PER 
PERO'E, a town of Hindooltan, in Bahar: forty-five 
miles fouth-weft of Patna. 
PERO'LA,y! in botany. See Momordica. 
PEROJO'A, J'. in botany, was fo named by Louis Nee, 
who gathered the plant at Port Jackfon, New South 
Wales, in honour of Francis del Perojo, a Spanifli apothe¬ 
cary, who had been his botanical companion in a journey 
over the hills of the north of Spain. Mr. R. Brown 
however reduces the Perojoa to his genus Leucopogon, 
the fpecies of which are, however, generally included 
under Styfhelia ; fee that article. 
PERO'NES, f. in Roman antiquity, a kind of high 
fnoes formed rudely of.raw hides, and reaching up to the 
middle of the leg. Though, in the more ancient times of 
the commonwealth, the lenators wore them, yet in later 
ages they were only ufed by ploughmen and labourers : 
hence Peronatus Arator; Perfius’s Sat. v. 192. and Juv. 
xiv. 186. , 
PERON'NE, a town of France, and principal place of 
a dillrifl, in the department of the Somme, iituated on 
the Somme, furrounded by marlhes, and llrongly fortified. 
It contains fpacious ftreets and good (hops. The church 
is a building in the modern Gothic ftyle, with a pretty 
tower, and a fplendid roof fomething refembljng King’s 
Chapel, Cambridge, having a remarkable echo, which 
mull peculiarly adapt it for mufic. This place has been 
feveral timesbefieged, but never taken; on which account 
it has been called Pucelle . It is a place of great antiqui¬ 
ty ; and the kings of the Merovingian race had a palace 
here : five pods louth of Cambray, and i6f north-eall 
of Paris. Lat. 50. 22. N. Ion. 3. i.E. 
PERORA'TION, f [peroratio, Lat.] The conclufion 
of an oration: 
What means this paffionate difcourfe ? 
This peroration with fuch circumftances ? Shakefpeare. 
PE'ROS BAN'HOS, a range of fmall illands in the 
Eaftern Indian Sea. Lat. 5. 30. S. Ion. 72. 10. E. 
PEROSI'NA, an illand in the Adriatic, about twelve 
miles in circumference. Lat. 45. 17. N. Ion. 14. 22. E. 
PE'ROT, an illand of Canada, in the river St. Laurence, 
at the mouth of the Utawas river; fourteen miles in cir¬ 
cumference ; fertile, and well cultivated. 
PERO'TA, a town of Mexico, in the province of Tlaf- 
cala : forty-five miles ealt of Puebla de los Angelos. 
PERO f riS,/. [fo named by the late Dr. Solander, from 
irupof, deficient, becaufe the calyx was fuppofed to be want¬ 
ing.] In botany, a genus of the clafs triandria, order di- 
gynia, natural order gramina. Generic characters—Ca¬ 
lyx : none. Corolla: glume tvvo-valved ; valves oblong, 
acute, almolt equal, awned at the tip. Stamina : fila¬ 
ments three, capillary; antherae oblong. Piftillum: 
gertnen fuperior, oblong. Styles two, capillary, Ihorter 
than the corolla; Itigmas feathered, divaricating. Peri- 
carpium : none 5 corolla inclofing the feed. Seed one, 
linear-oblong.— EJJential Chara&er. Calyx none; corolla 
two-valved; valves equal, awned. There are three fpecies. 
1. Perotis latifolia, or broad-leaved perotis: cultn 
fimple, leaves waved, joints finooth. Culm a foot 
and a half high, frequently jointed to a third part of 
its height, the joints half an inch and an inch diftant 
from each other; from each joint fprings a branch, which 
is aifo frequently jointed, and terminated by a fpike. 
Leaf at each joint waved, and as it were curled, an inch 
long or lefs, a line and a half or two lines wide, fmooth, 
with a white line, and lhort loofe ftiffilh hairs at the edge. 
Sheath half an inch or an inch in length, whitifh efp'echlly 
towards its origin ; ending in a fcarcely-vifible whitifli 
ligule. Spike a hand or half a foot in length, very thin. 
Florets pedicelled, a line long, livid or purplilh; awn 
very (lender, yellowifli or purple, four or five lines in 
length. Seed very (lender, acuminate, brown, near a line 
long. Petiver fent it to Scheuchzer from London. It is 
an annual grafs, native of the Ealt Indies. Introduced 
Vol. XIX. No. 1331. 
