neighbourhood1 and that the ,english and
 the ,indians must live in love as long 
as the sun gave light1 444 at every     

sentence of which they shouted1 and said
 ,amen1 in their way4 ,some earnestness 
may have been added to these assuring   
responses by the ,indians' consciousness
 of the fact that the advantages of the 
bargain were not all on one side4 ,the  
,pennsylvania tribes had been thoroughly
 conquered by the ,five ,nations4 ,there
 was little heart left in them4 ,but    
their condition detracts nothing from   
,penn's ,christian brotherliness4  ,in  
some such manner the great business was 
enacted4 ,this1 said ,voltaire1 was the 
only treaty between these people and the
 ,christians that was not ratified by an
 oath1 and that was never broken4 ,that 
it was never broken was the capital     
fact4 ,herein it differed from a        
thousand other treaties made before or  
since4 ,in the midst of the long story  
of the misdealings of the white men with
 the red1 which begins with ,cortez and 
,pizarro1 and is still continued in the 
daily newspapers1 this justice and      
honesty of ,william ,penn is a point of 

light4 ,that ,penn treated the ,indians 
as neighbors and brothers2 that he paid 
them fairly for every acre of their     
land2 that the promises which he made   
were ever after unfailingly kept is     
perhaps his best warrant of abiding     
fame4 ,like his constitutional          
establishment of civil and religious    
liberty1 it was a direct result of his  
,quaker principles4 ,it was a           
manifestation of that righteousness     
which he was continually preaching and  
practicing4  ,the kindness and courtly  
generosity which ,penn showed in his    
bargains with the ,indians is happily   
illustrated in one of his purchases of  
land4 ,the land was to extend as far    
back as a man could walk in three days4 
,william walked out a day and a half of 
it1 taking several chiefs with him1     
leisurely1 after the ,indian manner1    
sitting down sometimes to smoke their   
pipes1 to eat biscuit and cheese1 and   
drink a bottle of wine4 ,thus they      
covered less than thirty miles4 ,in     

#agcc1 the then governor employed the   
fastest walker he could find1 who in the
 second day and a half marked eighty-six
 miles4  ,the treaty gave the new colony
 a substantial advantage4 ,the ,lenni   
,lenape1 the ,mingoes1 the ,shawnees    
accounted ,penn's settlers as their     
friends4 ,the word went out among the   
tribes that what ,penn said he meant1   
and that what he promised he would      
fulfill faithfully4 ,thus the planters  
were freed from the terror of the forest
 which haunted their neighbors1 north   
and south4 ,they could found cities in  
the wilderness and till their scattered 
farms without fear of tomahawk or       
firebrand4 ,penn himself went twenty    
miles from ,philadelphia1 near the      
present ,bristol1 to lay out his country
 place of ,pennsbury4  ,ships were now  
arriving with sober and industrious     
emigrants2 trees were coming down1      
houses were going up4 ,in ,july1 #afhc1 
,penn wrote to ,henry ,sidney1 in       
,england1 reminding him that he had     

promised to send some fruit-trees1 and  
describing the condition of the colony4 
,we have laid out a town a mile long and
 two miles deep4444 ,i think we have    
near about eighty houses built1 and     
about three hundred farms settled round 
the town4444 ,we have had fifty sail of 
ships and small vessels1 since the last 
summer1 in our river1 which shows a good
 beginning4 ,i am mightily taken with   
this part of the world1 he wrote to     
,lord ,culpeper1 who had come to be     
governor of ,virginia1 ,i like it so    
well1 that a plentiful estate1 and a    
great acquaintance on the other side1   
have no charms to remove2 my family     
being once fixed with me1 and if no     
other thing occur1 ,i am likely to be an
 adopted ,american4 ,our heads are dull1
 he added1 but our hearts are good and  
our hands strong4  ,in the midst of this
 peace and prosperity1 however1 there   
was a serious trouble4 ,this was a      
dispute with ,lord ,baltimore over the  
dividing line between ,pennsylvania and 

,maryland4 ,by the inaccuracy of        
surveyors1 the confusion of maps1 and   
the indefiniteness of charters1         
,baltimore believed himself entitled to 
a considerable part of the territory    
which was claimed by ,penn1 including   
even ,philadelphia4 ,the two proprietors
 had already discussed the question     
without settlement2 indeed1 it remained 
a cause of contention for some seventy  
years4 ,as finally settled1 in #agcb1   
between the heirs of ,penn and of       
,baltimore1 a line was established from 
,cape ,henlopen west to a point half way
 between ,delaware ,bay and ,chesapeake 
,bay2 thence north to twelve miles west 
of ,newcastle1 and so on to fifteen     
miles south of ,philadelphia2 thence due
 west4 ,the surveyors were ,charles     
,mason and ,jeremiah ,dixon1 and the    
line was thus called ,mason and ,dixon's
 ,line4 ,this boundary afterwards parted
 the free ,states from the slave        
,states4 ,south of it was ,dixie4  ,penn
 now learned that ,lord ,baltimore was  

on his way to ,england to lay the       
question before the ,privy ,council4    
,the situation demanded ,william's      
presence4 ,i am following him as fast as
 ,i can1 he wrote to the ,duke of ,york1
 praying that a perfect stop be put to  
all his proceedings till ,i come4 ,he   
therefore took leave of his friends in  
the province1 commissioned the          
provincial council to act in his stead1 
and in ,august1 #afhd1 having been two  
years in ,america1 he embarked for home4
  ,on board the ,endeavour1 on the eve  
of sailing1 he wrote a farewell letter4 
,and thou1 ,philadelphia1 he said1 the  
virgin settlement of this province1     
named before thou wert born1 what love1 
what care1 what service and what travail
 has there been to bring thee forth and 
preserve thee from such as would abuse  
and defile thee6 ,o that thou mayest be 
kept from the evil that would overwhelm 
thee2 that faithful to the ,god of      
mercies in the life of righteousness1   
thou mayest be preserved to the end4 ,my

 soul prays to ,god for thee that thou  
mayest stand in the day of trial1 that  
thy children may be blessed of the      
,lord1 and thy people saved by thy      
power4 ,my love to thee has been great1 
and the remembrance of thee affects mine
 heart and mine eye4 ,the ,god of       
eternal strength keep and preserve thee 
to his glory and peace4     ,,vii  ,,at 
,,the ,,court ,,of ,,james ,,the        
,,second1 ,,and ,,in ,,retirement       
,when ,penn left the province in #afhd1 
he expected to return speedily1 but he  
did not see that pleasant land again    
until #afii4 ,the fifteen intervening   
years were filled with contention1      
anxiety1 misfortune1 and various        
distresses4  ,in the winter of #afhd-he1
 ,charles ,,ii4 died1 and the ,duke of  
,york1 his brother1 succeeded him as    
,james ,,ii4 ,and ,james was the patron 
and good friend of ,william ,penn4 ,but 
the king was a ,roman ,catholic4 ,one of
 his first acts upon coming to the      
throne was to go publicly to mass4 ,he  

