PETRA-PETRARCA. by an extraordinary chasin or ravine, called the rows of cave-tombs, hewn out of the solid stone, and Sik, narrowing as it proceeds till in some places ornamented with façades. These are also numerous the width is only 12 feet, while the rocky walls elsewhere. Originally, they were probably dwellings 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 of the living, not of the dead -a supposition justified by an examination of their interior; but when the Nabathæans built the city proper in the little basin of the hills, they were in all likelihood abandoned, and then set apart as the family-sepulchres of those who had formerly been 'dwellers in the clefts of the rocks.' The principal ruins are-1. El-Khuzneh | His 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. 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 neighbouring 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 For ten years, PETREL-PETROICA. emperor (Charles IV.) beg to be introduced to her, and to be allowed to kiss her forehead; but she seems to have kept the too-passionate poet at a proper distance. Only once did he dare to make an avowal of his love in her presence, and then he was sternly reproved. In 1333, 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 honour awaited him at Rome, in 1341, where, on Easterday, he was crowned in the Capitol with the laurelwreath 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 travelled 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 Fortunæ; De Vita Solitaria; Rerum Memorandurum Libri IV.; 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 production which obtained for him the laurel-wreath at Rome. 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 1353 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 1370, 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 childish 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 benofices, and refused all offers of higher ecclesiastical appointment.-The Italian lyrics of P.-the chief of which are the Rime, or Canzoniere, in honour of Laura-have done far more to perpetuate his fame than all his other works. Of Italian prose, he has t 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 is that of Venice, 1470; the most accurate is that by Marsand (2 vols., Padua, 1819). Collective editions of his whole works have also been published (Basel, 1495, 1554, and 1581, et seq.) His life has employed many writers, among whom may be mentioned Bellutello, Beccadelli Tomasini, De la Bastie, De Sades, Tiraboschi Baldelli, and Ugo Foscolo. times ranked among Larida (q. v.), and sometimes PETREL (Procellaria), a genus of birds, someconstituted into a separate family, Procellarida which is now subdivided into several genera, and distinguished by having the bill hooked at the tip, the extremity of the upper mandible being a hard nail, which appears as if it were articulated to the rest, the nostrils united into a tube which lies along the back of the upper mandible, and the hind-toe merely rudimentary. They possess great power of wing, and are among the most strictly oceanic of birds, being often seen at great distances from land. Among the Procellarida are reckoned the Fulmars (q. v.), Shearwaters (q. v.), &c., and the small birds MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKENS. These form the genus designated STORM PETRELS, STORM BIRDS, and Thalassidroma of recent ornithological systems, the name (Gr. sea-runner) being given to them in allusion to their apparent running along the surface of the waves, which they do in a remarkable manner, and with great rapidity, particularly when the sea is stormy, and the molluscs and other animals forming their food are brought in abundance to the surface-now descending into the very depth of the hollow between two waves, now touching their highest foamy crests, and flitting about with perfect Petrel, a diminutive of Peter, from the apostle safety and apparent delight. Hence also their name Peter's walking on the water. From the frequency with which flocks of these birds are seen in stormy weather, or as heralds of a storm, they are very unfavourably regarded by sailors. They have very long and pointed wings, passing beyond the point of the tail; and the tail is square in some, slightly forked in others. Their flight much resembles that of a swallow. They are to be seen in the seas of all parts of the world, but are more abundant in the southern than in the northern hemisphere. The names Storm P. and Mother Carey's Chicken are sometimes more particularly appropriated to Thalas sidroma pelagica, a bird scarcely larger than a lark, and the smallest web-footed bird known, of a sooty black colour, with a little white on the wings and some near the tail. Two or three other species are occasionally found on the British shores; but this is the most common, breeding in crevices of the rocks of the Scilly Isles, St Kilda, the Orkneys, Shetland Isles, &c. Like many others of the family. it generally has a quantity of oil in its stomach, which, when wounded or seized, it discharges by the mouth or nostrils; and of this the people of St Kilda take advantage, by seizing