Part 73 (1/2)

(See BIRTHA and BAHMAN.)

=Pescec'ola=, a famous diver, whose English name was _Fish_ (Italian, _Pesce_ = fish). He dived in the pool of Charybdis and returned. King Frederick then threw a golden cup into the pool; Pescecola dived for it, and was drowned.

Schiller, in _The Diver_, tells the story, but gives the diver no name.

=Pest= (_Mr._), a barrister.--Sir W. Scott, _Redgauntlet_ (time, George III.).

=Pet=, a fair girl, with rich brown hair hanging free in natural ringlets.

A lovely girl, with a free, frank face, and most wonderful eyes--so large, so soft, so bright, and set to perfection in her kind, good face.

She was round, and fresh, and dimpled, and spoilt, most charmingly timid, most bewitchingly self-willed. She was the daughter of Mr.

Meagles, and married Henry Gowan.--C. d.i.c.kens, _Little Dorrit_ (1857).

=Petaud= (_King_), king of the beggars.

”It is an old saying,” replied the Abbe Huet, ”Petaud being derived from the Latin _peto_, 'I beg.'”--_Asylum Christi_, ii.

_The court of King Petaud_, a disorderly a.s.sembly, a place of utter confusion, a bear-garden.

On n'y respecte rien, chacun y parle haut, Et c'est tout justement le cour du roi Petaud.

Moliere _Tartuffe_, i. 1 (1664).

Le cour du roi Petaud, ou chacun est maitre.--_French Proverb._

=Petella=, the waiting-woman of Rosalura and Lillia-Bianca, the two daughters of Nantolet.--Beaumont and Fletcher, _The Wild-goose Chase_ (1652).

=Peter=, the stupid son of Solomon, butler of the Count Wintersen. He grotesquely parrots in an abridged form whatever his father says. Thus: _Sol._ ”we are acquainted with the reverence due to exalted personages.”

_Pet._ ”Yes, we are acquainted with exalted personages.” Again: _Sol._ ”Extremely sorry it is not in my power to entertain your lords.h.i.+p.”

_Pet._ ”Extremely sorry.” _Sol._ ”Your lords.h.i.+p's most obedient, humble, and devoted servant.” _Pet._ ”Devoted servant.”--Benjamin Thompson, _The Stranger_ (1797).

_Peter_, the pseudonym of John Gibson Lockhart, in a work ent.i.tled _Peter's Letters to his Kinsfolk_ (1819).

_Peter_ (_Lord_), the pope of Rome.--Dean Swift, _Tale of a Tub_ (1704).

=Peter Botte=, a steep, almost perpendicular ”mountain” in the Mauritius, more than 2800 feet in height. It is so called from Peter Botte, a Dutch sailor, who scaled it and fixed a flag on its summit, but lost his life in coming down.

=Peter Parley=, the _nom de plume_ of Samuel G. Goodrich, an American, whose books for children had an enormous circulation in the middle of the nineteenth century (1793-1860).

The name was pirated by numerous persons. Darton and Co., Simkins, Bogue, Tegg, Hodson, Clements, etc., brought out books under the name, but not written by S. G. Goodrich.