252 HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY. [1741. 



" A concern having taken hold against this meeting to sup- 

 press pride, and it seems to appear some what in women in 

 wearing of hoope pettecoats which is a great trouble to many 

 minds, and it is the unanymous sense of this meeting that none 

 among us be in the practice thereof: [and that] all our over- 

 seers and other solid friends do inspect in their members and 

 where any appear, to be guilty, do deal with them and dis- 

 courage them either in that of hoops or other indecent dress.'' 

 In spite of all the watchfulness that this minute imposed upon 

 the "overseers and other solid friends," it was this year found 

 that Caleb Burdshall and his wife had " a little too inconsider- 

 ately encouraged women wearing of hoopst petecoats." 



The celebrated itinerant preacher, George Whitefield, visited 

 this country towards the close of 1739. After having preached 

 to immense numbers in Philadelphia, making many converts, it 

 is recorded that he was accompanied to Chester by 150 horse- 

 men, and preached there to 7000 people, and again at White- 

 clay Creek to 8000, of whom as many as 3000 were on horse- 

 back,^ 



Thomas Penn returned to England this year f the constant 

 and violent quarrels between the Assembly and the Governor, 

 in which Proprietary interests were frequently brought into the 

 controversy, could not have been very agreeable to him. 



At the meeting of the Legislature in October, the Governor 

 had shown a vindictive spirit in his reply to John Kinsey, the 

 accomplished Speaker of the Assembly. This was followed up 

 by the issue of a new general Commission of the Peace for the 

 several Counties of the Province, in which his Excellency ex- 

 hibited a petty revenge, unworthy of his position, by leaving 

 out the names of those Justices who had opposed his adminis- 

 tration. As an excuse for getting rid of some of the obnoxious 

 Quaker Justices, he said he had received a letter from Mr. John 

 Penn with the information "that the Court at Chester had set 

 aside a man from the Jury for declining to take the affirmation 

 and insisting to be qualified by Oath." John had also urged 

 the Governor to appoint a majority of Justices in each County 

 who " would not scruple to take, or at least administer an oath."^ 

 If the charge against the Chester Justices was true, his Excel- 

 lency could readily and directly have obtained a substantiation 

 of all the facts, but resting alone on this circuitous hearsay 

 testimony, the truth of the accusation may be fairly doubted ; 



» Watson's Ann. i. 537. 



* Proud, ii. 222. 



' Col. Rec. iv. 482. It was in anticipation of removal from office, by the issuing of 

 this new Commission, that Justice John Wright of Lancaster delivered his noted 

 Charge to the Grand Jury of that County. See Gordon's Hist. Penna. 240 ; Proud, 

 ii. 222. 



