[Pugin, Augustus Welby], architect, born in London, of French parentage; made a special study of Gothic architecture; assisted in decorating the new Houses of Parliament, but becoming a Roman Catholic he gave himself to designing a good number of Roman Catholic churches, including cathedrals; he wrote several works on architecture, and was the chief promoter of the "Mediæval Court" in the Crystal Palace; he was afflicted in the prime of life with insanity, and died at Ramsgate (1812-1852).
[Pulci, Luini], Italian poet, born at Florence; the personal friend of Lorenzo de' Medici, and the author of a burlesque poem of which Roland is the hero, entitled in Tuscan "Il Morgante Maggiore" ("Morgante the Great"); he wrote also several humorous sonnets; two brothers of his had similar gifts (1432-1484).
[Pulque], a favourite beverage of the Mexicans and in Central America, from the fermented juice of the agave.
[Pulteney, William], Earl of Bath, English statesman; in 1705 entered Parliament zealous in the Whig interest; was for years the friend and colleague of Walpole, but afterwards, from a slight, became his bitterest enemy and most formidable opponent; he contributed a good deal to his fall, but, unable to take his place, contented himself with a peerage, his popularity being gone (1682-1764).
[Pultowa] (43), a town in Southern Russia, 90 m. by rail SW. of Kharkoff, on an affluent of the Dnieper; manufactures leather and tobacco; here Peter the Great won his victory over Charles XII. of Sweden in 1709.
[Pultusk], a Polish town, 33 m. N. of Warsaw; here Charles XII. gained a victory over the Saxons in 1703, and the French over the Russians in 1806.
[Pulu], a kind of silk obtained from the fibres of a fern-tree of Hawaii.
[Punch], the name of the chief character in a well-known puppet show of Italian origin, and appropriated as the title of the leading English comic journal, which is accompanied with illustrations conceived in a humorous vein and conducted in satire, from a liberal Englishman's standpoint, of the follies and weaknesses of the leaders of public opinion and fashion in modern social life. It was started in 1841 under the editorship of Henry Mayhew and Mark Lemon; and the wittiest literary men of the time as well as the cleverest artists have contributed to its pages, enough to mention of the former Thackeray, Douglas Jerrold, and Tom Hood, and of the latter Doyle, Leech, Tenniel, Du Maurier, and Lindley Sambourne.
[Pundit], a Brahmin learned in Sanskrit and in the language, literature, and laws of the Hindus.
[Punic Faith], a plighted promise that one can put no trust in, such as the Romans alleged they systematically had experience of at the hands of the Poeni or Carthaginians.