=Petella=, the waiting-woman of Rosalura and Lillia-Bianca, the two
daughters of Nantolet.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Wild-goose Chase_
(1652).
=Peter=, the stupid son of Solomon, butler of the Count Wintersen. He
grotesquely parrots in an abridged form whatever his father says. Thus:
_Sol._ “we are acquainted with the reverence due to exalted personages.”
_Pet._ “Yes, we are acquainted with exalted personages.” Again: _Sol._
“Extremely sorry it is not in my power to entertain your lordship.”
_Pet._ “Extremely sorry.” _Sol._ “Your lordship’s most obedient, humble,
and devoted servant.” _Pet._ “Devoted servant.”--Benjamin Thompson, _The
Stranger_ (1797).
_Peter_, the pseudonym of John Gibson Lockhart, in a work entitled
_Peter’s Letters to his Kinsfolk_ (1819).
_Peter_ (_Lord_), the pope of Rome.--Dean Swift, _Tale of a Tub_ (1704).
=Peter Botte=, a steep, almost perpendicular “mountain” in the Mauritius,
more than 2800 feet in height. It is so called from Peter Botte, a Dutch
sailor, who scaled it and fixed a flag on its summit, but lost his life
in coming down.
=Peter Parley=, the _nom de plume_ of Samuel G. Goodrich, an American,
whose books for children had an enormous circulation in the middle of
the nineteenth century (1793-1860).
The name was pirated by numerous persons. Darton and Co., Simkins,
Bogue, Tegg, Hodson, Clements, etc., brought out books under the name,
but not written by S. G. Goodrich.
=Peter Peebles=, a litigious, hard-hearted drunkard, noted for his
lawsuit.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).
=Peter Pindar=, the pseudonym of Dr. John Wolcot, of Dodbrooke, Devonshire
(1738-1819).
=Peter Plymley’s Letters=, attributed to the Rev. Sydney Smith
(1769-1845).
=Peter Porcupine=, William Cobbett, when he was a tory. He brought out
_Peter Porcupine’s Gazette_, _The Porcupine Papers_, etc. (1762-1835).
=Peter Wilkins=, the hero of a tale of adventures, by Robert Pultock, of
Clifford’s Inn. His “flying woman” (gawreys) suggested to Southey the
“glendoveer” in _The Curse of Kehama_.
=Peter of Provence and the Fair Magalo´na=, the chief characters of a
French romance so called. Peter comes into possession of Merlin’s wooden
horse.
=Peter the Great of Egypt=, Mehemet Ali (1768-1848.[TN-86]
=Peter the Hermit=, a gentleman of Amiens, who renounced the military life
for the religious. He preached up the first crusade, and put himself at
the head of 100,000 men, all of whom, except a few stragglers, perished
at Nicea.
He is introduced by Tasso in _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575); and by Sir W.
Scott in _Count Robert of Paris_, a novel laid in the time of Rufus. A
statue was erected to him at Amiens in 1854.
=Peter, the Wild Boy=, a savage discovered in November, 1725, in the
forest of Hertswold, Hanover. He walked on all fours, climbed trees like
a monkey, ate grass and other herbage. Efforts were made to reclaim him,
but without success. He died February, 1785.
=Peter’s Gate= (_St._), the gate of purgatory, guarded by an angel
stationed there by St. Peter. Virgil conducted Dantê through hell and
purgatory, and Beatrice was his guide through the planetary spheres.
Dantê says to the Mantuan bard:
... lead me,
That I St. Peter’s gate may view ...
Onward he moved, I close his steps pursued.
Dantê, _Hell_, i. (1300).
=Peterborough=, in Northamptonshire; so called from Peada (son of Pendar,
king of Mercia), who founded here a monastery in the seventh century. In
1541 the monastery (then a mitred abbey) was converted by Henry VIII.
into a cathedral and bishop’s see. Before Peada’s time, Peterborough was
a village called Medhamsted.--See Drayton, _Polyolbion_, xxiii. (1622).
=Peters= (_Dr._), benevolent, eccentric physician, who is a sympathetic
fellow-sinner to the most depraved of his patients, going through it all
“with a grimly humorous hope that some good, in some unseen direction,
may come of it.” The waif, _Midge_, committed by fate to his
guardianship, steals his heart, and finally wrings it to bleeding by
marrying another man.--H. C. Bunner, _The Midge_ (1886).
=Peterson=, a Swede, who deserts from Gustavus Vasa to Christian II., king
of Denmark.--H. Brooke, _Gustavus Vasa_ (1730).
=Petit André=, executioner.--Sir W. Scott, _Quentin Durward_ (time, Edward
IV.).
=Petit Perroquet=, a king’s gardener, with whom the king’s daughter fell
in love. It so happened that a prince was courting the lady, and, being
jealous of Petit Perroquet, said to the king that the young man boasted
he could bring hither Tartaro’s horse. Now Tartaro was a huge giant and
a cannibal. Petit Perroquet, however, made himself master of the horse.
