grow in abundance. Foreign grapes have in some counties been cultivated to advantage, and wine and brandy, of good quality, have been made. This article of manufacture has hitherto been a matter of experiment only. The sugar-maple, in the western and northern parts of the state, is abundant, and the inhabitants generally make therefrom a sufficient quantity of sugar for home consumption. Iron ore is distributed, in large quantities, in many parts of the state, and the manufacture of iron from the ore, through the furnace, the forge, the foundery, the rolling and slitting mill, the nail cutting machine, up to the finest cutlery, is carried on to a greater extent than in any other state in the Union. Copper, lead and alum appear in some parts of the state. Limestone and marble, of the finest quality for the purposes of architecture and statuary, abound in various parts of the state. In the middle counties, anthracite, and in the western, bituminous coal, is found in great abundance. This state is famous for its breed of draught horses, and nature has abundantly supplied the forests with game. Deer, turkeys, pheasants and partridges are numerous. Wild ducks are found on almost every stream. Wild geese, swans and pigeons are migratory, and frequently found in large flocks. Singing birds of various notes and plumage are common. In the eastern rivers are found rock-perch, bass, shad and herring, which come from the sea in large shoals. In the western waters there is a species of catfish, weighing from 50 to 100 pounds; likewise pike, of an enormous weight and size, are found. Sturgeon is common to both sections of the state. In the smaller streams, trout, pike, chub, sun-perch, mullet, catfish and white salmon are found in their several seasons. Bears, panthers, wild cats, foxes, wolves, beavers, otters and raccoons are more or less common, in proportion to the progress of settlement and cultivation. Rabbits and squirrels are still abundant. In the low grounds are found minks, muskrats, and opossums. Of the numerous tribe of snakes, the bite of the rattlesnake and copperhead alone is deadly. The Pennsylvania farmer lives as comfortably as any one of his station in any part of the world. Commodious farm houses of stone or brick, extensive barns and farm buildings, show the agricultural prosperity of the state. Log and frame houses are common in the new settled country. In the towns and villages is a considerable proportion of brick and stone houses.

Pennsylvania exceeds all the other states in the variety and extent of her manufactures, some of which are of superior excellence. Those of iron have been mentioned. The various fabrics from wool and cotton give ample employment to the capitalist and the artisan. All the necessaries of life, and many of its luxuries, are to be found in this state, the produce of its soil and the labor of its citizens. (For the exports of this state, see articles Philadelphia, and Pittsburg.)

PENNSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY. (See Philadelphia.)

PENN TOWNSHIP; a small township in Philadelphia county, Pennsylvania. This place was selected by the late Mr. Girard, for the establishment of a school for orphans. The site is about two miles from the old court-house in Philadelphia.

PENNY. (See Sterling Money.)
PENNY POST. (See Posts.)

PENNYROYAL; a species of mint (mentha pulegium), formerly in considerable repute as a medicine, but now almost totally neglected. In this country, the same name is applied to the hedeoma pulegioides, a small plant, allied to, and not very different in its sensible properties from the former, nor, indeed, from the other species of mint. (See Mint.)

PENOBSCOT; the largest river of Maine. The western and principal branch rises in the western part of the state, and unites with the eastern branch 54 miles northeast of Bangor. After the junction, it runs south by west, till it flows into the head of Penobscot bay, between the towns of Penobscot and Prospect. It is navigable for ships to Bangor, where the tide terminates, 52 miles north of Owl's Head, at the entrance of the bay. Many towns on the banks of the Penobscot are beautiful and flourishing.

PENOBSCOT BAY, at the mouth of Penobscot river, on the coast of Maine, is a large and beautiful bay, and affords great advantages for navigation. It contains several islands. Its entrance, between the Isle of Holt and Owl's Head, is eighteen miles wide, and its length from north to south is about thirty miles. Lon. 68° 40 to 68° 56′ W.; lat. 44° to 44° 30′ N.

