_Pennycomequick, adjoining Plymouth_ (Vol. viii., p. 8.).--In days gone by,
when the boundaries of the town were much more circumscribed than at the
present day, a well-known old female (a perfect character in her way) had
long fixed her abode in a curiously built hut-like cot in the locality in
question; the rusticity of which, together with the obliging demeanour of
its tenants, had gradually induced the good folk of Plymouth to make
holiday bouts to this retired spot for the purpose of merry-making. As
years rolled on, the shrewd old dame became a general favourite with the
pleasure-seekers; the increasing frequency of these pic-nics suggesting to
her an opportunity which might be turned to good account, viz. that of
providing her visitors with the cheap requisite, boiling water, for the
brewing their sober afternoon's beverage, at the low rate of a penny a
head. Still later in the evening of life, shrugging herself closely in her
old scarlet cloak, which had served her well for better than half a
century, she would, with much apparent gusto, recount to her pleased
auditory how many a time and often she had made the "penny come quick," by
the above-recited inexpensive vocation; until at length her saying became a
by-word in the neighbourhood, and universal consent fixed on the ever-happy
octogenarian's triplet as a fitting appellation for the then nameless and
retired little nook, but now thickly studded grounds, of _Pennycomequick_.
That equally simple occurrences have frequently given rise to the names of
places, is shown by other remarkable titles of localities not far distant
from _Pennycomequick_, such as those of "The Bold Venture," and of "No
Place."