Part 24

=Peerage of the Saints.= In the preamble of the statutes instituting the Order of St. Michael, founded by Louis XI in 1469, the archangel is styled “my lord,” and created a knight. The apostles had been already ennobled and knighted. We read of “the Earl Peter,” “Count Paul,” “the Baron Stephen,” and so on. Thus, in the introduction of a sermon upon St. Stephen’s Day, we have these lines:

Entendes toutes a chest sermon, Et clair et lai tules environ; Contes vous vueille la pation De St. Estieul le baron.

=Peerce= (1 _syl._), a generic name for a farmer or ploughman. Piers the plowman is the name assumed by Robert or William Langland, in a historico-satirical poem so called.

And yet, my priests, pray you to God for Peerce ... And if you have a “pater noster” spare, Then you shal pray for saylers.

G. Gascoigne, _The Steele Glas_ (died 1577).

=Peery= (_Paul_), landlord of the Ship, Dover.

_Mrs. Peery_, Paul’s wife.--G. Colman, _Ways and Means_ (1788).

=Peerybingle= (_John_), a carrier, “lumbering, slow, and honest; heavy, but light of spirit; rough upon the surface, but gentle at the core; dull without, but quick within; stolid, but so good. O, Mother Nature, give thy children the true poetry of heart that hid itself in this poor carrier’s breast, and we can bear to have them talking prose all their life long!”

_Mrs. [Mary] Peerybingle_, called by her husband “Dot.” She was a little chubby, cheery, young wife, very fond of her husband, and very proud of her baby; a good housewife, who delighted in making the house snug and cozy for John, when he came home after his day’s work. She called him “a dear old darling of a dunce,” or “her little goosie.” She sheltered Edward Plummer in her cottage for a time, and got into trouble; but the marriage of Edward with May Fielding cleared up the mystery, and John loved his little Dot more fondly than ever.--C. Dickens, _The Cricket on the Hearth_ (1845).

=Peg.= _Drink to your peg._ King Edgar ordered “that pegs should be fastened into drinking-horns at stated distances and whoever drank beyond his peg at one draught should be obnoxious to a severe punishment.”

I had lately a peg-tankard in my hand. It had on the inside a row of eight pins, one above another, from bottom to top. It held two quarts, so that there was a gill of liquor between peg and peg. Whoever drank short of his pin or beyond it, was obliged to drink to the next, and so on till the tankard was drained to the bottom.--Sharpe, _History of the Kings of England_.

=Peg-a-Ramsey=, the heroine of an old song. Percy says it was an indecent ballad. Shakespeare alludes to it in his _Twelfth Night_, act ii. sc. 3 (1614).

James I. had been much struck with the beauty and embarrassment of the pretty Peg-a-Ramsey? as he called her.--Sir W. Scott.

=Peg´asus=, the winged horse of the Muses. It was caught by Bellerophon, who mounted thereon, and destroyed the Chimæra; but when he attempted to ascend to heaven, he was thrown from the horse, and Pegasus mounted alone to the skies, where it became the constellation of the same name.

_To break Pegasus’s neck_, to write halting poetry.

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

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

⁂ To “break Priscian’s head,” is to write ungrammatically. Priscian was a great grammarian of the fifth century.

=Pegg= (_Catharine_), one of the mistresses of Charles II. She was the daughter of Thomas Pegg, Esq., of Yeldersay, in Derbyshire.

=Peggot´ty= (_Clara_), servant of Mrs. Copperfield, and the faithful old nurse of David Copperfield. Her name “Clara” was tabooed, because it was the name of Mrs. Copperfield. Clara Peggotty married Barkis, the carrier.

Being very plump, whenever she made any little exertion after she was dressed, some of the buttons on the back of her gown flew off.--Ch. ii.

_Dan’el Peggotty_, brother of David Copperfield’s nurse. Dan’el was a Yarmouth fisherman. His nephew, Ham Peggotty, and his brother-in-law’s child, “little Em’ly,” lived with him. Dan’el himself was a bachelor, and Mrs. Gummidge (widow of his late partner) kept house for him. Dan’el Peggotty was most tender-hearted, and loved little Em’ly with all his heart.

