regeneration and restoration, of which baptism in the former case is the
symbol; in the Stoic philosophy it is preceded by dissolution, as in the
rejuvenescence process of MEDEA (q. v.).
PALINURUS, the pilot of one of the ships of Æneas, who, sleeping at
his post, fell into the sea, and was drowned.
PALISSY, BERNARD, the great French potter and inventor of a new
process in the potter's art, born in Périgord, of humble parentage;
celebrated for his fine earthenware vases ornamented with figures
artistically modelled, but above all for his untiring zeal and patience
in the study of his art and mastery in it, making fuel of his very
furniture and the beams of his house in the conduct of his experiments;
he was a Huguenot, but was specially exempted, by order of Catherine de'
Medici, from the massacre of St. Bartholomew in 1672, although he was in
1585, as a Huguenot, imprisoned in the Bastille, where he died
(1510-1590).
PALK'S STRAIT, the channel which separates Ceylon from the mainland
of India, 100 m. long and 40 m. wide, generally shallow. See ADAM'S
BRIDGE.
PALLADIO, ANDREA, an Italian architect, born at Vicenza, of poor
parents; was precursor of the modern Italian style of architecture, and
author of a treatise on architecture that has borne fruit; his works,
which are masterpieces of the Renaissance, consist principally of palaces
and churches, and the finest specimens are to be met with in Venice and
in his native place (1518-1580).
PALLADIUM, a statue of Pallas in Troy, on the preservation of which
depended the safety of the city, and from the date of the abstraction of
which by Ulysses and Diomedes the fate of it was doomed; it was fabled to
have fallen from heaven upon the plain of Troy, and to have after its
abstraction been transferred to Athens and Argos; it is now applied to
any safeguard of the liberty of a State.
PALLADIUS, ST., is called the "chief apostle of the Scottish
nation," but his connection with Scotland during his lifetime is
doubtful; he was sent to Ireland by Pope Celestine in A.D. 430, whence,
after his death, his remains were brought by St. Ternan to Fordoun,
Kincardineshire.
PALLAS, one of the names of ATHENA (q. v.) considered as
the goddess of war; a name of uncertain derivation.
PALLAS, PETER SIMON, a German traveller and naturalist, born in
Berlin, professor of Natural History in St. Petersburg; explored Siberia,
and contributed to the geographical knowledge of the Russian empire
(1741-1811).
PALLAVICINO, FERRANTE, Italian patriot, who gave offence by his
pasquinades to the Papal Court and the Barberini; was betrayed and
beheaded (1618-1644).
PALLAVICINO, SFORZA, cardinal and historian, born at Rome; was of
the Jesuit order, and wrote a "History of the Council of Trent," in
correction of the work of Paul Sarpi (1607-1667).
PALLICE, LA, port of La Rochelle, from which it is 3 m. distant,
with harbourage for ocean-going steamers.
PALM, JOHANN PHILIPP, a Nürnberg bookseller, tried by court-martial
at the instance of Napoleon, and shot, for the publication of a pamphlet
reflecting on Napoleon and his troops, an act, from the injustice of it,
that aroused the indignation of the whole German people against him;
"better," thinks Carlyle, "had he lost his best park of artillery, or his
best regiment drowned in the sea, than shot that poor German bookseller"
(1768-1806).
PALM SUNDAY, the Sunday before Easter, is so called from its being
commemorative of Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem; it is observed
by the Greek and Roman Churches; in the latter palm branches are blessed
by the priest before mass, carried in procession, distributed to the
congregation, carried home by them, and kept throughout the year.
PALMA, 1, capital of the Balearic Islands (61), on the Bay of Palma,
SW. coast of Majorca; has a Gothic cathedral, a Moorish palace, and a
collection of pictures in the old Town Hall; manufactures silks,
woollens, and jewellery, and does a busy trade. 2, One of the Canary
Islands (39), 67 m. NW. of Teneriffe; grows sugar, and exports honey,
wax, and silk manufactures.
PALMA, JACOPO, or The Old, a celebrated painter of the Venetian
school, was a pupil of Titian; painted sacred subjects and portraits, all
much esteemed (1480-1548).
PALMA, JACOPO, The Young, nephew of the preceding, also a painter,
but of inferior merit, though he aimed to be the rival of Tintoretto and
Paul Veronese (1544-1628).
PALMER, the name given to a pilgrim to the Holy Land who had
performed his vow, in sign of which he usually bore a palm branch in his
hand, which he offered on the altar on his return home.
PALMER, EDWARD HENRY, Oriental scholar, born at Cambridge; had an
aptitude for languages, and was especially proficient in those of the
East; by his knowledge of Arabic contributed to the success of exploring
expeditions to S. Palestine and Sinai; was appointed professor of Arabic
at Cambridge in 1871; produced a Persian-English Dictionary, an Arabic
Grammar, and a translation of the Korân, and in 1882 undertook two
missions to Egypt, in the latter of which he and his party were betrayed
and murdered; he was a man of varied gifts and accomplishments, and the
loss in scholarship to his country by his fate is incalculable
(1840-1882).
PALMER, SAMUEL, English landscape-painter, chiefly in water-colours
(1805-1881).
PALMERSTON, HENRY JOHN TEMPLE, VISCOUNT, English statesman, born, of
an Irish family, at Broadlands, Hants; was educated at the universities
of Edinburgh and Cambridge; succeeded to his father's title, an Irish
peerage, in 1802, and entered Parliament in 1807 as member for Newport,
Isle of Wight; during his long career he subsequently represented
Cambridge University (1811-1831), Bletchingly, South Hampshire, and
Tiverton; from 1809 to 1828 under five Premiers he was Junior Lord of the
Admiralty and Secretary at War; and separating himself finally from the
Tory party, he joined Earl Grey's Cabinet as Foreign Secretary in 1830;
contrary to all expectation he kept the country out of war, and during
the next 11 years he associated England's influence with that of France
in Continental affairs; returning to office in 1846, he remained at his
old post till 1851, steering England skilfully through the Spanish
troubles and the revolutionary reaction of 1848; a vote of censure on his
policy was carried in the Lords in 1850, but, after a five hours' speech
from him, the Commons recorded their approval; he resigned owing to
differences with the Premier, Lord John Russell; in 1852 joined Lord
Aberdeen's coalition ministry, and on its fall became himself Prime
Minister in 1855; he prosecuted the Crimean War and the Chinese War of
1857, and suppressed the Great Mutiny in India; defeated in 1858, he
returned to office next year with a cabinet of Whigs and Peelites; his
second administration furthered the cause of free trade, but made the
mistake of allowing the _Alabama_ to leave Birkenhead; he was Prime
Minister when he died; a brusque, high-spirited, cheery man, sensible and
practical, unpretending as an orator, but a skilful debater, he was a
great favourite with the country, whose prosperity and prestige it was
his chief desire to promote (1784-1865).
PALMISTRY, the art of reading character from the lines and marks on
the palm of the hand, according to which some pretend to read fortunes as
well.
PALMY`RA, a ruined city of Asia Minor, 150 m. NE. of Damascus, once
situated in an oasis near the Arabian desert; a place of importance, and
said to have been founded by Solomon for commercial purposes; of imposing
magnificence as it ruins testify, as notably under Zenobia; it was taken
by the Romans in 272, and destroyed by Aurelian, after which it gradually
fell into utter decay; its ruins were discovered in 1678; it contains
the ruins of a temple to Baal, 60 of the 300 columns of which were still
standing.
PALO ALTO, 33 m. SE. of San Francisco; is the seat of a remarkable
university founded by Senator Stanford, and opened in 1891, to provide
instruction, from the Kindergarten stage to the most advanced and varied,
to students and pupils boarded on the premises; of these there were 1000
in 1897.
PALUDAN-MÜLLER, FREDERICK, distinguished Danish poet, born in Fünen;
his greatest poem, "Adam Homo," a didactico-humorous composition; was an
earnest man and a finished literary artist (1809-1876).
