PAG 
and it is fald, that whatever improvements have been marie 
( 5 nce, have been derived chiefly from this treatife, as con- 
clufions from its principles. In 1651 he publifhed his 
“ Theoremes Geometriques,” which (how an extenfive 
and deep knowledge of all the parts of the mathematics. 
In 1655 he publilhed an “ Hiftorical and Geographical 
Account of the River Amazons, extra&ed from different 
Writers;” and we are affured, that, though blind, he 
drew the chart of that river and the parts adjacent. His 
other works, publifhed in 1657 and 1658, were “ Theorie 
des Planefes and “Tables AAronomiques.” By the 
former he cleared the fyftem from that multiplicity of ec¬ 
centric circles and epicycles, which aftrotiomers had in¬ 
vented to explain their motions. His agronomical tables 
are reckoned fuccindt, and very plain. Pagan died at 
Paris, November 18, 1685. He was devoted to judicial 
aftrology; but what he wrote on this fubjedt is the only 
thing which detradfs from his high charadter. He had an 
univerfal genius; and, having applied himfelf entirely to 
the art of war, and particularly to the branch of fortifica¬ 
tion, he made much progrefs in it. He underflood the 
deeper branches of the mathematics; and hadTo fine a 
genius for thefe abflrufe fpeculations, that he .read but 
little on the fubjedt, his own fertile mind fupplying him 
with almoft every thing that he wanted. All his works 
were colledled and printed in iimo, in the year 1669. 
Morcri. 
PAGAN CREE'K, a river of Virginia, which runs 
into James River in lat. 37. 5. N. Ion. 76. 37. W. 
PAG'ANAL,/*. A country wake. Cole. 
PAGANA'flA,/ [from pagus, Lat. a village.] Cer¬ 
tain rural- feafls among the ancient Romans; and thus 
called, becaufe celebrated in villages. In the paganalia, 
the peafants went in folemn proceflion all round the vil¬ 
lage, making luftrations to purify it. They had alfo their 
facrifices, wherein they offered cakes on the altars of the 
gods.—Halicarnaffus and St. Jerome refer the inflitution 
of the paganalia to Servius Tullius. They were held in 
the month of February. Chambers. 
PAGANA'LIAN, adj. Belonging to country wakes. 
Cole, 
PAGAN'ICA, a town of Naples, in Abruzzo Ultra : 
eight miles north-north-weft of Aquila. 
PA'GANISH, adj. Heathenifli.—The peremptory knife 
of popifli, worfe than paganijh, primers. Bp. King's Vitis 
Palat. 1614.—Theyobferved and lolenmized their pagan¬ 
ijh paftime and worfhip. Bourne's Antiq. Comm. People. — 
Pie [Pope Gregory] would not fuffer verfe to be fung, or 
rather, perhaps, would not let it be fung as verfe, (which 
his canto firrao, or notes of equal length, would moil ef- 
fedlually prevent,) becaufe it was gay and paganijh. Mafon 
on Church Mujic. 
PA'GANISM, f. The worfhip and difcipline of pagans; 
the adoration of idols and falfe gods.-—The gods of pa.- 
ganifm were either men, as Jupiter, Hercules, Bacchus, 
Sic. or fidlitious perfons, as Vidlory, Fame, Fever, See. or 
beafts, as in Egypt, crocodiles, cats, &c. or, finally, inani¬ 
mate things, as onions, fire, and water, &c. Chambers. 
To PA'GANIZE, v. a. To render heathenifli.—God’s 
own people were fometimes fo miferably depraved and pa¬ 
ganized, as to facrifice their fons and daughters unto 
devils, Hally well' s Melampr. 1681.—This way of pagan¬ 
izing a future ftate was unavoidable in the plan of Tele- 
machus, as it Was alfo in that of Fontenelle’s Dialogues. 
But it was fomething to be fe'i’ious in his paganifm. Thus 
much rnay he faid for the French Homer. Hurd on Addi - 
Jon's Tatler, N° 156. 
To PA'GANIZE, v. n. To behave like a pagan.—This 
was that which made the old Chriftians paganize. Milton s 
Atiimad. Beni, thfence. 
PAGAPA'TE, /. in botany. Sec Sonneratja. 
