Some Aspects of Style in William Penn's Maxims

Abstract

In 1693 a small anonymous book of maxims was published in London titled: Some Fruits of Solitude in Reflections and Maxims Relating to the Conduct of Human Life. The collection was apparently popular for it saw several editions. Then in 1702 a second volume appeared under the title: More Fruits of Solitude, still anonymously ascribed, but clearly by the same author. By 1718, the year of Penn's death, a revised and enlarged edition of Some Fruits together with More Fruits was issued and this edition remains the standard text.1 Penn's authorship was not specifically stated until an editorial committee under Joseph Besse, Quaker scholar and writer of the period, was appointed by the Second Day Morning Meeting to collect Penn's works for publication. Such official supervision and publication was common among Friends of the period and served both an imprimature function for the Society and in this case also resulted in the establishment of the Friends Reference Library in London.2 The Collected Works of William Penn (2 vols., London, 1726) essentially reprinted the combined and enlarged edition of Some Fruits printed in 1718. In Besse's Life prefixed to Penn's Works, Penn's authorship of the maxims is explicitly stated, and there seems to be no bibliographical evidence to suggest anything other than this attribution.3