Part 22

⁂ Several piracies of this popular name have appeared. Thus, S. Kettell, of America, pirated the name in order to sell under false colors; Darton and Co,[TN-63] issued a Peter Parley’s _Annual_ (1841-1855); Simkins, a Peter Parley’s _Life of Paul_ (1845); Bogue, a Peter Parley’s _Visit to London_, etc. (1844); Tegg, several works under the same name; Hodson, a Peter Parley’s _Bible Geography_ (1839); Clements, a Peter Parley’s _Child’s First Step_ (1839). None of which works were by Goodrich, the real “Peter Parley.”

William Martin was the writer of Darton’s “Peter Parley series.” George Mogridge wrote several tales under the name of Peter Parley. How far such “false pretences” are justifiable, public opinion, must decide.

=Parliament= (_The Black_), a parliament held by Henry VIII. in Bridewell.

(For Addled parliament, Barebone’s parliament, the Devil’s parliament, the Drunken parliament, the Good parliament, the Long parliament, the Mad parliament, the Pensioner parliament, the Rump parliament, the Running parliament, the Unmerciful parliament, the Useless parliament, the Wonder-making parliament, the parliament of Dunces, see _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_, 657.)

=Parnelle= (_Mde._), the mother of M. Orgon, and an ultra-admirer of Tartuffe, whom she looks on as a saint. In the adaptation of Molière’s comedy by Isaac Bickerstaff, Mde. Parnelle is called “old Lady Lambert;” her son, “Sir John Lambert;” and Tartuffe, “Dr. Cantwell.”--Molière, _Tartuffe_ (1664); Bickerstaff, _The Hypocrite_ (1768).

⁂ _The Nonjuror_, by Cibber (1706), was the quarry of Bickerstaff’s play.

=Parody= (_Father of_), Hippo´nax of Ephesus (sixth century B.C.).

=Parol´les= (3 _syl._), a boastful, cowardly follower of Bertram, count of Rousillon. His utterances are racy enough, but our contempt for the man smothers our mirth, and we cannot laugh. In one scene the bully is taken blindfolded among his old acquaintances, whom he is led to suppose are his enemies, and he villifies[TN-64] their characters to their faces in most admired foolery.--Shakespeare, _All’s Well that Ends Well_ (1598).

He [_Dr. Parr_] was a mere Parolles in a pedagogue’s wig.--_Noctes Ambrosianæ._

(For similar tongue-doughty heroes, see BASILISCO, BESSUS, BLUFF, BOBADIL, BOROUGHCLIFF, BRAZEN, FLASH, PISTOL, PYRGO, POLINICES,[TN-65] SCARAMOUCH, THRASO, VINCENT DE LA ROSA, etc.)

=Parpaillons= (_King of the_), the father of Gargamelle, “a jolly pug and well-mouthed wench,” who married Grangousier “in the vigor of his age,” and became the mother of Gargantua.--Rabelais, _Gargantua_, i. 3 (1533).

=Parr= (_Old_). Thomas Parr, we are told, lived in the reign of ten sovereigns. He married his second wife when he was 120 years old, and had a child by her. He was a husbandman, born at Salop, in 1483, and died 1635, aged 152.

=Parricide= (_The Beautiful_), Beatrice Cenci, who is said to have murdered her father for the incestuous brutality with which he had treated her (died 1599).

Shelley has a tragedy on the subject, called _The Cenci_ (1819).

=Parsley Peel=, the first Sir Robert Peel. So called from the great quantity of printed calico with the parsley-leaf pattern manufactured by him (1750-1830).

=Parson Adams=, a simple-minded country clergyman of the eighteenth century. At the age of 50 he was provided with a handsome income of £23 a year (nearly £300 of our money).--Fielding, _Joseph Andrews_ (1742).

Timothy Burrell, Esq., in 1715, bequeathed to his nephew Timothy, the sum of £20 a year, to be paid during his residence at the university, and to be continued to him till he obtained some preferment worth at least £30 a year.--_Sussex Archæological Collections_, iii. 172.

=Parson Bate=, a stalwart choleric, sporting parson, editor of the _Morning Post_ in the latter half of the eighteenth century. He was afterwards Sir Henry Bate Dudley, Bart.

