though it became the fashion, after the Revolution, to conceived to have more influence, and, therefore, consider this apparent liberality in matters of conscience to be a mere Jesuitical feint to engage the unwary to support his policy in favor of the Catholics, abundant evidence remains to show that this was not the case.

It is curious (he says) to find, that the men who stood by him in his darkest hours of trial were, with some stanch exceptions, not the persons who shared his religious opinions, but the more distinguished order of courtiers, statesmen, divines, and philosophers -men like Rochester and Ranelagh, Trenchard and Popple, Tillotson and Locke. Many of his own sect for a time looked coldly on his sufferings; and it does not appear that their indifference was entirely removed until he was restored to his worldly rank (by the act in council of 1694 reäppointing him to his government of Pennsylvania.) They had no complaint to make against his morals or his life, they only pretended to condemn the too active part he had taken in the affairs of the world.

We cannot wholly pass over this part of Penn's life without noticing what Mr. Dixon calls his "extra chapter on the Macaulay charges," being, in fact, a repetition of Mr. Forster's arguments against those charges. How far Mr. Dixon has a right to sit in judgment on men for alleged inaccuracies of detail, our readers are, by this time, qualified to judge. And the tone and temper of his criticism are such as we are sorry to see imported into any literary controversy. The historical questions really at issue may be briefly disposed of. Three principal instances have been alleged, in which Penn is said to have been employed by the court in discreditable negotiations. The first is the case of Kiffin; and here Mr. Dixon and Mr. Forster, while quoting Kiffin's memoirs of himself against Mr. Macaulay, have both contrived to omit the very passage on which Mr. Macaulay's statement is grounded! The second is that of Magdalen College; as to which, the apologists wholly fail to perceive that the conduct ascribed to Penn is matter of inference, not of direct proof; and the unfavorable inference, which was drawn long before Mr. Macaulay wrote, remains altogether untouched by their arguments. The third is that of the "Maids of Taunton ;" and here, on the other hand, there can be no doubt that the discovery of the Pinney cash-book has greatly altered the state of the question. Indeed, the story, as against Penn, seems, in itself, so improbable, that we are quite ready to be content with a very moderate amount even of manuscript disproof. In the mean time, we are hardly satisfied with the subsidiary arguments with which Mr. Dixon has chosen to overload the question. His several pleas seem to be, 1. That the Maids were traitors. 2. That the sale of traitors' pardons was a regular profession. 3. That the Maids of Honor were, probably, good-natured creditors. 4. That there is no proof that Penn accepted the commission. 5. That it was not William Penn, but George Penn. He would have saved some pages of letter-press, had he but remembered the moral of the venerable jest concerning the mayor, who proposed to offer Henry the Fourth seven reasons for not firing a salute. "In the first place, we have no powder.' Enough said," replied the monarch; "I excuse you the other six."

64

Nor were Penn's political weaknesses the only features of his character which weaned from him the affections of the sterner and more serious of his sect.

His style of living was a constant subject of jealousy with the evil-minded, and of reprobation with the earnest. Penn, certainly, shook off the ascetic fit of youthful devotion at a very early period. Indefatigable in travel and exertion, he did not appear to conceive that any particular self-denial was called for in his ordinary course of life. He was a man of easy habits and expensive tastes-nay, he

had a certain partiality for creature-comforts, such
as, according to some censors, has lurked among
the orthodox and regular members of his persuasion
from that day to this. His setting up a coach was
a passage almost as memorable in the history of
the Friends, as the same daring action by his con-
"And
temporary, Secretary Pepys, in his own.
if he says," exclaims the satirical Bugg, "that his
is no coach, but only a leathern conveniency, yet,
as I have heard, he hath curious buildings and good
wine, waiting men and waiting maids, and ofttimes
good and dainty dishes of meat." Bugg was
rightly informed. Mr. Dixon has given us a sketch
of the governor's family life in his American dwel-
ling, which is both tempting and picturesque; it
affords, moreover, some insight into the causes of
sion here described occurred in a residence of less
dilapidation of the Penn estates-for all the profu-
than two years.

