P

Pausanias, a Greek traveller and topographer, lived during the reigns of Antoninus Pius and M. Aurelius; wrote an "Itinerary of Greece" in 10 books, the fruit of his own peregrinations, full of descriptions of great value both to the historian and the antiquary.

Pavia (30), on the Ticino, in Lombardy, is an imposing "city of a hundred towers," with little industry or commerce; in its unfinished cathedral St. Augustine was buried; San Michele, where the early kings of Italy were crowned, dates from the 7th century; the University was founded by Charlemagne, and has now attached to it colleges for poor students, a library, museum, botanic garden, and school of art; stormed by Napoleon in 1796, Pavia was in Austrian possession from 1814 till its inclusion in the kingdom of Italy 1859.

Paxton, Sir Joseph, architect of the Crystal Palace, born in Bedfordshire, was originally a gardener in the service of the Duke of Devonshire, and promoted to the charge of the duke's gardens at Chatsworth, where he displayed the architectural ability in the construction of large glass conservatories which developed itself in the construction of the Great Exhibition of 1851, for which he received the honour of knighthood (1803-1865).

Payn, James, English novelist, born at Cheltenham; edited Chambers's Journal and Cornhill Magazine; his novels were numerous and of average quality, "Lost Sir Massingberd" and "By Proxy" among the most successful (1830-1899).

Payne, John, actor and playwright, born in New York; resided in London from 1813 to 1832; most of his days a stranger in a strange land, immortalised himself as the author of "Home, Sweet Home"; only his remains buried at home 30 years after his death at Tunis (1792-1852).

Peabody, George, philanthropist, born at Danvers, now Peabody, in Massachusetts, U.S.; made a large fortune as a dry-goods merchant in Baltimore and as a stockbroker as well in London; gave away for benevolent purposes in his lifetime a million and a half of money, and left to his relatives one million more; died in London; his body was laid beside his mother's at South Danvers, U.S. (1795-1869).

Peace Society, a society founded in 1816 for the promotion of permanent and universal peace; advocates a gradual, proportionate, and simultaneous disarmament of all nations and the principle of arbitration.

Peacock, Thomas Love, English novelist, born at Weymouth; was pretty much a self-taught scholar, and no mean one, as his literary activity over half a century abundantly showed; held a post in the India House, his predecessor being James Mill and his successor John Stuart Mill; was an intimate friend of Shelley and the father-in-law of George Meredith; he made his first literary appearance as a poet in two small volumes of poems, and his first novel was "Headlong Hall" as his latest was "Gryll Grange," all of them written in a vein of conventional satire, and more conspicuous for wit than humour; Thackeray owed not a little to him, little as the generality did, he being "too learned for a shallow age" (1785-1866).

Pearson, John, English prelate, born in Norfolk; held a succession of preferments in the Church, and in the end the bishopric of Chester, author of a very learned work "Exposition of the Creed," of which Bentley said, "its very dross is gold" (1612-1686).

Peasant War or Bauernkrieg, revolt of the peasantry in the S. and W. of Germany against the oppression and cruelty of the nobles and clergy which broke out at different times from 1500 to 1525, and which, resulting in their defeat, rendered their lot harder than before. The cause of the Reformation, held answerable for the movement, suffered damage as well, but indeed the excesses of the insurgents were calculated to provoke the retribution that was meted out to them.

Pechili, Gulf of, a great land-locked bay opening in the NW. of the Yellow Sea, receives the waters of the Hoang-ho, and on opposite tongues of land at the mouth of it stand Port Arthur and Wei-hai-Wei.

Pecksniff, a pronounced hypocrite in Dickens's "Martin Chuzzlewit," and who lies and cants whether he is drunk or sober.

Pecock, Reginald, bishop in succession of St. Asaph and Chichester, born in Wales; the author, among other works, of the "Repressor of Over Much Blaming of the Clergy" and the "Book of Faith"; he wrote on behalf of the Church against Lollards, but he offended Churchmen as well as the latter—Churchmen because he agreed with the Lollards in regard to the Bible as the rule of faith, and the Lollards because he appealed to reason as the interpreter of the Bible; he displeased the clergy also by his adoption in theological debate of the mother-tongue, but figures since in literature as the first English theologian; he was accused of treating authority with disrespect as well as setting up reason above revelation, obliged to recant in a most humiliating manner, deprived of his bishopric, and condemned to solitary confinement, away from his books, all to a few, and denied the use of writing materials (1390-1460).