was privately resolved upon making the  
,roman ,church supreme in ,england4     
,penn was stoutly opposed to the king's 
religion4 ,in his ,seasonable ,caveat   
against ,popery1 as well as in his other
 writings1 he had expressed his dislike 
with characteristic frankness4 ,that he 
had himself been accused of being a     
,jesuit had naturally impelled him to   
use the strongest language to belie the 
accusation4 ,nevertheless1 ,william     
,penn stood by the king4 ,he sought and 
kept the position of favorite and agent 
of the court4 ,he upheld1 and so far as 
he could1 assisted1 the projects of a   
reign which1 had it continued1 would    
probably have contradicted his most     
cherished principles1 abolished liberty 
of conscience1 and made an end of       
,quakers4  ,this perplexing             
inconsistency1 which is the only serious
 blot on ,penn's fair fame1 appears to  
have been the result of two convictions4
  ,he was sure1 in the first place1 of  
the honesty of the king2 he believed in 

him with all his heart4 ,james had been 
true to the trust reposed in him by     
,william's father4 ,he had befriended   
,william1 taking him out of prison1     
increasing his estates1 granting his    
petitions4 ,anybody1 said ,penn1 that   
has the least pretense to good-nature1  
gratitude1 or generosity1 must needs    
know how to interpret my access to the  
king4 ,with his advance to the crown    
,james's graciousness had increased4 ,he
 kept great lords waiting without while 
he conversed at leisure with the        
,quaker4 ,he liked ,penn1 and ,penn     
liked him4 ,in spite of the disparities 
in their age1 rank1 and creed1 ,william 
,penn and ,james ,stuart were fast      
friends1 united by the bond of genuine  
affection4  ,it was characteristic of   
,penn to be blind to the faults of his  
friends4 ,he brought great troubles both
 upon himself and upon his colony by his
 refusal to believe the reports which   
were made to him against the character  
of men whom he had appointed to office3 

he was unwilling to believe evil of any 
man4 ,he fell into bankruptcy1 and even 
into a debtor's prison1 by his blind1   
unquestioning confidence in the agent   
who managed his business4 ,his faith in 
,james was of a piece with his whole    
character4 ,he appears to have been     
temperamentally incapable of perceiving 
the unworthiness of anybody whom he     
liked4  ,together with this conviction  
as to the king's honesty1 and bound up  
with it1 was a like belief in the wisdom
 of the king's plan4 ,the king's plan   
was to remove all disabilities arising  
from religion4 ,he purposed not only to 
put an end to the laws under which      
honest men were kept in prison1 but to  
abolish the tests which prevented a     
,roman ,catholic from holding office4   
,and1 without tarrying for the action of
 a cautious ,parliament1 his intention  
was to do these things at once by a     
declaration of the royal will4 ,all this
 was approved by ,william ,penn4  ,that 
the laws which disturbed ,protestant    

dissenters should be changed1 he argued 
at length in a pamphlet entitled ,a     
,persuasion to ,moderation4 ,moderation1
 as he defined it1 meant liberty of     
conscience to church dissenters2 a cause
 which1 with all humility1 he said1 he  
had undertaken to plead against the     
prejudices of the times4 ,he maintained 
that toleration was not only a right    
inherent in religion1 but that it was   
for the political and commercial good of
 the nation4 ,repression and            
persecution1 he said1 drive men into    
conspiracies4 ,the importing of         
religious distinctions into the affairs 
of state deprives the country of the    
services of some of its best men4 ,his  
father1 upon the occasion of the first  
,dutch war1 had submitted to the king a 
list of the ablest sea officers in the  
kingdom4 ,the striking of the names of  
nonconformists from this list had robbed
 the king at that time of ten men1 whose
 greater knowledge and valour1 than any 
other ten of that fleet1 had1 in their  

room1 been able to have saved a battle1 
or perfected a victory4 ,as for a       
declaration of indulgence1 ,penn deemed 
it the sovereign remedy of the ,english 
constitution4  ,that the tests should be
 removed1 he urged on ,james's behalf   
upon ,william of ,orange1 to whom he    
went in ,holland on an informal         
commission from the king4 ,william1 by  
his marriage with ,james's daughter1 was
 heir apparent to the throne of         
,england1 and his consent was necessary 
to any serious change of national       
policy4 ,he insisted on the tests4      
,theoretically1 ,penn was right4 ,the   
ideal state imposes no religious tests2 
every good citizen1 no matter what his  
private creed may be1 is eligible to any
 office4 ,practically1 ,penn was wrong1 
as ,william of ,orange plainly saw4     
,that prince1 as appeared afterwards1   
was as zealous for religious freedom as 
was ,penn himself2 but it was plain to  
him that as matters stood at that time  
in ,england1 it was necessary to enforce

 the tests in order to prevent the rise 
of an ecclesiastical party whose        
supremacy would endanger all that ,penn 
desired4 ,penn1 with his stout faith in 
the king1 could not see it4 ,there were 
times1 indeed1 when he was perplexed and
 troubled4 ,the ,lord keep us in this   
dark day6 he wrote to his steward at    
,pennsbury4 ,be wise1 close1 respectful 
to superiors4 ,the king has discharged  
all ,friends by a general pardon1 and is
 courteous1 though as to the ,church of 
,england1 things seem pinching4 ,several
 ,roman ,catholics got much into places 
in the army1 navy1 court4 ,nevertheless1
 the king's plan1 as he understood it1  
gave assurance of liberty of conscience1
 and the end of persecution for         
opinion's sake2 and he supported the    
king4  ,under these conditions1 misled  
by friendship1 seeing1 but not          
perceiving1 ,penn persuaded himself that
 he could excellently serve ,god and his
 neighbors by becoming a courtier4 ,he  
took a house in ,london1 within easy    

distance of ,whitehall1 and visited the 
king daily4 ,a great many people        
therefore visited ,penn daily2 sometimes
 as many as two hundred were waiting to 
confer with him4 ,they desired that he  
would do this or that for their good    
with the king4 ,most of them were       
,quakers2 many were in need of pardon1  
or were burdened by some oppression4    
,for example1 ,sir ,robert ,stuart of   
,coltness had been in exile as a        
,presbyterian1 and on his return found  
his lands in the possession of the ,earl
 of ,arran4 ,he brought his case to     
,penn4 ,penn went to ,arran4 ,what is   
this1 friend ,james1 that ,i hear of    
thee8 he said4 ,thou hast taken         
possession of ,coltness's castle4 ,thou 
knowest that it is not thine4 ,that     
estate1 ,arran explained1 ,i paid a     
great price for4 ,i received no other   
reward for my expensive and troublesome 
embassy to ,france1 except this estate4 
,all very well1 friend ,james1 said     
,penn1 but of this assure thyself1 that 

if thou dost not give me this moment an 
order on thy chamberlain for two hundred
 pounds to ,coltness to carry him down  
to his native country1 and a hundred a  
year to subsist on till matters are     
adjusted1 ,i will make it as many       
thousands out of thy way with the king4 
,arran complied immediately4  ,again1   
one day after dinner1 as they were      
drinking a glass of wine together1 one  
of ,penn's clients said1 ,i can tell you
 how you can prolong my life4 ,i am no  
physician1 answered ,william1 but       
prithee tell me what thou meanest4 ,the 
client replied that a good friend of    
his1 ,jack ,trenchard1 was in exile1 and
 if you1 he said1 could get him leave to
 come home with safety and honour1 the  
drinking now and then a bottle with     
,jack ,trenchard would make me so       
cheerful that it would prolong my life4 
,penn smilingly promised to do what he  
could1 and in a month the two friends   
were drinking his good health4  ,this   
was the kind of business which he       