_Ham Peggotty_, nephew of Dan’el Peggotty, of Yarmouth, and son of Joe, Dan’el’s brother. Ham was in love with little Em’ly, daughter of Tom (Dan’s brother-in-law), but Steerforth stepped in between them, and stole Em’ly away. Ham Peggotty is represented as the very beau-ideal of an uneducated, simple-minded, honest, and warm-hearted fisherman. He was drowned in his attempt to rescue Steerforth from the sea.

_Em’ly Peggotty_, daughter of Dan’s brother-in-law, Tom. She was engaged to Ham Peggotty; but being fascinated with Steerforth, ran off with him. She was afterwards reclaimed, and emigrated to Australia with Dan’el and Mrs. Gummidge.--C. Dickens, _David Copperfield_ (1849).

=Peggy=, grandchild of the old widow Maclure, a covenanter.--Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).

_Peggy_, the laundry-maid of Colonel Mannering, at Woodburne.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

_Peggy_ (_Shippen_). A love-letter from Benedict Arnold to this young lady is extant in which after telling her that he has presumed to write to her papa and has requested his sanction to his addresses, Arnold goes on to protest.

“May I perish if I would give you one moment’s inquietude, to purchase the greatest possible felicity to myself. Whatever my fate may be, my most ardent wish is for your happiness, and my latest breath will be to implore the blessing of heaven on the idol and only wish of my soul.” September 26, 1778.

=Peggy= [=Thrift=),[TN-77] the orphan daughter of Sir Thomas Thrift, of Hampshire, and the ward of Moody, who brings her up in seclusion in the country. When Moody is 50, and Peggy 19, the guardian tries to marry her, but “the country girl” outwits him, and marries Belville, a young man of more suitable age. Peggy calls her guardian “Bud.” She is very simple but sharp, ingenuous but crafty, lively and girlish.--_The Country Girl_ (Garrick altered from Wycherly’s _Country Wife_, 1675).

=Peggy.= Dream-wife about whom cluster the imaginations of the bachelor over the fire of green wood.

“Smoke always goes before blaze, and doubt before decision.”--Ik. Marvel (Donald G. Mitchell), _Reveries of a Bachelor_ (1850).

=Pegler= (_Mrs._), mother of Josiah Boundderby,[TN-78] Esq., banker and mill-owner, called “The Bully of Humility.” The son allows the old woman £30 a year to keep out of sight.--C. Dickens. _Hard Times_ (1854).

=Peg Woffington=, celebrated English actress, _intriguante_, but kind of heart. Sir Charles Vane is one of her lovers, but after the appearance of his simple-hearted wife upon the scene, the actress dismisses her admirer, and induces him to return to domestic life.--Charles Reade, _Peg Woffington_.

=Pek´uah=, the attendant of Princess Nekayah, of the “happy valley.” She accompanied the princess in her wanderings, but refused to enter the great pyramid, and, while the princess was exploring the chambers, was carried off by some Arabs. She was afterwards ransomed for 200 ounces of gold.--Dr. Johnson, _Rasselas_ (1759).

=Pelay´o= (_Prince_), son of Favil´a, founder of the Spanish monarchy after the overthrow of Roderick, last of the Gothic kings. He united, in his own person, the royal lines of Spain and of the Goths.

In him the old Iberian blood, Of royal and remotest ancestry From undisputed source, flowed undefiled ... He, too, of Chindasuintho’s regal line Sole remnant now, drew after him the love Of all true Goths.

Southey, _Roderick, etc._, viii. (1814).

=Pelham=, the hero of a novel by Lord Lytton, entitled _Pelham_, or _The Adventures of a Gentleman_ (1828).

_Pelham_ (_M._), one of the many _aliases_ of Sir R. Phillips, under which he published _The Parent’s and Tutor’s First Catechism_. In the preface he calls the writer _authoress_. Some of his other names are Rev. David Blair, Rev. C. C. Clarke, Rev. J. Goldsmith.