the birds during incubation, when they sit so closely as to allow themselves to be taken with the hand, and collecting the oil in a vessel. PETRIFA'CTION, a name given to organio remains found in the strata of the earth, because they are generally more or less mineralised or made into stone. The word has fallen very much into disuse, having given place to the terms Fossil (q. v.) and Organic Remains. PETROI'CA, a genus of birds of the family Sylviada, natives of Australia, nearly allied to the Redbreast, and to which its familiar name Robin has been given by the colonists. The song, callnote, and manners of P. multicolor, a species abundant in all the southern parts of Australia, very much resemble those of the European bird, but its plumage is very different: the male having the PETROLEUM-PETTY OFFICERS. head, throat, and back jet-black, the forehead snowywhite, one longitudinal and two oblique bands of white on the wings, and the breast bright scarlet; the female is brown, with red breast. There are several other species, birds of beautiful plumage. a PETROLEUM, coal oil, mineral tar (Gr. pet rock, and elaion, oil), an inflammable, oi'y liquid, having a strong bituminous smell, sometimes thin, transparent, and pale, and sometimes viscid, opaque, and black. The term Naphtha (q. v.) is generally applied to the thinner, lighter-coloured varieties, or to the more volatile portions distilled from the native oil, while the darker are known as Mineral tar, and the intermediate as Petroleum. It occurs abun intly at Baku, on the Caspian Sea, in Burmah, Trim ad, and in the U. States and Canada. The last-named supply most of the petroleum of commerce, and the wells of Northern Pennsylvania, about the head waters of the Alleghany R., are the most prolific sources. The American product, in 1868, was 3,965,000; in 1869, 4,717,000; and in 1870, 6,535,000 bbls.; and in 12 years, from 1859 to 1870, 34,388,100 bbls. of crude petroleum. The chief bulk of Pennsylvania P. appears to be numerous Hydro-carbons (q. v.), homologues of marsh gas. On distilling P. at 100°, light oil, chiefly Benzol (q. v.), passes over; at 120° to 160°, the common burning oil is distilled and the heavy oil remains, fit only for lubricating purposes, or the production of Paraffin (q. v.). The rock oil of Western Pennsylvania and elsewhere had long been known as Seneca oil, but no practical movements were made towards obtaining it in abundance until 1854, when a company was formed for boring on Oil Creek, Venango Co., Pa., which proved successful in 1858. A well bored to the depth of 72 ft. yielded 1000 gals. daily, and which, awakening an extraordinary enthusiasm, led to much reckless expenditure and wild gambling speculation. See Daddow, S. H., and Bannan, B., Coal, Iron, and Oil, Pottsville, 1866; Bowen, L., Coal and Coal Oil, Philada., 1865. PETRO'NIUS, C., a Roman voluptuary at the court of Nero, whose profligacy is said to have been of the most superb and elegant description. We know, however, very little about him. He was at one time proconsul of Bithynia, was subsequently appointed consul, and is certified as having performed his official duties with energy and prudence. But his grand ambition was to shine as a court-exquisite. He was a kind of Roman Brummell, and Nero thought as highly of him as did the Prince Regent of the famous Beau. He was entrusted by his imperial master and companion with the charge of the royal entertainments, and thus obtained (according to Tacitus) the title of Arbiter Elegantiæ. Nero would not venture to pronounce anything comme il faut, until it had received the approval of the oracle of Roman fashion. The influence which he thus acquired was the cause of his ruin. Tigellinus, another favourite of Nero, conceived a hatred of P., brought false accusations against him, and succeeded in getting his whole household arrested. P. saw that his destruction was inevitable, and committed suicide (66 B. C.), but in a languid and graceful style, such, he thought, as became his life. He opened some veins, but every now and then applied bandages to them, and thus stopped the flow of blood, so that he was for a while enabled to gossip gaily with his friends, and even to appear in the streets of Cuma before he died. We are told that he wrote, sealed, and despatched to Nero, a few hours before his death, a paper containing an account of the tyrant's crimes and flagitious deeds. It has been generally supposed that P. is the author of a well-known work entitled, in the oldest MSS., Petronii Arbitri Styricon, a series of fragments belonging apparently to a very extensive comic novel or romance (see NOVELS), the greater portion of which has perished, but there is really no satisfactory evidence to shew whether or not he was so. It is probable, however, that the work belongs to the 1st c. A. D. The fragments exhibit a horrible picture of the depravity of the times; but there is no indication that the author disapproves of what he describes. The editio princeps of the fragments appeared at Venice in 1499; later editions are those of Burmann (Traj. ad. Rhen. 1709; 2d edit. Amst. 1743), and of Antonius (Leip. 1781). PETROPAVLOVSK, a