PAMELA, a novel of Richardson's, from the name of the heroine, a
girl of low degree, who resists temptation and reclaims her would-be
seducer.
PAMIRS, THE, or the "Roof of the World," a plateau traversed by
mountain ridges and valleys, of the average height of 13,000 ft., NW. of
the plateau of Thibet, connecting the mountain system of the Himalayas,
Tian-Shan, and the Hindu Kush, and inhabited chiefly by nomad Kirghiz
bands; territorial apportionments have for some time past been in the
hands of Russian and British diplomatists.
PAMPAS, vast grassy, treeless, nearly level plains in South America,
in the Argentine State; they stretch from the lower Paraná to the S. of
Buenos Ayres; afford rich pasture for large herds of wild horses and
cattle, and are now in certain parts being brought under tillage.
PAMPELUNA or PAMPLONA (31), a fortified city of Northern Spain,
is 80 m. due SE. of Bilbao. It has a Gothic cathedral and a surgical
college, with manufactures of pottery and leather, and a trade in wine.
Formerly capital of Navarre, it has suffered much in war; has this
century several times resisted the Carlists.
PAN, in the Greek mythology a goat-man, a personification of rude
nature, and the protector of flocks and herds; originally an Arcadian
deity, is represented as playing on a flute of reeds joined together of
different lengths, called Pan's pipes; and dancing on his cloven hoofs
over glades and mountains escorted by a bevy of nymphs side by side, and
playing on his pipes. There is a remarkable tradition, that on the night
of the Nativity at Bethlehem an astonished voyager heard a voice
exclaiming as he passed the promontory of Tarentum, "The great Pan is
dead." The modern devil is invested with some of his attributes, such as
cloven hoofs, &c.
PANAMA (15), a free port in the State of Colombia, on the Pacific
coast of the isthmus of the same name, and an oppressively hot and humid
place, is the terminus of the Panama railroad and the seat of a great
transit trade. It has a Spanish cathedral. The population, of Indian and
negro descent chiefly, is only half what it was when the canal works were
in full operation.
PANAMA CANAL Geographers were familiar with the idea of connecting
the two oceans by a canal through Central America as early as the
beginning of the 16th century, and Dutch plans are said to exist dating
from the 17th century. The first practical steps were taken by Ferdinand
de Lesseps in 1879; two years later work was begun; the cost was
estimated at £24,000,000, but on January 1, 1889, the company was forced
into liquidation after spending over £70,000,000, and accomplishing but a
fifth of the work. Extravagance and incapacity were alleged among the
causes of failure; but the apparently insurmountable difficulties were
marshes, quicksands, and the overflow of the Chagres River, the
prevalence of earthquakes, the length of the rainy season, the cost of
labour and living, and the extreme unhealthiness of the climate.
PANATHENÆA, a festival, or rather two festivals, the Lesser and the
Greater, anciently celebrated at Athens in honour of Athena, the
patron-goddess of the city.
PANCHATANTRA, an old collection of fables and stories originally in
Sanskrit, and versions of which have passed into all the languages of
India, have appeared in different forms, and been associated with
different names.
PANCRAS, ST., a boy martyr of 16, who suffered under the Diocletian
persecution about 304, and is variously represented in mediæval legend as
bearing a stone and sword, or a palm branch, and trampling a Saracen
under foot, in allusion to his hatred of heathenism.
PANDECTS, the digest of civil law executed at the instance of the
Emperor Justinian between the years 530 and 533.
PANDORA (i. e. the All-Gifted) in the Greek mythology a woman of
surpassing beauty, fashioned by Hephæstos, and endowed with every gift
and all graces by Athena, sent by Zeus to EPIMETHEUS (q. v.) to
avenge the wrong done to the gods by his brother Prometheus, bearing with
her a box full of all forms of evil, which Epimetheus, though cautioned
by his brother, pried into when she left, to the escape of the contents
all over the earth in winged flight, Hope alone remaining behind in the
casket.
PANDOURS, a name given to a body of light-infantry at one time in
the Austrian service, levied among the Slavs on the Turkish frontier, and
now incorporated as a division of the regular army.
PANDULF, CARDINAL, was the Pope's legate to King John of England,
and to whom, on his submission, John paid homage at Dover; _d_. 1226.
PANGE LINGUA, a hymn in the Roman Breviary, service of Corpus
Christi, part of which is incorporated in every Eucharistic service; was
written in rhymed Latin by Thomas Aquinas.
PÁNINI, a celebrated Sanskrit grammarian, whose work is of standard
authority among Hindu scholars, and who lived some time between 600 and
300 B.C.
PANIPAT (29), a town in the Punjab, 53 m. N. of Delhi; was the scene
of two decisive battles, one in 1526 to the establishment of the Mogul
dynasty at Delhi, and another in 1701 to the extinction of the Mahratta
supremacy in North-West India.
PANIZZI, ANTONIO, principal librarian of the British Museum from
1850 to 1866, born at Modena; took refuge in England in 1821 as
implicated in a Piedmontese revolutionary movement that year; procured
the favour of Lord Brougham and a post in the Museum, in which he rose to
be one of the chiefs (1797-1879).
PANNONIA, a province of the Roman empire, conquered between 35 B.C.
and A.D. 8; occupied a square with the Danube on the N. and E. and the
Save almost on the S. border; it passed to the Eastern Empire in the 5th
century, fell under Charlemagne's sway, and was conquered by the modern
Hungarians shortly before A.D. 1000.
PANOPTICON, a prison so arranged that the warder can see every
prisoner in charge without being seen by them.
PANSLAVISM, the name given to a movement for union of all the
Slavonic races in one nationality, a project which lags heavily owing to
the jealousy on the part of one section or another.
PANTAGRUEL, the principal character of one of the two great works of
Rabelais, and named after him; he and his father Gargantua figured as
two enormous giants, being personifications of royalty with its
insatiable lust of territory and power.
PANTHEISM, the doctrine or creed which affirms the immanency of God
in nature, or that God is within nature, but ignores or denies His
transcendency, or that He is above nature; distinguished from deism,
which denies the former but affirms the latter, from theism, which
affirms both, and from atheism, which denies both.
PANTHEON, a temple in Rome, first erected by Agrippa, son-in-law of
Augustus, circular in form, 150 ft. in height, with niches all round for
statues of the gods, to whom in general it was dedicated; it is now a
church, and affords sepulture to illustrious men. Also a building in
Paris, originally intended to be a church in honour of the patron saint
of Paris, but at the time of the Revolution converted into a receptacle
for the ashes of the illustrious dead, Mirabeau being its first occupant,
and bearing this inscription, _Aux grands hommes la patrie
reconnaissant_; it was subsequently appropriated to other uses, but under
the third republic it became again a resting-place for the ashes of
eminent men.
PANTOGRAPH, the name given to a contrivance for copying a drawing or
a design on an enlarged or a reduced scale.
PANURGE, one of the principal characters in the "Pantagruel" of
Rabelais, an exceedingly crafty knave, a libertine, and a coward.
PANZA, SANCHO, Don Quixote's squire, a squat, paunchy peasant
endowed with rude common-sense, but incapable of imagination.
PAOLI, PASQUALE DE, a Corsican patriot; sought to achieve the
independence of his country, but was defeated by the Genoese, aided by
France, in 1769; took refuge in England, where he was well received and
granted a pension; returned to Corsica and became lieutenant-general
under the French republic, raised a fresh insurrection, had George III.
proclaimed king, but failed to receive the viceroyalty, and returned to
England, where he died a disappointed man (1726-1807).
PAPAL STATES, a territory in the N. of Italy extending irregularly
from Naples to the Po, at one time subject to the temporal sovereignty of
the Pope, originating in a gift to his Holiness of Pepin the Short, and
taking shape as such about the 11th century, till in the 16th and 17th
centuries the papal power began to assert itself in the general politics
of Europe, and after being suppressed for a time by Napoleon it was
formally abolished by annexation of the territory to the crown of
Sardinia in 1870.
