=Penel´ope’s Web=, a work that never progresses. Penelopê, the wife of
Ulysses, being importuned by several suitors during her husband’s long
absence, made reply that she could not marry again, even if Ulysses were
dead, till she had finished weaving a shroud for her aged father-in-law.
Every night she pulled out what she had woven during the day, and thus
the shroud made no progress towards completion.--_Greek Mythology._
The French say of a work “never ending, still beginning,” _c’est
l’ouvrage de Pénélope_.
=Penelope Lapham=, vivacious, but not pretty daughter of Silas Lapham. Her
wit wins the love her sister’s beauty could not capture. Penelope’s
unintentional conquest brings painful perplexity to herself, with
anguish to her sister. Still she yields finally to Irene’s magnanimity
and her suitor’s persuasions, and weds Tom Corey.--W. D. Howells, _The
Rise of Silas Lapham_ (1887).
=Penel´ophon=, the beggar loved by King Cophetua. Shakespeare calls the
name Zenelophon in _Love’s Labor’s Lost_, act iv. sc. 1 (1594).--Percy,
_Reliques_, I. ii. 6 (1765).
=Penelva= (_The Exploits and Adventures of_), part of the series called
_Le Roman des Romans_, pertaining to “Am´adis of Gaul.” This part was
added by an anonymous Portuguese (fifteenth century).
=Penfeather= (_Lady Penelope_), the Lady Patroness at the Spa.--Sir W.
Scott, _St. Ronan’s Well_ (time, George III.).
=Pengwern= (_The Torch of_), prince Gwenwyn of Powys-land.--Sir W. Scott,
_The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).
=Pengwinion= (_Mr._), from Cornwall; a Jacobite conspirator with Mr.
Redgauntlet.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).
=Peninsular War= (_The_), the war carried on by Sir Arthur Wellesley
against Napoleon in Portugal and Spain (1808-1814).
Southey wrote a _History of the Peninsular War_ (1822-32).
=Penitents of Love= (_Fraternity of the_), an institution established in
Languedoc, in the thirteenth century, consisting of knights and
esquires, dames and damsels, whose object was to prove the excess of
their love by bearing, with invincible constancy, the extremes of heat
and cold. They passed the greater part of the day abroad, wandering
about from castle to castle, wherever they were summoned by the
inviolable duties of love and gallantry; so that many of these devotees
perished by the inclemency of the weather, and received the crown of
martyrdom to their profession.--See Warton, _History of English Poetry_
(1781).
=Pen´lake= (_Richard_), a cheerful man, both frank and free, but married
to Rebecca, a terrible shrew. Rebecca knew if she once sat in St.
Michael’s chair (on St. Michael’s Mount, in Cornwall), that she would
rule her husband ever after; so she was very desirous of going to the
mount. It so happened that Richard fell sick, and both vowed to give six
marks to St. Michael if he recovered. Richard did recover, and they
visited the shrine; but while Richard was making the offering, Rebecca
ran to seat herself in St. Michael’s chair; but no sooner had she done
so, than she fell from the chair, and was killed in the fall.--Southey,
_St. Michael’s Chair_ (a ballad, 1798).
=Penniless= (_The_), Maximilian I., emperor of Germany (1459, 1493-1519).
=Penniman= (_Wolfert_). Young captain of the Mayga in _Outward Bound_.--W.
T. Adams (Oliver Optic).
=Penny= (_Jock_), a highwayman.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time,
George II.).
=Penruddock= (_Roderick_), a “philosopher,” or rather a recluse, who spent
his time in reading. By nature gentle, kind-hearted, and generous, but
soured by wrongs. Woodville, his trusted friend, although he knew that
Arabella was betrothed to Roderick, induced her father to give his
daughter to himself, the richer man; and Roderick’s life was blasted.
Woodville had a son, who reduced himself to positive indigence by
gambling. Sir George Penruddock was the chief creditor. Sir George
dying, all his property came to his cousin, Roderick, who now had ample
means to glut his revenge on his treacherous friend; but his heart
softened. First, he settled all “the obligations, bonds, and mortgages,
covering the whole Woodville property,” on Henry Woodville, that he
might marry Emily Tempest; and next, he restored to Mrs. Woodville “her
settlement, which in her husband’s desperate necessity, she had resigned
to him;” lastly, he sold all his own estates, and retired again to a
country cottage to his books and solitude.--Cumberland, _The Wheel of
Fortune_ (1779).