Pedro I., emperor of Brazil, second son of John VI. of Portugal; reigned from 1822 to 1831, when he abdicated in favour of his son (1798-1834).

Pedro II., emperor of Brazil, son of preceding, ascended the throne in 1831; reigned peacefully till 1889, when a sudden revolution obliged him to resign, and retire to Europe and take up his abode in France, where he indulged his taste for science and learning (1825-1891).

Peebles, Peter, a character in Scott's "Redgauntlet."

Peeblesshire (19), a lowland Scottish county bordered by Lanark, Midlothian, Selkirk, and Dumfries; comprises hilly pastoral land watered by the upper Tweed; Windlestraw, Hartfell, and Broadlaw are the highest of its grassy hills; among the lesser rivers are the Leithen and Quair; some crops are grown, but most of the land is devoted to sheep grazing; a little coal is found in the N.; the only towns are Innerleithen (3) and Peebles (5), the county town, engaged in Tweed manufacture. The county is known also by the name of Tweeddale; its representation in Parliament is united with that of Selkirk.

Peel (4), a fishing town and holiday resort on the W. coast of the Isle of Man, 12 m. NW. of Douglas; it is noted for its castle.

Peel, Sir Robert, English statesman, born near Bury, Lancashire, the son of a wealthy cotton-spinner, to whose large fortune and baronetcy he succeeded; graduated at Oxford in 1808, and next year entered Parliament as Tory member for Cashel; he afterwards sat for his own university, and after 1832 for Tamworth; he was appointed Under-Secretary for the Colonies in 1811. and from 1812 till 1818 was Secretary for Ireland; in 1822 he became Home Secretary, but seceded from the Government when Canning became Premier in 1827; the question at issue was Catholic Emancipation, and it was characteristic of Peel that in the Government which succeeded Canning's he had the courage, having changed his opinions, to introduce the measure which removed the disabilities; opposed to Reform he became leader of the Conservative opposition in the Parliament of 1833; called to the Premiership in 1834 he could not maintain his administration, and it was not till 1841 that the victory of protection over the free-trade agitation gave him a stable majority in the Commons; his first measure was a modification of the corn laws on protectionist principles, 1842; then followed the 7d. income-tax and general tariff revision; in 1845 the agitation for free-trade in corn was brought to a crisis by the Irish potato famine; Peel yielded, and next year carried the final repeal of the corn laws; his "conversion" split the Tory party and he retired from office, becoming a supporter of the Whig ministry in its economical and ecclesiastical policy; he was a master of finance, an easy speaker, slow to form but conscientious to act upon his convictions, a man of the highest character; his death was the result of a fall from horseback (1788-1850).

Peel Towers, the name given to fortresses of the moss-troopers on the Scottish border.

Peele, George, dramatist, of the Elizabethan period, born in London; author of "Arraignment of Paris" and "David and Bathsabe," full of passages of poetic beauty; has been charged with having led the life of a debauchee and to have died of a disease brought on by his profligacy, but it is now believed he has been maligned (1548-1597).

Peeping Tom of Coventry. See Godiva.

Peers, The Twelve, the famous warriors or paladins at the court of Charlemagne, so called from their equality in prowess and honour.

Pegasus, the winged horse, begotten of Poseidon, who sprung from the body of Medusa when Perseus swooped off her head, and who with a stroke of his hoof broke open the spring of Hippocrene on Mount Helicon, and mounted on whom Bellerophon slew the Chimera, and by means of which he hoped, if he had not been thrown, to ascend to heaven, as Pegasus did alone, becoming thereafter a constellation in the sky; this is the winged horse upon whose back poets, to the like disappointment, hope to scale the empyrean, who have not, like Bellerophon, first distinguished themselves by slaying Chimeras.

Pegu (6), a town of Lower Burma, in the province and on the river of the same name, 46 m. NE. of Rangoon, is a very ancient city; the province (1,162) is a rice-growing country, with great teak forests on the mountain slopes.