PAPHOS, the name of two ancient cities in the SW. of Cyprus; the
older (now Kyklia) was a Phoenician settlement, in which afterwards stood
a temple of Venus, who was fabled to have sprung from the sea-foam close
by; the other, 8 m. westward, was the scene of Paul's interview with
Sergius Paulus and encounter with Elymas.
PAPIAS, bishop of Hierapolis, in Phrygia, who flourished in the
middle of the 2nd century, and wrote a book entitled "Exposition of the
Lord's Sayings," fragments of which have been preserved by Eusebius and
others; he was, it is said, the companion of Polycarp.
PAPIER-MÂCHE is a light, durable substance made from paper pulp or
sheets of paper pasted together and variously treated with chemicals,
heat, and pressure, largely used for ornamental trays, boxes, light
furniture, &c., in which it is varnished and decorated to resemble
lacquer-work, and for architectural decoration, in which it is made to
imitate plaster moulding; the manufacture was learned from the Eastern
nations. Persia, India, and Japan having been long familiar with it;
America has adapted it to use for railroad wheels, &c.
PAPIN, DENIS, French physicist, born at Blois, practised medicine at
Angers; came to England and assisted Boyle in his experiments, made a
special study of the expansive power of steam and its motive power,
invented a steam-digester with a safety-valve, since called after him,
for cooking purposes at a high temperature; became professor of
Mathematics at Marburg (1647-1712).
PAPINIANUS, ÆMILIUS, a celebrated Roman jurist; was put to death by
Caracalla for refusing, it is said, when requested, to vindicate his
conduct in murdering his brother (142-212).
PAPIRIUS, a Roman pontiff to whom is ascribed a collection of laws
constituting the Roman code under the kings.
PAPPENHEIM, COUNT VON, imperial general, born in Bavaria; played a
prominent part in the Thirty Years' War; was distinguished for his zeal
as well as his successes on the Catholic side; was mortally wounded at
Lützen, expressed his gratitude to God when he learned that Gustavas
Adolphus, who fell in the same battle, had died before him (1594-1632).
PAPPUS OF ALEXANDRIA, a Greek geometer of the third or fourth
century, author of "Mathematical Collections," in eight books, of which
the first and second have been lost.
PAPUANS, the name of the members of the negro race inhabiting
certain islands of Oceania, including New Guinea, New Hebrides, New
Caledonia, Fiji Islands, &c.
PAPY`RUS, the Greek name of the Egyptian _papu_, is a kind of sedge
growing 10 ft. high, with a soft triangular stem, the pith of which is
easily split into ribbons, found still in Egypt, Nubia, Abyssinia, &c.;
the pith ribbons were the paper of the ancient Egyptians, of the Greeks
after Alexander, and of the later Romans; they were used by the Arabs of
the 8th century, and in Europe till the 12th; at first long strips were
rolled up, but later rectangular pages were cut and bound together book
fashion; though age has rendered the soft white pages brown and brittle,
much ancient literature is still preserved on papyrus; the use of papyrus
was superseded by that of parchment and rag-made paper.
PARÁ (40), a Brazilian port at the mouth of the Guama, on the E.
shore of the Pará estuary, is a compact, regularly-built, thriving town,
with whitewashed buildings, blue and white tiled roofs, tree-shaded
streets, tram-cars, telephones, theatre, and cathedral; it is the
emporium of the Amazon trade, exporting india-rubber and cacao, and
sending foreign goods into the interior; though hot, it is healthy.
PARABLE, a short allegorical narrative intended to illustrate and
convey some spiritual instruction.
PARABOLA, a conic section formed by the intersection of a cone by a
plane parallel to one of its sides.
PARACELSUS, a Swiss physician, alchemist, and mystic, whose real
name was Theophrastus Bombastus, born at Einsiedeln, in Schwyz; was a
violent revolutionary in the medical art, and provoked much hostility, so
that he was driven to lead a wandering and unsettled life;
notwithstanding, he contributed not a little, by his knowledge and
practice, to inaugurate a more scientific study of nature than till his
time prevailed (1493-1541).
PARAFFIN, name given by Baron Reichenbach to a transparent
crystalline substance obtained by distillation from wood, bituminous
coal, shale, &c., and so called because it resists the action of the
strongest acids and alkalies.
PARAGUAY (400), except Uruguay the smallest State in South America,
is an inland Republic whose territories lie in the fork between the
Pilcomayo and Paraguay and the Paraná Rivers, with Argentina on the W.
and S., Bolivia on the N., and Brazil on the N. and E.; it is less than
half the size of Spain, consists of rich undulating plains, and, in the
S., of some of the most fertile land on the continent; the climate is
temperate for the latitude; the population, Spanish, Indian, and
half-caste, is Roman Catholic; education is free and compulsory; the
country is rich in natural products, but without minerals; timber,
dye-woods, rubber, Paraguay tea (a kind of holly), gums, fruits, wax,
honey, cochineal, and many medicinal herbs are gathered for export;
maize, rice, cotton, and tobacco are cultivated; the industries include
some tanning, brick-works, and lace-making; founded by Spain in 1535,
Paraguay was the scene of an interesting experiment in the 17th century,
when the country was governed wholly by the Jesuits, who, excluding all
European settlers, built up a fabric of Christian civilisation; they were
expelled in 1768; in 1810 the country joined the revolt against Spain,
and was the first to establish its independence; for 26 years it was
under the government of Dr. Francia; from 1865 to 1870 it maintained a
heroic but disastrous war against the Argentine, Brazil, and Uruguay, as
a consequence of which the population fell from a million and a half to a
quarter of a million; it is again prosperous and progressing. The capital
is Asunçion (18), at the confluence of the Pilcomayo and Paraguay.
PARAGUAY RIVER, a South American river 1800 m. long, the chief
tributary of the Paraná, rises in some lakes near Matto Grosso, Brazil,
and flows southward through marshy country till it forms the boundary
between Brazil and Bolivia, then traversing Paraguay, it becomes the
boundary between that State and the Argentine Republic, and finally
enters the Paraná above Corrientes; it receives many affluents, and is
navigable by ocean steamers almost to its source.
PARAKLETE, the Holy Spirit which Christ promised to His disciples
would take His place as their teacher and guide after He left them. Also
the name of the monastery founded by Abelard near Nogent-sur-Seine, and
of which HELOÏSE (q. v.) was abbess.
PARALLAX, an astronomical term to denote an apparent change in the
position of a heavenly body due to a change in the position or assumed
position of the observer.
PARAMAR`IBO (24), the capital of Dutch Guiana, on the Surinam, 10 m.
from the sea, and the centre of the trade of the colony.
PARAMO, the name given to an elevated track of desert on the Andes.
PARANÁ RIVER, a great river of South America, formed by the
confluence of the Rio Grande and the Paranahyba, in SE. Brazil, flows SW.
through Brazil and round the SE. border of Paraguay, then receiving the
Paraguay River, turns S. through the Argentine, then E. till the junction
of the Uruguay forms the estuary of the Plate. The river is broad and
rapid, 2000 m. long, more than half of it navigable from the sea; at the
confluence of the Yguassu it enters a narrow gorge, and for 100 m. forms
one of the most remarkable rapids in the world; the chief towns on its
banks are in the Argentine, viz. Corrientes, Santa Fé, and Rosario.
PARCÆ, the Roman name of the THREE FATES (q. v.), derived
from "pars," a part, as apportioning to every individual his destiny.
PARCHMENT consists of skins specially prepared for writing on, and
is so called from a king of Pergamos, who introduced it when the export
of papyrus from Egypt was stopped; the skins used are of sheep, for fine
parchment or vellum, of calves, goats, and lambs; parchment for drumheads
is made from calves' and asses' skins.
PARCS-AUX-CERFS, the French name for clearings to provide hunting
fields for the French aristocracy prior to the Revolution.
PARÉ, AMBROISE, great French surgeon, born at Laval; was from the
improved methods he introduced in the treatment of surgical cases
entitled to be called, as he has been, the father of modern surgery, for
his success as an operator, in particular the tying of divided arteries
and the treatment of gunshot wounds; he was in the habit of saying of any
patient he had successfully operated upon, "I cared for him; God healed
him"; his writings exercised a beneficent influence on the treatment of
surgical cases in all lands (1517-1590).
