744 
PAS 
PASSEMAN'T (Claude Simeon), an able French op¬ 
tician and mathematical inftrument-maker, was born at 
Paris in the year 1702. As his parents were not en¬ 
dowed with the gifts of fortune, he found it neceffary to 
fupport himfelf by his own induftry, and wrote for fome 
time in an attorney’s office. Afterwards he ferved as 
clerk to a woollen-draper; and then carried on the bu- 
finefs of a haberdaffier on his own account. Having mar¬ 
ried, he committed the care of his (hop to his wife, and 
directed his attention to the ftudy of natural philofophy, 
optics, and.aftronomy, which he had cultivated from his 
youth at his leifure hours j and he alfo devoted much of 
liis time to the conltru&ion and improvement of mathe¬ 
matical inftruments, for which a ftrong mechanical turn 
.well qualified him. In 1738, he publiffied “ A Treatile 
on the ConftruCtion of reflecting Telefcopes, from fixteen 
Inches to fix Feet and a Half in Length,” the largeft of 
which were equal in power to fuch refrading inftruments 
as were then known, fuppofing them to be carried to the 
length of an hundred and fifty feet. Some time after¬ 
wards he publiffied, “The Defcription and Ufe of Tele¬ 
fcopes, Microfcopes, &c.” of his own invention. He con- 
ftru&ed an aftronotnical pendulum, crowned with a 
moving fphere, which reprefented the revolutions of the 
planets in a manner that exactly correfponded with the 
aftronotnical tables. This machine was prefented to 
Louis XV. and was formerly to be feen in the royal 
apartments at Verfailles. He made a fimilar inftrument 
for the Turkifti emperor, which fltowed the rifing and 
fettingof the fun and moon. He alfo furniffied the king 
of France with fets of inftruments for making experi¬ 
ments in optics, and other branches of fcience; a burn¬ 
ing mirror of 45 inches diameter, which melted filver in 
three feconds; time-pieces, &c. This able artift died 
fuddenly in 1769, about the age of fixty-two, equally 
refpeCted for his integrity and amiable character as for 
his talents. Gen. Biog. 
PASS'ENBERG. See Paszbf.rg. 
PASS'ENGER, f. [paffager, Fr.] A traveller ; one who 
is upon the road; a wayfarer.—Apelles, when he had 
finiftied any work, expofed it to the fight of all pajjengers, 
and concealed- himfelf to hear the cenfure of his faults. 
Bryden's Dufrejhoy. 
The nodding horrour of whofe ffiady brows 
Threats the forlorn and wandering pajjenger. Milton. 
One who hires in any vehicle the liberty of travelling. 
—The diligent pilot in a dangerous tempeft doth attend 
the unlkilful words of a pajjenger. Sidney. 
PASS'ENHAM, a village in Northamptonffiire, one 
mile fouth-weft of Stoney Stratford in Buckinghamffiire. 
This is faid to be the place where king Edgar placed a 
garrifon to guard the paffage over the Oufe againft the 
Danes from Northampton. 
PASS'ER, a river of the Tyrolefe, which runs into 
the Adige near Meran. 
PASS'ER, / - , One who pafies; one that is upon the 
road.—Under you ride the home and foreign flipping in 
fo near a diftance, that, without troubling the pcijjer or 
borrowing Stentor’s voice, you may confer with any in 
the town. Careiv. 
Then, like a matron, butcher’d by herfons, 
And caft befide fome common way a fpeCtacle 
Of horrour and affright to pajj'ers by, 
Our groaning country bled at every vein. Rowe. 
PASSERA'T (John), an ancient French poet and man 
of letters, was born in 1534 at Troyes in Champagne. 