=Pentap´oliff=, “with the naked arm,” king of the Garaman´teans, who
always went to battle with his right arm bare. Alifanfaron, emperor of
Trap´oban, wished to marry his daughter, but, being refused, resolved to
urge his suit by the sword. When Don Quixote saw two flocks of sheep
coming along the road in opposite directions, he told Sancho Panza they
were the armies of these two puissant monarchs met in array against each
other.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. iii. 4 (1605).
=Pentecôte Vivante= (_La_), Cardinal Mezzofanti, who was the master of
fifty or fifty-eight languages (1774-1849).
=Penthe´a=, sister of Ith´oclês, betrothed to Or´gilus by the consent of
her father. At the death of her father, Ithoclês compelled her to marry
Bass´anes, whom she hated, and she starved herself to death.--John Ford,
_The Broken Heart_ (1633).
=Penthesile´a=, queen of the Amazons, slain by Achilles. S. Butler calls
the name “Penthes´ilê.”
And laid about in fight more busily
Than th’ Amazonian dame Penthesile.
S. Butler, _Hudibras_.
=Pen´theus= (3 _syl._), a king of Thebes, who tried to abolish the orgies
of Bacchus, but was driven mad by the offended god. In his madness he
climbed into a tree to witness the rites, and being descried was torn to
pieces by the Bacchantes.
As when wild Pentheus, grown mad with fear,
Whole troops of hellish hags about him spies.
Giles Fletcher, _Christ’s Triumph over Death_ (1610).
_Pentheus_ (2 _syl._), a king of Thebes, resisted the introduction of
the worship of Dyoni´sos (_Bacchus_) into his kingdom, in consequence
of which the Bacchantes pulled his palace to the ground, and Pentheus,
driven from the throne, was torn to pieces on Mount Cithæron by his own
mother and her two sisters.
He the fate [_may sing_]
Of sober Pentheus.
Akenside, _Hymn to the Naiads_ (1767).
=Pentweazel= (_Alderman_), a rich city merchant of Blowbladder Street. He
is wholly submissive to his wife, whom he always addresses as “Chuck.”
_Mrs. Pentweazel_, the alderman’s wife, very ignorant, very vain, and
very conceitedly humble. She was a Griskin by birth, and “all her family
by the mother’s side were famous for their eyes.” She had an aunt among
the beauties of Windsor, “a perdigious fine woman. She had but one eye,
but that was a piercer, and got her three husbands. We was called the
gimlet family.” Mrs. Pentweazel says her first likeness was done after
“Venus de Medicis, the sister of Mary de Medicis.”
_Sukey Pentweazel_, daughter of the alderman, recently married to Mr.
Deputy Dripping, of Candlewick Yard.
_Carel Pentweazel_, a schoolboy, who had been under Dr. Jerks, near
Doncaster, for two years and a quarter, and had learnt all _As in
Præsenti_ by heart. The terms of this school were £10 a year for food,
books, board, clothes and tuition.--Foote, _Taste_ (1753).
=People= (_Man of the_), Charles James Fox (1749-1806).
=Pepin= (_William_), a White Friar and most famous preacher at the
beginning of the sixteenth century. His sermons, in eight volumes
quarto, formed the grand repertory of the preachers of those times.
=Pepita=, Spanish beauty of whom the poet sings:
I, who dwell over the way
Watch where Pepita is hid,
Safe from the glare of the day,
Like an eye under its lid;
Over and over I say--
Name like the song of a bird,
Melody shut in a word--
“Pepita!”
Frank Dempster Sherman, _Madrigals and Catches_ (1887).
=Pepperpot= (_Sir Peter_), a West Indian epicure, immensely rich,
conceited and irritable.--Foote, _The Patron_ (1764).
=Peppers.= (See WHITE HORSE OF THE PEPPERS.)
=Peps= (_Dr[TN-81] Parker_), a court physician who attended the first Mrs.
Dombey on her death-bed. Dr. Peps always gave his patients (by mistake,
of course), a title, to impress them with the idea that his practice was
exclusively confined to the upper ten thousand.--C. Dickens, _Dombey and
Son_ (1846).
