The Papers of William Penn, Volume Four: 1702-1718 (review)

Book Reviews51 at court during James IPs rule and the subsequent trough of suspicion under William and Mary. The painfulness and mistakes of his absentee proprietorship , his tireless efforts on behalf of religious tolerations, the personal tragedies of the death of his wife, Gulielma, and eldest son, Springett, his second marriage to Hannah Callowhill, the controversy swirling around George Keith, the founding of public schools in Philadelphia, his efforts to communicate with Peter the Great during his English visit, and his return to a much changed Pennsylvania are all well documented here. This and the entire handsome set of volumes present the materials for taking the measure of Penn. The vigor and complexity of his life is extraordinary: businessman, policitian, friend, Quaker leader, architect, writer, lobbyist for religious toleration and for Pennsylvania. Amidst these many roles, who finally is this person? Does the pattern in his actual practice fit the principles he articulates ? Politically, how do his commitments to Quaker business procedure, focused on achieving a sense of the meeting, and to democratic principles fit with his authoritarian style of proprietorship? Religiously, how does his Quakerism relate to the secular world? In his famous definition of "true godliness"—that it does not "turn Men out of the World, but enables them to live better in it, and excites their Endeavours to mend it"—he exhibits what H. Richard Niebuhr calls the "transformationist" type of relationship in which the religious ongoingly transforms the secular. Does his preoccupation with business matters and getting out of debt, his attempts to secure his own proprietorship over Pennsylvania and the colony's borders, his arbitrary decision to appoint a Boston Puritan as Pennsylvania's Governor, exemplify what he means by living in the world and mending it? The Society of Friends needs access to the writings of our historic leaders. Non-Friends can, as well, be enriched in their search for spiritual maturity by vital Quaker thought, not by turning them out of their religious affiliations, but by helping them live more deeply within them and to mend them. Although these Papers contain only one-fourth of the Penn materials in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, they make these available to many who do not have easy access to that microfilm collection in a format that is a pleasure to read. They thus respond significantly to this need, even while intensifying desire for a complete works someday and for a low-priced selection of Penn's major essays for college, school, and meeting use soon. Professor of Religious StudiesR. Melvin Keiser Guilford College The Papers of William Penn, Volume Four: 1702-1718. General Editors Mary Maples Dunn and Richard S. Dunn. Editors Craig W. Horle, Alison Duncan Hirsch, Marianne S. Wokeck, Joy Wiltenberg. Phila: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987. xvii, 823 pp., index. $52.50. This final volume of the letters of William Penn spans the period from his second visit to Pennsylvania in 1701 until his severe stroke in 1712 and death in 1718. The editors were selective in deciding which documents to print because of the quantity of surviving manuscripts dealing with important topics. For example, the letters between Penn and James Logan alone could fill the book. The editors printed about one-fourth of the surviving letters with full annotations : identifying individuals, clarifying obscure references, providing back- 52Quaker History ground, and discussing significant issues. In nearly 800 pages of text I found only one typographical error and nothing that was factually wrong. Because Penn was no longer a major participant in English political life or even London Yearly Meeting, the concentration is upon Pennsylvania. A listing of the topics will show the importance of Penn's activities for American" history: his granting of the 1701 Frame of Government which served as the constitution for the colony until the Revolution, his failure to prevent the division of Pennsylvania and Delaware which would eventuate in two states, conflict over the boundary between Pennsylvania and Maryland, dispute with the Crown over proprietary rights and the activities of royal officials, struggle with the Pennsylvania Assembly over its powers, and negotiations with the Crown to sell the right of government—a salo which would have occurred had...