renowned for its stately palaces, its magnificent churches and schools, and it was in this region that Penn passed the first eleven years of his life. Here he received his first knowledge of the rudiments of learning and received his initiation into the classics. He early became acquainted with the great questions that divided the people, and having learned of the cruelties and the oppressions of the "established church" factions, he imbibed notions of independence which he took with him to Oxford. There they got him into difficulty, which ended with his leaving the University and eventually becoming a Quaker.. His father, when he became acquainted with his vagaries, was greatly exasperated and turned him out of doors. But when he himself became involved in difficulties, he became reconciled to his son, and forgave him when he found that it was impossible to convince him of his errors or turn him from his chosen way.

He did not believe in Laud or Laudism; thought that the fate of Charles I. was not undeserved, and that Cromwell did much to make royalty respect the will of the people. He believed that the final triumph of the people would be supplemented by "The rise, race and royalty of God in the soul of man." He became a disciple of George Fox, was persecuted, thrown into prison and abused, but he never faltered or feared the results.

He studied law in Lincoln's Inn, and between the influences of the Holy Spirit and Magna Charta, he became strong in the faith and in the righteousness which that great charter of liberty would aid mankind in attaining.

He was accused of heresy, and at the instigation of the Bishop of London was thrown into the Tower, where he remained for several months. Here it was that he first tasted the real sweets of martyrdom, and here it was that he wrote his celebrated treatise, "No Cross no Crown." While he was in the Tower, a servant came to tell him that the Bishop of London had declared he should either recant or die a prison

"Thou mayst tell my father," he replied, "that my prison shall be my grave before I will budge a jot; for I owe obedience of my conscience to no mortal man."

It seemed at that time as if the devil himself had taken possession of the rulers of men, and that such a thing as toleration and liberty of conscience were utterly unknown. The whipping post, the parish stocks, pelting by infuriated mobs, and impositions of enormous fines; these were cruelties inflicted on Quakers year by year. Different statutes were brought to bear upon them, and where no specific law could be produced, it was easy to require the oath of allegiance, which exposed them to six months imprisonment.

Their meetings were disturbed by lawless hoodlums, and unconscionable brutes, who marched in a body to the places of worship at the sound of drums and fiddles. Women had their hoods torn off and little boys were beaten with a cat-o-'nine tails. More than fifteen hundred were thrown into prison, and many died there, because they could not furnish bonds to procure their liberation. Three hundred and fifty died in jail within a little over ten years after 1660. Altogether, according to Penn's calculations, more than five thousand perished for the sake of religion. The reigns of Charles II. and James II. furnished hideous examples of their wrongs, the accounts of which are preserved in their "Canons and Institutions” and in "those grim and ponderous folios, among the records of their society, where they stand as if ready for the judgment day." It is curious how this most harmless sect was persecuted both in England and in the New World-how they were driven out of Virginia and denied even the commonest offices of hospitality.

Penn spent some time in Ireland, in managing and looking after his father's estate, and on the continent; visited the Low Countries, traversed Germany, passed a year at Paris and saw persecution there in all of its forms. He early formed the project of obtaining an interest in the Western Hemisphere, where he and his people might live in peace and worship God as they saw fit.

This vision, which first dawned on his mind in his youth, he was enabled through the Providence of God partially to realize. Although he never lived to behold the dawning of the Great Republic, he did live to tread the soil of the new world and

to lay the foundations of a commonwealth which links his name forever with all that is good and great in this world-as lasting as time and eternity itself.

Few men living-indeed few Americans know or realize what an impetus he gave to religious freedom in his struggles through that long night of oppression, which characterized the reigns of Charles II. and James II., and few realize what he did for the protection of human rights by his open defiance of unjust judges and cruel persecutors who strove to destroy him and his friends under the forms of law. His position was in some respects like that of Cromwell, for he led all mankind by his boldness and his daring, and defied all of his oppressors. He succeeded in breaking down the prejudices of caste and exposing to open day the iniquities which characterized all trials by courts which were organized solely to convict.

To trace out the life of this most extraordinary man would require a volume. His life was replete with incidents of the most thrilling interest.