=Perceforest= (_King_), the hero of a prose romance “in Greek.” The MS. is
said to have been found by Count William of Hainault in a cabinet at
“Burtimer” Abbey, on the Humber; and in the same cabinet was deposited a
crown, which the count sent to King Edward. The MS. was turned into
Latin by St. Landelain, and thence into French under the title of _La
Tres Elegante Deliceux Melliflue et Tres Plaisante Hystoire du Tres
Noble Roy Perceforest_ (printed at Paris in 1528).
(Of course, this pretended discovery is only an invention. An analysis
of the romance is given in Dunlop’s _History of fiction_.)
He was called “Perceforest,” because he dared to _pierce_, almost alone,
an enchanted _forest_, where women and children were most evilly
treated. Charles IX., of France, was especially fond of this romance.
=Perch=, messenger in the house of Mr. Dombey, merchant, whom he adored,
and plainly showed by his manner to the great man: “You are the light of
my eyes,” “You are the breath of my soul.”--C. Dickens, _Dombey and Son_
(1846).
=Perche Notary= (_A_), a lawyer who sets people together by the ears, one
who makes more quarrels than contracts. The French proverb is, _Notaire
du Perche, qui passe plus d’échalliers que de contrat_.
Le Perche, qui se trouve partagé entre les départements de l’Orne
et d’Eure-et-Loir, est un contrée fort boisée, dans laquelle la
plupart des champs sont entourés de haies dans lesquelles sont
ménagées certaines ouvertures propres à donner passage aux piétons
seulement, et que l’on nomme _échalliers_.--_Hilaire le Gai._
=Percinet=, a fairy prince, in love with Graciosa. The prince succeeds in
thwarting the malicious designs of Grognon, the step-mother of the
lovely princess.--_Percinet and Graciosa_ (a fairy tale).
=Percival= (_Sir_), the third son of Sir Pellinore, king of Wales. His
brothers were Sir Aglavale and Sir Lamorake Dornar, usually called Sir
Lamorake de Galis (_Wales_). Sir Tor was his half-brother. Sir Percival
caught a sight of the Holy Graal after his combat with Sir Ector de
Maris (brother of Sir Launcelot), and both were miraculously healed by
it. Crétien de Troyes wrote the _Roman de Perceval_ (before 1200), and
Menessier produced the same story in a metrical form. (See PARZIVAL.)
Sir Percivale had a glimmering of the Sancgreall and of the maiden
that bare it, for he was perfect and clean. And forthwith they
were both as whole of limb and hide as ever they were in their life
days. “O, mercy!” said Sir Percival, “what may this mean?” ... “I
wot well,” said Sir Ector ... “it is the holy vessel, wherein is a
part of the holy blood of our blessed Saviour; but it may not be
seen but by a perfect man.”--Pt. iii. 14.
Sir Percival was with Sir Bors and Sir Galahad, when the visible Saviour
went into the consecrated wafer which was given to them by the bishop.
This is called the achievement of the quest of the Holy Graal (pt. iii.
101, 102.[TN-82]--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_ (1470).
=Percival Glyde= (_Sir_). Rascally husband of _Laura Fairlie_. To possess
himself of her fortune, he incarcerates her in an insane asylum, gives
out that she is dead, and uses the corpse of her half-sister to confirm
the rumor.--Wilkie Collins, _The Woman in White_.
=Percy Arundel= (_Lord Ashdale_), son of Lady Arundel, by her second
husband. A hot, fiery youth, proud and overbearing. When grown to
manhood, a “sea-captain” named Norman, made love to Violet, Lord
Ashdale’s cousin. The young “Hotspur” was indignant and somewhat
jealous, but discovered that Norman was the son of Lady Arundel by her
first husband, and the heir to the title and estates. In the end, Norman
agreed to divide the property equally, but claimed Violet for his
bride.--Lord Lytton, _The Sea-Captain_ (1839).
=Per´dita=, the daughter of the Queen Hermionê, born in prison. Her
father, King Leontês, commanded the infant to be cast on a desert shore,
and left to perish there. Being put to sea, the vessel was driven by a
storm to the “coast” of Bohemia, and the infant child was brought up by
a shepherd, who called its name Perdĭta. Flor´izel, the son of the
Bohemian king, fell in love with Perdita, and courted her under the
assumed name of Doriclês; but the king, having tracked his son to the
shepherd’s hut, told Perdita that if she did not at once discontinue
this foolery, he would command her and the shepherd too to be put to
death. Florizel and Perdita now fled from Bohemia to Sicily, and being
introduced to the king, it was soon discovered that Perdita was
Leontês’s daughter. The Bohemian king, having tracked his son to Sicily,
arrived just in time to hear the news, and gave his joyful consent to
the union which he had before forbidden.--Shakespeare, _The Winter’s
Tale_ (1604).
