He published a Flora of Oware and Benin, between 1802 and 1820; an Agrostophia, or Natural History of Grasses. A genus of plants has been denominated Belvisia after him.—J. H. B.
PALISOT DE MONTENOY, Charles, a French dramatist, was born at Nanci in 1730. Entering the congregation of the Oratory, he quickly left it, and married at eighteen. After a failure in tragedy he found his true vein, and produced some comedies with success, in one of which, the "Cercle," he ridiculed Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Amongst his other writings may be mentioned "Petites Lettres contre do Grands Philosophes," 1756; his "Dunciade," 1764; and his "Mémoires sur la Littérature." He died in 1814.—W. J. P.
PALISSY, Bernard, known as Palissy the Potter, was born about 1510 at Chapelle Biron in Perigord, or according to other accounts, in the diocese of Agen, but nothing precise is known as to the year or place of his birth. Brought up as a painter on glass, he received a sufficient amount of artistic training to enable him, when glass-painting failed, to gain a livelihood by painting portraits, &c. On reaching manhood he travelled through the principal towns of France and a part of Germany, seeking employment and improvement in his calling. Whilst thus occupied he learned to survey land and make plans—an art he found of great use in future years. He also appears to have acquired about this time some knowledge of chemistry. About 1538 he married and settled in the town of Saintes, finding employment as a glass painter, portrait and figure painter, and surveyor: in the last capacity he was at one time commissioned by the government to make a survey of the saltmarshes of Saintes for the purpose of the gabelle. Happening to see a vase of the newly-introduced Italian enamelled pottery, probably of the kind known as majolica, it occurred to Palissy, that if he could produce something similar, he should secure both fortune and distinction. His first efforts were directed to the discovery of a white enamel, and he had to struggle through years of toilsome poverty before he accomplished even this preliminary step. He had then to learn how to prepare and combine the earths, so that they should resist equally the action of the intense heat necessary to fuse his enamel. Palissy has himself given a striking, possibly an overwrought, account of his trials and difficulties, and of the marvellous energy and endurance with which he met and overcame them. He was reduced to the extremest poverty; so that not only was he compelled to do the whole of the manual labour himself, even to fetching the water, mixing the clays, grinding the stone, and tending the furnace, but his fuel having failed, he was constrained to burn the fences of his garden, his chairs and tables, and even the flooring of his house, to keep the furnace heated. Meanwhile, worn down by anxiety, disappointment, and insufficient food, ragged, barefoot, and haggard in countenance, his neighbours, he says, had come to regard him as a madman, and his wife and family covered him with reproaches. Sixteen years in all were thus spent; but, however slowly, one difficulty was overcome after another; his zeal and perseverance were at length amply rewarded; and the name of Bernard Palissy stands one of the most remarkable in the honourable list of those who have achieved a great purpose by indomitable resolution and industry. Palissy, in fact, introduced a new branch of art manufacture into France. When he had succeeded in mastering his materials, he found himself in possession of a composition of perfect plasticity, and thoroughly manageable in the furnace, and of enamels of every variety of colour and fusibility—the materials, in fact, for the production of opaque pottery, fitted for the application of any amount of artistic skill. Whilst wandering about the fields, Palissy had made himself closely acquainted with the habits of the smaller animals, and he now set himself to model fish, serpents, lizards, &c., as ornaments for his bowls and vases, making them in form, colour, and character, curiously accurate imitations of the living creatures. His pottery adorned with these "rustic figures," as he called them, soon found its way into the mansions of the highest nobility. But now that Palissy seemed secure of fortune, a new source of trouble opened in his path. He had turned protestant, and the protestants of France were about to undergo their most fiery trial. Whilst engaged in decorating the chateau d'Ecouen of the Constable Montmorency with figured plaques and rustic grottoes, Palissy was arrested (1558) and conveyed to prison at Bordeaux. Montmorency and other powerful patrons, however, made instant application to the queen-mother, and he