PAGAR'CHUS, f. [Gn. formed of pagus, village, and 
peyp, command.] Among the ancients, a petty magiftrate 
Ot a pagus, or little diftrict, in the country. 
PA>G'ASA, a town of Magnefia, in Macedonia, with 
Vol. XVIII. No. 1235. 
PAG 197 
an harbour and a promontory of the fame name. The 
fliip Argo was built there, as fome fuppofe; and, accord¬ 
ing to Propertius, the Argonauts fet fail from tiiat har¬ 
bour. From that circumftance, not only the fliip Arg0 7 
but alfo the Argonauts themfelves, were ever after diftin- 
guifhed by the epithet of Pagujieus. 
PAGE,[Er. from pagiua, Lat.] One fide of the leaf cf 
a book.—If a man could have opened one of the pages of 
the divine counfel, and feen the event of Jofepli’s being- 
fold, he might have dried up the young man’s tears. Bp. 
Taylor. —A printer divides a book into flieets, the (beets 
info pages, th e pages into lines, and the lines into letters, 
Watts. 
Thy name to Phcebus and the mufes known, 
Shall in the front of every page be (hown. Dryden. 
PAGE, /I [Mr. Horne Tooke contends, that “pack, 
patch, and page, are the paft participle pack, (differently 
pronounced, and therefore differently written with k, ch, 
or ge,) of the Saxon verb pascan, to deceive by falfe ap¬ 
pearances; and, as fervants were contemptuoufly called 
harlot, varlet, valet, and knave; fo were they conremp- 
tuoufly called pack, patch, and page.” Diverf. of Purley, 
ii. 369.—This etymon, ingenious as it may feetn, is hardly 
the true one of page. Henry Stephens, and others, have 
derived it from the Greek waff?, as firft fignifying a boy, 
afterwards, a fervant. Hence perhaps the derivation cf 
it by others, from the Lat. pagus, a village ; with the re¬ 
mark thas? in Languedoc.and Gafcony, a countryman is 
called page. See this appellation confirmed in Dift. de la 
Langue Touloufaine,. 1638. Todd.' ] A boy-child : 
A dougbter hadden they betwixthem two, 
Of twenty yere, without any mo, 
Saving a child that was of half-yere age, 
In cradle it lay, and was a propre page. Chaucer. 
A boy-fervant; a young boy attending, rather in for¬ 
mality than fervitude,on a great perfon.— He had two pages 
of honour, on either hand cue. Bacon. —Philip of Mace- 
don had a page attending in his chamber, to tell him 
every morning, Remember, O king, that thou art mortal. 
Wake's Prep.for Death. 
Pages following him, 
Even at the heels, in golden multitudes. Shakej'peare. 
Where is this mankind now? who lives to age 
Fit to be made Methufalem his page? Donne. 
To PAGE, v. a. To mark the pages of a book.—To 
attend as a page : 
Will thefe mofs’d trees, 
That have outliv’d the eagle, page thy heels. 
And fkip when thou point’d out? Shahefpeare. 
PA'GEANT, J'. [Of this word the etymologifts give 
no fatisfadtory account. It may perhaps be payen geant, 
a pagan giant, a reprefentation of triumph ufed at return 
from holy wars; as we have yet the Saracen’s head. Dr. 
Johvjbu. — Mr. II. Tooke conflders pageant as merely the 
prefent participle paecceand, of the Sax. precan, to de¬ 
ceive; pachemd, pacheant, pageant. Div.ofPurl. 370. Todd:\ 
A ftatue in a fliow.—Any (how; a fpedlacle of entertain¬ 
ment.—The poets contrived the following pageant or ma¬ 
chine for the pope’s entertainment; a huge-floating 
mountain that was fplit at the top in imitation of Par- 
nafl’us. Addifon. 
This wide and univerfal theatre 
Prefents more woeful pageants than the feene 
Wherein we play. Shahefpeare's As you Like it. 
It is ufed in a proverbial and general fenfe for any thing 
fliowy without (lability or duration . 
Thus unlamented pafs the proud away, 
The gaze of fools, and pageant of a day. Pope. 
The breath of others raifes our renown. 
Our own as foon blows the pageant down. Young. 
3 E ‘ PA'GEANT, 
