PER 
PER 
GO 3 
perdition of the Turkilh fleet, every man puts himfelf in 
triumph. Shakefpeare. 
Quick let us part! Perdition's in thy pretence,^ 
And horror dwells about thee! AddiJ’on's Cato. 
Lofs; 
There’s no foul loft, 
Nay not fo much perdition as an hair 
Betid to any creature in the vefiel 
Which thou faw’ft fink. Shakefpeare's Tempejt. 
Eternal death.—Men once fallen away from undoubted 
truth, do after wander for evermore in vices unknown, 
and daily travel towards their eternal perdition. Ralegh's 
Hi ft. 
PER'DIX, a young Athenian, fon of the After of Dae¬ 
dalus. He invented the faw, and feemed to promife to 
become a greater artift than had ever been known. His 
uncle was jealous of his riflng fame, fo he threw him 
down from the top of a tower, and killed him. Perdix 
was changed into a bird, (the partridge,) which bears his 
name. Hi/gin. fab. 39. & 274--— Ovid. Met. viii. 220, See. 
PERDO'LI, a town of Iftria : four miles north-north- 
weft of Pol a. 
PERDU', adv. [Fr. loft, or appearing to be loft; 
as, enfans perdus, advanced centinel, or forlorn hope.] 
Clofe ; in ainbufh.—If a man is always upon his guard, 
and (as it were) ftands perdu at his heart. South. —If God 
keep not the houfe and the city, in vain the builder 
builds, and the watchman wakes, and the centinel ftands 
perdu. Alp. Sancroft. 
Few minutes he had laid perdue, 
To guard his defp’rate avenue. Hudibras. 
PER'DU, f. [Fr. loft. It was often accented on the 
laft fyllable in poetry.] One that keeps watch by night. 
—Call in our perdues. Suckling's Goblins. 
As for per dues, 
Some choice fous’d fifti brought couchant in a did), 
Among fome fennel or fome other grafs. 
Shews how they lie i’ th’ field. Cartwright's Ordinary. 
One of ruined fortunes: 
I know him for a wild corrupted youth, 
Whom profane ruffians, fquires to bawds, and ftrumpets, 
Drunkards fpew’d out of taverns into th’ finks 
Of tap-houfes and ftews, revolts from manhood, 
Debauch’d perdues, have by their companies 
Turn’d devil-like themfelves. Chapman's Widow's Tears. 
PER'DU, adj. Employed on defperate purpofes; ac- 
cuftomed to defperate purpofes: 
A perdue captain, 
Full of my father’s danger. Beaum. and FI. Loy. Subjefl. 
PERDU' (Mont), the loftieft mountain of the Pyre¬ 
nees, and the mod elevated in which any marine remains 
have been found in Europe. M. Rarnond obferved that 
this mountain was calcareous, and contained fliells and 
other organized bodies, in a foflil ftate, at an elevation of 
about 3000 metres. As he afeended this mountain, in 
Auguft 180a, by paffing the Col de Fanlo, or Nifele, he 
conftantly found ftrata of compact carbonated lime in a 
pofition nearly vertical. They include ftrata of calca¬ 
reous fandftone, and thefe ftrata fometimes cover the fa- 
liant angles of the vertical ftrata, nearly in a horizontal 
diredtion. This calcareous (tone falls off fpontaneoufly 
in little irregular fragments; and on the flighted fridtion, 
or diffolved in acids, it emits a naufeous foetid fmell, pro¬ 
bably owing to the animal matter it contains. Some of 
the ftrata of this ftone contain nodules of flint; others 
fuch confiderable maffes of “ Camerines,” that the ftone 
appears entirely compofed of them. The fummit is 
formed of a foetid limeftone, contaminated with quartz, 
and containing a little iron, and T |^th of carbon, with¬ 
out alumine. The elevation of this fummit is the fame 
as that of the Col du Geant in the Alps, or 34.26 metres 
— 372.7 yards. 
Vol. XIX. No. 1328. 
