p 
E T 
PET 
through the woods, and terminate in a circular pavilion 
placed in the centre of the ifland. On Sunday, and par¬ 
ticularly the vintage-time, this ifland is reforted toby 
parties who amufe themfelves with wandering about the 
woods or dancing in the circular pavilion. There is only 
one farm-houfe on the ifland, in an apartment of which 
Roufleau was lodged. 
PETER’s LA'KE, an expanfion of the river St. Law¬ 
rence, into which are difcharged from the fouth and eaft 
Sorel river from lake Champlain, the river St. Francis 
and fome ffnaller rivers from the- north-weft. The Maf- 
quinonge, Omachis, &c. enter the lake. The centre of 
it is fixty-eight miles above Quebec, and 205 north-eaft 
of Kingfton, at the mouth of lake Ontario. 
PE'TER-MAN,/! [from St. Peter. It once meant] 
Any fiftierman poaching in the Thames.—His (kin is too 
thick to make parchment; ’tvvould make good boots for 
a peter-man to catch falmon in. Eafiward Hoe. 
PETER-PEN'CE, f. An ancient levy, or tax, of a 
penny on each houfe throughout England, paid to the 
pope. It was called Peter-pence, becaufe collected on the 
day of St. Peter ad Vincula ; by the Saxons it was called 
Rome-feoli, Rome-J'cot, and Rome pennying, becaufe cof- 
ledled and fent to Rome : and laftly, it was called hearth- 
money, , becaufe every dwelling-houfe was liable to it, and 
every religious houfe, the abbey of St. Alban’s alone ex¬ 
cepted. 
It was not intended as a tribute to the pope, but chiefly 
for the fupport of the Englifh fchool or college at Rome ; 
the popes, however, (hared it with the college ; and at 
length found means to appropriate it to themfelves. 
At firft it was only an occafional contribution; but it 
became at laft a ftanding-tax ; being eftablifhed by three 
laws of king Canute, Edward the Confeflor, the Con¬ 
queror, &c. Edward III. firft forbade the payment; but 
it foon after returned, and continued till the time of king 
Henry VIII. when Polydore Virgil refided here as the 
pope’s receiver-general. It was abolilhed under that 
prince, and reftored again under Philip and Mary; but 
was finally prohibited under queen Elizabeth. Chambers's 
Cyclopedia. 
PETER’s POI'NT, a cape of England, on thecoaft of 
Lincolnlhire : four miles fouth-eaft from the mouth of 
the Witham. 
PETER le PO'RT, or Port St. Pierre, a market- 
town in the fouth-eaft part of Guernfey, in the Britifli 
Channel, confiding of only one long narrow ftreet. The 
mouth of the harbour is well fet with rocks, and is, on 
each fide, defended by a caftle; one called the Old Caftle, 
and the other Caftle Cornet. The governor of the ifland 
generally refides here, who has the command of the gar- 
rifon in this and all the other caftles. See Guernsey, 
vol. ix. p. 75. 
PETER-SA-MEE'NE, f. A kind of Spanifti wine_ 
A pottle of Greek wine, a pottle of Peter-Ja-meene, a pot¬ 
tle of Charnico, and a pottle of Ziattiae. Dek. Hon. 
Whore. 
PETERBOROUGH, a city at the eaftern extremity of 
the county of Northampton, bordering on the great fens 
of Lincolnfliire, at the diftance of 81 miles north by weft 
from London. It is built on the north bank of the river 
Nen ; and the country adjacent has been termed, from its 
fertility, the “ Nile of England.” 
This fpot was originally called Medejhamjlede , and here 
was at lead a village, if not a confiderable town, early in 
the 6th century. Though not made a city till the reign 
of Henry VIII. yet at a very remote period this place was 
diftinguifhed for its monaftery, which was large in its 
eftablifhments, and extenfive in its jurifdidtion. So 
clofely is the intereft which Peterborough poflefles inter¬ 
woven with the hiftory of this conventual foundation, 
that in defcribing the one, it is requifite to enter into a 
(hort account of the other. The foundation of this abbey 
was laid by Peada, eldeft fon of Penda, king of the Mer¬ 
cians, in 655 or 656; but, dying in the fourth year of 
Vol. XIX. No. 13+3. 
