42 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH 



might have their due weight and force, he gave liberty to a most 

 valuable male slave, then in the prime of his life, who had been 

 bred up in the family almost from his infancy. 



" He was, through life, a striking example of temperance, 

 especially in the use of vinous and spirituous liquors ; not from a 

 passion of parsimony, but from a principle of morality. His com- 

 mon drink was pure water, small beer, or cider mixed with milk. 

 Nevertheless, he always kept a good and plentiful table. Once a 

 year commonly on new year's day he made a liberal entertain- 

 ment for his relations and particular friends. 



" His stature was rather above the middle size, and upright. 

 His visage was long, and his countenance expressive of a degree of 

 dignity, with a happy mixture of animation and sensibility. 



" He was naturally industrious and active, both in body and 

 mind ; observing, that he never could find more time than he could 

 employ to satisfaction and advantage, either in improving conver- 

 sation, or in some healthy and useful bodily exercise : and he was 

 astonished to hear men complaining, that they were weary of their 

 time, and knew not what they should do. 



" He was born and educated in the sect called Quakers. But 

 his religious creed may, perhaps, be best collected from a pious 

 distich, engraven by his own hand, in very conspicuous characters, 

 upon a stone placed over the front window of the apartment which 

 was destined for study and philosophical retirement. 



' "lis God alone, Almighty Lord, 



The Holy One, by me adored. 



John Bartram, 1770.' 



" This may show the simplicity and sincerity of his heart, which 

 never harboured, nor gave countenance to dissimulation.* His 

 mind was frequently employed, and he enjoyed the highest pleasure, 

 in the contemplation of nature, as exhibited in the great volume of 

 creation. He generally concluded the narratives of his journeys 



* "This distich, however," says Professor Barton, "gave offence to many 

 of Mr. Bartram's friends." 



There is a tradition in the family that John Bartram was excommunicated by 

 the Monthly Meeting of Friends, at Darby, on account and in consequence of the 

 above inscription ; but it appears by the records, that his orthodoxy had been called 

 in question a number of years prior to that date, and that the views which he 

 entertained, had led to his exclusion from the Society, so early as the year 1758. 

 The inscription of 1770, it seems, was made for the purpose of testifying that he 

 still adhered to his former opinions. 



