Chapter XV: Book I: Satan presents himself as an old peasant, and, entering into (5)

=Polycle´tos= (in Latin _Polycletus_), a statuary of Sicyon, who drew up a canon of the proportions of the several parts of the human body: as, twice round the thumb is once round the wrist; twice round the wrist is once round the neck; twice round the neck is once round the waist; once round the fist is the length of the foot; the two arms extended is the height of the body; six times the length of the foot, or eighteen thumbs, is also the height of the body.

Again, the thumb, the longest toe, and the nose should all be of the same length. The index finger should measure the breadth of the hand and foot, and twice the breadth should give the length. The hand, the foot, and the face should all be the same length. The nose should be one-third of the face; and, of course, the thumbs should be one-third the length of the hand. Gerard de Lairesse has given the exact measurements of every part of the human figure, according to the famous statues of “Antinöus,[TN-98] “Apollo Belvidere,” “Herculês,” and “Venus de’Medici.”

=Polycrates= (4 _syl._), tyrant of Samos. He was so fortunate in everything, that Am´asis, king of Egypt, advised him to part with something he highly prized. Whereupon, Polycrătês threw into the sea an engraved gem of extraordinary value. A few days afterwards, a fish was presented to the tyrant, in which this very gem was found. Amasis now renounced all friendship with him, as a man doomed by the gods; and not long after this, a satrap, having entrapped the too fortunate despot, put him to death by crucifixion. (See FISH AND THE RING.)--_Herodotus_, iii. 40.

=Polyd´amas=, a Thessalian athlete of enormous strength. He is said to have killed an angry lion, to have held by the heels a raging bull and thrown it helpless at his feet, to have stopped a chariot in full career, etc. One day, he attempted to sustain a falling rock, but was killed and buried by the huge mass.

Milo carried a bull, four years old, on his shoulders through the stadium at Olympia; he also arrested a chariot in full career. One day, tearing asunder a pine tree, the two parts, rebounding, caught his hands and held him fast, in which state he was devoured by wolves.

=Polydore= (3 _syl._), the name by which Belarius called Prince Guiderius, while he lived in a cave in the Welsh mountains. His brother, Prince Arvirăgus, went by the name of Cadwal.--Shakespeare, _Cymbeline_ (1605).

_Polydore_ (3 _syl._), brother of General Memnon, beloved by the Princess Calis, sister of Astorax, king of Paphos.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Mad Lover_ (1618).

_Polydore_ (_Lord_), son of Lord Acasto, and Castalio’s younger brother. He entertained a base passion for his father’s ward Monimia, “the orphan,” and, making use of the signal (“three soft taps upon the chamber door”) to be used by Castalio, to whom she was privately married, indulged his wanton love, Monimia supposing him to be her husband. When, next day, he discovered that Monimia was actually married to Castalio, he was horrified, and provoked a quarrel with his brother; but as soon as Castalio drew his sword, he ran upon it and was killed.--Thomas Otway, _The Orphan_ (1680).

_Polydore_ (3 _syl._), a comrade of Ernest of Otranto (page of Prince Tancred).--Sir W. Scott, _Count Robert of Paris_ (time, Rufus).

=Polyglot= (_Ignatius_), the master of seventeen languages, and tutor of Charles Eustace (aged 24). Very learned, very ignorant of human life; most strict as a disciplinarian, but tender-hearted as a girl. His pupil has married clandestinely, but Polyglot offers himself voluntarily to be the scapegoat of the young couple, and he brings them off triumphantly.--J. Poole, _The Scapegoat_.

=Polyglott= (_A Walking_), Cardinal Mezzofanti, who knew fifty-eight different languages (1774-1849).

=Polyolbion= (the “_greatly blessed_”), by Michael Drayton, in thirty parts, called “songs,”[TN-99] It is a topographical description of England. Song i. The landing of Bruce. Song ii. Dorsetshire, and the adventures of Sir Bevis of Southampton. Song iii. Somerset. Song iv. Contention of the rivers of England and Wales respecting Lundy--to which country it belonged. Song v. Sabrina, as arbiter, decides that it is “allied alike both to Enggland[TN-100] and Wales;” Merlin and Milford Haven. Song vi. The salmon and beaver of Twy; the tale of Sabrina; the druids and bards. Song vii. Hereford. Song viii. Conquest of Britain by the Romans and by the Saxons. Song ix. Wales. Song x. Merlin’s prophecies; Winifred’s well; defence of the “tale of Brute” (1612). Song xi. Cheshire, the religious Saxon kings. Song xii. Shropshire and Staffordshire; the Saxon warrior kings; and Guy of Warwick. Song xiii. Warwick; Guy of Warwick concluded. Song xiv. Gloucestershire. Song xv. The marriage of Isis and Thame. Song xvi. The Roman roads and Saxon kingdoms. Song xvii. Surrey and Sussex; the sovereigns of England from William to Elizabeth. Song xviii. Kent; England’s great generals and sea-captains (1613). Song xix. Essex and Suffolk; English navigators. Song xx. Norfolk. Song xxi. Cambridge and Ely. Song xxii. Buckinghamshire, and England’s intestine battles. Song xxiii. Northamptonshire. Song xxiv. Rutlandshire; and the British saints. Song xxv. Lincolnshire. Song xxvi. Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire; with the story of Robin Hood. Song xxvii. Lancashire and the Isle of Man. Song xxviii. Yorkshire. Song xxix. Northumberland. Song xxx. Cumberland (1622).

=Pol´ypheme= (3 _syl._), a gigantic cyclops of Sicily, who fed on human flesh. When Ulysses, on his return from Troy, was driven to this Island, he and twelve of his companions were seized by Polypheme, and confined in his cave, that he might devour two daily for his dinner. Ulysses made the giant drunk, and, when he lay down to sleep, bored out his one eye. Roused by the pain, the monster tried to catch his tormentors; but Ulysses and his surviving companions made their escape by clinging to the bellies of the sheep and rams when they were let out to pasture (_Odyssey_, ix.).

There is a Basque legend told of the giant Tartaro, who caught a young man in his snares, and confined him in his cave for dessert. When, however, Tartaro fell asleep, the young man made the giant’s spit red hot, bored out his one eye, and then made his escape by fixing the bell of the bell-ram round his neck, and a sheep-skin over his back. Tartaro seized the skin, and the man, leaving it behind, made off.--_Basque Legends._

A very similar adventure forms the tale of Sindbad’s third voyage, in the _Arabian Nights_. He was shipwrecked on a strange island, and entered, with his companions, a sort of palace. At nightfall, a one-eyed giant entered, and ate one of them for supper, and another for breakfast next morning. This went on for a day or two, when Sindbad bored out the giant’s one eye with a charred olive stake. The giant tried in vain to catch his tormentors, but they ran to their rafts; and Sindbad, with two others, contrived to escape.