_Perdita_, Mrs. Mary Robinson (born Darby), the victim of George IV.,
while prince of Wales. She first attracted his notice while acting the
part of “Perdĭta,” and the prince called himself “Florizel.” George,
prince of Wales, settled a pension for life on her, £500 a year for
herself, and £200 a year for her daughter. She caught cold one winter,
and losing the use of her limbs, could neither walk nor stand
(1758-1799, not 1800 as is given usually).
=Perdrix, toujours Perdrix!= Walpole tells us that the confessor of one of
the French kings, having reproved the monarch for his conjugal
infidelities, was asked what dish he liked best. The confessor replied,
“Partridges;” and the king had partridges served to him every day, till
the confessor got quite sick of them. “Perdrix, toujours perdrix!” he
would exclaim, as the dish was set before him. After a time, the king
visited him, and hoped his favorite dish had been supplied him. “Mais
oui,” he replied, “toujours perdrix, toujours perdrix!” “Ah, ah!” said
the amorous monarch, “and one mistress is all very well, but not
_perdrix, toujours perdrix!_”--See _Notes and Queries_, 337, October 23,
1869).[TN-83]
The story is at least as old as the _Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles_, compiled
between 1450-1461, for the amusement of the dauphin of France,
afterwards Louis XI. (_Notes and Queries_, November 27, 1869).
⁂ Farquhar parodies the French expression into “Soup for breakfast, soup
for dinner, soup for supper, and soup for breakfast again.”--Farquhar,
_The Inconstant_, iv. 2 (1702).
=Père Duchesne= (_Le_), Jacques René Hébert; so called from the _Père
Duchesne_, a newspaper of which he was the editor (1755-1794).
=Pereard= (_Sir_), the Black Knight of the Black Lands. Called by Tennyson
“Night” or “Nox.” He was one of the four brothers who kept the passages
to Castle Perilous, and was overthrown by Sir Gareth.--Sir T. Malory,
_History of Prince Arthur_, i. 126 (1470); Tennyson, _Idylls_ (“Gareth
and Lynette”).
=Peredur= (_Sir_), son of Evrawe, called “Sir Peredur of the Long Spear,”
one of the knights of the Round Table. He was for many years called “The
Dumb Youth,” from a vow he made to speak to no Christian till Angharad
of the Golden Hand loved him better than she loved any other man. His
great achievements were: (1) the conquest of the Black Oppressor, “who
oppressed every one and did justice to no one;” (2) killing the Addanc
of the Lake, a monster that devoured daily some of the sons of the king
of Tortures. This exploit he was enabled to achieve by means of a stone
which kept him invisible; (3) slaying the three hundred heroes
privileged to sit round the countess of the Achievements; on the death
of these men the seat next the countess was freely given to him; (4) the
achievement of the Mount of Mourning, where was a serpent with a stone
in its tail which would give inexhaustible wealth to its possessor; Sir
Peredur killed the serpent, but gave the stone to his companion, Earl
Etlym of the east country. These exploits over, Sir Peredur lived
fourteen years with the Empress Cristinobyl the Great.
Sir Peredur is the Welsh name for Sir Percival of Wales.--_The
Mabinogion_ (from the Red Book of Hergest, twelfth century).
=Per´egrine= (3 _syl._), a sentimental prig, who talks by the book. At the
age of 15 he runs away from home, and Job Thornberry lends him ten
guineas, “the first earnings of his trade as a brazier.” After thirty
years absence, Peregrine returns just as the old brazier is made a
bankrupt “through the treachery of a friend.” He tells the bankrupt that
his loan of ten guineas has by honest trade grown to 10,000, and these
he returns to Thornberry as his own by right. It turns out that
Peregrine is the eldest brother of Sir Simon Rochdale, J. P., and when
Sir Simon refuses justice to the old brazier Peregrine asserts his right
to the estate, etc. At the same time, he hears that the ship he thought
was wrecked has come safe into port, and has thus brought him
£100,000.--G. Colman, junior, _John Bull_ (1805).
=Peregrine Pickle=, the hero and title of a novel by Smollett (1751).
