PACHINNE (PACHYNUS)
Now Cape Passaro, the extreme S.E. point of Sicily. In T. Heywood's S.
Age iii., Pluto, describing the burial of Typhon under Sicily, says, "Upon
his left spacious P. lies."
PACIFIC OCEAN
The ocean lying W. of America. It was first seen from the Isthmus of Darien by
Vasco Nunez de Balboa in 1513: Magellan entered it through the stormy straits
S. of Cape Horn which bear his name, and called it, from the calm weather he experienced
there, Mar Pacifico. Burton, A. M. ii. 2, 3, says, "The Atlantic O. is still subject
to storms, but in Del Zur, or Mare Pacifico, seldom or never any." Donne, in Hymn
to God, my God (1630), asks: "Is the P. sea my home?" In Cowley's Cutter [a.k.a.The
Guardian] ii. 5, when Worm says he won't murder anyone, Puny replies: "Why,
now ye speak like the Pacifick Sea." Fuller, Holy State (1642) ii. 22, tells how
Drake in 1578 "Passed the Magellan Straits and then entered Mare Pacificum."
PACTOLUS
A river in Lydia, now the Sarabat, flowing from Mt. Tmolus N. into the Hermus.
It was reported to have carried a good deal of gold-dust in its mud; and this
gave rise to the legend that Midas, wishing to get rid of his power of turning
all that he touched into gold, was ordered by the oracle to bathe in the P., which
consequently acquired something of the same power. There is no gold in the river
now. In Lyly's Midas ii. 2, the oracle sent
to Midas is quoted: "In P. go bathe thy wish and thee: Thy wish the waves shall
have, and thou be free." In iii. 3, Martius reports: "He no sooner bathed his
limbs in the river but it turned to a golden stream, the sands to fine gold, and
all to gold that was cast into the water." Nash, in Lenten, explains the legend
in this way: Midas had eaten the golden fish, the red-herring, and "Silenus bade
him but go and wash himself in the river P., that is, go wash it down with cups
of wine." In Greene's Alphonsus v.
2, 1617, Alphonsus says, "Rich P., that river of account, Which doth descend from
top of Tmolus mt., Shall be thy own." In Alimony iv. 8, the Merchant says, "Rich
rix-dollars are sown like P. sand." In Shirley's Honoria
iv. 1, Squanderbag says, "Would I were in P. streams or Tagus! That were a lasting
element." In Brome's Lovesick Ct.
iv. 2, Philargus says to Philocles, "Be not prodigal of that blood, More precious
than P.'s golden Streams." Spencer, F. Q. iv. 6, 20, refers to "the golden sand
The which P, with his waters shere Throws forth upon the rivage round about him
near."
PADAN-ARAM
(i.e. the field, or plain, of Aram or Syria). Applied in Gen. xxviii. 6 to N. Mesopotamia, otherwise called A.-Naharaim, i.e. A. of the 2 rivers. Milton, P. L. iii- 513, tells of the vision seen by Jacob "when he from Esau fled To P.- A."
PADDINGTON
A small vill. lying W. of Edgeware Rd., a little over 3 m. in a direct line W.
of St. Paul's, Lond. The population did not exceed 200. There were a number of
springs there which were used for the water supply of Lond. It was noted for its
old taverns, amongst which were the Wheatsheaf, the White Lion, the Red Lion,
and the Pack-horse. In W. Rowley's New Wonder
v., Stephen says, "The plumbers and workmen have surveyed the ground from P.;
whence I'll have laid pipes to Lond. to convey sweet water into Ludgate." Stephen
Forster in 1463 had water brought from P. for the supply of the prison in Ludgate.
In Jonson's Tub. ii. 1, Hitts says
to Puppy, "He shall find out my captain lodged at the Red Lion in P." In B. &
F. Wit S. W. iv. 1, Pompey speaks
of his "solemn walks 'Twixt P. and Pancridge." In Shirley's Ball
iv. 1, Barker speaks of a lady "tumbling in a coach towards P. To see the pheasants."
Taylor, in Works 1, 77, says, "I have seen many looking through a hempen window
at St. Thomas Waterings or the three-legged instrument near P." The Tyburn gallows
stood at the corner of Oxford St. and the Edgeware Rd., some half a mile S.E.
of P. In Brome's Couple ii. 1, Careless
speaks of P. as one of "the City out-leaps" to which citizens went "for a spirt
and back again." In his Academy ii.
1, Valentine says to Hannah, "Shall we cross o'er the water, or take coach to
Kensington or P., or to some one or other o' th' City outleaps for an afternoon?"
PADUA, or PADOVA
(the old PATAVIUM). A city in N. Italy on the Bacchiglione, 25 m. W. of Venice.
The Palazzo della Ragione has the largest roof unsupported by columns in Europe.
The ch. of St. Antony contains the bones of the saint, and was built in the 13th
cent. The University, one of the most famous in Europe, was founded by Frederick
II in 1238, and was specially renowned for its medical school. It had 1,500 students
when Coryat was at P. in 1611. In 1259 P. became independent and conquered Vicenza;
from 1311 to 1318 it fell under the power of the Can Grande della Scala of Verona;
from 1318 to 1405 it enjoyed independence under the Carraresi; from that time
onward it was under the rule of Venice. It was said to have been founded by Antenor
after the Trojan War. Livy was born there, sad his bones were credulously reported
to have been discovered in 1413. In Ado
i. 1, 35, Hero informs us that Signor Benedick is "of P." In Taming
of the Shrew i. 1, 2, Lucentio describes it as "P., nursery of arts." In Gascoigne's
Supposes i. 2, Oleander, who is a doctor,
says that, after being driven from Otranto by the Turks, he "first came to P."
and then to Ferrara. In Webster's White
Devil iii. 1, Flamineo says that Francisco "came along from P. I' the train
of the young prince." In Jonson's Cynthia
i. 1, Amorphus considers whether he will feign to have seen Asotus "in Venice
or in P." In Marlowe's Faustus vii., Faust
tells how he has been "to Venice, P., and the rest, In one of which a sumptuous
temple stands That threats the stars with her aspiring top." This may mean St.
Antony's at P., or St. Mark's at Venice. In the Faust Buch (1587), P. is described,
and the author says, "A ch. is there, called S. Anthonii, the like whereof is
not to be found in all Italia." In Nine Worthies of London (1592), Sir John Hawkwood
says, "I, stoopt with age, in Padua palace died." In Chaucer's C. T. E. 27, the
Clerk of Oxford says that he learned his tale "at Padwe of a worthy clerk, Fraunceys
Petrak, the lauriat poete." Petrarch lived for some time at P., but left it for
Arqua in 1370, where he died 4 years later. Chaucer was in Italy in 1373, and
possibly met Petrarch at P. In Cockayne's Trapolin
ii. 3, Horatio speaks of it as "Strong-walled P., which Antenor built, the Trojan
prince, and Titus Livius famed For his nativity and sepulture." In Trouble.
Reign, p. 255, the Papal Legate says, "I Pandulph of Padoa . . . pronounce
thee accursed."
The University:
In Merch. iii. 4, 49, Portia gets
her lawyer's robes from her cousin Bellario "at P.," and in iv. 1, 120, Nerissa
professes to have come "from P., from Bellario." Bellario is evidently a Doctor
of Laws in the University. In Marlowe's Jew
iii. 1, Bellamira says, "From P. Were wont to come rare-witted gentlemen, Scholars
I mean, learned and liberal." In Chapman's All
Fools i. 1, Gostanzo says to Marc, "You have a younger son at P.: I like
his learning well." In May Day
ii. 1, Lodovico calls Giovanello "a Freshman come from P." In Usher
i. 1, 199, Sarpego says, "When I in P. schooled it, I played in one of Plautus'
comedies, Namely, Curculio." Greene, in Mamilia (1583), speaks of "The city
of P. renowned for the antiquity of the famous University." In Chivalry
B. 3, Pembroke says he was conversant with Ferdinand, son of Navarre, "in P.":
evidently at the University. In Barnes' Charter
v. 4., Caraffa says, "I would I were as young as when I was a scholar at P."
In Shirley's Courtier ii. 2, when
Giotto is asked: "You are a scholar?" he answers: "I have lost time in P." In
Webster's White Devil i. 2,
Flamineo says, "You brought me up At P. where . . . For want of means (the University
judge me) I have been fain to heel my tutor's stockings At least 7 years; conspiring
with a beard Made me a graduate." In Day's Humour
i. 1, when Florimel urges the D. of Venice to found "a garrison for wit" and
a sort of tournament of scholarship, he replies: "Have we not P.?"; and in iv.
3, Hortensio says, "When I was student at P. we used A most ingenious pastime":
which turns out to be "blindman's buff." In Greene's Friar
iv., Vandermast is described as "A German born, passed into P.," and in ix.
he boasts, "I have given non-plus to the Paduans." In Tomkis' Albumazar
i. 5, Albumazar directs Ronca: "The bunch of planets new found out, Send them
to Galilaeo at P." Galilaeo was appointed a professor at P. in 1592, and whilst
there invented the telescope in 1609 and by its help discovered the satellites
of Jupiter, the ring of Saturn, etc. In Webster's Law
Case ii. 1, Contarino says to Ercole, "We were students at P. together."
The Medical School:
In Ford's 'Tis Pity ii. 1, Richardetto
disguises himself as "A learned doctor lately come from P., Much skilled in
physic." In Shirley's Courtier
v. 1, Carintha says, "He'll recover me; I do like him infinitely for my body,
the best in P." In Fair One iii.
4, Aimwell says to Manly, who is disguised as a doctor, "Doctor! art a Parisian,
a Paduan, or a Leaden [Leyden] doctor?" In The Ball
v. 1, Freshwater says, "P., famous for the pads, or easy saddles, which our
physicians ride upon, and first brought from thence where they commenced Doctor."
In Marmion's Antiquary ii.
2, the Antiquary exhibits amongst his collection "The portraitures of the Sibyls,
drawn, five hundred years since, by Titianus of P., an excellent painter and
statuary." This is a tissue of absurdities; Titian, though he was at P. for
about a year in 151112, lived and worked mostly at Venice; he had been
dead less than 100 years when this play was written; and it was not he, but
Michel Angelo, who painted the famous Sibyls.
The scenes of the following plays are laid, wholly or in part, at Padua: Yarrington's
Two Tragedies (the second one);
Taming of the Shrew; Webster's
White Devil (certainly from
the marriage of Vittoria to Brachiano onwards: possibly some of the earlier
scenes); the localities are very vaguely marked throughout the play.
PADUS
The Latin name for the river Po, in N. Italy (see Po). According to one form of the legend, Phaethon, falling from the chariot of the sun, was drowned in the P. In Antonie ii. 360, the Chorus says, "Nor they, of Phoebus bred, In tears can do so well They for their brother shed Who into P. fell."
PAESTUM
An ancient Greek colony on the W. coast of Italy, on the Gulf of the same name, abt. 170 m. S.E. of Rome. The ruins of the city are very interesting, the fine Doric temple, called the Temple of Poseidon, being one of the best-preserved specimens of its kind. The place was famous for its roses, which bloomed twice a year and had a peculiarly exquisite fragrance. In Cowley's Riddle iii., Florellus asks: "Would she . . . ransack P. of her choicest roses To adorn your cheeks?"
PAINTED COLONNADE
See STOA POECILE.
PALASTINE
See PALESTINE.
PALATINATE
(German PFALZ). The name was applied to 2 separate provinces: - (1) the Rhenish P. on the banks of the Rhine, southwards from Mainz and Bingen to the middle Neckar, with Heidelberg as its capital;
- (2) the Upper P., N. of Bavaria and under the rule of a branch of the ducal family of Bavaria.
The former is the more important, and is that commonly meant by P.
It was governed by a succession of Counts Palatine, or Palsgraves. Frederick V married the Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I of England, in 1613, and the marriage was the occasion of Campion's Lords' Masque, Chapman's Middle Temple Masque, and Beaumont's Masque of the Inner Temple. It also suggested Wentworth Smith's Hector, or The Palsgrave Prince Elector, printed in 1615: the Palsgrave in that play being Ruprecht II, who died 1398.
In Middleton's Quiet Life v.
1, George says, "A Friend of his went over to the P." In Glapthorne's Wallenstein
i. 1, Wallenstein says, "'Twas myself That from the Swede, the Palatine, and
Dane rescued his eagles." This Palatine seems to be Frederick V, husband of
the Princess Elizabeth (see above): he was elected K. of Bohemia in 1618, but
was speedily defeated by Ferdinand II, Emperor and D. of Austria: he was stripped
both of the crown of Bohemia and of the rule of the P. These were the events
that began the Thirty Years' War. Wallenstein, however, did not come to the
front until some years later, so that the dramatist is in error on that point.
The Swede is Gustavus Adolphus, and the Dane, Christian K. of Denmark, who took
up the defence of the Protestant cause after the death of Gustavus (1632). In
Greene's Orlando i. 1, 96, Orlando
describes himself as "the County Palatine." The County Palatine, with his "bad
habit of frowning," is one of Portia's suitors in Merch.
i. 2, 40. The reference may be to a Polish Count Palatine, Albertus Alasco,
who visited England in 1583.
PALATINE
One of the 7 hills of Rome on which tradition agrees that Romulus built his first
city. It lies S.W. of the Capitol and W. of the Colosseum. On it stood the Temple
of Jupiter Stator, built by Romulus, and the palaces of Tiberius, Caligula, and
Nero. In Fisher's Fuimus iii. 3,
Caesar says, "Mt. P., thou throne of Jove, Are all your deities fled?" In Tiberius
2661, Tiberius says, "Post, post away, some to the Capitoll, Some to port Esquiline,
mt. Pallatine." Spencer, in Ruines of Rome iv., says of Rome that Jove heaped
"Upon her belly th' antique P." In Milton, P. R. iv. 50, the Tempter points out
to our Lord "Mt. P., The imperial palace, compass huge, and high The structure,
skill of noblest architects."
PALE, ENGLISH
See ENGLISH PALE.
PALERMO
(the Latin PANORMUS). The capital of Sicily, on the W. part of the N. coast, on the Gulf of P., S. of the picturesque mtn. mass of Monte Pelligrino. Originally a Phoenician city, it has been successively the residence of the Saracen Emirs (who took it in 835), the Norman kings of Sicily, the Suabians, the Angevins, and the Arragonese. The Cathedral and the beautiful chapel in the King's Palace date from Norman times. In the 16th cent. P. was famous for its razors and its wine. It was the chief scene of the exploits of Garibaldi and "the thousand," which added Sicily to United Italy in 1860.
In Gascoigne's Supposes v. 5, Philogano
relates how some Italian seamen after the battle of Otranto boarded a Turkish
merchant vessel "and brought the goods to P." In Davenport's Nightcap
v. 1, Antonio says, "Thou art my slave, I took thee, then a Turk, In the fight
thou knowst we made before P." In Davenant's Platonic
i. 1, Fredaline says, "This is Theander whose sway P. owes allegiance in." In
Brome's Concubine iv. 9, Pedro
says to the K. of Sicily, "Your province of P. submits in duty to your Highness."
In Edwardes' Damon xiii., p. 91,
Jacke says, "It is a razor, and that a very good one It came lately from P.,
it cost me 20 crowns. In Lodge's Wounds
v. 1, Curtail says, "Sharpen the edge-tool of your wits, that your words may
shave like the razors of P." In King
Leir, p. 337, the Messenger says, "My tongue being well whetted with choler
is more sharp than a razor of P." Nash, in Saffron Walden, Dedication, exhorts
the barber "Gird thy keen P. razor to thy side." In Lyly's Campaspe
i. 2, a song begins: "O for a bowl of fat Canary, Rich P., sparkling sherry."
In Massinger's Maid Hon. iii.
1, Antonio says, "I shall ne'er believe I am a free man till I set my foot In
Sicily again and drink P., And in P. too." In Old
Law iv. 1, the cook says, "The mad Greeks of this age can taste their P.
as well as the sage Greek did before them." In Marston's Mountebanks, Paradox
speaks of "wine of Chios, P., or Zaunte." Massinger lays the scene of A
Very Woman and a large part of Maid
Hon. in the Palace of P.
PALESTINE
Properly the maritime plain in S. Syria occupied by the Philistines during the early part of the 12th cent. B.C., but subsequently extended to include the whole of Syria S. of the Hermon range between the Jordan and the Mediterranean: divided later into the provinces of Galilee, Samaria, and Judaea. It was occupied by the Hebrews after their exodus from Egypt in the 14th cent. B.C., and became successively a province of the Neo-Babylonian, Persian, and Egyptian empires, and of the Syrian kingdom. During the 1st cent. B.C. the Romans took possession of it, and in A.D. 632 it was conquered by the Mohammedans. It was the scene of the Crusades for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre from the Arabs, and from 1099 to 1187 a Christian kingdom was established at Jerusalem. Finally it fell into the hands of the Turks, who held it until 1919. Its sacred sites, especially Jerusalem, attracted hosts of pilgrims during the Middle Ages.
Milton always uses the word in its original sense: for the maritime plain
occupied by the Philistines. In Nat. Ode 199, he calls Dagon "that twice-battered
god of P." (l Samuel v. 1-5). In P. L. 1, 465, the same god is said to be "dreaded
through the coast of P." In S. A. 144, the Chorus speak of the Philistines slain
by Samson: "So had the glory of prowess been recovered To P., won by a Philistine."
In Caesar's Rev. v. 1, Cassius
says, "From the conquest of proud P. have we marched along." This was in 44
B.C. In K. J. ii. 1, 4, Philip
speaks of "Richard Who fought the Holy Wars in P." In Chapman's Alphonsus
i. 2, 66, Isabella says of Richd. of Cornwall: "Alas! I know my brother Richd.'s
heart Affects not Empire, he would rather choose To make return again to P.
And be a scourge unto the infidels." Richd. was for a short time in P. (at Acre)
in 1240. In Marlowe's Tamburlaine B.
iii. 5, the K. of Jerusalem announces to Callapine, "From Palestine and Jerusalem
Of Hebrews threescore thousand fighting men Are come" to help him against Tamburlaine.
This is quite mythical: there was no K. of Jerusalem at this time. In Davenport's
Matilda v. 3, Fitzwater swears
"by the blood I lost in holy P. with Richd." In Webster's Weakest
i.1, the K. of France, Louis IX, says, "Till I return from P. again Be you joint
governors of this my realm." Louis was crusading in P. 1248-1254. In Oth.
iv. 3, 39, Emilia says of Lodovico: "I know a lady in Venice would have walked
barefoot to P. for a touch of his nether lip." In Chivalry
G. 1, Katherine protests: "Say I shall tread a tedious pilgrimage To furthest
P. and I will do it." In Mariam i. 5, Salome says, "I would not change my Palestine
for Rome." In T. Heywood's Traveller
i. 1, Prudentilla asks Geraldine about his travels "Through Spain and the Empire,
Greece and P." Hall, in Satires 1, 8, 2, ridicules the sacred poetry "That Sion's
muse from P. brings." In iv. 6, he speaks of "the antique tombs of P." In Lyly's
Gallathea v. 2, Haebe says, "It is thought wickedness to pull roses from the
stalks in the garden of P. for that they have so lively a red."
P., as being the Holy Land, is used figuratively for heaven. In Devonshire
iv. 2, the Friar says, "We come to set Your feet on the right way to P., The
New Jerusalem."
PALLAS, TEMPLE OF
The Parthenon at Athens, the magnificent temple of P. Athene, on the S. side of
the Acropolis, built by Pericles 438 B.C. The architects were Callicrates and
Ictinus, and the famous sculptor Phidias superintended the erection and executed
the statue of the goddess. Its ruins are still the greatest glory of Athens. In
the old Timon iii. 5, Timon says
to Callimela, "I'll plight to thee my troth in P. temple."
PALLATINE
See PALATINE.
PALLENE
(now KASSANDHRA). The Westernmost of the 3 peninsulas of Chalcidice, on the E.
coast of Macedonia. In Mason's Mulleasses
2376, Borgias, in death, exclaims: "Sink, sink, Cytheron; high P., tremble:" The
passage is imitated from Seneca, Herc. Fur. 979: "Labat Cithaeron, alta P. tremit
"
PALMER'S ORDINARY
An eating-house in Lond., in the neighbourhood of the Temple. In Stucley
204, the Page informs Stucley's father that he dines "at Palmer's ordinary."
PALMICA
A misprint for PALMYRA, q.v.
PALMYRA
A city in the Syrian desert, 140 m. N.E. of Damascus. The Hebrews called it Tadmor,
i.e. the City of Palms. It was built by Solomon (1 Kings ix. 18). It was
an independent city during the early Roman Empire, and in the 3rd century its
king, Odenathus, was granted the title of Augustus by the Emperor Gallienus. On
his murder in A.D. 267 his widow Zenobia assumed the sovereignty and reigned with
brilliant success for 5 years. She was then defeated by Aurelian and taken to
Rome as a prisoner, and from that time P. declined until now it is merely a heap
of ruins. In Tiberius 3295, Livia
refers to "Zenobia, Palmicaes' noble q.": where Palmicaes is an obvious misprint
for Palmyraes. The anachronism of the reference will be noted.
PALTOCK'S INN
Proverbially used for an inn or other place where only the poorest entertainment
could be had. The origin of the phrase has not been ascertained. In Wise
Men vi. 4, Camerado says of Antonio: "Here is a customer for P. I." Gosson,
in School of Abuse 52, says, "Coming to Chenas, a blind vill. is comparison of
Athens, a Paltockes Inne." Stanyhurst, in his translation of the AEneid iii. 61,
renders "pollutum hospitium" by "P. I."
PAMPELONIA, PAMPELUNA
The capital of the kingdom of Navarre, on the Arga, 197 m. N.E. of Madrid. In
Marlowe's Massacre at Paris, p. 235,
Pleshe promises Henry of Navarre: "Our army shall discomfit all your foes And
at the length in Pampelonia crown (in spite of Spain) . . . Your majesty her rightful
lord and sovereign."
PANAMA
A city at the head of the Gulf of Panama, on the S. coast of the isthmus joining N. to S. America. It was founded by Davila in 1518. The opening of the P. Canal has given it a new importance. In Davenant's Playhouse iii., Pedro is described as "a slave employed by the Moorish k. to conduct Sir Francis Drake towards P." Fuller, Holy State (1642) ii. 22, says that in 1595 "the English had a design to march by land over this Isthmus from Porto Rico to P., where the Spanish treasure was laid up."
PANCHAIA
A fabulous island in the Erythraean Sea off the S. coast of Arabia, mentioned
by Strabo as famous for its spices. In Jonson's Penates, Maia speaks of "Spice
that from P. comes." In Marston's Insatiate
iii., Isabella speaks of "scents Sweeter than all the spices in P." In Nero
iv. 1, the Emperor says to Poppaea, "For thee shall . . . P. breathe the rich
delightful smells." In Nabbes' Hannibal
iii. 5, he says that a grove of balsam shall spring from Sophonisba's grave, "Led
by whose ravishing odour the new issue Of every Phoenix shall neglect P." Spenser,
in Virgil's Gnat 133, says, "Ne Frankincense he from Panchaea buyth." Barnes,
in Parthenophil Ode xvii. 36, speaks of "Panchaian incense And rich Arabian odours."
Herrick, in Noble Numbers (1647), says of our Lord's sepulchre: "How sweet this
place is! As from thence Flowed all P.'s frankincense." Habington, in Castara
(1640), Arber, p. 59, speaks of "a more precious breath than that which moves
The whispering leaves in the Panchayan groves."
PANCRAS, SAINT
(Pe. = Pancredge, Pie. = Pancridge). Pronounced and usually spelt Pancridge, or Pancredge, in the 16th and 17th cents. A large parish in N. Lond. covering an area of 2,672 acres, and including Somers Town, Camden Town, Kentish Town, part of Highgate, and the Gray's Inn, Tottenham Court, Euston, and Hampstead Rds. It now (in 1925) has a population of over 250,000, but in the 16th cent. was a very sparsely inhabited country dist. Norden, writing in 1593, says it was forsaken of all, "yet it is usual haunted of rogues, vagabonds, harlots, and thieves." The Fleet river flowed through it, and it was often flooded by its overflow. The old ch. stands on the E. side of P. Rd. just S. of the workhouse. There was a ch. here from very early times, and the present building dates from the middle of the 14th cent.: it consisted of a nave and chancel, with a tower at the W. end, but during the last cent. it was restored both inside and out in a ruthless fashion. Norden says of it: "P. Ch. standeth all alone, as utterly forsaken, old and weather-beaten, which, for the antiquity thereof, is thought not to yield to Paules in Lond." It seems to have been often used for hasty and irregular marriages, and the term "a Pie. Parson" was used in a jeering way for one who would lend himself to business of this kind without scruple. It is said to have been the last ch. in Lond. in which mass was performed after the Reformation, and it was perhaps for this reason that it became a favourite place of burial for Roman Catholics. It is also given as a reason for this preference that mass is regularly said in the ch. of St. P. at Rome for those who are buried here. The churchyard was taken over in 1863 by the Midland Railway Co., who carried a viaduct across it and a tunnel below it, and in 1889 they acquired the S.E. corner as well. What was left of it was turned into a public garden, opened in 1877. The new St. P. ch. in the Euston Rd. was modelled on the Erechtheion at Athens, and was consecrated in 1822. In Arthur's Show, a pageant exhibited annually in Lond. by a toxophilite society, 2 of the burlesque characters were the Earl of Pie. and the D. of Shoreditch.
Nash, in Almond for a Parrot, says, "Brother Kemp, as many all hails to thy
person as there be haycocks in July at Pe." In Liberality v. 5, the Clerk says
to Prodigality, "Thou art indicted that thou at Highgate in the county of Middlesex
didst take from one Tenacity of the parish of Pie. £1000." In Oldcastle
iii. 2, Acton mentions "Pe." as one of the villages around Lond. where the rebels
are quartered. In Nash's Lenten, p. 327, he says of the lawyers that they little
remember "their own privy escapes with their laundresses, or their night walks
to Pie." In B. & F. Wit S. W. iv.
1, the clown Pompey speaks of his "solemn walks Twixt Paddington and Pie." The
scene of Jonson's Tub is laid in
various parts of the parish of Pie. One of the characters is Canon Hugh, Vicar
of P. In iii. 1, Tub tells Turfe that justice Bramble means to marry his daughter
Awdrey "at P.'s ch." In Glapthorne's Hollander
v. 1, Urinal says that Popingale will not be married at Pencridge: "there's
no drink near it but at the Pinder of Wakefield, and that's abominable." This
tavern was on the W. side of Gray's Inn Rd., N. of Guildford St., q.v.
In Cooke's Good Wife iii. 3, the
parson of Fenchurch and the parson of Pie. are introduced. In Field's Weathercock
ii. 1, Scudmore calls Nevill, who is disguised as a parson and pretends that
he is going to marry Bellafront to Count Frederick: "Thou Pie. parson!" In Middleton's
Quarrel v. 1, Fitzallen says, "This
is my own child . . . for we were wedded by the hand of heaven Ere this work
was begun"; Chough strikes in: "At Pie., I'll lay my life on't." In Barnes'
Charter iii. 5, Frescobaldi calls
Bagnioli "Profane arch-patriarch of Pie. steeple." In Nabbes' Totenham
v. 6, when Sam says that Cicely is his wife, his Uncle cries: "Yet more plots!
Sure the Parson of P. hath been here"; and the play concludes: "Why then to
P., each with his loved consort, and make it holiday at Totenham Court." In
his Spring, Lent says, "I couple more than the Parson of P.: I mean city woodcocks
with suburb wagtails." In T. Heywood's Royal
King i. 1, the Clown says, "Our organ of Powles is much bigger and better
than yours of Rixam by as much as Powles Ch. is bigger and better than St. Pie."
Nash, in Pierce, says of certain Roman Catholics: "It were to be hoped St.
Peter would let them dwell is the suburbs of heaven: whereas otherwise they
must keep aloof at Pie." In Davenant's Playhouse i. the Housekeeper says, "I
told 'em [the French fencing masters] of P. Ch., where their scholars when they
have killed one another in duel have a churchyard to themselves." Nash, in Prognostication,
says it will be so hot that "the worms of St. Pe. Ch. build their bowers under
the shadow of Colman hedge." In Jonson's Devil
ii. 1, Meercraft says, "Here's a plain fellow has his black bag of papers there
in buckram, will not be sold for the earldom of Pie." In Tub
i. 3, Turfe says, "Next our St. George, Who rescued the k.'s daughter, I will
ride: Above Prince Arthur." Clench adds: "Or our Shoreditch D."; and Medlay:
"Or Pie. Earl." In his Epigram to Inigo Jones Would-be, Jonson says, "Content
thee to be Pie. Earl the while: An Earl of show." In Histrio.
ii. 157, when Furcher and Vourchier enter dressed up as sportsmen, Velure greets
them: "Gentlemen, well met! What! Pancrace knights?" i.e. knights in
dress only, like the Earl of Pie. in the show.
PANDATURIA, or PANDATARIA
A small island in the Tyrrhene Sea, off the W. coast of Italy, abt. 50 m. due
W. of Naples. It was used during the earlier days of the Empire as a place of
confinement for political prisoners, amongst whom were Julia, the daughter of
Augustus; Agrippina, the widow of Germanicus; and Octavia, 1st wife of Nero. In
Tiberius 2911, the Emperor says to
Agrippina, "Yet know that I have P. There babble to the wind thy foolish moans."
PANEAS
(now BANIAS). An ancient city in N. Palestine, on one of the sources of the Jordan, at the foot of Mt. Panium, abt. 30 m. due E. of Tyre. It was rebuilt by Herod Philip and named Caesarea Philippi. The town of Dan, the most N. limit of Israel, was some 4 m. W. of P. The name is derived from the cave sacred to Pan from which the Jordan flows. Milton, P. L. iii. 535 says of God: "His eye [passed] with choice regard From P., the fount of Jordan's flood, To Beersaba."
PANGAEUS
A mtn. range in Thrace, bounding the basin of the Strymon on the E. and that of
the Hebrus on the W. In Nero iii.
2, the Emperor says, "They tell of Orpheus, when he took his lute, Hebrus stood
still, P. bowed his head." Gold mines were worked in ancient times in the Pangaean
range. In T. Heywood's B. Age i.,
Hercules speaks of "a ship Crammed with Pangeous gold."
PANGO (COUNT OF)
A translation of the Latin Comes de Panico. Chaucer, C. T. E. 589, calls it Panik; Boccaccio makes it Panago. Skeat suggests that it may be a variant of Panaro, a river in N. Italy flowing between Modena and Bologna. In Phillips' Grissill 1026, Gautier says, "To Bullin Lagras it convey to the Countess of Pango my sister."
PANNIER ALLEY
See PANYER ALLEY.
PANNONIA
A province of the Roman Empire lying in the angle to the W. and S. of the Danube,
N. of Illyricum, corresponding roughly to western Hungary and Styria. It was partially
conquered by Augustus 35 B.C., and finally made a province by Tiberius A.D. 8.
The Pns. were a brave and turbulent people, and often gave trouble to the Roman
emperors. In Nero iv. 1, Nero is
prouder of a kiss from Poppaea than "If I had The fierce Pn. 10 times overcome."
In Cym. iii. 1, 74, Cymbeline says,
"I am perfect That the Pns. and Dalmatians for Their liberties are now in arms."
Again, in iii. 7, 3, a Senator says, "The common men are now in action 'Gainst
the Pns. and Dalmatians." This is taken from Holinshed, who says that Augustus
was called away from a purposed expedition into Britain by a rebellion of the
Pns. and Dalmatians. In B. & F. Prophetess
ii. 2, Aper says, "The Pn. cohorts, That are my own and sure, are not come up."
This was after Aper had murdered the Emperor Numerianus A.D. 284. In T. Heywood's
Iron Age ii., Achilles speaks of
Hector as "He whose sword hath conquered kingdoms, P., Illyria, Samothrace."
PANTHEON
The famous temple in Rome, between the Corso and the Piazza Navona. It was built
by Agrippa A.D. 27, possibly as the Sudatio of his Baths, but in any case he added
the noble portico to the original Rotunda and made it into a temple. In 608 it
was consecrated as a Christian ch. by Boniface IV under the name of Sta. Maria
ad Martyres. The painter Raphael is buried there, and later K. Victor Emmanuel
and his successor found their last resting-place within its walls. In Tit.
i. 1, 242, Saturnine says, "Lavinia will I make my Empress . . . And in the sacred
P. her espouse." In line 33 he addresses her: "Ascend, fair Queen, P." In T. Heywood's
Traveller i. 1, Mrs. Wincott says
that Geraldine has told them of his visit to Rome, "Of their P. and their Capitol."
In Cooke's Pope Joan (1625), the Papist says, "The Ch. which is now called Sancta
Maria Rotunda, and in old time P., built by one Agrippa, was before that the house
of one Cybele." In Webster's A. & Virginia
ii. 3, Marcus cries: "All you Panthean gods confound me if my soul be accessory
to your distractions!" Hall, in Satires iv. 7, 19, speaks of "the famous P.'s
frame Turned to the honour of our Lady's name." Herrick, in Temple, says, "He
of godheads has such store As Rome's P. had not more." Note the accent is on the
2nd syllable.
PANYER ALLEY
A passage running N. from 4 Paternoster Row into Newgate St., Lond. It was so
called from the sign of a pannier, or basket, which occurred there on the back
of a naked boy, with the inscription "When you have sought the city round, Yet
still this is the highest ground." In More
iii. 2, when the Sheriff reports that Paternoster Row was choked up with carts
in the riot, Fawkner says, "My noble Lord, Paniar Allies throat was open." From
the following passages it would seem that the buff leather of which catchpoles'
coats were made was sold there. In Dekker's Westward
iii. 2, Monopoly says, "If I could meet one of those varlets that wear P. A. on
their backs, serjeants, I would make him scud." In Jonson's Barthol.
i. 1, Quarlous taunts Winwife with courting widows: "scrubbing a piece of buff
as if thou hadst the perpetuity of Pannier-a. to stink in."
PAPHLAGONIA
A country on the N. coast of Asia Minor, between Bithynia and Pontus. It is a
rugged and difficult country, and, though it passed under the power of the various
empires that in turn subjugated Asia Minor, it was usually governed by native
princes down to the time of the Roman Empire. In Greene and Lodge's Looking
Glass i. 1, 133, Remilia says, "'Tis Alvida, the fair wife to the King of
P." In Ant. iii. 6, 71, "Philadelphos,
k. of P.," is mentioned as one of the kings allied with Antony. The list is taken
from Plutarch. In Sidney's Arcadia ii., a story is told of a Prince of P. which
is the original of the Gloster subplot in King
Lear. In Cuckqueans iv. 8, Claribel
says that he has "visited Pamphlagonia and Silesia," i.e. Cilicia. In the
old Tim. ii. 1, Gelasimus says, "Upon
the mtn. P. There is a stone, which when the sun doth rise Shineth like gold;
at setting of the same Is suddenly made black": a bit of Euphuistic natural history.
In Alimony ii. 6, Julippe says, "These Pn. birds, these heartless partridges,
shall never nestle under my feathers." The partridge is said by Puny often to
crush its own eggs, but it has no connection with P. Possibly Pn. is used for
unnatural, ungrateful, in allusion to the story of the Prince of P. in the Arcadia.
Pn. is used in the sense of stupid, unintelligent. Nash, in Saffron Walden O.
2, speaks of Hervey's writings as "a number, of Pn. things." Barnes, in Charter
2797, says, "The slaves are busy, reading their Pn, papers.
PAPHOS
(Pn. = Paphian). The original, or Old, P. was a town in Cyprus, on the Bocarus,
a little over a mile from the W. coast, where was the world-famed Temple of Aphrodite.
It was originally a Phoenician temple, dedicated to Astarte, the goddess of generation,
who was represented by a conical phallic stone. It was then transferred to the
Greek Aphrodite, and later to her Latin counterpart, Venus. A flock of sacred
doves hovered about the shrine, and hard by was a grove, also dedicated to the
goddess. New P. was about 10 m. inland, but it is Old P. to which all our quotations
refer. At the end of Venus and Adonis, the goddess "yokes her silver doves," who
hold "their course to P." In Temp.
iv. 1, 92, Iris says of Venus: "I met her deity Cutting the clouds towards P.
and her son Dove-drawn with her." In Marlowe's Dido
iii., AEneas, the son of Venus, swears "by P. and the purple sea From whence my
radiant mother did ascend." In Peele's Arraignment
v. 1, Venus swears "By all the honour and the sacrifice That from Cithaeron and
from P. rise." In Caesar's Rev. i.