⁂ Homer was translated into Syriac by Theophilus Edessenes in the caliphate of Hárun-ur-Ráshid (A.D. 786-809).

=Polypheme and Galatea.= Polypheme loved Galatēa, the sea-nymph; but Galatea had fixed her affections on Acis, a Sicilian shepherd. The giant, in his jealousy, hurled a huge rock at his rival, and crushed him to death.

The tale of Polypheme is from Homer’s _Odyssey_, ix. It is also given by Ovid in his _Metamorphoses_, xiv. Euripidês introduces the monster in his _Cyclops_; and the tragedy of Acis and Galatea is the subject of Handel’s famous opera so called.

(In Greek the monster is called _Polyphêmos_, and in Latin _Polyphēmus_.)

=Polyphe´mus of Literature=, Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784).

=Polypho´nus= (“_big voiced_”), the Kapăneus and most boastful of the frog heroes. He was slain by the mouse Artophăgus (“the bread-nibbler”).

But great Artophagus avenged the slain, ...
And Polyphōnus died, a frog renowned
For boastful speech and turbulence of sound.

Parnell, _Battle of the Frogs and Mice_, iii. (about 1712).

=Polyx´ena=, a magnanimous and most noble woman, wife of Charles Emmanuel, king of Sardinia (who succeeded to the crown in 1730).--R. Browning, _King Victor and King Charles, etc._

=Pomegranate Seed.= When Perseph´onê was in Hadês, whither Pluto had carried her, the god, foreknowing that Jupiter would demand her release, gathered a pomegranate, and said to her, “Love, eat with me, this parting day, of the pomegranate seed;” and she ate. Demēter, in the mean time, implored Zeus (_Jupiter_) to demand Persephonê’s release; and the king of Olympus promised she should be set at liberty, if she had not eaten anything during her detention in Hadês. As, however, she had eaten pomegranate seeds, her return was impossible.

Low laughs the dark king on his throne--
“I gave her of pomegranate seeds” ...

And chant the maids of Enna still--
“O fateful flower beside the rill,
The daffodil, the daffodil.” (See DAFFODIL.)

Jean Ingelow, _Persephone_.

=Pomoma.= The incomparable maid-of-work, custodian, novelist, comedienne, tragedienne, and presiding genius of Rudder Grange. Her _chef d’œuvre_ is the expedient of posting the premises “_To be Sold for Taxes_,” to keep away peddlers of trees, etc., in her employers’ absence.--Frank Stockton, _Rudder Grange_ (1879).

=Pompey=, a clown; servant to Mrs. Overdone (a bawd).--Shakespeare, _Measure for Measure_ (1603).

=Pompey the Great=, was killed by Achillas and Septimius, the moment the Egyptian fishing-boat reached the coast. Plutarch tells us they threw his head into the sea. Others say his head was sent to Cæsar, who turned from it with horror, and shed a flood of tears. Shakespeare makes him killed by “savage islanders” (2 _Henry VI._ act iv. sc. 1, 1598).

=Pompil´ia=, a foundling, the putative daughter of Pietro (2 _syl._). She married Count Guido Franceschini, who treated her so brutally that she made her escape under the protection of a young priest named Caponsacchi. Pompilia subsequently gave birth to a son, but was slain by her husband.

The babe had been a find i’ the filth-heap, sir,
Catch from the kennel. There was found at Rome,
Down in the deepest of our social dregs,
A woman who professed the wanton’s trade ...
She sold this babe eight months before its birth
To our Violante (3 _syl._), Pietro’s honest spouse, ...
Partly to please old Pietro,
Partly to cheat the rightful heirs, agape
For that same principal of the usufruct,
It vexed him he must die and leave behind.

R. Browning, _The Ring and the Book_, ii, 557, etc.

=Ponce de Léon=, the navigator who went in search of the _Fontaine de Jouvence_, “qui fit rajovenir la gent.” He sailed in two ships on this “voyage of discoveries,” in the sixteenth century.

Like Ponce de Léon, he wants to go off to the Antipodês in search
of that _Fontaine de Jouvence_ which was fabled to give a man back
his youth.--_Véra_, 130.

=Pongo=, a cross between “a land-tiger and a sea-shark.” This terrible monster devastated Sicily, but was slain by the three sons of St. George.--R. Johnson, _The Seven Champions, etc._ (1617).

=Ponoc´rates= (4 _syl._), the tutor of Gargantua.--Rabelais, _Gargantua_ (1533).

=Pontius Pilate’s Body-Guard=, the 1st Foot Regiment. In Picardy the French officers wanted to make out that they were the seniors, and, to carry their point, vaunted that they were on duty on the night of the Crucifixion. The colonel of the 1st Foot replied, “If we had been on guard we should not have slept at our posts” (see _Matt._ xxviii. 13).

=Pontoys= (_Stephen_), a veteran in Sir Hugo de Lacy’s troop.--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).

=Pony= (_Mr. Garland’s_), Whisker (_q.v._).

=Poole= (1 _syl._), in Dorsetshire; once “a young and lusty sea-born lass,” courted by Great Albion, who had by her three children, Brunksey, Fursey and [St.] Hellen. Thetis was indignant that one of her virgin train should be guilty of such indiscretion; and, to protect his children from her fury, Albion placed them in the bosom of Poole, and then threw his arms around them.--M. Drayton, _Polyolbion_, ii. (1612).

=Poor= (_Father of the_), Bernard Gilpin. (1517-1583).

=Poor Gentleman= (_The_), a comedy by George Colman, the younger (1802). “The poor gentleman” is Lieutenant Worthington, discharged from the army on half-pay because his arm had been crushed by a shell in storming Gibraltar. On his half-pay he had to support himself, his daughter Emily, an old corporal and a maiden sister-in-law. Having put his name to a bill for £500, his friend died without effecting an insurance, and the lieutenant was called upon for payment. Imprisonment would have followed if Sir Robert Bramble had not most generously paid the money. With this piece of good fortune came another--the marriage of his daughter Emily to Frederick Bramble, nephew and heir of the rich baronet.

=Poor Richard=, the pseudonym of Benjamin Franklin, under which he issued a series of almanacs, which he made the medium of teaching thrift, temperance, order, cleanliness, chastity, forgiveness, and so on. The maxims or precepts of these almanacs generally end with the words, “as poor Richard says” (begun in 1732).

=Poor Robin=, the pseudonym of Robert Herrick, the poet, under which he issued a series of almanacs (begun in 1661).

=Pope= (_to drink like a_). Benedict XII. was an enormous eater, and such a huge wine-drinker that he gave rise to the Bacchanalian expression, _Bibāmus papaliter_.

=Pope Changing His Name.= Peter Hogsmouth, or, as he is sometimes called, Peter di Porca, was the first pope to change his name. He called himself Sergius II. (844-847). Some say he thought it arrogant to be called Peter II.

