Letter from William Penn to Elizabeth, Princess Palatine, Abbess of the Protestant Convent of Hereford, 1677, with an Introduction

82 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL SOCIETY LETTER FROM WILLIAM PENN TO ELIZABETH, PRINCESS PALATINE, ABBESS OF THE PROTESTANT CONVENT OF HEREFORD, 1677, WITH AN INTRODUCTION. Amelia M. Gummere. The following letter is one of a collection of valuable papers recently given to Haverford College by the daughters of Gulielma M. Howland. They are to be known as the Gulielma M. Howland Collection. This letter is an autograph copy, in the earlier style of William Penn's handwriting, and may be the original from which the copy was made for the Princess. It has come down through the Logan family. Thus far, no trace of its publication has been found, and as the reply of the Princess has been given in Janney's Life of Penn, it has been thought well to print it in the Bulletin at this time, particularly as so much interest is being taken in the writings of William Penn for the forthcoming complete edition. The companions of Penn upon this journey to Holland and Germany were George Fox and his stepdaughter, Isabel Yeamans, Robert Barclay, George Keith, and his wife, George Watts, John Furley and William Tailcoat, with two servants. There is lack of agreement in the several accounts of this journey, and its purpose. Penn himself is silent as to his wish to effect any union between the Quakers and the Labadists. Such is said to have been his object by Elizabeth Godfrey in her delightful book, " A Sister of Prince Rupert."* Neither does Janney mention this in his " Life of Penn."f The fact is that on his first religious visit to the continent six years before, Penn had met de Labadie and rebuked him for his errors.^ E. Godfrey refers, not to the Journal, but to other narratives.§ Penn does not imply that he sent the three *A Sister of Prince Rupert, etc. By Elizabeth Godfrey. London, 1909, p. 376. f Life of Wiliam Penn, Samuel M. Janney, 2nd edition, Philadelphia , 1852, pp. 135-137. t William Penn's Journal of his Travels in Holland and Germany in 1677. 4th edition, by John Barclay. London, 1835, p. 20.§ Mme. Blaze de Bury. " Memoirs of the Princess of Bohemia." Foucher de Careil. " L'Influence de Cartésianisme sur les Femmes." FROM WILLIAM PENN TO PRINCESS ELIZABETH 83 Quaker ladies ahead under the escort of Robert Barclay, to prepare the Princess for his coming, since he had corresponded with her for six years. About a year before, i.e., in 1676, Robert Barclay and Benjamin Furley had visited the Princess, and soon after, the Dutch woman Friend, Gertrude Diericks, had accompanied Elizabeth Hendricks, perhaps as interpreter. The misapprehension that a party was sent on to prepare the way probably arose from the fact that a remarkable letter from George Fox was delivered to the Princess by the hands of Isabel Yeamans and Elizabeth Keith* just before William Penn came to Herford, and probably while he was absent in Germany. It does not appear that Fox was at Herford at all. This is the only occasion on which Penn kept an account of his travels, and it was done, he explains, " for his own satisfaction and that of some relatives and particular friends." The author consented to its publication many years after, when a copy was found among the papers of the deceased Countess of Conway. The little party left England in July, 1677, and arrived in Rotterdam in time to hold two meetings on the first day of the week at the house of Benjamin Furley, a learned Englishman who had married a Dutch wife and settled at that place. After brief visits at Leyden, Harlem and Amsterdam, Penn and Barclay proceeded to Herford to visit the Princess Palatine Elizabeth , Abbess of the Protestant nunnery of that name. The Princess was daughter of Frederick V, Elector Palatine, and Elizabeth, daughter of James I of England; they formerly * Of the women named Elizabeth Keith, was the wife of George Keith. Since the Archives of New Jersey named Keith's wife in 1682 as Anne, he was probably twice married. Isabel Yeamans was the very interesting wife of William Yeamans, and daughter of Judge Fell and Margaret...