6, Caesar says that when Cleopatra is at Alexandria, "Pn. temples and Cytherian
hills And sacred Gnidus bonnet vail to it." In Greene's Orlando
i. 1, 61, Mandrecarde boasts "P. and brave Cypres laid aside, With me sweet lovely
Venus would abide." In Chapman's Caesar
ii. q., 132, Pompey speaks of Venus as "the Pn. Queen." Spencer, F. Q. iii. 6,
29, mentions P. as one of the places dear to Venus. In B. & F. Woman
Hater i. 1, the D. invokes Venus as "Bright Pn. Queen." In the old Tim.
ii. 1, Pseudolus brags: "Once I kissed Venus in P. Ile, but I forget her favour."
In Brome's Antipodes i. 6, Dr. Hughball
says, "I have bin on P. isle, where I have kissed The image of bright Venus."
In Mariam iv. 8, Mariam calls Venus "P. Queen." Daniel, in Sonnets after Astrophel
(1591) xii. 2, says, "The tablet of my heavy fortunes here Upon thine altar, Pn.
Power, I place." Content, in the same volume (ii. 26), talks of going on a pilgrimage
"Towards Love's Holy land, fair P. or Cyprus." The author of Zepheria (1594) xiii.
7 prays: "Venus, at P. keep! No more be seen!"
Hence P. stands for all the delights of love. In Jack
Drum iii. 298, Katharine calls Pasquil "P. of my delight!" In B. & F. Prize
i. 2, Maria says, "P.'s revels should uprouse old Night." Taylor, in Works ii.
240, calls love "the Pn., or Priapean, game." In W. Rowley's Match
Mid. ii., Moll speaks of one of her admirers as "this coal of P." In Per.
iv., prol. 32, Gower says, "So with the dove of P. might the crow Vie feathers
white." In Fisher's Fuimus iii.
6, Hirildas says, "Such whiteness only Pn. doves do wear." In Nash's Summers,
p. 100, Christmas says, "I must rig my ship to Samos for peacocks, to P. for
pigeons." The scene of B. & F. Mad
Lover is laid at P.
PAQUIN, or PEKIN
The capital of the Chinese Empire, in the N.E. of the country, between the rivers Pei-ho and When-ho, abt. 100 m. from the head of the Gulf of Petchili. The circuit of the walls is about 30 m., and it has a population of 1,000,000. It dates back to very ancient times, but its greatness began when Kublai-Khan made it his capital at the end of the 13th cent. under the name of Khanbalik, or Cambaluc. The court was subsequently transferred for a time to Nankin, but from the beginning of the 15th cent. P. has been the capital.
In Milton, P. L. xi. 390, Adam sees amongst other great cities "P., of Sinaean kings." Burton, A. M. ii. 2, 3, says, if he could fly, he would soon find out "whether the city of Cambalu be that new Peking."
PARADISE
Used by the LXX as the translation of "garden "in Gen. ii. 8. "God planted a P.
in Eden eastward": the garden where, according to the Hebrew story, God placed
the first man and woman. The legend is doubtless Babylonian in origin, and the
site must be looked for somewhere in Babylonia. In Err.
iv. 3, 16, Dromio calls the sergeant Adam: "not that Adam that kept the P., but
that Adam that keeps the prison." In Youth
O. P. ii. 1, 13, Charity says, "Adam out of P. exiled was." In Glapthorne's Argalus
ii. 1, Argalus says of his mistress: "Her breath expires Odours more sweet than
issued from the trees Of balm in P." Milton uses it as synonymous with Eden, q.v.
The word comes to be used for heaven, and also for any place of supreme happiness.
A fool's P. means a place of supposed but false security and happiness. In Brome's
Northern v. 8, Nonsense says, "I
am subdoodled thus in, I protest and vow, a kind of fool's P." Milton, P. L. iii.
478, ridicules those "who, to be sure of P., Dying put on the weeds of Dominic."
In Beguiled 1142, Churms says, "I
have brought the scholar into a fool's P."
PARIS
(Pn. = Parisian). The capital of France, on the Seine, 110 m. from its mouth.
In Caesar's time the town was called Lutetia Parisiorum, and stood on the Ile
de la City. In 508 A.D. Clovis made it his capital. During the Merovingian period
the churches of St. Vincent, now St. Germain-des-Près, St. Vincent le Rond, now
St. Germain l'Auxerrois, and Notre Dame were founded. P. ceased to be the capital
under Charlemagne, but in 987 it was restored to that position by Hugh Capet.
Philip Augustus did much for P.: he founded the Louvre and initiated the University
on the left bank of the river in 1200. It became the most famous and frequented
of the universities of Europe. St. Louis rebuilt the Louvre, and founded the Palais
de Justice with its beautiful Sainte Chapelle. The fortification of the Bastille
was erected by Charles V to protect the gate of St. Antoine. From 1420 to 1436
the city was in the hands of the English, and Henry VI was crowned in Notre Dame
in 1431. Here in 1572 the massacre of St. Bartholomew was perpetrated. Henri IV
took the city in 1594 after a siege of 4 years, and was assassinated there by
Ravaillac in 1610. During our period P. was growing rapidly, and it became the
greatest European school of finished manners and the leader of fashion in dress.
It was divided into 3 portions: the City on the island in the Seine, La Ville
N. of the river, and L'Universite to the S. In Shirley's Ball
v. 1, Freshwater says, "P. was built by the youngest son of Priam [i.e.
P.], and was called by his name; yet some call it Lutetia, because the gentlewomen
there play so well upon the lute." The 2 derivations are equally valuable.
General allusions:
For a general description of P. from the English point of view see the Londoner's
account of it in Davenant's Rutland. In Glapthorne's Wit
ii. 1, Grace mentions a ballad: "'Twas a lady's daughter in P." In B. & F. Pestle
v. 3, Michael says, "I can sing none, forsooth, but `A Lady's Daughter of P.
properly.'" It was a Protestant ballad. The 1st verse runs: "It was a lady's
daughter Of P. properly; Her mother her commanded To mass that she should hie."
Howell, in Instructions (1642), calls P. "that huge though dirty theatre of
all nations." In Londinopolis (1657), p. 391, he says, "The dirt and crott [i.e.
excrement] of P. may be smelt ten miles off." In B. & F. Pestle
ii. 4, Humphrey says, "When I came hither, would I had gone to P. with John
Dory." The reference is to a ballad published in 1609, the hero of which, John
Dory, a French privateer, is conquered by Nichol, a Cornish man. The 1st verse
runs: "As it fell on a holiday And upon a holy tide-a, John Dory bought him
an ambling nag, To P. for to ride-a." Bunch, in Webster's Weakest
i. 2, sings it thus: "John Dorrie bought him an ambling nag, to P. for to ride-a,
And happy are they that can seek and find, for they are gone to hide-a." In
B. & F. Chances iii. 2, Antonio
asks that "John Dorrie" should be sung, and calls it "a warlike tune." In Marlowe's
Faustus vii., Faust mentions P. amongst
the places he has visited. Monsieur
Thomas, in B. & F.'s play of that name, "came from P." In T. Heywood's Witches
iii., mention is made of someone who "flew to P. and back to Lond. in a day."
References to the History of Paris:
In H6 A. i. 1, 61, the Messenger,
arriving during the actual funeral of Henry V, announces: "P., Guysors, Poictiers,
Are all quite lost." This is an anticipation of the fact. P. was under the command
of the D. of Bedford from 1421 to 1436, when it was recaptured by the French
under the Count of Richemont. In iii. 3, 30, Joan describes Talbot and his forces
as "marching unto P-ward. "; in iv. 1, the coronation of Henry VI in P. is described.
This was in the latter part of 1431, after the death of Joan of Arc, though
it is here put earlier. In v. 2, Charles is told "The stout Pns. do revolt And
turn again unto the warlike French"; and Alengon therefore exhorts him, "March
to P." The reference is to the unsuccessful attack made by Joan of Arc in 1429.
In H6 B. i. 1, 94., Gloucester
recalls how Henry was "crowned in P. in despite of foes," and in line 215, York
exclaims: "P. is lost." As the date of this scene is 1445, it had been lost
9 years before. In i. 3, 175, York blames Somerset for having kept him dancing
attendance on his will "Till P. was besieged, famished, and lost." It was during
York's regency that P. was taken, but there is no ground for this charge against
Somerset. In R3 ii. 3, 17, the
Citizen says, "So stood the state when Henry VI Was crowned in P. but at 9 months
old." He was 9 years old, as a matter of fact, when he was crowned in P., but
only 9 months old when he came to the throne of England and France. In Chivalry
B. 2, it is implied that P. is the capital: "If we were in P.," says K. Lewis,
"we might say Your viands shall be costly." The Massacre of St. Bartholomew
in 1572 was the theme of Marlowe's Massacre
at Paris, and the play ends with the capture of the city by Henri IV in
1594.
The Arms of P. show a ship in full sail in the base of the shield under a chief semée with Fleurs-de-lis. In Davenant's Rutland, p. 229, there is a song: "Though a ship her scutcheon be, Yet P. hath no ship at sea." Fynes Moryson, in Itinerary i. 2, 188, says, "K. Philip Augustus in the year 1090 . . . gave the city for arms a ship adorned with lillies. "
Language:
French was, of course, the language spoken at P., but the Norman-French as spoken in the English Court gradually diverged from it, so that Chaucer, in C. T. A. 126, says of the Prioress: "Frenssh she spak ful faire and fetisly After the scole of Stratford-atte-Bowe, For Frenssh of Parys was to hire unknowe. "
Public Buildings:
In H5 ii. 4, 132, Exeter says
of the K.: "He'll make your P. Louvre shake for it, Were it the mistress-court
of mighty Europe" (see LOUVRE). In Bale's Laws
iv., Hypocrisy says, "In P. we have the mantle of St. Louis, which women seek
much for help of their barrenness." This relic was preserved in the Ch. Of the
Grey Friars. Montaigne (Florio's tr. 1603), ii. 12, pictures a philosopher hung
up in a wire cage "on the top of our Ladies Ch. Steeple in P.," i.e.
the tower of Notre Dame.
The University:
In Chapman's M. d'Olive iv. 2, D'Olive
says, "P., or Padua, or the famous school of England called Winchester, are
but belfries to the body or school of the Court." In Greene's Friar
iv. 50, the Emperor claims that Vandermast passed "To P., Rheims, and stately
Orleans, And . . . put down The chiefest of them all in aphorisms." 1n Shirley's
Fair One iii. 4, Aimwell asks
Manly, who is disguised as a physician, "Art a Pn., a Paduan, or a Leaden [i.e.
Leyden] doctor?" In Club Law iv.
5, Mounsier says, "Me tell you see a scholar de P. beat very prave shentleman,
so silk and velvet."
The P. printers, especially Robert Estienne, were famous for their excellent
type and fine workmanship. In B. & F. Captain
iv. 4, Angelo says, "Would her faults Were all in P. print upon her face, Cum
privilegio to use 'em still."
P. was the best place for a young gentleman to complete his training in polite
manners. In Ham. i. 2, 51 Laertes
asks leave of the K. to return to France; from ii. 1, 7, we learn from the direction
of Polonius to Reynaldo: "Inquire me first what Danskers are in P." that it
was to P. that he went. In Davenant's Rutland, p. 220, the Pn. says, "Your sons
come to P., the school of Europe, where they may learn honour." In Killigrew's
Parson i. 3, the Capt. says, "I
see you have never been abroad, else you would know how to put a value upon
those whose careful observation brought home the most exquisite garb and courtship
that P. could sell us." Paris was the leader of Europe in dress and fashion.
In Davenant's U. Lovers iii. 3,
Rampino says to his tailor, "You can travel to P. and instruct yourself in the
newest model and best cut." In Middleton's Quiet
Life i. 1, Lady Cressingham says she will have "agents at P. and at Venice
and at Valladolid in Spain for intelligence of all new fashions." In Glapthorne's
Privilege iii. 2, Adorni says, "Your
English wear long Pn. breeches with 5 points at knees." In Jonson's Ev.
Man O. ii. 1, Carlo says that Puntarvolo has travelled "as far as P. to
fetch over a fashion."
Articles produced at Paris:
- P. Balls (Tennis Bails): In H5
ii. 4, 131, the Dauphin says of Henry: "As matching to his youth and vanity
I did present him with the P. balls."
- Fans: In Davenant's Favourite
iv. 1, the lady says, "For essences to Rome, and for fans to P."
- Thread: Lydgate, in Lickpenny, says that in Cheap he was asked to buy "P. thread, the finest in the land."
- P. jewellery was already famous. In Philotus 28, the Macrell promises Emily a chain "of Pareis wark wrocht by the laif."
- Powder of P. was some sort of face powder. In Mankind 25, Titivallus says,
"Take a little powder of Paris and cast over his face." In Davenant's Wits
ii. 2, Lucy says that Mother Spectacle, the curate's wife, "thinks powder
of P. more profane than the ashes of a Romish martyr."
Plaster of Paris:
A preparation of gypsum, which sets quickly after being mixed with water, and
is used for making casts, busts, etc., and also for plastering and repairing walls.
It was first made from the gypsum of Montmartre at P. In Day's Humour
ii. 1, Octavio says, "I am lime and hair; plaster of P. kneaded together with
rye-dough and goats' milk." In Middleton's Trick
to Catch ii. 1, Lucre describes the rooms of his house "celled with plaster
of P., and all hung about with cloth of Arras." In Massinger's [ed. note: Middleton's] Old Law iv. 1, Gnotho says of Helen of Troy: "She was wounded there herself and
cured again by plaster of P.;and ever since, that has been used to stop holes."
There is a pun on the name of Helen's paramour P. In T. Heywood's Traveller
ii. 1, the Clown says of the meat and poultry that have been cut up for the feast:"There
was no salve for those scars, which all the plaster of P. cannot cure." Plaster
is also used for a medicament spread on a wound:hence the joke. In Shirley's Sisters
ii. 1, Giovanni says, "I have seen a lady blush through a plaster of P.":where
clearly some cosmetic preparation is intended, as thickly laid on as plaster of
P. on a wall. In Sampson's Vow iii.
2, 9, Miles says to Joshua, the painter-stainer, "Thy colours were better bestowed
on coarse waiting-women, Madam Makeroones, that sell paintings and stop holes
with plaister of P." Puttenham, in Art of Poesie (1589) iii. 19, quotes from his
own Partheniade:"Her bosom sleek as P. plaster Held up 2 balls of alabaster."
The scenes of the following are laid in P. in whole or in part:Chaucer's Shipman's
Tale;Shakespeare's All's Well;
Shirley's [sic. "Chapman's"] Chabot;
Webster's Weakest; Shakespeare's
Henry VI A.; Massinger's Parl.
Love; B. & F. Little French Lawyer,
Wildgoose Chase, Noble
Gentleman, Honest Man, Lover's
Progress; Chapman's Humorous Day's
Mirth; Marlowe's Massacre at Paris;
Chapman's Bussy d'Ambois and Byron
plays; and Day and Dekker's lost play, The Bellman of Paris.
PARISH GARDEN, or PARIS GARDEN
(P. = Paris, Ph. = Parish). A manor on the S. bank of the Thames, W. of the Liberty
of the Clink, corresponding generally to the present Ph. of Christchurch. It was
surrounded by a stream, called the P. G. Ditch, and was in the 16th cent. "so
dark with trees that one man cannot see another" (Letter of Fleetwood 1578). In
1113 it was given by Robert Marmion to the Convent of Bermondsey. In 1537 it became
Crown property, and was subsequently held by Q. Jane Seymour, Lord Hunsdon, and
Thomas Cure. It was approached from the Thames by way of the P. G. Stairs, a few
yards E. of the present Blackfriars Bdge., from which a ferry plied across to
Blackfriars. Blount, in Glossographia (s.v.), says, "It was anciently so
called from Robert de P., who had a house there in Richard II's time." Taylor
says it was called "from brave Ilion's firebrand, from P." But the old spelling
is Ph., not P., and it may be questioned whether Blount's derivation is not as
mythical as Taylor's. The Manor was bought by Francis Langley in 1589, with the
intention of building a playhouse there, and he ultimately erected the Swan Theatre
about 1596 in what is now Holland St. In Yarrington's Two
Trag ii. 6, Merry proposes to throw the body of the man he has murdered "into
P. G. Ditch." In Cromwell ii. 2,
Hodge says, "At Putnaie I'll go you to Ph.-G. for twopence without any wagging
in my guts, in a little boat too."
Ph. G. was best known through the huge amphitheatre erected there for bull- and bear-baiting early in the reign of Henry VIII. It was a wooden building open to the sky, and accommodated at least 1000 spectators. It seems to have stood between Park St. and Bankside, just E. of Horseshoe Alley, and very near to the Globe. It was already in existence in 1526, when the D. of Northumberland is recorded to have gone there to see the bear-baiting. Crowley, the printer-poet, writing about 1550, tells us that Sunday was the day of the performances, and that the price of admission was (d. John Bradford, in a sermon preached before Edward VI, tells how "certain gentlemen upon the Sabbath day going in a wherry to P. G., to the bear-baiting, were drowned."
On Sunday 12th January, 1583, the seats collapsed and many were killed and
hurt: an event which was "improved" in a sermon by John Field, the father of
the dramatist Nat. Field. The Sunday performances were prohibited by James I.
Henslowe and Alleyn leased it in the early part of the reign of James, and gave
plays there as well as bear-baitings. In Dekker's Satiro.
iv. 1, 151, Tucca asks: "Thou bast been at Parris G., hast not?" and Horace
(Ben Jonson) replies: "Yes, Capt., I ha' played Zulziman there" (Zulziman is
Soliman in Kyd's Soliman). It was
closed in 1642; reopened after the Restoration; and finally shut up in 1687.
Dekker, in News from Hell, makes Charon say, "If Parris g. would but fall down
again, I should hope to make me a new boat." Lupton, in London Carbonadoed (1632),
describes P. G. as "a foul den. Here come few that either regard their credit
or loss of time; the swaggering roarer, the cunning cheater, the rotten bawd,
the swearing drunkard, and the bloody butcher have their rendezvous here." In
H8 v. 4, 2, the porter says
to the crowd, "You'll leave your noise anon, ye rascals; do you take the Court
for Ph.- g.?" In More iii. 2, Faulkner
says to the Sheriff, "Tug me not, I'm no bear. 'Sblood, if all the logs in P.
G. hung at my tail, I'd shake 'em off." In Downfall
Huntington ii. 1, Much speaks of "a little curtal sib to the ape's only
beast at P. G." In Jonson's Epicoene
iii. 1, Otter says, "Tom Otter's bull, bear, and horse is known all over England,
in rerum natura"; and Mrs. Otter rejoins: "Fore me, I'll nature them over to
P. G." In iv. 2, Morose speaks of "Lond. Bdge., P.-G., Billingsgate, when the
noises are at their height and loudest." Nash, in Wilton 159, says, "All the
colliers of Romford, who hold their corporation by yarking the blind bear at
P. garden, were but bunglers to him." There are other references to this cruel
sport of whipping the blind bear. Greene, in Quip, p. 232, says, "The rakehell
will be so eager to catch him as a dog to take the bear by the ears in Ph. G."
Dekker, in Hornbook c. i. says, "How wonderfully is the world altered! So that
it is no more like the old Theater du Monde than old P. G. is like the K.'s
Garden at P."
Jonson, in Vulcan, says that the burning of the Globe Theatre "was a threatening
to the bears And that accursed ground, the P. G." In the Famous Voyage, he says
of the Fleet Ditch: "The meat-boat of bear's college, P. G., Stunk not so ill."
In Augurs, Slug says that Urson has "very sufficient bears as any are in the
ground, the P. G." In Middleton's Changeling
ii. 1, De Flores says, "Like a common Garden-bull I do but take breath to be
lugged again." In Dekker's W. of
Edmonton iv. 1, Cuddy says that the witch's dog "is no P.-G. ban-dog neither
that keeps a bow-wow-wowing to have butchers bring their curs thither." In Marston's
Courtesan ii. 1, Cockledemoy tells
a dream be has had of 24 bears "which are to be yet seen in P. Gs." In B. &
F. Maid in Mill ii. 2, Bustopha,
acting the part of P., says, "No roars so fierce, no throats so deep, No howls
can bring such fears, As P. can, if garden from He call his dogs and bears":
and references follow to bull-baiting and the whipping of the blind bear. Sir
John Davies, in Epigrams, tells of the young law-student, who "leaves his books
and for his recreation To P. G. doth himself withdraw To see old Harry Hunks
and Sackerson." In Davenant's Plymouth
i. 2, Seawit says, "You would be suitors, yes, to a she-bear, and keep your
marriage in P. g." Dekker, in News from Hell, says that Cerberus "lies howling
to be sent to P. G." In Dekker's Satiro.
iv. 1, 168, Tucca says to Horace (Jonson), "Thou turn'dst ban-dog and ever since
bitest, therefore I ask if thou'st been at Parris-g., because thou hast such
a good mouth." Dekker, in Jests, mentions "Ph. G." as a favourite haunt of pickpockets.
Hall, in Satires iv. 1, says that his poetry pleases him "Much better than a
P.-g. bear." Davies, in Meditations of a Gull, says, "Of a journey he deliberates
To P. g., cocke pit, or the play." Lyly, in Pappe with an Hatchett, p. 67, says,
"I will make him [Martin] mump, mowe, and chatter, like old John of P. g." I
take this to be the name of one of the monkeys which were trained to ride on
the bears' backs and perform tricks. See also BEAR-GARDEN.
PARIS TAVERN
Lond., apparently in the neighbourhood of Covent Garden. In Brome's Covent
G. it is often mentioned. Act iv. 2 takes place there: Mihil says, as he enters,
"A P. ill ya ben veni. Here's no bush at this door, but good wine rides post upon't,
I mean, the sign-post." When Mihil says to Gabriel, "You are welcome to P., brother
Gabriel," Gabriel replies, "It is nevertheless a tavern, brother Mihil." In i.
1, Antony says, "I heard an inkling at the P. T. last night of a she-gallant that
had travelled France and Italy."
PARK CORNER
The N.E. corner of Hyde P., Lond., at the junction of Oxford St. and Edgware Rd.
Close by stood the Tyburn gallows, and the loneliness of the neighbourhood made
it a favourite resort of highwaymen. In Webster's Wyat
xiv., p. 57, Winchester says to Wyat, "At the P. C. is a gallows set, Whither
make haste to tender Nature's debt." In Mayne's Match
iii. 4, Plotwell says, if his uncle marries, "the sleight upon the cards, the
hollow die, P. C., and Shooter's Hill are my revenue."
PARKER'S ORDINARY
An eating-house in Lond. The first use of O. in this sense is in Payne's Description
of Ireland (1590). A table d'hôte dinner was served at these houses at a fixed
price, and after dinner the company usually turned to gambling games, facilities
for which were provided. Dekker, in Hornbook v., describes how a young gallant
should behave himself in an O. In Middleton's R.
G. ii. 1, Goshawk asks: "Where shall's all munch?" and Jack Dapper replies:
"I am for Parker's O."
PARLIAMENT HOUSE
The English Parliament until the reign of Edward I met in various royal palaces
and castles throughout the country, wherever the K. might please to summon it.
In his reign the place of meeting became the Westminster Palace, and in the 17th
year of Edward III the Chapter House of the Abbot of Westminster was assigned
to the House of Commons. In the reign of Edward VI the old Court of Requests was
made the meeting-place of the House of Lords, and the Chapel of St. Stephen, which
was built by K. Stephen, was given to the Commons. Between the 2 was the Painted
Chamber, which was used for conferences of the 2 Houses. All these buildings were
burnt down in 1834, with the exception of the crypt of St. Stephen's Chapel, which
may still be seen at the S.E. corner of Westminster Hall. The present building
was erected from Barry's design, and the first stone was laid in 1840. In H6
C. i. 1, 71, the K. says, "Far be the thought of this from Henry's heart To
make a shambles of the P. H." Hall, in Characters, says of the Distrustful Man:
"He dares not come near the P. H. because it should have been blown up," i.e.
in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
PARLOUS POND
A pool of water lying behind St. Luke's Hospital off City Rd., Lond.: the site
is now covered by the buildings of Peerless St. and Baldwin St., W. of City Rd.
at the point where it bends round to the W. It was a favourite bathing-place,
and was first called Perilous P. because of the number of people who were drowned
there. The name was changed to Peerless Pool by one Kemp, in 1743. He bought it
and made it into a swimming bath and a fish-pond. Duck-hunting was carried on
there in the old days, as the quotation shows. In Middleton's R.
G. ii. 1, Gallipot says, "Let your boy lead his water-spaniel along, and we'll
show you the bravest sport at P. P. Hey, Trug! here's the best duck in England."
PARMA
(Pn.= Parmesan). A city of N. Italy, and capital of the Duchy of the same name,
some 30 m. S.W. of Mantua. The old AEmilian Way ran through the city. The cathedral,
baptistry, and ducal palace are fine buildings. After passing successively under
the control of the families of the Corregii, Visconti, and Sforzi, it became a
Papal possession in 1512, and in 1543 Paul III (Farnese) gave it to his son Pier
Luigi: 7 dukes of the Farnese family followed him, the 3rd of whom, Alessandro,
was the D. of P. who, as general of Philip II of Spain, carried on war in the
Low Countries against the United Provinces from 1579 to 1592. P. was famous for
the manufacture of a fine variety of cheese called Pn., but it is now made better
in Lodi. A particular sort of drinking was called Pn.: why, it does not appear,
unless the idea was that the cheese provoked thirst. Pn. sugar is also mentioned.
In Shirley's Courtier, Foscari,
D. of P., is one of the characters. In Davenant's Love
Hon. v. 3, Leonell says, "I am Leonell, the D. of P.'s son." In Massinger's
Lover i. 2, Uberti, Prince of P.,
has "left fair P." to court the daughter of the D. of Mantua. A Prince of P. is
one of the characters in T. Heywood's Maidenhead.
In Cockayne's Trapolin iv. 2, the
D. of Florence says that his sister has "refused The youthful dukes of Modena
and P."
In Marlowe's Faustus i., Faust says,
"I'll levy soldiers And chase the Prince of P. from our land." In Marlowe's
Massacre at Paris, p. 242, Guise
says, "Philip and P., I am slain for you." The reference is in both cases to
Alessandro Farnese, and in the following passage a play upon the word is intended,
in reference to the siege of Antwerp by the D. of P. In Middleton's No
Wit i. 3, Savourwit says, "The boy says they never came near Antwerp, a
quite contrary way, round about by P." In Nash's Lenten, p. 306, he says, "The
Transalpiners with their lordly Pn., so named of the city of P. in Italy where
it is first clout-crushed and made, shoulder in for the upper hand." In Ford's
'Tis Pity i. 4, Poggio says, "He
loved her almost as well as he loved parmasent; and swore that she wanted but
such a nose as his was to be as pretty a young woman as any was in P." In B.
& F. Pilgrimage ii. 4, Incubo
inquires: "You have no cheese of P.?" In Davenant's Wits
iv., "Pn. of Lodi" is mentioned in a list of table dainties. In Middleton's
Changeling i. 2, a Welsh madman cries
out: "Her parmasant, her parmasant!" and Lollio says, "There's no hope of recovery
of that Welsh madman; a' was undone by a mouse that spoiled him a parmasant."
In Webster's Law Case v. 4, Julio
tells of "what a deal of P. cheese" a certain Welshman ate. In Chapman's Chabot
v. 2, 181, the Advocate compares the Chancellor to "the mouse in the fable,
that, having offended to deserve death, begged he might be banished into a Pn."
Dekker, in Hornbook Proem., speaks of "the Switzer's stoop of Rhenish, the Italian's
Parmisant, the Englishman's healths"; and in Seven Sins, he says, "They were
drunk according to all the rules of learned drunkenness, as Upsey-freeze, crambo,
Parmizant "In Shirley's Ball iii.
3, Freshwater says, "He can present you with Venice glasses, Pn. sugars, all
from Antwerp." P. is the scene of Ford's 'Tis
Pity; Shirley's Sisters, Duke's
Mistress, and The Fatal Marriage .
PARNASSUS
Mtn. in ancient Greece, in Phocis, N. of the famous shrine of Apollo at Delphi.
It has 3 peaks, the highest of which reaches 8000 ft.: between the 2 lower ones
rises the fountain of Castalia. As these 2 only are visible from Delphi, P. was
usually spoken of by the Greeks as the two-peaked P. The highest peak was sacred
to Dionysus; the 2 lower ones to Apollo and the Muses. Hence it was constantly
associated with poetry, and to drink of the fountain of Castalia was supposed
to confer poetical inspiration. In Phillips' Grissill 489, Grissill invocates:
"Ye Muses nine that on Pernasso rest." In Lyly's Maid's
Meta. iv., Phoebus addresses "You sacred Muses of P. hill." In Pilg.
Pernass ii. 1, Madido says, "There is no true P. but the 3rd loft in a wine
tavern, no true Helicon but a cup of brown bastard." In Day's Parl. Bees v., Poetaster
says, "Persius taught his pupils to pilfer clouds from off P.'s top." In Chapman's
Usher i. 1, when Poggio indulges
in the remark, "Will his antiquity never leave his iniquity?" Cyanche cries, "Why,
how now, nephew? Turned P. lately?" i.e. have you become a poet? In Brome's
Ct. Beggar i. 1, Gabriel says of
Frederick, who is reported to be mad: "He was a poet that turned his brain in
climbing of P." In v. 2, Courtwit says he has fetched his speeches "from the forked
top of high P." In Shirley's Riches
i., Gettings says, "I had rather be a Jew than christened in P.'s pump." In Jonson's
Poetaster iii. 1, Tucca says of the
poetaster Demetrius (Dekker): "My P. here shall help him, if thou wilt." In Greene's
Alphonsus, prol. 99, Venus says to
the Muses, "Let us bend our steps Unto the top of high P. hill." Spencer, F. Q.
vi. prol. 2, addresses the Muses as "Ye sacred imps, that on Parnasso dwell."
Sidney, in Astrophel (1581) lxxx. 5, addresses Stella as "The new P., where the
Muses bide." In lxxxiv. 1, he calls the highway "my chief P." W. Smith, in Chloris
xliv. 10, asks his lady to "add such courage to my Muse That she shall climb the
steep P. hill." In Mason's Mulleasses,
prol., the poet speaks of transferring "Pernassus into Brittany." In Philotus
65, Emily, after listening to a long poetical effusion from Flavius, thinks that
he must have been "fosterit in P. forkit hill." In Marmion's Antiquary
iii. 2, Lionel says to Petrucio, "Have you lately drunk of the horsepond, or stept
on the forked P. that you start out so sudden a poet?" The word occurs in the
titles of several poetical works and collections. Two plays were called The
Pilgrimage to P. and The Return
from P. In 1600 was published Allot's England's P., or Choicest Flowers of
Our English Poets.
PAROS
The largest island of the Cyclades, in the AEgean Sea, 6 m. W. of Naxos. It was
famous for its fine white marble, which was second only to that of Pentelicus.
In Caesar's Rev. iii. 5, Cassias
vows: "On throe altar, built of Parian stone, Whole hecatombs will I offer." In
Davenant's Love Hon. ii. 2, Alvaro
asks: "What, Less hard than marble of the Parian rock Canst thou believe my heart?"
In Cowley's Riddle v., Aphron says of Clariana: "She was as pure and white as
Parian marble." In Randolph's Muses'
iii., Colax says, "Since Parian marble. Entered her [i.e. Rome's] gaudy
temple, soon she fell To superstition." Habington, in Castara (1640), Arber, p.
26, addresses the glorious wits "who find than Parian stone A nobler quarry to
build trophies on." In T. Heywood's Dialogues 6353, Apollo says, "Delphos is mine,
Pharos and Tenedos." Spenser, F. Q. iii. 5, 36, recalls the old legend that Parius,
the son of Paris by OEnone, "Gathered the Trojan reliques saved from flame, And
with them sailing thence to th' isle of P. came." Lyly, in Euphues Anat. Wit,
p. 100, says, "Dost thou not know that the tree Silvacenda beareth no fruit in
Pharos?" This is a curious mistaken translation of Pliny, Hist. Nat. xvi. 47:
"In Paro silva caedua . . . nihil fert."
PARRIS GARDEN
See PARIS GARDEN.
PARROT
The sign of a tavern in the market-place at Marseilles. In T. Heywood's Captives
i. 3, Raphael says, "My lodging is at the Parratt in the market place."
PARTHENIANS
A tribe of Illyrians living near Epidamnus. Their principal town was Parthus,
which was taken by Caesar in his war against Pompeius. In Caesar's
Rev. iv. 1, Cassius says to Brutus, "Thou halt commanded the Illyrian bands,
P. proud, and Thrasians born in war."
PARTHENY
(i.e. PARTHENIUM). Mtn. on the frontiers of Arcadia and Argolis, 15 m. S.W. of Argos; now Mt. Ronio. It was sacred to Pan. Royden, in Elegy for Astrophel (1591) 93, says of Sidney: "On the mtn. P.. .. The Muses met him every day."
PARTHIA
(Pn.=Parthian). The country S.E. of the Caspian Sea, corresponding roughly to
the Persian province of Khorassan. In 250 B.C., or thereabouts, Arsaces I won
their independence for the Pns., and established a dynasty which lasted, under
a succession of 31 kings, all called Arsaces, until A.D. 226, when they were conquered
by the Persian Sassanidae. It is the great glory of the Pns. that they were able
to resist the attempts of the Romans to annex them to the Empire. Pompeius found
it wiser to leave them alone when he was is Asia. Crassus, however, attacked them
in 53 B.C., but he was defeated and slain by Surenas, the general of Arsaces XIV.
Cassius defeated them and defended Syria from their attacks in 51 and 50 B.C.
In J. C. v. 3, 37, he reminds Pindarus:
"In P. did I take thee prisoner." After the battle of Philippi, Labienus, who
had been sent to P. by Brutus and Cassius to make alliance with the K., remained
there; and in 40 B.C. led the Pn. troops to the conquest of W. Asia. In Ant.
i. 2, 103, word is brought to Antony: "Labienus hath with his Pn. force Extended
[taken possession of] Asia from Euphrates." In ii. 2, 15, Antony proposes to go
to P.; and in ii. 3, 32, he resolves to send Ventidius thither. Ventidius defeated
Labienus at Mt. Taurus in 39, and in the next year defeated and slew Pacorus,
the son of the K., on the anniversary of the defeat of Crassus. In iii. 1, Ventidius
returns in triumph, exclaiming: "Now, darting P., art thou struck." In iii. 6,
13, Caesar says that Antony has given to Cleopatra's son Alexander "Great Media,
P., and Armenia." Other allusions to the history are as follows:
In Massinger's Believe i. 2,
Flaminius says to the Carthaginians (the time is about 200 B.C.), "You rather
chose to pay homage and fealty to the Pn., the Egyptian Ptolemy, or indeed any,
than bow unto the Roman." In B. & F. False
One i. 1, Labienus says that when Pompey was fleeing after the defeat of
Pharsalia, "the K. of P., famous in his defeature of the Crassi, offered him
his protection." In Kyd's Cornelia i., Cicero, lamenting the defeat of Pompey
at Pharsalia, exclaims "Now, P., fear no more for Crassus' death." In Tiberius
1084, Germanicus speaks of "Crassus' scourge, dissembling Partheans." In Ev.
Wom. I. ii. 1, Flaminius says, "'Tis since the siege of P.; I was lusty
then." Apparently the expedition of Crassus is meant. In Caesar's
Rev. iv. 1, Cassias says that Brutus commands "The Pn., fighting when he
seems to fly." Brutus sought help from P., but it did not come in time. In Brandon's
Octavia 489, Octavia expostulates with Antony: "What caused my lord in Syria
make such stay, Since he 'gainst P. did his forces bend?" In Jonson's Poetaster
iii. 2, Horace says, "Nor is't a labour fit for every pen to paint . . . wounded
Pns., tumbled from their horses. Great Caesar's wars cannot be fought with words."