small port of Russian Siberia, near the mouth of the river Avatcha, on the east coast of the peninsula of Kamtchatka. Lat. 53° N., long. 158° 44' E It has only 479 inhabitants, and has lost much of its former importance since its desertion by the Russians in 1855, and the removal of its garrison to Nikolaevsk. PETROZAVO'DSK, an important mining-town in the north of European Russia, capital of the government of Olonetz, stands on the western shore of Lake Onega, 300 miles by water north-east of St Petersburg. A cannon-foundry was erected here in 1701 by Peter the Great, who himself had discovered the rich resources of this northern region in iron and copper ores. The town itself dates from the year 1703; and from that to the present time, it has been the great centre of the mining industry of the government. The Alexandrovsky armsfactory is specially deserving of notice. founded in 1773, and, besides other arms, it has produced in all 30,000 pieces of cast-iron ordnance. Works are also fitted up for the preparation of steel. Wood abounds in the vicinity, and there is easy communication by water with St Petersburg. Pop. 10,648. It was PETSH, or IPEK (i. e., silk), a town of European Turkey, in Albania, stands on the Bistritza, or White Drin, 65 miles north-east of Scutari. It is a pleasant town; the houses are large and handsome, and, as a rule, have gardens attached, in which fruit and mulberry-trees are cultivated. Water, from the river, is led up into all the houses. Silk is extensively made, tobacco and fruits are largely cultivated, and arms manufactured. P. was formerly the residence of the Servian patriarchs. Pop. S000. the Court of Chancery, now regulated by statutes 11 and 12 Vict. c. 48, and 12 and 13 Vict. c. 109. The clerk of the petty bag, an officer appointed by the Master of the Rolls, draws up writs of summons to parliament, Congés d'élire for bishops, writs of Scire facias, and all original writs. A great deal of miscellaneous business is also transacted in the petty bag office, which the Lord Chancellor and Master of the Rolls are empowered to regulate and transfer from time to time. In the petty bag office may be brought any personal action by or against any officer of the Court of Chancery, in respect of PETTY BAG OFFICE, one of the branches of his service or attendance. PETTY OFFICERS in the royal navy are an upper class of seamen, analogous to the non-commissioned officers in the army. They comprise the men responsible for the proper care of the several portions of the ship, the foremen of artificers, the signalmen, and many others. They are divided into three classes: chief petty offices, at 2s. 3d. a day; 1st class working petty officers, at 2s. a day; and 2d class working petty officers, at 1s. 10d. a day. Petty officers are appointed and can be degraded by the captain of the ship. Her efficiency much depends on this useful class of sailors. PETTY SESSIONS-PEZENAS. PETTY SESSIONS is the court constituted by two or more justices of the peace in England, when sitting in the administration of their ordinary jurisdiction. Though for many purposes statutes enable one justice to do acts auxiliary to the hear ing and adjudication of a matter, yet the jurisdiction to adjudicate is generally conferred upon the justices in petty sessions, in which case there must be at least two justices present, and this is called a petty sessions, as distinguished from quarter sessions, which generally may entertain an appeal from petty sessions. For the purpose of securing always sufficient justices, the whole of the counties of England are subdivided into what are called petty sessional divisions, those justices who live in the immediate neighbourhood being the members who forin the court of such division. This subdivision of counties is confirmed by statute, and the justices at quarter sessions have power from time to time to alter it. Fach petty sessions is held in some town or village which gives it a name, and a police-court or place is appropriated for the purpose of the sittings of the court. There is a clerk of each petty sessions, usually a local attorney, who advises the justices, and issues the summons and receives the fees made payable for steps of the process. The justices in petty sessions have a multifarious jurisdiction, which they exercise chiefly by imposing penalties authorised by various acts of parliament, as penalties against poachers, vagrants, absconding workmen and apprentices, &c. They also have jurisdiction to hear charges for all indictable offences, to take depositions of witnesses, and, if they think a case of suspicion is made out, to commit the party for trial at the quarter sessions or assizes, and to bind over the witnesses to attend. See also JUSTICE OF THE PEACE. PETUNIA, a genus of plants of the natural order Solanaceae, natives of the warmer parts of America. They are herbaceous plants, very nearly allied to Tobacco, and with a certain similarity to it in the general appearance of the foliage, which has also a slight viscidity, and emits when handled a disagreeable smell, but the flowers are very beautiful, and varieties improved by cultivation are amongst