Penn, and: William Penn's Early Life in Brief 1644-1674, and: William Penn. A Topical Biography, and: Eight Biographies of William Penn in Seven Languages and Seven Lands (review)

BOOK REVIEWS45 whom he found was rather a different person . . ." (p. 104) ; "Noah . . . laid down in his tent . . ." (p. 113) ; "The frail woman . . . charmed O'Connell as many another man had been" (p. 136) ; "The Free Religious Association came nearest to Lucretia's ideal of a religious organization than any she had ever known" (p. 288) ; "William Fox" for George (p. 80) ; "John Joseph Gurney, . . . the Quaker pope" for Joseph John (p. 140). In spite of these apparent strictures, the reviewer does not discourage the reading of Lucretia Mott—quite the contrary. The subject has been neglected by biographers, and this book, though not the definitive biography , fills a need, and its story is pleasantly and attractively told. Lucretia Mott had a colorful and interesting career, from her birth in Nantucket through her school-teaching days, to her marriage and long sojourn in Philadelphia. She was prominently identified with exciting events—the burning of Pennsylvania Hall in 1838 and the entire movement for the abolition of slavery, and the controversies over advanced divorce laws, equal rights for women, liberalism in religion, and even the right of labor to organize; and withal she was a Quaker minister of unusual power, mother of a family and housekeeper of an exacting household, a charming hostess, a traveled person of broad human contacts and much experience of life. These phases of her life are told with an enthusiasm and skill which entirely justify the book; and one who can overlook the lack of literary craftsmanship will find it abundantly worth reading. T. K. B. Penn. By Elizabeth Janet Gray. New York, Viking Press, 1938. 298 pp. ; illustrated with 16 drawings by George Gillett Whitney ; $2.50. William Penn's Early Life in Brief 1644?674. By Albert Cook Myers. Published by the author at Moylan, Pa., 1937 ; 83 pp., 55 illustrations ; $5.00. William Penn. A Topical Biography. By William I. Hull. New York, Oxford University Press, 1937. xvi + 362 pp. ; 46 illustrations ; $5.00. Eight Biographies of William Penn in Seven Languages and Seven Lands. By William I. Hull. Swarthmore, Pa., 1936; Number three of Swarthmore College Monographs on Quaker History, xviii + 136 pp. ; 42 illustrations; $2.00. ' I "HE FACT that four distinguished biographical works such as those listed above have appeared within a short time after the publication of books by Brailsford in 1930, Dobrée in 1932, and Vulliamy in 1934, indicates anew that William Penn's soul, like that of John Brown, goes marching on. The explanation must lie partly in the difficulties presented to an attempt to interpret Penn's many-sided character, and partly in the historical significance of the events in which he took part. Since these 46 BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION four books are all by Friends, perhaps a certain feeling of piety toward the Quaker hero may also have prompted the authors; if so, that piety has found a worthy subject. Of these four, the first, by Elizabeth Janet Gray (or, in private life, Elizabeth Gray Vining), is frankly a book for the young. It is nicely printed and the story is charmingly told. It is indeed in its charm and general excellence a companion volume to Janet Whitney's Elisabeth Fry. It shows William Penn the dutiful son, misunderstood but still tenderly loved by his ambitious father ; Penn the courageous dissenter, defending his own and all Englishmen's rights in the famous and dramatic trial of himself and William Mead ; Penn the loving husband and father ; Penn the idealistic yet practical organizer of a new colony where men should have freedom of conscience; and, far more briefly discussed, Penn the politician and court favorite in England, again misunderstood, cheated and imprisoned for debt, but finally winning through to a quiet old age. Though the book is not written for historians, it gives the impression (except in the matter of proportionate emphasis on different parts of his life) of being thoroughly dependable. Sources are skilfully quoted; the admiration undoubtedly felt by the authör is discreetly phrased; there is a useful bibliography of books by and about Penn and about his times; and there is a full index. A most excellent book, which...