Parny (Évariste Désiré de Forges de), Viscount. French poet, b. St. Paul, Isle of Bourbon, 6 Feb. 1753. Educated in France, he chose the military profession. A disappointed passion for a creole inspired his “Amatory Poems,” and he afterwards wrote the audacious War of the Gods, Paradise Lost, and The Gallantries of the Bible. His poems, though erotic, are full of elegant charm, and he has been named the French Tibullus. He was admitted into the French Academy in 1803. Died at Paris, 5 Dec. 1814.
Parton (James), author, b. Canterbury, England, 9 Feb. 1822. Was taken to the United States when a child and educated at New York. He married Miss Willis, “Fannie Fern,” and has written many biographies, including Lives of Thomas Jefferson, ’74, and of Voltaire, ’81. He has also written on Topics of the Time, ’71, and Church Taxation. He resided in New York till ’75 when he removed to Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Parvish (Samuel), Deistic author of An Inquiry into the Jewish and Christian Revelation (London, 1739), of which a second edition was issued in 1746.
Pasquier (Étienne). French journalist, b. 7 April, 1529, at Paris. Brought up to the bar he became a successful pleader. He defended the Universities against the Jesuits, whom he also attacked in a bitter satire, Catéchisme des Jésuites. Died Paris, 30 Aug. 1615.
Passerano (Alberto Radicati di) count. Italian philosopher of last century, attached to the court of Victor Amedée II. For some pamphlets written against the Papal power he was pursued by the Inquisition and his goods seized. He lived in England and made the acquaintance of Collins, also in France and Holland, where he died about 1736, leaving his goods to the poor. In that year he published at Rotterdam Recueil de Pièces curieuses sur les matieres les plus íntéressantes, etc., which contains a Parallel between Mahomet and Sosem (anagram of Moses), an abridged history of the Sacerdotal Profession, and a Faithful and comic recital of the religion of modern cannibals, by Zelin Moslem; also a Dissertation upon Death, which was published separately in 1733. The Recueil was republished at London in 1749. He also wrote a pretended translation from an Arabic work on Mohammedanism, satirising the Bible, and a pretended sermon by Elwall the Quaker.
Pasteur (Louis). French scientist b. Dôle, 27 Dec 1822, became doctor in ’47 and professor of physic at Strassburg in ’48. He received the Rumford medal of the Royal Society in ’56 for his discoveries in polarisation and molecular chemistry. Decorated with the Legion of honor in ’53, he was made commander ’68 and grand officer ’78. His researches into innoculation have been much contested, but his admirers have raised a large institute for the prosecution of his treatment. He was elected to the Academy as successor of Littré. He gave his name as Vice-President of the British Secular Union.
Pastoret (Claude Emmanuel Joseph Pierre de), Marquis, French statesman and writer, b. of noble family at Marseilles, 25 Oct. 1756. Educated by the Oratorians at Lyons, in 1779 he published an Elege de Voltaire. By his works on Zoroaster, Confucius and Mahomet (1787) and on Moses Considered as Legislator and Moralist (1788) he did something for the infant science of comparative religion. His principal work is a learned History of Legislation, in 11 vols. (1817–37), in which he passes in review all the ancient codes. He embraced the Revolution, and became President of the Legislative Assembly (3 Oct. 1791). He proposed the erection of the Column of July on the Place of the Bastille, and the conversion of the church of Ste Geneviève into the Pantheon. On the 19th June, 1792, he presented a motion for the complete separation of the state from religion. He fled during the Terror, but returned as deputy in 1795. In 1820 he succeeded his friend Volney as member of the French Academy, in ’23 received the cross of the Legion of Honor, and in ’29 became Chancellor of France. Died at Paris, 28 Sept. 1840.
Pater (Walter Horatio), English writer, b. London, 4 Aug. 1839. B.A. at Oxford in ’62, M.A. in ’65. Has written charming essays in the Westminster Review, Macmillan, and the Fortnightly Review. In ’73 he published The Renaissance, and in ’85 Marius the Epicurean, His Sensations and Ideas.
Paterson (Thomas), b. near Lanark early in this century. After the imprisonment of Southwell and Holyoake he edited the Oracle of Reason. For exhibiting profane placards he was arrested and sentenced 27 Jan. 1843 to three months’ imprisonment. His trial was reported under the title God v. Paterson (’43.) He insisted on considering God as the plaintiff and in quoting from “the Jew book” to show the plaintiff’s bad character. When released he went to Scotland to uphold the right of free publication, and was sentenced 8 Nov. ’43 to fifteen months’ imprisonment for selling “blasphemous” publications at Edinburgh. On his release he was presented with a testimonial 6 April, 1845, H. Hetherington presiding. Paterson went to America.
Patin (Gui), French physician, writer, and wit, b. near Beauvais 31 Aug. 1602. He became professor at the college of France. His reputation is chiefly founded on his Letters, in which he attacked superstition. Larousse says “C’était un libre penseur de la famille de Rabelais.” Died at Paris 30 Aug. 1672.