ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

"

and was employed by king Henry VIII. for whom he painted several designs; and was also engaged by some of the merchants of London; but at last he almost entirely quitted the pencil, devoting all his time and application to engraving, as some say, but Mr. Fuseli maintains that he only furnished designs for engravers.1

PENROSE (THOMAS), an English poet, was the son of the rev. Mr. Penrose, rector of Newbury in Berkshire, -a man of high character and abilities, descended from an ancient Cornish family, who died in 1769. He was born in 1743, and being intended for the church, pursued his studies at Christ-church, Oxford, until the summer of 1762, when his eager turn for the naval and military profession overpowering his attachment to his real interest, he left his college, and embarked in the unfortunate expedition against Nova Colonia, in South America, under the command of captain Macnamara. The issue was fatal; the Clive, the largest vessel, was burnt, and although the Ambuscade escaped (on board of which Mr. Penrose, acting as lieutenant of marines, was wounded), yet the hardships which he afterwards sustained in a prize sloop, in which he was stationed, utterly ruined his constitution.

Returning to England, with ample testimonials of his gallantry and good behaviour, he finished at Hertford-college, Oxford, his course of studies; and having taken orders, accepted the curacy of Newbury, the income of which, by the voluntary subscriptions of the inhabitants, was considerable augmented. After he had continued in that station about nine years, it seemed as if the clouds of disappointment, which had hitherto overshadowed his prospects, and tinctured his poetical essays with gloom, were clearing away; for he was then presented by a friend, who knew his worth, and honoured his abilities, to the rectory of Beckington and Standerwick, in Somersetshire, worth near 500l. per annum. This came, however, too late; for the state of Mr. Penrose's health was now such as left little hope, except in the assistance of the waters of Bristol. Thither he went, and there he died in 1779, aged thirtysix. In 1768 he married miss Mary Slocock of Newbury, by whom he had one child, THOMAS, who inherits his father's genius, taste, and personal worth. He was educated at Winchester and New-college, Oxford, of which he is now B. C. L.

Pilkington, by Fuseli.

Mr. Penrose was respected for his extensive erudition, admired for his eloquence, and equally beloved and esteemed for his social qualities. By the poor, towards whom he was liberal to his utmost ability, he was venerated in the highest degree. In oratory and composition his talents. were great. His pencil was as ready as his pen, and on subjects of humour had uncommon merit. In 1781 a collection of his "Poems" was published by his friend and relation James Peter Andrews, esq. who prefixed the above account of Mr. Penrose. They are distinguished by exquisite feeling and taste. His thoughts are pathetic and natural, and he seems possessed of a great portion of the fire and feeling of Collins. Such poems as "The Carousal of Odin," "Madness," and "The Field of Battle," are among the rare productions of modern genius. That these poems are so little known is unaccountable. Mr. Penrose published two occasional sermons of considerable merit.1

PENRY (JOHN), or AP HENRY, commonly known by his assumed name of Martin Mar-prelate, or Mar-priest, was born in 1559 in Wales, and studied first at Peterhouse, Cambridge, of which he was A. B. in 1584, and afterwards at Oxford, in which latter university he took the degree of master of arts, and was ordained a priest. Afterwards, meeting with some dissatisfaction, as it is said, and being very warm in his temper, he changed his religion, and became an Anabaptist, or rather a Brownist. He was henceforward a virulent enemy to the church of England, and the hierarchy of that communion, as appears sufficiently by his coarse libels, in which he has shewn his spleen to a great degree. At length, after he had concealed himself for some years, he was apprehended at Stepney, and tried at the King's-Bench, before sir John Popham, chief-justice, and the rest of the judges, where he was indicted and condemned for felony, for papers found in his pocket, purporting to be a petition to the queen; and was executed, according to Fuller, at St. Thomas Waterings, in 1593. It appears, that some violence was put upon the laws, even as they then stood, to form a capital accusation against him. For his libels he could not be accused, the legal time for such an accusation having elapsed before he was taken: the papers upon

[ocr errors]

1 Poems as above. The editor of the last edition of Johnson's Poets was reJuctantly obliged to omit Penrose, from being unable to procure a copy.

which he was convicted, contained only an implied denial, of the queen's absolute authority to make, enact, decree, and ordain laws; and implied, merely by avoiding to use those terms, according to the very words of the lordkeeper Puckering. His execution was therefore in a high degree unjust. His chief publications are, 1." Martin Mar-prelate," the tract that gave so much offence. 2. "Theses Martinianæ," 8vo. 3. "A view of publicke Wants and Disorders in the service of God, in a Petition to the high court of Parliament," 1588, 8vo. 4. "An Exhortation to the Governors and People of Wales, to labour earnestly to have the preaching of the Gospel planted among them," 1588, 8vo. 5. "Reformation no Enemy to her Majesty and the State," 1590, 4to. 6. "Sir Si mon Synod's Hue and Cry for the Apprehension of young Martin Mar-priest, with Martin's Echo," 4to. Most of these, and some others, were full of low scurrility and petulant satire. Several tracts, equally scurrilous, were published against him; as, " Pappe with a Hatchet, or a Country Cuffe for the Idiot Martin to hold his Peace;" "A Whip for an Ape, or Martin displaied;" and others of the same kind. In the composition of these pamphlets, he is said to have had the assistance of John Udall, John Field, and Job Throckmorton, who published their joint effusions at a private printing press. Penry was a man of some learning and zeal for religion, but in his notions of government, both of church and state, appears to have adopted more wild theories than ever his successors, when in power, attempted to carry into practice. His sentence, however, was unjust, and the enemies of the hierarchy have therefore found it no difficult matter to place John Penry at the head of their list of martyrs.'

