I.

THE First in order on the black list of Lord Macaulay's charges, relates to the conduct of William Penn with regard to the "Maids of Taunton."

Upon the entry of Monmouth into that town, and on the occasion of his declaring himself heir to the throne, proclaiming himself King, setting a price on the head of the reigning monarch, and denouncing the Parliament then sitting as an unlawful assembly,1 he was received by a procession of the daughters of the principal inhabitants of the place, headed by their schoolmistress, bearing the emblems of royalty, who presented him with standards worked by their own hands.2 That every person concerned in this proceeding incurred thereby the penalties of high treason, there can be no doubt. But it does not appear ever

1 MACAULAY, i. 588.

2 MACAULAY, i. p. 584-586.

TOULMIN'S Hist. of Taunton, 4to, 1791, p. 136.

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THE PARDON BROKERS

to have been contemplated by James, or even by Jeffreys, to enforce the rigour of the law against girls, some of whom were not more than ten years of age. In those days, however, mercy was not given, but sold. A pardon for the prisoner who had been tried in the morning, is said to have been tossed by the judge who condemned him, to the companion of his evening debauch, who the next day made the best bargain he could with the culprit or his friends. From the highest to the lowest the infamous traffic prevailed. The Court and the Bench shared in the corruption, and, as might be expected, a swarm of inferior agents and dealers in iniquity sprang up. The names of some of these have been preserved, and appear in the registers of the Privy Council, in the Secret Service Book of Charles and James the Second, and in the records of those families whose members were the victims of their rapacity. Robert Brent occupies the most prominent place. His name occurs repeatedly. After the revolution, a proclamation was issued for his apprehension.2

After Brent comes George Penne, whose 1 MACAULAY, i. 653. 2 Pri. Co. Reg. 27 Feb. 1688.

ROBERT BRENT AND GEORGE PENNE.

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name has been preserved in consequence of his having been employed to negotiate the pardon of Azariah Pinney, a member of a Somersetshire family who had been involved in Monmouth's rebellion.1

George Penne's infamous trade appears not to have prospered. Probably his business became less lucrative when the wholesale slaughter consequent on the suppression of Monmouth's rebellion ceased. We find him some time afterwards an applicant to the Crown for the grant of a patent office for the establishment of a lottery and licensing gaming-tables in America.

His petition for this purpose was presented to the Privy Council during the time when Sunderland was President; and Sunderland attended

1" BRISTOL, September 1685. -Mr John Pinney is debitor to money pd Geo. Penne, Esquire, for the ransom of my Bror Aza. August, 1685. £65." Entry in the cash book preserved at Somerton Erlegh House, cited in Dixon's Life of Penn. Edit. 1851, p. 445. Ed. 1856, xix. Azariah Pinney of Battiscomb was a son of the Reverend

John Pinney of Broad Windsor,

Rector of Norton-sub-Hamden, near Yeovil. Azariah Pinney was sentenced to death and pardoned, and "given to Jerome Nipho, Esquire." His destination was the island of Nevis, but he was redeemed, and Mr Nipho received through George Penne the sum of £65 as his ransom.-See ROBERTS's Life of Monmouth, ii. 243.

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THE MAIDS OF HONOUR.

in person the meeting at which it was discussed.1 It is not stated whether he was successful in his application; but he disappears from history, and his name would probably have been utterly forgotten by this time had it not been preserved to be the occasion of an unfortunate mistake, consequent upon its similarity to that borne by the celebrated founder of Pennsylvania. But for this, George Penne would have shared the fate of the obscure crowd of his fellow-workers in iniquity who have passed into utter oblivion.

When it had been resolved that the lives of the "Maids of Taunton" (as these school children have been called) should be spared, the King

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'gave their fines to the Maids of Honour." 2 In other words, he permitted the Maids of Honour to extort as much money from the fears and affections of the parents and relations of these unhappy children as they could..

The Maids of Honour applied to the Duke of Somerset (the Lord-Lieutenant of the county), and he had recourse to Sir Francis Warre,

1 Pri. Co. Reg. J. R. 540.

2 Letter of SUNDERLAND, post,

p. 12.

THE DUKE OF SOMERSET.

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colonel of the Taunton Regiment, who had repeatedly sat in parliament for that town, and who then resided at Hestercombe, in the immediate neighbourhood. To him the Duke addressed the following letter :

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I do here send you a list of the Taunton Maydes. You living soe near to Taunton makes me think that you know some of them, therefore pray send me word by the first oportunity whether any of these are in custody, and "whoe they are; and if any one of these are not "in custody, lett them be secured, especially the schoolemistress, and likewise send me word if

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you know any one of these, because there are "some friends of mine that I believe upon easy "termes might get theire pardon of the King.

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Pray send me an answer by the first opor

tunity, and in so doing this you will oblige your humble servant,-SOMERSET.1

"LONDON, Dec. 12, 1685."

Sir Francis Warre's reply has not been preserved; but it would seem that, between the date

1 TOULMIN'S Hist. of Taunton, p. 163, 4to, 1791.