374 



THE STANDARD DICTIONARY OF FACTS 



Page. William. Anne's brother, a srhoi.ll 



Pair num. The >eas ( ms. Thomson. 1 tie hero 

 of an episode in Thomson's "Season.-." represented a> 

 the owner of harvest fields in which the lovely younn 

 I.avinia coming to glean, Paleinon falls in love with her. 

 and wooes and wins her. (2) A character in Falconer '.- 

 "Shipwreck," in love with the daughter of Albert, the 

 commander. 



Pa'lim psest. A parchment on which the original 

 writing has been effaced, and something else has been 

 written. The monks and others used to wash or rub 

 out the writing in a parchment and use it again. A- 

 they did not efface it entirely, many works have been 

 recovered by modern ingenuity, thus Cicero's "De 

 Republica" has been restored from an ancient manu- 

 script which had been partly erased. There are relics 

 of ancient learning of which even the mutilated mem- 

 bers have an independent value, and this is especially 

 true of Biblical manuscripts for criticism, and in a still 

 broader sense, of all the remains of the ancient his- 

 torians. 



Palinu'rus. The pilot of ^Eneas, in Virgil's " JEneid " 

 who fell asleep at the helm, and tumbled into the sea. 

 The name is employed as a generic word for a steersman 

 or pilot, and sometimes for a chief minister. Thus, 

 Prince Bismarck was called the palinurus of William, 

 Emperor of Germany. 



Palla'dium. Something that affords effectual pro- 

 tection and safety. The Palla'dium was a colossal 

 wooden statue of Pallas in the city of Troy, said to 

 have fallen from heaven. The statue was carried away 

 by the Greeks, and the city burned. The Scotch had a 

 similar tradition attached to the great stone of Scone, 

 near Perth. Edward I. removed it to Westminster, 

 and it is still framed in the Coronation Chair of England. 

 Stories connected with the palladium of a nation or a 

 family are common in literature, as "Luck of Eden- 

 hall," a poem by Longfellow. 



Pallet. A painter in Smollett's novel of "Peregrine 

 Pickle." The absurdities of Pallet are painted an inch 

 thick. 



Pame'la. Name of heroine and title of novel by 

 Richardson. She is a simple country girl, and maid- 

 servant of a rich young squire. She resists every temp- 

 tation, and at length marries the young squire and 

 reforms him. Pamela is very modest, bears her afflic- 

 tions with much meekness, and is a model of maiden-i 

 hood. The story is told in a series of letters which 

 Pamela sends to her parents. 



Pan'darus. A son of Lycaon, and leader of the 

 Lycians in the Trojan War, celebrated by Homer in 

 the "Iliad." In mediaeval romances, and by Shakes- 

 pere in "Troilus and Cressida," he is represented as 

 procuring for Troilus the love and good graces of Chry- 

 seis hence the word " pander." 



Panegyric. An eulogistic harangue or oration, 

 written or uttered in praise of a person or body of 

 persons. 



Pan-jan'drum, The Grand. A sort of mythical 

 nonentity invented by Foote, the comic dramatist . 

 'The word occurs in Foote's farrago of nonsense, which 

 he composed to test the memory of a person who said 

 he had brought his memory to such perfection that he 

 could remember anything by reading it over once. 



Pantag'ruel. A character in a famous romance by 

 Rabelais. The name is said to have been given him 

 because he was born during the drought which lasted 

 thirty and six months, three weeks, four days, thirteen 

 hours, and a little more, in that year of grace noted for 

 having "three Thursdays in one week." His father 

 was Gargantua, the giant, who was four hundred four- 

 score and forty-four years old at the time. He was 

 chained in his cradle with four great iron chains, like 

 those used in ships of the largest size. Being angry at 

 this, he stamped out the bottom of his bassanet, which 

 was made of weavers' beams. When he grew to man- 

 hood he knew all languages, all sciences, and all knowl- 

 edge of every sort. 



Pantag'rulepn Law Case. Pantagruel, Rabelais. 

 This case, having nonplussed all the judges in Paris, 

 was referred to Lord Pantagruel for decision. After 

 much "statement" the bench declared, "We have not 

 understood one single circumstance of the defense." 

 Then Pantagruel gave sentence, but his judgment was 

 as unintelligible as the case itself. So, as no one under- 

 stood a single sentence of the whole affair, all were per- 

 pectly satisfied. 



Pan-urge'. A celebrated character in Rabelais' 

 "Pantagruel," and the real hero of the story; repre- 

 sented as an arrant rogue, a drunkard, a coward, and a 

 libertine, but learned in the tongues, an ingenious prac- 

 tical joker, and a boon companion. He was the favorite 

 of Pantagruel, who made him governor of Salmygondin, 



! and finally set out with him in quest of the oracle of the 

 Holy Bottle. 