transacted4 ,he had found a way to be of
 eminent service to his neighbors1 and  
especially to his ,quaker brethren1 and 
he made the most of the opportunity4    
,there is no evidence that he departed  
from the disinterested life which he had
 previously lived4 ,he attended the     
court of ,king ,james1 as he had        
undertaken the settlement of            
,pennsylvania1 not for what he could get
 out of it1 but for the good he could do
 by means of it4 ,what he did1 he tells 
us1 was upon a principle of charity4 ,i 
never accepted any commission1 he says1 
but that of a free and common solicitor 
for sufferers of all sorts and in all   
parties4 ,neither is there any instance 
of his asking anything to increase his  
own estate or position4  ,indeed1 he was
 losing money2 for the expenses of life 
at court were great4 ,worse still1 he   
was losing his good name4 ,his ,quaker  
friends found him hard to understand4   
,it was true that he had cast in his lot
 with them1 and had suffered for their  

cause1--he was their great theologian   
and preacher2 but he seemed1            
nevertheless1 to be still a cavalier and
 a worldly person4 ,they heard--though  
there was no truth in the report--that  
he had set up a military company in     
,pennsylvania4 ,they saw with their own 
eyes that he lived in a style which must
 have seemed to them altogether         
inconsistent with simplicity1 and that  
he consorted with courtiers4 ,and they  
did not like it1--they said so frankly4 
,as for enemies1 the king's favorite had
 many1 inevitably4 ,the lords who waited
 in the antechamber while ,penn was     
closeted with ,james did not look       
pleasantly at him when he came out4 ,the
 stout ,protestants1 who hated the      
king's ways1 and suspected the king's   
designs1 could not easily think well of 
one who was so closely in his counsels4 
,one of ,penn's friends told him what   
these people said of him3 ,your post is 
too considerable for a ,papist of an    
ordinary form1 and therefore you must be

 a ,jesuit2 nay1 to confirm that        
suggestion1 it must be accompanied with 
all the circumstances that may best give
 it an air of probability1--as that you 
have been bred at ,st4 ,omer's in the   
,jesuit ,college2 that you have taken   
orders at ,rome1 and there obtained a   
dispensation to marry2 and that you have
 since then frequently officiated as a  
priest in the celebration of the mass1  
at ,whitehall1 ,st4 ,james's1 and other 
places4 ,it seems absurd enough to us1  
but many intelligent persons1 even      
,archbishop ,tillotson of ,canterbury1  
believed it4 ,the detail of ,st4 ,omer  
came1 probably1 from a confusion of the 
name with ,saumur4 ,the other suspicions
 grew out of ,penn's place in the favor 
of the king4  ,it seemed as if nothing  
could prejudice the king's matters in   
the eyes of ,penn4 ,monmouth's rebellion
 came1 and the king's revenge followed4 
,judge ,jeffreys went on his bloody     
circuit4 ,about three hundred hanged1   
,penn wrote1 in divers towns of the     

west2 about one thousand to be          
transported4 ,i begged twenty of the    
king4 ,it was all bad1 and one regrets  
to find ,penn concerned in it4 ,still1  
his twenty probably fared better than   
their neighbors4 ,it is likely that he  
sent them to be colonists in            
,pennsylvania4  ,in the matter of the   
maids of ,taunton1 ,william seems       
clearly to have had no part4 ,a company 
of little schoolgirls1 led by their     
teacher1 had marched in procession to   
celebrate the landing of ,monmouth4 ,for
 this offense their parents were heavily
 fined1 and the fines were given to the 
queen's maids of honor4 ,these ladies   
wrote to a ,mr4 ,penne to get him to    
collect them4 ,macaulay thought that    
this pardon-broker was ,william ,penn4  
,it is flagrantly inconsistent with his 
character1 and he has been adequately   
vindicated by various writers4 ,the     
agent in this case was probably ,george 
,penne1 a person in that business4      
,penn's course is not so clear in the   

matter of the presidency of ,magdalen   
,college4 ,one of the steps in ,james's 
plan to change the religion of ,england 
was to get a foothold for teachers of   
his faith at the universities4 ,he      
intended to capture ,oxford and         
,cambridge4 ,he had so far succeeded at 
,oxford as to get possession of ,christ 
,church and ,university ,college1 and1  
the presidency of ,magdalen falling     
vacant1 he ordered the fellows to elect 
a man of his own choice4 ,the fellows   
refused to obey the order1--thereupon   
,penn1 who had at first taken their part
 with the king1 advised them to         
surrender4 ,mr4 ,penn1 said ,dr4 ,hough1
 representing the fellows1 in this ,i   
will be plain with you4 ,we have our    
statutes and oaths to justify us in all 
that we have done hitherto2 but1 setting
 this aside1 we have a religion to      
defend1 and ,i suppose yourself would   
think us knaves if we would tamely give 
it up4 ,the ,papists have already gotten
 ,christ ,church and ,university2 the   

present struggle is for ,magdalen2 and  
in a short time they threaten they will 
have the rest4  ,to this ,penn replied  
with vehemence3 ,that they shall never  
have1 assure yourselves2 if once they   
proceed so far they will quickly find   
themselves destitute of their present   
assistance4 ,for my part1 ,i have always
 declared my opinion that the           
preferments of the ,church should not be
 put into any other hands but such as   
they are at present in2 but ,i hope you 
would not have the two universities such
 invincible bulwarks for the ,church of 
,england1 that none but they must be    
capable of giving their children a      
learned education4 ,i suppose two or    
three colleges will content the         
,papists4 ,finally1 the king's men broke
 down the doors1 turned out the         
professors and students1 and gave the   
king his way4 ,penn was thus the agent  
of tyranny2 but he was an innocent      
agent4 ,he made a bad blunder2 but he   
made it honestly and ignorantly4 ,it was

 in accord with his democratic ideas    
that the universities should be places  
of instruction for all the people2 he   
would have liked to see not only the    
,roman ,catholics1 but all the great    
divisions of religion in ,england       
represented there4 ,and that fine idea  
misled him4 ,to hold him guilty1 here or
 elsewhere1 of malice or hypocrisy1 is  
to misread his character4 ,he was simply
 mistaken1--mistaken in the king1       
mistaken in the application of his own  
principles4  ,meanwhile1 the nation at  
large was making no mistake4 ,the people
 saw ,james as he was1 and detected his 
designs upon the liberties of ,england4 
,at last1 in ,april1 #afhh1 he issued a 
,declaration of ,indulgence4 ,he added  
insult to injury by ordering that it    
should be read in every church in the   
realm4 ,the seven bishops who protested 
were sent to the ,tower4 ,then the end  
came with speed4 ,william of ,orange was
 invited into ,england4 ,the nation     
welcomed him with acclamations4 ,james  

fled before him into ,france1 where he  
lived the remainder of an inglorious    
life4  ,this was a hard change for      
,william ,penn1 and he seems to have    
done nothing to make it easier4 ,there  
were courtiers who passed with          
incredible swiftness from one allegiance
 to the other2 he was not among them4   
,others fled to ,france1 but he stayed4 
,he was arrested4 ,in his examination   
before the ,privy ,council he declared  
that he had done nothing but what he    
could answer for before ,god and all the
 princes in the world2 that he loved his
 country and the ,protestant religion   
above his life1 and had never acted     
against either2 that all he had ever    
aimed at in his public endeavors was    
none other than what the king had       
declared for religious liberty2 that    
,king ,james had always been his friend1
 and his father's friend1 and that in   
gratitude he himself was the king's1 and
 did ever1 as much as in him lay1       
influence him to his true interest4     