PENSACOLA, the capital of West Florida, is situated on a bay of the same name, in lat. 30° 28′ N., and lon. 87° 12′ W. The shore is low and sandy, but the town is built on a gentle ascent. It is in the form of a parallelogram, and the length is nearly a mile. Only small vessels can approach the town, but the bay is one of the most safe and capacious in the gulf

of Mexico.

It has been selected as a naval station and depot. A stream of fresh water runs through the town. It is regarded as comparatively a healthy place. The present population may be a little more than 2000.

PENSIONER; a person who receives a pension from government.-Grand Pensionary was the prime minister of the states of the province of Holland, who was called by them advocate-general of the province. He had no deciding voice in the assembly of the states, but only proposed the measures to be discussed. He collected the votes, drew up the reports, opened all memorials addressed to the states, transacted business with the foreign ministers, superintended the revenue and the maintenance of rights and privileges, and took care, in general, of the welfare of the province. He took part in the doings of the college of the counsellors, who exercised the sovereign power in the absence of the estates, and was permanent deputy to the general estates of the United Netherlands. The influence of this first magistrate was very great in Holland, and, therefore, in all the Netherlands. His term of office was five years, after the lapse of which he was generally rechosen. The French revolution and its consequences put an end to this office; but Napoleon, in 1805, made a state-pensionary director of the republic. (See Schimmelpennink.)

PENTAGLOT. (See Pentapla.) PENTAMETER; a verse consisting of five feet. These feet are two spondees or dactyles, two dactyles and one spondee, which latter is so severed, that its first syllable follows the two first feet, and its last syllable concludes the verse. The final syllable may also be short. The scheme of the pentameter is, therefore, as follows:

~|-~~|-|-~~|-~|~

The ancient grammarians, who in this way make of the pentameter a verse of five feet, can give no other reason for so doing, than that there does not exist, as they say, any foot of one syllable. To the ear, however, and in its essential character, the pentameter is, as well as the hexameter, a verse of six parts, having in the third division a long syllable, and in the last a long or a short syllable, on which we dwell as long as on two long syllables, so that the pentameter requires as much time in pronouncing as the hexameter. The pentameter receives a gentle

and lovely character from this double pause, by which it is distinguished essentially from the majestic hexameter. (q. v.) Ovid therefore says, that Cupid created it for his sport, by robbing the hexameter of two syllables. If used alone, the pentameter would become monotonous and tiresome; it is, therefore, never employed except alternately with the hexameter, which always precedes it. The metre thus composed of hexameters and pentameters was called by the ancients the elegiac, and each two verses a distich. (See Distich, and Elegy.) The character of the pentameter, however, is not exclusively gentle. It may be very poignant if used in an epigram, the point of which is made to coincide with the abrupt termination of the pentameter. A distich of Schiller compares the hexameter to the rising of the water of a fountain, and the pentameter to the falling back of the same. PENTAPLA, PENTAGLOT; a Bible in five languages. PENTATEUCH. (See Hebrew Language, and Moses.) PENTECOST (from nevykoσTM, the fiftieth);

a Jewish festival, celebrated fifty days after the passover, in commemoration of the promulgation of the law on mount Sinai. It was also called the Feast of Weeks, because it occurred at the end of a week of weeks, or seven weeks. It is also a festival of the Christian church, occurring fifty days after Easter (q. v.), in commemoration of the descent of the Holy Ghost on the disciples. It is called Whitsuntide by the English, according to some, from White Sunday Tide (time), because those who were newly baptized appeared at church in a white dress between Easter and Pentecost.

PENTELIC MARBLE. (See Marble.)
PENTHESILEA. (See Amazons.)

PENTHEUS; nephew of Cadnius, and his successor as king of Thebes. He op

posed the introduction of the worship of

Bacchus, and for this offence was torn to pieces by the Bacchantes, among whom were his own mother and sisters, acting, probably, under the direct influence of the god, like the rioters in the late outrages at Bristol, after they had broken open the wine-cellars of the town-house.

PENUMBRA. (See Eclipse.)

PEON, in the language of Hindoostan; a foot-soldier, armed with sword and target. In common use, the word denotes a footman so armed, employed to run before the palanquin. Piada is the original word, of which peon is a corruption. PEONY. (See Pæony.)

