legend says, it was taken to heaven. Nevertheless it reappeared in 1101, some say as a present from Baldwin, king of Jerusalem; others that the Genoese obtained it on the capture of Cesarea, when it was brought to Genoa, having been now changed into a casket formed of a single emerald. It was at one time mortgaged for 1,200 marks, but afterwards redeemed, and remained in Genoa, an object of curiosity and veneration; so much so that in 1476 an ordinance prohibited any one from touching it under pain of death.

When Buonaparte took Genoa he brought the Sangreal with other plunder to Paris, where, in 1806, it was examined by a committee of the Institutes, who reported it to be of a hexagonal shape, fifteen inches long, six inches high, including the foot of one piece with the frame, and four inches deep, the under part wrought in circles, the colour a dull olive greasy green; and some air bubbles visible in it, such as are seen in rock crystal, and the committee decided that it was not a gem, but coloured glass. Since the fall of Buonaparte it has been restored to Genoa.

We have slightly traced the Sangreal through the pages of the "Morte d'Arthure" and other authors, from the Cross on Calvary to a piece of coloured glass in Genoa, This is indeed a step from the sublime to the ridiculous, but so it will be with every tale which is not founded on fact. The noble King Arthur, with his band of gallant knights and Round Table, have faded from our view, but the beautiful myth, which has inspired the pens of many of our best poets, still remains to teach us that an earnest quest for the highest and best will not be unsuccessful-that those who are willing to devote themselves to the service of Christ on earth, and to follow Him in holiness and purity, may have many battles to fight and wounds to endure, but they shall prove more than conquerors through Him who loves them, and gave Himself for them," and death shall have no dominion over them because they have been sprinkled with His blood.

All the true followers of Christ have their "Quest of the Grail" to pursue; they must " 'follow on to know the Lord" through evil report and good report, through watchings and strivings, through dangers and difficulties, aiding each other to fight against "the world, the flesh, and the devil," showing an example of purity and love to all around them, and bearing upon their banner the sacred motto, "Holiness unto the Lord."

F. I. BATTERSBY.

ND now William Penn set himself about arranging his father's affairs, and shortly after became the betrothed of Gulielma Maria Springett, daughter of one of the leaders of the Parliamentary forces in the civil war, and the delight of a small but select circle at her home at Chalfont. Guli Springett had in childhood been the playmate of Thomas Ellwood, and

was admired still by him and his friends Isaac Pennington and the immortal Milton; but Penn's visit awakened deeper thoughts, and "the heart of Guli Springett passed from her for ever." His continuing to meet with the Quakers caused him new troubles and consequent arrest, and after this imprisonment he went to Holland and Germany. Holland at this time was a favourite refuge with the members of exiled religious communities, to all of whom America was the land of promise, as conversations deepened in interest and the dream of his earlier years sprang into new life, and the vision of the Pennsylvania that was to be became clearer. Returning to England, he married in the spring of 1672, and spent much time during the next three years in writing, preaching, and prosecuting his father's claim for arrears due from the Crown, the outcome of which was the settlement on February 21, 1681, upon William Penn of an immense tract of territory in America, scarcely less in extent than the whole of England. This settlement, though it severed his connection with the land of his birth, has been the means of handing his name down to posterity in connection with some of the most noble acts of his eventful life. The spirit in which he engaged in the enterprise is exemplified by his utterance upon the issue of the charter: "God hath given it to me in the face of the world. . . . He will bless and make it the seed of a nation." Not yet, however, did he start to take possession, and the 27th of October, 1682, came before Penn landed off Newcastle, in Delaware. The occasion of his arrival was made a general holiday, and the whole population turned out to welcome the man who was coming as a friend among them rather than as a ruler and governor. On the next day he went through the requisite legal forms, and commenced the exercise of that benignant sway which so materially conduced to the success and happiness of the colony during an extended period. The scene that took place that day in the old Dutch court-house is one which should never be forgotten by those who may be similarly placed. Legal forms there were, but only such as were absolutely necessary to convey ownership in the land; these over, Penn addressed the assembly amid a silence that was akin to worship, in language earnest and true as ever man spoke. He told them why he had come in their midst—of the lofty aim that had inspired his youth, deepened with his growing manhood, and was his guiding star for the future.

