Willem Sewel of Amsterdam, 1653-1720. The first Quaker Historian of Quakerism (review)

98 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION the educational world as an outstanding teacher and writer on government and as long-time professor of political science at Grinnell College; but this book presents him in a new and most interesting light. The earlier chapters, telling of pioneer life in Henry County, Indiana, and Poweshiek County, Iowa, of Quakerism as it was seen then at first hand, and of its adjustment in the mind of an intelligent lad to the discoveries of science, of the outward vicissitudes and inner difficulties of the same intelligent and conscientious mind drafted in the Tenth Iowa regiment , are hardly to be matched in the vivid autobiographies of midwestern Quakerism. The volume is edited by his daughter, Katharine Macy Noyes, and was published by Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, in 1933. A Request for Cooperation The Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture is compiling a history of its activities since its founding in 1785. The Secretary will be glad to hear from any person having records of interest to the Society. George F. Curwen, Secretary, Villa iNova, Pa. BOOK REVIEWS Willem Sewel of Amsterdam, 1653-1720. The first Quaker Historian of Quakerism. By William I. Hull. Swarthmore College Monographs on Quaker History, 'Number one, 1933. 225 pp.1 Most of what has been achieved in the field of the history of Quakerism has been written by Quakers, very much to the advantage of scholarly completeness in the subject and of interpretative accuracy and sympathy . Considering all the various advantages of this, it still has to be stated that the Quaker historian usually has been free in his criticisms and thus really has contributed to an open and frank discussion. The traditional Quaker biographer, however, seems to have been too traditional in some cases, and to have been reaching for the most part Quaker readers only. Penn's life, as it was written and rewritten during the past six or seven decades, has been mainly based on Janney's work, until only quite recently Miss Brailsford brought a new accent into this theme. Only a few outsiders of literary rank (like Macaulay, Buell, and, in 1932, Bonamy Dobrée) have told the story of his life, and Dobrée's Lytton-Strachey-styled volume still is waiting to be investigated more carefully from the point of historical dependability. Dr. Hull's book proves not only how necessary it is, but also how fascinating it can be, to look into the history of a historian. The English-speaking world has adopted Sewel as one of them; his name, pronounced in the anglicised way, is familiar to everyone interested in !The frontispiece of this issue of the Bulletin is a reproduction, with William I. Hull's permission, of the frontispiece of the book here reviewed. BOOK REVIEWS99 Quaker history. His reports are first-hand material; more than that, whenever we read his book we are impressed by his care, his considerate attitude, the minuteness of his searching mind and the balance of his diction. Is this man a professional writer? Did he live in a monastery -like place where he received the visits of leading early Friends from all over the world? Is he a sort of Evangelist listening to heavenly voices inspiring his writings? Nothing of the kind! In this hook we learn what a busy life he lived. Sewel was the author of a Dutch-English dictionary, the translator of a number of English and Latin books, the author of books in his own language; he acted as interpreter, he was a hard-pressed journalist contributing to the Amsterdam "Courant," he was the father of a family. He carried on an extensive correspondance, he tutored students in English and Latin, he was an active Friend in a turbulent religious situation—and besides all that he was the Quaker historian! And yet, he was a full-time Quaker and a full-time historian. It took him twenty-five years to prepare a hook which after 250 years reads as impressively as in 1717 when the Dutch original was first published. Habent sua fata libelli From his experiences with Croese whom he faithfully assisted (not knowing, of course, what he did...