the favourite ornaments of our greenhouses and flower-borders. The petunias, although perennial, are very often treated as annuals, sown on a hot-bed in spring, and planted out in summer, in which way they succeed very well even in Scotland. They are tall plants, with branching weak stems, and may readily be made to cover a trellis. Although, when treated as greenhouse plants, they become half-shrubby, they do not live more than two or three years. The name P. is from the Brazilian Petun. The first P. was introduced into Britain in 1825. PETU'NTZE, a white earth used by the Chinese in the manufacture of porcelain, and said to consist of comminuted but undecomposed felspar. It is fusible, and is used for glazing porcelain. PETWORTH, or SUSSEX MARBLE, is a thin layer of limestone, composed of the shells of freshwater Paludinæ. It has been long, but not extensively used for ornamental purposes. A polished slab of it was found in a Roman building at Chichester, and pillars formed of it exist in the cathedrals of Chichester and Canterbury. PEWS (anciently pues; Old Fr. puys; Dutch, puyes; Lat. podium, anything on which to lean;' s'appuyer), enclosed seats in churches. Churchseats were in use in England some time before the Reformation, as is proved by numerous examples still extant, the carving on some of which is as carly as the Decorated Period, i. e., before 1400 A. D.; and records as old as 1450, speak of such seats by the name of pues. They were originally plain fixed benches, all facing east, with partitions of wainscoting about three feet high, and sides of the width of the seat, panelled or carved; the sides sometimes rising above the wainscoting, and ending in finials or poppies, or else ranging with it and finished with a moulding. After the Reformation, probably under the influence of the Puritans, who, objecting to some parts of the service which they were compelled to attend, sought means to conceal their nonconformity, pews grew into large and high enclosures, containing two or four seats, lined with baize, and fitted with doors, desks, and cushions. Pews were early assigned to particular owners, but at first only to the patrons of churches. A canon made at Exeter, in 1287, rebukes quarrelling for a seat in church, and decrees that none shall claim a seat as his own except noblemen and the patrons. Gradually, however, the system of appropriation was extended to other inhabitants of the parish, to the injury of the poor, and the multiplication of disputes. In The law of pews in England is briefly this. All church-seats are at the disposal of the bishop, and may be assigned by him, either (1) directly by faculty to the holders of any property in the parish; or (2) through the churchwardens, whose duty it is, as officers under the bishop, to 'seat the parishioners according to their degree. In the former case, the right descends with the property, if the faculty can be shewn, or immemorial occupation proved. the latter, the right can at any time be recalled, and lapses on the party ceasing to be a regular occupant of the seat. It appears that by common law every parishioner has a right to a seat in the church, and the churchwardens are bound to place each one as best they can. The practice of letting pews, except under the church-building acts, or special local acts of parliament, and, much more, of selling them, has been declared illegal. In Scotland, pews in the parish churches are assigned by the heritors (q. v.) to the parishioners, who have accordingly the preferable claim on them; but when not so occupied, they are legally open to all. As is well known, pews in dissenting churches are rented as a means of revenue to sustain general charges. In some parts of the United States, pews in churches are a matter of annual competition, and bring large sums. Latterly, in England, there has been some discussion as to the injuriously exclusive character of the 'pew system,' and a disposition has been manifested to abolish pews altogether, and substitute movable seats available by all indiscriminately. Several pamphlets have appeared on the subject. In the Roman Catholic churches on the Continent pews are seldom to be seen. PEW'TER, a common and very useful alloy of the metals, tin and lead. Two other kinds of pewter have a more compound character. Cominon, or leypewter, consists of 4 parts of tin and 1 part of lead; plate-pewter is made of 100 parts of tin, 8 parts of antimony, 2 parts each of bismuth and copper; another kind, called trifle, is composed of 83 parts of tin and 17 parts of antimony. Although these are the standard formulas, each kind is often much varied to suit the purposes of the manufacturer; the chief alteration being the addition of increase of the same metal in the other two. a large proportion of lead to the last, and a large PÉZÉNAS, a manufacturing town of France, in the department of Hérault, on the left bank of the river of that name, 25 miles west-south-west of Montpellier. It stands in a district remarkable for its beauty, and so well cultivated as to have received PFEFFERS-PHAETHON. the name of the Garden of Hérault. It is famous for its healthy climate and clear sky. The