The front of the house, sixty feet long, faced the Delaware, and the upper windows commanded a magnificent view of the river and of the opposite shores of New Jersey. The depth of the manor-house was forty feet, and on each of the wings the various out-houses were so disposed as to produce an agreeable and picturesque effect. The brewhouse, a large wooden building covold Saxon drink-was at the back, some little distance ered with shingles-Penn was not unused to the good from the mansion, and concealed among the trees. The house itself stood on a gentle eminence; it was two stories high, and was built of fine brick and covered with tiles. The entrance led, by a large and handsome porch and stone steps, into a spacious hall, extending nearly the whole length of the house, which was used on public occasions for the entertainment of distinguished guests, and the reception of the Indian tribes. The rooms were arranged in suites, with ample folding-doors, and were all wainscotted with English oak. A simple but correct taste was observable throughout; the interior ornaments were chaste, and rated with the carving of a vine and clusters of grapes. the oaken capital at the porch was appropriately decoThe more elaborate of these decorations were sent from England by the governor. The gardens were the wonder of the colony for their extent and beauty. A country-house, with an ample garden, was the governor's passion, and he spared neither care nor money to make the grounds of Pennsburg a little Eden. He procured from England and from Scotland the most skilful gardeners he could find.

The furnishing of Pennsburg was to match. Mahogany was a luxury then unknown; but his spidertables and high-backed chairs were of the finest oak. An inventory of the furniture is still extant; there were a set of Turkey-worked chairs, arm-chairs for ease, and couches with plush and satin cushions for leathern chair of the proprietor; in every room were luxury and beauty. In the parlor stood the great found cushions and curtains of satin, canilet, damask, and striped linen, and there is a carpet mentioned as being in one apartment, though at that time such an article was hardly ever seen except in the palaces of kings. His side-board furniture was also that of a gentleman; it included a service of silver, plain, but massive-like, and white china, a complete set of Tonbridge ware, and a great quantity of damask tablecloths and fine napkins. The table was served as became his rank, plainly but plentifully. His cellars were well stocked; canary, claret, sack and Madeira, being the favorite wines consumed by his family and their guests. Besides these nobler drinks, there was a plentiful supply, on all occasions of Indian or general festivity, of ale and cider. Penn's own wine seems to have been Madeira, and he certainly had no dislike to the temperate pleasures of the table. In one of his letters to his steward Sotcher, he writes, "Pray send us some two or three smoked

injustice and shameless exactions which were the requital of all his devotion to his "Holy Experiment.' He had, indeed, sacrificed to it the best part of his fortune as well as of his life. He estimated his loss on the first foundation of Pennsylvania, at 120,0007.—a sum which should be much

We find, also, that, among other gentlemanlike and expensive tastes, the governor had that pen-more than doubled for the purpose of fair comparchant for the pleasures of the stable which has been inherited by many excellent Quaker families of modern times. He stocked his province with brood mares as far as his means would allow, and took out with him in 1699“the magnificent colt Tamer-philosophical than holy) of that day—the colonizalane, by the celebrated Godolphin Barb."

ison with similar expenditure in our times, but which, if doubled, would nearly equal the sum by which Parliament, in 1842, found it advisable to cover the losses sustained in the experiment (rather tion of South Australia. So mistaken is the All this, according to sound and reasonable fashionable notion that the art of colonization was views, might not be inconsistent with the elevated either more perfect or less expensive in his time parts of Penn's character. His superiority to the than ours. So uniform the evidence to the fact, scruples of more ordinary precisians might rather that a colony cannot be established on any great be a proof of the higher degree of spirituality which scale without preliminary sacrifices. But Penn's he had attained, dispensing him from compliance profuse expenditure had at all events forced the with the beggarly elements of minute observance. Friendly City into premature wealth and greatness. But the change came too early. The contrast was The only effect produced on the mind of its drabtoo strong between Penn's luxurious living and the coated inhabitants, seems to have been the persuagaol diet or penurious travelling fare of the many sion that a source, which had yielded so much, nundred sufferers or missionaries for the truth, who might be made to yield more by draining. In constituted as yet the effective battalions of the 1693, when Penn's affairs at home were at the Quaker army, and with whom Penn himself frater- lowest ebb, he was roused by the crown's supposed nized at the monthly meetings-between Penn's intention to abrogate the charter of Pennsylvania, actual practice and the eloquent asceticism of "No and form a common government of all the northern Cross, No Crown," and the other works of his en- colonies. But he was actually in want of money to thusiastic days. On some points, also, and those make the journey. Could he obtain it by borrowfavorite scruples of the sect, he always remained ing small sums from the wealthier of his colonists, but a wet Quaker. Though firm as a rock on the secured on the quit rents of the province? He subject of oaths, a steady stickler against titles, and wrote to an old ally in Philadelphia to make this ready to go to the stake on the principle of the hat, proposal, but not a man came forward to help him. he was yielding in the article of dress, which seems "They said they loved him much, but they had no to have afforded the sorest of all temptations to mind to lend money." He went at last-but he saints in that age of lace and embroidery. The had not been two years in the colony (1699-1701) ladies of his family dressed like gentlewomen-when he wanted to return home in order to oppose wore caps and buckles, silk gowns and golden ornaments. Penn had no less than four wigs in America, all purchased in the same year, at a cost of nearly twenty pounds." Yet the periwig had been a special cause of offence to the early Quakers. Did they not boast (says Leslie) "how John Millner, a Friend about Northampton, a wig-maker, left off the trade, and was made to burn one in his prentice's sight, and print against it? And that John Hall, a gentleman of Northumberland, being convinced, sitting at a meeting, was shaken by the Lord's power, plucked off and threw down his wig?" And was not Richard Richardson moved to make an especial "declaration against wigs," in which, among other things, he shows distinctly, from the case of Elisha in the Second Book of Kings, that they formed no part of the prophetic costume?

