PKKI.K, GEORGE. 



PEIRKSC, MCOLAS-CLAUDK-FABI: ' 



ri ; 



the aUdtereoala for the next three years, and after that period to 

 abolish all duties on corn, except the nominal one of a shilling per ' 

 quarter Vehement debate* followed, in which Lord Stanley, Lord 

 George Bentiuck, and Mr. Disraeli, as the heads of a new Protectionist 

 party, attacked Sir Robert with every weapon of sarcasm and argu- 

 ment The Duke of Wellington however, and other Conservatives of 

 great weight, remained firm to their leader; and the repeal was 

 carrud. Deflated on the Irih Coercion Bill, only a few hours after 

 the Tariff Bill had passed the Lords, Sir Robert resigned office 

 (June 29. 1846). Before doing so he made a magnanimous declaration 

 to the effect that the merit of the repeal of the Corn Laws was more 

 due to Mr. Cobdeo than to himself, or to any other man in the House, 

 Never perhaps was a minister followed into his retirement with such 

 general applauses as followed Sir Robert Peel. 



Sir Robert's popularity continued unabated during the next four 

 years. During two of these he lent a general and cordial support to 

 the Whig ifovcrnment of Lord John Russell voting with them on the 

 qaest inn of the Navigation Laws, and also for the removal of Jewish 

 disabilities. The European revolutionary movements of 1848-49 how- 

 ever, brought in a new set of questions, and Sir Robert disagreed 

 seriously with the foreign policy of Lord Palmerston. Anticipations 

 were general of his speedy return to power when, riding up Constitu- 

 tion-hill on the 29th of June 1860 he was thrown from his horse, and 

 injured so severely that he died on the 2nd of July. 



This is not the place for any attempt to appreciate Sir Robert's 

 character as a man and a statesman. Many reviews of his career, some 

 in the form of elaborate biographies, have been published since his 

 death among which may be mentioned ' The Political Life of Sir 

 Robert Peel, by Thomas Doubleday. 1 2 vols., 1856; and M. Quizot's 

 more recant biographical tribute. Memoirs of Sir Robert from his 

 own papers, referring particularly to his conduct in the Roman 

 Catholic Emancipation movement, and in the Corn Law Repeal move- 

 ment, nave also been published by bis literary executors. Almost all 

 who have written about him have agreed in their general estimate of 

 him as a man of high conscientiousness, and of a species of ability 

 peculiarly Kngliah and peculiarly fitting him for the work which fell 

 to him ability not of the speculative or philosophical, but of the 

 practical, deliberate, and considerate order. His political genius con- 

 sisted in perceiving when the necessity for carrying a great social 

 change arose, and in devising the parliamentary means for carrying it 

 As the leader of a party, and as a master of the art of parliamentary 

 management, bo was probably unrivalled ; the House of Commons 

 was his element ; and though there have been greater orators there, 

 there have been few speakers combining such dignity, tact and 

 courtesy, with fine powers of eloquence. Apart from his parliamentary 

 duties, his chief pleasure seemed to be in art He was a noted 

 collector of pictures, and left valuable collections both in bis town 

 mansion and at Drayton manor. He was generous in his patronage of 

 artists, and many kind and munificent actions done by him privately 

 have come to light His tastes in literature, though he did not 

 himself practise authorship except in connection with practical politics, 

 were high and scholarly, and more wide in their range than might 

 have been supposed. 



Sir Robert left five sons the present baronet, Sir Robert (born May 

 4, 1822), formerly secretary of legation in Switzerland, and now (1857) 

 junior lord of the Admiralty ; Frederick (born 1828) also a member 

 of parliament, and under-secretary of war; William (born 1824) a 

 captain in the Royal Navy; John Floyd (born 1827) an officer in the 

 SootaFnsiUerGuards; Arthur Wellesley (born 1829). Of two daughters, 

 one married (1841) Viscount Villien, eldest son of Earl Jersey; the 

 other married (1855) the Honourable Mr. Stonor. 



