PETTY SESSIONS 



constructive details of the ship in 

 which they are serving, and writing 

 up the log book. The candidate 

 must also have a gunnery or tor- 

 pedo qualification, f 



In the military branch the petty 

 officers include yeomen of signals, 

 P.O. telegraphists, and sailmakers ; 

 in the engineering branch, stoker 

 petty officers, mechanicians, and 

 engine-room artificers, the two last 

 being chief petty officers ; in the 

 artisan branch, joiners, ship- 

 wrights, blacksmiths, plumbers, 

 painters, coopers, armourers, and 

 electrical artificers (the last being 

 chiefs) ; in the medical branch, 

 sick berth stewards ; in the ac- 

 countant branch, writers, ship's 

 stewards, and cooks ; and also 

 ship's corporals and masters-at- 

 arms. See Navy, colour plate. 



Petty Sessions. In English 

 law, sittings of justices of the peace 

 or of a stipendiary magistrate 

 under certain statutes. The courts 

 of petty session are those which try 

 in a summary way, without a jury, 

 certain minor offences, and the 

 power of punishment which may be 

 inflicted is strictly limited. See 

 Magistrate ; Metropolitan Police 

 Court ; Police Court. , 



Petunia. Perennial ornamental 

 herb of the natural order Solan- 

 aceae. A native of S. America, it 



Petunia. Leaves and flower of the 

 perennial South American plant 



was introduced into Britain early 

 in the 19th century. The plants 

 are from 6 ins. to 2 ft. high, and 

 the funnel or salver shaped flowers 

 are chiefly red, violet, blue, and 

 white in various shades. They need 

 ordinary greenhouse culture in 

 spring, and may be planted out in 

 the open garden in May or June. 

 Propagation is by cuttings of old 

 plants, or seeds sown in spring. 



Petworth. Market town of 

 Sussex, England. It is near the W. 

 Rother river, 14 m. from Chi- 

 chester and 55 m. from London, 

 with a station on the L.B. & S.C. 

 Kly. S. Mary's Church, an old 

 building restored, has memorials 

 of the Percy and Wyndham fami- 



Petworth, Sussex. East Street and 

 the parish church of S. Mary 



lies. Stone quarries are in the 

 neighbourhood, and cattle fairs are 

 held in the town. Pop. 2,580. 



Petworth House is the seat of 

 Lord Leconfield. It occupies the 

 site of a castle of the Percy family, 

 around which the town grew. From 

 the Percys it passed to the duke 

 of Somerset, then to the earl of 

 Egremont. The 3rd earl of Egre- 

 mont built the present house, about 

 1800, and in his time it was famous 

 for its hospitality. It contains some 

 fine carvings by Grinling Gibbons, 

 and stands in a park 12 m. in cir- 

 cumference. 



Peutinger Table. Only extant 

 pictorial itinerary of the ancient 

 Roman empire. Conrad Celtes, 

 who discovered it at Ratisbon, 

 1507, bequeathed it for publication 

 to Conrad Peutinger of Augsburg. 

 Now in Vienna, it is a 13th century 

 copy from a somewhat earlier 

 version of a lost original, com- 

 piled probably in the 3rd century 

 from older materials collected by 

 Agrippa (d. 12 B.C.). Upon a strip 

 24 ft. by 13 ins. are 12 pano- 

 ramic segments depicting with 

 distances the military roads and 

 trade-routes from S.E. Britain to 

 the Ganges mouth. 



Pevensey. Village of Sussex, 

 England. It stands on Pevensey 

 Bay, 6 m. from Eastbourne, and 

 12 m. from Hastings, with a 

 station on the L.B. & S.C. Rly. It 

 occupies the site of the Roman 

 station of Anderida, and was the 

 landing place of William the 



Conqueror. A castle, of which the 

 picturesque ruins remain, was built 

 here by the Normans, who erected 

 it within the Roman walls, which 

 still stand. There is an old church, 

 S. Nicolas, and the Mint House is 

 said to be 600 years old. Pevensey, 

 one of the Cinque Ports, was a 

 corporate town from about 1066 

 until 1883. As the sea receded, 

 the harbour became filled with 

 shingle, and the port decayed. 

 Pop. 500. See Anderida. <$, 



Peveril of the Peak. Sixteenth 

 of the Waverley novels, published 

 Jan., 1823. Its period is 1658-78, 

 and the scene shifts between Der- 

 byshire, the Isle of Man, and Lon- 

 don. It introduces the Popish 

 Plot, and deals with the estrange- 

 ment between the Cavalier Pev- 

 erils and the Puritan Bridgenorths. 

 The fanatic, Edward Christian, 

 ready to sacrifice his niece Alice 

 Bridgenorth to his revenge against 

 the countess of Derby ; Major 

 Bridgenorth, whose enmity against 

 the countess destroys his friend- 

 ship with the Peverils ; Bucking- 

 ham, the king's favourite ; the in- 

 triguer Chaffinch and his mistress ; 

 and the mercurial earl of Derby 

 are the chief characters. The love 

 interest centres on Julian Peveril 

 and Alice Bridgenorth. 



Pew (probably 0. Fr. puye, a 

 balcony). Name for an enclosed 

 seat in a church ; originally any 

 enclosure fitted with writing desk, 

 etc., where a public official could 

 transact his business. Church 

 pews, often elaborately carved, 

 were used in the Middle Ages, but 

 the large, plain, and high-backed 

 box pew came in after the Re- 

 formation. The appropriated fam- 

 ily pew disappeared shortly after 

 the middle of the 19th century. The 

 partitions between box pews were 

 four or five ft. high ; and access 

 was through a small door. A few of 

 these enclosures survive in English 

 and Scottish churches, but the 

 modern pew is merely a bench with 

 a back. Parishioners have a right 

 at common law to a seat in their 

 parish church without payment, the 

 seats being disposed by the church- 

 wardens acting as officers of the 

 ordinary. 



Pevensey, Sussex. Walls ol the ruined Norman castle, bom the north-west 



