PART III.

ANALYSIS

.OF

RECENT BIOGRAPHICAL WORKS.

No. I.

MEMOIRS OF THE PRIVATE AND PUBLIC LIFE OF WILLIAM PENN. BY THOMAS CLARKSON, M. A.2 vols. 8vo.

THIS life of a celebrated character, a famous author, an acute theologian, and a distinguished legislator, is written by a man entitled, also, to respect and applause. It was the latter who so ably and disinterestedly advocated the rights of humanity, on the question relative to negro slavery; and it is he, who now pourtrays the life, and opinions, and adventures of a person, unexampled in the annals of modern times.

The Penns appear to have been seated, four or five centuries ago, at a village of the same name, in the hundred of Burnham, Buckinghamshire. William was born on TowerHill, London, October 14, 1644.. He received the first rudiments of his education at Chigwell in Essex; thence he was removed to a school on Tower-Hill, near the town residence of his family; and at the age of fifteen, became a member of Christ-Church, Oxford. He appears, to have imbibed new and singular ideas concerning religion, in con

sequence of the preaching of Thomas Loe, a layman of the same University, who had become a Quaker. This circumstance, rendered his early career rather unfortunate; for he was not only expelled, and fined for non-conformity; but actually turned out of doors by his own father, Admiral Sir William Penn, a great favourite at the court of Charles II. The latter, however, at the entreaty of a fond mother, forgave his son; and soon after sent him to the continent. He resided some time at Paris, and although of a sect that usually disclaimed even defensive war, he drew his sword on being attacked, and after a conflict, first disarmed, then spared the life of his adversary.

On his return from abroad, Mr. William Penn became a student of Lincoln's Inn; in 1666-7, he was sent to Ireland, to look after a family estate; and was there imprisoned for a short time, in consequence of attending a Quakers' meeting.

In 1668, he began to preach in England, and was soon after sent to the Tower, on account of his religious observances. In 1670, he was committed to Newgate, for a sermon delivered by him in Grace-Church Street; and on his trial at the Old Bailey, exhibited great legal knowledge, accompanied with much personal intrepidity, during a dispute with Howel, the Recorder: this was followed by an acquittal, in consequence of the firmness of the jury. Notwithstanding that, he was once more committed to Newgate, and on this, as on former occasions, employed his time in writing controversial tracts. In 1672, he married an amiable and respectable lady, with whom he settled at Rickmansworth; and when the government became more enlightened, tolerant, and liberal, we find him engaging in great and noble concerns. So early as 1676, Mr. Penn became a manager of proprietary concerns in New Jersey; and having divided that immense country into two separate portions; he drew up a constitution, and invited settlers. In 1679, he assisted Algernon Sidney, in his contest for the borough of Guilford; in 1680, he solicited Charles II. for a grant of certain lands in North America, by way of composition for the debt, due by government to his father, who was now dead; in 1681, he became

a proprietor of East New Jersey, afterwards named Pennsylvania, by the King; and commenced a settlement there.

The plan of his new constitution had for its object, we are told, "to support power in reverence with the people, and to secure the people from the abuse of power, that they may be free by their just obedience, and the magistrates honourable for their just administration; for liberty without obedience is confusion, and obedience without liberty is slavery."

In 1682, this good, intrepid, and amiable Quaker, visited Pennsylvania, and convoked the first assembly of that province. He then visited the interior of the country, had frequent interviews with the Indians; indemnified them for their lands; founded the city of Philadelphia, and beheld the woods everywhere levelled, and the country fast peopling with inhabitants.

At the end of two years, he revisited England, where, on account of his favour with James II., he was considered as a "Papist and Jesuit." He now interceded with that monarch in behalf of John Locke; and entered into an interesting correspondence with Tillotson. Such now was his influence, that he had a great share in obtaining the "Toleration act.”

On the Revolution, some fears were entertained of Mr. Penn, on account of his personal attachment to the abdicated monarch. Soon after this epoch, he was very unjustly deprived of his government, by King William, but afterwards restored in 1699; on which he undertook a second voyage to America. He now opened the way for the abolition of negro slavery, and rectified the various disorders that had crept into the government, during his absence. In 1701, he returned to his native country, and after encountering a variety of hardships and difficulties, during which he was obliged to mortgage his province, for a paltry sum; he died at Rushcomb, on the 30th of July 1718.

"It appears," we are told, "that he was tall in stature, and of an athletic make. He delighted when young, in manly sports. In maturer years, he was inclined to corpulency, but using a great deal of exercise, he was very active with it. His appearance at this time, was that of a fine portly man.

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We have no portrait taken of him while alive. Silvanus Bevan, a chemist of eminence in London, who, when young had known him well, took great pains to form a bust of him, some time after his decease, in which he was assisted by others familiarly acquainted with him, and having made three copies of it, he sent one of them to James Logan of Phila delphia.

though plain in his dress. He was very neat also in

"William Penn, was very neat, He walked generally with a cane. his person, and had a great aversion to the use of tobacco. William Penn is said to have possessed fine talents, and Sir John Rhodes, says, that he was qualified for a high station in life, by very bright and excellent parts, and these cultivated and improved by the advantage of a very liberal education, and also polished by travelling abroad, and by conversation with some of the greatest men the age produced.

"He was indefatigable as a minister of the gospel, and used, while preaching, language the most simple, and easy to be understood; and he had a happy way of explaining himself by images the most familiar. He was of such humility, that he used generally to sit at the lowest end of the space allotted to ministers, always taking care to place above himself poor ministers, and those who appeared to him to be peculiarly gifted."

A

It would be unnecessary here, to estimate the worth of William Penn, as a legislator, a governor, or a proprietor of Pennsylvania; as his character is well known, and fully delineated in respect to all these points, in the work now under consideration. But it may not be unnecessary to observe, that his biographer appears not only to have been at great pains to obtain access to curious and original documents, but has rescued the name of this celebrated Quaker, from all the ridiculous, as well as malicious charges, brought against him by his enemies.

No. II.

MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, LL. D. F. R. S. &c. MINISTER PLENIPOTENTIARY FROM THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AT THE COURT OF FRANCE, &c. &c. WRITTEN BY HIMSELF TO A LATE PERIOD, AND CONTINUED TO THE TIME OF HIS DEATH, BY HIS GRANDSON, WILLIAM TEMPLE FRANKLIN.-Now FIRST PUBLISHED FROM THE ORIGINAL MSS.

THE

HE life of Dr. Franklin is peculiarly calculated, in a variety of points of view, to follow that of his great precursor William Penn. Their career, in many respects, was similar; their objects and pursuits nearly the same; they both contributed, although perhaps in an unequal degree, to the happiness and prosperity of the Trans-Atlantic Continent; and each has left an impression of the most lasting gratitude on the minds of the inhabitants.

Benjamin Franklin was born at Boston in New England, January 17, 1706. His progenitors lived originally at Ecton, a little village, which we believe, is about six miles distant from Northampton, where they possessed a freehold estate of about thirty acres.

: "Our humble family," observes he "early embraced the reformed religion. Our forefathers continued protestants through the reign of Mary, when they were sometimes in danger of persecution, on account of their zeal against popery. They had an English Bible, and to conceal it and place it in safety, it was fastened open with tapes under and within the cover of a joint stool. When my great-grandfather wished to read it to his family, he placed the joint stool on his knees, and then turned over the leaves under the tapes. One of the children stood at the door to give notice if he saw the apparitor coming, who was an officer of the Spiritual Court. In