598 
PERCEVAL, 
and, after having patted the ufua] time at this fchool, he 
was fent to Trinity-college, Cambridge, where he formed 
iome of the mod valuable connexions of his future life. 
As foon as he had completed his collegiate ftudies, he en¬ 
tered him/elf a member of Lincoln’s Inn, and purfued 
the ftudy of the law as a profeffion. He was remarkable 
for ciofe and regular application ; and, while employed 
as a barrifter, was particularly noticed for his mild and 
gentlemanly behaviour, which he difplayed in a high de¬ 
gree when he became prime minifter. 
At an early period he was appointed counfel to the ad¬ 
miralty: in the year 1799 he was honoured with a filk 
gown, and about this time he was elefted counfel for the 
univerlity of Cambridge. In confequence of his uncle’s 
death, a vacancy was created in the borough of Nor¬ 
thampton, which introduced Mr. Perceval into parlimen- 
tary life. He immediately gave his fupport to Mr. Pitt, 
and purfued the fame line of politics regularly and con¬ 
fidently through the remainder of his life. Mr. Perceval 
had not been long in parliament before he attracted the 
marked attention of that minifter, who it is faid, being 
afked by his feconcl, Mr. Ryder, now lord Harrowby, when 
about to engage in a duel with Mr. Tierney, who was 
the fitteft perfon to fucceed him if he ftiould fall in the 
conteft, replied “ Mr. Perceval is that man.” 
At this period, Mr. P. endeavoured to become tho¬ 
roughly mailer of every branch of policy, dedicating his 
time and talents to the ftudy of finance. In 1801, at 
the formation of the Addington adminiftration, Mr. Per¬ 
ceval, then in his 39th year, was appointed folicitor-ge- 
neral, and in 1802 he w'as promoted to the fituation of 
attorney-general, become vacant by the elevation of fir 
Edward Law, afterwards lord Ellenborough, to the chief- 
jufticefhip of the court of King’s Bench. The only pro- 
fecution inftituted by Mr. Perceval, in his character of 
attorney-general, worthy of notice, was that again!! Pel- 
tier, the editor of a French journal printed in London, 
for a libel on Bonaparte. Mr. Perceval retained his fitu¬ 
ation when Mr. Pitt refumed the reins of government, 
and continued todiftinguilh himfelf as a ready and (launch 
fupporter of his meafures. On the death of Mr. Pitt, 
Mr. Perceval, for the firlt time, appeared in the ranks of 
oppofition ; and it has been aflumed, by thofe who were 
the witnefles of his parliamentary career at that period, 
that his talents were moll confpicuous and marked when 
he rofe as an oppofition-fpeaker : in this character he was 
animated without afperity, earned without oftentation, 
attached to his own party, without an indifcriminate con¬ 
tention with his adverfaries. 
When the Fox adminiftration quitted office, towards 
the beginning of the year 1807, Mr. Perceval was ap¬ 
pointed chancellor of the exchequer; but as the duke of 
Portland, who was firft lord of the treafury, was very old 
and infirm, and feldom took an aftive or decided part in 
the adminiftration of public affairs, Mr. Perceval was un- 
queftionably, even then, the prime minifter of Great Bri¬ 
tain, and upon the death of that nobleman he became fo 
nominally as well as virtually. The fituation of the 
country and of Europe at this period was very difficult : 
it required great talents, exercifed with uncommon deli¬ 
cacy, as well as decifion and vigour. The talents of Mr. 
Perceval can hardly be faid to have been of the firft order; 
and it cannot be denied that the decifion and vigour 
which he undoubtedly poflefled, were not unfrequently 
mixed with fomething like precipitation and obltinacy. 
He feemed to have imbibed and adted upon a mod dan¬ 
gerous idea, which a prime minifter ftiould never admit 
into his thoughts; viz. that a meafure once openly 
avowed, ought on no account, and under no circumftan- 
ces, to be abandoned. 
