737 



PERCY, THE FAMILY OF. 



PERDICCAS. 



733 



and scientific subjects. A number of these communications, many 

 of them by Dr. Percival himself, were collected and published in 1781, 

 and were so well received, that a regular organised ' Literary and 

 Philosophical Society ' was established, of which Dr. Percival was 

 elected the first president, and which has since numbered among its 

 numbers many distinguished persons, and produced many volumes of 

 valuable Transactions. 



Dr. Percival endeavoured to establish public lectures on mathe- 

 matics, commerce, and the fine arts in Manchester, but was not able 

 to succeed. He devoted a considerable portion of his time during 

 the later period of bis life to the study of moral philosophy, and he 

 published several popular works on this subject. In hia religious 

 tenets he was a strict dissenter from the Church of England, but was 

 very temperate and unobtrusive in his opinions. He died, universally 

 respected by the inhabitants of Manchester, August 30th, 1804. 



Dr. Percival's earlier medical and philosophical papers were collected 

 and published in one volume, London, 8vo, 1767, with the title of 

 ' Essays, Medical and Experimental.' To this two other volumes 

 were afterwards added, one in 1773, and the other in 1778. These 

 essays went throueh several editions, and acquired for the author con- 

 siderable reputation. Besides the ' Essays,' we may mention some 

 'Observations and Experiments on Water," 8vo, Lond., 1768; ' Ob- 

 servations on the Poison of Lead,' 8vo, 1774; 'Moral and Literary 

 Dissertations," 8vo, Warrington, 1784; 'A Father's Instructions, 

 consisting of Moral Tales, Fable?, and Reflections, designed to pro- 

 mote the Love of Virtue," 8vo, London, 1788; ' Medical Ethics, or a 

 Code of Institutes and Precepts adapted to the Professional Conduct 

 of Physicians and Surgeons,' 8vo, Manchester, 1803. This work was 

 republished with additions in 1827. All his works were collected and 

 publi-hed together after his death by his son, in 4 vols. 8vo, London, 

 1807. To this edition is prefixed a memoir of his life and writings, 

 and a selection from his literary correspondence. 



PERCY, THE FAMILY OF, one of the most illustrious families 

 in England. Percy was in use as a name of addition in England 

 as early as the reign of the Conqueror, when, as appears from 

 Domesday Book, William de Percy held numerous manors in the 

 counties of Lincoln and York. It is presumed that he was one of the 

 persons who accompanied the Duke of Normandy, and as there are 

 three places calltd Percy in Lower Normandy it is a reasonable 

 supposition that the name was derived from residence at one of those 

 place?. 



From this William descended several persons of the name who occur 

 in the chronicles and as benefactors to the Church, till the reign of 

 Henry II., when another William de Percy died without male issue, 

 leaving two grand-daughters (children of a son who died before him) 

 his heirs. These great heiresses made splendid marriages ; Maud 

 marrying the Earl of Warwick, and Agnes, Joeceline of Louvain, a 

 brother of Adeliza, the second wife of King Henry I. By the death 

 of Maud without issue, the descendants of Agnes became the sole 

 representatives of the first race of Percys, and they adopted the name 

 of Percy ns their name of addition. This Josceline, who was the 

 male ancestor of the Percys of whom we read so much in the English 

 history, was of the family of the dukes of Brabant, one of the most 

 illustrious in Europe. One of bis sons was active auioi g the barons 

 ;it the time when King John granted the great charter, and his 

 descendants for two centuries after his time were conspicuous on all 

 occasions when the barons acted in a body. It was a Henry de Percy 

 vlio, in the reign of Edward I., acquired Alnwick and other lands in 

 Northumberland, which thenceforward became the county t^o which 

 the Percys are particularly supposed to belong. Warkworth was 

 granted to bis ton. Another Henry de Percy, in the reign of 

 Edward III., married Mary of Lancaster, daughter of Henry (Plan- 

 tagenet) earl of Lancaster, grandson of King Henry III. This 

 marriage brought the succeeding Percys into near alliance with the 

 crowu, nd the two sons who issued from it were made the one Earl 

 of Northumberland, the other Earl of Worcester. Both these titles 

 were conferred by King Richard II. The title of Earl of Worcester 

 soon ceased in this family, the earl having engaged in the rebellion 

 against King Henry IV., nud being beheaded at Shrewsbury soon after 

 the battle which was fought near that town. In the same battle 

 Henry Percy (Hotspur), nephew of the Earl of Worcester, son to 

 the elder brother, the Earl of Northumberland, waa slain ; and the 

 Earl of Northumberland himself, uneasy under the rule of his near 

 relative Henry IV., was slain by the posse comitatus of Yorkshire 

 in 1408. 



The eon of Hotspur was restored by Henry V. to the title of Earl of 

 Northumberland. He was slain at ti e battle of St. Alban's in 1455, 

 and bis ton, the third earl, fell at tl.e battle of Towton, 1460. The 

 fourth earl was slain in a tumult at 1 hirsk, in 1489. The fifth earl 

 died in peace in 1527 ; he is the earl whose ' Household Book ' is 

 published, a volume which exhibits very much of the customs of the 

 time in the houses of the great. As the sixth earl, his son, died in 

 1537 without issue, there was danger lest the honours of this great 

 family should be lost, for the next heir male descended from an 

 attainted member of the family, and so could not succeed. It seems 

 to have been intended that the title of Northumberland should pass 

 from them ; for John Dudley, earl of Warwick, was made by King 

 Edward VI. duko of Northumberland. His honour was however 



EIOO. DIV. VOL. IV. 



short-lived ; and he being dead and attainted, Queen Mary restored the 

 male heir of Percy to the earldom of Northumberland. But the same 

 evil fate pursued him. He engaged in rebellion against Queen Eliza- 

 beth, and was put to death at York in 1572. His brother Henry 

 Percy succeeded, in virtue of limitation in the patent of restoration 

 granted by Queen Mary. This earl came to a violent end, being 

 imprisoned in the Tower, and found dead in his bed in 1585, shot 

 with three pistol-bullets. After him were several other earls of 

 Northumberland of thia family, the last of whom was Earl Josceline, 

 the eleventh earl, who died at Turin in 1670, being then aged twenty- 

 six. In this earl the principal male line of Percy became extiuct. 

