PENNSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY PEPPER. 



461 



its citizens. For the exports of this state, see articles 

 Philadelphia, and PMsburg. 



PENNSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY. See Phila- 

 delphia. 



PENN TOWNSHIP ; a small township in Phila- 

 delphia county, Pennsylvania. This place was 

 selected by the late Mr Girard, for the establish- 

 ment of a school for orphans. The site is about 

 two miles from the old court-house in Philadelphia. 



PENNY. See Sterling Money. 



PENNY POST. See Posts. 



PENNYROYAL ; a species of mint (mentha pule- 

 gium], formerly in considerable repute as a medi- 

 cine, but now almost totally neglected. See Mint, 



PENOBSCOT; the largest river of Maine, 

 United States of America. The western and prin- 

 cipal branch rises in the western part of the state, 

 and unites with the eastern branch fifty-four miles 

 north-east of Bangor. After the junction, it runs 

 south by west, till it flows into the head of Penob- 

 scot bay, between the towns of Penobscot and 

 Prospect. It is navigable for ships to Bangor, 

 where the tide terminates, fifty- two miles north of 

 Owl's Head, at the entrance of the bay. Many 

 towns on the banks of the Penobscot are beautiful 

 and flourishing. 



PENSACOLA, the capital of West Florida, is 

 situated on a bay of the same name, in lat. 30* 28' 

 N., and Ion. 87 12' W. The shore is low and 

 sandy, but the town is built on a gentle ascent. It 

 is in the form of a parallelogram, and the length is 

 nearly a mile. Only small vessels can approach the 

 town, but the bay is one of the most safe and 

 capacious in the gulf of Mexico. It has been 

 selected as a naval station and depot. A stream of 

 fresh water runs through the town. It is regarded 

 as comparatively a healthy place. The present 

 population may be a little more than 2000. 



PENSIONER ; a person who receives a pension 

 from government. 



Grand Pensionary was the prime minister of the 

 states of the province of Holland, who \vas called by 

 them advocate- general of the province. He had no 

 deciding voice in the assembly of the states, but 

 only proposed the measures to be discussed. He 

 collected the votes, drew up the reports, opened all 

 memorials addressed to the states, transacted busi- 

 ness with the foreign ministers, superintended the 

 revenue and the maintenance of rights and privi- 

 leges, and took care, in general, of the welfare of 

 the province. He took part in the doings of the 

 college of the counsellors, who exercised the sove- 

 reign power in the absence of the states, and was 

 permanent deputy to the general estates of the 

 United Netherlands. The influence of this first 

 magistrate was very great in Holland, and, there- 

 fore, in all the Netherlands. His term of office was 

 five years, after the lapse of which he was generally 

 rechosen. The French revolution and its conse- 

 quences put an end to this office ; but Napoleon, in 

 1805, made a state-pensionary director of the 

 republic. See Schimmelpennink. 



PENTAGLOT. See Pentapla. 



PENTAMETER ; a verse consisting of five feet. 

 These feet are two spondees or dactyles, two dac- 

 tyles and one spondee, which latter is so severed, 

 that its first syllable follows the two first feet, and 

 its last syllable concludes the verse. The final 

 syllable may also be short. The scheme of the 

 pentameter is, therefore, as follows : 



i 



The ancient grammarians, who in this way make of 

 the pentameter a verse of five feet can give no 



other reason for so doing, than there does not exist, 

 as they say, any foot of one syllable. To the ear, 

 however, and in its essential character, the penta- 

 meter is, as well as the hexameter, a verse of six 

 parts, having in the third division a long syllable, 

 and in the last a long or a short syllable, on which 

 we dwell as long as on two long syllables, so that 

 the pentameter requires as much time in pronouncing 

 as the hexameter. The pentameter receives a gentle 

 and lovely character from this double pause, by 

 which it is distinguished essentially from the majestic 

 hexameter. Ovid therefore says, that Cupid created 

 it for his sport, by robbing the hexameter of two 

 syllables. If used alone, the pentameter would 

 become monotonous and tiresome ; it is, therefore, 

 never employed except alternately with the hexa- 

 meter, which always precedes it. The metre thus 

 composed of hexameters and pentameters was called 

 by the ancients the elegiac, and each two verses a 

 distich. (See Distich, and Elegy.) The character 

 of the pentameter, however, is not exclusively 

 gentle. It may be very poignant if used in an 

 epigram, the point of which is made to coincide 

 with the abrupt termination of the pentameter. A 

 distich of Schiller compares the hexameter to the 

 rising of the water of a fountain, and the penta 

 meter to the falling back of the same. 



PENTAPLA, PENTAGLOT; a Bible in five 

 languages. 



PENTATEUCH. See Hebrew Language, and 

 Moses. 



PENTECOST (from wmtotr*, the fiftieth); a 

 Jewish festival, celebrated fifty days after the pass- 

 over, in commemoration of the promulgation of the 

 law on mount Sinai. It was also called the Feast of 

 Weeks, because it occurred at the end of a week of 

 weeks, or seven weeks. It is also a festival of the 

 Christian church, occurring fifty days after Easter, 

 in commemoration of the descent of the Holy Ghost 

 on the disciples. It is called Whitsuntide by the 

 English, according to some, from tVhite Sunday 

 Tide (time), because those who were newly baptized 

 appeared at church in a white dress between Easter 

 and Pentecost. 



PENTELIC MARBLE. See Marble. 



PENTHESILEA. See Amazons. 



PENTHEUS; nephew of Cadmus, and his suc- 

 cessor as king of Thebes. He opposed the intro- 

 duction of the worship of Bacchus, and for this 

 offence was torn to pieces by the Bacchantes, among 

 whom were his own mother and sisters, acting, pro- 

 bably, under the direct influence of the god, like the 

 rioters in the late outrages at Bristol, after they 

 had broken open the wine-cellars of the town-house. 



PENUMBRA. See Eclipse. 



PEON, in the language of Hindoostan ; a foot- 

 soldier, armed with sword and target. In common 

 use, the word denotes a footman so armed, employed 

 to run before the palanquin. Piada is the original 

 word, of which peon is a corruption. 



PEONY. See Peeony. 



PEPE. See Naples and Sicily, Revolution of. 



PEPLUM. See Panathenaxim. 



PEPPER (piper); an extensive genus of plants, 

 constituting a distinct natural family the piperacece. 

 The species are mostly succulent, perennial, herba- 

 ceous, or shrubby, often climbing, dichotomous, and 

 jointed. The leaves are very simple, and sometimes 

 peltate, smooth, veined, pubescent, or rough. The 

 flowers are disposed in nearly filiform aments, are 

 destitute of either calyx or corolla, and are separated 

 by very small scales; these aments or spikes are 

 opposite to the leaves, or terminal. The fruit con- 

 sists of a berry containing a single seed. The species 

 of pepper are almost strictly confined within tlie 



