768 



PARIS 



PARISH 



b rarelv more than a foot high, with one whorl of 

 generally four leave*, and a solitary (lower on the 

 top of tlie stem, followed by a U-rry. The berry in 

 reputed narcotic and poisonous, but its juice has 

 . employ. -d to cure inflammation of tlie eyes. 

 The root has been used a* an emetic. 



Paris, also called ALEXANDER, was, according 

 to Homer, the second son of Priam and Heculm. 

 sovereigns of Troy. HU mother dreamed during 

 h.-r pregnancy that she gave birth to a firebrand, 

 which.. -i the* whole city on fire, a dream interpreted 

 K*acus or Cassandra to signify that Paris should 

 mat* a war which should end in the destruc- 

 tion of his native city. To prevent it* realisation 

 Priam caiis.-d the infant to lie exposed upon Mount 

 lila by a shepherd named Agelaus, who found him 

 live days after alive ami well, a she-bear having 

 given dim suck. Agelaus brought him up as his 

 own son, and lie tweame a shepherd on Mount Ida. 

 An accident having revealed his parentage, old 

 Priam l>ecame reconciled to his son, who married 

 (F.none, daughter of a river god. Hut his mother's 

 dream was to come true for all that. He was 

 appealed to, as umpire, in a strife which had arisen 

 among the three goddesses, Hera (Juno), Athene 

 (Minerva), and Aphrodite (Venus), as to which 

 of them was the most beautiful, the goddess Eris 

 (Strife) having revengefully flung among them, at 

 a feast to which she had not lieen invited, a golden 

 apple (of discord linscrilied 'TothelSIost lieautiful.' 

 Each of the three endeavoured to bribe him. Hera 

 promised him dominion and wealth; Athene, mili- 

 tary renown and wisdom; Aphrodite, the fairest 

 of women for his wife to wit, Helen, the wife of 

 King Mem-hius. Paris decided in favour of Aphro- 

 ditehence the animosity which the other two 

 goddesses displayed against the Trojans in the war 

 that followed. Paris now carried Helen away from 

 Lareda-mon in her liushand's absence, 'The rape 

 of Helen' is the legendary cause of the Troian 

 war (see HKI.KS, TROY). Pari* deceitfully slew 

 Achilles in the temple of Apollo. He was himself 

 wounded by a ix.isoned arrow, and went to Mount 

 Ida to be cured by iKnone; but she avenged her- 

 self for hi* unfaithfulness to her by refusing to 

 assist him, and he relumed to Troy to die. 

 I'arls, COMTE DR. See BOURBON, ORLEANS. 

 Paris,'; \M'.\, l>om 9th August 1 s:)'.l, succeeded 

 his father, Paiilin Paris (1800-81), in 1872 as pro- 

 tensor of old French at the College de Fiance, 

 became a memlter of the Academy of Inscriptions 

 in |s;7J, and of the Acaddmie Francaise in 1890. 

 He has written a long series of most valuable works 

 on old French literature (!M Point du iloytu-Ajje, 

 1 ..<:, '.).".; /./ I. '!< rut in f t'rtiH^aite au Muyen-Age, 

 Jd e.l. I |, and edited many texts (Le 



;</, 1895, &c.). 



Paris, M ATTIIKW, chronicler, who probably in- 

 hciited his family-name (then not uncommon in 

 England), wan Ix.rn aliout I'JiHi. In January 1217 



he cut. I tli-- Hcncdictinc monastery of St Albans, 



grew up under the eye of IJogi-r de Wendover, 



ami in I-IS was pent by the p..]... - i nmcn.hition 



on a mission to i.-pair the financial disorder* in the 

 Benedictine monastery on Monk's Island (Holm) 

 near Tromlhjem in Norway. In July 1251 he 

 was in attendance at the court at Winchester, 

 six months later he witnessed the marriage at 

 York of Henry's daughter to Alexander II. ol 

 Scotland, and in Maich I'J.17 be had much con 

 at ion with the king dining his week's visit 

 to the monastery His death occurred almut th< 

 middle of 1'J.V.I. ' Matthew 1'aris's principal work 

 is hi, /Inform .\fnjiir. or Clironi'-,, M,i/,,rn, a history 

 from the creation down to the year 1259. The 

 original edition is that publishWl in 1571 under 

 the authority of Archbishop Parker; but the 



authoritative edition of the work is that edited by 

 llr I.uard ill the KolU series (7voK 1*7:! - 



.in-hision as to its authorship is that down to 

 lie year IIH'.I it was the work of John de C'ella, 

 abbot of St Allns from 1I!J to 1-.M4; that from 

 th.it |M>int it was continued by linger of \\Yndover 

 I..WH to the year 1235 the whole work to this 

 Miint iK-iiig often aRcribeil to him alone, and known 

 IB the Flora Hitturiartim : that Matthew ..f I' 

