Penton Street. See “[Pentonville].”
Pentonville. Prior to 1773 the whole of this neighbourhood north of the New Road was open fields. It was then acquired for building purposes by Henry Penton, M.P., one of the Lords of the Admiralty, and received its name from “Penton Villa,” his residence, on the site of what is now Penton Street.
Penzance. Expresses the Celtic for “Saint’s Headland,” in allusion to St Michael’s Mount.
People’s Friend. The surname of Dr William Gordon of Hull, merited by his kindly disposition and unfailing generosity. When he died in 1849 the whole town followed his body to the grave, and the name by which he had always been known was subsequently chiselled on his tombstone.
Percy Cross. See “[Parsons Green].”
Pere La Chaise. This, the principal cemetery of Paris, originally constituted the land attached to a beautiful mansion built by a grocer named Regnault. After his death the property passed into the hands of a lady, who made it over to the Jesuits of the Rue St Antoine. Thenceforth the Maison Regnault became the recognised seat of the Jesuits. In 1705 Pere La Chaise, the confessor of Louis XIV., was made Superior to the Order, and by the King’s desire the house received his name. The eventual suppression of the Order caused the property to be sold and the land converted into a cemetery.
Perfectionists. An American sect of religionists who, relying on the gift of the Spirit, dispense with civil laws so far as their own community is concerned.
Peripatetics. The school of philosophy founded by Aristotle, who taught his disciples in the colonnade or covered walk (styled the peripatos, from peripatem, to walk) in the garden of Lyceus at Athens.
Pernambuco. Expresses the Spanish for “the mouth of hell,” so called on account of the violent surf, which is such an impediment to the safe navigation of the mouth of its chief river, the San Francisco.
Persia. The country of the Parsa. See “[Parsees].”