erected by Napoleon the First. This fountain is in the form of a pavilion, and is adorned with figures of Fénelon, Bossuet, Fléchier, and Massillon. Place Vendôme. This square in Paris was designed by Louis XIV., who began it to contain public buildings, such as the Mint, Royal Library, etc. This design was, however, abandoned except so far as the formation of a square was concerned. In 1806 a grand triumphal column was erected by Napoleon in honor of the victories achieved by the French armies. This column is constructed from the metal of cannon taken from the Austrians and Prussians, and is 140 feet in height. It is surmounted by a statue of Napoleon, and is ornamented by bas-reliefs of some of the principal scenes in the campaign of 1805; also with helmets, cannon, and military implements of various kinds. See COLONNE VENDÔME. The sun unveiled himself in beauty bright, The eyes of all beamed gladness and delight, When, with unruffled visage, thou didst come, Hero of France! unto the Place Vendôme To mark thy column towering from the ground, And the four eagles ranged the base Placentia. A place on the Hud- ham, in which the latter were Plantes, Jardin des. See JARDIN Playford Hall. An ancient coun- "The place [Playford Hall] is a specimen of a sort of thing which does not exist in America. It is one of those significant landmarks which unite the present with the past, and for which we must return to the country of our origin." Mrs. H. B. Stowe. Plaza de las Cortes. A wellknown public square in Madrid, Spain, in front of the Spanish House of Commons. In this enclosure is a statue of Miguel de Cervantes. Plaza de Oriente. A well-known public square in Madrid, Spain. It is of an oval form, and is surrounded with 44 colossal statues. Plaza Mayor. [The Great Square.] The chief square in Madrid, Placidia. See MAUSOLEUM OF Pleiad. See LOST PLEIAD. Plaine-des-Recollets. A fine pub- HAM. Plains of Chalmette. A level tract about five miles from New Orleans, La., bordering on the Mississippi River, and surrounded by cypress-swamps. It is the site of the engagement known as the "Battle of New Orleans," Jan. 8, 1815, between the American forces under Gen. Jackson and the British under Paken Pleissenburg Castle. An ancient citadel of historic interest in Leipsic, Germany. Plessis les Tours. A famous castle in the commune of La Riche, near Tours, France, once the royal residence of Louis XI. Portions only of the original building are now standing. Sir Walter Scott, in his novel of "Quentin Durward," has given a graphic description of this castle. Pliny's Doves. A mosaic, perhaps the most celebrated in the world, now in the Museum of the Capitol, Rome, representing doves drinking from a basin surrounded by a border. It derives its name from the supposition that it is a work described by Pliny, in the 35th book of his Natural History, who says that at Pergamos there is a wonderful mosaic, by Sosus, of a dove drinking, and casting the shadow of her head upon the water, while others are pluming themselves upon the lip of the vessel. Ploughing in Nivernais. [Labou rage Nivernais.] A noted picture by Rosa Bonheur (b. 1822), and esteemed her masterpiece. In the Gallery of the Luxembourg, Paris. "I hear as I write the cry of the ox-drivers incessant, musical, mo. notonous. I hear it not in imagination, but coming to my open window from the fields; . . . white oxen of the noble Charolais breed, sleek, powerful beasts, whose moving muscles show under their skins like the muscles of trained athletes. When the gleams of sunshine fall on these changing groups, I see in nature that picture of Rosa Bonheur's, Ploughing in the Niver nois."'" Hamerton. Plover, The. An Arctic explor-| ing ship which sailed from England in the expedition of Capt. Maguire in 1852. Plummer Hall. A fine building in Salem, Mass., containing several libraries, and an elegant hall adorned with portraits of distinguished men of the colonial period. Plymouth Church. A large plain church edifice in Brooklyn, N.Y., noted as that in which Henry Ward Beecher preaches. Plymouth Rock. The famous rock or ledge on which the Pilgrims are believed to have landed when they first stepped from their boats in the harbor of what is now Plymouth, Mass. The main rock is on Water Street, and is surmounted by a stone canopy. A portion of the rock was removed in 1775 to the vicinity of Pilgrim Hall, but has been recently restored to its original place, and is now under the canopy. This rock has become an object of ven eration in the United States. De Tocqueville. But if he [Davis] bar New England out in the cold, what then? She is still there. And, give it only the fulcrum of Plymouth Rock, an idea will upheave the continent. W. Phillips. From the deck of the Mayflower, from the landing at Plymouth Rock, to the Senate of the United States, is a mighty contrast, covering whole spaces of history hardly less than from the wolf that suckled Romulus and Remus to that Roman Senate, which, on curule chairs, swayed Italy and the world. Charles Sumner. An' then they bust out in a kind of a raptur About their own vartoo, an' folks's stone blindness To the men that 'ould actilly do 'em a the Pilgrims thet Till on ole Plymouth Rock they git finally stranded. Lowell, Biglow Papers. For well she keeps her ancient stock, Whittier. Pocahontas, S. G. W. Benjamin. Baptism of. See