304 



POMEKOY 



POMPADOUR 



cent, and forests nearly 20 per cent. Rye and 

 potatoes are the principal products ; in a secondary 

 degree come wheat, barley, oats, flax, beet-root, 

 tobacco, hops, and fruit. Mure than 55 per 

 cent, of the soil is owned by the nobility, as in 

 Mecklenburg (q.v.). Commerce flourishes in the 

 coast towns, Stettin and Stralsund being the most 

 important. Apart from shipbuilding, machine- 

 works, and the manufacture of sugar, chemicals, 

 l>i irk-. \'c. , which are carried on principally in the 

 coast towns, the only industries are paper, tobacco, 

 glass, and wooden wares. The fisheries are valu- 

 able. Much poultry is reared, especially geese, in 

 Farther Pomerania. Greifswald in this province is 

 the seat of a university ; Stettin is the capital. 

 I'omt'ninia semis fourteen inemliers to the imiierial 



'. and twenty -six to the Prussian Lower House. 

 Por. (1890) 1,520,880. See PRUSSIA. 



Pomerania formed a part of the territory of the 

 ancient Vandals. When they moved south in the 

 5th century, it was occupied by Slavic tribes, one 

 of whom was called Pomerani ; hence the name of 

 the region. From about 1100 it had it/sown line 

 of princely rulers, and about 1 124 it adopted 

 Christianity in consequence of the preaching of 

 Bishop Otto of Bamberg. The native princes 

 assumed the title of duke in 1170 and joined the 

 German empire, being put under the suzerainty of 

 Brandenburg. The duchy was overrun by the 

 Imperialists in the Thirty Years' War, and Wallen- 

 Btem besieged Stralsund ; they were followed by 

 the Swedes, who established themselves per- 

 manently in Hither Pomerania and in several towns 

 of Farther Pomerania. In 1637 the last duke of 

 the native dynasty died, whereupon Brandenburg 

 claimed the duchy ; the Swedes, however, stuck to 

 what they held until 1720, and certain districts 

 in Hither Pomerania were not given up to Prussia 

 until 1815. See Histories by Kant/ow ( is:), Sell 

 (3 vols. 1810-20), Fock (6 vols. 1861-72), and 

 Klempin (3 vols. 1868-88). 



I'omeroy, capital of Meigs county, Ohio, be- 

 tween the oliio lliver and a range of precipitous 

 hills, i:f.'t miles by rail SE. of Columbus. The 

 luining nf coal and the manufacture of salt are 

 the chief industries. It also contains foundries, a 

 woollen-factory, &c. Pop. (1880) 5560 ; ( 1900) 4639. 



l*oml'rrt. See PONTKFHACT. 



Pomona, tin- Roman divinity of the fruit 

 (/HUH it in) of trees. She was beloved by several 

 of the rustic divinities, as Sylvanus, Piciis, and 

 Vertumnns. Propertius tells us that the last, 

 after vainly trying to approach her under various 

 forms, at last succeeded y assuming the figure of 

 an old woman. In this guise he recounted to her 

 the lamentable histories of women who had despised 

 love, and, having touched her heart to pity, sud- 

 denly transformed himself into a blooming youth. 

 Varro tells us that at Koine the worship of 1'omona 

 was under the care of a special priest, the _/?//"/) 

 Pomoiiatit. In works of art she was generally 

 represented with fruits in her lap, or in a basket, 

 with a garland of fruits in her hair, and a pruning- 

 knife in her right hand. 



Pomona, or MAINLAND. See ORKNEY. 



Pompadour. JBANNB ANTOINETTE POISSON, 

 MARQUISE UK. the most famous among the mis- 

 tresses of Louis XV., was born in Paris, 2!>th 

 December 1721. She was baptised as the child 

 of Francois Poisson and his wife Madeleine de la 

 Motte, but it was suspected that her father was 

 Le Normant de Tourneheni, a wealthy fern 

 gtntral, who provided for her education. She 

 grew up a woman of remarkable grace and beauty, 

 devoted to music and painting, and charming every 

 one by her vivacity and wit. But her mind was 

 early depraved by her mother, who constantly 



dinned into her ears that she was ' uu morceau de 

 mi.' and habituated her to see in the role of 

 kind's favourite the ideal of feminine ambi- 

 tion. In 1741 she was married to l>r protector's 

 nephew, Le Normant d'Etioles, and soon Wame 

 a queen of fashion in the financial world of Paris. 

