Part 60 (1/2)

Foote's nonsense lines are these:

So she went into the garden to cut a cabbage leaf to make an apple pie; and at the same time a great she-bear, coming up the street, pops its head into the shop. ”What! no soap?” So he died, and she very imprudently married the barber! and there were present the Picninnies, and the Joblillies, and the Garyulies, and the Grand Panjandrum himself, with the little round b.u.t.ton at top, and they all fell to playing the game of catch as catch can, till the gunpowder ran out at the heel of their boots.--S. Foote, _The Quarterly Review_, xcv. 516, 517 (1854).

=Pan'ope= (3 _syl._), one of the nereids. Her ”sisters” are the sea-nymphs. Panope was invoked by sailors in storms.

Sleek Panope with all her sisters played.

Milton, _Lycidas_, 95 (1638).

=Pansy Osmund=, daughter of Mr. Osmund and Madame Merle, but ignorant who her mother is. After her father's second marriage, the girl, who has been brought up by the nuns, is extremely fond of her step-mother, and when she grows under her fostering care into a lovely woman, becomes attached to Edward Rosier, a man of small fortune. Her father, cold and hard as stone, decrees that she shall marry an English lord, and upon her refusal, sends her back to the convent.--Henry James, Jr., _Portrait of a Lady_ (1881).

=Pantag'ruel'=, king of the Dipsodes (2 _syl._), son of Gargantua, and last of the race of giants. His mother, Badebec, died in giving him birth. His paternal grandfather was named Grangousier. Pantagruel was a lineal descendant of Fierabras, the t.i.tans, Goliath, Polypheme (3 _syl._), and all the other giants traceable to Chalbrook, who lived in that extraordinary period noted for its ”week of three Thursdays.” The word is a hybrid, compounded of the Greek _panta_ (”all”), and the Hagarene word _gruel_ (”thirsty”). His immortal achievement was his ”quest of the oracle of the Holy Bottle.”--Rabelais, _Gargantua and Pantagruel_, ii. (1533).

=Pantagruel's Course of Study.= Pantagruel's father, Gargantua, said in a letter to his son:

”I intend and insist that you learn all languages perfectly; first of all Greek, in Quintillian's method; then Latin, then Hebrew, then Arabic and Chaldee. I wish you to form your style of Greek on the model of Plato, and of Latin on that of Cicero. Let there be no history you have not at your finger's ends, and study thoroughly cosmography and geography. Of liberal arts, such as geometry, mathematics and music, I gave you a taste when not above five years old, and I would have you now master them fully. Study astronomy, but not divination and judicial astrology, which I consider mere vanities. As for civil law, I would have thee know the _digests_ by heart. You should also have a perfect knowledge of the works of Nature, so that there is no sea, river, or smallest stream, which you do not know for what fish it is noted, whence it proceeds, and whither it directs its course; all fowls of the air, all shrubs and trees, whether forest or orchard, all herbs and flowers, all metals and stones should be mastered by you. Fail not at the same time most carefully to peruse the Talmudists and Cabalists, and be sure by frequent anatomies to gain a perfect knowledge of that other world called the microcosm, which is man. Master all these in your young days, and let nothing be superficial; as you grow into manhood, you must learn chivalry, warfare, and field manuvres.”--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, ii. 8 (1533).

=Pantag'ruel's Tongue.= It formed shelter for a whole army. His throat and mouth contained whole cities.

Then did they [_the army_] put themselves in close order, and stood as near to each other as they could, and Pantagruel put out his tongue half-way, and covered them all, as a hen doth her chickens.--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, ii. 32 (1533).

=Pantagruelian Lawsuit= (_The_). This was between Lord Busqueue and Lord Suckfist, who pleaded their own cases. The writs, etc., were as much as four a.s.ses could carry. After the plaintiff had stated his case, and the defendant had made his reply, Pantagruel gave judgment, and the two suitors were both satisfied, for no one understood a word of the pleadings, or the tenor of the verdict.--Rabelais, _Pantagruel_, ii.

(1533).

=Pantaloon.= In the Italian comedy, _Il Pantalo'ne_ is a thin, emaciated, old man, and the only character that acts in slippers.

The sixth age s.h.i.+fts Into the lean and slippered Pantaloon.

Shakespeare, _As You Like It_, act ii. sc. 7 (1600).

=Panther= (_The_), symbol of pleasure. When Dante began the ascent of fame, this beast met him, and tried to stop his further progress.

Scarce the ascent Began, when lo! a panther, nimble, light, And covered with a speckled skin, appeared, ... and strove to check my onward going.

Dante, _h.e.l.l_, i. (1300).

_Panther_ (_The Spotted_), the Church of England. The ”milk-white doe”

is the Church of Rome.

The panther, sure the n.o.blest next the hind, The fairest creature of the spotted kind; Oh, could her inborn stains be washed away, She were too good to be a beast of prey.

Dryden, _The Hind and the Panther_, i. (1687).