[Peterhead] (12), a seaport on the E. coast of Aberdeenshire, 30 m. NE. of Aberdeen; built irregularly of reddish granite; has a free library and museum, and is the seat of a convict prison; the chief industry is herring-fishing; there are two harbours, and a third, a great harbour of refuge, is in course of construction.
[Peterhof] (14), a town on the Gulf of Finland, 18 m. W. of St. Petersburg, with a palace of the Czar built in 1711 by Peter the Great.
[Peterloo], a name, suggested by Waterloo, given to an insurrectionary gathering in 1819 of workers in St. Peter's Field, Manchester, to demand Parliamentary reform, and which was dispersed by the military to the sacrifice of 13 lives and the wounding of 600, a proceeding which excited wide-spread indignation, and contributed to promote the cause which it was intended to defeat.
[Peter's, St.], church at Rome, is built, it is alleged, over the tomb of St. Peter, and on the site of the basilica erected by Constantine and Helena in 306. The original structure after falling into decay was begun to be rebuilt in 1450, and finally consecrated by Urban XIII. in 1626. It is the largest and grandest church in Christendom, covers an area of over 26,000 square yards, the interior of it in length being 206 yards, the transept 150 yards, the nave 150, and the dome 465. It contains thirty altars, and is adorned with numerous statues and monuments.
[Peter's Pence], an annual tribute of a silver penny per household in England to support the chair of St. Peter at Rome, and which continued more or less to be levied from the end of the 8th century till the days of Elizabeth, when it ceased. The payment has been revived since 1848 in Britain, France, and Belgium in compensation to the Pope for loss of his territorial possessions.
[Peterwardein] (4), a strong Austrian fortress on the right bank of the Danube, near the Servian frontier, 40 m. NW. of Belgrade; stands among unhealthy marshes.
[Pétion de Villeneuve, Jérôme], born at Chartres; figured in the French Revolution as a zealous republican, member of the Tiers État, one of the commission to reconduct the royal family from Varennes; was mayor of Paris in the year of the September massacres, 1792; was first President of the Convention, and, though his influence was declining, member of the first Committee of Defence, 1793; his attack on Robespierre proving unsuccessful he committed suicide; his body was afterwards found on the Landes of Bordeaux half devoured by wolves; was surnamed the "Virtuous," as Robespierre the "Incorruptible"; was of the Girondist party; had "unalterable beliefs, not hindmost of them," says Carlyle, "belief in himself" (1783-1793).
[Petite Nature], a French term applied to pictures containing figures less than life-size, but with the effect of life-size.
[Petition of Right], a petition presented to Charles I. by the Commons in 1628, and that became law by the king's acceptance of it. It sought for and obtained the abolition of certain grievances which the country unconstitutionally suffered from, such as taxation or levying of money without consent of Parliament, imprisonment without cause shown, billeting of troops, and recourse to martial law in a time of peace. This petition Charles I. would at first fain have evaded, but the Commons would be satisfied with nothing less than its acceptance entire.
[Petöfi, Sandor], celebrated Magyar poet and patriot, born in the county of Pesth, of poor parents; first announced himself as a poet in 1844; wrote a number of war-songs; fought in the cause of the revolution of 1848, and fell in the battle of Schässburg; his poetry inaugurated a new era in the literature of his country (1823-1849).