Chapter 16

Among women, four have been perfect; Asia, wife of Pharaoh; Mary, daughter of Imràn; Khadîjah, daughter of Khowailed, Mahomet’s first wife; and Fâtima, Mahomet’s daughter.—Attributed to Mahomet.

***There is considerable doubt respecting the Pharaoh meant—whether the Pharaoh, whose daughter adopted Moses, or the Pharaoh who was drowned in the Red Sea. The tale suits the latter king far better than it does the first.

Pharsa´lia(The), a Latin epic in ten books, by Lucan, the subject being the fall and death of Pompey. It opens with the passage of Cæsar across the Rubĭcon. This river formed the boundary of his province, and his crossing it was virtually a declaration of war (bk. i.). Pompey is appointed by the senate general of the army to oppose him (bk. v.). Cæsar retreats to Thessaly; Pompey follows (bk. vi.), and both prepare for war. Pompey, being routed in the battle of Pharsalia, flees (bk. vii.), and seeking protection in Egypt, is met by Achillas, the Egyptian general, who murders him, cuts off his head, and casts his body into the sea (bk. viii.). Cato leads the residue of Pompey’s army to Cyrēnê, in Africa (bk. ix.); and Cæsar, in pursuit of Pompey, landing at Alexandria, is hospitably entertained by Cleopatra (bk. x.). While here, he tarries in luxurious dalliance, the palace is besieged by Egyptians, and Cæsar with difficulty escapes to Pharos. He is closely pursued, hemmed in on all sides, and leaps into the sea. With his imperial robe held between his teeth, his commentaries in his left hand, and his sword in his right, he buffets the waves. A thousand javelins are hurled at him, but touch him not. He swims for empire, he swims for life; ’tis Cæsar and his fortunes that the waves bear on. He reaches his fleet; is received by his soldiers with thundering applause. The stars in their courses fought for Cæsar. The sea-gods were with him, and Egypt with her host was a by-word and a scorn.

***Bk. ix. contains the account of the African serpents, by far the most celebrated passage of the whole poem. The following is a pretty close translation of the passage in question. It would haveoccupied too much room to give their onslaught also:—

Here all the serpent deadly brood appears;First the dull Asp its swelling neck uprears;The huge Hemor´rhoïs, vampire of the blood;Chersy´ders, that pollute both field and flood;The Water-serpent, tyrant of the lake;The hooded Cobra; and the Plantain snake;Here with distended jaws the Prester strays;And Seps, whose bite both flesh and bone decays;The Amphisbæna with its double head,One on the neck, and one of tail instead;The horned Cerastês; and the Hammodyte,Whose sandy hue might balk the keenest sight;A feverish thirst betrays the Dipsas’ sting;The Scytăla, its slough that casts in spring;The Natrix here the crystal streams pollutes;Swift thro’ the air the venomed Javelin shoots;Here the Parēas, moving on its tail,Marks in the sand its progress by its trail;The speckled Cenchris darts its devious way,Its skin with spots as Theban marble gay;The hissing Sibīla; and Basilisk,With whom no living thing its life would risk,Where’er it moves none else would dare remain,Tyrant alike and terror of the plain.E. C. B.

In this battle Pompey had 45,000 legionaries, 7000 horse, and a large number of auxiliaries. Cæsar had 22,000 legionaries, and 1000 horse. Pompey’s battle cry wasHerculês invictus!That of Cæsar wasVenus victrix!Cæsar won the battle.

Phebe(2syl.), a shepherdess beloved by the shepherd Silvius. While Rosalind was in boy’s clothes, Phebe fell in love with the stranger, and made a proposal of marriage; but when Rosalind appeared in her true character, and gave her hand to Orlando, Phebe was content to accept her old love, Silvius.—Shakespeare,As You Like It(1600).

Phedre(orPhædra), daughter of Minos, king of Crete, and wife of Theseus. She conceived a criminal love for Hippolytos, her step-son, and, being repulsed by him, accused him to her husband of attempting to dishonor her. Hippolytos was put to death, and Phædra, wrung with remorse, strangled herself.

This has been made the subject of tragedy by Eurip´idês in Greek, Sen´eca in Latin, Racine in French (1677). “Phèdre” was the great part of Mdlle. Rachel; she first appeared in this character in 1838.

(Pradon, under the patronage of the duchess de Bouillon and the duc de Nevers, produced, in 1677, his tragedy ofPhèdrein opposition to that of Racine. The duke even tried to hiss down Racine’s play, but the public judgment was more powerful than the duke; and, while it pronounced decidedly for Racine’schef d’œuvre, it had no tolerance for Pradon’s production.)

Phelis“the Fair,” the wife of Sir Guy, earl of Warwick.