PEELE, GEOKGK, is supposed to have been a native of Devon- 

 shire, and to have been born not later than 1552 or 1558. In 1564 

 he was a member of Broadgates Hall, now Pembroke College, in 

 Oxford ; he took bis degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1577, and was made 

 Maetsr of Arts in 1579. In no long time afterwards he appears to 

 have removed to London, and thrown himself upon the world as a 

 literary adventurer ; but he was also during a portion of his career a 

 proteased actor. In that sge the precariousness always incident to 

 the profession of authorship was so distressingly great that the pur- 

 suit, tf suteied on by a poor man, was barely compatible with the 

 priMl tattoo of personal respectability ; and. though the particulars of 

 Pecl.'s career are but very imperfectly known, there is evidence 

 enough to show that H was not only unfortunate but disreputable. 

 His conduct is represented a* having been even more irregular than 

 that of Marlowe and Greene, who were bis intimate anociates and bis 

 coadjutors in the improvement of the early English drama, A tract, 

 fiequeotly reprinted, entitled ' The Merrie Conceited Jests of George 

 Peele, represents him as nothing >hort of a common swindler. Some 

 of the exploits which it relates are doubtless exaggerated, and others 

 may tuve been erroneously fathered upon him ; but it cannot be 

 doubted that be suffered many pecuniary distress, and was no way 

 scrupulous in the shifts by which be sought relief. He was dead in 

 KM.-, when Mercs, hi UM second part of bis 'Palladia Tamil.,' 

 cWnbed kis death as having been caused by his debaucheries. In 

 UM 'Jests ' he is spoken of as a married man ; and bis letter to Lord 

 BuHtigh, asking for relief, describes the bearer as his eldest daughter. 

 TU earliest of Peele's compositions that is known is a copy of 



verses prefixed to Watson's 'Exam/imfta, which was publiihed in 

 1581, and his earliest known drama was printed in 15S4. In 1888 

 Mr. lirce published an excellent edition of 'The 'Works of George 

 Peels, with gome account of his Life and Writings,' 2 vols. post Svo. 

 A reprint of this edition, with improvements and additions, appeared 

 in 1829 ; and in 1839 the same editor published a third volume. The 

 non-dramatic poems, except a few short miscellaneous pieces and a 

 long I'ieco on the ' War of Troy,' are speeches for pageants (tmch as 

 4 The Device of the Pageant borne before Woolstone Dixie, Lord 

 Mayor of London, 1585 '), or celebrations of public occasions, like the 

 ' Polyhymnia,' which describes a tilting-uiatch held in the Queen's 

 presence in 1589, and 'The Honour of the Garter displayed,' which 

 commemorates the installation of the unfortunate Earl of Northum- 

 berland in 1593. The dramas in Mr. Dyoe's collection are six m 

 number: 1, ' The Arraignment of Paris,' published anonymously iu 

 1(84, and assigned to Peele on the authority of his friend Nash ; 

 2, 'The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First,' print. d in 1593 

 and 1599 ; 3, ' The Old Wives' Tale, a pleasant conceited Couiedie,' 

 printed in 1595, nud chiefly remarkable as treating, in a course and 

 prosaic fashion, a story closely resembling that of Milton's ' Comus ; ' 

 4, ' The Love of King David and Fair Betbsabe, with the tragcdie of 

 Absolon,' printed iu 1599; 5, 'The Battle of Alca/ar,' printed in 

 1594 ; 6, ' The Historie of the two valiant KnighU, Sir Clyoinou and 

 Sir Clamydes,' printed in 1599, with no author's name, but attributed 

 to Peele by Mr. Dyce, on the faith of a manuscript marking iu a very 

 old hand on the title-page of a copy, to which not a little corrobo- 

 ration is afforded by the ]>lay itself. " Those of bis dramatic works 

 which have come down to us," says Mr. Knight, " afford evidence that 

 he possessed great flexibility and rhetorical power, without much 

 invention, with very little discrimination of character, and with that 

 tendency to extravagance in the management of his incidents which 

 exhibits small acquaintance with the higher principles of the dramatic 

 art." II is inferiority to Marlowe is great and unquestioned ; and 

 perhaps it is only his musical though monotonous versification that 

 entitles him to be compared even with Greene. 