Pei-ho, a river of North China, 350 miles long; formed by the junction of four other rivers, on the chief of which stands Pekin; has a short navigable course south-eastward to the Gulf of Pechili, where it is defended by the forts of Taku.

Peirce, Benjamin, American mathematician and astronomer, born in Massachusetts, U.S.; wrote on the discovery of Neptune and Saturn's rings, as well as a number of mathematical text-books (1809-1880).

Peishwah, the name of the overlord or chief minister of Mahratta chiefs in their wars with the Mohammedans, who had his head-quarters at Poonah, the last to hold office putting himself under British protection, and surrendering his territory; nominated as his successor Nana Sahib, who became the chief instigator of the Mutiny of 1857, on account, it is believed, of the refusal of the British Government to continue to him the pension of his predecessor who had adopted him.

Pekin (1,000), the capital of China, on a sandy plain in the basin of the Pei-ho, is divided into two portions, each separately walled, the northern or Manchu city and the southern or Chinese. The former contains the Purple Forbidden city, in which are the Imperial palaces; surrounding it is the August city, in which are a colossal copper Buddha and the Temple of Great Happiness. Outside this are the government offices, foreign legations, the temple of Confucius, a great Buddhist monastery, a Roman Catholic cathedral, and Christian mission stations. The Chinese city has many temples, mission stations, schools, and hospitals; but it is sparsely populated, houses are poor, and streets unpaved. Pekin has railway communication with Hankow, and is connected with other cities and with Russia by telegraph. Its trade and industry are inconsiderable. It is one of the oldest cities in the world. It was Kubla Khan's capital, and has been the metropolis of the empire since 1421.

Pelagius, a celebrated heresiarch of the 5th century, born in Britain or Brittany; denied original sin and the orthodox doctrine of divine grace as the originating and sustaining power in redemption, a heresy for which he suffered banishment from Rome in 418 at the hands of the Church. A modification of this theory went under the name of Semi-Pelagianism, which ascribes only the first step in conversion to free-will, and the subsequent sanctification of the soul to God's grace.

Pelasgi, a people who in prehistoric times occupied Greece, the Archipelago, the shores of Asia Minor, and great part of Italy, and who were subdued, and more or less reduced to servitude, by the Hellenes, and supplanted by them. They appear to have been, so far as we find them, an agricultural people, settled and not roving about, and to have had strongholds enclosed in cyclopean walls, that is, walls consisting of huge boulders unconnected with cement.

Peleus, the son of Æacus, the husband of Thetis, the father of Achilles, and one of the Argonauts, after whom Achilles is named Pelides, i. e. Peleus' boy.

Pelew Islands (10), twenty-six in number, of coral formation, and surrounded by reefs; are in the extreme W. of the Caroline Archipelago in the North Pacific, and SE. of the Philippines. They belong to Spain; are small but fertile, and have a healthy climate. The natives are Malays, and though gentle lead a savage life.

Pelham, a fashionable novel by Bulwer Lytton, severely satirised by Carlyle in "Sartor" in the chapter on "Dandies" as the elect of books of this class.

Pelias, king of Iolchus, and son of Poseidon, was cut to pieces by his own daughters, which were thrown by them into a boiling caldron in the faith of the promise of Medea, that he might thereby be restored to them young again. It was he who, to get rid of Jason, sent him in quest of the golden fleece in the hope that he might perish in the attempt.

Pelican, a bird, the effigy of which was used in the Middle Ages to symbolise charity; generally represented as wounding its breast to feed its young with its own blood, and which became the image of the Christ who shed His blood for His people.

Pelides, a patronymic of Achilles, as the son of Peleus.

Pelion, a range, or the highest of a range, of mountains in the E. of Thessaly, upon which, according to Greek fables, the Titans hoisted up Mount Ossa in order to scale heaven and dethrone Zeus, a strenuous enterprise which did not succeed, and the symbol of all such.

Pelissier, a French marshal, born near Rouen; was made Duc de Malakoff for storming the Malakoff tower, which led to the fall of Sebastopol in 1855; rose from the ranks to be Governor-General of Algeria, the office he held when he died (1794-1864).