 But neither this nor a devoted husband's love could 

 satisfy her heart, and, as it was impossible to hope 

 for an introduction at court, for two yeans she 

 sought In attract the eye of the king by waylaying 

 him when he went out hunting. At length in 

 February l"4."i she attained her object at a ball 

 given by the city on the occasion of the dauphin's 

 nuptials, and ere longshe was in-tailed at Versailles, 

 and ennobled by llie title of Marquise de Pompa- 

 dour. Her husband, to whom she had already 

 tome A daughter, was removed from Paris, but later 

 hail his loss recouped with lucrative offices ; her 

 brother was afterwards made Marquis de Marigny. 

 Ere long she assumed the entire control of public 

 affaire, the king being merely an \ndo\ent faineant 

 who assisted at the spectacle of his reign without 

 even taking an interest in it. For twenty year* 

 the mistress swayed the whole policy of the state, 

 and lavished its treasures on the gratification of 

 her artistic tastes, and in carrying out her own 

 ambitious schemes. She revei-ed the traditional 

 policy of France because Frederick the Great lam- 

 pooned her, and the proud Maria Theresa addressed 

 her in a letter under the royal style as M confine. 

 She rilled all public offices with her nominees, 

 corresponded with the generals in the field, and 

 made her own creatures ministers of France, the 

 Ablie de Bernis and the Due de Choiseul. Her 

 policy was disastrous, her wars unfortunate: still 

 the ministry of Choiseul was the only fairly credit- 

 able portion of the reign, which owed to her twenty 

 years of relative dignity. She was a lavi-li 

 patroness of the arts, and heaped her liounty upon 

 poets and painters, yet did not escape showers of 

 lampoons the famous Poissardes, for a suspected 

 share in which many a wit went to the Bastille. 

 She loved china, tine buildings, books, and sump 

 tuons bindings, and it is said printed with her own 

 hands a tine edition of the Jtviiogiiiir. of Corneille. 

 Indeed, she was an artist in everything 'elle ctait 

 des nfttres,' as Voltaire said truly when he heard of 

 her death. The king remained faithful to her from 

 habit rather than affection, and from the role of 

 mistress she passed into that of amie ntress" 

 and retained her dillicnlt position to the end, by 

 relieving him of all business, by diverting him with 

 private theatricals in her famous ' t heat i e des pet its 

 cabinets,' where she acted charmingly, and at lost 

 even by countenancing his infamous debaucheries 

 and providing him with mistresses too insignificant 

 to be rivals. She herself said with the pathos of 

 truth, ' ma vie est un combat.' and at last her 

 nerves gave way under the strain, and after a 

 languor of twenty da\s she died, l.'ith April 1764. 

 She met the inevitable with that oueenly dignity 

 that marked everything she did. lie? breath fled 

 on the wings of a playful sally 'Stay, Monsieur 

 Cure, "she said to tin- priest wno was huiving her 

 room. ' wait a little ; we shall go out together.' 



Madame de Pompadour was the last mistress of 

 the king worthy of the name ; the descent from her 

 reign of grace and decorum to the boisterous vul- 

 garities of Dubarry was profound. She was 'froide 

 com me line macreuse,' says Madame dii Hausset, 

 her femme-de-chambre, in her silly but interesting 

 memoirs, and there can lie no doubt that through- 

 out life ambition was the one passion of her hcait. 

 She secured her reign till her last hour no sooner 

 had she closed her eyes than she was forgotten. 



The Mtmoim ( Lilge, 1766 ) attributed to her are of 

 no value. Sec the studies by Capcfiguc I 1858) and Cam- 

 pardon ( 1867) ; E. and J. de Goncourt, 1st Mullrruei dt 



