Chapter XII: Book I: Satan presents himself as an old peasant, and, entering into (2)

=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.

Shakespeare, 1 _Henry VI._ act iii. sc. 2 (1589)[TN-80]

=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).

Le cour du roi Pétaud, où chacun est maitre.--_French Proverb._

=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).