The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 347

PETER, THE APOSTLE, originally called Simon, was a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee; one of the first called by Christ to become a disciple; the first to recognise, as the foundation-stone of the Church, the divinity in the humanity of His Master, and the first thereafter to recognise and proclaim that divinity as glorified in the cross, to whom in recognising which, especially the former, was committed the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and who accordingly was the first to open the door of it to the Gentile world. He was the princ.i.p.al figure in the history of the early Christian Church, but was soon eclipsed by the overpowering presence and zeal of Paul. Tradition, indeed, has something to tell of him, but from it little of trustworthy can be gathered except that he finished his career by martyrdom in the city of Rome. This Apostle is represented in Christian art as an old man, bald-headed, with a flowing beard, dressed in a white mantle, and holding a scroll in his hand, his attributes being the keys, and a sword in symbol of his martyrdom.

PETER, THE FIRST EPISTLE OF, addressed especially to Jewish Christians in certain churches of Asia Minor, the members of which were suffering persecution at the hands of their adversaries as evil-doers; was written to exhort them to rebut the charge by a life of simple well-doing, and to comfort them under it with the promise of the return of the Lord.

PETER, THE SECOND EPISTLE OF, addressed to all who anywhere bore the Christian name; appears to have been written not long before his death to counteract certain fatal forms of error, at once doctrinal and practical, that had already begun to creep into the Church, and against which we meet with the same warnings in the Epistle of Jude, the doctrinal error being the denial of Christ as Lord, and the practical the denial of Him as the way, the truth, and the life, to the peril of the forfeiture of eternal life.

PETER, THE WILD BOY, a savage creature of 13 years of age, found in 1725 in a forest of Hanover, who was accustomed to walk on all fours, and climb trees like a squirrel, living on wild plants, gra.s.s, and moss, and who could not be weaned from these habits, or taught to speak more than a syllable or two; he wore a bra.s.s collar with his name on it; at length refused all food, and died in 1786.

PETER MARTYR, 1, a Dominican notorious for his severity as a member of the Inquisition, murdered by a mob at Como in 1252, became the patron saint of the Inquisition. 2, A Protestant reformer, born at Florence, became a monk and abbot at Lucca, from which, on embracing the doctrines of the Reformation, he was forced to flee, first to Switzerland and then to England in the reign of Edward VI., but had to retreat from thence also on the accession of Mary to Strasburg, and at length to Zurich, where he died (1500-1562). 3, A historian, born at Arona, rose to become bishop of Jamaica, wrote on the discovery of America, _d_. 1525.

PETER THE GREAT, emperor of Russia, son of the Czar Alexei, born at Moscow; succeeded his half-brother Feodor in 1682, but was forced for a time to share the throne with his half-sister Sophia, acting as regent for her brother Ivan; conscious of his imperfect education, he chose a Genoese named Lefort as his preceptor, and after some years' careful training he deposed Sophia, and entered Moscow as sole ruler in 1689; with the help of Lefort and Patrick Gordon, a Scotsman, he proceeded to raise and discipline an army on the European model, and determined also to construct a navy; to reach the sea he made war on the Turks, and possessed himself of the port of Azov, at the mouth of the Don; hither he invited skilled artificers from Austria, Venice, Prussia, and Holland, and a navy was built; from 1697 to 1698 he visited the countries on the Baltic and England, acquiring vast stores of information, working as a s.h.i.+pwright in the Dutch yards, and finally taking back with him an army of mechanics; on his return he vigorously reformed the Russian press, schools, and church, introduced European manners and literature, and encouraged foreign trade; desirous now of an opening on the Baltic, he began in 1700 a long contest with Sweden, marked first by many defeats, notably that of Narva, then the seizure of Ingria, and founding of the new capital St. Petersburg 1703, the victory of Pultowa 1712, seizure of the Baltic provinces and part of Finland 1713, and finally by the Peace of 1721, which ceded the conquered territories to Russia; in 1711 the Turks had recovered Azov; in 1722 war with Persia secured him three Caspian provinces; Peter pursued a vigorous and enlightened policy for the good of Russia, but his disposition was often cruel; his son Alexei was put to death for opposing his reforms, and on his own death he was succeeded by the Empress Catherine I., the daughter of a peasant, who had been his mistress, and whom he had married in 1712 (1672-1725).

