of the tariff or free-trade measures he foretold an equal revenue in ten years with the reduced customs duties proposed, and compare the promise with the result—an increase in 1852 of a few hundreds over the twenty-two millions of 1842—some credit must be accorded to him for far-seeing policy. As regards the latter charge, with reference to which his corn-law policy was made the stalking-horse, it may be said that he well kept those secrets upon which success depended; but no one can review the speeches he made on the hustings and elsewhere prior to that memorable event, without admitting, however unwilling so to interpret them at the time, that they clearly foreshadowed the tendency of his mind, if they did not fully develope the line of policy to which he became a convert. In the inevitable consequences which ensued, the best proof of his sincerity and self-sacrificing patriotism is to be found. He who, foreseeing the penalty he must pay, cast to the winds the most powerful party a statesman ever led, and sacrificed personal friendships of the most flattering character, was not only the greatest martyr to his country, but the results have proved the wisdom of his policy, and already are its merits acknowledged by many of his bitterest opponents, who now quote his speeches with reverence, and dwell upon the emanations of his master mind as lights by which present and future generations should steer their course. Statues to his honour have been erected in all the principal cities of the kingdom, but none with feelings of deeper veneration than the statue by Noble, which, at a cost of nearly £1000, was placed in the market-place of Tamworth by the contributions of persons of every grade in that little community, who had the best opportunity of estimating his great moral worth.—F. J. H.
PEEL, Sir William, Captain R.N., K.C.B., a gallant naval officer, was the third and favourite son of Sir Robert Peel, the statesman. He was born on the 2nd November, 1824, entered the navy in 1838, and took part in the bombardment of St. Jean d'Acre. At the breaking out of the war with Russia he was captain of the Diamond in the Black Sea fleet, and with the naval brigade distinguished himself on land during the siege of Sebastopol. He commanded it, and was wounded in the unsuccessful assault of the allies on the 18th June, 1855. At the commencement of the war with China in 1856 he was in command of the Shannon, when he was sent by Lord Elgin from the Chinese waters with troops to Calcutta, to aid in repressing the Indian mutiny. Once more he was of signal service ashore. With his tars he accompanied Lord Clyde in the march to relieve Lucknow. During the march he received the news that he had become Sir William, and Dr. Russell of the Times says, in his Diary in India—"It was worth while to make a long journey to see the way in which he had trained his men." Wounded at the capture of Lucknow, he died at Cawnpore of confluent smallpox, on the 27th April, 1858. In a gazette extraordinary the governor-general paid a tribute to Sir William Peel's conspicuous services, to his "eminent ability, earnest character, admirable temper, and daring but thoughtful courage."—F. E.
PEELE, George, a dramatist, one of the precursors of Shakspeare, shared with his friends, Greene and Marlowe, the admiration of his stage-loving contemporaries. His birth is fixed by conjecture as having taken place somewhere in Devonshire about the year 1552. Twelve years later his name occurs in the matriculation book of Oxford University as a member of Broadgates hall (now Pembroke college). He was elected a student of Christ Church about 1573, took his degree of bachelor of arts on the 12th of June, 1577, and that of master of arts on the 6th of July, 1579. While at the university he acquired reputation as a poet; and in 1583 he is known to have superintended the performance of a comedie and a tragedie given at Oxford before Albert Alasco (à Lesko?), a Polish prince palatine who had been recommended by the queen to the courtesies of the university. His subsequent life in London was far from enviable. Improvident, reckless, dissolute, he would have his moments of prosperity and popularity, but was oftener "driven to extreme shifts." His first dramatic work, "The Arraignment of Paris," was published in 1584. It is written in a variety of measures, serving to display Peele's facility in versemaking, and exhibits great luxuriance of fancy. It is probable that the author turned sometimes actor, but rather as an amusement than a profession. He was city-poet on more than one lord mayor's day, for which he devised the pageant. He wrote also complimentary poems to Sir John Norris and the earl of Essex. His "Chronicle History of Edward the First" appeared in 1593, and was the earliest of that species of drama which Shakspeare afterwards rendered so attractive. "The Battle of Alcazar" appeared, anonymously, in 1594, and was succeeded the following year by the "Old Wives' Tale." At this time he appears to have been in great distress, from a letter he wrote to Lord Burleigh, with one of his works, the messenger being his "eldest daughter, and necessitie's servant." His best work, the tragedy of "David and Bethsabe," "the earliest fountain of pathos and harmony that can be traced in our dramatic poetry," was printed in 1599, after his death, the date of which event has not yet been more precisely fixed. The best edition of Peele's works is that edited by Mr. Dyce, 3 vols., 1829-39, with an account of the poet's life.—R. H.
