er 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