Part 85 (1/2)

=Pluto=, the G.o.d of Hades.

Brothers, be of good cheer, for this night we shall sup with Pluto.--Leonidas, _To the Three Hundred at Thermopylae_.

=Plutus=, the G.o.d of wealth.--_Cla.s.sic Mythology._

Within a heart, dearer than Plutus' mine.

Shakespeare, _Julius Caesar_, act iv. sc. 3 (1607).

=Po= (_Tom_), a ghost. (Welsh, _bo_, ”a hobgoblin.”)

He now would pa.s.s for spirit Po.

S. Butler, _Hudibras_, iii. 1 (1678).

=Pocahontas=, daughter of Powhatan, an Indian chief of Virginia, who rescued Captain John Smith when her father was on the point of killing him. She subsequently married John Rolfe, and was baptized under the name of Rebecca (1595-1617).--_Old and New London_, ii. 481 (1876).

The Indian Princess is the heroine of John Brougham's drama, _Po-ca-hon-tas, or the Gentle Savage_.

=Pochet= (_Madame_), the French ”Mrs. Gamp.”--Henri Monnier.

=Pochi Dana'ri= (”_the pennyless_”). So the Italians call Maximilian I., emperor of Germany (1459, 1493-1519).

=Pocket= (_Mr. Matthew_), a real scholar, educated at Harrow, and an honor-man at Cambridge, but, having married young, he had to take up the calling of ”grinder” and literary f.a.g for a living. Mr. Pocket, when annoyed, used to run his two hands into his hair, and seemed as if he intended to lift himself by it. His house was a hopeless muddle, the best meals and chief expense being in the kitchen. Pip was placed under the charge of this gentleman.

_Mrs. Pocket_ (_Belinda_), daughter of a City knight, brought up to be an ornamental nonent.i.ty, helpless, s.h.i.+ftless, and useless. She was the mother of eight children, whom she allowed to ”tumble up” as best they could, under the charge of her maid, Flopson. Her husband, who was a poor gentleman, found life a very uphill work.

_Herbert Pocket_, son of Mr. Matthew Pocket, and an insurer of s.h.i.+ps. He was a frank, easy young man, lithe and brisk, but not muscular. There was nothing mean or secretive about him. He was wonderfully hopeful, but had not the stuff to push his way into wealth. He was tall, slim, and pale; had a languor which showed itself even in his briskness; was most amiable, cheerful, and communicative. He called Pip ”Handel,” because Pip had been a blacksmith, and Handel composed a piece of music ent.i.tled _The Harmonious Blacksmith_. Pip helped him to a partners.h.i.+p in an agency business.

_Sarah Pocket_, sister of Matthew Pocket, a little dry, brown, corrugated old woman, with a small face that might have been made of walnut-sh.e.l.l, and a large mouth, like a cat's without the whiskers.--C.

d.i.c.kens, _Great Expectations_ (1860).

=Podgers= (_The_), lickspittles of the great.--J. Hollingshead, _The Birthplace of Podgers_.

=Podsnap= (_Mr._), ”a too, too smiling large man, with a fatal freshness on him.” Mr. Podsnap has ”two little light-colored wiry wings, one on either side of his else bald head, looking as like his hair-brushes as his hair.” On his forehead are generally ”little red beads,” and he wears ”a large allowance of crumpled s.h.i.+rt-collar up behind.”

_Mrs. Podsnap_, a ”fine woman for Professor Owen: quant.i.ty of bone, neck, and nostrils like a rocking-horse, hard features, and majestic head-dress in which Podsnap has hung golden offerings.”

_Georgiana Podsnap_, daughter of the above; called by her father ”the young person.” She is a harmless, inoffensive girl, ”always trying to hide her elbows.” Georgiana adores Mrs. Lammle, and when Mr. Lammle tries to marry the girl to Mr. Fledgeby, Mrs. Lammle induces Mr. Twemlow to speak to the father and warn him of the connection.