Peregrine Pickle is a savage, ungrateful spendthrift, fond of practical
jokes, and suffering with evil temper the misfortunes brought on himself
by his own wilfulness.
=Peregri´nus Proteus=, a cynic philosopher, born at Parium, on the
Hellespont. After a youth spent in debauchery and crimes, he turned
Christian, and, to obliterate the memory of his youthful ill practices,
divided his inheritance among the people. Ultimately he burned himself
to death in public at the Olympic games, A.D. 165. Lucan has held up
this immolation to ridicule in his _Death of Peregrinus_; and C. M.
Wieland has an historic romance in German entitled _Peregrinus Proteus_
(1733-1813).
=Per´es= (_Gil_), a canon, and the eldest brother of Gil Blas’ mother. Gil
was a little punchy man, three feet and a half high, with his head sunk
between his shoulders. He lived well, and brought up his nephew and
godchild, Gil Blas. “In so doing, Perês taught himself also to read his
breviary without stumbling.” He was the most illiterate canon of the
whole chapter.--Lesage, _Gil Blas_, i. (1715).
=Perez= (_Michael_), the “copper captain,” a brave Spanish soldier, duped
into marrying Estifania, a servant of intrigue, who passed herself off
as a lady of property. Being reduced to great extremities, Estifania
pawned the clothes and valuables of her husband; but these “valuables”
were but of little worth--a jewel which sparkled as the “light of a dark
lanthorn,” a “chain of whitings’ eyes” for pearls, and as for his
clothes, she tauntingly says to her husband:
Put these and them [_his jewels_] on, and you’re a man of copper,
A copper, copper captain.
Beaumont and Fletcher, _Rule a Wife and Have a Wife_ (1640).
=Peri=, (plu., =Peris=), gentle, fairy-like beings of Eastern mythology,
offspring of the fallen angels, and constituting a race of beings
between angels and men. They direct with a wand the pure-minded the way
to heaven, and dwell in Shadu´kiam´ and Am´bre-abad, two cities subject
to Eblis.
Are the peries coming down from their spheres?
W. Beckford, _Vathek_ (1786).
=Pe´richole= (_La_), the heroine of Offenbach’s comic opera (_opera
bouffe_) of that name. She was originally a street-singer of Lima, the
capital of Peru, but became the mistress of the viceroy. She was not a
native of Lima and offended the Creole ladies by calling them, in her
bad Spanish, _pericholas_, “flaunting, bedizened creatures,” and they,
in retaliation, called her “La Périchole,” _i.e._, “the flaunting one
_par excellence_.”
=Pericles=, the Athenian who raised himself to royal supremacy (died B.C.
429). On his death-bed he overheard his friends recalling his various
merits, and told them they had forgotten his greatest praise, viz., that
no Athenian through his administration had had to put on mourning,
_i.e._ he had caused no one to be put to death.
Perī´cles was a famous man of warre ...
Yet at his death he rather did rejoice
In clemencie.... “Be still,” quoth he, “you grave Athenians”
(Who whisperèd and told his valiant acts);
“You have forgot my greatest glorie got:
For yet by me nor mine occasion
Was never sene a mourning garment worn.”
G. Gascoigne, _The Steele Glas_ (died 1577).
=Per´icles, prince of Tyre=, a voluntary exile, in order to avert the
calamities which Anti´ochus, emperor of Greece, vowed against the
Tyrians. Pericles, in his wanderings, first came to Tarsus, which he
relieved from famine, but was obliged to quit the city to avoid the
persecution of Antiochus. He was then shipwrecked, and cast on the
shore of Pentap´olis, where he distinguished himself in the public
games, and being introduced to the king, fell in love with the Princess
Thaïs´a, and married her. At the death of Antiochus, he returned to
Tyre; but his wife, supposed to be dead in giving birth to a daughter
(Marina), was thrown into the sea. Periclês entrusted his infant child
to Cleon (governor of Tarsus), and his wife, Dionysia, who brought her
up excellently well till she became a young woman, when Dionysia
employed a man to murder her; and when Periclês came to see her, he was
shown a splendid sepulchre which had been raised to her honor. On his
return home, the ship stopped at Metalinê, and Marina was introduced to
Periclês to divert his melancholy. She told him the tale of her life,
and he discovered that she was his daughter. Marina was now betrothed to
Lysim´achus, governor of Metalinê; and the party, going to the shrine of
Diana of Ephesus to return thanks to the goddess, discovered the
priestess to be Thaïsa, the wife of Periclês, and mother of
Marina.--Shakespeare, _Pericles, Prince of Tyre_ (1608).