In Marlowe's Tamb. A. ii. 1, Cosroe
speaks of the K. of Persia "That now is marching near to P." P. was at this
time (circa 1400) part of Persia. Milton, in P. R. iii. ego, speaks of
"The great Seleucia, Nisibis, and there Artaxata, Teredon, Ctesiphon" as cities
"Built by Emathian or Pn. hands"; and adds: "All these the Pn. (now some ages
past By great Arsaces led, who founded first That empire) under his dominion
holds." He goes on to say "now the Pn. k. In Ctesiphon hath gathered all his
host Against the Scythian," but this is a poetic fiction introduced for the
sake of giving the poet an opportunity of describing the component parts of
the imaginary army. In 362, the Tempter points out to our Lord the difficulty
of maintaining a kingdom in Judaea "Between two such enclosing enemies, Roman
and Pn.," and advises him first to make sure of the Pn. In iv. 73, he describes
embassies coming to Rome "From the Asian kings and Pn. among these"; and in
85, he says of Rome and P. our Lord may justly prefer the Roman "Before the
Pn." In B. & F. Valentin. i. 3,
AEcius says, "Let the son of war, steeled Mithridates, Lead up his winged Pns.
like a storm, Hiding the face of heaven with showers of arrows." But the date
is A.D. 454, when the Pns. had been for 2 cents. subject to the Sassanidae,
the actual k. being Yezdijird II. In iv. 1, Valentinian speaks of "Corbulo,
That broke the heart-strings of the Pns." Corbulo defeated the Pns. in A.D.
54 and again in A.D. 63.
The Pns. were fine horsemen and archers, and were specially feared by the
Romans because even in flying they were able to shoot their arrows backwards
with deadly aim. Hence "a Pn. shaft" is used for an unexpected attack by an
apparently defeated and flying foe and "a Pn. Shot" has since been corrupted
into "a parting shot". In Ant.
iv. 14, 70, Eros, when asked to kill Antony, says, "Shall I do that which all
the Pn. darts, Though enemy, lost aim, and could not?" In Cym.
i. 6, 20, Iachimo says, "Like the Pn., I shall flying fight." In Fisher's Fuimus
iii. 5, Nennius says, "Death like a Pn. flies and, flying, kills." Habington,
in Cascara (1640), Arber, p. 119, asks, "Shall I 'gainst the swift Pns. fight
And in their flight Receive my death?" In Kyd's Cornelia iv., Caesar exclaims:
"O beauteous Tiber, with thine easy streams That glide as smoothly as a Pn.
shaft." In Glapthorne's Argalus
i. 1, Demagoras says, "To be repulsed wounds my soul Worse than a quiver of
sharp Pn. shafts Could prejudice my body." In Antonie i. 107, Antony says, "Thou
car'st no more for Perth nor Pn. bow." The Pns. were represented by the Romans
as implacably fierce and ruthless. In Caesar's
Rev. ii. 5, Cato says, "No Pn. Would with such cruelty thy worth repay."
In Nero iii. 3, Seneca says, "O
should the Pn. hear these miseries, He would, his bow and native hate apart,
Sit down with us and lend an enemy's tear." They were admired for their success
in maintaining their freedom. In Marmion's Companion
i. 3, Careless says, "Coin will make a man live as free as a Pn." In May's Old
Couple ii. 1, Theodore says that a virtuous and contented man "enjoys A
greater freedom than the Pn. k." In Caesar's
Rev. i. 3, Caesar speaks of "the proud Pn." Tofte, in Laura (1597) ii. 29,
1, says, "Amongst the Pns. is a kind of ground Of nature such as, though it
far doth stand From fire, yet fire to take it straight is found; And flying
thither burns it out of hand."
PARTRIDGE ALLEY
Lond., on the S. side of Holborn near the N.W. corner of Lincoln's Inn Fields.
It shared the bad reputation of the dist. lying between Lincoln's Inn Fields and
Holborn as a haunt of loose women. In Massinger's Madam
v. 2, Luke says of the gentlemen apprentices: "When we look To have our business
done at home, they are Abroad in the tennis-court, or in P.-a., In Lambeth Marsh,
or a cheating ordinary."
PARUHAIEN
(obviously a misprint). I suggest Peruvian, or Panchaean, as possible emendations.
In Barnes' Charter iii. 2, Alexander
speaks of "That seemly nose breathing P. odours."
PASIACA (PHASIACA)
The country around the river Phasis at the extreme E. end of the Black Sea. In
Goosecap v., Clarence says, "What was
spoken of the most chaste Q. of rich P. may be said of her: Antevenit sortem
moribus, virtutibus annos."
PATAGONIA
The country in the extreme S. of S. America. The inhabitants were reported to be giants, and are really above the average height, being for the most part over 6 ft. Burton, A. M. ii. 2, 3, says, "I would see whether there be . . . gigantic Patagones in Chica.''
PATAY
A vill. in France, 14 m. N.W. of Orleans. Here Joan of Arc defeated the English
troops under Sir John Fastolffe on June 18th, 1429, and took Talbot prisoner.
Fastolffe is said to have fled without striking a blow, and to have been deprived
of his Garter for his cowardice. In H6
A. iv. 1, 19, Talbot tears the garter from Fastolffe's leg and says, "This
dastard at the battle of P., Before we met . . . did run away." The old editions
read Poictiers, an obvious mistake.
PATERNOSTER ROW
A narrow st. in London, running W. from the junction of Cheapside and St. Martin's-le-Grand
to Warwick Lane, to the N. of Paul's Churchyard. It was probably named from the
makers of paternosters, or beads, who lived there; later it was occupied by stationers
and text writers, who sold copies of the Paternoster, Ave, Creed, etc. In the
16th cent. it was taken possession of by the mercers, and was the fashionable
shopping st. for the ladies. After the Gt. Fire the mercers went further W., and
after some time the booksellers and publishers came into the st. Tarleton, the
clown, kept the Castle Ordinary here on the site now occupied by the Oxford University
Press Warehouse. In More iii. 2,
the Sheriff says, "There was a fray in P. R., and because they would not be parted
the st. was choked up with carts." In Tarlton's Jests (1611), it is told how 2
tailors "foxed [i.e. made drunk] Tarlton at the Castle in P. R."
PATRIA
(probably PATARA is meant). A spt. of Lycia, near the mouth of the Xanthus, abt.
60 m. due E. of Rhodes, the scene of the play. It may have been suggested to the
authors by the verse (Acts xxi. 1), where it occurs in close connection with Rhodes.
In B. & F. Maid's Trag. i. 1, Melantius,
who has just come home to Rhodes, says to Diphilus, "I sent for thee to exercise
thine arms With me at P.; thou cam'st not, Diphilus." Later on in the same scene
he says, "I did receive Letters at-P. from my Amintor."
PATRICK'S (SAINT) PURGATORY
A cave on an island in Lough Derg in Co. Donegal, Ireland. It was a famous place
for pilgrimages in the Middle Ages, and though it has been closed and demolished
3 timesin 1497, 1632, and 1780it still continues to attract great
crowds. In J. Heywood's Four PP.
i., the Palmer says he has visited "Saynt Patrike's purgatory." In Dekker's Fortunatus
iv. 2, Andelocia throws off his disguise as an Irish costermonger, exclaiming:
"Here end my torments in St. P. P." In Hon.
Wh. B. i. 1, Carolo accounts for the fact that all chimney sweepers are Irishmen
because "St. Patrick keeps purgatory: he makes the fire, and his countrymen could
do nothing if they cannot sweep the chimneys." In Middleton's Quiet
Life iv. 1, Knavesby, pointing to a map of Ireland, says, "Here runs the Kernesdale,
admirable feed for cattle; and hereabout is St. P. P." Burton, in A. M. ii. 2,
3, says, "I would have a convenient place to go down . . . at St. P. P. . . .
to descend and see what is done in the bowels of the earth."
PAUL, SAINT (ST. POL)
A town in Artois in N. France, 110 m. N. of Paris. In Chapman's Consp.
Byron v. 1, Byron boasts: "Only myself, married to Victory, Did people Artois,
Douay . . . St. Paul, Bapaume, and Courcelles, With her triumphant issue."
PAUL'S (SAINT)
(P.=Paul's, Pas.= Paules, Pos.=Poules, Pow.= Powles). The cathedral ch. of Lond., situated at the E. end of Ludgate Hill and the W. of Cheapside. The first ch. on the site was built in 610 by Ethelbert of Kent. Drayton, in Polyolb. xi. 201, says that he "That mighty fane to Paul in Lond. did erect." A new ch. was erected by Bp. Maurice in 1087, but it was destroyed by fire in 1136. The rebuilding went on slowly, the steeple being finished in 1221 and the whole ch. in 1283, It was a Gothic building, chiefly in the early English style. Its length was 596 and its breadth 104 ft. It had a central tower and spire and 2 angle towers at the W. end. A fire in 1561 injured the ch. and destroyed the steeple, which was never rebuilt, though money was collected for the purpose of a complete restoration of the ch.
In Nobody 754, Nobody promises
"I'll build up Pas.-steple without a collection." In Mayne's Match
iii. 3, Plotwell says of Seathrift: "He wore out more pavement with walking
than would make a row of new stone saints, and yet refused to give to the reparation."
This was the reparation scheme inaugurated by Laud and Charles I. In Shirley's
Ball iii. 3, Gudgeon asks: "Is
P. alive still?" and Solomon says, "Yes, yes; a little sick of the stone, but
she is now in physic and may in time recover." In 1633 the repairs were commenced
under the direction of Inigo Jones, but were put a stop to by the Civil War.
In Shirley's Honoria (a.k.a. Honor and Riches) ii. 1, Phantasm promises to "Rebuild the great cathedral
of St. P. With porphyry." In Cartwright's Ordinary
ii. 3, Caster promises, out of his imaginary gains, to send "Some 40,000
unto P." It was finally destroyed in the Gt. Fire and rebuilt by Wren. From
the slow and unsatisfactory way in which the attempts at restoration were carried
on in the early 17th cent. came the proverbial expression "to make P. work of
any thing," i.e. to make a botch of it. In Dekker's Satiro.
ii. 2, 55, Horace (Jonson) says of Crispinus (Marston) and Fannies (Dekker):
"They cut an Innocent Moore i' the middle to serve him in twice; and when he
had done, made Pos.-work of it." The reference appears to be to the patching
up of Stucley by Dekker out of
Peele's Alcazar and other plays.
It was written for the boys of P. School, which gives more point to the joke.
In Tom Tell Troath (1622), we read: "The perpetual walkers of P. do now despair
to see their material ch. ever repaired."
Paul's Walk:
Also called Duke Humphrey's Walk (q.v.), from the tomb of Sir John Beauchamp, which stood in the middle aisle on the right-hand side approaching the altar. He was buried there in 1358, but by some strange freak his tomb became known as D. Humphrey's. The Walk was the middle aisle, or nave, of the ch., and from 1550 to 1650 it was used as a common meeting-place for all kinds of people. Here lawyers met their clients, men of fashion came to show their clothes, citizens thronged to hear and tell the news of the day, servants stood to be hired and posted up their qualifications on the Si Quis door, bawds looked out for victims, pickpockets plied their trade; and a crowd of cast captains of the Bobadil type haunted the place and were known as P. Men. Earle, in his Microcosmography xli. (1628). speaks of it as "the land's epitome, or you may call it the lesser isle of Great Britain," and describes its noise "like that of bees, a strange humming or buzz, mixed, of walking, tongues and feet." The whole chapter should be read. Chapter iv of Dekker's Hornbook is headed: "How a Gallant should behave himself in Pow. walkes," which he calls "your Mediterranean Ile." Spurs were not allowed to be worn there, and the choir boys had the right to claim spur-money from offenders. In earlier days it was called the Parvys, an abbreviation of Paradise, and already in the 14th cent. was a meeting place for men of business, especially lawyers. Chaucer's Sergeant of the Law "often hadde been at the Parvys "(C. T. Prol. 310).
In H4 B. i. 2, 58, Falstaff
says of Bardolph: "I bought him in P." In Dekker's Westward
ii. 2, Birdlime says, "She searched the middle aisle in P. and pressed 3
knaves to man her." Act iv., sc. 6 of Middleton's Five
Gallants is laid "in the middle aisle of St. P." In Swetnam
iii. 1, when a number of people enter, Vaster says, "Our walk's turned Pos.,
I think." Riche, in Faultes Faults (1606), fol. 7, says of the State-ape "You
shall meet him in the middle walk in Pas. at ten of the clock and three of the
clock"-where he proceeds to talk politics. Awdeley, in Fraternity of Vagabonds,
says that the trade of the Cheatour or Fingerer is "to walk in such places where
as gentlemen and other worshipful citizens resort, as at Pos. or at Christes
Hospital." Fleetwood, writing to Lord Burghley, tells how he arrested in P.
"22 cloked rogues that there used to keep standing." In Greene's Thieves Falling
Out (1637), Stephen says the gentleman foyst (pickpocket) "must walk Pas., Westminster,
the Exchange, and such common haunted places." In Jonson's Ev.
Man I., Bobadil is described in the list of the characters as "a P. Man,"
i.e. a frequenter of the Middle Aisle. Act iii., sc. i of Ev.
Man O. is laid in "the middle aisle of St. P." Shift has come "for the advancement
of a si quis or two," and succeeds in setting up his bills without discovery.
Clove and Orange "come to walk a turn or two i' this scene of P." Then Carlo
enters to "take up a man or two [i.e. hire them]" for Sogliardo. Fastidius Brisk
comes in, exclaiming: "Come, let's walk in Mediterraneo." Puntarvolo sees and
reads aloud Shift's two Si Quis's: one offering his services as gentleman-usher
to a lady; the other setting forth his qualifications as a teacher of fashionable
smoking. Carlo finds Shift, and describes him as "the most strange piece of
military profession that ever was discovered in Insula Paulina." The whole scene
should be read. In Barthol. i. 1, Littlewit
describes himself as "one of the pretty wits of P." In Haughton's Englishmen
i. 2, Anthony says, "Make him answer, you three came from P., And in the
middle walk one you espied Fit for his purpose." A teacher of French and music
was what was wanted. In Feversham ii.
2, Arden says, "Now, Master Francklin, Let us go walk in Pas." In Barry's Ram
iv. 1 Sir Oliver advises Smallshanks, "Get thee a grey cloak and hat and
walk in P. among thy cashiered mates." In Middleton's R.
G. ii. 1, Dapper sends his man Gull to get his dinner, and says, "Meet me
an hour hence in P." In Mayne's Match
iii. 3, Plotwell says, "Your penurious father Was wont to walk his dinner
out in P." -"Indeed," says Newcut, "they say he was a monument of P."; and Timothy
adds: "Yes, he was there as constant as D. Humphrey's." In Tomkis' Albumazar
v. 2, Cricca, looking for Pandolfo, says he is "neither in P., at home,
nor in the Exchange: He's lost." In Jonson's Staple
i. 1, Thomas says that the 4 cardinal quarters of the city for news are
The Court, P., Exchange, and Westminster Hall." He then mentions "Master Ambler
[as] emissary P., a fine-paced gentleman, as you shall see walk the middle aisle."
In Haughton's Englishmen iii. i,
Frisco says of P.: "D. Humphrey dwells here and keeps open house, and a brave
sort of Cammileres [i.e. Cavaliers] dine with him every day." Lupton, in London
Carbonadoed (1632) iii. 12, says, "The middle ile is much frequented at noone
with a company of Hungarians, not walking so much for recreation as neede."
Nash, in Pierce, speaks of "the masterless men that set up their bills in Pas.
for services." Dekker, in Raven's Almanac (1609), speaks of extreme poverty
as "St. Paulus Plague," and adds: "How many that walk in the middle Ile of Pas.
in reasonable good clothes will be struck with this plague!"
In Day's Law Tricks iv. 2, Joculo
tells a cock-and-bull story of a flood in Lond. so great that "the scullers
that use to work in the Thames rowed over houses and landed their fares in the
middle Ile of Pas." Middleton, in Black Book, p. 9, speaks of those who "with
their heavy trot and iron stalk have worn off the brass in the Middle Walk."
Hall, in Satires ii. 5, 1, asks: "Saw'st thou ever Siquis patched on Pos. ch.
door To seek some vacant vicarage before? Who wants a churchman that can service
say . . . Come to the left-side alley of St. Pos." In iii, 7, 6, he says, "Trow'st
thou where he dined to-day? In Booth I saw him sit with D. Humfray." In v. 3,
20, he speaks of the worshipper "that rounds Pos. pillars in the ear, Or bends
his hams down in the naked quire." Burton, A. M. iii. 3, 4, 2, says, "He that
buys a horse in Smithfield, and hires a servant in P., as the diverb is, shall
likely have a jade to his horse, a knave for his man." In Penn. Part. 6, it
is enacted: "What day soever St. P. ch. hath not, in the middle isle of it,
either a broker, masterless man, or a pennyless companion, the usurers of Lond.
shall be sworn by oath to bestow a new steeple upon it." In verses prefixed
to Coryat's Crudities (1611), Peacham mentions amongst the sights of Lond. "The
Tomb of Beauchamp." W. Rowley, in Search, Intro., says to the reader, "I know
the walks in Pas. are stale to you; ye could tell. how many paces there between
the quire and the W. door." In B. & F. Wit
S. W. i. 1, Oldcraft calls Cunningham "a D. Humphrey spark, He had rather
lose his dinner than his jest."
There was a fine tomb of Lord Chancellor Christopher Hatton, of dancing fame,
between the choir and the S. aisle: it was very conspicuous, and altogether
dwarfed the adjacent tombs of Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Francis Walsingham.
A contemporary epigram runs: "Philip and Francis have no tomb, Great Christopher
takes all the room." Corbett says, "Nor need the Chancellor boast, whose pyramis
Above the Host and Altar raised is." In Jonson's Ev.
Man O. iii. 3, Macilente asks: "How long should I be, ere I should put off
[i.e. take off my hat] to the Lord Chancellor's tomb?" Dekker, in Hornbook iv.,
advises the visitor to St. P., "Your next worthy work is to repair to my Lord
Chancellor's tomb; and, if you can but reasonably spell, bestow some time upon
the reading of Sir Philip Sydney's brief epitaph; in the compass of an hour,
you may make shift to stumble it out."
There was a clock, the hours being struck by a pair of jacks. In Dekkers Hornbook
iv., he says, "If Pow. Jacks be once up with their elbows and quarrelling to
strike 11, as soon as ever the clock has parted them, let not the D.'s gallery
contain you any longer." Later, the Gull is advised to look at the great Dial:
"observe the sauciness of the jacks that are above the man in the moon there;
the strangeness of the motion will quit your labour." Middleton, in Hubburd,
p. 54, says, "what is mirth in me is as harmless as the quarter jacks in P.
that are up with their elbows 4 times an hour" and yet never strike anybody.
There were beautiful rose-windows in the transepts and Lady Chapel, and they
gave their name to a sort of open leather-work used for ornamenting shoes. Chaucer,
in C. T. A. 3318, tells how Absolon has "Pow. wyndow corven on his shoon." The
organ was built by William Beton. It was destroyed in the Gt. Fire. The present
organ was built by Willis in 1874 to replace Father Smith's instrument, erected
in 1697. In T. Heywood's Royal King
i. 1, the Welshman says, "It was told us in Wales that you have a great
pigge organ in P., and pigger by a great deal than our organ at Rixam [Wrexham]."
Paul Hentzner says that P. possessed a "very fine organ which at evening prayer,
accompanied with other instruments, is delightful." In Jonson's Ev.
Man O. iii. 3, Macilente declares that he will not take off his hat to Lord
Chancellor Hatton's tomb in St. P., any more than he will "commend the chapel
organ for the gilt without." Dekker, in Hornbook iii., speaks of the first lesson
in St. P. being "read in a voice as big as one of the great organs." A halfpenny
seems to have been charged for a seat in the church. In Nash's Summers, 342,
Will says, "Hur come to Powl, as the Welshman says, and hur pay an halfpenny
for hur seat, and hur hear the preacher talge."
There were numerous chapels connected with the old cathedral. At the E. end was the Lady Chapel, with chapels to St. George and St. Dunstan to the N. and S. of it respectively. In the crypt was the ch. of St. Faith; at the S.W. corner the ch. of St. Gregory. On the N. side was a charnel-house with a chapel over it called Pardon Ch. In these chapels various chantries were established-35 in all-giving employment to 54 priests. Under the choir was the Jesus Chapel; on the N. side of St. P. School there was a stone belfry with 4 large bells belonging to Jesus Chapel, and known as Jesus' Bells. Fuller, Holy State v. 14, says, "Sir Miles Partridge . . . played at dice for Jesus's bells with K. Henry VIII and won them of him."
The old ch. had a tower at the crossing surmounted by a wooden spire, covered
with lead, and crowned by a weathercock in the shape of a golden eagle. The
tower was 285 ft. and the spire 208 ft. high: something like 100 ft. higher
than the top of the present dome. It was completed in 1221: the steeple was
burnt down in 1561, and never restored. Visitors were allowed to ascend the
tower on payment of a penny, and many tried to immortalize themselves by carving
their names on the leads. At the coronation procession of Q. Mary a Dutchman,
called Peter, stood on the weathercock and waved flags. In Rychardes' Misogonus
iii. 2, Cacurgus says, "That old lizard has no more wit than the weathercock
of Pas." Skelton, in Colin Clout 336, speaks of a man saying in mock that "a
butterfly were the weathercock of the steeple of Pos." In Respublica
iv. 3, People says, "That lie ere this is flown as far hence as Poule steeple."
In Phillips Grissill 51, Politick Persuasion fell out of the clouds and says,
"The weathercock of Pas. aided me in my flight." In Treasure A. 4, Inclination
says, "I can remember when Noes ship was made; the same year the weathercock
of Pas. caught the pip." In Day's B.
Beggar ii., Stroud says, "I know no more how to please him that I know
how to build up Pas. steeple." In Chaunticleers i., Bristle says, "Like the
cripple, I'd run up P. steeple." In Roister
ii. 4, Trupenny says, "I looked as far beyond the people As one may see out
of the top of Pas. steeple."
In Shirley's Riches iii., Gettings,
the Lond. merchant, swears "By our thrice-burnt famous steeple That doth overlook
the people." The steeple was burnt down in 1136, 1444, and finally in 1561.
In Lodge's Wounds of Civil War
v. 1, Curtail exclaims: "O base mind that being is the P. steeple of honour
hast cast thyself into the sink of simplicity." Peacham, in Worth of a Penny
(1641), says, "For a penny you may be advanced to that height that you shall
be above the best in the city: that is, to the top of Pas." Dekker, in Hornbook
iv., advises the Gull to pay tribute "to the top of Pow. steeple with a single
penny," but he bids him be careful how he looks down, "for the rails are as
rotten as your great-grandfather." Before he comes down he must talk about the
horse that went up, and carve his name on the leads: "indeed, the top of Pow.
contains more names than Stowes Chronicle." In Dekker's Satiro.
iv. 3, 198, Sir Vaughan says, "Your Muse leans upon nothing but filthy rotten
rails, such as stand on Pos. head." In Jonson's Execration on Vulcan Underwoods
lxi., he says, "Pox on your flameship! if it be To all as fatal as . . . to
P. steeple . . . which remains yet unrepaired." In Dekker's
Satiro. iv. 3, 186, Tucca says that his sword is "as blunt as the top of
Pos.," i.e. after the steeple had been burnt and only the tower was left. In
Jonson's Devil i. 1, Iniquity says,
"I will fetch thee a leap from the top of P. steeple to the Standard in Cheap."
In Epicoene ii. 1, Truewit marvels
that Morose does not commit suicide "with such a delicate steeple in the town
as Bow to vault from; or a braver height, as P." In Dekker's Shoemaker's
iv. 5, Fink says, "Am I sure that P. steeple is a handful higher than Lond.
Stone?" In the Book of Riddels (157), we have: "What is that, round as a ball,
longer than P. steeple, weathercock and all?" The answer is: "It is a round
bottom of thread when it is unwound." The riddle must be earlier than 1561.
In T. Heywood's Hogsdon v. 1, Chartley
says, "This 7 years I have not seen P. steeple or Cheap Cross." In Middleton's
Chaste Maid i. 1, Moll is said to be
"heir to some 19 mtns., all as high as P." In Abingdon
iv. 3, Nicholas says, "I'll take no wrong, if he looked as high as P. steeple"
In Tomkis' Albumazar iii. 5, Trincalo
boasts "I could descend from the top of P. to the bottom And on each step strew
parting compliments." In iii. 9, Trincalo, when exhorted to drop from a window,
protests: "'Tis as high as St. P." In B. & F. Wit
Money ii. 4, Lance suggests as an attractive news item "Whirlwinds that
shall take off the top of Grantham steeple, and clap it on P." In Dekker's Dead
Term (1608), P. Steeple says, "The mariner called me his seamark, for to him
I stood as a watchtower to guide him safely to our English shore." In Brome's
Sparagas ii. 2, Rebecca longs "to
be on the top of P. Steeple when it is new built, but that must not be yet;
nor am I so unreasonable that I can stay the time." The date is 1635, when projects
for restoration had been for a couple of years in the air, but had come to nothing.
Banks' dancing horse Morocco is said to have climbed to the top of the tower
in 1601. In Owles Almanack (1618), we find "Since the Dancing Horse stood on
the top of Pow. whilst a number of asses stood braying below, 17 years." The
horse and his trainer were ultimately burned alive in Rome for witchcraft. In
Dekker's Northward iv. 1, the
Capt. asks: "Could the little horse that ambled on the top of P. carry all the
people?" In Middleton's Black Book, the Devil asks: "May not the devil walk
in P. as well as the horse go a-top of P.?" In Dekker's Satiro.
i. 2, 157, Horace says, "I have heard of the horses walking a' the top of Pas."
W. Rowley, in Search, Intro., calls this "the transforming of the top of Pas.
into a stable." Dekker, in Wonderful Year (1603), says, "He that dares to be
a man in print must make account that he shall stand like the old weather-cock
over Pow. steeple to be beaten with all storms." In his Seven Sins, he says
that Sloth is young: "he was not in the shell when Pas.-steeple and the weathercock
were on fire." In his Dead Term (1608), in the complaint of Pas. Steeple, he
gives the whole history of it from its first building to the fire which destroyed
it in 1561. In his Westward ii.
1, Honeysuckle asks: "What news flutters abroad? do Jackdaws dung the top of
P. steeple still?" To which Justiniano replies: "The more is the pity, if any
dawn do come into the temple, as I fear they do." In W. Rowley's Match.
Mid. i. 2, Randall, attacked by highwaymen at Coombe Park, cries: "If they
take Randalls, then Randalls shall see Pauls steeples no more." In Cuckqueans
i. 2, Shift says, "P. steeple stands in the place it did before." The supposed
date is 1588. In Deloney's Reading vi., the clothiers' wives, visiting Lond.,
"came to St. P. Ch., whose steeple was so high that it seemed to pierce the
clouds, on the top whereof was a great and mighty weathercock, of clean silver
. . . which was afterwards stolen away by a cunning cripple." With the proceeds
of this theft "he builded . . . Criplegate." The supposed date is the reign
of Henry I. Sir John Davies, in In Gerontem 13, represents an old man dating
events from the "burning of P. steeple." Dekker, in Hornbook iii., says that
the ears "have crooked windings like those that lead to the top of Pow. steeple."
St. Paul's Cross:
A pulpit cross of wood, on a stone foundation and roofed with lead, from which
sermons were delivered. It stood on the N. side of the ch., near the E. end.
The exact site was discovered in digging up the churchyard some years ago, and
marked by a pavement. A cross has now been erected near the old site. In Piers
C. xii. 56 and xvi. 70 are references to preaching "at Seint Paules": doubtless
from the Cross. In Skelton's Colin Clout 1175, the Prelates complaint: "At P
Cross or elsewhere they set not by us a whittle." In John
Evangel. 352, Eugenio says to John, "Methink I have heard you preach or
this at Pas. Cross." In Wapulls Tarrieth F.1, Greediness says, "Towards Pow.
Crosse from hence I do go." Courage asks him: "To Pow. Crosse, what there will
you do? Do you the preacher's words so well like?" But Greediness explains that
he is going there to find his debtors. In Yarrington's Two
Trag. iv. 5, Merry says, "I met Williams coming home from Pow. Crosse where
he had been to hear a sermon." In Massinger's Madam
iii. 1, Shave'em threatens to have Ramble arrested "for the purse you cut
In P. at a sermon." In True Trag.,
p. 84, the Page says, "Dr. Shaw hath pleased my lord that preached at Pas. Crosse
yesterday, that proved the 2 princes to be bastards." Ascham, in Scolemaster
(1570), says, "10 sermons at P. Cross do not so much good as one of those books
do harm." In Mayne's Match i. 3,
Warehouse tells his nephew that he means him to be a city father "to sit at
sermon in his chain and scarlet . . . and be remembered at the Cross." In T.
Heywood's Ed. IV B. 143, Shaw
says to Lovell, "Be but at P. Cross on Sunday next; I hope I have it here shall
soundly prove K. Edward's children not legitimate." In his I.
K. M. B. v., the Q., after the victory over the Armada, says, "Give commandment
to the Dean of P. He not forget in his neat learned sermon To celebrate this
conquest at P. Cross." Earle, in Microcosmography xliii., says of the bold,
forward man. "He never defers St. Mary's [i.e. his sermon in the University
ch.] beyond his regency; and his next sermon is at P. Cross, and that printed."
In Middleton's Black Book, p. 41, the Devil says of the Cutpurse: "You shall
not stick to give a shave of your office at Pauls-Cross in the sermon-time."
Burton, A. M. Intro., says, "Had I been as forward as some others, I might have
haply printed a sermon at P. Cross." St. Faith's Ch. was in the crypt at the
E. end, just S. of the Cross. In Dekker's Shoemaker's
iv. 5, Firk swears "by my Faith's Ch. under P. Cross." An official was employed
to visit the church and drive out the dogs. Nosh, in Pierce (1592), says, "It
were eerie good the dog-whipper in Pas. would have a care of this in his unsaverie
visitation everie Saterday."
There were a few lamps round the ch., which were lighted at nightfall: they were the only attempt at street-lighting in Lond. at this time. Hall, in Satires iv. 2, advises Lolio's son: "Gin not thy gait . . . until the lamps of Pauls been light."
As is obvious from Vischer's View of Lond. (1616), St. P., even after the
destruction of its lofty spire, was the most conspicuous object in the city,
and its bulk made it a common symbol of size and immobility. In H4
A. ii. 4, 575. the Prince says of Falstaff: "This oily rascal is known
as well as P." In H8 v. 4,
17, the Porter's man says of the crowd: "We may as well push against Powle's
as stir 'em." In Jonson's Ev. Man O.
i. 1, Sordido, the regrater of grain, says that until he has no place to hide
it in, "each corn I send [to market] shall be as big as P.," i.e. he will send
none at all. In Tomkis' Albumazar i.
3, Ronca shows a perspective with which he can read a page of a minute edition
of the Iliad "12 long m. off as plainly as you see P. from Highgate." In B.
& F. Wit S. W. iv. 1, Pompey says,
"I ha' got a stomach 6 times and lost it again, as often as a traveller from
Chelsea shall lose the sight of P. and get it again." In Houghton's Englishmen
iii. 1, Frisco says, "My master would say, Would I had P full of gold; my
young mistress would wish she had P. full of needles. I once asked my master
half a yard of frieze to make me a coat, and he cried it was big enough to make
P. a nightgown."
General Allusions:
In J. Heywood's John, Tyb and Sir John
71, John says, "Thou wast praying in the church of Pos." In Mankind 98,
Bodily Lust, who has been knocking at Margery's door, says, "A man might have
heard the noise from Pos. to the farthest end of Cheap." In Three
Ladies F.2, Diligence testifies that "Simony was seen this day walking
in P. having conference with some of the clergy." in Nobody
1137, Nobody says, "Coming through Pos., there Nobody kneeled down To say
his prayers." After the banquet on Lord Mayor's Day it was customary for the
Corporation to attend a sermon at St. P. In Shirley's Riches
i. Clod says, "You march [on Lord Mayor's Day] to the Guildhall, where you
look upon the Saracen giants, and feed like Saracens, till you have no stomach
to P. in the afternoon." Proclamations were often read at St. P., either in
the cathedral or at the Cross. In R3
iii. 6, 3, the Scrivener has engrossed the indictment of Hastings "that
it may this day be read o'er in P." In Jonson's The
Alchemist i. 1, Face says to Subtle, "I will write thee up bawd in P." Apparently
there was some festival at St. P.'s on St. George's Day; at which the knights,
dressed in blue coats, kept order in the crowd. In Barry's Ram
iv. p. 314, Face says, "I will be knight, Wear a blue coat on great St.
George's day, And with my fellows drive you all from P.'s For this attempt."
The children of P., i.e. the choir-boys, used to act plays behind the Convocation
House; amongst others were Histriomastix
(1599), to which allusion is made in Jack
Drum v. 192, where Sir Edward says, "I saw the children of Pow. last night,
And troth they pleased me pretty, pretty well." Lyly's Campaspe,
Sapho, and Love's
Meta. were written for them and the children of the Chapel Royal. In R3
i. 2, 30, Anne says to the bearers of the body of Henry VI, "Come, now,
towards Chertsey with your holy load Taken from P., to be interred there." Henry's
body lay in state in St. P. An unsavoury exploit of a certain Spaniard in the
cathedral is often alluded to. In Webster's Wyat,
p. 45, Brett says, "There came but one Dondego into England, and he made all
P. stink again." In T. Heywood's Maid
of West iv. 4, Clem addresses the Spaniards: "Now, you Don Diegos, you
that made P. to stink." In Middleton's Blurt
iv. 2, Blurt says, "If you be kin to Don Diego that was smelt out in P.,
you pack." In Ford's Warbeck i.
3, "Worseley, the Dean of P.," is mentioned as one of the supporters of Perkin
Warbeck.
PAUL'S CHAIN
A lane running S. from the S. side of St. P. Churchyard, Lond., to Carter Lane. A chain used to be stretched across the carriage way at this point during divine service to prevent the disturbance from passing vehicles. In Middleton's Triumphs of Truth, the Angel and Zeal conduct the Lord Mayor "to P. C." Cocker, the arithmetician, lived "on the S. side of St. P. Ch., over against P. C." Middleton, in Black Book, p. 39, tells of the gaolers taking the prisoners a walk "between P. Ch. and Ludgate." In verses prefixed to Coryat's Crudities (1611), Vadianus says that on Coryat's return "P. C, for joy did stretch and yawn."
PAUL'S CHURCHYARD
The area surrounding St. P. Ch., Lond., the side towards the S. being called the Bow and the N. side the String. It was enclosed by a precinct wall, and had 6 gates, viz.:
- one leading from Ludgate Hill;
- the next to Paternoster Row;
- the 3rd, in Canon Alley, to the N. Door;
- the 4th the little gate into Cheapside;
- the 5th, or Austin Gate, to Watling St.; and
- the 6th to P. Chain.
It was, and is, surrounded by shops, which in Elizabethan times were mostly in
the occupation of booksellers, though trunk-makers were also found there. The
Bishop's Palace stood at the N.W. corner and the Chapter-house on the S. side.
After the Gt. Fire the booksellers mostly migrated to the neighbouring Paternoster
Row. On the N. side of the ch. yard was the Mitre Inn, a noted coaching inn, afterwards
known as the Swan and Lyre, and then, by a curious perversion, as The Gore and
Gridiron. It is probably to this inn that Dekker refers in Northward
iv. 1, where Mayberry says, "Wife, on with your riding suit and cry Northward
Hoe ! as the boy at P. says." In J. Heywood's Four
PP., p. 20, the Pedler says, "If each man's tale In Paule's c. were set on
sale," they would have to be sold by weight. In Ret.
Pernass. i. 2, Judicio speaks of "the paper ware in Paules C." In iii. 3,
the Page says, "This great linguist, my master, will march through Paule's c.
; come to a bookbinder's shop, and ask for these books in Spanish and Italian."
In B. & F. Wit Money iii. q, Valentine
says, "Who looked on you but Prentices in P. c. that scented your want of Breton's
books?" In the same play (ii. 3), Isabella asks, "Where lies this learning,
Sir?" and Shorthose answers: "In P. C., for Booth," i.e. in the booksellers'
shops. In Brome's Covent G. ii. 1,
Crosswill says, "Take up these books, sirrah, and carry them presently into P.
c., d'ye see, and change them all for Histories." In T. Heywood's F.M.
Exch. 47, the Cripple says of a certain poet: "His library was just nothing
But rolls and scrolls and bundles of cast wit Such as durst never visit P. C."
Nash, in Pierce I. 2, says, "Who can abide a scurvy peddling poet to pluck a
man by the sleeve at every 3rd step in Paules C., and when he comes in to survey
his wares, there's nothing but purgations and vomits wrapped up in waste paper?" Dekker, in preface to Satiro.,
says, "Neither should this ghost of Tucca have walked up and down Poules C.,
but that be was raised up (in print) by new exorcisms." In Strange Horse Race
(1613) preface, he says, "He is tied to a stake, like a bear to be baited, that
comes into Paules C. to be read." In Jonson's Staple
i. 5, Cymbal describes a decayed Stationer as "True P. bred I' the C." The
author of Zepheria (1594,) xxxvi. 141, says to his lady, "This penance I award
Clad in white sheet, thou stand in P. c.," i.e. as the subject of his poems. In
Pilg. Pernass. ii. 1, Madido says, "Ere long not a post in P. C. but shall be acquainted with our writings." In
Dekker's Hornbook iv., he says, "John in Powles c. shall fit his head for an
excellent block." Presumably John was a fashionable hatter. Middleton, in Hubbard,
p. 53, swears "by John of Pains c." The C. was used for executions : 4 of the
Gunpowder Plot conspirators suffered there. From T. Heywood's I.
