murdered her father for the incestuous brutality with which he had
treated her (died 1599).
Shelley has a tragedy on the subject, called _The Cenci_ (1819).
=Parsley Peel=, the first Sir Robert Peel. So called from the great
quantity of printed calico with the parsley-leaf pattern manufactured by
him (1750-1830).
=Parson Adams=, a simple-minded country clergyman of the eighteenth
century. At the age of 50 he was provided with a handsome income of £23
a year (nearly £300 of our money).--Fielding, _Joseph Andrews_ (1742).
Timothy Burrell, Esq., in 1715, bequeathed to his nephew Timothy, the
sum of £20 a year, to be paid during his residence at the university,
and to be continued to him till he obtained some preferment worth at
least £30 a year.--_Sussex Archæological Collections_, iii. 172.
=Parson Bate=, a stalwart choleric, sporting parson, editor of the
_Morning Post_ in the latter half of the eighteenth century. He was
afterwards Sir Henry Bate Dudley, Bart.
When Sir Henry Bate Dudley was appointed an Irish dean, a young
lady of Dublin said, “Och! how I long to see our dane! They say ...
he fights like an angel.”--_Cassell’s Magazine_ (“London Legends,”
iii.)
=Parson Collins=, shrewd backwoodsman, ready for fight or prayer. He
suffers at the hands of desperadoes, but is dauntless, and always gets
the better of his partner in a trade. His white mule Ma’y Jane, is the
only creature that outwits him, and that only at fence-corners.--Octave
Thanet, _Expiation_ (1890).
=Parson Runo= (_A_), a simple-minded clergyman, wholly unacquainted with
the world; a Dr. Primrose, in fact. It is a Russian household phrase,
having its origin in the singular simplicity of the Lutheran clergy of
the Isle of Runo.
=Parson Trulliber=, a fat clergyman, slothful, ignorant, and intensely
bigoted.--Fielding, _Joseph Andrews_ (1742).
=Parsons= (_Walter_), the giant porter of King James I. (died
1622).--Fuller, _Worthies_ (1662).
=Parsons’ Kaiser= (_The_), Karl IV., of Germany, who was set up by Pope
Clement VI., while Ludwig IV. was still on the throne. The Germans
called the pope’s _protégé_ “_pfaffen kaiser_.”
=Parthe´nia=, the mistress of Argălus.--Sir Philip Sidney, _Arcadia_
(1580).
_Parthenia_, Maidenly Chastity personified. Parthenia is sister of
Agnei´a (3 _syl._), or wifely chastity, the spouse of Encra´tês, or
temperance. Her attendant is Er´ythre, or modesty. (Greek, _parthĕnia_,
“maidenhood.”)--Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, x. (1633).
=Parthen´ope= (4 _syl._), one of the three syrens. She was buried at
Naples. Naples itself was anciently called Parthenopê, which name was
changed to _Neap´olis_ (“the new city”) by a colony of Cumæans.
By dead Parthenope’s dear tomb.
Milton, _Comus_, 879 (1634).
Loitering by the sea
That laves the passionate shores of soft Parthenopê.
Lord Lytton, _Ode_, iii. 2 (1839).
(The three syrens were Parthenopê, Ligēa, and Leucos´ia, not
_Leucoth´ea_, _q.v._)
_Parthenope_ (4 _syl._), the damsel beloved by Prince Volscius.--Duke of
Buckingham, _The Rehearsal_ (1671).
=Parthen´ope of Naples=, Sannazora, the Neapolitan poet called “The
Christian Virgil.” Most of his poems were published under the assumed
name of _Actius Sincerus_ (1458-1530).
At last the Muses ... scattered ...
Their blooming wreaths from fair Valclusa’s bowers [_Petrarch_]
To Arno [_Dante and Boccaccio_] ... and the shore
Of soft Parthenope.
Akenside, _Pleasures of Imagination_, ii. (1744).
=Partington= (_Mrs._), an old lady of amusing affectations and ridiculous
blunders of speech. Sheridan’s “_Mrs. Malaprop_” and Smollett’s
“_Tabitha Bramble_” are similar characters.--B. P. Shillaber (an
American humorist).
I do not mean to be disrespectful; but the attempt of the lords to
stop the progress of reform reminds me very forcibly of the great
storm of Sidmouth, and the conduct of the excellent Mrs. Partington
on that occasion. In the winter of 1824, there set in a great flood
upon that town; the tide rose to an incredible height; the waves
rushed in upon the houses; and everything was threatened with
destruction. In the midst of this sublime storm, Dame Partington,
who lived upon the beach, was seen at the door of her house with
mop and pattens, trundling her mop, squeezing out the sea-water,
and vigorously pushing away the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic was
roused, Mrs. Partington’s spirit was up; but I need not tell you
that the contest was unequal. The Atlantic beat Mrs. Partington.
She was excellent at a slop or puddle, but should never have
meddled with a tempest.--Sydney Smith (speech at Taunton, 1831).
=Partlet=, the hen, in “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale,” and in the famous
beast-epic of _Reynard the Fox_ (1498).--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_
(1388).
_Sister Partlet with her hooded head_, the cloistered community of nuns;
the Roman Catholic clergy being the “barn-door fowls.”--Dryden, _Hind
and Panther_ (1687).
=Partridge.= Talus was changed into a partridge.
_Partridge_, cobbler, quack, astrologer, and almanac-maker (died 1708).
Dean Swift wrote an elegy on him.
Here five feet deep, lies on his back,
A cobbler, starmonger, and quack,
Who, to the stars in pure gold will,
Does to his best look upward still,
Weep all you customers that use
His pills, his almanacs, or shoes.
_Partridge_, the attendant of Tom Jones, as Strap, is of Smollett’s
“Roderick Random.” Faithful, shrewd, and of child-like simplicity. He is
half-barber and half-schoolmaster. His excitement in the play-house when
he went to see Garrick in “Hamlet” is charming.--Fielding, _The History
of Tom Jones_ (1749).
The humor of Smollett, although genuine and hearty, is coarse and
vulgar. He was superficial where Fielding showed deep insight; but
he had a rude conception of generosity of which Fielding seems
incapable. It is owing to this that “Strap” is superior to
“Partridge.”--Hazlitt, _Comic Writers_.
=Parvenue.= One of the O’Neals, being told that Barrett of Castlemone had
only been 400 years in Ireland, replied, “I hate the upstart, which can
only look back to yesterday.”
=Parviz= (“_victorious_”), surname of Khosrou II. of Persia. He kept
15,000 female musicians, 6000 household officers, 20,500 saddle-mules,
960 elephants, 200 slaves to scatter perfumes when he went abroad, and
1000 sekabers to water the roads before him. His horse, Shibdiz, was
called “the Persian Bucephălus.”
The reigns of Khosrou I. and II. were the golden period of Persian
history.
=Parzival=, the hero and title of a metrical romance, by Wolfram v.
Eschenbach. Parzival was brought up by a widowed mother, in solitude,
but when grown to manhood, two wandering knights persuaded him to go to
the court of King Arthur. His mother, hoping to deter him, consented to
his going if he would wear the dress of a common jester. This he did,
but soon achieved such noble deeds that Arthur made him a knight of the
Round Table. Sir Parzival went in quest of the Holy Graal, which was
kept in a magnificent castle called Graalburg, in Spain, built by the
royal priest Titurel. He reached the castle, but having neglected
certain conditions, was shut out, and, on his return, the priestess of
Graalburg insisted on his being expelled the court and degraded from
knighthood. Parzival then led a new life of abstinence and
self-abnegation, and a wise hermit became his instructor. At length he
reached such a state of purity and sanctity that the priestess of
Graalburg declared him worthy to become lord of the castle (1205).