PARIAH, a Hindu of the lowest class, and of no caste; of the class
they are of various grades, but all are outcast, and treated as such.
PARIS (2,448), the capital of France, in the centre of the northern
half of the country, on both banks of the Seine, and on two islands (La
Cité and St. Louis) in the middle, 110 m. from the sea; is the largest
city on the Continent, and one of the most beautiful in the world. No
city has finer or gayer streets, or so many noble buildings. The Hôtel de
Cluny and the Hôtel de Sens are rare specimens of 15th-century civic
architecture. The Palace of the Tuileries, on the right bank of the
Seine, dates from the 16th century, and was the royal residence till the
Revolution. Connected with it is the Louvre, a series of galleries of
painting, sculpture, and antiquities, whose contents form one of the
richest collections existing, and include the peerless "Venus de Milo."
The Palais Royal encloses a large public garden, and consists of shops,
restaurants, the Théâtre Français, and the Royal Palace of the Orleans
family. South of the river is the Luxembourg, where the Senate meets, and
on the Ile de la Cité stands the Palais de Justice and the Conciergerie,
one of the oldest Paris prisons. St.-Germain-des-Prés is the most ancient
church, but the most important is the cathedral of Notre Dame, 12th
century, which might tell the whole history of France could it speak.
Saint-Chapelle is said to be the finest Gothic masterpiece extant. The
Pantheon, originally meant for a church, is the burial-place of the great
men of the country, where lie the remains of Voltaire, Rousseau, and
Carnot. The oldest hospitals are the Hôtel Dieu, La Charité, and La
Pitié. The University Schools in the Quartier Latin attract the youth of
all France; the chief are the Schools of Medicine and Law, the Scotch
College, the College of France, and the Sorbonne, the seat of the
faculties of letters, science, and Protestant theology. Triumphal arches
are prominent in the city. There are many museums and charitable
institutions; the Bibliothèque Nationale, in the Rue Richelieu, rivals
the British Museum in numbers of books and manuscripts. The Palace of
Industry and the Eiffel Tower commemorate the exhibitions of 1854 and
1889 respectively. Great market-places stand in various parts of the
city. The Rue de Rivoli, Rue de la Paix, Rue du Faubourg St.-Honoré, and
the Rue Royale are among the chief streets; beautiful squares are
numerous, the most noted being the Place de la Concorde, between the
Champs Elysées and the Gardens of the Tuileries, in the centre of which
the Obelisk of Luxor stands on the site of the guillotine at which Louis
XVI. and Marie Antoinette, Philippe Egalité, Danton, and Robespierre
died. Boulevards lined with trees run to the outskirts of the city. The
many roads, railways, canals, and rivers which converge on Paris have
made it the most important trading centre in France, and the concourse of
wealthy men of all nations has given it a high place in the financial
world. It is a manufacturing city, producing jewellery, ornamental
furniture, and all sorts of artistic "articles de Paris." The centre of
French, and indeed European, fashion, it is noted for its pleasure and
gaiety. The concentration of Government makes it the abode of countless
officials. It is strongly fortified, being surrounded by a ring of forts,
and a wall 22 m. long, at the 56 gates of which the octroi dues are
levied. The Préfect of the Seine, appointed by the Government, and
advised by a large council, is the head of the municipality, of the
police and fire brigades, cleansing, draining, and water-supply
departments. The history of Paris is the history of France, for the
national life has been, and is, in an extraordinary degree centred in the
capital. It was the scene of the great tragic drama of the Revolution,
and of the minor struggles of 1830 and 1849. In recent times its great
humiliation was its siege and capture by the Germans in 1870-71.
PARIS, the second son of Priam and Hecuba; was exposed on Mount Ida
at his birth; brought up by a shepherd; distinguished himself by his
prowess, by which his parentage was revealed; married OENONË (q. v.);
appealed to to decide to whom the "apple of discord" belonged, gave
it to Aphrodité in preference to her two rivals Hera and Athena; was
promised in return that he should receive the most beautiful woman in the
world to wife, Helen of Sparta, whom he carried off to Greece, and which
led to the TROJAN WAR (q. v.); slew Achilles, and was mortally
wounded by the poisoned arrows of Hercules.
PARIS, MATTHEW, English chronicler; a Benedictine monk of St.
Albans; author of "Chronica Majora," which contains a history written in
Latin of England from the Conquest to the year in which he died
(1195-1259).
PARK, MUNGO, African traveller, born at Foulshiels, near Selkirk;
was apprenticed to a surgeon, and studied medicine at Edinburgh; 1791-93
he spent in a voyage to Sumatra, and in 1795 went for the first time to
Africa under the auspices of the African Association of London; starting
from the Gambia he penetrated eastward to the Niger, then westward to
Kamalia, where illness seized him; conveyed to his starting-point by a
slave-trader, he returned to England and published "Travels in the
Interior of Africa," 1799; he married and settled to practice at Peebles,
but he was not happy till in 1805 he set out for Africa again at
Government expense; starting from Pisania he reached the Niger, and
sending back his journals attempted to descend the river in a canoe, but,
attacked by natives, the canoe overturned; and he and his companions were
drowned (1771-1805).
PARKER, JOHN HENRY, archæologist and writer on architecture;
originally a London publisher, his chief work the "Archæology of Rome,"
in nine vols., a subject to which he devoted much study (1800-1884).
PARKER, JOSEPH, an eminent Nonconformist divine, born in Hexham;
minister of the City Temple; a vigorous and popular preacher, and the
author of numerous works bearing upon biblical theology and the defence
of it; his _magnum opus_ is the "People's Bible," of which 25 vols. are
already complete; _b_. 1830.
PARKER, MATTHEW, archbishop of Canterbury, born at Norwich; was a
Fellow of Cambridge; embraced the Protestant doctrines; became Master of
Corpus Christi College, Oxford; was chaplain to Anne Boleyn, and made
Dean of Ely by Edward VI.; was deprived of his offices under Mary, but
made Primate under Elizabeth, and the Bishop's Bible was translated and
issued under his auspices (1504-1575).
PARKER, THEODORE, an American preacher and lecturer; adopted and
professed the Unitarian creed, but discarded it, like Emerson, for a
still more liberal; distinguished himself in the propagation of it by his
lectures as well as his writings; was a vigorous anti-slavery agitator,
and in general a champion of freedom; died at Florence while on a tour
for his health (1810-1860).
PARKMAN, FRANCIS, American historian, born in Boston; his writings
valuable, particularly in their bearing on the dominion of the French in
America, its rise, decline, and fall (1823-1893).
PARLEMENT, the name given to the local courts of justice in France
prior to the Revolution, in which the edicts of the king required to be
registered before they became laws; given by pre-eminence to the one in
Paris, composed of lawyers, or gentlemen of the long robe, as they were
called, whose action the rest uniformly endorsed, and which played an
important part on the eve of the Revolution, and contributed to further
the outbreak of it, to its own dissolution in the end.
PARLIAMENT is the name of the great legislative council of Britain
representing the three estates of the realm--Clergy, Lords, and Commons.
The Clergy are represented in the Upper House by the archbishops and
bishops of sees founded prior to 1846, in number 26; the rest of the
Upper House comprises the dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, and barons
of the peerage of Great Britain who sit in virtue of their titles, and
representatives of the Scotch and Irish peerages elected for life; the
total membership is over 550; the House of Lords may initiate any bill
not a money bill, it does not deal with financial measures at all except
to give its formal assent; it also revises bills passed by the Commons,
and may reject these. Of late years this veto has come to be exercised
only in cases where it seems likely that the Commons do not retain the
confidence of the people, having thus the effect of referring the
question for the decision of the constituencies. The Lords constitute the
final court of appeal in all legal questions, but in exercising this
function only those who hold or have held high judicial office take part.