⁂ This is the story of _Ismene and Ismenias_ by Eustathius. The tale was
known to Gower by the translation of Godfrey Viterbo.
=Perigort= (_Cardinal_). Previous to the battle of Poitiers, he endeavors
to negotiate terms with the French king, but the only terms he can
obtain, he tells Prince Edward, are:
That to the castles, towns, and plunder ta’en,
And offered now by you to be restored,
Your royal person with a hundred knights
Are to be added prisoners at discretion.
Shirley, _Edward the Black Prince_, iv. 2 (1640).
=Peri´got= (the _t_ pronounced, so as to rhyme with _not_), a shepherd in
love with Am´oret; but the shepherdess Amaryllis also loves him, and, by
the aid of the Sullen Shepherd, gets transformed into the exact likeness
of the modest Amoret. By her wanton conduct she disgusts Perigot, who
casts her off; and by and by, meeting Amoret, whom he believes to be the
same person, rejects her with scorn, and even wounds her with intent to
kill. Ultimately the truth is discovered by Clor´in, “the faithful
shepherdess,” and the lovers, being reconciled, are married to each
other.--John Fletcher, _The Faithful Shepherdess_ (1610).
=Periklym´enos=, son of Neleus (2 _syl._). He had the power of changing
his form into a bird, beast, reptile, or insect. As a bee, he perched on
the chariot of Heraklês (_Herculês_), and was killed.
=Peril´los=, of Athens, made a brazen bull for Phal´aris, tyrant of
Agrigentum, intended for the execution of criminals. They were to be
shut up in the bull, and the metal of the bull was to be made red hot.
The cries of the victims inside were so reverberated as to resemble the
roarings of a gigantic bull. Phalaris made the first experiment by
shutting up the inventor himself in his own bull.
What’s a protector?
A tragic actor, Cæsar in a clown;
He’s a brass farthing stamped with a crown;
A bladder blown with other breaths puffed full;
Not a Perillus, but a Perillus’ bull.
John Cleveland, _A Definition of a Protector_ (died 1650).
=Perilous Castle.= The castle of Lord Douglas was so called in the reign
of Edward I., because the good Lord Douglas destroyed several English
garrisons stationed there, and vowed to be revenged on any one who
dared to take possession of it. Sir W. Scott calls it “Castle Dangerous”
in his novel so entitled.
⁂ In the story of Gareth and Linet, the castle in which Lionês was held
prisoner by Sir Ironside, the Red Knight of the Red Lands, was called
Castle Perilous. The passages to the castle were held by four knights,
all of whom Sir Gareth overthrew; lastly he conquered Sir Ironside,
liberated the lady, and married her.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince
Arthur_, i. 120-153 (1470).
=Perimo´nes= (_Sir_), the Red Knight, one of the four brothers who kept
the passages to Castle Perilous. He was overthrown by Sir Gareth.
Tennyson calls him “Noonday Sun” or “Meridies.”--Sir T. Malory, _History
of Prince Arthur_, i. 129 (1470); Tennyson, _Idylls_ (“Gareth and
Lynette”).
=Per´ion=, king of Gaul, father of Am´adis of Gaul. His “exploits and
adventures” form part of the series called _Le Roman des Romans_. This
part was added by Juan Diaz (fifteenth century).
⁂ It is generally thought that “Gaul” in this romance is the same as
_Galis_, that is “Wales.”
=Perissa=, the personification of extravagance, step-sister of Elissa
(_meanness_) and of Medi´na (_the golden mean_); but they never agreed
in any single thing. Perissa’s suitor is Sir Huddibras, a man “more huge
in strength than wise in works.” (Greek, _perissos_, “extravagant,”
_perissotês_, “excess.”).[TN-84]--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, ii. 2 (1590).
=Per´iwinkle= (_Mr._), one of the four guardians of Anne Lovely, the
heiress. He is a silly, half-witted virtuoso, positive and surly; fond
of everything antique and foreign; and wears clothes of the last
century. Mr. Periwinkle dotes upon travellers, and believes more of Sir
John Mandeville than he does of the Bible. Colonel Feignwell, to obtain
his consent to his marriage with Mr. Periwinkle’s ward, disguised
himself as an Egyptian, and passed himself off as a great traveller. His
dress, he said, “belonged to the famous Claudius Ptolemēus, who lived in
the year 135.” One of his curiosities was _poluflosboio_, “part of those
waves which bore Cleopatra’s vessel, when she went to meet Antony.”
