6, it was
in the hands of the heirs of William Penn.

In 1711, Penn wrote a preface to John Banks's Journal, dictating it, as
his custom was, walking to and fro with his cane in his hand, thumping
the floor to mark the emphasis. "Now reader," he concludes, "before I
take leave of thee, let me advise thee to hold thy religion in the
spirit, whether thou prayest, praisest or ministerest to others, ...
which, that all God's people may do, is, and hath long been the earnest
desire and fervent supplication of theirs and thy faithful friend in the
Lord Jesus Christ, W. PENN." This is the last word of his writing which
remains.

The next year he had a paralytic stroke, and another, and another. This
impaired his memory and his mind. Thus he continued for six years, as
happily as was possible under the circumstances. He went often to
meeting, where he frequently spoke, briefly, but with "sound and savory
expressions." He walked about his gardens, saw his friends, and
delighted in the company of his wife and children. Each year left him
weaker than the year before; but his days were filled with serenity. He
was surrounded with all the comforts which a generous income, an
affectionate family, the respect of his neighbors, and the approval of
God, could give him.

"He that lives to live forever," he had written in his "Fruits of
Solitude," "never fears dying. Nor can the means be terrible to him,
that heartily believes the end. For though death be a dark passage, it
leads to immortality; and that is recompense enough for suffering of
it.... And this is the comfort of the good, that the grave cannot hold
them, and that they live as soon as they die."

Into the fullness of this life he entered on the 30th of July, 1718,
being seventy-four years old.

The chief authorities for facts concerning William Penn are--

1. The Select Works of William Penn (London, 1726; 3d edition,
1782; 5 vols). Whereof, The Trial of William Penn and William Mead
(vol i.), Travels in Holland and Germany (vol. iii.), and A General
Description of Pennsylvania (vol. iv.) contain autobiographical
matter. Some Fruits of Solitude and Penn's Advice to his Children
(vol. v.) are similarly valuable.

2. The Life of Penn prefixed to his Works, by Joseph Besse, a
Quaker contemporary (1726).

3. Memoirs of the Private and Public Life of William Penn, by
Thomas Clarkson (London, 1813).

4. The P