Character Sketches of Romance
Chapter 221 : _Portia_, a rich heiress, in love with Ba.s.sa'nio; but her choice of a husband w

_Portia_, a rich heiress, in love with Ba.s.sa'nio; but her choice of a husband was restricted by her father's will to the following condition: Her suitors were to select from three caskets, one of gold, one of silver, and one of lead, and he who selected the casket which contained Portia's picture, was to claim her as his wife. Ba.s.sanio chose the lead, and being successful, became the espoused husband. It so happened that Ba.s.sanio had borrowed 3,000 ducats, and Antonio, a Venetian merchant, was his security. The money was borrowed of Shylock, a Jew, on these conditions: If the loan was repaid within three months, only the princ.i.p.al would be required; if not, the Jew should be at liberty to claim a pound of flesh from Antonio's body. The loan was not repaid, and the Jew demanded the forfeiture. Portia, in the dress of a law doctor, conducted the defence, and saved Antonio by reminding the Jew that a pound of _flesh_ gave him no drop of blood, and that he must cut neither more nor less than an exact pound, otherwise his life would be forfeited.

As it would be plainly impossible to fulfill these conditions, the Jew gave up his claim, and Antonio was saved.--Shakespeare, _Merchant of Venice_ (1598).

=Portsmouth= (_The d.u.c.h.ess of_), "La Belle Louise de Querouaille," one of the mistresses of Charles II.--Sir W. Scott, _Perveril of the Peak_ (time, Charles II.).

=Portuguese Cid= (_The_), Nunez Alvarez Pereria (1360-1431).

=Portuguese Horace= (_The_), Antonio Ferreira (1528-1569).

"=Posson Jone=," a gigantic parson from "up the river" who has "been to Mobile on business for Bethesdy Church." His sojourn in New Orleans on his way home is marked by divers adventures. He is beguiled into a gambling den, drugged and made drunk. While intoxicated, he visits a circus and has a scene with the showman and his tiger; he is locked up and awakes in his senses and penitent. His simplicity of self-condemnation, his humility and fort.i.tude move his tempter to restore the $500 of church-money he has "borrowed" from the confiding victim whose transport of pious grat.i.tude overwhelms the world-hardened man with shame and inspires him to new resolves.--George W. Cable, "_Posson Jone_" (1879).

=Posthu'mus= [LEONATUS] married Imogen, daughter of Cymbeline, king of Britain, and was banished the kingdom for life. He went to Italy, and there, in the house of Philario, bet a diamond ring with Iachimo that nothing could seduce the fidelity of Imogen. Iachimo accepted the bet, concealed himself in a chest in Imogen's chamber, made himself master of certain details and also of a bracelet, and with these vouchers claimed the ring. Posthumus now ordered his servant, Pisanio, to inveigle Imogen to Milford Haven under the promise of meeting her husband, and to murder her on the road; but Pisanio told Imogen to a.s.sume boy's apparel, and enter the service of the Roman general in Britain, as a page. A battle being fought, the Roman general, Iachimo, and Imogen were among the captives; and Posthumus, having done great service in the battle on Cymbeline's behalf, was pardoned. The Roman general prayed that the supposed page might be set at liberty, and the king told her she might also claim a boon, whereupon she asked that Iachimo should state how he became possessed of the ring he was wearing. The whole villainy being thus exposed, Imogen's innocence was fully established, and she was re-united to her husband.--Shakespeare, _Cymbeline_ (1605).

=Potage= (_Jean_), the French "Jack Pudding;" similar to the Italian "Macaroni," the Dutch "Pickel-herringe," and the German "Hanswurst."

Clumsy, gormandizing clowns, fond of practical jokes, especially such as stealing eatables and drinkables.

=Pother= (_Doctor_), an apothecary, "city register, and walking story-book." He had a story _a propos_ of every remark made and of every incident; but as he mixed two or three together, his stories were pointless and quite unintelligible. "I know a monstrous good story on that point He! he! he" "I tell you a famous good story about that, you must know. He! he! he!..." "I could have told a capital story, but there was no one to listen to it. He! he! he!" This is the style of his chattering ... "speaking professionally--for anatomy, chemistry, pharmacy, phlebotomy, oxygen, hydrogen, caloric, carbonic, atmospheric, galvanic. Ha! ha! ha! Can tell you a prodigiously laughable story on the subject. Went last summer to a watering-place--lady of fas.h.i.+on--feel pulse--not lady, but lap-dog--talk Latin--prescribed galvanism--out jumped Pompey plump into a batter pudding, and lay like a toad in a hole. Ha! ha! ha!"--Dibdin, _The Farmer's Wife_ (1780).

? Colman's "Ollapod" (1802) was evidently copied from Dibdin's "Doctor Pother."

=Potiphar= (_Mr._), freshly-made man intensely uncomfortable in his plated harness. His ideas of art are grounded upon a dim picture in his wife's drawing-room, called by him "Giddo's Shay Doover."