⁂ This, of course, is an allegory of a Christian giving up everything in
order to be admitted a priest and king in the city of God, and becoming
a fool in order to learn true wisdom (see 1 _Cor._ iii. 18).
=Pasquin=, a Roman cobbler of the latter half of the fifteenth century,
whose shop stood in the neighborhood of the Braschi palace near the
Piazza Navoni. He was noted for his caustic remarks and bitter sayings.
After his death, a mutilated statue near the shop was called by his
name, and made the repository of all the bitter epigrams and satirical
verses of the city; hence called _pasquinades_ (3 _syl._).
=Passamonte= (_Gines de_), the galley-slave set free by Don Quixote. He
returned the favor by stealing Sancho’s wallet and ass. Subsequently he
reappeared as a puppet-showman.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_.
=Passatore= (_Il_), a title assumed by Belli´no, an Italian bandit chief
who died 1851.
=Passel´yon=, a young foundling brought up by Morgan la Fée. He was
detected in an intrigue with Morgan’s daughter. The adventures of this
amorous youth are related in the romance called _Perceforest_, iii.
=Passe Rose=, fair orphan girl, warm of heart and single of purpose.
Ingenuous as a babe, and made strong by love. Her adventures are the
theme of the novel bearing her name.--Arthur Sherburne Hardy, _Passe
Rose_ (1889).
=Passetreul=, the name of Sir Tristram’s horse.
=Passe-tyme of Plesure=, an allegorical poem in forty-six capitulos and in
seven-line stanzas, by Stephen Hawes (1506)[TN-66] The poet supposes that
while Graunde Amoure was walking in a meadow he encountered Fame,
“enuyroned with tongues of fyre,” who told him about La bell Pucell, a
ladye fair, living in the Tower of Musike, and then departed, leaving
him under the charge of Gouernaunce and Grace, who conducted him to the
Tower of Doctrine. Countenaunce, the portress, showed him over the
tower, and Lady Science sent him to Gramer. Afterwards he was sent to
Logyke, Rethorike, Inuention, Arismetrike and Musike. In the Tower of
Musike he met La bell Pucell, pleaded his love, and was kindly
entreated; but they were obliged to part for the time being, while
Graunde Amoure continued his “passe-tyme of plesure.” On quitting La
bell Pucell he went to Geometrye and then to Dame Astronomy. Then,
leaving the Tower of Science, he entered that of Chyualry. Here Mynerue
introduced him to Kyng Melyzyus, after which he went to the temple of
Venus, who sent a letter on his behalf to La bell Pucell. Meanwhile the
giant False Report (or Godfrey Gobilyue) met him, and put him to great
distress in the house of Correction, but Perceueraunce at length
conducted him to the manor-house of Dame Comfort. After sundry trials
Graunde Amoure married La bell Pucell, and, after many a long day of
happiness and love, was arrested by Age, who took him before Policye and
Auarice. Death in time came for him, and Remembraunce wrote his epitaph.
=Pastor Fi´do= (_Il_), a pastoral by Giovanni Battista Guari´ni of Ferrara
(1585).
=Pastoral Romance= (_The Father of_), Honoré d’Urfé (1567-1625).
=Pastorella=, the fair shepherdess (bk. vi. 9), beloved by Corydon, but
“neither for him nor any other did she care a whit.” She was a
foundling, brought up by the shepherd Melibee. When Sir Calidore (3
_syl._) was the shepherd’s guest, he fell in love with the fair
foundling, who returned his love. During the absence of Sir Calidore in
a hunting expedition, Pastorella, with Melibee and Corydon, were carried
off by brigands. Melibee was killed, Corydon effected his escape, and
Pastorella was wounded. Sir Calidore went to rescue his shepherdess,
killed the brigand chief, and brought back the captive in safety (bk.
vi. 11). He took her to Belgard Castle, and it turned out that the
beautiful foundling was the daughter of Lady Claribel and Sir Bellamour
(bk, vi. 12).--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, vi. 9-12 (1596).
“Pastorella” is meant for Frances Walsingham, daughter of Sir Francis
Walsingham, whom Sir Philip Sidney (“Sir Calidore”) married. After
Sidney’s death the widow married the earl of Essex (the queen’s
favorite). Sir Philip being the author of a romance called _Arcadia_
suggested to the poet the name Pastorella.
=Patch=, the clever, intriguing waiting-woman of Isabinda, daughter of Sir
Jealous Traffick. As she was handing a love-letter in cipher to her
mistress, she let it fall, and Sir Jealous picked it up. He could not
read it, but insisted on knowing what it meant. “O,” cried the ready
wit, “it is a charm for the toothache!” and the suspicions of Sir
Jealous were diverted (act iv. 2).--Mrs. Centlivre, _The Busy Body_
(1709).
_Patch_ (_Clause_), king of the beggars. He died in 1730, and was
succeeded by Bampfylde Moore Carew.
=Patche= (1 _syl._), Cardinal Wolsey’s jester. When the cardinal felt his
favor giving way, he sent Patche as a gift to the king, and Henry VIII.
considered the gift a most acceptable one.
We call one Patche or Cowlson, whom we see to do a thing foolishly,
because these two in their time were notable fools.--Wilson, _Art
of Rhetorique_ (1553).
=Patelin= (2 _syl._), the hero of an ancient French comedy. He contrives
to obtain on credit six ells of cloth from William Josseaume, by
artfully praising the tradesman’s father. Any subtle, crafty fellow, who
entices by flattery and insinuating arts, is called a Patelin.--P.
Blanchet, _L’Avocat Patelin_ (1459-1519).
On lui attribue, mais à tort, la farce de _L’Avocat Patelin_, qui
est plus ancienne que lui.--Bouillet, _Dictionary Universel
d’Histoire, etc._, art. “Blanchet.”
Consider, sir, I pray you, how the noble Patelin, having a mind to
extol to the third heavens, the father of William Josseaume, said
no more than this: he did lend his goods freely to those who were
desirous of them.--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, iii. 4 (1545).
=Pater Patrum.= St. Gregory, of Nyssa is so called by the council of Nice
(332-395).
=Paterson= (_Pate_), serving-boy to Bryce Snailsfoot, the pedlar.--Sir W.
Scott, _The Pirate_ (time, William III.).
=Pathfinder= (_The_), Natty Bumpo; also called “The Deerslayer”[TN-67]
“The Hawk-eye,” and “The Trapper.”--Fenimore Cooper, (five novels called
_The Pathfinder_, _The Pioneers_, _The Deerslayer_, _The Last of the
Mohicans_, and _The Prairie_).
=Pathfinder of the Rocky Mountains.=[TN-68] (_The_), Major-General John
Charles Fremont, who conducted four exploring expeditions across the
Rocky Mountains in 1842.
=Patient Griselda= or =Grisildis=, the wife of Wautier, marquis of
Salucês. Boccaccio says she was a poor country lass, who became the wife
of Gualtiere, marquis of Saluzzo. She was robbed of her children by her
husband, reduced to abject poverty, divorced, and commanded to assist in
the marriage of her husband with another woman; but she bore every
affront patiently, and without complaint.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_
(“The Clerk’s Tale,” 1388); Boccaccio, _Decameron_, x. 10 (1352).
=Patience Strong.= Delightful old maid, who, after passing most of her
life in a quiet New England township, goes abroad and tells her
experiences in _Sights and Insights_.--A. D. T. Whitney (1860).
She is also the central figure in a quiet story of domestic life,
entitled _Patience Strong’s Outings_ (1858).
=Patin=, brother of the emperor of Rome. He fights with Am´adis of Gaul,
and has his horse killed under him.--Vasco de Lobeira, _Amadis de Gaul_
(thirteenth century).