,penn was released4  ,the new king began
 his reign with the ,toleration ,act1   
which ,parliament passed in #afhh1 and  
from which dates the establishment of   
actual and abiding religious liberty in 
,england4 ,thus ,penn's great purpose   
was accomplished by one with whom he was
 not in accord4 ,sometimes a political  
party adopts the projects for which its 
opponents have long labored1 and carries
 them out even more vigorously than they
 had been planned originally4 ,the      
initial reformers are glad that their   
ideals have been realized1 but their    
zeal must be uncommonly impersonal if   
the success brings them quite so much   
joy as it logically ought4 ,it is not   
likely that the ,toleration ,act filled 
the soul of ,william ,penn with great   
jubilation4 ,indeed1 we know that he    
insisted to the end of his life that    
,james1 if he had been let alone1 would 
have done all that ,william did1 and    
more too1 and better4  ,the years which 
followed were full of trouble4 ,macaulay

 says that in #afhi ,penn was plotting  
against the government2 but the evidence
 does not suffice to establish the fact4
 ,the ,privy ,council1 in #afij1        
confronted ,penn with an intercepted    
letter to him from ,james1 asking for   
help4 ,but1 as ,penn said1 he could not 
hinder the king from writing to him4 ,he
 added1 however1 with characteristic    
boldness1 that since he had loved ,king 
,james in his prosperity he should not  
hate him in his adversity4 ,he was again
 discharged4  ,in that same year1       
however1 ,james invaded ,ireland1 and   
the situation of his friends in ,england
 was thereby made increasingly          
difficult4 ,penn was arrested with      
others1 and in prison awaited trial for 
several months4 ,the result was as      
before1--he was found in no offense4    
,but before a month had passed1 he      
learned that another warrant was out    
against his liberty4 ,officers went to  
take him at the funeral of ,george ,fox1
 but arrived too late4 ,by this time he 

had concluded that the path of prudence 
was that which led into a wise          
retirement4 ,he hid himself for the     
space of three years4 ,he was publicly  
proclaimed a traitor1 and was deprived  
of the government of his colony4 ,he was
 hunted up and down1 he says1 and could 
never be allowed to live quietly in city
 or country4  ,finally1 the government  
were persuaded either that ,penn was    
innocent1 or that no further danger was 
to be apprehended from him1 and several 
noblemen1 interceding with the king1    
procured his pardon4 ,they represented  
his case1 he says1 as not only hard1 but
 oppressive1 there being no evidence but
 what impostors1 or those that fled1 or 
that have since their pardon refused to 
verify 7and asked me pardon for saying  
what they did7 alleged against me4 ,the 
king announced that ,penn was his old   
acquaintance1 and that he might follow  
his business as freely as ever1 and that
 for his part he had nothing to say to  
him4  ,thus again1 and at last1 the     

political accusations against ,william  
,penn came to nothing4 ,he had been in a
 hard position as the faithful friend of
 a dethroned monarch in a day when      
conspiracies were being made on every   
hand4 ,that he should have been         
suspected of treason was inevitable4    
,that in his unconcealed affection for  
,james and disapproval of ,william he   
said imprudent things is likely enough4 
,prudence was not one of his virtues4   
,he was never calculatingly careful of  
his own welfare4 ,but that he was ever  
untrue to ,william1 or did any act1 or  
consented to any1 which could reasonably
 be called treacherous1 is not only     
quite unproved1 but is out of accord    
with the true ,william ,penn as he is   
revealed in his writings and in all his 
life4 ,the only fault which has been    
clearly established against him is that 
of liking ,james better than he liked   
,william4 ,he was a stanch friend to his
 friend2 that is the sum of his         
offending1 wherein the only serious     

regret is that his friend was not more  
worthy of his steadfast and unselfish   
friendship4 ,at no time in his life1    
says ,mr4 ,fiske1 does he seem more     
honest1 brave1 and lovable1 than during 
the years1 so full of trouble for him1  
that intervened between the accession of
 ,james and the accession of ,anne4     
,,viii  ,,penn',s ,,second ,,visit ,,to 
,,the ,,province3 ,,closing ,,years     
,the thoughts with which ,penn's mind   
was occupied during the years of hiding 
appear in his book1 ,some ,fruits of    
,solitude4 ,robert ,louis ,stevenson    
found a copy of it in a book-shop in    
,san ,francisco1 and carried it in his  
pocket many days1 reading it in         
street-cars and ferry-boats4 ,he found  
it1 he says1 in all places a peaceful   
and sweet companion2 and he adds1 there 
is not a man living1 no1 nor recently   
dead1 that could put1 with so lovely a  
spirit1 so much honest1 kind wisdom into
 words4  ,the author blesseth ,god for  
his retirement1 so the book begins1 and 

kisses the gentle hand which led him    
into it2 for though it should prove     
barren to the world1 it can never do so 
to him4 ,he has now had some time he can
 call his own2 a property he was never  
so much master of before2 in which he   
has taken a view of himself and the     
world1 and observed wherein he hath hit 
and missed the mark4 ,and he verily     
thinks1 were he to live his life over   
again1 he could not only1 with ,god's   
grace1 serve him1 but his neighbor and  
himself1 better than he hath done1 and  
have seven years of his life to spare4  
,government and ,religion have the      
longest chapters in this volume of      
reflections1 as being the matters in    
which ,william was most interested4     
,happy that king1 he says1 who is great 
by justice1 and that people who are free
 by obedience4 ,where example keeps pace
 with authority1 power hardly fails to  
be obeyed1 and magistrates to be        
honoured4 ,let the people think they    
govern1 and they will be governed4      

