on involved in more serious censure by his ill-governed zeal, in
consequence of an order from the king that the ancient custom of wearing
surplices should be revived. This seemed to Penn an infringement of the
simplicity of Christian worship; whereupon he, with some friends, tore
the surplices from the backs of those students who appeared in them. For
this act of violence, totally inconsistent, it is to be observed, with
the principles of toleration which regulated his conduct in after life,
he and they were very justly expelled.

Admiral Penn, who, like most sailors, possessed a quick temper and high
notions of discipline and obedience, was little pleased with this event,
and still less satisfied with his son's grave demeanor, and avoidance of
the manners and ceremonies of polite life. Arguments failing, he had
recourse to blows, and as a last resource, he turned his son out of
doors; but soon relented so far as to equip him, in 1662, for a journey
to France, in hope that the gayety of that country would expel his
new-fashioned and, as he regarded them, fanatical notions. Paris,
however, soon became wearisome to William Penn, and he spent a
considerable time at Saumur, for the sake of the instruction and company
of Moses Amyrault, an eminent Protestant divine. Here he confirmed and
improved his religious impressions, and at the same time acquired, from
the insensible influence of those who surrounded him, an increased
polish and courtliness of demeanor, which greatly gratified the admiral
on his return home in 1664.

Admiral Penn went to sea in 1664, and remained two years on service.
During this time the external effects of his son's residence in France
had worn away, and he had returned to those grave habits, and that rule
of associating only with religious people, which had before given his
father so much displeasure. To try the effect of absence and change of
associates, Admiral Penn sent William to manage his estates in Ireland,
a duty which the latter performed with satisfaction both to himself and
his employer. But it chanced that, on a visit to Cork, he again attended
the preaching of Thomas Loe, by whose exhortations he was deeply
impressed. From this time he began to frequent the Quakers' meetings;
and in September, 1667, he was imprisoned, with others, under the
persecuting laws which then disgraced the statute-book. Upon application
to the higher authorities, he was soon released. Soon after the admiral
ag