was released and received a royal license to pursue his art. About 1563 Palissy removed to Paris. He was appointed potter to the queen, and assigned a space for his furnace within the precincts of the Tuileries. His life flowed smoothly and prosperously. He had acquired much more manipulative dexterity; he had improved his taste by the study of ancient Roman and modern Italian models; he was in favour with the king, and his ware was purchased, as fast as produced, by princes and nobles. During the terrible massacre of St. Bartholomew he was left unmolested. Around him were gathered in 1575 the leading savans of Paris, to hear an exposition of his views on the origin of fossils—views then for the first time put forth, but now universally admitted. These lectures were repeated annually for several years: their substance was embodied in a series of dialogues published in 1580—on the "Nature of Waters and Fountains, as well natural as artificial, of metals, salts and salt springs, stones, earths, fire and enamel, with many other excellent secrets respecting natural things." Palissy describes himself on the title-page as "inventeur des rustiques figulines du Roy, et de la Royne sa Mère." The time was at hand, however, when royal patronage was to fail. Palissy was arrested as a Huguenot (1585), and carried to the Bastile. It is said that the king more than once visited him in prison and urged him to recant, expressing himself powerless to save him on any other condition. But the old man was firm, and he remained in the Bastile till his death in 1589. Palissy published in 1563 under the title of a "Recepte Veritable," a curious work; and a second chiefly on agriculture, but including a variety of other topics. The two works were reprinted together in 1636 and 1777. A very convenient and cheap edition of the complete works of Bernard Palissy, "Œuvres completes," &c., with notes, and a memoir by M. P. A. Cap, was published in 1844. A life of Palissy and an account of his writings by Mr. H. Morley was published in two vols. 8vo, London, 1852. The Palissy ware continued for several years to be made by his sons, but with inferior taste and skill. At the present time it is largely imitated in England and at the imperial manufactory at Sèvres. Fine specimens of original Palissy ware have for some years past commanded extraordinary prices. The best collection extant is, we believe, that of the Louvre. Some good specimens are contained in the South Kensington museum.—J. T—e.
PALLADIO, Andrea, one of the most eminent Italian architects of the Renaissance period, was born at Vicenza, November 30th, 1518. Little is known of his early teachers; he really learned his art at, Rome, where he was taken by a munificent patron, the celebrated Gian-Giorgio Trissino, and where he diligently studied the ancient monuments, making careful drawings and admeasurements of all the more famous of the buildings. In 1547 he returned and settled in his native city. His first professional essay was the remodelling of his patron's mansion at Cricoli. His first public work was the completion of the Palazzo Publico at Udine, commenced by Fontana. A more important undertaking was the remodelling of the exterior of the Ragione palace at Vicenza, which he converted from a Gothic to a classic edifice, surrounding it on three sides with open loggie of the Doric and Ionic orders. So great was the reputation Palladio acquired by this building, that he was sent for by Pope Paul III. to Rome to report upon the works then in progress at St. Peter's; but the death of Paul put an end to the commission. On his return to Vicenza Palladio found ample scope for his peculiar talent. He was employed on no work of surpassing magnitude, but he built an unparalleled number of palaces and villas, and may be said to have created a new style of palatial architecture. Vicenza is renowned among even the Italian cities for its palaces and public buildings; and though many of them are by other distinguished architects, it is acknowledged that Vicenza owes its architectural rank mainly to the genius of Palladio. Of the palaces erected by him at Vicenza, the chief are the Valinarana—one of his finest works—the Tiene, Porti, Chiericati, Barbarino, Capitanale, &c. Of those in the vicinity, among the most noted are the villa Capra—long regarded as the great exemplar of a country mansion, and frequently copied—the Trissini, Pisani, and other places. He also built several along the Brenta and throughout the territory of Vicenza, as well as at Feltra, Malacontenta, Bassano, and other Italian cities and country places. Several of these were, however, left unfinished; and it must be remembered that many palaces in Vicenza and elsewhere are attributed to Palladio