The House of Commons comprises 670 representatives of the people; its
members represent counties, divisions of counties, burghs, wards of
burghs, and universities, and are elected by owners of land and by
occupiers of land or buildings of £10 annual rental who are commoners,
males, of age, and not disqualified by unsoundness of mind, conviction
for crime, or receipt of parochial relief. The Commons initiates most of
the legislation, deals with bills already initiated and passed by the
Lords, inquires into all matters of public concern, discusses and
determines imperial questions, and exercises the sole right to vote
supplies of money. To become law bills must pass the successive stages of
first and second reading, committee, and third reading in both Houses,
and receive the assent of the sovereign, which has not been refused for
nearly two centuries.
PARLIAMENT, THE LONG, the name given to the last English Parliament
convoked by Charles I. in 1640, dissolved by Cromwell in 1653, and
recalled twice after the death of the Protector before it finally gave up
the ghost.
PARLIAMENT OF DUNCES, name given to a parliament held at Coventry by
Henry IV. in 1494, because no lawyer was allowed to sit in it.
PARLIAMENTARIAN, one who, in the English Civil War, supported the
cause of the Parliament against the king.
PARMA (44), a cathedral and university town in N. Italy, on the
Parma, a tributary of the Po, 70 m. NE. of Genoa; is rich in art
treasures, has a school of music, picture-gallery, and museum of
antiquities; it manufactures pianofortes, silks, and woollens, and has a
cattle and grain market; Parma was formerly the capital of the duchy of
that name; it was the residence of Correggio as well as the birthplace of
Parmigiano.
PARMENION, an able and much-esteemed Macedonian general,
distinguished as second in command at Granicus, Issus, and Arbela, but
whom Alexander in some fit of jealousy and under unfounded suspicion
caused to be assassinated in Media.
PARMENIDES, a distinguished Greek philosopher of the Eleatic school,
who flourished in the 5th century B.C.; his system was developed by him
in the form of an epic poem, in which he demonstrates the existence of an
Absolute which is unthinkable, because it is without limits, and which he
identifies with thought, as the one in the many.
PARMIGIANO, a Lombard painter whose proper name was Girolamo
Mazzola, born at Parma; went to Rome when 19 and obtained the patronage
of Clement VII.; after the storming of the city in 1527, during which he
sat at work in his studio, he went to Bologna, and four years later
returned to his native city; failing to implement a contract to paint
frescoes he was imprisoned, and on his release retired to Casalmaggiore,
where he died; in style he followed Correggio, and is best known by his
"Cupid shaping a Bow" (1504-1540).
PARNASSUS, a mountain in Phocis, 10 m. N. of the Gulf of Corinth,
8000 ft. high, one of the chief seats of Apollo and the Muses, and an
inspiring source of poetry and song, with the oracle of Delphi and the
Castalian spring on its slopes; it was conceived of by the Greeks as in
the centre of the earth.
PARNELL, CHARLES STUART, Irish Home-Ruler, born at Avondale, in
Wicklow; was practically the dictator of his party for a time and carried
matters with a high hand, but at the height of his popularity he suffered
a fall, and his death, which was sudden, happened soon after (1846-1891).
PARNELL, THOMAS, English minor poet of the Queen Anne period, born
in Dublin, of a Cheshire family; studied at Trinity College, took orders,
and became archdeacon of Clogher; is best known as the author of "The
Hermit," though his odes "The Night-Piece on Death" and the "Hymn to
Contentment" are of more poetic worth; he was the friend of Swift and
Pope, and a member of the Scriblerus Club (1679-1718).
PAROS (7), one of the Cyclades, lying between Naxos and Siphanto,
exports wine, figs, and wool; in a quarry near the summit of Mount St.
Elias the famous Parian marble is still cut; the capital is Paroekia (2).
PARR, CATHERINE, sixth wife of Henry VIII., daughter of Sir Thomas
Parr of Kendal, was a woman of learning and great discretion, acquired
great power over the king, persuaded him to consent to the succession of
his daughters, and surviving him, married her former suitor Sir Thomas
Seymour, and died from the effects of childbirth the year after
(1512-1548).
PARR, SAMUEL, a famous classical scholar, born at Harrow; became
head-master of first Colchester and then Norwich Grammar-School and a
prebend of St. Paul's; he had an extraordinary memory and was a great
talker; he was a good Latinist, but nothing he has left justifies the
high repute in which he was held by his contemporaries (1747-1825).
PARR, THOMAS, called OLD PARR, a man notable for his long life,
being said to have lived 152 years and 9 months, from 1483 to 1635.
PARRAMATTA (12), next to Sydney, from which it is 14 m. W., the
oldest town in New South Wales; manufactures colonial tweeds and
Parramatta cloths, and is in the centre of orange groves and fruit
gardens.
PARRHASIUS, a gifted painter of ancient Greece, born at Ephesus;
came to Athens and became the rival of Zeuxis; he was the contemporary of
Socrates and a man of an arrogant temper; his works were characterised by
the pains bestowed on them.
PARRY, SIR WILLIAM EDWARD, celebrated Arctic explorer, born at Bath;
visited the Arctic Seas under Ross in 1818, conducted a second expedition
himself in 1819-20, a third in 1821-23, a fourth in 1824-26 with unequal
success, and a fifth in 1827 in quest of the North Pole _viâ_
Spitzbergen, in which he was baffled by an adverse current; received
sundry honours for his achievements; died governor of Greenwich Hospital,
and left several accounts of his voyages (1790-1855).
PARSEES (i. e. inhabitants of Pars or Persia), a name given to the
disciples of Zoroaster or their descendants in Persia and India, and
sometimes called Guebres; in India they number some 90,000, are to be
found chiefly in the Bombay Presidency, form a wealthy community, and are
engaged mostly in commerce; in religion they incline to deism, and pay
homage to the sun as the symbol of the deity; they neither bury their
dead nor burn them, but expose them apart in the open air, where they are
left till the flesh is eaten away and only the bones remain, to be
removed afterwards for consignment to a subterranean cavern.
PARSIFAL, the hero of the legend of the HOLY GRAIL (q. v.),
and identified with GALAHAD (q. v.) in the Arthurian legend.
PARSON ADAMS, a simple-minded 18th-century clergyman in Fielding's
"Joseph Andrews."
PARSONS, ROBERT, English Jesuit, born in Somersetshire, educated at
Oxford and a Fellow of Balliol College; he became a convert to Roman
Catholicism and entered the Society of Jesus in 1575; conceived the idea
of reclaiming England from her Protestant apostasy, and embarked on the
enterprise in 1580, but found it too hot for him, and had to escape to
the Continent; after this he busied himself partly in intrigues to force
England into submission and partly in organising seminaries abroad for
English Roman Catholics, and became head of one at Rome, where he died;
he appears to have been a Jesuit to the backbone, and to have served the
cause of Jesuitry with his whole soul (1546-1610).
PARTHENOGENESIS, name given to asexual reproduction, that is, to
reproduction of plants or animals by means of unimpregnated germs or ova.
PARTHENON, a celebrated temple of the Doric order at Athens,
dedicated to Athena, and constructed under Phidias of the marble of
Pentelicus, and regarded as the finest specimen of Greek architecture
that exists; it is 228 ft. in length and 64 ft. in height. Parthenon
means the chamber of the maiden goddess, that is, Athena.
PARTHENOPE, in the Greek mythology one of the three SIRENS
(q. v.), threw herself into the sea because her love for Ulysses was
not returned, and was drowned; her body was washed ashore at Naples,
which was called Parthenope after her name.
PARTHIA, an ancient country corresponding to Northern Persia; was
inhabited by a people of Scythian origin, who adopted the Aryan speech
and manners, and subsequently yielded much to Greek influence; after
being tributary successively to Assyria, Media, Persia, Alexander the
Great, and Syria, they set up an independent kingdom in 250 B.C. In two
great contests with Rome they made the empire respect their prowess;
between 53 and 36 B.C. they defeated Crassus in Mesopotamia, conquered
Syria and Palestine, and inflicted disaster on Mark Antony in Armenia;
the renewal of hostilities by Trajan in A.D. 115 brought more varied
fortunes, but they extorted a tribute of 50,000,000 denarii from the
Emperor Macrinus in 218. Ctesiphon was their capital; the Euphrates lay
between them and Rome; they were over thrown by Ardashir of Persia in
224. The Parthians were famous horse-archers, and in retreat shot their
arrows backwards often with deadly effect on a pursuing enemy.
