202

PETERBOROUGH-ST. PETER'S CHURCH.

Munnich, who proposed to march at once on the capital at the head of the regiments which were still faithful, or at anyrate to take secure possession of Cronstadt and the fleet, soon found even the opportunity of flight cut off, and was compelled to submit. He abdicated the crown on 10th July, and on the 14th of the same month was put to death by Orlof (q. v.), to secure the safety of the conspirators.

way.

and charitable institutions.

cut across the isthmus, thus allowing vessels to leave the harbor in different winds. On the south side of the bay of P., and about 24 miles from the town, are the Buchanness and its lighthouse, and Boddam Castle ruins. The Ugie enters the sea a mile northwest of P.; and on its banks, 3 or or 4 miles north-west of the town, are the ruined castles of Inverugie and Ravenscraig. The walls of the former are still standing, and access is obtained to the

PETERBOROUGH, an episcopal city and parliamentary bor-roof by means of a winding staircase in one of the towers, whence ough of Northamptonshire, stands on the left bank of the Nena magnificent view may be had of the valley of the Ugie. Ravenswhich is thus far navigable for boats-37 miles north-east of Craig stands on the opposite side of the river; it is built upon a Northampton, and 76 miles north-north-west of London by rail- baronial style, in the square form so common in the beginning of rock, and is considered a good specimen of the ancient Scottish The Great Northern, the Eastern Counties', the Northamp- the 13th century. Its walls are so strong as to have been deemed ton and Peterborough, and the Midland Counties' railways pass the city, and have stations there. P. is regularly laid out, has impregnable previous to the use of artillery. P. unites with Elgin, an excellent grammar-school with an endowment, a corn-exKinore, Cullen, Banff, and Inverury in sending a member to change in the Italian style, a jail and house of correction, a hand-parliament; constituency, (1877-8) 1103. Pop. (1841) 4762; (1871) some parish church, and a number of meeting-houses, schools, 8535; (1881) 10,992. Annual value of real property, £38,134. PETERLOO MASSACRE, the name popularly given to the disBut the great edifice of P. is the famous cathedral, which holds persal of a large meeting by armed force in St. Peter's Field, a high, if not the highest rank among English cathedrals of the Manchester, Monday, July 16, 1819. The assemblage, consisting second class. The choir and eastern aisles of the transept (built chiefly of bodies of operatives from different parts of Lancashire, 1118-1133) are early Norman; the transept (1155–1177) is middle was called to consider the question of parliamentary reform, and Norman; the nave (1177-1193) is late Norman; the western tran- the chair, on open hustings, was occupied by Mr. Henry Hunt. sept (dating from the same period), is transition Norman; the The dispersal took place by order of the magistrates; several west front, which, as a portico (using that term in its classical troops of horse, including the Manchester Yeomanry, being consense), is said to be the grandest and finest in Europe, is early cerned in the affair, of which an account will be found in History English; and the eastern aisle (begun in 1438, but not completed of the Peace, by Harriet Martineau, edition of 1858, p. 107. Five till 1528), is Perpendicular. The beautiful western front consists or six persons were killed and many wounded. St. Peter's Field of three arches 81 feet in height, supported by triangular piers is now covered by buildings. Peterloo was a fanciful term, sugdetached from the west wall. Each arch is surmounted by a beau-gested by Waterloo.