The prince next told the king that the young gardener boasted he could
get possession of the giant’s diamond. This he also contrived to make
himself master of. The prince then told the king that the young man
boasted he could bring hither the giant himself; and the way he
accomplished the feat was to cover himself first, with honey, and then
with feathers and horns. Thus disguised, he told the giant, to get into
the coach he was driving, and he drove him to the king’s court, and then
married the princess.--Rev. W. Webster, _Basque Legends_ (1877).
=Pe´to=, lieutenant of “Captain” Sir John Falstaff’s regiment. Pistol was
his ensign or ancient, and Bardolph his corporal.--Shakespeare, 1 and 2
_Henry IV._ (1597-8).
=Petow´ker= (_Miss Henrietta_), of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. She
marries Mr. Lillyvick, the collector of water-rates, but elopes with an
officer.--C. Dickens, _Nicholas Nickleby_ (1838).
=Petrarch= (_The English_). Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) is so called by
Sir Walter Raleigh.
=Petrarch and Laura.= Laura was a lady of Avignon, the wife of Hugues de
Sade, _née_ Laura de Noves, the mistress of the poet Petrarch. (See
LAURA AND PETRARCH.)
=Petrarch of Spain=, Garcilaso de la Vega, born at Toledo (1530-1568, or,
according to others, 1503-1536).
=Petro´nius= (_C._ or _T._), a kind of Roman “beau Brummell” in the court
of Nero. He was a great voluptuary and profligate, whom Nero appointed
_Arbiter Elegantiæ_, and considered nothing _comme il faut_ till it had
received the sanction of this dictator-in-chief of the imperial
pleasures. Tigellinus accused him of treason, and Petronius committed
suicide by opening his veins (A.D. 66).
Behold the new Petronius of the day,
The arbiter of pleasure and of play.
Byron, _English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_ (1809).
=Petruccio= = _Pe.truch´.e.o_, governor of Bologna.--Beaumont and
Fletcher, _The Chances_ (1620).
=Petru´chio=, a gentleman of Vero´na who undertakes to tame the haughty
Katharina, called “the Shrew.” He marries her, and, without the least
personal chastisement, reduces her to lamb-like submission. Being a fine
compound of bodily and mental vigor, with plenty of wit, spirit, and
good-nature, he rules his subordinates dictatorially, and shows he will
have his own way, whatever the consequences.--Shakespeare, _Taming of
the Shrew_ (1594).
Beaumont and Fletcher wrote a comedy called _The Tamer Tamed_, in which
Petruchio is supposed to marry a second wife, by whom he is hen-pecked
(1647).
=Pet´ulant=, an “odd sort of small wit,” “without manners or breeding.” In
controversy he would bluntly contradict, and he never spoke the truth.
When in his “club,” in order to be thought a man of intrigue, he would
steal out quietly, and then in disguise return and call for himself, or
leave a letter for himself. He not unfrequently mistook impudence and
malice for wit, and looked upon a modest blush in woman as a mark of
“guilt or ill-breeding.”--W. Congreve, _The Way of the World_ (1700).
=Peu-à-Peu.= So George IV. called Prince Leopold. Stein, speaking of the
prince’s vacillating conduct in reference to the throne of Greece, says
of him, “He has no color,” _i.e._ no fixed plan of his own, but is blown
about by every wind.
=Peveril= (_William_), natural son of William the Conqueror, and ancestor
of Peveril of the Peak.
_Sir Geoffrey Peveril_, a cavalier, called “Peveril of the Peak.”
_Lady Margaret Peveril_, wife of Sir Geoffrey.
_Julian Peveril_, son of Sir Geoffrey; in love with Alice Bridgenorth.
He was named by the author after Julian Young, son of the famous
actor.--Sir W. Scott, _Peveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).
“Whom is he called after!” said Scott. “It is a fancy name,” said
Young: “in memoriam of his mother, Julia Ann.” “Well, it is a
capital name for a novel, I must say,” he replied. In the very next
novel by the author of _Waverley_, the hero’s name is “Julian.” I
allude, of course, to _Peveril of the Peak_.--J. Young, _Memoirs_,
91.
=Peveril of the Peak=, the hero of Sir W. Scott’s novel of that name
(1823).
=Peyton= (_Dunwoodie_), fine young fellow, major in the American army, and
in love with Frances Wharton. Yet, when forced to choose between
marrying her at once or doing his duty in keeping her brother under
arrest, he plays the man of honor and true soldier. After many
vicissitudes he becomes the husband of Frances.
_Peyton_ (_Miss Jeannette_), sister-in-law to Mr. Wharton, relative of
Major Dunwoodie, and affectionate guardian of her nieces. A warm friend
of Dr. Sitgreaves, the American surgeon.--James Fennimore[TN-87] Cooper,
_The Spy_.