=Pel´ian Spear= (_The_), the lance of Achillês which wounded and cured Te´lephos. So called from Peleus, the father of Achillês.

Such was the cure the Arcadian hero found-- The Pelian spear that wounded, made him sound.

Ovid, _Remedy of Love_.

=Peli´des= (3 _syl._), Achillês, son of Peleus (2 _syl._), chief of the Greek warriors at the siege of Troy.--Homer, _Iliad_.

When, like Pelidês, bold beyond control, Homer raised high to heaven the loud impetuous song.

Beattie, _The Minstrel_ (1773-4).

=Pe´lion= (“_mud-sprung_”), one of the frog chieftains.

A spear at Pelion, Troglodytês cast The missive spear within the bosom past Death’s sable shades the fainting frog surround, And life’s red tide runs ebbing from the wound.

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

=Pell= (_Solomon_), an attorney in the Insolvent Debtors’ court. He has the very highest opinions of his own merits, and by his aid Tony Weller contrives to get his son Sam sent to the Fleet for debt, that he may be near Mr. Pickwick to protect and wait upon him.--C. Dickens, _The Pickwick Papers_ (1836).

=Pelleas= (_Sir_), lord of many isles, and noted for his great muscular strength. He fell in love with Lady Ettard, but the lady did not return his love. Sir Gaw´ain promised to advocate his cause with the lady, but played him false. Sir Pelleas caught them in unseemly dalliance with each other, but forbore to kill them. By the power of enchantment, the lady was made to dote on Sir Pelleas; but the knight would have nothing to say to her, so she pined and died. After the Lady Ettard played him false, the Damsel of the Lake “rejoiced him, and they loved together during their whole lives.”--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 79-82 (1470).

⁂ Sir Pelleas must not be confounded with Sir Pelles (_q.v._).

=Pellegrin=, the pseudonym of de la Motte Fouqué (1777-1843).

=Pelles= (_Sir_), of Corbin Castle, “king of the foragn land and nigh cousin of Joseph of Arimathy.” He was father of Sir Eliazar, and of the Lady Elaine, who fell in love with Sir Launcelot, by whom she became the mother of Sir Galahad, “who achieved the quest of the Holy Graal.” This Elaine was not the “lily maid of Astolat.”

While Sir Launcelot was visiting King Pelles, a glimpse of the Holy Graal was vouchsafed them:

For when they went into the castle to take their repast ... there came a dove to the window, and in her bill was a little censer of gold, and there withall was such a savour as though all the spicery of the world had been there ... and a damsel, passing fair, bare a vessel of gold between her hands, and thereto the king kneeled devoutly and said his prayers.... “Oh, mercy!” said Sir Launcelot, “what may this mean?” ... “This,” said the king, “is the Holy Sancgreall which ye have seen.”--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, iii. 2 (1470).

=Pellinore= (_Sir_), king of the isles and knight of the Round Table (pt. i. 57). He was a good man of power, was called “The Knight with the Stranger Beast,” and slew King Lot of Orkney, but was himself slain ten years afterwards by Sir Gawain, one of Lot’s sons (pt. i. 35). Sir Pellinore (3 _syl._) had, by the wife of Aries, the cowherd, a son named Sir Tor, who was the first knight of the Round Table created by King Arthur (pt. i. 47, 48); one daughter, Elein, by the Lady of Rule (pt. iii. 10); and three sons in lawful wedlock; Sir Aglouale (sometimes called Aglavale, probably a clerical error), Sir Lamorake Dornar (also called Sir Lamorake de Galis), and Sir Percivale de Gralis (pt. ii. 108). The widow succeeded to the throne (pt. iii. 10).--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_ (1470).

Milton calls the name “Pellenore” (2 _syl._).

Fair damsels, met in forests wide By knights of Logres, or of Lyones, Lancelot, or Pelleas, or Pellenore.

Milton.

=Pelob´ates= (4 _syl._), one of the frog champions. The word means “mud-wader.” In the battle he flings a heap of mud against Psycarpax, the Hector of the mice, and half blinds him; but the warrior mouse heaves a stone “whose bulk would need ten degenerate mice of modern days to lift,” and the mass, falling on the “mud-wader,” breaks his leg.--Parnell, _Battle of the Frogs and Mice_, iii. (about 1712).