=Patison=, licensed jester to Sir Thos. More. Hans Holbein has introduced
this jester in his famous picture of the lord chancellor.
=Patriarch of Dorchester=,[TN-69] John White, of Dorchester, a puritan
divine (1574-1648).
=Patriarchs= (_The Last of the_). So _Christopher Casby_, of
Bleeding-heart Yard was called. “So grey, so slow, so quiet, so
impassionate, so very bumpy in the head, that patriarch was the word for
him.” Painters implored him to be a model for some patriarch they
designed to paint. Philanthropists looked on him as famous capital for a
platform. He had once been town agent in the Circumlocution Office, and
was well-to-do.
His face had a bloom on it like ripe wall-fruit, and his blue eyes
seemed to be the eyes of wisdom and virtue. His whole face teemed
with the look of benignity. Nobody could say where the wisdom was,
or where the virtue was, or where the benignity was, but they
seemed to be somewhere about him.... He wore a long wide-skirted
bottle-green coat, and a bottle-green pair of trousers, and a
bottle-green waistcoat. The patriarchs were not dressed in
bottle-green broadcloth, and yet his clothes looked
patriarchal.--C. Dickens, _Little Dorrit_ (1857).
=Patrick=, an old domestic at Shaw’s Castle.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan’s
Well_ (time, George III.).
_Patrick_ (_St._), the tutelar saint of Ireland. Born at Kirk Patrick,
near Dumbarton. His baptismal name was “Succeath” (“valor in war”),
changed by Milcho, to whom he was sold as a slave into “Cotharig” (four
families or four masters, to whom he had been sold). It was Pope
Celestine who changed the name to “Patricius,” when he sent him to
convert the Irish.
Certainly the most marvellous of all the miracles ascribed to the saints
is that recorded of St. Patrick. “He swam across the Shannon with his
head in his mouth!”
_Saint Patrick and King O’Neil._ One day, the saint set the end of his
crozier on the foot of O’Neil, king of Ulster, and, leaning heavily on
it, hurt the king’s foot severely; but the royal convert showed no
indication of pain or annoyance whatsoever.
A similar anecdote is told of St. Areed, who went to show the king of
Abyssinia a musical instrument he had invented. His majesty rested the
head of his spear on the saint’s foot, and leaned with both his hands on
the spear while he listened to the music. St. Areed, though his great
toe was severely pierced, showed no sign of pain, but went on playing as
if nothing was the matter.
_St. Patrick and the Serpent._ St[TN-70] Patrick cleared Ireland of
vermin. One old serpent resisted, but St. Patrick overcame it by
cunning. He made a box, and invited the serpent to enter in. The serpent
insisted it was too small; and so high the contention grew that the
serpent got into the box to prove that he was right, whereupon St.
Patrick slammed down the lid, and cast the box into the sea.
This tradition is marvellously like an incident of the _Arabian Nights’
Entertainments_. A fisherman had drawn up a box or vase in his net, and
on breaking it open a genius issued therefrom, and threatened the
fisherman with immediate destruction because he had been enclosed so
long. Said the fisherman to the genius, “I wish to know whether you
really were in that vase.” “I certainly was,” said the genius. “I cannot
believe it,” replied the fisherman, “for the vase could not contain even
one of your feet.” Then the genius, to prove his assertion, changed into
smoke, and entered into the vase, saying, “Now, incredulous fisherman,
dost thou believe me?” But the fisherman clapped the leaden cover on the
vase, and told the genius that he was about to throw the box into the
sea, and that he would build a house on the spot to warn others not to
fish up so wicked a genius.--_Arabian Nights_ (“The Fisherman,” one of
the early tales).
⁂ St. Patrick, I fear, had read the _Arabian Nights_, and stole a leaf
from the fisherman’s book.
_St. Patrick a Gentleman._
Oh, St. Patrick was a gentleman,
Who came of dacent people ...
This song was written by Messrs. Bennet and Toleken, of Cork, and was
first sung by them at a masquerade in 1814. It was afterwards lengthened
for Webbe, the comedian, who made it popular.
=Patriot King= (_The_), Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751).
He hired Mallet to traduce Pope after his decease, because the poet
refused to give up certain copies of a work which the statesman wished
to have destroyed.
Write as if St. John’s soul could still inspire,
And do from hate what Mallet did for hire.
Byron, _English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_ (1809).
=Patriot of Humanity.= So Byron calls Henry Grattan (1750-1820).--_Don
Juan_ (preface to canto vi., etc..[TN-71] 1824).
=Patron= (_The_), a farce by S. Foote (1764). The patron is Sir Thomas
Lofty, called by his friends, “sharp-judging Adriel, the Muse’s friend,
himself a Muse,” but by those who loved him less, “the modern Midas.”
Books without number were dedicated to him, and the writers addressed
him as the “British Pollio, Atticus, the Mæcēnas of England, protector
of arts, paragon of poets, arbiter of taste, and sworn appraiser of
Apollo and the Muses.” The plot is very simple: Sir Thomas Lofty has
written a play called _Robinson Crusoe_, and gets Richard Bever to stand
godfather to it. The play is damned past redemption, and to soothe
Bever, Sir Thomas allows him to marry his niece, Juliet.
Horace Walpole, earl of Orford, is the original of “Sir Thomas Lofty”
(1717-1797).
=Patten=, according to Gay, is so called from Patty, the pretty daughter
of a Lincolnshire farmer, with whom the village blacksmith fell in love.
To save her from wet feet when she went to milk the cows, he mounted her
clogs on an iron eke.
The patten now supports each frugal dame,
Which from the blue-eyed Patty takes its name.
Gay, _Trivia_, i. (1712).
(Of course, the word is the French _patin_, “a skate or high-heeled
shoe,” from the Greek, _patein_, “to walk.”)
=Pattieson= (_Mr. Peter_), in the introduction of _The Heart of
Midlothian_, by Sir W. Scott, and again in the introduction of _The
Bride of Lammermoor_. He is a hypothetical assistant teacher at
Gandercleuch, and the feigned author of _The Tales of My Landlord_,
which Sir Walter Scott pretends were published by Jedediah Cleishbotham,
after the death of Pattieson.
=Patton= (_Mrs._). Tailoress and talker, otherwise known as “the Widow
Jim,” who has all genealogy and relationship at her tongue’s end. “She
chatters all day as the swallows chatter, and you do not tire of
her.”--Sarah Orne Jewett, _Deephaven_ (1877).
=Patterson= (_Elizabeth_). One of the most remarkable women of this
century. The beautiful daughter of a Baltimore merchant prince, she
captivated Jerome Bonaparte, (then a minor, and dependent on his
brother), who was visiting America. In the face of parental opposition,
she married him Dec. 24, 1803. Napoleon (First Consul) promptly
repudiated the marriage, ordered his brother home, and forbade all
French vessels to receive as a passenger, “_the young person_ with whom
Citizen Joseph has connected himself.” In October, 1804, the young
couple sailed for France in the ship _Philadelphia_, but were blown
ashore at Lewes, Del. In March, 1805, they embarked again, reaching
Lisbon, April 2. Napoleon (now emperor) refused to allow them to enter
France, but sent to know “what he could do for _Miss Patterson_.” She
replied that “Madame Bonaparte demanded her rights as one of the
imperial family.” The contest was unequal. She was sent back to America,
and the marriage declared null and void. Her son, Jerome, was born in
England, July 7, 1805. She was never allowed to see her husband again,
yet her ambitious projects for “Bo,” as she called her son, were
unremitting until the downfall of the Bonarparte[TN-72] family. After
this, she aimed to ally him with the English nobility, a design thwarted
by his love-match with a lovely Baltimorean. She was an able financier,
and became one of the richest women in Baltimore. Retaining her mind and
many traces of her extraordinary beauty to the last, she died, April 3,
1879, at the age of ninety-four.