 next transcrilM-d, corrected, and extended ihy in- 

 tittn.n rather than interpolation) the work, 

 whicrh, moreover, from 12.Vi down to li!.V.I is entirely 

 his own. As a historian he is vigorous, vivid, mid 

 accurate, and his pages are aglow with patriotic 

 fervour. His Jlixtorin .1 i/i//',r>im is abridged from 

 the greater work by the omission of what relates to 

 foreign affaire. It was edited bv Sir !'. Mail. leu 

 in the Holls series (3 void. 1866-69). Other works 

 are tiwAbbreviatioCfii-'mi'-'irinii (1100-1255): /.//../ 

 AdditamcHtvrum or >'/y//i inniliirum : the ilubions 

 Duorum Offm-i/m Mi /<,.// I;<- : ;HIH VHir ; and the 

 valuable Yitjiiiti triiim Alibatum S. Albaiii }'itn: 

 See an article by Dr Jessopp in the Quarterly 

 Review (1886). 



Paris, PLASTER OF. See GYPSUM, STUCCO. 

 Paris Basin, in Geology, the area in which 

 the Caino/oic systems of France are best develoj>ed. 

 See EOCKNK SYSTEM. 

 Paris Bordone. See BORDONE. 

 Parish (Lat. parochin ; Gr. paroikia, 'neigh- 

 bourhood') is a term used to denote the dUtrirt 

 assigned to a bishop or priest. In early times the 

 bishoii arranged all the church work of his diocese, 

 and tlie minor churches were served by clergy sent 

 from the bishop's church. Where the church was 

 established and endowed parishes were assigned 

 to resident priests, and tithes were, by special gift 

 or by general rules of law, made payable to the 

 parson of the parish. In England provisions relat- 

 ing to this matter were included among the laws 

 of Edgar alxmt '.170. Parishes were formed on the 

 basis of previously existing manors and townships : 

 the lord of the manor often held the Advowson 

 (i|.v.) or patronage of the parish church; and the 

 inhabitant* held their meetings in the vestry of the 

 church ; the parson presided, and he was usually 

 permitted to nominate one of the Churchwardens 

 (ii.v.). The parish was originally the unit of 

 administration for poor-law and highway purposes, 

 but modern legislation has transferred many of 

 the functions of parish authorities to Hoards of 

 Guardians (see POOR-LAWS) Highway Boards > 

 ROADS), and County Councils (q.v.). There are 

 about 15,000 civil parishes in England and 900 in 

 Scotland ; they vary very widc-ly lioth in extent and 

 in |Hipulation. Thus, Qveenuariry has an area of 

 only 11 acres, Kilmallie (pop. 4157) in Lochaber of 

 444 so. in. (nearly as large as Bedfordshire) ; whilst 

 Whalley in Lancashire ( ISO sq. m.) has more than 

 250,000'inhabitams, and Skiddaw( nearly 5 xq. m.)in 

 ( 'iimlM-i land only 10. The Imuiidarics of an ancient 

 parish are lixed by custom, the memory whereof was 

 formerly, and in some case* is still, kept alive by an 

 animat'or periodical perambulation (see BoUNlis, 

 BEATINO THE). Ancient parishes have been 

 divided and altered in mmiy cases in the exercise 

 of statutory powers ; the Local Government Hoard 

 possesses large poweis of alteration. For ecclesi- 

 astical purposes populous parishes may lie divided 

 and new vicarage* constituted by the Ecclesia.sti.-Ml 

 Commissioners ; by the exercise of these powers the 

 numlier of ecclesiastical parishes has Itecn raised to 

 alKiut 13,(HH). The parson or incumlicnt is a cor- 

 poration solo; he ha* a freehold in bis otlice, and 

 in the church and churchyard (see TlTHK). The 

 church is only used for the services of the Clmrch 

 of England; "the Churchyard (q.v.) may be used 



