310 



PONTYPOOL 



POOLE 



was succeeded by a line of princes nm-tly called 

 Mitliridates, the greatest of wnom was Mitliridates 

 VI. (q.v.), one of the moot formidable enemies that 

 Rome ever encountered in the east. On the over- 

 throw of this potentate liy Pompey (65 B.C.), 

 Pontus was annexed to liitliynia. Sulisequently, 

 a Greek named Polemon was installed (36 B.C.) 

 monarch of part of Pontus ; hut in the reign of 

 Nero this too became (63 A.n.) a Roman province, 

 and was called Pontus Polemoniacut. The prin- 

 cipal towns of ancient PontiiK were Amisus, Sinope, 

 Cotyora, Cerasus, and Trapezus on the coast, and 

 Amasia (the capital), Comana, and CabiraJNeo- 

 ctesareia) inland. 



Poiltypool, a market-town of Monmouthshire, 

 on the Afon Llwydd, 9 miles N. by W. of Newport. 

 Its 17th-century japanned wares have long been a 

 tiling of the past, and iron and tinplate works, 

 brewing, and coal-mining now furnish employment. 

 Pop. ( 1851 ) 3708 ; ( 1881 ) 5244 ; ( 1891 ) 6842. 



l'oiil> pridd. a town of Glamorgan, 12 miles 

 NW. of Cardiff' by rail, at the junction of the 

 Rhondda and the Tart". It has a famous bridge 

 (see Hi: 1 1 H.I: i, iron and coal mines, iron and brass 

 foundries, and chemical and other manufactures 

 to which is due its rapid growth from a mere 

 village at the beginning of the 19th century. Pop. 

 (1881) 12,317; (1891) 19,971. 



Pony. See HORSE. 



Pood. See PUD. 



Poodlr. The origin of this breed of dog dates 

 from the beginning of the 17th century or earlier, 

 as many pictures of that time contain portraits of 

 poodles. The breed was unknown in Britain until 

 the iH'ginning i>f the 19th century. The poodle 

 is one of the few breeds of dogs which has not 

 bt-cn properly appreciated and cultivated in Itritiiin. 

 From his great intelligence and cleverness in learn- 

 ing tricks, he wan generaljy adopted as a circus or 

 'trick-dog;' but this fact, instead of making for his 

 credit, has caused the |tood)e to lie treated with 

 contempt. On the Continent, however, the large 

 variety of poodle has been universally used as the 

 Imml'irr sportsman's companion, as lie combines 

 the properties of a land as well as a water dog. 



Black Corded Poodle. 

 (From a Photograph by Gambler Bolton, F.Z.8.) 



The poodle varied considerably in his appearance, 

 and attempt* have heun made to divide the breed 

 into several section*, surh ns tin- large and small 

 variety, or the corded -coated and flwoy -coated 

 variety, OH also into black Russian and white 

 German poodle-; hut none of MMM dlvUoiM are 

 very clearly defined. The large block Russian 



poodle is much the most handsome and agile speci- 

 men of the race, and may be easily trained to 

 retrieve. The small white poodle is only fit for a 

 house dog, but is extremely clever and apt. For 

 some unknown reason the poodle has always been 

 clipped in a peculiar manner : with the exception 

 of a few tufts, his body and hindquarters are 

 entirely bare, while the coat on his shoulders 

 sometimes grows to an enormous length. On the 

 Continent the poodle is left with his natural coat 

 during the winter, a much more humane plan than 

 the English habit of keeping him shaved in all 

 season-. 



Pool, a game played on a billiard-table. Any 

 mi TI i l>cr may play. Each is provided witli a 

 coloured ball, taken at random from a pool-ban/.' i 

 The first in order (white) is spotted on the bUlinnl 

 spot. The next (red) plays from hand on the 

 white. Red i- called white's player. The next 

 (yellow) is red's player, and so on, in the order 

 indicated by the marking-board. The owner of 

 each hall has three lives. If the player holes the 

 ball he plays on, or any other ball, after having 

 first hit the ball he plays on, the owner of the ball 

 holed loses a life, ami has to pay to the player 

 a sum previously agreed on. Tlie player plays 

 again, from where he stopped, on the nearest oall ; 

 and so on until he fails, when the next player goes 

 on, or until there are no other balls on the table, 

 when the striker's ball is spotted. After the stroke 

 from hand the player, unless spotted, always plays 

 from where he is on the table ; when he is holed he 

 plays his next stroke from hand. If the player 

 holes his own ball or gives a miss he loses a lite. 

 and plays his next stroke from hand. When the 

 owner of a ball has lost all his lives he is r//, 

 and plays no more that pool. The first dead may 

 star i.e. may come in again with the smallest 

 number of lives on the Imard. In the end one or 

 two of the players, who have not lost all their 

 lives, remain in. They continue to play until they 

 have an equal numlier of lives, when they divide the 

 pool (a sum contributed by each player, generally 

 equal to the value of three lives, the star paying 

 an extra pool ). If one of the two who remain in 

 has more lives than the other, and kills his adver- 

 sary, he takes the whole pool. The above describes 

 briefly what is MUad/WZwtM pool. The principal 

 varieties are selling pool, where the player may 

 play on any ball he likes ; and black pool, where 

 an extra ball is .spotted on the centre spot and lias 

 to lie played on under certain conditions, aliout 

 which there are no fixed rules. When the black 

 is holed at bhu-k pool each of those in has to pay 

 a life ; if missed or run in off the player has to 

 pay a life all round. There is no pool, and no one 

 lias any specified numlier of lives, the game con- 

 tinuing for a given time (generally half an hour). 

 Snooker pool is played in the same way as snwil.n 

 (see PYRAMIDS), tlie players following each oilier 

 as at |HKI|, and the order of play being determined 

 as at pool. 



Poole. a seaport of Dorsetshire, 5 miles W. ot 

 Bournemouth and 30 E. of Dorchester. It stands 

 on the north side of Poole Harlwur (7 by 4J miles), 

 an irregular inlet, formed bv the projection of 

 the ' isle ' of Purlieck, almost dry at low-water, ami 

 having four tides a day. On B'rownsea or Brank- 

 sea Island, just within the narrow entrance to the 

 harliour, is a castle dating from the time of Henry 

 VIII. Poole iteelf hits an old town-hall (1572), a 

 guildhall ( 1761 ), a town-house ( 1822), considerable 

 shipping, some yacht-building, and a large trade in 

 potter's and pipe clay. The men of Poole were 

 great fighters in days of old by land and sea, as 

 linrcaneers, smugglers, and Cromwellian soldiery. 

 There was 'Arripay,' or Harry Page, who about 