“By the laws of justice and of the Church she was a queen, although
she was never allowed to reign.... There was about her the
brilliancy of courts and palaces, the enchantment of a love-story,
the suffering of a victim of despotic power.”--Eugene Dìdier, _Life
and Letters of Madame Bonaparte_ (1879).
=Patty=, “the maid of the mill,” daughter of Fairfield, the miller. She
was brought up by the mother of Lord Aimworth, and was promised by her
father in marriage to Farmer Giles; but she refused to marry him, and
became the bride of Lord Aimworth. Patty was very clever, very pretty,
very ingenuous, and loved his lordship to adoration.--Bickerstaff, _The
Maid of the Mill_ (1765).
=Pattypan= (_Mrs._), a widow who keeps lodgings, and makes love to Tim
Tartlet, to whom she is ultimately engaged.
By all accounts, she is just as loving now as she was thirty years
ago.--James Cobb, _The First Floor_, i. 2 (1756-1818).
=Patullo= (_Mrs._), waiting-woman to Lady Ashton.--Sir W. Scott, _Bride of
Lammermoor_ (time, William III.).
=Pau-Puk-Keewis=, a cunning mischief-maker, who taught the North American
Indians the game of hazard, and stripped them, by his winnings, of all
their possessions. In a mad freak Pau-Puk-Keewis entered the wigwam of
Hiawatha and threw everything into confusion; so Hiawatha resolved to
slay him. Pau-Puk-Keewis, taking to flight, prayed the beavers to make
him a beaver ten times their own size. This they did; but when the other
beavers made their escape, at the arrival of Hiawatha, Pau-Puk-Keewis
was hindered from getting away by his great size; and Hiawatha slew him.
His spirit, escaping, flew upwards, and prayed the storm-fools to make
him a “brant” ten times their own size. This was done, and he was told
never to look downwards, or he would lose his life. When Hiawatha
arrived, the “brant” could not forbear looking at him; and immediately
he fell to earth, and Hiawatha transformed him into an eagle.
Now in winter, when the snowflakes
Whirl in eddies round the lodges,...
“There,” they cry, “comes Pau-Puk-Keewis;
He is dancing thro’ the village,
He is gathering in his harvest.”
Longfellow, _Hiawatha_, xvii. (1855).
=Paul=, the love-child of Margaret, who retired to Port Louis, in the
Mauritius, to bury herself, and bring up her only child. Hither came
Mde. de la Tour, a widow, and was confined of a daughter, whom she named
Virginia. Between these neighbors a mutual friendship arose, and the two
children became playmates. As they grew in years their fondness for each
other developed into love. When Virginia was 15, her mother’s aunt
adopted her, and begged she might be sent to France to finish her
education. She was above two years in France; and as she refused to
marry a count of the “aunt’s” providing, she was disinherited and sent
back to her mother. When within a cable’s length of the island a
hurricane dashed the ship to pieces, and the dead body of Virginia was
thrown upon the shore. Paul drooped from grief, and within two months
followed her to the grave.--Bernardin de St. Pierre, _Paul et Virgine_
(1788).
In Cobb’s dramatic version, Paul’s mother (Margaret) is made a faithful
domestic of Virginia’s parents. Virginia’s mother dies, and commits her
infant daughter to the care of Dominique, a faithful old negro servant,
and Paul and Virginia are brought up in the belief that they are brother
and sister. When Virginia is 15 years old, her aunt, Leonora de Guzman,
adopts her, and sends Don Antonio de Guardes to bring her to Spain and
make her his bride. She is taken by force on board ship; but scarcely
has the ship started, when a hurricane dashes it on rocks, and it is
wrecked. Alhambra, a runaway slave whom Paul and Virginia had
befriended, rescues Virginia, who is brought to shore and married to
Paul; but Antonio is drowned (1756-1818).
_Paul_ (_Father_), Paul Sarpi (1552-1628).
_Paul_ (_St._). The very sword which cut off the head of this apostle is
preserved at the convent of La Lisla, near Tolēdo, in Spain. If any one
doubts the fact he may, for a gratuity, see a “copper sword, twenty-five
inches long and three and a half broad, on one side of which is the word
MUCRO (‘a sword’), and on the other PAULUS ... CAPITE.” Can anything be
more convincing?
_Paul_ (_The Second St._). St[TN-73] Remi or _Remigius_, “The Great
Apostle of the French.” He was made bishop of Rheims when only 22 years
old. It was St[TN-73] Remi who baptized Clovis, and told him that
henceforth he must worship what he hitherto had hated, and abjure what
he had hitherto adored (439-535).
⁂ The cruse employed by St. Remi in the baptism of Clovis was used
through the French monarchy in the anointing of all the kings.
=Paul Pry=, an idle, inquisitive, meddlesome fellow, who has no occupation
of his own, and is forever poking his nose into other people’s affairs.
He always comes in with the apology, “I hope I don’t intrude.”--John
Poole, _Paul Pry_.
Thomas Hill, familiarly called “Tommy Hill,” was the original of this
character, and also of “Gilbert Gurney,” by Theodore Hook. Planché says
of Thomas Hill:
His _specialité_ was the accurate information he could impart on
all the petty details of the domestic economy of his friends, the
contents of their wardrobes, their pantries, the number of pots of
preserves in their store-closets, and of the table-napkins in their
linen-presses, the dates of their births and marriages, the amounts
of their tradesmen’s bills, and whether paid weekly or quarterly.
He had been on the press, and was connected with the _Morning
Chronicle_. He used to drive Mathews crazy by ferreting out his
whereabouts when he left London, and popping the information into
some paper.--_Recollections_, i. 131-2.
=Paul Rushleigh=, son of a wealthy manufacturer, and in love from boyhood
with Faith Gartney. She can give him only sisterly affection in return,
but her refusal makes a man of the boy. Ten years afterwards, as General
Rushleigh, a noble, high-minded patriot, he meets Margaret Regis and
marries her.--A. D. T. Whitney, _Sights and Insights_ (1876).
=Pauletti= (_the Lady Erminia_), ward of Master George Heriot, the king’s
goldsmith.--Sir W. Scott, _The Fortunes of Nigel_ (time, James I.).
=Pauli´na=, the noble-spirited wife of Antig´onus, a Sicilian lord, and
the kind friend of Queen Hermi´onê. When Hermionê gave birth in prison
to a daughter, Paulina undertook to present it to King Leontês, hoping
that his heart would be softened at the sight of his infant daughter;
but he commanded the child to be cast out on a desert shore, and left
there to perish. The child was drifted to the “coast” of Bohemia, and
brought up by a shepherd, who called it Perdĭta. Florizel, the son of
king Polixĕnês, fell in love with her, and fled with her to Sicily, to
escape the vengeance of the angry king. The fugitives being introduced
to Leontês, it was soon discovered that Perdita was the king’s daughter,
and Polixenês consented to the union he had before forbidden. Paulina
now invited Leontês and the rest to inspect a famous statue of Hermionê,
and the statue turned out to be the living queen herself.--Shakespeare,
_The Winter’s Tale_ (1604).
=Pauline=, “The Beauty of Lyons,” daughter of M. Deschappelles, a Lyonese
merchant; “as pretty as Venus, and as proud as Juno.” Pauline rejected
the suits of Beauseant, Glavis and Claude Melnotte; and the three
rejected lovers combined on vengeance. To this end, Claude, who was a
gardener’s son, pretended to be the Prince Como, and Pauline married
him, but was indignant when she discovered the trick which had been
played upon her. Claude left her, and entered the French army, where in
two years and a half he rose to the rank of colonel. Returning to Lyons,
he found his father-in-law on the eve of bankruptcy, and Pauline about
to be sold to Beauseant for money to satisfy the creditors. Being
convinced that Pauline really loved him, Claude paid the money required,
and claimed the lady as his loving and grateful wife.--Lord L. B.
