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DESCRIPTION OF INDIANS [CHAP. XVII

the South of France, rarely overcast. The trees

, are beautiful ; in the woods are to be found black and white mulberry chestnuts, walnuts, plums, strawberries, cranberries, and grapes of divers sorts, muscadel and black cluster grapes, also peaches in great quantities.”ı

The Indians dwelling there were a fine race, tall, straight, and well built ; but their features were ugly, they had thick lips and flat noses, and smeared their faces with bear's grease. The children from birth were fastened on a board to make them straight, a fine carriage being much admired. They were kindly people among themselves, and fond of their wives and children. They lived in barns made of mats of bark, and slept on beds of reeds; their food was mainly composed of hominy, prepared from Indian corn. They were naturally light-hearted, merry, and fond of feasts and dances. Personal wealth they had none, all goods were held in common, though they were willing to work for their chiefs.

As to their religion, they believed in a God and immortality, and they spoke of a Great King, who made them, and who dwelt in a glorious country to southward of them. Their worship consisted of sacrifice and dancing, but they had no cruel ceremonies such as existed among some of the other tribes.

1683]

" THE HOLY EXPERIMENT"

155

Penn was of opinion that they were of Jewish race, but he founded this on the idea that as the ten tribes were to go to a land not planted or known, which parts of Asia and Africa certainly were, they must have migrated from the eastern parts of Asia and North America." The other inhabitants of the province, as has been already stated, were the Dutch, who were the first planters, and the Swedes and Finns who followed them. These people were all industrious and God-fearing, but they made little progress in culture or husbandry. Such was the population that William Penn had come to live among and to govern, and from 1682 to 1684, he devoted his whole time and thoughts to its welfare, in the manner he thought most pleasing to his Creator. Difficulties and unpleasantnesses were often his lot, in spite of the general success of his undertaking—“The Holy Experiment,” he called it. Above all else, he craved to return; to his home. So far, all had been well with his; wife and children, but now Gulielma wrote in great sorrow, over the death of her mother, Maria Pennington, a sad loss to them all. This made William Penn more than ever anxious to return for a time. A ship, The Endeavour, having come in, he thought it advisable to take this opportunity to return in this vessel, on a short visit home, and he began to consider the neces

1 Clarkson's Life of Penn, vol. i., p. 297.

156

SAILS FROM PHILADELPHIA [CHAP. XVII

sary arrangements for carrying on the government of the provinces and territories during his absence.

He signed a commission empowering the Provincial Council to act in his stead, and named Thomas Lloyd, a Quaker preacher, as President and Keeper of the Great Seal. His cousin, Colonel Markham, he made Chief Secretary, and to others he gave power to act as Justices of the Peace and Provincial Judges. He did not expect to be more than two years away, and thought there would be no difficulty in these men carrying out his laws and regulations. Much sorrow was felt at his departure by the whole colony, the foreigners as well as his own people, and by the Indians, who had now become very dependent on his love and care for their welfare.

As he was leaving the fair city which owed its being to him, he apostrophised it in the following words :—“And thou, Philadelphia, the virgin settlement named before thou wert born, what love, what care, what travail there has been to bring thee forth. I hope to be with thee next

fall.” 2

He sailed in The Endeavour on August 12,

1684]

RETURNS HOME

157

1684, and arrived in England on October 3, and landed "within seven miles from home,” as he mentions in a letter, and found his wife and children well and overjoyed at his return. In peaceful Worminghurst, the distant land must have seemed almost a forgotten dream ; but William Penn was no visionary, but a man of action, and there was as much to be done for the province in England, as when he was reigning in the midst of it. His one desire was to advance the cause, and that would best be effected by raising up an interest in it and protection for it at home, and not depend entirely on his personal efforts.

“ I purpose to leave to myself and successors no power of doing mischief, so that the will of one man may not hinder the good of the whole country.” Such were his noble sentiments, expressed in his own words.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE AFFAIR OF THE MAIDS OF TAUNTON

WILLIAM PENN had not been long back in England, when the news was spread abroad that King Charles was dangerously ill. In spite of his sins and his follies, he was very popular, and the churches were crowded with people praying for his recovery. But the illness had taken strong hold of him, and his sufferings increased daily. His death, February 6, 1685, was ascribed to poison, but more likely his habits of debauchery brought on an apoplexy. He died as he had lived, brave, witty, and cynical, surrounded by the children of his mistresses, with Nell Gwyn, the beloved of the moment, hanging over his pillow. He set the fashion of moral depravity and ribald wit, but he was neither vindictive nor cruel, and was familiar and easy in his intercourse with all. To the higher passions he was a stranger, and it was said of him, that “he never said a foolish thing, and never did a wise one.” Bishop Burnet remarked, “King Charles had in him some vices which