PERRY PERSIMMON. 



179 



He was educated at the Normal School in Paris, and 

 at the French School at Athens. In 1861 he under- 

 took archaeological exploration in Asia Minor, and soon 

 discovered an important monument at Ancyra. In 

 1 S72 he was made professor of Greek in the Normal 

 School, and in 1877 professor of archaeology in the 

 University of Paris. His publications comprise Ex- 

 ploration archeologique de la Galatie et de la Bithymie 

 (1863-73); L' Ik de Thasos(\$f>); Essai sur le Droit 

 public et price de la RipwiKqve nthi-nienne (1867). 

 With Charles Chipiez he published Histoire de T Art 

 duns InntiquM (4 vols., 18S1-4). Vol. I. of this val- 

 uable work treats of Egypt ; Vol. II. of Assyria, Baby- 

 lonia. andChaldaea; Vol. III. of Phoanicia and Syria ; 

 anil Vol. IV. of Asia Minor and Cyprus. 



PERRY, MATTHEW CALBRAITH (1794-1858), c6m- 

 modore, was born at Newport, R.I., April 10, 1794. His 

 father, CHRISTOPHER RAYMOND PERRY (1760-1818), 

 served with distinction in the Revolutionary navy, and 

 when the navy was reduced to insignificance was made 

 collector of Newport. His five sons all served in the 

 navy and were distinguished in the war of 1812. Mat- 

 thew had been appointed a midshipman in 1809 and 

 became lieutenant in 1813. In 1819 he selected the 

 locality for the first settlement of Liberia under the 

 auspices of the American Colonization Society. He 

 afterwards cruised in the West Indies, then infested 

 with pirates. He promoted the introduction of steam 

 as a motive power in the navy. After commanding 

 various squadrons he was engaged in the war with 

 Mexico, and took part in the siege of Vera Cruz. His 

 most memorable work was the expedition to Japan in 

 which he negotiated, March 21, 1854, the treaty which 

 opened that empire to western civilization. The nar- 

 rative of the expedition was edited from his notes by 

 Rev. F. L. Hawks and George Jones (3 vols., 1856). 

 He died at New York, March 4, 1858. A bronze 

 statue has been erected to his memory in Truro Park, 

 Newport. His Life has been written by W. E. Grif- 

 fis (Boston, 1887). 



His elder brother, OLIVER HOWARD PERRY (1785- 

 1819), has even greater renown in American history, 

 yet for a single exploit. Born Aug. 23, 17.85, he en- 

 tered the navy in 1799, and served in the war against 

 Tripoli. Next engaged in the less honorable duty of 

 enforcing the embargo, he had the misfortune to lose 

 his vessel on a reef in Long Island Sound, but was ex- 

 onerated of blame by a court of inquiry. In 1812 he 

 at first commanded a flotilla of gunboats in New York 

 harbor, then served under Commodore Chauncey on 

 Lake Ontario, and in March, 1813, was sent by him to 

 equip a squadron on Lake Erie. The vessels gathered 

 there being too small, others were hastily constructed 

 at Presque Isle, now Erie, but were closely blockaded 

 by the British fleet under Capt. Barclay. On Aug. 

 12th Perry contrived to get his vessels out of port, and 

 on Sept. 10th he encountered the British fleet near 

 Put-in Bay. lie had in all nine vessels with 54 guns 

 and 492 officers and men. Barclay had six vessels with 

 63 guns and ;J02 officers and men. The British guns 

 had longer range and their fire was concentrated on the 

 Lawrence, Perry's flag-ship, which had outsailed her 

 consorts. After four-fifths of her crew were disabled 

 and her guns rendered useless, Perry entering an open 

 boat under heavy fire, transferred his flag to the Niag- 

 ara, half a mile off. Then leading his vessejs, now 

 favored by the wind, through the enemy's line, he 

 ordered them to deliver a cross-fire which in a few 

 minutes compelled four of the British vessels to strike 

 their flag. The other vessels attempted to escape but 

 were overtaken. Perry immediately wrote to Gen. 