When Sir Henry Bate Dudley was appointed an Irish dean, a young lady of Dublin said, “Och! how I long to see our dane! They say ... he fights like an angel.”--_Cassell’s Magazine_ (“London Legends,” iii.)

=Parson Collins=, shrewd backwoodsman, ready for fight or prayer. He suffers at the hands of desperadoes, but is dauntless, and always gets the better of his partner in a trade. His white mule Ma’y Jane, is the only creature that outwits him, and that only at fence-corners.--Octave Thanet, _Expiation_ (1890).

=Parson Runo= (_A_), a simple-minded clergyman, wholly unacquainted with the world; a Dr. Primrose, in fact. It is a Russian household phrase, having its origin in the singular simplicity of the Lutheran clergy of the Isle of Runo.

=Parson Trulliber=, a fat clergyman, slothful, ignorant, and intensely bigoted.--Fielding, _Joseph Andrews_ (1742).

=Parsons= (_Walter_), the giant porter of King James I. (died 1622).--Fuller, _Worthies_ (1662).

=Parsons’ Kaiser= (_The_), Karl IV., of Germany, who was set up by Pope Clement VI., while Ludwig IV. was still on the throne. The Germans called the pope’s _protégé_ “_pfaffen kaiser_.”

=Parthe´nia=, the mistress of Argălus.--Sir Philip Sidney, _Arcadia_ (1580).

_Parthenia_, Maidenly Chastity personified. Parthenia is sister of Agnei´a (3 _syl._), or wifely chastity, the spouse of Encra´tês, or temperance. Her attendant is Er´ythre, or modesty. (Greek, _parthĕnia_, “maidenhood.”)--Phineas Fletcher, _The Purple Island_, x. (1633).

=Parthen´ope= (4 _syl._), one of the three syrens. She was buried at Naples. Naples itself was anciently called Parthenopê, which name was changed to _Neap´olis_ (“the new city”) by a colony of Cumæans.

By dead Parthenope’s dear tomb.

Milton, _Comus_, 879 (1634).

Loitering by the sea That laves the passionate shores of soft Parthenopê.

Lord Lytton, _Ode_, iii. 2 (1839).

(The three syrens were Parthenopê, Ligēa, and Leucos´ia, not _Leucoth´ea_, _q.v._)

_Parthenope_ (4 _syl._), the damsel beloved by Prince Volscius.--Duke of Buckingham, _The Rehearsal_ (1671).

=Parthen´ope of Naples=, Sannazora, the Neapolitan poet called “The Christian Virgil.” Most of his poems were published under the assumed name of _Actius Sincerus_ (1458-1530).

At last the Muses ... scattered ... Their blooming wreaths from fair Valclusa’s bowers [_Petrarch_] To Arno [_Dante and Boccaccio_] ... and the shore Of soft Parthenope.

Akenside, _Pleasures of Imagination_, ii. (1744).

=Partington= (_Mrs._), an old lady of amusing affectations and ridiculous blunders of speech. Sheridan’s “_Mrs. Malaprop_” and Smollett’s “_Tabitha Bramble_” are similar characters.--B. P. Shillaber (an American humorist).

I do not mean to be disrespectful; but the attempt of the lords to stop the progress of reform reminds me very forcibly of the great storm of Sidmouth, and the conduct of the excellent Mrs. Partington on that occasion. In the winter of 1824, there set in a great flood upon that town; the tide rose to an incredible height; the waves rushed in upon the houses; and everything was threatened with destruction. In the midst of this sublime storm, Dame Partington, who lived upon the beach, was seen at the door of her house with mop and pattens, trundling her mop, squeezing out the sea-water, and vigorously pushing away the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic was roused, Mrs. Partington’s spirit was up; but I need not tell you that the contest was unequal. The Atlantic beat Mrs. Partington. She was excellent at a slop or puddle, but should never have meddled with a tempest.--Sydney Smith (speech at Taunton, 1831).

=Partlet=, the hen, in “The Nun’s Priest’s Tale,” and in the famous beast-epic of _Reynard the Fox_ (1498).--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (1388).