Phid´ias(The French), (1) Jean Goujon; also called “The Correggio of Sculptors.” He was slain in the St. Bartholomew Massacre (1510-1572). (2) J. B. Pigalle (1714-1785).

Phil(Little), the lad of John Davies, the old fisherman.—Sir W. Scott,Redgauntlet(time, George III.).

Philaminte(3syl.), wife of Chrysale, the bourgeois, and mother of Armande, Henrietta, Ariste, and Bélise.—Molière,Les Femmes Savantes(1672).

Philan´der, of Holland, was a guest at the house of Arge´o, baron of Servia, and the baron’s wife, Gabri´na, fell in love with him. Philander fled the house, and Gabrina told her husband he had abused her, and had fled out of fear of him. He was pursued, overtaken, and cast into a dungeon. One day Gabrina visited him thereand asked him to defend her against a wicked knight. This he undertook to do, and Gabrina posted him in a place where he could make his attack. Philander slew the knight, but discovered that it was Argeo. Gabrina now declared she would give him up to justice unless he married her; and Philander, to save his life, did so. But in a very short time the infamous woman tired of her toy, and cut him off by poison.—Ariosto,Orlando Furioso(1516).

Philander, a dawdling lover; so called from Philander, the Dutch knight mentioned above, who was wooed by Gabrina. To “philander” is to hang about a woman in a half-hearted way; to toy.

Yes, I’ll baste you together, you and your Philander.—W. Congreve,The Way of the World(1700).

Philander, prince of Cyprus, passionately in love with the Princess Ero´ta.—Beaumont and Fletcher,The Laws of Candy(1647).

Philanthropist(The), John Howard (1726-1790).

Philario, an Italian, at whose house Posthumus made his silly wager with Iachimo. (SeePosthumus.)—Shakespeare,Cymbeline(1605).

Philario, an Italian improvisatore, who remained faithful to Fazio even in disgrace.—Dean Milman,Fazio(1815).

Philaster(Prince), heir to the crown of Messi´na. Euphra´sia, who was in love with Philaster, disguised herself as a boy, and, assuming for the nonce the name of Bellario, entered the prince’s service. Philaster, who was in love with the Princess Arethu´sa, transferred Bellario to her service, and then grew jealous of Arethusa’s love for the young page.—Beaumont and Fletcher,Philaster, orLove Lies a-bleeding(? 1622).

There is considerable resemblance between Euphrasia and “Viola” inTwelfth Night(Shakespeare, 1614).

Philax, cousin of the Princess Imis. The fay Pagan shut them up in the “Palace of Revenge,” a superb crystal palace, containing every delight except the power of leaving it. In the course of a few years Imis and Philax longed as much for a separation as at one time they had wished for a union.—Comtesse D’Aunoy,Fairy Tales(“Palace of Revenge,” 1682).

Phile´mon(3syl.), an aged rustic who, with his wife, Baucis, hospitably received Jupiter and Mercury, after every one else had refused to receive them. The gods sent an inundation to destroy the inhospitable people, but saved Baucis and Philemon, and converted their cottage into a magnificent temple. At their own request the aged couple died on the same day, and were changed into two trees, which stood before the temple.—Greek Mythology.

Philinte(2syl.), friend of Alceste (2syl.)—Molière,Le Misanthrope(1666).

Philip, father of William Swidger. His favorite expression was, “Lord, keep my memory green. I am 87.”—C. Dickens,The Haunted Man(1848).

Philip, the butler of Mr. Peregrine Lovel; a hypocritical, rascally servant, who pretends to be most careful of his master’s property, but who in reality wastes it most recklessly, and enriches himself with it most unblushingly. Being found out, he is summarily dismissed.—Rev. J. Townley,High Life Below Stairs(1759).

Philip(Father), sacristan of St. Mary’s.—Sir W. Scott,The Monastery(time, Elizabeth).

Philip Augustus, king of France, introduced by Sir W. Scott inThe Talisman(time, Richard I.).

Philip Nolan, officer in U. S. Navy, condemned by president of court martial for complicity with Aaron Burr, and for swearing at the United States, “never to hear the name of the United States again.” He is passed from one man-of-war to another, never allowed to converse upon national affairs, to see a U. S. newspaper or read a history of the United States, until homesick and heartsick, after an exile of fifty-five years, he dies, praying for the country that had disowned him.—Edward Everett Hale,The Man Without a Country(1863).

Philip Nye, brought up for the Anglican Church, but became a Presbyterian, and afterwards an independent. He was noted for the cut of his beard.

This reverend brother, like a goat,Did wear a tail upon his throat.But set in such a curious frame,As if ’twere wrought in filograin,And cut so even, as if ’t had beenDrawn with a pen upon his chin.S. Butler,On Philip Nye’s Thanksgiving Beard(1652).