Pella, the capital of Macedonia, and the birthplace of Alexander the Great, stood on a hill amid the marches NW. of Thessalonica.

Pellegrini, Carlo, a caricaturist, born in Capua; came to London; was distinguished for the inimitable drollery of his cartoons (1838-1889).

Pellico, Silvio, Italian poet and patriot, born in Piedmont; suffered a fifteen years' imprisonment in the Spielberg at Brünn for his patriotism, from which he was liberated in 1830; he wrote an account of his life in prison, which commanded attention all over Europe, both for the subject-matter of it and the fascination of the style (1789-1854).

Pellisson, Paul, a man of letters and a wit of the age of Louis XIV.; spent some five years in the Bastille, but after his release was appointed historiographer-royal; in his captivity he made a companion of a spider, who was accustomed to eat out of his hand (1624-1693).

Pelopidas, a Theban general, and leader of the "sacred band"; the friend of Epaminondas; contributed to the expulsion (379 B.C.) of the Spartans from the citadel of Thebes, of which they had taken possession in 380, after which he was elected to the chief magistracy; gained a victory over Alexander of Pheræ the tyrant of Thessaly, but lost his life in 362 while too eagerly pursuing the foe.

Peloponnesian War, a war of thirty years' duration (431-404 B.C.) between Athens and Sparta, which ended in the supremacy of the latter, till the latter was overthrown at Leuctra by the Thebans under Epaminondas in 371 B.C. This war is the subject of the history of Thucydides.

Peloponnesus (lit. the Isle of Pelops), the ancient name of the Morea of Greece, the chief cities of which were Corinth, Argos, and Sparta; it was connected with the rest of Greece by the Isthmus of Corinth.

Pelops, in the Greek mythology the grandson of Zeus and son of Tantalus, who was slain by his father and served up by him at a banquet he gave the gods to test their omniscience, but of the shoulder of which only Demeter in a fit of abstraction partook, whereupon the gods ordered the body to be thrown into a boiling caldron, from which Pelops was drawn out alive, with the shoulder replaced by one of ivory.

Pembrokeshire (89), a maritime county, the farthest W. in Wales; is washed by St. George's Channel except on the E., where it borders on Cardigan and Carmarthen. It is a county of low hills, with much indented coast-line. Milford Haven, in the S., is one of the best harbours in the world. The climate is humid; two-thirds of the soil is under pasture; coal, iron, lead, and slate are found. St. David's is a cathedral city; the county town is Pembroke (18) on Milford Haven, and near it is the fortified dockyard and arsenal Pembroke Dock (10).

Pemmican, a food for long voyages, particularly in Arctic expeditions, consisting of lean meat or beef without fat dried, pounded, and pressed into cakes. The use of it is now suppressed.

Penance, in the Roman Catholic Church an expression of penitence as well as the sacrament of absolution; also the suffering to which a penitent voluntarily subjects himself, according to the schoolmen, as an expression of his penitence, and in punishment of his sin; the three steps of penitence were contrition, confession, and satisfaction.

Penang or Prince of Wales Islands (91), a small fertile island near the northern opening of the Straits of Malacca, off the Malay coast, and 360 m. NW. of Singapore; is one of the British Straits Settlements, of value strategically; it is hilly, and covered with vegetation; the population are half Chinese, a fourth of them Malays; figs, spices, and tobacco are exported. The capital is Georgetown (25), on the island. Province Wellesley (97), on the mainland, belongs to the same settlement; it exports tapioca and sugar. The Dindings (2), 80 m. S., are another dependency.

Penates, the name given by the Romans to their household deities, individually and unitedly, in honour of whom a fire, in charge of the vestal virgins, was kept permanently burning.

Penda, a Mercian king of the 7th century, who headed a reactionary movement of heathenism against the domination of Christianity in England, and for a time seemed to carry all before him, but Christianity, under the preaching of the monks, had gained too deep a hold, particularly in Northumbria, and he was overpowered in 665 in one final struggle and slain.

Pendennis, the name of a novel by Thackeray, from the name of the hero, and published in 1849-50 in succession to "Vanity Fair."

Pendleton, a NW. suburb of Manchester, in the direction of Bolton, with extensive manufactures and collieries.

