[Périgord], an ancient territory of France, S. of Guienne, famous for its truffles, of which [Périgueux] (q. v.) was the capital; united to the Crown of France by Henry IV. in 1589, it is now part of the department of Dordogne and part of Lot-et-Garonne.
[Périgueux] (31), chief town of the department of Dordogne, France, on the Isle, 95 m. by rail NE. of Bordeaux, is a narrow irregular town with a cathedral after St. Mark's in Venice, museum of antiquities, and library; iron and woollens are the industries; truffles and truffle pies are exported.
[Perihelion], the point on the orbit of a planet or comet nearest the sun.
[Perim], a small barren, crescent-shaped island at the mouth of the Red Sea, belonging to Britain, and used as a coaling-station.
[Peripatetic Philosophy], the name given to the philosophy of Aristotle, from his habit of walking about with his disciples as he philosophised in the shady walks of the Lyceum.
[Pernambuco] (130), a seaport in N. Brazil, consists of three portions connected by bridges: Recife, on a peninsula, the business quarter; San Antonio, the modern quarter, on an intermediate island; and Bon Vista, on the mainland; manufactures cotton and tobacco, and has shipbuilding yards; the trade chiefly with England, the United States, and France; it is the capital of a province (1,100) of the name, producing sugar and cotton.
[Peronella], in fairy legend a pretty country lass who exchanges places with an old wizened queen, and receives the homage due to royalty, but gladly takes back her rags and beauty.
[Perowne, Stewart], Bishop of Worcester, born at Burdwân, of Huguenot extraction, educated at Cambridge; became a Fellow of Corpus Christi; held several academic and ecclesiastical appointments; an eminent Hebrew scholar and exegete; his chief work a commentary on the Psalms; b. 1823.
[Perpignan] (28), a town on the Têt, 7 m. from the sea; a fortress in the French department of Pyrénées-Orientales; has a cathedral of the 14th century and a bourse in Moorish-Gothic, and manufactures wine and brandy; belonged originally to Aragon; was taken by France in 1475, and retaken, after restoration to Spain, in 1642, since which time it has belonged to France.
[Perrault, Charles], French man of letters, born in Paris; bred to the bar; distinguished as the author of inimitable fairy tales, which have immortalised his name, as "Puss in Boots," "Cinderella," "Bluebeard," &c., as also "Parallel des Anciens et des Modernes," in which his aim was to show—an ill-informed attempt—that the ancients were inferior in everything to the moderns (1628-1703).