Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker | Page 5

that my father looked ill pleased, made haste to
make excuse, because it was springtime and the annual house-cleaning
was going on.
Mr. Penn cried out merrily, "I see that the elders are shocked at thee,
Friend Wynne, because of these vanities of arms and pictures; but there
is good heraldry on the tankard out of which I drank James Pemberton's
beer yesterday. Fie, fie, Friend James!" Then he bowed to my mother
very courteously, and said to my father, "I hope I have not got thy boy
into difficulties because I reminded him that he is come of gentles."
"No, no," said my mother.
"I know the arms, madam, and well too: quarterly, three eagles
displayed in fesse, and--"
"Thou wilt pardon me, Friend Penn," said my father, curtly. "These are
the follies of a world which concerns not those of our society. The lad's
aunt has put enough of such nonsense into his head already."
"Let it pass, then," returned the young lieutenant-governor, with good
humour; "but I hope, as I said, that I have made no trouble for this stout
boy of thine."
My father replied deliberately, "There is no harm done." He was too
proud to defend himself, but I heard long after that he was taken to task
by Thomas Scattergood and another for these vanities of arms and
pictures. He told them that he put the picture where none saw it but
ourselves, and, when they persisted, reminded them sharply, as Mr.
Penn had done, of the crests on their own silver, by which these Friends

of Welsh descent set much store.
I remember that, when the gay young lieutenant-governor had taken his
leave, my father said to my mother, "Was it thou who didst tell the boy
this foolishness of these being our arms and the like, or was it my sister
Gainor?"
Upon this my mother drew up her brows, and spread her palms out,--a
French way she had,--and cried, "Are they not thy arms? Wherefore
should we be ashamed to confess it?"
I suppose this puzzled him, for he merely added, "Too much may be
made of such vanities."
All of this I but dimly recall. It is one of the earliest recollections of my
childhood, and, being out of the common, was, I suppose, for that
reason better remembered.
I do not know how old I was when, at this time, Mr. Penn, in a neat wig
with side rolls, and dressed very gaudy, aroused my curiosity as to
these folks in Wales, It was long after, and only by degrees, that I
learned the following facts, which were in time to have a great
influence on my own life and its varied fortunes.
In or about the year 1671, and of course before Mr. Penn, the
proprietary, came over, my grandfather had crossed the sea, and settled
near Chester on lands belonging to the Swedes. The reason of his
coming was this: about 1669 the Welsh of the English church and the
magistrates were greatly stirred to wrath against the people called
Quakers, because of their refusal to pay tithes. Among these offenders
was no small number of the lesser gentry, especially they of
Merionethshire.
My grandfather, Hugh Wynne, was the son and successor of Godfrey
Wynne, of Wyncote. How he chanced to be born among these
hot-blooded Wynnes I do not comprehend. He is said to have been gay
in his early days, but in young manhood to have become averse to the
wild ways of his breed, and to have taken a serious and contemplative
turn. Falling in with preachers of the people called Quakers, he left the
church of the establishment, gave up hunting, ate his game-cocks, and
took to straight collars, plain clothes, and plain talk. When he refused
to pay the tithes he was fined, and at last cast into prison in Shrewsbury
Gate House, where he lay for a year, with no more mind to be taxed for
a hireling ministry at the end of that time than at the beginning.

His next brother, William, a churchman as men go, seems to have
loved him, although he was himself a rollicking fox-hunter; and, seeing
that Hugh would die if left in this duress, engaged him to go to
America. Upon his agreeing to make over his estate to William, those
in authority readily consented to his liberation, since William had no
scruples as to the matter of tithes, and with him there would be no
further trouble. Thus it came about that my grandfather Hugh left
Wales. He had with him, I presume, enough of means to enable him to
make a start in Pennsylvania. It could not have been much. He carried
also, what no doubt he valued, a certificate of removal from the