Another was the _moros musphonon_, or girdle of invisibility. His trick,
however, miscarried, and he then personated Pillage, the steward of
Periwinkle’s father, and obtained Periwinkle’s signature to the marriage
by a fluke.--Mrs. Centlivre, _A Bold Stroke For a Wife_ (1717).
=Perker= (_Mr._), the lawyer employed for the defence in the famous suit
of “Bardell _v._ Pickwick” for the breach of promise.--C. Dickens, _The
Pickwick Papers_ (1836).
=Perkin Warbeck=, an historic play or “chronicle history,” by John Ford
(1635).
=Perley Kelso.= A woman with “a weakness for an occupation, who suffers
passions of superfluous life. At the Cape she rebelled because
Providence did not create her a bluefisher. In Paris, she would make
muslin flowers, and learn the _métier_ to-morrow.”--Elizabeth Stuart
Phelps, _The Silent Partner_ (1871).
=Pernelle= (_Madame_), mother of Orgon; a regular vixen, who interrupts
every one, without waiting to hear what was to have been said to
her.--Molière, _Tartuffe_ (1664).
=Peronella=, a pretty country lass, who changes places with an old
decrepit queen. Peronella rejoices for a time in the idolatry paid to
her rank, but gladly resumes her beauty, youth, and rags.--_A Fairy
Tale._
=Perrette and her Milk-Pail.= Perrette, carrying her milk-pail well-poised
upon her head, began to speculate on its value. She would sell the milk
and buy eggs; she would set the eggs and rear chickens; the chickens she
would sell and buy a pig; this she would fatten and change for a cow and
calf, and would it not be delightful to see the little calf skip and
play? So saying, she gave a skip, let the milk-pail fall, and all the
milk ran to waste. “Le lait tombe. Adieu, veau, vache, cochon, couvée,”
and poor Perrette “va s’excuser à son mari, en grand danger d’etre
battue.”
Quel esprit ne bat la campagne?
Qui ne fait château en Espagne?
Picrochole [_q.v._], Pyrrhus, la laitière, enfin tous,
Autant les sages que les fous....
Quelque accident fait-il que je rentre en moi-même;
Je suis Gros-Jean comme devant.
Lafontaine, _Fables_ (“La Laitière et le Po tau[TN-85] Lait,” 1668).
(Dodsley has this fable, and makes his milkmaid speculate on the gown
she would buy with her money. It should be green, and all the young
fellows would ask her to dance, but she would toss her head at them
all--but ah! in tossing her head, she tossed over her milk-pail.)
⁂ Echephron, an old soldier, related this fable to the advisers of King
Picrochole, when they persuaded the king to go to war: A shoemaker
bought a ha’p’orth of milk; this he intended to make into butter, and
with the money thus obtained he would buy a cow. The cow in due time
would have a calf, the calf was to be sold, and the man when he became
a nabob would marry a princess; only the jug fell, the milk was spilt,
and the dreamer went supperless to bed.--Rabelais, _Gargantua_, i. 33
(1533).
In a similar day-dream, Alnaschar invested all his money in a basket of
glassware, which he intended to sell, and buy other wares, till by
barter he became a princely merchant, when he should marry the vizier’s
daughter. Being offended with his wife, he became so excited that he
kicked out his foot, smashed all his wares, and found himself
penniless.--_Arabian Nights_ (“The Barber’s Fifth Brother”).
=Perrin=, a peasant, the son of Thibaut.--Molière, _Le Médecin Malgré Lui_
(1666).
=Persaunt of India= (_Sir_), the Blue Knight, called by Tennyson “Morning
Star,” or “Phosphŏrus.” One of the four brothers who kept the passages
to Castle Perilous. Overthrown by Sir Gareth.--Sir T. Malory, _History
of Prince Arthur_, i. 131 (1470); Tennyson, _Idylls_.
“Then, at his call, ‘O, daughters of the Dawn,
And servants of the Morning Star, approach,
Arm me,’ from out the silken curtain-folds
Bare-footed and bare-headed three fair girls
In gilt and rosy raiment came; their feet
In dewy grasses glisten’d; and the hair
All over glanced with dewdrop or with gem,
Like sparkles in the stone Avanturine.
