Gass \ i -' '^■■'' 
 Book ' ^i 
 
 ,f\ 
 
 
SKETCHES 
 
 or 
 
 WILLIAM PENN 
 
 BY WILLIAM a1 ALCOTT. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PUBLISHED BY D. S. KING 
 
 '62 Washin;,'ton sJtieet. 
 
 1839. 
 

 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, 
 
 Br D. S. King, 
 
 In the Clerk's omce of the District Court of Massachusetts 
 
 
 D. H. EliA, PRINTEil. 
 
TO CHILDREN 
 
 SABBATH SCHOOLS 
 
 My dear young Friends, 
 
 From my earliest youth I have been 
 delighted with many things in the character 
 of William Penn, the founder of the great 
 State of Pennsylvania. His very name 
 brings to my mind the most pleasant associa- 
 tions of ideas. He was so good a father and 
 husband, so affectionate and kind to all his 
 friends, and to every body whom he met 
 
with, and, above all, so good and friendly to 
 the poor Indians, by whom he and his people 
 were for a long time surrounded, that it is 
 impossible for me to avoid esteeming and 
 loving him ; and notwithstanding he belonged 
 to the Society of Friends, or as they are 
 sometimes called, Quakers, and held to some 
 opinions which I believe to be erroneous, I 
 cannot help wishing that there were no worse 
 people in the world than he was. 
 
 Perhaps some of you are already acquaint- 
 ed with his character, having read his life, as 
 written by others. If so, you probably have 
 brothers, or sisters, or cousins, or neighbors, 
 who have not been, in this respect, so fortu- 
 nate. To them^ therefore, you can commend 
 
the book, even if you do not wish to read it 
 yourselves. You can do so, I mean, if you 
 hke it. It is not intended to be a full and 
 perfect account of the distinguished individual 
 of whom it treats, but rather a collection of 
 stories about him, procured or abridged from 
 larger histories, designed to show you what 
 sort of a man he was; and in so far as his 
 behavior was proper and right, and Christ-like 
 — but no farther — lead you to imitate his ex- 
 ample. 
 
 W. A. A. 
 
 Boston, January, 1839. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Birth of Penn. His early education. His good beha- 
 vior and scholarship. Difficulties at school. Is ex- 
 pelled. Returns to his father. Is punished, and 
 turned out of doors. His mother's interference. He 
 is sent abroad to travel. Sudden return at the re- 
 quest of his father. His father not satisfied with him. 
 Sends him to Ireland. Is imprisoned there. Descrip- 
 tion of his person. Release from prison. Returns 
 to England. Again turned out of doors. Reflec- 
 tions Page 11 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Penn becomes a preacher and author. Is seized and 
 imprisoned in the Tower of London. Remains in 
 prison seven months. Employment in prison. Re- 
 lease. Goes again to Ireland. Returns. Preaches 
 in England. Is arrested again, and sent to Newgate. 
 His trial. Attempt to starve the jurors. Sent again 
 
VUl CONTENTS. 
 
 to prison. His release. Reconciliation with his 
 father. His father's death. Inheritance of property. 
 Its effects. Seized again. Tried. Condemned to 
 six months imprisonment in Newgate. Release. 
 Marriage. Residence. Labors. Visit to Holland 
 and Germany. Return. Storm at sea. Anecdotes 
 about prayer to God. ..... 30 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 New era in the life of Penn. Becomes interested in the 
 provinces in America. West Jersey. Prepares a 
 constitution for it. Its excellent features. Purchases 
 of the king the province of Pennsylvania. Measures 
 for settling it. Provisions in regard to the Indians. 
 His letter to them. His directions to his own 
 people. ....... 48 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Death of Penn's mother. His affection for her. His 
 thoughts turned to America. Resolves to go there. 
 His advice to his children on leaving them. He sets 
 sail. Incidents of the voyage. Arrival at Newcas- 
 tle , . . 63 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Penn's treaty with the Indians. The elm tree at Ken- 
 sington. Anecdotes of it. Scarcity of provisions. 
 The Indians hunt for the whites. Founding of Phil- 
 adelphia. Directions of Penn about building it. 
 Cultivation of the country. What was doing for the 
 Indians. . - 81 
 
CONTENTS. IX 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Persecution in England. Penn goes there. Solicits 
 the king. The king's death. John Locke the philo- 
 sopher. The new king of England. Penn's famil- 
 iarity with him. This raises up enemies. A new 
 book. The dissenters — among them were 1200 
 Friends — set at liberty. Tour to the Continent. 
 Return. Arrest. Trial. Acquittal. Toleration 
 act. Another trial and acquittal. A third trial and 
 acquittal. Thinks of going to America. Attends the 
 funeral of George Fox. Attempts to seize him 
 again. His retirement. Is proscribed by the queen; 
 but not taken. New troubles. Death of his wife. 
 
 95 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Penn in his family. He attempts to recover his lost 
 possessions in America. His success. His reputa- 
 tion again rises. Anecdote of Fuller. Missionary 
 labors. Marriage to a second wife. Death of his 
 son. He sails with his family for America. Phila- 
 delphia. Penn's house. Pennsburg. The Indians. 
 An Indian feast. Anecdotes of Penn. More troubles. 
 Goes to England. Troubles in regard to his pro- 
 perty. Ill conduct of his eldest son. Dishonesty of 
 his steward. He lives for some time within prison 
 limits. Mortgages his property to regain his liberty. 
 Attack of apoplexy. His death. . . .114 
 
SKETCHES 
 
 WILLIAM PENN 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Birth of Penn. His early education. His good beha- 
 vior and scholarship. DifficuUies at school. Is ex- 
 pelled. Returns to his father. Is punished, and 
 turned out of doors. His mother's interference. He 
 is sent abroad to travel. Sudden return at the re- 
 quest of his father. His father not satisfied with him. 
 Sends him to Ireland. Is imprisoned there. Descrip- 
 tion of his person. Release from prison. Returns 
 to England. Again turned out of doors. Reflections. 
 
 William Penn was bom in London, 
 October 14, 1644. His father was Sir 
 William Penn, a British admiral. Of his 
 mother, and of her ways of managing her 
 children, little is said in history. The father, 
 
12 SKETCHES OF 
 
 wealthy and distinguished as he was, and 
 especially anxious to give his son William 
 a liberal education, sent him early to a 
 grammar school, where he appears to hav£ 
 ^"S?^"^^ several years. It was at Chigwell 
 in Essex, at some distance from London, 
 and was a most excellent school. It does 
 not seem to have been one of those schools 
 in which the Bible, and prayer and other 
 acts of religion and religious worship, are as 
 effectually shut out, as if they had nothing 
 to do with school, and were only to be 
 attended to on the Sabbath ; for it was while 
 at this school, and when only eleven years 
 of age, that young Penn first received those 
 religious impressions which lasted him 
 through life, and which were the means, 
 under God, of rendering him one of the most 
 useful men of his day. 
 
 From this school, his father removed him 
 to another which was much nearer home, 
 and — what was not so common amono- the 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 13 
 
 wealthy English gentlemen at that time as it 
 has since become — procured for him a 
 private tutor besides. The truth is, that the 
 admiral was determined, if possible, to make 
 a great man of him ; though, of making him 
 a good man as well as a great one, we do 
 not know that he had at that time thought 
 much. He was determined, at least, to give 
 him every opportunity of becoming great, 
 which learning would afford him, and then, if 
 he did not become what he designed, the 
 fault would rest with the son, and not with 
 himself. 
 
 At the age of fifteen, young Penn had 
 made such progress in his studies that he 
 was thought well fitted for college. He was 
 accordingly entered at Christ's Church 
 College at Oxford. Here, for some time, 
 he behaved exceedingly well, as he had 
 formerly done. He not only attended 
 faithfully to his studies and endeavored to 
 understand them well, but he did what young 
 2 
 
14 SKETCHES OF 
 
 men of that age are not always careful to cloy 
 he used proper and sufficient exercise, as well 
 as studied hard. He allowed himself in all 
 those active and manly sports in the open air, 
 which are so well calculated to make the 
 body strong and healthful ; though never, 
 that we know of, in cards, dice or any games 
 of chance. For amusements of the mind, 
 he sought the society of pleasant and well 
 informed friends ; among whom was the 
 celebrated philosopher, John Locke. 
 
 Thus far, he had done nothing to give 
 offence or pain to his relatives and friends, or 
 to lessen his reputation in the view of the 
 world, or to draw off his mind from the 
 subject of religion. On the contrary, he was 
 beloved by all who knew him, more and 
 more; and it is no wonder that his father's 
 hopes were greatly raised respecting him. 
 
 Not long after his entrance into college, 
 however, he began to attend the preaching of 
 one Thomas Loe, a very eccentric or 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 15 
 
 si^ngular preacher, but apparently a good 
 man. He appears to have been connected 
 with the Society of Friends. As the 
 doctrines taught by Mr, Loe led young 
 Penn to think it was not proper for him to 
 attend church where he had formerly done, 
 and as he was always careful to do what his 
 conscience told him was fit and proper, he 
 withdrew, with some of his fellow students 
 who had also fallen into the notions of Mr. 
 Loe, and they held a meeting of their 
 own. But their very absence from the 
 place where they were accustomed .o attend 
 gave offence to the officers of the colleo-e, 
 and they were fined for not attending at the 
 estalished place of worship. 
 
 This, however, neither led them to re- 
 turn to the old place of worship, nor pre- 
 vented them from attending at their new one. 
 They were determined to act accordino- to 
 the dictates of their own consciences, let 
 what would happen. They thought they 
 
16 SKETCHES OF 
 
 were right ; and in doing what they believed 
 to be their duty, they thought they were 
 obeying God in preference to obeying men. 
 
 So far they acted conscientiously, and for 
 aught we can see, at this day, as good people 
 ought to act. But this was not all. They 
 went a little farther still ; indeed, quite too 
 far. They seem to have been somewhat 
 irritated by being fined, and they became 
 revengeful. This was very wrong. They 
 ought to have been quiet and forgiving. 
 This was especially incumbent on them, as 
 they were young, and liable to be mistaken. 
 Young Penn, especially, wise as he seemed 
 to be on most occasions, ought to have set 
 his companions a good example of conformity 
 to the spirit of that religion which teaches its 
 followers to forgive abuses, not merely to the 
 seventieth time, but to the four hundred and 
 ninetieth. 
 
 I have said they became revengeful. The 
 case was this. The king had given orders 
 
WILLIAM PENN. H 
 
 that the students of the college at Oxford 
 should wear surplices. This, Penn and his 
 companions, who had probably adopted some 
 of the views of the Society of the Friends 
 about plainness in dress, could not at all 
 bear. They were not only determined not 
 to wear surplices, but to prevent the other 
 students from wearing them, if they could. 
 So having formed their plan, they made a 
 sudden attack upon the students in their new 
 surplices, and tore them violently off. 
 
 This soon made a great noise in college, 
 and well it might. It is painful to relate so 
 unwarrantable an act of so worthy and 
 excellent a character as was the leader in 
 this affray. But as it was the first shameful 
 act in which he had ever been engaged, so it 
 proved the last, if we except one or two 
 instances of stubbornness. 
 
 But the deed was done, and Penn and 
 his associates were obliged to suffer the 
 consequences. The leaders, and of course 
 2* 
 
18 SKETCHES or 
 
 Perm among the rest, were expelled from 
 college. The father of the latter was greatly 
 displeased, and was almost unwilling to see 
 him, when he came home. All his high 
 hopes of him seemed crushed in a moment 
 by a single rash act. And what grieved him 
 still more, was to find that the son would not 
 own he had been in the wrong. It is true 
 he did not quite like — and never had done — 
 the serious habits in regard to dress, 
 conversation and company his son had 
 adopted before he went to college ; but these 
 he could have borne with, had nothing else 
 happened. 
 
 And what was the course, do you tliink, 
 he finally took with him ? It was a very 
 injudicious course indeed. But fathers 
 sometimes do wrong. It was not well to 
 treat a young man of seventeen like a boy of 
 four or five ; especially one of a character 
 which inclined to obstinacy. But he was a 
 naval commander, and he acted as many 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 19 
 
 Other naval commanders would probably 
 have done. Unable to convince his son of 
 his error, by reasoning with him, he had 
 recourse to blows ; and finding these to fail 
 of producing the effect he intended, he went 
 farther still, and actually turned .his_son out 
 of doors. 
 
 It is difficult to say which was most in 
 fault in the case, the father or the son. But 
 as the son was first in the wrong, it will be 
 natural to rest the weight of the blame on 
 him. The father, however, ought not to 
 have done wrong because the son had ; but 
 the son, in a case which seems so plainly 
 wrong to us at this day and period, ought not 
 to have continued to resist the force of his 
 father's arguments. 
 
 The mother of young Penn was possessed 
 of a very different temper from that of the 
 father. When the first g:ust of passion had 
 subsided, she endeavored to reconcile the 
 parties ; and so soft and winning were her 
 
20 SKETCHES OF 
 
 manners that she finally succeeded, and the 
 offender was restored to his father's house. 
 
 But the father, though he forgave, could 
 not quite forget. He disliked the religious 
 company his son was disposed to keep, and 
 earnestly wished there was some way to 
 work a change in his mind and feelings, and 
 make him relish better the society of the 
 gay and the cheerful. He finally hit upon a 
 plan which he thought would accomplish the 
 object, and he accordingly proceeded to put 
 it in execution. Finding that some of his 
 friends were goinoj out to France to travel in 
 that country, it was resolved that young 
 Penn should accompany them. 
 
 His first residence was at Paris ; but we 
 cannot easily suppose such a gay and 
 dissipated city would please him long : and 
 accordingly we find him soon removed to 
 Saumur. 
 
 There is one anecdote related of him 
 while at Paris, which, if true, and it probably 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 21 
 
 is, so from what we learn of his future 
 character, is certainly very creditable to him, 
 when we consider the natural impetuosity 
 and rashness of youth. Being in the street 
 one evening, a man attacked him and drew 
 his sword upon him. Penn grappled with 
 him and a severe conflict ensued. At length 
 Penn succeeded in disarming his antaojonist, 
 but he spared his life, when he might easily 
 have taken it. 
 
 After spending several months at Saumur, 
 he went to Italy. Here, he received a letter 
 from his father, saying, that having been 
 ordered to take the command of his fleet, he 
 wished the son to take charge of the family 
 during his absence. The latter was now, 
 probably, about nineteen years of age. 
 
