PENN, WILLIAM, founder of Pennsylvania, the son of an admiral, born in London; was converted to Quakerism while a student at Oxford, and for a fanatical attack on certain fellow-students expelled the University; his father sent him to travel in France, and afterwards placed him in charge of his Irish estates; his religious views occasioned several disputes with his father, and ultimately brought him into conflict with the Government; he spent several periods of imprisonment writing books in defence of religious liberty, among them “The Great Cause of Liberty of Conscience” (1671); then travelled in Holland and Germany propagating his views; his father’s death brought him a fortune and a claim upon the crown which he commuted for a grant of land in North America, where he founded (1682) the colony of Pennsylvania—­the prefix Penn, by command of Charles II. in honour of the admiral; here he established a refuge for all persecuted religionists, and laying out Philadelphia as the capital, governed his colony wisely and generously for two years; he returned to England, where his friendship with James II. brought many advantages to the Quakers, but laid him under harassing and undeserved prosecutions for treason in the succeeding reign; a second visit to his colony (1699-1701) gave it much useful legislation; on his return his agent practically ruined him, and he was a prisoner in the Fleet in 1708; the closing years of his life were clouded by mental decay (1644-1718).

PENNANT, THOMAS, traveller and naturalist, born near Holywell, Flintshire; studied at Oxford, but took no degree; in 1746 he made a tour of Cornwall; among his subsequent journeys, of which he published accounts, were tours in Ireland (1754), the Continent (1764), Scotland (1769 and 1772), and Wales; he wrote several works on zoological subjects, and published an amusing “Literary Life of the late Thomas Pennant, Esq., by Himself,” 1793 (1726-1798).

PENNSYLVANIA (5,258), most populous but one of the American States, lies N. of Mason and Dixon’s Line, separated by New Jersey, on the E. by the Delaware River, with Ohio on the W., New York on the N., and Lake Erie at the NW. corner.  The country is hilly, being traversed by the Blue Mountains and the Alleghany ranges, with many fertile valleys between the chains, extensive forests, and much picturesque scenery.  The Cumberland Valley in the W. is one of the best farming lands in New England.  The Alleghany River in the W. and the two branches of the Susquehanna in the centre water the State.  Pennsylvania is the greatest mining State in the Union; its iron-mines and petroleum-wells supply half the iron and most of the oil used in the country; its bituminous coal-beds in the W. are extremely rich, and the anthracite deposits of the E. are unrivalled; in manufactures, too, it ranks second among the States; these are very varied, the most valuable being iron, steel, and shipbuilding.  Founded by Swedes, it passed to English settlers in