P E R 
jn Stafford fhire it is 24 feet ; in the foreft of Sherwood 21, 
the foot there being eighteen inches, themeafureof which 
is marked in the chancel-wall of Edwyndftow, and in the 
church of Sr. Mary in Nottingham. In Herefordlhire, 
a perch of walling is fixteen feet and a half; a perch oft 
ditching twenty-one feet. 
In France, according to the old fyltem, the perch is 
from eighteen to twenty-three, and even tw'enty-feven, 
of their feet. The arpent, or acre of land, contains, in 
general, 100 fquare perches, but the perch varies in differ¬ 
ent parts of the country. The arpent of wood-land, 
however, is the fame all over France, the perch being 22 
feet long; this arpent, therefore, contains 48,400 French 
fquare feet = 6108 Englifh fquare yards, or 1 acre, 1 rood, 
1 perch. The arpent for cultivated land, in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of Paris, contains 900 fquare toifes, or 4088 
Englifh yards; hence, 45 fuch arpents equal 38 Englifh 
acres nearly. 
To PERCH, v. n. To fit or rood as a bird.—Let owls 
keep clofe within the tree, and not perch upon the upper 
boughs. South. 
The world is grown fo bad. 
That wrens make prey where eagles dare not perch. 
Shakefpeare. 
To PERCH, v. a. To place on a perch.—It would be 
notorioufly perceptible, if you could perch yourfelfas a 
bird upon the top of fome high fteeple. More. 
As evening dragon came, 
Affailant on the perched roofts, 
And nefts in order rang’d of tame villatic fowl. Milton. 
PERCHAN'CE, adv. Perhaps; peradventure.—Find¬ 
ing him by nature little ftudious, flie-chofe rather to endue 
him with ornaments of youth ; as dancing and fencing, 
not without aim then perchance at a courtier’s life. 
Wot ton. 
How long within this wood intend you flay ? — 
Perchance till after Thefeus’ wedding day. Shakefpeare. 
PER'CHANT, J'. A decoy-bird, which the fowler has 
fattened by the foot, and which flutters about the place 
where it is tied, to draw other birds to it, and give the 
fowler an occafion of catching them. 
PER'CHE, before the revolution, a country of France, 
which had formerly counts of its own ; it enjoyed its 
own laws, fubjeCt to the parliament of Paris. It at pre- 
fent forms the department of the Orne. 
PER'CHERS, f. Paris candles ufed in England in an¬ 
cient times; alfo the larger fort of wax candles, which 
were ul’ually fet upon the altar. Bailey. 
PERCIP'ANY, a town of New’Jerley, on a branch of 
the Paiffac : fix miles north of Morriftown. 
PERCIP'IENT, adj. [ percipicns , Lat.] Perceiving; 
having the power of perception.—’No article of religion 
hath credibility enough for them ; yet thefe cautious and 
quickfighted gentlemen can wink and fvvallow this fottifh 
opinion about precipient atoms. Bentley. —Senfation and 
perception are not inherent in matter as fuch ; for, if it 
were io, every flock or ftone would be a percipient and 
rational creature. Bentley. 
PERCIP'IENT,/. One that has the pow'er of perceiv¬ 
ing.—The foul is the foie percipient, which hath animad- 
verfion and fenfe properly fo called ; and the body is only 
the receiver of corporeal impreflions. Glanville's Scepfis. 
PER'CIVAL (Thomas, M.D.), an eminent phyfician, 
was born at Warrington, in September 1740. Having 
loft both his parents in one day, he was placed at the age 
of four years under the protection of his uncle, Dr. 
Thomas Percival, a learned and refpeftable phyfician, re- 
fident at the fame place; but of his parental guidance he 
was alfo deprived at the age of ten, after which his edu¬ 
cation was directed with the molt kind and judicious at¬ 
tention by his eldeft fitter, who conducted it with true 
parental attention. He received his claflical inftruCtion 
chiefly at the free-fehool of his native place, and was 
Vol. XIX. No. 1328. 
