\ 
638 PER 
birthright; a prefen t repaft for a perpetuity. South. —The 
ennobling property of the pleafure that accrues to a man 
from religion, is, that he that has the property may be 
alfo fure of the perpetuity. South. 
The laws of God, as well as of the land, 
Abhor a perpetuity fhould ftand ; 
Ellates have wings, and hang in fortune’s power. Pope. 
PERPIGNAN', a city of France, and capital of the de¬ 
partment of the Eaft Pyrenees; before the revolution, the 
capital of Rouflillon, and the fee of a bilhop; lituated on 
the Tet, about a league from the fea. The walls are of 
brick and ftone, very high and thick, with feveral baftions; 
the citadel is upon an eminence, and commands the 
town. This town was founded in 1068 by Guinard earl 
of Rouflillon, and is faid to have received its name from 
Bernard Perpignan, who kept an inn on the fpot. The 
eaftern and weftern divifions contain, each of them, 5550 
inhabitants. The place has been often contefted by the 
French and Spaniards, and under the prefent circumftan- 
ces (April 1823) is likely to be fo again. The climate is 
in general fo mild here, that it was with no little furprife 
the inhabitants beheld a confiderable fall of fnow from 
Thurfday the 19th till Saturday the 21ft of December laft, 
(1822), where fnow had not been feen for 17 years before. 
Perpignan is 19 polls fouth-well of Montpelier, 224fouth 
of Paris. Lat. 42. 41. N. Ion. 2. 59. E. 
To .PERPLEX', v. a. [perplexus , Lat. from the Gr. 
vrEpiTrXixa, to entangle, to involve.] To dillurb with 
doubtful notions, to entangle ; to make anxious; to teafe 
with fufpenfe or ambiguity ; to diftraCt ; to embarrafs; to 
puzzle.—Being greatly perplexed in his mind, he deter¬ 
mined to go into Perfia. 1 Mac. iii. 31.—He perplexes the 
minds of the fairfex with nice fpeculations of philofophy, 
when he fhould engage their hearts. Dryden. —To make 
intricate ; to involve; to complicate.—What was thought 
obfcure, perplexed, and too hard for our weak parts, will 
lie open to the underftanding in a fair view. Locke. 
Their way 
Lies through the plrplex'd paths of this drear wood. Milton. 
We both are involv’d 
In the fame intricate perplex'd dillrefs. Addijon's Cato. 
To plague ; to torment; to vex. A J'enfe not proper, nor 
vfed. 
Chloe’s the wonder of her fex ; 
’Tis well her heart is tender; 
How might fuch killing eyes perplex, 
With virtue to defend her! Granville. 
PERPLEX', adj. Intricate; difficult. Perplexed is the 
word in ufe.—How the foul directs the fpirits for the mo¬ 
tion of the body, according to the feveral animal exigents, 
is perplex in the theory. Glanville's Scepfis. 
PERPLEX'EDLY, adv. Intricately; with involution. 
— He handles the queftion very perplexedly, which yet is 
very eafily refolved upon the grounds already laid. Bp. 
Bull. 
PERPLEX'EDNESS, _/! Embarraflinent; anxiety.—Be 
good without much noife: be provident without perplex- 
edncfs : be merry without lightnefs: be bountiful without 
wafle : live to the benefit of all, but to the fervice only of 
God. Dr. Heti/haw's Daily Thoughts, 1651.—Intricacy; 
involution; difficulty.—Obfcurity and perplexednefs have 
been call upon St. Paul’s Epiftles from without. Locke. 
PERPLEX'ITY, f. Anxiety; diftraClion of mind.— 
The fear of him ever fince hath put me into inch perplexity 
as now you find me. Sidney. — Perplexity not buffering 
them to be idle, they think and do, as it were, in a phren- 
zy. Hooker. 
The royal virgin, which beheld from far. 
In penfive plight and fad perplexity, 
The whole achievement of this doubtful war, 
Came running fall to greet his victory. SpenJ'er. 