K. M. B. 269, we learn that Dean Nowel lived "in Powles C." Taylor, is Works
i. 61, speaks of "trunk-makers in Pauls C."
PAUL'S (ST.) PLAYHOUSE
A private playhouse in the choir singing-school of St. P.'s, Lond., established
by Sebastian Westcott, the master of the boys, about 1575 it was suppressed for
some years after 1590, but was not finally closed until 1608. [ed. note: recent
scholarship has placed the playhouse in either the chancel house or almoner's
house of the church, which is where it appears on the map. The singing school
is also marked but not as the playhouse]. The price of admission was 4d.,
twice the regular fee. In Cuckqueans
i. 2, Shift says that "P. steeple stands in the place it did before, and you
may see a play for 2d." The supposed date is 1588. But in a marginal note to Lyly's
Pappe with an Hatchet (1589), it is stated that if a tragedy "be showed at P.,
it will cost you 4d., at the Theatre 2d." In Ind. to What
You Will , acted at P. in 1600, the speaker says, "Let's place ourselves within
the curtains, for, good faith, the stage is so very little, we shall wrong the
general eye else very much." Nash, in Saffron Walden, says that he desires to
have "the plays at P. up again." This was during their temporary suppression after
1590: there is proof that the boys were acting again in 1600, for in Marston's
Jack Drum , Sir Edward says, in v.
102, "I saw the children of Powles last night And troth they pleased me pretty,
pretty well: The apes in time will do it handsomely." Planet praises the quality
of the audience, but Brabant criticizes the plays they are producing as "musty
fopperies of antiquity."
PAUL'S (ST.) SCHOOL
A school founded by John Colet in 1512, on the E. side of the Churchyard of St.
P., Lond. It was intended for the education of 153 poor children, and its first
master was Lilly, the grammarian. The building was destroyed in the Gt. Fire and
rebuilt immediately; a more modern building was erected in 1823, and in 1880 the
school was removed to W. Kensington and the buildings pulled down to make room
for warehouses. The boys were nicknamed P. Pigeons. In Underwit
ii. 2, Thomas says, "That I took upon the Stationer's word, who had been a
pretty scholar at P." Laneham, in his Letter (1575), says, "I went to school forsooth
both at Pollen and also at St. Antoniez." In Middleton's Chaste
Maid iii. 2, Maudlin says to Tim, "I'll make your tutor whip you; You know
how I served you once at the free-school In P. churchyard." The boys performed
plays from time to time : amongst others, the Menaechmi of Plautus in 1527 and
Pharmio is 1528. A performance of a Latin tragedy on Dido, written by the headmaster,
John Rightwise, is recorded for 1532.
PAUL'S (SAINT), COVENT GARDEN
A ch. on the W. side of Covent Garden, Lond., built from the designs of Inigo
Jones. It was begun in 1631 and consecrated in 1638. The portico is seen in Hogarth's
Morning. It was burnt down in 1795 and rebuilt on the original plans. In Brome's
Covent G. i. 1, Crosswill says to
his Puritanical son Gabriel, "Come, Sir, what do you gape and shake the head at
there? I'll lay my life he has spied the little cross upon the new Ch. yond, and
is at defiance with it." Later on in the scene, Nicholas expresses the hope that
the builder Rookesbill "will be the first to lay his bones in the new ch."
PAUL, SAINT, MONASTERY OF
A monastery in Madrid. In Noble Soldier
iv.I, Medina says, "The child shall forthwith be conveyed To the monastery of
St. Paul."
PAUL'S WHARF
A landing place on the Thames, at the end of P. W. Hill, where St. P. Pier is
now. In the True Account of the Treasons of Frances Throckmorton (1584), it is
said that he was arrested "at his house by Poules Wharf." In Middleton's Chaste
Maid iv. 3, Touchwood says, "I'll Take water at P. W. and overtake you."
PAUSILIPO, POSILIPO
A mtn. on the N.W. of Naples. A tunnel is cut through it 70 ft. high, 21 wide,
and 2244 long. The road to Pozzuoli runs through it, and above its E. archway
is the reputed tomb of Vergil. It is said to have been constructed in the reign
of Tiberius, but in the Middle Ages it was supposed to have been magically fashioned
by Vergil. Davenant, in Spolia Salmacida, has in his scene "a rock cut through
by art as the P. near Naples." A lost play of Massinger's was entitled The Fair
Anchoress of Pausilippo (1640).. In Marlowe's Faustus
vii. 13, Faust tells that at Naples "There saw we learned Maro's golden tomb,
The way he cut, an English mile in length. Thorough a rock of stone, in one night's
space."
PAVIA
(the ancient TICINUM). A city in N. Italy on the left bank of the Ticino, 2 m.
above its junction with the Po, 22 m. S. of Milan. The Basilica Reale of San Michele
was the place of coronation for the Lombard Kings. In the cathedral of San Stefano
are the tombs of St. Augustine and Boethius, and the lance of Roland is suspended
from the roof. The palace of the Visconti dates from 1360. The university was
constituted in 1361. It was taken by the Lombards in 573 and became the capital
of their kingdom, and after its capture by Charlemagne in 774 it continued to
be the capital of the Caroling Kings in Italy. In 1360 it came into the hands
of the Visconti, and henceforward was part of the Duchy of Milan. In 1525 it successfully
defied Francis I of France, and he was taken prisoner and "lost all but honour";
but it was, 2 years later, sacked by the French under Lautrec. It suffered much
in the wars of the 18th cent., and was finally, with the rest of Lombardy, incorporated
with the Sardinian kingdom in 1859. The scene of Wilson's Swisser
is laid in P. during the Lombard rule in the 7th cent. In Davenant's Albovine,
which is laid in the early Lombard period (iv. 1), Hermagild says, "The Q. expects
You will return from P." Massinger's Milan
(Act iii) is laid in part in the imperial camp near P. In Chapman's Chabot
ii. 3, 185, K. Francis I says to the Chancellor, "I send for you about a service
Of equal price to me, as if again My ransom came to me from Pn. thraldom." The
date is 1540. The scenes of Marston's Insatiate
and Ford's Sacrifice are laid at
P. during the early 16th cent.
PAWN
(from the Dutch Penn). A covered walk, or arcade, in which articles were exposed
for sale: applied specifically to a part of the Royal Exchange in Lond.(q.v.)
Drayton, in Heroic Epp. xvii. 95, says, "Walk into the Pawne To buy thee cambric,
calico, or lawn." In Dekker's Westward
ii. 1, Justiniano says to Judith, "You must to the Pawn to buy lawn." In 'Tis
Merry when Gossips Meet (1609), the Wife says, "In truth, kind coz, my coming's
from the Pawn, But I protest I lost my labour there. A gentleman promised to give
me lawn And did not meet me, which he well shall hear." In verses prefixed to
Coryat's Crudities (1611), Glareanus Vadianus says, "Gald-breech Fame rode post
bare-ridge To spread the news on Antwerpe Pawne."
PEACOCK
A tavern in Lond. on the W. side of Aldersgate St., near the end of Long Lane
(q.v.) In Shirley's Wedding
ii. 1, Cardona says to Isaac, "When thou art at the Peacock, remember to call
for the sprig."
PEAK, THE
A dist. of rugged mtns. and deep valleys in N.W. Derbyshire, forming part of the Pennine Range. The highest point is about 2000 ft. above sea-level. There are many remarkable caverns and other natural curiosities: in Cotton's Wonders of the Peake (1683), 7 of these are enumerated, viz.: - Pool's Hole,
- St. Anne's Well at the Buxtons;
- Weeding Well, or Tydes-Well;
- Elden Hole;
- Mamtor;
- Peake's Arse, or the Devil's Arse; and
- Chatsworth.
In Drayton's Dowsabell, he describes the lady as "white as snow on Peakish hull."
In Underwit iii. 3, the Capt. says,
"My mother came of the Overmuches by the P." In Jonson's Devil
i. 2, Pug says he comes "of Derbyshire about the P.," and admits that the hole
called Devil's Arse belonged to his ancestors. In his Gipsies, Jack sings: "From
the famous P. of Derby And the Devil's Arse there hard by, There the AEgyptians
throng in clusters." Later, the Patrico, or Gipsy chief, calls himself "a Devil's
Arse-a-Pekian." Drayton, in Idea (1594) xxxii. 7, Says, "The P. [vaunts] her Dove,
whose banks so fertile be." In his Odes (1606), the 7th is "written in the P.,"
and he speaks of being in "the utmost P . . . . Amongst the mountains bleak, Exposed
to sleet and rain." Hall, in Satires v. 1, 66, speaks of "A starved tenement .
. . such as shiver on a Peake hill-side." Becon, in Jewel of Joy (1560), p. 420,
says that the P. "is a marvellous and a barren country, . . . that neither hath
learning nor yet no spark of godliness."
PECKHAM
A vill. in Surrey abt. 3 m. S. of St. Paul's, Lond.: now one of the suburbs of
the metropolis. In Prodigal ii.
4, Lancelot finds that Flowerdale's uncle is "of great demesnes and wealth at
P."
PEGASUS
The sign of a tavern in Cheapside, Lond. (q.v.) In Ret.
Pernass. i. 2, Ingenioso says, "Meet me an hour hence at the sign of the P.
in Cheapside." Randolph, in Jealous Lover,
speaks of "a pottle of elixir at the P." Shakespeare, in Taming
of the Shrew iv. 4, 5, makes the Pedant speak of having lodged "in Genoa at
the P."
PEKIN, or PEKING
See PAQUIN.
PELAGIA, PELAGUS
An oak-grove in S.E. Arcadia between Mantinea and Tegea. The nymph Calisto was
an Arcadian. In T. Heywood's Dialogues 5395. Juno says, "Thebes afforded an Alcmena
and a wanton Semele; P. a Callisto." According to tradition, the name of Arcadia
was originally P. In T. Heywood's Gold.
Age ii., Jupiter says to Calisto, "Live Pelasge's Q."; and in Act iii. he
says, "Archas, we make thee of P. king, As the son of fair Calisto. Let that clime
Henceforth be called Arcadia."
PELHAM'S MOUNT
A hill close to Leith in Edinburghshire. In Sampson's Vow
i. 3, 49, Grey says, "Pelham from P. Mt. plays on the town," i.e. Leith.
In iv. 1, 15, Clifton says, "Howard with his launcetieres quarters 'Twixt Mt.
Pelham and the sea by west."
PELICAN
A sign in Lombard St., Lond.(q.v.) The Pelican Life Insurance Co. may be
found still at No. 70, next to Change Alley. In T. Heywood's Ed.
IV A. 64, the K. says, "Here's Lombard St. and here's the P." There was a
P. Tavern at Oxford. In Cuckqueans
iv. 8, Claribel reminds Floradin of "our last breakfast we made in Oxford at the
Pellican."
PELION
Mtn. in Thessaly near the coast of the AEgean, N. of the Pagasaean Gulf. It is
connected with Mt. Ossa by a low ridge, and its flat top contrasts with the conical
peak of the other mtn., so as to suggest the possibility of placing Ossa upon
it, as the Giants were said to have done in order to scale Olympus, when they
were at war with the gods. It was said to have been the home of the centaur Cheiron,
the instructor of Achilles, and his cavern may still be seen between the 2 summits
of the mtn. The mtn. is richly clothed with timber, and the Argo was said to have
been built with wood cut from it. Here Acastus left Peleus to be devoured by the
beasts, but he was rescued by Cheiron and married Thetis. According to one account,
after the battle of the gods with the giants one of the latter was buried beneath
P. In M.W.W. ii. 1, 82, Mrs. Page
says, "I had rather be a giantess and lie under Mt. P." than marry Falstaff. In
Ham. v. 1, 276, Laertes cries, "Pile
your dust upon the quick and dead Till of this flat a mtn. you have made To o'ertop
old P." In Chapman's Bussy iv. 1, Tamyra
says, "Innocence rescued Peleus From all the savage beasts in P.," and in v. 1,
Montsurry says, "Men are not stayed Till they embrace within their wife's two
breasts All P. and Cythaeron with their beasts."
In T. Heywood's Traveller iv
3, Geraldine, finding Delavil with Wincott's wife, exclaims, "To suppress Your
souls yet lower, without hope to rise, Heap Ossa upon P." In Kyd's Soliman
i., Basilisco says, "Wouldst thou have me a Titan to bear up P. or Ossa?" In
Val. Welsh. ii. 2, the Bardh says,
"Gederus Fights like those giants that to cope with Jove Hurled Ossa upon P."
In Wilson's Swisser iii. 1, Asprandus
says, "Set P. upon Ossa and there place him, The justness of our cause would
fetch him down." In B.&F. Philaster
v. 3, Philaster says, "No monument, Though high and big as P., shall be able
To cover this base murder." The author of Zepheria (1594) xxxvi. 8 says, "This
is to heap Ossa on P."
PELLA
A city of ancient Macedonia, W. of the Axius, abt. 15 m. from the coast. It occupied
a strong position and its citadel was almost impregnable. It was made the capital
by Philip, the father of Alexander the Great. It is now uninhabited. In Fisher's
Fuimus i. 2, Caesar, speaking of
Alexander, says, "Once the Pellean D. did eastward march." Milton, P. R. ii. 196,
calls Alexander "that Pellean conqueror."
PELOPONNESUS
The peninsula in S. Greece, now (in 1925) called THE MOREA. In Ant.
iii. 10, 31, after the battle of Actium, Canidius says of Antony and Cleopatra:
"Toward P. are they fled."
PELORUS
(now CAPO DI FARO). The cape at the extreme N.E. point of Sicily. In T. Heywood's
S. Age iii., Pluto, giving directions
for the burial of Typhon under Sicily, says, "On his right hand the mt. P. hurl."
Milton, P. L. 1, 232, compares the surface of Hell to the appearance presented
"when the force Of subterranean wind transports a hill Torn from P., or the shattered
side Of thundering AEtna." In Marston's Ant.
Rev. iv. 3, Pandulpho says, "We'll sit as heavy on Piero's heart, As AEtna
doth on groaning P."
PELUSIUM
A city and fortress of ancient Egypt, on the easternmost mouth of the Nile, now
silted up. Its ruins are at the modern Tineh. As the frontier fortress it was
repeatedly attacked by invaders from Asia, and famous battles were fought in its
neighbourhoodby Cambyses in 525 B.C., by the Persians in 309 B.C., by Antiochus
Epiphanes in 173 B.C., and by Mark Antony in 55 B.C. It was under the walls of
P. that the army of Senna-cherib was stricken by plague 701 B.C. After the battle
of Actium, Octavian went at once to P. and was admitted within its walls. In Brandon's
Octavia 2221, Byllius says of Octavian, after Actium: "Unto P. hastily he speeds."
In Antonie i. 21, Antony charges Cleopatra with having "Yielded P. on this countries
shore," sc. to Octavian. In B.&F. Mad
Lover v. 4, Memnon says, "Sing me the battle of P. In which this worthy [Chilax]
died." The whole play is unhistorical, including this supposed battle.
PEMBROKE
The county town of Pembrokesh., the most W. county of S. Wales. It stands on the
S. side of Milford Haven. The castle, with its fine round keep, is on a ridge
surrounded on 3 sides by water, and is one of the most interesting ruins in Wales.
It was built by Arnulph de Montgomery in 1094. Here Henry VII was born in 1456,
his uncle Jasper Tudor being then Earl of P. When he returned to England in 1485
he landed in Milford Haven and marched thence to Bosworth. In R3
iv. 5, 7, Urswick informs Derby that Richmond is "At P. or at Harford-west in
Wales." The Earl of P. in K. J.
was William Marshall, who became Earl through his marriage with Isabel de Clare,
daughter of Richard Strongbow, the previous Earl. He is wrongly represented in
the play as having gone over to the side of the Dauphin when he invaded England.
His son William, who succeeded him in the title in 1219, did so, but the old Earl
remained faithful to the King throughout. He was the guardian of the young K.
Henry III after the death of John, and it was through him that the affairs of
the kingdom were brought into order. He died in 1219. The Earl of P, in Marlowe's
Ed. II was one of the nobles confederated
against Gaveston, who was committed to his custody and, probably by his connivance,
taken by Warwick and beheaded. This was Aylmer de Valence, whose father, William
de Valence, was created Earl of P. in 1264.
In H6 C. iv. 1, 130 and iv.
3, 54, the Earl of P. is mentioned as a supporter of Edward of York. Jasper
Tudor, uncle of Henry VII, was created Earl of P. in 1453, and was a zealous
Lancastrian; after his death William Herbert was created Earl in 1468 by Edward
IV, whom he had vigorously supported. He was sent with Stafford to fight against
the Lancastrians in the North, but Stafford quarrelled with him and he was left
to meet the enemy alone near Banbury, where he was taken prisoner and executed
in 1469. His illegitimate son, Sir Richard Herbert, of Ewyas, was the ancestor
of the present (as of 1925) Earl. He was succeeded in the title by his son William,
who is the P. of R3 iv. 5, 11
and v. 3, 29. In 1532 Henry VIII raised the Lady Anne Boleyn to the peerage
under the title of Marchioness of P. In H8
ii. 3, 63, the Lord Chamberlain tells her, "The K. 's majesty does purpose honour
to you, no less flowing Than Marchioness of P." The title was revived in 1551
and conferred on Sir William Herbert, grandson of the William who was executed
at Banbury. He is one of the characters in Webster's Wyat.
His son Henry, the 2nd Earl, married Mary, sister of Sir Philip Sidney, to whom
his Arcadia is dedicated. She was a poetess and a patron of poets: to her is
dedicated Daniel's Cleopatra, and Jonson wrote her epitaph. "Underneath this
marble hearse Lies the subject of all verse, Sidney's sister, P.'s mother."
Her son was William, the 3rd Earl, who has been by some supposed to be the W.
H. the only begetter of Shakespeare's Sonnets, but with very slender reason.
The 1st Folio of Shakespeare was dedicated to him and to Philip Herbert, Earl
of Montgomery. There is a fictitious Duke of P. in Chivalry,
the supposed date of which is about 1250. There is an Earl of P. in Munday's
John Kent, but he is not an historical personage. Anselm Marshall, with whom
the title became extinct in 1245, may be the man intended. Fuller, in Church
History iv. 15, 13, says that Henry VII was "born in the bowels of Wales, at
P."
PEMBROKE COLLEGE
University of Cambridge, founded by Mary de St. Paul in 1347 in memory of her husband, Aylmer de Valence, Earl of P., who was killed at a tilting held in honour of his wedding, so that Mary was "maid, wife, and widow" in one day. She was the daughter of Sir Guy de Chastillon and grandniece of Edward I. The College was at first called Valence Mary, but very soon became known as P. Hall. The poet Spenser was a member of the college. It stands at the corner of P. St. and Trumpington St. Willis, in Mount Tabor (1639), speaks with gratitude of his old schoolmaster: "one Master Gregory Downhale of P. Hall in Cambridge." Nash, in Pierce, tells a story of "T. N., the master butler of P. Hall, a far better scholar than thyself."
PENERIAN
(I suspect a misprint for PYRENAEAN; see Brereton's Eliz. Drama, p. 161). In Bristowe
E. 2, Anabell asks, "Will Vallenger in silence lose his son And harder than the
Penerian rocks Never be pierced?"
PENEUS
The chief river of Thessaly, rising in the Pindus range and flowing through the
Vale of Tempe to the AEgean Sea. Daphne was, according to Greek legend, the daughter
of the river-god P. In Caesar's Rev.
i. 3, Caesar says, "The flying Pompey to Larissa hastes, And by Thessalian Tempe
shapes his course Where fair P. tumbles up his waves." In T. Heywood's Dialogues
5240, Io says, "Here, Daphne, by your father P.' streams, Which, falling from
the top of Pindus mt., Waters Haemonian Tempe, let us sit." in Ford's Sun ii.
1, Spring speaks of "That self-same bay-tree into which was turned Peneian Daphne."
W. Drummond of Hawthornden, in Summons to Love, apostrophizes Phoebus: "Thou two
sweeter eyes Shalt see than those which by P.' streams Did once thy heart surprise."
The reference is to the story of the love of Phoebus for Daphne. Spencer, in Prothalamion
78, says of the streams of the Thames: "Like old P.' waters they did seem, When
down along by pleasant Tempe's shore Scattered with flowers, through Thessaly
they stream." Drummond pronounces it as a tri-syllable, Spenser as a dissyllable.
In Nabbes' Microcosmus iii., Sensuality promises Physander "shall sleep upon a
bed of purest down, driven from white necks of Cayster's swans and P.' sparrows."
I do not see the special appropriateness of the epithet. Spencer, F. Q. iv. 11,
21, calls it "slow P."
PEN-MIEN-MAUR
A mtn. on the coast of Caernarvon in N. Wales, rising abruptly from the sea to
a height of 1540 ft. In Jonson's Wales, Jenkin asks, "Is not P. and Craig-Eriri
as good sound as Adlas every whit of him?" In Shirley's St.
Patrick iii. 1, Rodomant says, "An 'twere as deep as the root of P. My love
should have it." Drayton, in Polyolb. x. 3, says, "The Muse her former course
doth seriously pursue From Penman's craggy height to try her saily wings." In
W. Rowley's Shoemaker iii. 2, 182,
when Hugh says he is a Welshman, Barnaby replies, "You know Penvenmower."
PENNILESS BENCH
A seat under a wooden canopy at the E. end of the old Carfax ch. is Oxford, notorious
as the resort of idle loungers and paupers. In Massinger's Madam
iv. 1, Luke says, "Bid him bear up; he shall not Sit long on P. B." In Greene's
James IV iv. 3, Andrew says, "We
will teach him such a lesson as shall cost him a chief place on p. b. for his
labour." Middleton, in Black Book vii. 27, says, "The time was at hand like a
pickpurse, that Pierce should be called no more pennyless, like the Mayor's bench
at Oxford." Greene, in Groatsworth of Wit xii. 133, says, "In this sorrow he sat
down on p. b." Lyly, in Euphues England ii. 29, says, "Every stool he sat on was
peniles b . . . . his robes were rags." Peacham, in Worth of a Penny (1641) ad
fin., satirizes those who have once had overmuch money, but "in no long time have
been fair . . . to take a nap on p. b."
PENNYRICH STREET
Lond., possibly Pencritch St. is intended. It was the E. part of the present Pancras Lane,(q.v.) which runs from Queen St. to Bucklersbury, parallel to Cheapside. It was named from the old ch. of St. Pancras, which stood on its N. side and was not rebuilt after the Gt. Fire. In Jonson's Christmas, Christmas sings: "Then Offering, he, With his dish and his tree, That in every great house keepeth, Is by my son, Young Little-worth done, And in P. st. he sleepeth."
PENON
(more fully, P. DE VELEZ). A roadstead on the N. coast of Morocco, about half-way
between Ceuta and the Gulf of Melilla. In Stucley
1261, "Aginer, Zananra, Seuta, P., Melilla" are mentioned as towns in Morocco
held by the Portuguese at the time.
PENRYN
An ancient borough in S. Cornwall, at the head of a branch of Falmouth harbour, 2 m. N.W. of Falmouth. In Cornish M. P. i. 2589, Solomon says to the Carpenter that he will give him "cot's P. yn tyen." i.e. "the wood of P. wholly." In iii. 673, Pilate gives P. to one of the soldiers who has guarded the sepulchre of our Lord, as the price of his silence.
PENSANS
(PENZANCE). A spt. town in Cornwall on the N.W. side of Mount's Bay, 24 m. S.W.
of Truro. In Brome's Ct. Beggar
ii. 1, Swaynwit says, "Pray tell your lady I came not from P. to grow here." In
his Damoiselle ii. 1, Amphilus laments
the death of his mare, "That would have carried me on this little iron From P.
to S. Columb on a day." The distance by road is about 40 m.
PENSHURST
A vill. in Kent on the Eden, near its junction with the Medway, 19 m. S.W. of Maidstone. P. Place is an extensive castellated building, famous as the residence of the Sidney family. Here Sir Philip Sidney was born in 1554. Jonson wrote an Ode to P. in The Forest, beginning: "Thou art not, P., built to envious show Of touch or marble."
PENTAPOLIS
The dist. on the N. coast of Africa between the Great Syrtis and the boundary of Egypt formed by the Romans into the province of Cyrenaica. It is now the most E. part of Tripoli. The 5 Greek colonies from which it takes its name were Cyrene, Barca, Teucheira, Hesperides, and Apollonia. Cyrene was governed by a dynasty derived from its founder Battus, but this was overthrown in the 5th cent. B.C. and a republic established. In Per., Simonides, the father of Thaisa and grandfather of Marina, is called the K. of P., which is an anachronism, as the date of the play is the early part of the 2nd century B.C. Act ii. (except sc. 4) takes place at P., on the coast of which Pericles is wrecked, and where he wins the hand of Thaisa in a tournament. In v. 3, 4, he says, "I did wed At P. the fair Thaisa," and in line 73, "This prince, the fair betrothed of your daughter, Shall marry her at P."
PENUEL, or PENIEL
(i.e. FACES OF GOD). In Gen. xxxii. 30, it is stated to have been so called by Jacob after his wrestling with the angel, because he had there seen the face of God. It was an important strategic point, and was fortified (Judges viii. 17) and rebuilt by Jeroboam (1 Kings xii. 25). It was clearly E. of the Jordan, not far from Succoth and near the Jabbok. 2 sites have been suggested: Jebel Osha, 8 m. S. of the Jabbok and 11 E. of Jordan, and Tulul edh-Dhahab, on the Jabbok, 4 m. S.E. of Succoth. In Milton, S. A. 278, the Chorus calls to mind "How Succoth and the fort of Penuel Their great deliverer contemned, The matchless Gideon." See Judges viii. 8-17.
PENVENMOWER
See PEN-MAEN-MAUR.
PENZANCE
See PENSANS.
PEPPER ALLEY
A passage leading from the Borough, Southwark, to P. A. Stairs, a landing-place
just W. of Old Lond. Bdge. (q.v.): the site is covered by the present Bdge.
In T. Heywood's Hogsdon ii. 1, the
Wise Woman, in a list of fortune-tellers and astrologers, mentions "one Hatfield
in P. A., he doth pretty well for a thing that is lost." The imprint on the title
page of Nash's Return of Pasquil (1589) runs: "If my breath be so hot that I burn
my mouth, suppose I was printed by P. A."
PERAEA
The dist. in Palestine, E. of the Jordan, extending from Machaerus in the S. to Pella in the N., and from the Jordan to Amman or Philadelphia. In Milton, P. R. ii. 24, the disciples seek for Jesus "On this side the broad lake Genezaret, Or in Peraea."
PERCIA
See PERSIA.
PERGAMUM [1], or PERGAMUS
Properly the citadel of ancient Ilium, or Troy, on a hill S.E. of the city. It
is used as a synonym for Troy, q.v. In Fisher's Fuimus
iv. 3, Rollano says, "P. again shall sink in dust." in Kyd's Span.
Trag. i. 2, Horatio says, "She herself, disguised in armour's mask, As Pallas
was before proud P." Pallas fought on the side of the Greeks in the Trojan War.
In T. Heywood's Iron Age ii., Ajax
cries, "Let the thunder of our drums Strike terror to the city P." In Locrine
iii. 1, 49, Guendoline says, "Not Hecuba, the q. of Ilium, When she beheld the
town of P. Her palace burnt with all devouring flames . . . Shed such sad tears
as I."
PERGAMUM [2]
An ancient city in the province of Mysia in Asia Minor, on the river Selinus,
15 m. from the coast. Under the Attalids it became the capital of a large kingdom,
which was made into a Roman province in 130 B.C. Pliny calls it far the most distinguished
city in Asia, and it was the seat of one of the Seven Churches of Asia addressed
in the Apocalypse. It claimed the honour of being the 1st city to erect a temple
to Augustus Caesar. In Jonson's Sejanus
i. 2, Tiberius says, "Deified Augustus hindered not A temple to be built at Pergamum
In honour of himself and sacred Rome."
PERIGORT
The title of a lord mentioned in L.L.L.
ii. 1, 41, Who was married in Normandy to the beauteous heir of Jaques Falconbridge.
The title was probably derived from the Province of Perigord in S.W. France in
Guienne and Gascony.
PERIWIGGANA
An imaginary country. In Shirley's Gamester
iii., the Nephew talks of "Periwiggana, a fruitful country: the moon shines all
day and the sun at night." The point being that elderly periwig-pared gentlemen
sit up all night gaming and sleep all day.
PERNASSUS
See PARNASSUS.
PERSEPOLIS
The capital of the Persian Empire under the Achaemenidae. The city has long ceased
to exist, but the ruins of the palaces of Darius I, Xerxes, and Artaxerxes III
are still to be seen at Takhti Jamshid, 40 m. N.E. of Shiraz in Persia; and 8
m. to the N.E., at Nakshi Rustam, are the rock-hewn tombs of the Kings of this
dynasty. The city was taken and the palaces burnt down by Alexander the Gt. In
Marlowe's Tamb., P. is spoken of as being still the capital of the Persian Empire,
though it had long been a heap of ruins. In A.
i. 1, Meander speaks of Tamburlaine, "Who robs your merchants of P.," and
in ii. 5, Meander promises Cosroe, "Your Majesty shall shortly have your wish
And ride in triumph through P."; and Tamburlaine exclaims, "Is it not passing
brave to be a k. And ride in triumph through P.?" In Milton, P. R. iii. 284, the
Tempter, speaking of Cyrus, says, "P., His city, here thou seest."
PERSIA
(Pn. = Persian). The country N. of the Pn. Gulf and S. of the Caspian Sea, between Turkestan, Afghanistan, and Beloochistan on the E., and Turkey-in-Asia on the W. It includes the older provinces of Persil, on the N. of the Pn. Gulf, Media, Parthia, and others of less note. Its history begins with the Median dynasty named after its supposed founder Achaemenes, circ. 730 B.C. Cyrus of Anshan, who was a Pn., united the Median and Pn. kingdoms, conquered Croesus of Lydia 547 B.C., took Babylon in 539, and established the Medo-Pn. Empire. His son Cambyses invaded and conquered Egypt, and was succeeded by Darius in 521. Darius attacked the Greeks, but was defeated at Marathon in 490. Xerxes, his successor, marched with an enormous army to avenge the disgrace of Marathon, but his fleet was destroyed at Salamis in 480 and his land forces at Plataea in the following year. Cyrus the Younger and his Greeks (under Xenophon) showed the way in 401 to the heart of the Empire, though his death at Cunaxa postponed its fall. But Alexander of Macedon crossed the Hellespont in 334 and in 331 shattered P. by the victory of Gaugamela over Darius, the last of the Achaemenid kings. After Alexander's death in 323 the Seleucids took over the E. part of his empire, but they soon lost all but a nominal control over P., and when Arsaces I founded the Parthian kingdom in 250 P. Was included in its dependencies, though it had kings of its own who seem to have gradually gained an independent position. In A.D. 211 Ardashir founded the Sassanian Empire, of which P. was the centre, which lasted until it was overthrown by the Arabs at the battle of Nehavend in A.D. 641. The Pns., who had been all through their history Zoroastrians, or Fire-worshippers, were compelled to embrace Mohammedanism, and formed part of the Eastern Caliphate of the Omayyads and then the Abbasids, until the Mogols took Bagdad in 1258 and brought it to an end. The Mongol dynasty thus established gave way in 1335 to the Eylkhanians, who in turn were conquered by Timur (Tamburlaine) in 1387. At the close of the 15th cent. the Usbegs of Khiva added Eastern P. to their dominions, but in Western P. Ismail established a new dynasty, conquered the Usbegs in 1511, and though defeated by the great Sultan Selim in 1514 was able to hold his own and maintain the integrity of his kingdom. Shah Abbas the Gt. reigned from 1585 to 1628, and opened up relations with the European powers. In 1598 Robert Shirley visited his court and remained in his service, being sent by him as ambassador to England in 1607. He arrived in England in 1611 and stayed for 2 years. In 1623 he returned once more to England as ambassador, and finally died in P. in 1628. The dynasty of Ismail was overthrown in 1736 by a robber chief, Nadir Shah.
Historical Allusions. In Respublica
ii. 1, Respublica, musing on the mutability of things, exclaims, "Where is the
great Empire of the Medes and Pns.?" In Kyd's Cornelia i., Cicero asks, "Were
they [the Romans] the heirs to P, or the Medes, First monarchies?" Percia appears
as one of the characters in Darius. In Chapman's D'Olive
iii. 1, Vandome says, "So the Pn. king Made the great river Ganges run distinctly
In an innumerable sort of channels." This was Cyrus (see under GANGES). In Preston's
Cambises prol., we have: "In Percia
there reigned a k. Who Cirus hight by name Who did deserve, As I do read, The
lasting blast of fame." In Cyrus
i. 1, Gurus addresses his men as "Ye Pns., Medes, and Hircanians." In Greene's
James IV i. 645, Oberon says, "Cirus
of P., Mighty in life, within a marble grave Was laid to rot." The alleged tomb
is still extant at Meshed-Murghab. In Skelton's Magnificence
fol. xvii., Magnificence mentions in his list of heroes "Daryus, the doughty
chieftain of Parse." Cambises deals with incidents in the history of the conquest
of Egypt by Cambyses, the successor of Cyrus. In Wilson's Cobler
186, the Soldier says, "In the conflict of Arbaces, general of P., at Marathon
I rescued the colours of Boeotia." In B.&F. Custom
ii. 1, Duarte says, "Were the Pn. host that drank up rivers added To the Turk's
present powers, I could direct them." The reference is to the army of Xerxes.
In Chapman's Caesar iii. 1, 125,
Pompey says that the Genius of Rome is not "Slowly stirred up, like the Pn.
angel." Cf. Daniel x. 13, where "the Prince of P." means an angel. In Lyly's
Campaspe iii. 4, Hephestion says
to Alexander, "Behold all P. swelling in the pride of their own power. All these,
Alexander, are to be subdued." In Chettle's Hoffman
ii., Mathias says, "Their caparisons exceed the Pn. monarch's when he met destruction
from Philip's son." In Chapman's Consp.
Byron iv. 1, Byron says, "The great Macedon Was said . . . To teach . .
. The incestuous Pns. to reverence Their mothers." Milton, P. L. xi. 393, describes
Adam as seeing in vision "where The Pn. in Ecbatan sat." Ecbatana was the summer
capital of the Achaemenian kings of P. B.&F. Prophetess
takes place during the reign of Carinus about A.D. 284. Act iv. 4 and 5 are
laid in P. during the war between the Romans and Bahrain II, one of the Sassanid
kings, who is called Cosroe in the play. In Kirke's Champions
ii. 1, the K. of Tartary speaks of the "hot Pn. host that seeks to name Tartary
new P." There is probably some vague reminiscence of the wars between the Turks
and the Pns. is the 6th cent., but the whole play is wildly unhistorical. An
equally imaginary war between Arabia and P. forms the background of Chapman's
Rev. Hon.: in i. 1, 194, Tarifa
speaks of "the proud Pn. monarchy, the sole Emulous opposer of the Arabic greatness."
In Marlowe's Tamb. A., an account
is given of the deposition of Mycetes, K. of P., by his brother Cosroe, who
in i. 1, exclaims, "Unhappy P. that in former age Hast been the seat of mighty
conquerors That . . . Have triumphed over Afric and the bounds Of Europe . .
. Now Turks and Tartars shake their swords at thee." In ii. 5, Tamburlaine invests
Cosroe as K., and is by him appointed Regent of P. In ii. 7, however, Tamburlaine
defeats and kills Cosroe and seizes the crown for himself. In Selimus
46, Baiazet complains, "The Pn. Sophi, mighty Ismael, Took the Levante clean
away from me." This was Baiazet II, the father of Selim. The title Sophy was
given to Ismail and all his successors: it is the Arabic "Safi-ud-din." meaning
purity of religion. In Kyd's Soliman
i., Haler says, "I hold it not good policy to call Your forces home from P.
and Polonia. Strive not for Rhodes by letting P. slip." Suleyman 1, the Magnificent,
had wars with Poland, P., and Rhodes. In Chettle's Hoffman
D. 1, Austria says of Rodorick: "He lost his life Long since in P. by the Sophies
wars." In B.&F. Span. Cur. i.
