Morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven [Conn.]) 1848-1894, 1892-10-22

perfect Interpretation of those exquisite
emotions which only the rarest scene and
associative condition can impart. Our
new world affections cling very tenderly
to certain old world shrines. They fold
about them flmy glamor of loving ideal
ity, and cradle them in the soft and misty
corries of the heart. can recall but few
which are not better for the distant, sight
less lullaby; and this is one.
Stoke Poges is a thinly settled village or
q thickly settled sylvan parish of Buckipp-
hamshire, not over twenty-five miles west
of London, and about two miles north of
the railway station of Slough, which is in
turn the came distance north of Windsor
and Castle. 1t derives it's unpoetic name
from Amicia de Stoke, who brought the
manor in marriage to a certain Robert Po-
gels, knight of the shire in the twelfth
century. In the time of Edward Ill. the
estate passed into the possession of Sir
John Molyns. He had a license from the
king to fortify and embattle mansion
here; and it was he who built the pic
turesque old church made famous by
Gray's elegy. The manor descended
through female heirs to the great earls of
Huntingdon, one of whom rebuilt the
manor house early in the reign of Eliza
beth. Then Sir Edward Coke possessed
it, and sumptuously entertained Elizabeth
here. Remains of this splendid manor
house are still standing a few rods north
west of the old church.
Aside from its poetic association the
manor came to have peculiar interest to
Americans when, in 1850, it was purchased
from the noble family of Gotham by
Thomas Penn, second son of the great
founder of Pennsylvania by his second
wife, Hannah Csllowhill. The grave of
William Penn is but nine miles distant
beside the qnaint old Quaker meeting
house at Jordan's; and all of Penn's de-
scendants through the family line of this
son, Thomas, who have since deceased are
lying in the Penn family vault in the old
Stoke Poges church Thomas Penn's old
est son, the last John Penn and grandson
of the founder, was ''s virtuoso, builder
and ornamenter of fine residences and
also an author He bnilt the great house
in Kensington Gardens, and, in 1889, the
present noble mansion of Stoke Hall,
which stands few hundred yards to the
south of the church aud the old Stoke
manor house. AT the time of Gray's resi-
dence at Stoke Poges old Stoke Hall was
the home of Lady Gotham, whose antics
to secure acquaintance and subsequent
friendly intercourse with the shy poet,
who then lived with his mother and aunt
in West End cottage, about mile distant,
are preserved in the romantic incidents SO
felicitously related in Gray's facetious
poem of the ''Long Story"
The new Stoke Hall was built by John
Penn from designs by Wyatt. 1t is chief
ly of brick, stuccoed, and comprises a
large square center and two uings. The
entrance front is ornsmented by a colon
made of ten Doric columns, approached by
imposing flights of steps, leading to the
famous oval central Marble Hall. The
south front, also adorned with a colon
made, has twelve tiuted Doric columns, and
is one hundred and ninety-six feet In
length. Many visitors here mistake the
old manor house at the north end of the
church for Gray's former home. 1t is a
beautiful and picturesque half ruin, occu-
pied by the keeper of Stoke Park. Its
chimneys are the largest 1 have seen in
any old English manor house, and there
are undoubtedly to-day more bricks In
these ivy covered memsntoes Of old time
cheer than were originally required in the
entire construction of the walls.
John Penn built the modest, yet noted
mansion of Solitude, still standing on the
bank OF the Scbuylkill, opposite Fair
mount, in Philadelphia Much of the
revenue from remaining Pennsylvania
tProprietsry" interests was expended here
Vast sums were used upOn new Stoke Hall,
and it's library, statnsry and paintings.
He also rescued from oblivion the actual
burial place of Gray, by placing the me-
mortal slab against the church wall, be-
meath the vestry window, and erected at
his own expense the huge monument to
the poet which dominates all the slumber-
ous scene.
On the death Of John Penn, Stoke Man
or was inherited by his younger brother,
Granville Penn, who died at Stoke in 1874
He WAS an author and was admitted to be
one of the most learned English laymen
of his time. His oldest son, Granville
John Penn, not only restored" but prac-
ticslly rebuilt Gray's house, West End
cottage, on the West Erd road. 1t WAS
converted into sumptuous Elizabethsn
mansion with every accessory of ornament
aud beauty. In 1850 il was sold TO a gen
tleman named Darby; but was afterwards
purchased by A. Aiihanscn, Ezq., whose
family and heirs still plssess it, and with
K the right of use of the Gray family pew
in the southwest corner of the south aisle
of the old Stoke Poges church.
A curious illustration of the decsdence
of great families, as well as of vast for
tunes even in England, is found in the
final extinction of this, the most eminent,
branch of the Penn family, and the diver
sion of their once great estates Every
one is familiar with the escheating of Viii
liam Penn's American possessions, in
which the ''estate of the late proprietsries
was vested in the commonwealth" the
payment by Pennsylvania of one hundred
and thirty thousand pounds sterling to the
devisees and legatees, 'in remembrance of
the enterpris.ug spirit of the founder"
and the granting by the EDglish parlis
ment, in 1890. of an annuity of four thou
sand pounds to his heirs and descendants.
All this was in addition to the rich Eng
1.nl eTa Of tha in
cluded the manor of Stoke. And yet on
March 80, 1867, Granville John Penn, lord
of the manor of Stoke, died in his chair
with an unsigned will in his hands. All
his properties were inherited by his broth
er, Thomas. That gentleman, who was in
clerical orders and a man of extraordinary
| learning, was subsequently declared in
sane and incapable of managing his es-
tates.
These psssed into the tentacles of that
great English octopus, the Chsncery court,
and finally, after the death of the unfor-
tunate Thomas, got into the possession of
William Stuart, gentleman. of Aldenhsm
Abbey, in the shire of Herts. To-day the
Penns of Stoke Poges are no more. The
romping children Of a country squire
have bsnished the tender wraiths that peo-
plsd the home and haunts of Gray at
West End cottsge While the lord of the
manor-whose park keeper now uses as
farmhouse the ancient home of the Cob
hams, the Cokes and the lordly house of
Hastings, where Queen Elizabsth was roy
ally entertained, and whose own present
princely habitation was once the pslstisl
seat of the Penns-is a maker of matches
in Londonl
Still no one can come to the sweet old
place without being touched by the tender
spirit of reposs which broods not alone
| upon Stoke Poges church and church
yard, upon the entire Stoke manor where,