PER 635 
in 1777 by Daniel Charles Solander, LL.D. It flowers 
in Auguft and September. 
( 3 . The variety with flat lanceolate leaves, is, according 
to Willdenow, a diftin£l fpecies. 
2. Perotis rara, or narrow-leaved perotis : Item eredl, 
fomewhat branched ; leaves linear, fmooth ; the lower 
ones flat, the upper involute. Gathered by Mr. Brown 
in the tropical part of New Holland. 
3. Perotis polyltachya: culm branching, leaves flat, 
joints bearded. Culm branched. Leaves linear, not 
waved. Sheaths bearded at the edge. Native of the Eaft 
Indies. This, which is the Saccharum paniceum of La¬ 
marck, and perhaps Andropogon crinitum of Thunberg, 
is judged by Mr. Brown to be a plant of a genus by itfelf, 
very nearly related to his Imperata, but differing in having 
awns to the calyx, no inner valve to the hermaphrodite 
floret, and only one ftamen; marks which perhaps are not 
fufficient in this cafe to found a genus upon. See Sac¬ 
charum and Lagurus. 
PEROT'TI (Nicolo), one of the early Italian men of 
letters, was born of an ancient but decayed family at Saf- 
foferrato, in 1430. He was the fcholar of Volpe at Bo¬ 
logna; and, after finifhing his ftudies, became himfelf a 
profeflor in that city, firll of polite literature, and then of 
philofophy. He made himfelf known by various tranf- 
lations of Greek authors into Latin. As early as 1453, 
he fent to pope Nicholas V. his verfion of the three firll 
books of Polybius, to which he afterwards added two 
more, all that were then known of that author. He fub- 
fequently tranflated Epifletus’s Enchiridion, the Com¬ 
mentary of Simplicius upon Ariftotle’s Phyfics, and 
Tatian’s Oration to the Greeks. In 1452, when the 
emperor Frederic III. vifited Bologna, Perotti compli¬ 
mented him in the name of the city in an oration which 
was printed, and was recompenfed with the title of Poet 
Laureat and Imperial Counfellor. He appears in 1456 to 
have been in the fervice of pope Callixtus III. as his fe- 
cretary, and a count of the Lateran palace. In 1458 he 
was nominated by Pius II. archbiffiop of Siponto, which 
is the fame fee as Manfredonia. He was alfo appointed 
to honourable offices under the court of Rome; being 
made governor of Umbria in 1465, of Spoleto in 1471, 
and of Perugia in 1474. He died in 1480 at a country 
feat to which he had given the name o i' Fugicura. The 
writings of this learned perfon are numerous, confidering 
the public employments in which he was engaged. His 
mod celebrated work was entitled “ Cornucopia,” being a 
diffufe and learned commentary on Martial’s book on 
Speftacles, and the firll book of his Epigrams. It was not 
publiflied till after his death, as being fomewhat incon¬ 
gruous with his ecclefiaftical dignity. It contains a trea- 
fure of erudition refpefting the Latin language. He alfo 
wrote remarks on other claffical authors, many orations 
and letters ; and had a (hare in the angry contentions 
among the literati of his time. Tirabofc/ii. 
PEROU'GE, a town of France, in the department of 
the Ain : two miles well of Meximieux, and fix north- 
eall of Montluel. 
PEROU'R, a town of Hindooftan, in the circar of 
Gooty : twenty-four miles fouth-fouth-well of Anant- 
pour. 
PEROU'SA (La), a town of Italy, in the department 
of the Po, on the river Clufon. It gave name to one of 
the four valleys of Piedmont : fix miles north of Pinerolo, 
twenty-four eall of Briangon. 
PEROU'SE, or Peyrouse (J. F. G. de la), an eminent 
but unfortunate navigator, was born of a gentleman’s fa¬ 
mily at Touloufe in 1741. In his fifteenth year he enter¬ 
ed into the French navy, in which he palled a life of al- 
moll conllant fervice. Uniting the vivacity and gaiety 
ufual to the natives of a warm climate with equanimity 
and folidity of character, he was generally elleemed and 
beloved, while his firmnefs and profeffional (kill caufed 
him to be regarded as fit for the moll arduous enterpri- 
7 Z fes. 
