Chapter XIV: Book I: Satan presents himself as an old peasant, and, entering into (4)

In sooth thou wast in very gracious fooling last night when thou
spokest of Pigrogromitus, of the Vapian passing the equinoctial of
Queubus. ’Twas very good, i’ faith.--Shakespeare, _Twelfth Night_,
act ii. sc. 3 (1614).

=Pigwig´gen=, a fairy knight, whose amours with Queen Mab, and furious combat with Oberon, form the subject of Drayton’s _Nymphidia_ (1593).

=Pike= (_Gideon_), valet to old Major Bellenden.--Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).

=Pila´tus= (_Mount_), in Switzerland. The legend is that Pontius Pilate, being banished to Gaul by the Emperor Tiberius, wandered to this mount, and flung himself into a black lake at the summit of the hill, being unable to endure the torture of conscience for having given up the Lord to crucifixion.

=Pilgrim Fathers.= They were 102 puritans (English, Scotch, and Dutch), who went, in December, 1620, in a ship called the _Mayflower_, to North America, and colonized Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. These states they called “New England.” New Plymouth (near Boston) was the second colony planted by the English in the New World.

Men in the middle of life, austere and grave in deportment....
God had sifted three kingdoms to find the wheat for this planting.

Longfellow, _Courtship of Miles Standish_, iv. (1858).

=Pilgrim--Palmer.= _Pilgrims_ had dwellings, _palmers_ had none. _Pilgrims_ went at their own charge, _palmers_ professed willing poverty, and lived on charity. _Pilgrims_ might return to a secular life, _palmers_ could not. _Pilgrims_ might hold titles and follow trades, _palmers_ were wholly “religious” men.

=Pilgrim to Compostella.= Some pilgrims on their way to Compostella, stopped at a hospice in La Calzāda. The daughter of the innkeeper solicited a young Frenchman to spend the night with her, but he refused; so she put in his wallet a silver cup, and when he was on the road, she accused him to the alcaydê of theft. As the property was found in his possession, the alcaydê ordered him to be hung. His parents went on their way to Compostella, and returned after eight days, but what was their amazement to find their son alive on the gibbet, and uninjured. They went instantly to tell the alcaydê; but the magistrate replied, “Woman, you are mad! I would just as soon believe these pullets, which I am about to eat, are alive, as that a man who has been gibbeted eight days is not dead.” No sooner had he spoken than the two pullets actually rose up alive. The alcaydê was frightened out of his wits, and was about to rush out of doors, when the heads and feathers of the birds came scampering in to complete the resuscitation. The cock and hen were taken in grand procession to St. James’s Church of Compostella, where they lived seven years, and the hen hatched two eggs, a cock and a hen, which lived just seven years, and did the same. This has continued to this day, and pilgrims receive feathers from these birds as holy relics; but no matter how many feathers are given away, the plumage of the sacred fowls is never deficient.

⁂ This legend is also seriously related by Bishop Patrick, _Parable of the Pilgrims_, xxxv. 430-4. Udal ap Rhys repeats it in his _Tour through Spain and Portugal_, 35-8. It is inserted in the _Acta Sanctorum_, vi. 45. Pope Calixtus II. mentions it among the miracles of Santiago.

=Pilgrim= (_A Passionate_), American who visits England, as one seeks the home he has loved throughout a tedious exile. It is like the return of a weary child to his mother’s arms, as night comes on. He lingers upon each feature of the landscape as upon the face of his beloved, and counts the rest of the world but “a garish” place.--Henry James, Jr., _A Passionate Pilgrim_.

=Pilgrim’s Progress= (_The_), by John Bunyan. Pt. i., 1670; pt. ii., 1684. This is supposed to be a dream, and to allegorize the life of a Christian, from his conversion to his death. His doubts are giants, his sins a pack, his Bible a chart, his minister, Evangelist, his conversion a flight from the City of Destruction, his struggle with besetting sins a fight with Apollyon, his death a toilsome passage over a deep stream, and so on.

The second part is Christiana and her family led by Greatheart through the same road, to join Christian who had gone before.

=Pillar of the Doctors= (_La Colonne des Docteurs_), William de Champeaux (*-1121).

=Pilot= (_The_), an important character and the title of a nautical burletta by E. Fitzball, based on the novel so called by J. Fenimore Cooper, of New York. “The pilot” turns out to be the brother of Colonel Howard, of America. He happened to be in the same vessel which was taking out the colonel’s wife and only son. The vessel was wrecked, but “the pilot” (whose name was John Howard) saved the infant boy, and sent him to England to be brought up, under the name of Barnstable. When young Barnstable was a lieutenant in the British navy, Colonel Howard seized him as a spy, and commanded him to be hung to the yardarm of an American frigate, called the _Alacrity_. At this crisis, “the pilot” informed the colonel that Barnstable was his own son, and the father arrived just in time to save him from death.

=Pilpay´=, the Indian Æsop. His compilation was in Sanskrit, and entitled _Pantschatantra_.

It was rumored he could say ...
All the “Fables” of Pilpay.

Longfellow, _The Wayside Inn_ (prelude).

=Pilum´nus=, the patron god of bakers and millers, because he was the first person who ever ground corn.

Then there was Pilumnus, who was the first to make cheese, and
became the god of bakers.--Ouida, _Ariadnê_, i. 40.

=Pinabello=, son of Anselmo (king of Maganza). Marphi´sa overthrew him, and told him he could not wipe out the disgrace till he had unhorsed a thousand dames and a thousand knights. Pinabello was slain by Brad´amant.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

=Pinac=, the lively, spirited fellow-traveller of Mirabel, “the wild goose.” He is in love with the sprightly Lillia-Bianca, a daughter of Nantolet.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Wild Goose Chase_ (1652).

=Pinch=, a schoolmaster and conjuror, who tries to exorcise Antiph´olus (act iv. sc. 4).--Shakespeare, _Comedy of Errors_ (1593).

_Pinch_ (_Tom_), clerk to Mr. Pecksniff “architect and land surveyor.” Simple as a child, green as a salad, and honest as truth itself. Very fond of story-books, but far more so of the organ. It was the seventh heaven to him to pull out the stops for the organist’s assistant at Salisbury Cathedral; but when allowed, after service, to finger the notes himself, he lived in a dreamland of unmitigated happiness. Being dismissed from Pecksniff’s office, Tom was appointed librarian to the Temple Library, and his new catalogue was a perfect model of workmanship.

_Ruth Pinch_, a true-hearted, pretty girl, who adores her brother, Tom, and is the sunshine of his existence. She marries John Westlock.--C. Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1844).

=Pinchbeck.= Sham doctor and matrimonial agent in John Brougham’s play, _Playing With Fire_.

_Pinchbeck_ (_Lady_), with whom Don Juan placed Leila to be brought up.

Olden she was--but had been very young;
Virtuous she was--and had been, I believe ...
She merely now was amiable and witty.