tiful pediment and cross. The front is flanked on each side with

turrets 156 feet high, and crowned with pinnacles. The roof of Christendom. It stands on the site of a much older basilica, PETER'S, ST., CHURCH, at Rome, is the largest cathedral in the nave is painted in lozenge-shaped divisions, containing figures founded by Constantine, A.D. 306, over the reputed grave of St. of kings, bishops, grotesques, &c., in colors. A central tower, Peter, and near the spot where he is said to have suffered martyrlantern-shaped, rises at the intersection of the nave and transept. dom. This basilica was of great size and magnificence; but had In the north-choir aisle, a slab of blue stone still covers the re-fallen into decay, when Pope Nicholas V., in 1450, resolved to mains of Catharine of Aragon. On the stone is carved the simple inscription, Queen Catharine, A.D. 1536.' In July 1587, the erect a new cathedral, worthy of the dignity and importance of remains of Mary, Queen of Scots, were brought here from Foth- the Roman pontificate, then in the zenith of its power. A design eringay for interment, and here they rested until, twenty-five the tribune was begun, when the pope died. The new building rewas accordingly prepared by Rosselini on a very grand scale, and years after, they were removed to Westminster Abbey. The entire length of the cathedral is 476 feet 5 inches; the breadth of mained neglected for about half a century, when Julius II. renave and aisles, 78 feet; height of the ceiling of the church, 78 celebrated as an architect, to make a new design. This design solved to carry out the building, and employed Bramanté, then feet; breadth of the church at the great transepts, 203 feet; height still exists. The foundation stone was laid, in 1506; and the of lantern, 135 feet; length of western front, 156 feet; height of works carried on with great activity till the death of the pope central tower from the ground, 150 feet. P. carries on an active trade in corn, coal, timber, lime, bricks, in 1513. Bramanté who died the following year, was succeeded by Baldussare Peruzzi. and stone. Two newspapers are published weekly. P. returns two members to the House of Commons. Pop. (1871) 17,434; (1881) 22,394.

PETERBOROUGH, LORD. See MORDAUNT.

Almost every architect who was employed during the long course of time required for the erection of this great edifice, proThe city had its origin in a great Benedictine monastery is one of the best, and is still preserved. It was not till his death posed a new design. That of San Gallo, who succeeded Peruzzi, founded in 655 by Oswy, king of Northumbria, and Peada, son of in 1546, when the superintendence devolved on Michael Angelo, Penda, king of Mercia. This monastery, which became one of the wealthiest and most important in England, was reared in designed the dome; and had the satisfaction, before his death in then seventy-two years of age, that much progress was made. He honor of St. Peter; but it was not until after being destroyed by his ninetieth year (1564), of seeing the most arduous part of the the Danes in 807, and rebuilt about 966, that the town was called task completed; and he left such complete models of the remainPeterborough. On the dissolution of the monasteries, this mag-der that it was carried out exactly in conformity with his design nificent edifice was spared, owing, it is supposed, to its containing the remains of Queen Catharine of Aragon.-Murray's Hand-by his successors, Vignola and Giacomo della Porta, and successbook to the English Cathedrals. fully terminated by the latter in 1590 in the pontificate of Sixtus V. The design of Michael Angelo was in the form of a Greek cross, but the building was actually completed as originally dePETERHEA ́D, a seaport and municipal and parliamentary signed by Bramanté as a Latin cross, under Paul V., by the archi burgh, in the district of Buchan, Aberdeenshire, on a peninsula, tect Carlo Maderno. The portico and façade were also by him. the eastmost point of land in Scotland, 44 miles north-north-east He is much blamed for altering Michael Angelo's plan, because of Aberdeen, by railway. It is irregularly built, clean, and much the result is that the projecting nave prevents the dome (the great paved with the reddish granite, called after the town, and used part of the work) from being well seen. The façade is considered for polishing. The Earls Marischal, before their attainder, 1715, paltry, and too much cut up into small pieces. It is observable owned much of the parish, and were superiors of the town of P. that this entrance façade is at the east end of the church, not the The property was bought by the Merchant Maiden Hospital of west, as it would certainly have been north of the Alps. But in Edinburgh, the governors of which have greatly improved the Italy the principle of orientation was little regarded. town and port. P. has no very striking edifices. The parish Maderno's nave was finished in 1612, and the façade in 1614, church has à granite spire, 118 feet high, and a granite Tuscan and the church dedicated by Urban VIII. in 1626. In the front pillar stands on the market-cross. P. has Episcopal, Free, Roman of the portico, is a magnificent atrium in the form of a piazza, enCatholic, and other churches; an academy and other schools, and closed on two sides by grand semicircular colonnades. This was two libraries. P. has cloth and wincey manufactures, and con-erected under Alexander VII. by the architect Bernini. siderable ship-building. The chief exports are herrings, cod-fish, butter, grain, and granite; and imports, lime, wool, and general merchandise. P. was long the chief British depot of the seal and whale fishing, but the interest has declined.

