The panther, sure the noblest next the hind,
The fairest creature of the spotted kind;
Oh, could her inborn stains be washed away,
She were too good to be a beast of prey.
Dryden, The Hind and the Panther, i. (1687).
Panthino, servant of Antonio (the father of Protheus, one of the two heroes of the play).—Shakespeare, Two Gentlemen of Verona (1594).
Panton, a celebrated punster in the reign of Charles II.
And Panton, waging harmless war with words.
Dryden, MacFlecknoe, (1682).
Panurge, a young man, handsome and of good stature, but in very ragged apparel when Pantag´ruel first met him on the road leading from Charenton Bridge. Pantagruel, pleased with his person, and moved with pity at his distress, accosted him, when Panurge replied, first in German, then in Arabic, then in Italian, then in Biscayan, then in Bas-Breton, then in Low Dutch, then in Spanish. Finding that Pantagruel knew none of these languages, Panurge tried Danish, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, with no better success. “Friend,” said the prince, “can you speak French?” “Right well,” answered Panurge, “for I was born in Touraine, the garden of France.” Pantagruel then asked him if he would join his suite, which Panurge most gladly consented to do, and became the fast friend of Pantagruel. His great forte was practical jokes. Rabelais describes him as of middle stature, with an aquiline nose, very handsome, and always moneyless. Pantagruel made him governor of Salmygondin.—Rabelais, Pantagruel, iii. 2 (1545).
Panza (Sancho), of Adzpetia, the squire of Don Quixote de la Mancha; “a little squat fellow, with a tun belly and spindle shanks” (pt. I. ii. 1). He rides an ass called Dapple. His sound common sense is an excellent foil to the knight’s craze. Sancho is very fond of eating and drinking, is always asking the knight when he is to be put in possession of the island he promised. He salts his speech with most pertinent proverbs, and even with wit of a racy, though sometimes of rather a vulgar savor.—Cervantes, Don Quixote (1605).
*** The wife of Sancho is called “Joan Panza” in pt. I., and “Teresa Panza” in pt. II. “My father’s name,” she says to Sancho, “was Cascajo, and I, by being your wife, am now called Teresa Panza, though by right I should be called Teresa Cascajo” (pt. II. i. 5).
Paolo (2 syl.), the cardinal brother of Count Guido Franceschi´ni, who advised his bankrupt brother to marry an heiress, in order to repair his fortune.
When brother Paolo’s energetic shake
Should do the relics justice.
R. Browning, The Ring and the Book, ii. 409.
Paper King (The), John Law, projector of the Mississippi Bubble (1671-1729).