Philip Ogden, lover and hero in Blanche Willis Howard’sOne Summer. He is nearly blinded by the point of Leigh’s umbrella at their first meeting, and after an idyllic courtship they are wedded (1875).

Philip Quarl, a castaway-sailor, who becomes a hermit. His “man Friday” is a chimpanzee.—Philip Quarl(1727).

Philip’s Four Daughters.We are told, inActsxxi. 9, that Philip, the deacon or evangelist, had four daughters which did prophesy.

Helen, the mother of great Constantine,Nor yet St. Philip’s daughters, were like thee [Joan of Arc].Shakespeare, 1Henry VI.act i. sc. 2 (1589).

Philippe, a parched and haggard wretch, infirm and bent beneath a pile of years, yet shrewd and cunning, greedy of gold, malicious, and looked upon by the common people as an imp of darkness. It was this old villain who told Thancmar that the provost of Bruges was the son of a serf on Thancmar’s estates.—S. Knowles,The Provost of Bruges(1836).

Philippe Egalité, (4syl.), Louis Philippe, duc d’Orléans (1747-1793).

Philipson(The elder), John, earl of Oxford, an exiled Lancastrian, who goes to France disguised as a merchant.

Arthur Philipson, Sir Arthur de Vere, son of the earl of Oxford, whom he accompanies to the court of King René of Provence.—Sir W. Scott,Anne of Geierstein(time, Edward IV.).

Phil´isides(3syl.), Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586).

It was the harp of Phil´isides, now dead....And now in heaven a sign it doth appear,The Harp well known beside the Northern Bear.Spenser,The Ruins of Time(1591).

***Phili[p] Sid[ney], with the Greek termination, makesPhili-sides. Bishop Hall calls the wordPhil-is´-ides: “Which sweet Philis´ides fetched of late from France.”

Philistines, a title complacently bestowed, in England and America, by the advance-guard in literature and art, on the Conservatives. The French equivalent is “les bourgeois.”

Demonstrative and offensive whiskers, which are the special inheritance of the British Philistines.—Mrs. Oliphant,Phœbe, Junr., i. 2.

Phillips(Jessie), the title and chief character of a novel by Mrs. Trollope, the object being an attack on the new poor-law system (1843).

Phillis, a drama written in Spanish, by Lupercio Leonardo, of Argensola.—Cervantes,Don Quixote(1605-15).

Phillis, a pastoral name for a maiden.

Where Corydon and Thyrsis met,Are at their savory dinner set,Of herbs and other country messes,Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses.Milton,L’Allegro(1638).

Phillis, “the Exigent,” asked “Damon thirty sheep for a kiss;” next day, she promised himthirtykisses for a sheep;” the third day, she would have given “thirty sheep for a kiss;” and the fourth day, Damon bestowed his kisses for nothing on Lizette.—C. Rivière Dufresny,La Coquette de Village(1715).

Philo, a Pharisee, one of the Jewish sanhedrim, who hated Caiaphas, the high priest, for being a Sadducee. Philo made a vow in the judgment hall, that he would take no rest till Jesus was numbered with the dead. In bk. xiii. he commits suicide, and his soul is carried to hell by Obaddon, the angel of death.—Klopstock,The Messiah, iv. (1771).

Philoc´lea, one of the heroines in Sir Philip Sidney’s “Arcadia.” It has been sought to identify her with Lady Penelopê Devereux, with whom Sidney was thought to be in love.

Philocte´tes(4syl.) one of the Argonauts, who was wounded in the foot while on his way to Troy. An oracle declared to the Greeks that Troy could not be taken “without the arrows of Herculês,” and as Herculês at death had given them to Philoctētês, the Greek chiefs sent for him, and he repaired to Troy in the tenth and last year of the siege.

All dogs have their day, even rabid ones. Sorrowful, incurablePhiloctetêsMarat, without whom Troy cannot be taken.—Carlyle.

Philomel, daughter of Pandīon, king of Attica. She was converted into a nightingale.

Philosopher(The), Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the Roman emperor, was so called by Justin Martyr (121, 161-180).

Leo VI., emperor of the East (866, 886-911).

Porphyry, the Neoplatonist (223-304).

Alfred or Alured, surnamed “Anglicus,” was also called “The Philosopher” (died 1270).

Philosopher of China, Confucius (B.C.551-479).

Philosopher of Ferney, Voltaire, who lived at Ferney, near Geneva, for the last twenty years of his life (1694-1778).

Philosopher of Malmesbury, Thomas Hobbs, author ofLeviathan. He was born at Malmesbury (1588-1679).