66

These were partly the causes-we are sorry to say that worldly policy might furnish anotherwhich made so many of his religious partisans shrink from supporting their eminent leader during the saddest period of his fortunes, from 1688 to 1694; when his substance fell to decay, the wife of his first affection was lost to him, and, from having been a royal favorite, he became the object of political persecution-when, in his own words, "his enemies had darkened the very air against | him." More grievous to read of, because more wholly undeserved, was the treatment which Penn had to experience from his subject colonists-the first Anglo-Pennsylvanians. We know few chapters in the long and dreary history of the ingratitude of mankind towards its benefactors, more painful than Mr. Dixon's account of the persevering

But

the "Colony Bill," by which it was designed to
transfer the proprietary rights to the crown-3
transfer which Penn deprecated, from his still pre-
vailing desire to carry his own plans into execu-
tion; but which affected him much less than the
settlers, whose dread of their proposed assignment
to King Stork was natural and extreme.
when he consulted the Assembly for means to effect
the voyage and negotiation, he obtained nothing but
"a list of demands which were equally insulting
and unjust." He was forced to sell land to cover
his expenses home. His correspondent, Logan,
thus briefly described the feeling of the colony :-
"There are few," he said to Penn in one of his
letters, "that think it sin to hawl anything they
can from thee." They invaded his rights, they
seized his land, they withheld his rents.

Their affairs, in the absence of the founder, fell
speedily into disorder; his few remaining rights
were seriously menaced; and religious disputes
began to disturb a community in which his meas-
ures had hitherto prevented, at least, this one fertile
seed of strife from germinating. He became anx-
ious to go over once more. "I assure thee," he
wrote to his agent, "if the people would only settle
600l. a year upon me as governor, I would hasten
over.
Cultivate this among the best
Friends." But the best Friends would do nothing.
A governor who expected to receive instead of
paying, by no means suited their views.

But, in the very decline of his life, one gleam of hopefulness was permitted to bless the vision of the departing founder. An earnest remonstrance, which he addressed, in 1710, to the people of Pennsylvania, produced, we are told, 66 a sudden revolu

tion in his favor."

He had no conception of the enormous increase of value which twenty years of peace, following on the treaty of Utrecht, would give to Pennsylvania. Hannah's children became the lords proprietors of the colony, and the younger branch of his family stood before the world as the more conspicuous representatives of the great founder.