,religion is the fear of ,god1 and its  
demonstration good works2 and faith is  
the root of both4 ,to be like ,christ1  
then1 is to be a ,christian4 ,some folk 
think they may scold1 rail1 hate1 rob1  
and kill too3 so it be but for ,god's   
sake4 ,but nothing in us1 unlike him1   
can please him4 ,so the book goes1 page 
after page1 always serious and sensible1
 full of simplicity and kindliness1     
cheerful and brotherly and unfailingly  
religious4 ,it is the work of one who is
 trying his best to live for his        
brethren and in ,christ's spirit4       
,another significant writing of this    
period is ,penn's ,plan for the ,peace  
of ,europe4 ,the calamities of the war  
then in progress on the ,continent gave 
him arguments enough for the            
desirableness of peace4 ,the means of   
peace is justice1 and the means of      
justice is government4 ,it is plain to  
all that a state wherein any private    
citizen might avenge himself upon his   
neighbor would be a place of confusion  

and distress4 ,for this cause they have 
sessions1 terms1 assizes1 and           
parliaments1 to overrule men's passions 
and resentments1 that they may not be   
judges in their own cause1 nor punishers
 of their own wrongs4 ,penn proposes    
that the same relation between peace and
 justice which is enforced between      
citizen and citizen be also enforced    
between nation and nation4 ,now1 he     
says1 if the sovereign princes of       
,europe 444 for love of peace and order 
would agree to meet by their stated     
deputies in a general ,diet1 ,estates or
 ,parliament and there establish rules  
of justice for sovereign princes to     
observe one to another2 and thus to meet
 yearly1 or once in two or three years  
at the farthest1 or as they shall see   
cause1 and to be stiled1 ,the ,sovereign
 or ,imperial ,diet1 ,parliament or     
,state of ,europe3 before which         
,sovereign ,assembly should be brought  
all differences depending between one   
sovereign and another that cannot be    

made up by private embassies before the 
sessions begin2 and that if any of the  
sovereignties that constitute these     
imperial states shall refuse to submit  
their claim or pretensions to them1 or  
to abide and perform the judgment       
thereof and seek their remedy by arms1  
or delay their compliance beyond the    
time prefixt in their resolutions1 all  
the other sovereignties1 united as one  
strength1 shall compel the submission   
and performance of the sentence1 with   
damages to the suffering party1 and     
charges to the sovereignties that       
obliged their submission2 444 peace     
would be procured and continued in      
,europe4 ,the principle of international
 arbitration1 the ,conference at the    
,hague1 and all like meetings which     
shall be held hereafter1 are thus       
foreshadowed4  ,these two productions of
 ,penn's season of retirement--the      
,fruits of ,solitude1 and the ,plan for 
the ,peace of ,europe--illustrate again 
the two qualities which make him        

singularly eminent among the founders of
 commonwealths4 ,he was at once a       
philosopher and a statesman2 he was     
interested alike in religion and in     
politics4 ,there have been many         
politicians to whom religion has been of
 no concern4 ,there have been many      
religious persons in high positions who 
have been so shut in by church walls    
that they have been incapable of a wider
 outlook2 they have accordingly been    
narrow1 prejudiced1 and often           
unpractical people2 they have been blind
 to the elemental social fact of        
difference2 they have hated the thought 
of toleration4 ,penn was almost alone   
among the good men of our era of        
colonization in being at the same time a
 man of the world and a man of the other
 world4  ,penn came out of his exile in 
#afic burdened with misfortune4 ,he had 
been deprived of his government2 he was 
sadly in debt2 he had lost many of his  
friends4 ,his colonists in ,pennsylvania
 declined to lend him money4 ,his       

brethren in ,england drew up a          
confession of wrong-doing for him to    
sign3 ,if in any things during those    
late revolutions ,i have concerned      
myself either by words or writings1 in  
love1 pity or good will to any in       
distress meaning the king further than  
consisted with ,truth's honor or the    
,church's peace1 ,i am sorry for it4    
,but he would not sign4 ,to these       
troubles was added a greater grief in   
the death of his wife4 ,an excellent    
wife and mother1 he said of her1 an     
entire and constant friend1 of a more   
than common capacity1 and greater       
modesty and humility2 yet most equal and
 undaunted in danger4 ,a brave soul1 no 
doubt1 as befitted her parentage1 and of
 a devout and consecrated spirit4  ,but 
,william was ever of a serene and       
cheerful disposition4 ,neither loss1 nor
 disappointment1 nor bereavement could  
shut out the sun4 ,his religious faith  
strengthened him4 ,we must needs        
disorder ourselves1 he had written in   

his ,fruits of ,solitude1 if we only    
look at our losses4 ,but if we consider 
how little we deserve what is left1 our 
passions will cool1 and our murmurs will
 turn into thankfulness4 ,though our    
,saviour's passion is over1 his         
compassion is not4 ,that never fails his
 humble1 sincere disciples2 in him they 
find more than all that they lose in the
 world4  ,during the six years which    
followed1 this strong confidence was    
justified4 ,he regained his government  
and his good name4 ,he also married a   
second wife1 ,hannah ,callowhill1 a     
strong1 sensible1 and estimable ,quaker 
lady of some means1 living in ,bristol4 
,the only satisfactory information as to
 the personal appearance of ,penn in    
mature life is that which is given by   
,sylvanus ,bevan4 ,bevan was a ,quaker  
apothecary in ,london1 who had a        
remarkable gift for carving portraits in
 ivory4 ,after ,penn's death1 he made   
such a portrait of him from memory4 ,the
 men who had known ,william liked it    

greatly4 ,lord ,cobham1 to whom ,bevan  
sent it1 said1 ,it is ,william ,penn    
himself4 ,it represents him in a curled 
wig1 with full cheeks and a double      
chin--a pleasant1 masterful1 and serious
 person4 ,clarkson says that in his     
attire he was very neat1 though plain4  
,penn advised his children to choose    
clothes neither unshapely nor           
fantastical2 and he illustrated to ,king
 ,james the difference between the      
,roman ,catholic and the ,quaker        
religions by the difference between his 
hat and the king's4 ,the only           
difference1 he said1 lies in the        
ornaments that have been added to thine4
 ,his dress was probably that which was 
common to gentlemen in his day1 but     
without extremes of color or adornment4 
,for some time after becoming a ,quaker 
he wore his sword1 having consulted     
,fox1 who said1 ,i advise thee to wear  
it as long as thou canst4 ,presently    
,fox1 seeing him without it1 said1      
,william1 where is thy sword8 ,to which 

,penn replied1 ,i have taken thy advice3
 ,i wore it as long as ,i could4  ,the  
sober cheerfulness of ,penn's attire    
comported well with his conversation4   
,it is true that ,bishop ,burnet1 who   
did not like him1 says that he had a    
tedious1 luscious way of talking1 not   
apt to overcome a man's reason1 though  
it might tire his patience4 ,but ,dean  
,swift enjoyed him1 and testified that  
he talked very agreeably and with great 
spirit4 ,the ,friends of ,reading       
,meeting even noted that he was         
facetious in conversation1 and there is 
a tradition of a venerable ,friend who  
spoke of him as having naturally an     
excess of levity of spirit for a grave  
minister4 ,a handsome1 graceful1 and    
even a merry gentleman it was who       
married ,hannah ,callowhill4  ,for a    
time he devoted himself again to the    
work of the ministry4 ,he went about1 as
 in former days1 preaching1 sometimes in
 the market-hall1 sometimes in the      
fields4 ,once1 in ,ireland1 the bishop  