BAPTISM OF POCAHONTAS. Poetry. See PARNASSUS. Poets' Corner. An angle in the south transept of Westminster Abbey, London, popularly SO called from the fact that it contains the tombs of Chaucer, Spenser, and other eminent English poets, and memorial tablets, busts, statues, or monuments, to many who are buried in other places. Addison says that here there are "many poets who have no monuments, and many monuments which have no poets." The name is first mentioned by Goldsmith. "I passed some time in Poets' Corner, which occupies an end of one of the transepts or cross aisles of the abbey. The monuments are generally simple, for the lives of literary men afford no striking themes for the sculptor. Shakespeare and Addison have statues erected to their memories; but the greater part have busts, medallions, and sometimes mere inscriptions. Notwithstanding the simplicity of these memorials, I have always observed that the visitors to the abbey remained longest about them." Irving. While we surveyed the Poets' Corner, I said to him [Goldsmith], Forsitan et nostrum nomen miscebitur istis." When we got to Temple Bar, he stopped me, pointed to the heads upon it, and slyly whispered, Forsitan et nostrum nomen miscebitur istis.' Dr. Johnson. " Of Poets' Corner. O misnomer strange! A sun that never sets, a moon that knows But sorrow and the finger of the scorner? Here in Westminster's sanctuary, where Whole generations of the poets share So when we come to see Westminster's The needy vergers of the Abbey wait us; And while we pay to ste the royal scions, We see the poets gratis. Robert Leighton. Poggia Reale. A favorite promenade of the lower classes of Naples, Italy, in the neighborhood of that city. A palace with extensive gardens formerly stood on the spot. Pola, Amphitheatre of. A celebrated Roman ruin in the town of Pola, Austria. Polaris, The. An Arctic exploring vessel which sailed for the Northern seas under Commander Hall, in 1870. By travelling_on the ice on a sledge, Capt. Hall penetrated as far as to lat. 82° 16' N. Pole, Cardinal. A portrait by Sebastian del Piombo (14851547), pronounced a magnificent work." It is now in the Hermitage at St. Petersburg, Russia. Pollice Verso. A picture by Jean Léon Gérôme (b. 1824), the French painter. Pollux. See CASTOR AND POLLUX. Polyphemus. A picture by Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), the celebrated French painter. Poussin's magnificent " Polyphemus (I only know a print of that marvellous composition) has perhaps suggested the first-named picture [one by Gudin]. Thackeray. Polytechnique, École. See ÉcOLE POLYTECHNIQUE. Pompeian, Maison. See MAISON POMPEIAN. Pompey's Pillar. This pillar, which presents a fine appearance to one approaching Alexandria, in Egypt, from the sea, stands on a lonely eminence about a third of a mile south of the present walls of the city. It is 98 feet 9 inches in height. There is an inscription upon it purporting that it was erected by Publius in honor of Diocletian. Abdallatif, the ancient scholar and traveller, asserts that this column was called by the Arabs "the pillar of the colonnades," and that he himself had seen more than 400 similar ones on the seashore. He says also that these pillars had evidently supported a roof; and he believes them to be the remains of the famous Serapéum built by Alexander, and in the stoa or portico of which Aristotle taught. "Pompey's Pillar is by no means so big as the Charing Cross trophy. This venerable column has not escaped ill treatment either. Numberless ships' companies, travelling cockneys, etc., have affixed their rude marks upon it. Some daring ruffian even painted the name of Warren's blacking upon it, effacing other inscriptions one, Wilkinson says, 'of the second Psammetichus.'" Thackeray, Cornhill to Cairo. When Victory's Gallic column shall but rise, Like Pompey's Pillar, in a desert's skies, Is Pompey's Pillar really a misnomer? Pillar of Pompey! gazing o'er the sea, In quivering crimson, day's last beams are shed, Thou look'st a thing some spell with life supplies, Or a rich flame ascending to the skies. Nicholas Michell. Pompey's Statue. [Otherwise called the Spada_Pompey.] A colossal figure of Parian marble, discovered in 1553, and now in the Spada Palace at Rome. It is generally considered to be the identical statue which once stood in the Curia of Pompey, and the one at the base of which "great Cæsar fell," although this has been a subject of dispute among antiquaries. This statue narrowly escaped destruction during the siege of Rome by the French in 1849, shots from their batteries having penetrated the building where it stands, but it escaped unharmed. "I saw in the Palazzo Spada the statue of Pompey,-the statue at whose base Cæsar fell. A stern, tremendous figure! I imagined one of greater finish, of the last refinement, full of delicate touches, losing its distinctness in the giddy eyes of one whose blood was ebbing before it, and settling into some such rigid majesty as this, as Death came creeping over the upturned face." Dickens. "Every one knows that it was found below the foundation walls of two houses, in a lane near the site of the Curia of Pompey-that the proprietors, unable to settle to which of them it belonged, the head being under one house and the feet under the other, imitated the judgment of Solomon, and resolved to cut it in two, and