Pendragon, a title bestowed on kings by the ancient Britons, and especially on the chiefs among them chosen by election, so called from their wearing a dragon on their shields or as a crest in sign of sovereignty.

Penelope, the wife of Ulysses, celebrated for her conjugal fidelity during his twenty years' absence, in the later half of which an army of suitors pled for her hand, pleading that her husband would never return; but she put them all off by a promise of marriage as soon as she finished a web (called after Penelope's web) she was weaving, which she wove by day and undid at night, till their importunities took a violent form, when her husband arrived and delivered her.

Peninsular State, the State of Florida, from its shape.

Peninsular War, a war carried on in Spain and Portugal during the years 1808 and 1814, between the French on the one hand and the Spanish, Portuguese, and British, chiefly under Wellington, on the other, and which was ended by the victory of the latter over the former at Toulouse just after Napoleon's abdication.

Penitential Psalms or Psalms of Confession, is a name given from very early times to Psalms vi., xxxii., xxxviii., li., cii., cxxx., which are specially expressive of sorrow for sin. The name belonged originally to the fifty-first Psalm, which was recited at the close of daily morning service in the primitive Church.

Penitents, Order Of, a religious order established in 1272 for the reception to the Church of reformed courtesans.

Penn, William, founder of Pennsylvania, the son of an admiral, born in London; was converted to Quakerism while a student at Oxford, and for a fanatical attack on certain fellow-students expelled the University; his father sent him to travel in France, and afterwards placed him in charge of his Irish estates; his religious views occasioned several disputes with his father, and ultimately brought him into conflict with the Government; he spent several periods of imprisonment writing books in defence of religious liberty, among them "The Great Cause of Liberty of Conscience" (1671); then travelled in Holland and Germany propagating his views; his father's death brought him a fortune and a claim upon the crown which he commuted for a grant of land in North America, where he founded (1682) the colony of Pennsylvania—the prefix Penn, by command of Charles II. in honour of the admiral; here he established a refuge for all persecuted religionists, and laying out Philadelphia as the capital, governed his colony wisely and generously for two years; he returned to England, where his friendship with James II. brought many advantages to the Quakers, but laid him under harassing and undeserved prosecutions for treason in the succeeding reign; a second visit to his colony (1699-1701) gave it much useful legislation; on his return his agent practically ruined him, and he was a prisoner in the Fleet in 1708; the closing years of his life were clouded by mental decay (1644-1718).

Pennant, Thomas, traveller and naturalist, born near Holywell, Flintshire; studied at Oxford, but took no degree; in 1746 he made a tour of Cornwall; among his subsequent journeys, of which he published accounts, were tours in Ireland (1754), the Continent (1764), Scotland (1769 and 1772), and Wales; he wrote several works on zoological subjects, and published an amusing "Literary Life of the late Thomas Pennant, Esq., by Himself," 1793 (1726-1798).

Pennsylvania (5,258), most populous but one of the American States, lies N. of Mason and Dixon's Line, separated by New Jersey, on the E. by the Delaware River, with Ohio on the W., New York on the N., and Lake Erie at the NW. corner. The country is hilly, being traversed by the Blue Mountains and the Alleghany ranges, with many fertile valleys between the chains, extensive forests, and much picturesque scenery. The Cumberland Valley in the W. is one of the best farming lands in New England. The Alleghany River in the W. and the two branches of the Susquehanna in the centre water the State. Pennsylvania is the greatest mining State in the Union; its iron-mines and petroleum-wells supply half the iron and most of the oil used in the country; its bituminous coal-beds in the W. are extremely rich, and the anthracite deposits of the E. are unrivalled; in manufactures, too, it ranks second among the States; these are very varied, the most valuable being iron, steel, and shipbuilding. Founded by Swedes, it passed to English settlers in 1664; the first charter was granted to William Penn in 1681. In the Revolution it took a prominent part, and was among the first States of the Union. Education is well advanced; there are 20 State colleges. The mining population includes many Irish, Hungarian, and Italian immigrants, among whom riots are frequent. Of the agriculturists many are of Dutch descent, and about two millions still speak a Low German patois known as Pennsylvanian Dutch. Harrisburg (39) is the capital; the metropolis is Philadelphia (1,047), the second largest city in the country; while Pittsburg (239), Alleghany (105), Scranton (75), and Reading (59) are among the many large towns.