The façade of the cathedral is 368 feet long and 145 feet high. As already mentioned, the design is not generally approved, but some allowance must be made for the necessities of the case. The balconies in the front were required, as the pope, at Easter, always In 1873, 12 vessels brought home 900 tons of oil, seal-skins, and bestows his blessing on the people from them. Five open archies whalebone, worth £50,000. In 1880, 1073 ships, of 91,687 tons lead into a magnificent vestibule, 439 feet long, 47 feet wide, and burden, entered the port; and in 1880 it owned 716 fishing-boats, 65 feet high, and adorned with statues and mosaics. Here is premanned by 4296 persons, and cured 171,896 barrels of herrings, served a celebrated mosaic of St. Peter walking on the sea, called beside large quantities of cod and other fish. P. has a harbor on the Navicella, designed by Giotto in 1298, and preserved from the the north, another on the south side of the isthmus of the pen-old basilica. The central bronze doors are also relics saved insula on which it is built, and they are connected by a passage from the old church. On entering the interior of the cathedral,

ST. PETER'S COLLEGE-PETITION.

203

its enormous size does not produce the impression its grand-
deur of proportions should do on the spectator. This arises from
the details being all of an excessive size. The pilasters of the
nave, the niches, statues, mouldings, &c., are all such as they
might have been in a much smaller church, magnified. There is
nothing to mark the scale, and give expression to the magnitude
of the building. The figures supporting the holy water fountain,
for example, appear to be those of cherubs of a natural size, but he played in the first French Revolution, was the son of a pro-
PÉTION DE VILLENEUVE, JEROME, noted for the part
when more closely approached, turn out to be six feet in height,
and the figures in the niches are on a still more colossal scale. curator at Chartres, and was born there in 1753. He was practis
The cathedral is 613 feet long, and 450 feet across the transepts.ing as an advocate in his native city, when he was elected in 1789
The arch of the nave is 90 feet wide, and 152 feet high. The a deputy of the Tiers Etat to the States-General. His out-and-out
diameter of the dome is 195 feet. From the pavement to the republican principles, and his facile oratory, sonorous rather than
base of the lantern is 405 feet, and to the top of the cross 4344 eloquent, quickly made him popular, though he had an essentially
feet. The dome is thus 50 feet wider and 64 feet higher than that mediocre understanding, and was altogether a windy, verbose per
of St. Paul's (q. v.) in London.
sonage. He was a prominent member of the Jacobin Club, and
great ally of Robespierre; the latter was called the Incorrupt-
ible, and P. the Virtous.' He was sent along with Barnave
and Latour-Maubourg to bring back the fugitive royal family
from Varennes, and in the execution of this commission he acted
in an extremely unfeeling manner.

the imperialists, and the town was soon after burned to the ground
by the Turks; but at the Peace of Passarowitz, on 21st July 1718,
it remained in the possession of the emperor. It was here that,
on 5th August, 1716, Prince Eugene obtained a great victory over
the Grand Vizier Ali.
PETIOLE. See LEAVES.

The walls of the interior are adorned with plates of the richest
marbles, and copies of the most celebrated paintings executed in
mosaic. The arch piers have two stories of niches with statues of
saints, but these unfortunately, are in a debased style of art. The
pavement is all in marbles of different colors, arranged in beauti-
ful patterns designed by Giacomo della Porta.
He afterwards advocated the deposition of the king, and the
The dome is,
however, the finest part of the cathedral; it is supported on four appointment of a popularly elected regency, and along with
great arches. Immediately under the dome stands the high altar lic triumph. On the 18th of November he was elected Maire de
Robespierre received, 30th September 1791, the honors of a pub-
over the grave of St. Peter. It is surmounted by a magnificent Paris in Bailly's stead, the court favoring his election, to prevent
baldacchino or canopy, in bronze, which was designed by Bernini that of Lafayette. In this capacity he encouraged the demonstra-
in 1633, and executed with bronze stripped from the Pantheon by
Pope Urban VIII. Beneath the high altar is the shrine, in which tions of the lowest classes, and the arming of the populace. But
112 lamps burn day and night. The building is adorned with as the catastrophe drew near, he awoke to a sense of the terrible
many remarkable monuments and statues, some of them by of the Terrorists, P.'s popularity declined, and he joined the Gi-
nature, and sought in vain to arrest the torrent. On the triumphr
Michael Angelo, Canova and Thorwaldsen. The most of the
rondists. On the king's trial, he voted for death, but with delay
monuments are erected in memory of the popes, but there is one
to James III., Charles III., and Henry IX., kings of England,' of execution and appeal to the people, upon which he became
the remains of the exiled Stuarts being buried in the vaults be-suspected of being a royalist, and of partaking in the treason of
neath. The Grotte Vaticane,' or crypt, has been most carefully fall of the Gironde, but escaped from prison, and joined the other
Dumouriez. He was thrown into prison, 2d June 1793, on the
and religiously preserved during all the changes and works of the Girondists at Caen. Upon the defeat of their army by that of the
cathedral; so much so, that the ancient pavement remains undis- Convention, he fled, in July 1793, into Bretagne, and in com-
however, had already submitted. A short time after, P.'s and
pany with Buzot reached the neighborhood of Bordeaux, which,
Buzot's corpses were found in a corn-field near St. Emilion, partly
devoured by wolves. They were supposed to have died by their
own hands. P.'s character has been defended by Madame de
Genlis and Madame Roland. It appears that he was extremely
virtuous in all his domestic relations; but, on the other hand, his
public career shows him to have been weak, shallow, ostentatious,
and vain. Les Euvres de Pétion, containing his speeches, and
some small political treatises, were published in 1793.