PEPE. (See Naples and Sicily, Revolution of.)

PEPLUM. (See Panathenæum.) PEPPER (piper); an extensive genus of plants, constituting a distinct natural family-the piperacea. The species are mostly succulent, perennial, herbaceous or shrubby, often climbing, dichotomous, and jointed. The leaves are very simple, and sometimes peltate, smooth, veined, pubescent, or rough. The flowers are disposed in nearly filiform aments, are destitute of either calyx or corolla, and are separated by very small scales; these aments or spikes are opposite to the leaves, or terminal. The fruit consists of a berry containing a single seed. The species of pepper are almost strictly confined within the limits of the tropics, and abound particularly in the equatorial regions of America. A single species has been discovered in East Florida, inhabiting as far north as lat. 39°. They are inconspicuous, often insignificant plants, in their appearance, and present little variety in the shape of their leaves. The P. nigrum, which furnishes the black pepper of commerce, is a native of the East Indies, and is besides cultivated on an extensive scale in that part of the globe. It is a climbing plant, and is supported on a pole or small tree planted for this purpose, which gives to the pepper grounds an appearance somewhat similar to the hop fields in northern climates. The stems are smooth and spongy, provided with broad, ovate, acuminate, sevennerved leaves, and bearing little globular berries, which, when ripe, are of a bright red color. The pepper of Malacca, Java, and especially of Sumatra, is the most esteemed. Formerly, the export of this article to Europe was exclusively in the hands of the Portuguese, but it is now open to all nations. Its culture has been introduced into the Isle of France, and thence into Cayenne and other parts of tropical America, where it has succeeded perfectly. Black pepper has always formed an extensive branch of commerce; the ancient Greeks and Romans were acquainted with it, and, at the present day, no spice is so generally used; the consumption is prodigious in all parts of the globe, but the southern Asiatics seem to employ it the most frequently. White pepper is nothing more than the best and soundest of the berries, gathered when fully ripe, and deprived of their external skin, by steeping them in salt water for about a week, at the end of which time the skins burst; they are then dried in 2

VOL. X.

the sun, rubbed between the hands, and winnowed to separate the hulls; it is much less pungent than the entire berries. The leaves of the P. betel, a native of the same parts of the globe, serve to enclose a few slices of the areca nut (thence commonly called betel nut), and a little shell lime, which substances together form a masticatory as much in use among these nations as is tobacco in Europe and America. It stains the saliva of a brickred color, and corrodes by degrees the substance of the teeth, but the consumption is, notwithstanding, prodigious, and it forms a very extensive branch of commerce. The true cubebs is the berry of a third species of pepper (P. cubeba), also from the same countries. The berries are globular, and about as large as those of the black pepper; they are tonic, stimulant and carminative, and are frequently used medicinally by the Asiatics. We must not confound this with the tailed pepper, also called cubebs, which is the product of the uvaria zeylanica, an entirely different plant, although it is used for the same purposes. In the year ending September 30, 1830, there were imported into the U. States 2,275,947 pounds of black pepper, and there were exported 2,160,889. (See Cayenne Pepper.)

PEPPERELL, Sir William, a lieutenantgeneral in the service of the British king before the American revolution, was born in the district of Maine (Massachusetts), and, about the year 1727, was chosen one of his majesty's council, to which he was annually reelected until his death-a period of thirty-two years. He possessed a vigorous frame, and much energy and firmness of character, which rendered him of great utility to a country exposed to a ferocious enemy. He was bred a merchant, but the principal portion of his time was spent in the discharge of the duties of a soldier. He rose to the highest military honors. When the expedition against Louisburg was contemplated, he was commissioned by the governors of New England to command the troops, and, investing the city in the beginning of May, 1745, soon forced it to capitulate. To reward his services, the king created him a baronet of Great Britain. He died at his seat in Kittery, Maine, July 6, 1759, aged sixty-three. He was distinguished for his social qualities.

PEPPERMINT. (See Mint.)