sent an officer to disperse the meeting1
 complaining that ,penn had left him    
nobody to preach to but the mayor1      
church-wardens1 a few of the constables1
 and the bare walls4  ,his heart1       
however1 was in his province4 ,the      
affairs of ,pennsylvania had been going 
badly4 ,there had been a hot contention 
between the council and the assembly1   
and another between the province and the
 territory4 ,the officials1 too1 whom   
,penn had appointed1 had quarreled among
 themselves4 ,william complained that   
they were excessively governmentish2    
meaning that they liked authority and   
that they took details very seriously4  
,the situation1 however1 was inevitably 
difficult4 ,in his relation to the king1
 the governor was a feudal sovereign2 in
 his relation to the people he was1 by  
,penn's arrangement1 the executive of a 
democracy4 ,penn himself reconciled the 
two positions by his own tact and       
unselfishness1 as well as by a certain  
masterfulness to which those about him  

instinctively and willingly yielded4 ,he
 proved the motto of his book-plate1    
,dum ,clavum ,teneam2 all went well     
while he with his own hands held the    
helm4 ,but his deputies were not so     
competent4 ,the colony fell into two    
parties1 the proprietary and the        
popular1 representing these two ideas4  
,then the governor whom the king had    
appointed during ,penn's retirement was 
a soldier1 and his un-,quakerlike       
notions as to the right conduct of a    
colony brought a new element of         
confusion into affairs which were       
already sufficiently confounded4  ,at   
last1 in #afii1 it became possible for  
the founder to make another visit to his
 province4 ,he brought his family with  
him1 evidently intending to stay4       
,philadelphia was now a city of some    
seven hundred houses1 and had nearly    
seven thousand inhabitants4 ,the people 
were at that moment in deep depression1 
having just been visited with a plague  
of yellow fever4 ,the pestilence1       

however1 had abated1 and ,penn was      
received with sober rejoicings4 ,he took
 up his residence in the slate-roof     
house1 a modest mansion which stood on  
the corner of ,second ,street and       
,norris ,alley2 it was pulled down in   
#ahfg4  ,now began a season of good     
government4 ,the business of piracy had 
for some time been merrily carried on by
 various enterprising persons1 some of  
whom lived very respectably in          
,philadelphia4 ,william put a stop to   
it4 ,the importing of slaves from       
,africa was at that time considered by  
most persons to be a good thing both for
 the planters and for the slaves4       
,already1 however1 at the ,pennsylvania 
yearly meeting of ,friends in #afhh1    
some who came from ,kriesheim1 in       
,germany1 had protested against it1     
,who first of all their testimonial gave
    ,against the oppressor1 for the     
outcast slave4  ,and1 in consequence1   
though slaves were still imported1 they 
were humanely treated4 ,penn interested 

himself in the improvement of their     
condition4 ,he was also concerned in the
 progress of the prison reforms which he
 had proposed in the original           
establishment of the colony4 ,he        
employed a watchman to cry the news1 the
 weather1 and the time of day in the    
,philadelphia streets4 ,regarding the   
,constitution1 about which there had    
been so much contention1 he addressed   
the council and the assembly in terms of
 characteristic friendliness4 ,friends1 
he said1 if in the ,constitution by     
charter there be anything that jars1    
alter it4 ,if you want a law for this or
 that1 prepare it4 ,he advised them1    
however1 not to trifle with government1 
and wished there were no need to have   
any government at all4 ,in general1 he  
said1 the fewer laws1 the better4 ,the  
result was a new ,constitution4 ,it     
provided that the council should be     
appointed by the governor1 and that the 
assembly should have the right to       
originate laws4 ,it was more simple and 

workable than the previous legislation1 
and lasted until the ,revolution4       
,meanwhile1 ,penn was journeying about  
the country in his old way1 preaching4  
,at ,merion1 a small boy of the family  
where he was entertained1 being much    
impressed with the great man's looks and
 speech1 peeped through the latchet-hole
 of his chamber door1 and both saw and  
heard him at his prayers4 ,near         
,haverford1 a small girl1 walking along 
the country road1 was overtaken by the  
governor1 who took her up behind him on 
his horse1 and so carried her on her    
way1 her bare feet dangling by the      
horse's side4  ,clarkson1 the chief of  
the biographers of ,penn1 who collected 
these and other incidents1 gives us a   
glimpse of him as he appeared at this   
time at ,quaker meetings4 ,he was of    
such humility that he used generally to 
sit at the lowest end of the space      
allotted to ministers1 always taking    
care to place above himself poor        
ministers1 and those who appeared to him

 to be peculiarly gifted4 ,he liked to  
encourage young men to speak4 ,when he  
himself spoke1 it was in the simplest   
words1 easy to be understood1 and with  
many homely illustrations4 ,at the same 
time1 on state occasions1 as the        
proprietor of ,pennsylvania and         
representative of the sovereign1 he used
 some ceremony1 marching through the    
,philadelphia streets to the opening of 
the assembly with a mace-bearer before  
him1 and having an officer standing at  
his gate on audience days1 with a long  
staff tipped with silver4 ,acquainted   
with affairs1 and with a knowledge of   
the relations between government and    
human nature drawn from a wide          
experience1 he knew the distinction1 at 
which some of his ,quaker brethren      
stumbled1 between personal humility and 
the proper dignity of official station4 
,in the intervals left him by the       
demands of church and state1 he busied  
himself with the improvement of his     
place at ,pennsbury4 ,here he had a     

considerable house in the midst of      
pleasant gardens4 ,he took great        
pleasure in personal superintendence of 
the grounds and buildings1 planting     
vines and cutting vistas through the    
trees4 ,the country is to be preferred1 
he wrote in ,fruits of ,solitude4 ,the  
country is both the philosopher's garden
 and library1 in which he reads and     
contemplates the power1 wisdom1 and     
goodness of ,god4 ,the knowledge and    
improvement of it1 he declared1 is man's
 oldest business and trade1 and the best
 he can be of4  ,within were silver     
plate and satin curtains1 and           
embroidered chairs and couches4 ,the    
proprietor's bed was covered with a     
quilt of white ,holland quilted in green
 silk by ,letitia1 his daughter4 ,send  
up1 he writes to ,james ,logan1 at      
,philadelphia1 our great stewpan and    
cover1 and little soup dish1 and two or 
three pounds of coffee if sold in town1 
and three pounds of wicks ready for     
candles4 ,mrs4 ,penn asks ,logan to     

provide candlesticks1 and great candles1
 some green ones1 and pewter and earthen
 basins1 mops1 salts1 looking-glass1 a  
piece of dried beef1 and a firkin or two
 of good butter4  ,penn rode a large    
white horse1 and had a coach1 with a    
black man to drive it1 and a rattling   
leathern conveniency1 probably smaller1 
and a sedan chair for ,mrs4 ,penn4 ,in  
the river lay the barge1 of which       
,william was so fond that he wrote from 
,england to charge that it be carefully 
looked after4 ,somebody expressed       
surprise one day when ,penn went out in 
it against wind and tide4 ,i have been  
sailing all my life against wind and    
tide1 he said4  ,much of the work of the
 estate was done by slaves4 ,the fact   
troubled the proprietor's conscience4   
,he laid it upon his own soul1 as he did
 upon the souls of his brethren in the  
colony1 to be very careful in           
discharging a good conscience towards   
them in all respects1 but more          
especially for the good of their souls1 