 Harrison the famous despatch: "We have met the 

 enemy and they are ours two ships, two brigs, one 

 schooner, and one sloop." This brilliant action was 

 the first in which he was engaged. His loss in killed 

 and wounded was 1 23, that of the British was 400, in- 

 cluding Capt. Barclay, wounded. Congress gave Perry 

 a vole of thanks. :\ eold medal, and the rank of cap- 



tain, and bestowed other rewards on his gallant subor- 

 dmates. The British having now lost control of Lake 

 Erie, evacuated Detroit. Gen. Harrison pursued them 

 and was assisted by Perry at the battle of the Thames 

 'a few weeks later. In the next year Perry commanded 

 a body of marines on the Potomac. He afterwards 

 served in the Mediterranean under Decatur. In 18J9 

 he was sent in command of a squadron to the Carib- 

 bean Sea. He was seized with yellow fever and died 

 at Port Spain, Trinidad, Aug. 23, 1819. His remains 

 were removed by order of Congress and buried in the 

 cemetery at Newport, where the State of Rhode 

 Island erected an obelisk. In September, 1860, a 

 marble statue by Walcutt was erected to his memory 

 at Cleveland. A bronze statue by W. G. Turner was 

 erected at Newport in 1885. Capt. Perry's Life was 

 written by Capt. A. S. Mackenzie (1843). 



PERRY, THOMAS SERGEANT, educator and author, 

 was born at Newport, R. I. He is a grandson of 

 Capt. O. H. Perry, and is also descended from Ben- 

 jamin Franklin. After graduating at Harvard in 1866 

 ne studied at Paris and Berlin, and was made tutor in 

 German at Harvard in 1868. He was editor of tho 

 North American Review from 1872 to 1874, and after- 

 wards returned to Harvard as instructor in English. 

 He has been busily engaged in lecturing and writing 

 on literary topics. Among his publications are Life 

 of Francis Lielter (1882) ; English Literature in ilie 

 XVIlIth Century (1883); From Opitz to Leasing 

 (1885) ; History of Greek Literature (1888). He has 

 contributed to this Supplement on "American Liter- 

 ature," "Carlyle," etc. 



PERRY, WILLIAM STEVENS, bishop and historian 

 of the American Episcopal Ch.urch, was born at Provi- 

 dence, R. L, Jan. 22, 1832. He graduated at Har- 

 vard College in 1854, and was ordained priest in 1858. 

 After having charge of churches at Nashua, N. H., 

 Portland, Litehfielo, Conn., in 1869 he became rector 

 of Trinity Church Geneva, N. Y. In 1876 he had 

 been chosen president of Hpbart College there, but in 

 September he was made bishop of Iowa. From the 

 commencement of his ministry he had given special 

 attention to the history of the American Church, and 

 was associated with Rev. Dr. F. L. Hawks in historical 

 researches and publications. Together they issued one 

 volume of the Journah of the General Conventions of 

 the P. E. Church, 1794-1835 (1861), and the Docu- 

 mentary History of the P. E. Church (2 vols., 1863-4). 

 In 1868 Dr. Perry was formally appointed historiogra- 

 pher of the church. Of tho Historical Collections of 

 the American Colonial Church there have appeared 

 volumes relating to Virginia (1871), Pennsylvania 

 (1872), Massachusetts (1873), Maryland (1878), Dela- 

 ware (1 878). Bishop Perry has also published Hand- 

 book of the General Conventions and Journals of the, 

 General Convention, 1785 to 1835 (3 vok, 1874); His- 

 torical Sketch of the Protestant Episcopal Church, 

 1784-1884 (1884); and The History of the American 

 Episcopal Church, 1587-1883 (2 vols., 1885). Bishop 

 Perry has taken part in the Old Catholic Conference 

 at Bonn, in 1875, and in the Pan-Anglican Councils at 

 Lambeth in 1878 and 1888. 



PERSIMMON, the fruit of J)iospyros Virginiana, 

 or the Date Plum, a member of the order EbenacecE, 

 of which the hard and dark -colored heart-woods of 

 some species yield the different kinds of ebony. The 

 persimmon is a native of North America, the _ tree 

 oeing usually of small size, but occasionally reaching a 

 height of 70 ft. Its wood is very hard and of blackish 

 color, and is of value to replace boxwood in the manu- 

 facture of shuttles, and also for last-making and other 

 ;urnery. The stem exudes a kind of gum. The 

 fruit ripens as high as 41 N. lat. in Illinois. It is of 

 globular form, of the size of a large plum, and in its 

 inripe state is exceedingly astringent, which .quality it 

 does not lose until over-ripe. When hard frosts bring 

 t to the verge of decay it becomes soft and very sweet 

 and agreeable in flavor. There are several other 



