608 PAR 
green and Aiming, but, when the tree grows old, becom¬ 
ing brownifh and ftreaked. The wood is white. The 
prickles are folitary, awl-fhaped, fubaxillary, acuminate, 
(lightly recurved, four lines in length; on the older 
branches frequently by threes, the middle one very 
ftrong, and nine lines in length. Leaves fliining, three, 
four, or five, from the fame axil, on a mid-rib a foot 
long, broad and flatted. Leaflets oblong, numerous. 
Racemes loofe, Ample, fmooth, containing about ten 
flowers; which fmell very fweet, and are yellow with the 
uppermoft petal variegated at the bafe with fcarlet fpots. 
Legumes yellowifh brown, containing from one to fix 
fliining feeds. Parkinfonia feems to be diftinguifhed from 
Poinciana, Barbadoes flower-fence, merely by the equal¬ 
ity of the calycine fegments. Thefe two trees fown very 
thick make moll beautiful hedges. Parkinfonia flowers 
the firft year from feed, and grows very faff. In Jamaica, 
it is called Jerufalem thorn. It was firft introduced there 
from the main, but now grows wild in many parts and 
in the other iflands of the Weft Indies, where it was ori¬ 
ginally cultivated for inciofures. It feldom rifes above 
eight feet in height, and is well fupplied with ftrong 
thorns on every part. The branches are flexile and 
fmall, and the trunk feldom grows to any confiderable 
thicknefs. The French, in the Weft Indies, call it 
genet epineux, way-thorn, or furze. It flowers feveral 
times in the year, and at the fame time bears ripe fruit. 
Mr. Miller cultivated it here in 1739. He gives it the 
height of twenty feet, which is nearly twice as much as 
authors of the bell credit attribute to it. It bears, fays 
he, long (lender bunches of yellow flowers, hanging 
down like thofe of Laburnum : they perfume the air to a 
confiderable diftance, for which reafon the inhabitants 
of the Weft Indies plant them about their houfes. 
It is propagated by feeds, which fliould be fown in 
fmall pots filled with light frefh earth early in the fpring, 
and the pots muft be plunged into a hot-bed of tanner’s 
bark, where, in three weeks or a month’s time, the 
plants will come up, when they fliould be kept clear 
from weeds, and frequently refreftied with a little water. 
In a little time thefe plants will be fit to tranfplant, which 
fliould be done very carefully, fo as not to injure their 
roots. They muft be each planted into a feparate half¬ 
penny-pot filled with light frefh earth, and then plunged 
into the hot-bed again, obferving to ftir up the tan ; and, 
if it has loft its heat, there fliould be fome frefh tan added 
to renew it. Then (hade the plants from the heat of the 
fun, until they have taken new root ; after which time 
they fliould have frefh air admitted to them every day, 
in proportion to the warmth of the feafon. With this 
management they will grow fo fall, as to fill the pots 
with their roots by the beginning of July, at which time 
they fliould be drifted into pots a little larger than the 
former, and plunged again into the bark-bed to forward 
their taking new root; after which it will be the bell way 
to inure them by degrees to bear the open air, that they 
may be hardened before winter; for, if they are kept too 
warm in winter, the plants will decay before the next 
fpring. “ The only method (fays Miller) by which I 
have fucceeded in keeping thefe plants through the win¬ 
ter, was by hardening them in July and Auguft to bear 
the open air; and in September I placed them on (helves 
in the dry ftove, at the greateft diftance from the fire, fo 
that they were in a very temperate warmth ; and there 
they retained their leaves all the winter, and continued 
in health, when thofe which were placed in a warmer 
fituation, as alfo thofe in the green-lioufe, were entirely 
deftroyed ; but even thefe feldom furvived the fecond 
winter. Jacquin obferves, that the feeds continue fer¬ 
tile feveral years, and germinate readily in the European 
ftoves; that the plants grow luxuriantly to three feet in 
height the firft year, but feldom live through the winter, 
or, if they do, they die without flowering the fecond 
fummer. I have not heard that Parkinfonia has ever 
flowered in Europe.” 