Philosopher of Persia(The), Abou Ebn Sina, of Shiraz (died 1037).

Philosopher of Sans Souci, Frederick the Great of Prussia (1712, 1740-1786).

***Frederick, elector of Saxony, was called “The Wise” (1463, 1544-1554).

Philosopher of Wimbledon(The), John Horne Tooke, author of theDiversions of Purley. He lived at Wimbledon, near London (1736-1812).

(For the philosophers of the different Greek sects, as the Cynic, Cyrenaic, Eleac, Eleatic, Epicurean, Haraclitian, Ionic, Italic, Megaric, Peripatetic, Sceptic, Socratic, Stoic, etc., seeDictionary of Phrase and Fable, 680-1.)

Philosophers(The five English): (1) Roger Bacon, author ofOpus Majus(1214-1292;(2) Sir Francis Bacon, author ofNovum Orgănum(1561-1626); (3) the Hon. Robert Boyle(1627-1691;(4) John Locke, author of a treatise on theHuman Understanding and Innate Ideas(1632-1704); (5) Sir Isaac Newton, author ofPrincip´ia(1641-1727).

Philosophy(The Father of), (1) Albrecht von Haller, of Berne (1708-1777). (2) Roger Bacon is also so called (1214-1292).

Philosophy(The Father of Inductive), Francis Bacon [Lord Verulam] (1561-1626).

Philosophy(The Father of Roman), Cicero, the orator(B.C.)106-43).

Philosophy(The Nursing Mother of). Mde. de Boufflers was so called by Marie Antoinette.

Phil´ostrate(3syl.), master of the revels to Theseus (2syl.) king of Athens.—Shakespeare,Midsummer Night’s Dream(1592).

Philo´tas, son of Parmenio, and commander of the Macedonian cavalry. He was charged with plotting against Alexander the Great. Being put to the rack, he confessed his guilt, and was stoned to death.

The king may doom to me a thousand tortures,Ply me with fire, and rack me like Philotas,Ere I will stoop to idolize his pride.N. Lee,Alexander the Great, i. 1 (1678).

Philot´ime(4syl., “love of glory”), daughter of Mammon, whom the money-god offers to Sir Guyon for a wife; but the knight declines the honor, saying he is bound by love-vows to another.—Spenser,Faëry Queen, ii. 7 (1590).

Philot´imus, Ambition personified. (Greek,Philo-tīmus, “ambitious, covetous of honor.”)—Phineas Fletcher,The Purple Island, viii. (1633).

Philotimus, steward of the house in the suite of Gargantua.—Rabelais,Gargantua, i. 18 (1533).

Philpot(Senior), an avaricious old hunks, and father of George Philpot. The old city merchant cannot speak a sentence without bringing in something about money. “He wears square-toed shoes with little tiny buckles, a brown coat with small brass buttons.... His face is all shrivelled and pinched with care, and he shakes his head like a mandarin upon a chimney-piece” (act i. 1).

When I was very young, I performed the part of “Old Philpot,” at Brighton, with great success, and next evening I was introduced into a club-room full of company. On hearing my name announced, one of the gentlemen laid down his pipe, and taking up his glass, said, “Here’s to your health, young gentleman, and to your father’s, too. I had the pleasure of seeing him last night in the part of ‘Philpot,’ and a very nice, clever old gentleman he is. I hope,young sir, you may one day be as good an actor as your worthy father.”—Munden.

George Philpot.The profligate son of old Philpot, destined for Maria Wilding, but the betrothal is broken off, and Maria marries Beaufort. George wants to pass for a dashing young blade, but is made the dupe of every one. “Bubbled at play; duped by a girl to whom he paid his addresses; cudgelled by a rake; laughed at by his cronies; snubbed by his father, and despised by every one.”—Murphy,The Citizen(1757 or 1761).

Philtra, a lady of large fortune, betrothed to Bracĭdas; but, seeing the fortune of Amĭdas daily increasing, and that of Bracidas getting smaller and smaller, she forsook the declining fortune of her first lover, and attached herself to the more prosperous younger brother.—Spenser,Faëry Queen, v. 4 (1596).

Phineus[Fi´.nuce], a blind soothsayer, who was tormented by the harpies. Whenever a meal was set before him, the harpies came and carried it off, but the Argonauts delivered him from these pests in return for his information respecting the route they were to take in order to obtain the golden fleece. (SeeTiresias.)

Tiresias and Phineus, prophets old.Milton,Paradise Lost, iii. 36 (1665).

Phiz, the pseudonym of Hablot K. Browne, who illustrated thePickwick Papers(1836),Nicholas Nickleby, and most of Charles Dickens’s works of fiction. He also illustrated the Abbotsford edition of theWaverley Novels.