PE1RESC, NICOLAS CLAUDE-FA Bill DE, a councillor of the 

 parliament of Aix, was born at Beaugensier in Provence, on the 1st of 

 December 1580. HU father Renaud de Fabri, was a councillor of the 

 Court of Aides. He received his earliest education among the 

 Jesuits at Avignon, whence he was removed to Aix in 1595. It was 

 during this period that bis father being presented with a coin of the 

 Emperor Arcadiua, found at Beaugensier, young 1'eiresc begged to 

 have it ; and being delighted at finding that he could decipher the 

 inscriptions, carried it to his uncle, who gave him two more, together 

 with some books upon medals. This incident led him to the study of 

 antiquities, in which he afterwards distinguished himself. 



In 1 .")!".' he visited Italy, in the various cities and countries of which 

 he spent nearly three years. In 1604 he took the degree of Doctor in 

 Law at Aix. la 1605 be accompanied Duvair, the first president of 

 the parliament of Aix, to Paris, where be formed an acquaintance 

 with De Thou, Isaac Casaubon, I'upire Masson, Nicolas le Favre, the 

 brothers St. Jiartbe, Bougar*, and Francis I'lthou ; and in the follow- 

 ing year came iu the suite of La Boderie, the French ambassador, to 

 England, where he was graciously received by King James. He visited 

 Oxford, and formed on intimacy with Camdeu, Kir Robert Cuttou, 

 Sir Henry Seville, and other learned men. From England ho passed 

 over to Holland, and through Antwerp and Brussels back to Paris. In 

 1618 he procured a faithful copy and published a second edition of 

 ' The Acts of the Monastery of Maren in Switzerland,' in defence of 

 the royal line of France against the title of succession of the Austrian 

 family to the French crown. 



Peiresc was a liberal patron of letters ; Bayle gave him tho title of 

 'Le 1'rocuruur GcWral de la Literature;' and the authors l nis 

 life show how imperfect the labours of Scoliger, llol.-U'imis, Sauoiaise, 

 Sicard, and Kircher would have been, unaided by the literary trea- 

 sures which he procured for and presented to them. It was at hia 

 instigation that Grolius undertook his great work ' De Jure Belli <', 

 Pacis.' Tho multiplicity of hia engagements and tha extent of bis 

 correspondence prevented Peiresc from finishing any considerable 

 work. Ho lelt behind him, besides some of his own composition, a 

 great number of manuscripts, ancient and modern, on local history 

 and antiquities, mathematics, astronomy, the taedallie science, lan- 

 guages, ic. A catalogue of these, iu number more than 700, is pre- 

 served among Sir Haus Sloane's Manuscripts iu the liritish Museum, 

 No. 767. 



Of bis writings there have been published forty-eight Italian letters 

 addressed to Paul and John Baptist Gualdo iu the ' Lettere d' Domini 

 lllustri ; ' a considerable number among those of Camdeu published 

 by Smith ; and a long and learned dissertation on an ancient tripod 

 found at Frejus in the * MiSrnoires de Litti'rature et de 1'Histoire,' by 

 Desmaleta, in 1731. A considerable number of Peiresc's iuedited 

 letters were of late years communicated from time to time to M. Jlilliu 

 for bis ' Magaiin Kuoyclopc'diquo/ by the president Fauris de Saint 

 Vinoens, who again published them separately, in five different tract* 

 or portions, Svo, Paris, 1815. 



P< Irene died in the arms of his principal biographer, Gassendi, on 

 the 24th of June 1637. He is stated to have purchased more printed 

 books than any man of his time, yet the collection which he left wai 