PAR 
PAR'KOW, a town of Auftrian Poland, in Galicia: 
thirty miles north-north-weft of Chelm. 
PAR'KSTEIN, a town of Bavaria, in the principality 
of Sulzbach : feventeen miles north-eaft of Sulzbach, 
and fixteen north of Nabburg. 
PAR'LAGOW, a town of Hindooftan, in Candeifh : 
five miles eaft of Barawnay. 
PAR'LANCE, f. [from parle.~] Converfation ; talk. 
A modern word. —In common parlance, when you fpeak 
of criminal actions, no man was ever underftood to mean 
the profecution of a crime, but the crime itfelf. Britijh 
Critic, 1793. 
PAR'LASCA, a town of Italy: five miles north of 
Como. 
To PAR'LE, v. n. [purler , Fr.] To talk ; to converfe; 
to difcufs any thing orally.—Their purpofe is to parle, 
to court, and dance. Shakejpeare. —Knute, finding hitn- 
felf too weak, began to parle. Milton's Hifl. of Eng. 
We came to parle of the publique weale. 
Confirming our quarell with maine and might, 
With fwords and no words we tried our appeale, 
Inftead of reafon declaring our zeale. Mir.for Mag. 
PAR'LE,/. Converfation; talk; oral treaty; oral dif- 
cuftion of any thing.—Our trumpet call’d you to this ge¬ 
neral parle. Shakefpearc. 
Why meet we thus, like wrangling advocates, 
To urge the juftice of our caufe with words ? 
I hate this parle; ’tis tame: if we muft meet, 
Give me my arms. Rowe's Amb. Step-mother. 
To PAR'LEY, v. n. [parler , Fr.] To treat by word of 
mouth; to talk; to difcufs any thing orally. It is much 
ufed in war for a meeting of enemies to talk.—A Turk 
defired the captain to fend fome with whom they might 
more conveniently parley. Knolles. —He parleys with her 
a while, as imagining (he would advife him to proceed. 
Broome. 
PAR'LEY, f. Oral treaty; talk ; conference; difcuf- 
fion by word of mouth.—Let us refolve never to have any 
parley with our lufts. Calamy. 
Force never yet a generous heart did gain; 
We yield on parley, but are ftorm’d in vain. Dryden. 
Yet, when fome better-fated youth 
Shall with his amorous parley move thee, 
Refleft one moment on his truth, 
Who, dying thus, perfifts to love thee. Prior. 
PAR'LIAMEbJT, f. [ parliamentum , low Latin ; par- 
lement, Fr. from parler, to difcourfe.] In England, is 
the affembly of the king and three eftates of the realm ; 
namely, the lords fpiritual, the lords temporal, and 
commons, for the debating of matters touching the com¬ 
mon-wealth, efpecially the making and correcting of 
laws ; which affembly or court is, of -all others, the 
higheft, and of greateft authority. Cowel. —The true ufe 
of parliaments is very excellent; to be often called, and 
continued as long as is neceffary. Bacon. 
The king is fled to London, 
To call a prefent court of parliament. Shakefpeare. 
The origin or firft inftitution of parliaments is one of 
thofe matters which lie fo far hidden in the dark ages of 
'antiquity, that the tracing of it out is a thing equally 
difficult and uncertain. The word parliament itfelf (or 
colloquium, as fome of our hiltorians tranflateit) is, com¬ 
paratively, of modern date; derived from the French, 
and fignifying “ the place where they met and conferred 
together.” It was firft applied to general affemblies of 
the dates under Louis VII. in France, about the middle 
of the 12th century. But it is certain, that long before 
the introduction of the Norman language into England, 
all matters of importance were debated and fettled in the 
great councils of the realm. A practice which feems to 
have been univerfal among the northern nations, parti¬ 
cularly the Germans; and carried by them into all the 
countries 