that they might1 as frequent as may be1 
come to meeting on first-days4 ,a       
special meeting was appointed for slaves
 once a month1 and their masters were   
expected to come with them4 ,finally1   
,penn liberated all his slaves4 ,in his 
will of #agja1 ,i give1 he says1 to my  
blacks their freedom1 as is under my    
hand already1 and to old ,sam #ajj      
acres1 to be his children's after he and
 his wife are dead1 forever4  ,the      
,pennsbury house had a great hall in the
 midst1 where the governor in an oak    
armchair received his neighbors1 the    
,indians4 ,here they came1 in paint and 
feathers1--,connoondaghtoh1 king of the 
,susquehannah ,indians2 ,wopaththa1 king
 of the ,shawanese2 ,weewinjough1 chief 
of the ,ganawese2 and ,ahookassong1     
brother of the emperor of the five      
nations2 and many other humbler braves4 
,john ,richardson1 a ,yorkshire ,quaker1
 visited ,penn at ,pennsbury and saw    
them4 ,william gave them match-coats1 he
 says1 and some other things1 including 

a reasonable supply of rum1 which the   
chiefs dispensed to the warriors        
severally in small portions3 ,so they   
came quietly1 and in a solid manner1 and
 took their draws4 ,he did not smoke1 a 
fact which the ,indians must have noted 
as a curious eccentricity4 ,then they   
made a small fire out of doors1 and the 
men sat about it in a ring1 singing a   
very melodious hymn1 beating the ground 
between the verses with short sticks1   
and1 after a circling dance1 departed4  
,penn got on most happily with the      
,indians4 ,the peaceful ,quakers went   
about unarmed and were never in danger4 
,the only disorderly folk thereabout    
were white men4  ,in the midst of these 
rural joys1 news came that a movement   
was on foot to put an end to proprietary
 governments1 thereby bringing all      
colonies under the immediate control of 
the crown4 ,penn felt that it was       
necessary for him to return to ,england 
to block this inconvenient legislation4 
,on the #bhth of ,october1 he assembled 

the citizens of ,philadelphia1 and      
presented them with a charter for their 
city4 ,in the ,friends' meeting1 he said
 that he looked over all infirmities and
 outwards1 and had an eye to the regions
 of the spirit1 wherein was our sweetest
 tie4 ,then1 says ,norris1 in true love 
he took his leave of us4 ,thus1 after   
two years wherein peace and quietness   
prevailed over all misunderstanding and 
opposition1 he set sail in #agja1 and   
never saw ,pennsylvania again4  ,his    
house at ,pennsbury fell into           
ruins1--due in large part to the leakage
 of a leaden reservoir on the roof1--and
 was taken down before the ,revolution4 
,the furniture was gradually dispersed4 
,for some years it was deemed a kind of 
pious stealth1 among those who were most
 loyal to the proprietor1 to carry away 
something out of the house when they    
chanced to visit its empty halls4 ,one  
gentleman rejoiced in the possession of 
the mantelpiece2 another had a pair of  
,penn's plush breeches4  ,william       

,penn's four years of actual residence  
gave him all the satisfaction which he  
ever got from his colonial possessions4 
,all else was worry1 labor1 and expense4
 ,the province was a sore financial     
burden4 ,as proprietor he was charged   
with the payment1 in large part1 of the 
expenses of government4 ,the returns    
from rents and sales were slow and      
uncertain4 ,the taxes on imports and    
exports1 to which he had a charter      
right1 he had generously declined4 ,when
 he asked the assembly1 in remembrance  
of that liberality1 to send him money in
 his financial straits1 they were not   
minded to respond4 ,penn belonged to    
that high fraternity of noble souls who 
do not know how to make bargains4 ,his  
impulses were generous to a fault1 and  
he had an invincible confidence that his
 neighbors would deal with him in the   
same spirit4 ,the consequence was that  
year by year the expenses grew1 and     
there was but a slender income4 ,o      
,pennsylvania1 he cries1 what hast thou 

cost me8 ,above thirty thousand pounds  
more than ,i ever got by it2 two        
hazardous and most fatiguing voyages1 my
 straits and slavery here1 and my       
child's soul1 almost4  ,the last        
allusion is to ,guli's son1 ,william1   
whose dissipation ,penn always          
attributed to a lack of fatherly care   
during his first visit to the province4 
,penn finally sent the boy to           
,pennsbury1 hoping that the quiet1 the  
absence of temptation1 and the wholesome
 joys of a country life1 might amend    
him4 ,but ,william went from bad to     
worse1 was arrested in ,philadelphia in 
a tavern brawl1 was formally            
excommunicated by the ,quakers1 and came
 home to ,england to give his father    
further pain4  ,to the financial burdens
 of the province were added the         
difficulties of government4 ,penn       
succeeded very well in keeping his      
colony1--he defended his boundaries     
against ,lord ,baltimore1 and he        
defeated those who would have taken away

 his rule and given it to the king2 but 
the governing of the colony across three
 thousand miles of sea was another      
matter4 ,the moment he withdrew the     
restraining influence of his personal   
presence1 all manner of contentions came
 into the light of day4  ,the question  
of the prudence of bearing arms was     
vigorously debated4 ,james ,logan1      
secretary of the province1 and ,penn's  
ablest counselor1 urged the need of     
military defenses4 ,conservative        
,friends opposed it4  ,churchmen had    
been settling in the province4 ,one of  
,william's oldest friends1 ,george      
,keith1 who had accompanied him on his  
religious mission to ,holland1 had gone 
into the ,episcopal ministry4 ,logan    
says1 in a letter to ,penn1 that not    
suffering them to be superior was       
accounted by the churchmen as the       
equivalent of persecution4  ,colonel    
,quarry1 a judge of the admiralty1      
appointed by the ,british government to 
enforce the navigation laws in the      

colony1 was responsible to the ,board of
 ,trade in ,london1 and independent of  
the governor and of the assembly4 ,he   
exercised his office of critic and      
censor to the annoyance of ,penn4  ,to  
these various sources of trouble was    
added an unending strife between the    
governor's deputy and the people4       
,penn's habit of looking always on the  
best side made him a bad judge of men1  
and the deputies whom he sent were few  
of them competent2 some were not even   
respectable4 ,penn1 with his            
characteristic invincible blindness1    
took their part4  ,finally1 the         
disputations1 protests1 and complaints1 
with direct attacks upon ,penn's        
interests1 and even upon his character1 
got to such a pass that he addressed a  
letter of expostulation to the people4  
,when it pleased ,god to open a way for 
me to settle that colony1 he wrote1 ,i  
had reason to expect a solid comfort    
from the services done to many hundreds 
of people4444 ,but1 alas6 as to my part1

 instead of reaping the like advantages1
 some of the greatest of my troubles    
have sprung from thence4 ,the many      
combats ,i have engaged in1 the great   
pains and incredible expense for your   
welfare and ease1 to the decay of my    
former estate 444 with the undeserved   
opposition ,i have met with from thence1
 sink into me with sorrow1 that1 if not 
supported by a superior hand1 might have
 overwhelmed me long ago4 ,and ,i cannot
 but think it hard measure1 that1 while 
it has proved a land of freedom and     
flourishing1 it should become to me1 by 
whose means it was principally made a   
country1 the cause of grief1 trouble1   
and poverty4  ,so heavy was the         
financial burden1 and so vexatious and  
disheartening the bickering and         
ingratitude1 that ,penn thought         
seriously of selling his governorship2  
and it was in the market for several    
years awaiting a purchaser4 ,indeed1 in 
#agab1 he had so far perfected a bargain
 to transfer his proprietary rights to  

