454 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. 84. 



can we forsxet that the truly admirable Southey 

 was the author of Wat Tyler ? 



AVhethei- there were only six copies of Wallace 

 completed, I cannot say; but this much I can 

 assert, that there were a great many printed, and 

 that, as before mentioned, the greater part went 

 to the snuff-shop ; probably, because people were 

 not fond of purchasing a drama wanting the title 

 and end. 



In concluding, I may mention, tliat the " Mary 

 Stewart" in the ]'2mo. edition of the Poems of 

 Grahame, is quite altered from the one printed in 

 8vo. in 1801. J. M. 



THE PENN FAMILY. 



(Vol. iii., p. 409.) 

 In reply to your correspondent A. N. C, William 

 Penn, eldest son of the famous Quaker, married i\Iary 

 Jon->s, by whom he had three children, Gulielma 

 Maria, Springett, and William. The latter had a 

 daughter by his first wife. Miss Fowler, who married 

 a Gaskill, from wliich marriage the present Penn 

 Gaskills of Rolfe's Hould, Buckinghamsliire, are 

 dviscended. While writing on this "subject, allow 

 me to send you two other " notes." 



Hugh David, a Welshman, who went out to 

 America in the same vessel with William Penn, 

 used to relate this curious anecdote of the state 

 founder. Penn, he says, after watching a goat 

 gnaw at a broom which lay on deck, called out to 

 him, " Hugh, dost thou observe the goat ? See 

 what hardy fellows the Welsh arc ; how they can 

 feed on a broom! However, Hugh, I am a Welsh- 

 man myself, and will relate by how strange a 

 circumstance our family lost their name. My 

 grandfather was named John Tudor, and lived on 

 the top of a hill or mountain in Wales. He was 

 generally called John Penmurith, which in Eng- 

 lish is — John on the top of the hill. He removed 

 from Wales into Ireland, where he acquired con- 

 siderable property. Upon his return to his own 

 country he was addressed by his friends and 

 neighbours, not in the former way, but as Mr. 

 Penn. He afterwards rem.oved to London, where 

 he continued to reside under the name of John 

 Penn, which has since been the family name." 

 David told this story to a Quaker, who wrote it 

 down in those words, and gave the MS. to Robert 

 Proud, the historian of Pennsylvania. The same 

 David, in a copy of doggrel verses presented to 

 Thomas Penn on a visit to Philadelphia in 17S-2, 

 made an allusion to this descent. I quote four of 

 the lines : 



" For the love of him that now descended be, 

 I salute his loyal one of three, 

 Tliat ruleth here in glory so serene, 

 I branch of Tudor, alias Thomas Penn." 

 This is at least curious. But I attach little credit 

 to Mr. David's report. He certainly mistook or 

 ill remembered Penn's words ; as his grandfather 



was Giles Penn, and his ancestors for two genera- 

 tions before Giles are known to have been William. 

 The second note refers to Penn's descendants, 

 and may claim a corner in your chronicle on more 

 than one ground. William Penn was born in 

 1644: in 1844 his grandson, Granville Penn, well 

 known as a writer on classical subjects, was still 

 alive ! The descendants of his fust marriage with 

 Miss Springett, six years ago were in the fifth and 

 sixth generation alter iiim ; those by his second 

 wife, Hannah Callowhill, in the second. 



Hepwoeth Dixon. 



OS XnE WOED "pREXZIe" IX " MEASUHE FOE 

 MEASURE." 



(Vol. iii., p. 401.) 



I have read with attention the argument of 

 your correspondent Leges on the passage in 

 Measure for Measure, in which the word " pren- 

 zie" occurs ; and to much that he advances I 

 should, like the modest orator who followed Mr. 

 Burke, be contented to say "ditto." Neverthe- 

 less, as I cannot agree witii him altogether, I bog 

 permission to make a few remarks upon the 

 question. The extent of my agreement with your 

 correspondent will be shown in stating, that I 

 think neither "priestly," princely," nor "precise" 

 to be the true word. We disagree, however, in 

 the measure of our dislike ; for of the three sug- 

 gested corrections, " j)rincely" is, to my mind, by 

 far the best, and " precise," beyond ail measure, 

 the worst. Indeed, but that Mr. Knight has 

 adopted the latter term, as well as Tieck, 1 should 

 have regarded it as an instance of the difficulty in 

 the way of the best qualified Germans of under- 

 standing the niceties of English meaning, or of 

 feeling how fjir license might be tolerated in 

 English versification. In adopting this term Mr. 

 Knight appears to have forgotten that it has a 

 special application as the Duke (Act I. Sc. 4.) 

 uses it. Taken in connexion with the expressions 

 " stands at a guard" and " scarce confesses," caii- 

 timtsly cvact would appear to express the sense in a 

 passage the whole spirit of which shows a scarcely 

 disguised suspicion. The Duke, evidently, would not 

 have been surprised, as Claudio was ; and the expres- 

 sion appropriate to a close observer like tlie one, 

 is a most unlikely epithet to have been chosen by 

 the other. More fatal, however, is the destruction 

 of the measure. Both instances go beyond all 

 bounds of license. And though we may pass over 

 the error in a critic so eminent even as Tieck, we 

 need feel no compunction at exposing " earless 

 on high" an Englishman who has pilloried so often 

 and so mercilessly others for the same offence. 



AVhile, however. Leges has shown good cause 

 against the adoption of either of the above epi- 

 thets, it does not appear to me that he has suc- 

 ceeded in establishing a case in favour of the 