PER 
Entanglement; intricacy.—Let him look for the laby¬ 
rinth ; for I cannot difcern any, unlefs in the perplexity 
of his own thoughts. Stillingfleet. 
PERPLEX'LY, adv. Confufedly.-—This is the fum of 
what paft, fet down fo perplexly by the Saxon annalift. 
Milton's Hijl. of Eng. 
PERPOTA'TION, / [per and poto, Lat.] The aCt of 
drinking largely. 
PER'PURA, a river of Brazil, which runs into the At¬ 
lantic in lat. 3. 50. S. Ion. 38. 16. W. 
PERQUA'IN, or Pel'ham, a fmall ifland on the fouth 
coaft of England, in Pool Harbour. 
PER'QUIMINS, a river of North Carolina, which runs 
into the Atlantic in lat. 36. 5. N. Ion. 76. 32. W. 
PER'QUIMINS, a county of Edenton diftriCt, in North 
Carolina, bounded weft by Chowan county, and eaft by 
Pafquotank, from which laft it is feparated by the river 
Pafquotank, a water of Albemarle Sound. It contains 
6052 inhabitants, of whom 2017 are flaves. 
PER'QUISITE, f. [perquijitus, Lat.] Something gained 
by a place or office over and above the fettled wages.—To 
an honeft mind, the beft perquifites of a place are the ad¬ 
vantages it gives a man of doing good. Adclijon. 
Tell me, perfidious, was it fit 
To make my cream xperquifite, 
And fteal to mend your wages ? Widow and Cat. 
In law, any thing gotten by induftry, or purchafed with 
money, different from that which defcends from a father 
oranceftor; and fo BraCton ufes it, when he fays, Perqui- 
fitumfacere, lib. ii. cap. 30. and lib. iv. c. 22. 
PER'QUISITED, adj. Supplied with perquifites: 
But what avails the pride of gardens rare, 
However royal, or however fair, 
If perquijited varlets frequent ftand, 
And each new walk mull a new tax demand ? Savage. 
PERQUISI'TION, f. [perquifitus , Lat.] An accurate 
enquiry ; a thorough iearch.—The acid is fo fugitive as to 
efcapeall the filtrations and percfuifitions of the moll nice 
obfervers. Bp. Berkeley's Siris. 
PERQUIS'ITOR, /. A fearcher. Cole. 
PERR AHGUN'GE, a town of Bengal: feventeen miles 
north of Dinagepour. 
PERRANGUN'GE, a town of Bengal: fixty-fix miles 
north of Dacca. 
PER'RAULT (Claude), a phyfician, and an eminent 
architect, born at Paris in 1613, was the fon of an advo¬ 
cate of parliament, originally from Tours. He was brought 
up to the medical profeflion, and was admitted a doClor of 
the faculty of Paris in 1641. He pra&ifed little, however, 
except among his friends and the poor, and made himfelf 
chiefly known by his architectural talents. He had 
ftudied mathematics in his medical courfe, and had ac¬ 
quired great fkill as a draughtfman. When in 1666 the 
Academy of Sciences was founded, under the patronage 
of Colbert, Perrault, who was one of thefirft members,was 
appointed to feleCt a fpot for an Obfervatory; and he alfo 
gave a plan of the building, which was executed. When 
it was refolved, among the magnificences of Louis XIV. 
to proceed in completing the palace of the Louvre, all the 
eminent architects were invited to fend defigns for the fa¬ 
cade, and that of Perrault was preferred. This is ac¬ 
counted the mailer-piece of French architecture; and it 
Would alone fuflice to tranfmit his name with honour to 
pofterity. It was in vain that perfons jealous of his repu¬ 
tation endeavoured to make the public believe that the 
real defigner of this work was Le Veau : they entirely 
failed in their proof; and the glory of Perrault remained 
untarniffied. When Colbert, after the king’s firft con- 
quefts, propofed to conftruCt a grand triumphal arch to his 
honour, Perrault’s defign had the preference, and the edi¬ 
fice was commenced. It was, however, never finished ; 
and the (tones were all removed under the regency of the 
2 d uke 