=Pope-Fig-Lands=, Protestant countries. The Gaillardets, being shown the pope’s image, said, “A fig for the pope!” whereupon their whole island was put to the sword, and the name changed to Pope-fig-land, the people being called “Pope-figs.”--Rabelais, _Pantag´ruel_, iv. 45 (1545).

The allusion is to the kingdom of Navarre, once Protestant; but in 1512 it was subjected to Ferdinand, the Catholic.

=Pope-Figs=, Protestants. The name was given to the Gaillardets for saying “A fig for the pope!”

They were made tributaries and slaves to the Papimans for saying “A
fig for the pope’s image!” and never after did the poor wretches
prosper, but every year the devil was at their doors, and they were
plagued with hail, storms, famine, and all manner of woes, in
punishment of this sin of their forefathers.--Rabelais,
_Pantagruel_, iv. 45 (1545).

=Pope Joan=, between Leo IV. and Benedict III., and called John [VIII.]. The subject of this scandalous story was an English girl, educated at Cologne, who left her home in man’s disguise with her lover (the monk Folda), and went to Athens, where she studied law. She went to Rome and studied theology, earning so great a reputation that, at the death of Leo IV., she was chosen his successor. Her sex was discovered by the birth of a child, while she was going to the Lateran Basilica, between the Coliseum and the church of St. Clement. Pope Joan died, and was buried, without honors, after a pontificate of two years and five months (853-855).--Marianus Scotus (who died 1086).

The story is given most fully by Martinus Polonus, confessor to Gregory X., and the tale was generally believed till the Reformation. There is a German miracle-play on the subject, called _The Canonization of Pope Joan_ (1480). David Blondel, a Calvinist divine, has written a book to confute the tale.

The following note contains the chief points of interest:--

Anastasius, the librarian, is the first to mention such a pope, A.D. 886, or thirty years after the death of Joan.

Marianus Scotus, in his _Chronicle_, says she reigned two years, five months and four days (853-855). Scotus died 1086.

Sigebert de Gemblours, in his _Chronicle_, repeats the same story (1112).

Otto of Friesingen[TN-101] and Gotfried of Viterbo both mention her in their histories.

Martin Polonus gives a very full account of the matter. He says she went by the name of John Anglus, and was born at Metz, of English parents. While she was pope, she was prematurely delivered of a child in the street “between the Coliseum and St. Clement’s Church.”

William Ocham alludes to the story.

Thomas de Elmham repeats it (1422).

John Huss tells us her baptismal name was not Joan, but Agnes.

Others insist that her name was Gilberta.

In the _Annalês Augustani_ (1135), we are told her papal name was John VIII., and that she it was who conscrated[TN-102] Louis II., of France.

Arguments in favor of the allegation are given by Spanheim, _Exercit. de Papa Fæmina_, ii. 577; in Lenfant, _Historie de la Papesse Jeanne_.

Arguments against the allegation are given by Allatius or Allatus, _Confutatio Fabulæ de Johanna Papissa_; and in Lequien,[TN-103] _Oriens Christianus_, iii. 777.

Arguments on both sides are given in Cunningham’s translation of _Geiseler, Lehrbuch_, ii. 21, 22; and in La Bayle’s _Dictionnaire_, iii., art. “Papisse.”

⁂ Gibbon says, “Two Protestants, Blondel and Bayle, have annihilated the female pope;” but the expression is certainly too strong, and even Mosheim is more than half inclined to believe there really was such a person.

=Pope of Philosophy=, Aristotle (B.C. 384-322).

=Popes= (_Titles assumed by_). “Universal Bishop,” prior to Gregory the Great. Gregory the Great adopted the style of “Servus Servorum” (591).

Martin IV. was addressed as “the lamb of God which takest away the sins of the world,” to which was added, “Grant us thy peace!” (1281).

Leo X. was styled, by the council of Lateran, “Divine Majesty,” “Husband of the Church,” “Prince of the Apostles,” “The Key of all the Universe,” “The Pastor, the Physician, and a God possessed of all power both in heaven and on earth” (1513).

Paul V. styled himself “Monarch of Christendom,” “Supporter of the Papal Omnipotence,” “Vice-God,” “Lord God the Pope” (1605).

Others, after Paul, “Master of the World,” “Pope the Universal Father,” “Judge in the place of God,” “Vicegerent of the Most High.”--Brady, _Clavis Calendaria_, 247 (1839).

The pope assumes supreme dominion, not only over spiritual but also
over temporal affairs, styling himself “Head of the Catholic or
Universal Church, Sole Arbiter of its rights, and Sovereign Father
of all the Kings of the Earth.” From these titles, he wears a
triple crown, one as High Priest, one as emperor, and the third as
king. He also bears keys, to denote his privilege of opening the
gates of heaven to all true believers.--Brady, 250-1.

⁂ For the first five centuries the bishops of Rome wore a bonnet, like other ecclesiastics. Pope Hormisdas placed on his bonnet the crown sent him by Clovis; Boniface VIII. added a second crown during his struggles with Philip the Fair; and John XXII. assumed the third crown.

=Popish Plot=, a supposed Roman Catholic conspiracy to massacre the Protestants, burn London, and murder the king (Charles II.). This fiction was concocted by one Titus Oates, who made a “good thing” by his schemes; but being at last found out, was pilloried, whipped, and imprisoned (1678-9).

=Poppy= (_Ned_), a prosy old anecdote teller, with a marvellous tendency to digression.

=Poquelin= (_Jean-ah_), a wealthy Creole living in seclusion in an old house, attended only by a deaf-mute negro. The secrecy and mystery of his life excite all sorts of ugly rumors, and he is mobbed by a crowd of mischievous boys and loafers, receiving injuries that cause his death. The story that his house is haunted keeps intruders from the doors, but they venture near enough on the day of his funeral, to see the coffin brought out by the mute negro, and laid on a cart, and that the solitary mourner is Poquelin’s brother, long supposed to be dead. He is a _leper_, for whom the elder brother has cared secretly all these years, not permitting the knowledge of his existence to get abroad, lest the unfortunate man should be removed forcibly, and sent to what is the only asylum for him now that his guardian is dead--the abhorrent _Terre aux Lepreux_.--George W. Cable, _Old Creole Days_ (1879).

=Porch= (_The_). The Stoics were so called, because their founder gave his lectures in the Athenian _stoa_, or _porch_, called “Pœ´cilê.”

The successors of Socrătês formed ... the Academy, the Porch, the
Garden.--Professor Seeley, _Ecce Homo_.

George Herbert has a poem called _The Church Porch_ (six-line stanzas). It may be considered introductory to his poem entitled _The Church_ (Sapphic verse and sundry other metres).