 The request of the father was at once 
 complied with. The family received him 
 with open arms. For though he had lost 
 nothing of the relio^ious character with which 
 he went out, his manners had certainly 
 
22 SKETCHES OF 
 
 become greatly improved, and he had 
 acquired something of that Hvehness and 
 pohshj for which the French nation has so 
 long been distinguished. This was highly- 
 satisfactory to his father. 
 
 While at home with the family, during the 
 absence of his father, he paid a little 
 attention to the study of the law, especially 
 the constitution and laws of his native 
 country. The knowledge of this kind which 
 he obtained, though it did not at all fit him 
 for a profession — which, indeed, was not 
 intended, — proved afterwards of very great 
 service to him. 
 
 During the same period, his mind became 
 changed again to its original serious state, 
 and he associated with none but grave and 
 serious people. When his father returned 
 from sea, and observed the change, he sent 
 him off to Ireland to reside in the family of 
 the lord lieutenant, who was an acquaintance 
 of Admiral Penn, in whose society he hoped 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 23 
 
 he would, once more, regain his temporary- 
 fondness for gay society. But no; all the 
 pomp and splendor and temptations, even of 
 a life at court, were insufficient to change his 
 habits, tastes or pursuits. 
 
 Not willing to give it up. Admiral Penn 
 made one more effort. Having large estates 
 in Ireland, he gave to his son their sole 
 management, believing that the care of them, 
 if he consented to take charge of them at all, 
 would employ all his time, and detain him at 
 a distance from all his former connections. 
 The son, always willing to comply with his 
 father's wishes, where nothing was required 
 which either conscience or the word of God 
 told him was wrong, at once consented ; and 
 the father began again to take courage. 
 
 But a circumstance soon occurred which 
 broke up the whole arrangement. Being 
 one day at Cork, on business, young Penn 
 heard that a meeting was about to be held 
 there by his old friend Thomas Loe^ and 
 
2.4 SKETCHES OF 
 
 could not resist the temptation of going to 
 hear him. The subject of his discourse was, 
 "There is a faith which overcomes the 
 world." The impression made on his mind 
 was so strong, that, from this time forth, he 
 resolved to attach himself openly to the 
 Friends ; he accordingly began to attend, 
 very steadily, their meetings. 
 
 But he soon found how strong the public 
 prejudices were against the new sect, and 
 that he must expect to meet with persecution. 
 One day, while attending a meeting, he was 
 seized by an officer, and carried before the 
 mayor of the city, for trial, on the ground 
 that he had been favoring tumultuous 
 assemblies. As he had not yet fully adopted 
 the Friends' dress, they offered to set him at 
 liberty, if he would only give bonds for his 
 good behavior ; but refusing to do this, he 
 was, with eighteen other persons, committed 
 to prison. 
 
 When committed to prison, he was in the 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 25 
 
 twenty third year of his age. He had now 
 attained to manhood, and, as it may be 
 pleasant to many to know something of his 
 person and general appearance, I have 
 collected, from the most authentic sources, 
 the following account of him. 
 
 In his younger years, William Penn was 
 tall, strong and active ; and his activity was 
 probably increased by his fondness for ath- 
 letic and manly sports. In more advanced 
 years, though inclined to be corpulent, 
 he was still remarkably active ; and is 
 said to have been a fine looking, portly man. 
 From some of the pictures of him which 
 have been seen on coins, on bank notes, &lc., 
 one might be led to think his form and 
 manners were clumsy and ungraceful ; but 
 it is said by his biographers, on the contrary, 
 that his address and general deportment were 
 graceful and elegant. His appearance was 
 always rendered more agreeable, and pro- 
 duced a more favorable impression, on account 
 3 
 
26 SKETCHES OF 
 
 of his kindness, and the sweetness of his 
 temper. 
 
 But we left him in prison, in Ireland. 
 Soon after he was committed, he wrote a 
 letter to a noble lord in that country, in 
 which he stated his case so fairly, and in such 
 agreeable, though manly terms, that it 
 procured his release, and he returned to the 
 management of his father's estates. 
 
 Meanwhile the unwelcome news of his 
 having become a Friend had reached his 
 father, in London, who immediately sent for 
 him to come home. At first his father did 
 not perceive that change in his external 
 appearance which he seems to have expected. 
 But his custom of not taking off his hat in 
 the presence of those who were considered 
 his superiors in age, or rank, or wisdom, as 
 well as many other little changes, in dress or 
 modes of speech, at length convinced him 
 that the reports were true, and that his last 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 27 
 
 efforts to change his views and habits had 
 failed. 
 
 Still he was unwilling to give up the point. 
 He tried once more to reason him out of his 
 religious views, at first beseeching him, almost 
 on his knees, to conform to his own wishes 
 and to the forms of the established church ; 
 and afterwards threatening, to disinherit him, 
 if he continued to refuse. But all in vain. 
 Though he loved his father tenderly, he was 
 not to be moved by any such measures, and 
 the father at length gave up all hopes of him. 
 As a last request, however, he begged him 
 to agree to take off his hat in the presence of 
 the duke of York and the king : but after 
 taking the matter into consideration for a 
 whole night, the son refused to do even so 
 much. This last refusal was more than the 
 high-minded father could bear, and in the 
 height of his anger, he again turned him out 
 of his house, resolving to have no more to say 
 to him a^ain for ever. 
 
28 SKETCHES OF 
 
 It may seem very strange to us, that young 
 Penn should have persisted so strongly in 
 what appears to be a matter of very little 
 consequence ; and perhaps most of us shall 
 be likely to say that he was rather obstinate. 
 We shall say that, in such a little thing, he 
 ought most certainly to have yielded to the 
 wishes of his father. It is true he was now 
 in the twenty-fourth year of his age, and, as 
 many would be apt to think, old enough to 
 judge and act for himself. Still, as he had no 
 family of his own, and was yet a member of 
 his father's family, he was as much bound to 
 obey his father, or nearly as much so, at least 
 in all matters which did not touch his con- 
 science, as ever he was. 
 
 But here was the difficulty. It was with 
 his conscience. What he thought was wrong 
 in the sight of God, if it was ever so small a 
 thing, he would no more do, or think of doing, 
 than if it was a large matter. And thus it 
 was in the matter of pulling off his hat in the 
 presence of great persons, persons of distinc- 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 29 
 
 tion or eminence. He thought it was wrong ; 
 and thinking so, all the world could not have 
 persuaded him to do it. 
 
 However we may blame Penn, we cannot 
 help thinking him sincere. For what was he 
 to gain by standing out against his father's 
 wishes, in these matters ? He had been 
 brought up to no trade or profession, and he 
 had no means of support except what came 
 to him through his father. And what was 
 he to do without his friendship ? How could 
 he even subsist? 
 
 But this, it seems, he did not much regard. 
 His chief concern, so we are told, was, that 
 he was giving so much pain to a father whom 
 he tenderly loved, and who had ever been, 
 for the most part, very kind to him. But, 
 though forsaken, he was not discouraged. 
 Nor was he left to suffer at all. His mother 
 often wrote him, and sent him money for his 
 support ; and he had several other kind 
 friends besides. 
 
 3* 
 
30 SKETCHES OF 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Penn becomes a preacher and author. Is seized and 
 imprisoned in the Tower of London. Remains in 
 prison seven months. Employment in prison. Re- 
 lease. Goes again to Ireland. Returns. Preaches 
 in England. Is arrested again, and sent to Newgate. 
 His trial. Attempt to starve the jurors. Sent again 
 to prison. His release. Reconciliation with his 
 father. His father's death. Inheritance of property. 
 Its effects. Seized again. Tried. Condemned to 
 six months imprisonment in Newgate. Release. 
 Marriage. Residence. Labors. Visit to Holland 
 and Germany. Return. Storm at sea. Anecdotes 
 about prayer to God. 
 
 In the year 1668, being now full twenty- 
 four years of age, Penn resolved to become a 
 minister. Not long after he commenced pub- 
 lic preaching, he got into a discussion with 
 a minister of another sect, on some religious 
 doctrine or other ; in which Penn became so 
 warmly engaged, that he at length published 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 31 
 
 a book on the subject. It was called " The 
 Sandy Foundation Shaken." This book gave 
 great offence to many people, and among the 
 rest to the bishop of London. So much was 
 indeed said about it, and so much of heresy 
 was it supposed to contain, that the author 
 was considered by many leading men of the 
 day as a disturber of the public peace. Ac- 
 cordingly he was seized and sent a prisoner to 
 "The Tower."* 
 
 * The Tower of London, often called, without fur- 
 ther explanation, The Tower, is generally believed to 
 have been built by William I., sometimes called Wil- 
 liam the Conqueror ; and if so, is nearly eight hundred 
 years old. It is situated close to the north bank of the 
 river Thames, at the very extremity of the city, and is 
 enclosed by walls and a ditch, the circumference of 
 which is 3,156 feet; considerably more than half a mile. 
 The space enclosed measures almost thirteen acres. 
 Within these walls are a great number of buildings, 
 among which are the White Tower, the Church, the 
 Ordnance Office, the Mint, the Record Office, the Jewel 
 Office, the Horse Armory, the Grand Storehouse, the 
 Lion's Tower, and the Beauchamp Tower. 
 
 The White Tower is an edifice three stories high, 
 containing muskets and other warlike implements for 
 
32 SKETCHES OF 
 
 Here he was treated with very great sever- 
 ity. He was not only kept in close confine- 
 ment, in a dungeon, but v/as not permitted to 
 receive visits from any of his friends. Indeed 
 he was even told that the bishop of London 
 was determined he should either confess his 
 
 30,000 men. The church is famous for being the 
 place where were deposited the headless bodies of Anne 
 Boleyn and others, who were beheaded there. In the 
 record office are kept the rolls, as they are called, from 
 the time of King John to Richard III., after which they 
 were kept elsewhere. The price of a permission to 
 search among these rolls or records is 10s. 6d. ; for 
 which you may search one year. In the jewel office 
 the crown jewels are kept. In the horse armory are 
 kept all sorts of armor, from the time of William I. The 
 grand storehouse, 345 feet long and 60 broad, contains 
 arms for 200,000 men. In a division of this, called the 
 Spanish armory, are many curiosities. Among them 
 are the axe which severed the head of Anne Boleyn as 
 well as that of the Earl of Essex, and a wooden cannon 
 used by Henry VIII. at the siege of Boulogne. The 
 Beauchamp tower seems to have been th department 
 principally occupied as a prison ; and here Anne Bo- 
 leyn, Lady Jane, and other great personages were con- 
 fined. Here too, in all probability — though I do not 
 know with certainty — Penn was confined. The lion's 
 tower contains a great menagerie of curious animals. 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 33 
 
 errors and renounce them, or else die in prison. 
 But all this did not move him. Death, to 
 such a man, and for conscience sake, had no 
 terrors ; and in a letter to the bishop of Lon- 
 don, Penn told him plainly, that his prison 
 should be his grave before he would renounce 
 his opinions, unless he should see clearly that 
 he was wrong ; for " he owed his conscience 
 to no man." 
 
 He was confined in the Tower seven 
 months, but whether he was kept closely all 
 this time does not appear. He was however 
 permitted to have his pen and ink ; these were 
 not denied him. And with these, and a mind 
 like his, we may be sure he was not idle. It 
 was here, in prison, that he wrote a book 
 which some of my readers may possibly have 
 seen, entitled " No Cross, No Crown ;" also 
 another work, called " Innocency with her 
 Open Face." 
 
 The friends of Penn were by no means idle 
 during the whole seven months of his impris- 
 
34 SKETCHES OF 
 
 onment. Some of them were persons of 
 great influence with the .king ; and it is 
 thought by many that his father himself, 
 whose heart now began to relent, interposed 
 in his behalf. But whatever the cause may 
 have been, the king was at length moved to 
 release him, and he was accordingly liberated. 
 
 We have seen, in the last paragraph, that 
 his father's feelings toward him had begun to 
 change. He now permitted him to come to 
 his house, though he would not as yet see 
 him. But as this was a very painful situation, 
 and as his hopes of reclaiming him may have 
 been again excited, he gave him a commission 
 to execute some business for him in Ireland ; 
 and the son, ever willing, as I have said be- 
 fore, to execute his father's commands, when 
 he could do so conscientiously, accepted the 
 proposals, and once more departed for Ireland. 
 
 His situation in Ireland gave him consider- 
 able leisure for other things ; and this he e n- 
 ployed in visiting some of his brethren of the 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 35 
 
 Society of the Friends, who were imprisoned 
 for the sake of their opinions. But he did 
 more than visit them ; he drew up a sort of 
 petition, in doing which his knowledge of the 
 law was of much service to him, and present- 
 ed it to the lord lieutenant of Ireland with his 
 own hand. In this petition he so ably plead- 
 ed the innocency of the imprisoned persons, 
 that he succeeded in procuring their release. 
 
 Not long after this, he returned to London. 
 On his arrival, his father, who had now be- 
 come reconciled to him, received him with 
 open arms, and there was great joy in the 
 whole family ; and at their particular request, 
 he once more took up his residence with them. 
 
 But he had not been long at home, before 
 he was involved in new troubles. A law had 
 been passed by Parliament, which forbid all 
 Dissenters from worshipping God according 
 to their own consciences. As Penn contin- 
 ued not only to do so, but at times also to 
 preach, he was apprehended, and put in 
 
36 SKETCHES or 
 
 Newgate,* to await his trial at the next 
 court. 
 
 When the trial came on, he was charged 
 with preaching to an unlawful, seditious and 
 riotous assembly. It seems that on going to 
 the church, for the purpose of preaching, at 
 the time of his being taken, he had found it 
 guarded by a band of soldiers, and not being 
 allowed to go in, had remained without the 
 door, and preached to the assembly in the 
 open air. All, however, had been done qui- 
 etly on the part both of him and his friends ; 
 and the only disturbance had been made by 
 the soldiers. But all the disturbance was 
 charged on Penn and his friends ; and it was 
 even attempted to be shown, that they had 
 tried to hold their meeting by force of arms ! 
 
 During his trial, a great many marks of 
 indignity and abuse were shown him. For 
 
 * Newgate is the name of the principal prison in 
 London, in which criminals are kept, and contains from 
 300 to 900. 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 37 
 
 example, as he did not take off his hat in the 
 court room, one of the officers, on a certain 
 occasion, pulled it off by force ; and on ano- 
 ther occasion, he was fined for the offence of 
 keeping his head covered. 
 
 Great pains were taken to prove the 
 charges brought against Penn ; but it hap- 
 pened that a jury was to try him, many of 
 whom were honest men ; and though we do 
 not know that any of them were of his reli- 
 gious persuasion, they evidently had con- 
 sciences. They could not agree on a verdict. 
 Four of the twelve were for acquitting him. 
 They were sent out by the Court again and 
 again, to reconsider the case, and were finally 
 told by the clerk of the court that they should 
 be locked up without food, or drink, or fire, 
 and made to starve if they did not bring in 
 such a verdict as the court could accept. 
 