Lytton, _The Lady of Lyons_ (1838).
_Pauline_ (_Mademoiselle_) or MONNA PAULA, the attendant of Lady Erminia
Pauletti, the goldsmith’s ward.--Sir W. Scott, _The Fortunes of Nigel_
(time, James I.).
=Pauline Pavlovna=, heroine of T. B. Aldrich’s drama of that name (1890).
=Pauli´nus= of York, christened 10,000 men, besides women and their
children in one single day in the Swale. (Altogether some 50,000 souls,
_i.e._ 104 every minute, 6,250 every hour, supposing he worked eight
hours without stopping.)
When the Saxons first received the Christian faith,
Paulinus of old York, the zealous bishop then,
In Swale’s abundant stream christened ten thousand men,
With women and their babes, a number more besides,
Upon one happy day.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xxviii. (1622).
=Paulo=, the cardinal and brother of Count Guido Franceschi´ni. He advised
the count to repair his bankrupt fortune by marrying an heiress.--R.
Browning, _The Ring and the Book_.
=Paupiah=, the Hindû steward of the British governor of Madras.--Sir W.
Scott, _The Surgeon’s Daughter_ (time, George II.).
=Pausa´nias= (_The British_), William Camden (1551-1623). Pausanias was a
traveller and geographer in the 2d century A.D., who wrote an Itinerary
of Greece. Camden wrote in Latin his “Brittania,” a survey of the
British Isles.
=Pauvre Jacques.= When Marie Antoinette had her artificial Swiss village
in the “Little Trianon,” a Swiss girl was brought over to heighten the
illusion. She was observed to pine, and was heard to sigh out, _pauvre
Jacques_! This little romance pleased the queen, who sent for Jacques,
and gave the pair a wedding portion; while the Marchioness de Travanet
wrote the song called _Pauvre Jacques_, which created at the time quite
a sensation. The first and last verses run thus:
Pauvre Jacques, quand j’etais près de toi,
Je ne sentais pas ma misère;
Mais à présent que tu vis loin de moi,
Je manque de tout sur la terre.
Poor Jack, while I was near to thee,
Tho’ poor, my bliss was unalloyed;
But now thou dwell’st so far from me,
The world appears a lonesome void.
=Pa´via= (_Battle of_). Francis I. of France is said to have written to
his mother these words, after the loss of this battle: “Madame, tout est
perdu hors l’honneur;” but what he really wrote was: “Madame ... de
toutes choses ne m’est demeuré pas que l’honneur et la vie.”
And with a noble siege revolted Pavia took.
Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xviii. (1613).
=Pavillon= (_Meinheer Hermann_), the syndic at Liège [_Le-aje_].
_Mother Mabel Pavillon_, wife of Meinheer Hermann.
_Trudchen_ or _Gertrude Pavillon_, their daughter, betrothed to Hans
Glover.--Sir W. Scott, _Quentin Durward_ (time, Edward IV.).
=Pawkins= (_Major_), a huge, heavy man, “one of the most remarkable of the
age.” He was a great politician and great patriot, but generally under a
cloud, wholly owing to his distinguished genius for bold speculations,
not to say “swindling schemes.” His creed was “to run a moist pen slick
through everything, and start afresh.”--C. Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_
(1844).
=Pawnbrokers’ Balls.= The gilded balls, the sign of pawnbrokers, are the
pills on the shield of the Medici family. Its founder, Cosmo, named
after Saint Cosmo, the patron of physicians, joined the guild of the
doctors (_Medici_), as every Florentine enrolled himself in one of these
charitable societies. The Medici family became great money-lenders, and
their shield with the “balls” or “pills” was placed over the doors of
their agents.
=Paynim Harper= (_The_), referred to by Tennyson in the _Last Tournament_,
was Orpheus.
Swine, goats, asses, rams and geese
Troop’d round a Paynim harper once ...
Then were swine, goats, asses, geese
The wiser fools, seeing thy Paynim bard
Had such a mastery of his mystery
That he could harp his wife up out of hell.
Tennyson, _The Last Tournament_ (1859).
=Peace= (_Prince of the_), Don Manuel Godoy, born at Badajoz. So called
because he concluded the “peace of Basle” between the French and Spanish
nations in 1795 (1767-1851).
_Peace_ (_The Father of_), Andrea Doria (1469-1560).
_Peace_ (_The Surest Way to_). Fox, afterwards bishop of Hereford, said
to Henry VIII., _The surest way to peace is a constant preparation for
war_. The Romans had the axiom, _Si vis pacem, para bellum_. It was said
of Edgar, surnamed “the Peaceful,” king of England, that he preserved
peace in those turbulent times “by being always prepared for war”
(reigned 959-975.)
=Peace Thirlmore=, ambitious daughter of a scholarly recluse near New
Haven. She marries a clever student, who becomes a sensational preacher,
then farmer, then an army officer. His wife passes through many stages
of belief and emotion, emerging at last into the sunshine.--W. M. Baker,
_His Majesty, Myself_ (1879).
=Peace at any Price.= Mézeray says of Louis XII., that he had such
detestation of war that he rather chose to lose his duchy of Mĭlan than
burden his subjects with a war-tax.--_Histoire de France_ (1643).
=Peace of Antal´cidas=, the peace concluded by Antalcidas, the Spartan,
and Artaxerxes (B.C. 387).
=Peace of God=, a peace enforced by the clergy on the barons of
Christendom, to prevent the perpetual feuds between baron and baron
(1035).
=Peach´um=, a pimp, patron of a gang of thieves, and receiver of their
stolen goods. His house is the resort of thieves, pickpockets, and
villains of all sorts. He betrays his comrades when it is for his own
benefit, and even procures the arrest of Captain Macheath.
_Mrs. Peachum_, wife of Peachum. She recommends her daughter Polly to be
“somewhat nice in her deviations from virtue.”
_Polly Peachum_, daughter of Peachum. (See POLLY.)--J. Gay, _The
Beggar’s Opera_ (1727).
=Pearl= (_Little_), illegitimate child of Hester Prynne and Arthur
Dimmesdale. A piquant, tricksy sprite, as naughty as she is
bewitching--a creature of fire and air, more elfish than human, at once
her mother’s torment and her treasure.--Nathaniel Hawthorne, _The
Scarlet Letter_ (1850).
=Pearl.= It is said that Cleopatra swallowed a pearl of more value than
the whole of the banquet she had provided in honor of Antony. This she
did when she drank to his health. The same sort of extravagant folly is
told of Æsopus, son of Clodius Æsopus, the actor (Horace, _Satire_, ii.
3).
A similar act of vanity and folly is ascribed to Sir Thomas Gresham,
when Queen Elizabeth dined at the City banquet, after her visit to the
Royal Exchange.
Here £15,000 at one clap goes
Instead of sugar; Gresham drinks the pearl
Unto his queen and mistress.
Thomas Heywood.
=Pearson= (_Captain Gilbert_), officer in attendance on Cromwell.--Sir W.
Scott, _Woodstock_ (time, Commonwealth).
=Peasant-Bard= (_The_), Robert Burns (1859-1796).
=Peasant-Painter of Sweden=, Hörberg. His chief paintings are
altar-pieces.
The altar-piece painted by Hörberg.
Longfellow, _The Children of the Lord’s Supper_.
=Peasant Poet of Northamptonshire=, John Clare (1793-1864).
=Peasant of the Danube= (_The_), Louis Legendre, a member of the French
National Convention (1755-1797); called in French _Le Paysan du Danube_,
from his “éloquence sauvage.”