=Porcius=, son of Cato, of Utĭca (in Africa), and brother of Marcus. Both brothers were in love with Lucia; but the hot-headed, impulsive Marcus, being slain in battle, the sage and temperate Porcius was without a rival.--J. Addison, _Cato_ (1713).

When Sheridan reproduced _Cato_, Wignell, who acted “Porcius,”
omitted the prologue, and began at once with the lines, “The dawn
is overcast, the morning lowers....” “The prologue! the prologue!”
shouted the audience; and Wignell went on in the same tone, as if
continuing his speech:

Ladies and gentleman, there has not been
A prologue spoken to this play for years--
And heavily on clouds brings on the day,
The great, th’ important day, big with the fate
Of Cato and of Rome.

_History of the Stage._

=Porcupine= (_Peter_). William Cobbett, the politician, published _The Rushlight_ under this pseudonym in 1860.

=Pornei´us= (3 _syl._), Fornication personified; one of the four sons of Anag´nus (_inchastity_), his brothers being Mæ´chus (_adultery_), Acath´arus, and Asel´gês (_lasciviousness_). He began the battle of Mansoul by encountering Parthen´ia (_maidenly chastity_), but “the martial maid” slew him with her spear. (Greek, _porneia_, “fornication.”).

In maids his joy; now by a maid defied,
His life he lost and all his former pride.
With women would he live, now by a woman died.

Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, xi. (1633).

=Porphyrius=, in Dryden’s drama of _Tyrannic Love_.

Valeria, daughter of Maximin, having killed herself for the love of
Porphyrus, was on one occasion being carried off by the bearers,
when she started up and boxed one of the bearers on the ears,
saying to him:

Hold! are you mad, you damned confounded dog?
I am to rise and speak the epilogue.

W. C. Russell, _Representative Actors_, 456.

=Porphyro-Genitus= (“_born in the Porphyra_”), the title given to the kings of the Eastern empire, from the apartments called Porphyra, set apart for the empresses during confinement.

There he found Irene, the empress, in travail, in a house anciently
appointed for the empresses during childbirth. They call that house
“Porphyra,” whence the name of the Porphyro-geniti came into the
world.--See Selden, _Titles of Honor_, v. 61 (1614).

=Porrex=, younger son of Gorboduc, a legendary king of Britain. He drove his elder brother, Ferrex, from the kingdom, and, when Ferrex returned with a large army, defeated and slew him. Porrex was murdered while “slumbering on his careful bed,” by his own mother, who stabbed[TN-104] him to the heart with a knife.”--Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville, _Gorboduc_ (a tragedy, 1561-2).

=Por´sena=, a legendary king of Etruria, who made war on Rome to restore Tarquin to the throne.

Lord Macaulay has made this the subject of one of his _Lays of Ancient Rome_ (1842).

=Port´amour=, Cupid’s sheriff’s officer, who summoned offending lovers to “Love’s Judgment Hall.”--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, vi. 7 (1596).

=Porteous= (_Captain John_), an officer of the city guard. He is hanged by the mob (1736).

_Mrs. Porteous_, wife of the captain.--Sir W. Scott, _The Heart of Midlothian_ (time, George II.)

=Porter= (_Sir Joseph_), K. C. B. The admiral who “stuck close to his desk, and never went to sea.” His reward was the appointment as “ruler of the Queen’s navee.”--W. S. Gilbert, _Pinafore_.

=Portia=, the wife of Pontius Pilate, in Klopstock’s _Messiah_.

_Portia_, wife of Marcus Brutus. Valerius Maximus says: “She, being determined to kill herself, took hot burning coals into her mouth, and kept her lips closed till she was suffocated by the smoke.”

With this she fell distract,
And, her attendants absent, swallowed fire.

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

_Portia_, a rich heiress, in love with Bassa´nio; but her choice of a husband was restricted by her father’s will to the following condition: Her suitors were to select from three caskets, one of gold, one of silver, and one of lead, and he who selected the casket which contained Portia’s picture, was to claim her as his wife. Bassanio chose the lead, and being successful, became the espoused husband. It so happened that Bassanio had borrowed 3,000 ducats, and Antonio, a Venetian merchant, was his security. The money was borrowed of Shylock, a Jew, on these conditions: If the loan was repaid within three months, only the principal would be required; if not, the Jew should be at liberty to claim a pound of flesh from Antonio’s body. The loan was not repaid, and the Jew demanded the forfeiture. Portia, in the dress of a law doctor, conducted the defence, and saved Antonio by reminding the Jew that a pound of _flesh_ gave him no drop of blood, and that he must cut neither more nor less than an exact pound, otherwise his life would be forfeited. As it would be plainly impossible to fulfill these conditions, the Jew gave up his claim, and Antonio was saved.--Shakespeare, _Merchant of Venice_ (1598).

=Portsmouth= (_The duchess of_), “La Belle Louise de Querouaille,” one of the mistresses of Charles II.--Sir W. Scott, _Perveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

=Portuguese Cid= (_The_), Nunez Alvarez Pereria (1360-1431).

=Portuguese Horace= (_The_), Antonio Ferreira (1528-1569).

“=Posson Jone=,” a gigantic parson from “up the river” who has “been to Mobile on business for Bethesdy Church.” His sojourn in New Orleans on his way home is marked by divers adventures. He is beguiled into a gambling den, drugged and made drunk. While intoxicated, he visits a circus and has a scene with the showman and his tiger; he is locked up and awakes in his senses and penitent. His simplicity of self-condemnation, his humility and fortitude move his tempter to restore the $500 of church-money he has “borrowed” from the confiding victim whose transport of pious gratitude overwhelms the world-hardened man with shame and inspires him to new resolves.--George W. Cable, “_Posson Jone_” (1879).

=Posthu´mus= [LEONATUS] married Imogen, daughter of Cymbeline, king of Britain, and was banished the kingdom for life. He went to Italy, and there, in the house of Philario, bet a diamond ring with Iachimo that nothing could seduce the fidelity of Imogen. Iachimo accepted the bet, concealed himself in a chest in Imogen’s chamber, made himself master of certain details and also of a bracelet, and with these vouchers claimed the ring. Posthūmus now ordered his servant, Pisanio, to inveigle Imogen to Milford Haven under the promise of meeting her husband, and to murder her on the road; but Pisanio told Imogen to assume boy’s apparel, and enter the service of the Roman general in Britain, as a page. A battle being fought, the Roman general, Iachimo, and Imogen were among the captives; and Posthumus, having done great service in the battle on Cymbeline’s behalf, was pardoned. The Roman general prayed that the supposed page might be set at liberty, and the king told her she might also claim a boon, whereupon she asked that Iachimo should state how he became possessed of the ring he was wearing. The whole villainy being thus exposed, Imogen’s innocence was fully established, and she was re-united to her husband.--Shakespeare, _Cymbeline_ (1605).

