(Thomas, Esq.), so well known in the republic of letters as a writer of travels and of natural history, was an ancient Briton by birth, having drawn his first breath in Flintshire, in 1726. His family has been settled in that county for many centuries; we learn from himself that he received the rudiments of his education at Wrexham, whence he was removed to Fulham. Soon after this he was sent to Oxford; and ha- ving made a considerable proficiency in the classics, he applied himself within the walls of that university to attain a knowledge of jurisprudence; but we do not find that he ever entered himself of any of the inns of court, or followed the law as a profession.
The ruling passions of mankind are excited, and the future current of their lives frequently directed, by trivial circumstances. One of the greatest painters of our age was attracted with an irresistible impulse towards his art by the perusal of a treatise on it; and we have the authority of the subject of this memoir for asserting, that a present of Willughby's Ornithology, at an early period, first gave him a turn for natural history, which has never once abandoned him through the course of a very long life.
Mr Pennant commenced his travels with great propriety at home, where he made himself acquainted with the manners, productions, and curiosities, of his native country, before he sailed forth to inspect those of other nations. He then repaired to the continent; and not only acquired considerable additional knowledge relative to his favourite studies, but became acquainted, and established a correspondence, with some of the greatest men of the age.
On his return he married, and had two children, but did not come into the family fortune until he was thirty-seven years of age, at which time he was settled at Downing.
Having lost his wife, he appears to have set out once more for the continent, and to have formed an acquaintance with Voltaire, Buffon, Haller, Pallas, &c. He had by this time acquired considerable reputation as a scientific man, having commenced his career as an author so early as 1750. His British Zoology* established his reputation as a naturalist; and this received a fresh accession of celebrity in consequence of his acquaintance with Linnaeus, and his intercourse by letters with all the celebrated naturalists in Europe.
Early in life he had undertaken a most interesting tour to Cornwall; and he now entertained an ardent desire to survey the works of nature in the northern extremities of the island. He accordingly set out for Scotland, and in 1771 favoured the public with an entertaining account of his Tour†, which was so well received as to pass through several editions. Not content with the main land of Great Britain, he was ambitious to survey the islands in the vicinity, and accordingly penetrated to the Hebrides, and visited Man.
It is not to be supposed that he would leave his own country unexplored; on the contrary, he minutely described all its wonders. He did not fail on this occasion to present the world with the result of his enquiries, for in 1778 he commenced the publication of his Welch Tour§.
In four years after this (1782) appeared the account of the Journey from Chester to London‡, in which he refutes the vulgar opinion that it is uninteresting; and in two years more his Arctic Zoology, an admirable work, greatly prized both here and in other countries.
In 1790 appeared a quarto volume, simply entitled Of London; in which he observes that this work is composed from observations, originally made without any view of publication. "Let me request (says he in the preface) the good inhabitants of London and Westminster not to be offended at my having stuffed their Iliad into a nutshell; the account of the city of London and liberties of Westminster into a quarto volume. I have condensed into it all I could; omitted nothing that suggested itself; nor amplified any thing to make it a guinea book. In a word, it is done in my own manner, from which I am grown too old to depart.
"I feel within myself a certain monitor that warns me (adds he) to hang up my pen in time, before its powers are weakened, and rendered visibly impaired. I wait not for the admonition of friends. I have the Archbishop of Grenada in my eye; and fear the imbecility of human nature might produce in long-worn age the same treatment of my kind advisers as poor Gil Blas had from his most reverend patron. My literary bequests to future times, and more serious concerns, must occupy the remnant of my days. This closes my public labours."
Notwithstanding his parting address, the example of the Archbishop of Grenada, and the concluding sentence of "Valer & Planctus," we find Mr Pennant adventuring once more in the ocean of literature, at a late period of his life, and trying his fortune again with all the eagerness of a young author.
He accordingly published the Natural History of the parishes of Holywell and Downing*, within the precincts of the latter of which he had resided about half a century.
He also presented the public, a very short time before his death, with a splendid work, consisting of 2 vols. 4to, entitled The View of Hindoostan; in the preface to which he candidly states his motives for this new attempt. "I had many solicitations from private friends (says he), and a few wishes from persons unknown, delivered in the public prints, to commit to the press a part, in the form in which the posthumous volumes might hereafter make their appearance. I might have pleaded the imprudence of the attempt at my time of life, of beginning so arduous an undertaking in my 71st year.