=Peau de Chagrin=, a story by Balzac. The hero becomes possessed of a
magical wild ass’s skin, which yields him the means of gratifying every
wish; but for every wish thus gratified, the skin shrank somewhat, and
at last vanished, having been wished entirely away. Life is a _peau
d’ane_,[TN-74] for every vital act diminishes its force, and when all its
force is gone, life is gone (1834).
=Peckhams= (_The_), _Silas Peckham_, “a thorough Yankee, born on a windy
part of the coast, and reared chiefly on salt-fish; keeps a young
ladies’ school exactly as he would have kept a hundred head of
cattle--for the simple, unadorned purpose of making just as much money
in just as few years as can be safely done.”
_Mrs. Peckham’s_ specialty is “to look after the feathering, cackling,
roosting, rising, and general behavior of these hundred chicks. An
honest, ignorant woman, she could not have passed an examination in the
youngest class.”--Oliver Wendell Holmes _Elsie Venner_ (1861).
=Peck´sniff=, “architect and land surveyor,” at Salisbury. He talks
homilies even in drunkenness, prates about the beauty of charity, and
duty of forgiveness, but is altogether a canting humbug, and is
ultimately so reduced in position that he becomes a “drunken, begging,
squalid, letter-writing man,” out at elbows, and almost shoeless.
Pecksniff’s specialty is the “sleek, smiling abominations of hypocrisy.”
If ever man combined within himself all the mild qualities of the
lamb with a considerable touch of the dove, and not a dash of the
crocodile, or the least possible suggestion of the very mildest
seasoning of the serpent, that man was Mr. Pecksniff, “the
messenger of peace.”
_Charity_ and _Mercy Pecksniff_, the two daughters of the “architect and
land surveyor.” Charity is thin, ill-natured, and a shrew, eventually
jilted by a weak young man, who really loves her sister. Mercy
Pecksniff, usually called “Merry,” is pretty and true-hearted; though
flippant and foolish as a girl, she becomes greatly toned down by the
troubles of her married life.--C. Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1843).
=Peculiar=, negro slave, endowed with talent, ambitious of an opportunity
to develop and use these, but hopeless of gaining it, until emancipated
by the Civil War between the United States and the Southern
Confederacy.--Epes Sargent, _Peculiar_.
=Pedant=, an old fellow set up to personate Vincentio in Shakespeare’s
comedy called _The Taming of the Shrew_ (1695).
=Pèdre= (_Don_), a Sicilian nobleman, who has a Greek slave of great
beauty, named Isidore (3 _syl._). This slave is loved by Adraste (2
_syl._), a French gentleman, who gains access to the house under the
guise of a portrait-painter. He next sends his slave, Zaïda,[TN-75] to
complain to the Sicilian of ill-treatment, and Don Pèdre volunteers to
intercede on her behalf. At this moment Adraste comes up, and demands
that Zaïde be given up to deserved chastisement. Pedrè[TN-76] pleads for
her, Adraste appears to be pacified, and Pedrè[TN-76] calls for Zaïde to
come forth. Isidore, in the veil of Zaïde, comes out, and Pedrè[TN-76]
says, “There, take her home, and use her well.” “I will do so,” says
Adraste, and leads off the Greek slave.--Molière, _Le Sicilien ou
L’Amour Peintre_ (1667).
=Pedrillo=, the tutor of Don Juan. After the shipwreck, the men in the
boat, being wholly without provisions, cast lots to know which should be
killed as food for the rest, and the lot fell on Pedrillo, but those who
feasted on him most ravenously went mad.
His tutor, the licentiate Pedrillo,
Who several languages did understand.
Byron, _Don Juan_, ii. 25; see 76-79 (1819).
=Pedro=, “the pilgrim,” a noble gentleman servant to Alinda (daughter of
Lord Alphonso).--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Pilgrim_ (1621).
_Pedro_ (_Don_), prince of Aragon.--Shakespeare, _Much Ado about
Nothing_ (1600).
_Pedro_ (_Don_), father of Leonora.--R. Jephson, _Two Strings to your
Bow_ (1792).
_Pedro_ (_Don_), a Portuguese nobleman, father of Donna Violante.--Mrs.
Centlivre, _The Wonder_ (1714).
_Pedro_ (_Dr._), whose full name was Dr. Pedro Rezio de Aguero, court
physician in the island of Barataria. He carried a whalebone rod in his
hand, and whenever any dish of food was set before Sancho Panza, the
governor, he touched it with his wand, that it might be instantly
removed, as unfit for the governor to eat. Partridges were “forbidden by
Hippoc´ratês,” olla podridas were “most pernicious,” rabbits were “a
sharp-haired diet,” veal might not be touched, but “a few wafers, and a
thin slice or two of quince,” might not be harmful.
The governor, being served with some beef hashed with onions, ...
fell to with more avidity than if he had been set down to Milan
godwits, Roman pheasants, Sorrento veal, Moron partridges, or green
geese of Lavajos; and turning to Dr. Pedro, he said, “Look you,
signor doctor, I want no danties, ... for I have always been used
to beef, bacon, pork, turnips and onions.”--Cervantes, _Don
Quixote_, II. iii. 10, 12 (1615).
=Peebles= (_Peter_), the pauper litigant. He is vain, litigious,
hard-hearted, and credulous; a liar, a drunkard, and a pauper. His
“ganging plea” is worthy of Hogarth.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time,
George III.).
=Peecher= (_Miss_), a schoolmistress, in the flat country where Kent and
Surrey meet. “Small, shining, neat, methodical, and buxom was Miss
Peecher; cherry-cheeked and tuneful of voice. A little pincushion, a
little hussie, a little book, a little work-box, a little set of tables
and weights and measures, and a little woman all in one. She could write
a little essay on any subject exactly a slate long, and strictly
according to rule. If Mr. Bradley Headstone had proposed marriage to
her, she would certainly have replied ‘yes,’ for she loved him;” but Mr.
Headstone did not love Miss Peecher--he loved Lizzie Hexam, and had no
love to spare for any other woman.--C. Dickens, _Our Mutual Friend_, ii.
1 (1864).
=Peel-the-Causeway= (_Old_), a smuggler. Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_
(time, George III.).
=Peeler= (_Sir_), any crop which greatly impoverishes the ground. To
_peel_ is to impoverish soil, as “oats, rye, barley, and grey wheat,”
but not peas (xxxiii. 51).
Wheat doth not well,
Nor after Sir Peeler he loveth to dwell.
T. Tusser, _Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry_, xviii. 12 (1557).
=Peelers=, the constabulary of Ireland, appointed under the Peace
Preservation Act of 1814, proposed by Sir Robert Peel. The name was
subsequently given to the new police of England, who are also called
“Bobbies” from Sir Robert Peel.
=Peep-o’-Day Boys=, Irish insurgents of 1784, who prowled about at
day-break, searching for arms.
=Peeping Tom of Coventry.= Lady Godiva earnestly besought her husband
(Leofric, earl of Mercia) to relieve the men of Coventry of their
grievous oppressions. Leofric, annoyed at her importunity, told her he
would do so when she had ridden on horseback, naked, through the town.
The countess took him at his word, rode naked through the town, and
Leofric was obliged to grant the men of Coventry a charter of
freedom.--Dugdale.
Rapin says that the countess commanded all persons to keep within doors
and away from windows during her ride. One man, named Tom of Coventry,
took a peep of the lady on horseback, but it cost him his life.
⁂ Tennyson, in his _Godiva_, has reproduced this story.