We have selected one only at this time which we deem of the greatest importance, and that is his trial "for preaching to an unlawful, seditious and riotous assembly" in front of the "Friends' Meeting-House" in Grace Church Street, London, in 1670.

It was in this year that the infamous "Conventicles Act" was renewed, which prevented all dissenters from worshiping as they saw fit.

Penn and his followers had suffered much up to this time, but he was not aware that armed force was to be used to prevent his people from peaceably assembling, until he repaired to the "meeting-house" in Grace Church Street, when he found it closed and guarded. He made up his mind to preach to the crowd in the street. Another friend was with him, William Mead, a London linen-draper. Soon after the discourse had begun, both the preacher and his companion were arrested under warrant from the Lord Mayor, and immediately dragged off to Newgate.

What followed forms a curious chapter in the history of English jurisprudence. The prisoners were arraigned at the

Old Bailey, not as is sometimes supposed, for a breach of the Conventicle Act, but as we have said, for "preaching to an unlawful, seditious and riotous assembly." After two days adjournment of the court, a preliminary examination took place, at which time Penn and Mead appeared in the dock with their hats on. These were knocked off their heads, but the officers were told to put them on again, when the court proceeded to assert his dignity in the following manner:

RECORDER.-"Do you know where you are?"

PENN. "Yes."

REC.-"Do you know it is the King's Court?"

PENN.--"I know it to be a court, and I suppose it to be the King's Court."

REC. "Do you know there is respect due to the court?"
PENN.-"Yes.”

REC.-"Why do you not pay it then?"

PENN. "I do so."

REC. "Why do you not put off your hat then?”

RENN. "Because I do not believe that to be any respect." REC. Well, the Court sets forty marks apiece upon your heads, as a fine for your contempt of the court."

PENN. "I desire it may be observed that we came into the court with our hats off (that is taken off) and if they have been put on since, it was by order from the bench, and therefore not I, but the bench should be fined."

After this episode, a formal indictment was found against Penn and Mead, and on the 1st of September, 1670, they were placed upon trial at the Old Bailey, before the Recorder and Lord Mayor of London. It is one of the most remarkable trials on record. Penn planted himself squarely on the Constitution-declared that the Conventicle Act was contrary to all the provisions of Magna Charter, and was void.

He claimed for every Englishman four fundamental rights as descending to him from the Saxon period: 1. Security of property; 2. Security of person; 3. A voice in the making of all laws relating to property or person; 4. A share, by means of the jury, in the actual administration of the civil law. These rights had been attacked in Penn's person, and were vindicated

by Penn's courageous action. He defended himself with great spirit and ability, though the court seized every opportunity to browbeat and confuse him.

The Recorder, in reply to Penn's calm request, that he would inform him by what law he was prosecuted, and on what law the indictment was grounded, replied violently, as follows:

"You must not think that I am able to sum up so many years, and ever so many adjudged cases, which we call common law, to satisfy your curiosity."

PENN. "This answer, I am sure, is very short of my question, for if it be common, it should not be so very hard to produce."

RECORDER, (angrily)—"Sir, will you plead to your indictment?"

PENN.-"Shall I plead to an indictment that has no foundation in law? If it contain that law you say I have broken, why should you decline to produce it, since it will be impossible for the jury to determine, or agree to bring in their verdict, who have not the law produced by which they should measure the truth of the indictment?"

REC. (passionately)-"You are a saucy fellow; speak to the indictment."

PENN. "I say it is my place to speak to matters of law. I am arraigned a prisoner. My liberty, which is next to life itself, is now concerned. You are many against me, and it is hard if I must not make the best of my case. I say again, unless you show me and the people the law you ground your indictment upon, I shall take it for granted your proceedings are merely arbitrary.

REC. (waiving this critical point)—"The question is, whether you are guilty of this indictment?"

PENN.-"The question is, not whether I am guilty of this indictment, but whether this indictment be legal. It is too general and imperfect an answer to say it is common law, unless we know both where and what it is; for where there is no law there is no transgression; and that law which is not in being, so far from being common law, is no law at all."

REC. "You are an impertinent fellow. Will you teach the