y, although very reluctantly, he yielded to the
request of his friends in England, that he would immediately return
thither.

The news of his intended departure was received by the inhabitants with
feelings of sincere regret. Perhaps none felt it more deeply than the
aborigines. On this occasion, a number of them waited upon him at his
residence at Pennsbury. The interview was conducted with great gravity.
One of the chiefs, in the course of his remarks, said "that they never
first broke their covenants with any people;" striking his hand upon his
head, he said "they did not make them there, but"--placing it upon his
breast--"they made them _there_."

William Penn sailed for England in the Eighth month, 1701, having been
in the Province about two years. On the eve of his departure he
presented Philadelphia with a charter, constituting it a city.

The bill to change the form of the colonial government was never passed
into a law, but other engagements prevented his return to Pennsylvania.
In 1705, in a brief but forcible epistle to Friends, he exhorts them to
hold all their meetings in that which set them up, the heavenly power of
God. In 1706 he removed with his family to Brentford, about eight miles
from London. In 1709 he went forth on a gospel mission through the
western parts of England, which was his last journey of this kind. In
1710 he removed to Rushcomb, in Buckinghamshire, where he continued to
reside until his death. In 1712 he had three attacks of apoplexy. By
these his mental powers were so weakened that he was rendered incapable
of transacting business. In this situation he remained for several
years, without much bodily suffering, and appeared to enjoy great
quietness and sweetness of mind. In the latter part of 1714 he was
visited by Thomas Story, who says of him, "that he had a clear sense of
truth, was plain, by some very clear sentences he spoke in the life and
power of Truth, in an evening meeting we had there; wherein we were
greatly comforted, so that I am ready to think this was a sort of
sequestration of him from all the concerns of this life, which so much
oppressed him, not in judgement but in mercy, that he might not be
oppressed thereby to the end."

When visited by two of his friends, in 1716, he still expressed himself
sensibly, and at parting thus addressed them: "My love is with you, the
Lord preserve you, and remember me in the everlasting covenant."

He continued gradually to grow