Books of Interest to Friends

BOOKS OF INTEREST TO FRIENDS.37 BOOKS OF INTEREST TO FRIENDS. Swarthmore Lecture. The Day of Our Visitation. By William Littleboy. Published for the Woodbrooke Extension Committee by Headley Brothers, Ltd. [London], 1917. 7J-Í ? 5 in., pp. 62. is. This little volume, the eleventh of the series, is at once the shortest and perhaps the most striking. It is a message rather than a lecture or an historical study, and cannot be judged by ordinary canons of criticism. It treats of the " Promised Parousia [presence, or second comingj of Christ ; The Urgent Call to Watchfulness ; The Work before the Society of Friends ; A Personal Appeal ; and a brief Appendix on the Attitude of the Society of Friends in regard to the European War." This eloquent and able appeal is strongly commended to our readers. William Penn, Founder of Pennsylvania. By John W. Graham, M.A. Illustrated. London, Headley Bros., Ltd. New York, F. W. Stokes. 8% ? 5% in., pp. 332. 6s, net, $1.75. This, the most recent life of William Penn, is for the general reader, and indeed for all who wish in one volume to get a fairly well-rounded picture of Penn, the best life that has appeared. It is written by a Friend who not only approaches his subject from a Friendly point of view, but also understands the currents and counter-currents in Quaker history, as no outsider could understand them. The author states that " No original investigation into MS. sources has gone to the making of this volume," but it must be said that he has shown considerable skill as a compiler, and that he has produced a well-balanced and interesting work. The definitive life of Penn will not be written until the great mass of material accumulated by Albert Cook Myers is available to students. The character of William Penn will always be a subject of controversy. The wide field in which he moved; his strength and his weaknesses; his clearness of vision in most directions ; his curious shortsightedness in others ; his trustfulness in his friends, so great that it became a serious blot; his statesmanship , and yet his inability to read character; his noble adherence to freedom of conscience and religious liberty; his sweetness of spirit, and, above all, his deep spirituality, form a character so complex as to make a correct representation well-nigh impossible. The author of this Life is to be congratulated on the extent of his success. The twenty-four illustrations are well chosen, though some have not been very successfully reproduced. The text, at the foot of the view, "Friends' Meeting House and School " (facing page 191), is an error. The buildings represented were in South Fourth Street, not at "Fourth and Arch Street," as stated. "Arch Street Meeting House" was not built until 1804. The note on page 264 gives the impression that in Penn- 38 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL SOCIETY. sylvania alone among the colonies was there religious toleration; this is incorrect, for in Rhode Island there was complete religious toleration— the only colony in which Jew or Christian, unbeliever or heathen had equal rights and privileges. The map facing page 128 represents no particular period, and so is likely to cause misconceptions. It would have been better for it to be strictly early colonial, in which case Vermont, West Virginia, and Baltimore would not appear. The account of the nomenclature of the streets of Philadelphia (p. 156) is not quite correct. The names have been changed several times. Race Street was once "Sassafras," and Arch Street "Mulberry," and some others once bore different names. The north and south streets were at one time numbered from the Delaware River only as far as Broad (the fourteenth). West of Broad Street they were counted from the Schuylkill River (" Schuylkill First " and so on up to " Schuylkill Eighth," now Fifteenth Street) . There was no First Street at the Delaware end, Front Street taking its place. The change to the present names was made officially in 1853. On the same page (156, note) reference is made to a statue of Penn "depicted on the cover of this book," but it is not given there. Chester has always...