establishment-the Church of episcopacy and the Church of presbyterianism-had begun to rage three years before. The principal inhabitants then signed a protest against all "popish innovations," and in favour of "the true reformed protestant religion"; and they bound themselves to oppose, "and by all good ways and means endeavour to bring to condign punishment," all who should do anything contrary to the contents of that protestation. In 1647,—when Penn was only three years old,-John Saltmarsh, one of England's most remarkable Mystics, is said to have died mad; at all events his writings prove him to have possessed real genius; for his "Sparkles of Glory" contain passages of singular beauty and power, and many a glimpse of truth, such as the wise of this world can never understand. The Wanstead protest and Saltmarsh's "Sparkles" may not appear to have any connection with the boy William; but I fancy it will be found that they had, and that the reader will see it when we get a few pages farther on.

Chigwell, too, was a notable place. St. Mary's Church, with a Norman door approached by an avenue of yews, so far appears much as it did in the period of the civil wars and under the Commonwealth; and there is still preserved in it a monumental brass, representing a niched figure dressed in cope, rochet, and chimere, with an inscription stating that under it lies Samuel Harsnett, Archbishop of York. This prelate had been vicar of Chigwell and master of the Grammar School, and had founded there two free schools, one for young children, the other for "teaching the Greek and Latin tongues," and it is curious to find the founder stipulating that

"the master should be a good poet; of a sound religion, neither papal nor puritan; of a grave behaviour; of a sober and honest conversation; no tipler nor haunter of alehouses, no puffer of tobacco; and above all, apt to teach and severe in his government." Here it was that William Penn went to school; here he learnt Latin and Greek; here he would seem to have been taught gratuitously; and it is pretty certain he never saw his master with a pipe in his mouth. At Chigwell free school he remained till he was twelve, and what he was taught we gather from Harsnett's directions. "Lilly's Latin, and Cleonard's Greek grammar" were the boy's class-books; for "phrase and style" he read "no other than Tully and Terence"; for poets he studied "the ancient Greek and Latin, no novelties, nor conceited modern writers." Besides a Latin schoolmaster, William had another, who,-if he corresponded with the terms of Harsnett's Trust, which no doubt he did so far,-wrote "fair secretary and Roman hands," was skilful in "cyphering and casting up accounts," and taught "his scholars the same faculty."1

I have no doubt that the boy was instructed according to the founder's wishes in all matters of secular learning, though he does not seem to have profited much under the writing master, if we may judge from the facsimile of his signature; but I question whether the trustees attended to one alternative of the two forbidden in the Chigwell schoolmaster,-" neither papist nor puritan." "Papist," we may rest assured, the head-master was not, but that he was "puritan "

I The terms of the trust are given by Lysons, "Environs of London," vol. iv. p. 128.

is almost certain; for Chigwell, like Wanstead, was steeped in puritanism. One Dr. Utey had been ejected from the vicarage in consequence of a petition signed by the inhabitants complaining that he had "erected an altar," had used "offensive bowing and cringing," had "kissed the altar twice in one day," and read the prayers with his back to the people.1 In 1650 it was reported by Commissioners, that there had been no settled minister at Chigwell since Dr. Utey's removal. The name of Peter Watkinson as minister at Chigwell appears in the list of the Presbyterian clergy for the Braintree district, in Essex; but at what date he was there I cannot tell.

We have seen what books young Penn studied, but he must have received an education beyond what comes from printed pages. He was active as a young man, very fond of manly sports, and, no doubt, liked to wander and play games in the adjacent woods known as Hainault Forest. It is still "very picturesque in parts, abounds in nightingales, and can still show some fine trees, although none so large nor so celebrated as the Fairlop oak which stood not far from Chigwell." The country was disafforested in 1851, and therefore what it is now gives but a faint idea of what it was when Penn wandered in its green glades and amused himself with other boys under its far-spreading trees. We may depend upon it that inspirations then came on him from nature, and the God of nature, the influence of which he never lost: and the stories of the neighbourhood he would hear,

1 The whole document is very curious; and proceedings consequent upon it are printed in David's "Annals of Nonconformity in Essex,” pp. 220-223.

and of what was going on in England; how while sunshine glinted through the leaves of oaks, and nightingales sang their peaceful songs, and eventide softly dropped its curtain over the Hainault landscape, England was full of tossing to and fro. Naseby fight succeeded the battle of Marston Moor, and then afterwards came the king's execution at Whitehall, when, as his head fell from the block and the blood streamed over the sawdust, Archbishop Ussher fainted, and Philip Henry heard a groan from the multitude thronging Charing Cross, such as he never forgot to his dying day. Dunbar and Worcester were names which Penn must have begun to understand soon after the decisive battles which led to Cromwell's sovereignty were fought; and surely in 1653, or soon afterwards, when the boy was eight years old and more, he would take an interest in what was told by people from London, who perhaps had seen grand doings at Westminster in mid-winter, when the Worcester hero was installed Lord Protector of England. Fasts were so frequent, and sermons in parish churches on topics of the day so common, that he could scarcely fail to gather something about what was going forward in the outside world. But family stories would be still more attractive stories about his father especially, how successful he had been in his numerous cruises; how he had fought Prince Rupert, and chased him along the Portuguese shores; and had sailed up and down the Mediterranean, where he had seen "many countries and many people," like Ulysses, whose tale perhaps the boy was beginning to spell out in Homer. His father's successive promotions he could not but hear

of. His mother would tell how he had been made. Vice-Admiral of the Irish Sea in '46; Vice-Admiral of the Straits in '50; Vice-Admiral of England '52; and then a "General" of the sea the next year. Good news followed of later days; how he had received an accession of property, full three hundred a-year, by the interposition of the Protector, who wished to secure the rising officer as a faithful

servant.

When William was about eleven he had a strange experience. Alone in his chamber, "he was suddenly surprised with an inward comfort; and, as he thought, an external glory in the room, which gave rise to religious emotions, during which he had the strongest conviction of the being of a God, and that the soul of man was capable of enjoying communication with Him. He believed also that the seal of Divinity had been put upon him at this moment, or that he had been awakened or called upon to a holy life." The excitement was purely of a spiritual nature, and appears to have been entirely unconnected with any passing events in his family and the world. If I may deal in conjecture, I should say, that as Saltmarsh's "Sparkles of Glory" had been published before that time, it is not unlikely from the author's connection with a place of such strong puritan sympathy, that the book would be circulated there and excite a deep interest. It is baptised with that spirit of devout mysticism which has had charms for some of the holiest minds, and which was likely to lay hold on the best people in Chigwell. It appears no extravagant supposition that the little volume might find its way into the Penns' dwelling, and that the curious child