{{rh{{|center=PORTRAITURE OF WILLIAM PENN.|right=3}}}}
Penn under the famous Elm at the close of November, 1682; and, as the sequel proved, they were not idle words.
While the right is claimed to point out the anachronisms of West's picture, and to object to the incongruities it presents, let us not forget that West had not the materials for research nor the time to devote to this special subject; the purpose is not to criticise, but to point out facts and the realities of the hero as well as of the event he has thus no little contributed to commemorate.
It will be remembered that before West painted in England, all British historical figures had appeared in a masking habit; "the actions of Englishmen seemed all to have been performed—if costume were to be believed—by Greeks or by Romans." In "The Death of Wolfe" Mr. West was the first to dismiss this pedantry and restore nature and propriety. With this period of 1758, its costumes and its habits, Mr. West was familiar;* but Penn's Treaty—apparently the very next historical subject he attempted—had taken place eighty-eight years before. He was, of course, not personally familiar with the costume of 1682, and he apparently essayed to introduce no contemporaneous portraits, save that of Penn himself.
In seeking some representation of Penn, he seems to have lighted upon the original bust (or its reproduction, which it was known was carved by one Sylvanus Bevan, and under these circumstances, as related by Dr. Franklin in a letter to Henry Home, Lord Kames.
When old Lord Cobham was adorning his garden at Stowe with the busts of famous men, he made inquiry for a picture of William Penn many years after the death of
- "The subject I have to represent," said West
on this occasion to Sir Joshua Reynolds, who objected to throwing aside the classic garb, "is a great battle fought and won, and the same truth which gives law to the historian should rule- the fainter. If, instead of the facts of the action, I introduce fictions, how shall I be understood by pos- terity ? The classic dress is certainly picturesque ; but, by using it, I shall lose in sentiment what I gain in external grace. I want to mark the place, the time, and the people, and to do this, I must abide by truth." Reynolds subsequently seated himself before the finished picture, examined it minutely for half an hour, and then said : " West has conquered ; he has treated his subject as it ought to be treated ; I retract my objections. I foresee that this picture will not only become one of the most popular, but will occasion a revolution in art." Even in this case, however, Mr. West did not escape some incon- gruities in its execution. the latter, but could find none ; whereupon Sylvanus Bevan, an old Quaker apothecary, remarkable for the notice he took of counte- nances, and a knack he had of cutting in ivory strong likenesses of persons he had once seen, hearing of Lord Cobham's desire, set himself to recollect Penn's face, with
ADMIRAL PENN.
which he had been well acquainted. He
accordingly cut a bust in ivory, and sent it
to Lord Cobham without letter or notice;
whereupon " my Lord, who had person-
ally known Penn, immediately exclaimed,
' Whence came this ? it is William Penn
himself ! ' " From this little bust the large
one in the garden was formed.*
The latter became West's model, and upon
it he stuck a broad-brimmed hat, clothing
the figure in drab, and making it corpulent
enough in consistency with this bust, but
utterly at variance with the now known
- " Toward the close of the year 1 759, Dr. Frank-
lin, together with his son, the late Governor Frank- lin of New Jersey, visited Scotland. While in that country, the Doctor received particular attentions from the celebrated Henry Home, Lord Kames (a character well known in the literary world), with whom he then passed some days, at his Lordship's country-seat in the shire of Berwick. From this commencement of their personal acquaintance with each other, a correspondence subsisted between Lord Kames and the Doctor, until a few years before the death of the former, which occurred in the year 1 782, when his Lordship was in the eighty-seventh year of his age. It appears that some time prior to the year 1 760, Lord Kames had offered to Dr. Frank-