 Penn, who, as it appears, was his own 
 lawyer in the case, remonstrated against such 
 wicked proceedings, but to no purpose. The 
 4 
 
38 SKETCHES OF 
 
 jury were kept two days and two nights with- 
 out the least refreshment. At last those who 
 conducted the prosecution, fearing, perhaps, 
 that the jurors would actually starve, and yet 
 unwilling to yield any thing, contrived the 
 matter so as to bring the jury into fault, and 
 both they and Penn were all sent off to pri- 
 son. The imprisonment of the jury, how- 
 ever, as it was found to be unlawful, did not 
 last long. They were soon released. Penn 
 also was released soon after by means of his 
 father's efforts, who was compelled to pay for 
 his liberation a heavy fine. 
 
 The feelincfs of Admiral Penn towards his 
 
 o 
 
 son had now experienced an entire change. 
 Though he miofht have still believed him 
 rather obstinate, yet he knew he was a 
 young man of great excellence of character, 
 and it was impossible for him to see a son so 
 amiable and whom he loved so tenderly, 
 reviled and persecuted and imprisoned, 
 simply on account of his views of religion, 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 39 
 
 without being deeply affected by it ; and his 
 heart became every day more and m.ore 
 bound up in him. Besides, his own health 
 was beginnining to fail, and as he was 
 apprehensive that his end was drawing near, 
 he wanted him at home with him, to 
 discharge towards him the last kind offices. 
 
 In this view, and with these feelings, he 
 went much farther in his efforts in behalf of 
 the young man than the latter could have 
 had the least reason to expect. He even 
 made an attempt to get a promise from the 
 king and from the duke of York, that they 
 would protect his son after his death, and not 
 let him be so constantly exposed to suffering 
 on account of his principles — and what was 
 still less to be expected, the king and the 
 duke promised to grant his request. 
 
 Not long after this, the father died. On 
 his very death bed, however, he encouraged 
 his son to go on, saying that if he and his 
 friends continued to adhere to their plain way 
 
40 SKETCHES OF 
 
 of preaching and plain living, they would 
 certainly be the instruments of a very great 
 reform in the world. 
 
 It must surely have been a great comfort 
 to Penn to find his father, in his last 
 moments, sustaining and encouraging, and 
 even urging him forward in the career he had 
 begun. It is no small matter for a young 
 man but little over twenty years of age, 
 reared amidst riches and show and luxury, 
 and at a period when vice is fashionable, and 
 dissipation respectable, to have the courage 
 to look on rank and titles and splendor in 
 their true light, and cast them all behind him ; 
 and aim at nothing but that true greatness 
 of soul which unfeigned piety only can 
 bestow. How much is it to be wished that 
 such a moral courage as was possessed by 
 Penn, and was thus aided and strengthened 
 by the dying request of his venerable parent, 
 were more in fashion now a days ! How 
 much does the present age need holy, sel 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 41 
 
 denying parents and children, who will not 
 only act right in view of persecution, or even 
 of death, but who will actually help each 
 other onward, and strengthen each other in 
 what they believe to be right, and in what is 
 agreeable to the will of God, and accordingly 
 to the dictates of their consciences. 
 
 By the death of his fiuher, Penn inherited 
 a yearly income of about £1500 sterling; 
 equal to more than ^6600. As however, 
 money was worth at that time, in England, 
 about three times as much as it now is with 
 us, that is, w^ould buy three times as much, 
 we should regard it as, in effect, a sum equal 
 to about $20,000. 
 
 Most young men w^ould be ruined, very 
 soon, by the acquisition of such a yearly 
 income ; but it did not alter Penn. He was 
 just as anxious to do good as ever. He 
 never dreamed of exerting himself any the 
 less, because he had property. In fact he 
 never exerted himself more in discharging 
 4# 
 
42 SKETCHES or 
 
 his duties to God and man, especially in the 
 way of travelling about and . preaching, and 
 visiting and conversing with people, as a 
 minister should do, than for some time after 
 his father's death. 
 
 But he had not yet done suffering from 
 persecution, notwithstanding his inofFensive- 
 ness of manner ; and notwithstanding, too, 
 the gracious promises of the king and the 
 duke of York, made to his venerable father, 
 on his death bed. On returning one day to 
 London, after he had been making a short 
 tour into the country, and preaching what he 
 beheved to be the truth, he experienced once 
 more the fury of the populace, or rather of 
 their prejudiced and infatuated leaders. As 
 he was preaching in a small meeting house 
 belonging to the sect of which he was a 
 member, he was suddenly pulled down from 
 the pulpit by officers sent for the purpose, 
 and imprisoned again in the Tower. 
 
 Having been confined in prison a short 
 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 43 
 
 time, he was at length brought out for trial. 
 But as his judge was one of his most bitter 
 enemies, his cliance of a fair trial was utterly 
 hopeless. In sliort, the result was that he 
 was condemned to suffer six months imprison- 
 ment in Newgate, where he was accordingly 
 committed. 
 
 While in prison, he spent his time 
 principally in writing, and when he was 
 liberated he made a tour through Holland 
 and Germany, for the purpose of spreading 
 his religious principles. What success atten- 
 ded these labors is not now known. 
 
 Soon after his return to London, he was 
 married. This was in the year 1672. After 
 marriage, he took up his abode, for some 
 time, in Hertfordshire. 
 
 I might stop here to tell you something 
 about his wife. I might tell you how well 
 she was adapted to sustain and encourage 
 him in the labors he had begun, and in the 
 reform which he was attempting. Perhaps, 
 
44 SKETCHES OF 
 
 however, it is sufficient to say that she was a 
 lady of a most excellent character, and that 
 she proved to be a most worthy and 
 exemplary and pious companion. 
 
 His labors in preaching, writing, convers- 
 ing, and defending the cause of the oppressed, 
 the persecuted, and the imprisoned, now be- 
 came incessant. No man — I repeat it — ever 
 disregarded, more than he, the advantages 
 which are commonly considered as belonging 
 to property. Instead of being less active be- 
 cause he was not obliged to exert himself, he 
 actually became, every day, more and more so. 
 
 About the year 1677, in company with 
 George Fox and Robert Barclay, two emi- 
 nent dissenting ministers of his own persua- 
 sion, he again visited Holland and Germany ; 
 in many parts of which they were received 
 with great favor and attention, especially in 
 Bohemia. 
 
 In returning from the continent to England 
 on this occasion, they encountered a most 
 
WILLIAM PENK. 45 
 
 violent storm ; and as the vessel was leaky, 
 they could not help apprehending great dan- 
 ger. Short as the distance was, they were 
 at sea three nights and two days, during the 
 whole of which time there was a continual 
 storm of wind, hail and rain, intermingled. 
 Some of the sailors came very near being 
 swept overboard. But alarmed as the pas- 
 sengers and seamen were in time of danger, it 
 was surprising to observe, said Penn, how 
 soon they forgot it all, after they got safe to 
 land, and returned to their usual idle and 
 trifling or profane conversation. 
 
 But Penn is not the only person who has 
 observed this trait in human nature. No one 
 who has travelled much at sea, can avoid ob- 
 serving it. We sometimes witness this strange 
 forgetfulness, without going at all from home. 
 
 I knew a boy who, though by no means 
 vicious or unmindful of his duty to his parents, 
 was forgetful of duty to God; and though he 
 was near ten years of age, and had been 
 
46 SKETCHES OP 
 
 tanght to pray, by his mother, when four or 
 five years of age, seemed to have outgrown 
 the practice, and for several years had not 
 littered a single prayer, not even those short 
 and simple ones of his infancy. 
 
 One day an accident befel his brother, 
 much younger than himself, of such a nature 
 that his life was thought to be in great dan- 
 ger. Then it was, for a moment, that God 
 was remembered ; and the boy prayed, and 
 prayed earnestly. The burden of his prayer 
 was, that God would spare his little brother's 
 life ; promising at the same time, that if his 
 prayer was granted, he would spend the rest 
 of ^his hfe in the fear and service of God. I 
 repeat it, he seemed to pray with very great 
 earnestness and sincerity indeed. 
 
 The little brother recovered in a week or 
 two ; but what, think you, was the result ? 
 Do you think the elder brother kept his word ? 
 Very far from it. In a single month he for- 
 got all his solemn promises, and went on the 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 47 
 
 journey of life again, passing day after day, 
 without praying to God or even thinking of 
 him. 
 
 But to return to Penn. He at length 
 reached his family in safety, having been ab- 
 sent about three months, and travelled during 
 that time about three thousand miles, besides 
 preaching a great many sermons, and holding 
 a very great number of religious conversations 
 and discussions. 
 
48 SKETCHES OF 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 New era in the life of Penn. Becomes interested in the 
 proviu-^es in America. West Jersey. Prepares a 
 constitution for it. Its excellent features. Purchases 
 of the king the provin:;e of Pennsylvania. Measures 
 for settling it. Provisions in regard to the Indians. 
 His letter to them. His directions to his own people. 
 
 We are now come to an entirely new pe- 
 riod in the history of Penn. Hitherto we 
 have seen him chiefly as a man and a Chris- 
 tian ; we are now to view him as a politician 
 and a philanthropist. 
 
 The settlement of this western world had 
 been begun many years before this time. 
 Colonies had been established all alono- the 
 
 o 
 
 Atlantic coast of what now forms the United 
 States ; and among the rest, a settlement had 
 been commenced in New Jersey, under the 
 name ^of East Jersey. West Jersey seems, 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 49 
 
 as yet, not to have been much settled. This 
 was about the year 1680. 
 
 At this time, Penn became interested in 
 these New Jersey settlements, especially West 
 Jersey ; and the task devolved on him of 
 forming a constitution for the colony. He 
 prepared for them an excellent code of laws, 
 under which the colony went on, for some 
 time, very prosperously. According to them, 
 no man in the colony was to be seized or 
 imprisoned, except by a jury of twelve men 
 of the neighborhood, and no person was to be 
 imprisoned for debt. If an individual owed 
 another, his estate was to satisfy his creditors, 
 as far as it would go, and then he was 
 to be allowed to work again, for himself and 
 family. In addition to these laws, so singular 
 for those early days, he made provision in 
 the consticution that no one should be 
 interrupted or molested, on account of his 
 religious opinions. 
 
 Some time before this, Penn and his 
 5 
 
50 SKETCHES OF 
 
 family had removed from Hertfordshire to 
 Sussex. This situation appears to have 
 afforded him more quiet, and released him 
 more from religious services and labors than 
 his fomier one. Accordingly we find his 
 thoughts turned, very much, towards the 
 new colonies in North America, especially 
 that of West Jersey. He made such 
 arrangements as o^ave great encouragement to 
 the settlement there of people of his own 
 religious sentiments and such were the 
 inducements that he held out, and the 
 persecutions they experienced at home in 
 England, that it was not long before two 
 hundred persons set sail at once for the new 
 territory. 
 
 In the year 1681, being engaged in the 
 arrangement of his father's affairs, and finding 
 that the government owed him the sum of 
 £16,000 sterling, as executor to his father, 
 he proposed to the king that, instead of 
 paying him the money, he should make over 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 51 
 
 to him a tract of land lying v/est of the 
 river Delaware in North America, opposite 
 to West Jersey, with a view to form a colony 
 there more entirely on his own plan. 
 Probably his letters from individuals in that 
 region had also convinced him that It was an 
 excellent tract of land, and one of the most 
 favorable places for the settlement of his 
 persecuted brethren, in every respect, which 
 he could desire. 
 
 His proposal to the king met, at first, 
 Vvith considerable opposition, but the king at 
 length accepted it, and a charter was made 
 out. The name of the new province was 
 called, In the charter, Pennsylvania, in honor, 
 not of young Penn, as has been by some 
 supposed, but of admiral Penn, his father. 
 The young man even protested against it at 
 first, lest people should think it was an effort 
 of his, to honor his own name. 
 
 Having now become very intimately 
 concerned In the formation and settlement 
 
52 SKETCHES OF 
 
 and government of a new colony, Penn found 
 it necessary to give up his connection with 
 the province of West Jersey. But this was 
 a matter of very httle consequence, as the 
 colony was now able to do very well by 
 itself, without his aid or assistance. He had 
 already sent over about one thousand four 
 hundred people to it, many of whom were, 
 not the ofF-scourings of society, but persons 
 of very great worth and respectability. He 
 had also caused the town of Burlington to 
 be built. Instead of a howling wilderness, 
 the country was nov/ cut up, in many parts 
 of it, into farms, and roads had been made ; 
 and instead of large tents covered with 
 canvass, in which to hold their weekly or 
 semi-weekly seasons of divine worship, 
 meeting houses had been built. Burlington 
 was under the government of wise and 
 respectable magistrates ; and the Indians in 
 the neighborhood, instead of being excited 
 
WJLLIAM PENN. 53 
 
 into jealousy and enmity, had been made 
 friendly and peaceable neighbors. 
 
 One of the first steps Penn took, in regard 
 to the new province, was to draw up in 
 writing an account of it. This account, for those 
 days, was full and particular, and without 
 exaggeration. It was no part of the policy 
 of this great man, by an overdrawn picture of 
 the new province to raise the expectations of 
 people too high, and after having induced 
 them to go out there, leave them to the 
 disappointment of not finding things as they 
 expected ; a course which has often, but 
 wickedly, been adopted in regard to new 
 countries ; but he wished to have every thing 
 according^ to truth ; and sucli it accordingly 
 v/as, so far as was in his own power to 
 render it so. 
 
 Connected with his account of the 
 
 province, which it seems, he afterwards had 
 
 printed and pubhshed, was a statement of the 
 
 terms on which and on which alone, he was 
 
 5* 
 
54 SKETCHES OF 
 
 willing to dispose of his land ; which were 
 not only favorable to himself, but such as 
 were calculated, in the best possible degree, 
 to promote the happiness of the new settlers : 
 his object being, not so much to make money, 
 as to make good citizens and good Christians. 
 
 Among the conditions in regard to the 
 sale of his land, was one very singular one; 
 at least we should think it so, if it were made 
 a condition in the sale of land now. This 
 was, that for every five acres of land which 
 was cleared by the settlers, one should be 
 left with the timber on it. Another was that 
 oak and mulberry trees, wherever found, 
 should be preserved, for the production of 
 silk and the building of ships. 
 