PETER THE HERMIT, a monk, born in Amiens, of good family, who is credited with having by his preaching kindled the enthusiasm in Europe which led to the first Crusade; he joined it himself as the leader of an untrained rabble, but made a poor figure at the siege of Antioch, where he was with difficulty prevented from deserting the camp; he afterwards founded a monastery near Liege, where he died (1050-1115).

PETERBOROUGH (25), an English cathedral city, on the Nen, partly in Huntingdons.h.i.+re and partly in Northamptons.h.i.+re, on the edge of the Fen country, 76 m. N. of London; has an old town-hall, manufactures of farm implements, trade in malt and coal, and is a great railway centre; the cathedral is one of the finest in Britain, of very varied architecture, was restored and reopened afterwards in 1890.

PETERBOROUGH, CHARLES MORDAUNT, EARL OF, saw some active service as a volunteer in Charles II.'s navy, and on the accession of James II.

threw himself into politics as an opponent of the king; William III.

showed him great favour; he was of the Queen's Council of Regency when William was in Ireland, but imprudent intriguing brought him a short confinement in the Tower in 1697; the war of the Spanish Succession was the opportunity which brought him fame; appointed to the command of the British and Dutch forces, which fought for Charles of Austria, he reduced Barcelona 1705, and Valencia 1706; retook Barcelona from the French, and but for Charles's hindrance would have entered Madrid; differences with other generals led to his recall in 1707; the rest of his life was spent in retirement; he was the friend of Pope, and held by him in genuine esteem; he died in Lisbon (1658-1735).

PETERHEAD (12), a seaport on the E. coast of Aberdeens.h.i.+re, 30 m.

NE. of Aberdeen; built irregularly of reddish granite; has a free library and museum, and is the seat of a convict prison; the chief industry is herring-fis.h.i.+ng; there are two harbours, and a third, a great harbour of refuge, is in course of construction.

PETERHOF (14), a town on the Gulf of Finland, 18 m. W. of St.

Petersburg, with a palace of the Czar built in 1711 by Peter the Great.

PETERLOO, a name, suggested by Waterloo, given to an insurrectionary gathering in 1819 of workers in St. Peter's Field, Manchester, to demand Parliamentary reform, and which was dispersed by the military to the sacrifice of 13 lives and the wounding of 600, a proceeding which excited wide-spread indignation, and contributed to promote the cause which it was intended to defeat.

PETER'S, ST., church at Rome, is built, it is alleged, over the tomb of St. Peter, and on the site of the basilica erected by Constantine and Helena in 306. The original structure after falling into decay was begun to be rebuilt in 1450, and finally consecrated by Urban XIII. in 1626. It is the largest and grandest church in Christendom, covers an area of over 26,000 square yards, the interior of it in length being 206 yards, the transept 150 yards, the nave 150, and the dome 465. It contains thirty altars, and is adorned with numerous statues and monuments.

PETER'S PENCE, an annual tribute of a silver penny per household in England to support the chair of St. Peter at Rome, and which continued more or less to be levied from the end of the 8th century till the days of Elizabeth, when it ceased. The payment has been revived since 1848 in Britain, France, and Belgium in compensation to the Pope for loss of his territorial possessions.

PETERWARDEIN (4), a strong Austrian fortress on the right bank of the Danube, near the Servian frontier, 40 m. NW. of Belgrade; stands among unhealthy marshes.

PeTION DE VILLENEUVE, JeRoME, born at Chartres; figured in the French Revolution as a zealous republican, member of the Tiers etat, one of the commission to reconduct the royal family from Varennes; was mayor of Paris in the year of the September ma.s.sacres, 1792; was first President of the Convention, and, though his influence was declining, member of the first Committee of Defence, 1793; his attack on Robespierre proving unsuccessful he committed suicide; his body was afterwards found on the Landes of Bordeaux half devoured by wolves; was surnamed the "Virtuous," as Robespierre the "Incorruptible"; was of the Girondist party; had "unalterable beliefs, not hindmost of them," says Carlyle, "belief in himself" (1783-1793).

PEt.i.tE NATURE, a French term applied to pictures containing figures less than life-size, but with the effect of life-size.

PEt.i.tION OF RIGHT, a pet.i.tion presented to Charles I. by the Commons in 1628, and that became law by the king's acceptance of it. It sought for and obtained the abolition of certain grievances which the country unconst.i.tutionally suffered from, such as taxation or levying of money without consent of Parliament, imprisonment without cause shown, billeting of troops, and recourse to martial law in a time of peace. This pet.i.tion Charles I. would at first fain have evaded, but the Commons would be satisfied with nothing less than its acceptance entire.