PEGGE, Samuel, was born at Chesterfield in 1704. He was admitted in 1722 a pensioner of St. John's college, Cambridge, and was elected fellow in 1726. Four years afterwards he entered on a curacy at Sundridge, Kent, whence he removed to the living of Godmersham, where he continued twenty years. In 1750 he went to reside at Surrenden as tutor to Sir E. Dering's son, and in the following year received the living of Whittington, near his native place, where he resided upwards of forty-four years. The rectory of Brinhill, in Lancashire, was bestowed on him a few months later. To these preferments were subsequently added others, in the enjoyment of which he lived to a great age, dying on the 14th February, 1796. His claims to distinction rest mainly on his antiquarian knowledge. He was a frequent contributor to the Archæologia and the Gentleman's Magazine. For a list of his works, including the "Life of Bishop Grosseteste," "The Form of Cury," and various books on English coins, see Nichols' Anecdotes.—R. H.
PEGGE, Samuel, son of the preceding, and author of "Anecdotes of the English Language," "Curialia," and Supplement to Grose's Provincial Glossary, was born in 1731, and survived his father four years. He was called to the bar, and subsequently became one of the grooms of his majesty's privy chamber, and an esquire of the king's household.—R. H.
PEIRESC, Nicolas Claude Fabri de, an eminent antiquarian and patron of letters, was born at Beaugensier in Provence on the 1st December, 1580, of a family originally from Italy. His father was a councillor of the court of Aides. He studied at first under the jesuits in Avignon, after which he visited various universities, and took the degree of doctor of law at Aix in 1604. His thesis on this occasion was much admired. Visiting Paris soon after, he acquired the friendship of the most learned men in that city, especially De Thou and Isaac Casaubon. From Paris he went to England in the suite of the French ambassador, and was received with marks of distinction by James I. Proceeding next to Holland he became acquainted with Julius Scaliger and Grotius—the latter of whom, at Peiresc's instigation, undertook his famous work, De Jure Belli et Pacis. On his return to France he was admitted a. councillor of the parliament of Aix, devoting himself, however, with great earnestness to literary and antiquarian pursuits. The learning of Peiresc was varied and profound, and he particularly excelled in the department of numismatics. But Peiresc conducted a correspondence too extensive, and was immersed in too many engagements, to find leisure for the completion of any one work of magnitude or general importance. Yet his letters, a number of which have been published at different intervals since the period of his decease, and his smaller treatises and dissertations, bear the stamp of a vigorous, learned, and discursive intellect. Still it is mainly as a Mæcenas that Peiresc commands the respect and gratitude of posterity. Bayle bestowed upon him the title of "Le Procureur Général de la Littérature," and never, it may safely be asserted, was an appellation more justly earned. It was Peiresc who fostered the dawning philosophic genius of Gassendi; and Scaliger, Holstenius, and many others, owed to his liberality much of the success that accompanied their labours. Struggling talent was always sure to find in him a noble, generous, and disinterested friend. His death took place on the 24th June, 1637. Gassendi, whom he had so greatly aided, is Peiresc's chief biographer. His Life was published at Paris in 1641, an English translation of which appeared in London some years afterwards.—J. J.
PELAGIUS:—Of the birth and early history of this noted heretic nothing is known with certainty. From his surname of Brito he is usually supposed to have been a native of this country, his Greek name being taken as a translation of his Celtic one—
