520 PEL 
various languages, and even into Arabic by a patriarch of 
Mount Lebanon. He accompanied his royal mafter in- 
his campaigns, and for fome time was the only man of 
letters engaged in writing his hiftory; but fome offence 
which he gave to Mad. de Montefpan induced the king to 
give the appointment of hiftoriographer royal to Boileau 
and Racine, and take it from Pelliffon. He was, hovfi 
ever, ordered to proceed in his own hiftorical labours; 
and he produced a “ Hiftory of Louis XIV. from the 
Death of Cardinal Mazarine in 1661 to the Peace of Ni- 
meguen in 1678,” 3 vols. nmo. It is, as might be ex- 
petted, more the work of a courtier than of a faithful 
hiftorian ; yet Voltaire fpeaks with applaufe of his rela¬ 
tion of the conqueft of Franche-Comte. Pelliflon en¬ 
gaged with great zeal in what was called in France la 
grande affaire, namely, the converfion of heretics. It is 
to his credit that he difapproved of the dragooning fyftem 
of profelyting; and he ieems to have relied much more 
on the judicious diftribution (which wasentrufted to him) 
of the third of the favings deftined by the king for re¬ 
wards to fuch as fhould conform to the eftablifhed reli¬ 
gion. He alfo employed his pen in controverfy, and 
wrote “Reflexions fur les Differences de la Religion,” 
and “Traite de l’Euchariftie,’’ works compofed with art, 
and in a laudable tone of moderation. Pelliffon was made 
a mafterof requefts, and pafled all the latter part of his 
life in great credit and profperity. As, in Roman-catho¬ 
lic countries, the laft fcene of a man’s life is generally 
thought of more confequence than all the preceding part, 
it was the caufe of much regret, and fome fcandal, that 
he died (in February 1693) without confefflon or the 
ufual facraments. It is probable, however, that this cir- 
cumftance was rather owing to an unconfcioufnefs of his 
own danger till too late, than to any doubts refpedling 
his adopted faith. Befides the works above mentioned, 
he wrote feveral pieces in verfe and profe, among which 
were, 6. An Abridgment of the Life of Anne of Auftria. 
7. Lettres' Hiftoriques, being a journal of the king’s 
journeys and encampments. 8. Recueil de Pieces ga- 
lantes. 9. Poefies Chretiennes et Morales. His poetry 
is but indifferent; his profe is often eloquent and forci¬ 
ble. Boyle- Voltaire Siecle de Louis XIV. 
PEL'LITORY,/ An herb. See Parietaria. 
The pellitory healing fire contains, 
That from a raging tooth thehumourdrains.Ta(e’sCW/<?y. 
PEL'LITORY, Ballard. See Achillea. 
---of Spain. See Anthemis. 
-- i —-of the Wall. See Parietaria. 
PELLMELL', adv. [ pejle-mejle, Fr.] Confufedly; tu- 
multuoufly; one among another; with confufed vio¬ 
lence.—The battle was a confufed heap : the ground 
unequal; men, horfes, chariots, crowded pellmell. Mil- 
ton s Hijl. of Eng. 
He knew’ when to fall on pellmell, 
To fall back and retreat as well. Hudibras. 
PELLO'NIA, in mythology, a goddefs invoked at 
Rome, when her votaries wiflied to be delivered from their 
enemies, or from any thing that annoyed them. 
PELLOUTI'ER (Simon), pallor of the French Pro- 
teftant church at Berlin, member and librarian of the 
academy in that capital, and ecclefiaftical counfellor, 
was born in 169+ at Leipfic, of a family originally from 
Lyons. He filled with reputation the pofts confided to 
> him, and obtained a high character for erudition by his 
work entitled “ Hiftoire des Celtes, et particulierement 
des Gaulois et des Germains, depuis les Temps Fabu- 
leux jufqu’a la Prife de Rome paries Gaulois.” Of this 
work, which is replete with learned and curious refearch, 
the beft edition is that of M. de la Baftide, Paris, 1770, 
in eight vols. iamo. and two vols. 4.10. Pelioutier alfo 
enriched the Memoirs of the Berlin Academy, with a 
number of valuable papers. He died in 1757, univerfally 
efteemed for has learning and beneficence. 
