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PELOPIDAS. 



PENN, SIR WILLIAM. 



72G 



The principal works of this writer, who enjoyed a greater reputa- 

 tion in his life-time than has been accorded to him since his death, 

 are 1, 'Histoire de I'Acad^mie Francaise," which was first published 

 at Paris, in 1653 ; the best edition is that by 1'Abbe" d'Olivet, by whom 

 it has been continued, Paris, 1730. The fault of this work is its 

 diffuseness. 2, 'Histoire de Louis XIV.,' which extends from the 

 death of Mazarin, in 1661, to the peace of Nimeguen in 1678 ; this 

 history has the faults to be expected in the work of a professed 

 couitier; the best edition is that of Paris, 3 vole, in 12mo, 1749. 

 3, 'Abre'ge' de la Vie d'Anne d'Autriche,' 1666 in 4to; a panegyric 

 rather than a history. 4, ' Histoire de la Conquete de la Franche 

 ComtcY in the 5th voL of 'Les Me"moires du Pere Desmolets;' this 

 work has been greatly praised by Voltaire. 5, ' Lettres Historiques 

 et (Euvres diverges,' 3 vols. in 12mo, 1749 ; the letters, 273 in number, 

 are a journal of the king's journeys and encampments in the above- 

 mentioned campaign. 6, 'Recueil des Pieces Galantes,' 5 vols., 1695, 

 being a correspondence in prose and verse between him and the Com- 

 tesse de la Suze ; his verse partakes of the elegance of his style in 

 prose, but it is deficient in imagination. 7, 'Reflexions sur les 

 Diffurends de la Religion,' 4 vols. 12mo, an answer to the arguments 

 of Jurieu on religious toleration ; on this treatise Bayle has made 

 several valuable remarks in his notes on the article ' Pellisson." 8, 

 ' Traite de 1'Eucharistie,' a work he left unfinished. The Prologue in 

 verse of the comedy 'Les Facheux" of Moliere is stated in the 'Mena- 

 giana ' (voL i. p. 90) to bo by Pelliason. An edition of his select works 

 wa published by Desesaarts, 12mo, Paris, 1805, 2 vols. 



PELO'PIDAS, the son of Hipj>oclu, belonged to one of the principal 

 families of Thebes. He distinguished himself at the battle of Manti- 

 neia (B.C. 385), in which the Thebans took part as allies of tbe Lace- 

 demonians under the Spartan king Agesipclis. In this battle 

 Pelopidas, being wounded and thrown down, was caved from death 

 by Epaminondas who protected him with his shield, maintaining bis 

 ground againtt the Arcadians until tbe Lacedscmonians came to their 

 relief and saved both their lives. From that time a close friendship 

 was formed between Epaminondas and Pelopidas, which lasted till the 

 death of the latter. When the Lacedaemonians surprised the citadel 

 of Thebes and established the power of the aristocracy in that city, 

 Pelopidas, who belonged to the popular party, retired to Athens, 

 together with a number of other citizen?. After a time he and his 

 brother exiles funned a plan with their friends in Thebes for surpris- 

 ing and overthrowing the oligarchy, and restoring the popular 

 government. Prlopidas and tome of his friends set off from Athens 

 disguised as hunters, found means to enter Thebes unobserved, and 

 concealed themselves in the house of a friend, whence they issued 

 in the night, and having surprised tbe leaders of the aristocratic 

 party, put them to death. The people then rote in arm?, and, having 

 proclaimed Pelopidas their commander, they obliged the Spartan 

 garrison to surrender the citadel by capitulation (B.C. 379). 