=Pel´ops’ Shoulder=, ivory. The tale is that Demēter ate the shoulder of Pelops when it was served up by Tan´talos for food. The gods restored Pelops to life by putting the dismembered body into a caldron, but found that it lacked a shoulder; whereupon Demeter supplied him with an ivory shoulder, and all his descendants bore this distinctive mark.

N.B.--It will be remembered that Pythag´oras had a _golden thigh_.

Your forehead high, And smooth as Pelop’s shoulder.

John Fletcher, _The Faithful Shepherdess_, ii. 1 (1610).

=Pelos=, father of Physigna´thos, king of the frogs. The word means “mud.”--Parnell, _Battle of the Frogs and Mice_ (about 1712).

=Pembroke= (_The earl of_), uncle to Sir Aymer de Valence.--Sir W. Scott, _Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry I.).

_Pembroke_ (_the Rev. Mr._), chaplain at Waverley Honor.--Sir W. Scott, _Waverley_ (time, George II.).

=Pen=, Philemon Holland, translator-general of the classics. Of him was the epigram written:

Holland, with his translations doth so fill us, He will not let _Suetonius_ be _Tranquillus_.

(The point of which is, of course, that the name of the Roman historian was _C. Suetonius Tranquillus_.)

Many of these translations were written from beginning to end with one pen, and hence he himself wrote:

With one sole pen I writ this book, Made of a grey goose-quill; A pen it was when it I took, And a pen I leave it still.

=Pendennis= (_Arthur_), pseudonym of W. M. Thackeray in _The Newcomes_ (1854).

_Pendennis_, a novel by Thackeray (1849), in which much of his own history and experience is recorded with a novelist’s license. _Pendennis_ stands in relation to Thackeray as _David Copperfield_ to Charles Dickens.

_Arthur Pendennis_, a young man of ardent feelings and lively intellect, but conceited and selfish. He has a keen sense of honor, and a capacity for loving, but altogether he is not an attractive character.

_Laura Pendennis._ This is one of the best of Thackeray’s characters.

_Major Pendennis_, a tuft-hunter, who fawns on his patrons for the sake of wedging himself into their society.--_History of Pendennis_, published originally in monthly parts, beginning in 1849.

=Pendrag´on=, probably a title meaning “chief leader in war.” _Dragon_ is Welsh for a “leader in war,” and _pcn_[TN-79] for “head” or “chief.” The title was given to Uther, brother of Constans, and father of Prince Arthur. Like the word “Pharaoh,” it is used as a proper name without the article.--Geoffrey of Monmouth, _Chron._, vi. (1142).

Once I read, That stout Pendragon in his litter, sick, Came to the field, and vanquished his foes.

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

=Penel´ope’s Web=, a work that never progresses. Penelopê, the wife of Ulysses, being importuned by several suitors during her husband’s long absence, made reply that she could not marry again, even if Ulysses were dead, till she had finished weaving a shroud for her aged father-in-law. Every night she pulled out what she had woven during the day, and thus the shroud made no progress towards completion.--_Greek Mythology._

The French say of a work “never ending, still beginning,” _c’est l’ouvrage de Pénélope_.

=Penelope Lapham=, vivacious, but not pretty daughter of Silas Lapham. Her wit wins the love her sister’s beauty could not capture. Penelope’s unintentional conquest brings painful perplexity to herself, with anguish to her sister. Still she yields finally to Irene’s magnanimity and her suitor’s persuasions, and weds Tom Corey.--W. D. Howells, _The Rise of Silas Lapham_ (1887).

=Penel´ophon=, the beggar loved by King Cophetua. Shakespeare calls the name Zenelophon in _Love’s Labor’s Lost_, act iv. sc. 1 (1594).--Percy, _Reliques_, I. ii. 6 (1765).

=Penelva= (_The Exploits and Adventures of_), part of the series called _Le Roman des Romans_, pertaining to “Am´adis of Gaul.” This part was added by an anonymous Portuguese (fifteenth century).

