PARGA PARIS. 



PARGA ; a seaport on Uie coast of Albania, op- 

 posite the southern point of Corfu. At the time of 

 the fall of the Roman empire, this city was built, on a 

 rock, washed on three sides by the sea, and forming 

 in Uie rear a steep cliff, the summit of which was 

 crowned by an almost impregnable citadel. The city 

 lies at the uioutii of a river (the Acheron of the an- 

 c.cni-). It is surrounded with walls, and contains 

 two harbours, formed by a small island, and protected 

 by a battery. The prospect from the citadel is mag- 

 nificent. The neighbouring country is fertile, and the 

 district belonging to the city is separated from the 

 limits of Albania by a chain of elevated mountains. 

 Parga is hardly mentioned in history till 1401, when 

 it entered into an alliance with Venice, which con- 

 tinued till the fall of Venice, in 1797. Being inde- 

 pendent of Ali Pacha, the tyrant of Albania, it was 

 the asylum of all who sought to escape his fury, and 

 became the seat of frequent intrigues against his 

 government. Ali Pacha therefore desired to get pos- 

 session of it. In 1798, he found means to reduce 

 Prevesa and the other fortresses on the neighbouring 

 coast ; but Parga set his arms at defiance. The Par- 

 giots repelled his attacks till 1814, when they applied 

 to the British in Corfu, and received a garrison from 

 them, with Uie expectation of being incorporated with 

 the republic of the Ionian islands ; but the British 

 government refused to receive the submission of the 

 Pargiots. They did not overlook the importance of 

 Parga to Corfu ; but the dread of constant hostilities 

 with the Albanians led them to enter on negotiations 

 with Ali ; and he was put in possession of Parga on 

 condition of his paying a pecuniary indemnity to 

 those inhabitants who should choose to change their 

 residence. The population consisted of about 5000 

 Albanian Greeks. The surrender to Ali took place 

 in 1819, and almost all the inhabitants emigrated to 

 the Ionian islands, after having burned even the bones 

 of their ancestors. 



PARHELIA. See Optics. 



PARIAN CHRONICLE. See Arundelian Mar- 

 bles. 



PARIAS; Hindoos of the impure castes of the 

 Sutas, Vaidehas, and Chandalas, so numerous a class 

 that Menu, in his tenth chapter, has not even taken 

 the trouble to enumerate them. The fourth caste, or 

 Sudras, is widely separated from the three privileged 

 ones (see Caste); but still further removed and more 

 degraded are the mixed and impure classes, the num- 

 ber of which, according to some, amounts to eighty- 

 four. The three castes above named are the only 

 ones called Farias in the code of Menu (x. 26); they 

 are prohibited from all approach to any thing pure, 

 as if they were infected with leprosy. (See Hindoos.) 

 Heeren thinks that the difference of colour between 

 these Parias and the higher classes shows them to 

 have been the original inhabitants of the country, the 

 Helots of the Indians, and deprived of all rights for 

 defending their independence. See Delavigne. 



PARINI, GIUSEPPE, one of the most celebrated 

 Italian poets of recent times, was born at Busisio, a 

 village of the Milanese, in 1729, studied polite litera- 

 ture and science at Milan, and devoted himself, in 

 compliance with the wishes of his father, but contrary 

 to his own inclination, to theology. In spite of nar- 

 row circumstances and a feeble constitution, he labour- 

 ed assiduously in his studies, and early made some 

 essays in poetry. To relieve his wants, he published 

 a collection of these youthful productions, under the 

 name of Ripano Eupilino, in 1752. It was success- 

 ful, and he was admitted a member of the academy of 

 Uie Arcadians at Rome. Having been appointed 

 wrtceptor in the Borromeo and Serbelloni families, 

 he was now enabled to apply himself more exclusively 

 to his favourite studies. His familiarity with the 



manners of the great led him to attempt a delineation 

 of them in a species of didtictic and dramatic satire, 

 entitled 11 Uiorno (the Day.) The Mattino (Morning) 

 appeared in 17(33, and the Mezzogiorno (Noon) two 

 years later. 'I his poem extended his reputation, and 

 he was made professor of rhetoric in the gymnasium of 

 the Brera. His lectures on the belles-lettres have 

 been printed. The completion of the Giorno was often 

 interrupted by the troubled state of Italy, but was 

 finally effected under the title of II t'espero (Evening) 

 and La Node (Night.) He died in 1799. II is works 

 have been published in six volumes (1801 1840). 