1, Leandro says, "'Tis now in fashion to have your gallants set down in a tavern
whether his [the Turk's] moony standards are designed for P. or Polonia." Apparently
the reference is to Suleyman the Magnificent, who had wars with both. In Merch.
ii. 1, 25, Morocco swears by "this scimitar That slew the Sophy and a Pn. prince
That won 3 fields of Sultan Solyman." In Soliman
i. 3, 51, the Turkish general boasts, "Against the Sophy in 3 pitched fields
Under the conduct of great Soliman Have I put the flint-heart Perseans to the
sword." In Wise Men iii. 2, Insalsito
says, "This lady hath received a book from a friend of hers that went over with
Sir Robert Sherley into P." Day's Travails
tells the story of Sir Robert's visit to the court of "the Pn. Sophey," Shah
Abbas, in 1598. Cartwright's Slave takes place at Sardis in the reign of a Pn.
K., Arsamnes, whose q. was Atossa. Atossa was the q. of Darius Hystaspis, and
the time seems to be that of the old Medo-Pn. Empire, but the play has no historical
value. The scene of Suckling's Aglaura
is also laid in P., but the time is even more indeterminate. A war between P.
and Turkey is the background of Greville's Mustapha. In Club
Law i. 6, Spruce says, "In the ancient Pn. commonwealth you shall find very
often that the weal-public flourished in the time of the monarchy."
General References. In Marlowe's Dido
iii. 1, Sergius recognizes one of Dido's suitors as "a Pn. born." In Jonson's
Volpone iii. 6, Volpone says to
Celia, "I will have thee Attired like unto the Pn. Sophy's wife." In B.&F. Pestle
iv. 1, the Citizen says, "Let the Sophy of P. come and christen him a child."
The allusion is to an incident in Travails,
which had recently been performed at the Red Bull Theatre. In T. Heywood's Royal
King v., Audley tells "a Pn. History" of a falcon that killed an eagle and
was executed for it by the Sophy, as being a traitor to the K. of Birds. In
Taming of Shrew prol., Haz., p.
496, Will speaks of "winged Pegasus . . . That ran so swiftly over the Pn. plains."
This is ignorant rhodomontade: Pegasus had nothing to do with P.
There was considerable trade with P. in Elizabethan times, chiefly in silks,
carpets, and shawls; and in pearls and precious stones. In Err.
iv. 1, 4, the Merchant is "bound to P." In Marlowe's Jew
i. 1, Barabas is informed that his argosy doth ride in Malta-road laden with
"exceeding store Of Pn. silks, of gold, and orient pearl." In Cyrus
i. 1. the horse of Croesus has "the reins of Pn. silk." In Massinger's Actor
ii. 1, Parthenius tells the miser Philargus that his superfluous means could
clothe him "in the costliest Pn. silks, Studded with jewels." In Glapthorne's
Argalus i. 1, Philarchus says,
"Mars wrapt his battered limbs in Pn. silks." In Davenant's Italian
i. 1, Altamont says, "The soft entrail of the Pn. worm Shall clothe thy limbs."
In Nabbes' Hannibal i. 1, the Lady
promises her Soldier "Pn. mantles, richly embroidered." In Chapman's Rev.
Hon. i. 1, 8, Gaselles speaks of "Pn. silks or costly Tyrian purples." In
B. & F. Cure i. 2, Eugenia orders
her maid to "hang up the rich Pn. arras Used on my wedding night." In Davenant's
U. Lovers iii. 4, Altophil speaks
of "Rich hangings of the antick Pn. loom." In Jonson's Magnetic
iv. 3, Compass describes Lady Loadstone "cast on a featherbed and spread on
the sheets under a brace of your best Pn. carpets." In Davenant's Wits
iii., Palatine describes the Mogul's daughter sitting "on a rich Pn. quilt."
In Massinger's Bondman i. 3, Timagoras
says, "Adorn your walls With Pn. hangings wrought of gold and pearl." In Nabbes'
Hannibal ii. 4, Syphax says, "Cover
the pavement which her steps must hallow With Pn. tapestry." In his Microcosmus
iii., Bellanima talks about "Pn. aromats," i.e. spices.
The dress of the Pns. was quaint and rich, and they wore on their heads fine
lawn turbans, the Cydaris being the jewelled turban used as one of the insignia
of royalty. In King Lear iii.
5, 86, Lear says to the ragged Edgar, "I do not like the fashion of your garments;
you will say they are Pn. attire, but let them be changed." In Jonson's Alchemist
ii. 1, Mammon says, "For all my other raiment It shall be such as might provoke
the Pn." In Heywood's Lucrece iii.
5, Valerian sings: "The Turk in linen wraps his head, The Pn. his in lawn too."
In Jonson's Hymen, certain of the figures wore on their heads "Persic crowns,"
i.e. jewelled turbans. In Spenser's F. Q. i. 2, 13, Duessa "like a Pn.
mitre on her head She wore, with crowns and ouches garnished." In Strode's Float.
Isl. ii. 4, Fancy says, "This Pn. cydaris hath made some Sophies That scarce
were wise before ": with a play on the word.
The Pns. were regarded as very wealthy and luxurious. In Massinger's Madam
v. 1, Sir John says, "I. will prepare you such a feast As P. in her height of
pomp and riot Did never equal." In Ford's Trial
iii. 1, Banatzi exclaims, "A Pn. cook! Dainty!" In his Fancies
iv. a, Romano says, "I keep no rich Pn. surfeits." In Greene's Friar
viii., Prince Edward promises Margaret "Frigates overlaid With plates of Pn.
wealth." In May's Heir iii., Philocles
speaks of "all the pomp That the vain Pn. ever taught the world." In Rutter's
Shepherd Hol. i. 4, Mirtillus asks,
"Would you for all the wealth of P. change one lock of your mistress' hair?"
In Massinger's Guardian ii. 4,
Calipso promises Laval "a retiring bower So furnished as might force the Pn.'s
envy." Spencer, in F. Q. i. 4, 7, calls P. "the nurse of pompous pride"; and
in iii. 4, 23, speaks of "the pomp of Pn. Kings." The Pn. courtiers were reputed
to be expert in flattery and sycophantism. In Massinger's Actor
i. 3, Paris says of the stage: "We show no arts of Lydian panderism, Corinthian
poisons, Pn. flatteries." In B.&F. Valentin.
i. 3, AEcius asks, "Were . . . our princes Pns., Nothing but silks and softness?"
Kyd, in Soliman iii., speaks of
putting "the flint-heart Perseans to the sword." The general idea, however,
was that the Pns. were soft, luxurious, and cowardly; and I am disposed to accept
Brereton's emendation, "faint heart." The Pns. castrated youths, to use them
in their harems as eunuchs. In May's Agrippina
iv. 479, Petronius says of the Romans: "After the Pn. rite . . . they cut away
Manhood from growth-spoiled youths." The Pns. were Zoroastrians, or Fire-worshippers,
until they were forced to become Mohammedans. In Chapman's Consp.
Byron v. 1, Byron says, "I will ask it As the ancient Pns. did when they
implored Their idol fire to grant them any boon, And threaten there to quench
it if they failed." In Massinger's New
Way ii. 2, Furnace the Cook swears "By Fire! for cooks are Pns. and swear
by it." In Shirley's Bird ii.
2, Rolliardo, looking at a diamond, says, "A row of these stuck in a lady's
forehead Would make a Pn. stagger in his faith And give more adoration to this
light Than to the sun-beam."
Various objects specified as Pn.
- Persian Coursers. The Pn. Arab horse, though not quite equal in value to
the pure Arabian, was highly esteemed. In Barnes' Charter
i. 4, Alexander gives to Caesar "6 Pn. coursers, armed and furnished With
rich caparisons of gold and pearl."
- Persian Crab. Probably some sort of apple. In Davenant's Cr.
Brother iv. 4, Forests speaks of "The unctuous lhasis and the Pn. Crab"
as aphrodisiacs. Lyly, in Euphues Anat. Wit, p. 44, speaks of "the apple in
P. whose blossom savoureth like honey, whose bud is more sour than gall."
Probably he means the peach.
- Persian junk. A Pa. merchant-vessel. The word was at first used of Javanese
and Malay vessels, but was also applied to eastern vessels of other countries.
In Davenant's Plymouth iii. 1,
Seawit says, "Imagine we meet a Pn. junk or Turkish carrack, board her, take
her, and force a Bashaw prisoner."
- Persian Lock. A sort of kiss-curl affected by fashionable men about town. Dekker, in Hornbook vi., speaks of "good clothes, a proportionable leg, white hand, the Pn. lock, and a tolerable beard [as] the best and most essential parts of a Gallant."
- Persian Louse. In Marston's What
you iii. 1, Noose speaks of "the Pn. louse that eats biting and biting
eats."
- Persian Leopard. In Sampson's Vow
ii. 2, 78, Young Bateman says, "Had I been . . . spotted like the Pn. leopards
. . . I am thy Bateman, Nan."
In Jonson's Magnetic i. 5, Polish
makes an atrocious pun, and says, "The Pns. were our Puritans, Had the fine piercing
wits."
PERSIAN GULF
A gulf of the Arabian Sea lying between Persia and Arabia. In Massinger's Guardian
v. 4, Severino says that Iolante is "the daughter of a noble captain who, in his
voyage to the P. Gulf, Perished by shipwreck." In Milton, P. R. iii. 273, the
Tempter says to our Lord, "Here thou behold'st . . . to south the P. bay."
PERSICK HAVEN, or PONTUS PERSICUS
An imaginary harbour in the country of the Teleboians, q.v. In T. Heywood's
S. Age ii., Ganimed says, "Was not
our ships launched out of the Persick Haven?" The whole passage is literally translated
from the Amphitruo of Plautus.
PERU, or PERUANA
A country on the N.W. coast of S. America extending from Chili in the S. to Ecuador in the N., but formerly the name was used for the whole W. coast from Chili to the isthmus of Panama. Pizarro, when he landed there in 1527, found a country remarkably civilized, under the rule of sovereigns called Incas. He returned in 1532 and defeated and treacherously murdered the Inca Atahualpa: by degrees the whole country was conquered, and the 1st Spanish Viceroy was appointed in 1542. From that time onward it was governed by a succession of viceroys until 1823, when it achieved its independence. The capital, Lima, was founded by Pizarro in 1535. The gold and silver mines of P. were the source of great wealth to the Spaniards, and P. came to be used as a synonym for immense wealth. Its birds and animals were brought to Europe and aroused great curiosity from the novelty of their shape and plumage. It was regarded as the most W. country of the world, and the phrase "from England to P." meant the whole of the globe. Fuller, Holy State ii. 22, compares America to an hour-glass "which hath a narrow neck of land betwixt the parts thereof . . . Mexicans and Peruana."
In B.&F. Span. Cur. iii. 2,
Lopez says to Arsenio and Milanes, "You look like travelled men; ye came not
from P.?" In Davenant's Playhouse iii., one of the characters bears as his cognizance
"the figure of the Sun, which was the scutcheon of the Incas, who were Emperors
of P." The Incas were supposed to be the children of the Sun, who was the chief
God of the Peruvians. In Jonson's Alchemist
ii. 1, Mammon says of Subtle's laboratory, where he is making the philosopher's
stone: "Here's the rich P." In B.&F. Noble
Gentleman i. 1, Clerimont says, "Have you ships at sea To bring you gold
and stone from rich P.?" In Davenant's Distresses
v., Basilonte says, "That kiss I will requite With the best jewel that P. did
yield." In Shirley's Honoria ii.
1, Alamode asks Fulbank, "Are you master of this rich P.?" meaning the wealthy
Lady Aurelia. In his Pleasure
iii. 1, Lord A. says, "'Twere less laborious to serve a prenticeship in P. and
dig gold out of the mine." The gold mines were worked by slave labour, and the
Spaniards treated their unfortunate captives with great cruelty. In Cockayne's
Obstinate v. 6, Falorus says, "I
envy not His wealth that holds the inexhaustible mines Of famed P." Heylyn (p.
12) quotes from Du Bartas: "From P. [come] pearl and gold." In Mayne's Match
iii. 1, Plotwell says, "The birds brought from P. could never draw people like
this." In Shirley's Bird ii. 1,
Rolliardo suggests that Bonamico should stick his skin with feathers "and draw
the rabble of the city, for pence apiece, to see a monstrous bird brought from
P." Spencer, F. Q. ii. prol. 2, asks, "Who ever heard of th' Indian P.?" In
Brewer's Lingua ii. 4, Memory speaks
of "all the old libraries in every city betwixt England and P." Cf. Johnson's
phrase in Vanity of Human Wishes: "from China to P." Spencer, F. Q. iii. 3,
6, says that Britomart would seek her lover, "Though beyond the Africk Ismael
Or th' Indian P. he were." Milton, P. L. xi. 408, makes Adam see in vision "Rich
Mexico, the seat of Montezume, And Cusco in P., the richer seat of Atabalipa,"
the last of the Incas. Burton, A. M. ii. 2, 3, speculates whether Ophir was
"Peruana, which some suppose, or that Aurea Chersonesus"; he also refers to
"the Titicacan [lake] in P." In verses prefixed to Coryat's Crudities (1611),
Hoskins says, "Fame is but wind, thence wind map blow it . . . From Mexico and
from P. To China and to Cambalu." In Wilson's Inconstant
i. 2, Aramant says, "The rich P. is but a sunny bank Compared to her." The author
of Discourse on Leather (1627) says, "We can live without the gold of P."
PERUGIA
(the ancient PERUSIA). The capital of the Province of P. in central Italy, lying
on the Tiber, 82 m. N. of Rome. It is a walled city with a university and a strong
citadel built by Pope Paul III. In Barnes' Charter
iii. 3, Frescobaldi says, "My mother was of consanguinity With the Princess of
P." In Cockayne's Trapolin ii. 3,
Horatio calls it "bloody Peruggia," in reference probably to the defeat of the
Romans by Hannibal at Lake Trasimenus close by.
PE'RYN
(PENRYN) A town in Cornwall, 2 m. N.W. of Falmouth at the head of a branch of
Falmouth Harbour. In Middleton's Quarrel
v. 1, Pe'ryn is mentioned as one of the places at which Chough called on his way
from Cornwall to Lond.
PESARO
A town in Italy on the coast of the Adriatic, at the mouth of the Foglia, abt.
40 m. N.W. of Ancona. It was famous for the fine quality of its figs and other
fruits. In Cockayne's Trapolin ii.
3, Horatio calls it "Pesaro, a garden of best fruits."
PESCARA
A town in Italy, the ancient Aternum, at the mouth of the Aterno on the Adriatic,
100 m. E. of Rome. In Massinger's Milan
i. 3, Francisco says to Sforza, "Your constant friend, the Marquis of P., Hath
business that concerns your life and fortunes." P. then enters and plays a part
in the rest of the drama. A Marquis of P., one of the generals who defeated Francis
I at Pavia (1525), also plays a secondary part in Webster's Malfi.
In Barnes' Charter i. 3, Barbarossa
says, "John Sforza, now Lord Marquis of P., Was 2nd husband to this jolly Dame,"
i.e. Lucrezia Borgia.
PETER'S (SAINT)
An ancient ch. in Bedford on the N. side of the Ouse. In Hon.
Law. iii. 1, Curfew says "I am the new parson of St. Peter's in Bedford."
PETER'S (SAINT), FRANKFORT
A ch. in Frankfort-on-Main, in the N.E. of the old city, at the junction of the
Alten Gasse and the Schafer Gasse, near the Friedberg Gate. In Chapman's Alphonsus
iii. 1, 77, Prince Edward says, "Th' Archbp. of Collen . . . Joined us together
in St. Peter's ch."
PETER (SAINT) LE-POOR
A ch. in Lond. on the W. side of Old Broad St., a little N. of Throgmorton St. The old ch. was next to Paulet House, and escaped the Gt. Fire, but it projected into the street, and so was taken down in 1788 and the present building erected further back. In Curates' Conference (1641), Master Poorest says, "I was offered a place in the city of Lond., but the name of it frightened me: it was at St. Peter's-poor."
PETER'S (SAINT) PALACE
The Vatican, q.v. In Barnes' Charter
ii. 1, The Pope says to Charles VIII, "The conclave thought it fit To make your
welcome in St. Peter's Palace."
PETER'S (SAINT), ROME
The metropolitan ch. Of the Christian world: "the most glorious structure that
ever has been applied to the use of Religion" (Gibbon). It stands on the Vatican
across the Tiber, N.E. of the city. An oratory containing the body of St. Peter
was erected on the site of the present ch. by Anicetus in A.D. 90. In 306 Constantine
replaced it by a basilica. This having become ruinous, Pope Nicolas V began the
present building in 1450. The work proceeded slowly, and about 1550 its completion
was entrusted to Michel Angelo, whose plans were on the whole faithfully carried
out, though Maderno's facade, finished in 1614, somewhat dwarfs the effect of
the dome. The dedication took place on November 18th, 1626; the noble colonnades
surrounding the Piazza were added in 1667. The length of the ch. is 613 ft., about
100 ft. longer than St. Paul's, Lond.; the dome is 448 ft. high, 64 ft: higher
than St. Paul's: A peculiar feature, is that the high altar over the shrine of
St. Peter is at the W. end of the ch. On the N. of the Piazza is the Vatican Palace,
the residence of the Popes. In J. Heywood's Four
PP. i. 1, the Palmer says; "Yet have I been at Rome also And gone the stations
all a-row, St. P. shrine and many mo." In Trouble.
Reign, Haz., p. 292, the K. addresses Pandulph as "The holy vicar of St. P.
ch." In Barnes' Charter iv. 1, Bernardo,
asked the time by the Pope, says, "Very near 6 by St. P. bell." In v. 5, Caraffa
says, "His [the Pope's] corpse shall be conveyed to St. P." In Tarlton's Purgatory,
we read of Pope Pius: "His body was carried from Castle Angelo to St. P. Ch. and
there intombed." Boorde, in Intro. to Knowledge xxiii., says, "St. P. Ch., which
is their head ch. and cathedral ch, is fallen down to the ground, and so hash
lyen many years without re-edifying."
PETER (SAINT) AD VINCULA [1]
San Pietro in Vincoli, a ch. in Rome in the Via di S. Pietro in Vincoli, on the
N. of the Esquiline Hill, near the baths of Titus. It was first built in 442 to
contain the chain with which St. Peter was bound: in its present form it dates
from 1705. Its greatest treasure is the "Moses "of Michel Angelo. The Cardinal
of St. Peter ad Vincula is one of the characters in Barnes' Charter.
PETER (SAINT) AD VINCULA [2]
There is a ch. with the same name in the Tower of Lond. at the N. end of Tower Green. Here are buried Queens Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, Sir Thomas More, Thomas Cromwell, Lady Jane Grey and her husband, the Earl of Essex, Sir Walter Raleigh, and many other distinguished victims of the headsman's axe.
PETER'S (SAINT) CHURCH, VERONA
An ancient ch. in Verona, on the left bank of the Adige, in the N.E. of the city.
It was constructed from the materials of the old Castel San Pietro, which stood
on the site of the palace of Theodoric. In R.&J.
iii. 5, 115, Lady Capulet says to Juliet, "Marry, my child, early next Thursday
morn . . . The County Paris at St. P. Ch. Shall happily make thee there a joyful
bride."
PETER (SAINT) STREET
Westminster, running E. from Horseferry Rd. to Marsham St. It is now called Great
P. St. An inscription was until recently to be seen on one of the houses: "This
is Saint P. St., 1624." There was another P. St., near Clare Market, between Vere
St, and Stanhope St., now called Denzell St.; yet another, running W. from Wardour
St., Soho; and a 4th, within the Mint in Southwark. It is not easy to say which
is intended in the quotation, but I incline to the last-named. In Davenport's
New Trick i. 2, Slightall tells
Roger to find him a prostitute, and to search, amongst other places, "White Fryers,
Saint Peters st., and Mutton Lane."
PETERBOROUGH
A city and the seat of a bishop in Northants., on the Nen, 76 m. N. of Lond. The cathedral was founded by Penda, K. of Mercia, in 655. It was destroyed by the Danes in 870 and burnt down in 1116. The present building dates from that time, but was not finished till the 16th cent. Its W. front is particularly fine. It was not made a Bp.'s See until the Reformation. The diocese was then carved out of that of Lincoln. Catharine of Arragon was buried there, and Mary Q. of Scots in the first instance, though her body was afterwards removed to Westminster Abbey by James I. In Darius 50, Partiality says, "He is such a fellow as is not hence to P." Richard Fletcher, the father of the dramatist, was for a time Dean of P.
PETERHOUSE, or ST. PETER'S COLLEGE
(commonly called POTHOUSE by the undergraduates). The oldest College in the University
of Cambridge, founded by Hugh de Balsham, Bp. of Ely, in 1284. It stands in the
angle formed by Trumpington St. and St. Mary's Lane, next to the Fitzwilliam Museum.
In T. Heywood's Hogsdon iv. 1, Sencer,
disguised like a Pedant, answers Sir Harry: "Petrus dormit securus: I was, Sir,
of P." William Cartwright affirms that Heywood was himself a Fellow of P., but
no trace of his name is discoverable in the records of the College or of the University.
In Merry Devil i. 3, Fabel says,
"Have I so many melancholy nights Watched on the top of P. highest tower?" This
Peter Fabel is said to have been a practiser of the Black Art, who was educated
at P. and flourished in the reign of Henry VII. He sold his soul to the Devil,
but managed to cheat him of his bargain. His tomb is at Edmonton. Fynes Moryson
begins his Itinerary by saying that he was "a student of P. in Cambridge."
PETRASALIA
(defined as is CALABRIA). Apparently a variant for Monte Sila, a mountain mass
in N. Calabria. Pietra Sila (the Rock of Sila) must have been in the author's
mind. Monte Alto is the highest point in the Aspromonte range in the extreme S.
of Calabria. In Barnes' Charter i.
4, Alexander allots to Caesar "those sweet provinces even to Monte Alto, Naples,
Policastro, and Petrasalia in Calabria."
PETSORA
A river, more commonly spelt PETCHORA, in N.E. Russia, rising in the Ural mtns. and reaching the Arctic Ocean at the head of the Gulf of Petchora after a course of abt. 900 m. Milton, P. L. x. 292, speaks of "Mtns. of ice that stop the imagined way Beyond Petsora eastward to the rich Cathaian coast." The reference is to the N.E. passage to China and India, q.v.
PETTICOAT LANE
A st. in Lond., now called Middlesex St., running N. from High St., Whitechapel,
a little E. of Houndsditch, to Wentworth St. Stow says that its original name
was Hog L., (q.v.) and that within 40 years it was a pleasant country lane
with elm-tree hedges, but that in his time it was made a continual building throughout
of garden houses and small cottages. Strype says that Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador
in the court of James I, lived on the W. side of it and his own father on the
E. During the reign of James a number of French refugees, mostly silk-weavers,
settled there, and later their place was taken by Jewish second-hand clothes dealers,
who still occupy it. As the quotations show, the garden-houses to which Stow refers
were used by women of bad character, and the L. was regarded as one of their usual
haunts. In Beguiled, Dods., ix. 304,
Cricket says, "He looks like a tankard-bearer that dwells in P. L. at the sign
of the Mermaid." Nash, in Prognostication, says, "If the Beadels of Bridewell
be careful this summer it may be hoped that Peticote L. may be less pestered with
ill airs than it was wont; and the houses there so clear cleansed that honest
women may dwell there without any dread of the whip and the cart." In Penn. Pad.
35, it is enacted: "Many men shall be so venturously given as they shall go into
Petty-coat L. and yet come out again as honestly as they first went in." In Jonson's
Devil i. 1, Iniquity says, "We will
survey the suburbs and make forth our sallies Down P. L. and up the Smock-alleys,
To Shoreditch, Whitechapel, and so to St. Kathern's."
PETTY FRANCE
A st. in Westminster running W. from the junction of Tothill St. and Broadway to St. James's St., parallel to the S. side of St. James's Park. It was so called from the French merchants who lived there when they came over to trade at the Woolstaple. The name was changed in the 18th cent, to York St., in honour of Frederick D. of York, the son of George II. Here John Milton lived from 1652 to 1660 at what was afterwards No. 19 York St. The house was preserved until quite recently, and a sketch of it, with a mural inscription "Sacred to Milton," may be seen in Old and New London iv. 18.
PETTY JUDAS
A place or dist. in Salisbury, possibly the old Jewry there. In Hycke,
p. 102, Frewyll says, "At Salisbury There were 5 score save an hundred in my company,
And at Pety Judas we made royal cheer."
PHAENZA
See FAENZA.
PHAROS [1]
An island off the coast of Egypt close to Alexandria, with which it was connected
by a causeway. Here Ptolemy Philadephos erected the first lighthouse known to
history, at its N.E. point: hence Pharos came to be used generically for any lighthouse.
In Pembroke's Antonie i. 1, 18, Antonie calls Cleopatra's eyes "another P." Laneham,
in Letter (1575), compares Kenilworth Castle, lit up at night, to "the Egyptian
P. relucent unto all the Alexandrian coast." In Fisher's Fuimus
v. 3, Eulinus says to Landora, "Be thy bright eyes my P." In T. Heywood's Dialogues
3, Earth asks, "Where's P. isle? Where's the Tarpeian mass?"
Pharian is used in the sense of Egyptian. In T. Heywood's Dialogues 3, Earth speaks of Argus as "he who watched the Pharian cow," i.e. Io, who was connected with Egypt in one group of legends. Milton, Psalm cxiv. 3, calls Egypt "Pharian fields." P. is used in the sense of a lighted wharf. Dekker, in News from Hell, says of a certain rich miser: "He built a P., or rather a Blockhouse, beyond the gallows at Wapping, to which the black fleet of coal-carriers that came from Newcastle were brought a-bed and discharged."
PHAROS [2]
See PAROS.
PHARPHAR
One of the rivers of Damascus, according to II Kings v. 12. It is probably to be identified with El Awaj, a river which waters the S. suburbs of Damascus but is 6 m. S. of the city itself. Milton, P. L. i. 468, speaks of "Fair Damascus, on the fertile banks Of Abbana and Pharphar, lucid streams."
PHARSALIA
(more properly PHARSALUS). A town in Thessaly on the left bank of the Enipeus,
25 m. due S. of Larissa. In the plain to the N. of the town was fought the great
battle in which Julius Caesar defeated Pompeius, August 9th, 48 B.C. In Kyd's
Cornelia i., Cicero says, "The father and the son Have fought like foes P.'s misery."
Pompeius was the son-in-law of Caesar, having married his daughter Julia. In Caesar's
Rev. i. 1, Discord says, "Mars Runs madding through P.'s purple fields." In
B.&F. False One i. 1, Achillas reports
that Pompeius is "In Thessaly, near the Pharsalian plains"; and later in the scene
Labienus gives a full description of the battle. In Ant.
iii. 7, 32, Canidius says that Antony has challenged Octavian "To wage this battle
at P., Where Caesar fought with Pompey." In Massinger's Virgin
v. 2, Artemia says, "Great Julius . . . with dry eyes Beheld the large plains
of P. covered With the dead carcases of senators And citizens of Rome." In Marlowe's
Tamb. A. iii. 3, Tamburlaine says, "Nor
in P. was there such hot war As these, my followers, willingly would have." In
Machin's Dumb Knight i. 1, Phylocles
says, "Methinks Caesar's P., nor Scipio's Carthage, Were worthy chairs of triumph":
where chairs means chariots. In Chapman's Caesar
iii. 1, 1, Pompey cries, "Now to P."; and in the 4th Act the battle is described.
In Tiberius 1158, Germanicus says
of his victory over the Germans: "Not Canvas nor the fields of Pharsalie So dyed
in blood as was Danubius." In Pembroke's Antonie ii. 610, Charmion says, "Frame
there Pharsaly and discoloured streams Of deep Enipeus."
PHASIACA
An imaginary kingdom in the dist. round the river Phasis, q.v. In Chapman's
Blind Beggar ix., "Bion, k. of rich
Phasiaca" is mentioned as one of the allies who are marching against Ptolemy.
PHASIS
(a river falling into the Black Sea at its extreme E. end; now the RIONI). The
Pheasant derives its name from the story that it was introduced into Europe from
the plains of the P. In Nash's Summers, p. 100, Christmas says, "I must rig ship
to P. for pheasants." In Jonson's Catiline
i. 1, Catiline, inveighing against the luxury of the Romans, says, "The river
P. Cannot afford them fowl, nor Lucrine Lake Oysters enow." Spencer, in the river-list
in F. Q. iv. 11, 21, calls it "tempestuous Phasides." P. seems to be used also
for the Crimean peninsula. In T. Heywood's B.
Age iii., Medea says of Jason: "Such a bold spirit and noble presence linked
Never before were seen in P. isle." Through its connection with Medea, P. was
supposed to produce specially deadly poisons. In Nabbes' Hannibal
iii. 4, Masinissa says that a tear of Sophonisba's "Hath in 't sufficient virtue
to convert All the Thessalian, Pontick, Phasian aconites Into preservatives."
PHILERMUS
A hill in the island of Rhodes. In Davenant's Rhodes A., Pioneers from Lycia in Solyman's army are commanded to work "upon Philermus Hill."
PHILIPPI
A city in Macedonia, 20 m. N. of its port Neapolis. It was originally called Crenides,
but was renamed in honour of Philip, the father of Alexander the Gt. In its neighbourhood
was fought the battle in which Antony and Octavian defeated Brutus and Cassius
in 42 B.C. It was made a Colonia by Augustus; and here Paul first preached the
Gospel of Jesus Christ in Europe in the course of his 2nd missionary journey (Acts
xx. 6) and addressed an epistle to the ch. there from his prison at Rome. In J.
C. iv. 3, 170, Brutus informs Cassius that "Young Octavius and Mark Antony
Come down upon us with a mighty power, Bending their expedition toward P." Brutus
proposes to march thither; Cassius objects, but in the end Brutus prevails. In
line 283, the Ghost comes to tell Brutus "Thou shall see me at P." Act v. is laid
in the plains of P., and describes the battle and the deaths of Brutus and Cassius.
In Ant. ii. 6, 13, Pompey says, "Julius
Caesar . . . at P. the good Brutus ghosted." In iii. 2, 56, Agrippa says, "Antony
wept When at P. he found Brutus slain." In iii. 11, 35, Antony says of Octavian:
"He at P. kept His sword e'en like a dancer (i.e. in its scabbard) while
I struck The lean and wrinkled Cassius; and 'twas I That the mad Brutus ended."
From ii. 5, 23 it appears that Antony called the sword with which be fought there
Philippan. In Caesar's Rev. iii.
2, his Genius predicts to Antony, "Yet must P. see thy high exploits." In May's
Agrippina iii. 209, Seneca says there
are no armies now afoot "To stain with Latian blood P. plains." In Pembroke's
Antonie ii. 694, Diomed says, "Is 't not pity that this firebrand so Lays waste
the trophies of P. fields?" In Conf. Cons. iv. 5, Conscience says, "The first
to the Philippians doth witness herein bear." The reference is to St. Paul's Epistle.
In Gascoigne's Government i. 4, Gnomaticus says, "By hearkening unto Paul and
Sylas, Lidia and the gailor of Phylippos were baptized." See Acts xvi.
PHILISTINES
(Pe. = Philistine). The people who lived in the S.W. dist. of Palestine, between the foothills and the coast. They are held to have come there from Crete during the 12th cent. B.C., bringing with them the knowledge of iron-working and other results of the AEgaean civilization. Their superior civilization made itself felt, and they proved formidable enemies to the Hebrews, who had recently settled in Palestine. The story of this struggle is found in Judges and in the later historical books of the O.T. It is significant of their predominant influence that the land still bears their name (Palestine). They formed 5 free city-communities, viz. - Gath,
- Ashdod,
- Ekron,
- Gaza, and
- Askelon.
As the P. were the enemies of God's people, the word comes to be used in an abusive
sense for one's enemies generally, and for drunken, dissolute folks. In Chaucer's
Monk's Tale, the story of Samson and the P. is told. In Hales Promises v., David
says of Israel: "They did wickedly consent to the P. and Canaanites, ungodly idolaters."
Milton, P. L. ix. 1061, says, "So rose . . . Herculean Samson from the harlot-lap
Of Philistean Dalilah, and waked Shorn of his strength": where the "e "is long
and the accent is on the 3rd syllable. In S. A. 39, Samson says, "promise was
that I Should Israel from Philistian yoke deliver": where the accent is on the
2nd syllable. This form is used 9 times in S. A., and always with this accentuation.
The form Pe. occurs 10 times, and is always accented on the 1st syllable, as also
in Psalm lxxxiii. 27: "The P. and they of Tyre Whose bounds the sea doth check."
Milton usually calls the land of the P. Palestine (q.v.), but in Psalm
lxxxvii. 14, we have: "I mention Babel to my friends, Philistia full of scorn."
In Chivalry, Bowyer says, "Zounds,
what a Pe. is this!" In Marlowe's Jew
ii. 3, Barabas commands Abigail to use Lodowick, her lover, "as if he were a Pe.:
Dissemble, swear, protest, vow love to him; He is not of the seed of Abraham."
In Haughton's Englishmen iii. 3,
Mathea speaks of her foreign suitors as "These whoreson cannibals, these P., these
Tango-mongoes." In Merry Devil iv.
1, Blague says, "The P. are upon us, be silent." In Dekker's Westward
v. 3, Monopoly says, "Bestir your stumps for the P. are upon us." The phrase is
taken from Judges xvi. 14. Dekker, in Jests, says, "They promised to deal with
his P. [his creditors] that are now come upon him." Milton, in Reformation in
England, p. 13, says of the Bishops: "Have they not been as the Canaanites and
P. to this kingdom?" In Dekker's Shoemaker's
iii. 1, Eyre calls his apprentices "you mad P." He means nothing but merry, jolly
fellows. Nash, in Saffron Walden, has something like an anticipation of the use
made popular by Matthew Arnold when he calls Parthenophil and Parthenope "that
Pe. poem."
PHLEGETHON, or PHLEGETON
One of the rivers of Hades, first mentioned in Homer, Od. x. 513. It was a river
of fire and fell ultimately into the Acheron. The word is used sometimes as equivalent
to Hell. In Span. Trag. iii. 1,
the Viceroy, commanding Alexandro to be burnt alive, says, "Those flames shall
pre-figure These unquenched fires of P. Prepared for his soul." In Marlowe's Faustus
vii, Faust swears "By the kingdoms of infernal rule, Of Styx, of Acheron, and
the fiery lake Of ever-burning P." In Greene's Friar
xv., the Devil says, "Every charmer with his magic spells Calls us from ninefold-trenched
P." The epithet seems to be suggested by the Vergilian "novies interfusa" (winding
9 times round Erebus), applied to the Styx in the Georgics iv. 480. In Wilson's
Cobler 677, Charon says that to accommodate
the crowds that are coming to hell "Cocytus, Lethe, P, shall all be digged into
Styx." In Caesar's Rev. v. 1, Brutus
addresses Caesar's ghost as "Fury, sent from Phlegitonticke flames." In Greene's
Alphonsus iii. 2, 867, Medea says,
"I conjure thee . . . By stinking Styx and filthy Flegeton." In Brewer's Lovesick
iv., Grim says of his colliers: "If you would rake hell and Phlegitan, Acaron
and Barrathrum, all these Low Countries cannot yield you such a company." In Nero
v. 3, Nero cries, "Methinks I see the boiling P." Middleton, in Black Book, p.
43, calls Tobacco "fit rare Phoenix of P." Milton, P. L. ii. 580, names the 4
rivers of Hell:
- Styx,
- Acheron,
- Cocytus, and
- "Fierce P., Where waves of torrent fire inflame with rage."
See also PIROPHLEGITON.
PHLEGRAEAN PLAINS
The name given by the Greeks of Cumae in Campania to the part of Campania adjoining
that city, on account of its volcanic character. Legend told that the battle between
the Gods and the Giants was fought out here, and accounted for the volcanic manifestations
by the falling of the thunderbolts of Jupiter on the heads of the rebels. Another
form of the legend placed them in Thessaly. In Caesar's
Rev. iii. 2, Caesar says, "From P. fields The K. of Gods with conquering spoils
returned." In B.&F. Prophetess ii.
3, Drusilla says of Diodes: "With such a grace, The giants that attempted to scale
heaven When they lay dead on the P. plain, Mars did appear to Jove." In Massinger's
Actor i. 4, Caesar says, "Jupiter,
the Giants lying dead On the P. plain, embraced his Juno." Spencer, F. Q. ii.
