The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1873-08-30

of the original purchasers, giving their
English rcsidences=-a want long felt in
tracing their ancestry.
PERSONAL Appearance OF WILLIAM
The popular impression Of Penn, will
venture to say, is Of a heavy, stolid man,
weighing about two hundred and fifty
pounds. and dressed in the sternest cos
tune Of the strictest memberof the sect of
our day, 1t is scarcely possible to have a
more false impression of him. Penn was
a son of one Of the grand old admirals Of
the commonwealth, and had received all
the advantages Of liberal education. He
had been attached to the vice-regal court
ofthe Dnlse of Ormond, in ireland, who was
one Of tho few mobiles who retained in the
dissolute, courtof Charles ii, the decorous
gravity and propriety of behavior IN vogue
during the reign Of Charles I. He then
visited the court Of France, at that time
under the sway Of the magnificent Louis
XIV, and returned, even to the critical
eye Of woman-the wife of Pepys-" a
most modish person., grown quite fine
gentleman" II was while with the Duke
Ormond that the likeness now in the
possession of the Society was painted. He
was then in the full bloom of youth. but
twenty-two years Of age, and clad in a suit
of mall. Attractive as this picture u.s. it
gives one but little aid in forming a concep-
ton Of the earnest, vGod-fearing preacher.
and statesmanga The other picture of him
best known is that in =" Vests celebrated
painting of the Treaty under the Elm, at
Kcnsington.0 Penn was then thirty-eight
years of age, light and graceful in form,
and, according to the testimony Of Mrs.
Preston, at whose wedding he was
guest, .'the handsomest, best-looliing,
and most lively gentleman she had
ever seen.o Justice to the memory Of
Mrs. Preston requires us to believe that
she never could have used. these adjectiyes
in relation to the stout old Quaker gem
tleman in this picture, dressed in the cos
tune of Mr.. Vests father. The rules OF
the Quakers never prescribed any partic-
ular costume and in reading of their
persecutions you will find they are again
and again spoken of as being recognized as
members of the Societyiby their speech,
but never by their apparel. Penn un-
doubleday then dressed in the costume Of
the time in which he lived, probably
avoiding, as most serious people do, the
excuses OF fashion. ~, N
1t is due, however, to BENJAMIN West,
who was our fcllow-countryman, to say
that If any Of his contemporaries had
painted the picture, Penn would probably
have had less clothes on than the Indians
themselves. Historical pictures then re-
quired the most severely classical handling,
and West, to his honor be il said, was the
first To violate this rule Of art.
Although, therefore, Vests picture of
the "Trcatyp does not represent the great
elm tree at all, and Penn very unfaithfully,
and does introduce houses built one hundred
years later, and is altogether as great
work of imagination as his "Death on a
Pale Horse" nevertheless it is great
historical painting, and is more like the
original scene than, with the principles of
high art then in vogue, we had any right to
expect. ~
HE JOINS THE QUAKERs.
II was this handsome, graceful, and ac-
his father that he had joined the Quakers,
it, had become the disciple Of a crazy
iield.preacher name Fox, who was a shep--
herd by occupation and the son of q weaver.
reproaches upon the Admiral for his indig-
nation upon this occasion, but to my mind
he deserves none. Here was his eldest son,
heir to a handsome estate, with the peerage
full in view, graceful and accomplished,
where grace and accomplishments were
the surest road to the sovereigns favor, des-
troying at blow the ambition Of his fathers
life. His long and arduous services to
his country. and the personal regard Of his
sovereign, he could no longer hope to make
available for the advancement of one who
| denounced all earthly honors as vain and
frivolous, and who refused to uncover his
head either to his father or his sovereign.
Such resistance to parental control would
try the temper of a father even in our day,
when obedience to parents is considered
more graceful concession than the per-
Torrance Of natural duty. What it was
considered in that day the pen of Smollct
can alone describe.
But the Admiral, withal, was God
fearing man, and when he found that it was
a matter of conscience with his son, he
Ltook him back to his house and honored
and respected him.. The only record of his
feelings on the subject ever found is in a
letter to his son, dated October G, 1860,
where he records his submission to the will
of Providence. He says '.H you are
ordained to be another cross to me, Gods
will must be done, and / shall arm myself
the best can against its" q pathetic cry
Of the poor Admiral at the Illustration of
all his earthly hopes for his son, which
must find an echo in every parents heart.