PEPYS, Samuel, secretary to the admiralty in the reigns of Charles II and James II, was born at Brampton, in Huntingdonshire, and educated at Cambridge. He

early acquired the patronage of Montagu, afterwards earl of Sandwich, who employed him as secretary in the expedition for bringing Charles II from Holland. On his return, he was appointed one of the principal officers of the navy. In 1673, when the king took the admiralty into his own hands, he appointed Mr. Pepys secretary to that office. He was employed under lord Dartmouth, in the expedition against Tangier, and often accompanied the duke of York in his naval visits to Scotland, and coasting cruises. On the accession of William and Mary, he published his Memoirs relating to the navy for ten years preceding, and led a retired life from this time till his death, in 1703. He was president of the royal society for ten years. He left a large collection of manuscripts to Magdalen college, Oxford, consisting of naval memoirs, prints, and five large folio volumes of ancient English poetry, begun by Selden, and carried down to 1700, from which the Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, by doctor Percy, are, for the most part, selected. His Diary affords a curious picture of the dissolute court of Charles II. PERA; a suburb of Constantinople, connected with the suburb of Galata, and formerly the quarter of the principal Greeks, Armenians, Jews and Franks, except the French who resided in Galata. There were here four Greek churches, and one Roman Catholic, and some monasteries. The Christian ambassadors also resided here, and the European style of dress and living prevailed here; it was therefore called by the Turks Swine's Quarter. It was almost entirely destroyed by fire in August, 1831. The palaces of the Austrian and Swedish missions escaped.

PERCEVAL, Spencer, second son of John Perceval, earl of Egmont, born 1762, received his education at Harrow, and Trinity college, Cambridge, of which he became a member about the year 1775. On quitting the university, he studied law. He soon distinguished himself as a sound constitutional lawyer, and obtained a silk gown. In 1801, he became solicitor-general, and, in 1802, attorney-general. On the formation of the new ministry, in 1807, after the death of Mr. Fox, he was appointed chancellor of the exchequer. În this post he continued till May 11, 1812, when, while in the act of approaching the door of the house of commons, a person named Bellingham, who had for some time previously presented a variety of memorials respecting some alleged ill treatment received in Russia, shot him dead,

with a pistol, in the lobby. The assassin, who avowed that he had been waiting with the view of destroying lord Leveson Gower, the ambassador to the court of St. Petersburg, made no attempt to escape, and was instantly arrested. Although a plea of insanity was set up by his counsel, he was found guilty, and executed on the 18th of the same month.

PERCUSSION LOCKS; a late and very useful invention. The percussion lock has no pan. In the place of the pan, a small tube projects horizontally from the side of the gun. In this tube another small tube stands perpendicularly. The cock, instead of being formed to hold a flint, is shaped somewhat like a hammer, with a hollow to fit upon the tube last mentioned. On this tube a little cap of copper is placed, in the bottom of which is a chemical mixture that kindles by percussion. This percussion is produced by the cock, which therefore requires a very strong spring. The powder is made in various ways, and of different materials; among others, of mercury, purified nitric acid, and spirit of wine freed from water. The copper caps in which this chemical powder is placed are two and a half lines long and two lines wide. Sometimes the powder is also formed in pills, and then a somewhat different contrivance is required to place the pills, covered with a little wax, to protect them from moisture, in the small tube. The advantages of a percussion lock are great: 1. Provided the spring of the cock is strong, and the chemical powder good, the gun cannot miss fire (as to the latter, the sportsman must choose a good chemist); while common locks are exposed to miss fire from many causes-bad flints, bad steel, bad priming, and weak springs. 2. The chemical powder explodes much more rapidly and forcibly than common powder, and therefore explodes the powder in the gun itself more forcibly, so as to produce a prompter and more effectual discharge. 3. The moisture of the air has hardly any influence: in a violent rain, the lock is as sure to give fire as in the driest day. 4. The danger of an unintentional discharge is avoided: as long as the copper cap is not placed on the little tube, the gun cannot go off, even if the cock is snapped by mistake; while, with other guns, there is always danger, even when no priming has been put in the pan, because some grains may always escape through the touchhole, and the cock may always be accidentally snapped. The caps or pills which the sportsman must carry with him are not dangerous, because it