 But nothing shows, in a more striking 
 manner, his great wisdom and prudence, than 
 the pains he took and the provisions he made 
 respecting the Indians. This love for, 
 and attention to these poor people, was 
 indeed the crowning glory of Penn's 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 55 
 
 character ; and that which will be the means 
 of handing down his name with applause, to 
 the latest generations. As it had been usual 
 for the planters, in many of the colonies, to 
 overreach or cheat the Indians, in trading 
 with them, he made the following stipulation 
 for their security and benefit. 
 
 Whatever was sold to the Indians, for 
 their furs, was to be sold to them publicly, 
 in the market place, where it was to be 
 tested, whether it was good or bad ; if good, 
 it was to pass ; if not good, it was not to be 
 sold for good ; in order, as he said, that the 
 native Indians '' might neither he abused nor 
 provoJced.^^ He ordered, moreover, that no 
 man should, by any ways or means, in word 
 or in deed, affront or wrong any Indian ; and 
 if he did, he should incur the same penalty of 
 law, as if he had committed the act against 
 his fellow planter ; and if any Indian should, 
 by word or otherwise, abuse any planter, the 
 planter should not be his own judge in the 
 
56 SKETCHES OF 
 
 ca.se, entirely ; but the case should be 
 brought before the governor or some 
 magistrate, who should endeavor to make a 
 satisfactory arrangement with the chief or 
 king of the tribe to whom the man belonged, 
 in regard to him. And lastly, it was 
 provided that all differences between the 
 planters and the Indians, when they could 
 not be settled otherwise, should be left to 
 twelve men — a sort of jury — ^six of whom 
 should be planters, and six Indians ; in order, 
 if possible, to prevent, as he expressed it, 
 " all occasions of heart burnings and mis- 
 chief." 
 
 What w^isdom was this ! So uncommon is 
 it, that it seems almost angelic. Would that 
 all our ancestors had been thus wise in their 
 dealings with the Indians ! Who can avoid 
 the extreraest pain to think how often a 
 course was pursued with them as entirely 
 different from that which is pointed out in the 
 foregoing paragraph as dayliglu is from 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 57 
 
 darkness. Not only have they been cheated 
 and wronged, in regard to their property, but 
 alas ! they have been defrauded, as it were, 
 out of their morals and their health. 
 Io:norant of the sad nature and demoralizing 
 tendency of strong drinks, tobacco, &:c., they 
 were easily led by those who better knew 
 their effects, to the use of these pernicious 
 substances, and to those habits which grow 
 out of, or result from them, and then they 
 were charged with the habit of intoxication, 
 as if it were a national crime. How long is 
 public opinion to sanction the custom of 
 putting weapons of death into people's hands, 
 knowing, as we do, at the same time their 
 danger, and of making those who receive 
 them alone responsible for the evils which 
 ensue, while we are permitted to go un- 
 injured and perhaps unblamed ! 
 
 I am half disposed, my young friends, to 
 present you in this place, with one of Penn's 
 early letters to the Indians, sent over to 
 
58 SKETCHES OF 
 
 America by Jiis friends who first settled in tlie 
 new colony, Pennsylvania. It breathes such 
 a spirit of kindness, and lets you so completely 
 into the good man's character, without being 
 at the same time long enough to be tedious, 
 that I am sure it will be read with very great 
 pleasure. I suppose it was interpreted to 
 them by some of those who understood both 
 lansfuaoes. 
 
 "London, Sth aioiilh, 1681. 
 
 " My Friends, — TIicil^ is a great God and 
 Power which hath made the world and all 
 things therein, to v/liom you and I and all 
 people owe their being and well being, and 
 to whom you and I must one day give an 
 account for all that we have done in this 
 world. 
 
 " This great God has written .his law in 
 our hearts, by which we are taught and 
 commanded to love and to help and to do 
 good to one another. Now this great God 
 hath been pleased to make mc concerned in 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 59 
 
 your part of the world ; and the king of the 
 country where I hve, hath given me a great 
 province therein ; but 1 desire to enjoy it 
 with your love and consent, that we may 
 always live together as neighbors and friends ; 
 else what would the great God do to us, 
 who hath made us (not to devour or 
 destroy one another, but) to live soberly and 
 kindly together in the world ? 
 
 " Now I would have you well observe that 
 I am very sensible of the unkindness and 
 injustice which have been too much exercised 
 towards you, by the people of these parts of 
 the world, who have sought to make great 
 advantages by you, rather than to be 
 examples of goodness and patience unto you. 
 This, I hear, hath been a matter of trouble to 
 you, and hath caused great grudging and 
 animosities, sometimes to the shedding of 
 blood, which hath made the great God 
 angry. 
 
 ^' But T am not such a man, as is well 
 
60 SKETCHES OF 
 
 known in my own country. I have great 
 love and regard toward you, and desire to 
 win and gain your love and friendship by 
 a kind, just and peaceable life ; and the peo- 
 ple I send among you are of the same mind, 
 and shall, in all things, behave themselves 
 accordingly. And if, in any thing, any shall 
 offend you or your people, you shall have a 
 full and speedy satisfaction for the same, by 
 an equal number of just men on both sides, 
 that by no means you may have just occasion 
 of being offended against them. 
 
 " I shall shortly come to see you myself, 
 at which time we may more largely and freely 
 confer and discourse of these matters. In the 
 mean time, I have sent my commissioners to 
 treat with you about land and a firm league 
 of peace. Let me desire you to be kind to 
 them and the people, and receive the presents 
 and tokens which I have sent you, as a testi- 
 mony of my good will to you, and of my 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 61 
 
 resolution to live justly, peaceably, and friendly 
 with you. I am your loving friend, 
 
 " William Penn." 
 
 That these sentiments were not intended 
 merely to quiet the Indians, but to show that 
 what he thus promised he meant to fulfil, if 
 possible, I will make an extract from the 
 directions which he gave to his friends — some 
 of the leading men, I mean — who had to be 
 concerned with the Indians. 
 
 " Be tender of offending the Indians, and 
 hearken, by honest spies, if you can hear that 
 any body inveighs the Indians not to sell, or 
 to stand off and raise the value upon you. 
 You cannot want those that will inform you ; 
 but, to soften them to me and the people, let 
 them know that you are come to sit down 
 lovingly among them. Let my letter and 
 conditions with my purchasers, about just 
 dealing, be read in their tongue, that they 
 may see we have good in our eye, equal with 
 6 
 
62 SKETCHES OF 
 
 our own Interest ; and after reading ray letter 
 and the said conditions, then present their 
 kings with what I send them, and make a 
 friendship and league with them according to 
 these conditions, which carefully observe, and 
 get them to comply with you. Be grave ; 
 they love not to be smiled npon.^'' 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 63 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Death of Penn's mother. His affection for her. His 
 thoughts turned to America. Resolves to go there. 
 His advice to his children on leaving them. He sets 
 sail. Incidents of the voyage. Arrival at Newcastle. 
 
 About this time, namely, about the begin- 
 ning of the year 1682, Penn was afflicted by 
 the loss of his mother. The death of a pa- 
 rent must, in any event, be a great trial ; but 
 it must be especially so in the case of so good 
 a mother as Penn's had been. She had 
 always stood, as it were, between him and his 
 father ; and as I have already told you, had 
 comforted and sustained him when banished 
 from his home. But he felt it to be not only 
 his highest wisdom but his duty to submit, 
 without murmuring, to the dispensations of 
 Heaven, and he was rather disposed to be 
 
64 SKETCHES OF 
 
 grateful that her life had been spared so long, 
 than to mourn that, in a good old age, she 
 was taken away. 
 
 He had, moreover, arrived at a period of 
 life, and was engaged in a species of employ- 
 ment, that left him less time to think of the 
 dead than of the living. He had a great deal 
 to do in providing for and advising in regard 
 to his new settlement. An opportunity now 
 offering, he bought a new tract of land adjoin- 
 ing to it on the west, which made him the 
 possessor of quite a large province. It was 
 at this period, also, or not far from it, that he 
 was called to prepare a constitution, or form 
 of government, for his new province of Penn- 
 sylvania, 
 
 As my readers have already seen, in his 
 letter to the Indians, Penn had been long 
 meditating a visit to his colony in America. 
 He was pained at tlie thought of leaving his 
 family, but he thought it a Christian duty to 
 do so. Before lie set sail, however, he drew 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 65 
 
 up, in the form of a letter, a series of instruc- 
 tions and rules for the conduct of his children, 
 which he left in the hands of their mother, 
 with a request that they might be often read 
 by and with them, and as he might never 
 return, he wished them to be regarded as bis 
 dying bequest. I have selected a part of 
 them for my readers. They are richly worth 
 perusing, and even studying. 
 
 " My Dear Children, 
 
 " That are the gifts and mercies of the God 
 
 of your tender father ; hear my counsel, 
 
 and lay it up in your hearts. Love it 
 
 more than treasure, and follow it ; and you 
 
 shall be blessed here, and happy hereafter. 
 
 " In the first place, ' remember your 
 
 Creator in the days of your youth.' It was 
 
 the glory of Israel in the second of Jeremiah : 
 
 and how did God bless Josiah because he 
 
 feared him in his youth ! and so he did 
 
 Jacob, Joseph, and Moses. O, my dear 
 
 6* 
 
66 SKETCHES OF 
 
 children, remember and fear and serve him 
 who made you, and gave you to me and your 
 dear mother ; that you may live to him and 
 glorify him in your generations ! 
 
 " To do this, in your youthful days seek 
 after the Lord, that you may find him ; 
 remembering his great love in creating you ; 
 and that you are not beasts, plants, or stones, 
 but that he has kept you, and given you his 
 grace within and substance without, and 
 provided plentifully for you. This remember 
 in your youth, that you may be kept from 
 the evil of the world ; for in age it will be 
 harder to overcome the temptations of it. 
 
 " Wherefore, my dear children, eschew 
 the appearance of evil, and love and cleave 
 to that in your hearts which shows you evil 
 from good, and tells you when you do amiss, 
 and reproves you for it. It is the light of 
 Christ that he has given you for your 
 salvation. If you do this and follow my 
 counsel, God will bless you in this world, 
 
WILLIAM FENN. 67 
 
 and give you an inheritance in that which 
 shall never have an end. For the light of 
 Jesus is of a purifying nature ; it seasons 
 those who love it and take heed to it ; and 
 never leaves such, till it has brought them to 
 the city of God, that has foundations. O 
 that ye may be seasoned with the gracious 
 nature of it! Hide it in your hearts, and 
 flee, my dear children, from all youthful 
 lusts ; the vain sports, pastimes and pleasures 
 of the world ; ' redeeming the time, because 
 the days are evil !' You are now beginning 
 to hve. What would some give for your 
 time ; Oh I I could have lived better, were 
 I, as you, in the flower of youth. Therefore 
 love and fear the Lord, and delight to wait 
 on the Lord God of your father and mother. 
 
 " Next, be obedient to your dear mother, 
 a woman whose virtue and good name are an 
 honor to you ; for she hath been exceeded 
 by none in her time for her plainness, 
 integrity, industry, humanity, virtue and 
 
68 SKETCHES OF 
 
 good understanding; qualities not usual 
 among women of her worldly condition and 
 quality. Therefore honor and obey her, 
 my dear children, as your mother and your 
 father's love and delight ; nay, love her too, 
 for she loved your father with a deep and 
 upright love, and though she be of a delicate 
 constitution and noble spirit, yet she descend- 
 ed to the utmost tenderness and care for 
 you, performing the most painful acts of 
 service to you in your infancy, as a mother 
 and a nurse too. I charge you, before the 
 Lord, honor and obey, love and cherish your 
 dear mother. 
 
 " Next, betake yourselves to some honest 
 industrious course of life ; and that, not of 
 sordid covetousness, but for example, and to 
 avoid idleness. And if you change your 
 condition and marry, choose, with the 
 knowledge and consent of your mother, if 
 living, or of guardians, or those that have the 
 charge of yoiu Mind neither beauty nor 
 
WILLIAM PExNN. 69 
 
 riches, but the fear of the Lord, and a sweet 
 and amiable disposition, such as you can love 
 above all this world, and that may make 
 your habitations pleasant and desirable to 
 you. 
 
 " And being married, be tender, affection- 
 ate, patient and meek. Live in the fear of 
 the Lord, and he will bless you and your 
 offspring. Be sure to live within compass ; 
 borrow not, neither be beholden to any. 
 Ruin not yourselves by kindness to others ; 
 for that exceeds the due bounds of friendship, 
 neither will a true friend expect it. Small 
 matters I heed not. 
 
 '' Let your industry and parsimony go no 
 further than for a sufficiency for life, and to 
 make a provision for your children, and that 
 in moderation, if the Lord gives you any. 
 I charge you help the poor and needy ; let 
 the Lord have a voluntary share of your 
 income for the good of the poor, for we are 
 
TO SKETCHES OF 
 
 all his creatures ; remembering that ' he that 
 giveth to the poor, lendeth to the Lord.' 
 
 " Know well your Incomings, and your 
 outgoings may be better regulated. Love 
 not money nor the world ; use them only, 
 and they will serve you ; but if you love 
 them, you serve them, which will debase 
 your spirits as well as offend the Lord. 
 
 ^' Pity the distressed, and hold out a hand 
 of help to them ; it may be your case ; and 
 as you mete to others, God will mete to you 
 again. 
 
 " Be humble and gentle in your conversa- 
 tion ; of few words, I charge you ; but 
 always pertinent when you speak, hearing 
 out before you attempt to answer, and then 
 speaking as if you would persuade, not 
 impose. 
 
 " Affront none, neither avenge the affronts 
 that are done to you ; but forgive, and you 
 shall be forgiven of your heavenly Father. 
 
 ^' In making friends, consider well first ; 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 71 
 
 and when you are fixed, be true ; not waver- 
 ing by reports, nor deserting in affliction, for 
 that becomes not the good and virtuous. 
 
 " Watch against anger, neither speak nor 
 act in it ; for, like drunkenness, it makes a 
 man a beast, and throws people into despe- 
 rate inconveniences. 
 
 " Avoid flatterers, for they are thieves in 
 disguise ; their praise is costly, designing to 
 get by those they bespeak ; they are the 
 worst of creatures ; they lie to flatter, and 
 flatter to cheat ; and, which is worse, if you 
 believe them, you cheat yourselves, most 
 dangerously. But the virtuous, though poor, 
 love, cherish, and prefer. Remember David, 
 who, asking the Lord, *' Who shall abide in 
 thy tabernacle? who shall dwell upon thy 
 holy hill ? ' — answers, ' He that walketh up- 
 rightly, worketh righteousness, and speaketh 
 the truth in his heart ; in whose eyes the vile 
 person is contemned, but honoreth them who 
 fear the Lord.' 
 