=Penfeather= (_Lady Penelope_), the Lady Patroness at the Spa.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Ronan’s Well_ (time, George III.).

=Pengwern= (_The Torch of_), prince Gwenwyn of Powys-land.--Sir W. Scott, _The Betrothed_ (time, Henry II.).

=Pengwinion= (_Mr._), from Cornwall; a Jacobite conspirator with Mr. Redgauntlet.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).

=Peninsular War= (_The_), the war carried on by Sir Arthur Wellesley against Napoleon in Portugal and Spain (1808-1814).

Southey wrote a _History of the Peninsular War_ (1822-32).

=Penitents of Love= (_Fraternity of the_), an institution established in Languedoc, in the thirteenth century, consisting of knights and esquires, dames and damsels, whose object was to prove the excess of their love by bearing, with invincible constancy, the extremes of heat and cold. They passed the greater part of the day abroad, wandering about from castle to castle, wherever they were summoned by the inviolable duties of love and gallantry; so that many of these devotees perished by the inclemency of the weather, and received the crown of martyrdom to their profession.--See Warton, _History of English Poetry_ (1781).

=Pen´lake= (_Richard_), a cheerful man, both frank and free, but married to Rebecca, a terrible shrew. Rebecca knew if she once sat in St. Michael’s chair (on St. Michael’s Mount, in Cornwall), that she would rule her husband ever after; so she was very desirous of going to the mount. It so happened that Richard fell sick, and both vowed to give six marks to St. Michael if he recovered. Richard did recover, and they visited the shrine; but while Richard was making the offering, Rebecca ran to seat herself in St. Michael’s chair; but no sooner had she done so, than she fell from the chair, and was killed in the fall.--Southey, _St. Michael’s Chair_ (a ballad, 1798).

=Penniless= (_The_), Maximilian I., emperor of Germany (1459, 1493-1519).

=Penniman= (_Wolfert_). Young captain of the Mayga in _Outward Bound_.--W. T. Adams (Oliver Optic).

=Penny= (_Jock_), a highwayman.--Sir W. Scott, _Guy Mannering_ (time, George II.).

=Penruddock= (_Roderick_), a “philosopher,” or rather a recluse, who spent his time in reading. By nature gentle, kind-hearted, and generous, but soured by wrongs. Woodville, his trusted friend, although he knew that Arabella was betrothed to Roderick, induced her father to give his daughter to himself, the richer man; and Roderick’s life was blasted. Woodville had a son, who reduced himself to positive indigence by gambling. Sir George Penruddock was the chief creditor. Sir George dying, all his property came to his cousin, Roderick, who now had ample means to glut his revenge on his treacherous friend; but his heart softened. First, he settled all “the obligations, bonds, and mortgages, covering the whole Woodville property,” on Henry Woodville, that he might marry Emily Tempest; and next, he restored to Mrs. Woodville “her settlement, which in her husband’s desperate necessity, she had resigned to him;” lastly, he sold all his own estates, and retired again to a country cottage to his books and solitude.--Cumberland, _The Wheel of Fortune_ (1779).

=Pentap´oliff=, “with the naked arm,” king of the Garaman´teans, who always went to battle with his right arm bare. Alifanfaron, emperor of Trap´oban, wished to marry his daughter, but, being refused, resolved to urge his suit by the sword. When Don Quixote saw two flocks of sheep coming along the road in opposite directions, he told Sancho Panza they were the armies of these two puissant monarchs met in array against each other.--Cervantes, _Don Quixote_, I. iii. 4 (1605).

=Pentecôte Vivante= (_La_), Cardinal Mezzofanti, who was the master of fifty or fifty-eight languages (1774-1849).

=Penthe´a=, sister of Ith´oclês, betrothed to Or´gilus by the consent of her father. At the death of her father, Ithoclês compelled her to marry Bass´anes, whom she hated, and she starved herself to death.--John Ford, _The Broken Heart_ (1633).

=Penthesile´a=, queen of the Amazons, slain by Achilles. S. Butler calls the name “Penthes´ilê.”