Phleg´rian Size, gigantic. Phlegra, or the Phlegræ´an plain, in Macedon, is where the giants attacked the gods, and were defeated by Hercŭlés. Drayton makes the diphthongæa shorti:

Whose only love surprised those of the Phlegrian size,The Titanois, that once against high heaven durst rise.Polyolbion, vi. (1612).

Phobbs.Captain and Mrs. Phobbs, with Mrs. Major Phobbs, a widow, sister-in-law to the captain, inLend Me Five Shillings, by J. M. Morton.

Pho´cion, husband of Euphra´sia, “the Grecian daughter.”—A. Murphy,The Grecian Daughter(1772).

Pho´cyas, general of the Syrian army in the siege of Damascus. Phocyas was in love with Eudo´cia, daughter of Eu´menês, the governor, but when he asked the governor’s consent, Eumenês sternly refused to give it. After gaining several battles, Phocyas fell into the hands of the Arabs, and consented to join their army to revenge himself on Eumenês. The Arabs triumphed, and Eudocia was taken captive, but she refused to wed a traitor. Ultimately, Phocyas died, and Eudocia entered a convent.—John Hughes,Siege of Damascus(1720).

Phœbe, village girl seduced and afterward married by Barry Crittenden. He takes her to the cottage allotted him by his father, and introduces her to his mother and sisters. She tries diligently to adapt herself to her new sphere until she becomes jealous of a woman whom she imagines Barry once fancied, and now loves. Phœbe flees secretly to her mother’s cottage, taking her child with her, and refuses to return to her husband, until accident reveals the causelessness of her jealousy.—Miriam Coles Harris,Phœbe(1884).

Phœbus, the sun-god.Phœbe(2syl.), the moon-goddess.—Greek Mythology.

Phœbus’s Son.Pha´ĕton obtained permission of his father to drive the sun-car for one day, but, unable to guide the horses, they left their usual track, the car was overturned, and both heaven and earth were threatened with destruction. Jupiter struck Phaeton with his thunderbolt, and he fell headlong into the Po.

... like Phœbus fayrest childe,That did presume his father’s fiery wayne,And flaming mouths of steeds unwonted wilde,Thro’ highest heaven with weaker hand to rayne; ...He leaves the welkin way most beaten playne,And, wrapt with whirling wheels, inflamed the skyenWith fire not made to burne, but fayrely for to shyne.Spenser,Faëry Queen, i. 4, 10 (1590).

Phœbus.Gaston de Foix was so called, from his great beauty (1488-1512).

Phœbus(Captain), the betrothed of Fleur de Marie. He also entertains a base love for Esmeralda, the beautiful gypsy girl.—Victor Hugo,Notre Dame de Paris(1831).

Phœnix(The), is said to live 500 (or 1,000) years, when it makes a nest of spices, burns itself to ashes, and comes forth with renewed life for another similar period. There never was but one phœnix.

The bird of Arabye ... Can never dye,And yet there is none, But only one,A phœnix ... Plinni showeth al In hisStory Natural,What he doth finde Of the phœnix kinde.J. Skelton,Philip Sparow(time, Henry VIII.).

Phœnix Tree, the raisin, an Arabian tree. Floro says: “There never was but one, and upon it the phœnix sits.”—Dictionary(1598).

Pliny thinks the tree on which the phœnix was supposed to perch is the date tree (called in Greekphoinix), adding that “the bird died with the tree, and revived of itself as the tree revived.”—Nat. Hist., xiii. 4.

Now I will believeThat there are unicorns; that in ArabiaThere is one tree, the phœnix’ throne; one phœnixAt this hour reigning there.Shakespeare,The Tempest, act iii. sc. 3 (1609).

Phorcus, “the old man of the sea.” He had three daughters, with only one eye and one tooth between ’em.—Greek Mythology.

This is not “the old man of the sea” mentioned in theArabian Nights(“Sindbad the Sailor”).

Phor´mio, a parasite, who is “all things to all men.”—Terence,Phormio.

Phosphor, the light-bringer or morning star; also calledHespĕrus, and by Homer and HesiodHeôs-phŏros.

Bright Phosphor, fresher for the night,Sweet Hesper-Phosphor, double name.Tennyson,In Memoriam, cxxi. (1850).

Phos´phorus, a knight called by Tennyson “Morning Star,” but, in theHistory of Prince Arthur, “Sir Persaunt of India, or the Blue Knight.” One of the four brothers who kept the passages to Castle Perilous.—Tennyson,Idylls(“Gareth and Lynette”); Sir T. Malory,History of Prince Arthur, i. 131 (1470).