Byron, _Don Juan_, xii. 43, 47 (1824).

=Pinchwife= (_Mr._), the town husband of a raw country girl, wholly unpractised in the ways of the world, and whom he watches with ceaseless anxiety.

Lady Drogheda ... watched her town husband assiduously as Mr.
Pinchwife watched his country wife.--Macaulay.

_Mrs. Pinchwife_, the counterpart of Molière’s “Agnes,” in his comedy entitled _L’école des Femmes_. Mrs. Pinchwife is a young woman wholly unsophisticated in affairs of the heart.--Wycherly, _The Country Wife_ (1675).

⁂ Garrick altered Wycherly’s comedy to _The Country Girl_.

=Pindar= (_Peter_), the pseudonym of Dr. John Wolcot (1738-1819).

_Pindar_ (_The British_), Thomas Gray (1716-1771). On his monument in Westminster Abbey is inscribed these lines:

No more the Grecian muse unrivalled reigns;
To Britain let the nations homage pay:
She felt a Homer’s fire in Milton’s strains,
A Pindar’s rapture in the lyre of Gray.

_Pindar_ (_The French_), (1) Jean Dorat (1507-1588); (2) Ponce Denis Lebrun (1719-1807).

_Pindar_ (_The Italian_), Gabriello Chiabrera (1552-1637).

=Pindar of England.= Cowley was preposterously called by the duke of Buckingham “The Pindar, Horace and Virgil of England.” Posterity has not endorsed this absurd eulogium (1618-1667).

=Pindar of Wakefield= (_The_), George-a-Green, pinner of the town of Wakefield--that is, keeper of the public pound for the confinement of estrays.--_The History of George-a-Green, Pindar of the Town of Wakefield_ (time, Elizabeth).

=Pindo´rus and Aride´us=, the two heralds of the Christian army in the siege of Jerusalem.--Tasso, _Jerusalem Delivered_ (1575).

=Pine-Bender= (_The_), Sinis, the Corinthian robber who used to fasten his victims to two pine trees bent towards the earth, and leave them to be torn to pieces by the rebound.

=Pingree= (_Nancy_), called “Old Lady Pingree” because of her pride and black lace turban. She lives by herself in the lower part of the old Pingree house, and is so poor that to give an egg to the lodgers above stairs is an act of self-denying generosity. She has money and burial-clothes laid away for her funeral, yet when the neighbor upstairs dies, Nancy “lends” it to the daughter to keep her mother out of the Potter’s field. A sudden rise in property brings Nancy a few hundreds, and enables her to face death with calm certainty of an independent burial in the Pingree lot.--Mary E. Wilkins, _A Humble Romance, and Other Stories_ (1887).

=Pinkerton= (_Miss_), a most majestic lady, tall as a grenadier, and most proper. Miss Pinkerton kept an academy for young ladies on Chiswick Mall. She was “the Semiramis of Hammersmith, the friend of Dr. Johnson, and the correspondent of Mrs. Chapone.” This very distinguished lady “had a Roman nose, and wore a solemn turban.” Amelia Sedley was educated at Chiswick Mall academy, and Rebecca Sharp was a pupil-teacher there.--Thackeray, _Vanity Fair_, i. (1848).

=Pinnit= (_Orson_), keeper of the bears.--Sir W. Scott, _Kenilworth_ (time, Elizabeth).

=Pinto= (_Ferdinand Mendez_), a Portuguese traveller, whose “voyages” were at one time wholly discredited, but have since been verified (1509-1583).

Ferdinand Mendez Pinto was but a type of thee, thou liar of the
first magnitude.--W. Congreve, _Love for Love_ (1695).

=Pious= (_The_), Ernst I., founder of the house of Gotha (1601-1674).

Robert, son of Hugues Capet (971, 996-1031).

Eric IX. of Sweden (*, 1155-1161).

=Pip=, the hero of Dickens’s novel called _Great Expectations_. His family name was Pirrip, and his Christian name Philip. He was enriched by a convict named Abel Magwitch; and was brought up by Joe Gargery, a smith, whose wife was a woman of thunder and lightning, storm and tempest. Magwitch, having made his escape to Australia, became a sheep farmer, grew very rich, and deposited £500 a year with Mr. Jaggers, a lawyer, for the education of Pip, and to make a gentleman of him. Ultimately, Pip married Estella, the daughter of Magwitch, but adopted from infancy by Miss Havisham, a rich banker’s daughter. His friend, Herbert Pocket, used to call him “Handel.”--C. Dickens, _Great Expectations_ (1860).

=Pipchin= (_Mrs._), an exceedingly “well-connected lady,” living at Brighton, where she kept an establishment for the training of _enfants_. Her “respectability” chiefly consisted in the circumstance of her husband having broken his heart in pumping water out of some Peruvian mines (that is, in having invested in these mines and been let in). Mrs. Pipchin was an ill-favored old woman, with mottled cheeks and grey eyes. She was given to buttered toast and sweetbreads, but kept her _enfants_ on the plainest possible fare.--C. Dickens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).

=Piper= (_Tom_), one of the characters in a morris-dance.

So have I seen
Tom Piper stand upon our village green,
Backed with the May-pole.

William Browne, _Shepherd’s Pipe_ (1614).

_Piper_ (_Paddy, the_), an Irish piper, supposed to have been eaten by a cow. Going along one night during the “troubles,” he knocked his head against the body of a dead man dangling from a tree. The sight of the “iligant” boots was too great a temptation: and as they refused to come off without the legs, Paddy took them too, and sought shelter for the night in a cowshed. The moon rose, and Paddy, mistaking the moon-light for the dawn, started for the fair, having drawn on the boots and left the “legs” behind. At daybreak, some of the piper’s friends went in search of him, and found, to their horror, that the cow, as they supposed, had devoured him with the exception of his legs--clothes, bags, and all. They were horror-struck, and of course the cow was condemned to be sold; but while driving her to the fair, they were attracted by the strains of a piper coming towards them. The cow startled, made a bolt, with a view, as it was supposed, of making a meal on another piper. “Help, help!” they shouted; when Paddy himself ran to their aid. The mystery was soon explained over a drop of the “cratur,” and the cow was taken home again.--S. Lover, _Legends and Stories of Ireland_ (1834).

=Piper of Hamelin= (_The Pied_), Bunting, who first charmed the rats of Hamelin into the Weser, and then allured the children (to the number of 130) to Koppenberg Hill, which opened upon them. (See PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN.)

=Piperman=, the factotum of Chalomel, chemist and druggist. He was “so handy” that he was never at his post; and being “so handy,” he took ten times the trouble of doing anything that another would need to bestow. For the self-same reason, he stumbled and blundered about, muddled and marred everything he touched, and being a Jack-of-all-trades was master of none.