783 
his reign, it was completed, in 664., by Wolfere his bro¬ 
ther, who fucceeded him, aflifted by Ethelred the re¬ 
maining fon, Kynefburga and Kynefwitha the two 
daughters, of Penda, and Saxulf, a pious and prudent 
earl, who was made the firft abbot. It was dedicated to 
St. Peter at an afiembly of nobles and biftiops, and 
endowed with large immunities and pofleflions, which 
were confirmed by the charter of Wolfere in the 7th year 
of his reign. Pope Agatha ratified thefe endowments, 
and conftituted it a vice-papal fee, where perfons might 
“ pay their vows, be abfolved from their fins, and receive 
the apoftolical benedi£tion.” The monaftery flourilhed 
for nearly two hundred years, under afucceflion of feven 
abbots, when the Danes, commanded by Hubba, in 870, 
after defolating the abbeys of Croyland and Thorney, 
almoft annihilated Medefliamftede, plundered its depen¬ 
dencies, deftroyed the library, and flaughtered the vene¬ 
rable abbot, Hedda, together with the friars and the 
country people, who were flying to its altars for protec¬ 
tion : they were overtaken and murdered in a court of 
the monaftery, called the Monks Churchyard, becaufe 
they were all buried here; and to this day is to be feen 
the tombftone with their effigies, which had been eredled 
over their common grave. Soon after this the Danes 
deftroyed both the monaftery and friars, fo that it lay 
defolate for above 100 years, till Athelwold bifttop of 
Winchefter, in 970, aflifted by king Edgar, and the arch- 
bifliops Dunftan and Ofwald, rebuilt it on an enlarged 
fcale, and confirmed its former privileges and pofleflions. 
At this period the name of the town was changed to 
Burgh; and, from the fplendour and privileges of the mo¬ 
naftery, it was generally called Gildeti- burgh ; but, in re¬ 
ference to the faint to whom the dedication was made, 
this name was afterwards changed to Pefer-burgh. Un¬ 
der feveral fucceeding abbots the fortunes of the efta- 
bliftiment were varioufly chequered ; but nothing remark¬ 
able happened until the abbacy of Thoroldus, when the 
Danes, under Sweyn, deftroyed the town, but were un- 
fuccefsful in their repeated attacks againft the monaftery. 
In the year 1116, it was confumed again, by an acciden¬ 
tal conflagration, which left only the chapter-houfe, dor¬ 
mitory, and refedlory, (landing. By the fame fire, the 
greater part of the town waslikewife deftroyed. In 1118, 
John de Salifbury, the reigning abbot, commenced a new 
church, which was finiflied under Martin de Vecli in 
1144. Under William de Waterville various architec¬ 
tural improvements and additions were made in the church, 
&c. Benedidlus was abbot of Peterborough in 1177; and 
Gunton, in his Hiftory of Peterborough, fays, “ It feems 
the nave or body of the church did not pleafe him ; there¬ 
fore he built it after a better manner from the lantern 
(the tranfept tower) to the porch, as now it is.” 
The ftyle of architecture prevalent in this building is 
that denominated Norman, of which the circular arch and 
large column, with analogous mouldings, form the lead¬ 
ing charadteriftics. It has been erroneouily termed Saxon, 
although no part of the exifting cathedral was eredled an¬ 
tecedent to the year xn8, when the monaftery was de¬ 
ftroyed by fire. The plan, like that of molt other cathe¬ 
drals, confifts of a nave with fide-aifles, a tranfept, a 
choir terminating at the eaft end femicircularly, with a 
continuation of the fide-aifles of the nave. The whole is 
finilhed at the eaft by what is called the new building, or 
St. Mary’s Chapel. In the centre is a tower rifing from 
four large arches, at the interfedlion of the nave, choir, 
and tranfept. The weft front is formed by a receded 
portico of three lofty arches, furmounted by pediments, 
pinnacles, and fpires. In the centre arch is a fmall cha¬ 
pel. The dimenfions of the cathedral, with its feveral 
parts, are—Length externally, including the buttrefles, 
471 feet; of the nave, from the weft door to the entrance 
into the choir, 267 ; of the choir, 117; and from the al¬ 
tar of the choir to the eaft-window, 38 ; making in the 
whole, from the weft door to the eaft window, 422 feet. 
Length of the tranfept, from north to fouth, 180 feet. 
9 O Height 
