PER 
Perhaps the perufal of a folio volume of ancient manu- 
fcripts, given the hilltop by a friend in early life, (from 
which he afterwards made large extracts in the Reliques,) 
led his mind to thofe ftudies in which he fo eminently 
diftinguifhed himfelf. The fame year he publilhed “ A 
Key to the New Teftament,” a concife manual for ftu- 
dents of facred literature, which has been adopted in the 
univerlmes, and often reprinted. After the publication 
of the Reliques, he was invited by the late duke and 
duchefs of Northumberland to refide with them as their 
domeftic chaplain. In 1769 he publilhed “A Sermon 
preached before the Sons of the Clergy at St. Paul’s.” 
In 1770 he conducted “ The Northumberland Houfehold 
Book” through the prefs; the fame year he publilhed 
“The Hermit of Warkworth,” and a tranflation of Mal¬ 
let’s “ Northern Antiquities,” with notes. A fecond 
edition of the Reliques of Ancient Poetry was publilhed 
in 1775, a third in 1794; and a fourth was in the prefs at 
the time of his death, which took place at the fee-houfe 
near Dromore, where he had conftantly refided for thirty 
years, on the 30th of September, 1811, in the 83d year 
of his age. 
By his marriage he had one fon, who however died 
before him. Two daughters furvived him ; the eldeft 
married to Samuel Ilted, efq. of ESon, in Northampton- 
Ill ire ; and the youngeft to the archdeacon of Drdmore. 
In 1777 the Rev. John Bowie addrelled a printed letter 
to’Dr. Percy, announcing a new and clallical edition of 
Don Quixote. In 1780 Mr. Nichols was indebted to him 
for many ufeful communications for the Seleft Collection 
of Mifceliany Poems. When elevated to the mitre, Mr. 
Nichols was all'o under further obligations in the Hiftory 
of Hinckley, 1782. In 1786 the edition of the Tatler, in 
fix volumes fmall 8vo. was benefited by the hints fug- 
gefted by Bp. Percy to the Rev. Dr. Calder, the learned 
and indultrious annotator and editor of thofe volumes. 
The fubfequent editions of the Spectator and Guardian 
were alfo improved by fome of his lordlhip’s notes. Be¬ 
tween the years 1760 and 1764, Dr. Percy had proceeded 
very far at the prefs with an admirable edition of “Sur¬ 
rey’s Poems,” and alfo with a good edition of the works 
of Villiers duke of Buckingham 5 both which, from a 
variety of caufes, remained many years unlinilhed in the 
warehoufe of Mr. Tonfon, in the Savoy; but were re¬ 
fumed in 1795, and nearly brought to a conclulion ; when 
the whole impreffion of both works was unfortunately 
confumed by the fire at Mr. Nichols’s office, in Red Lion 
Paffage, in 1808. 
It is very remarkable, that the bifhop’s fuccelTor, Dr. 
Hall, furvived his elevation only ten days ; he died the 
very day on which his promotion to the fee of Dromore 
was announced in the London Gazette. Gent. Mag. Nov. 
1811. 
PERDP, or Perdy, adv. [a corruption or fofteningof 
the French oath Par Dieu, by God.] A term of afleve- 
ration frequent in our ancient poetry ; and, as Mr. Mafon 
obferves, it is ufed fometimes for verily, but often with¬ 
out any apparent meaning at all.—That redcrofle knight, 
perdie, I never flew. Spenfer. — Perdy your doors were 
lock’d, and you Ihut out. ShakeJ'peare’s Com. of Errors. 
She wilt not, filly mayd, what lire did aile, 
Yet will lire was not well at ea k,perdy; 
Yet thought it was not love, but fome melanchojy. Sp. 
So Ihe, not having yet forgot, perdy, 
Her wonted Ihifts and Heights in Cupid’s toys, 
A fequence firft of fighs and fobs forth call, 
To breed companion dear, then fpake at laft. Fairfax. 
The knave turns fool, that runs away, 
The fool no knave, perdy. K. Lear. 
It has become obfolete with us; but is Hill ufed in 
France, moll commonly, inftead of the awful oath Par 
Dieu , in order, if poffible, to cheat the devil. We have 
fimilar foftenings and Ihifts in the Englilh language, ufed 
PER 601 
with the fame intentions, and producing the fame effeCd $ 
that is, none at all. 
PERDIC'C AS, the name of feveral kings of Macedon. 