These arm’d him in blue arms, and gave a shield,
Blue also, and thereon the morning star.”
Tennyson, _Gareth and Lynette_.
=Perseus= [_Per.suce_], a famous Argive hero, whose exploits resemble
those of Herculês, and hence he was called “The Argive Herculês.”
Benvenuto Cellini made a bronze statue of Perseus, which is in the
Loggia dei Lanzi, in Florence.
_Perseus’s Horse_, a ship. Perseus having cut off Medusa’s head, made
the ship _Pegasê_, the swiftest ship hitherto known, and generally
called “Perseus’s flying horse.”
The thick-ribbed bark thro’ liquid mountains cut ...
Like Perseus’ horse.
Shakespeare, _Troilus and Cressida_, act i. sc. 3 (1602).
=Persian Creed= (_The_). Zoroaster supposes there are two gods or
spirit-principles--one good and the other evil. The good is Yezad, and
the evil, Ahriman.
=Perth= (_The Fair Maid of_), Catharine, or Katie Glover, “universally
acknowledged to be the most beautiful young woman of the city or its
vicinity.” Catharine was the daughter of Simon Glover (the glover of
Perth), and married Henry Smith, the armorer.--Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid
of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).
=Pertinax= (_Sir_). (See MACSYCOPHANT.)
=Pertolope= (_Sir_), the Green Knight. One of the four brothers who kept
the passages to Castle Perilous. He was overthrown by Sir Gareth.
Tennyson calls him “Evening Star,” or “Hesperus.”--Sir T. Malory,
_History of Prince Arthur_, i. 127 (1470); Tennyson, _Idylls_.
“For there, beyond a bridge of treble bow,
All in a rose-red from the west, and all
Naked it seem’d, and glowing in the broad,
Deep-dimpled current underneath, the knight
That named himself the Star of Evening, stood,
And Gareth, ‘Wherefore waits the madman there
Naked in open dayshine?’ ‘Nay,’ she cried,
‘Not naked, only wrapt in harden’d skins
That fit him like his own; and so ye cleave
His armor off him, these will turn the blade.’”
Tennyson, _Gareth and Lynette_.
=Perviz= (_Prince_), son of the Sultan Khrosru-schar of Persia. At birth
he was taken away by the sultana’s sisters, and set adrift on a canal,
but was rescued and brought up by the superintendent of the sultan’s
gardens. When grown to manhood, “the talking-bird” told the sultan that
Pervis was his son, and the young prince, with his brother and sister,
were restored to their rank and position in the empire of
Persia.--_Arabian Nights_ (“The Two Sisters”).
_Prince Perviz’s String of Pearls._ When Prince Perviz went on his
exploits, he gave his sister, Parizādê, a string of pearls, saying, “So
long as these pearls move readily on the string, you will know that I am
alive and well; but if they stick fast and will not move, it will
signify that I am dead.”--_Arabian Nights_ (“The Two Sisters”).
⁂ Birtha’s emerald ring, and Prince Bahman’s knife gave similar warning.
(See BIRTHA and BAHMAN.)
=Pescec´ola=, a famous diver, whose English name was _Fish_ (Italian,
_Pesce_ = fish). He dived in the pool of Charybdis and returned. King
Frederick then threw a golden cup into the pool; Pescecola dived for it,
and was drowned.
Schiller, in _The Diver_, tells the story, but gives the diver no name.
=Pest= (_Mr._), a barrister.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George
III.).
=Pet=, a fair girl, with rich brown hair hanging free in natural ringlets.
A lovely girl, with a free, frank face, and most wonderful eyes--so
large, so soft, so bright, and set to perfection in her kind, good face.
She was round, and fresh, and dimpled, and spoilt, most charmingly
timid, most bewitchingly self-willed. She was the daughter of Mr.
Meagles, and married Henry Gowan.--C. Dickens, _Little Dorrit_ (1857).
=Pétaud= (_King_), king of the beggars.
“It is an old saying,” replied the Abbé Huet, “Petaud being derived
from the Latin _peto_, ‘I beg.’”--_Asylum Christi_, ii.
_The court of King Pétaud_, a disorderly assembly, a place of utter
confusion, a bear-garden.
On n’y respecte rien, chacun y parle haut,
Et c’est tout justement le cour du roi Pétaud.
Molière _Tartuffe_, i. 1 (1664).