turbed.

As a work of architectural art, St. Peter's is the greatest opportunity which has occurred in modern times; but, notwithstanding the great names of the men who were engaged upon the work, it is universally admitted to be a grand and lamentable failure. PETER'S, ST., COLLEGE, Cambridge, commonly called PeterHouse, was founded before any other college now existing in England—viz., in 1257, by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely, and was endowed by him in 1282, with a maintenance for a master and 14 fellows. In addition to the 14 original foundation-fellows, there are two bye-fellows on different foundations, and 23 scholars. The master is elected by the society.

PETITIO PRINCI'PII (a begging of the principle or question') is the name given in Logic to that species of vicious reasonPETERSBURG, a city and port of entry of Virginia, U.S., oning in which the proposition to be proved is assumed in the prem the south bank of the Appomatox River, 12 miles above its junc-ises of the syllogism. tion with James River, at City Point. It is 23 miles south of Richmond. Five railways contribute to make it the third city in the state in respect of population, and connect it with Baltimore, Wilmington (N. C)., Norfolk, Richmond, Mobile, &c. P. is well built. It contains churches of the Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, Baptists, and Catholics. There are here several cotton and woollen factories, forges, and numerous mills to which the falls in the river furnish extensive power. In the campaigners and triers of petitions were appointed, and proclamation was of 1864, Lieutenant-General Grant, commander of the Federal army, failing to take Richmond, besieged P., and was repulsed in several attacks by General Beauregard, with heavy loss. Pop. (1880) 21,656.

PETITION (Lat. peto, I ask), a supplication preferred to one capable of granting it. The right of the British subject to petition the sovereign or either House of Parliament for the redress of grievances is a fundamental principle of the British constitution, and has been exercised from very early times. The earliest petitions were generally for the redress of private wrongs, and the mode of trying them was judicial rather than legislative. Receivmade inviting all persons to resort to the receivers. The receivers, who were clerks or masters in Chancery, transmitted the petitions to the triers, who were committees of prelates, peers, and judges, who examined into the alleged wrong, sometimes leaving the mat ter to the remedy of the ordinary courts, and sometimes transmitPETERSFIELD, a parliamentary borough and market-town ting the petition to the chancellor or the judges, or, if the common law afforded no redress, to parliament. Receivers and triers of in Hampshire, 23 miles east-north-east of Southampton, and 55 petitions are still appointed by the House of Lords at the opening south-west of London by railway. It is a pleasant country-town, of every parliament, though their functions have long since been and contains a Norman parish chapel of the 12th c., and an edu- transferred to parliament itself. The earlier petitions were gencational institution, called Churcher's College. An equestrian erally addressed to the House of Lords; the practice of petitioning statue of William III., once richly gilt, stands in the market-place.the House of Commons first became frequent in the reign of P. returns a member to the House of Commons. Pop. (1871) Henry IV. 6104; (1881) 6546.

PETERSBURG, ST. See ST. PETERSBURG.

