'566 PEN 
duates or bachelors, who are upon the foundation, who 
receive emoluments from the fociety, and who are capable 
of being eledled fellows. Ency. Brit. 
Gentlemen Pensioners, a band of gentlemen, whofe 
bufinefs it is to guard the king’s perfon in his own houfe; 
and who for that end wait in the prefence-chamber. 
They were firft eftablifhed by king Henry VII. the num¬ 
ber is forty; and each was then obliged to keep three 
double horfes, and a fervant, who was to be armed ; fo 
that they properly made a troop of horfe-guards, and 
have accordingly been muttered by their own officers; 
but this part of duty, to which they are fworn, the king 
ufually difpenfes with. Their officers are a captain, 
whofefalary is 1000I. a-year; lieutenant, with sool.a-year, 
ttandard-bearer, with 310I. a-year; and a clerk of the 
cheque, whofe annual appointment is 120I. Their ordi¬ 
nary arms are gilt pole-axes, u’ith which they attend the 
king to and from the chapel royal; receiving him in the 
pretence-chamber, or coming out of his private lodging ; 
as alfo at all great folemnities. Their penfion iool. per 
annum. They purchafe their places. To this band be¬ 
long alfo a pay-matter, fecretary, harbinger, axe-keeper, 
and meflenger. 
To PEN'SITATE, v. a. [from the Lat. penfto .] To 
weigh in the mind. Scott. 
• PEN'SIVE, ailj. [penjif, Fr. penfivo, Ital. from penfer, 
Fr. to think. Our word was at firft penjife; and it was 
alfo written penfative. “ Laodomie, his lufty wife, which 
for his love was penjife .” Gower’s Conf. Am. B.4. “ He 
was very penfative to hear the follies that Don Quixote 
Ipake.” Shelton’s Tr. of Don Quix. i. 5.] Sorrowfully 
thoughtful; forrowful; mournfully ferious; melancholy. 
—My leifure ferves me, penfive daughter, now. Shake- 
fpearc. 
Anxious cares th epenfve nymph opprefs’d 
And fecret paflions labour’d in her breaft. Pope. 
* is generally and properly ufed of perfons; but Prior 
has applied it to things: 
We at the fad approach of death (hall know 
The truth, which from thefe penfive numbers flow, 
That we purfue falfe joy, and fuller real woe. Prior. 
PEN'SIVELY, adv. With melancholy; forrowfully; 
with gloomy ferioufnefs : 
So fair a lady did I fpy ; 
On herbs and flowers (lie walked penjively 
Mild, but yet love (lie proudly did forfake. Spenfer. 
PEN'SIVENESS, f. Melancholy; forrovvfulnefs; 
gloomy ferioufnefs.—Concerning the bleffings of God, 
whether they tend unto this life or the life to come, there 
is great caufe why we fhould delight more in giving 
thanks than in making requefts for them; inafmuch as the 
one hath penftvenefs and tear, the other always joy an¬ 
nexed. Hooker. 
Would’ft thou unlock the door 
To cold defpair and gnawing penfivcnejs? Herbert. 
PEN'STOCK, f. A fort of fluice, placed in the water 
of a millpond ; a flood-gate. 
PENT, part.pajf. of Pen. Shut up.—The fon of Cla¬ 
rence have I pent up clofe. Sliakejpeare. 
The foul pure fire, like ours, of equal force; 
But pent in flefli, mult iffue by difcourfe. Dryden. 
PEN'TA, a town of the ifland of Corfica l feven miles 
north-eaft of La Porta. 
PENTACAP'SULAR, adj. [from the Gr. wsm, five, 
and the Lat. capfula, a chett.] Having five cavities ; hav¬ 
ing five feed-veflels. 
PENTACHON'DR A, /. [from wsm, five, and 
a grain, becaufe of the five feeds in the berry.] In botany, 
a genus of the clafs pentandria, order monogynia, natu¬ 
ral order epacrideae, ( Brown's Prodr. Nov. Holl. i. 549.) 
