PECKHAM, John, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1278 to 1292, was born of humble parents in Sussex, educated at Lewes, and at Merton college, Oxford, where he became a minorite friar. He afterwards went to Paris, where he both studied and lectured. Thence he proceeded to Lyons and was made canon of the cathedral there, an office which he retained when he became archbishop. Peckham then visited various places of learning in Italy, and at length reached Rome. He was appointed by the pope to an important office in his household. On the elevation of Archbishop Kilwardby to the cardinalate, Peckham was appointed in 1278 to succeed him at Canterbury, notwithstanding the previous election by the chapter of Burnell, bishop of Bath and Wells. Peckham strove to reform the clergy, and held a convocation at Lambeth for the discussion of abuses and remedies in the first year of his consecration. He died at Mortlake, and was buried at Canterbury. His learning and literary diligence were great, and he left a large number of writings on religious and secular subjects. But few of his works have been printed; "De Summa Trinitate et Fide Catholica," appeared in London, 1510, 16mo. He founded a college at Wingham in Kent, which was afterwards destroyed.—R. H.
PECOCK, Reynold, one of the most interesting characters in English church history, was born in 1390. He was educated at Oriel college, Oxford, of which he became a fellow in 1417, and was in 1444 elevated to the see of St. Asaph. In 1449 he was translated to the bishopric of Chichester. The kind of preaching prevalent at that time consisted merely of lying legends. "These pulpit-bawlers," as Pecock styled them, he vigorously attacked. He sought the ear of the laity too by writing in his mother tongue. These matters might have been forgiven, but the high churchmen of the period could not forgive Pecock for the views he entertained with respect to the best method of dealing with Lollardism. Pecock was opposed to any violent persecution of the new sectaries: he argued that the only way to reclaim them was to give them full liberty to propagate their opinions, and to try the effect of persuasion upon them. He denied the infallibility of the pope. He contended for the sole authority of scripture in matters of faith. He repudiated the doctrine of transubstantiation. Provoked by the assertion of such doctrines, the archbishop of Canterbury issued a mandate against Pecock, ordering all to appear who had aught against him. His books were denounced as full of heresy, and he was ordered to recant. Bold and noble-minded though he was, he lacked the courage of the martyr, and at St. Paul's Cross he disavowed his sentiments. Notwithstanding, he was deprived and confined in Thorney Abbey, where he died in 1460.—D. G.
PECQUET, John, a celebrated anatomist, was born at Dieppe in 1622. He received a medical education at Montpellier, from which university he obtained the degree of M.D. He afterwards went to Paris, where he became associated with Mentel and other anatomists in their scientific pursuits. Pecquet's name has been immortalised by a discovery which he made at Montpellier. The lacteal vessels had been previously observed by Asellius, and nearly a century before Eustachius had seen the thoracic duct, although he had quite overlooked its true nature and importance. Pecquet rediscovered the thoracic duct, traced to it the lacteal vessels, and demonstrated the passage of the chyle through the duct into the subclavian vein. His discovery was made public in 1651, when his work entitled "Experimenta Nova Anatomica, quibus incognitum chyli receptaculum, et ab eo per thoracem in ramos usque subclavios Vasa Lactea deteguntur," appeared. To his treatise he added a dissertation on the circulation of the blood and motion of the chyle. A second edition of his work appeared in 1654. He was admitted a member of the Academy of Sciences in 1666. Several anatomical papers by him are to be found in the Memoirs of the Academy, and in the Journal des Savans. It is said that Pecquet, having become firmly convinced of the alimentary nature of alcoholic drinks, unhappily adopted habits which hastened his death. He died in 1674.—F. C. W.