PARTICK (36), a western suburb of Glasgow, has numerous villas, and
its working population is very largely engaged in shipbuilding.
PARTINGTON, MRS., an imaginary lady, the creation of the American
humorist Shillaber, distinguished for her misuse of learned words; also
another celebrity who attempted to sweep back the Atlantic with her mop,
the type of those who think to stave back the inevitable.
PASCAL, BLAISE, illustrious French thinker and writer, born at
Clermont, in Auvergne; was distinguished at once as a mathematician, a
physicist, and a philosopher; at 16 wrote a treatise on conic sections,
which astonished Descartes; at 18 invented a calculating machine; he
afterwards made experiments in pneumatics and hydrostatics, by which his
name became associated with those of Torricelli and Boyle; an accident
which befell him turned his thoughts to religious subjects, and in 1654
he retired to the convent of PORT ROYAL (q. v.), where he spent
as an ascetic the rest of his days, and wrote his celebrated "Provincial
Letters" in defence of the Jansenists against the Jesuits, and his no
less famous "Pensées," which were published after his death; "his great
weapon in polemics," says Prof. Saintsbury, "is polite irony, which he
first brought to perfection, and in the use of which he has hardly been
equalled, and has certainly not been surpassed since" (1623-1662).
PAS-DE-CALAIS, the French name for the Strait of Dover; also the
name of the adjacent department of France.
PASHA, a Turkish title, originally bestowed on princes of the blood,
but now extended to governors of provinces and prominent officers in the
army and navy.
PASIPHAË, the wife of MINOS (q. v.) and mother of the
MINOTAUR (q. v.).
PASKIEVITCH, a Russian general, born at Poltava; took part in
repelling the French in 1812, defeated the Persians in 1826-27 and the
Turks in 1828-29; suppressed a Polish insurrection in 1831 and a Magyar
revolution in 1849; was wounded at Silistria in 1854 and resigned
(1782-1856).
PASQUINO, a cobbler or tailor who lived in Rome at the end of the
15th century, notable for his witty and sarcastic sayings, near whose
shop after his death a fragment of a statue was dug up and named after
him, on which, as representing him, the Roman populace claim to this day,
it would seem, the privilege of placarding jibes against particularly the
ecclesiastical authorities of the place, hence Pasquinade.
PASSAU (17), a Bavarian fortified town, situated at the confluence
of the Inn and the Danube, 105 m. E. of Münich by rail; is a picturesque
place, strategically important, with manufactures of leather, porcelain,
and parquet, and trade in salt and corn.
PASSING-BELL, a bell tolled at the moment of the death of a person
to invite his neighbours to pray for the safe passing of his soul.
PASSION PLAY, a dramatic representation of the several stages in the
passion of Christ.
PASSION SUNDAY, the fifth Sunday in Lent, which is succeeded by what
is called the Passion Week.
PASSION WEEK is properly the week preceding Holy Week, but in common
English usage the name is given to Holy Week itself, i. e. to the week
immediately preceding Easter, commemorating Christ's passion.
PASSIONISTS, an order of priests, called of the Holy Cross, founded
in 1694 by Paul Francisco, of the Cross in Sardinia, whose mission it is
to preach the Passion of Christ and bear witness to its spirit and
import, and who have recently established themselves in England and
America; they are noted for their austerity.
PASSOVER, the chief festival of the Jews in commemoration of the
passing of the destroying angel over the houses of the Israelites on the
night when he slew the first-born of the Egyptians; it was celebrated in
April, lasted eight days, only unleavened bread was used in its
observance, and a lamb roasted whole was eaten with bitter herbs, the
partakers standing and road-ready as on their departure from the land of
bondage.
PASSOW, FRANZ, German philologist, born in Mecklenburg, professor at
Breslau; his chief work "Hand-Wörterbuch der Griechischen Sprache"; an
authority in subsequent Greek lexicography (1786-1833).
PASTA, JUDITH, a famous Italian operatic singer, born near Milan, of
Jewish birth; her celebrity lasted from 1822 to 1835, after which she
retired into private life; she had a voice of great compass (1798-1865).
PASTEUR, LOUIS, an eminent French chemist, born at Dôle, in dep. of
Jura, celebrated for his studies and discoveries in fermentation, and
also for his researches in hydrophobia and his suggestion of inoculation
as a cure; the Pasteur Institute in Paris was the scene of his researches
from 1886 (1822-1895).
PASTON LETTERS, a series of letters and papers, over a thousand in
number, belonging to a Norfolk family of the name, and published by Sir
John Fenn over a century ago, dating from the reign of Henry V. to the
close of the reign of Henry VII.; of importance in connection with the
political and social history of the period.
PASTORAL STAFF, a bishop's staff with a crooked head, symbolical of
his authority and function as a shepherd in spiritual matters of the
souls in his diocese.
PATAGONIA is the territory at the extreme S. of South America, lying
between the Rio Colorado and the Strait of Magellan. Chilian Patagonia is
a narrow strip W. of the Andes, with a broken coast-line, many rocky
islands and peninsulas. Its climate is temperate but very rainy, and much
of it is covered with dense forests which yield valuable timber; coal is
found at Punta Arenas on the Strait. The population (3) consists chiefly
of migratory Araucanian Indians and the Chilian settlers at Punta Arenas.
Eastern or Argentine Patagonia is an extensive stretch of undulating
plateaux intersected by ravines, swept by cold W. winds, and rainless for
eight months of the year. The base of the Andes is fertile and
forest-clad, the river valleys can be cultivated, but most of the plains
are covered with coarse grass or sparse scrub, and there are some utterly
desolate regions. Lagoons abound, and there are many rivers running
eastward from the Andes. Herds of horses and cattle are bred on the
pampas. The Indians of this region (7) are among the tallest races of the
world. There are 2000 settlers at Patagones on the Rio Negro, and a Welsh
colony on the Chubut.
PATANJALI is the name of two ancient Indian authors, of whom one is
the author of the "Yoga," a theistic system of philosophy, and the other
of a criticism on the Sanskrit grammarian Pánini.
PATCHOULI, a perfume with a strong odour, derived from the dried
roots of an Indian plant introduced into the country in 1844.
PATER, WALTER HORATIO, an English prose-writer, specially studious
of word, phrase, and style, born in London; studied at Oxford, and became
a Fellow of Brasenose College; lived chiefly in London; wrote studies in
the "History of the Renaissance," "Marcus the Epicurean," "Imaginary
Portraits," "Appreciations," along with an essay on "Style"; literary
criticism was his forte (1839-1894).
PATERCULUS, MARCUS VELLEIUS, a Latin historian of the 1st century,
author of an epitome, especially of Roman history, rather disfigured by
undue flattery of Tiberius his patron, as well as of Cæsar and Augustus.
PATERSON, ROBERT, the original of Scott's "Old Mortality," a
stone-mason, born near Hawick; devoted 40 years of his life to restoring
and erecting monumental stones to the memory of the Scotch Covenanters
(1712-1801).
PATERSON, WILLIAM, a famous financier, born in Tinwald parish,
Dumfriesshire; originated the Bank of England, projected the ill-fated
Darien scheme, and lost all in the venture, though he recovered
compensation afterwards, an indemnity for his losses of £18,000; he was a
long-headed Scot, skilful in finance and in matters of trade (1658-1719).
PATHOS, the name given to an expression of deep feeling, and
calculated to excite similar feelings in others.
PATLOCK, ROBERT, English novelist, author of "Peter Wilkins," an
exquisite production; the heroine, the flying girl Youwarkee (1697-1767).