_Sister Partlet with her hooded head_, the cloistered community of nuns; the Roman Catholic clergy being the “barn-door fowls.”--Dryden, _Hind and Panther_ (1687).

=Partridge.= Talus was changed into a partridge.

_Partridge_, cobbler, quack, astrologer, and almanac-maker (died 1708). Dean Swift wrote an elegy on him.

Here five feet deep, lies on his back, A cobbler, starmonger, and quack, Who, to the stars in pure gold will, Does to his best look upward still, Weep all you customers that use His pills, his almanacs, or shoes.

_Partridge_, the attendant of Tom Jones, as Strap, is of Smollett’s “Roderick Random.” Faithful, shrewd, and of child-like simplicity. He is half-barber and half-schoolmaster. His excitement in the play-house when he went to see Garrick in “Hamlet” is charming.--Fielding, _The History of Tom Jones_ (1749).

The humor of Smollett, although genuine and hearty, is coarse and vulgar. He was superficial where Fielding showed deep insight; but he had a rude conception of generosity of which Fielding seems incapable. It is owing to this that “Strap” is superior to “Partridge.”--Hazlitt, _Comic Writers_.

=Parvenue.= One of the O’Neals, being told that Barrett of Castlemone had only been 400 years in Ireland, replied, “I hate the upstart, which can only look back to yesterday.”

=Parviz= (“_victorious_”), surname of Khosrou II. of Persia. He kept 15,000 female musicians, 6000 household officers, 20,500 saddle-mules, 960 elephants, 200 slaves to scatter perfumes when he went abroad, and 1000 sekabers to water the roads before him. His horse, Shibdiz, was called “the Persian Bucephălus.”

The reigns of Khosrou I. and II. were the golden period of Persian history.

=Parzival=, the hero and title of a metrical romance, by Wolfram v. Eschenbach. Parzival was brought up by a widowed mother, in solitude, but when grown to manhood, two wandering knights persuaded him to go to the court of King Arthur. His mother, hoping to deter him, consented to his going if he would wear the dress of a common jester. This he did, but soon achieved such noble deeds that Arthur made him a knight of the Round Table. Sir Parzival went in quest of the Holy Graal, which was kept in a magnificent castle called Graalburg, in Spain, built by the royal priest Titurel. He reached the castle, but having neglected certain conditions, was shut out, and, on his return, the priestess of Graalburg insisted on his being expelled the court and degraded from knighthood. Parzival then led a new life of abstinence and self-abnegation, and a wise hermit became his instructor. At length he reached such a state of purity and sanctity that the priestess of Graalburg declared him worthy to become lord of the castle (1205).

⁂ This, of course, is an allegory of a Christian giving up everything in order to be admitted a priest and king in the city of God, and becoming a fool in order to learn true wisdom (see 1 _Cor._ iii. 18).

=Pasquin=, a Roman cobbler of the latter half of the fifteenth century, whose shop stood in the neighborhood of the Braschi palace near the Piazza Navoni. He was noted for his caustic remarks and bitter sayings. After his death, a mutilated statue near the shop was called by his name, and made the repository of all the bitter epigrams and satirical verses of the city; hence called _pasquinades_ (3 _syl._).

=Passamonte= (_Gines de_), the galley-slave set free by Don Quixote. He returned the favor by stealing Sancho’s wallet and ass. Subsequently he reappeared as a puppet-showman.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_.

=Passatore= (_Il_), a title assumed by Belli´no, an Italian bandit chief who died 1851.

=Passel´yon=, a young foundling brought up by Morgan la Fée. He was detected in an intrigue with Morgan’s daughter. The adventures of this amorous youth are related in the romance called _Perceforest_, iii.

=Passe Rose=, fair orphan girl, warm of heart and single of purpose. Ingenuous as a babe, and made strong by love. Her adventures are the theme of the novel bearing her name.--Arthur Sherburne Hardy, _Passe Rose_ (1889).

=Passetreul=, the name of Sir Tristram’s horse.

