Character Sketches of Romance, Fiction and the Drama Part 72

=Perilous Castle.= The castle of Lord Douglas was so called in the reign of Edward I., because the good Lord Douglas destroyed several English garrisons stationed there, and vowed to be revenged on any one who dared to take possession of it. Sir W. Scott calls it "Castle Dangerous"

in his novel so ent.i.tled.

? In the story of Gareth and Linet, the castle in which Liones was held prisoner by Sir Ironside, the Red Knight of the Red Lands, was called Castle Perilous. The pa.s.sages to the castle were held by four knights, all of whom Sir Gareth overthrew; lastly he conquered Sir Ironside, liberated the lady, and married her.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 120-153 (1470).

=Perimo'nes= (_Sir_), the Red Knight, one of the four brothers who kept the pa.s.sages to Castle Perilous. He was overthrown by Sir Gareth.

Tennyson calls him "Noonday Sun" or "Meridies."--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 129 (1470); Tennyson, _Idylls_ ("Gareth and Lynette").

=Per'ion=, king of Gaul, father of Am'adis of Gaul. His "exploits and adventures" form part of the series called _Le Roman des Romans_. This part was added by Juan Diaz (fifteenth century).

? It is generally thought that "Gaul" in this romance is the same as _Galis_, that is "Wales."

=Perissa=, the personification of extravagance, step-sister of Elissa (_meanness_) and of Medi'na (_the golden mean_); but they never agreed in any single thing. Perissa's suitor is Sir Huddibras, a man "more huge in strength than wise in works." (Greek, _perissos_, "extravagant,"

_perissotes_, "excess.").[TN-84]--Spenser, _Faery Queen_, ii. 2 (1590).

=Per'iwinkle= (_Mr._), one of the four guardians of Anne Lovely, the heiress. He is a silly, half-witted virtuoso, positive and surly; fond of everything antique and foreign; and wears clothes of the last century. Mr. Periwinkle dotes upon travellers, and believes more of Sir John Mandeville than he does of the Bible. Colonel Feignwell, to obtain his consent to his marriage with Mr. Periwinkle's ward, disguised himself as an Egyptian, and pa.s.sed himself off as a great traveller. His dress, he said, "belonged to the famous Claudius Ptolemeus, who lived in the year 135." One of his curiosities was _poluflosboio_, "part of those waves which bore Cleopatra's vessel, when she went to meet Antony."

Another was the _moros musphonon_, or girdle of invisibility. His trick, however, miscarried, and he then personated Pillage, the steward of Periwinkle's father, and obtained Periwinkle's signature to the marriage by a fluke.--Mrs. Centlivre, _A Bold Stroke For a Wife_ (1717).

=Perker= (_Mr._), the lawyer employed for the defence in the famous suit of "Bardell _v._ Pickwick" for the breach of promise.--C. d.i.c.kens, _The Pickwick Papers_ (1836).

=Perkin Warbeck=, an historic play or "chronicle history," by John Ford (1635).

=Perley Kelso.= A woman with "a weakness for an occupation, who suffers pa.s.sions of superfluous life. At the Cape she rebelled because Providence did not create her a bluefisher. In Paris, she would make muslin flowers, and learn the _metier_ to-morrow."--Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, _The Silent Partner_ (1871).

=Pernelle= (_Madame_), mother of Orgon; a regular vixen, who interrupts every one, without waiting to hear what was to have been said to her.--Moliere, _Tartuffe_ (1664).

=Peronella=, a pretty country la.s.s, who changes places with an old decrepit queen. Peronella rejoices for a time in the idolatry paid to her rank, but gladly resumes her beauty, youth, and rags.--_A Fairy Tale._

=Perrette and her Milk-Pail.= Perrette, carrying her milk-pail well-poised upon her head, began to speculate on its value. She would sell the milk and buy eggs; she would set the eggs and rear chickens; the chickens she would sell and buy a pig; this she would fatten and change for a cow and calf, and would it not be delightful to see the little calf skip and play? So saying, she gave a skip, let the milk-pail fall, and all the milk ran to waste. "Le lait tombe. Adieu, veau, vache, cochon, couvee,"

and poor Perrette "va s'excuser a son mari, en grand danger d'etre battue."

Quel esprit ne bat la campagne?

Qui ne fait chateau en Espagne?

Picrochole [_q.v._], Pyrrhus, la laitiere, enfin tous, Autant les sages que les fous....

Quelque accident fait-il que je rentre en moi-meme; Je suis Gros-Jean comme devant.

Lafontaine, _Fables_ ("La Laitiere et le Po tau[TN-85] Lait," 1668).