Penny, originally a silver coin, weighed in the 7th century 1/240-th of a Saxon pound, but decreased in weight till in Elizabeth's time it was 1/63 of an ounce troy. It was at first indented with a cross so as to be broken for halfpennies and farthings, but silver coins of these denominations were coined by Edward I. Edward VI. stopped the farthings, and the halfpence were stopped in the Commonwealth. Copper coinage was established in 1672. The present coins were issued first in 1860. They are half the size of their predecessors, and intrinsically worth one-seventh of their nominal value.

Penny Wedding, a wedding at which the guests pay part of the charges of the festival.

Penrith (9), a market town of Cumberland, and tourist centre for the English lakes; contains a very old church and school, and ruins of a picturesque castle. Brewing, iron-founding, and timber-sawing are its industries.

Penryn (3), a Cornish market town at the head of Falmouth harbour; has manufactures of paper, woollen cloth, and gunpowder. It has considerable fishing industry, and ships the Penryn granite quarried near.

Penseroso, II, a famous Italian poem by Milton, written in 1633.

Pensionary, the Grand, a State functionary of Holland, whose office, abolished in 1795, it was to superintend State interests, register decrees, negotiate with other countries, and take charge of the revenues, &c.

Pentacle. See Pentagram.

Pentagram, a symbol presumed to possess a magical influence, particularly to charm away evil spirits, formed by placing the figure of an equilateral triangle athwart another.

Pentamerone, a collection of tales in the Neapolitan dialect, supposed to be told during five days by ten old women to a pseudo-princess, and published at Naples 1637; is of great value to students of folk-lore.

Pentateuch, the name given by Origen to the first five books of the Bible, which the Jews call the Law or Five-fifths of the Law, the composition of which has of late years been subjected to keen critical investigation, and the whole ascribed to documents of different dates and diverse authorship, to the rejection of the old traditional hypothesis that it was the work of Moses, first called in question by Spinoza, and shown to be untenable by Jean Astruc (q. v.).

Pentecost (i. e. fiftieth), a great feast of the Jews, so called as held on the fiftieth day after the second of the Passover. It is called also the Feast of Harvest, or Weeks of First-Fruits, the Passover feast being connected with the commencement and this with the conclusion of harvest. It is regarded by the Jews as commemorative of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai, and will never cease to be associated in the Christian memory with the great awakening from which dates the first birth of the Christian consciousness in the Christian Church, the moment when the disciples of Christ first realised in common that their Master was not dead but alive, and nearer to them than He had been when present in the flesh.

Pentelicus, a range of mountains in Attica between Athens and Marathon, famous for its quarries of fine white marble.

Penthesilea, the daughter of Ares and the queen of the Amazons; on the death of Hector she came to the assistance of the Trojans, but was slain by Achilles, who mourned over her when dying on account of her beauty, her youth, and her courage.

Pentheus, a king of Thebes, opposed to the introduction of the Bacchus worship into his kingdom, was driven mad by the god, and torn in pieces by his mother and sisters, who, under the Bacchic frenzy, mistook him for a wild beast.

Penthièvre, Duc de, the father-in-law of Philippe Egalité, and the protector of Florian (1725-1793).

Pentland Firth is the strait between the Orkneys and the Scottish mainland connecting the North Sea with the Atlantic, 12 m. long by 6 broad, and swept by a rapid current very dangerous to navigation; 5000 vessels traverse it annually.

Pentonville, a populous district of London, in the parishes of St James's, Clerkenwell, and Islington, where is the Pentonville Model Prison, built in 1840-42 on the radiating principle to accommodate 520 prisoners.

Penumbra, the name given to the partial shadow on the rim of the total shadow of an eclipse, also to the margin of the light and shade of a picture.

Penzance (14), the largest town in Cornwall, most westerly borough in England, and terminus of the Great Western Railway, is beautifully situated on the rocky W. shore of Mount's Bay; its public buildings chiefly of granite. It has a fine harbour and docks, and is the centre of the mackerel and pilchard fishing industries. Its mild climate makes it a favourite watering-place.

