OF LA^X•ASTER COUNTY, 05 



whicli had tlie good fortune to please the House in all respects, save tluit 

 the plural number "was used instead of the singular."^ 



"On the 80th day of the 5th month, (July) 1718, at Jiushconib, jiear 

 Twyford, in Buckinghamshire, in England, died the truly honorable Pro- 

 prietary and Founder of the province of Pennsylvania, William Pcnn, 

 aged about seventy-four years. He had, in the year 1712, as before 

 mentioned, been seized with some fits of the a})oplectic kind ; which, for 

 the last six years of his life had so aftected his mental faculties, especi- 

 ally his memory, as to render him, in great measure, incapable of public 

 business; which, with the gradual decline of his strength (^f bodv, con- 

 tinued to increase till the last period of his days: during which time, 

 nevertheless, he is said to have been mostly sensible, intelligent, and, by- 

 his behavior and expressions at different times to those who were present 

 with him, manifested that he retained, till his death, the happy enjoy- 

 ment of that divine and mental felicity, which resulted from the nature 

 of his religion and manner of life. "^ 



The following sketch of Penn, by Gordon, will doubtless ]»ri)V(' iutci-- 

 esting to the reader : 



William Penn, "as a leader of a Clnistian sect, has left no mean i-epu- 

 tation. His ability, courage, zeal, and perseverance have made liiui 

 conspicuous among religious reformers, but, as an apostle of civil lib- 

 erty, the world has an interest in him which can never fade, whilst order 

 and freedom are dear to the human race.'^ 



" From his father he inherited a disposition ardent and enthusiastic, 

 enterprising and courageous, reflecting and persevering. The energy'- of 

 mind which advanced the one to the rank of rear-admiral at twenty- 

 three years of age, rendered the other conspicuous amid the founders of 

 a new religion, soon after he attained his majority. The father was dis- 

 tinguished by the love of glory and of arms ; the son was not insensible 

 to the value of fame, but sought it by diffusing the blessings of peace, 

 and of religions and civil liberty. In this Avork he labored with 

 the firmness and devotion of heroism, struggling to attain its ol^jeet, 

 utterly regardless of himself. His voluntary abandonment of rank 

 and fortune, his spirited and manly opposition to the abuses of the 

 law, his patience under its inflictions, his learning, industry, and 

 perseverance in the maintenance of his principles, acc^uired for him in 

 early life the respect of the public, and the friendship of men of eminence 

 and worth who did not approve his religious peculiarities. His religion 

 made him obnoxious to the laws, and induced him to examine the prin- 

 ciples on which, not only the laws, but the government that enacted 

 them, were founded : and he discovered and adored the great truths, tliat 

 the happiness of society is the true object of civil ])0wcr, and that free- 

 1 Gordon. Votes. -'Proud. :5 Gordon. 



