(65 



PLEYEL, IGNACE. 



PLINY THE ELDEE. 



836 



jects have been given in the ' Memoirs of the Museum of Economic 

 Geology.' 



In the movements preliminary to the opening of the Great Exhibition 

 in 1851 he took an active part, and was appointed special commissioner 

 to communicate with local committees. In this capacity he was of 

 signal service in securing the success of the Exhibition. When the 

 Exhibition was opeued, and the juries had been appointed to give their 

 awards to the exhibitors, he was appointed special commissioner in 

 charge of the department of juries. For his services in connection 

 with the Great Exhibition he was made by his sovereign a Companion 

 of the Bath ; and Prince Albert, to show his sense of the same services, 

 offered him the position of gentleman-usher in his household, which 

 he accepted. He was also removed from the Museum of Economic 

 Geology and made joint-secretary with Mr. Cole of the government 

 Department of Science and Art. Since the removal of Mr. Cole to the 

 post of inspector-general, Dr. Playfair has been sole secretary of the 

 Department of Science and Art. 



PLEYEL, IGNACE, or IGNAZ, a composer in great repute towards 

 the close of the last century, was born in 1757, at Rupperstahl, near 

 Vienna. He was the twenty -fourth child of Martin Pleyel, a school- 

 master, and of a lady of noble family, who incurred the resentment of 

 her parents by her marriage, and was disinherited. In giving birth to 

 the subject of this notice she died ; and the widower, having again 

 married, had fourteen children by his second wife, and lived to attain 

 bis ninety-ninth year. 



Ignace was, according to the Austrian custom, initiated in Latin 

 and music at a very early age. When sufficiently advanced in music 

 be had Vanhall for a master, and subsequently Haydn ; but the last 

 was far from a good teacher, and the student acquired more knowledge 

 of his art during an extensive tour which he made in Italy by hearing 

 the best works of the celebrated composers, and more taste by listening 

 to the distinguished performers of that country, than by all the lessons 

 he had received in Vienna. In 1783 Pleyel was appointed Maitre-de- 

 Chapelle of Strasbourg cathedral, and there composed many masses 

 and motets, the whole of which were destroyed in a great fire shortly 

 after they were written. During the next ten years he produced 

 nearly all those works which carried his name into every city in 

 Kurope. In 1791 he visited London, on the invitation of the managers 

 of ' The Professional Concert,' who engaged him as a kind of rival to 

 Haydn (whose services had been secured by Salomon for his concerts), 

 and composed for them three symphonies, for which and his personal 

 assiatance he received a large sum, which he invested in the purchase 

 o~f an estate near Strasbourg. In 1793, during the phreuzy of the 

 French revolution, he became a suspected person, and having been 

 several times denounced, at length deemed it prudent to fly, but was 

 pursued and taken. He then pleaded his acquiescence in the new 

 order of things; nevertheless, as a proof of his sincerity, he was 

 required to set a kind of drama for the anniversary of the 10th of 

 August. This he accomplished under the surveillance of two gen- 

 darmes, and saved bis life. He now sold his property, went to Paris, 

 and entered into a widely-extended commercial speculation as publisher 

 of music and manufacturer of pianofortes. This proved successful, and 

 after a long, active, laborious career, he retired to an estate near Paris 

 purchased by the fruits of hi* talents and industry, and indulged his 

 taste for agriculture. But the revolution of 1S30 excited iii him fresh 

 though unnecessary alarm, and violently agitated a frame not naturally 

 strong. His health failed, and, after much anxiety aud suffering, he 

 died in November 1831. He left one son, who inherited some portion 

 of his father's genius, but soon abandoned music as an art, and, 

 following his parent's steps, pursued it very prosperously as a trade. 



Pleyel, in the height of his popularity, was over-valued, and after- 

 wards, when the tide of faahiou turned against him, was under-rated. 

 Through nearly all bia compositions a stream of agreeable melody 

 flow* ; they are marked by a style peculiarly his own, generally light, 

 sometimes very trivial, but occasionally bold and vigorous : a few of 

 his quartets especially possess much beauty, as do also his admirable 

 Concertante, his Sonatas dedicated to the Queen of England, and bis 

 Scottish airs. 



PLI'NIUS VALEBIA'NUS, a name mentioned in a Latin inscription 

 found at Como (Gruter, i. 635), and given to the author of a work 

 entitled 'Medicinie Pliniana: Libri Quinque.' Nothing is known of 

 bis life, but the work is supposed to have been written about the 

 4th century A.D. It is a book on domestic medicine, compiled from 

 I'liny the Elder, Dioscorides, Galen, and others, and is not of much 

 value. The first three books are taken up with a list of diseases, 

 beginning with the bead aud descending to the feet, aud contain an 

 account of a great number of medicines, partly taken from the elder 

 Pliny and partly from later writers. The fourth book treats of the 

 properties of plants according to their names, and is in a great 

 measure taken from Galen. The fifth book, which is almost entirely 

 extracted from Alexander Trallianus, is upon diet as accommodated 

 to different diseases. There is a little book by Just. Godofr. Giiuz, 

 entitled 'De Auctore Operis dc Re Medici, vulgo Plinio Valeriauo 

 ascripti,' 4to, Lips., 1736, in which, with much learning and inge- 

 nuity (but, in Haller's opinion, unsuccessfully), he tries to prove that 

 the work in question was written by a Christian physician named 

 Siburius, who is mentioned in the preface to Marcellus Empiricus. 