=Passe-tyme of Plesure=, an allegorical poem in forty-six capitulos and in seven-line stanzas, by Stephen Hawes (1506)[TN-66] The poet supposes that while Graunde Amoure was walking in a meadow he encountered Fame, “enuyroned with tongues of fyre,” who told him about La bell Pucell, a ladye fair, living in the Tower of Musike, and then departed, leaving him under the charge of Gouernaunce and Grace, who conducted him to the Tower of Doctrine. Countenaunce, the portress, showed him over the tower, and Lady Science sent him to Gramer. Afterwards he was sent to Logyke, Rethorike, Inuention, Arismetrike and Musike. In the Tower of Musike he met La bell Pucell, pleaded his love, and was kindly entreated; but they were obliged to part for the time being, while Graunde Amoure continued his “passe-tyme of plesure.” On quitting La bell Pucell he went to Geometrye and then to Dame Astronomy. Then, leaving the Tower of Science, he entered that of Chyualry. Here Mynerue introduced him to Kyng Melyzyus, after which he went to the temple of Venus, who sent a letter on his behalf to La bell Pucell. Meanwhile the giant False Report (or Godfrey Gobilyue) met him, and put him to great distress in the house of Correction, but Perceueraunce at length conducted him to the manor-house of Dame Comfort. After sundry trials Graunde Amoure married La bell Pucell, and, after many a long day of happiness and love, was arrested by Age, who took him before Policye and Auarice. Death in time came for him, and Remembraunce wrote his epitaph.

=Pastor Fi´do= (_Il_), a pastoral by Giovanni Battista Guari´ni of Ferrara (1585).

=Pastoral Romance= (_The Father of_), Honoré d’Urfé (1567-1625).

=Pastorella=, the fair shepherdess (bk. vi. 9), beloved by Corydon, but “neither for him nor any other did she care a whit.” She was a foundling, brought up by the shepherd Melibee. When Sir Calidore (3 _syl._) was the shepherd’s guest, he fell in love with the fair foundling, who returned his love. During the absence of Sir Calidore in a hunting expedition, Pastorella, with Melibee and Corydon, were carried off by brigands. Melibee was killed, Corydon effected his escape, and Pastorella was wounded. Sir Calidore went to rescue his shepherdess, killed the brigand chief, and brought back the captive in safety (bk. vi. 11). He took her to Belgard Castle, and it turned out that the beautiful foundling was the daughter of Lady Claribel and Sir Bellamour (bk, vi. 12).--Spenser, _Faëry Queen_, vi. 9-12 (1596).

“Pastorella” is meant for Frances Walsingham, daughter of Sir Francis Walsingham, whom Sir Philip Sidney (“Sir Calidore”) married. After Sidney’s death the widow married the earl of Essex (the queen’s favorite). Sir Philip being the author of a romance called _Arcadia_ suggested to the poet the name Pastorella.

=Patch=, the clever, intriguing waiting-woman of Isabinda, daughter of Sir Jealous Traffick. As she was handing a love-letter in cipher to her mistress, she let it fall, and Sir Jealous picked it up. He could not read it, but insisted on knowing what it meant. “O,” cried the ready wit, “it is a charm for the toothache!” and the suspicions of Sir Jealous were diverted (act iv. 2).--Mrs. Centlivre, _The Busy Body_ (1709).

_Patch_ (_Clause_), king of the beggars. He died in 1730, and was succeeded by Bampfylde Moore Carew.

=Patche= (1 _syl._), Cardinal Wolsey’s jester. When the cardinal felt his favor giving way, he sent Patche as a gift to the king, and Henry VIII. considered the gift a most acceptable one.

We call one Patche or Cowlson, whom we see to do a thing foolishly, because these two in their time were notable fools.--Wilson, _Art of Rhetorique_ (1553).

=Patelin= (2 _syl._), the hero of an ancient French comedy. He contrives to obtain on credit six ells of cloth from William Josseaume, by artfully praising the tradesman’s father. Any subtle, crafty fellow, who entices by flattery and insinuating arts, is called a Patelin.--P. Blanchet, _L’Avocat Patelin_ (1459-1519).

On lui attribue, mais à tort, la farce de _L’Avocat Patelin_, qui est plus ancienne que lui.--Bouillet, _Dictionary Universel d’Histoire, etc._, art. “Blanchet.”

