ILLIAM PENN, the celebrated founder of Pennsylvania, was born in London on the 14th of October 1644. He was the only son of Sir William Penn, a naval commander of distinction, first during the Protectorate of Cromwell, and afterwards in the service of Charles II., from whom he received the honour of knighthood. His health having suffered from his active duties, Admiral Penn retired from service in 1666, although then only in the forty-fifth year of his age. His wife, the mother of William Penn, was the daughter of a merchant in Rotterdam. Penn received his preliminary education at Chigwell, in Essex, near his father's country residence. From Chigwell School he was removed, at twelve years of age, to a private academy in London; and having made great progress in all the usual branches of education, he was entered, at the age of fifteen years, as a gentleman No. 121. I |