[CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION.]
The Earliest Tracts and Books.—During the first thirty years after the granting of Penn’s charter (1681), there were various publications of small and moderate extent, which are the chief source of our information.
REDUCED FAC-SIMILE OF TITLE TO “SOME ACCOUNT.”
The first of these is Penn’s own Some Account,[790] issued in 1681, soon after he received his grant. “It is introduced by a preface of some length, being an argument in favor of colonies,” which is followed by a description of the country, gathered from such sources as he considered reliable, and by the conditions on which he proposed to settle it. Information for those desiring to emigrate, and extracts from the royal charter, are also given.
This tract appeared at once in Dutch[791] and German[792] editions. The latter edition contains also letters of Penn to Friends in Holland and Germany prior to his receiving his grant, which fact tends to show that the relations he had established by his travels there attracted the attention of persons in Germany to his efforts in America.
In the same year (1681) appeared César de Rochefort’s account,[793] which is usually found joined to his Description des Antilles. Next year (1682) Penn published, under the title of A Brief Account,[794] a short description of his province, giving additional information. Of the same date is William Loddington’s Plantation Work,[795]—a tract, however, by some attributed to George Fox. It was written in favor of Quaker emigration at a time when many Quakers feared that such action might be prompted by a desire to escape persecution. In it we have the earliest descriptions preserved of Pennsylvania after it was given to Penn. These are presented in letters of Markham, written soon after his arrival, the date of which is also indicated. The extracts from Markham’s letters are printed in Pennsylvania Magazine of History, vi. 175.