10, 3, speaks of "the ruins of great Ossa hill And triumphs of P. Jove"; and in
v. 7, 10, he affirms that wine is "the blood of Gyants, which were slain By thundring
Jove in the P. plain." Milton, P. L. i. 577, speaks of "all the giant brood Of
Phlegra."
PHOCIS
A dist. of ancient Greece lying N.W. of Boeotia. It was an inland country, but
had a port on the Euboean Sea, Daphnus. The surface was rugged and mountainous.
Its chief glory was the possession of the oracle at Delphi, though, after the
Dorian conquest of Delphi, its claim was denied. In Hercules
iv. 3, 2256, Jove, in the character of Amphitruo, claims to have slain the pirates
who "awed all Archaia, AEtolia, P.; the Ionian, AEgean, and Cretick seas." Drayton,
in Odes i. 21, speaking of the power of the Muses, says, "The Phocean it did prove
Whom when foul lust did move Those maids unchaste to make, Fell as with them he
strove, His neck and justly brake." The story is told of Pyrenaus, K. of P.
PHOENICIA
The strip of coast-land in Syria between the Libanus range and the Mediterranean
extending from the mouth of the Eleutherus to the promontory of Carmel, and including
the cities of Tripolis, Berytus, Sidon, and Tyre. The Phoenicians were a great
mercantile people, and carried on an extensive trade throughout the Mediterranean
and even beyond as far as Cornwall. Their colonies were found in Sicily, N. Africa,
and Spain, and their greatest gift to mankind was the alphabet, which the Greeks
learned from them and gave in turn to the Romans, and so to the modern world.
In Ant. iii. 6, 15, Caesar says that
Antony has assigned to Ptolemy "Syria, Cilicia, and P." In iii. 7, 65, a soldier
says to Antony, "Let the Egyptians And the Phoenicians go a-ducking: we Have used
to conquer standing on the earth." Milton, P. L. 1, 438. says. "With these in
troop Came Astoreth, whom the Phoenicians called Astarte, q. of heaven, with crescent
horns."
PHOENIX [1]
(another name for the COCK-PIT THEATRE on the E. side of Drury Lane, Lond.). The
site was long preserved by the name of Cockpit Alley, afterwards Pitt Court, running
from Drury Lane to Wild St. It was pulled down by the mob in 1617, but was rebuilt
and continued to be used till about 1663, when the Drury Lane Theatre superseded
it. In Randolph's Muses' i. 1, Mrs.
Flowerdew says, "It was a zealous prayer I heard a brother make concerning playhouses:
that the Globe had been consumed, the P. burnt to ashes." T. Heywood's Mistress
was "acted by the Queen's Comedians at the P. in Drury Lane "in 1636. In Leaguer
prol., Marmion says, "The P. takes new life from the fire bright Poesy creates."
PHOENIX [2]
The sign of a Lond. tavern; also the sign of a shop in Lombard St. It is transferred
to Ephesus by Shakespeare. The P. Fire Office may still be found in Lombard St.
at No. 19, next to Abchurch Lane. In Jonson's Staple
prol., he says, "Alas! what is it to his scene to know If Dunstan or the P. best
wine has?" In T. Heywood's Ed. IV
A. 64, the K. says, "Here's Lombard St. and here's the Pelican, And there's
the P. in the pelican's nest." In Err. i. 2, 75, Dromio says to Antipholus, "My charge was but to fetch you from the
mart Home to your house, the P., Sir, to dinner." It must be remembered that not
only taverns, but houses and shops of all kinds were distinguished by signs at
this time.
PHOENIX ALLEY
A lane in Lond. out of Long Acre, next to Bow St. on the W.: now Hanover Court. Taylor's journey into Wales (1652) is described as performed "by John Taylor, dwelling at the sign of the Poet's Head in Phenix Alley, near the middle of Long Aker, or Covent Garden." Taylor died here in 1653, and was buried at St. Martin's-in-the-fields.
PHRYGIA
(Pn. = Phrygian). The Pns. appear to have been at a very early date predominant
over the whole of the W. part of Asia Minor. The tomb of Midas and the monuments
at Boghaz Keui give solidity to the Greek legends of the ancient kingdom of Midas
and Gordius. But the incursions of the Cimmerians in the 7th cent. B.C. destroyed
their power and limited them to the central plateau known as the Greater P. The
Greek poets and historians, however, always speak of the Trojans as Pns., and
a dist. on the Hellespont, known as the Lesser P., preserved the memory of their
occupation of it. From them the Greeks took the worship of Cybele with its orgiastic
rites, and the Dionysus cult seems to have the same origin. The scene of Lyly's
Midas is laid in P. In iv. 2, Coryn
says, "He that fishes for Lesbos must have such a wooden net as all the trees
in P, will not serve to make the cod." In T. Heywood's Mistress
i. 1, Midas says, "Yet was I sometime K. of P." In Chapman's Chabot
i. 1, 119, the Chancellor describes the situation as "A Gordian beyond the Pn.
knot." Gordium was the ancient capital of the Pn. kings. In Marlowe's Tamb.
B. iii. 5, Callapine boasts an army "That from the bounds of P. to the sea
Which washeth Cyprus with his brinish waves Covers the hills, the valleys, and
the plains." After their conquest by the Cimmerians the Pns. were despised and
regarded as an inferior race by the Greeks. In Conf. Cons. ii. 2, Tyranny quotes
a proverb: "Sero sapiunt Phryges""Too late the Pns. are wise." At
Ancyra in P. Epictetos (i.e. Mysia) there was a famous sybil. In Davenant's
Platonic iii. 5, Theander speaks
of "that mystic nursery of minds The Pn. sibyl taught." In Nash's Summers, p.
100, Christmas says, "I must rig ship to P. for woodcocks": woodcock being a usual
name for a fool. Habington, in Cascara (1640), Arber, p. 70, speaks of "The far
fetched Pn. marble, which shall build A burden to our ashes."
But the Elizabethans almost always use the word as equivalent to Trojan.
In Com. Cond. 441, Conditions says, "We may pass over the sea [from Thrace]
to P. in one day." In Troil. prol.
7, the Greeks "put forth toward P." In i. 2, 135, Pandarus says that the smiling
of Troilus "becomes him better than any man in P." In iv. 5, 186, Nestor speaks
of Hector's "Pn. steed "; and in 223, Hector predicts "the fall of every Pn.
stone will cost A drop of Grecian blood." In v. 10, 24, Troilus apostrophizes
the Greek camp: "You vile abominable tents Thus proudly pight upon our Pn. plains."
In Tw. N. iii. 1, 57, the Clown
says, "I would play Lord Pandarus of P., Sir, to bring a Cressida to this Troilus."
In Lucrece 1502, Sinon is described as one "That piteous looks to Pn. shepherds
lent." In Fisher's Fuimus iii.
6, Eulinus says, "So rejoiced The Pn. swain [sc. Paris] when he conveyed the
fairest." In Locrine ii. 1, 9,
Humber speaks of Brutus and his Trojans as "a troop of Pns." Ganymede, who was
rapt away to be Jove's cup-bearer, was the son of Tros, and is usually represented
as wearing a Pn. cap. In T. Heywood's Dialogues vi. 3704, Juno calls him "this
young Pn. lad Snatched from his sire." In Jonson's Poetaster
iv. 5, Tucca says to Pyrgus, who is dressed as Ganymede, "Well said, my fine
Pn. fry." In M.W.W. i. 3, 98, Pistol
calls Falstaff "base Pn. Turk": with reference to his amours with Mistresses
Page and Ford. He is a kind of Paris, but, like the Turk, has more than one
Helen.
PHYLIPPOS
See PHILIPPI.
PIACENZA
(the ancient PLACENTIA). A city in N. Italy on the S. bank of the Po, 2 m. E.
of its junction with the Trebbia. It is mentioned in Middleton's R.
G. v. 1, by Trapdoor as one of the places in Italy which he has "ambled over."
Burton, A. M. iii. 3, 1, 2, says, "In Italy some account them of Piacenza more
jealous than the rest."
PIAZZA
The arcade or covered way built on the N. and E. sides of Covent Garden, Lond., by Inigo Jones in 1633-4. His intention was to carry the P. all round the square, but only these 2 sides were built, that on the N. being called the Great and that on the E. the Little P. The idea seems to have been taken from the colonnades in the P. di San Marco at Venice, but the name was wrongly applied, not to the whole square or Place, but to the colonnades themselves.
Blount, in Glossographia (1656), s.v., says, "P., a market-place or
chief street, such as that in Covent Garden, which the vulgar corruptly call
the P. The close walks are not so properly the P. as the ground inclosed within
the rail." He also notes that the word is to be pronounced Piatsa. In Shirley's
Ball v. 1, Freshwater says, "The
Venetians are the valiantest gentlemen under the sun. 2 or 3 English spies had
lain lieger for 3 months to steal away the P. and ship it to Covent Garden."
In Killigrew's Parson v. 1, the
Capt. says, "Who should I meet at the corner of the P. but Joseph Taylor: he
tells me there's a new play at the Fryers to-day." Taylor was an actor, who
died in 1654. In v. 4, the Parson says, "I'd pass my time in the P. with the
mountebank, and let him practise upon my teeth and draw 'em too, ere he persuades
the words of matrimony out of my mouth again." Killigrew himself lived in the
P., in the N.W. angle from 1637 to 1643 and in the N.E. from 1660 to 1662. In
Brome's Covent G. i. 1, Cockbrain,
speaking of Covent Garden, says, "Yond magnificent piece, the P., will excel
that at Venice." In Nabbes' C. Garden
ii. 1, Warrant says he has challenged Spruce: "the weapon single rapier; the
place the P."
PIAZZA DI SAN MARCO
The great square at Venice, W. of the Cathedral of San M. On the N. side are the
Procuratorie Vecchie and the Torre dell' Orologio; on the S. the Procuratorie
Nuove and the Libraria Vecchia. Act ii. scene i of Jonson's Volpone
is laid in "St. Mark's Place." Here Mosca, disguised as a travelling quack, sets
up his stage, and Sir Politick says, "I wonder yet that he should mount his bank
here in this nook, that has been wont to appear in face of the P." Volpone himself
says, "It may seem strange that I, your Scoto Mantuano, who was ever wont to fix
my bank in the face of the public P. near the shelter of the Portico to the Procuratoria,
should now humbly retire myself into an obscure nook of the P." For reference
in Shirley's Ball, see under PIAZZA.
In Brome's Novella ii. 2, Paulo says,
"The rich P. on her greatest mart Boasts not more nations" than are coming to
court Victoria.
PICARDY
A province in N.W. France lying W. of Champagne, between Artois and the Ile de
France. Its capital was Amiens. It was part of the possessions of the Counts of
Flanders, and passed, by the marriage of Philip the Bold with Margaret of Flanders,
to the Dukes of Burgundy at the beginning of the 15th cent. After the defeat of
Charles of Burgundy at Nancy in 1477 it was added by Louis XI to the kingdom of
France. The Squire, in Chaucer's C. T. A. 86, "hadde been somtyme in chyvachie
In Flaundres, in Artoys, and Pycardie." In H6
A. ii. 1, 10, Talbot welcomes Burgundy: "By whose approach the regions of
Artois, Wallon, and P. are friends to us." In Fam.
Vict., p. 362, the Capt., enumerating the forces of the French at Agincourt,
says, "Are not here Pickardes with their crossbows and piercing darts?" In H6
B. iv. 1, 88, the Capt. says to Suffolk, "Through thee P. Hath slain their
governors, surprised our forts." This was in 1449. In World
Child 170, Manhood says, "P. and Pontoise and gentle Artois . . . all have
I conquered as a knight." In Webster's Weakest
iii. 5, Lodowick speaks of Ardres as a village "in P." It was part of the English
dist. In Chapman's Consp. Byron
v. 1, Byron boasts, "Only myself Did people Artois, Douay, P. With her [Victory's]
triumphant issue." In More ii. 2,
amongst the foreigners attacked by the rioters on Black May Day 1513 is mentioned
"Mutas, a wealthy P., at the Greene Gate." In Holinshed he is called Newton, a
Picard born, and his house is Queen Gate. It is pleasant to record that the mob
did not discover him. In Davenport's Matilda
iii. 3, Chester asks the K. to grace him "with the Presidentship of P., fallen
in this last rebellion from the Lord Bruce unto your crown."
PICCADILLY
A st. in modern Lond. running W. from the top of the Haymarket to Hyde Park Corner. The same is first recorded in 1623, when Robte. Baeker of Pickadilley Hall is mentioned in the accounts of the Overseers of the Poor of St. Martin's. This Hall was at the N.E. corner of the Haymarket. Blount, in Glossographia, mentions a famous Ordinary near St. James's called Pickadilly; and thinks it was so called from Pickadil, a sort of collar, because it was "the utmost or skirt house of the suburbs"; or because Higgins, who built it, was a tailor, and got his profit from the sale of Pickadils. I find no mention of it in our dramatists.
PICENUM
A dist. in Central Italy lying between the Apennines and the Adriatic, from the
mouth of the AEsis to that of the Matrinus. In Jonson's Catiline
iii. 3, Catiline says, "I have already sent Septimius Into the Picene territory,
and Julius To raise force for us in Apulia."
PICKT-HATCH
An infamous resort of thieves and prostitutes in Elizabethan Lond. It lay at the
back of Middle Row (formerly called Rotten Row) on the E. side of Goswell Rd.,
just S. of Old St. opposite the wall of the Charterhouse. The name was preserved
for a long time in Pickax Yard, Middle Row. It properly means a half-door, surmounted
by a row of spikes, such as was often used in brothels. It was stated by some
authorities to have been in Turnmill St., but a survey of 1649 fixes the site
as above described. In M.W.W. ii.
2, 19, Falstaff says to Pistol, "Go! A short knife and a throng! To your manor
of P.! Go!" The short knife was for cutting purses in a crowd: the implication
being that Pistol was a cut-purse. In Field's Weathercock
i. 2, Pendant says, if he were a woman, he would "scratch faces like a wild-cat
of Picked-hatch." In his Amends ii.
2, Subtle says, "Your whore doth live in P., Turnbull St." In Jonson's Alchemist
ii. 1, when Mammon boasts of the recuperative powers of the Elixir Vitae, Surly
says, "The decayed Vestals of Pict-Hatch would thank you, That keep the fire alive
there." In Ev. Man I. i. 1, old Knowell,
reading Wellbred's letter to his son, dated from the Windmill, says, "From the
Bordello it might come as well, The Spittle, or Pict-Hatch." In the dramatic personae
of Ev. Man O., Shift is described
as "A thread-bare shark. His profession is skeldring and idling, his bank Paul's,
and his warehouse Picthatch." In Epigram xii. on Lieutenant Shift, Jonson speaks
of him as "Not meanest among squires That haunt Pict-hatch, Marsh Lambeth, and
Whitefriars." In Randolph's Muses'
iv. 3, justice Nimis boasts of the revenues gained by him from "my P. grange and
Shoreditch farm and other premises adjoining." In Jonson's Barthol.
v. 3, Cole calls Leatherhead "goodman Hogrubber of P.": meaning that he keeps
a brothel. In Davenant's Plymouth
i. 2, Seawit says, "Do you take this mansion for Pick'd-hatch?" Marston, in Scourge
of Villanie i. 3, says, "His old cynic Dad Hath forced him clean forsake his Pickhatch
drab." Randolph, in Hey Hon., speaks
of "the whores of P., Turnbull, or the unmerciful bawds of Bloomsbury." In Davenport's
New Trick i. 3, P. is mentioned
in a list of disreputable localities. The scene of Middleton's Black Book is laid
at P.; and on p. 11 the Devil begins his peregrinations there because it "is the
very skirts of all brothel-houses." Nash is said to have died at P.
PICTS
(the PICTI). A Celtic tribe who seem to have been settled in the Orkneys, N. Scotland,
and N.E. Ireland. They called themselves Cruithne. After the Romans left Britain
they spread southward as far as the Pentland Hills. They ultimately amalgamated
with the Scots. In Hughes' Misfort.
Arth. iii. 1, Arthur describes Modred's army as made up of "sluggish Saxons'
crew and Irish kerns, And Scottish aid and false red-sharked P." In Fisher's Fuimus
i. 3, Cassibelan says, "Androgens, hasten to the Scots and P., 2 names which now
Albania's kingdom share." Spenser, F. Q. ii. 10, 63, mentions the invasion of
Roman Britain by "Those spoilful P. and swarming Easterlings." In vi. 17, 4, he
says that Claribell was destined to be married "Unto the Prince of Picteland,"
i.e. the K. of Scotland.
PIE
A tavern sign in Lond., probably short for Magpie. There was a Magpie Tavern in
Magpie Yard, between Fetter Lane and Castle Yard. In Heywood's Lucrece
ii. 5, Valerius, in his song of Taverns, says, "The fiddler [goes] to the Pie."
There was a Pie Tavern at Aldgate. In Book of New Epigrams (1659), we have "One
asked a friend where Captain Shark did lie; Why, Sir, quoth he, at Algate at the
Pie."
PIE CORNER
The corner of Giltspur St. and Cock Lane in W. Smithfield, Lond. It was so called
from the cooks' shops which stood there, at which pigs were dressed during Bartholomew
Fair. In a Tract on Bartholomew Fair (1641), it is called "the Pig Market, alias
Pasty Nook or P. C.; where pigs, are all hours of the day on the stalls piping
hot, and would say (if they could speak) come, eat me." In Jonson's Barthol.
i. 1, Littlewit says, "Win, long to eat of a pig, sweet Win, in the Fair do you
see, in the heart of the Fair, not at P.-C." In Massinger's Madam
i. 1, Anne says contemptuously of the cooks hired by Holdfast: "Fie on them! They
smell of Fleet-Lane and P.-C." In Jonson's Alchemist
i. 1, Face reminds Subtle that he first met him "at P.-C., Taking your meal of
steam in from cooks' stalls." In Field's Amends
iii. 4, Whorebang cries, "Let's have wine, or I will cut thy head off and have
it roasted and eaten in P. C. next Bartholomew-tide." Dekker, in Raven's Almanac,
mocks at those who "walk snuffing up and down in winter evenings through P.-c.,
yet have no silver to stop colon."
In Peele's Jests, we are told: "George was making merry with 3 or 4 of his
friends in P.-C., where the tapster was much given to poetry." In Day's B.
Beggar iv., Canby says, "You shall see the amorous conceits and love-songs
betwixt Capt. Pod of Py-C. and Mrs. Rump of Ram Alley." This is the Capt. Pod
who was a famous exhibitor of motions, or puppet-plays. In Jonson's Barthol.
v. 1, Leatherhead says, "O the motions that I have given light to since my master
Pod died"; and in Ev. Man O. iv.
2, Macilente says, "Let him be Capt. Pod and this his motion."
There were many saddlers' shops in the neighbourhood of P.-C. In H4
B. ii. 1, 28, Quickly says of Falstaff: "A' comes continuantly to P.-C.
to buy a saddle." In Vox Borealis (1641), we read: "These men landed at P. C.,
where, after they had sold their saddles, they eat out their swords."
There were also printing shops in the neighbourhood, where broadsides and other second-rate stuff were published. Randolph, in his Answer to Ben Jonson's Ode, says, "Thou canst not find them stuff That will be bad enough To please their palates; let 'em them refuse For some P.C. Muse." The Merry-conceited Fortune Teller was "Printed for John Andrews at the White-Lion, near Py-C. 1662." The name lent itself to puns: Middleton, in Hubburd, speaks of a man "winding his pipe like a horn at the P. C. of his mouth, which must needs make him look like a sow-gelder." The Gt. Fire began at Pudding Lane and ended at P. C. The curious circumstance was commemorated by the figure of a naked boy set up at the corner of Cock Lane, with the inscription: "This boy is in memory put up for the late Fire of Lond. occasioned by the sin of gluttony, 1666." The boy, shorn of the wings he once possessed, may still (in 1925) be seen on the public-house called "The Fortune of War."[ed note: the golden boy is still to be seen in 2001, but the pub is no more]. There is another memorial in Pudding Lane (q.v.)
PIED BULL
A bookseller's sign in St. Paul's Churchyard, Lond. The 2nd quarto of King
Lear was "Printed for Nathanael Butter and are to be sold at his shop in Pauls
Churchyard at the sign of the Pide Bull near St. Austins Gate. 1608."
PIEDMONT
A region in N.W. Italy enclosed on 3 sides by the Alps and occupying the upper
part of the valley of the Po. During our period it belonged to the Dukes of Savoy,
the ancestors of the present K. of Italy. In Barnes' Charter
i. 4, Alexander allots to the D. of Candy "those towns in P., And all the signories
in Lombardy From Porta di Volane to Savona." In Shirley's Ball
v. 1, Freshwater speaks of "P., where I had excellent venison." In Davenant's
Love Hon. i. 1,335, Leonell speaks
of "The force of your Alvaro, Prince of P." In Cockayne's Trapolin
i. 2, Horatio introduces himself as "2nd son unto the D. of Savoy and the P. Prince."
The massacre of the Protestants of P. by the D. of Savoy in 1655 was the occasion
of a sonnet by Milton On the late massacre in P., in which he prays God not to
forget those who had been "slain by the bloody Piemontese."
PIERIA
A dist. in Thessaly along the W. coast of the Thermaic Gulf, at the foot of the
Olympus range, between the mouths of the Peneus and the Haliacmon. It was reputed
to have been the birthplace of the Muses. When their cult was transferred to Mt.
Helicon in Boeotia the name went with them, and the fountain of Aganippe, near
the grove of the Muses, was called the Pierian spring, to drink of which was supposed
to confer the gift of poetry and song. In Chapman's Consp.
Byron ii. 1, Henry says to Savoy, "Your wit is of the true Pierian spring
That can make anything of anything." In Jonson's Poetaster
v. 1, Caesar, commending the poets, says, "For these high parts Caesar shall reverence
the Pierian arts." Spenser, in Ruines of Time 394, says, "So happy are they and
so fortunate, Whom the Pierian sacred sisters love."
PIGEONS, THREE
See THREE PIGEONS.
PIGMIES
A race of men of small stature mentioned by Homer and Herodotus. They were long
supposed to be fabulous, but the bas-reliefs on the temple of Q. Hatshepsut at
Deir-el-Bahari, near Thebes, and the discoveries of Stanley prove that such a
race does exist in Central Africa. In Ado
ii. 1, 278, Benedick says, "I will do you any embassage to the P. rather than
hold 3 words' conference with this harpy." In Jonson's Ev.
Man O. ii.1, Carlo says of Fastidius Brisk's page: "He looks like a colonel
of the P.' horse." There was also supposed to be a race of P. in N. India. Milton,
P.L. 1, 780, describes the fallen angels as shrinking in size till they were "like
that pygmean race Beyond the Indian mt." Pliny, Nat. hist. vii. 11, 26, places
the P. "Beyond the source of the Ganges." Batman says "they dwell in mountains
of Inde."
PIKE GARDENS
Certain gardens, with 4 fish-ponds in them, on the Bankside in Southwark, between
the Thames and Sumner St., E. of Love Lane. They were purchased at one time by
Philip Henslowe. In Killigrew's Parson
iii. 2, the Capt. says, "Let's go and cross the fields to P.'s; her kitchen in
cool winter and summer." I doubt, however, whether the reference is to P. G.,
from the fact that it was necessary to cross the fields to get there, and that
P. is called "she." I should suppose that P.'s was a tavern kept by that lady
somewhere is the N. suburbs of Lond.
PILLICOCK HILL
A hill in the land of Nursery Rhymes. In King
Lear iii. 4, 78, Edgar sings: "P sat on P. Hill." The full version of the
rhyme runs: "Pillycock, Pillycock, sat on a hill, If he's not gone he sits there
still."
PIMLICO
A place of entertainment in Hogsdon much resorted to by the Londoners of the 17th cent. for the sake of the fresh air and the cakes and ale for which it was famous. The site is approximately marked by P. Walk, which runs E. from the corner of St. John's Rd. and New North Rd. to Hoxton St. Probably it got its name from its proprietor. Nares (s.v.) quotes from News from Hogsdon (1598): "Have at thee then, my merry boys, and hey for old Ben P.'s nut-brown." The name was transferred sometime during the 17th cent. to the dist. E. of Chelsea between the Thames and St. James's Park, possibly because there was a similar place of entertainment there. In all the passages quoted below it is the Hoxton P. that is intended.
A tract was published in 1609 entitled Pimlyco: or Runne Red Cap., 'Tis a
mad world at Hogsdon. In Jonson's Alchemist
v. 1, Lovewit says, "Gallants, men and women, And of all sorts of tag-rag [have]
been seen to flock here In threaves . . . as to a second Hogsden In days of
P. and Eyebright "In Barthol. i. 1,
Littlewit, praising his wife's dress, says, "I challenge all Cheapside to show
such another; Moor-fields, P: path, or the Exchange." In his Devil
iv. 1, Wittipol says to Lady Tailbush, "Coach it to P.; dance the saraband."
In iii. 1, Meercraft says, "I'll have thee, Capt. Gilthead, and march up and
take in P. and kill the bush at every tavern." In Underwoods lxii., Jonson describes
the Lond. citizens' wives telling of their husbands' exploits in the train-bands:
"What a strong fort old P. had been; How it held out; how, last, 'twas taken
in." In Lady Mother iii. 2, Clariana
says to Crackby, "Match with Nan your schoolfellow With whom you used to walk
to Pimblicoe To eat plumcakes and cream." In Middleton's R.
G. v. 1, Dapper says, "My Lord Noland, will you go to P. with us? We are
making a voyage to that happy land of spice-cakes." In Mayne's Match
ii. 6, Plotwell says, "We have brought you a gentleman of valour who has been
in Moorfields often; marry, it has been to squire his sisters and demolish custards
at P." In Cooke's Greene's Tu Quoque,
p. 556, Sir Lionel says, "I have sent my daughter this morning as far as P.
to fetch a draught of Derby ale." In Massinger's Madam
iv. 4, Mary speaks contemptuously of "Exchange wenches Coming from eating pudding-pies
on a Sunday At P. or Islington." In Glapthorne's Wit
ii. 1, Clare speaks of "a grocer's daughter With whom he has been used to go
to P. And spend 10 groats in cakes and Christian ale." Dekker, in Armourers,
says, "There is no good doings in these days but amongst lawyers, amongst vintners,
in bawdy houses, and at P." In Middleton's R.
G. iv. 2, Mrs. Gallipot says of an archer at Bunhill: "When his arrows have
flien toward Islington his eyes have shot clean contrary towards P."
PINDER OF WAKEFIELD
A tavern on the W. side of Gray's Inn Rd., Lond. (q.v.) between Harrison
St. and Cromer St. The name is now transferred to No. 328, on the E. side of the
road. It was a little over 1/2 mile from St. Pancras Ch. It was named after the
famous George-a-Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield, whose exploits were the subject
of the old play so entitled [George-a-Greene].
In Glapthorne's Hollander v. 1, Urinal
says that Popingaie will not be married at Pancridge"There's no drink near
it but at the Pinder of Wakefield, and that's abominable."
PINDUS
A range of mtns. running S. from the Balkans and forming the boundary between
Thessaly and Epeirus. The highest peak reaches about 9000 ft. In Richards' Messallina
v. 2182, Saufellus prays: "P. and Ossa cover me with snow!" In Brandon's Octavia
1718, Octavia cries, "I will fly where P. hides his head Among the stars or where
ambitious Othris The clouds' swift motion bars." In Fisher's Fuimus
iv. 1, Caesar says, "Stern Mars, roar as thou didst at Troy Which P. may re-beat,
and Taurus lough the same." In T. Heywood's Dialogues 5240, Io says, "Here, Daphne,
by your father Peneus' streams, Which, falling from the top of P. mt., Waters
Hemonian Tempe, let us sit." In the old Timon
v. 1, Pseudocheus bids Gelasimus, "AEtna being left, fly to P. hill." In Chapman's
Bussy v. 1, Bussy says, "My sun is turned
to blood in whose red beams P. and Ossa, hid in drifts of snow, Melt like 2 hungry
torrents." Spenser, in Prothalamion 40, says, "The snow which doth the top of
P. strow Did never whiter show" than the two swans swimming down the Lee. In Brome's
Ct. Beggar iv. 3, Ferdinand says,
"Heap yet more mtns., mtns. upon mtns., P. on Ossa." In T. Heywood's B.
Age i., Achelous says that his mother was "the nymph Nais, born on P. mt.,
From whence our broad and spacious currents rise." Spenser, F. Q. iii. 4, 41,
says that Paeon was born to Apollo and Liagore "upon high P. hill." Hall, in Satires
vi. 1, says of old Catilla: "Her chin like P . . . . Where down descends the o'erflowing
stream doth fill The well of her fair mouth." In Mason's Mulleasses
1576, Timoclea speaks of "the vine-god's priests Running down Nila [? Nisa] or
from P. top."
PIPER'S HILL
A hill 4 m. N.E. of St. Albans. In Misogonus
iv. 1, Codrus says, "Were not P. H. then the rye-field?"
PIPIDIAUKE
A promontory in S. Wales. Fuller relates (Church History i. 5, 22) that Gildas Albanius "read liberal Sciences to many auditors and Scholars at Pepidiauc, a promontory in Pembrokesh.," but the school of Gildas was at Llan-carvan in Glamorgansh., 9 m. S.W. of Cardiff. There is a vill. called Horton in the promontory, between Carmarthen Bay and Swansea Bay. In Jonson's Wales, Evan says, "Houghton is a town bear his name there by Pipidiauke. "
PIREAN
(probably a mistake for PYRENAEAN, q.v.). In Swetnam i. 3, Iago says of Leonida: "Her fame hath gone beyond the Pirean mtns. and brought
the chief Italian princes."
PIRENE
A fountain at Corinth where Bellerophon caught the winged horse Pegasus. It was
sacred to the Muses. Hall, in Sat. (1597) i. 2, 20 says, "Cytheron's hill's become
a brothel bed, And Pyrene sweet turned to a poisoned head Of coal-black puddle."
In Marmion's Antiquary iii. 2,
Petrucio says, "I leave your Helicons and your pale Pirenes to such as will look
after them." Persius (prol. 4) calls it "pallida Pyrene." Quarles, in Feast for
Worms (1638), p. 4, apologises for his Muse, because she has never bathed her
feathers "in the Pyrenean flood."
PIREUS
See PYRAEUM.
PISA [1]
An ancient city of Etruria, on the Arno, 44 m. W. of Florence. Formerly it was only 2 m. from the sea, but the distance has been increased by the silt deposited by the river. In the 11th and 12th cents. P. was at the height of its power: its fleets scoured the Mediterranean, and it gained possession of Sardinia and Corsica. The great buildings which are grouped together in the N.W. of the city date from this period. - The Cathedral was consecrated in 1118,
- the Baptistry was begun in 1152;
- the Leaning Tower, or Campanile Pendente, in 1174;
- and the Campo Santo a few years later.
A long struggle for maritime supremacy followed with Genoa, in which the Genoese
finally prevailed, defeating the Pisans with immense loss at the battle of Meloria
in 1284. A popular rising took place, in which Count Ugolino was taken and then
starved to death in the Tower of the Seven Streets. His story has been immortalized
by Dante. Next came a protracted contest with the Florentines, who took P. in
1409 and finally extinguished its independence a century later. Amongst its famous
sons are Galileo and the Pisanos. In Taming
of the Shrew i. 1, 10, Lucentio says, "P., renowned for grave citizens, Gave
me my being and my father"; and in ii. 1, 103, Baptista speaks of Vincentio, the
father of Lucentio, as "a mighty man of P." In ii. 1, 369, Tranio speaks of "rich
P." Fuller, Holy State iii. 10, says, "The Pisans, sited in the fens and marsh
of Arnus, have excellent memories." In Massinger's Great
Duke i. 1, Contarion says, "The service done our master in his wars 'Gainst
P. and Sienna may with justice Claim what's conferred upon him." The period is
the dukedom of Cosimo I. To the same period belongs Davenant's Siege,
the scene of which is laid at P. In i. 1, the Col. says, "Our Signiory of P. scorned
to implore justice of any state in Italy." In Davenant's Italian
i. 1, Florello says, "Our pay rests in arrears and P.'s lost." In Dekker's Wonder
i. 1, the D. of Florence says, "Hymen shall unite Florence and P. by the hands
of Fyametta and this Pisan Duke."
Swords were made at P., but they were of comparatively poor quality. In B.&F.
Custom ii. 3, Duarte says, "I'll
show you the difference now between a Spanish rapier and your pure P." In Ford's
Trial ii. 1, Guzman asks, "Speaks
thy weapon Toledo language, Bilboa, or dull P.?" In Cockayne's Trapolin
ii. 3, Horatio calls it "P. hanging": with reference to the famous leaning tower.
A particular cut of beard was known as the Pisan beard. In B.&F. Corinth ii.
4, the Tutor instructs Onos, his pupil, "Play with your P. beard." In Day's
Law Tricks i. 1, Polymetis talks
of the "choicest gems Marcellis, P., or Ligorne could yield." In Shirley's Bird
iii. 2, Fulvio appeals to the Ambassador "by that love we interchanged at P.
when we grew Together in our studies." The University of P. is one of the most
ancient and famous in Italy.
PISA [2]
A town in Elis in the Peloponnesus, near to Olympia. The Pisatans were the original
founders of the Olympic Games, but the city was destroyed by their rivals, the
Eleans, in 572 B.C. In Nero i. 3,
Nero relates how his glories amazed "the Greekish towns, Elis and Pisa and the
rich Mycenae."
PISCARIA
The fish-market of Venice, situated on the W. bank of the Grand Canal N. of the
Rialto Bdge., behind the Fabriche Nuove, erected in 1555. In Jonson's Volpone
v. 4, Volpone says, "I mean to be a suitor to your worship For the small tenement
. . . at the end of your long row of houses By the Piscaria."
PISIDIA
A province in S.W. Asia Minor lying E. of Lycia and N. of Pamphylia. Its chief
city was the Pisidian Antioch, where Paul preached. It was a hilly and well-wooded
country. In Lyly's Midas iv. 2, Coryn
says, "He that fishes for Lesbos must have such a wooden net as all the trees
in Phrygia will not serve to awake the cod, nor all the woods in P. provide the
corks." In iv. 1, Midas speaks of "the petty kings Of Mysia, P., and Galatia."
In Brome's Ct. Beggar iv. 3, Ferdinand,
who is mad, says, "I would but live to subdue the Pisidians and to bring the Lydians
under tribute." Apparently he is under the delusion that he is Midas.
PISMAE
The stream from the banks of which Persephone was stolen by Pluto. From the context
it is plain that T. Heywood accepted the form of the legend which placed it in
Sicily near Henna, but I have not been able to find his authority for the name.
In his Mistress v. 1, Psyche adjures
Proserpina, "By all the tears your grieved mother shed When you were stole from
Pismae's flowery bank."
PISSING ALLEY
Two passages in Old Lond. enjoyed this appellation: one running from Friday St.
to Bread St., the other from the Strand into Holywell St. Probably the former
is the one intended in the quotation. In Middleton's Family
v. 3, Dryfat says, "The wise woman in Pissing Alley nor she in Do-little Lane
are more famous for good deeds than he."
PISSING CONDUIT
See CONDUIT.
PISTOIA
{the ancient PISTORIA). A city in N.W. Italy on the Ombrone, 21 m. N.W. of Florence.
It has long manufactured iron-ware and firearms, and the word Pistol is derived
from it. In Middleton's R. G. v.
1, Trapdoor mentions P. as one of the cities in Italy which he has "ambled over."
In Cockayne's Trapolin ii. 3, Horatio
calls it "iron P."
PITTIE-WARD
Quite possibly a mistake. In M.W.W.
iii. 1, 5, Simple says he has looked for the coming of Dr. Caius and his party:
"The p.-w., the Park-ward; every way; old Windsor way, and every way but the town
way." Evans is waiting in a field near Frogmore: evidently the field E. of Moor
St., for the party actually comes "from Frogmore, over the Stile," across Moor
St. The one way that is left unaccounted for is the Staines Rd., which joins the
Old Windsor Rd. just S. of Frogmore. This road, leading through Staines and Hampton
to Lond., might well be called the City-ward way, and I incline therefore to accept
Capell's emendation "the cittie-ward."
PLACENTIA
(the old name of PIACENZA, q.v.). In Shirley's Imposture
i. 1, Flaviano says, "Thou left'st the princess Fioretta safe at Placentia?"