=Potage= (_Jean_), the French “Jack Pudding;” similar to the Italian “Macaroni,” the Dutch “Pickel-herringe,” and the German “Hanswurst.” Clumsy, gormandizing clowns, fond of practical jokes, especially such as stealing eatables and drinkables.

=Pother= (_Doctor_), an apothecary, “city register, and walking story-book.” He had a story _à propos_ of every remark made and of every incident; but as he mixed two or three together, his stories were pointless and quite unintelligible. “I know a monstrous good story on that point He! he! he” “I tell you a famous good story about that, you must know. He! he! he!...” “I could have told a capital story, but there was no one to listen to it. He! he! he!” This is the style of his chattering ... “speaking professionally--for anatomy, chemistry, pharmacy, phlebotomy, oxygen, hydrogen, caloric, carbonic, atmospheric, galvanic. Ha! ha! ha! Can tell you a prodigiously laughable story on the subject. Went last summer to a watering-place--lady of fashion--feel pulse--not lady, but lap-dog--talk Latin--prescribed galvanism--out jumped Pompey plump into a batter pudding, and lay like a toad in a hole. Ha! ha! ha!”--Dibdin, _The Farmer’s Wife_ (1780).

⁂ Colman’s “Ollapod” (1802) was evidently copied from Dibdin’s “Doctor Pother.”

=Potiphar= (_Mr._), freshly-made man intensely uncomfortable in his plated harness. His ideas of art are grounded upon a dim picture in his wife’s drawing-room, called by him “Giddo’s Shay Doover.”

_Mrs. Potiphar_, shoddy of shoddys. Purse-proud, affected, pretentious and ambitious, and even less fit for her position than her husband for his.--George William Curtis, _Potiphar Papers_ (1853).

=Potiphar’s Wife=, Zoleikha or Zuleika; but some call her Raïl.--Sale, _Al Korân_, xii. note.

=Pott= (_Mr._), the librarian at the Spa.

_Mrs. Pott_, the librarian’s wife.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Roman’s Well_ (time, George III.).

=Potteries= (_Father of the_), Josiah Wedgewood (1730-1795).

=Pounce= (_Mr. Peter_), in _The Adventures of Joseph Andrews_, by Fielding (1742).

=Poundtext= (_Peter_), an “indulged pastor” in the covenanters’ army.--Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).

=Pourceaugnac= [_Poor-sone-yak_], the hero of a comedy so called. He is a pompous country gentleman, who comes to Paris to marry Julie, daughter of Oronte (2 _syl._); but Julie loves Eraste (2 _syl._), and this young man plays off so many tricks, and devises so many mystifications upon M. de Pourceaugnac, that he is fain to give up his suit.--Molière, _M. de Pourceaugnac_ (1669).

=Poussin= (_The British_), Richard Cooper (*-1806).

_Poussin_ (_Gaspar_). So Gaspar Dughet, the French painter, is called (1613-1675).

=Powell= (_Mary_), the first wife of John Milton.

=Powheid= (_Lazarus_), the old sexton in Douglas.--Sir W. Scott, _Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry I.).

=Poyning’s Law=, a statute to establish the English jurisdiction in Ireland. The parliament that passed it was summoned in the reign of Henry VII. by Sir Edward Poynings, governor of Ireland (1495).

=Poyser= (_Mrs._), shrewd, capable and ready-tongued wife of a British yeoman, and aunt of Hetty Sorrel.--George Eliot, _Adam Bede_.

=P. P.=, “Clerk of the Parish,” the feigned signature of Dr. Arbuthnot, subscribed to a volume of _Memoirs_ in ridicule of Burnet’s _History of My Own Times_.

Those who were placed around the dinner-table had those feelings of
awe with which _P. P._, _Clerk of the Parish_, was oppressed when
he first uplifted the psalm in presence of ... the wise Mr. Justice
Freeman, the good Lady Jones, and the great Sir Thomas Truby.--Sir
W. Scott.

=Pragmatic Sanction.= The word _pragmaticus_ means “relating to State affairs,” and the word _sanctio_ means “an ordinance” or “decree.” The four most famous statutes so called are:

1. _The Pragmatic Sanction of St. Louis_ (1268), which forbade the court of Rome to levy taxes or collect subscriptions in France without the express permission of the king. It also gave French subjects the right of appealing, in certain cases, from the ecclesiastical to the civil courts of the realm.

2. _The Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges_, passed by Charles VII. of France, in 1438. By this ordinance the power of the people in France was limited and defined. The authority of the National Council was declared superior to that of the pope. The French clergy were forbidden to appeal to Rome on any point affecting the secular condition of the nation; and the Roman pontiff was wholly forbidden to appropriate to himself any vacant living, or to appoint to any bishopric or parish church in France.

3. _The Pragmatic Sanction of Kaiser Karl VI. of Germany_ (in 1713), which settled the empire on his daughter, the Archduchess Maria Theresa, wife of François de Loraine. Maria Theresa ascended the throne in 1740, and a European war was the result.

4. _The Pragmatic Sanction of Charles III. of Spain_ (1767). This was to suppress the Jesuits of Spain.

What is meant emphatically by _The Pragmatic Sanction_ is the third of these ordinances, viz., settling the line of succession in Germany on the house of Austria.

=Pramnian Mixture= (_The_), any intoxicating draught; so called from the Pramnian grape, from which it was made. Circê gave Ulysses “Pramnian wine” impregnated with drugs, in order to prevent his escape from the island.

And for my drink prepared
The Pramnian mixture in a golden cup,
Impregnating (on my destruction bent)
With noxious herbs the draught.

Homer, _Odyssey_, x. (Cowper’s trans.).

=Prasildo=, a Babylonish nobleman, who falls in love with Tisbi´na, wife of his friend Iroldo. He is overheard by Tisbina threatening to kill himself, and, in order to divert him from his guilty passion she promises to return his love on condition of his performing certain adventures which she thinks to be impossible. However, Prasildo performs them all, and then Tisbina and Iroldo, finding no excuse, take poison to avoid the alternative. Prasildo resolves to do the same, but is told by the apothecary that the “poison” he had supplied was a harmless drink. Prasildo tells his friend, Iroldo quits the country, and Tisbina marries Prasildo. Time passes on and Prasildo hears that his friend’s life is in danger, whereupon he starts forth to rescue him at the hazard of his own life.--Bojardo, _Orlando Innamorato_ (1495).

=Prasu´tagus= or =Præsu´tagus=, husband of Bonduica or Boadicēa, queen of the Icēni.--Richard of Cirencester, _History_, xxx. (fourteenth century).

Me, the wife of rich Prasutagus; me the lover of liberty.--
Me, they seized, and me they tortured!

Tennyson, _Boadicea_.

=Prate´fast= (_Peter_), who “in all his life spake no word in waste.” His wife was Maude, and his eldest son, Sym Sadle Gander, who married Betres (daughter of Davy Dronken Nole, of Kent, and his wife, Al´yson).--Stephen Hawes, _The Passe-tyme of Plesure_, xxix. (1515).

