soon after her return to England she was married to one William Aubrey. Certainly we find her brother saying in a letter from London, "My sister Letitia has, I believe, a very good sort of man, that makes a good husband; William Masters, whatever ground he had for it in Pennsylvania, made a mighty noise here, but it lasted not long." The father also remarked that she was married, adding, "We have brought her home, where I write, a noble house for the city, and other things, I hope well. But S. Pennington's, if not S. Harwood's, striving for William Masters against faith, truth, and righteousness, will not be easily forgotten; though things come honourably off, to his and the old envy's confusion, his father's friends nobly testifying against the actions of both." Penn has not clearly expressed himself in this last sentence, but I gather from it that there had been a family dispute; that the relations of Letitia's mother did not approve of the match, and herein differed from the father's opinions. He clearly had a strong feeling of displeasure, and makes no secret of it. William Penn, with all his courteousness, could be very plain.

1 Date 6th September, 1702; "Penn and Logan Correspondence," vol. i. p. 34.

WILL

CHAPTER XVII.

SECOND RETURN.

WILLIAM PENN and his household reached Portsmouth in the middle of December, 1701, having been absent about two years.

A little more than two months afterwards, the death of William III. and the accession of Anne altered for a time the prospects of the Penn family. The Dutch prince, though personally civil to the founder of Philadelphia, did not complacently regard the relation of the latter to the new city, and to the State around it. William was a very different man from the last two sovereigns of the Stuart line. They were neither soldiers nor diplomatists. They cared comparatively little for England's glory. They had no anxiety about the balance of power and the defeat of French ambition. They had no dreams of colonial empire, and of checking European enemies by military plans in America. But these matters occupied the mind of William in his cabinet, and influenced his movements in the field. He wished for a change in the state of the new colonies across the Atlantic, in subserviency to objects nearer home. Efforts to bring the province and the territories on the banks of the Delaware completely under royal authority, to recover grants made by Charles and his brother James,

and to constitute the Quaker State a Crown colonythus making it a base for military operations,—were favourite objects of the royal ambition. Schemes had been suggested with that end in view. Bills had been introduced to the House of Lords for that purpose: and hence tidings of what was being done in this respect alarmed the Quaker Governor whilst sitting in his chair of state at Philadelphia and Pennsbury; the demise of the Crown defeated their designs, and removed the fears which brought him back from his transatlantic possessions. In one direction, at least, the clouded sky began to clear.

William's toleration policy was welcome to the subject of our memoir, but his martial policy, in reference to Europe, could not be approved by one who fully imbibed that hatred of war which had marked the teachings of George Fox. No Quaker could sympathise in the royal anxiety for a balance of power, and the determination to adjust it by force of arms.

The accession of Anne, on personal grounds, was propitious to William Penn. She was the daughter of James, the old Admiral's friend, and even more the friend of his son. She had much of the same disposition as her father; and she liked those who liked him. She knew all about his intimacy with the Quaker, and the loyalty of the Quaker to him. She had heard how he had suffered for her father's sake, and this must have commended him to Her Majesty's regards.

Upon her accession religious bodies pressed towards the throne, to present dutiful addresses. Church and Dissent vied with each other in professions of attachment. The Presbyterian, the Independent, and the

Y

Baptist ministers of London were ready with congratulations; but no reply, such as had been given on former similar occasions, was now vouchsafed to them, and royal silence was construed as ominous. In her speech to Parliament she promised to maintain the Act of Toleration, and for this the Quakers thanked her in an address. It could not but be entrusted to the hands of Penn, and when he appeared she did not receive him in silence. "Mr. Penn," she said, with that charming tone of voice for which she was famed, "Mr. Penn, I am so well pleased that what I have said is to your satisfaction, that you and your friends may be assured of my protection." This was flattering.

Soon afterwards we find him taking lodgings at Kensington, where he had resided before. It was near the Court. In the red brick palace-now wearing much the same appearance as of yore-the queen took up her abode, and liked to sit by the windows which looked into the beautiful garden, where the public were allowed to gaze upon her as she drank her favourite cup of tea. It was a fashionable neighbourhood; and on that very account one wonders that a Quaker should have selected it for his residence. But we do not know his motives, and an acquaintance with them is necessary to determine the wisdom or otherwise of the choice he made. However, there is no proof of his having played the courtier this time.

After the interview when presenting the address, I know of no instance of his admission to the royal presence. Harley, a reserved man-first member of a Whig, and then member of a Tory administration— is spoken off as a friend of Penn's, and as one able

and willing to render service in his Pennsylvanian affairs. Amongst his large acquaintance with distinguished people, there were others kindly disposed, and he would come in contact with them at the Treasury Office and elsewhere; but there is no evidence of his having courted their society for the sake of patronage or prestige. We have reason to believe that he remained throughout a steady, uncompromising Quaker. Dissenters were then unpopular. Sacheverell was commencing his career. A cry of "the Church in danger!" began to be heard. Low Churchmen were violently abused; and as a sign of the times, an Occasional Conformity Bill was brought before the Commons. "It was a bold attempt," says a candid historian, "to repeal the Toleration Act, and to bring back the pains and penalties of the times before the Revolution." 1 Occasional communion with the Church of England had been allowed to Nonconformists, who by availing themselves of it could evade the Corporation Act. In this way a Dissenter had become Lord Mayor of London. The new Bill was intended to stop the practice. Some Nonconformists. disapproved of occasional conformity. De Foe did; and whilst the controversy raged, Penn stepped forward with a pamphlet on the subject. At the same period he committed to the press "More Fruits of Solitude," as a second part of the admirable "Maxims" published in 1683.

He removed, in 1703, from Kensington to Knightsbridge, and there wrote another controversial essay in defence of Quakerism. Whilst residing there he also

1 Perry's "History of the Church of England," vol. iii. p. 145.