PEL 
PELLU'CID, adj. [pellucidus , Lat.] Clear; tranfpa- 
rent; not opake ; not dark.—If water be made warm in 
any pellucid veffel emptied of air, the water in the vacuum 
will bubble and boil as vehemently as it would in the 
open air in a veiTe! fet upon the fire, till it conceives a 
much greater heat. Newton's Optics. 
PELLUCID'ITY, or Pellu'cidness, /. Tranfparen- 
cy ; clearnefs; not opacity.—The air is a clear and pel¬ 
lucid menftruum, in which the inlenfible particles of dif- 
folved matter float, without troubling the pellucidity of 
the air; when on a fudden by a precipitation they gather 
into vilible mifty drops that make clouds. Locke. —We 
confider their pellucidnefs and the vail quantity of light, 
that pafles through them without refledtion. Keil. 
PELLUSIN', a town of France, in the department of 
the Rhone and Loire : twelve miles eaft of St. Etienne. 
PELO'DES, in ancient geography, a port of Epirus, 
between the gulf of Buthrotori and the promontory of 
Thyamis,'—Alfo, a gulf of Afia, in Sufiana. 
PEL'ONIA,/. in botany. See Antirrhinum. 
PELON'TIUM, a town of Spain, in the Tarragonenfis 
and country of the Lingones. Ptolemy. 
PEL'OPE, a town of Afia Minor, in Lydia, on the 
confines of Phrygia. Steph. Byz. 
PELOP'IDAS, a celebrated Theban general. Seethe 
article Greece, vol. viii. p. 209-16. 
PELOPONNE'SIAN, adj. Belonging to the Pelopon- 
nefus. 
PELOPONNE'SUS, a celebrated peninfula, which 
comprehends the moil fouthern part of Greece. It re¬ 
ceived this name from Pelops, who fettled there, as the 
name indicates (the Ifland of Pelops). It had been 
called before Argia, Pelajgia , and Argolis; and, in its 
form, it has been obferved by the moderns highly to re- 
femble the leaf of the plane-tree. Its prefent name i« 
Morea , which feems to be derived either from the Greek 
word popa., or the Latin morus, which fignifies a “ mul¬ 
berry-tree,” which is found there in great abundance. 
See GRiECiA Antiqua, vol. viii. p. 378. 
The Peloponnefus was conquered, fome time after the 
Trojan war, by the Heraclidae, or defendants of Her¬ 
cules, who had been forcibly expelled from it. The in¬ 
habitants of this peninfula rendered themfelves illuftrious 
like the reft of the Greeks by their genius, their fondnefs 
for the fine arts, the cultivation of learning, and the pro- 
feflion of arms ; but in nothing more than by a celebrated 
war which they carried on againft Athens and her allies 
for twenty-feven years, and which from them received 
the name of the Peloponnefian war ; for a full account of 
which, fee the article Greece, vol. viii. p. 879-94. The 
Peloponnefus fcarcely extended 200 miles in length, and 
140 in breadth. It was leparated from Greece by the 
narrow ifthmus of Corinth, which, as being only five 
miles broad, Demetrius, Caefar, Nero, and fome others, 
attempted in vain to cut, to make a communication be¬ 
tween the bay of Corinth and the Saronicus Sinus. 
PE'LOPS, a celebrated prince, fon of Tantalus king of 
Phrygia. His mother’s name was Euryanafla, or accord¬ 
ing to others Euprytone, or Euryftemifta, or Dione. He 
was murdered by his father, who-wifhed to try the divi¬ 
nity of the gods who had vifited Phrygia, by placing on 
their table the limbs of his fon. The gods perceived his 
perfidious cruelty, and they refufed to touch the meat, 
except Ceres, whom the recent lofs of her daughter had 
rendered melancholy and inattentive. She ate one of the 
(houlders of Pelops; and therefore, when Jupiter had had 
compaflion on his fate, and reftored him to life, he placed 
a (boulder of ivory in (lead of that which Ceres had de¬ 
voured. This (houlder had an uncommon power, and it 
could heal, by its very touch, every complaint, and re¬ 
move every diforder. Some time after, the kingdom of 
Tantalus was invaded by Tros king of Troy, on pretence 
that he had carried away his fon Ganymedes. This rape 
had been committed by Jupiter himfelf; the war, never- 
thelefs, was carried on; and Tantalus, defeated and 
ruined, 