=Prattle= (_Mr._), medical practitioner, a voluble gossip, who retails all the news and scandal of the neighborhood. He knows everybody, everybody’s affairs, and everybody’s intentions.--G. Colman, Sr, _The Deuce is in Him_ (1762).

=Pre-Adamite Kings=, Soliman Raad, Soliman Daki, and Soliman de Gian ben Gian. The last named, having chained up the dives (1 _syl._) in the dark caverns of Pâf, became so presumptuous as to dispute the Supreme Power. All these kings maintained great state [before the existence of that contemptible being denominated by us “The Father of Mankind”]; but none can be compared with the eminence of Soliman ben Daoud.

=Pre-Adamite Throne= (_The_). It was Vathek’s ambition to gain the pre-Adamite throne. After long search, he was shown it at last in the abyss of Eblis; but being there, return was impossible, and he remained a prisoner without hope forever.

They reached at length the hall [_Argenk_] of great extent, and
covered with a lofty dome.... A funereal gloom prevailed over it.
Here, upon two beds of incorruptible cedar, lay recumbent the
fleshless forms of the pre-Adamite kings, who had once been
monarchs of the whole earth.... At their feet were inscribed the
events of their several reigns, their power, their pride, and their
crimes. [_This was the pre-Adamite throne, the ambition of the
Caliph Vathek._]--W. Beckford, _Vathek_ (1784).

=Preacher= (_The_) Solomon, the son of David, author of _The Preacher_ (i. e. _Ecclesiastes_).

Thus saith the Preacher, “Nought beneath the sun
Is new;” yet still from change to change we run.

Byron.

_Preacher_ (_The Glorious_), St. Chrys´ostom (347-407). The name means “Golden mouth.”

_Preacher_ (_The Little_), Samuel de Marets, Protestant controversialist (1599-1663).

_Preacher_ (_The Unfair_). Dr. Isaac Barrow was so called by Charles II., because his sermons were so exhaustive that they left nothing more to be said on the subject, which was “unfair” to those that came after him.

=Preachers= (_The King of_), Louis Bourdaloue (1632-1704).

=Précieuses Ridicules= (_Les_), a comedy by Molière, in ridicule of the “_precieuses_,” as they were styled, forming the coterie of the Hotel de Rambouillet in the seventeenth century. The _soirées_ held in this hotel were a great improvement on the licentious assemblies of the period; but many imitators made the thing ridiculous, because they wanted the same presiding talent and good taste.

The two girls of Molière’s comedy are Madelon and Cathos, the daughter and niece of Gorgibus, a bourgeois. They change their names to Polixène and Aminte, which they think more genteel, and look on the affectations of two flunkies as far more _distingué_ than the simple, gentlemanly manners of their masters. However, they are cured of their folly, and no harm comes of it (1659).

=Preciosa=, the heroine of Longfellow’s _Spanish Student_, in love with Victorian, the student.

=Precocious Genius.=

JOHANN PHILIP BARATIER, a German, at the age of five years, knew Greek, Latin, and French, besides his native German. At nine he knew Hebrew and Chaldaic, and could translate German into Latin. At thirteen he could translate Hebrew into French, or French into Hebrew (1721-1740).

⁂ The life of this boy was written by Formey. His name is enrolled in all biographical dictionaries.

CHRISTIAN HENRY HEINECKEN, at one year old, knew the chief events of the Pentatauch!! at thirteen months he knew the history of the Old Testament!! at fourteen months he knew the history of the New Testament!! at two and a half years he could answer any ordinary question of history or geography; and at three years old knew French and Latin as well as his native German (1721-1725).

⁂ The life of this boy was written by Schœneich, his teacher. His name is duly noticed in biographical dictionaries.

=Pressæus= (“_eater of garlic_”), the youngest of the frog chieftains.

The pious ardor young Pressæus brings,
Betwixt the fortunes of contending kings;
Lank, harmless frog! with forces hardly grown,
He darts the reed in combats not his own,
Which, faintly tinkling on Troxartas’ shield,
Hangs at the point and drops upon the field.

Parnell, _Battle of the Frogs and Mice_, iii. (about 1712).

=Prest=, a nickname given by Swift to the duchess of Shrewsbury, who was a foreigner.

=Prester John=, a corruption of _Belul Gian_, meaning “precious stone.” Gian (pronounced _zjon_) has been corrupted into John, and Belul, translated into “precious;” in Latin _Johannes preciosus_ (“precious John”) corrupted into “Presbyter Joannes.” The kings of Ethiopia or Abyssinia, from a gemmed ring given to Queen Saba, whose son by Solomon was king of Ethiopia, and was called Melech, with the “precious stone,” or Melech _Gian-Belul_.

Æthiopes regem suum, quem nos vulgo “Prete Gianni” corrupte
dicimus, quatour appellant nominibus, quorum primum est “Belul
Giad,” hoc est _lapis preciosus_. Ductum est autem hoc nomen ab
_annulo Salomonis_ quem ille filio ex regina Saba, ut putant
genito, dono dedisse, quove omnes postea reges usos fuisse
describitor.... Cum vero eum coronant, appellant “Neghuz.” Postremo
cum vertice capitis in coronæ modum abraso, ungitur a patriarcha,
vocant “Masih,” hoc est _unctum_. Hæc autem regiæ dignitatis nomina
omnibus communia sunt.--Quoted by Selden, from a little annal of
the Ethiopian kings (1552), in his _Titles of Honor_, v. 65 (1614).

⁂ As this title was like the Egyptian _Pharaoh_, and belonged to whole lines of kings, it will explain the enormous diversity of time allotted by different writers to “Prester John.”

Marco Polo says that Prester John was slain in battle by Jenghiz Khan; and Gregory Bar-Hebræus says, “God forsook him because he had taken to himself a wife of the Zinish nation, called Quarakhata.[TN-105]

Bishop Jordānus, in his description of the world, sets down Abyssinia as the kingdom of Prester John. Abyssinia used to be called “Middle India.”

Otto of Freisingen is the first author to mention him. This Otto wrote a chronicle to the date 1156. He says that John was of the family of the Magi, and ruled over the country of these Wise Men. Otto tells us that Prester John had “a sceptre of emeralds.”

Maimonĭdês, about the same time (twelfth century), mentions him, but calls him “Prester-Cuan.”

Before 1241 a letter was addressed by “Prester John” to Manuel Comnēnus, emperor of Constantinople. It is preserved in the _Chronicle_ of Albericus Trium Fontium, who gives for its date 1165.

Mandeville calls Prester John a lineal descendant of Ogier, the Dane. He tells us that Ogier, with fifteen others, penetrated into the north of India, and divided the land amongst his followers. John was made sovereign of Teneduc, and was called “Prester” because he converted the natives to the Christian faith.