Consider, sir, I pray you, how the noble Patelin, having a mind to extol to the third heavens, the father of William Josseaume, said no more than this: he did lend his goods freely to those who were desirous of them.--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, iii. 4 (1545).

=Pater Patrum.= St. Gregory, of Nyssa is so called by the council of Nice (332-395).

=Paterson= (_Pate_), serving-boy to Bryce Snailsfoot, the pedlar.--Sir W. Scott, _The Pirate_ (time, William III.).

=Pathfinder= (_The_), Natty Bumpo; also called “The Deerslayer”[TN-67] “The Hawk-eye,” and “The Trapper.”--Fenimore Cooper, (five novels called _The Pathfinder_, _The Pioneers_, _The Deerslayer_, _The Last of the Mohicans_, and _The Prairie_).

=Pathfinder of the Rocky Mountains.=[TN-68] (_The_), Major-General John Charles Fremont, who conducted four exploring expeditions across the Rocky Mountains in 1842.

=Patient Griselda= or =Grisildis=, the wife of Wautier, marquis of Salucês. Boccaccio says she was a poor country lass, who became the wife of Gualtiere, marquis of Saluzzo. She was robbed of her children by her husband, reduced to abject poverty, divorced, and commanded to assist in the marriage of her husband with another woman; but she bore every affront patiently, and without complaint.--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (“The Clerk’s Tale,” 1388); Boccaccio, _Decameron_, x. 10 (1352).

=Patience Strong.= Delightful old maid, who, after passing most of her life in a quiet New England township, goes abroad and tells her experiences in _Sights and Insights_.--A. D. T. Whitney (1860).

She is also the central figure in a quiet story of domestic life, entitled _Patience Strong’s Outings_ (1858).

=Patin=, brother of the emperor of Rome. He fights with Am´adis of Gaul, and has his horse killed under him.--Vasco de Lobeira, _Amadis de Gaul_ (thirteenth century).

=Patison=, licensed jester to Sir Thos. More. Hans Holbein has introduced this jester in his famous picture of the lord chancellor.

=Patriarch of Dorchester=,[TN-69] John White, of Dorchester, a puritan divine (1574-1648).

=Patriarchs= (_The Last of the_). So _Christopher Casby_, of Bleeding-heart Yard was called. “So grey, so slow, so quiet, so impassionate, so very bumpy in the head, that patriarch was the word for him.” Painters implored him to be a model for some patriarch they designed to paint. Philanthropists looked on him as famous capital for a platform. He had once been town agent in the Circumlocution Office, and was well-to-do.

His face had a bloom on it like ripe wall-fruit, and his blue eyes seemed to be the eyes of wisdom and virtue. His whole face teemed with the look of benignity. Nobody could say where the wisdom was, or where the virtue was, or where the benignity was, but they seemed to be somewhere about him.... He wore a long wide-skirted bottle-green coat, and a bottle-green pair of trousers, and a bottle-green waistcoat. The patriarchs were not dressed in bottle-green broadcloth, and yet his clothes looked patriarchal.--C. Dickens, _Little Dorrit_ (1857).

=Patrick=, an old domestic at Shaw’s Castle.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan’s Well_ (time, George III.).

_Patrick_ (_St._), the tutelar saint of Ireland. Born at Kirk Patrick, near Dumbarton. His baptismal name was “Succeath” (“valor in war”), changed by Milcho, to whom he was sold as a slave into “Cotharig” (four families or four masters, to whom he had been sold). It was Pope Celestine who changed the name to “Patricius,” when he sent him to convert the Irish.

Certainly the most marvellous of all the miracles ascribed to the saints is that recorded of St. Patrick. “He swam across the Shannon with his head in his mouth!”

_Saint Patrick and King O’Neil._ One day, the saint set the end of his crozier on the foot of O’Neil, king of Ulster, and, leaning heavily on it, hurt the king’s foot severely; but the royal convert showed no indication of pain or annoyance whatsoever.

A similar anecdote is told of St. Areed, who went to show the king of Abyssinia a musical instrument he had invented. His majesty rested the head of his spear on the saint’s foot, and leaned with both his hands on the spear while he listened to the music. St. Areed, though his great toe was severely pierced, showed no sign of pain, but went on playing as if nothing was the matter.

