462 



PEPPERELL PERCUSSION LOCKS. 



limits of the tropics, and abound particularly in the 

 equatorial regions of America. A single species 

 hai l>ren ilisrovered in East Florida, inhabiting as 

 far north as lat. 39. They are inconspicuous, often 

 iticnnt plants, in their appearance, and present 

 little variety in the shape of their leaves. 



'J'lu- P. nigrum, which furnishes the black pepper 

 of commerce, is a native of the East Indies, and is 

 besides cultivated on an extensive scale in that part 

 ot the globe. It is a climbing plant, and is sup- 

 ported on a pole or small tree planted tor this pur- 

 pose, which gives to the pepper grounds an appear- 

 -Hinewhat similar tc iO hop fields in northern 

 climate*. The stems are smooth and spongy, pro- 

 viileil with broad, ovate, acuminate, seven-nerved 

 ami bearing little globular berries, which, 

 when ripe, are of a bright red colour. The pepper 

 of Malacca, Java, and especially of Sumatra, is the 

 most esteemed. Formerly, the export of this article 

 to Europe was exclusively in the hands of the Por- 

 tuguese, but it is now open to all nations. Its cul- 

 ture has been introduced into the Isle of France, and 

 thence into Cayenne and other parts of tropical 

 America, where it has succeeded perfectly. Black 

 pepper has always formed an extensive branch of 

 commerce ; the ancient Greeks and Romans were 

 acquainted with it, and, at the present day, no spice 

 is so generally used ; the consumption is prodigious 

 in all parts of the globe, but the southern Asiatics 

 seem to employ it the most frequently. 



White pepper is nothing more than the best and 

 soundest of the berries, gathered when fully ripe, 

 and deprived of their external skin, by steeping 

 them in salt water for about a week, at the end of 

 which time the skins burst ; they are then dried in 

 the sun, rubbed between the hands, and winnowed 

 to separate the hulls ; it is much less pungent than 

 the entire berries. 



The leaves of the P. betel, a native of the same 

 parts of the globe, serve to enclose a few slices of 

 the areca nut (thence commonly called betel nut), 

 and a little shell lime, which substances together 

 form a masticatory as much in use among these 

 nations as is tobacco in Europe and America. It 

 stains the saliva of a brick-red colour, and corrodes 

 by degrees the substance of the teeth, but the con- 

 sumption is, notwithstanding, prodigious, and it 

 forms a very extensive branch of commerce. 



The true cubebs is the berry of a third species of 

 pepper (P. cubeba), also from the same countries. 

 The berries are globular, and about as large as those 

 of the black pepper ; they are tonic, stimulant, and 

 carminative, and are frequently used medicinally by 

 the Asiatics. We must not confound this with the 

 tailed pepper, also called cutebs, which is the product 

 of the iivaria zey tunica, an entirely different plant, 

 although it is used for the same purposes. See 

 Cayenne Pepper. 



PEPPERELL, SIR WILLIAM, a lieutenant-general 

 in the service of the British king before the Ameri- 

 can revolution, was born in the district of Maine 

 (Massachusetts), and, about the year 1727, was 

 chosen one of his majesty's council, to which he was 

 annually re-elected until his death a period of 

 thirty-two years. He possessed a vigorous frame, 

 and much energy and firmness of character, which 

 rendered him of great utility to a country exposed to 

 a ferocious enemy. lie was bred a merchant, but 

 the principal portion of his time was spent in the 

 discharge of the duties of a soldier. He rose to the 

 highest military honours. When the expedition 

 against Louibburg was contemplated, he was com- 

 missioned by the governors of New England to com- 

 mand the troops, and, investing the city in the begin- 

 ning of May, 1745, soon forced it to capitulate. To 



reward his services, the king created him a baronet 

 of Great Britain. He died at his seat in Kitlery, 

 Maine, July 6, 1759, aged sixty-three. He was dis- 

 tinguished for his social qualities. 



PEPPERMINT. See Mint. 



1'1.1'YS, SAMUEL, secretary to the admiralty in the 

 reigns of Charles II. and James II., was born at 

 Brampton, in Huntingdonshire, and educated at 

 Cambridge. He early acquired the patronage of 

 Montaizu, afterwards earl of Sandwich, who employ- 

 ed him as secretary in the expedition for bringing 

 Charles II. from Holland. On his return, he \\a^ 

 appointed one of the principal officers of the navy. 

 In IG73, when the king took the admiralty into his 

 own hands, he appointed Mr Pepys secretary to that 

 office. He was employed under lord Dartmouth, in 

 the expedition against Tangier, and often accom- 

 panied the duke of York in his naval visits to Scot- 

 land, and coasting cruises. On the accession of 

 William and Mary, he published his Memoirs relat- 

 ing to the navy for ten years preceding, and led a 

 retired life from this time till his death, in 1703. He 

 was president of the royal society for ten years. He 

 left a large collection of manuscripts to Magdalen 

 college, Oxford, consisting of naval memoirs, prints, 

 and five large folio volumes of ancient English poe- 

 try, begun by Selden, and carried down to 1700, from 

 which the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, by 

 doctor Percy, are, for the most part, selected. His 

 Diary affords a curious picture of the dissolute court 

 of Charles II. 



PERA ; a suburb of Constantinople, connected 

 with the suburb of Galata, and formerly the quarter 

 of the principal Greeks, Armenians, Jews, am 

 Franks, except the French who resided in Galata. 

 There were here four Greek churches, and one 

 Roman Catholic, and some monasteries. The 

 Christian ambassadors also resided here, and the 

 European style of dress and living prevailed here ; 

 it was therefore called by the Turks Swine's Quar- 

 ter. It was almost entirely destroyed by fire in 

 August, 1831. The palaces of the Austrian and 

 Swedish missions escaped. 



PERCEVAL, SPENCER, second son of John Per- 

 ceval, earl of Egmont, born 1762, received his educa- 

 tion at Harrow, and Trinity college, Cambridge, of 

 which he became a member about the year 1775. 

 On quitting the university, he studied law. He soon 

 distinguished himself as a sound constitutional lawyer, 

 and obtained a silk gown. In 1801, he became 

 solicitor-general, and, in 1802, attorney-general. 

 On the formation of the new ministry, in 1807, afier 

 the death of Mr Fox, he was appointed chancellor of 

 the exchequer. In this post he continued till May 

 11, 1812, when, while in the act of approaching the 

 door of the house of commons, a person named Bell- 

 ingham, who had for some time previously presented 

 a variety of memorials respecting some alleged ill 

 treatment received in Russia, shot him dead, with a 

 pistol, in the lobby. The assassin, who avowed that 

 he had been waiting with the view of destroying 

 lord Leveson Gower, the ambassador to the court of 

 St Petersburg, made no attempt to escape, and was 

 instantly arrested. Although a plea of insanity was 

 set up by his counsel, he was found guilty, and exe- 

 cuted on the 18th of the same month. 



PERCUSSION LOCKS ; a late and very useful 

 invention. The percussion lock has no pan. In 

 the place of the pan, a small tube projects horizon- 

 tally from the side of the gun. In this tube another 

 small tube stands perpendicularly. The cock, in- 

 stead of being formed to hold a flint, is shaped some- 

 what like a hammer, with a hollow to fit upon the 

 tube last mentioned. On this tube i: little cap of 

 copper is placed, in the bottom of which is a chem- 