There has been an accident because I am so handy. I went to the
dairy at a bound, came back at other, and fell down in the open
street, where I spilt the milk. I tried to bale it up--no go. Then
I ran back or ran home, I forget which, and left the money
somewhere; and then, in fact, I have been four times to and fro,
because I am so handy.--J. R. Ware, _Piperman’s Predicament_.

=Pipes= (_Tom_), a retired boatswain’s mate, living with Commodore Trunnion to keep the servants in order. Tom Pipes is noted for his taciturnity.--Tobias Smollett, _The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle_ (1751).

(The incident of Tom Pipes concealing in his shoe his master’s letter to Emilia was suggested by Ovid.[TN-95]

Cum possit solea chartas celare ligatas,
Et vincto blandas sub pede ferre notas,[TN-96]

_Art of Love._

=Pippa.= Peasant maid who sings in tripping through the streets on the morning of her holiday. The song reaches the windows of those who sorrow, doubt and sin, and thus influences other lives than her own.--Robert Browning, _Pippa Passes_ (1842).

=Pirate= (_The_), a novel by Sir W. Scott (1821). In this novel we are introduced to the wild sea scenery of the Shetlands; the primitive manners of the old udaller, Magnus Troil, and his fair daughters Minna and Brenda; lovely pictures, drawn with nice discrimination, and most interesting.

⁂ A udaller is one who holds his lands on allodial tenure.

=Pirner= (_John_), a fisherman at Old St. Ronan’s.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan’s Well_ (time, George III.).

=Pisa.= The banner of Pisa is a cross on a crimson field, said to have been brought from heaven by Michael the archangel, and delivered by him to St. Efeso, the patron saint of that city.

=Pisanio=, servant of Posthu´mus. Being sent to murder Imogen, the wife of Posthumus, he persuades her to escape to Milford Haven in boy’s clothes, and sends a bloody napkin to Posthumus, to make him believe that she has been murdered. Ultimately, Imogen becomes reconciled to her husband. (See POSTHUMUS.)--Shakespeare, _Cymbeline_ (1605).

=Pisis´tratos=, of Athens, being asked by his wife to punish with death a young man who had dared to kiss their daughter, replied, “How shall we requite those who wish us evil, if we condemn to death those who love us?” This anecdote is referred to by Dantê, in his _Purgatory_, xv.--Valerius Maximus, _Memorable Acts and Sayings_, v.

=Pisis´tratos and His Two Sons.= The history of Pisistratos and his two sons is repeated in that of Cosmo de Medici, of Florence, and his two grandsons. It would be difficult to find a more striking parallel, whether we regard the characters or the incidents of the two families.

Pisistratos was a great favorite of the Athenian populace; so was Cosmo de Medici with the populace of Florence. Pisistratos was banished, but, being recalled by the people, was raised to sovereign power in the republic of Athens; so Cosmo was banished, but, being recalled by the people, was raised to supreme power in the republic of Florence. Pisistratos was just and merciful, a great patron of literature, and spent large sums of money in beautifying Athens with architecture; the same may be said of Cosmo de Medici. To Pisistratos we owe the poems of Homer in a connected form; and to Cosmo we owe the best literature of Europe, for he spent fortunes in the copying of valuable MSS. The two sons of Pisistratos were Hipparchos and Hippias; and the two grandsons of Cosmo were Guiliano and Lorenzo. Two of the most honored citizens of Athens (Harmodios and Aristogīton) conspired against the sons of Pisistratos--Hipparchos was assassinated, but Hippias escaped; so Francesco Pazzi and the archbishop of Pisa conspired against the grandsons of Cosmo--Guiliano was assassinated, but Lorenzo escaped. In both cases it was the elder brother who fell, and the younger who escaped. Hippias quelled the tumult, and succeeded in placing himself at the head of Athens; so did Lorenzo in Florence.

=Pistol=, in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_ and the two parts of _Henry IV._, is the ancient or ensign of Captain Sir John Falstaff. Peto is his lieutenant, and Bardolph his corporal. Peto being removed, (probably killed), we find in _Henry V._, Pistol is lieutenant, Bardolph ancient, and Nym corporal. Pistol is also introduced as married to Mistress Nell Quickly, hostess of the tavern in Eastcheap. Both Pistol and his wife die before the play is over; so does Sir John Falstaff; Bardolph and Nym are both hanged. Pistol is a model bully, wholly unprincipled, and utterly despicable; but he treats his wife kindly, and she is certainly fond of him.--Shakespeare.

=Pistris=, the sea-monster sent to devour Androm´eda. It had a dragon’s head and a fish’s tail.--Aratus, _Commentaries_.

=Pithyrian= [_Pi.thirry.an_], a pagan of Antioch. He had one daughter, named Mara´na, who was a Christian. A young dragon of most formidable character infested the city of Antioch, and demanded a virgin to be sent out daily for its meal. The Antioch´eans cast lots for the first victim, and the lot fell on Marana, who was led forth in grand procession as the victim of the dragon. Pithyrian, in distraction, rushed into a Christian church, and fell before an image which attracted his attention, at the base of which was the real arm of a saint. The sacristan handed the holy relic to Pithyrian, who kissed it, and then restored it to the sacristan; but the servitor did not observe that a thumb was missing. Off ran Pithyrian with the thumb, and joined his daughter. On came the dragon, with tail erect, wings extended, and mouth wide open, when Pithyrian threw into the gaping jaws the “sacred thumb.” Down fell the tail, the wings drooped, the jaws were locked, and up rose the dragon into the air to the height of three miles, when it blew up into a myriad pieces. So the lady was rescued, Antioch delivered; and the relic, minus a thumb, testifies the fact of this wonderful miracle.--Southey, _The Young Dragon_ (Spanish legend).

=Pitt Diamond= (_The_), the sixth largest cut diamond in the world. It weighed 410 carats uncut, and 136-3/4 carats cut. It once belonged to Mr. Pitt, grandfather of the famous earl of Chatham. The duke of Orleans, regent of France, bought it for £135,000, whence it is often called “The Regent.” The French republic sold it to Treskon, a merchant of Berlin. Napoleon I. bought it to ornament his sword. It now belongs to the king of Prussia. (See DIAMONDS.)

=Pizarro=, a Spanish adventurer, who made war on Atali´ba, inca of Peru. Elvi´ra, mistress of Pizarro, vainly endeavored to soften his cruel heart. Before the battle, Alonzo, the husband of Cora, confided his wife and child to Rolla, the beloved friend of the inca. The Peruvians were on the point of being routed, when Rolla came to the rescue, and redeemed the day; but Alonzo was made a prisoner of war. Rolla, thinking Alonzo to be dead, proposed to Cora; but she declined his suit, and having heard that her husband had fallen into the hands of the Spaniards, she implored Rolla to set him free. Accordingly, he entered the prison where Alonzo was confined, and changed clothes with him, but Elvira liberated him on condition that he would kill Pizarro. Rolla found his enemy sleeping in his tent, spared his life, and made him his friend. The infant child of Cora being lost, Rolla recovered it, and was so severely wounded in this heroic act that he died. Pizarro was slain in combat by Alonzo; Elvira retired to a convent; and the play ends with a grand funeral march, in which the dead body of Rolla is borne to the tomb.--Sheridan, _Pizarro_ (1814).