 There were living at the time persons who believed themselves to be 

 of the blood, and some of them indisputably were so, but only one of 

 them, a trunk-maker in Dublin, whose descent is very dubious, 

 prosecuted any claim to the honours of the family, and his claim was 

 disallowed. 



Josceline, earl of Northumberland, left an only daughter and heir, 

 Lady Elizabeth Percy : this lady married, first, Henry Cavendish, 

 earl of Ogle, who thereupon took the name of Percy. He died very 

 soon after the marriage. She was then contracted to Thomas Thynne, 

 Esq., who was assassinated just at the time in Pall Mall. She then 

 married, in 1682, Charles Seymour, duke of Somerset, who undertook 

 to relinquish his hereditary name, and to call himself and his pos- 

 terity by the name of Percy. Such was the determination to keep 

 up the splendid name. Some time after however the duke was 

 released from the obligation, and retained his name of Seymour. The 

 Duke of Somerset had Algernon, his son and heir, duke of Somerset, 

 who was created, in 1749, Ear) of Northumberland, with remainder to 

 his son-in-law Sir Hugh Smithsou, who had married Lady Elizabeth 

 Seymour, his only daughter and heir. 



Sir Hugh Smithsou became earl of Northumberland on the death of 

 his father-in-law, when he took the name of Percy. In 1766 he was 

 created Duke of Northumberland. From him descend the two existing 

 peers of the family of Percy, namely, the Duke of Northumberland 

 and the Earl of Beverley. 



PERCY, THOMAS, D.D., an elegant scholar, and a prelate, of the 

 Irish Church, was the son of a grocer at Bridguorth in Shropshire, 

 whire he was born in 1728. He affected to be considered of the noble 

 house of Percy, or it has been affected for him ; but hia better and 

 surer honour is that he was the maker of his own foi tunes, and by his 

 valuable writings and the honourable discharge of his episcopal duties 

 has reared for himself a high and permanent reputation. He, was 

 educated at Christchurch, Oxford, and early in life obtained the 

 vicarage of Easton Mauduit, on which he resided, and the rectory of 

 Wilby. 



He began his literary career by the publication of what purports to 

 be a translation from the Chinese of a novel, together with other 

 matters connected with the poetry and literature of that people. This 

 is a translation by him from a Portuguese manuscript. It was soon 

 followed by another work, entitled-' Miscellaneous Pieces relating to 

 the Chinese. ' He next published translations from the Icelandic of 

 five pieces of Runic poetry. These appeared in 1761, 1762, and 1763. 

 In 1764 he published a new version of ' Solomon's Song,' with a com- 

 mentary and notes ; and in 1765 a ' Key to the New Testament,' 

 which has been reprinted several times. In the same year, 1765, 

 appeared the work by which he is best known, and which is indeed 

 one of the most elegant and pleasing works in the whole range of 

 English literature, to which he gave the title of ' Reliques of Ancient 

 English Poetry.' It contains some of the best of the old English 

 ballads, many very beautiful lyrical pieces by the poets of the Eliza- 

 bethan period and the age immediately succeeding, a few extracts 

 from the larger writings of the poets of those periods, aud a few lyrical 

 pieces by modern writers. Each piece is well illustrated. It has been 

 many times reprinted. 



The publication of so popular and pleasing a work naturally drew 

 attention to the author or editor; and particularly the Duke and 

 Duchess of Northumberland took notice of one who bore their name, 

 and in or about 1766 he was appointed domestic chaplain in the 

 family. In 1769 ho was made one of the chaplains of the king, in 

 1778 dean of Carlisle, and in 1782 bishop of Dromore. During this 

 period he continued his literary labours. In 1770 he printed the 

 ' Northumberland Household-Book," and a poem, the subject of which 

 is connected with the history of the Percy family, called ' The Hermit 

 of Warkworth.' In the same year appeared his translation, with 

 notes, of ' The Northern Antiquities,' by Mons. Mallet. The assist- 

 ance which he gave to other authors is often acknowledged by then], 

 and especially by Mr. Nichols, in several of his works. 



When he became an Irish bishop he thought it his duty to devote 

 himself almost entirely to his diocese. He resided from that time 

 almost constantly at the palace of Dromore, where he lived greatly 

 respected and beloved. After a life in the ruain prosperous and 

 happy, he tasted of some of the afflictions of mortality. In 1782 he 

 lost an ouly son. His eye-sight failed him, and Ite became at length 

 totally blind. He died at the palace of Dromore, on the 30th of 

 September 1811. 



PERDICCAS, the son of Orontes, was one of the generals of Alex- 

 ander the Great, to whom that conqueror on his death-bed delivered 

 his royal signet, thus apparently intending to designate him as pro- 



3 i) 