PLASHY
A vill. in Essex 7 m. N.E. of Chelmsford. The castle of P. was the residence of
Thomas of Woodstock, Earl of Gloucester, and the ch. was part of a college founded
by him in 1393. In R2 i. 2, 66, the
Duchess of Gloucester sends an invitation to the D. of York to visit her "at P."
In ii. 2, 90, York sends his servant "to P., to my sister Gloucester"; and in
120 he says, "I should to P. too." In Trag.
Richd. II ii. 2, 187, Woodstock says, "I'll to P., brothers; If ye ride through
Essex, call and see me." In iii. 2, 9, York says to Woodstock, "This house of
P., brother, Stands in a sweet and pleasant air, i' faith."Tis near the Thames
and circled round with trees."
PLEMOUTH, PLIMOUTH, PLIMWORTH.
See PLYMOUTH.
PLOUGH
A tavern sign in Lond. There was a P. Inn on the S. side of Cary St., or Little
Lincoln's Inn Fields; there was also a P. Inn beyond Kensal Green Cemetery which
dated back to the 16th cent., and another, which still remains, at the top of
Clapham Rise. But the one meant in the quotations was probably somewhere in the
City. In T. Heywood's Lucrece ii.
5, Valerius, in his song of the Taverns, says, "To the P. [goes] the clown." In
Wagers The Longer B. 1, Moros says, "There be good puddings at the sign of the
P., you never did eat better sauserlings."
PLUMPTON PARK
A park near Kingsbury in N. Leicestersh., S. of Tamworth. In B.&F. Captain
iii. 3, Jacobo, asked to sing, replies: "Thou know'st I can sing nothing but P.
P." In Brome's Moor iii. 2, Buzzard
makes his exit, singing. "Down P. P., etc." The reference seems to be to the Ballad
of King Edward and the Tanner of Tamworth (Parry's Reliques ii. 1), in which the
K. says, "For P.-p. I will give thee, With tenements fair beside." Puttenham,
Art of Poesie iii. 22, says that the K, gave the tanner "the inheritance of Plumton
parke" for his good sport.
PLYMOUTH
A spt. and naval station in S.W. Devonsh. at the head of P. Sound, at the confluence
of the Plym and Tamar, 216 m. S.W. of Lond. Its importance as a spt. dates from
the 16th cent., and it was the usual starting-point of expeditions to the W. Indies
and America. The names of Drake, Hawkins, and Sir Humphrey Gilbert lend it lustre.
It was the last English port touched at by the Pilgrim Fathers, and from it they
named the place of their disembarkation in America, New P. "The Jhesus of P."
was one of the fleet, Sighted by Hycke,
p. 88, conveying the "religious people" to Ireland,. In Three
Ladies ii., Lucre mentions P. as one of the English towns where, on account
of the concourse of traders, "infinite numbers great rents upon little room do
bestow." In T. Heywood's Maid of West
A. i. 1, the scene of which is laid here, the Capt. says, "How P. swells with
gallants! How the streets Glister with gold! You cannot meet a man But tricked
in scarf and feather, that it seems As if the pride of England's gallantry Were
harboured here. It doth appear, me thinks, A very court of soldiers." In Haughton's
Englishmen ii. 2, Towerson announces
that the ships, laden with the wealth of ample Spain, "arrived safely at P." In
Devonshire i. 2, the Merchant says,
"Spanish galliasses being great with gold were all delivered at P., Portsmouth,
and other English havens." In Middleton's Quarrel
v. 1, Chough boasts, "I could have had a whore at P." A lost play of Dekker and
Jonson was entitled Page of Plemouth, and described the murder of a rich merchant,
called Page, of that city. In Cuckqueans
7. 9, Denham speaks of "the spacious bay That is encompassed by the shore of P."
Spenser, F. Q. iv. 11, 31, says of the Tamer: "meeting Plim, to Plimmouth [it]
thence declines." Drayton, in Polyolb. i. 229, asks, "What ship yet ever came
That not of P. hears, where these brave navies lie, From cannons' thundering throats
that all the world defy?"
A P. Cloak meant a cudgel; Fuller explains the phrase as follows (Worthies:
Devon 248); "Many a man of good extraction, coming home from far voyages, may
chance to land here [at P.], and is unable to recruit himself with clothes.
Here they make the next wood their draper's shop, where a staff cut out serves
them for a covering." Ray, in Proverbs 225, gives a more likely explanation:
"We use when we walk in cuerpo to carry a staff in our hands, but none when
in a cloak." It is still considered bad form in Oxford and for a man in academicals
to carry a stick or umbrella. In Dekker's Hon.
Wh. B. iii. 2, Matheo says, "Shall I walk in a P. cloak, that's to say,
like a rogue in my hose and doublet, and a crabtree cudgel in my hand?" In Massinger's
New Way i. 1, Tapwell says, "If you
but advance Your Plimworth cloak you shall be soon instructed There dwells within
call . . . the constable." In Wandering Jew (1640) 22, we have: "A poor ale
house is your Inn, a P. cloak your caster," i.e. outer garment.
PO
(Latin, PADUS, or ERIDANUS). The largest river in Italy, rising in the Cottian
Alps and flowing E. to the Adriatic along the valley which separates the Alps
from the Apennines. Its length is about 400 m. In K.
J. i. 1, 203, the Bastard describes the English traveller "Talking of the
Alps and Apennines, The Pyrenaean and the river Po." In Caesar's
Rev. iii. 2, Caesar boasts, "Proud Tyber and Lygurian Poe Bear my name's glory
to the Ocean main." In Chapman's Consp.
Byron i. 1, Picote describes the meeting of the Papal Legate and the D. of
Savoy: "Where the flood Ticin eaters into Po." The Ticino flows into the Po a
few m. below Pavia. In B.&F. Lover's Prog.
iv. 4. Lisander speaks of "the winds of mischief from all quarters: Euphrates,
Ganges, Tigris, Volga, Po." In Peele's Old
Wives, p. 212, Eumenides says, "For thy sweet sake leaving fair Po, I sailed
up Danuby." In Day's Humour iv. 1,
Octavio says, "When, upon Po thou find'st a coal-black swan, Thou'st found a woman
constant to a man." In Chapman's Usher
iii. 2, Bassiolo swears that his friendship shall last "while the banks of Po
Shall bear brave lilies." In Suckling's Brennoralt
ii. 1, Villanor says, "I am a better drinker than a Po." Greene, in Bradamant's
Madrigal in Perimedes, speaks of "The swans . . . Floating like snow down by the
banks of Po."
Phaeton was said to have fallen into the Po after his attempt to guide the
chariot of the Sun. In Pembroke's Antonie v. 1898, Cleopatra compares her sorrows
to those of "Phoebus' sisters, daughters of the sun, Which wail your brother
fallen into the stream Of stately Po." The Po is used for Italy in general,
with special reference to its poetry; partly, perhaps, because it flows near
Mantua, the birthplace of Virgil. In Kinsmen
prol., the speaker says in reference to Chaucer, "A Poet never went More famous
yet 'twixt Po and silver Trent." Daniel, in Ep. Ded. to Cleopatra, says, "O
that the music of our well-tuned Ile Might hence be heard to Mintium, Arn, and
Po." In Ret. Pernass. iv. 3, Studioso
speaks of "so many activeable wits [in England] That might contend with proudest
birds of Po." In T. Heywood's Lucrece
ii. 5, Valerius, in his list of Taverns and their patrons, says, "You that do
the Muses love [go to] the sign called River Po." I can find no such sign in
London. In Cockayne's verses on Massinger's Emperor,
he prays that Massinger may "purify the slighted English tongue That both the
nymphs of Tagus and of Po May not henceforth despise our language so."
PODOLIA
(now PODOLSK). A province in S.W. Russia, until 1793 part of the kingdom of Poland,
on the E. bank of the Dniester and immediately N. of Bessarabia. In Marlowe's
Tamb. B. i. 2, Theridamas reports, "By
the river Tyras [i.e. Dniester] I subdued Stoka, Podolia, and Codemia."
POICTIERS, POITOU
A province of France lying on the Bay of Biscay, S. of Brittany and Anjou. It
was originally the country of the Pictones. After the fall of the Roman Empire
it came successively into the hands of the Vandals, the Visigoths, and the Franks,
and in the time of the Carlovings was ruled by Counts of its own, who were made
feudatories of the Frankish Kings. It became an English possession by the marriage
of Eleanor of Guienne to Henry II in 1152. It was conquered by Philippe Auguste
in 1294, and ceded to England again in 1360. It was finally reunited to France
by Charles VII in 1375. In Dist. Emp. iv. 2, Gabriella says to Eldegrad, "Richd.
hath begged your offices: He's Count of Poyteers, Marquis of Saluca." The date
is the reign of Charlemagne. In K. J.
i. 1, 11, Philip of France claims P. on behalf of young Arthur. In ii. 1, 487,
John offers P. along with Anjou, Touraine, and Maine as dowry to Blanche if the
Dauphin will marry her. In H6 A.
i. 1, 61, it is announced that P. is "quite lost" to the English; and in iv. 3,
45, York says, "Maine, Blois, Po, and Tours are won away." In iv. 1, 19, the Ff.
read P. by mistake for Patay, q.v. In Davenport's Matilda
i. 2, Fitzwater upbraids the K. with "the loss of Normandy, when Anjou, Britain,
Main, P., and Turman were delivered up to Philip."
POICTIERS
The capital of the province of Poitou on the Clain, 206 m. S.W. of Paris. It is one of the most ancient towns in France, and has some important Roman remains and a fine old cathedral and palace. It is chiefly memorable for the 3 great battles fought in its neighbourhood: viz. - the defeat of Alaric by Clovis in 507;
- of the Saracens by Charles Mantel in 732; and
- of Jean II of France by Edward the Black Prince in 1356.
In Ed. III iii. 5, the Prince announces
that John of France is fled "towards P."; and in iv. 3-8 the battle is described.
In Jonson's Prince Henry's Barriers, Merlin, speaking of the Black Prince, says,
"Here at P. he was Mars indeed." In Trag.
Richd. II i. 1, 35, Lancaster speaks of "the warlike battles won At Cressey
field, Poyteeres, Artoyse, and Mayne" by Edward the Black Prince. The battle is
described in detail in ii. 1, 75, but the date is wrongly given as September 19th,
1363. It should be 1356. Drayton, in Odes xii. 41, says, "Poitiers and Cressy
tell When most their pride did swell, Under our swords fey fell."
POLAND, or POLONIA
(Pe. = Pole; Pn. = Polonian, Pa. = Polonia, Pk. = Polack). A country in E. Europe
lying N. of Hungary between Russia and Silesia, stretching to the Baltic. From
the 10th cent. to the end of the 18th P. was an independent kingdom. In the 16th
cent. it was at the height of its power under Sigismund I and II, and held its
own against both the Russians and the Turks. To the early part of the cent. belongs
Copernicus, the great astronomer. The kingdom of P. was nefariously divided between
Prussia, Russia, and Austria in the three successive partitions of 1772, 1793,
1795. But P. recovered her independence in 1919. In Ham.
ii. 2,63, Norway is represented as being at war with P.; and in iv. 4, Fortinbras
of Norway marches across the stage "against some part of P." to win a little patch
of ground, which Hamlet thinks "the Pk. never will defend." In v. 2, 361, Fortinbras
"with conquest comes from P.," and is elected K. of Denmark. All this is quite
unhistorical. In i. 1, 63, "So frowned he once when in an angry parle He smote
the sledded Pks, on the ice" we should read Pole-axe: there is no indication of
any war between Denmark and P. In Meas.
i. 3,14, the D. of Vienna has delivered his power up to Angelo, "And he supposes
me travelled to P." In Bale's Johan
182, Sedition says, "I am the Pope's ambassador in Pe., Spruse, and Berne." The
reference is probably to the rebellion of the nobility, who were mainly Roman
Catholics, against Sigismund I. In Ed.
III iii. 1, reinforcements come to aid the French K. "From lofty P., nurse
of hardy men." In Selimus 540, Selim
says of Samandria: "Here the Pn. comes hurtling in To fight in honour of his crucifix."
In Kyd's Solyman i., Haler advises
Soliman, "I hold it not good policy to call Your forces home from Persia and Pa."
The reference is to the Treaty concluded between Soliman and P. in 1533, which
was greatly to the advantage of P. In B.&F. Span.
Cur. i. 1, Leandro specifies as one subject of conversation amongst pothouse
politicians, "Whether his [the Turk's] moony standards are designed For Persia
or Pa." Osman II had wars with Persia in 1617 and with P. in 1621. In Marlowe's
Massacre at Paris, the scene is enacted
in which the Lords of P. offer the crown to Henri of Anjou: he accepted the offer
and was crowned in 1572, but in a few months he fled secretly from P. to take
possession of the kingdom of France as Henri III. In Heywood's Witches
ii. 2, the soldier says he has served "with the Russian against the Pk.: I was
took prisoner by the P." The reference is to the war between Sigismund and Russia,
which ended with the victory of Chodkiewich in 1622. In Chettle's Hoffman
F. 1, Stilt says to his son, "Thou hast as rheumatique a tongue to persuade as
any is between Pe. and Pomer." In Richard's Misogonus
iii. 1, Eugonus, the brother of the hero, is sent away to his uncle "in Polona-land."
In B.&F. Fair Maid I. iv. 2, the
Tailor tells of a Scotch tailor who had "travelled far and was a pedlar in P."
In Jonson's Ev. Man I. ii. 2, Brainworm,
disguised as an old soldier, claims to have served "in all the late wars in Bohemia,
Hungaria, Dalmatia, P., where not?" Presumably he means the war concluded by the
Treaty of 1533, but he is simply lying audaciously.
National Character. Heylyn (s.v. P.) says, "The people
are very industrious and studious of all languages, especially the Latin. They
are according to their abilities rather prodigal than truly liberal, and are
generally good soldiers. Proud they are and impatient, delicious in diet, and
costly in attire, which last qualities are common also to the women who are
for the most part indifferently fair, and rather witty than well-spoken." There
was a general toleration of all varieties of religious belief in P., and sectaries
of many kinds found a refuge there. Burton, A. M. iii. 4., 1, 5, says, "In Europe,
P., and Amsterdam are the common sanctuaries." In later times, on the contrary,
P. came to be reckoned exceptionally intolerant. Poverty was supposed to be
rife in P. In Webster's White Devil
iii. 1, Flamineo says, "I'd rather be entered into the list of the 40,000 pedlars
in P.," a sarcasm on the primitive trading arrangements of the Pes.
The winter in P. is very severe. In Err.
iii. 2, 100, Dromio says of his kitchen-wench: "Her rags and the tallow in them
will burn a P. winter." In Beguiled,
Dods. ix. 285, the Nurse says, "He does strut before her in a pair of Pn. legs
as if he were a gentleman usher to the Great Turk." In Middleton's Five
Gallants iv. 6, Pursenet asks, "Where's comely nurture? the Italian kiss,
or the French cringe, with the Pn. waist? Are all forgot?" In Davenant's U.
Lovers ii. 1, Rampion says, "Bring me but a pattern of a Polish coat, I'd
wear it loose and short." Dekker, in Seven Sins, says of the English fashionable
man: "Pa. gives him the boots." Rowlands, in More Knaves Yet (1611), talks of
"Pa. heels "; and in Martin Marke-all (1610) of "a Polony shoe with a bell."
In Trag. Richd. II ii. 3, 92,
Richd.'s favourites are described as wearing "Pn. shoes with picks a hand full
long Tied to their knees with chains of pearl and gold." The Pes. wore their
heads shaved all but one lock. In Webster's White
Devil ii. 1, Brachiano says of the D. of Florence: "I scorn him like a shaved
Pk."
Apparently some Pn. had been working a swindle throughout England about 1630.
in Marmion's Leaguer ii. 3, Agurtes
says, if he has luck he will not need to "trample up and down the country, To
cheat with a Pn., or false rings." Sir I. Gollancz has recently given good reason
for supposing that Shakespeare took the name of Polonius in Hamlet from his
knowledge of a book called The Counsellor, written by Laurentius Grimalius
Goslicius "to the honour of the Pn. Empire," as the title asserts. An English
translation appeared in 1598. Hall, in Satires iv. 3, speaks of an adventurer
going to Guiana for gold and capturing nothing but "Some straggling pinnace
of Pa. rye." P. was one of the chief granaries of Europe.
POLICASTRO
A town in S. Italy at the head of the Gulf of P., on the Mediterranean coast abt.
85 m. S.E. of Naples. It was once an important city, but since its sack by the
Turks in the 16th cent. it has remained insignificant. In Barnes' Charter
i. 41, Alexander allots to Caesar "Those sweet provinces Even to Monte Alto, P.,
And Petrasalia in Calabria."
POLONIA
See POLAND.
POMER, POMMERN, POMERLAND, or POMERANIA
A province extending some 200 m. along the coast of the Baltic, to the N. of Brandenburg
and E. of the Danish peninsula. From 1062 to 1637 it was ruled by its own Dukes,
and on the death of the last D. passed to the house of Brandenburg. Since 1815
the whole of it has belonged to Prussia. In Chettle's Hoffman,
one of the characters is Ferdinand, lord of P. and D, of Prussia, and in the course
of the play (F.1) old Stilt says to his son, "Thou host as rheumatique a tongue
to persuade as any is between Pole and P." In Chapman's Alphonsus
i. 2, 16, the Archbp. of Mentz claims to be "By birth the D. of fruitful P." As
a matter of fact, he had nothing whatever to do with P.
POMFRET
(or, more fully, PONTEFRACT). An ancient town in the W. Riding, Yorks., near the
junction of the Aire and Calder, 24 m. S.W. of York and 177 m. N.W. of Lond. The
castle, of which considerable ruins still remain, was built by Ilbert de Lacy
soon after the Conquest. It came into the possession of the D. of Lancaster in
1310, and it was here that he was beheaded for rebellion in 1322. It was the scene
of the confinement and death of Richd. II, and of the execution of Lord Richd.
Grey and Sir Thomas Vaughan in 1483. It was finally dismantled by the Parliament
in 1649. In K. J. iv. 2, 132, the
Bastard brings in a prophet, Peter of P.; whom he had found in "the sts. of P.
With many hundreds treading on his heels," predicting that the K. would deliver
up his crown before noon on the next Ascension-day. The prophet was hanged at
Warham, according to Holinshed. In R2
v. 1, 52, Richd. is ordered to be taken to P.; and sc. 5 relates his murder there.
In H4 B. i. 205, Morton says that
the Archbp. of York "doth enlarge his rising with the blood Of fair K. Richd.,
scraped from P. stones." In H6 B.
ii. 2, 26, York tells bow Bolingbroke sent Richd. "to P., where . . . Harmless
Richd. was murdered traitorously." In Oldcastle
iii. 1, Cambridge says, "When young Richd. was at P. slain, In him the title of
Prince Edward died." In R3 ii. 4,
42, word is brought that "Lord Rivers and Lord Grey are sent to P.; With them
Sir Thomas Vaughan, prisoners." In iii. 1, 183, Gloucester sends word to Hastings
that his dangerous adversaries "To-morrow are let blood at P.' Castle "; and in
iii. 2, 50, Catesby brings him the message. In iii. 2, 85, Stanley says, "The
lords at P., when they rode from Lond., Were jocund, and supposed their state
was sure." In iii. 3, the execution of Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan takes place "in
P. Castle," though Rivers was not executed till some months later than the others.
Rivers exclaims, "O P., P.! O thou bloody prison! Within the guilty closure of
thy walls Richd. the 2nd here was hacked to death." In iii. 4., 92, Hastings recalls
with sorrow how he boasted that "they at P. bloodily were butchered"; and in v.
3, 140, the Ghost of Rivers speaks of himself as "Rivers, that died at P." In
T. Heywood's Ed. IV B. 162, Anselme
says, "This day at P. noble gentlemen three, the Q.'s kindred, lose their harmless
heads."
POMPEY'S THEATRE, or CIRQUE
The first permanent theatre in Rome, built by Cn. Pompeius Magnus at the S. end
of the Campus Martius on the boundary between it and the Circus Flaminius. It
was completed in 52 B.C. Seats were provided for 40,000 spectators, and at the
back of the stage were spacious colonnades and gardens. Adjacent to it were the
Curia Pompeii, where Caesar was murdered, and the House of Pompius. The remains
of these buildings are to be seen in the Piazza of Sta. Maria di Grotta Pinta
behind the ch. of San Andrea della Valle. It was burnt down in the reign of Tiberius,
and 3 later conflagrations are recorded. The outer walls were still standing in
the 15th cent. In J. C. i. 3, 147,
Cassius orders the conspirators, "Repair to P. Porch where you shall find us";
and in 152, "That done, repair to P. T." In Jonsons Sejanus
i. 2, Tiberius approves of the decree for setting up the statue of Sejanus in
P. T., "whose ruining fire His vigilance and labour kept restrained In that one
loss." In v. i. Terentius reports to Sejanus that the people "run in routs to
P. T. To view your statue which they say sends forth A smoke as from a furnace."
In v. 10, Terentius tells how the people "filled the Capitol and P C." to tear
down the statues of Sejanus. In Daniel's Cleopatra i., Menester says, "In P. spacious
t. I acted The noble virtues of true man." The same lines occur in Richards' Messallina
i. 606. Nash, in Wilton 117, speaks of "the ruins of P. t., reputed one of the
9 wonders of the world." In Shirley's Ball
v. 1, Freshwater, in his wholly fictitious account of his travels, says, "I went
a pilgrimage to Rome, where I saw a play in P. T." In Dekker's Wonder
iii. 1, Torrenti, speaking of his new palace, says, "I'll gild mine, like P. T.,
all o'er." In Massinger's Actor i.
1, Paris complains, "Our t., Great P. work, that hath given full delight Both
to the eye and ear of 50,000 Spectators in one day . . . Is quite forsaken." In
May's Agrippina i. 339, Vitellius
speaks of "Agrippa's Baths and P. T." as amongst the finest buildings of Rome.
Puttenham, Art of Poesie i. 17, speaks of it as "one among the ancient ruins of
Rome, built by Pompeius Magnus, for capacity able to receive at ease fourscore
thousand persons . . . and so curiously contrived as every man might depart at
his pleasure without any annoyance to other."
PONTIC SEA
(the EUXINE, or BLACK SEA, q.v.). In Oth.
iii. 3, 453, Othello says, "Like to the Pontic Sea Whose icy current and compulsive
course Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due on To the Propontic and the Hellespont,
E'en so my bloody thoughts shall ne'er look back." The immense quantity of water
received by the Black Sea from the rivers that flow into it causes a constant
westward current through the Dardanelles. Pliny (Holland's translation) says,
"The sea Pontus evermore runneth out into Propontis, but the sea never retireth
back again within Pontus." Spencer, F. Q., iii. 9, 37. says that Parius "built
Nausicle by the Pontick shore."
PONT NEUF
In spite of its name the oldest bdge. over the Seine in Paris. It crosses the river at the N.W. end of the Ile de la Cité, and was built by Henri IV, whose statue stands on the embankment close by. It was began in 1578, but not finished till 1604. It was notorious in the old days as the gathering-place of all the riff-raff of the city. In Davenant's Rutland, p. 227, the Londoner says to the Parisian, "You must needs acknowledge the famous dangers of Pont Neuf, where robbery is as constant a trade as amongst the Arabs." Montaigne, writing in 1586, says (Florio's Trans. 1603, ii. 6), "Fortune hath much spited me, to hinder the structure and break off the finishing of our new-bridge in our great city."
PONTOISE
A town in France at the junction of the Viosne and the Oise, 18 m. N. Paris. In
World Child 170, Manhood claims to
have conquered as a knight, "Picardy and Pontoise and gentle Artois." The reference
may be to the campaign of Edward III in 1346, when he advanced almost to the gates
of Paris. In Skelton's Magnificence,
fo. v., Fancy, who has brought a letter, says it was delivered to him "at Pountesse,"
where he was arrested as a spy and had great difficulty in making his escape.
PONTREMOLI
A city in N. Italy, 35 m. S.W. of Patron at the foot of the Apennines. It is a
walled town and the seat of a Bp. In Barnes' Charter
i. 1, Charles says to Montpansier, "March with your regiments to Pontremols. There
shall you find the Swiss with their artillery newly by sea brought to Spetia."
Spezia is 20 m. due S. of Pontremoli. In i. 4, Alexander allots to Caesar Borgia," In Romania from Pontremolie and Prato to fair Florence."
PONT ROUGE
A bdge. over the Seine in Paris, built in 1627 to connect the Ile de la Cité and the Ile St. Louis. In order to avoid the Canons' Garden it turned in the river and ran for some distance parallel to the bank as far as the steps leading to the Hotel de Vine. It was made of wood and painted red: hence the name. It was swept away by a flood in 1790. In Davenant's Rutland, p. 223, the Londoner says to the Parisian, "I will pass into your Fauxbourgs by Pont Rouge, a bdge. built to show the strength of your river."
PONTUS [1]
(Pc. = Pontic). A dist. in Asia Minor on the S. coast of the Pontus or Black Sea, and extending, from the Halys on the W. to the Phasis on the E. It was a satrapy of the Persian Empire, but in 363 B.C. the satrap Ariobarzanes assumed the title of King. He was succeeded by a number of kings, most of whom were called Mithridates. Of these the last and most famous was Mithridates VI (120-63 B.C.). He extended his power over the greater part of Asia Minor, but having come into conflict with Rome he was defeated first by Sulla 85 B.C. and then by Pompeius 65 B.C., when P. was made into a Roman province. In 36 B.C. Antonius made Polemon K. of the central part of the country, and his descendants continued to be called Kings of P. till A.D. 63, when it was finally absorbed into the Roman Empire.
In Chapman's Consp. Byron v.
1, Byron refers to the conquest by Pompey of "Armenia, P., and Arabia." In Caesar's
Rev. i. 1, Discord says, "Asia field And conquered P. sing his lasting praise,
Great Pompey." In Tiberius 836,
Tiberius addresses Armenia: "Are all the stripes that strong Lucullus gave Unto
thy neighbour P. and thyself Quite healed up?" Lucullus prepared the way for
Pompeius by his victories over Mithridates in 72 B.C. Milton, P. R. iii. 36,
says, "Young Pompey quelled The Pc. K." But Pompey was 44 at that time. In B.&F.
False One i. 1, Labienus, describing
the battle of Pharsaha, says, "Pc., Punic, and Assyrian blood Made up one crimson
lake." The East supported Pompey in his war against Caesar. In Shirley's Honoria
ii. 2, Honoria says, "Does he not look like mighty Julius bringing home the
wealthy spoils of Egypt, P., and Africa?" In Jonson's Catiline
i. 1, Catiline asks, "Was I marked out for the repulse Of her no-voice, when
I stood candidate To be commander is the Pa war?" The reference is to Catiline's
rejection when he was candidate for the consulship in 65 B.C. In Ant.
iii. 6, 72, "the K. of Pont" is mentioned as one of the allies of Antony. This
was the Polemon whom Antony made K. of P. in 36 B.C. The K. of P. is one of
the characters in Massinger's Virgin.
In Tiberius 2475, Sejanus says,
"Did not Mithridates, P. king, Forgive Phraates his rebellious son?" Pharnaces
(not Phraates), the son of Mithridates VI, conspired against him in 63 B.C.:
his fellow-conspirators were put to death, but Pharnaces was spared by his father.
Possibly through the story of Mithridates of P. having made himself immune
to poisons by the quite modern method of taking small doses of them, P. was
supposed to be specially productive of poisons. In Nabbes' Hannibal
iii. 4, Massanissa says that a tear of Sophonisba's "Hath in 't sufficient virtue
to convert All the Thessalian, Pc., Phasian aconites Into preservatives." In
Microcosmus iii., Bellanima speaks of an air breathing perfumes "no Persian
aromats, Pc. amomus, or Indian balsam can imitate." Amomum is a somewhat indeterminate
kind of spice. Later on in the next act, Temperance mentions "Pc. Nuts" amongst
table delicacies: they were reputed the best sort of filberts.
PONTUS [2]
(used for the P. EUXINUS, or BLACK S., q.v.). Milton, P. L. v. 340, says
that Eden produced all the fruits "Whatever Earth, all-bearing mother, yields
In India E. or W., or middle shore In P. or the Punic coast." In ix. 77, Satan
surveys the earth "From Eden over P. and the pool Maeotis." In P. R. ii. 347,
Satan provides for our Lord's banquet "All fish . . . of shell or fin And exquisitest
name, for which was drained P., and Lucrine Bay, and Afric coast." The middle
shore of the P. was famous for its fruit and nut trees: the cherry came thence,
and the best filberts were known as "Pontic nuts"; and the sea was plentiful in
fish. In Mason's Mulleasses 2099,
Timoclea says, "Nor was the diadem of the Pontic q. Made as a fatal instrument
of death, And yet it was the engine stopped her breath." The reference seems to
be to the poisoned coronet sent by Medea, "the Pontick q.," to her rival Glauce,
or Creusa, the daughter of the K. of Thebes. But it was the instrument of Glauce's
death, not of her own.
PONT VALERIO
In Jonson's Case v. 1, Angelo tells
Rachel, who is at Milan, that her lover Ferneze "is returned from war, lingers
at P. V.," and has sent for her to meet him there. A horse is provided for her,
and Angelo promises "At P. V. thou thy love shalt see." In scene 3 Rachel and
Angelo are discovered "in the open country." P. V. is therefore a town within
riding distance of Milan on some river, as the name implies, and on the way from
Vicenza, where the war seems to be going on. I cannot find any P. V., but Valeggio
answers the conditions pretty closely. It is on the Mincio, abt. 75 m. E. of Milan,
on the way to Vicenza. There was a fortified bdge. there, connecting it with Borghetto,
which was built in 1393. It is an important military position commanding the passage
of the Mincio. Hence I would suggest that V. is a mistake for Valeggio; unless,
indeed, it is a purely imaginary place.
POOL, THE
The part of the Thames between Lond. Bdge. and Limehouse Point. In Massinger's
Madam i. 1, Goldwire says, "The ship
is safe in the Pool then." In Prodigal
i. 1, Flowerdale asks, of his ship the Catharine and Hugh, "What, is't in the
P. can you tell?"
POOLE'S HOLE
A cavern near Buxton in N. Derbyshire, so called from an outlaw of that same who made it his residence. It was reckoned the first of the 7 Wonders of the Peak. In Jonson's Love's Welcome it is mentioned as one of "the written or reported wonders of the Peak."
POOVIES' BUILDINGS
Possibly Powis House is meant at the N.W. corner of Lincoln's` Inn Fields in Gt.
Queen St., Lond. In Middleton's Trick to
Catch iii. 4, Dampit says, "In anno '89 when the great thundering and lightning
was, I prayed heartily then to overthrow Poovies' new buildings."
POPE'S HEAD ALLEY
A lane in Lond. running S. from 18 Cornhill to Lombard St. At its corner in Cornhill
was the P. H. Tavern, which is mentioned as early as 1464, and may have been part
of K. John's Palace; at all events it had on its walls the arms of England quartered
with those of France. In 1615 the tavern was left by Sir William Craven to the
Merchant Taylors, and they still (in 1925) draw the rents of the houses built
on the site. The tavern itself existed until 1756. The A. was occupied early in
the 17th cent. by booksellers' shops, and a large number of pamphlets was issued
from it. In Jonson's Christmas, Christmas says "I am old Gregory Christmas still,
and though I come out of P. H. A., as good a Protestant as any in the parish."
In Vulcan, Jonson dedicates to him "Capt. Pamphlet's horse and foot that sally
Upon the Exchange still, out of P. H. A." In T. Heywood's I.K.M.
B. 268, Gresham says "Let's step in to the P. H.: we shall be dropping dry
if we stay here." In the same play, B 272, Quicke says "We'll arrest him to the
P. H. call for the best cheer in the house, first feed upon him, and then, if
he will not come off, carry him to the Compter."
Larum was "Printed for William
Ferbrand and are to be sold at his shop in Popes-h. A. over against the Tavern
door, near the Royal Exchange. 1602." Machin's Dumb
Knight was "Printed by Nicholas Okes for John Bache and are to be sold at
his shop in P.-h. Palace, near to the Royal Exchange. 1608." Ev.
Woman I. was "Printed for E. A. by Thomas Archer and are to be sold at his
shop in the P.-h.-palace near the Royal Exchange. 1609." Middleton's R.
G. has also Thomas Archer's imprint at P.-h.- palace. 1611. Webster's Wyat
(1607) and White Devil (1612)
were published at the same place.
POPPERING
(POPERINGHE). A town in W. Flanders, 7 m. W. of Ypres. It gave its name to a variety
of pear that was grown there. The Hero of Chaucer's Tale of Sir Thopas was born
"at Poperyng, in the place." In R. & J.
ii. 1, 38, Mercutio says of Rosaline: "O, Romeo, that she were an open etcetera,
thou a poperin pear." The joke, such as it is, depends on the popular name for
the medlar, and the double entendre in poperin. In Ev.
Wom. I. iv. 1, we have: "No plums nor no parsnips, no pears nor no Popperins."
In Tourneur's Atheist iv. 1, Sebastian
speaks of "a poppring pear tree growing upon the bank of a river." In W. Rowley's
New Wonder, one says, "I requested
him to pull me a Katherine pear, and, had I not looked to him, he would have mistook
and given me a Popperin."
PORCHMOUTH
(the old spelling of PORTSMOUTH, q.v.).
PORTA DI VOLANE
A town on the W. coast of the Adriatic Sea at the mouth of the Po di Volano, 30
m. due E. of Ferrara. In Barnes' Charter
i. 4., Alexander allots to the D. of Candy "all the signories in Lombardy From
Porta di Volane to Savona."
PORTER'S HALL
A building in the precinct of Blackfriars, near Puddle-wharf, also called LADY
SAUNDERS HOUSE. Rosseter got a licence to turn it into a playhouse in 1615. After
much difficulty he managed to get it opened in 1617, when the players from the
Hope came over and performed Field's Amends.
But an order from the Privy Council almost immediately directed that it should
be dismantled, and this was the end of the venture. [ed. note: This playhouse
has also been variously called Rosseter's "Blackfriars" and "Puddle-Wharf", qqv.
See also the maps under the London listings].
PORT LE BLANC
Stated in R2 ii. 1, 277, to have
been the starting-point of Bolingbroke's expedition to recover his estates in
England. It is called there "a bay in Brittany." The authority for the statement
is Holinshed, who appears to have followed Les grands croniques de Bretagne
(1514). It is said that there was a port of this name on the N. coast of Brittany
near Treguier. It is pretty certain, however, that Henry started from Vannes in
the bay of Morbihan in Lower Brittany, and Marshall has suggested that Port Le
Blanc is a mistake for Morbihan.
PORT PHEASANT
A harbour discovered by Drake in July, 1571, and named by him P. P. from the number of these birds that he found there. It is the modern Puerto Escondido, on the E. side of the Bay of Campeachy in the Gulf of Mexico, abt. 100 m. S. of Campeachy. In Davenant's Playhouse the scene of Act iii. is thus described: "A harbour is discerned which was first discovered by Sir F. Drake and called by him P. P."
PORT REALL
(PUERTO REAL). A spt. on the harbour of Cadiz in the S.W. of Spain, 5 m. E. of
Cadiz. In Devonshire ii. 1, a soldier
reports: "Don Bustament and all his company are put over to Port Reall upon the
mainland because they shall not succour the city," viz. Cadiz
PORTSMOUTH
A spt. and naval station in Hants opposite the E. end of the Isle of Wight, 74
m. S.W. Of Lond. It was a naval station of some importance at the beginning of
the 13th cent., but its value as a national dockyard was first properly recognized
about the middle of the 16th cent. It now includes Landport, Portsea, and Southsea.
It was here that Buckingham was assassinated in 1628. The harbour is one of the
best in the United Kingdom. In Three
Ladies ii., Lucre mentions "Porchmouth" as one of the towns where she has
infinite numbers that "great rents upon little room do bestow" on account of the
great resort thither of traders. In Wilson's Pedler
376, the Pedler tells of a great monster "in breadth from Donwich to Porchmouth."
In Devonshire i. 2, the Merchant
says, "Spanish galliasses, being great with gold, were all delivered at Plymouth,
P., and other English havens."
PORTUA
See OPORTO.