vicinity produces excellent wine, and woollen and linen goods are manufactured. The trade, however, is chiefly in liquors, and P. is known as one of the principal brandy-markets of Europe. Pop. (1872) 6824. PFEFFERS, an extraordinary and much-visited locality in the Canton of St Gall, Switzerland, five miles south-east of Sargans. It has been famous since the middle of the 11th c. for its hot baths, situated 2180 feet above sea-level, and 520 feet above the village of Ragatz. The old baths of P. are built on a ledge of rock a few feet above the roaring torrent of the Tamina, and are hemmed in by walls of rock towering above them to the height of 600 feet, and so far burying the baths within the gorge, that even in the height of summer, sunlight appears above them only from ten to four. Above the old baths, the walls of the ravine of the Tamina contract until they meet, covering up the river, which is there seen from a cavernous gap. The hot-springs are reached from the baths by means of a railed platform. This platform, leading to the hot spring, is secured to the rocks, and the Tamina churns its way through the cleft 30 or 40 feet below. The waters of the hot spring are now conveyed to Ragatz (about two miles below P.) by wooden pipes, 12,500 feet long. The waters, as they issue from the spring, have a temperature of 100° Fahr. A pint of the water, which is used both for drinking and bathing, contains only about three grains of saline particles. of her services, and of the singular energy, fortitude, PFORZHEIM, an important manufacturing PFEIFFER, IDA (née REYER), a celebrated female traveller, was born at Vienna, October 15, 1797, and from her earliest years shewed a resolute and fearless, but not unfeminine disposition. In 1820, she married an advocate, named Pfeiffer, from whom she was obliged to obtain a separation, after she had borne him two sons, Oscar and Alfred, whose education devolved on herself. When she had settled them in life, and was free to act as she pleased, she at once proceeded to gratify, at the age of 45, her long-cherished inclination for a life of PHE'DRUS, a Latin poet, whose works consist travel and adventure. Her first expedition was to of fables. He was probably a Thracian or Macethe Holy Land. She left Vienna in March 1842, and donian, carried to Rome as a slave in his childhood, returned in December of the same year, having and brought up at the court of Augustus, who traversed, alone and without guide, European and emancipated him. Under Tiberius, he was exposed Asiatic Turkey, Palestine, and Egypt. She pub to great danger from the hostility of Sejanus, but lished an account of her eastern rambles in the lived to see that general's overthrow, and died at following year (Reise einer Wienerinn in das Heilige an advanced age, probably in the reign of Claudius Land), which, like all her other works, has gone Five books of fables, after the manner of sop, and through many editions, and been translated into called Fabula Esopia, have been usually ascribed French and English. In 1845, she visited Northern to him. The faults of the style have led, however, Europe-Sweden, Norway, Lapland, and Iceland-to the suspicion, not merely of alterations at a later and recorded her impressions in her Reise nach dem date, but of later, and even much later, composition. Skandinawisch, Norden und der Insel Island (2 vols. The dry morals' have been supposed to indicate 1846). But these journeys, which would have the Middle Ages as the period to which the work satisfied most women, were but little excursions in should probably be referred; but its authenticity the eyes of this insatiable nomade, and only served is generally admitted. The first edition was to whet her appetite for something vaster. She published at Troyes in 1596. The text has subse solved on a voyage round the world; and on the quently occupied the attention of some of tho 28th of June 1846, sailed from Hamburg in a greatest scholars and critics, from the days of Danish brig for Brazil. Her descriptions of the Burmann and Bentley to the present time. A sixth scenery of that country and of the inhabitants book, containing 32 fables, has recently been disboth native Indians and Brazilians--are exceedingly covered and published, of the authenticity of which, interesting. She then sailed round Cape Horn to however, there are greater doubts than of that of Chile, and thence, after some time, across the Pacific the other books. The best edition is that of J. C. to Otaheite, China, and Calcutta; crossed the Indian Orelli (Zürich, 1831). peninsula to Bombay, whence she took ship for the Persian Gulf, landed at Bassora, traversed a great part of Western Asia, Southern Russia, and Greece, and re-entered Vienna, November 4, 1848. Two PHAETHON (i. e., the shining), in the writings years later, she published a narrative of her travels of Homer and Hesiod, a frequent title of Helios the and adventures, entitled Eine Frauenfahrt um die sun-god, and subsequently employed as his name.Welt (Vienna, 1850, 3 vols.). As a small recognition | P., in Greek mythology, is also the name of a son of PHÆNO'GAMOUS PLANTS. See PHANEKOGAMOUS PLANTS. |