People's Palace, Mile End Road, London, is an institution for the recreation and instruction of the East-end population, opened by the Queen in May 1887, and owing its origin to the impulse given by Sir W. Besant's "All Sorts and Conditions of Men." In it are a library, art galleries, concert and reading rooms, baths, gymnasium, &c., and technical classes and handicraft schools are held; these are attended by 5000 pupils, and the institution is visited by a million and a quarter people annually.

Pepin the Short, king of the Franks, was the son of Charles Martel, and at first shared with his brother Carloman the viceroyalty of the kingdom under Hilderik III.; in 747 Carloman retired to a monastery, and five years later Pepin deposed Hilderik and ascended the throne; his kingdom embraced the valleys of the Rhine, the Rhône, and the Seine; he united his interests with those of the Church, and in 756 entered Italy to rescue the Pope from the threatened domination of the Lombards; reduced Aistulf of Lombardy to vassalage, assumed the title of Patrician of Rome, and by bestowing on Pope Stephen III. the "Exarchate" of the Roman empire, laid the foundation of papal temporal sovereignty, five cities being placed under his jurisdiction; his subsequent exploits included the conquest of the Loire Valley and the expulsion of the Moors from France; his fame was overshadowed by that of his son Charlemagne; d. 678.

Pepsin, an essential constituent of the gastric juice extracted from the stomach of the calf, sheep, and pig, and used in medicine to supply any defect of it in the stomach of a patient.

Pepys, Samuel, author of a famous Diary, a scholarly man and respected as connected with different grades of society; held a clerkship in the Admiralty, and finally the secretaryship; kept a diary of events from 1660 to 1669, which remained in MS. till 1826, when it was published in part by Lord Braybrooke, and is of interest for the insight it gives into the manners of the time and the character of the author; the latest and completest edition of this Diary is that of H. B. Wheatley, published in 1893-96, in eight vols. (1633-1703).

Pera, a suburb of Constantinople, on the N. side of the Golden Horn, and the foreign diplomatic quarter.

Peræa, "the country beyond," designated that part of Palestine beyond or E. of the Jordan.

Perceval, a hero of the legends of chivalry, famed for his adventures in quest of the Holy Graal.

Perceval, Spencer, English statesman, born in London, son of the Earl of Egmont; bred to the bar; entered Parliament as a supporter of Pitt, and held a succession of posts under different administrations, attaining the Premiership, which he held from 1800 to 1812, on the 11th of May, of which year he was shot dead by a madman of the name of Bellingham in the lobby of the House; he was devoted to the throne, and a man of upright character but narrow sympathies (1762-1812).

Percival, James Gates, American poet and geologist, born at Kensington, Connecticut; took his degree at Yale in 1815, and qualified as a medical practitioner; he was for a few months professor of Chemistry at West Point, but retired and gave himself to literature and geology; his scientific works are valuable; "Prometheus and Clio" appeared in 1822, "Dream of a Day" in 1843; he died at Hazel Green, Wisconsin (1795-1856).

Percy, a noble English family of Norman origin, the founder of which accompanied the Conqueror, and was rewarded with grants of land for his services; a successor of whom in the female line, Henry, the father of the famous Hotspur, was created Duke of Northumberland in 1377.

Percy, Thomas, English prelate and antiquary, born at Bridgenorth, Shropshire, the son of a grocer; devoted himself to the collection of old ballads, and published in 1765 "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry"; he published also ballads of his own, among them "The Hermit of Warkworth," and was the author of "O Nannie, wilt thou gang wi' me?" he associated with Johnson, Burke, and other notables of the period, and was a member of Dr. Johnson's Literary Club; became bishop of Dromore in 1782, where he was held in affectionate regard; was blind for some years before he died (1729-1811).

Perdiccas, a favourite general of Alexander the Great, who, when on his deathbed, took his signet ring off his finger and gave it to him; he became an object of distrust after Alexander's death, and was assassinated in Egypt.

Pereira, Jonathan, pharmacologist, born in London; author of the "Elements of Materia Medica," a standard work; was examiner on the subject in London University (1804-1853).

Perekop, Isthmus of, connects the Crimea with the S. of Russia; is pierced by a ship-canal.