Generic characters—-Calyx: perianthium inferior5 dou- 
P E N 
ble; the innermoft of five equal, lanceolate, concave 
leaves; outermoft of four or more, much fmaller, imbri¬ 
cated ones. Corolla of one petal, funnel-(haped; limb 
in five fpreading equal fegments, longitudinally bearded 
on the upper fide with denfe hairs. Nedtary of five 
fcales at the bafe of the germen. Stamina : filaments 
five, thread-lhaped, equal, inferted into the tube; an¬ 
thers incumbent, oblong. Piftillum : germen fuperior, 
roundilh, of five cells ; ftyle (hort, columnar ; ftigma ob- 
tufe. Pericarpium : berry with five feeds.— EJfential Cha* 
raiders. Outer calyx of four or more leaves; corolla fun- 
nel-fhaped ; its limb fpreading, longitudinally bearded; 
berry with five feeds. 
This genus might perhaps, without impropriety, be 
referred to Leucopogon, fee that article; it being very 
difficult in this tribe to define the limits between a drupe 
and a berry, at lead in fome cafes. The only two fpecies 
known are dwarf mountain-fhrubs, with fcattered (talked 
leaves, and folitary, terminal, eredt, white flowers. 
They are natives of Van Diemen’s Land and New 
Zealand. 
1. Pentachondra involucrata: filaments projecting be¬ 
yond the tube; calyx fringed, the outer one of eight 
fcales ; leaves elliptic-lanceolate, flattifh, many-ribbed ; 
young branches downy; Item eredt. Gathered by Mr, 
Brown in Van Dieman’s Land. 
2. Pentachondra pumila: ftamens (horterthan the tube; 
outer calyx of four fcales ; leaves nearly elliptical, three- 
ribbed, naked at the margin; young branches fmooth ; 
Item proftrate, much branched. Found by Forfter in 
New Zealand, and by Mr. Brown in Van Dieman’s Land. 
PEN'TACHORD, f [from the Gr. wsm, five, and 
X°p^n, a firing.] In ancient mulic, an inftrument of five 
firings invented by the Scythians, played with the jaw¬ 
bone of a dog, inftead of a pledtrum. Laliorde. —The con¬ 
cord of the fifth is fometimes called pentachord. 
PENTACOC'COUS, adj. [from the Gr. nmi, five, 
and xoxy.o;, a grain.] Having five feeds. 
PENTACROS'TIC, /. [from orwre, five, and a 
verfe.] In poetry, a fet of verfes fo difpofed, as that there 
are always five acroftics of the fame name, in five divifions 
of each verfe. See Acrostic, vol. i. 
PENTADO'RON, J\ [from irmt, five, and Supov, a 
fpan.] A large kind of bricks anciently in ufe among the 
Greeks, being three feet nine inches long and one foot 
broad, with which they eredted their public buildings. 
James’'s Mil. Di6t. 
PENTAE'DRON, or Pentahe'dron, f [from the 
Gr. 7te»te, five, and I 5 ga, a bafe.] A figure with five fides. 
PENTAE'DROUS, adj. Having five fides.—Thepen- 
taedrous columnar coralloid bodies a,re compofed of 
plates fet lengthways, and palling from the furface to the 
axis. Woodward on Fofils. 
PENTAG'AMIST, f. [from the Gr. tnm, five, and 
yugo;, a marriage.] One who has had five wives. Cole. 
PENTAGLOS'SUM. See Lythrum thymifolium, 
vol. xiii. 
PENTAGLOT'TICAL, adj. [from the Gr. ttevte, 
five, and y\umu, a language.] Skilled in five languages. 
Cole. 
PEN'TAGON, f. [from the Gr. ttivti, five, and yuna, 
an angle.] A geometrical plain figure having five tides 
and angles.—I know of that famous piece at Capralora, 
caft by Baroccio into the form of a pentagon with a cir¬ 
cle infcribed. Wotton. 
PENTAG'ONAL, or Pentagonous, adj. Quinquan- 
gular; having five angles.—The body being cut tranf- 
verfely, its furface appears like a net made up of penta¬ 
gonal mefhes, with a pentagonal ftar in each mefh. Wood¬ 
ward on Fofils. 4 
PENTAGO'NIA, f. in botany. See Campanula. 
PENTAGONOTHE'CA. SeePisoNiA. 
PEN'TAGRAPH, Pantograph, or Pantog'rapher, 
f. [from the Greek erevre, five, the number of lcrews by 
‘which the inftrument is adjufted; or from now, 
all, 