=Peerage of the Saints.= In the preamble of the statutes instituting the
Order of St. Michael, founded by Louis XI in 1469, the archangel is
styled “my lord,” and created a knight. The apostles had been already
ennobled and knighted. We read of “the Earl Peter,” “Count Paul,” “the
Baron Stephen,” and so on. Thus, in the introduction of a sermon upon
St. Stephen’s Day, we have these lines:
Entendes toutes a chest sermon,
Et clair et lai tules environ;
Contes vous vueille la pation
De St. Estieul le baron.
=Peerce= (1 _syl._), a generic name for a farmer or ploughman. Piers the
plowman is the name assumed by Robert or William Langland, in a
historico-satirical poem so called.
And yet, my priests, pray you to God for Peerce ...
And if you have a “pater noster” spare,
Then you shal pray for saylers.
G. Gascoigne, _The Steele Glas_ (died 1577).
=Peery= (_Paul_), landlord of the Ship, Dover.
_Mrs. Peery_, Paul’s wife.--G. Colman, _Ways and Means_ (1788).
=Peerybingle= (_John_), a carrier, “lumbering, slow, and honest; heavy,
but light of spirit; rough upon the surface, but gentle at the core;
dull without, but quick within; stolid, but so good. O, Mother Nature,
give thy children the true poetry of heart that hid itself in this poor
carrier’s breast, and we can bear to have them talking prose all their
life long!”
_Mrs. [Mary] Peerybingle_, called by her husband “Dot.” She was a little
chubby, cheery, young wife, very fond of her husband, and very proud of
her baby; a good housewife, who delighted in making the house snug and
cozy for John, when he came home after his day’s work. She called him “a
dear old darling of a dunce,” or “her little goosie.” She sheltered
Edward Plummer in her cottage for a time, and got into trouble; but the
marriage of Edward with May Fielding cleared up the mystery, and John
loved his little Dot more fondly than ever.--C. Dickens, _The Cricket on
the Hearth_ (1845).
=Peg.= _Drink to your peg._ King Edgar ordered “that pegs should be
fastened into drinking-horns at stated distances and whoever drank
beyond his peg at one draught should be obnoxious to a severe
punishment.”
I had lately a peg-tankard in my hand. It had on the inside a row
of eight pins, one above another, from bottom to top. It held two
quarts, so that there was a gill of liquor between peg and peg.
Whoever drank short of his pin or beyond it, was obliged to drink
to the next, and so on till the tankard was drained to the
bottom.--Sharpe, _History of the Kings of England_.
=Peg-a-Ramsey=, the heroine of an old song. Percy says it was an indecent
ballad. Shakespeare alludes to it in his _Twelfth Night_, act ii. sc. 3
(1614).
James I. had been much struck with the beauty and embarrassment of
the pretty Peg-a-Ramsey? as he called her.--Sir W. Scott.
=Peg´asus=, the winged horse of the Muses. It was caught by Bellerophon,
who mounted thereon, and destroyed the Chimæra; but when he attempted to
ascend to heaven, he was thrown from the horse, and Pegasus mounted
alone to the skies, where it became the constellation of the same name.
_To break Pegasus’s neck_, to write halting poetry.
Some, free from rhyme or reason, rule or check,
Break Priscian’s head, and Pegasus’s neck.
Pope, _The Dunciad_, iii. 161 (1728).
⁂ To “break Priscian’s head,” is to write ungrammatically. Priscian was
a great grammarian of the fifth century.
=Pegg= (_Catharine_), one of the mistresses of Charles II. She was the
daughter of Thomas Pegg, Esq., of Yeldersay, in Derbyshire.
=Peggot´ty= (_Clara_), servant of Mrs. Copperfield, and the faithful old
nurse of David Copperfield. Her name “Clara” was tabooed, because it was
the name of Mrs. Copperfield. Clara Peggotty married Barkis, the
carrier.
Being very plump, whenever she made any little exertion after she
was dressed, some of the buttons on the back of her gown flew
off.--Ch. ii.
_Dan’el Peggotty_, brother of David Copperfield’s nurse. Dan’el was a
Yarmouth fisherman. His nephew, Ham Peggotty, and his brother-in-law’s
child, “little Em’ly,” lived with him. Dan’el himself was a bachelor,
and Mrs. Gummidge (widow of his late partner) kept house for him. Dan’el
Peggotty was most tender-hearted, and loved little Em’ly with all his
heart.
_Ham Peggotty_, nephew of Dan’el Peggotty, of Yarmouth, and son of Joe,
Dan’el’s brother. Ham was in love with little Em’ly, daughter of Tom
(Dan’s brother-in-law), but Steerforth stepped in between them, and
stole Em’ly away. Ham Peggotty is represented as the very beau-ideal of
an uneducated, simple-minded, honest, and warm-hearted fisherman. He was
drowned in his attempt to rescue Steerforth from the sea.
_Em’ly Peggotty_, daughter of Dan’s brother-in-law, Tom. She was engaged
to Ham Peggotty; but being fascinated with Steerforth, ran off with him.
She was afterwards reclaimed, and emigrated to Australia with Dan’el and
Mrs. Gummidge.--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield_ (1849).
=Peggy=, grandchild of the old widow Maclure, a covenanter.--Sir W. Scott,
_Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).
_Peggy_, the laundry-maid of Colonel Mannering, at Woodburne.--Sir W.
Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).
_Peggy_ (_Shippen_). A love-letter from Benedict Arnold to this young
lady is extant in which after telling her that he has presumed to write
to her papa and has requested his sanction to his addresses, Arnold
goes on to protest.
“May I perish if I would give you one moment’s inquietude, to
purchase the greatest possible felicity to myself. Whatever my fate
may be, my most ardent wish is for your happiness, and my latest
breath will be to implore the blessing of heaven on the idol and
only wish of my soul.” September 26, 1778.
=Peggy= [=Thrift=),[TN-77] the orphan daughter of Sir Thomas Thrift, of
Hampshire, and the ward of Moody, who brings her up in seclusion in the
country. When Moody is 50, and Peggy 19, the guardian tries to marry
her, but “the country girl” outwits him, and marries Belville, a young
man of more suitable age. Peggy calls her guardian “Bud.” She is very
simple but sharp, ingenuous but crafty, lively and girlish.--_The
Country Girl_ (Garrick altered from Wycherly’s _Country Wife_, 1675).
=Peggy.= Dream-wife about whom cluster the imaginations of the bachelor
over the fire of green wood.
“Smoke always goes before blaze, and doubt before decision.”--Ik. Marvel
(Donald G. Mitchell), _Reveries of a Bachelor_ (1850).
=Pegler= (_Mrs._), mother of Josiah Boundderby,[TN-78] Esq., banker and
mill-owner, called “The Bully of Humility.” The son allows the old woman
£30 a year to keep out of sight.--C. Dickens. _Hard Times_ (1854).
=Peg Woffington=, celebrated English actress, _intriguante_, but kind of
heart. Sir Charles Vane is one of her lovers, but after the appearance
of his simple-hearted wife upon the scene, the actress dismisses her
admirer, and induces him to return to domestic life.--Charles Reade,
_Peg Woffington_.
=Pek´uah=, the attendant of Princess Nekayah, of the “happy valley.” She
accompanied the princess in her wanderings, but refused to enter the
great pyramid, and, while the princess was exploring the chambers, was
carried off by some Arabs. She was afterwards ransomed for 200 ounces of
gold.--Dr. Johnson, _Rasselas_ (1759).
=Pelay´o= (_Prince_), son of Favil´a, founder of the Spanish monarchy
after the overthrow of Roderick, last of the Gothic kings. He united, in
his own person, the royal lines of Spain and of the Goths.
In him the old Iberian blood,
Of royal and remotest ancestry
From undisputed source, flowed undefiled ...
He, too, of Chindasuintho’s regal line
Sole remnant now, drew after him the love
Of all true Goths.