that a cunning cardinal, hearing of this,. persuaded the Pope to buy it, and to make him a present of it." Eaton. "In a more civilized age this tue was exposed to an actual opera. for the French, who acted the of Voltaire in the Coliseum, at their Cæsar should fall at A magnificent aqueduct, a grand relic of Roman times, at Nîmes, in Southern France. Pont du Gard. "The famous Pont du Gard served the double purpose of a bridge and an aqueduct. It crossed the river Gardon between two mountains some leagues from Nimes. Three ranges of arcades, superposed, decreasing in size from the lowest range, and constructed of hewn stone lain without mortar or cement, constituted this marvellous work. Rain has not been able to penetrate the seams of this uncemented structure, nor has time been able to dislocate its joints. The Pont du Gard is in the style of the best Roman epoch. It is attributed to Agrippa, who came to Nimes in A.D. 19, and who had the superintendence of the waters at Rome. No Roman monument is more admired." Lefevre, Tr. Donald. "Such confidence had they [the Romans] in the stability of their em pire, that they provided for the day when repairs might be necessary for the Pont du Gard!" Mérimée, Trans. "The sound of my footsteps in these immense vaults made me fancy that I heard the loud voice of those who George Ticknor. As the arches of the Pont du Gard, suspended in their power amidst that solitude, produce an overmastering feeling of awe; so the huge fabric of the Lucretian system, hung across the void of Nihilism, inspires a sense of terror, not so much on its own account, as for the Roman stern ness of mind that made it. J. A. Symonds. Pont Neuf. [The New Bridge.] This bridge is one of the most important in Paris, as it connects the bank of the Seine with the island of the city, and is frequented by crowds of people. It was finished by Henry IV., of whom a statue was erected in the open space between the two bridges in 1818. An older statue of that ruler on the same spot was melted to make cannon in 1792; and to form the present statue the statues of Napoleon from the Place Vendôme and the column of Boulogne-sur-Mer, and of Desaix from the Place des Victoires, were likewise melted down. This, the longest bridge of Paris, was the second built over the Seine. 1643, Dec. 24. Over the Seine is a stately bridge called Pont Neuf, begun by Henry III. in 1578, finished by Henry IV., his successor. It is all of hewn free-stone, found under the streets, but more plentifully at Mont-Martyre, and consists of 12 arches, in the midst of which ends the poynt of an island on which are built handsome artificers houses. There is one large passage for coaches and two for foot passengers three or four feet higher and of convenient breadth for eight or ten to go abreast. John Evelyn, Diary. His [Lulli's] drowsy pieces are played still to the most sprightly audience that can be conceived; and even though Rameau, who is at once a musician and a philosopher, has shown, both by precept and example, what improvements French music may still admit of, yet his countrymen seem little convinced by his reasonings; and the Pont-neuf taste, as it is called, still prevails in their best performGoldsmith. ances. When I was in full training as a flaneur, I could stand on the Pont Neuf with the other experts in the great science of pass ive cerebration, and look at the river for half an hour with so little mental articulation, that when I moved on it seemed as if my thinking-marrow had been asleep and was just waking up refreshed after its nap. Holmes. Pontack's. A tavern in Abchurch Lane, London, erected after the Great Fire of 1666. It was resorted to by Swift. Ponte alle Grazie. A well-known bridge in Florence, Italy, erected in the middle of the thirteenth century, and taking its name from a neighboring shrine of the Madonna. Ponte dei Sospiri. See BRIDGE OF SIGHS. Ponte di Rialto. See RIALTO. Ponte Molle. A bridge across the Tiber in Rome, built by Pope Pius VII. in 1815. It is the site of the old Roman bridge called the Pons Milvius, after M. Emilius Scaurus by whom it was built. The golden candlestick from the Temple of Jerusalem is believed to have been thrown into the river from this bridge. I have stood upon the Ponte Molle to enjoy the sublime spectacle of the close of day. The summits of the Sabine Hills appeared of lapis lazuli and gold, while their bases and sides were bathed in vapors of violet or purple. This rich decoration does not vanish so quickly as in our climate. Chateaubriand, Trans. I should like to live long enough to see the course of the Tiber turned, and the bottom of the river thoroughly dredged. I wonder if they would find the sevenbranched golden candlestick, brought from Jerusalem by Titus, and said to have been dropped from the Milrian bridge. Holmes. We crossed the Ponte Molle, looking back often to the dome of St. Peter's, and the castle of St. Angelo, as we caught glimpses of them between the villas and over the hills. George Ticknor. Ponte Rotto. [The Broken Bridge.] A bridge over the Tiber at Rome, built upon the site of the ancient Pons Emilius. The modern bridge has been several times rebuilt. Two of its arches were carried away in 1598, their place being since supplied by a suspension span. The derivation of the modern name from the condition of the stone structure is obvious. |