P E R 599 
afterwards (1757) the firft enrolled fludent at the newly- 
founded Diffenting Academy of Warrington. At that 
feminary he particularly attended to ethical ftudies, and 
imbibed thole theological tenets which fixed him as a 
confcientious feparatift from the eftablilhed church. 
Having made choice of the profeflion of phyfic, he com¬ 
menced his medical ftudies at the univerfity of Edinburgh 
in his twenty-firft year, and purlued them with that fe- 
rious diligence which had marked his earlieft: introduc¬ 
tion to learning and fcience. It was his charaCteriftic, 
from the dawn of manhood, to feek the fociety of his fu- 
periors in age and attainments, and efpecially of perfons 
of literary eminence; whence he reckoned many diftin* 
guifhed names among his friends and correfpondents. 
One of thefe, lord Willoughby of Parham, vice-prefident 
of the Royal Society, was his particular patron; and 
fliortly before his death propofed him for admiffion to 
that learned body, of which he was eleCted a fellow in 
his 25th year. In that year, 1765, he took the degree of 
M. D. at Leyden, and vifited Paris and other parts of 
France on his return. He then married ; and, after refi- 
ding two years upon his property at Warrington, he .re¬ 
moved, in 1767, to Manchefter, where he almoft immedi¬ 
ately fell into extenfive praftice, and where he continued 
to refide till his death. Having during his former 
leifure engaged in various philofophical and experimental 
refearches, chiefly relative to medical fcience, and drawn 
tip papers on the refults, he publifhed them colleCti vely 
in that year in one volume, under the title of “ Effays 
Medical and Experimental.” The favourable reception 
of this work induced him to follow’ it in 1773, which w'as 
as foon as his increafing avocations would admit, by a 
fecond volume; to which fome papers of the philofophi¬ 
cal and mifcellaneous claffes were added. In this many 
fubje&s of utility were touched upon ; and though Dr. 
Percival’s profeflional engagements, and the delicate ftate 
of his health, frequently frittering from fevere headachs, 
did not allow him to purfue his enquiries to their far- 
theft extent, he deferves the praife of having brought be¬ 
fore the public feveral important topics which engaged 
the attention of others who enjoyed more leifure. A 
third volume of thefe Effays appeared in 1776. 
Being the father of a rifing young family, he employed 
fome of his hours in a country retreat, during the fum- 
mer of 1775, in compofing for their benefit a fmall col¬ 
lection of “ Moral Tales, Fables, and Reflections,” which 
he publifhed, and thus became diftinguifhed in that clafs 
of highly meritorious writers, who have exercifed, for the 
inftruCtion of youth, powers of compolition, praCtifed in 
efforts of a fuperior, but perhaps not a more ufeful, kind. 
This little vclunie was very favourably received, both at 
home and abroad, where it was tranflated into the 
French and German languages; and it was followed by 
two other parts, fucceflively adapted to readers of more 
advanced years. A “ Socratic Difcourfe on Truth and 
Faithfulnefs,” was a farther contribution to the plan of 
moral inftruCtion by which it was his purpofe to teach 
his elder children the mod important branches of ethics 
by examples. The elegance of his language, the purity 
of his moral precepts, and the agreeable manner in which 
they wnere conveyed, juftly cauled him to be regarded as 
a great benefaCtor to parents in the difeharge of one of 
their molt effential duties. 
Dr- Percival was a zealous promoter of all defigns for 
mental improvement and the advancement of knowledge; 
and it was from weekly meetings for converfation held at 
his houfe that the Literary and Philofophical Society of 
Manchefter took its origin. He was one of the firft joint 
prefidents, and afterwards for many years foie prelident, 
of that inftitution; and he contributed feveral valuable 
papers to its memoirs. The abolition of flave-trade, the 
repeal of the teft-laws, and in general every attempt in 
favour of juft and liberal policy, were'afiifted by his co¬ 
operation ; whilft at the fame time his mildnefs and mo¬ 
deration, his gentlemanlike demeanour, and the ftriCf 
7 O propriety 
