P E Y 
Completion. He returned to his native place juft before 
its dreadful plague, of which his father died whilft ful¬ 
filling his profeftional duty with the greateft fidelity. 
Young Peyfi'onnel was deftined to the bar, and ftudied 
the law at Aix, where he was admitted an advocate in 
1723. He exercifed his profeftion with great credit at 
Marfeilles during fifteen years, at the fame time not neg¬ 
lecting literary purfuits. Together with his elder brother, 
he was principally inftrumental in founding the Academy 
of Belles Lettres in that city. The high opinion enter¬ 
tained of him by the marquis de Villeneuve, caufed that 
nobleman to recommend him for the poll: of fecretary to 
the French embafly at the Porte, and he accompanied the 
marquis when he went as plenipotentiary to negotiate the 
peace of Belgrade. Peyftonnel’s fervices on this occafion 
■were rewarded with a penfion,and letters of confirmation 
of nobility, for his family was noble before. He employ¬ 
ed himfelf abroad in compofing works on the commerce 
of the Levant, the embafly in which he was engaged, and 
the remains of antiquity which he obferved in his travels. 
A tour to Nicomedia and Nica;a fitrniftied him with many 
medals, which he placed in the rich cabinet of M. Pelle- 
rin, and with fome curious marbles tranfmitted to the 
royal cabinet of antiquities with their explanations. In 
1747 he was nominated to the confullhip of Smyrna, and 
in the next year the Academy of Infcriptions elefted him 
a foreign afiociate. Finding that the countries of Lefler 
Afia, fouth of the Meander, were very little known to 
Europeans, he employed perfons at his own expenfe to 
furvey the coafts and interior, and made fome journeys 
himfelf for the fame purpofe. Though lefs attached to 
natural hiftory than to antiquities, he communicated va¬ 
rious obfervations to Duhamel for his Treatife on Trees 
and Shrubs. In his capacity of commercial refident he 
was highly efteemed for his intelligence and difinterefted- 
nefs. An apoplectic feizure in 1753 gave a ftiock to his 
conftitution which occafioned his death in 1757. Several 
papers publiflted in the Memoirs of the Academy of In¬ 
fcriptions, efpecially one “ On the Kings of the Bofpho- 
rus,” atteft his learning and diligence of refearch. 
The eldeft fon of M. Peyfi'onnel wasalfo a conful in the 
Levant, and made himfelf known by various hiftorical 
and political works. In one of thefe, dated 1765, he is 
entitled “ formerly Conful for his Majefty to the Khan of 
the Tartars, then Conful in the kingdom of Candy, and 
now Conful at Smyrna; Correfpondent of the Royal 
Academy of Infcriptions and Belles-Lettres, and Hono¬ 
rary Member of that of Marfeilles.” One of the prin¬ 
cipal of his works is “ Obfervations Hiftoriques et Geo- 
graphiques fur les Peoples barbares qui out habite les 
Bords du Danube et du Pont Euxin ; fuivies d’un Voy¬ 
age fait a Magnefie, a Thyatire, a Sardes, &c. avec figures;” 
4to. Paris, 1765. The tour in Alia Minor, defcribed in 
this volume, is faid by the author to have been taken at 
his father’s defire in 1750. It is iiluftrated by ancient 
monuments, infcriptions, and medals, many of them not 
before publilhed. Among his other works are, “Obfer¬ 
vations on Baron de Tort’s Memoirs,” and a “Treatife on 
the Commerce of the Black Sea.” He died in 1790 at 
the age of eighty. Eloge de M. Peyjfonncl in Mem. de 
VAcad, des Infer. 
PEYSSONNEL' (John-Andrew), brother of Charles, 
a phyfician and naturalilr, was bred to the medical pro- 
felfion, and at an early age diftinguilhed himfelf by his 
obfervations on the marine productions of the coaft of 
Provence. He was employed in 1725, by order of the 
king, to examine the coafts of Barbary, with a view to 
difeoveries in natural hiftory; and he carried his re- 
fearches as far as Egypr. In 172$ lie was appointed phy- 
fician-naturalift to* the ifland of Guadaioupe, which place 
was his chief refidence for at leaft thirty years. He made 
voyages to feveral of the Weft-Indian iflands, and to the 
lettlement of Mifliflipp'. In 1727 he firft communicated his 
obfervations on coral to the Academy of Sciences at 
Paris, but they were little attended to till M. Trembley 
Vol. XX. No. 1348. 