Perez, Antonio, Spanish statesman, and minister of Philippe II., born in Aragon; was the tool of the king in the murder of Escoveda, the confidant of John of Austria; was convicted of betraying State secrets and imprisoned, but escaped; being in possession of royal secrets, which he published, Philippe tried every means to arrest him, but Perez evaded capture, and found refuge in France, where he died in poverty (1539-1611).

Perfectionism, the doctrine that moral perfection is by divine grace attainable in the present life.

Perfectionists, an American sect or society founded by John Humphrey Noyes in 1848 at Oneida, New York State, on Communistic principles, but owning no law save that of the Spirit, and subject to no criticism but the judgment they freely passed on one another, a system which they were obliged to modify in 1880 so far as to recognise the rights of matrimony and the family, and to adopt the principle of a joint-stock limited liability company, on which lines the community is proving a prosperous one.

Pergamos, the citadel of Troy, a name frequently given by the poets to the city itself.

Pergamos, an ancient city of Mysia, in Asia Minor; founded by a colony of Greek emigrants in 3rd century B.C., and eventually the centre of a province of the name, which was subject for a time to Macedonia, but threw off the yoke and became independent, till it became a Roman province by bequest on the part of Attalus III. in 133 B.C. The city possessed a library second only to that of Alexandria, contained one of the seven churches mentioned in the Revelation, and gave its name to parchment, alleged to have been invented there.

Peri, in the Eastern mythology a fairy being of surpassing beauty, begotten of fallen spirits, and excluded from Paradise, but represented as leading a life of pleasure and endowed with immortality; there were male Peris as well as female, and they were intermediate between angels and demons.

Periander, the tyrant of Corinth from 625 to 585 B.C., was one of the seven sages of Greece, and a patron of literature and the arts; Arion and Anacharsis lived at his Court.

Pericles, the great Athenian statesman, born in Athens, of noble parentage; was a devoted disciple of Anaxagoras; entered public life 467 B.C. as a democrat, and soon became head of the democratic party, to the increase of the power of the citizens and annihilation of the domination of the oligarchy centred in the Areopagus; hostile to territorial aggrandisement, he sought, as his chief ambition, the unification of Greece in one grand confederacy, but was defeated in this noble aim by the jealousy of Sparta; he put down all rivalry, however, in Athens itself, and established himself as absolute ruler with the consent of the citizens, reforming the laws, adorning the city, and encouraging literature and the arts, masters, many wise in the one and skilful in the other, he had at his disposal, such as few or none of the cities of the world had ever before or have had since; the resulting prosperity did but enhance the envy of the other States, Sparta in particular, and two years before he died the spirit of hostility took shape in the outbreak of the Peloponnesian War (q. v.); he had surrounded the city with walls, and his policy was to defend it from within them rather than face the enemy in the field, but it proved fatal, for it tended to damp rather than quicken the ardour of the citizens, and to add to this a plague broke out among them in 430 B.C., which cut down the most valiant of their number, and he himself lay down to die the year after; he was a high-souled, nobly-bred man, great in all he thought and did, and he gathered around him nearly all the noble-minded and noble-hearted men of his time to adorn his reign and make Athens the envy of the world; d. 429 B.C.

Périer, Casimir, a French banker and politician, born at Grenoble; took part in the Revolution of 1830, became Minister of the Interior in 1831; suppressed the insurrections at Paris and Lyons; died of cholera (1777-1832).

Perigee, the point in the orbit of the moon or a planet nearest the earth.

Périgord, an ancient territory of France, S. of Guienne, famous for its truffles, of which Périgueux (q. v.) was the capital; united to the Crown of France by Henry IV. in 1589, it is now part of the department of Dordogne and part of Lot-et-Garonne.

Périgueux (31), chief town of the department of Dordogne, France, on the Isle, 95 m. by rail NE. of Bordeaux, is a narrow irregular town with a cathedral after St. Mark's in Venice, museum of antiquities, and library; iron and woollens are the industries; truffles and truffle pies are exported.

Perihelion, the point on the orbit of a planet or comet nearest the sun.

Perim, a small barren, crescent-shaped island at the mouth of the Red Sea, belonging to Britain, and used as a coaling-station.