(Sheridan’s drama of _Pizarro_ is taken from that of Kotzebue, but there are several alterations: Thus, Sheridan makes Pizarro killed by Alonzo, which is a departure both from Kotzebue and also from historic truth. Pizarro lived to conquer Peru, and was assassinated in his palace at Lima, by the son of his friend, Almagro.)

_Pizarro_, “the ready tool of fell Velasquez’ crimes.”--R. Jephson, _Braganza_ (1775).

_Pizarro_, the governor of the State prison, in which Fernando Florestan was confined. Fernando’s young wife, in boy’s attire, and under the name of Fidelio, became the servant of Pizarro, who, resolving to murder Fernando, sent Fidelio and Rocco (the jailer) to dig his grave. Pizarro was just about to deal the fatal blow, when the minister of state arrived, and commanded the prisoner to be set free.--Beethoven, _Fidelio_ (1791).

=Place´bo=, one of the brothers of January, the old baron of Lombardy. When January held a family conclave to know whether he should marry, Placebo told him “to please himself, and do as he liked.”--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (“The Merchant’s Tale,” 1388).

=Placid= (_Mr._), a hen-pecked husband, who is roused at last to be somewhat more manly, but could never be better than “a boiled rabbit without oyster sauce.” (See PLIANT.)

_Mrs. Placid_, the lady paramount of the house, who looked quite aghast if her husband expressed a wish of his own, or attempted to do an independent act.--Inchbald, _Every One Has His Fault_ (1794).

=Plac´idas=, the exact fac-simile of his friend, Amias. Having heard of his friend’s captivity, he went to release him, and being detected in the garden, was mistaken by Corflambo’s dwarf for Amias. The dwarf went and told Pæa´na (the daughter of Corflambo, “fair as ever yet saw living eye, but too loose of life and eke of love too light”). Placidas was seized and brought before the lady, who loved Amias, but her love was not requited. When Placidas stood before her, she thought he was Amias, and great was her delight to find her love returned. She married Placidas, reformed her ways, “and all men much admired the change, and spake her praise.”--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, iv. 8, 9 (1596).

=Plagiary= (_Sir Fretful_), a playwright, whose dramas are mere plagiarisms from “the refuse of obscure volumes.” He pretends to be rather pleased with criticism, but is sorely irritated thereby. Richard Cumberland (1732-1811), noted for his vanity and irritability, was the model of this character.--Sheridan, _The Critic_, i. 1 (1779).

Herrick, who had no occasion to steal, has taken this image from
Suckling, and spoilt it in the theft. Like Sir Fretful Plagiary,
Herrick had not skill to steal with taste.--R. Chambers, _English
Literature_, i. 134.

William Parsons [1736-1795] was the original “Sir Fretful
Plagiary,” and from his delineation most of our modern actors have
borrowed their idea.--_Life of Sheridan._

=Plaids et Gieux sous l’Ormel=, a society formed by the troubadours of Picardy in the latter half of the twelfth century. It consisted of knights and ladies of the highest rank, exercised and approved in courtesy, who assumed an absolute judicial power in matters of the most delicate nature; trying with the most consummate ceremony, all causes in love brought before their tribunals.

This was similar to the “Court of Love,” established about the same time, by the troubadours of Provence.--_Universal Magazine_ (March, 1792).

=Plain= (_The_), the level floor of the National Convention of France, occupied by the Girondists, or moderate republicans.

The red republicans occupied the higher seats, called “the mountain.” By a figure of speech, the Girondist party was called “the plain,” and the red republican party “the mountain.”

=Plain and Perspicuous Doctor= (_The_), Walter Burleigh (1275-1357).

=Plain Dealer= (_The_), a comedy by William Wycherly (1677).

The countess of Drogheda ... inquired for the _Plain Dealer_.
“Madam,” said Mr. Fairbeard, ... “there he is,” pushing Mr.
Wycherly towards her.--Cibber, _Lives of the Poets_, iii. 252.

(Wycherly married the countess in 1680. She died soon afterwards, leaving him the whole of her fortune.)

=Plantagenet= (_Lady Edith_), a kinswoman of Richard I. She marries the prince royal of Scotland (called Sir Kenneth, knight of the Leopard, or David, earl of Huntingdon).--Sir W. Scott, _The Talisman_ (time, Richard I.).

=Plato.= The mistress of this philosopher was Archianassa; of Aristotle, Hepyllis; and of Epicurus, Leontium. (See LOVERS.)

_Plato_ (_The German_), Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743-1819).

_Plato_ (_The Jewish_), Philo Judæus (fl. 30-40).

_Plato_ (_The Puritan_), John Howe (1630-1706).

=Plato and the Bees.= It is said that when Plato was an infant, bees settled on his lips while he was asleep, indicating that he would become famous for his “honeyed words.” The same story is told of Sophoclês also.

And as when Plato did i’ the cradle thrive,
Bees to his lips brought honey from the hive;
So to this boy [_Dor´idon_] they came--I know not whether
They brought or from his lips did honey gather.

W. Browne, _Brittania’s Pastorals_, ii. (1613).

=Plato and Homer.= Plato greatly admired Homer, but excluded him from his ideal republic.

Plato, ’tis true, great Homer doth commend,
Yet from his common-weal did him exile.

Lord Brooke, _Inquisition upon Fame, etc._ (1554-1628).

=Plato and Poets.=

Plato, anticipating the Reviewers,
From his “republic,” banished without pity
The poets.

Longfellow, _The Poet’s Tale_.

=Platonic Puritan= (_The_), John Howe, the puritan divine (1630-1706).

=Plausible= (_Counsellor_) and Serjeant Eitherside, two pleaders in _The Man of the World_, by C. Macklin (1764).

=Pleasant= (_Mrs._) in _The Parson’s Wedding_, by Tom Killigrew (1664).

=Pleasures of Hope=, a poem in two parts by Thomas Campbell (1799). It opens with a comparison between the beauty of scenery, and the ideal enchantments of fancy, in which hope is never absent, but can sustain the seaman on his watch, the soldier on his march, and Byron in his perilous adventures. The hope of a mother, the hope of a prisoner, the hope of the wanderer, the grand hope of the patriot, the hope of regenerating uncivilized nations, extending liberty, and ameliorating the condition of the poor. Pt. ii. speaks of the hope of love, and the hope of a future state, concluding with the episode of Conrad and Ellenore. Conrad was a felon, transported to New South Wales, but, though “a martyr to his crimes, was true to his daughter.” Soon, he says, he shall return to the dust from which he was taken;

But not, my child, with life’s precarious fire,
The immortal ties of Nature shall expire;
These shall resist the triumph of decay,
When time is o’er, and worlds have passed away.
Cold in the dust this perished heart may lie,
But that which warmed it once shall never die--
That spark, unburied in its mortal frame,
With living light, eternal, and the same,
Shall beam on Joy’s interminable years,
Unveiled by darkness, unassuaged by tears.