"I happily, till very lately, had scarcely any admonition of the advanced season. I plunged into the sea of trouble, and with my papers in one hand, made my way through the waves with the other, and brought them secure to land. This, alas! is finite boasting. I must submit to the judgment of the public, and learn from thence how far I am to be censured for so grievous an offence against the maxim of Aristotle, who fixes the decline of human abilities to the 49th year.
"I ought to shudder, when I consider the wear and tear of 22 years; and feel shocked at the remark of the elegant Delanty, who observes, 'that it is generally agreed among wise men, that few attempts, at least in a learned way, have ever been wisely undertaken and happily executed after that period!'
"I cannot defend the wisdom: yet from the good fortune of my life I will attempt the execution."
These valuable volumes are drawn up by Mr Pennant in the manner of his introduction to the Arctic Zoology. The plates, 23 in number, are admirably engraved, and one (the Napaul pheasant) is beautifully coloured.
In addition to the list of literary labours already enumerated, is a letter on an earthquake felt at Downing in Flintshire, in 1753; another inserted in the same publi- Mr Pennant attained academical honours of all kinds, having had the degree of L.L.D. conferred on him by the university in which he was educated; he was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a member of the Society of Antiquaries, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Upsal in Sweden, a member of the American Philosophical Society, an honorary member of the Anglo-Linncean Society, &c.
The ample fortune left him by his father enabled Mr Pennant to keep an hospitable table, and also to present the profits of several of his works to public institutions, particularly the Welsh charity-school in Gray's-inn-lane. He encouraged several engravers by his patronage, and was not a little serviceable to the advancement of the fine arts.
In 1796 he married a second time; on which occasion he became united to Miss Molyneux, sister of his neighbour, the late Sir Roger Molyneux, in Flintshire. The latter part of his life was cheerful, and he scarcely felt the approaches of old age. He died at his seat at Downing in his 72d year.
He has left several works behind him in MS. under the title of Outlines of the Globe; and as a proof that it will be a very voluminous and interesting publication, it is only necessary to observe, that The View of Hindoostan composed the sixth and seventh volumes.
Mr Pennant possessed a well-compacted frame of body, an open and intelligent aspect, an active and cheerful disposition, and a vivacity which rendered him always entertaining, as well in conversation as in writing. Though not without a share of irascibility, his heart was kind and benevolent. He was exemplary in the relations of domestic life, and fondly felt for the distresses of his poor neighbours, whose relief in seasons of hardship he promoted with great zeal and liberality. His candour and freedom from ordinary prejudices, are sufficiently displayed in his writings; and Scotland was forward to confess, that he was the first traveller from this side the Tweed, who had visited the country with no unfriendly spirit, and had fairly presented it under its favourable as well as its less pleasing aspects. As a writer, his style is lively and expressive, but not perfectly correct. His principles of arrangement in zoology are judicious, and his descriptions characteristic. If in some of his later works a little vanity appears, and a propensity to think that important to the world which was so to himself, it may readily be pardoned to one who has afforded such copious and valuable entertainment to the public. His name will live with honour in the literary history of his country, and his memory will be cherished with respect and affection by his surviving friends.
PENATULA (See Encycl.). A species of this animal, hitherto undescribed, was discovered by La Martiniere near Nootka. Its body is of a cartilaginous substance, and a cylindrical form; its head, armed with two little horns of the same substance, presents a spherical figure flattened at its anterior extremity. This part is covered with small papillae, some of which are visible at D; and which serve the purpose of small mouths, by means of which this animal sucks the blood of fishes, making its way as far as possible into the flesh: the extremity of its body, which always projects from the fish, appears like the feathers of a pen; these feather-like substances serve as excretory vessels; for on making a slight pressure on the animal, from the greater part of these cartilaginous bulbs issued small drops of a very limpid liquor: at the base of these barbs, and beneath the body, are placed two large cartilaginous threads, of which our author could not imagine the use, for they are not universally met with in each individual. The circulation of its blood is readily observed, it forms a complete revolution about once in a minute. It is probable that this animal is only able to make its way into the bodies of different fish when it is very young; and when it has once buried itself there, having abundance of nourishment, its head increases considerably, and the two horns with which it is furnished necessarily form an obstacle to its regres, which is a remarkable instance of the foresight of Nature, since it is destined to be nourished at the expense of another. The pennatula, of which we have given from Martiniere a figure, was found by him at the depth of more than an inch and an half in the body of a diodon.