PENNINGTON, ISAAC, in Biography, a member of the Society of Friends, and a considerable writer among that people, was the son of an alderman of London, who repeatedly filled the office of chief magistrate, was a no ted member of the Long Parliament, and nominated one of the judges of King Charles I., though he did not take his seat among them. Isaac was born about the year 1617, and having a prospect of succeeding to a large es tate, he was furnished with the means of obtaining the best education. As he grew up, he had, from his father's situation in life, opportunities of mixing with some of the most considerable men of the age; and if he had been of an ambitious turn of mind, he might have occasionally indulged hopes of rising high in the world. But from a very early age he was under very strong religious impres sions, and as he grew up to manhood, discovered an in creasing attachment to retirement, serious contemplation, and the reading of the Scriptures. While he was in this state of mind, he met with some of the writings of the Friends, "which," says he, "I cast an eye upon with disdain, as falling very short of that wisdom, light, life, and power which I was searching after." There was, however, something in them that roused his attention, and he went to one of their public meetings, at which George Fox preached, whose discourse produced on him a sudden and complete conversion to the principles of the new sect. From this time he joined the society in opposition to the influence of his connections, as well as unmoved at the prospect of reproaches and losses to which his profession would unquestionably expose him.—In the years 1661 and 1662, he was called forth to be a confessor for the profes sion which he had embraced.—For the crime, as it was called, of holding meetings of Friends for the worship of God in his own house, lie was committed to Aylesbury gaol, where he was kept in close custody for seventeen weeks, great part of which was in the winter season ; and to aggravate the severity of his treatment, he was confin ed in a cold and very incommodious room, without a chimney, by which cruel usage he contracted so violent a disorder, that for several weeks after his release, he was not able to turn himself in bed. From this time till the
year 1670, he suffered six different imprisonments.—These repeated calamities, together with heavy pecuniary losses, arising, in many instances, from the confiscation of his property, to discharge the oppressive fines which were levied upon him, he sustained with firmness and serenity, believing himself to be a sufferer for obeying God, rather than man. 'With the same equanimity and fortitude, lie bore the attacks of a painful distemper, which terminated his life in the year 1679, in the 63d year of his age.— His character procured him the respect and esteem of all good men, as it exhibited an excellent pattern of piety, virtue, and the strictest morality. He was most faithful in the discharge of all the duties of life, and was author of numerons writings, which were highly prized by the people with whom he associated. They were collected and published in a folio volume, in 1681. They have since been republished in 4to. and 8vo., and in the year 1796, some of his " letters" were published.
PENNSYLVANIA,—from Penn, the original proprie tor, and Sylvia, a wood,—one of the United States of North America, is situated between 39°, 42°, and 43° of north latitude, and 74° 32' and 80° 27' of west longitude from Greenwich. It is bounded on the north by New York and Lake Erie; south by Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware; east by Delaware River, New York, and New Jersey ; west by Virginia and Ohio; and northwest by a part of Lake Erie. The form of this state is nearly that of a parallelogram, being in length 273 miles from cast to west, and in breadth 153 from north to south. The total number of acres, according to Mr. Warden, is 27,200,000, and square miles 24,500; according to Morse, 29,634,840 acres, and 46,000 square miles.