Pt. ii.

=Pleasures of Imagination=, a poem in three books, by Akenside (1744). All the pleasures of imagination arise from the perception of greatness, wonderfulness, or beauty. The beauty of greatness--witness the pleasures of mountain scenery, of astronomy, of infinity. The pleasure of what is wonderful--witness the delight of novelty, of the revelations of science, of tales of fancy. The pleasure of beauty, which is always connected with truth--the beauty of color, shape, and so on, in natural objects; the beauty of mind and the moral faculties. Bk. ii. contemplates accidental pleasures arising from contrivance and design, emotion and passion, such as sorrow, pity, terror, and indignation. Bk. iii. Morbid imagination the parent of vice; the benefits of a well-trained imagination.

=Pleasures of Memory=, a poem in two parts, by Samuel Rogers (1793). The first part is restricted to the pleasure of memory afforded by the five senses, as that arising from visiting celebrated places, and that afforded by pictures. Pt. ii. goes into the pleasures of the mind, as imagination and memory of past griefs and dangers. The poem concludes with the supposition that in the life to come this faculty will be greatly enlarged. The episode is this: Florio, a young sportsman, accidentally met Julia in a grot, and followed her home, when her father, a rich squire, welcomed him as his guest, and talked with delight of his younger days, when hawk and hound were his joy of joys. Florio took Julia for a sail on the lake, but the vessel was capsized, and, though Julia was saved from the water, she died on being brought to shore. It was Florio’s delight to haunt the places which Julia frequented.

Her charm around the enchantress Memory threw,
A charm that soothes the mind and sweetens too.

Pt. ii.

=Pleiads= (_The_), a cluster of seven stars in the constellation _Taurus_, and applied to a cluster of seven celebrated contemporaries. The stars were the seven daughters of Atlas: Maĭa, Electra, Taygĕtê, (4 _syl._), Asterŏpê, Merŏpê, Alcyŏnê and Celēno.

_The Pleiad of Alexandria_ consisted of Callimachos, Apollonios Rhodios, Arātos, Homer the Younger, Lycophron, Nicander, and Theocrĭtos. All of Alexandria, in the time of Ptolemy Philadelphos.

_The Pleiad of Charlemagne_ consisted of Alcuin, called “Albīnus;” Angilbert, called “Homer;” Adelard, called “Augustine;” Riculfe, called “Damætas;” Varnefrid; Eginhard; and Charlemagne himself, who was called “David.”

_The First French Pleiad_ (sixteenth century): Ronsard, Joachim du Bellay, Antoine de Baïf, Remi-Belleau, Jodelle, Ponthus de Thiard, and the seventh is either Dorat or Amadis de Jamyn. All under Henri III.

_The Second French Pleiad_ (seventeenth century): Rapin, Commire, Larue, Santeuil, Ménage, Dupérier, and Petit.

_We have also our English clusters. There were those born in the second half of the sixteenth century_: Spenser (1553), Drayton (1563), Shakespeare and Marlowe (1564), Ben Jonson (1574), Fletcher (1576), Massinger (1585), Beaumont (Fletcher’s colleague) and Ford (1586). Besides these there were Tusser (1515), Raleigh (1552), Sir Philip Sidney (1554), Phineas Fletcher (1584), Herbert (1593), and several others.

_Another cluster came a century later_: Prior (1664), Swift (1667), Addison and Congreve (1672), Rowe (1673), Farquhar (1678), Young (1684), Gay and Pope (1688), Macklin (1690).

_These were born in the latter half of the eighteenth century_: Sheridan (1751), Crabbe (1754), Burns (1759), Rogers (1763), Wordsworth (1770), Scott (1771), Coleridge (1772), Southey (1774), Campbell (1777), Moore (1779), Byron (1788), Shelley and Keble (1792), and Keats (1796).

Butler (1600), Milton (1608), and Dryden (1630) came between the first and second clusters. Thomson (1700), Gray (1717), Collins (1720), Akenside (1721), Goldsmith (1728), and Cowper (1731), between the second and the third.

=Pleonec´tes= (4 _syl._), Covetousness personified, in _The Purple Island_, by Phineas Fletcher (1633). “His gold his god” ... he “much fears to keep, much more to lose his lusting.” Fully described in canto viii. (Greek, _pleonektês_, “covetous.”)

=Pleydell= (_Mr. Paulus_), an advocate in Edinburgh, shrewd and witty. He was at one time the sheriff at Ellangowan.

Mr. Counsellor Pleydell was a lively, sharp-looking gentleman, with
a professional shrewdness in his eye, and, generally speaking, a
professional formality in his manner; but this he could slip off on
a Saturday evening, when ... he joined in the ancient pastime of
High Jinks.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_, xxxix. (time, George
II.).

=Pliable=, a neighbor of Christian, whom he accompanied as far as the “Slough of Despond,” when he turned back.--Bunyan, _Pilgrim’s Progress_, i. (1678).

=Pliant= (_Sir Paul_), a hen-pecked husband, who dares not even touch a letter addressed to himself till my lady has read it first. His perpetual oath is “Gadsbud!” He is such a dolt that he would not believe his own eyes and ears, if they bore testimony against his wife’s fidelity and continency. (See PLACID.)

_Lady Pliant_, second wife of Sir Paul. “She’s handsome, and knows it; is very silly, and thinks herself wise; has a choleric old husband” very fond of her, but whom she rules with spirit, and snubs “afore folk.” My lady says, “If one has once sworn, it is most unchristian, inhuman, and obscene that one should break it.” Her conduct with Mr. Careless is most reprehensible.--Congreve, _The Double Dealer_ (1694).

=Pliny= (_The German_), or “Modern Pliny,” Konrad von Gesner of Zurich, who wrote _Historia Animalium_, etc. (1516-1565).

=Pliny of the East=, Zakarija ibn Muhammed, surnamed “Kazwînî,” from Kazwîn, the place of his birth. He is so called by De Sacy (1200-1283).

=Plon-Plon=, Prince Napoleon Joseph Charles Bonaparte, son of Jerome Bonaparte by his second wife (the Princess Frederica Catherine of Würtemberg). Plon-Plon is a euphonic corruption of _Craint-Plomb_ (“fear-bullet”), a nickname given to the prince in the Crimēan war (1854-6).

