1857-1862 289 Caroline period, well read in Hooker, Andrewes, Thorndike and Bull; and loved dearly his George Herbert. A man of a remarkable reverent and devout mind, and a source of good in the parish, not only by his blameless and beautiful life, but also by his abundant charities. I did not know him for long, as he died ripe in years and rich in good works in 1873. " But time, though swift, is strong in flight, And years roll swiftly by ; And autumn's fading leaf proclaim'd This fine old man must die. He laid him down right tranquilly, Gave up his latest sigh, While mournful friends stood round his bed, And a tear bedimm'd each eye, For the fine old English gentleman All of the olden time." He had several sons and daughters. Of his sons the eldest was Richard Lewin, priest and master at Hurstpierpoint, where I knew him intimately. I doubt whether, in all my life, I have known a man so translucent with the Divine ray as was he ; simple as a child, trusting, loving, and serving God. Bishop Tozer induced him to go out as a missionary to Central Africa. For this work he was unsuited, as he was so extremely short-sighted, that without his spectacles from Negretti and Zambra he was all but blind. Moreover, he had not a nimble mind for the acquisition of strange languages. Very soon after reaching Zanzibar he died. The head master of Hurst had vainly implored him to reconsider his determination ; but he thought he had received a call from God, and that he must obey. I have already spoken of him in this chapter, and I only repeat my words concerning him here, because of my wish to give a continuous story of a notable family, not perhaps notable in a worldly sense, but one whose pedigree of holy names is written in the Book of Life. The second son was George Pennell, who died in 1912. He left two daughters, both Wantage sisters, one at the head of the diocesan school at Pretoria. The third son was Edward Hyde Pennell. He was crippled in both legs, and walked on crutches. He had, or as Devonshire u