PEToFI, SANDOR, celebrated Magyar poet and patriot, born in the county of Pesth, of poor parents; first announced himself as a poet in 1844; wrote a number of war-songs; fought in the cause of the revolution of 1848, and fell in the battle of Scha.s.sburg; his poetry inaugurated a new era in the literature of his country (1823-1849).

PETRA, a ruined city, and once the rock capital of Edom, and afterwards of Arabia Petraea; was a place of some importance at one time as a commercial centre; the name Petra signifies rock.

PETRARCH, FRANCESCO, the famous Italian lyric poet, born at Arezzo, in Tuscany, whither his father had gone when exiled with Dante from Florence; spent his youth in Avignon; intended for the profession of law, devoted his time to the study of Cicero and Virgil; met Laura in the church of St. Clare there in 1327, a lady of surpa.s.sing beauty; conceived a pa.s.sion for her which she could not return, and wrote sonnets in praise of her, which immortalised both himself and her; after travel in France and Germany he retired in 1337 to the valley of Vaucluse, where he composed the most of his poems, and his reputation reached its height in 1341, when he was crowned laureate in the Capitol of Rome; he was in Italy when tidings reached him of the death of Laura in 1348, on the anniversary of the day when he first met her, upon which he gave expression to his feelings over the event in a touching note of it in his Virgil; we find him again at Rome in 1350, and after moving from place to place settled in Arqua in 1370, where he died; his Latin works are numerous, and include an epic on the Second Punic war, Eclogues, Epistles in verse, and Letters of value giving the details of his life; his fame rests on his lyrics; by those alone he still lives, and that more from the finished art in which they are written than from any glow of feeling they kindle in the reader's heart (1304-1374).

PETRI, LAURENTIUS, a Swedish Reformer; was a disciple of Luther; became professor of Theology and first Protestant archbishop of Upsala, and superintended the translation of the Bible into Swedish (1499-1573).

PETRIE, FLINDERS, Egyptologist, son of an Australian explorer; after explorations at Stonehenge, surveyed the pyramids and temples of Ghizeh in 1881-82; excavated for the Egyptian Exploration Fund Nankratis, Am, and Defenneh; has achieved many other important works of the kind, and issued a popular work, "Ten Years' Diggings in Egypt"; _b_. 1853.

PETRIE, GEORGE, Irish archaeologist, born in Dublin, of Scottish parentage; bred to art; executed Irish landscapes, but is best known for his "Essay on the Round Towers of Ireland," a work of no small interest (1790-1866).

PETROLEUM, is the common name of a series of rock oils found in large quant.i.ties in the United States and Canada, near Rangoon, and in the neighbourhood of the Caspian Sea. The oil issues from the rocks, or is drawn from subterranean reservoirs, where its presence is supposed to result from natural distillation of vegetable and animal substances, and after refining, put in the market as benzoline, paraffin, and lubricating oil. It is extensively used in the industries, and has been applied as fuel to steams.h.i.+ps.

PeTROLEUSE, was a name given to certain Parisian women of the Commune of 1871, who poured petroleum on the Hotel de Ville and other buildings to burn them.

PETRONIUS, a Roman satirist and accomplished voluptuary at the court of Nero, and the director-in-chief of the imperial pleasures; accused of treason, and dreading death at the hands of the emperor his master, he opened his veins, and by bandaging them bled slowly to death, showing the while the same frivolity as throughout his life; he left behind him a work, extant now only in fragments, but enough to expose the abyss of profligacy in which the Roman world was then sunk at that crisis of its fate; _d_. 63.

PETTIE, JOHN, painter, born at Edinburgh; his works, chiefly historical, were numerous, and of a high character (1839-1893).

PETTY, SIR WILLIAM, political economist, born in Hamps.h.i.+re; was a man of versatile genius, varied attainments, and untiring energy; was skilled in medicine, in music, in mechanics, and in engineering, as well as economics, to which especially he contributed by his pen (1623-1687).

PETTY JURY, a jury of 12 elected to try a criminal case after a true bill against the accused has been found by a Grand Jury.

PETTY OFFICERS, officers in the navy, consisting of four grades, and corresponding in function and responsibility to non-commissioned officers in the army.

PETTY SESSIONS, name given to sessions of justices of the peace to try small cases without a jury.