"The colony was stung with this is needed to complete a character of real inthe mild reproaches of its founder, now in his old terest in respect of the qualities which pertain to age, enduring poverty brought on by his too great home. Every man has his several vocation in this liberality and the session which ensued was the world. That of the enthusiastic missionary is one, most cordial and harmonious, as well as the most that of the conjux et paterfamilias another. It is useful, in the history of the Assembly." This is idle to represent the same man as a model of pera pleasant reminiscence wherewith to conclude his fection in both. Penn's temperament was restless, eventful history; and it is satisfactory also to his love of variety and action strong, qualities which reflect that, even in a pecuniary point of view, his he shared with most men of his stamp, and which sacrifices remained ultimately not unrecompensed made toil and privation matters of less self-denial to his family. For some years before his death he to him than silence or retirement. But the man had been ready to sell the government to the crown. who is fit for this work cannot be at the same But he insisted on keeping the charter and funda- time bound by the enchanted tie of really strong mental laws; and on these terms Queen Anne's domestic attachment; cannot be devoted to the sogovernment would not treat, because their great ciety of one companion of the heart; cannot watch, object, like King William's, was the union of the with engrossing interest, the development of a secNorth American colonies for purposes of defence, ond self. His choice should be celibacy. Wiswhich the peculiar constitution of Pennsylvania, dom, that crieth daily in the streets, cannot possibly and its central position, impeded. The negotiation, dwell with children at her knees. Passionate as therefore, came to nothing. By Penn's will, in may have been Penn's early attachment to the fair 1710, he left the remnant of his English and Irish" Guli Springett,' " Mr. Dixon's heroine, it apestates to his children by his first wife, Pennsylva- pears that after the first three years of their marnia to those by the second. It had been worth riage she rarely accompanied him in his incessant nothing to him until the last year or two previous, wanderings. Thenceforth their lot was mainly and he naturally regarded it as the inferior fund. separate; and however duly fond of each other, they could never have lived in that constant communion of the heart which is the portion of more ordinary couples. Mr. Dixon wants words to paint the violence of her husband's sorrow when she died. Yet it is not the less the fact, that before two years were over, and that, too, while his other cares and disappointments were pressing most heavily upon him, he married Hannah Callowhill, at fifty-four, and became the father of a second flourishing family. Nor do his children seem to have contributed much to his happiness, or towards the promotion of his views. What, indeed, were the achievements of the great philanthropist to them? Judging as children ordinarily judge of their parents in this unheroic world, they probably thought of him as a father whose heart had been far too exclusively devoted to other cares, to be to them either a confidential friend, or the object of the romantic filial worship of youth; and who had wasted on his wild schemes the fortune on which they counted for the gratification of their own desires in life. The eldest and most promising, Springett, died young. Of Letitia, the daughter, who married Mr. Aubrey, Mr. Dixon tells us little, except that she seems to have considered residence with her father in America as a very unwelcome banishment. William, Guli's only remaining son, took to bad courses, became profligate and debauched, was expelled by the Friends, deserted his family, and, in common phrase, went near to break his father's heart; but Penn's was not a heart of that order of fragility. His second family were children of his old age.

We believe that they ultimately received 130,0007. for it from the state of Pennsylvania.

Misfortune, however, never fell on one better prepared to meet it. Penn was not so much fortified against it by philosophy, or even by religious firmness, as by one of those happy temperaments which, though susceptible of every impression, are little apt to be profoundly affected by any. Neither loss of fortune, friends, nor political interest, nor the disappointment of high dreams of the purest ambition, seem to have permanently influenced his spirits, or could even for the moment ruffle his temper. He even preserved the same placid and radiant demeanor towards the outer world! The gayety of disposition which had been the great charm of his society in youth had something in it which moved to reverence in later years, when those who witnessed it thought of the actions and sufferings of the man. He retained to the last that serene and somewhat self-satisfied look, that air béat, as the French call it, which marks his portraits; and the period of decaying intellect which preceded his death, however painful for others to witness, seems to have been passed by him in a long dream of tranquil and child-like enjoyment.

Such was Penn, not in his mythical character, We have been less scrupulous in dealing with but a being of mixed strength and weakness, who, Mr. Dixon's qualifications as a biographer, because by a combination of external facility of disposition, he has himself so unscrupulously attacked others; with pertinacity of resolution, made a greater im--because he throws about charges of ignorance pression on his age, and did more for posterity, and malevolence against those who have regarded than men of far more powerful intellect. What was he in domestic life? It would be of little use to ask Mr. Dixon. He paints without shade. He patches up every small fragment of biography he can find, to compound a hero not only of opposite but scarcely reconcilable qualities. That Penn was of blameless life and very affectionate disposition is readily granted; he also wrote, and printed, good advice to his children. But far more than

*We hardly know a more amusing instance of the modern art of weaving a fashionable biography out of scanty materials, than the "charming history of unsuccessful love," which Mr. Dixon has got up from poor Thomas Ellwood's little confessions about this speak of Guli as his lady-love" when he escorted lady. But it is hardly fair on the amiable Friend to her to her uncle Herbert's, (p. 122,) at which time he was engaged to Mary Ellis.

letter addressed to our friend, L. Young, Esq., of this vicinity, by a gentleman residing in the southern part of the state of Alabama. The writer is a gentleman the home of this vegetable, and he is therefore very of intelligence, living in a latitude which is peculiarly competent to form a correct opinion of the comparative value of this new variety.

Several gentlemen of this neighborhood have made experiments with the red yam, which prove very conclusively that any variety keeping through the winter will give this crop considerable importance as an article of commerce.

There being a large river demand for this esculent in the months of March, April, May and June, for steamboats and towns north of this city accessible by steamers, we hope our enterprising seedsmen will make the proper arrangements to secure to our community at the earliest day all the advantages of such an acquisition.