Another tradition says that Prester John had seventy kings for his vassals, and was seen by his subjects only three times in a year.

In _Orlando Furioso_, Prester John is called by his subjects “Senāpus, king of Ethiopia.” He was blind, and though the richest monarch of the world, he pined with famine, because harpies flew off with his food by way of punishment for wanting to add paradise to his empire. The plague, says the poet, was to cease “when a stranger appeared on a flying griffin.” This stranger was Astolpho, who drove the harpies to Cocy´tus. Prester John, in return for this service, sent 100,000 Nubians to the aid of Charlemagne. Astolpho supplied this contingent with horses by throwing stones into the air, and made transport-ships to convey them to France by casting leaves into the sea. After the death of Agramant, the Nubians were sent home, and then the horses became stones again, and the ships became leaves (bks. xvii.-xix.).

=Pretender= (_The Young_), Prince Charles Edward Stuart, son of James Francis Edward Stuart (called “The _Old_ Pretender”). James Francis was the son of James II., and Charles Edward was the king’s grandson.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).

Charles Edward was defeated at Cullōden in 1746, and escaped to the Continent.

God bless the king--I mean the “Faith’s defender;”
God bless--no harm in blessing--the Pretender.
Who that Pretender is, and who is king,
God bless us all! that’s quite another thing.

Ascribed by Sir W. Scott to John Byrom (in _Redgauntlet_).

The mistress of Charles Edward Stuart was Miss Walkingshaw.

=Prettyman= (_Prince_), in love with Cloris. He is sometimes a fisherman, and sometimes a prince.--Duke of Buckingham, _The Rehearsal_ (1671).

⁂ “Prince Prettyman” is said to be a parody on “Leonidas” in Dryden’s _Marriage-à-la-mode_.

=Pri´amus= (_Sir_), a knight of the Round Table. He possessed a phial, full of four waters that came from paradise. These waters instantly healed any wounds which were touched by them.

“My father,” says Sir Priamus, “is lineally descended of Alexander
and of Hector by right line. Duke Josuê and Machabæus were of our
lineage. I am right inheritor of Alexandria, and Affrike of all the
out isles.”

And Priamus took from his page a phial, full of four waters that
came out of paradise; and with certain balm nointed he their
wounds, and washed them with that water, and within an hour after
they were both as whole as ever they were.--Sir T. Malory, _History
of Prince Arthur_, i. 97 (1470).

=Price= (_Matilda_), a miller’s daughter; a pretty, coquettish young woman, who marries John Browdie, a hearty Yorkshire corn-factor.--C. Dickens, _Nicholas Nickleby_ (1838).

=Pride= (_Sir_), first a drayman, then a colonel in the parliamentary army.--S. Butler, _Hudibras_ (1663-78).

=Pride of Humility.= Antisthĕnês, the Cynic, affected a very ragged coat; but Socrătês said to him, “Antisthenês, I can see your vanity peering through the holes of your coat.”

=Pride’s Purge=, a violent invasion of parliamentary rights by Colonel Pride, in 1649. At the head of two regiments of soldiers he surrounded the House of Commons, seized forty-one of the members and shut out 160 others. None were allowed into the House but those most friendly to Cromwell. This fag-end went by the name of “the Rump.”

=Pridwin= or PRIWEN, Prince Arthur’s shield.

Arthur placed a golden helmet upon his head, on which was engraven
the figure of a dragon; and on his shoulders his shield, called
Priwen, upon which the picture of the blessed Mary, mother of God,
was painted; then, girding on his Caliburn, which was an excellent
sword, made in the isle of Avallon; he took in his right hand his
lance, Ron, which was hard, broad, and fit for
slaughter.--Geoffrey, _British History_, ix. 4 (1142).

=Priest of Nature=, Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727).

Lo! Newton, priest of nature, shines afar,
Scans the wide world, and numbers every star.

Campbell, _Pleasures of Hope_, i. (1799).

=Prig=, a knavish beggar.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Beggars’ Bush_ (1622).

_Prig_ (_Betsey_), an old monthly nurse, “the frequent pardner” of Mrs. Gamp; equally ignorant, equally vulgar, equally selfish, and brutal to her patients.

“Betsey,” said Mrs. Gamp, filling her own glass, and passing the
teapot [_of gin_], “I will now propoge a toast: ‘My frequent
pardner, Betsey Prig.’” “Which, altering the name to Sairah Gamp, I
drink,” said Mrs. Prig, “with love and tenderness.”--C. Dickens,
_Martin Chuzzlewit_, xlix. (1843).

=Prim´er= (_Peter_), a pedantic country schoolmaster, who believes himself to be the wisest of pedagogues.--Samuel Foote, _The Mayor of Garratt_ (1763).

=Primitive Fathers= (_The_). The five apostolic fathers contemporary with the apostles (viz., Clement of Rome, Barnăbas, Hermas, Ignatius and Polycarp), and the nine following, who all lived in the first three centuries:--Justin, Theoph´ilus of Antioch, Irenæus, Clement of Alexandria, Cyprian of Carthage, Orĭgen, Gregory “Thaumatur´gus,” Dionysius of Alexandria and Tertullian.

⁂ For the “Fathers” of the fourth and fifth centuries see GREEK CHURCH, LATIN CHURCH.

=Primrose= (_The Rev. Dr. Charles_), a clergyman rich in heavenly wisdom, but poor indeed in all worldly knowledge. Amiable, charitable, devout, but not without his literary vanity, especially on the Whistonian theory about second marriages. One admires his virtuous indignation against the “washes,” which he deliberately demolished with the poker. In his prosperity his chief “adventures were by the fireside, and all his migrations were from the blue bed to the brown.”

_Mrs._ [_Deborah_] _Primrose_, the doctor’s wife, full of motherly vanity, and desirous to appear _genteel_. She could read without much spelling, prided herself on her housewifery, especially on her gooseberry wine, and was really proud of her excellent husband.

(She was painted as “Venus,” and the vicar, in gown and bands, was presenting to her his book on “second marriages,” but when complete the picture was found to be too large for the house.)

_George Primrose_, son of the vicar. He went to Amsterdam to teach the Dutch English, but never once called to mind that he himself must know something of Dutch before this could be done. He becomes Captain Primrose, and marries Miss Wilmot, an heiress.

(Goldsmith himself went to teach the French English under the same circumstances.)

_Moses Primrose_, younger son of the vicar, noted for his greenness and pedantry. Being sent to sell a good horse at a fair, he bartered it for a gross of green spectacles, with copper rims and shagreen cases, of no more value than Hodge’s razors (ch. xii.).