72 SKETCHES OF 
 
 " Next, my children, be temperate in all 
 things ; in your diet, for that is physic by 
 prevention ; it keeps, nay, it makes people 
 healthy, and their generation sound. This is 
 exclusive of the spiritual advantage it brings. 
 Be also plain in your apparel ; keep out that 
 lust which reigns too much over some ; let 
 your virtues be your ornaments, remembering 
 ^ life is more than food, and the body than 
 raiment.' Let your furniture be simple and 
 cheap. Avoid pride, avarice, and luxury. 
 Read my 'No Cross, No Crown. ^ There is 
 instruction. Make your conversation with 
 the most eminent for wisdom and piety ; and 
 shun all wicked men, as you hope for the 
 blessing of God, and the comfort of your 
 father's living and dying prayers. Be sure 
 you speak no evil of any, no, not of the 
 meanest ; much less of your superiors, — as 
 magistrates, guardians, tutors, teachers, and 
 elders in Christ. 
 
 *'Be no busy bodies; meddle not with 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 73 
 
 Other folks' matters, but when m conscience 
 and duty pressed ; for it procures trouble, and 
 is ill manners, and very unseemly to wise 
 men. 
 
 " In your families, remember Abraham, 
 Moses, and Joshua, their integrity to the 
 Lord ; and do as you have them for exam- 
 ples. 
 
 " Let the fear and service of the living God 
 be encouraged in your houses, and that plain- 
 ness, sobriety and moderation in all things, as 
 becometh God's chosen people ; and as I ad- 
 vise you, my beloved children, do you coun- 
 sel yours, if God should give you any. Yea, 
 I counsel and command them as my poste- 
 rity, that they love and serve the Lord God 
 with an upright heart, that he may bless you 
 and yours from generation to generation. 
 
 ^'Finally, my children, love one another 
 with a true endeared love, and your dear re- 
 lations on both sides, and take care to preserve 
 tender affection in your children to each 
 7 
 
74 SKETCHES OF 
 
 Other; so may God, that hath blessed me 
 with his abundant mercies_, both of this and 
 the other and better life, be with you all, 
 guide you by his counsel, bless you, and 
 bring you to his eternal glory ! that you may 
 shine, my dear children, in the firmament of 
 God's power, with the blessed spirits of the 
 just, that celestial family, praising and adoring 
 him, the God and Father of it, for ever." 
 
 Having bid farewell to his family, he sailed 
 in the ship Welcome, for America. A new 
 persecution against his brethren, the Friends, 
 had just broken out in England, so that they 
 were at this time fleeing, in great numbers, to 
 America ; and nearly one hundred went out 
 in the same vessel with Penn. Nothing oc- 
 curred which was remarkable during the pas- 
 sage, except the breaking out of the small 
 pox on board of the vessel, of which about 
 thirty passengers died. Their sickness and 
 suffering gave free scope to the benevolence 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 75 
 
 of such a man as Penn. He was almost con- 
 stantly among the sufferers, endeavoring, in 
 one way or another, to afford them relief. 
 
 Some of the books which mention this 
 voyage, say that they were more than six 
 months on the passage ; but this cannot be 
 true. They were probably something more 
 than two. They sailed from England in 
 August, 1682, and landed at Newcastle in 
 the Delaware, October 24. The place of 
 their landino^ ou-'ht to be remembered with 
 the same sort of regard as we remember Ply- 
 mouth, the landing place of the Puritans. 
 
 After taking possession of the country, and 
 making a few other necessary arrangements, 
 Penn called together a general assembly of 
 his people, in order to confirm the laws and 
 regulations he had prepared for their govern- 
 ment, while in England. 
 
 The constitution he had formed would be 
 too long for insertion here. I will only say, 
 that his leading principle, and that on which 
 
76 SKETCHES OF 
 
 he based the whole constitution, was religion ; 
 that vital religion which has its root in the 
 heart, and which by its pure spirit governs 
 our actions ; and tliat, next to religion, he 
 took care to make provision for mental 
 instruction. One article of the constitution 
 required that public schools should be 
 established, and that every child should be 
 taught to read and write, " till arrived at the 
 age of twelve, after which he was to learn 
 some useful trade or profession, and so be 
 preserved, at once, from the dangers of 
 ignorance and the temptations of idleness." 
 He only allowed of punishment by death in 
 cases of murder or treason against the state ; 
 all other crimes were to be punished by 
 solitary confinement and useful employment. 
 The mention I have just made of his 
 attention to education, reminds me of his 
 enlarged views of that subject. He often 
 spoke of the great importance of a virtuous 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 77 
 
 education for youth. The following is 
 extracted from some of his writings. 
 
 " I take the freedom to say, that, if we 
 would preserve our government, we must 
 endear it to the people. To do this, besides 
 the necessity of presenting just and wise 
 things, we must secure the youth. This is 
 not to be done but by the amendment of 
 their way of education. The government is 
 a sort of trustee for the youth, who, though 
 now minors, yet will have the government 
 when we are gone. Therefore depress vice, 
 and cherish virtue ; that through good 
 education they may become good, which will 
 truly render them happy in this world, and a 
 ^ood way fitted for that which is to come." 
 
 The following will give us some idea of 
 what be thought a good education consisted 
 in. How different his notion of it from that 
 narrow one which often prevails, even in our 
 time, when we boast so much of improve- 
 ment in these matters. 
 7* 
 
78 SKETCHES OF 
 
 ^' If we went to Windsor Castle, or 
 Hampton Court, it would be strange not to 
 observe and remember the situation, the 
 building, the gardens, the fountains, he, that 
 make up the beauty and pleasure of such a 
 seat. 
 
 " And yet how few people know 
 themselves ! No, not their own bodies, the 
 houses of their minds, the most curious 
 structure of the world, a living , walking 
 tabernacle ; nor of the world of which it was 
 made, and out of which it is fed, which it 
 would be so much our benefit as well as our 
 pleasure to know. 
 
 " The world is a great and stately volume 
 of natural things, and may not improperly be 
 styled the hieroglyphics of a better. But 
 alas ! how very few leaves of it do we 
 seriously turn over ! This ought to be the 
 subject of the education of our youth, who, 
 at twenty, when they should be fit for 
 business, know nothing of it. " It would go 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 79 
 
 a great way to caution and direct people in 
 their use of the world, were they better 
 studied and knowing in the creation of it. 
 For how could men find the conscience to 
 abuse it, while they should see the great 
 Creator look them in the face, in all and 
 every part thereof?" 
 
 It is a proof also of his great love for the 
 diffusion of knowledge, that he left his 
 library — a very valuable one — a legacy to 
 the public. 
 
 If it should surprise some persons that a 
 great and good man, who was truly friendly 
 to education and religion, did not do more to 
 educate and Christianize the Indians, the 
 reply is, that Penn probably thought there 
 was a great work of preparation to be made, 
 in the first place. As a skilful farmer first 
 prepares his ground before he sows his seed, 
 so it seemed to be the object of Penn to 
 gain first the full confidence of the Indians, 
 and lead them gradually, by a love of the 
 
80 SKETCHES OF 
 
 fruits, to seek, for themselves, the tree of 
 knowledge and excellence from which they 
 were derived. And if the followers of Penn 
 had all pursued the same course of conduct 
 with himself, such in all probability might 
 have been the final result. 
 
 The Indians called Penn by the name of 
 Onas.'* They more than merely esteemed 
 him ; they loved him as a father. They 
 often expressed their affection for him in very 
 strong terms. Their love and respect for him 
 has been handed down to their posterity. As 
 an evidence of their esteem for him, may be 
 mentioned the saying of an Indian chief, at a 
 treaty held at Philadelphia, about the year 
 1740, that he was a very wise and good man, 
 and that he hoped that when his soul ascend- 
 ed to God, a person might be found to govern 
 the province who was just hke him. 
 
 * Onas, in the Indian language, signified a quill. 
 This may possibly account for the name which they 
 gave to their friend Penn. 
 
WILLIABI FENN. 81 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Penn's treaty with the Indians. The ehii tree at Ken- 
 sington. Anecdotes of it. Scarcity of provisions. 
 The Indians hunt for the whites. Founding of Phi- 
 ladelphia. Directions of Penn about building it. 
 Cultivation of the country. What was doing for the 
 Indians. 
 
 One of the earliest measures which Penn 
 adopted after his arrival at Newcastle, was to 
 gather together the Indians, and make a treaty 
 with them. For though he had bought the 
 province of Pennsylvania of the king of Eng- 
 land, yet he was not willing to settle on it, 
 without buying it fairly of its native owners. 
 He had even bought it long before this, or 
 rather, his commissioners had bought it for 
 him ; but he was anxious to have a public 
 meeting, and ratify or complete the agree- 
 ment. 
 
82 SKETCHES OF 
 
 A day and place having therefore been 
 appointed, Penn and his friends, consisting of 
 men, women, and young persons of botli sexes, 
 repaired to the spot, to meet the Indians. 
 This spot was Coaquannoc, the Indian name 
 for Philadelphia. When they arrived, the 
 Indian chiefs and their tribes were assembling 
 in such numbers that the woods seemed to be 
 full of them, as far as the eye could reach. 
 They were also armed, which must have 
 made them look friditful enough to the 
 whites, who were but a handful, and, as it is 
 said and is most probable, had no weapons. 
 
 But though the assembly was convened at 
 Coaquannoc, they did not make the treaty 
 there. They repaired to Shackamaxon, a 
 little way out of the city, to the north-east, 
 the present site of Kensington. Here, close 
 by the bank of the Delaware river, stood an 
 elm tree, which, at that time, was very large. 
 To this the leaders on both sides repaired, 
 
WILLIAM FENN. 83 
 
 approaching each other under its widely 
 spreading branches. 
 
 As for Penn, he appeared in his usual 
 clothes. He had no crown, no sceptre, no 
 sword, no halberd. He had nothing to dis- 
 tinguish him but a sky-blue sash round his 
 waist, made of silk net work. On his right 
 and left hand were his secretary, and a few 
 particular friends ; the rest of his people 
 followed in the rear. Penn himself carried 
 in his hand a parchment containing the treaty 
 to b-e formed. Before him were carried 
 various articles of merchandize, which, when 
 they came near the Indian sachems, were 
 spread on the ground. 
 
 The chief sachem now placed on his own 
 head a chaplet, or wreath, in which was a 
 small horn. This with the Indians was a 
 signal that the place and the occasion were 
 sacred, and that no person present had now 
 any right to injure or molest any other per- 
 son. No sooner had he done this, than all 
 
84 
 
 SKETCHES or 
 
 the Indians threw down their bows and arrows^ 
 and seated themselves round their chiefs, on 
 the ground, in the form of a half moon 
 Then the chief sachem told Mr. Penn, by 
 means of an interpreter, that they were ready 
 to hear what he had to say. 
 
 Think, young reader, if you can, what a 
 solemn scene this must have been ! Why, 
 the Indians, numerous and armed as they 
 were, could have destroyed Penn and his 
 party in a few moments. And yet we find 
 them not only refusing to hurt a hair of their 
 heads, but setting down on the ground, under 
 an elm tree, and making a treaty of peace 
 and friendship with them. 
 
 Penn made quite a long and excellent 
 speech to them. Then he paid them for the 
 land, and gave them the presents he had 
 brought. '' Having done this," says Clarkson, 
 in his Life of Penn, " he laid the roll of 
 parchment on the ground, observing that the 
 ground should be common to both people. 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 85 
 
 He then added that he would not do as the 
 Marylanders did, that Is call them children or 
 brothers only, for parents were apt to whip 
 their children too severely, and brothers 
 would sometimes differ. Neither would he 
 compare the friendship between him and 
 them to a chain, for the rain might sometimes 
 rust it, or a tree might fall and break it, but 
 he should consider them as the same flesh 
 and blood as the Christians, and the same as 
 if one man's body were to be divided into 
 two parts. He then took up the parchment 
 and presented it to the Sachem, who wore 
 the horn in the chaplet, and desired him and 
 the other Sachems to preserve it carefully for 
 three generations, that their children might 
 know what had passed between them, just as 
 if he had remained himself with them to 
 repeat it." 
 
 The Indian chiefs also made speeches, but 
 they are not preserved. We only know that 
 they promised to live in love with Penn and 
 8 
 
86 SKETCHES OF 
 
 his children, as long as the sun and moon 
 should endure. It is to be regretted that a 
 record of this treaty and of all that was said, 
 was not preserved. It is one of the most 
 remarkable treaties ever made, and one that 
 was never broken. 
 
 The elm tree, under which this treaty was 
 made, was very large, and was standing till 
 the year 1810, when it was blown down. 
 Its trunk measured twenty-four feet in cir- 
 cumference, and its age was ascertained, after 
 its fall, to be 283 years.* 
 
 Every branch and fibre of the tree which 
 had once covered the head of such a man 
 as William Penn, was of course regarded 
 almost with veneration. Walking sticks, 
 snuff boxes, and a variety of other articles, 
 made from it, have been accordingly scattered 
 over this and other countries, particularly 
 
 * The age of a tvee is ascertained by counting the 
 circular rings in the wood when the trunk is sawed ofl' 
 One of these rings grov/s every year. 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 87 
 
 England. A large piece of it, sent to John 
 Penn, of England, was made an ornament 
 for one of his apartments, with the following 
 inscription on it. 
 
 "A remnant of the great elm under which 
 the Treaty was held between William Penn 
 and the Indians, soon after his landing in 
 America, A. D. 1682; and which grew at 
 Kensington, near Philadelphia, till the au- 
 tumn of the year 1810, when it fell, during a 
 storm. Was presented to his grandson, 
 John Penn, Esq." 
 
 To show how much the famous elm tree 
 of which I have been speaking, was revered, 
 not only by Americans but by Englishmen, 
 it is proper to say that when the British held 
 Philadelphia, in 1775, and were often cutting 
 up the trees in the country round for fuel, 
 and the elm tree became somewhat endan- 
 gered. Gen. Simcox ordered a guard of 
 British soldiers to protect it. 
 
 When Penn first came over from England, 
 
88 SKETCHES OF 
 
 he found in his colony, besides the English 
 who had come over the preceding year, two 
 or three thousand Dutch and Swedes. All 
 these people were greatly rejoiced at his 
 arrival — the Dutch and Swedes apparently 
 as much so as his own countrymen, the 
 English. After his arrival, the population of 
 the colony increased much faster than ever. 
 Not far from this period the whole number 
 in the colony was estimated at about 6000. 
 