After ftudying law at Bourges under Cujas, he repaired 
to Paris, and taught the belles-lettres in the colleges of 
the univerfity. In 1572 lie fucceeded Peter Ramus as 
profeffor-royal of eloquence. His leCtures were much 
frequented by the molt cultivated perfons in the capital, 
and he received marks of efteem from Charles IX. and 
Henry III. The diforders of the League caufed him to 
PAS 
ffiut up his fchool, till the entry of Henry IV. into Paris 
in 1594. Being at Efpernay w-hen that place was befieged 
by the prince of Conde, who threatened to put the in¬ 
habitants to the fword, he was deputed by them to that 
prince, who pardoned them at his requeft. He had the 
misfortune to lofe an eye from theffiroke of a tennis-ball, 
and this accident aggravated the naturally fevere and 
gloomy expreffion of his countenance; but nothing could 
be more amiable than his temper, or gayer than his con- 
verfation. He was particularly patronized by Henry de 
Mefmes, who gave him an apartment in his houfe, which 
he occupied for thirty years. He was extremely ardent 
in ftudy, and often palled days together without a regu¬ 
lar meal. *1 his excefs of application brought on a para¬ 
lytic diforder, under which he funk in 1602, at the age of 
fixty-eight. 6 
This author is principally known by his Latin and 
French verfes. The Latin are chiefly diftinguilhed by 
their purity and facility, and by the elegant turn which 
he gives to common thoughts. His French poems, pub- 
lifhed in 1606, oCtavo, confift chiefly of Ihort pieces, 
which, r.otwithftanding the language is antiquated, are’ 
ftill read with pleafure on account of their ingenious 
thoughts and Ample graces. His metamorphofis of a 
man into a bird is particularly admired, and*ferved as a 
mode! to la Fontaine in his rales. He joined Rapin in 
compofing the verfes of the Satire Menipee, againft the 
Leaguers. He alfo wrote, 3. De Cognatione Litterarum, 
1606, 8vo. a work on ancient orthography, 4. Orationes’ 
et Prasfationes, 1606, 1637, 8vo. 5. Commentaries on 
Catullus, Tibullus, and Propertius. 6 . A Tranflation 
of the Bibliotheca of Apollodorus. Moreri. 
PASSE'RES,/ [fro mpajj’er, Lat. a fparrow.] The name 
of the fixth and laft order of birds. See_the article Or¬ 
nithology, vol. xvii. p. 766. 
PASSE'RI (Giambatifta), an eminent antiquarian, was 
born at Farnefe in 1694. He was deftined to the profef- 
fion of the law ; but his inclination led him to the ftudy 
of antiquities, which he purfued with afliduity during a 
four-years’ refidence at Rome. Returning thence to Todi, 
where his father praCtifed phyfic, he collected the mo¬ 
numents of antiquity in that place and its vicinity. In 
1726 he turned his attention to Etrufcan antiquities, and 
collected a great number of lamps, which he arranged in 
dalles. In 1738, having loft his wife, he entered into 
the ecclefiaftical order, and obtained the office of vicar- 
general of Pefaro, which he exercifed for many years 
with zeal and fidelity. His death, in 1780, was occafioned 
by a fall from his carriage. He was the author of a great 
number of works, among which are the following : 1. 
Lucernse fiCtiles Mufaei Pafferii, 3 vols. a defcription of 
the earthen lamps in his collection. 2. A Difcourfe on 
the Hiftory of the Foffils of the DiftriCt of Pefaro. 3. 
PiCturae Etrufcorum in Vafculis, in unum colledte, Dif- 
fertationibus illuftratae, 3 vols. He wrote a great num¬ 
ber of learned differtations in the different journals of 
Italy. At the time of his death, the firft volume of an 
extenfive work of his, entitled “Thefaurus Gemmarum 
SeleCtiffimarum,” was printing at Rome. Gen. Bios. 
PASSERI'NA, f. [fron? pajjer, a fparrow ; a name 
which has been applied to fome plants, on account of 
the refemblance of their leaves to the tongue of a fmall 
bird. But Linnteus, who has chofen this appellation for 
the genus that now' bears it, cites Plukenet for faying it 
is fo called becaufe the fruit reprefents the head of a lit- 
tie bird with its beak ; fee Linn. Hort. Cliff. 146. The 
refemblance is not very ftriking; but the name is prefe¬ 
rable to that given by Clufius to the fame genus, Sana- 
munda, fuppoied to be derived from fano, to heal, and 
munda, clean; though he adopted it from the Moors of 
Grenada, who were accuftomed to ufe fome of this tribe 
as a purge.] Sparrow-wort ; in botany, a genus of the 
clafs oCtandria, order monogynia, natural order of ve- 
preculae, (thymelaeae, Juff.) Generic characters—Calyx : 
none. Corolla : one-petalled, ihrivelling; tube cylindri¬ 
cal. 
