William Penn, Macaulay, and "Punch."

WILLIAM PENN, MACAULAY, AND " PUNCH."91 My deare Love to all yours, to deare Abegale farewell at present M B. My father Bowne was maryed yesterday to his yong Bride.7 This marriage was evidently a great trial to Samuel and Mary Bowne, as will appear from their letters, which, however, must be left to another number. Allen C. Thomas. WILLIAM PENN, MACAULAY, AND " PUNCH." In Macaulay's Diary under date of February 5, 1859, the following passage occurs : " Then the Quakers, five in number. Never was there such a rout. They had absolutely nothing to say. Every charge against Penn came out as clear as any case at the Old Bailey. They had nothing to urge but what was true enough; that he looked worse in my ' History ' than he would have looked on a general survey of his whole life. But that is not my fault. I wrote the history of four years during which he was exposed to great temptations; during which he was the favorite of a bad king, and an active solicitor in a most corrupt court. His character was injured by his associations. Ten years before, or ten years later, he would have made a much better figure. But was I to begin my book ten years earlier or ten years later for William Penn's sake? The Quakers were extremely civil. So was I. They complimented me on my courtesy and candor." Trevelyan's Life of Macaulay (American edition), Vol. 2, p. 220. Soon after the interview thus described, there appeared in Punch,1 the London comic weekly, a caricature, by John Leech, of the scene. (See reproduction.) The drawing is very cleverly done and deserves close inspection. After the fashion of some of 7 This "yong Bride," his third wife, was Mary Cock. John Bowne died two years after the marriage, 10th Month [December] 20th, 1695, being about sixty-eight years of age. 1 Punch, February 17, 1849, Vol. 16, p. 72. 92BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL SOCIETY. the old masters, Leech combines three scenes in the same picture ; first, the Friends composing the committee on their way to visit the historian ; second, the interview itself ; third, the return home of the committee. The Friends are represented as driving to the residence of Macaulay in a " four-wheeler " cab. The faces of the men are smiling and confident, and a little dog runs joyously beside the vehicle. In the central division of the cut, Macaulay, with a determined countenance, is represented in his library, vanquishing his foes with a quill. The attitudes of the Friends, which are anything but dignified, indicate a complete rout. In the third division , the Friends are shown as driving off with despondent faces and attitudes, while the little dog is the picture of canine despondency . Leech has six or seven Friends, but Macaulay is right in saying five. Leech's caricature is followed by twelve doggerel stanzas summing up the historian's charges and describing the " rout," and the return home. The following are specimens : " Macaulay wrote a book, In which if once you look, You're fast as with a hook, for volumes two, two, two; And this book shows William Penn Behaving now and then Like something 'twixt a donkey, and a ' do,' ' do,' ' do.' " So the Friends, extremely wroth At this stain upon their cloth— For Macaulay pledged his troth to the fact, fact, fact, They filled a Clarence cab With valiant men in drab, And off to the Albany packed, packed, packed. " Then their batteries they let fly, But Macaulay in reply, At their heads he did shy such a hail, hail, hail ; From memory and from note, Of reading and of rote, There was naught he did not quote, fresh or stale, stale, stale. WILLIAM PENN, MACAULAY, AND "PUNCH."93 "Not a single ' thee ' or 'thou' Could they put in, I vow, But he countered, where and how they scarce knew, knew, knew; Till faint and flabbergast, They backed—backed—and at last Unquakerishly fast down stairs they flew, flew, flew! " And, sad as their own drab, Mounted ruefully their cab, By the gift of the gab overborne, borne, borne ; And, all Piccadilly...