PARIS ; the capital of France, the second cily in 

 Europe for population, and the fourth for extent, is 

 situated in the northern part of the kingdom, on both 

 banks and two islands of the Seine ; 1st. 48 50' 14" 

 N. ; Ion. 2 20' 15" E. of Greenwich, 20 E. of 

 Ferro. It is 112 miles S. E. of Havre, at the mouth 

 of the Seine ; 472 N. \V. of Marseilles ; 304 N. E. of 

 Bourdeaux ; 225 S. E. of London. The environs do 

 not exhibit the same variety as those of London ; in- 

 stead of the gardens, parks, and country-seats which 

 surround the great capital of the world, on the banks 

 of the Thames, Paris on several sides presents large 

 tracts of unenclosed cornfields. The stream of life in 

 the great streets, the crowd of wagons, carriages, 

 arid horsemen, is not so great as in the neighbourhood 

 of London. The finest approach to Paris is by St 

 Germain ; a broad, straight street, lined with lofty 

 buildings, leads from Neuilly to the city, where the 

 view is terminated by the unfinished Arc de 1'Etoile, 

 which stands on an elevation ; from this to the charm- 

 ing Champs Elysees, extends a walk about a mile and 

 a half in length, planted with fine elms, and lined on 

 both sides with handsome houses and beautiful gar- 

 dens. You next arrive at the Place Louis XV., pass 

 the Tuileries, with its gardens and statues, the Seine, 

 with its bridges and quays, the Place Vendome, with 

 its triumphal column, the Palais Bourbon, where the 

 chamber of deputies assembles, you are in Paris. 

 Its circuit, as marked by a wall raised in 1787, to 

 prevent smuggling, is about fourteen miles : its 

 greatest breadth three miles; its greatest length 

 somewhat above five. The original soil on which 

 Paris is built was a marly gypsum, and a great por- 

 tion of the southern part of the city is built over the 

 immense quarries which form the catacombs. The 

 eastern sections, the suburb St Antoine, the Quartier 

 au Marais and the Cite are badly built. From the 

 Cite the streets run north to the temple, and south to 

 the pantheon, but without being broad or elegant ; in 

 recent times, the direction has been given them south 

 to the suburb St Germain, and north to the Tuileries. 

 The total number, exclusive of cuts de sac, is 1142, 

 mostly narrow. They are not so clean as they might 

 be, since the water is carried off by only one gutter, 

 in the centre of the street ; a few of them are paved 

 in the modern style, and provided with footpaths. 

 The Rue de Rivoli, Rue de Castiglione, and Rue de 

 la Paix, are handsome streets. The eighteen boule- 

 vards are broad streets, planted on both sides with 

 trees, and forming beautiful promenades. Those 

 outside of the walls are called the exterior boulevards. 

 The interior boulevards are divided into the old, or 

 northern, and the new, or southern, and are of great 

 length, with many streets running into them. Many 

 of the trees were cut down in July, 1830. 



Among the finest of the seventy-four public places, 

 are the Place Vendome, and the Place du Carrousel, 

 which separates the Tuileries from the Louvre. The 

 Place Louis XVI., or de la Concorde, in which is a 

 monument erected to the memory of Louis XVI., but 

 which has recently been consecrated to the charter, 

 is also one of the most beautiful in Paris. The 

 Champ de Mars, Place des Victoires, Place de Greve, 