PETERWA'RDEIN, a town in the Austrian province of Croatia and Slavonia, and one of the strongest fortresses in the Austrian dominions, is situated in a marshy, unhealthy locality on the right bank of the Danube, 50 miles north-west of Belgrade. The ordinary garrison is a very strong one, and besides it, the town and suburbs contain a population of (1869) 4022, mostly Germans. The most ancient part of the fortifications, the Upper Fortress, is situated on a rock of serpentine, which on three sides rises abruptly from the plain. P., situated on a narrow peninsula formed by a loop of the Danube, occupies the site of the Roman Acumincum (acumen, point), and is said to have been named in honor of Peter the Hermit, who marshalled here the soldiers of the first crusade. In 1688, the fortifications were blown up by

Since the Revolution of 1688, the practice has been gradually introduced of petitioning parliament, not so much for the redress of specific grievances, as regarding general questions of public policy. Petitions must be in proper form and respectful in Janguage; and there are cases where petitions to the House of Commous will only be received if recommended by the crown, as where an advance of public money, the relinquishment of debts due to the crown, the remission of duties payable by any person, or a charge on the revenues of India have been prayed for. The same is the case with petitions praying for compensation for losses out of the public funds. A petition must, in ordinary cases, be presented by a member of the House to which it is addressed; but petitions from the corporation of London may be presented by the sheriffs or lord mayor. Petitions from the cor

204

PETITION OF RIGHTS-PETRA.

poration of Dublin have also been allowed to be presented by the lord mayor of that city, and it is believed that a similar privilege would be acceeded to the lord provost of Edinburgh.

The practice of the House of Lords is to allow a petition to be made the subject of a debate when it is presented; and unless a debate has arisen on it, no public record is kept of its substance, or the parties by whom it is signed. In the House of Commons, petitions not relating to matters of urgency are referred to the Committee on Public Petitions, and in certain cases ordered to be printed.

In the five years ending 1842, the number of petitions presented to the House of Commons was 70,072; in the five years ending 1872, 101,573.

countrymen. P. was almost at once received into the Literary National Circle, at the expense of which was published his Versek, which appeared in 1844. This was soon followed by other volumes, which succeeded each other with amazing rapidity; all of them, though regarded as vulgar by some of the critics, obtaining an unbounded popularity; so that it was said of P. that he never went to bed at night, he never arose in the morning, without hearing his songs from the multitudinous passengers in the public streets.' He sprang almost at a bound into a position in Hungary similar to that which Burns holds in Scotland-that at once of the greatest poet and the representative man of his country.

In 1848, when the revolutionary movement which spread over PETITION OF RIGHTS, a declaration of certain rights and Europe, began to affect the Hungarians, his energies and enthusi privileges of the subject obtained from King Charles I. in his third as found a more useful direction; he became, by speech and pen, parliament. It was so called because the Commons stated their time a member of the Diet, but in October 1848, he became a capthe advocates of the independence of Hungary. He was for some grievances in the form of a petition, refusing to accord the sup-tain in the Hungarian army; and in the beginning of 1849, he was plies till its prayer was granted. The petition professes to be a mere corroboration and explanation of the ancient constitution of appointed adjutant and secretary to General Bem. He was present the kingdom; and after reciting various statutes, recognizing the at the battle of Segesvár, fought on July 31, 1849, in which Bem's rights contended for, prays that no man be compelled to make of after that battle. It is believed that he was trampled to death army was defeated with great slaughter; and he was never heard or yield any gift, loan, benevolence, tax, or such like charge, in the flight, and that his body, so defaced as to escape recognition, without common consent by act of parliament; that none be called upon to make answer for refusal so to do; that freemen be was buried with the multitude of Magyar dead left upon the field. imprisoned or detained only by the law of the land, or by due is countrymen long believed that he was not dead, but a prisonprocess of law, and not by the king's special command, without in an Austrian dungeon; and it is said that among the peasantry any charge; that persons be not compelled to receive soldiers and this belief is cherished still. Several false Petöfis have made their mariners into their houses against the laws and customs of the appearance since his death, and much spurious poetry has been realm; that commissions for proceeding by martial law be re-subscribed for the erection of a monument to his memory, and published under his name. Lately, however, his countrymen have voked. The king at first eluded the petition, expressing in gen-have purchased, with a view to its preservation, the house in which eral terms his wish that right should be done according to the he was born at Little Körös. He left a widow-who married laws, and that his subjects should have no reason to complain of wrongs or oppressions; but at length, on both Houses of Parlia-again-and one son. ment insisting on a fuller answer, he gave an unqualified assent reputation as a poet. on the 26th of June 1628.