 Winter was approaching, and some of the 
 people were not provided with houses. They 
 went to work, and with the advice and as- 
 sistance of Penn, erected huts, which, though 
 not very substantial, were far better than 
 none. The following is the general plan on 
 which they were constructed. 
 
 Each hut was to be 30 feet long and 18 
 wide, with a partition in the middle so as to 
 form two rooms. It was to be both covered 
 and lined with clapboards, and the space 
 between the outside clapboards and the 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 89 
 
 inside lining boards, was to be filled up with 
 earth, to keep out the frost and snow. The 
 ground floor was to be of clay. The roof 
 was covered with clapboards. 
 
 Some, who arrived too late to build even 
 these temporary houses, dug large holes in 
 the banks of the river, where they were high 
 and dry, and lived in them. These last were 
 called caves. 
 
 It was not long before the inhabitants of 
 the new colony of Pennsylvania, became so 
 numerous that there seemed to be danger of 
 suffering for want of those provisions which 
 they had not had time to raise, and could not 
 buy from any neighboring settlements. But 
 the Indians, who considered them all as the 
 children of their good friend Onas, were 
 ready to hunt for them, and to do every kind 
 office for them in their power. Pigeons, 
 also, just at this time were so numerous, that 
 it is said the air was sometimes darkened with 
 
90 SKETCHES OF 
 
 them ; and they flew so low that they could 
 often take them by knocking them down. 
 
 Philadelphia, or the Great City, as Penn 
 was accustomed to call it, seems to have been 
 planned by him as early as 1681, but was 
 not reall}^ founded till 1682. In planning it, 
 he had shown great judgment and fore- 
 thought, and its beauty and opulence will 
 stand as monuments to future ages, of his 
 sound practical wisdom. Some of the direc- 
 tions he gave in regard to its arrangements, 
 show also that in founding it, he had some- 
 thincr else in view besides his own asrsfran- 
 dizement. The following are extracts from 
 the directions which he gave his commission- 
 ers on the subject. They confirm the truth 
 of what I have just been saying about his 
 wisdom and forethought. 
 
 " Let the rivers and creeks be sounded on 
 my side of the Delaware, especially upland, 
 in order to settle a great town, and be sure to 
 make your choice where it is most navigable, 
 
WILLIAM PENN'. 91 
 
 high, dry and healthy. Such a place being 
 found out, lay out 10,000 acres contiguous to 
 it, in the best manner you can, as the bounds 
 and extent of the liberties of said town. 
 
 " Be sure to settle the figure of the town 
 so that the streets hereafter may be uniform 
 down to the water from the country bounds. 
 Let the place for the state house be on the 
 middle of the quay, which will yet serve for 
 market and state house too. Let the houses 
 be built on a line, or upon a line as much as 
 may be. 
 
 " Pitch upon the middle of the plat where 
 the town or line of houses is to be laid or 
 run, facing the harbor and great river, for the 
 situation of my house, and let it not be the 
 tenth part of the town, as the conditions 
 say, viz : That out of every hundred thou- 
 sand acres shall be reserved to me ten 
 thousand. But I shall be contented with less 
 than a thirtieth part, to wit : 300 acres, 
 
92 SKETCHES OF 
 
 whereas several will have 200 by purchasing 
 two shares. 
 
 *' The distance of each house from the 
 creek or harbor should be, in my judgment, a 
 measured quarter of a mile, at least two 
 hundred paces, because of building hereafter 
 streets downwards to the harbor. 
 
 " Let every house be placed, if the person 
 pleases, in the middle of its plat, as to the 
 breadth way of it, that so there may be 
 ground on each side for gardens, or orchards, 
 or fields, that it may be a green country town, 
 which will never be burnt, and always be 
 wholesome." 
 
 Thus did the founder of Philadelphia 
 propose to lay out his favorite city on a large 
 and liberal, and noble scale ; and every one 
 who has beheld that beautiful place, may see 
 at once, that its present appearance conforms, 
 in no small degree, to the original plan, as 
 described in the last paragraphs. 
 
 The following paragraph will serve to show 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 93 
 
 what he was doing at this time, in the way of 
 clearing and cultivating the country. It is 
 extracted from one of his letters to a friend. 
 
 " I am now casting the country into town- 
 ships for large lots of land. I have held an 
 assembly, in which many good laws were 
 passed. I have annexed the territories lately 
 obtained, to the province, and passed a gene- 
 ral naturalization law for strangers, which 
 hath much pleased the people. As to out- 
 ward things we are satisfied ; the land good, 
 the air clear and sweet, the things plentiful, 
 and provision good and easy to come at ; and 
 an innumerable quantity of wild fowl and 
 fish. In fine, here is what Abraham, Isaac, 
 and Jacob would be well contented with ; 
 and service enough for God, for the fields are 
 here white for harvest." 
 
 Of the rapid progress of affairs, especially 
 in the city, we may judge from the following 
 sentences from a letter to Lord North, of 
 England, dated July, 1683. 
 
94 SKETCHES OF 
 
 "About 80 houses are built, and I suppose 
 above 300 farms settled, as contiguous as 
 may be. We have had since last summer, 
 about sixty sail of great and small shipping, 
 which we esteem a good beginning. A fair 
 we have had, and weekly market. 1 have 
 also bought lands of the natives, treated them 
 largely, and settled a firm and advantageous 
 correspondency with them." 
 
 But Penn's heart was principally, or at 
 least very largely, set upon the improvement 
 of the Indians. Such was his anxiety for 
 their good, that we are told by one of his 
 biographers that he laid out several thousand 
 pounds to instruct, support, and oblige them. 
 So intent was he on their civilization and 
 improvement, that before the end of 1684, he 
 had made treaties of amity and good will 
 with no less than nineteen different tribes. 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 95 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Pergecution in England. Penn goes there. Solicits 
 the king. The king's death. John Locke the philo- 
 sopher. The new king of England. Penn's famil- 
 iarity with him. This^ raises up enemies. A new 
 book. The dissenters — among them were 1200 
 Friends — set at liberty. Tour to the Continent. 
 Return. Arrest. Trial. Acquittal. Toleration 
 act. Another trial and acquittal. A third trial and 
 acquittal. Thinks of going to America. Attends the 
 funeral of George Fo.x. Attempts to seize him 
 again. His retirement. Is proscribed by the queen; 
 but not taken. New troubles. Death of his wife. 
 
 While all things were going on so pleasant- 
 ly in Pennsylvania, however, news of a very 
 unpleasant nature was received from Eng- 
 land. The poor dissenters of that country, 
 especially the Friends, were persecuted with 
 great violence. So many of the latter, and 
 often, too, of individuals whom Penn well 
 knew, were subjected to fines and imprison- 
 
96 SKETCHES OF 
 
 ment on account of their religion, that he at 
 length determined to return to England, and 
 endeavor, by his own joersonal interest, to 
 improve their condition. 
 
 Accordingly, having made all things ready, 
 he set sail for England, and after a favorable 
 passage landed there in October, 1684, with- 
 in a few miles, as it is said, of his own house ; 
 and had the very great pleasure of finding his 
 family and friends all in perfect health. He 
 went immediately to the king to see what 
 could be done for his persecuted brethren, 
 and had obtained a very favorable promise 
 from him ; but the king's sudden death soon 
 after, left things in the condition they were 
 before Penn's arrival. 
 
 One kind act he was, however, able to per- 
 form in favor of a fellow student, and a great 
 philosopher. I refer to the case of the cele- 
 brated John Locke. This man, on account 
 of his opposition to popery and arbitrary 
 power, had been deprived, by the king, of 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 97 
 
 his place as student at Oxford, with all its 
 rights and benefits; and, as it appears, had 
 fled to Holland. By means of Penn's inter- 
 ference, the philosopher was pardoned, and 
 allowed to return to England ; though he 
 does not appear to have accepted the pardon, 
 because he seems to have thought that by 
 accepting it, though innocent, he would seem 
 to own he had been guilty. 
 
 With a view to cultivate an acquaintance 
 with the new king, Penn now took lodgings 
 for himself and his family near the court. 
 In this attempt to influence his sovereign to 
 acts of clemency, he appears not to have 
 been entirely unsuccessful. He exerted him- 
 self chiefly in behalf of those who were 
 suffering on account of their religious prin- 
 ciples. 
 
 At length, he became quite a favorite with 
 the king; and the latter did not hesitate to 
 impart to him many of his secrets and coun- 
 sels. They spent so much time in conversing 
 9 
 
98 SKETCHES OF 
 
 together that some of the peers grew envious. 
 It no doubt seemed strange to them that his 
 majesty should vakie so highly the society of 
 a plain man, dressed in a plain garb, while 
 others in their gayer dresses w^ere considered as 
 only secondary companions. One of these 
 growing somewhat impatient, ventured to tell 
 the king one day that from his talking so 
 much with Penn, it seemed as if he did not 
 value his nobility very highly. To whicli, 
 however, the king only replied that Penn 
 always talked ingenuously, and he heard him 
 willingly. 
 
 Penn's intimacy with the king being soon 
 found out. procured for him, in one respect, a 
 great deal of trouble. Those who had favors 
 to ask of the king came to him to induce him 
 to intercede in their behalf; and many who 
 would never have ventured to lay their re- 
 quests before the king, had not Penn been 
 his favorite, ventured to do so now. Hence 
 his house and gates were daily thronged with 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 99 
 
 suppliants, desiring liim to present their 
 claims and addresses to bis majesty. There 
 were sometimes two hundred or more present 
 at a time. 
 
 It often happens in this world, that let a 
 man's purposes be ever so disinterestedly 
 benevolent, his efforts are not appreciated as 
 they should be ; and sometimes they are en- 
 tirely misconstrued. Thus it became, at 
 length, with the efforts and labors of Penn at 
 the court of James II. The king was favor- 
 able to the papists ; and it was at length 
 whispered abroad that Penn was only a papist 
 in disguise ; and that he was secretly plotting 
 with the king- ag^ainst the Protestants. 
 
 Among those who thought so meanly of 
 him was the very highly distinguished Arch- 
 bishop Tillotson. A correspondence ensued 
 between them, which ended in a full convic- 
 tion on the part of the bishop that he had been 
 in the wrong, and that Penn's conduct was 
 open, manly and sincere. 
 
iOO SKETCHES OF 
 
 It was at this period that Penn wrote and 
 pubhshed a work, entitled .a '' Persuasion to 
 Moderation." Whether this object had 
 much or Httle influence on the minds of the 
 king and his counsellors, is not known ; but 
 certain it is, that a great change in their 
 minds took place about this period ; for they 
 issued a proclamation of pardon to those who 
 were in prison for conscience' sake. Among 
 those who were thus liberated were no less 
 than twelve hundred of the society of the 
 Friends. 
 
 How must the heart of Penn have been 
 gladdened by this triumphant and happy issue 
 of his labors ! Well might he afford to spend 
 his time, day after day, in conversation with 
 the king, if the result was to become instru- 
 mental in effecting such a vast am.ount of 
 good ; for whatever influence his book may 
 have had on the king's mind, his conversations 
 are believed to have had much more. Nor 
 were his exertions made on behalf of his suf- 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 101 
 
 fering brethren alone ; for multitudes of peo- 
 ple of other denominations received their 
 liberty in consequence of his untiring efforts 
 and labors. 
 
 When he had completed, in the most happy 
 manner, his mission at the court of king James, 
 he made a tour to the continent. After visit- 
 ing various countries, and laboring with all 
 his might to extend his views of freedom of 
 conscience and religious toleration, he return- 
 ed once more to England, 
 
 The prejudices which grew out of his inti- 
 macy with a king, who was now generally 
 believed to be a Catholic, became at length 
 so strong as to stand very much in the way 
 of his further usefulness in London, or indeed 
 in England. But the flight of the king to 
 France, and the establishment of William and 
 Mary on the throne, made the matter still 
 worse, and even involved him in great danger 
 of being persecuted himself. 
 
 Now it was that he would gladly have 
 9* 
 
102 SKETCHES OF 
 
 gone to America, and sought a peaceful and 
 quiet home in the midst of his friends of the 
 new colony. But vvould it do for him, he 
 probably asked himself, to leave the country 
 in present circumstances ? If he were to do 
 so, would not those who had been long en- 
 deavoring to fix on him the charge of being a 
 secret fiiend of popery, begin to think him 
 indeed guilty ? On the whole, conscious of 
 innocence, he determined to " avoid every 
 appearance of evil," and remain where he 
 was, at least for the present. 
 
 But the flame was already so far kindled 
 that it was impossible for him to escape ; for 
 while walking in the streets of Whitehall, 
 soon after, the lords of the council sent for 
 him, and entered at once into an examination 
 of his condu.ct. Being permitted to defend 
 himself, he pleaded his own case in the most 
 simple and unaffected manner ; but what he 
 said did not seem to satisfy them. He was 
 obliged to give security for his appearance on 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 103 
 
 the first day of the next court, after which he 
 was discharged. 
 
 But when the time came for his trial, though 
 he came forward promptly and seasonably to 
 answer the charges which might be brought, 
 no person could be found to testify against 
 him. Nobody was ready or willing to say 
 that he was a Jesuit or a papist, or that he 
 had secretly aided or encouraged the king in 
 his attempts to establish popery. The con- 
 sequence was that he was soon acquitted. 
 
 Not long after this, the British government 
 passed an act, called the Toleration Act, by 
 means of which great favors were extended 
 to all dissenters, and to the Friends among 
 the rest. This event was gratifying in the 
 highest degree to Penn ; and there is great 
 reason to believe it was chiefly owing to his 
 writings, conversations, and other labors. 
 
 His mind once more turned towards Amer- 
 ica. His presence there, owing to certain 
 changes in the government, seemed indispen- 
 
104 SKETCHES OF 
 
 sably necessary. And he was the more wil- 
 ling to go, because the object of his highest 
 hopes — the passage of the toleration act, by 
 which the sufierings of his fellow dissenters 
 seemed to be at an end — was accomplished, 
 and no work of mao-nitude in England re- 
 mained for him to do. But no sooner had 
 he begun to make preparations for his intend- 
 ed voyage, than he was arrested by a body of 
 soldiers, and brought before the lords of the 
 council for another examination. 
 
 The charge now preferred against him — 
 strange to tell — was, that he had held a pri- 
 vate and secret correspondence with king 
 James, since his departure to France, — than 
 which nothing could have been more unjust. 
 It is true, a letter was produced in court, di- 
 rected to him by king James, but which had 
 been stopped by the way. To this fact Penn 
 of course answered by saying that he could 
 not be blamable for a request of this sort made 
 by the king, which he never received ; and 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 105 
 
 that, though he loved him as a friend, he 
 should be among the last to place him on the 
 throne again, in place of a monarch much 
 more excellent, if he had it in his power. 
 King William seemed quite convinced of his 
 innocence ; but some of the council having 
 doubts, he was ordered to give bail for his 
 appearance at the next court ; but when the 
 time of trial came, no one coming forward to 
 accuse him, he was, as before, honorably ac- 
 quitted. 
 
