TOWNSEND, Penn, merchant, born in Boston, Massachusetts, 20 December, 1651 ; died there, 21 August, 1727. His father, William, came to Boston in 1636. Penn was a wine-merchant, an active member of the council, a representative in 1686-'98, and later speaker of the house and chief judge of the Suffolk superior court. He was afterward captain of the Ancient and honorable artillery company, and in 1703 was colonel of the Boston regiment. In 1707 he was an agent to superintend the military forces that were sent against Port Royal. He married a daughter of Governor John Leverett, was a patron of art and literature, and a public-spirited citizen.--His grandson, Alexander, lawyer, born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1784; died there, 13 April, 1835, was graduated at Harvard in 1802, and studied law. He became a large owner of real estate, was active in city poll-tics, and delivered many addresses in Faneuil hall. In 1810 he was appointed by the authorities to deliver the Fourth-of-July oration.--Alexander's sister, Eliza, poet, born in Boston in 1789; died there, 12 January, 1854, was educated in her native city, and began her literary career by contributing anonymous rural and religious essays to the "Monthly Anthology," " Unitarian Miscellany," and "Portfolio." She was the first native woman poet in her state to receive the praise of judicious critics. Her writings include verses on "The Incomprehensibility of God"; an "Occasion Ode" (1809), in which she commented severely on the career of Napoleon, who was then at the summit of his greatness; "Lines to Robert Southey" (1812) ; and the "Rainbow "--all of which appeared in magazines. Her " Poems and Miscellanies" were collected by her sister, Mary P. Townsend, and printed privately (Boston, 1856).