His brother, STEPHEN, has gained some

His poems, 1775 in number, were published in ten volumes. Most of them are lyrics, of which he published several collections, under the titles, Cypress Leaves on Etelka's Grave; Pearls of Love; Starless Nights; Clouds. The most celebrated of his narrative poems-also the longest-are, Janos, the Hero; and Istok, the Fool. latest, The Assessor of the Judgment-seat, which appeared in 1849. A volume, containing a poem entitled The Apostle, was suppressed by the Austrian government after the pacification of Hungary. P. published a novel, The Hangman's Rope, which was by no means successful, and several volumes of tales, criticisms, and sketches of travels; and he translated largely from English and French into the Magyar.

A selection from his earlier pieces, translated into German, was published in 1845; and several volumes of translations from his writings have since appeared in Germany. They have also been translated into French, Flemish, Polish, Danish, and Italian; and an English version, comprising his finest poems, was published in 1866 by Sir John Bowring. The quality of his poetry has been as fully recognized among foreigners as among his countrymen: thus, Grimm declared that 'Petöfi will rank among the very greatest poets of all times and tongues;' Henry Heine spoke rapturously of his rustic song, sweeter than that of the nightingale;' and Uhland avowed that only old age could prevent his learning Magyar, that he might enjoy P. in his native dress.

PETÖFI, SANDOR (ALEXANDER), who may fairly be described as the national poet of Hungary, was born at Little Körös, in the county of Pesth, in 1822. His father was a butcher, and a small landowner in Little Kumania, and bore the name of Petro-His earliest work was The Village Hammer, published in 1843; his vich (son of Peter)-a name indicating a Slavonic origin, which the poet, when he came to manhood, exchanged for the Magyar equivalent, Petöfi. In 1838, his father was reduced to poverty by an overflowing of the Danube, which destroyed his little estate; and it was by the help of relatives that he was able to carry out his design of educating his son for a profession. P. was sent to the lyceum of the town of Schemnitz. It was while there that he began to write verses, and first displayed the extravagant fondness for theatricals which characterized him throughout life. From the first, he neglected his studies; ultimately, he ran away with a band of German strollers. His father after some time found him out, and brought him home, and he remained for a period in quasi-custody among his relatives. When at length he was again sent to school at Oedenburg, he almost immediately ran away, and enlisted as a common soldier. After he had been about two years in the army, a physician, who had taken pity upon him, procured his discharge, and he went back to his relations. He afterwards went to Pápá, to complete his education. His passion for the stage, however, drew him away from Pápá, as it had formerly done from Schemnitz; in 1842, he left it to join a troop of comedians. His stage-attempts were utter failures, PETRA (Heb. SELA, both names signify 'Rock') was anand he soon parted from the comedians, if, indeed, he was not ciently the capital of the Nabathæans, and was situated in the dismissed by them. He made his way to Presburg, and after-desert of Edom' in Northern Arabia, about 72 miles north-east wards to Pesth, where he got some employment as a translator of Akabah-a town at the head of the Gulf of Akabah, an arm from the English and the French. of the Red Sea. It occupied a narrow rocky valley overhung by Among other works, he translated a novel by Mr. G. P. R. | mountains, the highest and most celebrated of which is Mount James. As soon as his literary labor supplied him with the Hor, where Aaron, the first Hebrew high-priest, died, and was means of traveling, his passion for the stage returned upon him; thus in the very heart of the region hallowed by the forty years' he went to Debreczin, and made another venture as an actor-wanderings of the Israelites. The aboriginal inhabitants were playing the part of Othello-but failed even more completely called Horim (dwellers in caves'). It was then conquered by than before. At last he had the good fortune to be invited to the Edomites or Idumeans (but it never became their capital); contribute to a newspaper at Pesth-the Devallap-and he im- and, in the 3d or 4th c. B.C., it fell into the hands of the Nabamediately closed with the proposal. He made his way on foot thæans, an Arab tribe, who carried on a great transit-trade between from Debreczin to Pesth-a distance of nearly 200 miles-wear- the eastern and western parts of the world. It was finally subing shoes padded with straw, and carrying in his bosom a MS. dued by the Romans in 105 A.D., and afterwards became the seat volume of verses, his whole provision for the journey consisting of a metropolitan; but was destroyed by the Mohammedans, and of two florins, which he got from an old school-fellow. It was for 1200 years its very site remained unknown to Europeans. In on his arrival at Pesth that he exchanged the name of Petrovich 1812, Burckhardt first entered the valley of ruins, and suggested for Petöfi Within a few weeks of his arrival, he had troops of that they were the remains of ancient Petra. Six years later, it friends and a reputation. was visited by Messrs. Irby, Mangles, Banks, and Leigh, and in 1828 by M.M. Laborde and Linant, and since then by numerous travelers and tourists to the East, as Bartlett, Porter, and Dean Stanley.