To such utterances there was but one response, and that was that he would annex Delaware to Pennsylvania, and so, with a promise to consider their request, he took his leave, and continued his journey until he reached the Swedish town of Upland, then the chief place in the province. Here Penn stayed, and to-day in Chester (the new

name of Upland) men show the stranger with pride the spot on which his foot first trod as he stepped ashore.

But a short time after, the first General Assembly elected by universal suffrage met in the Friends' meeting-house, and after Penn had addressed them in much the same terms as at Newcastle, they proceeded to consider the form of government and the provisional laws; and after this one of their first acts was to receive the settlers that had been sent as representatives from Delaware, consider their request for union, and to accede to it. During that three-days session, the forty laws that Penn, with the assistance of Sydney, and a study of the writings of Locke, had framed, were discussed, amended, and adopted, as also were other twenty-one, which together formed the infant code of the colony. No prodigality of speech was there, but honest, earnest work for the general weal, and this progress having been made, Penn prorogued his first Par liament, of the members of which one has tersely written :

66

They had left their ploughs for half a week;

They had met together, and made a State.”

Nor was he less noble in dealing with the vested interests of the Redskins, who from time immemorial had regarded portions of the territory given to him by Charles as their hunting-grounds; and not till he had lived as their neighbour for several months, winning their confidence, did he meet them in that natural amphitheatre where they had been accustomed to smoke the calumet of peace long before the advent of the first paleface, and lay before them his treaty of friendship. Ere we look at the act itself, let us conjure up, as best we may, the scene of the memorable day.

On the one side the river rolled in pride down to the Atlantic; opposite was the fertile and somewhat settled State of West New Jersey; and landwards spread far as eye could reach dense masses of forest, as yet untrodden by the foot of the white man. And amid such natural glories, under the shade of an old elm-tree, stood William Penn, not arrayed in the robes of seeming royalty, but only distinguished from those around him by the simple blue sash he wore. Mark him well as, the Redskin chiefs having assembled, he rises to address them. He is now thirty-eight years of age, and from beneath his cavalier-shaped hat have escaped his flowing curls of auburn hair. Sorrow and trials have not marred his pleasant face, for the heart within beat high with noble hopes. His manner, Puritan though he be, is graceful and easy, and about his entire bearing is much that tells of his early association with the Court. His voice is clear, earnest, and trustful, as, announcing that he comes as a messenger of peace, he proffers equal rights and lasting

friendship with the Indians. Such language is new to those denizens of the prairie and forest, but the tongue of kindness, truth, and love is common to all languages, and they take him at his word when he lays before them the bright charter of freedom. With united consent the bond of unity is adopted, and before high heaven attested with a simple Yea, thus making the two peoples one in a bond which was kept as an ordinance of heaven.

That a colony founded upon such principles should flourish might reasonably be expected, nor did the expectation fail of realisation. Troubles came, and diversities of opinion existed, but all were settled upon the basis of peace, and the "holy experiment" progressed; and to-day the wise leadings of its founder's laws are manifest in its constitution. From thence freedom of conscience and personal liberty extended in an ever-widening circle, and we do not wonder that to-day the descendants of that noble band who were linked with William Penn in this almost Utopian adventure in government, should desire that the remains of its founder should repose in their midst; though, at the same time, we would strenuously say Nay to their request, and allow them to remain in the quiet resting-place at Jordans, where they were laid amid the tears of a sorrowing multitude more than 160 years since.

Space and disinclination alike prevent us entering into the misfortunes that clouded his later years, brought on mainly through the nefarious conduct of those in whose hands he entrusted the management of his private affairs, and we would bury in a merited oblivion their names.

With his grandchildren around him, he gathered flowers in the meadows round Ruscombe, and watched them chase the butterfly in that last summer. But his work was ended, and though his powers of memory and utterance failed, he yet retained the kindly look that had won him friends in youth and confidence from the Red Indians, and passed to his eternal reward after a long illness, leaving behind him a memory enshrined deeply in the hearts of those who fought for freedom, and a name that will live for ever in the annals of the great English-speaking peoples. Truly, "the memory of the just is blessed," and "the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance."

J. W.