***It is evidently a blunder to call theBlueKnight “Morning Star,” and theGreenKnight “Evening Star.” In the old romance, the combat with the “Green Knight,” is at dawn, and with the “Blue Knight” at nightfall. The error arose from not bearing in mind that our forefathers began the day with the preceding eve, and ended it at sunset.

Phraortes(3syl.), a Greek admiral.—Sir W. Scott,Count Robert of Paris(time, Rufus).

Phry´ne(2syl.), an Athenian courtezan of surpassing beauty. Apellês’s celebrated picture of “Venus Anadyomĕnê” was drawn from Phrynê, who entered the sea with hair dishevelled for a model. The “Cnidian Venus” of Praxitĕlês was also taken from the same model.

Some say Campaspê was the academy figure of the “Venus Anadyomenê.” Pope has a poem calledPhryne.

Phyllis, a Thracian, who fell in love with Demoph´oön. After some months of mutual affection, Demophoon was obliged to sail for Athens, but promised to return within a month. When a month had elapsed, and Demophoon did not put in an appearance, Phyllis so mourned for him that she was changed into an almond tree, hence called by the GreeksPhylia. In time, Demophoon returned, and, being told the fate of Phyllis, ran to embrace the tree, which though bare and leafless at the time, was instantly covered with leaves, hence calledPhyllaby the Greeks.

Let Demophoon tellWhy Phyllis by a fate untimely fell.Ovid,Art of Love, iii.

Phyllis, a country girl in Virgil’s third and fifthEclogues. Hence a rustic maiden. Also speltPhillis(q.v.).

Phyllis, in Spenser’s eclogue,Colin Clout’s Come Home Again, is Lady Carey, wife of Sir George Carey (afterwards Lord Hunsdon, 1596). Lady Carey was Elizabeth, the second of the six daughters of Sir John Spenser, of Althorpe, ancestor of the noble houses of Spenser and Marlborough.

No less praiseworthy are the sisters three,The honor of the noble familyOf which I, meanest, boast myself to be, ...Phyllis, Charyllis, and sweet Amaryllis:Phyllis the fair is eldest of the three.Spenser,Colin Clout’s Come Home Again(1594).

Phyllis and Brunetta, rival beauties. Phyllis procured for a certain festival some marvellous fabric of gold brocade in order to eclipse her rival, but Brunetta dressed the slave who bore her train, in a robe of the same material and cut in precisely the same fashion, while she herself wore simple black. Phyllis died of mortification.—The Spectator(1711, 1712, 1714).

Phynnodderee, a Manx spirit, similar to the Scotch brownie. Phynnodderee is an outlawed fairy, who absented himself from Fairy-court on the greatlevéeday of the harvest moon. Instead of paying his respects to King Oberon, he remained in the glen of Rushen, dancing with a pretty Manx maid whom he was courting.

Physic a Farce is(His). Sir John Hill began his career as an apothecary in St. Martin’s Lane, London; became author, and amongst other things wrote farces. Grarrick said of him:

For physic and farces, his equal there scarce is:His farces are physic, his physic a farce is.

Physician(The Beloved), St. Luke, the evangelist (Col.iv. 14).

Physicians(The prince of), Avicenna, the Arabian (980-1037).

Physigna´thos, king of the frogs, and son of Pelus (“mud”). Being wounded in the battle of the frogs and mice by Troxartas, the mouse king, he flees ingloriously to a pool, “and half in anguishof the flight, expires” (bk. iii. 112). The word means “puffed chaps.”

Great Physignathos I from Pelus’ race,Begot in fair Hydromedê’s embrace.Parnell,Battle of the Frogs and Mice, i. (about 1712).

Pibrac(Seigneur de), poet and diplomatist, author ofCinquante Quatrains(1574). Gorgibus bids his daughter to study Pibrac instead of trashy novels and poetry.

Lisez-moi, comme il faut, au lieu de ces sornettes,LesQuatrainsde Pibrac, et les doctesTablettesDu conseiller Matthieu; l’ouvrage est de valeur, ...La Guide des pécheursest encore un bon livre.Molière,Sganarelle, i. 1 (1660).

(Pierre Matthieu, poet and historian, wroteQuatrains de la Vanité du Monde, 1629.)

Picanninies(4syl.), little children; the small fry of a village.—West Indian Negroes.

There were at the marriage the picanninies and the Joblilies, but not the Grand Panjandrum.—Yonge.

Pic´atrix, the pseudonym of a Spanish monk; author of a book on demonology.

When I was a student ... that same Rev. Picatrix ... was wont to tell us that devils did naturally fear the bright flashes of swords as much as he feared the splendor of the sun.—Rabelais,Pantag´ruel, iii. 23 (1545).