See that article, vol. xiv. and Greece, vol. viii. p. 949, 50. 
PERDPCIUM, f. [appears to have been fo called by 
Linnaeus, on. account of a confiderable refemblance be¬ 
tween his original fpecies , femiflofculare, and his Leonto- 
don (now Hieracium) bulbofum. The latter was thought 
by fome to be the Trep^xtov of Theophraftus, which re¬ 
ceived that appellation, as the Greek writer exprefsly 
mentions, becaufe partridges frequented the plant and 
fcratched its roots out of the ground. Now the roots of 
the Linntean Perdicium femiflofculare are copious, long, 
and flelhy, and we cannot doubt that hence arofe the 
fcarcely-warrantable alfumption of an old Greek name 
for a Cape and American genus, though that name had 
hitherto not been, with any certainty, appropriated.] In 
botany, a genus of the clafs fyngenefia, order polygamia 
fuperflua, natural order of compofitas difcoideae, (corym- 
biferae, Jujf.) Generic charadters—Calyx : common ob¬ 
long, imbricate ; leaflets lanceolate,the innerones fcarce¬ 
ly longer than the corolla. Corolla : compound, imbri¬ 
cate, rayed : corollets hermaphrodite in the difk; female 
in the ray. Proper of the hermaphrodite tubular, femi- 
bifid : inner lip two-parted, acuminate, equal; outer fe- 
mitrifid, linear, equal: of the female linear, ligulate, 
three-toothed, two-toothed within at the bafe. Stamina: 
in the hermaphrodites ; filaments five, fliort ; antheree ' 
cylindric, tubular, five-toothed. Piltillum : in the her¬ 
maphrodites ; germen fmall; ftyle Ample; ftigma bifid, 
blunt. In the females; germen fmall; flyle femibifid ; 
Itigmas blunt. Pericarpium none; calyx unchanged. 
Seeds folitary, obovate ; down capillary, feffile, very co¬ 
pious, the length of the calyx, faftigiate. Receptacle 
naked. The flower refembles a femiflofcuiar corolla, 
though it is reall^rayed. The character is taken from 
P. femiflofculare, which is very diftindt in the genus. P. 
radiale agrees with the genus in its bilabiate capfules, 
but differs in the whole habit. P. brafilienfe has fubra- 
diate flowers, and hermaphrodite bilabiate florets in the 
difk and ray.— EIJ'enlial Charadler. Corollets bilabiate ; 
down Ample; receptacle naked. There are fourteen 
fpecies. 
1. Perdicium femiflofculare : flower femiflofcuiar; 
fcape one-flowered, naked. Root fibrous. Stature of 
Leontodon. Root-leaves of Taraxacum, naked. Scape 
the length of the leaves. Flower the fize of Leontodon; 
calyx of Scorzonera. Corolla rayed ; corollets between 
thofe of femiflofcuiar and radial flowers, femibifid, with 
the inner lip two-parted, the outer three-parted. Down 
Ample. Receptacle naked. Native of the Cape of Good 
Hope. 
2. Perdicium radiale; (Inula Trixis, Linn. Amoen. v. 
406. Trixis frutefcens, Brown's Jam. 312. t. 33. f. 1.) 
Flowers fubradiate, outercalyx four-leaved, ftern ihrubby. 
Habit of the flowers as in Inula orConyza. Thefe two 
fpecies differ in their whole appearance, and are fcarcely 
allied; but the Angular divifion of the corollets, in the 
outer fegments fmoother, almoft as in Elephantopus, 
made Linnaeus unite them, till they were examined more 
carefully in a living ftate. Browne fays, that this little 
flirub is very comtfton in the favannas about Kingfton in 
Jamaica, and feldom rifes above four or five feet in 
height. The common receptacles are difpofed at the ex¬ 
tremities of the branches, and the outer divifions of the 
flowers grow gradually fmaller, and curl. more down¬ 
wards as they approach the centre ; which gives the whole 
fomething the appearance of a radiated flower, at the firft 
appearance. 
3. Perdicium Brafilienfe: flowers fubradiate, calyxes 
Ample, Hem herbaceous. Root-leaves lanceolate-ovate, 
repand-toothed, fubpubefcent, vifcid; ftem-leaves alter¬ 
nate, feffile, lanceolate, narrow, fomewhat toothed. 
Flowers at the top of the Item, naked, feveral: they have 
the appearance of Arnica montana, with the corolla 
yellow.. 