Southey, _Roderick, etc._, viii. (1814).
=Pelham=, the hero of a novel by Lord Lytton, entitled _Pelham_, or _The
Adventures of a Gentleman_ (1828).
_Pelham_ (_M._), one of the many _aliases_ of Sir R. Phillips, under
which he published _The Parent’s and Tutor’s First Catechism_. In the
preface he calls the writer _authoress_. Some of his other names are
Rev. David Blair, Rev. C. C. Clarke, Rev. J. Goldsmith.
=Pel´ian Spear= (_The_), the lance of Achillês which wounded and cured
Te´lephos. So called from Peleus, the father of Achillês.
Such was the cure the Arcadian hero found--
The Pelian spear that wounded, made him sound.
Ovid, _Remedy of Love_.
=Peli´des= (3 _syl._), Achillês, son of Peleus (2 _syl._), chief of the
Greek warriors at the siege of Troy.--Homer, _Iliad_.
When, like Pelidês, bold beyond control,
Homer raised high to heaven the loud impetuous song.
Beattie, _The Minstrel_ (1773-4).
=Pe´lion= (“_mud-sprung_”), one of the frog chieftains.
A spear at Pelion, Troglodytês cast
The missive spear within the bosom past
Death’s sable shades the fainting frog surround,
And life’s red tide runs ebbing from the wound.
Parnell, _Battle of the Frogs and Mice_, iii. (about 1712).
=Pell= (_Solomon_), an attorney in the Insolvent Debtors’ court. He has
the very highest opinions of his own merits, and by his aid Tony Weller
contrives to get his son Sam sent to the Fleet for debt, that he may be
near Mr. Pickwick to protect and wait upon him.--C. Dickens, _The
Pickwick Papers_ (1836).
=Pelleas= (_Sir_), lord of many isles, and noted for his great muscular
strength. He fell in love with Lady Ettard, but the lady did not return
his love. Sir Gaw´ain promised to advocate his cause with the lady, but
played him false. Sir Pelleas caught them in unseemly dalliance with
each other, but forbore to kill them. By the power of enchantment, the
lady was made to dote on Sir Pelleas; but the knight would have nothing
to say to her, so she pined and died. After the Lady Ettard played him
false, the Damsel of the Lake “rejoiced him, and they loved together
during their whole lives.”--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_,
i. 79-82 (1470).
⁂ Sir Pelleas must not be confounded with Sir Pelles (_q.v._).
=Pellegrin=, the pseudonym of de la Motte Fouqué (1777-1843).
=Pelles= (_Sir_), of Corbin Castle, “king of the foragn land and nigh
cousin of Joseph of Arimathy.” He was father of Sir Eliazar, and of the
Lady Elaine, who fell in love with Sir Launcelot, by whom she became the
mother of Sir Galahad, “who achieved the quest of the Holy Graal.” This
Elaine was not the “lily maid of Astolat.”
While Sir Launcelot was visiting King Pelles, a glimpse of the Holy
Graal was vouchsafed them:
For when they went into the castle to take their repast ... there
came a dove to the window, and in her bill was a little censer of
gold, and there withall was such a savour as though all the spicery
of the world had been there ... and a damsel, passing fair, bare a
vessel of gold between her hands, and thereto the king kneeled
devoutly and said his prayers.... “Oh, mercy!” said Sir Launcelot,
“what may this mean?” ... “This,” said the king, “is the Holy
Sancgreall which ye have seen.”--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince
Arthur_, iii. 2 (1470).
=Pellinore= (_Sir_), king of the isles and knight of the Round Table (pt.
i. 57). He was a good man of power, was called “The Knight with the
Stranger Beast,” and slew King Lot of Orkney, but was himself slain ten
years afterwards by Sir Gawain, one of Lot’s sons (pt. i. 35). Sir
Pellinore (3 _syl._) had, by the wife of Aries, the cowherd, a son named
Sir Tor, who was the first knight of the Round Table created by King
Arthur (pt. i. 47, 48); one daughter, Elein, by the Lady of Rule (pt.
iii. 10); and three sons in lawful wedlock; Sir Aglouale (sometimes
called Aglavale, probably a clerical error), Sir Lamorake Dornar (also
called Sir Lamorake de Galis), and Sir Percivale de Gralis (pt. ii.
108). The widow succeeded to the throne (pt. iii. 10).--Sir T. Malory,
_History of Prince Arthur_ (1470).
Milton calls the name “Pellenore” (2 _syl._).
Fair damsels, met in forests wide
By knights of Logres, or of Lyones,
Lancelot, or Pelleas, or Pellenore.
Milton.
=Pelob´ates= (4 _syl._), one of the frog champions. The word means
“mud-wader.” In the battle he flings a heap of mud against Psycarpax,
the Hector of the mice, and half blinds him; but the warrior mouse
heaves a stone “whose bulk would need ten degenerate mice of modern days
to lift,” and the mass, falling on the “mud-wader,” breaks his
leg.--Parnell, _Battle of the Frogs and Mice_, iii. (about 1712).
=Pel´ops’ Shoulder=, ivory. The tale is that Demēter ate the shoulder of
Pelops when it was served up by Tan´talos for food. The gods restored
Pelops to life by putting the dismembered body into a caldron, but found
that it lacked a shoulder; whereupon Demeter supplied him with an ivory
shoulder, and all his descendants bore this distinctive mark.
N.B.--It will be remembered that Pythag´oras had a _golden thigh_.
Your forehead high,
And smooth as Pelop’s shoulder.
John Fletcher, _The Faithful Shepherdess_, ii. 1 (1610).
=Pelos=, father of Physigna´thos, king of the frogs. The word means
“mud.”--Parnell, _Battle of the Frogs and Mice_ (about 1712).
=Pembroke= (_The earl of_), uncle to Sir Aymer de Valence.--Sir W. Scott,
_Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry I.).
_Pembroke_ (_the Rev. Mr._), chaplain at Waverley Honor.--Sir W. Scott,
_Waverley_ (time, George II.).
=Pen=, Philemon Holland, translator-general of the classics. Of him was
the epigram written:
Holland, with his translations doth so fill us,
He will not let _Suetonius_ be _Tranquillus_.
(The point of which is, of course, that the name of the Roman historian
was _C. Suetonius Tranquillus_.)
Many of these translations were written from beginning to end with one
pen, and hence he himself wrote:
With one sole pen I writ this book,
Made of a grey goose-quill;
A pen it was when it I took,
And a pen I leave it still.
=Pendennis= (_Arthur_), pseudonym of W. M. Thackeray in _The Newcomes_
(1854).
_Pendennis_, a novel by Thackeray (1849), in which much of his own
history and experience is recorded with a novelist’s license.
_Pendennis_ stands in relation to Thackeray as _David Copperfield_ to
Charles Dickens.
_Arthur Pendennis_, a young man of ardent feelings and lively intellect,
but conceited and selfish. He has a keen sense of honor, and a capacity
for loving, but altogether he is not an attractive character.
_Laura Pendennis._ This is one of the best of Thackeray’s characters.
_Major Pendennis_, a tuft-hunter, who fawns on his patrons for the sake
of wedging himself into their society.--_History of Pendennis_,
published originally in monthly parts, beginning in 1849.
=Pendrag´on=, probably a title meaning “chief leader in war.” _Dragon_ is
Welsh for a “leader in war,” and _pcn_[TN-79] for “head” or “chief.” The
title was given to Uther, brother of Constans, and father of Prince
Arthur. Like the word “Pharaoh,” it is used as a proper name without the
article.--Geoffrey of Monmouth, _Chron._, vi. (1142).
Once I read,
That stout Pendragon in his litter, sick,
Came to the field, and vanquished his foes.