 It was published at Rome, 1509, fol., by Th. Piglunuccius; it was 



reprinted (and, according to Haller, 'Biblioth. Med. Pract.,' much 

 more accurately), fol., Bonon., 1516. It ia also to be found in some 

 of the collections of the old medical writers, namely, in that of 

 Torinus ('Tborer'), fol., Basil., 1528; and in the Aldine, fol., Veuet., 

 1547. 



PLINY THE ELDER. CAIUS PLINIUS SECUNDUS was born, as is 

 commonly supposed, A.D. 23. The place of his birth is very uncer- 

 tain, aud has been the subject of much learned controversy. The 

 ancient writer of his life, ascribed to Suetonius, and after him 

 St. Jerome (in ' Chron.'), call him a native of Como (Novocomensis) ; 

 while in an old anonymous life he is said to have been born at Verona, 

 and ia. the preface to his ' Natural History ' he calls Catullus (who was 

 certainly born there) his fellow-countryman (conterraneum). A full 

 account of the arguments on both sides is given by Rezzonico, in his 

 'Disquisitiones Pliuiana;,' who is himself inclined to give the honour 

 to Como. 



Very little is known of the events of Pliny's public life ; we are 

 merely told that he was of a noble family, and after distinguishing 

 himself in the field, and filling the office of augur at Rome, was 

 appointed procurator of Spain. These employments however he did 

 not suffer to hinder his studies; and his manner of life, as it is 

 described by his nephew (Plin., ' Epist.,' iii. 5), exhibits a degree of 

 industry and perseverance scarcely to be paralleled. In summer he 

 always began his studies as soon as it was light ; in winter, generally 

 at one in the morning, but never later than two, and often at midnight. 

 No man ever spent less time in bed ; aud sometimes he would, with- 

 out retiring from his books, indulge in a short sleep, and then pursue 

 his studies. Before day-break it was his custom to wait upon Vespa- 

 sian, who likewise chose that season to transact business ; and when 

 he had finished the affairs which the emperor committed to his charge 

 he returned home again to his studies. After a slender repast at 

 noon, he would frequently, in the summer, if he was disengaged from 

 business, recline in the sun, during which time some author was read 

 to him, from which he made extracts and observations. This was his 

 constant method, whatever book he read ; for it was a maxim of his, 

 that " no book was so bad but something might be learned from it." 

 When this was over he generally went into the cold bath, after which 

 he took a slight refreshment of food and rest ; and then, as if it had 

 been a new day, resumed his studies till supper-time, when a book 

 was again read to him, upon which he would make some remarks as 

 they went on. His nepbew mentions a singular instance (' Epist.,' 

 iii. 5) to show how parsimonious he was of his time, aud how eager 

 after knowledge. His reader having pronounced a word wrong, some 

 one at the table made him repeat it, upon which Pliny asked that 

 person if he understood it, and when he acknowledged that he did, 

 " Why then," said he, " would you make him go back again ? We 

 have lost by this interruption above ten lines." In summer he always 

 rose from supper by day-light, and in winter, as soon as it was dark. 

 Such was his way of life amidst the noise and hurry of the town ; but 

 in the country his whole time was devoted to study without inter- 

 mission, excepting only when he slept, and when he bathed, that is, 

 was actually in the bath; for during tho operation of rubbing and 

 wiping he was employed either in hearing some book read to him or 

 in dictating himself. In his journeys he lost no time from his studies, 

 his mind at those seasons being disengaged from all other thoughts, 

 and a secretary or amanuensis constantly attended him in his chariot ; 

 and that he might suffer the leas interruption to his studies, instead of 

 walking, he always used a carriage in Rome. By this extraordinary 

 application he found leisure to write a great number of volumes. 



The circumstances of his death, like his manner of living, were very 

 singular, and are alao described at Urge by the elegant pen of his 

 nephew. He was at that time, with a fleet under his command, at 

 ilisenum, in the Gulf of Naples, his sister and her sou the younger 

 Pliny being with him. On the 24th of August, A.D. 79, about one in 

 the afternoon, his sister desired him to observe a cloud of a very 

 unusual size aud shape. He was in his study; but immediately arose, 

 and went out upon an eminence to view it more distinctly. It was 

 not at that distance discernible from what mountain this cloud issued, 

 but it was found afterwards to ascend from Mount Vesuvius. Its 

 figure resembled that of a pine tree ; for it shot up to a great height 

 in the form of a trunk, which extended itself at top into a sort of 

 branches ; and it appeared sometimes bright, and sometimes dark and 

 spotted, and it was either more or less impregnated with earth aud 

 cinders. This was a noble phenomenon for the philosophic Pliuy, who 

 immediately ordered a light vessel to be got ready ; but as he was 

 coming out of the house with his tablets for his observations, the 

 mariners belonging to the galley stationed at Retina earnestly entreated 

 him to come to their assistance, since that port being situated at the foot 

 of Mount Vesuvius, there was no way for them of escape but by sea. 

 He therefore ordered the galleys to be put to sea, and went himself 

 on board, with the intention of assisting not only Retina, but several 

 other towns situated upon thnt beautiful coast. He steered directly 

 to the point of danger from which others were flying with the utmost 

 terror, and with so much calmness and presence of mind as to be able 

 to make and dictate his observations upon the motion aud figure of 

 that dreadful scene. He went so near to the mountain that the 

 cinders, which grew thicker and hotter the nearer he approache.l, foil 

 into the ships, together with pumice-stones and black pieces of buruiug 