PATMORE, COVENTRY, English poet, born in Essex, best known as the
author of "The Angel in the House," a poem in praise of domestic bliss,
succeeded by others, superior in some respects, of which "The Unknown
Eros" is by many much admired; he was a Roman Catholic by religious
profession (1823-1896).
PATMOS, a barren rocky island in the Ægean Sea, S. of Samos, 28 m.
in circuit, where St. John suffered exile, and where it is said he wrote
the Apocalypse.
PATNA (165), the seventh city of India, in Bengal, at the junction
of the Son, the Gandak, and the Ganges; is admirably situated for
commerce; has excellent railway communication, and trades largely in
cotton, oil-seeds, and salt. It is a poor city with narrow streets, and
except the Government buildings, Patna College, a Roman Catholic
cathedral, and a mosque, has scarcely any good buildings. At Dinapur, its
military station, 6 m. to the W., mutiny broke out in 1857. It is famous
for its rice, but this is largely a re-export.
PATOIS, a name the French give to a corrupt dialect of a language
spoken in a remote province of a country.
PATON, JOHN GIBSON, missionary to the New Hebrides, son of a
stocking-weaver of Kirkmahoe, Dumfriesshire; after some work in Glasgow
City Mission was ordained by the Reformed Presbyterian Church, and
laboured in Tanna and Aniwa for twenty-five years; his account of his
work was published in 1890; _b_. 1824.
PATON SIR JOSEPH NOEL, poet and painter, born at Dunfermline; became
a pattern designer, but afterwards studied in Edinburgh and London, and
devoted himself to art; his early subjects were mythical and legendary,
later they have been chiefly religious; he was appointed Queen's Limner
for Scotland in 1865, knighted in 1867, and in 1876 received his LL.D.
from Edinburgh University; his "Quarrel" and "Reconciliation of Oberon
and Titania" are in the National Gallery, Edinburgh; the illustrations of
the "Dowie Dens o' Yarrow," and the series of religious allegories,
"Pursuit of Pleasure," "Lux in Tenebris," "Faith and Reason," &c., are
familiar through the engravings; "Poems by a Painter" appeared in 1861;
_b_. 1821.
PATRAS (37), on the NW. corner of the Morean Peninsula, on the
shores of the Gulf of Patras; has a fine harbour; is the chief western
port of Greece, shipping currants, olive-oil, and wine, and importing
textiles, machinery, and coal; it is a handsome city, in the present
century rebuilt and fortified.
PATRIARCH, in Church history is the name given originally to the
bishops of Rome, Antioch, and Alexandria, and later to those also of
Constantinople and Jerusalem, who held a higher rank than other bishops,
and exercised a certain authority over the bishops in their districts.
The title is in vogue in the Greek, Syrian, Armenian, and other Churches.
It was originally given to the chief of a race or clan, the members of
which were called after him.
PATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS, the two classes into which, from the
earliest times, the population of the Roman State was divided, the former
of which possessed rights and privileges not conceded to the latter, and
stood to them as patrons to clients, like the baron of the Middle Ages to
the vassals. This inequality gave rise to repeated and often protracted
struggles in the commonalty, during which the latter gradually encroached
on the rights of the former till the barrier in civic status, and even in
social to some extent, was as good as abolished, and members of the
plebeian class were eligible to the highest offices and dignities of the
State.
PATRICK, ORDER OF ST., an Irish order of knighthood, founded in 1783
by George III., comprising the sovereign, the Lord-Lieutenant, and
twenty-two knights, and indicated by the initial letters K.P.
PATRICK, ST., the apostle and patron saint of Ireland; his
birthplace uncertain; flourished in the 5th century; his mission, which
extended over great part of Ireland, and over thirty or forty years of
time, was eminently successful, and at the end of it he was buried in
Downpatrick, henceforth a spot regarded as a sacred one. Various miracles
are ascribed to him, and among the number the extirpation from the soil
of all venomous reptiles.
PATRICK, SIMON, English prelate; distinguished himself, when he was
rector of St. Paul's, by his self-denying devotion during the Plague of
London; became bishop in succession of Chichester and Ely, and was the
author of a number of expository works (1652-1707).
PATRISTIC LITERATURE, the name given to the writings of the early
Fathers of the Christian Church.
PATROCLUS, a friend of Achilles, who accompanied him to the Trojan
War, and whose death by the hand of Hector roused Achilles out of his
sullenness, and provoked him to avenge the deed in the death of Hector.
PATTESON, JOHN COLERIDGE, bishop of Melanesia, grand-nephew of
Coleridge; a devoted bishop, in material things no less than spiritual,
among the Melanesian islanders; was murdered, presumably through mistake,
by the natives of one of the Santa Cruz groups (1827-1871).
PATTI, ADELINA, prima donna, born in Madrid, of Italian extraction;
made her first appearance at New York in 1859, and in London at Covent
Garden, as Amina in "La Somnambula," in 1861, and has since made the
round once and again of the Continent and America, North and South; has
been married three times, being divorced by her first husband, and lives
at Craig-y-nos Castle, near Swansea, Wales; _b_. 1843.
PATTISON, MARK, a distinguished English scholar, born at Hornby,
Yorkshire; studied at Oxford, and was for a time carried away with the
Tractarian Movement, but when his interest in it died out he gave himself
to literature and philosophy; wrote in the famous "Essays and Reviews" a
paper on "The Tendency of Religious Thought in England"; became rector of
Lincoln College, Oxford; wrote his chief literary work, a "Life of Isaac
Casaubon," a mere fragment of what it lay in him to do, and left an
autobiography, which revealed a wounded spirit which no vulnerary known
to him provided by the pharmacopoeia of earth or heaven could heal
(1813-1889).
PATTISON'S PROCESS, the name of a process for desilverising lead,
dependent on the fact that lead which has least silver in it solidifies
first on liquefaction.
PAU (31), chief town of the French province of Basses-Pyrénées, on
the Gave de Pau, 60 m. E. of Bayonne; is situated amid magnificent
mountain scenery, and is a favourite winter resort for the English; linen
and chocolate are manufactured; it was the capital of Navarre, and has a
magnificent castle; it stands on the edge of a high plateau, and commands
a majestic view of the Pyrenees on the S.
PAUILLAC, a port for Bordeaux, on the left bank of the Gironde.
PAUL, the name of five popes: PAUL I., Pope from 757 to 797;
PAUL II., pope from 1464 to 1471; PAUL III., Pope from 1534 to
1549, was zealous against the Protestant cause, excommunicated Henry
VIII. in 1536, sanctioned the Jesuit order in 1540, convened and convoked
the Council of Trent in 1545; PAUL IV., Pope from 1555 to 1559,
originally an ascetic, was zealous for the best interests of the Church
and public morality, established the Inquisition at Rome, and issued the
first _Index Expurgatorius_; PAUL V., Pope from 1605 to 1621, his
pontificate distinguished by protracted strife with the Venetian
republic, arising out of the claim of the clergy for immunity from the
civil tribunals, and which was brought to an end through the intervention
of Henry IV. of France in 1607; it need not be added that he was zealous
for orthodoxy, like his predecessors.
PAUL, ST., originally called Saul, the great Apostle of the
Gentiles, born at Tarsus, in Cilicia, by birth a Jew and a Roman citizen;
trained to severity by Gamaliel at Jerusalem in the Jewish faith, and for
a time the bitter persecutor of the Christians, till, on his way to
Damascus, in the prosecution of his hostile purposes, the overpowering
conviction flashed upon him that he was fighting against the cause that,
as a Jew, he should have embraced, and which he was at once smitten with
zeal to further, as the one cause on which hinged the salvation, not of
the Jews only, but of the whole world. He did more for the extension, if
not the exposition, of the Christian faith at its first promulgation than
any of the Apostles, and perhaps all of them together, and it is
questionable if but for him it would have become, as it has become, the
professed religion of the most civilised section of the world.
PAUL I., Czar of Russia, son of the Empress Catharine II., and her
successor in 1796; was a despotic and arbitrary ruler; fought with the
allies against France, but entered into an alliance with Napoleon in
1799; was murdered by certain of his nobles as he was being forced to
abdicate (1734-1801).
