Pancks, a quick, short, eager, dark man, with too much “way.” He dressed in black and rusty iron grey; had jet-black beads for eyes, a scrubby little black chin, wiry black hair striking out from his head in prongs like hair-pins, and a complexion that was very dingy by nature, or very dirty by art, or a compound of both. He had dirty hands, and dirty, broken nails, and looked as if he had been in the coals. He snorted and sniffed, and puffed and blew, and was generally in a perspiration. It was Mr. Pancks who “moled out” the secret that Mr. Dorrit, imprisoned for debt in the Marshalsea prison, was heir-at-law to a great estate, which had long lain unclaimed, and was extremely rich (ch. xxxv.). Mr. Pancks also induced Clennam to invest in Merdle’s bank shares, and demonstrated by figures the profit he would realize; but the bank being a bubble the shares were worthless.—C. Dickens, Little Dorrit (1857).
Pancrace, a doctor of the Aristotelian school. He maintained that it was improper to speak of the “form of a hat,” because form “est la disposition extérieure des corps qui sont animés,” and therefore we should say the “figure of a hat,” because figure “est la disposition extérieure des corps qui sont inanimés;” and because his adversary could not agree, he called him “un ignorant, un ignorantissime, ignorantifiant, et ignorantifiè” (sc. viii.).—Molière, Le Mariage Forcé (1664).
Pancras (The earl of), one of the skillful companions of Barlow, the famous archer; another was called the “Marquis of Islington;” while Barlow himself was mirthfully created by Henry VIII., “Duke of Shoreditch.”
Pancras (St.), patron saint of children, martyred by Diocletian at the age of 14 (A.D. 304).
Pan´darus, the Lycian, one of the allies of Priam in the Trojan war. He is drawn under two widely different characters: In classic story he is depicted as an admirable archer, slain by Diomed, and honored as a hero-god in his own country; but in mediæval romance he is represented as a despicable pimp, insomuch that the word pander is derived from his name. Chaucer, in his Troïlus and Cresseide, and Shakespeare, in his drama of Troilus and Cressida, represent him as procuring for Troilus the good graces of Cressid, and in Much Ado About Nothing, it is said that Troilus “was the first employer of pandars.”
Pandemo´nium, “the high capital of Satan and his peers.” Here the infernal parliament was held, and to this council Satan convened the fallen angels to consult with him upon the best method of encompassing the “fall of man.” Satan ultimately undertook to visit the new world; and, in the disguise of a serpent, he tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit.—Milton, Paradise Lost, ii. (1665).
Pandi´on, king of Athens, father of Procnê and Philome´la.
None take pity on thy pain;
Senseless trees, they cannot hear thee;
Ruthless bears, they will not cheer thee;
King Pandion he is dead;
All thy friends are lapped in lead.
Richard Barnfield, Address to the Nightingale (1594).
Pandolf (Sir Harry), the teller of whole strings of stories, which he repeats at every gathering. He has also a stock of bon-mots. “Madam,” said he, “I have lost by you to-day.” “How so, Sir Harry!” replies the lady. “Why, madam,” rejoins the baronet, “I have lost an excellent appetite.” “This is the thirty-third time that Sir Harry hath been thus arch.”
We are constantly, after supper, entertained with the Glastonbury Thorn. When we have wondered at that a little, “Father,” saith the son, “let us have the Spirit in the Wood.” After that, “Now tell us how you served the robber.” “Alack!” saith Sir Harry, with a smile, “I have almost forgotten that; but it is a pleasant conceit, to be sure;” and accordingly he tells that and twenty more in the same order over and over again.—Richard Steele.