Part 63 (1/2)

_Parthenope_ (4 _syl._), the damsel beloved by Prince Volscius.--Duke of Buckingham, _The Rehearsal_ (1671).

=Parthen'ope of Naples=, Sannazora, the Neapolitan poet called ”The Christian Virgil.” Most of his poems were published under the a.s.sumed name of _Actius Sincerus_ (1458-1530).

At last the Muses ... scattered ...

Their blooming wreaths from fair Valclusa's bowers [_Petrarch_]

To Arno [_Dante and Boccaccio_] ... and the sh.o.r.e Of soft Parthenope.

Akenside, _Pleasures of Imagination_, ii. (1744).

=Partington= (_Mrs._), an old lady of amusing affectations and ridiculous blunders of speech. Sheridan's ”_Mrs. Malaprop_” and Smollett's ”_Tabitha Bramble_” are similar characters.--B. P. s.h.i.+llaber (an American humorist).

I do not mean to be disrespectful; but the attempt of the lords to stop the progress of reform reminds me very forcibly of the great storm of Sidmouth, and the conduct of the excellent Mrs. Partington on that occasion. In the winter of 1824, there set in a great flood upon that town; the tide rose to an incredible height; the waves rushed in upon the houses; and everything was threatened with destruction. In the midst of this sublime storm, Dame Partington, who lived upon the beach, was seen at the door of her house with mop and pattens, trundling her mop, squeezing out the sea-water, and vigorously pus.h.i.+ng away the Atlantic Ocean. The Atlantic was roused, Mrs. Partington's spirit was up; but I need not tell you that the contest was unequal. The Atlantic beat Mrs. Partington.

She was excellent at a slop or puddle, but should never have meddled with a tempest.--Sydney Smith (speech at Taunton, 1831).

=Partlet=, the hen, in ”The Nun's Priest's Tale,” and in the famous beast-epic of _Reynard the Fox_ (1498).--Chaucer, _Canterbury Tales_ (1388).

_Sister Partlet with her hooded head_, the cloistered community of nuns; the Roman Catholic clergy being the ”barn-door fowls.”--Dryden, _Hind and Panther_ (1687).

=Partridge.= Talus was changed into a partridge.

_Partridge_, cobbler, quack, astrologer, and almanac-maker (died 1708).

Dean Swift wrote an elegy on him.

Here five feet deep, lies on his back, A cobbler, starmonger, and quack, Who, to the stars in pure gold will, Does to his best look upward still, Weep all you customers that use His pills, his almanacs, or shoes.

_Partridge_, the attendant of Tom Jones, as Strap, is of Smollett's ”Roderick Random.” Faithful, shrewd, and of child-like simplicity. He is half-barber and half-schoolmaster. His excitement in the play-house when he went to see Garrick in ”Hamlet” is charming.--Fielding, _The History of Tom Jones_ (1749).

The humor of Smollett, although genuine and hearty, is coa.r.s.e and vulgar. He was superficial where Fielding showed deep insight; but he had a rude conception of generosity of which Fielding seems incapable. It is owing to this that ”Strap” is superior to ”Partridge.”--Hazlitt, _Comic Writers_.

=Parvenue.= One of the O'Neals, being told that Barrett of Castlemone had only been 400 years in Ireland, replied, ”I hate the upstart, which can only look back to yesterday.”

=Parviz= (”_victorious_”), surname of Khosrou II. of Persia. He kept 15,000 female musicians, 6000 household officers, 20,500 saddle-mules, 960 elephants, 200 slaves to scatter perfumes when he went abroad, and 1000 sekabers to water the roads before him. His horse, s.h.i.+bdiz, was called ”the Persian Bucephalus.”

The reigns of Khosrou I. and II. were the golden period of Persian history.

=Parzival=, the hero and t.i.tle of a metrical romance, by Wolfram v.

Eschenbach. Parzival was brought up by a widowed mother, in solitude, but when grown to manhood, two wandering knights persuaded him to go to the court of King Arthur. His mother, hoping to deter him, consented to his going if he would wear the dress of a common jester. This he did, but soon achieved such n.o.ble deeds that Arthur made him a knight of the Round Table. Sir Parzival went in quest of the Holy Graal, which was kept in a magnificent castle called Graalburg, in Spain, built by the royal priest t.i.turel. He reached the castle, but having neglected certain conditions, was shut out, and, on his return, the priestess of Graalburg insisted on his being expelled the court and degraded from knighthood. Parzival then led a new life of abstinence and self-abnegation, and a wise hermit became his instructor. At length he reached such a state of purity and sanct.i.ty that the priestess of Graalburg declared him worthy to become lord of the castle (1205).

? This, of course, is an allegory of a Christian giving up everything in order to be admitted a priest and king in the city of G.o.d, and becoming a fool in order to learn true wisdom (see 1 _Cor._ iii. 18).