From the Penns of Penn in Buckinghamshire came the Penns of Penn's Lodge, near Myntie on the edge of Bradon Forest, in the north-west part of the county of Wilts, or rather in Gloucestershire, a small part of the latter being inclosed within the former county. Here, that is, at Penn's Lodge, we know that two, if not more, of the male branches so descended lived in succession. The latter, whose name was William, was buried in Myntie church. A flat gravestone, which perpetuates this event, is still remaining. It stands in the passage between two pews in the chancel. It states, however, only, that he died on the twelfth of March 1591.

From William just mentioned came Giles Penn. Giles, it is known, was a captain in the royal navy. He held also for some time the office of English consul in the Mediterranean. Having intermarried with the family of the Gilberts, who came originally from Yorkshire, but who then lived in the county of Somerset, he had issue a son, whom he called William.

The last mentioned William, following the profession of his father, became a distinguished

guished naval officer. He was born in the year 1621, and commanded at a very early age the fleet which Oliver Cromwell sent against Hispaniola. This expedition, though it failed, brought no discredit upon him, for Colonel Venables was the cause of its miscarriage. It was considered, on the other hand, as far as Admiral Penn was concerned, that he conducted it with equal wisdom and courage. After the restoration of Charles the Second he was commander under the Duke of York in that great and terrible sea-fight against the Dutch, under Admiral Opdam, in the year 1665, where he contributed so much to the victory, that he was knighted. He was ever afterwards received with all the marks of private friendship at court. Though he was thus engaged both under the Parliament and the King, he took no part in the civil war, but adhered to the duties of his profession, which, by keeping him at a distance from the scene of civil commotion, enabled him to serve his country without attaching himself to either of the interests of the day. Besides the reputation of a great and patriot officer, he acquired that of having improved the naval service

in several important departments. He was the author of several little tracts on this subject, some of which are preserved in the British Museum. From the monument erected to his memory by his wife, and which is to be seen in Radcliffe church in the city of Bristol, we may learn something of his life, death, and character. "He was made captain (as this monument records) at the years of twenty-one, rear admiral of Ireland at twenty-three, vice admiral of Ireland at twenty-five, admiral to the Streights at twenty-nine, vice admiral of England at thirty-one, and general in the first Dutch war at thirty-two; whence returning anno 1655, he was parliamentman for the town of Weymouth; 1660 made commissioner of the admiralty and navy, governor of the town and fort of Kingsale, vice admiral of Munster and a member of that provincial council, and anno 1664 was chosen great captain commander under his royal highness in that signal and most evidently successful fight against the Dutch fleet. Thus he took leave of the sea, his old element, but continued still his other employs till 1669: at that time, through bodily

infirmities

infirmities contracted by the care and fatigue of public affairs, he withdrew, prepared, and made for his end; and with a gentle and even gale, in much peace arrived and anchored in his last and best port, at Wanstead in the county of Essex, the 16th of September 1670, being then but fortynine years and four months old." These are the words of the monument.

It will be proper now to observe, that Admiral Sir William Penn, descended in the manner I have related, married Margaret, the daughter of John Jasper, a merchant of Rotterdam in Holland, and that he had a son, William, the person whose life is the subject of the present work.

CHAP

CHAPTER II,

Is born in 1644-goes to Chigwell school-religious impressions there-goes to Oxford--his verses on the death of the Duke of Gloucester-is further impressed by the preaching of Thomas Loe-fined for nonconformity and at length expelled-turned out of doors by his father— is sent to France-rencontre at Paris-studies at Saumur-visits Turin-is sent for home-becomes a student at Lincoln's Inn.

WILLIAM last mentioned, and now to be distinguished from Admiral Sir William Penn, was born in London in the parish of St. Catherine on Tower-Hill on the fourteenth day of October 1644.

He received the first rudiments of his education at Chigwell in Essex, where there was an excellent free grammar school founded only fifteen years before by Samuel Harsnett, archbishop of York. Chigwell was particularly convenient for this purpose, being but at a short distance from Wanstead, which was then the country-residence of his father. As something remarkable is usually said of all great men in the early part of their lives, so it was said of William Penn that, while here and alone in his cham

ber,