Pelopidas soon after contrived to excite a war between Sparta and 

 Athens, and thus divide the attention of the former power. The war 

 between the Thebans and the Lacedaemonians was carried on for some 

 years in 1'ceotia by straggling parties, and Pelopidas, having obtained 

 the advantage in several skirmishes, ventured to encounter the enemy 

 in the open field at Tcgyno near Orchomenus. The Lacedaemonians 

 were defeated, and thus Pelopidas demonstrated for the first time that 

 the armies of Sparta were not invincible, a fact which was afterwards 

 confirmed by the battle of Leuctra (B.C. 371 ), in which Pelopidas fought 

 under tbe command of his friend Epaminondas [KI'AMINONIUS.] In 

 the year 369 B.C., the two friends being appointed two of the Bteotarchs 

 1 1 'Int. 'Pelop.,' c. 24), marched into Peloponnesus, obliged Argos and 

 Arcadia and other states to renounce the alliance of Sparta, and carried 

 their incursions into Laconia in the depth of winter. Having taken 

 Mmsenia, they invited the descendants of its former inhabitants, who 

 had gone into exile about two centuries before, to come and repeople 

 their country. They thus reduced the power of Sparta to the boun- 

 daiies of Laconia. Pelopidas and Epaminondn?, on their return to 

 Thebes, were tried for having retained the command after the expiration 

 of the year of their office, but were acquitted. Pelopidas was afterwards 

 employed against Alexander, tyrant of Phune, who was endeavouring 

 to make himself master of all Thessaly, and he defeated him. From 

 Theasaly he was called into Macedonia, to settle a quarrel between 

 Alexander, king of that country and son of Amyntas II., and his 

 natural brother Ptolemy. Having succeeded in this, he returned to 

 Thebes, bringing with him. Philip, brother of Alexander, and thirty 

 youths of the chief families of Macedonia as hostuges. A year after 

 however Ptolemy murdered his brother Alexander and took possession 

 of the throne. Pelopidas, being applied to by the friends of the late 

 king, enlisted a band of mercenaries, with which he marched against 

 Ptolemy, who entered into an agreement to hold the government only 

 in trust for I'erdiccas, a younger brother of Alexander, till he was of 

 age, and to keep the alliance of Thebes : and he gave to Pelopidas bis 

 own son Philoxenus and fifty of his companions as hostages. Some 

 time after, Pelopidas, being in Thessaly, was treacherously surprised 

 and made prisoner by Alexander of I'hera, but the Thebans sent 

 Epaminondas with an army, who obliged the tyrant to release Pelo- 

 pidaa. The Thebans soon after, having discovered that the Spartans 

 and Albanians had sent ambassadors to conclude an alliance with 

 Artaxcrxet, king of Persia, sent on thoir part Pclopidas to support 



i thoir own interest at that court. His fame had preceded him, and he 

 i was received by the Persians with great honour, and Artaxerxes 

 showed hitn peculiar favour. Pelopidas obtained a treaty, in which 

 ; the Thebans were styled the king's hereditary friends, and in which 

 the independence of each of the Greek states, including Messeuia, was 

 recognised. He thus disappointed tbe ambition of Sparta and of 

 Athens, which aimed at the supremacy over the rest. The Athenians 

 were so enraged at this, that they put their ambassador Timagoras to 

 death on his return to Athens. Pelopidas after his return was 

 appointed to march against Alexander of Phera), who had committed 

 fresh encroachments in Thessaly. But while the army was on the 

 point of starting, an eclipse of the BUU took place, which dismayed 

 the Thebans, and Pelopidas was obliged to set off with only 300 volun- 

 teers, trusting to the Thessaliana, who joined him on the march. 

 Alexander met him with a large army at a place called Cynocephalaj. 

 Pelopidas, by great exertions, although his army was much inferior in 

 numbers, obtained an advantage, and the trnops of Alexander were 

 retreating, when Pelopidas, venturing too far amidst the enemy, was 

 killed. 



The grief of both Thebans and Thessaliar.s at this loss was un- 

 bounded; they paid splendid funeral honours to his remains. The 

 Thebans revenged his death by Bending a fresh army against Alexander, 

 who was defeated, and was soon after murdered by his own wife. 

 Pelopidas was not only one of the most distinguished and successful 

 commanders of his age, but he and his friend Epaminondas rank 

 among the most estimable public men of ancient Greece. 



PEMBERTON, HENRY, was born iu London in the year 1C94. 