And laid about in fight more busily Than th’ Amazonian dame Penthesile.

S. Butler, _Hudibras_.

=Pen´theus= (3 _syl._), a king of Thebes, who tried to abolish the orgies of Bacchus, but was driven mad by the offended god. In his madness he climbed into a tree to witness the rites, and being descried was torn to pieces by the Bacchantes.

As when wild Pentheus, grown mad with fear, Whole troops of hellish hags about him spies.

Giles Fletcher, _Christ’s Triumph over Death_ (1610).

_Pentheus_ (2 _syl._), a king of Thebes, resisted the introduction of the worship of Dyoni´sos (_Bacchus_) into his kingdom, in consequence of which the Bacchantes pulled his palace to the ground, and Pentheus, driven from the throne, was torn to pieces on Mount Cithæron by his own mother and her two sisters.

He the fate [_may sing_] Of sober Pentheus.

Akenside, _Hymn to the Naiads_ (1767).

=Pentweazel= (_Alderman_), a rich city merchant of Blowbladder Street. He is wholly submissive to his wife, whom he always addresses as “Chuck.”

_Mrs. Pentweazel_, the alderman’s wife, very ignorant, very vain, and very conceitedly humble. She was a Griskin by birth, and “all her family by the mother’s side were famous for their eyes.” She had an aunt among the beauties of Windsor, “a perdigious fine woman. She had but one eye, but that was a piercer, and got her three husbands. We was called the gimlet family.” Mrs. Pentweazel says her first likeness was done after “Venus de Medicis, the sister of Mary de Medicis.”

_Sukey Pentweazel_, daughter of the alderman, recently married to Mr. Deputy Dripping, of Candlewick Yard.

_Carel Pentweazel_, a schoolboy, who had been under Dr. Jerks, near Doncaster, for two years and a quarter, and had learnt all _As in Præsenti_ by heart. The terms of this school were £10 a year for food, books, board, clothes and tuition.--Foote, _Taste_ (1753).

=People= (_Man of the_), Charles James Fox (1749-1806).

=Pepin= (_William_), a White Friar and most famous preacher at the beginning of the sixteenth century. His sermons, in eight volumes quarto, formed the grand repertory of the preachers of those times.

=Pepita=, Spanish beauty of whom the poet sings:

I, who dwell over the way Watch where Pepita is hid, Safe from the glare of the day, Like an eye under its lid; Over and over I say-- Name like the song of a bird, Melody shut in a word-- “Pepita!”

Frank Dempster Sherman, _Madrigals and Catches_ (1887).

=Pepperpot= (_Sir Peter_), a West Indian epicure, immensely rich, conceited and irritable.--Foote, _The Patron_ (1764).

=Peppers.= (See WHITE HORSE OF THE PEPPERS.)

=Peps= (_Dr[TN-81] Parker_), a court physician who attended the first Mrs. Dombey on her death-bed. Dr. Peps always gave his patients (by mistake, of course), a title, to impress them with the idea that his practice was exclusively confined to the upper ten thousand.--C. Dickens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).

=Perceforest= (_King_), the hero of a prose romance “in Greek.” The MS. is said to have been found by Count William of Hainault in a cabinet at “Burtimer” Abbey, on the Humber; and in the same cabinet was deposited a crown, which the count sent to King Edward. The MS. was turned into Latin by St. Landelain, and thence into French under the title of _La Tres Elegante Deliceux Melliflue et Tres Plaisante Hystoire du Tres Noble Roy Perceforest_ (printed at Paris in 1528).

(Of course, this pretended discovery is only an invention. An analysis of the romance is given in Dunlop’s _History of fiction_.)

He was called “Perceforest,” because he dared to _pierce_, almost alone, an enchanted _forest_, where women and children were most evilly treated. Charles IX., of France, was especially fond of this romance.

=Perch=, messenger in the house of Mr. Dombey, merchant, whom he adored, and plainly showed by his manner to the great man: “You are the light of my eyes,” “You are the breath of my soul.”--C. Dickens, _Dombey and Son_ (1846).