Prospero (pros´pe-rō).—Tempest, Shakespeare. Rightful duke of Milan, deposed by his brother. Drifted on a desert island, he practised magic, and raised a tempest in which his brother was shipwrecked. Ultimately Prospero “broke his wand,” and his daughter married the son of the King of Naples.
Puff, Mr.—In Sheridan’s farce The Critic, a hack writer, who, having failed at other occupations, tries criticism for a living, and is a “professor of the art of puffing.”
Puss in Boots.—The subject and title of a well-known nursery tale derived from a fairy story in the Nights of the Italian author Straparola, and Charles Perrault’s Contes des Fées. The wonderful cat secures a princess and a fortune for his master, a poor young miller, whom he passes off as the rich marquis of Carabas.
Pygmalion (pig-mā´li-on) and Galatea (gal-a-tē´ä).—A mythological comedy, by W. S. Gilbert, embodying the fable of the Athenian sculptor who prayed the gods to put life into the statue of Galatea which he had fashioned. In the comedy, Galatea evokes the jealousy of the sculptor’s wife Cynisca; and, after causing great misery by her very innocence, voluntarily returns to the original stone.
Pyncheon (pin´chon).—The name of an ancient but decayed family in Hawthorne’s romance The House of the Seven Gables. There are: (1) Judge Pyncheon, a selfish, cunning, worldly man. (2) His cousin Clifford, a delicate, sensitive nature, reduced to childishness by long imprisonment and suffering. (3) Hepzibah, the latter’s sister, an old maid who devotes herself to the care of Clifford. (4) A second cousin, Phœbe, a fresh, cheerful young girl, who restores the fallen fortunes of the family and removes the curse which rested on it.
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Quasimodo (kwā-si-mō´dō).—Notre Dame de Paris, Hugo. A misshapen dwarf, one of the prominent characters in the story. He is brought up in the cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. One day, he sees Esmeralda, who had been dancing in the cathedral close, set upon by a mob, and he conceals her for a time in the church. When, at length, the beautiful gypsy girl is gibbeted, Quasimodo disappears mysteriously, but a skeleton corresponding to the deformed figure is found after a time in a hole under the gibbet.
Quaver.—The Virgin Unmasked, Fielding. A singing-master, who says, “if it were not for singing-masters, men and women might as well have been born dumb.” He courts Lucy by promising to give her singing-lessons.
Queen Lab.—Arabian Nights. The queen of magic, ruler over the enchanted city, in the story of Beder, prince of Persia. She transforms men into horses, mules, and other animals. Beder marries her, defeats her plots against him, but is himself turned into an owl for a time.
Quentin Durward (kwen´tin der´wärd).—A novel by Sir Walter Scott. A story of French history. The delineations of Louis XI. and Charles the Bold of Burgundy will stand comparison with any in the whole range of fiction or history.