He introduced himself to Vörösmarti, then the most popular poet of Hungary, who received the shabbily-dressed stranger coldly, and did not readily consent to listen to his verses. But when he had listened, he expressed his admiration warmly. Hungary,' he exclaimed, never had such lyrics: you must be cared for. And from that time, he treated P. as a son, and never rested until his merits were fully acknowledged by his

Laborde's drawings give us a more vivid impression of the ruins of P. than any descriptions, however picturesque. These ruins stand in a small open irregular basin, about half a mile square, through which runs a brook, and are best approached by

PETRARCA.

an extraordinary chasm or ravine, called the Sik, narrowing as it proceeds till in some places the width is only 12 feet, while the rocky walls of red-sandstone tower to the height of 300 feet. Hardly a ray of light can pierce this gloomy gorge, yet it was once the highway to P., and the remains of an ancient pavement can be traced beneath the brilliant oleanders that now cover the pathway. All along the face of the rocky walls are rows of cavetombs, hewn out of the solid stone, and ornamented with façades. These are also numerous elsewhere. Originally, they were probably dwellings of the living, not of the dead-a supposition justified by an examination of their interior; but when the Nebathæans built the city proper in a little basin of the hills, they were in all likelihood abandoned, and then set apart as the familysepulchres of those who had formerly been dwellers in the clefts of the rocks.' The principal ruins are-1. El-Khuzneh (the

6

205

scurity still hangs over his relation to this lady, but it is almost certain that she was no less a paragon of virtue than of loveliness. He met her on the 6th of April 1327 in the church of St. Clara in Avignon, and at once and for ever fell deeply in love with her. The lady was then 19, and had been married for two years to a gentleman of Avignon, named Hugues de Sade.

For ten years, P. lived near her in the papal city, and frequently met her at church, in society, at festivities, &c. He sung her beauty and his love in those sonnets whose mellifluous conceits ravished the ears of his contemporaries, and have not yet ceased to charm. Laura was not insensible to a worship, which made an emperor (Charles IV.) beg to be introduced to her, and to be allowed to kiss her forehead; but she seems to have kept the toopassionate poet at a proper distance. Only once did he dare to make an avowal of his love in her presence, and then he was

Treasure-house '), believed by the natives to contain, buried some- | wreath at Rome.
where in its sacred enclosure, the treasures of Pharaoh. It
directly faces the mouth of the gorge we have described, and was
the great temple of the Petræans. 2. The Theatre, a magnifi-
cent building, capable of containing from 3000 to 4000 spectators.
3. The Tomb with the Triple Range of Columns. 4. The Tomb with
Latin Inscription. 5. The deer or Convent, a huge monolithic temple
hewn out of the side of a cliff, and facing Mount Hor. 6. The
Arcopolis. 7. Kusr Farón, or Pharaoh's palace, the least incom-
plete ruin of Petra. Most of the architecture is Greek, but there
are also examples of the influence of Egypt, pyramidal forms
being not unknown.