PORTUGAL
(often spelt PORTINGALE. Pse. = Portuguese, Pie. = Portingale). The country on the W. coast of the Iberian peninsula, S. of Galicia. Its own writers call it Lusitania, but that Roman province included far more than P. The founder of the kingdom of P. was Alfonso Henriques (11121185), the Count of Portucale, or Portus Cale (Gaya, the port of Oporto). In the famous battle of Orik in 1139, he routed the Moors, and his exploits were a favourite theme of the chivalrous romances of the Middle Ages. During the latter Part of the 15th cent. and the early part of 16th the Pse. took the lead in exploration and colonization: in 1486 Bartholomew Dias rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and later Vasco da Gama got to India by that route and founded the Pse. dominion there. Large numbers of Pse. emigrated to Madeira and Brazil. The young K. Don Sebastian attempted the subjugation of the Moors in Africa, but was defeated and slain at the battle of Alcazar in 1578. Philip II of Spain then claimed the crown of P., and it was united to the Spanish kingdom until 1640, when the house of Braganza was restored to the throne.
General Allusions. Hycke,
p. 88, boasts to have been "in Spayne, Portyngale, Sevyll, also in Almayne."
In Horestes D.3, the Vice says
to Fame, "Whither dust thou think for to go? to purgatory or to Spayne? to Venys,
to Pourtugaull, or to the isles Canarey?" In B.&F. Custom
ii. 4, Donna Guiomar says to Rutilio, "If you were 10,000 times a Spaniard,
the nation We Ps. most hate, I yet would save you."
Allusions to the History.
In Nero v. 1, Tigellinus reports:
"Spain's revolted, Pie. hath joined." The reference is to the proclamation of
Galba as Emperor in Spain in A.D. 68, but, of course, there was no such name
as P. then: Lusitania is intended. In B.&F. Pestle i. 3, Ralph reads from the romance of Palmerin of England, "I wonder why the
kings do riot raise an army as big as the army that the Prince of Portigo brought
against Rosicleer"; and the citizen's wife comments, "They say the K. of P.
cannot sit at his meat but the giants and the ettins will come and snatch it
from him." In Span. Trag. i.,
Hieronimo says, "English Robert, Earl of Gloucester . . . when K. Stephen bore
sway in Albion, Arrived . . . In Pie. and . . . Enforced the k., then but a
Saracen, To bear the yoke of the English monarchy." The reference is to the
capture of Lisbon in 1147 from the Moors, in which some English Crusaders took
part, but Robert of Gloucester was certainly not there. He goes on: "Edmund,
Earl of Kent, in Albion, When English Richd. wore the diadem came likewise and
razed Lisbon walls And took the K. of Pie. in fight." The Earl of Kent made
an expedition to P. in 1381 to help the K. against the Spaniards, but the K.
played him false, and he returned to England in 1382. The background of Jeronimo
and the Span. Trag. is a war between Spain and P. in which Balthazar, the Prince
of P., is defeated and ultimately murdered. The supposed date is subsequent
to the conquest of Rhodes by Solyman, as is shown in Act v. of the Tragedy;
therefore during the reign of John III; but the details are quite unhistorical.
According to T. Heywood's I.K.M. B.
335, "12 mighty galleons of P." were part of the Spanish Armada. In Kyd's Soliman
i., Brusor says, "I have marched conqueror through Asia Along the coasts held
by the Portuiguize." The Pse. had settlements along the Malabar Coast from Goa,
through Cochin and Calicut to Colombo in Ceylon.
The expedition of Sebastian against the Moors had special interest
for the English because of the part played in it by Thomas Stukeley. It formed
the subject of Peele's Alcazar
and of Stucley. In the latter
(1544) Philip of Spain expressed the desire, which he afterwards realized, that
"Portingal and fruitful Castille had been the subject of one sceptre." In Chapman's
Consp. Byron ii. 1, Byron says,
"Spain, When the hot scuffles of barbarian arms Smothered the life of Don Sebastian
. . .Gave for a slaughtered body, held for his, 100,000 crowns; caused all the
state Of superstitious P. to mourn . . . And all made with the carcass of a
Switzer." No fewer than 4 impostors appeared claiming to be Don Sebastian. The
most important was Gabriel Espinosa, who was executed in 1594, and is probably
the one referred to here. In Wit S.
W. i. 2, Sir Ruinous says, "The first that fleshed me a soldier was that
great battle at Alcazar in Barbary, where that royal P. Sebastian ended his
untimely days." He goes on to speak of the rumour that Sebastian was still alive.
The scene of T. Heywood's Challenge
is laid in P. during the reign of Sebastian. In Dekker's Northward
iv. 4, the Bawd says, "I was a dapper rogue in Ple. voyage"; and in his Hornbook
v. he advises the Gull, "If you be a soldier, tally how often you have been
in action; as the Pie. voyage." Nash, in Saffron Walden Q. 4, advises Chute,
"Ever remember thy P. voyage under Don Anthonio." This was an expedition sent
in 1589 under Drake and Norris to help the Prior of Crato, who was a claimant
to the throne against Philip II, but it accomplished nothing. The scene of B.&F.
Princess is laid in Tidore, one
of the Pse. possessions in the E. Indies, and the actors are mostly "Ps." The
Amazons in their Sea Voyage are "women of P." who have fled to a desert island
to escape "the cursed society of men": the husband of one of them is called
Sebastian. In Shirley's Ct. Secret, one of the characters is Antonio, "a Prince
of P." B.&F. Four Plays in One
states in the Induction that it was presented at the marriage of K. Emmanuel
of P. to the Infanta Isabella of Castile in 1497.
The Pse. had the reputation of being good riders. In B.&F. Princess
i. 1, Piniero speaks of the pleasure "we Ps. or the Spaniards [take] in riding,
in managing a great horse, which is princely." Heylyn says of the Pse.: "They
are of more plain and simple behaviour than the rest of Spain, and none of the
wisest. They have a natural antipathy to the Spaniards. They are excellent seafaring
men and happy in foreign discoveries."
P. produced good wines: port takes its name from Oporto. In Bale's
Johan 268, Dissimulation says,
"A better drink is not in P. or Spain." The spices from the Pse. Indies produced
exquisite perfumes. In Davenant's Rutland, p. 217, the Parisian says [in comparison
with tobacco] "your sea-coal smoke seems a very P. perfume." A p. posset seems
to have been some kind of stimulating soup. In B.&F. Thomas
iii. 1, Thomas says, "Hang up your juleps and your P. possets: give me sack."
Grain of P. is used by Chaucer (B. 4649) for cochineal.
P. gave the name to the Portague, a gold coin, otherwise own as the
great crusado, of the value of from £3 to £5. They were fine coins, and were
often preserved as keepsakes or transmitted as heirlooms. In Jonson's Alchemist
i. 3, Drugger says, on being asked if he has any gold about him, "Yes, I have
a portague I ha' kept this half year." In Lupton's All
for Money D.3, Nichol says, "Here is a dozen Portagewes if you will help
me." In Dekker's Shoemaker's
iii. 1, Hodge says, "Here be the Pse. to give earnest." In B.&F. Rule
a Wife v. 5, Altea says, "He has given my lady a whole load of portigues."
In Davenant's Plymouth i. 1, Cable
tells of "2 strangers each with a bag of Portuguez under his left arm." In Spencer's
Mother Hubberd 212, the Ape is dressed as a soldier: "His breeches were made
after the new cut, Al Portuguese, loose like an empty gut." In Deloney's Craft
ii. 6, the shoemaker says, "Our best cork comes from P." In B.&F. Princess
v. 3, a townsman says, "Are these the P. bulls? How loud they bellow!" Further
on in the scene another says, "If I come in again . . . I will give 'em leave
To cram me with a P. pudding": meaning in this case a cannon ball.
PORTUGAL, BAY OF
The sea off the coast of P. between Oporto and the Cape of Cintra. The water is
very deep, attaining 1400 fathoms within 40 m. of the coast. In As You Like It iv. 1, 213,
Rosalind says, "My affection hath an unknown bottom like the B. of P." In Marlowe's
Tamb. A. iii. 3, Tamburlaine says that
his fleets shall "keep in awe the b. of Portingale And all the ocean by the British
shore." In T. Heywood's Captives
i. 3, the clown says there are "more vessels than were to fill the huge great
B. of Portingall." In Massinger's Very
Woman iii. 5, Antonio says, "'Tis strong, strong wine. Here's that will work
as high as the B. of P."
PORTUGAL ROW
The name at first given to the S. side of Lincoln's Inn Fields, built in 1657. A theatre was opened here in 1662 on a part of the present site of the College of Surgeons. It was occupied by the Duke's Company under Sir William Davenant, who lodged in the Row. In Playhouse, Epil. Davenant says, "Therefore be pleased to think that you are all Behind the R. which men call P." In i. the Housekeeper says of one of the applicants: "He would hire the throne of our Solyman the Magnificent and reign over all the dominions in P. R."
POTTER'S HIVE
(corruption of P. HYTHE; another name for QUEEN HYTHE, q.v.). In Peele's
Ed. I part of the contents of the
play is described on the title page as "The sinking of Q. Elinor who sunk at Charing
Cross and rose again at Potters hith, now named Queen hith." The scene was enacted
on the stage, and a Potter and his wife are introduced, no doubt to account for
the name which is not otherwise attested. When the Q. rises up the Potter's wife
says, "It is the Q. that chafes thus, who sunk this day on Charing Green and now
is risen up on P. H."
POULES, SAINT
See PAUL'S (SAINT).
POULTNEY
See LAWRENCE (ST.) POULTNEY.
POULTRY, THE
A st. in Lond. connecting Cheapside and Cornhill. It was so called from the poulterers
who had their stalls there. The Rye Tavern, afterwards The King's Head, stood
at the corner of the Stocks Market, near the present site of the Mansion House.
St. Mildred's Ch. was on the N. side on the site now (in 1925) occupied by the
Gresham Life Assurance Society. One of the two City Compters was in the P., the
other being in Wood St. It stood 4 houses W. of St. Mildred's, a little E. of
Grocers' Hall Court, and was approached from Chapel Place. It was partially concealed
by houses in front of it, as the quotation from The
Puritan shows. The site was afterwards occupied by the P. Chapelthe
precursor of the City Temple. Middleton's Blurt
was "Printed for Henry Rocytt and are to be sold at the long shop under St. Mildred's
ch. in the P. 1602." Like Will to Like was "Imprinted at the long shop adjoining
unto St. Mildred's Ch. in the Pultrie by John Allde. 1568."
In Shirley's Love Maze iii. 3,
Lady Bird says, "Go to Master Kite that lives i' the P." Probably a play on
the words is intended. In The Puritan
iii. 4, Puttock says, "These maps are pretty. painted things; they say all the
world's in one of them, but I could ne'er find the Counter in the Poultrie."
"I think so," says Raven, "how could you find it? for you know it stands behind
the houses." Gascoigne, in Steel Glass, says, "These merchants read arithmetic
once every day In Wood St., Bread-St., and in Poultery, Where such schoolmasters
. . . keep their birds full close in caitiff's cage." Nash, in Prognostication,
says, "The stones in Cheapside should be so hot that divers persons should fear
to go from Poules to the Counter in the P." In Wilkins' Enforced
Marriage iii. 1, Ilford says, "I, Frank Ilford, was inforced from the Mitre
in Bread St. to the Compter in the P." In Middleton's R.
G. v. i. Dapper says, "Was it your Meg of Westminster's courage that rescued
me from the P. puttocks?" i.e. the sergeants. In W. Rowley's Match
Mid. ii., Tim, being told that Capt. Carvet was a serjeant, asks, "Of the
P. or of Wood-st.?" In Middleton's Phoenix
iv. 3, the Officer says, "In Lond. stand 2 most famous Universities, P. and
Wood St., where some have taken all their degrees from the Master's side down
to the Mistress' side, the Hole." In W. Rowley's New
Wonder iv., the Clown says, "Do you not smell P. ware, Sir Godfrey?": i.e.
officers from the P. In Middleton's Michaelmas
ii. 3, Shortyard speaks of "the two city hazards, P. and Wood St." Taylor, in
Works i. 91, says, "The ocean that Surety-ship sails in is the spacious Marshalsea:
sometimes she anchors at Wood st. harbour, and sometimes at the P. harbour."
Dekker, in Lanthorn, says of thieves: "P.-ware are more churlishly handled by
them than poor prisoners are by keepers in the Counter i' the P." Middleton,
in Hubbard, p. 52, says to the poetaster, "They have plotted to set one of the
sergeants of Poetry, or rather, the P., to claw you by the back." Dekker, in
Hornbook vi., says that if the Gull sits amongst the crowd in the theatre "the
proportion of your body is in more danger to be devoured than if it were served
up in the Counter amongst the P." In T. Heywood's I.K.M.
B. i., a Prentice says, "I'll but drink a cup of wine with a customer at
the Rose and Crown in the P. and come again presently." In Nabbes' Spring, Shrovetide
says, "Thou art a prodigal Christmas, and Shrovetide hath seen thee many times
in the P.": where the pun is obvious.
POUNTESS
See PONTOISE.
POWES
or POWYS. One of the 3 principalities into which Wales was divided before its
union under Howel Dda in the 10th cent. It included parts of Montgomery, Shropsh.,
and Radnor. In W. Rowley's Shoemaker
iv. 1, 303, Barnaby says that Sir Hugh is "a Welch Prince, and son to the K. of
Powes in S. Wales."
POYCTIERS, POYTEERES
See POICTIERS.
POYLE, PUGLIA
(the ancient APULIA). A province on the S.E. coast of Italy between the Apennines
and the Adriatic. In Hycke, p. 88,
the hero boasts that he has been in "Calabre, Poyle, and Erragoyne."
PRADO
The boulevard running N. and S. on the E. side of Madrid. It is the fashionable
promenade of the city. Properly the P. is the meadow and indicates the whole quarter.
In Middleton's Gipsy i. 4, Louis
says to Diego, "Walk thou the st. that leads about the P.; I'll round the W. part
of the city." In Sir W. Raleigh's Ghost (1626), it is said that Gondomar "caused
his attendants to bring him in his litter to the Prada, near unto the city of
Madrid, being a place of recreation and pleasure for the nobility and gallantry
of Spain."
PRAENESTE
(now PALESTRINA). An ancient city of Latium in Italy on a spur of the Apennines,
23 m. E. of Rome. It possessed a famous shrine of Fortune, where oracular answers
known as Sortes Praenestinae were delivered. In Jonson's Catiline
iv. 2, Cicero says to Catiline, "Hadst thou not hope beside, By a surprise by
night to take Praeneste?"
PRAETORIAN CAMP
The barracks of the P. Guard at Rome. It lay on the E. of the city E. of the Viminal
Hill, and was 500 by 400 ft. It was first constructed by Tiberius, and the 10
cohorts of picked men who occupied it were at once the strength and the menace
of the Emperors. In May's Agrippina
i. 538, Agrippina says to Caesar, "Your strongest guard is the P. Camp."
PRAGUE
The capital of Bohemia on the Moldau, 150 m. N.W. of Vienna. During the reign
of Charles IV (1346-1378) it became one of the most important towns m Germany,
and its famous University was founded by him. Under the influence of John Huss
and Jerome of Prague it became the centre of the reforming movement that led to
the Hussite wars of 15th cent. The Josephstadt was one of the most ancient Jewish
quarters in Europe. On the Hradschin, or Castle Hill, stands the Imperial Palace,
said to have been founded by the Princess Libussa. In the 16th cent. Copernicus
and Tycho Brahe made their home in P., and the latter is buried in the Teyn Ch.
in the Old Town. In Tw. N. iv. 2,
15, the Clown says, "The old hermit of P. that never saw pen and ink very wittily
said to a niece of K. Gorboduc, 'That that is is.'" Douce identifies this hermit
with a certain Jerome, born at P., who was called the hermit of Camaldoli in Tuscany,
but the reference to Gorboduc is mere nonsense. In Bale's Johan
259, England says, "It is true as God spake with the Ape at Praga," i.e.
it is a foolish lie. In Davenport's New
Trick iii. 1, Friar John speaks of "P. in Germany while [? where] the Emperor's
Court Lies for the most part." In W. Rowley's Match
Mid. ii., Carvegut says that he served last "at the battle of P." This was
the battle of 1620, in which the Elector Palatine was decisively defeated.
PRATO
A town in N. Italy, 15 m. N.W. of Florence on the way to Pistoia. In Barnes' Charter
i. 4, Alexander allots to Caesar "in Romania, from Pontremolie and P. to fair
Florence."
PRICKINGHAM
An imaginary place, the name indicating perhaps that the prior was as fond of
hunting as Chaucer's Monk. In Respublica
iii. 6, Avarice says, "If e'er I bestow them it shall be the next Lent To the
Prior of P. and his Covent"
PRINCE'S ARMS
A bookseller's sign in Lond. There was a P. A. in Chancery Lane, which was probably
transferred from the P. A. over Inner Temple Gate at No. 17 Fleet St. in 1610,
when the Gate was raced. At all events the old P. A. was the sign at which Thomas
Marsh published Stows Chronicles, whilst Middleton's Quiet
Life was "Printed by Tho. Johnson for Francis Kirkman and Henry Marsh and
are to be sold at the P. A. in Chancery Lane. 1662." Merlin
has the same imprint.
There was another P. A. in St. Paul's Churchyard. Shirley's Poems were "Printed
for Humphrey Moseley and are to be sold at his shop at the sign of the Princes
Armes in St. Pauls Church-yard. 1646." Middleton's No
Wit has the same imprint in 1657. Webster, in Monuments, speaks of the P.
A. as "the Three Feathers," i.e. the 3 ostrich feathers which are still
the cognizance of the Prince of Wales.
PRINTERS PRESS
A bookseller's sign in Fleet Lane, Lond. Tourneur's [ed. note: anonymous, probably
Middleton's] Revenger was "Printed
by G. Eld and are to be sold at his house in Fleete-lane at the sign of the Printers-presse.
1607."
PRINTING PRESS
A bookseller's sign in St. Paul's Churchyard, Lond. May's Old
Couple was "Printed by J. Cottrel for Samuel Speed at the sign of the P. P.
in St. Paul's Churchyard. 1658."
PROCURATORIA
A building at Venice for the accommodation of the Procuratori of San Marco. The
Procuratorie Vecchie was erected on the N. side of the Piazza di San Marco in
1517, and stands on a portico of 50 arches: the Procuratorie Nuove was added on
the S. side of the Piazza in 1584. In Jonson's Volpone
ii. 1, Volpone, disguised as a travelling quack, says, "It may seem strange that
I, your Scoto Mantuano, who was ever wont to fix my bank in the face of the public
Piazza, near the shelter of the Portico to the P., should now humbly retire myself
into an obscure nook of the Piazza."
PROMISED LAND
Palestine, because it was promised to Abraham and his descendants (see Gen. xii. 7: Hebrews xi. 9). Milton, P. L. iii. 531, calls it "the P. L. to God so dear." In xii. 172, he speaks of the return of Israel from Egypt "back to their p. l." In P. R. iii. 157, Satan speaks of "Judaea now and all the P. L. Reduced a province under Roman yoke." In 438, our Lord recalls the dividing of the Red Sea and the Jordan "When to the P. L. their fathers passed."
PROPONTIC
The sea of Marmora, lying between the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. In Oth.
iii. 3, 453 Othello says, "The Pontic sea . . . Ne'er feels retiring ebb, but
keeps due on To the P. and the Hellespont." Holland, in trans. of Pliny's Nat.
Hist., published in 1601, says, "The sea Pontus evermore floweth and runneth out
into Propontis."
PROVENÇE
A province in the extreme S.E. of France, the capital of which was Marseilles.
It was the old Roman Provincia Gallica, but after the subjugation of the whole
of Gaul it was distinguished as Gallia Narbonensis. After the division of the
Carlovingian Empire it was governed by independent princes until the end of the
12th cent., when it became connected with the Arragonese kingdom of Naples. In
1486 it was united to the kingdom of France by Louis XI. Its language, known as
the Langue d'Oc, reached its highest development in the 12th cent., when it became
the vehicle of an extensive literature, including the poems of the Troubadours.
In Chapman's Consp. Byron i. 1,
Janin says, "The sea-army, now prepared at Naples, Hath an intended enterprise
on Provençe." In Davenant's Wits
ii. 1, Engine says, "They'll feast with rich Provençal wines."
PROVINCES, UNITED
The 7 P. of Holland formed into a league by the Union of Utrecht in 1579 under
the presidency of William the Stadtholder. In Barnavelt
iv. 5, William charges Barnavelt with trying to "break the union and holy league
between the P." In Puritan iii. 2,
Nicholas says of Capt. Ydle: "He has travelled all the world o'er, he, and been
in the seven and twenty Ps." This is a slight exaggeration, as there were only
17 of them, including the 7 U. P. and the rest.
PROVINS
A town in France in the department of Seine et Marne, 45 m. S.E. of Paris. It
was, and is, famous for its roses, which were said to have been introduced by
the Crusaders. The Rose de P., or Rosa Provincialis, is a species of Damask Rose.
It was sometimes by a natural confusion called the Provençe Rose, but it has nothing
to do with Provençe In Ham. iii.
2, 288, Hamlet says, after the abrupt conclusion of the play within the play,"
Would not this and a forest of feathers with two Provincial roses on my taxed
shoes get me a fellowship in a cry of players?" The reference is to the rosettes
worn on the front of their shoes by actors. In Ford's Heart
i. 2, Calantha says to Ithocles, "I myself with mine own hands have wrought, To
crown thy temples, this Provincial garland."
PRUSSIA
Originally the E. part of what to 1918 was the kingdom of P., stretching along
the coast of the Baltic from the Vistula to the Memel. The inhabitants were akin
to the neighbouring Lithuanians. It was conquered and partly Christianized by
the Teutonic knights in the 1st half of the 13th cent. In the early part of the
15th cent. the people expelled the Teutonic Knights and allied themselves with
Poland. In 1511 the Knights chose Albert of Hohenzollern as their Grand Master,
and in 1525 he established a secular and independent Duchy in P. In 1618 it passed
into the hands of Johann Sigismund, the Elector of Brandenburg, and to 1918 was
governed by the princes of that house. Chaucer's Knight (C. T. A. 53), "Ful ofte
tyme hade the bord bigonne Aboven alle nations in Pruce." In A. 2122, Palamon's
knights are some of them armed with "a Pruce sheeld." In Piers C. vii. 279, Avarice
says that he has often sent his prentice "into Prus my profit to awaite." In Chettle's
Hoffman, one of the characters is
Ferdinand, lord of Pomer and D. of P. In B. 3 he is called "Duke of Brusia": an
obvious misprint. In Bale's Johan
182, Sedition says, "I am the Pope's Ambassador in Pole, Spruse, and Berne." These
were all Protestant countries at the time: Heylyn (s.v. P.) says that the
Teutonic knights "found the Prussians to be tough meat, and neither easily chewed
nor quickly digested."
PUCKERIDGE
A vill. in Herts., 23 m. N. of Lond. and about 6 m. N. of Ware. In Dekker's Northward
v. 1, Bellamont says, "He very politickly imagines that your wife is rode to P.,
5 miles further [than Ware]; either at P. or Wades Mill, saith he, you shall find
them." In B.&F. Pestle ii. 7, the Citizen
thinks that Jasper, who has run off with Luce from Waltham, "is at P. with her
by this." P. is some 16 m. N. of Waltham.
PUDDING LANE
Lond., running S. from the W. end of Eastcheap to Lower Thames St. It was formerly called Rother Lane, but got its later appellation from the "puddings" and other offal of the beasts slaughtered by the butchers in Eastcheap, which ran down the st. to the Thames. The Gt. Fire began in the house of Farryner, the K. 's baker, on the E. side of the L., on 22nd Sept. 1666, and the fact was long commemorated by a wall-tablet on the front of No. 25, which was built on its site. It is now preserved in the Guildhall Museum. It was noted as a curious fact that the fire began in P. L. and ended at Pie Corner in Smithfield.
In Fam. Vict. i. 2, Lawrence
says, "I think it best that my neighbour, Robin Pewterer, went to P. L. end,
and we will watch here at Billingsgate Ward." In Jonson's Christmas, Venus says,
"I am Cupid's mother: I dwell in P. L.; ay, forsooth, he is prentice in Love-1,"
which is close by. In Dekker's Northward
i. 2, Philip, when arrested, says, "Come, sergeant, I'll step to mine uncle,
not far off, hereby in P. L., and he shall bail me." In B.&F. Thomas
iv. 2, the servant asks Thomas, "Did you not take 2 wenches from the watch,
too, and put 'em into P. L.?"
PUDDLE-WHARF, or PUDDLE-DOCK
A landing-place on the N. bank of the Thames at the foot of St. Andrew's Hill,
abt. 100 yards W. of Baynard's Castle. Stow gives us a choice of derivations:
either from one P. who kept a wharf there, or from the p. that was made by the
watering of horses at this spot: probably the latter guess is correct. Shakespeare
had a house "abutting upon a st. leading down to P. W. on the E. part, right against
the King's Majesty's Wardrobe." In Jonson's Barthol.
v. 3, Littlewit says that in his motion of Hero and Leander he makes Leander "a
dyer's son about P.-w." Leatherhead says, "He yet serves his father, a dyer at
P.-w." In B.&F. Pestle ii. 6, the Citizen's
Wife reminds her husband how their child "was strayed almost alone to P. W., and
there it had drowned itself but for a sculler." In Middleton's Chaste
Maid iv. 2, Tim says, when his sister has eloped, "My mother's gone to lay
the common stairs At P.-w., and at the dock below Stands my poor silly father."
In W. Rowley's Match Mid. iv., Jarvis
tells of a plot to carry Mrs. Coote "down to the water side, pop her in at P.-dock,
and carry her to Gravesend in a pair of oars." In Davenant's Rutland, p. 217,
the Parisian says, "I will put to shore again, though I should be constrained,
even without my galoshoes, to land at P.-dock." Sidney, in Remedy for Love, mocks
at Mopsa "with her p.-dock, Her compound or electuary Made of old ling and young
Canary" and other unsavoury meats and drinks.
Ed. Note: Philip Rosseter built a playhouse in the Blackfriars precinct that is alternatively called Rosseter's Blackfriars, Porter's Hall, Puddle-Wharf, and Puddle-Dock.. See more at the Blackfriars listing, the Porter's Hall listing, and on the London map.
PULCHRE'S, SAINT
(a popular shortened form of ST. SEPULCHRE'S, q.v.). A ch. in Lond. at
the W. end of Newgate St. In Jonson's Devil
v. 5, Shackles tells how Pug has blown down part of the prison at Newgate and
"left such an infernal stink and steam behind you cannot see St. P. steeple yet."
In Epicoene iv. 2, Truewit tells Daw
that Sir Amorous was so well armed "you would think he meant to murder all St.
P. Parish."
PULTERY
See POULTRY.
PUNIC
(properly speaking, PHOENICIAN, but is always applied specifically to CARTHAGE.
q.v.). The Romans accused the Carthaginians of treachery: hence P. faith
means perfidy. In Marlowe's Dido
i., Venus says of Carthage: "It is the P. kingdom, rich and strong." In B.&F.
False One i. 1, Labienus says of
the battle of Pharsalia: "Pontic, P., and Assyrian blood Made up one crimson lake."
Milton, P. R. iii. 102, recalls how "young African for fame His wasted country
freed from P. rage." African is Scipio Africanus Major, who after the successes
of Hannibal in Italy went over to Africa and totally defeated Hannibal at Zama
202 B.C. when he was 33 years of age. In Massinger's Believe
ii. 2, Amilcar says, "Though the P. faith is branded by our enemies, our confederates
and friends found it as firm as fate." In Florio's Montaigne i. 5, "Roman proceedings"
are contrasted with "P. wiles." Milton, P. L. v. 340, says that Eden yielded "Whatever
Earth . . . yields In Pontus or the P. coast." Carthage was specially famous for
its figs.
PUNTALL
(more fully PUNTALLANA). The chief town of Palma in the Canary Islands. In Devonshire
iv. 3, Macada asks Dick, "Why did not your good navy, as it took Puntall, seize
Cales?"
PUR ALLEY
(probably PURS COURT on the E. side of Old Change, near Cheapside, Lond.). In Jonson's Christmas, Christmas sings: "Now Post and Pair, Old Christmas's heir, Doth make a jingling sally; And wot you who, 'tis one Of my two Sons, cardmakers in Pur-alley. "
PURPOOLE
or PORTPOOL. The name of the piece of land in Lond. on which Gray's Inn stands (see under GRAY'S INN). The Lord of Misrule at the Gray's Inn revels was styled "The most high and mighty Prince of P." In Marston's Mountebank; presented at Gray's Inn in 1618, the Mountebank says, "I have heard of a mad fellow . . . who hath stolen himself, this festival time of Christmas, into favour at the Court of P."
PURYFLEGITON
(a fuller name for PHLEGETHON, q.v.). In Locrine
iii. 6, 18, Humber rants about the ugly ghosts that "Do plunge yourselves in P."
In v. 1, 48, Locrine threatens to send the soul of Thrasimachus "to P."
PUTEOLI
(the modern POZZUOLI). A spt. at the N.W. corner of the Bay of Naples on the E.
side of the little Bay of Pozzuoli, opposite to Baiae. To the E. of the town rises
the volcano called Solfatara, and the whole dist. is volcanic in character. In
Davenant's U. Lovers v. 4, a song
contains the lines, "If you want fire, fetch a supply From AEtna and P." In his
Favourite iii. 1, one of the captives
redeemed from the gallies of Algiers is "a captain of P." Burton, A. M. iii. 2,
1, 1, quotes from Gellius a story how "a dolphin at P. loved a child," and died
when the child died.
PUTNEY
A vill. in Surrey on the S. bank of the Thames opposite Fulham, 6 m. in a direct
line S.W. of St. Paul's. It was the birthplace of Lord Thomas Cromwell and of
Gibbon the historian. In Armin's Moreclacke
C.4, the boy says, "Your dame will meet you at P." Mortlake is about 21/2 m. from
P. In W. Rowley's New Wonder ii.
1, Stephen, playing at dice, ejaculates: "Fullam"fullam being a slang word
for a loaded die; and Dick chimes in, "Where's P. then, I pray you?" In Dekker's
Westward iv. 1, Justiniano says,
"If you will call me at P. [on the way to Brentford] I'll bear you company." Scenes
i and 2 of Cromwell are at P. in
front of old Cromwell's smithy; in ii. 2, Hodge says, "At Putnaie I'll go you
to Parish-Garden for 2d. without any wagging or jolting in my guts, in a little
boat too." In Middleton's Mad World
iii. 3, Follywit says, "You shall carry me away with a pair of oars and put in
at P." Herrick wrote an ode to The School or Pearl of P., the Mistress of all
singular Manners, Mrs. Portman."
PYGMIES
See PIGMIES.
PYLOS
An ancient town on the W. coast of the Peloponnesus, on the promontory of Coryphasium
at the N. extremity of the Bay of Navarino. It is famous for its capture by the
Athenians in 424 B.C. It is probably the "sandy P." which was the capital of the
kingdom of Nestor according to Homer, though there is a P. in Elis and another
in Triphylia, both of which have been identified with the P. of Nestor. Nestor
is stated by Homer to have been the oldest of the Greeks who came to Troy, and
to have ruled over 3 generations of men: hence a Pylian age means a very long
time. In Fisher's Fuimus Prol., Mercury
says, "Time hath spent A Pylian age since you 2 breathed." In T. Heywood's B.
Age ii., Nestor vows to bring back part of the Calydonian boar "home to P.,
where I reign." Spenser, F. Q. ii. 9, 48, calls Nestor "that sage Pylian sire."
PYNDUS
See PINDUS.
PYRAEUM
(PIRAEUS). The harbour-town of ancient Athens, abt. 5 m. S.W. of the city. It
was fortified by Themistocles and connected with the city by the Long Walls. It
consists of a rocky isthmus, with a large basin on the N. side called Emporium,
now Drake, or Porto Leone, and a smaller bay called Cantharus; and 2 on the E.
side called Zea and Munychia respectively. In the old Timon
i. 4, Pseudolus says, "Hail, Athens! Welcome may I be, who mounted on a wooden
horse this day arrived at P." In ii. 1, Gelasimus says of his father: "The next
house to P. was one of his." In iii. 3; Gelasimus says, "Go, Paedio, to P.: inquire
If any ship hath there arrived this day From the Ionian sea." In Tiberius
1824, Germanicus says of Tigramenta: "Were it Pireus or Seleucia, Germanicus would
never leave assault."
PYRAMIDS
(Pd. = Pyramid, Pes. = Pyramides). The great tombs of the Egyptian kings of the 4th dynastyKhufu, Khephren, and Menkauraon the W. bank of the Nile near the ancient Memphis. They were built about 3500 B.C. The great Pd. of Khufu is 451 ft. high and covers an area of 121/2 acres.
In H6 A. i. 6, 61, Charles
says of Joan of Arc: "A statelier pyramis to her I'll rear Than Rhodope's at
Memphis ever was." Pliny, Nat. Hist. xxxvi. 12, says that the least of the 3
great P. "was built at the cost and charges of one Rhodope, a very strumpet."
Rhodope was a friend of AEsop's, and had nothing to do with the Pd., but she
may have been confounded with Nitocris, who was traditionally but quite erroneously
connected with the 3rd Pd. In Mac.
iv. 1, 57, Macbeth conjures the Witches to speak, "Though palaces and p. do
slope Their heads to their foundations." In Ant.
ii. 7, 21, Antony tells Caesar "They take the flow o' the Nile by certain scales
i' the Pd." The rise of the Nile was measured by a Nilometer at Memphis, but
not by any scale on the P. In line 40, Lepidus says, "I have heard the Ptolemies'
pyramises are very goodly things": his drunken condition may excuse his error.
In v. 2, 61, Cleopatra says, "Make My country's high pes. my gibbet And hang
me up in chains." In Sonnets cxxiii. 2, the Poet addresses Time, "Thy p. built
up with newer might To me are nothing novel, nothing strange." In T. Heywood's
Dialogues iii., Earth asks, "Where be those high Pes. so famed By which the
barbarous Memphis first was named?" In Caesar's
Rev. i. 6, Caesar speaks of "Alexandria Famous for those wide-wondered P.
Whose towering tops do seem to threat the sky." The P. are over 100 m. from
Alexandria. In Marlowe's Massacre at
Paris i. 2, Guise says, "Set me to scale the high Pes. And thereon set the
diadem of France." In Prodigal
iii. 3, Flowerdale says, "To him that is all as impossible As I to scale the
high pes." In B.&F. Philaster
v. 3, Philaster says, "Make it [the funeral monument] rich with brass, with
purest gold and shining jasper, like the Pes." In Locrine
iii. 4, 32, Locrine vows to build a temple to Fortune "Of perfect marble and
of jacinth stone, That it shall pass the high Pes." In Greville's Alaham, the
chorus to Act iii. speaks of a "Pyramis raised above the force of thunder."
In Marlowe's Faustus vii., Faust, in
his description of Rome, speaks of the "high pes. Which Julius Caesar brought
from Africa." He is probably thinking of the obelisks which were erected in
front of the Vatican, in front of Sta. Maria Maggiore, in front of St. John
Lateran, and in the Piazza del Popolo, in 1586, 1587, 1588. and 1589 respectively.
The 1st was brought from Heliopolis by Caligula, the 2nd was imported by Claudius,
the 3rd by Constantine, and the 4th by Augustus: Julius Caesar had nothing to
do with any of them.
PYRENE
See PIRENE.
PYRENEES
(Pan. = Pyrenean). The range of mtns. dividing France from Spain. The highest
peaks rise to about 11,000 ft. In K.
J. i. 1, 202, the Bastard tells how the traveller talks "of the Alps and
Apennines, The Pan. and the river Po." In the old Timon
i. 4, Pseudocheus, describing his journey on his flying horse, says, "The Pan.
mtns., though that there I with my right hand touched the very clouds . . .
did ne'er fright me." In Greene's Friar
iv., the K. of Castile says, "The Pyren mts. swelling above the clouds That
ward the wealthy Castile in with walls Could not detain the beauteous Elinor."
In Webster's Weakest i. 2, the
Messenger reports: "The power of Spain has passed the Pyren Hills Under Hernando,
the great D. of Medina." In Noble Soldier
v. 3, the Q. speaks of "the Pan. hills, that part Spain and our country [Italy]."
In Massinger's Virgin iv. 3, Theophilus
says, "I will raise up A hill of their dead carcasses to o'erlook The Pan. hills,
but I'll root out These superstitious fools." In Rawlins' Rebellion
ii. 1, Antonio says, "Gray-bearded winter froze my very soul Till I became,
like the Pyrenian hills, Wrapt in a robe of ice." In Brome's Antipodes
i. 6, Dr. Hughball, talking of his travels, boasts, "I have touched the clouds
upon the Pan. mountains." In T. Heywood's B.
Age i., Hercules calls Deianeira "White as the garden lily, pyren snow."
Drayton, in Idea xxv. 4, hopes to "crown the Pyrens with my living song."