PAUL AND VIRGINIA, a celebrated novel by Saint-Pierre, written on
the eve of the French Revolution, in which "there rises melodiously, as
it were, the wail of a moribund world: everywhere wholesome Nature in
unequal conflict with diseased, perfidious art; cannot escape from it in
the lowest hut, in the remotest island of the sea"; it records the fate
of a child of nature corrupted by the false, artificial sentimentality
that prevailed at the time among the upper classes of France.
PAUL SAMOSATA, so called as born at Samosata, on the Euphrates, a
heresiarch who denied the doctrine of three persons in one God, was
bishop of Antioch, under the sway of Zenobia, but deposed on her defeat
by Aurelian in 272.
PAULDING, American writer, born in New York State; author of
"History of John Bull and Brother Jonathan," and the novels "The
Dutchman's Fireside" and "Westward Ho" (1779-1860).
PAULI, REINHOLD, German historian of England, born in Berlin;
studied much in England, and became professor of History at Göttingen;
wrote "Life of King Alfred," "History of England from the Accession of
Henry II. to the Death of Henry VII.," "Pictures of Old England," and
"Simon de Montfort" (1823-1882).
PAULICIANS, a heretical sect founded by Constantine of Mananalis
about A.D. 660 in Armenia, and persisting in spite of severe
persecution, were transferred to Thrace in 970, where remnants were found
as late as the 13th century; they held that an evil spirit was the
creator and god of this world, and that God was the ruler of the next;
they refused to ascribe divinity to Christ, to worship Mary, to reverence
the cross, or observe the sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist; their name
was derived from the special regard in which they held the writings of
St. Paul, from which they professed to derive their tenets; they were
charged with Manichæism, but they indignantly repudiated the imputation.
PAULINE, Browning's first poem, written at 19 and published at 21,
"breathless, intense, melodramatic," says Professor Saintsbury,
"eschewing incident, but delighting in analysis, which was to be one of
the poet's points throughout, and ultimately to prevail over the others."
PAULINUS, the first archbishop of York, sent in company with
Augustin from Rome by Gregory to Britain in 601: laboured partly in Kent
and partly in Northumbria, and persuaded Edwin of Northumbria to embrace
Christianity in 629; _d_. 644.
PAULUS, HEINRICH, one of the founders of German rationalism, born
near Stuttgart; held in succession sundry professorships; denied the
miraculous in the Scripture history, and invented ingenious rational
explanations, now out of date (1761-1851).
PAUSANIAS, a famous Spartan general, the grandson of Leonidas, who,
as commander-in-chief of the Greeks, overthrew the Persian army under
Mardonius at Platæa in 479, but who, elated by this and other successes,
aimed at the sovereignty of Greece by alliance with Xerxes, and being
discovered, took refuge in a temple at Athens, where he was blockaded and
starved to death in 477 B.C., his mother throwing the first stone of the
pile that was cast up to bar his exit.
PAUSANIAS, a Greek traveller and topographer, lived during the
reigns of Antoninus Pius and M. Aurelius; wrote an "Itinerary of Greece"
in 10 books, the fruit of his own peregrinations, full of descriptions of
great value both to the historian and the antiquary.
PAVIA (30), on the Ticino, in Lombardy, is an imposing "city of a
hundred towers," with little industry or commerce; in its unfinished
cathedral St. Augustine was buried; San Michele, where the early kings of
Italy were crowned, dates from the 7th century; the University was
founded by Charlemagne, and has now attached to it colleges for poor
students, a library, museum, botanic garden, and school of art; stormed
by Napoleon in 1796, Pavia was in Austrian possession from 1814 till its
inclusion in the kingdom of Italy 1859.
PAXTON, SIR JOSEPH, architect of the Crystal Palace, born in
Bedfordshire, was originally a gardener in the service of the Duke of
Devonshire, and promoted to the charge of the duke's gardens at
Chatsworth, where he displayed the architectural ability in the
construction of large glass conservatories which developed itself in the
construction of the Great Exhibition of 1851, for which he received the
honour of knighthood (1803-1865).
PAYN, JAMES, English novelist, born at Cheltenham; edited
_Chambers's Journal_ and _Cornhill Magazine_; his novels were numerous
and of average quality, "Lost Sir Massingberd" and "By Proxy" among the
most successful (1830-1899).
PAYNE, JOHN, actor and playwright, born in New York; resided in
London from 1813 to 1832; most of his days a stranger in a strange land,
immortalised himself as the author of "Home, Sweet Home"; only his
remains buried at home 30 years after his death at Tunis (1792-1852).
PEABODY, GEORGE, philanthropist, born at Danvers, now Peabody, in
Massachusetts, U.S.; made a large fortune as a dry-goods merchant in
Baltimore and as a stockbroker as well in London; gave away for
benevolent purposes in his lifetime a million and a half of money, and
left to his relatives one million more; died in London; his body was laid
beside his mother's at South Danvers, U.S. (1795-1869).
PEACE SOCIETY, a society founded in 1816 for the promotion of
permanent and universal peace; advocates a gradual, proportionate, and
simultaneous disarmament of all nations and the principle of arbitration.
PEACOCK, THOMAS LOVE, English novelist, born at Weymouth; was pretty
much a self-taught scholar, and no mean one, as his literary activity
over half a century abundantly showed; held a post in the India House,
his predecessor being James Mill and his successor John Stuart Mill; was
an intimate friend of Shelley and the father-in-law of George Meredith;
he made his first literary appearance as a poet in two small volumes of
poems, and his first novel was "Headlong Hall" as his latest was "Gryll
Grange," all of them written in a vein of conventional satire, and more
conspicuous for wit than humour; Thackeray owed not a little to him,
little as the generality did, he being "too learned for a shallow age"
(1785-1866).
PEARSON, JOHN, English prelate, born in Norfolk; held a succession
of preferments in the Church, and in the end the bishopric of Chester,
author of a very learned work "Exposition of the Creed," of which Bentley
said, "its very dross is gold" (1612-1686).
PEASANT WAR or BAUERNKRIEG, revolt of the peasantry in the S.
and W. of Germany against the oppression and cruelty of the nobles and
clergy which broke out at different times from 1500 to 1525, and which,
resulting in their defeat, rendered their lot harder than before. The
cause of the Reformation, held answerable for the movement, suffered
damage as well, but indeed the excesses of the insurgents were calculated
to provoke the retribution that was meted out to them.
PECHILI, GULF OF, a great land-locked bay opening in the NW. of the
Yellow Sea, receives the waters of the Hoang-ho, and on opposite tongues
of land at the mouth of it stand Port Arthur and Wei-hai-Wei.
PECKSNIFF, a pronounced hypocrite in Dickens's "Martin Chuzzlewit,"
and who lies and cants whether he is drunk or sober.
PECOCK, REGINALD, bishop in succession of St. Asaph and Chichester,
born in Wales; the author, among other works, of the "Repressor of Over
Much Blaming of the Clergy" and the "Book of Faith"; he wrote on behalf
of the Church against Lollards, but he offended Churchmen as well as the
latter--Churchmen because he agreed with the Lollards in regard to the
Bible as the rule of faith, and the Lollards because he appealed to
reason as the interpreter of the Bible; he displeased the clergy also by
his adoption in theological debate of the mother-tongue, but figures
since in literature as the first English theologian; he was accused of
treating authority with disrespect as well as setting up reason above
revelation, obliged to recant in a most humiliating manner, deprived of
his bishopric, and condemned to solitary confinement, away from his
books, all to a few, and denied the use of writing materials (1390-1460).
PEDRO I., emperor of Brazil, second son of John VI. of Portugal;
reigned from 1822 to 1831, when he abdicated in favour of his son
(1798-1834).
PEDRO II., emperor of Brazil, son of preceding, ascended the throne
in 1831; reigned peacefully till 1889, when a sudden revolution obliged
him to resign, and retire to Europe and take up his abode in France,
where he indulged his taste for science and learning (1825-1891).