requires a very strong percussion to explode the powder. (For its manufacture, see Mercury, vol. viii, p. 421.) Percussion locks have come very much into use, and attempts have even been made to introduce them into armies, though the expense of the chemical powder may be an objection. PERCY, Thomas, bishop of Dromore, in Ireland, a descendant of the family of Northumberland, was born in Bridgenorth in 1728, and was graduated at Christ-church, Oxford, in 1753. In 1769, he was appointed chaplain to the king, and, in 1778, raised to the deanery of Carlisle, which he resigned four years after for the Irish bishopric of Dromore. The most popular of his works are his Reliques of Ancient English Poetry (in 3 vols. 8vo.), and a poem, the Hermit of Warkworth. He was well skilled in the Icelandic and several of the Oriental languages, especially the Chinese, from which he made some translations. His other writings are a Key to the New Testament, a new version of Solomon's Song, with translations of Mallet's Northern Antiquities, and of some pieces of Icelandic poetry. He also published a curious domestic record, long extant in the Percy family, and known as the Northumberland Household-Book-a document valuable for the light it throws on manners. His death took place at Dromore, Sept. 30, 1811.

PERDICCAS; the name of several kings of Macedonia, and, at a later period, of the most distinguished general of Alexander, a noble Macedonian, who attended him on his campaign to Asia, and enjoyed his confidence above all others. Alexander, just before his death, gave him his signet-ring, the emblem of regal power, and, by this action, seemed to fix upon him as his successor to the throne. Perdiccas was ambitious enough to desire this elevation; but the influence of his enemies and rivals prevented him from receiving a bigher rank than that of guardian of the heir to the throne. He succeeded, however, in making himself second only to the king. But he aspired still higher, and was engaged in a war with his rival Ptolemy, when his soldiers mutinied, partly owing to his own arrogance. He was assassinated by his soldiers in Egypt B. C. 321, three years after he had been appointed guardian to the successor of Alexander.

PÈRE DE LACHAISE. (See Lachaise.) PEREGRINUS PROTEUS, a notorious character, who flourished in the first half of the second century, was born at Parium, in Mysia. After many excesses, he was charged

with parricide, and was obliged to flee. He went to Palestine, became a Christian, and, by his zeal, which brought him to a dungeon, gained the name of a martyr. He received support and sympathy from every quarter, till the prefect of Syria set him at liberty. He now recommenced his wanderings, was excluded from the church for his vices, and then gave himself up to the most disgraceful excesses. An object of universal abhorrence, he desired at least to finish his career in an extraordinary manner. He accordingly gave out that he should burn himself alive at the Olympic games. This he did, in presence of an immense multitude, A. D. 168. Much interest has been given to the history of this singular character by the romance of Wieland.

PERENNIAL, in botany, is applied to those plants whose roots will abide many years, whether they retain their leaves in winter or not. Those which retain their leaves are called evergreens; but such as cast their leaves are called deciduous.

PERFECTIBILITY; the capacity of being made perfect. It is a word used in philosophy, religious and moral, with reference to individuals and to society, to the present and the future state. Moral duties include not only the duties which we owe to others, but also tne great duty which we owe to ourselves, to strive uninterruptedly for the improvement of our mental and moral faculties. This sup poses that our own improvement is in our own power, which has been doubted by certain philosophers, materialists and others, who make our whole moral condition dependent upon causes beyond our control, thus denying, in fact, a moral condition. The question whether we can ever attain, on earth, to a state of perfection, resolves itself into this-whether we can ever, in this world, acquire a perfect knowledge of our duties, and a perfect will to perform them. The consideration of the hinderances to such a will and knowledge belongs to the great question of the origin of evil. But, however imperfect may be all the attainments that we can make in this world, on which point every one's own conscience will satisfy him better than the most elaborate reasoning, no one should be deprived by such considerations from striving for all the improvement within his power. To stop, or to go backwards, is to be wretched. Secondly, as to the perfectibility of society. It was loudly inaintained by some French writers, at the beginning of the revolution of the last century, that society