_St. Patrick and the Serpent._ St[TN-70] Patrick cleared Ireland of vermin. One old serpent resisted, but St. Patrick overcame it by cunning. He made a box, and invited the serpent to enter in. The serpent insisted it was too small; and so high the contention grew that the serpent got into the box to prove that he was right, whereupon St. Patrick slammed down the lid, and cast the box into the sea.

This tradition is marvellously like an incident of the _Arabian Nights’ Entertainments_. A fisherman had drawn up a box or vase in his net, and on breaking it open a genius issued therefrom, and threatened the fisherman with immediate destruction because he had been enclosed so long. Said the fisherman to the genius, “I wish to know whether you really were in that vase.” “I certainly was,” said the genius. “I cannot believe it,” replied the fisherman, “for the vase could not contain even one of your feet.” Then the genius, to prove his assertion, changed into smoke, and entered into the vase, saying, “Now, incredulous fisherman, dost thou believe me?” But the fisherman clapped the leaden cover on the vase, and told the genius that he was about to throw the box into the sea, and that he would build a house on the spot to warn others not to fish up so wicked a genius.--_Arabian Nights_ (“The Fisherman,” one of the early tales).

⁂ St. Patrick, I fear, had read the _Arabian Nights_, and stole a leaf from the fisherman’s book.

_St. Patrick a Gentleman._

Oh, St. Patrick was a gentleman, Who came of dacent people ...

This song was written by Messrs. Bennet and Toleken, of Cork, and was first sung by them at a masquerade in 1814. It was afterwards lengthened for Webbe, the comedian, who made it popular.

=Patriot King= (_The_), Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke (1678-1751). He hired Mallet to traduce Pope after his decease, because the poet refused to give up certain copies of a work which the statesman wished to have destroyed.

Write as if St. John’s soul could still inspire, And do from hate what Mallet did for hire.

Byron, _English Bards and Scotch Reviewers_ (1809).

=Patriot of Humanity.= So Byron calls Henry Grattan (1750-1820).--_Don Juan_ (preface to canto vi., etc..[TN-71] 1824).

=Patron= (_The_), a farce by S. Foote (1764). The patron is Sir Thomas Lofty, called by his friends, “sharp-judging Adriel, the Muse’s friend, himself a Muse,” but by those who loved him less, “the modern Midas.” Books without number were dedicated to him, and the writers addressed him as the “British Pollio, Atticus, the Mæcēnas of England, protector of arts, paragon of poets, arbiter of taste, and sworn appraiser of Apollo and the Muses.” The plot is very simple: Sir Thomas Lofty has written a play called _Robinson Crusoe_, and gets Richard Bever to stand godfather to it. The play is damned past redemption, and to soothe Bever, Sir Thomas allows him to marry his niece, Juliet.

Horace Walpole, earl of Orford, is the original of “Sir Thomas Lofty” (1717-1797).

=Patten=, according to Gay, is so called from Patty, the pretty daughter of a Lincolnshire farmer, with whom the village blacksmith fell in love. To save her from wet feet when she went to milk the cows, he mounted her clogs on an iron eke.

The patten now supports each frugal dame, Which from the blue-eyed Patty takes its name.

Gay, _Trivia_, i. (1712).

(Of course, the word is the French _patin_, “a skate or high-heeled shoe,” from the Greek, _patein_, “to walk.”)

=Pattieson= (_Mr. Peter_), in the introduction of _The Heart of Midlothian_, by Sir W. Scott, and again in the introduction of _The Bride of Lammermoor_. He is a hypothetical assistant teacher at Gandercleuch, and the feigned author of _The Tales of My Landlord_, which Sir Walter Scott pretends were published by Jedediah Cleishbotham, after the death of Pattieson.

=Patton= (_Mrs._). Tailoress and talker, otherwise known as “the Widow Jim,” who has all genealogy and relationship at her tongue’s end. “She chatters all day as the swallows chatter, and you do not tire of her.”--Sarah Orne Jewett, _Deephaven_ (1877).