sent." The extant work is probably an abridgment of a larger one mentioned by Suidas and ascribed by him to Palæphatus of Paros, contemporary of Artaxerxes. Suidas, however, mentions three other persons of the same name, an Athenian epic poet of mythical origin; a historian of Abydus, contemporary with Alexander the Great; and an Egyptian or Athenian grammarian. The last of these is now commonly thought to have been the real author of the work in question.—G.
PALAFOX, José, born in 1780, was one of those who accompanied Ferdinand VII. of Spain in his memorable journey to Bayonne. On the invasion of Joseph Bonaparte, he was named one of the notables or peers under the new régime, but fled from the disgraceful dignity, and was immediately chosen captain-general of Arragon. His defence of Saragossa, from the 15th June to the 14th August, 1808, the French being ultimately obliged to raise the siege, is one of the most brilliant events in the annals of that war. When Napoleon himself entered Spain, Palafox was signally defeated near Tudela, but retired on Saragossa, and a second time defended the city against a victorious enemy. While he was suffering from illness and delirious, the junta surrendered (22d February, 1809); and in violation of the capitulation, Palafox was sent a prisoner to France. He was only released to be the bearer of a letter from Ferdinand, urging the ratification of the treaty of Valençay. Maria Christina created him duke of Saragossa. He died in 1847.—F. M. W.
PALAPRAT, Jean de Bigot, was born in 1650 at Toulouse, and in his youth obtained several prizes at the Jeux Floraux. Subsequently adopting the bar as his profession, he rose to be capitoul or chief magistrate of his native city. He became secretary to the Duc de Vendome in 1691, and died in 1721. Retaining the literary tastes of his youth, he composed several pieces for the stage, chiefly of a comic character, in conjunction with the Abbé Brueys.—W. J. P.
PALEARIO, Aonio, or Antonio Paleari, an Italian reformer of the sixteenth century, was born in 1500 at Peroli in the campagna of Rome. Early left an orphan, he was educated at Rome, and applied himself successfully to severe study. After passing his early manhood under the protection of a Roman noble, he visited Perugia, Siena, Padua, and other seats of learning, in search of knowledge. After having achieved academic distinction in oratory, poetry, and philosophy, he married and settled in Siena. In 1537 he quarreled publicly with a monkish preacher, and in 1542 published anonymously a treatise "On the benefit of Christ's death," which exposed him to the hostility of the Romish priesthood. He was denounced as a heretic from the pulpit. In 1546 he was appointed professor of eloquence at Lucca, and emulated in that small republic the position of Demosthenes in Athens. His fame as an orator procured him the chair of eloquence at Milan, for which he quitted Lucca in 1555. Amid all the contests of that agitated period, Paleario advocated political and religious freedom, and opposed papal pretensions. When the papacy gained the ascendancy in Italy the inquisition was set to work, and Paleario among others was accused of heresy on account of the book he had written twenty-five years before. He was taken from Milan to Rome in 1568, tried, condemned, and executed. After being hanged his body was burned at the bridge of S. Angelo at Rome on the 8th July, 1570. His constancy at the stake irritated his enemies, one of whom, Latine, wrote cruel verses on his death, and remarked in a letter that Paleario had suppressed the T in his christian name on account of its resemblance to a cross.—(Young's Life and Times of Paleario, 2 vols., 1860.)—R. H.
PALENCIA, Alonzo de, a Spanish historian, was born in 1423, and at an early age visited Italy, where he studied under the learned George of Trebizond. He was raised to the post of historiographer by Alfonso, the rebellious younger brother of Henry VI., and wrote a chronicle of that monarch's reign (1454-74). He was employed in many difficult negotiations, among others in arranging the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella. Under these sovereigns he was maintained in his office, and wrote in Latin his "Decades," continuing the reign of Isabella down to 1498. He also wrote a Spanish and Latin dictionary—the first Spanish vocabulary we possess; a work entitled "The Mirror of the Cross;" and translations of Josephus and Plutarch—F. M. W.
PALESTRINA, Giovanni Pierluigi da, the great musician, more commonly known simply as Palestrina or Prænestinus, was born not far from Rome, in the small town of Palestrina, the ancient Præneste, in 1524, according to Baini's account. In 1540 (consequently at the age of sixteen) he was sent by his parents to Rome, that he might study and cultivate the much esteemed and profitable art of music, for which he evinced a peculiar predilection, and where all who pursued the science, foreigners in particular, more especially Spaniards, Frenchmen, and Belgians, were greatly respected. Among the latter, at that time, was Claude Gondimel, who superintended a school in Rome, from which emanated many a famous pupil. This excellent composer, who afterwards established himself in Lyons, where he was put to death as a Huguenot in 1572, had the honour (as Baini proved by documents in reply to the doubts entertained by Burney and others) of being the teacher of the illustrious Palestrina. In 1551 Palestrina was appointed magister puerorum, and afterwards magister capellæ, in the chapel founded by Pope Julius II., and called after him the Julian chapel, in the Basilica of the Vatican of St. Peter. In 1554 he published his first work, which gained him the patronage of Pope Julius III.; and in 1555 he obtained a situation amongst the singers of the pontifical chapel, at his acceptance of which he resigned the situation of magister capellæ above mentioned. His patron died a few months afterwards; and the countenance of Pope Marcellus II., the successor of Julius in the holy see, could have been of no great service to him, though he was formerly prepossessed in his favour, as this pontiff ceased to exist after a brief sovereignty of only twenty-one days. The successor of Marcellus, Pope Paul IV., having discovered that some of the singers in the pontifical chapel were not in holy orders, and were, besides, actually married, raised objections to this state of things, and Palestrina, who had not the plea of celibacy to advance, was discharged in the course of the same year in which he had been appointed, receiving only a meagre pension; and he would have been reduced with his family to penury had not the vacant situation in St. Giovanni di Laterano been soon afterwards offered to him. This office, though but a poor one, he thankfully accepted, and continued in the faithful discharge of its duties for six years, until he received in 1561 a somewhat more lucrative situation in St. Maria Maggiore. Though none of his works during this period were printed, he was by no means inactive; and among the compositions which he wrote for this church was one called the "Improperia," which was performed for the first time on Good Friday, 1560, and created such a universal sensation, that Pius IV. begged to have a copy of it. From that time until the present day, the "Improperia" has been performed every year on Good Friday, and it may be found in the collection of music selected for the Holy Week in the pontifical chapel. It was published in 1772 by Dr. Burney in London, and afterwards by Kühnel at Leipsic. To the same pontiff Palestrina presented, in 1562, a six part mass, upon ut re mi fa sol la, the "Crucifixus" of which particularly delighted both his holiness and the cardinals. About this time the council of Trent had, amongst other things, taken the state of ecclesiastical music into consideration, and decreed many reforms therein; to carry which into effect, Pope Pius IV. appointed the Cardinals Vitelozzi and Borromeo, who called to their assistance a committee of eight, taken from the college of singers. Upon three points the cardinals and their coadjutors at once agreed: first, that in future no masses or motets should be sung in which different words were confounded together; secondly, that the uniting masses upon the airs and subjects of profane songs should be expressly forbidden; and thirdly, that all words, though on sacred subjects, written by private individuals, should be inadmissible into the church service, which should sanction in future only the text of scripture. A fourth point became the subject of much dispute. Was it possible that in florid counterpoint the words sung should be still clearly intelligible to the hearer? The cardinals were desirous they should be rendered so; the singers contended it was impossible, on account of the fugues and imitations which formed the principal characteristic of music, and without which indeed, according to them, music itself would no longer be music. The cardinals cited the Te Deum of Constanzo Festa, and the "Improperia" and Mass on the gamut of Palestrina. The singers replied, that these were only short compositions, but that in longer pieces it would be impossible to preserve the same clearness in setting the words. It was at length decided that Palestrina should be employed to write a mass on the plan proposed by the cardinals; that if he succeeded no further innovation should take place; if, on the