the crown for #ab1jjj1 that nothing     
remained to be done save the affixing of
 his signature4 ,before his name was    
signed1 he fell suddenly ill1 and the   
transaction went no farther4  ,in the   
midst of these many troubles1 in        
themselves serious enough1 there came   
another4 ,penn's business manager for   
his estates in ,england and ,ireland was
 ,philip ,ford4 ,for a long time1       
,ford's payments had been less and less2
 ,penn was continually complaining that 
he got so little from his property4     
,still1 ,ford's accounts went without   
examination1 and some of his financial  
reports were not so much as opened4     
,william had his customary confidence in
 his agent's honesty4 ,at last1 when    
things got so bad that something had to 
be done1 it appeared by ,ford's books   
that1 instead of ,ford's being in debt  
to ,penn1 ,penn was in debt to him for  
more than ten thousand pounds4 ,this was
 the result of long1 ingenious1 and     
unmolested bookkeeping4 ,and ,penn had  

made himself liable by his careless     
silence4 ,then ,ford died1 and his widow
 and children claimed everything which  
stood in ,penn's name4 ,penn1 it        
appeared1 had borrowed money of ,ford1  
and had given him a mortgage on his     
,pennsylvania estates as security4 ,when
 the loan was paid1 the mortgage had not
 been returned4 ,not only did ,mrs4     
,ford retain it1 but she sued ,penn for 
three thousand pounds rent1 which was   
due1 she said1 from the property of     
which ,william was once owner1 but which
 he now held as tenant of the ,fords4   
,so far was this iniquitous business    
pursued1 that ,penn was arrested as he  
was at a religious meeting in           
,gracechurch ,street1 and was imprisoned
 for debt in the ,fleet1 or its         
precincts4  ,this was the turn in the   
tide4 ,everybody disapproved of         
treatment so unjust and extortionate4   
,william's friends raised money1 and    
made a compromise with the ,fords1 and  
got him free4 ,in ,pennsylvania1 too1   

the contentions were quieted by a good  
governor4 ,and as the wars came to an   
end1 trade so increased that the        
province presently yielded a substantial
 income4  ,penn retired to ,ruscombe1 in
 ,berkshire1 in the pleasant country4   
,here he had his family about him4 ,he  
was now a grandfather1 his son ,william 
having a son and a daughter4 ,so that   
now we are major1 minor1 and minimus4 ,i
 bless the ,lord mine are pretty        
well1--,johnny lively2 ,tommy a lovely1 
large child2 and my grandson1           
,springett1 a mere ,saracen2 his sister1
 a beauty4 ,of his second marriage there
 were six children1 four of whom--,john1
 ,thomas1 ,margaret1 and                
,richard--became proprietors of         
,pennsylvania4 ,thomas had two sons1    
,john and ,granville2 ,richard had two1 
,john and ,richard4 ,when the           
proprietary government ended1 in #aggf1 
it was in the hands of the heirs of     
,william ,penn4  ,in #agaa1 ,penn wrote 
a preface to ,john ,banks's ,journal1   

dictating it1 as his custom was1 walking
 to and fro with his cane in his hand1  
thumping the floor to mark the emphasis4
 ,now reader1 he concludes1 before ,i   
take leave of thee1 let me advise thee  
to hold thy religion in the spirit1     
whether thou prayest1 praisest or       
ministerest to others1 444 which1 that  
all ,god's people may do1 is1 and hath  
long been the earnest desire and fervent
 supplication of theirs and thy faithful
 friend in the ,lord ,jesus ,christ1 ,w4
 ,,penn4 ,this is the last word of his  
writing which remains4  ,the next year  
he had a paralytic stroke1 and another1 
and another4 ,this impaired his memory  
and his mind4 ,thus he continued for six
 years1 as happily as was possible under
 the circumstances4 ,he went often to   
meeting1 where he frequently spoke1     
briefly1 but with sound and savory      
expressions4 ,he walked about his       
gardens1 saw his friends1 and delighted 
in the company of his wife and children4
 ,each year left him weaker than the    

year before2 but his days were filled   
with serenity4 ,he was surrounded with  
all the comforts which a generous       
income1 an affectionate family1 the     
respect of his neighbors1 and the       
approval of ,god1 could give him4  ,he  
that lives to live forever1 he had      
written in his ,fruits of ,solitude1    
never fears dying4 ,nor can the means be
 terrible to him1 that heartily believes
 the end4 ,for though death be a dark   
passage1 it leads to immortality2 and   
that is recompense enough for suffering 
of it4444 ,and this is the comfort of   
the good1 that the grave cannot hold    
them1 and that they live as soon as they
 die4  ,into the fullness of this life  
he entered on the #cjth of ,july1 #agah1
 being seventy-four years old4     ,the 
chief authorities for facts concerning  
,william ,penn are--        #a4 ,the    
,select ,works of ,william ,penn        
7,london1 #agbf2 #c;d edition1          
#aghb2 #e vols74 ,whereof1 ,the ,trial  
of ,william ,penn and ,william ,mead    

7vol i471 ,travels in ,holland and      
,germany 7vol4 iii471 and ,a ,general   
,description of ,pennsylvania 7vol4 iv47
 contain autobiographical      matter4  
,some ,fruits of ,solitude and ,penn's  
,advice to his ,children      7vol4 v47 
are similarly valuable4       #b4 ,the  
,life of ,penn prefixed to his ,works1  
by ,joseph ,besse1 a      ,quaker       
contemporary 7#agbf74       #c4 ,memoirs
 of the ,private and ,public ,life of   
,william ,penn1 by      ,thomas         
,clarkson 7,london1 #ahac74       #d4   
,the ,pennsylvania ,historical ,society 
,memoirs 7vols4 i41 ii41      iii474    
,also the ,correspondence between       
,william ,penn and ,james      ,logan1  
edited for this ,society1 by ,edward    
,armstrong4       #e4 ,the ,penns and   
the ,penningtons1 by ,maria ,webb       
7,london1 #ahfg71      containing family
 letters4       #f4 ,recent biographies 
of ,penn3 by ,william ,hepworth ,dixon  
7#ahea71 by      ,samuel ,m4 ,janney    
7#aheb71 by ,john ,stoughton 7#ahhb71 by

 ,sydney ,george      ,fisher 7#aijj74  
,the ,riverside ,press    ,electrotyped 
and printed by ,h4 ,o4 ,houghton  ,co4  
,cambridge1 ,mass41 ,u4 ,s4 ,a4         
99       99       99       99       99  
,transcriber's note   ,the following    
changes have been made to the text3  ,in
 the ,,toc #eh changed to #ec4  ,page   
#bc3 seventeeenth changed to            
seventeenth4  ,page #db3 ,quaker brethen
 changed to ,quaker brethren4  ,page    
#di3 died when he changed to died when  
she4  ,page #eg3 serious inprisonment   
changed to serious imprisonment4  ,page 
#fb3 body prevented changed to body     
prevented it4