(Dodsley has this fable, and makes his milkmaid speculate on the gown she would buy with her money. It should be green, and all the young fellows would ask her to dance, but she would toss her head at them all--but ah! in tossing her head, she tossed over her milk-pail.)

? Echephron, an old soldier, related this fable to the advisers of King Picrochole, when they persuaded the king to go to war: A shoemaker bought a ha'p'orth of milk; this he intended to make into b.u.t.ter, and with the money thus obtained he would buy a cow. The cow in due time would have a calf, the calf was to be sold, and the man when he became a nabob would marry a princess; only the jug fell, the milk was spilt, and the dreamer went supperless to bed.--Rabelais, _Gargantua_, i. 33 (1533).

In a similar day-dream, Alnaschar invested all his money in a basket of gla.s.sware, which he intended to sell, and buy other wares, till by barter he became a princely merchant, when he should marry the vizier's daughter. Being offended with his wife, he became so excited that he kicked out his foot, smashed all his wares, and found himself penniless.--_Arabian Nights_ ("The Barber's Fifth Brother").

=Perrin=, a peasant, the son of Thibaut.--Moliere, _Le Medecin Malgre Lui_ (1666).

=Persaunt of India= (_Sir_), the Blue Knight, called by Tennyson "Morning Star," or "Phosphorus." One of the four brothers who kept the pa.s.sages to Castle Perilous. Overthrown by Sir Gareth.--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 131 (1470); Tennyson, _Idylls_.

"Then, at his call, 'O, daughters of the Dawn, And servants of the Morning Star, approach, Arm me,' from out the silken curtain-folds Bare-footed and bare-headed three fair girls In gilt and rosy raiment came; their feet In dewy gra.s.ses glisten'd; and the hair All over glanced with dewdrop or with gem, Like sparkles in the stone Avanturine.

These arm'd him in blue arms, and gave a shield, Blue also, and thereon the morning star."

Tennyson, _Gareth and Lynette_.

=Perseus= [_Per.suce_], a famous Argive hero, whose exploits resemble those of Hercules, and hence he was called "The Argive Hercules."

Benvenuto Cellini made a bronze statue of Perseus, which is in the Loggia dei Lanzi, in Florence.

_Perseus's Horse_, a ship. Perseus having cut off Medusa's head, made the ship _Pegase_, the swiftest ship hitherto known, and generally called "Perseus's flying horse."

The thick-ribbed bark thro' liquid mountains cut ...

Like Perseus' horse.

Shakespeare, _Troilus and Cressida_, act i. sc. 3 (1602).

=Persian Creed= (_The_). Zoroaster supposes there are two G.o.ds or spirit-principles--one good and the other evil. The good is Yezad, and the evil, Ahriman.

=Perth= (_The Fair Maid of_), Catharine, or Katie Glover, "universally acknowledged to be the most beautiful young woman of the city or its vicinity." Catharine was the daughter of Simon Glover (the glover of Perth), and married Henry Smith, the armorer.--Sir W. Scott, _Fair Maid of Perth_ (time, Henry IV.).

=Pertinax= (_Sir_). (See MACSYCOPHANT.)

=Pertolope= (_Sir_), the Green Knight. One of the four brothers who kept the pa.s.sages to Castle Perilous. He was overthrown by Sir Gareth.

Tennyson calls him "Evening Star," or "Hesperus."--Sir T. Malory, _History of Prince Arthur_, i. 127 (1470); Tennyson, _Idylls_.

"For there, beyond a bridge of treble bow, All in a rose-red from the west, and all Naked it seem'd, and glowing in the broad, Deep-dimpled current underneath, the knight That named himself the Star of Evening, stood, And Gareth, 'Wherefore waits the madman there Naked in open dayshine?' 'Nay,' she cried, 'Not naked, only wrapt in harden'd skins That fit him like his own; and so ye cleave His armor off him, these will turn the blade.'"

Tennyson, _Gareth and Lynette_.

=Perviz= (_Prince_), son of the Sultan Khrosru-schar of Persia. At birth he was taken away by the sultana's sisters, and set adrift on a ca.n.a.l, but was rescued and brought up by the superintendent of the sultan's gardens. When grown to manhood, "the talking-bird" told the sultan that Pervis was his son, and the young prince, with his brother and sister, were restored to their rank and position in the empire of Persia.--_Arabian Nights_ ("The Two Sisters").

_Prince Perviz's String of Pearls._ When Prince Perviz went on his exploits, he gave his sister, Parizade, a string of pearls, saying, "So long as these pearls move readily on the string, you will know that I am alive and well; but if they stick fast and will not move, it will signify that I am dead."--_Arabian Nights_ ("The Two Sisters").

? Birtha's emerald ring, and Prince Bahman's knife gave similar warning.