PEN 
PEN 
so deeply sunk into it, tliat it might on Oc- 
casion be easily' broken, and parted into 
halves and quarters, hence the term half- 
pence, and farthings or four things. We 
have now copper pence, which are much 
used in the way of change. They are 
manufactured by Mr. Bolton, and are very 
handsome coins. 
Penny weight, a Troy- weight, containing 
twenty-four grains, each of which is equal 
in weight to a grain of wheat, gathered out 
of the middle of the ear, and well dried. 
. PENSION, no person having a pension 
from the crown, during pleasure, or for any 
term of years, is capable of being elected a 
member of the House of Commons. To 
receive a pension from a foreign prince or 
state, without leave of the king, has been , 
held to be criminal, because it may incline 
a man to prefer the interest of such foreign 
prince to that of his own country. 
PENSIONER, in general, denotes a per- 
son who receives a pension, yearly salary, 
or allowance. Hence, 
The band of gentlemen-pensioners, the 
noblest sort of guard to the king’s person, 
consists of forty gentlemen, who receive 
a yearly -pension of one hundred pounds. 
This honourable band was first instituted 
by King Henry VIII, and their office is to 
attend the King’s person, with their battle- 
axes, to and from his chapel royal, and to 
receive him in the presence chamber, or 
coming out of his privy-lodgings : they are 
also to attend at all great solemnities, as 
coronations, St. George’s feast, public au- 
diences of embassadors, at the sovereign’s 
going to parliament, &c. 
They are each obliged to keep three 
double horses and a servant, and so are pro- 
perly a troop of horse. They wait half at 
a time, quarterly; but on Christmas-day, 
Easter-day, Whitsunday, &c. and on ex- 
traordinary occasions, tlrey are all obliged 
to give their attendance. They have like- 
wise the honour to carry up the sovereign’s 
dinner on the coronation-day, and St. 
George’s feast ; at which times, the King 
or Queen usually confer the honour of 
knighthood on two such gentlemen of the 
band as their captain presents. Their arms 
are gilt battle-axes ; and their weapons, on 
horse-back, in time of war, are curassiers- 
arms, with sword and pistols. Their stand- 
ard, in time of war, is, argent, a cross gules. 
Tlreir captain is always a nobleman, who 
has under him a lieutenant, a standard- 
bearer, a clerk of the check, secretary, pay- 
master, and harbinger. 
PENSTOCK, a sluice, or flood-gate, 
serving to retain or let go, at pleasure, the 
water of a mill-pond, or the like. 
PENTACHORD, an ancient musical in- 
strument, with five strings, whence the 
name. 
PENTAGON, in. geometry, a figure of 
five sides and five angles. If the five sides 
be equal, tjie angles are so too, and the 
figure called a regular pentagon. 
The most considerable property of a pen- 
tagon is, that one of its sides is equal in 
power to the sides of a hexagon and a de- 
cagon, inscribed in the same circle ; that is, 
the square of the side of the pentagon is 
equal to the sum of tlie squares of the sides 
in the other two figures. The area of a 
pentagon, like that of any other polygon, 
may be obtained by resolving it into 
triangles. Pappus has also demonstrated 
that twelve regular pentagons contain more 
than twenty triangles inscrihed in the same 
circle. The dodecahedron, which is the 
fourth regular solid, consists of twelve pen- 
tagons. In fortification, pentagon denotes 
a fort with five bastions, 
PENTAGRAPH, an instrument where- 
by designs of any kind may be copied in 
what proportion you please, without being 
skilled in drawing. (Plate Pentagraph, 
fig. 1), is a plan of a pentagraph, and 
(fig. 2 and 3), part of the same on a larger 
scale. 
The pentagraph is made of brass, and 
consists of four levers ABDE, the two 
longest, AB, are jointed together a( their 
ends, the other two, D E, are also jointed 
together at one of their ends, and to the 
levers A B at the others. In this manner 
the instrument always forms a parallelogram, 
a A a =: e E e and ah e = aJi e; f, g, and 
h, are three tubes upon the levers, two of 
which,/, g, slide along upon their respective 
levers, and can be fixed at any point by 
screws (one of these tubes is shewn se-, 
parately in fig. 3), any one of these tubes 
is adapted to receive either a fulcrum or. 
fixed centre, round which the whole instru- 
ment turns a blunt point or tracer, to pass 
over the original design, which is to be 
copied ; or a crayon to draw the figure, or 
copy of the original design; these three 
points must be always in one right line, and 
by the construction of the levers, if they 
are once set in a line, they will continue in 
it through any of its motions. 
The proportion in which it will reduce 
any figure will be easily calculated from tlie 
same principles as the lever ; that the mag- 
