turned over the exciting pages. Be that as it may, two things are clear: first, that the oft-repeated anecdote of his boyhood, taken in connection with his after life, proves him to have had a mind of a sensitive and impressible nature; and, secondly, that the Spirit of God early began to touch his heart and to lead him into paths of thoughtfulness and devotion. Before leaving the Wanstead and Chigwell period, let it be carefully noticed that all the while he lived in that neighbourhood he breathed a puritan atmosphere, very different from what his father did before and afterwards.

Great trouble befel the Admiral in 1655. Just at Christmas time, 1654, a fleet sailed from Portsmouth, with sealed orders, under Penn and General Venables. The ships numbered fifty, the soldiers on board four thousand. When the orders were opened, they were seen to prescribe an attack upon Hispaniola and the Spanish power in the West Indies. The expedition came to grief. Hispaniola was reached in April, 1655, but the soldiers did not land where Drake had landed, but sixty miles off, whence they marched through thick tangled woods, under tropical heats, "till they were nearly dead with mere marching." Ambuscades lay in wait for them. Most of the soldiers fought badly, some would not fight at all, but rushed back to the ships dreadfully diseased, and dying there at the rate of two hundred a day." 1

Penn came back, and Venables followed, to meet the wrath of the Protector. He immediately stripped them of their commissions and lodged them in the

1 "Journal of the English Army by an Eye-witness."-Harl. Miscell., vol. vi. pp. 372-390.

This was a sad blow.

Tower. The Admiral must at once have been reduced in circumstances, and, whether on that account or not, the family returned to town and again took up an abode near the Tower. After a while he was released from imprisonment, and his possessions were restored, and this must have lifted the parents once more into a condition of comfort.

It is said that the Admiral procured a private tutor to carry on the education of his heir; but the former seems to have been absent from home a good deal, and the latter could not have experienced much parental instruction and guardianship. Domestic matters would sometimes be talked about; and here I may notice, before going further, what probably the lad learnt about the family name, according to an American report,-and also respecting certain strange incidents which are said to have happened to an uncle of his when residing in Spain.

The Reverend Hugh David, who went to Philadelphia in 1700, used to tell this story: he and Penn were on board ship, and the latter observing a goat gnawing a broom, called out, "Hugh, dost thou observe that goat? See what hardy fellows the Welsh are, how they can feed on a broom. However, Hugh, I am a Welshman myself, and will relate by how strange a circumstance our family lost their name. My grandfather (or great grandfather) was named John Tudor, and lived upon the top of a hill or mountain in Wales; he was generally called John Pennmunnith, which in English is, 'John on the top of a hill.' He removed from Wales into Ireland, where he acquired considerable property. Upon his return

into his own country, he was addressed by his old friends and neighbours, not in the former way, but by the name of Mr. Penn. He afterwards removed to London, where he continued to reside under the name of John Penn, which has since been the family name."1 It it said on the Admiral's tombstone that he was of the Penns of Penlodge, in the county of Wilts, and "those Penns of Penn, in the county of Bucks." How the inscription and the story are to be reconciled I do not see; but if the report of the Welsh pedigree be true, young Penn must have heard of it from his father or mother.

The story respecting Penn's uncle is repeated by a modern biographer, but on what authority I do not know. The Admiral, it is said, when at his station in the English channel, heard of a brother of his named George, who had gone to Spain and was a victim of the Inquisition in the city of Seville. He had been in the cathedral amongst those who, after suffering the agonies of the rack, had abjured Protestantism. In solemn procession, amidst judges, priests, and friars, he had, to save his life, been compelled to do penance before a multitude of people; and thus exposed, he had attracted the notice of English residents who were present on the occasion. It became known that this George Penn, who had resided in several Spanish towns, was seized at San Lucar, some time before, by ministers of the Holy Office, and was separated from his wife, a Roman Catholic lady of Antwerp. His property was seized, and he was dragged off to a dungeon in Seville, where he lived

1 Watson's "Annals of Pennsylvania," vol. i. p. 119.
2 Hepworth Dixon.

on bread and water. After enduring great cruelties he was, at the end of three years, brought into the trial chamber, and there accused of heretical offences, such as endeavouring to convert his wife. He was,

on his denying the charge, subjected to horrible tortures, until, in an hour of weakness, he was led to recant. Then followed the exhibition just mentioned.

When the tragedy was related to the Admiral, so the story goes, he set sail at once in search of a Spanish bark which he could keep as a hostage until his brother's wrongs should be redressed. He fell in with a vessel on its way to Flanders, conveying Juan de Urbino, a Spanish nobleman, who was secretary to the Government there. The British officer, with all the traditionary hatred of Spain still existing in the British navy, increased by indignation at his brother's fate, stripped the grandee, whom he made prisoner, and determined to retain him until the subject of the Inquisition should be released and his property restored. George, it is related, was sent back to England, and died soon after the Restoration, leaving his claims on the Spanish Government to be enforced by his representatives. This heirloom of trouble belonged to the Admiral's son William, and what was the result of his application for redress at a later period does not appear.

Leaving these stories, I must mention that the Admiral continued in Cromwell's service until the death of the latter on the 3rd of September, 1658, faithful only to his naval instincts; but after "Old Noll" had laid down his sceptre, and things were falling to pieces, the Admiral, in whom I think loyalist

tendencies had before existed, began to anticipate a coming change, and calculating on the return of the Stuarts, commenced worshipping the rising sun.

The Admiral visited Ireland, where, according to the story I have told, Giles Penn's father had possessed an estate, and there he took up his abode to look after his inheritance. Mother and son, as they often did, remained at a distance from the wandering husband and father. Whilst in Ireland, the Admiral began to avow himself a Royalist, schemes being afloat for bringing about a restoration of the exiled Stuarts.

After the deposition of the Protector Richard, English affairs fell into a troubled condition. Many readers can recall the time when France scarcely knew from day to day what government it would have to-morrow. England was in that state in the winter of 1659-60. All sorts of political dreams were floating in the air, and strange revolutions of power were occurring from month to month. The Rump Parliament vanished, or rather was merged in a new one with vacancies filled up, which was summoned in February, 1659, to meet at once, and sit no longer than the 6th of May. London burst into an uproar of joy; bonfires blazed from Temple Bar to St. Dunstan's, there were thirty-one kindled in the Strand. Butchers made music with their knives, and roasted a rump of beef on Ludgate Hill; bells rang till the steeples shook. All over the country there were

similar demonstrations.

Admiral Penn was returned Member of Parliament for Weymouth, and after the king came home, His Majesty bestowed on the brave sailor marks of