=Phædra=, daughter of Minos, and wife of Theseus. (See PHEDRE.)
_Phædra_, waiting-woman of Alcme´na (wife of Amphit´ryon). A type of
venality of the lowest and grossest kind. Phædra is betrothed to Judge
Gripus, a stupid magistrate, ready to sell justice to the highest
bidder. Neither Phædra nor Gripus forms any part of the _dramatis
personæ_ of Molière’s _Amphitryon_ (1668).--Dryden, _Amphitryon_ (1690).
=Phædria=, the impersonation of wantonness. She is handmaid of the
enchantress Acrasia, and sails about Idle Lake in a gondola. Seeing Sir
Guyon, she ferries him across the lake to the floating island, where he
is set upon by Cymoch´les. Phædria interposes, and ferries Sir Guyon
(the Knight Temperance) over the lake again.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_,
ii. (1590).
=Pha´eton= (3 _syl._), son, of Helĭos and Clymēnê. He obtained leave to
drive his father’s sun-car for one day, but was overthrown, and nearly
set the world on fire. Jove or Zeus (1 _syl._) struck him with a
thunderbolt for his presumption, and cast him into the river Po.
=Phal´aris=, tyrant of Agrigentum, in Sicily. When Perillos, the
brass-founder of Athens, brought to him a brazen bull, and told the
tyrant it was intended for the punishment of criminals, Phalăris
inquired into its merits. Perillos said the victim was to be enclosed in
the bull, and roasted alive, by making the figure red hot. Certain tubes
were so constructed as to make the groans of the victim resemble the
bellowings of a mad bull. The tyrant much commended the ingenuity, and
ordered the invention to be tried on Perillos himself.
_Letters of Phalaris_, certain apocryphal letters ascribed to Phalaris,
the tyrant, and published at Oxford, in 1718, by Charles Boyle. There
was an edition in 1777 by Walckenaer; another in 1823, by G. H. Schæfer,
with notes by Boyle and others. Bentley maintained that the letters were
forgeries, and no doubt Bentley was right.
=Phallas=, the horse of Heraclius (Greek, _phalios_, “a grey horse.”).
=Pha´on=, a young man who loved Claribel, but being told that she was
unfaithful to him, watched her. He saw, as he thought, Claribel holding
an assignation with some one he supposed to be a groom. Returning home,
he encountered Claribel herself, and “with wrathfull hand he slew her
innocent.” On the trial for murder, “the lady” was proved to be
Claribel’s servant. Phaon would have slain her also, but while he was in
pursuit of her he was attacked by Furor.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, ii. 4,
28, etc. (1590).
⁂ Shakespeare’s _Much Ado about Nothing_ is a similar story. Both are
taken from a novel by Belleforest, copied from one by Bandello. Ariosto,
in his _Orlando Furioso_, has introduced a similar story (bk. v.), and
Turbervil’s _Geneura_ is the same tale.
=Pharamond=, king of the Franks, who visited, _incognito_, the court of
King Arthur, to obtain by his exploits a place among the knights of the
Round Table. He was the son of Marcomir, and father of Clodion.
Calprenède has an heroic romance so called, which (like his _Cleopatra
and Cassandra_) is a _Roman de Longue Haleine_ (1612-1666).
_Pharamond_, prince of Spain, in the drama called _Philaster_, or _Love
Lies a-bleeding_, by Beaumont and Fletcher (date uncertain, probably
about 1662).
=Pharaoh=, the titular name of all the Egyptian kings till the time of
Solomon, as the Roman emperors took the titular name of Cæsar. After
Solomon’s time, the titular name Pharaoh never occurs alone, but only as
a forename, as Pharaoh Necho, Pharaoh Hophra, Pharaoh Shishak. After the
division of Alexander’s kingdom, the kings of Egypt were all called
Ptolemy, generally with some distinctive after-name, as Ptolemy
Philadelphos, Ptolemy Euergetês, Ptolemy Philopător, etc.--Selden,
_Titles of Honor_, v. 50 (1614).
_Pharaohs before Solomon_ (mentioned in the Old Testament):
1. Pharaoh contemporary with Abraham (_Gen._ xii. 15). This may be
Osirtesen I. (dynasty xii.).
2. The _good_ Pharaoh who advanced Joseph (_Gen._ xli.). This was,
perhaps, Apōphis (one of the Hyksos).
3. The Pharaoh who “knew not Joseph” (_Exod._ i. 8). This may be
Amen´ophis I. (dynasty xviii.). The king, at the flight of Moses, I
think, was Thothmes II.
4. The Pharaoh drowned in the Red Sea. As this was at least eighty years
after the persecutions began, probably this was another king. Some say
it was Menephthes, son of Ram´eses II., but it seems quite impossible to
reconcile the account in _Exodus_ with any extant historical account of
Egypt (_Exod._ xiv. 28). Was it Thothmes III.?