Paradise and the Pe'ri. The second tale in Moore's 

 poetical loinance of "l.alla Kookh." 'I he Peri laments 

 her expulsion from heaven, and is told she will be re- 

 admitted if she will briny to the gate of heaven the 

 "gift most dear to the Almighty." After several fail- 

 ure- the Peri offered the " Repentant Tear," and the 

 gates flew open to receive the yift. 



Paradise Lost. The poem by Milton under this 

 name opens with the awaking of the rebel angels in 

 hell after their fall from heaven, the consultation of their 

 chiefs how best to carry on the war with (iod, and the 

 resolve of Satan to go forth and tempt newly created 

 man to fall. Satan reaches Eden, and finds Adam and 

 Eve in their innocence. This is told in the first four 

 books. The next four books contain the Archangel 

 Raphael's story of the war in heaven, the fall of Satan, 

 and the creation of the world. The last four books 

 describe the temptation and the fall of man, and tell 

 of the redemption of man by Christ, and the expulsion 

 from paradise. 



Paradise Regained. In this poem Milton tolls of 

 the journey of Christ into the wilderness after his bap- 

 tism, and its four books describe the temptation of 

 Christ by Satan. 



Pardoner's Tale. Canterbury Tales, Chaucer. 

 Three rioters agreed to kill Death, and were directed 

 to a tree under which he was to be found. At the foot 

 of the tree they came upon a treasure, which all coveted. 

 The younger of the three went to buy wine and the 

 other two conspired to kill him on his return. He 

 poisoned the wine and was slain by his brothers, who 

 soon died from effect of the poison. Thus all found 

 Death under the tree. 



Pa'rian Chronicle. A chronological register of the 

 chief events in the mythology and history of ancient 

 Greece, found engraved on Parian marble. 



Pa/rian Verse. Ill-natured satire; so called from 

 Archil'ochos, a native of Paros. 



Par'i-zade. A princess whose adventures in search 

 of the Talking Bird, the Singing Tree, and the Yellow 

 Water, are related in the " Story of the Sisters " in the 

 "Arabian Nights' Entertainments." 



Parley, Peter. Name assumed by Samuel Griswold 

 Goodrich, an American. Above seven millions of his 

 books were in circulation in 1859. Several piracies of 

 this popular name have appeared. 



Parody. A kind of writing in which the words of 

 an author or his thoughts are, by some slight alterations, 

 adapted to a different purpose. 



Parthen'ope. One of the three syrens. She was 

 buried at Naples. Naples itself was anciently called 

 Parthenope, which name was changed to "Neap'olis" 

 ("the new city") by a colony of Cumaeans. 



Par'ting-ton, Mrs. An imaginary old lady whose 

 laughable sayings have been recorded by an American 

 humorist, B. P. Shillaber. 



Partlet. The hen in "The Nun's Priest's Tale," and 

 in the famous beast-epic of "Reynard the Fox." 



Par'zi-val or Par'si-fal. The German name of 

 Perceval, the hero and title of a metrical romance of 

 the Twelfth Century, by Wolfram Von Eschenbach, 

 and of a modern music drama by Richard Wanner. 

 Parzival was brought up by a widowed mother in soli- 

 tude, but when grown to manhood, two wandering 

 knights persuaded him to go to the court of King Arthur. 

 His mother consented to his going if he would wear the 

 dress of a common jester. This he did, but soon achieved 

 such noble deeds that Arthur made him a knight of the 

 Round Table. Sir Parzival went in quest of the Holy 

 Graal, which was kept in a castle called Graalburg, in 

 Spain. He reached the castle, but having neglected 

 certain conditions, was shut out, and, on his return to 

 court, the priestess of Graalburg insisted on his being 

 degraded from knighthood. Parzival then led a new 

 life, and a wise hermit became his instructor. At length 

 he reached such a state of purity and sanctity that the 

 priestess of Graalburg declared him worthy to become 

 lord of the castle. Lohengrin, "Knight of the Swan.y 

 was the son of Parzival. 



Pastoral. Something descriptive of a shepherd's 

 life; or a poem in which any action or passion is repre- 

 sented by its effects on a country life The character- 

 istics of this poem are simplicity, brevity, and delicacy. 



Patient Griselda. A character in "Canterbury 

 Tales," by Chaucer. She was robbed of children, re- 

 I duced to poverty, and made to serve a rival, but bore 

 all without complaint. 



Pat'tieson, Peter. An imaginary assistant teacher 

 at (Jandercleuch, and the feigned author of Scott's 

 "Tales of My Landlord," which were represented as 