Picciola, flower that, springing up in the court-yard of his prison, cheers and elevates the lonely life of the prisoner whom X. B. Saintine makes the hero of his charming tale,Picciola(1837).

Piccolino, an opera by Mons. Guiraud (1875); libretto by MM. Sardou and Nuittier. This opera was first introduced to an English audience in 1879. The tale is this: Marthé, an orphan girl adopted by a Swiss pastor, is in love with Frédéric Auvray, a young artist, who “loved and left his love.” Marthé plods through the snow from Switzerland to Rome to find her young artist, but, for greater security, puts on boy’s clothes, and assumes the name of Piccolino. She sees Frédéric, who knows her not; but, struck with her beauty, makes a drawing of her. Marthé discovers that the faithless Frédéric is paying his addresses to Elena (sister of the Duke Strozzi). She tells the lady her love-tale; and Frédéric, deserted by Elena, forbids Piccolino (Marthé) to come into his presence again. The poor Swiss wanderer throws herself into the Tiber, but is rescued. Frédéric repents, and the curtain falls on a reconciliation and approaching marriage.

Pickel-Herringe(5syl.), a popular name among the Dutch for a buffoon; a corruption ofpickle-härin(“a hairy sprite”), answering to Ben Jonson’sPuck-hairy.

Pickle(Peregrine), a savage, ungrateful spendthrift, fond of practical jokes, delighting in tormenting others; but suffering with ill temper the misfortunes which result from his own wilfulness. His ingratitude to his uncle, and his arrogance to Hatchway and Pipes, are simply hateful.—T. Smollett,The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle(1751).

Pickwick(Samuel), the chief character ofThe Pickwick Papers, a novel by C. Dickens. He is general chairman of the Pickwick Club. A most verdant, benevolent elderly gentleman, who, as member of a club instituted “for the purpose of investigating the source of the Hampstead ponds,” travels about with three membersof the club, to whom he acts as guardian and adviser. The adventures they encounter form the subject of thePosthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club(1836).

The original of Seymour’s picture of “Pickwick” was a Mr. John Foster (notthe biographer of Dickens, but a friend of Mr. Chapman’s, the publisher). He lived at Richmond, and was “a fat old beau,” noted for his “drab tights and black gaiters.”

Pickwickian Sense(In a), an insult whitewashed. Mr. Pickwick accused Mr. Blotton of acting in “a vile and calumnious manner;” whereupon Mr. Blotton retorted by calling Mr. Pickwick “a humbug,” But it finally was made to appear that both had used the offensive words only in a parliamentary sense, and that each entertained for the other “the highest regard and esteem.” So the difficulty was easily adjusted, and both were satisfied.

Lawyers and politicians daily abuse each other in a Pickwickian sense.—Bowditch.

Pic´rochole, king of Lernê, noted for his choleric temper, his thirst for empire, and his vast but ill-digested projects.—Rabelais,Gargantua, i. (1533).

Supposed to be a satire on Charles V. of Spain.

Picrochole’s Counsellors.The duke of Smalltrash, the earl of Swashbuckler, and Captain Durtaille, advised King Picrochole to leave a small garrison at home, and to divide his army into two parts—to send one south, and the other north. The former was to take Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany (but was to spare the life of Barbarossa), to take the islands of the Mediterranean, the Morea, the Holy Land, and all Lesser Asia. The northern army was to take Belgium, Denmark, Prussia, Poland, Russia, Norway, Sweden, sail across the Sandy Sea, and meet the other half at Constantinople, when king Picrochole was to divide the nations amongst his great captains. Echephron said he had heard about a pitcher of milk which was to make its possessor a nabob, and give him for wife a sultan’s daughter; only the poor fellow broke his pitcher, and had to go supperless to bed. (SeeBobadil.)—Rabelais,Pantagruel, i. 33 (1533).

A shoemaker bought a ha’p’orth of milk; with this he intended to make butter, the butter was to buy a cow, the cow was to have a calf, the calf was to be sold, and the man to become a nabob; only the poor dreamer cracked the jug, and spilt the milk and had to go supperless to bed.—Pantagruel, i. 33.

Picts, the Caledonians or inhabitants of Albin,i.e.northern Scotland. The Scots came from Scotia, north of Ireland, and established themselves under Kenneth M’Alpin in 843.

The etymology of “Picts” from the Latinpicti(“painted men”) is about equal to Stevens’s etymology of the word “brethren” fromtabernacle“because webreathe-therein.

Picture(The), a drama by Massinger (1629). The story of this play (like that of theTwelfth Night, by Shakespeare) is taken from the novelette of Bandello, of Piedmont, who died 1555.