PEDRO I. (de Alcantara), first emperor of Brazil, son of John VI. of Portugal, was born 11th October, 1798, and was ten years of age when the invasion of Bonaparte compelled the royal family to take refuge in Brazil. On the fall of Bonaparte the king proclaimed himself king of Portugal, Algarve, and Brazil. When the revolution of 1820 took place in Spain, and the constitution of 1812 was proclaimed in Portugal, the king, having proclaimed the same constitution in Brazil, sailed for Europe, leaving his son Pedro as his lieutenant. The Portuguese cortes, following a narrow commercial policy, recalled the prince-regent; but the latter, supported by the Brazilians, refused to obey, and sent the Portuguese troops back to Europe. On the 13th May, 1821, he was declared protector and perpetual defender of Brazil, and on the 1st December following he was crowned emperor, and the independence of Brazil was thus established with little or no bloodshed, but was not formally recognized by Portugal until 1825. In 1826, by the death of John IV., the crown of Portugal devolved on Pedro, and was duly tendered to him by a deputation from the cortes. He held the sovereignty but two months, availing himself of the opportunity to proclaim a free constitution in Portugal (29th May, 1826), and then resigned the throne to his daughter Maria, on condition that she should govern according to the charter, and should marry her uncle, Dom Miguel. The betrothal took place on the 29th October, and Dom Miguel was named regent during the queen's minority; but on the 2nd August, 1828, he was declared king by the assembled estates of the realm. Meanwhile, the administration of the emperor of Brazil was not fortunate, and in consequence of a lengthened dispute with the chamber of deputies, he was obliged (7th April, 1831) to abdicate in favour of his son, then aged little more than five years. Taking the title of duke of Braganza, Dom Pedro returned to Europe to espouse the cause of his daughter. He rallied the liberals who had fled in 1828 to the island of Terceira, conquered the forces of his brother in successive engagements, and replaced his daughter on the throne, accepting only the title of regent. Hardly was the new order of things established when he died, 24th September, 1834, leaving a memory dear to the hearts of all lovers of constitutional liberty in Portugal.—F. M. W.
* PEDRO II. (de Alcantara), second emperor of Brazil, was born 2nd December, 1825. He is the son of the emperor Pedro I. and Leopoldina, archduchess of Austria, and succeeded to the throne on the abdication of his father, on the 7th of April, 1831. As the prince was then only nine years old he was, in fact, subordinate to the regency of which Francisco do Lima was the chief. A state of affairs bordering on anarchy, and for which we have in England no name, is called "gauchaism" in some parts of South America. This had been the condition of the empire of Brazil during the latter years of the reign of Dom Pedro I. His son actually undertook the cares of government in 1840 when only fifteen years old; but he soon showed his capacity to grapple with the peculiar difficulties of his position. The first ten years of his reign were disturbed by a series of insurrections or rather outbreaks of "gauchaism" that would have taken place under the best possible government; and after 1850 the foreign relations of Brazil were involved in great difficulties, including the question of right of search connected with the slave-trade, a commercial treaty with England which was postponed through that question, and a war with the Argentine republic. The treaty with England was at last favourably adjusted, and the war in the south (said to be against the Argentine republic, but in reality against the tyranny of the dictator Rosas) was concluded with great advantage for Brazil. This was the beginning of better times for the empire. In 1843 the emperor married the Princess Therese Christine Marie (born 14th March, 1822), daughter of King Francis I. of the Two Sicilies. The offspring of this marriage were two sons who died in their boyhood, and two daughters—the Princess Isabella, the presumptive heiress, and the Princess Leopoldine. During all the difficulties of his reign the emperor has most prudently maintained his position as a constitutional monarch, and his efforts for the welfare of his subjects have been unwearied. He is a patron of art and literature, and has promoted many important undertakings of public utility. It is not his least praise that he has shown great resolution in putting an end to slave-labour, which the Brazilians formerly maintained to be indispensable to their own civilization. European colonists have been invited to settle in Brazil, the Plate has now a free navigation, and the native landed proprietors have been induced to employ free labour. In 1871 the emperor visited Great Britain and devoted attention chiefly to the works and institutions which might afford lessons for the national economy of Brazil.—R. H.
PEDRO III. of Arragon, succeeded his father, James I., in 1276. Pedro granted in 1283 the great Arragonese charter, confirming all the ancient privileges of the realm, and adding new ones. He inherited through his wife Constance (daughter of