 Again his eyes were turned towards Amer- 
 ica, but the threatened invasion by the French, 
 during king William's absence in Ireland, 
 greatly alarming the queen, she exerted her- 
 self to the utmost for the defence of the na- 
 tion, and in order to fix a dread in the minds 
 of the supposed conspirators with king James, 
 she published a proclamation for apprehend- 
 ing many persons, among whom was Penn. 
 Here then we see him once more in prison, 
 and, in this instance, he appears to have lain 
 
106 SKETCHES OF 
 
 in prison, before his trial came on, for some 
 time. At the trial, howeyer, nothing could 
 be proved against him, and he was again ac- 
 quitted. 
 
 And now, surely, the reader will say, noth- 
 ing could hinder him from going to America. 
 But it was not so. The trials of the good 
 man were not yet ended. He was destined, 
 in the providence of God, to still further suf- 
 ferings. 
 
 Just before he was ready for departure, 
 George Fox, the founder of the Society of 
 Friends, died in London, and Fenn had the 
 satisfaction of performing the last offices of 
 friendship to him while living, as well as the 
 sad honor of attending his remains to the 
 place of interment. Here he spoke at some 
 length, to about '2000 persons. In conse- 
 quence of the secret efforts of his enemies, a 
 plot was, even now, laid to seize him — on 
 what grounds I do not learn — and officers 
 were sent to take him while attending Fox's 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 107 
 
 funeral ; but arriving too late, they concluded 
 to return home, without accomplishing their 
 object. 
 
 The old question was now revived in the 
 mind of Penn, whether under the circumstan- 
 ces of suspicion in which he was placed, it 
 w^as proper for him to leave the country, and 
 go to America. Were he to go there, it 
 would not aid him, however, in eluding the 
 law, as he would still be a subject of Great 
 Britain, though in America, and could at 
 any time be taken and brought back. But 
 had it not been so, he was too honest and 
 open and artless to think of incurring the 
 suspicion of appearing to fly from a punish- 
 ment which he knew he did not deserve. 
 
 But as he would not fly from danger, on 
 the one hand, so he would not expose him- 
 self to it unnecessarily where he w^as. He 
 resolved therefore to live in retirement in 
 London. Accordingly he took private lodg- 
 ings in that great city, where he employed 
 
108 SKETCHES OF 
 
 himself chiefly in religious exercises, and in 
 study, and in receiving the visits of a few 
 choice friends. 
 
 The idea of living in retirement in a city, 
 may be new to some of my younger readers. 
 But perhaps there are few situations in the 
 world where a person can be so retired as in 
 a very large city. 
 
 I have often wondered at what I regard as 
 the superior wisdom of this great man. With 
 his unbounded zeal to do good, few of our 
 modern reformers would have been willing, 
 as 1 think, to have shut themselves up, as he 
 did, in London. They would have thought 
 they were called to face danger and death, 
 conscious, as they were, of their own inno- 
 cence. They would have gloried in the idea 
 of making a sacrifice. But not so with Penn. 
 No man, since the days of Luther, has been 
 bolder than he, when duty seemed to require 
 it. And yet no man since the times of John 
 and James and Peter and Paul, has combined 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 109 
 
 prudence with his boldness, better than Wil- 
 liam Penn. 
 
 While thus living in retirement in London, 
 Penn was visited by his old friend Locke. 
 The philosopher now had it in his power to 
 offer the same services to Penn, which the 
 latter had, a few years before, offered to him. 
 But Penn, though grateful for the goodness 
 of heart which prompted to the offer, refused 
 to accept a pardon for the same reason which 
 had been assigned by Locke for refusing to 
 accept his. 
 
 When he had been in retirement about six 
 weeks, another proclamation was issued for 
 his apprehension ; but though he did not en- 
 tirely secrete himself, he kept, for the most 
 part, in his lodgings, and was not disturbed. 
 
 He spent his time, now, in writing, as it 
 
 was the only means left him of doing good 
 
 to his fellow creatures, and a man of his 
 
 stamp could not be idle. It was by no means 
 
 10 
 
no SKETCHES OF 
 
 the sort of life he would have chosen, but he 
 knew how to be reconciled to it. 
 
 But now a new trial seemed to await him. 
 The health of his wife, which had long been 
 declining, rapidly became worse ; and she 
 seemed to be in a very dangerous state. She 
 was not so strong by nature as some persons, 
 but it is highly probable, that the trials and 
 hardships of her husband had greatly worn 
 upon her. Woman is indeed distinguished 
 for her fortitude : but she can bear her own 
 trials far better than those of her husband. 
 
 His enemies, in England, not willing to let 
 him alone, now attempted to injure him in 
 another way. Some little disturbances 
 having arisen in Pennsylvania, during his 
 absence, and the story of these disturbances 
 having come to the ears of these British 
 enemies, they immediately set about trying to 
 convince the king and queen that Penn was 
 not capable of governing a province ; and 
 that Pennsylvania would be ruined unless the 
 
WILLIAM PENN. Ill 
 
 control of it was taken out of his bands. At 
 length the king and queen appeared to 
 believe it, and they appointed a new 
 governor. 
 
 It was impossible for a feeling mind, like 
 that of Penn, not to have been pained by such 
 an act of gross injustice. Deprived, at once, 
 of the hope of being a father to a peaceful 
 and happy and prosperous colony ; of doing 
 the great good he had meditated, to the 
 numerous tribes of Indians there; of the 
 friendship of the king and queen which he had 
 so lately enjoyed ; slandered and reviled also 
 by his enemies, and suspected by his best 
 friends, and compelled to watch over the 
 sick — and as he feared — the dying bed of his 
 dear wife ; is it strange if so many afflictions, 
 coming upon him at once, should have 
 weio-hed him down ? But it was not so. 
 He was as quiet as a lamb. He had a 
 conscience " void of offence." He had 
 cliosen God as his friend and father, from his 
 
112 SKETCHES OF 
 
 early youth, and this consoled him. He 
 believed that, dark as every thing now seemed 
 to be, all things would " work together " 
 finally " for good." 
 
 As his property all or nearly all lay in 
 Pennsylvania, the new order of things had 
 made him rather poor. But poverty, though 
 it seemed to him an evil, he could bear very 
 well, had it not been for the expense of a 
 sick family. However, he was resolved to 
 trust still in God. 
 
 It was now that the tide of events began, 
 once more, to turn in his favor. Some of his 
 friends in England, who were men of 
 influence, and who had long known him and 
 watched his whole conduct and character, 
 united their efforts and stated his case to the 
 king. They represented him as a sufferer 
 on account of his great conscientiousness, and 
 begged earnestly that something might be 
 done to restore him to the public favor and to 
 his rights. The king was convinced of his 
 
WILLIAM PENN, 113 
 
 innocence, and made proclamation accord- 
 ingly. Penn himself, however, does not 
 seem to have heen quite satisfied with this 
 way of being released from suspicion, for he 
 afterwards obtained permission to have a 
 public trial, which ended in his complete and 
 honorable acquittal. This was about the 
 year 1693. 
 
 This was a time of great joy, both to him 
 and his friends ; but to none more so than to 
 his poor wife. It must have been a source 
 of great satisfaction to her, in her w^eak state, 
 to see her dearest earthly friend restored to 
 his place in society, and released, in a good 
 measure, from those most unworthy suspi- 
 cions which had so lono[ hung; over him. But 
 though it greatly encouraged her, and seemed 
 to infuse new life into her, it could not save 
 her — she was too far gone for that. She now 
 gradually declined from day to day, till at last 
 she expired in the arms of her husband, and 
 in the joyful hope of a glorious resurrection. 
 10* 
 
114 SKETCHES OF 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Penn in his family. He attempts to recover his lost 
 possessions in America. His success. His reputa- 
 tion again rises. Anecdote of Fuller. Missionary- 
 labors. Marriage to a second wife. Death of his 
 son. He sails with his fimily for America. Phila- 
 delphia. Penn's house. Pennsburg. The Indians. 
 An Indian feast. Anecdotes of Penn. More troubles. 
 Goes to England. Troubles in regard to his pro- 
 perty. Ill conduct of his eldest son. Dishonesty of 
 his steward. He lives for some time within prison 
 limits. Mortgages his property to regain his liberty. 
 Attack of apoplexy. His death. 
 
 After the death of his wife, Penn spent 
 his time almost entirely with his children ; 
 and never, it is said, was there a more tender 
 parent. But this every one may know by 
 readmg his letter to them, which I have 
 already mentioned. 
 
 At length he made an effort to recover his 
 lost possessions in America. For this 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 115 
 
 purpose he sent a petition to the king, stating 
 in strong, but coirect terms, his case. In 
 this effort, too, he was successful. Colonel 
 Fletcher, whom the king had appointed 
 governor of Pennsylvania in his stead, was 
 removed, and Penn reappointed. The king 
 even went farther than he had expected, and 
 not only replaced him and declared his 
 innocence, but stated that the troubles which 
 had happened in Pennsylvania, instead of 
 being any fault of his, grew out of his 
 absence. 
 
 He was now rapidly recovering that 
 reputation of which he had been so long 
 unjustly deprived ; and as the mass of 
 mankind are ever ready to go to extremes — 
 to praise to day, to persecute tomorrow, and 
 then again praise more loudly than ever the 
 next day — so Penn seemed likely now to 
 stand higher in the estimation of his 
 countrymen than ever before 
 
 An anecdote will serve to show how things 
 
116 SKETCHES OF 
 
 now went with him. At the time of 
 attempting to take him prisoner at the funeral 
 of George Fox, an infamous wretch by the 
 name of Fuller had sworn falsely against him, 
 and it was on the strength of his statements, 
 under oath, that the warrant had been made 
 out. But now it was that Fuller's character 
 had become more publicly known, and he 
 had already received, for some of his mis- 
 deeds, a disgraceful punishment. 
 
 For a short time, at this period, Penn 
 allowed himself to leave his family long 
 enough to make a kind of domestic missionary 
 tour through the counties of Gloucester, 
 Devon, Somerset and Dorset, which produc- 
 ed a good deal of excitement among the 
 people whom he visited. 
 
 Several years having elapsed, from the 
 death of his first wife, he was again married. 
 This was about the beginning of the year 
 1696. His principal employment, about this 
 period, appears to have been that of 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 117 
 
 preaching. Why he did not go at once to 
 Pennsylvania, we are not told by his 
 biographers. 
 
 In the same year, 1696, he was again 
 afflicted, in the loss of his eldest son, a very 
 promising young man, about twenty years of 
 age. He died of consumption. His father 
 had spent the three months which immedi- 
 ately preceded his decease at his bedside ; 
 for he was not merely a tender father, but an 
 excellent nurse. 
 
 It was not far fi'om this period, that Peter 
 the Great of Russia, came to England to 
 learn the art of ship building, that he might 
 know how to lay the foundation of a Russian 
 navy. Hearing he was at work in the king's 
 dock yard at Deptford, Penn and some of his 
 friends resolved to visit him. The Czar 
 seemed glad to see them ; conversed with 
 them very freely, and they gave him some 
 books. He was so much pleased with them, 
 that he afterwards attended their meetings at 
 
118 SKETCHES OF 
 
 Deptford, and heard them with great atten- 
 lion. More than even this, howevero 
 Sixteen years afterward, ' when he was at 
 Frederickstadt in Holstein with an army, one 
 of his first inquiries was, whether the friends 
 of Penn held meetings there ; and on finding 
 that they did, he and many of his Russian 
 lords attended. 
 
 In September, 1699, Penn set sail with his 
 wife and children for America, to take 
 charge, once more, of the government of 
 Pennsylvania. They had a long and tedious 
 voyage,. of about three months. But it was 
 well for them that it was so, for a very fatal 
 disease — probably the yellow fever — was, at 
 this time raging in Philadelphia, and by being 
 kept at sea so long, they escaped it. Of the 
 precise mortality of the disease which raged 
 and what it was, we do not now know. It 
 is perhaps sufficient for us to say that when 
 Penn and his family arrived, the health of 
 the place was nearly restored. 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 119 
 
 He landed amidst a great crowd of people, 
 and immediately went to the house of the 
 deputy governor ; from whence, after resting 
 a few moments, he went immediately to 
 meeting ; it being on the Sabbath. The 
 next day, he proceeded to take charge of the 
 affairs of the government. 
 
 All the people seem to have been very 
 glad of his return. Even those who had 
 been his enemies rallied round him and now 
 became his supporters. The Indians, too, 
 when they heard of the arrival of their friend 
 Onas, were as glad as the whites. 
 
 Philadelphia, at the time of his quitting it 
 to go to England, contained about one 
 hundred houses. Now, sixteen years later, 
 it contained about seven hundred houses, 
 though some of them had been almost 
 depopulated by the fever. 
 
 Penn's house was in Second Street, but it 
 has now disappeared. There is an account 
 of it, however, in Watson's Annals of 
 
120 SKETCHES OF 
 
 Philadelphia, and 1 believe a picture of it. 
 There is a house — a feather store rather — - 
 near Dock Square, in Boston, which was 
 built in 1680 — that is, before Penn came to 
 Philadelphia ; and there are some in the 
 northern part of the city which are still 
 older. 
 
 Penn resided chiefly at a place called 
 Pennsburg, which was, however, about 
 twenty four miles north eastward of 
 Philadelphia, nearly opposite where Borden- 
 town in New Jersey now stands : at the very 
 easternmost part of the State of Pennsylvania. 
 The spot was first fixed on soon after his 
 famous treaty with the Indians. 
 
 But Pennsburor was not a villa2;e, as some 
 of you may suppose. I believe it consisted 
 of no other house but that of Governor Penn. 
 It is very much the fashion with the English 
 to give their residences a sort of family name. 
 In the lower counties of Virginia, which was 
 settled, as you know, principally by English 
 
WILLIAM PENIf. 121 
 
 people, there are a great many houses which 
 have quite a distinguished name ; as Litch- 
 field, Thornton, &c. Strangers in Virginia, 
 when they hear it is so far to Thornton, for 
 example, expect they are coming to a 
 village : whereas, on their arrival, they find 
 nothing but an elegant mansion ; with 
 perhaps a few huts near it for slaves. 
 