Pi´cus, a soothsayer and augur; husband of Canens. In his prophetic art he made use of a woodpecker (picus), a prophetic bird sacred to Mars. Circé fell in love with him, and as he did not requite her advances, she changed him into a woodpecker, whereby he still retained his prophetic power.

“There is Picus,” said Maryx. “What a strange thing is tradition! Perhaps it was inthis very forest that Circê, gathering her herbs, saw the bold friend of Mars on his fiery courser, and tried to bewitch him, and, failing, metamorphosed him so. What, I wonder, ever first wedded that story to the woodpecker?”—Ouida,Ariadnê, i. 11.

Pied Horses, Motassem had 130,000pied horses, which he employed to carry earth to the plain of Catoul; and having raised a mound of sufficient height to command a view of the whole neighborhood, he built thereon the royal city of Shamarah´.—Khondemyr,Khelassat al Akhbar(1495).

The Hill of the Pied Horses, the site of the palace of Alkoremmi, built by Motassem, and enlarged by Vathek.

Pied Piper of Hamelin(3syl.), a piper named Bunting, from his dress. He undertook, for a certain sum of money, to free the town of Hamelin, in Brunswick, of the rats which infested it; but when he had drowned all the rats in the river Weser, the townsmen refused to pay the sum agreed upon. The piper, in revenge, collected together all the children of Hamelin, and enticed them by his piping into a cavern in the side of the mountain Koppenberg, which instantly closed upon them, and 130 went down alive into the pit (June 26, 1284). The street through which Bunting conducted his victims was Bungen, and from that day to this no music is ever allowed to be played in this particular street.—Verstegan,Restitution of Decayed Intelligence(1634).

Robert Browning has a poem entitledThe Pied Piper.

Erichius, in hisExodus Hamelensis, maintains the truth of this legend; but Martin Schoock, in hisFabula Hamelensis, contends that it is a mere myth.

“Don’t forget to pay the piper” is still a household expression in common use.

***The same tale is told of the fiddler of Brandenberg. The children were led to the Marienberg, which opened upon them and swallowed them up.

***When Lorch was infested with ants, a hermit led the multitudinous insects by his pipe into a lake, where they perished. As the inhabitants refused to pay the stipulated price, he led their pigs the same dance, and they, too, perished in the lake.

Next year, a charcoal-burner cleared the same place of crickets; and when the price agreed upon was withheld, he led the sheep of the inhabitants into the lake.

The third year came a plague of rats, which an old man of the mountain piped away and destroyed. Being refused his reward, he piped the children of Lorch into the Tannenberg.

***About 200 years ago, the people of Ispahan were tormented with rats, when a little dwarf named Giouf, not above two feet high, promised, on the payment of a certain sum of money, to free the city of all its vermin in an hour. The terms were agreed to, and Giouf, by tabor and pipe, attracted every rat and mouse to follow him to the river Zenderou, where they were all drowned. Next day, the dwarf demanded the money; but the people gave him several bad coins, which they refused to change. Next day, they saw with horror an old black woman, fifty feet high, standing in the market-place with a whip in her hand. She was the genie Mergian Banou, the mother of the dwarf. For four days she strangled daily fifteen of the principal women, and on the fifth day led forty others to a magic tower, into which she drove them, and they were never after seen by mortal eye.—T. S. Gueulette,Chinese Tales(“History of Prince Kader-Bilah,” 1723).

***The syrens of classic story had, bytheir weird spirit-music, a similar irresistible influence.

(Weird music is called Alpleich orElfenseigen.

Pierre[Peer], a blunt, bold, outspoken man, who heads a conspiracy to murder the Venetian senators, and induces Jaffier to join the gang. Jaffier (in order to save his wife’s father, Priuli), reveals the plot, under promise of free pardon; but the senators break their pledge, and order the conspirators to torture and death. Jaffier, being free, because he had turned “king’s evidence” stabs Pierre, to prevent his being broken on the wheel, and then kills himself.—T. Otway,Venice Preserved(1682).

Pierre, a very inquisitive servant of M. Darlemont, who long suspects his master has played falsely with his ward, Julio, count of Harancour.—Thomas Holcroft,The Deaf and Dumb(1785).

Pierre Alphonse(Rabbi Moïse Sephardi), a Spanish Jew converted to Christianity in 1062.

All stories that recorded areBy Pierre Alfonse he knew by heart.Longfellow,The Wayside Inn(prelude).

Pierre du CoignetorCoignères, an advocate-general in the reign of Philippe de Valois, who stoutly opposed the encroachments of the Church. The monks, in revenge, nicknamed those grotesque figures in stone (called “gargoyles”),pierres du coignet. At Notre Dame de Paris there were at one time gargoyles used for extinguishing torches, and the smoke added not a little to their ugliness.

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