P U Y 



fincerity, and an obliging difpofition, which difplayed itfelf 

 in ufeful advice and information to tliofe who confulted him 

 on literary topics. 



Puv, Mademo'ifdle du, a celebrated performer on the 

 harp, who had acquired a coulidcrable fortune by the 

 exercife of Iier talents in different parts of Europe. 

 She died at Paris in 1777, and made a will that feemed 

 diftatcd by infanity. Among other articles, fhe ordered 

 that no blind, lame, or deformed perfon (hould attend 

 lier funeral. She ordered that her honfe (hould be let 

 to none but nobility. She left a large piece of ground to 

 be formed into a public garden, upon condition that no 

 ftunted trees (hould be allowed a pkice in it. And lailly, 

 die bequeathed an annuity for the maintenance of cats, of 

 which (he was fond, and for a perfon to take care of them. 

 But the annuity depended wholly on the hfe of the cats. 

 The harp upon which (he had acquired her pofFefTions, was 

 left to a blind harper in the Hofpital des Ouinze Vingts, 

 who played tolerably well on many different inftruments. 

 Great pains were taken to fet this will alide, but without 

 effeft. It was declared valid by law, and obliged to be 

 executed. Laborde. 



PuY, Le, in Geography, a town of France, and principal 

 place of a diftrici, in the department of the Upper Loire, 

 and capital of the department, fituated on a fmall river 

 near the Loire ; before the revolution, the fee of a bi(hop ; 

 a place of eonfiderable trade, efpecially in lace ; 38 miles 

 S.W. of Lyons. The place contains 15,915 inliabitants, in 

 two cantons, the one containing 13,396, and the other 

 14,100, on an extent of 185 kihometres, in 16 communes. 

 N. lat. 45° 2'. E. long. 3° 57'. 



PuY-Laurens, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Tarn, and chief place of a canton, in the diftridt of 

 Lavaur ; 12 miles S.E. of Lavaur. This place contains 

 5648, and the canton 9817 inhabitants, on a territory of 

 1 25 kiliometres, in 9 communes. 



FvY-l'Eveque, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Lot, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrift of 

 Cahors ; 14 miles W. of Cahors. The place contains 2082, 

 and the canton 12,127 inhabitants, on a territory of 285 

 kiliometres, in 1 1 communes. 



¥uY-Mirol, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Lot and Garonne, and chief place of a canton, in the dif- 

 trift of Agen. The place contains 1263, and the canton 

 8072 inhabitants, on a territory of 125 kiliometres, in 

 1 1 communes. 



PuY lie Belliard, a town of France, in the department of 

 La Vendee ; 1 8 miles N.W. of Fontenay le Comte. 



PuY Cafquier, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Gers ; nine miles N.E. of Aucii. 



PuY de Dome, a mountain of France, near Clermont en 

 Ferrand, 810 toifes in height. 



PuY de Dome is alfo the name of one of the nine de- 

 partments of the central region of France, fo called from 

 the mountain that is fituated in it ; it is bounded on the 

 N. by the department of the AUier, on the E. by that 

 of the Rhone and Loire, on the S. by the departments 

 of the Cantal and Upper Loire, and on the W. by thofe 

 of the Correze and Creufe ; formerly Lower Auvergne, 

 in N. lat. 45° 40', containing 8450 kiliometres, or 

 abou' 35 French leagues in length, and 22 in breadth, or 

 447 fquare leagues, and 508,444 inhabitants ; divided into 

 fivedittriAs, I):;!;. Riom, including 126,640; Thiers, 61,530; 

 Ambert, 73,535; Clermont, 158,449; and Iffoire, 88,290 

 inhabitants ; 50 cantons, and 438 communes. The circles, 

 ace rding to Haffenfratz, are 8, the cantons 71, and the 

 population 516,593. Its capital is Clermont. The ge- 



PUY 



i.eral total of its contributions in the nth year of the new 

 French era, wa.s edimated at 3,656,547 francs; and its cx- 

 pences for adminiftration, judiciary, and tor public inilruc- 

 tion, at 374,681 francs, 37 cents. The foil of this depart- 

 ment, diverfitied with hills and plain*, is remarkably fertile, 

 producing abundantly grain, wine, fruits, hemp, and pallures. 

 It has mines of filver and lead, mineral fprings, &c. 



PuY le Garde, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Lot ; 15 miles N.E. of Montauban. 



PuY Guillaume, a town of France, in the department oi 

 the Puy de Dome ; eight miles N.E. of Lezoux. 



PuY Laurens, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Aude ; feven miles S.E. of Quillan. 



PuY Marin, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Upper Garonne ; 17 miles N. of St. Gaudens. 



Puy Mir/an, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Lot and Garonne; lix miles E. ofMarmande. 



PuY Moijfon, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Lower Alps ; 15 miles S. of Digne. 



PuY Noire Dame, or Puy en Anjou, a town of France, 

 in the department of the Mayne and Loire ; lO miles S.W. 

 of Saumur. 



Puy de la Po'tx, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Puy de Dome ; 1 8 miles E. of Clermont. 



Puy la Roque, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Lot ; 17 miles N.E. of Montauban. 



Puy St. Martin, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Drome ; 1 1 miles N.E. of Montclimart. 



Puy Val d'Or, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Eaftern Pyrenees; 10 miles N.W. of Montlouis. 



PUYA, in Botany, the vulgar name, in Ch:h, of a plant, 

 which is figured in Feuillee, v. 3. 59. t. 39, and adopted as 

 a genus, after Molina, in Juffieu's Genera 447, under the 

 above barbarous appellation, with the following character. 



" Calyx in fix deep fegments; the three innermolt largeft, 

 and vaulted. Stamens fix, inferted into the lower part of 

 the calyx ; their iilaments formed like a fcale at the bafe, 

 and bearing honey. Germen fuperior, triangular ; (ftyle 

 and ftigma unknown >. Capfule of tliree cells, with nume- 

 rous minute feeds, (doubtful whether furnifhed with down." ) 



Feuillee's defcription is to the following effeft. The 

 roots are fibrous, throwing up feveral ftems, about nine feet 

 high, as thick as a man's body at the bottom, where they 

 are clothed with the fcaly imbricated velliges of old leaves, 

 above which ftand the numerous leaves of the prefent year. 

 Thefe are three or four feet long, and about two inches 

 wide, refembling the foliage of the Pine-apple, their mar- 

 gins being fringed with very (harp hooked prickles, five lines 

 long, and about an inch and a half afunder ; the furface of 

 the leaves is fmooth, fliining, of a. fine bright green. The 

 Indians make ufe of thefe prickles as fi(h-hooks. The part 

 of the ftem above the leaves is round, two inches or more in 

 thicknefs ; of a blueifh-green externally ; white and watery 

 within, clothed with very (hort, alteraate, clafping leaves, 

 or fcales. The fummit confifts of a large pyramid of flower- 

 ing branches, or fpikes, the lowermoft a foot long ; all 

 clothed with fimilar fcales, or bracteas, each of which is ac- 

 companied by a feflile axillary flower. Each flower is com- 

 pofed of fix leaves, three large and throe fmall, in a double 

 row. The latter are three quarters of an inch long, (Feu- 

 illee fays, apparently by miilake, three inches,) and three 

 lines and a half broad, covered with minute white down : 

 the three larger are of a greenifh-yellow, two inches and a 

 half long, and nine lines broad, terminating like a Gothic 

 arcade. The flowers roll up fpirally as they fade. Six 

 ftamens fpnng from the bottom of each flower, furrounding 

 a triangular piftil, which extends beyond them, and becomes 



I a fruit 