=Plornish=, plasterer, Bleeding-heart Yard. He was a smooth-cheeked, fresh-colored, sandy-whiskered man of 30. Long in the legs, yielding at the knees, foolish in the face, flannel-jacketed and lime-whitened. He generally chimed in conversation by echoing the words of the person speaking. Thus, if Mrs. Plornish said to a visitor, “Miss Dorrit dursn’t let him know;” he would chime in, “Dursn’t let him know.” “Me and Plornish says, ‘Ho! Miss Dorrit;’” Plornish repeated, after his wife, “Ho! Miss Dorrit.” “Can you employ Miss Dorrit?” Plornish repeated as an echo, “Employ Miss Dorrit?” (See PETER.)

_Mrs. Plornish_, the plasterer’s wife. A young woman, somewhat slatternly in herself and her belongings, and dragged by care and poverty already into wrinkles. She generally began her sentences with, “Well, not to deceive you.” Thus: “Is Mr. Plornish at home?” “Well, sir, not to deceive you, he’s gone to look for a job.” “Well, not to deceive you, ma’am, I take it kindly of you.”--C. Dickens, _Little Dorrit_ (1857).

=Plotting Parlor= (_The_). At Whittington, near Scarsdale, in Derbyshire, is a farmhouse where the earl of Devonshire (Cavendish), the earl of Danby (Osborne), and Baron Delamer (Booth), concerted the Revolution. The room in which they met is called “The Plotting Parlor.”

Where Scarsdale’s cliffs the swelling pastures bound,
... there let the farmer hail
The sacred orchard which embowers his gate,
And shew to strangers, passing down the vale,
Where Cav’ndish, Booth, and Osborne sate
When, bursting from their country’s chain, ...
They planned for freedom this her noblest reign.

Akenside, _Ode_ XVIII. v. 3 (1767).

=Plotwell= (_Mrs._), in Mrs. Centlivre’s drama, _The Beau’s Duel_ (1703).

=Plough of Cincinnatus.= The Roman patriot of this name, when sought by the ambassadors sent to entreat him to assume command of state and army, was found ploughing his field. Leaving the plough in the furrow, he accompanied them to Rome, and after a victorious campaign returned to his little farm.

=Plousina=, called Hebê, endowed by the fairy Anguilletta with the gifts of wit, beauty, and wealth. Hebê still felt she lacked something, and the fairy told her it was love. Presently came to her father’s court a young prince named Atimir, the two fell in love with each other, and the day of their marriage was fixed. In the interval, Atimir fell in love with Hebê’s elder sister Iberia; and Hebê, in her grief, was sent to the Peaceable Island, where she fell in love with the ruling prince, and married him. After a time, Atimir and Iberia, with Hebê and her husband, met at the palace of the ladies’ father, when the love between Atimir and Hebê revived. A duel was fought between the young princes, in which Atimir was slain, and the prince of the Peaceable Islands was severely wounded. Hebê, coming up, threw herself on Atimir’s sword, and the dead bodies of Atimir and Hebê were transformed into two trees called “charms.”--Countess D’Aunoy, _Fairy Tales_ (“Anguilletta,” 1682).

=Plowman= (_Piers_), the dreamer, who, falling asleep on the Malvern Hills, Worcestershire, saw in a vision pictures of the corruptions of society, and particularly of the avarice and wantonness of the clergy. This supposed vision is formed into a poetical satire of great vigor, fancy, and humor. It is divided into twenty parts, each part being called a _passus_, or separate vision.--William [or Robert] Langland, _The Vision of Piers the Plowman_ (1362).

=Plumdamas= (_Mr. Peter_), grocer.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).

=Plume= (_Captain_), a gentleman and an officer. He is in love with Sylvia, a wealthy heiress, and, when he marries her, gives up his commission.--G. Farquhar, _The Recruiting Officer_ (1705).

=Plummer= (_Caleb_), a little old toy-maker, in the employ of Gruff and Tackleton, toy merchants. He was spare, gray-haired, and very poor. It was his pride “to go as close to Natur’ in his toys as he could for the money.” Caleb Plummer had a blind daughter, who assisted him in his toy-making, and whom he brought up under the belief that he himself was young, handsome, and well off, and that the house they lived in was sumptuously furnished and quite magnificent. Every calamity he smoothed over, every unkind remark of their snarling employer he called a merry jest; so that the poor blind girl lived in a castle of the air, “a bright little world of her own.” When merry or puzzled, Caleb used to sing something about “a sparkling bowl.”

_Bertha Plummer_, the blind daughter of the toy-maker, who fancied her poor old father was a young fop, that the sack he threw across his shoulders was a handsome blue great-coat, and that their wooden house was a palace. She was in love with Tackleton, the toy merchant, whom she thought to be a handsome young prince; and when she heard that he was about to marry May Fielding, she drooped and was like to die. She was then disillusioned, heard the real facts, and said, “Why, oh, why did you deceive me thus? Why did you fill my heart so full, and then come like death, and tear away the objects of my love?” However, her love for her father was not lessened, and she declared that the knowledge of the truth was “sight restored.” “It is my sight,” she cried. “Hitherto I have been blind, but now my eyes are open. I never knew my father before, and might have died without ever having known him truly.”

_Edward Plummer_, son of the toy-maker, and brother of the blind girl. He was engaged from boyhood to May Fielding, went to South America, and returned to marry her; but, hearing of her engagement to Tackleton, the toy merchant, he assumed the disguise of a deaf old man, to ascertain whether she loved Tackleton or not. Being satisfied that her heart was still his own, he married her, and Tackleton made them a present of the wedding-cake which he had ordered for himself.--C. Dickens, _The Cricket on the Hearth_ (1845).

=Plush= (_John_), any gorgeous footman, conspicuous for his plush breeches and rainbow colors.

=Plutarch= (_The Modern_), Vayer, born at Paris. His name in full was Francis Vayer de la Mothe (1586-1672).

=Pluto=, the god of Hadês.

Brothers, be of good cheer, for this night we shall sup with
Pluto.--Leonidas, _To the Three Hundred at Thermopylæ_.

=Plutus=, the god of wealth.--_Classic Mythology._

Within a heart, dearer than Plutus’ mine.

Shakespeare, _Julius Cæsar_, act iv. sc. 3 (1607).

=Po= (_Tom_), a ghost. (Welsh, _bo_, “a hobgoblin.”)

He now would pass for spirit Po.

S. Butler, _Hudibras_, iii. 1 (1678).

=Pocahontas=, daughter of Powhatan, an Indian chief of Virginia, who rescued Captain John Smith when her father was on the point of killing him. She subsequently married John Rolfe, and was baptized under the name of Rebecca (1595-1617).--_Old and New London_, ii. 481 (1876).

The Indian Princess is the heroine of John Brougham’s drama, _Po-ca-hon-tas, or the Gentle Savage_.

=Pochet= (_Madame_), the French “Mrs. Gamp.”--Henri Monnier.

=Pochi Dana´ri= (“_the pennyless_”). So the Italians call Maximilian I., emperor of Germany (1459, 1493-1519).