_Olivia Primrose_, the eldest daughter of the doctor. Pretty, enthusiastic, a sort of Hebê in beauty. “She wished for many lovers,” and eloped with Squire Thornhill. Her father found her at a roadside inn called the Harrow, where she was on the point of being turned out of the house. Subsequently, she was found to be legally married to the squire.

_Sophia Primrose_, the second daughter of Dr. Primrose. She was “soft, modest, and alluring.” Not like her sister, desirous of winning all, but fixing her whole heart upon one. Being thrown from her horse into a deep stream, she was rescued by Mr. Burchell (_alias_ Sir William Thornhill), and being abducted, was again rescued by him. She married him at last.--Goldsmith, _Vicar of Wakefield_ (1766).

=Prince of Alchemy=, Rudolph II., kaiser of Germany; also called “The German Trismegistus” (1552, 1576-1612).

=Prince of Angels=, Michael.

So spake the prince of angels. To whom thus
The Adversary [i.e. _Satan_].

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, vi. 281 (1665).

=Prince of Celestial Armies=, Michael, the archangel.

Go, Michael, of celestial armies prince.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, vi. 44 (1665).

=Prince of Darkness=, Satan (_Eph._ vi 12).

Whom thus the prince of darkness answered glad:
“Fair daughter,
High proof ye now have given to be the race
Of Satan (I glory in the name).”

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, x, 383 (1665).

=Prince of Hell=, Satan.

And with them comes a third of regal port,
But faded splendor wan; who by his gait
And fierce demeanor seems the prince of Hell.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, iv. 868 (1665).

=Prince of Life=, a title given to Christ (_Acts_ iii. 15).

=Prince of Peace=, a title given to the Messiah (_Isaiah_ ix. 6).

_Prince of Peace_, Don Manuel Godoy, of Badajoz. So called because he concluded the “peace of Basle” in 1795, between France and Spain (1757-1851).

=Prince of the Air=, Satan.

... Jesus, son of Mary, second Eve,
Saw Satan fall, like lightning, down from heaven,
Prince of the air.

Milton, _Paradise Lost_, x. 185 (1665).

=Prince of the Devils=, Satan (_Matt._ xii. 24).

=Prince of the Kings of the Earth=, a title given to Christ (_Rev._ i. 5).

=Prince of the Power of the Air=, Satan (_Eph._ ii. 2).

=Prince of this World=, Satan (_John_ xiv. 30).

=Princes.= It was Prince Bismarck, the German Chancellor, who said to a courtly attendant, “Let princes be princes, and mind your own business.”

=Prince’s Peers=, a term of contempt applied to peers of low birth. The phrase arose in the reign of Charles VII., of France, when his son Louis (afterwards Louis XI.) created a host of riff-raff peers, such as tradesmen, farmers, and mechanics, in order to degrade the aristocracy, and thus weaken its influence in the state.

=Printed Books.= The first book produced in England, was printed in England in 1477, by William Caxton, in the Almonry, at Westminster, and was entitled _The Dictes and Sayings of the Philosophers_.

The Rev. T. Wilson says: “The press at Oxford existed ten years before there was any press in Europe, except those of Haarlem and Mentz.” The person who set up the Oxford press was Corsellis, and his first printed book bore the date of 1468. The colophon of it ran thus: “Explicit exposicio Sancti Jeronimi in simbolo apostolorum ad papam laurēcium. Impressa Oxonii Et finita Anno Domini Mcccclxviij., xvij. die Decembris.” The book is a small quarto of forty-two leaves, and was first noticed in 1664 by Richard Atkins in his _Origin and Growth of Printing_. Dr. Conyers Middleton, in 1735, charged Atkins with forgery. In 1812, S. W. Singer defended the book. Dr. Cotton took the subject up in his _Typographical Gazetteer_ (first and second series).

=Prior= (_Matthew_). The monument to this poet in Westminster Abbey was by Rysbrack; executed by order of Louis XIV.

=Priory= (_Lord_), an old-fashioned husband, who actually thinks that a wife should “love, honor, and obey” her husband; nay, more, that “forsaking all others, she should cleave to him so long as they both should live.”

_Lady Priory_, an old-fashioned wife, but young and beautiful. She was, however, so very old-fashioned that she went to bed at ten and rose at six; dressed in a cap and gown of her own making; respected and loved her husband; discouraged flirtation; and when assailed by any improper advances, instead of showing temper or conceited airs, quietly and tranquilly seated herself to some modest household duty till the assailant felt the irresistible power of modesty and virtue.--Mrs. Inchbald, _Wives as They Were and Maids as They Are_ (1797).

=Priscian=, a great grammarian of the fifth century. The Latin phrase, _Diminuĕre Prisciani caput_ (“to break Priscian’s head”), means to “violate the rules of grammar.” (See PEGASUS.)

Some, free from rhyme or reason, rule or check,
Break Priscian’s head, and Pegasus’s neck.

Pope, _The Dunciad_, iii. 161 (1728).

Quakers (that like to lanterns, bear
Their light within them) will not swear
And hold no sin so deeply red
As that of breaking Priscian’s head.

Butler, _Hudibras_, II. ii. 219, etc. (1664).

=Priscilla=, daughter of a noble lord. She fell in love with Sir Aladine, a poor knight.--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, vi. 1 (1596).

_Priscilla_, the beautiful puritan in love with John Alden. When Miles Standish, a bluff old soldier, in the middle of life, wished to marry her, he asked John Alden to go and plead his cause; but the puritan maiden replied archly, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?” Upon this hint, John did speak for himself, and Priscilla listened to his suit.--Longfellow, _The Courtship of Miles Standish_ (1858).

_Priscilla._ Fragile, pretty, simple girl, whom Hollingsworth and Coverdale love, instead of falling victims to the superb Zenobia. She is thin-blooded and weak-limbed, and her very helplessness charms the strong men, who suppose themselves proof against love of the ordinary kind.--Nathaniel Hawthorne, _The Blithedale Romance_ (1852).

=Prison Life Endeared.= The following are examples of prisoners who, from long habit, have grown attached to prison life:--

Comte de Lorge was confined for thirty years in the Bastile, and when liberated (July 14, 1789) declared that freedom had no joys for him. After imploring in vain to be allowed to return to his dungeon, he lingered for six weeks and pined to death.

Goldsmith says, when Chinvang the Chaste, ascended the throne of China, he commanded the prisons to be thrown open. Among the prisoners was a venerable man of 85 years of age, who implored that he might be suffered to return to his cell. For sixty-three years he had lived in its gloom and solitude, which he preferred to the glare of the sun and the bustle of a city.--_A Citizen of the World_ lxxiii. (1759).

Mr. Cogan once visited a prisoner of state in the King’s Bench prison, who told him he had grown to like the subdued light and extreme solitude of his cell; he even liked the spots and patches on the wall, the hardness of his bed, the regularity, and the freedom from all the cares and worries of active life. He did not wish to be released, and felt sure he should never be so happy in any other place.