PEPANUS. See DEMETRIUS.

PEPUSCH (JOHN CHRISTOPHER), one of the greatest theoretic musicians of modern times, was born at Berlin about 1667, and became so early a proficient on the harpsichord, that at the age of fourteen he was sent for to court, and appointed to teach the prince, father of the great Frederic king of Prussia. About 1700, he came over to England, and was retained as a performer at Drury❤ lane, and it is supposed that he assisted in composing the

1 Brook's Lives of the Puritans.-Strype's Life of Grindal, p. 6.-Life of Whitgift, p. 289. 295. 343. 346. 409.-Ath. Ox. vol. 1.-See an excellent chapter on Martin Mar-prelate in D'Izraeli's Quarrels of Authors, vol. III. i

operas which were performed there. In 1707 he had acquired English sufficient to adapt Motteaux's translation of the Italian opera of "Thomyris" to airs of Scarlatti and Bononcini, and to new-set the recitatives. In 1709 and 1710, several of his works were advertised in the first edition of the Tatlers, particularly a set of sonatas for a flute and bass, and his first book of cantatas. In 1713 he obtained, at the same time as Crofts, the degree of doctor of music at the university of Oxford. And soon after this, upon the establishment of a choral chapel at Cannons, he was employed by the duke of Chandos as maestro di capella; in which capacity he composed anthems and morning and evening services, which are still preserved in the Academy of ancient music. In 1715 he composed the masque of "Venus and Adonis," written by Cibber; and in 1716 "The Death of Dido," by Booth, both for Drury-lane. These pieces, though not very successful, were more frequently performed that any of his original dramatic compositions. In 1723 he published an ode for St. Cecilia's day, which he had set for the concert in York-buildings.. In 1724 he accepted an offer from Dr. Berkeley, to accompany him to the Bermudas, and to settle as professor of music in his intended college there; but, the ship in which they sailed being wrecked, he returned to London, and married Francesca Margarita de l'Epine. This person was a native of Tuscany, and a celebrated singer, who performed in some of the first of the Italian operas that were represented in England. She came hither with one Greber, a German, and from this connection became distinguished by the invidious appellation of Greber's Peg. She continued to sing on the stage till about 1718; when having, at a modest computation, acquired above ten thousand guineas, she retired from the theatre, and afterwards married Dr. Pepusch. She was remarkably tall, and remarkably swarthy; and, in general, so destitute of personal charms, that Pepusch seldom called her by any other name than Hecate, to which she is said to have answered very readily.

The change in Pepusch's circumstances by Margarita's fortune was no interruption to his studies: he loved music, and he pursued the knowledge of it with ardour. At the instance of Gay and Rich, he undertook to compose, or rather to correct, the music for "The Beggar's Opera." His reputation was now at a great height; and in 1737 he

was chosen organist of the Charter-house, and retired, with his wife, to that venerable mansion. The wife died in 1740, before which he lost a son, his only child; so that he had no source of delight left, but the prosecution of his studies, and the teaching of a few favourite pupils, who attended him at his apartments. Here he drew up that account of the ancient genera, which was read before the Royal Society, and is published in the "Philosophical Transactions" for Oct. Nov. and Dec. 1746; and, soon after the publication of that account, he was chosen a fellow of the Royal Society.

He died the 20th of July, 1752, aged eighty-five; and was buried in the chapel of the Charter-house, where a tablet with an inscription is placed over him.

As a practical musician, though so excellent a harmonist, he was possessed of so little invention, that few of his compositions were ever in general use and favour, except one of his twelve cantatas, "Alexis," and his airs for two flutes or violins, consisting of simple easy themes or grounds with variations, each part echoing the other in common. divisions for the improvement of the hand. Indeed, though only one cantata of the two books he published was ever much noticed, there is considerable harmonical merit in them all; the recitatives are in general good, and the counterpoint perfectly correct and masterly. Among all the publications of Pepusch, the most useful to musical students was, perhaps, his correct edition of Corelli's sonatas and concertos in score, published in 1732. He treated all other music in which there was fancy or invention with sovereign contempt. Nor is it true, as has been asserted, that "he readily acquiesced in Handel's superior merit." Handel despised the pedantry of Pepusch, and Pepusch, in return, constantly refused to join in the general chorus of Handel's praise.

The sole ambition of Pepusch, during the last years of his life, seems to have been the obtaining the reputation of a profound theorist, perfectly skilled in the music of the ancients; and attaching himself to the mathematician De Moivre and Geo. Lewis Scot, who helped him to calculate ratios, and to construe the Greek writers on music, he bewildered himself and some of his scholars with the Greek genera, scales, diagrams, geometrical, arithmetical, and har monical proportions, surd quantities, apotomes, lemmas, and every thing concerning ancient harmonics, that was dark,

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »