competitors, and the latter, much to the dissatisfaction of the severer critics, was successful. This drew the attention of Napoleon to the merits of the musician, whose style of writing was especially agreeable to Lira, and he requested Ferdinand IV. to allow him the services of his favourite, who accordingly commanded Paesiello to go to Paris, in September, 1802. Napoleon appointed him director of music in his chapel, and heaped every possible favour upon him; it is even said upon Paesiello's own authority, that he offered to place him at the head of the Conservatoire, but this there is good reason to question. When the consul became emperor, Paesiello wrote a mass and a Te Deum for the coronation; and besides this, he composed sixteen entire services for the chapel, and set to music Quinault's libretto of "Proserpine"—originally written for Lully—which was modified to suit modern requirements, and this was produced at the Académie, but with very little applause. Its non-success was in some degree ascribed to the jealousy of the peculiar distinction of Paesiello, which was generally felt by the musicians of Paris, and which was more or less expressed in a pamphlet written by Méhul. Finding himself thus regarded, and mortified at the difference between the treatment he experienced at the hands of the emperor and that which he received from the public, after a residence of two years and a half in Paris, Paesiello made a pretext for resigning his appointment and returning to Naples; when, being asked to name his successor, he recommended Lesueur, partly out of friendship for this musician, and partly also because he was then at variance with the Conservatoire, the professors of which, Paesiello supposed to be leagued against himself. Napoleon fixed a pension on his favourite, with the sole condition that he should annually furnish a piece of music for the celebration of his birth-day. In Naples Paesiello resumed his former position, and was also appointed maestro di capella of the cathedral and of the municipality. When Joseph Bonaparte was placed upon the throne, he not only retained Paesiello in all his appointments, but made him president of the new Conservatorio, which was established on the dissolution of the ancient musical seminaries of Naples. Napoleon now sent him the cross of the legion of honour, through his new patron King Joseph, who conferred on him the order of the Two Sicilies; and he was created a member of the French Institut and of several other learned and artistic societies. "I Pitagorici," the last dramatic work of Paesiello, was produced at this time; it completes the number of twenty-nine operas belonging to the third period of his fertile career. His subsequent compositions were almost entirely for the church. On the accession of Murat to the Neapolitan throne, our musician remained in possession of his offices with their immunities; but on the final return of the Bourbons, he was displaced from every appointment except that in the cathedral; and losing also his pension from the ex-emperor, his last days were embittered by comparative poverty, though he might well have saved a fortune from the imperial and royal bounty he had enjoyed for the previous twenty-seven years. He is said to have been of an affable disposition, but he showed no liberality towards young artists of his own calling; he deemed himself slighted in his old age, and probably to justify this complaint, by showing that he was not past the period of activity, stated himself to be ten years less than his real age. A Requiem, which had not been performed, was found among his papers at his death, and this was executed at the public funeral which was given him at the command of the reigning king. Besides the ninety-four operas and the many pieces of sacred and instrumental music which have been referred to, Paesiello also wrote a large number of masses and other works for his cathedral, twelve violin quartets for the princess of Parma, and a multitude of intermezzos, ballets, and other smaller productions for the theatre. Burney describes him as having a rare talent for improvisation, mentioning an occasion when, being asked to sing, he took the libretto of an opera and extemporized music to several of the scenes. He is elsewhere said to have been an excellent linguist, and to have been well read in ancient and modern literature. His genius showed itself more conspicuously in comic than in serious operas; but his power was greater as a melodist than as a writer of characteristic music, and some of his airs, which are still popular, are marked by such freshness as will insure them equal esteem at the end of a second half century after their composition.—G. A. M.
PAEZ, José Antonio, ex-president of Venezuela and founder of that republic, was born in 1780, and grew up without any education among the "llaneros" (inhabitants of the plains) of Arragua. In 1811, when the insurrection against Spanish power in Venezuela broke out, he joined it at the head of a body of "llaneros." For the following ten years he was the able and indefatigable lieutenant of Bolivar in the war of independence waged against Spain. In the battle of Carabolo, 24th June, 1821, Paez defeated seven thousand Spanish troops, and on the foundation of the republic of Columbia he was appointed to the military governorship of Venezuela, established by Bolivar. In 1829, when the republic of Venezuela was separated from that of Columbia, Paez was chosen the first president, and the death of Bolivar in 1830 left him in undisturbed possession of power, which he used with great skill and integrity in developing the finances of the new state, promoting agriculture and industry. In 1832 he concluded an alliance with the other two new republics. New Granada and Quito. At the expiration of his term of office (four years) he retired into private life, but was recalled in 1839, with dictatorial power, to quell the disorders which had arisen, and his second administration was even more successful than the first. In 1846 he was again called to resume dictatorial power, and in 1847 was solicited to undertake the presidency, but prevailed on the inhabitants to elect in his stead Don José Monagas. This person, however, destroyed the constitution, and ruled in so despotic a manner that Paez raised the standard of insurrection against him. This time, however, he was unsuccessful, and after a period of cruel imprisonment he was banished, and took refuge in the United States. A popular insurrection recalled him to the presidentship in 1858, and he was received with acclamation; but, finding that his resumption of power must be attended by civil war, he returned to America, resolved to spend there the rest of his life.—F. M. W.
PAEZ, Pedro, a Spanish Jesuit missionary, was born 1564, and having passed through the usual course of education, sailed for the port of Goa in 1587. Thence he was sent with a companion, Antonio Montserrat, to minister to the Portuguese settled in Abyssinia; but on their voyage thither they were captured by an Arab pirate (1589), and carried in irons to the capital of the king of Shael, where they passed seven years in a dreadful captivity, being at length released and restored to Goa on the payment of a heavy ransom. Paez embarked a second time for Abyssinia in 1603, and speedily acquired the dialect most extensively used, so as to instruct the native children in the catholic faith. The reigning monarch, Za-Denghel, was so much impressed by his teaching, that he petitioned for a reinforcement of missionaries; but the Abyssinian priesthood, jealous of their power, raised an insurrection, in which the king lost his life. His successor, Melek Seghed, however, proved still more friendly to the missionary, and gave him a piece of land as a site for a monastery. Paez accompanied the sovereign in many of his expeditions, and was the first European who explored the sources of the Nile. He died in 1662, having succeeded in inducing the king to repudiate all his wives but one, and to embrace the catholic faith. His successor, however, re-established the old and corrupt form of Christianity.—F. M. W.
PAGAN, Blaise François, Comte de, a celebrated French military engineer, mathematician, and astronomer, was born at Avignon in 1604, and died in Paris, 1665. He entered the army at twelve years of age, and distinguished himself highly by his skill and daring. In 1642 he had attained the rank of quartermaster-general, when he was disabled from further service by the loss of his eyesight. During the remainder of his life he applied himself, notwithstanding his blindness, to the study of mathematical science and its applications. His treatise on fortification, published in 1645, is held to have constituted an important step in the progress of that art.—W. J. M. R.
PAGANI, Gregorio, one of the most distinguished of the Italian painters of the latter half of the sixteenth century, was born at Florence in 1558. He lost his father when still a child, and was taught his art, first by Santi Titi, and then by the celebrated Cigoli, whose style he followed so closely as to be called a second Cigoli. The great merit of Cigoli and Pagani consisted in their successful efforts at correcting the extravagant style which had been established by the mannered imitators of Michelangelo, who subordinated all other qualities of art to an excessive display of anatomy. These reformers of the Florentine school established a rational taste in form, and a system of colouring founded upon that of the Venetian painters. Pagani died at Florence in 1605.—(Baldinucci; Lanzi.)—R. N. W.