P E Z 25 
had made known his difeoveries on the frefh-water po¬ 
lype. It was in the Tranfaftions of the Royal Society of 
London (of which he was a foreign member) that his fyf- 
tem relative to this fubftance firft appeared before the 
public. In vol. xlvii. Mr. Watfon gives a tranflated 
abridgment of a copious manufeript communicated by 
M. Peyfi'onnel under the title of “ Traite du Corail, &c.” 
in which he proves by numerous obfervations that coral 
and other coralline fubftances are the productions of cer¬ 
tain animals of the polype kind which inhabit them ; and 
this opinion has fince been generally received by natu- 
ralifts. In the 50th vol. of the Phil. Tranf. are other 
memoirs of his, viz. An Account of a Vifitation of the 
Leprous Perfons in Guadaioupe in 1748; Obfervations 
on the Limax non cochleata purpur ferens; On the Worms 
that form Sponges ; On the Alga marina latifolia; On a 
flight Earthquake in Guadaioupe in 1757; On the Man- 
chenille Apple ; On the Corona Solis marina Americana. 
No further particulars of this ingenious naturalift are re¬ 
corded. Gen. Biog. 
PEY'SI'ER’S ISLANDS, a group of iflands in the 
Eaft-Indian Sea, of which we know nothing more than is 
contained in the followingextraCt of a letterfrom captain 
de Peyfter, on a voyage from Valparaifo to Calcutta. 
“ On the evening of the 17th of May, 1819, one of the 
people difeovered a large fire; they hove-to until 
daylight, when another fmall low ifland appeared five 
miles under our lee; we pafled it clofe, it appeared clothed 
with cocoa-nut trees, and doubtlefs inhabited, and has 
never before been noticed. To the former we gave the 
name of Ellice ; and to the latter the officers and paflen- 
gers gave the name of De Peyfter’s Iflands.” Ellice’s 
Group lies in lat. 8. 29. S. Ion. 180. 54. W. De Peyfter’s 
Iflands, lat. 8. 5. S. Ion. 181. 43. W. 
PEY'STORF, a town of Auftria : twelve miles weft- 
fouth-weft Feldfburg. 
PEY'TON HA'LL. See Boxford, vol. iii. 
PEYU', a fmall ifland near the coaft of China, in the 
Chinefe Sea. Lat. 30. 20. N. Ion. 120. 20. E. 
PEZ, a town of Italy, in the department of the Adda 
and Oglio : twenty miles north of Breno. 
PE'ZA, a river of Ruflia, in the government of Arch¬ 
angel, which rifes in Lake Varzelkoi, and runs into the 
Mezen twelve miles fouth-eaft of Ofokollkoi. 
PEZAI' (N. Mafl'on, Marquis ol), born at Paris, very 
early applied himfelf to the ftudy ofietters, and afterwards 
went into the army. He was made acaptain of dragoons; 
and had the honour of giving fome ieflons on tadfics to 
the ill-fated Louis XVI. Being appointed infpeftor- 
general of fome coafting-vefllds, he repaired to the mari¬ 
time towns, and executed his commiffion with more care 
and attention than was to have been expedted from a vo¬ 
tary of the mufes. But as, at the fame time, he fliowed 
too much haughtinefs, a complaint was brought againft 
him to the court, and he was baniflted to his country fear, 
where he died loon after, in the beginning of 1778. He 
was the intimate friend and companion of Dorat ; (fee 
vol. vi.) He had ftudied, and fuccefsfully imitated, his 
manner of writing ; but his poems have more delicacy, 
and are lefs disfigured with trifling converfations of gal¬ 
lantry. He left behind hitp, 1. A tranllation of Catullus, 
which is not much efteemed. 2. Les Soirees Helvetiennes, 
Alfaciennes, et Franc-Comtoifes, 8vo. 1770. 3. Les 
Soirees Proven^ales, in manufeript, faid to be nowife infe¬ 
rior in merit to the foregoing ones. 4. La Rofiere de 
Salency ; a paftoral in three adls, and which has been per¬ 
formed with fuccefs on the Italian theatres. 5. Les 
Campagnes de Mailebois, 3 vols. 4to. with a volume of 
maps. 
PEZE'LIUS (Chriftopher), a celebrated German Pro- 
teftant divine and profelfor, was born at Plawen in the 
Voightland, in the year 1539. He was profelfor in the 
college of his native place for five years ; and afterwards 
removed to Wittemberg, where he was appointed profelfor 
of divinity, and alfo one of the minilfers of the city. He 
H took 
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