1817.—
"But nought can charm the luckless Peri;
Her soul is sad—her wings are weary."
Moore, Paradise and the Peri.
PERPET, PERPETUANO, s. The name of a cloth often mentioned in the 17th and first part of the 18th centuries, as an export from England to the East. It appears to have been a light and glossy twilled stuff of wool, [which like another stuff of the same kind called 'Lasting,' took its name from its durability. (See Draper's Dict. s.v.)]. In France it was called perpétuanne or sempiterne, in Ital. perpetuana.
[1609.—"Karsies, Perpetuanos and other woollen Comodities."—Birdwood, Letter Book, 288.
[1617.—"Perpetuano, 1 bale."—Cocks's Diary, Hak. Soc. i. 293.
[1630.—"... Devonshire kersies or perpetuities...."—Forrest, Bombay Letters, i. 4.
[1680.—"Perpetuances."—Ibid. ii. 401.]
1711.—"Goods usually imported (to China) from Europe are Bullion Cloths, Clothrash, Perpetuano's, and Camblets of Scarlet, black, blew, sad and violet Colours, which are of late so lightly set by; that to bear the Dutys, and bring the prime Cost, is as much as can reasonably be hoped for."—Lockyer, 147.