 But I was going to say a little more about 
 Pennsburg. As late as the Revolutionary 
 war, the decayed walls of the mansion house 
 were still standing, though somewhat in ruins, 
 and a hedge pear tree, growing among them. 
 Near by was an old malt house and some 
 other buildings, and an avenue of walnut 
 trees along the road. Opposite, in the river, 
 are several beautiful islands. There was a 
 large garden containing many fruit trees, and 
 there were pleasant fields around. On the 
 roof of the house, it is said there was a fish 
 pond; but I suppose it could have been 
 nothing but a large cistern. 
 
 11 
 
122 SKETCHES Of 
 
 Penn spent much of his time, in the latter 
 part of his hfe, amonoj the Indians. Some- 
 times he preached among them. Sometimes 
 he only made them visits, and ate and drank 
 and talked with them. Sometimes, also, he 
 received visits from the Indians. 
 
 Perhaps you already know that many 
 learned men have thought our North 
 American Indians were of Jewish origin. 
 They suppose that they crossed Asia, and by 
 crossing, in due time Beering's straits, 
 perhaps on the ice, in the winter, found 
 their \\ay here. John Eliot, the famous 
 Indian apostle, as he has been called, was of 
 this opinion ; and so was Penn. 
 
 This may account in part, for the labors of 
 love which these two great men performed 
 among the Indians ; but not wholly. They 
 were both benevolent men — they loved their 
 neighbor as themselves. The poor Indians 
 were their neighbors ; they were in a most 
 degraded and miserable condition, and the 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 123 
 
 greater their ignorance and misery, the more 
 they wanted to enhghten them and make 
 them better. 
 
 In one of Penn's excursions from Penns- 
 burg, he attended an Indian feast. I should 
 like to give you a brief account of it. 
 
 '•' The entertainment was given by the 
 side of a beautiful spring, carpeted probably 
 with soft grass, and canopied, we are told, by 
 the overshadowing of lofty trees. Their 
 repast consisted of venison, for which several 
 bucks were killed, and hot cakes of wheat 
 and beans." The entertainment was con- 
 cluded by certain kinds of amusements of 
 which the savages were fond ; and though 
 Penn was a grave man, and not very fond of 
 amusements, especially noisy ones, yet, for 
 the sake of peace, he suffered them. 
 
 I have already told you that Penn 
 sometimes received visits from the Indians. 
 The Indians chiefs and their wives — the 
 kings and queens— were especially his favor- 
 
1-24 SKETCHES OF 
 
 it.es. Whether he ever made feasts for them^ 
 we are not exactly told ; but nothing is more 
 likely. 
 
 Here follow a few anecdotes of Penn, 
 collected from his life, by Clarkson, which 
 serve to show his simple character, habits, 
 and feelings. 
 
 In going to Haverford, to attend a meeting 
 one day, he overtook a little girl who was 
 also going thither. He was on horseback, 
 and the little girl was on foot and barefooted. 
 Having fallen into conversation with her, and 
 found out where she was going, he asked her 
 to ride with him. She accepted the 
 invitation, and though without shoes or stock- 
 ings, and probably not well dressed, he carried 
 her to the meeting. I dare say some people 
 stared to see Gov. Penn come into town in 
 such a plight ; but probably this would have 
 made no difference with him. 
 
 Another anecdote of Penn is related here, 
 because it took place about the same time^ 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 125 
 
 and because it is somewhat curious and in- 
 structive. A boy about twelve years of age, 
 son of a man at whose house he one night 
 lodged in his travels about Pennsylvania, 
 being a lad of great curiosity, and not often 
 having the opportunity of seeing so great a 
 guest as Gov. Penn, privately crept to his 
 chamber door, up a flight of steps on the out- 
 side of the building, and peep'ng through the 
 latchet hole, he was struck with awe in be- 
 holding him on his knees by the bed side, 
 and in hearing what he said ; for he could dis- 
 tinctly hear him returning thanks to God for 
 his protection and merciful care of him and 
 his people, the Pennsylvanians. The cir- 
 cumstance made an impression on the boy's 
 mind that lasted as long as he lived. 
 
 I do not, of course, undertake to commend 
 so unmannerly an act as that of peeping into 
 a person's bed-chamber, or listening to his 
 prayers ; but the anecdote serves to show 
 how great folks are regarded by children, and 
 11* 
 
126 SKETCHES OF 
 
 how eager they are to see them ; and that 
 Penn, like Washington, was a man of prayer^ 
 Great stations in life do not excuse us from 
 lives of prayer and faith, but rather the con- 
 trary. They should only make us feel the 
 more need of God's blessing on us and those 
 over whom we are placed. 
 
 Penn, though plain, was very neat in his 
 dress. Many people think that to be plain is 
 to be negligent and slovenly ; but this is a 
 great mistake. I do not mean to intimate that 
 Penn was very particular in his appearance, 
 but rather that he was cleanly. He was as 
 neat in his person as he was in his clothing. 
 He generally w-alked with a cane. His cane 
 was his companion almost every where, even 
 in his study. 
 
 He was fond of carving likenesses of people, 
 especially in ivory ; for wdiich he had consid- 
 erable skill. Such however, was his sense 
 of the great value of time, that it is said he 
 but seldom indulged himself in this practice. 
 
WILLIAM PENN. - 121 
 
 Like Eliot, the Indian Apostle, he was a 
 great enemy to the use of tobacco. I wish 
 all those who have had to do with the In- 
 dians had been equally so. The following 
 anecdote will show how strong Penn's detes- 
 tation of this filthy weed was. 
 
 Several of his friends at Burlington being 
 engaged in smoking one day, it was told them 
 that Gov. Penn's barge was in sight, and com- 
 ing up the river ; but they supposed he was 
 going to Pennsburg. Suddenly, however, he 
 landed in Burlington, and entered the very 
 house where they had been smoking. On 
 seeing him coming in, they had concealed 
 their pipes, but the smell of the tobacco 
 smoke was so strong, that he perceived, at 
 once, what they had been doing, and in the 
 way of a gentle reprimand told them he was 
 glad they were at last ashamed of their old 
 habits. 
 
 Penn, though constitutionally grave, was 
 cheerful, and sometimes inclined to be a little 
 
128 SKETCHES OF 
 
 W 
 
 itty. On the occasion of his coming to 
 Burlington, just mentioned, some of his friends 
 expressed surprise at his getting along up the 
 river with his barge, when he had the wind 
 and tide both against him, to which he re- 
 plied, very humorously, " that he had been 
 sailing a2:ainst wind and tide all his life." 
 
 Having a great deal of business to perform, 
 Penn was a great economist of his time. He 
 was therefore regular and methodical in all 
 his movements, and in all the concerns of his 
 family, even to their religious worship. In 
 the winter, every member of his family was 
 required to be up by seven o'clock in the 
 morning ; in the spring at six ; in the summer, 
 at five ; and in the fall, at six. Nine o'clock 
 was the hour for breakfast, twelve for dinner, 
 and seven for supper ; they retired to bed at 
 ten. Prayer and religious reading were at- 
 tended to every morning and evening, in 
 which the whole family joined. The ser- 
 vants were obliged, every night, to render to 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 129 
 
 their master and mistress an account of what 
 they had done during the day, and to receive 
 instructions in regard to the next day. On 
 the days of pubhc worship, none of his family 
 were allowed to be absent, unless sick or 
 otherwise unavoidably detained. 
 
 In the year 1690, a history of the Old and 
 New Testament was published in England, 
 with 260 engravings, each of which was to 
 be made from a design furnished by some 
 distinguished person. King William and 
 Queen Mary, each of them furnished one. 
 In general they were intended to illustrate 
 some parable or some fact mentioned in the 
 Bible. Among the rest, Penn was required 
 to furnish one. 
 
 The subject of the plate which he gave, 
 was the Parable of the Talents. The rich 
 man appeared sitting with his steward and 
 others at a large table, where there was pen, 
 ink, and scrolls of paper. Two of those who 
 had received the talents stood near the table. 
 
130 SKETCHES OF 
 
 He who had received the largest share, had 
 laid his five bags upon it. These the steward 
 had examined, and he was then entering the 
 amount of them in a book. He who had 
 received the two talents was seen standing 
 with his two bags in his hand, ready to lay 
 them on the table when called on, and to 
 deliver his account. He who had received 
 but one, was seen kneeling with one knee, 
 and with his bag also near him on the ground, 
 and lifting up his hands and imploring mercy. 
 At a little distance appeared the hole in the 
 ground, from which the bag had been taken, 
 close to which were lying the pickaxe and 
 spade which had been used in digging it up. 
 Penn was one of the kindest men in the 
 world to poor people. It often happens that 
 men who are esteemed great are rather back- 
 ward to show kindnesses to the poor. But 
 the poor of all sorts were among the strongest 
 friends of Penn, and found in him one of their 
 most bounteous benefactors. 
 
WILLIAM VENN. 131 
 
 He was a man of great sensibility. Those 
 who were acquainted with him often saw the 
 tears start in his eye at the relation of tales of 
 wretchedness and wo; and what is equally 
 remarkable, at the relation of peculiar kind- 
 ness. The latter trait is shov/n by the follow- 
 ing anecdote : 
 
 Two missionaries, about this time, on land- 
 ing in Bermuda, were immediately ordered to 
 the Government House, and though still 
 shivering and faint from the effects of sea 
 sickness, were ushered at once into the pres- 
 ence of the Governor. Such was the haste, 
 and such the sternness of the officers, that 
 they expected nothing from the Governor 
 but rough usage, and perhaps imprisonment. 
 But to their very great surprise, they were 
 received by the Governor with the greatest 
 kindness. He not only furnished them with 
 refreshments and entered into friendly conver- 
 sation with them, but finding how weak and 
 feeble they were, lent them his own horses, 
 
132 SKETCHES OF 
 
 to enable them to proceed to their place of 
 destination ; and the next day furnished them 
 with horses to travel about the island with, in 
 the fulfilment of the duties of their mission. 
 When this story was related to Penn, by one 
 of his friends, he wept like a child. 
 
 But it is time to return to the thread of 
 our history. We are now drawing rapidly to 
 its close. 
 
 After the lapse of a year or two of peace 
 and happiness in America, Penn became once 
 more involved in troubles. I cannot go into 
 the particulars. I will only say, that the 
 difficulties grew out of the envy of persons in 
 England, and that he at length found it neces- 
 sary to make a journey thither. 
 
 He did not go, however, till he had made 
 every possible arrangement for leaving the 
 province quiet and prosperous. He left the 
 care of government in the hands of one Logan, 
 whom he had long known, and who was wor- 
 thy of being trusted. Having done this, he 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 133 
 
 set sail, accompanied by his family, and after 
 a voyage of six weeks, arrived in England. 
 This was about the year 1701 or 1702. 
 
 This appears to have been the last journey 
 he ever made across the Atlantic ; for though 
 he lived many years longer, he seems to have 
 spent his days in England. 
 
 He had not been long in England, before, 
 as it is said, he began to experience new trou- 
 bles in regard to property. He had spent 
 much of his property, as it appears, in New 
 Jersey and Pennsylvania, in various ways of 
 doing good, and had been defrauded of much 
 which he had not expended ; so that he had 
 actually become poor. He did not, indeed, 
 often complain of his poverty, though he 
 sometimes just mentioned it. '' But I had 
 rather be poor," he used to add, " with a 
 loving people, than be rich with an ungrateful 
 one." I ought, perpaps, to say, that he still 
 owned property in America ; but it did not 
 bring him in any money. 
 12 
 
134 SKETCHES OF 
 
 But his poverty was not his sorest afflic- 
 tion, after all. One remained which it was 
 much more difficult to bear.- He had been 
 absent from home much, as we have already 
 seen ; and there is great reason to fear that 
 his wife, though a woman of excellent inten- 
 tions, had not done every thing, in the way 
 of managing the sons, that could have been 
 desired. To govern children in the best 
 manner, requires the united efforts of both 
 father and mother. 
 
 Not only had the father been absent from 
 home a great deal, in America, and thus, as 
 it appears, suffered his sons, his eldest son 
 especially, to go a little ungoverned, but he 
 had now taken a course which was likely to 
 add fuel to the flame. He was living in Lon- 
 don ; and a worse place for strong-headed 
 young men, who had not learnt to govern 
 themselves, could not have been found. 
 There are a thousand temptations in every 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 135 
 
 city, but especially in such a great city as 
 London. 
 
 We are not informed exactly what the son 
 did in London which grieved his father ; but 
 only that the latter, to reform him, sent him 
 over to America. This, however, does not 
 appear to have effected the object, for the 
 son became disgusted, or got into difficulty 
 in Philadelphia, or both, and went back to 
 England. In the year 1707, he became in- 
 volved in greater pecuniary troubles than ever. 
 This happened through the dishonesty of a 
 steward, whom he had trusted too confidently. 
 The result was, that Penn was imprisoned for 
 debt, and though he was allowed the privilege 
 of living where he pleased within the prison 
 limits, yet the situation was by no means an 
 agreeable one. In order to regain his. liberty, 
 he mortgaged his property in Pennsylvania 
 for six thousand pounds sterling. 
 
 He was now more than sixty years of age_, 
 and had seen a great deal of hardship. It is 
 
136 SKETCHES OF 
 
 not to be wondered at, therefore, that his 
 health should begin to fall ; which was ac- 
 tually the case. Still he was not wholly dis- 
 abled from pursuing business for many years. 
 His calm, even temper enabled him to bear 
 the infirmities of age, as well as the troubles 
 in which he was involved both by his enemies 
 and his son, much better than he could other- 
 wise have done. Finding the air of the city 
 to disagree with his health, however, he re- 
 moved, in 1710, to Buckinghamshire, where 
 he spent the remainder of his life. 
 
 In 1712, he had three fits of apoplexy. 
 His next four years were passed in a state of 
 almost entire helplessness ; though his mind 
 was not so much impaired but that he could 
 converse with his friends, and join with them 
 in their prayers, and sometimes preach to 
 them in short addresses. The pain of his 
 situation was very much mitigated by the 
 kindness of friends, and especially by that of 
 
WILLIAM PENN. 137 
 
 his wife ; for which he was particularly grate- 
 ful. 
 
 From 1716 to the summer of 1718, the 
 powers of his body and mind gradually failed 
 him. He scarcely knew his most intimate 
 friends, or could walk without leading , and 
 for some time previous to his death, he was 
 almost entirely insensible. He died, July 30, 
 1718, aged seventy-four years. 
 
 He had four sons and three daucrhters. 
 William, the eldest son, who had given him 
 so much trouble, seems to have remained in 
 Europe. His three remaining sons, John, 
 Thomas, and Richard, removed to America, 
 and were all of them afterwards concerned, 
 more or less, in the government of Pennsyl- 
 vania.