=Pocket= (_Mr. Matthew_), a real scholar, educated at Harrow, and an honor-man at Cambridge, but, having married young, he had to take up the calling of “grinder” and literary fag for a living. Mr. Pocket, when annoyed, used to run his two hands into his hair, and seemed as if he intended to lift himself by it. His house was a hopeless muddle, the best meals and chief expense being in the kitchen. Pip was placed under the charge of this gentleman.

_Mrs. Pocket_ (_Belinda_), daughter of a City knight, brought up to be an ornamental nonentity, helpless, shiftless, and useless. She was the mother of eight children, whom she allowed to “tumble up” as best they could, under the charge of her maid, Flopson. Her husband, who was a poor gentleman, found life a very uphill work.

_Herbert Pocket_, son of Mr. Matthew Pocket, and an insurer of ships. He was a frank, easy young man, lithe and brisk, but not muscular. There was nothing mean or secretive about him. He was wonderfully hopeful, but had not the stuff to push his way into wealth. He was tall, slim, and pale; had a languor which showed itself even in his briskness; was most amiable, cheerful, and communicative. He called Pip “Handel,” because Pip had been a blacksmith, and Handel composed a piece of music entitled _The Harmonious Blacksmith_. Pip helped him to a partnership in an agency business.

_Sarah Pocket_, sister of Matthew Pocket, a little dry, brown, corrugated old woman, with a small face that might have been made of walnut-shell, and a large mouth, like a cat’s without the whiskers.--C. Dickens, _Great Expectations_ (1860).

=Podgers= (_The_), lickspittles of the great.--J. Hollingshead, _The Birthplace of Podgers_.

=Podsnap= (_Mr._), “a too, too smiling large man, with a fatal freshness on him.” Mr. Podsnap has “two little light-colored wiry wings, one on either side of his else bald head, looking as like his hair-brushes as his hair.” On his forehead are generally “little red beads,” and he wears “a large allowance of crumpled shirt-collar up behind.”

_Mrs. Podsnap_, a “fine woman for Professor Owen: quantity of bone, neck, and nostrils like a rocking-horse, hard features, and majestic head-dress in which Podsnap has hung golden offerings.”

_Georgiana Podsnap_, daughter of the above; called by her father “the young person.” She is a harmless, inoffensive girl, “always trying to hide her elbows.” Georgiana adores Mrs. Lammle, and when Mr. Lammle tries to marry the girl to Mr. Fledgeby, Mrs. Lammle induces Mr. Twemlow to speak to the father and warn him of the connection.

=Poe= (_Edgar Allen_). Poe’s parents were actors, and in 1885, the actors of America erected a monument to the memory of the unhappy poet. The poem read at the dedication of the memorial was by _William Winter_.

“His music dies not, nor can ever die,
Blown ’round the world by every wandering wind,
The comet, lessening in the midnight sky,
Still leaves its trail of glory far behind.”

=Poem in Marble= (_A_), the Taj, a mausoleum of white marble, raised in Agra, by Shah Jehan, to his favorite, Shahrina Moomtaz-i-Mahul, who died in childbirth of her eighth child. It is also called “The Marble Queen of Sorrow.”

=Poet= (_The Quaker_), Bernard Barton (1784-1849).

=Poet Sire of Italy=, Dantê Alighieri (1265-1321).

=Poet Squab.= John Dryden was so called by the earl of Rochester, on account of his corpulence (1631-1701).

=Poet of France= (_The_), Pierre Ronsard (1524-1585).

=Poet of Poets=, Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822).

=Poet of the Poor=, the Rev. George Crabbe (1754-1832).

=Poets= (_The prince of_). Edmund Spenser is so called on his monument in Westminster Abbey (1553-1598).

_Prince of Spanish Poets._ So Cervantês calls Garcilaso de la Vega (1503-1536).

=Poets of England.=

Addison, Beaumont, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, Burns, Butler, Byron, Campbell, Chatterton, Chaucer, Coleridge, Collins, Congreve, Cowley, Cowper, Crabbe, Drayton, Dryden, Fletcher, Ford, Gay, Goldsmith, Gray, Mrs. Hemans, Herbert, Herrick, Hood, Ben Jonson, Keats, Keble, Landor, Marlowe, Marvel, Massinger, Milton, Moore, Otway, Pope, Prior, Rogers, Rowe, Scott, Shakespeare, Shelley, Shenstone, Southey, Spenser, Thomson, Waller, Wordsworth, Young. With many others of less celebrity.

=Poets’ Corner=, in the south transept of Westminster Abbey. No one knows who christened the corner thus. With poets are divines, philosophers, actors, novelists, architects and critics.

The “corner” contains a bust, statue, tablet, or monument, to five of our first-rate poets: viz., Chaucer (1400), Dryden (1700), Milton (1674), Shakespeare (1616), and Spenser (1598); and some seventeen of second or third class merit, as Addison, Beaumont (none to Fletcher), S. Butler, Campbell, Cowley, Cumberland, Drayton, Gay, Gray, Goldsmith, Ben Jonson, Macaulay, Prior, Rowe, Sheridan, Thomson and Wordsworth.

⁂ Dryden’s monument was erected by Sheffield, duke of Buckingham. Wordsworth’s statue was erected by a public subscription.

=Poetry= (_The Father of_), Orpheus (2 _syl._) of Thrace.

_Father of Dutch Poetry_, Jakob Maerlant; also called “The Father of Flemish Poetry” (1235-1300).

_Father of English Poetry_, Geoffrey Chaucer (1328-1400).

_Father of Epic Poetry_, Homer.

He compares Richardson to Homer, and predicts for his memory the
same honors which are rendered to the Father of Epic Poetry.--Sir
W. Scott.

=Poetry--Prose.= Pope advised Wycherly “to convert his poetry into prose.”

=Poganuc=, small Puritan town in New England as it was 100 years ago.--Harriet Beecher Stowe, _Poganuc People_ (1876).

=Po´gram= (_Elijah_), one of the “master minds” of America, and a member of Congress. He was possessed with the idea that there was a settled opposition in the British mind against the institutions of his “free and enlightened country.”--C. Dickens, _Martin Chuzzlewit_ (1844).

=Poinder= (_George_), a city officer.--Sir W. Scott, _Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.).

=Poins=, a companion of Sir John Falstaff.--Shakespeare, 1 and 2 _Henry IV._ (1597, 1598).

The chronicles of that day contain accounts of many a mad prank
which [_Lord Warwick, Addison’s step-son_] played ... [_like_] the
lawless freaks of the madcap prince and Poins.--Thackeray.

=Poison.= It is said that Mithridātês VI., surnamed “the Great,” had so fortified his constitution that poisons had no baneful effect on him (B.C. 131, 120-63).

=Poison of Khaïbar.= By this is meant the poison put into a leg of mutton by Zaïnab, a Jewess, to kill Mahomet while he was in the citadel of Kha´ïbar. Mahomet partook of the mutton, and suffered from the poison all through life.