M. Rarnond has afeertained the limits of permanent 
fnow, and of vegetation, for this lofty part of the Pyre¬ 
nean chain. The fnow terminates at 244.0 metres. The 
laft trees are Scotch firs, which reach 2150 metres. Next 
come the ftirubs, of which the juniper is the higheft. At 
2760 metres were found the Ranunculus parnafliae foliis, 
the Saxifraga Groenlandica, &c. then the Artemifia ru- 
peftris of Lamarck; and laftly, round the very peak of 
Mont Perdu, on rocks too floping to retain the fnow, 
grow the Ceraftium, perhaps the alpinum of Linnaeus, 
and the rofe-flowering Aretia alpina. 
PERDUC'TION, f. [from the Lat. per, through, and 
duco, to lead.] The a 61 of leading through. Cole. 
PER'DUE BA'Y, a bay on the fouth-weft coaft of the 
ifland of St. Vincent: one mile north-weft of Kingfton Bay. 
PERDUEL'LION, f. [ perduellio , Lat.] An open adi 
of hoftility. Cole. 
PERDUEL'LISM, An open aft of hoftility. 
PER'DULOUS, adj. [from perdo, Lat.] Loft ; thrown 
away.—There may be fome wandering perdulous willies 
of known impolfibilities; as a man who hath committed 
an offence, may wilh he had not committed it: but to 
chufe efficacioufly and impoflibly, is as impolfible as an 
impolfibility. Bramhall againft Hobbes. 
PER'DURABLE, adj. [Fr. from perduro, Lat.] Laft- 
ing; long continued. A word not in ufe, nor accented 
according to analogy.—O perdurable lhame ! let’s ftab 
ourfelves. Shakefpeare. 
The vigorous fweat _ 
Doth lend the lively fprings their perdurable heat. Drayton. 
PER'DURABLY, adv. Laftingly : 
Why would he for the momentary trick 
Be perdurably fin’d ? Skakejpeare's MeaJ'.for Meqjl 
PERDURA'TION,/. Long continuance. 
PERDY'. See Perdi'. 
PERE-en-RET'Z (St.), a town of France, in the de¬ 
partment of the Lower Loire, and chief place of a can¬ 
ton, in the diftridt of Paimbceuf. The place contains 
1973, and the canton 5988, inhabitants. 
PEREA, a fmall ifland near the coaft of Brafil. Lat. 
2. 22. S. Ion. 45. 2. W. 
PEREAS'LAW, a ftrong populous town of Poland, 
in the palatinate of Kiovia, fituated on the river Tribecz. 
Lat. 49. 46, N. Ion. 32. 44. E. 
PEREBE'A, J\ in botany, (Aubl. Guian, 952. t. 361. 
Jujf. 402.) a Guiana plant, whole botanical charadlers are 
not fully known. Aublet deferibes it as a middling- 
fized tree, throwing up from the root many ftraight flex¬ 
ible trunks, about four or five inches in diameter, which 
bear ftriated Idafy branches. Leaves alternate, nearly 
feffde, elliptic-oblong, pointed, wavy and fomewhat 
toothed, a foot or more in length, and about five inches 
wide, green, fmooth and fliining, with one principal rib 
and many tranfverfe ones. When held againft the light, 
thefe leaves appear full of tranfparent dots. Stipules fo- 
litary, large, membranous deciduous. Flowers axillary, 
on Ihort ftalks, folitary, each confifting of a flat flelhy re¬ 
ceptacle, toothed at the edge, two inches or more in dia¬ 
meter, its upper furface covered with about thirty crowd¬ 
ed florets, and at length becoming convex. Eacli floret 
confilts of a tubular calyx, with four teeth, embracing a 
roundilh germen, a flelhy columnar ftyle, and cloven ftig- 
ma. Aublet faw nothing of the ftamens, which he lup- 
pofes are in feparate flowers, on a diftindt tree. The ca¬ 
lyx becomes a flelhy fruit, of a coral red, containing 
a Angle feed, as in the mulberry; but each fruit falls oft’ 
feparate, leaving the receptacle bare. Every part of the 
tree yields a milky juice. The bark ferves for cordage. 
This genus is juftly ranged by Julfieu in his natural 
order of Urticae, being evidently allied to Ficus, Morus, 
Brouffonetia, &c. 
PER'EFIXE (Hardouin de Beaumont de), a prelate 
and hiftorian,defcended from an ancient family in Poitou, 
was the fon of cardinal Richelieu’s maitre-d’hote 1 . That 
7 P minifter 