As a public fpeaker, Mr. Perceval rofe much in repu¬ 
tation and excellence, after he became minifter: as the 
leading man in the lioufe of commons, it was neceflary 
that he ftiould be able to explain and defend all his mea- 
luresj and this duty, arduous under all circumftances. 
was particularly fo in his cafe, as there was fcarceiy any 
other member of adminiftration, in that houfe, competent 
to the talk of relieving or fupporting him. He, in a 
fliort time, proved that he ltood in no need of affiftanee 5 
he made himfelf fo completely acquainted with every to¬ 
pic that was likely to be regularly difcufted, that he was 
never taken unawares or at a lofs. In the ftatement of 
his meafures, he was remarkably methodical and perfpi- 
cuous. By many perfons he was deemed particularly to 
excel in his replies ; in rebutting any fevere remark that 
came unexpectedly upon him, and in turning the faft ad¬ 
duced, or the argument ufed, againft his opponent. 
“His fpeeches,” fays one of his biographers, “if care¬ 
fully examined, will let us completely into the nature and 
extent of his talents: they difplay no large and compre- 
henfive views; the arguments and illuftrations that they 
contain do not proceed on any philofophical and lumi¬ 
nous principles; but they are diftinguilhed by their de¬ 
tail, by taking up a detached argument, and grounding 
it on the particular circumftances of the cafe, rather than 
tipon any general maxim. This fpecies of public fpeak- 
ing, however, was well adapted to his audience ; for in 
a mixed and numerous affembly, fuch as the houfe of 
commons, there will always be found many more perfons 
who can comprehend particular arguments than general 
reafoning, and who will deem the fpecial pleader a man 
of much greater abilities than a comprehenfive and phi¬ 
lofophical ftatefman.” In domeftic life, few men were 
more amiable and more refpefted than Mr. Perceval 5 and 
few men, even in the private walks of fociety, can pafs 
a greater portion of time with their family than did this 
prime minifter of England. 
The events of his adminifti;ation do not properly be¬ 
long to an article merely biographical. Some of them 
have been noticed in other places. His death was occa- 
fioned by the hand of an aflaffin, who was unqueftionably 
mad. On Monday the nth of May, 1812, about five 
o’clock in the evening, Mr. Perceval having walked from 
his houfe in Downing-ftreet, was entering the lobby of 
the houfe of commons, where a number of people were 
Handing; he was Ihot by a perfon named Bellingham, 
formerly a merchant, but whofe diftrefles had probably 
deranged his mind. No ferious attempt was, however, 
made on his trial to prove infanity 5 indeed time was not 
allowed for his friends, who refided at Liverpool, to ap¬ 
pear in his behalf. The deed was committed on Monday 
evening; he was tried and convicted on the following 
Friday, which was as foon as it could be known in Liver¬ 
pool that his trial would come on at the feffions then in 
its courfe. Ample provifion was made for Mr. Perceval’s 
family by parliament. See the article London, vol. xiii. 
p. 288, 9. 
PERCH, f. [from perca, Lat.] A filh. See the arti¬ 
cle Perca. 
PERCH, f. [from percke, Fr.] Something on which 
birds rooft or fit.—For the narrow perch I cannot ride. 
Dvyden. —The pole of a wheel-carriage, which is faftened 
to the middle of the hind axle-tree, and pafles between 
the fore axle-tree and its bolder, being fecured by the 
pole-pin, fo as to move about it, and connefting the fore 
and hind carriages together. There have been various 
recent improvements in the perches of coaches and cha¬ 
riots, and the manner of hanging them, which we fliall 
advert to under the article Wheel Carriages. 
PERCH, f. [ pertica, Lat.] A meafure of length, 
otherwife called a rod, or pole; and much ufed in furvey- 
ing and meafuring of land. 
Among the old Romans, and ft ill among geometrici¬ 
ans, th epertica, perch, is ten feet; and they otherwife call 
it the catena, funis, and decempeda. In England, the fta- 
tute perch contains five yards and a half, or fixteen feet 
and a half; and for coppice-woods, See. eighteen feet. 
A fquare perch is thirty fquare yards and a quarter. 
Forty fquare perches make a rood, and 160 an acre. 
The cuftomary perch is various in various counties: 
in 