=Poisoners= (_Secret_).

1. _Of Ancient Rome_: Locusta, employed by Agrippi´na to poison her husband, the Emperor Claudius. Nero employed the same woman to poison Britannicus and others.

2. _Of English History_: the countess of Somerset, who poisoned Sir Thomas Overbury in the Tower of London. She also poisoned others.

Villiers, duke of Buckingham, it is said poisoned King James I.

3. _Of France_: Lavoisin and Lavigoreux, French midwives and fortune-tellers.

Catherine de Medicis is said to have poisoned the mother of Henri IV. with a pair of wedding-gloves, and several others with poisoned fans.

The marquise de Brinvilliers, a young profligate Frenchwoman, was taught the art of secret poisoning by Sainte-Croix, who learnt it in Italy.--_World of Wonders_, vii. 203.

4. _Of Italy_: Pope Alexander VI. and his children, Cæsar and Lucrezia [Borgia] were noted poisoners; so were Hieronyma Spara and Tofa´na.

=Polexan´dre=, an heroic romance by Gomberville (1632).

=Policy= (_Mrs._), housekeeper at Holyrood Palace. She appears in the introduction.--Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).

=Pol´idore= (3 _syl._), father of Valère.--Molière, _Le Dépit Amoureux_ (1654).

=Polinesso=, duke of Albany, who falsely accused Geneura of incontinency, and was slain in single combat by Ariodantês.--Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_ (1516).

=Polish Jew= (_The_), also called THE BELLS, a melodrama by J. R. Ware, brought prominently into note by the acting of Henry Irving at the Lyceum. Mathis, a miller in a small German town, is visited on Christmas Eve by a Polish Jew, who comes through the snow in a sledge. After rest and refreshment he leaves for Nantzig, “four leagues off.” Mathis follows him, kills him with an axe, and burns the body in a lime-kiln. He then pays his debts, becomes a prosperous and respected man, and is made burgomaster. On the wedding night of his only child, Annette, he dies of apoplexy, of which he had ample warning by the constant sound of sledge-bells in his ears. In his dream he supposes himself put into a mesmeric sleep in open court, when he confesses everything and is executed (1874).

=Polixène=, the name assumed by Madelon Gorgibus, a shopkeeper’s daughter, as far more romantic and genteel than her baptismal name. Her cousin, Cathos, called herself Aminte (2 _syl._).

=Polix´enes= (4 _syl._), king of Bohemia, schoolfellow and old companion of Leontês, king of Sicily. While on a visit to the Sicilian king, Leontês grew jealous of him, and commanded Camillo to poison him; but Camillo only warned him of his danger, and fled with him to Bohemia. Polixenês’s son, Flor´izel, fell in love with Perdĭta, the supposed daughter of a shepherd; but the king threatened Perdita and the shepherd with death unless this foolish suit were given up. Florizel and Perdita now fled to Sicily, where they were introduced to King Leontês, and it was soon discovered that Perdita was his lost daughter. Polixenês, having tracked the fugitives to Sicily, learned that Perdita was the king’s daughter, and joyfully consented to the union he had before forbidden.--Shakespeare, _The Winter’s Tale_ (1604).

=Poll Pineapple=, the bumboat woman, once sailed in seaman’s clothes with Lieutenant Belaye (2 _syl._), in the _Hot Cross-Bun_. Jack tars generally greet each other with “Messmate, ho! what cheer?” but the greeting on the _Hot Cross-Bun_ was always, “How do you do, my dear?” and never was any oath more naughty than “Dear me!” One day, Lieutenant Belaye came on board and said to his crew, “Here, messmates, is my wife, for I have just come from church.” Whereupon they all fainted; and it was found the crew consisted of young women only, who had dressed like sailors to follow the fate of Lieutenant Belaye.--S. Gilbert, _The Bab Ballads_ (“The Bumboat Woman’s Story”).

=Pollente= (3 _syl._), a Saracen, lord of the Perilous Bridge. When his groom, Guizor, demands the “passage-penny” of Sir Artegal, the knight gives him a “stunning blow,” saying, “Lo! knave, there’s my hire;” and the groom falls down dead. Pollentê then comes rushing up at full speed, and both he and Sir Artegal fall into the river, fighting most desperately. At length Sir Artegal prevails, and the dead body of the Saracen is carried down “the blood-stained stream.”--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, v. 2 (1596).

Upton conjectures that “Pollente” is intended for Charles IX. of France, and his groom, “Guizor” (he says), means the duke of Guise, noted for the part he took in the St. Bartholomew Massacre.

=Polly=, daughter of Peachum. A pretty girl, who really loved Captain Macheath, married him, and remained faithful even when he disclaimed her. When the reprieve arrived, “the captain” confessed his marriage, and vowed to abide by Polly for the rest of his life.--J. Gay, _The Beggar’s Opera_ (1727).

_Polly_ (_Cousin_), “a small, bright-eyed lady of indefatigable activity in sacrificing herself for the good of others.... In her trig person she embodied the several functions of housekeeper, nurse, confidante, missionary, parish-clerk, queen of the poultry-yard, and genealogist.”--Constance Cary Harrison, _Flower de Hundred_ (1890).

_Polly_, the idolized pet of “the Colonel,” her grandfather. He will not let “Bob” marry her, but when the two elope together and present themselves as man and wife, on Christmas Day, and Polly’s face “like a dew-bathed flower” is pressed to his, he yields and takes both to his big heart.--Thomas Nelson Page, _In Ole Virginia_ (1887).

=Polo´nius=, a garralous[TN-97] old chamberlain, of Denmark, and father of Laer´tês and Ophelia; conceited, politic, and a courtier. Polonius conceals himself, to overhear what Hamlet says to his mother, and, making some unavoidable noise, startles the prince, who, thinking it is the king concealed, rushes blindly on the intruder, and kills him; but finds too late he has killed the chamberlain, and not Claudius, as he hoped and expected.--Shakespeare, _Hamlet_ (1596).

Polonius is a man bred in courts, exercised in business, stored
with observations, confident of his knowledge, proud of his
eloquence, and declining to dotage.--Dr. Johnson.

It was the great part of William Mynitt (1710-1763).

Soon after Munden retired from the stage, an admirer met him in
Covent Garden. It was a wet day, and each carried an umbrella. The
gentleman’s was an expensive silk one, and Joe’s an old gingham.
“So you have left the stage, ... and ‘Polonius,’ ‘Jemmy Jumps,’
‘Old Dornton,’ and a dozen others have left the world with you? I
wish you’d give me some trifle by way of memorial, Munden!”
“Trifle, sir? I’ faith, sir, I’ve got nothing. But, hold, yes,
egad, suppose we exchange umbrellas.”--_Theatrical Anecdotes._

=Polwarth= (_Alick_), a servant of Waverley’s.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).