 After studying the classics under Mr. John Ward, afterwards professor 

 of rhetoric in Gresham College, he attended the lectures of Buerhaave 

 in the University of Leyden, and also resided some time at Paris, 

 where his attention was directed to anatomical manipulation, in which 

 he appears to have excelled. About this time also he became a student 

 in St. Thomas's Hospital, London, in order more effectually to qualify 

 himself for the medical profession, which he was afterwards precluded 

 from following by the delicate state of his health. In 1719 the Uni- 

 versity of Leyden conferred upon him the degree of doctor of medicine, 

 ou which occasion he read his inaugural dissertation entitled 'De 

 Facultate Oculi ad diversas Kerum Computarum Distautias se accora- 

 modante,' Lugd. Bat, 4to, 1719, and confirmed his friendship with 

 Boerhaave, which continued uninterruptedly till the death of the latter 

 in 1738. In 1728 he succeeded Dr. Woodward as professor of physic 

 in Gresham College, when he commenced a course of lectures ou 

 chemistry, which were published by hia friend Dr. James Wilson in 

 1771, London, 8vo. At a later period he was requested by the College 

 of Physicians, of which he was early elected a Fellow, to remodel their 

 Pharmacopoeia, of which, in an improved form, he published a transla- 

 tion iu 1740, London, 8vo. He died April 9th, 1771. 



Although chemistry, anatomy, and medicine had been bis chief 

 objects of study, there were probably few departments of science in 

 which he did not possess more than ordinary knowledge. This was 

 particularly the cae in the mathematics and astronomy, with which 

 hi; writings show that he had considerable acquaintance. Besides 

 editing the edition of Newton's 'Prinoip'a' which appeared iu 1726, 

 he published 1, ' Kpistola ad Amicum de Cotesii Inventis,' London, 

 4to, 1722; 2, ' View of Sir Isaac Newton's Philosophy,' London, 4to, 

 1728 ; and 3, ' Lectures on Physiology,' London, 8vo, 1733. His com- 

 munications to the 'Transactions' of the Royal Society, of which body 

 he was admitted a Fellow on the 8th of December 1720, extend from 

 vol. xxxii. to vol. Ixii , and among them may be noticed 1, ' Remarks 

 on an Experiment by which it has been attempted to show the Falsity 

 of the common Opinion respecting the Force of Bodies in Motion,' 

 1723 ; 2, ' On the Locus for three and four Lines, celebrated among 

 the ancient Geometers,' 1768; 3, 'Kepler's Method of computing the 

 Moon's Parallaxes in Solar Eclipses demonstrated and extended to all 

 Degrees of Latitude,' 1771 ; 4, ' Geometrical Solutions of three cele- 

 brated Astronomical Problems,' 1772, &c. Among the manuscripts 

 found by his executors were 1, 'History of Trigonometry;' 2, 

 'Comment on Newton's Principia;' 3, 'Treatise on Spherics and 

 Spherical Projections;' 4, 'Dissertation on the Screw of Archimedes; ' 

 5, ' Principles of Mercator's and Middle Latitude Sailing ; ' and som 

 others enumerated in Dr. Hutton's ' Dictionary." His library contained 

 a choice collection of mathematical works, a large proportion of which 

 was purchased at the sale of the library of tUe Abbe" Gallois, which 

 took place during his stay in Paris. The whole of them, together 

 with those of hia friend Dr. Wilson, were sold by auction soon after 

 his death. The number of lots was 3885, and the gross proceeds 

 70H. 17s. 6d. (See ' Catalogue," with price of each lot annexed, in 

 the library of the British Museum.) 



PENN, SIR WILLIAM, was bora iu 1621 at Bristol. Having 

 entered into the sea-service, he was made a captain iu 1642, and an 

 admiral in 1 653 for his services against the Dutch. He was one of 

 those who commanded when Jamaica was taken from the Spaniards in 

 1655, in which year he returned to England, and was elected member 

 of parliament for Weymouth, but was committed to the Tower by tho 

 republican government on tbe charge of having left his command 

 without leave. After the Restoration ho was created a knight, and 



s made a commissioner of the navy, governor of Kinsalo, and a vice- 

 uiirul. He again went to sea in 1664, and was commander-in-chief 



w 



admiral. 