"We have lately received a most valuable addition to our varieties of the sweet potato, supposed from Peru. It is altogether different and equally superior to any variety of this root hitherto known. It is productive, and attains a prodigious size, even upon the poorest sandy land, and the roots remain without change from the time of taking them out of the ground until the following May. The plant is singularly easy of cultivation, growing equally well from the slip or vine, the top or vine of the full-grown plant being remarkably small; the inside is as white as snow. It is dry and mealy, and the saccharine principle contained resembles in delicacy of flavor fine virgin honey."-Louisville Journal.

his hero's character from a different point of view A NEW VARIETY OF THE SWEET POTATO.--The from himself, with a petulance which would be un- following interesting account of a new variety of the becoming even if his own performance was as ex-sweet potato we have been permitted to copy from a act and conscientious as it is superficial. His want of the habit of discriminating criticism would greatly unfit him for the execution of such a work, even if he wrote less obviously with an object-in order to support particular views and please particular judges, at the same time captivating idle readers by romantic effect. But he is not without good qualities as a writer. His style seems to be easy and good, when not disfigured by an affectation of smartness, and there is life in his narrative and vigor in his descriptions. We would not do him the injustice, which he so lavishly inflicts on others, of supposing that the errors into which his eagerness for defending his hero has led him were in any degree intentional. As for the charge of irreverence towards the memory of a hero, which he so liberally dispenses, we are quite ready to submit to our share of it. Hero-worship is only possible so long as the hero remains a myth." When he is dragged out of this reverential obscurity, it is neither manly nor philosophical to judge of him otherwise than of another man. Nor can we accept, without much qualification, the claims which are put forward on behalf of Penn to the devout observance of posterity. As the champion of religious feeling, he was prominent in a great cause; but it must be remembered that it was also the winning cause. Notwithstanding partial checks, it was a cause rapidly advancing, even in his time. The days of the old system of intolerance were evidently numbered. And, on the whole, it may be doubted whether the efforts of Penn and his friends contributed so much to its success as the extravagances of the sect did to retard it. In our view, the great interest attached to Penn's memory is of a wider, but at the same time of a more questionable, kind. It arises out of those general conceptions of the earthly destiny of men, and the mode of adapting them to its fulfilment, of which the particular tenet of religious freedom, though most present to Penn's mind, formed a portion only. To make the first spring of common as well as individual action love, not fear;-to regard men rather as glorious than as fallen creatures as all in their degree influenced by that inward light, to quench or deny which is practical anarchy, as well as blasphemy ;-these were visions so bold, and so new to the religious spirit of the time, that it is scarcely to be wondered at, if the Friends themselves failed to appreciate and express clearly the principle which they involved, and if the world altogether failed to understand it. Yet that principle fought its way onward, with what vast extension of influence the whole system of modern legislation and policy bears witness. Its progress has been diversified with strange exaggerations and fatal errors. It has raised men's minds from ser

vile abasement to freedom and light; but it has also exalted them to a pinnacle of self-worship, from which they have speedily plunged again into grovelling degradation. It has founded great republics, and overthrown flourishing states, abolished racks, thrown open prisons, and erected guillotines. Often thrust into the background by violent reaction towards the opposite doctrine-often distorted and abused by its own partisans-it still continues to make way; and its course is more and more clearly descried in fancy, both by the enthusiastic and the timid, as tending to the dissolution and reconstruction of human society.

INDOLENCE.

From the Tribune.

INDOLENT! indolent! yes, I am indolent!
So is the grass growing tenderly, slowly;
So is the violet fragrant and lowly,
Drinking in quietness, peace, and content;
So is the bird on the light branches swinging,
Idly its carol of gratitude singing,
Only on living and loving intent.
Indolent! indolent! yes, I am indolent!

So is the cloud overhanging the mountain ;
So is the tremulous wave of a fountain,
Uttering softly its eloquent psalm;

Nerve and sensation in quiet reposing,
Silent as blossoms the night dew is closing,
But the full heart beating strongly and calm.
Indolent indolent! yes, I am indolent!
If it be idle to gather my pleasure

Out of creation's uncoveted treasure,
Midnight and morning, by forest and sea;
Wild with the tempest's sublime exultation;
Lonely in Autumn's forlorn lamentation;
Hopeful and happy with Spring and the bee.
Indolent indolent! are ye not indolent?

Thralls of the earth, and its usages weary; Toiling like gnomes where the darkness is dreary, Toiling, and sinning, to heap up your gold.

Stifling the heavenward breath of devotion;
Crushing the freshness of every emotion;
Hearts like the dead, that are pulseless and cold!
Indolent indolent! art thou not indolent?

Thou who art living unloving and lonely,
Wrapped in a pall that will cover thee only,
Shrouded in selfishness, piteous ghost!
Sad eyes behold thee, and angels are weeping
O'er thy forsaken and desolate sleeping;
Art thou not indolent?-Art thou not lost?
A. W. H.