PETRARCA, FRANCESCO, the first and greatest lyric poet of Italy, was the son of a Florentine notary named Petracco, who belonged to the same political faction as the poet Dante, and went into exile along with him and others in 1302. Petracco took up his residence at Arezzo, and here the future poet was born in the month of July 1304. His original name was Francesco di Petracco, which he subsequently changed to that by which he is now known. When P. was about eight years of age, his father removed to Avignon, where the papal court was then held; and here, and at the neighboring town of Carpentras, the youth studied grammar, rhetoric, and dialectics. Contrary to his own inclination, but in compliance with the wish of his father, he spent seven years in the study of law at Montpellier and Bologna; but in 1326 his father died, and P. now devoted himself partly to the gaieties of Avignon, and partly to classical studies, or rather to the study of the Latin classics, as it was only towards the end of his life that he attempted to master Greek. At this time, he ranked among his friends, the jurist Soranzo, John of Florence, the apostolic secretary, Jacopo Colonna, Bishop of Lombes in Gascony, and his brother, the Cardinal Giovanni, Azzo da Corregio, lord of Parma, and many other noble and learned personages. His illustrious admirers-among whom were emperors, popes, doges, kings, and sovereign-dukes-obviously thought themselves honored by their intimacy with the son of a poor notary, and some were even forward in proffering him their favor. But the great event in P,'s life (viewed in the light of its literary consequences) was his tenderly romantic and ultimately pure passion for Laura -the golden-haired, beautiful Frenchwoman. Some slight ob

sternly reproved. In 1338, P. withdrew from Avignon to the romantic valley of Vaucluse, where he lived for some years, spending his time almost solely in literary pursuits. A most brilliant honor awaited him at Rome, in 1841, where, on Easterday, he was crowned in the Capitol with the laurel-wreath of the poet. The ceremonies which marked this coronation were a grotesque medley of pagan and Christian representations. P. was, however, as ardent a scholar as he was a poet; and throughout his whole life, he was occupied in the collection of Latin MSS., even copying some with his own hand. To obtain these, he traveled frequently throughout France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. His own Latin works were the first in modern times in which the language was classically written. The principal are his Epistola, consisting of letters to his numerous friends and acquaintances, and which rank as the best of his prose works; De Vitis Virorum Illustrium; De Remediis utriusque Fortuna; De Vita Solitaria; Rerum Memorandarum Libri 1V.; De Contemptu Mundi, &c. Besides his prose-epistles, P. wrote numerous epistles in Latin verse, eclogues, and an epic poem called Africa, on the subject of the second Punic War. It was this last produc tion which obtained for him the laurel

P., it may be mentioned, displayed little solicitude about the fate of his beautiful Italian verse, but built his hope of his name being remembered on his Latin poems, which, it has been said, are now only remembered by his name. In 1853 he finally left Avignon, and passed the remainder of his life in Italy-partly at Milan, where he spent nearly ten years, and partly at Parma, Mantua, Padua, Verona, Venice, and Rome. At last, in 1870, he removed to Arquà, a little village prettily situated among the Euganean Hills, where he spent his closing years in hard scholarly work, much annoyed by visitors, troubled with epileptic fits, not overly rich, but serene in heart, and displaying in his life and correspondence a rational and beautiful piety. He was found dead in his library on the morning of the 18th July 1374, his head dropped on a book!-P. was not only far beyond his age in learning, but had risen above many of its prejudices and superstitions. He despised astrology, and the childishi medicine of his times; but, on the other hand, he had no liking for the conceited scepticism of the medieval savants; and, in his De sui Ipsius et multorum aliorum Ignorantia, he sharply attacked the irreligious speculations of those who had acquired a shallow free-thinking habit from the study of the Arabico-Aristotelian school of writers, such as Averrhoes. P. became an ecclesiastic, but was contented with one or two inconsiderable benefices, and refused all offers of higher ecclesiastical appointment.-The Italian lyrics of P.-the chief of which are the Rime or Canzoniere, in honor of Laurahave done far more to perpetuate his fame than all his other works. Of Italian prose, he has not left a line.

The Rime, consisting of sonnets, canzonets, madrigals, were composed during a period of more than forty years; and the later ones-in which P.'s love for Laura, long since laid in her grave, appears purified from all earthly taint, and beautiful with something of a beatific grace-have done as much to refine the Italian language as the Divina Commedia of Dante. Of his Rime, there have been probably more than 300 editions; the first that of Venice, 1470; the most accurate, that by Marsand (Padua, 1819; Eng. trans. by Macgregor, (1851). Collective editions of his works have been published (Basel, 1495, 1554, and 1581 et seq.). Of numerous lives of him the principal are those of Bellutello, De Sades, Tiraboschi, Ugo Foscolo, and Geiger (1874); in Eng. Campbell (1841); Reeve in Modern Classics for Eng. Readers (1878).

PETREL-PETTY OFFICERS.