_Mrs. Potiphar_, shoddy of shoddys. Purse-proud, affected, pretentious and ambitious, and even less fit for her position than her husband for his.--George William Curtis, _Potiphar Papers_ (1853).

=Potiphar's Wife=, Zoleikha or Zuleika; but some call her Ral.--Sale, _Al Koran_, xii. note.

=Pott= (_Mr._), the librarian at the Spa.

_Mrs. Pott_, the librarian's wife.--Sir W. Scott, _St. Roman's Well_ (time, George III.).

=Potteries= (_Father of the_), Josiah Wedgewood (1730-1795).

=Pounce= (_Mr. Peter_), in _The Adventures of Joseph Andrews_, by Fielding (1742).

=Poundtext= (_Peter_), an "indulged pastor" in the covenanters' army.--Sir W. Scott, _Old Mortality_ (time, Charles II.).

=Pourceaugnac= [_Poor-sone-yak_], the hero of a comedy so called. He is a pompous country gentleman, who comes to Paris to marry Julie, daughter of Oronte (2 _syl._); but Julie loves Eraste (2 _syl._), and this young man plays off so many tricks, and devises so many mystifications upon M.

de Pourceaugnac, that he is fain to give up his suit.--Moliere, _M. de Pourceaugnac_ (1669).

=Poussin= (_The British_), Richard Cooper (*-1806).

_Poussin_ (_Gaspar_). So Gaspar Dughet, the French painter, is called (1613-1675).

=Powell= (_Mary_), the first wife of John Milton.

=Powheid= (_Lazarus_), the old s.e.xton in Douglas.--Sir W. Scott, _Castle Dangerous_ (time, Henry I.).

=Poyning's Law=, a statute to establish the English jurisdiction in Ireland. The parliament that pa.s.sed it was summoned in the reign of Henry VII. by Sir Edward Poynings, governor of Ireland (1495).

=Poyser= (_Mrs._), shrewd, capable and ready-tongued wife of a British yeoman, and aunt of Hetty Sorrel.--George Eliot, _Adam Bede_.

=P. P.=, "Clerk of the Parish," the feigned signature of Dr. Arbuthnot, subscribed to a volume of _Memoirs_ in ridicule of Burnet's _History of My Own Times_.

Those who were placed around the dinner-table had those feelings of awe with which _P. P._, _Clerk of the Parish_, was oppressed when he first uplifted the psalm in presence of ... the wise Mr. Justice Freeman, the good Lady Jones, and the great Sir Thomas Truby.--Sir W. Scott.

=Pragmatic Sanction.= The word _pragmaticus_ means "relating to State affairs," and the word _sanctio_ means "an ordinance" or "decree." The four most famous statutes so called are:

1. _The Pragmatic Sanction of St. Louis_ (1268), which forbade the court of Rome to levy taxes or collect subscriptions in France without the express permission of the king. It also gave French subjects the right of appealing, in certain cases, from the ecclesiastical to the civil courts of the realm.

2. _The Pragmatic Sanction of Bourges_, pa.s.sed by Charles VII. of France, in 1438. By this ordinance the power of the people in France was limited and defined. The authority of the National Council was declared superior to that of the pope. The French clergy were forbidden to appeal to Rome on any point affecting the secular condition of the nation; and the Roman pontiff was wholly forbidden to appropriate to himself any vacant living, or to appoint to any bishopric or parish church in France.

3. _The Pragmatic Sanction of Kaiser Karl VI. of Germany_ (in 1713), which settled the empire on his daughter, the Archd.u.c.h.ess Maria Theresa, wife of Francois de Loraine. Maria Theresa ascended the throne in 1740, and a European war was the result.

4. _The Pragmatic Sanction of Charles III. of Spain_ (1767). This was to suppress the Jesuits of Spain.

What is meant emphatically by _The Pragmatic Sanction_ is the third of these ordinances, viz., settling the line of succession in Germany on the house of Austria.

=Pramnian Mixture= (_The_), any intoxicating draught; so called from the Pramnian grape, from which it was made. Circe gave Ulysses "Pramnian wine" impregnated with drugs, in order to prevent his escape from the island.

And for my drink prepared The Pramnian mixture in a golden cup, Impregnating (on my destruction bent) With noxious herbs the draught.

Homer, _Odyssey_, x. (Cowper's trans.).

=Prasildo=, a Babylonish n.o.bleman, who falls in love with Tisbi'na, wife of his friend Iroldo. He is overheard by Tisbina threatening to kill himself, and, in order to divert him from his guilty pa.s.sion she promises to return his love on condition of his performing certain adventures which she thinks to be impossible. However, Prasildo performs them all, and then Tisbina and Iroldo, finding no excuse, take poison to avoid the alternative. Prasildo resolves to do the same, but is told by the apothecary that the "poison" he had supplied was a harmless drink.

Prasildo tells his friend, Iroldo quits the country, and Tisbina marries Prasildo. Time pa.s.ses on and Prasildo hears that his friend's life is in danger, whereupon he starts forth to rescue him at the hazard of his own life.--Bojardo, _Orlando Innamorato_ (1495).